Simon

"Double-click on someone, and you're instantly logged in as them." [...] "It's extremely common for websites to protect your password by encrypting the initial login, but surprisingly uncommon for websites to encrypt everything else. This leaves the cookie (and the user) vulnerable.On an open wireless network, cookies are basically shouted through the air, making these attacks extremely easy." - Simon

ouch. Liking for the bump, but obviously not liking the tool. - Private Sanjeev

the list of known sites: amazon basecamp bitly cisco cnet dropbox enom evernote facebook flickr foursquare github google gowalla hackernews harvest live nytimes pivotal sandiego_toorcon slicemanager tumblr twitter wordpress yahoo yelp... I'd expect this list to grow, ouch. Logging-in from Palo Alto cafes is a high risk activity now. There are few exceptions from this list I'm aware of though: GMail offers an https-only setting and Dropbox sets secure cookie flag. - eugenio

"Q: What if one of your children says, “Mom, I have to have an iPod?” A: I have gotten that argument — “You may have a Zune.”" - Simon

I wonder if they are permitted to use Google. - Simon

Great headline :) - Simon

"Iin Europe there is hardly a policy maker to be found who is making the argument that governments need to spend more, not less. [...] “In the U.S., central bank memory is ingrained in the Depression, while in the U.K. it is being bailed out by the I.M.F.,”" - Simon

Here's the other graph that includes defense spending: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog... - Simon

Based on the graphs, Keynesians should favor republican presidents (for right now). - Private Sanjeev

Yeah, and Tea Partiers should favor the Democrats :) - Simon

A few photos from Hong Kong and Singapore last week. - Simon

"General Motors has consistently described the 2011 Chevrolet Volt as a pure electric vehicle with a range-extending on-board gas engine/generator. Today we learned that, in fact, there are instances where the gas engine will contribute motive force to move the car along, which technically makes the Volt a plug-in hybrid, not a pure EV." - Simon

Of all places, it's strange to first encounter it in a nation where Indian and Chinese cultures seem so mixed. - Simon

That is weird, which hotel? - Private Sanjeev

The Mandarin Oriental. Happened when we checked in, and for each of our meals here. They are all really friendly and genuine, and each time it appears to be an honest mistake. - Simon

(10^10)^10 - Simon

"Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection. But the Cranicks did not pay. This fire went on for hours. They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond." - Simon

According to Flickr, Nikon has one dominant dSLR model: the d90. The Canon dSLR graph is more varied: http://www.flickr.com/cameras... - Simon

"This is mechanically separated chicken. ... because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be soaked in ammonia. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color." - Simon

Great snopes link Glen, thanks! - Simon

"The point is that recent events have actually amounted to a fairly clear test of Keynesian versus classical economics — and Keynesian economics won, hands down." - Simon

I'm pretty sure they are both wrong at various levels since they are both simplified models of reality. - Simon

I learned that the hard way during a crowded house party at night in the US. I saw a light switch just outside the restroom. I ended up turning the hallway lights on and shutting myself in a dark restroom. - Simon

If it's hard to find a light switch in a dark room, the usual solution is to put a little neon lamp inside the switch so it glows when it's off. I believe it's called a "pilot light". - Gabe

"Yahoo came in with an offer to buy Yelp for $750 million – $200 million more than Google had offered. Yelp, via their investment bank, asked Google if they wanted to match it. Google declined, and one source says they didn’t actually believe that there actually was a competing offer. Here’s where things got interesting. The Yelp management team apparently refused to work for Yahoo and wanted to take the Google offer." - Simon

In England, on November 5th, we mark the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 by having a large bonfire and burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes. There are lots of fireworks and generally merriment. - Simon

It's also where the word "guy" comes from. The event led to the use of the word "guy" as a term for any "person of grotesque appearance" and then to a general reference for a man. - Simon

"The judge ruled that police officers shouldn't have an expectation of privacy when engaged in a traffic stop -- "Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public. When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation."" - Simon

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life." - Simon

I got 2 wrong, but I heard about this quiz on NPR, so I already had the answers to a couple of other questions on the quiz. - April Buchheit

I also got 2 wrong - I didn't know who Maimonides was, or about the First Great Awakening. - Robert Felty

I also missed 4. The same ones as Rob plus some. - Clare Dibble

"The USPTO are seeking input from the public about how that guidance should be structured. Normally when the USPTO solicits feedback like this, they hear almost exclusively from patent attorneys who have a vested interest in making sure that patents are granted as broadly as possible. The USPTO should hear from software users and developers, who acutely feel the effects of software patents. If you're a U.S. citizen, please write to the USPTO at [email protected] and tell them that their new guidance should include a strong stand against software patents." - Simon

"But many of the tea-partiers have invented a strangely ahistorical version of it. For example, they say that the framers’ aim was to check the central government and protect the rights of the states. In fact the constitution of 1787 set out to do the opposite: to bolster the centre and weaken the power the states had briefly enjoyed under the new republic’s Articles of Confederation of 1777. When history is turned into scripture and men into deities, truth is the victim. The framers were giants, visionaries and polymaths. But they were also aristocrats, creatures of their time fearful of what they considered the excessive democracy taking hold in the states in the 1780s. They did not believe that poor men, or any women, let alone slaves, should have the vote. Many of their decisions, such as giving every state two senators regardless of population, were the product not of Olympian sagacity but of grubby power-struggles and compromises." - Simon

One of the most surreal Google promotional videos I've seen. - Simon

I don't know how this was developed, but the end effect is that I'll never say: "Pizza, Sunnyvale California" into my phone, ever again. Pizza. - no name

"The United States is the fattest nation among 33 countries with advanced economies. The countries with the highest overweight and obesity rates after the USA are Mexico and Chile, says the report from the OECD. Countries with the fastest obesity growth rates: the United States, Australia and England, the report says." - Simon

GO USA! GO USA! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! - Amit Patel

"A circa 1908 ( possibly earlier) 35mm lens. Still functioning, mostly brass, and not nearly as much dust or fungus as one would think after sitting in a box for over a hundred years." - Simon