Disqus - Latest Comments for fumf

Re: Google says it loses $1 billion a year to false ad clicks

fumf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:50:47 -0000

Well my perspective is different, while I agree with most of what you said.
The company I work for uses Adwords extensively (spending 6 figures a year) and we've had problems with fraud. In fact, we don't even use content ads anymore. If you recall, last year Google settled a $90 million lawsuit, which we received a small amount of. However, the money we received was only in Adwords credit. It was also a very small amount, not even enough to cover a day of advertising costs. Today we still pay for fraudulent clicks. In the end I feel the people that pay for Adwords lose the most from click fraud. Google earns money from click fraud at the cost of their reputation, which is really their only incentive to battle it.

link about Google's fraud settlement: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060308-1...

Re: YouTube - Egg on Odd end(part3)

fumf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:06:19 -0000

I still have trouble believing it! I mean which timezone do you pick midnight? Also, it seems other people can stand eggs at various other times of the year. Check out this link: http://www.allanstime.com/UnifiedFieldTheory/eg...

"On several occasions, I observed the egg go through a series of tiny damped oscillations as it would find its point of maximum stability — disproving the tripod theory. I found no significant difference as to whether I sanded smooth the bottom of the eggs or not. We were able to keep one of the eggs standing from 25 September to 23 December with the momentary exceptions when it was bumped over by some significant perturbation; and I would stand it up usually quite quickly. Toward the end of the three months, it became increasingly difficult to stand up this particular egg.

I found a similar attribute with another egg. I was able to keep it standing for about three weeks; but then I could not get it to stand at all. Apparently, as an egg ages, its electron conductivity changes.

Also, I noticed that warm eggs tend to stand better than cold eggs."

Re: Google says it loses $1 billion a year to false ad clicks

fumf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:22:31 -0000

Good points. As far as I'm aware there is no way to verify through Google Adwords or Adsense, which clicks they deem as fraudulent. They could be saying certain clicks are invalid to the Adsense suppliers, while not reimbursing their Adwords customers. Like I said in the first response, we haven't received any refunds since the settlement, so I'm not really sure how they are dealing with click fraud. Maybe we aren't being charged for those clicks. However, we always reach our maximum daily budget. Since the price per click varies, and thus the daily amount of clicks we receive for the same amount of money varies, I don't really know how to verify if Google is reimbursing us.

Re: YouTube - Egg on Odd end(part3)

fumf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:25:20 -0000

Green eggs and spam night! I wonder if the moon's gravitational pull can affect the experiment.

Re: Lights Out San Francisco

fumf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:37:08 -0000

Screw you San Fransisco hippies! Pittsburgh, PA has a festival of lights, which was actually extended this year, to celebrate wasting energy.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news...

Re: allDAY : ‘Don’t Tase Me, Bro!’

fumf — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:56:02 -0000

Found this counter perspective of right-wing thought that I found interesting:
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/17/student-ta...
(Michelle Malkin is an Asian Ann Coulter -- -- beware right wing bias)

So I went to the John Kerry town hall forum this morning trying to get students registered to vote. I run a student government organization called Chomp the Vote. Anyway I went inside to watch the event. Senator Kerry took the podium and began delivering a speech about the Middle East, Iraq, dimplomacy, etc. Anyway, after he was done, a university ambassador asked Kerry a few premade questions. Once that was over, Senator Kerry announced he would take questions from the students. There were two
microphones placed on each side of the aisle. One on my side and the other on Andrew Meyer’s side. Senator Kerry began answering the student’s questions from each aisle. Eventually it was announced that there would only be a few more questions answered. Since Meyer and I were both in the back of each line, it did not seem likely that our questions would be answered.

However, while Senator Kerry was responding to a student’s question, all of a sudden Meyer rushed to the microphone with cops in pursuit. At that point no one knew what was going on. Could he have a gun, a bomb? Immediately, Meyer began yelling into the microphone that he had been waiting in line forever and that Senator Kerry should “spend time to answer everyone’s questions!” Senator Kerry tried to calm the student down by telling him that he would “stay here as long as it takes to get the questions answered.” The police approached Meyer who began taunting them by saying “what! are you going to taser me? are you going to arrest me?!” The police grabbed Meyer, but Senator Kerry asked the
police to let him go and that he would answer his question. Senator Kerry finished answering the other student’s question and then proceeded with Meyer. (*This entire scene is not in any video I can find so far. This is why 2 cops are seen right behind Meyer at the start of some videos*).

Meyer approached the microphone and began to talk about a book he had which stated that Kerry won the 2004 election because of disenfranchisement of black voters and faulty voter machines that produced “Bush” as the winner. He then posed another question about why President Bush had not been impeached. “President Clinton was impeached because of a blowjob, why not Bush?”. The third and strangest question he posed to Senator Kerry was asking him if he was part of the skull and bones society with Bush at
Yale. Meyer’s mic cut off after that, probably because he had mentioned the word “blowjob”. The cops grabbed him, but Meyer was able to get away several times. Eventually more cops were brought in to help subdue Meyer. Meyer continued to resist arrest, scream, curse; however he was enventually subdued by about six cops up around the entrance. As he is on the ground, he is told several times to put his hands around his back. He is also warned that he will be tasered if he does not comply. Eventually he is tasered twice. The video does not show whether he complied or not.

Senator Kerry was trying to answer his question to the audience, mostly the one about faulty voter machines. I am a die hard conservative Republican but I do respect Senator Kerry for trying to soothe the situation as best he could and trying not to escalate the situation. He DID intervene by letting the student at least present his question. I never received an opportunity to ask my question, but when Senator Kerry ended the show after the Meyer incident, he did come off stage to shake hands and give autographs. At that point, I was able to ask him my question, shake his hand, and get a autograph at the same time. Now why couldn’t Andrew Meyer do that?

I don’t know if this is relevant or not, but Andrew Meyer is a former sports writer for the school newspaper The Alligator. In his columns, he has been known to make ridiculous statements in order to gain attention for himself. Was today a publicity stunt?

Regardless, the videoclip I saw shows a student getting tasered and he wasn't breaking the law. Meanwhile Kerry had it within his power to stop the police. In addition, I would have liked to have heard an answer.

Re: YouTube - EDITED John Kerry Speech UF Student Andrew Meyer Tasered

fumf — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:05:40 -0000

Check this out:
link

To students, faculty, staff:

I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.

We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:

*University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.

*Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

*We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.

*Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.

*Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.

I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.

Sincerely,
J. Bernard Machen [president, UF]

Re: YouTube - Analysis of tasered UF student; hushed talk

fumf — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:59:37 -0000

Found out who the guy is:

"Accent Speaker’s Bureau president, Stephen Blank (in some videos, front row left side of right aisle), signals the AV guys to cut Meyer off."

Re: YouTube - Analysis of tasered UF student; hushed talk

fumf — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:00:11 -0000

sorry the above quote is from http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/17/student-ta...

(4th or 5th comment down)

Re: FOXNews.com - Senate Votes to Condemn MoveOn for Ad Attacking General Petraeus

fumf — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:50:50 -0000

interesting... regardless, i can't believe they even bothered voting and i can't believe it's actually being attached to a legal document

Re: YouTube - Analysis of tasered UF student; hushed talk

fumf — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:52:09 -0000

well it has SOMETHING to do with free speech, since he was cut off from speaking... and then tasered. However, it wasn't the government that cut him off from speaking and I understand the sentiment that this event doesn't really relate to the first amendment.

Re: Tough US welcome for Iran’s Ahmadinejad - Yahoo! News

fumf — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:46:43 -0000

Can you provide an example of the Holocaust being used to get people riled up against Iran? Unless you are referring to Ahmadinejad saying that the Holocaust is a myth, which seems like something that people should speak out against. As far as I'm aware people aren't talking about the Holocaust and Iran (in the US) except when they are responding to Ahmadinejad's comments.

Re: Elections Say the Darndest Things: Lieberman Senate Opponents Receive Exact Same Number of Votes in 2006 as in 2000…

fumf — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:29:01 -0000

Pretty odd, I have trouble believing those graphs. Did you notice that the percentage is inaccurate in the second graph? 0% for the 4th and 5th runners up? The first graph has decimal points for the percentage, whereas the second graph is obviously rounding.

Re: O’Reilly: Tasered UF student “biggest wimp in the United States of America”

fumf — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:59:50 -0000

"Just do what the police tell you and nobody gets hurt"... just like David Snyder?

Re: Israel lifts veil of silence over Syria strike (sort of)

fumf — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:39:33 -0000

I don't know enough about the legality of 'being at war' but from wikipedia:

Under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen are enemy countries[120] and Israeli citizens may not visit them without permission from the Ministry of the Interior.

Don't know if Iraq is still on the list... wikipedia could be outdated.

Re: Austrian judge: Chimps aren’t people - USATODAY.com

fumf — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:16:12 -0000

This is a hilarious example of the stupidity of some animal rights activists that believe animals are equal to humans. I mean seriously, what are they trying to do? Get the chimp to pay taxes and vote?

Re: Former Riggs Bank located next door to White House

fumf — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:24:34 -0000

this threw me off a bit, because it says the building was completed in 1901, when the civil war took place in 1861, but after some research it appears the bank started in 1836. Also interesting note - "Corcoran & Riggs financed Samual Morse's invention of the telegraph in 1845, one of several notable backings in its history. The bank also lent $16 million to the U.S. government to pay for the Mexican-American War in 1847 and, in 1868, provided $7.2 million in gold towards the purchase of Alaska." (according to wikipedia)

Re: Iran says US too tied up to fight

fumf — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:32:57 -0000

Hi Troll,

I'm having trouble following this comment, so it's hard for me to respond. It looks like proper english, yet the statements aren't relevant. I believe this is the "make nonsense sound smart" strategy.

Alway remember trolls, I C UR I P

Re: Warner Brothers no longer doing movies with women in lead?

fumf — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:13:06 -0000

this is pretty ridiculous, if anything women are better actors than men... or so it seems with all the women i date...

Re: Researchers: 307-digit key crack endangers 1024-bit RSA

fumf — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:05:20 -0000

very cool... although if i had a bot net, i'd make the most realistic 3d simulation of paris hilton's sex tape... speaking of which, have you ever read pattern recognition by william gibson?

Re: Unprecedented Muslim call for peace with Christians

fumf — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:09:34 -0000

I wish all Muslims and Christians felt this way.

Re: NSA’s Lucky Break: How the U.S. Became Switchboard to the World

fumf — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:22:50 -0000

I thought they were already doing this... wait, is the only difference that it'll be legal?

Re: Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:09:24 -0000

I recently read an article about this issue in DISCOVER magazine. In the article they mentioned the very difficult task of keeping track of malaria infections in Africa. The conclusion of the article is DDT probably helps fight malaria, but that's just an educated guess. There are well known negative consequences of DDT, so alternative solutions should be sought, but for now DDT is useful. The main benefit for using DDT is it's extremely cheap compared to other options.

Re: [adult swim] | Shows - Robot Chicken - Star Wars - IVCP

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:40:09 -0000

Yup it was directly aired on Adult Swim

Re: [adult swim] | Shows - Robot Chicken - Star Wars - IVCP

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:41:29 -0000

Also, Family Guy recently did a parody on Star Wars too and supposedly referenced Robot Chicken. I didn't see it though. Seth Green, the creator of Robot Chicken is also a voice actor on Family Guy (the voice of Chris).

Re: Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:47:03 -0000

I haven't heard of mosquitos becoming resistant to DDT but I'll accept that as a true statement. However, wouldn't only certain mosquito populations become tolerant, populations exposed to DDT? I don't think Africa was using DDT in the 60s so it seems that this does not apply to them yet. This is all speculation though. If they do become resistant, then obviously DDT is only a short term solution. I think we should develop & unleash genetically enhanced spiders to solve the problem.

Re: The Poor Will Always Be With Us–Just Not on the TV News

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:51:03 -0000

$20,000/yr for a family of four is the poverty line? That seems like a low number, but I guess it would depend on where you live.

Re: Mecca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

fumf — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:41:30 -0000

yes it's true... found these interesting quotes:

The following is an excerpt outlining the rules and regulations
regarding non muslims visiting Mecca and the consequences

"Charles L. Glatz of the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia researched the
question, “Are there any exceptions and what is the punishment for
visiting Mecca and being caught as not being a moslem?” and the reply
received is the following:

As far as the rules and regulations of Saudi Arabia, there are no
exception for non-Moslems to visit Mecca. Only Moslems and converts to
Islam may visit Mecca. In order to cross from Jeddah to Mecca, a
person must show Saudi police that he or she is Moslem. Proof is a
Saudi igama (residency permit), which lists one's religion, or a hajj
or umrah visa.

If a person is caught who is not Muslim and managed to enter Mecca, he
or she will be arrested and held in detention. On extensive
investigation, the Minister of Interior decides the punishment based
on a recommendation of a Shari'a judge. There is no set punishment for
this offense.

Of course, this dodges the question of a death penalty but as there is
no set penalty and the death penalty is so common in Islam, this is a
possible outcome..."

from answers.google.com
-------------------------------------

n addition, a pilgrimage to Mecca is required of every Muslim who can afford it as one of the Five Pillars of the faith. Every year about three million gather for the major pilgrimage, or Hajj, during the Muslim month of Dhu'l-Hijja, and many more perform the minor pilgrimage, or Umrah, at various times throughout the year.

Few non-Muslims have ever seen the rites and rituals of the Hajj, as non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca and Medina. Roadblocks are stationed along roads leading to the city. The most famous incident of a non-Muslim visiting Mecca was the visit by the British explorer Sir Richard Burton in 1853. Burton disguised himself as an Afghani Muslim to visit and write Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca.

The focal point of Mecca is the Kaaba, the "House of God" believed by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, and which is covered in a gold-embroidered black fabric. Pilgrims circle the Kaaba seven times and may also try to touch or kiss its cornerstone, the Black Stone. Pilgrims may drink from the well of Zamzam. Its water of Zamzam is believed to have special properties. Few pilgrims return from the Hajj without a large plastic bottle of Zamzam water.

During the Hajj pilgrims travel to Mina, a small village, where the Devil, symbolised by stone columns, is ritually stoned. They then proceed to the hill Arafat (sometimes called a mountain, but with a height of only 70 m), a site for prayers, where Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon.

The Masjid al Haram (Sacred Mosque) is for Muslims the holiest mosque on Earth. Both the mosque and the city itself are strictly off limits to non-Muslims.

from religionfacts.com
------------

Re: The Geronimo Manifesto: The Barksdale Nightmare Part One

fumf — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:29:33 -0000

Yea, I'm not entirely convinced about the official explanation either.

Re: WNDU-TV responds to RTFA about Roseland, Indiana attack video

fumf — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:27:41 -0000

I'm glad you brought up the idea of an informed population as a necessity to democracy. I've had similar thoughts, but I offer a question. America is not a democracy but a federal republic. Actually the CIA define our government as "Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition". The reasons I justify having representatives instead of direct voting:

1) The majority is not always right
2) People don't have time to become fully informed, so it should be beneficial to have representatives who's full time job is to be fully informed.
3) There are times when information should be classified to the public, but our representatives should have access to this information.

I think the last point is the most important. My question is, how do you know a representative is voting the way you want based on information you don't have access to?

Re: Asteroid ‘is actually spacecraft’

fumf — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:06:51 -0000

Maybe they've come back for McDonald's.

Re: Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed

fumf — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:07:13 -0000

Thank you for the great comment. I wish there was something I could do to help. Unfortunately, individuals like us have little power. Hopefully being part of the 'media' will do some good. The United States is allied with Saudi Arabia and this needs to be addressed in a government setting. However, our current policy is more concerned with oil than ethics.

Re: Bart Simpson actress gives $10M to Scientology

fumf — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:31:30 -0000

I watched the leaked footage for the 'freedom medal of valor' award show for Tom Cruise last night. That shit scared the hell out of me, especially when Tom Cruise is standing in his black dictator suit wearing his over-sized bling medal pounding the podium with his rigid umbrella hands talking about the coming apocalypse.

Re: OpenDNS > System (also available at http://208.67.219.60/)

fumf — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:33:35 -0000

From this BBC article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7266600.stm

"Essentially, Pakistan Telecom took over some of the net addresses assigned to YouTube.

Crucially the path it offered to this group of addresses was faster than the usual one used by the hardware, or routers, that speed traffic around the internet.

Pakistan Telecom let this address change propagate to the routers of one of its partners - PCCW.

Routers are constantly in search of faster ways to get the data passing through them to its destination so news about this faster path started propagating across many of the net's routers. "

Re: Fox Torture Reality Show inspired by Abu Ghraib and Stanford Prison Experiment

fumf — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:51:47 -0000

WTF?!

Re: Don Murphy “discovers” RTFA!

fumf — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:29:36 -0000

I read his thread and he seems like a typical jackass film producer. Hey Don, I never even heard of you before this mistaken identity "crisis" on wikipedia. The next animation we make will be of Don sucking my ass.

Re: Don Murphy “discovers” RTFA!

fumf — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:27:44 -0000

I contacted anon E mouse and he's in the process of making the animation :) I finally saw a picture of Don and he totally looks like a sleazy film producer. Too bad, I really like his movies.

Re: Don Murphy “discovers” RTFA!

fumf — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:09:46 -0000

the horrid lust pit needs to be fed

Re: BBC NEWS | Americas | Tent city highlights US homes crisis

fumf — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:56:44 -0000

Thank goodness the British report news on the U.S., I haven't heard this in any American news.

Re: Double amputee ruled eligible for Beijing - Other sports- nbcsports.msnbc.com

fumf — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:18:32 -0000

Although you won't take sides, I will. Just as they have the special olympics, they should have a separate one for physically disabled (or enabled) people. I recommend calling it the Ultimate Olympics, but I'm open to suggestions.

Re: Dmitry Medvedev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

fumf — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:25:24 -0000

I keep picturing a pinky at the corner of his mouth