Jeremy Bentham, a British utilitarian philosopher (and godfather to John Stuart Mill, of "On Liberty" fame) used sort of the same idea in a prison design he called the Panopticon.
The Panopticon is designed such that all of the cells can be watched by a single observer (thus cutting down on the number of guards required), but from the cell you can't tell whether you are being observed or not. A prisoner who can't tell if he is being observed will act nicer than a prisoner who knows he is not being observed.
However, I'm not convinced that it is the same effect. If I weren't paying for my coffee, and then a sign was posted with just a pair of eyes, I'd get the message that they knew somebody was gypping the pot. Perhaps a sign saying "Pay up, cheapskate" would have the same effect.
Today's BSA is more about hatred, homophobia, and religious discrimination. Quite frankly this country would be a better place if we woke up tommorrow and the BSA no longer existed.
I would not say that at all. On a local level - at the troop level, it's not about discrimination. It's about camping and having fun and canoeing and leadership. There's just a few crusty old conservatives in Texas who run the organization who made a bad decision for everybody. If people would stand up and disagree, we just might change it. And that would be a Good Thing.
I think you are confused about the difference between legality and morality. The two often do not intersect.
Yes, as a private organization, the Boy Scouts have (and should have) the legal right to exclude whomever they so choose, for any reason. This was decided in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. I agree with the Supreme Court's decision.
The parent did not say that the Boy Scouts should be legally forced to include homosexuals or athiests. He questioned the morality, not the legality, of the BSA's stance. I agree with the parent; for an organization that claims to stand for our country's values, it is extremely hypocritical to blindly discriminate based upon religion, gender and sexual orientation. In fact it might be those youth who need the program the most.
I am an Eagle Scout and Assistant Scoutmaster of a Scout troop. I am an atheist (and about 25% agnostic) and so far I haven't been booted. Occasionally I am vocal about my stance. I expect that some day they will kick me out, but until then, I will fight for the moral position of no discrimination in Scouting. I will also fight for the legal position of the Scouts' right to discriminate. See the difference?
Some would say that I have no right to play any part in the program, or that I should start up my own Boy Scouts (with gambling and hookers, etc). The thing is, I hate to see such a good thing go to waste; Boy Scouts was an integral part of my childhood, and I want to salvage it as much as possible.
How about getting something like Pimsleur tapes and learning a foreign language?
It is a perfect setting - lots of free time, a CD player, and nobody else around. (You feel pretty stupid repeating words over and over again in a foreign language if you are around other people). All of the Pimsleur lessons are 30 minutes each.
Actually, some shortcuts work quite well (coincidentally). For instance, copying a URL and pasting it into a new Firefox tab would be Ctrl-C Ctrl-T Ctrl-V in qwerty. The Dvorak equivalent would be hitting Ctrl-I Ctrl-K Ctrl-. which is quite easy to do.
Another nice perk of using dvorak: passwords. Want to come up with a seemingly random password? Type a dvorak word into a qwerty keyboard. Bam!
I just came from a research meeting where we were discussing which digital camera to buy - and yes, we want to customize it, and open specifications would help us tremendously.
We are working on diagnosing melanoma (deadly skin cancer, or if you're Peter Griffin, another word for "sexified") by taking infrared images of skin lesions. We have very specific digital camera needs - we must be able to control many aspects of the camera through the serial/usb port and have the ability to remove the infrared blocking filter. Eventually we intend on selling the cameras with specialized hardware to doctors.
Our current Nikon 950, which is becoming obsolete, has some wonderful free software known as photopc that can control the camera. This software has been extremely helpful. If only every digital camera had protocols as well-known as the 950, my job would be much easier. Kudos to the smart guys who snooped the serial line!
The *only* methods of voting should be by secret ballot.
Let's say I am an employer, and I say "you'll get fired if you don't vote for candidate X". If the only methods of voting are by secret ballot, the voter is protected. Otherwise the voter might be forced or coerced into using the "optional" un-secret method. (And yes this has happened before!)
On top of that concern, we're using e-mail? I don't trust the e-mail system for anything important at all. Last semester we had to turn in our homework via e-mail in one of my classes, which I had qualms about. Lo and behold, at the end of the semester, two of my assignments didn't get counted by the professor. He insisted that the e-mail system was perfect. This idea, very bad.
ars technica usb review
on
Portable Storage?
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Ars Technica has a good USB 2.0 Hi-Speed drive review covering several USB flash drives. I got a 256MB SanDisk Cruzer Mini from newegg for $37 and was very pleased (works on Linux well).
I'll second the vote for an iPod if you want more than that. I just bought a 20GB 3G iPod from our local university bookstore for $250, since the new 4G model just came out.
I have an '89 BMW 325 with 210K miles on the clock (original drivetrain - it's still on its first clutch). It regularly gets 25mpg even though the sticker says 22. I took the engine apart two months ago to fix a blown headgasket, and the only worn engine internals were the camshafts (the cylinder walls were pristine, you could still see the crosshatch!)
I suspect that the car gets such good gas mileage because the worn camshafts cause the valves to open less, letting slightly less fuel into the engine. Or, maybe it's just a damn fine car. Oh, and thank you BMW for making it so easy to take apart!
Check out APRS. You will need an amateur radio license, a GPS, a 2m radio and a small interface circuit. If there is a digipeater in your area with an internet link, you will show up on findu.com, and you won't even need a Python script.
A computer engineering professor at my school made one out of a fishbowl. He used plexiglass and silicone to seal it shut, and built a small air compressor to evacuate the air from it.
However, all of the information listed can be likened to the book publisher acquiring the person's name, address, phone number, which book was copied, and when it was copied. I think the publisher would be perfectly within his rights to collect that information which should all be attainable without break in.
This infomation wouldn't necessarily be available to the public - you could photocopy it in your own home!
I would think this spyware would be illegal under the fourth amendment which protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures.
From nolo.com, the test for a legitimate expectation of privacy in 4th amendment matters is:
Did the person subjectively (actually) expect some degree of privacy?
Is the person's expectation objectively reasonable, that is, one that society is willing to recognize?
Unless there was a clause in the software license that says the user is being spied upon, both conditions seem to be met. Data gleaned from the spyware would be no good in court. (ianal, blah blah).
According to the pdf presentation,
"Operating Features: Entry Logic: Algebraic / RPN / Textbook"
So YES! we have RPN.
Other things I've found interesting:
"Displayed numerical precision: 12 digits, exponent: -4999 to +4999"
My HP48's (and I assume the HP49) exponents only go from -499 to 499.
They have also brought back infrared capabilities, which had disappeared from the HP49 due to the new flash memory.
Check out the April 2001 (?) issue of Reader's Digest. A woman wrote in response to an article about J.K. Rolling. She quoted the Onion, saying that millions of children were being converted to witchcraft because of the Harry Potter books, and that the children's books should be banned. Reader's Digest let her in on the fact that the Onion was satirical. (Reminds me of the Onion headline, "Funt lets Kennedy in on hilarious 'Cuban Missile Crisis' gag")
I use an old 8088 case for my machine, it's nice because it has a hood like a car. It has two large buttons on the side to open it - no screws! It's built like a tank AND it was free.
I like this clause: "In addition, open source components are often licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which may expose the OEM's intellectual property and source code to open source participants and its competitors."
Slashdot Mirror
Jeremy Bentham, a British utilitarian philosopher (and godfather to John Stuart Mill, of "On Liberty" fame) used sort of the same idea in a prison design he called the Panopticon.
The Panopticon is designed such that all of the cells can be watched by a single observer (thus cutting down on the number of guards required), but from the cell you can't tell whether you are being observed or not. A prisoner who can't tell if he is being observed will act nicer than a prisoner who knows he is not being observed.
However, I'm not convinced that it is the same effect. If I weren't paying for my coffee, and then a sign was posted with just a pair of eyes, I'd get the message that they knew somebody was gypping the pot. Perhaps a sign saying "Pay up, cheapskate" would have the same effect.
Today's BSA is more about hatred, homophobia, and religious discrimination. Quite frankly this country would be a better place if we woke up tommorrow and the BSA no longer existed.
I would not say that at all. On a local level - at the troop level, it's not about discrimination. It's about camping and having fun and canoeing and leadership. There's just a few crusty old conservatives in Texas who run the organization who made a bad decision for everybody. If people would stand up and disagree, we just might change it. And that would be a Good Thing.
Yes, as a private organization, the Boy Scouts have (and should have) the legal right to exclude whomever they so choose, for any reason. This was decided in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. I agree with the Supreme Court's decision.
The parent did not say that the Boy Scouts should be legally forced to include homosexuals or athiests. He questioned the morality, not the legality, of the BSA's stance. I agree with the parent; for an organization that claims to stand for our country's values, it is extremely hypocritical to blindly discriminate based upon religion, gender and sexual orientation. In fact it might be those youth who need the program the most.
I am an Eagle Scout and Assistant Scoutmaster of a Scout troop. I am an atheist (and about 25% agnostic) and so far I haven't been booted. Occasionally I am vocal about my stance. I expect that some day they will kick me out, but until then, I will fight for the moral position of no discrimination in Scouting. I will also fight for the legal position of the Scouts' right to discriminate. See the difference?
Some would say that I have no right to play any part in the program, or that I should start up my own Boy Scouts (with gambling and hookers, etc). The thing is, I hate to see such a good thing go to waste; Boy Scouts was an integral part of my childhood, and I want to salvage it as much as possible.
Calculate it in base pi. After one digit, you'll get an infinite sequence of zeroes.
10.000000......
It is a perfect setting - lots of free time, a CD player, and nobody else around. (You feel pretty stupid repeating words over and over again in a foreign language if you are around other people). All of the Pimsleur lessons are 30 minutes each.
Actually, some shortcuts work quite well (coincidentally). For instance, copying a URL and pasting it into a new Firefox tab would be Ctrl-C Ctrl-T Ctrl-V in qwerty. The Dvorak equivalent would be hitting Ctrl-I Ctrl-K Ctrl-. which is quite easy to do.
Another nice perk of using dvorak: passwords. Want to come up with a seemingly random password? Type a dvorak word into a qwerty keyboard. Bam!
We didn't. There are too many to choose from, and to little info out there about each camera's infrared capabilities.
We will probably end up getting a low-end digital SLR (something in the $800-1000 range), preferably made by Nikon.
Our current Nikon 950, which is becoming obsolete, has some wonderful free software known as photopc that can control the camera. This software has been extremely helpful. If only every digital camera had protocols as well-known as the 950, my job would be much easier. Kudos to the smart guys who snooped the serial line!
Let's say I am an employer, and I say "you'll get fired if you don't vote for candidate X". If the only methods of voting are by secret ballot, the voter is protected. Otherwise the voter might be forced or coerced into using the "optional" un-secret method. (And yes this has happened before!)
On top of that concern, we're using e-mail? I don't trust the e-mail system for anything important at all. Last semester we had to turn in our homework via e-mail in one of my classes, which I had qualms about. Lo and behold, at the end of the semester, two of my assignments didn't get counted by the professor. He insisted that the e-mail system was perfect. This idea, very bad.
I'll second the vote for an iPod if you want more than that. I just bought a 20GB 3G iPod from our local university bookstore for $250, since the new 4G model just came out.
I have an '89 BMW 325 with 210K miles on the clock (original drivetrain - it's still on its first clutch). It regularly gets 25mpg even though the sticker says 22. I took the engine apart two months ago to fix a blown headgasket, and the only worn engine internals were the camshafts (the cylinder walls were pristine, you could still see the crosshatch!)
I suspect that the car gets such good gas mileage because the worn camshafts cause the valves to open less, letting slightly less fuel into the engine. Or, maybe it's just a damn fine car. Oh, and thank you BMW for making it so easy to take apart!
Berardinelli gave Spiderman 2 three stars out of four, which is a fairly solid recommendation.
Use a dry erase marker on your computer screen.
:)
Dry erase markers are the best. You can even use them to draw crosshairs on the inside of your sunglasses.
According to the article, they define the edge of the solar system as the heliopause.
You said SCO in your post too! Oh! I said SCO too! Oops, I said SCO again! Oops...
Check out APRS. You will need an amateur radio license, a GPS, a 2m radio and a small interface circuit. If there is a digipeater in your area with an internet link, you will show up on findu.com, and you won't even need a Python script.
I'm pretty sure there was a Delorean going about 88mph right about then. That's gotta be above the speed limit.
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
-Yogi Berra
0. A top-ten list of obligatory responses.
A computer engineering professor at my school made one out of a fishbowl. He used plexiglass and silicone to seal it shut, and built a small air compressor to evacuate the air from it.
This infomation wouldn't necessarily be available to the public - you could photocopy it in your own home!
I would think this spyware would be illegal under the fourth amendment which protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures.
From nolo.com, the test for a legitimate expectation of privacy in 4th amendment matters is:
Did the person subjectively (actually) expect some degree of privacy?
Is the person's expectation objectively reasonable, that is, one that society is willing to recognize?
Unless there was a clause in the software license that says the user is being spied upon, both conditions seem to be met. Data gleaned from the spyware would be no good in court. (ianal, blah blah).
"Operating Features: Entry Logic: Algebraic / RPN / Textbook"
So YES! we have RPN.
Other things I've found interesting:
"Displayed numerical precision: 12 digits, exponent: -4999 to +4999"
My HP48's (and I assume the HP49) exponents only go from -499 to 499.
They have also brought back infrared capabilities, which had disappeared from the HP49 due to the new flash memory.
Check out the April 2001 (?) issue of Reader's Digest. A woman wrote in response to an article about J.K. Rolling. She quoted the Onion, saying that millions of children were being converted to witchcraft because of the Harry Potter books, and that the children's books should be banned. Reader's Digest let her in on the fact that the Onion was satirical. (Reminds me of the Onion headline, "Funt lets Kennedy in on hilarious 'Cuban Missile Crisis' gag")
I use an old 8088 case for my machine, it's nice because it has a hood like a car. It has two large buttons on the side to open it - no screws! It's built like a tank AND it was free.
I like this clause: "In addition, open source components are often licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which may expose the OEM's intellectual property and source code to open source participants and its competitors."
I couldn't have stated it better myself.