Once upon a time, in a beautiful peaceful field, there lived two very different creatures: an Ant, and a Grasshopper.
It was Spring, the weather was warm, the times were pleasant, and life was good.
The Ant spent all his time preparing for hard times, should they ever come. He made his little ant-hole drier and more secure, and spent hours each day carrying seeds and fruit, food of all kinds, to his larder, socking it all away, "just in case".
The Grasshopper spent his time eating, lounging in the sweet sunshine, laying about, partying, and pestering the living crap out of the Ant. Grasshopper was the original Party Animal, who thought the Ant was terminally out of touch and no fun at all.
"Hey Ant", said the Grasshopper, "come party with me, dude! I've got some killer weed here, with no weed killer, if you know what I mean, man... c'mon, let's party!"
The Ant replied, "maybe after I get this current harvest in, and prepare the new storage facility, and get a bit more saved up for winter... maybe then, I'll party up a bit."
"Sheesh, whatever, dude, you buzzkill.." muttered the Grasshopper, as he hopped of to soak up more weeds and sunshine, maybe play some hackysack or frisbee or something.
Spring turned into Summer, and still the Ant carried on, working from dawn till dusk, saving up for Winter. And still Grasshopper played and partied, stalling and partying, waiting till "later" to save up.
Summer waxed, and waned, Fall came about, and the weather began to cool a bit. Still, Grasshopper found plenty to eat, lots of fruit and leaves (although those were getting a bit crunchy), and decided he had plenty of time to prepare for faraway Winter. And still, Ant was a partypooper, work work work.
Finally, Winter arrived. Ant was warm, snug, and dry, with plenty of food to see him through the cold hard times. Grasshopper, on the other hand, was freezing, starving, and homeless. He pounded on Ant's door, begging to be let in, to be saved.
Grasshopper died. Ant dragged his carcass in, and added him to the menu for the winter.
At least, that's what should have happened. In our current reality, all the Grasshoppers who never saved and who expected Spring and Summer would never end, and their property values would continue to climb, overthrew Nature and had Ant turned out of his house, along with all his savings. Everybody died, and the field lay empty and fallow for years thereafter.
Sucks, doesn't it?
Moral of the story: when another civilization rises from the economic ashes of this one, let them remember our mistakes, and live for themselves, reap where they sow, and not setup a house of cards based on preying on future victims and generations.
We've got a lot of work to do, to repair our economy. We need Ants, not Grasshoppers.
Digg it
Monday, March 9, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Vista and/or 2007 - NO!
From my main website at http://www.markgillis.com/Vista___2007.html
If you are reading this (and I will admit the odds are not great, but what the hey), you probably have a computer. And I will admit, your computer probably runs a version of Windows. In all likelihood, you still use XP, but a lot of you will be using Vista. Soon, you'll be running Windows 7.
And that's fine. If it works for you, great. But before you throw more money towards Redmond, stop and consider a few things.
Why? Why do you want do that? If you are on the internet now, well, there you go.
But you want new features, you say? You want stability, security, features, and so on? I agree with you! Get those things. Here's some options for you:
If you have an older PC, and are looking to upgrade your software, you are pretty much screwed. You will be buying a new PC. Vista and "7" won't run on your old eMachines or Compaq Presario, not worth a poop, anyways. So you will buy new hardware in order to get new software. Skip down to Option B below.
Option "A" - Upgrade your software on the cheap. There is a rising class of software, called "open source", which means, there is no single owner, no company, no profit, and no cost to you. Community effort. Download and install an Open Source operating system, to replace Windows. I'd recommend the latest Ubuntu, from http://www.ubuntu.com. It works very well, comes with almost all the apps you need, including a nice "office" suite. All for free. If you use your PC for basic surfing and emailing, with the occasional document, saving your pictures, stuff like that, I'd go with Ubuntu. Keep your PC, squeeze a few more years out of it, and don't pay a dime.
Option "B" - you have accepted your fate, you are ready to pay, but you expect value and bang for your buck. You want your computer to just friggin work, thankyouverymuch. Viruses don't attack the fridge or your car, for cryin' out loud, why can't you have a computer that reliable? You can. Buy a Mac. Oh, I know, you've heard the horror stories about price, it'll cost tens of thousands of dollars, your kids will starve, your cat will become pregnant, blah blah. All lies.
Option "C" - Upgrade/Replace your PC to Vista (or "7"), and add "office" software. Prepare to shell out at least a thousand bucks. Go do the math. On the other hand, you could buy a Mac Mini, which I guarantee is more computer power than you will ever need, for less than $600. It comes with the software you need. Boom done.
I don't want you to reward the company that sold you the software you now have to replace, because it isn't secure /reliable/stable, by re-purchasing software that already isn't an improvement over the status quo. They've let you down often enough, haven't they? Take some responsibility for your computer needs, friend, it's the 21st century. Do the math, learn from history, think. I did.
If you are reading this (and I will admit the odds are not great, but what the hey), you probably have a computer. And I will admit, your computer probably runs a version of Windows. In all likelihood, you still use XP, but a lot of you will be using Vista. Soon, you'll be running Windows 7.
And that's fine. If it works for you, great. But before you throw more money towards Redmond, stop and consider a few things.
Why? Why do you want do that? If you are on the internet now, well, there you go.
But you want new features, you say? You want stability, security, features, and so on? I agree with you! Get those things. Here's some options for you:
If you have an older PC, and are looking to upgrade your software, you are pretty much screwed. You will be buying a new PC. Vista and "7" won't run on your old eMachines or Compaq Presario, not worth a poop, anyways. So you will buy new hardware in order to get new software. Skip down to Option B below.
Option "A" - Upgrade your software on the cheap. There is a rising class of software, called "open source", which means, there is no single owner, no company, no profit, and no cost to you. Community effort. Download and install an Open Source operating system, to replace Windows. I'd recommend the latest Ubuntu, from http://www.ubuntu.com. It works very well, comes with almost all the apps you need, including a nice "office" suite. All for free. If you use your PC for basic surfing and emailing, with the occasional document, saving your pictures, stuff like that, I'd go with Ubuntu. Keep your PC, squeeze a few more years out of it, and don't pay a dime.
Option "B" - you have accepted your fate, you are ready to pay, but you expect value and bang for your buck. You want your computer to just friggin work, thankyouverymuch. Viruses don't attack the fridge or your car, for cryin' out loud, why can't you have a computer that reliable? You can. Buy a Mac. Oh, I know, you've heard the horror stories about price, it'll cost tens of thousands of dollars, your kids will starve, your cat will become pregnant, blah blah. All lies.
Option "C" - Upgrade/Replace your PC to Vista (or "7"), and add "office" software. Prepare to shell out at least a thousand bucks. Go do the math. On the other hand, you could buy a Mac Mini, which I guarantee is more computer power than you will ever need, for less than $600. It comes with the software you need. Boom done.
I don't want you to reward the company that sold you the software you now have to replace, because it isn't secure /reliable/stable, by re-purchasing software that already isn't an improvement over the status quo. They've let you down often enough, haven't they? Take some responsibility for your computer needs, friend, it's the 21st century. Do the math, learn from history, think. I did.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Email Garbage
From my site at http://www.markgillis.com/Dont_Forward.html:
Hurry! Forward this email! Urgent!!!
You've received emails with titles like this. We all have. The question is, what do you do after you get one? Do you slavishly forward it? To everyone? If so, slap yourself, hard and often, on your inner thighs, until redness and swelling occur. When people get emails from you, they roll their eyes and make guttural grunting noises.
Want to not be that person? Then think about some motives on the part of the crafters of these wastes of time and bandwidth. These are some of the ways they fool you and get you to do their bidding:
a) Appeal to Authority. By telling you a given email is "approved by" or "verified" by some highly-recognizable entity or organization, the creators of these garbage messages attempt to convince you to obey their command to forward, forward, forward.
b)Appeal to Emotion. By presenting you with a sob story, a situation which pulls on your heart strings, the evil crafters of email garbage attempt to get you to obey by making you feel like an ass if you don't. I mean, who wouldn't want to help find a lost little girl, or adopt a litter of cute puppies, or feed an entire hungry village? Somehow, they get you to suspend disbelief that forwarding an email will accomplish any of these things.
c)Appeal to Greed. Oh yes, all you have to do is forward the crap to all your (soon to be ex-) friends, and Bill Gates or AOL or God or somebody will magically count each time it's forwarded, and send you some huge check. For doing nothing. And people fall for it.
d)Appeal to Fear. If you don't forward the email, rapists will go unpunished, gang members will shoot you while driving without lights, you will get a hypo full of AIDS in the ass at a movie theatre, or will just have plain bad luck for a million years. Unless, of course, you instantly forward the trash message.
e)Appeal to Curiosity. "after you send this message to al least 9 people, an Angel will appear on your screen and ventilate her spleen into your coffee cup! I don't know how it works but IT DOES!!"... Please. Anyone with the education and experience of a rutabaga would not fall for this. Yet there are too many people who fall for it, repeatedly, over and over. And the angel never does show up, let alone leave DNA behind. Bummer.
If any email comes in that looks like it meets one of these criteria, trash it. Feel completely guilt and worry free. As the high priest of email purity, I absolve your soul of any stain of sin for not forwarding any email garbage to anyone and everyone you have ever heard of. In other words, nothing bad will happen when you simply delete the email. You were happy before the email came in, right? So what gave email the right to get all up in your inbox and take over your life, commanding you to do things? Nothing, that's what.
Break the chain. Stop the madness. Free yourself of the chains of email-obedience! Revolt against those who would command you to forward/copy!
It's your life, it's your inbox, it's your email. Screw them.
Now, right away, forward this to all your friends, and all their friends, and everyone in your time zone, and all their friends. Spend the next 6 hours gathering email addresses, and forward it to them, too. I command it! If you don't, goat-less boys in Bratswanna-Land will starve, puppies will be exiled to the moon, the Communist Party of Tupperware will take over your PTA, and Bill Gates won't send you the bazillion dollar check he's already written and signed, just waiting for you to press "send" so he can mail it to you...
Sounds dumb, right? Congratulations, it is dumb. If you found yourself clicking "forward", right now, go find a large monkey wrench, beat your computer to small bits, eat the bits, then sit on the wrench until it rust-glues to your backside.
Hurry! Forward this email! Urgent!!!
You've received emails with titles like this. We all have. The question is, what do you do after you get one? Do you slavishly forward it? To everyone? If so, slap yourself, hard and often, on your inner thighs, until redness and swelling occur. When people get emails from you, they roll their eyes and make guttural grunting noises.
Want to not be that person? Then think about some motives on the part of the crafters of these wastes of time and bandwidth. These are some of the ways they fool you and get you to do their bidding:
a) Appeal to Authority. By telling you a given email is "approved by" or "verified" by some highly-recognizable entity or organization, the creators of these garbage messages attempt to convince you to obey their command to forward, forward, forward.
b)Appeal to Emotion. By presenting you with a sob story, a situation which pulls on your heart strings, the evil crafters of email garbage attempt to get you to obey by making you feel like an ass if you don't. I mean, who wouldn't want to help find a lost little girl, or adopt a litter of cute puppies, or feed an entire hungry village? Somehow, they get you to suspend disbelief that forwarding an email will accomplish any of these things.
c)Appeal to Greed. Oh yes, all you have to do is forward the crap to all your (soon to be ex-) friends, and Bill Gates or AOL or God or somebody will magically count each time it's forwarded, and send you some huge check. For doing nothing. And people fall for it.
d)Appeal to Fear. If you don't forward the email, rapists will go unpunished, gang members will shoot you while driving without lights, you will get a hypo full of AIDS in the ass at a movie theatre, or will just have plain bad luck for a million years. Unless, of course, you instantly forward the trash message.
e)Appeal to Curiosity. "after you send this message to al least 9 people, an Angel will appear on your screen and ventilate her spleen into your coffee cup! I don't know how it works but IT DOES!!"... Please. Anyone with the education and experience of a rutabaga would not fall for this. Yet there are too many people who fall for it, repeatedly, over and over. And the angel never does show up, let alone leave DNA behind. Bummer.
If any email comes in that looks like it meets one of these criteria, trash it. Feel completely guilt and worry free. As the high priest of email purity, I absolve your soul of any stain of sin for not forwarding any email garbage to anyone and everyone you have ever heard of. In other words, nothing bad will happen when you simply delete the email. You were happy before the email came in, right? So what gave email the right to get all up in your inbox and take over your life, commanding you to do things? Nothing, that's what.
Break the chain. Stop the madness. Free yourself of the chains of email-obedience! Revolt against those who would command you to forward/copy!
It's your life, it's your inbox, it's your email. Screw them.
Now, right away, forward this to all your friends, and all their friends, and everyone in your time zone, and all their friends. Spend the next 6 hours gathering email addresses, and forward it to them, too. I command it! If you don't, goat-less boys in Bratswanna-Land will starve, puppies will be exiled to the moon, the Communist Party of Tupperware will take over your PTA, and Bill Gates won't send you the bazillion dollar check he's already written and signed, just waiting for you to press "send" so he can mail it to you...
Sounds dumb, right? Congratulations, it is dumb. If you found yourself clicking "forward", right now, go find a large monkey wrench, beat your computer to small bits, eat the bits, then sit on the wrench until it rust-glues to your backside.
Miracle Energy Liquid Discovered
From http://www.markgillis.com/Gasoline.html:
What if I told you I could sell you a new, fantastic substance which will vastly revolutionise travel and transportation? This stuff will enable you to transport almost any quantity of any material, up to two tons in weight, to another location 20 miles away, in less than 30 minutes. It’s available in convenient packaging, weighs less than 5 pounds per unit, and is available anywhere.
And what if I could sell you this fantastic substance for less than $2.00 per unit? Imagine, transport 4,000 pounds of stuff across town inside a half hour, for two bucks? You’d be all over that, right? What a fantastic advancement, right?
Well, it’s called gasoline. Petroleum. Gas. That stuff you complain about so much, as if it is your god-given right to have unlimited quantities of the stuff, at your fingertips, for whatever price you will lower your dignity enough to pay. It’s a modern miracle, and you take it for granted.
Here’s an idea, oh corpulent one: Next time you contemplate (that means “think about”, by the way) getting your groceries home, or your next six-pack, or whatever, from the mega-super-mart down the road, think about doing it without using a drop of gas. With the strength of your legs and back. With your guts.
I bet then you’ll not whine so stridently when the price of gasoline goes up a penny or two. And if you still whine and moan, then you, my friend are most of the problem. If you don’t like the situation, don’t just bitch about it, put your mind and strength into fixing it.
What if I told you I could sell you a new, fantastic substance which will vastly revolutionise travel and transportation? This stuff will enable you to transport almost any quantity of any material, up to two tons in weight, to another location 20 miles away, in less than 30 minutes. It’s available in convenient packaging, weighs less than 5 pounds per unit, and is available anywhere.
And what if I could sell you this fantastic substance for less than $2.00 per unit? Imagine, transport 4,000 pounds of stuff across town inside a half hour, for two bucks? You’d be all over that, right? What a fantastic advancement, right?
Well, it’s called gasoline. Petroleum. Gas. That stuff you complain about so much, as if it is your god-given right to have unlimited quantities of the stuff, at your fingertips, for whatever price you will lower your dignity enough to pay. It’s a modern miracle, and you take it for granted.
Here’s an idea, oh corpulent one: Next time you contemplate (that means “think about”, by the way) getting your groceries home, or your next six-pack, or whatever, from the mega-super-mart down the road, think about doing it without using a drop of gas. With the strength of your legs and back. With your guts.
I bet then you’ll not whine so stridently when the price of gasoline goes up a penny or two. And if you still whine and moan, then you, my friend are most of the problem. If you don’t like the situation, don’t just bitch about it, put your mind and strength into fixing it.
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