Current Event II - Censorship

I find it interesting that censorship, a concept the Founding Father's attempted to abolish more then 200 years ago, is still rearing its head today. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down most of the McCain-Feingold act on first amendment grounds[1] and Twitter is currently developing technology to bypass government censors in China and Iran[2]. The first amendment is not something that should be taken for granted.

Notes

1. "Supreme Court Removes Limits on Corporate, Labor Donations to Campaigns." Fox News. link.
2. "Twitter working to thwart censorship." International Business Times. link.

Smallish Post II - Women in Computer Science

I think more women would enter computer science if it was marketed better. One attractive aspect of computer science is the ability to work or volunteer from home. By spending a few hours a week on a part time job or open source project a mother can keep her skills sharp, drastically increasing her chances of a getting job once the kids leave home.

Current Event I

I am curious if the early pioneers of computers would've succeeded had they lived in today's intellectual property environment. VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, was never patented[3] while MS-DOS 1.0 was based on a CP/M user manual[3]. Today VisiCalc would've been patented and the owners of CP/M would've sued regardless of whether Microsoft was in the wrong or not. Patents and copyright suits are being used as tools of corporate warfare instead of recourses for wrongdoing[1]. Even more nefarious are patent trolls - companies that file patents for someone else's ideas and then use those patents to sue large companies. A rather disturbing example is a suit against NCsoft fi led by Worlds.com over a patent on Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games[2]. A cursory reading of this patent reveals that it covers every MMO ever made and that it was filed after the first MMOs were released[4]. One can only image the dampening eff ect this corporate terrorism is having on innovation.

References

• [1] Leslie Katz. Apple Seeks Ban on U.S. Nokia Imports. link.


• [2] Virtual Worlds News. Worlds.com Fi les Suit Against NCsoft for Patent Infringement. link.


• [3] PBS. Triumph of the Nerds. link.


• [4] Dave Leahy et al. System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space. link.
  

What is a Gorge Hideout Anyway?

Gorge Hideouts are small rooms hidden within a building's walls where Gorges come to hangout. If the Kharaa (Think the Zerg, with Gorges being the Drones) are defeated while battling over said building Gorges can hide from the human marines and annoy them by spitting acid at them from the ventilation ducts.

Smallish Blog Post I - Why Technology is Worth the Trouble

I found that the assigned articles focused more on technology's downfalls then on where it could take us. For every evil use of technology there is an even greater righteous one, and these righteous uses are part of a greater design. Have you ever thought about how the good things that will happen during the Millennium will come to pass? Will God simply wave his hand and "make it so" or will he make us work for it? I think the promises of technology imply the latter. Increased lifespan? Already happening. Genealogy? Familsearch.org. An understanding of the human mind will allow us to better recognize and control temptations. In the near future I can see us being able to cure addiction by reseting the associated neurons. Could you imagine, one of the Devil's most powerful weapons thrown into the dustbin of history?

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So what is a Gorge? The universe's coolest alien of course! Their homepage is over at Unknown Worlds Entertainment