Rachel Maddow on spilling oil
Clever, clever reporting:
Chinglish: Smart noshery makes you slobber
Andrew Jacobs at the NY Times does a wonderful and entertaining piece on China’s struggle with Chinglish.
I found the accompanying slide show unreasonably amusing.
Democracy = impossible
Democracy, as we know it today, is mathematically impossible:
The anomalies of a plurality voting system can be more subtle, though, as mathematician Donald Saari at the University of California, Irvine, showed. Suppose 15 people are asked to rank their liking for milk (M), beer (B), or wine (W). Six rank them M-W-B, five B-W-M, and four W-B-M. In a plurality system where only first preferences count, the outcome is simple: milk wins with 40 per cent of the vote, followed by beer, with wine trailing in last.
So do voters actually prefer milk? Not a bit of it. Nine voters prefer beer to milk, and nine prefer wine to milk - clear majorities in both cases. Meanwhile, 10 people prefer wine to beer. By pairing off all these preferences, we see the truly preferred order to be W-B-M - the exact reverse of what the voting system produced. In fact Saari showed that given a set of voter preferences you can design a system that produces any result you desire.
In the example above, simple plurality voting produced an anomalous outcome because the alcohol drinkers stuck together: wine and beer drinkers both nominated the other as their second preference and gave milk a big thumbs-down. Similar things happen in politics when two parties appeal to the same kind of voters, splitting their votes between them and allowing a third party unpopular with the majority to win the election.
Liu’s Office Space
Remember in Office Space, when the protagonist’s friends decide to pilfer tiny amounts of money from accounts under the company’s control into their own accounts? That’s similar to the scheme Comptroller Liu is saying he’s uncovered at the Economic Development Corporation — and they’re not exactly denying it.
In a detailed two-page rebuttal, the development agency defended its practice of keeping certain money, citing a supportive opinion from the city’s Law Department. The rebuttal belittled the comptroller’s findings, noting that the audit had found a “tiny fraction” of imprecise accounting by the corporation by amounts like 0.2 percent, 0.03 percent and 0.34 percent.
That means there’s plenty of unscrutinized money going around — the kind of money that goes towards things you want paid but not accounted for (like strippers and first class flights).
Craigslist Sex Ads Pull (dough, that is)
Apparently, Craigslist will make just about $36 million from sex advertising.
A prince, deconstructed
His Royal Highness, Dimitri Karageorgevich, prince of Yugoslavia, lives and works in New York City.
“There’s always the duality,” he said while leaning back on his living room couch surrounded by paintings and photographs of his ancestors. “There’s the prince and the man.”
NY Times implicates Israel in Dubai assassination
I think it’s kinda premature. But, with or without direct evidence, it’s all right there.
Officials in South Africa have said that several members of the Israeli hit team left Dubai for Johannesburg on a direct flight by Emirates Airline, the Dubai flag carrier, then flew back to various destinations in Europe before catching connecting flights back to Israel.
Andrey Ternovskiy, founder, Chatroulette
An e-mail interview with Andrey Ternovskiy (with obvious heavy editing).
Advertising on Chatroulette is kept to a minimum, because there are a lot of sites full of advertisements, which distract you from what you want to do on those sites. I also love minimalism. That’s why I have put only four links on the bottom as advertisements. And what is interesting, is that these advertisements almost cover all expenses, just those four links on the bottom!
If Sinatra had it his way…
That’s the way I feel about bad karaoke, too:
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.“
Read the full article here.
Bush and Clinton shill for Haiti
We should never forget the damage done and the lives lost, but we have a chance to do things better than we once did; be a better neighbor than we once were; and help the Haitian people realize their dream for a stronger, more secure nation. But we need more than just support from governments — we need the innovation and resources of businesses; the skills and the knowledge of nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based groups; and the generosity and support of individuals to fill in the gaps. Visit www.clintonbushhaitifund.org to make a donation and learn more about our efforts. It’s the least we can do, and the least the people of Haiti deserve. At our best, we can help Haiti become its best.
Give now, because after this crisis we’ll immediately return to our normal state of not giving a shit. Who knew Bill and George could make such a fine cheese sandwich*?
* For those of you who don’t know, a cheese sandwich defines the lowest common denominator: no meat, no substance, just enough taste and calories to keep you alive, nothing more.
US vs. Them
Google is thinking of leaving China. Bravo. If you’ve got enough money and market share, avoid bullshit at all costs. Only start-ups have time for nonsense like that.
Met: looking for leads
An e-mail circulating at University College London:
Dear Student, The Metropolitan Police have asked us to send the following message to all students and staff. On the 25th December 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is alleged to have attempted to detonate an explosive device on a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in America. He is currently in the USA and has been charged with offences in relation to this matter. Abdulmutallab was a student at University College London, between September 2005 and July 2008. As part of the investigation being carried out by the Metropolitan Police they are speaking with anyone who may be able to provide information about the activities of Abdulmuttalab. If you have any information it will be treated in total confidence. Police can be contacted on either the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321 or alternatively via web-link at https://secure.met.police.uk/athotline/index.php
I should remind you here that it’s only confidential so long as you don’t know about England’s surveillance laws, which tend to say nothing is confidential.
Quantum Leap
The precise energy of a hydrogen molecule has been calculated using a quantum computer.
Hint: you don’t have to know what that means, really. Just understand that your children, one day, will tool you over how little you know about modern computing — and that that shift in understanding began with this.
Three stars at the New Yorker
John Colapinto dines with a US Michelin guide inspector.
Michelin has gone to extraordinary lengths to maintain the anonymity of its inspectors. Many of the company’s top executives have never met an inspector; inspectors themselves are advised not to disclose their line of work, even to their parents (who might be tempted to boast about it); and, in all the years that it has been putting out the guide, Michelin has refused to allow its inspectors to speak to journalists.
Lo, the sad face of America’s future.
Harvard Quidditch.
RIP: M. Brooke Halsey
The Crimson reports the passing of former Cabot resident M. Brooke Halsey ‘06. While it doesn’t add to the peculiar number of deaths of current students this year, it is unsettling nonetheless.
Kristen Stewart, Awkward Star.
Kristen Stewart, the oft-ridiculed star of the Twilight film franchise, is the subject of a NY Times Arts feature.
Life as a teen idol has never been easy. But navigating the obsessive attention of young fans amid today’s media landscape — all Twitter, all YouTube, all TMZ, all the time — can be particularly harrowing. And Ms. Stewart in some ways has it even harder. Because of the grip the “Twilight” franchise has on young girls — the first movie raked in $384 million at the global box office and the books, by Stephenie Meyer, have sold over 70 million copies — she is not just an actress playing a popular role. Instead “Twi-hards” have come to project their version of romantic love on her; Ms. Stewart’s shyness and hints of awkwardness make her accessible to fans in a way Megan Fox is not.
That’s exactly it.
On hands and knees.
Harvard freshman Laura E. D’Asaro ’13 crawls the fastest mile ever.
(Note: Though I’m all for women who can crawl, it must be said: this is some sad shit.)
The Facebook Defense
Clever. Rodney Bradford’s Facebook status update was used as an alibi to get him off a robbery charge:
His defense lawyer, Robert Reuland, told a Brooklyn assistant district attorney, Lindsay Gerdes, about the Facebook entry, which was made at the time of the robbery. The district attorney subpoenaed Facebook to verify that the words had been typed from a computer at an apartment at 71 West 118th Street in Manhattan, the home of Mr. Bradford’s father. When that was confirmed, the charges were dropped.
Lindsay E. Gary, Art Director.
The Crimson does 15 Questions with Lindsay E. Gary ‘06.
Particularly chuckle-worthy is question 14:
FM: Any similarities and differences between Harvard and Hollywood?
LEG: (Laughs) This is interesting. Yea, you have a lot of overachievers, a lot of people who think they’re going to change the world, and a lot of people who can work hard and focus but also understand the world at large, which I think is valuable.
FM: What about the drama?
LEG: Oh man, there’s a lot of drama in Hollywood. And there’s a lot of drama at Harvard so that’s definitely another similarity. There’s a heightened sense of self-importance.
Burglar-proof.
A descriptive graphic detailing the security measures used in the Berlin Wall.
The pipe-like channel on the outer wall is particularly interesting: it makes it hard to catch the top of the wall using a bare hand.
Zack’s New Roll
Did you know Mark-Paul Gosselaar — a.k.a. Zack — is a competitive bike rider?
Not long ago, Mr. Gosselaar, a 35-year-old actor, was at a bike shop near the George Washington Bridge when he noticed another rider giving him a strange look. Mr. Gosselaar hopped on his bike and pedaled off, but the other rider followed.
“He’s like, ‘Hey, sorry dude, weird question,’ ” Mr. Gosselaar recalled, “ ‘But are you that guy from ‘Saved by the Bell?’”
Utility: the mother of invention
Yes, we all need a motorized La-Z-Boy, actually.
Mathematical Musings
Martin Gardner, in the NY Times:
On Wednesday [the 22nd of October, 2009], Mr. Gardner will celebrate his 95th birthday with the publication of another book — his second book of essays and mathematical puzzles to be published just this year. With more than 70 books to his name, he is the world’s best-known recreational mathematician, and has probably introduced more people to the joys of math than anyone in history.
Gardner is 95? Damn.