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

Quote for today… “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” – John Ruskin … [Columbia news, views & reviews note: We continue to get nearly all types of weather so far this spring.]

• Woman made up kidnapping and sexual assault story – Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

• “Police: Couple fight over ‘American Idol,’ stab each other in West Manchester” – York Daily Record

• “It is what it is.” – A tornado survivor in Oklahoma picks up the pieces of her life following the tornado strike in her neighborhood. In this video, she descries the aftermath that includes “someone already in her home taking things” just after the storm. It is a two-minute video that’ll reinforce just how lucky we are here in our part of the world. It’ll also reinforce her “new normal.” – The New York Times

• “Your smart phone will be eating up more of your money, your minutes and your lifetime once these new streaming TV systems click into place. Network, cable, premium and, presumably, porn will be available at the flick of a thumb, anywhere, any time. Makers of home TV/entertainment centers see the same handwriting on the wall that was revealed to the movie theater and player-piano industries: people want their media delivery systems portable, intimate and friendly, something they can hold in the hand — like a paperback book or a daily newspaper, right?” – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• “The increase in the number of mobile cell phones in the world has been impressive. The graph above shows subscriber growth between 2005 and early 2013, according to Internet Telecommunications Union (ITU) figures. The 6.8 billion subscribers are approaching the 7.1 billion world population. The graph shows that as world mobile-cellular penetration approches 100%, market saturation grows and the growth rate decreases.” – Internet World StatsThe following graph shows penetration by geographic regions. The average world penetration stands at 96.2%, according to the ITU. Penetration rate (per 100 inhabitants) by geographic regions for 2013Q1 is as follows: