http://aplawrence.com/ Opinion feed at aplawrence.com: Thousands of articles, reviews, consultants listings, skills tests, opinion, how-to's for Unix, Linux and Mac OS X, networking, web site maintenance and more.. hourly 6 2008-01-01T00:00+00:00 en A.P. Lawrence Copyright A.P. Lawrence A.P. Lawrence (mailto:rssfeeds@aplawrence.com) 2009-11-09T14:56:12+00:00 41.889582-70.894066 http://aplawrence.com/image21.gif http://aplawrence.com Employment,Opinion ; 2009/10/28<br /> <br /><br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>Earlier this week I got email from VMware announcing that I could now order Fusion 3.0 for my Mac. Because I had been a beta tester of this, they offered me a coupon code that was supposed to give me a 25% discount.</p> <p>To my annoyance, it did not. The order page insisted the code was invalid.</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Opinion/answering-email.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lcNC6nJ0QPb6zh7lgOZXwOvqws8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lcNC6nJ0QPb6zh7lgOZXwOvqws8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lcNC6nJ0QPb6zh7lgOZXwOvqws8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lcNC6nJ0QPb6zh7lgOZXwOvqws8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=Yz5OAcaicg8:jgBeUpSyi9o:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/answering-email.html Web-HTML,Blogging,Security,Opinion ; 2009/10/23<br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>I was listening to an NPR show about internet privacy and the "worrysome" fact that internet information lasts forever. The very forgettable guest being interviewed was harping on "forgetting" - he apparently wants us to be able to set retention dates for things the Internet knows about us. Callers chimed in with stories of real and potential embarrassment from discretions and more serious actions that their boss, their children or their spouses might accidentally discover while bumbling about the Internet. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!</p> <p>I don't agree.</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Web/forget.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Zmvo1sccoxMSz6sQxkGBzHHVN1Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Zmvo1sccoxMSz6sQxkGBzHHVN1Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Zmvo1sccoxMSz6sQxkGBzHHVN1Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Zmvo1sccoxMSz6sQxkGBzHHVN1Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=AqGJFhvKrUg:4lKpMNprJ0U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Web/forget.html Opinion,Employment ; 2009/10/19<br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p><i>For our non-New England readers: In the Boston area and even down into Rhode Island, a lot of us tend to pronounce our r's as h's (though a Rhode Islander might say "our r's as haitches", but that's a different story). </i></p> <p>When I went into first grade, I was put in the Retarded Class. I'm sure that's not what it was officially called, but all of us who were in it knew that's what it was, and of course so did every other child and all the teachers. Everybody knew us. We were the misfits, the dummies, the slow learners, the problem kids. This was early 1950's, so in reality a lot of us were dyslexic or had alcoholic parents or other learning disadvantages and disabilities, but paying attention to any of that just didn't exist then.</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Opinion/wicked-smaht.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/J8YScXrWdsxhHt_fO7Bpz7jUk1U/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/J8YScXrWdsxhHt_fO7Bpz7jUk1U/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/J8YScXrWdsxhHt_fO7Bpz7jUk1U/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/J8YScXrWdsxhHt_fO7Bpz7jUk1U/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=6bJBL9HwGZI:ceT9b6swYtk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/wicked-smaht.html Opinion ; 2009/10/15<br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>I listened to Bruce Judson on NPR yesterday discussing his new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061689106/aplawrencescouni" target="_top">It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink </a>.</p> <p>Unfortunately, Bruce has a poor speaking voice - you can hear him at <a href="http://itcouldhappenhere.com/blog/bruce-judson-discusses-it-could-happen-here-economic-inequality-and-the-future-of-the-middle-class/">his blog</a> (and also get a quick overview of what the book is about). Don't let his voice interfere with what he has to say - it's important.</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Opinion/revolution.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bZjtGp-jY-dez36NaUedxGfWtyE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bZjtGp-jY-dez36NaUedxGfWtyE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bZjtGp-jY-dez36NaUedxGfWtyE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bZjtGp-jY-dez36NaUedxGfWtyE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=NWPXzb3KVF8:C4A60ksdVTk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/revolution.html Opinion,Programming ; 2009/10/11<br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>Some of you may have played "games" like Second Life. If not, you probably know what it is. I'd like you to imagine that it's a few hundred years from now and that I'm a computer game designer working on an advanced version of this game.</p> <p>Computers have changed a lot. Storage is basically unlimited and processing power is beyond anything you could comprehend. I finally have enough resources at my disposal that I can actually create sentience within the "game". That is, I can populate it with creatures who can pass a Turing test, who apparently have "free will". These pockets of sentience evolved from some of my original designs, and are pretty darn complicated, but of course I can still run any of it through a debugger if I want to. I can also change the physics of their little Universe...</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Opinion/playing-god.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N4pS9kV-DT2tc2tVxWLYjox0l5w/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N4pS9kV-DT2tc2tVxWLYjox0l5w/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N4pS9kV-DT2tc2tVxWLYjox0l5w/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N4pS9kV-DT2tc2tVxWLYjox0l5w/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=Q9esmoYTcsg:NirccnIqNiE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/playing-god.html Employment,Opinion ; 2009/09/30<br /><br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>I had some unpleasant email exchanges with someone today. Of course it was about politics and religion - the two subjects almost guaranteed to cause hard feelings. I'm not going to get into that except to note that it can be upsetting to mix our personal lives with our business lives. It's particularly hard for someone like me who is way out of the mainstream in so many ways. I know full well that I don't agree with most of my customers political views and of course they wouldn't like mine very much either. It's fortunate that our two worlds stay separate most of the time - or I'd lose a lot of business!</p> <p>This morning's email exchange came because I did let a customer into Facebook. That was a mistake, but on the other hand most of my political views are right here in the Opinion section, so I didn't think Facebook would cause any more hard feelings than those pages. I was wrong :-)</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Employment/always-right.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/d3VV1crOir6nXp8IivD0Yn5LRQ4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/d3VV1crOir6nXp8IivD0Yn5LRQ4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/d3VV1crOir6nXp8IivD0Yn5LRQ4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/d3VV1crOir6nXp8IivD0Yn5LRQ4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=-t2B4s6lxtQ:lXOOThkcFB0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Employment/always-right.html Opinion ; 2009/08/30<br /><br /> <!-- LEFTADOK --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <!-- PCOUNT --> <p>My wife and I were watching "3:10 to Yuma" (violent and predictable, but far from the worse we've watched recently) and when we noticed Peter Fonda in the credits, my wife couldn't recognize who he had played. Well, of course he's gotten a bit older over the years, and his role barely mattered anyway, so that wasn't surprising. After we dug back and figured out which character was his, I commented that in a few years we'll probably start seeing computer generated actors resurrect stars of the past.</p> <p>I didn't realize how close we are to that. So close that there is already a name for it - "synthespians" - and that people doing this kind of work say they are <a href="http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/coming-computer-generated-actors_1090600">"getting real close"</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rss/index.html">Full Text RSS Feed now available</a></p> <p>Comments: <a href="http://aplawrence.com/cgi-bin/newcomm.pl?commenting=/Opinion/synthespians.html">Click Here.</a></p> <p><br /><br /><i><b>Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them.</b></i></p> <p><i><b>I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.</b></i></p> <br><a href='http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=6872'>Today's MacUpdate Promo, 40% off</a> <div style="font-size:80%"> <table> <tr> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Tests">Skills Tests</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/psst.html">Psst - wanna work for yourself?</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/troubleshootingbook.html">Unix/Linux Troubleshooting e-book</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/Kerio">Kerio Mail Server</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/rates.html">Consulting</a></td> <td> - </td> <td><a href="http://aplawrence.com/advert.html">Advertise Here</a></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/atDccapF1844THZN_6Nh-WBm8RU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/atDccapF1844THZN_6Nh-WBm8RU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/atDccapF1844THZN_6Nh-WBm8RU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/atDccapF1844THZN_6Nh-WBm8RU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?a=G9AdzYlXWvQ:AUR17eX6u0c:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/aplawrence/RIAJ?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div> http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/synthespians.html