Alas - poor Dwight - I did a bad thing and made him choke on his coffee this AM. He was perusing the morning paper (as opposed to reading it), surveying the apocalyptic headlines when he rather absent mindedly remarked that he "never can think of the name of the 4th horseman of the Apocalypse" and did I remember what came after disease, famine & war. My answer was immediate - of course - it's THE GOLDEN YEARS....

Philosophical Question here.........

How much is enough.....? Why do rich, powerful, presumably smart people destroy themselves for just... a little bit more? They bring down themselves, their families, their companies, their employees & stockholders for.... a little bit more.

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste they hurry past it.


Recently a friend was reading aloud the list of monthly budget necessities for the ex-wife of Jack Welch, retired CEO of GE. (Granted, he hasn't brought down a company.... at least that we know of so far).

I don't remember the exact amounts - but it was something like - $10,000 a month for lunches (I could do that); $20,000 a month for jewelry (I could do that), $15,000 a month for clothes (I could do that). The list went on & on. Sure I could do all that. It would take some effort - but I could do it. Thing is - what would I do the next month? Seems like I'd have to start buying things I didn't like - just to keep up the pace.....

Why has spam bloated to dead-whale-on-the-beach proportions? 'Tis said there are actually people out there who will order from these slugs (slugs as in slimy, crawling things). Have you ever 'bitten'? I know I haven't. Nope. No Viagra, no enlarged body parts, no hot babes, no insurance or loans or mortgages or diets or........... well - you get the drift. I would never order or even respond to garbage mail. Ever.

Do you suppose that if no one ever - as in never - responded to unsolicited e-mail, it would die of its own weight? Is it worth trying? Can we start an international movement. Could happen. We could call it DALAD (Don't Act Like A Dummy). Just copy this whole message and send it to everyone you know. If you do, something wonderful will happen to you within 5 minutes and if you don't, your intestines will blow up... oops - wait a minute - I'm thinking of another kind of annoying junk mail............

Twice in the last week, I've clicked on something that requires a Java Applet. Immediately the Microsoft Download window opens and tells me that I don't have and need the latest version. Nowhere do I see a download with apparent reference to Java.

So - I went to Sun Systems site and downloaded Java. Right. After installing it, Java places a cute little old steaming coffee cup on my desktop that opens applications I didn't ask for. When I click on Internet Explorer - it now opens as a Pop-Up - that is, I have to right click on the icon, hold down CTRL and click on "Open Home Page' to open Explorer. I have Pop-Up Stopper & am familiar with that drill but normally don't have to use it to open my browser.

Next - I clicked on the Forum and can read the messages but when I tried to post - my computer hung & Ctrl/Alt/Del had to be pressed multiple times to unlock it. When I completely uninstalled Java - I still couldn't access the browser till I rebooted. Then all was well.

Now I know the Corporate Boobs at Microsoft & Java have been tearing at each other throats for a long time but what the bloody ^%&$# is going on here. Personally I don't care if the corporate entities eat each other's young but when the blood letting interferes with my ability to use my computer the way it's meant to be used - you could say I get my knickers in a bit of a twist.