Month: February 2006

Generalizations

Awesome (and long) article at The New Yorker about the problem with generalizations.  The main thrust of the article is about the good and bad of pit-bull bans and dog attacks.  But it also speaks on drug smugglers, the ongoing reduction in crime in New York city, the problems with profiling, and terrorists.

One of the more interesting tidbits I got out of the article is that in temperment tests, pit bulls on average score better in temperment test than beagles, Airedales, bearded collies, and all but one variety of dachshund.  In other words, the pit bull is on average a better pet than any of those dogs, as far as temperment goes.  The real problem, as explained quite nicely in the article, has more to do with the owner than with the dog.

In about a quarter of fatal dog-bite cases, the dog owners were previously involved in illegal fighting. The dogs that bite people are, in many cases, socially isolated because their owners are socially isolated, and they are vicious because they have owners who want a vicious dog. The junk-yard German shepherd—which looks as if it would rip your throat out—and the German-shepherd guide dog are the same breed. But they are not the same dog, because they have owners with different intentions.

The whole article is worth reading for all the good information about dogs.  Plus, how often do you read a serious article from a somewhat serious publication that uses the word “flibbertigibbet” any way?

[tags]Pit Bull, dog attacks, generalizations, profiling[/tags]

Making a real world living in a virtual world

And my wife told me gaming would never get me anywhere.  Well, OK, so it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, but it has helped some people.

Grinnell’s shop, Mischief, is in Second Life, a virtual world whose users are responsible for creating all content. Grinnell’s digital clothing and “skins” allow users to change the appearance of their avatars — their online representations — beyond their wildest Barbie dress-up dreams.

Within a month, Grinnell was making more in Second Life than in her real-world job as a dispatcher. And after three months she realized she could quit her day job altogether.

[tags]Second Life, Linden Lab, Gaming[/tags]

Who helped the NSA illegally spy on Americans?

A well-written article over at News.com about the companies who helped our government illegally spy on us.

Under federal law, any person or company who helps someone “intercept any wire, oral, or electronic communication”–unless specifically authorized by law–could face criminal charges.

. . .

A survey by CNET News.com has identified 15 large telecommunications and Internet companies that are willing to say that they have not participated in the NSA program, which intercepts e-mail and telephone calls without a judge’s approval.

Twelve other companies that were contacted and asked identical questions chose not to reply, in some cases citing “national security” as the reason.

[tags]NSA, Spying[/tags]

Unraveling the trail of senatorial edits

Wow, how to make a sensible headline for this one.  I’ve not posted about this story before, but enough other sites have that I think most regular web surfers now know at least a little about this story.  Recently, there have been a number of edits to Wikipedia pages regarding a number of Senators.  Most of the edits have been made to remove facts about the Senators that could be viewed negatively.  The part that made the story big is that these edits have been coming from an IP address assigned to the Senate.  Now, Wikinews has taken the time to backtrack a lot of what’s gone on and determine who made what edits in many cases.  The write up of how they tracked this back, and what changes were made is quite interesting, in my eyes.  Of course, since Wikinews is also a wiki, I wonder how many edits to this story we’ll see?

Staff members of the offices of United States Senators, using Senate-linked IP addresses, have been editing Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that allows any of its users to edit its content. In some cases, they have removed negative facts about Senators from the articles.

Using the public history of edits on Wikipedia, Wikinews reporters collected every Senate IP which had ever edited on Wikipedia as of February 3 and examined where the IPs came from, what they edited, and of what those edits consisted. IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses are unique numbers electronic devices use to communicate with each other on an individual basis.

[tags]Wikipedia, Wikinews, Senate[/tags]

Versora Progression Desktop

I hadn’t even heard of this application before, but it is supposed to be a tool to help migrate users from Windows to Linux.  If you are interested in how well Versora Progression Desktop works, here is a detailed review of the program and its performance.  I’d post more about it, but the site isn’t responding for me right now, so I’ve only read the first page.  But color me intrigued so far.  Once it’s back, I’ll read the rest of the review.  This could be something handy for me to point others towards in the future.

n a nutshell, Versora Progression Desktop will migrate appearance settings, sounds, input device options, and application settings such as email, web browsers, word processors, and instant messaging. In other words, it covers all the fundamentals of operating system and application migration. If you’d like to learn more, you can visit the Versora website for detailed information.

[tags]Versora, Windows migration, Linux, Linspire[/tags]

Toshiba to acquire Westinghouse?

It’s surprising to me, but the logic seems sound.  Apparently, Toshiba is going to acquire Westinghouse for $5.4 billion.

Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said Monday that it was buying nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric Co., the U.S.-based unit of the British government’s British Nuclear Fuels PLC, for $5.4 billion.

[tags]Toshiba, Westinghouse, Nuclear power[/tags]