Category Archives: FAIL

Note: if you’re troubleshooting an Internet problem, and you use your BuckeyeTel line to call Buckeye’s support number, don’t power-cycle the modem while you’re still on the phone.

Over at BackupBrain, Tom asks people to donate to the Red Cross, then gets countermanded by comments.

First: the American Red Cross (ARC) cut off its dues payments to the International Red Cross over the Magen David Adom issue (see this link). In that light, it is shameful to withhold help from hurricane victims for this reason. I’m quite surprised that Dori, who certainly knows how to use the Internet to find stuff out, apparently didn’t in this case.

Second: it’s certainly true that other organizations handle their funds differently than the American Red Cross does. It’s also true that the ARC has made mistakes in the past. Having said that, though, they are far and away the most efficient disaster relief agency for crises of this magnitude. Many other relief agencies do a great deal of valuable work in situations like this, but none has the institutional experience or resources that the ARC does.

Third: why all the searching for a secular relief agency? You’ve got one: ARC. Is it really so bad to give money to a religiously-based organization like the Catholic Charities? Organizations like CC, the LDS Church’s Humanitarian Services wing, and others do their work because of religious motivations. You may dislike or distrust those motivations, but there’s no denying the goodness of their results.

Update: this morning’s Al’s Morning Meeting has a terrific summary of relief organizations and what they’re doing (drawn, ironically enough, from the Christian Science Monitor). Among the charities that might fit Dori’s criteria: Habitat for Humanity and the United Way. Check GuideStar.org for more potential charities.

So, John Ashcroft got fired:

John Ashcroft, one of the most powerful, controversial attorneys general in American history, abruptly and reluctantly quit yesterday… Sources said Ashcroft submitted his handwritten, five-page resignation letter before Election Day but was “energized” after Bush’s victory and told the White House through his aides he was willing to stay on indefinitely as the nation’s top cop.
The White House said no. Ashcroft will remain in office only until his successor is chosen.

I think all of the major problems are fixed, except that there are still some CSS uglinesses around. Too bad. Comments are on, except that I have to manually moderate them– MT-Blacklist still isn’t working, but I’m too aggravated to work on it right now.

75,000 pieces. Seats 1,438. Large enough to put my wife in. What is it? The Abston Church of Christ, of course, made entirely of Legos. (Hat tip: Julie)

There’s been a running discussion of election fraud on the IP list for several months now, mostly focused on electronic voting systems (here’s a sample). Recently, Jonathan Goldstein invited IP readers to come work with him on Election Day in Philadelphia to see what kind of non-electronic shenanigans go on. In that vein, I was surprised to see the Blade report on a New York Daily News story claiming that an analysis of the NY and Florida voter registration rolls found 46,000 voters who were registered to vote in both New York and Florida. The full story has some great quotes from several of the criminals (my favorite: “I’m not here right now”). In summary, there is no current means of detecting dishonest (or stupid) people who register, or vote, in multiple states; the process relies entirely on the honor system. Oddly, of the 46K duplicates that the NYDN story found, 68% were registered Democrats.

From my friend Pete, a microbiologist who works in the test lab of a nutritional-supplement company:

We just got in a customer complaint for us to test in the lab. I just wanted to share.
Explanation or Description: Customer complains that the product made him/her “into a Zombie”. Please assay for any “zombifying” characteristics, including GABA potency, organoleptic inconsistencies, and micro contamination.

I thought LDSSingles.com was a niche site, but if you scroll down the right side of this page, Google is currently serving up an ad for MarineCorpsSingles.com. So, all you single people out there… remember, our motto is Semper fidelis, or “always faithful”.

A revised version of House Bill 1640 by Rep. Derrick Shepherd, D-Marrero, would mandate three eight-hour days of community service for anyone who publicly wears clothing that intentionally exposes undergarments, or any portion of his or her pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals.

Fortunately, the ACLU, the governor, and at least one state lawmaker understand that this problem is best addressed at home. Now, if they’d ban public wearing of bicycle shorts, I could get behind that.

This is very cool: concrete with embedded optical fibers that transmit light. It’s not transparent (see this picture), but it’s still pretty neat.