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Math

Patterns in Lottery Numbers->

Submitted by
markmcb
markmcb writes "Most everyone is familiar with the concept of the lottery, i.e., random numbers are selected and people guess what they will be for a cash prize. But how random are the numbers? Matt Vea has conducted a pattern analysis of the MegaMillions lottery, which recently offered a sum of $370M (USD) to the winner. Matt shows that the lottery isn't as random as it may seem and that there are 'better' choices than others to be made when selecting numbers. From the article, 'A single dollar in MegaMillions purchases a 1 in 175,711,536 chance of landing the jackpot ... a player stands a mildly better chance of winning a partial prize through the selection of weighted numbers.'"
Link to Original Source
Math

One Way Escrowing Taxes/Insurance Can Be Good->

Submitted by
uriah923
uriah923 writes "With the recent hoop-dee-doo in the housing industry, banks are taking more steps to remove the risk from home loans. One of these is to offer a loan interest rate discount in return for the borrower guaranteeing they will escrow taxes and insurance. In this article, Brandon Hansen performed an economical analysis of whether or not accepting this offer is advisable from the borrower's perspective. If you're thinking of buying a house or are in the process somewhere, consider this an essential part of your stay-informed-so-I-don't-get-taken-to-the-cleaners activities."
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Security

Top 12 Operating Systems Vulnerability Summary

Submitted by
markmcb
markmcb writes "Have you ever wondered how vulnerable your computer is from the first bit you write to the hard drive all the way until you have a fully patched system? If so, Matthew Vea has posted a concise summary of security strengths and shortcomings for twelve of the major operating systems of 2006/2007. In his summary, Matt tests each OS with widely available tools like nmap and Nessus, and notes responses at install, pre-patch, and post-patch times for each system. After the tedious job is done, he produces results that will make both the Apple and Windows communities cringe with regards to security. From the article, 'As far as "straight-out-of-box" conditions go, both Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X are ripe with remotely accessible vulnerabilities. ... The UNIX and Linux variants present a much more robust exterior to the outside. Even when the pre-configured server binaries are enabled, each [Linux] system generally maintained its integrity against remote attacks.'"
The Almighty Buck

Telephone Tax Refund

Submitted by
markmcb
markmcb writes "Few may know, but there is a new way to increase your refund when you submit your 2006 return: the 'Telephone Tax Refund.' Essentially, the federal government realized it was improperly taxing Americans on their long distance phone service and now it's giving those taxes back. The difficulty, however, is determining how much to give back. The government claims it has taken the work out of it for you by offering a standard refund amount based on the number of exemptions claimed, but this article describes how taking the alternative route of actually calculating the amount paid can significantly increase your refund. Read on if you like money ... or if you just don't like being 'tricked by Uncle Sam' (as the article puts it)."

Comment: What does Google record? (Score 3, Informative) 234

by tom6a (#15879828) Attached to: Google to Continue Storing Search Requests
What information could Google release/lose/etc if the data was not protected? According to their privacy policy Google records the following information in their server logs:

Here is an example of a typical log entry where the search is for "cars", followed by a breakdown of its parts:

* 123.45.67.89 - 25/Mar/2003 10:15:32 - http://www.google.com/search?q=cars - Firefox 1.0.7; Windows NT 5.1 - 740674ce2123e969
* 123.45.67.89 is the Internet Protocol address assigned to the user by the user's ISP; depending on the user's service, a different address may be assigned to the user by their service provider each time they connect to the Internet;
* 25/Mar/2003 10:15:32 is the date and time of the query;
* http://www.google.com/search?q=cars is the requested URL, including the search query;
Firefox 1.0.7; Windows NT 5.1 is the browser and operating system being used; and
* 740674ce2123a969 is the unique cookie ID assigned to this particular computer the first time it visited Google. (Cookies can be deleted by users. If the user has deleted the cookie from the computer since the last time s/he visited Google, then it will be the unique cookie ID assigned to the user the next time s/he visits Google from that particular computer).

See http://www.omninerd.com/2006/01/25/news/489?highli ght=c4171#c4171

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