Archives for November 2005
30 November
Legacy systems
Before I came to Case I was working as a software developer. One of my assignments was to assist in the maintenance of a system that, while it consisted of recently written Java code, was so poorly coded that working on it was a nightmare. At first it seemed quicker and cheaper to just fix a few bugs and add a few features and generally patch it up to make it work, as opposed to rewriting the system from scratch to be "good". As it turned out, though, the general badness of this system pervaded it more thoroughly than we initially thought, and the modifications we had to make became more and more extensive. In hindsight, it would have been cheaper and much more pleasant to have simply rewritten the system from the beginning.
Somehow I imagine SOLAR to be the same way - the fact that it was deemed better (cheaper, faster to implement, or both) to screen-scrape the terminal displays of a mainframe than to properly modernize the system is a pretty big hint. So, to anyone whose job it is to keep SOLAR running smoothly, or at least as smoothly as possible... my sincerest condolences.
29 November
Salad dressing conspiracy
The good folks at Leutner (cafeteria, for any non-Case readers) are generally pretty responsive to the "Tell the Chef" comment cards. Within a day or two there will be a response written on the card, posted on the wall, and in a few more days the problem (if any) will be addressed.
Not so with one complaint I've made several times during the semester: "Use less salad dressing". Twice I have filled out a card with a comment to this effect and left it in the drop box, only to have it ignored - I never saw it posted on the wall. The third time I posted the card on the wall directly. It was taken down within 24 hours! It's almost as if someone doesn't want to admit that people are complaining.
Salad dressing conspiracy at Leutner? You decide.
People Changing?
I've observed that the student "hacker culture" (in the classic sense) at Case is dominated by upperclassmen. What do you think? Has this always been true, or are new (computer science) students less likely to identify with this group than those of previous years?
28 November
Privacy
Today in philosophy class we talked about, among other things, the trend toward "mass dataveillance" by the government and even by private entities such as large corporations that have access to personal information about individuals.For example, the logging of text messages by cellular phone service providers. Some people seemed shocked that such data gathering is going on. To generalize outside the class, there seems to be a lack of awareness about the degree to which people's privacy is regularly encroached upon. When people find out, though, they are concerned and want do do something about it. Given this, I am surprised that the use of strong encryption (S/MIME email, anyone?) is not more widespread.
27 November
Rant: Politics, economics, and saving the planet.
We (human beings in general, I don't want to point fingers and I recognize that I am part of the problem) are ruining the planet Earth: we're altering its climate, killing off its species, using its resources at an alarming rate, and so on. As I see it, there are at least four things we (again, human beings in general) can do about it.
1. Nothing. This has the advantage of being really easy to do, and the disadvantage of not solving the problem.
2. Deny that there is a problem. Advantage: Also really easy. Disadvantage: Not only is the problem not solved, we don't feel guilty about not solving the problem.
The remaining two solutions would address the problem, at least partially, and they are feasible to implement using existing technology. The difficulty is that they are politically unpopular, or there is no economic incentive to implement them, or both.
Domain name
I finally decided to part with $5/year for a domain name, mostly to get a .com while a few are left. So, andrewwitte.com will bring you here. email to anything @andrewwitte.com will reach me. Yay.
22 November
OSTN Advertising
Recently there's been a flyer campaign on campus advertising the "Open Student Television Network". The word "Open" is by far the most prominent:
As has been recently noted, though, the video stream is scrambled so that it's only playable on the Windows version of Windows Media Player, which supports DRM. This is not the "Open Student Television Network" the flyers promise; in fact, it's a Closed student television network.
I realize that powers outside Case's control probably dictated this arrangement, so there may not be anything Case can do about the content. What they can do is stop taunting those of us who use non-Windows operating systems with the promise of an "Open" television network which has, in reality, been deliberately restricted so it will not play on our computers. To whoever is responsible for OSTN advertising on campus: please refrain from using the word "Open" where possible, since it's a poor description of the service. If this can't be done, at the very least don't make the word "Open" the most prominent element in the advertisement.
21 November
printf("Hello world\n");
I'm usually not one for writing, but lately I've wanted to say a lot of stuff, so I will say it here. I'm sure you're all awaiting my first real post with bated breath...