| Wednesday,
March 5, 2003
Dr. Pournelle;
I just read the message about Kant's treates about
Copyright:
"The Unauthorized Publishing of Books is
Contrary to the Principles of Right, and is Rightly Prohibited."
I know that Ayn Rand despised Kant, considering him
one of the most destructive Philosophers since Plato, but I think she's
agree completely with Kant on this; Both as an Author and as a
Philosopher.
It's like seeing Trotsky and Reagan marching
Arm-in-Arm at an Screen Actor's Guild Protest.....
Yrs;
Richard Molpus rgmolpus@flash.net
Now that's an unsettling thought...
And on the subject of unsettling thoughts:
Jerry,
I know Roland thinks to buy Apple to avoid the
Intel/Microsoft DRM mess, but it's looking like Apple is doing it's own
work on DRM (read the section "Interesting Developments":
< http://www.macobserver.com/
editorial/2003/03/04.2.shtml >
That aside, the whole article is about Apple's
"design" patents on various aspects of their UI. Cleary this
almost all has prior art, nothing new here. So either the Patent Office
examiner is so completely stupid that he didn't recognize a description of
any modern GUI system from say 1995 or later or gee, maybe he just don't
care, since he receives bonuses based on how many patents he passes. Or
maybe it's because it's a "design patent", which seems to be a
different thing than a normal patent? In any case, you and I are going to
be paying for crap patents like this in higher fees, prices, and other
assundry costs. Something seriously needs to be done about the PTO.
Pete Flugstad
One reason I go to WinHEC and other Microsoft
sponsored conferences is for the chance to interact with not only
Microsoft worker bees but others in the industry who are actually
implementing things -- as well as with the suits who control policy. I'll
know a lot more after the next WinHEC.
It is always an interesting interplay because the
people who write the code do not necessarily have, or even claim, the same
interests as those who think they are setting policies; and what comes out
isn't always what everyone expected. I do know that most of those involved
in trying to come up with a Digital Rights Management scheme are in fact
people of good will. There are many conflicts, not merely of interest, but
of principle here; and the technology sets certain limits to what we can
do, and generally has ways to route around many of our wishes. This story
will go on and on.
And for something I didn't know:
Jerry,
You wrote:
"Well, I am in San Diego at the beach
house, after considerable adventure. I took the train. Just after the last
stop someone jumped in front of the train. We then stayed there for a
couple of hours. It wasn't quite a wreck, but it sure took time and no one
was telling us what was going on. Oh well."
That is the main reason I don't like to take a train
from San Diego. You never know when some troglodyte is going to commit
suicide by train. The problem is the San Diego County Coroner's Office is
notorious for their lethargic pace getting to incident scenes and
pronouncing the remains dead.
I know CHP officers in San Diego who insist on
transporting accident victims Code 3 to a hospital to have the
pronouncement made there -- not out on the road becuase of the traffic tie
up waiting, waiting, waiting....
Jim Dodd San Diego
I do know that it took about 2 hours, and all
that time we were not permitted to leave the train, even to go find a
taxi.
Date: March 5, 2003
subject: Evildoers, dead and alive
Dear Jerry:
Time
Magazine reports
that intelligence services have captured hand written letters of bin
Laden's. They think he's in northern Pakistan (why am I not
shocked at that?).
Concerning
the allegation
that Beria murdered Stalin: 1) It proves there's some good in
everyone, even secret policemen; 2) It's interesting that the
reason given is Joe's alleged plans for starting WWIII. I'd come
across that in a recent biography of the World's Greatest Anti-Communist
(well, how many Party members have _you_ killed?), but hadn't
seen anyone else support it. Other motives that have been
offered is the charge he was planning a new set of purges. In _Molotov
Remembers_, the loyal henchman said he expected The Man With
The Mustache to have him killed.
And in
truly bizarre news, there is allegedly a
plan for letting the UN run Iraq after the Security Council
votes "No" on the invasion and we then conquer it anyway.
If that happens, I'm voting Democratic in '94.
Best,
Stephen
DELENDAM ESSE SAUDI ARABIA!
Give Iraq to the UN. If there's any way to make
Saddam a hero this will do it.
Subject: Today in history
http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists
/johann_hari/story.jsp?story=383871
-- Roland Dobbins
Indeed.
More on spam and pain:
Jerry,
I believe the anti-spam
approach described in the link you posted would have only temporary
success. The approach assumes that slowing down the transfer rate of a
message that is recognized as spam will reduce the rate at which a spammer
can send his messages so much that it will become impossible for him to
send out the large number necessary to get enough responses that he can
make money.
That approach might have some initial success, but
if I were a spammer faced with such a tactic, I would simply modify the
email distribution program to work on many messages in parallel. Adjusting
the amount of parallelism dynamically to achieve the same aggregate
transfer rate as would occur over a single unhindered session would be a
simple matter. So even if this anti-spam software were installed
universally and reduced the transfer rate of any given spam message to,
say, 1/N of the normal rate, merely having the email transfer program open
N sessions (each for a different message, of course) would restore the
original aggregate transfer rate.
- Keith Dick
As I said above, technology has its ways of
limiting what we would like to accomplish, or making it possible for
people to accomplish things we don't much want.
Mike Flynn, whose opinions are always worth
thinking on, says:
I recollect an interview that Mark Twain gave the
young Rudyard Kipling, who had come to worship at his feet, ca. 1895 or
so. Twain's view was that copyright in a literary work ought to be
permanent. Like any other piece of property, the author should be able to
will it to his heirs if he so desires, no less so than his house.
The problem here, I think is that technically
it's pretty difficult and constitutionally in the US at least it's
unconstitutional to have perpetual copyright. And librarians would go mad.
All property rights are a negotiation: what can I get my neighbors to
defend, because that's really what rights I have. In Rome it was quite
literally true: court decrees were not enforced by the state until
Imperial days and even then that tended to state decrees, not what we
would call civil court cases.
And more on ethnomath;
this is long but worth your time.
Dear Jerry:
I can understand the logic and feelings behind the
opposition to ethnomathematics in the schools. I understand where the
posters are coming from. I do agree with a lot of what they are saying in
particular. However, I am afraid that we are losing sight of some of the
facts. Therefore, I would like to zoom out and zoom in at the same time.
The fact is that in American schools, virtually
NOTHING is being taught effectively. While the educators may CLAIM to be
teaching ethnomathematics, multicultural history, and so on, they are
teaching VERY LITTLE OF ANYTHING. There is virtually little consistency in
anything. I speak from experience as a teacher in Arizona and someone who
graded standardized exams from all across the nation as an employee of NCS
Pearson. I must keep confidential information private, but I can say this:
when frequent samples of "normal" high school juniors cannot add
or multiply two single digit numbers without use of a calculator, the
students have not mastered the basics of ANY number system of any culture.
When students are barely able to read aloud a sentence in their native
language and have no clue what the sentence means, the student has not
been taught the basics of language. THAT is the problem. When a student's
jaw is dropped because I can cold-scan a homework assignment of basic
conversions between a logarithmic form and its exponential equivalent and
determine whether they are correct or incorrect, it's a sign that the
student has not been taught how to develop abstract thought and pattern
recognition, which is a skill far better refined by many of the "ethincs".
Take a look at traditional Navajo or Hopi cosmology, and I guarantee it'll
make a gringo's head spin faster than bad food will.
I have also been a professional technician for the
last 10 years. I have used and taught math in the real world. I have done
my own research into the roots of math and I can say that when we place
all of the math systems used by all the different cultures, a lot of the
differences are cosmetic. Whether we're counting or adding in English,
Basque, Russian, or Maori, we're all doing some basic things in common.
The true differences between the systems are profound and insightful. The
similarities and the differences are mathematical and when pondered
thoughtfully, have the power to transform the mind.
I do agree that the purpose of education is to learn
how to function in the real world. Our system should emphasize the
successful instruction of necessary skills to our children. In order to do
that, a lot of rote learning is necessary in the early grades. Students
need to develop a sound structure of organized learning. They need to know
how to count, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Period.
However, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
There are many different minds and many different ways to learn things. I
have worked with all kinds of intelligent people who have been labeled as
idiots and hopeless cases by the school system. Their problem was that
they couldn't function in a one-size-fits-all system. Memorizing times
tables and formulae was something that their minds rebelled against.
Because I had done research into ethnomathematics
and the history of math, I knew that not only was there more that one way
to teach the same way of doing things, there was more than one day to get
from point A to point B.
Here are some specific instances of how _I_ used
ethnomathematics to teach real students how to learn and do practical
things in the real world... in the Western world. There are many more
practical uses in the literature, but I don't know if anyone takes my
approach.
* The Egyptian multiplication method to illustrate
the mechanics of binary counting and arithmetic. I used to it help
students visualize and understand how the chmod xxx in UNIX and Linux
works.
* Use of an abacus (which had cousins in our own
Greek and Medieval tradition, both drawing influences from other
"ethnic" cultures) to illustrate decimal counting, addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division.
* Calculating not only the square root of any number
with only a paper and pencil, but any integer-root of a number thanks to a
genuine Chinese secret (even though it's plastered all over the public
literature). This method is so powerful that the Binomial Theorem --
discovered long after this Chinese method was developed and used -- can
safely be considered a specific application of this greater theorem.
* I have generated INTEREST in learning which
translated into LEARNING simply by exposing the students to the existence
of different methods of doing math. It's amazing how much motivation can
do to a mind. All it took was a little variety. Corn meal mush can get
downright dull and even induce nausea after a while -- but a little salad
or rice might just get the appetite going.
These are just non-hypothetical examples of how I
used ethnomathematics to help students not only improve their math skills,
but to make learning math POSSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I think that rather
than bashing ethnomathematics, we should try to seek the real truth. The
truth is that the American educational system and society -- which must
work as a team -- has broken down and must be repaired. The problem has
very little to do with what is supposedly being taught but rather with the
fact that virtually nothing is being taught.
It's not too different from this analogy: a worker
has charged some clients for fixing a leak but hasn't done a thing. The
clients are arguing about how the worker should have fixed the leak but
have not caught on to the fact that the worker pocketed the money and
didn't do any work at all. What method he should have used is irrelevant,
considering that most methods can fix the leak, provided that they are
actually applied in the first place.
If I can teach a child by using the 1900s rote
method of which my grandparents are so fond, I will do so -- if it works.
If I can teach a child by using historical methods and methods used by
other cultures, I will do so -- if it works. In reality, mixtures and
blendings have the best results. It is best to find some kind of healthy
balance between extremes, gathering the benefits of both.
So rather than bashing ethnomathematics, we should
be bashing a system that claims to be teaching a lot of things but teaches
virually nothing. Along with bashing, we should be changing the system.
Because I am in the trenches, I have my cussing rights. I don't see a lot
of parents doing their part to help their children learn, and they're
griping the most right now. Teaching is a shared responsibility, and I see
too many parents saying "it ain't my job to teach my kids". Even
in my lifetime, that attitude wasn't was prevalent as it is now, at least
where I lived.
Between that and the TV/Nintendo/bag of drugs
raising our kids, it's no wonder our kids have turned out the way they
have. We should also acknowledge the fact that kids view learning as an
unrewarded activity. When college graduates are working at Burger King to
pay the bills and drug dealers are earning more than both their parents
combined, plus some more, the kids are going to be good economists and
value the things -- that they perceive -- as being useful. Math, English,
and civilization aren't on the list of useful things right now.
Thank you for your time. Henry Wyckoff E-mail:
henry_wyckoff@hotmail.com
I can't disagree with any of that, but as you
say, this isn't what is happening. What's happening is like most
"diversity" stuff. Few in "culture studies" actually
read the Rig Veda or any of the core works of another culture; they mostly
do the intellectual equivalent of standing in a circle and singing Kumbaya.
Niven and I had to dig fairly deeply into Aztec/Aztlan culture for our
latest book. I guarantee you that most "students" of
Southwestern Culture know less than I do about that now, and yet I'd not
consider myself much of a scholar on the subject.
As you say, what's really going on is that not
much is being taught, and stuff like ethnomath is just a cover for the
disturbing fact that kids aren't learning our own history or anyone
else's, or any useful math. But boy do they have high self esteem. Whether
that's deserved is another matter.
From: Stephen M. St. Onge saintonge@hotmail.com
Date: Mar. 5, 2003 subject: math
Dear Jerry:
I think Henry Wyckoff is missing a point about
"ethnomath." No one is upset if anthropologists and historians
study the mathematical ideas of particular cultures. Nor are many upset if
multiple and alternative methods of reaching the correct answer are taught
(although some are; the drones who graded geometry Regents Tests in
mid-sixties New York couldn't actually follow a logical argument very
well, so they frequently graded a student's novel proof as wrong, without
attempting to find an error in the reasoning).
What's wrong with most "ethnomath" is the
idea that mathematics is arbitrary and just part of a culture: in this
culture, burping while eating is impolite, in other cultures, failure to
burp is impolite. "Ethnomath" prevents children from learning to
do mathematics -- which, as I've argued before, is the point of it all:
they want to keep the masses ignorant so they're easier to rule.
Meanwhile, for some interesting history of
mathematics, see http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/Isis/journal/demo/
v000n000/000000/000000.text.html, which deals with the history
of graphs, and the way they can facilitate scientific discovery
(discovered at http://colbycosh.com/
).
Best, Stephen
DELENDAM ESSE SAUDI ARABIA!
Well, I don't think your imputations of motive
are necessarily correct. Not for all of them...
A French Story:
Hi all:
I was at the Paris Air Show when the Russian
supersonic transport crashed. I boarded a bus for the Paris train station
but the bus got caught in the panicked departing traffic and we were
concerned about time. The bus driver decided to avoid the traffic by
driving through residential streets, at least until he entered a small
circular street and found his way blocked by a car parked at the curb.
We were trapped and he apparently could not move the
bus.
I was sitting next to a German guy and we had been
talking about the crash. After a while we wondered what the driver was
going to do. He had just been sitting there, apparently totally devoid of
ideas. The passengers, apparently all Frenchmen, were equally immobilized
and passive.
Finally I got up, and accompanied by the German,
exited the bus to examine the situation.
There was a small car parked so as to jam the bus. I
returned to the bus door and said (in French): "Pardonne Mois,
gentlemen. Would some of you please step out here for a minute?" When
half a dozen did, I persuaded them to grab the little car and we bounced
it up on the curb so the bus could continue.
Afterwards we all got on and drove away.
The German and I wondered afterwards just how long
the French would have sat there if a German and an American had not been
on the bus.
Bill Haynes (but see below)
On Professional Police
Subject: Professional Police
Dr. Pournelle,
In response to Mr. Oppen's letter
regarding police I have to strongly disagree. I am a police detective and
have been in law enforcement in one capacity or another for over 15 years.
I have been a police officer and police detecive for 12 years. Does this
make me corrupt? Of course not. Mr. Oppen is painting with a very broad
brush. Certainly there are corrupt police officers in the world although I
don't know any. I would imagine there are corrupt police departments in
this nation as well. However, most police officers (a far higher
percentage then the public at large) and most departments are very
ethical.
The problem with your plan is that police work takes
years to learn. It is commonly said that it takes about five years for a
police officer to really learn his/her job. I believe this is probably
true. Further, there are many areas that require a high degree of
specialization such as homicide investigation and high tech crime
investigation. The investment in time and training for these areas is
substantial. It would be a shame to throw it away after only three or four
years. Further, recruiting qualified applicants is already difficult
without having to turn over the department every three or four years. The
background requirements would certainly suffer. Additionally, police work
is difficult physically and even more so mentally. To be an effective
police officer you have to want to do it. Otherwise, your mental health
will surely suffer. Let me assure you that investigating the murder of a
baby or the sexual molestation of a three year old are no easy tasks
mentally. I know because I have done it many times.
Certainly, law enforcement agencies should
aggressively weed out those few officers who break the law or excercise
poor decision making. Further, if an agency in general is corrupt then it
should be investigated and appropriate corrective measures taken by state
or Federal authorities.
I, and most of my colleagues, certainly which that
the rights of the individual were not restricted to the degree they are.
This is not the fault of law enforcement. You can squarely blame your
elected officials at all levels and your courts, especially the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, for the restriction of individual rights. I have
no more control over that than you.
I completely agree with you Dr. Pournelle when you
state that people should be prepared to protect themselves and others. In
suburban Southern California where I work there are on average 1.5 police
officers for every 1000 people. This includes patrol officer, detectives,
administrators and others. They are not all on duty at a given time. This
means that you cannot rely on the police to be at your house within one
minute. In an emergency you probably can expect the police in three to
four minutes. If you are being murdered this is too long. In fact, 30
seconds is too long. Further, policing is a team effort. It requires the
whole community. If you witness a crime and don't want to tell me about it
and all the other witnesses have the same attitude then you can't expect
me to have any luck working the case. I will try but ultimately it will
probably be unsolved.
Cliff Mathews
I presume that most people know I have been in
politics and at one time had responsibilities for oversight of the police,
so I am not entirely unfamiliar with all this.
For big cities particularly the training of
police takes a long time, and as Mathews observes, it takes more time to
learn the job, and more again to learn specialties. Most of us know this,
and I presumed the suggestion of non-career cops was mostly
speculation. Small towns can have elected constables, but even that
doesn't work as well as they would like.
One problem LA has is that our training is better
than our structure: police graduate from our academy, get on the job
training, and go off to be higher paid and higher ranking professionals in
smaller towns and cities where there is less politics and less stress.
This isn't good; and the problem I see is caused by having a force that
has too many rookies in proportion to old hands, not the other way around.
But it is still the case that police often get an
Us vs. The Scumbags mentality in which the public just becomes a
nuisance....
And it's Stalin's anniversary...
From: Stephen M. St. Onge saintonge@hotmail.com
Date: Mar. 6, 2003 subject: Stalin obituaries
Dear Jerry:
Pop quiz time: one's a parody, one's for real.
Assignment: decide which captures the essence of the man most accurately,
and defend your choice in one paragraph.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3908/history_3908.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/
general/onthisday/bday/1221.html
I swear I'm not making the second one up.
Best, Stephen
DELENDAM ESSE SAUDI ARABIA!
and
Date: March 5, 2003
subject: imbecility
Dear Jerry:
Best,
Stephen
DELENDAM ESSE SAUDI ARABIA!
Incredible. Only, alas, I believe it.
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