CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-06-20 03:12:07 (49 comments, 13 reshares, 105 +1s)

In case it wasn't clear, folks.

2013-06-19 20:01:03 (35 comments, 15 reshares, 74 +1s)

Good news: people not dying as much

The rate of HPV -- the viral infection which is the leading cause of cervical cancer -- has dropped by 50% among teenage girls in the US in the past ten years. The vaccine was only introduced in 2006, and already it's having a massive impact on people's lives. Even though only a third of teenage girls have gotten the full course vaccine so far, herd immunity makes a big difference. [1]

Science: It works, bitches. [2]


[1] Given that Denmark, Britain, and Rwanda, goddammit, are all at 80% vaccination, 30-odd percent isn't actually that much of a number to be proud of. Thank the cheerfully murderous fellows who have worked hard to oppose HPV vaccination in the US on the grounds that it will turn all of our girls into sluts. [3] The estimate is that 50,000 girls alive today are going to die from cervical cancer because... more »

2013-06-19 19:00:57 (12 comments, 17 reshares, 42 +1s)

another funny video.

2013-06-19 18:06:37 (40 comments, 33 reshares, 73 +1s)

Here's something interesting: some people are making maps of the world, with the place names replaced by the best possible rendering into English of what the names actually mean. (I'm writing this from just north of St. Addgod, in the Land of the Successor, which is actually one of the less poetic names you end up with)

The translations aren't perfectly even; I don't know why their world map leaves the capital of Cuba as "Havana," rather than "Haven," for example. But I have to say that this is pretty awesome, and would love to see it in the form of a printed atlas, not just a map...

2013-06-19 16:48:15 (14 comments, 33 reshares, 90 +1s)

This may be the best response ever to an idiotic takedown notice.

2013-06-19 02:10:21 (16 comments, 10 reshares, 123 +1s)

The Queen when her horse won at the Royal Ascot.

2013-06-19 00:58:26 (63 comments, 33 reshares, 172 +1s)

No, it's not wrong to be angry. Or Jealous. Or even to hate. It's actually pretty normal.

(Not my usual subject matter)

A friend of mine recently talked to me about feeling bad about feeling jealous. I've felt bad about feeling angry. In fact, I've seen people spend a lot of time feeling like they're terrible people for having negative emotions of any sort. You know what? They're not. It's perfectly OK to be pissed off.

I think there's something very dangerous about describing your emotional states as bad. I've seen this done with any number of states -- anger, jealousy, depression -- and in all of these cases, it just seems to be a way to make the person try to shut down their feeling, or feel ashamed for it, without asking themselves why they're feeling it and if the feeling is reasonable. 

Take anger, for example,... more »

2013-06-18 19:46:08 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 69 +1s)

Nigerian cook is trapped for three days in an air bubble on the ocean floor, survives because physics: http://slate.me/1apvfK4 

2013-06-18 17:39:26 (53 comments, 12 reshares, 91 +1s)

New Sesame Street Muppet Has A Father In Jail

Grab your hankies: To help kids coping with a parent in prison, Sesame Street created a Muppet whose father can't play with him because he's in jail.

Sesame Street has always made it part of its larger mission to address all children, not just the ones with traditional families or easily digestible experiences. In the latest move toward that goal, the popular children's program created an online toolkit, titled "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration," for those struggling to raise a child who has an incarcerated parent. Released just in time to help kids in need get through Father's Day, the toolkit has its detractors. Alex Jones naturally went into full-blown conspiracy theory mode, calling it a "propaganda program designed to help children accept the fact that daddy is in jail" by... more »

2013-06-15 21:38:44 (26 comments, 10 reshares, 63 +1s)

Big metal chickens and whiskers on kittens

First.  I must find my Sound of Music DVD, because I really want to watch it.

Second, apparently there are people, including +Carrie Canup, who do not know the story of Beyonce the big metal chicken.  Apologies Carrie, for sending you to the Bloggess' site last night, but not the specific post! 

Anybody who has not read this, you should.  It's an older post, and once you read it, make sure you read (or re-read) the rest of +Jenny Lawson's site.  It's hilarious in places, touching in others, sometimes both at once.  She is a wonderful story-teller, and some of those stories are about mental health and other serious issues.  And others about cats, or taxidermy, or big metal chickens.  Warning, there is liberal use of the word "fuck."  Just so you're prepared. 

Picture and storyat http:/... more »

2013-06-15 21:15:48 (17 comments, 13 reshares, 77 +1s)

Giggles

Dark Chocolate, yum!!!

Via: Katrina K.
#giggles  

2013-06-15 20:55:27 (69 comments, 25 reshares, 135 +1s)

Release the Google Internet Balloons! Photos and video! 

See the Full article with all the pretty pictures on blog at:  http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2013/06/14/google-internet-balloons/ 
See the YouTube video at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ULgTdPuks 

4 AM, a week ago:
I get a strange email from Google.  Just sign the paperwork they say.  We can't tell you anything.  I sign, assuming it's gotta be cool with an approach like that.

Fast Forward One Week
Next thing I knew, I was up in a helicopter over Tekapo, New Zealand, sitting by Steven Levy from Wired magazine tracking balloons as they headed for the stratosphere. I was just a few hours north of my home in Queenstown, so I was excited to check out this secret Google X project right in my own backyard!

So, here's the whole story.  I'll start witha video ... more »

2013-06-15 20:08:42 (12 comments, 34 reshares, 99 +1s)

Classical sculptures dressed in contemporary clothes. Genius. 
http://todayilearned.co.uk/2013/06/13/classical-sculptures-dressed-as-hipsters-look-contemporary-and-totally-badass/

2013-06-14 17:27:59 (32 comments, 12 reshares, 77 +1s)

‘Ring of Life’: A 515 Feet Ring of Steel in Fushun, China ... Amusing Planet - "A new landmark is taking shape in the north-eastern city of Fushun in Liaoning province in China. A gigantic steel loop dubbed the ‘Ring of Life’. The structure stands 515 foot tall and is made of a whopping 3,000 tonnes of steel. At night, it will glow with a phenomenal 12,000 LED lights. The project is estimated to cost $16M US dollars

According to Fushun Municipal Government's officials, this titanic structure has been built simply to serve as an viewing platform. The developer originally planned to add a platform for visitors to bungee jump off. However, the idea was abandoned because the ring is too high for bungee jumpers.

A local construction bureau official told the Shenyang Evening News that Fushun wanted to have an office tower on the spot of the ring but the town was toosmall t... more »

2013-06-14 17:23:03 (14 comments, 13 reshares, 52 +1s)

Speed Kings - Peregrine Falcons : Thanks to +Yonatan Zunger posting about the 10g accelerations which Cheetahs are able to achieve, it reminded me that raptors can actually exceed Terminal Velocity

Airspacemag published an article 'Falling with the Falcon' starring "Frightful' except reproduced here : It’s an improbable and wonderful sight to witness Franklin release Frightful into the slipstream of a Cessna 172 at 17,000 feet above sea level. She stabilizes immediately into level flight and matches the speed of the airplane. She flies just off the wingtip, keeping her sharp eye on Franklin, inside the airplane, as he prepares to dive out the door. Then he leaps, and they fall together for more than two miles, along with a lure that Franklin drops during the descent to simulate prey.

Franklin began releasing lures that could fall faster, at about 195 mph.F... more »

2013-06-14 17:02:12 (32 comments, 14 reshares, 121 +1s)

If the Earth had rings like Saturn...

2013-06-14 07:40:35 (18 comments, 7 reshares, 99 +1s)

Some interesting science news for your day: it turns out that cheetahs' speed is only a small part of their skill at hunting. More important than the ability to run 60mph is the ability to slow down by 9mph in a single step, which lets them turn remarkably tightly -- the real key to catching nimble prey in the open. Apparently, in a typical hunt a cheetah will pull a 10g manoeuver once every half-second or so.

Note to self: Avoid being hunted by cheetahs.

2013-06-13 21:29:29 (5 comments, 19 reshares, 50 +1s)

"""
[London, 1772.] I have been asked by my superiors to give a brief demonstration of the surprising effectiveness of even the simplest techniques of the new-fangled Social Networke Analysis in the pursuit of those who would seek to undermine the liberty enjoyed by His Majesty’s subjects. This is in connection with the discussion of the role of “metadata” in certain recent  events and the assurances of various respectable parties that the government was merely “sifting through this so-called metadata” and that the “information acquired does not include the content of any communications”. I will show how we can use this “metadata” to find key persons involved in terrorist groups operating within the Colonies at the present time.
"""

2013-06-13 22:09:06 (65 comments, 208 reshares, 378 +1s)

This is how you lead. (Edited: Includes transcript!)

In a day when the US armed forces are under fire from all quarters for not responsibly dealing with soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines raping one another -- frequently, and with such impunity that the Senate is looking at a bill which would, essentially, strip responsibility for handling this from the chain of command -- it's stunning to see what real leadership can sound like. 

Australia's military is facing something that's by comparison much smaller -- but Lt. Gen. Morrison, the Chief of the Army, has made his position on it absolutely clear. This is leadership. 

If the US' senior chain of command were this explicit and direct, we would not be in the situation we are in now. Because things would never have been allowed to fall this far out of control.

Watch this video --i... more »

2013-06-13 20:07:53 (36 comments, 5 reshares, 48 +1s)

I've been reading more WWII books lately.

2013-06-13 17:14:45 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 69 +1s)

Spotted yesterday in San Jose. For the record, this store apparently sells shoes, not mutant killer pigs. Yes, I was disappointed, too. 

2013-06-13 17:05:20 (29 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

It’s incredible how difficult it is to create a visual representation of wedding concepts that don’t abide by the cultural cookie-cutter of what a wedding should look like. And has no one ever created a xenomorph wedding cake — really? I’m sufficiently disappointed that I will seriously consider getting married again some day just to fix that.

This post contains no images deemed inappropriate for a workplace environment.

2013-06-13 15:39:23 (19 comments, 9 reshares, 62 +1s)

WHAT IT MEANS TO CHERISH

People thought my iPhone was peculiar. A second-generation iPhone, I’d bought it three weeks before the new phones came out. Before buying it, I’d asked if the new phone was slated to be released soon and whether I should wait. I was told to go for it. After the release of the new phone, I had returned to trade it in and been rudely refused.

In an obstinate rage, I announced to everyone within earshot that I would never upgrade the thing or purchase any more apps from the App Store. When my screen cracked during a petulant fit not long after, I refused to have it replaced, carrying around the shattered thing like a badge of disdain.

Despite this, the little device served me fine -- as an Apple product that inspires throwing and other abuses possibly could, anyway. Finally, after two years, I decided I'd had enough. I went on theAT&... more »

2013-06-13 16:17:17 (11 comments, 24 reshares, 52 +1s)

A warning from Google: There's been a very sharp rise in phishing attacks (among other types of attack) coming from Iran, and trying to compromise the accounts of Iranian users. We have reason to believe that these attacks are politically motivated and tied to the coming elections. As Eric says, 

Especially if you are in Iran, we encourage you to take extra steps to protect your account. Watching out for phishing, using a modern browser like Chrome and enabling 2-step verification can make you significantly more secure against these and many other types of attacks. Also, before typing your Google password, always verify that the URL in the address bar of your browser begins with https://accounts.google.com/. If the website's address does not match this text, please don’t enter your Google password.

In Farsi: http://googlepersianblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/blog-post.html

2013-06-12 22:53:41 (17 comments, 2 reshares, 22 +1s)

2013-06-12 22:28:48 (68 comments, 12 reshares, 71 +1s)

+Ezra Klein has an interesting post today about how changes in technology and custom have moved politics from being in the control of groups of men in smoke-filled rooms to being under the control of average people -- and how it is that average people now seem more, rather than less, disgusted with it.

He raises some good points. I think that the best one is that reading about politics (much less writing about it or doing something about it) is a niche activity, a hobby for people who are passionate about it -- which means that, by exposing politics to the masses, what we've really done is put politics in the hands of the people who care the most. Which, unfortunately, is a recipe for giving more power to extremists of all stripes. The average person, who hears about this but isn't an activist, then encounters a political world dominated by people who can mobilize bases, play to fringe... more »

2013-06-12 20:46:52 (8 comments, 6 reshares, 23 +1s)

2013-06-12 20:30:26 (21 comments, 8 reshares, 62 +1s)

Let the countdown begin! 

Join us tomorrow as we partner with NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to talk about space! 

Thursday, June 13, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater, National Archives in Washington, DC
The Space Program under Presidents Nixon and Ford

Roger Launius, senior curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, will moderate a panel including John Logsdon, professor emeritus of George Washington University; William Barry, chief historian at NASA; and others.

In this illustrated lecture, a panel discusses the American space program as it developed under Presidents Nixon and Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the space shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project. 

This program is presented in partnership with the Smithsonian’sAir an... more »

2013-06-12 20:13:51 (30 comments, 18 reshares, 66 +1s)

+David Drummond being interviewed by Jackie Long on Britain's Channel 4 News. I particularly appreciate how clear he is that the fact that these revelations are forcing public debate is a good thing -- and that we strongly want more transparency and more ability to talk about this. 

David is pretty goddamned awesome.

2013-06-12 16:57:36 (33 comments, 5 reshares, 68 +1s)

Every day the Google+ Spam and Abuse team takes down thousands of spammy posts based on a variety of automated signals, but our Google+ community plays a key role in bringing abusive posts to our attention. 

Submitting a report has been burdensome: 5 clicks just to report spam. So starting today, we’ve simplified the reporting process and cut the number of clicks to 2.

Next time you spot a post that doesn’t belong on Google+, give the new reporting process a try: Hover over the top right of the post to reveal the options menu, click, and then choose “Report spam or abuse.”

We hope you’ll see it’s easier than ever to help make the Google+ community a safe place for all of us to enjoy.

Report Abuse: 5 clicks v/s 2 clicks

#googleplusupdate

2013-06-12 00:42:51 (23 comments, 30 reshares, 147 +1s)

's true. 's science.

2013-06-11 21:53:26 (16 comments, 39 reshares, 122 +1s)

This is simply BRILLIANT!
Have a great Star Wars Tuesday.
#starwarstuesday  

2013-06-11 20:44:38 (46 comments, 6 reshares, 75 +1s)

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange, better known as ASCII, was approved 50 years ago this month. What is it, and where did it come from? http://econ.st/192I6jN

2013-06-11 19:27:20 (46 comments, 11 reshares, 48 +1s)

Oh, wow --+J. Elliott-Smith just pointed me at a Coursera course on the US Constitution being offered this coming January by Akhil Reed Amar at Yale. If you are at all interested in the history of the United States, or how its notions of law and national identity have evolved, his books (especially America's Constitution: A Biography) are must-reads. I can't wait to see the lectures!

2013-06-11 18:41:44 (93 comments, 83 reshares, 260 +1s)

Our chief legal officer, +David Drummond, sent a letter to the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI today, asking the government to lift its restrictions on what we can say. As he says, we have nothing to hide -- and I personally welcome as much openness as possible.

Simultaneously, a bipartisan group of eight senators has proposed a bill to declassify FISA court rulings: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/11/4419006/senate-bill-would-declassify-fisc-orders-for-nsa-surveillance . 

I'm entirely in favor of all of this. The scandal in this case is not that the NSA may have broken the law -- it's that they very likely did not. It's that the law of the land has gradually mutated into something that allows us to be watched 24/7, at the whims of people unknown, subject to safeguards unknown, for reasons unknown -- but keeping a log, so that if anyone ever becomes suspiciouso... more »

2013-06-10 23:32:52 (22 comments, 7 reshares, 72 +1s)

The City Council just passed this! I had no idea it was under consideration.  Job Assistance makes it sound like an unemployment program, or a training program, etc.  What it actually does is make asking for criminal history illegal in Seattle until after a job offer is made, after which a criminal background check can be made.  At that point, the offer can be rescinded if the criminal history is pertinent to the job.

This passed unanimously, meaning it's very likely it'll actually become law.

2013-06-10 21:18:16 (18 comments, 2 reshares, 43 +1s)

Teach your maggots well
the syrphid hell
will slowly go by

And feed them on your aphids
The ones they picked, the ones you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

2013-06-09 20:15:15 (19 comments, 29 reshares, 95 +1s)

I'm sad to report today the death of Iain M. Banks, a truly brilliant writer of science fiction. I would say that he wrote about what a post-scarcity society would actually mean better than anyone else ever did; and his books are fascinating, engrossing reads. Here +Ian O'Neill writes an excellent essay about him; +Neil Gaiman has another eulogy on his blog at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/06/iain-banks-with-or-without-m.html. 

2013-06-09 20:02:56 (113 comments, 26 reshares, 99 +1s)

The NSA whistleblower has come forward: Edward Snowden, former technical assistant for CIA, and now a defense contractor working with the NSA. Detailed interview follows.

2013-06-09 19:51:12 (17 comments, 3 reshares, 37 +1s)

Fascinating article on the economics of ticket scalping...

It never occurred to me that "fan-considerate" artists who charge reasonable ticket prices to their concerts may be 1) deliberately optimizing their ultimate revenue (by allowing fans to use redirect cash to high margin merchandise), and 2) inadvertently creating a somewhat sketchy aftermarket (the story leads with a tale of a fan who lost $375 on counterfeit tickets.)  Ouch.

2013-06-08 19:32:44 (68 comments, 8 reshares, 84 +1s)

Dear Google users—

You may be aware of press reports alleging that Internet companies have joined a secret U.S. government program called PRISM to give the National Security Agency direct access to our servers. As Google’s CEO and Chief Legal Officer, we wanted you to have the facts.

First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.

Second, we provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law. Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process. Press reports that suggest that Google is providingopen-ended ac... more »

2013-06-08 19:56:24 (37 comments, 13 reshares, 50 +1s)

Some very interesting updates to the NSA PRISM story from yesterday. 

Recent reports in The Washington Post and The Guardian claimed a classified program called PRISM grants "intelligence services direct access to the companies' servers" and that "from inside a company's data stream the NSA is capable of pulling out anything it likes."

Those reports are incorrect and appear to be based on a misreading of a leaked Powerpoint document, according to a former government official who is intimately familiar with this process of data acquisition and spoke today on condition of anonymity.

"It's not as described in the histrionics in The Washington Post or The Guardian," the person said. "None of it's true. It's a very formalized legal process that companies are obliged to do."

That former official's account... more »

2013-06-08 00:03:43 (385 comments, 514 reshares, 792 +1s)

I have a tremendous number of thoughts about the various revelations about the NSA's domestic espionage programs revealed this week. But first and foremost, I wanted to share this message from +Larry Page and our Chief Legal Officer +David Drummond. Google had no involvement in the PRISM program and the first we heard of it was when Greenwald's article hit the press.

I'm not sure what the details of this PRISM program are, but I can tell you that the only way in which Google reveals information about users are when we receive lawful, specific orders about individuals -- things like search warrants. And we continue to stand firm against any attempts to do so broadly or without genuine, individualized suspicion, and publicize the results as much as possible in our Transparency Report. Having seen much of the internals of how we do this, I can tell you that it is a point of pride, both... more »

2013-06-07 19:47:44 (11 comments, 10 reshares, 59 +1s)

I wonder how rentals of The Lives of Others are going to do this weekend. If you haven't seen it, it's an excellent movie.

2013-06-07 19:09:38 (25 comments, 10 reshares, 90 +1s)

What Does Antarctica Look Like Under the Ice?

Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica is a continent, with mountains and plains and fjords. It's just covered under a massive amount of ice. But if that ice melted away, here's what you'd see...

http://www.universetoday.com/102754/what-does-antarctica-look-like-under-the-ice/

Story by +Jason Major 

2013-06-07 17:36:12 (13 comments, 16 reshares, 114 +1s)

F-15 View

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/13shto/view_from_the_cockpit_of_an_f15/

Nice

2013-06-07 17:22:49 (1 comments, 8 reshares, 32 +1s)

This is pretty awesome.  I'll have to keep this in mind next time I'm somewhere with fireflies.

2013-06-07 14:50:28 (19 comments, 8 reshares, 55 +1s)

Here's something worth supporting! 
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/15401

2013-06-06 20:05:04 (65 comments, 17 reshares, 57 +1s)

Texas says: murdering sex workers is just fine, so long as it's over a dispute about money and it happens at night. But don't worry: Ezekiel Gilbert feels really bad about shooting 23-year-old Lenora Frago in the neck, leaving her paralyzed until her death seven months later:

“I've been in a mental prison the past four years of my life. I have nightmares. If I see guns on TV where people are getting killed, I change the channel.”

The law appears to allow you to murder anyone who you believe has taken money from you, so long as it's done after dark. The prosecution's argument was that prostitution is illegal, and the law doesn't protect gains from criminal activity, so therefore he didn't have the right to murder her in particular, although murdering other people is generally fine. That's possibly the most bizarre argument I've seen in a court ina w... more »

2013-06-06 19:56:26 (20 comments, 28 reshares, 136 +1s)

Praise He!