Karger - Slashdot User

Submission + - Tracking you using your public transit farecard (boston.com)

Submitted by Karger on Friday December 24, 2010 @10:20AM

Karger writes: Back when they started introducing electronic fare cards for public transportation, some privacy advocates expressed concern about big brother tracking you through them (Richard Stallman encourages people to swap them around to defeat tracking). Most of us probably thought they were being paranoid. Here's a case where that's just what happened. Arguably in a good cause this time, but obviously the same technique can be used for evil.

Comment Can always make your own in-flight wi-fi (Score 1) 633

by Karger on Monday November 08, 2010 @04:32PM (#34165610) Attached to: TSA Bans Toner and Ink Cartridges On Planes

So what if they don't offer in-flight wi-fi service. My laptop and bomb can always form an ad-hoc network. Guess they'll just have to ban laptops (or bombs).

Comment He's half right: we're teaching the wrong math. (Score 1) 1153

by Karger on Sunday October 31, 2010 @11:28PM (#34085368) Attached to: How Much Math Do We Really Need?

Ramanathan is right and wrong. Wrong that we don't need to teach math; right that we're teaching the wrong kind. Calculus, and even trigonometry, are powerful mathematical frameworks that few people will ever use. On the other hand, logical, statistical, and economical reasoning are essential to daily life. Euclidean geometry is a beautiful way to teach logical reasoning, but most schools get caught up in the geometry and fail to recognize the value of teaching people to reason logically _in general_. A course on "statistical fallacies in the newspapers" would be way more valuable than a course on differentiation and integration (and the source material is limitless). Nowadays, given the prevalence on computation in everyone's life, a course on basic programming would also be of greater general value than the math we teach now.

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