samuraipanda.com

Can you copyright a number? According to a recent action, the number

09F91102********D84156C5635688C0 (* is used to mask the full key)

is not allowed to be published. The logic is that because this combination can be used to engage in illicit activities, it can’t be published. Does this make sense?

In a way, it does. Let’s suppose I have a list of peoples social security numbers. Should I be allowed to publish them? I would be publishing private information that could have potentially detrimental effects to a person. They are “just numbers”, but those numbers have serious consequences if published.

That said, suppose I create a random number generator and publish it to the web that creates a new hex number ever time it’s loaded. Eventually, I will probably hit the above combination, publishing the number. The difference is that there is no context with the number. It can’t be linked to anything.

So it comes down to context. If I publish a number with a context (say a SSN with a persons name and address), it’s a violation of law. If I publish the same number without context, it’s not. The same goes for the above.

So I found the secure empty capability on OS X. Not too exciting other then to give it a try. I dropped a video file (~100MB) into the trash with a bunch of other files and did a secure empty. The little emptying trash window popped up and OS X started chugging away. Meanwhile I decided to copy some files to my flash drive and then head to work, figuring it would take a while. Dropping the files on the flash drive icon, I waited for them to copy and then selected eject.

Nothing happened.

I tried again. And still nothing happened. The flash icon stayed on the desktop. I could open it, but not eject it. So I dragged it down to the trash can, which changed to the eject icon and let it go. Still nothing. I couldn’t get the drive to eject.

Apparently, you can’t eject flash drives (but you can CDs) while the trash is being emptied. That’s just bad design. It’s as bad as not being able to delete anything while the trash is being emptied.

Sometimes Macs don’t just work.

Wow, Satan is clever. He went about creating a vibrant, successful economy in the U.S. that would become the envy of the world and draw millions of illegal immigrants here in order to destroy the vibrant and successful economy of the U.S. and therefore clear the way to establishing a new world order. Brilliant plan.

There is a world coming. A world in which men are no longer necessary. Science is progressing to the point that the biological need for a man, the sperm cell, is no longer an essential component to conception. The first steps are being taken by scientists creating sperm cells from bone marrow tissue.

Of course, men are the secondary force of any species. The male biological imperative is to fertilize an egg and that’s it. From a purely natural view of the world, this imperative can be filled by anything that succeeds in creating a viable fetus.

So when science can step in and create a sperm cell from bone marrow, the male need vanishes, a leftover from a bygone day when science wasn’t there to help humanity procreate.

Of course the process will be rife with ethical and legal issues. Imagine a lesbian couple going in front of a judge for the first time in a custody battle. Both are the biological “mother“, but only one gave birth to the child. Ethically, what happens to an entire generation of men in which they become the minority in a society in which two women produce only female off-spring (women having only X chromosomes). Will they be viewed as unnecessary?

Science is progressing at an ever increasing rate, pushing the limits of traditional ethical boundaries and family definitions. At some point, Heather will really have two (biological) mommies. Inevitability