I believe in the importance of copyright. I also firmly believe in “fair use”: that is, if I pay for the right to use your content, I have the right to use it for my own personal use on any platform I choose. Thus I am totally against abusive DRM systems that (for example) prevent me from watching a movie on my computer, and later watching it on my TV.
Continue reading File sharing: a terrorist plot, and think of the Children!
Someone has been submitting about five “Viagra!” news items to one of my websites every day now for about six months. Such news items are moderated, and never appear on the site since I delete them. That’s dumb.
On Thursday I decided to install some driver updates for Vista. ATI has a new video driver, version 7.2. I had this crazy idea that this might solve my problem with putting the computer in standby mode. The rest of what happened is proof that, despite having a moderately high intelligence, I’m often rather stupid…
What a strange place for a business convention. Niagra Falls isn’t really “home” for anyone- none of our offices are here, so everyone has to drive at least an hour or so to get here. It was particularly odd driving past the wax museum or whatever it was that had speakers blaring spooooky sound effects on my way to the hotel. But I’ve made it safe and sound to the other side of the country, and that’s what counts.
I have to do a bit of travel soon for work, and I’m not looking forward to it.
It’s not that I haven’t been through the routine before: in fact, for a few years I was away from home for work probably three or four months out of the year. It got so that the check in counter attendants at some airports recognized me as I walked up, and “bumped” me into first class…that was nice, if uncommon. I’m not complaining about the travel, at least not really: some people face daily travel as part of their work routine, and I’m very fortunate that I’ve been able to make career choices that have reduced this to the bare minimum for myself.
I was reading an article today about a man who was in a coma, in what they call a persistent vegetative state, for 19 years who “woke up “in 2003. Terry Wallis, the coma victim, had regained his power of speech and his mobility, and had clear memories of his life before the coma. Terry has awakened to a world where his one year old son is now 20, and Ronald Regan hasn’t been president in decades.
Continue reading Comatose man wakes up after 19 years…brain “rewires” itself
My Mom is a pretty smart lady. She grew up during the great depression, served overseas in the Second World War rising to the rank of Sergeant Major. She raised six kids, several of us largely as a single mom on a small salary. Thanks to her, we all turned out pretty well.
I read an article today about a study showing that people today are tending to retain a state of immaturity far into adulthood. Basically, instead of becoming fixed in their ways, focused on stability and safety, more and more people are continuing to retain a child-like interest in new and different things, in change, and in learning new things.
Continue reading Psychological Neoteny- I’m getting older, not more mature…
Irene has been aquasizing for a couple of months now as part of the recovery process from her hip replacement operation. She’s going an amazing five or six times a week, and it really has been helping her: she’s walking better and better, and has even been able to go on some quiet rides on her horse Spirit.
It’s really not news that Bill Gates is stepping down from his role at Microsoft. I recall him saying pretty clearly five or six years ago that he planned on removing himself from his position within the company before he was 55, and spending an increasing amount of time in his philanthropist role within the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Continue reading Bill Gates stepping down from day to day role in MS