Month: February 2006
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Letter to the Editor: Electronic Voting Misinformation
This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive: On January 25th, your paper reported that Diebold had withdrawn their electronic voting systems from North Carolina districts rather than comply with new North Carolina certification standards. That same day, the other…
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Orson Scott Card’s Rhetorical Looney Toons
Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” is the brilliant tale of a child prodigy coming of age in a world at war with extraterrestrials. It tackles deep ethical conundrums and delves into many fantastic science fiction concepts. The book, I believe, will last for decades as one of the masterpieces of science fiction literature. That’s why…
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A Mathematical Proof that Nice Guys Finish First
“Subvert the Dominant Paradigm.” – Bumpersticker Pessimists are forever pushing the “Nice Guys Finish Last” meme on us. People who exhibit selfish behaviors such as cheating and taking advantage of others use this affirmation as a sort of justification for their actions. If they played by the rules, they argue, they would be less successful.…