Appalling user security practices on social networks.
These are some excellent etiquette points for using Skype and other instant messaging services.
An interesting article, though I can’t say I agree in all aspects. I am not against a mosque (or rather, a Muslim community center) near Ground Zero—an express prohibition sets a dangerous precedent of government interference in religious activity. However, I am against efforts to stir up conflict and controversy. There are certainly suspicious aspects to the mosque’s provenance, particularly as regards its sources of funding and the connections of its imam.
I certainly don’t agree that this mosque is an insult or “casts a shadow on the graves of thousands of Americans.” The key point here is that Islam is not the enemy. Those who commit terrorist acts, whether they be Muslims or covert operatives, are the enemy.
This is a fascinating analysis of China’s economic bent. Apparently the path China is taking is reminiscent of the precipitous rise of Japan in the ’80s, and equally untenable. If China doesn’t stop artificially boosting its own economic, it’s bound for a crash, and that won’t be pretty, especially considering China’s importance on the world’s economic stage.
This is pretty interesting. The original mathematical design for a public-key cryptosystem has yet to be broken by a quantum computing algorithm, whereas later cryptosystems, like RSA or PGP, can easily be cracked (that is, when we finally get a useful quantum computer).
When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black
And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me colored?
This is an interesting theory. Apparently a scientist has discovered that matter, energy, space and time are all related:
Shu’s idea is that time and space are not independent entities but can be converted back and forth between each other. In his formulation of the geometry of spacetime, the speed of light is simply the conversion factor between the two. Similarly, mass and length are interchangeable in a relationship in which the conversion factor depends on both the gravitational constant G and the speed of light, neither of which need be constant.
It’s good to see that there are scientists out there willing to question the dogma of science.
This is a review of the book The Fall of the Roman Empire by Michael Grant, which is a cogent analysis of the key causes of the decline of the Empire: tyranny and oppressive taxation. From the review:
A state is a structure designed for control and redistribution that feeds off the wealth produced by the population under its authority. When those structures are relatively flexible and accommodating, when laws are enforced in a relatively fair and predictable manner, individual initiative can flourish and a prosperous, civilized society can develop. When, on the other hand, laws are imposed in an arbitrary, tyrannical manner, they crush the initiative of individuals and bring about economic stagnation and ultimately political decline.
This rule applies to the Roman Empire as well as to the Soviet Union or the Quebec provincial government. Just as a farmer who overexploits his fields will end up harvesting smaller and smaller yields, a government that squeezes the tax lemon and tightens the bureaucratic screw ever tighter will see its revenues diminish inexorably. In the case of an empire that must maintain order among a submissive population and keep its borders secure, the enormous means necessary to support an army can therefore lead to collapse. This is what happened to the Roman Empire, especially as of the 3rd century A.D.
And from the book:
So throughout the last two centuries of the Roman world there was a fearful and ever-increasing loss of personal freedom for all, except the very rich and powerful. Ever since the arch-regimenter Diocletian declared that ‘uncontrolled activity is an invention of the godless,’ each of the leading rulers in turn hammered the nails in more fiercely. The Roman Empire had become a prison: or a military camp in a perpetual state of siege, where each man was assigned a place he must not desert. And his descendants must not desert it either.
And so the whole of the population was in conflict with the government: there was disunity, or rather a whole series of disunities, on a colossal scale. The authorities desired and enforced the very greatest degree of regimentation that it was possible to obtain―even if this meant servitude for almost everybody―since this seemed the only way to raise the money needed to save the Empire.
And yet the result was just the opposite to what was intended. Paradoxically, this regimentation did not halt the disintegration of the Roman world, but accelerated its destructive progress. The individual spirit of initiative that alone could have kept the commonwealth alive was stifled and stamped out by the widespread deprivation of personal freedom, which thus became one of the most potent reasons for Rome’s collapse.
(from Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Watterson)
