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Comment Get real everyone (Score 1) 289

I can't believe all the negative comments on this. It seams to me that people are so jaded with themselves for not taking responsibility for their own media consumtion that they blame the government for censorship. What the hell is everyone talking about? None of the "down with government" posts are censored here. None of my paranoid friends have mysteriously disappeared. We live in a great country and you should wake up and realize that. maybe wikileaks did have a positive effect. Maybe the government, though reluctant at first is warming up to the fact that free and open communication is the only way to grow this world into a better place. I find this article inspiring and hoe others do too.

Submission + - Statistician Cracks Code for Lottery Tickets (lotterypost.com)

Hugh Pickens writes writes: Lottery Post has an interesting story about Mohan Srivastava, an MIT educated statistician who became intrigued by a particular type of scratch-off lottery ticket called an extended-play game — sometimes referred to as a baited hook — that has a tic-tac-toe grid of visible numbers that looks like a miniature spreadsheet. Srivastava discovered a defect in the game: The visible numbers turned out to reveal essential information about the digits hidden under the latex coating. Nothing needed to be scratched off — the ticket could be cracked if you figured out the secret code. Srivastava's fundamental insight was that the apparent randomness of the scratch ticket was just a facade, a mathematical lie because the software that generates the tickets has to precisely control the number of winners while still appearing random. "It wasn't that hard," says Srivastava. "I do the same kind of math all day long."

Comment Re:News For Nerds (Score 1) 290

I think is thouches on the question of what can be owned. Can you own the building blocks of life? That question is similar to the question, can you own ideas (patents). I think both are important and related questions to ask. But the bottom line is nerds need water too. We need to think about if we have secured our future water rights.

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