I'm pretty sure the felony prosecution is bogus, considering what Polk county is like in general. But I'm going to set the race debate aside, since no one is going to change any minds on that subject anyway. What I'm looking at are: 1) The explosion was "small" but was apparently big enough to be heard pretty far away. This wasn't a test-tube "pop" experiment with hydrogen. On the other hand, no damage to people or property was reported. So "was it bigger than a firecracker?", "was it bigger than a cherry bomb?". And what prosecutions for other commercially available "explosive devices" have taken place in Florida in the past? You know those cases must be out there. Fireworks are sold legally in most parts of FL and all it takes is an adult stupid enough to provide the fireworks to an equally stupid kid.
2) She elected to do it on school grounds and not in the science lab or at home. I think this was more of "let's reproduce that YouTube video" and less "science experiment" than is being claimed. OTOH, it clearly was an _experiment_ and not an attempt to actually damage anything. 3) We have no information on what, if any, safety precautions she had in place. Being a teenager, probably none, but we don't know. 4) There's a strong hint that she's protecting another kid here. If she was just doing it on her own, she could have done it nearer to her home. I bet they'd drop all charges if she coughed up a name, and it wouldn't surprise me if the overblown response is just a form of coercion because the authorities have the same suspicions.
From my POV for a expulsion, I'd be looking for something like a 1/4 stick of dynamite sized explosion, and for a felony prosecution, I'd be looking for actual damage to body or property. There's certainly enough intent and stupidity on her part here to justify a suspension and maybe a misdemeanor prosecution for attempting to cover it up as a "science" experiment, but I don't see evidence to go beyond that.
One unfortunate choice the linked press release makes is the phrasing: "Until now, scientists had only theorized the cause behind the phenomenon known as LED “droop” ". This just plays into the hands of people who complain that the Theory of Gravity and Theory of Evolution are "only" theories".
Correct phrasing: "Until now, scientists had only hypothesized the cause..."
Remember a few years ago when weather.com and The Weather Channel tried to make the National Weather Service stop issuing free public satellite imagery and forecasts?
Any chance that NOAA/NWS satellite funding was cut to achieve their objective of privatizing the weather service by less-direct means?
Nah, our noble legislative branch would NEVER do something underhanded like THAT...
I note that the key phrase of the filibuster is about "killing Americans on American soil". So neither Republicans nor Democrats have a problem with killing Americans abroad? I think I better cancel that trip to Germany. What a subtle way to enforce travel restrictions while seeming to allow freedom of movement [/hyperbole]
Seems like trade between the US and China DOES affect politics and policy: we're becoming more totalitarian and restrictive even faster than China is opening up.
I'm mostly with you except on the point where you call your opponents angry whiners...I thought the point of this thread was that partisan politics are part of the problem. The lack of outcry against the growth of executive power under both Bush and Obama is insane. Bush 1 was a bit excusable by post 9/11 hysteria, but for the past 8-10 years, it's been clear that this is more about control and power than about fixing real security problems. What I envision is the entire intelligence community freaking out because they can't intercept all the information anymore and trying to regain control of the "situation".
OTOH, I'm not familiar with the "three new wars" that you claim Obama has launched. Care to elaborate?
PS - If you have land in Florida and you favor Republican energy and environmental policy, you may need to think things out a bit more. OTOH if you don't believe that sea level rise will affect property values in Florida during your children's lifetime, I'll be happy to sell you mine.
Actually, I think it's just shady self-interest and preserving the status quo. They will dump their support for any particular special interest in a flash, if that group stops providing value to them in furthering their own ambition.
PC Pro's tester wasn't overly impressed. 'If the face was a good enough indicator of mood then it should have tagged me as "freaked out on business technological ennui," not simply "happy", and no police force would accept a description of someone as "aged between 45 and 75 — that's the gap between Daniel Craig and Jack Nicholson.'"
So in other words, they've invented the first robotic psychic?
I believe in Texas the legislature is entirely in favor of the right to bear arms. Freedom of movement, religion and speech are a bit more problematical for them.
Correct, but some of the small blimps at sporting events are unmanned and carry cameras. There is likely to be an impact to broadcasters in the long run, if not he short.
I think the best we can hope for is that the legislation is amended to only criminalize if the photo is taken while in the airspace of the affected private property. Otherwise, the "public view" doctrine would apply, as interpreted by the courts in cases of "was it a peeping tom case or an indecent exposure case".
Note the key phrase "unmanned" in the legislation. If he's flying the plane, no problem.
The legislation is discriminatory against the use of satellites and drones rather than pictures taken manually, and as others have mentioned would criminalize Google Satellite view and Street View where the pic was taken by a driverless car. Since some of the blimps above sporting events are unmanned, this could also affect broadcasters. The intent seems to be to make it more difficult to take pictures of real property without exposing the photographer to the risk of trespassing charges, or the cost of chartering or owning a small plane or chopper.
No it's not OK for the government to do that. But just because the government screws you over doesn't mean you can go screwing over 3rd parties. The problem isn't that the law against cracking networks is necessarily bad (although I'll agree it's not perfect and overreaches), it's that the government and corporations aren't held to the same standard as individuals, which is a completely separate issue.
No, you're conflating two different types of security vulnerabilities: 1) The gap the guy originally used to get in, plus any other pre-existing vulns. 2) the gaps the guy may have introduced into the network while he had access, via new malware, etc.
The re-flashing and stuff mentioned on the GGP is primarily to mitigate #2.
#1 is definitely not the guys fault, but any precautions required to mitigate #2 definitely are.
And whether you agree with the law or not, breaking into secured networks is still illegal regardless of the harm. Even if you throw out the remediation costs, the argument that "no damage was done" isn't necessarily true: from a business POV, breaking into their corporate network and leaking game console specs ahead of announcement qualifies as industrial espionage. What if the leaked XBox specs inspired Sony to upgrade the CPU or the graphics on the PS4 to improve their performance? The leak takes away a competitive advantage that MS had due to their trade secrets.
This looks like the first salvo in the upcoming "Mickey's Law" that is expected when the copyright on Mickey Mouse again comes up for expiration (2018, I think). 5 years is about the right time-frame for the caucus to establish itself and starting putting out "studies" showing how beneficial extended copyright is.
Meanwhile, it's a nice big sign to the world saying "Hey Hollywood and patent trolls, we want your money!"
Considering the caucus is sponsored by both a Democrat and a Republican, this demonstrates more of a talent for noticing the obvious, not insight. And the stuff about killing American citizens is pretty much off-topic.
On the other hand, if 90% of people try to turn this into a partisan debate, even though it has both D and R members, maybe it's not so obvious to the illiteratti after all.
That's just the tip of the iceberg...Google has its own file sharing services (Google Docs, Google Code). Given the size of Google and the dependency that download sites have on CC payments, this sounds like it goes over the line for anti-trust and anti-competitive conspiracy counter-charges. If I were Visa and MC, I would be very careful about how I approached this, so as not to get roped into a lawsuit.
If they just share information to turn over to the government, they can probably get away with that - after all, AT&T did when they allowed the feds to tap phone lines without a warrant. But if they try to stop payments without government approval, they are on shaky ground (IANAL).
Even more-so, copyrighting the kids work sounds like child labor slavery. 1) Kids are required to go to school, and can be severely punished if they fail to attend. 2) Kids are not paid to go to school. 3) Kids and their parents are not able to negotiate assignment of copyright or licensing with the board, the right would just be taken. Sure sounds like slavery to me...
Plus, if the school wants to get the rights to use a kid's work, images, etc., there is already a parental waiver process in most school districts to allow this. This is a pure money grab. The whole thing is so crass that I suspect including the kids' work in the plan is just a straw man for the more substantive grabbing of teachers' work.
What's the non-infringing use of such an architecture? Without a "legitimate" use, this method could be argued as prima facie evidence of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and considerably raises the risk of criminal charges and government investigations. Not a good trade-off, especially for the owners of the proxy gateways.
Hmmm, I was going to say that bees die when they sting. But that's because normally the stinger gets hooked in the victim and the bee's abdomen ruptures when the stinger is pulled off. If they're stinging glass, I suppose it's possible they could survive the experience because the stinger wouldn't get stuck.
Personally, I'd just open up a spreadsheet program. If you need an algebraic equation solver, go with R, Matlab or possibly Mathomatic: http://www.mathomatic.org/math/
Automation is shifting repetitive, uncreative, brutish work to repetitive, uncreative, brutish machines, thus freeing humans to pursue nobler interests.
No consolation to the workers who can't find new jobs, I know. But for the larger society, the benefits outweigh the costs.
In every change some prosper, some lose. But the same happens in every status quo. We may as well choose technological progress.
If we are compassionate, we can give the displaced workers opportunities to learn new skills.
The problem here is that automated systems are now smart enough to replace (pulling a number out of a hat) about 20% of low-skilled and moderately-skilled labor. This percentage will only grow larger over time. In other words - in the future, you'll have to be either exceptionally smart, or exceptionally creative to be able to have a job. I predict Lake Wobegon (where all the children are above-average) will do fine, but the rest of the world is in for "interesting times".
There will be a substantial part of the population that simply isn't smart or creative enough to hold a job in the face of automated competition. The only refuge for the average worker will be in situations where customers expect and require a human interface (for example in many service/hospitality industries). The tipping point will probably be around the time that most taxi services and some bus lines use driverless vehicles for at least some of their pickups. Look at IBM's developing model where the only US employees are sales force and executives (with corresponding admin support). The automated economy will be similar to that, but with less offshoring and more AI/automation.
The only defense the working and middle classes have against this (other than exceptional skills and/or creativity that can't be automated) is ownership of automated systems for themselves. Which is pretty hard to achieve when you don't have the money to buy in. So: everybody ready for the Butlerian Jihad?*
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I'm pretty sure the felony prosecution is bogus, considering what Polk county is like in general. But I'm going to set the race debate aside, since no one is going to change any minds on that subject anyway. What I'm looking at are:
1) The explosion was "small" but was apparently big enough to be heard pretty far away. This wasn't a test-tube "pop" experiment with hydrogen. On the other hand, no damage to people or property was reported. So "was it bigger than a firecracker?", "was it bigger than a cherry bomb?". And what prosecutions for other commercially available "explosive devices" have taken place in Florida in the past? You know those cases must be out there. Fireworks are sold legally in most parts of FL and all it takes is an adult stupid enough to provide the fireworks to an equally stupid kid.
2) She elected to do it on school grounds and not in the science lab or at home. I think this was more of "let's reproduce that YouTube video" and less "science experiment" than is being claimed. OTOH, it clearly was an _experiment_ and not an attempt to actually damage anything.
3) We have no information on what, if any, safety precautions she had in place. Being a teenager, probably none, but we don't know.
4) There's a strong hint that she's protecting another kid here. If she was just doing it on her own, she could have done it nearer to her home. I bet they'd drop all charges if she coughed up a name, and it wouldn't surprise me if the overblown response is just a form of coercion because the authorities have the same suspicions.
From my POV for a expulsion, I'd be looking for something like a 1/4 stick of dynamite sized explosion, and for a felony prosecution, I'd be looking for actual damage to body or property. There's certainly enough intent and stupidity on her part here to justify a suspension and maybe a misdemeanor prosecution for attempting to cover it up as a "science" experiment, but I don't see evidence to go beyond that.
One unfortunate choice the linked press release makes is the phrasing: "Until now, scientists had only theorized the cause behind the phenomenon known as LED “droop” ". This just plays into the hands of people who complain that the Theory of Gravity and Theory of Evolution are "only" theories".
Correct phrasing: "Until now, scientists had only hypothesized the cause..."
You can only pour through the gaps after your brain has been turned to mush by the unintelligible documentation. This could take some time.
Remember a few years ago when weather.com and The Weather Channel tried to make the National Weather Service stop issuing free public satellite imagery and forecasts?
Any chance that NOAA/NWS satellite funding was cut to achieve their objective of privatizing the weather service by less-direct means?
Nah, our noble legislative branch would NEVER do something underhanded like THAT...
Screw the realities of advertising. If a site is willing to risk infecting their viewers and themselves for a few extra bucks a month, and they block me for using NoScript, they (and their advertisers) don't deserve my business.
https://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/092810-study-top-web-sites-riskier.html
Unfortunately we're too late. At this point a hellfire would probably have no visible effect on her appearance.
I note that the key phrase of the filibuster is about "killing Americans on American soil". So neither Republicans nor Democrats have a problem with killing Americans abroad? I think I better cancel that trip to Germany. What a subtle way to enforce travel restrictions while seeming to allow freedom of movement [/hyperbole]
Seems like trade between the US and China DOES affect politics and policy: we're becoming more totalitarian and restrictive even faster than China is opening up.
I'm mostly with you except on the point where you call your opponents angry whiners...I thought the point of this thread was that partisan politics are part of the problem. The lack of outcry against the growth of executive power under both Bush and Obama is insane. Bush 1 was a bit excusable by post 9/11 hysteria, but for the past 8-10 years, it's been clear that this is more about control and power than about fixing real security problems. What I envision is the entire intelligence community freaking out because they can't intercept all the information anymore and trying to regain control of the "situation".
OTOH, I'm not familiar with the "three new wars" that you claim Obama has launched. Care to elaborate?
PS - If you have land in Florida and you favor Republican energy and environmental policy, you may need to think things out a bit more. OTOH if you don't believe that sea level rise will affect property values in Florida during your children's lifetime, I'll be happy to sell you mine.
Actually, I think it's just shady self-interest and preserving the status quo. They will dump their support for any particular special interest in a flash, if that group stops providing value to them in furthering their own ambition.
"Sadly, you'll have to wait until there's a Republican in the White House before Reid or Pelosi speak against the drone strikes."
I don't see the minority leaders (McConnell?) on board with the filibuster either. This is a power structure issue not a partisan issue.
So in other words, they've invented the first robotic psychic?
I believe in Texas the legislature is entirely in favor of the right to bear arms. Freedom of movement, religion and speech are a bit more problematical for them.
Correct, but some of the small blimps at sporting events are unmanned and carry cameras. There is likely to be an impact to broadcasters in the long run, if not he short.
I think the best we can hope for is that the legislation is amended to only criminalize if the photo is taken while in the airspace of the affected private property. Otherwise, the "public view" doctrine would apply, as interpreted by the courts in cases of "was it a peeping tom case or an indecent exposure case".
Note the key phrase "unmanned" in the legislation. If he's flying the plane, no problem.
The legislation is discriminatory against the use of satellites and drones rather than pictures taken manually, and as others have mentioned would criminalize Google Satellite view and Street View where the pic was taken by a driverless car. Since some of the blimps above sporting events are unmanned, this could also affect broadcasters. The intent seems to be to make it more difficult to take pictures of real property without exposing the photographer to the risk of trespassing charges, or the cost of chartering or owning a small plane or chopper.
No it's not OK for the government to do that. But just because the government screws you over doesn't mean you can go screwing over 3rd parties. The problem isn't that the law against cracking networks is necessarily bad (although I'll agree it's not perfect and overreaches), it's that the government and corporations aren't held to the same standard as individuals, which is a completely separate issue.
No, you're conflating two different types of security vulnerabilities:
1) The gap the guy originally used to get in, plus any other pre-existing vulns.
2) the gaps the guy may have introduced into the network while he had access, via new malware, etc.
The re-flashing and stuff mentioned on the GGP is primarily to mitigate #2.
#1 is definitely not the guys fault, but any precautions required to mitigate #2 definitely are.
And whether you agree with the law or not, breaking into secured networks is still illegal regardless of the harm. Even if you throw out the remediation costs, the argument that "no damage was done" isn't necessarily true: from a business POV, breaking into their corporate network and leaking game console specs ahead of announcement qualifies as industrial espionage. What if the leaked XBox specs inspired Sony to upgrade the CPU or the graphics on the PS4 to improve their performance? The leak takes away a competitive advantage that MS had due to their trade secrets.
This looks like the first salvo in the upcoming "Mickey's Law" that is expected when the copyright on Mickey Mouse again comes up for expiration (2018, I think). 5 years is about the right time-frame for the caucus to establish itself and starting putting out "studies" showing how beneficial extended copyright is.
Meanwhile, it's a nice big sign to the world saying "Hey Hollywood and patent trolls, we want your money!"
"...the Democrats aren't really any much better."
Considering the caucus is sponsored by both a Democrat and a Republican, this demonstrates more of a talent for noticing the obvious, not insight. And the stuff about killing American citizens is pretty much off-topic.
On the other hand, if 90% of people try to turn this into a partisan debate, even though it has both D and R members, maybe it's not so obvious to the illiteratti after all.
That's just the tip of the iceberg...Google has its own file sharing services (Google Docs, Google Code). Given the size of Google and the dependency that download sites have on CC payments, this sounds like it goes over the line for anti-trust and anti-competitive conspiracy counter-charges. If I were Visa and MC, I would be very careful about how I approached this, so as not to get roped into a lawsuit.
If they just share information to turn over to the government, they can probably get away with that - after all, AT&T did when they allowed the feds to tap phone lines without a warrant. But if they try to stop payments without government approval, they are on shaky ground (IANAL).
Even more-so, copyrighting the kids work sounds like child labor slavery.
1) Kids are required to go to school, and can be severely punished if they fail to attend.
2) Kids are not paid to go to school.
3) Kids and their parents are not able to negotiate assignment of copyright or licensing with the board, the right would just be taken.
Sure sounds like slavery to me...
Plus, if the school wants to get the rights to use a kid's work, images, etc., there is already a parental waiver process in most school districts to allow this. This is a pure money grab. The whole thing is so crass that I suspect including the kids' work in the plan is just a straw man for the more substantive grabbing of teachers' work.
What's the non-infringing use of such an architecture? Without a "legitimate" use, this method could be argued as prima facie evidence of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and considerably raises the risk of criminal charges and government investigations. Not a good trade-off, especially for the owners of the proxy gateways.
Hmmm, I was going to say that bees die when they sting. But that's because normally the stinger gets hooked in the victim and the bee's abdomen ruptures when the stinger is pulled off. If they're stinging glass, I suppose it's possible they could survive the experience because the stinger wouldn't get stuck.
But I always do a full/slow format to at least do a sanity check.
and not a programming environment, there are a buncha TI (and other calculator) emulators. For example:
http://www.zophar.net/ti.html
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/84/8442.html
Personally, I'd just open up a spreadsheet program. If you need an algebraic equation solver, go with R, Matlab or possibly Mathomatic:
http://www.mathomatic.org/math/
Automation is shifting repetitive, uncreative, brutish work to repetitive, uncreative, brutish machines, thus freeing humans to pursue nobler interests.
No consolation to the workers who can't find new jobs, I know. But for the larger society, the benefits outweigh the costs.
In every change some prosper, some lose. But the same happens in every status quo. We may as well choose technological progress.
If we are compassionate, we can give the displaced workers opportunities to learn new skills.
The problem here is that automated systems are now smart enough to replace (pulling a number out of a hat) about 20% of low-skilled and moderately-skilled labor. This percentage will only grow larger over time. In other words - in the future, you'll have to be either exceptionally smart, or exceptionally creative to be able to have a job. I predict Lake Wobegon (where all the children are above-average) will do fine, but the rest of the world is in for "interesting times".
There will be a substantial part of the population that simply isn't smart or creative enough to hold a job in the face of automated competition. The only refuge for the average worker will be in situations where customers expect and require a human interface (for example in many service/hospitality industries). The tipping point will probably be around the time that most taxi services and some bus lines use driverless vehicles for at least some of their pickups. Look at IBM's developing model where the only US employees are sales force and executives (with corresponding admin support). The automated economy will be similar to that, but with less offshoring and more AI/automation.
The only defense the working and middle classes have against this (other than exceptional skills and/or creativity that can't be automated) is ownership of automated systems for themselves. Which is pretty hard to achieve when you don't have the money to buy in. So: everybody ready for the Butlerian Jihad?*
* - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butlerian_Jihad