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Macs are Still Well Protected from Viruses

Recently malware disguised as an antivirus program for Macintosh computers has emerged which does not require the user to enter the administrator password before it can be installed. This program has several names including MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector, and I came across a variant called Dishield. WEBCAM CHICAS While this news is sending shivers down Mac users’ spines and making Windows users happily declare that Macs are no longer immune to viruses, I have some reassuring news: Macs are still well protected from viruses.

Mac users usually come across this program when they are redirected from a legitimate website to a rogue website. The malware package is automatically downloaded and a fake “scanning” page is shown, which claims the user’s computer is infected. If the user is surfing with Safari and the “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” option is checked, the package will open and launch the installer. Because anyone with an administrator’s account can install programs into the Applications folder, the user is not asked to enter the administrator password before the installer launches. However, for the malware to actually be installed, the user still has to go through the installation process which requires him or her to OK each of the steps. This means the user still has to XXX knowingly install the malware.

If you accidentally download the package, it will only automatically open if you have checked “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading,” so uncheck the box if you haven’t (You can find it under Preferences/General). If the package launches the installer, all you have to do is quit to prevent the malware from being installed. If you have not installed the program, simply drag the package to the trash from your downloads folder and select Empty Trash. If you have installed the malware go to Apple Support for removal instructions.

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As you can see, Macs are still hard to infect, but we would be crazy to think that malware authors are not trying to find ways to make it easier. For example, they could be trying to find ways to avoid the installer program altogether. Apple needs to be working hard to make sure this doesn’t happen and should also take steps such as making the administrator password necessary to install software anywhere on a Mac. But in the meantime, uncheck “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading,” use common sense, and take comfort in the fact that PC users are still the easier targets for malware.

Don’t Work Against Your Body When You Sleep

Getting enough sleep is a difficult task in today’s world, but many people who do get the recommended hours of sleep still feel tired when they wake up. These frustrated people wonder why they are still tired, and might think they have a sleep disorder. But they most likely do not have any kind of sleep disorder, they are probably tired because they are waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle.

There are several stages of sleep, and each stage seems to be important. When people sleep, they go through the stages in a certain order, and when someone goes through every stage they are considered to have gone through one sleep cycle. After a sleep cycle is over, people will go through the stages of sleep again. The length of a sleep cycle varies for everyone, but on average it is about 90 minutes. It seems to be important to wake up during the light sleep that occurs between sleep cycles, as waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle makes people feel less refreshed. Alarm clocks can make people wake up feeling tired as they force people to wake up at a certain time no matter what sleep stage they are in. Fortunately for shift workers, alarm clocks that are designed to wake people between sleep cycles are being developed, but until they are perfected people have to go to bed at a time that will allow them to be in between sleep cycles when their alarm is set to go off.

“Get 8 hours of sleep” is actually bad advice, as getting exactly 8 hours of sleep forces you to get up during deep sleep. The “perfect” amount of sleep is actually closer to 7.5 hours a night, as 7.5 hours is divisible by 1.5 hours. Sleep cycles also explain why people will report feeling more refreshed after sleeping 3 hours than they do after sleeping 4 hours. It should therefore come as no surprise that hitting the snooze button for an extra 5 or 10 minutes of sleep does nothing except force you to rush through your morning routine when you finally do get out of bed.

Because people sleep lightly between sleep cycles, they are more likely to wake up naturally during this time. Consequently, people feel more refreshed when they wake up naturally. Unfortunately, if people wake up shortly before their alarm is set to wake them, they will usually go back to sleep rather than choosing the more sensible option of getting up when their bodies say to. When their alarm wakes them, they will be forced to get up in the middle of a new sleep cycle and feel exhausted. Don’t work against your body when you sleep.

If You Want the Freedom to Succeed You Have to Have the Freedom to Fail As Well

Near the end of the book Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce (which I think is much better than the movie based on it) Luke and Dragline escape from a prison camp. After the initial excitement wears off, Dragline begins to complain that he is getting cold and hungry. Luke jokingly tells him that he could always go back to prison where he will have food and a bed if he is willing to put up with hard labor. He also says that being a free man is hard work. Most people would never volunteer to go to prison to get free room and board, but many will gladly volunteer to give up certain freedoms to ensure that their decisions will not lead them to failure.

Before the Civil War, abolitionists argued that slavery was inhumane. Southern slaveowners argued that being a slave was far better than being a factory worker, going so far as to call factory workers “wage slaves.” And for the most part, it was better to be a slave than a factory worker. Because slaves were so expensive, slaveowners had a financial incentive to keep their slaves healthy and well fed (slaves who were treated badly were usually slaves who worked on large plantations whose owners could afford to buy new slaves). In the north, factory owners paid their workers minimal wages for working long hours in hazardous conditions. And if they were injured on the job, too bad for them. There were always people willing to take a crippled worker’s job. What this argument ignores is the fact that factory workers could always quit and find another job, and if better jobs were not available they could go west. While slaves may have had food, shelter, and medical care they could never be anything but a slave. Slaves wouldn’t suffer total failure and starve or freeze to death, but they would never become successful either.

Today, people still want to give up certain freedoms in exchange for security. One example is Social Security. While Social Security covers many things today, it was originally intended to be nothing more than a pension program for people over 65. The problem with the program is that while Americans covered by it will never have no income when they are too old to work (at least until Social Security runs out of money) they can’t invest the money they are forced to pay into Social Security. This means if people are smart enough to pay for their own retirement by investing their money it is harder for them to do so when they have to pay 6.2% of their income into Social Security. Many Americans also want socialized health care, even though it would give the government complete control over the medical treatment people receive (and whether or not they receive medical care). While European countries are commonly cited as examples of the failures of socialized health care, you can see the failures here in the United States by looking at prisons. Prisoners get free health care, but their health care is abysmal as prisons do not want to spend a lot of money on convicts. Ex-cons advise people to get their teeth cleaned before they are sent to prison as prison dentists will usually choose extraction over any other treatment. Many inmates also ask for their sentences to be commuted when they fall seriously ill because they simply can’t get the medical treatment they need in prison. While it is better to receive this substandard health care than to receive no health care at all, if you live in a country with socialized medicine you have no way to get better care. In a sense, your whole country is like a prison with only one health care plan available and no way to get a commutation. If you want the freedom to succeed you have to have the freedom to fail as well.

Save Money by Using Your Library

People often assume that they won’t be able to find sources of entertainment while living a frugal lifestyle, but this is not true. Libraries are cheap (often free) sources of not just books, but of magazines, CDs, and DVDs that are available to everyone. 

I have been an avid reader my whole life. When I was a kid it was rare for me to not have at least one book checked out from the library. I also inherited my Dad’s love for MAD Magazine, but because I could not afford to subscribe to it I would read it at the library and check out back issues as well. Because MAD Magazine is satirical in nature I have considered writing them a letter thanking them for providing me with a lifetime of entertainment that I haven’t had to pay one cent for. I also read Nintendo Power for free when I still played lots of video games. You can save a fortune by reading magazines at the library. All you lose is the convenience of having magazines delivered to your home.

A few years ago I became interested in manga. I was able to read whole series of manga without bankrupting myself in the process by borrowing the books from libraries. My local library rarely had the whole series I wanted, but this brings me to my next point, which is that you are not limited to the materials offered by your local library. Most libraries allow you to request materials from other libraries in your city (and sometimes your state) giving you an extensive source of cheap entertainment. If my local library did not have the book I wanted I would request it from another library and wait a few days. While I do not read nearly as much manga today I can always pick up my old addiction to it without emptying my bank account. The ability to request materials from other libraries also gives you the ability to find books that are rare or out-of-print and would cost a fortune to buy.

You can also check out CDs and DVDs from the library, which is useful if you don’t want to buy so much as a Netflix subscription. It can be hard to find newer and more popular movies as a large number of library patrons will put them on hold, but if you are willing to be patient you will be rewarded with entertainment that does not lighten your wallet. You can also find movies while browsing your library’s DVD collection that you would never have found otherwise. I have discovered a large number of obscure foreign movies this way.

My final point about libraries is that they are usually funded by your tax money. Since you are paying for your libraries through your tax dollars you might as well take advantage of them. You don’t need to pay again to enjoy books, movies, and music that you already paid for with your taxes.

Lies and Greed Keep Marijuana Illegal

America’s attitude toward marijuana has grown more tolerant in recent years. In response to this change in attitude states have relaxed laws against marijuana and many are allowing medical marijuana. The Federal Government has not followed the states, however. It still claims that marijuana is a dangerous drug with no medical use, and says it has the authority to prosecute caregivers who distribute marijuana in accordance with state laws. However, studies have proven that marijuana is not dangerous and has legitimate medical uses. Lies and greed keep marijuana illegal.

I described in an earlier post why federal drug laws are unconstitutional, so I will not focus on constitutional issues in this post. Marijuana is a Schedule I Controlled Substance according to federal law. Substances in Schedule I are considered to have a high potential for abuse, no way to be taken safely, and no accepted medical use. Marijuana does not fit any of these requirements. Marijuana is not physically addictive, meaning that if someone stops taking marijuana they will not experience withdrawal symptoms. There have also been no deaths attributed to marijuana, making it safer than alcohol and even caffeine. Additionally, several studies have proven that marijuana has medical benefits. However, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, argues that because synthetic THC is available under the brand name Marinol marijuana has no use as medicine. This makes about as much sense as saying that because cars exist people have no legitimate reason to own bicycles. In addition, some people report that marijuana helps them and Marinol doesn’t. It is easy to dismiss this as a placebo effect, but marijuana contains other cannabinoids besides THC. It is more than likely that other substances in marijuana are helping these people in addition to THC.

Big Pharma has a large interest in keeping marijuana illegal. Marijuana grows quickly and it is relatively easy to cultivate, so if it was legal it would be cheap. But if people could buy cheap marijuana they would not have to pay high prices for Marinol and other pills. I would not be surprised if pharmaceutical companies are lobbying Congress to keep marijuana illegal. So who wins here? The government officials who are paid to enforce marijuana laws and pharmaceutical companies who profit from selling expensive medicines. Who loses? Americans who are forced to buy expensive pills instead of marijuana. The government is not protecting Americans from marijuana, it is protecting the jobs of DEA agents and the profits of pharmaceutical companies.

Sometimes an Industry has to Fail Before it can Succeed

In 2008 Congress voted to bail out several banks, insurance companies, and automakers. The argument for the bailouts, which cost several billion dollars, was that the companies who received them were too large to fail. But even if a whole industry fails, it is not necessarily gone forever. The video game industry proved this when it recovered after the Video Game Crash of 1983, which resulted in several video game companies going bankrupt and the end of the second generation of video games. Sometimes an industry has to fail before it can succeed.

The video game industry was plagued with many problems in the early 1980s. The first problem was caused by Atari refusing to put video game programmers’ names in game credits and not paying the programmers royalties based on game sales. Many programmers left Atari to start Activision, which designed and sold games for the Atari 2600. Atari tried to stop Activision from producing Atari 2600 games by taking them to court, but lost. This set a legal precedent giving companies the right to design and sell games for systems they did not own, resulting in a large number of low-quality games being produced. There were also many video game consoles on the market, which added to the glut. Atari also suffered by rushing game development to get their games in stores as quickly as possible, as well as by overproducing games under the assumption that brand loyalty would result in large sales. People who played video games also had no way to tell how good games were, as gaming magazines and the internet did not exist. People had to judge video games by their covers. All of these factors led to the crash, which many believed would end the video game “fad.”

Nintendo revived the American video game industry (the crash did not affect Europe and Asia as much) by releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES, in 1985. The NES fixed many of the problems mentioned above. The NES had a lockout system known as 10NES which would only allow games with a certain chip inside of them to be played on it. This meant that only games licensed by Nintendo could be played on Nintendo’s console. While some companies found ways around the 10NES Nintendo took care of this problem by telling stores they could not sell licensed NES games if they sold unlicensed NES games. As the licensed games were more profitable, most stores refused to sell unlicensed games. This gave Nintendo control over the quality and quantity of NES games on the market. Nintendo also began to publish Nintendo Power magazine in 1988, giving video game players access to reviews of games. This meant that people could see how good a game was before they bought it.

If the video game industry had been bailed out, it most likely would not have fixed the problems that stopped it from succeeding. In fact, the crash basically saved the video game industry. If the banks and auto companies had been allowed to fail, other companies would have stepped in to fill the vacuum. These companies would have had to fix the problems that led to the economic meltdown if they wanted to earn a profit. While the failure would have been painful, the bailouts have simply led to a more prolonged pain. The NES was released and began to make video games profitable two years after the crash in 1983. It has been almost three years since the 2008 bailouts and the recession that they were supposed to fix is still going strong. If this does not worry you, you should know that the Great Depression lasted over a decade because Hoover and Roosevelt tried to fix it. Failing industries sometimes need to hit rock bottom before they can recover.

A Cashless Society Would be Disastrous

People are using cash less and less every day. This is largely because of debit cards, which take money directly out of one’s checking account and are much faster and easier to use than paper checks. Additionally, as long as people do not overdraw their checking accounts debit cards are not subject to the interest and penalties that credit cards can carry. People also prefer debit cards over cash because of the possibility of being robbed. You can cancel your debit card, but you can’t cancel cash that is stolen from you. If this trend continues, cash could very well become obsolete. We should not allow this to happen. If cash goes away, then every purchase we make will have a paper trail. We will not have any privacy when it comes to what we purchase. This will give the government (and private companies) too much information that they could use against us.

Marijuana growers often use hydroponics equipment, as hydroponically grown marijuana plants have higher THC contents than plants grown using other methods. While hydroponics equipment isn’t illegal and can be used to grow legal plants, buying it makes the purchaser look like a marijuana grower. A man in Independence, MO purchased hydroponics equipment to grow tomato plants at home, not knowing that the Missouri Highway Patrol monitors the sale of hydroponics equipment. But when the police came to his house looking for a marijuana growing operation, he was probably thinking that he should have used cash to buy his equipment. People that do buy hydroponics equipment to grow marijuana usually take steps to cover their tracks, including but not limited to using cash to buy it. In fact, some people recommend using cash to buy anything that could possibly be used for illegal purposes. If cash is gone, this will not be an option. You don’t think anything you buy can make you look like a criminal? Have you ever bought a kitchen knife that could be used as a weapon, or DVD-Rs that could be used to make bootleg movies? Or how about sugar and yeast that could be used to make illegal alcohol? We must have some way to keep our purchases private.

The government has been making it harder to use cash for decades. In 1969 bills with denominations greater than $100 were officially discontinued to make it harder for criminals to move large amounts of money. Even though there has been a lot of inflation since 1969 the government has shown no sign that they will bring back high-denomination bills. In addition to making it hard to carry large amounts of cash, the government has also made it clear that they can seize cash from people who still do it. In 2006 the Eighth Circuit Appeals Court ruled that large amounts of money can be confiscated from motorists as carrying a lot of cash is sufficient evidence that the motorist is engaged in the drug trade (The War on Drugs is a commonly used excuse to take away our constitutional rights). Note that in the case that led to this decision there was no evidence that Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, the motorist, was engaged in the drug trade or had obtained the money illegally. The court has basically said if the police catch you carrying cash, you are guilty of obtaining it through criminal activity until you are proven innocent. If this “war on cash” isn’t stopped, we will all be considered criminals.

Staycations Can Be Fun

In today’s economy, few people can afford to take vacations from work. And many people that can afford vacations find that they can’t afford to travel, forcing them to settle for a “staycation.” Staycations are usually viewed negatively, only giving people the opportunity to do chores or simply be bored. The truth is that staycations are only as boring as people make them out to be. You can have fun while staying at home.

Most people have to get up for work earlier than they would like to wake up. Therefore, many people look forward to being able to turn off their alarm clocks on Saturday and Sunday. A staycation gives you the chance to forget about alarm clocks and bedtimes for an extended period of time. If this does not seem like a big deal to you, then force yourself to get up early every day for a month in a row. Even a simple pleasure like sleeping in is something to enjoy.

With the internet making information about books, movies, and music readily available, it is common for people to stumble across a book, CD, or DVD that sounds interesting to them but that they can’t check out because they do not have enough time. Well, if you have free time available you can finally go to the library and check out the book, CD, or DVD that caught your attention. You might be amazed at how long your list of “things you wanted to do but never had the time to” is. Many kids look forward to summer vacation because of all the fun things they plan to do when they don’t have tests or homework to deal with, but once summer comes they forget about their plans and lounge around complaining about how bored they are. Then when the summer ends they wonder why they didn’t get around to doing all of those fun things. Do not make the same mistakes you probably made when you were younger. 

As you can see, you do not have to travel to enjoy your vacation. Even if you can’t have as much fun at home as you would in Cancun, you will not have any fun at all if you sit and grumble about how unfair it is that you can’t afford to travel. A staycation is only as fun or as dull as you make it. As Harvey Danger said in their song Flagpole Sitta: “if you’re bored then you’re boring.”

A House is not an Investment

Owning a house has many advantages over renting, including pride of ownership and being able to modify your house in almost any way you see fit. However, the widely repeated statement that a house is a good investment simply isn’t true. Investments can offer good safety, liquidity, or yield; a good investment offers two of the three, and an investment that offers all three is a scam. However, a house does not offer a single one of the three.

A house is not a safe investment. In addition to the fact that a natural disaster can destroy a house, your house’s value can go down due to of circumstances you can’t control. You might think that as long as you maintain your house its value will increase, but your house’s value could still go down if a lot of people in your neighborhood end up losing their homes due to foreclosure, a crime wave hits your neighborhood, or if taxes in your municipality increase. Many people who bought their houses during the housing bubble now owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth. These unfortunate people probably wish they had decided to rent, or at least buy houses that were more affordable.

A house is not a liquid investment by any stretch of the imagination. Selling your house is a long and expensive process. In fact, it might be impossible to sell your house at all. If any other investment had this little liquidity, it would be considered a scam. Even CD accounts and savings bonds, two investments with good safety and yield (at least compared to savings accounts) can be exchanged for cash at a definite date; the waiting period is what gives them low liquidity and therefore prevents them from being scams. But imagine if you had to hire an investment agent to find someone willing to buy your CD account or savings bond, and then hear that you had to settle for a price lower than what the account or bond was worth. Well, this is what treating a house as an investment is like.

Finally, a house does not offer good yield. While it is easy to dismiss the dismal housing market as an anomaly, historical trends show that in the long run the value of houses increases at a rate that is just above inflation. I am not saying that people should not buy houses, but the people that do buy them should only think of them as places to live. Expecting a house to be an investment is like expecting a savings account to be a home.

Apathy and Pessimism Brought Disco Back

My Dad once told me that he never liked disco music because it had no socially redeeming value. You could dance to it, but that was basically all it was good for. But the more I learned about disco music and the 1970s in general, the more I realized that people needed to dance and have a good time to help them deal with the world around them. The 1970s were grim times for Americans, who had just seen their military lose the Vietnam War, Nixon resign from the Presidency to avoid almost certain impeachment, and oil crises which resulted in simultaneous recession and inflation. Many Americans were convinced things were never going to improve, so they became apathetic about political and social issues. Today, with seemingly endless wars, a severe recession, and increasing health care, food, and fuel costs Americans are again becoming pessimistic and apathetic. It should not be surprising that disco music is coming back 30 years after its death.

Even after the death of disco, disco elements were still used in music. Artists continued to make dance music, but during the late 2000s its popularity increased significantly. Ke$ha, Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, the Black Eyed Peas, and many other artists have released dance songs that could be considered modern disco. While many people, particularly people who enjoy dancing, like this music, there are many people who would like to have another Disco Demolition Night. People in the latter group complain that dance music is superficial and that the artists who make it are talentless. Many of these complains stem from the heavy use of Auto-Tune in modern dance music; in the 1970s artists had to have a good singing voice, now even that doesn’t seem to be necessary.

The lyrics of modern disco songs usually encourage people to dance and have a good time even if they have a lot of problems. The song Just Dance by Lady GaGa tells people to forget their problems and “Just Dance/(Because it’s) gonna be okay” and in Tik Tok Ke$ha sings “Ain’t got a care in world, but got plenty of beer/Ain’t got no money in my pocket, but I’m already here.” Americans who are struggling financially and are pessimistic about anything improving probably like hearing these lyrics. In 1977 the movie Saturday Night Fever was released, which was about a man who went to a nightclub every weekend to dance and forget about his dead-end job and all of his other problems. In the 1970s you could dance to disco and be happy for awhile, and today you can dance to disco with Auto-Tune. Dance music will probably never die, but it will lose its position at the top of the charts only when the economy improves and Americans become optimistic again.