Are there many state institutions that don't require a loyalty oath?

I work at the University of New Orleans and we require all new hires -- part time, grad assistants, full time, etc. -- to sign the Louisiana loyalty oath, agreeing to abide by the state constitution.

We had a graduate assistant once refuse to sign the oath because she didn't know what it said. (She changed her mind once she realized her hiring, and subsequently her paycheck, would be held up until she signed the oath.)

Granted, I never read the state constitution and I don't agree with the idea of signing something for the sake of getting paid, but it just seemed a silly thing to protest, especially if you want the job.

In this case in California, she was actually changing the wording of the agreement. In a public agency/institution, it's not so easy as scratching off or writing in words you like or dislike. You can't pick and choose the policies that you agree to -- if we could, then we would hand-write in our own wording/conditions on everything we agree to: mortgages, loans, contracts, etc. How is this any different than taking an offer letter for a job for $40,000 and scratching it out to write $50,000, then expecting them to pay the higher salary?

As much as I give this woman props for standing up for her religious beliefs, I think the school completely caved in rehiring her. They just set a very unnecessary precedent for their new hires.

Give her a raise? No. She should be lucky she has a job at all.

In my undergrad studies I composed a piece based on the first couple hundred digits of pi -- each digit corresponded to a number in a pitch class (set of 10 notes, since there are 10 digits but 12 notes I had to drop a couple) and rhythms based on the differences between digits (3-1=2=eighth note, 1-4=-3=sixteenth, etc.)

Came out unplayable (except by a computer) and not so pleasing to the ears.

I use the Snap Circuits kit for my Intro to Music Technology class in order to help explain oscillators and analog circuits.

That picture, though, looks like something from the 70s. Haha.

Just an addendum to my reply:

Suggested reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents

Again, not justifying his electrocutions. Just trying to educate. (I love that he called the electrocutions being "Westinghoused".)

I think you paint a rather unfair picture of Edison in terms of electrocuting animals. He did not stand over them, giggling as they fried. He was, however, a desperate man who saw that the form of current he was trying to push -- direct current -- really didn't have the commercial appeal or usefulness that alternating current had.

The electrocutions were a means of trying to convince people of the dangers of alternating current, not to gain some twisted pleasure. While I don't agree with what he did (it was an employee of Edison's, hired to research electrocution, that eventually led to the development of the electric chair), I don't think it's fair to say "electrocute animals for a kick".

Then again, I could be wrong -- in that case, [citation needed].

:)

'Bout time classical music was given props on a BB front page.

More than most "popular" music, classical music has always been more prone to DRM-free status than anything else. Back in the day it was common for a composer to borrow themes and ideas from other composers, typically viewed in a respectful manner. Today, any form of borrowing (often read to mean "stealing") is seen in such a negative light and often brings down the wrath of the copyright Nazi's. (The sole fact that something as simple as "Happy Birthday" can demand royalties is just totally absurd.)

I'm surprised DG beat Naxos to to the punch -- if anyone, I expected Naxos to be doing this before others.

In that light, I've often wanted to label my compositions under CC -- is there some type of CC license that I should consider over any others?

My strategy was to obtain as much of a corner as possible and immediately build as much as possible.

When anyone came within a few spaces, I would make them an "offer" before they rolled. If they would pay me x amount of dollars, I would give them a "discount" (50-100%) if their roll would put them on one of my properties. At first, they would decline, but once they figured out that landing on a property was much more expensive than the offer I made them, they would give in.

After gaining a fair amount of the sides around the corner, I found myself nearly bankrupting people left and right ... or, as they called it, making the game "totally un-fun."

Hehe. :)

I'll certainly continue to take part -- this has been the most fun I've ever had competing. (And I just find it hilarious that I could manage to wrangle 4th -- if I can hold it! -- out of a BB competition!)

I just don't think I'll catch up, but I'll stick it out!

I unhid my computers, too. I won't hide that I have a whole slew of older machines running. :)

I'm dying to see what the top three have, though!

This thing is like some twisted form of crack .. I keep saying, "What computer can I add? What computer can I add?!"

Midnight on Wednesday won't come soon enough.

END THE ADDICTION!

Let's just hope you don't have any idiots saying, "You should've known better," like we had here in New Orleans after Katrina.

Stay strong, folks. Lots of positive thoughts for y'all coming from the Big Easy.

I had a small bite of this before.

Tasted like a dog biscuit (yes, tried them when I was little -- I was curious!) and made me vomit minutes later.

No fun.

Honestly, I don't find it so difficult to click "Yes" and "Play" when I want to watch a film on Netflix. It's legal, works well, and doesn't really cause much harm to one's system.

Either people are being lazy, or just feel like bitching because they have some sense of entitlement over something they're not paying for, anyway. And seriously, folks, if you did download it, how many times would you watch it? Once? Twice? If you want it so bad, go ahead and follow one of the hacks -- by the time you finish downloading the movie you could've finished watching it.

Clay (#20) has it right -- focus on the DRM on content that you actually do pay for and should actually own without any type of restriction.

And for those of you just angry that you own a Mac or run Linux, I thought I had read somewhere that with the open-sourcing of .NET it might be possible for Netflix to port the software other platforms. (Can someone confirm that?)

The sad thing is that you can't ever completely please anybody. Once they get what they want, they just keep on wanting more. (I can see it now: Netflix lifts the DRM, and everyone bitches that the quality is too low. They raise the quality, and they bitch that there are no extra features. Etc.)