Mike Cohen

Not Harmful to Minors. The

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Not Harmful to Minors. The twin concepts of innocence and ignorance are vehicles for adult double standards. A child is ignorant if she doesn’t know what adults want her to know, but innocent if she doesn’t know what adults don’t want her to know. –Jenny Kitzinger, Children, Power, and the Struggle against Sexual Abuse Never have I read a book which has been damned and derided on almost all sides, so steeped in controversy and outrage, yet, after reading this book it has become glaringly obvious that the detractors have not read it. Perhaps a few of its right-wing* critics have skimmed it looking for choice morsels which they can extract from the surrounding context and infuse with their own meaning (you know, much like they do with the Bible), so let me set a few things straight. What Judith Levine has actually written in her book Harmful to Minors is not radical, unusual or beyond common sense. [kuro5hin.org]

I just bought this book & “blinded by the right”, although I haven’t had a chance to read either one yet.

Since I run two PHP-Nuke

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Since I run two PHP-Nuke based sites, MacMegasite and WorldBeatPlanet, I’ve been looking for ways to improve the performance of PHP Nuke, since it can be slow at times.

One very easy improvement I found was in the file sql_layer.php. Nuke uses that module as a wrapper to interface with several different databases. Every SQL call goes through a switch statement which tests the database type and executes the appropriate code. Since I’m only using MySQL, I’ve eliminated all of those switch statements and each function now just calls MySQL directly.

I’ll be looking for other places I can optimize the code.

John and I talked earlier

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A picture named adam.gifJohn and I talked earlier today, about a bunch of things, including the Pim Fortuyn assassination, and Adam Curry’s role in the reporting. John said that Adam had nailed it. Fortuyn was not a clone of France’s Le Pen, although that’s how it’s being reported in the US. He was against immigration, but had a solid reason for being against it. The Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe and is singular in its liberal philosophy. Fortuyn was openly gay. Many of the immigrants are Moslem. Holland is a democracy. If the electorate gets more conservative due to immigration, there goes what makes it so special. John points out that in some Moslem cultures they kill homosexuals. Other things to consider. Adam was a supporter of Fortuyn, and in the Netherlands, I understand that Adam’s support means something. I think of him as a friend, not so much a celebrity. I can’t say what it means to the Netherlands, it sure sounds scary, and I bet it’s got Adam pretty freaked, is he next, and that gets me freaked, as his friend. Anyway, I’m trying to figure out how to approach this. I sent Adam an email earlier (it’s 3AM in Europe as I write this), offering to run his essay through DaveNet. We’ll see where this goes.  [Scripting News]

http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,51343,00.html"> via Wired News: What's

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via Wired News: What’s going on? Apple Ousts Coder for Being Young What is this all about? It seems like 15 year old Finlay Dobbie has had his access to ADC blocked. It seems that Apple does not cotton to the idea of having minors in the group. Surely there is a way of allowing minors to participate. A parent or guardian should be able to sign-off for them. What a great learning opportunity for young people, to be part of a computing virtual lab? Apple reconsider, get Finlay back on board and start recruiting others! [Radio X Neophyte]

The Beginning of the End

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The Beginning of the End for Microsoft?. Two decades ago, Microsoft made a name for itself with its cutthroat business style and

extremely influential marketing force. Having innovated very little, instead copying

several aspects of UNIX, DOS and Mac OS, the company elevated its position through shrewd

business tactics more often than through the merits of its software. [osOpinion]