I just read an article on Prison Planet that makes me think access to information is on its way out in the US. Of course, it sounds like you couldn't even read that article in some places as you are being protected.

By now we are used to censorship so that a child doesn't get to see a naked breast (even though killing people seems to be OK) but it sounds like the crazyness is going a bit beyond breasts.

For years I have wished that Konqueror was the web browser that would do all I wanted. It never has been and I have always had to look to third party browsers. I am sure it comes as no surprise that FireFox and Opera have been the major contenders. But, both have not been quite right.

FireFox is a pig resource-wise and more recently a buggy pig. While th issues may be mostly Java-related it still has been less than perfect.

Some time ago I found, at the suggestion of a friend, a VoIP service I really like. They are http://callwithus.com and they are inexpensive and, more important to me, no BS. Calls between their customers are free as are calls to US and some other toll-free numbers. Regular calls to the US, Canada, UK, China and other places are less than $.01/minute which is hard to beat. The do offer DIDs but not in the US which also appears to me.

Both here and in http://www.NicaLiving.com I keep seeing what I would call modern snake oil ads a lot more of the time than I like. They are not tonics and such but all too many have to do with Alternative Energy. And they are probably less useful than snake oil.

A lot of them are about a book or guide, delivered electronically that will allow you to cut your electricity bill in half for only a $200 investment or some similar scheme.

All so often I hear people say "oh, it doesn't work like that anymore because of the Internet." The implication always seems to be that everything worked one way for a long time (there never is a measure but you get the feeling it is supposed to be since the beginning of man) and then the Internet "broke it". Well, the Internet is just the current step in evolution.