Random musings of an Ashkenazi, male, DC-living 20-something

In order to correctly use the South Africa example, we must first start with a Palestinian-led organization that recognizes that Jews also are welcome on the land. We have not seen this, either before nor after October 7th. The reality is that the ANC avoided attacking civilians as a matter of policy, that many in the Pro Palestinian movement continue to support it shows that Jewish existence on the land would be tolerated at best.

This is an extensive list of free computer programs that you can download.  Most of the programs here are freeware, but a small number have only free trials available.  The list originally came from the March 2008 issue of PC Magazine.  There are programs on this list compatible for Windows, Mac, and Linux but I cannot guarantee if each program works with your system.  I am also not responsible for any harm caused by any links.  Please notify me of any programs I should add to the list or links I should update.  Enjoy.

Top Apps

Adobe Reader: This simplest of Adobe’s PDF programs lets you do just about anything PDF-releated (besides creating new ones), including online collaboration.  It includes a host of features to aid users with disabilities.

Audacity: Whether you’re recording or editing, Audacity is all about audio in practically any format.

GIMP: The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) does most of what Photoshop does.

Apache Open Office: You can spend a lot for Microsoft Office or nothing for this suite with full-function word-processor, spreadsheet, database, presentations, even an equations editor.

Ubuntu: This Linux-based operating system comes with many of the programs listed above and is absolutely free.

WinAmp: After a decade of playing music, the “skinnable” WinAmp has several versions, including one with full CD ripping and burning.

AntiVirus

Avast: Spiffy-looking Avast notifies you by e-mail or IM if it catches a virus.  You can’t schedule scans, but its recovery database can help if a virus damages your files.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition: Its control center is awkward, but AVG scans files on demand, upon access, on a schedule, and in e-mail.  Its rescue disks will help you recover from disaster.

Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic: AntiVir scans files on demand, upon access, and on a schedule; it doesn’t scan e-mail attachments until they’re saved but it does go to work on rootkits.  It’s especially good at co-existing with other security software, it has the Virus Bulletin’s VB100% award and certification for virus detection from ICSA labs.

NanoScan: In less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs.

SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition: Detect and remove spyware, malware, rootkits, trojans, hijackers, and other malicious threats.

ThreatFire AntiVirus: Threatfire detects the bad guys by their behavior, not by outdated virus signatures.  It’s surprisingly accurate and a good companion to standard antivirus apps.

Trend Micro HouseCall: Use the venerable House-Call online scanner to get a second opinion or use the app for cleanip when malware prevents installation of a local antivirus utility.

Firewalls

ShieldsUP!: Be sure your firewalls are keeping your always-on internet connection hidden from attackers.  ShieldsUP! provides a quick confirmation.

SmoothWall Express: Got a spare PC?  Turn it into a dedicated network firewall with this open-source download.

ZoneAlarm Free: The free edition remains a useful protector against hack attacks against programs that abuse your Internet connection.

Security

EULAlyzer: Wonder what you’re agreeing to when you click “I Accept”?  Don’t worry; just drag EULAlyzer’s target icon onto the EULA for a quick report on any troublesome language.

Secure Quick Reliable Login: A highly secure, comprehensive, easy-to-use replacement for usernames, passwords, reminders, one-time-code authenticators … and everything else.

Finance

GnuCash: Users can track their bank accounts, stocks, and expenses in this financial program using a double-entry accounting method.

Office

Google Docs: Google’s slicky designed office suite offers online shared word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations - and best of all, a solid alternative in the office-suite space to the totally dominating Microsoft Upload or e-mail your current documents for storage and editing.

LibreOffice: This is a version of OpenOffice for Mac OS.

Notepad++: Notepad++ handles text - especially source code - in ways that the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding.

Scribus: This open-source page layout tool has features comfortable to big names like Pagemaker, plus support for PDFs and scalable vector graphics (SVG).

Calendar/PIMs

Essential/PIM Free:  Imagine taking the e-mail out of Microsoft Outlook to get a killer personal information manager (PIM).  That’s what EssentialPIM is all about.

Google Calendar: Featuring seamless integration with other Google products, sharing capabilities, and SMS reminders, this Web app does for calendars what Google did for search.

Microsoft PowerToys: Microsoft PowerToys is a set of freeware system utilities for power users, developed by Microsoft for its flagship operating system, Windows.  They include Color Control Panel Applet, Power Calculator, SyncToy, and others.

Remember the Milk: Never Forget another grocery item, or anything else, using this extensible online task manager.  It’ll send reminders via e-mail, SMS, and IM.

Lightning Calendar: Lightning Calendar is Mozilla’s calendar that is meant to work with their other app; Thunderbird.

30 Boxes: One of the best-looking online calendars, 30 Boxes features easy-to-grasp pop-ups for adding events and viewing schedule details.

Backup/Sync

Allway Sync: Sync files between your PC and an external drive, filtering by folder, the name, or file type.  The program displays warnings about questionable files before syncing.

DriveImage XML: Make an image of your entire hard drive for backup and restore purposes.

FolderShare: Install the utility on multiple computers, create an online account where you identify each computer, and pick folders to synchronize.  Up-to-date data becomes available on all those PCs whenever you make a change in a folder, with sync taking place in the background so you’re never disturbed, just happy to find your files whenever you work.

App Launchers

Launchy: Launchy launches (duh) applications, files, folders, or searches via a command-line-esque interface.

QuickSilver:  This open-source launcher takes plug-ins that allow it to do anything you want in the Mac OS.

Utilities

Absolute Uninstaller: Replace the Add/Remove Programs control panel to get batch uninstalls and clear out leftovers that Windows frequently misses when uninstalling.

CCleaner: The extra C is for crap, and that’s what CCleaner gets ride of: all the detritus left behind in the course of using Windows.

CoolMon: CoolMon displays all of your system’s vital statistics, including use of your CPU, RAM, and hard drives, internal PC temperature, and more.

Defraggler: Defragment your entire hard drive - or just one heavily fragmented file at a time.

DriverView: DriverView lists every single device driver running on your system, with extra info on each.

Eraser: Shredders are popular in the office, sow hy not have the digital equivalent?  Eraser adds a right-click menu that will do away with a file or folder forever.

FileZilla: FTP client for accessing multiple sites or to use as an FTP server.  In both cases, FileZilla has convenient drag-and-drop support.

Glary Utilities: Glary offers a tong of utilities for cleaning, optimizing, and securing Windows in one package.

Task Killer: Stop any Windows process dead; this is handy for clearing frozen applications.

TinkerTool: Get access to additional preference settings in Mac OS to turn on hidden features.

Downloads

BitLet: Who needs a BitTorrent client?  Just find the torrent metafile link on a tracker site, plug it in at BitLeg.org, and let it retrieve the file as if you were downloading it from a regular Web site.

Universal Extractor: See what’s inside any archive files - ZIP, RAR, even EXE.

7Zip: Archive files in different formats and manage them with this free software.

Interface Enhancement

miniMIZE: miniMIZE puts thumbnails of your minimized applications on the desktop for easier access.

Quero Toolbar 4: Replace the Internet Explorer address bar to integrate ad blocking.

File View/Conversion

Format Factory: Format Factory provides audio and video converter, clipper, joiner, spliter, mixer, crop and delogo. It also includes video player ,screen recorder, and video downloader. 

Foxit Reader: Perhaps the fastest PDF reader around.  Foxit includes a free annotation tool.  Add-ons enable support for new file formats and UI languages.

Samuraj Data: You can display PDF files in your Web browser when no other reader is available.

Networking

LogMein Hamachi: Instantly create a free, peer-to-peer VPN connection between your computer and other people’s.  Download the software, create a network with a unique name, give it to friends you want to join, and start sharing files with them - even your iTunes folder.

NetStumbler: Use it to detect any Wi-Fi network in your vicinity and see if it’s open for use, or just use it to troubleshoot your own.

PrinterAnywhere: Share your printer with others over the Web; in turn, send jobs to other shared printers, no matter their location.

VPN Gate Client Plug-in with SoftEther VPN Client: Access the Internet via VPN Gate Public VPN Relay Servers by volunteers.

Blogging

Blogger: Blogger was one of the first blog-publishing tools.  Years after Google bought it, it remains one of the best, especially for newbies.  Create a simple weblog and let the Blogger host it (with a blogspot.com name) using the slew of provided templates, or use it to publish a blog on your own domain.

Wordpress: It lacks the simplicity of Blogger or Tumblr, but the commercial offshoot of Wordpress.org offers some of the best tools of any hosted blogging service.

Wix: Create a free website with this easy-to-use website builder.

Instant Messaging

Pidgin: Open source tackles instant messaging in this client, which supports more IM networks than you’ve ever heard of.

Trillian: Access all your IM accounts from a single interace that also logs all your conversations, if you desire.

Communication

GizmoProject: Gizmo competes with Skype to offer free, peer-to-peer over-the-Internet phone and video calls, but uses open standards.

Gmail: What to do with nearly limitless e-mail storage space - that’s the enviable quandary of Gmail users, who can store up to 5.5GB worth of e-mail and chats.  Other perks include advanced search options, real-time updates, and conversations.

Outlook.com: Microsoft’s clunky browser-based email has been revamped in recent years giving it a smooth menu, more customization, and making it more user friendly.

Mail Redirect: This is an add-on for Mozilla Thunderbird which allows you to bounce a message to the proper recipient without revealing that you got the message first.

ooVoo: ooVoo video chat is more P2P than Skype (no supernodes!), with a better picture.  It supports up to six co-videoconferencers, file transfers, and group text chat.

SightSpeed: SightSpeed has better video quality than ooVoo, but in a less attractive interface.  more than two video chatters will cost you, as will file transfer and group chat.

Skype: The classic video chat and messaging software with a clean interface.

Audio

Juice: Aggregate all your favorite podcasts in one place for easy listening.

Levelator: Levelator adjusts the levels of your audio files to give the perfect balance.

Reaper: The name is short for Rapid Environment for Audio Production, Engineering, and Recording.  That pretty much says it all.

Wavosaur: A low-profile audio editor, Wavosaur doesn’t even need installation.  Just click the executable to start processing and recording sounds.  It lacks some of the features of full programs like Audacity, but for quick-and-dirty MP3 editing it can’t be beat.

Video

Cinelerra: This is professional video-editing software for the Linux crowd.

Handbrake: Convert your DVDs to MPEG-4 (or just the audio) for backup purposes or editing.

Jing: Jing shares what’s showing on your monitor with others online, or record it for future viewing.

Miro: Miro combines BitTorrent downloads with video play-back to become the next best thing to your DVR.

MythTV: Use your Linux box as a homespun digital video recorder (DVR).

Songbird: The open-source answer to iTunes (from the makers of WinAmp) plays your music and videos.

Ustream.tv: Reviewers call this the absolute easiest way to broadcast live video from your webcam across the Internet.  It is owned by IBM now and you can use it for a 30 day free trial without cost.

VLC Media Player: VideoLAN’s open-source VLC can replace nearly every media player.  It supports almost every audio and video format imaginable and doubles as a server for streaming your music and video to other computers.

Graphics

Google Photos: Google’s all-in-one photo manager makes it easy to get pictures off a camera, organize them, and even edit and share them.

IrfanView: IrfanView previews images (or even audio and video) and then converts or optimizes them without opening a separate editor.

Paint.NET: This program is probably the closest thing to Photoshop you can get free, courtesy of a student project.

Ribbet: Instantly edit pictures in this Web site.  Upload images from your computer, Flickr, Picasa, or elsewhere.

Splashup: Another beauty with a Flash interface, Splashup sets itself apart with multi-image editing and a fukk-screen mode.  You can also download Splashup Light for the same program on your desktop.

Windows Live Photo Gallery: Windows Live Photo Gallery gives other photo-editing software a run for its money, sharing many of the same photo-enhancing and sharing features- such as red-eye reduction, exposure adjustment, cropping, color, sharpen, and auto-adjust.  What’s more, Microsoft serves up histogram adjustment, panorama creation, and photo-CD burning.

Games

Command & Conquer: Download the games from this classic franchise including Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Dune 2000, and more.

Kongregate: More than 2,600 free games are on here.

I stopped at some point during my walk to look at the sky then heard a soft pensive sound and looked down and realised a small friend was contemplating along with me

I said hello and she trotted over to greet me with her cheerful little bell and she was simply the most affable creature I've ever met.

I hope her supportive smile brightens your day as well !

As a result, MENA Jews took the food they have always eaten to the other Middle Eastern country they fled to and continued to make it there and do not owe anyone any explanation or deference for it - not to mention the Jews who have always lived in the region of Israel and Palestine.

Not to mention how hamas was funded by Israel in the 80s as a "counterweight" to the secular rebellion + the role US imperialism and political interest plays in all this.

The Intercept

Mintpress News

The Grayzone

Chapo Trap House

The Young Turks (literally named after a group that took part in genociding Armenians)

Max Blumenthal

Jackson Hinkle

Calla Walsh

Mondoweiss

Russia Today

Hasanabi

Over the last few days I’ve been inundated by updates and emails from Jewish friends and orgs about the massacre that just happened. Photographs, obits, bios; information about how to send money to civilians in Israel and Gaza. Information sheets from JFREJ [Jews for Racial and Economic Justice] about the last year of civil rights in Gaza. Panic from people who couldn't locate their grandparents. It was terrifying and distressing; and I’m immensely terrified and distressed about what’s about to happen to civilians trapped in Gaza. BUT why is it only now that non-Jewish left wing orgs are showing up in my inbox demanding petitions and statements about civilians and the sanctity of life?

I already know the answer: in the western left wing view [and I am a Western far leftist], it’s ok to murder Jews if they’re Israeli or were in Israel. They are Bad Jews and they deserve it. They’re not the civilians that matter here. And it makes me want to cry, not because I mourn Jewish civilians more or less than I do or will mourn Palestinian civilians, but because I study Modern Jewish History. This is part of a multi-century continuum of of disregarding the deaths of sufferings of Jews because they're capitalists or they're communists or they're loyal to each other before they're loyal to the nation or they committed deicide because ancient Christians were too chickenshit to blame the Romans. So their deaths, though regretful, were coming to them. I just spent three days reading thousands of pages about how the Polish government in exile only made statements about the Holocaust being bad because of external pressure from the Allied governments; how in reality, they perceived Jews as an internal enemy of the Polish nation, viewed their deaths as secondary to those of the Poles, and resented any implication that Polish Jews were being treated worse than ethnic Poles under the Nazi regime.

I wish we could mourn Israel and Palestinian civilians together. As people. As victims of a fucked up situation created by post-colonial power brokers who could give less of a fuck about any of the civilians involved. As victims of a global right wing power shift which cares about nothing but money and power.

I'm only sharing this because these emotions are irrevocably tied to my work as a historian. When you're a historian and you see the patterns it's...hard to stay compartmentalized and distanced.

Because here's the thing: if you acknowledge that structural antisemitism exists, you then have to support efforts to undo structural antisemitism and consider the fallout of historical antisemitism.

If you contain it to one tragic event (no matter how huge) and also minimize it (because it's not the only genocide, have you considered __?) and universalize it (this teaches us about the inhumanity of people towards those who are *different*) and atomize it (people can be so weird about Jews and Judaism, they must really be an unusually hateful person)

Also for the people in the notes asking about structural antisemitism and what that even is, I would like you to consider:

Literally the entire history of the church and its use of supercessionism to give a religious fig leaf to using Jews as a financial resource (among many, many other things) which is well-explained in this thread.

The psychological benefits of supercessionism that operates somewhat analogously to the wages of whiteness; it's not a perfect analogy, but it has some similarities in that Xtian superiority and virtuosity is juxtaposed against the degenerate Jew. Idk someone smarter has probably written about this and I'm too emotionally exhausted to try and write something worthwhile about this right now. But it's real. I know this intimately because I've experienced both sides of that fence and seen it in action.

Racialized antisemitism, which culminated in the eugenics movement and the Holocaust but has been around for fucking ever. That one is a lot to unpack, because Jews are of every race but are a racialized ethnoreligious group, and that goes in as many directions as you might expect it to. Good examples of this are how college entry tests were designed to keep Jews out of higher education, how there were US quotas on "Hebrew" immigrants, how redlining and sundown towns often applied to Jews, etc.

Research Dhimmitude and the Farhud for a bad time; I'm not qualified to write about it credibly, but plenty of Mizrahim have.

The secular(ish) usage of Jews as a buffer class between the actual seat of power and the oppressed underclasses. Kings, Ministers, Popes, Presidents, Oligarchs, and more have all employed this quite effectively for thousands of years.

Research how conspiracy theories pretty much all boil down to antisemitism and how they've been politically expedient since time immemorial.

Look into how virtually every single country has committed horrifically antisemitic crimes on a large scale (again that thread is useful) and profited from it both at the time and afterwards as trauma tourism. Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews is a great place to start with this one. Holocaust tourism is a common version of this, but it's far from being the only one.

This is less specific to Jews, but Xtian hegemony in the West means that minority religions suffer social exclusion and lack of control over our religious schedules and ability to engage in our rituals and traditional practices.

Appropriation. Just, all the appropriation. I don't even know where to start with that one, we'll be here all day.

The relentless pursuit of goyim to try and erase Jewish ties to the Levant and our deep historical roots in eretz Yisrael has been ongoing since the Seleucid empire.

.....Etc.