[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22098102"]Paris Louvre shuts as staff strike over pickpockets[/URL]

[URL="http://www.guerrillaexplorer.com/mysteries-of-history/the-lost-amendment/"]The Lost Amendment[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;336905][URL="http://www.guerrillaexplorer.com/mysteries-of-history/the-lost-amendment/"]The Lost Amendment[/URL][/QUOTE]
I say bring it back, simply because, if I'm not mistaken, there are a few Hollywood jackasses that would no longer be American citizens and would no longer be able to vote. That alone would make it an awesome idea.

[QUOTE=jasong;336989]I say bring it back, simply because, if I'm not mistaken, there are a few Hollywood jackasses that would no longer be American citizens and would no longer be able to vote. That alone would make it an awesome idea.[/QUOTE]

Yes, jackasses like Alan Greenspan and Billy Graham and Colin Powell and Rudy Giuliani and Norman Schwarzkopf. It certainly would be worth it to keep them from voting. And, of course G.H.W. Bush (all the presidents who have received the Order of the British Empire have been Republican--Ike, Reagan, and Bush I. Ike also recieved a title from Denmark and while I wouldn't have minded stripping the presidency from RR and GHWB, DWE was the last decent Republican President and I'd hate to take that away from the FGOP [Formerly Grand Old Party.]) I'd trade all those votes for the single Hollywooder that I can find who has a foreign title: Stephen Spielberg.

It gets a bit more complicated when you start figuring in the non-noble titles like the French Legion of Honor, but I'll assume that only the super-extra-crazies would have a problem with that--you know the ones I mean, the ones who make up stuff like the "real" thirteenth amendment as a reason that taxes are illegal or that lawyers (who have the title esquire) or judges (who are referred to as 'your honor') cannot hold public office or vote. I wish I were making this up, but people really are that idiotic.

I'm coming to this a bit late, but this seems a bit silly and stupid since this proposed amendment is already basically covered in the Constitution only without the arbitrary and draconian language of the amendment in question. (Article 1, Section 9) And if you look into the rational (the vague chance that Napoleon's heir could someday run for President) given for voting yea, it seems even more petty. But, that just proves that people were reactionary and stupid even in the days of yore.

See also [url]http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title5/pdf/USCODE-2011-title5-partIII-subpartF-chap73-subchapIV-sec7342.pdf[/url]

see also[YOUTUBE]D0yYwBzKAyY[/YOUTUBE]

The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!

[QUOTE=chappy;337017]You know the ones I mean, the ones who make up stuff like the "real" thirteenth amendment as a reason that taxes are illegal[/QUOTE]
Not sure what this suggested actual 13th Amendment is supposed to have to do with taxes, maybe you mean the 16th Amendment? The one that's so vague that it could be interpreted in half a dozen different ways? The one that never in any way uses any term that could possibly refer to a human being?

[QUOTE=jasong;337021]Not sure what this suggested actual 13th Amendment is supposed to have to do with taxes, maybe you mean the 16th Amendment? The one that's so vague that it could be interpreted in half a dozen different ways? The one that never in any way uses any term that could possibly refer to a human being?[/QUOTE]

"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

The only people who see that as vague or complicated are the ones who want it to be so they can deny that it has legal authority.

But, since I meant the unratified 13th amendment and not the 16th amendment the point is unimportant. The idiotic argument I refer to is that Lawyers can't hold office, therefore: all the laws passed since the supposed ratification of the amendment in question are null and void (including any taxes and tax legislation.) Also, Judges are not able to hold public office therefore their rulings that continually point out how wrong and silly the anti-taxers are are invalid. (Though this one does beg the question exactly who would fill the Constitutionally required Judiciary if not judges, but anti-tax crazies aren't exactly first rate logicians.)

[QUOTE=chappy;337026]"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

The only people who see that as vague or complicated are the ones who want it to be so they can deny that it has legal authority.[/quote]
The reasoning behind why the 16th Amendment is crap is simple but long-winded. It starts with the fact that we're not legally a democracy, but a constitutional republic, a nation of written law. It then heads into the long-winded part, which involves convincing someone to read the Constitution with no pre-conceived notions, including the notion that it's a living document.
[quote]But, since I meant the unratified 13th amendment and not the 16th amendment the point is unimportant. The idiotic argument I refer to is that Lawyers can't hold office, therefore: all the laws passed since the supposed ratification of the amendment in question are null and void (including any taxes and tax legislation.) Also, Judges are not able to hold public office therefore their rulings that continually point out how wrong and silly the anti-taxers are are invalid. (Though this one does beg the question exactly who would fill the Constitutionally required Judiciary if not judges, but anti-tax crazies aren't exactly first rate logicians.)[/QUOTE]
This, again, heads back to the idea that we're a republic, rather than a democracy. If the citizens of the US don't like the idea of being ruled by ink on paper(that's a metaphor for the pedantic flamers out there) then they should actually pass laws that give judges the right to change or create law. It's not so much that I have a problem with the particulars of law, it's more that I'm extremely rigid in my thinking and disapprove of the clusterfuckery(sorry if this term offends, it just really defines my feelings) known as the US legal system.

On re-reading the article, I think a more interesting question is what did the limo look like 200 years ago. The article talks about, in the last paragraph, how the law has been in a limo for 200 years.

I'd love to see a picture of the this limo. ;)

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21720318]Blind people driving cars[/url]
Rather than asking whether or not blind people should be given licenses, I think it would be more appropriate to ask whether people without licenses should be allowed to use autonomous vehicles.

Driver's licenses should come with the assumption that you can actually drive, so it's meaningless to try to give blind people these licenses.

[QUOTE=jasong;337121]It starts with the fact that we're not legally a democracy, but a constitutional republic, a nation of written law.[/QUOTE]

Jason... Have you considered studying law?

Doing so might teach you a few things....

[QUOTE=jasong;337192][url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21720318]Blind people driving cars[/url]
Rather than asking whether or not blind people should be given licenses, I think it would be more appropriate to ask whether people without licenses should be allowed to use autonomous vehicles.

Driver's licenses should come with the assumption that you can actually drive, so it's meaningless to try to give blind people these licenses.[/QUOTE]If the blind people aren't driving, why should they be required to have a license?

I don't see why a licenseless person should be forbidden to take, e.g., a taxi.

License the driver, whether human or otherwise, not the passenger.

[QUOTE=chalsall;337194]Jason... Have you considered studying law?

Doing so might teach you a few things....[/QUOTE]
You mean like the actual definition of what a republic is? A republic, which is what the US of A is, is a nation of written law, which means rights are defined by the written word. So if a judge had the right to change the law, it would be written somewhere, there would be a law that specifically gave them that right. But I've never encountered such a law.

In the case of Title 26, though, and other Titles, for that matter, it's possible to sit down and read the law. Unlike what people claim, tax law is not a mishmash that can only be understood by people with training. You start at point A and go through the law to figure out what does and doesn't apply to you. In the case of the 16th Amendment, the claim is it repealed the right of a citizen to not be directly taxed. Unfortunately, when you go back and compare it to the stuff before it, you got the possibility of multiple conclusions. If you start at the beginning of the Constitution and don't make any assumptions about meaning(dictionaries define meaning, specifically dictionaries from the time the law was written) or case law, or whatever, then the only logical conclusion is that the 16th Amendment didn't change anything, but is a confusing restatement of stuff the Constitution can already do.

Why would this be done? Well, if a cat wants to eat a canary, then convincing you your pet mouse is the one in actual danger can be very helpful. The 16th Amendment's income tax roots are what is referred to as American mythology, a belief encouraged by the owners of the Federal Reserve Bank, who don't give a flying f*** about the rights of United States citizens, they only care about power and the bottom line.

But I digress. Ultimately, the only thing that truly matters is what the laws ACTUALLY say. And, today more than ever, with the power of the Internet, anyone can research the laws on the books. It isn't fun, it's actually rather tedious, but it's very informative.

Looky what I found :)

[url]http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26[/url]

If the right to tax a citizen directly exists, than the particulars should be in here, right? Fuck Reading Rainbow(if it's still around), this is the sort of stuff that needs to be read by all American citizens.

[QUOTE=xilman;337200]If the blind people aren't driving, why should they be required to have a license?

I don't see why a licenseless person should be forbidden to take, e.g., a taxi.

License the driver, whether human or otherwise, not the passenger.[/QUOTE]
[deleted stuff because I misread his post]

[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/judge-fines-himself-cell-phone-courtroom-195436521.html"]Judge fines himself for cell phone use in the courtroom[/URL]
Hmmmm... (in a good way)

[url]http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/What-William-Shatner-Would-Put-on-His-Gravestone-162718066.html[/url]

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22283117]Virtual keyboard[/url]

But will it succeed?

I definitely intend to try it for a month or so.

[url]http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/01/29/the-fake-townhouses-hiding-mystery-underground-portals/[/url]

[QUOTE=chappy;338808][URL]http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/01/29/the-fake-townhouses-hiding-mystery-underground-portals/[/URL][/QUOTE]

Hmmmmmm.....

[QUOTE=chappy;338808][URL]http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/01/29/the-fake-townhouses-hiding-mystery-underground-portals/[/URL][/QUOTE]When I saw the abbreviated URL, ending with "...round-portals/" I wondered whether it might be about hobbits.

[QUOTE=cheesehead;338840]When I saw the abbreviated URL, ending with "...round-portals/" I wondered whether it might be about hobbits.[/QUOTE]
I got the wrong idea too. While I did register the whole URL at first glance, I thought it was about wormholes, i.e. portals to elsewhere in space and time. "Portal" seems a strangely grand word to use after all, but the article does justify that word by emphasising the all-is-not-what-it-seems nature of the set-ups.

slightly NSFW
[code]
[SPOILER]U.S. District Judge Fred Biery has spoken. The Texas judge issued a ruling in the case
he called "The Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Bikini Top v. the (More) Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Pastie."
Yes, indeed. At issue was a strip club's request for a preliminary injunction that would block
enforcement of a San Antonio ordinance requiring its dancers to wear bikini tops while entertaining.
The club had asked that its employees be allowed to wear nipple-covering "pasties" instead.[/SPOILER]
[/code]
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/texas-judge-issues-double-entendre-filled-ruling-strip-151235719.html[/url]

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22380611]Damnit, I didn't mean THOSE sharks.[/url]

The [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22430145"]story[/URL] of three women, missing for years since they were teenagers, now found alive and well in Cleveland, is breaking news all over the world.

The name of one of them, Amanda Berry, caught my eye at once. Her case is one of those featured in Robert Lancaster's site, no longer updated since he had a stroke some years ago, which aims to expose a well known "psychic" as the callous, harmful fraud that she is. This account, written six years ago, describes a reading on a popular TV show between this psychic and Amanda Berry's mother, who has since sadly died in the belief that her daughter was dead as told to her by the psychic on the show.

The whole of Robert Lancaster's site is highly recommended if anyone wants an illustration of the terrible harm fraudulent psychics can cause.
[URL]http://www.stopsylvia.com/articles/montel_amandaberry.shtml[/URL]

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/your-own-black-box-162809896.html[/url]

why don't they make the [URL="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/909/if-aircraft-black-boxes-are-indestructible-why-cant-the-whole-plane-be-made-from-the-same-material"]whole plane[/URL] out of that stuff?

Also thanks to Brian-E for posting the links above. Browne famously, in my area, told a family that their son was dead in a similar kidnapping. The kid turned out to be alive and living not very far away, attending school and completely integrated into the abductors home. Google (or Bing) Shawn Hornbeck for all the details.

On the subject.....
[QUOTE] [B]"Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O'Clock Club)"[/B]
-Tom Waits, Small Change

[SPOILER]Smelling like a brewery, looking like a tramp,
I ain't got a quarter, got a postage stamp
Been five o'clock shadow boxing all around the town,
Talking with the old man, sleeping on the ground
Bazanti bootin al zootin al hoot and Al Cohn
Sharing this apartment with a telephone pole
And a fish-net stocking, spike-heel shoes,
Strip tease, prick tease, car keys blues
And the porno floor show, live nude girls,
Dreamy and creamy and brunette curls
Chesty Morgan and Watermelon Rose
Raise my rent and take off all your clothes
With trench coats, magazines, a bottle full of rum,
She's so good, make a dead man come
Pasties and a G-string, beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass and a Buffalo squeeze
Wrinkles and Cherry and Twinkie and Pinkie and Fifi live from Gay Paree
Fanfares, rim shots, back stage, who cares, all this hot burlesque for me
[I][scat][/I]

Cleavage, cleavage, thighs and hips
From the nape of her neck to the lipstick lips
Chopped and channeled and lowered and lewd
And the cheater slicks and baby moons
She's a-hot and ready, creamy and sugared
And the band is awful and so are the tunes
[I][scat][/I]

Crawling on her belly, and shaking like jelly,
And I'm getting harder than Chinese algebrassieres
And cheers from the (hmm) compendium here
"Hey sweetheart" they're yelling for more
You're squashing out your cigarette butts on the floor
And I like Shelly, and you like Jane
And what was the girl with the snakeskin's name?
And it's an early-bird matinee, come back any day,
Get you a little something that you can't get at home
Get you a little something that you can't get at home
It's pasties and a G-string, beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass and a Buffalo squeeze
Popcorn, front row, higher than a kite, and I'll be back tomorrow night,
And I'll be back tomorrow night[/SPOILER]
[I][scat][/I]
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;339594]Thanks for keeping us abreast of all those titillating legal issues, firejugger. :)

However, I'm still trying to figure out why the club thinks "nipple-covering pastries" are preferable to bikini tops. Sure, the "edible uppergarment" aspect of it would indeed be novel, but since these clubs are generally of the "lookie, no touchie" variety except for lap dances, I'm dubious as to the business proposition represented by pairs of jiggling Danishes - and most pastry doughs wouldn't last more than a few seconds ... oh wait, *now* I think see things more clearly, as it were.[/QUOTE]Shouldn't cheesecake be covered with cheesecake?

[I]It is only logical[/I]™

[url=http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2013/05/first-observations-short-lived-pear-shaped-atomic-nuclei]Things have gone pear-shaped at CERN.[/url]

If God exists, she has a warped sense of humour...

[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22223190"]Reinhart, Rogoff... and Herndon: The student who caught out the profs[/URL]....

This reminds me of a fairly funny paper (I'd never guess that such a trivial result would be published, even though most users knew about these pitfalls; most biologists wouldn't know how to deal with a tab-separated text file or even a small database that a bioinformaticist would use, so many gene lists were converted into Excel before handing over to the end users).
[url]http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/5/80[/url]

Of course, the whole idea of doing bioinformatics in Excel would make almost anyone chuckle. The lesson is simple - don't use Excel (there's not even a decent ANOVA implementation in it for using it on a row by row set)! And no one whom I know does. But apparently in economic this is par for the course. Have R&R even thought about doing the simplest of all numerical stability tests, resampling, or at the very least it's simplest "leave-one-out" bootstrap? Have they calculated everything just once? Incredible! Apparently the inadvertent "leave-[I]five[/I]-out" readily demonstrated that the dataset was not particularly robust.

[QUOTE=Batalov;339762]The lesson is simple - don't use Excel.[/QUOTE]

I once employed an Office Manager who was responsible for producing the monthly reports for the GM.

One month the numbers didn't add up. So I asked her for the spreadsheet to check her equations.

There were no equations.

When I called her on this, she admitted that she was using Excel as a desktop publishing program -- she was using a hand calculator to do the math, and entering the values into the spreadsheet cell by cell...

Edit: Sigh. It's really my fault for not questioning her work earlier....

Well, not for bioinformatics, is what I meant.

But for personnel management or (I dunno) purchases, sales, invoices... maybe!
For toy stuff. There's t-test, there are scatterplots and barcharts. One can download a plugin for ANOVA on the whole sheet of data. This could be plenty for some particular use cases. There's "=VLOOKUP(38, data!A1:B9, 1, FALSE)" :max: :rolleyes:

[url]http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/05/russian-spacecraft-returns-to-earth-with-most-of-its-furry-crew-dead/[/url]

:sad:

[I]"...the flying pet store of death..."[/I]

We need more writers like this!

[QUOTE=Batalov;341030][I]"...the flying pet store of death..."[/I]

We need more writers like this![/QUOTE]... and fewer equipment failures.

Say "Hello" to George Orwell
 

[url]http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-06-kinect-could-police-who-watches-films-at-home[/url]

Orwell
 

The telescreen is practically here already. Only a few details remain to be activated.

[url]http://www.dvice.com/archives/2012/06/1984-tech.php[/url]

[URL="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/473597/20130601/bnp-edl-hate-fascist-badgers.htm"]Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers[/URL]

[QUOTE=only_human;342271][URL="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/473597/20130601/bnp-edl-hate-fascist-badgers.htm"]Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers[/URL][/QUOTE]

Open debate and discussion (and protest) can be beautiful and useful! :smile:

What a hoot! I see that the FOBs were led by Brian May, once of Queen.

[URL="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-sun-times-photo-20130530,0,4361142.story"]Chicago Sun-Times lays off its photo staff[/URL][QUOTE]The company is also preparing to supplement its freelance staff with reporters to shoot more video and photos, according to sources.[/QUOTE]

As a photographer, I can only say "Dammit!" :bangheadonwall: The photo is from the Trib, but it shows what photojournalism can be.

[QUOTE=kladner;342327]As a photographer, I can only say "Dammit!" :bangheadonwall: The photo is from the Trib, but it shows what photojournalism can be.[/QUOTE]I think this might have something to do with the motivation:
[URL="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-tribune-company-20130515,0,1793743.story"]Tribune newspapers attract suitors, 'noise'[/URL][QUOTE]“A sale transaction is only one of our possible strategic options, and there are many others,” Liguori said.

Some 40 parties have expressed interest in acquiring some or all of Tribune Co.’s newspapers, according to sources close to the situation. The Chicago-based media company hired investment bankers in February to manage inquiries for its eight daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

The company is soon expected to grant would-be buyers access to a “data room,” a secure Web site containing detailed financial information about the company. Few suitors have said publicly they are interested in exploring a potential purchase.[/QUOTE]

[YOUTUBE]RjrEQaG5jPM[/YOUTUBE]

I was waiting for an accident to happen. Got dissapointed, in a good way.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/longest-word-german-182758985.html[/url]

Would also be great for wheelchair users. Also to help estimate the width of doorways and possible the elevation of ramps.
[URL="http://www.gizmag.com/lumigrids-led-projector/27691/"]Cyclists grid projector[/URL]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;342608][YOUTUBE]RjrEQaG5jPM[/YOUTUBE][/QUOTE]

Reminds me of driving in Guadalajara a few years back, 50 mph on a 6-lane boulevard through the center of the city, kind of freaked me out, but I noticed that drivers continually made eye contact with the drivers in adjacent lanes. Then I noticed on returning to the U.S. that drivers rarely made eye contact with other drivers. No, I'm just a driver of a machine, no need to take other humans into account!

Jeepneys and Manila traffic
 

See your India, raise you Manila.

[YOUTUBE]nhPBxZf-yMs[/YOUTUBE]

[QUOTE=firejuggler;342609]I was waiting for an accident to happen. Got dissapointed, in a good way.[/QUOTE]
There are many videos on the web, with exactly the same intersection, from exactly the same angle (most probably the same guy filmed them) and few of them show accidents too. I remember I have watched some in the past.

going really hhmmmmmmmm! about this one:

[url]http://www.raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/bujnowski/video.htm[/url]
(the text, not the video).

[QUOTE=LaurV;342661]going really hhmmmmmmmm! about this one:

[url]http://www.raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/bujnowski/video.htm[/url]
(the text, not the video).[/QUOTE]And now he will be on the terror watch list, or permanently banned, or jailed upon next entry, or something equally silly.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;342624][URL]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/longest-word-german-182758985.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

How do I put this... Mine is [URL="http://www.duden.de/sprachwissen/sprachratgeber/die-laengsten-woerter-im-dudenkorpus"]longer[/URL] than yours? :razz:

BDSM Correlated With Better Mental Health, Says Study
 

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/bdsm-better-mental-health-study_n_3390676.html[/url]

I'm not sure why Huff Po put this article on the "Women" page. It would seem to be gender- and orientation-neutral.

In Pictures: 30 Famous Fictional Computers
 

[url]http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/632-fictional-computer-hollywood.html[/url]

[quote]Last year, a man attempted to pronounce[a chemical name] it in a three-hour, 30-minute YouTube video.)[/quote]
This is quoted from the article about the longest German word.

Seems insane, but I suppose it's similar to an obsession with certain very long numbers with a particular trait.

For those who think someone's hobby is stupid, try reading Ecclesiastes in the Bible. Great read.

[QUOTE=jasong;342885]For those who think someone's hobby is stupid, try reading Ecclesiastes in the Bible. Great read.[/QUOTE]Indeed.[QUOTE] Vanitas vanitatum dixit Ecclesiastes, vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas.[/quote]. Sums up most hobbies IMAO.

[QUOTE="message from a certain course in Coursera"]Thank you to the many students who have posted in the course discussion forums alerting us to a possible error in the grading formula for the course. After reviewing our formula, we have discovered an error that has caused some students to receive scores which were artificially high and to receive Statements of Accomplishment that they should not have otherwise received. We deeply apologize for this error and are very thankful for the honesty and close attention of those students who alerted us to this.

To fix this error, we have regraded the class using the correct formula. Students should now have the correct scores and only students who passed the course as described in our grading policy will be able to access a Statement of Accomplishment on their Course Records page. [/QUOTE]
So in other words, some students, instead of making their best effort to learn the material, allegedly hacked the site (or exploited some weakness, -- same thing) to get the passing grades? Hmmmmm...

[url]http://www.navytimes.com/article/20130606/NEWS04/306060010/ALL-CAPS-MESSAGES-no-more[/url]

[url]https://theconversation.com/to-kill-cheetahs-use-agility-and-acceleration-not-top-speed-15142[/url]

[url]http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/06/14/experts-warn-eyeball-licking-trend-can-injure-the-eye-damage-sight/[/url]

[QUOTE=cheesehead;343443][URL]http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/06/14/experts-warn-eyeball-licking-trend-can-injure-the-eye-damage-sight/[/URL][/QUOTE]
That one should be added to [URL="http://www.oddee.com/item_98590.aspx"]this list[/URL]. Teen fads have always been a huge cause of concern, I guess. What do you do about it? Teenagers seem to think they are invulnerable and immortal. And forbidding anything always has exactly the opposite effect from what you wanted.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;343494]That one should be added to [URL="http://www.oddee.com/item_98590.aspx"]this list[/URL]. Teen fads have always been a huge cause of concern, I guess. What do you do about it? Teenagers seem to think they are invulnerable and immortal. And forbidding anything always has exactly the opposite effect from what you wanted.[/QUOTE]There's your answer -- get grandparents on this trend - the older, wrinklier, crustier, the better. Once the octogenarian+ party is in the tent, the teenagers will be looking for an exit.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-remain-silent-suspect-must-speak-005700241.html[/url]

:confused:

[QUOTE=ewmayer;342149]I am no expert in this area, but I suspect these "enhanced links" are ways of getting most or all the functionality of cookies, but in a way that circumvents browser no-cookie settings by the user. Ross, thoughts?[/QUOTE][URL="http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/06/17/the-web-cookie-is-dying-heres-the-creepier-technology-that-comes-next/"]The Web Cookie Is Dying. Here's The Creepier Technology That Comes Next[/URL][QUOTE]The problem for marketers is that some users set their browsers to reject cookies or quickly extinguish them. And mobile phones, which are taking an increasing chunk of the Web usage, do not use cookies.

To combat the cookie’s flaws, advertisers and publishers are increasingly turning to something called fingerprinting. This technique allows a web site to look at the characteristics of a computer such as what plugins and software you have installed, the size of the screen, the time zone, fonts and other features of any particular machine. These form a unique signature just like random skin patterns on a finger. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has found that 94% of browsers that use Flash or Java – which enable key features in Internet browsing – had unique identities.

Fingerprinting may prove a more robust tracking technology than cookies because the user’s identify endures even if they erase their cookies. Making changes to your software and settings only makes you more identifiable, not less. An EFF study several years ago found that it is easy to track when someone changes their profiles by adding software updates, for example. You can see what details your computer is transmitting right now by visiting this [URL="http://panopticlick.eff.org/"]site[/URL].[/QUOTE]Visiting that link, I get this:
[QUOTE]Panopticlick — How Unique, and Trackable, Is Your Browser?

Your browser fingerprint appears to be unique among the 3,001,298 tested so far.

Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys at least 21.52 bits of identifying information.

The measurements we used to obtain this result are listed below. You can read more about our methodology, statistical results, and some defenses against fingerprinting in this [URL="http://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf"]article[/URL].[/QUOTE]

That's an interesting site for testing the browser's identification of its user. Thanks, only_human.

It gave my browser (firefox) exactly the same summary result as yours. I don't know what that says about the similarities between our browsers and how they are configured.
[QUOTE]Your browser fingerprint [B]appears to be unique[/B] among the 3,002,872 tested so far.
Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys [B]at least 21.52 bits of identifying information.[/B]
[/QUOTE]

I got the same as well, except for the incremented counter. That [U]is[/U] creepy.

Thanks!

FYI. 21.52 bits = log[SUB]2[/SUB](3million). Which is basically a fancy way of saying that your browser can be uniquely identified (out of the 3 million tested).

For me, both the browser plugins and system fonts were unique by themselves. Which I am guessing is the same results for others as well?

I'm only about 12.5 bits, about 1 in 5000 people from the database match my information. Add the IP and they can probably figure out precisely who I am.

[QUOTE=axn;343821]FYI. 21.52 bits = log[SUB]2[/SUB](3million). Which is basically a fancy way of saying that your browser can be uniquely identified (out of the 3 million tested).

For me, both the browser plugins and system fonts were unique by themselves. Which I am guessing is the same results for others as well?[/QUOTE]

It included things like my graphics tablet, but come to think of it, what it's seeing is a Firefox plugin, too.

Another interesting place to check your visibility, and the "fingerprints" of sites you might visit is-

Gibson Research
[URL]https://www.grc.com/default.htm[/URL]

Steve Gibson is a long-time internet security advocate. Check out ShieldsUp to see the status of your ports. See if your HTTPS connection is being intercepted at the fingerprint page. Put your passwords up against the Password Haystacks.

Also, [URL="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516156/a-popular-ad-blocker-also-helps-the-ad-industry/"]A Popular Ad Blocker Also Helps the Ad Industry[/URL].[QUOTE]Evidon helps companies that want to improve their use of tracking code by selling them data collected from the eight million Ghostery users that have enabled a data-sharing feature in the tool.

That makes Evidon, which bought Ghostery in 2010, something of an anomaly in the complex world of online advertising. Whether in Congress or at the Web standards body W3C, debates over online privacy typically end up with the ad industry and privacy advocates facing off along clearly demarcated lines (see “High Stakes in Internet Tracking”).[/QUOTE]I think that article spins it a bit too hard to the evil side. This article, [URL="http://purplebox.ghostery.com/?p=1016022414"]Keeping Privacy Free for You (Whoever You Are)[/URL], makes it sound much more reasonable. So they are making money selling anonymized data that they gather if you opt-in to Ghostery's Ghostrank setting. Since businesses are buying that data, clearly they find it useful to better target their markets. Time will tell, and even good products can suffer from feature/mission creep (such as when companies are bought or liquidated).

[QUOTE=only_human;343853]So they are making money selling anonymized data ...[/QUOTE]There is no such thing as anonymised data except at the very extreme point of only giving out totals of categories or other such useless data. Most of the so-called anonymised data that is sold can still give away users details when companies cross reference against other sources. There are many examples of this happening, not the least of which was the famous yahoo "anonymised search data" that was used to uniquely locate and name individual people and expose their search histories.

[QUOTE=retina;343860]There is no such thing as anonymised data except at the very extreme point of only giving out totals of categories or other such useless data. Most of the so-called anonymised data that is sold can still give away users details when companies cross reference against other sources. There are many examples of this happening, not the least of which was the famous yahoo "anonymised search data" that was used to uniquely locate and name individual people and expose their search histories.[/QUOTE]true dat. This has been discussed about anonymized medical data too. I certainly am not opted in on Ghostrank.

[QUOTE]merely knowing who people are, paradoxically, isn’t very predictive of their movie tastes.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23Netflix-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1[/url]

I'm no trouble for them, I either actively dislike or don't care about all the listed "trouble" movies.

Yet they still can't get my recommendations right.

[QUOTE=chappy;343881][url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23Netflix-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1[/url]

I'm no trouble for them, I either actively dislike or don't care about all the listed "trouble" movies.

Yet they still can't get my recommendations right.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize[/url]
The very next year (after that article), the Netflix prize was won:[QUOTE]The Netflix Prize was an open competition for the best collaborative filtering algorithm to predict user ratings for films, based on previous ratings without any other information about the users or films, i.e. without the users or the films being identified except by numbers assigned for the contest.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]On September 18, 2009, Netflix announced team "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos" as the prize winner (a Test RMSE of 0.8567), and the prize was awarded to the team in a ceremony on September 21, 2009.[22] "The Ensemble" team had in fact succeeded to match BellKor's result, but since BellKor submitted their results 20 minutes earlier, the rules award the prize to them.[23][/QUOTE]
And there was a lawsuit over the dataset used in the contest:
[QUOTE]Although the data sets were constructed to preserve customer privacy, the Prize has been criticized by privacy advocates. In 2007 two researchers from the University of Texas were able to identify individual users by matching the data sets with film ratings on the Internet Movie Database.[27]

On December 17, 2009, four Netflix users filed a class action lawsuit against Netflix, alleging that Netflix had violated U.S. fair trade laws and the Video Privacy Protection Act by releasing the datasets.[28] There was public debate about privacy for research participants. On March 19, 2010, Netflix reached a settlement with the plaintiffs, after which they voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit.[29][/QUOTE]

Knock knock joke - TNG
 

[url]http://www.lamebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mmm.jpg[/url]

[URL="http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51208/periodic-table-muppets"]Periodic table of muppets[/URL]

But is it art?
 

[URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedernorrby/sets/72157632277119513/with/9014190151/"]iOS Maps Glitches[/URL]

Reviews of the type of shoes worn by Texas Senator Wendy Davis are running wild:
[URL="http://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Womens-Wave-Rider-Running/product-reviews/B008KFY53K/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_helpful?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0"]Customer Reviews: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe[/URL][QUOTE]The next time you have to spend 13 hours on your feet without food, water or bathroom breaks, this is the shoe for you. Guaranteed to outrun patriarchy on race day.[/QUOTE][QUOTE]An essential tool for running down the clock in a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long! These shoes are perfect for those days when you must spend 13+ hours standing, not lean on your desk or take any breaks - even for meals or to use the bathroom. The snazzy hot pink color brings out your inner badassness and helps you to "humbly give voice to thousands of Texans" and stop a "raw abuse of power" in its tracks. Raise a feminist army and lead the charge when your competitors cheat and change the rules on you. These Mizuno's are built to protect your feet from mudslinging and add sunshine to the political process. Highly recommended for fierce women and anyone who's not a Greedy Old Prick (GOP).[/QUOTE][QUOTE]When I first began wearing these shoes I thought my reproductive rights were secure. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. Luckily these shoes are really great for kicking republican legislators out of office! They want to shut down reproductive and health care facilities for the poor in Texas? Use these shoes to shut down the state capital!

These go perfectly with any back brace you may need after good old fashion filibusting for 9 hours (with 4 more to go). What's that? Your crappy mean spirited colleagues on the other side of the isle say it isn't fair? That's right ladies, this shoe is completely washable, so just shove it up their ass.

Most importantly, even if you wear these gems without sox for three days straight, they still smell better than a republican Lt Governor who tries to push a law through past midnight, which is absolutely and completely illegal. Yea, pretty stinky I know.

Go Wendy Go #StandWithWedy[/QUOTE][QUOTE]Whether you're running for governor or standing up for women's rights, these shoes really fit the bill! Standing up for 11 hours straight in a room full of men who are telling what to do with your baby-maker is no easy task. Fortunately, the Mizuno Wave Riders are always up to the challenge. They are sturdy enough to kick behind, yet classy enough to look good while doing it. I endorse these shoes![/QUOTE][QUOTE]Ah, Governor Rick Perry... without your never-ending misogyny and chauvinism, I never would have learned about the Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe - modeled so very stunningly and effectively by Texas State Senator Wendy Davis during her epic 11 hour filibuster! I'm hoping that when I lace these babies up and step out, every male troglodyte who sees my feet will recognize these red shoes and know that I am dead serious about controlling my own body and making my own reproductive choices - and that I'm also standing up for every woman so she can do the same.

I'm standing with Wendy, so get the heck out of my body and my bedroom, or I'll put these red shoes to another good use - and kick your behinds into the next century.

Thanks, gov - couldn't have done it without you![/QUOTE]

Those are great!

[URL]http://phys.org/news/2013-06-sums-night.html[/URL]

Legion of Evil is trying right now to teach some hostas to double check LLs.

[QUOTE=chappy;344615][URL]http://phys.org/news/2013-06-sums-night.html[/URL]

Legion of Evil is trying right now to teach some hostas to double check LLs.[/QUOTE]

Aloes multiple very well, and many bulb plants are excellent at division.

The level of humor has fallen so low as to hit the flora.

I anticipate many more groanings to fallow.

[QUOTE=chappy;344615][URL]http://phys.org/news/2013-06-sums-night.html[/URL]

Legion of Evil is trying right now to teach some hostas to double check LLs.[/QUOTE]
Nice, so the plants are smarter than some people.

My mom sometimes overpays a bit at a store so she has less change to worry about, which confuses some cashiers. Perhaps they should start hiring plants as cashiers. And it's been proven that they can calculate when the lights go out, so that's an added bonus.

[url]http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html?wpisrc=most_viral[/url]
As a foreigner, I have no problem with any question

[QUOTE=firejuggler;344956][url]http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html?wpisrc=most_viral[/url]
As a foreigner, I have no problem with any question[/QUOTE][QUOTE]There was little room for befuddlement. [B]The test was to be taken in 10 minutes flat[/B], and a single wrong answer meant a failing grade.[/QUOTE]That is 20 seconds per question. That would include all the drawing of figures.

Question 21: Print the word vote upside down, but in the correct order.
Is "ǝʇoʌ" the correct answer, or is "ʌoʇǝ"? Or, does the examiner get to pick the opposite of what is written?

Ok, I lied a bit, the 10 minute time limit is a bit harsh.
And question 20 is a bit aof a trap too.
As for question 21, I would pick the latter.

That was a funny test. It is easily doable in 10 minutes, you don't need 20 seconds for [B]all[/B] questions, for the most of them the answer is instant. As someone said before, as a non-native speaker, they didn't make any trouble for me. The first one which posed a small threat was no. 9, the first impulse is to cross out Z and Y, but doing so you draw [U]two[/U] lines, and the question asks for a single line. How many of you drew a continuous line that goes from Z to Y, avoiding all the other letters? :razz:

(btw: if in question 10, instead of the word "last" would be the word "second", what the answer would be? :razz:)

It is a guaranteed fail if the grader wants you to fail [which is the point of the test]; there are several ambiguous questions, not to mention places to trip up one's lack of absolute devotion to the exactness of the question.

For example #18:

[CODE]18. Look at the line of numbers below, and place on the blank,
the number that should come next.
3 6 9 ___ 15[/CODE]

Is the answer 12 or 24?
Note it does not ask for the number that fits the sequence (12 [3x]), it asks for the[B] next[/B] number (3+6=9, 6+9=15, 9+15=24)
And did you make sure your numerals were touching the line so as to be "on the blank"? You did? Sorry, it doesn't say to place the numbers on the line, it says on the blank (empty space). You didn't have them touching? Sorry, they are not on the blank (line).

Oohh! I can't believe they could be so mean, could they? For this particular question, I even did not think to 24... (and few others are ambiguous too, but I picked the common-sense answer).

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/remains-wall-idd-ny-woman-missing-since-85-131453200.html[/url]

[URL="https://torrentfreak.com/mastercard-and-visa-start-banning-vpn-providers-130703/#"]Mastercard and Visa Start Banning VPN Providers[/URL].

I personally find this a bit funny... In the early 21st century the Barbados government actually floated the idea that VPNs should be made illegal because they "could possibly enable illegal telephony bypass" (read: VoIP).

[url]http://www.rockcitytimes.com/angry-mother-twins-throws-flaming-diapers-late-night-firework-shooters/[/url]

(note its a fictional news site--but if I'd had some diapers handy last night, I'd have tried it.)

[QUOTE=chappy;345321][URL]http://www.rockcitytimes.com/angry-mother-twins-throws-flaming-diapers-late-night-firework-shooters/[/URL]

(note its a fictional news site--but if I'd had some diapers handy last night, I'd have tried it.)[/QUOTE]
I sympathise with the (fictional) diaper throwing woman too. Not wanting to deny people their fun and chance to let their hair down, I still wish that something other than fireworks could become fashionable for this purpose. Fireworks are lethal when something goes wrong, to say nothing of the distress they cause to livestock and anyone of a nervous disposition. We don't have your July 4th celebrations here in Western Europe, but come new year's night (and, illegally, for up to a couple of weeks beforehand) the fireworks are in full blast here. It's been 13 years now since the terrible accident at a firework depot which wiped out an entire residential area of the Dutch town Enschede, and the brief lull in fireworks' popularity after that incident has long since been replaced by general cravings for yet bigger and louder bangs.

Here's link to some great math quotes; you may have heard of some of them, but there are some that might be new. Great reading- I lost a lot of time at work today because of this.

Example:

"My name is Benoit B. Mandelbrot. The "B" stands for Benoit B. Mandelbrot."

[URL="http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1hpa1s/what_is_your_favourite_quote_by_a_mathematician/"]http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1hpa1s/what_is_your_favourite_quote_by_a_mathematician/[/URL]

Norm

This is not a.....
 

Nothing to see here!

[QUOTE=firejuggler;344956][url]http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html?wpisrc=most_viral[/url]
As a foreigner, I have no problem with any question[/QUOTE]
Number 20 is the first one that I knowingly can't answer with 100% certainty. If I got 1 to 19 wrong, I didn't realize it, though I did everything in my head.