July 2, 2004
RIP
So it seems as though the server upgrade has well and truly fried this blog. Movable Type swears up and down that Berkeley DB (the database I've been using) is not installed. The server administrator swears it is. Movable Type does think that MySQL is installed, but the administrator has not responded to my request for an account. Halogen's security apparently keeps me from being able to install there. So, no more twisted apples for the foreseeable future.
Ah, well, 'tis probably for the best. Don't get me wrong, blogging was fun, but I have a strong suspicion that it would have sucked up too much of my time during the school year. I'll leave everything that's already here up for a while. I'll keep the static Web site up and updated. And I'll play around with styles to see if I can make my plan toleable for those not a part of planWorld.
Signing out,
Posted by David Schaich
June 22, 2004
Notice
The site is currently down due to a server upgrade over the weekend. I'm writing this manually with Dreamweaver to let you know that regular posting may be nonexistant for a few days while things are sorted out.
In the meantime, you should know that a new particle has been discovered, and that it displays unusual and potentially enlightening behavior. Very exciting.
Oh, yes, there's also that whole private spacecraft thing. I'm sure you've heard about that already. I'm also sure you agree it doesn't compare with a new heavy-light meson with unusual properties.
And Nader picks Camejo as a running mate. Man, there's something to blog about.
Posted by David Schaich
June 19, 2004
Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller
An Amazon.com review:
4 Stars
"Zodiac" is Neal Stephenson's second book, written between the unimpressive "The Big U" and the cyberpunk classic "Snow Crash." It was mildly successful and according to Stephenson, "on first coming out in 1988 it quickly developed a cult following among water-pollution-control engineers and was enjoyed, though rarely bought, by many radical environmentalists." Unlike Stephenson's more recent works, it involves only one linear plot line, and is also of a more reasonable size. This may make it his most accessible work, though it isn't his most entertaining.
Continue reading "Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller"
Posted by David Schaich at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2004
Score a couple for the EFF
Well, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has had a pretty successful week. Last Thursday a court ruled that maintaining Web sites and online discussion boards for controversial Islamic groups does not constitute "material support" of terrorism in the form of "expert advice and assistance." Then, Monday, they managed to secure an agreement from DirecTV not to sue people who purchase equipment that can be used to pirate its satellite signal (along with, of course, many other legitimate uses). Instead, it will only sue those who actually do pirate its satellite signal. Moreover, DirecTV has agreed to investigate all substantive claims of innocence.
Hey! That sounds like... common sense. Reading that, you would never guess that this is the end result of a multi-year campaign against some 24,000 federal lawsuits. It also seems that the only reason DirecTV decided to try and negotiate with the EFF et al. is because they figured out that they would lose their test case (DirecTV v. Mike Treworgy) in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. They don't come out and say this anywhere, but I think it speaks volumes that on Tuesday the court found that "DirecTV cannot sue Treworgy for mere possession of technology that is capable of intercepting DirecTV's satellite signal."
What's next?
Continue reading "Score a couple for the EFF"
Posted by David Schaich at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2004
Is it ethical to shop at Wal-Mart?
That's the question asked by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. They had a debate on that topic a couple of months ago, which I just stumbled across following an email link. Since Grobstein has been thinking about Wal-Mart for the last few weeks, I decided to toss it in.
Videos of the debate are online, as are outline notes for the negative case, which strikes me as well-organized and persuasive - probably because I agree with it. I'll briefly quote a section to make this entry appear more substantial.
Conclusion
It is unethical to shop at WalMart. However refusing to shop at WalMart is an insufficient response to its gross effects on the values of shared prosperity.
You could do more, such as:
Support local efforts to keep WM out of communities, like Inglewood.
Support legislation that levels the playing field and prevents WM from forcing down standards for wages and benefits.
Posted by David Schaich at 12:40 PM | Comments (1)
Firefox 0.9 released
Slashdot gives a link to Mozilla's announcement of the release of Firefox 0.9. Firefox is without a doubt my favorite browser, which I prefer to all the others I've used (IE, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla proper and Safari). I suggest you check it out.
Posted by David Schaich at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
Quicksilver
An Amazon.com review:
4 Stars
"Anybody can write a three-volumed novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature."
-Oscar Wilde
Well, perhaps that's a bit too harsh. The truth is that overall I enjoyed Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver," even though at times I was frustrated by its slow pace. "Quicksilver" has all of the complexity and detail that made "Cryptonomicon" impressive, but relatively little of the humor and action that made it such an engaging and entertaining read. I was torn between 3 or 4 stars, and decided to be generous since it's only the first volume of the gigantic "Baroque Cycle." I am hoping (expecting, really) that things will pull together in the future volumes, and much that seems tedious and unnecessary in this 900-page monster will fall into place.
Continue reading "Quicksilver"
Posted by David Schaich at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2004
Make that three...
From Slashdot.org:
Heraklit writes "As reported on Heise News, the Frauenhofer Institute of Computer Architecture and Software Technology has made available the first online quantum computer simulator - it will be simulating up to 31 quantum bits, for testing new advanced quantum algorithms. Behind the scenes, it is a 32 node Athlon 3200 Myrinet Linux Cluster with 56GByte RAM! Now imagine the computing power of a few hundred qubits, if ever constructed..."
Posted by David Schaich at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
Two pieces of science news
Just a couple of interesting happenings in the world of science, one a little old, the other fresh off the mailing list.
1) From Physical Review Focus:
X-RAYED MOVIE
A research team has produced the fastest movies ever made of electron motion. Created by scattering x rays off of water, the movies show electrons sloshing in water molecules, and each frame lasts just 4 attoseconds (quintillionths of a second). The results, published in the 11 June PRL, could let researchers "watch" chemical reactions even faster than those viewable with today's "ultrafast" pulsed lasers.
(P. Abbamonte et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 237401)
Link to the paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v92/e237401/
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v13/st25
2) And, a couple of weeks ago, CNN reported that a scientist studying the CMB (cosmic microwave background) had tried to figure out what the early universe sounded like. His results: "a growing hiss that resembles a roaring jet plane flying low overhead... somewhere between a major and a minor third"). You can listen to a tiny MP3 clip here. (Found via Chris Mooney, the newest addition to the blogroll.)
Posted by David Schaich at 01:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2004
The Pledge Suit
Well, the Supreme Court announced its decision on Michael Newdow's suit that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional establishment of religion, due to its use of the phrase 'under God.' The result was pretty much what I expected, which is not necessarily bad - the suit was thrown out 8-0 on a technicality.
The Justices decided that Newdow, who filed the suit on behalf of his daughter, did not have the legal standing to bring the case. "Newdow, who is involved in a custody dispute with the mother of their third-grade daughter, could not speak for the girl, the court ruled." The Court thus dodged the Constitutional issue, although Rehnquist, O'Connor and Stevens issued separate concurring opinions that argued that the 'under God' phrase (added in 1954 to fight godless communism) did not make the Pledge unconstitutional.
Based on the NYTimes reporting of Newdow's arguments before the Court, this is pretty much what I had been expecting. The Times described judges who admired his arguments, but felt that banning the Pledge (or, more realistically, removing 'under God') would be too extreme and unpopular, and were thus looking for some gentle way to turn him down.
So I did not have any hopes that the Court would agree that the Pledge is, in effect, a prayer. This was probably the best result that could be expected, and the issue is still open for someone else to challenge in the future. In the meantime, GAMPAC will be able to continue its work and break down religion at the grass-roots.
Better luck next time.
Posted by David Schaich at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
