Aug

28

USDOEd’s Turn

Filed Under University | Leave a Comment

Yikes! These are not the kinds of people who need to have their information disclosed. Students are just building their credit. For them to go through someone trashing them so early could be really detrimental. :(

Federal student loan program exposes data on 21,000 users:

The U.S. Department of Education has disabled its Direct Loan Servicing System, the online payment feature of its Federal Student Aid site, because of a software glitch that exposed the personal data of 21,000 students who borrowed money from the department, said Education Department spokeswoman Jane Glickman in an e-mail to Computerworld.

When a borrower was online late last Sunday or early on Monday, his personal information — including name, Social Security number, birth date and address — could have been exposed to another user who was also signed on at the same time and doing the exact same step, Glickman said.

Aug

23

Look for a Patent Wiki in 2007

Filed Under Interweb | Leave a Comment

Patent review goes Wiki - August 21, 2006:

That’s the basic concept behind a pilot program sponsored by IBM and other companies [including HP and Microsoft], which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appears poised to green-light. The project would apply an advisory version of the wiki approach to the patent-approval process.

The issue is that patent applications have tripled in the past two decades, leaving examiners only 20 hours on average to comb through a complex application, research past inventions, and decide whether a patent should be granted.

As a result, critics contend, quality has declined and lucrative patents have been granted for ideas that weren’t actually new.

One solution is to let astute outsiders weigh in during the patent-review process, as online encyclopedia Wikipedia does, vastly increasing the information available to the patent examiner.

This acknowledges there is a quantity and quality issue with people who are approving patents. The applications are complex (certainly when I read them my eyes glaze over). Do the examiners have access to good research tools? Are the examiners good at digesting the research they find? It sounds like all one needs to do is create a patent full of buzzwords the examiner is not likely to understand.

Personally, I think the USPTO should forbid hand drawn figures. Take the Blackboard patent for an “Internet-Based Education Support System and Methods” granted this year and the basis of a lawsuit against Desire2Learn (who posted the complaint and patent). I know the systems pretty well having supported a few. However, I find these hand drawn figures of a browser screen more difficult to understand than the same figure would be of a screenshot or a CAD drawing. I figure the ubiquitousness of drawing software should make this a fairly reasonable request.

Also, I would like to see more in patents about what existing technology the patent is based upon. The major complaint from people about these patents being granted is the amount of prior art. The USPTO is dependent upon the patent applicant and anyone who reviews these applications to find prior art. In knew of students who had papers rejected because there was obviously not enough references. Why not reject a patent for the same reason? Back when the office was founded, I could understand because it was so difficult to find evidence of other’s work. But the USPTO has given patents to Google! Surely with the wealth of information out there they can tell applicants they need to provide more information about prior art? Even make them provide information about items that are similar?

This project has the potential of an RFC (Request For Comment) to the whole world. To go the wiki route and allow people to change the language of the request seems kind of scary?

Aug

21

Evidence of Dark Matter

Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment

NASA - NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter:

Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter.

…

These observations provide the strongest evidence yet that most of the matter in the universe is dark. Despite considerable evidence for dark matter, some scientists have proposed alternative theories for gravity where it is stronger on intergalactic scales than predicted by Newton and Einstein, removing the need for dark matter. However, such theories cannot explain the observed effects of this collision.

I find the word “proof” a little strong. Definitely its evidence.

Aug

21

Smalltalk

Filed Under Personal / Relationships, Philosophy | Leave a Comment

The Smalltalk Question (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought):

One of the minor puzzles of American life is what question to ask people at parties and suchly to get to know them.

“How ya doin’?” is of course mere formality, only the most troubled would answer honestly for anything but the positive.

“What do you do?” is somewhat offensive. First, it really means “what occupation do you hold?” and thus implies you do little outside your occupation. Second, it implies that one’s occupation is the most salient fact about them. Third, it rarely leads to further useful inquiry. For only a handful of occupations, you will be able to say something somewhat relevant, but even this will no doubt be slightly annoying or offensive. (”Oh yeah, I always thought about studying history.”)

….

I propose instead that one ask “What have you been thinking about lately?” First, the question is extremely open-ended. The answer could be a book, a movie, a relationship, a class, a job, a hobby, etc. Even better, it will be whichever of these is most interesting at the moment. Second, it sends the message that thinking, and thinking about thinking, is a fundamental human activity, and thus encourages it. Third, it’s easiest to answer, since by its nature its asking about what’s already on the person’s mind. Fourth, it’s likely to lead to productive dialog, as you can discuss the topic together and hopefully make progress. Fifth, the answer is quite likely to be novel. Unlike books and occupations, people’s thoughts seem to be endlessly varied. Sixth, it helps capture a person’s essence. A job can be forced by circumstance and parentage, but our thoughts are all our own. I can think of little better way to quickly gauge what a person is really like.

I kind of like this. Its doesn’t seem to roll off like the others, but that could be due to never having used it. The lack of effectiveness with the others means I will gladly use any seemingly good alternative. I am going to use it.

Aug

16

0 q = 0 p T/F

Filed Under Humor / Weird | Leave a Comment

My new standard for finding out if people have problems I need to address:

I'm hoping this evaluates to true: no questions = no problems.

Okay, it probably would not work well should the person not be either a former Math or CS major. :( 


		
		

		

		
		
	
		
	

		
Aug

		
16

	

	
	

		
iCiv

		
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment

		

		
Michael Covington’s Daily Notebook:


Enough of this “electronic frontier.” I want civilization!


I agree. The Internet has become a dangerous place. Every node has its own rules, some are more developed than others, and none are completely safe.


 I’m in favor of a tax on the Internet if it’s used to pay for law enforcement. Fifteen years ago, before the Internet, it was common for an ordinary American to go for months if not years without anyone attempting a crime against him. Now would-be criminals are hitting on me 200 times a day. Some of them must be easy to catch.



A tax to catch criminal behavior on the Internet? I am not so sure. Already there are tons of police working on the Internet. Mostly they are seeking to shut down child pornography and bad people getting their hands on kids. They work at the federal, state, and local levels. They are so ineffective, vigilantes have started groups to catch these people.


We keep adding from what activity we want these police to protect us. However, catching a Internet crook in some ways is trickier than catching a face-to-face crook. Jurisdictions get in the way; evidence chains are a nightmare; judges and juries have no idea what 1/10th of the technical terms mean much less how its distinct from close relatives. Lawyers will get better at this last part similar to how DNA used to confuse juries but now helps get convictions. Protecting a bank online is in ways more difficult than protecting it from someone robbing it in person.


Ultimately it comes down to acceptable risk. People are clueless to the danger, so they make bad judgments.

		
		

		

		
		
	
		
	

		
Aug

		
15

	

	
	

		
L’eau d’Or Falls

		
Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment

		

		


	



	L’eau d’Or Falls, originally uploaded by sneezypb.




	If you haven’t been to Tallulah Gorge, in northeast Georgia (USA), then I highly recommend it. The place is gorgeous.


Pick a cooler time than August. :)

		
		

		

		
		
	
		
	

		
Aug

		
11

	

	
	

		
Thanks, Mom!

		
Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment

		

		
The Straight Dope: Is male pattern baldness inherited? Who’s to blame?:


… Men are more prone than women to X-linked abnormalities because they receive an XY chromosome combination while women get XX. In women, a recessive abnormality on one X chromosome will likely be masked by a dominant normal gene on the other. Men, however, have only one X chromosome–their other sex chromosome, remember, is a Y. That means an X-linked abnormality, e.g., the aforementioned baldogenic variation in the AR gene, won’t be masked and has a greater chance of being expressed, one reason you see a lot fewer balding women than balding men.


My getting a haircut makes people think about my hair. I go from have a small afro to fairly short one random day. Some people take years to get used to this event.

 :)

		
		

		

		
		
	
		
	

		
Aug

		
8

	

	
	

		
We all lose

		
Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment

		

		
Survey: Consumers lose to online schemes - Yahoo! News:


[C]onsumers lost $630 million over the past two years to e-mail scams.



That is nothing compared to the $7.8 billion people spent on computer repair. I’m interested in how many consumers are victims of email scams. Also, the median amount lost. 


Guess I’ll have to do some research at Consumer Reports and other places. :( 



		
		

		

		
		
	
		
	

		
Aug

		
7

	

	
	

		
Dinosaurs vs. Fraggles

		
Filed Under Movies / Films / TV | Leave a Comment

		

		
Amazon.com: Dinosaurs - The Complete First and Second Seasons
 


  Created before the days of computer animation, Dinosaurs is an early 1990s television comedy series featuring impressive anthropomorphic, animatronic creatures created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The story lines challenge some of society’s most basic assumptions and explore some of the most universally troublesome aspects of “civilized” life. Set in six million three BC, the Sinclairs are your “typical” blue-collar dinosaur family attempting to adjust to the relatively new concept of communal living. The adjustments of moving from a nomadic lifestyle to one of domestication and social interaction are many, and challenging issues like the concepts of right and wrong, faith, and the intricacies of family relationships are forever besieging this every-man’s family. Naturally, the Sinclair family approach is to address each obstacle with an abundance of slapstick comedy. The Dinosaurs episodes regularly function on dual levels: the puppetry and silly antics like Baby Sinclair’s penchant for hitting her father over the head with a pan while hollering “Not the Mama” appeal to even the youngest children, but the often pointed social commentary and sometimes mature themes are squarely aimed at an adult audience. As a result, parental discretion and guidance are key in determining whether this series is appropriate for children under 9 or 10 years old. –Tami Horiuchi    


Bold added by me. LOL This was one of my brother’s favorite shows when he was 6! I do recall not finding this show nearly as fascinating as Fraggle Rock. However, I was 7 at the time it came out on HBO (thanks, Grandma, for recording them all to VHS)!


TV is how I was babysat. Its how I babysat my little bro. Some would likely say its why I watch entirely too much TV. Perhaps…. I don’t watch all junk. At least a quarter are science or history shows. So I just repeat the misinformed soundbites. :) 

		
		

		

		
		
	
				
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