Where have I been?

Hello. I have been having a sickening time with my computer. It started when I downloaded some free compression software (called IZarc - avoid it like the plague, kids) that had a murderous effect on the rest of my software. The first visible effect was that it converted all zip and other archive files into IZarc files, but it also kept on causing software errors all over the place. I deleted it and eventually found a better option, but in the meanwhile the rest of my software had got hurt, and one fine day I found that I could no longer go online. I tried to remedy this by deleting and reinstalling Internet Explorer - next thing I knew, the machine would not boot up at all. I had it seen to by a professional, which I could ill afford, and the result was that the system was restored - but half the software I had, including the important Nero system for burning ROMs, was somehow deleted. Worse still, the IE still would not work: in the most frustrating way imaginable, it reached up to the point where it actually opened a window for internet pages - and stopped half way through, crashing the computer.

The end of the story is that I had to take out of mothballs a ten-year-old Compaq with a wholly inadequate RAM (64kb), HD (2.1G) and screen, but which at least had uncorrupted software; and I will have to go on using it until I have saved enough money to have my Toshiba repaired or buy a new one. So this is the reason why you have not been hearing from me lately. I hope it is a good enough excuse.

And Happy Easter, everyone.

The right to life is the first of the rights for which the fledgling American states went to war

The only thing I find more revolting than Michael Schiavo is those who support him. The man beat up his wife, may well have caused her mysterious coma, consistently refused her any kind of treatment, and finally managed to devise an entirely new system of uxoricide: just find a judge who believes in the so-called "right to die" and let him commit your wife-murder nice and "legal". After which you can cash in on the insurance and proceed to your next female conquest. Till you are tired of her. This is truly a great new step forward in the progress of mankind: after legalized infanticide, legalized uxoricide. How our civilization progresses.

I am not disposed to hear any argument in favour of this monster. I do not think there is any need of a debate on the sanctity of human life, let alone on the legitimacy of murdering the old and sick. Anyone who even considers the likelihood of such a thing being legitimate cannot be a friend of mine. There are three things on which I will not give way, ever: abortion, the death penalty, and euthanasia - and of these, euthanasia is the worst. The weaker a human being is, the stronger should our commitment to them be. Anyone who considers old age or illness a good reason to destroy a person is my personal enemy, and, in my view, the enemy of mankind at large.