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Article 19 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

It’s similar to the “broken windows” theory of urban decay, which holds that if a single window is left unrepaired in a building, in fairly short order, the remaining windows in the building will be broken. Fixing windows as soon as they are broken sends a message: that vandalism will not be tolerated. But not fixing windows also sends a message: that vandalism is acceptable. Worse, once a problem such as vandalism starts, if left unchecked, it flourishes.

That was the phrase that struck it into to me. And I hope eventually to everyone using windows out there. The article that brought this to my attention can be found at daring fireball::broken windows. A critical site that is pretty much mac oriented, it has earned a spot in my RSS feed subscription.

Well, enough digression. The gist of this article shows that I have always suspected: that Windows users are so used to various system attacks that they have developed a strong tolerance for them. You do not see many Windows users taking a stand against spyware. Why? One reason would be because they get infected by them while doing some best kept secret shenanigans. Thus, rather than risk some harmful publicity, they choose to suffer in silence. But I digress yet again. The main reason would be because there is so little that they can do about it. You think that the spyware developers would kindly include an unistaller in the thing? Heck, the spyware evil-doers know that for the aforementioned reason that you will never complain to anyone since you got infected thought your illegal deeds in the first place.

And another sad thing: if you ever ask a windows user why don't they get that annoying thing fixed, they will promptly answer that there is nothing that they can do about it. After all, isn't the computer subjected to wear and tear from the user? Indeed it is, but to have the computer crippled by the everyday use of a common user ( not even a power user that tinkles with everything ) seems like a sad situation. The solution? Instead of saying something brash such as switch to another OS, I would strongly suggest that you do the next best thing and direct you to this article. Or if you would like another more critical look at this issue, what about this article?

There will always be issues with computers. The problem exarcebates when it is not nip in the infant stages.

Oxygen is a very toxic gas and an extreme fire hazard. It is fatal in concentrations of as little as 0.000001 p.p.m. Humans exposed to the oxygen concentrations die within a few minutes. Symptoms resemble very much those of cyanide poisoning (blue face, etc.). In higher concentrations, e.g. 20%, the toxic effect is somewhat delayed and it takes about 2.5 billion inhalations before death takes place. The reason for the delay is the difference in the mechanism of the toxic effect of oxygen in 20% concentration. It apparently contributes to a complex process called aging, of which very little is known, except that it is always fatal.

However, the main disadvantage of the 20% oxygen concentration is in the fact it is habit forming. The first inhalation (occurring at birth) is sufficient to make oxygen addiction permanent. After that, any considerable decrease in the daily oxygen doses results in death with symptoms resembling those of cyanide poisoning.

Oxygen is an extreme fire hazard. All of the fires that were reported in the continental U.S. for the period of the past 25 years were found to be due to the presence of this gas in the atmosphere surrounding the buildings in question.

Oxygen is especially dangerous because it is odorless, colorless and tasteless, so that its presence can not be readily detected until it is too late. -- Chemical & Engineering News February 6, 1956

Copyright laws threatening the iPod? A USA Today article notes that according to opponents of the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act in the Senate, the legislation could endanger the iPod and similar devices. "(It would) media-swap networks such as Kazaa and Grokster liable for users' actions. It also would make it easier for entertainment companies to sue tech firms for copyright infringement. Opponents say the language is so broad it could apply to makers of MP3 players, such as iPod, and CD and DVD recorders, as well as to media organizations that give consumers tips on using digital content." More.

Seriously, this sounds more like unprecedented stupidity more than anything. While this new law will definitely help prevent illegal distribution of copyrighted materials, its repercussions bring more harm than good to the companies that are already working hard to curb these illegal activities in the first place. This law clearly favors those who believe that the record company is trustworthy. Get a new mindset: they are not the most useful people in the world.

A recent federal ruling clearing a rare-book dealer could make it legal for e-mail and phone service providers to read customers' e-mail or listen to their voicemail messages. News analysis by Kim Zetter. [Wired News: Top Stories]

In yet another unprecedented outburst of stupidity, this clearly illegal maneuver has been approved by the court! Fantastic, now every untrustworthy company like MSN's Hotmail will have a field day reading their users' e-mails; as if sending you a whole sleuth of cookies that never expire every time you log onto hotmail is not bad enough. Nevertheless, let the common people of e-mail take heed and equip yourselves with at least the minuscule sense of security that PGP offers: GNUPG.org