Licensing Internet users?. Wired News picked up this provocative thinkpiece from the Associated Press (no author credited): “A virus ,pfouls your computer and you haplessly pass it on. Advertising software loads stealthily on your machine. Your password gets stolen because of your negligence…. [InternetPolicy.net]

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here's a little question, knowing what you know about the internet, would you pass a user licensing program? or not? it is a hard question really, or it should be and if you don't think it is, i would lay odds that very few people who think they know how, actually know how to use and access the net in a way that like the highways, keep it safe for others. why is this? fundamentally the net is structured so that there is a technological elite that retains that knowledge above the level of the user….

i have books, food, and a flashlight, I'm set! but other people have somewhat different needs, so check to make sure your ok, cause wunderground said that it will affect the burg to some extent.

well i don't know if this is really worst posting, but it is a first, i just made the most popular of the day listing for radio userland, my referrers look fairly normal except for a few extra hits do to misspelled research article. which is strangely popular, and i don't know why, but thanks for reading.

“Academic Freedom Bill of Rights”. The fury of the ex-smoker towards smokers is matched only by the fury of the ex-New Leftist towards anyone to… [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates]

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well, this Academic Freedom Bill of Rights looks a lot like a removal of rights of academic freedom, sure it seems fine and good on the outside but really it is more of an excision of judgement and knowledge from those that should be allowed to put forth that knowledge and judgement. The point of education is for students to learn, and if all they are learning is their media/state-sponsored opinions which is certainly what they seem to want to learn instead of having those beliefs challenged and contested by others with different beliefs, then it seems that the the academic rights that this establishes is not the right to freedom but the right to oppression.

What labor shortage?. Experts at Wharton find that conventional wisdom about the impact of a smaller baby bust and an aging population of boomers is misleading–if not outright wrong. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

We will not have a labor shortage. Productivity increases make it more likely that high unemployment may continue for some time until employers realize that making people work 80 hours a week to maintain that productivity is harmful. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

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Given the lack of mass consciousness and the focus on the individual, this is an obvious situation, people don't know to collectively bargan or to stop exploiting themselves for their own benefit, that really benefits to a much greater way the people they work for. Professionalization of the work force is one aspect of it, another is the systematic underpayment of jobs so it requires some people to work overtime. oh i could go on and on, but this is a really big problem/issue that needs to be brought to the attention of those people who have been trained to think strategically instead of communally about their own position in the labor pool. I've recently been reading Ulrich Beck's work on this.