Friday, September 07, 2001

Tomorrow night at around 9:45 or so, it will be one billion seconds since Jan 1, 1970. If you don't care, that's fine, too, but otherwise, you might want to check out this page:http://www.electromagnetic.net/. It's even got a counter down to that magical second.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 11:24 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 06, 2001

>Are you allowed to download games and screensavers on your computer at
>work? I just got an email saying that we are not allowed to because
>they could corrupt our computer system. Sounds silly to me. What do
>you think?

Suppose there's a company car that Tom is using. Tom doesn't like the radio in it (just a default AM radio thingy) and asks if he can install his own radio (with CD player, etc.) in the car. The company says, "Sure, go ahead. You're going to have the car for a while, it's not a problem."

But, in installing the radio, some wires get a little tangled. There aren't any immediate signs of damage, but occassionlly the service enginge soon light flashes without reason. When it finally breaks down, the company has to repair it, but it might not have broken down if the radio wasn't installed.

Suppose then that all the cars have to go through inspection. It's easy for all the unmodified cars, as they are basically the same, and the company's own engineer knows them inside and out. But, he's not familiar with the radio that Tom installed, and can't fix it when it breaks. And he doesn't have any confidence that the wiring system is working anymore, so any work on that car takes longer.

Plus, when Tom gets promoted, he takes his radio with him. They have to look for the old radio and get it installed, which delays the next person who's suppose to have the car (say, Bob). In fact, when they discover the wiring problem, they have to send the car back for repair and pay extra to get a temporary car for Bob.

When the car returns, Bob asks if he can put a child safety seat in the back seat for his new child. The company emphatically shouts, "No!"

posted by FlyingSheep @ 12:34 PM 0 comments

So, what has PETA done about road kill? I mean, I was driving home yesterday when I realized that there were lots of dead animals on the road. Now, the Jedi Princess made an observation the other day, which I have found helpful: In order to understand PETA, it helps to think of animals as people. Sure, then hunting becomes murder, carnivorism becomes canibalism, and we can all get outraged together. I may be over simplifying her remark, by the way.

So, what about road kill? I mean, think about people meandering into the road and getting killed by a passing truck - and then just left there on the side (or in the middle) of the road to fester. It's a rather disturbing thought, isn't it? I mean, if airplanes were killing people like this, we'd be in an uproar. To anyone who makes the animals = people connection, this is a horrible horrible thing, and why isn't PETA doing anything about it?

Fortunately, I am not one of those people who think that animals = people. People (mostly) don't walk out into the middle of the road when there's an on-coming car. Animals do. Unfortunately.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 9:57 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, September 05, 2001

It's getting cold again, and the night is coming sooner. I think the best thing to say is that, although summer may be ending, we all enjoyed it very much, and don't regret it's passing. Fall is a beautiful season, filled with apple-picking and warm apple cider and things. Winter can be fun and has its own beauty. Besides, summer will come again next year. So, make a list of things that you wanted to do over the summer but didn't. Read this list next May.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 10:02 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

Well, according to an article in the Register (suggested reading: http://www.theregister.co.uk/), SirCam is the most infectious computer virus for the month of August. This is rather surprising, I think. After all, you should be wary of any file that shows two extentions. Now, by default, windows will not show you both extension, but that's easy enough to fix. Even if you are caught by the virus once, there's no excuse for being caught again. Sure, the subject line is dynamic, but the subject body should sound a bit suspicious to anyone even slightly cautious.

In other news, I had an excellent weekend with the Jedi Princess and other members of her family. Bonus points to anyone who guesses the names she gave to the two chameleons (one male, one female).

posted by FlyingSheep @ 10:31 AM 0 comments