I'm going to reiterate a question I posed last time that I don't feel was adequately addressed. The poor, the non tech-savvy, those without an internet connection, or those who are unable (through some mental or physical impairment) to operate a computer: How do you plan to make sure that these people still have a vote in this system.
A citizen sending me a letter saying "I am against X" is as good as a vote for it online. Similarly, submitting some sort of ballot at a citizens' meeting should count the same, too. I would then enter these "offline" votes and attribute them to the appropriate citizen (to avoid double voting). This is a component that I feel is an essential part to any system that seeks to empower citizens.
This could be a problem, but the Vermont Legislature works sufficiently slowly that I don't believe this to be an issue in general. I expect to vote according to what I know of the attitudes of the citizens, and what I know of the legislation being presented.
I have to say, though, that I am a fan of what ganjadude and RobertLTux suggest here - we need to give everyone a reasonable chance to digest what's going on. Transparency is crucial.
As I mentioned above, Phil Dodds is on the ballot for the House of Representatives in North Florida's 3rd District. He and I are collaborating on the software platform. Even if neither of us get elected, the software will be out there and available for anyone to use, whether as a representative or a citizen.
While I can't say that I've been a daily reader, I have been reading for quite some time, mostly lurking, but I do have to say that in several ways, this site affected the progress of my schooling (all three degrees), research, and politics.
>If none of the stuff you normally like keeps, you are not eating right.
Not to be picky, but eating fresh fruit and vegetables means someone is not eating right? (Yes, of course you're not going to be able to find these in a disaster) For what it's worth, the shelf life of Chunky Soup is 1-2 years, maybe a bit longer if it's in a cold root cellar most of the time.
>Real survivalists stock MRE's
I'd argue that real survivalists stock dehydrated foods, dry beans, rice, wheat, yeast, cooking oil (watch the shelf life on this) and the like. These items allow for a much greater flexibility in preparation over a long period of time (shelf life can be 10 years+ pretty easily), and don't result in the digestive "features" of MREs. (Not to mention, MREs are outrageously expensive in comparison and shelf life is supposed to be 5-7 years) You definitely don't want to live on them. For a day or two if you absolutely positively can't find any water or fuel, OK, but if you don't have those, you have bigger problems anyway.
I would highly recommend getting a hold of the AGS. They have an extensive collection of maps and are in the process of digitizing their own collection. I suspect that they would be willing to help you, or at least provide the necessary information to get you on the right track. If you happen to be within driving distance of Milwaukee, even better. Here's their contact information:
The AGS Library University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee P.O. Box 604 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0604 Tel: (414) 229-4785
Marvin Minsky would seem to second your theory about prediction, so that our perception of what is "now" is actually based on "old" (on the milliseconds scale) data, and most of the time syncs up fairly well with what is eventually perceived in that moment.
I'd recommend his book "The Emotion Machine" for a much more in-depth look at this topic.
This is an interesting idea, but it's too bad that they are apparently removing a nature preserve to install it.
The book "How to Build a Village" is not very far off from the plan that China is putting together, though the agriculture in the "Village" is kept in surrounding areas.
The unfortunate thing about most online offerings is that they are created in direct response to student wants. As other comments have stated, some non-college programmers may not know the subjects that they really need to be effective programmers. That said, why should students be dictating the way that courses are delivered? Why not let the curriculum developers that genuinely know what they're teaching/talking about develop the courses? If the students know what's effective in the classroom, why don't we give them a complimentary degree in education?
As a technical college instructor, I hear a lot of students complaining about their online classes, primarily because they don't have the self-motivation to do the work on their own. The flip side is that before the school had online classes, the students were clamoring for them.
I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.
After the article I read on fungus dwelling on the space station and slowly eating it away, it made me consider something:
Are those probes and rovers we're sending to Mars sterile? I would bet not. Granted there's not much living material that'd hitch a ride with the rover, but what if a sensor picks up a piece of recently-dead fungus and suddenly decides that it originated on Mars, when in fact, it originally came from Earth.
Ok, enough of my thinking out loud. I'm sure you get my point.
Now I'm no mathematician, so I obviously didn't check to make sure they carried all of their ones, but at a glance, it looks ok. (How's that for an endorsement?)
I'm curious if any of the other L0pht denizens ever visit the L0pht BBS. It seems that of the L0pht guys, only BB ever posts, and that's next to never. Do you guys keep tabs on what goes on there?
For being a self-proclaimed security enthusiast, rumor has it that you've never actually attended any "hacker" con. Is this true? If so, what and when was it, and if not, why have you avoided them for so long.
I'm just wondering what your opinion is of Carolyn Meinel. For example, how did it come about that Heppy Hacker and AntiOnline became so closely linked? (you hosting mail servers and so forth)
If I read the same article you did (more like a few months ago), I'm fairly certain it was invasive. Tiny cone-shaped sensors were placed in the (quadriplegic?) subjects' brains. They could move the cursor left and right by trying to move their left and right arms, respectively. Granted it's not a long-lastig invasiveness, but I'd think at least twice about having any sensors implanted in my head. (For now, at least)
I'll second this post. I can pull random memories out of thin air, or remember a person I met once years ago, and tell you what they were wearing, what I was thinking and how the weather was. Granted, it's not perfect, or even as perfect as PsychoSpunk above claims. I do tend to float from one thought to another fairly randomly, too, so it is easy to get distracted. And now and then, my memory is absolutely horrible. I can walk between rooms, and end up doing something else, then forget what I was doing in the first place.
My nice tangle of wires from 2 computers in separate places would be even more tangled with 3 computers all in one place, I fear. They do look really nice, however, and I can see these selling better in corporate settings where they haven't (for some reason) set up racks.
Slashdot Mirror
You're right: "Let the people make their choices" is what I'm going for here. Thanks for the Asimov example.
Jeremy Hansen
Here's how: Helios: Web-based Open-Audit Voting
Jeremy Hansen
I'm going to reiterate a question I posed last time that I don't feel was adequately addressed. The poor, the non tech-savvy, those without an internet connection, or those who are unable (through some mental or physical impairment) to operate a computer: How do you plan to make sure that these people still have a vote in this system.
A citizen sending me a letter saying "I am against X" is as good as a vote for it online. Similarly, submitting some sort of ballot at a citizens' meeting should count the same, too. I would then enter these "offline" votes and attribute them to the appropriate citizen (to avoid double voting). This is a component that I feel is an essential part to any system that seeks to empower citizens.
Jeremy Hansen
This could be a problem, but the Vermont Legislature works sufficiently slowly that I don't believe this to be an issue in general. I expect to vote according to what I know of the attitudes of the citizens, and what I know of the legislation being presented.
I have to say, though, that I am a fan of what ganjadude and RobertLTux suggest here - we need to give everyone a reasonable chance to digest what's going on. Transparency is crucial.
Jeremy Hansen
Jeremy Hansen here.
As I mentioned above, Phil Dodds is on the ballot for the House of Representatives in North Florida's 3rd District. He and I are collaborating on the software platform. Even if neither of us get elected, the software will be out there and available for anyone to use, whether as a representative or a citizen.
While I can't say that I've been a daily reader, I have been reading for quite some time, mostly lurking, but I do have to say that in several ways, this site affected the progress of my schooling (all three degrees), research, and politics.
Prost!
>If none of the stuff you normally like keeps, you are not eating right.
Not to be picky, but eating fresh fruit and vegetables means someone is not eating right? (Yes, of course you're not going to be able to find these in a disaster) For what it's worth, the shelf life of Chunky Soup is 1-2 years, maybe a bit longer if it's in a cold root cellar most of the time.
>Real survivalists stock MRE's
I'd argue that real survivalists stock dehydrated foods, dry beans, rice, wheat, yeast, cooking oil (watch the shelf life on this) and the like. These items allow for a much greater flexibility in preparation over a long period of time (shelf life can be 10 years+ pretty easily), and don't result in the digestive "features" of MREs. (Not to mention, MREs are outrageously expensive in comparison and shelf life is supposed to be 5-7 years) You definitely don't want to live on them. For a day or two if you absolutely positively can't find any water or fuel, OK, but if you don't have those, you have bigger problems anyway.
I would highly recommend getting a hold of the AGS. They have an extensive collection of maps and are in the process of digitizing their own collection. I suspect that they would be willing to help you, or at least provide the necessary information to get you on the right track. If you happen to be within driving distance of Milwaukee, even better. Here's their contact information:
The AGS Library
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P.O. Box 604
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0604
Tel: (414) 229-4785
http://www.amergeog.org/
Bruce Schechter's "My Brain Is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos"
and
Richard Feynman's "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
I won't duplicate the material, but chapter 4 of the book in question is "Consciousness". The draft version of this chapter is at Minsky's site:
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/eb4.html
Marvin Minsky would seem to second your theory about prediction, so that our perception of what is "now" is actually based on "old" (on the milliseconds scale) data, and most of the time syncs up fairly well with what is eventually perceived in that moment.
I'd recommend his book "The Emotion Machine" for a much more in-depth look at this topic.
The CSTA is a great source of curriculum and materials for teaching computer science:
http://www.csta.acm.org/
I'd recommend joining (it's free for you!) and making use of their resources.
This is an interesting idea, but it's too bad that they are apparently removing a nature preserve to install it.
The book "How to Build a Village" is not very far off from the plan that China is putting together, though the agriculture in the "Village" is kept in surrounding areas.
More details at http://villageforum.com/
Both SHA-1 and MD5 specify including the length of the message as part of padding to the next 512-bit block.
...this is not anything new. Microvision has been working on a similar technology for some time now:
http://www.microvision.com/proj.html
Can't say whether it'll come out of the R&D phase or not, but the "mini-projector in a cell phone" is not groundbreaking.
The unfortunate thing about most online offerings is that they are created in direct response to student wants. As other comments have stated, some non-college programmers may not know the subjects that they really need to be effective programmers. That said, why should students be dictating the way that courses are delivered? Why not let the curriculum developers that genuinely know what they're teaching/talking about develop the courses? If the students know what's effective in the classroom, why don't we give them a complimentary degree in education?
As a technical college instructor, I hear a lot of students complaining about their online classes, primarily because they don't have the self-motivation to do the work on their own. The flip side is that before the school had online classes, the students were clamoring for them.
I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.
After the article I read on fungus dwelling on the space station and slowly eating it away, it made me consider something:
Are those probes and rovers we're sending to Mars sterile? I would bet not. Granted there's not much living material that'd hitch a ride with the rover, but what if a sensor picks up a piece of recently-dead fungus and suddenly decides that it originated on Mars, when in fact, it originally came from Earth.
Ok, enough of my thinking out loud. I'm sure you get my point.
A quick Google search:
http://www.mathematical.com/mathgold1.html
Now I'm no mathematician, so I obviously didn't check to make sure they carried all of their ones, but at a glance, it looks ok. (How's that for an endorsement?)
Cynic
http://napalm.firest0rm.org/
I'm curious if any of the other L0pht denizens ever visit the L0pht BBS. It seems that of the L0pht guys, only BB ever posts, and that's next to never. Do you guys keep tabs on what goes on there?
For being a self-proclaimed security enthusiast, rumor has it that you've never actually attended any "hacker" con. Is this true? If so, what and when was it, and if not, why have you avoided them for so long.
Cynic
I'm just wondering what your opinion is of Carolyn Meinel. For example, how did it come about that Heppy Hacker and AntiOnline became so closely linked? (you hosting mail servers and so forth)
Cynic
>So it makes your brain get bigger while it makes your testicles get smaller.
It'd be interesting to see what everyone would choose if they had to pick one or the other. Rob- How about a poll?
Cynic
kynik@gh0st.net
fire.gh0st.net/napalm/
If I read the same article you did (more like a few months ago), I'm fairly certain it was invasive. Tiny cone-shaped sensors were placed in the (quadriplegic?) subjects' brains. They could move the cursor left and right by trying to move their left and right arms, respectively. Granted it's not a long-lastig invasiveness, but I'd think at least twice about having any sensors implanted in my head. (For now, at least)
I'll second this post. I can pull random memories out of thin air, or remember a person I met once years ago, and tell you what they were wearing, what I was thinking and how the weather was. Granted, it's not perfect, or even as perfect as PsychoSpunk above claims. I do tend to float from one thought to another fairly randomly, too, so it is easy to get distracted. And now and then, my memory is absolutely horrible. I can walk between rooms, and end up doing something else, then forget what I was doing in the first place.
My nice tangle of wires from 2 computers in separate places would be even more tangled with 3 computers all in one place, I fear. They do look really nice, however, and I can see these selling better in corporate settings where they haven't (for some reason) set up racks.