2. Some news reports have suggested that the Bush administration used the USA Patriot Act to look at the e-mails of American citizens without a warrant. What’s your position if this was indeed the case? Should citizens be willing to give up their privacy? Does it bother you to know that your online communications are very potentially semi-private instead of private?
The Patriot Act on so many levels is wrong an does not agree with the constitution. The night before it was to be voted on, over 60 pages were added to the already 400+ page document. Those pages, along with the other 400, did not originate in the Senate where they are supposed to, but from unknown sources in the executive branch. Ontop of that, the original sunset date for the patriot act was 2004, but once reinstated, a sunset date was eliminated meaning that there will never be a vote to shut it down. The powers granted to the President increased and can you imagine a President revoking his powers?
That said, how naive do you have to be to think that a.)this didn't already happen, b.) that they would tell us, and c.) that it isn't necessary (to an extent.)
Sure, everyone is entitled to their rights - that's what this country was founded on. But if you look closely at the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, our forefathers were clever enough to leave themselves a bit of wiggle room:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
What is "unreasonable?" Is unreasonable what I think it is or is what those reading my emails thinks it is?
So if we're going strictly by the book, its perfectly spelled out that Uncle Same may read my emails if they think its ok to.
What do I think? Not sure yet. I don't want be that jackass that says "The government should never read my emails because their MINE! and this is 'Murica not Russia!" On the flip side I don't want to be that guy who thinks everyone is honest and that the world is made of rainbows and butterflies.
I can understand the need for both. National security is extremely important, so is respecting our "rights." At the moment, I'm not necessarily bothered by it - I don't have anything to hide. At the same time however, where does it stop? As more and more powers are granted to to the executive, and more and more laws are written to suppress the inhabitants, it starts to sound like a monarchy. That's pretty extreme though. Do I think its gone that far? Absolutely not, but who knows.
What I'd prefer to see is better education to people about this touchy topic. Very few people can even site the bill of rights, even fewer know what the Patriot Act does. If people were better informed, they would more likely be comfortable with the issue or more engaged in changing it.
On a side note...Without picking red or blue, how stupid do you have to be to think that Obama would actually close Gitmo? That's not how it works. They are detained off shore so that they are out of the realm of US Constitution and granting them rights including a right to trial. That's how you get votes in November. He even went as far as signing a bill that would close it down within his first 100 days. Did it close down? Nope. Both sides are happy - Blue is happy he tried, Red is happy its still there. Besides, if it was closed down, the prisoners - rightfully or wrongfully there - would just be moved to another base somewhere else off shore. The morality of it is a different conversation.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sniffers
1. If your mother uses wifi at home to send you e-mail, and your home network is not protected by WEP or WPA, what reasons would you suggest to her for enabling one of these two protocols at home if the liability of reading those e-mails still exists once her message leaves your home, on it’s way to school?
Luckily I don't have to worry about this. Everything at my house is pasword protected - even the front door (pretty cool actually. Don't need a physical key.) But if it were the case I would remind her that sending me messages via unprotected wifi would be like being naked with the drapes wide open.
If my mom was sending me important information or gossiping about the neighbors, "sniffers" could take that info right out of the sky and see it themselves. On top of that, most wifi devices have a 100 ft reach or more. If its isnt password protected, our nieghbors could be stealing our internet and slowing the rest of us down.
In Blown to Bits, they author talks about how it hasn't been proven yet that public-keys are uncrackable:
"No one has proved mathematically that the public-key encryption algorithms are unbreakable, in spite of determined efforts by top mathematicians and computer scientists to provide absolute proof of their security."
I think this quote is just plain silly. It's pretty difficult to prove anything. And even once, you have, its not certain. Disproving something gives you a definite answer. Example: All bicycles have wheels. So we find 10,000 bikes with wheels. Looks like we've proved it right? Wrong. It only take one bike without wheels to prove the opposite.
Luckily I don't have to worry about this. Everything at my house is pasword protected - even the front door (pretty cool actually. Don't need a physical key.) But if it were the case I would remind her that sending me messages via unprotected wifi would be like being naked with the drapes wide open.
If my mom was sending me important information or gossiping about the neighbors, "sniffers" could take that info right out of the sky and see it themselves. On top of that, most wifi devices have a 100 ft reach or more. If its isnt password protected, our nieghbors could be stealing our internet and slowing the rest of us down.
In Blown to Bits, they author talks about how it hasn't been proven yet that public-keys are uncrackable:
"No one has proved mathematically that the public-key encryption algorithms are unbreakable, in spite of determined efforts by top mathematicians and computer scientists to provide absolute proof of their security."
I think this quote is just plain silly. It's pretty difficult to prove anything. And even once, you have, its not certain. Disproving something gives you a definite answer. Example: All bicycles have wheels. So we find 10,000 bikes with wheels. Looks like we've proved it right? Wrong. It only take one bike without wheels to prove the opposite.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Side Effects of Depressions Medication May Include Depression or Suicide
The official website for the drug Olanzapine probably didn’t mention the fact it might cause diabetic symptoms in patients. Another website obviously did. Commercials on TV now are required to mention possible side effects. Should drug companies be required to come clean about situations like the one with Eli Lilly’s Olanzapine in their commercial websites? Why or why not?
I have mixed feelings here. My initial gut reply is - Yes, full disclosure. If depression medication is going to make you kill yourself or thalidomide is going to cause birth defects, I'd like to know! (And if I'm carrying children and need morning sickness medication, then I probably have another issue.)
I think it's a little deeper than just that however. Should a requirement to post potential known side effects be put into effect, it should be done only on the premise of public health interest. If this is done however, there may potentially be more requirements on other companies requiring them to site public health concerns as well. Did you know that most automobiles only have to pass a 5-mph bumper crash test to be considered to have safe bumpers?
I would think that it is common sense to wonder what the side effects are, but then again I see people get wasted off their ass every weekend, gain 40 pounds and all that mess with no regard to potential side effects. And even if we are curious, it can be difficult to track down.
I used to work in a bike shop in high school. People would come in not knowing what they are looking for with a wallet full plastic to spend. We carried bikes from 400 bucks to 12 grand. Yes, 12 zero zero zero. Now around Tour-time, people caught the bug big DC attorneys with very little free time wanted a nice bike. I often talked them out of buying the 8,000 dollar bike down to the 2500 dollar bike because I knew they wouldn't have time for it and it would be a waste. (Generally speaking, it is not possible to get a quality road bke for less than 2,000 - that is actually considered a really good price.) I wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting into. They weren't just buying a bike - they were buying shoes, helmet, glasses, jerseys, shorts, special socks even, gels, bars, oh and then there's winter stuff too!! Next comes touring, then racing, then trvelling, then more money an new stuff and another bike and so on... the main side effect however, was time. Cycling is a lifestyle, not a hobby. Its addictive and consumes your whole life and eats away your time. If I didn't tell him that, he would have found out the hard way and actually ended up disliking our store.
So in the best interest of the consumers, and for their own reputation, I think that the websites should post the common side effects. I don't think that it needs to be in bold red letter at 24 pt on the homepage, but maybe a page dedicated to it.
I have mixed feelings here. My initial gut reply is - Yes, full disclosure. If depression medication is going to make you kill yourself or thalidomide is going to cause birth defects, I'd like to know! (And if I'm carrying children and need morning sickness medication, then I probably have another issue.)
I think it's a little deeper than just that however. Should a requirement to post potential known side effects be put into effect, it should be done only on the premise of public health interest. If this is done however, there may potentially be more requirements on other companies requiring them to site public health concerns as well. Did you know that most automobiles only have to pass a 5-mph bumper crash test to be considered to have safe bumpers?
I would think that it is common sense to wonder what the side effects are, but then again I see people get wasted off their ass every weekend, gain 40 pounds and all that mess with no regard to potential side effects. And even if we are curious, it can be difficult to track down.
I used to work in a bike shop in high school. People would come in not knowing what they are looking for with a wallet full plastic to spend. We carried bikes from 400 bucks to 12 grand. Yes, 12 zero zero zero. Now around Tour-time, people caught the bug big DC attorneys with very little free time wanted a nice bike. I often talked them out of buying the 8,000 dollar bike down to the 2500 dollar bike because I knew they wouldn't have time for it and it would be a waste. (Generally speaking, it is not possible to get a quality road bke for less than 2,000 - that is actually considered a really good price.) I wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting into. They weren't just buying a bike - they were buying shoes, helmet, glasses, jerseys, shorts, special socks even, gels, bars, oh and then there's winter stuff too!! Next comes touring, then racing, then trvelling, then more money an new stuff and another bike and so on... the main side effect however, was time. Cycling is a lifestyle, not a hobby. Its addictive and consumes your whole life and eats away your time. If I didn't tell him that, he would have found out the hard way and actually ended up disliking our store.
So in the best interest of the consumers, and for their own reputation, I think that the websites should post the common side effects. I don't think that it needs to be in bold red letter at 24 pt on the homepage, but maybe a page dedicated to it.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Open Source vs Microsoft
Some states and some companies are turning to open source software for a variety of reasons, some mentioned in this chapter. Some companies (say Microsoft) have gone on the record against open source software. Explain some of the advantages of using proprietary software and cite your advantages with websites that take or mention these positions.
Based on personal experience only, I can find pros and cons of both OpenSource and proprietary software.
When I was in middle school, I pretty much figured out that I wanted to be in the cretive industry. I made christmas cards, posters, comic books etc with the Office Suite. At the time I thought it was the bee's knees to drop some colorful Word Art onto every paper wrote. I eventually learned that Office actually blows when it comes to design work - you really need professional design software like the entire Adobe Suite to produce unique works. But for the soccer moms and untrained designers, programs like Pages and Microsoft Word are great are great easy to use items to spruce up their handouts (even though form a designers perspective, I think they look horrible visually.) I could be wrong, but I have never come across these features in neither Open Office nor Google's word processor. That said, the basic, most heavily used functions are supported - word processing, spell check, formatting etc...
I am always broke so I actually rely heavily on a few OpenSource programs for lightweight stuff. I use open Office and usually back up important works via GoogleDocs. Also an FTP client like CyberDuck - great! Now as a designer and film editor, there is no way you'd catch me using the open source stuff out there for that! I've tried it, and it, frankly, stinks! A PhotoShop alternative called Gimp Shop has gained some popularity, and I find it cumbersome, disconnected and not easy to use. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and the rest of Adobe's ever expanding packages are designed to work together and thus pays for itself 10 times over. Seamless compatibility.
I also race professionally (cycling) and use a tool called a Power Tap to track my training load. Over the course of a 20 hour training week, it is important to gauge how well you were performing. The tool measures your exerted power. You then upload the data form your 6-hr adventure into the mountains of west virginia and analyze the data. Hands down the best software to do so is called TrainingPeaks. In a nutshell, if you upload your data every day, the software will basically tell you on what day this season you will totally be fried, and for how long. It also tells you when you are goign to be the best etc..
There are a few OpenSource formats - one is called Golden Chetah. Its ok, gets the job done for beginner PowerTap users, but its not the best. Its got lots of bugs, crashes the computer a lot, often deletes files etc.
The Open Source v. Microsoft battle continues even in the realm of in-car entertainment and navigation systems. Microsoft has been working with Ford, Hyundai, and Fiat for the operating systems that control theses devices. According to cnet.com, software partners, The Genivi Group were asked to build another systems for GM, BMW, and others. Genivi is using Open Source stuff for their packages and Microsoft was not invited into the project. Genivi admits that their method is not as proven as Microsofts, who are at the mature stage of their product with version 4.0. "Microsoft has the advantage of a proven product, which many people have experienced in Ford and Fiat cars."
The same holds true elsewhere I think. Microsoft still has a proven track record - which sometimes bites them in the ass - and is thus still in business. There are many programs I would rather pay for and know they work - like the Adobe design, web design suites, and Final Cut Pro (Apple's film editing software) but I have no problem using a text open source for text editing, FTP, email clients, and other simple tasks.
Based on personal experience only, I can find pros and cons of both OpenSource and proprietary software.
When I was in middle school, I pretty much figured out that I wanted to be in the cretive industry. I made christmas cards, posters, comic books etc with the Office Suite. At the time I thought it was the bee's knees to drop some colorful Word Art onto every paper wrote. I eventually learned that Office actually blows when it comes to design work - you really need professional design software like the entire Adobe Suite to produce unique works. But for the soccer moms and untrained designers, programs like Pages and Microsoft Word are great are great easy to use items to spruce up their handouts (even though form a designers perspective, I think they look horrible visually.) I could be wrong, but I have never come across these features in neither Open Office nor Google's word processor. That said, the basic, most heavily used functions are supported - word processing, spell check, formatting etc...
I am always broke so I actually rely heavily on a few OpenSource programs for lightweight stuff. I use open Office and usually back up important works via GoogleDocs. Also an FTP client like CyberDuck - great! Now as a designer and film editor, there is no way you'd catch me using the open source stuff out there for that! I've tried it, and it, frankly, stinks! A PhotoShop alternative called Gimp Shop has gained some popularity, and I find it cumbersome, disconnected and not easy to use. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and the rest of Adobe's ever expanding packages are designed to work together and thus pays for itself 10 times over. Seamless compatibility.
I also race professionally (cycling) and use a tool called a Power Tap to track my training load. Over the course of a 20 hour training week, it is important to gauge how well you were performing. The tool measures your exerted power. You then upload the data form your 6-hr adventure into the mountains of west virginia and analyze the data. Hands down the best software to do so is called TrainingPeaks. In a nutshell, if you upload your data every day, the software will basically tell you on what day this season you will totally be fried, and for how long. It also tells you when you are goign to be the best etc..
There are a few OpenSource formats - one is called Golden Chetah. Its ok, gets the job done for beginner PowerTap users, but its not the best. Its got lots of bugs, crashes the computer a lot, often deletes files etc.
The Open Source v. Microsoft battle continues even in the realm of in-car entertainment and navigation systems. Microsoft has been working with Ford, Hyundai, and Fiat for the operating systems that control theses devices. According to cnet.com, software partners, The Genivi Group were asked to build another systems for GM, BMW, and others. Genivi is using Open Source stuff for their packages and Microsoft was not invited into the project. Genivi admits that their method is not as proven as Microsofts, who are at the mature stage of their product with version 4.0. "Microsoft has the advantage of a proven product, which many people have experienced in Ford and Fiat cars."
The same holds true elsewhere I think. Microsoft still has a proven track record - which sometimes bites them in the ass - and is thus still in business. There are many programs I would rather pay for and know they work - like the Adobe design, web design suites, and Final Cut Pro (Apple's film editing software) but I have no problem using a text open source for text editing, FTP, email clients, and other simple tasks.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Community of Practice
Consider the concept of a “community of practice.” How can such a community offer opportunities for learning?
In an earlier post I mentioned how important I thought the principal off efficiency was. I explained that using an online database with a scholarly journal saved time over going to the library, hunting for the book and then finally reading it. I think the same thing can apply to "community of practice" as long as we dont turn off our own inquisitive brains.
In the past as Shirky mentioned, a photographer might have no idea how his photo actually looked. But now with flickr and other file sharing programs, people can comments "lame" or "great framing" etc.. But one service I find myself using ALOT is the Creative Cow Forum. In working with Final Cut Pro or and other design software, it is easy to get confused and not be up to snuff on everything. Soemtimes you need a little help. So a lot of times, I find help from other people with the same questions at the Creative Cow. In turn, they may ask a question that I know the answer to and I will answer it.
The only danger is that there are people who sit back and rely on others and perfectly content to turn off their own brain and search for the answer themselves before immediately turning to get help. If we remember to keep our brain turned on and pay it forward with the knowledge we do have to help others, then I think we can only benefit learning new things in little ways form everyone. We don't have to totally rely on top-down hierarchy of experts to give us the knowlege and slowly climb the latter to expert. If we use the knowledge given to us and share it when we can, then theoretically everyone should be able to prosper. (This is starting to sound like a political rant about taxes! Not going there!)
In an earlier post I mentioned how important I thought the principal off efficiency was. I explained that using an online database with a scholarly journal saved time over going to the library, hunting for the book and then finally reading it. I think the same thing can apply to "community of practice" as long as we dont turn off our own inquisitive brains.
In the past as Shirky mentioned, a photographer might have no idea how his photo actually looked. But now with flickr and other file sharing programs, people can comments "lame" or "great framing" etc.. But one service I find myself using ALOT is the Creative Cow Forum. In working with Final Cut Pro or and other design software, it is easy to get confused and not be up to snuff on everything. Soemtimes you need a little help. So a lot of times, I find help from other people with the same questions at the Creative Cow. In turn, they may ask a question that I know the answer to and I will answer it.
The only danger is that there are people who sit back and rely on others and perfectly content to turn off their own brain and search for the answer themselves before immediately turning to get help. If we remember to keep our brain turned on and pay it forward with the knowledge we do have to help others, then I think we can only benefit learning new things in little ways form everyone. We don't have to totally rely on top-down hierarchy of experts to give us the knowlege and slowly climb the latter to expert. If we use the knowledge given to us and share it when we can, then theoretically everyone should be able to prosper. (This is starting to sound like a political rant about taxes! Not going there!)
Invisible
1. If Shirky is right, and we’re headed to a period where social media tools like YouTube, Flickr, and social networks like Facebook become “invisible,” what’s the impact on things you spend money on as consumers? Books? Movies? Music?
I think to an extent Shirky is right. As technology develops and our reliance on the web increases and changes, the use of the social networks will dim a little. When Facebook began, no one would have considered putting a little "like" icon over every news article and product that a person might like. I often read VeloNews and cyclingNews - two online resources for well, cycling news. Every article has a button for the user to like it, disqus it, tweet it and open-id it. I think that the social networking world will continue to expand until some cross-platform thing is able to link all of them together, eliminating the uniqueness of one service over the other.
These days, most every business, including mom and pops, have a website. this was no the case 10 years ago. Now every business is on facebook. If they aren;t, they have to play catch up. Once everyone is on facebook and everyone has a website, and assuming there will be a cross platform social network - sales could go down particularly for advertisers.
I think at first if everything is together, sales will be booming but if there is one social marketing aggregator, what would be the need for people to go to facebook, twitter, myspace and what ever else? The fewer the hits on those sites, the less the advertisers will want to advertise there. They will move their money to the aggregator...then how do the other's stay alive?
That said, I don't think this natural rise and demise will eliminate business. I think its niave to assume that we have hit the ceiling of capability and creativity. When color TV hit the market I'm sure people thought that was it then too, but look where we are now.
I know this sounds rediculous, and absolutely absurd, but I think its also to naive to immediatly discount the possibility of teleportation. Yes, I know - you are thinking "what the hell is he talking about?"
In the Roman times - could they have ever conjured up the idea of wireless telephones, nuclear bombs, florescent lights, the internet etc... Probably not. If someone suggested it, it was absurd. So to think that there is possibility that in 100 years or 200 years someone will have figured out how to transport speakers from Best Buy directly to your house with a click of a button...isn't too rediculous.
So though I think yes, the social network clouds will eventually gray together and change the way things are sold and revenue, it doesnt mean thats it, throw in the towel. There will forever be a continuing atmosphere and change technologies that will continue to shape our day to day lives and what we consume.
I think to an extent Shirky is right. As technology develops and our reliance on the web increases and changes, the use of the social networks will dim a little. When Facebook began, no one would have considered putting a little "like" icon over every news article and product that a person might like. I often read VeloNews and cyclingNews - two online resources for well, cycling news. Every article has a button for the user to like it, disqus it, tweet it and open-id it. I think that the social networking world will continue to expand until some cross-platform thing is able to link all of them together, eliminating the uniqueness of one service over the other.
These days, most every business, including mom and pops, have a website. this was no the case 10 years ago. Now every business is on facebook. If they aren;t, they have to play catch up. Once everyone is on facebook and everyone has a website, and assuming there will be a cross platform social network - sales could go down particularly for advertisers.
I think at first if everything is together, sales will be booming but if there is one social marketing aggregator, what would be the need for people to go to facebook, twitter, myspace and what ever else? The fewer the hits on those sites, the less the advertisers will want to advertise there. They will move their money to the aggregator...then how do the other's stay alive?
That said, I don't think this natural rise and demise will eliminate business. I think its niave to assume that we have hit the ceiling of capability and creativity. When color TV hit the market I'm sure people thought that was it then too, but look where we are now.
I know this sounds rediculous, and absolutely absurd, but I think its also to naive to immediatly discount the possibility of teleportation. Yes, I know - you are thinking "what the hell is he talking about?"
In the Roman times - could they have ever conjured up the idea of wireless telephones, nuclear bombs, florescent lights, the internet etc... Probably not. If someone suggested it, it was absurd. So to think that there is possibility that in 100 years or 200 years someone will have figured out how to transport speakers from Best Buy directly to your house with a click of a button...isn't too rediculous.
So though I think yes, the social network clouds will eventually gray together and change the way things are sold and revenue, it doesnt mean thats it, throw in the towel. There will forever be a continuing atmosphere and change technologies that will continue to shape our day to day lives and what we consume.
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