Potpourri on Labor Day

IN OTHER POLTICAL(ISH) (AND NON-PALIN) NEWS

1. Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S. – NYTimes.com – It was inevitable, but it’s happening faster than expected due to investment decisions by US telcos and by the US government taking advantage of that traffic flow to spy on folks.
2. Massive, warrantless raids on peace protesters in… – For all the critiques of the Denver PD, this seems a bit more, um, robust than the sort of stuff that we saw here pre-DNC.
3. Update1: NASA Considers Its Shuttle Options – It made no sense to approve a timeline that would have eliminated all US manned space flight capability for five years (plus however late Constellation turns out to be). The question now is how much of the decades-old shuttle technology and infrastructure has been compromised by those earlier Bush Administration plans, and how safe will the system be until Constellation is up and working? You can’t turn this sort of program on and off with a switch.

NON-POLITICAL SECTION (ASSUMING ANYTHING CAN BE CALLED NON-POLITICAL)

1. Average Number Of Feet – This one’s for Margie.
2. Credit-card companies killed Mythbusters segment on RFID… – Because heaven forbid the hackers should find out how insecure and risky RFID chips are … oh, wait, they already so. So, obviously, it’s more about the public not knowing about it.
3. India’s underground CAPTCHA-breaking economy – Human ingenuity triumphs over technology. *sigh*
4. 1736 thieves’ cant dictionary – Oh, very cool bits, esp. as a writing resource.
5. Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs | Daily Cup of Tech – Not the funniest video of the last month … but damned funny.
6. The Omnimvore’s Hundred – I had technical problems filling this out, but it’s a fascinating list.
7. Margie Gras. – A drink recipe from De.
8. Blogging ad at Richmond Station – Yeah, this is wrong on a lot of levels.
9. Penny Arcade! – A Life Of Service – Nobody ever thinks about those left behind.
10. The effect of effects – Roger Ebert on special effects, and why being spectacular isn’t always as important as being life-like.