Open Knowledge

29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates

Tue, 29 May 2012 10:35:27 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Base rate fallacy dooms TSA’s risk-based screening

Tue, 29 May 2012 07:52:30 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Base rate fallacy dooms TSA’s risk-based screening

“Risk-based screening, if it describes any partitioning of airline passengers at checkpoints, is a fraud. It doesn’t matter what the criteria are for putting passengers into low-risk and high-risk categories, because the concept is mathematically unsound.

The base rate fallacy is the failure to account for underlying incidence of the condition being tested for. Imagine this hypothetical (and completely fantastical) scenario: that the TSA employs a near-perfect test for risk-based screening, a test that always flags terrorists if they are present and only flags innocent people 1 time out of 10,000. (The TSA’s actual success rate at flagging known terrorists is zero.)

Under these conditions, only one out of every five million people flagged would be a terrorist. This is the base rate fallacy in operation. In other words, for all intents and purposes, every flagged person is a false positive.”

Is there anything more adorable than baby elephants?

Sat, 26 May 2012 06:27:44 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

I heart Tim Mincin

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:46:46 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

SAIL – AWOLNation (or How to make a fan video that gets 50% more views than the official vide

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:46:32 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

The official video:

Ron Paul supporters taking over the GOP

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:07:29 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Ron Paul supporters are quietly taking over the GOP. Although Ron Paul has not won the popular vote of a single primary or caucus, he has won the majority of the delegates from Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusettes, Louisiana, and Washington. He’s also on track to win many more–it’s likely that there will eventually be hundreds of Ron Paul delegates at the GOP convention.

While Romney still probably has enough to win, Paul supporters could make things very uncomfortable for him. And Ron Paul supporters have also won positions in key slots of the Republican Party apparatus. For example, a Ron Paul supporter, A.J. Spiker, was elected to be chairman of the Iowa GOP. Even if Paul doesn’t win this year, he’s building a formidable machine that will help pro-liberty candidates (such as his son Rand) win election in the future.

Check out the havoc Ron Paul supporters are wreaking with the Old Guard Republicans.

Delicious.

The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:04:49 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

If you’re ever tempted to feel self-pity, may I commend this video to you:

Festo – Air Inversion

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:04:57 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Festo makes some amazing stuff. As someone once said “”That thing looks like it could origami
through time”.

Fox news medical commentator advocates use of psychedelics in terminally ill patients

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:26:36 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Slowly, public opinion is changing. I think there will be a tipping point in the next 5-10 years, and most drug laws will be relaxed.

“Recent studies at Harvard, U.C.L.A. and my alma mater John Hopkins have now made it plain that doctors should—as soon as proper safeguards can be put in place—be free to offer illicit drugs to patients who are terminally ill, in order to ease their emotional suffering and potentially offer them new perspectives—fueled by drug-induced insights—into issues like their own mortality.

At Harvard, Dr. John Halpern (as reported in the New York Times) tested MDMA (the street drug Ecstasy) to determine if it would ease the anxieties in two patients with terminal cancer. At U.C.L.A. and Hopkins, Drs. Charles Grob and Roland Griffiths used psilocybin (the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms) to help cancer patients past their paralyzing, debilitating fears.

The results are reportedly consistently good. In many cases, patients are able to cope with their physical pain and psychological turmoil better than before. Some, no doubt, feel the drugs opened doors of perception previously closed to them, allowing them to make peace with their lives and the impending end of their lives.
The truth is that the likelihood of creating an MDMA or psilocybin addict out of a terminal cancer patient is exactly zero. And, while we all know the obvious risks during early and mid-life of using drugs to excess (including driving under the influence), those risks aren’t really present in substantial measure in the population of folks ending their days on this earth. And, I would argue, they are at the time when experimenting with what they can “see” and feel when freed from their anxieties and preconceptions and routine by hallucinogens or mood-altering substances like Ecstasy makes sense.”

Portrait of Lotte

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:55:25 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Lotte Time Lapse: Birth to 12 years in 2 min. 45. from Frans Hofmeester on Vimeo.

Not a clubber

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:02:26 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

I went to the Bicycle Day celebration at 1015 Folsom last night. It was much more of a club scene than I was expecting, and it really illustrated my fundamental introversion. The club was packed with people, and the music was so loud that the furniture visibly vibrated. Very difficult to have a conversation, even shouting. How do people connect in an environment like that? I suppose the protocol is you dance, and if you connect physically with someone on the dance floor, you retreat to somewhere quiet for more conversation. But I feel very self-conscious dancing, unless chemically enhanced. And the music was too loud for me to really enjoy it. And there were very few quiet places in the club–I eventually retreated to the smoker’s corral outside, and was able to strike up a conversation with a friend of a friend. I also suppose the experience is very different for a cute young girl, than it is for a non-photogenic, overweight, 35+ year old guy. Not my best environment overall. Those of you who enjoy clubs, what do you enjoy about it? Any tips for getting more from the experience?

Stupidity Captured at 2500 Frames Per Second

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:08:21 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Via io9:

Don’t use a lawnmower on the carpet. Don’t mix Coke and chainsaws. Don’t light fireworks inside the house. Don’t microwave bottles of red wine. Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t.

The folks at Danish TV show Dumt & Farligt got sick of being told what not to do, so they went and did it. All of it. And filmed it with a high-speed super-camera.

Enjoy.

Cute!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:10:18 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Best Dad Ever

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:52:26 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Cob Window in Somerset England

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:09:12 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Excavator Row Boat in Vietnam

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:08:30 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

“Incarnate (Three Degrees of Certainty II)” by Maskull Lasserre

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:55:33 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Imminent Utopia by Kris Kuksi

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:52:03 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

The World’s Easiest Economics Quiz

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:08:34 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

MorpHex – hexapod sphere robot

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:17:24 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Happy Easter!

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:28:32 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

The Chiton by D’Milo Hallerberg

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 08:15:30 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

I love The Chiton. Photos courtesy of This Is Black Rock City.

Should you play hard to get?

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:08:13 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Some good thoughts on playing hard to get:

“If I have to play games to “hook” someone, or vice versa, then he isn’t the fish for me, plain and simple. If two people are genuinely into each other, neither will consider the other TOO available.

Now I wouldn’t break any previous plans I had already made if someone I was interested in called me and wanted to do something, but I’m not going to play by the old “The Rules” book that states there has to be at least 3 days notice. There are times I have no idea what my schedule is going to be like, and will call someone that day to see if they want to get together, be it a woman friend or man friend. I suppose if it happened on a consistent basis, that a man NEVER made plans in advance with me, I’d question it. But I’d be more apt to drop him, than attempt to play some silly game, thinking if I made him wait a few days, he’d be more into me…..nah, too much work, I prefer my books open and readable.”

If someone is into you, they’ll want to spend time with you too. If they don’t like you, how available you are is irrelevant. You don’t care how available the bag lady at the bus stop is, do you?

You’ll know if they’re into you if they reciprocate your bids for connection in roughly equal measure. For example, suppose you ask someone out and they’ve already made plans for the evening. Someone who is into you will offer to meet with you at another time and place. If you call, they will call you back in a reasonable amount of time. If they don’t reciprocate, after one or two bids on your part, they’re not into you.

If the person you want isn’t responding, it’s because you don’t offer sufficient value to them, relative to the other options they have available. Therefore, you must either find someone who wants what you offer or increase your value on the dimensions the person you want cares about.

In most cases, increasing your value takes time and effort (fitness, wealth, charm), and some things you not be able to change at all (height, gender, age). Therefore, continuously improve yourself, so that when you do have the opportunity to win over someone you like, they will recognize your value. In the meantime, look for those who value what you have now. Playing hard to get is simply a waste of time.

Triple bunk bed made with ShopBot CNC router

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:37:05 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

The Free Universal Construction Kit – Lego, Lincoln Log, Tinkertoy interconnectors

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:36:01 GMT

Originally published at craschworks. You can comment here or there.

Open Knowledge

29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates

Base rate fallacy dooms TSA’s risk-based screening

Is there anything more adorable than baby elephants?

I *heart* Tim Mincin

SAIL – AWOLNation (or How to make a fan video that gets 50% more views than the official vide

Ron Paul supporters taking over the GOP

The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off

Festo – Air Inversion

Fox news medical commentator advocates use of psychedelics in terminally ill patients

Portrait of Lotte

Not a clubber

Stupidity Captured at 2500 Frames Per Second

Cute!

Best Dad Ever

Cob Window in Somerset England

Excavator Row Boat in Vietnam

“Incarnate (Three Degrees of Certainty II)” by Maskull Lasserre

Imminent Utopia by Kris Kuksi

The World’s Easiest Economics Quiz

MorpHex – hexapod sphere robot

Happy Easter!

The Chiton by D’Milo Hallerberg

Should you play hard to get?

Triple bunk bed made with ShopBot CNC router

The Free Universal Construction Kit – Lego, Lincoln Log, Tinkertoy interconnectors

I heart Tim Mincin