Lance Bledsoe’s Comments

• Jan 8th, 2015 @ 8:32am

  Bricked shithouse

  on DRM, Or How To Turn Your Cat's Litter Box Into An Inkjet Printer
  You wrote this whole post just so you could use the phrase "bricked shithouse," didn't you?
• May 2nd, 2014 @ 9:23am

  Some dates in this post would be nice

  on How The US Post Office Killed Innovative Digital Mail Because It Disrupted Junk Mailers
  Clicking over to the article, I can see that the USPS delivered their response to Khanna in May 2014, but it's hard to see what the basic timeline is (e.g., when did Khanna first implement his service, etc.). If you could add in some dates to this post, that would make it a lot clearer.
• Feb 21st, 2014 @ 9:46am

  (typo)

  on If Russian And Chinese Intelligence Could Supposedly Get Access To Snowden's Documents So Easily, Why Couldn't The NSA Figure Out What He Has?
  (That last line should read: "...an assertion that few of the NSA's most fervent supporters are willing to make" or "...an assertion that even the NSA's most fervent supporters are reluctant to make.")
• Jan 17th, 2014 @ 2:47am

  Re:

  on Congressional Reps Ask Bruce Schneier To Explain To Them What The NSA Is Doing, Because The NSA Won't Tell Them
  (I agree that more contextual info on Mr. Schneier would have been useful.)
• Sep 4th, 2013 @ 2:42am

  Speaking truth to power...

  on Edward Snowden Receives Whistleblowing Award
  I think that last line in the quoted paragraph is supposed to read, "Speaking truth to power has cost whistleblowers their freedom, family, or country."
• May 10th, 2013 @ 8:21am

  (minor edit)

  on NYPD Chief Ray Kelly And Mayor Bloomberg Still Think Privacy Is A Good Thing -- Just Not YOUR Privacy
  I think that last paragraph in the second italicized block is not supposed to be italicized.
• Jan 4th, 2013 @ 12:05pm

  abdicate

  on Dad Hires Digital Assassins To Murder His Son (Digitally)
  (BTW, it's "abdicate".)
• Jul 31st, 2012 @ 5:50am

  A fine idea, but...

  on Would US Education Be Better If We Replaced Algebra Requirements With Stats & Logic?
  I'm a high school math teacher, and I'm all in favor of trying different approaches (including Andrew Hacker's ideas) to help people learn math, but I'm not convinced that the primary issue is one of dry-boring-algebra vs. real-world-exciting-statistics. The fact is that all mathematics requires developing skills in quantitative reasoning, and quantitative reasoning is difficult (more so for some than for others). A course in "citizen statistics", even one that includes a lot of interesting real-world applications, is still going to require learning to reason effectively with numbers; I would argue that it will also require some fluency with fundamental algebra concepts like variables, interpreting graphical data, etc.
  
  So by all means, let's continue to come up with different ways to help people learn math. But the bottom line is that learning math is hard work and the hard work part's not going to go away, even with better courses.
• Jan 12th, 2012 @ 9:05am

  Minor quibble over your percentage

  on Apparently, Someone Forgot To Tell Reality That The Entertainment Industry Was Dying
  Note that the 43.2% growth rate mentioned in the post is 43.2% over 10 years. If you use the numbers from the table to calculate an average "annual" growth rate, you get around 3.1%. Since growth rates are typically quoted as annual rates, it's not a bad idea to note this number as well.
• Jul 25th, 2011 @ 6:02am

  Re:

  on Looking At Security Theater Through The Lens Of The Utøya Massacre
  Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the original comment. Are you saying that it's not appropriate for anyone to comment on tragic events? Or that it's not appropriate to comment on tragic events until some minimum period of time has passed (e.g., "after the funerals"). Or that it's okay to comment on tragic events as long as you don't use the event to make a particular point? Or that it's okay to use the event to make a particular point as long as it's a point that you personally agree with?
  
  I absolutely agree that anyone who comments publicly about some tragic event should be as sensitive as possible, but it's not reasonable to suggest that people shouldn't comment about them at all. Trying to make sense of the events of our lives, even the tragic ones, is what we humans do.
• Jul 12th, 2011 @ 3:55am

  HTML typo

  on EU Politicians Realize US View Of De Facto Ownership Of The Internet Makes Their Data Protection Laws Irrelevant
  (I don't think those last three paragraphs were intended to be a link.)
• Jul 22nd, 2010 @ 9:33pm

  Here's a teacher who's in favor of this one

  on Removing iPods And Mobile Phones From Students Is 'Discipline Theater'
  Speaking as a high school teacher who's also something of a technophile, I confess I'm not crazy about blanket technology bans, but I think banning the use of cell phones and ipods in the classroom is a good idea. These devices are remarkably compelling for teens and many would happily spend several hours a day, including all of their class time, texting with their friends and watching youtube videos. There's something to be said for having kids "turn the TV off" for a while so they can focus their brains on something a little more cognitively substantial. And it's much easier to get a teen to do that if you're not constantly having to compete with their cell phone, to say nothing of competing with 30 cell phones.
• Sep 30th, 2009 @ 1:43am

  BT=British Telecom, BPI=Music industry lobbyist group

  on BPI Continues To Make Things Up When It Comes To ISPs And File Sharing
  In case there are others who have only followed this story casually and may be confused by the acronyms:
  
  BT=British Telecom (the primary broadband ISP in the UK)
  BPI=the major UK music industry lobbyist group