The inability to assess the logic of casting votes defies reason.
How long must we sing this song? A democracy without transparent practices for the transfer of power is not a democracy. All the way down to the ones and zeroes. Every question with regard to voting should be able to be answered.
It seems so primitive that it baffles me how someone could arrive at any other conclusion than "the process of voting is sacred and should, in fact *must*, bear great scrutiny".
which is to say that the common fancy becomes so common that it's commonality becomes a point of contention and leads to the fancy's demise. We're just about there with the ubiquity of google now just like we've been there before with IBM and at&t and ford and pan am.... this is the cyclic nature of (near)natural monopolies. Their success is their importance is their weight which means every step they take is heavy and is heard. Of course they can't be trusted; their success means that they've become "the man". It's easy to look sceptically upon them. How dare they self-agrandize. How dare they try to shape the world into their vision. Aren't they being irresponsible in propogating that vision?
It's very easy to be egalitarian in the face of such things. Big bad google is the new big bad wolf... They don't care about me, they only care about their stock price, which is all their stock holders (read: owners, read: larry and sergey) care about.
(The egalitarian view is always in conflict with the view of any particular hive, otherwise you're just kissing up to the masses and appear wishy washy)
From the google IPO filing: Kumbaya: "We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place. And now, we are in the process of establishing the Google Foundation. We intend to contribute significant resources to the foundation, including employee time and approximately 1 percent of Google's equity and profits in some form."
in present time that rings: "we have a foundation for good to offset our foundation of commerce. Hopefully it will mitigate the evil enough for your tastes"...
but now we're at the "what have you done for me lately" phase with the over arching question of "prove to me it's not just the money". They have a particular PR battle on their hands since they are so much better off with us on their side. I mean, what if we all of the sudden realized that other search products were at least as good?
but they're not. Right? The other tools aren't as familiar or as elegant or as relevant. So at the end of the day this argument is moot. You can grumble as you use google or you can nod, but nine time out of ten the big G is still your dog when it comes to playing fetch with the net.
If you look at the "Procedure" section of page 220 of the pdf of the actual paper (because I know all of you of course have now read the paper) it talks about the apparent incentives for the subjects involved in the study by stating "In fact, the external incentives for the students in the free-choice section encouraged submission of all three papers on the last possible day."
In the paragraph prior the writer states "second, students had to announce the [self-chosen] deadlines for submission prior to the second lecture;"
and then on the next page "in fact, only 12 student (27%) chose to submit all three papers on the last day of class."
The study was conducted at MIT. The paper never acknowledges the role peer pressure and the desire to be perceived as a non-procrastinator by the rest of the class might play in an individual's choice of paper submission date, particularly if that "announcement" was public, and instead focuses on how the submission deadlines would best be gamed; Yet peer pressure and performance pressure at MIT is an acknowledged problem very much part of the culture of MIT.
A todo-ish strategy that I've found effective, particularly when I just can't get started on something I'm just not all that psyched about plowing into, is to write down WITH GREAT SPECIFICITY the steps to get started with the task at hand.
It could be something like..
open eclipse load class file lookup the javadocs for the library I'm using open the spec documents find the specific spot in the project's spec that I need figure out the db access info decide on the logic for comparing db info to submitted data....
No item is to benign to detail the task and it helps visualize the doing the work. Yes perhaps this sounds ridiculous to you but after jotting these small steps down I can usually start right in on the project. For me it's getting over the small hump of the work seeming like a huge thing, when in reality it is merely a large number of small details to be attended to. The quick jotting helps me to re-frame the daunting nature of the task and get back to working at the proper scale, in the guts instead of at the precipice.
well enough of this, I need to get some stuff done.;)
Seems like the COO of an industry leading company should be more stalwart in his analysis of a market if indeed his company is the market leader. You're so much better off barely acknowledging the competition. You really shouldnt' even mention their name unless completely necessary. If he displays anything other than the facade of market leadership then it would seem to me that he's really not so sure of his market position.
Good luck to him and his company who's shares will probably be dropping in value once again.;)
Nope. We're talking theft. They are saying that instead of it being 'ours' as part of the public domain that the smiley face is 'theirs'. They are taking the mark from the public. Sure, you can call that infringment if you like. I suppose I could infringe upon your rights if I started using your identity to my benefit but personally I like to call that theft.
No. It's not analagous. What you are proposing paints the scene with a brush drawn from the can of revisionist history.
In no way does everyone know that the smiley face "came from Walmart". In fact it did not. Walmart has latched onto this symbol of good cheer in order to bolster their brand. And while the origin is a point of contention, it ain't their's. They did not invent that symbol.
Linux was, is and always has been associated with the work of Linus Torvalds (and company).
Walmart is stealing the smiley face. They are either stealing from the public domain, or from someone with a prior claim but make no mistake they are coopting it for themsleves.
The trademark dispute over the origin's of the smiley face are long standing. The Frenchman has a valid trademark in Europe and elsewhere. Good for him. Just because Walmart want's to get in on the act doesn't mean that we should all line up to hand over this part of the zeitgeist.
IMHO the smiley face is probably perfect for Walmart. Nothings says just be happy and don't give a shit or much thought about the broader implications of where you spend your dollars than a smiley face.
What if people are chosing emotions in relation to certain events and things because it's socially too their advantage to do so? Aren't they a) acurately portraying their emotions instead of lying and b) using a public forum where they might just try to make polite conversation with people they don't know by bringing up such things as Valentines day or the weather.
I'm not sure you can really trust this data in the way you've suggested.
So if there is a corelation between mood and blog posts how about using this data set to "prime the pump" of a Bayesian filter which would analyse blog posts on other sites and determine how likely it is that the blog post is one of these moods.
Suitcases, international shipping containers, cars on ferries, tunnels from mexico and small sailing vessels all come to mind as better delivery platforms for such a weapon. Missles are not going to be the choice of a rogue nation.
That said, in the crazy poker meets chess meets jenga meets russion roulette game of geo-military politics it's probably worth a trilion dollars to prop up your bluff that you're holding THE MOST AWESOME DEFENSE SYSTEM EVER. Do you care if it works as long as it changes the game in your favor?
I entirely agree. As a portland resident living in SE I am a frequent bus rider and the tri-met app is clearly better at this point. I love being able to pull up a little window with the next bus for the closest bus stop and see a countdown timer for the next bus arrival. And I can bookmark that specific countdown-timer/bustop combo.
That said I'm excited to see what Google can do with this piece of the info-sphere.
Hey Google! Are you reading? I know you're in beta but I have a few comments.
I live near 37th & Stark. Your site tells me to go to 32nd & Belmont to get downtown when there is a perfectly good stop on 37th & Belmont, just 4 blocks south of my residence. I now you're probably dealing with a beta data set.
The feature that I'd love to see with your bus map is the ability to click on the map to choose a starting point and an end point. Actually that goes the same for your driving maps. Why struggle through with divining the correct incantations for describing my origin and destination if I can see it in front of me already.
A public transit tool is more often consulted just for schedule and route information and not for trying to figure out where something is. This is slightly different than driving directions since most users of public transit are familiar with both their origin and destination.
I'd love to see a similar tool to your driving tool for Portland bike routes. This is a bike town like no other in the states and the bike map for Portland is pretty good but it's not always clear which way is best.
Bike & Transit routes integrated would be wonderful since all public transportation vehicles (except the trolley?) provide for bikes as well.
If they sneak in to swim AND THE DOOR OR GATE IS LOCKED then the home owner is not liable. If the pool was left unlocked then the home owner is considered to be negligent.
Here's an example from ohio but this is pretty standard. The legal thinking is essentially that if you leave a piece of candy lying around should you be surprised when a toddler puts it in their mouth? By the same token should you be surprised when the neighbor hood kids use your delicious looking pool?
Next time your out back don't forget to check the lock on your gate.
...or some other kind of danger you can leave your door unlocked. Otherwise the home owner is liable for keeping their pool locked so the neighborhood kids don't sneak in to swim and then drown. Not that I think this law is a good idea but the better weak argument I see for it is the "keep the dangerous internet locked away" argument.
I'm not sure enough of us are paying attention at all.
Regardless of the nature and specific legal frame of this law, there is the first ammendment. The application of this law in this case would be a degredation of our first ammendment rights. Political speech is the most important kind of speech in our democratic society. This cease and desist action challenges the press's freedom to write about the government in almost any way they want, provided that it does no harm.
Furthermore, satirical speech is often given more leeway in it's allowance of usage of marks under fair use since by its very nature satire requires the assumption of another's identity.
The Onion isn't wrong. The Onion is protecting our freedoms. And that might seem funny but it ain't no joke.
We should be writing our representatives and the white house voicing our opinions on this matter. My opinion is that the President (or Puppet Master Rove) doesn't like to be criticised, which is just too bad.
Or how about CD's of linux distributions on the shelves?
Or recent copies of the O'Reily manuals?
How about the ability to attach patron comments to card catalog entries?
An updated homepage or info page that shows up on every terminal in the library that displays library news, a web search box and a library search box.
Offer the feature of email/phone reminders the day before (or whenever) items are due.
A 'Library Zeitgeist' page like Google's Zeitgeist'. What people are reading/searching for in the last month or week.
Have a brown sack lunch & learn about your usage of Linux at the library.
Host the sourceforge/software for libraries project(s).
Start referring patrons to wikipedia. Ask them to participate if they are doing serious research.
Establish a wikimedia server for your town or city as part of your Local History office and devote the Town Historian or some library resources to it.
Establish a search engine which is specific to your municipalities websites and/or state.
Establish printers that can be attached to from the wireless network.
More DVDs, more CDs. Offer [free/cheap] delivery. (I assume you have reserve and renewal on line) and then provide library return boxes as sattelites to each branch.
also
Have you asked your patrons or your community this question? They are presumably the tax payers and customers of your library.
It's the role of the federal government to manage the public's "right of way", whether that's the airwaves or the powerlines or your telco. All those private sources are working within the public's right of way for delivery of their services. In managing that right of way I think it is a responsible act to foster it's utility for the common good. The fact that the federal governemnt manages it poorly (IMHO) does not mean that it isn't their role.
A good example of this is the attempt to "secure the Internet against spam." The current approach -- trusting other servers on the Internet and trying to simply secure all legtimate mail servers from spammers does not work. Keep in mind that anti-spam measures have nearly universal support, a tremendous number of volunteers, high visibility, and is a well-understood problem.
You have a great point there that I hope is heard. We can't even stop something on the public web that everyone agrees should be stopped. There is no way to limit access to the internet without changing it's nature, and the technology for that is pretty much in our hands. Does that mean we're next? Will our protocols become the next thing to be regulated? I don't think we're far from that now.
I'd be happy to hear that the Office of Homeland Security had made it a fireable offense for any open AP's inside the federal government. That is something that is clearly their responsibility and would set a standard. Which is what they want, right? Wrong. They need the crime there so that they can pursue it further if they want. The crime holds the sysadmin accountable with a chain of blame. This is silly. One more corner of liberty sliced off.
Sun is trying to offer boxed software in the warehouse sales channel (CompUSA, Fry's, BestBuy...). In order to do that they have to have an MSRP that offers a healthy margin, otherwise the product is less desirable to these corporate buyers.
If anything, the potential is there that Joe Sixpack is educated when he's browsing the software ailes by coming across Star Office. Who knows, he might be psyched by seeing a non-MS Office Suite that will work on his windows machine. This is potentially a very large market, and good exposure for Open Source. Sun grows the top of the the market and we get to convert them to the free tools once they're regular users and they catch wind of Open Office.
Slashdot Mirror
The inability to assess the logic of casting votes defies reason.
How long must we sing this song? A democracy without transparent practices for the transfer of power is not a democracy. All the way down to the ones and zeroes. Every question with regard to voting should be able to be answered.
It seems so primitive that it baffles me how someone could arrive at any other conclusion than "the process of voting is sacred and should, in fact *must*, bear great scrutiny".
pop will eat itself
(forgive me, but let me go on a rant...)
which is to say that the common fancy becomes so common that it's commonality becomes a point of contention and leads to the fancy's demise. We're just about there with the ubiquity of google now just like we've been there before with IBM and at&t and ford and pan am.... this is the cyclic nature of (near)natural monopolies. Their success is their importance is their weight which means every step they take is heavy and is heard. Of course they can't be trusted; their success means that they've become "the man". It's easy to look sceptically upon them. How dare they self-agrandize. How dare they try to shape the world into their vision. Aren't they being irresponsible in propogating that vision?
It's very easy to be egalitarian in the face of such things. Big bad google is the new big bad wolf... They don't care about me, they only care about their stock price, which is all their stock holders (read: owners, read: larry and sergey) care about.
(The egalitarian view is always in conflict with the view of any particular hive, otherwise you're just kissing up to the masses and appear wishy washy)
From the google IPO filing:
Kumbaya: "We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place. And now, we are in the process of establishing the Google Foundation. We intend to contribute significant resources to the foundation, including employee time and approximately 1 percent of Google's equity and profits in some form."
in present time that rings: "we have a foundation for good to offset our foundation of commerce. Hopefully it will mitigate the evil enough for your tastes"...
but now we're at the "what have you done for me lately" phase with the over arching question of "prove to me it's not just the money". They have a particular PR battle on their hands since they are so much better off with us on their side. I mean, what if we all of the sudden realized that other search products were at least as good?
but they're not. Right? The other tools aren't as familiar or as elegant or as relevant. So at the end of the day this argument is moot. You can grumble as you use google or you can nod, but nine time out of ten the big G is still your dog when it comes to playing fetch with the net.
If you look at the "Procedure" section of page 220 of the pdf of the actual paper (because I know all of you of course have now read the paper) it talks about the apparent incentives for the subjects involved in the study by stating "In fact, the external incentives for the students in the free-choice section encouraged submission of all three papers on the last possible day."
In the paragraph prior the writer states "second, students had to announce the [self-chosen] deadlines for submission prior to the second lecture;"
and then on the next page "in fact, only 12 student (27%) chose to submit all three papers on the last day of class."
The study was conducted at MIT. The paper never acknowledges the role peer pressure and the desire to be perceived as a non-procrastinator by the rest of the class might play in an individual's choice of paper submission date, particularly if that "announcement" was public, and instead focuses on how the submission deadlines would best be gamed; Yet peer pressure and performance pressure at MIT is an acknowledged problem very much part of the culture of MIT.
A todo-ish strategy that I've found effective, particularly when I just can't get started on something I'm just not all that psyched about plowing into, is to write down WITH GREAT SPECIFICITY the steps to get started with the task at hand.
....
;)
It could be something like..
open eclipse
load class file
lookup the javadocs for the library I'm using
open the spec documents
find the specific spot in the project's spec that I need
figure out the db access info
decide on the logic for comparing db info to submitted data
No item is to benign to detail the task and it helps visualize the doing the work. Yes perhaps this sounds ridiculous to you but after jotting these small steps down I can usually start right in on the project. For me it's getting over the small hump of the work seeming like a huge thing, when in reality it is merely a large number of small details to be attended to. The quick jotting helps me to re-frame the daunting nature of the task and get back to working at the proper scale, in the guts instead of at the precipice.
well enough of this, I need to get some stuff done.
Hmm,
;)
Seems like the COO of an industry leading company should be more stalwart in his analysis of a market if indeed his company is the market leader. You're so much better off barely acknowledging the competition. You really shouldnt' even mention their name unless completely necessary. If he displays anything other than the facade of market leadership then it would seem to me that he's really not so sure of his market position.
Good luck to him and his company who's shares will probably be dropping in value once again.
Nope. We're talking theft. They are saying that instead of it being 'ours' as part of the public domain that the smiley face is 'theirs'. They are taking the mark from the public. Sure, you can call that infringment if you like. I suppose I could infringe upon your rights if I started using your identity to my benefit but personally I like to call that theft.
No. It's not analagous. What you are proposing paints the scene with a brush drawn from the can of revisionist history.
In no way does everyone know that the smiley face "came from Walmart". In fact it did not. Walmart has latched onto this symbol of good cheer in order to bolster their brand. And while the origin is a point of contention, it ain't their's. They did not invent that symbol.
Linux was, is and always has been associated with the work of Linus Torvalds (and company).
Walmart is stealing the smiley face. They are either stealing from the public domain, or from someone with a prior claim but make no mistake they are coopting it for themsleves.
The trademark dispute over the origin's of the smiley face are long standing. The Frenchman has a valid trademark in Europe and elsewhere. Good for him. Just because Walmart want's to get in on the act doesn't mean that we should all line up to hand over this part of the zeitgeist.
IMHO the smiley face is probably perfect for Walmart. Nothings says just be happy and don't give a shit or much thought about the broader implications of where you spend your dollars than a smiley face.
Wake up you sheep.
Is Google positioning to be the repository and data source for the snowcrash like virtual world which we will interact with?
What if people are chosing emotions in relation to certain events and things because it's socially too their advantage to do so? Aren't they a) acurately portraying their emotions instead of lying and b) using a public forum where they might just try to make polite conversation with people they don't know by bringing up such things as Valentines day or the weather.
I'm not sure you can really trust this data in the way you've suggested.
So if there is a corelation between mood and blog posts how about using this data set to "prime the pump" of a Bayesian filter which would analyse blog posts on other sites and determine how likely it is that the blog post is one of these moods.
Suitcases, international shipping containers, cars on ferries, tunnels from mexico and small sailing vessels all come to mind as better delivery platforms for such a weapon. Missles are not going to be the choice of a rogue nation.
That said, in the crazy poker meets chess meets jenga meets russion roulette game of geo-military politics it's probably worth a trilion dollars to prop up your bluff that you're holding THE MOST AWESOME DEFENSE SYSTEM EVER. Do you care if it works as long as it changes the game in your favor?
(value of a user) * (% of users on platform x) - (cost to support platform x)
still in black? is it by a margin that you like? what's your gut tell you about the trend over the next year or two?
I entirely agree. As a portland resident living in SE I am a frequent bus rider and the tri-met app is clearly better at this point. I love being able to pull up a little window with the next bus for the closest bus stop and see a countdown timer for the next bus arrival. And I can bookmark that specific countdown-timer/bustop combo.
That said I'm excited to see what Google can do with this piece of the info-sphere.
Hey Google! Are you reading? I know you're in beta but I have a few comments.
I live near 37th & Stark. Your site tells me to go to 32nd & Belmont to get downtown when there is a perfectly good stop on 37th & Belmont, just 4 blocks south of my residence. I now you're probably dealing with a beta data set.
The feature that I'd love to see with your bus map is the ability to click on the map to choose a starting point and an end point. Actually that goes the same for your driving maps. Why struggle through with divining the correct incantations for describing my origin and destination if I can see it in front of me already.
A public transit tool is more often consulted just for schedule and route information and not for trying to figure out where something is. This is slightly different than driving directions since most users of public transit are familiar with both their origin and destination.
I'd love to see a similar tool to your driving tool for Portland bike routes. This is a bike town like no other in the states and the bike map for Portland is pretty good but it's not always clear which way is best.
Bike & Transit routes integrated would be wonderful since all public transportation vehicles (except the trolley?) provide for bikes as well.
Thanks and good luck.
If they sneak in to swim AND THE DOOR OR GATE IS LOCKED then the home owner is not liable. If the pool was left unlocked then the home owner is considered to be negligent.
Here's an example from ohio but this is pretty standard. The legal thinking is essentially that if you leave a piece of candy lying around should you be surprised when a toddler puts it in their mouth? By the same token should you be surprised when the neighbor hood kids use your delicious looking pool?
Next time your out back don't forget to check the lock on your gate.
...or some other kind of danger you can leave your door unlocked. Otherwise the home owner is liable for keeping their pool locked so the neighborhood kids don't sneak in to swim and then drown. Not that I think this law is a good idea but the better weak argument I see for it is the "keep the dangerous internet locked away" argument.
http://nocat.net/
I'm not sure enough of us are paying attention at all.
Regardless of the nature and specific legal frame of this law, there is the first ammendment. The application of this law in this case would be a degredation of our first ammendment rights. Political speech is the most important kind of speech in our democratic society. This cease and desist action challenges the press's freedom to write about the government in almost any way they want, provided that it does no harm.
Furthermore, satirical speech is often given more leeway in it's allowance of usage of marks under fair use since by its very nature satire requires the assumption of another's identity.
The Onion isn't wrong. The Onion is protecting our freedoms. And that might seem funny but it ain't no joke.
We should be writing our representatives and the white house voicing our opinions on this matter. My opinion is that the President (or Puppet Master Rove) doesn't like to be criticised, which is just too bad.
here is an example.
Or how about CD's of linux distributions on the shelves?
Or recent copies of the O'Reily manuals?
How about the ability to attach patron comments to card catalog entries?
An updated homepage or info page that shows up on every terminal in the library that displays library news, a web search box and a library search box.
Offer the feature of email/phone reminders the day before (or whenever) items are due.
A 'Library Zeitgeist' page like Google's Zeitgeist'. What people are reading/searching for in the last month or week.
Have a brown sack lunch & learn about your usage of Linux at the library.
Host the sourceforge/software for libraries project(s).
Start referring patrons to wikipedia. Ask them to participate if they are doing serious research.
Establish a wikimedia server for your town or city as part of your Local History office and devote the Town Historian or some library resources to it.
Establish a search engine which is specific to your municipalities websites and/or state.
Establish printers that can be attached to from the wireless network.
More DVDs, more CDs. Offer [free/cheap] delivery. (I assume you have reserve and renewal on line) and then provide library return boxes as sattelites to each branch.
also
Have you asked your patrons or your community this question? They are presumably the tax payers and customers of your library.
It's the role of the federal government to manage the public's "right of way", whether that's the airwaves or the powerlines or your telco. All those private sources are working within the public's right of way for delivery of their services. In managing that right of way I think it is a responsible act to foster it's utility for the common good. The fact that the federal governemnt manages it poorly (IMHO) does not mean that it isn't their role.
especially on April Fools Day.
You have a great point there that I hope is heard. We can't even stop something on the public web that everyone agrees should be stopped. There is no way to limit access to the internet without changing it's nature, and the technology for that is pretty much in our hands. Does that mean we're next? Will our protocols become the next thing to be regulated? I don't think we're far from that now.
I'd be happy to hear that the Office of Homeland Security had made it a fireable offense for any open AP's inside the federal government. That is something that is clearly their responsibility and would set a standard. Which is what they want, right? Wrong. They need the crime there so that they can pursue it further if they want. The crime holds the sysadmin accountable with a chain of blame. This is silly. One more corner of liberty sliced off.
Can't you set a cookie within the first sublevel?
Any 'ol site could set a '.kids.us' level cookie.
Perhaps it would get overwritten from use but it sneakily provides a way to track the entire surfing experience of a very valuable consumer.
Mod it up baby. Mod it up.
Sun is trying to offer boxed software in the warehouse sales channel (CompUSA, Fry's, BestBuy...). In order to do that they have to have an MSRP that offers a healthy margin, otherwise the product is less desirable to these corporate buyers.
If anything, the potential is there that Joe Sixpack is educated when he's browsing the software ailes by coming across Star Office. Who knows, he might be psyched by seeing a non-MS Office Suite that will work on his windows machine. This is potentially a very large market, and good exposure for Open Source. Sun grows the top of the the market and we get to convert them to the free tools once they're regular users and they catch wind of Open Office.
We should be applauding this move by sun.
bnf