I had English teachers that banned dictionaries during exams.
I never did understand why. Now thanks to your post, I understand their reasoning. They must have thought that it is too easy to look up a word in the dictionary and simply take what's written as truth.
I'm looking for someone to teach my young students that independant and radical thought on issues with strong corporate and governmental ramifications is ok in this country, but I'm having a hard time finding anyone willing to speak up because they just get flamed out of existence. Can you help?
I heard the US government was created based on the radical and independant ideas of some dissenters. Am I wrong? Or did you guys throw all that tea away for fun?
I've also been looking for help on teaching ACs the use of a dictionary. dictionary.com says:
thievery: The act or practice of thieving.
thieve: To take (something) by theft or commit theft.
theft: The act or an instance of stealing; larceny.
larceny: The unlawful taking and removing of another's personal property with the intent of permanently depriving the owner; theft.
Unfortunately, unauthorised duplication does not result in the deprivation of the owner of their personal property. Please use the words "unauthorised copying" or "unauthorised duplication" instead when referring to illicit copying.
Not that you'll see this message, but that must make it hard to read your own messages, no?
;-)
[From the man that has his limits set at -1, always. Never want to miss a thing (you'd be surprised at the interesting stuff that gets modded down to -1). A little ASCII art and nasty words never hurt anyone (well, not as far as slashdot goes, I'm told). Of course, as an ex-BBSer, I've probably grown a thick skin against the trolls. Sometimes you can even appreciate them (sometimes). eg. AYBBTU.]
using its technology to reduce that iCraveTV-like "leakage" into the U.S.
I live in Canada, but I get high speed satellite from Nebulink, an American company. I have a bad feeling that their service won't work for users in the unfortunate position of being forced to purchase American high speed internet access (not that I've ever had problems with it).
Business machines still need to be FCC licensed (or so I'm led to believe). They get a Class "A" license. Any product to be used in the home must have a class "B" license.
IIRC, a class A license must not cause intereference within a mile (or the operator must pay to improve other people's equipment to ignore such interference). I believe a class B license is 100 ft.
But, I very well may be wrong. I haven't read that section of the manual for years.
[Please note the statements below only represent my opinions, and may not be entirely accurate, although they do represent my personal recollection of transpired events]
I returned my drive to IoMega under warranty. It took ONE HOUR and FOURTY FIVE MINUTES to get an RMA number over the phone. Note this is NOT an 800 number, it is a long distance call to Utah. I am in Canada. Also note that this was in '96 while long distance to the US cost like $0.75 a minute during business hours (the only time they are open). And note that shipping a Zip Drive to Utah, the only repair joint on Earth, costs about $100 US in shipping fees from Canada. And lets not forget the fact I spent 30 minutes before that 1.75 hours trying to use their horribly broken automated support, which assumed YOU were at fault for everything.
Total cost to me: $100 shipping fees. $100 phone call. Total cost for a new zip drive in '96? $200.
The shipping cost could have been avoided by simply having a repair depot in the country where you sell the product (Canada -- I reccomend Toronto/Missisagua). And no one should ever have to wait more than 10 minutes on hold if you have no 800 number! This is just basic business sense. I blame 100% of these costs on IoMega.
Face it, IoMega has to be the WORST company on earth. Hell, their website couldn't even be viewed with Lynx back in '95 (and YES, that certainly was a valid browser back then!). It was [IMAGE] this and [FRAME] that. It loaded slower than slashdot ever has. I spent, starting at 6:00 pm, FIVE HOURS attempting to download their 5 MB update over a T1. It came in so slow I assumed they were connecting using a 300 baud modem. Then, in the middle of that 5 hours it STOPPED. And DISCONNECTED. In total, it took me 3 attempts, FIVE HOURS each, to get all that damn software (it was the update to make the drive work in win '95, since the DOS drivers were useless). The software finally finished downloading when I came back from school, 4:00 pm!
I won't even get into the fact that I had to drive to the largest city in Canada (Toronto) to buy the only 5 zip disks left in that entire city (well, that was my guess since I phoned 20 retailers, of which two had one, and one retailer had three left). It was easier to find illicit drugs than zip disks in 95-96!
I suppose I could have ordered them direct for just $100 in long distance telephone fees...
I think they should (although they won't) burn in hell for being worse than Acer, Packard Bell, and Compaq combined. This settlement seems like a great first step.
You know, I had the same problem once. I tried to take the wheels from an old Corvette and wanted to fit them on a Nissan Micra.
It took a LOT of hammering, welding, and sheering and grinding of metal, but after a few days I made them fit.
Then I started the car and the wheels broke my axle 10 feet down the road. Stupid garbage Nissan Micra, what the hell???!??!! They're just wheels, I got them to fit and they were on the road, they should work!
Ow! Another headache! I hope I didn't brain my damage!
Re:Ahem yourself.... speaking of overheating
on
Pentium IV study
·
· Score: 1
I just held the fan stopped on my Athlon for 10 seconds.
Guess what? Nothing happened. It still works fine.
The only failure that will cause your athlon to burst into flames in 8 seconds is if the heatsink falls off.
If that happens, trust me, you have much, much, more major problems to worry about. Like the earthquake going on outside, or whatever moron just backed the 1/2 ton truck into your machine.
>I agree, if folks are listening to local radio online it's a waste of bandwidth.
I hope not when your radio eats static whenever you walk 5 feet into work. And when it's illegal in your area to drill through the walls (because that 1/4" hole will ruin the firewall), you don't have a chance in hades of running an antenna outside. Just imagine how much fun networking that joint is!
Ahhh, the joys of working inside a 60's concrete and steel box. I have to walk outside just to receive my pages... Now, back to my slate desk to do some work.
>The implicit goal of labor unions is to raise the price of labor (for the benefit of their members).
And, like any consumer, the goal of the company is to lower the price of labour. When you walk into a store to buy something, do you never wish the price of it was lower? If you had even a modicum of control over the price, would you not change it to benefit yourself?
That's partly why unions exist: To balance this out.
When you lower the value of a commodity, the commodity isn't necessarialy harmed. But people aren't a commodity. When you lower their value you harm them directly. And harming people is wrong. Therefore unions ensure people get their value in wages.
I know, I've seen the difference in wages between union and non-union shops. I've seen people get $14 an hour to install network cards under a union, and people without a union get $12 an hour to administrate 30,000 users!
Now, there are cases where the unions overstep their boundaries. But, unfortunately, that's the price we all have to pay because the world wouldn't run without corporate slaves.
The difference between unions and OPEC is that you can always shut down your old company and open up a non-unionized one, but you can't start putting soybean oil into your unleaded car without problems.
Not only that, but most companies don't start out with a union (unless the manager wants it that way). They have a union thrust upon them because they got enough workers so angry that they felt they needed one. When I bought a car, I never got a choice of what fuel I can put in it, I had to use OPEC sanctioned fuel (unless you expect the gas jockey to know where the fuel they're pumping came from).
No, I think they are on topic. If they weren't then why would you even bother responding with encrytion-law based arguments? Now, if you post consisted of anti-blender statements, or something equally silly, I'd say my post was offtopic.
>None of them is in conflict with the (intended) new law.
We are discussing about encryption that you will not be legally allowed to break unless the manufacturer *chooses* to let you do so. To let you break encryption that they worked so hard to design would be silly, to say the least.
Allow me to quote:
"Legal protection of anti-copying devices and exceptions"
"Firstly, rightholders have complete control over the manufacture, distribution etc. of devices designed to circumvent anti-copying devices."
Seems clear to me.
"Secondly, the Directive provides that rightholders either voluntarily or by way of agreements with other parties have to provide those who would benefit from a particular exception e.g. schools, libraries in the case of teaching, with the means to do so."
Are you a school? Didn't think so. And besides, letting schools get at the encryption is optional.
"In certain limited cases, where rightholders have made the means available, private copying may be carried out."
Repeat after me: "where rightholders have made the means available, private copying may be carried out.". ie: You must convince the DVD team that you should be allowed to exercise your rights.
>The point is: for what reason do you decrypt(brak the code)?
I think I told you why in the post before.
>For distribution of decrypted copies? Or for your own personal purpose?
For my personal safety, comfort, and rights. You are trying to drag an issue of decrypted copies into an argument in which I have never mentioned about them, until now.
>Your own personal purpose is fair use. period.
Look at the sections from the proposal that I have quoted. They don't seem to recognize fair use laws...
>If you are afraid that devices get so hard encrypted that this is no longer possibel to trust them, you should work on establishing peer reviews BEFORE it is shipped into the shops, not after it is.
And how can I do that when the device is encrypted?
>For making a copy od the device to compete in a free market: what is that about competition if you do not compete? Try to build it your own, thats competition!
Ok, so the question is, if you build it on your own, will you be able to use it with the other encrypted devices (no, since you can't even decrypt and reverse engineer their software or communications protocols)? Or will each and every device be a monopoly unto itself (ahh, the dreaded anti-free market word, monopoly).
>If you have a test in your class you expect that no one is looking over your shoulders and is writing (with better words?) what you write.
That's plagarism. That's different. Why? Because doing what you suggest (simply redesigning an existing product without permission) is usually already a violation of patent laws. We don't need new laws to protect this.
>READING it after the test, thats competition and fair use. Not during the test.
And that's what the decryption is all about, reading it after the test.
And soon you won't be able to do that.
So, as you say, and I say, no more competition and no more fair use. No more free market. And the trolls on slashdot call Linux users communists! What are these people making these laws?
>I can't think of any reason why you would want to break the encryption on copyrighted materials.
I can. Consider these future devices (most already designed), currently "in the works":
- Cars that drive themselves
- Telephones you can talk to (literally) to phone people
- Quarter sized audio discs for cheap audio players
And these, already manufactured and "consumerized", devices:
- Digital LCD monitors
- Digital speaker systems
- Colour photocopiers
- Digital GPS receivers
- DBS receivers and Digital VCRs / TVs
Now, why do these matter? Because I think I should be able to:
- Drive where I want, when I want, and as safe as I want. To do that, I would like uninvolved, unsponsored, third party reviews on the car controlling computer software, which can't happen under this law.
- I want to phone who I want, when I want, without others eavesdropping. How can I trust the telephone company's digital encryption when I can't even try to break it myself?
- I want to play my audio on a high end system, and have it sound GOOD. Those players will be likely be crap for sure, and since no third party can manufacture a competing player, none will ever be made.
- I want to watch anything I want, and create any art I want. With encrypted digital monitor technology, the company owning the encryption could literally tell you they won't license you to use your computer to do these things should they disagree with you or your morals.
- I want to listen to my music where and when I want, and I want to be able to design good sounding speaker systems. Can't do that with encrypted signals, as a private user I'll never be licensed to decrypt the signals.
- I want to be able to take the part of the code out of my colour photocopier that puts a green square over currency so I can photocopy a $1 bill (with a black mark covering "This Note Is Legal Tender"). If I can't do that I can't create the $1 bill collage I wanted to do for my old art class.
- I want independent third party review of any GPS receiver I use before I can feel secure about it. Can't happen if the device is encrypted.
- I want to be able to record a show to watch later. I have been given this right under the 1984 BetaMax ruling. I can't exercise my given rights with this law in place, should the path be fully encrypted, as with new HDTV.
- I want to learn how all the above devices work so I can compete in the free market, which is what the EU and the US are supposed to be about, right? Can't do that legally with encrypted devices.
After reading your ideas I liked them, and I therefore motion that your user id "Bassturd" is offensive and should be removed from slashdot. That's not censorship, its responsible webhosting. I'm glad when someone is finally fighting for the children who have to read nasty userids like yours. I don't care if that is your real name or not, it is just wrong to call yourself that while children are around. Pleaase use B.A. instead in the future.
All in favour of removing B. Assturd, please reply!
Slashdot Mirror
But is it *really* fair for him to receive 10,000 spams a second?
That is the main item that has to proven in a civil court.
At least that's what I learned from taking 1/4 of a law clas... Take that however you'd like (I wouldn't trust me in this case...)
1. Debian
/pub/mirrors/slackware/slackware-7.1/iso. Get install.iso.
2. Redhat
3. Slackware
Ftp to ftp.slackware.com. Look in
What are peoples experences with these two?
My experience is that I always come crawling back to slackware in a month or two... YMMV.
I had English teachers that banned dictionaries during exams.
I never did understand why. Now thanks to your post, I understand their reasoning. They must have thought that it is too easy to look up a word in the dictionary and simply take what's written as truth.
Ok. Don't like CDR? Say WORM. Rolls off the tongue easier, even if it is a _little_ incorrect.
Hate Internet Explorer = 69,900 pages
;-)
Hate IE = 382,200 pages
Total MSIE hate = 452,100 pages
Total MSIE hate / Netscape hate = 2.84x the hate
I think that says it all if we're going by google page counts.
I dunno...
:-)
Japanese keyboard, BIOS, serial numbers and manuals maybe? It would certainly make getting support fun!
Dear AC,
I'm looking for someone to teach my young students that independant and radical thought on issues with strong corporate and governmental ramifications is ok in this country, but I'm having a hard time finding anyone willing to speak up because they just get flamed out of existence. Can you help?
I heard the US government was created based on the radical and independant ideas of some dissenters. Am I wrong? Or did you guys throw all that tea away for fun?
I've also been looking for help on teaching ACs the use of a dictionary. dictionary.com says:
thievery: The act or practice of thieving.
thieve: To take (something) by theft or commit theft.
theft: The act or an instance of stealing; larceny.
larceny: The unlawful taking and removing of another's personal property with the intent of permanently depriving the owner; theft.
Unfortunately, unauthorised duplication does not result in the deprivation of the owner of their personal property. Please use the words "unauthorised copying" or "unauthorised duplication" instead when referring to illicit copying.
Please post answers.
Thx.
>(I browse at +3)...
Not that you'll see this message, but that must make it hard to read your own messages, no?
;-)
[From the man that has his limits set at -1, always. Never want to miss a thing (you'd be surprised at the interesting stuff that gets modded down to -1). A little ASCII art and nasty words never hurt anyone (well, not as far as slashdot goes, I'm told). Of course, as an ex-BBSer, I've probably grown a thick skin against the trolls. Sometimes you can even appreciate them (sometimes). eg. AYBBTU.]
But will it work for me?
using its technology to reduce that iCraveTV-like "leakage" into the U.S.
I live in Canada, but I get high speed satellite from Nebulink, an American company. I have a bad feeling that their service won't work for users in the unfortunate position of being forced to purchase American high speed internet access (not that I've ever had problems with it).
Business machines still need to be FCC licensed (or so I'm led to believe). They get a Class "A" license. Any product to be used in the home must have a class "B" license.
IIRC, a class A license must not cause intereference within a mile (or the operator must pay to improve other people's equipment to ignore such interference). I believe a class B license is 100 ft.
But, I very well may be wrong. I haven't read that section of the manual for years.
>and since OSS doesn't make any money, you'll be paying for it out of your own pocket.
And neither does Closed Source if we go by your Yahoo tells all link.
I can surf the web wirelessly for two weeks on a single AA Alkaline supermarket brand battery using my RIM 950 pager.
Of course, I don't have colour.
But then again, my battery only cost $0.50.
Hard choice... But I think I'll stick with stuff that uses AAs for now.
With 64 MB of RAM festival could be ported to the thing.
Then any book on project Gutenberg could be read aloud.
[Please note the statements below only represent my opinions, and may not be entirely accurate, although they do represent my personal recollection of transpired events]
I returned my drive to IoMega under warranty. It took ONE HOUR and FOURTY FIVE MINUTES to get an RMA number over the phone. Note this is NOT an 800 number, it is a long distance call to Utah. I am in Canada. Also note that this was in '96 while long distance to the US cost like $0.75 a minute during business hours (the only time they are open). And note that shipping a Zip Drive to Utah, the only repair joint on Earth, costs about $100 US in shipping fees from Canada. And lets not forget the fact I spent 30 minutes before that 1.75 hours trying to use their horribly broken automated support, which assumed YOU were at fault for everything.
Total cost to me: $100 shipping fees. $100 phone call. Total cost for a new zip drive in '96? $200.
The shipping cost could have been avoided by simply having a repair depot in the country where you sell the product (Canada -- I reccomend Toronto/Missisagua). And no one should ever have to wait more than 10 minutes on hold if you have no 800 number! This is just basic business sense. I blame 100% of these costs on IoMega.
Face it, IoMega has to be the WORST company on earth. Hell, their website couldn't even be viewed with Lynx back in '95 (and YES, that certainly was a valid browser back then!). It was [IMAGE] this and [FRAME] that. It loaded slower than slashdot ever has. I spent, starting at 6:00 pm, FIVE HOURS attempting to download their 5 MB update over a T1. It came in so slow I assumed they were connecting using a 300 baud modem. Then, in the middle of that 5 hours it STOPPED. And DISCONNECTED. In total, it took me 3 attempts, FIVE HOURS each, to get all that damn software (it was the update to make the drive work in win '95, since the DOS drivers were useless). The software finally finished downloading when I came back from school, 4:00 pm!
I won't even get into the fact that I had to drive to the largest city in Canada (Toronto) to buy the only 5 zip disks left in that entire city (well, that was my guess since I phoned 20 retailers, of which two had one, and one retailer had three left). It was easier to find illicit drugs than zip disks in 95-96!
I suppose I could have ordered them direct for just $100 in long distance telephone fees...
I think they should (although they won't) burn in hell for being worse than Acer, Packard Bell, and Compaq combined. This settlement seems like a great first step.
You know, I had the same problem once. I tried to take the wheels from an old Corvette and wanted to fit them on a Nissan Micra.
It took a LOT of hammering, welding, and sheering and grinding of metal, but after a few days I made them fit.
Then I started the car and the wheels broke my axle 10 feet down the road. Stupid garbage Nissan Micra, what the hell???!??!! They're just wheels, I got them to fit and they were on the road, they should work!
Ow! Another headache! I hope I didn't brain my damage!
I just held the fan stopped on my Athlon for 10 seconds.
Guess what? Nothing happened. It still works fine.
The only failure that will cause your athlon to burst into flames in 8 seconds is if the heatsink falls off.
If that happens, trust me, you have much, much, more major problems to worry about. Like the earthquake going on outside, or whatever moron just backed the 1/2 ton truck into your machine.
Anyone from outside the Americas, Australia and Europe want to comment on this?
Did everyone in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia get a day off?
Just wondering...
>I agree, if folks are listening to local radio online it's a waste of bandwidth.
I hope not when your radio eats static whenever you walk 5 feet into work. And when it's illegal in your area to drill through the walls (because that 1/4" hole will ruin the firewall), you don't have a chance in hades of running an antenna outside. Just imagine how much fun networking that joint is!
Ahhh, the joys of working inside a 60's concrete and steel box. I have to walk outside just to receive my pages... Now, back to my slate desk to do some work.
>The implicit goal of labor unions is to raise the price of labor (for the benefit of their members).
And, like any consumer, the goal of the company is to lower the price of labour. When you walk into a store to buy something, do you never wish the price of it was lower? If you had even a modicum of control over the price, would you not change it to benefit yourself?
That's partly why unions exist: To balance this out.
When you lower the value of a commodity, the commodity isn't necessarialy harmed. But people aren't a commodity. When you lower their value you harm them directly. And harming people is wrong. Therefore unions ensure people get their value in wages.
I know, I've seen the difference in wages between union and non-union shops. I've seen people get $14 an hour to install network cards under a union, and people without a union get $12 an hour to administrate 30,000 users!
Now, there are cases where the unions overstep their boundaries. But, unfortunately, that's the price we all have to pay because the world wouldn't run without corporate slaves.
The difference between unions and OPEC is that you can always shut down your old company and open up a non-unionized one, but you can't start putting soybean oil into your unleaded car without problems.
Not only that, but most companies don't start out with a union (unless the manager wants it that way). They have a union thrust upon them because they got enough workers so angry that they felt they needed one. When I bought a car, I never got a choice of what fuel I can put in it, I had to use OPEC sanctioned fuel (unless you expect the gas jockey to know where the fuel they're pumping came from).
>All your arguements are in fact off topic.
No, I think they are on topic. If they weren't then why would you even bother responding with encrytion-law based arguments? Now, if you post consisted of anti-blender statements, or something equally silly, I'd say my post was offtopic.
>None of them is in conflict with the (intended) new law.
We are discussing about encryption that you will not be legally allowed to break unless the manufacturer *chooses* to let you do so. To let you break encryption that they worked so hard to design would be silly, to say the least.
Allow me to quote:
"Legal protection of anti-copying devices and exceptions"
"Firstly, rightholders have complete control over the manufacture, distribution etc. of devices designed to circumvent anti-copying devices."
Seems clear to me.
"Secondly, the Directive provides that rightholders either voluntarily or by way of agreements with other parties have to provide those who would benefit from a particular exception e.g. schools, libraries in the case of teaching, with the means to do so."
Are you a school? Didn't think so. And besides, letting schools get at the encryption is optional.
"In certain limited cases, where rightholders have made the means available, private copying may be carried out."
Repeat after me: "where rightholders have made the means available, private copying may be carried out.". ie: You must convince the DVD team that you should be allowed to exercise your rights.
>The point is: for what reason do you decrypt(brak the code)?
I think I told you why in the post before.
>For distribution of decrypted copies? Or for your own personal purpose?
For my personal safety, comfort, and rights. You are trying to drag an issue of decrypted copies into an argument in which I have never mentioned about them, until now.
>Your own personal purpose is fair use. period.
Look at the sections from the proposal that I have quoted. They don't seem to recognize fair use laws...
>If you are afraid that devices get so hard encrypted that this is no longer possibel to trust them, you should work on establishing peer reviews BEFORE it is shipped into the shops, not after it is.
And how can I do that when the device is encrypted?
>For making a copy od the device to compete in a free market: what is that about competition if you do not compete? Try to build it your own, thats competition!
Ok, so the question is, if you build it on your own, will you be able to use it with the other encrypted devices (no, since you can't even decrypt and reverse engineer their software or communications protocols)? Or will each and every device be a monopoly unto itself (ahh, the dreaded anti-free market word, monopoly).
>If you have a test in your class you expect that no one is looking over your shoulders and is writing (with better words?) what you write.
That's plagarism. That's different. Why? Because doing what you suggest (simply redesigning an existing product without permission) is usually already a violation of patent laws. We don't need new laws to protect this.
>READING it after the test, thats competition and fair use. Not during the test.
And that's what the decryption is all about, reading it after the test.
And soon you won't be able to do that.
So, as you say, and I say, no more competition and no more fair use. No more free market. And the trolls on slashdot call Linux users communists! What are these people making these laws?
>I can't think of any reason why you would want to break the encryption on copyrighted materials.
I can. Consider these future devices (most already designed), currently "in the works":
- Cars that drive themselves
- Telephones you can talk to (literally) to phone people
- Quarter sized audio discs for cheap audio players
And these, already manufactured and "consumerized", devices:
- Digital LCD monitors
- Digital speaker systems
- Colour photocopiers
- Digital GPS receivers
- DBS receivers and Digital VCRs / TVs
Now, why do these matter? Because I think I should be able to:
- Drive where I want, when I want, and as safe as I want. To do that, I would like uninvolved, unsponsored, third party reviews on the car controlling computer software, which can't happen under this law.
- I want to phone who I want, when I want, without others eavesdropping. How can I trust the telephone company's digital encryption when I can't even try to break it myself?
- I want to play my audio on a high end system, and have it sound GOOD. Those players will be likely be crap for sure, and since no third party can manufacture a competing player, none will ever be made.
- I want to watch anything I want, and create any art I want. With encrypted digital monitor technology, the company owning the encryption could literally tell you they won't license you to use your computer to do these things should they disagree with you or your morals.
- I want to listen to my music where and when I want, and I want to be able to design good sounding speaker systems. Can't do that with encrypted signals, as a private user I'll never be licensed to decrypt the signals.
- I want to be able to take the part of the code out of my colour photocopier that puts a green square over currency so I can photocopy a $1 bill (with a black mark covering "This Note Is Legal Tender"). If I can't do that I can't create the $1 bill collage I wanted to do for my old art class.
- I want independent third party review of any GPS receiver I use before I can feel secure about it. Can't happen if the device is encrypted.
- I want to be able to record a show to watch later. I have been given this right under the 1984 BetaMax ruling. I can't exercise my given rights with this law in place, should the path be fully encrypted, as with new HDTV.
- I want to learn how all the above devices work so I can compete in the free market, which is what the EU and the US are supposed to be about, right? Can't do that legally with encrypted devices.
Are those enough reasons?
[sarcasm mode on]
After reading your ideas I liked them, and I therefore motion that your user id "Bassturd" is offensive and should be removed from slashdot. That's not censorship, its responsible webhosting. I'm glad when someone is finally fighting for the children who have to read nasty userids like yours. I don't care if that is your real name or not, it is just wrong to call yourself that while children are around. Pleaase use B.A. instead in the future.
All in favour of removing B. Assturd, please reply!
[sarcasm mode off]
Let me clear it up... :-)
How a diesel engine works.
How a gasoline engine works.
Is Diesel really cheaper than regular gasoline?
What is the difference between various crude oils?
And, since I saw a mention about it in another thread here:
What is octane?
Probably a little bit basic, but an easy read, and should give you an easy to remember understanding of the items in question.
Aren't there laws in your state already banning the dispensing of normal gas to those under the legal driving age?