Good News, Everyone!

I've mentioned before that a number of our local users have fallen for phishing spam, merrily sending out account passwords in response to semi-grammatical e-mail demands from bad guys posing as official system administrators.

We've sent out warnings: a mass e-mailing, dire notices on our website, even a rather clever dead-tree postcard to faculty, staff, and students. These measures have probably worked to decrease the problem, but they have unfortunately not eliminated it.

But now, at least readers of Mary Worth will know better, thanks to the about-to-be unfortunate example of Victoria "Toby" Cameron, dimwit:

mary worth

(Via Comics Curmudgeon, who has snarky comments about the median age and technical expertise of Mary Worth readers. Hmph! If your paper doesn't get Mary, I suggest you cancel your subscription with a cranky letter to the editor, and follow her at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website.)


Last Modified 2008-09-12 10:43 AM EDT

URLs du Jour

2008-08-07

  • Daniel Henninger is on target today, musing on the type of person who promises "nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy." Guess who has the arrogance to think that he has the ability to accomplish such a feat?
    Mr. Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress want a "complete transformation" of an already successful economy. Not partial. complete. Can any of them say what the odds are that all this economic activity, including the nation's electrical grid, will work as well with their new fuels? Assuredly, growth's odds aren't as good as the ones we have now.
    I've said this before, I know, but: any sensible American grownup must fervently hope that Obama is a total phony who does not take his own rhetoric seriously. That's actually the best-case scenario.

  • I've also said this before: The nicest thing you can say about McCain is that he's not quite as bad as Obama. Jeff Jacoby drives home that point quite well, outlining the looming fiscal crisis, and observing:
    But where is the presidential candidate who will talk honestly about this? McCain insists he will balance the budget and "provide the courageous leadership necessary to control spending." Yet his economic plan is devoid of details, offering little more than windy promises to "stop earmarks, pork-barrel spending, and waste" and freeze nondefense discretionary spending for a year while spending programs are reviewed.

    Obama won't even go that far. His campaign touts a "Plan for Restoring Fiscal Discipline" that is as vague as McCain's, but he rules out balancing the budget - "because," he told reporters last month, "I think it is important for us to make some critical investments right now in America's families." The National Taxpayers Union Foundation, tallying the promises made by the presidential candidates, calculates that Obama 's "investments" would cost taxpayers another $344 billion a year. McCain's add up to an extra $68.5 billion.

    We are awash in a sea of red ink, and the tide is coming in. Alfred E. Neuman isn't worried. Are Obama and McCain?

    Via Viking Pundit, who has additional comments.

  • They told me that if George W. Bush was re-elected, publishing houses would cravenly refrain from publishing books that might offend religious groups and they were right.

  • Dave Barry's in China, or as we prefer to call it: Red China. (Apparently they're having some sort of event there.) Check out his visit to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

    Dave notes that, although he can post to his blog, he can't read it: it is one of many that is blocked by the Red Chinese government.

    My weblogs tell me that Pun Salad is not blocked in Red China, so:

    Hey, Chinese people: your Commie government sucks!


Last Modified 2012-10-11 3:44 PM EDT

I'm Not There

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)
[2.0
stars] [IMDb Link]

I'm not a major Bob Dylan fan, but I've got a bunch of his songs on my iPod, and his memoir is probably one of the few in the genre that's actually worth reading. But …

Upfront, this movie claims to be "inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan." And they take that "many lives" thing seriously: we follow six disparate characters (none named "Bob Dylan") played by six different actors (including, notably, Cate Blanchett). They have various adventures, contending with wives, the media, the man, fickle fans, beatnik poets, Jesus, and runaway dogs. The movie jumps between these threads unpredictably.

I found the absurd premise and loopy dialogue agreeable at first, and it was fun to pick out the little bits of Dylan trivia scattered throughout like breadcrumbs. But there's not much more than that: the movie doesn't go anywhere, tie anything together, or offer much illumination. The gimmicks get tired after about an hour, and it teeters over into "pretentious crap" territory.

And now I'm off to the iTunes store to pick up "Simple Twist of Fate." That's a great song.


Last Modified 2024-02-01 5:22 AM EDT