When I grow up

Remember that Monster.com ad with all the kids talking about what dead-end career they wanted “when I grow up?”

If not, you’ll certainly remember it when you see this advertising-centric version that apparently slipped through the cracks. It’s by far the funniest thing I’ve watched all week; two-thirds of the way through, I was already in tears. QuickTime is required. (from Grant)

Chimera 0.6

The latest stable version of Chimera was released a couple of days ago, and I am falling further in love with this browser. Powered by the Gecko rendering engine (of Mozilla fame), it is a Cocoa-based web browser, only for OS X.

It is fast. Wicked fast. Scary fast. It blows IE away in rendering pretty much all of the sites I visit. MacUpdate.com loads blindingly fast. MacMinute appeared instantly. Did I mention it’s fast?

It shares some of my favorite features with its Mozilla brethren, as well. Tabbed browsing is just one of the coolest things to hit web browsers since standards compliance. No more multiple browser windows littering the desktop! And built-in pop-up ad blocking is a godsend.

If you’re running OS X, you owe it to yourself to give Chimera a try.

Transmit 2.1

The fine folks at Panic Software released version 2.1 of their fine FTP client, Transmit today. Hey, Michael, guess what feature got implemented? 🙂

Like you need another reason to go Mac

Wired has an article on successful tech entrepreneur Doug Humphrey, wherein he discusses his decision to move his company to all Macs. He has an excellent quote:

“We avoid the Windows operating system since it is such a huge security risk,” he explained. “We didn’t want to have viruses blowing up systems that we depend on for navigation and monitoring engines and other systems. And since nothing seems to be able to stop all of these Windows viruses, the best way to win is to just stop using Windows.” (emphasis added)

Why HTML in email is bad

Personally, I have long maintained that HTML belongs in browsers, not my email client. One of the reasons I use Mailsmith is that it never shows HTML in my email, stripping it in to plain text, if possible, and at worst keeping it as an HTML attachment I can open in my browser.

Scot Hacker wrote an excellent article that sums up all of my reasons why you shouldn’t use HTML in your email, and he offers tips on several email clients/services for turning HTML formatting off. Bookmark this one, boys and girls. (Thanks, Lee!)

Multiple choice

For our friends in the ACLU and other leftists opposed to profiling in our current war on terrorism:

  1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
    a. Olga Korbut
    b. Sitting Bull
    c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  2. In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
    a. Lost Norwegians
    b. Elvis
    c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  3. During the 1980s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
    a. John Dillinger
    b. The King of Sweden
    c. The Boy Scouts
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  4. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
    a. A pizza delivery boy
    b. Pee Wee Herman
    c. Geraldo Rivera
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked, and a 70-year-old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard by:
    a. The Smurfs
    b. Davy Jones
    c. The Little Mermaid
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  6. In 1985 TWA Flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy diver was murdered by:
    a. Captain Kid
    b. Charles Lindberg
    c. Mother Teresa
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
    a. Scooby Doo
    b. The Tooth Fairy
    c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  8. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
    a. Richard Simmons
    b. Grandma Moses
    c. Michael Jordan
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  9. In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
    a. Mr. Rogers
    b. Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill’s women problems
    c. The World Wrestling Federation
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed and thousands of people were killed by:
    a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
    b. The Supreme Court of Florida
    c. Mr. Bean
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
    a. Enron
    b. The Lutheran Church
    c. The NFL
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
    a. Bonnie and Clyde
    b. Captain Kangaroo
    c. Billy Graham
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

So can we get this through the thick skulls out there? Only one segment of world society has shown, since World War II, the propensity for terrorism and violence shown above: Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

Mothers with small children, 80-year-old grandmothers, pilots with the proper credentials, artificial-implant patients, and Medal of Honor winners are not boarding planes with the intent of hijacking them. Let’s stop harrasing millions of perfectly innocent people who are simply trying to get from point A to point B, and search the folks who actually fit the profile of terrorists.

You do not have a right to not be offended. If you look like, and have a name similar to, Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40, you should expect to be searched at the airport. Repeatedly.

You can bet your behind that if the IRA had pulled off what a bunch of Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 did on 9/11/01, then every white male in America would be getting stopped at the airport, especially those named Patrick, Kelly, et al. The terrorists with a grudge against the United States have a profile, yes. It’s about time we started using it. (Thanks to Kelly for the quiz via email.)

Character Palette

Instead of hunting up the Key Caps application under Mac OS X 10.2, use the Character Palette instead. Go to System Preferences, click on International, then choose the Input Menu tab. Select Character Palette in the list of layouts, and voila! you now have a new icon in your menu bar that you can consult from any application.

Lapvantage Deluxe Dome

My review of the Lapvantage Deluxe Dome is now online in the November issue of About This Particular Macintosh.

Industrious Clock

A very interesting web page clock. (Thanks, Jay!)

Blog spam

For crying out loud, now I have to worry about spam links showing up in my blog. Spammers are now stuffing blogs’ referral logs–a list that automatically updates links to sites that have linked to them–with links to sales pitches and porn sites. Yet more proof why spammers and the marketing companies that support them are the scum of the ‘net. (Thanks, Lee!)