Student, 20, named Mexico police chief - via News.com.au - I hope I'm wrong, but my crystal ball is telling me that this girl is going to wind up getting herself killed.  The idealism of youth is unfortunately not bulletproof.
 
Man facing 10 year prison sentence for downloading Simpsons porn - via Nerve.com - Child pornography is disgusting and those who produce and distribute it deserve every friend they make in the prison showers.  That said, since the Simpsons is a cartoon then no actual children were victimized or abused in the production of the images in question.  I don't understand how this guy could have been prosecuted on child pornography charges, let alone how his lawyer could have allowed him to enter a guilty plea.
 
Woman stabbed classmate in anger management session - via SeattlePI.com - You know you shouldn't laugh, but you also know you want to.  It might be time to fire the person teaching conflict resolution here.
 
Physicists Discover Universal "Wet-Dog Shake" Rule - via TechnologyReview.com - You can sleep a little easier tonight, one of the greatest scientific mysteries has been solved.  According to this article researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a mathematical model to solve for the ideal frequency of oscillation for a wet dog to shake itself dry.  Who funds this shit?

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.

New technologeis confuse reality and fiction: Pope - via MontrealGazette.com - I'll admit at first I jumped to the conclusion that this was going to be the Pope railing against science.  I figured what it would boil down to was "reality is whatever the church tells you".  To my surprise this was not the case at all.  In his statement, he cautions that technology can lead to "the risk of indifference towards real life."  It's hard to disagree with that statement.  While we're still many years from virtual reality technology that's passable as actual reality, the concept is sound.  I see it as a form of escapism.  Even today there are people who spend more time playing videogames than doing any of their other daily activities.  Other people get lost for hours on end living vicariously through celebrities and their friends in social media circles.  However, I don't think any of these people are "confused" on the line between real and virtual.  These technologies offer an escape from the monochromatic boredom of everyday life.  Where things will get interesting is when technology is actually able to simulate reality in a convincing way.  Then you'll see people giving up on the real world to retreat into whatever virtual world they like.  What is the Matrix, indeed.

Robots Guarding US Nuclear Stockpile - via SingularityHub.com - Our robot overlords are almost upon us.  This is some pretty cool tech.  Between this and the cool shit Google has been driving around lately, pretty soon I shouldn't have to deal with all you assholes cutting me off.
 
Ars Technica: Banned in Iran! - via (shocker!) ArsTechnica.com - It looks like Iran's government maybe didn't like the reports Ars Technica was publishing on the Stuxnet infection wreaking havoc on Iranian computer networks.  It's scary how a government with the proper infrastructure in place can effectively cut off whatever website or content they want without any notice.

Superhero or supervillain: Which lurks inside you? - via MNN.com - Results from a study asking people if they would do good or evil if they were to one day find themselves with superpowers.  I like to think I would be a benevolent dictator.

What Every Man Should Know about Pocket Knives - via TheSmokingJacket.com - No matter who you are or what you do, you should have a pocket knife.  This article explains some reasons why and provides some interesting facts.  I've carried the same Swiss Army knife for nearly twenty years and use it daily.  A good knife is an essential tool that is inexpensive and could even save your life.

Arizona State Student Loses Scholarship After Starring in Porn - via Asylum.com - Heh heh, "Liberal Arts".  Kidding aside, educational institutions shouldn't be involved in the private lives of their students but no detail is given regarding any possible conditions attached to the scholarship.  It's probably safe to assume that there would be some sort of morality clause or something in the university code of conduct.  Not the brightest move on her part,

Iran, women, barbarism - via ChicagoTribune.com - This sounds like something out of the middle ages, but it's happening now.  Say what you want about the legal system in the West, we can't even touch this level of inequality.

Toy gun leads to Florida boy's expulsion - via CNN.com - This is a prime example of why black and white "zero tolerance" policies are a bad idea.  First of all, this kid was seven years old and brought a TOY gun to school.  It is normal for seven year old boys to play with toy guns.  To set back his education by more than a year is ridiculous and this policy needs to be rescinded before any other kids suffer because of it.  From the description given, the toy wasn't even a realistic imitation of a real gun, nor did he brandish or threaten anyone at the school with it.  However "The school board classified the toy gun as a weapon because it fired a projectile device."  That definition could be applied to an eraser and a rubber band!  Now this boy has a record within the educational system that will stay with him through college or university saying he was once expelled for having a "weapon".  How can people expect their children to receive a decent education when the educators are stupid and myopic?
 
Quebec school bans talking at lunch - via CBC.ca - This sets a scary precedent and sounds like a behaviour modification experiment.  Thankfully there are parents speaking out and petitioning against this whackjob idea.  I'm all for demanding attentiveness and good behaviour in the classroom, but kids need time to decompress and they do that by running around, yelling, and interacting with other kids.  The argument that "it's only fifteen minutes" doesn't make sense, either.  Parents who do the whole "time-out" thing with their kids do it as PUNISHMENT.  So why is the entire school being punished every day while they eat their lunch?

If you do this in an email, I hate you. - via TheOatmeal.com - Read this.  If any of them apply to you, die.  Except you, Mom.  Keep sending me those funny cat pictures and email hoaxes that have been circulating since the 90's.
 
Why Comcast can (but probably won't) read your e-mails, IMs - via ArsTechnica.com - This could also be titled "Another reason why lawyers suck." or "If you're THAT worried, use encryption!".  The end of the article sums it up perfectly - "...take comfort in the fact that your activities are (probably) boring enough that they will never bother to [read your email]".  Think about how many billions of emails are sent daily.  Are yours so important that anybody will give a shit what they say?  Doubtful.  If you are that important (or that paranoid) then there are commercial encryption solutions available to safeguard your email.  Just get it before the U.S. government legislates their way in the back door.  What difference does it really make, anyway?  Everybody knows the tech support guy has been reading your email for years.  
Clive Thompson on the Power of Visual Thinking - via Wired.com - Although it boils down to "A picture is worth a thousand words" this is still an interesting article.  The comments underneath it are also becoming a decent debate.
 
Duke Nukem Forever Demoed - via MaximumPC.com - Duke Nukem 3D was released in January of 1996.  The sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, has been rumoured and promised since April of 1997.  It has been vaporware for so long that it's actually been retired from some lists.  I'm still expecting this to all be part of an elaborate scam for the publisher to rake in millions of dollars in pre-orders, then disappear.
 
Google TV may finally get TV right in the online video age - via ArsTechnica.com - If Google pulls this off, expect big changes in how people use their computers AND their TVs.  The evolution of on-demand content is getting very interesting.  I wonder how internet service providers who also provide cable TV will treat this new technology and lost ad revenue.
 
Toshiba to Launch Glasses-Free 3D TVs Later this Year - via HotHardware.com - I can't wait to see this technology in action.  Too bad it's tiny screens and huge price tags.  Must have patience.
 
Anti-Government Sovereign Citizen Movement Makes a Comeback - via AlterNet.org - I'm really not sure what I think of this one.  On one hand, I agree with the idea that the government should stay out of the lives of private citizens.  On the other hand, if you want to be part of a society, you have to live by its rules.  I do admire the way they stick to their principles, though, because I don't care how many guns you have, the government has more.
 
The Office Worker's 101 Guide to a USB Thumb Drive - via MakeUseOf.com - This article has some handy tips.
 
And The Bonus!
Oral and Anal Sex Are Becoming More Popular - via Asylum.com - Several interesting statistics.  I found a certain inequality to be of particular interest.  According to this study, "85 percent of men claim they gave their partner an orgasm during their latest sexual event, whereas only 64 percent of women said they achieved orgasm during their most recent sexual encounter."  Congratulations, ladies.  21 percent of you are very good actors!  Well played.

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...