How was this Possible in 1936?

Last week I uncovered some interesting facts about the summer of 1936. I posted the column here.

CBS' Comedy Lineup

I saw that CBS is airing a tribute to Dan "I'd" Rather "not tell the truth." From the AP story:

"He is grateful for stepping back and looking at what is an incredible contribution to CBS and to journalism. He's very proud of that."

Man, I don't think I can stop laughing long enough to type any more! "Incredible contribution to CBS and to journalism." HAHAHAHA. His "contribution" is nothing more that showing that it's OK to forge documents and pass them off as truth in order to further a personal agenda. But, since he was trying to besmirch Bush, the MSM turns their head and gives their old buddy a free pass. No wonder the big three dinosaur media outlets are scrambling to figure out why they are going extinct.

In a related story, Katie Couric said that she might go to a war zone if "...her presence would advance a story ..." (Baltimore Sun). Allow me to translate: "If I can make Bush or the U.S. look bad and incite more ill will towards America, then I will go and make a story out of it."

Katie, here's a tip: if you decide to forge some documents using Microsoft Word, make sure you date them to a point in time after Microsoft Word was developed.

Bounty

After a slow start the tomatoes have really begun to come in. I'm picking about 20 every other day; and that's after I toss out the ones that have been inflicted with blossom-end rot.

The jalapenos and hot peppers are also coming in nicely. The habaneros, however, still haven't ripened even though they appear to be fullly grown. I believe they require about 100 days after planting to be ripe. So, what does all this mean? I've been busy making salsa and tomato sauce!

Boycott

I try my best to get people I know to use Firefox¹ to browse the web. Usually, this entails a quick, non-technical explanation like "most spyware is written to work with I.E." (as opposed to explaining what Active-X is or that I.E. is part of the operating system). I then point out features like tabbed browsing and live bookmarks. I tell them to give it a try and that I.E. and Firefox can exist on the same PC and that they can use one or the other and this comes is handy for those pesky I.E.-only sites. However, I have a feeling Microsoft has a plan to make Firefox unstable in Vista, a 'feature' that is not in the testing release. Maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist but given Microsoft's record of not playing nice with other software (like Netscape) I would not put that past them.

I saw a more technical critique of I.E. posted on Windowsitpro.com by Paul Thurrott in which he states: "Boycott IE. It's a cancer on the Web that must be stopped. IE isn't secure and isn't standards-compliant, which makes it unworkable both for end users and Web content creators."

Many end-users can probably be convinced that "I.E. is a cancer on the Web" but the average user isn't concerned with CSS but they do want the Web to work; they want standards but they don't necessary care if they are open or proprietary. It's up to the developers now to not give in and develop I.E.-only websites and, instead, develop with established standards. It is also up to those of us who use Firefox, Flock, Opera, or Seamonkey to spread the word and tell people "don't click on that blue e."

I.E. was one cancer that everyone should have ignored when it first appeared.


1 - My In-laws still use Netscape. I got them on it in '99 and it works for them. I've been educating people about the perils of using I.E. for quite some time.

A Dud

Well the heat wave *yawn* of 2006 has passed. Locally, after predicting temperatures of 95, 98, 101, 96, (Mon through Thur) we actually hit 90, 95, 94, and 96. What a dud. Yes, it was hot, (hot enough for me to actually turn on the air conditioner) but the closest we got to 100 was 96. "Highs near 100." "Record-breaking temperatures." I know weather predicting is difficult but what happened? No local records were set or even tied. Panic, panic, panic. The same thing happens in winter. They call for 4-6 inches of snow, people panic, the grocery stores turn into mob scenes then we end up with 1.5 inches. Satellites and all kinds of computer modeling still cannot predict Mother Nature. Human nature, on the other hand, is easy to predict. 100 degrees - ahhhh!!!!!!! It's never been hot before!!!!!!! How will I cope???? Snow?!?!?! ahhhhhh!!!! Six inches; I'm going to be stuck in my house for five days!!!!!