conuly

conuly @ 2013-12-15T10:08:00

2013-12-15T15:13:10Z

US may never know entirety of Snowden breach, officials say

http://b.globe.com/1c4oUXu

One Man's Crusade Against Fundamentalist Claptrap

http://bit.ly/18trxBb

Government Watchdog: We Have a Growing Federal Prison 'Crisis'

http://bit.ly/19Lkpv6

When Lenders Sue, Quick Cash Can Turn Into a Lifetime of Debt

http://bit.ly/1h7H7Ts

Welcome to Science

http://bit.ly/1dDgZxc

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conuly @ 2013-12-10T07:22:00

2013-12-10T12:41:12Z

The 6 Most Terrifying Pets Humanity Has Bred Into Existence

http://bit.ly/1e2RLgh

The 5 Coolest Pets Humanity Has Bred into Existence

http://bit.ly/18yPhyG

Leak: Government spies snooped in 'Warcraft,' other games

Given the number of terrorists caught this way, I think a better way of interpreting this article would be to say that some government employees wanted to play WoW at work, and found a way to do it on the government dime.

http://cnn.it/IMDfL9

How to Create a Password That's Easy to Remember but Hard to Hack

http://slate.me/IUXEy3

And, if you want to make sure computers aren't likely to guess your password, you can use this site to check. Of course, the sufficiently paranoid might think of all potential issues here, but so long as you never identify a potential password with a potential username at a potential site, you should be safe, right?

https://telepathwords.research.microsoft.com/

Here Are The 20 Worst Passwords You Can Use

http://read.bi/1cd0JRq

Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA

http://usat.ly/1d3jfxo

Apple stores to host free coding workshops for kids

http://cnet.co/18wgLIg

Inside the Box

People don’t actually like creativity.

http://slate.me/IVqdMa

Restaurant workers’ wages are routinely docked when customers walk out on their tab.

http://slate.me/1dlhZ9e

David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show'

http://bit.ly/1dbxgJw

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As you no doubt guessed, I'm clearing out some articles.

2013-05-04T15:13:17Z

A Haven for the Deaf Draws Federal Scrutiny Over Potential Discrimination

http://nyti.ms/10mcy0Z

( Read more... )

No Rich Child Left Behind

http://nyti.ms/184oVX2

( Read more... )

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What major world cities would look like at night without the light pollution.

2013-04-07T16:04:48Z

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/artscience/2013/03/darkened-cities/

I don't know, it's pretty but a little disturbing and creepy.

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Grandfather's age when kids born may be linked to autism in grandkids

2013-03-30T16:09:50Z

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/grandfathers-age-linked-to-autism/

Not much to say here.

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Article time : )

2013-01-07T03:00:22Z

On science kits through the decades:

http://nyti.ms/WCbJSs

( Read more... )

One on antivirus companies:

http://nyti.ms/130F9x2

( Read more... )

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I sorta forgot who I got these from.

2012-12-28T16:25:19Z

I think it may have been maladaptive and Siderea, respectively, but I may be mistaken.

A. Killer whale males are dependent on their mothers their entire lives. Aww.

http://io9.com/5943604/killer-whales-need-their-mamas-to-look-after-them-even-as-adults

And this is a really fascinating video about what happens when you cut a Menger sponge, a type of fractal.

https://simonsfoundation.org/multimedia/mathematical-impressions-the-surprising-menger-sponge-slice/

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Three links that have been passed around lately.

2012-12-13T14:22:56Z

PSA: Your Default Narrative Settings Are Not Apolitical

http://fozmeadows.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/psa-your-default-narrative-settings-are-not-apolitical/

An Asperger's Guide to Neurotypicals

http://feng-shui-house.dreamwidth.org/722472.html

And a DW friending meme. I've been making a concerted effort to read my reading page there lately, that's an improvement. You know how slow I can be about change.

http://kouredios.dreamwidth.org/226094.html

As a bonus, I also have this Cracked.com link, 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About The Founding Of This Country.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19864_6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-founding-america.html

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Jenn sent me this link

2012-11-28T04:06:01Z

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/50-amazing-photos-from-cat-heaven-island-in-japan

The photographer has an inordinate fondness for pictures of cats leaping. I know those are always popular, but I don't know, I prefer pictures of cats snuggling with each other or being curious. Still and all - cats!

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Here's a cute and informative piece from the Second World War

2012-11-16T18:04:41Z

Two Cooks and a Cabbage

First you get to see two young girls competently using an open fire to boil half a cabbage each (I should forward this one to Free Range Kids!), and then you get a good piece of advice: Never boil green vegetables in large quantities of water. Truer words were never spoken! As observed, when you do so you only end with tasteless muck and all the vitamins leached away. That goes doubly for brassicas like cabbage and kale. We love kale, but I find nearly every recipe calls for far too much water, even when the writer clearly was trying to aim low! You should have barely enough to cover the bottom of the pot when the pot is full to the brim with kale. Steam it, stir fry it, bake it, eat it raw, but never boil your greens.

(Pokeweed may be the exception to this, but given how much cooking is required to make that safely edible, is it really worth it? I wouldn't know, because I simply assume it is not.)

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Two quick links

2012-08-09T04:03:55Z

One on some conservative site's idea of the ten most dangerous books of the 19th and 20th centuries. Mein Kampf is kinda expected, but otherwise....

And one on the quest for low-fat, low-salt cheese. Funnily enough, when you take the fat and salt away from curdled rotten milk solids, what's left isn't all that appealing.

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This is just kinda nifty

2012-08-07T18:03:29Z

Visualizing word origins. (Okay, it's a link to a link. Sue me.)

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conuly @ 2012-07-20T08:16:00

2012-07-22T12:20:02Z

Thinking outside the parks: Green space spreads in the Big Apple

Fruit shaped bus shelters are... well, awesome.

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Two quick links (one I guess I missed when it first came out a few years ago) on autism

2012-07-11T23:27:30Z

Some autistic brains really are wired differently

What child prodigies and autistic people have in common

This latter is not all that well written, I think. Of course, I'm inclined to find the "all aspies are brilliant!!!" meme truly irritating, so "all brilliant people are autistic!!!" isn't much better.

Two of the top-level comments, so far, are the sort that ignore everything said in the article and only go nattering on and on about person-first language. One of them, upon being corrected, still goes "Oh, but, you know, not all people with autism will ever be able to talk!" And if they did, they'd automatically agree with her? The arrogance there is astounding, and far more annoying than the original "person first language totally rocks!!!" comments.

I'm thinking I'd be far less annoyed by the whole concept if the people insistent on it would ever, ever say something of content instead of their vapid, sanctimonious little comments.

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More adorable!

2012-07-10T17:35:56Z

This must be at the panda kindergarten I've heard about.

Honestly, the effort apparently required to make pandas reproduce is absurd, but I still think "panda babysitter" has got to be one of the most fun jobs ever.

Edit: Link fixed! Forgot my http, of course. *blush*

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You want to get really angry?

2012-06-20T16:18:00Z

Go read the comments to this article.

The article itself isn't that bad, about a somewhat ridiculous and tone-deaf approach to "Pardon our appearance during construction" sign. But hoo-boy, the comments! It's like everything out of a bad book on feminism in the 70s!

I've been taking the novel approach of attempting to educate people about why catcallling = bad instead of simply pointing out that there's a reason they can't get laid (because they're jackasses - and yes, if some of them could post their names and photos I'd very much appreciate it for reference purposes), not that it's likely to do any good. But still, last week I managed to explain to some internet commenter why it's inappropriate to TALK IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME!!!! so I'm just buoyed with my own success now. There's still a (admittedly very slim) possibility that I could convince somebody. Just one person.

(Yeah, I know, not gonna happen. Comments on articles are so useless, but they're something to do, anyway.)

Dug up this link and posted it to, in the comments, which proves the point. Some people don't want to listen, and others are trolls, and... and... okay, this is depressing. Don't click the link, it'll only upset you.

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This has been making the rounds lately

2012-06-20T14:12:40Z

http://projectunbreakable.tumblr.com/

I'll just quote from their page:

This photography project was created in October of 2011 by Grace Brown. Grace works with survivors of sexual assault, photographing them holding a poster with a quote from their attacker.

Obviously this can be triggering to some people.

( Read more... )

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Warning - triggering video in link

2012-04-15T06:59:25Z

For decades, the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts has been torturing and abusing people with disabilities in the name of treatment. Residents are subject to electric shocks, food deprivation, prolonged restraint and seclusion, and forced witness of these same tactics used against other residents.

This video of Andre McCollins, then-eighteen, who has behavioral and mental health issues, has been sealed by the courts for the last eight years. Yesterday, it played in open court during his trial against the Judge Rotenberg Center.

I haven't watched the video in question. I've heard enough about the JRC that I felt that I didn't need to do so. I would like to keep my food down today. So I'm just going to assume it is triggering and move from there.

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Let's clear out some of these links.

2012-03-17T04:44:01Z

6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying

A set of artwork formed with mold and bacteria. Fascinating, especially the Mario.

Here's an article about curfew in... San Diego, I guess? Some of the comments are pretty pointless. "Oh, do you WANT your kid out after 10 without knowing where they are?" Obviously the only reasonable response to that is "Yes", because how can you argue with people so determined to use that line of attack?

And a fairly long article on lead in America which I'm far too tired to read right now. I can't even type, I keep putting in the wrong words. So read it and tell me if it's any good : ) I'll be sure to actually read it tomorrow.

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giggles

2012-03-17T04:01:13Z

Yes, this is pretty much how the first Hunger Games book goes. But it's not as funny in long format.

Reading through this, it's obvious that the poster never read Collins' other work, the Underland Chronicles. It's ostensibly aimed for a younger audience (at least, it's shelved for a younger audience in bookstores and libraries, so make of that what you will), but in the course of five books... hell, five PAGES, you can pretty much expect people to die. They get eaten alive by carnivorous gnats, people! And when they're not dying, people are poor and life just sucks. God I love those books.

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Few quick links.

2012-03-04T03:19:59Z

First, two on Indian mascots and why they're bad.

Part one
Part two

A video on shit people say to autistics. (Transcript under the video.)

How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history. (I skimmed this one.)

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Some articles

2012-03-02T20:55:43Z

N. Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment, nuclear tests

Bonobos advertise their same-sex couplings. Apparently.

Filthy Surgical Instruments: The Hidden Threat In America’s Operating Rooms (I have no idea how accurate this one is.)

Little Free Libraries are taking root on lawns

That is SO cool, btw. I want one of my very own! And maybe a few to donate around....

I also have two videos:

One on how Episode 1 could've been made, well, good.

And here's an animation on evolution that's really very nifty.

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conuly @ 2012-02-25T00:10:00

2012-02-28T05:17:59Z

So, this guy got a summons for having his garbage cans out after pick-up.

And he fought it because he had video evidence proving that the allegation was totally false.

Now, there's a bill up to have summons of this sort all made with photographic evidence, and it's being fought by the mayor because it'd be "too much of a hassle". Like we don't all have cameras sitting in our pockets nowadays! Cameras are cheap, taking pictures is cheap, none of this is difficult.

The real reason, patently obvious to everybody, is that the city likes to issue lots and lots of petty tickets for revenue.

Just last month this guy got a ticket for sitting in a playground after closing and reading his Bible.

Now, the guy's a twit - it's been a long-standing rule that adults aren't allowed in playgrounds without children, and that all the public parks close at a set time posted on the gates. And while he might argue that "dusk is unclear!!!" and "the signs give two different times - dusk and 9pm", the fact is that he was there at sometime past 10pm, which in December is well past both dusk and 9 at night.

However, all that aside, there's no reason he should've gotten a ticket for it. Being asked to move along should've really been the end of it. He got the ticket because the cops have a quota, not because he was doing anything that really merited a fine.

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On the subject of girls, math, and people sending unintentional messages

2012-02-28T05:11:17Z

Girls are, of course, less likely to be given mathy toys like blocks or legos as presents. (Boys are less likely to get books. I'm sure that all these gift-givers know the children intimately and are only following the kids' interests, interests which were formed devoid of any outside input, straight out of the ether.)

At any rate, you've probably already seen these two videos on Lego's pointlessly gendered advertising, but just in case, there you go! (They even have transcriptions.)

And here's a bonus lego-related entry on... well, influencing how other people build with them, basically.

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