Past Diatribes

We can talk all we want around the lunch table at work, taking this side or that. The truth is, as individuals we are too small to do a single thing to save those dying children. There is nothing that anyone can do to prevent this tragedy.

That’s a downer of a thought.

Stumbled upon this revelation: focus on what good you, individually, can do.

So leave those two oil millionaires go shoot each other and check out the new Special Olympics article under the Guide’s "Hope" section. &: )

In other news.... I received this email from a Canadian friend of mine who recently took his babe on a quick romantic getaway in Dublin. Dale writes:

Dude, what's that giant &^%*&%^ telephone pole in O'Connell Street?

The new Stiffie by the Liffey that graces our city’s main thoroughfare has been receiving mixed reaction. It was a bad idea from the start: evicting the "Floozie in the Jacuzzi" fountain, cutting down all the beautiful old trees--- for a 400 foot pole? Well, it only took until 2003 but they finally completed the Millennium Spire there at the end of January. Locals had dubbed it "the Stiletto In The Ghetto" and worse before construction even began.

But now that it’s complete---- it’s not so bad. It’s not as imposing as it looked in all the artist renditions. It’s alright, I say. I say, judge for yourself, when you come visit.

Computer News # 1:

I have a nice big bruise on my head, thanks to a proxy server that I set up recently. The sucker just would not work.

As banging my noggin did nothing to improve the flow of TCP/IP packets, I delved into the log files and found some interesting messages similar to:

I googled ‘til my head hurt afresh, but was unable to find any information at all about CWWWSessions or HTTPProcessRequest() and how to fix them. "If I ever find the solution to this," I swore, "I’m going to post it on the Internet for the next unlucky sod that comes along!"

The answer was easy, actually. Windows didn’t like me using port 80 for a proxy? I just switched both server and client over to port 81. Worked perfectly after that!

Computer News # 2:

Sick of freezes, crashes, and paying through the nose for a new Operating System every few years? Good news! Windows is not the only option!

About this time last year, I started playing around with a different (and free!) OS called Linux. The flavor I’m using now is called Red Hat Linux 7.2: it installs easily off of two CDs, and is widely used to keep things like Internet servers running… but, it’s too large to breathe new life into my old IBM Thinkpad 701C. This old workhorse has a regular old 1.44 MB floppy drive, and that’s it.

Luckily, I found a different (and also free!) OS that is small enough to fit on a couple of floppies. FreeDOS is a reinvention of the good ol’ MS-DOS that we all used before Windows came along. Ah! The old black and white screen! Commands once familiar that I haven’t tried using in years!

Build completely by volunteers, there are actually a wide range of programs and utilities for this OS. Personally, I just want the laptop for typing my dumb little articles on. FreeDOS has me covered. I’ve got my pick of text editors, and my wifey doesn’t get in a foul mood that I have inattentively disappeared up to the lair to bang away on that stupid machine up there.

Speaking of the lair....

Yep, progress marches on. Since my last DIY adventure, doors have been hung to hide the unsightly printer, scanner, and computer. Snapped this photo before adding the computer door.... I have also reinforced the sagging shelves with hidden supports. "Ya daft prick, you should’ve just binned of a bunch of yer oul’ books!!" scolded the lil’ woman. "You spa!!"

But, Mick? Get rid of books?

Never!!

Here’s some reading material to add to your bedside table: NFG magazine! A new venture launched by some of my friends from the Imaginaries writers’ cooperative, NFG has just shipped its first issue. They’ve also made contacts with some major distributors and mailing houses, so you may soon find Writing With Attitude at a news stand near you.

NFG contains stories, articles, poetry and art that are straight on the pulse of what’s living and breathing at this moment. The contributors are all everyday people, from Australia, North America, and Europe, who answered a call for submissions with what they have dreamt up for themselves. It’s grass roots. It’s genuine. It’s not a rehashed package of "content" that some large corporation is intent upon shoving down the throats of your particular demographic.

What makes this superior to that flimsy lit mag that’s universally ignored at college campuses? Check out the FDA sticker: NFG’s got remarkably low "crappola" content. NFG’s panel of editors filtered more than two thousand submissions down to fifty-two fantastic pages. Why not give it a look? Help some bright young sparks’ dreams come true!

(end of shameless plug)

Finally, for this episode.... There is something deadly cool on the Internet that I want you to get a kick out of. It’s fresh, it’s funny, it’s colorful. It’s the story of a leprechaun private eye investigating the disappearance of a wealthy American!

And (you will never believe this) I DIDN’T write it!

Yes, yes, I know that I have tormented Cyberspace with my tales of talking faucets, wondermaggots and genies who wear sombreros. This comic- called Colometers Davis- is written by two brothers from Dublin. Their work has recently taken the interest of some Hollywood people- possibly coming to a big screen near you, at some point? Check it out now, so that you can proudly boast "I was into Colometers way back before it was famous!"

Or, at least, "Damn!" you'll exclaim. "There’s actually someone out there whose sense of humor is just as warped as Mick’s!"

Peace

Y F M H

mick @ dfaguide dot com