Mediaboss Marketing

Facebook may test your patience from time to time, but unless youre engaged in the social networking sites multitude of interactive time wasters, theres not much to do but post photos and status updates. If youre the problem-solving type after a deeper online social experience, the newly-minted Hacker Rank might be for you.

A fun social platform for hackers to solve interesting puzzles, build quick hacks, code game bots and collaborate to solve real-world challenges, states the sites byline, positioned above an interactive, OS X-styled Terminal window. Hacker Rank is currently in beta and in order to get involved, youll need to figure out a logic puzzle.

Going by an earlier TechCrunch article, the site previously allowed users to solve the challenge before signing up. This has since been removed and now you must first login via the pseudo-console, at which point youll be able to put your brain power to work.

Despite the hacker moniker, you wont have to dust off your scripting abilities to get involved; the challenge simply requires you to remove x candies from a predetermined pool, with you and the AI taking alternating turns. Whoever takes the final candy is the winner.

Is there a market for a social networking site that includes a higher degree of thought than figuring out how youre going to tag your awkward drunken party photos? I think theres a yes in there somewhere.

Hacker Rank [via TechCrunch]

Link:
Hacker Rank, The Social Networking Site For Fun-Loving Ne’er-Do-Wells

I just returned from a wonderful week in Washington DC, where I gave workshops on social networking to scientists at the Fourth Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE). I was delightfully surprised that so many of the scientists there came to my workshop not only to learn, but to support the use of social networking in science what a good sign!

Anyhow, as a part of the workshop, I created a wiki jam-packed with just every resource I could find on social networking for researchers and educators. I shared it with the NISBRE folks, and now I want to share it with you.

The wiki is broken down into sub-categories, with pages for each of the major networks as well as general resources on the topic. I hope it will become not only a resource, but a place of discussion somewhere scientists from all backgrounds share their experiences and discuss how to use Web 2.0 tools effectively.

But, like any wiki, it needs input. What links have I missed? What other specific topics should I include? Whether youre a scientist who is contemplating jumping into the social media world, or an online guru with advice for beginners, your opinions are valued and desired. So head over to the wiki, become a member, and add your thoughts/links!

More Social Media for Scientists:

Read the rest here:
Social Media for Scientists Part 6: The Wiki

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, responded Thursday to a June 24 Chicago Tribune article written by veteran reporter Rick Pearson detailing an emerging feud between himself and Gov. Pat Quinn.

According to the article, Quinn's office tried to uninvite Schock from a luncheon honoring Illinois Special Olympians and from a fall transportation planning conference. A Quinn aide also acknowledged concern about having the 18th District representative at the luncheon.

The two were also supposed to appear at an Executive Mansion kickoff, and Quinn's office apparently did what it could to get Schock removed from the program, the article states.

"I haven't had any conversations with the governor's offices, but apparently the sponsors of the events have," Schock said during a conference call. "I will leave it at that."

Schock and Quinn spent the better part of June spatting with each other on MSNBC and Chicago radio, both calling each other's talking points "gibberish."

The early Fourth of July fireworks were set off during a joint June 12 "Morning Joe" segment in which the two engaged in a debate, and political pundits are split on who actually got the upper hand. Some also have called it the first signs of a potential gubernatorial race in two years.

During the MSNBC segment from Chicago, Schock made a gaffe by saying the House had passed a five-year transportation plan (in fact, it hadn't until last week). Quinn said President Barack Obama's auto industry bailout helped Ford expand operations in Illinois.

Schock, on Thursday, reiterated that Quinn's comments were "gibberish," though he says he doesn't "remember the exact interview" in which he made them. The interview occurred on WLS-890 AM, a Chicago radio station.

"I think specifically he was talking about the fact we have the auto bailout to thank for Ford's expansion in Illinois," Schock said on Thursday. "I would call it nonsense. People can call it different things."

Quinn has also hammered Schock recently for the Morning Joe gaffe, calling the congressman's comments "gibberish." (J.S.)

See the rest here:
Word on the Street: Schock, Quinn show emerging rivalry

AP file photo(From left) Rep. Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, Rep. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, playwright Eve Ensler and Sen. Rebecca Warren, D-Ann Arbor were part of a performance last month that included Brown and 10 other lawmakers of The Vagina Monologues on the Michigan Statehouse steps in Lansing, Mich. Brown was barred from speaking in the Michigan House because, she says, Republicans objected to her saying vagina during debate on an anti-abortion bill.

NEW YORK Kayt Sukel, an author who writes about neuroscience and sexuality, has given lectures around the country on the issue. And theres one word, she finds, that never fails to make some in her audience squeamish.

Theres just something about the word vagina that startles people I dont know what it is, says Sukel. People sit back a little bit. Sometimes they start giggling. I end up using euphemisms just to make them more comfortable, and more receptive to what I am saying. And we dont seem to have the same problems with the word penis.

In a much different setting, Judy Gold has similar experiences. The popular standup comic and actress, who last year starred in her own successful off-Broadway show, focuses her routines on being gay, Jewish, a New Yorker and a mother. Her audiences presumably know what theyre getting into. Yet she, too, hears gasps in the audience when she says the V-word.

And so neither woman was extremely surprised when they heard about the recent incident in Michigan, where a lawmaker was temporarily barred from speaking in the state legislature after using the word vagina during a debate.

It all began when Lisa Brown, a Democrat, was speaking against a bill requiring doctors to ensure that abortion-seekers havent been coerced into ending their pregnancies. Im flattered youre all concerned about my vagina, Brown said. But no means no. Brown believes she was censured because of the word vagina, though her Republican opponents later said it was the no means no part, which they claimed likened the law to rape. The lawmaker denies she was doing anything of the kind.

But politics aside, many are baffled that even in 2012, the V-word retains shock value much more than its male counterpart even though it is finally beginning to surface regularly in mainstream entertainment, popping up in network TV shows as well as in newly bold references in advertising.

I mean, you can say penis, says Gold. You can say erection, erectile dysfunction, even vaginal probe. But vagina? Suddenly its a dirty word. And its the correct anatomical term!

Can an anatomical term really be a bad word? Even the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that tracks what it sees as objectionable content on TV, acknowledges that difficulty.

Ive got a toddler, and when you read potty-training books, they discourage the use of euphemisms for body parts, says Melissa Henson, the groups director of communications. But what troubles the PTC, she says, is the use of this language in the context of cheap sex jokes. Its dumbed-down humor thats in no way respectful of the audience.

More here:
Women frustrated that v-word is still largely taboo

28-06-2012 19:12 SUBSCRIBE: The official red band trailer for "The Inbetweeners" starring James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas. Four socially troubled 18-year-olds from the south of England go on holiday to Malia. Think "The Hangover" meets "Skins"

Read more:
The Inbetweeners Official Red Band Trailer - James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas - Video