How to waste your campaign ad dollars:

1. Jeff opens a web page.

2. Fail #1: a video advertisement for Mitt Romney starts autoplaying somewhere on the page. I can’t see the video, so I can’t see where to turn it off.

3. Fail #2: a second copy of the same advertisement starts autoplaying somewhere on the same page, so the audio is now playing in an echo chamber.

4. Fail #3: the few words I can still make out are Romney Olympics something something efficiency something high quality management.

5. Fail #4: I mute the sound. Still have no idea where the video is, but now I don’t care.

6. Worst (or best): the page in question? Failblog.

Or to quote Jim Dalrymple:

Yep.

Note: I read this as confirmation of the dates. I don’t take as gospel the rest of the announcements in the article Jim links to.

That’s the thing about cheap shots: you can’t make them if they’re not true. HT Jim Dalrymple.

Team Coco: Samsung Calls BS On Apple’s Charges Of Copying

Two interesting items crossed my radar today.

First, the Schoolhouse Rock version of “I’m Just a Bill”, courtesy of Mark Fiore:

And here’s a story on just how frickin’ easy it is to set up an offshore corporation. Easiest place to do it without filing any paperwork? The United States.

Back when I was in college and getting radicalized, one of the major political arguments in favor of my pro-choice beliefs was the theory that removing abortion from the table essentially turned women into walking incubators. The alternative view: women can consider themselves fully functioning members of society—until they get pregnant, or are at risk of getting pregnant. After that, well, think of the children and give up your control over your health and your body.

As it seems to me that every woman between the ages of fifteen and fifty are at least nominally at risk of getting pregnant, this is a no-brainer. As it also seems to me that there is absolutely no situation where a man is ordered to give up his own freedoms in such a way, well, it seems to me that any self-respecting man should agree with me.

That’s why I’m posting this link: as a member of the “have not spawned” community, it seems to me that most of my peer group goes a little batshit crazy about monitoring the absolutely perfect health of their offspring (as if that were possible), and it’s 1,000 times worse for pregnant women. Sure, it’s easy to stay on the side of opposing laws that restrict a woman’s freedom—but in the case of women who voluntarily do so in order to abide by societal rules, well, the problem seems to be getting worse with no easy fix.

Salon: My pregnancy rebellion

Ironically, within a few minutes after my news feed told me that Jonah Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker, my articles-to-read randomizer plucked out this piece from June titled “Why Smart People Are Stupid”, which begins with an apology that Lehrer self-plagiarized the beginning of the piece.

FWIW, I think Lehrer is a smart writer and I’m going to miss his long-form pieces. I don’t necessarily think there’s a correlation between fabulizing a quote and the accuracy of the overall piece, hence the link.

When people face an uncertain situation, they don’t carefully evaluate the information or look up relevant statistics. Instead, their decisions depend on a long list of mental shortcuts, which often lead them to make foolish decisions. These shortcuts aren’t a faster way of doing the math; they’re a way of skipping the math altogether.

Corollary: smart people are more likely to trust these shortcuts, IMO.

I have no idea if this works, but thought it was worth sharing.

Mr. Kaminsky’s manifesto makes the not-altogether-depressing argument that some of us might be able to tame our gluttonous appetites (and maybe even slim down) by focusing on eating foods that deliver maximum flavor.

Eating Well Without the Flavor of Shame

One reason why I’m looking forward to ubiquitous deployment of Google Glasses and similar technologies: it will be interesting to see how the surveillance state reacts when you *can’t tell* who’s recording and who isn’t.

The Verge: DC police allegedly steal citizen’s cellphone, one day after receiving explicit orders not to

I’m normally entirely behind regulations coming down from the CPSC, but I can’t quite agree on this one. Shouldn’t the federal government have a “but it’s so fucking cool” exception?

More to the point, I disagree with the idea that the product should be outlawed for everyone because some parents shoot for retroactive Darwin awards by giving neodymium magnets to their offspring.

Farewell, Buckyballs: Consumer Agency Files Suit Against Magnetic Toys

Note to self: doesn’t matter if you’re senile by 2030, you’re going to get lost at Homecoming for your 40th Reunion regardless.

One of my favorite high school memories is Adam Sherr doing a 2 AM happy dance around the 7-11 where he worked, when they installed the multiflavor Slurpee machine. I presume that the latest technology will require a field trip to 34th and Lancaster.

7-Eleven introduces mashed potato vending machine

Confirmed: Fleshlight Developing an iPad Case You Can Have Sex With

Oh, dear Christ.

Bacon Alaska: 29,113 calories, 1.5 kilograms of fat. Approximately 12 servings.

Would love to know if this was filmed before or after the earthquake.

How to measure the Earth in 200 BC, and how to measure the speed of light with a whale oil lamp.

18 minutes of fireworks, set off in 15 seconds. Holy crap.

For Independence Day, a Ted ED: Why Do We Vote on Tuesday?

New candidate for worst lede in a PR email arrived today:

Humans everywhere have been waiting to get their hands on the world’s first [product] made just for them.

Who was your prior target market? Goldfish?

Want to drive 15.3 million pixels on your MacBook Retina display? No problem.