I was able to find a couple interesting items today. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow I have a prison volunteer day. I hope to get something up before I leave, if I can. At worst, I’ll have Open Threads tomorrow and Wednesday, and be full speed Thursday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:42 (average 4:40). To do it click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From NY Times: Steven Goodman, a dean and professor of medicine at Stanford and the editor of the journal Clinical Trials, which has its own imitators, called this phenomenon “the dark side of open access,” the movement to make scholarly publications freely available.
The number of these journals and conferences has exploded in recent years as scientific publishing has shifted from a traditional business model for professional societies and organizations built almost entirely on subscription revenues to open access, which relies on authors or their backers to pay for the publication of papers online, where anyone can read them…
While this article focuses on the academic effects of this problem, there is also a political side, where the Koch Brother and their ilk are funding pseudo-journals and pseudo-conferences to provide authentic sounding citations to "prove" Republican pseudo-science touted by ideologues, as if it were factual.
From The New Yorker: Before a rapt audience at Facebook headquarters Thursday, Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new software that he promised “will totally change the way you are wasting your life.”
Explaining the development of Facebook’s new phone software, Home, Mr. Zuckerberg said, “Our research showed that Facebook users still had a few hours a day when they were leading somewhat healthy and productive lives. Our new software will change all of that.”
Borowitz has captured the essence of Facebook with this satire.
From NBC: A man accidentally shot himself outside a mall in El Cajon late Saturday night, police confirmed.
I would not be at all surprised to see the Republican Party try to recruit this fellow as a school guard.
Cartoon:
Congress was MUCH smarter then!
15 Responses to “Open Thread–4/8/2013”
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3:50 I'm bloomin' late again!
Nymphaea Kabuki is very apropos in this day and age of washington's Kabuki Theater.
3:41 Well bless my pointy little leaves. I couldn't quite catch you TC. Will we all be Critter Crunched and turned into a fine lily perfume?
3:47 Regardless of what Lynn said, it looks like she is the winner today. I'm bloomin' late with Patty.
You did c atch me and Big Footed me by one second.
"While this article focuses on the academic effects of this problem, there is also a political side, where the Koch Brother and their ilk are funding pseudo-journals and pseudo-conferences to provide authentic sounding citations to "prove" Republican pseudo-science touted by ideologues, as if it were factual." I do so agree TC – they are up to their old games inventing really lovely sounding names for things that are the opposite of what they seem.
Yes, Phyllis. And that's how C2 trools get their data.
For tonight's game:
GO BIG BLUE!
Since It's not football, who's blue?
U of Michigan is "Big Blue" (But maybe next year …)
OOPS! Sorry about that! 🙁
And on a somber, serious note, I think we can all agree that we lost an amazing Lady today. She was truly a courageous and brave leader of older people of my age …
RIP, Annette Funicello
Mouse ears retired. RIP Annette Funicello
M – I – C – K – E – Y – M – O – U – S – E
Thanks Nameless for letting us know. I hadn't scrolled down all the way and thought at first you were refrring to the death of Margaret Thatcher, the 'Iron Lady", in the UK.
Amen Nameless. I used to watch her every day.
Puzzle — 3:41 Well bless my pointy little leaves. I couldn't quite catch you TC. Will we all be Critter Crunched and turned into a fine lily perfume?
NY Times — “It seems like the Wild West now.” I wonder how you tame the Wild West? Regulation? Nope that won't work. I guess freedom of information in this internet age is also 'freedom of misinformation' in all its forms. Scary stuff when you add a political layer to this.
The New Yorker — I really had to laugh when I saw this. I got my first cell phone in 2005 and I don't think I have used up the original 1500 free minutes yet! It was basic with the ability to take pictures. That's it. The phone I have now is the same. To say I had to dragged kicking and screaming into this technology is close to being a true statement. It is generally for emergencies for when I am out walking, or if the care centre where my mother lives needs to get in touch. Now of course, with smart phones etc, access to the web while you're riding the bus to work etc is much easier. You can read the news etc without having this large newspaper open in someone else's face. By the time you get to work, you've read the news and answered 3 work related calls before you've punched in. Hmmmm. . . . accessibility!
I know accessibility is one thing, but having so much of your life tied up in one place — the good, the bad, and the truly ugly is downright scary to me! Seems like a good way to lose your identity, not to mention any semblance of a normal productive life, maybe even your sanity!
When my nephew was in his early 20s and we all sat down to a family meal, his cell phone sat on the table and he answered every call as we ate. I thought it rather rude, but hey, his parents house and they permitted it. Now he is in his early 30s, married for 4 years, and has a place of his own. I wonder if the cell phone has anything to do with why he doesn't have kids yet? Hmmmm . . . food for thought!
I know this is satire, but satire at its best is so close to reality!
NBC — A loaded gun, 2 magazines, alcohol in the car, after midnight, 3 young men, testosterone, and fewer brain cells than a gnat between all three! What a stellar cocktail for stupidity! Sounds in keeping with the Republican/Teabagger profile of a 'schoolyard rambo'!
Cartoon — Smart Congress to help lift the country out of the depression with FDR's New Deal. Fast forward to 2013. Still can't get infastructure projects going despite being desperately needed for the economy AND the health of the ailing infastructure. From what I understand, some infastructure is DOA while others are on life support.
Actually. it was a Big Foot kind of day.
Scary indeed!
I thought it was amazing when people could carry their cell phones in a suitcase.
Bingo!
You understand correctly. 🙁