CISPA is poorly crafted bill that opens the door to a whole lot of behavior that is extremely problematic. For example, under the bill, the NSA could share with industry the name of a person of interest associated with an effort to launch a DDOS attack, and under the bill, cloud email services could then hand back every email mentioning that person's name without any court oversight or reasonable particularized suspicion. This isn't what they have in mind, but that doesn't matter. When it comes to the law - the wording is extremely important, the people who craft laws and advocate their passage have a responsibility for what those laws actually authorize. The people involved with CISPA know that the bill is poorly crafted, and they have had plenty of time over the past year to do something to address the wording. They have failed to do so, and frankly, they just don't seem concerned about the negative consequences of their actions. @RepMikeRogers in particular has been an embarrassment.

A few decades later and 100 miles away, more of the story turned up: at Lydney in Gloucestershire, a Roman site known locally as the Dwarf's Hill, a tablet with an inscribed curse was found. A Roman called Silvianus informs the god Nodens that his ring has been stolen. He knows the villain responsible, and he wants the god to sort them out: "Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens."

The Hobbit ring that may have inspired Tolkien put on show | Books | The Guardian

This page has a clickable, explorable graph of the propagation of the Harlem Shake through twitter.

Harlem Shake: anatomy of a viral meme | SocialFlow Blog

Experts said the "Harlem Shake" phenomenon was emergent behavior from the hive mind of the internet--accidental, ad hoc, uncoordinated: a "meme" that "went viral." But this is untrue. The real story of the "Harlem Shake" shows how much popular culture has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

How Memes Are Orchestrated by the Man - Kevin Ashton - The Atlantic

Gilbert F. Amelio, former CEO of Apple Computer and a director of AT&T, is a member of Galectin Therapeutics’ board of directors. Rod Martin is vice chairman of Galectin.

Atlanta can become Silicon Valley of biotechnology | www.myajc.com

The Pyramids of Giza close to tourists at 4:00 pm. Recently, a group of Russians managed to hide out at the site after closing time and scramble up the Great Pyramid of Cheops in the fading light. Naturally, they took photos.

It was one of the most intense nights of my life.

Photos from on top of the Great Pyramid - Boing Boing

The Doors riffed this in Spanish Caravan.

Asturias - Isaac Albeniz - YouTube

On Monday, Andrew Auernheimer was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Auernheimer’s case has received a lot of press attention, and I think that attention is merited: I think the case against Auernheimer is deeply flawed, and that the principles the case raises are critically important for civil liberties online. For that reason, I have agreed to represent Auernheimer pro bono in his appeal before the Third Circuit.

The Volokh Conspiracy » United States v. Auernheimer, and Why I Am Representing Auernheimer Pro Bono on Appeal Before the Third Circuit

With much of the global economy apparently trapped in a long and painful austerity-induced slump, it is time to admit that the trap is entirely of our own making. We have constructed it from unfortunate habits of thought about how to handle spiraling public debt.

Debt-Friendly Stimulus by Robert J. Shiller - Project Syndicate

This heat map shows areas with significant negative equity. Many areas have improved. Atlanta ranks among Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix, as well as most of Florida and the central California valley as being among the last places to recover.

More Homes Return to Positive Equity | The Big Picture