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Up top, internal documents from a leading anti-gay group indicate they wanted to create divisions between QUILTBAG people, African-Americans, and Latinos, playing up the hetero-marriage-supporters in those groups so as to get groups that are all minorities to fight each other. Kind of like the geek heirarchy image that goes around.
An app available combined Foursquare location data with Facebook profiles and made it possible for someone to see where all the women (or men) around them were, and any would-be player or stalker could have access to quite a bit of personal data, based on the privacy settings of those Facebook accounts and Foursquare check-ins.
Oh, and it's not limited to just people who have public profiles on Facebook, either. If you're the kind of person that likes to publish the personal data of abortion doctors, you may find yourself on the receiving end of peaceful phone calls that have quite a bit of your personal data as well. And a lot of those calls, much like lots of protestors at abortion clinics...
MasterCard is notifying its customers that its database may have been hacked through a compromised payment processor. No, wait, that could be Visa and MasterCard card numbers that were affected...oh, and it happened two months ago. And only now are we getting to hear about this happening.
Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments over the course of last week regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare", if you like. NPR provides Monday's transcript, Tuesday's arguments, and the arguments made on the morning of Wednesday and Wednesday afternoon's arguments before the court. One may pay attention to the presence of "the broccoli argument", where the insurance market mandate is likened to a mandate requiring the purchase of greens, and other such items of interest.
Out in the world today, the nation of Israel severed its ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council over inquiries by the HRC into settlement building by Israel in Palestinian territories. This may not be all that, erm, surprising, if the perspective of the government is the same as a colonel in the Israeli army declaring that all the prohibitions to Jews are voided when those Jews are fighting in wars, including the rape of women. When inquired, the spokesperson angrily denied that this was the position of the army itself.
The Department of Homeland Security believes themselves the sole protectorate of North America, declaring that they will refuse boarding to persons traveling to Canada or Mexico, even if their flight route does not go across United States territory.
Domestically, [Religious Expression of praise here]! A North Carolina county recorder is bringing lawsuits against the large mortgage banks for engaging in fraud, because of the lack of paperwork involved in the house-as-casino-chip betting, flipping, and eventual bubble bursting.
The National Security Agency is building a data center in Utah, where they intend on not just funneling a lot of data into one spot, but then crunching it with some serious computing power to see if they can't break some encryption and other things to pick up even more data...oh, and that's doemstically and internationally. Plus, they can retain all of that data up to 5 years, even with no obvious connection to terror possibilities.
New York State passes a requirement that all persons convicted of a crime have their DNA taken and stored in a database. Where it is unlikely to ever be expunged and it is even less likely that it will only be used for good purposes.
Want to know who the corporations are that are writing the laws that your legislators are rubber-stamping? Have a list of who makes up ALEC.
Ah, and there's an argument that says the latest machinations to force women into being probed, sonogramed, and otherwise told their decisions to terminate pregnancies are wrong are reminiscent of the manner in which slavers worked to ensure they had good supplies and good "stock" of slaves coming from the women they owned.
Finally, speculation on whether Texas could go it alone as an independent nation, as they tried before. Some things missing, much like infrastructure and sustainability, that make it very important to succeeding as a nation.
Into technology, where Red Hat Linux will surpass $1 billion in annual sales, proving that it is possible to turn open source OS into a profitable subscription-based business.
Filmmaker James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Marianas trench, the deepest point on the Earth, and came back with some samples, and a desire to go back and get more.
Finally, A foldable sensor on paper could test for HIV-1 and malaria infections, for the approximate cost of less than ten cents per sensor. The sensor's cost would make it ideal for areas that need low-cost, low-electricity, low-technology tests to track, identify, and hopefully control such infections.
Into opinions, where we have a bit of a boggle at the idea that being a "bleeding heart" is an insult, especially after said troglodyte spent so much time calling out textbook examples for various bingo cards.
Elsewhere, several Catholic schools part of an organization of private and parochial schools have threatened to leave over the organization's continual denial of Muslim schools, unwillingness to accomodate Shabbat, and sending out defensive surveys about their own actions.
And last for tonight, that word, graphically? It does not mean what someone wants it to mean - in any sense. And there's a big helping of "shame on you for baring your breasts for a non-sexually-pleasing-to-me" in the person trying to shame the breastfeeder.
An app available combined Foursquare location data with Facebook profiles and made it possible for someone to see where all the women (or men) around them were, and any would-be player or stalker could have access to quite a bit of personal data, based on the privacy settings of those Facebook accounts and Foursquare check-ins.
Oh, and it's not limited to just people who have public profiles on Facebook, either. If you're the kind of person that likes to publish the personal data of abortion doctors, you may find yourself on the receiving end of peaceful phone calls that have quite a bit of your personal data as well. And a lot of those calls, much like lots of protestors at abortion clinics...
MasterCard is notifying its customers that its database may have been hacked through a compromised payment processor. No, wait, that could be Visa and MasterCard card numbers that were affected...oh, and it happened two months ago. And only now are we getting to hear about this happening.
Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments over the course of last week regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare", if you like. NPR provides Monday's transcript, Tuesday's arguments, and the arguments made on the morning of Wednesday and Wednesday afternoon's arguments before the court. One may pay attention to the presence of "the broccoli argument", where the insurance market mandate is likened to a mandate requiring the purchase of greens, and other such items of interest.
Out in the world today, the nation of Israel severed its ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council over inquiries by the HRC into settlement building by Israel in Palestinian territories. This may not be all that, erm, surprising, if the perspective of the government is the same as a colonel in the Israeli army declaring that all the prohibitions to Jews are voided when those Jews are fighting in wars, including the rape of women. When inquired, the spokesperson angrily denied that this was the position of the army itself.
The Department of Homeland Security believes themselves the sole protectorate of North America, declaring that they will refuse boarding to persons traveling to Canada or Mexico, even if their flight route does not go across United States territory.
Domestically, [Religious Expression of praise here]! A North Carolina county recorder is bringing lawsuits against the large mortgage banks for engaging in fraud, because of the lack of paperwork involved in the house-as-casino-chip betting, flipping, and eventual bubble bursting.
The National Security Agency is building a data center in Utah, where they intend on not just funneling a lot of data into one spot, but then crunching it with some serious computing power to see if they can't break some encryption and other things to pick up even more data...oh, and that's doemstically and internationally. Plus, they can retain all of that data up to 5 years, even with no obvious connection to terror possibilities.
New York State passes a requirement that all persons convicted of a crime have their DNA taken and stored in a database. Where it is unlikely to ever be expunged and it is even less likely that it will only be used for good purposes.
Want to know who the corporations are that are writing the laws that your legislators are rubber-stamping? Have a list of who makes up ALEC.
Ah, and there's an argument that says the latest machinations to force women into being probed, sonogramed, and otherwise told their decisions to terminate pregnancies are wrong are reminiscent of the manner in which slavers worked to ensure they had good supplies and good "stock" of slaves coming from the women they owned.
Finally, speculation on whether Texas could go it alone as an independent nation, as they tried before. Some things missing, much like infrastructure and sustainability, that make it very important to succeeding as a nation.
Into technology, where Red Hat Linux will surpass $1 billion in annual sales, proving that it is possible to turn open source OS into a profitable subscription-based business.
Filmmaker James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Marianas trench, the deepest point on the Earth, and came back with some samples, and a desire to go back and get more.
Finally, A foldable sensor on paper could test for HIV-1 and malaria infections, for the approximate cost of less than ten cents per sensor. The sensor's cost would make it ideal for areas that need low-cost, low-electricity, low-technology tests to track, identify, and hopefully control such infections.
Into opinions, where we have a bit of a boggle at the idea that being a "bleeding heart" is an insult, especially after said troglodyte spent so much time calling out textbook examples for various bingo cards.
Elsewhere, several Catholic schools part of an organization of private and parochial schools have threatened to leave over the organization's continual denial of Muslim schools, unwillingness to accomodate Shabbat, and sending out defensive surveys about their own actions.
And last for tonight, that word, graphically? It does not mean what someone wants it to mean - in any sense. And there's a big helping of "shame on you for baring your breasts for a non-sexually-pleasing-to-me" in the person trying to shame the breastfeeder.
