Lucy - Happiness Is A Prison

http://youtu.be/UFj3UmcH2I4

Cyprus President's Family Pulls Millions Out Of Banks Days Before Deposit Confiscations

Via Enet English

A company owned by in-laws of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades withdrew dozens of millions from Laiki Bank on March 12 and 13, according to an article published in Cypriot newspaper Haravgi.

The newspaper, which is affiliated to the communist-rooted AKEL party, reports that three days before the Eurogroup meeting the company took five promissory notes worth €21m from Laiki Bank and transferred the money to London.

Responding to the allegations, Anastasiades said: “The attempt to defame companies or people linked to my family… is nothing but an attempt to distract people from the liability of those who led the country to a state of bankruptcy.”

The president added that no one, including himself, will be exempt from the ongoing investigations looking into responsibilities over the near collapse of the economy.

Anastasiades added that when the investigative committee convenes on Tuesday, he will request that its members look into this particular case with the same attentiveness as all other cases.

The company in question has firmly denied the reports.

Last Friday a list of companies and politicians that had loans written off by banks at the heart of Cyprus' bailout crisis was published in Greece and was subsequently handed to the Cypriot parliament's ethics committee. The list includes the names of politicians from Cyprus' biggest parties (excluding the socialist EDEK and the Greens).

RT - Cyprus Bailout: Why Are The Citizens Paying?

http://youtu.be/WTnPWVIGNak

Stereotuners - Alien Lifeforms

http://youtu.be/ISKaYH9yl-0

Latest 'Occupy' Movement Targets Goldman Sachs

Via Forbes

From the people that brought you Occupy Wall Street, comes a new chapter in American financial follies. This one targets Goldman Sachs in particular.

The Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters put out an email alert to their followers on Thursday announcing the start of what they defined as a “game” to shut down Goldman offices worldwide. “Points will be awarded for speed, spectacle, courage, and innovation,” the Adbusters email said.

Hey all you rebels, jammers and meme warriors out there Let’s play a game. Goldman Sachs, the most powerful and unrepentant of the financial fraudsters, has three offices in Canada and four in the United Kingdom; eight in China; two separate locations in Madrid and nineteen scattered across the United States. #GOLDMAN is an indefinite real-time, live-action game to have some fun while shutting down each of these locations. Points will be awarded for speed, spectacle, courage, and innovation. We take everything we learned from Cairo, Madrid and Zuccotti ... combine it with the lessons of Quebec, Pussy Riot and Idle No More ... and turn #GOLDMAN into a global moment of truth for justice. Is there a Goldman Sachs in your town? Send your stories, action photos & videos to kono@adbusters.org. And kick #GOLDMAN into facebook, twitter, and tumblr feeds. for the wild, Culture Jammers HQ

The target: three Goldman offices in Canada and four in the United Kingdom; 8 in China; two in Madrid and 19 scattered across the United States.

The Occupy Wall Street movement began in 2011. Its creator, Kalle Lasn, told Forbes in an interview in October that he was inspired by Arab Spring protesters to do something similar in the U.S.

The Young Turks - Goldman Sachs Insider Interview

http://youtu.be/e4ZhddlxS3Y

Pipeline Approved, Arkansas Locals Get Screwed

Update: A Facebook page has been started with many more pictures and updates on the incident for anyone interested.

http://youtu.be/qTCTKvG7fGY


Via Reuters

UPDATE 3-Exxon pipeline leaks thousands of barrels of Canadian oil in Arkansas

• U.S. environmental agency categorizes pipe rupture as "major spill"


• Exxon shuts Pegasus pipeline after thousands of barrels spilled


• Twenty-two homes evacuated


• Second spill in the United States involving crude from Canada this week

Exxon Mobil was working to clean up thousands of barrels of oil in Mayflower, Arkansas, after a pipeline carrying heavy Canadian crude ruptured, a major spill likely to stoke debate over transporting Canada's oil to the United States.

Exxon shut the Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Pakota, Illinois, to Nederland, Texas, after the leak was discovered on Friday afternoon, the company said in a statement.

Exxon, hit with a $1.7 million fine by regulators this week over a 2011 spill in the Yellowstone River, said a few thousand barrels of oil had been observed.

A company spokesman confirmed the line was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude. That grade is a heavy bitumen crude diluted with lighter liquids to allow it to flow through pipelines, according to the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA), which referred to Wabasca as "oil sands" in a report.

The spill occurred as the U.S. State Department is considering the fate of the 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from Canada's oil sands to the Gulf Coast. Environmentalists, concerned about the impact of developing the oil sands, have sought to block its approval.

Supporters say Keystone will help bring down the cost of fuel in the United States.

The Arkansas spill was the second incident this week where Canadian crude has spilled in the United States. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.

Full Article

Pics / Video From The Locals - Via Reddit

http://youtu.be/u30m8U6VP3E

Satirist Known As Egypt's John Stewart, Bassem Youssef Faces Arrest Warrant

Via BBC

An arrest warrant has been issued for a popular Egyptian political satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and President Mohammed Morsi.

Bassem Youssef has faced several complaints over his show El Bernameg (The Programme).

He has poked fun at a wide range of figures, from fellow television presenters to well-known Muslim scholars and recently Mr Morsi himself.

The case has highlighted worries about press freedoms in Egypt.

It is also seen as the latest in a string of prosecution actions against opponents of the president and his party, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Earlier this week, Egypt's top prosecutor ordered the arrest of five political activists, among them a leading blogger, on suspicion of inciting aggression against the Brotherhood.

The prosecutor, Talat Ibrahim, was appointed late last year by the president, after he had sacked his predecessor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud.

However, a court this week ordered Mr Mahmoud's reinstatement, a decision that Mr Ibrahim said on Saturday he would fight.

Witty lampooning

Many journalists have criticised the Islamist-backed constitution which came into force earlier this year, arguing it does not offer enough guarantees for a free media.

The constitution also sparked protests from opponents who say it favours Islamists and does not sufficiently protect the rights of women or Christians.

Bassem Youssef is a doctor who shot to fame after winning a large number of followers with his witty lampooning of public figures in amateur videos posted on the internet following the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's rule in February 2011.

He became a household name when his satirical show - likened to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show in the US - began to be broadcast three times a week on one of Egypt's independent satellite stations.

But sketches in which he portrayed Mr Morsi as a pharaoh, calling him "Super Morsi" for holding on to executive and legislative powers, and, separately, putting the president's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches angered one Islamist lawyer, whose formal complaint resulted in the investigation.

As well as insulting Mr Morsi and Islam, Mr Youssef is also accused of "spreading false news with the aim of disrupting public order".

In a statement posted on Mr Youssef's Twitter account on Saturday he confirmed the warrant, adding: "I will go to the public prosecutor's office on Sunday - unless they send me a police car and save me [the bother of] getting there on public transport."

Bassem Youssef - The Programme (English Subtitles)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHdCYPJJzis?start=270&w=853&h=480]

Phoenix - Love Like A Sunset Pt. 1

http://youtu.be/raVUU6AqmGQ

Judge Says Mathematical Algorithms Can’t Be Patented, Dismisses Uniloc Claim Against Rackspace

You cannot put chains on an idea
Via TechCrunch

A federal judge has thrown out a patent claim against Rackspace, ruling that mathematical algorithms can’t be patented. The ruling in the Eastern Disrict stemmed from a 2012 complaint filed by Uniloc USA asserting that processing of floating point numbers by the Linux operating system was a patent violation.

Chief Judge Leonard Davis based the ruling on U.S. Supreme Court case law that prohibits the patenting of mathematical algorithms. According to Rackspace, this is the first reported instance in which the Eastern District of Texas has granted an early motion to dismiss finding a patent invalid because it claimed unpatentable subject matter.

Red Hat, which supplies Linux to Rackspace, provided Rackspace’s defense. Red Hat has a policy of standing behind customers through its Open Source Assurance program.

Rob Tiller, Red Hat’s Assistant General Counsel for IP, said:

“NPE patent lawsuits are a chronic and serious problem for the technology industry. Such lawsuits, which are frequently based on patents that should never have been granted, typically cost millions of dollars to defend. These suits are a plague on innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Courts can help address this problem by determining the validity of patents early and with appropriate care. In this case, Judge Davis did just that, and set a great example for future cases.”

Patent cases have become notorious exploitations of an antiquated patent system. The Red Hat dismissal is a rare one and a validation of the court’s distinction about algorithms in patent disputes.

Uniloc has not responded to a request for comment about the ruling.

Floating Point Number Addition Algorithm

How the Monsanto Protection Act snuck into law

A provison that protects the biotech giant from litigation passed Congress without many members knowing about it

Via Salon

Slipped into the Agricultural Appropriations Bill, which passed through Congress last week, was a small provision that’s a big deal for Monsanto and its opponents. The provision protects genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks and has thus been dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by activists who oppose the biotech giant. President Barack Obama signed the spending bill, including the provision, into law on Tuesday

Since the act’s passing, more than 250,000 people have signed a petition opposing the provision and a rally, consisting largely of farmers organized by the Food Democracy Now network, protested outside the White House Wednesday. Not only has anger been directed at the Monsanto Protection Act’s content, but the way in which the provision was passed through Congress without appropriate review by the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. The biotech rider instead was introduced anonymously as the larger bill progressed — little wonder food activists are accusing lobbyists and Congress members of backroom dealings.

The Food Democracy Now and the Center for Food are directing blame at the Senate Appropriations Committee and its chairman, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. According to reports, many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the “Monsanto Protection Act” even existed within the spending bill, HR 933; they voted in order to avert a government shutdown.

“It sets a terrible precedent,” noted the International Business Times. “Though it will only remain in effect for six months until the government finds another way to fund its operations, the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer safety protections if they get Congress on their side. Furthermore, it sets a precedent that suggests that court challenges are a privilege, not a right.”

Judgment Day - Intelligent Design On Trial

http://youtu.be/x2xyrel-2vI

VICE Speaks to Barrett Brown from Prison

Arduino Basics - Pot Controlled LED Array W/ Reverse Switch And Processing Graphics

The Schematic

The Code

[sourcecode language="c"]
int but = 2;
int bval = 0;
bool state = 0;
int pot = A2;
int pval = 0;
int leds[10] = {12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3};

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(but, INPUT);
for(int x = 3; x <= 12; x++) pinMode(x, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
bval = digitalRead(but);
if (bval == 1) state = !state;

if (state == 1)
{
Serial.println(analogRead(pot));
pval = analogRead(pot);
pval = map(pval, 0, 1023, 0, 9);

for (int x = 9; x >= 0; x--) digitalWrite(leds[x], LOW);
for (int x = 9; x >= pval; x--) digitalWrite(leds[x], HIGH);
}
else if (state == 0)
{
Serial.println(analogRead(pot));
pval = analogRead(pot);
pval = map(pval, 0, 1023, 0, 9);

for (int x = 0; x <= 9; x++) digitalWrite(leds[x], LOW);
for (int x = 0; x <= pval; x++) digitalWrite(leds[x], HIGH);
}

delay(100);
}
[/sourcecode]

The Implementation

Adding Graphics With Processing

The Processing Code

[sourcecode language="c"]
import processing.serial.*;

Serial myPort;
int xPos = 1;

void setup () {
size(400, 300);
println(Serial.list());

myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);
myPort.bufferUntil('\n');

background(0);
}

void draw () {
// everything happens in the serialEvent()
}

void serialEvent (Serial myPort) {
String inString = myPort.readStringUntil('\n');

if (inString != null) {
inString = trim(inString);

float inByte = float(inString);
float hue1 = inByte;
float hue2, hue3;
hue1 = map(inByte, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
inByte = map(inByte, 0, 1023, 0, height);

// Have a little fun with the colors using
// the potentiometer as input
if (hue1 <= 200) {
hue2 = hue1 + 50;
} else {
hue2 = hue1 - 50;
}

if (hue1 >= 55) {
hue3 = hue1 - 50;
} else {
hue3 = hue1 + 50;
}

// Draw the line
stroke(hue1, hue2, hue3);
line(xPos, height, xPos, height - inByte);

if (xPos >= width) {
xPos = 0;
background(0);
} else {
xPos++;
}
}
}
[/sourcecode]

In Action

http://youtu.be/1nVp5KJoAPI

Corporate Welfare – Employees Paying Taxes Directly To Corporations

Via Addicting Info

Taxes have been a part of government for as long as there have been things to tax, and the general idea behind them is pretty well understood. The government takes a portion of everyone’s income and spends it in such a way as to improve things for everyone in one way or another. That could be defensive spending, such as military technology or troop wages, administrative costs will always factor in, educational funding, etc. And that’s the way it works in America. Or is it? In truth, corporate lobbyists have ensured that our convoluted tax code heavily favors corporations. The fact is that it’s even possible, if you’re employed by a large corporation, that you’re paying your taxes directly toward your employing company.

In his recent book, The Fine Print, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston explains the laws that allow corporations to go to war with the American working class. In an interview with Alternet, he said the following:

It’s now up to 21 states. In 21 states, they’ve passed a law that says that taxes withheld from your paycheck, for the state, can be kept by the company. Now, every employer doesn’t get this windfall — you have to have to get a deal from the government to do it — 2,700 big companies, every big company you’ve ever heard of, General Electric, Procter and Gamble, Deutsche Bank, you name it, they’ve got these deals, where they get to keep the taxes. Billions of dollars are diverted this way. You know the best thing for the companies about this?


The workers don’t know, because once the taxes are withheld, the state government treats you as having paid your taxes. You paid your taxes. They just then give a credit to let the company keep the taxes. I’ve called journalists. I’ve called union people who negotiate union contracts. And they say, “What are you talking about?” I showed them the work I’ve done. They go, “Oh my God!” They have no idea that this is what’s happening, and the fact that it’s spread from the 16 states when I first wrote about this and it’s now grown to 21 – eventually, all of the 44 states with income taxes are going to allow this, if we don’t put a stop to it.

He also addresses the fact that a lack of regulation is actually limiting to competition when it comes to capitalism, as more successful businesses will rapidly form industrial monopolies and oligarchies:

I want more competition. Here’s what really goes on, however. We put up barriers to competition, and in fact, Wall Street has institutionalized this concept. Morningstar, they’re a big financial advice firm. They tell people that they should grade companies and decide whether to buy their stock, based on something called a “moat index.” Moat, like around a castle? A moat index asks, “What barriers has the government erected to keep anybody else from competing against that company?” Indeed, as I show in my book, you could get rich if you invest in those companies that have regulatory moats — where under the name of deregulation, we have insulated them from the rigors of the market.

This is the real welfare in America. Corporate welfare. Where the rich get richer, and they pay other people to convince Republicans how important it is to vote for conservative puppet politicians that will vote for laws that allow “the American people” to keep more of their income tax dollars — which really benefits the rich. In reality, it’s the Republican Party that is engaging in wealth redistribution. The difference in their version? They’re redistributing wealth to the top.

DC Police Brutalize Man In Wheelchair

http://youtu.be/wrG-G1cUGlQ

Malala Yousafzai - I Have The Right

Via Zen Pencils

Malala Yousafzai (1997-) is a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head on the way home from school by the Taliban. Her only crime was criticising the Taliban’s strict rules against female education and standing up for her right to go to school.

Inspired by her activist father, Malala was involved in social justice from a young age. She first gained prominence at age 11, when she wrote a blog for the BBC for 10 weeks (under a pseudonym) detailing her life under Taliban rule. The blog was extremely popular and her real identity was later revealed when her father nominated her for an International Peace Prize. From there she started appearing on television, speaking against the Taliban’s ruling that banned girls from attending school. Her international status grew even more when she was featured in a New York Times documentary (which you can watch here). She continued to speak out against the Taliban and was nominated for the International Youth Peace Prize and won the inaugural Pakistan National Youth Peace Prize in 2011 (now named the National Malala Peace Prize).

On the 9th October 2012, on her way home from school, Malala was shot in the head and neck by a masked gunman (two other children, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan, were also injured). The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Malala was “the symbol of the infidels and obscenity”. Straight after the incident Malala was taken to Peshawar Military hospital for an initial operation where part of her skull was removed to allow room for the swelling of her brain and was later flown to the United Kingdom for further treatment. She would receive two further surgeries to insert a titanium plate in her skull and attach a cochlear device in her left ear to restore her hearing. Malala was released from hospital this month and is currently staying in her temporary home with her family in Birmingham and is expected to make a full recovery.

Malala has recently been nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest person in history to receive the honour, and I, along with the millions of people she has inspired, am hoping this remarkable young woman wins.

• - The Malala Fund was established to educate girls throughout the world.


• - The quotes in the comic were taken from her blog entries, the NYT documentary and this interview Malala did with CNN.


• - I illustrated the events of the shooting after reading a few sources: Daily Mail, The Guardian, CNN, ABC Australia and Wikipedia.

Andrew Auernheimer aka Weev - "I'm Going To Prison For Arithmetic"

http://youtu.be/GV0JzMDnD4U

Commanders Request $49 Million For New Guantanamo Prison

[caption id="attachment_2189" align="aligncenter" width="824"] Guantanamo Bay 10 Years of Shame[/caption]

U.S. commanders say they need $49 million to build a new prison building at Guantanamo Bay for "high-value" detainees, like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. This is according to the New York Times.

The money requested is in addition to the nearly $200 million that the top U.S. commander in the region says he needs for improvements to the existing Guantanamo facilities.

The problem?

President Obama granting the funds would be breaking a big campaign promise.

"We're going to close Guantanamo and restore habeas corpus," President Obama said while on the campaign trail in 2008.

OutFront tonight: Ret. Col. Morris Davis, Former Chief Prosecutor for Terrorism Trials at Guantanamo Bay and Rosa Brooks, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration

Full Article at CNN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Pz1HaBg50

Iraqi Birth Defects Worse than Hiroshima

Retired Police Captain Demolishes The War On Drugs

http://youtu.be/W8yYJ_oV6xk

The PyCon Sexual Joke Debacle - Making Pariahs From Developers When You're In Developer Relations

Via Venture Beat

Playhaven Developer Fired For Sexual Jokes After Sendgrid Marketer Outs Him On Twitter

Playhaven fired a developer after he allegedly made sexual jokes in the audience during a keynote session at PyCon, a conference for Python developers. Now Adria Richards, a developer evangelist for SendGrid, is getting rape and death threats via Twitter.

Richards was sitting in the audience immediately in front of two developers. After someone made a comment about forking a software repository, the two allegedly began making jokes about forking in a sexual manner and “big dongles.” After listening for some time, Richards got fed up, took a picture of the two, and posted it to Twitter:

Not cool.Jokes about forking repo’s in a sexual way and “big” dongles.Right behind me #pycon
— Adria Richards (@adriarichards) March 17, 2013

One of those two developers is Alex Reid, an engineer at PlayHaven, the mobile gaming monetization and marketing company. The other developer, whose name is not yet known but goes by mr-hank on Hacker News, was fired by PlayHaven for the incident (PlayHaven confirmed this today). He posted about what happened from his perspective on Hacker News and denied that any sexual comments were made about forking:

While I did make a big dongle joke about a fictional piece hardware that identified as male, no sexual jokes were made about forking. My friends and I had decided forking someone’s repo is a new form of flattery, the highest form being implementation, and we were excited about one of the presenters projects; a friend said “I would fork that guys repo.” The sexual context was applied by Adria, and not us.

Adria Richards Fired By Sendgrid For Calling Out Developers On Twitter

Email delivery company SendGrid has fired developer evangelist Adria Richards (pictured above) after she outed a developer who was allegedly making sexual jokes during a conference, via Twitter.

The developer in question was fired by his employer, PlayHaven, after Richards posted his picture and a few details about what he said. VentureBeat broke the story last night.

The company made a statement on its Facebook account:

Effective immediately, SendGrid has terminated the employment of Adria Richards. While we generally are sensitive and confidential with respect to employee matters, the situation has taken on a public nature. We have taken action that we believe is in the overall best interests of SendGrid, its employees, and our customers. As we continue to process the vast amount of information, we will post something more comprehensive.

Please note that, though this is showing up on SendGrid’s Facebook account, I have not been able to confirm with the company that Richards has actually been fired. SendGrid is under DDOS attack right now, which means that some fairly sophisticated hackers are very focused on the company, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they have cracked into SendGrid’s social media accounts.

However, SendGrid has also confirmed the firing on Twitter:

Effective immediately, @adriarichards has been terminated from @sendgrid. For more details, please see ow.ly/jhW0y

Sendgrid Under Ddos Attack After Its Developer Evangelist Complains About Sexual Jokes At Pycon

Last night VentureBeat broke the story about a developer who was fired from his job at PlayHaven after being outted on Twitter for allegedly making sexual jokes during a conference. Today, the company where the person who outted him works is under a distributed denial of service attack.

After hearing several jokes about forking software repositories and “big dongles,” SendGrid’s developer evangelist Adria Richards tweeted a picture of the jokesters with the hashtag “pycon.” Conference organizers saw the tweet, ejected the developers, and in short order, PlayHaven fired one of the accused.

Today, SendGrid, the email delivery company where Richards works, is under a DDOS attack.

So are the idiots now DDoS’ing SendGrid because of #pycon? YOU ARE BREAKING THE INTERNET YOU FOOLS
— Tane Piper (@tanepiper) March 21, 2013

A DDOS attack basically shuts down a website or Internet service by flooding it with traffic. Communication requests from a distributed pool of computers — often in a botnet controlled by a hacker — occupy the site’s servers and make it impossible for the site to continue.

So SendGrid.com is currently inaccessible, and that’s not the only problem: At least some developers are cancelling their accounts with the service.

Canceled my accout with @sendgrid today. I cannot do business with someone who supports a woman who gets a father fired over a joke #freedom
— Pj(@pjmprometheus) March 21, 2013

SendGrid posted about the incident — apparently trying to calm the furor — but says that mail is still being sent. I’m trying to contact the company for more information and Adria Richards for her perspective on this entire situation.

We hear you, internet. We’re working to serve our customers at the moment. Further comments, once we’ve done our job of delivering email ^tf

— SendGrid (@SendGrid) March 21, 2013

Adria Richards’ personal site, But You’re A Girl, is also under DDOS attack but is currently being protected by CloudFlare. That’s something her company might want to consider as well.

Interestingly, PlayHaven.com, the company that fired the developer, is working just fine.

Full articles can be seen at:
Playhaven developer fired for sexual jokes after SendGrid marketer outs him on Twitter
Breaking: Adria Richards fired by SendGrid for calling out developers on Twitter
SendGrid under DDOS attack after its developer evangelist complains about sexual jokes at PyCon

Update: SendGrid's Official Response

Wow. This week has been extremely challenging for all. We want to give you our perspective on this complicated situation, so here goes…

On Sunday at PyCon, Adria Richards felt comments made behind her during a conference session were inappropriate and of an offensive, sexual nature. We understand that Adria believed the conduct to be inappropriate and support her right to report the incident to PyCon personnel. To be clear, SendGrid supports the right to report inappropriate behavior, whenever and wherever it occurs.

What we do not support was how she reported the conduct. Her decision to tweet the comments and photographs of the people who made the comments crossed the line. Publicly shaming the offenders – and bystanders – was not the appropriate way to handle the situation. Even PyCon has since updated their Code of Conduct due to this situation. Needless to say, a heated public debate ensued. The discourse, productive at times, quickly spiraled into extreme vitriol.

A SendGrid developer evangelist’s responsibility is to build and strengthen our Developer Community across the globe. In light of the events over the last 48+ hours, it has become obvious that her actions have strongly divided the same community she was supposed to unite. As a result, she can no longer be effective in her role at SendGrid.

In the end, the consequences that resulted from how she reported the conduct put our business in danger. Our commitment to our 130 employees, their families, our community members and our more than 130,000 valued customers is our primary concern.

We will continue listening to the community, addressing this situation constructively, and serving our customers to the best of our ability. I welcome your feedback, and you can email me directly at ceo@sendgrid.com.

Photography - Shuttle Endeavor's Flight Deck

Self Immolation In Bulgaria Catching On As 6th Protester Within Weeks Sets Himself Ablaze

A 41-year-old man set himself on fire in Bulgaria on Wednesday, becoming the sixth person to protest in this way against the poverty and suspected corruption that has brought down the government.

Via Reuters Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Erica Billingham

National radio BNR did not name the man from a village near the Danube River town of Silistra but said he was jobless, had one child and had been moved to a hospital in the Black Sea city of Varna, where he was in a critical condition.

Widespread protests last month over low incomes and a political elite accused of maintaining a corrupt system since the collapse of communism in 1989 forced the resignation of the center-right cabinet headed by Boiko Borisov.

The size of demonstrations in the European Union's poorest member have since fallen off but could flare up again as an election approaches in May.

People in the country of 7.3 million earn an average monthly wage of 400 euros (340.6 pounds) and pensions of less than half that.

"I am fed up, there is no bread and I cannot stand it anymore," the man told doctors at his local hospital, the radio quoted Daniela Kostadinova, the head of the hospital in Silistra as saying.

The latest self-immolation happened only two days after a 59-year-old man set himself on fire in protest in the western town of Bobovdol.

Three men have died after setting themselves on fire and the others remain in a serious condition in hospital.

Last week, interim Prime Minister Marin Raikov pledged to improve the incomes of pensioners and the poorest while maintaining a strict fiscal policy.

Bulgarian Man Sets Himself Alight Outside President's Offices

http://youtu.be/Y_HINph6thA

Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Protester Dies After Setting Himself On Fire

http://youtu.be/v5lNGsA9CRY

Bulgarian Winter - In Memory Of Plamen Goranov

http://youtu.be/CDD4Ru7Eg_4

Swarm Intelligence - Tame

http://youtu.be/NhHPpG4Vi-o

TSA Forces Amputee Vet To Remove Legs While Searching Wheelchair

Via Washington Times

Transportation Security Administration inspectors forced a wounded Marine who lost both of his legs in an IED blast and who was in a wheelchair to remove his prosthetic legs at one point, and at another point to stand painfully on his legs while his wheelchair was examined, according to a complaint a congressman has registered with the TSA.

Rep. Duncan Hunter said in his letter Monday that the Marine, who is still on active duty and showed TSA agents his military identification, was still forced to undergo that scrutiny.

“A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficult, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Mr. Hunter said.

He also said TSA officers initially directed the Marine to the wrong line, then made him move lines but made no effort to help him. The incident occurred at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport last week, as a group of Marines was returning to San Diego.

Mr. Hunter included two photos of the inspection in his letter that appear to show a TSA agent patting down the Marine’s arm and examining the prosthetic leg.

The congressman asked TSA to detail its procedures to inspecting wounded U.S. troops at airports, and to consider whether agents should show “situational awareness.”

Capitalism, The Scam

TED Talks - Elon Musk Creator Of PayPal, Tesla Cars, Solar City, SpaceX

http://youtu.be/cPe8MKNGh9A

Add this man to my list of heroes

CNN Portrays Steubenville Rape Crew As Victims After Guilty Verdict

http://youtu.be/MvUdyNko8LQ

The Onion Was Surprisingly Accurate In This Parody

http://youtu.be/zWLJZw9Ws-g

"Westboro Baptist Church Founder Fred Phelps May Be Gay" - Former Member Lauren Drain

Via Huffington Post by Cavan Sieczkowski

A former member of the Westboro Baptist Church who recently published a book about leaving the hate-mongering group has also revealed that founder Fred Phelps's anti-gay ideology may have spawned from a gay experience.

Lauren Drain, 27, was a member of the Topeka, Kan., congregation until she challenged the group's beliefs and had to leave. She sat down this week with the Advocate to discuss her book and her journey from follower to free.

Drain suggested to the Advocate that founder Fred Phelps might have formed the Westboro Baptist Church and begun his anti-gay crusade because of a gay experience. He was a Boy Scout who graduated with honors and was headed for the military, she said. Then, at 17, Phelps changed his mind and was suddenly set on becoming a preacher to fight against "sexual immorality."

Via the Advocate:

I never understood why, when [the media asked him], “Why are you so against the homosexuals? Did you have a homosexual experience? Do you have homosexual tendencies?” And he would get so mad, he would shut down. And he’d be like, “I can’t talk to this person anymore, they’re stupid.” His reaction to that was stronger than any other question you can ask him. So I always wondered that — why does he get so mad? If I’m not gay, I’ll just say I’m not gay. And I’m not going to freak out, like, “Why are you calling me gay?” I always thought that was super strange. … I don’t know what happened there, so [speculation] is all that I can leave it at. But something happened, and something made him change his mind about the military, and in turn have kind of a crusade against sexual immorality and homosexuals.

Not only did she leave Westboro, but Drain also has become an advocate for gay rights and anti-bullying. In February, she posed for the NOH8 campaign, a movement that promotes equality.

"I don't think anyone should judge or persecute another human being or any group of individuals based off of those personal, chosen, beliefs," she told NOH8. "I am against any and all forms of violence, discrimination, bullying or bigotry directed at someone else due to their personal lifestyle."

March 5 saw the release of Drain's book, Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church, in which she describes how she grew up with Westboro during her formative years, after her father developed an obsession with the group and moved his family from Florida to Kansas.

During a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session last month, one commentator asked Drain, "Do you think Fred Phelps is gay? If not, how do you explain his extreme interest in homosexuality?" She didn't answer the question at the time, but she did say Phelps has managed to brainwash his followers so much that they believe the hate just as staunchly as he does.

"I don't think Fred Phelps becoming incapable would be the reason the church would collapse," she said when asked if Westboro may crumble after the 83-year-old dies. "I tend to think it is disintegrating as more and more members question things and get kicked out or leave. The brainwashing is so deep that the second and third generation believe just a strongly as the Pastor himself."

FBI's 'National Security Letters' Demands Ruled Unconstitutional

[caption id="attachment_2109" align="aligncenter" width="650"] The Digital Surveillance Culture[/caption]
Via NPR by EYDER PERALTA

A federal judge in California ruled today that the FBI cannot secretly demand data from banks and phone companies in national security cases. The judge said orders that keep those requests secret violate the First Amendment.

NPR's Carrie Johnson filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"The demands known as 'national security letters' became a quick and popular tool for the FBI to gather information without a judge's pre-approval in the years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"The letters give counter terrorism agents the power to get information without notifying the targets of their investigations.
"But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston says those gag orders run afoul of the freedom of speech and the separation of powers.
"The judge stayed her ruling to give the Justice Department time to appeal.
"A Justice spokesman said the department is reviewing the decision."

The Wall Street Journal has a bit more background:

"National security letters date back to the 1980s and were strengthened under the USA Patriot Act, the counterterrorism law put into place after Sept. 11. The letters allow the FBI to get data on phone, financial and electronic records without a judge or grand jury, as long as the head of an FBI field office certifies that the records would be relevant to a counterterrorism investigation. They typically come with strict secrecy orders, barring the recipient from acknowledging the case to anyone but attorneys."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the unnamed telecommunications company that challenged the national security letters statute, said they were "pleased that the court recognized the fatal constitutional shortcomings of the NSL statute."

EFF's Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman added: "The government's gags have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools. Our client looks forward to the day when it can publicly discuss its experience."

Wired explains that when the EFF first brought the suit representing the telecom company, "the Justice Department took its own extraordinary measure and sued the company, arguing in court documents that the company was violating the law by challenging its authority."

Wired frames the decision as a "stunning defeat for the Obama administration's surveillance practices." They report:

"Illston found that although the government made a strong argument for prohibiting the recipients of NSLs from disclosing to the target of an investigation or the public the specific information being sought by an NSL, the government did not provide compelling argument that the mere fact of receiving an NSL served national security interests.

"A blanket prohibition on disclosure, she found, "creates too large a danger that speech is being unnecessarily restricted."
"She noted that 97 percent of the more than 200,000 NSLs that have been issued by the government were issued with nondisclosure orders."

Kimani Gray Protests - Treatment Of Protest Shows Police Misconduct As Much His Death Did

Via PolicyMic by Hannah Kapp-Klote

East Flatbush has been on lockdown for the past three nights, and protests against the NYPD’s shooting of Kimani Gray continue. Gothamist discusses an incident during the protests that characterizes the long-standing tensions behind them, between a female demonstrator and a male police officer. It “began with the cop telling her to get on the sidewalk, and her responding, ;Or what, you’ll shoot me?' The officer, whose helmet had the number 7987 on it, said, ‘No, but I’ll slap you.’”

The shooting of Gray, however indecent, is not the only reason protesters are angry. Police conduct in handling the protests surrounding his death are just one incident of many in a trend in the criminalization of dissent and the consequences of systemic racism.

Right now, tensions are high in the neighborhood where Kimani Gray was shot. Demonstrators have been marching in a vigil each night since the event, and over four dozen people were arrested Wednesday night. Over 100 people have shown up to protest each night, but on Monday, a smaller crowd reportedly looted a Brooklyn Rite Aid, injuring a pastor in the process. On Wednesday, police used pepper spray and orange nets to "kettle" groups of protesters, and some of the people arrested in that group were on their way home and had nothing to do with the night's action. These actions, plus the ability of the police to keep the media out of an area, is part of a Flatbush’s categorization as a “frozen zone,”where the police have significant discretion in restricting activity. This is a representation of the way the NYPD has stepped up its presence at all sorts of protest through over-policing.

The handling of East Flatbush right now is not an isolated event, but a trend in the treatment of protesters and dissenters by law enforcement. As City Councilman Jumaane Williams said to NYPD Commissioner Gray at a budget hearing this week: "We're not going to pretend that what happened yesterday is just one incident," Williams said. "It is not the details of one shooting. It is about how you and the NYPD and the Mayor have reacted to these communities. It is about years of not being heard." As a man who works with youth in the area (quoted in the New York Times) noted, “I understand the state of mind that these youths have. The problem is there is no relationship with the police.”

“The police say, ‘Look at these kids, they’re wild,’” Mr. McPhatter said. “And then they use that as an excuse to be wild themselves.”

It’s clear that whatever happens in East Flatbush is not a standalone occurrence. While the smashing of a Rite Aid is certainly not condoned, it must be acknowledged that the problem of police relations brought to the forefront by Gray’s death is not a new question, but the catalyst for frustrations built up in East Flatbush on an everyday basis. From the NYPD’s ”stop and frisk” policy to the shooting of Shantel Davis last summer, the residents of East Flatbush, and people of color all over New York and the United States, are viewed as suspicious simply because of who they are.

The police's reaciton to the Kimani Gray protests, then, are indicative of a broader trend in the criminalization of dissent and systematic racism around the country.

Chaos On The Streets Of Brooklyn After NYPD Kills Teenager

http://youtu.be/i5zBj4W397k

Leaked Audio From Bradley Manning Trial Describes His Response To The Apache Airstrike Killing 2 Reuters Journalists

http://youtu.be/6L79wWAFUqg

Steubenville Rape Trial Begins, Protests Continue - Prosecutor Says Girl Was "too impaired to say no"

Via NBC News By Erin McClam

The two Ohio high school football stars accused of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl humiliated “somebody who was too impaired to say no, somebody who was too impaired to say stop,” a prosecutor said Wednesday.



In her opening statement at a trial that has divided the football-obsessed town of Steubenville, prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter also said that the girl was “soft-spoken, mumbling and not participating” in the assault.

Two players, quarterback Trent Mays and wide receiver Ma’Lik Richmond, are accused of using their hands to violate the girl in a car and in a basement during a night of victory parties last August.
The case became national news because graphic cellphone photos and video, including a YouTube posting of a partygoer cracking crude jokes about the alleged rape, spread on social media.
In a brief opening statement, Brian Duncan, the lawyer representing Mays, said simply: “Trent Mays did not rape the young lady in question.” The lawyer for Richmond declined to make an opening statement.

Jason Cohn / Reuters file
Harding Stadium, home of the Steubenville High Big Red football team. Two members are going on trial Wednesday for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in a case that drew national attention.

The girl, who told police she didn’t remember the incident, will be among dozens of witnesses taking the stand. Three players who have not been charged but allegedly witnessed the encounters are expected to testify for the prosecution.

The prosecution’s evidence also includes a photograph posted on Instagram of Mays, 17, and Richmond, 16, carrying the teen out of a house by her arms and legs.
Questioned by prosecution and defense attorneys about how much the teen girl had to drink, the first witnesses, both 17-year-old girls, testified they saw the alleged victim the night of Aug. 11.
One of the girls, a Steubenville High student, said alleged victim was having difficulty walking but never appeared to pass out. The other witness said she had never seen her friend so intoxicated.
The trial has put the town, where “Big Red football” dominates life, under a harsh spotlight. Town officials and business leaders have taken to the media to say that the case doesn’t reflect Steubenville.
In a sign of the tension surrounding the case, Richmond’s grandmother has said she has been threatened.
If convicted, Mays and Richmond could be held in a juvenile jail until they are 21.

The Steubenville Rape Case: The Story You Haven't Heard

http://youtu.be/BWKy041T2gY

Anonymous Participate In Silent Protest As Steubenville Rape Trial Starts

http://youtu.be/otD-gUgq7go

Man Attacked On Subway By Serial Killer, NYPD Watches Entire Event Then Takes Credit For Subduing Assailant

Joseph Lozito, Badass... NYPD, Cowards With Guns

http://youtu.be/xZKVSNjlSp0
Via NY Post By KATHIANNE BONIELLO

City Says Cops Had No Duty To Protect Subway Hero Who Subdued Killer

He says he put his life on the line to stop a killer — and claims cops sat back and watched.

But city lawyers are arguing that the police had no legal duty to protect Joseph Lozito, the Long Island dad stabbed seven times trying to subdue madman Maksim Gelman — a courtroom maneuver the subway hero calls “disgraceful.”

A judge is currently deciding whether Lozito, who sued the city last year for failing to prevent the attack, will get his day in court.



The drug-fueled Gelman had fatally stabbed three people in Brooklyn and killed another with a car during a 28-hour rampage when he entered an uptown No. 3 train on Feb. 12, 2011.

Police officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor were part of a massive NYPD manhunt. They were in the operator’s cab, watching the tracks between Penn Station and 42nd Street for any sign of the fugitive. Lozito was seated next to the cab.

In the official NYPD account and Howell’s own affidavit, Howell heroically tackled and subdued the killer. But Lozito tells a different story.

The 42-year-old mixed-martial-arts fan says he watched Gelman approach the cab window, barking: “Let me in!” Gelman even claimed to be a cop, but a dismissive Howell turned away, he says.

Gelman walked off. A straphanger recognizing Gelman tried to alert the cops, but was also rebuffed. A minute later, Gelman returned and set his sights on the 6-foot-2, 270-pound Lozito.

“You’re going to die,” Gelman announced — then stabbed him in the face.

Lozito leapt from his seat and lunged at the 23-year-old Gelman as the psycho sliced at him.

“Most of my wounds are in the back of my head,” Lozito said. “He got to the back of my head because my left shoulder [was] in his waist.”

In his account, Lozito pinned Gelman to the floor, disarming him. Howell then emerged from the booth, tapping Lozito’s shoulder: “You can get up now,” he said.

“By the time he got there, the dirty work was already done,” Lozito said.

Gelman was convicted in the spree — which left his girlfriend, her mother, his stepfather and a pedestrian dead, and five others injured.

Lozito says a grand-jury member later told him Howell admitted on the stand that he hid during the attack because he thought Gelman had a gun.

An angry Lozito decided to sue the city for negligence, arguing the cops should have recognized Gelman and prevented, or reacted more quickly to, the assault.

The city routinely settles such litigation but is playing hardball with Lozito, insisting his demand for unspecified money damages be tossed because the police had no “special duty” to protect him or any individual on the train that day.

“Under well-established law, the police are not liable for such incidents,” said city lawyer David Santoro. “That doesn't detract from the Police Department's public safety mission -- or the fact that New York is the safest big city in America."

Experts say it’s a long-standing legal precedent requiring police to put the public safety of all ahead of any one individual’s rights.

Lozito says his case is different.

“If the cop is on the train, and I get robbed by a stranger, of course, the cop can’t be clairvoyant,” Lozito told The Post. “But when they’re looking for Maksim Gelman, and Maksim Gelman bangs on the door and says, ‘Let me in, I’m a cop’ and all you say is: ‘No, you’re not?’ ”

1. Joseph Lozito enters the uptown No. 3 train, sitting behind the train operator. Officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor enter the operator’s booth; a few minutes later, the train slowly pulls out of Penn Station.

2. Maksim Gelman walks up to the booth and says: “Let me in!” Howell allegedly dismisses him and Gelman walks away.

3. Minutes later, Gelman walks back up to the booth, looks at Lozito, says “You’re going to die,” and stabs him.

4. Lozito fights back, getting seven stab wounds during the 60-second struggle with Gelman, eventually pinning him and knocking the knife away.

5. Howell allegedly emerges from the booth, taps Lozito on the shoulder and says: “You can get up now.”

Bradley Manning Is Nominated For A 2013 Nobel Peace Prize

Via BradleyManning.org

February 1st 2013 the entire parliamentary group of The Movement in the Icelandic Parliament, the Pirates of the EU; representatives from the Swedish Pirate Party, the former Secretary of State in Tunisia for Sport & Youthnominated Private Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Following is the reasoning we sent to the committee explaining why we felt compelled to nominate Private Bradley Manning for this important recognition of an individual effort to have an impact for peace in our world. The lengthy personal statement to the pre-trial hearing February 28th by Bradley Manning in his own words validate that his motives were for the greater good of humankind.
Read his full statement

Our letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee
Reykjavík, Iceland 1st of February 2013

Dear Norwegian Nobel Committee,
We have the great honour of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and a lack of respect for the sovereignty of other democratic nations by the United States government in international dealings.

These revelations have fueled democratic uprisings around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on the foreign and domestic policies of European nations, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq.

Bradley Manning has been incarcerated for more then 1000 days by the U.S. Government. He spent over ten months of that time period in solitary confinement, conditions which expert worldwide have criticized as torturous. Juan Mendez, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has repeatedly requested and been denied a private meeting with Manning to assess his conditions.

The documents made public by WikiLeaks should never have been kept from public scrutiny. The revelations – including video documentation of an incident in which American soldiers gunned down Reuters journalists in Iraq – have helped to fuel a worldwide discussion about the overseas engagements of the United States, civilian casualties of war and rules of engagement. Citizens worldwide owe a great debt to the WikiLeaks whistleblower for shedding light on these issues, and so we urge the Committee to award this prestigious prize to accused whistleblower Bradley Manning.

We can already be reasonably certain that Bradley Manning will not have a fair trial as the head of State, the USA President Mr. Barack Obama, stated over a year ago on record that Manning is guilty.

Sincerely,
Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland
Christian Engström, Member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, Sweden
Amelia Andersdottir, Member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, Sweden
Margrét Tryggvadóttir, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland
Þór Saari, Member of Parliament for the Movement, Iceland
Slim Amamou, former Secretary of State for Sport & Youth (2011), Tunisia

H1N1 - Chontedelic

http://youtu.be/C7Ewx_AUKgM

Aeph & Maize - Rebirth

http://youtu.be/H6DdlruRMCA

Samsung - No One Is Buying Microsoft's Surface, Windows 8 Isn't Very Good

Via Business Insider

MSFT Mar 08 08:00PM
28.00	Change -0.14	% Change -0.50%

More bad news for Microsoft and its new operating system, Windows 8.

The president of Samsung's memory chip division, Jun Dong-soo, had a lot of negative comments about Microsoft in a meeting with reporters. The Korea Times transcribed his quotes.

First, he said the obvious: "The global PC industry is steadily shrinking despite the launch of Windows 8."
Then he added this: "I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform."
Vista is considered to be one of the biggest disasters for Microsoft. It's not good for a partner to compare the new Windows to Vista.

He then added even more: "MS’s rollout of its Windows Surface tablet is seeing lackluster demand ... Meanwhile, previous vigorous pitches by Intel and MS for thinner ultra-books simply failed and I believe that’s mostly because of the less-competitive Windows platform."

This wouldn't be so bad if it were just one guy talking. But, he's just the latest to pile on. Executives at Asus, Acer, and Fujitsu have all had bad things to say about the state of Windows.

A big part of the problem is that the PC market is contracting as users buy smartphones and tablets instead of new PCs. Smartphones and tablets don't replace PCs, but they act as good-enough substitutes, negating the need for an immediate PC purchase. If you have an iPad for couch computing, it's okay to have a five-year-old PC for limited heavy computing.

However, Windows is supposed to solve this problem by working on tablets. If it's not solving the problem, it's bad for Microsoft.
Coming from Samsung, these comments are particularly damaging. Samsung has made a lot of money on Android for the smartphone. If it's seeing great success with Google software and little success with Microsoft software, in the future it's going to put its tablet, and notebook development efforts, towards Google not Microsoft.

Scott Olsen, Vet Hit In Head With Tear Gas Canister, Told He Has "A Chip On His Shoulder"

Via Daily KOS

Mayor Jean Quan Confirms Her Status as an Asshole.

On December 12th, 2011, Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland, California told 10,000 totally peaceful protesters that they were committing "economic violence."

Months later, instead of offering sympathy and promises of a full and fair investigation, Jean Quan made another stunning pronouncement. This time to Adam and Jeralyn Blueford, not long after their son had been executed by an Oakland Police Officer on May 6th, 2012. She said

"You're probably going to sue me, right?"

Now she's at it again.

Scott Olsen, the Occupy Oakland protester and Iraq War veteran who suffered brain injuries after police shot a tear gas canister at his head, says Oakland Mayor Jean told him he had "a chip on his shoulder" at the conclusion of Wednesday night's community meeting on public safety.

The same Scott Olsen who received a quilt from Daily Kos peeps? The Scott Olsen who selflessly helped stage a protest in support of Bradley Manning this summer? The Scott Olsen who stood in peaceful protest beside his buddy on October 25th, 2011, nearly losing his life as a result of actions by Quan's thugs? HE HAS A CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER??

J.Quan told me she realizes I have a chip on my shoulder. Insulting, more like a broken skull and brain trauma.

— Scott Olsen (@OlsenVet) March 7, 2013

Really? Really??
Mayor, you are a pathetic, disgusting individual. No, you are below that. You are a sad excuse for a turd. No wonder 60% of Oakland residents say they disapprove of your job performance.

Here we see Mayor Quan in action, at said public safety meeting Wednesday last.



Scott Olsen, the person whose brutalization at the hands of her police outraged a nation and was partially responsible for sending 50,000+ people into the streets of Oakland on November 2nd, 2011, is asking a rather important question of Bob Wasserman. He's the man at the podium who is being paid $250,000 to "solve" the violence problem in Oakland.

Olsen... asked what sort of example it sends to the community when police are not prosecuted for crimes they allegedly commit.

Wasserman didn't answer the question. (No police officer has yet or likely will ever be indicted in the assault on Olsen).

Quan, shown in the background sitting next to the metal guide rail, is playing with her smartphone or tablet; she probably didn't even hear the question.

Agnes Cecile - Miss Universe

Great artist check out her Deviant Art page

CNET - Seattle Dive Bar Becomes First To Ban Google Glass

Google Glass won't be available to consumers for months, but there's at least one Seattle bar where the eyewear will not be welcome.
The 5 Point, a self-described dive bar in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, posted a notice to its Facebook page this week telling Glass Explorers looking to grab a pint that they will need to remove their $1,500 spectacles. The story was noted today on GeekWire.
"For the record, The 5 Point is the first Seattle business to ban in advance Google Glasses," the post reads. "And ass kickings will be encouraged for violators."

"I'm a thought leader," deadpanned Dave Meinert, the bar's owner, in an interview on Seattle's KIRO-FM. "First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place. People want to go there and be not known...and definitely don't want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet."

Full Article at CNET