A while back I wrote some instructions on how to get Gmail (which then only supported POP) to work properly with Apple’s Mail client. Well, Google have now added IMAP support to Gmail, so a lot of the jiggery-pokery necessary to get that to work is now unnecessary. The instructions still work, but IMAP is a much more straightforward way to access Gmail.
Gmail posted good instructions on how to get it work in Apple Mail here.
In a little less than hour the 2007 NFL season will kick off which means that it is time for me to make a prediction on how the Washington Redskins will perform this year. Last year I was a little wide of the mark, predicting that the
‘Skins finish the regular season 16-0, winning the NFC East along the way. They then march triumphantly through the playoffs to the Superbowl where they meet and defeat the Indianapolis Colts.
That didn’t happen. (Although I’d like to point out that I did correctly predict that the Colts would win the AFC Championship, an outcome that seems more and more just by the day.)
So, what’s my prediction for this season. Well, I’m not prepared to make a prediction on how many games Washington will win, but, based on their modest offseason acquisitions and decent preseason form, my carefully measured opinion is that they are an unstoppable juggernaut destined for Super Bowl glory. I think they’ll be playing the San Diego Chargers in the big game.
Super Bowl Bound!
You can get Squishees, Buzz Cola, and, best of all, Krusty O’s at Seven-Eleven now. They’re actually not bad.
It is now possible to buy an Ikea House. I wonder if people have the same trouble with these as I had assembling Effektiv back in December? Does an Ikea house come with the same frustratingly obscure instructions? Does it come flat-packed and wrapped in a mountain of cardboard? And is it still actually made out of cardboard covered with “birch veneer”? Do you still get the exact number of screws necessary to build the house? Do you still always have one leftover? Is that leftover screw still the cause of the wobbliness? Can you still not be bothered disassembling everything back to step 3 just to put it in? And, most importantly, do you have to assemble the entire thing with a single tiny Allen key?
I just happened upon an essay by George Orwell entitled “Politics and the English Language”.
In it he puts forth six rules for writing:
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Good advice, but I have a feeling it might be surprisingly hard to consistently follow all of them.