Ron's Home Page

For me, anyway. Facebook never really worked for me anyway; but on top of that, there are lots of serious privacy concerns — see, for example: Facebook gives your info to advertisers, gets caught in the act, promises to stop; EFF’s Bill of Privacy Rights for Social Network Users; MoveOn’s “Did you see what Facebook is trying to do?“; Openbook; Facebook and “radical transparency” (a rant); and Quit Facebook Day.

Which brings us to today. I decided to quit, and figured I might as well do it on Quit Facebook Day. 

I support the move to create an open-source, de-centralized, not-for-whoring-to-corporations alternative to Facebook; maybe Diaspora will be that; we’ll see.

My son Oz (in 4th grade) brought home some homework covering the study of matter in his 4th grade science lesson. Here’s a couple of lines from the narrative page “explaining” atoms and matter:

And on the next page, they quizzed him, to make sure he’d accepted the anti-materialist dogma.

When I asked Oz what was wrong with that, he thought for a minute, and then said “They’re in your brain!”

I’ve raised him well.

And while I’m at it: He also noted that he questioned the teacher on the part of the sheet that said all matter was made of atoms, noting that the sun, a miasma of plasma, was really ions and free electrons, and maybe didn’t count as atoms as such.

Thank you, They Might Be Giants.

If you think ‘Publicans are pretty normal, you might want to check out a really scary poll of self-identified Republicans here, commissioned by Daily Kos. Here are some of the highlights:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 1/20-31. Self-identified Republicans. MoE 2%

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?
Yes 39%, No 32%, Not Sure 29%

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63%, No 21%, Not Sure 16 %

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?
Yes 42%, No 36%, Not Sure 22 %

Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
Yes 24%, No 43%, Not Sure 33 %

Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?
Yes 31%, No 36%, Not Sure 33 %

Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?
Yes 23%, No 58%, Not Sure 19 %

Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?
Yes 7%, No 77%, Not Sure 16%

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?
Yes 8%, No 73%, Not Sure 19%

Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?
Yes 77%, No 15%, Not Sure 8 %

Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
Yes 31%, No 56%, Not Sure 13%

Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?
Yes 34%, No 48%, Not Sure 18%

Do you consider abortion to be murder?
Yes 76%, No 8%, Not Sure 16%

Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?
Christ 67%, Other 15%, Not Sure 18%