Category — General

CUSEC 2007: Canadian University Software Engineering Conference:
Bits of Change
How can software be political? Which components of software make a political statement: is it this function call over here, or is it that while loop over there?

In certain parts of the world today, governments read private e-mail and arrest people based on these random sweeps. New software allows them to do so with amazing efficiency. That software was written by someone like you.

Politics, law and ethics are becoming increasingly intertwined with software engineering. These changes are having drastic consequences in the field of software design; the future of our industry will depend on the the next generation of software engineers and the choices that you make.

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someone is up to no good again!

New Years Pratt Steam Show!:
For those of you that weren’t around for the whistle show that Conrad (Pratt’s Cheif Engineer) put on.. some fine folks posted video on youTube. Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GThb-Gf70pM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZlyZVoboc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jKx3mPslO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSErBvy3F9A

The first link was filmed in day time so you can get a better look at the set up on the lawn. Pretty Sweet no? I don’t take any credit for filming any of these I just looked them up. Enjoy. P.s. They’re very loud so if you have headphones on be warned.. Happy New Year!!

2006 artists most played

2006 tracks most played

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there is a bit of bias in those… but eh.

On Two Conservative Student Writers | TPMCafe:
ut this simply shows his lack of understanding of the role of college professors. We aren’t there as guides but as teachers. We don’t want to tell our students what to believe, but how to learn about the world. If we guide at all, it’s to an understanding of methodology and an ability to negotiate the complexities of thought and the world. This is the difference between a college of liberal arts and one devoted to religious training. There, the intent clearly is to guide. There, panic would reign if it were discovered that graduating students were less religious (for example) than incoming.

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A professor responds to two essayists promoting ideological equality ala Horowitz.

Faith in Free Markets:
I agree, then, that economists have faith in free markets. We can’t prove that free markets will generate a better result. But we’ve observed them long enough to have faith in them. We believe, with faith and evidence, that free markets provide the most prosperity for the most people.
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I’d love to know where they found a free market to have faith in. I’ve never seen one that wasn’t structured, biased or otherwise guaranteed by governmental or corporate structures.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 70% Iron Man 65% Spider-Man 55% Supergirl 50% Catwoman 50% Batman 45% Robin 45% Hulk 40% The Flash 30% Green Lantern 30% Wonder Woman 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…

I started this blog on dec. 29 2002. it is dec 29, 2006. that means, this blog is 9 million and 4 years old (must be the new math).

I spent the last week at my sister’s playing with my nephew and helping during the holidays as i found time. I did not get as much dissertation writing done as i needed there, so I’m hoping to crank up some production these next few weeks.

since no one reads blogiversary posts… I’ll insert my new years resolutions too:

1. finish dissertation in the spring, graduate.
2. get to europe, give talks, meet people
3. go to a new place in nyc every week, blog it.
4 lose 20lb
5. once diss is done, start dating again.
6. write at least 250 words toward publications per day.
7. take better notes.

(all i absolutely need to do is finish the first, but the rest would be good too).

Spitting Image: “Bondage in Everyday Life” Photos:
“Bondage in Everyday Life” Photos

for example from “The Amazing Church Camp”

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this makes me wonder about why people are tying each other up at religious events like this. I can’t help but question the way they are constructing the relationship between the people tying and the person tied, as there are always more people tying in these pictures. It seems to be related to an enactment of submission of sorts, but to whom? to each other, or two something else and what does that mean to the people’s lives.

Tragedy of the Bunnies:

This is a cool little quick game that demonstrates through comparison of two sub-games… the tragedy of the commons.

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox):
The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.

Since my first attempt in 1996, I have compiled many top-10 lists of the biggest mistakes in Web design. See links to all these lists at the bottom of this article. This article presents the highlights: the very worst mistakes of Web design. (Updated 2006.)

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he just won’t admit that the primary mistake in web design is lack of cat pictures on the website. it is by far and away the largest mistake noted by all cats. that and lack of paw oriented interface.