Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Magical thinking
Neat: Magical thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "magical thinking is nonscientific causal reasoning that often includes such ideas as the ability of the mind to affect the physical world, correlation equaling causation, the law of contagion, the power of symbols, and the meaningfulness of synchronicity."
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Presidential Transition Info
Presidential Transition Team: "this online directory will introduce you to the operation of the Federal government and the resources available to help you begin your service in the new Administration."
Monday, November 03, 2008
Guess Mom's gettin a new mac
Netflix now offers their 'Watch Instantly' feature for the Macintosh, but it requires:
Netflix: Watch Instantly: "Mac
An Intel-based Mac with OS 10.4.8 or later
Safari 3 or higher; or Firefox 2 or higher
1 GB RAM"
Mom's still running a G5 iMac - the original 17" model. She's also a big fan of Netflix. Hmm. New mac? Or Rokku netflix box for streaming over the TV? (and wifi network and receiver and speakers for switching between cable, DVD and Netflix and . . .)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Line for advanced voting
About a block long... Wonder if people think this is an important election?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Constitution Free Zone
American Civil Liberties Union : Surveillance Society Clock:
"Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.
The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This ' Constitution-Free Zone' includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas"
What in the hell am I talking about?
Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches. The border has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.” But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.
Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing. Dozens of drug sniffing dogs are employed along southern borders in Arizona, resulting in thousands of arrests per year. Not for pounds and kilos of dope - for dust in a baggie; used pipes in the trunk; seeds and stems in the carpet.
They're setting up terrorist and immigration checkpoints in those hotbeds of radical violence, like Forks, Oregon. (Courtesy the Seattle Times)
This July, the government updated the Border Patrol policy to date regarding information searches: now documents and electronic devices can be detained for an unspecified period. They may now be copied without any suspicion of wrongdoing, the lowest legal standard. Any papers. Any electronic device. Any information. An example? An FBI agent asked Texas native Yasir Qadhi to come by. Qadhi said the agent cited the March 2006 stop, where his cell phone was confiscated, and said, "We went through your personal diary in your phone, and we discovered these numbers on there, and we want to know your relationship with these specific individuals." (Courtesy the Washington Post)
Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches. The border has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.” But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.
Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing. Dozens of drug sniffing dogs are employed along southern borders in Arizona, resulting in thousands of arrests per year. Not for pounds and kilos of dope - for dust in a baggie; used pipes in the trunk; seeds and stems in the carpet.
They're setting up terrorist and immigration checkpoints in those hotbeds of radical violence, like Forks, Oregon. (Courtesy the Seattle Times)
This July, the government updated the Border Patrol policy to date regarding information searches: now documents and electronic devices can be detained for an unspecified period. They may now be copied without any suspicion of wrongdoing, the lowest legal standard. Any papers. Any electronic device. Any information. An example? An FBI agent asked Texas native Yasir Qadhi to come by. Qadhi said the agent cited the March 2006 stop, where his cell phone was confiscated, and said, "We went through your personal diary in your phone, and we discovered these numbers on there, and we want to know your relationship with these specific individuals." (Courtesy the Washington Post)
Discussion on Slashdot.org
(realistically, checking the Bill of Rights, the only one the current and past administrations have missed violating or simply eliminating by fiat is the 3rd amendment. 9 and 10 have been long gone since the 1930s.)
Indeed, I rather doubt that the framers of the Fourth Amendment would have considered 'reasonable' a program of indiscriminate stops of individuals not suspected of wrongdoing.Justice Clarence Thomas, 28-Nov-2000 (City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32 (2000))
CSS Inheritance
This is a nice tutorial on how CSS Inheritance works:
CSS Inheritance (Dorward Online): "An explanation of how inheritance works in CSS and why CSS doesn't need Object Oriented style inheritance."
CSS Inheritance (Dorward Online): "An explanation of how inheritance works in CSS and why CSS doesn't need Object Oriented style inheritance."
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Who is Bill - author of Ravioli at Lightspeed
This post to the MIT Humor mail reflector was written by 'Bill'.
Under enough pressure, ravioli behaves as a gas
Who is Bill? I'd love to properly cite this article in my .sig; I'm misattributing it to Nathan J. Williams now, who posted it to the MIT mail list.
(updated link - w. England 14-SEPT-12)
Under enough pressure, ravioli behaves as a gas
Who is Bill? I'd love to properly cite this article in my .sig; I'm misattributing it to Nathan J. Williams now, who posted it to the MIT mail list.
(updated link - w. England 14-SEPT-12)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Jeremy Clarkson on Motorcycles (British)
Jeremy Clarkson Vespa GTV Navy 125 review | Driving - Times Online: "What I’m trying to say here is that, yes, bikes and cars are both forms of transport, but they have nothing in common. Imagining that you can ride a bike because you can drive a car is like imagining you can swallow-dive off a 90ft cliff because you can play table tennis"
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
IRS Withholding Calculator
IRS Withholding Calculator: "The purpose of this application is to help employees to ensure that they do not have too much or too little income tax withheld from their pay. It is not a replacement for Form W-4, but most people will find it more accurate and easier to use than the worksheets that accompany Form W-4. You may use the results of this program to help you complete a new Form W-4, which you will submit to your employer."
Nathan - may be handy with your new job!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Random Cat drinking
Random Cat will only drink out of the faucet. He's too good for the fancy Drinkwell cat fountain!
Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.
Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.: "The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.
Try it, you’ll like it. It's free."
Try it, you’ll like it. It's free."
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Airave and bandwidth
I've just gotten a Sprint Airave -- a box that acts as a micro cell tower and sends the voice signal across the Internet to the public telephone network -- and I thought I'd see how it works when you are limited in bandwidth.
So, I'm downloading a whole stack of files, using over 600kb/sec of bandwidth (the cable modem only handles about 680kb/sec) and got on a conference call.
Everything seems to be working fine! Fancy...
Motorola S9 audioblog
WxExW Auto Audio Blog #20
Set up the Motorola S9 stereo bluetooth headset on the Instinct - here is the first test!
Gabcast! WxExW Auto Audio Blog #20
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
BywayBoogie banquet
Great food after a great day of riding around Paris, AR. Thanks to the Grapevine Restaurant.
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