Since other people were describing themselves here is a dump of my home page
which describes me pretty well. You can find it at
http://kevin.atkinson.dhs.org.
Kevin Atkinson's Home Page
Email: kevin at atkinson dhs org
Last Updated: January 20, 2002
Hi, you have reached the homepage of Kevin Atkinson, but first an
important service announcement.
A storm major storm is about to erupt, but most people don't even
release it, and even fewer understand it. What am I talking about? I
am talking about the conflict of interest between what the Internet
really means and the traditional media industries way of doing
things. What does the Internet really mean? It means uncensored
instant access to any sort of information. The key word here is
"uncensored", they, the traditional media corporations such as the
RIAA and MPAA, have no problem with the instant part but will have a
real problem with the uncensored part. I say "will" here because they
don't quite release the power of the Internet yet, but when they do
look out. Keep reading for more information.
Now that I got that out of the way, Welcome to my home page. In case
you haven't realized it by now I am not the worlds best speller. I am
a fairly decent writing but I tend to make a lot of mistakes. I
always use a spell checker, in fact I use one that I wrote myself,
but it doesn't catch everything and often I use the spell checker
rather fast and thus it is quite common for me to use the wrong word.
You have been warned. If you thing I can't write because of this that
is your own problem. All of the collage English teachers found me to
be a rather good writer.
I am currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County. I graduated with a B.S. at the University of
Maryland, Collage Park with a major in Computer Science. My currently
live in the Howard County part of Laurel, MD. I was born on May 4,
1977 in Media, PA and I lived in that state until I moved to Laurel,
MD in the summer before 2nd grade.
Okay, now that I got past the preliminaries time for the good stuff.
In the rest of this page I will share my thoughts on various issues
and tell you more about me. Check back frequently as I am going to
try to update it often. If you share any of my view points or just
find me interesting don't be afraid to contact me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
News, Updates, and Random Ramblings
2001-01-21 07:00
Well after about a week of constant fiddling I think I finally got my
web page in a state so that it reflects my view points on important
issues and some of my current interests. Expect more to come.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Interests
I have a wide variety of interests and tend to get obsessed on some
of the strangest things at time.
On Going Interests
* Star Trek (for reasons greater then the sci-fi part)
* Computer Science
* Linux (previous Windows user, now hate it, for more than one
reason)
* Mathematics
* Physics
Current Obsessions
* Transportation Infrastructure
* Aaron Carter
* Dream Street
Past Interests
* Programming Languages (in Particular C++, Perl, and Haskell)
* Speed Limits and other issues relating to Traffic Laws, see RDU
* The 8-bit Atari
* Brady Bunch
* Lights (don't ask me why, it was a *long* time ago)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My Resume
No home page is complete with out a resume, so here is mine: PDF,
Text, Microsoft Word, RTF, Post Script
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coming Storm
I was going to write a short essay on the issue, but that failed
miserably because there is so much I want to say about it. So,
instead ...
Some View Points
* From the US Constitution: Congress shall have the power "to
promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for
limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to
their respective Writings and Discoveries." Unfortunately we have
all forgotten the true meaning of these famous words. Some things
clearly against this goal:
+ Patents used to control standards
+ The constant extensions to the length that copyrights remain
valid, effectually making copyrights last forever. More info
+ The anti-circumvention part of the DMCA
+ The upcoming SSSCA
* Before this week of January 12, 2002 I strongly believed that a
storm was brewing. Well, now after a serious of Slashdot
articles, one after another in the latter part of this week:
+ AOL in Negotiations to Buy Red Hat?
+ Adobe Considers Withdrawing from Asian Markets
+ Hardware Copy Protection Battles
+ Corporate America Wary of Subscription Software
+ CodeCon: A Conference for P2P Hackers
+ EFF Comments on HDTV Copy Restriction Plans
+ Your Rights Online: KaZaa Suspends Downloads
+ Anti-Copying TV Technology Creeps Forward
+ Peter Wayner Interviews Lawrence Lessig
+ MS Buys (Some) SGI Patents
+ Elcomsoft Files Motion to Dismiss
I now believe it is about to erupt. I officially believe that
2002 is going to be the year of hell for Open Source community
and cyberliberties in general.
* When I first read the slashdot article Lawrence Lessig Answers
Your Questions, I cried, which is really saying something as I do
not cry often. And since them I have been having a wide variety
of fixed emotions. But I think it settled down to being scared.
Part of my fear can best be described by the following article
The Coming Storm by Bruce Bell. The other part of my fear is the
fact that very few people understand what the existence of the
Internet really means, and even fewer people see the upcoming
battle. I know I didn't fully grasp what is going on until I read
the Lawrence Lessig responses. We have a fundamental paradigm
shift on our hands and hardly any one sees it. Hardly anyone sees
that in with the existence of the Internet it is going to
imposable to control the flow of information, period. The only
way to stop this flow of information is to ban people all
together from the Internet. Any sort of censorship and copy
protection is going to be defeated, plain and simple. What is
even scarier is that if Richard Stallman article The Right to
Read was worded slightly differently I have a felling many people
will not see the problem with the picture he is painting.
However, what really is upsetting me lately is that I have
absolutely know idea how to get the typical person to understand
the magnitude of what is going on. I truly fell that the upcoming
issues over the free flow of information are major, very major.
Even bigger than the terrorist attack on the U.S. However, hardly
any one is even aware of it, and I don't know how to make them
aware.
* The RIAAs/MPAAs are the ultimate triumph of the bloodsucking
middleman out to make a buck, nothing more, nothing less.
Unfortunately, we in the past needed them to distribute content
to the masses. But now with the Internet around they have
absolutely no positive purpose what so ever. They deserve to die
a miserable and horrible death.
* Until devises like TiVo become fully user programmable I refuse
to by one because as long as they are closed black boxes they can
be used to limit what we can do with the recorded videos. I also
think that TiVo should only provide the hardware and not require
you to also subscribe to there service, especially since that
type of information is easily available from a number of sources.
Some Links
* Lawrence Lessig Answers Your Questions - The Slashdot article
that woke me up on the issue
* Peter Wayner Interviews Lawrence Lessig - Another article on
Lawrence Lessig on Slashdot. This one is far less preaching than
the previous and the highly rated user comments are actually
insightful.
* The Coming Storm by Bruce Bell - A good article warning the Open
Source community on whats coming up.
* The Purpose of Copyright by Lydia Pallas Loren - A rather long
article remanding us what copyright laws are really suppose to be
about.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Other View Points
I am a very opinionated person, here are of few of opinions. More can
be found thought out the rest of this home page.
* To me, the final dialog between Q and Picard in The final episode
of Star Trek: The Next Generation captures the very essence of
what I am looking for in science fiction:
Q: The trial never ends. We wanted to see if you had the
ability to expand your mind and your horizons. And for one
brief moment, you did.
Picard: When I realized the paradox.
Q: Exactly. For that one fraction of a second you were open
to options you had never considered. That is the exploration
that awaits you not mapping stars and studying nebulae but
charting the unknown possibilities of existence.
Picard: Q, what is it that you're trying to tell me?
Q: You'll find out. In any case, I'll be watching. And if
you're very lucky I'll come by and say hello from time to
time. See you... Out there.
Unfortunately, I have yet to see any good new science function
series that do this. I think Babylon 5 tells a very good story
however it is not really what I was looking for. I think Farscape
has potential, but it is to early to tell. I somehow completely
missed Earth 2 when it first aired however I am watching it now
on the Sci-Fi channel. I think Earth 2 is a very original
serious, unfortunately it was canceled after the first session.
In the future I plan on writing an essay of what really made Star
Trek: The Next Generation special, and another one explaining why
I never really cared for Babylon 5.
(Sep 6, 1999)
* Even though I am do not read a lot of books I am very much a
librarian at heart. And as a librarian I am also deeply concerned
about the longativity of many of the web sites out there today. I
am concerned that valuable information is going to be lost
because no one bothers to actually store the contents anywhere
but on the web site, and that many web sites don't last all that
long. A good number of them do not offer anything unique but some
do. (Jan, 2002)
* View points on A.I Related Issues, including the meaning of true
intelligence and the difference between a simulation and the real
thing.
* I believe that if you made a gigantic mathematical equation
modeling the complicates of society and solve it there will be
only one answer and that answer is how society is evolving right
now. Or in other words, it has to be this way. Their are no short
cuts.
* Gay people deserve to be treated as any other human beings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My Biases
As a Human Being I, like everyone else, have some biases. I try very
hard not to let them effect my judgment, however, every now and then
you will notice them. If you are one of these people don't worry
about it. I will try very hard not to hold it against you.
* Windows only developers, especially those that don't even know
about the "diff" utility that "real" developers have been using
for well over 10 years.
* Goddie two shoes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My Stuff
Some of my Writings
Publications that I wanted to share with the web. Many of them
revile something about me.
Aaron Carter
This page contains some information I have gathered on this Kid
and well as some of some personal options on what I think of him.
Basically, I don't think that he is the worlds best singer but I
quite impressed with his personality.
Aspell
Aspell is an Open Source spell checker designed to eventually
replace Ispell. Its main feature is that it does a much better
job of coming up with possible suggestions than just about any
other spell checker I have seen. (Started August of 1998)
Mysql++
Mysql++ is a complex C++ API for Mysql (And other SQL Databases
Soon). The goal of this API is too make working with Queries as
easy as working with other STL Containers. I taught myself modern
C++ is the process of creating this library. Mysql++ is no longer
maintained by me. Please go to the official Mysql site to find
it. (Started April of 1998)
Fandom Star Trek Chronology
A searchable version of James's Dixon exhaustive Fandom Star Trek
Chronology (Ver 9). James Dixon Star Trek Chronology is a great
work that I fell is under appreciated for various reasons. For
some time I wanted to create a searchable version of timeline so
that it can be better appreciated. With the help of mysql I was
finally able to easily put it on the web. With this searchable
version you can control exactly what sources are included and
exclude sources you thought where questionable, look at a
specific time person, and search the data base for occurrences of
a particular string like say "world war". (February, 1998)
Math::Fraction
A Perl Module I wrote to manipulate Fractions meant to replace
the old bigrat perl library. (February, 1998)
Kevin's Fractals
A couple of fractals that I created and like. Take a look and I
hope you enjoy them too. (January 19, 1998)
Viacom as Borg Info Page
Around 1996 Viacom has attempted to shut down several Internet
sites by asking them to remove anything that Paramount can
legally hold a copyright for from their web site. This web page
was an archive of all available information on the topic so that
one can respond to Viacom's action in an intelligent manner.
(Started December 1996)
Reasonable Drivers Unanimous
The page for more reasonable traffic laws. Includes information
on Speed Limits, Driving While Intoxicated, Emissions, CAFE
Standards, and more. (Started on June 16, 1995 at 2 o'clock in
the morning)
Some of my Favorite Links (rather old)
Some of my favorite links about as it appeared in WIC: Celebrity
Hotlist
The Usenet Info Center
This web site was an attempt to be "Your source for Usenet
Information". Contains pointers to many useful Usenet FAQ's and a
heritage browsable list of the newsgroups and a way to search for
a group of interest. It was one of the first big attempts to
gather all the useful information on a group in one location. (A
project that I started in September of 94 and unfortunately have
not been keeping up with too well since August of 95.)
My Atari 8-bit collection
Includes The disks that want with Antic and Analog, Sio2pc disk
images for SpartaDos, and a few of my own sio2pc utilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My Posts
Here are some of the posts on various forms I have made over the
years. Please don't hold anything I say against me as occasional I
tend to make a fool out of my self. :|
* On Slashdot
* On Usenet As: kevina at sourceforge net, kevinatk at home com,
kevina at clark net
I also posted on RelayNet and Fido in the mid 1990's, mostly on the
Star Trek forms. If anyone happens to have archive with my posts in
them I would love it if you could send it my way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 2002 Kevin Atkinson. Verbatim copying and distribution
of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this
notice is preserved.
--
http://kevin.atkinson.dhs.org
_______________________________________________
Chat mailing list
Chat at freenetproject.org
http://lists.freenetproject.org/mailman/listinfo/chat
