[firefox] advice please, people

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I know you all said switch to Firefox but what do I actually have to do to changeover? I found it, it said Download, it's compatible but The Morningstar's comment freaked me. Windows might have to be reinstalled as a repair? How? How will I know?

Has anyone out there actually switched from IE6? I suppose everything needs reinstalling and my internet provider will probably have to be told, yes? New e-mail too but that's not a problem.

Are there any glitches with it?

[women] are completely equal to men ... or not

They’re bigger and stronger than before but does that mean that the desire to be equal should mean more sets for women – 5 sets, the same as the men – or has feminism gone over the edge? Here are the results of the Age Poll:

Yes - 69%
No - 31%

Total Votes: 201

[leslie nielsen] the naked gun series

Frank Drebin saving the Queen from assassination

Do you also have a secret liking for classic lowbrow comedy?

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted the first Naked Gun the 39th greatest comedy film of all time. It was also voted the 14th best comedy of all time in a Channel 4 poll. They’re quite some accolades for a basically B movie and a B movie star.

Leslie Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on February 11, 1926 and it took him years of straight roles before he was cast as Dr. Rumacker in Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker’s Airplane! [1980]. He was 54 years of age.

It was another eight years before the same team reprised a former TV series and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad [1988] was born. Touting some big names: Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy and O.J. Simpson, before the murder rap, there was a definite chemistry between the cast in this film which wasn’t really recaptured in the sequels: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear [1991] and The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult [1994].

The plot is virtually irrelevant – the kidnapping of the Queen by a zombie baseball player – but it was the running gags and the slick scene changes, coupled with the obvious chemistry between a 62 year old Nielsen and Presley in the risky and risqué romantic subplot plus the great supporting role by OJ, as Detective Nordberg, Nielsen’s sidekick, which made the film. Here are some quotes from the Naked Gun series:

Frank Drebin [Nielsen]

# The truth hurts doesn't it, Hapsburg? Oh sure, maybe not as much as jumping on a bicycle with the seat missing, but it hurts.

# There is always risk. Like getting up in the morning and crossing the street... Or putting your face in a fan.

# Like a midget at a urinal, I'd have to be on my toes.

Scenes

Mayor: Now Drebin, I don't want any trouble like you had on the South Side like last year, that's my policy.

Frank: Well, when I see five weirdos dressed in togas, stabbing a man in the middle of the park in front of a full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards, that's my policy.

Mayor: That was a Shakespeare In The Park Production of Julius Caesar, you moron! You killed five actors! Good ones!

Vincent Ludwig: Drebin!
Jane Spencer [Presley]: Frank!
Frank Drebin: You're both right.

Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girl dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
Jane Spencer: Goodyear?
Frank: No, the worst.

Frank: Interesting... Almost as interesting as the photographs I saw today.

Jane Spencer: I was young. I needed the work.

[Frank Drebin, angrily breaking up with Jane, turns at the door and faces her, putting his nose in the air]
Frank: And I'll tell you another thing: I faked every orgasm!

Norberg was shot by a gang of thugs and lies in a critical condition in hospital. The brother officers break the news to his wife:

Mrs. Nordberg: Oh, my poor Nordberg! He was such a good man, Frank. He never wanted to hurt anyone. Who would do such a thing?
Frank: It's hard to tell. A gang of thugs, a blackmailer, an angry husband, a gay lover...
Ed: That's no way for a man to die.
Frank: Ehhh, you're right, Ed. A parachute not opening... that's the way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine... having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that's the way I wanna go.
Mrs. Nordberg: [crying] Oh... Frank. Ohh this is terrible.

Ed: Don't you worry Wilma. Your husband is going to be alright. Don't you worry about anything. Just think positive. Never let a doubt enter your mind.
Frank: He's right, Wilma. But I wouldn't wait until the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards.

Mrs. Nordberg: [starts crying again]
Ed: What I'm trying to say is that Wilma, as soon as Nordberg is better, he's welcome back at Police Squad.
Frank: Unless he's a drooling vegetable. But I think that's only common sense...

Some further quotes here:

Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

[headmastership] how you change over time

You might like to picture this: you’ve just been confirmed as the new headmaster of a minor but geographically significant school, with a century of tradition. Apparently appointed for your vision and your blend of youth and experience, the chairman invites you into the boardroom with an extended hand and says: “Welcome aboard.” A glass is put into your hand and you feel both honoured and awed by the task ahead.

What happens to you over time?

1] You learn to take nothing on trust once you’ve been burnt a few times. Pretty women cut no ice. Respectable, suited businessmen cut no ice. The pretty little girl in tears could easily be acting. You reject stereotypes, such as the community leader who must be a fine character by definition and you often find the opposite. Often, the higher you go, the greater the dirt. However, your default demeanour is always friendly and gentlemanly, especially to your rivals. It’s just that you take much of what they say with a grain of salt.

2] Whatever ability you had to judge character reaches a much higher plane with experience. Every day, in all situations, your judgement is being called on to sort out a dispute, approve a contract and so on. After all the early mistakes, you do it better. You develop little rules which sound crazy but nevertheless work, e.g. never employ a woman who wears denim to an interview, has piercing or is a religious nut.

3] You begin to be ruled by the schedule and you reach the delegation watershed – either you delegate to trusted subordinates or you go out of your mind. You accept, to a certain percentage factor that they’ll always either let you down or not understand but you never hold it against them or write it down. You never hold grudges.

4] You try to keep the working day below about 15 or 16 hours and schedule in blank spaces – very vital. You either take care of your family or divorce. Twenty minute rest periods are fiercely protected by the secretary and you emerge refreshed. You either love your community or you must get out. The stress is too great otherwise. You learn to pace yourself and never regret if something wasn’t done today. Do it tomorrow morning.

5] You learn to get out of the office and interact with all sections of the community, from the maintenance man to the littlest child. You know each of their particular problems and follow them up. If the cook’s away, you step in [also saving money]. If the drain’s blocked and you’re right on hand, you put on gloves and clear it.

6] You take on the coaching of one of the underage sports teams and do the same training you require of them [almost]. Saves gym fees and gets you fit and out in the open air. You eat properly and when you forget, your wife or secretary doesn’t. You follow doctor’s orders instead of being a hero.

7] Your mind starts to compartmentalize. In any one hour, you might have to discipline a recalcitrant student, greet local dignitaries Mr. and Mrs. Patel and their son as they seek to enrol him, then perhaps you’ll hear the complaint of one teacher about another, then it’s off to the Heads Association luncheon and so on.

8] You quickly learn your own limitations, both character-wise and capacity-wise and all your flaws are thrown into sharp relief, for all to see. One of mine was the tendency to let things slide, to gather data and advice first and to stew over it before acting, even if some saw this as dithering.

9] You learn to break the incident-reaction-regret cycle. Remove the immediate danger and schedule a time for the matter to be heard, with no snide remarks whatsoever in the meantime. This was particularly important for me because one of my failings is that I don’t suffer fools gladly and my tongue is too sharp.

10] You can’t afford the slightest whiff of scandal or your school will be empty by next morning. Reputation becomes everything and the greatest crime, the greatest enemy, is ‘drama’. You’ll hear out a teacher who’s complaining about some child and then reply: ‘That may well be so but I see more drama coming out of your class since your appointment here than all the other classes combined.’ This is the only time you react swiftly and nip the trouble in the bud, before it damages the community and by association, yourself.

11] You become implacable and a certain steel enters your soul. Once a decision is made, you never go back on it or regret it, if it’s originally been thought through. You fire after two warnings, without regret. Once the dead wood’s been cut away, soon everything falls into place and people know where they are. Your loyalty is to all those dependent on you and you brook no attack on those people.

12] Despite all this, there eventually comes a time when the cumulative effect of the stress makes you less efficient or gets you bogged down and you have to know when to let go, to hand over the reins and seek new horizons. Otherwise you become a cynical, unpleasant shell, have a heart attack or both. Mental health is everything, otherwise you can’t operate. Soldiering on is stupid in this game because you’re short-changing your dependents.

[thought for the day] old wives' tales

From Lord of the Rings, Celeborn the Elf King says, in answer to Boromir, who thought the former was repeating old wives' tales:

"Do not depise the lore which has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know."

[reykjavik acts] perhaps some species can be saved

After a rather torrid lot of posts from me lately, perhaps reflecting the current mood, in desperation I went to Iceland, which can usually be relied on for a cheerful post and I think it’s done so again:

The Environmental Health and Protection Office of the City of Reykjavík decided on Monday to give baby geese and other nestlings, hatched around the Reykjavík Pond next spring, food to secure their survival. A report says the growth rate of the bird species has come to a standstill.

“We take the report very seriously,” said the director of the Environmental Health and Protection Office, Gísli Marteinn Baldursson. “If we don’t take action now we might lose the variety of bird life we have enjoyed at Reykjavík Pond.”

In addition to feeding the nestlings hatched at the pond next spring, the Environmental Health and Protection Office of the City of Reykjavík has decided to take actions to scare the lesser black-backed gull away, which often beats the other birds to the food.

Hope they don’t overdo it and start losing the ‘lesser black-backed’ as well. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.