Today thousands of Americans will gather in Washington, DC and many other cities across America to protest the mass surveillance by the United States government on millions of people who are not suspected of any crime and have broken no laws. As a fellow citizen of the internet, I am asking for your help. Continue reading
Tech
477 posts
Since the NSA’s extensive domestic and international monitoring was revealed by Edward Snowden via The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald in June 2013, much ink (or many pixels, as the case may be) has been spilled discussing whether or not the NSA has gone too far, whether the programs are unconstitutional, and a variety of other issues.
One view that I have not yet seen is that of someone on the front lines of information security, who deals with many of the threats that the NSA has been monitoring on a fairly regular basis.
Someone like me. Continue reading
Housing bubble alert. With interest rates low and a lot of demand now is a great time to be a seller. The nice people over at Realtor.org have layered their market data that used to only come in Excel format onto Google Maps for a nice mashup, as the internet kids like to call it.
The data below gives you a quick view to the median price of a single family detached home in different metropolitan statistical areas. Did you catch all those loaded words there? Let’s break it down.
Just remember, buy low – sell high. Continue reading
My name is DogsOfWar and I’m addicted to charts and graphs. I like to think it’s because as they say, that which is measured improves and I’m trying to improve things. But I suspect it’s just part of my nature. I like to see trends and visualizations. Here are a few tools you can use to graph almost every aspect of your life. Continue reading
Federal workers being unpaid, national parks closing, flu vaccines not being tracked: these are some of the many consequences of the federal government’s being shut down. Despite Newt Gingrich’s pledge, the National Zoo’s Panda Cam, which was deemed “non-esssential,” has gone dark. Continue reading
Sometimes an image just needs the right words to go with it. Simon Cowell has provided just that image.
Yesterday Mr. Cowell decided that an incoming human baby just wasn’t enough excitement in his life and he decided to get two puppies to fill out his instant family.
He’s gone from globe trotting playboy to stay at home dad almost overnight. The only thing left for him to do is get a minivan.
Go forth and caption. Or, if you’d rather suggest names for his pups that would work too.
Continue reading
Finally, another installment of YUWRPMA. Sorry for the long delay, kids. When we last left you, we had been fighting over a bridge. Nothing has been cleared up on that front except for more arguing. So, let’s get down to business shall we? Continue reading
The internets, how do they work?
The already ridiculously old and technologically impaired Supreme Court of the United States of America has come down with a bad case of link rot. The NY Times brings us news of a new study by the Harvard Law School that finds almost half of all hyperlinks referenced in Supreme Court decisions are now defunct. Now what the hell does that actually mean? Continue reading
I feel I need to preface this post with the following: I am not a technologically savvy person. I love my iPhone for the reasons most of us love our smart phones: in addition to making calls and sending texts, I can check Facebook and Twitter and email and the Internet wherever I am. It gives me directions when I’m hopelessly lost (sometimes — ask me about the time I wound up in the middle of a field. The phone said turn right!) It means I’m never without somewhere to eat. It is a portable computer I can fit in the palm of my hand. What’s not to love? Continue reading
Conservative interest groups strike again against climate change awareness. This time, it was to help withdraw a bill to create an honorary Science Laureate position.
The House bill, HR 1891, would have created up to three unpaid laureate positions. These positions would be the scientific equivalent of the US Poet Laureate – to honor an accomplished scientist and to raise awareness on and encourage science education, particularly for girls and minorities. It originally had bipartisan support and was even co-sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), which is unusual given the current political climate. Continue reading