I'm off to the midwest...

...for a road trip in search of beer, brats, pizza and fun. Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana and thereabouts. the awesome family has some serious partying to attend to. so don't expect any new posts 'till after labor day. in the meanwhile, please spend 30 seconds perusing and considering my prior posts. there is enough meat there to think about... laterz!

p.s. my web counter now says 2192.

in the future...

...all Americans will downsize as gas climbs to $8/gallon.

intelligent design and AI...

first let me say that I admire Bush. I admire the money, power, and influence he has. I admire his ability to lead a team and motivate, despite his all too human imperfections. what I don't admire is the policies and ideas that he promotes. oftentimes they are just wrong. if only he had put his pandering talents to good use! his remarks about teaching 'intelligent design' in schools is a good example. an article in the May 30 New Yorker describes pretty well "why intelligent design isn't"... basically there's no science to back it up. read the article first if you want to disagree with me.

so evolution (a very well tested and established theory) is the answer. what are scientists doing with it? I've been reading pretty awesome stuff about artificial life - philosophy and computing intermix to show where our real future may lie. Tom Ray is one of the pioneers in this area who has gone quite far in creating "virtual life" which at some point is equivalent to what the dictionary constitues "life".

in "Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing"
by Leandro Nunes de Castro and Fernando J. Von Zuben states:

according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, life is:

“The state of a material complex or individual characterized by the capacity to perform certain functional activities including metabolism, growth, reproduction, and some form of responsiveness or adaptability.”

Life is seen as the result of a complex material organization that performs some specific tasks. Such a definition does not say anything about this organization; it only considers life as a cluster of properties (growth, self-reproduction …). Such definitions are common. In the field of artificial life, the most famous cluster definition is that of Farmer and Belin, who selected eight criteria (Farmer & Belin, 1992, p. 818):

Life is a pattern in space-time.

Self-reproduction.

Information storage of a self-representation.

Metabolism.

Functional interactions with the environment.

Interdependence of parts.

Stability under perturbations.

Ability to evolve.

Ray’s results have been sufficiently impressive to give rise to comments such as:

“From a purely logical point of view, the barrier between life and artificial life seemed to have come down: the universality of life was proven” (Adami, 1998, p. 49).

C. Emmeche examined Ray’s creatures according to Farmer and Belin’s eight criteria (Emmeche, 1994, pp. 43-46):

Ray’s creatures are information structures rather than material objects.

They are able to self-reproduce.

They have self-representation.

They have some kind of metabolism since they redistribute some of the computer’s electrical energy.

They have functional interactions with their environment.

Their components are mutually interdependent and they can die.

They are stable in their environment.

They can evolve.

According to Emmeche, only the properties 2 (self-reproduction is essentially formal; it does not consume any “matter”), 4 (is it reasonable to consider alterations of electromagnetic states as a metabolism?) and 7 (the considered stability is very weak) are not fully satisfied.

The question here is not to say that Ray’s creatures are “quite living,” but to point out that such a construction satisfies many of the intuitive properties of life.

References:
Adami, C. (1998). Introduction to artificial life. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Emmeche, C. (1994). The garden in the machine. The emerging science of artificial life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Farmer, J., & Belin, A. (1992). Artificial life: The coming evolution. In C.G.Langton (Ed.), Artificial life II (pp. 815-840). Redwood City: Addison-Wesley.

so man is the intelligent designer. reminds me of Genesis 1:27 - "God made man in his image". they didn't teach this when I went to school!

an even farther out solution for the oil crisis (planet of the apes anyone?)...

excerpts from "UFOS AND THE NEW PHYSICS"
By Kim Burrafato
in conversation with
Jack Sarfatti, Ph.D.

It's no wonder that most scientists consider the subject of UFOs patently absurd and not worthy of serious discussion. Can modern physics ever hope explain the UFO phenomenon to fit within the current world view? Or is an entirely new physics required? This article will address the question "If UFOs are real, then how do they work?"...

...Theoretical subtleties inherent within Einstein's general theory of relativity (gravity) and quantum mechanics may hold the answer. If it is possible to physically alter or deform four-dimensional space-time, then a kind of space-time tunnel, or time travel gate, can be constructed. In current physics, such theoretical tunnels are known as traversable wormholes.

Cal Tech physicists Kip Thorne and Michael Morris, along with Igor Novikov of Moscow State University and others, have published a number of papers in the prestigious Physical Review on the physics of time travel and traversable wormholes. A traversable wormhole is literally a shortcut through both space and time.

An advanced extraterrestrial civilization , capable of cosmic-scale engineering, could conceivably fabricate traversable wormhole time travel gates, where their starships would enter a wormhole in one region of space- time, and pop out in another extremely distant region of space-time.

According to the equations of general relativity, one of the mouths of the wormhole has to accelerate away from the other mouth to a very high speed close to that of light and then return. If you step into the mouth that accelerates and returns, you will step out the other end into the relative past of when you entered. If you step into the unaccelerated mouth and leave through the accelerated one, you will jump into the relative future. That is, if you had an identical twin who did not go through the wormhole, your twin would be older than you.

How do you create a traversable wormhole time machine? Theoretical physicist Jack Sarfatti, has also been working on that question. A self-described "rogue scholar," Sarfatti has had a long association with fringe science. He and Michael Murphy organized and led the first Physics of Consciousness Seminars at the Esalen Institute back in 1974, sponsored by former human potential movement superstar turned pariah, Werner Erhard. Those Esalen seminars spawned an entirely new genre of pop science literature, known as "The New Physics" -- of which the recent best seller by Deepak Chopra, Quantum Healing, is but one example.

Sarfatti's unorthodox theories on faster-than-light (superluminal) communication continue to raise hackles among the more conservative physics mainstream. When it comes to traversable wormhole time machines, Sarfatti speculates that so-called dark matter, which may comprise over 90% of the mass of the universe, could provide an answer.

This elusive matter has so far remained unobservable directly by conventional methods employing photons of electromagnetic radiation. Yet, its gravitational effects on ordinary matter are observed indirectly. "If dark matter moves around in the imaginary time of quantum gravity, then it would be difficult for it to emit any photons, even if it wasn't electrically neutral. So, we wouldn't expect to see it through optical telescopes," Sarfatti explains.

...A strong case has been made that after over 30 years of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), we just have not observed the kind of infra-red and electromagnetic signals that a number of prominent scientists believe would be characteristic of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization capable of cosmic scale engineering and interstellar expansion. So, at this point in the evolution of the universe, humanity may truly be alone. That fact weakens the case for UFOs being purely extraterrestrial in origin from advanced alien civilizations much older than our own. If UFOs are not extraterrestrial, then what are they? Sarfatti suspects

"They could be terrestrial time ships, originating from our own future. In which case, their motivation might be to interfere in their own past in order to assure their own coming into being in a globally and logically self-consistent way."

...Sarfatti speculates that UFOs could be employing some kind of "paradox engine," or "curvature generator." By continually generating paradoxes, this engine would force nature to avoid paradox by releasing inexhaustible quantities of zero point vacuum energy, physically altering the geometry of spacetime -- a starship fueled by paradox. Obviously, the demonstration of such a device would dramatically prove that the preservation of global, or logical consistency is a fundamental and immutable law of nature. It would also probably fill our planet's energy needs forever. In other words, energy may be mutable, but logic is not. Nature abhors a paradox.

Hmmm, reminds of the Infinite Improbability Engine used in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe...

solution for $60/barrel oil?

let me start by stating I don't believe this proposal is valid (nevermind that it's also infeasible). the only reason I'm repeating it is because it was put forth by a respected economist who presumably knows more about economics (utility, elasticity, supply and demand and all that rot) than you or me. so it's good for an argument either way:

"the solution to high gasoline prices is for everybody to change their buying habits at the gas station. instead of filling up, if everybody always only put in $20 of fuel -- regardless of the price per gallon; the result would be that the reserve of gas now being stored in auto gas tanks would be shifted back. nobody would have to drive any less or have more efficient engines. merely shifting the reserve backwards -- from car to gas station, to delivery tanker truck, to refinery, to oil tanker, to oil well -- would cause a surplus of oil which would force each middleman and eventually the oil producing countries to cut back their price. this price cut would then be permanent and repeated because the end users would continue to only purchase $20 of gasoline every visit to the filling station. that's the theory."

now for my rebuttal: the authors argument leaves out the fact that oil producers can simply cut back on production - they don't have to store any surplus, because they can just leave the oil in the ground. sure they have fixed costs which must be met, but really isn't the majority of oil sales pure profit to the OPEC countries? secondly, if the surplus caused a reduction in price, that $20 will then pay for more gallons of gas, which then will wipe out the surplus. an equilibrium will be reached and continued $20 purchasing behavior will not cause further decreases in price.

ok, does anyone else care to argue one way or another?

just signed up for this...

I have no idea what it's about (ok maybe an inkling), but they want me to put it on my blog for 250 credits. hey, that can't be bad!?

UPDATE 9/15: seems this is causing popups to appear. don't need that. forget the 250 credits.

another update 10/23: still getting popups, I mangled the link in this post.

pics from the art show

went to the Sawdust Festival today. had fun talking to the artists, learned a little about materials, technique and marketing. almost bought a glycee (explained to me as French for "bullshit") for $450 - not bad for a framed oil beauty. the artist took the original, scanned and inkjetted it onto canvas, (which I think is the typical meaning of glycee) then painted over it -- kind of a fancy paint-by-numbers. a lot of the painters are doing glycee now; it's an easy way to make high quality reproductions. of course I really prefer looking at originals. btw, I'm working on a painting now myself; that's the real value of talking w/other artists (do you like how I throw myself into with that group now :-)

space(time), the final frontier...

forget the space shuttle for a moment. I watched "Planet of the Apes" last night w/the boys. as I explained to them, "it is a classic, meaning old but good". thought it was funny how it starts out w/Charlton Heston smoking a cigar and philosophizing in his little spaceship. really, what kind of scrubbing/filtering technology would be required to maintain breathable air on a spacecraft so that smoking would be no problem? hey, maybe thats why the air leak in Stewarts chamber caused her to age prematurely :) ...I then expounded on the possibility of time travel via near light speeds - Einsteins relativity theory in a nutshell. "no, nobody has ever done that yet" I claimed, "and it may not be possible anyway". the problem, as I recall, is the decceleration from near light speed - that is where you would lose all the big jump forward you made. but what do I know? the really laughable part of the movie was the idea that in 2000 years from now anyone (much less apes) would still be speaking and writing 20th century English. I'll stop there; I realize it's science fiction which requires a suspension of belief. it's just that good science fiction doesn't require you to suspend too much...

"Dead Man Walking", by Sister Helen Prejean

good quote from a good book (better than the movie) I'm reading :

"...In sorting out my feelings and beliefs, there is, however, one piece of moral ground of which I am absolutely certain: if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed. I would not want my death avenged. Especially by government -- which can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill.

Albert Camus' "Reflections on the Guillotine" is for me a moral compass on the issue of capital punishment. He wrote this essay in 1957 when the stench of Auschwitz was still in the air, and one of his cardinal points is that no government is ever innocent enough or wise enough or just enough to lay claim to so absolute a power as death.

Society proceeds sovereignly to eliminate the evil ones from her midst as if she were virtue itself. Like an honorable man killing his wayward son and remarking: "Really, I didn't know what to do with him"... To assert, in any case, that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying society is absolutely good, and no one in his right mind will believe this today.

Camus addresses the moral contradiction inherent in a policy which imitates the violence it claims to abhor, a violence, he says, made more grievous by premeditation:

Many laws consider a premeditated crime more serious than a crime of pure violence.... For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death upon him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life."

...something to consider when you are trying to make up your own mind about the death penalty.

Bobby Martin, comedian

Bobby Martin is an imaginary comedian invented by my seven year old son. Bobby Martin has became famous for his incredibly bad jokes. Only Bobby Martin could ever get away with telling these jokes and boy did he. He filled the clubs and as Zach says, "the audience went 'HA HA HA' all the way home". The jokes are so bad, it's funny -- it's like the joke is on you for falling for his routine; but the audience always does; the laughter is so infectious that you can't help but be taken in by it yourself. A little alcohol consumption doesn't hurt neither. Like William Hung before him, Bobby Martin is a modern urban legend in the making. I've already heard someone say "sounds like a Bobby Martin joke" or a "B.M. joke" for short. Only Bobby Martin can tell jokes that stupid and get away with it. Where did Bobby Martin come from and how did he become so popular? Is it just a fluke, an alignment of the stars, his 15 minutes of fame? I conjectured maybe he's related to Steve Martin, or maybe Dean Martin? Or both? Dunno, but someone told me they thought Bobby Martin was black. Could be, why not? I know, you want hear a Bobby Martin joke, right? Maybe I'll share later, OK? Surely you've got some Bobby Martin jokes of your own or rumors about Bobby you'd like to spill? Please add a comment below and help spread the Bobby Martin legend!

vacation pics...

just got back yesterday from a great trip to Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. saw a lot of sights and had fun at a great wedding in Driggs/Grand Targhee. see the slide show (link above) for some highlights; I'll try to get motivated and write more about it latah...

burning question...

ok, so if it becomes illegal to burn the American flag, what about symbolically/virtually burning the flag? what constitues the flag? it's a symbol right? -- it's not an actual object. what you see above is an American flag. so, on the slippery slope of legal interpretation that little picture could conceivably cause YOU the reader to break the law just because it was displayed on your computer -- if, due to some digital alteration, the owner of said image changed it to an "American flag burning". "well", you say, "that's not what they mean, they mean really burning a real flag". ok, what constitues a "real" flag? think along the lines of what constitutes a "assault weapon" (another ill-thought law we know about here in CA).
what freedom are we protecting here? just a thought.

and what if someone put up a web page where you could symbolically burn a flag as a legitimate expression of protest (against this stupid proposal for example)? if you say "yes, that should be illegal", then you probably think merely suggesting the idea smacks of un-Americanism if not outright terrorism ("giving aid and comfort to those who would destroy us").

remember, the first amendment gives you the right of free speech, but it does not give you the right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater (unless of course someone really is burning a flag).

Bush's GOP Allies Are Breaking Ranks

todays LA Times has Robert Scheer writing and quoting the recent discussions in congress:

...an increasing number of Republicans are admitting that the emperor has no clothes — having lied his pants off about our motives for invading Iraq, and ever since about how great things are going there.

"Too often we've been told, and the American people have been told, that we're at a turning point," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on NBC's "Meet the Press," as he disagreed with Cheney's absurd claim last week that the Iraq insurgency is in its "last throes." "What the American people should have been told and should be told [is that] it's long, it's hard, it's tough."

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, was even more blunt: "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse," he told U.S. News and World Report, as the latest suicide bombings claimed the lives of dozens of Iraqis. "The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

Even Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), who brought us "freedom fries," has found enough of his wits to admit publicly that he has lost confidence in the Iraq occupation and would sponsor legislation calling on the administration to more clearly define how, and when, it intends to bring the war to a close.

the emperor may not be a lame duck yet, but do I detect a limp?

BTW, I was going to provide a "proper conservative analysis" link to "liberal" Scheer, but all I could find is years old material... little help here?

ojai/ventura weekend trip

the awesome family celebrated the last day of school with a trip to the country cousins for the weekend. yes, the Ojai Valley, where a unique blend of people coexist (more or less) with nature and each other. where you get your food from the mountain people's co-op, trader joes, or the back yard. we weren't invited to Jacko's casino party in nearby Santa Ynez Saturday night, so instead we went to Eric Ericcsen's (see review) on the pier at Ventura:

...and talked about the "not guilty" individual instead. Ventura has some interesting places and a good farmers market Saturday mornings, but for a large part it's ugly and utilitarian. I did enjoy the sculptures and talking to the artists with their works in progress at Art City:

there are a lot of gems like this hidden away in "San Buenaventura". but I digress, let's get back to the meal. for dinner I had charbroiled (rare) Ahi with an olive oil and green something or other sauce. with pilaf and veggies it was a nice light meal complemented by a glass of pinot blanc (sorry, forgot the brand -- sheesh, what kind of review is this?!) for dessert we decided to get fancy and went to the luxurious Ojai Valley Inn. there we had a really good chocolate delicacy described as:

"Valrhona chocolate fondant with raspberry coulis brandy chocolate sorbet".
anyway, it was a fun weekend with sailing, kayaking, pinball, pool, darts, tennis, oil painting and last but not least -- banjo pickin'!
if anyone cares I'll post more about whatever, just ask :-)

another trackback experiment

note to self: put this under the "learning experience" category. so I was reading Matt's (http://technologynewsetc.blogsome.com/) "trackback traffic for dummies" post (not really what he called it, but that's what I need). he describes trackbacks as something that:

"allows a blogger to see who has viewed the original post and has written another entry concerning it (and usually links to the original post). For example, if I were to link to a post on Engadget, that link would be put in the trackbacks section of the Engadget post. There would probably be Engadget readers curious to see who linked to that post, and would end up clicking the link to my blog through the trackback."

I tried a trackback before and did something wrong. this post is another attempt. and if anyone knows of a real "trackbacks for dummies" web page, please let me know :)

p.s. I see have a little trackback thing below each post and that haloscan is managing it for me. I also see that none of my posts have any trackbacks. so what does it take for someone to do something that causes an entry to appear in there?

p.p.s. maybe I'll write my own "trackbacks for dummies" here when I finally get my head around it.

"The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment"

came across this little gem by happenstance. you can buy the book/read reviews or just read it online. here's an excerpt from chapter 7:

Never pull your attention away from a scene impulsively because it looks ugly, unpleasant, or painful.

Make a conscious decision, the words are enough, to love yourself for seeing it as revolting. If possible, keep your attention on it until it turns beautiful, or at least until you are indifferent to it.

You don't have to go looking for bad scenes to test yourself, or remind yourself of all that is wrong in the world, but once a scene manifests itself in your presence, become as fully aware of it as you can.

Staying with it is important. You may hide in your room or leave the city, but you as an entity will still be stuck on a low vibration level of denial if you pull away suddenly. It will seem like the strangest of coincidences when, having withdrawn your attention sharply from one unpleasant scene, you keep running into others like it. That will baffle you, and keep happening until you come to an unpleasantness you can tolerate or love, and your vibrations go up.

Look at it, love it, and then get away! It's all right to channel your attention to what is pleasant for you. What else is freedom for? And as long as there is free will, there are always going to be some beings creating vibrations you do not like, no matter what level you are on. The point is to take your leave in a way that doesn't hang you up.

After a few experiences with loving weird events, you will be tuned in enough to get early warning when someone is likely to rip you off or otherwise stir up bad vibrations, (when the cup is starting to fall, so to speak,) and you will be able to make the right moves before it gets too involved.

Don't feel that it is "unspiritual" to perceive unwholesome possibilities in other people: it isn't paranoia if the object of your fear is real.

It's just carelessness karma if you ignore early warnings. Keep your mind open and unresisting to any possibility: that's what gives you the information to keep evil from manifesting in your life. Pay attention, here and now. It's all right to say No.

No matter what others are doing, you are the only one who is responsible for what happens to you. There is nothing in the external event that in the least way determines your feelings and experiences: your life is entirely governed by your vibrations, what they tell you and how you respond.

The slower your vibrations, the more unpleasant your life: you will contend with more conflict, mass, and pain. Events will happen too fast for control, yet time will seem interminable because you can see no way out.

But when you raise your vibration level, you can neatly sidestep collisions, both psychic and physical, and quite literally change the world for the better. Love is the strongest magic of all.

When you learn to love hell, you will be in heaven.

my excuse for not posting

no, the dog didn't eat my work. much more creative: I was in the hospital for nine days and at home in bed for two weeks after that. I've finally got enough strength to get back into the groove -- tried a few days of work last week part time but was too tired and sick to really make a go of it. anyway, here's what happened...

what you're lookin' at there is a healed up case of "severe cellulitus". starting at my elbow, most of my arm swelled up to twice normal size. I was running a fever of usually 102, but it peaked at 105. when I eventually went to the ER, they admitted me into the hospital and said "you're not going home tonight". cause was unknown - I didn't get bit or scratched. suspicion was that it was MRSA and for a while, possibly flesh eating bacteria. luckily, whatever it was slowly was defeated by some heavy duty IV antibiotics: vancomycin and about four other expensive brews.

the good news is I seem to be making a complete recovery (just taking a long time). the bad news (for you) is that these nasty germs are out in the community now and there's not much you can do to prevent the same thing from happening to you.
apparently these infections are occurring quite frequently now...

Bush's "plan" to "save" social security...

I say "plan" because he doesn't really have a plan (not publicly available anyway) in the sense that people normally would define "plan". what he has is a list of talking points about the problem and calls for help for a solution:

"...I'll tell you this: If this federal government doesn't act, your bill, your payroll taxed are going to have to go up a lot in order to pay the promises made to me. Or the government is going to have to slash the benefits. Or the government is going to have to make dramatic cuts in other programs. And so I see a problem. I think the math is clear. And so now is the time to get something done.

And so I stood up in front of the United States at my State of the Union address and said to the Congress, here's the problem. And I'm going to put some ideas on the table, ideas that I didn't necessarily think of...good ideas about different ways to permanently fix the problem. And that's what Congress must do; it must permanently fix the problem..."
"And so now is the time to bring people together from both parties to have a permanent fix. And all ideas are on the table. And I'm looking forward to discussing any good idea with a Democrat or a Republican."
-- Bush's "plan" speech 4/15/05

OK George, I'm putting this on the table for you: cut medical benefits, keep drug costs high, increase subsidies to the junk food and tobacco agribusiness. sick Americans won't live long enough to soak up our precious trust fund! instead of pay-as-you-go, we'll call it "pay-till-you-go" :)

the GOP website says it's the Democrats fault. oh, that's constructive :p

what does the liberal media establishment say?

"...Eyeing the failure of President Bill Clinton's health care plan in 1994, which sank in part from its complexity, Bush has avoided laying out a specific plan whose details would be open to attack. But this has caused problems for its supporters, who say Democrats have filled in the blanks. "It's one thing to say, 'No, that's not what the plan does,' " said David John, a private-account supporter at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "It's another to say, 'We don't think that's what the plan does, but we don't know for sure.' "
--SF Chronical 3/4/05

so that's why there's no plan!

can this be true? let's check the whitehouse web page. yep, there's no plan there!
ok, a little more searching and I found the SS website
does show somebody with a real plan -- it's congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. here he separates fact from fiction. hmmm, maybe? good luck dude!

credits to
habitatgirl, Pursuit, and gothamimage.
they have done good writeups on the subject, generated plenty of responses and made me wonder. what is W up to?

test your prejudices...

"Happily Blind with 20/20 Vision
Here's an interesting (and possibly controversial) test hosted at Harvard's website: Implicit Association Test. The theory is that we subconsciously have prejudices and preferences, whether racial, age, gender, or some other category that divides us into groups."

thx to The Slacker Shack for the info.

that reminds me. I wonder if Harvard Pres. Lawrence Summers would be willing to take the test? you heard he hates women right?

Bush's torture advocate threatens kids...

y'know this news spinning is fun!

excerpts from todays LA Times article by Lorenza Muñoz and Jon Healey...

Students Do Not Share Gonzales' View on Piracy

Attorney general says downloading bootlegs is illegal, but many at seminar are unfazed.

In his first trip to California as the nation's attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales told a group of high school students to just say no to online piracy.

But, for many of the students, the response was to just say "why not?"

During a daylong UCLA seminar featuring Gonzales, students peppered speakers with tough questions about the real effect of piracy. Some even suggested that government should focus more on tackling poverty and improving education than on jailing kids who download movies, music and software.

"Isn't the government using morality as a means for studios to make millions of dollars?" asked 18-year-old senior Kate Schwartz of Santa Monica's New Roads High School.
...
Angel Aparicio, 18, a senior at Belmont High School, said his uncle had to take a second job because piracy slowed production at the DVD plant where he works.

"What stops actors and stuntmen from just getting another job like a normal citizen?" he asked.
...
Bobby Brathwaite, a 26-year-old junior, said downloading on campus was pervasive and would continue well into the future.
"It's kind of the new business model and it's here to stay," he said, noting that he has about 200 song files on his computer. "Record companies are using the courts and law enforcement to try and protect their profit margins…. When I buy a CD I feel like I'm paying for corporate lawyers and corporate headquarters and, no offense, but I don't want to do that. And I don't have to."
...
Others questioned whether the punishment for pirating movies — as many as three years in federal prison for a first offender with no commercial motive — fit the crime.
...
Unfazed by the students' skepticism, Gonzales said this was only the beginning of an intensive educational outreach effort. He wanted to let the students know that intellectual property theft was illegal, carried consequences and could permanently stain their records.

"Sitting through a one-hour, two-hour session may not be enough…. It takes awhile to educate people," he told reporters later. "

hmmm, maybe he's really trying to say he wants to send them indefinitely to re-education camps in Gitmo? "no child left behind" indeed!

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