The horror

People all the time be asking me: "Why can't I get iTunes to work? Can you fix it?" Answer: No, I can't. I've never used iTunes, and I don't know how it works. What's that? It ate half of your songs? Well, don't look at me. I can guess and guess, but you should try to know (to the extent possible) how your own software works. If something comes up, hone your Google-fu and search for an explanation.

I recognize that many popular programs such as iTunes are not free software, so their technical documentation is necessarily limited. That leads to the conclusion that you should use free software instead. When a program is released as free software, all of its inner workings are made available to you. The developers typically keep a database of bugs for users and developers to view, add to, discuss, and fix.

Anyway, if you're not happy with iTunes, ask yourself why you're using it. I'd venture to guess that all of the features that Apple's iTunes has other programs have as well. Me, I use Rhythmbox. It's a GNOME program, so you need to be using GNOME to run it. (If you're not sure, then you're not.) For the other 98% of you, try going to Wikipedia's comparison of media players to see which audio player is right for you. And if you have a recommendation, post a comment.

When my friend Luke came over last week, he brought two DVDs for me to borrow. One was 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I watched the next day. The other was Apocalypse Now Redux, which I watched today. It went on a little too long (over three hours); I was able to guess which sequences were cut out of the original version. That didn't stop me from enjoying the movie, though. Nothing like a good war film to remind you why war is terrible. Plus, it left me thinking at the end, which I suppose a good movie is supposed to do.

Recently I wrote about an unfortunate incident at a peaceful protest in Eugene, Oregon. One man was tasered and two others were arrested. The Register-Guard now reports that a government agent was spying on the rally and ordered local police to interfere. The silver lining, if any, is that the city will review allegations of misconduct on the part of the police officers, but that's not to say that such behavior by federal authorities or local police departments is acceptable.

Sometimes we forget about Africa, the continent in which poverty, malnutrition, and disease are relatively rampant. Here's a map to put the size of Africa into perspective. It's larger than China, the contiguous United States, India, Western Europe, and Argentina combined.

Here's a '50s educational film: Crimes of Carelessness.