August 2004 Archives

The Present Future

August 28, 2004

As a child I watched Elroy Jetson with a certain bemusement, flitting about in his jet pack, popping food pills, and relying on Rosy the Robot to keep his room clean. Likewise in Disney World's Tomorrowland I gazed in amazement at what was once envisione d for our future. Monorails and jet packs were just the optimistic incarnations of that Cold war futurism — but in science fiction particularly we find the more sinister predictions. Luminaries such as Bradbury, Roddenberry, and Gibson penned tales of continuing exploitation of all that humanity might invent. While their tales were scoffed at or ignored by the masses, especially when the Cold War ended with fall-out-free winters, the days of past present may be returning to the present future.

Settling into St. Paul

August 17, 2004

We're now 85% unpacked, though the place is still a mess. Just got library cards and using a public library Internet Station for the first time ever, very exciting you know. So if anyone's reading, other than the viagra and cialis spam-bots (they flood old blog entries with spurious spam comments), drop me a line and say hello. My Austin mobile number is still good. If you don't have it, send me an e-mail. Oh, and the weather has been gorgeous =).

WindowsXP Service Pack 2 Warning

August 5, 2004

In the next day or two Microsoft will come out with its long-heralded, major updates to WindowsXP, known as Security Pack 2. The updates for SP2 take care of usability, default settings, and security bugs/holes. A new security pack from Microsoft is always a major step forward… but in my experience always comes with a few bugs itself.

Worst Reason to Ban Gay Marriages

August 4, 2004

"When you look at marriage, it's between a man and a woman," Ms. Goldford said. "Biblically, homosexuality isn't in the plan." (today's New York Times). I'm sorry Ms. Goldford, but we do not live in a theocracy. Please base your vote on secular arguments. Unfortunately I'm too late for my elementary-years-state-of-residence: Missouri voters have approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. And probably based mostly on the simple religious truism above.

Destruction of Baha'i Holy Sites

August 3, 2004

The persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran continues: recent months have seen the wanton destruction of two holy sites in Iran. In April, it was learned that the grave of Quddús had been secretly razed over a period of several nights, despite local protests against the government's actions. This weekend the sudden destruction of the house of Mírzá Buzurg-i-Núrí in Tehran was brought to light. It is unknown (to me) how many holy places are left in Iran and Iraq; these were undoubtedly two of the most historical.

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