Topic Tuesday #85 2014/03/04 - "Text Books"

Topic Tuesday #85 2014/03/04 - "Text Books"

I stumbled on an article in Salon written by Katie Halper (whom I about to cite extensively) about some of the skewed things that are making it into text books around the United States. You may be aware of the kerfuffles in Texas over their routine revisioning of their text books (a 7 year refresh). Many things were threatened to be taken out of History books, Science was in great danger of being skewed by anti-science fundamentalists. Thankfully, that has been largely taken care of by the addition of a committee that consists of educators and experts, whose opinions are more valid than the lay person when it comes to proper education.
There is another issue that our nation faces. Many disagree with how the public education system is structured, or are in areas where the local school board has made a right mess of things. Because of this there are alternatives to public education; Private schools, Charter schools, Religious Parochial Schools, Montessori, and homeschooling to name the usual suspects. Here we have a divergence in the materials utilized by these alternatives to what I will otherwise refer to as "mainstream" public education standards. Montessori has specific methods and practices. Homeschooling can be done with mainstream tools sanctioned by the areas school board, but can be supplemented and subverted as long as regular testing scores come back positive. Some of these supplemental or alternatives to the mainstream materials are what is preferred by some of the private, charter and religiously affiliated institutions. Here is where we get into the danger zone.
As this article( http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/7_absurd_things_americas_kids_are_learning_thanks_to_conservatives_partner/) on Salon points out, there are 3 big players in the religiously focused educational material business. A Beka Book, Bob Jones University Publishing, and ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). A Beka Book has the largest distribution (9,000+ schools) so is an obvious target for more fact finding. 
Let's run down what the author of the article found to be the 7 sins of this publisher, so far.

Mathematics:
The publishing company boasts that, “Unlike the ‘modern math’ theorists, who believe that mathematics is a creation of man and thus arbitrary and relative, A Beka Book texts teach that the laws of mathematics are a creation of God and thus absolute.” “...traditional mathematics texts that are not burdened with modern theories such as set theory.“

Critical Thinking:
Like so many of Beka’s critical thinking tools, this one comes in the form of a mnemonic device: “Use the DISCERN method,” Beka instructs, “to determine whether abortion is biblical.” The method allows students to make an informed godly choice around any issue, not just abortion. Once they’ve figured out whether something is biblical or not, they can engage in it and praise it, or refrain from doing it and condemn it. Here’s how DISCERN works:
Determine your choices
Inquire of God through prayer
Search the scriptures
Consider godly counsel.
Eliminate worldly thinking.
Recognize God’s leading.
Never compromise the truth.

To see what REAL critical thinking is... I recommend a dictionary.  Or check this wiki out..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking

Science:
"A non-Christian world view is any one that is based on the belief that there is something more reliable than the bible. The belief may come from church traditions scientific conclusions, or various theories. The most important teachings to be found in a Christian World View are… God made the world and everything in it; The world has fallen into a tragic state because of sin; and God is working to redeem this world to Himself.”
Science that contradicts these notions, the people at A Beka Book explain, is just plain wrong. “These three teachings should influence your interpretation of any facts you study,” they note. “And if you are serious about being a Christian, they must color your view of scientific thinking.”
Also crucial is the instruction not to stray from God’s path by using science to help people. “Others may be curious about the world of nature simply because they want to improve the lives of other humans. Although Christians should also be interested in that, they should mainly be interested in loving God through the study of nature.”

Guns:
“The founding fathers… understood that unarmed citizens would not be able to stand against a tyrannical government.” Gun control, according to this text, is simply a “gateway to tyranny.” The book’s exhaustive analysis of world history backs up this brilliant assertion: “A study of Hitler’s, Stalin’s and Mao’s ideas on disarming their citizens shows… they were well aware of the concept that control thrives when people are unarmed.”
As an added bonus, guns are also a way for America to fight against creeping… globalism: “Armed citizens could also play a major role in thwarting Globalism, the idea to bring the world together under ‘one global government.’ making the constitution null and void.”

The Death Penalty
'America: Land I Love In Christian Perspective' laments that the death penalty, and thus the sanctity of life, have become less hip. Back in the good old days, “because people believed in the sanctity of human life, most states practiced capital punishment.” Yeah... That makes sense...

 Sexually Transmitted Disease
Beka’s 'Health In Christian Perspective' text also teaches that sexually transmitted diseases are caused by sacrilegious behavior: “Disobedience to God’s Word in the area of sexual purity can also lead to disease.” “Some infections, known as… STDs,  are almost always spread by direct bodily contact during illicit sexual relations (sexual relations outside God’s institution of marriage). People who live according to God’s standards of waiting until marriage to have sexual relations are very unlikely to acquire venereal diseases.”
Worth noting that Sex Ed is not on the list of curriculum, but there is some wacky checklist...
encouraging students to check boxes for things like, “I wash my hands thoroughly on a regular basis” and “I obey biblical principles regarding morality, self-control, attitude, and anxiety.” “Unchecked boxes” the book warns, “identify conditions of risk.”

Homosexuality
Homosexuality is listed under 'United States History—Heritage of Freedom In Christian Perspective’s' “Cultural Decay” section: “Traditional American family values have dramatically declined….When [the family] comes under attack, all of society suffers.” “The media has increasingly belittled fathers and husbands, portrayed blatant violence, and laughed at immorality. One result has been the increased acceptance of homosexuality.”

 
As you should be able to reason out, this is completely out of touch, and should in no way be taught to future generations. It is obviously divisive, and many of my Christian readers will likely chime in and concur with how despicable it is to taint children with a distorted version of reality, even a Christian reality, as I know most Christians do not subscribe to this way of thinking. 

Beware what your children are learning. Ask questions. Take action. You, as a parent, are their only way to find a decent path to walk. The children are the future.

Topic Tuesday #84 2014/02/25 - "How Do You Know?"

Topic Tuesday #84 2014/02/25 - "How Do You Know?"

   Simple interrogative statement, and one that I ask my children and myself fairly often: "How do you know?". The field of philosophy that this question introduces is called Epistemology, defined as "theory of knowledge" or "how/why we know, what we know".
  The concept as I use it in practice, with my kids, is to promote critical thinking skills. A constant background check of perceived reality.
Daughter 1) " 'Jane' is my best friend!"
Father/ME) "That's wonderful, what makes her your best friend?"
Daughter 1) Thinks for a moment, "She's funny and makes me laugh."
Father/ME) "I thought 'Alice' was your best friend. Not anymore?"
Daughter 1) "Not so much." (She's 6 BTW.)
Father/ME) "Why not?"
Daughter 1) "She's not as much fun anymore."
Father/ME) "Sometimes people change. Maybe you both changed. Grew up some."
Daughter 1) "Yeah. It's okay."
Father/ME) "What about 'Jane' makes you laugh?"
  The conversation went on like this for a while. I wanted to get her to understand what she liked about her friend, while I found out too. Sometimes we don't understand why we think or feel a certain way, and though that is fine most of the time, we should be able to ask ourselves 'why' anytime and be able to get to the answer.

What do you know? Why do you know that? Can you change your mind about it? Should you? Would you be better off overcoming the root cause? Can you?

   The mind is a ponderous organ. It interprets every little thing and stores our experiences. Built upon each other, the experiences of our life make up the way we think and feel. I am surely not alone in being transported to the memory of a place, time, and feeling by a sensory input. As we begin to sort through why we think any given "truth", sometimes what we uncover is unpleasant, while other times you can use this knowledge to surpass the unpleasantness and gain an awareness of how you interact with the world. Examples:
  Why you don't like a particular scent. Perhaps there was a traumatizing experience that happened when that odor was particularly prominent. This may manifest as "I don't like it" and after reflection and rational examination, was revealed and can be faced. It might take a long time but it will be one less skeleton in the closet to haunt your days.
Others:
  The smell of a roasting turkey bringing back memories of holidays and family.
  The feel of a fabric at a store whisking you back to a time when you were with your grandmother and she let you play with her scarf.
  The smell of fresh paint reminding you of a time when you tipped a gallon of paint over and were punished for ruining a carpet.
  The sight of a post card in a gift shop of a painting you saw when you visited a gallery with your parents and thinking the hall was so big and you get a sensation of vertigo because now you are tall.
  The smell of night blooming flowers reminding you of a lost love.
  I know I hate liver and onions. Why do I know that? Why do I not like that food? (Bad memory or bad taste?)
  Jane is my best friend. Why are they a friend, and what makes them your best friend? Why do I like this person? (Do you even know?)

  Thinking critically of our own lives is a fair habit to get into. Rationally coming to conclusions and being secure that you are not in a delusional state can be very reassuring. Like climbing an uncertain cliff for the first time, and not being sure that the next ledge will hold your weight, after testing it and becoming secure in that footing, it makes you safer for the next.

  This method of examination is like a conscience whispering to you to keep you safe. Your very own
Jiminy Cricket. "Are you sure that will hold you?" "How do you know?" "Did someone tell you?" "Do you trust your source? Why do you?" "Have you found out yourself?" "Did you watch someone use it before and have seen proof?" "Is it just a hunch with no supporting data?"

Epistemology: how we know things.
Do you think you could use more critical thinking in your life?
What does your gut say? Now... why did it say that?

Topic Tuesday #64 2013/10/08 - "Rose Colored Glasses & BS Detector Goggles"

Topic Tuesday #64 2013/10/08 - "Rose Colored Glasses & BS Detector Goggles"

I am, by nature, an inquisitive person. I do not take anything at face value. Everything needs to be respected enough to first give it some thought before drawing any conclusion. There are always shades of grey and multiple points of view. What these POVs have in common are facts. It's been said you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts, and I adhere to that in my daily life. It is important to not get lulled into a false sense of reality, as many of the opinions you have were manipulated without your knowledge a long time ago (maybe generations in the past). This, at its core, is skepticism. Doubt.
We have many built in tools for detecting fraudulent things. The ability to recognize deception is something we have honed over millennia. At the heart of the matter is a misinformation maelstrom; an arms race of lies. Better detection, better lies. Many concepts are so susceptible to deception that we think they are true, time and time again. The rose colored glasses of what we wish to be true, regardless of facts. And then...  Conspiracy theories! Delicious tabloid lies!
I love a good conspiracy theory, as much as the next guy, and can certainly buy into them from time to time. It takes patient research to ferret the facts out of a "conspiracy" for one simple reason, most of the information is factual. The conspiracy just strings multiple facts together with leaps of logic that are just outlandish enough to be both interesting and possible, even if unlikely. The more grand and secret they are, the more they play on our psyche.
We have to bust out the BS Detector Goggles and put away the rose colored specs that make life just a beautiful and heart warming paradise. What we need are tools. Here is a list inspired and expanded from Carl Sagan's own "Baloney Detection Kit" born from "The Demon Haunted World".
* First, we have to have data. As much hard data as possible. Quantifiable facts are all you should be interested in until it is time to reason beyond them.
* Whenever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts. Verification is important.
* Now, quickly you can apply Occam's Razor, and then Hitchen's Razor in turn.
  Occam's Razor: "The simplest answer is often correct." (Very powerful tool.)
  Hitchen's Razor: "What which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
  With the one/two punch of these epistemological razors, you can quickly cut to the heart of an issue.

* Brainstorm. Don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy; spin more than one hypothesis.
* Tear it apart by yourself. Try to defeat the hypothesis. Can you falsify the argument? Is it testable? Can/have others duplicated the experiment and the result?
* In testing the arguments hypothesis, did it rely on shaky information? You've heard it before (and with good reason), a chain (argument) is only as strong as its weakest link.

**When dealing with people, I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with "Logical Fallacies". We use them all the time in our speech and politicians pop them out every few words. I suggest taking a look at https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/home and http://www.fallacyfiles.org/taxonomy.html but here are a few of the very popular:
* Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).
* Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.
* Straw man - caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.
* Argument from "authority".
* Loaded Question - a question that couldn't be answered without appearing "guilty".
* Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavourable" decision).
* Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
* Confusion of correlation and causation.
* Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect.
* Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
* Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down.
* Special pleading (typically referring to god's will).
* Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).
* Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
* Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
* Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved").
* Suppressed evidence or half-truths.
* Excluded middle - considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is).
* Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").
* Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).
* Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"

Now hopefully you have prepared your own kit and can interrogate the world for facts.
Don't let the skeptics of the skeptics get you down either. Just because you traded your rose colored lenses in for a magnifying glass and ask a lot of questions and seem rather contrary, doesn't mean that the reality we share has changed, or that something tastes different because you know more about it. What they will be unhappy with is not being able to get a fast one over on you any more.
I'm all out of gum, watch out for the weasel words!

Topic Tuesday #59 2013/09/03 - "Labor Day"

Topic Tuesday #59 2013/09/03 - "Labor Day" 

Ah, Labor Day: a paid day off from the general malaise that is a work week. But, what is Labor Day, and why do we get to shirk our responsibilities on this day?
Labor Day is the first Monday in September. It is set aside to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the working class. It allows us all to step back for a moment, usually with a hamburger or hotdogs and a libation, and take pride in all that we have accomplished.
President Grover Cleveland set the holiday in September nationally in 1894 (Oregon started celebrating in 1887). There was of course a bit of drama surrounding the originally proposed May 1st. A couple events known as the "Pullman Strike" & the "Haymarket Affair / Massacre", further pushed the issue to both ratify and relocate the celebrated day. The American Federation of Labor had proposed to have it celebrated in May, along side all the other international Labour Festivals which were essentially copied. The CLU (Central Labor Union) proposed to celebrate in September, and Cleveland went with that to avoid the "Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist" movements associated with "International Workers Day".
Tradition dictates that there be a parade and a festival. Personally I was always fond of attending regattas with my father.
In many parts of the United States, Labor Day also marks the end of summer break and the return to school, to the chagrin of students and the joy of parents everywhere. Oh, and if you feel like being part of the well-to-do set, remember to put your "summer whites" away for the season.

Topic Tuesday #54 2013/07/30 - "Cruel Calculus"

Topic Tuesday #54 2013/07/30 - "Cruel Calculus"

"One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin 

Researchers were curious about generosity in the way of donations to charitable causes. 

There would seem to be a correlation to the level of generosity when it has a face; a face reflecting the suffering. You may have heard that sometimes you "have to put a face to name" to make it matter. It turns out to be very true. John and Jane Doe see a plea for a donation to save needy children. The plea wants money to help save children by providing general life saving things: medicine, food, clean water, shelter, maybe even education, if there is enough left over. Save more with a higher donation. It's simple math really, and we have seen it in the big box stores when we stock up on items. Buy bulk, pay less per item.  It works that way with helping people too. The more money is donated, the more people are saved. So it would figure, by that reasoning, that if you are told your generous donation of x will save 1,000 children, you would be inclined to save that number. But that is not how our brains work. That 1,000 is a statistic. The numbers somehow make our brains just say "Nope". 

Do you want to save kids? Of course you do. Do you want to save lots of kids? Sure you do. Do you want to save this particular kid that has a picture and a life story and will write you a gratifying letter saying thank you? OH HELL YEAH!

Face recognition. You put their picture next to a pledge amount. If you leave the donation amount up to the common man (or woman of course) you get this approximate distribution.

The breakdown of average voluntary donations results in a counterintuitive way. Sometimes like a tip at a restaurant...

Example:
Save 1,000 children ≈ $20 donation
Save 100 ≈ $20
Save 10 ≈ $25
Save 1 ≈ $50

Save 1 very specific child  ≈ $75

It's the way we are wired, or so the numbers bear out. 

It's cruel calculus. But given that we can easily be manipulated by pictures and possibly made up tales of strife, some organizations may be inclined to use this against you to benefit the other 999 hungry mouths to feed. In this case, I think that is a good idea. What do you think?

Topic Tuesday #49 2013/06/25 - "The Middle Mind"

Topic Tuesday #49 2013/06/25 - "The Middle Mind"

I was chatting with an older Hungarian immigrant about cosmology, and he started to get visibly uncomfortable. I recognized this, and it redirected the conversation. We were outside of his comfort zone. This is a reasonable thing to have happen. Thinking about very big things, and very small things, can make your head hurt. These are realms that do not make sense to us, as we are of the middle. To our middle oriented mind, things appear smooth, water appears as a fluid, the sky appears blue, and pin points of light in the night sky appear as single stars. 

If we venture to the level of insects the surface tension of a drop of water is as solid, and likely very bizarre, in comparison to soil or plant material. Further into the microscopic, we find that nothing is very smooth, not even our beloved nonstick pan coatings. If we go further still, the very components of what we are made of appear and behave in ways that are completely counter intuitive to our observable reality. The fundamental building blocks of even atoms has yet more structure.

   Everything, everywhere, is made up of 12 building blocks (6 quarks and 6 leptons) and 4 force carriers that hold them together and 'guide' their interaction with each other. This may  change as the standard model adjusts for new discoveries, but right now, it's the best we have, and it works (albeit in not quite as elegant a way as would be preferred).

Now, up to bigger things. It is hard for us to comprehend the immense nature of the world around us. We may stare at a desk globe and see all the geopolitical dividing lines and vast expanses of blue, but that is only a pale resemblance of what this planet is. With the circumference of the earth, at the equator, being 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers) [more or less...] the farthest away you can be from anyone of your fellow human beings is around 12,450 miles, 8,000 or so if you could go through the rock beneath you.
While talking about going through things, let's consider the atmosphere. Easy for us to move through, yet it has a density. There are just as many molecules in a since centimeter of air as there are in a centimeter cube of titanium.  Everything around you has something in it. We breath air to consume the nutrients it provides. It is colorless. Or is it? The sky is blue, but the air in the room around us is clear, what gives? Perspective. A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the Sun, more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. From space, we see our oceans reflecting blue light, giving our world its pale blue appearance.

The structure of the world is amazingly large compared to ourselves. However, Earth isn't that big, all things considered. When we examine our bright neighbor, the Sun, is roughly 109 times the size of the Earth; 865,374 mi (1,392,684 km) in diameter. It is so massive that it makes up 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.

The Sun is also a relatively small main sequence star. There are others in the sky that are much much larger and could swallow up our star like the Sun could gobble up any of our neighbor planets.
If we keep looking outward with a modest telescope we find that the pin holes of light in our sky is almost never a single star but a cluster of hundreds. Get curious enough and we up the magnification, and we find that those may well be more galaxies. When you look up, you see trillions of stars, you just can't tell. You are also time traveling... sort of. These points of light are so far away, that in the time it has taken for that glimmer of light to reach you, the source may no longer be there. Distances are the trickiest part of cosmology. Just consider the fastest thing in the universe, light, still takes 8 minutes to make the trip from the Sun to the Earth.

These are just numbers... They are unnervingly difficult to relate in your head, since we are of the middle realm of reality. (Maybe not even the middle, but that is my artistic license.) All we have is the math to even try and comprehend the vastness of the universe and the infinitesimally small nature of the things that it is made of. As Richard Feynman said, "If anyone tell you they understand quantum mechanics, they don't understand quantum mechanics." It's easy to say, "Don't be afraid of the vast unknown. Don't let it make you terribly uncomfortable." The truth is we are not built to interact with these scales. We can only do so with tools and not everyone swings a hammer with the same skill. If you feel dizzied by the world around you, be it large or small, take heart. You are not alone. For all those of the middle mind, water is wet, glass is smooth, and the sky - a wonder.

Topic Tuesday #48 2013/06/18 - "The Advocate"

Topic Tuesday #48 2013/06/18 - "The Advocate"

In this world there are uncountable things to be concerned with. Everything from how your laces are tied to what was served at the last White House dinner, that you weren't invited to, could flow across your mind. There are people out there that get really passionate about a few things. These folks raise money, awareness, and a ruckus in the name of their "cause". Sometimes the cause is relatively small, but nonetheless daunting. Other times, the cause is massive. Something so enormous in complexity and nuance you just have to be a little in awe of it. It takes a special person to devote themselves to a cause and rally for its support. Among other things, we call these individuals, Advocates. And we need their voices. When the message is clear and the personality is strong enough, one person can make a difference in anything. They often have stalwart opponents and detractors. Lies and slander are often the tools of the trade. Mudslinging as often as not is used as part and parlance to fundraising and handshaking. Sounds a little like politics doesn't it? It's because it is a lot like politics, and has to be since politicians are just the kinds of people that advocates are up against. Fighting fire with fire and so on.
You know all this already, or at least I hope you do. My point is to raise your awareness to the advocates around the world. take a second look at what they are doing, and why. These people are running full tilt with a plan. Some want to save a small nesting bird, and others want to save the planet. Some want to educate everyone, others just want to make sure no one goes to bed hungry or sick.
Almost universally Advocates for a cause are trying to change something. They see a problem and want to fix it. They advocate to have anyone who will listen help them in their cause.

So, my dear readers; What are you an advocate for? This is where you get to plug your cause and get just a little more exposure. 
Can we fix it?
We can try!

Topic Tuesday #47 2013/06/11 - "Big Brother / Big Data"

Topic Tuesday #47 2013/06/11 - "Big Brother / Big Data"

Orwell would be pointing a malnourished finger at all of us and chanting, "I told you so".
I don't go into the dystopian conspiracy theories, but as they are part of our culture, they still must be examined. Today the magnifying glass is on "Big Data". You may have heard the term, and if you haven't, you will.
Wikipedia summarized it thusly:
Big data is a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications. The challenges include capture, curation, storage, search, sharing, transfer, analysis, and visualization. The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing correlations to be found to "spot business trends, determine the quality of research, prevent diseases, link legal citations, combat crime, and determine real-time roadway traffic conditions.

Big Data is just that, BIG. Veritable truckloads of data available on demand and manipulatable to yield a variety of correlations. It's enough to give you the heebie-jeebies, but honestly, it is unavoidable.
Big Data is a side effect of our increasingly technological society. We have devices that generate information that can be captured and logged. Most of it is innocuous. Like temperatures, wind speed, and rainfall.  
We take weather measurements every few seconds (this would be a data set, like a spreadsheet) in thousands of weather stations all over the world (a larger data group, a collection of spreadsheets). Now imagine that you have all this information collected from all the weather stations all over, and now you can see patterns. With patterns you can make predictions. Voila, you have a rudimentary weather model and can start to predict storm patterns.
Now extrapolate that out further. Do you have a credit card? Congratulations you have your own data set of purchasing patterns! This information is stored and used to determine fraud patterns. If suddenly you are outside your normal spending patterns or regions, you may be flagged with a fraud alert, keeping you safe. The dark side of the credit card industry is they have a tendency to sell/share that information with marketers and even law enforcement. In this way your habits become a recognizable pattern. Patterns can be identified, and some are as unique as a finger print.
It is safe to assume that if your have a device that generates a loggable data set, you can be sure someone somewhere is collecting it, and someone else wants it for some reason. Some will want to make life easier for you, others for themselves. Some will profit from it, and others will suffer. And I haven't even got into facial recognition! 

Topic Tuesday #46 2013/06/04 - "Book'em Dano"

Topic Tuesday #46 2013/06/04 - "Book'em Dano"

...And make sure you swab his mouth for a DNA sample.

Sounds a little more ominous now doesn't it? But why is that? First, the news: 

Supreme Court: DNA Samples Can Be Taken From Arrestees Without Warrant  http://goo.gl/Dc88p

Says all I really need to know in that sentence. It passed the high seat by a slim 5:4 margin with a strong dissenting opinion by Judge Scalia. As always, I encourage you to take a look and think about the issue for yourselves.

What I want to look at is what our normal baseline is right now for the "booking process" and the Fourth Amendment.

According to http://thecriminaldefensegroup.com/understanding_booking_process.htm:

While going through the booking process, the following should be expected:

• Mug Shots
• Fingerprints
• A search
• Routine questions on background information (name, address, etc.)

If your case begins with a court appearance and not an arrest, you may still be required to appear at the police station for a book-and-release procedure. 

Most jails will give out booking information (arrest date, bail, visiting information, the location, the court date, charges and booking number). Generally, you'll be asked for the defendant's full name and birth date. Keep the booking number for future reference. 

As you can see, once you are in police custody, very little is sacred. You can plead the Fifth Amendment and maintain your Miranda Rights, however, you are still subject to a physical search, up to cavity search...  

A note on Miranda rights, since they are thrown about so readily: 1966 Miranda v. Arizona. The ruling states:

...The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he/she has the right to remain silent, and that anything the person says will be used against that person in court; the person must be clearly informed that he/she has the right to consult with an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning, and that, if he/she is indigent, an attorney will be provided at no cost to represent him/her.

Further: On June 1, 2010, in deciding the Berghuis v. Thompkins case, the United States Supreme Court declared that criminal defendants who have been read the Miranda rights (and who have indicated they understand them and have not already waived them), must explicitly state during or before an interrogation begins that they wish to be silent and not speak to police for that protection against self-incrimination to apply. If they speak to police about the incident before invoking the Miranda right to remain silent, or afterwards at any point during the interrogation or detention, the words they speak may be used against them if they have not stated they do not want to speak to police.

The lesson here is say as little as possible until you see legal council, even if you are innocent. Don't be a jerk about it, but better safe than sorry.

OK enough about that, now on to the Constitution. For completeness:

Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I imagine that the issue that is primarily irritating is "the right of the people to be secure in their persons". It's a fine line. You would already have your finger prints put on file, your picture taken (without make up in most cases), and... there is that search...

So what's the big deal about having another piece of data, that identifies you, even better than finger prints and mug shots, go into the database? Oh... there it is. The Database. Big brother is watching you and Hoover is keeping Tabs on you. Well yes. They are. This is a surprise? You get targeted advertisements all the time. Data is being harvested all the time, and the government happily buys it up. They might not know what to do with it, but they have it when they do figure something out. DNA, will just be another field in a growing database.

Lately, there has been an increasing stigma over "big data". Specifically how it is being used. The primary problem is a lack of understanding. I will save big data for another Tuesday. For now, be aware that more rapists, more criminals, more bodies, will be identified and thus be another step closer to justice - whatever that means today.

Think I'm off base? Good, tell me about your thoughts on the matter. Just remember, 'cavity search'. before thinking a DNA swab is illegal.

Topic Tuesday #42 2013/05/07 - "Disruptive Tech"

Topic Tuesday #42 2013/05/07 - "Disruptive Tech"

I love technology. I love history. I love science and science fiction (the inspiration for more of the former). The last few days have seen a turn in the direction of what was thought of just at the top of the year as pure science fiction. Well, when I say thought of, I mean all but those with their eyes on a gun manufacturer here in the United States. Defence Distributed, and its front man Cody Wilson, have dreamt up a cottage industry in disruption. Cody, over the last year, has designed and now succeeded in building a fully 3D printed firearm called the Liberator. It's designed as a homage to the single shot weapons that were air dropped over France during WWII. Besides that, the weapon is all plastic save the nail used as a firing pin. The plans have been released to the wild. Anyone can make one of these if they so desired.
And that is outstanding.
Don't think so? Let me explain my stance.
Freedom.
Oh... You probably want more of a platform than that. OK, look at it this way, this is a technology that cannot be stopped. It cannot be regulated to the governments liking and never will be without massive outrage. This is manufacturing in your garage. Dream it one day, make it the next. You don't need permission. You just need the know how, the raw materials and the tools to put them together. Cody made a gun. Will this gun be used to hurt someone? Almost certainly. This is a logical progression to this kind of device (3D printer). Think for a moment as I stroll down technology of years past lane. When Gutenberg and his movable type printing press came on the scene the scribes were out of a job, and it was revolution in the streets (Martin Luther ring a bell?). When the cassette tape was released and you could record onto it easily, the Recording Industry lost their minds. When the VCR came out the Motion Picture Industry went nuts. CD Burners, DVD Burners, BlueRay burners MP3, MP4, JPEG things that can make a copy of something without the originator getting their due, will always be disruptive. I recall that digital copiers were so good at color reproduction that they were used in counterfeiting operations. The Liberator is a statement and a loud extension of this phenomenon. This says, "You can't stop the future. This is the information age, and now we can make use of that information - whatever form it takes."
It is a shake up. It is a wake up call. What that call sounds like changes depending on who hears it, but really it's about freedom.

Personally, I knew this was coming, and making my own gun if just not my cup of tea. Personally, I would rather be the toy maker or make replacement parts and mockups for my own projects. But that is what most people will do. Again, take the internet as a case in point. When it was started, there was no security, no anti virus, no pictures... It was innocent, with innocent ideals. None of those early engineers considered that it would be used for terrorism, free speech, porn, dating, and social networking, or even voice and video. It proved to be disruptive. In a very short time, look how far it has come! Now, where will 3D printing go as the technology becomes less and less expensive?  In less than 10 years, I can see the personal 3D printer all over. Remember inkjet printers were very expensive when they first came on the scene; now they are practically disposable. The printer they used for the gun, was $10,000 on ebay second hand. You can get a MakerBot for considerably less. http://store.makerbot.com/ And I encourage you to go make something.

What will your imagination make next? Will regulation over these devices stifle creativity and rapid prototyping with red tape? Will it just be impossible to regulate, like desktop printing and copy machines?
What do you think?

Topic Tuesday #38 2013/04/09 - "Are we alone?"

Topic Tuesday #38 2013/04/09 - "Are we alone?"

It's a classic question isn't it? It this planet the only one in the universe that has fostered life in many forms? Worse, perhaps, are Homosapien-sapiens the only "intelligent life" in the universe capable of asking the question?
There are a few facts that I am aware of that are amazing at giving a hint to an answer. Some of these facts do little more than to bend the mind and pose more query.

How many stars are in our home galaxy, the Milky Way?
(2×10^11 to 4×10^11) For those that don't like exponents, that's 200,000,000,000 to 400,000,000,000, or 200 billion to 400 billion stars. 

How many galaxies in the observable universe?
1.7×10^11 or 170,000,000,000 or 170 billion

How many stars in the observable universe?

3×10^23 or 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 300 sextillion or 300 thousand billion billion

(according to research by Pieter G. van Dokkum and Charlie Conroy published in December 2010)

This number is comparable more than the number of grains of sand on Earth.

When was the first optical telescope invented?
The year  was 1608, or 405 years ago.

When was the first radio telescope invented? 

The year was 1937, or 76 years ago.

What is the first known use of written language on Earth?
The Kish tablet dated to ca. 3500 BC is the oldest surviving example of proto-cuneiform signs.

This places evidence of language and recorded history being a time period of roughly 5500 years.

When was the first broadcast of a terrestrial radio signal?

The first experimentation with radio was done in the late 1800's. Marconi made the first radio transmission in 1895. This was 118 years ago.

What does all this amount to? What does this mean?

Every star observed could have planets. Statistically, some of those stars will have planets in the theorized "Goldilocks Zone" where the conditions are just right to promote the conditions to bear life. In short, to think that we are alone, could be attributed to egotism. The odds are not in favor of that conclusion. Then you might think of Martians and crop circles and cattle mutilations and  so on. There is a problem with that. It's the problem that we are dealing with every day as we keep looking up. The fundamental speed limit of the universe. The speed of light.

Effectively, looking into space is time travel. No really. Think of it this way, the light or radio signals that we are observing here on our planet, had to travel across space to get here. Radio and light, being energy waves, travel at the same speed. Our closest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, is 4.39 light years away. This is where your head may start to hurt, when you realize that whatever we observe from the 3 stars in the Alpha Centauri system, happened 4.39 years ago. The stars in Alpha Centauri could explode today, and we wouldn't notice until August 29, 2017. 

Our star, Sol (aka the Sun), is classified as a G2V main sequence star, roughly middle age at 4.57 billion years. We estimate it has another 4.5 billion years left before it expands to a sub giant, then  red giant, then a planetary nebula, and finally, a white dwarf. Our own solar system tells us much of our galactic neighbors. How many planets are possible, what types of planets are likely, the practical ages of stages of star systems. Basically, a wealth of information that builds upon itself to tell us what happened to stars thousands, millions,  and billions of light years away from us. 

The trick is time and distance. There are stars that we can observe that have already passed through their main sequence (where life is most likely to form). So then we can ponder, what could have happened. As we are aware at this point is that the world will go on without us. The solar system will change, but will go on for billions of years. We are a young species and just dipping our impatient toe in a vast ocean of the unknown. 

To reach out to a species on the other side of the galaxy, we will need to learn how to overcome the speed limit. Have other species done this? Impossible to confirm, until they stand here and show us. But it would be  unwise to underestimate any possibility. We don't know they would even be interested in talking to us, or eating us. 

We are young; our period of intelligence (based on written communication) being less than 6,000 years. The signals that are most likely to be noticed, to say that we are here, have been traveling into space for no more than 118 years. We need to take the long view and have patience.

Our culture has been shaped to be very self centered. For examples;

"The world was made for man."

"The Sun revolves around the Earth, and the Earth does not move."

"The stars revolve around us, if not Earth, certainly the Sun."

"Certainly we are at the center of the universe."

"Everything was made for us, for our time here. It all lead up to this moment."

Seeing stars explode and scatter their enriched guts across space to feed the creation of another world, I find it remarkably egotistical to think that; our small planet, in an average solar system, around an average star, in an equally unremarkable arm of one of 170 billion galaxies... could somehow be more special than any other. 

We are very lucky to have made it this far. It is doubtful we are alone, but it is even more doubtful that the other intelligent life has survived to make contact with us, or that they would have even noticed us yet. Should we stop looking? Never. There is still a chance, even if it is small. While we look, we learn. One day, when we take to the stars as a space faring race, escaping from an expanding star (or whatever else we may have done), we will need to have a destination. 

We need to survive long enough to do this, so smile and hug your fellow man. Know we are children. We will make mistakes. We just need to keep some perspective. We're only human.

Topic Tuesday #32 2013/02/26 - "Yellow Journalism"

Topic Tuesday #32 2013/02/26 - "Yellow Journalism"

The term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

Why do I want to talk about Yellow Journalism? As luck would have it I found out that CNN's Soledad O'Brien is being "bumped" from her spot in the morning to an ambiguous documentary production role. Soledad has been a veracious journalist. She asks hard questions where others ask the safe "softball" questions.She is doing her job, or at least, she is being a real journalist. She should be rewarded for it. She is not. She may have made some people rather uncomfortable. If you have ever faced an authority figure (like a parent) and had them ask you the questions that you really don't want to answer, you can get the feel of this uncomfortable feeling. So it's simple: Soledad wasn't doing her job the way the establishment wanted her to.

I am not going to put on my tin-foil hat and claim conspiracy, as I don't think I need to. It's obvious. What I am going to do is draw a parallel to Yellow Journalism. As the old timers will readily say, "it's to sell soap".

The organizations that deliver, and in some cases manufacture, our news are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They are in it to make money, by selling advertising time. The advertisers want to sell to you. Your senses are being sold to the highest bidder. They walk a fine line between validity and entertainment. Let's follow the money. 

1. Widget Maker wants to sell Widgets or Soap. They hire a-
2. Marketing Agency to make advertisements for widgets to the researched demographic group The Marketing Agency the buys airtime from-
3. Network Sales who claims their "Product" (TV Show, News Program, etc) reaches sufficient numbers in that target audience where consumer's eyeballs or ears are enticed to buy while consuming the product that the Network is presenting -
4. And you buy the widgets (or soap [where do you think Soap Operas came from?]) and thereby feed the Widget Maker money to continue supporting the Marketing Agency and they to continue to support the Product that you were passively enjoying anyway.

And the circle is complete. 

Here's where it breaks the last shred of integrity:

The Network Sales team must provide updated ratings of the number of people reached. If the "Product" (that will be supported by the advertising) does not maintain their ratings the Marketing Agency pulls the advertisement and goes elsewhere. Here is where the "Product" gets polished to make it more appealing to demographics. Make the hosts prettier. Make the topics gripping but not always negative. Keep the guests happy. Don't make enemies. Don't give other properties free advertising. And so on. This is why your favorite programs (Firefly) and personalities (Soledad) get cut, and why "Toddlers and Tiaras" gets great ratings. It's also why there are script writers and auditions for REALITY TV... It's a lie, to sell soap, or widgets, or home lobotomy kits.

So what we have is a structure that is not treating "news" reporting in a purely agnostic and ethical way, but a sensationalized way They are apt to pump the news up and parade it around in motley before the target demographic, to sell the the widgets. 

Special interest groups make requests, and in the interest of continuing to sell widget soap biscuits (now with added caffeine), they kowtow to those requests that are mutually beneficial. 

"Stevens, Keep in mind that the next political candidate should want to buy lots of ad time from us and they will be kind to the interests serving our company when elected. We better play it safe and not enrage a potential ally on the Hill. Stop saying negative things and pointing out the facts they don't want to make headlines. You'll loose percentage points for our 25-45 demographic in Boise."

This is how it happens. It happens all the time. 

So now that I've pointed it out, where do you get your news from?

Topic Tuesday #30 2013/02/12 - "A Big Fat Tuesday"

Topic Tuesday #30 2013/02/12 - "A Big Fat Tuesday"

MARDI GRAS!!! 
What is "Mardis gras" all about? Boiled down to brass tacks, le mardi gras (literally translated, "Fat Tuesday"), is the binge before the purge. Let me elaborate.

Believe it or not, this festival of mirth and merriment, and costumes and cocktails, are all because of Easter.

"Fat Tuesday" is the day before "Ash Wednesday" which marks the beginning of the 40 day fasting / prayer / penance of "Lent". The last week of "Lent" is called the "Holy Week" and contains the "Easter Triduum" and "Maundy Thursday". "Maundy Thursday" (or "Holy Thursday" if you're Catholic), commemorates the "Maundy" (Washing of the Feet) and the "Last Supper"; then followed by "Good Friday" (commemorating the crucifixion). Then of course, Easter Sunday (commemorating the resurrection) itself. Easter is the most important holiday, and moveable feast, for all of Christianity.

So it's all about getting it out of your system before paying penance for 46 days. It's become a fun, gluttonous celebration before the self denial known as Lent.

Celebrating is different in many countries, but for here in the US, we have adopted New Orleans and the French Creole Cajuns to serve as our mainstays of what to do. Beads and Booze, Food and Fun, Masks and Casks, Parades and Parties, and Kings and Queens.  The Colors  - Purple for justice, Gold for power, and Green for faith, decorate everything. Let the good times roll! (Laissez les bons temps rouler)

February 12th, not to be subjugated entirely by Mardis gras, is also the birthday of many famed individuals including; Abraham Lincoln (1809), Charles Darwin (1809), Arlen Specter (1930), and Christina Ricci (1980).
Some notable things occurred too;
1912: The last Emperor of China, Hsian-T'ung was forced to abdicate, ending 2,000 years of imperial rule.
1924: First radio address by a president (Calvin Coolidge),  First day commercials appeared in broadcasts.
1935: The last of the United States rigid frame airships, the USS Macon, crashed.
1958: Transatlantic jet service started between New York and London.
1973: The first US prisoners of war were released from North Vietnam.
2004: Defying a California law, San Francisco officials began performing weddings for same-sex couples.
2008: The Writers Guild of America screen writer strike ended (and TV viewing was restored)
2010: Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
2011: The remains of the ship that inspired Moby Dick ("The Two Brothers") was discovered off the coast of Hawaii where it sank in 1823.

What did you do today? Or.. What can you tell us you did tonight?
"Laissez les bons temps rouler!" 

Topic Tuesday #29 2013/02/05 - "Meme Machine"

Topic Tuesday #29 2013/02/05 - "Meme Machine"

MEME (pron.: /ˈmiːm/ /mēm/ MEEM) Noun

1.) An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.
2.) An image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another.

Culturally we have been inundated with memes in our information age. We should all have a general concept of what a meme looks like, but do you know what a meme actually is? What it stands for? What it's great purpose is? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Let's jump into some abbreviated back story.
In 1976 the book "The Selfish Gene" was published by author Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist. Dawkins was set about explaining how the genes in all living organisms could be analogous to a replicator. The gene has a simplistic purpose, to replicate itself as successfully as possible. That is the essential take away from the book on the topic of genes, however he coined a term to expand on the notion. When an idea or concept is replicated through a culture, he dubbed it a "meme". The Ancient Greek words; mimeme ("something imitated"), mimeisthai ("to imitate"), and mimos ("mime"). These Greek terms, combined with the concept of the 'gene' being a replicator, served as foundations for the concept. Thus modifying the word 'gene', become 'meme'.

We have seen many of these memes through our lives and mostly we just look over them. We are blissfully ignorant over their (memes) innate power to program us as a host to pass along the memes knowledge and concepts. You might think that a maddening prospect. That an inanimate, no... worse than inanimate, a figment, a concept at best - could be something that could do something like force you to know something and even to pass it along unwittingly. But it's true. Our brains are good at one thing in particular: Pattern Recognition.
Have you heard of a "mnemonic device"? Mnemonic devices are techniques to help remember something. It’s a memory technique to help your brain better encode and recall important information. It’s a simple shortcut that helps us associate the information we want to remember with an image, a sentence, or a word, etc, etc..
Mnemonic devices are very old, and virtually everybody uses them, even if they don’t know they are. It’s simply a way of memorizing information so that it “sticks” within our brain longer and can be recalled more easily in the future. This is the nature of a meme.

Have you ever been someplace and smelled something that reminded you of something from your childhood? Have you ever heard a word said in a particular way that caused you to have a melody or entire song to populate in your head, so strongly it was there the rest of the day? Perhaps an image that caused you to cry, for no apparent reason. These are all indicators of memory programming. You can call it "learning" if you like.  The result is the same.

So what can you do with this knowledge? Perhaps you can do something great. Program little life lessons into your own memes. A funny little picture, a few well phrased words, inserted in a simple shape (usually squarish), and presented in a way that gets lots of eyes to look at it. Memes spread like a virus. This is one reason for the term, "going viral", on the internet. The meme is so popular, so easy to remember, so catchy, that it spreads like wildfire and soon everyone knows it. Just don't take every meme you see on the internet as gospel. Just because somethings catchy, doesn't make it true or useful.
Propaganda spreads this way.
Misinformation spreads this way.
Songs, pop culture, politics, news, old wives tales, lies, truths, rumors, gossip, and occasionally educationally useful things are all apt to be replicated in the meme machine that is our own brains.

Soon I will be putting out some memes for CanWeFixIt.org. Let's put that 3lbs of pattern recognition meme machine to good use!

Topic Tuesday #27 2013/01/22 - "Dollars and $ense"

Topic Tuesday #27 2013/01/22 - "Dollars and $ense"

I remember buying my first car. I was excited as I saved up $1,500 over a summer and was going to buy it outright. It was going to be a hunk of junk, a clunker - but what does a 16 year old care really when the freedom of transportation is promised? I wrote the check... I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to retch at the thought of the exchange... All my hard earned coin was going to be gone in an instant. I did it anyway. I got the car and had my measure of freedom and responsibility. You never forget your first time, and that was my first car and also my first big check.

In the world of finance, money has no value. Keeping this in mind may change your view of the world. Let me explain:
In the USA, we have dollars as our agreed upon currency standard. But what is a dollar? Two "sawbucks"?Four Quarters? Ten Dimes? Twenty Nickels? A hundred Pennies? Yes but not at all. A dollar is a promissory note. That's all. It's true worth is that of 'paper' (Though it's actually a complex blend of fibers more akin to fabric for durability-but I digress). We use them as a token of perceived value for the purposes of the exchange of goods and services. the currency itself has no intrinsic value at all. In the end, it's worth is a lie. But a convenient one.

I am a big fan of the barter system. I often wonder what I could gain from exchanging my skills with those around me. How much is my effort worth? I need a roasting hen for supper, so I could fix a sink, or repair a computer. Maybe saving your files from a crash would be worth a large pig or a cow, or painting my house in return, or maybe the paint. Hard to say. Very hard to say. Can we exist on it alone? No. Not really. What would the power company ask you in trade for a Kilowatt Hour to run said computer? What would the city ask in return for protection and clean water? It's a slippery slope to a feudal system. A liege lord and his castle keep taking care of the main functions of society while you pledge your loyalty to them. Or worse even... The company store, where you pay back your wage of effort to be always a little behind and become an indentured servant, slave labor, deep in a coal mine.


We do need regulation and standardization in a modern day. But let's review just 2 generations ago. Your grandmother could go down to the corner store and buy a loaf of bread for a nickel. She thought that was expensive. Today, the same loaf, though likely much worse for us, costs around $2.  Over say 75 years, the cost of a loaf of bread inflated. It's a simple task to understand the real value of a loaf of bread. It feeds you. It provides nourishment. It is sustenance. You can't fill your belly with money alone and expect to live long. We go with the perceived value of money. The perceived worth of a loaf of bread, a liter of water or gas or milk and so on.

It's troubling to know that the money in your pocket is almost meaningless. What happens when the men behind the curtain, that decide how much money is in circulation and what interest rates to lend more promissory notes out with, decide to print more money and circulate it wildly? The money in you hand loses value. If the regulators pull money from circulation, and artificially constraining the economy, they make the money a more scarce resource and raise it's value, it's buying power. Supply and demand - on demand. When the economy can be manipulated in such a way as the $10 you have in savings is only able to be exchanged for a quarter of what it used to, when you earned it and traded your skill and effort for it, it makes you wonder if this is the right system.

Can we go back to a fixed system? One backed by gold (The Gold Standard). Would we want to? Commodities such as gold and oil and nearly everything else of value, are traded wildly on the stock exchanges of the world. Their value fluctuates wildly.  Though the value of a dollar also fluctuates it does so at the pace of the Federal Reserve. They choose the base interest rates for borrowing, and decide how much money should be in circulation. They do so at regular intervals, so the cost of things like bread does not sway wildly out of control. It's not an enviable job. Someone will always tell you it's wrong. The sad thing is they are right in that it's always wrong for someone.

I could go on, but I want the conversation to carry it forward. Good or bad, the economy work this way in a far more efficient manner than a barter system alone could enjoy. I'm terrible at pricing my services, and will always be taken advantage of, or be made to feel like I am robbing someone if I price competitively. How many chickens is a computer rebuild worth?

Topic Tuesday #25 2013/01/08 - "The Right To Privacy"

Topic Tuesday #25 2013/01/08 - "The Right To Privacy"

In the last quarter of 2012 web browser vendors took on the topic of "DNT" (Do Not Track) as a feature to be added in their various browsers. What is DNT? You may have heard to empty your cookies now and then and delete your cache. That is where tracking lives (for the most part). Cookies are used as a kind of passport from one website (or within a websites various pages). They carry authentication tokens, information about your browser, your computer, you, how long the credential is valid for, and permissions therein. There are "Third Party" cookies that are generated typically from advertising vendors for various web pages and they can quite literally follow you around the internet. Ever notice the ads being targeted to you? Like you just bought something on one site and a completely different site then tries to sell you a competing or complimentary item? I bet you have but you may not have connected the dots. These can all be equated to being stamps in your passport and when handing it to the next "agent", they get to see where you've been and add their own "stamp". 
Where am I going with this? Simple, do we not have the right to be left alone? The DNT engineering specifications provide for meta data to be added to browser queries to "opt out" of being tracked. Sounds great, then they won't be spying on me all the time. There are a few catches to this. 1) The DNT Spec indicated it should be off by default. 2) Websites are under no mandate to comply, rendering it exceptionally weak. 3) Microsoft decided to break the spec by turning it on by default in the latest IE versions, causing a big stir. 4) Vendors have varying levels, from obnoxious to that wasn't too bad, of ease to enable the DNT header, continuing to make it obtuse to user adoption.

Number three is the big game changer here. Microsoft is in the consumers court on this one. The rest of the industry (the other 46% of the browser market) and the Apache Software Foundation (provider of back end web hosting software) are not happy with Microsoft's choice in the matter. There are a few reasons. Apache is mad because it breaks the specification, so they are retaliating by having their servers ignore the request from IE clients. Other providers, like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, have decided to implement the spec and are capable of it, but turned off by default.  Why are we being tracked at all? Money. Money. Money. Oh and some data metrics too - that leads to more money. Did you ever consider how the web works? It works predominately on advertising revenue. Google, the ginormous search engine company, is primarily an advertising company. That is where their revenue comes from. Why do they give so many services away? Because those services make you see more ads. The companies that provide ads want to know their money is being well spent, so they demand metrics. Perfectly reasonable. Those metrics are collected by tracking cookies. There is an old adage, "if you're getting something for free, you're likely the product being sold". They give you the service in exchange for your participation in giving them information about your spending habits, browsing habits and sometimes, habits in general. 

Recently there was even a researcher that used the vast data stores (known by the buzz words "Big Data") was able to correlate drug interactions between two popular drugs, a cholesterol medication and an antidepressant. The two interacted to bring on diabetes if left unchecked, and this interaction would not have been so easily found if it had not been for the aggregated (anonymized) big data from search engines. 

So what we have here is a conundrum of what is ours. When does our search become the property of a search engine? What will they do with that information once they have it? Can "the Feds" come in and take it all and use it against you? What is a reasonable expectation of privacy? 

This is where it gets complicated. The Fourth Amendment is our guarantor of privacy, as long as you expand it to it's reasonable extents: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." You are protected by the Fourth Amendment when people have "a reasonable expectation of privacy in a particular situation". The litmus test for this has been the following statement for the last century or so: "there is a reasonable expectation of privacy only if there is a reasonable expectation that certain information may be kept secret.". Over the last 50 years or so, lawyers have taken to this expectation if you can swap "privacy" with "secret" in a sentence or paragraph and not have the meaning changed.

Is secrecy still a prerequisite for privacy? In out modern times it's debatable...

For clarification purposes, the dictionary definitions are as follows:

Secret: a: kept from knowledge or view b: marked by the habit of discretion c: working with hidden aims or methods d: not acknowledged e: conducted in secret
Private: a: intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class b: belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or interest c(1): restricted to the individual or arising independently of others c(2): carried on by the individual independently of the usual institutions d: not general in effect

Of these definition, A seems to suit out needs well enough in both cases. 

For example: A social security number is not a secret as many people have access to that information. A social security number is private and is only shared with a restricted set of people or companies that have authorization to have that information. 

Justice Louis Brandeis

The world is ever changing and the law is struggling to keep up. Thanks to many of our forward thinking supreme court justices through the years, we have been able to keep a decent pace with privacy concerns. Justice Louis Brandeis, in his dissenting opinion on Olmstead v. United States (1928) attempted to make privacy concerns kin to constitutional law. I'll leave you with this infamous sentiment from that opinion and a few more quotes:  

"The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred against the government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." - Justice Louis Brandeis in Olmstead v. US, 1928.

"Specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance. Various guarantees create zones of privacy. . . . The Third Amendment, in its prohibition against the quartering of soldiers 'in any house' in time of peace without the consent of the owner, is another facet of that privacy. The Fourth Amendment explicitly affirms the 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.' The Fifth Amendment, in its Self-Incrimination Clause, enables the citizen to create a zone of privacy which government may not force him to surrender to his detriment. The Ninth Amendment provides: 'The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.'" - United States Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965.

"As the Court's opinion states, 'the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.' The question, however, is what protection it affords to those people. Generally, as here, the answer to that question requires reference to a 'place.' My understanding of the rule that has emerged from prior decisions is that there is a twofold requirement, first that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as 'reasonable.'" - Justice John Marshall Harlan, on Katz v. United States, 1967.

"This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." - United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 1973.

What do you consider private?

Topic Tuesday #24 2013/01/01 - "Happy New Year!"

Topic Tuesday #24 2013/01/01 - "Happy New Year!"

How lucky that Topic Tuesday has fallen on Christmas and the New Year! So the obligatory holiday education post is at hand. Let's look at the Calendar for origins of this, our only Global/Universal, holiday.

On the Calendar(s): The primary calendar that we have wide familiarity with is the Gregorian Calendar, but the story doesn't start there. Let's go back to it's earliest incarnation.

Roman Calendar

Numa Pompilius (753–673 BC; reigned 715–673 BC), second king of Rome, created the Roman Calendar which was superseded in 46 BC by Julius Caesar's "Julian Calendar". Caesar's version had the year beginning in January, unlike the Roman calendar that started in March. The Julian Calendar was utilized by most of Europe from 45 BC until it was superseded by the Gregorian calendar commencing in 1582. The Julian Calendar is still in use in parts of the world today and is primarily used to track observance dates of fixed feasts and  moveable feasts.

Pope Gregory XIII

The Gregorian Calendar was promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582; the decree, a papal bull, is known by its opening words, Inter gravissimas. Reform was required because too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons on the Julian scheme. On average, the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes advance by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year. As a result, the calculated date of Easter gradually moved out of alignment with the March equinox. The Julian calendar gained a day about every 134 years. By 1582, it was ten days out of alignment from where it supposedly had been in 325 during the Council of Nicaea. 

The Gregorian calendar was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries. Since the Julian and Gregorian calendars were long used simultaneously, although in different places, calendar dates in the transition period are often ambiguous, unless it is specified which calendar was being used. The notation "Old Style" (OS) is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian calendar, as opposed to "New Style" (NS), which either represents the Julian date with the start of the year as 1 January or a full mapping onto the Gregorian calendar. This notation is used to clarify dates from countries which continued to use the Julian calendar after the Gregorian reform, such as Great Britain (switched in 1752),  Russia (1918), or Greece (1923).

January : "Ianuarius" is the original Roman designation of the month January. The name is either derived from the two-faced Roman god Janus, from the Latin word 'ianua', which means "door", or it is the masculine form of Diana, which would beDianus or Ianus (Janus). The Romans dedicated January and specifically New Year's Day to Janus. Janus is usually depicted as a "two-faced" god since one face is looking forward to the future and the other face looks backward to the past. January 1 was new year day: the day was consecrated to Janus since it was the first of the new year and of the month (kalends) of Janus: the feria (Latin -"free day") had an augural (fortune telling) character as Romans believed the beginning of anything was an omen for the whole. It became customary to exchange cheerful words of good wishes. For the same reason everybody took a break from their usual business, exchanged dates, figs and honey as a token of well wishing and made gifts of coins. All these were called 'strenae'.

Cakes made of spelt (dinkel wheat, or hulled wheat) and salt were offered to the god and burnt on the altar. It is interesting to note that, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, many of these customs have migrated to Christmas.

Celebrations:

Roman: Fortuna (Latin: Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche)

Roman: Agonalia

Feast of Juno and Janus, god of beginnings and thresholds. On this day, no evil may be spoken, so that the day and the year may be sweet. "Words have weight, and the ears of the Deities are open." (Ovid, Fasti). Friends exchange small jars of honey with dates or figs, along with good wishes and coins. These were called Strenae, after the Sabine Goddess of Health. This custom has continued in France to this day.

In medieval times, people wore animal masks on this day; this was called "guising."

Greek: Gamelia, Feast of the Goddess of Marriage, Hera (corresponding to the Roman Juno).

Anglo-Saxon: Wassail (Old English wæs hæl, literally 'be you healthy') "Be Hale (whole)"  Additionally the tradition of wassailing which falls into two distinct categories: The House-Visiting wassail and the Orchard-Visiting wassail. House-Visiting wassail, caroling by any other name, is the practice of people going door-to-door singing Christmas carols. These have also migrated to Christmas.

Roman: Feast of Aesculapius (Greek Healing God), his mother Coronis, and his daughter Salus (Health), whose Greek counterpart is the goddess Hygieia, though her functions differ considerably.

Sumerian: Inanna's (Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare.) Nativity feast is begun by lighting a white candle at sunset. It is to burn through the night and is extinguished at dawn.

Modern Day, We drink, dance, sing songs, like Auld Lang Syne, to which we always get the words wrong.

Happy New Year! May your hearts be full and your days easy.

Alud Lang Syne 

English translation(minimalist)

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !

and surely I’ll buy mine !

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine ;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine† ;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !

And give us a hand o’ thine !

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

Topic Tuesday #23 2012/12/25 - "Happy Holidays!"

Topic Tuesday #23 2012/12/25 - "Happy Holidays!"

Clarification of the term 'Happy Holidays' seems to be needed nearly every year. Given that I reside in the United States of America where we are graced with the Constitution and its amendments, there is plenty of reason to call attention to this. Certain media outlets insist that there is a war on Christmas every time someone says something other than, "Merry Christmas". The origins of celebrations during this time of year date back to when man realized that the longest night/shortest day of the year occurred, the Winter Solstice. Since the axial tilt of the Earth is considerable (approximately 23 degrees 27 minutes) the sun does not rise high at high latitudes in (local) winter. Those that found themselves in more northern latitudes, would experience significantly longer nights to the extent of a twilight lasting 20 hours to 179 days at the poles. This was a big deal to early agrarian and hunter gatherer cultures in the northern hemisphere. Additionally humans are not designed for this kind of environment. The period of polar night can trigger depression in some people. Cases of SAD or seasonal affective disorder are generally exacerbated by these conditions. The polar night may also be implicated in some instances of solipsism syndrome. It's easy to see why traditions would get setup around such a pivotal time of year. The harvest was in, the snow lay thick, and travel was ill advised. Best to just stick with your family and close neighbors and as we say in the south, hunker down. The combination of events fostered traditions of feasts and reverie. Myths and fairy tales of ghosts, and vampires and werewolves are also said to have their origins in the longest nights.
December 25th was a pretty popular day! The following list celebrate the day as a festival or birth or both.

• Zoroaster - Persia - c 6000 - 10,000 BC
• Osiris - Egypt - Father of Horus Pre- 5th Dyanasty C3000 BC|
• Horus - Egypt - c.3000 BC
• Mithra - Persia - c.1200 BC AKA "deus sol invictus" (Unconquered sun god)" 
• Festival of natalis Invicti [Birth of the Unconquerable (Sun)] c.1200 BC
• Attis - Greece - c.1200 BC
• Krishna - India - c.900 BC
• Dionysus - Greece - c.500 BC
• Saturnalia (December 17-25) The day marked the dedication of the Temple to Saturn in the Roman Forum in c.497 BC
• Marduk Sumerian sun god of Babylon
• Wittoba Of The Bilingonese
• Gentaut
• Tammuz
• Quexalcote Of Mexico
• Thor Son Of Odin
• Xamolxis Of Thrace
• Apollo
• Winter Solstice (Julian calendar Dec 25th from 45 BC until it was superseded by the Gregorian calendar commencing in 1582)
• Jesus** - Roughly 1 AD
• Boxing Day - Current calendar - December 26th

**December 25th was specifically chosen to be the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the 4th century by Pope Julius I. An arbitrary day had to be set as there was none given within the scriptures (births were not celebrated 2000 years ago, only the dates of deaths were observed). It served another purpose, that of conversion. Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachusetts  Amherst, wrote in reference to Saturnalia (December 17-25), “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.”

Iconography:
Yule Log: English historian Henry Bourne, who, writing in the 1720s, described the practice occurring in the Tyne valley. Bourne theorized that the practice derives from customs in 6th to 7th century Anglo-Saxon paganism.

Ginger Breadmen: Saturnalia, local custom primarily in the more Germanic regions. Biscuits shaped like humans, dating back to some of the more colorful human sacrifice rites that were often performed.
Caroling: As part of Saturnalia, there was often drunken and naked singing though the streets. This was "adjusted" by the church when Saturnalia was co-opted into singing hymns.
Mistletoe: Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. At some point it gets twisted into kissing under the mistletoe from a combination of the debauchery of Saturnalia and the traditions of some druidic sects. 

Christmas Tree: The Asheira cult, worshiped trees. At the time of the Winter Solstice, they would decorate the very trees they worshiped. In another attempt to win the pagans over to Christianity, the practice of bringing a tree into your home and decorating it was incorporated into the newly formed celebration of Christ’s birth. 

Gift Giving: The emperors of pre-Christian Rome compelled their citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). This ritual/tradition expanded to include gift-giving among the populace. Christian flavor was added by re-rooting it in the gift-giving of Saint Nicholas. Boxing Day is also a gift giving celebration.
Santa Claus: Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra. He died in 345 CE on December 6th. He was named a saint in the 19th century.
Nicholas was among the senior bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament.
In 1087, Nicholas remains were moved Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy. In Bari, Nicholas supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts.
The adopted Nicholas gift giving spread north. It was adopted by groups who worshiped a pantheon led by Woden –their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw. Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn. When Nicholas legend merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing.
The Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas legends and traditions and taught that he distributed gifts on December 25th instead of December 6th.
In 1809, Washington Irving wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History. The work refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus.
Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read the book and in 1822 he published a poem based on the character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…” Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended through chimneys.
The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast elaborated the imagery of Santa Claus with more than 2,200 illustrations appearing in Harper's Weekly from 1862 through 1886. Nast gave Santa a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children.
In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa. Sundblom modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face. The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright and Coca Cola red. The Modern Santa was born – a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope your day was as enjoyable as mine, no matter what you believe or celebrate.

Topic Tuesday #20 2012/12/04 - "Are we alone?"

Topic Tuesday #20 2012/12/04 - "Are we alone?"

One of the pages I follow posted a graphic of the radio signal bubble from Earth. This struck me as a moment of possible revelation. "The first AM broadcast was on Christmas Eve, 1906, and Hitler’s broadcasting of the 1936 Olympics is regarded as the first signal powerful enough to be carried into space - which is a rather disturbing thought." Since 1936, Hitler's voice has been traversing space. At the speed of light, the 1936 Olympic introduction speech has only traveled, 76 light years. Proxima Centauri, our closest celestial neighbor star, is located only 4.243 light-years from the Sun. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Therefore 60x60x24x365=seconds in a year 31,536,000 x 186,000 =
5,865,696,000,000 miles in a lightyear. x4.243 = 24,888,148,128,000 miles to the Alpha Centauri Cluster. We have not detected life there. So the old axiom, 'If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?" comes to mind, though more importantly, does it matter if it did?

The trouble with the cosmos is that it is so very large and we... are not. Everything is scaled up. The most precious of these scalings, is that of time. We have discovered EXO-Planets, worlds of other stars. We detect them crossing in front of their stars. But I digress which is easy to do with this topic. To think that no other life has formed in a universe large enough to have more stars (with planets) than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of our pale blue dot, is either terribly egotistical or simply short sighted. I know nothing for sure, but I have plenty of reasons to believe we are not alone. So what's the real question? The question is does it matter. Then the complex answer, yes and no. It matters because we don't like to be alone. It matters because so much of our own sensibilities are shrouded in the arrogance that it was all made for us. Statistics lean towards there being other life in the galaxy, and in the universe at large. Why it doesn't matter: because that alien species might not be there anymore. Consider our own infancy as a species. We are a very young species; when we talk of geological ages, humanities recorded history is less than a 1,000th of a percent of the age of just the Earth. In less time than Hitlers voice has been traveling outward, we have been on the verge of destruction of our entire species and most of the other inhabitants of this world, countless times. It's easy to look at the Cuban Missile Crisis and see that we were close to annihilation This distinction is important. We look to the heavens and ask if we are alone. A young boy sits and reads of Superman coming from Krypton, while global super powers glower over a table perched on mutually assured destruction. If there is other life out there, would it survive long enough to ask the same questions as the boy? Will be have a planet to visit when the Grexian's that live 300 light years away start listening to Elvis Presley decide we are worth a closer investigation? At the speed of light, it will take them 300 years to come pay us a visit. The question is, will we humanity exist long enough to not walk alone in the universe? Or will we become nothing more than a disembodied voice traveling out forever?
At any rate, the answer is not as important as the question: "Are we alone?".
What do you think?

Thanks to https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience & http://zidbits.com/2011/07/how-far-have-radio-signals-traveled-from-earth/

Topic Tuesday #14 2012/10/23 "The Signal and the Noise"

Tuesday #14 2012/10/23 "The Signal and the Noise"

Last night was the final debate of this presidential election season. (I am going to refrain from partisan support in this post, but those that have read my work before will inherently know where I lean.) The talk was heated, but fluffy through most of the debates. All of the debates were far less about facts than they were puffed chests, interrupting the moderator, going over on time, and the ever so important last word. They were quite entertaining, and even sickening at times. Overall, I would give them 2.5 stars out of 5 for a you should have seen them, but didn't need to since it wasn't anything new, AT ALL. 

This leads into today's topic. 

We are getting a lot of noise through the media outlets and mailings and signs in years, and graffiti on said signs, and stump speeches and rolling roadblocks when they come to our cities etc... How do we filter the noise to get the right signal? I have been talking to several colleagues about the polls and who is doing well where and it never fails that when I bring up a website or media outlet, it is immediately disparaged and dismissed because of their slant. I bring up another, and another, and another; then dig deeper to find where they get their data and show how they arrive at their conclusions. This is to little avail other than showing that I am actually fact checking and not talking out of my arse. Overall, the chat has been civil, if not mind-numbing. And that's the problem-There is too much noise and not enough substance for the signal. The most bi-partisan organizations still seem to lean one way or the other, or at least someone will tell you they do and dismiss them as biased. It seems the only way to know what you need to make a rational decision is to do your own digging and sifting. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes booze in many cases...

I have said it a few times, but I would encourage you all to read the platforms of the main parties, since until campaign reform happens, there is little point in casting a vote for another candidate (sad but true). Keep in mind that an evolution of ideals has happened and these ARE NOT the same political groups we grew up with. They certainly are not the ones your family has supported for generations. 

Some further advice: 

• Read the platforms - But do it alone, but aloud, first. If the language is difficult to get through, you are not supposed to get through it and it is deceitful by intent. Your challenge is to... 
• Critically Compare - Take a highlighter and red pen to the platforms and mark the heck out of them. Compare which side believes what. You may need to translate the legalese doublespeak into plain english. This usually makes the paragraph a sentence. 
• Look to the future -  The one that is elected will be setting policy for decades to come. Not only that, but the likelihood that they will pick Supreme Court Justices (2 are most likely this time) will weigh heavily on law going forward for a long time. Laws can be overturned and our lives directly affected by this decision. 
• Science & Education - As the song said, I believe the children are our future. If we do not educate them correctly, we lose as a nation. What is being taught is as important as how it is taught. Examine the tail tail markings of where the education is going and ask yourselves if that will hurt the next generation. The best technology that we have came out of the furnace of scientific exploration of space. This is a cold and rational endeavour that is filled with wonder. There is no place for superstition in science. Tossing salt over your shoulder or whispering an enchantment will not replace an antibiotic to make your ear infection abate. Act accordingly in this regard. It's your grandchildren's futures you will be deciding.
• ASK - If you are still left asking questions, then do not keep them to yourself. ASK EVERYONE. Communication is key. You may get some rather interesting answers but you may do a service by prompting others to ask the same or other questions. Remember back to your days in school how a single question in class could derail a lecture and make everyone engaged. It's exactly the same in real life, just you are both teacher and student. This principle is for everyday, not just politics.

In conclusion: 

Educate yourselves and Vote. If you do not vote, I don't want to hear a single complaint about the next 4 years; beyond, "Man, I should have voted!"

How do you sift through the noise to get the signal?