society

"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think." - Steve Jobs

Photos courtesy of thatswhatkobisaid.wordpress.com, macrumors.com, myhero.com/scrapetv.com, and Wikipedia

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Kindergartner Suspended Over Bubble Gun Threat
A 5-year-old girl was suspended from school earlier this week after she made what the school called a "terrorist threat."

Her weapon of choice? A small, Hello Kitty automatic bubble blower.

The kindergartner, who attends Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in Pennsylvania, caught administrators’ attention after suggesting she and a classmate should shoot each other with bubbles.

"I think people know how harmless a bubble is. It doesn’t hurt," said Robin Ficker, an attorney for the girl’s family. According to Ficker, the girl, whose identity has not been released, didn’t even have the bubble gun toy with her at school.

The kindergartner was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation during her 10-day suspension, which was later reduced to two days. The evaluation deemed the girl normal and not a threat to others, Ficker said.

The girl’s family is considering a lawsuit against the school to get the blemish - all because of bubbles - off their daughter’s record.

"The mother has tried to get the girl in another school since this time, and they won’t take the little girl because of this mark on her record," Ficker said.  read more »

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*update* Jan. 14, 2013 EU releases all data on GM corn linked to cancer Monday's move "aims to make data used in risk assessment publicly available," Geslain-Laneelle said, by promoting research and working with scientists.

*update* Siding with EU's ban on animal testing, Dec. 21 2012 Air Canada can refuse to ship monkeys for research

Seven Food Products Banned in Europe Still Available in the U.S.
1. Genetically Modified Foods
2. Stevia, the Natural Sweetener
3. Bovine Growth Hormone
4. Chlorinated Chickens
5. Food Contact Chemicals
6. Herbicides, Fungicides and Insecticides  read more »

new version "all-in-one: judge, jury and executioner"

Hal 9000, the supercomputer who commits murder in Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Einstein warned us long ago: "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."...
Philosophers and scientists: "In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology" (...will, or have escaped?) "...advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability."
VP of space technologies at Physical Sciences: "30,000 unmanned drones (which can hover 100 feet above your home or zip past your office window) estimated could be aloft by 2020. 'We’re in a rapid spool-up phase now, where we’re thinking about going from producing tens of aircraft per month to a thousand or more...' "

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*update* March 19, 2013 US magazine calls Stephen Harper an ‘exceptional leader’, praising his leadership, his foreign policy and his stewardship of the economy coming out of the 2008 recession. National Review: "Stephen Harper, Canada’s PM, 'Leader of the West', 'a very disciplined politician'"
*update* Marketwire: "Proud to stand up for honest, hard-working Canadians against thieves and criminals". March 11, 2013, Canada announced "Bill C-26, the Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act, has come into force", committed to keeping our streets and communities safe", for Canadians to protect themselves against criminal acts and "the justice system is behind them, not against them", said Minister Nicholson. "Those who have been the victim of a crime should not be re-victimized by the criminal justice system." Canada "will continue to stand up for law-abiding Canadians."

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global "headache": 1.5 million credit, debit cards may be breached

"when you swipe you card, all your information is stolen"... scary

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Hackers put a tiny device on the card readers where you swipe your credit or debit card. So when you scan it they get all your personal information
"They can put a phony thing over the part where you swipe your card. You think you're swiping your card through a reader and what you're really doing is swiping your card through a device the hacker has created," said Jim Lee, head of Consumer Fraud at the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.
Lee says the trouble is this type of hacking is becoming more common at stores, gas stations, and ATM's.
"People are realizing that this is a new form of theft that they can do electronically, they can do high tech and it has a real volume to them," said Lee.
And because more and more people now pay this way thieves don't have to empty your account. They take a little here, a little there, from many accounts, which people often don't even notice.

October 24, 2012 - "appears to be a massive theft" - MasterCard and Visa warn of potential cardholder account breaches  read more »