What are some amazing historical photos?

Few random photographs:

1. Paparazzi surrounding Bill Clinton's cat, Socks 1992  Socks, Bill Clinton's cat

2. Coca Cola delivery truck 1909 Delivering Happiness Through the Years

3. Gandhi's letter to Hitler 1939 Mahatma Gandhi - Selected Letters

4. Recording of the famous MGM Lion 1929 The MGM Lion

5. Cigarette marketing in the 1950s Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising 

6. All of Gandhi's worldly possessions 1938 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 

7. The Shah and the Queen of Iran in Disneyland 1962 Motion Mondays: Walt and the Shah of Iran 

8. Dresden in ruins after Allied Bombings WWII Bombing of Dresden in World War II

9. Fidel Castro holding Michael Trudeau. Canada–Cuba relations

10. A legal loophole in 1913 made it possible to send babies by mail. These pics were taken after it was banned in 1920. U.S. Postal Services

11. Car elevator, Chicago 1936 A Chicago Car Elevator Mystery and the Man Who Invented Dialectical Materialism

12. One Dollar Bill 1862 United States one-dollar bill

13. The first durable color photograph, taken in 1861 National Geographic for Milestones in Photography

14. The first digitial photograph, Kodak 1957 First Digital Photograph Ever Made

15. First photograph taken from space  1946  First Photo Ever Taken from Space

What are the best examples of actions that are moral, even uplifting, but illegal?

This is Aaron Swartz, a brilliant programmer, co-inventor of several key internet technologies, idealist, social activist... and according to the US government, criminal.

What was his crime? He believed that the public has a right to access publicly funded research papers. He thought science shouldn't be held to ransom by greedy publishing companies that contribute nothing to research. You can read his manifesto from 2008 here:

Full text of "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto"

Three years later, that manifesto would be used against him. While a research associate at Harvard University in 2011, he went to MIT and downloaded 4.8 million scientific articles from the online academic library JSTOR. Though Swartz's account was legal, such mass downloads were a violation of JSTOR's terms of service.

Swartz had previously attracted FBI suspicion back in 2009, when he used a Perl script at a Chicago library to share nearly 20 million court records that were being sold over the internet by a government agency. The records were legally free to access, so the FBI was powerless to stop him, but they didn't forget the humiliation. While biking home from MIT after his JSTOR stunt, Swartz was arrested and later charged with 4 felonies. As the New York Times reported it: "a respected Harvard researcher who also is an Internet folk hero has been arrested in Boston on charges related to computer hacking, which are based on allegations that he downloaded articles that he was entitled to get free."

Did Swartz plan to share the articles he downloaded? His manifesto was used as evidence of intent by prosecutors, but those who knew him say he planned to analyze the documents for evidence of corruption. Regardless, the only actual impact of his "crime" was that for a few days, JSTOR blocked MIT's access. JSTOR declined to prosecute Swartz, and MIT's network and facilities were readily accessible by design.

During 2011 Swartz -- already facing multiple charges of computer and wire fraud -- launched a new activist group and led victorious campaigns against SOPA and PIPA, two pieces of legislation that would have crippled internet freedom. Evidently he had not learned his lesson.

In 2012, the government increased the charges against him to 13. His legal defenders were still optimistic. When he was offered a plea bargain including a mere 6 months in prison, they refused. But by August, the case had sucked away all his money and Swartz was reduced to begging his allies for financial support.

On 9 January 2013, JSTOR announced that a large portion of its journals would now be open access. But for Swartz, it was too late. He was facing up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines after years of persecution by the US government. His counter-offer to government prosecutors had just been refused. With no end to the torment in sight, on 11 January Swartz hanged himself.

He was 26 years old. He paid for his crime with his life. That heinous, unforgivable crime of possibly having intended to provide public access to scientific research that was now mostly open access anyway.

Oh, sorry, this was meant to be uplifting, wasn't it? Well, when the law and moral behavior are placed in opposition, your stories are going to be about tyranny. I guess that's uplifting for tyrants.

What English words are rarely known to people?

Groaking.
Silently watching someone eat with the hope of getting invited.

Lalochezia
The emotional relief gained from using abusive or profane language.

Philtrum:
The vertical groove on the median line of the upper lip.

Phosphenes
The colors and stars you see when you rub your eyes.

Apodyopsis
The act of mentally undressing someone.

Tittle:
The dot over i or j.

Written May 27, 2015 • View Upvotes

What is the best advice your father ever gave you?

He said it in a day when he was about to undergo a major surgery (removal of gall bladder) for his cancer(he is a teetotaller).

He had undergone 3 levels of chemotherapy which made him skin headed, lean and look like a man on his death bed. He literally was.

The moment arrived, he was in his surgical gown, jumped out of his bed and said

"We should never give up hope and confidence in any stage of the life even if it causes pain. Shower the smile and face it. You have, I have and everyone have the capacity to fight it and defeat it. Then we can walk like a boss"

Then he asked me to take a snap of him before he was taken to the surgery.

He then said,

" None knows when is the last day they will be alive, if today is my last day, if I don't come out alive, the only thing I want you to remember is my face with a wide smile. Not the face with sickness and sadness"

Mom, my younger brother and me had tears in our eyes but haven't showed up to him.

After surgery he indeed walked like a boss :)

This advice stays close to my heart and I still follow it and will follow it.

Few months back (September 2015) I met up in an accident, the advice came to my mind in his voice, I gathered all my courage and withstood the pain. I was taken to hospital to undergo a surgery on my right forehand and right ankle as it got completely messed up.

My dad and mom arrived, that night and looked at me, I was chatting with my friends, laughing and didn't show the pain, I know that I can fight and defeat the pain and surgery. After all I am his son right.

That time it was my turn to prove him that I haven't given up my hope and confidence, the wheelchair arrived, I was seated in it. Friends were there with my parents. All of a sudden one of my friend took out his mobile for a selfie (selfie mania you know)

You can see the same smile in the face of my dad, mom(the one in yellow saree) and my friends (Ajay, Manoj and Sathiya)

That moment I realised how hard it is to have hope and confidence in life.

So yes, I do tell you, not an advice though,

"Problems will come for sure, but face it with a smile and never ever give up the hope and confidence to defeat the problem. You can walk like a boss"

Thanks :)

Which startups have the best stories?

In the very early days of Facebook, when it had fewer than 15 employees, a guy named Steve Chen decided after working there for only a few weeks that it just wasn't for him. He wanted to leave to found his own company, and his plan was to do a video startup.

Matt Cohler, the guy who had hired him in the first place, tried to convince him otherwise. "You're making a terrible mistake. Facebook is going to be huge! And there's already a ton of video sites. If you do this you're going to regret it for the rest of your life!"

Chen wasn't convinced, so he decided to do it anyway and left to start a company called YouTube

What is the worst argument in the world?

A: He topped the class. He must have studied really hard.

B: So, what? I studied just one day and managed to pass. I could have easily topped as well, had I studied properly. Not a big deal!
* * *

Probably the worst argument!

P.S. Never judge on things you "could have" done but haven't actually done.