DjangoReinhardt

Not sure if this is the one you are talking about, but a cursory image search on Google led me to this image in a Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbee2828/92718344/

I don't see the '@' anywhere which leads me to believe this may be a fake/photoshop. Still, quite interesting... :)

You won the first bet. Why not quit while you are ahead? ;)

Also, if you are betting with yourself, doesn't it mean that you lose when you win?

Security risk.

Somewhat similar to the reason you don't keep all your money in one financial institution. Imagine what would happen if you served/consumed everything with credentials from only one SSO provider and that SSO provider got breached. If your profile were to be attached along with your SSO, your entire identity then becomes at risk.

While I do not like remembering thousands of usernames and passwords, I swallow it as the bitter pill that comes with the necessity of keeping my eggs in different baskets.

There's a somewhat similar app I used to use called OpenSignalMaps [1] - except it would tell you the signal strength of your own network in your area.

I always wondered why OSigM weren't using the data available to them to construct a competition-analysis/referral app. Looks like these guys beat them to it.

Waiting for the app to become available in my country...

[1] http://opensignal.com/

I hope people don't go touting this as a wonder drug immediately. Please also read the "Adverse Effects"[1] section on the Wikipedia page for Valproic acid.

Someone very dear to me was administered Valproate for her epilepsy as a kid and the full extent of its adverse effects have been in full force for a while now. She's a fighter, thankfully and has been taking it like a champ.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valproic_acid#Adverse_effects

Yup. That's the response, I usually get.

This is where I would normally lay out the gist of my problem, e.g. "If you aren't too busy, I need help with zipping files on the client side, is there a JS library (or anything) that will allow me to do that? I need it by <insert urgency of request here>"

I make two implicit assumptions here: One, (and this is highly subjective but it seems to apply to my personal network) if you are very busy/'in the zone', you won't respond to my first ping. If you do respond to my first ping, you might not yet be 'in the zone' and I'm not (yet) wasting valuable productivity time. Furthermore, I immediately lay out the gist of the conversation but there is no obligation on you to answer. Win-win, even if I say so myself?

Of course, although this holds true about me and my personal network, it may not apply anywhere else. :)

I see what you mean, but, personally, I'd much rather have the recipient ignore me than get yanked out of 'the zone' with my query that may or may not be up their alley. It is not so much pleasantries as a super-short 'SYN-ACK' and then straight to the point.

Also, as I was mentioning in another comment, people on my realtime communication media contact list are quite close - the kind who would definitely respond to a SYN-req with stoic silence. I guess, it is a communication quirk that has evolved around my network and may not be true about the rest of the world. Apologies if I made it sound like that.

As I said in another comment, to each their own. Shall we agree to differ on this one? :)

The contacts on my realtime communication media are all close people - the kind that won't hesitate to ignore my interruption if they are really truly busy. Also, I use the Hindi word "Sunn..." which means the same as (but is not as intrusive-sounding as) "Listen" but it doesn't translate very well in English.

For me, email is more of a documenting system rather than conversation. Also, in my mind, I still consider email to be a medium for formal exchange inspite of the fact that smartphones have made them almost instantaneous, as you very well put it.

Still, to each their own, I guess. Thanks for the insight! :)

Thanks. I realized a few years ago that that was the question I would have asked myself, if I were to interrupt myself when I was in the middle of doing something important. It has served me well ever since... :)

I loved Aardvark. :(

Best of all, it had a really good matching algorithm and would almost always get me a good 'connection'. The moment Google bought Aardvark, I knew that that was its death-knell.

As for your food questions, a few friends and I have been working on an app called "DishoomIt!"[0] but it is currently only available for Pune, India. Plans are underway for adding more cities, menus and ratings.

You have an interesting idea about geo-located question/answers. I have been thinking/working on an app along similar lines. However, my biggest obstacle is the fear that users might perceive the app's location requests to be potentially privacy-infringing - especially, given the recent uproar over 'spying' and what not. :(

Jelly's emphasis on pictures probably stems from the recent success of Instagram and Snapchat. Not sure if it was a right move but it might at least get them the initial traction and maybe that's what they are/were hoping for?

[0] http://dishoomit.com/

All my realtime 'pings' (phone/text/im) inevitably start with some form of the question: "Hi, how busy are you?" IMHO, this is a sneaky way to get the person to be honest about their immediate availability. By acknowledging straightaway that they might be busy, I give them a polite 'out', of sorts.

If I urgently need something done, my openings are usually of the form, "Listen, I have a(n urgent) favor to ask. How busy are you?" Almost always works for me regardless of the communication medium used.

Email, by its very nature, is supposed to be asynchronous. I wouldn't rely on email to convey anything more than delayed request/response conversation.

The second paper in the post should never have made it past any peer-reviewer had they bothered to read the first two paragraphs.

It all stems from the (supposedly optional) requirement that a Masters' level student get a paper published. Sure, it is somewhat justified - seeing as how they are partially research students themselves - but the absence of a honest and thorough peer-review kinda puts paid to the justification. As a result, most students end up opting for these pay-to-publish scams (sometimes even knowingly) and they continue to thrive.

The aim of the whole exercise was to expose these conferences for what they really are - money-making scams that prey upon the students' desperation. What hurts is the fact that the students (probably) knew about it but they were so desperate to get a publication, they couldn't care less. Such is the state of the education system in India. :(

The second paper references the Sokal Affair, as a matter of fact - the authors of the paper are from the (obviously fake) "Sokal Institute of Technology, Pune". :)

In fact, it references verbatim dialogues from "My Cousin Vinny", "Sholay" (a superhit Bollywood film), the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the author's wife and her movie-review website and whole lot of other nonsense. :(

Hmm, I'm kinda conflicted about this.

On the one hand, it is a hop, skip and a jump away to "watch relevant ads for 'real' money" type of campaigns - and it won't be long before a click-fraud equivalent for video ads crops up and kills off this particular concept too - just like many others before its time.

On the other hand, the advertising/marketing industry is in desperate need of a new idea. Or two. Or three. Text ads, link ads, banner ads, flash ads, video ads, audio ads - heck, all possible permutations and combinations of the senses have been explored and exhausted.

I am not saying this is a new idea (or a good one even) but if this gains traction and goes the way I described two paragraphs ago, then maybe, just maybe, the advertising and marketing industry can finally understand that advertising is becoming more detrimental than useful to product sales.

Don't ask me if I have a better idea - I'm still trying to work out what I, as a consumer, wouldn't mind watching/clicking/exploring. All I know is that for me to remember/buy/consume your product, you better have a strong use case for me and me ONLY. That's the best I have to offer.

Sorry, I realize that wasn't particularly helpful but I've been thinking off and on about advertising and marketing and just wanted to (sort of) vent, I guess. :(

I am lazy when it comes to reading feeds. Even with GReader, my inbox used to pile up like crazy. So, I wrote @updt_me[0] get feed updates delivered via DM to my twitter inbox.

These days, I usually read the feed updates as soon as they come in. Since I only get links in the DM, I also end up giving the authors the (mobile) page-views they deserve for their hard work. Win-win. :)

[0]: http://twitter.com/updt_me

Question for current ST3 users: how stable is this ST3 beta as compared to ST2? I tried an early beta and it crashed horribly in the middle of a code-marathon, lost me a few crucial bits of code. Switched back immediately to ST2.

Is it safe to install this ST3 beta now?

PS: I'm referring to the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit version, if that matters at all...

IMHO, the Pirate Bay has already served the primary purpose for which it was created - spreading the word.

Whether or not TPB continues to exist in the future, whether it is forced to recede into the deep web with a .onion address, it has already ensured that searches with a ".torrent" clause added, will yield results. Piracy and torrenting sites have now accrued a hydra-esque proportion - if you stifle one, two more will almost certainly appear to take its place.

Personally, I'd like to see other piracy sites step up and create some more of these 'moles' for the whack-a-mole game that is being played with their domains - for fun and science, if not for anything else.

Rather than try and play whack-a-mole to plug what are essentially inconsequential leaks, why not try and give the market what it wants? IMHO, the market wants content, the market wants it at a reasonable price and the market wants it now. Why not find a way to deliver it to them? I get the feeling that the millions being spent in frivolous cease-and-desist letters and inconsquential lawsuits will help accelerate finding a solution that can make both parties happy?

This seems to be the best explanation so far.

Having said that, I am still wondering why I had no location history even if the enable radio button was selected. Still, no harm no foul, I guess?

Another thing worth noting is that the dropdown shows only the last 30 days of your location history - does that mean Google shows only the last 30 days or that we get to see only the last 30 days?

Hmm, I got the same message on the dashboard but I can swear that the Enabled radio button was selected when I visited the settings.

No harm, no foul, I guess?

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/settings - Enable/Disable your Location history.

I had no location history when I visited this page, since I usually do not grant location access to most apps, unless absolutely necessary. However, when I visited the settings page, the location history was shown as enabled.

My only guess is that viewing your Location history automatically sets it to enabled if it was previously disabled. Or, the default radio button selected on the page is the "Enabled" radio button. Either way, it is friggin' suspicious...

Hmm, apologies. I somehow forgot to scroll down and did not realize that there was (a lot) more below the scroll.

The dad seems calm and collected. The officer seems to be pissed at the fact that his authority is being questioned (superseded even?) by the dad. The entire six-ish minute exchange seems surreal and bizarre, to be honest.

Help me understand here, why would there be a rule prohibiting parents from walking their kids to/from school? No pavements? Very busy roads? Precedent of some sort?

I double-checked the URL to see if it was from the Onion and wasn't sure if I should be surprised or worried that it wasn't. I get the feeling that there's more to the story - probably the dad created a fuss, probably he was being a nuisance and had to be removed by security. Or something like that.

When the headlines in the mainstream media start to appear like they could be from the Onion, I know it is time to pack my bags and wait for reality to collapse on to itself.

Wait, USPS is a privately owned entity? If not, aren't products of government entities public by default? Therefore, any proprietary information is owned by the public, isn't it?

Or did I completely misunderstand the whole thing?

I know what I'm hunting for the next time I am at the bookstore! Not much of a graphic novel reader but this one certainly deserves a read... Thanks for the suggestions! :-)

1. sounds extremely interesting for a short-story. Maybe, 8vll try my hand at it one of these days...

2. sounds hilarious and difficult, especially given that I am not all that well-versed in Biblical mythology. Maybe with Indian mythology...

Haven't seen either of the films you mentioned, but they sound very intriguing. Will check them out one of these days, thanks! :-)

I just wrote that seed for the OP. My NaNoWriMo concept is a time-travel fantasy that I am struggling to flesh out.

Now that you mention it, I wonder if I should ditch my current concept altogether and try this one out instead. Very tempted... :D

Planet of the Apes?

I think there's a book by Ashwin Sanghi called the "Rozabal Line" that is on these same ideas. Read it a while back, so I'm not sure.

All I can remember is that it was a 3/5, would probably read again.

Fellow NaNoWrimo-er!

You should have started this exercise in October. Anyway, here's mine:

The current iteration of God and Satan (or whatever fictional supernatural character you choose) BOTH suddenly go AWOL and throw the entire system of heaven and hell into a quandary. Turns out they are both vacationing on Earth on some remote island, spending their days fishing and drinking beer.

Romantic twist: One is male, the other female and it turns out they have eloped and plan to spend the rest of their lives together.

Thriller twist: They get fascinated by the concept of zombies and start creating a zombie army to serve their needs. The existence of Earth is threatened.

Sci-Fi twist. Heaven and Hell are singularities at the two ends of the universe. Thanks to the disappearance of the two, the singularities are unstable and about to collapse into one unholy (pun unintended) mess.

S&S twist: God and Satan are names of Dragons who copulate and the eggs they lay create new universes. Them going AWOL is a traditional indicator of the end of one universe and the beginning of the next.

ASOIAF twist: Each religion gets to be God and Satan for a specific period of time. The current iterations (the ones that have gone AWOL) of God and Satan are killed and the blame is laid squarely on the representatives of one of the religions. Other contenders to the thrones of Heaven and Hell emerge.

Take your pick? :)

I'm still very much a newbie but your explanation has now left me in a better position than where I was when I first commented. :)

A few follow up questions:

1. They could have achieved the same using cookies too, right? How is it different from using cookies?

2. Is it better because quicker? Or is it better because local storage allows a site to store/retrieve more data from the user and thus reducing the need to get it all from the server?

3. What about CORS? How doe sthat factor in?

I honestly don't expect you to answer all these questions. you seem knowledgeable about the topic, so posted these questions here. I'd be very glad if you could simply redirect me to a relevant webpage.

Thank you for your time and efforts, I appreciate it very much!