Checksum Arcanius

A recent secuirty hole in Firefox allows a malicious website to run arbitrary code on your computer. I recommend immediately visiting this site and installing a very small patch.

Security updates in hours. Just another reason we love Firefox.

In some minor ways, particularly narcissistic ones, I am a bit of a packrat. Occasionally, the habit pays off, however. When I went to the UW on Wednesday to be advised, I learned, much to my dismay, that despite all of my credits being transfered, very few of them transfered to anything specific or useful. For example, my Physics 121, 220 (formerly 122), and 123 courses turned into generic “UW 1XX” and “UW 2XX” credit. Great if I’m looking for credits, but useless if I want to take any more physics classes. That example is especially vexing because the courses are, as near as I can tell, exact equivalents of UW’s Physics 121, 122, and 123.

However, the problem does not stop there; rather it is systematic: My Math 112H and 113H classes at BYU turned into only 124 and 125, even though both classes are 4 semester credits and cover everything in the three UW 124-125-126 series. But I’m not resting on that laurel alone – I also took Math 227, Multivariable Calculus, as BCC. This, if anything, was my sole weak point in completing the 124-125-126 series. So I have certainly covered the material. Furthermore, I took Math 208 and 238 at BCC, which translated into 300 level classes at UW, both of which require Math 126. So I have credit for classes that I am not allowed to take, because I haven’t fulfilled the 126 prerequisite. The same story is repeated for Computer Science (BYU’s CS 142 is exactly the same thing, as near as I can tell, to UW’s CS 142), Biology (I took major-course Microbiology at BYU, along with Biology 250 at BYU, yet I don’t have credit for Biology 180 yet), and Chemistry (I took major-course Chem 111H and 112 at BYU, which cover at least UW Chem 142 & 152, and I would argue, 162 as well, since the next step at BYU is OChem [I took 351 and got credit for it at the UW], and at UW, OChem comes after 162, so once again I have credit for a class that I can’t take yet due to prerequisites not matching up).

My Bioengineering adviser informed me that she thought the credit evaluator was having a bad day or was being lazy, but the result was that I would have to go around to each of the departments where I am seeking credit and talk to advisers there. I talked to several after my advising, and discovered that they wanted to see course syllabuses before making a decision.

Finally, to bring this article full circle, I just happen to still have every syllabus from every college class I have ever taken. There is yet hope that Ryan will be a Bioengineer and not an English major. Sometimes, being a narcissistic pack rat pays off.

While playing counterstrike tonight, I got invited to be a fifth for a scrim. I accepted, and though I was outclassed by the rest of my team, I held my own, going 8-8 and 5-5 and figuratively carrying my own weight. I like to think that my willingness to sacrifice myself helped out some too. The guys I was playing with were actually really good – after the first team we were scrimming copped out after losing four straight, we played it easy on the next team until they were hooked, virtually deadlocking the first round 7-8. Next, we were CTs, and turned up the heat a little bit (well, my teammates did at any rate), and won the next 8. It was a lot of fun, and they’d have me back in a similar situation in the future. It was a good challenge too.

The combined intelligence of media and government is astounding

From the article:

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina will receive debit cards good for $2,000 to spend on clothing and other immediate needs, the Bush administration said yesterday.

and then the kicker:

The administration estimated the cost of the program for 320,000 households at $640 million.

Holy crap! How did they come up with that number?

…

In other sad news (and also from the article):

President Bush sent to Congress a request for $51.8 billion in additional hurricane relief, raising Katrina’s cost to the federal government to $62.3 billion so far, a record for domestic disaster relief. Congress is likely to approve the White House request today.

White House budget director Joshua Bolten made it clear: “We will in fact need substantially more,” estimating the current sum would cover expenses for “a few weeks.”

Last week, FEMA was spending about $500 million a day, an unprecedented rate, House Appropriations Committee aides said. But over the weekend, Bolten said, that “burn rate” soared to more than $2 billion a day as FEMA began signing contracts for the construction of temporary housing.

$2 billion a day! Holieeee…

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
An Objectivist Review by Robert Tracinski | The Intellectual Activist
Read the rest of this entry »

Europe, long lauded as more progressive than the US, struts its compassion with laws like this “sunshine directive.”

Of course it would be more funny if the US were not headed down the same path.

In other news, I get to register for classes at the UW today. I have yet to report on the business trip – expect that in the near future – and there is much interesting news on Katrina, including the forced evacuation of people for their own good. It just keeps getting better down there.

I am a strong believer that the federal government really shouldn’t be spending $27 billion to fix up Florida and $10.5 billion to fix up the Gulf States after hurricanes. Through various types of insurance, the private sector provides a system for providing money after a disaster that places the payment burden on those that take the risk. People that chose to live in the dangerous areas should pay the insurance premiums, not those that chose to live in places where disasters are less likely to occur.

On the other hand, the scope of suffering in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana truly is unprecedented in this country and in this age. Although I’m disturbed by the complete sense of victimization and seeming inability of these people to help themselves, I don’t I don’t believe they should be forced to fend for themselves. I encourage anyone who has the means to make a donation with to the Red Cross Hurricane relief fund by clicking the image above.