Posts from — April 2006

So Yahoo! Maps just added satellite data… and it’s really good. I can see my house in CT on the satellite view. The interface is still a bit too slow and somewhat awkward for my taste (it uses flash, for better or worse), but it does have some nice features (multi-point directions, printing). I compared the satellite imagery in CT between Yahoo!, Google, and MSN Windows Live Local XP 2000 or whatever they call it. Yahoo was the best, as I said, Google was bad, and the Microsoft one, like all “Windows Live” sites so far, makes me think less of Microsoft’s abilities each time I visit it. I do get the feeling they’ll create something worthwhile within a couple of years, though.

I’m going to be doing a presentation about the Google Maps API next Thursday at 4, for anyone interested and in the area. I’ll have more details up here later.

Important: Vote for the World’s Ugliest Dog

This is worth reading:

During a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the NSA’s secret domestic wiretapping program. The Administration has cited the Authorization to Use Military Force and the commander in chief powers as authorizing the NSA to intercept international communications into and out of the U.S. of persons linked to al Qaeda or related terrorist organizations.

After citing his concerns that there was no limiting principle to the Administration’s claim of authority in the War on Terror, Rep. Schiff asked the Attorney General whether the Administration believes it has the authority to wiretap purely domestic calls between two Americans without seeking a warrant. “I cannot rule that out,” responded the Attorney General.

“This is very disturbing testimony,” Rep. Schiff commented later, “and represents a wholly unprecedented assertion of executive power. No one in Congress would deny the need to tap certain calls under court order — but if the Administration believes it can tap purely domestic phone calls between Americans without court approval, there is no limit to executive power. This is contrary to settled law and the most basic constitutional principles of the separation of powers.”

From here

A prof from UMD wrote this article a while ago: The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science. Definitely a good read.

I was doing some digging through my journal archives tonight, and I noticed that sometime in the last year or so my post became more about my perspectives on other things than about myself. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it seems to have happened. I also tend not to describe my experiences on here like I used to, and I feel like I want to change that, when things of interest occur.

The contrast is pretty clear if you read this entry from May 2003. That post also reminds me of this post from last July describing my time with a thunderstorm (though in retrospect it’s about a lot more). I’m going to miss those this summer… plus it’ll be rather cold at night.

Apparently, Arrested Development most likely isn’t getting picked up by Showtime. The wikipedia entry on the show and most of the episodes are really excellent, though. Lots of obscure jokes explained.

Stupidest April Fool’s Day joke of the year goes to:
Microsoft’s Live.com

If you go to the site today, when you put your mouse near the search box, the box floats away, and then an “April Fools” alert comes up, to inform you that you have been tricked. LOL ROFL WHAT A HILARIOUS TRICK!!! THEY TOTALLY GOT ME!!

I think that their uninspired sense of humor may be related to their uninspiring site. I tried doing web search with their interface, and I really don’t recommend it. The results generally aren’t as good as Google and the interface is slow in order to solve problems that the vast majority of searches never have (e.g. scrolling infinitely).

At least Google Romance was amusing and rather inventive… live.com should have just not changed their page for 4/1.