[Novalug] [OT] Google takes heat for using pre-Katrina imagery

[Michael Stone]

On Sun, Apr 01, 2007 at 03:15:34PM -0400, Alan McConnell wrote:
>On Sun, Apr 01, 2007 at 12:33:43PM -0400, Michael Stone wrote:
>> On Sat, Mar 31, 2007 at 08:29:05PM -0400, Alan McConnell wrote:
>> >	Pete, you are very ready to jump on the Congress for getting
>> >	after Google.  But I would first ask: why did Google switch
>> >	from a depiction of the present state of affairs -- which AFAIK
>> >	continues shamefully bad -- to a pre-Katrina depiction. 
>> 
>> Why should we ask that?
>	<LOL>  Because it takes a certain amount of political programming
>	for such an obvious question not to spring to mind.

It takes a certain obstinancy to find conspiracy in spite of reason.

>	We all have a copy of the Constitution, right?  Check 
>	Article I, often subtitled, Powers of the Congress.  A hint
>	as to the Section: its number is a power of the only even
>	prime.

You can either choose to have a sensible conversation or not. If you 
want to play games you can play by yourself.

>	As for paranoia, I plead guilty.  Paranoia on the part of
>	private citizens is, these days, the citizen's highest duty.

That's ridiculous. Paranoia is a sign of insanity, not a virtue. It's 
certainly not equivalent to informed vigilance.

>	I don't know what this is all about.  If you don't think New
>	Orleans is a "special case", that's your right.  Most people
>	view New Orleans as the preeminent natural disaster -- in terms
>	of property damage, lives shattered, etc -- that the U.S. has
>	been hit with in at least the last several decades.

Blah blah blah...what does that have to do with a guy progamming an 
algorithm to choose from available data sources? Of do you really wander 
aimlessly through life, trying to apply a list of hot button issues to 
everything you do? Perhaps you have breakfast, wonder how Katrina 
affects it? Then you take a walk, wonder if it somehow is affected by 
Katrina? Well, most of us don't live like that. I sincerely hope the guy 
responsible for the map selection algorithm at google lives better than 
that.

Mike Stone