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16 FEBRUARY 2006 |
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J: I'm continuing my attempts to make
our news page look nice and work with Internet Explorer (p'tooey), the
browser that refuses to conform to standards. I still don't know if IE
can see this page, but I have high hopes. I also have much to learn.
Last week we had a great snow, but it only lasted a couple days really. Gina got in some sledding, on the hill behind the school. And the power went out in our house for a day, so we went to the New Deal for brunch, and then Gina and Lori went to see Brokeback Mountain, while I covered myself with blankets and felt like that guy in Brokeback when the fire ran out. Then the power came on again, and I could actually wake up and move around the house!
Later that night Gina, Renata, Joey, and I met Gary at the secret
campfire. It's about the most beautiful campfire I've ever been to, and
I've attended a lot. The snow covered all the trees and went right up
to the fire, and there was very little smoke. We brought a wool
blanket, some beers and wine. We sat on the blanket and it stayed dry
and warm.
On Valentine's Day Gina and
I went to DC and ate at a nice little
restaurant called Pizzeria
Paradiso. We had salad, bread, some really tasty pizza, and a
carafe of sweet sangria. They make excellent pizza there and have vegan
cheese. We'll probably go back soon.
Our sad news this week is that Ruth, the wife of my office mate and friend Gil, passed away last week after complications with her kidneys. Our sympathies go out to the Smith family.
Some staff at Yahoo must be
living down to their namesake. China's big
shiny stones -- in the form of Internet contracts -- attract Google,
Cisco, Microsoft, and Yahoo among others. They'll get at those stones
no matter how much dirt lies around them. It can be argued that
bringing the Chinese government a censored Internet is better than
nothing-- but you have to convince me that the great
firewall of China
is weaker when built by outside contractors. I don't think so.
Making money off of censorship is bad enough. But then to actually
provide information leading to the arrest of people fighting for
freedom of speech requires great greed and cowardliness. Nobody likes a
snitch, Yahoo. Please shape up. Use your search engine to look up
Ethics and Honor. Better yet, use Wikipedia. I'm not sure
you can trust
your own devices right now.
Lemuel Gulliver described the Yahoos' kind very well. "They are strong
and hardy," he wrote, "but of a cowardly spirit, and, by consequence,
insolent, abject, and cruel." As Gulliver sadly discovered, there's a
little yahoo in all of us. We each must try to recognize our own
yahoo's subtle maneuverings and act honorably, even in the presence of
such bright shining stones.
This week's rant has been brought to you by Gulliver's Travels,
a fine
satire of any era. You can read it for free on line. If you reside in
China you should check with your yahoo authorities first.