" /> Minh’s Notes: November 2002 Archives

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November 28, 2002

Yesterday, in my e-mail, I received a letter from Paul Whitlatch, the Editor-in-Chief of the St. X Blueprint. In it, he responded to my accusations last September of the Blueprint’s article “Red Cards for the Soccer Team?”

He counters my points quite well, and brought my attention to that post long ago. I realize that my entry was mostly unfounded and wrong. Among my mistakes:

  • I made many assertions, talking only with some classmates. I did not do enough research to justify what I stated.
  • I reproduced the full text of the Blueprint article. I did this without the permission of the newspaper.
  • I called the later clarification of some points made in the original article a “retraction”, when it was in fact just a clarification.

Therefore, I retract all that I asserted in September and in the followup article. I did this in error, and for that I am sorry. I promise to, from now on, research the criticism that I publish. I called the Blueprint article “libellious”, when in fact it was my work that I should have called that.

To my readers, who have endured my occassional blunder, and to the Blueprint, please accept my sincere apologies.

The developers of Mozilla Phoenix have decided to rename the splendid browser. I can’t believe it! Phoenix is such a great name, but I suppose Phoenix Technologies might have some legal grounds for suing Mozilla about this. Oh well.

And, for some reason, AOL has decided to name their new IM/e-mail client AOL Communicator. That should ring a bell. Netscape Communications used to have a product named Communicator before AOL took them over.

November 26, 2002

Er-ahem. A little announcement: Harjus now wants to be known as QuoteMaster Sethi. Carry on…:

Light travels faster than sound. That’s why people look bright… until they speak.

I guess the exception would be Harjus himself. ;^)

November 25, 2002

The other day, some classmates were talking about having a universal language. Some were for it, some were against it. It reminded me: a long time ago, I found Interlingua, which mixes together words and elements of English, French, Italian, and Spanish/Portuguese (as one unit), into one conglomerate language. Interlingua has’t taken off as Esperanto has. I think I like Interlingua much more than Esperanto, or any of those other interlanguages.

November 24, 2002

James is complaining that our school won’t give us letters to put on our jackets for participating in the Quiz Team. After all, the Latin Club gets letters. Well, James, just tell the AP’s Office about this, and you might get a letter eventually. We just don’t get letters right now because no one’s asked for them yet.

November 23, 2002

Last night, I got to watch TX’s stellar performance of “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol”. TX is my school’s theater group, and the play they performed is a wonderful twist on the classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. It puts the story in the eyes of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s partner, as he tries to redeem his soul from eternal desolation. In addition, I was touched by a little tribute to Jessica Carson in the program. Jessica, a beloved member of TX, was tragically killed in a car accident.

I went because some of my friends were in the play, and because they begged me to go. It was a great performance.

November 22, 2002

I think I’m going to follow Josh’s lead by posting my school’s Quiz Team standings in the GCAL.

So far, St. X’s Varsity team is 3–0 and our 1st Reserve team is 2–0. Our freshmen 2nd Reserve team haven’t gotten a chance to play yet.

The Varsity team beat Oldenburg 28–54, beat Badin 31–83, beat Ursuline 32–52, and beat McAuley as well.

The 1st Reserve team beat Oldenburg 42–75, beat Ursuline 47–57, and also beat McAuley.

I’ll update the information as it becomes available.

Contrary to Brandon’s opinion of today’s weather, I thought it was pretty neat. There were flurries for the first time this morning, as I caught my first bus. There were even dustings of it on mailboxes and such. (Maybe you caught on to the fact that I just wanted to link to Brandon.)

November 21, 2002

Today, ABC News reports that the Food Pyramid we’ve all come to know and love is wrong. In fact, the version some researchers propose is somewhat upside-down. Yes. Some fats actually go towards the bottom, and red meat and most carbohydrates go straight to the top. That’s basically a slap in the face to what we’re used to. Especially to what my family’s used to: rice. That’s a carbohydrate.

Keith is so full of himself, he claims that he’s the one who freed Bill’s website. Yeah, except we all know the truth: Chris was the genious who liberated the site. What a phony that Keith is. He’s always bragging about how keen his hacking skills are. What a joke! He doesn’t even know that IP addresses can be partially random. Yeah, and, I just linked to his e-mail address; could you please send him some spam or flame mail?

November 20, 2002

Well, it’s been a long week. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] This whole Roscher War has resulted in a peculiar aftermath, however:

Yes, it’s been an interesting week.

November 19, 2002

This just proves to you that Harjus is obsessed with computers. He said it in the Language Lab during Spanish class:

Doing Spanish on the computer really clicks for me.

Wow.

November 18, 2002

Well, it seems like Mike’s Site of Links has been taken down. I don’t know if this is through natural or hacker-related causes. And Josh’s site is under a “lockdown”. Oh boy. Here we go again.

Well, I think all this hubub at the St. X Student Webring has calmed down. Law and order are now in effect… or so we think.

I’d like to give some accolades to a few friends and acquaintances who have assissted greatly in this effort:

  • Chris “hannibal” Schlechter, for liberating Bill’s Web Site from the illustrious Gene Roscher (that is purportedly his name), age 12, of Rhode Island;
  • Bill, for aggregating a helpful page of information regarding the hacker, and for displaying wisdom in backing up his possessions immediately; and
  • Josh Pendl, for digging up some very interesting information about the supposed “Gene”, including his father’s dental license. All legally, mind you. Josh really should work for Crimestoppers or something.

And, for those wondering who that so-called hacker called “Mark”, I’ve decided not to reveal his true identity. But I know that he isn’t the real hacker… or is he?

November 17, 2002

Wow. Well, someone actually reads my blog. News to me. I wonder if this is the real hacker. If so, AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

November 16, 2002

Wow. Now this is a blog! (Hint: Try commenting!)

November 15, 2002

An update to an earlier warning: According to Brad, the hacker is a 12-year-old from Rhode Island. This information is unconfirmed. I will repeat my previous warning: backup your website if you have one online. Whether this is all a prank or rumor, it is an important reminder. The Internet is not foolproof.

November 13, 2002

Opera just released the first beta of its latest version, 7.0. I wonder if anyone remembers when I reviewed the Opera 6.0 beta. (Yes, that there was a link to the now-defunct LSP Online. Don’t you just love web archaeology?) In that article, I wrote that Opera began to “drive away its base and veteran users, including me.” Well, I think they’re just securing my loyalty to the Mozilla project now. The new beta is just way too “flashy” for my tastes. The buttons all light up gradually, like some Flash application. I wouldn’t ever use something like that for everyday browsing. But I do have to commend the Opera developers for, by rewriting the software, making the browser faster and more standards-compliant. And they’ve added great new features for web development, which I will probably use sometimes. So it’s not all bad. But I’ll still stick to Mozilla Phoenix for now.

Josh informs me that someone has been attempting to hack the personal websites of St. X students. Among those supposedly hit by the hacker(s) is Bill’s Web Site, although it seems to be back to normal now. I would venture to say that the most vulnerable websites are those hosted on Yahoo! Geocities, since most students’ websites are hosted there. Is this case merely a rumor, or is it real? Either way, it serves as a warning for all of you hobbyist-webmasters out there to back up your stuff.

November 12, 2002

You may have noticed that the comment counts have not changed in quite some time. That is because there is a bug in the way the server handles the comments, as well as my own blog entries. That is the same reason you will get a server error when you post a comment. Please, do not be detered from your valiant causes to comment. I will correct these errors to the best of my ability as soon as I can. (I’m planning to revamp this site anyways, but you know how far most of my plans go.) Bear with me for awhile, and, in reward, you shall receive access to a glorious site.

November 10, 2002

Brad will be updating his comic on Monday. Be sure to miss it! ;^)

November 8, 2002

The best way to win an election is to disearn the trust of the people…

Don’t quote me on this, but it is what I thought I just heard on The McLaughlin Group. Funny. I thought he had speechwriters now.

Brad, to the tune of Hail to the Chief:

Hail to the chief, ’cuz–he’s the chief and he needs hai–ling;
So let’s all be nice to him and give the chief some hail&hellip

Well, if you want, you can also see the real lyrics.

November 5, 2002

Well, Harjus just can’t keep it up with the funny quotes. So I’ll just snatch some from Brad for awhile:

You know you’re obsessed with DDR when you look at a Scantron sheet and subconsiously fill in the steps to the butterfly.

Well, Harjus has some competition.

And for all you Ohio drivers out there:

You know you’re obsessed with web design when you look at an Ohio license plate and automagically think of a hexadecimal color code.

Well, I got the idea from Eric Meyer.

So you probably already know that today’s Election Day. Yeah, I voted. Okay, okay. Kid’s Vote. But I helped my mother with voting. And, unlike most of my peers in Hamilton County, I didn’t vote the straight Republican ticket. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Call me a liberal. At least I got a sticker.

That was fun. It’s about time I do a little politicking around here.

November 4, 2002

There are, by some accounts, four horsemen of the Apocolypse. They are, by some accounts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, solar eclipses, and… the Cincinnati Bungles winning a football game!

I took another standardized test today: the ACT PLAN. Fun fun fun. And today’s just part one. We got to talk about things we liked to do. And, as Chris pointed out, some of us are wierd and like to fix toys for a living. (sigh)

Yesterday, I tried the Chipotle fast food restaurant nearby. Warm, soft taco shells, cilantro-lime rice, barbacoa (spicy, tender, shredded beef), smokey, sweet pinto beans, chopped, red, sweet, mild tomatoes, all wrapped in an elegant aluminum foil wrap — I just have to say that I have never tried a burrito or fajita or barbacoa… whatever you want to call it… as good as the one I tried yesterday. And the atmosphere in there — the architecture, the music, the lighting — is nothing short of amazing. I’m going to be a regular customer. And their website is… delicious!

November 3, 2002

TheOnion.com sometimes scares me. Today, they have this article, which describes the rising trend in school disciplinary action. Hmmm. This might make a good Election Day issue. I can just see the banners now: “Issue 1: Treatment. Not Detention.”

November 1, 2002

So, I’m sure that, by now, you’ve heard of that settlement between Microsoft and the DoJ. What do I think about it?

I think that, first of all, it was about time. Netscape Communications Corp. is now but a small media outlet for the 800-pound gorilla AOL Time Warner, and Microsoft has pretty much gotten a complete hold on the browser market. Of course, it’s not just about browsers anymore; this fight stretches across the whole computer — the operating system, the productivity suite, the e-mail client, and so on, and even beyond. I don’t think this settlement addresses all the issues involved here. But I don’t think this should have taken as long as it has.