Category: Web/Tech

Is Bill Gates an Evil Overlord?

Before you say, "No way! He’s history’s greatest benefactor of mankind!" consider the following.

The Evil Overlord List contains one of the following resolutions:

9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely
necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button
labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push"
will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to
disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labelled
as such.

Now, in keeping with this, most Microsoft and related computer products do not appear to have a self-destruct mechanism (not an intentional one anyway), but how clearly are their on/off switches labelled?

Consider the two images below. Does EITHER clearly convey the idea that you press it to turn the machine off? Either of them????

Bill Gates: Evil Overlord.

Think about it.

A reader writes:

Hi, I would like to know; what does it mean when you don’t answer a question?  I am not very familiar with blogs and maybe I don’t know how to find the answer and maybe it is just not something that you want to comment on but I just want to know how it works.  I had asked [a question you haven’t answered yet].  Thank you so much for your time.

No prob!

It can mean one of several things when I haven’t answered a question:\

1. Actually, I have answered it but it hasn’t appeared on the blog yet (I write my answers in advance of when they show up on the blog),
2. Actually, I have answered it but it has appeared but has falled down or off the top page (in which case use the Search feature),
3. I haven’t answered it yet because the question requires me to do research that I haven’t had a chance to do yet (this was the case with your question),
4. I’m thinking about the question so that I can give a better answer,
5. I haven’t answered it because I forgot (i.e., it got lost among all the queries in my inbox),
6. I have been intending to answer it, but then other things took priority,
7. I haven’t answered it because I don’t feel able to answer it,
8. I haven’t answered it because I don’t have time, or
9. I haven’t answered it for some other reason (e.g., it isn’t appropriate for a mostly-family-oriented blog).

So there isn’t any one reason why I may not answer. It’s a hodge-podge of things.

In your case, the reason is #3, and the fact you wrote a nice, polite query about the matter and I have answered in this public way means that it probably will get answered soon.

I should note that I can’t answer every query folks send me (e.g., for reasons #4-9), and I can’t promise to send a note saying that I will or won’t answer. The volume of e-mail I get is too big for that, though I do try to notify folks when I am answering so they’ll know when to expect the answer to go up.

Even with queries I am able to answer, it may be a few days to a week (or more).

That being said, folks are welcome, after a while, to send a polite one sentence query asking about their former query (e.g., "I asked about _______________ and was wondering if you’ll be able to address it on the blog?") and I’ll try to let you know. (On the other hand, if I get "#*(S^!((**! Where’s the answer to my question about _____________, you $*#@&*@#!" then that’s a one-way ticked to no-answerville.)

Gotta question for y’all: I’m unhappy with the ID3 tags that are being stuck onto my MP3 files when I make homemade audiobooks. I wanna change them, but my iTunes doesn’t seem to want to do it for me (although it says it should be able to).

I also would like to avoid having to change each tag in each field manually. I’d like (ideally) to be able to batch change them (since I now have a large number of these files), though that’s not a requirement.

I’ve done some checking but haven’t found what I’m looking for.

Can any of y’all recommend programs that would be (a) free or cheap, (b) if cheap, purchaseable with PayPal maybe, (c) easy to use to do this, and most importantly (d) contains no spyware–oh yeah, and (e) runs on Windows XP?

Much obliged!

. . . I’m baaaa-a-aa-aaack.

Back from my relative’s wedding, that is.

Went fine. (Though the trip up and down was exhausting. Had to pull over by the side of the road to get just a few minutes rest a couple of times in order to stay safe.)

Thanks for all who have sent e-mail in the last few days.

It’ll take me a few days to catch up.

Thanks for y’all’s patience!

I’ve been looking at my referrers and today a lot of people from places like Google are coming across the blog with searches like:

• Does the Easter Vigil Mass fulfill the Sunday obligation? (Answer: YES), and
• Here Comes Peter Cottontail (presumably looking for the lyrics to the song).

I can only imagine what folks searching for the latter are thinking when they read THIS POST.

In view of past popular searches, maybe we should write a song about Larry the Easter Liger.

("Hey, there’s no tradition like a new tradition!"–Crow T. Robot)

I’ve been looking at my referrers and today a lot of people from places like Google are coming across the blog with searches like:

• Does the Easter Vigil Mass fulfill the Sunday obligation? (Answer: YES), and
• Here Comes Peter Cottontail (presumably looking for the lyrics to the song).

I can only imagine what folks searching for the latter are thinking when they read THIS POST.

In view of past popular searches, maybe we should write a song about Larry the Easter Liger.

("Hey, there’s no tradition like a new tradition!"–Crow T. Robot)

Down yonder a situation arose which I thought I might ought to comment on in the main blog area as it pertains to how I do things generally on the blog.

Basically, I linked a story that I wrote on St. Patrick some years ago, and a reader challenged some of the things it said. He didn’t provide any scholarly sources for me to look stuff up in, he simply said that some of the things were wrong.

Then a couple of days go by and he writes back and says:

Gezz, Jimmy; I was hoping you’d have proved me wrong by now. If not, then I think your article should be revised accordingly.

Just a thought.

I think this would be a good occasion to explain how I handle such challenges, as from time to time they get made in the comments box.

I operate on the rule that not everybody has to agree with me. In fact, that’s Rule 1. It’s why I don’t delete every comment disagreeing with me or feel the need to argue against it vociferously. I don’t have to have the last word on everything.

A converse of this rule is that I don’t have to agree with you, either, and so we can just politely disagree. I may, therefore, choose to let stand both what I wrote and the comment disagreeing with it and people can make up their own minds about it.

I also often sit back and let others weigh in on a subject rather than jumping all over it myself. I may have an answer handy, but I may let others kick the issue around and have their say. The blog is a community, and it’s a friendlier place that way.

I may eventually respond, but only when I have time. That is a commodity in short supply for me. When I have 276 e-mails in my Gmail inbox awaiting answers, that’s almost 300 new issues I have to deal with. Going back and doing research to deal with a challenge to an old issue  may not be at the top of the priority list–especially when it involves an article I wrote years ago and when the challenge is not sourced in a way that makes it easy for me to look up the basis of the challenge.

Also, given the amount of activity on the blog, I may simply forget that the challenge is there, especially if it doesn’t get e-mailed to me per my prior request.

The upshot is that I can’t promise to respond to every challenge. So here’s the compromise that I can offer: Except in Rule 20 situations, you get to have your say, other people get to see it and make up their own minds, and if I’m able, I’ll try to respond at some point if my schedule permits.

Hope that’s satisfactory.

A new product in the Curt Jester‘s ongoing line of Jesterware.

"Due to an amazing new breakthrough in technology using cranial nanobots and an associated software program you will soon be on your way to having a sinware free MOS [Moral Operating System]. Introducing Sinbot Search & Destroy 2.0! Install Sinbot S&D on your computer, swallow the included vial of nanobots, and connect the receiver via the USB (Universal Sinners Bus) your computer. Run Sinbot S&D and follow these simple instructions."

GET YOUR SINBOT TODAY.

Made some changes to the templates governing this blog last night.

With the addition of new guest bloggers, folks had pointed out a problem that was first reported back when SDG began guest blogging some: Difficulty in telling at the start of a post who was blogging.

I contacted TypePad to see if there was a way that I could include the blogger’s name at the top of a post. (They don’t have all the features I think they need, but they do have excellent customer service. Plug, plug!). I asked them:

The blog visitors are finding it confusing figuring out who is talking in a blog post. They find it frustrating that they have to look down to the end of the post (which may run off their screen) to figure out who is speaking in a post and are requesting that the notification of who posted be placed at the top of the post instead of the bottom. I looked for a way to do this and couldn’t find one. Is there a way to do something along these lines?

They responded:

If you’re using an Advanced Template Set, you could modify your templates to display the author name above the post as well as (or instead of) below the post.

Let us know if you’re using an Advanced Template Set and would like further help in doing this.

To which I replied:

Yes! I am using an advanced template set! And I would love help with this, along with general info about the eldritch nether-tongue in which the advanced templates need to be written.

I’ve only made the tiniest changes for fear of upsetting the cosmic balance of the universe by uttering the wrong syllable in an incantation and having to start over.

Much obliged!

Now, up to now it has be a HUGE ORDEAL to make any modifications to my templates, compounded by the fact that I haven’t had an understanding of the language in which the templates are written. (It ain’t ordinary HTML. It’s a propietary Dark Speech used by TypePad.) As a result, I have only been making the smallest changes to the templates, like my favicon (the picture of me you get if you link me in IE).

But thanks to their help, I got the info I needed to crack the Dark Speech and begin making more neat-o cool, user-friendly changes, such as how to add the blogger’s to the top of each post. I’ve played with that and don’t have it quite where I want–BUT–at least it’s there and I can continue trying to tweak it.

Kudos to the folks at TypePad!

Jimmy asked me to give you a few details about myself before jumping into blogging, so here goes:

• I’m a convert to the faith from Seventh-Day Adventism.  You can read my conversion story here and here (the second item is a sidebar to the original story).
• I’ve worked for Catholic Answers since 2000; I started as a staff apologist in 2003.  When the Catholic Answers Forums went live in May 2004, the apologetics staff began answering questions-and-answers on the site.  You can check them out here.
• I don’t yet know what I’ll blog about, but my interests are eclectic so my blog bits probably will be too.

You’ll probably learn more about me and my interests as we go along.  In the meantime, thanks to Jimmy for his invitation to participate.  Stay tuned….