Innovations is, as far as I know, the only major meeting in the United States that focuses solely on community college teaching (it is run by the League for Innovation in Community Colleges). It's refreshing to be at a meeting where saying you're at a community college doesn't get the typical response of "Oh, that's nice." There are supposed to be something like 1,700 attendees to the conference this year.
The only other conferences I've attended have been scientific meetings. The typical schedule for a scientific meeting is near-insane: talks and poster sessions usually start at 8am and run until 9pm, there are usually dozens of different talks going on at once, and (except for keynote presentations) talks typically last only about 12 to 15 minutes. The 12-minute talks force the speakers to be extremely concise, and prevents any kind of meaningful question and answer session (as, assuming the session isn't running behind, there are typically only 2-3 minutes for questions).
In Innovations there are talks from 9am to 5pm, but each presenter (or, more often, team of presenters) is given a full hour to speak. This allows enough time for a detailed presentation, often complete with demonstrations, audience participation, and tons of questions (as one might expect when educators plan the schedule). It's very different, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to having the evenings free to digest everything.
Like most meetings, the schedule for Innovations has multiple talks running concurrently. On the flight here I read through the titles of all the talks, and highlighted the ones I was interested in; I don't think there's a single hour-long slot for the entire four days that has fewer than two presentations I want to attend (except for Sunday at 9:15am when there is only one talk). Monday seems particularly jam-packed with interesting presentations: at 11am there are seven talks I'd like to go to, and there are at least five talks I want to go to at each of the later time slots (12:15, 1:30, 3:00, and 4:15). Tonight I've got to read through the abstracts and somehow choose between them all.
But right now I've got to go to my first session of the day!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006
In Atlanta
I'm now in Atlanta. The flight was amazingly short: only 3.5 hours from Los Angeles to Atlanta (compared to five hours, or more, for Los Angeles to Philadelphia). Considering that some airlines have recently attempted to charge for beverages, I guess I should feel lucky that I got a cup of soda, a snack of crackers and cheese, AND a granola bar. Oh yes, I also got a small packet of vanilla granola, from which vanilla was conspicuously missing from the list of ingredients.
Of course the first thing I did when arriving at my hotel was ask about wireless net. The receptionist was pleased to say that they had it in every room, but careful inspection of their brochure revealed a $10 per day charge to use it. On a whim I booted up my laptop in the lobby, and what do you know - there's free net here. And once I found the right chair, there's even free power.
So, now it's time to look for a place for dinner (online, of course).
[Update: I'm attracting laptop users to the lobby - someone just walked up and asked me if there was an outlet here; I let them in on the location of the precious mana.]
Of course the first thing I did when arriving at my hotel was ask about wireless net. The receptionist was pleased to say that they had it in every room, but careful inspection of their brochure revealed a $10 per day charge to use it. On a whim I booted up my laptop in the lobby, and what do you know - there's free net here. And once I found the right chair, there's even free power.
So, now it's time to look for a place for dinner (online, of course).
[Update: I'm attracting laptop users to the lobby - someone just walked up and asked me if there was an outlet here; I let them in on the location of the precious mana.]
Friday, March 17, 2006
Political links of the week, take 5
[See also: political links of the week take 4, take 3, take 2, and take 1.]
Alabama cow tests positive for disease - The possibly infected cow from last week was, on Monday, confirmed to have had mad cow disease.
The Abu Ghraib files - More Abu Ghraib pictures and videos from Salon.
Schwarzenegger Bond Issue Not on June Ballot - Speaking of the LA Times, it had an article on the first big failure of Gov. Schwarzenegger's ambitious plan to "rebuild California".
Alabama cow tests positive for disease - The possibly infected cow from last week was, on Monday, confirmed to have had mad cow disease.
A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department said Monday, confirming the third U.S. case of the brain-wasting ailment. The cow did not enter the food supply for people or animals, officials said. The animal, unable to walk, was killed by a local veterinarian and buried on the farm.Government to Scale Back Mad Cow Testing - In a completely paradoxical move, the day after it was announced that yet another cow in the US had mad cow disease, the government announced that it would reduce the number of cows tested for the disease. One of their rationales? Focus groups determined that people felt beef was safe. We're now doing science by focus group?
...
The local vet examined the Alabama cow's teeth and said the animal was older, "quite possibly upwards of 10 years of age," Clifford said. Investigators are working to pinpoint the cow's age, he said.
The age of the cow is important because the U.S. put safeguards in place nine years ago to prevent the disease from spreading. The U.S. banned ground-up cattle remains from being added to cattle feed in 1997. Eating contaminated feed is the only way cattle are known to contract the disease.
Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease, the government intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe.ACLU Releases First Concrete Evidence of FBI Spying Based Solely on Groups’ Anti-War Views:
The Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003. About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55 daily in 2003.
...
Officials haven't finalized new levels, but the department's budget proposal calls for 40,000 tests annually, or about 110 daily.
...
Consumer groups want every animal to be tested, said Gary Weber, head of regulatory affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Denver.
"It's not cost-effective; it's not necessary," Weber said. "The consumers we've done focus groups with are comfortable that this is a very rare disease and we've got safeguards in place."
Two documents released today reveal that the FBI investigated gatherings of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice just because the organization opposed the war in Iraq. Although previously disclosed documents show that the FBI is retaining files on anti-war groups, these documents are the first to show conclusively that the rationale for FBI targeting is the group's opposition to the war."A Recent Surge In Violence..." - A post on Democratic Underground cataloging how many times since the invasion of Iraq the US government has said that there has been "a recent surge in violence."
The Abu Ghraib files - More Abu Ghraib pictures and videos from Salon.
Although the world is now sadly familiar with images of naked, hooded prisoners in scenes of horrifying humiliation and abuse, this is the first time that the full dossier of the Army's own photographic evidence of the scandal has been made public. Most of the photos have already been seen, but the Army's own analysis of the story behind the photos has never been fully told. It is a shocking, night-by-night record of three months inside Abu Ghraib's notorious cellblock 1A, and it tells the story, in more graphic detail than ever before, of the rampant abuse of prisoners there. The annotated archive also includes new details about the role of the CIA, military intelligence and the CID itself in abuse captured by cameras in the fall of 2003.Third Democratic senator backs censure resolution - One of my state senators has decided to back Feingold's resolution (that I posted about last week) to censure president Bush.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has become the third U.S. senator to back a move to censure President Bush over the warrantless wiretapping program. She joins Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)Reporters covering anti-IED tech: America's enemies? - BoingBoing refutes the Bush administration's recent argument that the LA Times is "helping the terrorists" by writing about the military.
Schwarzenegger Bond Issue Not on June Ballot - Speaking of the LA Times, it had an article on the first big failure of Gov. Schwarzenegger's ambitious plan to "rebuild California".
Stymied by Republican resistance, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's hope of placing the most comprehensive rebuilding project in California history on the June ballot foundered Wednesday amid recriminations among legislative leaders and the administration.And, in a week where the headlines read things like U.S.-led raid kills civilians in Iraq, U.S. launches largest Iraqi air assault since invasion, and More than 80 dead in apparent reprisals: Bodies found around Baghdad in 30-hour period, we also see this headline: Bush: Iraq turning away from 'the abyss'. Is there some disconnect here?
The California Assembly approved only a $4.1-billion borrowing plan to shore up the state's levees and $19 billion more for school construction. But late Wednesday night, the Senate declined to act on either measure, and the upper house's leaders said further negotiations would have to focus on the November ballot.
...
GOP legislators, almost all of whom are more conservative than the governor, objected to the idea that the state should go deep into debt to pay for the ambitious building project.
Schwarzenegger proposed a sweeping infrastructure improvement plan in January that involved $68 billion in borrowing. The centerpiece of that proposal was the most popular, according to public opinion polls: a $12-billion investment in upgrading California's highways.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Down, but hopefully not out
Rhosgobel is currently down; the only reason I have for this outage is a vague post on Blogger Status. I can supposedly still publish, but it appears that everyone is prevented from actually viewing the blog.
Luckilly, by the time you read this it should be fixed. Let's just hope it's sooner rather than later.
[Update: Looks like they got it fixed around 11am (after more than 12 hours of downtime).]
Luckilly, by the time you read this it should be fixed. Let's just hope it's sooner rather than later.
[Update: Looks like they got it fixed around 11am (after more than 12 hours of downtime).]
What the?
I just got done entering a whole bunch of grades into Excel, and after scrolling through the spreadsheet I realized something: I'm completely up to date on my grading!
Something must be amiss. This just simply isn't possible.
Of course I have plenty of other work to do, and I'll be getting more papers to grade in a few hours, but still ... this is amazing.
Something must be amiss. This just simply isn't possible.
Of course I have plenty of other work to do, and I'll be getting more papers to grade in a few hours, but still ... this is amazing.
Geologic camouflage
The UBC Botanical Garden's Botany Photo of the Day recently highlighted Pleiospilos nelii, one of many plants known as stone plants.
Pleiospilos nelii
Even neater than the picture, though, is the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden's summary of the life history, anatomy, and ecological conditions of four genera in family Aizoaceae that all live in xeric enviornments and have adapted to look like rocks.
The only problem with the UC Berkeley summary is that there are no picutres. So, to help with that, here are links to Google Image searches for most of the listed plants:
Reference:
Image from UBC Botanical Garden's Botany Photo of the Day Pleiospilos nelii post (Creative Commons licensed)
Pleiospilos nelii
Even neater than the picture, though, is the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden's summary of the life history, anatomy, and ecological conditions of four genera in family Aizoaceae that all live in xeric enviornments and have adapted to look like rocks.
The only problem with the UC Berkeley summary is that there are no picutres. So, to help with that, here are links to Google Image searches for most of the listed plants:
Reference:
Image from UBC Botanical Garden's Botany Photo of the Day Pleiospilos nelii post (Creative Commons licensed)
Atlanta
I'll be in Atlanta for the Innovations 2006 conference starting this Saturday; I hope to do some blogging from the meeting, but as the meeting looks to be jam-packed with events, I'm not sure how much time I'll have.
However, in the unlikely event that I do have some downtime (that I don't want to spend blogging), does anyone have any suggestions for worthwhile things one can do in Atlanta in a few hours in the evening without a car? If it matters, the meeting is being held in the Atlanta Hilton.
However, in the unlikely event that I do have some downtime (that I don't want to spend blogging), does anyone have any suggestions for worthwhile things one can do in Atlanta in a few hours in the evening without a car? If it matters, the meeting is being held in the Atlanta Hilton.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
An insect art festival!
In May and June the London Wetland Center is going to host the First International Arts Pestival, an event "dedicated to raising awareness of the integral role insects play in the global ecosystem and in all animal societies." Here's their idea:
(via BoingBoing)
Through appreciation of "“insects in art and the art of being an insect"”, the Pestival aims to create positive PR for this 400-million-year-old, highly evolved taxon that has had thousands of years of bad press.I would so love to go to this! I do have pictures ... too bad it's on the wrong continent.
We are building up a fantastic programme of talks, demonstrations, workshops, art installations, films, music and performance, fusing art and science to reach out to a broad, interested audience of homo sapien adults and children.
(via BoingBoing)
Good reading
The Sixty-Million-Year Virus - A great article by Carl Zimmer analyzing the evolutionary implications of the retroviral DNA found in animal genomes. Follow the links in his article; there are some great journal articles there. And, if you're in the unfortunate situation of knowing some creationists / IDists, send this article to them as even more evidence that humans do in fact share a recent common ancestor with primates.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: Medical "science" as dubious as it gets - A reminder from Orac that just because something has the word "journal" in the title, it isn't necessarily a good scientific journal.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: Medical "science" as dubious as it gets - A reminder from Orac that just because something has the word "journal" in the title, it isn't necessarily a good scientific journal.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Looking at Ubuntu's Live CD
I first noticed Ubuntu, a relatively new distribution of Linux, when it won last year's Linux Journal reader's choice award for the best Linux distribution.
Ubuntu is purported to be very user friendly (see, for instance, 10 Things that make Ubuntu a Neophyte's Distribution); the makers of Ubuntu report that the average user can get it installed in less than 25 minutes, and most items that typically require command-line editing in other Linux distributions have graphical equivalents in Ubuntu. Ubuntu also has a regular release cycle; every 6 months a new stable release comes out that is guaranteed to be easily upgradeable from their last release.
Ubuntu has a Live CD version of their distribution that allows users to run Ubuntu on their computers without installing anything. I tried this out last weekend on my Debian box (which, as regular readers might recall, took me days of fiddling to get running), and the system booted to a functioning Ubuntu system in about a minute. The only configuration I had to do was select the language I wanted to use, my location in the world, and my keyboard type (and every one of those had the proper default set, so all I had to do was hit return). The only problem I encountered was that the system didn't auto-configure my network properly (it acquired an IP address that conflicted with my SO's computer). In Debian I would have had to delve into a terminal window and type lots of magic words to resolve this; in Ubuntu, however, I was able to resolve the conflict in just minutes using their graphical network configuration tools.
While I spent hours trying to get my printer configured in Debian, Ubuntu actually auto-detected the model of my printer for me. Once I went into Ubuntu's graphical printer installation menu and selected the printer model, Ubuntu did all the rest. It took me about 30 seconds to go from starting to configure the printer, to actually printing a test page; it was easier than Windows XP.
Ubuntu has also taken Debian's already super-cool method of getting new programs (apt-get) and made it even easier to use by wrapping it in a graphical interface. All the information you might want is right in front of you (all the programs are categorized by function, and the list of programs is also easily searchable); installing a program is as easy as checking a box. And, did I mention that all the hundreds of programs listed in their menus are all free to install?
Ubuntu also did a lot of other things easily; for instance, adding a new repository (to install non-supported, but still free, programs) involved a couple of simple menu clicks, mapping drives was easily done with an intuitive graphical interface, and a little popup window alerted me that there were some security updates I might want to download (but, unlike Windows, the popup didn't force me to download them).
What was even more amazing was that all of this was happening with absolutely nothing installed on my hard drive; the Live CD runs solely in RAM. This does lead to one problem: since there's nothing installed on the hard drive, there's no way to save all of the changes when the computer is shut down. However, there are reports that when the next version of Ubuntu comes out (in April 2006), Ubuntu will be able to save Live CD session information on a USB thumb drive (or other partitionable disk).
After a few hours of playing with my Ubuntu install (and getting a more functional system than I had after days of installing Debian), I'm highly tempted to switch to Ubuntu. Considering that Microsoft is going to be releasing not one but six new versions of their operating system this year (which I'm sure they'll charge for), I'm extremely tempted to switch my main home computer to Ubuntu as well.
Let's take score:
[If you're interested in trying out Ubuntu, download an image of their latest Live CD from this page. Go ahead, give it a try - the most it will cost you is a CDR. Oh, and if you don't want to burn a CD, Ubuntu will even ship you a CD for free. To find other places on the net that discuss Ubuntu, see this post.]
Ubuntu is purported to be very user friendly (see, for instance, 10 Things that make Ubuntu a Neophyte's Distribution); the makers of Ubuntu report that the average user can get it installed in less than 25 minutes, and most items that typically require command-line editing in other Linux distributions have graphical equivalents in Ubuntu. Ubuntu also has a regular release cycle; every 6 months a new stable release comes out that is guaranteed to be easily upgradeable from their last release.
Ubuntu has a Live CD version of their distribution that allows users to run Ubuntu on their computers without installing anything. I tried this out last weekend on my Debian box (which, as regular readers might recall, took me days of fiddling to get running), and the system booted to a functioning Ubuntu system in about a minute. The only configuration I had to do was select the language I wanted to use, my location in the world, and my keyboard type (and every one of those had the proper default set, so all I had to do was hit return). The only problem I encountered was that the system didn't auto-configure my network properly (it acquired an IP address that conflicted with my SO's computer). In Debian I would have had to delve into a terminal window and type lots of magic words to resolve this; in Ubuntu, however, I was able to resolve the conflict in just minutes using their graphical network configuration tools.
While I spent hours trying to get my printer configured in Debian, Ubuntu actually auto-detected the model of my printer for me. Once I went into Ubuntu's graphical printer installation menu and selected the printer model, Ubuntu did all the rest. It took me about 30 seconds to go from starting to configure the printer, to actually printing a test page; it was easier than Windows XP.
Ubuntu has also taken Debian's already super-cool method of getting new programs (apt-get) and made it even easier to use by wrapping it in a graphical interface. All the information you might want is right in front of you (all the programs are categorized by function, and the list of programs is also easily searchable); installing a program is as easy as checking a box. And, did I mention that all the hundreds of programs listed in their menus are all free to install?
Ubuntu also did a lot of other things easily; for instance, adding a new repository (to install non-supported, but still free, programs) involved a couple of simple menu clicks, mapping drives was easily done with an intuitive graphical interface, and a little popup window alerted me that there were some security updates I might want to download (but, unlike Windows, the popup didn't force me to download them).
What was even more amazing was that all of this was happening with absolutely nothing installed on my hard drive; the Live CD runs solely in RAM. This does lead to one problem: since there's nothing installed on the hard drive, there's no way to save all of the changes when the computer is shut down. However, there are reports that when the next version of Ubuntu comes out (in April 2006), Ubuntu will be able to save Live CD session information on a USB thumb drive (or other partitionable disk).
After a few hours of playing with my Ubuntu install (and getting a more functional system than I had after days of installing Debian), I'm highly tempted to switch to Ubuntu. Considering that Microsoft is going to be releasing not one but six new versions of their operating system this year (which I'm sure they'll charge for), I'm extremely tempted to switch my main home computer to Ubuntu as well.
Let's take score:
- Ubuntu: Free (+1), "Ubuntu is, and always will be, 100% free." (+2; from their FAQ), thousands of supported programs installable (and upgradeable) with one very easy-to-use menu (+2), doesn't even need a hard drive to run (+1), configures itself automatically (+1), not used at my workplace (-1), doesn't run Civ IV (-2) = 4
- Windows: Expensive (-2), must pay for additional programs (-2), requires gobs of hard drive space (-1), usually configures itself automatically (+1), used by most everyone else in the world (0), runs Civ IV (+2) = -2
[If you're interested in trying out Ubuntu, download an image of their latest Live CD from this page. Go ahead, give it a try - the most it will cost you is a CDR. Oh, and if you don't want to burn a CD, Ubuntu will even ship you a CD for free. To find other places on the net that discuss Ubuntu, see this post.]
Anime Expo early registration ends tomorrow!
Anime Expo, which my SO and I loved last year, already has their 2006 registration available online. My SO and I just found this out today, and it turns out that tomorrow is the last day to get the cheapest 4-day tickets. If you register by March 15, a 4-day ticket is $45, the same price as a 2-day ticket purchased later in the year, and only $15 more than a one-day ticket. Based on our experience last year we definitely want to go for more than one day this year.
This year they're actually going to mail out badges ahead of time, so there (hopefully) won't be long waits in line to get the badges.
[Update: I guess it would help to include the dates and location: Anime Expo 2006 will be held July 1 to July 4, 2006 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.]
This year they're actually going to mail out badges ahead of time, so there (hopefully) won't be long waits in line to get the badges.
[Update: I guess it would help to include the dates and location: Anime Expo 2006 will be held July 1 to July 4, 2006 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.]
Monday, March 13, 2006
Picture of larval mosquitoes
A PLoS Biology article on West Nile virus transmission included an amazing picture of mosquito larvae:
Culex mosquito larvae. Image from PLoS Biology (Gross 2006); Creative Commons licensed.
Go look at the high resolution version - the beasts are beautiful (and don't worry, only the adult females feed on human blood; these guys just feed on algae, bacteria, and organic debris in the water).
The larvae are even neater in real life, as they normally float with the end of their respiratory tubes just touching the surface of the water, but if you place your hand near the water's surface, all the larvae under your hand swim down. They swim back to the surface shortly after the hand is removed. It's strangely addicting to sit near a tank of mosquito larvae and slowly move your hand over the surface of the water; it's almost like watching some grand dance.
Gross L (2006) A New Model for Predicting Outbreaks of West Nile Virus. PLoS Biol 4(4): e101
Culex mosquito larvae. Image from PLoS Biology (Gross 2006); Creative Commons licensed.
Go look at the high resolution version - the beasts are beautiful (and don't worry, only the adult females feed on human blood; these guys just feed on algae, bacteria, and organic debris in the water).
The larvae are even neater in real life, as they normally float with the end of their respiratory tubes just touching the surface of the water, but if you place your hand near the water's surface, all the larvae under your hand swim down. They swim back to the surface shortly after the hand is removed. It's strangely addicting to sit near a tank of mosquito larvae and slowly move your hand over the surface of the water; it's almost like watching some grand dance.
Gross L (2006) A New Model for Predicting Outbreaks of West Nile Virus. PLoS Biol 4(4): e101
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Civilization IV mods
Civilization IV (Civ IV) is a turn based strategy game where the player's goal is to build a civilization. Players start with a single settler in 4000 BC, and then build up their civilization over time by settling more cities, acquiring resources, researching new technologies, building military units, and improving their towns by building buildings (e.g., a university, coliseum, aqueduct, temple) or modifying the land around their towns (e.g., building a farm or mine). The game is designed to allow players to think strategically, and so (unlike many current games) there's nothing rushing the player to complete each turn; a single game often lasts 10 to 30 hours. The game is addictive.
One of the neat things about Civilization IV is how flexible the game is. Even how a player wins the game is up to them; players can win by using military might to conquer the other civilizations in the world, by out-performing their competitors scientifically, by having the most cultured civilization, or by playing politics just right and winning a diplomatic victory. [As a side note, I generally try to play so that I don't win militarily, and am proud to say that this afternoon I finally won a cultural victory.]
To make the game even more flexible, the game is coded so that fans can easily modify the game's mechanics. This is called modding, and even though the game has only been released for a few months, sites like CivFanatics have dozens of fan-created mods already available (see the pages on them here). These mods can do everything from changing the way the clock displays to changing the game so that it models WWII.
Since the game is attempting (to some extent) to model history, discussions that occur in the modding forums can often be historically interesting; take, for instance, this discussion on how to better model military technological development in the middle ages. The discussions can also be exceptionally geeky, as with the discussion surrounding a mod that allows players to play as various Star Wars civilizations. The Civ IV Hall of Fame even has its own set of mods approved for use in games players want to submit to the Hall of Fame.
I haven't used any of the mods yet (I'm still thoroughly enjoying the "basic" game), but two that have caught my eye are the logging mod (which allows players to take notes on their games) and the alerts mod (which sends the player messages when important events are happening in each of their cities).
One of the neat things about Civilization IV is how flexible the game is. Even how a player wins the game is up to them; players can win by using military might to conquer the other civilizations in the world, by out-performing their competitors scientifically, by having the most cultured civilization, or by playing politics just right and winning a diplomatic victory. [As a side note, I generally try to play so that I don't win militarily, and am proud to say that this afternoon I finally won a cultural victory.]
To make the game even more flexible, the game is coded so that fans can easily modify the game's mechanics. This is called modding, and even though the game has only been released for a few months, sites like CivFanatics have dozens of fan-created mods already available (see the pages on them here). These mods can do everything from changing the way the clock displays to changing the game so that it models WWII.
Since the game is attempting (to some extent) to model history, discussions that occur in the modding forums can often be historically interesting; take, for instance, this discussion on how to better model military technological development in the middle ages. The discussions can also be exceptionally geeky, as with the discussion surrounding a mod that allows players to play as various Star Wars civilizations. The Civ IV Hall of Fame even has its own set of mods approved for use in games players want to submit to the Hall of Fame.
I haven't used any of the mods yet (I'm still thoroughly enjoying the "basic" game), but two that have caught my eye are the logging mod (which allows players to take notes on their games) and the alerts mod (which sends the player messages when important events are happening in each of their cities).
Political links of the week, take 4
[See also: political links of the week take 3, take 2, and take 1.]
U.S. Expands Training to Address Iraqi Police Woes - An article in the LA Times documenting the lack of planning the US put into training Iraqi police units.
U.S. Expands Training to Address Iraqi Police Woes - An article in the LA Times documenting the lack of planning the US put into training Iraqi police units.
Problems with the fledgling [Iraqi police] force have been exacerbated by a lack of steady oversight, some U.S. officials say. For much of the last three years, U.S. advisors to the police units have been stretched thin as the United States focused on training Iraqi army recruits. That has led to a police force that has access to modern equipment, weapons and vehicles, but no track record of keeping control of its hardware, much less its personnel, the officials say.Senate Votes to Ban Gifts and Meals of Lobbyists:
...
Despite the planned overhaul, the training programs remain an exercise with extremely high stakes and little certainty of success.
The focus on the Iraqi army meant that while thousands of Iraqi and U.S. soldiers shared space at military bases and conducted joint operations throughout last year, by the end of 2005 there were only 700 U.S. police trainers for an Iraqi police force of more than 100,000.
Trainers now acknowledge that was a mistake that allowed the Interior Ministry forces to grow into an inscrutable bureaucracy of overlapping jurisdictions and tangled lines of authority.
Facing accusations that lawmakers are not serious about breaking the tight bond between Capitol Hill and K Street, the Senate voted Wednesday to bar members of Congress and their aides from accepting gifts and meals from lobbyists.Possible U.S. case of mad cow being investigated:
...
The meals and gifts ban was part of a broader piece of legislation that includes provisions requiring lawmakers to disclose privately financed trips and that would double, from one year to two, the "cooling-off period" during which lawmakers who leave Capitol Hill for K Street are barred from lobbying their former colleagues.
The measure would also create a mechanism enabling lawmakers to strip so-called earmarks — the special interest projects that are sometimes inserted into bills at the behest of lobbyists — from legislation. And it would require, for the first time, the disclosure of big, paid grass-roots lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing government officials.
A routine test indicated the possible presence of mad cow disease, said John Clifford, the USDA official. The agency would not say where the animal was from.US issues biometric passports despite concerns - (via BoingBoing)
The cow did not enter the human or animal food chain, Clifford said.
The department is conducting more detailed tests at its laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and should have results in four to seven days.
The US has begun issuing passports that contain biometric information stored on remotely readable microchips, in spite of lingering security and privacy concerns.Feingold to Introduce Resolution Censuring the President - In addition to the summary (included below), the press release from Senator Feingold's office also includes a fact-sheet detailing why the president's warrantless wiretapping program is illegal, complete with quotes from Bush (before the program was made public) showing that he was likely misleading the public.
Supporters of the new passports say they enhance border security, reduce the possibility of identity fraud and impose minimal burdens on travellers – all goals the US has been working towards since the September 11 attacks.
But civil liberties and privacy groups are uneasy about the formation of biometric information databases on US citizens and concerned that identity-theft rings, foreign government agents or even terrorist groups could "skim" information from the RFID chips or "eavesdrop" on the communication between official readers and the microchips.
Last month, security concerns about the new passports arose anew after a Dutch television programme detailed how, in July 2005, the Dutch security laboratory Riscure successfully penetrated the encryption scheme planned for use in forthcoming Dutch electronic passports.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has announced that he will introduce a resolution in the U.S. Senate on Monday to censure the President of the United States. Feingold’s resolution condemns the President’s actions in authorizing the illegal wiretapping program and then misleading the country about the existence and legality of the program. Feingold calls the resolution an appropriate and responsible step for Congress to take in response to the President’s undermining of the separation of powers and ignoring the rule of law.
"The President must be held accountable for authorizing a program that clearly violates the law and then misleading the country about its existence and its legality," Feingold said. "The President’s actions, as well as his misleading statements to both Congress and the public about the program, demand a serious response. If Congress does not censure the President, we will be tacitly condoning his actions, and undermining both the separation of powers and the rule of law."
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Ooooh, toys!
We've gotten a lot of fun deliveries in the past couple of weeks; now that I've submitted my grant, I can actually start playing with them:
- Spiders of North America: An identification manual - This tremendously cool book contains keys to all the genera of spiders found in the continental US and Canada. This is no wimpy field guide; it's two and a half pounds of technical drawings, precise keys, and cool biology. Using this book one should be able to identify any spider found in North America down to genus. Drool.
- Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects: 7th edition - If it's an insect, it's probably in here; this book has nearly 600 pages dedicated to describing all the orders of insects (including keys to all the families of insects found in the continental US and Canada) . This book is a classic; why I've never gotten around to buying a personal copy of it before baffles me.
- Penny Arcade's Attack of the Bacon Robots - An anthology of Penny Arcade's comics from 1998-2000. I've already sneaked in a bit of time to read this one, and while Gabe's art is very different from his current style, it's still the same hilarious strip. And, unlike many comic anthologies, Tycho has also added commentary on every strip.
- From Eroica with Love vol. 6 - The latest volume of a classic manga that my SO and I have been reading for a while now. (as a side note, these last two were Valentine's Day presents for my SO; I'm such the romantic.)
- Firefly: The Complete Series DVD box set - I'll finally get to watch the series I've heard so much about.
No BlogRolling = faster load times
You may be noticing that Rhosgobel has been loading faster in the past week; that's because I finally dumped BlogRolling (which I was using to host my blogroll) and have hard-coded my blogroll into the sidebar. It appears that BlogRolling was (at times) taking a long time to serve the content for my pages, and thus delaying the entire page from loading.
Maybe I should watch Farscape ...
You scored as Moya (Farscape). You are surrounded by muppets. But that is okay because they are your friends and have shown many times that they can be trusted. Now if only you could stop being bothered about wormholes.
Moya (Farscape) | 100% | ||
Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) | 94% | ||
Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) | 94% | ||
Serenity (Firefly) | 94% | ||
Enterprise D (Star Trek) | 81% | ||
Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) | 69% | ||
Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) | 69% | ||
Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) | 69% | ||
SG-1 (Stargate) | 69% | ||
Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) | 63% | ||
Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) | 50% | ||
FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) | 50% |
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
I'm happy to see that I scored high for Serenity, as we just got Firefly's DVD set in the mail. Sadly, I have no idea how well I fit in with the Moya, as I've never watched Farscape (I want to; it's just that their DVDs are too darn expensive).
(via Orac, though PZ also did the survey)
Friday, March 10, 2006
The grant is in!
The NSF grant I've been working on is now officially submitted. It's seven pages longer than last year's application, and (I hope) a lot better. Just like last year, we probably won't hear anything for about six months.
I'm exhausted. It's time to go home and sleep.
I'm exhausted. It's time to go home and sleep.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Republicans move to allow warrantless wiretapping
Via Rep. Conyers's blog today:
The Senate Republicans completely capitulated today to the Bush Administration, sacrificing our privacy and scores of personal rights and liberties to provide approval, after the fact, to the Bush warrantless wiretapping program. A group of "moderate" Republicans have joined Senator Dewine of Ohio in support of a bill to allow warrantless wiretapping ...Apparently the Republican bill includes some provisions to strengthen the FISA court, but as Rep. Conyers says:
... if you don't get penalized for ignoring the court in the first place, where's the incentive to now begin obeying the law? This is absolutely disgraceful.Oh, and did anyone mention that the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program is almost certainly illegal?
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