CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-16 17:00:37 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 13 +1s)

Inspired by +Lauren Weinstein and +Sai's posts on Google+'s poor handling of long text posts, I've updated +Replies and More to auto-expand text posts. 

This will automatically click the "Read More" link, and hide the "Show Less" link. Since +Replies and More is opinionated software, I've turned this on by default.

2013-05-16 17:55:47 (22 comments, 10 reshares, 23 +1s)

A few critiques of +Mike Elgan's comments about the new "card" oriented G+ design:

1. The composition window does not show me, when I'm writing,
a) whether the post will get squashed, and
b) if it will, what part will be above the fold.

As such, I have to just guess (or do a stupid post/edit/retry dance). WYSYWIG composition is not that much to ask for.

(ETA: Also, it's not even consistent. Reshares show even less of the original.)

2. The composition window itself stifles longer posts, because its text entry box is fixed length. I can't write a long piece when I can only see a couple paragraphs at a time and the important part — what I'm writing — uses only ~1/4 of the screen (179 px, vs 651 px within my browser window on a 768 px high display).

3. Not everyone wants to write in headline-ese or invertedpyr... more »

2013-05-14 23:04:34 (33 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

This site makes me sad.

2013-05-14 20:44:04 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

gayhomophobe.com newest winner: yet another ex-ex-gay leader.

(Posting delayed somewhat due to my travels.)

2013-05-14 16:34:39 (13 comments, 4 reshares, 8 +1s)

The Prayer of St. Francis, interpreted in UNLWS (s.ai/nlws). It definitely took a while to get to this point, but yay having finally done it. :-)

I'd like to make it into a poster and shirt; this was pen on paper, drawn by +Alex Fink. If any of y'all have the vector graphics skills to make this cleaner and bolder, and could help us make a more high quality image for such usage, please let me know.

2013-05-13 03:14:33 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

+Alex Fink: "I've been known to get Berkovich-analytic spaces and buildings confused before."

2013-05-13 03:17:12 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

Am now in Buenos Aires.

LAN made me see a doctor to get vitals checked in both Cancún and Santiago. The second doc was an old school type. "So yeah you have a tic, you're fine, why are you even here?" "The airline insisted." "Lame. Here's a medical certificate."

Incidentally, LAN demanding a medical certificate when I already had provided one to AA is, again, a violation of the ACAA.

I get the feeling that if I just flew a lot more, I'd really be racking up the charges on TSA, airlines, everyone. Need to get it to the point of being able to get damages for it, not just declaratory "yeah they shouldn't have done that" relief.

Anyway, I'm safe now, back with my girlfriend, and will probably be going to a gaucho fair or something like that tomorrow.

Also, the drivers here are suicidal.

2013-05-11 11:28:44 (21 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Just went through Miami TSA. Heard this story before?

Highilghts:
TSO grabbed and squeezed my penis during the patdown (a.k.a. sexual assault)

STSO & TSM refused to permit me to travel with my medical liquids (one bottle water, 4 bottles juice, 1 bottle ginger ale), demanding that I choose two. Said explicitly that there is a SOP limiting the quantity of liquid per flight and explicitly engaged in a judgment of my medical necessity. (Note: my upcoming flight is 12 hours long.)

Multiple police were called, claimed that they were "not detaining me" and merely "investigating" even though they were holding my boarding passes and passport and refusing to give them back; demanded that I identify myself and provide my address. Eventually I was allowed to leave — without most of my medical liquids.

Most of it on video; not all due to hittingb... more »

2013-05-10 21:59:39 (27 comments, 3 reshares, 15 +1s)

I was just pulled from my flight to Argentina by +American Airlines' "Customer Corporate Resolution Office" because, as a courtesy which I have no legal obligation to do, I disclosed my tic disorder to the flight attendants so that they wouldn't freak out if they saw me having muscle spasms. It's a talk I've done dozens of times, and normally they're perfectly understanding about it.

They were pretty fucking rude about it too, refused to talk to my neurologist, insisted that I get him to fax them a certificate saying I'm OK to fly, etc etc this will end up in yet another legal dispute as a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act unless AA settles with me first.

Result: I'm going to lose a full day of the vacation time I would otherwise have been spending with my girlfriend, and I'm really fucking pissed. And I (and my lawyers) will be... more »

2013-05-10 05:12:12 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

This is very familiar. And it's why I don't like the +It Gets Better Project; "it gets better" is so wholly inadequate and sometimes just untrue to say to a seriously depressed person, and that's not different because they're young. It feels to me like something only someone who does not grok depression could say.

Hence my version It gets better - but in the meantime, some pragmatic advice for suicidal teens.

2013-05-08 04:35:48 (18 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I'm going to be in Buenos Aires all next week (10th-19th).

Any suggestions for what I would find interesting to do, see, etc.?

Also: is there any way to convert ARS->USD other than through the Argentinan local black market? AFAICT no US banks, Western Union, etc, will do so.

2013-05-07 07:07:43 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Someone recently asked me what constitute emergency medical situations for me. Since I already wrote it up, I might as well share.

There are exactly three life threatening situations:

1. If I stop breathing for more than a minute. This has never happened, but it's theoretically possible. In theory however, I would pass out first; passing out would relax my muscles; and I would then be able to breathe again. If that theory isn't true, I'll die of brain damage unless intubated within a couple minutes of passing out.

Apnea less than a minute happens regularly; it's never been longer than that. And theory is that it's more likely to be self-limiting. It's painful, scary, and very disturbing to watch, but it is not physically harmful.


2. Sustained resting heart rate >200 BPM for more than a couple hours. This is what happened 11 years... more »

2013-05-06 08:31:29 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Finally back. tl;dr:
1. SFO TSA: intimidation per ususal, got liquids through eventually
2. LCC5: very enjoyable. Not enough time. Part of film shoot for documentary. Had to leave abruptly to catch flight. Need to schedule more time w/ Alex.
3. AUS TSA: 100% smooth. WTMD, not using the rape scanner; gave me no shit at all about liquids. Will write them commendation.
4. US Airways: extremely rude about how they handled my courtesy disclosure; involved ground security personnel who demanded to know details I only disclose on a need to know basis to flight crew. Captain refused to give me his card or name. Will pursue as mistreatment on the basis of a disability under ACAA. 
5. DMV at 9am. For the 5th time. Fuck me.

For now, fuckit. I'm tired and I have work in the morning. G'night, tubes.

2013-05-05 14:41:03 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Dear +Delta, +American Airlines, +Orbitz, +Alaska Airlines, +British Airways, +Hawaiian Airlines, +Travelocity, +Virgin, etc (and this includes FlightStats.com and whoever at +Google is responsible for the special card on google.com/search?q=US2820)::

I urge you all to make one simple change: ALWAYS LIST TIME ZONES!

It's really fucking confusing to look at tickets, flight status, etc where the time zones are not listed and I have to guess which time zone every single time is in. Is it the time zone at the departing airport? At the landing airport? At the airport linked to that flight? That the website thinks my computer is set to? That the website thinks I'm in, even if my computer is set differently? WHO KNOWS? It's not even the same across a single ticket!

Delta's boarding pass design improvement in the linked post is excellent design (and so is... more »

2013-05-04 16:55:01 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

+Language Creation Society's 5th Language Creation Conference  LIVE STREAMING NOW @ http://conlang.org/lcc5 

Use hashtag #lcc5 .

G+ event https://plus.google.com/events/cs22ijhl17vgonu69e6sruuniig

Chat & ask questions of presenters LIVE on IRC freenode #lcs (conlang.org/chat.php if you don't have an IRC client). 

2013-05-03 12:21:13 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 23 +1s)

Got through SFO TSA security w/ liquids. Was required to unseal two bottles because they have semi-opaque packaging. Multiple TSA officers told me (as usual) that I wasn't allowed to fly with my liquids. Supervisor wanted to know where I was going.

I then got the supervisor on video saying that the SFO TSA has been specifically trained to have an unwritten policy of judging the medical necessity of liquids as well as how much someone needs depending on how long their flight is. Which, of course, directly violates TSA policy and US law.

Will be helpful in proving the "policy or practice" portion of a Bivens action.

2013-05-03 07:07:43 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Now to get 3 hours of sleep. Damn 5:25 boarding time. ><

2013-05-03 05:00:20 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

One benefit of living in the mission: even the liquor stores sell 1.5L bottles of aloe juice. Evidently it's a hispanic thing?

2013-05-03 04:52:17 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Also on the topic of legal humor, here is a poem by Robert Rains, from the legal humor journal Green Bag, regarding the attached decision.

---

When You Wish to Be an R
Or, Some Requests Are Too Extreme

with apologies to Ned Washington, Leigh Harline and, of course, Jiminy Cricket

by Robert Rains

comment on In  re:  Change  of  Name  of Mary Ravitch, 754 A.2d 1287 (Pa. Super. 2000), in which the Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the trial court’s refusal to allow Mary to change her last name to the “nice and simple” letter “R.”

With perhaps a touch of hyperbole, the trial court opined that, “Our society’s … concept of law and order would dissipate into chaos and confusion,” if Mary’s unopposed petition were to be granted. Characterizing the proposed name change as “bizarre,” the Superior Court noted that,“if courts were to permit in... more »

2013-05-03 04:29:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

/via +Benjamin Smith, a collection of legal humor (parody & verse, animals, unusual plaintiffs, etc.)

2013-05-02 01:40:52 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

This is hilarious. It's sometimes surprising, but at the same time logical, that judges often have just as good a sense of humor as any other person.

2013-05-02 01:36:01 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

I wonder if I should declare my 8oz bottle of Liquid Silk as a medical liquid next time I fly.

2013-05-01 23:20:19 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Do any of you live in CA's 15th Congressional District? (Hayward, Fremont, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore, Union City, Ashland)

If yes, would you be willing to write a letter for me to Congressman Swalwell re. changing TSA's medical liquid policy?

I've been advised that he is a likely person to be able to advocate for it, but I'm not in his district, and it's best to come from constituents.

Thanks!

2013-05-01 17:26:39 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Suppose that total rent is $1000. Half the space is common area; 20% is Room A; 30% is Room B. There are two people in B, one in A.

Which is more fair as a rent calculation, irrespective of other factors (e.g. who contributes more to the house in other ways, furniture, financial risk, etc)?

a) Two people in A pay collectively $300 (30% of private area) + $333 (2/3 of the common area usage) = $633

b) Two people in A pay $300 + $250 (by-room split of the common area) = $550

c) something else

Similar to a v b, should the two people pay 2/3 of utilities, or just 1/2? Some utilities are more expensive per person (water, electricity); some aren't (DSL) but are used up per person.

Again, this is before taking into consideration any other factors — e.g. people might be in different situations for their personal finances vs their time for choresv... more »

2013-05-01 06:32:48 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

With all due respect (and sincere condolences) to +Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman… I have to think that +Ken Popehat is right[0] IME.

I am, from what I can tell, a lot more open about my emotions than Aaron was. But if you put that aside, and just judge from my behavior… I've been very active lately, I laugh a lot, I've gone on a couple lovely dates, I'm involved in … way too many things; etc.

If I didn't talk openly about being depressed, I don't think anyone would think it of me. And it's not even that I'm hiding it; it's just that emotion is complicated, and a lot of the things I do to try to help my depression may seem more pervasive of my emotional state than they truly are.

Would it were so easy.

I'm also no Aaron Swartz; I haven't his success (financial, social, project, anything really). There'd be nomemori... more »

2013-05-01 06:06:38 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

2013-05-01 04:44:49 (23 comments, 5 reshares, 8 +1s)

I was just on +eCitizenSalon w/ +Dazza Greenwood, +aestetix aestetix, & +Kaliya Identity Woman, talking about nyms, the differences between different kinds of names, etc.

Also, I / +Make Your Laws have been invited to co-organize an MIT sponsored hackathon in June/July ish for CivicID / ecitizen.mit.edu / www.ecitizen.tv to create, essentially, a government authenticated OAuth server.

This would mean that you could claim your legal identity, and get the government to authoritatively verify to third parties any subset of e.g. your legal name; your registered address; your voter jurisdiction; etc.

This could be done in a way that's compatible with zero-knowledge proofs to enable federated civic engagement / voting systems that let third party websites (like MYL) publicly prove that participants in a vote are unique humans with certain properties (e.g. voters in agiv... more »

2013-04-30 05:29:51 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I fly both of the next two weekends. I will, naturally, be taking plenty of liquids with me and running video.

I wonder if they'll fuck with me again, or if they've gotten the word out that that'd be a really bad idea…

2013-04-29 16:41:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2013-04-29 08:19:15 (30 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

What would happen if the US eliminated all industry subsidies? (Think e.g. corn.)

(Possible exception: subsidies that are made as a loan — e.g. the government gets shares in the company at the fair market price, rather than just handing over money.)

2013-04-29 03:48:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I idly asked this question and +Kelly Alioth Drinkwater was inspired to write the following up:

HOW MANY BEDBUGS CAN LIVE ON ONE PERSON?

under typically warm conditions they will feed every 3-7ish days (Reinhardt)
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.ento.52.040306.133913

Even in the absence of a blood source, individual bedbugs have been shown to survive a year or more (Bacot, 1914)
(Boase)
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2001/po/b106301b

Average blood meal is somewhere around 7-10mg (Johnson p. 376)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2199707/

========================================================

American Red Cross blood donation guideline: 1 pint every 56 days. Presumably this is very conservative.
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements
more »

2013-04-28 21:02:56 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Tried to change my PCP online. I'm sure Aetna's tech support team will be delighted at the detailed debugging info.

2013-04-28 03:15:16 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Ice cream of the day: basil & peach.

Not nearly fruity enough, though I used a whole can of peaches and steeped in two bags of peach tea.

Is still reasonably nice but not what I was going for. Blah.

2013-04-27 16:22:27 (44 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

One persistent problem I've had, across a wide range of issues, is that I don't seem to get partners in whatever I'm trying to do.

I get followers to some extent — people who agree with what I want to do and will help out when prompted — but I continue having to always initiate, even in detail. This bothers me a lot.

The only counter-example I can think of right now is +Alex Fink & UNLWS, where that is more of a true partnership (we have compatible visions, we both initiate work on it, etc).

Most immediately it comes to mind for housemate finding. I've gotten responses along the general lines "I like that idea, but I won't actually contribute unless you specifically ask me on a caee by case basis". Which I know is going to make me feel burnt out pretty quick.

I'm not sure what to do about this; I already go well out of myway ... more »

2013-04-26 16:38:04 (19 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Are my communication patterns similar to those of someone with Asperger's?

2013-04-25 15:47:25 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Do any of y'all happen to live near UT Austin and have a spare room which could house +Alex Fink & me May 3-5 for conlang.org/lcc5?

2013-04-25 05:12:42 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Whee, date. /wriggle

2013-04-24 16:23:05 (24 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Anyone happen to know good data on the population proportions (gender separated) of subs to doms to neither? (I would guess that a Fetlife scrape could answer the first two at least.)

2013-04-24 15:15:22 (16 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Please link me your costume porn.

Specifically, men's clothing from at least a century ago that looks really good and could practically* be worn day to day. I'm thinking of making another outfit, not sure what to make exactly.

* As in donned by oneself, would not wear out after a couple uses, etc. I'm quite fine with it being not normative; I just want it to look awesome.

2013-04-24 06:00:44 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I'm feeling depressed. Mrr.

OTOH, I have a date tomorrow, which should be both enjoyable and comforting. So yay that. And climbing soon thereafter.

2013-04-24 02:07:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2013-04-22 16:14:14 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Also, the current pages of the Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law are pretty relevant (and good, as always).

2013-04-22 07:36:49 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

We're looking for housemates. If you know anyone who's interested in helping us make a coop-ish home in the Mission, please forward them the link.

Thanks!

2013-04-19 17:02:06 (72 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

One thing that bothers me about the Watertown proceedings at the moment: it seems like the police have cordoned off a fairly large area to try to confine White Hat, and intend to do a door-to-door search with police dogs.

Personally, I would still refuse entry without a warrant. I hope that these events don't result in further deterioration in civil liberties law. I also hope that they catch whoever's responsible*. I know those two are in tension. :-/

* and I'd point out that White Hat & his brother are now just 'suspects'; I haven't seen any evidence that they actually did it. Could be that the police suspected the wrong people, who happened to also be willing to shoot and/or run for their own reasons.

2013-04-19 08:51:18 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I should elaborate on this in a proper essay post later, but: I really wish that the law would embrace Bayesian probability across the board.

Standards of evidence; 'probable cause'; reliability of a police dog's signaling; confessions under various circumstances; etc etc etc could all be analyzed through a Bayesian view towards "how much does this information actually change the likeliness of actual guilt (not just conviction, confession, or plea)?".

2013-04-19 06:44:05 (14 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Here's a proposal for a blanket anti-discrimination law:

No person may, in deciding hiring, firing, salary, commercial service provision, etc., discriminate on any basis other than something pertinent to the person's ability to perform the necessary functions of that role (e.g. job related skills, customer's ability to pay, etc).

Why have a blacklist of protected classes, rather than a whitelist of permitted bases for discrimination? Goes against basic security principles.

2013-04-19 05:13:54 (38 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Ice cream of the day (yay, I'm back!): blueberry & smoke.

Fairly simple but good. The smoke works well with the slight latent umami of the blueberries. I used 1c brown sugar instead of 1c white; tbd how it affects the full freeze.

My housemate +Curtis Gagliardi, after having tried it: "I guess you could say I'm converted. Liquid smoke… now I'm a believer."

Next up: farmer's cheese & bacon salt? Need to get (or make) some proper tvorog.

2013-04-18 07:34:09 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Today's NCSU colloquium was given by Martin Golubitsky on Patterns of phase shift synchrony with application to binocular rivalry.  The mathy underpinning was this: associate a real dynamical system to a directed graph, with a state variable for each node and couplings given by the edges.  Then one can classify the fashions in which the system can (rigidly) have a time-periodic solution in which given subsets of the variables have the same behaviour, up to a possible phase shift.  

What's binocular rivalry?  Suppose I put a different image in front of each of your eyes (and a big opaque pane sagittally along your nose, so you can't cheat).  Maybe, e.g., your left eye gets a monkey, while your right gets some text on a picture of foliage: figure A, http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~papathom/demo_interocular.htm.  What you'll probably see is an oscillating percept: first themonkey... more »

2013-04-18 00:37:57 (24 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I need to write something again about the whole low self-monitoring … thing. However, given how horribly it's gone before when I try to discuss this, I find myself in the rare position of not feeling safe to do this kind of public introspection.

I'm not sure what to do about it, other than make it locked with comments off and asking people to have conversations directly — and spending a whole lot of the post demonstrating that I understand the high self-monitoring POV, disclaiming a bunch of things I keep getting accused of meaning that don't even vaguely resemble my intent, etc.

This is a bit ironic (appropriate?), given that part of the issue is the disconnect between how people perceive what I say vs my actual intent, and others' near zero interest in understanding my actual intent vs what I would have been meaning to imply were I a high self-monitor. Kindarec... more »

2013-04-17 05:19:33 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Taught my housemate (who essentially has never cooked anything other than pasta and has fairly limited culinary exposure) how to make syrniki.

Hee, I haz a sous chef. I'll have to indoctrinate him in the ways of Iron Chef WTF. Keeping it fairly simple for now though — plain blueberry ice cream prepping for tomorrow. (I kinda want to add some sesame oil to it, though. Or feta bits.)