Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Criminal Behavior Check up on your friends records[Posted by Kim] Amy has mentioned for some time how interesting this Wisconsin site is to play with but I just stumbled upon it again and I agree. You can look up any record that anyone may have in Wisconsin down to their traffic tickets. It's all public record anyway, Wisconsin has just made it very easy to obtain. I searched for something similar in Illinois and was only able to find a site giving you information on who to write to for the data. Iowa has a similar site, but it's not as user friendly or intuitive as the Wisconsin site. Although, it does make for a fun filled half hour of looking up people you know (even more so if you grew up and went to high school in the state!) it raises a good debate on how accessable we should make this type of information. I know we've all done stupid things in our day that we wish would go away and eventually they do when we all start to forget, but if anyone and everyone is able to see this information as easily as throwing your name into google is it really worth it? The other side could say that in this day and age it's a safty check on who you're dating or who lives next door or who you're hiring, etc. What do you guys think? By the way, all my Wisconsin friends are goodie two shoes! =) Wisconsin Site Iowa Site 11:30:52 PM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Cheers! Oh, how I miss the warmth and beer of August [posted by Troy] I remember the good old days when it wasn't a -700 degree wind chill. Oh, how I miss it! 8:36:15 PM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Cell Phone Survey From the Sun-Times [posted by Troy] The Sun-Times reports on a satisfaction survey of cell phone users. U.S. cellular ranked at the top in Chicago...probably because the White Sox won the World Series. We have been consistently dissappointed with our Cingular service. 8:29:09 PM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Judge Nixes Sambucks Coffee! Did you see this one? [posted by Troy] Ms. Sam Buck is not going to be able to use her coffee shop name of Sambuck according to an Oregon Court. Starbucks put a stop to that. Speaking of Starbucks, I could sure use some coffee right about now. 8:24:56 PM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Mystery Solved Smurf Eye Doctor [Blue Detective] Recently, ChiBurns stumbled upon an unsolved mystery. Mystery of the Smurf Eye Docter In each episode, Brainy Smurf's glasses get destroyed. But, by the next episode, they are fixed! How could this possibly happen? We never get to see the smurf eye doctoer. Answer:Handy Smurf fixes the glasses. Handy smurf can fix and create anything. It only took a little bit of research to figure that one out. 6:48:11 PM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Bears Beat Packers Followup to Brewer's Comment [posted by Troy] I forgot to say anything about the Bears game. It is fun to see the Pack in its current state while the Bears keep finding ways to win. I didn't see much of the game on Sunday, but it has given the city of Chicago a sunnny outlook for the week. It's time for Favre to leave. 6:50:21 AM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Slates Bushism Our President[posted by ZelderBar] "Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." —Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 28, 2005 "We got the best workforce in America—in the world." —Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2005 "As a matter of fact, I know relations between our governments is good."—On U.S.-South Korean relations, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2005 "Let me be very clear about this. Steroids ought to be banned from baseball."—Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2005 "Bin Laden says his own role is to tell Muslims, quote, 'what is good for them and what is not.' "—Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2005 "I think it's important to bring somebody from outside the system, the judicial system, somebody that hasn't been on the bench and, therefore, there's not a lot of opinions for people to look at." —On the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, Washington, D.C., October 4, 2005 6:45:07 AM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It! Game Theory and Libraries Research Update [posted by Troy] The other day I read an article by Don Fallis (in Library Trends) that mentions the application of game theory to teaching students to research. Information creation and consumption can be seen as a game of "asymmetric information" where information creators are informed players who attempt to manipulate the system to get their information purchased (whether it is for sale or freely available) and information users or researchers are uninformed players of differing degrees who attempt to make value judgments as to the quality of information based on cues within the information (recognizable publishers, use of statistical data, citing sources, author credentials, etc). The "better" players are able to better game (manipulate) the system in order to get their information used or to find the best information to help their research. When we teach students to conduct research and to evaluate information, we are teaching students strategies for manipulating the system. Here's a short paragraph: From "game theory." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 6 Dec. 2005 . "branch of applied mathematics fashioned to analyze certain situations in which there is an interplay between parties that may have similar, opposed, or mixed interests. In a typical game, decision-making “players,” who each have their own goals, try to outsmart one another by anticipating each other's decisions; the game is finally resolved as a consequence of the players' decisions. A solution to a game prescribes the decisions the players should make and describes the game's appropriate outcome." 12:05:56 AM  permanent link  Reader Comments []  Google It!

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