Your humble Blog Goliard has had the privilege of spending multiple hours on multiple computers this week, fighting with one of the gazillion Windows XP updates that were recently pushed out. The security update for .NET Framework 1.1 would not install properly; and it was loads of fun ripping out .NET and reinstalling it to fix this problem.

If, perchance, anyone who stumbles across this page finds him or herself in the same situation, here is what worked for my machines, along with links to the tools used.

Step 1: Open up the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel. Remove all instances of Microsoft .NET Framework (all versions). There appears to be a certain order in which it prefers to work, but I never seemed to hit upon the exact right one, so I can’t give detailed advice there; just keep whacking at it until they’re all gone.

Step 2: Download the .NET Framework Cleanup Tool from this site and run it to remove any stray bits of .NET Framework that may remain.

Step 3: Download All in One Runtimes from this site. After rebooting, run this tool with the boxes under “Microsoft .NET Framework checked” and other boxes unchecked, and it will automatically reinstall .NET Framework versions 1.1 through 3.5, with service packs.

Step 4: Reboot again, then run Microsoft Update. Any remaining updates not already rolled into All in One Runtimes should now install.

Good luck!

I read a lot of columns and blogs and other bloviating on the Web in a typical day, so I’m used to the frequent glitches and oversights one encounters, even on websites of respected dead-tree publications.

But Tony Blankley’s gaffe in yesterday’s Washington Times column was a real jaw-dropper nonetheless.

In Europe, citizens can be — and have been — criminally prosecuted for calling elements of Islam violence-prone. The great crusading journalist Camille Paglia was forced to live out her last cancer-ridden days in exile to avoid paying the penal price for her honest (and accurate) expressions on that topic.

(Emphasis added.)

Ouch.

I can almost imagine conflating the late Oriana Fallaci with some other European anti-Islamist crusader…but with the author of Sexual Personae (who is, of course, very much alive)? How do those two become interchangeable in one’s mind?

I also don’t understand how neither Mr. Blankley nor any of his editors didn’t pause to double-check the reference. I myself tend to be incredibly fussy over what I publish, even if it only ever reaches a half-dozen readers. You’d think that someone would at least have taken fifteen seconds to Google or Wikipedia the spelling…and that even a cursory glance at the results of the search would have set off alarm bells.

Those who earn a living from writing and opining on the issues of the day, and see those writings and opinings disseminated to millions weekly, have a privileged and enviable position. Is it too much to ask that they write and edit and proofread with great care?

I can’t stand sloppy, not in areas like this.