Praise for Workrave

Workrave screenshot.

For a long time, I've used Dr Wright, a program that reminds me to take breaks every now and then to rest my wrists and shoulders and generally to relax. Dr. Wright is a very simple program that does little more than lock up your screen after an interval with the warning "Take a break!"

I've switched recently to Workrave, which I like a whole lot more. It has a micro-break feature (about every five minutes, but configurable) which I should use but don't, and its hourly (or so, again configurable) breaks have a nifty "exercises you can do" guide (complete with anime girl with fluffy sheep logo... how cool is that?) that leads you through three of about ten different stretches and relaxation exercises meant to minimize damage both to your bones and to your eyes. It also tracks your total computer usage throughout the day, so you can eventually get the message that it's time to turn off your computer and go outside.

Workrave advertises that they have a distributed model, where a server keeps track of your time and the clients all intercommunicate so no matter how many machines you work on throughout the day, they're all keeping track of your total keyboardage so you can't cheat. It's not a true client/server model in that one client is basically allocated as "master" and all the others record their interactions to it. It would be better if there were a true server with no UI; I could run it on my laptop and have all the other boxes I use talk to it. It's also poorly documented; I can't figure out how to make it go.

But that's a quibble. The core functionality, designed to prevent RSI like my tendonitis, is better than any other product I've used in the past, such as Dr. Wright or the obnoxious XWrits, and it's cute mascots definitely make it a keeper.

The Evangelical Instinct Toward Honor Killing

Honor Killing is the term used by the Human Right Watch, and by the perpetrators themselves, describing the practice of murdering a woman who has brought dishonor onto the family, usually through unsanctioned sexual activity. Although this National Geographic article is careful to point out that "honor killing" is not in the Koran, it cannot escape the fact that the vast majority of honor killings occur in Islamic countries, is regarded as a family matter and not a criminal matter, and even in countries where the leadership has condemned it punishment remains light and ineffective.

This week, an announcement went out that a vaccine against HPV (human papilloma virus) that had been in review for two years is 100% effective with minimal side effects. This is considered excellent news because HPV is the principal cause of cervical cancer, which kills a quarter-million women a year. It's such a powerful indicator that if a doctor suspects cervical cancer he'll order an HPV test and if the woman doesn't have it he can be confident she doesn't have cervical cancer, either. The vaccine is so effective that many Western governments are looking forward to putting it onto their "required" or "recommended list."

The Family Research Council, a Christian lobby group, has released a statement calling the recommendation "potentially harmful," saying that "abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV" and that young women should not be given the vaccine because "they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex." (Okay, ignore the fantasy world the FRC is living in: if the vaccine is 100% effective then abstinence becomes only one way equally effective, not "the best way.")

A quarter-million women a year die of cervical cancer. The FRC, seeking to protect their message, has decreed that those deaths should continue rather than let one more woman be less fearful with her sexuality. In saying so, the FRC betrays both the worst instincts of the monotheistic traditions that came out of Judea and the worst instincts of American culture: It wants to continue the honor killings of women who defy the FRC's sexual mores, but it doesn't want to have to look them in the eye while doing so.