Interesting Links for 04-01-2012

• This is What Happens When You Give Thousands of Stickers to Thousands of Kids
  (tags: art children )
• The US ends its pro-democracy pretense
  (tags: politics usa iran egypt democracy middle east israel )
• Some science on why dieting doesn't work (and what you need to do to make it work).
  (tags: diet weight health )
• 'Big banks make their money from optimism' - an interview with an investment strategist
  (tags: banking finance investment )
• Killer instinct - the financial company that deliberately hired psychopaths.
  (tags: economics psychopath psychology finance banking )
• Paypal forces buyer to destroy disputed violin worth thousands of dollars
  (tags: paypal violin )
• Top Ten Cutest Photos of 2011
  (tags: photos cute 2011 )
• The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value
  (tags: business economics management capitalism finance value )
• Mineways - 3D printing of Minecraft landscapes/objects.
  (tags: minecraft printing 3d )
• Steam reaches 5 million concurrent user mark
  So, PC gaming still not dead? I wonder what the comparative figures for the 360 and PS3 would be.
  (tags: steam games computergames )
• I Have Seen the Future of Retail…And It Doesn't Have Cashiers
  Of course, this is about the low end of the market. Where people are prepared to pay higher prices there will be assistants there to make it easy for them.
  (tags: business shopping technology )

Stupid Voting Systems - Caucus Edition

It occurs to me, looking at this image of the voting for Republican
Presidential Candidate
that they really, really need a better voting system.

Beause the aim of the Caucuses is to get a candidate that The Republican
Party can stand behind, and so far what they've got is a candidate that
less than 25% are willing to definitively vote for.

Using AV you'd know whether the Gingrich voters would all move to Romney,
or if they'd rather split off to Ron Paul and put him in the lead. Is the
vote going to split 50% "Romney", 50% "Anyone but Romney", or is it nearer
25%/75%? Would a load more people really have vote for Huntsman, if only
they hadn't thought he was doomed?

What you've got is a lot of money being spent and a lot of energy being
expended, all for information that's not at all clear. Thank goodness that
this time around it's only the Republicans that are doing it.

Anyone out there like Pingu and The Thing?