Hpecker

In 1881, as the nation was mourning James Garfield’s assassination, the following advertisement appeared in 200 newspapers:

I have secured the authorized steel engravings of the late President Garfield, executed by the United States Government, approved by the President of the United States, by Congress and by every member of the President’s family as the most faithful of all portraits of the President. It was executed by the Government’s most expert steel engravers, and I will send a copy from the original plate, in full colors approved by the Government, postpaid, for one dollar each.

Each reader who sent in a dollar received the promised engraving — on a 5¢ postage stamp.

From Gábor J. Székely’s Paradoxes in Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics, via Mark Chang’s Paradoxology of Scientific Inference:

A, B, C, D, and E make up a five-member jury. They’ll decide the guilt of a prisoner by a simple majority vote. The probability that A gives the wrong verdict is 5%; for B, C, and D it’s 10%; for E it’s 20%. When the five jurors vote independently, the probability that they’ll bring in the wrong verdict is about 1%. But if E (whose judgment is poorest) abandons his autonomy and echoes the vote of A (whose judgment is best), the chance of an error rises to 1.5%.

Even more surprisingly, if B, C, D, and E all follow A, then the chance of a bad verdict rises to 5%, five times worse than if they vote independently, even though A is nominally the best leader. Chang writes, “This paradox implies it is better to have your own opinion even if it is not as good as the leader’s opinion, in general.”

anonymous asked: Yo if I had to have either a racist or a shark for a roommate I would rather have a shark. shout out to non-racist sharks!

wait how does the shark breathe

anonymous asked: I got an idea. White people can spend four-hundred years forcefully removed from their homes and placed under systemic oppression as the property of black people. They can spend the next century excluded and segregated from society, and forced to endure inferior educational and economic opportunities. They can be murdered with impunity, and subjected to wildly disproportionate imprisonment. But get this. At the end, they get to say the N-word. What do you think white people?

If we lived in a remotely just world, this would be the deal on the table.

Isn’t it crazy that most amusement park rides basically exist to challenge your sense of mortality? Being jolted, twisted, and thrown about on a rollercoaster probably doesn’t feel all that different than being on a jumbo jet that’s crashing into the Atlantic ocean. Maybe we should lose the pretense and all amusement park rides should all be based on various disaster scenarios. Not only would you get to have some safe fun, but you’d also walk away feeling more prepared for your inevitable doom at the hands of a crash/fire/volcano. The only rides that are based on disaster scenarios all seem to be based on fake disaster scenarios, such as the Jurassic Park ride. The solution here, of course, is to make these scenarios (and dinosaurs) REAL. This is common sense stuff, people!

Tony

digg:

Here are some gorgeously detailed maps of Westeros 

In 1853, lamenting the recent vogue for “illustrated newspapers,” American satirist John Phoenix (George Derby) offered an “an illustrated publication of unprecedented merit, containing engravings of exceeding costliness and rare beauty of design, got up on an expensive scale which never has been attempted before in this or any other country”:

via meghanwaslike

disalmanac:

Must-See TV: a handy chart.

15 things everyone would know if there were a liberal media

anonymous submitted this picture.

OH BOOM ANONYMOUS OH BOOM

kylethale:

Over/Underrated by Austin Kleon

You had me until cargo shorts.

“No One Will Take Your Cup” is both the title of this item and the problem with the entire concept. No one, in fact, will take your cup. You don’t need a security feature for a coffee cup. If someone takes your cup, and they’re drinking out of it, you can tell them to give your cup back. You don’t need to spend about ten times the normal price of a coffee mug to get a leaky mug to solve this imaginary problem.

Gotta Love That Short Attention Sp

anonymous asked: Yo, fuck this heteronormative earth.

This Heteronormative Earth is the lowest rated show on NPR.

One day I will definitely stop.

anonymous asked: GIVE ME YOUR HUNGRY, YOUR TIRED YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE P.S. SOMETIMES WE JUST SHOOT BLACK PEOPLE TO DEATH, SO LOOK OUT FOR THAT

Always got to read the fine print, even on the Statue Of Liberty.

sarahlcomics:

Fun conceptual assignment for a story about choosing paint colours. AD: Emma Tracey. Publication: The National

tastefullyoffensive:

Overused Movie Poster Cliches [via]

Previously: Movie Posters Recreated with Comic Sans and Clip Art

via mylivingfashion

anonymous asked: This blog has made me unnecessarily angry at people who spell dogg like dawg

The fuck you mean “unnecessarily?"

The tradition of flying a flag at half-staff began when a symbolic space was left at the top of the staff for the “invisible flag of death,” signifying death’s dominion over earthly affairs.

A riderless horse accompanies the funeral procession of U.S. military officers. The horse above, Black Jack, accompanied more than 1,000 such processions, including those for John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, and Douglas MacArthur.

When Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova died in 1931, her next show went on as scheduled, with a spotlight circling an empty stage.

anonymous asked: The Journal of Human Resources published a study linking Stand Your Ground laws to an increase in homicides. No Shit Studies: a growing academic field.

I had a concentration in OH WORD??? at the University Of Obvious Bullshit.

Correct!