No shit, really?

Simply by delving into volunteersÂ’ Likes, the researchers could determine in 95 percent of cases whether a person was Caucasian or African American and in 88 percent of cases whether the person was heterosexual or homosexual. They could determine whether the person is Christian or Islamic 82 percent of the time.

Well blow me over with a feather.

Person of Interest had a funny exchange about this. Finch is brilliant, mysterious blackest-of-black-vaults NSA computer/surveillance technologist who's invented a computer so powerful at extracting and analyzing data it can actually predict crimes 48 hours before they occur; Reece is his CIA partner/pointman.

FINCH: This person has no digital fingerprint whatseover. No social media presence at all. Most people put a lot of their lives on social media now.

REECE: We used to love those people, back in the CIA. Social media always made it easy for us to find them.

FINCH: I know, that's what I invented it.

REECE: What? You're saying you invented social media?

FINCH: It was too difficult trying dig all this data out of people. I realized it would be easier just to have everyone volunteer it.

Posted by: Ace at 04:17 PM | Comments (220)
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Man, I miss the 80s.

If you forget this, you have to listen for his definition of the circumstances that make slapping a woman "appropriate."

"Or a Woman:" Adam Carolla's favorite clip, below.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:10 PM | Comments (278)
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Usual rules.....first correct answer gets a Platinum Membership with the optional ampersand utility.

Extra year of membership for the correct engine.

Lifetime membership if you name the Moron in the photo, unless you already know, in which case keep it to yourself. There's valuable stuff at stake here!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:33 AM | Comments (317)
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A lot of twists and turns in this story from Breitbart.com. Shock, no one else in the media apart from Fox is bothering to cover it.

Allah has a good summary.

Mark Kelly, Gabby Giffords' husband, got caught buying an AR-15. Not a crime, of course, but certainly a strange purchase for a gun-control advocate looking to ban the weapon.

He then claimed he was buying it to demonstrate how easy it is to buy an AR-15.

Couple problems with this story:

1. He didn't actually buy it. The gun he intended to buy was on consignment, and there's a 20-day federal delay to check to see if the weapon was used in a crime. On the other hand, had he bought a new AR-15, he could have walked right out of the store with it-- thus demonstrating the point he claims he wanted to make.

The “local ordinances” that apply to the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm AR-style rifle required that the AR-15 be placed on hold for 20 days because it was second-hand. If Kelly’s goal was to show how easy the background check system really is, why didn’t he buy a new “assault rifle” so he could take possession of it immediately, thereby allowing him to finish the background check on day he originally walked into the store–March 5?

Seems more like he wanted to save a buck on a gun. Not really the sort of thing someone crusading to make a point usually cares about.

2. His claimed stunt makes no sense. Let's go down the list: Mark Kelly is...

... a Naval officer

... a Space Shuttle pilot and astronaut

... with a clean criminal record

... who is married to a frickin' Congresswoman.

What would his point have been, had he actually gone through the federal check (which he didn't, despite his claims)? That a law-abiding Naval officer astronaut married to a Congresswoman can pass a federal gun purchase check?

Of course he could. How could he not pass it? On what grounds would there be a delay for someone who not only has a clean criminal record, but in fact almost certainly has a US intelligence clearance of much better than Top Secret?

Does he have a record as a crack dealer we don't know about?

How does this expose a flaw in the system?

Someone joked: "He thinks they trust him with Space Shuttle but that it's a scandal that he could pass a quick background check to buy a rifle?"

It makes no sense.

What makes sense is that he just wanted to buy the AR-15 and is now making up stories to explain away a hypocrisy.

Fern's Law: Liberals actually believe none of the things they preach to you about.

Explanation? Cicero, the Semiautomatic Assault Commenter, speculates:

Maybe he's a malignant demagogue, but also budget-minded.

Another Question: Kelly now claims he intended this purchase to prove how easy it was to buy an AR-15.

If so, how come he didn't alert the media himself? Why was this leaked from an unfriendly source to an unfriendly outlet, Breitbart?

Did he intend to prove his alleged point in secret?

Posted by: Ace at 02:09 PM | Comments (288)
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Via Instapundit, an interesting article on how to win at Rock Paper Scissors.

It seems funny that you can have skill at the game because it's random. But of course it's not random, usually. Human choices usually aren't. Human behavior falls into patterns which can be exploited.

Here's the biggest take-away, I think, unless you're so gung-ho about winning RPS that you want to "study your opponent's moves" for hours: Most people will not throw the same sign twice. (Clarification: Most people who don't know about this exploit, I mean.)

This is exploitable.* If your opponent throws paper, play the odds and assume he will not throw paper next, but instead rock or scissors. Throw rock. Now the odds are in your favor that you can only tie (if he throws rock) or win (if he throws scissors).

If he throws rock, next throw scissors. (He will probably throw scissors or paper, and you will either win or tie.)

If he throws scissors, next throw paper. (He will probably throw either paper or rock, and you will probably win or tie.)

So there you go. I just dramatically improved your chances to avoid going out to buy beer. When you're sitting on your couch, waiting for your friend or spouse to get back from the cold and rain, you can use that extra time to say "Thank you, Ace!" (Even though I technically only linked this and didn't really invent it.)

* The Nazis' "unbreakable cipher" Enigma was exploitable partly due to the fact that a letter could never be encrypted into itself. Any non-random chink like that becomes a crib.

Posted by: Ace at 12:35 PM | Comments (413)
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What if they threw a War on Women and nobody noticed?

By the way, this is a speech about what we've "learned" from his Violence Against Women Act.

What we've learned, in Shotgun Joe's own words, is that a "garden-variety slap across the face" might not be any big deal, but that the following may be Warning Signs:

1. If a domestic abuser attempts to strangle you.

2. If a domestic abuser threatens to shoot you with a gun.

3. If a domestic abuser sexually assaults you.

Yes, these are the things that Shotgun Joe didn't know, but now does, thanks to VAWA.

So if your husband strangles you, rapes you, or threatens to murder you with a firearm, you now know, courtesy of Shotgun Joe's government-funded study, that you might be married to a domestic abuser.

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Posted by: Ace at 11:33 AM | Comments (344)
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Here's some background on him.

He's a Jesuit. Or was a Jesuit. I don't know if you're a Jesuit forever or you stop being a Jesuit when you move up in the hierarchy.

Sullivan's reacts here, a bit more restrained than I was expecting.

"Francis:" He's chosen his papal name, "Francis." I asked @fredosso who picks that and he says the pope himself.

So he's a Stripes fan. That's a good sign.

No but really Francis Xavier was the first Jesuit to be pope. Thanks to @drewmtips.

Gateway Pundit says the actual name is "Franciscum." I don't know which is correct, or if Franciscum is formal and "Francis" is informal.

Oops: Francis Xavier was the first Jesuit (co-founder, so it's a tie), not the "first Jesuit pope" as I said. Francis I (Bergoglio) is the first Jesuit pope.

Thanks to @tsrblke.

Posted by: Ace at 11:17 AM | Comments (332)
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The new pope should appear on the balcony to greet the throngs awaiting him "shortly."

White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Wednesday to roars of joy from the throngs jamming St. Peter's Square.

The new pope, his name not yet revealed, is expected to greet the masses from the balcony of St. Peter's Basillica shortly.

The 115 voting cardinals took four or five votes over two days to reach their decision, which required a two-thirds majority and came after a week of intense meetings.

Italy's Scola an Easy Choice? So speculates the Washington Post.

Rumor Has It... that Andrew Sullivan has already written his blogpost about the new pope, "A Monstrous Choice," and is just waiting for the name before hitting publish.

Posted by: Ace at 10:27 AM | Comments (715)
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The weird thing is that freedom is currently unpopular; people have internalized the message that freedom is oppression and vote accordingly. It's good to have some positive messaging for it.

We have to be cognizant of whether we in fact want to be a nation where we rule our own lives, or whether we have the government invading every aspect of our life. This is a very, very serious issue and I think a lot of people are asleep at the wheel and we have to keep sounding the alarm until people recognize that we're giving away the freedoms of our nation."

Posted by: Ace at 09:47 AM | Comments (314)
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Joe Biden discusses "garden variety" ways to hit women. Stay golden Joey B. Stay golden.

The Joint Strike Fighter program doesn't end well. Either we wind up with an overpriced and under-performing platform or we've wasted a lot of money and time.

No, a military Chaplain wasn't awarded a Bronze Star for a PowerPoint presentation on handling Korans.

Via Commander M. Climategate 3--The Medieval Warming did exist and the "hockey stick" is still crap.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:12 AM | Comments (187)
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