Sporcle is a lot cooler than it sounds.

My new favorite game website: Sporcle. The site features tons of quizzes along the lines of "Name all the countries in Europe" or "Name the book based on the antagonist." Be very careful about when you start playing, though, because it quickly sucks you in for long periods of time.

(We have really fallen off the blogging. This post is just under a month after the last post. I would love it if we could all start this up again.)

Internet Meme Timeline

The title is self-explanatory. Be careful: this site can waste all of your time if you let it.

LMIRL.

Check out this hilariously out of touch list of "20 Internet Acronyms All Parents Should Know." One of the acronyms that seems least likely to be used in real life is above-I don't want to ruin the hilarious surprise of what this absurd acronym stands for. The expanded phrase (highlight it to see it) can be seen here: "Let's meet in real life."

Seriously, how many kids might actual use NIFOC ("Nude in front of computer") or TD2M ("Talk dirty to me")? I'd say the over/under line is 2.

A copycat science Friday

Thank you, Chris, for giving me an excuse to get rid of some of the tabs I have had open for the last week. Here are some of the most interesting science articles (and one video) that I have found recently. Though each is summarized, I do recommend you check out the articles because in some cases I have had to drastically simplify, or as in the case of the camera and the video, completely omit a meaningful explanation of the achievement.

Lip-reading computer: Scientists at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) have developed a lip-reading computer that can automatically transcribe and translate silent videos of people speaking in a number of languages. One potentially important use for this computer is as an aide to police investigating crimes caught on silent CCTV cameras.
Quantum computers (and hackers!): Quantum computers and encryption are very slowly coming into use in the real world (the results of the State of Geneva election were secured using a quantum system), and (academic) hackers are doing a pretty damn good job keeping pace.
The world’s fastest camera: “[The] camera snaps images less than a half a billionth of a second long, capturing over six million of them in a second continuously.” Enough said.
Wolfram Alpha: Unfortunately this is not a person’s name (the developer’s name is Stephen Wolfram), but rather a web tool designed to answer questions that are asked in modern English. In Wolfram’s words, "Like interacting with an expert, it will understand what you're talking about, do the computation, and then present you with the results.”
”Anatomy of a crash”: In its efforts to improve the safety of the Ford Falcon, Ford engineers decided that to make the (economically, not absolutely) safest possible car they needed to first research crashes in more detail. Their results show, in milliseconds, the general progression of a car crash. Scroll to the bottom for the breakdown.
Dr. Quantum explains the double-slit experiment: This video is a great introduction to the basis of quantum theory, and goes into great detail explaining this experiment, which I can't even begin to summarize here.

Free online backup program

Once I find a new job I plan on buying a new computer shortly thereafter, allowing me to convert my current computer into my backup external hard drive. Until that time I am stuck debating about how to best back up my information without spending a bunch of money. A few days ago I found a program named Dropbox that offers 2GB of free online storage and syncs your information automatically. I currently have Dropbox syncing my pictures, documents, and desktop and still have quite a large percentage of my space remaining. Oh, and Dropbox syncs across different platforms and multiple computers. Also, you can access it via the online interface if you are on an unlinked computer.

There are a two major drawbacks:

1. Space- 2GB really is not that much space. For $100 per year you can have 50GB, but I think if I were paying that much I would expect significantly more storage space and would end up looking for a different program.
   
2. Currently the program only backs up files that you actually move to the Dropbox folder on your hard drive. There was no way in hell I was rearranging my file structure for this so I looked for a workaround. What I found is that by using symbolic links you can trick Dropbox into syncing other folders and files. The Dropbox Wiki has a writeup of how to sync folders and files outside of the Dropbox folder using symbolic links. Mac users should check out the section "OS X Specific: Automator," which provides a very simple way of doing this. If you are on a PC I wish you luck in your efforts to make this happen.
   

Bacon Explosion

I'm not sure what to say about this. Good use of internet marketing? Congratulations, enjoy your heart attack?

Interesting Article on Fatal Internet Security Flaw

One can only imagine how much time hacker-types spend fantasizing about everything from wizards to French maids. But imagine being a hacker who found a way to more-or-less take control of the entire internet. One who found a flaw so critical, so fundamental, he could easily get into the email and back account of anyone he wanted, to redirect any internet request as he saw fit.

This is the story of Dan Kaminsky.

Wiki White House

I enjoyed this article about the potential for Obama's version of whitehouse.gov. While most of the listed features are not really feasible (at least not in one large jump), overall I agree that it is time for government to have a mechanism for public response that is more personal than protests and the occasional visit to the voting booth. Perhaps a true democracy will emerge in digital form.