May 14, 2014

As of 219 AM EDT, Winter Weather statements in parts of TX, NM, CO, KS, NE, IA, MN, ND, SD and OK

May 14, 2014

Anyone still having problems accessing DU ?

Here is my understanding, so please correct me if I'm incorrect.

1- CenturyLink seems to be the culprit in many cases.
2- I believe Elad said the DU ISP is talking to Centurylink
3- DU servers are working ok now, per Elad.
4- Not sure what's going on with DNS servers nationwide or world-wide.

May 14, 2014

gonna be interesting to see how discussionist.com goes....

Hosts, if this is not ok for Lounge, I'll be happy to delete.

May 13, 2014

As of 1209 AM EDT, Severe Thunderstorm warnings in parts of IL and PA

May 12, 2014

Germans Fight Neo-Nazis by Liking Their Facebook Page and Flooding It With Love

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/germans-fight-neo-nazis-liking-their-facebook-page-and-flooding-it-love-157516


Sadly, there's still a Nazi presence in Germany. Recently, an organization named Laut Gegen Nazis, or Loud Against Nazis, decided to combat the hate with lots of love—or rather, lots of likes.

On International Holocaust Memorial Day, the group encouraged a diverse group of Germans (recruited by ad agency Jung Von Matt/Elbe) to like the NDP (the country's neo-Nazi party) on Facebook and then swarm the page with positive, anti-racist messages like "For a colorful Germany." According to the case study below, more than 100,000 protesters participated in the "Like Attack," and the ensuing coverage generated some 7 million media impressions.

While it's a little unfortunate that participants had to take an action that, on its face, expressed enthusiasm for an awful political presence, the irony is obvious enough to anyone with a brain, and makes for a relatively small evil as a means for raising broader awareness of the issue.

Plus, there's the rich history in social movements of loving your enemies instead of hating them, including the work of revolutionary giants like Martin Luther King Jr.—even if the "Like Attack" doesn't have quite as much depth as some of his thoughts on the subject.

May 12, 2014

Plugging In Your Brain and Body – The Future Of Implanted Computers

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/plugging-brain-body-future-implanted-computers/

Imagine a world where people buy products at the store by waving a hand near a sensor, where people “think” up a business report at work rather than typing one up, and where an augmented-reality gets projected in front of our eyes with specialty contact lenses. These ideas are closer to reality than you may realize.

It was only the 1980s and 1990s when science fiction movies portrayed people using handheld devices to navigate city streets or pinpoint one’s own location on Earth. These movies had characters who would state questions to a disembodied computer, which would intelligently provide the answers. They showed families having video-chat calls using flat-panel displays that made the tech geeks of the 1980?s drool.

In barely three decades, many of the things that science fiction writers could only imagine have become reality. Had someone predicted that these technologies would become reality this quickly, they would have been laughed at. Today, no one is laughing.

With the current trend of technical innovation and advancement, now is a good time to explore the state of the art in computer-human technologies, to try and gauge what the world may look like in the next 20 or 30 years.

May 12, 2014

For Firefox users having trouble with DU, troubleshooting tip here:

Websites don't load - troubleshoot and fix error messages

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-dont-load-troubleshoot-and-fix-errors

May 12, 2014

Ever been to Australia (or live there) ?

I have, in 1995. I was there for a week. I saw Sydney, Bondi Beach, Hunter Valley and Canberra. The people were great and generally warm. I never saw a kangaroo, which I am told is typical unless you go to the Outback (much further inland). I saw one Aborigine (I think that's the correct term) playing his digeridoo at the Sydney Harbor Quay (I think that was the place). In Canberra, it was interesting seeing the Australian Parliament and all the embassy buildings. Bondi Beach is very much like our beaches in Florida. Sydney was fun, very cosmopolitan.

How about yourself ?

*hopes people enjoy these quasi-travelogue threads*

May 12, 2014

As of 1120 AM EDT, Severe Thunderstorm warnings in parts of IL and WI

May 12, 2014

Network/IT people, please come help this thread in W&H.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12568756

Skinner and Elad are on the case as well. Thank you kindly.

Steve