Offtopic: This is all the more reason why I believe in the power of the Internet--cause you just can't get good porn on tv anymore.
Ontopic: That would not work well either, because some 'fascist asshat' [sic] will just sue the living tar out of the perceived 'enemy of Christian morality' or some-such thing and the government, in order to placate the vast hordes of voters that the government perceives as vital, will just ban TV and there will be much rejoicing.
I personally know people in my hometown that already don't watch TV because they think that it is the devil's servant. Worst still, even though they don't watch TV, they are in favor of censorship. Now I think that if someone doesn't want their family to watch programs on TV that that is all well and good, but if I want to pervert my very soul it is my goddamn right to do so (dammit).
By what right does the government decree what can and cannot be shown on privately owned cable tv networks? Its an opt-in, its not force-fed to their TV. This is further proof that the current government is the personal lapdog of the 'Christian Right' and will do whatever they say--but since apparently they are the only ones who vote, its our own fault. So the best solution to this dilemma is to bring the US voting turnout to a majority of the population instead of a mere 10% of registered voters.
I've washed all sorts of computer equipment with alcohol just fine. Mainly because it dissolves and evaporates sticky, soda gunk. I've even cleaned graphics cards with the stuff and it still works to this day (don't ask why tho)
No, the problem I hit is 'must have' software that has to have Windows
As a happy employee of a broke private school most of the 'must have' edu-apps I've tried (Mavis Beacon, Accel. Reader, some crufty legacy apps) work just fine in WINE, so thats a several grand site license for Windows that wasn't spent. And you wouldn't believe how easy it is to train teachers to use linux boxes:
Turn on computer
Double click on the application you need (named after their Windows equivs (OOwriter is labeled word, firefox is labeled IE, etc)
Done
The ones that even noticed a difference all complimented me on how much more quickly the computers ran. Re-training is easy when there is little to no knowledge to 'unlearn.'
Now the few teething problems got noticed, but since I had them all dloading updates automagickally with cron, it was easy to propagate fixes.
Now if your school has a cargo-cult mentality to teaching computers, I can see how you would have a problem.
I dunno about Gateway, but the company I bought my laptop from (can't remember at the moment--their logo is just a big X on the top, oops) the hardware EULA was on a nice piece of paper just under the top of the box. Guess Gateway thinks paper is too expensive... actually most MS products come with paper EULA's (at least the really expensive ones do, like Visual Studio).
No more DRM--And it has the added benefit of being completely legal since I am not bypassing any content protection scheme.*
Its also why iTunes gets my money--a lot of my money. In fact I even buy more from iTunes now that they offer drm-free music--and at higher quality to boot!
* If you can prove this to the contrary, please do, so I can add that to the rest of illegal things I do (like speed, watch movies on my linux computer, download cd keys for games I've lost the manual to, etc)
Really, so a bunch of what I consider to be misguided people created a museum that supports their views. As a Buddhist, I am cool with that. I also do not honestly think that anyone who goes there will have their minds or opinions changed regarding their beliefs. People will either go to mock, disprove, or to believe it. However, if one wants to promote the interchange of ideas, one *needs* places like this so that if people ask what are the alternatives to say evolution or what have you, you can steer them to the other place where the alternatives are espoused.
My point is this, let people decide for themselves--if the want to believe that the universe was created by God/a god/gods/whatever LET THEM! This debate is pointless. I am as about as unlikely to be shaken from my belief in karma as any Christian is to be shaken from their faith in God--its theoretically possible, but it takes effort!
However I think a lot more good would have been done by devoting that $27mil. to charitable works--but that is another rant.
I learn something new everyday. That would be an even better comparison--Old UNIX versus Modern UNIX. But the point I was trying to make was, even with all the modern glitz of nicer guis, how would Linux or what have you compare?
Huh, with the exception of boot times (UNIX takes damn near forever), I wonder how well a modern UNIX would compare to the old Mac, because all of the applications I use every day (most of which are not trivial) fire up damn near instantly--And I definitely have a lot of crap running the background on my Linux box (icecast, apache, mysql, etc). Admittedly I have a AMD64 dual core processor and two gigabytes of RAM, but the same principle applies since that is nearly the spec of the test computer.
I use a separate user/admin account in windows for the same reason I do not use root as my user account in Linux: I don't want random programs running amok! And most programs (except video games and window's 95/98 era apps) work fine in a limited account once they have been installed. I rather like knowing that the most the bug riddled piece of software I just wrote can only mess up my account (saves restore time from my backup DVD).
I haven't used Vista yet, but as long as it has at least WinXP grade access controls (properly configured ACL's can do wonders for limiting a virus's ability to sow chaos) I don't see the need for the Allow/Deny box to begin with--especially with a decent firewall/AV software--especially when that software already does useful things like say "We have stopped this program from running because it is infected with the DestroyYourHarddriveVirus/EvilTrojan, do you want to delete it?" (product plug: F-Prot AV makes Symantec look like trash IMHO).
Anyway, if I know most computer users, anything that asks them a question that will allow whatever they're doing to continue, they are going to hit yes with about 0% by volume thought
And lets not forget they've tried this already... Its called CSS and it was a miserable failure--as evidenced by the fact that I can rip encrypted movies to my MythTV box with a nice GUI interface.... puhleeze this will be another miserable flop--if they even make it to market.
if you have a computer with two ethernet ports, put it between the router and the Internet and run a program like AIMsnort or something on it. If the kids can't get on it they can't keep you from logging it, unless they're smart enough to encrypt their instant messaging.
Which is really weird because on my machine Windows is an unresponsive hulk and GNOME is quick and snappy. But on the other hand this might be because I use a 64bit native linux, and windows is still in the 32bit dark ages.
Slashdot Mirror
Offtopic: This is all the more reason why I believe in the power of the Internet--cause you just can't get good porn on tv anymore.
Ontopic: That would not work well either, because some 'fascist asshat' [sic] will just sue the living tar out of the perceived 'enemy of Christian morality' or some-such thing and the government, in order to placate the vast hordes of voters that the government perceives as vital, will just ban TV and there will be much rejoicing.
I personally know people in my hometown that already don't watch TV because they think that it is the devil's servant. Worst still, even though they don't watch TV, they are in favor of censorship. Now I think that if someone doesn't want their family to watch programs on TV that that is all well and good, but if I want to pervert my very soul it is my goddamn right to do so (dammit).
By what right does the government decree what can and cannot be shown on privately owned cable tv networks? Its an opt-in, its not force-fed to their TV. This is further proof that the current government is the personal lapdog of the 'Christian Right' and will do whatever they say--but since apparently they are the only ones who vote, its our own fault. So the best solution to this dilemma is to bring the US voting turnout to a majority of the population instead of a mere 10% of registered voters.
I've washed all sorts of computer equipment with alcohol just fine. Mainly because it dissolves and evaporates sticky, soda gunk. I've even cleaned graphics cards with the stuff and it still works to this day (don't ask why tho)
my moto razr runs java well enough, and I do write code for it
As a happy employee of a broke private school most of the 'must have' edu-apps I've tried (Mavis Beacon, Accel. Reader, some crufty legacy apps) work just fine in WINE, so thats a several grand site license for Windows that wasn't spent. And you wouldn't believe how easy it is to train teachers to use linux boxes:
The ones that even noticed a difference all complimented me on how much more quickly the computers ran. Re-training is easy when there is little to no knowledge to 'unlearn.'
Now the few teething problems got noticed, but since I had them all dloading updates automagickally with cron, it was easy to propagate fixes.
Now if your school has a cargo-cult mentality to teaching computers, I can see how you would have a problem.
I dunno about Gateway, but the company I bought my laptop from (can't remember at the moment--their logo is just a big X on the top, oops) the hardware EULA was on a nice piece of paper just under the top of the box. Guess Gateway thinks paper is too expensive... actually most MS products come with paper EULA's (at least the really expensive ones do, like Visual Studio).
- Buy songs
- Burn CDRW of bought songs
- Rip CDRW of bought songs.
- Blank CDRW and repeat
- No more DRM--And it has the added benefit of being completely legal since I am not bypassing any content protection scheme.*
Its also why iTunes gets my money--a lot of my money. In fact I even buy more from iTunes now that they offer drm-free music--and at higher quality to boot!* If you can prove this to the contrary, please do, so I can add that to the rest of illegal things I do (like speed, watch movies on my linux computer, download cd keys for games I've lost the manual to, etc)
Really, so a bunch of what I consider to be misguided people created a museum that supports their views. As a Buddhist, I am cool with that. I also do not honestly think that anyone who goes there will have their minds or opinions changed regarding their beliefs. People will either go to mock, disprove, or to believe it. However, if one wants to promote the interchange of ideas, one *needs* places like this so that if people ask what are the alternatives to say evolution or what have you, you can steer them to the other place where the alternatives are espoused.
My point is this, let people decide for themselves--if the want to believe that the universe was created by God/a god/gods/whatever LET THEM! This debate is pointless. I am as about as unlikely to be shaken from my belief in karma as any Christian is to be shaken from their faith in God--its theoretically possible, but it takes effort!
However I think a lot more good would have been done by devoting that $27mil. to charitable works--but that is another rant.
I learn something new everyday. That would be an even better comparison--Old UNIX versus Modern UNIX. But the point I was trying to make was, even with all the modern glitz of nicer guis, how would Linux or what have you compare?
Huh, with the exception of boot times (UNIX takes damn near forever), I wonder how well a modern UNIX would compare to the old Mac, because all of the applications I use every day (most of which are not trivial) fire up damn near instantly--And I definitely have a lot of crap running the background on my Linux box (icecast, apache, mysql, etc). Admittedly I have a AMD64 dual core processor and two gigabytes of RAM, but the same principle applies since that is nearly the spec of the test computer.
I use a separate user/admin account in windows for the same reason I do not use root as my user account in Linux: I don't want random programs running amok! And most programs (except video games and window's 95/98 era apps) work fine in a limited account once they have been installed. I rather like knowing that the most the bug riddled piece of software I just wrote can only mess up my account (saves restore time from my backup DVD).
I haven't used Vista yet, but as long as it has at least WinXP grade access controls (properly configured ACL's can do wonders for limiting a virus's ability to sow chaos) I don't see the need for the Allow/Deny box to begin with--especially with a decent firewall/AV software--especially when that software already does useful things like say "We have stopped this program from running because it is infected with the DestroyYourHarddriveVirus/EvilTrojan, do you want to delete it?" (product plug: F-Prot AV makes Symantec look like trash IMHO).
Anyway, if I know most computer users, anything that asks them a question that will allow whatever they're doing to continue, they are going to hit yes with about 0% by volume thought
And lets not forget they've tried this already... Its called CSS and it was a miserable failure--as evidenced by the fact that I can rip encrypted movies to my MythTV box with a nice GUI interface.... puhleeze this will be another miserable flop--if they even make it to market.
if you have a computer with two ethernet ports, put it between the router and the Internet and run a program like AIMsnort or something on it. If the kids can't get on it they can't keep you from logging it, unless they're smart enough to encrypt their instant messaging.
Which is really weird because on my machine Windows is an unresponsive hulk and GNOME is quick and snappy. But on the other hand this might be because I use a 64bit native linux, and windows is still in the 32bit dark ages.