As a change of pace, here's a stark reminder: [url]http://libreboot.org/faq/#intel[/url]

[quote]The Active Management Technology (AMT) application, part of the Intel "vPro" brand, is a Web server and application code that enables remote users to power on, power off, view information about, and otherwise manage the PC. It can be used remotely even while the PC is powered off (via Wake-on-Lan). Traffic is encrypted using SSL/TLS libraries, but recall that all of the major SSL/TLS implementations have had highly publicized vulnerabilities. The AMT application itself has known vulnerabilities, which have been exploited to develop rootkits and keyloggers and covertly gain encrypted access to the management features of a PC. Remember that the ME has full access to the PC's RAM. This means that an attacker exploiting any of these vulnerabilities may gain access to everything on the PC as it runs: all open files, all running applications, all keys pressed, and more.

...


The Intel Management Engine with its proprietary firmware has complete access to and control over the PC: it can power on or shut down the PC, read all open files, examine all running applications, track all keys pressed and mouse movements, and even capture or display images on the screen. And it has a network interface that is demonstrably insecure, which can allow an attacker on the network to inject rootkits that completely compromise the PC and can report to the attacker all activities performed on the PC. It is a threat to freedom, security, and privacy that can't be ignored.[/quote]

.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;419106].[/QUOTE]
So cute.
He already looks like Marmaduke. Larger furniture needed.

[QUOTE=only_human;419108]Larger furniture needed.[/QUOTE]A new bed was procured today!

:mike:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;419117]A new bed was procured today!

:mike:[/QUOTE]

Heaven! :goodposting:

If you want the date to end on a bed,
Be sure the idea begins in her head.

And if that's just your penultimate thought,
Remember the moral beliefs you've been taught.

:smile:

(Hey, at least it rhymes.)

[QUOTE=davar55;419156]If you want the date to end on a bed,
Be sure the idea begins in her head.

And if that's just your penultimate thought,
Remember the moral beliefs you've been taught.

:smile:

(Hey, at least it rhymes.)[/QUOTE]

Not bad at all!

More PBS :smile:

[QUOTE=Dubslow;419079]As a change of pace, here's a stark reminder: [URL]http://libreboot.org/faq/#intel[/URL][/QUOTE]

Initial response- :shock: (I finally read the article.) I found this mildly reassuring:
[QUOTE][URL="https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/33981.html"]Intel Boot Guard[/URL] is an ME application introduced in Q2 2013 with ME firmware version 9.0 on 4th Generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 (Haswell) CPUs. It allows a PC OEM to generate an asymmetric cryptographic keypair, install the public key in the CPU, and prevent the CPU from executing boot firmware that isn't signed with their private key. This means that [B][I]coreboot and libreboot are impossible to port[/I][/B] to such PCs, without the OEM's private signing key.[COLOR=Navy][U] [B]Note that systems assembled from separately purchased mainboard and CPU parts are unaffected, since the vendor of the mainboard (on which the boot firmware is stored) can't possibly affect the public key stored on the CPU. [/B][/U][/COLOR][/QUOTE]
But I expect that [U]that[/U] hole in the system will be patched before too long. :help:

And here I've been dreaming of the day that I can move from AMD to Intel. :davieddy:

[url]https://i.imgur.com/mjJNkP0.jpg[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;419380][URL]https://i.imgur.com/mjJNkP0.jpg[/URL][/QUOTE]
Haha, nice. Looks like Romania. The buildings, the posters, people's clothes, the poles decorated with advertising papers... I even played with contrast and brightness to read the plates of the cars, the name of the shop in front, and the panel on the left. Then I saw the palm trees and I gave up. Unless that country moved 20 degrees south on latitude during my ~15 years of absence, or unless mr agathon* solved the palm trees problem, that can't be Romania...

-------------
* a [URL="https://translate.google.com/#ro/en/Ministrul%20turismului%2C%20Dan%20Matei%20Agathon%2C%20s-a%20aratat%20surprins%20de%20faptul%20ca%20palmierii%20sai%20de%20la%20Mamaia%20s-au%20vestejit%20la%20numai%2010%20zile%20de%20la%20plantarea%20lor.%20Agathon%20a%20anuntat%20ieri%20ca%20va%20pleca%20la%20Mamaia%20pentru%20a%20vedea%2C%20cu%20ochii%20sai%2C%20daca%20palmierii%20s-au%20vestejit%20sau%20au%20fost%20rupti%20de%20%22persoane%20invidioase%22%20pe%20munca%20si%20investitia%20sa%20de%20115.000%20%24%2C%20cat%20au%20costat%20cei%20146%20de%20palmieri%2C%20amplasati%20la%20intrarea%20in%20statiune%20si%20pe%20faleza.%20El%20e%20convins%20ca%20palmierii%20au%20fost%20%22molestati%20dintr-o%20placere%20botanista%22.%0A%0AIntrebat%20daca%20va%20sesiza%20organele%20de%20control%2C%20ministrul%20turismului%20a%20spus%20ca%20%22inclusiv%20Parchetul%20National%20Anticoruptie%20va%20fi%20sesizat%20in%20legatura%20cu%20acest%20jaf%22.%0A%0AMai%20mult%3A%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.libertatea.ro%2Fdetalii%2Farticol%2FParchetul-Anticoruptie-va-cerceta-palmierii-lui-Agathon-18318.html%23ixzz3uSCcU57N"]2002 article[/URL] about an idiot who spent over 100k us$ public money to buy ~150 palm trees and plant them on Black Sea's shore. They died in 10 days or so, due to cold/humid/salty weather. What google translates as "the parent" is the name of the place where the palms were planted.

[url]http://abcnews.go.com/US/arrest-warrant-issued-missing-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch/story?id=35784710[/url]

[QUOTE]Couch's defense team, which included psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller, argued that the teen suffered from "affluenza," meaning his irresponsible behavior and lifestyle were a product of his affluent upbringing and "profoundly dysfunctional" parents.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;419443][URL]http://abcnews.go.com/US/arrest-warrant-issued-missing-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch/story?id=35784710[/URL][/QUOTE]
Disgusting little POS. :censored: Y'all reckon he'll get excused for the probation violation?

[YOUTUBE]8F9jXYOH2c0[/youtube]

[url]http://www.autoevolution.com/news/knight-rider-trailer-suggests-revamp-with-david-hasselhoff-and-the-original-kitt-103030.html[/url]

[URL="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/fbi-us-marshals-search-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch"]FBI and US marshals join Texas police in hunt for missing 'affluenza teen' [/URL]

[QUOTE]Federal authorities have joined the hunt for [URL="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/texas"]Texas[/URL] teen Ethan Couch who has gone missing two years after getting probation for killing four people in a drunken driving crash.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on Wednesday after he failed to report to his probation officer. US marshals and the FBI are also searching for Couch’s mother, Tonya.
[/QUOTE][QUOTE]“I was not surprised. I predicted two years ago that something bad was going to happen of this. It didn’t shock me at all. I wasn’t surprised at all that he ran,” Dee Anderson, sheriff of Tarrant County in Texas, [URL="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/us/texas-affluenza-drunken-driving-teen-missing/"]told CNN on Thursday[/URL].

Anderson said it is not out of realm of possibilities that Couch and his mother have made it out of the county, given that they have access to money and have the “ability to disappear”.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. They had a good start,” he said. “I don’t believe they are the kind of people that would have run a short distance. I believe they planned this.”

Anderson also had a message for Couch and his mother: “We’re going to find you, wherever you are.”
[/QUOTE]Interpol, anyone?

This story misstates his age at the time of the crimes. He was 16.

[QUOTE=kladner;419600][URL="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/18/fbi-us-marshals-search-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch"]FBI and US marshals join Texas police in hunt for missing 'affluenza teen' [/URL]

Interpol, anyone?

This story misstates his age at the time of the crimes. He was 16.[/QUOTE]
But probation was taking over his whole day. It was ruining his life. It was hard. What about his needs?

[QUOTE=only_human;419602]But probation was taking over his whole day. It was ruining his life. It was hard. What about his needs?[/QUOTE]
Can you hear me playing the world's tiniest violin in sympathy? :yucky:

[YOUTUBE]EZf00ad3G6o[/YOUTUBE]

[url]http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/top-10-most-memorable-1970s-motorcycle-commercials[/url]

[URL="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34151-company-is-bottling-air-in-canada-and-selling-it-to-china"]Shades of Spaceballs![/URL] At least it isn't selling pangolin scales or rhinoceros horn.

[B][SIZE=3]This Company Is Bottling Air in Canada and Selling It to China[/SIZE][/B]

[QUOTE]The second product Vitality Air sells is a bit less … conventional. Fresh Clean Air is air harvested, for lack of a better term, from the Canadian Rockies, and it comes in two flavors, Banff and Lake Louise. The product description for Banff bottled air reads: “In the setting of Banff National park in Alberta, Canada, we have painstakingly distilled and bottled the air in this pristine UNESCO World Heritage Site using our patented filtration technique. The air is collected over days, concentrating the essence of where it was captured.”[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=only_human;416948]Duolingo... [/QUOTE]
Man, how do you make those weekly scores? Are you really investing so much time daily, or you know a trick to the big scores? Like working against the clock, for example, I found out that it gives two times more points per time unit (you get 20 instead of 10, if you do good, when the lesson ends). But I am only able to do that with English, and not with other languages I went through. So, are you really polyglot, able to race against the time in all those languages, or you really spend 25 hours per day there? (both will be worth my admiration!).

(Edit: yes, I am following you since Nov.23 when you posted here, and trying every day to beat you, in the limit of available time, and never succeed!)

[QUOTE=LaurV;420147]But I am only able to do that with English, and not with other languages I went through. So, are you really polyglot, able to race against the time in all those languages, or you really spend 25 hours per day there? (both will be worth my admiration!).

(Edit: yes, I am following you since Nov.23 when you posted here, and trying every day to beat you, in the limit of available time, and never succeed!)[/QUOTE]
I never used the timed quizes because I'm doing everything on a tablet and I'm just not that quick. The truth is that while I was grieving over my sweetheart's passing, I discovered, quite accidentally, that language studies compel so much of my attention that I get relief from negative thoughts.

So during holidays or other times that I particularly want distraction I spend a bit of time there. Most other times I'm not there that much. I also visit when they add a new language to check it out - as I did recently with Esperanto and then Russian.

I found with Russian I am having difficulty hearing consonants embedded in clusters. So another reason I've spent more time there recently is I decided to advance my levels on a few languages to improve my listening comprehension. I'm hoping for synergistic improvements. And thus I spent time on French and Spanish and now German too; all quite recently. I'm slowing down a bit on the German at the moment. I intend to push that a few more levels before jumping to another language.

edit:
A good way to advance points is translation in the immersion section, but I just stick with the language lessons.

[QUOTE=only_human;420149] and now German too.[/QUOTE]
The German course is extraordinary well written. Congrats to the people who did it, they invested a lot of time and talent there! I already went through most of it, in fact about 70-80 percent from the time I invested in duolingo was dedicated to learning German. Or well... trying to.... Doulingo German course is very good, and very easy to understand, the best I ever used.

But I have a big problem with German, it never sticks to me. I was working in German-owned companies for the last 18 years of my life, having German colleagues (most of them great guys), traveled to Germany many times for business, went through many books, CDs, online courses, etc. but I still can't say a sentence in that language. Or well, not enough long one, beside of "danke", "bitte", "auf wiedersehen", etc. When it is spoken around me, I can extract technical terms, numbers, very usual words, etc, and "make out" what the story is about. But ask me something and I am completely lost.

My mother was language teacher, in spite of the fact that she was totally outside of all that could mean physical phenomenon or real sciences, and she had no aptitude for numbers, she could speak fluently (beside of Romanian) French, Russian and Italian. She was teaching the first one for about 20 years and the second one for about 40, at all levels, in the communist Romania. Meantime, I studied English ("first foreign language") in school for 11 years (grade 2 to grade 12), and then Russian in the middle school for 4 years ("second foreign language", grade 5 to 8). When I went to high school, there was no Russian offered and we had to chose between French and German as a "second foreign" language (first was English, mandatory for a Computer Science high school - we learned Fortran and operating card-punchers, but that is another story which I repeatedly told here around). So, another 4 years of French.

Now guess what, the level of those "studies" were very low, and we only had two to four hours per week, the rest were filled with math, physics, politics, and other not so funny stuff. I mean, who wanted to learn, could learn a lot. But they were not pushing you for languages, like for math, or sciences, or literature/grammar. Teachers didn't really care, and they were not pushed either, by the "authorities", as the country was "needing workers not scientists". All language teachers up to and including middle school knew my mother, she had some "high" position in the "languages" circles there, she really liked her job, and she was coordinating some educational whatever. Some were good friends of her, some were afraid of her. I guess...

So I always got my "highest" marks at languages because the teachers knew my mother, and because I was very good with numbers and sciences. Not because I was good with languages. I was a total anti-talent, in fact. Totally opposite of my mother. But the "fashion" was so, when the language, music, geography, etc., teacher was not decided what mark to give you, he would look at the scores sheet of math, or grammar, or chemistry, and say "well, you are totally stupid at my object, but you are good at math"...

That is why when I finished the high school I could not speak any word in any foreign language. My English level was zero, and about Russian or French, c'mon, I was below zero. It took me another two-three-ten-twenty years to learn English up to an average level (during the university, most of it) and that was only because everything related to computers was/is in English.

But I am still a non-talent when it comes to it. I learned Mandarin and later Thai, enough for bargaining in the market, because the life is a bitch and dragged me to places I never dreamed I would be, and paths I never wished to walk, but that's it. I can understand a conversation in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, or even French, if it is not very complicate, due to their (big) similarities with Romanian language. I went (partially) through duolingo courses, but I am not very interested in those languages, not so much to go deeper. I can "read" Russian "fluently", because I learned the alphabet when I was very young, from my mother's books, like you learn Morse code, or any mathematical stuff, for which I have aptitudes, but I can't really understand what I am reading, because I have no vocabulary.

Yeah, BTW, I taught myself to read Romanian when I was 4, and I always was very good at it, and loved to study its grammar - but I was also lucky having a very good literature/grammar teacher in middle school, she was a wonderful lady which I still remember, and I wanted to visit her in July when I was home, to give her a bouquet of flowers, but I freaking couldn't find the time! I found out she was still alive, she was very old, and living in a nearby town. And she wasn't a friend of my mother, neither enemy, she was new in town at the time, coming from south with her family.

Well, same for Thai, I can read, knowing the alphabet, but I don't understand anything. Waiting for Duo to introduce a Thai course, :razz:

Esperanto seems interesting, but I don't see an application to it in the near future.

But I would freaking like to learn German. I would give my soul to the devil for it. Well.. the part which is not already sold to other different dark entities... Maybe the feeling is accentuated by the fact that I can't do it, you know, the temptation of the forbidden fruit, hehe...:smile:

Now, the conflict between generations reversed, the little miss LaurV is like my mother was: she already speaks 4 languages fluently, in order being English, Romanian, Thai and Chinese, and her affinity for numbers and sciences is much lower that her father would like it to be (SWMBO says I am absurd, but I know what I know!).

But well...sorry for my boring story, today is Xmas isn't it?

Merry merry of it, to you all!

English is her first language, Romanian second? What's SWMBO's first language? Where did the little one learn Mandarin (which is what I presume you mean by Chinese)?

In at least this respect, growing up in America really sucks :smile: lol. My Opa called some of my Dutch relatives today, first time I've spoken to them in 15 years, but I don't know an ounce of Dutch sadly... :no:

I can't converse very much in anything other than American English. I had a few years of Spanish in high school, about four semesters of Japanese in college, a bit more than two semesters of sign language and one semester of Mandarin. Mandarin was the only language class that gave me an 'A' grade.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;420153]English is her first language, Romanian second? What's SWMBO's first language? Where did the little one learn Mandarin (which is what I presume you mean by Chinese)?[/QUOTE]
SWMBO is Romanian and her field was medicine, when we were in Ro. She re-qualified as nursery/kindergarten teacher (primary years programs, blah, blah) as there is no way to work in health in Thai, for a farang, contrary to teaching jobs which are plenty. Her English is as fair as mine, her Thai worse.

We came here when little miss was 1 year and half.

She was going to an international school ever since then, starting with k1 when she was 3, and she moved to k3 in few months because the (Australian) teacher said she "knew everything, and all the routine, songs, etc" (she didn't speak a word in English when she joined), and she "is like a mother for all the toddlers around her" - she was very well developed physically, i.e. larger than the Asian colleagues, and very motherly. She learned English extremely fast, in weeks/days, and during parties and play groups she was speaking simultaneously in English, Thai and Romanian, with her friends and us, and never confusing them. Actually she was associating each person with a language. She started confusing them, mixing expressions, sometime resulting in extremely funny mot-a-mot translations/sentences, when she grew older. Due to that "fast transfer" from k1 to k3 she was always the youngest in her class, actually she will only be 17 when she will finish the high school.

The English being her first language is due to the "exposure", she was exposed to school environment, where the teachers mostly are British, Australian, American, and also many "farang" colleagues. She did a plain 9 (max mark) at listening, reading, comprehending whatever on IELTS (by British Council) and a general score of 8, and she wants to continue her studies in Australia.

The "exposure" to Romanian was only what we are talking at home, or with relatives (over the net) and friends (few Romanians living here around, few other at home), and SWMBO pushing her through some grammar and literature lessons when she was younger (like 9, 10 or 12, now it is no way to do that, better go to the zoo and fight the tigers!). Therefore her Romanian is as good as our family's Romanian is. It means somehow "regional" or even less that that, i.e. not quite literary (every family has its own expressions, vocabulary, internal jokes, etc.), she has quite a good grammar but restricted vocabulary. Well.. that is supplemented by English words, like for example when we had some Romanian friends visiting, they asked her how she likes Thailand, and she, doing a visible effort, said in very clear Romanian: "I like Chiangmai better than Bangkok because here the air is clean; in Bangkok the pollution is very high", she was thinking that in English and translated it "on spot", it is what all we do when we try a foreign language, well, she got everything right, between her thoughts and her mouth, except the word "pollution" which was not translated to the correct Romanian word "[URL="https://translate.google.com/#ro/en/poluare"]poluare[/URL]", but it was easier to come to one whose sound was closer to the original English word: "poluție" (pronounced about "polutzie", closer to the English "polution").

Well, the last word exists in Romanian language, for sure, but google is not translating it right: we only use it for [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal_emission"]this[/URL]. And she didn't understand why everybody was rolling on the floor, literally, with laughing.

About Thai she studied at school the mandatory classes only (few hours per week), but she speaks it every day when she goes around with her friends. She is very "handy" to have with us when we visit local markets, Thai people are very friendly with you and hold you in high esteem when you speak their language, especially if you are young little lady and get all tones right, like a native. Therefore, we get discounts at potatoes :razz:

Mandarin she also learned at school, she liked it a lot, she can also write most of what she can speak (which I can not, I speak it, because I was working in China, but I only know about 30 of those alien signs, the simplest ones, like yi, er, san, zhong, etc, which I can't make a sentence with them).

Wow, she can even write Hanzi?! Color me impressed! You must be a very proud father!

And... as far as mistranslations go, that's almost certainly the funniest I've ever heard, haha.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;420163]Wow, she can even write Hanzi?! Color me impressed! [/QUOTE]
Well, what I always said, actually it is not so difficult, if you learn one per day, then in about 13000 days you learn all of them. What's that, compared with M48? :razz:

[QUOTE=only_human;420158]I can't converse very much in anything other than American English.[/QUOTE]

Ditto. In fact, I often have trouble even communicating in (Canadian) English...

I am highly envious of those who can speak/write in more than one human language. My sister can speak fluently in English, French and German, and flip between them (sometimes in mid-sentence) without even thinking about it.

I've tried (hard) to learn French and Spanish, and just can't do it. It might have something to do with my dyslexia.

On the flip side, I have programmed professionally in over a dozen computer languages, and have no problem picking up a new (computer) language given a day or so. I often wonder which of the two skills are more empowering; I suspect the ability with human languages....

[url]http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/1319/showcase-of-beautiful-typography-done-in-tex-friends[/url]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV_UCQFY6w&feature=youtu.be[/url]

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;420298][url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV_UCQFY6w&feature=youtu.be[/url][/QUOTE]
Thanks, it was nice to watch a video and realize that I was smiling.

[QUOTE=only_human;420299]Thanks, it was nice to watch a video and realize that I was smiling.[/QUOTE]

Seconded!

A blatant self-promotion ("It's got like a hundred and 70 million views" when in fact it has 1.7 million views), but very clever. :smile:

[QUOTE=LaurV;420147]Man, how do you make those weekly scores? Are you really investing so much time daily, or you know a trick to the big scores? Like working against the clock, for example, I found out that it gives two times more points per time unit (you get 20 instead of 10, if you do good, when the lesson ends). But I am only able to do that with English, and not with other languages I went through. So, are you really polyglot, able to race against the time in all those languages, or you really spend 25 hours per day there? (both will be worth my admiration!).

(Edit: yes, I am following you since Nov.23 when you posted here, and trying every day to beat you, in the limit of available time, and never succeed!)[/QUOTE]
Ha! You beat me this week. Start your engines, we both have 0 xp for this new week.
I think I'll jump to Italian, I thought you might be working on that and I want to take a break from German.

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;420298][url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV_UCQFY6w&feature=youtu.be[/url][/QUOTE]

Now I know WOtE and Key of Awesome. :tu:

Food for thought... How this looks today. Watch it, it worth the 30 minutes of your life!

[YOUTUBE]YIBhPsyYCiM[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]gh5xu35bAxA[/YOUTUBE]

Mezcal vs Tequila
 

[url]http://mezcalphd.com/2012/08/tequila-vs-mezcal/[/url]

[QUOTE]I believe that for most people[B] tequila leads to mezcal[/B] (even though all tequilas are mezcals, but we will come back to that). Tequila leads to mezcal because for most of us, it started with tequila. We traveled down a path that likely started with bad tequila, bad experiences, and bad results the next morning. Then we slowly found our way back to the good 100% agave tequilas that started showing up in the 90’s. And maybe we enjoyed the extra anejos that move tequila toward cognac. And then, what? What else is out there? Ahhh mezcal….I’ve heard about that. The rise of the extra anejos coincided with the arrival of fine mezcals and then they started to appear on the shelves at your local liquor store and on the cocktails menus of your favorite gin joints. So tequila brought us to this point and now mezcal joins the discussion….[/QUOTE]

[CENTER]AN INTRODUCTORIE FOR TO LERNE TO REDE, TO PRONOUNCE AND TO SPEKE FRENCH TREWLY, COMPYLED FOR THE RIGHT HIGH, EXELLENT AND MOST VERTUOUS LADY THE LADY MARY OF ENGLANDE, DOUGHTER TO OUR MOST GRACIOUS SOVERAYN LORDE KYNG HENRY THE EIGHT.[/CENTER]
[QUOTE]THE SECONDE RULE. Also in redyng frenche ye shall leave the last letter of every worde unsounde, endyng in s, t, and p, save of the same worde wherupon ye do pause or rest, for if ye do pronounce every worde by hymselfe, that is to say, restyng upon the same, ye ought for to pronounce and sounde him thorowe. And if any word endyng with an s, have the next worde folowyng begynning with a uowell, than shall ye sounde the said s, lyke a z, as in these wordes jamais aultres ye shal rede jamaiz aultre (never others) , as it were but one worde, but if the next worde commyng after the s be a consonant, than shall the said s remayne unsounde, as in these wordes jamais narés, (never shall ye have) the s of jamais shall nat be sounde. Provyded alwayes, as is sayde before, that ye do nat pause nor rest upon the worde, for so doyng ye must sounde it parfitely.[/QUOTE]

This photo of a dog posted to Facebook by Stephen Roseman has been shared over 100,000 times
 

“[URL="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/the-great-ham-dog-of-facebook?bffbtrending&utm_term=.wv35RYB7#.rwPWrdPA"]This poor dog was badly burned[/URL] and disfigured trying to save his family from a house fire,” Roseman wrote in the caption. “One like = one prayer, one share = ten prayers.”

:spot:

:max:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;420841]:max:[/QUOTE]
Common Grackles? Red Winged Blackbirds?

[QUOTE=kladner;420870]Common Grackles? Red Winged Blackbirds?[/QUOTE]We have no idea. They are real loud and surprisingly aggressive so we don't intend to go outside and investigate further.

:mike:

[QUOTE=kladner;420870]Common Grackles? Red Winged Blackbirds?[/QUOTE]
No, they look like romanian gypsies... :smile:
[YOUTUBE]HfygBMc7PN8[/YOUTUBE]

Yuck... Who uses [URL="http://www.tech-faq.com/10-ways-facebook-can-get-you-into-trouble.html"]FB[/URL]? Me not.. :razz:

[QUOTE]Threads: 14,847; Posts: 366,178; Members: 2,689; Annoying Members: 2¼; [U][B]Active Members: 195[/B][/U] [/QUOTE]
I had not realized what a elite group of which I am a part. :smile:

[QUOTE=kladner;421274]I had not realized what a elite group of which I am a part. :smile:[/QUOTE]

I can only hope I'm at least partly an annoying member :smile:

[QUOTE=Dubslow;421275]I can only hope I'm at least partly an annoying member :smile:[/QUOTE]
LOL! :tu:

[url]https://i.imgur.com/f5u2RL5.gif[/url]

[URL="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/01/amazon-customer-complains-finds-spiteful-10-inch-dildo-in-his-shopping-basket/"]Amazon customer complains, finds [SPOILER]10-inch dildo[/SPOILER] in his shopping basket[/URL]

[QUOTE]On a fateful day in October 2015, Pedro—an IT contractor living in Ireland—was surfing Amazon.de for a specialised textbook he needed for a new extracurricular art class. He found the book, ordered it, but was disappointed when it arrived. The listing had said that the book was the current edition, but Amazon sent Pedro the previous edition.


Pedro got in touch with customer service to see about getting the proper version. A few days later, Amazon told Pedro that it had ultimately failed to find the right version of the textbook and that he should instead return the book for a full refund.


Pedro, who by this point had spent a long time looking for the correct version of the book and then more time waiting while Amazon looked for the book in its warehouse, wasn't happy with the overall shopping experience. He made his displeasure known by providing negative feedback on a customer satisfaction survey, and he figured that was the end of it.
[/QUOTE]

Only 50 euros? He should have bought it!
:razz:

[QUOTE=LaurV;421431]Only 50 euros? He should have bought it!:razz:
[/QUOTE]
:missingteeth:

[url]http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--c8_vC45H--/y1n9wbjxxepizp6i9tv2.gif[/url]

Washington Post Disses Electric Cars As Sales Soar Tenfold In 5 Years
 

[URL="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/01/08/3736911/electric-vehicles-washington-post/"]A pundit lies and blusters.[/URL] What a surprise! (Think Progress changed titles since I posted the one in the subject line.)

[QUOTE]Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales are exploding. Annual global sales are up tenfold in just five years — from a mere [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country"]45,000 in 2011[/URL] to a record [URL="http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/"]448,000 last year[/URL].

And yet for the Washington Post’s Charles Lane, the latest PEV figures are simply grist for his [URL="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/12/charles_lane_electric_cars_why_so_angry.html"]umpteenth[/URL] highly-confused [URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/government-has-spent-a-lot-on-electric-cars-but-was-it-worth-it/2016/01/06/359bd25c-b496-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html"]anti-PEV screed[/URL].

Before seeing how Lane pulls this off, let us go back two years, when the the Post published two attacks on electric vehicles by Charles Lane. The first in [URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-lane-obamas-electric-car-mistake/2013/02/11/441b39f6-7490-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html"]February 2013[/URL], titled “Obama’s electric car mistake” began “The Obama administration’s electric-car fantasy finally may have died on the road between Newark, Del., and Milford, Conn.”

I am sure you remember that moment when a dubious New York Times review killed off that obscure electric car company nobody talks about any more. What was it’s name. Oh yes, Tesla.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;421582]A pundit lies and blusters. What a surprise![/QUOTE]

Yeah... This is a relatively old technique...

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)....

Paiute tribal chair: 'Don’t tell me any of these ranchers came across the Bering Strait'
 

.[QUOTE][URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/07/1466961/-Paiute-tribal-chair-Don-t-tell-me-any-of-these-ranchers-came-across-the-Bering-Strait"]The armed occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge want the federal government to give back their land. This map of Oregon shows who had that land in the first place.[/URL] Note: No map of pre-conquest America is exact because tribal "borders" were fluid.

As the media continue spotlighting the armed extremists occupying the federal headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, their complaints about federal government “over-reach,” and their demands that the feds “give the land back,” members of another group say that if there were to be any giveback, [I]they [/I]ought to be first in line.

They are the Burns Paiute Tribe, descendants of the people the U.S. Army under Gen. George Crook starved and murdered into submission in the 1860s in a successful effort to confine them to a 1.8 million-acre reservation. This was later reduced to the 1,000 or so acres where the 420-member tribe is now headquartered. The Paiute leaders are profoundly irked by the occupiers’ demands.[/QUOTE].

[url]http://reverbpress.com/news/us/oregons-domestic-terrorists-send-desperate-plea-for-snacks-response-from-muslims-hilarious/[/url]

[QUOTE]“It takes a really special kind of idiot to try to protest the federal government while asking people to send you stuff through the USPS.”[/QUOTE]

The Arcimoto SRK electric vehicle is the most fun thing we did at CES
 

This little thing is beyond cool!

LAS VEGAS—Electric vehicles were a big thing at CES this year. Even before the show officially kicked off, Faraday Future [URL="http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/01/ars-talks-car-design-with-faraday-future-at-ces/"]introduced the world to its FF Zero 1[/URL] concept car, and Chevrolet let journalists ([URL="http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/01/chevrolets-bolt-is-an-electric-vehicle-for-the-masses-and-weve-driven-it/"]including us)[/URL] get behind the wheel of its new Bolt EV. But the single most fun EV we encountered was also the cheapest and most pared back (by quite some margin)—[SIZE=3][B][URL="http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/01/the-arcimoto-srk-electric-vehicle-is-the-most-fun-thing-we-did-at-ces/"]the Arcimoto SRK.[/URL][/B][/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;421556][URL]http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--c8_vC45H--/y1n9wbjxxepizp6i9tv2.gif[/URL][/QUOTE]

It took a long time for me to catch onto this clip. Now I can't stop giggling! :lol:

Here's a sad tale...

[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/40iwdh/accessing_deceased_husbands_encrypted_laptop/[/url]

From the "Oops, New Prime" thread:
[QUOTE]see' [URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=422005&postcount=103"]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpos...&postcount=103[/URL][/QUOTE]An associated YouTube vid-
[YOUTUBE]TStUjbIxcy8[/YOUTUBE]

Start Wars

[YOUTUBE]Yp5HpjhKHKs[/YOUTUBE]

Ha! Better than watching the movie, actually...
Bravo!

[url]https://media.giphy.com/media/HXsXwqpwtOHQY/giphy.gif[/url]

Here's a mildly interesting article entitled [URL="http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html"]When the U.S. air force discovered the flaw of averages[/URL]

[url]https://i.imgur.com/1KLac4e.gifv[/url]

[YOUTUBE]eS9_axNB9wc[/YOUTUBE]

I have to say it seems to me that there's a substantial difference in the amount of heat output between 8 threads of GMP-ECM versus 8 threads of ggnfs-lasieve. My toes are rather colder than they were a week ago :camping:

Trump's Plan to Randomly Shoot People Lacks Details, Random Shooters Say
 

[URL="http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34820-trumps-plan-to-randomly-shoot-people-lacks-details-random-shooters-say"]One day after Donald Trump[/URL] .....[QUOTE].....claimed that he could shoot people on New York’s Fifth Avenue and not lose support, a leading member of the random-shooting community complained that the billionaire’s random-shooting plan lacks specifics.

Harland Dorrinson, who heads the largest association of random shooters in the nation, said that Trump’s Fifth Avenue plan “lacked many of the key ingredients necessary for a credible random shooting.”

“There’s no weapons cache, no twisted manifesto to be found later by authorities,” Dorrinson said. “To anyone in the random-shooting world, Trump’s plan fails on so many levels.”
[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://time.com/4201432/mit-hyperloop-contest-spacex-elon-musk/"]Hyperloop: MIT students win contest to design Elon Musk's 700mph travel pods[/URL]
[QUOTE]The Hyperloop is a high-speed ground transport concept proposed by Musk to transport “pods” of 20 to 30 people through a 12-foot diameter tube at speeds of roughly 700mph (1,127km/h).

More than 100 university teams presented design concepts to a panel of judges in an event that began on Friday.

Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands finished second, the University of Wisconsin third, Virginia Tech fourth and the University of California, Irvine, fifth.

The top teams will build their pods and test them at the world’s first Hyperloop test track, being built adjacent to SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.wired.com/2010/08/trash-sucking-island/"]NEW YORK CITY’S TRASH-SUCKING ISLAND[/URL]
[QUOTE]Trash zips through the pipes at an average of 30 mph, but it can reach speeds of 60 mph. Sending all kinds of pieces of trash — metal, wood, sharp, heavy — through a bend in the tubes can cause a lot of wear and eventually a hole. Once that happens, the system loses suction, and the Swedes are called in.

“The first time is scary,” said a young Swedish pipe technician as he waited in a storage room behind a grocery store for another Swede to come back from 50 feet down the pipe. “You get used to it.”

The system was built 35 years ago by a Swedish company called Envac with a planned 40-year life span, so it’s not surprising that the Swedes are frequent visitors. [/QUOTE]

. :max:
[QUOTE]Please note that as per the Instructions from Mr.President of The Federal
Republic of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry Of Finance to our
Consolidated Oil Reserve Account Holders in the United States Wells Fargo
Bank Head Office we have on Monday 25th January 2016 taken delivery of
your uploaded Inter Switch ATM Master/Verve Card valued the sum of
USD3.5Million as uploaded by our bankers Well Fargo Bank in your name and
favor as the funds Beneficiary your Wells Fargo Bank duly issued ATM Card
awaiting urgent delivery to your mailing address in your Country through
the Office of the Director General Of The Debt Management Office
DR.Abraham Edo.also note that we have entered into an agreement with FedEx
courier company only for your delivery at the agreed low rate sum of
USD195 ONLY.
[/QUOTE]
EDIT: Dollar signs removed.

[QUOTE=kladner;424820]. :max:

EDIT: Dollar signs removed.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, you are a rich man now, you need only to part with about $200, aargh... :wink:

[QUOTE=LaurV;424828]Yeah, you are a rich man now, you need only to part with about $200, aargh... :wink:[/QUOTE]

The attempts at official-sounding language are hilarious. :smile:

:mike:

[URL="http:// http://time.com/3685895/groundhog-day-history/"]The Original Groundhog Day Involved Eating the Groundhog[/URL]
[QUOTE]Europeans had long marked winter’s midpoint on Feb. 2 by celebrating Candlemas Day, a festival of lights that also included a formula for predicting the arrival of spring. As explained in an English folk song:

[CENTER]If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go winter, and come not again.[/CENTER]

While the same principle applied to Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney inserted the notoriously grumpy, burrow-dwelling rodent into the formula as a kind of meteorological middleman. It also became a regional delicacy, with a flavor described by locals as “a cross between pork and chicken,” according to Pennsylvania historian Christopher R. Davis.

In the 1880s, per Davis, groundhog was the cuisine of choice at the Punxsutawney Elks Lodge. Devotees later formed the Groundhog Club, which hosted both the annual Groundhog Day ceremony and a summertime groundhog hunt followed by a picnic featuring a variety of groundhog dishes and a “groundhog punch” that sounds equally appetizing — a combination of vodka, milk, eggs, orange juice “and other ingredients,” Davis writes.

As tastes changed and Punxsutawney Phil’s status rose, the Groundhog Club stopped hunting his brethren and began catering to him instead. Groundhog is no longer on the menu at the annual Groundhog Picnic, and “groundhog punch” has morphed into an “elixir of life” that reportedly keeps Phil young and explains why the same groundhog has been predicting spring in Pennsylvania for over a century.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://www.rt.com/usa/330986-groundhog-day-weather-punxsutawney/"]It’s Groundhog Day: Is winter finally over? [/URL]
[QUOTE]In the Hollywood outing, pessimistic weatherman Phil Connors is forced to live through the same Groundhog Day "over and over" again until he gets it right.

The plot is basically a twist on Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol - except instead of ghoulish spirits, Connors is confronted by his own miserable life repeated endlessly on a loop.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.post-gazette.com/life/drinks/2016/01/21/Beer-Penn-Brewery-hopes-you-ll-want-a-Philsner-again-and-again-and-again/stories/201601210017"]Beer: Penn Brewery hopes you'll want a Philsner again and again and again[/URL]
[QUOTE]If you get the feeling that you’ve had this beer before, well, you may have. It’s basically Penn Gold.

But Penn Brewery this season is releasing a draft version called Punxsutawney Philsner, and it will do it with a visit this Saturday from Pennsylvania’s famous prognosticating groundhog.
...
Phil will make other beer appearances, but his big gig is on Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, at Gobbler’s Knob near Punxsutawney, which will mark the 130th anniversary of his and his shadow’s prediction of how much winter remains.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/groundhog-day-2016_us_56b0dba5e4b0fbfdd6155252"]Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring[/URL]
[QUOTE]The event, which typically brings out 30,000 revelers to the small, west-central Pennsylvania town, has become a television staple at the beginning of one of the coldest months of the year in the U.S. Northeast. In addition to the celebrated rodent, the pageant features an entourage of city elders in old-fashioned dress and top hats, presiding over the festivities.[/QUOTE]

[URL]https://vimeo.com/150929970[/URL]

:mike:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;425328][URL]https://vimeo.com/150929970[/URL]

:mike:[/QUOTE]
nice. soap bubbles freezing (01:20).
[QUOTE]It wasn’t easy to capture those bubbles because only around 5-10% of them didn’t break instantly and as you can imagine it was a challenge to be patient at -15 Celsius ;) but it was worth it because now that my daughter has seen it, winter is magic for her.
Music: "Ice Chimes" by Lee Rosevere [/QUOTE]

How many counties can we ride to in 2016?

So far, [URL="http://www.mob-rule.com/g17?center=35,-91&zoom=8&user=xyzzy"]0.5%[/URL]!

:mike:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;425365]How many counties can we ride to in 2016?

So far, [URL="http://www.mob-rule.com/g17?center=35,-91&zoom=8&user=xyzzy"]0.5%[/URL]!

:mike:[/QUOTE]

if I didn't find out it's NP-hard I was going to ask if you were looking for a [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamiltonian_path"]hamiltonian path[/URL] or not.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;425365]How many counties can we ride to in 2016?

So far, [URL="http://www.mob-rule.com/g17?center=35,-91&zoom=8&user=xyzzy"]0.5%[/URL]!

:mike:[/QUOTE]

Hey, not bad! I'm not terribly far away, relatively speaking. A mere 20 counties away! (Of which 3 or 4 are only crossing a corner for a few miles)

Hey, [B][U]I[/U][/B] found the largest prime!

[ATTACH]13839[/ATTACH]

(for the first time since it was added, and we swear that we didn't use refresh)

We are curious if anyone ever found the "2". We don't want to try refresh, that would be cheating. But we access the forum as often as possible :razz:

This just in case that "2" is really in, we have a vague, conspiracy idea, that the gerbils didn't start with those having so few digits... (we never saw a 4 or 5 digits, actually, maybe only those discovered by GIMPS were added?)

[QUOTE=LaurV;425435] (we never saw a 4 or 5 digits, actually, maybe only those discovered by GIMPS were added?)[/QUOTE]

Looking at the logo below, I'd consider that last solution... :razz:

Luigi

[URL="http://www.androidauthority.com/google-drive-free-storage-security-586501/"]No brainer (2016 edition): Google’s giving you 2GB of free storage to secure your account[/URL]
[QUOTE]Update, February 8, 2016: For Safer Internet Day 2016, Google is giving away another 2GB of free storage for your Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Just head over to [URL="https://security.google.com/settings/security/secureaccount"]this link[/URL] and go through the quick checklist to take advantage of this win-win offer. You get additional storage (that does not expire) and you make sure your security is up to notch.[/QUOTE]

[url]https://v1.std3.ru/fd/b6/1445440160-fdb6e6df7256ff2c25a81459c79d254e.gif[/url]

Happy lunar new-year-of-monkeying-around, all
 

My sis had a work event in the South SF Bay (where I live) last night which included a Chinese-New-year-themed dinner, she stopped by after and brought some leftovers, and we compared our Chinese zodiac animals. I told her the story of how I found out my animal back in college while hanging out in the martial arts room with some Taiwanese guys who were in the Kung Fu club. I was hoping for something ferocious, but on hearing my birth year mild-mannered bookish Andrew does some quick mental math, cracks into a grin, puts his hand behind his head while making a V-sign and waggling his extended fingers and says "bunny rabbit." (Which is only ferocious with 'a mean streak a mile wide' in certain films by Python, Monty Ltd; otherwise it rarely rises above the occasional vicious bout of bum-nibbling.) Sis thought that was very amusing until I looked hers up and told her she's a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_(zodiac)]Snake[/url]:
[i]
In Chinese symbology, Snakes are regarded as intelligent, but with a tendency to be somewhat unscrupulous.
[/i]
Which fits - she's in marketing. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

[I should add that in the alternative animal-zodiac of the Vietnamese lunar calendar the rabbit is replaced by the cat, which seems to fit me better - extreme creature of habit, loves to sleep late, inherently contrarian, more of a meat than carrot eater, etc.]

[Speaking of cats being extreme creatures of habit, see Xyzzy's link above.]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;425773] more of a meat than carrot eater[/QUOTE]
Oh?? I thought cats eat only cucumbers... (see at minute 3:55)
[YOUTUBE]_BRp7ezUqbI[/YOUTUBE]

Hieronymous Bosch paintings in historic Netherlands homecoming
 

I hope [URL="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35556023"]this[/URL] isn't a duplicate post. I sure wish I could see these paintings in person!

[url]http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/02/64-bit-iphones-and-ipads-get-stuck-in-a-loop-when-set-to-january-1-1970/[/url]

[QUOTE=kladner;426108]I hope [URL="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35556023"]this[/URL] isn't a duplicate post. I sure wish I could see these paintings in person![/QUOTE]
The exhibition lasts until 8 May.

[QUOTE=Nick;426187]The exhibition lasts until 8 May.[/QUOTE]

That is good to know, though I doubt we will be able to go trans-Atlantic by then. :smile:

Do you know if the collection will be displayed anywhere else?

[QUOTE=kladner;426190]That is good to know, though I doubt we will be able to go trans-Atlantic by then. :smile:

Do you know if the collection will be displayed anywhere else?[/QUOTE]
I don't think so, though there are other events here throughout the year to mark the 500th anniversary of his death.
[URL]http://www.bosch500.nl/en[/URL]

[QUOTE=kladner;426190]I doubt we will be able to go trans-Atlantic by then. :smile:
[/QUOTE]
Various cruise liners reposition from th U.S. to Europe next month, with big discounts on the trip. It's a lot easier on your back than flying, but only one-way unfortunately!

By the way, Happy Birthday! :smile:

When I streamlined a C version of LL that I found online years ago,
I made it do the test for a wider range of exponents - it had only
worked for integers > 1000 and < 20M,

I was able to make it work DOWN TO > 32 and UP TO < 40M.
The algorithm implementation simply assumed n > 1000, so
it couldn't check exponents like 2, 3, 5, ..., 127, 521, 607.

I'm still not satisfied with my version - it should work uniformly
over the whole range of exponents, except perhaps for 2 and 3
which can be included simply because 2^2-1 = 3 and 2^3-1 = 7,
and we know 3 and 7 are prime in advance.

But not everyone knows that 2^5-1 = 31 is prime, and the program
and its algorithm should have worked for even the smallest exponents
without treating them as already known values.

I wonder how P95 deals with small exponents...

[QUOTE=Nick;426209]Various cruise liners reposition from th U.S. to Europe next month, with big discounts on the trip. It's a lot easier on your back than flying, but only one-way unfortunately!

By the way, Happy Birthday! :smile:[/QUOTE]
Thanks on both counts, Nick!

[URL="http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2446733/russia-plans-a-switch-to-linux-to-rid-the-country-of-western-pigdogs"]Russia plans a switch to Linux[/URL] to rid the country of Western pigdogs :piggie::spot:
Still upset over Western sanctions. Crimea river By Chris Merriman

[QUOTE][B]RUSSIAN INTERNET[/B] tsar German Klimenko has announced in a televised rant that he plans to stop the unfair advantage Western companies have in the country, even if it means driving them out. And it could start with a state-sponsored switch to Linux.
[URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-09/putin-s-new-internet-czar-joins-hunt-for-google-apple-taxes"]Bloomberg[/URL] reported that Klimenko, hired by president 'Hello Boys' Putin six months ago, told Russian telly: "We are breeding the cow and they are milking it," referring presumably to the new 'udder controller' for Xbox One.
[/QUOTE]I only now looked at the Bloomberg link. Despite the satiric elements, this version doesn't stray too far from the source. :rolleyes:

[url]http://i.imgur.com/3FUjbLv.jpg[/url]