helloworld.bensonchu.com

How Privacy Vanishes Online

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:34:58 +0000

If a stranger came up to you on the street, would you give him your name, Social Security number and e-mail address?

Probably not.

Yet people often dole out all kinds of personal information on the Internet that allows such identifying data to be deduced. Services like Facebook,Twitter and Flickr are oceans of personal minutiae — birthday greetings sent and received, school and work gossip, photos of family vacations, and movies watched.

Read more at The New York Times

FCC Loses Key Ruling on Internet Neutrality

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:30:22 +0000

A federal court threw the future of Internet regulations into doubt Tuesday with a far-reaching decision that went against the Federal Communications Commission and could even hamper the government’s plans to expand broadband access in the United States.

Read more at The New York Times

Teaching About Web Includes Troubling Parts

Benson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:20:33 +0000

When Kevin Jenkins wanted to teach his fourth-grade students at Spangler Elementary here how to use the Internet, he created a site where they could post photographs, drawings and surveys.

And they did. But to his dismay, some of his students posted surveys like “Who’s the most popular classmate?” and “Who’s the best-liked?”

Mr. Jenkins’s students “liked being able to express themselves in a place where they’re basically by themselves at a computer,” he said. “They’re not thinking that everyone’s going to see it.”

High-tech cheating

Benson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:04:24 +0000

“While most students and professors seem to view cheating on examinations as a serious moral lapse, both groups appear more cavalier about dishonesty on homework. And technology has given students more tools than ever to find answers in unauthorized ways—whether downloading online solution manuals or instant-messaging friends for answers. The latest surveys by the Center for Academic Integrity found that 22 percent of students say they have cheated on a test or exam, but about twice as many—43 percent—have engaged in “unauthorized collaboration” on homework.”

Broken Flash Flowers

Benson — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:24:54 +0000

A few weeks ago, I installed the developer’s (debugger) version of Adobe’s Flash Player so that I could try out Flex. Since then, I’ve run into websites containing Flash errors. To a user that does not have the debug version of Adobe Flash Player, you won’t see the errors because many of the errors are from bits and pieces of what seems to be recycled code that is never used. Thus, not essential to what it does do. To this user, the Flash object will continue to play. It appears that these errors are more prominent in banner ads. (Actually, I haven’t found any Flash-only sites with problems.) This makes me wonder whether or not the banner ad companies care about the code. Perhaps they’ve weighed the errors against the average user running the non-debug version of Flash Player and have determined the errors to be inconsequential.

Even so, here’s a list of websites where I’ve encountered Broken Flash Flowers. Sometimes they’re on the front page, sometimes they’re not. I’ll continually add sites as I find them.

Last updated on 04/03/2010

http://www.gonintendo.com
- Error #2044: Unhandled IOErrorEvent:. text=Error #2035: URL Not Found.
- Error #2044: Unhandled ioError:. text=Error #2032: Stream Error. URL: http://speed.pointroll.com/PointRoll/Media/Panels/Ford/669876/Knockout_300x250_banner.xml at offerTemplate_Knockout_fla::MainTimeline/frame1()
- TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
  at mx.managers::FocusManager/activate()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\FocusManager.at mx.managers::SystemManager/activateForm()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:2493]at mx.managers::SystemManager/activate()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:2451]at mx.core::Application/initManagers()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Application.as:1152]at mx.core::Application/initialize()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Application.as:834]at AgeGate/initialize()[/Users/einnocen/1uptech/workspaces/HEAD-flash-builder/AgeGate/src/AgeGate.mxml:0]at mx.managers::SystemManager/http://www.adobe.com/2006/flex/mx/internal::childAdded()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:2127]at mx.managers::SystemManager/initializeTopLevelWindow()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:3396]at mx.managers::SystemManager/http://www.adobe.com/2006/flex/mx/internal::docFrameHandler()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:3219]at mx.managers::SystemManager/docFrameListener()[C:\autobuild\galaga\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\managers\SystemManager.as:3065]
http://www.nytimes.com
- VerifyError: Error #1033: Cpool entry 18 is wrong type.
- ReferenceError: Error #1065: Variable mcBannerAd_2 is not defined.
- ReferenceError: Error #1065: Variable MainTimeline is not defined.
http://www.wired.com
- Error: videoComponent.traceMessages.durationMetaDataMissing at com.doubleclick.studio.video::ProgressivePlayer/metaDataTimeoutCheck() at flash.utils::Timer/_timerDispatch() at flash.utils::Timer/tick()
http://www.livemocha.com
- Error #2044: Unhandled IOErrorEvent:. text=Error #2036: Load Never Completed.
http://www.funnyordie.com
- Error: Error #2101: The String passed to URLVariables.decode() must be a URL-encoded query string containing name/value pairs.
  at Error$/throwError()
  at flash.net::URLVariables/decode()
  at flash.net::URLVariables()
  at flash.net::URLLoader/onComplete()
http://www.youtube.com
- Error #2044: Unhandled IOErrorEvent:. text=Error #2036: Load Never Completed.
http://www.capcom.com/monster/
- SecurityError: Error #2122: Security sandbox violation: SoundMixer.computeSpectrum: http://www.capcom.com/monster/index.swf cannot access http://static.capcom.com/_site/www.capcom.com/monsterhunter/_flv/welcome.flv. A policy file is required, but the checkPolicyFile flag was not set when this media was loaded.
  at flash.media::SoundMixer$/computeSpectrum()
  at br.components.sound::Equalizer/update()
  at flash.utils::Timer/_timerDispatch()
  at flash.utils::Timer/tick()
- SecurityError: Error #2122: Security sandbox violation: SoundMixer.computeSpectrum: http://www.capcom.com/monster/index.swf cannot access http://static.capcom.com/_site/www.capcom.com/monsterhunter/_flv/welcome.flv. A policy file is required, but the checkPolicyFile flag was not set when this media was loaded.
  at flash.media::SoundMixer$/computeSpectrum()
  at br.components.sound::Equalizer/update()
  at flash.utils::Timer/_timerDispatch()
  at flash.utils::Timer/tick()
http://www.tvshack.net
- Error #2044: Unhandled IOErrorEvent:. text=Error #2036: Load Never Completed.
http://www.ign.com
- TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference at com::loadFilePolite/completeHandler()

The Chronicle: Putting lectures online

Benson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:02:13 +0000

“Professors across the country are now wrestling with this issue. More and more colleges have installed microphones or cameras in lecture halls and bought easy-to-use software to get lecture recordings online. The latest Campus Computing Survey, which gathers data on classroom technology nationwide, found that 28 percent of colleges have a strategic plan to provide coursecasting equipment, and 35 percent more are working on a plan now.

Those plans raise a lot of issues. Some professors are camera shy—at least when it comes to their teaching. Others say they discuss ideas with their students that are not yet ready for prime time. And some administrators are nervous about giving away too much of their educational content as the cost of college continues to rise.”

NYTimes: Educated and Fearing the Future in China

Benson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:41:11 +0000

“As China’s economy recovers, employers are competing to hire low-skilled workers, but many of China’s best and brightest, its college graduates, are facing a long stretch of unemployment.”

Read more at The New York Times

When applying to VIA, I listed this as a future concern that Vietnam would one day face. China’s economic growth in low-skill labor markets and education were impressive, but where were the high-skill jobs that students were training for? I argued that the education of students was far outpacing the actual growth of white-collar jobs by merely comparing graduation numbers to the number of jobs available. Vietnam, I believed, would be heading in the same direction.

NYTimes: Depression’s Upside

Benson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:03:28 +0000

“The persistence of this affliction — and the fact that it seemed to be heritable — posed a serious challenge to Darwin’s new evolutionary theory. If depression was a disorder, then evolution had made a tragic mistake, allowing an illness that impedes reproduction — it leads people to stop having sex and consider suicide — to spread throughout the population. For some unknown reason, the modern human mind is tilted toward sadness and, as we’ve now come to think, needs drugs to rescue itself.

The alternative, of course, is that depression has a secret purpose and our medical interventions are making a bad situation even worse. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection — increased body temperature sends white blood cells into overdrive — depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer — we suffer terribly — but we don’t suffer in vain.”

Read more at The New York Times