Flutterby™! From 2013-06-01 to 2013-06-30

An interesting piece from Inside Higher Ed: Georgia Tech has run up a stealth deal with a startup called Udacity to offer an online masters degree program in computer science to 10,000 people at one time. The Faculty Senate has suddenly realized that they are being asked to rubber stamp the deal, and that control of the courses will rest with Udacity and the sysops instead of the ivied professors themselves. It also calls for a new underclass of customer service reps to take the place of the ever-oppressed TAs. The masters will cost around 6 grand, a real bargain. Of course, such a program will almost instantly double the number of Masters of Computer Science stalking the land looking for jobs, so even with the bargain price you may not be able to pay for it.

We have seen how digital communication has decimated the newspaper business, but is it time for colleges to face the music?

[ related topics: Invention and Design Software Engineering Current Events Journalism and Media Education ]

Having re-watched Before Sunrise and Before Sunset last night, off to watch Before Midnight this evening with Charlene.

[ related topics: Movies ]

Before Midnight has sparked discussion in our relationship, as a good movie should. Not Before Sunset, but still pretty good. Will rewatch.

[ related topics: Movies Community ]

Shadow passed along this cool little video of a neat class of automata sorts of kinetic sculpture: Swing Thing (YouTube).

[ related topics: Movies Video ]

Foz Meadows: Why YA Sex Scenes Matter:

But the point, the point, is that whenever I hear someone talking about how it’s wrong to have sex and sexiness in YA novels, what I actually hear is this:

I’m terrified that the first fictional sex a teenage girl encounters might leave her feeling good about herself. I’m terrified that fictional sex might actually make teenage girls think sex can be fun and good, that reading about girls who say no and boys who listen when they say it might give them the confidence to say no, too – or worse still, to realise that boys who don’t listen to ‘no’ aren’t worth it. I’m terrified that YA novels might teach teenage girls the distinction between assault and consensual sex, and give them the courage to speak out about the former while actively seeking the latter. I’m terrified that teenage girls might think seriously about the circumstances under which they might say yes to sex; that they might think about contraception before they need it, and touch themselves in bed at night while fantasising about generous, interesting, beautiful lovers who treat them with consideration and respect. I’m terrified of a generation of teenage girls who aren’t shy or squeamish about asking for cunnilingus when they want it, or about loving more than one person at once, and who don’t feel shame about their arousal. I’m terrified that teenage girls might take control of their sexuality and, in so doing, take that control of them and their bodies away from me.

Via Vaginal Fantasy, by way of Jay's twitter feed.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Furniture ]

Eros Blog: The Pornocalypse Comes For Us All links to Ethan Zuckerman: The Cute Cat Theory Talk At eTech:

Based on my Tripod experience, I’d offer the hypothesis that any sufficiently advanced read/write technology will get used for two purposes: pornography and activism. Porn is a weak test for the success of participatory media – it’s like tapping a mike and asking, “Is it on?” If you’re not getting porn in your system, it doesn’t work. Activism is a stronger test – if activists are using your tools, it’s a pretty good indication that your tools are useful and usable.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Erotic Sexual Culture Weblogs Journalism and Media Work, productivity and environment ]

One Bay Area: Plan Bay Area Draft EIR (so I can get the link to my iPad).

[ related topics: California Culture ]

Satans Spiritual Scorecard <- I only can get a 15... counting things I've actually tried. About 5-7 are part of my daily life. I mean, come on, life without some "Rock Music" (and Heavy Metal, and Trance/Dance/Rave..) might not be worth living.

[ related topics: Religion Music ]

WOBO = A Heineken design for a beer bottle that could be used as a building brick. I think this design should be resurrected and should be a world standard for many products. I'd love to build with Heineken Green, Skyy Vodka Blue, Coca Cola Red.... They could be filled with sand/earth/crushed bottles.. for more solid/opaque and interesting variations.

[ related topics: Wines and Spirits Beer Graphic Design Real Estate ]

If you attempt to connect to me on LinkedIn and I don't know you, I'll Google to find out who you are. You should have a real web presence.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

The Electric Superbike described in Snow Crash is almost a reality, it just needs "Smart Wheels" as described in the book. Supposedly, 150mph, 140 mile range.

But what I really want is this "B" as a real life size vehicle. The wheel/prop design is awesome.

[ related topics: Books Graphic Design ]

RT @radleybalko:

Cops attempt to seize, keep bail money under asset forfeiture law: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/ci_23366610 It's happened before: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...-bail-confiscated_n_1522328.html

Yep. Basically asset forfeiture laws allow the police to confiscate anything they want to, without due process.

[ related topics: Current Events Law Enforcement Currency Government ]

Dr Jen Gunter: What Michael Douglast neglected to mention about oral sex and cancer. A little bit of musing on HPV, oral sex, and head and neck cancers.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Interview with the artist: Clay of Depression Comix.

[ related topics: Art & Culture ]

Boy Scouts march in uniform at Utah gay pride parade. This following Rick Barnes, chief scout executive of the Great Salt Lake Council, stating that:

"We as a Scouting movement do not advocate any social or political position, so I reminded Mr. Brownstein that we do not wear uniforms at an event like this," Barnes said. "We do not, as Boy Scouts, show support for any social or political position. We're neutral. If he wants to attend the parade and others do that are Scouts or Scouters, they're welcome to do so as private citizens wearing whatever they want except their uniform."

No social position except that I seem to remember things about "obedient", and "morally straight"...

Anyway, good for Peter Brownstein (who didn't wear a uniform), Neil Whitaker, Kobe McDonald, and the others who took a stand. I've seen Eagle Scouts in the SF pride parade, but Utah is a different place.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Books Sexual Culture Bay Area moron Current Events Dan & Charlene's July 2003 San Juan Trip ]

Holy shit, I agree with Antonin Scalia: Court: Police Can Take DNA Swabs From Arrestees, and Scalia is in the rational minority.

U.S. Supreme Court rules on Maryland v. King. In the dissent, Justice Scalia, with whom Justice Ginsburg, Justice Sotomayor, and Justice Kagan join, writes:

... Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Law Enforcement Education Databases ]

Awesomest Jeep accessories *evar*!

[ related topics: Photography ]

A quick run-down on what's happening in Turkey.

[ related topics: Food Law Birds Neil Gaiman ]

New York Magazine: Officer Serrano’s Hidden Camera: The stop-and-frisk trials of Pedro Serrano: NYPD rat, NYPD hero. (Via MeFi)

[ related topics: Photography Invention and Design Current Events New York ]

Kickstarter plug: Suzanne is working on "100 Years in the Life of an American Girl - 1910-2010" http://www.kickstarter.com/pro...ife-of-an-american-girl-1910-201

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Archival ]

Videos of screencaps from a man-in-the-browser attack targeting Bank of America customers.

Via /.: Banking Malware, Under the Hood.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

BBC News: Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes.

Mothers have a choice between taking the box, or a cash grant, currently set at 140 euros, but 95% opt for the box as it's worth much more.

The tradition dates back to 1938. To begin with, the scheme was only available to families on low incomes, but that changed in 1949.

It'd be interesting to see the graph on infant mortality against other nations similarly developing in the same time frame.

[ related topics: Current Events Monty Python ]

Harvard Business Review: Change the World and Get to Bed by 10:00.

Careful in comparing those graphs of performance vs hours awake and performance vs blood alcohol content, the vertical axis is scaled differently. However...

[ related topics: Theater & Plays Furniture ]

Why would anyone publish a RESTful API Interface with CRUD (Create Read/Report Update and Delete) like Oracle's APEX (Application Express) on the public internet... for a mission critical real business application?

It's locked down now, after a quick demonstration of what CRUD is capable of doing. But I'm fighting the urge to really hurt some people.

[ related topics: Net Culture Databases ]

You know who else enjoyed bicycling? The Guardian: Spyclists: how Hitler Youth's cycling tours caused panic in prewar Britain.

Cycling tours by Hitler Youth groups and Nazi attempts to establish close links with the Boy Scout movement caused a security panic in prewar Britain, according to MI5 files released today.

[ related topics: Current Events Sports Douglas Adams Pedal Power Bicycling Dictators ]

Oh hell yes! Forbes: California To Wal-Mart: Enough! No More Taxpayer Subsidized Profits For You. In which California proposes to levy fines against employers whose workers who need to turn to Medi-Cal.

Says Sonya Schwartz, program director at the National Academy for State Academy for State Health Policy, “There are concerns that employers will be gaming this new system and taking less and less responsibility for their workers. This may make employers think twice.”

I am not familiar with the details, this could make it more difficult for unemployed low-income workers to find work, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out practically.

[ related topics: Games Health Invention and Design Software Engineering Work, productivity and environment California Culture ]

Facebook, Google and other ad vendors: How about a checkbox which lets me say "no ads from vendors who impose DRM, ever". ie: Audible.

The Atlantic Wire: The Latest Navy SEAL Book Could Impact the Military's Transgender Rules. Puff piece on a new book called Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL's Journey to Coming Out Transgender written by Kristin Beck.

Healing Grounds is Kristin (formerly Chris) Beck's organization to help Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

[ related topics: Books Sexual Culture Invention and Design Dan & Charlene's July 2003 San Juan Trip ]

S.F. cop says he was racially profiled, that he was asked if he was on probation or parole, responded

... "That's not the question you should ask. You should ask for my driver's license, my registration, my insurance."

was asked to step out of the car, and was beaten.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Bay Area Automobiles ]

Inspired by @robkroese, I'm calling the next BoingBoing fixation: steam glam rock.

Spitfire 944 (YouTube). In which a filmmaker finds old film of a WWII wheels-up landing of a reconnaissance aircraft, tracks down the original pilot.

[ related topics: Movies Robotics Aviation Embedded Devices ]

Yesterday's run. Felt fast, but I guess we know why I was leading, and hanging back for the others: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=...sc%2FTrack20130604morningrun.kml

[ related topics: Maps and Mapping ]

Email subject lines: Local police advisory, followed by Southwest Airlines "getaways". Somehow I misinterpreted the second...

[ related topics: Aviation Law Enforcement ]

Since you're undoubtedly going to run across commentary based on articles badly rewritten from this press release: Cornell Chronicle: Study: Women reject promiscuous female peers as friends.

For the study, 751 college students provided information about their sexual experience and views on casual sex. They read a near-identical vignette about a male or female peer, the only difference being the character’s number of lifetime sexual partners (two or 20). When asked about the person on a range of friendship factors, female participants – regardless of their own promiscuity – viewed sexually permissive women more negatively on nine of 10 friendship attributes, judging them more favorably only on their outgoingness.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Current Events Education Archival ]

Hmmm... may have to get a group of people to do this to unsuspecting cyclists out in western Sonoma... Mobbing solo cyclists as though they just won the Tour de France (YouTube).

[ related topics: Movies ]

So chances that he'll have a cell next to Bradley Manning? Report: Leon Panetta revealed classified SEAL unit info

[ related topics: Dan & Charlene's July 2003 San Juan Trip ]

We must threaten women with rape to save comedy, says the internet

When Lindy West says that bad rape jokes are the last refuge of the lazy, unfunny comedian, threatening to rape her is not the most convincing way to demolish her argument.

[ related topics: Net Culture ]

Matthias Wandel: The physics of bandsaw resawing (YouTube)

[ related topics: Movies Matthias Wandel ]

Anti-news: NBC News: EXCLUSIVE: CIA didn't always know who it was killing in drone strikes, classified documents show.

The uncertainty appears to arise from the use of so-called “signature” strikes to eliminate suspected terrorists -- picking targets based in part on their behavior and associates. A former White House official said the U.S. sometimes executes people based on “circumstantial evidence.”

[ related topics: Current Events Race Real Estate ]

Guardian.co.uk has obtained a secret court order under which Verizon is turning over cell phone call information to the National Security Agency.

The order directs Verizon to "continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order". It specifies that the records to be produced include "session identifying information", such as "originating and terminating number", the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and "comprehensive communication routing information".

I think it's safe to say that if such an order exists for and is being complied to by Verizon, the same thing is happening for other cell phone carriers.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Wireless Bay Area Theater & Plays Work, productivity and environment Phreaking NSA Wiretaps ]

Excerpt from a tweet: "#BigData. Come to win. #M2MAppChallenge" I'm having trouble accepting that this is about computer stuff...

RT Andrew Benson ‏@pixlpa

So far it seems like 3D printing at home is really going to disrupt 99 cent store toy sales.

Yep. This is why I don't have a 3d printer.

[ related topics: Graphics ]

Porn Stars Without Makeup: More Before and After Pictures by Melissa Murphey (SFW), although some of them seem to be wearing lipstick in their "without makeup" shots, so I'm not sure they qualify.

[ related topics: Photography Erotic Sexual Culture virus ]

So: a web page on which we can randomly exchange telephone numbers to call to help fuzz out the NSA snooping?

[ related topics: Phreaking NSA Wiretaps ]

My Dad posted this to Facebook, with the note:

"Whitehouse, OH: You're standing on a "Rails to Trails" path looking toward a street crossing. When questioned about this sign, a UNIFORMED WHITEHOUSE COP said that the sign was properly placed and warns pedestrians that the cars have the right of way. I can't make this stuff up!"

[ related topics: Photography Archival ]

Saxby Chambless (R-GA) justifies the secret NSA program that gathered information on all Verizon Wireless calls:

"...To my knowledge there has not been any citizen who has registered a complaint. It has proved meritorious because we have collected significant information on bad guys, but only on bad guys, over the years."

Uh, yeah, so no citizen has registered a complaint because this program has been top secret. No citizen confirmed that it was occurring (until the anonymous hero who leaked the order did so).

And the program has, by all accounts, collected information on every single cell phone call made through the Verizon Wireless network (and there's no reason to believe that they were the only carrier targeted) since 1996. So I'm guessing we're all "bad guys" in Mr. Chambless's eyes now?

To be fair, this was a joint impromptu press conference with the enemy of freedom and Senator from Hollywood Diane Feinstein, so this isn't a Republican/Democrat issue, this is an evil evil legislators issue.

See also this Flutterby entry from yesterday.

[ related topics: Drugs Wireless Privacy broadband Software Engineering Civil Liberties Conferences Archival Government NSA Wiretaps ]

SIGGRAPH 2013 : Technical Papers Preview Trailer (YouTube)

[ related topics: Movies Conferences ]

Slate: Doubt and the Double Helix: If police find a DNA “match,” that doesn’t mean they have the right suspect.

Read all the way to the end to see how the use of DNA evidence alone was used to convince an innocent man.

This is why building big databases of citizens is scary and dangerous.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Law Enforcement Mathematics Databases ]

Bruce Schneier in The Atlantic: What We Don't Know About Spying on Citizens: Scarier Than What We Know:

The U.S. government is on a secrecy binge. It overclassifies more information than ever. And we learn, again and again, that our government regularly classifies things not because they need to be secret, but because their release would be embarrassing.

Knowing how the government spies on us is important. Not only because so much of it is illegal -- or, to be as charitable as possible, based on novel interpretations of the law -- but because we have a right to know. Democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function properly, and transparency and accountability are essential parts of that. That means knowing what our government is doing to us, in our name. That means knowing that the government is operating within the constraints of the law. Otherwise, we're living in a police state.

As usual, Schneier says it well and completely.

[ related topics: Ziffle Politics moron Law Current Events Law Enforcement Mathematics Cryptography ]

NY Times comes out swinging at the Obama administration on the NSA call data flap: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06...dragnet.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all

[Edit: The cowards have retconned the editorial to soften it]

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Washington Post: U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program:

The technology companies, which participate knowingly in PRISM operations, include most of the dominant global players of Silicon Valley. They are listed on a roster that bears their logos in order of entry into the program: “Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.” PalTalk, although much smaller, has hosted significant traffic during the Arab Spring and in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

Dropbox, the cloud storage and synchronization service, is described as “coming soon.”

Remember that that Dropbox has lied to you before about data security.

[ related topics: Apple Computer Humor Microsoft Software Engineering History moron Net Culture ]

Was going to ask about OS PGP email clients for Android, but then realized I can't really trust the underlying OS... Hello Gentoo?

They Might Be Giants - Call connected through the NSA ringtone

[ related topics: Movies Robotics Embedded Devices ]

The Emperor's Cabinet - Brass and Mahogany veneer Star Wars At-At liquor cabinet.

[ related topics: Star Wars Space & Astronomy Model Building Aviation - Helicopters Woodworking Home Improvement ]

I just realized we're only 3 months short of two decades of the Eternal September. How are we gonna mark this anniversary?

No Phone While Driving - the Nanny State attempts to further enable stupid people.

While (most of the time) I hand off my phone or ignore it when driving, I tend to fear the idiots I see while driving. I see enough cars in "slow wavering distracted mode" that when I zip by them to get out of their impending disaster zone, see a phone in their hand...

I get torn on this, and I feel that the real solution is: Many people should not be driving. It's not a right, it's a responsibility to wield a solid mass with deadly inertia in public places.

[ related topics: hubris ]

Dear US intelligence apparatus: it's not that I mind you screwing all those people, I just wish you'd talked to me about it first...

There's a much discussed new big box shopping area in Petaluma, and one of the local reporters is covering the opening of a new store. RT @Yovanna_Argus:

Ah yes, I wondered how long before I would overhear a discussion on ammo while in line at Dick's Sporting Goods. That time has arrived

Now besides the fact that "Dick's Sporting Goods" sounds an awful lot like a franchise in the same vein as "Hooter's" or "Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill" (which has trademarked the term "breastaurant"), I realized that "sporting goods" is to "outdoors" as Red State is to Blue State...

[ related topics: Nature and environment Invention and Design Food Community ]

So I whined this morning on FaceTwitSpace about having to leapfrog the bus for a few stops until a space opened up on the bike rack, and @brennen replied:

@danlyke this is a thing I've been realizing: actually existing public transit in the US is basically a subsidy to the already wealthy.

and:

@danlyke that is, a benefit to people who don't have to care about the costs and to people who employ low-wage workers.

And I realized that I had yet another perspective to view this by...

[ related topics: Space & Astronomy Work, productivity and environment Bicycling Public Transportation ]

So, do I renew PetalumaOpen.com and OpenPetaluma.com, or do I just move that content to another domain?

Things that terrify me, #67023 in a series: Finding "%.2f" in code that deals with money.

[ related topics: Currency ]

Competitive Enterprise Institute: Reducing Passenger Train Procurement Costs, comparing the United States' FRA rules with European rules, and pointing out how our outdated passenger rail safety standards increase capital and operating costs, at the expense of safety relative to European standards.

[ related topics: Machinery Trains ]

RT @jbendery: REFRESHER: Here's everyone who voted in the House/Senate to reauthorize FISA/phone spying. http://1.usa.gov/OHygJA / http://1.usa.gov/12LkIVN

[ related topics: Politics Real Estate ]

I don't want to turn this into Tumblr or anything, but... RT @fakedansavage Dan Savage:

I don't usually send things like this out... but I'm making an exception. http://pic.twitter.com/NVVv1Jb60C

[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Photography Robotics Food Embedded Devices Archival ]

I've been trying to figure out how to talk about the guy who shot and killed an escort in Texas and was acquitted. I think this does it justice: Vanity Fair: Why Ezekiel Gilbert’s Acquittal Proves the Lunacy of Texas’s Gun Laws

[ related topics: Law Enforcement Guns Government ]

I tagged this on the bottom of yesterday's "The cognitive dissonance, it burns!" entry, but I think it deserves repeating here:

Michael Arrington tears apart the denials of the various tech companies implicated in the PRISM presentation:

How else could these companies be supplying the data? Easy, by simply sending a copy of all data to the NSA. Verizon’s court order, for example, required that they send call data daily.

The companies sending the data have both immunity from prosecution and are also prohibited from disclosing that the NSA has requested or received the data.

[ related topics: Pyrotechnics Phreaking Archival ]

Mother Jones: Exclusive: Leader of Anonymous Steubenville Op on Being Raided by the FBI.

If convicted of hacking-related crimes, Lostutter could face up to 10 years behind bars—far more than the one- and two-year sentences doled out to the Steubenville rapists. Defending himself could end up costing a fortune—he's soliciting donations here. Still, he thinks getting involved was worth it. "I'd do it again," he says.

Yep. One of the people who forced the authorities to pursue justice faces more prison time than the rapists.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Law Enforcement Fashion ]

Gamification.co: Can the Gamification of Female Masturbation Remove Its Social Stigma? – GCo Exclusive. Immediately presents me with a pop-up telling me I can earn badges for reading articles. Uh. Yeah. It's a piece pimping Happy Play Time (just click outside of the "give us your personal data now!" thingie to make it go away).

The real question is: Can female masturbation remote the stigma that gamification seems hell bent on acquiring?

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Holy shit! On two fronts:

First, WTF is up with all of the disclosures this week? Was the Verizon Wireless NSA thing a tipping point, journalists like Greenwald (who's behind this one as well) have been saving this stuff up and decided that this is now the right time, or is this a Wikileaks or Anonymous (or both) push?

Second: The Guardian: Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks: Exclusive: Top-secret directive steps up offensive cyber capabilities to 'advance US objectives around the world'

Okay, third: If this is true, how is it that all of these assholes haven't yet figured out that behavior in the virtual world has a huge impact in the real one? Some of us have known that for 30 years now...

Bonus! John Kerry approved huge arms shipments to Egypt despite ongoing human rights violations by that government.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Wireless Political Correctness Journalism and Media ]

Burnerphone.us. A burner phone, 30 days of unlimited talk and text for $75. Right now it's credit card only, but they're working on bitcoin.

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment ]

The people who seem to be associated with Open Whisper Systems are names that I have good security vibes about, and the fact that their code is open source bodes well.

I have not audited their code.

This doesn't mask the metadata, but does claim to encrypt the contents, on Android phones, available both for voice and data calls.

[ related topics: Free Software Cryptography ]

I guess that's why we have no power... Someone took out the pole circa 1:30

[ related topics: Photography ]

Just a sample size of 1, but wondering about how last night's 2 "papieren bitte" checkpoints related to this sheared off power pole...

Stopped by into the temporary River City Bikes on Brainerd Road, and saw a rough CruzBike recumbent conversion for sale. They said: $50 for the bike, and a bonus box of parts. Bought it. Turns out the box was a complete new Cruz Bike conversion kit. Trying to figure out what kewl art bike thing could be made with 2 front wheel drive recumbent conversion kits...or maybe just building up a couple of bikes.

[ related topics: Art & Culture California Culture Bicycling Woodworking ]

First Google Glass in the wild. Remarkably clunky, looked like various homebuilt ones I've seen, or that plasma HUD from the late '80s.

Food Safety News: Would More Passion Help? Interesting perspective on the recent "organic" frozen berries from "Oregon's" Townsend Farms, distributed through Costco and others.

Here’s the money quote in James story: “We can’t question it if another certifier says a place is organic-certified,” said Brenda Brook, organic program manager for the WSDA. “The thing that gets confusing from the consumer standpoint is when something’s from Turkey, for example, but it’s certified by a U.S. firm. [The organic certification program] is really just a chain of custody.”

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Food Software Engineering Current Events Consumerism and advertising Currency Birds ]

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: As Bradley Manning Trial Begins, Press Predictably Misses the Point

This whole thing, this trial, it all comes down to one simple equation. If you can be punished for making public a crime, then the government doing the punishing is itself criminal.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics moron ]

Guardian: Interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden

1. "That the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America. I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinised most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians."

NY Times: President Obama's dragnet:

The defense of this practice offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who as chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is supposed to be preventing this sort of overreaching, was absurd. She said on Thursday that the authorities need this information in case someone might become a terrorist in the future. Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the vice chairman of the committee, said the surveillance has “proved meritorious, because we have gathered significant information on bad guys and only on bad guys over the years.”

People, get your stories straight: Are we going after potential future terrorists, or only bad guys?

Yeesh. What a bunch of bad liars.

[ related topics: Politics Law California Culture ]

How the DHS is harassing a U.S. citizen, just in case you thought this surveillance overreach was really just limited to "bad guys" and foreign nationals.

This time, however, she was told by multiple CBP agents that she was prohibited from taking notes on the ground that her pen could be used as a weapon. After she advised them that she was a journalist and that her lawyer had advised her to keep notes of her interrogations, one of them, CBP agent Wassum, threatened to handcuff her if she did not immediately stop taking notes. A CBP Deputy Chief (Lopez) also told her she was barred from taking notes, and then accused her of “refusing to cooperate with an investigation” if she continued to refuse to answer their questions (he later clarified that there was no “investigation” per se, but only a “questioning”). Requests for comment from the CBP were not returned as of the time of publication.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Law Journalism and Media Guns Salon magazine ]

Your government overreach outrage for the morning:

• Jim Sensenbrenner: This abuse of the Patriot Act must end. In which one of the authors of the "PATRIOT" act is shocked, shocked, to discover that there is gambling at this establishment.
• Politico's Philip Ewing: NSA memo pushed to 'rethink' 4th Amendment
• John Gilmore on the liberationtech mailing list: Why didn't tech company leaders blow the whistle?. Discusses Qwest's CEO saying "no", now serving a six year prison sentence.
• Washington Post: Has the US become the kind of nation from which you have to seek asylum? Great look at, among other things, how our misapplication of plea bargaining has gone awry.

(Taken from here)

[ related topics: moron Education Gambling ]

I'd like to take automobile advocates seriously but they're constantly running red lights. Shaken and pissed off.

[ related topics: Sports Automobiles ]

Crosswalk: a mechanism to concentrate targets.

I for one, welcome our new paper bipedal walking mechanism (YouTube) overlords. But I am not convinced that paper bipedal walking mechanisms armed with rubber band Gatling guns (YouTube) is a good idea (skip to 1:08 on that second one to get straight to the action).

By way of Mechanical Paper Model.

[ related topics: Invention and Design Guns ]

Reason Magazine: Judge Alex Kozinski on Third-Party Privacy: "Kiss It Goodbye". Some really good notes on what "expectation of privacy" has meant, the history of the Supreme Court's decisions on phone taps, and more:

Kozinski: Until further notice, I would not consider anything you put on the cloud private. Is that clear? I'm not saying it's not going to be, but it's a highly undecided question. Essentially, if it's a new computer on your desk where the police actually have to go in and get the physical thing, it's protected. It's not protected from everything—obviously there's probable cause, a warrant; they can get it. But it's protected from unauthorized intrusion.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Privacy Invention and Design Law Law Enforcement Archival ]

This is interesting: The front and back of every piece of mail delivered in the U.S. is apparently digitized and stored.

The Atlantic Cities: The Horrifying Inequality That Plagues Ohio Students' Routes to School.

Beyond the obvious "poor/black people get different service levels" concern raised by the author, I wonder how much of what we view as the problems with denser living stems from seeing this sort of different treatment as an urban/suburban-or-rural divide rather than an economic or racial one?

[ related topics: Children and growing up Automobiles Economics ]

Petitions.Whitehouse.Gov: Pardon Edward Snowden.

RT Kim Bruning ‏@Kim_Bruning

"Law abiding governments have nothing to worry about from whistleblowers...

RT Rob Kroese ‏@robkroese:

People who do nothing wrong have nothing to hide, which is why NSA's activities must remain secret.

RT Nobilis Reed ‏@Nobilis

Pardon Edward Snowden http://wh.gov/liZnR

But, on that last one, remember that the personality is far less important than the erosion of civil liberties and the surveillance state. Keep focused on those issues.

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality ]

So apparently in the midst of Turkey's police dressing up like protesters and throwing firebombs, and the NSA getting caught doing stuff that, even if it is legal, should make us throw out the entire House, Senate, and executive branch and start over, there was a release of a new set of game consoles at E3.

When Charlene and I went to see Before Midnight, we showed up early to get a good seat, which meant we sat through a whole bunch of the bad pre-show stuff, including an immensely tone-deaf commercial for the Microsoft Surface. Really, it was kind of a "we're trying to be hip and cool to 80 year olds" sort of thing. So it didn't really surprise me to see this: Huffington Post: There Was An Awkward, Rape-Insinuating Joke At This Official Xbox One Event

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Humor Games Microsoft Movies Invention and Design Food moron Law Consumerism and advertising Law Enforcement Birds Handicaps & Disabilities Real Estate ]

Spy center missed bomb suspect, watched Jamaica Plain peace activists. The Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) run by the Boston Police Department with state and federal assistance missed the Tsarnaev brothers, but:

At the same time, BRIC kept extensive spy files on non-criminal activities of peaceful Boston organizations, as an American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and National Lawyers Guild lawsuit revealed last year. That included a 2007 anti-war event at a Jamaica Plain church that was labeled a “criminal act” by “extremists” by BPD spies reporting to BRIC, as the Gazette previously reported.

[ related topics: Religion Movies History Law Enforcement ]

Boulder woman disturbed by police policy to enter unsecured residences. She came home to find a police officer sitting on her dining room table.

Smiley, a Boulder resident for 28 years, said she routinely leaves her sliding glass door open when she leaves the house for short amounts of time. To access it a person must open a latching gate, go up some stairs to reach an elevated deck where the door is located.

[ related topics: Current Events Law Enforcement Real Estate Furniture ]

Just got an email titled "Interview request from Al Jazeera English" asking for my participation in "Global Village Voices", with 4 questions focused on Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. My response went:

I've thought a little bit about those questions and I don't think that answering those is useful or interesting. They deflect the larger issues of what should or shouldn't be lawful in the U.S. pursuing an undeclared war, and what the larger issues of government surveillance of its citizens, and the secrecy surround those activities, on to particular issues of personality of two individuals.

This is not about Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning. They are heroes (although I believe that Manning was also somewhat misguided and manipulated), but keeping the focus on their tribulations is a distraction from the discussions we ought to be engaging in.

Thank you for your coverage, but I must decline.

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality History moron Journalism and Media ]

Ugh. And now all the "auto-pay failed" emails start rolling in from the credit card compromised in (I assume) the Raley's breach. Sigh.

Prism PPT Remake - While design is not the NSA's strong point, I'll contend their leaked PowerPoint slides still demonstrate their ability to communicate and grasp of technology. Not that great. Which is a side issue, one of the factors of trust is the perception of competence, and they failed with that slide deck. The link illustrates a much more communicative and competent version of the same data, something more apropos to the budget of the NSA.

[ related topics: Graphic Design ]

I understand why development on production servers can be necessary, and I don't want install anything new, but vi can just FOAD already.

[ related topics: Invention and Design Theater & Plays Work, productivity and environment ]

The hell? Crystal City - The most poorly planned bicycle race course ever (Vimeo video). By way of this Fark link, passed along to me by Shadow.

Charlene and I have volunteered as course marshals, and beyond the obvious idiocy of a figure 8 race track (using your favorite search engine to find results for "figure 8 school bus racing" and then suggesting why that might not be a good idea for a bicycle course is left as an exercise to the reader) two things immediately leap out: First, WTF was the course designer thinking, using a course marshal where they needed at least cones or hay bales, second, WTF was the the course marshal doing on the course without at least a bright orange vest?

More in this article, apparently the race was the Crystal City Arlington Virginia Air Force Cycling Classic.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Sports Machinery Pedal Power Video Bicycling Public Transportation ]

Bears re-reading carefully: Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm

• Slate: Fire James Clapper: The Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress about NSA surveillance. What else will he lie about?. Although really, firing this one guy isn't a solution to the cancer.
• Washington Post: The Plum Line: A good start in bringing transparency to NSA spying. On Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Utah Sen. Mike Lee's proposal to at least publish summaries of FISA court opinions.
• J. Daniel Sawyer: The NSA, Snowden, and Why It Matters.

[ related topics: Politics Technology and Culture History Current Events Television Pyrotechnics ]

Adult Toy Store - No, not THAT type of "Adult" store.. although applications could be found... Think more like Serious Erector Set Stuff.

Bus drivers saying yesterday someone stole a bike off a bus rack at Copeland Transit Mall. Hanging's too good for bike thieves.

[ related topics: Bicycling Public Transportation ]

Former NSA Boss: We Don't Data Mine Our Giant Data Collection, We Just Ask It Questions.

An Inconvenient Truth: Members of Congress Go Silent Over Prior False Testimony On Surveillance.

Our leaders have embraced that core view of Lenin that “A Lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

David Brooks: The Last Stalinist http://jacobinmag.com/2013/06/david-brooks-the-last-stalinist/

Doncha love it when both sides can come together?

• Reason: Reminder: Peter King, Who Wants to Arrest Glenn Greenwald, Is an Actual Supporter of Terrorism.
• Mother Jones: Peter King's Terrorism Problem: The fiery GOPer says WikiLeaks supports terrorism. Legal experts say congressmen who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones—or raise money for the IRA.

[ related topics: Politics Weblogs Theater & Plays Law Currency Real Estate ]

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake: Snowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitution.

[ related topics: Law Civil Liberties Woodworking ]

Proving Rule 34 as a service.

(And in case you need a refresher, Rule 34: There is porn of it.)

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Law ]

If the NSA would use those call records to dispatch drones to kill the solar energy spammers who call my cell phone, I'd change my stance.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Wireless Photovoltaics ]

• spook.el - Emacs spook function.
• spook.pl, which you can tie to a keybinding in vim

For all your "I need to insert some suspicious keywords into this code" typing needs.

[ related topics: Perl Open Source Mathematics Cryptography hubris ]

Wow, now this is just starting to look like the NSA has been bullshitting Congress while funnelling lots of money to cronies in private contracting firms: LA Times: Analyst overstated claims on NSA leaks, experts say.

[ related topics: Politics Currency ]

So this reminded me of Dan's fascination of air frames and my personal desire to have autonomous minions at my beckon. I thinks these would be a hit at a trendy bar ...Airwolf brings your glass Chardonnay

http://www.ted.com/talks/raffa...hletic_power_of_quadcopters.html

[ related topics: Wines and Spirits Consumerism and advertising Artificial Intelligence Aerial Photography Drones ]

Salon.com: CIA deputy slut-shamed over erotica reading.

[ related topics: Erotic Salon magazine ]

Trying to recover my Yahoo! account. JavaScript 101 fail on their password strength page. Sigh.

RT Paul Ford ‏@ftrain

fun postgresql fact: 'allballs' is a synonym for 00:00:00.00 UTC http://www.postgresql.org/docs...teractive/datatype-datetime.html

I suddenly have a great need to go refactor some code...

[ related topics: Automobiles Databases ]

Vladimir Putin defends the NSA spying programs and NYPD suppression of Occupy. The Soviets won. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...s-drones-and-occupy-wall-street/

“If there are people who act outside the law, then the state must use legal means to impose law in the interests of majority. That’s the way it’s done in the U.S., and that’s the way it’s done in Russia.”

Which is true, but that's not how it's supposed to be done in the U.S. When the ex-KGB guy is praising your government, your society is doing it wrong.

Oh, this is awesome: Bank robbery suspect wants NSA phone records for his defense;

"If the government is spying on our phone calls, it can't then claim in the same breath that it won't provide those calls when it helps the defense. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander," said David Oscar Markus, a defense lawyer who blogs about the federal justice system in South Florida and first wrote about the unusual request.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama moron Law Current Events Law Enforcement Java ]

Richard Nixon talks with John Mitchell and Henry Kissinger about keeping the New York Times from publishing the Ellsberg papers (YouTube).

[ related topics: Movies Robotics Invention and Design Embedded Devices New York Dictators ]

This story on "Patriotic" companies forget that once upon a time it could be said that: real Americans question authority".

It seems "trusted partners" have been outing a lot of information without due process or even a good reason. It's a scary article, describing even more than Snowden released.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

The Hollywood Reporter: 'Happy Birthday' for All: Filmmaker Aims to Free Song From Copyright Grip, via Techdirt: Lawsuit Filed To Prove Happy Birthday Is In The Public Domain; Demands Warner Pay Back Millions Of License Fees.

[ related topics: Copyright/Trademark ]

Violet Blue in ZDNet: Ad Exec: Online ad industry complicit in NSA PRISM datamining.

Last Sunday, after the Edward Snowden video went live, Graham took to a large, private industry email list to call out the online advertising industry as complicit in the NSA scandal by making the public collection and use of personal information seem harmless, permissible, inevitable, and sometimes even desired.

But I actually think that's the other half of this that we're missing: If the National Security Letters and FISA court decisions weren't shrouded in secrecy, if we didn't have secret laws and secret legal decisions, I'd care a hell of a lot less about the surveillance. Hell, if I could get the same data about my cell phone calls that the NSA is getting, I'd be overjoyed.

Very related: RT @Medley:

David Simon has an interesting conversation with commenter Gavin in the comments thread: http://davidsimon.com/counter-arguments-gathered-and-answered/

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Wireless History Theater & Plays Law Consumerism and advertising Video Government ]

Any of you digital pioneers interested in exploring RetroShare? Has binaries, you needn't be nerds. http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/

On gay and straight square dancing, heterosexual male privilege, and Australian Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison's message regarding unacceptable behavior (YouTube) and Morrison's speech to the 2013 United Nations International Women's Day Converence in the comments.

(Please click through, if only for the pull-quote I grabbed from that latter speech trascript.)

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Work, productivity and environment Conferences ]

If any social media services had half-decent profiling, I'd be getting movie ads to rewatch Before Midnight, not see Man of Steel

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Cool Science Movies Journalism and Media ]

Fuuuu... Anyone tell me why the UTF-8 encoding at the "Inbound Links" section of http://www.flutterby.com/archives/comments/17722.html is working, but the one at the "Most Recent Inbound Links" section of the main page isn't?

Edit: Fuuuuu... binmode O. Next time I'm feeling like slinging code, rewriting all of this Perl crap in C seems like a really good idea now..

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Archival ]

Must watch: Biden in 2006 debates Obama in 2013: http://youtu.be/m4SRCOouw5I

[ related topics: Movies ]

Facebook Releases Data, Including All National Security Requests.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

PBS: The American Experience: Why Did the Mafia Own the Stonewall Bar? (and other gay bars in New York City)

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Invention and Design New York ]

Huh. There is no non-gendered term for the singular adult cattle.

In today's NSA revelations:

• Yep, an NSA analyst can and has listen to your phone calls without a warrant, and considers email and text messages open as well (but we already knew the IRS didn't consider email private). It occurs to me: How much email across the backbone is encrypted? Authenticated SMTP has become the norm for end-user to ISP, but ISP-to-ISP?
• Similar from the Washington Post.
• It's worth noting that FISA court judges are appointed by the U.S. Chief Justice, for the next 20 years that'll be John Roberts.
• The FBI is claiming that this dragnet process is necessary because it can't file 300 more National Security Letters a year

[ related topics: Politics Privacy Current Events Law Enforcement Net Culture Cryptography Architecture ]

Shadow forwarded along this video of Drew Bezanson doing stuff on a bicycle on a set of indoor ramps that... yeah, there's stuff that makes me think "it'd be awesome to learn how to do that" and there's "just... wow, and I'm glad to leave that to people like that."

[ related topics: Pedal Power Video Bicycling ]

Argh. I hate that Google so ridiculously dropped the ball on identity. Trying to unscrew up this Google Calendar stuff. Sigh.

Careful on trusting your certificates, kids! GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits by setting up dummy "internet cafe" networks.

The disclosure raises new questions about the boundaries of surveillance by GCHQ and its American sister organisation, the National Security Agency, whose access to phone records and internet data has been defended as necessary in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. The G20 spying appears to have been organised for the more mundane purpose of securing an advantage in meetings. Named targets include long-standing allies such as South Africa and Turkey.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Invention and Design Food Net Culture Birds ]

So I don't know how long it takes to add value to a Clipper card, but it isn't "update autopay details, eat breakfast, get on bus".

[ related topics: Privacy Food Public Transportation ]

Guy sets up proxy server in Pakistan to send him snippets from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, emails back excerpts from Gerard Manley Hopkins poems. Visits from the FBI and attempts to explain Joyce to federal prosecutors ensue.

Even if the emails were to be flagged, I figured any analyst’s scan of the text, a simple Google search, would reveal the passages to be from a work of literature.

But no one has ever kept out of trouble relying on the competence of the United States government. I suspect it was the following passage that did me in, from page 261 of Finnegans Wake:

Terror of the noonstruck by day,

cryptogam of each nightly bridable. But, to

speak broken heaventalk, is he? Who is he?

Laurie Penny in the New Statesman: If you live in a surveillance state for long enough, you create a censor in your head. Yes. This. One of the things I didn't realize until I moved to California was how much, even though I hung out with the cool people, the conservative culture of Chattanooga impacted my thinking. If we live in a society where emailing Joyce around can lead to Federal charges, there will be cultural consequences.

Flying Magazine: Feds Say: 'Pilots Have No Rights'.

Our source told us that the ramp check was just a ploy to search the airplane and that the real target of the search was drugs, though even that, he said, could be used as a pretense for apprehending other potential criminals. The federal agents teaching the class he attended did not specify what other kind of “target” they might find, he said.

James Clapper Throws a Concentrated Nugget of Orwellian Turd-Splat

[ related topics: Drugs Interactive Drama Politics Health Free Speech Invention and Design Aviation moron Theater & Plays Sociology Current Events Work, productivity and environment Law Enforcement Civil Liberties California Culture Chattanooga Currency ]

Mark Frauenfelder on BoingBoing: LAX TSA officer shames my 15-year-old daughter for her outfit.

Here's what happened, as my daughter described it in text messages to us: she was at the station where the TSA checks IDs. She said the officer was "glaring" at her and mumbling. She said, "Excuse me?" and he said, "You're only 15, COVER YOURSELF!" in a hostile tone. She said she was shaken up by his abusive manner.

And Maureen Herman weighs in: A is for...: Another Reason to “Be Shameless”: TSA Agent Shames 15 Year Old Girl.

... It’s important that we stand up for things that may not seem like a “big deal.” Because cumulatively, they become the experience of oppression. ...

Yes. This. This is why the whole NSA snooping in secret thing pisses me off. Not because I'm worried about anyone knowing who I call, or reading my email or listening to my phone calls. I'm worried because those who choose to become agents of authority are usually heavily conservative influences, and no matter the procedures or rules of engagement, they will use their judgement to erode freedoms.

And every single inch we give them is a step further down that slope towards being Saudi Arabia.

[ related topics: Eric's Life Pop Culture ]

Tab dump:

• eshell completion for git, bzr and hg.
• a complete guide to mastering eshell.
• Alex Babakitis illustration.
• Bit Torrent Sync - Automatically sync files via secure, distributed technology.

[ related topics: Douglas Adams ]

IT Eunuch

Seen IT done. Facilitated IT being done. Lacks the skill and balls to do IT itself.

Very well expressed thought on the 5th Amendment, in which it becomes evident that rights, if not declared and explicitly used, can be taken away and used against you.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Law Civil Liberties ]

Indian author uses the PRISM revelations to justify India's Section 69B of the IT Act and its "CMS" monitoring system:

... There has been much noise from organisations promoting freedom of expression that CMS violates the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21. Where do they stand now, when the beacon for democracy and fundamental rights is exposed as watching the world, without any qualms about the privacy of citizens? The US has lost the credibility to preach freedom of expression on the internet, and privacy protection. Freedom to connect? One may have to think again.

And during the Boston bombing investigations, there was an interesting exchange that at the time I just wrote off to a clueless interviewee:

Is there any way … they [the federal investigators] can try to get the phone companies to give that up … It’s not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There’s no way they can actually find out what [was said on the call], right, unless she tells them?

Clemente: There is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation … we certainly can find that out.

Might not be as much of an overstatement as we thought. Via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5897903

[ related topics: Privacy Content Management Current Events Civil Liberties Net Culture Gambling Government ]

Tim Lynch at Cato: Richard Epstein’s Ricochet Post on the NSA looks at assorted reasons why we shouldn't blindly trust.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

rsync.net Warrant Canary

[ related topics: Privacy ]

Five days to go on Suzanne's 100 Years in the Life of an American Girl kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/pro...ife-of-an-american-girl-1910-201

[ related topics: Archival ]

Your couple of seconds of aviation awesomeness of the moment: Raw video: DC-10 Air Tanker drop over Doce Fire.

Aircraft that size, flying down those ridges... yeah, that's pretty bad-ass.

[ related topics: Cool Science Aviation Pyrotechnics Video ]

Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk) (YouTube)

Via.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

RT sexy error msg ‏@http_coed:

what idiot called it kosher salt instead of taberNaCl

[ related topics: moron ]

This goes exactly where you think it's going... it just takes the long way around... John McAfee shows how to uninstall McAfee Antivirus.

[ related topics: virus Television ]

A few years ago we replaced all of the door handles in our house with matching levers. Now I'm regretting that: Julius Escaping - in which a large snake has figured out how to open doors (Vimeo video). The text also claims she's facile with light switches.

[ related topics: Video Real Estate ]

"Amazing Ocean Facts: The collossal squid is twice as long as a school bus, but can only hold half as many kids" http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/tag/april-fools/

[ related topics: Children and growing up Public Transportation ]

Email from [Vendor redacted] advertising "Business Class Multitouch", and thought "that's why I don't go to E3"... #eeeww #creepy

[ related topics: Consumerism and advertising ]

When I am ruler of the universe, all computers will automatically erase any file with "new" in the name that's over a few hours old.

[ related topics: Invention and Design ]

Attn: FBI Director Robert Mueller: Security through obscurity accomplishes neither. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fbi...ho-dont-understand-the-internet/

[ related topics: Technology and Culture Law Enforcement Television Net Culture ]

Keiran Healy explores citation networks in modern philosophy papers, discovers that of the 500 most cited items in his data 3.4% were written by women, 6.2% by David Lewis.

[ related topics: Weblogs Philosophy Archival ]

RT Steve Streza ‏@SteveStreza

Looks like, with regards to their bad DRM policies, Microsoft is going to do a…

( °_°)

( °_°)‿‑●‑●

(‑●‑●)>

…360.

http://www.giantbomb.com/artic...versal-on-xbox-one-dr/1100-4673/

Thanks, Columbine, got a literal LOL at the desk from me.

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft moron ]

A cute little fold-up micro-bar design from the ApplePly Facebook feed. More inspiration for the next time I'm thinking about space-saving furniture.

[ related topics: Space & Astronomy Graphic Design ]

River Otter will fetch you your drink from the vending machine (YouTube)

[ related topics: Movies Robotics Embedded Devices ]

Bruce Schneier in CNN: Has U.S. started an Internet war?

That's the key question: How much of what the United States is currently doing is an act of war by international definitions? Already we're accusing China of penetrating our systems in order to map "military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis." What PPD-20 and Snowden describe is much worse, and certainly China, and other countries, are doing the same.

Yes. When our elected officials, and government employees, keep us in the dark, there's now way for us as citizens to say "no, this is not how we want to be seen by the world". What we're seeing here is very clearly the military-industrial state picking fights in order to maintain the war profiteering that comes from endless conflict.

[ related topics: History moron Work, productivity and environment Net Culture Cryptography Maps and Mapping ]

http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/16680

Demonstrates a clean well thought out leg design (cable driven from standard servos) that creates a nice natural looking cat like movement that seems to work well with less compute power.

[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment Graphic Design ]

Fast Company Design: Why aren't our gadgets still covered in wood?

[ related topics: Graphic Design Woodworking ]

Hey, we're re-fi'd! Yay much much lower rate! Especially just as they start to balloon back up!

When I rule the world, HTTP server developers offering "403 Forbidden" when they mean "404 Not Found" will be flogged. Repeatedly.

You know what I really love? Public service agency cars (ie: supervisors) puushing yellow lights into red against "walk" signals.

I've got a big ol' dose of NSA and FISA court outrage in tabs here, but we'll pause from that a moment to concentrate on other government malfeasance. Elizabeth Warren points out the obvious:

“I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the Trade Representative’s policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant,” Warren explained. “In other words, if people knew what was going on, they would stop it. This argument is exactly backwards. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States.”

Hell. Yes. And, alas, despite this observation, Michael Froman was confirmed by the Senate as the United States Trade Representative, with only 4 votes against.

More over at Esquire. Hat tip to Medley.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Content Management moron California Culture Currency ]

Bloomberg: U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms.

Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.

ComputerworldUK: Glyn Moody: How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again?:

The implications of this are really rather profound. Companies buy Microsoft products for many reasons, but they all assume that the company is doing its best to protect them. The latest revelations shows that is a false assumption: Microsoft consciously and regularly passes on information about how to break into its products to US agencies. What happens to that information thereafter is, of course, a secret. Not because of "terrorism", but because almost certainly illegal attacks are being made against countries outside the US, and their companies.

This may also be why some of those exploits seem to languish for so long...

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft Software Engineering moron Current Events Television ]

The Fullbright Company: Why we are not showing Gone Home at PAX.

Kickstarter: We were wrong

[ related topics: Weblogs Gambling ]

Please do not try to recruit me as a Ruby on Rails Programmer based on my LinkedIn profile (or my resume). I have programmed in Ruby on Rails but it's like claiming I'm fluent in Spanish because I know how to say, "Donde esta los baños?" Any technical recruiter worth their salt should be able to tell the difference. And no, I will not recommend any of my friends.

[ related topics: Software Engineering ]

eBay: Hand-made Guinea Pig Scale-Mail and Helmet (Armor)

This auction is a charity auction for hand-made guinea pig scale-mail. (You've read that correctly)

Is your pet guinea pig tired of wandering around the house unarmored and vulnerable? Do they get picked on by other guinea pigs? Has your guinea pig ever wanted to go with you to a Renaissance Faire but had nothing to wear?

[ related topics: Real Estate ]

Corante: In the Pipeline: Eight Toxic Foods: A Little Chemical Education. For the next time you see the "but the petrochemicals and the potassium bromate and the arsenic in your chicken!" in your Facebook timeline.

(And, yeah, if you're worried about arsenic in your diet, careful with that brown rice...)

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Food Education Birds Gambling Archival ]

Britain's GCHQ is monitoring cables much like the NSA does.

GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects.

This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user's access to websites – all of which is deemed legal, even though the warrant system was supposed to limit interception to a specified range of targets.

It really warms my heart to hear that Britain and the United States are doing this for our protection. Really, I felt so unsafe when just China and Iran were protecting us.

[ related topics: Privacy Law Net Culture Gambling ]

I don't mind shaving the yak, but now I'm off into learning about yak breeding programs in order to get one to shave.

[ related topics: Education ]

So an unnamed Justice Department official who is not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation has revealed that there are sealed charges against Edward Snowden.

Guessin' said DOJ official will not face charges for revealing this.

[ related topics: Law Enforcement ]

Dan: I'll bet you've seen this one, but just in case, ...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/MKikHxKeodA?rel=0

[ related topics: Law ]

From yesterday's soap box derby in Nevada City

[ related topics: Photography ]

This article (with autoplaying adverts)

A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation deputy director warned a group of Maury County residents that unfounded complaints about water quality could be considered an “act of terrorism.”

The quote is quite clear, he repeats it, while being recorded.

I'm dumbfounded at this stupidity, refering to DHS and Terrorism is the new catch-all excuse.

[ related topics: Nature and environment Chattanooga ]

Not the fastest Fokker down the hill, but definitely awesome!

[ related topics: Photography ]

Hee hee hee: Comedian finds worthwhile use for Citi bikes when not in use.

Thanks, Shadow.

Shadow also sent a story a week or two ago about some attacks along a MUP near Washington D.C. that I'm finding different views about from various different perspectives and still trying to understand what the right way to discuss it is, so... that entry is coming, but not yet.

[ related topics: Bicycling Gambling ]

The press release from Hong Kong on the detention of Edward Snowden, which points out that the forms weren't properly filled out, and then has the best "oh, by the way" I've seen in a while:

Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the US Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.

Which, I believe, is diplomatic speak for "bite me, dickheads".

[ related topics: moron Law Civil Liberties Hong Kong ]

Thurber's Thoughts: Humorless Ohio Attorney General mugs ‘prescription’ coffee cup.

Seems like a pretty plain First Amendment issue to me. Given what I know of the Ohio "justice" system, I'm unsurprised that Mike DeWine is unconcerned with the Bill of Rights, but that 22 other State Attorneys General wipe their ass with the Constitution is a little more surprising.

Panama City Florida's News Herald weighs in. The letter from the Attorneys General hosted on the Ohio AG's web site. the DrugFree.org press release crowing about this.

[ related topics: Humor Health Law Current Events Law Enforcement Civil Liberties ]

Studies show that terrorists are using communication tools other than the ones that the NSA is monitoring.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

100 most frequently asked help desk questions.

A little cheat-sheet FAQ for y'all who have to answer computer questions regularly.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

Spurred by a recent test which presented the same wine over and over again to the California State Fair wine competition, The Guardian has a good rundown on assorted evidence debunking much of wine tasting.

Via.

[ related topics: Movies Wines and Spirits California Culture ]

Remembering the UpStairs Lounge: The U.S.A.’s Largest LGBT Massacre Happened 40 Years Ago Today.

Okay, I think I have fixed the code so that it's doing what the programmer thought it should do. Now to figure out what it's supposed to do.

[ related topics: Software Engineering ]

We want to go paperless: Need a scanner & Linux-based document management system that's "stack of invoices/bills/receipts, press scan" easy. Suggestions?

[ related topics: Free Software Open Source ]

What if Lara Croft were male?

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Lawyers eye NSA data as treasure trove for evidence in murder, divorce cases.

Demonizing Edward Snowden: Which side are you on?

Borowitz Report: U.S. seemingly unaware of irony in accusing Snowden of spying.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

Saw this, had it open in a tab, and then haven't had that computer on for a couple of days, but this morning Shadow forwarded it along and, yeah, you should go watch.

Danny Macaskill's Imaginate at the Red Bull site, or Danny Macaskill's Imaginate on YouTube. The former link has a bunch of "making of" videos.

And damn I'm glad that there's enough spare money floating out of drugged sugar water to supply crazy people doing stunts like this.

Shadow also forwarded along Wired on a skate park design that's integrated with municipal drainage. Make the stormwater runoff system skatable, everyone wins! Woot!

[ related topics: Movies Graphic Design Boats Currency Skating Woodworking ]

Ya know that scandal where the IRS was using "tea party" as terms to trigger extra scrutiny for non-profit organizations? IRS wasn’t fond of Open Source, either.

[ related topics: Free Software Politics Software Engineering History ]

RT ʍɐɥs uuʎɹnɐ ‏@aurynn:

Just remember: 100% of news stories are wrong, but you'll only notice when you have domain knowledge.

RT Cadel Evans ‏@CadelOfficial:

😳RT: A cyclist may become angry if you endanger their life. If you find cyclists are generally angry people then you are a bad driver.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Current Events ]

The good news is that the programmer was trying to make this Y10k safe ('%d-%02d-%02d'), but I'm concerned about sort order...

[ related topics: Bay Area Software Engineering Current Events ]

History Lesson: What happened when Canada enacted a feminist anti-porn law. A good reminder of the ways that Canada's Butler decision was used to harass LGBT bookstores, counter-culture groups, and, yes, feminists.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Sociology California Culture ]

So is the Google logo cakes with candles for anyone else, or do they just know it's my birthday?

Between the amazing Wendy Davis filibuster in Texas yesterday, the Supreme Court ruling on the DOMA today, and the Obama climate speech, it's easy to forget that the NSA is still snooping on your communications, still lying about what they're doing with that data, and still seeking greater powers to snoop further.

[ related topics: Global Warming ]

Categorization fail: "Nude body suit large" in Amazon's "Home & Kitchen" section.

[ related topics: Books Erotic Sexual Culture Nudity ]

Because a guy with a mohawk in a kilt playing AC/DC on a flame-throwing bagpipe is the way to start your morning: The Badpiper Thunderstruck (YouTube)

(H/T @jackwilliambell)

[ related topics: Pyrotechnics ]

• ErosBlog: Pornocalypse Comes, Blogger/BlogSpot Edition
• Molly's Daily Kiss: The Sky Is Falling.
• Write sex right: Blogger bans monetization of adult blogs.

So two things of interest here:

1. The line on monetization is going to be a very grey one. Affiliate links? Links in to your favorite commercial site where the relationship is less clear?
2. Does this mean that Google has a way to monetize sex sites now?

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Current Events ]

Reminder: DNA evidence is only as good as the evidence chain, and be careful about what you think it really suggests: SF Gate: How innocent man's DNA was found at killing scene.

[ related topics: Bay Area ]

Police officers caught on video planting drugs to justify an arrest sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

[ related topics: Drugs Health Law Law Enforcement Community Video Gardening ]

Rick Perry: "The louder they scream, the more we know that we are getting something done."

RT Aaron Bady ‏@zunguzungu:

NO REALLY LET US MEASURE PROGRESS IN THE EXPRESSIONS OF WOMEN'S AGONY

You know this NSA thing must go really deep if Republicans are making these sorts of stupid statements in order to draw the heat off of Obama...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Health hubris ]

Reading between the lines of previous announcements, you knew that this revelation was coming: NSA has been collecting email "metadata".

Nic Buxom, freedom and liberty (probably NSFW)

[ related topics: Privacy Law Enforcement Civil Liberties Government ]

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, also GOP candidate for governor, is petitioning the Supreme Court to rehear Lawrence v. Texas so that VA can reinstate its ban on oral and anal sex:

... Cuccinelli claims he will only use the sodomy law to bring cases involving minors or sexual assault, and argues that Virginians need not worry about him prosecuting "consenting adults," because the part of the law that would enable him to do so was defanged by the Supreme Court's Lawrence decision. ...

However, he's fought to keep any such restrictions out of that law.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Law ]

Larry has some thoughts on the results on the report that President Obama commissioned on firearms violence, the Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

Saw this arrangement sitting on the futon in my office, thought it worthy.

[ related topics: Photography Woodworking ]

Celiac Disease and Holy Communion: A Medical and Spiritual Dilemma, via Improbable Research: Official word: The body of Christ is not and cannot be gluten-free.

Wait, so the body of Christ, flesh, contains gluten? This sounds suspiciously like someone's made a vegan substitution. Must be the work of seitan.

[ related topics: Religion Work, productivity and environment ]

A friend of John Scalzi talks about what the process and fallout from reporting sexual harassment at a convention looks like: Reporting Harassment at a Convention: A First-Person How To. Of critical note:

Although their behavior was professional and respectful, I was stunned when I found out that mine was the first formal report filed there as well. From various discussions in person and online, I knew for certain that I was not the only one to have reported inappropriate behavior by this person to his employer. It turned out that the previous reports had been made confidentially and not through HR and Legal. Therefore my report was the first one, because it was the first one that had ever been formally recorded.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Law Work, productivity and environment ]

NYTimes: The Criminal NSA:

The government claims that under Section 215 it may seize all of our phone call information now because it might conceivably be relevant to an investigation at some later date, even if there is no particular reason to believe that any but a tiny fraction of the data collected might possibly be suspicious. That is a shockingly flimsy argument — any data might be “relevant” to an investigation eventually, if by “eventually” you mean “sometime before the end of time.” If all data is “relevant,” it makes a mockery of the already shaky concept of relevance.

Dear NSA: You've got a PR problem right now. Frankly, so does the FTC's toothless "Do Not Call" list. If you guys teamed up to provide swift justice against telephone solicitors you could probably swing public opinion back your direction...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama moron Law Enforcement Phreaking ]

Haven't watched this with sound yet, but the visuals look like this video captures fairly well what I remember guiding on the Ocoee to be like: Ocoee River Rafting in Tennessee for the Rachael Ray Show (YouTube).

[ related topics: Movies Chattanooga Whitewater Video ]

UVA student Elizabeth Daly cleared of charges from water-buying incident

"They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform," Daly said in a written account of the April 11 incident.

“I couldn't put my windows down unless I started my car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were ... terrified," Daly said.

Another article, Bottled-water purchase leads to night in jail for UVa student says that she dialed 911 as soon as she escaped these assailants, and stopped for an agent driving a vehicle with lights and sirens.

The difference between the police and armed gang members is how they comport themselves. This is an important thing for members of law enforcement to remember.

[ related topics: Microsoft Current Events Consumerism and advertising Law Enforcement Automobiles ]

AmericaBlog: The most unfortunate anti-gay logo and slogan in the history of politics looks at the Family Research Council's "Call 2 Fall" campaign:

"On our knees" and "I'm in" indeed!

By the way, it's the 44^th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

And we're just now getting drag storytime. Well, I mean, if you don't count Pee Wee Herman...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Photography Sexual Culture Sociology Current Events Archival ]

How David Addington Hid the Document Implicating George Bush in Illegal Wiretapping

And that, my friends, is how 500 government employees started cooperating to wiretap the American people with fewer than 20 people getting to see the piece of paper the President signed saying his ass was on the line for it all.

[ related topics: Politics Privacy moron Work, productivity and environment ]

DC Police Wrongly Presume Injured Cyclist Guilty: “C’mon, You Are a Biker”. Driver turns in front of cyclist, causing collision, cyclist is cited for running a red light, cyclist obtains surveillance camera video of the accident (at 0:32), and as he writes about the accident reports that he was presumed guilty:

"Wait, you mean, you were biking and you want a ticket canceled?" he said, incredulous. "We all know how bikers behave. It must have been your fault. C'mon. You are a biker."

I'm thinking I need to get a helmet cam, but in my recent looking around I haven't found one with the run-time I'd like for weekend rides. Suggestions?

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Photography Movies Robotics Law Enforcement Sports Embedded Devices Video Bicycling ]

RT James Grimmelmann ‏@grimmelm:

Big Data, n.: the belief that any sufficiently large pile of shit contains a pony with probability approaching 1

Apparently installing DivX on a Mac aggressively overrides your Firefox search options to use Bing. For future generations, the critical piece is in /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/browser/MACSearchTakeOver.js.

See http://stackoverflow.com/quest...ow-my-firefox-displays-a-bing-pa

[ related topics: Macintosh ]

Memories of Stasi color Germans’ view of U.S. surveillance programs:

“You know, for us, this would have been a dream come true,” he said, recalling the days when he was a lieutenant colonel in the defunct communist country’s secret police, the Stasi.

That metadata the NSA says you don't have an expectation of privacy over? The FCC thinks your cell phone usage is private data (Via).

Facebook's outmoded Web crypto opens door to NSA spying. Remember when DES's 40 bit keys fell?

"Realistically, right now, breaking 1024-bit RSA should be considered well within reach by leading nations, and marginally safe against other players," Tromer says. "This is unsatisfactory as the default security level of the Internet."

[ related topics: Wireless Privacy Bay Area Current Events Law Enforcement Net Culture Cryptography ]

Attention bronies (you know who you are): http://www.joieart.net/2012/04/ponythulu-friendship-is-madness/

Centerpieces for the Weave Your Heart banquet

take 2: Centerpieces for the Weave Your Heart banquet

[ related topics: Photography ]

"Not your father's...": '80s. "...with an edge.": '90s. What are some current terms for "traditional roots, but not mired there"?