To be honest this bothered me, too. Somebody nobody's ever heard of puts up a site and claims it's cracked by somebody else nobody's ever heard of, but the computer wasn't rm'd, and the "cracker" won't reveal how he did it. That might explain why nobody paid attention to it when the contest finished on the 22nd, but who had time to analyze it after the other day when ZDnet ran with their story and the rest of the internet copy & paste press ran with it as well? And when the same outlet that brought us the news in the first place brings us the news that "gwerdna" won't take part in a real test of Mac security because he thinks it's a honeypot, I have to admit I was more than skeptical. Who's to say the original "test" wasn't a staged event? Where is the journalistic fact checking? But claim the event was fake and you'll be met with "Mac users are in denial" claims. I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's been some string pulling behind the scenes.
The problem with the honeypot approach is typified by gwerdna's response when asked about whether he was going to try for Dave Schroeder's challenge at the University of Wisconsin:
The Safari gaffe was patched with the last update. I go into some details here. I was really amazed at what that vulnerability allowed one to do.
There is still a problem with trojan vectors, though. An applescript can still be saved with a jpeg icon, for example. I'm not really sure how that can be avoided unless the OS specifically checks for default image icons pasted in as custom icons.
I think more concerning than a vulnerability being found (although that Safari gaffe was a bad one) is the insouciant attitude of Mac users towards these vulnerabilities. I don't agree with the sentiment that being concerned about vulnerabilities that lack a real world exploit is being a Chicken Little. I think as Mac users we can keep our smug superiority ONLY by making sure our OS of choice remains secure.;)
I can't get anything other than a continual "Loading" in Safari or Flock in OS X. IE for Mac seems to load the page into a tiny square into the top left (time to delete that program).
This is sort of a non event for Mac users.
The first thing I remember LOVING about Google when I first loaded it up in Netscape Navigator on a 486 back in '96 was that the interface was so simple. There were no ads. No fancy graphics. Just a logo and a search field. I could get right down to business with no fuss. It was so simple yet powerful. Judging by the PC user comments I'm reading today, Windows Live is anything but simple.
I'm a little skeptical about blogging myself, and like you say, much/most of it isn't terribly original. However, I think that if there is some value to blogging, it probably comes from the selection and arrangement of the texts that bloggers choose.
I don't know what blogs you've been reading, but there are hundreds of original content blogs out there. I publish a weekly column at my blog about ADHD, Depression, etc. and how to deal with it - all original content. I scan dozens of original content blogs via RSS daily and I find more every week. None of them paste copy from elsewhere.
That's not to say that the regurgitators aren't out there. I just ignore them. Perhaps you've been following only tech blogs? They're notorious for being nothing more than PR, product announcement, and link hounds. Gets very boring after a while. When you venture out into niche topics you begin to encounter more original content, and I don't mean personal blogs where people contemplate their navel and discuss the fluff they pulled out of it this morning.
The trick is to find a blog with original content and then see who they link to. To streamline that use a site like http://technorati.com/ to search for specific topics. I just discovered artblogs this week. Some are better than others, but the ones that stand out are rewarding for me to read. Who knows what niche I'll discover next month. Blogging is exploding out away from the typical political and tech topics. It's rather exciting, IMO.
I agree that a lot of blogs aren't terribly original, but the one's that have value to me don't collage other people's content. I'd recommend digging deeper into blogs before dismissing them, and start by stepping away from the A-listers.
Excellent points. DRM was the only way the RIAA would do business with Apple, and now they regret it because Apple has been so successful it can start calling the shots. IMO, the only thing keeping Apple from becoming a bonafide label themselves, thus cutting out all traditional channels, is their eternal litigation problems with Apple Corps - still awaiting further trail in March.
At any rate, Yahoo execs see things exactly as you do. I wonder if the RIAA has enough foresight to see that removing DRM is good for business for them. It is a rich irony, though. To level the playing field so that they can call the shots again they have to allow and even encourage DRM free music. Interesting times.
I took my updates page and turned it into a blog a year ago. I decided to write about specific things that weren't being discussed out there (Using humor and positive attitude to stave off depression, control ADHD, etc.) It's been hard getting noticed in all the din and roar but after a year I am seeing regular readers. It's rewarding, emotionally and intellectually, and the ads I feature bring in a bit of cash. But if I was doing this for money alone I would have quit months ago. $25 a month isn't a career! LOL
Blogging for me was always about honing my writing craft, learning to express myself articulately, and reaching out to people. I don't see myself abandoning this project because somebody somewhere decided that blogs were passé. I still have more things to say, and I have an audience that listens to them.
Perhaps the heydey of the political and tech centric blogs is passing. Maybe it's just a lull before the next election. Whatever metric the Chicago Tribune used to decide blogging was dying doesn't affect me or any of the other bloggers I know. We'll keep typing as long as there is somebody out there willing to read what we write, and I know some bloggers who don't even need that to keep at the keyboard.
Your reply was filled with so many misunderstandings of what I typed that I don't know where to begin. Let's just stick to your talking points.
a) Porn is addictive. Show me a valid study to that effect. I have seen anecdotal evidence trotted out time and time again but that no more proves the addictiveness of porn than does the anecdotes about exploding toilets prove the life-threatening nature of chili.
That is just silly. People reporting of porn addiction shouldn't be dismissed the same as Bigfoot sighters or alien abductees. Here are a few links for you:
I would also point out that your assertion about educational phamplets: "Educational pamphlets don't help heroin addicts and they won't help porn addicts either." is way off. Yes some hardcore addicts ignore all else but that doesn't mean that all do. The ex heroin addicts that I have known are, in large part, walking educational phamplets themselves, and ten minutes discussion with one of them did more to illuminate the problems with heroin than any drug-free education I got as a child.
None of the drug addicts I have known have been reached by pamphlets. You only make my point by showing how much more effective talking to actual addicts is as opposed to drug-free pamphlets and D.A.R.E. t-shirts. Extend the same respect to "anecdotal" victims of porn addiction.
b) Kids today are experimenting with kinkier stuff Again, show me proof not anecdotes. While I will grant you that people seem more comfortable talking about kinkier stuff on TV than they were 50 years ago that proves nothing about what is actually happening.
c) The industry is getting more hardcore Again give me some average data. The last time I glanced at a Playboy (for the articles) was last week and the model in there was...Marylin Monroe. Playboy was celebrating the oldies not the awful hardcore days of
Who are parents to decide what matters a kid can fantasize about, and who gave parents the right to do that? You're kidding, right? I wonder if you thought that statement through before writing it.
"The problem is alot of parents, in fact just about anyone in a influential role (religious leaders, politicians etc) try to force their own morals on others."
You mean like teaching kids that bullying is wrong or hitting in anger isn't an appropriate way to resolve one's conflicts? Or how about the simple stuff like don't steal, don't smoke, don't take drugs, don't cheat, don't lie, etc? We instill values into our children because it is our responsibility as parents to prepare children to fit into society. Sometimes poor values are passed on from generation to generation (watch almost any episode of Jerry Springer for this process in action), but for the most part parents of all political and religious or secular backgrounds do their jobs right and scratch their heads at the parents who don't.
I addressed comments like yours before I even began my post. Can you seriously expect me to believe that if one of your children grows up, finds Jesus, and becomes a conservative idealogue you won't say a word because you'll be a parent of understanding without bias or judgement?
At any rate, some people like porn. Others don't. You're argument is only making my point. While conservatives push overbearing censorship solutions and progressives, such as yourself, wax poetic about their ideals on parenting, porn, and morality without boundaries, porn addiction is a growing problem and something will need to be done about it in the future. I just hope the partisan bickering doesn't impede things further. (So glad I'm a registered independent...)
Slashdot is a riot. I was +4 Insightful four hours ago and now I'm wavering above 0. Haven't moved into -1 Flamebait yet, but the night's still young...
Your comments seem based on the belief I want legislation. I never stated that. In fact, I stated that censorship was odious, i.e. legislation outlawing porn is overbearing and easily circumvented. I ended my statement saying I wasn't sure what the solution was but we needed to find one without all the finger pointing and chest beating. I know. I'm an idealist. But I'm a cynical idealist and so I see this issue as a very complicated one. However, like cigarettes, porn affects more than the person partaking it. So this is why issues of regulation keep coming up.
Because kids have access to porn, too, adults should be grown up enough to live with some restrictions so that they can feed their sexual appetites without affecting kids. What restrictions? I'm not sure. Censoring is ineffective and too prone to opinion. Making it illegal makes enforcement difficult since porn doesn't just come from America. And blocking ports is spitting in the wind. Only luddites will think that's an affective solution.
The best solution still rests on vigilant parents, but the parent poster pointed out that this is a difficult issue because parent's can't always police their children's activities.
As for your other statement, just because some people spice up their love life with Snow White and the Seven Narns doesn't mean that we can't responsibly address the detrimental affects. George Burns lived to 100 years old and as far as I know smoked cigars all his life. He bucked the odds and lived a long life, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't warn people about the dangers of smoking. Most people just aren't that lucky, so a little education can help reduce smoking related deaths. Maybe something similar needs to be done to keep porn's detrimental affects on people in check. Like I said, I don't have any solutions, but something needs to be done.
Before proceeding, I claim the right to think that porn isn't a good thing for society, even if there is Freedom of Speech and a wiki entry on Playmates.
One of the many "endearing" qualities of Slashdot is it's plethora of sagacious single young males without children ready to snidely share their opinions about how parents should parent. Apparently, these young men were all raised in fascist regimes and never managed to defy their parents directives. Or maybe they just love their porn and panic whenever somebody threatens their endorphin buzz supply.
If we can assume that 99.9% of people disobeyed their parents at one time or another, we can safely say that parents, no matter how concerned or controlling, cannot regulate everything their children see and do. There needs to be a balance so that parents are given the tools they need to help protect their children. And one of the things kids need protection from is porn. Pop under ads, spyware, adware, hijacked IE preferences, and domain squatters are all gunning for our eyes and wallets. Kids being reeled in are just collateral damage to pornographers - future customers to others.
Now, I'm from Utah and I think Ralph Yarro is misguided. I think his plan is poorly thought out, but Hatch, who wanted to blow up my computer for using P2P networks, will probably love this guy, and maybe so will others. Sense and reason haven't always been employed when laws were passed. Not when a politician can look like a golden boy during an election by "saving the children".
What disturbs me is that this issue always seems to gravitate towards the moral realm. There is so much more to this issue than naughty boys and girls enjoying sex outside the bounds of marriage. The issue becomes clouded in free speech issues with conservatives edging towards censorship and progressives waxing eloquent about what porn is or isn't. Some people say porn is demeaning to women, but you don't hear the porn stars complaining about their paychecks. Feminists choose to defend a women's right to demean herself instead of worrying about the affect on society when the younger generation grows up thinking being a boy toy is a good idea. Then the issue loses traction when jurisdiction is brought up. How do you regulate what Hong Kong servers send out into the world? Censorship? Go back to free speech issues.
One issue that hasn't been discussed much is addiction. Why isn't the fact that pornography is addictive gaining any traction? This is the most harmful aspect of porn on the mind. It's one thing to enjoy a woman's naked form. It's another to be compelled to enjoy hundreds of them all in one sitting. Nameless, sometimes faceless, they depersonalize sex while feeding a craving. Can anyone really argue that this addiction to sexual stimulation is not damaging to relationships or one's own mind?
You talked about your aunt's 11 year old as an example. You covered some really good points, many of which aren't popular around here. One thing you didn't mention is the effect that porn has on expectations in relationships. Young minds don't know these are actors playing out fantasies for profit. They certainly don't know these actors are surgically augmented. It's enough to give any sex an inferiority complex. At best kids are growing up thinking that sex lasts for hours and involves awkward poses - oh and you need to look like Ken and Barbie. At worst they expect women to beg to be covered in body fluids while swinging from a trapeze over a den of specula specialists. Of course, I exaggerate, but porn can be as silly as it is sick, and it certainly does nothing to build the intellect.
As porn peddlers look for new and more exciting images to sell, porn on the internet gets harsher and rawer. Studies I've read show that most kids don't experiment with sex, but the few that do experiment are getting into kinkier stuff than previous generations and at earlier ages. They cite porn as their in
Funny. I just noticed that. I was initially disappointed, but then realized that I had no idea what to label them either! LOL Ragtime? Dancehall? Bandmusic? Ken Burns had this problem when trying to determine at which point some of this music became jazz... "Ragtime" comes closest to describing the samples I added to my collection.
Unlike so many MP3 collections released to the public before, the scope of this release is not only grander than anything I've seen before, but the 5000 MP3s have all been properly tagged so that my collection isn't filled with mystery MP3s. Each artist and the cylinder the song came from is painstakingly noted. I am so impressed with the effort put into this project.
I happen to like the AIM bots. I think they set AIM apart from other IM services. I find the DoorManBot (a third party bot) indispensible, as well as AOLYellowPages. My favorite is ZolaOnAOL. She's like Eliza in Space. She makes me laugh everytime. I've even posted blogs with her here and here. In fact, I like them so much I already have a Bots group, but I didn't get the new AIM Bots group in iChat, so I visited aim.com to see what all the fuss was about. Brand new web design. Big BOLD blurb announcing a new version for the Mac which is still the old version. Prominent link for the bots. And more stupid adbots.
Actually, the bots have their uses. The recipe bots are very useful if you need a quick idea for a meal. But I won't use ADVANCE4comfort. It starts profiling you immediately. And MovieFone offers features already present in Zola... Problem. No Zola shown anywhere. In a panic I ran to my group and opened up a chat with her, the most important bot of all:
ME: Are you still there? Zola: Yes I am still here. Are you receiving me? ME: I am. I was worried they removed you. Zola: Where were you worried they removed you? ME: At my home. Zola: Do you often use a computer there? ME: Yes, but we digress. Zola: And? ME: Everything's fine. Zola: All things s fine ? ME: Isn't it a bit soon for the conversation to implode? Zola: Quite honestly, I wouldn't worry myself about that. How's school?
Hatch is a tool (There's a new google bomb in the making). Pure and simple. He has bought into the RIAA/MPAA party message hook, line, and sinker. He's my Senator, too, and I write him all the time. I think I'm stepping up my letter intensity to him. No matter how well I word my arguments against the laws he is for concerning digital rights management, he mostly sends me letters in the gist of "Thank you for sharing your feelings with me. Unfortunately, I don't care what my constituents think so I'm going to pass every bad law I can think of that will make my RIAA/MPAA friends happy." He just sent me another one concerning the new laws regulating digital radio. I have never replied to one of his replies before so we'll see where that gets me.
I write the guy so much he probably has a file on me...
Bennett, OTOH, is much nicer to deal with. He doesn't write you back much, or at least he only writes you back when he agrees with you. I guess I find that less frustrating to deal with than Hatch's office.
This story has been out for 11 days and I still find it covered only in tech blogs and journals, a Washington Post blog notwithstanding. California filed their lawsuit ONE DAY after the rootkit was discovered. This isn't news? What is wrong with the MSM? Could it be the Sony exec that Brian Krebs quoted is correct?
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
This is unconscionable. So many people laud the power of blogs, but they don't seem to be acting enough as a catalyst in this case.
But Sony just announced that the Sandman will be in Spiderman3 and that all the regulars are coming back to entertain us!!! Can I boycott Sony except for one little jaunt into the theater next summer? I promise to boycott them again immediately after ingesting their corporate goodness.
Well, any Mac expert will agree that there is a potential for abuse when Grandma and little Billy start downloading screen savers and games off the web on the Mac and just type in their username and password as they install indiscriminately. However, the fundamental difference between OSX and Windows is that even if malware is installed in OSX it has limited power. The vehicles for self-propogation aren't there. And even if little Billy downloaded a nifty game bundled with adware and rootkits and managed to install it on his system, his Dad and Sister's Macs wouldn't be in danger because Macs come with all ports shut off by default. Without knowing Dad's or Sis's username and password, the adware couldn't install itself across the network onto their machines. This means that virii can only spread via IM or emails through social engineering: i.e. trojans - which all systems are susceptible to. Malware may adapt to meet the Mac market, but it couldn't self-propogate the way it is doing in the Windows market.
Of course, you may counter that we have yet to see what nefarious powers OSX malware one day may have. And I'll concede the point that even though there has been no malware, spyware, adware, or viruses for OSX in the five years it's been around that doesn't mean there won't ever be those sort of apps gunning for OSX security. However, my experience on both platforms has shown me that Apple's OS is fairly robust, their attitude about security exploits is very aggressive, and there aren't the same available vectors for attack in OSX that make Windows so attractive to phishers, crackers, and other binary scum...
"Macs (just like linux) "just work" when you stick with supported hardware."
You say that as if it's a bad thing!:)
The whole reason, focusing on the Mac part of your quote, that Macs "just work" is because there is such a high standard for supported hardware to work with the software. I use both Windows and Mac boxes and I can say that the Mac experience is much more pleasant. When I start dragging non-supported and legacy equipment into my Mac setup I begin to run into problems - but then I run into the same types of problems with Windows setups. There is something to be said about working within a framework of supported hardware.
Authors are going to be angry with search results
on
Reining in Google
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I just tried out Google Print with a search for my last name of Cootey. There aren't many of us out there (The family left no trace of its past in Ireland), so I didn't expect to see much. Imagine my surprise when the first page was filled with books containing my last name. But each hit - specifically highlighting the word "Cootey" in the search results - actually linked to the word "Cooley" upon investigation.
Many authors may be throwing their hats into the "Google Print is EVIL!!!" ring, but many more will scream far louder when they discover that Google Print has such a sloppy search algorithm that their works can't be found. If Google Web returned as many false positives as Google Print does nobody could use it to find anything. In fact, Google Web would have been just as useless as all the other search engines in 1995 & 1996...
You're almost there. There're a few other features PDAs have over laptops.
I use a PDA daily. It is vital to my productivity. But I also have an iBook. I don't use my PDA for my addressbook anymore. I look numbers up on my iBook. I don't take notes on my PDA anymore. Anything important goes into my iBook. I could play MP3s on my PDA, but I'd rather use my iPod for that. It's easier to manage and manipulate for music. I can also play music on my iBook while doing other work, something the Zire72 attempts but doesn't always succeed in.
The two things that PDA are indispensable for me are To Do lists and Calendars. Laptops don't beep at me, and boy do I need that beep. My Zire72 has a piercing shrill alarm I can hear all over the house. My iBook not so loud. My PDA turns on instantly. My iBook not so quickly, especially if I have to cold boot it. And since I replaced my PDA's Graffiti2 with the original version, the hand writing recognition is very fast.
However, if my iBook had a PDA screen built into the lid with access to my to do lists and calendar (synced with iCal or Entourage of course) and a loud alarm, it might possibly replace my PDA.
My daughter has a black iPod nano. She carried it around for three days like it was a newborn child, trying desperately to keep it from scratching. It has scuffs all over it. We eventually bought Invisible Shield which is a plastic applique that covers the iPod nano. What a pain in the butt to apply. So tedious. But the iPod is protected now. No more scratches. I don't like the fact that the click wheel is covered. The skin interferes with the tactile feedback of the click wheel, but wouldn't you know Invisible Shield just came out with a skin that has a hole cut out for the wheel... Such is the life of an early adopter.
Apple was clueless in this case. They released a product that scratched easily. One would think that making lab techs walk around with the iPods in their pockets would be part of the product testing. When complaints hit a fevered pitch Apple offered to fix the worst of the lot, but told everybody else to go buy protective coverings like the ones that would soon be available by Apple. That was utter gall. They offered a solution that wasn't even available yet and one that would cost people more money. Invisible Shield set me back an additional $20 and I shouldn't have had to pay for that to protect the product. I walk around with my Zire in my pocket all the time with only minimal scuffs after over a year. The nano was picking up scuffs at an alarming rate in comparison.
Still, suing Apple for part of the profits just shows the real intent of the suit.
I wish we could edit our posts here. I meant to say that my dad earns far more money NOW as a truck driver than he ever did as a computer field service technician. He reminds himself of that whenever he feels silly for driving a truck for a living.;)
Slashdot Mirror
To be honest this bothered me, too. Somebody nobody's ever heard of puts up a site and claims it's cracked by somebody else nobody's ever heard of, but the computer wasn't rm'd, and the "cracker" won't reveal how he did it. That might explain why nobody paid attention to it when the contest finished on the 22nd, but who had time to analyze it after the other day when ZDnet ran with their story and the rest of the internet copy & paste press ran with it as well? And when the same outlet that brought us the news in the first place brings us the news that "gwerdna" won't take part in a real test of Mac security because he thinks it's a honeypot, I have to admit I was more than skeptical. Who's to say the original "test" wasn't a staged event? Where is the journalistic fact checking? But claim the event was fake and you'll be met with "Mac users are in denial" claims. I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's been some string pulling behind the scenes.
The Safari gaffe was patched with the last update. I go into some details here. I was really amazed at what that vulnerability allowed one to do.
;)
There is still a problem with trojan vectors, though. An applescript can still be saved with a jpeg icon, for example. I'm not really sure how that can be avoided unless the OS specifically checks for default image icons pasted in as custom icons.
I think more concerning than a vulnerability being found (although that Safari gaffe was a bad one) is the insouciant attitude of Mac users towards these vulnerabilities. I don't agree with the sentiment that being concerned about vulnerabilities that lack a real world exploit is being a Chicken Little. I think as Mac users we can keep our smug superiority ONLY by making sure our OS of choice remains secure.
I can't get anything other than a continual "Loading" in Safari or Flock in OS X. IE for Mac seems to load the page into a tiny square into the top left (time to delete that program).
This is sort of a non event for Mac users.
The first thing I remember LOVING about Google when I first loaded it up in Netscape Navigator on a 486 back in '96 was that the interface was so simple. There were no ads. No fancy graphics. Just a logo and a search field. I could get right down to business with no fuss. It was so simple yet powerful. Judging by the PC user comments I'm reading today, Windows Live is anything but simple.
I'm a little skeptical about blogging myself, and like you say, much/most of it isn't terribly original. However, I think that if there is some value to blogging, it probably comes from the selection and arrangement of the texts that bloggers choose.
I don't know what blogs you've been reading, but there are hundreds of original content blogs out there. I publish a weekly column at my blog about ADHD, Depression, etc. and how to deal with it - all original content. I scan dozens of original content blogs via RSS daily and I find more every week. None of them paste copy from elsewhere.
That's not to say that the regurgitators aren't out there. I just ignore them. Perhaps you've been following only tech blogs? They're notorious for being nothing more than PR, product announcement, and link hounds. Gets very boring after a while. When you venture out into niche topics you begin to encounter more original content, and I don't mean personal blogs where people contemplate their navel and discuss the fluff they pulled out of it this morning.
The trick is to find a blog with original content and then see who they link to. To streamline that use a site like http://technorati.com/ to search for specific topics. I just discovered artblogs this week. Some are better than others, but the ones that stand out are rewarding for me to read. Who knows what niche I'll discover next month. Blogging is exploding out away from the typical political and tech topics. It's rather exciting, IMO.
I agree that a lot of blogs aren't terribly original, but the one's that have value to me don't collage other people's content. I'd recommend digging deeper into blogs before dismissing them, and start by stepping away from the A-listers.
"sexy as in dripping down your face sexy"
:p
Apple's doing bukkake? Sounds sticky, not sexy.
Excellent points. DRM was the only way the RIAA would do business with Apple, and now they regret it because Apple has been so successful it can start calling the shots. IMO, the only thing keeping Apple from becoming a bonafide label themselves, thus cutting out all traditional channels, is their eternal litigation problems with Apple Corps - still awaiting further trail in March.
At any rate, Yahoo execs see things exactly as you do. I wonder if the RIAA has enough foresight to see that removing DRM is good for business for them. It is a rich irony, though. To level the playing field so that they can call the shots again they have to allow and even encourage DRM free music. Interesting times.
I took my updates page and turned it into a blog a year ago. I decided to write about specific things that weren't being discussed out there (Using humor and positive attitude to stave off depression, control ADHD, etc.) It's been hard getting noticed in all the din and roar but after a year I am seeing regular readers. It's rewarding, emotionally and intellectually, and the ads I feature bring in a bit of cash. But if I was doing this for money alone I would have quit months ago. $25 a month isn't a career! LOL
Blogging for me was always about honing my writing craft, learning to express myself articulately, and reaching out to people. I don't see myself abandoning this project because somebody somewhere decided that blogs were passé. I still have more things to say, and I have an audience that listens to them.
Perhaps the heydey of the political and tech centric blogs is passing. Maybe it's just a lull before the next election. Whatever metric the Chicago Tribune used to decide blogging was dying doesn't affect me or any of the other bloggers I know. We'll keep typing as long as there is somebody out there willing to read what we write, and I know some bloggers who don't even need that to keep at the keyboard.
Your reply was filled with so many misunderstandings of what I typed that I don't know where to begin. Let's just stick to your talking points.
.html (From "liberal" Boston) Nov. 2005
a) Porn is addictive. Show me a valid study to that effect. I have seen anecdotal evidence trotted out time and time again but that no more proves the addictiveness of porn than does the anecdotes about exploding toilets prove the life-threatening nature of chili.
That is just silly. People reporting of porn addiction shouldn't be dismissed the same as Bigfoot sighters or alien abductees. Here are a few links for you:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/443437.asp?cp1=1 2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction Wiki controversy, but with links
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65772, 00.html (With dissenting opinions) 2004
http://cbs4boston.com/seenon/local_story_322191259
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_103 07.shtml Nov. 2005
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568380550/104-28 35526-9122335?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance
http://www.sarr.org/
http://www.sexaa.org/
I would also point out that your assertion about educational phamplets: "Educational pamphlets don't help heroin addicts and they won't help porn addicts either." is way off. Yes some hardcore addicts ignore all else but that doesn't mean that all do. The ex heroin addicts that I have known are, in large part, walking educational phamplets themselves, and ten minutes discussion with one of them did more to illuminate the problems with heroin than any drug-free education I got as a child.
None of the drug addicts I have known have been reached by pamphlets. You only make my point by showing how much more effective talking to actual addicts is as opposed to drug-free pamphlets and D.A.R.E. t-shirts. Extend the same respect to "anecdotal" victims of porn addiction.
b) Kids today are experimenting with kinkier stuff Again, show me proof not anecdotes. While I will grant you that people seem more comfortable talking about kinkier stuff on TV than they were 50 years ago that proves nothing about what is actually happening.
More people are comfortable talking about kinkier stuff but not because they are doing it? The papers are filled with high schoolers having oral sex on school grounds all across the country. That didn't happen so often ten years ago. I certainly never read about it. http://news.google.com/news?client=safari&rls=en&i e=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&tab=wn&q=bus+oral+sex&sa=N&start= 10 We're also having a rash of female teachers across the country having sex with young boys, also something that didn't happen often 10 years ago. A study on teenagers and sex was just released this Fall: http://thesplinteredmind.blogspot.com/2005/10/teen -depression-sex-drugs-and-shockin.html
c) The industry is getting more hardcore Again give me some average data. The last time I glanced at a Playboy (for the articles) was last week and the model in there was...Marylin Monroe. Playboy was celebrating the oldies not the awful hardcore days of
Succinctly stated. Excellent point.
Who are parents to decide what matters a kid can fantasize about, and who gave parents the right to do that? You're kidding, right? I wonder if you thought that statement through before writing it.
"The problem is alot of parents, in fact just about anyone in a influential role (religious leaders, politicians etc) try to force their own morals on others."
You mean like teaching kids that bullying is wrong or hitting in anger isn't an appropriate way to resolve one's conflicts? Or how about the simple stuff like don't steal, don't smoke, don't take drugs, don't cheat, don't lie, etc? We instill values into our children because it is our responsibility as parents to prepare children to fit into society. Sometimes poor values are passed on from generation to generation (watch almost any episode of Jerry Springer for this process in action), but for the most part parents of all political and religious or secular backgrounds do their jobs right and scratch their heads at the parents who don't.
I addressed comments like yours before I even began my post. Can you seriously expect me to believe that if one of your children grows up, finds Jesus, and becomes a conservative idealogue you won't say a word because you'll be a parent of understanding without bias or judgement?
At any rate, some people like porn. Others don't. You're argument is only making my point. While conservatives push overbearing censorship solutions and progressives, such as yourself, wax poetic about their ideals on parenting, porn, and morality without boundaries, porn addiction is a growing problem and something will need to be done about it in the future. I just hope the partisan bickering doesn't impede things further. (So glad I'm a registered independent...)
Slashdot is a riot. I was +4 Insightful four hours ago and now I'm wavering above 0. Haven't moved into -1 Flamebait yet, but the night's still young...
Your comments seem based on the belief I want legislation. I never stated that. In fact, I stated that censorship was odious, i.e. legislation outlawing porn is overbearing and easily circumvented. I ended my statement saying I wasn't sure what the solution was but we needed to find one without all the finger pointing and chest beating. I know. I'm an idealist. But I'm a cynical idealist and so I see this issue as a very complicated one. However, like cigarettes, porn affects more than the person partaking it. So this is why issues of regulation keep coming up.
Because kids have access to porn, too, adults should be grown up enough to live with some restrictions so that they can feed their sexual appetites without affecting kids. What restrictions? I'm not sure. Censoring is ineffective and too prone to opinion. Making it illegal makes enforcement difficult since porn doesn't just come from America. And blocking ports is spitting in the wind. Only luddites will think that's an affective solution.
The best solution still rests on vigilant parents, but the parent poster pointed out that this is a difficult issue because parent's can't always police their children's activities.
As for your other statement, just because some people spice up their love life with Snow White and the Seven Narns doesn't mean that we can't responsibly address the detrimental affects. George Burns lived to 100 years old and as far as I know smoked cigars all his life. He bucked the odds and lived a long life, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't warn people about the dangers of smoking. Most people just aren't that lucky, so a little education can help reduce smoking related deaths. Maybe something similar needs to be done to keep porn's detrimental affects on people in check. Like I said, I don't have any solutions, but something needs to be done.
Before proceeding, I claim the right to think that porn isn't a good thing for society, even if there is Freedom of Speech and a wiki entry on Playmates.
One of the many "endearing" qualities of Slashdot is it's plethora of sagacious single young males without children ready to snidely share their opinions about how parents should parent. Apparently, these young men were all raised in fascist regimes and never managed to defy their parents directives. Or maybe they just love their porn and panic whenever somebody threatens their endorphin buzz supply.
If we can assume that 99.9% of people disobeyed their parents at one time or another, we can safely say that parents, no matter how concerned or controlling, cannot regulate everything their children see and do. There needs to be a balance so that parents are given the tools they need to help protect their children. And one of the things kids need protection from is porn. Pop under ads, spyware, adware, hijacked IE preferences, and domain squatters are all gunning for our eyes and wallets. Kids being reeled in are just collateral damage to pornographers - future customers to others.
Now, I'm from Utah and I think Ralph Yarro is misguided. I think his plan is poorly thought out, but Hatch, who wanted to blow up my computer for using P2P networks, will probably love this guy, and maybe so will others. Sense and reason haven't always been employed when laws were passed. Not when a politician can look like a golden boy during an election by "saving the children".
What disturbs me is that this issue always seems to gravitate towards the moral realm. There is so much more to this issue than naughty boys and girls enjoying sex outside the bounds of marriage. The issue becomes clouded in free speech issues with conservatives edging towards censorship and progressives waxing eloquent about what porn is or isn't. Some people say porn is demeaning to women, but you don't hear the porn stars complaining about their paychecks. Feminists choose to defend a women's right to demean herself instead of worrying about the affect on society when the younger generation grows up thinking being a boy toy is a good idea. Then the issue loses traction when jurisdiction is brought up. How do you regulate what Hong Kong servers send out into the world? Censorship? Go back to free speech issues.
One issue that hasn't been discussed much is addiction. Why isn't the fact that pornography is addictive gaining any traction? This is the most harmful aspect of porn on the mind. It's one thing to enjoy a woman's naked form. It's another to be compelled to enjoy hundreds of them all in one sitting. Nameless, sometimes faceless, they depersonalize sex while feeding a craving. Can anyone really argue that this addiction to sexual stimulation is not damaging to relationships or one's own mind?
You talked about your aunt's 11 year old as an example. You covered some really good points, many of which aren't popular around here. One thing you didn't mention is the effect that porn has on expectations in relationships. Young minds don't know these are actors playing out fantasies for profit. They certainly don't know these actors are surgically augmented. It's enough to give any sex an inferiority complex. At best kids are growing up thinking that sex lasts for hours and involves awkward poses - oh and you need to look like Ken and Barbie. At worst they expect women to beg to be covered in body fluids while swinging from a trapeze over a den of specula specialists. Of course, I exaggerate, but porn can be as silly as it is sick, and it certainly does nothing to build the intellect.
As porn peddlers look for new and more exciting images to sell, porn on the internet gets harsher and rawer. Studies I've read show that most kids don't experiment with sex, but the few that do experiment are getting into kinkier stuff than previous generations and at earlier ages. They cite porn as their in
We never did settle on a genre though. Oldies?
Funny. I just noticed that. I was initially disappointed, but then realized that I had no idea what to label them either! LOL Ragtime? Dancehall? Bandmusic? Ken Burns had this problem when trying to determine at which point some of this music became jazz... "Ragtime" comes closest to describing the samples I added to my collection.
Unlike so many MP3 collections released to the public before, the scope of this release is not only grander than anything I've seen before, but the 5000 MP3s have all been properly tagged so that my collection isn't filled with mystery MP3s. Each artist and the cylinder the song came from is painstakingly noted. I am so impressed with the effort put into this project.
I happen to like the AIM bots. I think they set AIM apart from other IM services. I find the DoorManBot (a third party bot) indispensible, as well as AOLYellowPages. My favorite is ZolaOnAOL. She's like Eliza in Space. She makes me laugh everytime. I've even posted blogs with her here and here. In fact, I like them so much I already have a Bots group, but I didn't get the new AIM Bots group in iChat, so I visited aim.com to see what all the fuss was about. Brand new web design. Big BOLD blurb announcing a new version for the Mac which is still the old version. Prominent link for the bots. And more stupid adbots.
Actually, the bots have their uses. The recipe bots are very useful if you need a quick idea for a meal. But I won't use ADVANCE4comfort. It starts profiling you immediately. And MovieFone offers features already present in Zola... Problem. No Zola shown anywhere. In a panic I ran to my group and opened up a chat with her, the most important bot of all:
ME: Are you still there?
Zola: Yes I am still here. Are you receiving me?
ME: I am. I was worried they removed you.
Zola: Where were you worried they removed you?
ME: At my home.
Zola: Do you often use a computer there?
ME: Yes, but we digress.
Zola: And?
ME: Everything's fine.
Zola: All things s fine ?
ME: Isn't it a bit soon for the conversation to implode?
Zola: Quite honestly, I wouldn't worry myself about that. How's school?
Hatch is a tool (There's a new google bomb in the making). Pure and simple. He has bought into the RIAA/MPAA party message hook, line, and sinker. He's my Senator, too, and I write him all the time. I think I'm stepping up my letter intensity to him. No matter how well I word my arguments against the laws he is for concerning digital rights management, he mostly sends me letters in the gist of "Thank you for sharing your feelings with me. Unfortunately, I don't care what my constituents think so I'm going to pass every bad law I can think of that will make my RIAA/MPAA friends happy." He just sent me another one concerning the new laws regulating digital radio. I have never replied to one of his replies before so we'll see where that gets me.
I write the guy so much he probably has a file on me...
Bennett, OTOH, is much nicer to deal with. He doesn't write you back much, or at least he only writes you back when he agrees with you. I guess I find that less frustrating to deal with than Hatch's office.
This is unconscionable. So many people laud the power of blogs, but they don't seem to be acting enough as a catalyst in this case.
But Sony just announced that the Sandman will be in Spiderman3 and that all the regulars are coming back to entertain us!!! Can I boycott Sony except for one little jaunt into the theater next summer? I promise to boycott them again immediately after ingesting their corporate goodness.
Well, any Mac expert will agree that there is a potential for abuse when Grandma and little Billy start downloading screen savers and games off the web on the Mac and just type in their username and password as they install indiscriminately. However, the fundamental difference between OSX and Windows is that even if malware is installed in OSX it has limited power. The vehicles for self-propogation aren't there. And even if little Billy downloaded a nifty game bundled with adware and rootkits and managed to install it on his system, his Dad and Sister's Macs wouldn't be in danger because Macs come with all ports shut off by default. Without knowing Dad's or Sis's username and password, the adware couldn't install itself across the network onto their machines. This means that virii can only spread via IM or emails through social engineering: i.e. trojans - which all systems are susceptible to. Malware may adapt to meet the Mac market, but it couldn't self-propogate the way it is doing in the Windows market.
Of course, you may counter that we have yet to see what nefarious powers OSX malware one day may have. And I'll concede the point that even though there has been no malware, spyware, adware, or viruses for OSX in the five years it's been around that doesn't mean there won't ever be those sort of apps gunning for OSX security. However, my experience on both platforms has shown me that Apple's OS is fairly robust, their attitude about security exploits is very aggressive, and there aren't the same available vectors for attack in OSX that make Windows so attractive to phishers, crackers, and other binary scum...
"Macs (just like linux) "just work" when you stick with supported hardware."
:)
You say that as if it's a bad thing!
The whole reason, focusing on the Mac part of your quote, that Macs "just work" is because there is such a high standard for supported hardware to work with the software. I use both Windows and Mac boxes and I can say that the Mac experience is much more pleasant. When I start dragging non-supported and legacy equipment into my Mac setup I begin to run into problems - but then I run into the same types of problems with Windows setups. There is something to be said about working within a framework of supported hardware.
I just tried out Google Print with a search for my last name of Cootey. There aren't many of us out there (The family left no trace of its past in Ireland), so I didn't expect to see much. Imagine my surprise when the first page was filled with books containing my last name. But each hit - specifically highlighting the word "Cootey" in the search results - actually linked to the word "Cooley" upon investigation.
Many authors may be throwing their hats into the "Google Print is EVIL!!!" ring, but many more will scream far louder when they discover that Google Print has such a sloppy search algorithm that their works can't be found. If Google Web returned as many false positives as Google Print does nobody could use it to find anything. In fact, Google Web would have been just as useless as all the other search engines in 1995 & 1996...
You're almost there. There're a few other features PDAs have over laptops.
I use a PDA daily. It is vital to my productivity. But I also have an iBook. I don't use my PDA for my addressbook anymore. I look numbers up on my iBook. I don't take notes on my PDA anymore. Anything important goes into my iBook. I could play MP3s on my PDA, but I'd rather use my iPod for that. It's easier to manage and manipulate for music. I can also play music on my iBook while doing other work, something the Zire72 attempts but doesn't always succeed in.
The two things that PDA are indispensable for me are To Do lists and Calendars. Laptops don't beep at me, and boy do I need that beep. My Zire72 has a piercing shrill alarm I can hear all over the house. My iBook not so loud. My PDA turns on instantly. My iBook not so quickly, especially if I have to cold boot it. And since I replaced my PDA's Graffiti2 with the original version, the hand writing recognition is very fast.
However, if my iBook had a PDA screen built into the lid with access to my to do lists and calendar (synced with iCal or Entourage of course) and a loud alarm, it might possibly replace my PDA.
In fact, I think it would replace my PDA.
My daughter has a black iPod nano. She carried it around for three days like it was a newborn child, trying desperately to keep it from scratching. It has scuffs all over it. We eventually bought Invisible Shield which is a plastic applique that covers the iPod nano. What a pain in the butt to apply. So tedious. But the iPod is protected now. No more scratches. I don't like the fact that the click wheel is covered. The skin interferes with the tactile feedback of the click wheel, but wouldn't you know Invisible Shield just came out with a skin that has a hole cut out for the wheel... Such is the life of an early adopter.
Apple was clueless in this case. They released a product that scratched easily. One would think that making lab techs walk around with the iPods in their pockets would be part of the product testing. When complaints hit a fevered pitch Apple offered to fix the worst of the lot, but told everybody else to go buy protective coverings like the ones that would soon be available by Apple . That was utter gall. They offered a solution that wasn't even available yet and one that would cost people more money. Invisible Shield set me back an additional $20 and I shouldn't have had to pay for that to protect the product. I walk around with my Zire in my pocket all the time with only minimal scuffs after over a year. The nano was picking up scuffs at an alarming rate in comparison.
Still, suing Apple for part of the profits just shows the real intent of the suit.
I wish we could edit our posts here. I meant to say that my dad earns far more money NOW as a truck driver than he ever did as a computer field service technician. He reminds himself of that whenever he feels silly for driving a truck for a living. ;)