26 März 2013

Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense: chart of woo

Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense: chart of woo

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/VDOIN0.D.png1.jpg



Sometimes, when confronted with woo, it is hard to know exactly what sort of woo you're dealing with. To simplify this challenge while sparing you the agony of enduring any more explanations of ear-candling or aromatherapy than is strictly necessary, Crispian Jago has compiled a handy Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense.



The curiously revered world of irrational nonsense has seeped into almost every aspect of modern society and is both complex and multifarious. Therefore rather than attempt a comprehensive taxonomy, I have opted instead for a gross oversimplification and a rather pretty Venn Diagram.


In my gross over simplification the vast majority of the multitude of evidenced-free beliefs at large in the world can be crudely classified into four basic sets or bollocks. Namely, Religion, Quackery, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal.


However as such nonsensical beliefs continue to evolve they become more and more fanciful and eventually creep across the bollock borders. Although all the items depicted on the diagram are completely bereft of any form of scientific credibility, those that successfully intersect the sets achieve new heights of implausibility and ridiculousness. And there is one belief so completely ludicrous it successfully flirts with all forms of bollocks.


Religious Bollocks ∩ Quackery Bollocks ∩ Pseudoscientific Bollocks ∩ Paranormal Bollocks = Scientology



The Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)







via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/25/venn-diagram-of-irrational-non.html

21 März 2013

Amazing photos of 1946 nuclear weapons test

Amazing photos of 1946 nuclear weapons test

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/operationcrossroadsbaker2-600x479.jpeg


Baker was a 23-kiloton nuclear weapon that was detonated underwater at Bikini Atoll in 1946. The goal was to see what would happen to Navy boats if they were in the region where a nuclear bomb went off. The boats you see in this photo were unmanned, but there were sailors relatively close by, taking these shots. There's evidence that they weren't properly protected against fallout, and later used contaminated water to drink and bathe in. (Also, as a fictional side effect, Bikini Atoll nuclear tests like Baker might have been responsible for the creation of Spongebob Squarepants.)


My Modern Met has compiled several photographs and video that give you an up-close, mind-boggling view of the explosion — including the massive column of water that shot into the mushroom cloud and the 2-mile-high tidal wave that followed.






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/20/amazing-photos-of-1946-nuclear.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

Mickey Mouse Moleskine

Mickey Mouse Moleskine

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_4525.jpg



Last year I ordered a few Lego limited-edition Moleskines. The "limit" must be very high, as they are still available on Amazon. I don't care, because I never intended to keep them as collector's items anyway. This month, Moleskin published a limited edition Mickey Mouse Moleskine. It has an embossed Mickey on the cover, and includes a pull-out guide to drawing the famous rodent.



Moleskine Mickey Notebook Plain Large $16.32






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/19/mickey-mouse-moleskine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

20 März 2013

Bonding

Bonding

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bonding.png

I'm trying to build character but Eclipse is really confusing.



via xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/1188/

19 März 2013

The sky was the color of a birthday cake tuned to a dead channel

The sky was the color of a birthday cake tuned to a dead channel

http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png

Hey, yesterday was William Gibson's birthday. Happy birthday, Bill! Here's some sage advice I always try to keep in mind on my own birthdays.



via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/18/the-sky-was-the-color-of-a-bir.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

18 März 2013

Comic for March 17, 2013

Comic for March 17, 2013

http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/70000/7000/700/177766/177766.strip.print.gif





via Dilbert Daily Strip http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-03-17/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dilbert%2Fdaily_strip+%28Dilbert+Daily+Strip+-+UU%29

Poplocks and Paper Pose-Ables: papercraft joints for pose-able robots

Poplocks and Paper Pose-Ables: papercraft joints for pose-able robots

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/gupp-e_green1.jpg



Poplocks are a very clever system for making movable papercraft fastenings with die-cutting and folding. The Paper Pose-Ables site has a bunch of downloadable papercraft toys you can print out and make, as well as pre-cut/scored kits you can buy, for making fabulous poseable robots and other cool figures.


The Pose-Ables people came out to one of my signings last month and gave me a couple of GUPP-E robots, which I've put together this week, with help from my five-year-old daughter Poesy. The robots were fun to put together -- just intricate enough to be challenging without being frustrating -- and the Poplocks system really makes for a great, semi-rigid joint for the toys.


The Poplocks themselves are CC licensed for use in your own models.



The Poplock pushes the two pieces of paper tightly together, creating lots of friction! It can also stay put, and won't pop out on it's own, unless a good amount of force is used to bend it out of place.


Combine the Poplock Wedge with the special Locking Flaps hole, and you will create a nigh-invincible connection. Seriously, you won't be able to get the connection apart with torsion or pulling forces unless you rip or crumple the parts. Even then, the Poplock will probably stay put... holding two mangled pieces of paper together!



Poplocks






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/16/poplocks-and-paper-pose-ables.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/aspect_ratio.png

I'm always disappointed when 'Anamorphic Widescreen' doesn't refer to a widescreen Animorphs movie.



via xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/1187/

16 März 2013

History of "Tree Swing" drawings about business communication

History of "Tree Swing" drawings about business communication

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/tree_swing_70s-1.jpg



When I was a young naive engineer, I saw this tacked to the beige fabric cubicle wall of an old embittered engineer. It made me like him. Here's a history of this great cartoon.


The tree swing or tire swing funny diagrams - for training, presentations, etc


(Via Bits & Pieces)






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/14/history-of-tree-swing-draw.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

13 März 2013

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower, As We Hear His Words For The First Time

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower, As We Hear His Words For The First Time

http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png

L: A young Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower and former U.S. military analyst. R: PFC Bradley Manning, 24; former Army intelligence analyst.


Today, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization that I co-founded and for which I serve on the board, has published an audio recording of Bradley Manning’s speech to a military court from two weeks ago, in which he gives his reasons and motivations for leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.


Whoever made this recording, and I don’t know who the person is, has done the American public a great service. This marks the first time the American public can hear Bradley Manning, in his own voice, explain what he did and how he did it.


After listening to this recording and reading his testimony, I believe Bradley Manning is the personification of the word whistleblower.


SECRECY SURROUNDING TRIAL


Manning faces some of exact same charges I faced forty two years ago when I leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and eighteen other papers. The only difference is that I was a civilian, so I could stay out of jail on bond while the trial was going on, and was able to talk to the media throughout. I took responsibility for what I had done on the day of my arrest, and I was able to explain why I did it.


But thanks to the judge’s rulings in Manning’s case, the public has barely heard anything from Manning at all. No official transcripts of the proceeding are released to the public, and when documents like the judge’s court orders are released, they are released weeks after the fact—and only in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.


Now I hope the American people can see Manning in a different light. In 1971, I was able to give the media my side of the story, and it is long overdue that Manning be able to do the same. As Manning has now done, I stipulated as to all the facts for which I was accused. And I did that for several reasons, and I suspect that Manning had the same motives.


First, it was to exonerate a number of people who were suspected of helping me, like former Defense Department colleagues Mort Halperin, Leslie Gelb and others. I was able to state flatly they did not know about the release in the midst of President Nixon’s anxious desire to indict several of them.


And Manning, in saying he took responsibility for the leaks and describing in great detail how he did it, was able to say Julian Assange and Wikileaks had nothing to do with his decision to leak. WikiLeaks had not giving him any special means beyond what a normal newspaper would do.


Now, there’s really now excuse for the grand jury chasing Julian Assange for conspiracy to commit espionage to continue. If they’re not going to indict the New York Times—and there is no constitutional basis for them to do so—there’s no reason for them to investigate or indict Assange or WikiLeaks.


As the former general counsel of the New York Times James Goodale once said, “Charging Julian Assange with ‘conspiracy to commit espionage’ would effectively be setting a precedent with a charge that more accurately could be characterized as ‘conspiracy to commit journalism.’”


The second thing Manning did with his statement—which you can finally hear today—was to explain his motives (he could not do that while he was still putting the responsibility on the government—by pleading not guilty—to prove what he had done beyond a reasonable doubt).


They were the same motives I felt 42 years ago. We both felt the horror of reading about deceptive, and even criminal, activity. We both felt the public needed this information and should have had it years ago. So we both released classified documents about a bloody, hopeless war.


Such criminal, dangerous, and deceptive behavior by the government can only be changed if Congress and the public are informed of them. And when official secrecy allows the government to cover these facts up, the only way to bring them to the public is to break secrecy regulations.


TORTURE


Some of the most critical documents leaked by Manning revealed torture by the Iraqi government, which the US knew about. According to the international treaty on torture, the US should have required investigations.


In fact, the Iraq war logs show hundreds of instances of cases of torture, and in every case, the soldiers were given the illegal order not to investigate.


In his statement to the court, Manning talks about an incident where he thought men who were apprehended shouldn’t have been, and that they were being handed over to the Iraqis to possibly be tortured. He went to his superior and was told to forget about it.


Bradley Manning, by releasing this information, is the only solider who actually obeyed this law, the international treaty, and by extension, the Constitution.


MANNING WAS DISCRIMINATING


Critics have alleged that a major difference between my case and Manning’s is that I was discriminating in what I leaked, while Manning wasn’t. He just dumped some material that doesn’t need to be out, they say. This is simply false.


First, it’s important to point out most of the material he put out was unclassified. The rest was classified ‘secret,’ which is relatively low level. All of the Pentagon Papers was classified top secret.


But in a fact no one seems to observe from his statement, Manning was working within a “SCIF,” which stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. To get into a SCIF, a soldier needs a clearance higher than top secret. This means he had access to the highest classified material, such as communications and signals intelligence. This means he could’ve put out information top secret and higher, and purposely chose not to do so.


AIDING THE ENEMY


It’s important to remember through all this that Manning has already pled guilty to ten charges of violating military regulations (few of which, if any would be civilian crimes) and faces twenty years in jail. Yet the prosecutors are still going ahead with the absurd charge of “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense, for which the prosecutors are asking life in prison.


Nixon could have brought that charge against me too. I was revealing wrongdoing by our government in a public way, and that information could have been read by our enemies in Vietnam. Of course, I never had that intent and Manning didn’t either. We both leaked information to provoke a domestic debate about military force and government secrecy. And to say we did so to aid the enemy is absurd.


This charge could have huge effects on the free speech of anyone in the military and journalists across the country. Any op-ed that is critical of military tactics or any news story that exposes misdeeds of the government can potentially lead to a capital offense.


Worse, the charge purports to apply to anyone, not just the military. It’s blatantly unconstitutional.


PEACE PRIZE


For the third straight year, Manning has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by, among others, Tunisian parliamentarians. Given the role the WikiLeaks cables played in the Arab Spring, and their role in speeding up the end of the Iraq War, I can think of no one more deserving who is deserving of the peace prize.


He’s also deserving of the Medal of Honor. This medal, awarded by Congress—and not the executive branch—is given to military personnel, who during wartime, do what they should do for their country and their comrades, at the greatest risk to themselves.


Of course, there have been many who shown great courage on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq. But some have noted that we don’t have the named heroes of the kind we did during World War I and World War II, such as Sergeant York or Audie Murphy.


I see a hero in these wars whose example should inspire others. His name Bradley Manning.


Previously: "Leaked Audio of Bradley Manning’s statement released by Freedom of the Press Foundation"






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/12/a-salute-to-bradley-manning-w.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

12 März 2013

Principles for 21st century living

Principles for 21st century living

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/tumblr_mji09v7ORg1s2jikwo1_500.jpg



A list of principles for the 21st century, from Joi Ito, presently running the MIT Media Lab:



Ito: There are nine or so principles to work in a world like this:


1. Resilience instead of strength, which means you want to yield and allow failure and you bounce back instead of trying to resist failure.


2. You pull instead of push. That means you pull the resources from the network as you need them, as opposed to centrally stocking them and controlling them.


3. You want to take risk instead of focusing on safety.


4. You want to focus on the system instead of objects.


5. You want to have good compasses not maps.


6. You want to work on practice instead of theory. Because sometimes you don’t why it works, but what is important is that it is working, not that you have some theory around it.


7. It disobedience instead of compliance. You don’t get a Nobel Prize for doing what you are told. Too much of school is about obedience, we should really be celebrating disobedience.


8. It’s the crowd instead of experts.


9. It’s a focus on learning instead of education.


We’re still working on it, but that is where our thinking is headed.



Joi Ito of MIT Media Lab






via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/03/11/principles-for-21st-century-li.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

10 März 2013

Comic for March 10, 2013

Comic for March 10, 2013

http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/70000/7000/300/177342/177342.strip.print.gif





via Dilbert Daily Strip http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-03-10/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dilbert%2Fdaily_strip+%28Dilbert+Daily+Strip+-+UU%29

04 März 2013

In eigener Sache: Der Heise Zeitschriften Verlag und das Leistungsschutzrecht

In eigener Sache: Der Heise Zeitschriften Verlag und das Leistungsschutzrecht

http://www.heise.de/imgs/18/9/9/1/4/9/0/fd70ed7891d584b0.png


Wie angesichts des unklar gehaltenen Gesetzestextes kaum anders zu erwarten, führt das jüngst verabschiedete Leitungsschutzrecht bereits jetzt zu erheblicher Rechtsunsicherheit bei Nutzern von sozialen Netzwerken, Bloggern und Website-Betreibern.







via Mac & i http://www.heise.de/mac-and-i/meldung/In-eigener-Sache-Der-Heise-Zeitschriften-Verlag-und-das-Leistungsschutzrecht-1815715.html

Dieses Blog durchsuchen