Yes, I think that’s hail clattering against the windows. I don’t think I’ll be walking to lunch today

Yes, I think that’s hail clattering against the windows. I don’t think I’ll be walking to lunch today. It’s probably not much colder outside than the in cafe downstairs, but the cafe won’t be as wet. And it’s less likely that something will fall on my head.

—

Wow. That one was close enough to rattle windows and set off car alarms.

Hazards of April Fools by email: I started reading the latest EFFector newsletter, not realizing it had arrived on April 1, and the first story was almost believable:

Hazards of April Fools by email: I started reading the latest EFFector newsletter, not realizing it had arrived on April 1, and the first story was almost believable:

MPAA Announces Kickstarter Campaign for Film Decrying Internet’s Impact on Creative Works

In a statement posted on its WordPress blog this week, the MPAA announced that it will respond to the Internet’s “destructive” effect on creative works with a new PSA, to be funded on the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. “Rampant content theft — or as we call it, creativity murder — makes it impossible to promote ideas online,” according to a Tweet from MPAA chairman Chris Dodd. “For a pledge of $50, backers will receive an exclusive DVD copy of ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’ in 3D.

The rest of them were a little more obvious.

Understand your privacy settings.

Always remember: your public information really is public, and even if no one creepy is looking for you specifically, there’s always a possibility they could be looking for someone like you. (Remember the “please rob me” site that reposted location-enabled tweets?)

Be sure you understand your privacy settings, especially with anything that tells the world where you are right now.

This Creepy App Isn’t Just Stalking Women Without Their Knowledge, It’s A Wake-Up Call About Facebook Privacy

If so-and-so had written X

I’m rarely impressed by those “If so-and-so had written X” jokes that simply plug in plot points or character traits from one of their well-known works. It’s lazy, and it implies that authors are only capable of creating one type of story. If you’re going to do something like that, take 20 minutes to think about some of their other work and pick out some common elements. 20 minutes on Wikipedia, folks – that can’t be asking too much.

Flashpoint wasn’t originally going to be a reboot

It’s been stated that Flashpoint wasn’t originally going to be a reboot, and it’s been stated that Dan Didio has wanted to do a reboot as far back as Infinite Crisis. (I think that plan ended up morphing into “One Year Later” and 52.)

I have no idea whether Final Crisis was at some point planned to be a reboot or not, though.

Facebook opposes the practice of prospective employers asking for your password. “As a user,…

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/23/1623255/facebook-legal-action-against-employers-asking-for-your-password

Facebook opposes the practice of prospective employers asking for your password.

“As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.”

On Facebook

Constantly astonished at how slow Facebook’s Android app is. If I can’t load the news feed while waiting for an elevator, something’s wrong.

I’m constantly astonished at how slow Facebook’s Android app is. If it can’t load my news feed while *waiting for an elevator*, something’s wrong with it. (And that’s when GPS is off. If GPS is on, it sits even longer trying to figure out where I am, even though it doesn’t actually need the location info.)

Google+ and UberSocial (a third-party Twitter app) are both a lot faster to load content, AND they can both sync in the background, so there’s at least something for me to read more or less instantly. Facebook does have a “refresh interval,” but as near as I can tell it doesn’t do anything, or maybe it’s the interval for checking notifications.

/rant

Mitochondrial Eve

Comment in response to The 10 Most Successful Failures in Geekdom

Apologies in advance for the nitpicking, but this is one of those things that Just Bugs Me(tm), and it seems to come up every time the BSG finale is mentioned.

The “Mitochondrial Eve” concept doesn’t mean everyone else died out. It’s finding a common ancestor based on the fact that we only inherit mitochondria from our mothers.

Start with two families. One has all girls, or a mix of girls and boys. The other has all boys. The mother who has girls? Her grandchildren will inherit her mitochondria. The mother who has all boys? Her mitochondrial line will disappear, even if she has more grandchildren than the first.

One character being Mitochondrial Eve doesn’t mean every other family died out. It just means that over time, each other line had at least one generation of all boys.