Monthly Archives: June 2009

Alan Turing’s birthday

By probabilityZero | June 23, 2009

This is Alan Turing, one of the most brilliant men of the last century and the father of computer science. He was greatly influential in the fields of logic and mathematics, and he worked on codebreaking for the British government during World War II, devising several techniques for breaking German codes.
He was born on June [...]

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Piracy and shoplifting

By probabilityZero | June 22, 2009

A common talking point you hear from the RIAA/MPAA and the media corporations is that piracy is stealing. You wouldn’t steal a DVD movie, so why would you download a DVD rip from a torrent site?
Well, the obvious problem with this is that piracy isn’t stealing. Under the law, piracy is “copyright infringement” — stealing [...]

Posted in Current events, Noteworthy, Opinion | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

NASA has a sense of humor

By probabilityZero | June 18, 2009

Source: Wikipedia.

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200th Anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Death

By probabilityZero | June 14, 2009

Last week was the 200th anniversary of his death. In remembrance, I thought I’d post some of his more inspirational quotes:

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love [...]

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Why do people believe celebrities instead of experts?

By probabilityZero | June 8, 2009

You’ve probably seen news coverage of the debate over the safety of vaccines and whether they cause autism in children. In fact, you might have seen new-age medicine spokeswoman and former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy speak out against vaccines on Oprah’s hugely popular television show.
Actually, being honest here: if you’re reading this blog, I doubt [...]

Posted in Atheism, Current events, Noteworthy, Opinion | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Richard Feynman on poets

By probabilityZero | June 5, 2009

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is “mere”. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination — stuck on this carousel my little [...]

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I hate Internet Explorer 6

By probabilityZero | June 1, 2009

Pretty much every designer says this, and with good reason. IE6 is around 8 years old now, and severely out of date. Designing around its bugs is a royal pain in the ass, and it’s necessary to do so because IE6 still has such a large userbase; 33%, by this source, as of March of [...]

Posted in Opinion, Tech and games | Tagged , , | 2 Comments