Other Interesting(??) Things
If you don't understand what all the fuss over unix (to include Linux), open source, mac-vs-windows, and things like BeOS is all about, try reading "In the Beginning was the Command Line" , by Neal Stephenson. It's long enough that you might want to download the text file for off-line reading. Don't worry though, it's not technical. (Well, maybe a tiny bit, but only so much as is needed to make a good read for a non-technical audience.)
The yardstick against which all US laws are measured, the US Constitution, is something everyone should have in their bookmarks (at least everyone in the US). Especially lately, when our boneheaded legislative "leaders" are passing such obviously unconstitutional laws as the Bono Act, the CDA, the DMCA, and the "Patriot" Act
The Patriot Act especially is so bad... not only does it allow search and sezure of property without Judicial oversight, but it forbids the people served with so-called warrants to even disclose that they've been served, or what the government is after. Talk about a sure way to make the Great Experiment fail! How our "leadership" justifies that sort of thing as constitutional is beyond me. Whose side are they on anyway?
If you don't believe those laws are bad, check this out, especially if you believe in open systems [law, software, whatever]. You might also want to check out this debate at Harvard between Jack Valenti and Lawrence Lessig. (Can you believe Jack says there is no such thing as fair use?)
A backup link to the US Constitution if the one above isn't working for some reason.
page.