WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?
Friday, April 30
Abuse & Misuse
The National Coalition for the Abuse and Misuse of Statistics* have been running ads on Streetvision** lately, proclaiming that:
Handguns kill over 400,000 people each year. 80% of them are women and children.***
Yeah, I'd noticed that we've been hip-deep in dead bodies lately, down here in Oz. 400,000 every year, just from handguns...
Oh, that's not an Australian statistic, you say?
Funny, that.
So how many people are killed by handguns**** in Australia each year? This handy article in The Age, found in about 10 seconds of Googling, tells us that the number in 2001 was 49.
This represents a drop since tough new restrictions were put in place in 1996, from a 1991 figure of 29.
No, hang on - isn't 49 more than 29? I could've sworn...
And those numbers include accidents and suicides. Suicide is the single largest cause of death involving firearms, and accounted for 80% of such deaths over a ten-year period from 1991 to 2001.
And 90% of the victims in that ten-year period were men.
But far be it from me to accuse the National Coalition for Gun Control of being somewhat careless with the truth.
* Well, they call themselves the National Coalition for Gun Control, but...
** Television - 90% ads - projected at captive audiences in the underground stations in Sydney.
*** That may not be exact, but it's pretty close.
**** Yeah, I know. Guns don't kill people - I do.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:45 AM
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Thanks. My ENGL class is currently talking about the misuse of statistics...this is a perfect example to point out to them!
Posted by: Sarah at Friday, April 30 2004 08:13 AM (mU8BX)
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And while I don't have a detailed breakdown of handgun deaths by cause, overall it works out to around 80% suicide, 10% accident, and 10% homicide. So the average number of people killed by handguns each year - deliberately, by other people, in Australia - is about 4.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, April 30 2004 08:23 AM (+S1Ft)
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Pixy,
Welcome to my world. lol Ol' Sam Clemens (that Twain fellow) often quoted Benjamin Disraeli on this subject. To loosely paraphrase there are 3 kinds of mistruths in the world; lies, damn lies & statistics.
In the U.S. the gun control debate has been raging a bit longer & hotter & the junk science used to back up the prohibitionists arguments are sometimes laughable. Perhaps the funniest of late wasn't about stats per se, but CNN did a story on "assault weapons". They showed a pre-ban & a post ban model being fired. The pre-ban assault weapon easily penetrated some cinderblocks while the post ban didn't seem to phase them. Turns out CNN got busted cause the post ban rifle wasn't being fired at the cinderblocks at all while they were filming. But why let truth get in the way of filming an ideological piece, right?
The Smallest Minority is a good source for busting badly used stats - one of my favorites is where he pointed out that the "children" a U.S. gun prohibition group was lamenting included 24 year olds.
Anyway, for this & a number of other reasons I generally try to direct any arguments away from stats & steer them towards logic &/or principles. It's easy as hell to find stats to support almost any position you'd want to support, & almost as easy to find stats to refute said position. It eventually comes down to a person believing one stat over the other for any number of reasons - so I avoid the stats thing when I can & try to make them actually think.
Posted by: Publicola at Friday, April 30 2004 04:06 PM (Aao25)
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Excellent piece! Linked!
Oh, and Publicola, I use the stats to
help them think. Especially when they're twisted as blatantly as they are here.
People don't like being lied to.
Posted by: Kevin Baker at Tuesday, May 04 2004 11:18 AM (gQkQa)
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Nice try. The restrictions did not affect handguns at all. And you somehow forget to mention that gun deaths have halved. And Kevin fell for it.
Posted by: Tim Lambert at Tuesday, May 04 2004 02:21 PM (myTQZ)
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Yes, Tim, gun deaths have been reduced.
But the add was specifically addressing handguns, using completely bogus statistics. And there
have been new restrictions on handguns in the past ten years. And deaths from handguns have
increased.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, May 04 2004 04:41 PM (+S1Ft)
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Yeah, right. What restrictions were introduced on handguns in 1996? I haven't seen the ad. Maybe it did use bogus statistics, but that is no excuse for you to use bogus statistics.
Posted by: Tim Lambert at Tuesday, May 04 2004 09:45 PM (myTQZ)
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Kevin,
Now ya see why I prefer to avoid stats altogether? People like Mr. Lambert will generally be able to produce stats which seem on the surface to contradict any stats you throw out. Not that the counter stats are the correct ones, but unless you have some schooling in statistical analysis then most people odds are you'll believe the stats you hear most often (43 times mor elikely, etc...).
But where people such as Mr. Lambert can be shown the error of their ways (well, as much as possible) is through non-stat arguments. At least more spectators will be able to follow the discussion accurately & draw their own conclusions.
Not that arguing stats is not worthwhile or that it should be universally shunned (after all you do a good job of dissecting bogus stats), but for me I find it's often best to concentrate on other areas.
Besides, when it gets down to an "is not- is too" thing over which stats are accurate, then the debate has shifted from a Rights argument to a Policy argument. I'd much rather keep it as a Rights argument than delve into the policy thing. But that's just me & my absolutist self. :)
& I must speak the heresy that some would burn me at the stake for: stats are not the most important thing in many cases. Nor are they even conclusive of one point or another in some cases. Stats are just stats. Nothing more than a set of numbers. Useful things can be learned from them but they are not the last word on the wisdom or folly of most decisions.
Mr. Lambert,
I think you're confusing the issue. Pixy was talking about handgun deaths, whereas you brought up firearms deaths. See the difference? handguns are firearms but not all firearms are handguns.
Or were you berating Pixy that he didn't mention that all firearms deaths were reduced by half (if your claim is accurate) even though he was discussing a subset of firearms deaths specifically?
But the bigger question lies not in whose stats were correct or which stats should have been used, but how can you use a set of numbers with questionable origin & interpretation to justify denying me (or anyone else) a basic, Natural Right?
Pixy,
Doesn't all this make you want to be a gun blogger full time? lol
Posted by: Publicola at Wednesday, May 05 2004 12:28 AM (Aao25)
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Tim, I think further handgun restrictions were brought in during 2001.
Now, I
didn't use bogus statistics, but I also failed to bring up some relevant information. You're right to mention that.
While I'm pro gun-ownership, I'm rather more strongly anti statistics-abuse. That was my point here.
If the ad had said "Up to 49 people die in Australia every year in incidents involving handguns", I would have had no complaints. I might have disagreed with the opinion expressed
- therefor handguns should be banned but that is
opinion and there's room for disagreement and compromise.
But the ad, as it is presented, provides an impression which is out of line with reality by
5 orders of magnitude, which is really a bit much. How would you feel about an ad that said:2 million people are killed by malaria each year. Half of those are children.If that ad was run by the Australian Council for the Legalisation and Promotion of DDT - calling for widespread spraying of our waterways? Would you point out that Australia has typically less than 10 deaths from malaria each year?
We don't have a major problem with malaria in Australia, and never have, and we don't need to spray DDT all over the place. The situation in other countries may be different.
Exactly the same applies with handguns and the ad in question.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, May 05 2004 01:17 AM (kOqZ6)
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Dear Mr Publicola,
Apparently you are unaware of the nature of the "tough new restrictions" that were brought into place in 1996. Pixy implies that these were restrictions on handguns. They weren't. He tries to paint the 1996 laws as a failure because deaths from handguns went up, but the 1996 laws did not affect handguns. They did affect long guns, and those deaths have halved.
He then compounds things with his statement that there have been new restrictions on handguns in the last ten years. Indeed there have. What Pixy somehow neglected to mention was that those restrictions were introduced after 2001. But Pixy tries to make it look like they were to blame for an increase in handgun deaths between 1991 and 2001.
Nice going. American pro-gunners just lap this stuff up. Pixy's bogus stats will probably now get repeated a bajillion times like that stupid email claiming that gun murders had increased by 300% after the 1996 laws.
And by the way, I've already stated that
I do not think that the 1996 laws were a good idea.
Posted by: Tim Lambert at Wednesday, May 05 2004 03:50 AM (tgbdA)
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Dear Tim,
You're nuts.
Regards,
Pixy
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, May 05 2004 04:58 AM (+S1Ft)
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Tim's not nuts, just so focused on his particular specialty he can't see the forest for the trees.
He's "differently abled."
Posted by: Kevin Baker at Wednesday, May 05 2004 09:22 PM (X3MkM)
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Thursday, April 29
Eaten By Mice
Hi all.
I've been eaten by mice (again) so blogging will be very light to non-existent for a week or two.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
05:56 AM
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Dang, I hate it when that happens.
Posted by: Jim at Thursday, April 29 2004 09:33 AM (IOwam)
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Still trying to figure out how to package a kitten so it will make it safely to upside-down land...note to self: need more bubblewrap....
Posted by: Susie at Thursday, April 29 2004 01:44 PM (mWp92)
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I am not taking the blame for this, and please, are there not enough kittens and cats already?
Posted by: Mr Mouse at Thursday, April 29 2004 07:50 PM (JCxVY)
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Hmm, the cheese faction is noticably quiet ...
Posted by: Debbye at Friday, April 30 2004 01:17 PM (iMG32)
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Wednesday, April 28
Tuesday, April 27
Quicksilver
One has to be in a certain mood to enjoy a book like this - or at least,
I have to be - not unlike the mood where I'm prepared to enjoy Cervantes or Sir Walter Scott. But since I am in such a mood right now, I am enjoying it very much.
It's certainly a rambling tale, but it rambles it's way past and through many points of interest, so I have few complaints. I was under the impression that the Old London Bridge had been destroyed by the time the novel is set (the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries), but it turns out that this is not the case - although the bridge was burned down in 1014, destroyed by a storm in 1091, burned down again in 1136, and the site of catastrophic fires in 1212 and 1633. It was replaced in 1831 by a less combustible stone structure, which was widened in 1904 whereupon it sank into the swamp. Well, it sank slowly, but still...
That sort of history boggles me just a little, as Sydney's famous Harbour Bridge is only seventy years old and has so far not been destroyed even once. To paraphrase someone: In England, a hundred miles is a long distance; in Australia, a hundred years is a long time.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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That one burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp ... but the next one stayed UP!
And that's what you're going to get lad, the strongest bridge in London Town.
Pity it's a bit dull though.
Posted by: Rob at Tuesday, April 27 2004 11:10 AM (kXZI6)
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LOL! Rob stole my comment!!! So I guess that I'll have to say that the time/distance thing is true of the U.S. too--Chicago's only 200 miles away, we can be there by lunch!
Posted by: Susie at Tuesday, April 27 2004 12:53 PM (5H/6B)
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Yay pre-emptive comment theft ... It had to be done though.
Here in Jersey we suffer from an inversion of the time distance thing. Going 2 miles to the next parish seems like a long way.
Ah well, I guess that's what you get for living on an island that's only 9 miles x 6
Posted by: Rob at Wednesday, April 28 2004 05:12 AM (kXZI6)
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great minds...
Rob, we'll be sure to send Stitch your way.
Pixy, your comments don't remember me.
Posted by: Ted at Wednesday, April 28 2004 09:43 AM (blNMI)
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Monday, April 26
ANZAC Day
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
This is ANZAC Day.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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My deepest respects on this day for the incredible bravery and dogged determination of those who fought at Gallipoli and the members of your military who continue to emulate and honour their example.
I wish I could express just how much we value the friendship and partnership with Australia.
Our media be damned - they were fussing over France while we were grinning like idiots because our troops were to be partnered with the world's finest soldiers.
God bless all those who guard and protect us.
Posted by: Debbye at Monday, April 26 2004 08:57 AM (wSXdB)
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I'll second what Debbye said. I'd rather have one Aussie at my back than one thousand French.
Posted by: Kathy K at Monday, April 26 2004 12:16 PM (Cy5b3)
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Personally, as an Aussie, I'd rather have one Kiwi or one Yank than any number of surrender monkeys :-) Better still would be more Aussies :-)
Posted by: Ozguru at Monday, April 26 2004 08:03 PM (B/SLC)
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Debbye said it better than I ever could. Thanks for true friends in the world.
Posted by: Ted at Tuesday, April 27 2004 08:26 AM (blNMI)
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See, now here I was thinking it was all about
this (and a hardcopy of the link is http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9379234%255E661,00.html)
Posted by: xade at Tuesday, April 27 2004 09:40 PM (9Nu+w)
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Maybe from this day forward, I shall think of the day before my birthday as a much more important date to remember.
Posted by: Tiger at Thursday, April 29 2004 07:55 PM (JCxVY)
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OurSQL
Upgraded the MuNu MT database to MySQL today, something I should have done long ago. If you're going to run Movable Type, it's
definitely worth your time to use MySQL or PostgreSQL (or I think SQLite is also supported). For a brand new blog there isn't much difference, but on a very large installation like MuNu, a SQL* database can be as much as 10 times faster.
With this on top of the Minxification of Ambient Irony, I now have some of the fastest MT comments around. Leave me a comment, and marvel in the fastness of it! It's almost... adequate!
* I say "a SQL database" rather than "an SQL database" because in my head I pronounce SQL as "skwuhl".
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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See! Fast!
Pity it keeps forgetting who I am...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, April 26 2004 07:57 AM (+S1Ft)
Posted by: Simon at Monday, April 26 2004 08:48 AM (+OTDr)
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4 seconds. That's fast.
Posted by: Simon at Monday, April 26 2004 08:49 AM (+OTDr)
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I expect it's even faster if you're on the same side of the planet as the server :)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, April 26 2004 08:51 AM (+S1Ft)
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(The actual processing seems to take less than 2 seconds.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, April 26 2004 08:52 AM (+S1Ft)
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Speed is cool. I like speed.
Posted by: Jim at Monday, April 26 2004 09:00 AM (saeHM)
Posted by: Susie at Monday, April 26 2004 12:10 PM (5H/6B)
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Your comment system has one important flaw. All comments are downloaded with the main page whether the comments are desired or not. This isn't a big deal when there are few comments, but have a bunch of posts with large amounts of comments and the numbers start to add up.
Posted by: Rossz at Monday, April 26 2004 06:14 PM (n5Jbg)
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Pixy has done it again.
Ai was fiddling around in my templates this morning and rebuilding the index was so fast I did it twice because I didn't believe it the first time.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at Monday, April 26 2004 08:23 PM (4819r)
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Ross - This is true. But. Um...
You've got broadband anyway, so you won't even notice! Nyaa! (Basically it's a latency vs. bandwidth thing. Takes longer to load the main page, which can be fixed with more bandwidth - but - much less latency for reading comments, and it's a lot harder to reduce latency than to add bandwidth.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, April 27 2004 01:52 AM (+S1Ft)
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MYSQL has been a dream for me. easy to backup, easy to use. my comments are still slow mt comments, though. even slower with mt-blacklist. i need to look into Minxification.
Umm, does that come in a bottle?
Posted by: rammer at Tuesday, April 27 2004 04:11 AM (VSkqV)
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I always pronounce it "SQueaL", which has the added advantaget that SQL*Plus can be pronounced as "squeal splat plus"...
Posted by: Dominic at Tuesday, April 27 2004 07:42 AM (0h0BM)
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Minxification? Does it have anything to do with
cheese?
Posted by: Mr Mouse at Tuesday, April 27 2004 10:26 PM (yNckt)
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True, the broadband does make it inconsequential. I suppose the dialup people might notice, but screw them - they don't count.
BTW, did I mention how much I'm paying for my 5Meg/500k DSL connection?
Posted by: Rossz at Tuesday, April 27 2004 11:27 PM (n5Jbg)
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GADZOOKS, man! Everything is running MUCH MUCH faster over at Miss Apropos' tuffet.
You. Are. A GOD!
Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
Posted by: Emma at Wednesday, April 28 2004 05:43 PM (kpNlZ)
Posted by: spacemonkey at Thursday, April 29 2004 01:08 AM (qSKHX)
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Amazingly fast. What were we running before? I'm almost enticed to play with MySQL.
hln
Posted by: hln at Thursday, April 29 2004 06:56 PM (yJyUC)
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Actually, it's still kind of slow. But it's a
lot better than it was.
We were running Berkeley DB before. There's nothing wrong with Berkeley DB - I've used it for far larger databases and it's fast and robust. It's just that MT doesn't use it properly. It works much better with SQL databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite are supported, I think).
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, April 30 2004 07:00 AM (+S1Ft)
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Sound like a worthwhile upgrade... I'm currently using the BerkeleyDB method, how much of a pain in the arse is it to change over to MySQL?
Maybe I'll attempt that this weekend, along with installing PHP on my server so I can add more fun MT goodies...
-=kt=-
Posted by: ktpupp at Friday, April 30 2004 08:29 AM (LJejX)
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My SQL instructor said it was usually pronounced as "Sequel". But he thought it might have been an east coast thing 'cause most pros around here (Fabulous Las Vegas) pronounce the letters "Ess Que Ell". I always pronounce it "Squirrel".
Posted by: Enas Yorl at Sunday, May 02 2004 06:45 PM (pGeyo)
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"Sequel" is certainly standard in the UK, above a certain level of familiarity at least. "Squirrel" I had never heard! I still like "squeal" best, though...
Posted by: Dominic at Monday, May 03 2004 06:29 AM (evDgD)
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Saturday, April 24
Emergency! Emergency!
An otherwise uninspiring day at work was brightened by the approach of three shiny red fire engines, sirens blaring.
Where are they heading?
Looks like they're stopping.
Which building?
Um... Ours.
But... If there's a fire in our building, shouldn't there be -
BEEEP! BEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEP!!
- an alarm?
Uh-oh. I grabbed my apple turnover and last night's backup tape, and headed downstairs. Where we milled about for ten minutes before the firepersons came back out and let us go back to work.
So the building completely failed to burn down, but the fire engines were particularly shiny.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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There is something to be said for the same old boring routine after all...
Posted by: Susie at Saturday, April 24 2004 12:22 PM (mI3rz)
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We used to get the ambulance at our building like clockwork after every three-day weekend. We had a binge-drinking alcoholic with hepatitis who'd manage to make it to work before going into seizures. Every. Damn. Time. He finally died, poor soul.
Posted by: Ted at Saturday, April 24 2004 03:38 PM (ZjSa7)
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Were all of the company mice safely evacuated? You know how easily they get crushed in the mad rush to the exits?
Posted by: Mr Mouse at Saturday, April 24 2004 07:21 PM (JCxVY)
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I grabbed my apple turnover Gotta Remember the important stuff in an emergancy. =)
Posted by: Mookie at Saturday, April 24 2004 07:37 PM (ZjSa7)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, April 26 2004 07:47 AM (+S1Ft)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, April 26 2004 07:48 AM (+S1Ft)
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Where are the pictures? That should slow it down a bit :-)
Posted by: Ozguru at Tuesday, April 27 2004 11:13 PM (/acvO)
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Friday, April 23
Fried Brains
It's what's for dinner.
No, wait! Pie! I have pie!
Mmm, pie...
[Well, that's next week's Bonfire entry sorted out. — Ed.]
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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If you get a chance, can you create a cPanel account for me to use for USURP. It seems my troll is cruising it now and I want to ban her URL: 64.6.xxx.xxx
Posted by: Tiger at Friday, April 23 2004 08:30 PM (G5PGV)
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Actually, I suppose that would technically be an IP address.
Posted by: Tiger at Friday, April 23 2004 08:31 PM (G5PGV)
Posted by: Alan E Brain at Tuesday, April 27 2004 08:46 AM (p1Zeb)
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Wednesday, April 21
And Now...
I just need something that folds and irons and puts away...
There are automatic ironing machines, but last I read they were not exactly practical. Until the day they reach the mass market, I will remain hopeful and slightly crumpled.
Oh, and the PostgreSQL load died with an error too boring to relate here. So it's MySQL for munu.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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