Recycled linkspam

[firecat]

Recycled linkspam, via my OH:

http://www.schneier.com/essay-155.html
(very long) Bruce Schneier talks about the difference between feeling secure and actual security, with digressions through innumeracy and irrational decision-making tendencies. I'm not sure I believe all of his theories, but I believe some of them.

http://www.ewherry.com/2012/06/the-recruiter-honeypot/
(From July) Elaine Wherry, a founder of Meebo (now owned by Google), analyzes the behavior of high-tech recruiters, including that they try to poach people from the very companies who hire them to find new talent.
(From October) Some developers put themselves up for auction instead of relying on recruiters: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2012/10/15/hounded-by-recruiters-coders-put-themselves-up-for-auction/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/forensics-on-trial.html
Transcript of PBS show. The limitations of fingerprint, bite mark, and blood-spatter analysis (sorry Dexter); the potentials of virtual autopsies and 3D recreations of crime scenes.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/31/us/banished-words-list/
The banished words/phrases of 2012 include "yolo" (I've never heard it before), "bucket list" (I've heard that for years, why is it only banished now?), "superfood" (Yaaay!), and "spoiler alert" (hey! that's actually useful!)

Comments

[wordweaverlynn]

YOLO got a huge boost when a young rapper tweeted about how much fun it was to be drunk-driving at 120mph and added YOLO. He wasn't actually behind the wheel, apparently. Nevertheless, the car smashed into a wall a few minutes later. He died. So did the other four guys in the car.

[firecat]

Ew!

[azurelunatic]

I think "spoiler alert" is useful when used for actual spoilers with a chance to say "okay, I'm covering my ears now", and not as a new and hip version of "so long story short..."

For example: "Remember how I said my mom was going to let me dye my hair blue? Spoiler alert: she didn't." For maximum effect, say in the slightly petulant tone affected by certain young folks with more spare time than good sense.

[firecat]

and not as a new and hip version of "so long story short..."

Oh, I didn't know it was used like that. Now I feelz so old.

[striped]

Maybe "spoiler alert" is banished in the metaphorical sense? As in "Why are women still pad less than men? Spoiler alert: Our society is sexist." I've seen it used that way quite a lot, and it's not always funny. Because literally warning people of spoilers in fiction is just considerate.

[striped]

...aaand azurelunatic said almost the same thing above, except better. This is what I get for not reading previous comments before posting my own!

[necturus]

Yolo? Isn't that a town near Sacramento?

It's been a couple of decades; perhaps I misremember.

[firecat]

It is! I keep meaning to visit the Yolo Wool Mill.