You Know You’ve Committed Perjury If…

… your testimony is laughable… literally. From the Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm, Sweden (aka record companies v “illegal” music downloaders):

Pirate Bay Defense Attorney: Would people have purchased every music track they got free from file sharing?

John Kennedy IFPI CEO: Yes

Courtroom: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah

I’m speechless. Obviously the college kid who gets $50/week allowance from his parents but has a hard drive with 1 million downloaded songs could not have purchased every track he acquired “illegally.” This kind of closed-minded arrogance expressed by Mr. Kennedy’s testimony (that he knows full well to be false) is exactly why the archaic record companies are and should be struggling.

This Makes Me Happy Part XIII

André Rieu (waltz’s version of Michael Flatley) and his Johann Strauss Orchestra performing  The Second Waltz by Dmitri Shostakovich.  It gets going at the 0:35 mark

This Makes Me Happy Part XII

video credit here

The Second Amendment

(Picture taken from a friend’s Facebook page, make your own Motivational here)

Update: Answer for “Can You Solve This”

To review, below is a puzzle from an IQ test for “geniuses.”  The full question, explanation and its 8 multiple choice answers can be found in the original post.

@@%    -     &&@       -     %&&

%&@     –     @&%      -     %@@

%&&      –     %%@     -     @&%

-             -              -

&@%     -     &@%     -     &@%

&@&      -     &%@     -     @&&

%%@    -     @&%     -     %@%

-              -              -

%&%     -     %@&     -       ???

@&@     -     %&%     -       ???

&@%     -     &@@     -       ???

-              -              -

Now, here’s how to solve it.

First, “solve” simply means to choose the correct answer out of the eight possible choices given.  You do not have to “prove” the puzzle (we will get to that later for extra credit points) which would be to produce the correct answer without the aid of potential answer choices.

This distinction is very important because in “solving” a puzzle process of elimination (POE) is your best friend.  What does that mean?  It means the answer choices are just as useful as the puzzle itself.

With that said, let’s get to work!

Take a cursory glance at the puzzle.  Anything jump out at you?  Not really?  Of course not, this is supposed to be hard!  Ok, let’s think for a second.  What we’re really trying to do is find some pattern that repeats itself throughout the 8 3×3 boxes.  Realistically there are probably many patterns (again, this is supposed to be hard) but let’s start with trying to find just one.

What is a necessary characteristic of patterns?  Repetition.  Do you see any repetition of symbols or groups of symbols?  I don’t.  Okay there are a few patterns (two that I see) but not one that could solve the puzzle on its own.

Another common pattern type for these kinds of questions is rotation.  For example, what appears in the bottom right corner moves to the bottom left, then upper left and so on.  Are there any instances of rotation in the question above?  Nope.

So we’ve spent about a minute on the question itself, looking for any obvious clues and have not found much of anything.  No problem.  Let’s look at the answer choices.

A.          B.             C.           D.

%%@    %@@     %@@     &&@

&&%      %&@      %&@     &@%

@@&     &%&       &&%      @%%

E.           F.              G.           H.

&%@     %@@     @@@     &%%

%@%    %%@     %%%    &&@

&&@      &&&        &&&       %@@

Do any of these choices seem clearly wrong?  I certainly hope so.  Consider “G”.  There isn’t one instance of the same character repeating throughout one row or column anywhere in the puzzle above.  Thus, it’s pretty unlikely each row in the answer would be made up of one character.  Make sense?

More on the same point.  Does it seem odd there are no cases of one character making up an entire row or column in the puzzle?  Well, kind of.

Think about it: each box has 3 rows and 3 columns, making 6 chances for one character to make up a row or column.  There are 8 boxes.   8×6=48, thus there are 48 chances in the entire puzzle for one character to make up an entire row or column.  3 characters for 3 spaces = 27 possible combinations, in 3 of which one character makes up an entire row/column, a 1:9 probability:

AAA     BBB     CCC

AAB     BBA     CCA

ABB     BAA     CAA

ABA     BAB     CAC

AAC     BBC     CCB

ACC     BCC     CBB

ACA     BCB     CBC

ABC     BAC     CAB

ACB     BCA     CBA

Thus, if the characters were arranged randomly there would be 5-6 instances on average in which one symbol would make up an entire row or column in the puzzle above.  In our case there are 0.  There’s 1.5% chance of that happening if the characters were indeed random. Aha!

The fact the chance of one characteristic of our puzzle (no rows or columns made up of only one character) occurring under normal circumstances is nearly 1:100 is not a coincidence or a chance happening.  It’s a pattern, and we can eliminate any answer choices that do not comply with this pattern – G and F are gone.

Let’s take this a step further.  What about one character repeated like @@& – two in a row so to speak?  I’m not going to do the math again but suffice it to say in a random group this would be a VERY common occurrence.  In our puzzle it only happens 12 times (from left to right, top to bottom) 2 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, 1 in the 6th, and 2 in the 8th.

So we’re seeing a common theme emerge – the puzzle involves abnormally random patterns. If we assume the answer follows the same rules (which is a pretty safe assumption) it follows the answer will be equally “random.”

With that in mind let’s take another look at the remaining answer choices.  A, C, D and H all look fairly unlikely too.  A has 3 consecutive “two in a rows”, C has two L shaped connected two in a row patterns which don’t appear anywhere in the puzzle, H has the same thing and so does D plus a diagonal line of @’s.  Given the extremely unusual (statistically speaking) lack of repetition and symmetry found in the puzzle it is very unlikely any of these answers are correct.

That leaves us with B and E.  They are both sufficiently random but B has the same L pattern that was grounds for dismissing A, C, D and H (albeit they each have two L’s while B only has one), while E does not.

Thus, if you had to answer this question in a limited amount of time E would be the most reasonable choice.  Why?  Because there is a pattern throughout all 8 boxes in the puzzle and although we don’t have time to figure out exactly what that pattern is, we do know one of the characteristics of this pattern is a decidedly not random, “random” grouping of symbols.  E is the answer choice that most closely mirrors this “random” grouping so that is – or at least appears to be – the most reasonable answer.

And guess what?  It’s the right one too!  That’s all for now, I’ll post a proof for the puzzle later this week.

Can You Solve This?

This is a question from an IQ test for geniuses (IQs above 140-160), cited in Malcom Gladwell’s new book Outliers.  It’s not a fair test of intelligence but it’s a fun puzzle to try your hand at.  I rearranged the answer choices from the book so if you’ve already read it but didn’t stop to solve the question you’re in luck!

It  took me 2-3 minutes to solve but 30 minutes to prove.  Post your one letter answer in the comments section (if you dare) I’ll put up the answer with both proofs – short and long version – first thing Tuesday morning.

Below are 9 3×3 boxes, 3 across and 3 down, 8 filled with symbols and one left blank.  The “-” signify nothing, I added them for clarity.  In the real question @ = clubs, % = diamonds, & = hearts but that is irrelevant.  Your job is to choose the answer that completes the series.

@@%    -     &&@       -     %&&

%&@     –     @&%      -     %@@

%&&      –     %%@     -     @&%

-             -              -

&@%     -     &@%     -     &@%

&@&      -     &%@     -     @&&

%%@    -     @&%     -     %@%

-              -              -

%&%     -     %@&     -       ???

@&@     -     %&%     -       ???

&@%     -     &@@     -       ???

-              -              -

A.

%%@

&&%

@@&

B.

%@@

%&@

&%&

C.

%@@

%&@

&&%

D.

&&@

&@%

@%%

E.

&%@

%@%

&&@

F.

%@@

%%@

&&&

G.

@@@

%%%

&&&

H.

&%%

&&@

%@@

The Coolest Moment in the History of Apple Computers

For the Record

The financial and auto bailouts are bad.  They will stagnate innovation in the American Auto industry and negatively impact our economy for years to come.

If you are less than 5-10 years into saving for retirement (depending on your investment strategy) you should not be in the stock market.  Pay down all debts (including mortgages and student loans unless you have a fixed rate below 5%), then invest in real estate.  Some people will make a killing on the current market but the casual investor will lose.

Update 1/7/09: Or buy Yahoo stock, it’s currently trading at $12.71.

It is excellent we have a change of leadership in America but there is a risk of swinging too far to the other (Democratic) side in response to the stain Bush left on the Republican party.  Both parties have flaws and as I wrote in an earlier post it is important to cast votes based on people and issues NOT parties.

An example of this already happening is the election of Senator Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire over incumbent Republican John Sununu.  You can watch the debate here but one of my favorite Shaheen sound bites is (paraphrased):

Moderator: Can you give an example of an issue you support that may be unpopular in the polls

Shaheen: Global warming

Moderator: That seems like a fairly popular issue to me

Shaheen: Well I don’t really pay attention to polls

(a video of this is here)

Disclosure: I am friends with the Sununu family.

That is all for now.  If you have questions or objections to any of these positions I will answer them in the comments section.

The Face of the Recession in Silicon Valley

(A take-off of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues music video)

Uhhh… Yeah So This Really Happened

John Balcerzak is a police officer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and president of the Milwaukee Police Association. In 1991, he was fired for having handed over an injured victim to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, despite the victim’s protests.

Balcerzak and his partner Joseph Gabrish discovered the victim, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, after he had managed to escape from Dahmer’s apartment. Though the Laotian immigrant had been in the country for ten years and spoke English fluently, in his drugged and brain-injured state, Konerak was unable to communicate his situation to authorities. Dahmer found the boy with the police and convinced them that the boy was his 19-year-old lover. Two African-American women, Sandra Smith and Nicole Childress, were convinced that Sinthasomphone’s life was in peril and tried to save the boy. However, Balcerzak and his partner chose to believe Dahmer and allowed him to keep Sinthasomphone. Dahmer later sexually abused, killed, and dismembered the boy.

Balcerzak and Gabrish were terminated from the Milwaukee Police Department after their actions were widely publicized, including an audiotape of the officers making homophobic statements to their dispatcher and cracking jokes about having reunited the “lovers”. The officers had never checked the boy’s ID because they said he appeared to be 19 years old. The officers did not check Dahmer’s identification; had they done so, they would have discovered that Dahmer was a sex offender previously convicted for molesting Sinthasomphone’s older brother^.

Both officers later appealed their termination, won, and were reinstated with back pay. Balcerzak and Gabrish were named “officers of the year” by their local union, the Milwaukee Police Association, for fighting a “righteous” battle to regain their jobs.

In May 2005, Balcerzak was elected president of the Milwaukee Police Association, defeating Sebastian Raclaw by a vote of 521 to 453. As president, he has been criticized for failing to protect officers from mandatory overtime and not supporting African-American officer Alfonzo Glover, who was charged with homicide and later committed suicide. By June 2006, the union vice president had resigned because of disagreements with Balcerzak’s “style of leadership.” A petition to remove Balcerzak was filed and a recall election was held in August 2006. The results were 213 for a recall and 397 to retain him.

To review: known sex offender rapes boy. Cop makes gay jokes, hands back boy to rapist. Rapist murders boy. Cop gets elected head of Police Association. Cop is still head of Police Association today.

Sources:
Wikipedia
U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
New York Times