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Perhaps controversy is too strong of a word, but Florida lawmakers want to ban the phrase: 'illegal alien'. In an effort to be more politically correct, the lawmaker argues that considering people an 'alien' is demeaning. From the article:

"There are students in our schools whose parents are trying to become citizens and we shouldn't label them," she said. "They are immigrants, through no fault of their own, not aliens."

Wilson said the first word isn't as bad as the second.

"'Illegal,' I can live with, but I like 'undocumented' better," she said.

An alien means that you are not from that place. It is a general term that has been used for years. Calling them 'undocumented' almost sounds as though they deserve to be here. They don't deserve to be here until they do so legally. Until they do so legally, I will consider them to be illegal aliens.

Labels: News, People, Politics

Google has released their Australia Day fly-over pictures. There is a lot of zoom, but the beach images are too poor of quality to actually make out much of any details.

[via googlified]

Labels: Google, Internet

All kinds of information has spread about Vista and Microsoft in general in the past few days. Here are the stories that I have found just today that may motivate you to switch to a Mac:

A bug in Vista requires users of legit copies to reactivate the software. This bug is triggered by some of the simplest actions that you can do with your computer like installing a new program or updating BIOS settings. Microsoft has acknowledged this problem and is supposed to have released a patch.

With a Mac, you can ignore this Windows Genuine Advantage crap that you read on the internet. No longer would you have to worry about your computer freaking out and locking you out of your computer. A Mac will be patiently waiting for you (14). In fact, my brother's Mac is running nearly all the time, just open up and it waiting.

Although Microsoft and Bill Gates have been claiming that Vista is secure and unstoppable, there are still plenty of vulnerabilities. Macs are much better about security. How often have you heard about the latest worm infecting every computer in sight, except Macs. Due part in fact to Apple's smaller market share, very little, if any, is targeted to attack Macs.

If you're thinking that some of the new features on Vista are just what you have been waiting for, most of those have been on Mac computers for some time now:

Labels: Apple, Microsoft, News

With the shear number of computers in a school district, it can be very costly to upgrade computers. One school district in Ohio, who was replacing older computers, switched to Linux, a move that saved them about $412,000. The savings comes from the fact that there is no Windows tax (licensing fee). The school will also save money by no longer needing the amount of virus protection for the computers as they previously did.

The nature of Linux allows them to upgrade over time, something that will save them from breaking their budget all at once. With an upgrade to Windows XP, it would require the entire district to be upgraded at once, which they cannot financially handle. Also, it saves the IT department (all of two people) time because they can easily copy the same install over all computers, not possible with Microsoft.

Labels: America, Computer, Linux, Microsoft

Out of curiosity, I checked to see what a moderately priced computer would cost, in this case, it was a Dimension C521. I got to the monitor stage and saw the following (keep reading and I will show you why this is unusual):


It is clear that the price of the E228WFP is $360 with that computer. I have considered buying this monitor before, so I thought the price was a bit much. I looked around to find the monitor on its own:


The monitor is currently on sale, so it ends up being over $60 cheaper if you buy it separately. Even when not on sale, it is still cheaper, not exactly how packaged deals should work.

Labels: Advertising, Computer

Many people have fallen prey to Vista. One man has created quite the elaborate piece on his getting a computer with Vista. The entire thing is very clever. Here's a little sample:

The world goes dark and my vision becomes a tunnel. I see the paperboy, pinned to the wall. Her impossibly strong hands around his throat, squeezing. His feet are kicking--she has lifted him off the floor by his neck. He looks desperately at me, eyes wide in terror, mouth opening and closing but unable to make a sound. My lovely wife smiles again and says, "This paperboy needs your permission to continue."

Most all of the ideas that I noticed in the story very closely tie into the manner in which Vista acts. I agree that Vista looks beautiful, but there is too little control of the computer. When I get any new computer, it will be Linux for desktop and Apple for notebook. Microsoft is becoming a bully. [via slashdot]

Labels: Microsoft

Which airline would you choose? Some clever person likened the OS industry to the airlines. All of the ideas are very logical, and similar to the way the OS market really acts. From the article:

Windows Air

The terminal is pretty and colourful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

I would surely stick with my original choice of Linux. I have run the Live CDs on my computer and I am very pleased with the way in which it works, but don't currently have a computer (of my own) capable of running it. [via digg]

Labels: Linux, Microsoft, Technology

The teacher who was accused of "risk of injury to a minor" is now getting a better lawyer to help clear her name (news posted here: newest, oldest). The whole story is outlined quite well at downloadsquad. Hopefully, the teacher can get a jury that understands computers, and will send her home innocent.

She has also started a blog. The blog currently has post on how to contribute to the cause, to help cover the legal costs. It also lists all the contact information for the people involved: principal, superintendent, prosecutor, judge, detective, etc. The internet is now free to attack the clueless individuals involved. One juror has already been taking the abuse:

For certain, this case has gotten ugly. In some instances, it's even become deeply personal. Fred F. has reportedly been berated by an angry public, and been the subject of ridicule for his former 435 pound plus frame, since the public outing.

I must say that I am intensely interested in how this turns out. Technology and law have never been friends, so I want to know if this all fixes itself with time, or if the legal system will fail (again).

Labels: America, Legal, People, School

The RIAA lost, and now they say that they want their money back. The RIAA had to pay out attorney's fees after they wrongfully accused, and lost to a defendant. They say:

Instead, the plaintiffs argue that if the defendant has "a reason to know" of the infringing activity, she should be held liable. The RIAA also points to Foster's subscriber agreement with Cox Communications, her ISP, which the RIAA says "expressly required" her to keep others using her account from infringing copyrights.

This is where it becomes pathetic. The RIAA already lost the case and paid out fees, but they are still trying to take down someone who has done no wrong. Shouldn't the first verdict be enough to say that they are innocent?

In related news, Cory Doctorow shows some absurdity at Michigan State University where they are forcing people to watch propaganda videos. At MSU, they are cracking down on illegal downloading activity by forcing those caught multiple times to watch a video on the "illegalness" of downloading music. I would say that is enough to discourage me from attending that college.

Labels: America, Music, News

I am one of many people who hates my cable/internet provider. My provider is Charter Communications because I have no other choice. Charter is the only cable provider in my area, and I would assume that this is the case in most places around the country.

The trouble lies in the fact that Charter has a gov't-granted monopoly. It is not possible for any other company to legally exist. By limiting the market to only one provider, the government puts the public services in the hands of corporations. Corporations exist to make money, which is why Charter has recently implemented dirty little tricks to make money.

Not only is there the exclusive control of corporation, but consumers have no choice at all when their service sucks. In my case, the only options for internet are: dial-up (never) or cable with Charter, which has a maximum speed of 10megs (I only have 3MB, which currently costs $55). This is the only service available in my area. If I were to desire something faster, it would require that I pay a ridiculously expensive price. If I wanted something cheaper, I would have to... cancel the account.

When I took a simple economics class this year, the original logic behind this sort of a decision was: allowing multiple companies to service the same area would be too complicated, and would require too many wires (each company has own). Now, telephone companies have proven that it is possible to have multiple carriers on the same wired network. It is within the technology's capability, but there is currently no choice until the government does something.

Labels: America, Internet, Rants

After opening their idea site just a few days ago, Dell has realized that consumers want Linux. It has been confirmed that Dell is "considering" this. What that translates to is likely: "gives us some time to do this." With such an overwhelming number of such requests, Dell would be foolish not to.

The article mentions that the current second place is OpenOffice (comparable to Microsoft Office). I see a trend here: many of the requests are essentially asking for Dell to back away from Microsoft. Those familiar with anything going on in the news will know that many of Vista's reviews has been negative.

I have personally stayed away from buying a new computer because I don't want to get wrapped up in the hassle of getting things I don't want. I don't want Vista (or anything from Microsoft for that matter), so the fact that computer companies only ship with Windows eliminates all people like me. At the very least, people should always be given the choice- and a discount since Linux is free while Windows costs hundreds.

Labels: Computer, Linux, Microsoft, News

Steve Ballmer is at it again, blaming Linux for violating intellectual property rights. He claims that Linux infringes on patents, but no patents have been named. I consider Ballmer a babbling moron for the following statement:

"But I don't want to eliminate in your minds the notions of risk of pricing that comes from competition with open source. We are higher-priced, but we bring greater value," he added.

Yes, that is true if "greater value" means having your computer lock you out when it thinks you are pirating software or presents you with annoying warnings every thirty seconds. Yes I see the "value" in that. I also know that this "value" is the reason that I will install Linux on my next computer, not Vista.

Labels: Computer, Linux, Microsoft, News

Charter, a primarily cable-based business, seems to think that the internet works in the same way as television. Charter just recently launched a controversial "service" to their customers by trying to fix what was not broken. Just the other day, I was away from the family computer, so the only way I could access email was through their webmail. I am now greeted by an irrelevant advertisement on every page.

This really annoys me for a few reasons. One, Charter is very minimal in terms of mailboxes. Accounts have a grand total of 45MB of storage; that doesn't even match hotmail (100MB). Secondly, Charter has already demonstrated that they don't care about their customers much. I actually lost my connection to the internet while I was writing this. My service has been going out everyday for the past week. I can't wait until college when I can get access to faster and more reliable connections.

Labels: Internet, Rants

Dell wants to know what their customers think that they should do. They have just launched a site where you can vote for ideas you want to see in digg style. Here are some of the top ideas (highlights):

• Pre-installed Linux distro - Get a computer preloaded with a particular Linux distro, instead of Windows.
• No packaged software - Get rid of things like "AOL Free Trial" and everything else you uninstall upon first boot (this comes twice).
• OpenOffice - Ship with the open source office suit.
• No India - Do away with overseas tech support (this comes twice).
• New design - Dell computer are ugly. My family's computer is inside a cabinet because no one wants to see it.

I think that this is one big step for Dell to keep their sales up. Of course, many of there options go in tandem: Linux easily would come with OpenOffice.

Labels: Computer, Technology

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer is insisting that the reason Microsoft is selling so poorly is due to the amount of software piracy. I think that Microsoft is only trying to make up reasons why sales were so low. Perhaps, people just don't like Vista, period.

Ballmer says that Microsoft may decide to further tighten the "security" of Vista and lock up more of the computer if they think it is counterfeit. Doing so, I am fairly sure would lead to even more false positives. Perhaps Ballmer should stop thinking piracy and start think ideas. I don't see any value in Vista and I refuse to buy, and that is why I am ready to install Linux when I need to.

Labels: Computer, Microsoft, News, Technology

Macrovision does video DRM. After Jobs wrote his open letter to the music industry, the Macrovision CEO responded protecting DRM. I say that Jobs did much better, and he sides with the consumer. One person has already translated it to plain english. Sample:

Truly interoperable DRM will hasten the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home — and it will enable it in an open environment where their content is portable across a number of devices, not held hostage to just one company’s products.

Magic interoperable DRM would give people all the features and capabilities they get with DRM-free media.

Almost everything in that letter is completely backward from reality. Everything that he says should be done is the opposite of what consumers want.

Labels: DRM

Two big name CEOs, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell, team up to bash teachers unions saying that they are the reason that schools are doing poorly. If principals were permitted to fire bad teachers, it would open up space for new teachers who can adequately do the job.

I personally have to deal with this problem every day. I have numerous teachers that I feel should be fired and replaced, but there is nothing that the schools can do to rectify the problem. The worst of these teachers are typically the ones that have been employed by the school for more than twenty years. These teachers most often teach directly out of the book, and have relatively no flexibility in their schedule. These teachers seem to hate their job and seem like the only reason they are there is for the money and are waiting to retire.

Labels: America, News, School

I have hear that this is making national news:


This is why I hate many parents at school sports events. Back when I played soccer for my school, I became so angry at some of the parents for the things that they would do. Many parents will stand in the bleachers and yell at the referees for everything that they do. Many times I want to break their jaw so they will be quiet; I just want to watch the game.

Labels: Kids, News, People, Video, YouTube

Yes, feet. I can't always beat the game with hands and fingers:

[via engadget]

Labels: Nintendo, Oddities, People, Video, YouTube

Charter has initiated a dirty little tactic of redirecting all bad requests to their own error that is riddled with adverts. It has the typical domain parking site which consists of irrelevant links to "vacations" and so forth (click image for larger screenshot). Based on this and other factors, I can tell that this is surely done for profit, not because it is "handy." Plus, there is no way to get rid of it because turning it off only sets a cookie (which doesn't last long) and then redirects to Microsoft Live Search, where they likely also get money in return. This is also something that EarthLink previously did, and was highly criticized for.

I preferred my original setup, which would simply give the error page produced by FireFox. Like one of the comments from the slashdot article, I would promptly cancel my service with them and find another way to access the internet, but I cannot do that because my parents would die if they lost cable TV (which is bundled). If anything goes wrong with my internet connection, I think I will call them and give them hell about this, but until then, it often does not effect me often enough.

Previously: Charter hate Google Maps

Labels: Internet, Rants

The latest headline from Google's press releases indicates that they don't know what to say. I'm not quite sure what it is that caused this to happen, perhaps an empty post, but it is strange nonetheless.

Labels: Google

After countless false reports of Gmail being out of beta, it is finally true now, and confirmed on the Official Google Blog. It is nice to see things are finally moving toward the non-beta release of Gmail. I have a feeling that Gmail may always be in beta.

Labels: Email, Google, Internet

Comcast offers customers unlimited use of their internet connection. That of course, comes with a limit. Consumerist first reported that the guy downloaded a total of about 300GB per month, part of which is attributed to spyware controlling his computer. In a second story, Comcast responds saying that they issue warnings to people who use more than 100 times the national average amount. I think that there is something fishy about this.

The number given for his usage was about 300GB. Given that a national average would be one one-hundredth of that, the national average would be 3GB. I would say that number is way too low to be real. Also, I find it suspicious that Comcast only quotes the last two months usage, which to me means that this is quite out of the ordinary and is likely due to other reasons, but Comcast doesn't care.

Labels: America, Internet, People

College humor has a creative video poking fun at the Boston bomb scare.

Labels: Video

The first of two stories today is how a small little town get it big, but it wasn't what they wanted. The town of Cheshire need a firetruck, and where else to get the money than from the government. They get the money but they are not allowed to spend it on the truck, the very reason they asked for money. They received $665,962 as a homeland security grant. The only thing that the residents can think of to protect with this grant money is "a sizable concrete sculpture of a cheese press," which most people can't think of why anyone would attack it. [via boingboing]

The other stupid idea of the year is the construction of a $592 million, 104 acre, US embassy in Baghdad. This doesn't exactly bode well with the people living in the area who only receive a few hours of electricity a day. The building is quite controversial. It will contain the largest swimming pool of Iraq, tennis courts, and many other things. The complex itself is rumored to be larger than anything that Saddam built himself. I would say that Bush intends to stay a while.

Labels: America, News

It was only a few days ago that I briefly mentioned my intention of installing Fedora Core 5 on an old computer. I did find all the missing components, but not without issues (most issues were mine, not the OS):

Initially, I had to find all of the components. I was trying to scrap the computer at one point, so the hard was put in another computer and the monitor removed. It took me a few hours to find the power cable for the monitor, which ended up being in the exact place I left it, buried under all the other cables.

Cables found, I was now able to see what I was doing on the computer. Booted up, I was consistently met with an error saying that no hard drive was detected. After enough of that, I opened the case to find that I forgot to attach the power cord to the hard drive. Once that was out of the way, I could continue onward. There must have been a small scratch on the install disc because it restarted a few times, but eventually took.

Five hours later...

Everything is done. Eject the disc, reboot, wait. I am greeted with the login screen, which took me a second to realize that you use root to sign in, and another second to realize that it doesn't display anything when you type your password. After all was said and done, I notice that everything is command line. I look up the documentation online (from another computer) only to find that there is a minimum memory requirement of 192MB or RAM, which I don't meet (the computer only has 128MB, sad isn't it?).

So today I am thinking about getting some additional memory for the computer, but also pondering the idea of replacing the motherboard and processor as well, seeing as how I am already investing money in this. More will come from this ongoing review of Fedora core, but not until I can get some more memory.

Labels: Computer, Fedora Core, Linux, Review, Technology

Slashdot is covering a story of a man who recently spent three months on a Mac, a says he's not going back. Of course, he mentions that the worst part about a Mac is the price, which to me is the biggest turn off considering that I don't like to throw that much money into a computer. I have worked with a Mac when I spent some time with my brother this past summer, and I can say that a Mac meets all of my needs with no question. A Mac even suits my way of working better than any Windows software.

Slightly related topic: I am currently trying to resurrect an old computer for running Linux. Right now I am simply locating all the pieces since the computer hasn't been touched in about a year, and even then was about seven years old. Either way, the thing should still work (did about a year ago), and I know where almost everything is, except for the monitor power cord (somewhat important). If I get the thing going, I will try to do a full, first-impression review of Fedora Core 5.

Labels: Apple, Computer, Fedora Core, Linux, Microsoft

After blogging about it yesterday, the Google Reader team fixed the image problem in under 24 hours. I can confirm that the same problem items are no longer affected. I even got a comment from one of the Google Reader engineers as follows:

Hi Mike,

Although we try our hardest to avoid bugs like this, occasionally one slips through. When a bug sneaks in, it's our top priority to find the error and fix it so our users don't have a bad experience.

You'll notice that the bug has been fixed, so please let us know if there's anything else you find amiss.

Justin Haugh
Google Reader Engineer

So, plus one respect point to Justin for personally informing me of the correction. He wasn't the problem, but he sure made a nice effort to fix things. Now, if the same could come out of the Blogger team.

Labels: Google, Internet

The first of the day is about how child molesters can use the Nintendo DS to target kids. The Weblogs Inc. site, DSFanBoy, does well in proving that although there is the possibility that such a thing could happen, the chances of it are very slim. As they point out, the both users would have to be in "PictoChat" for anything to work, and most kids would rather be playing the actual games.

Next up, a Florida bar threw a man out because he was a designated driver, and did not want to order a drink. Not only is this very bad publicity, but it also sparked State Senator Mike Fasano to propose a bill that would ban bar owners from doing anything to designated drivers who refuse to order a drink.

[via digg]

Labels: America, News, Nintendo, People

New York Senator Carl Kruger wants to ban the use of iPods and cellphones in crosswalks. After a pedestrian death, the senator wants to eliminate what he considers to be a danger to everyone, claiming people don't pay attention to the road. From the article:

"We're talking about people walking sort of tuned in and in the process of being tuned in, tuned out," Kruger said. "Tuned out to the world around them. They're walking into speeding cars. They're walking into buses. They're walking into one another and it's creating a number of fatalities that have been documented right here in the city."

The senator make a large assumption that people using iPods are less aware of the things around them. This is a faulty argument because the sidewalks are safe from cars, and crosswalks most people cross the same with or without headphones/ cellphones. I have been to New York City, and most people will cross and pay some attention to cars at a crosswalk, or if the sign says to wait (who does?) people will look and cross if it is clear.

Saying that people don't notice things with headphones is no different than anything else. For example, while riding my bike, I rarely hear cars coming up behind me, but I almost always know when they are because I always look back. Same goes for running down the side of the road when I am listening to my iPod; I am always looking around.

Labels: iPod, News, People, Politics

In Steve Jobs' open letter, he made the point that he is very much against DRM because it does nothing to protect music, and sales would be the same if there were no DRM. He claims that DRM is too retrictive, and that Apple choose to lock down their music only when record labels demanded it. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) mistook Jobs' letter as offering FairPlay (DRM) for sale:

Apple's offer to license Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time.

Let's break this statement from the RIAA down. First, they say that it would be a "victory" for fans, but how is a third party restricting your use of rightfully purchased music a victory? In reality the only victory would for record labels further restricting use of files. The RIAA claims that the interoperability is something that they want, but all they want is profit and interoperability would help get that profit by allowing easier purchasing. The RIAA is a load of BS.

Labels: Apple, Music, Technology

Google Reader has been failing more and more often. I am seriously considering finding a new service to handle feeds. Google has just started to botch the display of some posts coming in. The damage is hard to put to words, and is best illustrated in the screenshot (click for larger image). This used to work fine, so it must be a recent update that ruined it.

Labels: Google, Internet

Washington is now one of many states that have been debating the "definition of marriage." There was recently a Washington supreme court ruling that marriage "is for procreation." In response to that ruling, gay rights activists have proposed a law that would require all married couples to have kids within three years of marriage, or it would be annulled. From the article:

"The Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state could prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying because the state has a legitimate interest in preserving marriage for procreation."

The proposal is obviously not expected to pass, but does well in communicating the fact that marriage is not for procreation. Marriage, as many would agree, is more likely to be a result of a loving relationship, not the necessity for having children. This law proposal shows the absurdity of the court's ruling.

Labels: Gay, News, Oddities

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winning economist, predicts that the final total for the Iraq war will be near two trillion dollars. ABC news has a story on what could have been done with $1 trillion.

Or note that the annual budget for the Department of Education is about $55 billion, which puts the price tag for Iraq at about 18 EDs. Just a few of these EDs would certainly have put muscle into the slogan "No child left behind."

I think that we will be able to look back on this later and say: "This war got us nowhere and cost a fortune" and "Bush is the president that has spent the most money of any president." [via digg]

Labels: America, News

Update 2/6/07: This story has already proven to be falsely reported by Reuters.

After Novell partnered with Microsoft, there has been considerable uproar within the open-source community. Since the deal was made, the Free Software Foundation is considering revoking Novell's right to distribute Linux. This is no surprise either. Novell was warned too; it was known that Linux was going to be relicensed and with the Microsoft deal, Novell would be left behind.

I have no idea what Novell was thinking with that deal. It is well-known that the Linux community does not approve of anything that Microsoft does. The only incentive that I saw was money. In protest, one of the legends of Novell, Jeremy Allison, resigned after the deal.

Labels: Linux, Microsoft

This seems quite like something that Microsoft would do:

[via boingboing]

Labels: iPod, Microsoft, Video, YouTube

There is a nice, visual representation of Microsoft vs. Linux servers. The two requested identical pages, each with one image. The pictures below tell the story.

Linux:


Microsoft:

Labels: Computer, Linux, Microsoft, Server

Today has been a long day, and unfortunately it is not yet over. I don't have much time for anything today, so here is a brief story of my day, along with the news:

I am currently buried under a report due tomorrow, and am having difficulty thinking. But, my day has been both good and bad. It started bad with a school-bus driver nearly running over my car. I was in the middle of a turn when the driver lunged out in front of me. If I had more time to think about it, I would have gotten a bus number to report the driver. She nearly caused an accident, and I would very much like to see her disciplined in some way for it. The day did get better when I got to pick up my new car. We don't have the title yet, but we only paid half of the money, with the rest to be paid on receipt of the paperwork.

Todays news in brief:

• Shirts made after bomb scare - Shirts have already started be made reading: "Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the Bomb."
• Installer of "bombs" arrested - Boston has arrested the two men who installed the ads, but ironically, there was another person in town who put in two fake pipe bombs; that person was not arrested.
• Bill Gates claims you could run life support on Vista - The last thing that I would want to do is trust my life to Vista. Right after that, a security whole is found that permits a website to delete files from your computer.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for things.

Labels: America, Car, Legal, Life, Microsoft, School