rylyeh's Friends

Can Bad Scientific Practice Be Fixed?

Posted by Papas Fritas on Monday May 25 2015, @08:58PM (#1244)
0 Comments

Richard Horton writes that a recent symposium on the reproducibility and reliability of biomedical research discussed one of the most sensitive issues in science today: the idea that something has gone fundamentally wrong with science (PDF), one of our greatest human creations. The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. According to Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, a United Kingdom-based medical journal, the apparent endemicity of bad research behaviour is alarming. In their quest for telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data to fit their preferred theory of the world or retrofit hypotheses to fit their data.

Can bad scientific practices be fixed? Part of the problem is that no-one is incentivized to be right. Instead, scientists are incentivized to be productive and innovative. Tony Weidberg says that the particle physics community now invests great effort into intensive checking and rechecking of data prior to publication following several high-profile errors,. By filtering results through independent working groups, physicists are encouraged to criticize. Good criticism is rewarded. The goal is a reliable result, and the incentives for scientists are aligned around this goal. "The good news is that science is beginning to take some of its worst failings very seriously," says Horton. "The bad news is that nobody is ready to take the first step to clean up the system."

Tech Bubble? What Tech Bubble?

Posted by Papas Fritas on Sunday May 24 2015, @11:08PM (#1243)
0 Comments

Conor Dougherty writes in the NYT that the tech industry’s venture capitalists — the financiers who bet on companies when they are little more than an idea — are going out of their way to avoid the one word that could describe what is happening around them: Bubble “I guess it is a scary word because in some sense no one wants it to stop,” says Tomasz Tunguz. “And so if you utter it, do you pop it?” In 2000, tech stocks crashed, venture capital dried up and many young companies were vaporized. Today, people see shades of 2000 in the enormous valuations assigned to private companies like Uber, with a valuation of $41 billion, and Slack, the corporate messaging service that is about a year old and valued at $2.8 billion in its latest funding round. A few years ago private companies worth more than $1 billion were rare enough that venture capitalists called them “unicorns.” Today, there are 107 unicorns and while nobody doubts that many of tech’s unicorns are indeed real businesses, valuations are inflating, leading some people to worry that investment decisions are being guided by something venture capitalists call FOMO — the fear of missing out.

With interest rates at historic lows, excess capital causes investment bubbles. The result is too much money chasing too few great deals. Unfortunately, overcapitalizing startups with easy money results in superfluous spending and dangerously high burn rates and investors are happy to admit that this torrid pace of investment has started to worry them. “Do I think companies are overvalued as a whole? No,” says Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator. “Do I think too much money can kill good companies? Yes. And that is an important difference.”

Karl Popper and the Art of Troubleshooting

Posted by Papas Fritas on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:28PM (#1242)
0 Comments

Karl Popper came up with the idea in the 1930's that scientists should attempt to falsify their hypotheses rather than to verify them. The basic reasoning is that while you cannot prove a hypothesis to be true by finding a number of different confirming instances (though confirming instances do make you more confident in the truth), you can prove a hypothesis to be false by finding one valid counter-example. Now Orin Thomas writes at WindowsITPro that you’ve probably diagnosed hundreds, if not thousands, of technical problems in your career and Popper's insights can serve as a valuable guide to avoid a couple of hours chasing solutions that turn out to be an incorrect answer. According to Thomas when troubleshooting a technical problem many of us “race ahead” and use our intuition to reach a hypothesis as to a possible cause before we’ve had time to assess the available body of evidence. "When we use our intuition to solve a problem, we look for things that confirm the conclusion. If we find something that confirms that conclusion, we become even more certain of that conclusion. Most people also unconsciously ignore obvious data that would disprove their incorrect hypothesis because the first reaction to a conclusion reached at through intuition is to try and confirm it rather than refute it."

Thomas says that the idea behind using a falsificationist method is to treat your initial conclusions about a complex troubleshooting problem as untrustworthy and rather than look for something to confirm what you think might have happened, try to figure out what evidence would disprove that conclusion. "Trying to disprove your conclusions may not give you the correct answer right away, but at least you won’t spend a couple of hours chasing what turns out to be an incorrect answer."

How Employers Get Out of Paying Their Workers

Posted by Papas Fritas on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:31PM (#1240)
0 Comments

We love to talk about crime in America and usually the rhetoric is focused on the acts we can see: bank heists, stolen bicycles and cars, alleyway robberies. But Zachary Crockett writes at Pricenomics that wage theft one of the more widespread crimes in our country today - the non-payment of overtime hours, the failure to give workers a final check upon leaving a job, paying a worker less than minimum wage, or, most flagrantly, just flat out not paying a worker at all. Most commonly, wage theft comes in the form of overtime violations. In a 2008 study, the Center for Urban Economic Development surveyed 4,387 workers in low-wage industries and found that some 76% of full-time workers were not paid the legally required overtime rate by their employers and the average worker with a violation had put in 11 hours of overtime—hours that were either underpaid or not paid at all. Nearly a quarter of the workers in the sample came in early and/or stayed late after their shift during the previous work week. Of these workers, 70 percent did not receive any pay at all for the work they performed outside of their regular shift. In total, unfairly withheld wages in these three cities topped $3 billion. Generalizing this for the rest of the U.S.’s low-wage workforce (some 30 million people), researchers estimate that wage theft could be costing Americans upwards of $50 billion per year.

Last year, the Economic Policy Institute made what is, to date, the most ambitious attempt to quantify the extent of reported wage theft in the U.S.and determined that “the total amount of money recovered for the victims of wage theft who retained private lawyers or complained to federal or state agencies was at least $933 million.” Obviously, the nearly $1 billion collected is only the tip of the wage-theft iceberg, since most victims never sue and never complain to the government. Commissioner Su of California says wage theft has harmed not just low-wage workers. “My agency has found more wages being stolen from workers in California than any time in history,” says Su. “This has spread to multiple industries across many sectors. It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.”

Soylent Upgrade Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey extension v5

Posted by takyon on Sunday May 24 2015, @01:46AM (#1239)
3 Comments

// ==UserScript== // @name Soylent Upgrade // @match http://soylentnews.org/article.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/article.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/admin.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/admin.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/journal.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/journal.pl* // ==/UserScript==
/* ! http://mths.be/fromcodepoint v0.1.0 by @mathias */
if (!String.fromCodePoint) { (function() { var defineProperty = (function() { try { var object = {}; var $defineProperty = Object.defineProperty; var result = $defineProperty(object, object, object) && $defineProperty; } catch(error) {} return result; }()); var stringFromCharCode = String.fromCharCode; var floor = Math.floor; var fromCodePoint = function() { var MAX_SIZE = 0x4000; var codeUnits = []; var highSurrogate; var lowSurrogate; var index = -1; var length = arguments.length; if (!length) { return ''; } var result = ''; while (++index < length) { var codePoint = Number(arguments[index]); if ( !isFinite(codePoint) || codePoint < 0 || codePoint > 0x10FFFF || floor(codePoint) != codePoint ) { throw RangeError('Invalid code point: ' + codePoint); } if (codePoint <= 0xFFFF) { codeUnits.push(codePoint); } else { codePoint -= 0x10000; highSurrogate = (codePoint >> 10) + 0xD800; lowSurrogate = (codePoint % 0x400) + 0xDC00; codeUnits.push(highSurrogate, lowSurrogate); } if (index + 1 == length || codeUnits.length > MAX_SIZE) { result += stringFromCharCode.apply(null, codeUnits); codeUnits.length = 0; } } return result; }; if (defineProperty) { defineProperty(String, 'fromCodePoint', { 'value': fromCodePoint, 'configurable': true, 'writable': true }); } else { String.fromCodePoint = fromCodePoint; } }()); }
// Add "Quote This" buttons to all initially visible comments
var spans = document.getElementsByTagName("span");
for (var x=0; x<spans.length; x++)
{
if (spans[x].id.indexOf("reply_link_")==0)
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button.setAttribute("class","nbutton");
var p = document.createElement("p");
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var a = document.createElement("a");
a.setAttribute("href",spans[x].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].href.replace("#post_comment","&postercomment="+escape("<blockquote>"+document.getElementById("comment_body_"+spans[x].id.replace("reply_link_","")).innerHTML+"<\/blockquote>\n\n")+"#post_comment"));
a.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Quote This"));
b.appendChild(a);
p.appendChild(b);
button.appendChild(p);
spans[x].parentNode.insertBefore(button, spans[x].nextSibling);
spans[x].parentNode.insertBefore(document.createTextNode(" "), spans[x].nextSibling);
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}
var simplifyChars = true; // Change to false if you don't want stylized quotation marks, ellipses, etc. to be replaced
var boxes = document.getElementsByTagName("textarea");
for (var x=0; x<boxes.length; x++)
{
if (boxes[x].name == "introtext" || boxes[x].name == "bodytext" || boxes[x].name == "story")
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var temp = boxes[x].value; // Retrieve textarea contents
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p>/g,"<\/p>\n\n"); // Add newlines between paragraphs
temp = temp.replace(/ \s? /g,"<\/p>\n\n"); // Convert double break tags to paragraph tags
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n"); // Add newlines after blockquotes
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>"); // Add newlines before blockquotes
temp = temp.replace(/<blockquote><div>/g,"<blockquote><div>\n\n"); // Add newlines within start of blockquotes
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/blockquote>"); // Add newlines within end of blockquotes
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote><blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote>"); // Add newlines between two blockquotes
temp = temp.replace(/\s/i,""); // Remove extra space from byline
temp = temp.replace(/\s/g,""); // Remove extra space from start of paragraph
temp = temp.replace(/\s<\/p>/g,"<\/p>"); // Remove extra space from end of paragraph
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><li>/g,"<\/li>\n<li>"); // Add newlines between list items
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><\/ul>/g,"<\/li>\n(<\/ul>|<\/ol>)"); // Add newline after last list item
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><ul>/g,"<\/p>\n\n(<ul>|<ol>)"); // Add newlines before lists
temp = temp.replace(/\[...\]/g,"[...] "); // Add space within beginning of foreshortened paragraph
while (temp.indexOf(" ")!=-1)
{
temp = temp.replace(/ /g," "); // Replace double spaces with single spaces
}
if (simplifyChars)
{
temp = temp.replace(/\u2018/g,"'");
temp = temp.replace(/\u2019/g,"'");
temp = temp.replace(/\u201C/g,"\"");
temp = temp.replace(/\u201D/g,"\"");
temp = temp.replace(/\u2026/g,"..."); // ellipsis
}
boxes[x].value = temp;
boxes[x].rows = 32;
}
var toolbar = document.createElement("div");
// Blockquote button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Blockquote");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Cblockquote\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBlockquote(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Paragraph and Line break buttons
var tempspan = document.createElement("span");
tempspan.setAttribute("id","htmlFormatButtons");
if (document.getElementById("posttype") && document.getElementById("posttype").selectedIndex == 0)
{
tempspan.setAttribute("style","display:none;"); // Hide if initial post type option is "Plain Old Text"
}
if (document.getElementById("posttype"))
{
document.getElementById("posttype").addEventListener("change", function() {if (document.getElementById('posttype').selectedIndex == 0) {document.getElementById('htmlFormatButtons').style.display = 'none'} else {document.getElementById('htmlFormatButtons').style.display = 'inline'}}); // Change visibility of these buttons based on value of post type
}
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","P");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert \u003Cp\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addPara(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
tempspan.appendChild(tempbutton);
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","BR");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a line break.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBreak(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
tempspan.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(tempspan);
// URL button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","URL");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a hyperlink around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:underline;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addHyperlink(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
// Bold button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","B");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Bold");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-weight:bold;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBold(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Italic button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","I");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Italic");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-style:italic;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addItalic(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Strike button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","S");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Strikethrough");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:line-through;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addStrike(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider
// Code button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Code");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Cecode\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addEcode(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider
// Superscript button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u00B2");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Superscript");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSuper(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Subscript button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u2082");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Subscript");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSubsc(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider
//Ordered list
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","1. List");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an ordered list or convert newline-separated text into an ordered list.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addOrdlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
//Unordered list
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u2022 List");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an unordered list or convert newline-separated text into an unordered list.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addUnordlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br")); // Divider
// Despace button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Despace");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Delete line breaks within the selection.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","despace(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Symbol button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value",":-)");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a symbol.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'block'} else {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'none'}");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
boxes[x].parentNode.insertBefore(toolbar, boxes[x].nextSibling);
// Symbol list
var smilebar = document.createElement("div");
smilebar.setAttribute("style","-moz-user-select:none; -webkit-user-select:none; display:none; font-size:16pt; max-height:240px; overflow:auto; padding:0.5em;");
smilebar.setAttribute("id","smilebar");
var smiles = [];
var codes = [[161,169],[171,172],[174],[176,177],[180,183],[187,191],[215],[224,255],[402],[629],[632],[916],[920],[931],[934],[937],[945,946],[956],[960],[963],[8216,8221],[8226],[8230],[8251],[8364],[8478],[8482],[8528,8542],[8585],[8712,8716],[8721],[8730],[8733,8734],[8736],[8743,8749],[8757],[8773],[8776],[8800,8805],[8834,8837],[8984],[9760],[9762,9765],[9770],[9773,9775],[9784,9794],[9812,9831],[9833,9842],[9850],[9855,9861],[9874,9877],[9882,9885],[9888,9893],[9913],[9940],[9962],[9971],[9981],[9992,10087],[65533],[127744,127756],[127759],[127775,127776],[127797],[127801],[127804,127812],[127817],[127820,127822],[127828,127831],[127838,127839],[127843],[127849],[127855],[127860,127867],[127891],[127904,127911],[127918],[127939],[127942],[127977],[128025],[128074,128078],[128123,128131],[128137,128142],[128148,128150],[128152],[128158],[128161,128164],[128168,128170],[128172],[128176,128177],[128187],[128189,128190],[128193,128194],[128197],[128203,128204],[128206],[128214],[128225,128227],[128231,128233],[128241],[128244],[128246],[128250,128252],[128259],[128266,128270],[128273,128276],[128278,128280],[128286],[128293,128299],[128302,128303],[128509,128510],[128659],[128684,128685]];
for (var i=0; i<codes.length; i++) { if (codes[i].length > 1) { for (var j=codes[i][0]; j<=codes[i][1]; j++) { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(j); } } else { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(codes[i][0]); } } // Populate smiles array with code ranges converted to individual characters
smiles = smiles.concat(["xD",":-)",":^)","(^_^;)","\u0028\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u0029","\u0028\u00A0\u0361\u007E\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u0029\uFEFF","\u00AF\u005C\u005F\u0028\u30C4\u0029\u005F\u002F\u00AF","\u0028\u256F\u00B0\u25A1\u00B0\uFF09\u256F\uFE35\u00A0\u253B\u2501\u253B","\u0028\u30CE\u0CA0\u76CA\u0CA0\u0029\u30CE\u5F61\u253B\u2501\u253B","\u0028\u0060\uFF65\u03C9\uFF65\u00B4\u0029","\u0CA0_\u0CA0","\u0295\u2022\u1D25\u2022\u0294","\u0028\u3065\uFFE3\u00A0\u00B3\uFFE3\u0029\u3065","\u0669\u0028\u204E\u275B\u1D17\u275B\u204E\u0029\u06F6","\u30FD\u0F3C\u0E88\u0644\u035C\u0E88\u0F3D\uFF89"]); // Add in arbitrary emoticons
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{
var smile = document.createElement("span");
smile.setAttribute("style","cursor:pointer; padding:2px; white-space:nowrap;");
smile.setAttribute("onclick","addSmile(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],'"+smiles[i].replace("\u005C","\u005C\u005C")+"');");
smile.appendChild(document.createTextNode(smiles[i]));
smilebar.appendChild(smile);
if (i+1<smiles.length)
{
smilebar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
}
}
toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(smilebar, toolbar.nextSibling);
}
var temp = document.createElement("script");
// Add selection handling function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function getSelection(textarea) { if ('selectionStart' in textarea) { if (textarea.selectionStart != textarea.selectionEnd) { return [textarea.selectionStart,textarea.selectionEnd]; } } } "));
// Add comment formatting buttons
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temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addOrdlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ol><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ol>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } } function addUnordlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ul><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ul>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } }"));
// Add despace function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function despace(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(/\\r/g,' ').replace(/\\n/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ') + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));
// Add unicode insertion function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addSmile(area, smile) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,pos) + smile + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+smile.length,pos+smile.length) } }"));
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(temp);

Cute or Creepy? Google's Plan for a Sci-Fi Teddy Bear

Posted by Papas Fritas on Saturday May 23 2015, @01:41AM (#1237)
0 Comments

Time Magazine reports that Google has designed and patented an “anthropomorphic device” that could take the form of a “doll or toy” and interact both with people as well as tech gadgets echoing the "super toy" teddy bear featured in Stephen Spielberg's 2001 movie AI. This could be one of Google's creepiest patents yet -- especially if movies like "Chuckie" still give you nightmares. The patent filing diagrams a stuffed teddy bear and a bunny rabbit outfitted with microphones, speakers, cameras and motors as well as a wireless connection to the internet. If it senses you're looking at it, the fuzzy toy will rotate its head and look back at you. Once it receives and recognizes a voice command prompt, you can then tell it to control media devices in your home (e.g. turn on your music or TV). According to the patent filing: "To express interest, an anthropomorphic device may open its eyes, lift its head, and/or focus its gaze on the user or object of its interest. To express curiosity, an anthropomorphic device may tilt its head, furrow its brow, and/or scratch its head with an arm. To express boredom, an anthropomorphic device may defocus its gaze, direct its gaze in a downward fashion, tap its foot, and/or close its eyes. To express surprise, an anthropomorphic device may make a sudden movement, sit or stand up straight, and/or dilate its pupils."

The patent adds that making the device look "cute" should encourage even the youngest members of a family to interact with it. But Mikhail Avady, from SmartUp, said he thought it belonged in "a horror film", and the campaign group Big Brother Watch has also expressed dismay. "When those devices are aimed specifically at children, then for many this will step over the creepy line," says Avady. "Children should be able to play in private and shouldn't have to fear this sort of passive invasion of their privacy."

Al-Qaeda’s Job Application Form Revealed

Posted by Papas Fritas on Friday May 22 2015, @01:54PM (#1234)
0 Comments

ABC News reports that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released a list of English-language material recovered during the raid the killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011 including one document dubbed “Instructions to Applicants,” that would not be entirely out of place for an entry-level position at any American company – except for questions like the one about the applicant’s willingness to blow themselves up. The questionnaire includes basic personal details, family history, marital status, and education level. It asks that applicants "answer the required information accurately and truthfully" and, "Please write clearly and legibly." Questions include: Is the applicant expert in chemistry, communications or any other field? Do they have a family member in the government who would cooperate with al Qaeda? Have they received any military training? Finally, it asks what the would-be jihadist would like to accomplish and, “Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?” For the final question, the application asks would-be killers that if they were to become martyrs, who should al Qaeda contact?

The corporate tone of the application is jarringly amusing, writes Amanda Taub, but it also hints at a larger truth: a terrorist organization like al-Qaeda is a large bureaucratic organization, albeit one in the "business" of mass-murdering innocent people. Jon Sopel, the North American editor from BBC News, joked that the application “looks like it has been written by someone who has spent too long working for Deloitte or Accenture, but bureaucracy exists in every walk of life – so why not on the path to violent jihad?”

Soylent Upgrade Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey extension v4

Posted by takyon on Friday May 22 2015, @03:32AM (#1233)
6 Comments

// ==UserScript== // @name Soylent Upgrade // @match http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=* // @match https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=* // @match http://soylentnews.org/admin.pl // @match https://soylentnews.org/admin.pl // @match http://soylentnews.org/admin.pl?op=edit&sid=* // @match https://soylentnews.org/admin.pl?op=edit&sid=* // @match http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/journal.pl?op=edit // @match https://soylentnews.org/journal.pl?op=edit // ==/UserScript==
var simplifyChars = true;
var boxes = document.getElementsByTagName("textarea");
for (var x=0; x<boxes.length; x++)
{
if (boxes[x].name == "introtext" || boxes[x].name == "bodytext" || boxes[x].name == "story")
{
var temp = boxes[x].value;
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p>/g,"<\/p>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/ \s? /g,"<\/p>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/<blockquote><div>/g,"<blockquote><div>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote><blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/\s/i,"");
temp = temp.replace(/\s/g,"");
temp = temp.replace(/\s<\/p>/g,"<\/p>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><li>/g,"<\/li>\n<li>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><\/ul>/g,"<\/li>\n<\/ul>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><ul>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<ul>");
temp = temp.replace(/\[...\]/g,"[...] ");
while (temp.indexOf(" ")!=-1)
{
temp = temp.replace(/ /g," ");
}
if (simplifyChars)
{
temp = temp.replace(/\u2018/g,"'");
temp = temp.replace(/\u2019/g,"'");
temp = temp.replace(/\u201C/g,"\"");
temp = temp.replace(/\u201D/g,"\"");
temp = temp.replace(/\u2026/g,"..."); // ellipsis
}
boxes[x].value = temp;
boxes[x].rows = 32;
}
var toolbar = document.createElement("div");
// Blockquote button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Blockquote");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Cblockquote\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBlockquote(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Paragraph and Line break buttons
var tempspan = document.createElement("span");
tempspan.setAttribute("id","htmlFormatButtons");
if (document.getElementById("posttype") && document.getElementById("posttype").selectedIndex == 0)
{
tempspan.setAttribute("style","display:none;");
}
if (document.getElementById("posttype"))
{
document.getElementById("posttype").addEventListener("change", function() {if (document.getElementById('posttype').selectedIndex == 0) {document.getElementById('htmlFormatButtons').style.display = 'none'} else {document.getElementById('htmlFormatButtons').style.display = 'inline'}});
}
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","P");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert \u003Cp\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addPara(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
tempspan.appendChild(tempbutton);
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","BR");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a line break.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBreak(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
tempspan.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(tempspan);
// URL button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","URL");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a hyperlink around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:underline;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addHyperlink(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
// Bold button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","B");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Bold");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-weight:bold;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBold(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Italic button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","I");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Italic");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-style:italic;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addItalic(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Strike button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","S");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Strikethrough");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:line-through;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addStrike(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
// Code button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Code");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Cecode\u003E tags around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addEcode(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
// Superscript button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u00B2");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Superscript");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSuper(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Subscript button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u2082");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Subscript");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSubsc(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
//Ordered list
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","1. List");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an ordered list or convert newline-separated text into an ordered list.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addOrdlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
//Unordered list
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u2022 List");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an unordered list or convert newline-separated text into an unordered list.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addUnordlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br"));
// Despace button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Despace");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Delete line breaks within the selection.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","despace(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Symbol button
var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value",":-)");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a symbol.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'block'} else {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'none'}");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
boxes[x].parentNode.insertBefore(toolbar, boxes[x].nextSibling);
var smilebar = document.createElement("div");
smilebar.setAttribute("style","display:none; font-size:16pt; padding:0.5em;");
smilebar.setAttribute("id","smilebar");
var smiles = ["\u00A1","\u00A2","\u00A3","\u00A5","\u00A7","\u00A9","\u00AB","\u00AE","\u00B0","\u00B1","\u00B4","\u00B5","\u00B6","\u00B7","\u00BB","\u00BC","\u00BD","\u00BE","\u00BF","\u00D7","\u00E0","\u00E1","\u00E2","\u00E6","\u00E7","\u00E8","\u00E9","\u00EA","\u00EE","\u00F1","\u00F2","\u00F3","\u00F6","\u00F7","\u0192","\u0275","\u0278","\u0394","\u0398","\u03A3","\u03A6","\u03B1","\u03B2","\u03BC","\u03C0","\u03C3","\u2018","\u2019","\u201C","\u201D","\u2022","\u2026","\u203B","\u20AC","\u211E","\u2122","\u03A9","\u2208","\u2209","\u220B","\u220C","\u2211","\u221A","\u221D","\u221E","\u2220","\u2227","\u2228","\u2229","\u222A","\u222B","\u222C","\u222D","\u2234","\u2235","\u2245","\u2248","\u2260","\u2261","\u2262","\u2263","\u2264","\u2265","\u2282","\u2283","\u2284","\u2285","\u2318","\u2620","\u2622","\u2623","\u2624","\u2625","\u262A","\u262D","\u262E","\u262F","\u2638","\u2639","\u263A","\u263B","\u263C","\u263D","\u263E","\u263F","\u2640","\u2641","\u2642","\u2654","\u2655","\u2656","\u2657","\u2658","\u2659","\u265A","\u265B","\u265C","\u265D","\u265E","\u265F","\u2660","\u2661","\u2662","\u2663","\u2664","\u2665","\u2666","\u2667","\u2669","\u266A","\u266B","\u266C","\u266D","\u266E","\u266F","\u2670","\u2671","\u2672","\u267A","\u267F","\u2680","\u2681","\u2682","\u2683","\u2684","\u2685","\u2692","\u2693","\u2694","\u2695","\u269A","\u269B","\u269C","\u269D","\u26A0","\u26A1","\u26A2","\u26A3","\u26A4","\u26A5","\u26B9","\u26D4","\u26EA","\u26F3","\u26FD","\u2713","\u2728","\u273B","\u273D","\u2743","\u2746","\u274C","\u274E","\u274F","\u2756","\uFFFD","\uD83C\uDF35","\uD83C\uDF39","\uD83C\uDF3C","\uD83C\uDF40","\uD83C\uDF41","\uD83C\uDF49","\uD83C\uDF4C","\uD83C\uDF4E","\uD83C\uDF54","\uD83C\uDF55","\uD83C\uDF56","\uD83C\uDF57","\uD83C\uDF5E","\uD83C\uDF5F","\uD83C\uDF63","\uD83C\uDF69","\uD83C\uDF6F","\uD83C\uDF74","\uD83C\uDF75","\uD83C\uDF76","\uD83C\uDF77","\uD83C\uDF78","\uD83C\uDF79","\uD83C\uDF7A","\uD83C\uDF7B","\uD83C\uDF93","\uD83C\uDFA5","\uD83C\uDFA7","\uD83C\uDFAE","\uD83C\uDFC3","\uD83C\uDFC6","\uD83C\uDFE9","\uD83D\uDC19","\uD83D\uDC4A","\uD83D\uDC4C","\uD83D\uDC4D","\uD83D\uDC4E","\uD83D\uDC7B","\uD83D\uDC7D","\uD83D\uDC83","\uD83D\uDC89","\uD83D\uDC8A","\uD83D\uDC8E","\uD83D\uDC94","\uD83D\uDC95","\uD83D\uDC96","\uD83D\uDC98","\uD83D\uDC9E","\uD83D\uDCA1","\uD83D\uDCA3","\uD83D\uDCA4","\uD83D\uDCA8","\uD83D\uDCA9","\uD83D\uDCAA","\uD83D\uDCAC","\uD83D\uDCB0","\uD83D\uDCBB","\uD83D\uDCBD","\uD83D\uDCBE","\uD83D\uDCC1","\uD83D\uDCC2","\uD83D\uDCC5","\uD83D\uDCCB","\uD83D\uDCCC","\uD83D\uDCCE","\uD83D\uDCD6","\uD83D\uDCE1","\uD83D\uDCE2","\uD83D\uDCE3","\uD83D\uDCE7","\uD83D\uDCE8","\uD83D\uDCE9","\uD83D\uDCF1","\uD83D\uDCF4","\uD83D\uDCF6","\uD83D\uDCFA","\uD83D\uDCFB","\uD83D\uDCFC","\uD83D\uDD03","\uD83D\uDD0A","\uD83D\uDD0B","\uD83D\uDD0C","\uD83D\uDD0D","\uD83D\uDD0E","\uD83D\uDD11","\uD83D\uDD12","\uD83D\uDD13","\uD83D\uDD14","\uD83D\uDD16","\uD83D\uDD17","\uD83D\uDD18","\uD83D\uDD1E","\uD83D\uDD25","\uD83D\uDD27","\uD83D\uDD28","\uD83D\uDD2B","\uD83D\uDDFD","\uD83D\uDDFE","\uD83D\uDE93","\uD83D\uDEAC","\uD83D\uDEAD",":-)","(^_^;)","\u0028\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u0029","\u0028\u00A0\u0361\u007E\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u0029\uFEFF","\u00AF\u005C\u005F\u0028\u30C4\u0029\u005F\u002F\u00AF","\u0028\u30CE\u0CA0\u76CA\u0CA0\u0029\u30CE\u5F61\u253B\u2501\u253B","\u0028\u0060\uFF65\u03C9\uFF65\u00B4\u0029","\u0CA0_\u0CA0","\u0295\u2022\u1D25\u2022\u0294","\u0028\u3065\uFFE3\u00A0\u00B3\uFFE3\u0029\u3065","\u0669\u0028\u204E\u275B\u1D17\u275B\u204E\u0029\u06F6","\u30FD\u0F3C\u0E88\u0644\u035C\u0E88\u0F3D\uFF89"];
for (var i=0; i<smiles.length; i++)
{
var smile = document.createElement("span");
smile.setAttribute("style","cursor:pointer; padding:2px; white-space:nowrap;");
smile.setAttribute("onclick","addSmile(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],'"+smiles[i].replace("\u005C","\u005C\u005C")+"');");
smile.appendChild(document.createTextNode(smiles[i]));
smilebar.appendChild(smile);
if (i+1<smiles.length)
{
smilebar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
}
}
toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(smilebar, toolbar.nextSibling);
}
var temp = document.createElement("script");
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function getSelection(textarea) { if ('selectionStart' in textarea) { if (textarea.selectionStart != textarea.selectionEnd) { return [textarea.selectionStart,textarea.selectionEnd]; } } } "));
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temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addOrdlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ol><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ol>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } } function addUnordlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ul><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ul>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function despace(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(/\\r/g,' ').replace(/\\n/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ') + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addSmile(area, smile) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + smile + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } }"));
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DNA on Pizza Crust Leads to Quadruple Murder Suspect

Posted by Papas Fritas on Friday May 22 2015, @12:40AM (#1232)
0 Comments

In a case straight out of CSI, CNN reports that police are searching for the man suspected in the gruesome slayings of the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper, after his DNA was purportedly found on a pizza crust at the scene of the quadruple murders. They discovered his DNA on the crust of a Domino's pizza -- one of two delivered to the Savopoulos home May 14 as the family was held hostage inside -- a source familiar with the investigation said. The pizza apparently was paid for with cash left in an envelope on the porch. The next morning, Savvas Savopoulos’s personal assistant dropped off a package containing $40,000 in cash at the home, according to the officials and police documents.

The bodies of Savopoulos, along with his wife, Amy, their 10-year-old son Philip and the family's housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, were discovered the afternoon of May 14 after firefighters responded to reports of a fire. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says the killings are likely not a random crime and police have issued an arrest warrant for the 34-year-old Daron Dylon Wint, who is described as 5’7 and 155 lbs and might also go by the name “Steffon.” Wint apparently used to work at American Iron Works, where Savvas Savopoulos was CEO and president. The neighborhood is home to numerous embassies and diplomatic mansions as well as the official residence of Vice President Joe Biden and his wife. "Right now you have just about every law enforcement officer across the country aware of his open warrant and are looking for him," says Lanier. "I think even his family has made pleas for him to turn himself in."

Soylent Upgrade Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey extension v3

Posted by takyon on Thursday May 21 2015, @11:05PM (#1231)
1 Comment

// ==UserScript== // @name Soylent Upgrade // @match http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl // @match https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl // @match http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=* // @match https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=* // @match http://soylentnews.org/admin.pl // @match https://soylentnews.org/admin.pl // @match http://soylentnews.org/admin.pl?op=edit&sid=* // @match https://soylentnews.org/admin.pl?op=edit&sid=* // @match http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl* // @match http://soylentnews.org/journal.pl?op=edit // @match https://soylentnews.org/journal.pl?op=edit // ==/UserScript==
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var temp = boxes[x].value;
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p>/g,"<\/p>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/ \s? /g,"<\/p>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/<blockquote><div>/g,"<blockquote><div>\n\n");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/blockquote><blockquote>/g,"<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote>");
temp = temp.replace(/\s/i,"");
temp = temp.replace(/\s/g,"");
temp = temp.replace(/\s<\/p>/g,"<\/p>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><li>/g,"<\/li>\n<li>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/li><\/ul>/g,"<\/li>\n<\/ul>");
temp = temp.replace(/<\/p><ul>/g,"<\/p>\n\n<ul>");
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temp = temp.replace(/ /g," ");
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if (simplifyChars)
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temp = temp.replace(/\u2018/g,"'");
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boxes[x].rows = 32;
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","BR");
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tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBreak(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
tempspan.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(tempspan);
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","URL");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a hyperlink around the selected text.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:underline;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addHyperlink(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","B");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Bold");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-weight:bold;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBold(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
// Italic button
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","I");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Italic");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-style:italic;");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addItalic(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","S");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Strikethrough");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:line-through;");
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toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
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tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u2082");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Subscript");
tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
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tempbutton.setAttribute("value","1. List");
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u2022 List");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an unordered list or convert newline-separated text into an unordered list.");
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toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br"));
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tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Despace");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Delete line breaks within the selection.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","despace(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
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var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
tempbutton.setAttribute("value",":-)");
tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a symbol.");
tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'block'} else {document.getElementById('smilebar').style.display = 'none'}");
toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
boxes[x].parentNode.insertBefore(toolbar, boxes[x].nextSibling);
var smilebar = document.createElement("div");
smilebar.setAttribute("style","display:none; font-size:16pt; padding:0.5em;");
smilebar.setAttribute("id","smilebar");
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{
var smile = document.createElement("span");
smile.setAttribute("style","cursor:pointer; padding:2px;");
smile.setAttribute("onclick","addSmile(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],'"+smiles[i].replace("\u005C","\u005C\u005C")+"');");
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smilebar.appendChild(smile);
if (i+1<smiles.length)
{
smilebar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
}
}
toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(smilebar, toolbar.nextSibling);
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temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addBlockquote(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<blockquote>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/blockquote>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addPara(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + ''+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/p>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBreak(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + ' ' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } function addHyperlink(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { url = prompt('URL:', 'https://'); area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<a href=\"'+url+'\">'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/a>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBold(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + ''+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/b>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addItalic(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + ''+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/em>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addStrike(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<strike>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/strike>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addEcode(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<ecode>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/ecode>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSuper(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + ''+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sup>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSubsc(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + ''+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sub>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } "));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addOrdlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ol><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ol>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } } function addUnordlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ul><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>') + '<\/li><\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ul>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp + '<\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function despace(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(/\\r/g,' ').replace(/\\n/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ') + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addSmile(area, smile) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + smile + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } }"));
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(temp);

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