Cop Car's Beat

Someone's head has been in the sand.

From Slashdot.org:

Biometric Database Plans Hidden In Immigration Bill314

Posted by Soulskillon Friday May 10, 2013 @10:10AM
from the you-can-trust-us dept.

Doug Otto writes "Buried deep in the bowels of a bi-partisan immigration reform bill is a 'photo tool.' The goal is to create a photo database consisting of every citizen. Wired calls it 'a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.' Of course the database would be used only for good, and never evil. 'This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet.'"

 

It's hard for me to understand where the writer has been for the past few years. When I go to vote, I must produce a government-issued photo ID (thanks, Chris Kobach, for fixing a problem that didn't exist). When I report to a health-related appointment, I must produce a government-issued photo ID (goodness only knows who thought someone else would wish to pretend to be me when I go for an eye exam or to have a lesion burned off!) When I transact business with the credit union (either one to which I belong), I must provide a government-issued photo ID - and that isn't just to "open a bank account" or "acquire credit". When I check in to board a commercial aircraft, you can bet your bottom dollar that I must produce a government-issued photo ID.

Are some people really that out of touch?

Wouldn't it be nice if...

From Slashdot.org comes a posting reflecting how science fiction might become science fact - within our lifetimes, perhaps! (Well...probably not within my lifetime, but within the lifetimes of some of you.)

NASA Plans To "Lasso" Asteroid and Turn It Into Space Station120

Posted by samzenpuson Monday December 24, @10:36AM
from the rock-roping dept.

SternisheFan writes "NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500 ton asteroid, relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts to refuel on their way to Mars. From the article: 'The 1.6bn-pound plan will be considered by the White House's Office of Science and technology in the coming weeks, as it prepares to set its space exploration agenda for the next decade, the Daily Mail reported. According to a report prepared by NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists, a, 'asteroid capture capsule' would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed towards the asteroid between the earth and the moon. Once close, the asteroid capsule would release a 50ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings. The craft would then turn on its thrusters, using an estimated 300kg of propellant, to stop the asteroid in its tracks and tow it into a gravitationally neutral spot. From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space.   Though NASA declined to comment on the project, it is believed that technology would make it possible within 10-12 years. The technology would also open up the possibility of mining other asteroids for their metals and minerals.  Some are full of iron which could be used for in the making of new space stations, others are made up of water which could be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to make fuel. t is hoped that the project will increase our understanding of asteroids, and even shed new light on the origin of life on Earth.'"

Probably not news to you

As my blog friends have proven to be a savvy bunch (witness comments to previous postings concerning particle physics), I'm sure that you are all well ahead of me in reading about and interpreting reports from CERN's LHC exerimental teams. None-the-less, I pass along the latest posting from Slashdot.org.

Large Hadron Collider May Have Produced New Matter43

Posted by Soulskillon Tuesday November 27, @04:00PM
from the news-for-nerds-stuff-that's-matter dept.

Covalent writes "The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator and the 'Big Bang machine' that was used to discover what appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson particle (as announced July 4), may have another surprise up its sleeve this year: The LHC looks to have produced a new type of matter, according to a new analysis of particle collision data by scientists at MIT and Rice University. The new type of matter, which has yet to be verified, is theorized to be one of two possible forms: Either 'color-glass condensate' — a flattened nucleus transformed into a 'wall' of gluons, which are smaller binding subatomic particles, or it could be 'quark-gluon plasma,' a dense, soup or liquid-like collection of individual particles."

While I'm posting, I pass along this thought-provoking article from the same source.

How Do We Program Moral Machines?266

Posted by Soulskillon Tuesday November 27, @02:37PM
from the needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-few dept.

nicholast writes "If your driverless car is about to crash into a bus, should it veer off a bridge? NYU Prof. Gary Marcus has a good essay about the need to program ethics and morality into our future machines. Quoting: 'Within two or three decades the difference between automated driving and human driving will be so great you may not be legally allowed to drive your own car, and even if you are allowed, it would immoral of you to drive, because the risk of you hurting yourself or another person will be far greater than if you allowed a machine to do the work. That moment will be significant not just because it will signal the end of one more human niche, but because it will signal the beginning of another: the era in which it will no longer be optional for machines to have ethical systems.'"

 

Further, from the same source, comes a hopeful development that reminds me of beating swords into plowshares.

What Will NASA Do With Its Gifted Spy 'Scopes?90

Posted by Soulskillon Tuesday November 27, @01:25PM
from the regift-them-to-spacex dept.

astroengine writes "NASA has begun surveying scientists on what they would like to do with two Hubble-class space telescopes donated to the civilian space agency by its secretive sibling, the National Reconnaissance Office — which operates the nation's spy satellites. But the gifts have some formidable strings attached, including costs to develop instruments and launch the observatories. The telescopes, though declassified, also are subject to export regulations. 'We need to retain possession and control,' NASA's astrophysics division director Paul Hertz told Discovery News. 'That doesn't preclude us from partnering (with other countries). It just sets boundaries on the nature of the partnership.' NASA also isn't allowed to use the telescopes for any Earth-observing missions. Topping the list of possible missions for the donor hardware is a remake of NASA's planned Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, known as WFIRST. The mission, estimated to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, is intended to answer questions about dark energy, a relatively recently discovered phenomenon that is believed to be speeding up the universe's rate of expansion."

 

And, finally, an item from the same source - concerning an "Aha!" moment brought on by our own global pollution considerations.

Hairspray Could Help Us Find Advanced Alien Civilizations164

Posted by Unknown Lameron Tuesday November 27, @08:03AM
from the at-least-the-fashionable-ones dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Charles Q. Choi reports that hairspray could one day serve as the sign that aliens have reshaped distant worlds because one group of gases that might be key to terraforming planets are CFCs. 'Our hypothesis is that evidence of intelligent life might be evident in a planetary atmosphere,' says astrobiologist Mark Claire at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. CFCs are entirely artificial, with no known natural process capable of creating them in atmospheres. Detecting signs of these gases on far-off worlds with telescopes might serve as potent evidence that intelligent alien civilizations were the cause, either intentionally as part of terraforming or accidentally via industrial pollution. 'An industrialized civilization will be one that will use its planetary resources for fabrication, the soon-to-be-detectable-from-Earth atmospheric byproducts of which could be a tell-tale sign of their activity,' says astrobiologist Sanjoy Som. CFCs can be easily recognized in planetary atmospheres because their atmospheric 'fingerprint' (i.e. chemical spectra) is very different from natural elements, and are a tell-tale sign that life on the surface has advanced industrial capabilities. Using state-of-the-art computer models of atmospheric chemistry and climate, researchers plan to discover what visible signs CFCs and other artificial byproducts of alien terraforming or industry might have on exoplanet atmospheres. 'We are about a decade away of being able to measure detailed compositions of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets,' says Som."

Back to life

Now that the elections are over in the USA, can I (please!) quit being exposed to blogs wherein the writers lament/obsess/wail/caterwaul/blather about how the Democrats/Republicans/Libertarians/Greens/Independents are nothing but a bunch of lying/thieving/inhumane/stupid crooks? I have had it "up to 'here'"! There for a while, I was threatening myself to remove my whole blog roll, it got so bad; but, that would have kept me from reading the one blogger who did not get him/herself all lathered up.

Whew! I feel better, now!

Enough is enough

The main thrust of the following item from Slashdot.com is true for more than just highways. We are (most of us, I warrant) 'way too enamored of shiny new things. How much of what do we really need?

      We Don't Need More Highways122

Posted by timothyon Saturday October 06, @08:25AM
from the we-need-more-hang-gliders dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "When it comes to infrastructure, politicians usually prefer shiny new projects over humdrum repairs. A brand-new highway is exciting: There's a ribbon-cutting, and there's less need to clog up existing lanes with orange cones and repair crews. So it's not surprising that 57 percent of all state highway funding goes toward new construction, often stretching out to the suburbs, even though new roads represent just 1.3 percent of the overall system. Now Brad Plumer writes in the Washington Post that many transportation reformers think this is a wrong-headed approach and that we should focus our dollars on fixing and upgrading existing infrastructure rather than continuing to build sprawling new roads). UCLA economist Matthew Kahn and the University of Minnesota's David Levinson made a more detailed case for a "fix-it first" strategy. They noted that, at the moment, federal highway spending doesn't get subjected to strict cost-benefit analysis, and governments often build new roads when they arguably shouldn't (PDF). And that's to say nothing of data suggesting that poor road conditions are a "significant factor" in one-third of all fatal crashes, and cause extra wear and tear on cars."

Murr nails it

One of my favorite blogs does not appear on my blogroll for three reasons: 1) I have no "personal" online relationship with its author, 2) I think that many of my blog friends already go there, and 3) I don't go there daily because it takes too long to do that blog (and the 60-100 commenters on each posting) justice. I found a posting there, just now, that deserves a bit of publicity. The blog to which I refer is Murrmurrs by Murr Brewster. The posting that caught my eye, today is In God We Bluster. Below are two excerpts from the posting.

This one concerns the mention of god on our money: "Theodore Roosevelt objected to putting God on our coins because  he thought, with some biblical justification, that it was sacrilegious to put the name of God on money, but modern Republicans recognize that it just makes money that much easier to worship. In God We Trust has thus become the official motto of the United States, replacing E Pluribus Unum...."

And this one offers a tongue-in-cheek update to the Pledge of Allegiance: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, the real one who created the whole world and the sky and everything six thousand years ago and just try to get your other gods to pull off something like that...."

Tidbits

Most of the following articles illustrate how squishy human standards of truth and logic seem to be.

From slashdot.org:

How Pictures Skew Our Judgment77

Posted by Soulskillon Friday August 10, @11:37AM
from the it's-true-i-saw-it-on-tv dept.

An article at Ars summarizes a study into how simply seeing pictures can alter what we believe, even if the pictures don't provide any information about the topic at hand (abstract). Researchers asked true-or-false questions to a group of test subjects about whether a minor celebrity was still alive. When they provided a picture of the celebrity, more people evaluated the statement as 'true' than when no picture was provided. The researchers then switched the question, asking whether it was true or false that the celebrity was dead. Again, the subjects shown a picture were more likely to respond with 'true.' Experiments also showed this phenomenon wasn't limited to questions about people, but general knowledge as well."The authors spend a bit of time discussing why this sort of truth bias might arise. In cases where we have rich information—a photo or detailed description of something—it's easier to pull additional information out of our memory. So, even if a photo doesn't tell us much about whether the person is alive, it does make it easier to retrieve relevant information on them—if they're wearing a suit in the photo, we might reason they're a political or financial figure, etc. When the information flows that readily, we're more likely to conclude that we're familiar with the question that's being posed, and will then tend to conclude it's true." 

From The Psychologist:

If it’s easy to read, it’s easy to do, pretty, good, and true

Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz describe some fascinating findings on how fluency affects judgement, choice and processing style - Pages: 108-111

Suppose you ponder whether a new exercise routine is suitable for you or whether a statement like ‘Orsono is a city in Chile’ is true or false. What would your decision be based on? Most psychological theories suggest that you would consider the nature of the exercise or draw on your knowledge about geography to arrive at an informed decision. Surely, you wouldn’t base your judgement on the print font in which the material is presented – or would you?

Surprisingly, recent experimental research shows that the print font can exert a profound influence on such decisions. This is the case because print fonts and related variables influence how fluently new information can be processed. The resulting feeling of ease or difficulty, in turn, informs a wide variety of judgements, from judgements of effort to judgements of familiarity, truth, risk and beauty (for a review see Schwarz et al., 2009). We illustrate some of these effects, discuss their applied implications, and note parallels between people’s reliance on the metacognitive feelings of ease and difficulty and their reliance on moods and emotions as sources of information (Schwarz & Clore, 2007).

From slashdot.org:

Baskerville Is the Greatest Font, Statistically, Says Filmmaker Errol Morris156

Posted by timothyon Thursday August 09, @09:35AM
from the your-brain-is-vulnerable dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A survey of unsuspecting New York Times readers implicitly answered the question: Does a certain font make you agree or disagree more often than another font? It turns out Baskerville confers a 1.5% advantage towards agreement on a survey question, compared to an average of six fonts. They were asked to agree or disagree to a passage from physicist David Deutsch's book The Beginning of Infinity, and were found to have an optimistic, if Baskerville-favoring, outlook on life. David Dunning, a psychologist awarded a Nobel prize and, separately, an IgNobel prize (for the eponymous Dunning-Kruger Effect), called Baskerville 'the king of fonts.' Sadly, Comic Sans — notable for its appearance in the Higgs Boson announcement — seems to be the weakest font. And why did Lisa Randall, the Harvard physicist responsible for that Higgs announcement use Comic Sans? According to the article, 'Because I like it.'"

Beware the Nocebo Effect193

Posted by Soulskillon Friday August 10, @06:42PM
from the this-story-may-cause-itchy-palms dept.

An article at the NY Times looks at research into the "nocebo" effect. Named after the placebo effect, it's the term for when patient expectations do harm, rather than good. "When a patient anticipates a pill’s possible side effects, he can suffer them even if the pill is fake." The article describes several instances of patients getting the placebo in a drug trial, but reporting the expected side effects of the drug, rather than the benefits or nothing at all. Quoting:"Consider the number of people in medical trials who, though receiving placebos, stop participating because of side effects. We found that 11 percent of people in fibromyalgia drug trials who were taking fake medication dropped out of the studies because of side effects like dizziness or nausea. Other researchers reported that the discontinuation rates because of side effects in placebo groups in migraine or tension drug trials were as much as 5 percent. Discontinuation rates in trials for statins ranged from 4 percent to 26 percent. ... In one remarkable case, a participant in an antidepressant drug trial was given placebo tablets — and then swallowed 26 of them in a suicide attempt. Even though the tablets were harmless, the participant's blood pressure dropped perilously low."

Man Orders TV On Amazon, Gets Shipped Assault Rifle

Posted by samzenpuson Thursday August 09, @11:25AM

from the blow-up-your-TV dept.

First time accepted submitter InfernoApple writes "Seth Horvitz, a Northeast D.C. resident, thought he had ordered a new high-definition television a few days ago through Amazon.com from a third-party merchant. When the package arrived yesterday, however, Horvitz opened the oddly shaped box to find something completely different. Instead of the flat-panel TV he had bought to enjoy with his wife, who is pregnant, Horvitz opened the long packaging to discover a Sig Sauer SIG716, a high-caliber, semi-automatic assault rifle capable of mowing down, well, just about anything."

NEW DEAL UNITS INCREASE

Inauguration of the huge new $4,000,000,000 work-relief program increased the New Deal alphabetical list to 84 units. The NRA decision chopped off a few of that number. But the work-relief program to take people off the dole and put them to work has already added five new agencies, including DAL, WAD, WPA, RRA and REA. Four others were created by Congress later in the session recently closed. These were NBCC, BCLB, RRR and SSB, bringing the total to nearly 90. All of the alphabet agencies, however, were not created by the present administration. Some of them were adoptions from previous administrations. The complete list of alphabetical units, past and present, follows:

AAA--Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

ALB--Automobile Labor Board (defunct).

AVA--Administrator of Veteran Affairs.

BAPC--Business Advisory and Planning Council.

BCLB--Bituminous Coal Labor Board.

BOB--Bureau of the Budget.

CAB--Consumers Advisory Board (defunct).

CCC--Civilian Conservation Corps.

CCC--Commodity Credit Corporation.

CES--Committee on Economic Security.

CSB--Central Statistical Board.

CWA--Civil Works Administration (defunct).

DAI--Division of Applications and Information.

ECW--Emergency Conservation Work.

EHC--Emergency Housing Corporation.

EHFA--Electric Home and Farm Authority.

EIB--Export-Import Bank.

FAA--Federal Alcohol Administration.

FAC--Federal Advisory Council.

FAC--Federal Aviation Commission.

FCA--Farm Credit Administration.

FCC--Federal Communications Commission.

FCT--Federal Coordinator of Transportation.

FCUS--Federal Credit Union System.

FDIC--Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

FEHC--Federal Emergency Housing Corporation.

FERA--Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

FESO--Federal Employment Stabilization.

FHA--Federal Housing Administration.

FHC--Farm Homes' Corporation.

FHLBB--Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

FICB--Federal Intermediate Credit Banks.

FMC--Farm Mortgage Corporation.

FPC--Federal Power Commission.

FRB--Federal Reserve Board.

FSHC--Federal Subsistence Homestead Corporation.

FSRC--Federal Surplus Relief Corporation.

FTC--Federal Trade Commission.

FTZB--Foreign Trade Zones Board.

GFA--Grain Futures Administration.

HOLC--Home Owners' Loan Corporation.

IAB--Industrial Advisory Board (defunct).

ICC--Interstate Commerce Commission.

IEC--Industrial Emergency Council.

JEB--Joint Economy Board.

LAB--Labor Advisory Board (defunct).

NBCC--National Bituminous Coal Commission.

NCB--National Compliance Board.

NEC--National Emergency Council.

NIRA--National Industrial Recovery Act.

NIRB--National Industrial Recovery Board.

NLRB--National Labor Relations Board.

NMB--National Mediation Board.

NPB--National Planning Board.

NPPC--National Power Policy Committee.

NRA--National Recovery Administration.

NRB--National Resources Board.

NRS--National Reemployment Service.

NYA--National Youth Administration.

PA--Petroleum Administration.

PAB--Petroleum Administrative Board (defunct).

PLPC--Petroleum Labor Policy Board (defunct).

PWA--Public Works Administration.

PWAP--Public Works of Art Projects.

RACC--Regional Agricultural Credit Corporations.

REA--Rural Electrification Administration.

RFC--Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

RRA--Rural Resettlement Administration.

RRR--Railroad Retirement Board.

SAB--Science Advisory Board.

SAPFT--Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Trade (defunct).

SBPW--Special Board for Public Works.

SEC--Securities and Exchange Commission.

SES--Soil Erosion Service.

SHD--Subsistence Homesteads Division.

SLIC--Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.

SLRB--Steel Labor Relations Board.

SSB--Social Security Board.

TEC--The (President's) Executive Council.

TFI--Textile Foundation, Inc.

TLRB--Textile Labor Relations Board.

TVA--Tennessee Valley Authority.

TVAC--Tennessee Valley Associated Co-operatives.

TWAB--Textile Work Assignment Boards.

USES--United States Employment Service.

USIS--United States Information Service.

WAD--Works Allotment Division.

The above article is the text of a newspaper clipping saved in a scrapbook by my mother. I believe it to be from a Nevada MO newspaper circa 1936.

 

A state legislature that may be nuttier than Kansas'

From Scientific American news article, NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal By Scott Huler | May 30, 2012:

According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. I have a full-time nanny for my children, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and I get to spend the entire year taking guitar lessons from Mark Knopfler. Oh, my avatar? I haven’t got around to changing it, but by law, I now look like George Clooney. There’s also a supermodel clause, but discussing the details would be boasting.

You think I’m kidding, but listen to me: I’m from North Carolina, and that’s how we roll. We take what we want to be reality, and we just make it law. So I’m having my state senator introduce legislation writing into law all the stuff I mentioned above. This is North Carolina, state motto: “Because that’s how I WANT it to be.”

You know, of course, about our passing May 8 of Amendment One, which has now written into our constitution anti-marriage discrimination against anyone who doesn’t fit one group’s image of marriage. It’s just as ugly as it sounds – just as ugly as the last time we wrote such marriage discrimination into our constitution, in 1875, when instead of protecting us against the idea of same-sex couples marrying, it was protecting us against racial miscegenation – down to the third generation, mind you. Good times!

Okay, though. These are hard days, people are crazyish, and you just have to soldier on, right? But then it turns out that North Carolina legislators are now tossing around bills that not only protect themselves from concepts that make them uncomfortable, they’re DETERMINING HOW WE MEASURE REALITY.

A couple of paragraphs later:

Here’s a link to the circulated Replacement House Bill 819. The key language is in section 2, paragraph e, talking about rates of sea level rise: “These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of seas-level rise may be extrapolated linearly. …” It goes on, but there’s the core: North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow’s weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don’t use radar and barometers; use the Farmer’s Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

Please note the disclaimer at the bottom of the article:

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

It would be entertaining if it weren't so stooooopid. I would be the last to argue that all scientific forecasts (on anything!) are correct; but, to deny people the advantage of the very best forecasting that can be had???? OK. So, the constitution is changed and the legal forecasts say that certain lands will not be affected by sea level rise. People pour millions/billions into developing the land - and - if and when the lands get flooded out on a permanent basis, those developers/owners will stick their hands out expecting that the Federal Government (funded by us taxpayers) will foot the bill to either buy them out or to build dikes to keep the law-flouting waters out.

War on women - global style

From Slashdot.org:

Another Afghan School Poisoned — 160 Girls Hospitalized427

Posted by Soulskillon Tuesday May 29, @02:32PM
from the setting-a-bad-precedent dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Back in April, we discussed news of an anti-education attack on an Afghani school, which poisoned 150 Afghan schoolgirls. Now, a hospital in the same province has admitted 160 more girls who seem to have suffered a similar attack. 'Their classrooms might have been sprayed with a toxic material before the girls entered, police spokesman Khalilullah Aseer said. He blamed the Taliban. The incident, the second in a week's time, was reported at the Aahan Dara Girls School in Taluqan, the provincial capital. The girls, ages 10 to 20, complained of headaches, dizziness and vomiting before being taken to the hospital, said Hafizullah Safi, director of the provincial health department. More than half of them were discharged within a few hours of receiving treatment, Safi said. The health department collected blood samples and sent them to Kabul for testing.'"