My only excuse is that I'm not really awake yet.

[Poll #1770816]

Now this is how you use a Kinect

Nice to see someone doing something a bit different with it:

Where's WALL-E?

via johnbobshaun

Interesting Links for 19-8-2011

• A nice guide to how patents are used - to keep new people from entering a market
  (tags: patents software)
• You won't prevent future riots by disregarding the psychology of crowds
  (tags: psychology riots society)
• UK public sector borrowing sees big fall in July
  (tags: deficit government finance uk)
• Enough Already!: a piece of kit that silences your TV whenever certain celebrities appear
  (tags: tv celebrity funny technology)
• The Guardian's review of Let's Kill Hitler tells us nothing _and_ makes it sound great.
  (tags: doctorwho review)
• The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees - and how it might help solar panels
  (tags: science biology design energy nature trees solarpower)
• By guessing how low voltage in a CPU can drop, and applying error correction power usage can drop by 64%
  (tags: power technology computers)
• Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea.
  (tags: inspiration religion meditation life)
• Woot is now in the dictionary (along with retweet and noob)
  (tags: language english)
• There's not really any evidence for single-sex education
  (tags: education gender)
• Sentencing remarks from a judge dealing with rioters
  (tags: riots law uk)
• Candle flames contain millions of tiny diamonds
  (tags: science physics awesome)
• Two Targets, One Bullet: How the Ultimate Sniper Rifle Was Made
  (tags: guns weaponry uk military)
• The anti-libertarian FAQ
  (tags: libertarianism politics economics philosophy ethics government freedom)
• An interesting interview on copyright, Google and possible future approaches
  (tags: copyright law music napster)
• Girl Forced to Apologize to Boy Who Raped Her
  (tags: rape education EpicFail)
• Looks like the UK might have been involved in killing a former UN Secretary General.
  (tags: uk politics usa history africa UnitedNations)

Let's have some numbers

Is there any evidence that raising the sentence for a particular crime lowers its incidence?

We change sentencing recommendations often enough (around the world, anyway) that it must be possible to tell whether doubling the sentence for a particular crime actually has any effect on the number of people carrying it out.

Anyone know of any studies?


My personal intuition is that 99% of people who carry out crimes don't think about how big the sentence is at all. But I'm very happy to be proven wrong with actual numbers.

How Harry Potter Should Have Ended

Snape's so dreeeamy.