Tag: nsa

By Thomas Holbrook II

Ironically, the subject matter is brought up again in the same week.  Is it the contents of the latest podcast episode?

Maybe something about GMO’s and bees?  Bitcoin?

Unfortunately, it’s a subject involving something that’s less important than all of the above.  I of course am speaking of Justin Bieber.

Or rather, the petition to have him deported.

To make a long story short as to why said petition is up, here’s a link that will give you an idea of what’s going on.  Something about drugs, alcohol, and other things.  To shorten it even further, I have five words:

Are you fucking kidding me?!

We have the controversy surrounding the NSA and wiretapping.  There’s that chaos over in the Ukraine.  But no!  Let’s focus on yet another celebrity having a breakdown.

At least when Alex Jones and Kurt Nimmo had their petition to deport Piers Morgan, there was an actual purpose to it (hint: if you say it was to deport Morgan, then you haven’t been paying attention).

There are more important things out there, and that’s why this petition makes this week’s Friday Epic Fail.

It isn’t too far into 2014, and we’re already experiencing some interesting turn of events.  Thomas Holbrook II is now writing for Muktware once again.  His focus will be on Chromebooks, Chrome OS, and other topics, such as civil liberties online.

Speaking of civil liberties, that is one topic that will see coverage in this week’s links.  We have the usual developments in free and open source software, but also from a few other fronts as well.

Unix

• Don’t Blindly Trust Open Source, verify it: Mozilla Calls for Protection from NSA Spying (Muktware.com): Swapnil Bhartiya, founder and editor of Muktware, writes about the NSA and how the availability of a project’s source code isn’t immune from tampering, especially if developers don’t pay enough attention.
• ZaReason’s Zeto a Part of their Latest Offerings (ZaReason): Though the company has been criticized for their tablet, the California-based company keeps quietly releasing new products, such as the Zeto.  It’s powered by the newest generation of Intel processors as well as powerful NVIDIA graphics.
• Ars Technica on Verizon vs FCC (Ars Technica): The courts have invalidated most of the Net Neutrality rules put out by the FCC.  ISP’s can’t be treated like phone companies.  Only time will tell whether ISP’s will start to throttle traffic in order to prevent competition throughout various Internet-based industries.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• Fukushima Radiation Hits San Francisco? (Kill Your TV YouTube Channel):  According to a test with a Geiger counter, radiation levels at a San Francisco beach were discovered to be at abnormally high levels.  Is this from Fukushima?
• Superbabies? (Mail Online): A Chinese firm is apparently trying to see if one can map the genes of those who are especially skilled in Math.  Imagine picking out the smartest embryos and combining other good genes with them.  Interesting indeed.
• Daniel Bryan Has a Concussion? (24Wrestling.com): Though not seen on WWE’s website, it seems that Daniel Bryan suffered a concussion during the cage match from the last Monday Night Raw.  Again, no official statement has been made on WWE.com.

This week’s links involve a plethora of technology updates and some geek and movie culture.

Unix

• Fedora 20 Released (LXer): Carla Schroder talks about the new release of the OS sponsored by Red Hat.  What’s interesting to note is the improved support for the ARM architecture.
• Steam OS Review (Muktware): Swapnil Bharttiya takes a look at Valve’s new OS, currently in beta.
• HP Chromebook 11 Chargers Recalled (MaximumPC): While Chrome OS can be seen as stable, the hardware can be another matter.  Certain chargers for HP’s Chromebook 11 are overheating and as a result have been recalled.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• Lords of Salem SUCKED!! (Promises Are Kept): Mitchell Brown offers his take on Rob Zombie’s latest film.
• The Stone Tape, a 1972 film, reviewed (An American View of British Science Fiction): Stephen Kelley takes a look at a 1972 film from Nigel Kneale.  This is apparently the final script accepted by the BBC before he went to ITV.
• Tone Deaf NSA (Foreign Policy Magazine): This article offers insight into the thinking of those who work for the NSA.