Masters of Stealth

Photos I've seen from around the web showing that cats are masters of the game of hide and seek.

 

 

 

Proof that pegasi exist.

Pegasus I saw in Africa when I was a teenager

Jeopardy wagers that don't make sense

So I was watching Jeopardy last night and half-way through it was looking awesome, all three scores almost tied.  But then in Double-Jeopardy things started to get weird.

It started with a couple of odd answers.  Obvious responses that nobody got and a couple of responses that not only were wrong, they really didn’t match the category.  Finally it got down to the last two questions and the scores were (approximately) 12,600, 10,000, and 7,200.

The guy in last place has control and picks the second to last answer… nobody has the question for it.  Since the guy in last place picked it he automatically is gets to pick again and there is only one answer left for 2,000… and it’s a daily double.

I’m thinking this is great for the guy in last place because he can make it a true daily double and go into Final Jeopardy in the lead.  His wager… “1,000 please Alex.”  What?  A 1,000 dollars is possibly the worst thing he could bet.  If he’s right he still goes into the Final Jeopardy in last place and has to rely on BOTH of the other contestants blowing their answers AND betting large, and if he’s wrong he goes into Final Jeopardy with an amount that can’t touch the leader if the leader doesn’t even wager.  And he blows his response.

So we go into final Jeopardy with 12,600, 10,000 and 6,200.

Mr. Third place bets… 1,000.  Really?  Really?  Are you even playing this game anymore?  You strategy all night has been to just hope everyone else is a bigger idiot than you?   He gets the Question right (Only 58% of this state’s population is licensed to drive – What is New York) and goes up to 7,200.

Second place guy wagers 2,401 just enough so if he’s right and if third place had doubled his bank he will beat him by a dollar.  He gets is right and goes up to 12,401

Mrs. First place has already won by virtue of the other two players playing hoping she is loses rather than actually trying to... you know... win.  She does get her answer right. Her wager?  100.00  ONLY 100.00.  If the second place guy had SNEEZED while writing his 4 in 2,401 so it looked more like 2,901 he would have won.

Still gave me an interesting dream last night.  I was playing Jeopardy and went into Final Jeopardy in the lead with 9,500.  I got the question right but lost because I only wagered 1,735.  Still I left with a stage with a sly smile.  The Final Jeopardy answer?  “Leonardo of Pisa’s famous group of numbers.”

If your going to lose when you don't have to, at least do it with some style.

Frog in hailstone

I love posts where the comments surpass the original post in humor.
On the Reddit boards a user named Sordidkitteh posted a picture of a hailstone with a frog in the middle of it.

Another user, named Ploddle asked "How" and a third user, ForgettableUsername answered, starting a string of comments from various other users that had me laughing to tears.

Here is the original picture:

[+]Ploddle 1507 points1508 points1509 points 3 days ago (744 children)

Ploddle 

HOW?

[+]ForgettableUsername 2563 points2564 points2565 points 2 days ago (674 children)

ForgettableUsername

This is actually a pretty well-understood phenomenon.

Small droplets of supercooled water freeze when they come into contact with airborne frogs within a cumulonimbus cloud. Due to the strong updrafts within the cloud, the hailstone may be subject to multiple ascents and descents through high humidity layers, each causing more supercooled water to freeze onto the surface of the frog, giving the hailstone its distinctive layered look. Eventually, the added weight from the layers of frozen water cause the frog to become too heavy for the vertical updraft to support, and it falls to the ground.

[+]VFAGB 2088 points2089 points2090 points 2 days ago (576 children)

VFAGB 

You've glossed over the whole "airborne frogs" part.

[+]ForgettableUsername 2484 points2485 points2486 points 2 days ago (548 children)

ForgettableUsername 

I'm sorry if I was unclear; I tend to get carried off on tangents.

The hailstone simply forms around the frog as it's in the air, causing it to fall out of the cloud. It's essentially the same way normal hail forms.

[+]Numlocks 2061 points2062 points2063 points 2 days ago (519 children)

Numlocks 

HOW DO FROGS GET IN THE SKY?

[+]ForgettableUsername 2467 points2468 points2469 points 2 days ago (495 children)

ForgettableUsername 

That's a bit like asking 'how do fish get into the Atlantic?' isn't it? Either they're born there or they migrate to it, depending on the species of frog and the time of year. I won't bore you with the details.

[+]SirFadakar 1821 points1822 points1823 points 2 days ago (451 children)

SirFadakar 

You're telling us frogs are born in or migrate to... the sky?

[+]ForgettableUsername 2445 points2446 points2447 points 2 days ago (417 children)

ForgettableUsername 

Well, yes, obviously. That's how biology works. You shouldn't need a herpetologist to tell you that if you observe a population of frogs in any given region, it stands to reason that either they are from that region or they migrated to it at some point.

[+]BleedingFish 1772 points1773 points1774 points 2 days ago (179 children)

BleedingFish 

i hate you

[+]ForgettableUsername 2015 points2016 points2017 points 2 days ago (172 children)

ForgettableUsername 

Oh really? I have the utmost respect for you, personally and professionally. But that's ok, you're entitled to your opinion.

Zombie survival ball

Kiss of Death

Memento Mori sculpture from Barcelon'a Poblenou cemetary

The ephitaph bears part of a poem by Jacint Verdaguer:
"And his young heart can not help'
in his veins the blood stops and freezes
and encouragement lost faith embraces
fall felling the kiss of death."

Spherical Aircraft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pF0uLnMoQZA

Yoram Bauman economic humor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cW9dxFrAk-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TypWtZYLCF8&feature=player_detailpage&list=UUWNVDDLiexqiHNULPQ3kGxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKBKLeTZbM4&feature=player_detailpage&list=UUWNVDDLiexqiHNULPQ3kGxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkUzU1Ce7rQ&feature=player_detailpage&list=UUWNVDDLiexqiHNULPQ3kGxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9utlDdLhaTU&feature=player_detailpage&list=UUWNVDDLiexqiHNULPQ3kGxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUWNVDDLiexqiHNULPQ3kGxg&feature=player_detailpage&v=yL_-1d9OSdk

Patrick Rothfuss

A couple of months ago a co-worker suggested I read Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle’s. Currently there are published two books in the trilogy, and I suspect (and strongly hope) that there will be a follow-up trilogy. The two published books are “The Name of the Wind” and “The Wise Man’s Fear”

The books currently rate 4.4 and 4.1 stars respectively on Amazon. I think I agree with the overall ratings.

Patrick Rothfuss reminds me a bit of Tolkien, he is an English professor with an obvious gift for weaving the written word into delightful prose.  I think that Name of the Wind is a one of the best books to come along since Harry Potter. Wise Man’s fears is a little weaker, a bit to detailed in its descriptions which some people seem to find tedious, but still I love the book.

What I particularly love is that while the books are a well written ‘coming to age’ story they are laced with tones of truly great humorous and memorable quotes. For example:

Running with the Cons

I’ve always enjoyed the genre of story of the ‘noble’ criminal.  The thieves that have reformed and are using their talents for good or at least you can really like them as they use their talents for bad.  Examples such as Oceans Eleven, Leverage, Hustle, etc.

But watching the shows there is always the criminal patois going on that, while very cool, I just didn’t understand.  So I started to poke around and learn what some of it meant.

My first foray was to learn more about the basic types of confidence scams.  There is A LOT of different types of confidence scams, but here are some of the basic ones:

The Ponzi Scheme:

Fake investments.  The con-artist uses some of the money from new ‘investors’ to provide ‘dividends’ to the other investors to make them believe their investments are prospering.  Meanwhile the con-artist steals any of the money coming into the con that he doesn’t need to keep the marks convinced.

The Spanish Prisoner:

Advance fee fraud.  The con-artist tricks the mark into believing that a ‘modest’ investment now will result in a big payday down the road.  Unlike the Ponzi Scheme this is a take the money and run con not requiring the long-term commitment of a Ponzi scheme.

The False Samaritan:

The con-artist’s version of good cop, bad cop.  The “bad” artist runs an action on the mark and the “good” artist, acting as an innocent third-party, intervenes to ‘save’ the mark.  At basic levels this could be a simple mugging where the good artist scares away and recovers the stolen property in hopes of a reward.  More complex cons may use the False Samaritan to place the good artist into a position where the mark trusts or feels obligated to her to set up a larger con.