Crazy On Tap

This can't be true...can it?

8 Feb 12 02:34:56 GMT

Some dude on the 'net: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/us/radical-muslim-americans-pose-little-threat-study-says.html?_r=1&hp

What does CoT think about Iran

7 Feb 12 22:05:30 GMT

Dr. Horrorwitz: [1] They need regime change

[2] Their nuclear facilities should be bombed

{3] Their entire military infrastructure should be destroyed

[4] strong sanctions

[5] Leave them alone

[6] Support them

[7] Turn Iran into a glass parking lot

Ron Paul status update

7 Feb 12 21:34:22 GMT

Bot Berlin: 0/4?

Come on Paul, let's go MN, CO and that other state.

Last known WW-I surviver passes away

7 Feb 12 21:06:04 GMT

xampl9: http://www.kvue.com/news/138868694.html

>> Florence Green never saw the front line. Her war was spent serving food, not dodging bullets.

But Green, who has died aged 110, was the last known surviving veteran of World War I. She was serving with the Women's Royal Air Force as a waitress at an air base in eastern England when the guns fell silent on Nov. 11, 1918.<<

So how much of your webapp is back end server code?

7 Feb 12 18:28:46 GMT

Bot Berlin: So how much of your webapp is back end server code
or front end javascript?

Summary judgement

7 Feb 12 18:14:10 GMT

Quant: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/07/us-teacher-abuse-california-idUSTRE8160HJ20120207

Two teachers arrested, fire a 100. What an idiocy.

Made my first bread with the bread machine

7 Feb 12 17:05:41 GMT

Dr. Horrorwitz: Well, the bread is better than anything available in a radius of 120 km.

So no more bread will ever be bought by us for as long as we live here.

India tells Britain to fuck off.

7 Feb 12 16:55:00 GMT

PigPen: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9064112/What-does-India-want-from-Britain.html

Keep your with-strings-attached foreign aid. We are going to be the world's biggest economy. Heh

Working in a rape court. Watching porn under judge's nose

7 Feb 12 16:04:26 GMT

PigPen: This chap is not so clever is he?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097582/Debasish-Majumder-Court-clerk-caught-watching-pornography-rape-trial-judge.html

"But I only did it when the (rape) case was boring!"

Hahaha

Tuesday boobies

7 Feb 12 15:50:22 GMT

PigPen: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2097685/Ellie-Jaycock-17-says-34K-breasts-ruining-life--faces-year-wait-reduced.html

Jeff Atwood / CodingHorror

7 Feb 12 15:04:59 GMT

df: I can sympathize with Jeff regarding the family, but sorry that whole excuse is horse shit. While everyone lauds Jeff for his "decision", when people say "I'm resigning to spend more time with the family", it *always* means "I've been resigned....oh well, get to spend more time with the family".

The Vampire Squid prefers Democrats

7 Feb 12 12:02:22 GMT

Quant: http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?oldest=1&type=emp_or_occ&emp=Goldman+Sachs&search=Search+Workplaces

The singularity Signal II

7 Feb 12 01:56:07 GMT

hoyza: Now for something different - a little more light-hearted than my other stuff, but I still manage to make it depressing. Man, I'm stupid. :-)

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/unchartered-waters/the-singularity-signal-ii/

Football

7 Feb 12 01:40:26 GMT

df: I didn't really enjoy football a couple of seasons ago. Sure I'd watch the Superbowl each year, but never really got the game: Some stuff was happening and scores changed.

I had the instilled-in-me-as-a-nerd-in-high-school bigotry that it was a simple game for dullards. Stupid football players. What a dumb game.

I feel a bit of ashamed of that now. The game is absurdly complex. It has incredible depth.

But the thing that really gets me about the NFL is that it's the jostling of a bunch of billionaires. Are there any teams *not* owned by a billionaire or two? Okay, I can think of one -- Green Bay -- and that model so offended the league that it is expressly disallowed going forward, with only Green Bay grandfathered in.

Is lurid porn copyrightable?

6 Feb 12 23:00:18 GMT

Idiot: Think amateur videos. People just fucking, and a camera. Is it anymore copyrightable than your car's dashboard cam?

“Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the right to establish copyright, in order: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries". Previous courts have held that obscene works do not promote the progress of science and the useful arts.

This argument is coming again to court:

http://torrentfreak.com/you-cant-copyright-porn-bittorrent-defendant-insists-120206/

Powerplant explosion in St. Petersberg

6 Feb 12 21:59:57 GMT

Idiot: Video taken a few hours ago.

Notice how the entire city lights turn off the exact microsecond that the explosion starts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C-xbcAJ9mE

Any theories on what happened?

Muppet, how is your eye?

6 Feb 12 15:38:21 GMT

Fan boy: I hope you had a full recovery.

Best invention in the last ten years

6 Feb 12 15:37:52 GMT

Fan boy: My vote is for the wheel on the computer mouse.

Favorite SuperBowl ad?

6 Feb 12 14:17:06 GMT

xampl9: Have to go with the Acura NSX ad, with Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno.

The Hyundai one where the entire factory starts singing the theme from Rocky was pretty good too.

Least favorite: The yogurt ad.
She head-butts him? Really? REALLY?

US changing visa rules to atrract the highly skilled.

6 Feb 12 13:21:57 GMT

Matchu: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/us-changing-visa-rules-to-attract-highlyskilled/227179-2.html

OkCupid is looking for developers!

6 Feb 12 10:27:56 GMT

Matchu: http://www.okcupid.com/careers/software-engineer

http://www.okcupid.com/careers/front-end-developer

Too bad that i'm into embedded dev :P

Yale discovers fungus that eats plastic!

6 Feb 12 10:11:11 GMT

Matchu: http://www.pcworld.com/article/249216/yale_discovers_a_fungus_that_eats_plastic.html

So, who is playing?

6 Feb 12 00:13:37 GMT

Fan boy: I don't know who is playing in the Superbowl. I didn't know it was the Superbowl game until I overheard some guys talking about it in church today.

I don't know who won last year. I think I heard once who played, but I don't remember.

So, who is playing in the Superbowl today?

Never mind. I don't really care.

With 8.7% market share, Apple has 75% of cell phone profits

5 Feb 12 21:56:04 GMT

Wayne: Pretty amazing graph...

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/03/with-8-7-market-share-apple-has-75-of-cell-phone-profits/

Weird site-down mystery

5 Feb 12 16:59:03 GMT

Dr. Horrorwitz: I have a site, say xyz.com.

forum.xyz.com loads fast
shop.xyz.com loads fast

xyz.com/wp-admin/login.php loads fast

xyz.com itself does not load at all - all day.
A little is loaded, not the whole page. Not enough to show anything - just white.

Dedicated server, verified OK.
traceroute OK.
router OK.
PC ok.

need music for a bike clip...

5 Feb 12 16:12:46 GMT

Random Face: What music would you put in for a bike clip?

Obama's peace prize to be rescinded

5 Feb 12 05:56:11 GMT

Idiot: The Nobel Peace Prize committee is being investigated for ignoring guidelines for the prize, which lead to awarding it to a war mongering sociopath in 2009. Turns out there is another committee that can rescind prizes given inappropriately and they are planning to do so.

http://news.yahoo.com/nobel-peace-prize-jury-under-investigation-152500580.html

Interesting article about an actual handwaving consultant

4 Feb 12 18:58:33 GMT

hoyza: "Consultant in Chief" in this month's reason magazine.

It's not available on the web for the public (yet), but you can get a copy in trade for your email address here:

http://reason.com/blog/2012/01/20/special-one-time-offer-read-reasons-grea

If you don't want to give 'em a real email address, well, check out mailinator.com.

Dallas Police incident

4 Feb 12 18:35:51 GMT

Idiot: Very interesting filing in Dallas.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/25/DallasCops.pdf

Dallas police stormed this guys house, beat the shit out of him, then realized they had the wrong address, left, and burned every last record of the incident. Their position is it never happened. Someone else broke down his door, handcuffed and beat him.

US citizen blocked from US entry

4 Feb 12 17:05:24 GMT

Idiot: A US citizen went to distribute medicine in Libya. He is now banned from returning to the US.

http://www.oregonlive.com/tigard/index.ssf/2012/02/tigard_businessman_blocked_fro.html

Anyone want to cite any US law allowing the US to ban the return of US citizens? Hubble, you're the the expert on justifying Obama administration actions, why don't you have a go.

have u heard about the Woody Harrelson ama

4 Feb 12 04:48:44 GMT

sierra: spectacular..
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/p9a1v/im_woody_harrelson_ama/

-20C in Odessa

3 Feb 12 22:09:24 GMT

xampl9: Was chatting with one of the Ukrainians and he said no one goes out to party because it's too cold.

-20C is -4F, which is really really cold.
Unless you're in Minnesota, where it's called "winter"

FB "find out what they said about you"?

3 Feb 12 21:07:54 GMT

Bored Bystander: Is this crap a scam? Do they want money?

It looks like a shakedown.

Just curious.

Romney's secret swiss accounts

3 Feb 12 19:16:13 GMT

Idiot: Another secret undisclosed Swiss bank account has turned up. This one is in the name of Mitt Romney's wife. Obviously she earned that money herself as a mormon housewife. Anyone that would say he was putting it in his wife's name to hide it from name searches is simply wrong.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/romneys-wife-had-3-million-in-ubs-unit-closed-for-helping-us-citizens-evade-taxes.html

African American Students

3 Feb 12 19:03:04 GMT

Idiot: Someone on reddit dug up a 2004 article about a kid who was born and raised in Africa who got suspended from school when he emigrated to Nebraska and started lobbying for the "Highest Achieving African American Student Award".

http://www.wnd.com/2004/01/22929/

When your boss is in over his head

3 Feb 12 19:00:06 GMT

Cliff: I've posted here before about my old boss quitting because his boss underminded him and kept putting him in a position to fail. So they promoted one of my co-workers and history seems to be repeating itself.

He has told off his boss (dept head) numerous times and is not afraid to argue with him because he knows that the DH needs him. The DH likes to play passive aggressive games and undermine him.

Co-workers are unhappy because we are understaffed and overworked. So basically the boss is taking shit from people above him, the people below him, and other managers. He puts in over 60 hours a week and people do nothing but bitch and moan. He seems to be overwhelmed.

I'd hate to lose him because he at least has the good sense to stay out of the way and let me get my work done. He also is not afraid to say no to other managers. While the old boss had us running around to deal with frivilous requests by other managers, this guy isn't afraid to say no.

Recently we had managers from other departments that know nothing about IT trying to tell my boss how to run his department. He's not cooperating them which has ruffled feathers. And they've been jabbing him in meetings which has upset him.

The boss is a good guy but the pressures of the job are getting to him. Does anyone have any advice that I could pass on to him? How do I help him improve things without undermining his authority? He likes to do things his way and doesn't like to delegate. But if he is run off, either I get to inherit the mess (which I do NOT want) or more likely they will bring in some "yes man" who will work us into the ground more than we already are.

Organizational Volatility is correlated to defects

3 Feb 12 17:03:09 GMT

Idiot: Found this Software Engineering study just now. I've never seen it mentioned.

http://www.mockus.us/papers/orgQuality.pdf

They scientifically test the following 4 hypotheses:

Proposition 1. Organizational volatility reduces the qual- ity of the software product.

Proposition 2. New experienced members would bring innovations and, therefore, find new ways to improve quality.

Proposition 3. New inexperienced members would be more likely to introduce defects.

Proposition 4. Outgoing members would leave gaps in the tacit knowledge, making suboptimal design and imple- mentation decisions more likely by the remaining team. This would increase the probability that defects will be introduced or not found prior to release.

Proposition 5. Larger files will have lower quality.

(and 5 more Propositions)

Read the paper to find out which of the 10 propositions were measured to be true.

It's very rare to find Software Engineering studies done with a scientific methodology, so this very recent paper is worth a look.

Friendly Reminder

3 Feb 12 15:00:54 GMT

CircusAttraction: Please have a regular reboot schedule of your servers. This will help ensure that they come up without issue during an unscheduled reboot.

My concern in mainly with Unix/Linux servers and their keepers.

I know those *nix admins truly love their large uptime numbers. But you see, noone actually remembers, off the top of their head, what those last 150 changes were that have been implemented since the previous reboot (i.e. ancient history).

Files that have been deleted or replaced on these *nix boxen can still be used by running processes (even though you can see them in the file system, processes have a lock on the file and will continue to use the files even after you've deleted them!). If it's been forever since your last reboot, you won't know what the hell happened to the server nor how to fix the problem(s) when that unexpected reboot happens and things don't come up the way you expected.

Also, because reboots are an exceptional event (thank you, *nix admins), folks become weary of even talking of reboots for fear of actually breaking something and having long downtimes.

Companies seem to think they're pretty good at uptimes and backups but really suck balls when it comes to reboots and restores.

A regularly scheduled reboot will keep everyone on their toes and confident in their abilities to keep systems operating at peak efficiency.

If you schedule one every month and you run into trouble after a reboot, you only need to go back through the month's worth of implementation history to figure out what changed since the previous reboot.

NYC Now paying out more in Pensions and Benifts than salaries

3 Feb 12 14:20:00 GMT

Morons: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/pensions_to_cost_city_more_than_dRuhlXwrVXgKKBgh6AO1BM

In sure this is fault of the Cheap ass rich who don't pay enough taxes. No mismanagement of tax payer dollars here.

I was wondering why my house was Reassessed up 16% during the worst housing market on recorded history.... No worries, I'm sure the Gov't Crony who assessed may house did so objectively. This was not an attempt to raise revenue without raising taxes.

Rethinking Software Inspections

3 Feb 12 05:15:23 GMT

hoyza: Non-crappy article, tho the SEO and UI are a little challenging -

http://www.cio.com/article/699170/Rethinking_Software_Development_Testing_and_Inspection

Cool another war in the coming months

3 Feb 12 01:49:38 GMT

Bot Berlin: Can't wait.

Windows Phone will use the NT kernel?

3 Feb 12 00:30:37 GMT

Rick from Nexus S: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/02/businessinsiderthe-next-windows-pho.DTL

Maybe Google should drop ChromeOS, and RIM should just give up.

Check out these quad rotors

2 Feb 12 23:17:20 GMT

less is more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIMGV5vtd4
1:43

Sugar Volsted Act

2 Feb 12 20:34:50 GMT

MobyDoby: Proposal - http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7383/full/482027a.html

- Sugar to be regulated like tobacco & alcohol.

- Taxes on foods containing sugar

- Prohibition on advertising of sugary foods

- Plain packaging on sugary foods to be required.

- Sale of sweets and soft drinks with sugar to under 18s to be banned.

Sugar laws of this type already being considered in California, and 7 other US states. You heard it here first folks. Start stocking up on the white stuff now.

Shellfish on matzo's

2 Feb 12 20:15:01 GMT

MobyDoby: Tastes delicious.

So does bacon.

In London next week.

2 Feb 12 20:05:22 GMT

Troglodyte: Anyone around and fancy a beer?
(Central London)

Former Survivor member sues Gingrich for using ‘Eye of the Tig

2 Feb 12 17:52:00 GMT

Mike: Frankie Sullivan sued Gingrich in federal court Monday, saying the Republican presidential candidate is using his “Rocky III” anthem in his campaign without permission.

In a statement during the last presidential campaign, Sullivan said: “Survivor has no affiliation with John McCain or Sarah Palin. They have no right to use ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ in any way as part of their campaign. Using our music without our permission can give people the impression that we are supporters of their campaign — this is not the case.”

--------

LOL

Republicans arresting journalists

2 Feb 12 15:24:18 GMT

Idiot: News crew arrested filming public committee meeting on gas fracking. Reporter charged with "unlawful entry" and is currently under arrest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/house-republicans-order-j_n_1246971.html

I saw "Take Me Home Tonight" last night on Netflix

2 Feb 12 13:31:10 GMT

muppet: Which is an 80s movie made in 2001, essentially.

Loved the soundtrack. A few too many anachronisms for me.

It was a fairly successful 80s movie, but not a great movie in its own right. It's neat to see a contemporary movie mock the style of cinema from 20 years ago and do it really, really well, but... that's it.

Kinda meh. It had 4 stars on Netflix but only 1.5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes. I wish Netflix would show the Rotten Tomatoes score in their client, but I don't want to pay even more for that.

I like 80s movies more because I get to sit for an hour or two and pretend that my youth wasn't wasted and isn't gone. :-P

Feds used custom viruses for Megaupload surveillance

2 Feb 12 06:21:26 GMT

Idiot: You may recall that I asked how the fuck the government had all this intimate knowledge of emails and private discussions among Megaupload personnel, given they weren't present in the US.

Turns out the feds are infecting people's computers with custom viruses in order to monitor them. Don't worry though, a judge approved it, so it's OK.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57368523-261/feds-we-obtained-megaupload-conversations-with-search-warrant/

Also, the Chinese government hacking gmail? That was approved by their government as well, so no fair complaining about that.

STH, you need to check the hash

2 Feb 12 02:36:31 GMT

Rick from Nexus S: Just saying

Holy Bad Taste, Batman

2 Feb 12 00:36:22 GMT

Bored Bystander: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abe-the-Aborted-Fetus/112768765402994

I would definitely read this if it were free. I'm not gunna buy it, though.

Sick, sick, sick, sick. In a "I wanna watch" way.

Next to it the Facebook ad being displayed says "Hungry for Olive Garden?"

Facebook -- ONLY 3.7 billions in Revenue in 2011

1 Feb 12 23:11:45 GMT

Rick from Nexus S: Well, it increased from 777 millions in 2009. But it is still a little lower than my expectation. For comparision, Google 2011 Revenue is 33.9 billions.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19870014

I think I have to quit my client

1 Feb 12 19:12:50 GMT

Home Despot: They decided to set up a self-service reporting platform. Fine. Usually those don't work too well, but fine, I'm game.

But it turns out they plan on giving business users all the development tools we use, such as Visual Studio, SQL Server, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS and they build their own "environments". The manager is under the impression that these business users qualified as developers and obviously that development work is eeeeeeasy.

I ws just shaking my head at first. But today was the last straw. They wanted to run some stuff using Powershell scripts when SSIS was going to perform that particular task much more easily and with better maintainability. I went and explained why - after all that's why I was hired for the job.

But the goofballs in management wanted them to do BOTH and then decide which is best.

Idiots.

management, so far

1 Feb 12 18:59:32 GMT

the great purple: sucks. every change has been negative.

raises are coming in two weeks. I had better get a good one to take on all this BS.

20C in the NE US

1 Feb 12 18:37:17 GMT

Shylock, not Dan: Except for the bare trees, spring has sprung.

And I smile at the mosquito larvae hatching, thinking that it's time to live, only to freeze to death in the near future.

A self-guiding, laser designated bullet

1 Feb 12 18:31:23 GMT

SaveTheHubble: With a range of 2000 meters (1.2 miles).

http://www.gizmag.com/sandia-self-guided-bullet/21286/pictures

The comments on the article are a bit clueless. If a human sniper can keep a scope on a target 1.2 miles away, he can keep a laser designator on the target too.

Besides, wouldn't this make a lovely weapon for an unmanned drone? Instead of a hell-fire missle, you could take out individual targets. And don't they make infrared laser designators?

A man can have no greater delusion than this

1 Feb 12 17:52:44 GMT

Orison Swett Marden: Thta he can spend the best years of his life coining all of his energies into dollars, neglecting his home, sacrificing friendships, self improvement, and everything else worthwhile, and yet find happiness at the end.

If a man coins his ability, his opportunities, into dollars, and neglects the cultivation of the only faculties which are capable of appreciating the highest happiness during all the years he is accumulating wealth, he cannot effectively revive those atrophied brain cells. His enjoyment, after he makes his money, must come from the exercise of the same faculties which he has employed in making it. He cannot undo the results of a life habit after he retires from business.

Less is More vs Idiot (Global Warming)

1 Feb 12 17:12:45 GMT

MobyDobie: Remember this - including the graph:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/30/while-temperatures-rise-denialists-reach-lower/

Turns out the graph doesn't depict that it was claimed to depict.

Here's the skeptic/denialist rebuttal:

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=5138

Awe, that's cute

1 Feb 12 17:10:13 GMT

JoC: New BA thinks he can dictate how I will approach my work.

Haha.

Waking up with clogged sinuses

1 Feb 12 16:24:47 GMT

dude: In the winter months, the air is so dry that I wake up with clogged sinuses. Bought one of those humidifiers, and it didn't really help, I think it made the problem worse and I feel like crap when I first get up in the morning. I feel better after I've been up for a bit. Does anyone else have a better solution for this issue?

Romney is done - stick a fork in him

1 Feb 12 16:20:13 GMT

xampl9: >> Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he's "not concerned about the very poor" because they have an "ample safety net" and he's focused instead on relieving the suffering of middle-class people hit hard by the bad economy. <<

http://www.wral.com/news/political/story/10672984/

India

1 Feb 12 12:59:20 GMT

Nick: http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/filthy-india-photos-chinese-netizen-reactions.html

#1 best selling author

1 Feb 12 10:06:48 GMT

Idiot: On kindle is a guy you probably never heard of, John Locke.

He writes books and sells them for 99 cents. That gives him 35 cents per book.

He then sells 1 million copies of each book, which is mega-blockbuster level, and brings in $350,000 per book he writes, with not one damn cent to be shared with any parasitical publisher or agent.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-by-john-locke.html

The future of literature, software, music and film is direct from artist to purchaser. There will be no middle man.

The middle men will have to give up their jet and limo leases and find jobs at McDonalds, which is suited to their intellectual level.