The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread

[Raithe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjYhmX_OUQQ&feature=youtu.be

[ShadySands]

 

PS where did the gun thread go?

Edited March 4, 2016 by ShadySands

[Amentep]

PS where did the gun thread go?

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/81036-the-general-firearms-thread/?hl=firearms

 

?

[Raithe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjBNFthSCNc

[Raithe]

[Raithe]

61 yr old University Professor has awkward side job as porn star

 

 

 

This is a pretty awkward thing to find out your uni professor does in their spare time.

Prof Nicholas Goddard has taught chemical engineering at the University of Manchester for the last 25 years, leading a number of courses and carrying out important research.

 

However, it turns out that for the last decade he’s also had a side gig as a porn star.

 

Prof Goddard – aka ‘Old Nick’ – has appeared in dozens of videos on Pornhub, such as ‘Teen Monique F***s Old Nick’ and ‘Gorgeous brunette teenager f***s with old man’.

 

A source told the Sun that Goddard is ‘a very pleasant and quite nerdy scientist’, and that no one had any idea about his X-rated appearances.

‘It’s not exactly a smart move to be teaching 18-year-olds by day and having sex with others by night.’

 

…Quite.

 

Prof Goddard told the paper that he had stopped doing the adult films in January.

‘I don’t know what students or their parents would think, but I for one certainly wouldn’t care if my children were being taught by a porn star,’ he added.

Metro.co.uk has approached University of Manchester for comment.

 

[Malcador]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/secret-life-games-programmer

 

At work peace and quiet is very important. This often clashes with the modern obsession with open plan offices. It only takes an impromptu meeting to start up the next desk over (or even worse, two in close proximity which starts an escalating war as to who can talk the loudest) and it can ruin an entire train of thought. You can identify programmers as the people with their headphones on, frowning at the screen.

Ah, so true.

[Lexx]

I've worked in a big / open office once and it was absolute hell. Beside hearing the conversations of everyone around you (especially bad with telephone related stuff), it also gave me the feeling to be watched every minute. Really not a fun work environment, in my opinion.

[Malcador]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3475476/Liberal-staffer-bikini-model-Tamara-Candy-hired-government-research-Islam-s-Sharia-law.html#comments

 

Ah, the most Daily Fail article I've read. Kind of NSFW, I suppose. In any event, the lady seems qualified enough for that kind of role, or at least enough to not make it a total joke.

[JadedWolf]

 

https://twitter.com/Amazing_Maps

[Raithe]

Heh.

io9 - Real Scientists talk about what they love and their pet peeves in Science-Fiction

 

 

Over at Reddit, there’s a terrific discussion among real scientists, talking about the books they love—and the things that drive them nuts. Peeves include fake “chaos theory” magic, “You only use 10 percent of your brain,” futures without advanced computers, and the genetics in Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves.

[Raithe]

"What did you do today dear?"

 

"Oh, I just changed a light bulb..."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1BgzIZRfT8&feature=youtu.be

[Raithe]

The Man Behind The Most Interesting Man is Interesting Too

 

 

When he first moved to Los Angeles, he worked as a garbage truck driver. He's acted in Westerns alongside John Wayne — even though he couldn't ride a horse.

His big break was acting in Dos Equis beer commercials. He is Jonathan Goldsmith ... the actor who plays "The Most Interesting Man in the World."

 

As it turns out, Goldsmith is pretty interesting himself.

 

The garbage truck driver-turned-Hollywood actor got his start with small parts in western movies. "It wasn't easy," Goldsmith says. "Jewish boys that grow up in New York are not that adept at riding horses." He lied his way into a part on the TV show, Gunsmoke. After director Marc Daniels hired him for a role on the show, he asked Goldsmith if he could ride a horse.

"I say, 'Like the wind, sir, without breaking stride.' Well, I had never been on a horse in my life," Goldsmith says.

 

When he glanced at the script, he realized he was in trouble. In Goldsmith's scene, he was supposed to vault on horseback and gallop into the night. "As soon as I got on — the horses know," he says. "Off he went. Everyone's screaming at me, 'Turn him, turn him around.' Well, I think I'm breaking the poor horse's neck ... Every time we went round and round this wonderful, old director Marc Daniels, he looked at me, followed me, [and he] says, 'Like the wind, huh?' "

 

He stuck with westerns for a while, from a small part in The Shootist with John Wayne to Hang 'Em High with Clint Eastwood. In later film and television appearances, Goldsmith says he was typecast as the villain. "All I ever wanted to do was comedy, but that was not available to me," he says. "Until the Dos Equis commercials."

 

It was at a time when Goldsmith was trying to resurrect his film career. He had left the industry and was working in the business world when he received a call from his then-agent, now wife, Barbara. She suggested he try out for a commercial, playing a "Hemingway-ish character." It would be improvised and he'd have to end with the sentence, "And that's how I arm wrestled Fidel Castro."

 

He arrived at the audition and, to his surprise, was surrounded by hundreds of young, Latino actors. "The line is out into the street. And I said, 'Oh boy,' " Goldsmith says. "If they're looking at these Latino guys, I better put on an accent." The voice of the late Argentine-born actor, Fernando Lamas, instantly popped into his head. The two were sailing buddies and good friends, and Goldsmith had perfected an impression of him.

 

"So I thought about him and how funny he was and how charming and a great raconteur, so I put on my best Fernando imitation," Goldsmith says. "And they started laughing."

Barbara received a call from Joe Blake, the casting director. He told Barbara that they loved Goldsmith's performance, but they felt like they had to go younger.

 

"And in her infinite wisdom, she took a long pause and she said, 'Joe, how can the most interesting man in the world be young?' " Goldsmith says. "He said, 'I'll get back to you.' "

Soon after, the casting director called back. He got the part. It was Goldsmith's big break.

 

"At a time where many of my friends who have had far more credits than I have, were in the twilight of their career, it just started for me," he says.

"It only took 50 years. An overnight success."

[Amentep]

Interesting, I'd never have connected the actor for the ads with his earlier roles.

 

Actor Mark Goddard has a similar story about moving to Hollywood and not wanting to lose a job overstated his horse-handling ability which IIRC led to him being unable to stop and riding out of shot until someone could stop the horse.

[Raithe]

Syrian Refugees in Canada got housed in the same hotal as Vancoufur Furry Convention

 

 

Syrian refugees in Canada have been personally welcomed into the country at Vancouver airport by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they have been welcomed by children in a video saying "see you in school," and now they have been welcomed by Furries.

 

The fifth annual VancouFur convention, in which people dress up as fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics, was held at the same hotel where a number of Syrian refugees are currently being housed.

 

A message was given to all attendees at the convention that the hotel had been chosen as one of the temporary housing locations for the Syrian refugees in Canada, and that "a major concern that VancouFur has is ensuring that each and every one of the refugees (and attendees) feels welcome and safe and the fact that this is likely to be a major shock to them".

"Keep in mind that they likely will not want to interact with you and consent is important to everyone," the message added.

 

But luckily for everyone involved, the refugees – especially the children – loved it.

 

Mike Schmidt, who attended VancouFur wrote on Vancity Buzz: “One of the many highlights for me was when the new group of Syrian refugee children came in and got to interact with us. To them we were cartoons to come to life, to us [it] was a means to display our acting performance to a very appreciative audience.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Raithe

[Elerond]

I am not sure if it's good thing that they loved it as it probably means that we will see more furries in future

[Malcador]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12190160/National-biscuit-shortage-two-cargo-jets-full-of-biscuits-flown-into-Britain-to-replenish-stocks.html?sf22306474=1

 

 

Two Boeing 777 aircraft full of biscuits landed at Doncaster airport this week, intended to ease a biscuit shortage that hit Britain following the flooding of a key biscuit-producing factory late last year.

 

Dayle Hauxwell, cargo manager for Doncaster Sheffield Airport, told Doncaster Free Press: “There has been a lot of press coverage about Britain’s biscuit shortage following the floods in December and we are pleased to hear that the factories hope to be up and running again this month.

 

"In the mean time we’ve been delighted to welcome two flights from Emirates full of the nation’s favourite biscuits."

 

Many of Britain's best-loved biscuits remain absent from shop shelves after floods forced the closure of the United Biscuits factory in Carlisle in December.

[Raithe]

One single image by mainstream media shows utter ignorance of security

 

 

The various branches of the establishment are frequently criticized for not understanding, or even caring about, the critically important fields of privacy and security. In just one image, the New York Post shows just how bad the situation is with this ignorance.

 

When I was in the European Parliament, I was frequently shocked at how badly decision-makers and policymakers understood the crucial issues of the 21st century: information, security, privacy (which in turn lead to innovation and growth). Rather, Members of the European Parliament would have e-mails printed for them by their secretaries and put in a pile on their desks, and they would therefore believe that they understood what the Internet was about.

 

Some decade ago, there was something akin to a riot on the Internet as the copyright industry tried to suppress the key “F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0” from being discussed: this was a cryptographic key for access and playback control of Hollywood DVDs. Everybody who is familiar with the Internet understands the concept of publishing a key. It cannot be undone, and once you publish its secret, you’ve opened Pandora’s box.

 

A cryptographic key is usually published like above, in a sequence of hexadecimal digits, since that’s the secret of the key. This makes it different from a physical key, where the physical shape of the key is the crucial secret.

 

Now consider this story by the New York Post, which cries out in terror that a master key to the New York City utilities has leaked. Consider that this story has passed by many people on its way to publishing, all part of the narrative-creating establishment, and consider what their understanding of the most fundamental security must look like.

 

 

Yes, that’s the key being discussed right there, the “1620” key. The New York Post is crying out in terror that this master key is on the loose, and goes on to publish the full secret of the key, in gigantic format. From this point, anybody can trivially reproduce this key.

 

It’s reasonable to ask at what point an ignorance of security to this unbelievable level becomes criminal negligence.

 

The ignorance is not unlike the fiasco with Diebold voting machines, also about a decade ago. The voting machines were supposedly secure; they needed a key to access the memory card slots. Spare keys were for sale on the Diebold website, and were only sold to certified voting officials. But like any webshop, there were high-resolution photos of the keys to the voting machines right on that webshop, and those images could be (and were) used to create keys that could access the voting records.

 

Security, too, is starting to become your own responsibility.

[Agiel]

Cyberdyne Plans Nasdaq Listing Next Year for U.S. Expansion

 

And if it wasn't tempting fate enough, they're in the business of making robits too.

[Malcador]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/dindim-o-lindo-pinguim-1.3487668

 

Ever since a 71-year-old Brazilian man rescued a struggling penguin, he's been receiving regular visits from his feathered friend.

 

Cute? Sure, but what's truly remarkable about this friendship is that the penguin swims a round trip of more than 8,000 kilometres every time he comes for a visit.

 

Joao Pereira de Souza, a retired bricklayer, lives on Proveta, a fishing village just off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. In 2011, he spotted a starving Magellanic penguin drenched in oil on the beach near his house.

 

Naming the penguin Dindim, de Souza fed him every day until he was strong enough to leave, according to a video from the University of Rio de Janeiro. But the penguin refused to go.

 

De Souza decided to row a boat out into the water and drop Dindim off to encourage him to swim home.

 

But when he rowed back to shore, he found the penguin waiting for him at his shanty.

 

"He stayed with me for 11 months and then, just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared," de Souza told TV Globo, a Brazilian TV network.

 

Magellanic penguins regularly swim thousands of kilometres a year to breeding spots on the coast of Argentina and Chile. From time to time, penguins show up in warmer Brazilian waters, according to the Wall Street Journal.

 

Many of de Souza's friends thought that when Dindim finally left, that was it for the human-bird friendship.

 

But a few months later, Dindim returned and found de Souza. He visits for about four months, a ritual kept for the last five years.

 

"He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February, and every year he becomes more affectionate, as he appears even happier to see me," de Souza told TV Globo.

Penguin Dindim

 

Dindim makes his way from Patagonia back to de Souza's beach in Proveta, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. (University of Rio de Janeiro)

 

De Souza appears to be the only person who can get near Dindim. If others try, he pecks them or waddles away.

 

"I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well," biologist Joao Paulo Krajewski said to the Independent. "When he sees him he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight."

 

Krajewski helped report the segment for TV Globo, and said that they caught Dindim on his fifth trip out to see Pereira de Souza.

 

He described how Dindim spends the rest of his time breeding along the Patagonia coast, about 5,000 to 8,000 kilometres south on the South American continent.

 

"It's really impressive, the love the two of them have," Krajewski said in the segment on the TV Globo show.

Patagonia

 

Magellanic penguins breed along the coast of Patagonia. (Wikimedia)

 

It's technically illegal to have a wild animal as a pet in Brazil, as officials want to ensure vulnerable creatures don't get separated from their families and that they can be reintroduced into the wild after injury.

 

The Independent also reported that there's been concern over how climate change could be forcing these penguins farther north into the warmer Brazilian waters.

 

Regardless, in Dindim's case, authorities have made an exception.

 

"In this isolated case the authorities allowed Dindim to stay with Joao because of his kindness," Krajewski said to the Independent.

 

"I love the penguin like it's my own child," said de Souza to Globo TV. "And I believe the penguin loves me."

[Elerond]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-beachy/the-wto-just-ruled-agains_b_9307884.html

 

USA used WTO to block India from building massive solar farm because India gave governmental subsidizes to manufactures that used Indian labor and produced their goods in India. 

 

EDIT: This is of course interesting thing for US to do as they offer similar governmental subsidizes for renewable energy manufactures that use local manufactures in US.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Elerond

[Darkpriest]

Hmm, not sure how important this might be from the AI development point of view, but it seems to be interesting nevertheless:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/striking-back-against-machine-korean-player-beats-google-111451570--finance.html?nf=1

[Gfted1]

Pizza Hut wants to give you free pizza for 3.14 years if you can do math.

[BruceVC]

Pizza Hut wants to give you free pizza for 3.14 years if you can do math.

I use to work as a waiter at Pizza Hut, in 1993 I stupidly went to the army and it was the last year of conscription and the election was the next year so the SA army was in a state of utter confusion....imagine being told " the ANC is your enemy, the ANC is communist....you have to protect your country from this evil " ...imagine  being in the army for 20 years fighting in places like Angola, covert assassinations, cross-border raids, real battles with Cubans ideologues and Russians ....then you get told  " the ANC is now not the enemy ...you have to now accept them " 

 

The thing about the human psyche is it can deal with a lot. In war you can commit atrocities if its for the greater good but then to get told that what  you did is now wrong and the enemy you killed will be governing the country is not something every person can mentally cope with 

 

So anyhow I was surrounded by loads of angry, confused and yet still feeling some sort of commitment to the country soldiers. It was rough for me...I wasn't suited for the army as my mother had spoilt us and I wasnt use to having to take care of myself 

 

So after the army I took a gap year and worked at places like Pizza Hut ...I was fired!!! And you know why....talking too much to waitresses and my friends  !!

 

 

So you see Gfted1 even back then I was misunderstood by civil society 

[Gfted1]

Not sure if serious...

 

How long were you in the SA army?