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Archive for May 18th, 2012|Daily archive page

today’s news … Friday, May 18

In Uncategorized on May 18, 2012 at 6:00 am

today’s news and information gleanings from here and there! 

Quote for today … “He who seeks revenge, digs two graves.” - Chinese proverb

[NOTE: from an April 23 posting - Kicking the debt can down the road. They’re finally figuring it out in Harrisburg; spending someone else’s money is really spending your own in the end. “People knew some of the tricks he used — transferring money from one pot to another to cover deficits, using the Harrisburg Authority as a piggy bank to buy historical artifacts, and pushing an ever-growing debt down the road.” – Harrisburg Patriot-News

  • What's worse, much worse, than a "wanna' be Marine?" A phony Marine! - Harrisburg Patriot-News
  • Another instance of how the elected "public servants" in the US House of Representatives "eat their young" or "eat the seed corn." - Opinion column in The Washington Post [EDITOR'S NOTE: Why don't these "public servants" who hang out at the trough just take pay cuts and give up junkets?]
  • Intelligencer Journal editorial asks: “Is Pitts losing touch?” Perhaps the question ought be: Why should constituents be getting “form letters” from a staff of sycophants rather than from the elected “public servant? [Pitt’s gaffe; yet there is no mention of apology or acknowledgement at his Website. – LancasterOnLine]
  • Meanwhile, on the adjacent page, the Lancaster New Era editorial suggests: “Pitts’ staffers can be criticized for being sloppy. That they send out thousands of letters to constituents each year under the congressman’s signature only means they should exercise extra care. A promised review of office procedures is welcome. Meanwhile, Pitts’ critics should cut the congressman some Read the rest of this entry »

so many compelling articles at The Conversation

In Education, Everyday Living, Opinions, Opportunities on May 18, 2012 at 5:42 am

For some time now Columbia news, views & reviews has been incorporating articles from The Conversation, an Australian Website here. We believe that the articles published there are relevant, universal, timely, well-researched and well-documented. In the global world, all issues affect everyone. Academic writing and compelling graphics address a wide spectrum of issues that impact Australians … and everyone across the world … in many senses

According to The Conversation‘s home page, “(It) is an independent source of information, analysis and commentary from the university and research sector — written by acknowledged experts and delivered directly to the public. Our team of professional editors work with more than 2,800 academic authors to make this wealth of knowledge and expertise accessible to all. We aim to be a site you can trust. All published work will carry attribution of the authors’ expertise and, where appropriate, will disclose any potential conflicts of interest, and sources of funding. Where errors or misrepresentations occur, we will correct these promptly.”

A recent issue of The Conversation contains so many of these “provocative, compelling, relevant” writings that we just have to invite Columbia news, views & reviews readers to browse a few of them.

Highway to dystopia: “In that world of peripheral vision, essential for business, social and political leaders, it is surprising that the World Economic Forum’s report, Global Risks 2012 has not received greater publicity or provoked greater public interest. It is a measured examination of 50 major risks, clustered in economic, environmental, geopolitical, social and technological risk categories, facing the world in the next 10 years. [NOTE: Click here for Wikipedia's narrative about dystopia.]

Crowd-sourced crisis mapping: “Web 2.0 tools and mobile technologies have lowered the barriers not just for people to access the internet but to create and share content. Through open-source, collaborative programs such as wikis, the creation and distribution of information has effectively been crowdsourced.”

Wicked problems: “Obesity. Climate Read the rest of this entry »

24/7 Wall St.: “Nine major ways criminals use Facebook”

In Everyday Living, Lists, Opportunities on May 18, 2012 at 5:00 am

Interestingly, this article from  24/7 Wall St. identifies ways in which criminals use Facebook; there are other ways used, too, by persons with piles of legal actions and convictions of felonies and misdemeanors in their resumes.

Some people – who believe the laws do not apply to them – use the site to malign and attack reputations; engage in “terroristic threats;” spread falsehoods; incite those who love gossip and rumors; bully and just plain lie.

“(On Friday), Facebook (went)  public in one of the most anticipated IPOs in history. With more than 900 million users, Mark Zuckerberg’s expanding social media empire has become a seemingly irreplaceable part of the online experience. Unfortunately, a byproduct of its success is that millions of Americans are far more exposed to a number of cyber crimes that also teem on the site.

“To be sure, cyber crimes have been occurring for some time, but the presence of social media has made many crimes much easier to commit. In social networks people make ‘friends’ without knowing the person and make personal information easily available. And none of the networks present more opportunity to criminals than Facebook and its hundreds of millions of users. With this in mind, 24/7 Wall St. looked at some of the most common ways criminals use Facebook.

“Internet security analysts warn that Facebook is a hotbed for online crime. According to an infographic published earlier this year by ZoneAlarm, a leading Internet security software provider, “roughly 4 million Facebook users experience spam on a daily basis, 20% of Facebook users have been exposed to malware,” and Facebook receives 600,000 reports of hijacked log-ins every day.

“Facebook knows that there is a problem. Earlier this year, the social media giant began working with the U.S. Attorney General’s office to try to combat linkjacking, a new form of account hacking and spam that is more or less unique to Facebook. Through various kinds of identity theft, linkjacking spammers send messages containing false ads or even viruses to the Read the rest of this entry »

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