The Kansas Board of Education is redefining science. According to them, evolution is a hotly contested theory among scientists. Other theories, like creationism (now marketed as intelligent design), should be taught alongside evolution, they claim. One wonders about the obvious contradiction of (1) stating the intelligent design is a science and (2) redefining the term […]
I’ve been keeping an eye on the people at 37 Signals, particularly David Heinemeier Hansson who founded the Ruby on Rails web development project. I’m quite impressed. They really get it. Their web applications are very easy to use and very useful, and the Ruby-on-Rails development platform is incredibly interesting (if only they favored PostgreSQL […]
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft withdrew support from a bill that would have mandated equal opportunity protection regardless of sexual orientation. The response in the press has been so overwhelming that Bill Gates recently expressed his surprise. It seems he thought this would go unnoticed. And the best MS can say to explain its […]
A while ago, I served on a jury in a civil case concerning a car accident. The plaintiff incurred tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses and lost wages. The defendent was found liable as he clearly caused the accident. Deliberation was quick, as there wasn’t a whole lot to discuss. But there was […]
A few weeks ago, the director of the French National Library complained that Google had snubbed Europe by not including French books in the latest Google Print effort to digitize physical library books. I mentioned how I find this attitude frustrating. And now, Agence France Press (AFP) has sued Google for copyright violation because Google […]
Boston’s Silver Line is possibly the best bus in town. From the South End to downtown in 15 minutes, with double-length buses every 2-3 minutes during rush hour. Except that, starting a few weeks ago, they installed these new, fancy bus pass readers. Instead of a half-second swipe, it’s now a 2-second let-the-machine-suck-your-card-in-read-it-and-spit-it-back-to-you maneuver. Not […]
The director of France’s National Library is worried that Anglo-Saxon culture will crush France. He squarely blames Google, in an editorial entitled “When Google Challenges Europe.” More specifically, he bemoans Google’s recent deal struck with English-language libraries, whereby Google will index and make freely available online millions of published works. Mr. Jeanneney is right. European […]
With the new year comes the beginning of airline fare sanity? I certainly hope so. The major airlines have long had fantastically complicated pricing schemes. Supposedly, these schemes are necessary to keep air travel affordable and airline companies alive. I don’t believe it, in large part because many of the consequences of these pricing schemes […]
We are “at war,” whether we think we should be or not. A number of Americans are making decisions on that basis: that we are at war. And it is in times of war that we must be most – not least – careful about protecting civil liberties and due process, because it is in […]
Lessig is right: John Kerry lost the election and we need to admit it [ah, it looks like Kerry is admitting it right now]. My friend Jon was right: I am woefully out of touch with how Americans think. There will be many theories about this election. The Republicans brought out the vote by inspiring […]