First, thanks for the positive comment at the end. Despite the relative ease of coding a project like this (seriously, coding software like GIMP or OpenOffice is WAY harder), most developers have avoided dealing with the tax code due to both perceived liability issues and the perceived complexity of the tax code. Were the tax code truly coded as software, it would be many fewer lines than any of the big open source projects. This is a project where all I have to do is look up the IRS forms and convert them into computer code (after lots of careful reading and consultation).
Regarding FUD. Yup we're probably going to be in for it because the tax software business will not like an upstart and will do just about everything they can to deep six us if they perceive us to be a threat. Between our (*informal*) testing of the code using the IRS PATs inputs and outputs, having posted "Dire Warnings" in the program, classifying the program as ALPHA (use at your own risk), and having a very liberal accountant who, in theory, supports this project and who has offered his help in reviewing results, I feel that there are several layers of protection in place. Are they enough? Who knows, but at least I'm actually doing something about getting working code out there for people to try. You'll note that many people are taking a very healthy viewpoint of this and are saying up front: "I'm testing this code versus this other program to see what the results are."
The IRS rulings were made after such tax software already existed. Computer tax software has existed for a relatively long period of time, and definitely before the internet as we know it existed. I worked for a Wilmington, DE accounting firm as a temp for a short period while I was going through grad school, and we used some kind of archaic package that ran from DOS. Can the IRS change its mind on these rulings at any point? Sure. But I'm not going to worry about it until it happens.
Regarding partnerships with other organizations, you can't even get your foot in the door without a working code base. So while your suggestion is sound, you're putting the cart before the horse. TaxGeek will be loved by some, reviled by others, and along the way it will slowly progress into a mature product which either will or will not be adopted by organizations like AARP. But there has to be a product first before such a review can begin. AARP decides what product they will use after a thorough review.
Finally, if all TaxGeek does is to get TurboTax, TaxAct or some other company to provide a native Linux-based tax-product for users such as myself, it has accomplished its goal: to enable Linux users to do their taxes without switching operating systems and without being connected to the internet if they so desire.
As the author of this program I want to reply to a couple of comments in this thread.
First regarding the issue of free-file: AARP will free file for you no matter what your age or income level. At least this is how it has been presented to me by volunteers for the organization. This is noted on the TaxGeek website.
Second, regarding the coding of the US income tax forms, I agree that the tax code ought to be in computer code perhaps even written into the fillable PDF forms the IRS provides. This would be the most concise way to do it to ensure no mistakes are made. However, H&R Block, TurboTax and others feel that this is the government competing against private industry, and therefore, it won't happen.
Regarding this last point, I suspect that when TaxGeek actually becomes competitive with "real" tax programs, we will start having issues with the big companies who will feel that it is unfair that someone is providing software to the public for free (nevermind that it isn't the government). Imagine that our near term idea-list is completed. Specifically that we completely finish the 1040, can write to pdf using XUL-Javascript, and create an interview frontend. Should this happen, TaxGeek becomes platform independent and usable by a wider audience. Presuming that we have thousands of./ers sending bug reports, TaxGeek may even be more reliable than some commercial products. (I know, in my dreams...)
Finally, regarding liability please see the following IRS publications:
* "Revenue Ruling 85-189: Return preparers; sale of computer program. A person who prepares a computer program and sells it to a taxpayer to use in preparing the tax-payer's income tax return may be an income tax return preparer." Internal Revenue
Cumulative Bulletin, volume 1985-2, p. 341.
* "IRS announces that companies who sell return preparation computer software and programs may be considered return preparers subject to penalties." I.R.S. News Release, IR-86-92 (May 6, 1986).
Essentially, the fact that there is a dire warning regarding the software's abilities, and that the software is being given away offer protection to the developers (who are normally more protected than their CPA masters in the IRS standards of practice anyhow). The articles mentioned above don't even guarantee the company's liability in the case of mistake. They only say that the company may be liable under certain conditions. In short our line on it is that you didn't pay any money for this, you were warned about the software's status, and any mistakes are your responsibility, not ours. Also, we try to fix bugs that are reported to us in a timely manner which is also a developer's responsibility according to the IRS.
In sports, practice makes perfect. The more you practice a foul shot, the better you get if your fundamentals are good. In martial arts (what I do) the more you practice your aerials, jump kicks, etc., the better you get. I also teach math. University students who don't do their homework stand out like a sore thumb. This is because they don't get the repetition that psychologists (my mother-in-law for one) recommend for long-term learning of a subject. My wife teaches Spanish. Students who don't practice Spanish at home either in a verbal or written sense do poorly.
I'll tell you what, you proponents of no-homework. Let's have a contest. We'll take stratified samples from a population of 1000 students. We'll team teach in class and then 500 of the students will be given homework to reinforce what was taught. Then at the end of a month, say, we'll test them on the material. That's pretty simple, right? I'd be willing to bet the farm that the group that did their work would come out way ahead in any sort of learning outcome. I'd also be willing to bet that no-one who supports the "no-homework" mindset has any data to support their viewpoint.
Are *YOU* high? As a university professor, I get this ("You never told me xyz") all the time even when they've got the info on the syllabus, and have been told such info verbally every class all semester. You are over-inflating the importance of your email system if you think that the system you have has *anything* to do with students responding to your email.
Since gmail, or even AOL became ubiquitous, university-based email addresses really are extras that most students don't need or want. For that matter, neither do many of the rest of us. I already have too many email addresses (sourceforge and gmail for development purposes, sprintpcs and comcast as they are assigned to me because I subscribe to services, and my personal email addresses). Using Thunderbird to filter emails into the appropriate folder really is way easier from my viewpoint.
It sounds like the new encryption scheme was based on the fact that the Key would be in active memory for such a short period of time that it would be effectively irretrievable. All the hacker did was to slow the decoding process down so that the instant the Media key entered memory, the player was stopped and the Media key was recorded. While it might sound simple to "patch the software" to guard against this, the hacker has found the weak point in the whole scheme. This, to me sounds like a major rewrite, not a patch. And even if there is a rewrite, you still need to give the key to your audience at some point or they can't watch the video. This sounds like a losing proposition from the security viewpoint.
The guy went through a process to find the key. Once the particulars of the process have been cataloged and organized, the process could be coded into a library like libdvdcss which would automatically extract the key when the HD-DVD is loaded. I'm not saying that the user's experience would be stellar as it sounds like one would have to wait a bit for the key. But most users of "non-approved" players probably don't care so much as long as they can play their purchased movies on machines of their choosing.
Bingo. This story looks like a company trying to put a positive spin on the fact that they're in the process of losing their patents due to a plethora of prior art. Their PR people won't, of course, mention this to educators, preferring to sow FUD so that they won't lose their de-facto monopoly over courseware at universities.
As our university is hurting for money and poorly endowed (ahem), I for one, am going to recommend Moodle when it comes to renewing our Blackboard license. Based on my experiences with Blackboard, Moodle looks to be more flexible.
What we have to realize is that there is no one model of global warming. Rather there are dozens of teams of climatologists, physicists, physical oceanographers, and atmospheric scientists working on their own versions of Global Climate Models (GCM), Thermospheric/Ionospheric... Global Coupling Models (TIGCMs for all you space weather types out there), etc... All of the ones I am aware of show that Global Warming will be an issue in the next 50 to 100 years in that sea level will rise, climate zones will shift, and possibly, the ocean conveyer (thermohaline circulation) will be affected. Temperature anomalies from model to model differ as indicated here. And this is one of the inputs into other aspects of the models such as "how much ice from Greenland do we think will melt". Scientists are at great pains to only include known data into their models and as such, most models tend to be conservative. In fact most of these models are being tweaked and modified on a daily or weekly basis as new information becomes available. As an example of this, see this on how methane emissions may have been seriously mis-estimated both in source and amount.
Complaining about the lack of accuracy in these models is like complaining about the fact that modern weather forecasting can't tell you exactly what hour a storm that is two weeks off will hit, and how much rain will fall. Weather forecasting is exponentially better than it was 30 years ago and has saved the lives of seamen, mountaineers, and others. (In fact much of the goal of weather forecasting was specifically to save lives.). These models will continue to improve as we learn more, and if we actually act on their predictions, we can stand to benefit.
The government of the US is firmly committed to privatizing everything in the public domain and not competing with private enterprise. So most people in government here would probably applaud this individual!
I'm not saying you're incorrect: there are associated costs with learning technology, especially if you have never been exposed to the technology before. And you are probably right about the criminal element as well. As far as the training program, this is also a good idea. However, I think the folks at MIT are thinking about how to make a laptop more affordable - if one makes $2 a day, a $100 laptop is about 2 months salary. This was the same for me: it cost me about 2 months of my salary to afford my first laptop when I was in grad school (we used to think fondly of quitting and working at McD's where we could make some real money:-) ). The lowest priced laptop at our local computer refurbishing shop is about $400, much more expensive. And while I've seen a number of desktops get donated to the local computer rebuilding charity, only one laptop (now about 15 years old) was ever donated.
If one sets aside the question as to whether or not a cheap (by our standards) laptop will alleviate poverty, etc..., the question in the article seemed to be about the TOC. Note that the costs cited by this particular article would be the similar for any new technology introduced regardless of manufacturer or operating system. My thought is that if someone can make a laptop that costs $100 with the features cited including hardware and software, it is a gain. Who cares that it will only be offered under a special deal to certain 3rd world buyers? Who cares that it won't run Unreal Tournament or whatever your favorite game it. The point is that it's a frickin $100 laptop which will be more durable and portable than any laptops I've seen to date. The ideas and technology created here will trickle down and eventually be incorporated into other devices that the rest of us can use.
Finally, on a tangent to the parent's post, as to the issue of whether the resources used in inventing and marketing this laptop should be used elsewhere is largely a matter of belief. If you've seen the microlending programs that work in the third world and seen the types of businesses that have been created, then you can appreciate how technology of this sort could be used to help such folks out. Yes, yes, the laptops are for children, but haven't we agreed that if they are any good at all, the adults will just take them for their needs?
I guess I don't see why a $100 laptop should be criticized the way it is on Slashdot, OSNews, Newsforge, etc... when it seems that there are quantifiable benefits regardless of who gets to use them.
Tell you what... If this is as innocent as some of you are making out, then let's apply it in the manner of Lojack:
Customer: My computer has just been stolen, could you please disable it?
MS Rep: What is your WGA license number, mother's maiden name, and favorite color?
Customer: THX1138etc...
MS Rep: Thank you. Your computer is now being disabled, tracked, and if not surrendered within 24 hours, it will self destruct (in the interest of security). Have a nice day!
Personally, though, I think you all are a bit hopeful if you think this scheme is going to work like that. I suspect it will be more like this:
MS Drone: Sir, we've detected another user trying to switch to Linux.
Bill: Disable the process, and then re-assimilate his computer.
Bottom line, while it may have been touted as being for the user's security, in reality, I probably is to create some sort of vendor lock-in. Just my opinion. Take it or leave it.
P.S. Lojack probably has a patent on this sort of thing so if MS wants to use it for good, they'll be paying.
The next stage in this product's development will be to include long range alcohol sniffers and the latest advances robotics. These urinals will be released at dusk and immediately go on patrol, sniffing out drunks and following them around until they get so p*ssed...
And yet, the errors *always* seem to favor the republicans...
When you look at the following factors:
The ownership of Diebold and other major electronic voting systems by republican fundraisers
The massive amount of scandal (racketeering, etc...) on the part of the republicans
The as of yet unexplained discrepancies between exit polling and results in 2004 (BTW, the given explanation that exit polls are always wrong was addressed as being incorrect by a researcher for the Pew Charitable Trusts on NPR last week).
The refusal of electronic voting companies to open source their code that programmers *not* on their payroll can review the code. (For that matter, why not compile it in a secure environment having democratic, republican, green, and progressive programmers sign off on it, and then distribute the binary using an MD5, or other, checksum?)
In fact, it's a little disconcerting that people can shout "conspiracy theory" in order to squash any debate about the problems with our voting system.
Now, on the flip side, Sequoia Systems was recently bought by three Venezuelan businessmen. This could be problematic because of the foreign influence, but as of yet, nothing shady has happened with Sequoia *since* this business deal. (One could just as easily complain that the US has too much influence in foreign elections that use MS operating systems because they are a US owned company.) So in this case, the jury is out until evidence of foul play exists.
If the government thinks that he is enabling the "terrorists", they may also see contributing to his defense fund as contributing to terrorists which would result in your loss of habeas corpus. That said, while I have mixed feelings about what he has done (in terms of leaving his identity out there vs. taking a clearly political stand), I do feel that his is a worthy cause.
Right. At least, I think you mean: "Even a well funded military is no match for a highly motivated population." And that is part of my point. Most of the damage wrecked by Iraqi insurgents has not been with hand guns, but with IEDs as I noted in my previous post. I'm not saying that guns didn't play a part, but around there, most people have access to automatic weapons (in fact it is the right of all Iraqi households to own one AK47 for defense). Here, such weapons are not legal.
Exactly. It seems that many are trying to redefine certain basic rights that have been well defined and respected in the past. It is worth noting that Reporters Sans Frontiers is not totally negative about the US. See the mix of articles below from the past six months or so:
Likewise, RSF doesn't pull punches with respect to anyone. The message *I* take from the original posting was that many of us go around saying what great freedoms of speech and press we have in the US, and how we're so much better than everywhere else in the world. Whereas, in reality we're ranked 53rd in the world by a group that tends to be very negative towards *many* governments.
It is also worth checking out the report showing a higher incidence of dead reporters in Iraq over the last three years than in any other conflict since WWII. RSF believes that this is due to deliberate targeting of reporters as a means of censorship. True or not, you decide.
No offense...I like shooting as much as the next guy. But let's be real. How exactly is a hand gun or a rifle (remember, in the US, you cannot as a citizen own an automatic weapon) gonna protect us from a government that can send an A10 Warthog to strife the neighborhood, or drop a block buster bomb, etc... These weapons do squat against what the government could send these days. Note that in Iraq they can at lease own AK47s and that they build IEDs to do most of the heavy lifting.
To summarize, I believe in the right to bear arms, but lets do away with the fiction that legal firearms will protect us against a government that spends more than every other nation combined on defense.
I was an Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader, Junior Assistant Scountmaster, and finally, an Assistant Scoutmaster. I was involved with the scouting movement from the time I was seven years old until I was out of college.
I would not ever want my child involved with the parsimonious, right wing ideologs that make up scoutings core today This is for several reasons. Units I have seen recently have become increasingly intolerant of difference rather than celebrating it, they have become cheerleaders for the far-right and ultra-nationalism, and they have become decreasingly involved in the outdoors.
Much of the adult leadership I have seen is anti-gay, ant-flag burning, pro-marriage amendment, pro-bible-banging, out-of-shape and generally-not-the-sorts-of-people-I-want-my-son-to -learn-from. This anti-piracy merit badge is just in line with the thinking I've seen from Scout leaders.
Finally, with the increase in liability over the years, there are more and more limits to the activities troops get involved with. Fewer troops seem willing to take part in 50 mile afoot/afloat activities or go to places like Philmont Scout Ranch.
As a personal parting shot, I find the BSA's exclusion of martial arts as an acceptable activity to be ridiculous. When I was in scouts, my peers could get the athletics merit badge by: "Tak(ing) part for one full season as a member of an organized team in ONE of the following sports: baseball, basketball, bowling, cross-country, diving, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, skating (ice or roller), soccer, softball, swimming, team handball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, or wrestling (or any other recognized team sport approved in advance by your counselor, except boxing and karate)." The BSA cites safety reasons, however for karate and Chinese martial arts, the medical literature indicates that they are safer in incidence and severity of injuries than the majority of activities listed. See Birrer's article on the results of an 18 year survey. We can get into a detailed discussion of medical injuries in the martial arts later, but I find it ironic that scouting bans martial activities even though it is descended from using children as messengers on the battlefield in the 2nd Boer War.
You're right. It's either to try and make more money, or it's to keep bloggers from posting political speech. Or both. It has nothing to do with the children.
I think the issue is not sympathy. I think the issue is that it is entirely more complex than you make it out to be and that there is now a legal slippery slope.
To ensure that my pages are accessible to all, I really should
1) Attach alternate tags to all of my graphics so that screen readers can do their job. [CHECK.. this is easy]
1a) Not use any informational graphics unless I can summarize their content within a short sentence [Not so easy. I see the NYSE being sued almost immediately]
2) Not use certain non-linear designs as this will foil screen readers or lead to confusion [This seems like something that is not definable, but that the lawyers will know when they see it. Also, when does poor organization become a legal liability?]
3) Be certain to use an alternate design for the still non-compliant IE7 (and every other non-compliant browser out there). [So is the browser maker responsible, or is the web master responsible for making certain that they serve pages that every browser ever created can render properly? Oh yeah, and kiss the progress made in CSS over the last 6-7 years goodbye because it still isn't implemented uniformly or even at all in every browser.]
4) Be certain to use an alternate design for mobile devices (after all, what if you are computer-deprived and only have a cell phone?) [Isn't this an entirely new subset of HTML that needs to be learned? I know, you learn what you need to use, but so much for this being drop dead easy.]
5) Be certain not to include any element in my site that all people, no matter what their disability is, can use. [Uh...just how many disabilities are there and what precisely are their limitations? This last portion relates to the legal can of worms opened by the ruling.]
6) Be certain not to use certain color combinations as these will be illegible to the color-blind. [High contrast isn't enough in this case.]
7) Er...uh... (*pop*)
Heck, I'm just going to serve text files with hyperlinks from now on because that way I can't be sued. I mean, why take chances?
Exactly. This morning on ABC they had a demo of what the terrorists intended. It would have involved mixing liquids from several different passengers along with prying a flash from a disposable camera open. Surely, this is suspicious activity! Once more, if the authorities simply taught us how to recognize the suspicious behavior in question, the would be terrorists could be denied in the act.
Of course, I could be wrong. It might simply be easier for everyone if we live in a police state with curtailed freedoms.
Actually, on a local NPR gardening show, it was mentioned that AOL CDs scare away geese and other harmful (to your garden, that is) waterfowl when strung about one's garden. Apparently even geese inherently know that AOL is just plain wrong.
Not a problem...I'm using a slightly older version (1.5.0.2) of Firefox with mplayer-plugin on a Slackware-based system and I had no such issues. It seems your milege may vary.
I hate to say it, but the Bush Administration and AT&T had it coming. You can't cry foul if someone else breaks the rules, when you claim that you are above the law because everything you do is a state secret or is in the "interest of national security".
This gets to the larger issue. As much as I am concerned about spying on Americans, and the mis-deeds of AT&T, I am much more concerned that the administration's actions in putting itself above the law sets a precedence for gross and blatant violation of the law by many. In short, what we have here is the begining of the breakdown of law and order.
That said, how do you fight those who are above the law when you are constrained to play by the rules? Consider that the administration stopped the Justice department investigation into the NSA by refusing to issue clearances to the Justice Department. Any ideas on how to deal with this when the legal system has been co-opted by those who are committing the mis-deeds? Does legality have any meaning in this case?
Slashdot Mirror
First, thanks for the positive comment at the end. Despite the relative ease of coding a project like this (seriously, coding software like GIMP or OpenOffice is WAY harder), most developers have avoided dealing with the tax code due to both perceived liability issues and the perceived complexity of the tax code. Were the tax code truly coded as software, it would be many fewer lines than any of the big open source projects. This is a project where all I have to do is look up the IRS forms and convert them into computer code (after lots of careful reading and consultation).
Regarding FUD. Yup we're probably going to be in for it because the tax software business will not like an upstart and will do just about everything they can to deep six us if they perceive us to be a threat. Between our (*informal*) testing of the code using the IRS PATs inputs and outputs, having posted "Dire Warnings" in the program, classifying the program as ALPHA (use at your own risk), and having a very liberal accountant who, in theory, supports this project and who has offered his help in reviewing results, I feel that there are several layers of protection in place. Are they enough? Who knows, but at least I'm actually doing something about getting working code out there for people to try. You'll note that many people are taking a very healthy viewpoint of this and are saying up front: "I'm testing this code versus this other program to see what the results are."
The IRS rulings were made after such tax software already existed. Computer tax software has existed for a relatively long period of time, and definitely before the internet as we know it existed. I worked for a Wilmington, DE accounting firm as a temp for a short period while I was going through grad school, and we used some kind of archaic package that ran from DOS. Can the IRS change its mind on these rulings at any point? Sure. But I'm not going to worry about it until it happens.
Regarding partnerships with other organizations, you can't even get your foot in the door without a working code base. So while your suggestion is sound, you're putting the cart before the horse. TaxGeek will be loved by some, reviled by others, and along the way it will slowly progress into a mature product which either will or will not be adopted by organizations like AARP. But there has to be a product first before such a review can begin. AARP decides what product they will use after a thorough review.
Finally, if all TaxGeek does is to get TurboTax, TaxAct or some other company to provide a native Linux-based tax-product for users such as myself, it has accomplished its goal: to enable Linux users to do their taxes without switching operating systems and without being connected to the internet if they so desire.
As the author of this program I want to reply to a couple of comments in this thread.
First regarding the issue of free-file: AARP will free file for you no matter what your age or income level. At least this is how it has been presented to me by volunteers for the organization. This is noted on the TaxGeek website.
Second, regarding the coding of the US income tax forms, I agree that the tax code ought to be in computer code perhaps even written into the fillable PDF forms the IRS provides. This would be the most concise way to do it to ensure no mistakes are made. However, H&R Block, TurboTax and others feel that this is the government competing against private industry, and therefore, it won't happen.
Regarding this last point, I suspect that when TaxGeek actually becomes competitive with "real" tax programs, we will start having issues with the big companies who will feel that it is unfair that someone is providing software to the public for free (nevermind that it isn't the government). Imagine that our near term idea-list is completed. Specifically that we completely finish the 1040, can write to pdf using XUL-Javascript, and create an interview frontend. Should this happen, TaxGeek becomes platform independent and usable by a wider audience. Presuming that we have thousands of ./ers sending bug reports, TaxGeek may even be more reliable than some commercial products. (I know, in my dreams...)
Finally, regarding liability please see the following IRS publications:
Essentially, the fact that there is a dire warning regarding the software's abilities, and that the software is being given away offer protection to the developers (who are normally more protected than their CPA masters in the IRS standards of practice anyhow). The articles mentioned above don't even guarantee the company's liability in the case of mistake. They only say that the company may be liable under certain conditions. In short our line on it is that you didn't pay any money for this, you were warned about the software's status, and any mistakes are your responsibility, not ours. Also, we try to fix bugs that are reported to us in a timely manner which is also a developer's responsibility according to the IRS.In sports, practice makes perfect. The more you practice a foul shot, the better you get if your fundamentals are good. In martial arts (what I do) the more you practice your aerials, jump kicks, etc., the better you get. I also teach math. University students who don't do their homework stand out like a sore thumb. This is because they don't get the repetition that psychologists (my mother-in-law for one) recommend for long-term learning of a subject. My wife teaches Spanish. Students who don't practice Spanish at home either in a verbal or written sense do poorly.
I'll tell you what, you proponents of no-homework. Let's have a contest. We'll take stratified samples from a population of 1000 students. We'll team teach in class and then 500 of the students will be given homework to reinforce what was taught. Then at the end of a month, say, we'll test them on the material. That's pretty simple, right? I'd be willing to bet the farm that the group that did their work would come out way ahead in any sort of learning outcome. I'd also be willing to bet that no-one who supports the "no-homework" mindset has any data to support their viewpoint.
Since gmail, or even AOL became ubiquitous, university-based email addresses really are extras that most students don't need or want. For that matter, neither do many of the rest of us. I already have too many email addresses (sourceforge and gmail for development purposes, sprintpcs and comcast as they are assigned to me because I subscribe to services, and my personal email addresses). Using Thunderbird to filter emails into the appropriate folder really is way easier from my viewpoint.
It sounds like the new encryption scheme was based on the fact that the Key would be in active memory for such a short period of time that it would be effectively irretrievable. All the hacker did was to slow the decoding process down so that the instant the Media key entered memory, the player was stopped and the Media key was recorded. While it might sound simple to "patch the software" to guard against this, the hacker has found the weak point in the whole scheme. This, to me sounds like a major rewrite, not a patch. And even if there is a rewrite, you still need to give the key to your audience at some point or they can't watch the video. This sounds like a losing proposition from the security viewpoint.
The guy went through a process to find the key. Once the particulars of the process have been cataloged and organized, the process could be coded into a library like libdvdcss which would automatically extract the key when the HD-DVD is loaded. I'm not saying that the user's experience would be stellar as it sounds like one would have to wait a bit for the key. But most users of "non-approved" players probably don't care so much as long as they can play their purchased movies on machines of their choosing.
Bingo. This story looks like a company trying to put a positive spin on the fact that they're in the process of losing their patents due to a plethora of prior art. Their PR people won't, of course, mention this to educators, preferring to sow FUD so that they won't lose their de-facto monopoly over courseware at universities.
As our university is hurting for money and poorly endowed (ahem), I for one, am going to recommend Moodle when it comes to renewing our Blackboard license. Based on my experiences with Blackboard, Moodle looks to be more flexible.
What we have to realize is that there is no one model of global warming. Rather there are dozens of teams of climatologists, physicists, physical oceanographers, and atmospheric scientists working on their own versions of Global Climate Models (GCM), Thermospheric/Ionospheric... Global Coupling Models (TIGCMs for all you space weather types out there), etc... All of the ones I am aware of show that Global Warming will be an issue in the next 50 to 100 years in that sea level will rise, climate zones will shift, and possibly, the ocean conveyer (thermohaline circulation) will be affected. Temperature anomalies from model to model differ as indicated here. And this is one of the inputs into other aspects of the models such as "how much ice from Greenland do we think will melt". Scientists are at great pains to only include known data into their models and as such, most models tend to be conservative. In fact most of these models are being tweaked and modified on a daily or weekly basis as new information becomes available. As an example of this, see this on how methane emissions may have been seriously mis-estimated both in source and amount.
Complaining about the lack of accuracy in these models is like complaining about the fact that modern weather forecasting can't tell you exactly what hour a storm that is two weeks off will hit, and how much rain will fall. Weather forecasting is exponentially better than it was 30 years ago and has saved the lives of seamen, mountaineers, and others. (In fact much of the goal of weather forecasting was specifically to save lives.). These models will continue to improve as we learn more, and if we actually act on their predictions, we can stand to benefit.
The government of the US is firmly committed to privatizing everything in the public domain and not competing with private enterprise. So most people in government here would probably applaud this individual!
If one sets aside the question as to whether or not a cheap (by our standards) laptop will alleviate poverty, etc..., the question in the article seemed to be about the TOC. Note that the costs cited by this particular article would be the similar for any new technology introduced regardless of manufacturer or operating system. My thought is that if someone can make a laptop that costs $100 with the features cited including hardware and software, it is a gain. Who cares that it will only be offered under a special deal to certain 3rd world buyers? Who cares that it won't run Unreal Tournament or whatever your favorite game it. The point is that it's a frickin $100 laptop which will be more durable and portable than any laptops I've seen to date. The ideas and technology created here will trickle down and eventually be incorporated into other devices that the rest of us can use.
Finally, on a tangent to the parent's post, as to the issue of whether the resources used in inventing and marketing this laptop should be used elsewhere is largely a matter of belief. If you've seen the microlending programs that work in the third world and seen the types of businesses that have been created, then you can appreciate how technology of this sort could be used to help such folks out. Yes, yes, the laptops are for children, but haven't we agreed that if they are any good at all, the adults will just take them for their needs?
I guess I don't see why a $100 laptop should be criticized the way it is on Slashdot, OSNews, Newsforge, etc... when it seems that there are quantifiable benefits regardless of who gets to use them.
P.S. Lojack probably has a patent on this sort of thing so if MS wants to use it for good, they'll be paying.
The next stage in this product's development will be to include long range alcohol sniffers and the latest advances robotics. These urinals will be released at dusk and immediately go on patrol, sniffing out drunks and following them around until they get so p*ssed...
And yet, the errors *always* seem to favor the republicans...
When you look at the following factors:
it seems like a problem is more likely than not.
In fact, it's a little disconcerting that people can shout "conspiracy theory" in order to squash any debate about the problems with our voting system.
Now, on the flip side, Sequoia Systems was recently bought by three Venezuelan businessmen. This could be problematic because of the foreign influence, but as of yet, nothing shady has happened with Sequoia *since* this business deal. (One could just as easily complain that the US has too much influence in foreign elections that use MS operating systems because they are a US owned company.) So in this case, the jury is out until evidence of foul play exists.
If the government thinks that he is enabling the "terrorists", they may also see contributing to his defense fund as contributing to terrorists which would result in your loss of habeas corpus. That said, while I have mixed feelings about what he has done (in terms of leaving his identity out there vs. taking a clearly political stand), I do feel that his is a worthy cause.
Just my 0.02 cents.
Right. At least, I think you mean: "Even a well funded military is no match for a highly motivated population." And that is part of my point. Most of the damage wrecked by Iraqi insurgents has not been with hand guns, but with IEDs as I noted in my previous post. I'm not saying that guns didn't play a part, but around there, most people have access to automatic weapons (in fact it is the right of all Iraqi households to own one AK47 for defense). Here, such weapons are not legal.
Exactly. It seems that many are trying to redefine certain basic rights that have been well defined and respected in the past. It is worth noting that Reporters Sans Frontiers is not totally negative about the US. See the mix of articles below from the past six months or so:
Likewise, RSF doesn't pull punches with respect to anyone. The message *I* take from the original posting was that many of us go around saying what great freedoms of speech and press we have in the US, and how we're so much better than everywhere else in the world. Whereas, in reality we're ranked 53rd in the world by a group that tends to be very negative towards *many* governments.
It is also worth checking out the report showing a higher incidence of dead reporters in Iraq over the last three years than in any other conflict since WWII. RSF believes that this is due to deliberate targeting of reporters as a means of censorship. True or not, you decide.To summarize, I believe in the right to bear arms, but lets do away with the fiction that legal firearms will protect us against a government that spends more than every other nation combined on defense.
I was an Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader, Junior Assistant Scountmaster, and finally, an Assistant Scoutmaster. I was involved with the scouting movement from the time I was seven years old until I was out of college. I would not ever want my child involved with the parsimonious, right wing ideologs that make up scoutings core today This is for several reasons. Units I have seen recently have become increasingly intolerant of difference rather than celebrating it, they have become cheerleaders for the far-right and ultra-nationalism, and they have become decreasingly involved in the outdoors. Much of the adult leadership I have seen is anti-gay, ant-flag burning, pro-marriage amendment, pro-bible-banging, out-of-shape and generally-not-the-sorts-of-people-I-want-my-son-to -learn-from. This anti-piracy merit badge is just in line with the thinking I've seen from Scout leaders.
Finally, with the increase in liability over the years, there are more and more limits to the activities troops get involved with. Fewer troops seem willing to take part in 50 mile afoot/afloat activities or go to places like Philmont Scout Ranch.
As a personal parting shot, I find the BSA's exclusion of martial arts as an acceptable activity to be ridiculous. When I was in scouts, my peers could get the athletics merit badge by: "Tak(ing) part for one full season as a member of an organized team in ONE of the following sports: baseball, basketball, bowling, cross-country, diving, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, skating (ice or roller), soccer, softball, swimming, team handball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, or wrestling (or any other recognized team sport approved in advance by your counselor, except boxing and karate)." The BSA cites safety reasons, however for karate and Chinese martial arts, the medical literature indicates that they are safer in incidence and severity of injuries than the majority of activities listed. See Birrer's article on the results of an 18 year survey. We can get into a detailed discussion of medical injuries in the martial arts later, but I find it ironic that scouting bans martial activities even though it is descended from using children as messengers on the battlefield in the 2nd Boer War.
You're right. It's either to try and make more money, or it's to keep bloggers from posting political speech. Or both. It has nothing to do with the children.
To ensure that my pages are accessible to all, I really should
Heck, I'm just going to serve text files with hyperlinks from now on because that way I can't be sued. I mean, why take chances?
Of course, I could be wrong. It might simply be easier for everyone if we live in a police state with curtailed freedoms.
Actually, on a local NPR gardening show, it was mentioned that AOL CDs scare away geese and other harmful (to your garden, that is) waterfowl when strung about one's garden. Apparently even geese inherently know that AOL is just plain wrong.
Not a problem...I'm using a slightly older version (1.5.0.2) of Firefox with mplayer-plugin on a Slackware-based system and I had no such issues. It seems your milege may vary.
I'd be worried, but they're about to go out of business because of their non-competitive business model. :-)
This gets to the larger issue. As much as I am concerned about spying on Americans, and the mis-deeds of AT&T, I am much more concerned that the administration's actions in putting itself above the law sets a precedence for gross and blatant violation of the law by many. In short, what we have here is the begining of the breakdown of law and order.
That said, how do you fight those who are above the law when you are constrained to play by the rules? Consider that the administration stopped the Justice department investigation into the NSA by refusing to issue clearances to the Justice Department. Any ideas on how to deal with this when the legal system has been co-opted by those who are committing the mis-deeds? Does legality have any meaning in this case?