14 Sep 2009
How to Get Rich Off the Weather

This isn't a "commodity exchange". It's a casino.

Did you know you can invest in the weather? It's true. You can actually make money speculating that the temperature in Sacramento, California, will be warmer than it normally is. If that's too dull for your portfolio, you can put money down on the inches of snowfall next winter in Boston, Massachusetts, or the strength of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

(link) [CNN]

21:28 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Fake video dramatically alters eyewitness accounts

I believe it. This reminds me of the tale of a math test given, where students had to show their work, but were given calculators to "double check" themselves. Of course, they were given rigged machines, designed to subtly return wrong answers.

The students trusted the calculators more than their own work by an astonishing margin.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that fake video evidence can dramatically alter people's perceptions of events, even convincing them to testify as an eyewitness to an event that never happened.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

21:25 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Computer engineers 'most likely to crash'

Gosh, I wonder where I fit in?

Computer engineers have the worst road accident records while farmers are the safest drivers, it has been disclosed.

(link) [The telegraph]

07:06 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link