Author: VD

I would have linked to this post directly, except I couldn’t, so I made do with pasting a fair bit of it here. I came across it while doing some research for an upcoming column, and it highlights a) Neal Stephenson’s description of Apple: “so frail, yet so vicious” as well as b) why I don’t consider them a viable philosophical alternative to Microsoft. It’s from As the Apple Turns and contains some acidic thoughts with regards to how Apple’s new iTunes nukes the MusicMatch software that previously was used to interface with their iPod. Apparently, Apple feels that if you’re willing to let Microsoft control your computer, there’s no reason for you to object to them doing a bit of the same.

To re-enable iPod syncing in MusicMatch, just follow the following eleventy-seventy simple steps! (This is verbatim from the email, mind you.)

Disconnect the iPod from your computer if it is still connected.

Double click on ‘My Computer’

Double click on ‘Control Panel’

Open “Add or Remove Programs’

Select and uninstall ‘iTunes’

Select and uninstall the ‘iPod for Windows’ item

Select and uninstall the ‘Musicmatch iPod Plugin’ item

Select and uninstall the ‘iPod System Software Update’ or any other iPod related items that might be listed

Select and uninstall ‘Musicmatch Jukebox’

Close the “Add or Remove Programs” control panel

Restart your computer

Navigate to the ‘Program FilesiPod’ directory

Delete the contents of the iPod directory by dragging the files to the Recycle Bin and then emptying the Recycle Bin

Navigate to the ‘program filesMusicmatch Musicmatch Jukebox’ folder

Delete the files, but not the folder, in the Musicmatch Jukebox folder

Reinstall Musicmatch Jukebox from the installation CD that came with your iPod or download the iPod software from the following URL: http://newsletter.musicmatch.com/rdr/ ?Rn187230301,1872303,38861847,287230301

When finished, reboot your computer

When the computer finishes rebooting, connect the iPod to your system

Open Musicmatch Jukebox

Could it possibly be any easier? Where’s the challenge? Indeed, we’re a little disappointed there are only two restarts involved– surely it could have been at least four, with a little more effort thrown in. Which is, of course, why we love Windows so much in the first place.

So, yeah, it does seem a little slimy that installing iTunes de-iPodifies MusicMatch, doesn’t it? Especially if Apple’s installer doesn’t warn you about it beforehand, and we’ve seen no indication that it does. Granted, you’d have to be one seriously twisted iPod owner to try iTunes and then decide that MusicMatch is a better companion for your little white-‘n’-silver buddy, but who knows what goes through the minds of Wintellians? Maybe they’re always walking around in Bad Fish Shock. It would explain a lot.

And before you start lambasting Apple for pulling a stunt like this, c’mon… the people affected by this are Windows users– they’re used to this kind of treatment. Obviously they thrive on it, or they’d have ditched Microsoft years ago. Heck, crippling a competing product was probably the only way Apple could have gotten an ounce of respect from these folks in the first place. In fact, we think Apple probably missed a golden opportunity to win some serious admiration from the Windows community; instead of simply removing MusicMatch’s ability to sync with the iPod, iTunes should also have deleted MusicMatch entirely, installed spyware, inexplicably disabled a random piece of system hardware, reformatted any writable volumes not containing iTunes itself, and then emailed itself to everyone in the user’s Outlook address book. Oh, and it should have cost thirty bucks. More, with technical support.

Those last three sentences nearly caused me to wet my pants. Now that’s technical commentary!

I always suspected Yitzhak Rabin was more show than substance – after all, what kind of master strategist would have conceived, much less championed, the Oslo Accords, as they were a suicidal loser’s gamble from the very start. Ben Shapiro does an excellent job of exploding the myth, which, as he points out, must be done if Israel is ever going to face up to the need to defend herself.

And yet the Israli peace camp is still calling for Oslo II. The self-destructive naivete that appears to be the curse of the Jewish people can be summed up in just one example. Whereas Americans put up fences to secure backyard swimming pools, Israelis are still debating over whether to put one up in order to keep out snipers and suicide bombers.

QUESTION

Currently, the Federal Government includes executive level departments that advise the President. The heads of these departments are collectively known as the Cabinet. Could you please name as many departments as you can that are part of the current United States Cabinet? (Note: This question was open-ended and multiple responses were accepted, meaning, all respondents were invited to name as few or as many departments as they could. If a respondent provided the specific name of a cabinet secretary or administrator, e.g., “Colin Powell,� they were credited with a correct response.)

Most Americans are unable to identify even a single department in the United States Cabinet, according to a recent national poll of 800 adults. Specifically, the survey found that a majority (58%) could not provide any department names whatsoever…. Hispanics (79%), African Americans (75%), 18-34 year olds (70%), women (68%), and Pacific coast residents are among the groups most likely to say “I don’t knowâ€� when asked to name at least one department within the current United States Cabinet.

While I believe that every individual has unalienable rights, I don’t think that voting is, or should be, one of them. The collective wisdom of a group of ignorant people is no wiser than the sum total of their ignorance, which is why the Founding Fathers limited the right to vote to around 20 percent of the populace. Once you prove that you are capable of being a responsible, self-sufficient member of society, then you can vote. Until then, forget it. Democracy is not compatible with human liberty.

It’s at times like these that I have a certain amount of sympathy for the Platonist elitists who believe they have not only a right but a responsibility to rule over the masses. As Chris Rock once said of OJ: “I’m not saying he was right – but I understand.”

I haven’t been heavily into college sports since I was a kid – I used to love watching the old Southwestern Conference games with the all-out running attacks and the tearaway jerseys and one of my most prized possessions was a white mesh Texas Longhorns practice jersey – but I’m intrigued by all this conference hopping. It started out being all about the football and the ACC, and I like how adding Miami, Virginia Tech and BC will prevent Florida State from walking away with the title every year.

But with the Big East replacing the loss of those three teams with Cinncinati, Louisville and Marquette, holy smokes! There’s a conference to own basketball season tickets. As for Conference USA and the WAC, who really cares? They’re regional conferences of no more national interest than the Mountain West or the Atlantic 10.

Now, we just have to get Notre Dame to join the Big Ten, get the Big Ten to change its increasingly inaccurate name to the Big 12, have the Big 12 change its name to the SouthWestern Conference – and bring back the tearaways while we’re at it – and have Army join the Patriot League. That’s my platform if I ever run for NCAA president. Oh, and let’s pay the doggone players, while we’re at it. Don’t bind the mouths of the cows that drag the ploughs, or however that goes.

I really don’t understand a lot of the vituperation that is being directed towards Red Hat. First, their CEO didn’t say anything that others, including me, haven’t said before. Linux is not ready for the casual home user who has no clue how to make any modifications to their system, although it is now a very reasonable choice – in my opinion, the optimal choice – for a power user who isn’t afraid to go to the command line every now and then.

I’ve installed several systems over the last week, so I think I have a pretty up-to-date perspective on the question. Red Hat is considered one of the better distros in terms of ease of install, and yet there are numerous issues that Space Bunny, who is a bright girl, simply does not have the technical experience to tackle alone. She couldn’t fix many of her inevitable Windows problems either, heck, half the time I can’t since the problems aren’t fixable, but the plug-and-play drivers and software installation programs are simple enough that she could handle those. But get her printer working with SAMBA, CUPS and whatnot? No way, not yet. Still, with her personal tech support staff, she’s running Redhat 9 with her most serious issue to date being that her favorite crossword wasn’t working in her browser – and after firing up the JRE in Opera, she’s crosswording away again.

As for the much-lamented end of the Red Hat retail line, I think this is potentially great. The Fedora project will allow this line of Linux to return to its roots of community development without requiring things to be held back for the stodgy corporate market. I predict that Fedora will speed up the production of device drivers – I find apt-get and Synaptic to be far more useful than RHN already, so guess which was developed by the community and which was developed by the corporation? Red Hat will use Fedora as a testbed, and incorporate those elements which prove to be most useful and stable into its Enterprise products. Where is the problem in that? It’s obviously going to be in Red Hat’s best interest to see that Fedora remains as healthy, free and open as possible.

In summary, I’m looking forward to this weekend – it’s download time again!

Reader ME writes: “I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoy your columns, and your blogs. I clicked on your Shadows, Sex and Sorrow column cause it had the word “sex” in it, and I was thoroughly impressed. I don’t come across too many columns on Christian philosophy. I checked out all your other stuff and was almost as impressed. I will definitely be following your stuff from now on.”

I’m a little unsure of what to make of this. I mean, I’m delighted he enjoys the column et al and plans to follow it, of course, but there’s just something disarmingly humorous about how he explains his discovery of the column. So, in the interest of pursuing maximum readership, I’ve decided that henceforth, the titles of all columns will contain either a double-entendre, a direct sexual reference, or spell out something titillating in Bible Code patterns.

I think I just heard my UPS editor’s heart skip a beat. You know I’m kidding, right?

My views have changed somewhat since I was a card-carrying member of the Reagan Youth. But I still have a great deal of respect for the man and what he wanted to accomplish, as well as how he conducted himself personally. I’m also pleased to see that the attempt of CBS to slur his legacy has been shut down, in part due to the inspiration and effort of this man.

The best part, though, is his approach to the fifteen minutes of fame. So many who experience it once are far too willing to whore themselves after it once their time is up This guy, however, handles it with grace, wit and aplomb. I hope I can do the same if mine should ever arrive.

Reader ML writes: “I really like what you have to say. But… your columns can be hard to read and follow. Very hard. I doubt that much more than 2% of U.S. are capable of and are willing to follow some of your deeper articles. I’ve quit in the middle of your column before. Please allow me to make the recommendation that was made to me in high school: consider who your audience is and write for them. It’s still good advice, even after all these years. btw, Who are your audience? Maybe I’m just trying to read someone else’s mail.”

ML is probably correct in saying that my columns can be a little dense at times, though I would imagine that percentage to be somewhat higher. But I have no intention of altering the column in order to [choose your description – a) make it more accessible; b) chase readership; c) dumb it down], since there is already a plethora of columnists writing for the mainstream conservative audience. For example, Rich Lowry’s recent column entitled Black Hawk Down, Again and its stay-the-course theme was predictable within minutes of the Chinook being shot down. In fact, I even predicted it to my UPS editor. Does that make Rich a bad columnist? Of course not – he’s one of my favorites among the younger set – only different than the sort of columnist I want to be. I’d much rather have a career following the likes of George Will or Thomas Sowell instead of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. That’s just my preference.

My belief is that most readers enjoy being stretched intellectually from time to time. I know I do, though certainly not always. Sometimes I feel like slogging through Calvino in the original, and other times I prefer to take it easy with a trashy Dragonlance novel. Speaking of which, The Dragons of Krynn is pretty good, but avoid Darkness and Light at all costs. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! Anyhow, I’d rather know that people skip past my column from time to time when they don’t feel like dealing with it than attempt to chase some phantom sweet spot or pursue the lowest common denominator.

Who is my audience? I would say everyone who loves freedom, liberty and Constitutional America. One does not have to grok the fullness or be my Ideal Reader in order to take a useful bit of information away from a column. But don’t worry. I like to keep things simple and light-hearted from time to time too. Just wait for next week’s WND column. It’s as accessible and slashingly contemptuous of the Left as Miss Coulter’s most perjorative missives.

“We tell everybody what our vision is. I don’t think [Linux developers] tell the community what theirs is,” said Craig Mundie, chief technology officer at Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash. “There’s also a difference between a community model that’s sort of an evolutionary process and one that’s actually designed and managed for effect in some specific way, which is what Microsoft is doing.”

That’s exactly right, Craig. Just like there’s a difference between a community model where people not only have the right to input in how their society is conducted, but are the ultimate arbiters of authority, and a managed model where a single elite makes all the decisions for everyone and attempts to control their behavior through increasingly despotic means. Ever hear of Trusted Computing? Well, you will.

So, any more questions about the inherently fascist nature of modern corporatism? I am a free market capitalist. These corporate control freaks absolutely are not.

In case you did not believe that the philosophical battle for the allegiance of corporate America about which I wrote today is a real one, have a look at Groklaw’s latest. IBM is striking back at SCO by looking into the nature of its recent financing, which was likely made in order to seek the destruction of the GPL.

I can’t see how SCO could possibly win, but as I have written before, the state and federal courts are almost entirely corrupt. If the case is put before the right [wrong] judge, SCO will win. Regardless of the nonsensical nature of its case, and its total lack of merit.