This was posted on some forum regarding a game:

My son has been greatly enjoying Postal, so I’m sure he’ll like the zombies and the midgets, but can I somehow remove the nudity scenes? And how exactly nude are they?

Is it just me, or are people far more concerned with keeping kids away from nudity than from extreme violence? I can understand that both can he harmful, but I would like for someone to explain to me in what way is sexuality (partial nudity, references etc) more damaging to a child’s psyche than violence? After all, sex is something we all discover and enjoy at some point, whereas violence could be considered more… unnatural¹.

This comes up in video games repeatedly, but movies and other forms of entertainment also meet with the problem. Why is it that sex is so much less tolerable than violence²?

1. I do not consider something like a self-defence kill to be violent, but more of an expression of the survival instinct [↩]
2. Is religious pressure/dogma the only reason for this? [↩]

Apparently, installing software on the Mac is so easy that some people don’t get it. And the problem is, somehow, with the platform, not a case of PEBKAC.

Granted, we are glad to have all these switchers. Or Apple is, anyway. But in no way do I think there is any responsibility insofar as Apple or Mac developers are concerned to accomodate the new wave of users at the cost of corrupting the platform. Sure, marketshare is important, but cloning the ways in which Windows functions is not the way to establish that marketshare. Why have an annoying installer that puts files all over the place when you could just drag and drop the application wherever you want¹? Yeah, it takes some getting used to - do it once and you are used to it. I find it a bizarre ‘problem’ to have, considering that most switchers move away from Windows and all its problems. Wouldn’t an installer be just as much a reminder of the bad old days as, say, random BSODs?

I am surprised that people would even turn this into an issue. Simpler is not better, apparently, if the simpler approach is taking you out of your comfort zone for 2.01 seconds. It’s every reboot on Windows after I have installed some moderately complicated piece of software that reminds me just how much better Macs and Linuces are at these sorts of things. And while installing on Linux may be a bit impenetrable for some people (though we have come a long way in recent years) I simply cannot understand what’s the big problem.

1. Yes, I am aware there are installers for OS X as well, but they are few and far between [↩]

I am probably missing something very important. The description below, taken from the “Stunnix C++ Obfuscator” page on Apple’s Downloads Website

Obfuscate/scramble (make unreadable), watermark or compress C++ or C source code (e.g. for giving out some library in source form) by renaming all names, uglifying strings and integers and stripping comments out. [emphasis added] (link)(screenshot)¹

«Continue Reading»

1. Yes, the interface is as ugly as the screenshot makes it to be. It’s a web application of sorts, but the colour scheme will make you puke after prolonged exposure. [↩]

How about, every time you need to look up a word’s meaning — or you simply look upon a word and think it over — you also see how it’s been defined over at thebigwordproject? The in-depth definition might be coming from the less expected source, right?

I think of it as finding new ideas, peeking at people’s thoughts. Some will be more attractive than others, I’m sure, but I expect a higher than 2% ROI rate on this¹. It is only a question of doing it as often as I’d like, but for that I have technology. So I will find a way.

1. 2% is reported to be a good response for spam and scam e-mails. Interesting thing to compare to, right? [↩]

I’m seeing a lot of comments about Apple’s decision to silently install Safari on Windows as an update to iTunes. The move has been declared as almost malware-like, considering the practice. And this hurts Apple more than they realise.

«Continue Reading»

To continue…

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
You’re a slave to money then you die

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

Anya is considering, today, the matter of fairness. The fairness of incomes where they are not based in the education required to get to a certain position, but some other, should-be-unimportant factors. And, I would venture a guess, the fairness with which our respect hierarchies are built.

«Continue Reading»

I enjoy podcasts. I seek the more technologically-oriented ones because, hey, I have some idea about what they’re talking, but there’s always room for improvement. I was sad when Binary Revolution Radio stopped broadcasting, but I focused on other things. I have listened/watched to TWiT & Co., CommandN, Digital Underground, Hak5, SECTHIS. Some of these I still follow. Others, not so much. Even if nobody is perfect, it’s hard to ignore some of the pretty big errors in reporting I came across while listening to some of these.

«Continue Reading»

Since some people seem to be reaching an older post of mine trying to figure out how to unlock a passcoded iPhone, I thought of sharing a few thoughts on the matter.

«Continue Reading»

Taken from somewhere. To say more would implicate people that want not - but not because of this content. I wasn’t there in ‘77 but even ‘97 was about the same (though, I was living on a different continent).

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.

2007 - Police are called, Armed Response Unit arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, ASBOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t sit still in class, disrupts other students.

«Continue Reading»