February 2012
The STRATFOR Glossary of Useful, Baffling and... →
from the wikileaks GIFiles:
A glossary of spycraft terms used by Stratfor
KGB What we call Russian intelligence no matter how often they rename themselves.
On the ground I have an agent on the ground. Meaningless statement even if true. “I have an agent on the ground in Washington” means that I know a guy who works at the Burger King on K Street. Or it means that I’ve got a man in the...
Faster-than-light neutrino result reportedly a... →
ScienceInsider is reporting that there was a good reason the measurements and reality weren’t lining up: a loose fiber optic cable was causing one of the atomic clocks used to time the neutrinos’ flight to produce spurious results.
UPDATE: Nature News has apparently received a statement from the Opera researchers. It indicates they have found two potential issues (one of them...
"said the actress to the bishop” →
The British Equivalent of “That’s What She Said” :
This phrase derives from the fact that, during early English theater, actresses were poorly paid and often used prostitution to supplement their income. Because of these “loose morals”, clergymen spent a lot of time with these actresses… trying to get them to turn from their sinful ways. Thus, it was a common occurrence for actresses...
“Nothing is more fatal to the progress of the human mind than to presume that our...”
– Sir Humphry Davy
Temple of the Seven Golden Camels: Three Rules for... →
mark kennedy :
I found while I was working on the story that it had three elements that I think make for a good story:
A world you’d live in, if you could.
Characters you’d hang around with, if you could…
…facing problems you’d never want to face in a million years.
The Scale of the Universe →
By Cary Huang, via swissmiss.
Brainstorming Doesn’t Really Work : The New Yorker →
Hear, hear
According to Nemeth, dissent stimulates new ideas because it encourages us to engage more fully with the work of others and to reassess our viewpoints. “There’s this Pollyannaish notion that the most important thing to do when working together is stay positive and get along, to not hurt anyone’s feelings,” she says. “Well, that’s just wrong. Maybe debate is going to be less...
Why Thousands of Iranian Women Are Training to Be... →
Filed under “I dare you not to click this link with that title”.
It is precisely because Iranian women do wield power in their society and homes that the country’s reactionary leaders feel compelled to imbalance the playing field, to pass laws taking that dignity and influence away. And one of the places where their failure becomes clear is in the surprisingly vibrant arena...
Obama, Explained - The Atlantic →
Fantastic article on the current US presidency.
James Fallows:
Yet the test for presidents is not where they begin but how fast they learn and where they end up. Not even FDR was FDR at the start. The evidence is that Obama is learning, fast, to use the tools of office. Whether he is learning fast enough to have a chance to apply these skills in a second term—well, we’ll reconvene next...
Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human... →
from the Abstract
Our empirical analysis for a cross-section of up to 150 countries shows that the scale effect dominates the substitution effect. On average, the legalization of prostitution increases human trafficking inflows.
Seo-Young Cho (Georg-August-University Göttingen); Axel Dreher (Heidelberg University) and Eric Neumayer (London School of Economics and Political Science)
“People don’t want answers, they want reports.”
– Stephen Wolfram, on Wolfram Alpha
Lake Vostok reached: 20 million year old Antarctic... →
Contact light.
After 30 years spent drilling through a four-kilometer-thick ice crust, researchers have finally broken through to a unique subglacial lake. Scientists are set to reveal its 20-million-year-old secrets, and imitate a quest to discover ET life.
The Vostok project breathes an air of mystery and operates at the frontiers of human knowledge. The lake is one of the major...
Why French Parents Are Superior by Pamela... →
Hogwash.
One of the keys to this education is the simple act of learning how to wait. It is why the French babies I meet mostly sleep through the night from two or three months old. Their parents don’t pick them up the second they start crying, allowing the babies to learn how to fall back asleep. It is also why French toddlers will sit happily at a restaurant. Rather than snacking all...
Jacob Sager Weinstein: “Before the Movie Begins” :... →
Any remaining memories are yours to keep and enjoy, provided you do not discuss them with others or make them available via mankind’s collective unconscious. In addition, your experience of this film may not be remixed in any form; dreams involving any of its characters must adhere strictly to the film’s actual plotline and running time, and must also comply with copyright laws in your state or...
Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals... →
oh my god unemployment will rise.
The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.
Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness | AlterNet →
Crap, i went into the animation industry out of love :
The Misconception: There is nothing better in the world than getting paid to do what you love.
The Truth: Getting paid for doing what you already enjoy will sometimes cause your love for the task to wane because you attribute your motivation as coming from the reward, not your internal feelings.
Read the experiment Lepper,...