Kerim's Lifelog

Cartoon: Basic Color Terms + Gender Stereotypes www.linguisticanthropology.or...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:11:24 GMT

Cartoon: Basic Color Terms + Gender Stereotypes www.linguisticanthropology.org/...

Passover greetings from "the Jewish Cowboy" lpcoverlover.com/...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:32:13 GMT

Passover greetings from "the Jewish Cowboy" lpcoverlover.com/...

Rob Foster on the Elimination of File Systems as a User-Accessible Part

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:49:31 GMT

Rob Foster, observing how family and friends use their Macs:

Because they can now actually use their computers instead of simply restarting them, I’m able to better see how they use them. And the one commonality I’ve seen is that no one knows how to use the file system.

Unfortunately for the average person, the file system is so complex that everything outside of the desktop and the documents folder appears to be a vast labyrinth which most likely hides booby traps and minotaurs.

★

Google Reader "Play" is my new drug: http://www.google.com/reader/play

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:16:28 GMT

Google Reader "Play" is my new drug: http://www.google.com/reader/play

恋するゾンビちゃん／【ジュリアナアゲインPV】「Ready,Set,送信」

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:05:59 GMT

恋するゾンビちゃん／【ジュリアナアゲインPV】「Ready,Set,送信」
2009年最強のパーティーバンド「ジュリアナアゲイン」の新曲PVが完成！恋する女子高生の日常が、「あるきっかけ」で劇的に変化する・・・ロードムービー風の作品です。比嘉ちゃん女子高生ゾンビに萌えてください！【ジュリアナアゲインプロフィール】 Vo.タテヅカ2000　 Vo.ドル山ドル子 Gu.早乙女乙女　 Ba.唄山唄男 Dr.丸山おまる 2008年夏、富山にて結成。中心メンバーのタテヅカ2000は「トキメキ11」名義でこれまでアルバム4枚、オムニバスなど18枚に参加。新宿LOFT、下北沢SHELTERを中心に、マキシマムザホルモン、BRAHMAN,SNAILRAMP,HAWAIAN6、POTSHOT、　ムラマサ、175R等他数々の有名バンドと共演。 2008年夏に現メンバー。バンド名を「ジュリアナアゲイン」とし、精力的に活動する。『天才とバカは紙一重というがこいつは限りなく天才に近いバカだ！』（SNAIL　RAMP　竹村哲より）【小林でび監督プロフィール】映画監督。東京都出身。最新作である『泥棒日記』が２３分の短編ながら、ゆうばり国際ファンタスティック映画祭2009での特集上映をはじめとして、ロサンゼルス、フランクフルトなどの海外映画祭で次々と上映されるという快挙。今、勢いのある若手監督。

Cycles

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:05:58 GMT

Cycles
the day Worthing sea-front was invaded by infinite teddy-bears. The music is by me, and is available to download here: http://www.beatsdigital.com/track/683463 No teddy bears were harmed in the making of this video. The software used was adobe after effects.

「Ready,Set,送信」Japanese school girl-cell phone-zombie music video. www.youtube...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:58:28 GMT

「Ready,Set,送信」Japanese school girl-cell phone-zombie music video. www.youtube.com/... /via @shashwati

Google Reader Play: iPad-Friendly News Reader

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:58:07 GMT

Google has added an iPad-friendly version of its RSS aggregator, called Google Reader Play. According to the Official Google Reader Blog, the new full-screen slide-show is for people who “aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up”. It is also perfect for viewing on tablet PCs, including the upcoming iPad.

Navigate to the new page (part of Google Labs but open to everyone) and you’ll see a black screen with a row of thumbnails along the bottom and the content of the news item up top. If you have ever used a Flickr slideshow, you’ll be instantly at home. One news item is shown at a time. You can navigate with the arrow keys, or by clicking or touching the arrows and thumbnails on-screen. It works on the iPhone, but you can’t yet swipe to flip to the next item, and the view is way too small.

Google Reader Play recommends items to you based on what you mark as a liked or disliked. If you are logged into you Google account, it will pull from your own recommended items and also articles shared by contacts. And if you already use Google Reader, there is a new option when you click the arrow on one of your feed-folders to “View in Reader Play”.

It’s a great way to quickly flip through the news, and you don’t need to have ever touched an RSS subscription to do it. If you also consider that pretty much every Gmail user now has contacts due to Google Buzz, then Play should get pretty accurate, pretty soon. And of course, while it’s neat-o on the desktop, it’s tailor-made for tablets, especially as it doesn’t use Flash which can easily slow down these often underpowered machines. We fully expect to see an iPad optimized version very soon.

And Now for Something Completely Different [Google Reader Blog]

Google Reader Play [Google]

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:55:59 GMT

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere
Excruciating up-to-the-minute coverage of some irrelevant bullshit story that has no ramifications whatsoever.

Dear Wiley Interscience. Please stop naming all your files "fulltext.pdf"!kth...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:30:11 GMT

Dear Wiley Interscience. Please stop naming all your files "fulltext.pdf"!kthanksbye

Fat is a flavor?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:47:11 GMT

Researchers at Australia's Deakin University have published a paper in the British Journal of Nutrition showing evidence that human beings can taste fat -- that is, they can distinguish between two flavourless solutions in which one has more fat than the other.

I believe that this is true -- and that fat can offset bitterness the same way that sweet can. For example, raw cacao nibs mixed with cashew nuts taste sweet and chocolatey.

"We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes -- sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a savoury, protein-rich taste contained in foods such as soy sauce and chicken stock)," Russell Keast, from Deakin University, said Monday.
"Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste -- fat."
Researchers tested 30 people's ability to taste a range of fatty acids in otherwise plain solutions and found that all were able to determine the taste -- though some required higher concentrations than others.

Australian researchers say fat is 'sixth taste' (via Kottke)

(Image: Beale's Open Kettle Rendered Pure Lard, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Steve Snodgrass' photostream)

Previously:

Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:36:01 GMT

Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer
The 11th Best Picture Nomination of 2009. Come see BriTANicK LIVE with their short film, "Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses" at the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX! March 12, 15, & 18! Check sxsw.com for ticketing info!

Kiwi jetpack invention gets ready for domestic takeoff

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:36:00 GMT

Kiwi jetpack invention gets ready for domestic takeoff
The chance to fly a Kiwi-invented jetpack will be available in New Zealand early next year. Almost a year to the day after it first got worldwide attention, the Martin Jetpack is back on show at the United States' annual EAA air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Christchurch's Martin Aircraft Company is also announcing plans to allow the public to try out a "low, slow" version. Christchurch will be the location for the first business offering jetpack flights, and the company plans to expand with franchises around the world. People will be able to fly a jetpack about a metre above the ground at no more than 10km/h in a carefully controlled outdoor area. The price will be around the same as for adventure activities such as bungy jumping. It will be a far cry from flying at 100km/h, which is the capability planned for the jetpack that will eventually be sold to the public. But Martin Aircraft Company chief executive Richard Lauder told the Herald that any of the 40 or so people who had already tried out the jetpack would say that even low and slow was "incredibly exciting". Based on a concept developed in 1981 by Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin, the jetpack has attracted funding of almost $1.5 million, via the Government's Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. Mr Martin said one of the most frequently asked questions had been, "When can I have a flight?" "To be able to fly solo in a fixed-wing aircraft can take 15 hours of flight training, but most people wanted to be able to learn to fly the jetpack in a few minutes," he said. So the control and training systems were rebuilt from the ground up, and a range of people were brought in to try it, ranging from military-qualified pilots to complete novices. "The result is a flight system where, with a couple of hours' training, [most people] can be free-flying the jetpack with high levels of confidence and safety," Mr Martin said. The first Martin Jetpack Experience would be set up near the company's Christchurch base early next year. THE DEVICE Engine: A two-litre, V4 engine. Range: About 50km. Speed: Max 100km/h. Pilot: Must weigh between 63.5kg and 108.9kg. Cost: About $150,000 (depending on production volumes). Uses: Initially offered to governments for border patrol, search and rescue, etc.

Scientific Romance, by Tim Pratt. www.journalscape.com/...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:47:36 GMT

Scientific Romance, by Tim Pratt. www.journalscape.com/...

The Problem With Credit Default Swaps

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:42:10 GMT

Felix Salmon, who has been a one-man truth squad lately when it comes to credit default swaps, lauds Tuesday's CDS speech by CFTC head Gary Gensler as "by far the best thing written on the subject to date. He's absolutely right about pretty much everything." Among other things, Gensler favors exchange trading for CDS, stronger regulation of all OTC derivatives so that CDS pathologies don't just move elsewhere, and much more restrictive rules on allowing banks to use CDS to meet regulatory capital requirements. All good stuff.

But CDS are basically insurance policies on bonds or other financial instruments, and Gensler thinks that can be a problem too:

At the height of the crisis in the fall of 2008, stock prices, particularly of financial companies, were in a free fall. Some observers believe that CDS figured into that decline. They contend that, as buyers of credit default swaps had an incentive to see a company fail, they may have engaged in market activity to help undermine an underlying company’s prospects. This analysis has led some observers to suggest that credit default swap trading should be restricted or even prohibited when the protection buyer does not have an underlying interest.

Though credit default swaps have existed for only a relatively short period of time, the debate they evoke has parallels to debates as far back as 18th Century England over insurance and the role of speculators. English insurance underwriters in the 1700s often sold insurance on ships to individuals who did not own the vessels or their cargo. The practice was said to create an incentive to buy protection and then seek to destroy the insured property. It should come as no surprise that seaworthy ships began sinking. In 1746, the English Parliament enacted the Statute of George II, which recognized that “a mischievous kind of gaming or wagering” had caused “great numbers of ships, with their cargoes, [to] have . . . been fraudulently lost and destroyed.” The statute established that protection for shipping risks not supported by an interest in the underlying vessel would be “null and void to all intents and purposes.”

For a time, however, it remained legal to buy insurance on another person’s life in England. It took another 28 years and a new king, King George III, before Parliament banned insuring a life without an insurable interest.

Interesting! And it's a pretty good analogy that makes the underlying conflict understandable. However, although Gensler acknowledges the problem, he misses the aspect of this that's come to bother me the most: the effect this has on market stability.

Here's the problem: if you own a corporate bond of some kind, but don't want to run even the small risk of default that it carries, you can buy a CDS on that bond. This is basically fine. As Gensler points out, it does have the downside of making bond buyers less careful about due diligence, but that's probably manageable. (And Gensler has some ideas about how to manage it.) But what happens when lots of other people also buy a CDS on that bond? Obviously, you have the problem Gensler mentions, namely that under some circumstances these CDS owners might have a vested interest in helping the bond issuer fail — the same way you might want your house to catch on fire if it's insured for more than it's worth. But you also have another problem: if the bond issuer does default, and there are a hundred speculators who own CDS protection on one of its bond, you've gone from, say, a $10 million event to a $1 billion event. Basically, when things go bad — and eventually they always do — widespread CDS protection can cause things to spiral far more out of control than they would otherwise.

And what's the upside of allowing this? The argument I hear most often is that broad market trading of CDS provides an efficient price discovery mechanism for the underlying securities. Moody's may rate that bond AA, but the CDS market will tell you what traders really think.

I guess I have two questions about that. First, does it really work? Are CDS marks really reliable indicators of creditworthiness? That's debatable. Second, even if they are, is this a big enough benefit to make the instability risk worth it?

I'm no CDS expert, but I wish Gensler had at least addressed this problem. Maybe there's a simple solution. Or maybe the danger is a lot less than I think it is. It's not clear, for example, that CDS instability was a big problem in the 2008 crash. AIG was a big problem, but that's because they sold too much CDS without proper risk management or enough capital to back it up, not because speculators were loading up on specific issues.

So: Does widespread use of CDS make the financial system inherently less stable? Or is this just another of the endless slanders that CDS has to endure? Conversation on this topic welcome.

10 Comments | Post Comment

And now for something completely different

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:13:11 GMT

Since I've been working on Google Reader, I've told a lot of my friends about how great it is. And while some of them try Reader and find it really useful, many of them aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up. That’s why today, I’m happy to announce an experimental product from the Google Reader team that makes the best stuff in Reader more accessible for everyone, while giving Reader users a new way to view their feeds. It’s called Google Reader Play, and it’s a new way to browse interesting stuff on the web that’s easy to use and personalized to the things you like. Best of all, there’s no set-up required: visit google.com/reader/play to give it a try.

In Google Reader Play, items are presented one at a time, and each item is big and full-screen. After you've read an item, just click the next arrow to move to the next one, or click any item on the filmstrip below to fast-forward. Of course, you can click the title or image of any item to go to the original version. And since so much of the good stuff online is visual, we automatically enlarge images and auto-play videos full-screen.

Reader Play adapts to your tastes -- as you browse, you can let us know which stuff you enjoy by clicking the "like" button, and we'll use that info to show you more items we think you'll like. If you want, you can also choose categories, and we'll personalize your stream to only show you stuff from those categories. And you don't even need a Google account to use Reader Play. Of course, if you want to star, like, or share items, we'll ask you to sign in to your Google account. Since Reader and Reader Play share the same infrastructure, any actions you take in one will be reflected in the other.

You might be wondering where we find all the awesome stuff in Reader Play. It uses the same technology as the Recommended Items feed in Reader to identify and aggregate the most interesting items on the web. If you sign in, Reader Play will also be personalized with items that people you’re following have shared in Google Reader, and items similar to ones you’ve previously liked, starred, or shared.

Since Reader Play is an experiment, it’s launching in Google Labs for now. To be clear, Reader Play isn't intended to replace Google Reader: both Google Reader and Reader Play are about finding and reading interesting stuff online. In essense, Reader Play is a different view of Reader. It's designed to be a fun and easy way to browse interesting items, while Reader is a highly customizable way to organize your feeds, keep track of what you've read, and much more. In Reader, you can switch to this view by clicking "View in Reader Play" from the feed settings menu.

Try Reader Play today and let us know what you think. Send us feedback in our forum or on Twitter, and check out our help article for more info.

Google Maps “Bike There” Is Now Live!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:02:04 GMT

UPDATE: Google Maps Bicycling Directions now live for the United States ~~and Canada~~. I list the tips and tricks and secrets in this post.

Here’s a screenshot for biking directions from downtown Santa Cruz to the Santa Cruz Wharf. Below the static image is the embedded map from Google.

View Larger Map

Interesting findings on the service:

By default, when you select Bicycling directions, the map shows the bicycling facilities it knows about with green lines (as shown in the static image above). With bicycling facilities show, though, you cannot embed the map into another web page. You must click on the “More” button in the map and turn off the “Bicycling” checkbox for embedding to work.
The trip estimator takes road grade into account for trip time. Google Maps tells me, for example, the 6.7 mile trip it suggests from my home (elevation 500′) to the beach in Santa Cruz takes 36 minutes (about an 11 mph average speed). The reverse trip takes 48 minutes (8 mph average speed).
You’ll see in the embedded map above that the bike directions assign a very high weight (or preference) to bike facilities, especially off street bike paths. To get from downtown Santa Cruz to the Wharf, I normally shoot straight down Front Street and then straight to the Wharf. Google Maps routes me to the San Lorenzo River path.
The map takes one way streets into account and does not route cyclists the wrong way down them. It doesn’t know about the contraflow bike lane on Beach Street in Santa Cruz, though. I haven’t tried testing some of the other contraflow bike lanes I’ve heard about.
Google Maps shows a green line for the railroad trestle bridge in Santa Cruz next to the Boardwalk, but won’t route bicyclists across that bridge, routing cyclists a mile out of the way instead. Walking directions, however, use the bridge.
Maps doesn’t know about the bike access across the Santa Cruz Harbor.
The 25 mile bike ride from downtown San Jose to my office in Menlo Park in reality takes me about an hour and 20 minutes. Google Maps estimates over two hours for this trip with a 10 mph average speed. The routing for this longer trip is pretty lousy, giving strong preference to the numerous bike paths in Santa Clara County instead of sending me along the faster and straighter road routes.
This one’s pretty bad for the South Bay: “Bike There” doesn’t seem to know that the Santa Clara County Expressways are the preferred bikeways for longer distance cycling. For the trip from Cupertino to the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, Google Map routes me onto some less desirable roads away from Foothill Expressway.
Google Maps knows about bike paths and pedestrian bridges. It doesn’t always know about some commonly used shortcuts, however. There’s a cut through for walkers and cyclists on Ivy Drive in Menlo Park, CA, for example, that neither walking nor bicycling instructions take advantage of. There is a button for users to provide additional input to Google and let them discover these shortcuts.

In summary, Google Maps “Bike There” is very very very cool. I list the shortcomings above for informational purposes and to remind cyclists to always do an on the ground reality check so you don’t bike off of an unfinished bridge or something equally ridiculous, but honestly I’m amazed the service works as well as it does. It seems to work best for shorter trips (under about 10 miles), but that’s reasonable — people going on longer rides will probably want to be a little more thorough in their planning anyway.

Below is my original post on the expected announcement of this new service from Google.

Google is expected to announce the long awaited “Bike There” options for direction finding on their popular Google Maps service.

Here’s what I know:

Google “Bike There” has been in internal beta among Google employees for several months.
Trip time is based on an average cyclist speed of 8 mph.
Bike directions will take advantage of bike paths and other bike facilities. I know that “bike there” routing in the SF Bay Area seems to work fairly well, though I’ve seen instances where a street is picked over a nearby bike path.

Jonathan at Bike Portland scooped me big time — he’s at the National Bike Summit, where Shannon Guymon of Google will make an announcement Wednesday morning. Shannon is on the Google Maps team, and Shannon is scheduled to demonstrate Google Maps “new features” at SXSW this weekend. Jonathan’s journalistic instincts put two and two together.

So there you go. Watch Bike Portland for the details Wednesday morning.

Swan Song for the Filibuster?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:18 GMT

Harry Reid on the filibuster:

The filibuster has been abused. I believe that the Senate should be different than the House and will continue to be different than the House. But we're going to take a look at the filibuster. Next Congress, we're going to take a look at it.

Sam Stein explains:

Reid's embrace of filibuster reform comes after he previously threw cold water on the likelihood of getting the rules changed. His reference to the "next Congress" stands out. To change Senate rules in the middle of the session requires 67 votes, which Democrats clearly don't have. But changing the rules at the beginning of the 112th Congress will require the chair to declare the Senate is in a new session and can legally draft new rules. That ruling would be made by Vice President Joe Biden, who has spoken out against the current abuse of the filibuster. The ruling can be appealed, but that appeal can be defeated with a simple majority vote.

Of course, setting this precedent means that Republicans can change the filibuster rules too, the next time they have both a Senate majority and a president in the White House. Are 51 Dems willing to take that chance? Does Harry Reid have the stones to find out? Is Barack Obama fed up enough that he'll give Joe Biden the go-ahead? Tune in next January!

21 Comments | Post Comment

Google maps goes bike-tacular, just in time for spring

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:23:28 GMT

Google maps goes bike-tacular, just in time for spring

"Bicycle" is now an option for mode of transport in Google maps. Ostensibly, the directions given will help you avoid particularly nasty car traffic and particularly disheartening elevation changes, though Treehugger found some kinks in that when they tried to plot a route across San Francisco. There's not enough uphill slogs in Minneapolis (and I don't know St. Paul well enough) to get you a real solid second opinion from the Twin Cities. But it was smart enough to not send theoretical me biking straight up the feels-like-45-degree incline of 14th street when asked for directions to the University of Kansas journalism school (see above).

It also shows dedicated bike trails and bike lanes, to help plan the trip.

How's this work for your hometown?

Comparative Effectiveness

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:28 GMT

In the LA Times today, researchers Michael Hochman and Danny McCormick explain the sorry state of comparative medical research today. On a broad range of topics, we simply don't know which treatments work best:

In this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn., we report the results of a study that may help explain why we don't. In the study, we analyzed 328 medication studies recently published in six top medical journals and found that just 32% were aimed at determining which available treatment is best. The rest were either aimed at bringing a new therapy to market or simply compared a medication with a placebo. Whether the therapy was better or worse than other treatments was simply not addressed.

....Why [] did only a third of medication studies focus on helping doctors use existing therapies more effectively? The answer lies in the fact that pharmaceutical companies fund nearly half of all medication research, including the lion's share of large clinical trials. For obvious reasons, commercially funded research is primarily geared toward the development of new and marketable medications and technologies. Once these products have won approval for clinical use, companies no longer have incentives to study exactly how and when they should be used.

At the risk of joining the forces of socialism and death panelism, this is why the federal government should be funding a lot more of these studies. The free market won't do it — in fact, in many cases the free market actively resists studies like this — and our lives are shorter and poorer for it. Our lives are, quite possibly, also more expensive for it, since the most effective treatments aren't always the most expensive ones.

And you know what would help fund more of these studies? The Democratic healthcare bill! Wouldn't it be great if that passed?

15 Comments | Post Comment

Blue Marble

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:17:57 GMT

Jeff Richardson on the story behind the photo that serves as the iPhone’s default wallpaper.

★

Warpia Wireless Notebook Dock Cuts Cable Clutter

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:31:18 GMT

Warpia’s new Easy Dock could do with a new name and a prettier box, but the promise of the product is an enticing one: rid yourself of (almost) all cable-clutter. The wireless-USB kit consists of a USB stick that plugs into your notebook and a base station that plugs into everything else: your monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. Apart from hooking your laptop up to the mains once in a while, you never need to snake cables across your clean desk again.

The Easy Dock will be $150 when it ships in a few weeks (we will be testing one out). I’m pretty excited as I have been looking for something like this for a while. Once the drivers are installed (for OS X and Windows), the OS should just see the peripherals as USB devices. But how well does the display work? The specs say that it supports monitors of up to 1400×1050 and will display HD video up to 720p, at a color depth of 32-bits.

We wonder if hard drives can be hooked up, (we’ll test that one out) and just how the display copes with movies and fast-moving games. If it all works as promised, the dock could be great for keeping your desk clear, or it could let you stream movies direct from your laptop to the big screen and speakers. One day, we hope, this tech will just come standard inside every USB device.

Easy Dock [Warpia. thanks, Natalia!]

See Also:

“too big to fail” is not the worst thing we should fear – financial instituti...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:37:59 GMT

“too big to fail” is not the worst thing we should fear – financial institutions are becoming “too big to save”. baselinescenario.com/...

東遠國際有限公司 P&P Food&Spices Ltd. (www)

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:25:42 GMT

http://www.pnpfood.com/

Generic Movie Based on the Movie They've BeenReleasing Every Single Week Since the 1980s

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:01:38 GMT

This is pretty much exactly what most new indie and studio movies look like to me. Not just the Oscar-hopefuls and the Sundance selections. And not just the trailers, but the entire movies themselves (which are usually laid out, beat by beat, in the trailers). This one's funnier, though, because it doesn't pretend to be anything more than a familiar schematic diagram. Which is exactly what these comfy, risk-averse movies seem to be aiming for.

Starring Robert Pattinson or Adam Sandler, Natalie Portman or Sandra Bullock. Directed by Ron Howard or someone whose only previous work has been on YouTube.

(tip: Max Kleger)

RT @jagordon: @kerim The Chinese-Chinese dictionary is also great. www.google...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:40 GMT

RT @jagordon: @kerim The Chinese-Chinese dictionary is also great. www.google.com/...

Really liking Google's English-Chinese dictionary. (Results partly supplied b...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:48:51 GMT

Really liking Google's English-Chinese dictionary. (Results partly supplied by Dr. Eye) www.google.com/...

Trust And Safety

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:36:03 GMT

As Director of Twitter's Trust and Safety team, a big part of my job is focused on the detection and prevention of spam and abuse. A couple weeks ago, Biz explained how Twitter users were being victimized by phishing scams spread primarily through links in Direct Messages. Basically, people click the link and bad things happen. My team can only detect these scams after malicious links have already been sent out.

Today, we’re launching a new service to protect users that strikes a major blow against phishing and other deceitful attacks. By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter. Even if a bad link is already sent out in an email notification and somebody clicks on it, we'll be able keep that user safe.

Since these attacks occur primarily on Direct Messages and email notifications about Direct Messages, this is where we have focused our initial efforts. For the most part, you will not notice this feature because it works behind the scenes but you may notice links shortened to twt.tl in Direct Messages and email notifications. Special thanks to @wfarner and @ram for building this service and helping keep us all a little safer!

In the WSJ David Cutler argues Obama's #hcreform plan does do a lot to cut ...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:36:19 GMT

In the WSJ David Cutler argues Obama's #hcreform plan *does* do a lot to cut costs: www.google.com/... (link to Google search for article)

No, Unemployment Insurance Isn't Welfare.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:39:09 GMT

Here's a story about conservative Sens. Jim Bunning's and Jon Kyl's complaints that unemployment insurance is hurting the labor market. (Each senator has a salary of $174,000 a year; their respective net worths are $607,500 and $580,151.) The piece does a good job explaining why they're wrong: The main problem with the labor market is the lack of jobs -- there is one job open for every six people unemployed -- not the misguided idea that people prefer receiving unemployment checks to working, which is the senators' concern.

These guys have obviously not spoken with anyone who actually lives on unemployment, which does not really cut the mustard income-wise. This is true especially for families: The two examples in the piece, families with four and six children, receive $1,200 and $1,650 a month. Bunning and Kyl also don't seem to know that people who qualify for unemployment insurance have also paid into the system for their benefits; even if they recoup more than they paid in while employed, it's obviously not a welfare program.

The other, macroeconomic, point, is that cutting off people on unemployment isn't going to result in their deciding that they can suddenly create their own jobs out of the air. It's going to mean a drop in consumer spending and a commensurate fall in employment and GDP, not the kind of economic confidence building and investment needed to pull out of the recession. While the extensions of unemployment insurance during the current recession has been unusually long, that's because this is an unusually severe recession -- see the above graph from Calculated Risk -- unlike anything seen in most people's lifetimes. Perhaps that's the most charitable excuse for these out-of-touch senators.

-- Tim Fernholz

Salad vs. Big Mac

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:05:40 GMT

Via Economix; created by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
If you can't view the image, it's a graphic labeled "Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?" featuring two pyramids. The one on the left is labeled "Federal Subsidies for Food Production, 1995-2005," and it shows the breakdown by food type of US Government Subsidies: 73.8% Meat/Dairy, 13.23% Grains, 10.69% Sugar, Oil, Starch, and Alcohol, 1.91% Nuts/Legumes, and 0.37% Fruits/Vegetables. The one of the right is labeled "Federal Nutrition Recommendations," and it shows the breakdown by food type of US Government Nutritional Guidelines: 11 servings of grains, 9 servings of fruits/vegetables, 6 servings of protein (meat, dairy, nuts, and legumes), and sugar, oil, and salt are to be "used sparingly."

The reality is that US government subsidies are almost the precise opposite of its nutritional recommendations.

The result is that shitty food is cheap. And affordable, available, easily accessible food is way more likely to be shitty food. And derivatives of highly-subsidized foods get stuck into everything, like high-fructose corn syrup, irrespective of their nutritional value.

[H/T to Shaker Naznarreb.]

Safe and Affordable Jetpack: Just $90,000

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:34:04 GMT

For years, man has been trying to build a jetpack which would actually be safe and cheap enough to be used by anyone other than Lee Majors on the title sequence of The Fall Guy. It turns out that we’ve been doing it wrong. Instead of starting with a pack and adding on the jet, we should have torn the giant engines from a plane and strapped them to some poor schmuck. This is what the New Zealand Martin Aircraft Company did, resulting in the Martin Jetpack.

The jetpack is made from carbon fiber, with a touch of kevlar in the rotors, and generates 600 pounds of thrust. Because the center of gravity is below the “center of thrust” (a notional point between the engines), it is self-righting: If the pilot lets go of the controls, he hovers steadily in one spot. Unlike other sci-fi vehicles, the jetpack doesn’t require plutonium or even garbage for power. Instead, it runs on ordinary gasoline, chugging down around 10 gallons per hour (a full tank of five gallons will give you half an hour of flight time, enough to get you to the office).

Martin’s jetpack is classed as an ultralight aircraft, so you don’t need a pilot’s license fly it. Martin will force buyers to undergo training first, though. As its FAQ so rightly points out: “to attempt to fly any aircraft without professional instruction is extremely foolhardy.” There are some safety features, though. If the engine dies, a parachute pops out like an airbag in a car, so the only thing you need worry about is crashing into passing planes.

Want one? Of course you do. Right now you’re looking at a 12-month wait, and you’ll have to pay 10 percent upfront, but at just shy of $90,000 — the same as a fancy sports car — it’s actually a pretty good deal. And just imagine landing this thing on the forecourt of the local gas station.

The Martin Jetpack [Martin]

The Future Is Here: Jetpacks Now Commercially Available [Wired: Geek Dad]

India: Just because I know you're Maoist doesn't mean I can prove it—but you ...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:35:23 GMT

India: Just because I know you're Maoist doesn't mean I can prove it—but you can still expect to be rousted and jailed. www.globalpost.com/...

"Even the October Revolution is OK, according to Hollywood, if it serves the ...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:02:12 GMT

"Even the October Revolution is OK, according to Hollywood, if it serves the reconstitution of a couple." www.newstatesman.com/... /via @mosabou

India's Government must stop dangerous mining until human rights are addressed

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:16:01 GMT

India's Government must stop dangerous mining until human rights are addressed
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/india/ Indian authorities have given local communities scant or misleading information about the potential impact of a proposed alumina refinery expansion and mining project to be operated by subsidiaries of UK-based company Vedanta Resources in Orissa. The Amnesty International report, Dont Mine Us out of Existence: Bauxite Mine and Refinery Devastate Lives in India documents how an alumina refinery operated by a subsidiary of UK-based FTSE 100 company Vedanta Resources in Orissa, is causing air and water pollution that threatens the health of local people and their access to water.

Iron Man 2 Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL)

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:16:00 GMT

Iron Man 2 Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL)
Iron Man 2 Movie Hub: http://marvel.com/movies/iron_man.iron_man_2 Read Iron Man digital comics: http://bit.ly/7b9oVc You wanted more "Iron Man 2"? You got it! Feast your eyes on the second official "Iron Man 2" trailer! Watch it now! "Iron Man 2" hits theaters May 7, 2010. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, aka the super hero Iron Man in this sequel to the 2008 blockbuster. RDJ, Paltrow, Cheadle and Rockwell are joined by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. Jon Favreau once again takes up the directorial reins for Marvel's armored avenger.

Tribe in India, exploited like Na'vi for mining, appeal to James Cameron www....

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:38:52 GMT

Tribe in India, exploited like Na'vi for mining, appeal to James Cameron www.boingboing.net/...

Wikipedia Phrase Translation Tool at

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:26:46 GMT

http://citer.cti.gr/publications/wikipedia-phrase-translation-tool/

Taiwan's gender imbalance michaelturton.blogspot.com/... /via @taiwanews

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:17:43 GMT

Taiwan's gender imbalance michaelturton.blogspot.com/... /via @taiwanews

The Apple iPad

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:06:00 GMT

The Apple iPad
This is Apple's official New Product or the iPad. This has been a long awaited release and it is finally here. Previous thoughts for names included the iTablet and the iSlate. CLICK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=applemaster1000 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AppleMaster1000 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/AppleMaster1000/295260317306 Website: http://applemaster1000.blogspot.com More Information: http://www.apple.com/ipad RATE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE!!!

Kerim's Lifelog

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Passover greetings from "the Jewish Cowboy" lpcoverlover.com/...

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恋するゾンビちゃん／【ジュリアナアゲインPV】「Ready,Set,送信」

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Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer

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The Problem With Credit Default Swaps

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Google Maps “Bike There” Is Now Live!

Swan Song for the Filibuster?

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Comparative Effectiveness

Blue Marble

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東遠國際有限公司 P&P Food&Spices Ltd. (www)

Generic Movie Based on the Movie They've BeenReleasing Every Single Week Since the 1980s

RT @jagordon: @kerim The Chinese-Chinese dictionary is also great. www.google...

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In the WSJ David Cutler argues Obama's #hcreform plan *does* do a lot to cut ...

No, Unemployment Insurance Isn't Welfare.

Salad vs. Big Mac

Safe and Affordable Jetpack: Just $90,000

India: Just because I know you're Maoist doesn't mean I can prove it—but you ...

"Even the October Revolution is OK, according to Hollywood, if it serves the ...

India's Government must stop dangerous mining until human rights are addressed

Iron Man 2 Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL)

Tribe in India, exploited like Na'vi for mining, appeal to James Cameron www....

Wikipedia Phrase Translation Tool at

Taiwan's gender imbalance michaelturton.blogspot.com/... /via @taiwanews

The Apple iPad

And now for something completely different

In the WSJ David Cutler argues Obama's #hcreform plan does do a lot to cut ...