My test today
Personal Commentary
I took a test today in my graph theory class. I thought it might be interesting to share one of the problems:

4. Prove by induction on the number of vertices in the graph (|V|) that every undirected graph G has an orientation such that |indeg(v) -outdeg(v)| <= 1 for every vertex in the graph.

I think I got it mostly right.

One of the things I love about math is taking a course and reading the last chapter the course will cover. Such gibberish. Yet, in just four or five months, it makes sense. You'd hardly even think it was the same book. So much fun!

Hijackers' e-mails sifted for clues
Misc.
'Federal authorities believe that some of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were using computers in all-night Kinko's stores and cybercafes in South Florida to coordinate their activities in the weeks before the assaults. Investigators have amassed what they described as a "substantial" amount of e-mail traffic among the hijackers.'

'None of the communications, authorities said Sunday, involved the use of encryption or other code to disguise the contents of the messages.'

Postulate
Personal Commentary
Postulate: The civilization level of a society can be completely measured by the congruence between its law and ethics.

 

Counterpane: Crypto-Gram: Special Sept. 11
Misc.
'This is a special issue of Crypto-Gram, devoted to the September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath.'

 

DaveNet : Patents and the W3C
Patents
'The W3C is a consortium of companies of all sizes. My company, UserLand Software, is a member. We agree on a common philosophy -- a level playing field, interoperation between software, and choice for users and developers. That's the foundation that the Web was built on, it's what kept the Web ticking through the dotcom lunacy.'

'Now several large companies, led by Microsoft, Philips, Apple and Hewlett-Packard, are trying to become the platform vendor that the Internet never had, and imho that's totally counter to the charter for the Internet, and therefore, the W3C.'

Salon.com News | Democracy held hostage
Free Speech
'What we need more than anything right now is careful deliberation and spirited debate. We need, in short, for our democracy to come fully alive. Unfortunately, the calls for herd-like conformity are on the rise. In the last week, self-appointed sheep dogs from across the political spectrum have begun yapping at our heels, pushing us to all think alike and move in the same direction.'

Biometrics in Airports
Human Justice
'I think it would be a great addition to airport security: identifying airline and airport personnel such as pilots, maintenance workers, etc. That's a problem biometrics can help solve. Using biometrics to pick terrorists out of crowds is a different kettle of fish.'

A text-book concrete example of what I'm getting at in my Human Justice essay.

 

Google Search: alt.humor.best-of-usenet Humor-Amusing

Best kind of humor... there's a point beneath the sarcasm. Replicated here, since Google may not store it forever (minus a few unimportent headers):

Newsgroups: alt.humor.best-of-usenet Followup-To: alt.humor.best-of-usenet.d X-FAQ-Is-At: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/best-of-usenet-humor X-FAQ-Via-WWW: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/best-of-usenet-humor/ X-For-FAQ-Mailto: ahboufaq@eey.org From: roger@nospam.firedrake.org Subject: [uk.media.radio.archers] ID cards - Yes or No? A Questionnaire (Or 2) Message-ID: Originator: amu@multics.mit.edu Date: 27 Sep 2001 17:29:53 GMT

Subject: ID cards - Yes or No? A Questionnaire (Or 2) From: Min Lacey Newsgroups: uk.media.radio.archers

Salon.com Technology | Peer-to-peer terrorism

'Their hatred is implacable, their forces are decentralized. They seek the protection of remote hosts for their secret bases. Their networks are weblike and personal, difficult for outside observers to penetrate. They use e-mail, encryption and other new technologies to hide their dark doings.'

'Pay close enough attention to the descriptions of America's newest enemies coming from Washington's talking heads, and something starts to seem oddly familiar. Haven't we heard about these people before? Wasn't it just a few months ago that we were being warned about their dire plans and the civil liberties compromises required to fight them? But no. That wasn't about Osama bin Laden at all. That was about ... about ... Napster?'

Real-Life Cyborg Challenges Reality With Technology
Protecting Yourself
'The inspiration for SeatSale and for many of Dr. Mann's other recent inventions is his growing alarm at what he calls the totalitarian uses of technology: the omnipresent surveillance cameras hidden behind "ceiling domes of wine-dark opacity" or the daunting licensing agreements anyone has to accede to before running new software or trying out new online services.'