Lately I have had a wet dream about a small device that is supported on all machines and allows you to take your cryptographic keys and desktop preferences anywhere you go. Instead of remembering different passwords, you just insert your card into the machine, and it automatically logs on as you. The desktop pops up with your preferences for colors, font size, keyboard layout and accelerators. It knows your POP/IMAP settings so you can get your email. Since this is a dream, I also imagined it to be supported on all major platforms (Win, Mac, Linux) in a consistent way.
This little device could actually make this dream a reality. One of the problems I came up with was that every machine would have to have a card reader. Using USB instead means that almost any desktop you sit down in front of these days has the prerequisite slot built in.
Of course, this will probably never get the needed OS support. Apple might do it for the style factor, Sun might do it for their thin client vision, Linux will do it because we can, but I dont see Microsoft doing it in a standard way until they absoulutely have to. Since Windows is what is running most desktops, this idea can't work without Microsofts help. Maybe it meshes with their.NET idea?
Maybe someone from Sun or Oracle will read this, it will get a cool, buzzwordy name and be implemented for thin clients. With any luck, big enterprises will use it. Then, they'll demand it to be supported in Windows, and I'll be able to carry my anime wallpaper wherever I go.
If you spend most of your life at home, with relatives, and with a few close friends, you don't learn how to deal with other people. That could be a serious problem.
I'm a homeschooled HS junior and I agree here, but with reservations. The isolation can be a bit of a problem, but I was isolated in public schools anyways. I've found that as long as I can get a bit of time with a friend my sanity remains intact. I know that I'm atypical, but most people who would be considering this could say the same.
Also, leaving the education of children up to the parents only works if the parents are themselves responsible enough to teach the children. If you have bible-thumping fundamentalist parents who teach you that evolution is a sinister conspiracy of godless atheist scientists, you're going to be laughed out of college.
LOL! Every so often we get some catalogue of Christian teaching materials, including creationist science texts. Always good for a laugh. I don't know why they assume that if you homeschool you must be into that stuff.
I don't think privacy is a right. As a child, I didn't buy any of the things I used.
I have the fouth ammendment here, and I don't see anything that says that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasnoable searches and seisures is dependant on their buying habbits, and to the best of my knowledge children are people.
My parents have as much right to look on a computer in their house as I do now in my own now that I am living on my own.
I own my computer, but I don't own my house. Does that mean my landlord can browse through my machine's files? When you go to a friends house, do they have a right to strip search you?
There may be good reasons to permit a certain amount of privacy to children
The reasons are the same as for anyone else. If a child has no right to privacy, neither do you.
I'm not trying to say that a parent would never have any good reason to go through a kid's stuff, but there should be reasonable grounds for it, just as with a police search.
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Like your car keys? So? Just don't lose it, or make a backup.What makes it so special in this regard vs physical keys?
Lately I have had a wet dream about a small device that is supported on all machines and allows you to take your cryptographic keys and desktop preferences anywhere you go. Instead of remembering different passwords, you just insert your card into the machine, and it automatically logs on as you. The desktop pops up with your preferences for colors, font size, keyboard layout and accelerators. It knows your POP/IMAP settings so you can get your email. Since this is a dream, I also imagined it to be supported on all major platforms (Win, Mac, Linux) in a consistent way.
.NET idea?
This little device could actually make this dream a reality. One of the problems I came up with was that every machine would have to have a card reader. Using USB instead means that almost any desktop you sit down in front of these days has the prerequisite slot built in.
Of course, this will probably never get the needed OS support. Apple might do it for the style factor, Sun might do it for their thin client vision, Linux will do it because we can, but I dont see Microsoft doing it in a standard way until they absoulutely have to. Since Windows is what is running most desktops, this idea can't work without Microsofts help. Maybe it meshes with their
Maybe someone from Sun or Oracle will read this, it will get a cool, buzzwordy name and be implemented for thin clients. With any luck, big enterprises will use it. Then, they'll demand it to be supported in Windows, and I'll be able to carry my anime wallpaper wherever I go.
I am currently in mechanical engineering and considering switching to math if I can't hack the engineering. Chew on that one.
I've often had a desire to find a UF but was too
lazy to search through archives to find the one I want.
*PLUG*
I have a list of UF comics with synopses at http://members.xoom.com/theran/ufidx.html
It isn't complete, but it should help you when searching.
I've often had a desire to find a UF but was too
lazy to search through archives to find the one I want.
*PLUG*
I have a list of UF comics with synopses at http://members.xoom.com/theran/ufidx.html
It isn't complete, but it should help you when searching.
If you spend most of your life at home, with relatives, and with a few close friends, you don't learn how to deal with other people. That could be a serious problem.
I'm a homeschooled HS junior and I agree here, but with reservations. The isolation can be a bit of a problem, but I was isolated in public schools anyways. I've found that as long as I can get a bit of time with a friend my sanity remains intact. I know that I'm atypical, but most people who would be considering this could say the same.
Also, leaving the education of children up to the parents only works if the parents are themselves responsible enough to teach the children. If you have bible-thumping fundamentalist parents who teach you that evolution is a sinister conspiracy of godless atheist scientists, you're going to be laughed out of college.
LOL! Every so often we get some catalogue of Christian teaching materials, including creationist science texts. Always good for a laugh. I don't know why they assume that if you homeschool you must be into that stuff.
I don't think privacy is a right. As a child, I didn't buy any of the things I used.
I have the fouth ammendment here, and I don't see anything that says that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasnoable searches and seisures is dependant on their buying habbits, and to the best of my knowledge children are people.
My parents have as much right to look on a computer in their house as I do now in my own now that I am living on my own.
I own my computer, but I don't own my house. Does that mean my landlord can browse through my machine's files? When you go to a friends house, do they have a right to strip search you?
There may be good reasons to permit a certain amount of privacy to children
The reasons are the same as for anyone else. If a child has no right to privacy, neither do you.
I'm not trying to say that a parent would never have any good reason to go through a kid's stuff, but there should be reasonable grounds for it, just as with a police search.