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IP and Public Choice
Nothing makes me despair more about the corruption of our legislative process than the dynamic surrounding intellectual property laws. SOPA and PIPA provide yet more evidence, as it if were needed. This article by former lobbyist TC Sottek illustrates the point nicely (HT Balloon Juice):
Lawmakers may have their own parochial interests or lofty causes, but first and foremost they're always looking for votes. To get votes, they need attention and money -- something that corporate lobbyists can dish out in abundance. The end product of this system is lawmaking that's less about making good public policy and more about appeasing the hands that feed as a result, powerful corporations with deep pockets gain unparalleled access to members of Congress, and they help set the agenda. That agenda is why bills like SOPA and PIPA gain such traction they were delivered to Congress in return for money and votes.
I know it's considered naive by many in my line of work to hope for anything more than this, but democracy does not have to work this way. For a variety of reasons, however, ours currently does. And, in the IP context, the result has been a steady diet of ever more expansive IP rights without regard to the costs and increasingly draconian and, in my opinion, counterproductive efforts to prevent online copyright infringement. And, although the legislative process is plainly broken in this area,for a number of reasons (some of them sound), the courts continue torefuse to intervene.
About the Author
Eduardo Moisés Peñalver is the Allan R. Tessler Dean of the Cornell Law School. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the subjects of property and land use law.
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Wikipedia, among others, has tried to make SOPA a free speech issue. But nobody seems to say *how* it infringes on free speech. Wiki also say that it objects to SOPA because it makes the U.S. internet companies responsible for policing the unlawful actions of foreign companies which do indeed break the copyright laws. This does sound like a valid criticism, if it's true. But is it?So what is this all about? Free speech? Pirating copyrighted materials? Or what?
How could the laws affect free speech? "Opponents of the legislation worry that the language in the House bill is so broad that it would allow content owners to target U.S. websites that aren't knowingly hosting pirated content. This has been a particular concern of bill opponents Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter, all of which have sites that depend heavily on content uploaded by users.In an extreme case, opponents say, media companies could get a court order blocking payments to an innocent site, with the effect of shutting it down and stripping it of its rights to free speech.Also, they say the legislation would encourage authoritarian countries that have already been trying to block content on the Internet they don't like." - WSJ
Among other things, it allows screwing around with the Domain Name System (which translates commonwealmagazine.org into an Internet network address) in a way that doesn't really solve the piracy problem. Anyone who does pirating already knows how to circumvent the Domain Name System. Here's a couple of good explanations (which hopefully don't contain any pirated material because under SOPA I believe Commonweal would then be liable for copyright infringement because it allowed a link to a site that contained pirated material):http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/01/18/beyond-sopa-why-easy-s... PDFs linked at the bottom of the Internet Society page are only a few pages long and give a thorough explanation of the issues.
Crystal ===Thanks very much for the information. It seems that both the American internet companies and the foreign ones are giving new meanings to "free speech". As I understand the meaning of "free speech" which is guaranteed by the Constitution, is it mainly the sort of speech whose content is likely to be unpopular and therefore liable to official censorship. Wikipedia and the other American information suppliers seem to be referring to any sort of content which they offer, even content which does not usually invite censorship. I can see their constitutional problem when there is a specific issue (such as their linking to the diplomatic correspondence which Aasange made public) which might invite censorship. But most of their content is not a matter of suppression of "free speech" in the constitutional sense. (Though maybe for internet porn companies it would be.) I don't think the Wiki group has made its case very clearly. The foreign crooks, on the other hand, have given the word "free" a whole different sense -- they want content that is free of charge, as in "free sample" and "free beer". This doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with the Constitution, and given the copyright laws and the rights of authors that material ought to be subject to restrictions.
Thanks, Jeanne. What a headache the policing will be! Still, too many authors and composers and perfermers are ripped off. One of the main problems, I think, is that people are starting to think that everything *ought* to be free like Wikipedia so they have a right to pirated stuff. I suspect many people don't realize how much hard work is involved in being a writer or artist. Or else they just don't mind being cheats. Then, on the other hand, the companies that sell scholarly and scientific articles charge outrageous prices for them. I just read an article (forgot where) about a big international group of scientists who have started an organization to publish their work online and to make it easy to contact others with similar interests. Apparently it makes the scientific process progress much faster -- there is no snail's-pace editorial process. The system seems to have its pros and cons.
It seems to me that we have a basic conflict with copyrights and the "rights" of those people who think that any and everything should be free for the taking.Sooner or later this most likely will advance to that paragon of wisdom and even-handedness, the SCOTUS.
No, Jimmy, it's not "free for the taking". It's freedom from censorship. That's a very big freedom. Nose of the camel. They've lost it in Europe, it seems. If we lose it, too, the sun will no longer shine so brightly. This is a battle that will never end - governments of all stripes love to censor.
Crystal --Thanks, but I can't hear what she's saying.NEWS: The JUstice Dept; has moved against some internet content pirates; Hackers have attacked the Dept's website. Hmm. Really, really ugly.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-usa-crime-piracy-idUSTRE80I...
It's just nice to see "public choice" in the title of this post. Public choice economists have done hugely important work to devastate the faith in governmental agents to act better than the rest of us, and bloggers here tend to promote freakishly dangerous optimism in the government and democratic processes. So I'm appreciative of Mr. Penalver's nod to this important body of legal, political, and economic scholarship (even though I recognize that he and I have different political-philosophical frameworks; that makes his nod even more appreciated). The conclusion is this: it doesn't matter the merits of SOPA, etc (though I'm against it); what matters is that with legislation, the process won't reflect anything like what voters and constituents hope it will, and the outcomes, if they align with what voters and constituents want, will probably do so by chance.
I'm glad that SOPA and PIPA have been sent back to the workshop. I do entertain a fear that internet enthusiasts may become like the NRA, which believes that virtually any restriction in the trafficking of guns is a threat to the Second Amendment, self-defense, and hunting. This is a purely subjective fear. I hope I'm wrong.
Peter, a little censorship is not a good thing.
David S. --How does enforcing laws against pirating of intellectual property constitute "censorship"?


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Farscape: The Complete Series (26 disc DVD) for $40.99 + free shipping
88 episodes and 15 hours of bonus features on 26 discs
Farscape Undressed: The home-video premiere of the rarely seen, long-sought-after behind-the-scenes special
Three archival documentaries: "In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson," "Making of a Space Opera," and "Season Three: A Look Back with Executive Producer David Kemper"
Three Inside Farscape featurettes: Villains, Visual Effects, and Save Farscape
31 audio commentaries
Deleted scenes, director's cut scenes, and an alternate version of the season 2 premiere
Behind-the-scenes interviews with the characters, cast, and creative team of Farscape
Listening in with composer Guy Gross featurettes for 12 episodes
Original TV promos and more
2 Comments add a comment
I'm still bitter about this series being forced to end!
All 4 seasons are available on Amazon's PRIME video service. Great show!

subset: commoncrawl


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Click the title of any of the items below to learn more.
It's your job to defend this gleaming metropolis against the intractable swarms of approaching space invaders.
Thanks to your slow trigger finger, the invaders have laid waste to our finest metropolis. Press restart loser.
The Iconfactory search engine is a great tool to help you find whatever you are looking for. We have associated keywords with all of the content available on the site. These keywords span icon sets, desktop pictures, iPulse Jackets, software products, support items, design services projects and even news page postings.
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Home > Citroen > Citroen Numero 9 Concept 2012
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Citroen Numero 9 Concept 2012
After two years since the Citroen DS line hit the automotive market, the French automaker intends on launching the DS3, DS4 and DS5 in China, one of the largest automotive markets in the world. In celebration of the DS line coming to China, Citroen intends on revealing the Citroen Numero 9 2012 at the Beijing Auto Show. On short, the Numero 9 is a concept car that manages to turn the heads of every gearhead around the world.


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Foreign Travel (cont.)
Traveler's Diarrhea and Cholera
Traveler's diarrhea: Diarrhea is among the most frequent health problems encountered by travelers. Because traveler's diarrhea is caused by eating or drinking contaminated food and water, people traveling under primitive conditions are at highest risk.
Cholera: Although cholera calls up visions of medieval plagues and can be a major cause of anxiety in tourists, it is really very hard to catch. The risk of cholera has been estimated at two cases per million travelers.
Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 9/10/2014
Medical Author:
Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MCAP
Stephen Sigworth, MD
Medical Editor:
(Page 4 of 10)
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An estimated more than 800 million travelers worldwide cross international boundaries each year.


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[Washington, DC] -- Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal arrived in Pittsburgh today for the G-20 Summit being held September 24-25, 2009. He will lead the Saudi delegation to the Summit.
The Saudi Minister of Finance, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf and the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Dr. Muhammad Al-Jasser, also arrived today for the meeting of world leaders and finance ministers. The G-20 nations are expected to discuss recent developments of global economy following this year's crises.
The Saudi economy's strength and influence in the world marketplace have grown exponentially during the past few decades. The Saudi economy is the largest in the Middle East and, in their "Doing Business" annual report issued earlier this month, the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-World Bank rated Saudi Arabia as the 13th most economically-competitive country in the world.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recently praised the strength of the Saudi economy in a public information notice released in August that highlighted the Kingdom's "leadership role in stabilizing world oil markets."


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The 5 Craziest Soldiers of Fortune To Ever Cash a Paycheck
#2. William Walker Just Wants a Country of His Own
A filibuster, in military-speak, is someone who has chosen the ass-for-brains profession of poking his nose into other countries' revolutionary affairs with zero authorization or backup from any government whatsoever.
William Walker is hailed as the greatest filibuster of them all. Literally his whole career is a testament to supervillain insanity.
Those cheekbones just scream secret volcano lair.
The Madness:
In 1853, at the age of 28, Walker set his sights on Mexico. After nicely asking permission to take over parts of it and unsurprisingly being denied, he decided to employ force. He gathered troops in San Francisco, marched right in and settled in what would become known as the Republic of Sonora.
Man, anyone with a bit of scrap fabric with a star and a stripe can become a damn country nowadays.
After a few months, Mexico got annoyed with Walker's ever-expanding country that had by then "claimed" nearly a third of Mexico. They sent the military to deal with Walker, who seemed genuinely surprised at this.
The army on his tail, Walker fled back to the U.S., where to the surprise of no one, he was put on trial for petty crimes such as trying to create his own country and declaring war on Mexico. However, the public perceived him as a hero, and the jury acquitted him after a whopping eight minutes.
He has that kind of warmongering attitude America needs!
Encouraged by the rousing success that was his Mexico venture, Walker's next target was Nicaragua. He entered the country with a mere 60 men in 1856 and somehow managed to take over and declare himself president within a single year. He celebrated his newly gained dictatorship by revoking all anti-slavery laws, declaring war on Costa Rica because fuck Costa Rica, and renaming his country "Walkeragua."
Nicaragua now celebrates the event as a "fuck Western arrogance" holiday.
Sadly, one of the people Walker managed to piss off was the wealthy tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose ships he forbade from his waters. Vanderbilt was not happy, so he sent an army of his own after Walker. Holy shit, the 19th century was awesome!
A guy with a cravat and a comb-over could command legions of men!
This and a coalition of every single Central American government (also funded by Vanderbilt, who tended not to mess around) led to Walker getting booted out of the country a mere year into his presidency. Wondering what had gone wrong and somehow managing to reach the exact opposite of the right conclusion, he headed right back to invade Nicaragua again.
Only this time, he attacked Honduras at the same time. What we're trying to say is the guy needed a hobby.
#1. Bob Denard Tortures a Country for the Hell of It
Bob Denard's life reads out like he is some kind of a deranged cartoon antihero. Born Gilbert Bourgeaud, he started his professional life in the French Navy during the 1950s. Then he got bored of naval life and attempted to assassinate the prime minister of France. He was released after serving 14 months in jail, because apparently the French aren't too bothered about the welfare of their political elite.
Upon his release, Denard decided to throw what little caution he had left to the wind and start a career as a freelance dog of war. And soon enough, someone big looked at his resume and liked what they saw.
That someone? France.
"You look like someone who would never surrender. We need that."
Now employed by the country that apparently really really likes people who try to kill its prime ministers, Denard was tasked with a rescue mission in the Belgian Congo. We're not going to dwell on that -- if you're interested in details you can just watch the movie. Let's just say that Denard was a roaring success, and soon he was zigzagging Africa on more top secret shenanigans than you can shake a stick at.
One guess as to where he keeps the stick.
The Madness:
For three decades, Denard had nursed a ridiculously petty personal vendetta against the African nation of Comoros. This started in 1975, when he traveled there in business to oust president Ahmed Abdallah, literally just after he had declared Comoros independent. It looks like Denard enjoyed it way more than he should have, as three years later he decided he didn't like the new president and couped Abdallah back into power. Yes, the very guy he'd kicked out during Coup #1.
Denard, for reasons that make sense only to this type of man, proceeded to overtake large portions of the country during the next few years, attaining land and building an empire of hotels. Abdallah couldn't do jack shit to him, partially because the man had already overthrown and reinstated him once, but also because Denard owned the goddamn Presidential Guard.
Denard also made him wear this hat.
Around 1989, for obvious reasons, Abdallah ordered the Presidential Guard to disarm themselves. This proved to be a bad move, as Denard quickly put together yet another coup.
Abdallah's successor, Said Djohar, noticed a pattern in the power economics of his country and, wisely, flat out denied Denard entrance to the country. Denard responded by -- all together now! -- launching his fourth coup in 1995, when he and 33 men invaded the country by boat and took control. But this time Denard, who had already been to court because of his antics, had gone too far. The French military, utterly fed up with all the bad press Denard had given them, actually invaded Comoros and took it right back from him.
"God, we're really sorry. He's had too much sugar and is just overtired, you know how they can be."
Denard was convicted of being a dick toward sovereign countries, which is apparently an even smaller offense than attempted prime ministercide, seeing as this time he spent just 10 months in jail. Did he learn anything? Well, let's just say he tried to stage a fifth Comoros coup in 2001.
His love of coups was matched only by his weird love of cow print.
For more insane soldiers, check out 5 Real Life Soldiers Who Make Rambo Look Like a Pussy and 5 Soldiers Whose Horrific Injuries Only Made Them Angry.


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Return to Rahner
For approximately 15 years Karl Rahner was the contemporary Catholic theologian most influential upon my own theological understanding and development. Perhaps the earliest work of his I read was the evocative "Encounters with Silence." I greatly resonated with the cosmic vision of his "Theology of Death." And I can still remember the place and time when I first read, with excitement, his essay "The Concept of Mystery in Catholic Theology."His influence upon me faded when I found myself in new teaching circumstances and when I found myself less happy with the use made of his thought by some of his North American "disciples." Though they appealed to Rahner, they also lamented his "excessive Christocentrism" which they felt had to be "transcended."It is, therefore, with some delight that I've begun to read Karl Rahner again, in particular the essays in volume 18 of the "Theological Investigations." In the essay, "What Does It Mean Today to Believe in Jesus Christ?", he concludes:
If we love Jesus, quite personally and directly, if in our love we allow his life and his fate to become the inner form and entelechy of our own life, then we learn that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that he leads us to the Father, that we may and can call the incomprehensible God "Father" despite his namelessness, that God's namelessness and pathlessness can be our own home, bringing us not extinction, but eternal life.We must love Jesus in the unconditional acceptance of his life's fate as our own norm of existence, in order to experience serenely and joyously our own existence as finally redeemed.
About the Author
Rev. Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus at Boston College.
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I hope a thoughtful discussion will soon develop about the various Rahnerian schools and their influences, and their relationships to Rahner's own thought. It seems to me to be a theological realm that deserves and requires self-evaluation.
Rahner's unabashed love for Jesus Christ is heartening and inspiring.
Fr. Imbell --I discovered "Encounters with Silence" when I was young. The slim little book had a great influence on me. But it's easily comprehensible.How about doing a collection for non-theologians of some of the not-too-hard passages in Rahner? Or is his thought so highly structured that you can't understand the parts without understanding the whole? After Encounters with Silence, I would rather doubt that. What about his sermons? They might be a good way for lay people to approach him.
Robert, I very much appreciate your consistent attention to keeping Christ at the center. I resonate with this deeply. Yet I know too that it is no easy thing. The revelation of God in Christ contains within its heart the most costly and challenging truth -- that love and goodness entails the cross. There is no Easter without Good Friday, for us as for him. It is referenced in the passage you quoted:"We must love Jesus in the unconditional acceptance of his lifes fate as our own norm of existence..."To accept "his life's fate as our own norm for existence" is a profound but also a fearful proposition, when one honestly reflects upon it. Would you agree, or have I misunderstood the passage? The fate of Jesus as the norm for my own existence -- there is much to think about here.
Ann,A book I appreciate very much is by my former colleague, Harvey Egan, S.J.: "Karl Rahner: Mystic of Everyday Life." It has generous quotes from Rahner and good suggestions for further reading.
Rita,Of course I agree. You've understood the passage deeply. Is that not what Annie Dillard was getting at when she said that, if we truly realized what was going on at Sunday liturgy, we would wear crash helmets?In that same volume 18 of "Theological Investigations" there is an essay, "Following the Crucified" which you would appreciate. Here is one sentence: "the Christian, every Christian at all times, follows Jesus by dying with him: following Jesus has its ultimate truth and reality and universality in the following of the Crucified."
Thanks, Fr. I. I've ordered it :-)
I was captivated by the same imponderable as Rita, but I'm still having trouble with an unconditional acceptance of Christ's fate as leading to serenity and joy...seems like there's hell to pay between the two.
I'm struck by the contrast of "pathlessness" with "entelechy." Also, this is strange, but the imperative tone of the last paragraph quoted reminds me of Camus's "we must imagine Sisyphus happy." MarkP, for some reason the joy part made me think of Paul, telling Corinthians how we're down but not out, "perplexed but not in despair."
Oh and p.s. Fr. I, hope you plan to share more of your reenchantment with Rahner.
There's a new translation of a Rahner collection, "Everyday Faith" (Herder and Herder, 1968) as "The Mystical Way in Everyday Life" (Annemarie S. Kidder, trans. Orbis, 2010). It was compiled by now Cardinal Karl Lehmann when he was Fr Rahner's assistant in the mid-1960s, and includes some sermons for the liturgical cycle and a range of more academic essays and brief reflections and prayers. The book is a nice introduction, or renewed relationship with Rahner. The three essays in the section "Love of God and Neighbor" turn to God first (always the case for Rahner) and to neighbor and bind them together as the one commandment. One sentence I've returned to in recent days: "The act of loving one's neighbor is not some ethical act, but actually the basic ethical act of human existence." (p. 79)
Joseph P.Thank you for the heads-up. I'll be going to the Catholic Theological Society Convention in San Jose in June and Orbis always has a book exhibit ... with nice discounts :-)
And thanks for your note, Father. I'll be at CTSA as well. The Karl Rahner Society does have its annual breakfast meeting there as well.
A few snippets from Rahner's "Prayers of a Lifetime":* "I really don't think I'm better than other people in the Church. I know that I myself as anything but shining evidence for the origin of the Church in God's grace-giving will."* "How boring, antiquated, bothered only with the system's good repute-- how short-sighted, how addicted to power the 'officeholders' in the Church seem to me; how conservative in a bad sense and clericalist. And when they are unctious with it, when they parade their good will and selflessness, then it gets even harder, because I hardly ever hear them confessing publicly and clearly their mistakes and ineptitudes."* "Have mercy upon us. I don't want to be one of those who find fault with the officeholders in the Church and then contribute all the more to your Church's lack of credibility. Still les do I want to to be one of those who are stupid enough to wonder whether they still want to remain in the Church. I want to keep working for the clear-sightedness that can see the miracles of your grace that even today occur in the Church."Rahner's prayerfulness is so exemplary for us.
You might enjoy this: http://www.peterlang.com/download/datasheet/54484/datasheet_430127.pdf#s...'rahner a theologian for the 21st century'
Rahner, Lonergan, Newman, Maritain -- Catholic minds who need to be saved from their embalmers.
I have to say I had the same response as Mark P. "Im still having trouble with an unconditional acceptance of Christs fate as leading to serenity and joyseems like theres hell to pay between the two." Maybe not hell to pay as much as heaven to gain, but certainly we're not meant to get there in a comfy chair. I think of Luca Giordano's painting of St. Peter's crucifixion, a picture I can hardly bear to look at. Nontheless, it would be interesting if every RCIA candidate were shown it and asked to consider his readiness to enter into that deal. The "hard" parts of being Catholic, at least in my experience, were soft-pedalled far too much.Bernard, thanks for this slap upside the head: Have mercy upon us. I dont want to be one of those who find fault with the officeholders in the Church and then contribute all the more to your Churchs lack of credibility. Still les do I want to to be one of those who are stupid enough to wonder whether they still want to remain in the Church. I want to keep working for the clear-sightedness that can see the miracles of your grace that even today occur in the Church.


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5 Hilariously Awkward Meltdowns Hidden on DVD Commentaries
Even if you're the type of person who watches DVD special features, you have to admit that commentary tracks are generally pretty boring. Commentary tracks are two straight hours of people talking over a movie (which every sane human being automatically despises unless there are snarky robots involved), and for what? To hear Robert De Niro's opinion on the catering? To learn about the time Gwyneth Paltrow got lost on the way to the set and almost accidentally touched a black person? They're just not worth it. Not unless one of the filmmakers or actors snaps and has a mental breakdown right there on the tape ... which actually happens pretty frequently.
#5. Cannibal! The Musical: Trey Parker Still Isn't Over a Relationship That Ended 15 Years Ago
Troma Entertainment
Cannibal! The Musical is a comedy created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker years before they hit major success with South Park. Given their candid nature and penchant for silly bullshit, you can probably guess that their commentaries are going to be almost as much fun as their movies ... especially when they open with a formal reading of their alcohol inventory.
Ryan McVay/Photodisc/Getty Images
Sorry, popcorn; you're outta your league here.
But the South Park boys are but men, after all, and they get a little weepy when they drink.
The Commentary
The commentary quickly dissolves into a pity party for Parker, who caught his fiancee sleeping with an a cappella singer ... 15 years earlier.
Parker: I was engaged to this girl Liane ... and about a month before the wedding she decided to start sleeping with this guy in an a cappella group ... and I wrote this movie ... just so I could ridicule her, basically.
Yes, that's the same Liane that Cartman's slutty mother is named after on South Park. And Cannibal! The Musical is about a horse named Liane who leaves her owner. Hey, nobody said the man was subtle.
David McNew/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
It took six hours to convince him to even consider including hot pants.
The rest of the movie's commentary is predictable Parker and Stone shenanigans: They reminisce about the boom mike operator's boobs, speculate about going to a strip club once the recording is done, and ... wait, did Parker just bring up Liane again, out of absolutely nowhere?
Stone: You gave it the old Abraham Lincoln save ...
Parker: Because Liane wasn't really ... she was with a dirty fucking a cappella singer guy.
People keep trying to redirect him, but Parker won't hear of it.
Third Voice: Check out Matt and Ian in the background there, dude.
Stone: This is pretty sweet-
Parker: ... and now she's with the manager of Foley's. Ooh! Hi, I'm worth $7 million, and she's with the manager of Foley's! Whoops!
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
"Plus, my dad could totally beat up her dad."
No bitterness there! Admittedly, this is pretty in line with Parker and Stone's sense of humor and may well be a bit they're doing. But something in his voice, that hurt little quaver ... we can't help but think that, after recording wrapped, Stone stripped to the waist and stood out in the rain screaming Liane's name until his nosy neighbors called the cops.
#4. At Least Joel Schumacher Is Sorry for Batman & Robin
Warner Bros.
Batman & Robin probably would've killed superhero movies if X-Men and Spider-Man hadn't come along to revitalize them. It's the Superman IV of the Batman movies, such a watershed of terrible moviemaking that no one would ever dare speak in its favor.
Warner Bros.
Bat nipples don't attract a lot of supporters.
Except, of course, for its director, Joel Schumacher.
The Commentary
Nope! There's a line even Schumacher won't cross, and that line is defending the existence of Batman & Robin. Schumacher spends the entire commentary track by himself repeatedly and earnestly apologizing for what he did. No stars to get in the way. No producers. Just an hour and a half of Schumacher pretty much going "God, I am so sorry -- I just ... nipples? What the fuck was I thinking? Send me your address. I will pay you your money back." There are very few clever anecdotes, precisely zero joyful reminisces -- just a few feeble defenses that quickly give way to shameful apologizing. If you want a fine example of a proper mea culpa, Schumacher is your man: "Blame the director," he says, "that's what our names are there for."
Kevin Winter/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
It's much easier to say that before you're covered in fanboy spit.
The man's only human, though. His first instincts are to deflect blame. For example, the acting? It's bad, "But hey, it's a comic book" -- because we all know nobody goes to a Batman movie to see a soul-shatteringly brilliant performance. Schumacher then responds to criticisms of Clooney's performance by reiterating that he "really doesn't see where the harm is" because "it's a Batman movie." But eventually, he brings up the script, and Schumacher finally seems to lose the argument he's been having in his head. He admits, "Akiva Goldsman was blamed a lot ... but that's not fair. I take full responsibility. I mean, Akiva did write the script, but I shot it."
Warner Bros.
"We were both going through this weird 'ice puns' phase at the time."
Take note: Moments of self-awareness like this are rare in Hollywood, and they exist only briefly, like mayflies, before being utterly obliterated by a mountain of cocaine.
#3. Rowdy Roddy Piper Thinks They Live Really Happened
Universal Studios
They Live is a cultural milestone. A masterpiece of art and cinema. It is how an entire generation will be remembered -- not by their politics, music, or theater, but by this six-minute fistfight scene alone. If you haven't seen it, shame on you. We should exile you from this entry entirely, but we'll take pity this one time and fill you in. They Live was a sci-fi/action flick about aliens who invade by sneaking subliminal messages into corporate advertising campaigns -- messages that only become visible when the movies' heroes don magic sunglasses. For director John Carpenter, it was an opportunity to turn his acidic criticism of Reaganomics into a major release. For professional wrestler and movie star "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, it was a documentary.
Universal Studios
They tried to do something similar to this in Roger & Me, but no one could lift Michael Moore.
The Commentary
The commentary derails early, right around the time the movie first shows us the aliens' subliminal tactics. That's when Piper explains that They Live is more than satire -- it's based on a real story that, somehow, the film's own director had never heard about:
Piper: Back in 1954, they had this thing called the Bronswik Affair. Do you know about the Bronswik Affair?
Carpenter: No, I don't.
Piper: The Bronswik Affair was a television they had. People would buy it and all of a sudden a housewife would come home with 50 pounds of dog food and she didn't own a dog ... And what they were doing was just what you had them doing here. They were sending signals out to the TV.
Carpenter: Oh, I-
Piper: And in history you look back at it, and it'll tell you about the Bronswik Affair.
Carpenter: Well ...
Universal Studios
Maybe it's best not to argue with the man.
Carpenter is clearly uncomfortable and has no idea what Piper's talking about. But we at Cracked have heard about The Bronswik Affair, because we have access to Google and therefore never have to admit to not knowing about something ever again. It's a short mockumentary that satirizes consumer culture. Apparently Piper saw it, but failed to pick up on the fact that it was a joke (to be fair, that kind of thing happens from time to time). That's definitely the same video, too -- skip to 6:50 to see the exact moment Piper thought was real.
OK, so maybe we're exaggerating a bit there. He was just misinformed about another film. That's all. We can't rightly extrapolate that out to say "Roddy Piper thinks They Live was a documentary." He's never said anything of the sor-
... oh.


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I am a statistician (no solid background in finance). Please forward me to a book \ chapter \ paper to resolve the following general question. Suppose we have a stock with the following monthly return distribution: P(R=1%)=0.999, P(R=10000%)=0.001. The mean monthly return is about 11%, which is very good. Still, for typical investors with short horizon (say, 1-2 years), the probability to get anything over 1% per month is very small, so the stock is not that attractive as the average return would imply. That means, the price of such a stock should go down until it reaches a more acceptable profile P(R=3%)=0.99; this stock will tend to have a lower P/E because of its uncomfortable return distribution. Now suppose there is a thousand of such stocks, and their returns are independent. In this case, taken as a group, they have a good return profile (return jumps are no longer rare), so the group should not be punished with lower P/E. So, should such a stock be priced individually (based on its return profile), or in a group of similar stocks?
What a great question -- it touches on many issues at the core of quantitative finance. This answer might be a lot more than you bargained for, but it's too interesting to pass up.
Mostly, this subject falls somewhere at the intersection of these three highly-interrelated topics: risk-neutral valuation, rational pricing and the fundamental theorem of asset pricing. In short: the prices investors are willing to pay depend on perceived risks. So, how can we decide what risks determine prices?
As your question illustrates, risk-neutral pricing is one of the most difficult areas to grasp, as it often defies intuition. As such, it is rather hard to find papers that aren't full of math or that require little knowledge of finance. However, I think these three may fit the bill:
Some Background
Now, if you're still reading -- or still care -- I'll try to flesh out why these fields are related to your question.
You hit the nail on the head: people have subjective judgements of value, based on risk aversion or their own reads of outcome probabilities. Moreover, these opinions are swayed by context (as you set up with a portfolio, or a short horizon). That's hardly the basis for an objective pricing framework, and yet we know that risk impacts price. How can we make claims about pricing if we can't even agree on where to start?
Our jumping-off point is the idea that a security's price is the expectation of its future value. To a single investor, that value is conditional on a set of subjectively-determined probabilities. The motivation for rational or risk-neutral pricing is to find the set of probabilities under which any investor becomes indifferent to risky outcomes (hence, "risk-neutral"). While that may sound like replacing one problem with another one, there are actually very few ways to do that consistently across all securities in the market, meaning without allowing arbitrage opportunities to arise.
More explicitly, a risk-neutral probability measure makes the expected return on an asset equal to the prevailing risk-free rate. As long as a market is "complete", then the risk-neutral probability measure can be derived for all assets at once, resulting in a unified -- and objective -- pricing framework. The lightbulb really went off in 1979, when Cox, Ross and Rubenstein first used these ideas to price options.
Note -- I don't expect to have convinced anyone with these few paragraphs; please see the attached references for a complete explanation!
Now, the truth is that your question is somewhat boring, in an asset pricing sense, because you have specified the complete return distribution of the security in question. (In fact, I would argue that in many ways, the role of a quant comes down to estimating return distributions.) The fundamental theorem tells us that the asset price must therefore be its (objective) expected value, or arbitrage opportunities would result. Things become much more interesting if we didn't know the probabilities, or the future prices, or both -- and that's the reason risk-neutral pricing was developed.
A more direct answer, kind of...
So, though risk-neutral probabilities are derived from the many securities in a market, I don't consider that the same as your question's "price as a portfolio" option. It is rare to find a security that prices completely in isolation; interest rates or other underliers usually play some role. Generally, as long as those components are known to be arbitrage-free, there is no need to go through the risk-neutral exercise when pricing someone that derives from them.
Moreover, I interpret your question as using the portfolio as a means to alter perceived risk; you could have as easily increased horizon and not invoked other securities. So to be clear, I'm treating your question as asking "how do different perceived risks impact security prices" rather than "are securities priced in isolation or in a portfolio context?"
So the answer might actually be (c) none of the above: securities are priced individually, but in risk-neutral market contexts. For all intents and purposes, I believe this resolves to your "individual" pricing, but perhaps for a different reason than you expected.
...and a Little MPT
Finally, as a statistician you may be interested in how to quantify the subjective aspects of your question. This comes down to the increasingly-misnamed "modern portfolio theory", introduced in 1952 and for which Harry Markowitz won a Nobel Prize. Note that while these concepts are very important, I'd be surprised if you found a professional using them in practice today.
Let's generalize your question by saying that these securities, call them $S$, have a binomial distribution with probability $p$. If we consider multiple holding periods then they would be Bernoulli-distributed, but since that will come out to a linear scale I disregard it here. One security's expected return is therefore $p$ with variance $p(1-p)$.
Compare that to holding a portfolio of $n$ such securities, allocating $\frac{1}{n}$ of your capital to each. The expected portfolio return is $$E[ \sum^n\frac{1}{n}S] = E[S] = p$$ and its variance is $$Var[\sum^n\frac{1}{n}S] = \frac{Var[S]}{n} = \frac{p(1-p)}{n}.$$
This is diversification at work! Same expected return, but lower volatility.
You ask: if this new portfolio is obviously better, shouldn't I pay more for it? And traders immediately start lining up to sell it to you in a particularly expensive illustration of the law of no-arbitrage.
This may or may not be helpful, since I don't have anything to point you to that specifically addresses the high skewness of the distribution you mention. However, this sounds like it is probably an idiosyncratic risk, and that certainly has bearing on whether or not it would be priced.
In the standard capital asset pricing model, the marginal investor holds something close to the market portfolio and so all that matters is an asset's covariance with the market portfolio. So as long as the probability of the good event is independent of the overall performance of the market portfolio, the textbook finance answer is that an idiosyncratic risk like this would be diversified away and therefore the stock would be priced based on expected value (as long as it is small relative to the market portfolio).
In practice things aren't quite so clear, and idiosyncratic risk might be priced after all (so the stock would trade at a discount). See for instance Malkiel and Xu (2006): http://www.utdallas.edu/~yexiaoxu/IVOT_H.PDF.
Then again others have found that stocks with high idiosyncratic volatility actually have lower expected returns, as in Ang, Hodrick, Xing and Zhang (2006).


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COLORS: Black Currant, Golden, Navy, Orange, Royal Blue, Red Rover, Black, Dark Khaki, Black Olive
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Active Core Temperature System - Strategically placed zones of light insulation and unique lining materials to manage body heat, resulting in a perfectly balanced temperature for every day riding.


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Marsha Chien
A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Marsha Chien L'10 grew up in Herndon, Virginia. Before enrolling at Penn Law, she worked as a consultant in New York for a year and then as a Peace Corps volunteer in a Mayan village in Guatemala.
An advocate for immigrant workers.
After graduation, Chien clerked for the Chief Judge of the Western District of Washington, the Honorable Marsha J. Pechman. She is now a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) in the National Origin, Immigration and Language Rights program. Her long-term career goal is to continue advocating on behalf of immigrant workers whether at a non-profit, in government, or in an academic setting.
In her own words, Marsha Chien talks about her journey to Penn Law and beyond.
Global impact.
I participated in the year-long Transnational Clinic, where I worked on a petition before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on behalf of undocumented workers, an application for Special Immigrant Juvenile status, and on issues related to Liberian refugees in Ghana. I also participated in the Legislative Clinic, where I worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. In terms of leadership positions, I co-directed two student-run projects: the Immigrant Rights Project and the Unemployment Compensation Project. During the summers, I interned at Friends of Farmworkers, California Rural Legal Assistance, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the Immigrant Law Group in Portland, OR.
The clerkship difference.
When I started law school, I did not know any lawyers and had never heard of a "clerk." So, I really appreciated the Career office's introduction into that process. I remember the Career Office organized several meetings with professors who had previously clerked and invited a federal judge to talk about the application process. I do not know if I would have applied otherwise if I had not attended those events and the clerkship experience itself turned out to be an incredibly rare inside look into how litigation works.
The community has your back.
As a Toll Public Interest Scholar, I helped organize the annual Sparer symposium on restorative justice. The assignment was daunting, but it was a wonderful way to collaborate with not only the other scholars but professors, the law school administration, and the greater Philadelphia community. In planning the many events and panels, it really felt like we had the support of the entire law school. At the end of the symposium, sitting exhausted in Silverman Hall with the other Toll scholars, I remember recognizing that we were all really proud that it went well, but also a bit wistful that it was over. I think chasing that mixed feeling of pride in the result and nostalgia for the collegial process is what guides me in my career decisions today.


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Lesson Plan by Conn-Selmer Artist Jim Snidero
Brand new from virtuoso jazz trombonist Bob "Chez" McChesney - "CHEZ SEZ".
Learn More About Conn-Selmer, Inc.
Conn-Selmer, under a portfolio of brands, is the leading manufacturer and distributor of musical instruments for student, amateur and professional use. With a tradition of innovation, and superior musical performance, brands such as Vincent Bach, C.G. Conn, King, Holton, Selmer, Armstrong, Leblanc, Ludwig, Musser, Scherl & Roth, Glaesel, and William Lewis & Son have earned a legacy of respect unparalleled by any other builders.


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60% off Tools at Sears Outlet
No code, just buy now
19 Comments add a comment
Too bad the 60% off only applies to the available inventory....which is empty at the moment.
Right, no inventory. I've clicked on the Sears deal on Woot four or five times, and most of the time, the link leads me to a differetent item, no item at all, or the advertised item at a higher price.
Looks like this takes you there.
EDIT: Just tried it and it DOESN'T take you there...sorry. Click on the Sears Outlet icon, then click Tools and Tool Storage, and then a photo link to the 60% sale will be on the linked page.
Convoluted, but true!
It must be a joke, no items!
On the left side of the page towards the bottom is a link for tools, when I click on it, I get another page where it shows in an ad that they sell the tools at 60% off retail, then I had to click on that link to see what it was they have for 60% off.
Looks like Beaglebrains' link works... http://www.searsoutlet.com/Craftsman-Promotion/d/products.jsp?md=ct_md&cid=7054&adcell=homemain1-1&adcell=tool-right&cj=true
I'm seeing 50 products on this sale. I just navigated to sears outlet and then clicked the ad on the front page...
EDIT if you are in the market for sockets, socket sets, or open ended wrenches then this sale is for you. Otherwise you'll be dissappointed.
Sockets on sale, but that's about it.
Nearest store to me is 120 miles...
torque wrench pretty good price - 1/2"
@twstrchk: True. That is a good deal. Shipping isn't bad at just $6.25.
There are some good deals on impact sockets and large size sockets.
Just a note to those having trouble trying to find this deal, now that I have visited the Sears Outlet site the sale ad is constantly popping up in the ads on the right side of Deals Woot pages.
Dig to the end, there are some 50 piece sets for the same price as some of the basic sets. Nothing really of interest though, it's all sockets and wrenches, and one torque wrench.
Great deals if I want to drive 1000 miles...
I love Sears Outlet. I'm fortunate enough to have two within a reasonable distance. Thanks for the link - looks like I can get a few more sockets to broaden my collection and some spares of the popular ones.
What's the point? This is the 3rd time I've seen a discount coupon offered by Sears on this site. None of them have been redeemable. I use to believe in Sears/Craftsmen tools. Now there are many others offering the same or better unlimited lifetime warranty. Also, Sears is now a limited lifetime warranty depending on the customer service clerk's opinion. Previously, you could bring back a tool you found rusted or broken and they would quickly replace it. That's when it was worth buying.
The link that works for me (Craftsman only):
@chuckd53: Me, too. The site is useless.
The neares Sears Outlet is 3 hours away? So much for saving anything.


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1975 Dodge Dart Rust Removal Part 1Written by on March 18, 2010 Contributors: Lynn Wilson The Extra Holes And Dents In Our Dart Sport Finally Get Fixed
When we last closed the garage door on our Dart Sport, we had completely disassembled it, and found exactly what areas of the car needed repair. Before we purchased the Sport, it had spent the 15 or so years prior sitting under a carport, and not moved. While this lack of use kept the mileage slightly under 150,000, it didn't do much for the back half of the car that didn't fit under the carport. What this means is that from the bottom of the rear window forward, the Sport's only needed repairs were the many small dings from mall parking lots, and who knows what else. The rear of the car, however, was another story.
Anyway, we finally knew what needed to be fixed, and it was time to get underway. This month, we tackle the rust repair and mocked up the new rear bumper. Like we said in our last installment, in 1975, the bumpers on all cars were designed without regard to aesthetics. Let's face it, when the outside face of a bumper protrudes almost 5 inches away from the body of the car, it needs help. In our case, we decided to see what would happen if we tried to fit a rear bumper from a '72 Demon on the car. To find a nice bumper and brackets that we could use would mean that we had to first find a usable bumper and get it chromed. This means spending money for a core, and chroming. Luckily for us, we found out that Stephens Performance now has brand-new reproduction bumpers and brackets for many cars. For many guys, having an original bumper is a must, but the quality of the repop from Stephens was quite good, and fit nicely, so we had no qualms about using it. Now, the bumper brackets did need a little "tweaking," but with a little modifying, it's an easy swap.
Anyway, it took a couple of weeks of steady work to get the Sport's metal repairs in order, but the time spent was well worth it.
More Photos From This Article View Slideshow
Although the rust at the rear of the car was substantial, a complete panel replacement wasn't needed.....Even though we didn't need to replace the entire panel, we found complete pieces cheap enough while at Carlisle so we bought it. The extra metal can be used elsewhere if need be.We all know that a '75 Dart Sport didn't have a hoodscoop from the factory-or the holes in the hood for said scoop for that matter-but since we previously added a scoop, now seemed like the right time to add the factory-styled air inlet holes. The effectiveness of these holes has caused debate for years, but hey, we decided to add them.
While fitting the rear bumper, we learned that we needed to do a little trimming of the brackets as the bumper stuck out away from the car farther than we liked.With all the sheetmetal work completed and the rear bumper fitted, it's time to start slinging paint.We couldn't be at the shop on the day that the paint was applied, but Wayne Colley handled the job without us.


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Oscillating Cabin Fan (Marinco/Guest/Afi/Nicro/Bep)
Oscillates 120° horizontally. Can be operated from a stationary position. Features vertical adjustment. Mounts vertically or horizontally. Highly efficient compact 12V motor is very quiet. Draws 1.2 amps. 3 transparent No of Blades. Ivory housing and 7-1/2" vinyl-coated guard.
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WBA to hold fundraiser
WINTERSVILLE - The Wintersville Baseball Association will hold its annual Pancake Breakfast with the Easter Bunny Fundraiser at Zalenski's from 8 a.m. to noon on March 23.
The cost is $7 a plate. Monica Lynne Photography will be there to take photos with the Easter Bunny and baseball players will serve and clear the tables.
FUS lacrosse team blanked
LYNCHBURG, Va. - After recording the first win in program history, the Franciscan University of Steubenville men's lacrosse team lost 16-0 at Randolph College Thursday.
"We have to give credit to the fact that they are a skilled team and did a great job," head coach Pete Rosaschi said. "They were no joke."
Rosaschi talked about his team's biggest on field accomplishment, their resilience.
"Every week I talk to my guys about a different virtue," Rosaschi said. "This week was about resilience. We want to be strong no matter what happens. The score does not show how hard we played."
FUS hosts LaRoche College at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Softball team drops two
CLERMONT, Fla. - The FUS softball team dropped a doubleheader Thursday, 12-1 to Cornell College and 21-3 to Monmouth College.
"We know what to do to get better, and at this point it is all mental," FUS head coach Jen Parker said. "Everyone is still trying to get in sync. They have the skills and ability."
The Barons take on St. Lawrence at 1 p.m. and Thomas (Maine) at 3 p.m. today.


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The WorldEdit Generation manual
I'm looking for an example of how to construct an arbitrary 3D shape from formula to script. SK gives an example formula for a stone torus, which is as follows.
//g stone (0.75-sqrt(x^2+y^2))^2+z^2 < 0.25^2
The mathematical formula for the volume of a torus is:
What I need to see is an example of something simple like a triangle or a trapezoid, something I can get my head around. You can create any shape possible if it follows a mathematical formula. SK even gives the command syntax.
If someone could show me a few shape formulas broken into the proper format that would be nice.
Actually, I dual posted: How to translate from one math formula format to another? - Mathematics - Stack Exchange


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The Church in Brooklyn Park
6241 West Broadway, Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
Phone: (763) 537-1148
E-mail Us with any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you!
This page and all contents are Copyright © 2006-2007 The Church in Brooklyn Park (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quoted from The New Testament, Recovery Version © 1985, 1991 Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.


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James Dale Schwab Sr. passed away in Roscommon on Oct. 29, 2012, at the age of 76.
He lived at North Higgins Lake for the past two years with his girlfriend, Marlene Frank. James enjoyed NASCAR and being a part of barbecue cooking contests, where he won many trophies.
James is survived by his four children, Sherii Alexander, James Schwab Jr. and Millie Rodriguez, all from Texas; and John Schwab from Michigan. He will surely be missed.
There will be a memorial luncheon in memory of James Dale Schwab Sr. from 2 to 5 p.m. Nov. 17, 2012, at the Lyons-Muir Church, located on the corner of M-21 and Olmstead Road in Muir.
Location, ST | website.com


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The 6 Most Unintentionally Offensive Publicity Campaigns
Creating a marketing campaign for a charity is tough, because marketing and charity are the exact opposite: Charity is about giving up money to fix real problems in the world, while marketing is more about pretending bad things exist so other people will give you money. Even so, it's pretty shocking that some of these ideas even made it past the "Hey, what if we ..." stage, let alone all the way to TV screens, bus stops, and radio stations around the world. To be clear, these were all launched for a good cause, and occasionally resulted in some pretty great things -- like schools for Africa and money for victims of terrorist attacks -- we just can't help but think there was a better way to do it than ...
#6. UNICEF Raising Money for African Schools (With Blackface)
In 2007, UNICEF launched the Schools for Africa campaign in Germany to raise money to build schools in some of the crappiest parts of Africa -- but because Africa went out of vogue around the same time as U2, UNICEF needed to get innovative with their campaign. So they decided to go retro and make the link between different cultures visual by slapping some mud in the faces of white kids and saying, "See? Practically the same!"
The teeth aren't racist though. Kid teeth really look like that.
Some translations of the above ads: "In Africa, kids don't come to school late, but not at all" and "Some teachers suck, no teachers suck more." Outrage followed, largely because "sensitivity for the plight of African peoples" and "blackface" are pretty much the exact opposite things.
UNICEF's response was to say that they didn't see what the big deal was, since they had focus-tested the ads in Germany and no one seemed to have any problem with it. Apparently, it never occurred to them that maybe since Germany's population is only 1 percent black, they may not have gotten exactly the focus their tests needed.
Comstock Images/Photos.com
But the target audience was white people. Because only white people donate money.
UNICEF did manage to raise the money to build 350 schools -- it's just too bad they couldn't do so without using the same tools they used to make villains in Birth of a Nation.
#5. Demeter Fragrance Debuting a "Scent of Suffering" Perfume
After the Boston Marathon bombing, New York-based perfume company Demeter Fragrance decided they needed to pay tribute to that day's heroes the only way they knew how: by releasing a perfume with the fragrance of smoke and burning rubber.
Darren McCollester/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Why, that's almost as dumb as ...
No. Forget it. No perfume could possibly be dumber.
Some context: Demeter's market is people for whom "pleasant smell" has simply never been enough. Their scents can be loosely categorized into things like "Kindergarten Teacher" (crayons, Play-Doh, and bourbon) and "funeral home" (mildew and earthworms). The "First Response" scent was originally supposed to honor the New York Fire Department, but after the bombing, it suddenly found itself in a bottle dedicated to Boston's police, EMTs, and firefighters. Because great marketing opportunities like a national tragedy don't just crop up every day, ya know.
Now, the smell of smoke and burning rubber are certainly useful smells for triggering the fucking run part of the brain, but as part of a product supporting victims of a recent terrorist attack, they weren't exactly appreciated. Smell is very closely tied to memory -- even the smell of something you really love would turn into nasal night terrors if paired with major trauma.
John Tomaselli/Photos.com
That's why you still throw up whenever you smell orange and latex.
Actual survivors said that they thought it was "odd" that Demeter would want to put the smell of tragedy in a bottle, but we feel like we can go broader and say that wanting to smell like a bomb victim means there is something wrong with your damn brain.
#4. Bing Equating Disaster Relief With Free Publicity
Toru Yamanaka / AFP/Getty Images
One day after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Bing announced via Twitter their intention to donate to the victims of the disaster. But whereas most companies just gave money and left it at that, Bing decided to channel Hannibal Lecter and make their donation quid pro quo; specifically, they pledged a donation of $1 per retweet of their initial tweet, all the way up to the princely sum of $100,000.
via Switched.com
That's 0.125 percent of Bing's initial advertising budget. And sure, it's a good chunk of cash, but remember: That's the maximum. Bing would need 100,000 retweets to hit the limit, so this tweet would have to be one of the top three most popular tweets of all time before the donation would be notable, so it was way more likely Microsoft was going to get away with donating a paltry two or three grand. Naturally, people got pretty pissed, because even in hives of unmitigated evil and cretinism like the Internet, it's typically frowned upon to use the suffering of thousands as leverage in your bid for free publicity.
Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images News/Getty Images
And that's on top of the suffering of the thousands who use Bing.
Bing caved after a "#fuckyoubing" hashtag took off, proving once and for all the power of viral marketing. Bing issued the standard "I'm just misunderstood" douchebag apology, and donated the $100,000 after all. But only after being called out on an amount of bullshit so large its emissions alone could power the Earth until the stars die.


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I'm fairly new to the Pomodoro method & wanted to get feedback on how to handle a situation that is common in my line of work.
I'm a software analyst/engineer and often times I plan to complete a task (let's say Complete Regression Test for Module 10 of beta code), however I run into a roadblock that prevents me from completing the task 100%. A typical example would be running into a software bug that needs to be corrected in order for me to proceed.
In this case, should I mark the task (Regression Test Module 10 beta code) as complete since it is as complete as possible at this given point in time? Or, do I (or can I) update my To Do Today paper & change 'Regression Test Module 10' to 'Regression Test Module 10 up to line 1043' (Assuming that line 1043 is as far as I was able to get)
Since reporting the bug to the development manager is urgent; I believe I would make a new task on my To Do Today list ("report software bug to development manager"), mark it as Urgent & work on that next.
Lastly, how do I deal with the tasks that are dependent upon the release of the patch? I need to eventually "Install patch" & "Pick-up with regression testing at line 1044'. Would those 2 tasks go on my Activity Inventory with an estimated deadline?
Thanks for your feedback!


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People get paid a lot of money to be experts on things, so one would assume they're much more knowledgeable than the average Joe or, at the very least, a blindfolded monkey throwing darts.
Sadly, in many cases this just isn't true, and the so called "expertise" in question amounts to little more than a shot in the goddamn dark. Here are a few cases of experts that probably shouldn't inspire as much confidence as they do.
#6. Stock Market Experts
Many of us find the stock market too intimidating to put money into, or at least we would if we had the money to invest in the first place. How do you decide what stocks to pick? We can't even pick where to go for lunch half the time and we understand lunch.
...don't we?
That's when you call in a professional, or if you're not rich, you buy a pre-set package of stocks and bonds that a professional has pre-picked for you, and then sit back and, uh...
Watch your stocks grow more slowly than if you picked them at random.
Yes, as it turns out, the majority of professionally managed funds picked by stock market experts (70 to 85 percent) actually underperform the Dow or S&P indexes, which are technically supposed to represent the average performance of the market to begin with.
Results not typical.
If you do have to peddle your nest egg off to someone else, try to hand it to Warren Buffet, whose Berkshire Hathaway stocks have outperformed the index by 11.14 percent on average for over 30 years. So it's not like financial advisors can't know what to pick. They usually just don't.
But hey, there is some good news: When going up against a bunch of dudes throwing darts at a chart to randomly pick their stocks, the stock professionals performed better.
#5. Wine Tasters
One thing we all can be sure about is that people that make their living writing about wine must be able to sniff out differences between wines much better than us plain ordinary folk.
Sure, Joe Consumer actually likes cheaper wines better, but that's because Joe Consumer is a stupid Philistine. The experts can tell the difference between a 2006 and 2007 Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon in their sleep because everyone knows 2006 was a pedestrian year for Napa Valley reds.
Only civilians couldn't.
Hell, they are so good they can tell the difference between two bottles of the same wine. In one experiment, wine experts were given two bottles of the same wine, only one was labeled a "vin de table" (France's version of "Night Train") and one was labeled a "grand cru" (top-rated vineyard since 1855). Want to guess what happened?
According to the article: "Whereas the tasters found the wine from the first bottle 'simple,' 'unbalanced,' and 'weak,' they found the wine from the second 'complex,' 'balanced,' and 'full.'" Not only were their tasting skills put to shame, it didn't even occur to them that nobody buys a $40-plus bottle of wine for a university experiment.
"...this tastes like vodka and grape soda."
Not only can professional wine tasters be convinced that the same bottle of wine was both award-winning and hobo juice, but they could even be convinced that the same bottle was both red and white with the cunning use of food coloring.
That's not to say the whole idea of wine tasting is a crock- it just seems like a field where judging with one's eyes is a temptation too easy to fall into. For example, in the 1976 Judgment of Paris, French experts picked American wines as superior to their own, recoiling in horror when they found out.
#4. Art Critics
Despite being the battle cry of the bad artist, it's really true that art is subjective. So we don't expect art critics to be able to tell us which art is the "best." We do expect them to at least be able to tell the difference between a Van Gogh and a Picasso, or a Vermeer and a Gary Larson.
The good news is that one of those expectations is correct.
Hans van Meegeren was an ordinary mild-mannered artist in the 1930s, who painted unimpressive portraits until one day an art critic called him "unoriginal." Determined to deliver the most ferocious professional scrotum kick in history, Meegeren hatched a daring plan to paint a completely new painting in the style of the artist Vermeer, let all the critics fawn over the newly discovered Vermeer, and then show them all for fools when he revealed he had painted it.
Sure enough, his knock-off was hailed by critics as a Vermeer masterpiece, bought for the modern equivalent of $6-million and featured as the centerpiece of a prestigious gallery exhibition. Van Meegeren, realizing he liked money, ditched the plan to reveal himself and began painting more Vermeers. After the war, he was arrested for selling "stolen" Vermeers to the Nazis.
Because even Nazis have standards.
Then in 1964, Swedish art critics were fooled into praising the works of Pierre Brassau with descriptions like "Brassau paints with powerful strokes, but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with furious fastidiousness. Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer."
Brassau's methods? He "preferred eating the paint to placing it on a canvas." Because Brassau was a fucking chimpanzee.


text:
I know some size adjectives like 小さい (small), 大きい (big), and 並 (normal). Does anyone have a list of other size adjectives: something that could describe things ranging from micro things like Legos to massive things like sky scrapers? My friend said that I can modify the three adjectives. Can you help me understand how that works?
There is something called "personal watermelon" in American supermarket term, which can get up to 2.2kg and can serve two people: size comparison (the top one), close up. I don't want to call it a 西瓜. Would 小さい西瓜 (small watermelon) work? I feel that using that combination may make people think it is so small only a few scoops and you are done. -- Answered in comments: 小さい西瓜 should work.
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For tomatoes, there is プチトマト as opposed to ordinary トマト. For corns, there is ベビーコーン as opposed to とうもろこし. For cabbages, there is ミニキャベツ as opposed to キャベツ. Since the counterpart for watermelon is not popular in Japan (as well as in most countries), there is no word for personal watermelons that you mention. It you want to create a new word, you might want to try these that are along the same line: ミニ西瓜, プチ西瓜, ベビー西瓜.


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1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
My MFP prints and scans without problem. However, I am unable to open Toolbox to make adjustments. A notice from HP appears on the screen advising that an update is needed. MS Windows update program has provided an update that appears to be the solution, however, it will not install with repeated attempts.
Other self-help that has not been successful includes re-installing the set-up from HP disc that came with the unit. The failing update is described as HP M1536dnfMFP with no further description. The HP notice box refers to "Software Update released 2/2010 and then says "Published 11/20/12."
If this is not the appropriate Board for this posting, I would appreciate a recommendation of the best location. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
Welcome to the forums cmthomas
I read your post about the issues you are having with the printer software. I understand you have reinstalled using the disk however, I would suggest uninstalling again and reinstalling by using the latest driver available on hp.com.
Please let me know the results from the reinstall and also include which OS you are running.
HP LaserJet Pro M1536dnf Multifunction Printer Drivers
Happy Monday
I work on behalf of HP
★Click the "Kudos Thumbs Up" at the bottom of this post to say "Thanks" for helping!
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
Rainbow, thanks for your suggestion. I followed directions exactly and did not achieve success. Everything seems to be downloading fine until it gets to the list of drivers being installed. They all seem to install without a problem but when the bottom one appears the installer indicates "failed.' This appears to be the same driver that HP Updates is trying to install with the same failed result. The driver update that I installed from the HP site was/is 2011-01-07, Version 22.214.171.12423, 210.73M
I then get a dialogue box pop-up that says:
HP ToolboxFX has encountered an error and cannot recover. Please restart HP ToolboxFX or re-start your PC. You will not be able to receive alert messages, or use other HP ToolboxFX features until HP ToolboxFX has been restarted.
Windows Ver. Win32NT-6.1.7601.65536
HP ToolboxFX version 006.015.01163
To further address your reply, my OS is WIN7Pro which was recently installed as an upgrade. This problem did not exist prior to upgrading from WinXP to Win7, although I have seen nothing that indicates that the software does not work with Win7.
When I go to Start/All Programs/HP I find no sign of the ToolboxFX.
This is very frustrating. I can print scan and copy but it is difficult having to go through all kinds of CntrlP etc to find a print program. Also, I have totally lost my ability to print two sided. I have checked in Cntrl Panel and set the HP 1536dnp as my active printer
Any further advice that you can provide will be gratefully appreciated. Thanks for jumping in to help so quickly.
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
Thanks for responding Clarence!
I thank you for your information, and I definitely understand the frustration!
You mentioned you had upgraded to Windows 7 from XP, and in finding the info below on the Toolbox, the guide states that it is not supported in Windows 7.
However, try a Clean Boot and restart the computer. Turn off your firewall and anti-virus, insert the installation CD and open up the CD contents from Start, Computer and look for the Utility folder and run the scrubber.
Afterwards reinstall the printer and the Toolbox might work then.
HP LaserJet Full Feature Software and Driver
I hope this works!
Have a great Thursday
I work on behalf of HP
★Click the "Kudos Thumbs Up" at the bottom of this post to say "Thanks" for helping!
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
Thank you for hanging in there with me on this troublesome problem.
I regret to advise you that I followed your recommendations to the letter, alas without total success.
The one bright spot is that the prior "failed" on the attempt to download the drivers is "complete." That would be the last item in the list of 6 drivers installed. It simply appears to be the name of the product. Immediately following that step, I am instructed to attach the USB cable in order to continue the installation program.
Upon doing to the little lights travel from icon to icon but the progress line sits still at 0% for about 15 minutes then times out advising that my printer no longer works.
I would also like to address your comment that the HP1536dnp MFP is not supported by Windows 7. The spec sheet for this product specifically lists the OS that are supported and Windows 7 is one of them.
So, our mutual hopes that this Clean Boot start and re-installation would solve the problem has not come to pass.
BTW, I followed the instructions to shut off the Firewall and to inactivate the virus checker (MS Security Essentials) and I was able to locate and run the scrubber.
At this stage I am less concerned about the ToolboxFX than I am about losing my ability to scan or fax. I can obtain printing from the computer but not with the finesse that it previously provided. I am quite tired of going Cntrl/Shift?P for each print job.
So now I wait to see if this challenge is still of interest to you. Fotunaely, I do not own a boat in need of an anchor!
Clarence (with lots of hours in on this minor HA! problem!)
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
I am still at a loss.
I am able to print docs from my computer, however not with the ease previously experienced. For example, ANY print job requires Ctrl/Shift/P to originate. Previously, a click on the printer icon did the job.
Next, I purchased this particular model as I wished to have two side printing capability. That has disappeared.
The most troublesome loss is being unable to scan docs. Again, when I selected this printer the scanner was needed to assist in converstion of my office to paperless. This MUST be cured or the unit is worthless to me. There is currently no access to the scanning software. Can tbhis be loaded from the CD discriminently?
I hope that my frustration is not misunderstood as being unappreciative. Deep down, I feel that this problem is one of software and not hardware. Likely, it is a combination of both.
I got the brilliant idea of returning to an earlier restore point to fix the problem. Alas, all prior restore points were wiped out when I upgraded to Win7 from WinXP. I have no restore point earlier than a few days ago and that will not help.
Any further experiements are anxiously awaitied.
Re: 1536dnfMFP - Toolbox inaccessib
le - update from MS fails to install
I should have done this sooner but it did not cross my mind.
My wife has a computer of her own not connected in any way to my printer. I lugged my MFP to her office, plugged it in and installed the software from the CD. The result was partial victory. All of my priniting problems disappeared with the exception that I was not able to open the ToolboxFX to adjust the print density. Conclusion? The problem is in MY COMPUTER SOFTWARE.
So, I schlepped it back to my office and then undertook to delete any and every file that had anything to do with HP from my hard drive. I then ran the CD and utilized the Scrubber program found in the Utilities folder. I then shut down my firewall and virus protection (MS Security Essentials), took a deep breath and downloaded the setup from the CD.
The result is that I have a somewhat different appearance of the printing methodology but nevertheless it works. I checked on the Start screen, All Programs, click HP and found everything listed including ToolboxFX. However that link is dead so no Toolbox for this guy.
I will continue to read entries in the Discussion Boards in hope that someone finds a solution and is kind enough to share it.
The sum total is that I spent the better part of three days fiddling with this printer and its software. It worked fine until I installed Win7 upgrade. I don't know who to blame, MS or HP. Such is life!
- HP Printers - Using HP Diagnostic Tools for HP Printers in Windows
- HP Printers - After Windows 10 Upgrade, Printer Problems Occur
- HP Printers - Using Google Cloud Print with Your HP Printer
- HP Printers - Printer is Offline (Windows)
- HP LaserJet Pro Printers and Multifunction Printers - HP Smart Install Discontinuation


text:
Any cactus can be grafted onto any other cactus, and even the most unlike of them grow together. My latest graft was a Schlumbergera truncata scion on an Opuntia microdasys rootstock. This kind of graft is always successful. Why can't garden trees be grafted in a similar way, between genera?
Firstly, different genera of trees can occasionally be successfully grafted. For example, quince, genus Cydonia, may be used as a dwarfing rootstock for pear, genus Pyrus.
However, it is true to say that this is the exception rather than the rule.
In the case of plants in the family Cactaceae, I would suggest that grafting is usually successful for two main reasons:
It is also possible that Cacti readily form callus tissue, which would also aid in the grafting process.
Nyffeler, R., 2002, doi: 10.3732/ajb.89.2.312 Am. J. Bot. 1 February 2002 vol. 89 no. 2 312-326


text:
The 5 Most Badass Things Done While Conquering a Mountain
#2. Anatoli Boukreev vs. Mount Everest
Via old.risk.ru, Wikipedia
The Mountain:
The mountain. Everest.
Everest is known for having a "snow tail" blowing off the summit. That's because it's so high it actually punctures the jet stream, meaning most of the time the summit of Everest is blasted by winds of 100 mph. For the sake of perspective, 120 mph is the maximum velocity a human body can reach falling from a high distance, say, after being blown off the ridge of the highest point in the world, by God himself.
Get some lava into the mix and we'll be throwing sinister golden rings at it.
The Man:
Anatoli Boukreev was part of an elite climbing community in Soviet Russia during the '80s, but they were so insulated from the rest of the world that he only ever climbed within the borders of his country. When the Soviet Union unraveled he left to take stabs at peaks in the Himalayas instead. Then, in May of 1996, he became a guide for one of the most famous and deadly Everest climbs in history.
Via skiingintheshower
Where presumably he sang tales about how many ways you can die up there.
And ... Fight!
To be clear, these days, climbing Everest is a popular pastime -- it's practically a tourist activity. Don't get us wrong -- it still kills the shit out of many, many climbers. But if climbing it was all Boukreev had done, he wouldn't be on the list.
On this particular expedition, a small window of time had opened between storms, so several groups were headed to the summit at the same time. Because of the traffic jam, they all had to walk in line along the thin Southeast Ridge. While Boukreev's team summitted in the afternoon, other groups didn't get up until the early evening.
We've told you what a bad deal darkness is on a mountain, and how murderous the storms are. These groups got trapped by both.
Via vietnameseeverestadventure
These are either mountaineers, or people have figured out how to walk on clouds.
The winds reached 70 mph -- that's hard enough to pick a person up off their feet -- and the wind chill dropped to -96 degrees Fahrenheit. Some climbers who were caught in the storm froze their eyes shut if they didn't keep blinking. Exposed skin would freeze instantly. One climber who managed to survive after several hours in the storm had lost his gloves, and he returned with his hands frozen through, like they had been carved from ice.
Boukreev, of course, was already down at his tent, but when he realized groups had gotten pinned up higher in the storm, he left the security of his tent to blindly search for lost climbers in complete darkness, twice. After just having climbed Mount fucking Everest without oxygen.
Via old.risk.ru
"LET'S DO THIS. Very slowly."
Still, he struck out into the freezing darkness and howling wind. Eventually, somehow, he found three climbers who could barely walk, and dragged them to safety in the camp. How he was able to find the camp again, or even the three climbers, has been a mystery ever since.
To give you an idea of the storm, this was what Camp III, located just below Boukreev's camp, looked like afterward:
Via nationalgeographic
Either a tent, or a buried ice giant wearing an anorak.
And if you think we're playing up the danger or conditions for dramatic effect, let's put it like this: Eight fucking climbers died on Everest that night.
Boukreev ensured that it wasn't 11.
Via Matt Spinner
He died the next year. This memorial at basecamp is dedicated to him.
#1. Reinhold Messner vs. Nanga Parbat
Via badasshistory, Wikipedia
The Mountain:
Nanga Parbat again -- the same mountain as Hermann Buhl climbed back at No. 5, only this expedition would go by a different route. This one headed for the Rupal Face, the highest vertical mountain wall in the world at 15,000 feet. That's more than 10 times the height of the Empire State Building.
Via dreamx
Making this avalanche bigger than the tallest building in the world.
The Man:
By the time he was 26, Reinhold Messner was already well known for climbing some of the hardest rock routes in the world, often solo. Still, the expedition to the Rupal Face in 1970 was his first outside of Europe.
Via geocaching
Before conquering the mountain, you must conquer your body hair.
And ... Fight!
With his brother Gunther on the team, Reinhold summitted the Rupal Face after days of climbing. But they didn't reach the summit until late afternoon and, as you know from earlier entries, that means they were in danger of getting caught in the dark.
Gunther was also in pretty bad shape after doing one of the hardest, longest climbs in the world and could barely move from exhaustion. Making a desperate decision, Reinhold figured the only way he could get his brother off the mountain alive was to spend the night near the top and then drop down the easier-looking Diamir Face on the opposite side of the mountain. Just to be clear, Reinhold thought the Diamir face might be easier -- in reality it had never been climbed or even explored.
Via Jon Martin
Apart from this cow apparently.
Also, it's worth noting that moving to the Diamir Face would be the first ever traverse of a mountain above 26,000 feet. Traversing a mountain that size and height would take years of preparation, lots of equipment and training. Reinhold and his brother were going to just do it on the fly. They would pay for it. Near the base of the mountain, Nanga Parbat dropped an avalanche on Gunther, killing him.
(Note: Here's a good illustration of what conditions are like there -- numerous expeditions would be attempted to find Gunther's body. And someone did ... 35 years later.)
Via thefirstpost
Just to stay alive, Reinhold crawled off the mountain and down the valley below it for miles until he reached a village. It took him six days. He had to amputate his toes and fingertips when he got home.
This usually means the end of climbing and mountaineering. But Reinhold Messner became the most badass climber to have ever live, climbing every mountain over 26,000 feet without supplemental oxygen, establishing new, dangerous and difficult routes where ever he went. And just as a personal "fuck you" to the mountain that killed his brother, in 1978, Reinhold returned to Nanga Parbat, and climbed the Diamir Face solo.
Via Wikipedia
Essentially just flipping off God.
For more unexpected badassery, check out 5 Authors More Badass Than The Badass Character They Created and The 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time.


text:
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text:
I see lots of cadence-related questions on here where people cite fairly specific cadence rates. How do you calculate your cadence exactly? Do you just set a one-minute timer on your bike computer and count them manually?
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From my understanding, cycle computers can calculate this for you. For example, Specialized has accessories for adding cadence sensors to some of their computers. This seems to me to be the simplest way.
There are also plenty of listings for them on Google.
If you don't have a cycling computer to do this for you, you can just count the top (or bottom) pedal strokes on one side for 15 secs and multiply the strokes by 4. That'll be your cadence. It's close enough for the casual cyclist.


text:
I'm working on a Python tunneling project using TUNTAP. The data received on a TUNTAP interface contains the original IP packet including all headers. I can do one of two things.
On the incoming side I am listening with Twisted. On the outgoing side I will have a raw socket which dumps the IP packet. Before dumping the packet the program swaps the source address with that of the server. It also recomputes the TCP and UDP checksums. It also swaps the ports using one of the following methods. This information is tracked in the NAT table
1) Use a single port per user such as
US.ER.01.IP:10000 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3000 ----> facebook.com:80
US.ER.01.IP:10001 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3000 ----> facebook.com:80
US.ER.02.IP:3000 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3001 ----> facebook.com:80
Could this cause issues if the second with user's 1s simultaneous requests for facebook? How would the system know how to route facebook's reply. It is incoming on port 3000 so it belongs to user1 but does it get mapped back to 10000 or 10001?
2) Use a unique port for each connection such as
US.ER.01.IP:10000 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3000 ----> facebook.com:80
US.ER.01.IP:10001 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3001 ----> facebook.com:80
US.ER.02.IP:3000 ----> SE.RV.ER.IP:3002 ----> remoteHost.com:22
How would I know when to remove entries from the NAT table? I could see the NAT table filling up very quickly using this method. The solutions to this are:
I could wit for FIN packets from the server. This will not work with UDP though.
I could age the NAT entry on each hit. I could then run garbage collection
every N seconds. I see this being an issue if garbage collection runs
and how would a server's delayed response get to the proper host if it gets
deleted from the table.
There is also the issue of reading from a raw socket. I know how to send on one but would it be possible to receive individual IP packets. Could the raw socket receive one packet per sock.recieve(65535) call possibly receive more than one IP packet?
Which implementation is best? Any other tips or things I should be watching out for?
Ok so I have N many clients. If you misunderstood me the enitre /30 is used between the client and itself. It is just an abstraction to make the tunnel possible. I also didn't think it mattered but the websocket actaully goes through a "proxy" on the LAN (the IPdata is simply repackaged into a new websocket, the mappings are unique however). I did not want to make the explanation so confusing. I do not see how this changes anything.
Client PC CLIENT PC Client PC----->LAN INTERNET
Client 1: 10.1.1.2 ----> 10.1.1.1 ----> Websocket(IPdata) ----> Browser ---> newWebSocket(IPData) ----> SE.RV.ER.IP
Client 2: 10.1.1.4 ----> 10.1.1.3 ----> Websocket(IPdata) ----> Browser ---> newWebSocket(IPData) ----> SE.RV.ER.IP
Client 3: 10.1.1.6 ----> 10.1.1.5 ----> Websocket(IPdata) ----> Browser ---> newWebSocket(IPData) ----> SE.RV.ER.IP
Each client set it's default route to be the tunnel endpoint (10.1.1.1 for example). The client gets the IP datagram, puts it into a websocket, sends the websocket to a browser on the LAN, which then sends it to the server (or perhaps another proxy). The inside of the websocket contains the original IP datagram (with the source of 10.1.1.2 or some other internal IP).
It is important to note that the server recieves a websocket message from the internet CONTAINING the goodes (with the private source address). How would the python server use this? Create a new tunnel with itself then dump the packet raw into the tunnel and route appropriately?
Or perhaps I could use a mapping?
How would I be able to "map" a tunnel abstraction over this chain of websockets? The client does not have a route to the internet but can reach the "Browser" which can get to the internet. This seems to be the same case with VPN tunnels. The abstraction would be as follows:
Client 1: 10.1.1.2 ----> 10.1.1.1 ----> Websocket(IPdata) ----> Browser ---> newWebSocket(IPData) ----> SE.RV.ER.IP -> Internet
10.1.2.2------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> 10.1.2.1 ----> Internet
If you know any resources to get me on the right track that would be great!