>Do you believe rehabilitation is impossible or do you want revenge?

I don't believe that someone who commits mass murder can be rehabilitated, no. It isn't about revenge; it's about public safety.

Someone once pointed out that hoping a rapist gets raped in prison isn't a victory for his victim(s), because it somehow gives him what he had coming to him, but it's actually a victory for rape and violence. I wish I could remember who said that, because they are right. The score doesn't go Rapist: 1 World: 1. It goes Rape: 2.

What this man did is unspeakable, and he absolutely deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. If he needs to be kept away from other prisoners as a safety issue, there are ways to do that without keeping him in solitary confinement, which has been shown conclusively to be profoundly cruel and harmful.

Putting him in solitary confinement, as a punitive measure, is not a victory for the good people in the world. It's a victory for inhumane treatment of human beings. This ruling is, in my opinion, very good and very strong for human rights, *precisely* because it was brought by such a despicable and horrible person. It affirms that all of us have basic human rights, even the absolute worst of us on this planet.

This is precisely why I lost all interest in Oculus the instant I heard that it had been acquired by Facebook.

This is good advice, and gives me an opportunity to speak to the community at large: some of us who go to cons and are in a position to shake tons of hands politely decline. It's not because we're being dicks, it's because we know it's a good way to substantially decrease our chances of catching and spreading any germs.

I played the PAX Pandemic game, where the Enforcers handed out stickers to attendees that read [Carrier] [Infected] or [Immune] (There was also a [Patient Zero].

I got the [Immune] sticker, and by the time I got home on Monday, it was clear that I had the flu. I've had a fever between 100 and 104 all week that finally broke last night, but I'm going to the doctor today because I think whatever I had settled into my lungs. I'll tell him about the H1N1 outbreak and get tested if he wants to run the test, but at this point I think it's safe to assume that I was [Immune] to the Pig Plague, but definitely [Infected] with the damn PAX pox.

Even though it's been a week of misery, it was entirely worth it, and I don't regret going to PAX for a single second.

This is why my motto (and fundamental rule for life) is Don't be a dick: it's simple to understand, and reasonable people can agree on what it means.

John Scalzi wrote a hilarious exchange on his blog the sums up perfectly why this idea is made of fail:

Sony BMG spokesperson: We're pleased to announce we are the final major music corporation to release electronic tracks without that pesky DRM! All you have to do is leave your house, go to a selected retail outlet, buy a special card there, go back to your house, scratch off the back of the card to find a code, go to our special MusicPass Web site, enter said code, and download one the 37 titles we have available, from Celine Dion to the Backstreet Boys!

Kid #1: Or, in the time it takes me to jump through all those hoops, I could just download all 37 of those albums off of Pirate Bay.

Kid #2: Or, I could just scratch off the back at the store, record the pin number, go home and download the album through a Tor connection, so you can't trace my IP number.

Kid #1: Also, what's with this first slate of artists? Celine Dion? Backstreet Boys? Kenny Chesney? Barry Manilow? Are you high?

There's much more, but I didn't want to jack his entire post.

> 1. The finder is the worst file manager I have ever used.

So use a third party one. Just because it's the default one doesn't mean it's the one you HAVE to use. Path Finder is an excellent third party finder replacement. Are these complaints your users complaints or yours? Sometimes power users find that navigating the finder is difficult while the vast majority of regular users find it to work just fine.

> 2. The Dock sucks.

I suppose the task bar in windows is better? Why don't you just move your dock to the left or right hand side of the screen. Make it smaller. It doesn't have to be OHMYGODTHEICONSARE128PIXELSHUGE big.

> 3. There's no "maximize window" button.

More efficient use of screen space. Wow my web page is set to a fixed width of 800 pixels BUT THANK GOD I HAVE ALL THIS WHITE SPACE FROM MAXIMIZATION!!

> 4. OSX seems to corrupt its own file system through normal use.

You seem to labor under the idea that macs don't require maintenance. That's just dumb. It's a machine and just like any other machine it requires maintenance to keep it in tip top shape.

> 6. Mac mice are a cruel joke.

No one is forcing you to use the included mouse. One button mice are fine for most people. You don't like the one in the box, find one that suits you better. Think the mouse was the first thing I chucked when I got my mac.

> 7. You can't alt-tab between windows in the same application.

But you can command-` between windows. It's ok to say "I don't know how to do this" once in a while if you don't know if a feature exists. Sometimes it's hard though if you think you know it all.

> 8. There's no eject button for the cd drive.

Because holding the mouse button down when the computer boots up is too difficult.

> 9. Maintaining Macs is very un-user friendly.

Speaking from a system administrator's point of view, I'd think that hiding the options to change your boot up options would be a blessing rather than a curse. It's one thing to know what the keys are as an admin, it's a completely different thing to let your users see them. And if you're looking for answers for key combinations, you'll be hard pressed to find a more helpful support site than Apple's.

I've said enough. I"m done with you.

-W