The wife accidentally broke our old printer the other day while cleaning it. The repair costs for such an old printer were prohibitive, so I took the opportunity to upgrade our printer to an Epson CX4600 printer/scanner. It's pretty cool. Here's a sample to the right:
However, once I got it home and opened, I learned that the printer driver and other software wouldn't work on OS 10.1 (my aged Mac operating system). It took at least OS 10.2 (Jaguar). Well, now, you can't get Jaguar anymore, so I had to upgrade my OS to OS 10.3 (Panther). It was probably long overdue anyway. Apple quit making even updates for OS 10.1 a while back.
So I upgraded the operating system. Then I found out that the printer would work with either OS 10 or OS 9 (the "Classic" operating system) but not both at the same time. Now, our word processing software on the Mac was an old AppleWorks 5.0, which only works in OS 9. But since we didn't want to have to keep switching from OS 10.3 and OS 9 anytime we wanted to print depending on the program we were using, I went out and got AppleWorks 6.0, which works in OS 10.
All that because The Wife broke the old printer. How could I be mad at her? It was an accident, plainly, and I got new toys out of the deal. Makes me want to use the Mac again instead of the Dell laptop.
The Mac is living on borrowed time. This is the last operating system upgrade it will take. Once OS 10.3 has run its course, then this computer is done. Apple just came out with OS 10.4 (Tiger) yesterday and this old G3 iMac can't handle it (no firewire port, for instance, which Tiger requires). I had to delete a lot of files just to make room for Panther.
It's called planned obsolescence. Twerps.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
It's been so hard to post lately
OK, OK, I'm not the best blogger in the world. I'm not even a very good one. It's been so hard to post lately. It's tax season, so I've been working long hours. The Wife has been working during the days, so she has to go to meetings at night. There are things to be done here at home after work, so there's little time to blog.
Not that there haven't been things to discuss. There was the recent death of feminist blowhard Andrea Dworkin, you know, the all-sex-is-rape chick.
There's the on-going blitzkrieg to get U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for having his wife and daughter on his campaign payroll, even though such things are hardly new. Even our only Socialist congresscritter Bernie Sanders, S-Vt., gets his relatives into the act. Big honkin' deal.
There's the fight over the nomination of John Bolton to be UN ambassador. Appratently, the Dems are hoping to derail his nomination based on the fact that he once chewed out a subordinate. Stop the presses, Millie! This is what you have to fall back on when you know any substantive arguments you might make will fall flat on their faces.
No, there is plenty to write about, but it is hard, not being a professional pyjama-wearing blogger myself nor having a staff or other like-minded friends to post along with me. Nope, I'm a one-man shop, and this one man gets rather threadbare from time to time.
Now is one of those times.
Not that there haven't been things to discuss. There was the recent death of feminist blowhard Andrea Dworkin, you know, the all-sex-is-rape chick.
There's the on-going blitzkrieg to get U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for having his wife and daughter on his campaign payroll, even though such things are hardly new. Even our only Socialist congresscritter Bernie Sanders, S-Vt., gets his relatives into the act. Big honkin' deal.
There's the fight over the nomination of John Bolton to be UN ambassador. Appratently, the Dems are hoping to derail his nomination based on the fact that he once chewed out a subordinate. Stop the presses, Millie! This is what you have to fall back on when you know any substantive arguments you might make will fall flat on their faces.
No, there is plenty to write about, but it is hard, not being a professional pyjama-wearing blogger myself nor having a staff or other like-minded friends to post along with me. Nope, I'm a one-man shop, and this one man gets rather threadbare from time to time.
Now is one of those times.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Spring forward at 2 a.m. Yay!
This is the weekend during we "spring forward" into Daylight Time. I love Daylight Time. Losing the extra hour of sleep can be a bit nettlesome, but I compensate for it by simply going to bed an hour earlier Saturday night. And then I can look forward to getting that hour back in October.
John J. Miller has a column over at NRO poo-pooing the annual switch to Daylight Time. He complains about the switch, stating, maybe sarcastically, that there is no way to "save" daylight.
OK, I'll concede that rather pedantic point. That's one reason I simply call it "Daylight Time," as opposed to "Standard Time." It's prbably better to call it Daylight Adjustment Time," since what we are doing by this annual clock ritual is adjusting the daylight we get to enjoy from the early morning, when most people are off to work, to the evening, when most people are off from work. Maybe we should call it what others do around the world, which is merely "Summer Time."
I like coming home from work and there still being enough daylight left to take the children swimming or go get in a round of golf. I like it that the sunlight isn't streaming in my bedroom window at 5:45 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Now, as a parent, I wouldn't mind seeing the return of Standard Time the weekend after Labor Day, once the back-to-school routine has kicked in. Or how about having the commencement and termination of Daylight Time coincide more with the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. But them's small potatoes.
As I understand it, legally mandated switch in time happened in America occurred in 1918 as an energy-saving measure during World War I. It was repealed, then reinstituted during WWII ("War Time").
But the fact of the matter is, most people like Daylight Time because it's fun. So the poo-pooers can just go pound sand 'til October.
John J. Miller has a column over at NRO poo-pooing the annual switch to Daylight Time. He complains about the switch, stating, maybe sarcastically, that there is no way to "save" daylight.
OK, I'll concede that rather pedantic point. That's one reason I simply call it "Daylight Time," as opposed to "Standard Time." It's prbably better to call it Daylight Adjustment Time," since what we are doing by this annual clock ritual is adjusting the daylight we get to enjoy from the early morning, when most people are off to work, to the evening, when most people are off from work. Maybe we should call it what others do around the world, which is merely "Summer Time."
I like coming home from work and there still being enough daylight left to take the children swimming or go get in a round of golf. I like it that the sunlight isn't streaming in my bedroom window at 5:45 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Now, as a parent, I wouldn't mind seeing the return of Standard Time the weekend after Labor Day, once the back-to-school routine has kicked in. Or how about having the commencement and termination of Daylight Time coincide more with the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. But them's small potatoes.
As I understand it, legally mandated switch in time happened in America occurred in 1918 as an energy-saving measure during World War I. It was repealed, then reinstituted during WWII ("War Time").
But the fact of the matter is, most people like Daylight Time because it's fun. So the poo-pooers can just go pound sand 'til October.
Godspeed, Karol Wojtyla, Bishop of Rome
a/k/a John Paul II.
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, circa 1975
Now, mind you, I'm firmly Protestant, a child of the great Reformation. However, I greatly respect this Bishop of Rome, a man who armed only with faith in Christ could stand up to two of the most horrible examples of totalitarianism in modern times, Naziism and Soviet Communism, and help face them down. (I might add a third form of totalitarianism he was firmly against, that being the modern secular orthodoxy that, like Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia, cannot abide any form of dissent.)
He was firmly committed to his beliefs and never wavered. He was firmly pro-life to the point of opposing both abortion and capital punishment. His was a force of moral authority and certain moral absolutes that the secular zeitgeist could not shake. But he did not act like a king or prince as so many of his predecessors in centuries past used to.
Some liberals are in a bit of consternation over the outpouring of grief and cconstant media coverage of Bishop Wojtyla's final hours. You can read some of it here. Of course, some of these are the types of people who view everything through the prism of their own politics and for whom nothing transcends rank partisan politics. Thus, because Bishop Wojtyla opposed certain secularist orthodoxies, he is a man who cannot be remembered fondly or remembered for the good he did. Thus, because he dared defy these secular beliefs, he must criticised, even on his death bed. A truly sad way to exist, if you ask me.
Now, as I said, I am firmly Protestant. I do not recognise any special authority of the Bishop of Rome, I don't recognise the doctrine of papal infallibility. I truly believe in the Lutherian doctrine of the five solas, that man is saved by faith alone (sola fide), by grace alone (sola gratia), through Christ alone (solo Christus), as revealed through Scripture alone (sola scriptura), all for God's glory alone (soli Deo gloria). No one can or need intercede for us to the Father save for Christ alone. I understand that the Roman church has changed dramatically in its beliefs since Luther's day, but there are still many articles of the Roman faith I disagree with.
That being said, I truly belief that Bishop Karol Wojtyla is a godly man, has done many great things during his time on Earth to make it a better place, and, God willing, will be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven.
God be with you, Karol Wojtyla.
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, circa 1975
Now, mind you, I'm firmly Protestant, a child of the great Reformation. However, I greatly respect this Bishop of Rome, a man who armed only with faith in Christ could stand up to two of the most horrible examples of totalitarianism in modern times, Naziism and Soviet Communism, and help face them down. (I might add a third form of totalitarianism he was firmly against, that being the modern secular orthodoxy that, like Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia, cannot abide any form of dissent.)
He was firmly committed to his beliefs and never wavered. He was firmly pro-life to the point of opposing both abortion and capital punishment. His was a force of moral authority and certain moral absolutes that the secular zeitgeist could not shake. But he did not act like a king or prince as so many of his predecessors in centuries past used to.
Some liberals are in a bit of consternation over the outpouring of grief and cconstant media coverage of Bishop Wojtyla's final hours. You can read some of it here. Of course, some of these are the types of people who view everything through the prism of their own politics and for whom nothing transcends rank partisan politics. Thus, because Bishop Wojtyla opposed certain secularist orthodoxies, he is a man who cannot be remembered fondly or remembered for the good he did. Thus, because he dared defy these secular beliefs, he must criticised, even on his death bed. A truly sad way to exist, if you ask me.
Now, as I said, I am firmly Protestant. I do not recognise any special authority of the Bishop of Rome, I don't recognise the doctrine of papal infallibility. I truly believe in the Lutherian doctrine of the five solas, that man is saved by faith alone (sola fide), by grace alone (sola gratia), through Christ alone (solo Christus), as revealed through Scripture alone (sola scriptura), all for God's glory alone (soli Deo gloria). No one can or need intercede for us to the Father save for Christ alone. I understand that the Roman church has changed dramatically in its beliefs since Luther's day, but there are still many articles of the Roman faith I disagree with.
That being said, I truly belief that Bishop Karol Wojtyla is a godly man, has done many great things during his time on Earth to make it a better place, and, God willing, will be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven.
God be with you, Karol Wojtyla.
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