Month: January 2005

Ignore the Obvious

There’s something I’m missing in this Boing! Boing! post by Cory Doctorow,

Bram: BitTorrent use up, it’s not all warez

Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, notes, “I’d like to point out that although a number of very large BitTorrent-based web sites have been taken down recently, downloads of BitTorrent have only gone down slightly. There’s a widespread belief that BitTorrent is used almost exclusively for warez, probably a perception of people who themselves use it almost exclusively for warez, but that impression is simply untrue.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m not sure how “downloads . . . have . . . gone down slightly” leads Cory to conclude that “BitTorrent use [is] up.”

On the other hand, the overall point is absolutely correct — there are a ton of completely legal things to download via BitTorrent. I used it the other day to download ISOs of the CDs that Baen packed in some of their books, which the company allows to be freely distributed.

Seagate 100gb 2.5″ External Drive

I had all but given up on buying anymore 2.5″ external hard drives because it looked like the 100gb editions were going to be too expensive (Lacie, for example, is selling its 100gb 2.5″ external for $319).

But Seagate is selling a 2.5″ external hard drive under its own brand name, that has a couple advantages that have me rethinking whether to buy another one.

First, the price — the 100gb drive is going for $229 at NewEgg. It might be available for slightly less at other outlets, but that’s a pretty good deal considering the size. Unlike the Lacie drive, this one’s strictly USB 2.0, however. Firewire doesn’t mean a whole lot to me for these portable drives, but it might be an issue to some.

Second, this is a 5400 RPM drive. Excellent. The 4,200 RPM drive in my 80gb Firelite is more than adequate for most tasks, but it does have its shortcomings when I need to do intensive tasks like index 20gb worth of PDFs with DTSearch. Bumping up to a 5400 RPM would be very nice.

Bill Gates On Firefox vs. IE

Bill Gates has some interesting things to say about Firefox vs. Internet Explorer in this CNET interview. Responding to a question about Firefox taking away market share from IE, Gates says,

Well, people get confused about browsers. You can have as many browsers as you want on your PC, just like you can have tons of music players and things like that.
As RSS has gotten more sophisticated and value-added search capabilities have come along, this thing is really maturing.

So when people say Firefox is being downloaded onto people’s systems, that’s true, but IE is also on those systems. Firefox is new, and people are trying it out. There’s a certain percentage of people who do that–it’s very easy to download.

Yes, of course IE is on the system and a number of non-browsing applications use IE so you don’t want to necessarily delete it completely. But Gates is ignoring the point that people are adding Firefox to systems that already have IE in order to avoid using IE. The other day I had to help a non-geek client with a machine used for presentation purposes. The first question he asked was whether or not we had a non-IE browser available, because he hated using IE.

Similarly I’ve been helping a friend re-install the software on her PC which is always bloated with ActiveX spyware. They’re getting Firefox as their main browser as well. No, it doesn’t eliminate security threats, but it certainly drastically reduces the scale of what end users have to worry about.

Gates continues,

We need to keep IE the best. We need to innovate in IE, do more add-ons, do improvements. We have some very exciting plans there. Some percentage of users are going to try Firefox and IE side by side, and use the one that’s best.

In this case, Microsoft is in Netscape’s place. It has had a dominant market share for so long that it appeared to simply throw up its hand and declare “its finished — we don’t need to make any more changes.” And Firefox has really come along and showed users they don’t need to stick with Microsoft’s crappy browser for everday web browsing.

They Locked Kid In Trunk Numerous Times, But Only Receive Probation

A man and woman who locked the woman’s 7-year-old in the trunk so they could go to bars reached a plea agreement in which they avoid any jail time at all. NBCSandiego.Com reports,

[Sarah Marie] Powell’s attorney, Mary Ellen Attridge, told NBC 7/39 that the plea bargain was made possible because tests showed the child was medically and psychologically sound. Faria and Powell are now seeing the boy daily and are on track to get custody of him in March.

Police received an anonymous tip in August that a child was locked in the trunk of her Volvo. A dog was in the car’s passenger seat when officer’s arrived. Officers found a sleeping bag, pillow and car battery were in the trunk, NBC 7/39 reported. The boy told police he had been put in the trunk about 10 other times.

A non-prison sentence for two felony charges of child abuse is simply bullshit. It’s unbelievable that prosecutors and/or the judge agreed to such a lenient plea bargain simply because the boy had been fortunate enough to avoid serious injury.

Both Powell and her boyfriend Jake Faria should be spending time in jail.

Source:

Couple Who Locked Boy In Trunk Avoid Prison. NBCSandiego.Com, January 6, 2005.

World Hits Milestone for Drinking Water Availability

The Christian Science Monitor recently noted that for the first time in history, the world’s glass is literally half full. According to World Health Organization and UNICEF statistics, about 700 million people in the developing world have gained access to safe drinking water in their residence, pushing the percentage of people with access to drinking water in their homes to more than 50 percent of the entire world population for the first time ever.

This has led to a number of related improvements in quality of life. The obvious improvement is a decline in hygeine-related diseases. Although it hasn’t kept up with the advance in drinking water availability, improvements in sanitation in the developing world have also helped reduce the incidence of such diseases.

Another important advantage is the empowerment of women. For many women in developing countries, obtaining enough safe drinking water is a task which can take up to an entire working day. The Christian Science Monitor notes, for example, that in Tanzania, women might walk four to six hours to obtain safe drinking water for themselves and their families. With women no longer devoting so much time simply obtaining water, they are able to devote themselves to other projects.

Source:

Finally, the world’s drinking glass is more than half full. G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Christian Science Monitor, December 30, 2004.

Nobel Prize Winner — Abortion Is Wrong

Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, according to the Nobel committee, “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Maathai also has strong opinions about abortion and Kenyan fathers who shirk their responsibility, denouncing both in strong language.

When it comes to abortion, Maathai, who is currently Kenya’s deputy minister of the environment, told Norway’s Dagen newspaper,

Both [the woman and the aborted fetus] are victims. There is no reason why anybody who has been conceived, shouldn’t be given the opportunity to be born and to live a happy life. The fact that a life like that is terminated, is wrong.

. . .

When we allow abortion, we are punishing the women — who must abort their children because their men have run away — and we are punishing the children whose life is terminated.

Maathai goes on to identify a particularly bizarre aspect of the Kenyan legal system that she believes drives women there to abortion. Under Kenyan law, mothers alone are responsible for the maintenance of children born out of wedlock. No, that’s not a misprint or an exaggeration — in Kenya, a man who fathers a child out of wedlock has no legally enforceable requirement to financially support that child.

Maathai told Dagen,

I want us to step back a little bit and say: Why is this woman and this child threatened? Why is this woman threatening to terminate this life? What do we need to do as a society? A part of that answer lies in this House [the Kenyan Parliament].

. . .

Now I think we are too lenient on men. We have almost given them a license to father children and not worry about them. That is part of the reason why women abort, because they do not want to be burdened with children whose fathers do not want to become responsible.

Source:

Abort er galt, sier Maathai. Jostein Sandsmark, Dagen, December 12, 2004.

“Abortion Is Wrong” says Nobel Prize Winner Maathai. LifeSiteNews.Com, December 7, 2004.