Sage tech advice

Some sage technical advice for people with computer issues,
How to find a good computer repair person.

1) Don't flatter them and tell them how smart they are, or how lucky their wife/family/dog is to have a computer guy in the family.
2) Don't laughingly demean yourself in front of them and shyly admit that you know absolutely nothing about how a computer works. I mean, would you tell a plumber you don't know how a tap works? A mechanic that you don't know what makes it go vroom?
3) See #2. Every call I have been on, I feel like telling the person to stop demoralizing themselves in front of me. It's like hearing someone tell you how fat and ugly they are and that this is why they will always be single. Just say what the problem is. Period.
4) Seriously. If your machine is ten years old, don't pay me $90 an hour to open it up and look at it. You have already broken most records for hard drive life and power supply life. Live it up and buy yourself a new computer. Pay me for an hour to help you set it up and be happy that you probably won't need me for a few years.
5) Google. Google your problem. Your question has been asked a million times and answered a million times. If you can fix it, great, if not, at least you will know what you are talking about when the tech arrives.

I can definitely agree with all of those items. Especially the last one. Google it. Phrase your problem in different ways. Even us geeks use this solution when WE don't know the answer. Most people that know the answer probably do some writing about it on the internet, we are geeks after all.

And on #4. When you get a computer, find that trustworthy geek and ask him to spend an hour setting up the computer with anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware software. An ounce of prevention... will keep the computer healthy for a lot longer in the hyper connected world of today.

Oh yeah

I love G.K. Chesterton. And this is vintage.The Ironic Catholic: Friday's Chesterton QOTD

When such a critic says, for instance, that faith kept the world in darkness until doubt led to enlightenment, he is himself taking things on faith, things that he has never been sufficiently enlightened to doubt. That exceedingly crude simplification of human history is what he has been taught, and he believes it because he has been taught. I do not blame him for that; I merely remark that he is an unconscious example of everything that he reviles.

--G.K. Chesterton

Kinda reminds me of the "scientists" saying the global warming debate is closed because they have "consensus." As if that would pass the scientific test. Isn't science about forming a theory and then doing everything you can think of to break the theory? Or is it now to form a theory and get grants to perpetuate the theory and publish your theory so you get more grants?

Since they won't

Since OSV won't publish her column, I will. Small consolation, I know. But we do what we can.

++ Relapsed Catholic ++ Earth Day is crap

Did your children celebrate Lenin's birthday in school last week?

Don't answer "no" right away.

The first Earth Day "teach-in" was celebrated on April 22, 1970, to protest the Vietnam War, pollution, and littering -- and to commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday of one of history's most notorious villains.

As the father of communism, the deaths of tens of millions of people can be laid at that Soviet dictator's doorstep. That now forgotten fact about Earth Day's origins should place your child's sudden enthusiasm for recycling, saving the panda bears and energy efficient light bulbs in a new, well, light.

Like the Marxist philosophy that inspired it, today's environmental movement has become, for its most ardent proponents, an ersatz religion. As Joseph Brean recently observed, "in its myths of the Fall and the Apocalypse, its saints and heretics, its iconography and tithing, its reliance on prophecy, even its schisms -- the green movement now exhibits the same psychology of compliance as religion."

In a widely disseminated 2003 speech, Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton called environmentalism "the religion of choice for urban atheists" and "a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths."

Catholics should be concerned. Next time you hear about the latest sacrifices being demanded of us by environmentalists and their friends in politics and show biz (who rarely practice what they preach ) don't just shrug and say "What harm could it do?"

"What harm could it do" is most assuredly NOT the standard by which Catholics are called to live.

Assuredly, Christians are compelled by their Creator to be good stewards of the earth; the very first book of the Bible makes that clear.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

"The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religions respect for the integrity of creation." (#2415)

For radical environmentalists, though, "dominion" is a bad word. Catholic teachings that equate care of the earth with the right to private property go against everything they believe. You see, environmentalists hail mostly from wealthy First World nations. They're really concerned less with "saving the planet" than assuaging their guilt about their own relative affluence. They do this through the "ritual" of recycling, buying carbon offset "indulgences" and following other environmental "commandments."

Recently Cardinal Pell of Australia was asked to comment on fellow Cardinal Giacomo Biffi's controversial declaration that the coming Anti-Christ would be a "pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist."

Pell responded that "there are some forms of deep-green ecology that are deeply pagan and deeply hostile to the special and central place of human beings and especially to Christianity. But as Christians, we must have a reverence for nature."

However, the media "have been warning us of global warming, and that's alternated with warnings of the coming ice age. There have been gigantic climatic changes in the past and I think almost entirely they're beyond human control."

"You see," Pell added wisely, "people without religion are often looking for something to fear."

That millions may fall prey to a seductive New Age faith that seems based on good intentions (and "irrefutable science" that seems to change weekly) is a much greater danger than the remote possibility that polar bears are doomed to extinction. (As a matter of fact, and contrary to mainstream news reports, their numbers have increased, not decreased, in the past few years...)

Your child's immortal soul is infinitely more important than the size of his "carbon footprint", or yours.

Amen to that.

When you are selling a lemon

One must act fast. (if you are the type to sell your problems to someone else.) And the street corner hawkers get desperate to sell their goods when they see the game is about up.

Gore urges fast action on global warming - Yahoo! News

He said he foresees a revolution in small-scale electricity producers for replacing coal, likening the development to what the Internet has done for the exchange of information. He also advocated tougher fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks.
"There is a sense of hope in this country that this United States Congress will rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions to this crisis," he said. "Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination."

Still gnawing on that old bone I see.

Gore said the climate issue should not be a partisan or political issue. He said he saw a limited role for nuclear power, which the Bush administration has promoted, because the plants are expensive to build and "only come in one size: extra large."

How can it not be when he is involved? Partisan politics and big money is all that pushes these regulatory fear-mongers.

He rejected the contention by opponents of quick action on global warming that the United States should only impose mandatory controls on greenhouse gases if China, India and other rapidly developing nations agree to do the same.

"The best way and the only way to get China and India on board is for the U.S. to demonstrate real leadership," Gore said. "As the world's largest economy and the greatest superpower, we are uniquely situated to tackle a problem of this magnitude," he said.

Oh yeah. And I have a bridge to nowhere I can sell you also. That "leadership" has led China to wonderful progress on Human Rights issues. They will be on board, just waiting to buy the remainder of the scrap of our industry. Just as they have done with all the steel manufacturing.

Gore favors a "cap-and-trade" program for the U.S. economy, not just specific sectors such as electricity or manufacturing, which would set an overall limit on warming emissions but allow industry to meet the target by trading pollution allowances.

Speaking of which, I think Gore has reached his overall warming emissions. Time for him to stop riding Oscars fake coattail.

The Gorean Creed

From small dead animals: The Gorean Creed via relapsed catholic

We believe in Global Warming
the Sea-Raiser, the All-Powerful,
maker of tsunami and hurricane,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
...

For us and for our salvation
Gore came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Nader
and the Virgin Chomsky
and became truly political.
For our sake he was un-elected
under Pontius Harris;
he suffered defeat and was retired.

On the third year he rose again
in accordance with the Documentatrians;
he ascended into Hollywood
and is seated at the right hand
of the Film Executives.
He will come again in glory
to judge the polluting and the recycling,
and his kingdom will have a biodegradable end. ...

Too much climate change

True Irony: House Global Warming hearing canceled due to ice storm

he Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

tip to Huckleberries