Archive for April, 2008

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According to the BBC, a factory in China has been producing large orders of flags that represent the Tibetan government in exile. These are the same flags seen recently at demonstrations protesting the Olympic games in Beijing. These flags can also be easily found stuck on the bumpers of cars parked in front of a health-food store near you.

As per publication of this article, the Chinese government has clamped down on this factory. Chances are they have switched to producing American flags, which will likely be waved by unemployed American factory workers.

Posted by admin on 30 April 2008 at 1:49 pm under News.
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A high school in Portland, Oregon is forcing some students to shave their eyebrows completely off. The issue began when certain groups of students began shaving lines into their eyebrows apparently to imitate a popular, albeit illiterate, hip-hop artist by the name of “soulja boy.” The school officials felt that the markings smacked of gang signs, similar to red bandannas or songs about “going back to San Juan.” Therefore, the officials felt it was better to have no eyebrows than to have only partial eyebrows.

Despite criticism from eyebrow activists, school officials are so pleased with the results of this strategy that a similar plan is in the works for addressing the problem of tattoos.

Police recreations of "eyebrow-less gang members".

Original Story

Posted by admin on 30 April 2008 at 1:27 pm under News.
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“classification is the pivot on which the whole subsequent security system turns”
- Arvin Quist, 2002

See! I just knew I was doing something important!

Now, I’m revising the title of my thesis from “Automated Security Classification” to “The Pivot on Which the Whole Subsequent Security System Turns” (Optionally, I can tack on an exclamation point and a “booyaa” to impress the children)

Posted by admin on 29 April 2008 at 10:43 am under Blah.
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Finally, someone can layout the argument for wife-beating in a way we can all understand. It’s about time!
Well, at least there are some guidelines. Otherwise, I could imagine the beatings might get out of hand.
Keep in mind now that not every wife needs to be beaten. However, there are three clearly identifiable types of women that can only be dealt with using the “rod”.

Posted by admin on 27 April 2008 at 10:49 am under Blah.
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Remarks

  • Screen switches automatically between (is at the same time both back-lit (for inside)
    and reflective (for outside).
    Why the hell can’t my dell laptop do this?
 I ordered my XO laptop sometime just before Christmas and the 26th of April it arrived on my doorstep. First of all, this $100 laptop will have cost me more than $500 before it’s all said and done. I paid $400 for two laptops, one of which would be sent to a school in a third world country and one of which would be mine to play with. On top of this, I paid again for shipping to my international address and then I paid another $100 for import taxes. That’s right $100 to import a laptop that costs $100 to begin with. So, at this point I’m wondering why I didn’t just buy a new flat screen TV and donate $200 cash to charity. But now I have it and it’s time to play!

First task: open the damn thing. After looking for buttons, sliders and switches I stumbled across the two bunny ears that double as WiFi antennas. Simply click these both open and the monitor can fold up into position. I hope those children in Mongolia are smarter than me… or at least that their teacher can read the instructions more carefully.

Second task: turn it on. Simple enough, there’s a button on the screen with the internationally recognized power logo.

Third task: play. The interface is counter intuitive for a normal Windows or MacOS user. There’s no conventional desktop with folders and shortcuts. Rather there are buttons for network view or local view built in to the keyboard. The oversized touchpad which will double as a writing tablet area doesn’t actually work yet, but hopefully the target audience won’t be disappointed too much. The keyboard size and included programs are obviously not designed with me in mind; however, the choice of programs is worth mentioning:

  • a word processor, painting and calculating programs, okay;
  • a music making and editing program, okay;
  • video, audio and still image recoding, sure, why not;
  • web browser, chat app and rss aggregator, of course;
  • a elementary programming course, uh huh;
  • an acoustic tape measure, oh… sure, very practical if you don’t have a regular tape measure (maybe another foundation should think of sending those!);

Another very interesting design feature is the idea of collaboration. XO’s will automatically connect to each other to form a mesh network. These new connections are easily visible with one click of a button. Then, in almost every application, there is a button to share the application with those on your mesh network. So, we could play games against our classmates or work together on an assignment or just spend the whole class chatting about the poor teacher, whose hands are too big to use the XO.

Posted by admin on 26 April 2008 at 3:28 pm under Blah.
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