That is what I say to remind myself of the Truth whenever a computer is in fact making my life more difficult. Which is happening right now since I’ve found a bug in Parallels, the program that is allowing me to run Windows 2000 in a virtual machine on my MacBook. Why do I want to do that? So I can run BaKoMa TeX Word, the true WYSIWYG LaTeX editor so that I can proofread solar physics papers.

And since I rebooted my laptop this morning because it froze, some flag somewhere has reset and won’t let me launch my Windows 2000 virtual machine any more because it thinks that one is already running. I’ve submitted a bug report, but it’s looking like I’ll just have to reinstall the darn thing (there’s a newer build out now anyway).

Grrrr. Wait, I forgot: computers make our lives easier. Computers make our lives easier. Computers make our lives easier…even when they don’t make our lives easier.

The Southern California Linux Expo is hosting a mini-conference on “Women in Open Source.” The press release is either really badly written, or they really don’t have much of a fully formed agenda for the event. They say it’s to address barriers women face in getting into technology, but there doesn’t seem to be any open-source-specific content there. Which is too bad, but “there are still speaker slots available,” so send your talk proposals now! The event is Feb. 9 at the Westin LAX Expo.

Chip Chick has been posting some of the weirdest and cleverest USB devices in history. At least you can see how the USB Bible, which looks just like a teeny Gideon Bible and has the entire King James translation in memory, would come in useful. Not so sure about the USB cup warmer and the USB beverage chiller. And the smokeless USB ashtray. And the USB warming slippers. It all reminds me of those devices people used to plug into their cars’ cigarette lighters. But the wackiest USB device of all? The USB nail care kit, in case you need to give yourself a manicure/pedicure at your workstation. “The USB Nail Care System includes 6 kind of attachments for polishing, brushing, and shaping the form of your nails.” (Warning: Chip Chick’s blog is kind of sploggy, with random words hyperlinked to sponsor sites, and alt-text that pops up with annoying messages.)

Okay, this is interesting. I was doing a Google News search for:

biologist OR physicist OR scientist “she says”

And Google responded:

Did you mean: biologist OR physicist OR scientist “he says”

So I tried a little experiment and searched for:

teacher OR nurse OR housekeeper “she says”

And Google didn’t ask me if I meant to search for anything different. Is that weird or what?

The Guardian Unlimited tech blog reports that soon Apple computer screens will have digital restriction management (DRM) built in. Apple will launch a new range of “cinema display” screens using High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connectors. The main advantage of HDMI over the competing standard is that it includes High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, or HDCP. Sorry about all the acronyms. Anyway, this means you won’t be able to show copyrighted video on your new Apple screen unless the computer thinks you own it legally. Says the Guardian blog, “HDCP requires that every device with access to the reproduction chain supports HDCP.” In other words, the whole machine will have DRM in its DNA. Not only will this prevent you from making legal backup copies of your legally purchased media and playing them on your new Apple computer, but who knows what the DRM will do to the functionality of your hardware. My own experience with DRM is that it tends to crash your machine and get in the way of using your computer for even the most legitimate ends. Oh well, so much for “rip mix burn,” eh?