December 19, 2013
Google knows where you've been
Google Location History- LifeHacker tells you how to delete your history (you need to be logged into google to use this link) and turn off Google location tracking on your phone.
Unconstitutional, unworkable, or politically unsustainable
In 2011, Alabama passed perhaps the country's toughest immigration law, seeking to push undocumented immigrants out (previously). In October 2013, the state agreed to permanently block major portions of the law in response to lawsuits. Two years on, popular opinion and political momentum have largely turned against the law, and the immigrants are mostly still there.
aᓌozı7n
Content aware typography. A software algorithm transmutes a mix of familiar and classic graphics and logos into something else altogether.
Jewel Box Sun, seeing the sun through different lights
"This video of the sun based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, shows the wide range of wavelengths -- invisible to the naked eye -- that the telescope can view. SDO converts the wavelengths into an image humans can see, and the light is colorized into a rainbow of colors." And because it's NASA, you can download the video in various formats.
NSA says: squeeeeeee!
The attack can extract full 4096-bit RSA decryption keys from laptop computers ... within an hour ... using either a plain mobile phone placed next to the computer, or a more sensitive microphone placed 4 meters away. RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis [more inside]
A GRAT Idea Whose Time Has Come
Grantor retained annuity trusts are a method that the ultra rich use to avoid gift taxes. Many lawyers insist that these trusts are a cornerstone of any sound estate plan.
Strategic Computing Initiative
Noblesse N'Oblige Pas.
The Endgame for Democracy: A short essay by Bill Moyers. [SLYT]
μὴ ζῴην μετ᾽ ἀμουσίας
How Did Ancient Greek Music Sound?
The music of ancient Greece, unheard for thousands of years, is being brought back to life by Armand D'Angour, a musician and tutor in classics at Oxford University. He describes what his research is discovering.Song Of The Sirens [more inside]
$40 Million Canada Lottery Philanthropist
The Tom Baker Cancer Centre is the first recipient of winnings from the Calgary lottery player who won $40 million and pledged to give it all away. Is writing cheques the best solution to his problem or would setting up some trusts be better?
"We are open even during air-raid drills"
Japanese Film Posters in the Prewar Period: Part 1
Japanese Film Posters in the Prewar Period: Part 2
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 1 Asakusa, Tokyo
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 2 Ginza/Yurakucho/Hibiya, Tokyo
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 3 Shinjuku/Shibuya/Kanda/Roppongi, Tokyo
Japanese Film Posters in the Prewar Period: Part 2
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 1 Asakusa, Tokyo
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 2 Ginza/Yurakucho/Hibiya, Tokyo
Japanese Film Theaters in the Prewar Period: Part 3 Shinjuku/Shibuya/Kanda/Roppongi, Tokyo
Lil Bub for Your Home
Why Russell Brand is banned in Guantanamo Bay.
Clive amuses himself (and me) by testing what the censors will let through.
I have been cleared to leave here for over half of my time behind bars – first by the Bush administration in 2007 and then by the Obama government in 2009 – and yet I remain here. - Shaker Aamer.
I have been cleared to leave here for over half of my time behind bars – first by the Bush administration in 2007 and then by the Obama government in 2009 – and yet I remain here. - Shaker Aamer.
Look What Uncle Jack Sent Me In An Email
39 Test Answers That Are 100% Wrong These are actually pretty fun.
I don't want him to go.
The first proper trailer for Matt Smith's ultimate episode as the eleventh Doctor, "The Time Of The Doctor" dropped today. And apparently a star-studded tribute to Smith was made as a companion piece.
Violent Recipes
The author of the infamous "Anarchist Cookbook" has had a change of heart. "Over the years, I have come to understand that the basic premise behind the Cookbook is profoundly flawed," he writes in the Guardian.
More with less
Personal Development gurus can get away with anything, so why can't you?
When is "life hacking" simply what we used to call selfishness? Jen Dziura takes on blogger James Altucher's recent Quora piece, How to Break All the Rules and Get Everything You Want.
Sitting On Knees
Do you love robots, and christmas music? You're in luck!
The Festive Funk Machine is a fun little Incredibox-esque christmas music making website. [more inside]
New Mexico Fully Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Following the state Supreme Court's decision in Griego v. Oliver [pdf], New Mexico has become the 17th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. [more inside]
The devil take your stereo and your comic collection!
"You live now, Adam Ant, as you have lived many times throughout history, fighting evil wherever you may find it!"
The 52 Pages: Illustrated rules outline for refereed fantasy adventures
Does the world really need another “fantasy role- playing game”? Why take yet another try at improving those old-school adventure rules? Good questions. People who run such games and write about them online tend to kit-build their own rules. On these grounds I decided to present my own game notes in modular form, that people could choose from and use.52 Pages 1.0 (PDF) by Roger the GS. [via]
Bare Necessity
...which is where the Spirt Cards Come In
The creators of Parks and Recreation often express their fandoms through their Nerd Spirit Animal, Ben Wyatt. After dropping references to Catan, Batman, baseball sabrmetrics to name but a few, Ben's geeky awesomeness reached a new height in a recent episode, in a scene where he shows off his new board game, the Cones of Dunshire. (Poorer quality version for non-USians) The pretend game was created specifically for the scene by Mayfair Games, makers of Settlers of Catan.
Hot on its tail, Vulture presents An Oral History of the Cones of Dunshire scene.
(via Vulture's micro-oral histories week, recently previously)
What information do data brokers have, and how do they use it?
From the testimony, PDF of Pam Dixon (World Privacy Forum) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation:
What do a retired librarian in Wisconsin in the early stages of Alzheimer's, a police officer, and a mother in Texas have in common? The answer is that all were victims of consumer data brokers.[more inside]
The Real Wolves of Wall Street
While the world eagerly (or not so eagerly) awaits the Christmas Day release of "The Wolf of Wall Street" an entirely different class of Wall Street Wolves (Although really Stamford CT) get their comeuppance in a courtroom in lower Manhattan [more inside]
Video Game Foliage
Video Game Foliage. "Making spaces for games is a strange and interesting art. Not being bound by physical limitations makes it possible to create impossible structures, but being bound by the technical limitations of modern computer graphics makes it difficult to create accurate simulacra of even simple objects. So video games cheat, using approximations to create the desired aesthetic result.
Plant approximations are especially hard, since organic structures tend to be difficult to describe in terms that graphics cards understand. This creates an interesting design constraint.
How do you create representations of plants given the limitations of realtime rendering?
I plan to use this blog to show a bunch of games that choose different answers to this question. I hope you’ll join me in looking into the weird world of video game foliage." [more inside]
Why find more? Unburnable carbon as financial assets.
There is another bubble. Before it's burned, Coal, Oil and Gas sit for years on the balance sheets of private (and national) resource companies, as "known reserve" assets. Assets that, someday, will become revenues. Or will they? And if they won't, what will the balance sheets of ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Petrochina, and Gazprom actually look like? [more inside]
Witchling
What's That Clinging To The Towering Wall And Why Doesn't It Fall Off?
What's That Clinging To The Towering Wall And Why Doesn't It Fall Off?
Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
Guard your card!
Target says they've suffered a data breach that may have exposed 40 million credit card transactions since the end of November. [more inside]
Plate of (fake) blue
Beans (SLYT)
"What a spooky song for Yuletide!"
Rasputina, purveyor of strange and historical modern Victorian show-tunes, has released a typically cello-creaky/creepy version of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.
If that's not enough, Melora has another Christmas song for you!
"Cult of the Virgin touches on born-again virginity, but at it's core it examines some of the misconceptions around immaculate conception, and I know whereof I speak."
If that's not enough, Melora has another Christmas song for you!
"Cult of the Virgin touches on born-again virginity, but at it's core it examines some of the misconceptions around immaculate conception, and I know whereof I speak."
2013: The Year 'the Stream' Crested
"Information is increasingly being distributed and presented in real-time streams instead of dedicated Web pages. The shift is palpable, even if it is only in its early stages," Erick Schonfeld wrote. "Web companies large and small are embracing this stream. It is not just Twitter. It is Facebook and Friendfeed and AOL and Digg and Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop and Techmeme and Tweetmeme and Ustream and Qik and Kyte and blogs and Google Reader. The stream is winding its way throughout the Web and organizing it by nowness."[more inside]
Jezebel, Actually
Cortylandia, Cortylandia ¡Vamos todos a cantar!
"Every year since 1979, madrileños young and old have lined the streets, craning their necks for 15 minutes each hour to see the Cortylandia show – music, blinking lights and singing puppets different every year. Celebrating Christmas in Madrid is incomplete without seeing Cortylandia." [more inside]
Hacktacular!
The 2013 edition of Salon's annual Hack List is out, and this year, Salon hackmaster Alex Pareene has stirred the pot of hackery by "channel[ing] each hack's unique voice" and "let[ting] them 'write' their own entries." [more inside]
Pretend you're a cool ghost.
From Retronaut, please enjoy these stylish selections from the 1990 J.C. Penney Christmas Catalog. Come for the Beetlejuice pajamas, stay for the "ice-washed" denim overalls.
The only known case of braces interlocking during a kiss.
The Welfare Queen
Slate.com reports on the story of the woman behind Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen in a Cadillac" story: "When I set out in search of Linda Taylor, I hoped to find the real story of the woman who played such an outsize role in American politics—who she was, where she came from, and what her life was like before and after she became the national symbol of unearned prosperity. What I found was a woman who destroyed lives, someone far more depraved than even Ronald Reagan could have imagined. In the 1970s alone, Taylor was investigated for homicide, kidnapping, and baby trafficking. The detective who tried desperately to put her away believes she’s responsible for one of Chicago’s most legendary crimes, one that remains unsolved to this day. Welfare fraud was likely the least of the welfare queen’s offenses... In the aftermath of that Tribune article—and the one published two weeks later that gave Taylor her famous nickname—Sherwin and his partner were detailed to the investigative unit of the state Senate’s Legislative Advisory Committee on Public Aid. The detective had been looking into a wide range of Taylor’s crimes, but now a police matter had become a political one. The welfare fraud, it seemed, was all that mattered. For the Chicago burglary detective, Linda Taylor was never really the welfare queen. He believed she was a kidnapper and a baby seller. Maybe something worse."
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