Angry with Facebook

That's right, I'm going to rant a bit about facebook now.

I (foolishly, as it turns out) chose to switch over to facebook lite yesterday, based on a couple other blog posts and reviews I saw. lite.facebook.com beckoned with the promise of no ads, much faster loads and all that good stuff, and I bit like a smallmouth hitting a hula popper in murky water.

My big mistake - and I admit it, this was my mistake - was in setting lite as my default mode. Now, lite.facebook is down - and has been for most of a day - and I can't get in. I found all the advice about flushing caches and flushing dns through ipconfig and all that. I even found the way to sneak in by going directly to a page that's not part of lite and logging in there, but there's no way to reset my preference in the regular version.

I suppose it makes sense, since the lite version isn't really released yet, it's a beta - but an open beta - and that means things may well go wrong.
However, since they're trying to make money off the ads being served up to me when I log in, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect that they'd have a way for me to get back to seeing all those ads? Heck, I'd be happy to actually click on something just for the chance to get back in and see what's going on with all my friends.

I just realised that all my friends will probably see this on facebook, as my blog is linked to my page there. Enjoy the ads while you can, folks. You could be like me: on the outside not looking in.

grr.

Recipe of the Week

Boy oh boy, we ate well on Monday.

Rosemary & Paprika pan-roasted Chicken Breasts,
Bell Pepper and Scallion Risotto with Goat Cheese,
and a Salad of Mixed Greens wilted by a hot dressing of Roasted Grape Tomatoes, Sautéed Mushrooms, and Blue Cheese.

It was simply delicious.

The Supremes

Imagine, if you will, my surprise at the most recent Supreme Court ruling.

My fears were that the court was moving away from noting the Constitution in its deliberations and its justifications, when just the opposite seems now to be true.
Noting that McCain-Feingold limits free political speech is hardly rocket surgery or brain science, but it's welcome nonetheless.

no grr this time (OK, just not by itself)

Waiting to Exhale

Proving once again that reason, science, and common sense can never trump politics, the EPA has "informed" us all that plant food endangers public health.

Expect regulations soon regarding how often one is allowed to exhale. A likely scenario is that one exhalation for every three or four inhalations will be rationed or allocated to each adult, thus cutting down on deadly CO2. One hopes that no child will be required to hold his breath until he turns blue, but that remains to be seen.
At any rate, it seems clear that all aerobic exercise will need to be regulated or banned, as all such activity significantly increases the production of CO2.
A (possibly) unintended consequence of these regulations will be the rapid decline of both oxygen in the atmosphere and plants to replace it - with no air for plants to breathe there will be none of their byproducts for us to breathe either.

On a more positive note, I see that the EPA has actually railed against CO2 and five other "greenhouse" gases. Given that di-hydrogen monoxide is actually - by far - the most powerful of those chemicals, we should expect regulations regarding the production, use, and storage of that frequently deadly substance.

Idiots. But then again, "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur."
grr.

RIP Vic Mizzy

Wow. The composer of the themes of two of the most beloved TV Series of all time - The Addams Family and Green Acres - has passed away at the age of 93.

Vic Mizzy was actually a fairly prolific film and TV composer and songwriter, but the man who wrote the theme song for the finest adaptation of Kafka to the small screen would rank right up there whether or not he had ever penned another theme.

The trials and tribulations of Oliver Wendell Douglas on his farm in the greater Hooterville area were probably the finest moments of television since Ernie Kovacs went off the air. Yes, it was that great.

Vic Mizzy, dead at 93. He will be missed, but his music lives on.

RIP Henry Gibson

Sad news this morning: Henry Gibson has died at age 73.

Folks may or may not know that his stint on Laugh-In reciting poetry was a direct inspiration of some of my own poetry (specifically, that stuff we've used at a few Coffee Houses at GPUMC over the years).

A funny man who will be missed.

"Man looks on the outward appearance,

but the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7).

That's true, unless you are former president jimmy carter, of course, who is able to look into the hearts of those who seem to disagree with president Obama's policies and to see that they're actually just a bunch of racists.

After all, who could ever disagree with a socialist who masqueraded as a Democrat but surrounds himself with communists and other policy kooks?

Clearly anyone not enamoured of our fearless leader must be a racist.


jimmy carter was probably the third worst president we've ever had, and he certainly hasn't improved with age.

grr.