ereed

Andrew Rasiej sez, "If you're disappointed in the speed, quality, and cost of broadband service in the US you should learn about Susan Crawford who is the greatest US expert on the state of broadband and how the Federal Communications Commission has failed to properly regulate and spur competition or innovation in the marketplace. She has just published an OpEd in the New York Times which could easily be titled 'If I were Chairwoman of the FCC' and she published a book called Captive Audience which details the way various incumbent broadband related companies have gamed the political process and behaved unfairly in protecting their turf. Those who would like to see her actually named should sign this White House petition and send the same to their friends and colleagues. She is like the Elizabeth Warren of telecom and would fundamentally change the status quo."

To get there, the federal government needs to pursue three goals. First, it must remove barriers to investment in local fiber networks. Republican and Democratic mayors around the country are rightly jealous of the new, Google-built fiber network in Kansas City, Mo., which is luring start-ups from across the country. And yet in nearly 20 states, laws sponsored by incumbent network operators have raised barriers for cities wanting to foster competitive networks.

In response, Congress must act to restore local communities’ right to self-determination by pre-empting these unfair and anticompetitive state laws. We must also create infrastructure banks that provide long-term, low-interest financing to support the initial costs of building these networks.

Second, the F.C.C. must make reasonably priced high-speed access available to everyone. In the 20th century, we made a commitment to provide universal telephone service to every American and to subsidize that utility service for our poor and rural neighbors. High-speed Internet access is now undisputedly the dominant communications technology of our era. We need to make sure that subsidies are available for competitive companies willing to extend world-class service to more Americans.

The F.C.C.’s Connect America Fund, which is supposed to promote such expansion, is mostly funneled back through existing communications companies. This isn’t the way to encourage new wired network providers to enter local markets. Nor will voluntary programs run by local monopoly cable distributors like Comcast meet our country’s needs.

Finally, the F.C.C. must foster more competition by changing the rules that keep the status quo in place. There is a raft of regulations and processes at the F.C.C. that incumbents wield to maintain their market power, including rules about access to programming and to telephone poles that favor existing providers. The agency has ample administrative power to fix these details and to gather the information it needs to develop and enforce effective policies.

How to Get America Online

Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age

(Thanks, Andrew!)

Photo by Joshua Hirst.

Here's a great self-working card trick to teach your kids. If they are old enough to spell, they will love performing it for their friends. I learned about the trick, which was invented by magician Jim Steinmeyer, on Greg Ross's Futility Closet blog.

Remove any nine cards from an ordinary deck, shuffle them, and deal them face down into three piles. Choose any pile and note its bottom card. Then assemble the three piles into one, being sure to place the chosen pile on top.

Suppose the card you chose is the three of spades. Spell T-H-R-E-E, dealing one card face down onto the table with each letter. Place the remaining cards on top of these five and take up the whole packet. Now spell O-F, and again place the remaining cards on top of these two. Then spell S-P-A-D-E-S and place the remaining cards on top.

Now pick up the packet and spell M-A-G-I-C, dealing the final card face up. It’s the three of spades.

It boggles my mind that Mr. Steinmeyer could invent such a trick!

Unexplained Things Are Out There shares the story of a purportedly 300 Million year old bit of something found in some Russian coal.

The metal detail was supposedly 300 million years old and yet the scientists suggest that it was not created by nature but was rather manufactured by someone. The question of who might have made an aluminum gear in the dawn of time remains unanswered.

(Thanks, Rick Overton!)

The absolute best part about this video: As far as I can tell, all of the facts in it are, in fact, true.

The seahorse: Naturally hilarious.

Tim Doucette: "Our 6 month old lab mix rescue pup taught our 8 week old foster pup from Manitoba Mutts Dog Rescue in Winnipeg to go down the stairs once she got up and couldn't get down!"

(via David Daniel)

* Yes, it's so cute I forgive the shooter for holding their smartphone vertically while shooting video.

The only alphabet guaranteed to make you want to wash your hands. Made by one, Jennifer Gardy.

In related news, this video taught me that the parasite giardia is sometimes called "beaver fever". Why? Because one of its major reservoirs — species that can comfortably host a parasite and pass it on to others — is, yes, the beaver.

Now here's the part you probably don't want to hear. Giardia is transmitted via what's known as the "fecal-oral route".

Now, nobody intentionally goes out and eats beaver shit. (One hopes. But this is the internet.) But beavers do shit in the woods. Near woodland streams. Which means that unwary hikers and backpackers can end up ingesting giardia when they drink from what appears to be crystal-clear waters.

Via the Worms and Germs blog

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: eggs , nicolas cage , cage-free eggs , failbook , g rated Share on Facebook

“A playful brain is a more adaptive brain,” writes ethologist Sergio Pellis in The Playful Brain: Venturing to the Limits of Neuroscience. In his studies, he found that play-deprived rats fared worse in stressful situations.

In our own world filled with challenges ranging from cyber-warfare to infrastructure failure, could self-directed play be the best way to prepare ourselves to face them?

In self-directed play, one structures and drives one’s own play. Self-directed play is experiential, voluntary, and guided by one’s curiosity. This is different from play that is guided by an adult or otherwise externally directed.

A MacArthur Fellow told me that, when he was a teenager, his single mother would drop him off at an industrial supply store on Saturdays while she ran errands. Using library books as his primary resource, he built a linear accelerator in the garage. It wasn’t until neighbors complained about scrambled television and radio signals in the hours just after school and after dinner that his “playful” invention was discovered.

Photo: Linda Stone. "This is the "office" of a 14 year old I know."

Play researchers’ findings indicate that self-directed play, for both children and adults, nourishes the human spirit and helps develop resilience, independence, and resourcefulness. Yet, our desire to be efficient and productive, and our tendency to over-schedule and over-program, has crowded out opportunities for self-directed play in our education system and in our lives at home.

According to Pellis, self-directed play supports us in better handling the complex and the unpredictable, both in social and in non-social situations.

Play scholar, Brian Sutton-Smith, wrote “The opposite of play is not work. The opposite of play is depression.” NIMH reports that one in ten adults are depressed, up over 400% in the last two decades, with far more suffering from anxiety and other mood-related disorders. When psychiatrist Stuart Brown conducted play histories of over 6,000 people from a variety of backgrounds, he noticed that childhood play histories often have a strong relationship to what people do in their adult lives.

A technology consultant I interviewed told me about his passion for stamp and coin collecting. When I probed about his interest in stamps and coins, he said he was fascinated that countries that spoke different languages and had different currencies had found ways to cooperate on services like mail delivery, and had figured out currency exchanges. As an adult, one of his areas of expertise is global internet policy.

One of Brown’s studies covered the life and death of Charles Whitman, a college campus mass murderer, who, in 1966, on the University of Texas campus, killed 15 people and wounded another 31, after killing his wife and mother the previous evening.

Extensive interviews with those who knew Whitmore, revealed that a “lifelong lack of play” had been an important factor in his psychopathology. Whitmore was always pressured by his parents to “do something useful” -- the antithesis of self-directed play.

In the course of his research and through extensive interviewing, Brown found that many violent criminals shared this same lack of childhood play.

Play can be risky. During self-directed play, our imagination and curiosity guides us as we venture into the areas where we can fail and iterate. Consequently, we play when we feel safe and secure, and self-directed play tends to reinforce a feeling of safety and security.

Researcher Jaak Panksepp, suggests that depriving young animals of play can delay and disrupt brain maturation. Panksepp’s research found evidence that play increased gene expression of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein involved with brain maturation.

On the flip side, a life rich with self-directed play can nourish genius. I had an opportunity to interview a handful of Nobel Laureates on their childhood play patterns, every one of them reported many memorable hours of self-directed play. Many of these Nobel Laureates went on to say, “This is actually what I do in my lab today.”

I worry that our education system focuses on measures related to rote learning versus the type of student engagement enabled by self-directed play. I worry that in our desire to develop our potential through densely packed schedules and programmed activities, we are actually stifling our potential and suffocating imagination and curiosity.

Stuart Brown, author of The Neuroscience of Play, advocates, “Play is…more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults – and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.” It is through self-directed play that we discover who we are. Coaches and experts often admonish us,  "Find your passion!" Then they offer questionnaires and processes.  The truth is, the very best way to find our passions is to give ourselves the gift of time for self-directed play.

[Brain maze illustration: Shutterstock.com]

Inception is a tool for breaking into computers with full-disk encryption. It assumes that you have access to a suspended/screen-locked computer whose disk is encrypted. You access the machine over its FireWire interface (or, if it doesn't have FireWire, you plug a FireWire card into one of its slots, and the machine will automatically fetch, install and configure the drivers, even if it's asleep), and then use the FireWire drivers to directly access system memory, and from there, patch the password-checking routine and walk straight into the computer.

This (and its predecessors, like winlockpwn) is a substantial advance on previous attacks against sleeping full-disk encrypted systems, which involved things like plunging the RAM into a bath of liquid nitrogen. As the author, Carsten Maartmann-Moe, points out, this can't be easily remedied with a FireWire driver update, since FireWire requires direct memory access to effect high-speed transfers.

So, two things: First, shut down your computer when it's not in your possession; second, "Inception" is an inspired name for an attack that breaks into the dreams of a sleeping computer, directly accesses its memory, and causes it to spill its secrets.

Inception’s main mode works as follows: By presenting a Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP-2) unit directory to the victim machine over the IEEE1394 FireWire interface, the victim operating system thinks that a SBP-2 device has connected to the FireWire port. Since SBP-2 devices utilize Direct Memory Access (DMA) for fast, large bulk data transfers (e.g., FireWire hard drives and digital camcorders), the victim lowers its shields and enables DMA for the device. The tool now has full read/write access to the lower 4GB of RAM on the victim. Once DMA is granted, the tool proceeds to search through available memory pages for signatures at certain offsets in the operating system’s password authentication modules. Once found, the tool short circuits the code that is triggered if an incorrect password is entered.

An analogy for this operation is planting an idea into the memory of the machine; the idea that every password is correct. In other words, the nerdy equivalent of a memory inception.

After running the tool you should be able to log into the victim machine using any password.

Inception (via JWZ)

Sean, who is a fan of magic, sleight of hand, and alchemy, "magically" proposed to his girlfriend Andrea in this video.

"If you're wondering where she is, well...she's the one filming it, totally unaware of what is about to happen," Sean says. What a sweet video.

(thanks, Joe Sabia!)

Who doesn't love a flaming unicorn? Unizilla is one of my favorite shirts.

It seems The Samba forum member Sir Sam knows how to order from Van Cafe, a well known VW bus parts shop. As an additional shipping instruction he wrote:

Please draw a unicorn on the side of the shipping box, thanks! (Unicorns love cookies, FYI)

I am not sure if he got extra cookies (Van Cafe ships parts with a bag of Famous Amos cookies,) but what an awesome box.

Cabel visited an old, crumbling basement in Portland, OR, which was once the building in which The Orgeonian was printing and is now a major fiber-optic exchange. The basement is a beautiful mix of peeling pinups, faded WWII campaign maps, forgotten graffiti, and super-modern pipes filled with pulsing fiber, neatly pushed right through those old walls. And as Cabel points out, every time you load this webpage, the bits representing the photos of the basement course through those fibers, through the basement itself.

The Basement | cabel.me (via Making Light)

This is a thing. It claims to be bulletproof: "The backpack can be quickly brought to the front as a shield or can serve as center of mass protection while fleeing the scene of the shooting." Apparently officially licensed by Disney. $300. There you go.

Ballistic Backpack | Amendment II (via Super Punch)

Spider-Man tangles with President Obama. Daily Bugle photograph by Pete Souza. (via Time)

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: quicksand , failbook Share on Facebook

If you read The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder's novel about narrowly avoiding starving to death during a ferocious winter on the South Dakota prairie, then you'll remember how the trains stopped running because of the snowfall. In fact, that's a big part of why Laura and her family were so hungry — their harvest had been lean and the train carried the supplies they were dependent upon.

I'd never had a real clear idea of what "the train can't get through" really meant, not being totally clear on how to adjust snow-clearing expectations from today back to the 1880s. But, as it turns out, when the train company said they couldn't get the trains through, they were not messing around. The above image, from the Minnesota Historical Society, shows you the kind of snowfall we're talking about. That picture was taken in southern Minnesota, during the same winter — 1880-1881 — that nearly killed Laura Ingalls Wilder. Please note the dude standing on top of the train. He really gives you the overwhelming sense of scale.

Last year, Barbara Mayes-Boustead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, actually looked at the records we have for temperatures and snowfall from that winter, most of which come from military forts and major cities miles away from the small town of DeSmet, where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. Mayes-Boustead found that the story in the book matches up reasonably accurately with actual data.

She's got a series of short audio commentaries on the winter of 1880-1881 and how it plays out in the Little House books, including a really fascinating one about the climate patterns and probably created those many months of blizzards. By looking at weather patterns from the time and at the climate systems we associate with weather like that today, Mayes-Boustead says that we can probably blame the Long Winter on a combination of a strong negative North Atlantic Oscillation — a pattern in the jet stream that sucks icy air from the Arctic down into the Midwestern US — and an El Nino year — which tends to make that same region of the county wetter than usual.

Listen to all of Barbara Mayes-Boustead's recorded presentations

RULE #1 of attending a Florence + the Machine concert: NO FIGHTING ALLOWED ... 'cause lead singer Florence Welch will scold your ass in front of the entire audience ... with her adorable English accent.The footage was shot in Aberdeen, Scotland…

StickNFinds are Bluetooth location stickers the diameter of a quarter (but thicker than a quarter). You attach them to television remote controls, pets, children, or other things that you need to locate. The batteries last about a year. The StickNFind smart phone application helps you find your missing items and life forms. It is also advertised as a kind of early warning system: "stick the Stick-N-Find on your wife’s car. Once she pulls in the driveway, you get a notification, clean your mess, and go wash dishes before she comes in." That is some fast dishwashing.

The company that makes StickNFind is seeking $70,000 on Indiegogo. So far they've received close to $40,000 with 42 days left in the campaign.

StickNFind

While you still won't be able to buy that Slayer Christmas sweater you've been wanting ever since you knew it existed, there is another equally hardcore option if you're still in need of something ugly and holiday-themed: the Home Alone sweater. Complete with prancing reindeer on the wearer's biceps and a healthy portion of snowflakes, no one will dare mess with a person wearing an ugly Christmas sweater that says, "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal" on it. Especially if that person has been drinking all of the buttered rum. So, if you find yourself wearing this masterpiece of a garment at a gathering and someone tells you, "You know, that quote isn't technically from Home Alone -- it's from Angels With Filthy Souls," feel free to go Black Bart on them and treat them to a holiday mashup.

I'm kidding. Please do not start a fight in this sweater. Wear it in good health, and in the name of peace on Earth, good will towards men. It's available on the appropriately-named site, UglyChristmasSweater.com for $49.99. God bless us, everyone! (via I Heart Chaos)

(Video link) Do many people tell you your child is "interesting"? Or "precocious"? Or "downright terrifying"? If you have a special child with a very specific talent for scaring the living bejesus out of people, then here is the fictional casting agency for you (by Barely Political)! (via JoBlo)

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: Mitt Romney , denis leary , poetic justice , karma Share on Facebook

R. Stevens of Diesel Sweeties sent me one of these coffee mugs. When I finally stopped laughing, like 6 hours later, I poured some coffee into it and it was officially christened as my favorite coffee mug ever of my entire life. Tons more wonderful stuff, perfect for holiday gift giving, in the Diesel Sweeties online store. [instagram link]

(YouTube)

We’re used to dealing with companies that seem to take joy in foiling their customers, so when a company comes through, really performs above and beyond, we jump at the chance to warm a few hearts. Like say when an 11-year-old boy saves up his money for two years to buy a LEGO train set only to find out it isn’t being made anymore and is now a collectible, completely out of his price range. You better believe this one has a happy ending.

In a letter posted as part of a video on YouTube (via Buzzfeed) A Massachusetts boy with writes Asperger’s syndrome had his eye on a $100 set called the Emerald Night Train, and started saving for it more than two years ago. He used LEGOs as part of a playgroup that helps him with his social skills and had fallen in love with the toys.

But then recently, the bottom dropped out of his plan — the set was no longer available and prices for it skyrocketed out of his range. Bidding on Amazon and eBay proved too expensive.

He writes:

“For two years I kept all the money I got for birthday and holiday gifts, some of my allowance and some money I got for participating in a research project. At last, a couple of months ago I had my $100 and was ready to buy the LEGO set of my dreams. My mom started looking for it online and could not find any. We checked the LEGO store in our area and they didn’t have it either.

I was completely crushed. You’ve stopped making it! I got another LEGO set, thinking I could forget about the Emerald Night, but every time I see it anywhere online I get very sad and disappointed. I still want the Emerald Night so badly, but there are none to be found. Do you have any at your corporate headquarters? Perhaps I could get one that way? If you have any other ideas, I would be happy to hear them. I have never wanted a LEGO set so badly ever in my life.”
Lego wrote back, apologizing that the Emerald Night Train had been discontinued but confirming that it was no longer available. It seemed unlikely that James would ever get the toy he had been saving towards for two years.

LEGO wrote back saying the set had been discontinued, but didn’t say much else. Until two days before his birthday, when a box arrived from the company holding the coveted set, along with a note.

‘The Emerald Night Train is a wonderful set, so we can understand why it is your dream to own it. I commend your willpower and patience to save money for over two years just to purchase this. We have located an Emerald Night Train for you, James, and included it in this package! I am sure you will enjoy building it and cherish your time playing with the train. Fans like you are why we are so lucky as a company. Who knows, maybe you will be working for The LEGO Group one day! You certainly have the heart and passion for our bricks to do so! Happy building, James!”

It’s not often that we’re reminded of companies that really do seem to have their customers’ best interest at heart, and for that, we tip our hats, LEGO. Making dreams come true is a pretty good way to treat your customers.

Why LEGO is the Best Company in the World [YouTube]

Gareth Cook tells the story of Thorkil Sonne, founder of a Danish social enterprise called Specialisterne ("the specialists"), which helps place people with autism in jobs that demand a degree of focus and detail-orientation that's impossible to find among the neurotypical. Specialisterne began because Sonne's son, Lars, has autism, and Sonne saw that he was eminently suited to many tasks, and that performing them made him happy and did useful work, too. Now Specialisterne is a web of social enterprises that does everything from training to placement, and Sonne is pondering a move to the USA.

To his father, Lars seemed less defined by deficits than by his unusual skills. And those skills, like intense focus and careful execution, were exactly the ones that Sonne, who was the technical director at a spinoff of TDC, Denmark’s largest telecommunications company, often looked for in his own employees. Sonne did not consider himself an entrepreneurial type, but watching Lars — and hearing similar stories from parents he met volunteering with an autism organization — he slowly conceived a business plan: many companies struggle to find workers who can perform specific, often tedious tasks, like data entry or software testing; some autistic people would be exceptionally good at those tasks. So in 2003, Sonne quit his job, mortgaged the family’s home, took a two-day accounting course and started a company called Specialisterne, Danish for “the specialists,” on the theory that, given the right environment, an autistic adult could not just hold down a job but also be the best person for it.

The Autism Advantage [NYT] (via Kottke)