Wow! Read Bruce Murray’s editorial on what NASA’s mission should be. I wish I could have said it as well. The one thing Dr. Murray left out was the utter failure of the government to allocate an appropriate amount of funds to the space agency. Judging from the priorities of Congress, it’s apparently a better…
Category: Technology
Microsoft: Automatic Computer Updates Required
On one level, this isn’t a half-bad idea. Unfortunately, few computer users in their right minds will allow the Microsoft monopoly to do whatever it wants to their computers. If Microsoft wants to protect its users, and its reputation, it needs to do a proper job of developing and testing its software. This is not…
New Spam Law Won’t Work
Or so says the head of the FTC, the bureaucracy that brought you AOL-TimeWarner and Clear Channel communications. Just because some spammers won’t abide by the proposed “do not spam” list doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do. Do we abolish speed limits just because every hick with a pickup ignores them? Not…
Music Industry Slitting Its Own Throat
The music industry is killing itself by suing fans who trade files online. Do they think there won’t be a backlash from these people? Very few people who participate in this activity will go back to being paying customers.
Time for Shuttle to Retire
Regarding the Houston Chronicle’s July 10 editorial, "BREACH OF CONFIDENCE / Astronauts can’t explore space on a wing and a prayer": If more people had known about the shuttle’s problems, something might have been done differently – maybe. But the shuttle is the best that 1970s technology had to offer and nothing more. Its original…
Columbia Report In: NASA Criticized
The Houston Chronicle says that astronauts can’t explore space on a wing and a prayer. Sure, they’ve got a point. If more people knew more about the shuttle’s problems, something might have been done differently. Maybe. What’s more to the point is that the shuttle is the best that 1970s technology has to offer and…
OK to Filter Porn at Public Libraries
In a better ruling than was issued in regards to the scourge of affirmative action, the Supreme Court ruled it is constitutional for libraries to filter porn on public computers. As you may know, I still believe it would be most effective to begin to partition the Internet into zones using top-level domain suffixes like…
Spam Is Killing the Internet
National columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard is taking her email address out of circulation because of spammers. This is the same problem as us common-folk have; perhaps someone important will care about her, though. Ultimately this is probably going to boil down to people being assigned an IP address the day they are born so as to…
Senator Hatch: Destroy Music Downloader’s Computers
Now that’s the legal and ethical vision a U.S. Senator should have! I’m just sorry that Orrin’s presidential bid floundered… I suspect there’s a band of 19-year old hackers looking into Hatch’s on-line presense even as I type…wrong bunch to poke a stick at… And who ever would have guessed he was a song writer?…
Kid’s Info for Sale?
Does your school publish information about your child on-line, or in print, without informing you? More than likely, the answer is yes. More than likely, you don’t want them to. Ironically, the problem is not one of too much information. Just the opposite. School systems’ entire student database should be on-line and accessible by parents…