A database full of information like this can't help but be abused, especially in conjunction with location data. Any individual could be targeted accurately for any purpose by whomever holds this data.

Hell, this algorithm is probably better equipped to recognize individuals than some people (myself included) are.

Thanks! Didn't see that post until I already had this one up

I agree with this perception of Republicans as watchdogs, and I didn't even realize how much until you put it into words. Their staunch skepticism on policy changes often gives legislators much needed time to mull things over.

However, it also leads to things like the ACA, where special interests overtake the constituents' desires, and government shutdowns. Their potential for nationalistic radicalization can also get a bit too real sometimes for my tastes.

Fascinating tool! I wish it enabled one to search for anything other than the preselected topics though. Something like this could be extremely beneficial for cutting through media bias.

Thank you for a whole new category of dazzle pictures to look at!

Such a perfect clip! I just realized that I probably missed everything last time I watched that movie and it's time for a rewatch.

if the Soviets could hide it so easily surely the Americans must be, too.

By this thought process, could it maybe be that the Soviets were waiting for the Americans to reveal they knew something first?

I imagine the secrecy would make the threat of their use seem more likely, and thus a stronger deterrent once eventually uncovered by their enemies. It added to the "crazy enough to do it" factor even into today.

On top of that, a huge smoking gun like that could even serve as bait for enemy spies to potentially reveal themselves. I really do find it hard to believe that no other country caught a whiff of any of this, save for the 1979 anthrax outbreak.

It's called dazzle makeup if you want to search for more examples and information. The concept is based on dazzle camouflage, which provided some equally interesting paint jobs for ships.

You should be able to disable auto-update for recommended updates and keep your current OS. That said, you might want to stay up to date with the other updates you'll be opting out of because sometimes not updating breaks things.

edit: or check out bhrgunatha's link in this thread

or one willfully evil

This is definitely of greater concern to me than an accident occurring.

However, it's comforting to know there are at least ten people standing in the way of an accident rather than the two or three I've always pictured.

If you need to experiment and derive vaccines against an organism, your best results will come from the actual organism, rather than a convenient model of that organism.

Very true. I still wonder how beneficial an unmodified strain would be in creating a vaccine for a weaponized one, but I also know too little to form a decent conjecture.

I never realized how reasonable modern concerns about biological warfare were until reading about Rihab Taha and Biopreparat just now. It always seemed like a bogeyman to me when I was growing up. Honestly, I'm just now waking up to a lot of the lingering effects of the cold war since I was only born around the time that the wall fell. Thanks for guiding me to some juicy (and morbidly terrifying) links.

Additionally, (as I learned from this video) the vaccine for smallpox doesn't even require the virus itself, but rather cowpox; So keeping smallpox samples on hand doesn't even provide benefit as a defensive measure.

This one was my favorite:

The occasional p value asterisks really don't make up for the error bars though.

I'm torn on this one. Living in a world where anyone and everyone has this sort of profiling power sounds entirely dystopian. On the other hand, governments and businesses have been using these tools for years with increasing efficacy.

Unfortunately, average people having this power in the form of an app does little to nothing to offset the overreaches of those more powerful.

It might make fashion a little more interesting though

I hadn't seen Trump's site since it essentially just said "I'll build a wall!" It has become far more entertaining since then.

An example from the Israel video:

"I love you Israel ... I want to remain as neutral as possible"

Worth some laughs, shortly followed by abject terror when one tries to calculate how many people he's already convinced with this kind of tosh.

Hillary has some pretty good causes on her issues list, but several/most of them smack of doublespeak and special interests. ("Campaign finance reform"? Give me a break.)

The Sanders issue list really does stand out as heartfelt and informative.

Very good find - thanks for the reading material!