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Tweet from David_Risney

2016 Jan 31, 11:27
Combat bad drones? NL police have attack eagles. Better than JP police drones w big nets? http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/aerial-robots/dutch-police-training-eagles-to-take-down-drones …
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Tweet from David_Risney

2015 Aug 16, 11:08
HO scale trains totally cover impressive spiral looped track https://youtu.be/qUZVv0nr2rc 
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XSS game

2014 May 29, 1:10

Google’s XSS training game. Learn how to find XSS issues for fun and profit.

PermalinkCommentstechnical web security xss google

location.hash and location.search are bad and they should feel bad

2014 May 22, 9:25
The DOM location interface exposes the HTML document's URI parsed into its properties. However, it is ancient and has problems that bug me but otherwise rarely show up in the real world. Complaining about mostly theoretical issues is why blogging exists, so here goes:
  • The location object's search, hash, and protocol properties are all misnomers that lead to confusion about the correct terms:
    • The 'search' property returns the URI's query property. The query property isn't limited to containing search terms.
    • The 'hash' property returns the URI's fragment property. This one is just named after its delimiter. It should be called the fragment.
    • The 'protocol' property returns the URI's scheme property. A URI's scheme isn't necessarily a protocol. The http URI scheme of course uses the HTTP protocol, but the https URI scheme is the HTTP protocol over SSL/TLS - there is no HTTPS protocol. Similarly for something like mailto - there is no mailto wire protocol.
  • The 'hash' and 'search' location properties both return null in the case that their corresponding URI property doesn't exist or if its the empty string. A URI with no query property and a URI with an empty string query property that are otherwise the same, are not equal URIs and are allowed by HTTP to return different content. Similarly for the fragment. Unless the specific URI scheme defines otherwise, an empty query or hash isn't the same as no query or hash.
But like complaining about the number of minutes in an hour none of this can ever change without huge compat issues on the web. Accordingly I can only give my thanks to Anne van Kesteren and the awesome work on the URL standard moving towards a more sane (but still working practically within the constraints of compat) location object and URI parsing in the browser.
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Untrusted - a user javascript adventure game

2014 Apr 8, 6:53

The game is to figure out what constrained modifications you must make to beat the game.

PermalinkCommentstechnical programming javascript game

Wooden Train Set Dining Table (by 3foot3design)

2012 Jul 18, 3:28


Wooden Train Set Dining Table (by 3foot3design)

PermalinkCommentstrain brio furniture video

wired: [via motherjones]: theweekmagazine: Sticking to an...

2012 Jun 7, 3:29


wired:

[via motherjones]:

theweekmagazine:

Sticking to an exercise routine takes dedication, and many fitness junkies swear that a running companion can be a huge help. That’s why researchers have developed “Joggobot,” a quad-rotor helicopter drone designed to motivate joggers by flying in front of them. 

The aerial robot uses its camera to spot a colorful pattern on a T-shirt worn by the jogger, and flies at a safe distance ahead. The runner can control Joggobot using a smartphone: In “companion mode,” the drone simply maintains the jogger’s pace; in “coach mode,” it pushes its human trainee a little faster.

Don’t worry, there’s a video

Science!

Maybe it should chase you instead?

PermalinkCommentshumor exercise robot future video

Unreality - Dolphin Assassins Yield the Greatest Movie Poster and Tagline Ever? |

2010 Feb 3, 6:52"Unwittingly, he trained a dolphin to kill the President of the United States." It sounds like a sentence constructed one word at a time by different people
PermalinkCommentshumor movie dolphin us poster

Jonathan Zittrain - Minds for Sale

2010 Jan 28, 4:00Jonathan Zittrain on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, artificial AI, and related topics.PermalinkCommentsjonathan-zittrain video amazon mechanical-turk mechanicalturk technical

Obama should back up Google with more than rhetoric: The US should challenge China’s “firewall” before the WTO. : First Amendment Coalition

2010 Jan 25, 5:25"...file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, contesting China’s internet censorship as a breach of the international trade rules to which China, as a WTO member, is subject. The US can argue that China’s “Great Firewall”–a system of filters and bottlenecks that effectively shutters the country within its own intranet–is an illegal restraint on international trade because it bars foreign companies from competing, via the internet, in the vast Chinese market."PermalinkCommentseconomics wto politics google china internet censorship us

[1001.0361] Self-Selected or Mandated, Open Access Increases Citation Impact for Higher Quality Research

2010 Jan 6, 2:17Not shocking that papers freely available on the Internet are cited more than those not freely available... "Articles whose authors make them Open Access (OA) by self-archiving them online are cited significantly more than articles accessible only to subscribers. ... not because of a quality bias from authors self-selecting what to make OA, but because of a quality advantage, from users self-selecting what to use and cite, freed by OA from the constraints of selective accessibility to subscribers only."PermalinkCommentsvia:bengoldacre science paper citation internet

Language Log » Google Books: A Metadata Train Wreck

2009 Sep 10, 8:22Geoff Nunberg investigates issues in Google Books and in the comments Google Book's team manager responds in the comments. Apparently metadata is bad everywhere and not an issue new to the Web and user generated content or tagging. Like finding Feynman lectures categorized as Death Metal on Napster back in the day.PermalinkCommentslanguage google library metadata catalog

The Railway Track Market of Samut Songkhram

2009 Aug 11, 9:03Train tracks run through this open air market. "Eight times daily, a train runs through without care for stopping, sending vendors and visitors to action stations before business as usual resumes."
PermalinkCommentsphoto video thailand train

Feynman on trains

2009 Jul 7, 7:36Two things I like: trains and Feynman, together at last.PermalinkCommentstrain richard-feynman youtube video physics

Mostly Moved Into New House

2009 Jun 19, 8:07

New House ExteriorThe weekend before the previous, Sarah and I moved our belongings into the new house and spent a lot of time packing and unpacking, and now we're officially living there (interested Facebook friends can find my new address or just ask me). The Saturday of the previous weekend Sarah's family came over for a half house warming and half Sarah's birthday celebration which was fun and served to force us to do more unpacking and forced me to take trips to Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. On Sunday, Sarah and I went out to her favorite restaurant and she opened her gifts that I had to hide to keep her from opening before her birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah!

While at Home Depot I had trouble finding what I was actually looking for, but I did find everything I needed to terminate the Cat5e cables that are wired in the house. Each room has a wall plate with two RJ45 sockets, both sockets wired to Cat5e cable. One of the cables per plate was already hooked up to a standard phone service punchdown board and the other cables per plate were all hanging unterminated next to the punchdown board. So now I've terminated them all with RJ45 connectors and hooked them up to my hub, wireless router, cable modem, etc. I had the same sort of fun setting all that up as I did playing with model train sets as a child. Hopefully no therapy will be required to figure out why that is.

PermalinkCommentspersonal2 train address sarah house new-house birthday

A Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks | Xylocopa

2008 Dec 17, 2:27"Specifically, we have noticed that there is absolutely no training in the K-6 grades that prepares students to become mad scientists. In this competitive 21st-century world, the need for mad scientists will only increase... We are pleased to announce the release of our Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks."PermalinkCommentshumor science geek gift via:swannman shopping wishlist toy alphabet-blocks

Back From Germany

2008 Dec 14, 4:59

View from Jon'sSarah and I are back from Munich, Germany as of Thursday and I've just about recovered. The trip there via Air France we watched many movies and it was much better than the trip back in which the entertainment system failed and I had a cold. When we arrived, Jon met us at the airport, helped us with the subway system, we played Guitar Hero, ate at a Bavarian pub, and then later at an Australian bar.

Neuschwanstein CastleThe following day we met up with Jon and three of his friends, one of whom was visiting from England and we all took a train to Neuschwanstein Castle. Apparently its the 'Disney' castle in that Disney's castle's are based upon it. The castle is filled with images and statues of swans in homage to the Swan Knight. We ate in the town at a cafe with traditional Bavarian food before taking the train back and getting all you can eat fajitas for dinner.

PermalinkCommentsgermany personal vacation nontechnical

Train Ride to Neuschwanstein Castle

2008 Dec 13, 10:38

sequelguy posted a photo:

Train Ride to Neuschwanstein Castle

PermalinkCommentsme train germany munich jon neuschwansteincastle

View From Train

2008 Dec 13, 10:38

sequelguy posted a photo:

View From Train

PermalinkCommentsgermany munich

Jon on Train to Neuschwanstein Castle

2008 Dec 13, 10:38

sequelguy posted a photo:

Jon on Train to Neuschwanstein Castle

PermalinkCommentstrain germany munich jon
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