MetaFilter posts tagged with scheme

If Only T. Boone Pickens Had Died

reenum — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 17:04:11 -0800

T. Boone Pickens and other wealthy, elderly Oklahoma State alums decided to participate in a scheme named "Call of a Lifetime", where they would allow the university to take out $10 million life insurance policies on them. What could go wrong?

Aha! That Was My Plan All Along!

The Whelk — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 14:46:10 -0800

How Loki pulled a fast one on The Avengers and the audience ( Spoilers )

Few Examples of Lisp Code Typography

skynxnex — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:09:09 -0800

Few Examples of Lisp Code Typography. From 1953 to 2012. (Via Lambda the Ultimate.)

The durable Mike Malloy

reenum — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:46:27 -0800

In 1933, Anthony Marino, Joe Murphy, Frank Pasqua and Dan Kriesberg decided to make money by taking out life insurance on drunks and then letting the victims drink themselves to death. Then they encountered Mike Malloy...

repl.it

juv3nal — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:26:02 -0800

repl.it is an online environment for interactively exploring programming languages. Supported languages.

"I do not anticipate that another Charles Ponzi will ever appear in the financial world"

zarq — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:24:53 -0800

On July 23, 1920, Charles Ponzi hired former Boston Post journalist William H. McMasters as his publicist, who quickly realized that his new client was defrauding the public. Just ten days later, McMasters wrote an exposé published in the Post that led to Ponzi's ultimate downfall. The newspaper won a Pulitzer. McMasters was The Man Who Time (Almost) Forgot (Via) Mentioned in the article is this one, from 2009 in The New York Times: Lost Manuscript Unmasks Details of Original Ponzi Background on Ponzi Schemes. Fraud Magazine has a blog entry on their story.

Idle Hands Are The Devil's Playthings

reenum — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:36:00 -0800

Dimorio McDowell had a lot of time on his hands in prison. So, he decided to start up his own retail fraud and ID theft ring, defrauding his victims of almost $1 million before investigators caught up to him.

Bingo In The Blood

reenum — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 14:15:25 -0800

The NY Times explores the darker side of bingo.

(define this 'awesome)

DU — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:11:31 -0800

Probably one of the 5 best amateur animated music videos about Lisp you'll see today. Actual music starts around 1:10

1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964

Artw — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:21:53 -0800

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages

Feel your inadequacy

Monday, stony Monday — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:32:54 -0800

If you're like me, you are not a top computer science researcher, and you haven't written a classic book about programming and made it available online for free. Let's review who we're not. We're neither Abelson nor Sussman, and we haven't written Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (previous proof). We're not part of TeachScheme and we had no hand in the writing of How to Design Programs (not even the second edition, natch). Shriram Krishnamurthi didn't need our help to write Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation. We wish we were Simon Peyton-Jones and had a hand in The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages. And since we're in a depressing mood, let's say Van Roy and Haridi are not us, and we have nothing to do with Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming. (not really online...)

You wrote adware. You bastard.

dismas — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:14:55 -0800

Gettin' paid for being evil (until Eliot Spitzer shuts you down) Matt Knox wrote adware. Now he talks about why he did it, how adware got sneakier, and internet privacy generally, in a pretty interesting interview over at philosecurity

Lou Pearlman's Ponzi Scheme

billysumday — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:31:25 -0800

Would you trust this man with your life's savings? Successful entrepeneur and president of Trans Continental Airlines cum boy band svengali, Lou Pearlman was the guiding hand behind N'Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and O-Town. Now, however, he's on the lam, wanted by the FBI for swindling old folks out of $317 million. Pearlman was last seen in Berlin on February 1st; as he sat in a crowded theater watching his latest creation, the German boy band US5, win an international pop award, FBI investigators were already combing through his Florida home and offices.

Make My Movie!

pt68 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:39:30 -0800

Make My Movie Online Be A Producer Help me raise the money to produce My Movie! For a minimal donation of only $2, YOU can receive a Producer`s Credit (PC) in the end credits of my film! Not only will you receive a credit, in exchange for your donation, you can also have a vote in some of the decisions such as casting, crewing and storyline! AND, not only that, but you also will have the opportunity to participate in the PROFITS of the film when we distribute the film.

B.O.N.E.R.S.

Dean Keaton — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 01:07:01 -0800

SomethingAwful is trying to create another viral campaign via blogs, youtube and myspace and ytmd. It surrounds an especially freaky spinoff of a simpsons video made for reasons unknown. SA has been noted in the past for making the "popped collar" viral campaign as well. Expect animated gifs and crackpot references galore. Of course, be wary of attempts to mask this great scheme (nsfw). Of course, Team Barry is always one to expose.