I have updated my review of a Continuous Ink System for my Epson printer: “Well, it’s been a little over two months and several hundred printed discs since I installed the CIS. And it’s working great, and none of my bottles are even half used up…” Nothing special added, but I’ve received quite a bit of email because of this review asking how I like it after extended use.
SwordSearcher 4.6 Released
I’m finally done preparing a new version of SwordSearcher Bible Software — version 4.6. The “official” release date is tomorrow (Feb 1, 2005), but I managed to get everything up today. Check out the revision history.
4.6 took me a lot longer to finalize than I originally expected, but it’s done and shipping! There are three new study resources this time, but the changes I am most pleased with are mostly cosmetic and internal. I’ve improved a lot of my code in regards to the display, so things are “snappier” now (not that they were ever slow). Also, I hired a graphic artist to redesign my toolbar glyphs, so SwordSearcher has an overall more ‘modern’ look to it now.
On a more technical note, SwordSearcher is now being developed with Delphi 2005. The previous version of SwordSearcher was done in Delphi 6. I must say that I really like Borland’s improvements to Delphi. There are a lot of features that had been lacking in Delphi 7, and it’s nice that they finally “caught up” with their competition in the desktop application development market. But Borland released D2005 too early. Too many annoyances/bugs that should have been dealt with before it was released marred D2005. Maybe they will get their act together with the next update…
Hillary Clinton Gulping for Air; Jack O’Neil; and Commander Sheridan
From the archives of the totally useless…
While looking through my documents folder on my hard drive, trying to find something important, I came across this little piece I started writing in August of 2003:
Colonel O’Neil didn’t know what to do so he sat there dumbfounded.
“The Storm Troopers will find us her very soon,” Data advised. “We should move out of here as quickly as possible.”
Captain Sheridan held up a hand. “We can’t leave without her!”
Sean Hannity sighed. “Then you stay here and get caught.” Everyone knew that Sean didn’t care much for Hillary Clinton. “For all we know, she’s working for the Peacekeepers!”
“How dare you…” Sheridan lunged for Sean Hannity’s throat.
“Would you two knock it off!” O’Neil demanded.
“My tricorder shows four lifesigns headed this way,” Data said. “It is likely that they are Storm Troopers.”
“Oh for crying out loud,” an exasperated O’Neil said as he readied his P9 automatic rifle.
“Show yourselves, rebel scum!” a Trooper shouted as they opened fire. Blaster fire hit all around the four rebels.
This was no time for political arguments. The four misfits quickly responded to the attack with their various weapons… Sean Hannity’s musket, Colonel O’Neil’s P9, Captain Sheridan’s PPG and Data’s phaser all fired simultaneously, making quick work of the four Peacekeeper Storm Troopers. “I’m sure more will be on the way,” Sean Hannity said.
Suddenly, behind them, Hillary Clinton ran up, gulping for air. “I got away as soon as I could. I couldn’t believe they found you. Is it true?” She gulped for more air. Sean Hannity sighed.
“Let’s go!” Captain Sheridan yelled. They all ran towards the shuttle. “If they know we’re here, they’ll find the Enterprise in orbit soon enough!”
A little heavy on the sci-fi references, I’ll admit. But that “gulping for air” bit still cracks me up.
Yes… too many obscure references to bother completing the story. LOL.
Spammers lose; Earthlink Wins
EarthLink Claims Victory in Spam Case: “The group used stolen or forged credit cards and engaged in identity theft to set up EarthLink accounts that were then used to send spam…”
What I don’t get is how can someone make money spamming people while hiding their identity. Don’t you need people to be able to, like, send you money or something? One way or another, if spam is supposed to actually make money for the spammer, there has to be a trail to follow, right? Besides, who would refinance their home with someone who spells “mortgage” “m.0rtg_aaaagE” anyway?
Text Ads and Click Fraud: A cost of doing business?
The explosion of content-relevant text ads on websites (even I use them on this site) has been very profitable for advertisers, content providers, and ad networks such as Overture and Google AdWords. But there is now a serious problem with “fraudulent clicking,” which amounts to stealing money from the advertiser. And unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about it. [Article]