Monday - 23 April 2001
This Planet Earth. I forgot to include a link to the NASA video pieced together using images from satellite sources. It's probably just as well since the site (see it here) has been flooded with hits since CNN did a story on it (see the story here).
But when things settle down, take a look. What you'll see (given a fast enough connection to download these large 4-25MB files):
Using high-resolution satellite images and powerful computer technology, NASA scientists have created visually stunning simulated dives that begin high above the atmosphere, zoom in on selected U.S. cities, and screech to a halt shortly before reaching the ground.Virtual riders start the trip from orbit, looking down on vast expanses of indistinguishable green woodlands or brown desert. The camera then rushes down at incredible speeds, bringing into view the outlines of metropolises such as Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Atlanta, Georgia (zoom) 4.5MB
San Francisco, California (zoom) 4.5MB | (pan) 26.5MB
Washington, D.C. (zoom) 4.4MB | (pan) 12.2MB
I don't know if I would call them stunning, but they are pretty neat. I especially like the zoom of L.A. which takes you down to look at the Hollywood sign from 200 miles up.
The Need for Speed. InfoWorld has an article (see it here) which says Intel is set to release a 1.7GHz chip soon. Ho hum, you say. Well, get this; the list price will be $352 in bulk lots. Let me repeat that, $352 for a 1.7GHz chip.
Also, on 29 April, Intel is set to slash prices on current chips. For example, 1.4GHz and 1.3GHz Pentium 4s, which are priced today at $375 and $268, respectively, will both fall to $193. At these prices, the PIII will soon fall by the wayside because why get a III, when for a reasonable price you can get a much faster 4 (actually, there are reasons not to upgrade but as these prices fall, the cost benefit curve moves quickly towards the 4)?
Does this mean I should dump my 933MHz PIII and get a P4? No, because the PIII does what I need it to do just fine. But my next PC, later this summer may well be a P4. YMMV.
Saturday's class dragged on from 9:00am to about 2:00pm. I'm glad we have only two more Saturday classes before the end of this semester next month. Tomorrow, I will try to post the Ethics in a Nutshell© version of what some people spend their entire lives studying. As such, don't expect a lot of fancy words. What you will get is the stripped down, ready for racing version. A version you can apply to your everyday situations. So stay tuned to this same Bat Channel.
Aloha!
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Tuesday - 24 April 2001
Keys to the Kingdom. First, a house cleaning item. I recently had to regenerate both my secure and public keys (see www.pgp.com). Hence, everyone who added my public key to their ring will need to delete the old one and replace it with this one here. For those who don't know what PGP is, go to the pgp.com site above and read about it there.
As an aside, I tried using GnuPG (mentioned on Brian Bilbrey's site) but found it did not integrate into Outlook Express like PGP did. While on principle, I would prefer to use GnuPG, it's just not ready for me and Aunt Minnie to use yet. Perhaps soon, but not yet.
So, please update your key rings with my new key since I didn't make a backup of the first one (backup? I don't need no steekin' backup). Mahalo nui loa.
MS IE 6.0 Beta. If you want to test drive Microsoft's newest version of its Internet Explorer, feel free to follow the link on the MS Update page here. Since it is a "preview" (MS speak for beta), don't blame me if it blows up in your face. Definitely only for the adventurous, [or the foolhardy - Ed].
Ehime Maru. From the perspective of the families of the nine dead Japanese crew members no punishment, perhaps short of death, would atone for what happened. But for everyone else, did the "punishment" handed down to US Navy Commander Scott Waddle yesterday equal the crime? (See the story here)
I think not. For example, if a bus driver
accidently mowed down nine pedestrians; what do you
think would happen to the driver? Reasonable people would say
the driver should stand trial for, at least, man slaughter.
There, he or she would have 12 unbiased fellow citizens
listen to the evidence and, having listened to the facts,
decide whether the driver was guilty of a crime.
But I guess things work differently in the military. To continue my example, imagine instead that the driver came before a "court" of three of his closest friends. People he's lived with and worked for 20 years. Gone to the birthday parties, the weddings, and yes, even the funerals. Then imagine that court giving the driver a letter of reprimand and then allowing him to retire, with full benefits. Hmmm. Think about it. Is this justice?
So, what lessons will be learned here (and there are always lessons learned, sometimes unintentionally)? If you are a US Naval officer it is okay to kill nine Japanese nationals if you say you are sorry because you were in a hurry, and of course, it was an accident. And for the Prime Minister of Japan, stop playing golf when you are told a US submarine rams and sinks one of your ships. Is that all we've learned from this?
Ethics 101. As I mentioned yesterday, I will do a condensed version of what we've learned so far regarding the subject of ethics in government.
The dictionary defines ethics as the science of morals in human conduct; moral philosophy. It is difficult to have a definition that works in all situations and all contexts. But there are certain universal characteristics that cut across all cultures (note, all must be used at the same time and equally applied):
Ethical Philosophies
Act in ways you would want all people to act.
Don't act as an exception to your own rule.
Don't use other people as means to your ends.
Act in ways that will bring the greatest good to the greatest number - and harm to the fewest.
Any harm your actions bring to individuals must be clearly and overwhelmingly outweighed by good to the general society.
Treat all equally. Put yourself in the place of the person who your actions will affect.
Ethical decisions, ethically reached, have these characteristics:
The choice is based on principle. It is grounded on moral rules or standards all of us can accept (e.g., do not kill, minimize harm, act justly, help those in immediate need, keep promises, do not deceive but rather respect people, and/or the professional principles: inform the public or serve the public interest).
It is impartial: made without prejudice about who benefits or loses. The self-serving goals of the organization can't automatically count more than the goals of people who could be hurt.
It applies universally. We are prepared to make this ruling in all similar cases--or say specifically why this is an exception.
It is reversible. This is a variation of the Golden Rule. People with the opposite viewpoint would say that if they were in our shoes, they would choose this option.
It is publicly justifiable. Everyone could respect the reasons, including people hurt by the choice.
The Ethical Toolbox or tests you can use in your daily life:
The test of universality - would you always decide this way for all situations?
The test of reversibility - what would you do if you were on the other side?
The test of publicity - would you do it differently knowing it would be on the front page of the newspaper?
While not all dilemmas are ethical in nature, if what you decide is based on the above characteristics and passes all of the tests, you should feel confident that you are at least behaving ethically.
Class dismissed. And see, I didn't mention words like teleology, the categorical imperative, or Kant and duty based decisions. Aren't you lucky?
Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 25 April 2001
ANZAC Day
The following is from several web sites such as this one, or this one, or this one.
"Anzac Day, 25 April, is a day set aside as 'The one day of the year' to solemnly remember those who went to war to fight for their country's freedom. It is a day when all Australians and New Zealanders think about those who answered the call of their country in times of war. Anzac Day is a day when many remember their fathers, grandfathers, mothers, grandmothers, relatives and mates who never returned from war. It is a day to show respect for the sacrifice and courage of the defenders of Australia and New Zealand......Anzac Day is not a day to glorify war, rather it is a day when we reflect on the awfulness, the death, destruction, futility and horror that it brings. Each year as we remember all those killed and injured in war, we should each vow that, if at all possible, wars should never happen again. We should all promise that we will work towards finding alternatives to war to make our world a more peaceful place."
They shall grow not old....
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn,
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them."LEST WE FORGET"
Continuing on the solemn theme. The banner [now removed - Ed] to the left links to the site of an incredibly brave woman. Now, if you read my pages, you know I do not use the words brave, courageous, or hero lightly. But all of those apply to Kaycee, a woman beset, but not defeated, by cancer. She is now on a journey which all of us must take one day. Only, she is doing it with more grace and style than most. [Postscript - It now appears the site was a hoax. I feel sorry for such people. They must lead very tortured lives. - Ed.]
Now, I know such things may be a "downer" for some people. If so, feel free to click on through. But for those who wish to see the triumph of the spirit over the flesh, click on the banner. You won't regret it.
She is the warrior.
Aloha!
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Thursday - 26 April 2001
Good Morning from the south of Kaimuki! And a good morning it is. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. And the new daynotes.org site is up and running. Note that the Gang has added our newest member, Kaycee to the top of the list. I hope you stop by her site and take a look.
Speaking of Sites. Or at least the registering of sites. May I make a plug for www.pairNIC.com? Pair is the host for this site and they recently began taking registrations of domain names. The price is $19 (USD) per year (as compared to Network Solutions, hawk spit, which charges $35/year). I'm in the process of transferring my registration from NSI to pairNIC. I'll let you know how things go but so far, it seems fairly painless (he said crossing his fingers and toes). I hope the transfer is seamless and there are no problems in accessing my site. Let me know if there are any problems.
His First 100 Days. So all of the pundits are handing out report cards for the President's first 100 days in office. Why should I be different? Because I am. Different that is. So I'll let Willian Safire, of the New York Times, talk about it (see the column here). I don't agree with everything Safire has to say but I think, as a whole, he has a balanced and accurate assessment of our new President. I especially like a quote from George Schultz from the Reagan era; "Don't just do something — stand there." Sometimes, there is much to be said for not doing something...
We wrapped up the section on Ethics in Government on Tuesday. Tonight are the Roles and Responsibilities of Citizens. This is a nice change from everything we've been looking at so far this year; namely, the role and responsibilities of government. There are only two classes in this module but it should be interesting. As such, I have a lot of reading to do so I gotta go - Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 27 April 2001
It's Friday!
Caldera OpenLinux(tm) Workstation 3.1 (beta) So instead of shortening the name, Caldera goes and lengthens it. And instead of following the numbering scheme they had been using, they jump from version 2.4 to 3.1. Sigh. No, make that Really Big Sigh.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Caldera announced last month the availability of a beta of their latest distribution of Linux (see the press release here). The distribution is slated to have:
Linux (tm)2.4 kernel
KDE(tm) 2.1
glibc 2.2.1
Xfree86(tm) 4.0.2
gcc 2.95.2 and g++ 2.95.2
Perl 5.6.0
OpenSSL 0.9.6 and
Sun(R) Java(tm) 2 SDK, Standard Edition, version 1.3.
There are a lot things to like in Caldera's Distributions. For one, they spend a lot time making sure the various programs in their distribution work well together. For another, their install program was one of the first, if not the first Linux-based graphical user interface, that actually worked.
The downside of this is that you will not find the latest versions of programs, available from Caldera, after the distribution ships (due to the time it takes to test how well the program integrates with the rest of the distribution), and the installation is pretty much pre-packaged (i.e., you get very little control over what is installed).
Still, I hate to fool around with things once I get them sorted out and working. So, when Caldera OpenLinux(tm) Workstation 3.1 ships, I will probably buy a copy and install it over (after backing up my configuration files) my current Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 version and use it as my default Linux distribution. YMMV.
Timely Transfers. The transfer of my domain registration from Network Solutions (NSI) to pairNIC seems to be progressing apace. pairNIC has a simple web-based form to fill-in to start the process (as opposed to NSI that has a complicated process and form to do if I were to try to transfer a TLD to them, which I am not). This triggers an email to the current Administrative/Billing Contact, as shown on the current registration (that would be me). All I had to do was click on a link embedded in the email and confirm that I indeed wanted the transfer to occur. As I understand it, pairNIC/TUCOWS will then do the rest of the paperwork which should take about a week. I am still crossing my fingers and toes that all will go well but so far, so good. By the way, while I was there, I also decided to register danseto.com (seto.com and .net are already registered by others but not otherwise being used). The whois record for that is already in place, so it's just the transfer that is pending.
The Kindness of Strangers. Sometimes having access to the internet is a blessing. And sometimes it isn't. But I came across this site called the kindnessofstrangers.com. As usual with this kind of find, I was looking for something else and came upon it by chance. What they do is:
offer free assistance in website design and development to Nonprofit Corporations in the United States. By offering this service at no cost, we make certain nonprofit causes obtain a professional, polished Internet presence that enhances their visibility and credibility.
If you are a non-profit, or know of one, that needs assistance in designing a website, then you may want to give these folks a look-see. YMMV.
The Tyranny of Rules vs. the Chaos of Relativism. Perhaps only if you live on a deserted island can you say your existence has no effect on the greater community; for each of us has an effect on the community we live in. Some of these effects are negative and some are positive, but effects we do have.
As a way of dealing with these effects, communities create rules or laws. These constructs govern our behavior when we interact with each other. It creates a norm of behavior which allows efficient interactions. That is, you don't have to reinvent the social wheel every time you interact with someone else. Everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. This is a Good Thing. Except when a situation comes up that is either not covered under the rules, or comes in conflict with it.
If it is a new situation, a new rule may need to be created. This takes time since consensus must be reached. However, if the problem is a conflict with an existing rule, one of two things will probably happen: 1. The rule will be amended or abolished; or 2. The rule will be kept as is, but adhered to or ignored.
For the efficient running of society, the preferred way is to adhere to, amend, or abolish the rule. This, even though, in the short-term, it is time consuming, in the long run, the rule has a higher rate of adherence due to consensus. However, if the community chooses the short-term answer of simply ignoring the rule, the fabric of society is weakened. Weakened because ignoring one rule creates a precedent for ignoring another. And if there is selective ignoring of rules, you have chaos. That is, no one knows what the norms are or how they are supposed to behave. This is inefficient and a Bad Thing.
I have class tomorrow. We will be going to a City and County of Honolulu community meeting called "21st Century Oahu - A Shared Vision for the Future." The island was divided into areas and each area met to create a vision for their community. Each area was then given a budget to implement whatever they felt was the most important item(s) on their list. Tomorrow's meeting will be a merging of the urban Honolulu groups to try to integrate their individual visions into a more cohesive whole.
Have a great weekend everyone - Aloha!
© 2001 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved. Best viewed on a computer screen. No electrons were tortured, stapled, spindled, or mutilated during the preparation of this page.