Jim Seaman – web log

They just keep coming faster and faster! No vacation as in years past, Gabino and I are spending our common birthday at home with the dog.

It’s been a while – none last year – but we finally got a bit of snow here in Raleigh. It started overnight in the wee hours of the morning and quit by 8am but it left a nice white coating.

If you have been around the Internet for long you have likely been exposed to the unofficial rules of conduct that are commonly referred to as netiquette. Life on the Internet would be much nicer if everyone would at least keep these rules in mind when using their computers.

I’d like to propose an addition to the list … something that we do everyday with people we deal with directly, be it face-to-face or via telephone or even e-mail. The simple act of saying thanks!

Saying “thank you” doesn’t even occur to most people who browse the Web, but a lot of people have spent many hours in their attempts to share their knowledge (or whatever else may be the subject of their website) with the world. When you visit a site you like (or have found to be helpful), be sure to click on one or two of the ads that are on that site. It doesn’t cost you anything and it gives a couple of cents income to the webmaster. Those cents accumulate and, with enough visitors, may become enough to pay for their hosting expenses! A very simple, but effective, way to say THANKS!

This past weekend the American death toll in Iraq crossed the 3000 mark. And just what have the lives of these Americans bought?

Saddam Hussein was a horrible ruler who killed thousands of his countrymen and he is now gone … replacing him has been the US control of Iraq. Under our nation’s control many thousands more innocent civilians have died than Saddam ever even thought of killing!

We have removed a monster from power and replaced him with something far worse – and done it at the cost of 3000 American lives.

Perhaps we should have recalled the admonition: Judge not lest ye be judged.