Internet Explorer 7 Beta January 31, 2006
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Sci-Tech , comments closedMicrosoft released the second beta of the Internet Explorer web browser for public preview today. If you’re comfortable with using beta products and have a fair knowledge of how to keep your system secure, you may want to get it from the previous link for a test drive, and only for a test drive.
Microsoft truly innovates with this new version of IE — which includes in its feature repository a better, streamlined user interface, RSS feeds, a toolbar search box, better security (alledgedly), better CSS support, and oh yes, tabbed browsing. In the interest of meaning what I say however, maybe I should point out that by “innovate”, I mean “copying what others have introduced years before.”
P.S: IE 7 Beta 2 works only with MSFT Windows XP with Service Pack 2. [Hat tip to Commenter Steeve Saaf for the reminder].
Welcoming The New Econ Wizzz January 31, 2006
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Economics , comments closedAlan Greenspan had his last day wrecking the U.S economy today. It would have been a very sad day for America if it weren’t for the fact that everyone’s beloved Economic Wizz is to be replaced by another very beloved Money Wrecker, Ben Bernanke, whose nomination the Senate approved today. Woohoo!!
And don’t worry ladies and Gentlemen. Even if Mr. Bernanke isn’t as good as his predececessor at devaluing your hard-earned money, the Washington Post reassures us that he is inheriting a very “experienced staff” — so yes, the deed will be done.
They have excellent evidence too … for example, on that fateful day, September the 11th 2001, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was all but present in this country, yet his staff, all by itself, managed to pull us through and save the stock market from certain doom — yep just another day at the Federal Reserve!
Now, the Post in its own words:
Alan Greenspan was unreachable on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as terrorists destroyed several blocks in the financial heart of New York City. Returning from a bankers’ conference in Switzerland, the Federal Reserve chairman was flying in a jet over the Atlantic — depriving the central bank of its vaunted crisis manager at a daunting moment.
Yes Dear Reader, let the suspense sink in.
But the Fed did fine without Greenspan that day, led by several people who have worked alongside him during other crises over his 18 years running the central bank. Fed officials and senior staff members swiftly reassured the world, through words and actions, that the U.S. financial system would keep working — earning the chairman’s praise when he returned the next day.
I invite everyone to join me in signing the petition urging the Lord to bless the Fed staff. What would we do without the Federal Reserve? The thought is frightening, I know.
Technorati Tags: Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke
Don’t Be Evil … Surrender To All Evil
January 25, 2006
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Culture , comments closed
Google has explicitly adopted a new motto today: “Surrender To All Evil” — the exact opposite of its previous one: “Don’t Be Evil”. It has agreed to the censorship of its search results in accordance with the wishes of the fascist, Chinese State. How is it going to do this? By launching a new “customized” Google.cn site which will circumvent the Chinese government’s current firewalling of the main Google.com domain.
And just like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Cisco — among others — Google has manufactured its own rationalization of its coupling with the Devil.
Via Breitbart.com:
Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted “don’t be evil” as a motto. But management believes it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.
“We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China,” said Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s senior policy counsel.
Yep, you heard that right: “a worthwhile sacrifice”! I wonder which word it is people misunderstand the most: “worthwhile” or “sacrifice”? I am inclined to believe that it is the latter, however. But there’s nothing to worry about here. We are all bound to understand the meaning of these words some day — some of us, (or should I say, most of us?), the “hard” way.
Now, for an exercise in unfunny humor, you really should try comparing search results between the two sites, that is, between google.com and google.cn. And if I may suggest some terms, you may want to try out the standards “Tiananmen Square,” “Human Rights,” “Taiwan Independence,” “Liberty,” etc … After that, if you’re still having fun, try “Ayn Rand,” “Capitalism,” and “Mises.”
On these three latter terms, Google itself should make certain to look them up — it might just help them learn the actual meanings of the words “capitalism” and “sacrifice” … and possibly bring them back closer to Ludwig von Mises’ motto: Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.
Technorati Tags: Google, Censorship, Freedom of Speech, China
Roundum Randup January 17, 2006
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Culture, Misc, Politics, Sci-Tech , comments closedThis is a roundup of interesting things from the past few days which I’ve had no time to fully comment upon.
- Literal Meaning, Liberal Meaning
This is a must-read from Andrew Dalton at Witch Doctor Repellent. He sheds much needed light on the leftist concept of “root cause”, or rather, their sneaky corruption of the actual concept of “root cause”:
[T]here is a whole array of words and phrases like this: not only root cause, but also diversity, sustainability, and proportional response. All of these terms have broad meanings in everyday English. But when used by a leftist, they are actually Trojan horses for a specific worldview.
“Root cause” wears the cloak of reason. After all, what rational person could be against finding the root cause of a problem? The problem is, “root cause” is usually a code word for something on a list of purported causes that have been pre-approved by leftists. Things not on that list, like human choices or philosophy, don’t count. Go ahead, just try saying that the root cause of bullying is a bully’s choice to use violence. Or that the root cause of Islamic terrorism is Islam. Both are correct, but the self-appointed experts in “root causes” will treat you as either a Neanderthal or a Hun if you say such a thing.
The Hat Tip for that goes to the Secular Foxhole.
- Allah, Finally Unveiled!
This is a hilarious must-see. After much dancing around, Allah (that’s “God” for the English speaking) has finally accepted to pose for Robert Tracy at Illustrated Ideas. The result is an excellent piece of art, and a very fitting portrait for the Madman Upstairs.
- Munich: A Review
Charles Krauthammer has a … well … not-so-nice review of Steven Spielberg’s Munich at the Washington Post. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but from the mere trailers that I’ve seen, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were right — here’s an excerpt:
It is an axiom of filmmaking that you can only care about a character you know. In “Munich,” the Israeli athletes are not only theatrical but historical extras, stick figures. Spielberg dutifully gives us their names — Spielberg’s List — and nothing more: no history, no context, no relationships, nothing. They are there to die.
The Palestinians who plan the massacre and are hunted down by Israel are given — with the concision of the gifted cinematic craftsman — texture, humanity, depth, history. The first Palestinian we meet is the erudite translator of poetry giving a public reading, then acting kindly toward an Italian shopkeeper — before he is shot in cold blood by Jews.
Then there is the elderly PLO member who dotes on his 7-year-old daughter before being blown to bits. Not one of these plotters is ever shown plotting Munich, or any other atrocity for that matter. They are shown in the full flower of their humanity, savagely extinguished by Jews.
But the most shocking Israeli brutality involves the Dutch prostitute — apolitical, beautiful, pathetic — shot to death, naked, of course, by the now half-crazed Israelis settlingprivate business. The Israeli way, I suppose.
Feel free to have a crack at the rest.
- Ephemeral Rights
Gus Van Horn points to a very disturbing article from City Journal concerning the possible, and imminent overt loss of freedom of speech in this country, through the inclusion of alternative media [e.g.: blogs, talk radio, etc...] within the sphere of Campaign Finance Reform laws. Yes, I am speaking of censorship in worse form than it exists right now, including that institutionalized through the FCC. Gus Van Horn has his own excellent thoughts on the subject, as well. Excerpting either article here would do them rather little justice, so make sure you read them both in their entirety.
As an aside though, I’d like to note that this continuing loss of freedom in the intellectual realm is nothing but a consequence of the now almost-complete process of interpreting away the concept and principle of the sanctity of property rights from the Constitution. Without property rights, no rights can be practiced in reality at all — and if people think that they can have any social system other than capitalism and still keep their rights, they are (parahrasing their Father, Kant) about to be woken up from their dogmatic slumbers.
- Democracy and the Right to Vote
Amit Ghate has a great colum of the above name at Capitalism Magazine. It does a pretty good job at showing how far today’s politcians have strayed away from the actual meaning of the constitution and the kind of government established by the Founding Fathers of this great country. Specifically, the article is about the nowadays-too-common confusion (or is it deliberate?) between (1) a Democracy and a Constitutional Republic, and (2) the institution of the Right to Vote, instead of the Right to Life, as the fundamental human right.
Both misconceptions are actually only two sides of the same coin, and you can see the evidence all over the news: Free and high-voter-turnout elections in Iraq and Afghanistan are celebrated all over regardless of the outcome, because allegedly, these people have the right to govern themselves even if that means voting not only oneself, but others as well, into tyrannical theocracies. And if you have any doubt as to just how serious these people are, you should know that some of them think this alleged “right to vote” should be mandatory. Yes, a mandatory “right”! If this isn’t a blatant contradiction in terms, I wonder what on this earth could possibly ever be?!
- Scientists Behind the Times
If you’ve followed the news lately, you must have heard of the safe return of NASA’s Stardust Capsule — which had the mission of capturing comet samples from space, which in turn could probably tells us “where we came from.” Obviously these scientists are incredibly behind the times! For it is written:
In the begining there was nothing,
Then God came out of nothing,
And created everything
… out of nothing.
That is from Part I, Chapter I of the Grand Infallible Book of Eternal Truth (or simply “G.I.B.E.T”, as it is popularly known) — which was written about 6 millenia ago. Where have these scientists been living all this time? Don’t they know that all True Knowledge resides within the Book, and only within the Book? Or are they just not aware of the Existence of the Book? I wonder what Reverend Pat is going to say about this … people tryin’ to disprove the Infallibility of the Book an’ all…
Technorati Tags: NASA, Freedom of Speech, Individual Rights, Property Rights
Star Wars: Command Line Style January 12, 2006
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Sci-Tech , comments closedThe things people can do with computers! Simply amazing!
Unix users, fire up your terminal and enter “telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl”. You will be treated to a very interesting ASCII version of Star Wars, Episode IV. [Click here for a screenshot.]
Windows users can do the same as well. Just open up the command prompt [Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Command Prompt] and enter the above.
P.S: If you want to end/interrupt the “movie”, without closing or restarting your terminal/prompt, you can press Ctrl+] and then enter quit.
Technorati Tags: Star Wars, Command Line, Command Prompt, Linux, Windows, Mac