firehose

Flyover, Typographic Heartland Map

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Jian Ghomeshi may just beginning his legal journey, but already his case has demanded a radical shift in the way we handle sexual assault.

St. Louis County has ordered the Oath Keepers, an armed volunteer group that has been patrolling Ferguson, to stand down.

Old people organization AARP has a print magazine and just released its special October/November Health Issue that boasts an article with comedian and alleged rapist Bill Cosby on the cover. But just like the universities that have begun cutting their association with Cosby, AARP appears be doing the same. Another version of the same cover makes no mention of him and the online issue has no trace of Cosby at all.

Hey, you know how every day a new study seems to pop up that analyzes social media data to form its conclusion? It turns out those little eggs of knowledge that the Twitter bird is laying might not be all they’re cracked up to be.

A study published in Science says that while scientists are so busy concerning themselves with what all the data culled from social media means, they tend to overlook the importance of understanding the nuances of the social media platforms themselves. It’s like how your parents’ social media use seems erratic and bizarre, and you can’t get them to understand what a hashtag is.

Or how your little sibling can’t seem to explain the point of HappyChatFuntime to you. Wait. You don’t even know what HappyChatFuntime is? God, you’re so old. Get with the times.

So the big fountain of social media knowledge might not be more accurate than anything else you read on the Internet. Luckily, the problem is just that the use of such data in scientific research is still in its infancy, so with some methodological adjustment, the data really can give important insights into human behavior.

PCMag says Derek Ruths and Jürgen Pfeffer, computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon and authors of the new study, outlined several avoidable pitfalls in social media research:

• Different social media platforms attract different users—Pinterest, for example, is dominated by females aged 25-34 —yet researchers rarely correct for the distorted picture these populations can produce.
• Publicly available data feeds used in social media research don’t always provide an accurate representation of the platform’s overall data—and researchers are generally in the dark about when and how social media providers filter their data streams.
• The design of social media platforms can dictate how users behave and, therefore, what behavior can be measured. For instance, on Facebook the absence of a “dislike” button makes negative responses to content harder to detect than positive “likes”.
• Large numbers of spammers and bots, which masquerade as normal users on social media, get mistakenly incorporated into many measurements and predictions of human behavior.
• Researchers often report results for groups of easy-to-classify users, topics, and events, making new methods seem more accurate than they actually are. For instance, efforts to infer political orientation of Twitter users achieve barely 65 percent accuracy for typical users—even though studies (focusing on politically active users) have claimed 90 percent accuracy.

So go forth, researchers of the future, and make sense of this “big data” mess. You are now armed with the knowledge that it’s not how big your big data is. It’s how you use it that matters.

(via PCMag, image via hackNY.org)

Previously in probably flawed social media research

• Social media is making us unhappy and distrustful
• Social media users are less likely to share their opinions. Wait. Whatnow?
• People are even faking their own social media data in an effort to seem more real

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NEW PRODUCT – Werkstatt-Ø1 Kit from Moog

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The Werkstatt-Ø1: Kit from Moog is a patchable and compact, one oscillator analog synthesizer. It was originally created as a kit, to be the foundation for exclusive “Engineering VIP” workshops at Moogfest 2014. Due to a number of requests, Moog is now offering this no-soldering-required version and assembly is extremely simple! Werkstatt was created to be an educational tool, but it is also a formidable, compact analog synthesizer from Moog. A lifetime of experimentation, knob twisting, and sound design awaits.

In stock and shipping now!

Lemeowski writes in with this interview of FCC CIO David Bray. "When David Bray took over as CIO of the FCC last year, he found the agency saddled with 207 legacy systems, which is about one system for every eight employees in the 1,750-person agency. Bray, who is one of the youngest CIOs across the federal government, shares his plan for updating those systems to a cloud-based, common data platform, that's "ideally open source." In this interview, Bray shares the challenges the FCC faces as it upgrades its systems, including keeping up morale and finding a way to fit longtime employees into his modernization strategy."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Jason Hibbets writes An open source craft brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota is taking open source beyond sharing recipes. The goal for Tin Whiskers Brewing Company is to "engage and give back to the community by sharing an inside look at opening and operating a craft brewery." In this interview with co-founder George Kellerman, we learn a little more about why the trio of hobbyists who started the brewing company took the path to becoming professional brewers and why they decided to be more open. "The brewery community was extremely helpful and open, so being open ourselves seemed like a great way to honor that," Kellerman said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Janay Rice broke her months-long silence over the Thanksgiving holiday. In an interview with ESPN's Jemele Hill that was done back in November but published over the weekend, Rice addressed the assault she survived by her husband, former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, and video of the incident that went viral and sparked a national discussion about domestic violence. 

Looking out over the media, I became angry, seeing all the people who had been covering this and adding to the story. I wanted to tell everyone what was really on my mind. When it was my turn to speak, I said I regretted my role in the incident. I know some people disagreed with me publicly apologizing. I'm not saying that what Ray did wasn't wrong. He and I both know it was wrong. It's been made clear to him that it was wrong. But at the same time, who am I to put my hands on somebody? I had already apologized to Ray, and I felt that I should take responsibility for what I did. Even though this followed the Ravens' suggested script, I owned my words.

Later, she describes the fallout from her husband's dismissal from the Ravens and indefinite suspension from the league (a decision that was recently overturned on appeal):

I'm a strong woman and I come from a strong family. Never in my life have I seen abuse, nor have I seen any woman in my family physically abused. I have always been taught to respect myself and to never allow myself to be disrespected, especially by a man. Growing up, my father used to always tell my sister and I, "We don't need a man to make us, if anything it's the man who needs us.

[snip]

I've learned a lot about myself. I've realized how strong I am. People ask me how I've gotten through this and I honestly cannot put it into words. I have grown closer to God. My faith has gotten me through each day. It's been hard accepting the fact that God chose us for this, but at the same time it's put us in the position to help others. We know our incident led to very important discussions to hashtags of "why I stayed" and "why I left." If it took our situation becoming headline news to show domestic violence is happening in this country, that's a positive.

Read Rice's full story at ESPN, or watch a portion below.

There have been many responses to writer Daniel Handler's racist joke about watermelon at this year's National Book Awards ceremony. Handler, who was emceeing the event, leveled the joke at Jacqueline Woodson, who'd ironically just won the night's honor for young adult literature for her memoir "Brown Girl Dreaming." "I told Jackie she was going to win," Handler said. "And I said that if she won, I would tell all of you something I learned about her this summer -- which is that Jackie Woodson is allergic to watermelon. Just let that sink in your mind."

Though Handler issued an apology on Twitter, the reaction was swift and severe. Nikky Finney, who won the award for poetry in 2011 and added a blistering acceptance speech, wrote on her personal website that Handler's remarks were just one example of the casual racism that's endemic in the literary world.

The words Handler spoke were spit and spoken into my face just as they have been spit and spoken into my Black face for most of my life. The truth is: his words were spit and spoken into all of our faces. His racist 'unfortunate' words are part of what keeps us where and what we are as a country that refuses to deal with 'race.'

Now, Woodson herself has responded to Handler's racism with a moving essay in the New York Times. In it, she talks about how so-called humor is often used to minimize the resilience of black folks.

In a few short words, the audience and I were asked to take a step back from everything I've ever written, a step back from the power and meaning of the National Book Award, lest we forget, lest I forget, where I came from. By making light of that deep and troubled history, he showed that he believed we were at a point where we could laugh about it all. His historical context, unlike my own, came from a place of ignorance.

"Brown Girl Dreaming" is the story of my family, moving from slavery through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, and ends with me as a child of the '70s. It is steeped in the history of not only my family but of America. As African-Americans, we were given this history daily as weapons against our stories' being erased in the world or, even worse, delivered to us offhandedly in the form of humor.

Read more at the New York Times. 

A Bald Eagle flying upside-down

photographed by Pam Mullins.

bearpigman:

"They should be fired and fined for their misconduct while in uniform" I WILL LET THE IRONY SINK IN

 

[Image: The International Space Station at night, photographed by astronaut Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

The European Space Agency recently released a group of photos taken by astronaut Alexander Gerst showing the International Space Station at night. The only real contextual information provided is that "the six astronauts on the weightless research centre live by GMT, and generally sleep at the same time."

[Image: Photo by Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

Gerst—so close to Geist!—thus took advantage of the downtime to produce some images that make the ISS look uninhabited, a dead mansion rolling through space.

[Image: Photo by Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

This is perhaps what it would look like to arrive somewhere in the middle of night, hoping to say hello to your comrades, only to find that you've actually boarded the Mary Celeste.

[Image: Photo by Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

The dimly lit corridors of this house of sleeping astronauts take on the atmosphere of film noir, as if this is secretly a crime scene, still flickering with the last lights of its drained batteries, and these are the first photos to be taken upon arrival.

[Image: Photo by Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

Small details take on narrative suspense. Why was that cupboard door left open, its contents bare for all to see? And are those objects messily scattered about, as if a struggle has taken place, or is this just the normal state of things in zero-g?

Where is everyone? Imagine performing forensic crime-scene analysis in the absence of gravity, three-dimensionally reconstructing a moment of violence by tracking objects back along all of their possible trajectories; you would need holographic models of every legally admissible collision and variation.

[Images: Photos by astronaut Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

In any case, to browse more of astronaut Gerst's collection, you can basically start at this image and click backward through the rest; one or two, unfortunately, feature other astronauts drifting around, perhaps staring down at the earth through the red eyes of insomnia, which ruins the illusion of this being a ruin, but the photos are still worth a glimpse.

[Image: Photo by Alexander Gerst, courtesy of the ESA].

Finally, proving that international scientific organizations have an active sense of humor, the photos were actually released on Halloween.

Between 10 p.m. Sunday and 8:15 a.m. Monday, 40 people were hospitalized, bringing the total to 518 of people sent to accident and emergency wards since the protests began in late September, reported the South China Morning Post newspaper.

In November 2013, an anime film based on the folktale was released in Japan by Studio Ghibli under the title of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.[citation needed] On April 26, 2014, Hobby Japan released a book in their Queen's Blade series based off the character of Princess Kaguya. In the book, Kaguya is armed with an energy sword, and special jet-powered armored gloves and boots, which are reminiscent of the Marvel Comics character Iron Man.[citation needed]

zohbugg:

i can’t be the only person who thinks that that lightsaber in the new star wars trailer looks like the stupidest fucking thing right?

like how fucking impractical is that fucking thing?? how you gonna fight without cuttin’ your own damn arm off i mean come on

An organization representing St. Louis police officers is taking issue with a group of Rams players who made the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture prior to Sunday's game.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association is calling for a group of players from the St. Louis Rams to face disciplinary action for making the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture, a sign of support for the Ferguson community, during player introductions prior to Sunday's game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. The group issued a statement Sunday evening that also demanded an apology from the NFL.

"I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights," Jeff Roorda, the group's business manager, said in a statement. "Well I've got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser's products. It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it's not the NFL and the Rams, then it'll be cops and their supporters."

Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook and Chris Givens walked onto the field with their hands in the air. It's become a familiar sight among demonstrators since the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer in August.

"Tasteless, offensive and inflammatory," is how the police group described it.

"The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization's displeasure tomorrow," the statement read.

After the game, the players explained that their motivations were benevolent, meant as a sign of support for the larger community and the need for healing.

"We just understand that it's a big tragedy and we hope something positive comes out of it," Bailey said.

"We kind of came collectively together and decided we wanted to do something," Cook told Nick Wagoner of ESPN. "So we wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world."

"We wanted to show that we are organized for a great cause and something positive comes out of it," Britt said to Wagoner after the game. "That's what we hope we can make happen. That's our community. We wanted to let the community know that we support the community."

Protesters massed outside the Dome on Sunday, but there were no reports of trouble with the crowds. Rams security and the local police were stationed in and around the building to prevent any serious disruption. The team thanked local police after the game.

Many thanks to @SLMPD @ChiefSLMPD and @MayorSlay and his office for all the hard work making sure today was a great environment for our fans

— Kevin Demoff (@kdemoff) December 1, 2014

The Rams, whose headquarters are roughly 15 minutes from Ferguson, have extended their support to the community in the months since Brown's death. Earlier this fall, they let the high school football team use their practice facilities while the schools were closed during the unrest. They showed public service announcements with a unity theme, more small gestures that the local police organization didn't take issue with.

The SLPOA includes quotes from the Roorda, the group's business manager, who led a fundraising effort on behalf of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown. A career law enforcement official, Roorda was fired from the Arnold, Mo., police department in 2001 for filing false reports and making unauthorized recordings of conversations with his superiors.

Here's the full statement from the SLPOA via KSDK:

St. Louis, Missouri (November 30, 2014) - The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.

Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the "hands-up-don't-shoot" pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown. The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.

SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda said, "now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson's account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eye-witness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again."

Roorda was incensed that the Rams and the NFL would tolerate such behavior and called it remarkably hypocritical. "All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson. Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving cancelled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance," Roorda said.

The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization's displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be. Roorda warned, "I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I've got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser's products. It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it's not the NFL and the Rams, then it'll be cops and their supporters."

St. Louis driver beaten to death by hammers in attack on his car by juveniles cleveland.com ST. LOUIS -- Police in St. Louis say they've arrested two juveniles and are seeking two other suspects after a man was beaten to death with hammers. stlouispolice.png St. Louis Police. Zemir Begic, 32, was in his car about 1:15 a.m. Sunday when several ... and more »

Girls Scouts byting into digital for cookie sales MiamiHerald.com Watch out world, the Girl Scouts are going digital to sell you cookies. For the first time in nearly 100 years, Girl Scouts of the USA will allow its young go-getters to push their wares using a mobile app or personalized websites. But only if their scout councils and ... and more »

From the Vine video promo from the upcoming HBO miniseries remake of Westworld.

Code is from serial port testing software for cellbot, a tool for controlling robots via a cellphone.

https://code.google.com/p/cellbots/source/browse/trunk/python/android/serial_read/testportread.py?r=14