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The end of spam?
Not this kind of spam. Credit: Matthew W. Jackson. Kaspersky Lab reported last week that spam email is on the decline, having fallen from 80%-85% of all email over the past few years to about 65% at...
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Boston, Reddit, and the problem of quality control
The immediate aftermath of the bombings. Credit: Aaron Tang. By now, you probably know all about the bombings at the Boston Marathon last week that left 3 people dead and 176 injured. It has its own...
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Quality control, part 2: the sciences
Science done the old-fashioned way. Click here for details. In my last post, I discussed the implications of interconnected world of the Internet as it failed to track down the Boston bombers before...
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Quality control, part 3: the arts
Art done the old-fashioned way. This is final post in my series on quality control. Click the links to see part 1 and part 2. The Internet gives everyone a voice. It either has become or is becoming...
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Welcom to the Future, Part 2: Star Trek Continues
Photo credit: Farragut Films, Dracogen Strategic Investments and Vic Mignogna. Fan-made Star Trek films and web series are nothing new. The first ones hit the Internet way back in 2000. However, a...
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Dissecting Spam
Not this kind of spam. Credit: Matthew W. Jackson. How is it that spam/phishing emails can look so convincing in some ways, but so blatantly fake in other ways? It’s always baffled me how messages...
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Harry Potter and the Power of the Internet
Fan-made cover art for HPMOR. Credit: Zerinity (DeviantArt). A couple weeks ago, I reviewed a work of fan fiction called Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. I wanted to...
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What If? Rejects #5.2: Cutting the Cheese
A cheese-cutting wire in action. Previous post in this series: Balancing Act. Q: How fast would a human have to run in order to be cut in half at the bellybutton by a cheese-cutting wire? Randall’s...
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What If? Follow-up: Can a Wire Cut a Person in Half?
Credit: Soerfm (Wikipedia). In my last post, I determined that it is not possible for a human being to be cut in half by running into a cheese-cutting wire that is stretched across a road. The wire...
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