Archive for October, 2012
The Servile Media and the President
October 31st, 2012Via: Guardian: Last month, Vanity Fair featured a major profile of President Obama by Michael Lewis, who was given what the New York Times called “rare” and “extraordinary access”. Lewis “conducted multiple interviews with the president”; “rode in the official presidential limousine”; “was given a special lapel pin that identified him to the Secret Service […]
NY National Guard Mobilizing for Disaster Drill Gets the Real Thing Instead
October 31st, 2012Fascinating. Via: Wired: The troops were previously declared unavailable to help New York recover from the state’s biggest hurricane in centuries. Instead, they were assigned to fight a fake disaster. But hours before they were set to deploy, the troops’ participation in a week-long exercise in Missouri known as “Vigilant Guard” was cancelled. The exercise […]
Temporal Analytics: Turning Protest Noise Into Intelligence
October 31st, 2012Sign wavers should read this. Via: AOL: While it’s true, it’s hard to predict what people will do, it’s also increasingly true that people worldwide do emit and discuss their behavior through online social media and that can be monitored and analyzed in nearly real-time. Companies such as intelligence analysis contractor Recorded Future, which is […]
Big Picture Gallery: Hurricane Sandy
October 31st, 2012Via: Boston Globe: After cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage along the East Coast this week. Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey and brought with it major flooding, travel disruption, structural damage, and power outages. New York City was especially hard hit. The storm system was so large […]
Cop Tasered 10-Year-Old Child on a Playground Because the Boy Refused to Clean His Patrol Car
October 31st, 2012Via: Courthouse News Service: A New Mexico policeman Tasered a 10-year-old child on a playground because the boy refused to clean his patrol car, the boy claims in court. Guardian ad litem Rachel Higgins sued the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and Motor Transportation Police Officer Chris Webb on behalf of the child, in […]
Hurricane Sandy Takes Data Centers Offline with Flooding, Power Outages
October 31st, 2012Via: Ars Technica: Flooding and power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy have forced several New York data centers to switch to generator power. But those generators are quickly running out of fuel, so data center companies are telling their customers to shut down their servers and move workloads elsewhere. One of the worst situations is […]
Windows 8 Users, Help Me Understand Something
October 31st, 2012Windows 8 is meant to be used with a touchscreen. I haven’t seen any reviews that recommend Windows 8 for non-touchscreen users. The overwhelming opinion is that Windows 8 might be usable on traditional display, keyboard and mouse systems, given enough practice, but you’d be in for a shock if you think that your experience […]
More Large Media Consolidation
October 31st, 2012Random House and Penguin Merge: Britain’s Pearson and Germany’s Bertelsmann plan to merge their publishers Penguin and Random House, aiming to gain the upper hand in their relationship with Amazon and Apple, the leaders in the ebook revolution. The Walt Disney Co. Acquires Lucasfilm: The Walt Disney Co. announced today that it’s agreed to acquire […]
Unprecedented Damage to New York Subway System
October 30th, 2012Via: MTA: The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, […]
Poland Found Explosives on Wreckage of President’s Plane
October 30th, 2012Via: Reuters: Polish investigators found traces of explosives on the wreckage of the government jet that crashed in Russia two years ago, killing Poland’s president and 95 others, daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Tuesday. Without citing sources, the newspaper said prosecutors and explosive experts who examined the remains of the plane in Russia found signs of […]
