Corey’s Blather Blog

Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike spam. 



August 20, 2008

Turn on SSL on GMail

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/19/1433206&from=rss

From /.

Apparently there is an option to do this and soon a hack will be in the wild that lets people hack your account if you don't.

So... you know... do.

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August 19, 2008

I'm weird

I'm excited about learning some new words.

I defended our group from another ham-handed idiot who was blaming us for something that was ultimately their fault.

Of COURSE the first thing to pop into my head was "how dare you cast aspersions on our group!?"

But I wanted to check that I had that idiom right. I did. Obviously.

That led to a chain of synonyms and definitions and led to THREE, count 'em THREE, new words I have never seen before.

Traduce. Contumely. Obloquy.

Three new words in ONE DAY. I feel awesome now.

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August 18, 2008

Maybe we should give up that "counting" thing

We are making good progress with Niall remembering his counting numbers.

http://www.physorg.com/news138297778.html

But maybe we shouldn't be tackling it that way. Or maybe there is something else we need, which we haven't figured out yet. How do you get "number" concepts across to a two-year-old without just doing counting numbers?

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August 18, 2008

I should read this book, maybe.

http://www.alternet.org/story/95109/

Great quote: "That's really the American paradox. For example, there is no country that has had more faith in education as an instrument of social mobility. No country in the West democratized education earlier, but no country has been more suspicious of too much education. We've always thought of education as good if it gets you a better job, but bad if it makes you think too much."

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August 18, 2008

I hesitate to bash the US

But this sure smacks of same 'ole same 'ole.

http://www.physorg.com/news138071948.html

What's next? Cigarettes don't cause cancer?

I am still not convinced that this chemical automatically turns children into bug-eyed monsters. I think the truth lies on the extreme edge between safe and slightly risky. But I do feel with any chemical that if it's not that hard to avoid it, you may as well err on the side of safety until you are unmistakably sure otherwise. In other words, good alternatives exist and there's some question of whether this stuff is safe, so why not do without until you know more?

But is that what the US government does? Oh no. Major corporations win the day... as usual.

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August 18, 2008

Anthropic Principle 4tL

Some good evidence that this universe isn't "fine tuned" after all.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/35363/title/Stars_ablaze_in_other_skies

Main point: Universes with physical constants that vary from ours but can still support stars are not that rare.

Rebuttal to watch for: Creationists saying "that study is just a simulation blah blah blah" while pointing at some other study as proof of their claptrap that is also... a simulation.

Bonus points: Keeping score on how many Creationists are actually scientists doing any kind of worthwhile science on the matter (read: zero), and how many are just noisemakers (read: a large number) criticizing... a REAL scientist (read: too few).

More as it happens...

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August 15, 2008

If it were just SLIGHTLY cooler here most days...

... I think I would be willing to try this.

http://www.physorg.com/news138023658.html

I am also wondering about back-and-forth to school. But the funky thing is that the real cost of gas for most of our trips is very, very low. We'd have a hard time saving the money one of these would cost.

Furthermore, most days on my way to campus I am late and hit 90mph. *shrug*

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August 15, 2008

Yay!

I hope this guy wins!

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/745876.html

I hate cable companies!!

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August 14, 2008

This looks kind of handy...

You text a reminder and later when you're at a computer you get a comprehensive set of results.

Text a Netflix movie and it's automatically added to your queue.

Like I said... handy.

http://www.physorg.com/news137853680.html

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August 14, 2008

List of Diseases Prevented by Vaccines

If you ever post in a forum where idiots are condemning vaccines, you should post this link.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=186

The numbers are staggering. It's a wonder that the human race lived long enough to invent vaccines at all.

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