I am going to suggest this career to my mother. She could use a way to supplement her income and 10 Gs a week isn't bad at all.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Ideas and Sense
An article at The Atlantic takes the NYT to task for just tossing out theories without any, you know, facts behind them. It was interesting if not altogether unsurprising in this day and age. What I loved about the piece, though, was this cartoon.
I'd never seen this before, but I love it. I printed it out and hung it up at work. I may have to have a copy with me at all of the meetings I have to go to. Instead of voicing dissent for every bad idea, I can just hold this up every time one comes up.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Kim Kardashian is a Role Model
And to think this guy has an audience. That the bar is so low for success should give every American hope.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
No More CAPTCHAs!
Chris Wilson makes the case.
If only someone had listened to computer scientist Moni Naor in 1996, proving that you're human on the Internet would have been so much more interesting. Naor was among the first to propose that simple tests only humans can solve would prevent malicious bots from infiltrating the Web. In an unpublished manuscript, Naor proposed nine possible tests, including gender recognition in images, fill-in-the-blank sentences, and a "deciding nudity" quiz in which you're asked to identify which person isn't wearing any clothes.
Alas, rather than getting to play "find the naked person" every time we sign up for a webmail account, we're now stuck with those reviled squiggly letter tests known as CAPTCHAs. Let's give credit where credit's due: These tests have been incredibly effective in combating spam. But even CAPTCHA pioneer Luis von Ahn, who received a MacArthur genius grant on account of his squiggly-letter work, admitted to me that they won't be a solution forever. For all their success, these tests are a crude way to weed out the bots among us. And they have proliferated to so many sites that the task of proving your humanity on the Internet is beginning to feel like an imposition.
I hope it's soon. Those things are damn annoying.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A Bullied Kid Commits Suicide
An eleven-year-old in Georgia has committed suicide because he couldn't handle any more bullying. I have written before about kids and bullying and this subject is one close to my heart. Parents and students need to do more to stop this. It can't just be written off as "kids will be kids." No! In this case the boy's mother complained to the school about it several times and nothing was done. This is unacceptable. Parents and schools need to work with children about the importance of not bullying and if (when, I should say) it does happen, the hammer needs to come down. Hard. Nothing good comes from bullying. It doesn't make the kid being bullied tougher. It's not the bully just letting out some harmless aggression. It is a vicious assault against someone whether physical violence takes place or not. The scars of bullying last for a lifetime.
And sometimes that life ends too early because of the bullying. That's not acceptable.
Weekly Music Video
The 80s were great on so many levels. This is a great tune to get you pumped up.
Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize"
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