Obama sees no magic bullet to push down gas prices - via Reuters.com - Well, let's see...It's easy to TALK about energy independence, but where will the money come from?  Oh, I know!  Stop spending HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS fighting multiple wars and invest a bit into infrastructure, education, and research into domestic energy sources.
 
Washington teen fakes pregnancy as school project - via Yahoo! News - Not only is this a great prank, it also must have taken a lot of courage for this girl to voluntarily subject herself to the social stigma that goes along with teen pregnancy, all for a social experiment.  I hope she got an "A" on her project.
 
Why You Should Care About the iPhone Location-Tracking Issue - via Wired Gadget Lab - While this issue is being somewhat blown out of proportion, I still feel it's necessary to call attention to it.  If you use a cell phone at all, you need to be aware that data about your location could be collected.  Whether or not you're interesting enough for anybody to give a shit where you go and when you're there is dabatable, but that doesn't change the fact that this data is immensely valuable.  It boils down to this:  Never assume you are invisible or anonymous.
Now, storing a database with your whole location history in an unencrypted file right on the mobile device AND the computer you connect it to is not only bad data management, it's also a horrible practice from a security standpoint as well.  At a minimum I expect Apple will cover their ass and add an option to opt out of the location tracking, or at least add an option to wipe the data every so often.

Adult Star Kirsten Price Tests Kinect's Nude Filter - via G4tv.com - Microsoft's new Kinect for XBOX 360 is an incredibly promising bit of technology despite possible privacy concerns (see here and here).  Here's a video!

To Thwart Distracted Driving, US Government Considers Cell Phone Jammers in Cars - via PopSci.com - The Nanny-state is in full swing these days.  Some jack-holes just can't resist yacking on the phone while driving, so let's put a jammer in every car.  Nevermind the fact that this would also inhibit passengers from using a phone and could also stop a driver from calling for help in the event of an emergency.  I can't see this actually happening, but the fact that anyone is even considering it is evidence of a head up an ass.

Distressed Toddler Gets a TSA Pat Down - via RawJustice.com - This whole body scanner/enhanced pat down business is far from over.  Judging from this story and others like it that are pouring in from all over it looks like the bogeyman terrorists have won.  People have gone to jail for touching children like this, but since it's sanctioned by the government I guess it's OK, right?

Quindell Sherman:  Repeatedly Slams Baby Into Cement in Fight With Girlfriend - via TrueCrimeReport.com - No joke...skip this one if you have a weak stomach.

Quindell Sherman is a piece of filth who got in a fight with his girlfriend, then decided to prove what a big man he was by slamming her infant son into the concrete then throwing him 25 feet into the street.  This motherfucker needs to be put down.  Slowly.

I see this story as proof that all of the "security" at international airports is just for show.  You see, the two guys in this photo are actually the SAME GUY!  An old white guy gets on a plane in Hong Kong, presto-chango, a young asian dude arrives in Vancouver and wants to claim refugee status.  That's a pretty good costume.  Not sure why they decided to do the "black bar over the eyes" thing, but you get the idea.  You can read the whole story over on AOLNews.com

Anyone who has had the pleasure of using commercial air travel in the last few years knows what fun it can be.  Here's a helpful tip when you remove your belt buckle to go through the metal detector.  If your pants start to fall down, don't refer to yourself as a "Weapon of Ass Destruction".  This may cause you to experience a secondary inspection, which may include a pat-down and check with a hand-held metal detector, and possibly further delays.  Apparently the TSA requires their employees to have their sense of humour removed.  Fair warning.

Creationism lives on in US public schools - via NewScientist.com - Creationism, or "Intelligent Design" as it has more recently been rebranded, has no business being taught in our school systems alongside evolution.  The treatment of creationism as a legitimate scientific theory is an offence to scientific principle.  There is empirical data to back up evolutionary theory.  The collection and interpretation of that data is how the theory was developed in the first place.  There is no such support of "Intelligent Design" anywhere.  What people choose to teach their own children at home is their business, even if it's hocus-pocus nonsense.  In a school system where other people's children are being taught the same things only facts and theories that can be backed up with actual science should be taught.
 
First All-Digital Science Textbook Will Be Free - via Wired.com - This is a fantastic idea that will unfortunately be extremely difficult to get off the ground.  Producing a book of this kind and keeping it up to date will undoubtedly prove to be extremely expensive, so "free" is unlikely to work.  Not to mention the resistance it will encounter from people responsible for choosing textbooks who have been getting kickbacks from publishing companies for years.  I hope this takes off, as it would remove a substantial financial burden from college and university students.  I spent less on the new laptop I bought a couple months ago than I spent on books in one semester when I was in college, and textbook prices don't go anywhere but up.
 
Pilot refuses full-body scan, pat-down - via CNN.com - All of the privacy issues aside, folks...he's a pilot.  If he wants to take over the plane he's already in the cockpit BEHIND A LOCKED FUCKING DOOR!
 
How to opt out of the TSA's naked body scanners at the airport - via NaturalNews.com - This one is not so much a "how to" as it is a description of what happens when you decide not to subject yourself to the backscatter or millimetre wave x-ray machines and go for the "enhanced pat-down" the pilot in the previous article refused.
 
U.A.E. defends no-marks discipline ruling - via CBC.ca - In the United Arab Emirates, they can build the shit out of some skyscrapers, but their human rights policies are fucking stone age.  Considering it's possible to break ribs and cause internal bleeding without ever leaving a visible external mark, the concept of being able to beat your wife or children as long as you don't leave a mark is absurd.
 
Allow Students to Carry Guns on College Campuses? - via AmericanFreePress.net - "Freedom to be safe and secure is a fundamental human right.  If someone threatens to harm or kill you or your loved ones, you have the right to defend yourself.  Carrying a firearm aides in facilitating this self defence." said the guy who lives in Canada, where law abiding citizens can only own handguns for target shooting and it is essentially impossible to get a concealed weapon permit.

Infamous 2: Simply Electrifying - via IGN.com - It seems there are lots of (hopefully) good sequels in the works.  Watch Cole McGrath toss some cars around in this gameplay footage of Infamous 2.

New Class of Malware Will Steal Behavioral Patterns - via TechnologyReview.com - Great.  Not only are there assholes out there trying to steal your credit card and bank account numbers, but now they're trying mine your activities online to create a model of your behavior.  This is data that could be useful for all sorts of things, and changing your behavior isn't exactly as easy as cancelling a credit card.  Just another reason to be careful how much data you put out there...

Why Your Company Needs Paid Sick Days - via Focus.com - I've argued this point with every employer I've had since high school.  The only problems are the inconsiderate fucks who use up all their sick days playing golf then still come to work when they're sick.  If you're lucky enough to work somewhere that gives you paid time off when you're sick and somebody still comes to work spewing phlegm everywhere you should be allowed to put them out of their misery...with the cleansing beauty of fire.

Beyond God and atheism: Why I am a 'possibilian' - via NewScientist.com - An interesting opinion piece on the nature of science, faith, atheism, religion and the spaces in between.  I'm not sure I like the term "possibilian".  It sounds like an invading species of alien reptiles...like on "V".
 
Malware running on graphics cards - via Slashdot.org - Contains a link to a .PDF outlining the feasibility of malware running on a GPU to bypass antivirus software.  I don't think it's as big a deal as the study makes it out to be, but it's an interesting concept anyway.  I don't see a reason why antivirus software couldn't be adapted to protect against this.
 
102 Year-Old Lens on Canon 5D mkII - via Wired.com - A century-old lens mated to a modern digital camera with interesting results.
 
Saskatoon schools go easy on plagiarism - via CBC.ca - A ridiculous new trend in education that I really hope doesn't catch on.  The article states that "As long as a student hands in an assignment at some point, no marks are docked.  The same applies to students caught plagiarizing."  Is anybody else concerned about how this will condition kids to behave once they move beyond high school?  Imagine their surprise when they go to university and learn that they can't submit someone else's work as their own.  Better yet, what will they do with work deadlines when they get a legitimate job in the real world? 
 
U.S. Wants Broader Internet Wiretap Authority - via FOXNews.com - No shit!  This actually came from FOX News.  I was surprised too.  Oh wait, nevermind.  It actually links back to an article in the New York Times.  Long story short, the U.S. government wants back doors built into any encrypted digital communication for wiretap purposes.  No big deal on its face, but it never takes very long for this kind of master key to either be leaked or hacked.  I can't see any encryption having this sort of back door built in being very trusted or secure in the long term.  Watch for this one to be sold as necessary to fight the terrorists who hate our freedom.

Arse-puckering news out of the U.K. recently. Noteworthy articles can be found (here) and (here). In a nutshell, there are plans in the works to allow government and law enforcement entities to collect, catalog, and monitor personal information from various internet services including instant messaging, gaming, and social networking sites. It should come as no surprise that the idea of someone looking over their shoulder the whole time they're online pisses a lot of people off, but this isn't the only reason to worry about this kind of surveillance.

Now I'm not saying that it's not important, but I'm going to try to sidestep the whole George Orwell/1984/Big Brother side of the discussion. Issues of privacy as a fundamental right are absolutely important, but the first thing anyone ever points out is that this kind on monitoring of the public is a slippery slope into an Orwellian dystopia. So for shits and giggles (and a brief thought experiment) let's assume that your government loves you, terrorists really are using Facebook to plot global annihilation, and this proposed project has nothing to do with targeting legitimate political dissent and freedom of speech. Warm and fuzzy? Off we go...