We were talking about this in history today, so I thought I would upload these two pictures I took while I was there, in South Dakota. It was a depressing day, and a depressing place.
2.11.2008
Wounded Knee
We were talking about this in history today, so I thought I would upload these two pictures I took while I was there, in South Dakota. It was a depressing day, and a depressing place.
1.26.2008
11.14.2007
Chris convinced me to jump on the bandwagon, and I am pleasantly surprised. I will work harder trying to delete my mySpace account (it has evaded my previous attempts), and switch over completely. If anyone who is not related to me wants to add me as a friend, go ahead.
11.13.2007
Cardboard Boats!
We had a competition in MESA, and our boat won. But the newspaper article got the name of it wrong. I corrected them in a comment. Anyway, here it is. The picture to the left is not us, because the lazy people who had cameras will not send me photos.
A lot of people in our group (not to name names) are pretty cranky about the fact that our boat was misnamed. It is annoying, since she even spelled it out to confirm, when she asked me what it was called. So yeah. But I'm not bitter! It was an awesome competition.
10.18.2007
Robotic Cannon Loses Control, Kills 9
I just saw an this article on Slashdot, and I have to say I am staggered. In many school assignments, I have talked about how robotics could go wrong, and how it is dangerous to trust weaponry to a machine. I have always ended my discussions about this with some phrase like "In the future, our society will have to be careful to choose what we will and will not allow in robotics."
This is now, though. If one of the first, tiniest steps in the creation of true robots can go wrong this seriously, I have serious doubts that future development will be safe. Why should we trust researchers to keep their creations under control when something this simple can go so horribly wrong? And when will people realize our government is spending millions creating killing machines that could malfunction at any time?
This tragedy makes a strong case for a ban on weapon bearing robots of any kind. This may be an over-reaction, but is better to err on the side of safety rather than military might.
This is now, though. If one of the first, tiniest steps in the creation of true robots can go wrong this seriously, I have serious doubts that future development will be safe. Why should we trust researchers to keep their creations under control when something this simple can go so horribly wrong? And when will people realize our government is spending millions creating killing machines that could malfunction at any time?
This tragedy makes a strong case for a ban on weapon bearing robots of any kind. This may be an over-reaction, but is better to err on the side of safety rather than military might.
Gmail is Creepy
This is another of my writing pieces from last year.
Gmail is great for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it is also creepy. It has content-related-ads, which means that it scans your emails for keywords and chooses ads from a database that are related to what you are talking about. For example, I sent an email (just to test how far it would go) saying "My mom died. Would you please help plan the funeral?" and I got an ad that said "Bereavement packages: take advantage of airliner's policies!"
This, if my mother had actually died, would offend me. Some of the ads are OK, but when issues discussed become sensitive, I would rather not be bombarded with offensive offers. Perhaps Google should use less keywords, or deny some ads entry.
Gmail is great for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it is also creepy. It has content-related-ads, which means that it scans your emails for keywords and chooses ads from a database that are related to what you are talking about. For example, I sent an email (just to test how far it would go) saying "My mom died. Would you please help plan the funeral?" and I got an ad that said "Bereavement packages: take advantage of airliner's policies!"
This, if my mother had actually died, would offend me. Some of the ads are OK, but when issues discussed become sensitive, I would rather not be bombarded with offensive offers. Perhaps Google should use less keywords, or deny some ads entry.
Technology Ramblings
Ha ha, was I right or was I right? This is another of my writing pieces from last year, before Vista started forcing people to other operating systems. Fortunately, now we have better options besides Vista. Ubuntu's latest version is amazing, and will be easy for anyone to use.
As you may or may not know, Microsoft is developing the nexxt version of Windows, which will be released sometime next year. This is bad news for almost everyone.
The next version, called Vista, requires 1 gigabyte of RAM to run the full version. Almost no one has this. That means that people will be forced to buy new computers just to run basic programs. In a few years M$ (Microsoft) will drop backwards-compatibility, and all new programs will require Vista. So how does M$ get away with this?
By forcing people to buy new computers, M$ is doing hardware manufacturers a favor. The hardware manufacturers return the favor by not releasing drivers for their hardware, making other operating systems non-compatible with many computers, which gives M$ more business.
As you may or may not know, Microsoft is developing the nexxt version of Windows, which will be released sometime next year. This is bad news for almost everyone.
The next version, called Vista, requires 1 gigabyte of RAM to run the full version. Almost no one has this. That means that people will be forced to buy new computers just to run basic programs. In a few years M$ (Microsoft) will drop backwards-compatibility, and all new programs will require Vista. So how does M$ get away with this?
By forcing people to buy new computers, M$ is doing hardware manufacturers a favor. The hardware manufacturers return the favor by not releasing drivers for their hardware, making other operating systems non-compatible with many computers, which gives M$ more business.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)