Gmail et alia

As a reward for reading my drivel, I'm giving a free Gmail invitation to the first two commenters to request one.

This is a good time to remind Windows users that if you use want to keep your computer free from viruses, spyware, and other malicious programs you should do two simple and very important things:

1) Most important: Keep your version of Windows updated at windowsupdate.microsoft.com

2) Very important: Download Firefox the internet browser and Thunderbird the email program. Use these instead of the default Internet Explorer (the blue "E") and Outlook/Outlook Express. Firefox and Thunderbird are absolutely free and have some great features, and are immune to almost all of the security flaws that plague the Microsoft programs.

Runner-up: I strongly recommend running Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE. This is the premier anti-adware program out there, and it's free. Use it even if you use another spyware detection program. Over 4/5 of the times you use it, it'll find and eliminate something you don't want on your computer.

Take these steps seriously. They are even more important than using an antivirus program. Not following these steps can result in:
- Internet browsing becoming practically impossible due to pop-up ads and random webpage changes.
- Theft of sensitive information such as email passwords and credit card information.
- Your computer and your internet connection becoming incredibly slow because it is being used to send millions of spam emails hawking porn, software and prescription drugs.

Best essays of '05

Here is David Brooks's list of Hookie Laureates. "Named after the great public intellectual Sidney Hook, they go to the authors of some of the most important essays written in 2004."

Find the list at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/25/opinion/25brooks.html.

To log in to the NY Times, you can enter the following info:

Username: lxw56
Password: password

Populism: just say no.

My response to a general 17th-amendment bashing (yeah!) at this xanga site:


Hukee [the previous respondent], it isn't just the left that likes the amendment. Most Americans, right or left, are populist. Amendment XVII is about populism, which is strongly tied to the idea of pure democracy, the people decide what is right. Populists are pro-majority, and believe that they should always be the majority. Most mindless "liberals" and "conservatives" hold to this view, whether or not they realize it.

Christian/social conservative right-wingers are largely populist. Even Mike Farris is a populist in some ways and thinks the seventeenth amendment was a good thing. Much as I respect a lot of his opinion on the constitution, I can't agree with him on this.

Right-wing populists are proud of the redness of the "who voted for bush" map, Christianity, killing terrorists, and the heartland of America. The majority of Americans oppose partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, and therefore they should be outlawed. These populists view left-wingers as outsiders, as academics, artists, or bums (alas, they often stereotype academics and artists as necessarily left-wing) who are out of touch with mainstream America. Right-wing Christian populists are anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant in general (though they may disguise their views as anti-terrorist and anti-illegal) because these groups will take power from we Christians who built the nation and made it free - a Christian take on a hallmark populist view. They say, "Remember, America was founded as a Christian nation." They don't realize how carefully the founders crafted the Declaration of Independence to avoid making it explicitly Christian.

Eschew populism. Argue from the authority of the founders or come up with your own arguments on political positions, rather than appealing to public opinion or even what public opinion was in the '50s.

Edited for slight clarification/toning-down of opinion. Note also that America was founded on a combination of Christian, classical and rationalist ideas - Christianity is a key basis of our government, and would have been even if Franklin and Jefferson wrote it themselves.

Home-schooling and public-schooling parents both struggle with scheduling all of their kids' time. MSN explains why this is bad.

What your iTunes music says about you

Do you share music on iTunes? It may be what makes you "cool." (Or, maybe you don't care.. this is college, not high school.)

See Wired News for more.

Apparently, some iTunes sharers are even victims of "playlistism," which is discrimination based not on age, race, sex or definition of divine election and human free will, but on the music available on your playlist.

"Some people have obscure bands I’ve never heard of. These people are probably too cool for me and I’ll leave them alone until I have an iPod." - Stephen Aubrey, The Wesleyan Argus.

Until I read this, I had no idea why some people put passwords on their iTunes folders. Why restrict others from legally listening to your music? Now I know - they listen to the Backstreet Boys or something like that.

New post

I usually post here, but I just posted at xanga.com/americansamerican. Xanga is a better site for personal posts.

Interesting ideas from the NY Times

Some developments reported by the New York Times

Good

The professional amateur: high-quality amateurs are making breakthroughs all over. As professional becomes synonymous with working for a big corporation/government, those who experiment with science, technology, art and life for love rather than profit acheive more.

Lawfare: International government, whether of treaty, government, or business, may not be acheivable. Here's to independent local rule.

Soccer model of warfare: Good, only if war can be good. 250 years since the French and American war, we're still moving away from massed attacks.

Self-storage: Sleep at night or nap in the day. Not just for businessmen in cramped East Asia any more.

Debunking photoshop fakery: a computer program that analyzes digital images. How long will it be before we find a way to fool it? Probably yesterday.

Bad

Acting white myth: The Times notes correctly: white kids beat up on their smart peers, too, and we don't say it's because they're "acting black".

Narci-cinema: Making movies about yourself. I was tempted to make this "mixed", since autobiography can be very good, but narcissism is rampant and annoying and far worse in our culture.

Wal-mart sovereignty: should corporations be allowed autonomy or indirect participation in government?

Downwardly defined celebrity flaw: tabloids criticize anything that can be interpreted to look imperfect.

No opinion yet/mixed:

Keyboard evesdropping: each key makes a slightly different sound when hit; can be computer-analyzed.

TV Zapper: A remote control that sends "power" codes for 69 different kinds of TV sets.

Feral cities: the police are no longer in control; organized "crime" is the de facto government. Of course, the NY Times and those affiliated with the traditional government & police don't like it. But are the new rulers any worse?

The acceptable substitute: brand-name knockoffs are on the rise.

The employable liberal arts major: professional classes for liberal arts majors.

The benign corporate oligarchy: Shift power from temporary shareholders to execs, as in Google.

Genetic family values: One gene may control whether male voles are sexually moral or loose. Can we change human social behavior with gene therapy?

Items for sale

Fellow students,

I'm moving out and need to sell some books and other items.

Books for class:

Latin flash cards - suitable for a year of Latin study. $4. They don't match Wheelock, but would be great for summer study to prepare for real translation.

Non-school books:

One of my fellow students has said that she does better in her classes when she reads good fiction during the semester. Paperback unless noted.

Good condition, $1.25:

The Brethren, John Grisham.

Net Force: Breaking Point, Tom Clancy

Fairly good condition, $1.00

The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum

Somewhat used, $.75

Without Remorse, Tom Clancy.

The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy

A Time to Kill, John Grisham

Misc.

White Patrick Henry t-shirt, size XL. New, never worn. This style is no longer available in the bookstore. $12.

Set of 4 matching bowls. These are attractive, but not feminine, large and shallow enough to make decent plates, without making poor soup/ramen dishes. $4

Set of 4 matching spoons, $1.00

Set of 4 same-sized, but not-quite-matching, forks. $.75

For your computer

Dell CD-ROM drive, $10, free installation. Buy this if your desktop only has one drive, and you'd like another. Does not write CD-Rs or play DVDs.

512 MB of RAM, with free installation! My computer switches between programs and multitasks many times faster after I installed one of these. $70, new in packaging. Usable with any desktop systems. ~$70 after shipping the cheapest price you can find online for this amount of RAM, and that's at the deep discounters and the cheapest brand.

If you have a desktop a year old or less (a Pentium 2.66? or faster processer), I'll sell you a DDR3200 stick instead if you would like it. This will give you faster performance if your other stick is high-speed, or if you choose to buy more memory in the future. $75, not new, but works fine, I'm using it right now. Free installation. If you have any questions about RAM, I'll be happy to answer them.

If you want to inspect any of the items, simply email me or IM phcderby or phcderby1.

Two arrested for vote fraud

Two men, one a Democratic Party county chairman, were arrested Tuesday for vote fraud.
Read the article in the Indianapolis Star

I don't know what they did, but if it really was vote fraud I hope they get large fines and lengthy prison terms. This stuff is shaking confidence in our electoral system, which will inevitably lead to people wanting to change the system. And changes, in my opinion, have little chance of being positive.

So mad

Mail order delicious genuine UP pasties - handmade by grandparents - just heat and eat!


I just read a news article that made me incredibly angry. Apparently, 3 years ago, Albie's Foods, a small catering and grocery company, was sued by Smucker's for an alleged patent violation.

Among other things, Albie's makes pasties (pronounce pass-tees, not paste-ees). These are potpie-like things, pastries filled with meat and potato. Very delicious. These things have been a staple of Northern Michigan diets since the old mining days. (Here and here are a couple of recipies).

Smucker Co. holds patent #6004596 on "sealed crustless sandwiches." Apparently, they make a crustless, PB&J sandwich. Pasties are not sandwiches, as you can see from the picture above; they are pastries, like pies. Albie's presented no threat to Smucker. I can't figure out why Smucker chose to do this; maybe they're looking for another revenue source, or are hoping that if they destroy this cultural tradition, they will sell more of their less-unique products.

Of course, this STUPID patent, like the majority of patents, should never have been granted. And the courts should be more friendly to defenses like the one Albie's tried to put up. The federal government really is unfriendly to small businesses in countless ways. I'm sure this has absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that the big businesses and the "pro-business"* lobbying groups give massive sums of cash to members of Congress in both parties.

In conclusion, boycott Smuckers and buy from small businesses. They generally make better products, anyway. And vote to elect sane politicians to Congress and other offices. Support patent reform. And if you ever have the opportunity to visit northern Michigan, take it. Not only is it beautiful, but they have good hearty food.

*"Pro-business" is almost always used to mean pro-big business, as if small businesses didn't employ over half of all workers in the US.