my view of benedict xvi

Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger) is one of the most heavy-handed conservatives in the Church today. He views the modern age as a "dictatorship of relativism". He has attacked clergy of whose politics he disapproved. He has excommunicated theologians who disagree with him. Protestant believers might be interested to know that Ratzinger promotes the Dominus Iesus declaration that "the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation". He claims that cloning is "a more dangerous threat than weapons of mass destruction." He has criticized the entire women's rights movement.

In 2001 Ratzinger was the one responsible for the despicable and ineffective policy of dealing with underage sexual molestation internally instead of cooperating with law enforcement. He tried to hide the problem by instructing the Church's internal investigators to keep silent. He was even involved in a cover-up of some abuses. When the stories did leak out he accused the media of running an anti-Catholic campaign. He claimed that the number of cases was blown out of proportion and that only a fraction of a percent of the Church's priests were involved. The truth eventually emerged that 1 out of every 25 priests was involved and the Church itself had confirmed about 7000 cases of sexual abuse (an additional 3000 cases could not be confirmed because the priests had since died). This prompts the question of whether Ratzinger was more interested in stopping abuse or stopping criticism of the Church. His concern with the Church's image extends to the Church's history. Even in his half-hearted attempt to acknowledge the Church's past sins he tried to shift the focus to the "cruelties of atheism".

Most notable, I think, is that Ratzinger treated dissenters more harshly than child-molesters. Do you think his priorities center around promoting Godliness or preserving the institution which gives him power? I don't understand how Catholics can believe that Ratzinger was chosen by God.

screw you, customers

In a recent interview the CEO of Verizon, Ivan Seidenberg, said the following about customer expectations.

"Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house? The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator; they want it to work in the basement."

So, there you have it. Verizon's answer to the modern consumer's growing communication needs: just lower your expectations. Seidenberg also said Verizon has no responsibility to help clarify coverage issues by providing customers with detailed coverage maps or statistics on indoor signal strength. In summary, customers should watch the "Can you hear me now" ads, believe the unsubstantiated claims, make uninformed decisions and get stuck with huge cancellation fees if coverage is inadequate in their area.

The interview took place in San Francisco where the city is considering implementing a free public wifi service. Municipal wifi is gaining attention in many states since municipal utilities already have the infrastructure to maintain a city-wide service and have been able to provide internet connections at less expense than a private company. This provides a free, flexible internet connection at little cost to tax-payers. In return it would hopefully attract business to the city and provide more local jobs. Seidenberg's comment on municipal wifi was, "that could be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard."

did i ever tell you?

I think it's pretty funny when someone can never remember that they've already told you the story. I know I do it too. But, some people are eternally repeating the same tale. Then there are people who never remember what you told them. It's good because it gives you a chance to tell the story right the second time. Recently I had the pleasure to witness a collision of these two types. They were meant to be together.

"Did I ever tell you about ..."
"No, tell me the story."

Repeat as needed.

today i learned about ...

I had an epiphany this week. The world is a huge complicated place. The stores of knowledge in the world are beyond my comprehension. There is so much I would love to know about physics, history, mathematics, psychology, computational neuroscience, information theory, anthropology, network administration, mythology, astronomy, zoology ... But, I can't know it all. I wouldn't have time to learn it all. The depth and detail available to this age is staggering. And however much I learn, I will only see more fully how little I really know compared to the vastness of human knowledge.

But then I thought, why not try anyway? I can't know everything, but I can certainly explore to the limits of my capacity. Why not pick up books on philosophy, set theory, cryptography, and ancient literature? Why not teach my self about apache, C#, and php? Why not learn a foreign language or how to fence? Some of it I can start now, some it will have to wait and some will never happen. But, I'll try. I'll read Nietzsche, Feynman, Edward Gibbon, Sun Tsu, and Henry Longfellow. I'll visit the library, search the web, quiz knowledgeable friends.

Eventually. For now, I want to make it my goal to learn something new each day. It could be something small, a factoid or trivia. Or it could be a summary of a new topic or an in depth look at something familiar. Perhaps I should keep a diary of each day to remind myself. To that end:

• Monday - I learned that late Babylonian and Persian kings would leave clay cylinders with cuneiform writing in the temples to their gods. The cylinders were left after repairs or new construction on the temple and recorded the works and deeds of the king.
  
• Tuesday - I learned how symmetric and public key encryption works. I now understand how we can encrypt communication over https or PGP even though neither side initially knows the other's encryption key.
  
• Wednesday - I learned about the difference between the major branches of Islam. Most importantly, I read about the historical events leading to the schism between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims.
  
• Thursday - I learned that the Roman senator, Cato the Elder, ended all his speeches with "Carthago delenda est.", which means "Cathage must be destroyed."
  
• Friday - Today I spent a while learning to juggle. I made only a little progress, so this will span many days of learning.

As a wiser man than myself once said:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Mahatma Gandhi

pgp

Does anyone use PGP or other email encryption methods? I'm somewhat interested in trying it out. But, I have no one with whom to test it. I'm going to try GnuPG since it's free of restrictions. But, I know very little about this whole encryption thing so if anyone can provide a reason to go with a different version do tell me. My PGP key is:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org

mQGiBEJTpUMRBADe6Bv00LUIVVhcJKijgI/tNJtKQkIUW5QihmVUU0cqi1TOrzJO
JBoyboCvSOhYwnOHT26ttT+S28AlPMLTBy9FFRXMC1FvdqIyeCaVRsWvJzGQ22Qb
4jpJKQTkOLPL/9EMswllvdzcE6i4msX6FlR+vlR8ctGUTw1QWZrm9GkKUwCgjV0S
fpW8w0o8MEww+xUlrHYiIEkD/jm87fnadtGjTg2akfN36waIGjzaQdMGOq2wRvEy
nKchkxfTGDOlsLdW+Dkq8ztJ5c9Gw6bD7fSvQAFzHiKPx6Z0QRbGCjBGUARI66VR
KkdY66D8bFVkT6bGKIt4lgtpAr9aeMJxmB/+qe1fSEakbRL2o7yKQO3F8PG67R4H
Gi8dBACyCrmgF6JobwvJWPKbY/1w3r8R5pfH64cA9E81i8EPZbePlE2O5ybIt0fZ
amO8+AVrWCxxVBZYI6ZrlixKONj3Vr667bUPfKATzkMuKQKRC/uujIhy/H9a5ng2
W7uibbWhKmV9V5ihIZEFiCgfczEfbcqTuXtjTBgU5Xw8fNHjErQgUnlhbiBDb3gg
PG1jb3hAdWdjcy5jYWx0ZWNoLmVkdT6IVwQTEQIAFwUCQlOlQwULBwoDBAMVAwID
FgIBAheAAAoJEDSAmzk/kvyHf/UAn00fe9wj/wYrxGwHT4gL6wXt9Gu5AJ9mQLnZ
GhewxN6IHxXaAbN4fLFoMLkBDQRCU6VIEAQA1RUU0X8/i9chPfeLQ5IXpt/rfdQ0
MojVNChuhXKTvk5bUW29nAZfsGk3K6YwWCC6i/DTtaiG05G0cQ7L8lsegmzSP10b
TlRMobUrMTnrFO8BvSMr4pT9Ty6QXr1JB6SevRb2/ZN/iT/O0DvKCdPawiHS3e6c
hbyW88RKPmTJNbcAAwUD/29p0Tc6DngKY1epek0xPvGjt7oNzw1TqrrW/y7GKtp/
LRK4UO2dupZw76DIXDKXQB7rZn5m+AwWEe53kr2K0BfItMxS+IVXjAcakwKEr80V
uKxh0vJ8xiNsUU1A7WFZQpfXHBUmSBRR3oh3SLEThpzdgDuM3yARmfjsdFo/BEfn
iEYEGBECAAYFAkJTpUgACgkQNICbOT+S/IeaxQCfazdGDyul+TB/wbuOqGO/lJ2E
FQoAnimoBzsWR7Go0U81a24AmB3gQp1S
=VnBF
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

I'm only going to try to use this with my caltech.edu account since the only way to use PGP with gmail would be through POP.