homosexuality

A pair of MIT students claim that they have created an algorithm that outs gay members of Facebook by analyzing the sexual orientations of their networks of friends.

The students first analyzed the networks of people who publicized their sexual orientation on Facebook. Turns out that statistically speaking, gay men have more gay friends than straight guys do. So then, they used an algorithm to run the stats on men who kept mum about their sexual orientation on the site. Their computer program was able to correctly identify 10 men whom the students personally knew to be gay in the real world but who hadn't shared that fact on Facebook.

Imagine life in a cardboard box -- but without the smell of urine and stale body odor of a bum's home, and with a whole lot more accoutrements. A Dutch ad agency works in an office where all the furniture is made of cardboard. People are encouraged to doodle but, presumably, asked to be very, very careful about spilt coffee. And if you're wondering how much joy they can get from the employees get from their surroundings, just ask your cat to explain the sublime pleasure of, say, hiding in a box, to say nothing of shredding those corrugated scratching posts.

Also in today's links: explaining chimp attacks, preventing terrorist attacks, attacking illicit duck love and more.