College bowl games Jan 1, 2006
Wikipedia has a list of college bowl games with a link to a description of each bowl game. #technology
Cat strangle Jan 1, 2006
When I was about 3 or 4, this seemed like the right way to pick up a cat. 

#nature
Do not spam Jan 1, 2006
I just registered my home phone number at the National Do Not Call Registry because we've been getting tons of phone calls from jerks trying to sell us junk.  (I obviously don't believe in telemarketing; never have, never will.  No one will ever convince me that this is a viable way to do business.  And no one will ever get me to switch my long distance carrier by calling me.  And what is the police athletic league?  Is it like the National Football League?  Can I be in their league?  Are they on TV?  How do they know I gave money last year if I didn't?)  And the most annoying thing is that the people that call are calling for a person who no longer has our phone number.  I realized this would be a problem when I searched for our brand new phone number on Google and immediately found that it was listed under someone else's name.  So I'm hoping that the Do Not Call list will actually work.  So far (for the past 11 days) it has, but that's probably just a coincidence. 

So that got me thinking:  If there's a list of phone numbers that stupid people aren't allowed to call, it makes complete sense for there to be a list of email addresses that stupid people can't email.  Just for kicks, I searched for the idea on the internet.  Apparently I'm not the first one to think of this.  And I'm amazed at what people have said about it.  The Washington Times says that it would hurt legitimate businesses who use email marketing to propagate their ... um ... propaganda (my wording).  To that, I say:  "Who cares?"  If I don't want some jerks sending me email, I should have that choice. 

The other side of the argument is that most spam comes from illegitimate jerks from overseas who's business is fraud and other bottom-feeder activities.  Compiling a list of email addresses would make it easier for these people to send me spam.  And the cutesy little laws that our country makes don't usually apply to people outside of our country. 

Some people have even made fun of this idea.  How can anyone make fun of something this serious?  Oh wait, apparently I've done or supported this a couple of times in the past. 

Despite all these reasons against having a do not spam list, I think they all miss the fundamental problem:  I'm getting emails that I don't want to get, and there's no way for me or anyone else to stop it.  And I think that's ridiculous.  Sure there are spam filters and virus scanners and stuff like that, but these are like cold medicine:  they're fixing the symptoms, not solving the problem. Surely these spammers are using traditional email methods like mail servers and stuff like that, so there must be some way to stop it.  I realize that many spammers hack into mail servers or use a host machine without its knowledge, but I don't care. 

Since there's "no way" to stop these things, I think we should result to other means.  By we, I mean the CIA.  And by other means, I mean terrorism.  I hereby vote for the CIA to start blowing up servers, equipment, and buildings that house these things.  I would ask the CIA to act when people go home from work so that no lives would be lost.  I think this is a completely viable alternative to legislation, and I expect it to happen as soon as someone important reads this. #technology
New year Jan 1, 2006
[I wonder if there's anyone with a website that hasn't written a post called "new year".  I'm so unoriginal.]

Like all dumb people, I have a New Year's resolution.  It's not to be a better person or to work out 4 times a week.  It's not to give more money to the homeless or climb the Eiffel Tower.  My New Year's resolution is to read the Bible cover to cover.  This is absolutely an obtainable goal, and it's something that I know I'll complete.  I've done it a couple times in the past, but the difference with this time is that I'm doing it with a few other people.  This could be good because we can talk about different things that we learned or different passages that we don't understand.  It's also good because we can encourage each other in doing it.  Another thing that's different about this time is that I'm planning on writing a brief summary of every chapter in the Bible.  Just a one-line thing.  (I also have a grandiose plan in the back of my head to computerize this as well, but I'm not sure how I want to do that just yet.)  This might also be accompanied by some themes or lessons learned.  I'm not quite sure about the details; I'll figure it out as I go.  One thing that always causes me problems with long-term tasks is that I'm mildly obsessive compulsive.  So if I start something one way, I'll want to finish it the same way.  I'm hoping to get away from that a little bit by allowing the process to change over time. #religion