Copywrite Protecting Science in Schools

(from slashdot.  quoting original article: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2005/1027kansas.shtml)

[ regarding a standards document for educators in the state of Kansas: ]

For many months, national science groups have been urging Kansas officials to revise the draft standards. The standards both single out evolution as a controversial theory, despite the wealth of evidence supporting it, and delete a previous reference to science as a search for natural explanations of observable phenomena.

AAAS has long held that students are ill-served by any effort in science classrooms to blur the distinction between science and other ways of knowing, including those concerned with the supernatural.

After carefully reviewing the latest version of the standards, the leadership of the National Academies' National Research Council and the National Science Teachers Association have decided they cannot grant the Kansas State School Board permission to use substantial sections of text from two standards-related documents: the research council's National Science Education Standards and Pathways to Science Standards, published by NSTA.

...

Among the problems with the current draft of the Kansas standards, according to Roseman:

• An introduction to the standards document singles out evolution as being controversial, indicates there are legitimate scientific concerns about the theory and overstates the number of scientists who disagree with the theory. The introduction also refers to "intelligent design," the dogma that some biological structures are irreducibly complex and could only be the result of intervention by an intelligent agent, as simply a "scientific disagreement" with evolution. It leaves open the option of teaching the non-scientific concept of intelligent design in science classrooms, a step scientists vigorously oppose.
  
  
• Language in one section states that "biological evolution postulates an unguided natural process." The use of the word "postulates" makes it sound as though evolution lacks evidence, Roseman said, and that the theory relies on assumptions rather than solid scientific evidence from thousands of peer-reviewed papers.
  
  
• Several modifications to a section of the standards on "patterns of cumulative change" make it appear that evolutionary theories have more uncertainty associated with them than other well-accepted scientific theories such as plate tectonics in geology.

"Bomb" scare at Georgia Tech

Campus Safe After Bomb Scare, Explosives Found Near Tech Dorms
In response to Titus' Post

Yesterday morning (10/9/05), some trash "explodes" on Tech campus, the person who detonated it isn't hurt, the adjacent dorms are evacuated and the bomb squad called. 11alive mentions "chemicals in plastic bottles", the Georgia Tech article provides no similar information.

The explosives were made up of chemicals placed inside plastic bottles and could have seriously injured someone, officials said.

"Chemicals placed inside plastic bottles" sounds a lot like water and dry ice in soda bottles, which is a teenage prank that kids might learn on the Internet. The water melts the dry ice (solid CO2), and the expansion is timed by the amount of water and dry ice. The contraption makes a really loud bang when the plastic bottle explodes on its own, which were probably supposed to be timed for early morning.

I think that its absurd to call this a "terrorist threat". Now that certain fireworks are legal in GA, what is a "bomb"? Do otherwise legal devices become bombs simply by delaying their detonation? If I am correct in identifying the type of threat, the potential damage of these three "explosive" devices would be limited to noise and plastic shrapnel, which would be contained by the plastic bags the devices were covered in. Are the police taking this a bit far by claiming it to be an act of terrorism? From 11lalive again:

Under Georgia state law, a terroristic act is described as the release of a 'hazardous substance,' specifically for 'the purpose of causing the evacuation of a building' with 'reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror.'

I doubt that these could be classified as a "hazardous substance", they might get away with saying it was "for the purpose of causing the evacuation of a building", and I guess if it were true that the intention was to evacuate a building, they may have had a disregard for "causing such terror". If these are true, they would be equally true of anyone firing a gun or detonating fireworks, if they thought it might cause a building to evacuate.

They go on to quote Major Moss as saying,

It will be a joint investigation between the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Tech Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Every possible lead will be followed.

Seriously... there are terrorists to be afraid of, but water and dry ice isn't what they're using.

Bob Moog, We Hardly Knew Ye

And its a real tradgedy.

Bob Moog has the dubious honor of the Father of Electronic Music. I say dubious because there has been a lot of crappy electronic music that may taint the title that I believe he deserves. Its unfortunate, because the electronic music that Moog gave to us is generally very different than the contemporary electronic music that musicians disdain.

A little background... years ago my ex-girlfriend told me that, as a music major, none of her peers appreciated electronic music. The advent of computer sysnthesis of classical music could kill the delicate ecosystem of funding that classical musicians exist in. Flip on the radio, and tell me the next time that you hear a classical soloist on a commercial station - it should be obvious that classical training doesn't pay well, unless you happen to be in the top 99.5%. For those of you who went to college and happened to get a 4.0, 99.5% is a pretty small slice of the pie - for everyone else, you already know how it is. So the apprehension that classical students might have to the outsourcing of their profession (to a $500 machine) is understandable. An inexpensive program called Reason (www.propellerheads.se) can easily simulate an orchestra of hundreds of people for a hundredth the cost.

But music is about so much more than the rendition of sound For a quick example, compare the sounds of a virtuoso like Yo-Yo Ma, or Joe Satriani, or Jimi Hendrix, to an electronic equivalent like the backdrops of most rap songs and pop stars. Have you ever listened to Britney Spears and said "Damn! That is a fine guitarist!" Modern pop electronic music can be captivating, impressive, and infectious, but I wouldn't call it a reflection of the human soul. Pop electronica has as much to do with soul as WalMart has to do with quality.

So, is calling Moog the Father of this Electronic Music parallel to calling him the Father of WalMart?!? I was a fan of Sams Club in the past, but I wouldn't disgrace Moog with this comparison today. If Sam Walton sells discount products, Moog sells products of the most personal, quality, passionate kind. Moog's basis of electronic music is actually in the theramin, an instrument that is human by nature. A theramin is what makes those whacky 1950's sci-fi noises based on the interference of the human form in an electrical field. Both the theramin and Moog's later electronic synthesis are completely based in analog technogies, and are as much of a personal instrument as a violin. How can electronic music be analog, you ask?

Well, to start off, electronic music was never supposed to replace musicians. The whole idea came later, after Moog started selling instruments to ad agencies in NY. The idea of replacing musicians is also a digital idea, which came far after Moogs original instruments. It may be a startling fact to know that Moog had little to nothing to do with the digital revolution of computers. His instruments, the original Moog synth and the MiniMoog, are both completely analog based, leading to the modern abstraction of the analog synth which is so ubiquitous in modern culture. Haven't heard of the analog synth? Maybe you've heard of the Roland 808, or the "techno" synth pad, maybe the generic electronic keyboard, all extensions of early electronic synthesis. Bascially any "electronic" instrument is based heavily (if not entirely) on Moog's synthesizer. How can I be so sure? Well, the word "synthesizer" was invented by Moog, who sought to describe a sound composed by different electronic modules, or "synthesized".

It was Moog's passion about music and musicians that created the analog synth and the better part of electronic music as we know it. Tragicly, shortly after completing the Moog documentary, Moog learned that he had an inoperable brain tumor and died a few weeks ago. This is a fine example of the situations where religous people say that God had a plan, and everyone else is thankful that the project was completed while there was still time. We are fortunate that a number of amazing people have produced a fantastic musical documentary of this man's career. In the context of current events, Moog is a movie that I rank right next to Dancer in the Dark in movies that make me cry like a little girl. Normally I might oppose anything reminiscent of a little girl, but the passion and tradgedy of both Dancer in the Dark (because its deeply tragic) and Moog (because its true) that it seems the only thing appropriate. If you disagree, I double dog dare you to watch both of them, alone, with a beer in hand. Moog was a quiet but passionate visionary who excelled in something which was his own, tho he was too humble to lay claim to the full bredth of electronic music.

Reasons For Moving to Another Country

I am not a political activist, but I'm starting to think that I'm an Idiot for it. There are a number of reasons why society sucks. Here is a short list of things people do that make them real dickheads:

The Fucking War On [Terror|Drugs|Porn]:
Seriously - why on a day when a CITY HAS SUNK INTO THE OCEAN is the president talking about how we aren't leaving Iraq? In fact, thanks to our Conservative Republican Revisionist media, I can't find the CNN article that I read earlier today. Gee, maybe showing photographs of a President smiling and waving isn't "proper" on the same day when hundres of thousands, maybe millions, of people's lives have been ended or ruined. CNN still has an article telling of Bush flying low over New Orleans to survey the damage. He even makes stunning remarks like, "It's totally wiped out," before he goes on to wherever he was going to talk about Iraq. In the end, it may be that as many people have been killed by this hurricane as in 9/11... does this mean our next war will be the War on Hurricanes? Maybe we could have a War on the Atlantic Ocean while we're at it. At least someone shares my sentiment - maybe our people should have been available to help us instead of sitting in the desert.

Since he brings it up, why are we in Iraq? Can anyone give me a good reason? A reason why we haven't impeached a President who has sent us to War over something that never existed, and then lied about not knowing that it didn't exist, and then arresting people who ask questions about its existance, because we have these new laws that let the government do anything it wants to anyone that it wants for any reason that it wants (or even no reason at all)? Does it say something that CBS fired a producer of a Hitler documentary for comparing the mood of pre-nazi Germany to modern America? I think that if Shit looked Un-American, people would just have to hold it in.

Why haven't we impeached this President? Did Clinton lie to us about War? Did he send your sons and daughters to be killed by hostile civilians in Iraq? He got head in the Oval Office, and we impeached him. But maybe, just maybe, he was not impeached because he had sex. Yes, he was impeached because he lied. Its a Good Thing President Bush Hasn't Lied To Us. Lets put aside his incompetency in not looking at any security breifings mentioning planes, buildings, or terrorists, especially one that arrived a month before 9/11. Lets put that aside and concentrate on the Weapons Of Mass Destruction that he told us Saddam already has, or maybe those that he told us Saddam is actively seeking to build. Seriously! When are we going to get a clue? A redneck Texan is making a mockery of the country, and no one seems to care.

I'm getting tired of this rant... I'll save the War on Drugs and the War on Porn, Hollywood, the RIAA, Microsoft, Software Patents, big business, flat taxes, SUV's, globalization, and conglomerated media for another day.

Konfabulator - a Study in $hareware

The folks at konfabulator probably made their fair share of money with their recent sale to Yahoo. Lets look at what they did right, and what they did wrong:

Right:

Good Looking
Simple
Standard Technologies
Cross Platform
Sold for lots of moolah

Wrong:

Charged for the runtime
No IDE
Memory and CPU heavy
Cried foul instead of fighting, and may have been wrong
GUI over substance