Thought and Freedom

Changing the default @author in Eclipse (IBM RAD) comments

Terry Pearson — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:05:58 +0000

Something that has annoyed me in the past is when I generate a new class, Eclipse puts the @author tag in the comments with my machine username. It ends up looking like this: /* * @author ID123 */ Which is really not that helpful in some contexts. In the systems I work on, its just [...]

This message will self destruct…

Terry Pearson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:06:34 +0000

Have you ever wanted to send a message to someone, but you did not want it to be stored in permanent form in email? There is now a website that is addressing just such an issue. OneTimeSecret.com allows you to type a message and send a URL to someone. Once the URL is displayed once, [...]

Censoring the internet is akin to banning books

Terry Pearson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:30:26 +0000

Please read Doug Newman's article on SOPA (Stop online piracy act) and how this piece of legislation is congress's attempt at a virtual book ban on the internet. http://foodforthethinkers.com/2012/01/05/will-there-be-a-banned-web-sites-week/

Transferring GoDaddy hosting from one account to another

Terry Pearson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:10:12 +0000

I recently ran into a problem transferring GoDaddy hosting from one account in their system to another. It appears that domains must be unique across the entire shared GoDaddy system. I decided to write a quick article on how to prevent downtime with such a transfer. So for future reference, it may be beneficial to [...]

Petition for a veto of the National Defence Authorization Act

Terry Pearson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:00:05 +0000

It's hard to pinpoint one law passed in the past couple years that one could argue is "the worst law ever." However, the National Defence Authorization Act may be on the top of the list. The act was passed overwhelmingly by Republicans and Democrats. It effectively removes accountability and rights proactively to an accused. This bill was made for abuse and our only hope is a presidential veto at this point.

Cantons as a way to redistribute power

Guest Blogger — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:45:06 +0000

The difference between political parties and cantons is that the purpose of political parties is to get people of a certain ideological stripe elected to office. The purpose of cantons, on the other hand, is to decentralize the power of government. It does this by a contract between the canton and its members. That contract, good for one year, gives the canton the right to take possession of the taxes taken by a particular governing body.

Protect IP act will destroy the internet

Terry Pearson — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:55:52 +0000

Their are serious dangers in the protect IP act. Contact your congress person today and tell them to get their hands out of the internet.

Simplifying Christmas

Terry Pearson — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:30:14 +0000

There are a lot of good parents out there. Most are well meaning when they give their kids a lot of toys for Christmas (or birthdays). But, I think we need to look at the amount of gifts we give our children. We all want our kids to be happy, but sometimes happiness is not "more." Sometimes, happiness happens by a trip to the sledding hill, a snow fort, or maybe just a big hug from a parent. Happiness comes from fellowship, not from a pile of toys or other items.

Open curriculum and the local public school

Terry Pearson — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:00:39 +0000

Public schools are beginning to venture into the domain of self-produced digital curriculum. Through the advancement of technology, we are able to mass distribute content without the need for a third party publisher that charges high rates for their work. I applaud school districts who have pursued this option. They save hundreds of thousands by building a reusable curriculum and rejecting the textbook industry model. One benefit that has not yet been discussed is that schools could provide these books in the public domain.

Texting while driving should not be illegal

Terry Pearson — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:01 +0000

Laws should punish harm done and not the arbitrary method used to commit them. For example, if a person is murdered, the punishment should be the same whether they were shot with a gun or pushed off a cliff. In either case, the person's life was equally valuable and so should the punishment. Laws should protect others from force or harm and not focus on "methods." By doing so, we restore focus on the value of life and liberty and remove focus from methods and tools that could be used for good or for evil.