unperson's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=unperson2008-07-07T20:45:49ZJuly 7, 2008 (essay)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/July+7%252C+2008unpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2008-07-07T20:45:49Z2008-07-07T20:45:49Z<h2>Tell Your Senators to Oppose Telecom Immunity!</h2>
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On Tuesday the Senate is poised to vote on <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6304">an update</a> to the <a href="/title/Foreign+Intelligence+Surveillance+Act">Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act</a> (FISA) which <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/20/BL2008062001489.html?hpid=topnews">includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies' involvement</a> in the <a href="/title/NSA">NSA</a>'s <a href="/title/illegal">illegal</a> <a href="/title/warrant">warrant</a>less <a href="/title/wiretap">wiretap</a>ping program. This will be the embodiment of the famous quote by <a href="/title/Richard+Nixon">Richard Nixon</a> regarding <em>his</em> illegal activities, <q><a href="/title/when+the+president+does+it+that+means+that+it+is+not+illegal">when the president does it that means that it is not illegal</a></q>. This bill is bad for <a href="/title/civil+liberties">civil liberties</a>, but more particularly it seems to support the idea that the president can choose to ignore the law and those who help him violate the law and the privacy of Americans won't be held accountable. If you want to do something about this, you can use the <a href="/title/EFF">EFF</a>'s site to<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…July 4, 2007 (log)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/July+4%252C+2007unpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2007-07-05T06:51:55Z2007-07-05T06:51:55Z<p>
I went to see the <a href="/title/Independence+Day">Independence Day</a> <a href="/title/fireworks">fireworks</a> down on the <a href="/title/National+Mall">National Mall</a> today. I've only done that once before and it was quite a number of years ago.
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I parked at a metro station and took the metro down to Foggy Bottom. From there I walked to the <a href="/title/Lincoln+Memorial">Lincoln Memorial</a>. I was supposed to meet some friends on the steps of the memorial. I was worried that since <a href="/title/9%252F11">9/11</a> the security would be pretty cumbersome, but it wasn't really too bad. They'd cordoned off the Mall and at the <a href="/title/security+checkpoint">security checkpoint</a> they just half-heartedly looked through my backpack. I don't really understand the point of the questions where they ask if a certain pocket is empty or when they asked me if the contents of my water bottle was <q>really water</q>. I could just as easily lied to them and there's no way they could have known. I guess that to a large degree it's probably just <a href="/title/security+theater">feel-good security</a>.
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I had gotten to the memorial and staked out a spot on the steps to wait for my<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…May 30, 2007 (log)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/May+30%252C+2007unpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2007-05-30T04:08:20Z2007-05-30T04:08:20Z<p>
I'm supposed to do <a href="/title/jury+duty">jury duty</a> on Thursday. When I've mentioned it to people over the last week or two, most people have either asked me if I can get out of it or said, <q>oh, <a href="/title/that+sucks">that sucks</a>.</q> It's definitely not a very convenient time, given that things are hectic right now, both at school and at home, but my honest response is still that I don't mind. I actually take all this <a href="/title/civic+duty">civic duty</a> stuff pretty seriously, and I think that serving on a jury is a very important part of that. This is the second time I will have been called. The last time I served was almost a decade ago. I think I was 19 at the time.
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In the run up to my jury service, it seems like I'm suddenly hearing about every court case with some sort of <a href="/title/miscarriage+of+justice">miscarriage of justice</a>, and this has got me thinking a lot about the idea of <a href="/title/jury+nullification">jury nullification</a> and under what circumstances this little-known power of the jury should be used to avoid an <a href="/title/unjust">unjust</a> conviction. This question is extremely unlikely to come up in the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…fine tuning of the fundamental constants and the anthropic principle (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/fine+tuning+of+the+fundamental+constants+and+the+anthropic+principleunpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2006-12-04T14:17:13Z2006-12-04T14:17:13Z<p>
<a href="/title/Scientist">Scientist</a>s describe the behavior of our <a href="/title/Universe">Universe</a> in terms of <a href="/title/the+laws+of+Physics">the laws of Physics</a>, which have helped us understand much of the world around us, from the workings of our own bodies to the structure of the stars to how the Universe as we know it came into being<sup>1</sup>. These laws depend on certain constants, which are numbers in the physical laws not predicted by the theory itself, like the <a href="/title/mass">mass</a> of the <a href="/title/proton">proton</a> or the <a href="/title/fine+structure+constant">fine structure constant</a> (which describes the strength of <a href="/title/electromagnetism">electric and magnetic forces</a>).<sup>2</sup> What many scientists find interesting (or troubling) is that there is only a very small range of values for these numbers that would allow for life as we know it to exist<sup>3</sup>. It is then argued by some (including some scientists) that this clearly means that it is very <a href="/title/improbable">improbable</a> that <a href="/title/life">life</a> should have come to exist.<sup>4</sup> Some people believe that this shows that a divine intelligence exists (e.g. <a href="/title/God">God</a>) that arranged the <a href="/title/laws+of+nature">laws of nature</a> for<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…NSA phone record database (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/NSA+phone+record+databaseunpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2006-05-17T06:38:55Z2006-05-17T06:38:55Z<p>
On <a href="/title/May+11%252C+2006">May 11, 2006</a> <a href="/title/USA+Today">USA Today</a> reported [1] that the <a href="/title/National+Security+Agency">National Security Agency</a> (NSA) has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans, with the eventual goal of including the records for all US calls. These will be compiled into what one source for the article termed, "the largest <a href="/title/database">database</a> ever assembled in the world." The "call-detail records" collected reportedly include the phone numbers for each end of the call, the time of the call, and the duration, but not the contents of the call, in distinction to another secret NSA <a href="/title/surveillance">surveillance</a> program uncovered by <a href="/title/The+New+York+Times">The New York Times</a> in December 2005 [2]. The records were collected without a warrant or any authorization from any court of law (including the <a href="/title/FISA">FISA</a> courts). According to the story, collection of these data has been ongoing since shortly after the <a href="/title/September+11%252C+2001">9/11 terrorist attacks</a>.
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The records will be used to, "analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Differential Sail (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/unperson/writeups/Differential+Sailunpersonhttp://m.everything2.com/user/unperson2006-01-09T04:26:18Z2006-01-09T04:26:18Z<p>
"Differential sail" seems to be a term for a surface that when put in some uniform (meaning <a href="/title/homogeneous">homogeneous</a> and <a href="/title/isotropic">isotropic</a>) bath of particles (including light, which you can think of as being composed of <a href="/title/photon">particles</a>) will indefinitely produce a force in one direction without using additional <a href="/title/energy">energy</a>. It seems this is generally discussed as a possible form of <a href="/title/propulsion">propulsion</a> for a <a href="/title/spacecraft">spacecraft</a>. This idea might seem clever (if a bit weird) at first, but actually such a device is impossible, because it violates the <a href="/title/laws+of+thermodynamics">laws of thermodynamics</a>. Below I'll explain how we know it violates the laws of thermodynamics, and then I'll look at a specific example to show why the device would not work.
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<h3>Breaking Thermodynamics</h3>
<blockquote><q><i>Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!</i></q> — <a href="/title/Homer+Simpson">Homer Simpson</a></blockquote>
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We can say the "differential sail" is impossible, because it violates the <a href="/title/second+law+of+thermodynamics">second law of thermodynamics</a>. The 2<sup>nd</sup> law may be<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…