This is a bit more disturbing coming from a teacher but coming from anyone this strikes me as sad on a massive scale.  Ken Starks works with the Helios project to get opensource software and computers into places where kids would not otherwise have access.  He recieved a tart and affronted email from a teacher who found one of her students distributing *gasp* Linux at her school.

The student was showing the ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.

His response is a little affronted as well but somewhat level headed considering the ignorance demontrated by the teacher.

Blog of helios: Linux – Stop holding our kids back.

Fran Drescher has tossed her name in the ring to be Hillary Clinton’s replacement in the Senate.  My first reaction was “Hmm, the Onion must have gotten a redesigned site.  That looks just like CNN.”  But after a moment the notion didn’t seem so odd.  What I find even more interesting is the writing style that is increasingly being employed by legitimate news outlets is beggining to mimic the freewheeling devil-may-care style of blogs and satire sites.  It makes distinguishing between the two a little tougher sometimes.

Drescher, 51, is best known for her starring role in the 1990s television comedy “The Nanny” and an adenoidal voice that could strip the rust off an engine block — a talent that might come in handy during a Senate filibuster.

But since a bout with uterine cancer, she has become an activist for better health care for women and was named a State Department public envoy on the issue in September. Drescher recently toured Eastern European countries to raise awareness of the issue on behalf of the State Department.

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – ‘Nanny’ state: Fran Drescher seeks Clinton’s Senate seat « – Blogs from CNN.com.

The past weekend included the following random collection of events:

• Watching the trivia game at Dave and Buster’s crash and discovering it runs on Windows XP.
• Random Stranger handing us free passes to the comedy club next door to Dave and Buster’s. thereby extending the evening by two pleasant hours.
• Installed the next phase of the Ultimate Desk by adding large shelves above the current desk to accommodate all the board/card games.
• Watched my fantasy football team go down in flames for the second week in a row thus ensuring I won’t have to worry about the playoffs this year.
• Scored a cheap goal at the soccer game (goalie didn’t squeeze it well enough and it trickled in).  They all count the same though.
• Managed to somehow allow a 15″ LCD monitor to fall on my head.
• Re-discovered the joys of a well placed ice pack.

For the first time in my life, I hit another driver this morning.  Not a devastating crash.  No airbags, no emergency services.  But I did mangle the front end of my Civic a bit and crunched the rear bumper of the very nice (and very new) Eclipse in front of me. SO the next tow hours was taken up by the police officer, tow truck driver, body shop guy, insurance agent and rental car agent. All of them were very nice and I was only about 90 minutes late to work.

I’ve never had an at-fault accident before.  I have slid off the road in icy conditions and smacked a curb.  I’ve been rear-ended two or three times but I’ve never made a driving error that damaged someone else’s car.

First time for everything I guess.

The long holiday weekend has played havoc with my bio rythms.  Or something.  Whatever the reason, I am not yet feeling like a fully functional human this week.  I have plenty of things I’d like to be posting about, just can’t find the extra ergs to get it done.  No fear though.  I will be bak in the saddle by the end of the week.