Category: Uncategorized

Stop the madness
One week — 488 SPAM e-mails. This amount of junk mail is starting to get ridiculous because I have to spend 15 minutes every week going through my spam folder to make sure that I don’t have any important messages through all that desperate chaff. I’d rant more, but you’ve heard it all before.

The thing that’s scary is this do-not-spam list and law that’s crusing for approval in Congress. The main concern is that it legitimizes spam if it meets certain guidelines. I guess it’s not that bad — as long as clearly labeled mass-mailings that be easily filtered into my trash can.

Oh well, back to work.

Talk to me

I’m current at the studios of WMTU. I’m doing a very special (mostly) jazz show as a substitute for someone who couldn’t make it today. I like doing a radio show, but I sure wish people would call in or something. I get very little feedback with my programme and it’s irksome. Eh.

Tune in
A special edition of my radio show, Sonardome, will be aired Sunday from 7-10 a.m. EST (don’t forget the time change). It’s all on WMTU 91.9 FM Houghton. Feel free to tune in online

I’m going to be placing my playlists and other content online shortly.

Hell Remains Quite Toasty, Yankees Win
Despite Apple’s claim to the contrary with their launch of iTunes for Windows, Cubs and Red Sox fans remain in baseball’s purgatory. Grrr, they were so close to winning the pennants and facing each other in a battle for the ages.

The league championship series were the most exciting baseball games I’ve seen in a while. I can say I haven’t been this interested in baseball in years. I might actually tune into the World Series just hoping for the opportunity for the Florida Marlins to knock of the Yankees.

Bloomin’ Onion
Just got back from the Houghton County Fair. I’d like to talk more but there’s something going on in Ontonagon. Gotta go see what’s going on (and maybe take the long drive to the mill).

Defiant judge suspended
The Associated Press (via AJC), reports that
Moore suspended on ethics complaint over refusal to move monument. In short, Ala. judge Roy Moore was automatically suspended after an ethics complaint was filed against him.

He’s remained defiant despite the fact the U.S. Supreme Court — the highest court in the land charged with interpreting the U.S. Constitution — turned down his request for an appeal on an federal court order to remove a 5,000-pound monument of the Ten Commandments.

From the article:

Moore said he told the commission that he upheld his oath of office by acknowledging God. Moore has said Thompson has no authority to tell the state’s chief justice to remove the monument.

Funny, I would have thought that his oath would have included something about upholding the laws of the State of Alabama and the United States. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment basically applies the Bill of Rights to the states and that includes the ban on government promotion of religion.

It’s true that our system of justice is built upon Judeo-Christian principles, but that’s the foundation. Just as our nation has grown, so too has our legal system and inclusion of different peoples. The Ten Commandments has a place in the hall of justice alongside the Torah, the twelve tables of Roman law and British common law, but a standalone 2.5-ton monument is overkill. Sheesh, my car weighs less than that.

And another thing — in all these media reports about the controversy, I have never heard a single iota about Moore’s ability to be a judge. It sounds like the Alabama electors choose then-district judge Moore to be chief justice based solely on his blatant endoresment of one certain religion. Is he any good? I’d like to know.

The sobig virus is really annoying me. I’m on a Mac so I can’t get infected or transmit the virus. Unfortunately that doesn’t stop others from e-mailing me the virus — 150 times.

Although we’re mostly Macs at work, I think it took down the company’s e-mail server in West Virginia briefly yesterday. Network traffic was congested today. Oh well.

BTW, I was watching a repeat of the pilot episode of “The Séan Cullen Show” when the Montreal Expos’ Youppi mascot. Given my silly trains of thought that I go off on from time to time, I thought it would be modestly funny to have a face-off between Youpii and a Yooper. Because you know, they sound similar … and they look totally different (for the most part ….)

Just read on Joe Conason’s Journal that today, Aug. 15, is Fair and Balanced Day. Celebrate like all freedom-loving people.

Innocent or guilty
ESPN ran a special called “Pete Rose on Trial”. The jury and fans (voting online) said Rose should be admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite the overwhelming support for Rose’s cause, his entrance into Cooperstown should be denied unless he plays by the rules.

Rose admits that he bet on pro sports, but never admitted that he bet on baseball. Many have thought that Rose while playing and coaching for the Cincinnati Reds bet on Major League Baseball and even on his own team. Rightfully people have argued that this charge has never been proven (even though MLB hired John Dowd, a fomer federal prosecutor, who found evidence that Rose bet on the game). However the reason why this hasn’t been conclusively proven or disproven is the crux of the matter.

On 23 Aug. 1990, Rose signed an agreement with Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in which he would be permanently ineligble to play MLB baseball (and thus can’t be considered a candidate for the Hall of Fame). Considering the case closed, MLB dropped the case.

If Rose wishes to be considered for the Hall of Fame and negate the agreement that he signed with baseball, the investigation into his gambling should be reopened.

If there’s nothing to the charges and he is cleared of the crimes that he’s been accused of, then he could be considered for the hall. However, if he is guilty, then he should walk away from baseball like he agreed to 13 years ago.

After all, the way the discussion is framed today, Rose faces no potential loss for his attempt. However, if there is the possibility of Rose’s shameful past being exposed perhaps Charlie Hustle will reconsider his bid to enter Copperstown.

Aha!

After months of trying to figure out what to do with my Web spaces (and procrastinating), I’ve come up with a plan and it should be implemented in the next couple of weeks.

I am going to go ahead and set my Yahoo! GeoCities space as a professionally orientened page. This Lycos Tripod site will remain a ‘blog and personal space. It’s going to require overhauling this space and putting in an entirely new space on GeoCities.

It looks kind of daunting, but thankfully I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve. …