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<dateCreated>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:22:59 GMT</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:32:44 GMT</dateModified>
<ownerName>Tom Morris</ownerName>
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<body><outline text="Public Reason has &lt;a href= &quot;http://publicreason.net/2008/09/15/political-philosophy-podcast-synmposium-schedule/&quot;&gt; a political philosophy podcast symposium series&lt;/a&gt;. Subscribed!" created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:32:44 GMT"/><outline text="There's been a variety of lulz over at PZ's place: professional idiot Dinish D'Souza &lt;a href= &quot;http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/09/oh_no_now_dinesh_dsouza_is_aft.php&quot;&gt; wrote up Crackergate&lt;/a&gt; and then D'Souza's fellow idiot Andrew Schlafly &lt;a href= &quot;http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/09/andy_schlafly_writes_another_l.php&quot;&gt; humiliated himself in public&lt;/a&gt;. No change there then." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:26:01 GMT"/><outline text="Simon Willison has a &lt;a href= &quot;http://simonwillison.net/2008/Sep/15/conferences/&quot;&gt;write-up of the Python and Django conference scene&lt;/a&gt;." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:14:38 GMT"/><outline text="This is useful for OS X users: &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/15/terminal-tips-make-extended-print-dialog-show-by-default/&quot;&gt; make extended print dialog show by default&lt;/a&gt;." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:13:42 GMT"/><outline text="YouTube has &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D415FAF806EC47A1&quot;&gt;DjangoCon 2008 videos&lt;/a&gt;." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:05:04 GMT"/><outline text="&lt;a href= &quot;http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/09/16/theWholeWorldIsWatching.html&quot;&gt; Dave Winer&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;q&gt;The whole world is watching and can see our dirty laundry and see how fucked up and stupid we are. And they don't get votes, but they have a lot more power than I think they know and pretty soon they're going to figure it out.&lt;/q&gt;" created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:01:34 GMT"/><outline text="Looks like &lt;a href= &quot;http://stupidevilbastard.com/index/seb/comments/now_cnn_is_calling_the_mccain_campaign_on_all_the_lying/&quot;&gt; CNN are calling out McCain on his lies&lt;/a&gt;. Of course, a lie presupposes a reality about which truths can be known, and &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/30/1441/59811&quot;&gt;&quot;reality has a well-known liberal bias&quot;&lt;/a&gt;." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:41:45 GMT"/><outline text="Last night, I watched &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.insecuritymovie.com/&quot;&gt;Insecurity&lt;/a&gt;, a movie about hackers. Watch it, then plan to come along to &lt;a href= &quot;http://har2009.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;acronym title= &quot;Hackers At Random&quot;&gt;HAR&lt;/acronym&gt;2009&lt;/a&gt;. If you happen to be one of those people who &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/09/uk_ministry_of.html&quot;&gt; like losing USB memory sticks containing sensitive military information&lt;/a&gt;, you are advised to stay away." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:29:14 GMT"/><outline text="Code without tests, makes &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.jimmahdigital.com/2008/09/17/redgreenrun-like-fk/&quot;&gt;you die inside&lt;/a&gt;." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:24:42 GMT"/><outline text="I do not link my main online identity and my EVE Online identity that often. But as a Gallente pilot, I have to say &lt;a href= &quot;http://flickr.com/photos/24170416@N04/sets/72157607328905248/&quot;&gt;these pics of the Megathron model look awesome&lt;/a&gt;. It's a shame they don't make a kit, though, which would be even more cool." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:24:12 GMT"/>
<outline text="Advertising Standards Authority endorses redefinition of unlimited" created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"><outline text="For some time, ISPs and telephony companies have been changing the definition of &quot;unlimited&quot;, claiming to offer connections without any limits to their customers. Their customers then enthusiastically use the unlimited connections they pay for, only to have the ISPs balk at the fact that consumers upheld their end of the bargain. If ISPs cannot afford to provide unlimited services, they probably shouldn't be advertising them as unlimited." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="Vodafone was one of these companies: they advertised 'unlimited' Internet access, when what they meant was 500Mb. I don't know about you, but I can download that in about an hour on my not-particularly-fast home broadband. They also advertised unlimited text messaging, which really means &quot;no more than 3,000 text messages a month&quot;. Usual corporate doublespeak. You can have as much as you want, so long as it isn't more than we want. Bullshit." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="This week the Advertising Standards Authority, who should be standing up against this kind of moronic horseshit &lt;a href= &quot;http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_45008.htm&quot;&gt;backed them up&lt;/a&gt;. Vodafone put forward two arguments, which I'm going to look at below." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="The first argument was a relativist one. It goes something like this: &lt;q&gt;They said, in June 2008, only a very small percentage of their web browsing pack customers exceeded 500 MB. They said, by contrast, the vast majority of their web browsing pack customers used less than a tenth of the allowance and significantly less than that per month visiting Facebook... because a high percentage used only a very small proportion of the amount allowed, the claim &quot;unlimited mobile internet&quot; was justified&lt;/q&gt;. What this points to is an implicit argument that one is not being limited, because everyone else gets by with the limit. Most people will probably not use the service they pay for, it is true: they may purchase it as a backup service, or for emergencies, or for travel - or they may just go into the shop and be convinced &quot;You really need this &amp;amp;pound;5 a month service!&quot; Does this mean the person who bought it with the earnest belief that they can use it as much as they like ought to be prevented from doing so? I think that's nuts." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="Let us imagine a hypothetical user: he gets 500Mb a month 'fair use' from Vodafone. This is the absolute maximum they might expect him to use. Let us say he uses it for twenty of thirty days, and on those days he uses it for ten hours a day. This means that each hour he uses it, he is limited to two megabytes for that hour. This is not 'unlimited' in any meaningful use of the word." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="The second argument was one based on intended use: &lt;q&gt;They said Vodafone handsets were set up to access Vodafone live! and the mobile internet through the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) apn; they said some internet content was very data intensive but that could only be accessed if customers chose to change their handset settings&lt;/q&gt;. Do they say in their advertising that you are only allowed to use it in this one way and not any other? If they don't, this seems like a completely bogus argument." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/><outline text="The Advertising Standards Authority have changed the definition of unlimited beyond all reasonableness, and have given permission for ISPs and mobile telephony companies across the country to meet them in this Humpty Dumpty land of newspeak." created="Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT"/></outline></body>
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