13 Jun 2003
No SPAM - do we have a problem?

File this under "Signs of the Times": I have been sitting at my desk all afternoon and haven't gotten a single piece of SPAM - not one "Enlarge Your Penis/Breast/Biceps", "Make Millions from Home Doing Nothing", "Generic Viagra/Botox/Rogaine for FREE"

So what was my immediate reaction? I sent myself a test email, to make sure my servers were still running!

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Cow Farts

From CNN comes this bit of scientific stupidity.

No, it's not stupid to point out that cattle produce methane: but the solutions proposed are nothing short of idiotic:

In Nebraska, it's been three years since Ragsdale and fellow researchers James Takacs and Jess Miner had the idea of reducing methane by blocking enzymes in the cow's rumen that are necessary to produce it.

That compound would be delivered in an additive to cattle feed, a process the researchers have patented. They are now working with a commercial partner to develop a viable formula.

They have tested over 200 compounds in the last 18 months, trying to find the right formula that blocks the methane but doesn't harm the beneficial microbes in the cow's rumen.

GasX for cows! What's next - BeanO for the bacon?

Of course, the next "logical" step here is genetic engineering.... like featherless chickens.

What more can I say?

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

The Tenth Noble Virtue

Heatheny (Asatru in particular) is a pretty wild and wooly place - there can be arguments and flame wars galore over the most trivial points of lore or theology.

This is mostly due to the very nature of the beast: we're trying to reconstruct a faith that has been all but dead for nearly a thousand years! There are some things that are basic to the concept of Asatru, of course, and over the years we've codified them into what we call The Nine Noble Virtues.

I've been watching with some amusement another flame war in the making begin to erupt on a Heathen list the other day - this one over use of the term "lore hound" or "lore whore" to describe a Heathen with, shall we say, a scholarly bent and predeliction for quoting Eddas and Sagas. Some were insulted (!) by these terms, some were not.

A good friend of mine, a young lady named Carolyn, posted the following comment (this is edited to only the relevent part):

I just need a thick enough skin to face the possibility that others might not agree with my idea, or I should keep it to myself.

This set off all kinds of bells, and inspired me to write the following in reply:

Wow! If nine weren't such an important number to our path, and we wished to ape a certain other religion in the stone tablet business, that would be a *GREAT* 'Tenth Noble Virtue' ....

The Tenth Noble Virtue: Thick-Skinnedness
We recognize that we are part of a community which, like Yggdrasil

itself, is united at the root but wildly diverse in the branch. We know that varying understandings of lore and theology are bound to arise in our midst, and resolve not to take as personal insult opinions offered by others which may differ substantially from our own. We can debate without the need for revenge, we can discuss without resort to argument.

Such a "commandment" would certainly go a long way towards eliminating much of the bullshit that plagues any group such as ours...

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

AT&T Cordless Phones SUCK!

By the gods! I HATE phone systems! We have been up and down all day long, due to silly router configurations (at the ISP, mind you) and with the good old Phone Company. Not to mention this piece of shit AT&T cordless phone I happen to have the misfortune of owning.

I have a lot to write about, but right now getting my email up and running is paramount. So maybe I'll post some more in a bit, but if not, tomorrow morning.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Constricting Supply

Speaking of stupid, in case anybody's still wondering what's wrong with President Bush's "faith-based" initiative here's another gem from CNN.

With the nation facing a critical shortage of teachers in general, and an especially acute shortage of qualified child care workers, all we don't need to be doing is constricting the supply even more!

You gotta wonder why the church agencies which "deliver" the Head Start "service" are concerned about the religious affiliation (or lack thereof) of their staff, if they're not just using the program as a sham or front for religious instruction, funded by Uncle Sam.

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Good Riddence

Is M$ really backing away from competition? That'd be a first! Sound to me more like "Hey! Netscape's gone, so let's kill Apple next! But we're not a monoploy, oh no, not us!"

Microsoft to scrap IE for the Mac. The software giant says it is halting development of future Macintosh versions of its Internet Explorer browser, citing competition from Apple Computer's Safari browser. [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link