Category: observations

FindLaw’s Writ – Ramasastry: No Child Left Unrecruited?

When public high school opened their doors this fall, military recruiters converged upon them, seeking student data. Schools and parents, taken aback by these unprecedented requests – for thirty years, this private information has been closely guarded – were surprised to discover that the requests were actually authorized by statute.

In January of this year, the “No Child Left Behind Act” was signed into law. The Act was touted as being designed to ensure that no child is left behind when it comes to getting a decent education. But it also had another, much less publicized aspect: It sought to ensure no child is left behind when it comes to military recruitment, as well.

While I had heard about two different attempts to make some kind of national service compulsory, the notion that recruiters could contact students directly, using data that is assumed to be privileged — I don’t expect the school to share it with anyone — is frightening.

High school students are not known for their refined decisionmaking skills, nor are they always aware of consequences.

Peeve Farm

How come nobody else has done this?

I like this almost as much as dragging link text to a tab and having the new link there when I change to that tab.

DaveNet : First essay of the year

and btw the people who make open source software generally don’t have much sympathy for users, and my software is all about users.

[Ted] Turner, as well, refashioned himself as a global newsman as CNN expanded into new markets (by 1995, it reached 156 million subscribers in 140 countries around the world), banning the word “foreign” from CNN newscasts in favor of “international.”

Someone used the F word (“foreign students”) in a CNN.com quickpoll this weekend. There was a monetary fine associated with it back in the day: I wonder if he’s exacted the punishment yet?

“Given that some shareholders continue to focus their disappointment with the company’s post-merger performance on me personally, I have concluded that we should take steps now to avoid the possibility of that effort hindering our ability to pull together as a team and focus fully on our businesses.”

Yes, we do blame you and your old pal, Mr Levin. Now you’re both gone: perhaps we’ll see some improvement.

Oh, and thanks for doing this on Sunday: the market opening on Monday should be a good one.

Child Pornography Was Research, Says British Rock Star

The British rock star Pete Townshend admitted today to having paid to view child pornography on the Internet but denied he was a pedophile and said it was for research purposes.

I had hoped it wasn’t one of the two surviving members of the Who, since the newspaper headlines never identified them as “Who’s Townshend” but in third person.

Alas, this makes Entwhistle’s cocaine experiments seem almost mature.

3 out of 4 of these lads seem to have [had] a strong penchant for self-destruction.

Microsoft Agrees to a $1.1 Billion Settlement

The California lawsuits were the largest of their kind pending against Microsoft, although the company, which admitted no wrongdoing under the settlement, still faces smaller claims that it overcharged consumers in other states.

I know this is mealy-mouthed legal speak, but still it looks an awful lot like an admission of “wrongdoing” or guilt as we used to call it.

forebrain: Taking it back from the man (at least a little bit) Archives
If you bought a record or CD between 1995 and 2000, you may already be a winner: the evil music conglomerate agreed to settle a price fixing case and you may get between $5 and $20.

Go fill out your paperwork.

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Lileks under the influence of the first two Back to the Future movies . . . .

LILEKS (James) The Bleat

The movie isnt that old, but its vision of 2015 already looks ridiculous. We’re just 12 years away, but I’m reasonably sure that hovercars aren’t going to be an option, nor will 512K Macs sit in antique store windows. 2015 will look like 1990, because you can’t photograph wireless networks. The best part of the future is always invisible.

This has more to do with the kind of infrastructure we use now vs 100 years ago. It’s all what you’re accustomed — and desensitized — to.