This post is an extended response to Daniel Shutt’s “Something to think about before voting” [original: elon.edu/e-web/pendulum/Issues/2006/11_02/opinions/voting.xhtml] I think it’s unfortunate that the College Republicans didn’t submit a response/rebuttal to your article in this week’s Pendulum – especially with Election Day occurring before the next issue of The Pendulum hitting the press. And though I …
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it’s not my problem
Security, air quality, water potability, land use, and the list goes on and on. When any one thing is too big to be one person’s problem, it becomes a problem for the populace, and once it’s everyone’s problem, it’s no one’s problem. Securing airports is too complicated for one person to do, so a committee …
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is plagiarism really so bad?
There has been a lot of talk recently about the huge issue of plagiarism among students. Ars Technica had an article about it on 20 October [arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061020-8041.html]. I have also heard the issue discussed on radio talk shows, and been lectured on the consequences of being caught plagiarizing by almost every professor I’ve ever had. …
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follow the dollars
I came across this research project today, and though I don’t normally post multiple times in a day, you might find this interesting: Follow the Dollars. What I’ve found so far is that while Democrats seem to make up the majority of zip codes I have lived in, they do not donate to their party …
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here and now – monopoly updated: follow-up
It’s finally been released, and I had a chance to play the new game with some friends recently who bought a copy. Following-up from my previous post, thankfully the publishers didn’t totally bork the game. The balance of the game is still good because all they did to update to ‘here and now’ was to …
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authority issues online
Ars Technica had an article recently [arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061020-8041.html] discussing the prevalent issue of plagiarism amongst students, especially those in college. And a question was raised concerning authority in electronic resources. This is an issue I have had to deal with in the past, though I have found it somewhat amusing to hear teachers discuss authority in …
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other drivers suck
I went to upstate NY for my fall break this past weekend. The trip up was great – until I got about 5 minutes from my parents’ house when a dumptruck driver decided he didn’t like Mazda Proteges and just changed lanes whilst I was next to him. Fortunately I-787 has fairly decent shoulders there, …
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ask the right question
If you’ve never read Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley, and especially chapter 1, you should. Even before finishing this post. Even if you never write a program or touch a computer. Now that that’s out of the way, I can continue. The biggest issue in answering any question is not the answer – it is …
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never apologize for being right
Pope Benedict XVI recently made some ‘anti-Islamic’ comments in an academic conference that has gotten the Islamic world in an uproar (and has actually proved what he said to be correct). It has also gotten the politically correct crowd leveling some pretty harsh words against the pontiff. I do not agree with several of the …
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public transit isn’t the answer
It may be a component, but it’s not the panacea many proclaim it to be. Every means of transit I am aware of has good applications. They all get you from point A to point B – though some regulate where A & B must be. Biking, for example, is a very cheap means of …
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stop trying to make me ‘safe’
Wired’s Autopia has a post this week on the new mandate that all vehicles come standard with a “brake-shift interlock system” to prevent deaths of children putting vehicles in gear accidentally (or on purpose) and then being stuck in a runaway car. I can speak from personal experience that being in a vehicle with no …
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Praying for Angels
It seems that everything I decide to write about here involves prayer. That’s a good thing, though. Since prayer is the means God has given us to communicate with Him, it’s profitable to consider it frequently. My consideration today is on what God will do in extreme situations by dispatching His angels to our aid. …
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airport security
This past weekend I had the, ahem, joy, to fly with firearms, and I was struck again by how stupid airport security really is. Of all the people you would think you would want to be onboard your flight, you’d think you would want someone who was competent in using a firearm – and who …
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how do you negotiate a ceasefire with terorists?
This question has finally started dawning on the unwashed liberal masses. For the past almost 5 years, the United States has been directly confronting terrorism in several different global locations. And in the past several days, Hezbollah has finally reared its ugly head and given up on sporadic attacks against Israel and has instead launched …
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what rights?
More proof the American Civil Liberties Union is on crack: they are supporting a lawsuit filed by inmates to revert a recent decision made by Indiana’s Department of Corrections to ban sexually explicit magazines, letters, etc (CNN story). Fortunately Java Ahmed from the IDoC isn’t just bowing to the lawsuit: “We don’t have any current …
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oh vista, vista, whyfore art thou vista?
I’ve been playing with Windows Vista Beta 2 recently on my home computer, and my overall impression is pretty blah. I must agree with many other reviews I’ve read that it’s really XP SP3. The eye candy is nice (taken from Apple and the OSS world), but nothing worth upgrading over. The new Start menu …
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a kinder, gentler HRT
As much fun as it would be to be a part of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, what I’m thinking about now is a Hurricane Response Team. Any church, charitable group, or even a business that wanted to engender some positive community goodwill could assemble a disaster team – volunteers and equipment that could be …
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Selfish Christianity
I wrote a short series a few months ago about the importance of prayer (1 2 3). Today I am building on that. Just this weekend my church in Mebane hosted Pr Brian Borgman from Minden Nevada who spoke in all three of our services on “The Church Getting Her Hands Dirty”. Something that jumped …
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bounce
No, not the fabric softener. The church I grew up in in Albany NY (Albany Baptist) has been trying to move out of their old building for several years, and finally got a sale on their current facilities to be able to buy a new building. However, before they could move, they had to have …
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cirque du randall’s island
On Friday, 26 May, my parents, sister, and I descended onto Randall’s Island from the Triborough Bridge to see Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo production. We’ve enjoyed watching Cirque du Soleil’s productions for years on TV, but had never had a good opportunity to see them in person. CdS is a circus in the European tradition …
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virtually speaking
I’ve gotten very interested in virtualization technology recently. There’s a high probability I will be working with VMware this summer, and several of my websites (including this one) run on a virtual private server provided by Tektonic, running CentOS 3 through Virtuozzo. Virtualization is a fascinating concept. Instead of needing gobs of physical servers, by …
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on open-source
I am a huge fan of FLOSS: free/libre open-source software. My website runs on CentOS Linux, one of my home machines runs Kubuntu (you Gnome users are lost), I use emacs (down you vi fiends!), Anti-Vir, Crimson Editor, Firefox, Apache, PHP, BitTorrent, Python, WordPress, and so many more I can’t count them all. I have …
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do not attack iran – and see what happens
The International Herald Tribune had an editorial recently on Iran and the current United States’ administration’s use of preemptive strikes. [original story] In general, I would say that it is wrong to start wars. However, the IHT article seems to go along well with the post I wrote about nuclear proliferation and the dangers of …
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A Synopsis of Spurgeon
Charles Haddon Spurgeon is famous for being a Baptist preacher in the 19th century (1834-92). But more interesting than his career of regularly preaching to 10,000+ congregants is how he lived his life outside of ‘merely’ preaching the Bible. Charles was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England on 19 June 1834 as both the son and …
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the strip club
Obviously I have too much free time in my head. Yesterday, while celebrating the end of my rather blasé database course, my friend Matt and I decided to go hit up Cook Out for milkshakes – and yes, I got my all-time favorite peanut butter mint 🙂 – and it dawned on us, through some …
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