World Backup Day; Eostre, Pope Francis, Sex Abuse Scandals, Catholic; Intolerance of Religion; Atheism

World Backup Day

Eostre

• Easter celebrations around the world
• Italy's Chocolate Easter Eggs: Big, Bold And Full Of Bling
• US: Half of Christians Think Jesus Will Return Within 40 Years
• Family's Easter decorations has neighbour hopping mad
• Mac 101: Easter eggs

Pope Francis

• Catholic Church's celibacy rule 'can change' according to Pope Francis
• Cuba cleric: Francis criticized church at conclave
• Pope Francis shuns grand apartment for two rooms
• Pope washes women's feet in break with church law
• Pope's foot-wash a final straw for traditionalists

Sex Abuse Scandals

• L.A. Pedophile Priests 'Dumped On' Latino Neighborhoods? Revealing Audio Unearthed
• Pope Francis: U.S. was 'stupid' for shuffling around pedophile priests instead of firing them
• Abuse victims want pope to open Argentina files

Catholic

• The Catholic Crisis in Latin America
• Irish Catholics continue to flee the church
• 7 reasons Catholics leave church (in Trenton, #1 is sex abuse crisis)

Intolerance of Religion

• OIC coming back with another attempt to stamp out free speech
• Bangladesh widens crackdown on atheist bloggers
• Literal Genesis Trial Proposed To Put Evolution vs. Creationism Before A Judge

Atheism

• An America that is losing faith with religion—"The number of people without religious affiliation has swelled."
• Atheist cop sues after being demoted to car washer for refusing to pray
• USPS Discrimination Against Atheism?

Dot•TV, Channels à la carte; Late Night; Power Rangers; Breaking Bad; Movies; Music; Books; Comics; Parodies

Dot•TV

• For 'House of Cards,' Using Big Data to Guarantee Its Popularity—"In any business, the ability to see into the future is the killer app, and Netflix may be getting close with 'House of Cards.'" NYT
• The Nielsen Family Is Dead—"From Game of Thrones to the new Arrested Development, television is better than ever. And it's not just a lucky accident. Turns out that networks and advertisers are using all-new metrics to design hit shows. Under these new rules, Twitter feeds are as important as ratings, fresh ideas beat tired formulas, and niche stars can be as valuable as big names. Case in point: Mad Men and Community's Alison Brie."
• HBO starting to think letting people without cable have access to HBO GO might be a good idea
• TV Pilots Turn to Internet, Not Networks
• YouTube's online viewership surpasses 1 billion per month

Channels à la carte

• Intel Will Lead Us to à la Carte Pay TV
• Verizon FiOS TV channels: Only offer channels customers want to watch
• À la Carte TV's Unlikely Ally: Cable Providers

Late Night

• NBC Risks Its Late-Night Dominance With a 'Tonight' Gamble NYT
• Conan Is the Real Loser Here
• Jay Leno's Sendoff, and Conan's Last Laugh

Power Rangers

• From Morphin' to Mega: Power Rangers Celebrates 20 Years
• Rewinding The Power Rangers
• Key & Peele: Power Falcons

Breaking Bad

• The case of Bryan Cranston's missing script
• Howard Stern Show : Bryan Cranston Full Interview
• Violence VS hair: an analysis of Breaking Bad

Movies

• 10 Authors Who Loved the Film Adaptations of Their Books
• Who's really exploited in 'Django Unchained'?—"Django misleadingly announces itself in its opening sequence as a 'spaghetti western'.... But actually, Django Unchained is a reinvention of 1970s 'blaxploitation.'"
• When Movie Characters Break the Fourth Wall

Music

• Seduced by 'perfect' pitch: how Auto-Tune conquered pop music
• Rude Boys—"The birth of the Beastie Boys—an oral history on the 25th anniversary of Licensed to Ill."
• SXSW 2013 on BitTorrent: 7.39 GB of Free Music
• Why This Artist Turned Down Six-Figure Recording Deals To Release A Song In The Darkest Part Of The Internet
• Sex toy gives singers an extra octave

Books

• A 'Sweet Valley High' Ghostwriter On Living A Double Life
• O'Reilly Media Has Lost Its Soul
• Why ebooks are a different genre from print—"The differences in format are beginning to change the nature of what we're reading, and how we do it."

Comics

• Who knew about webcomics? A short PBS video talks to online authors
• Wonder Woman kicks Nazi butt in amazing fan trailer
• David Finch Uses 3D Tech To Create Justice League of America

Parodies

• Netflix's House of Cards Fan-Parody Goes Viral
• Movie: The Movie: 2V —Sequel to the already star-studded Movie: The Movie.
• The Hangover...as a horror
• Dora the Explorer Movie Trailer (with Ariel Winter)—Diego es muy guapo.
• CollegeHumor: Very Mary Kate—That's one fiiiine bodyguard.

Educamation, School's Out; Zero Tolerance, Law and Disorder; Think of the Children; Sex, Psych

Educamation

• 'I have had enough' – veteran teacher tells school board—"Here is a powerful letter that a veteran teacher read to the Lafayette Parish School Board, explaining why she is sadly leaving the profession."
• Why Are Walmart Billionaires Bankrolling Phony School 'Reform' In LA?
• Pat Robertson: Facts Are Commie Plot, Have No Business in Schools
• School textbook defines 'hippies' as followers of rock stars who may have worshipped Satan
• The Country That Stopped Reading—'Nowadays more children attend school than ever before, but they learn much less." NYT
• College Admissions: The Myth of Higher Selectivity
• Where Higher Education Went Wrong
• Jon Stewart ridicules preschool critics
• After decade of criticism, student grouping rises
• There's no homework in Finland

Schools' Out

• Chicago To Close 54 Schools To Address $1 Billion Deficit
• Starving Michigan schools: Capital City Lansing schools eliminate ALL art, music and phys. ed. teachers
• Flipside: In Iowa, a GOP governor charts a different course—"As his Republican peers in other states search for ways to cut public school funding, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is charting a different course. He's doubling down on education."

Zero Tolerance

• Gun control: Child is suspended for eating his Pop-Tart into a gun shape
• Cypress HS student suspended for disarming gunman?
• New bill on school discipline introduced to Senate—The bill seeks to clamp down on overzealous zero-tolerance "From kids getting kicked out of school for playing games with fingers pointed like guns on the Eastern Shore, to chewing their breakfast pastry into 'gun-like' shapes in Baltimore."

Law and Disorder

• Framingham High students protest lack of response to sexual assaults
• $4.2 million settlement for student paralyzed by bully
• School in Essex bans triangle shaped flapjacks after pupil is hurt

Think of the Children

• Dad says Facebook photo of son with gun brought cops to house—"A New Jersey man says that, on the basis of mere hearsay about a Facebook photo of his 11-year-old son with a .22 rifle, police and child protection arrive at his door and demand entry."
• Stop freaking us out - the world is not more dangerous for our children
• School Plays Bieber's 'Baby' As Fundraiser: Students Pay To Make It Stop—Maybe it is.

Sex

• Family Research Council: We Should 'Punish' Premarital Sex, We Never Gave Young People The Right To Do It
• High school teacher under investigation for saying "vagina" during anatomy lesson Salon
• Sex education should be a general education course at NIU
• UT pulls state tax dollars from campus Sex Week
• Opinion: 18-year-olds are too young to be in porn

Psych

• Study finds children with low self-esteem are often praised for personal qualities instead of efforts
• Why Can Some Kids Handle Pressure While Others Fall Apart? NYT
• Why Does My Kid Freak Out?—"The totally legitimate reasons your animal child just threw spaghetti in your face."
• 3-year-olds know to share, but choose not to—"Many toddlers know that they should share things with others, but when put in such a situation, just can't bring themselves to do it."
• Children should be allowed to get bored, expert says
• The balinghou—"Chinese parents bemoan their children's laziness and greed, but this generation of young people has had enough."
• CollegeHumor: 321 Fight: Adulthood vs. Childhood

Prop 8 and DOMA, Marriage Equality; Religion; BSA; Intolerance; Politics and Media

Prop 8 and DOMA

• The last, worst argument against gay marriage—"When you lose arguments based on bigotry, you're left with one based on an idea of marriage we rejected already." Salon
• Argument recap: DOMA is in trouble
• 'Regular' couples at core of historic gay marriage case

Marriage Equality

• Sen. Rob Portman comes out in favor of gay marriage after son comes out as gay
• American Indian tribe OKs same-sex marriage, lets gay couple wed
• N. Carolina church stops performing straight weddings until gay marriage becomes legal Salon
• Poll: 58 percent back gay marriage
• Schultz defends Starbucks' support of same-sex marriage
• Marriage equality opponent's testimony about "ejaculation inside of a colon" is LOL-worthy
• New Zealand gay marriage bill passes critical test

Religion

• Cardinal Keith O'Brien Had Physical Relationship With Accuser, Report Claims
• Anti-gay Islamic preacher Khalid Yasin prevented from attending University of East London event
• Erdogan: Gays 'contrary to Islam'—"Speaking in the Netherlands, Turkish PM fiercely objected to Dutch lesbian couple adopting a nine-year-old Turkish boy."

BSA

• Chipotle pulls sponsorship of Utah Boy Scout event—"The restaurant chain's anti-discrimination policy prohibits it from supporting discriminatory organizations." Salon
• Internal Survey Shows Many Boy Scouts And Parents Believe Discriminatory Policy Harms Organization
• Gays and the Boy Scouts of America

Intolerance

• Steven Simpson, Gay British Teen, Dies After Being Set On Fire At Birthday Party
• Transgender primary school teacher who 'took own life' had sought protection from media hounding before her death
• Students seek to repeal Alabama law forcing teachers to say homosexuality is criminal
• O'Reilly Admits Homosexuality Has "Nothing To Do" With Pedophilia After Widespread Criticism
• Hair salon owner accused of only hiring "overweight, gay hairdressers"—"A bias suit against the owner of the Funky Divas salon alleges he berated employees and is a "sexist bully.'" Salon

Politics and Media

• How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays
• Chick-fil-A Foundation's Anti-LGBT Giving Nearly Doubled
• Ban on a 'gay conversion' therapy advances in N.J.—"A committee voted to make illegal treatment aimed at turning gay minors heterosexual."
• 'Ex-gay' London bus advert ban ruled lawful
• Do Conservatives or Liberals Have Better Gaydar?
• Are homophobes repressed homosexuals?—"Some provocative studies are cited as the debate heats up in France over a law to legalize gay marriage."
• NoHomophobes.com

Minimum Wage, Occupational Hazards, Work-Life Balance, On the Job; Inequality, Baby Boomers; Public-Private Partnerships; JPMorgan, Goldman, Banks

Minimum Wage

• Why we need to raise the minimum wage—"A higher wage will lift hardworking Americans out of poverty and break their link with government assistance."
• Costco back in the forefront of minimum wage debate—"Costco Wholesale Corp. President and CEO Craig Jelinek is putting his name and company in the forefront of the latest drive to increase the federal minimum wage."
• Starbucks CEO Comes Out In Favor Of A Minimum Wage Increase
• Conservative lobby group behind push to lower minimum wage, report says—"Politicians backed by conservative group Alec have introduced 67 laws in 25 states aimed at reducing minimum wage levels."
• House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike—"Six Democrats joined...."
• Walmart Fighting Bill That Would Grant Living Wage to Employees in D.C.
• Police: Oregon panhandlers raking in the green—"A police survey says panhandlers outside Wal-Mart in Coos Bay can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much."

Occupational Hazards

• Discredited: How Employment Credit Checks Keep Qualified Workers Out Of A Job
• With Positions to Fill, Employers Wait for Perfection NYT
• 6 Ways Companies Are Secretly Screwing Job Applicants
• Lies Your Employer Tells You
• Meet the Heartless Jerk Leading a Project to Eliminate Sick Leave
• Sick leave shark wrestler Paul Marshallsea sacked—"If I hadn't gone in to save the kids on that beach that day my wife and I would still have a job."
• On the Flip Side: Volkswagen shares NZ$1.1b in profits with workers

Work-Life Balance

• Is There Life After Work?—"Reflections on balancing (or failing to balance) a job with the rest of life." NYT
• Relax! You'll Be More Productive—"To be at your peak, don't work so much." NYT
• Don't slog away at the end of the day
• Key to Happiness: Keeping Busy Without Feeling Rushed
• De-stress your life, says HuffPost founder
• US trails most of world in providing paid family leave NYT
• Portland, Oregon Becomes Fourth American City To Adopt Paid Sick Day Law

On the Job

• Jobs confidential: 15 people reveal the truth about their work—"Ever wondered what it's really like to be a vicar or a dominatrix? Or what a brain surgeon or a bikini waxer think about their job? Here, 15 people with very different careers reveal – anonymously – the trade secrets of their working day."
• The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Mediocre People
• If You're Busy, You're Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers

Inequality

• Robert Reich explains why you won't get rich Salon
• Why Social Mobility In The United States Is A Total Myth
• Major corporations are pocketing your taxes—"Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston explains how the economy is rigged to benefit the one percent." Salon
• Incomes of bottom 90 percent grew $59 in 40 years—"During the same period, average income for the top 10 percent of Americans rose by $116,071." Salon
• Why the precariat requires a basic income

Baby Boomers

• The unaffordable baby boomer dream—"Race and gender barriers might have eased, but economic strictures have tightened, denying the dreams of new generation."
• Workers over 50 are the new 'unemployables'
• Are baby boomers stealing the country's future?—"Legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller says the US is heading for a 'storm' as millions of boomers threaten to suck the system dry."

Public-Private Partnerships

• 'Monsanto Protection Act' slips silently through US Congress—Doing the bidding of their corporate masters.
• How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing
• Is JPMorgan a farmer?—"How the nation's biggest banks use the little-covered House Agriculture Committee to gut regulations." Salon

JPMorgan

• JPMorgan: Poster Child for the Most Dangerous Financial System Since 1929
• JPMorgan’s Follies, for All to See—"The nation supposedly has new safeguards against another financial crisis. But a Senate report on JPMorgan Chase's $6.2 billion trading loss offers cause for worry." NYT
• "I Can't Keep This Going": How JPMorgan Chase Changed Its Own Risk Rules and Lost $6 Billion

Goldman

• Goldman mortgage appeal rejected by Supreme Court—"The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Goldman, saying they feared 'vexatious, abusive litigation and coercive multimillion or billion dollar settlements to the detriment of the nation's economy.'"
• After Watering Down Financial Reform, Ex-Senator Scott Brown Joins Goldman Sachs' Lobbying Firm
• Goldman Rejects Proposal That Firm Run for Elected Office—"...using a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that corporations have similar political rights to individuals."

Banks

• Eric Holder Makes it Official: Crime Is The Economic Model
• It's time to tax financial transactions
• Senate votes to end advantages for 'Too Big To Fail' banks
• Bill Moyers: Are the Monster Banks on the Verge of Unleashing Fresh Economic Disaster?
• As Profit Slips, Credit Suisse Increases C.E.O. Pay by 34%
• Freddie Mac Drags 15 Banks To Court Over Losses From LIBOR Manipulation
• Wall Street Bankers Dispense Advice for Living Like the Normals

Fat Tuesday, Diet; Health Matters; Obamacare; Young and Old; Right-to-Die; Sleep; Psych; Brain

Fat Tuesday

• Fat City: What can stop obesity?
• Obesity worldwide: the map of the world's weight—"American women not employed outside the home were burning about 360 fewer calories every day in 2010 than they had in 1965, according to a new analysis, with working women burning about 132 fewer calories at home each day in 2010 than in 1965."
• Israel passes law banning models that have a BMI under 18.5
• What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines
• Obese heart patients 'do better'—"Obese cardiac patients are less likely to die than their normal weight counterparts, say researchers."
• What Losing 180 Pounds Really Does To Your Body — & Your Mind
• President Vladimir Putin calls for fitness tests for Russian schoolchildren—And teams up with Steven Seagal to promote fitness.

Diet

• Judge Blocks New York City's Limits on Big Sugary Drinks NYT
• No soda ban here: Mississippi passes 'Anti-Bloomberg' bill
• The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food—"Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American 'stomach share.'" NYT
• 'FastDiet' book is attracting dieters, and doubters
• Biggest Loser Trainers Publicly Promote Diet And Exercise, Quietly Endorse Unproven Weight Loss Pills
• This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again—"Rob Rhinehart's vomit-coloured cocktail could change food forever."
• Heart Attack Grill's Unofficial Spokesman Dies After Heart Attack

Health Matters

• CVS wants workers' weight, body fat and glucose levels
• U.S. Won't Appeal Court's Block Of Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels
• Let your flatulence fly, scientists urge
• Sitting next to pretty woman for a 5-hour flight almost kills a man
• Medical Scans Show Leonardo Da Vinci's Drawings Were Right All Along
• Feeling sick makes us less social online too—"A new study from BYU finds that while most of us go online regularly for help in diagnosing health issues, very few of us actually post information, including questions or our experiences, on health topics."
• Montreal bodybuilder Joe Weider, who helped lift Arnold Schwarzenegger to fame, dead at 93

Obamacare

• It's the Demographics, Stupid—"Our population is aging, and there's nothing to be done about that. As it ages, it's going to need the same level of healthcare we provide for today's seniors. Unless you're a sociopath, there's nothing to be done about that either. As a result, Medicare spending is going to rise."
• Bachmann: Repeal Obamacare Before It 'Literally Kills' People
• Boehner: House will keep trying to repeal Obamacare—"'The House will continue working to scrap the law in its entirety,' he said on Obamacare's third anniversary." Salon

Young...

• Kids Ingest Potentially Poisonous Medication 500,000 Times Per Year
• Hitting Your Kids Increases Their Risk of Mental Illness
• Women Who Were Abused As Children More Likely To Have Kids With Autism

and Old

• Surrey woman left without care dies in hospital—"A woman in her 80s left at home in Surrey without medication, food, or water for nine days after a care agency shut down has died in hospital."
• Senior facility defends nurse who wouldn't perform CPR on resident
• Japanese man dies after being turned away from 25 hospitals

Right-to-Die

• As Families Change, Korea's Elderly Are Turning to Suicide—"The number of suicides among people 65 and older has nearly quadrupled in recent years, ranking the country's rate of such deaths among the highest in the developed world." NYT
• Healthy Vancouver senior commits suicide in bid to change right-to-die law—"I am a 91-year-old woman who has decided to end my life in the very near future. I do not have a terminal illness; I am simply old, tired and becoming dependent, after a wonderful life of independence."
• Support grows in Vermont for an end-of-life bill—"Most states ban physician-assisted death, but a movement is growing to give terminal patients the right to choose their fate."

Sleep

• Daylight saving time has a way of cleaning your clock
• Up All Night: The science of sleeplessness—"New technologies have made the study of sleep cheaper, easier, and less intrusive. But if this is sleep research's golden age, then why are we all so tired?"
• 8 Benefits of Napping: Why you Need to Nap Everyday
• Poor sleep in old age prevents the brain from storing memories
• Snooze button bad for you? Yes. Here's the science of sleep that explains why.
• Sleep Hits the Reset Button for Individual Neurons
• Overcoming Bias : Sleep Signaling

Psych

• Nothing personal: The questionable Myers-Briggs test—"The Myers-Briggs personality test is used by companies the world over but the evidence is that it's nowhere near as useful as its popularity suggests."
• You're Distracted. This Professor Can Help.—"David Levy's course at the University of Washington puts technology in its place--in the control of students."
• Social isolation shortens lifespan—"Ageing study finds being alone is a health risk."

Brain

• Brain scans predict which criminals are more likely to reoffend—"Neuroimaging 'biomarker' linked to rearrest after incarceration."
• AAN: More Proof of Effects of Pro Fighting on Brain
• Researchers Discover the Brain Origins of Variation in Pathological Anxiety
• Learning hurts your brain—"Mice left to explore new environments get DNA damage in their neurons."
• When Autocorrect Isn't to Blame—"A jumbled text message could help diagnose a stroke."

Piracy, Copyfight, DMCA, DRM; Your Rights Online, Swartz, Cyberwarfare, CISPA, Surveillance and Privacy; Google; SimShitty

Piracy

• Online Music Piracy Doesn't Hurt Sales, European Commission Finds—"It seems that the majority of the music that is consumed illegally by the individuals in our sample would not have been purchased if illegal downloading websites were not available to them."
• Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin on piracy, video games, and new shows with HBO
• Supreme Court OKs $222K Verdict for Sharing 24 Songs
• File-Sharing Service isoHunt Illegally Fosters Piracy, Appeals Court Says
• Kim "Billy Big Steps" Dotcom Still Causing Headaches For Spy Agency
• Did Prenda try to intimidate ID theft victim into dropping charges?
• Japan: Websites Can Legally Pirate Porn Movies, Prosecutors Rule

Copyfight

• Court Backs Student In Textbook Copyright Case—This would have been a telling blow to the First-Sale doctrine.
• Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own
• AP wins big: Why a court said clipping content is not fair use
• India Says: 'There Is No Direct Correlation Between IP And Innovation'

DMCA

• GoPro sends fraudulent DMCA notice to site that ran a negative review of its products
• Fifteen Years of DMCA Abuse
• Recent YouTube, Veoh Copyright Infringement Rulings Help To Unpack Safe Harbor Guidelines

DRM

• Defend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C Standards
• DRM Strikes Again: Digital Comics Distributor JManga Closing Down... And Deleting Everyone's Purchases
• WHSmith Breaking Trust Putting DRM in eBooks without permission from the authors
• Google engineer: DRM has nothing to do with piracy
• DRM-free label for all your DRM-free stuff

Your Rights Online

• The persecution of Barrett Brown - and how to fight it—"The journalist and Anonymous activist is targeted as part of a broad effort to deter and punish internet freedom activism."
• Judge lifts gag order on online critic of McDonald's settlement
• UK: Defamation bill set to be lost due to 'Leveson' clause
• Press regulation deal sparks fears of high libel fines for bloggers—"Websites could have to pay exemplary damages if they don't sign up to new regulator, claim opponents of Leveson deal."
• Twitter cooperating with Russian authorities to ban users for promoting illegal websites—"... which were found to be encouraging suicide and drug use." How long before "gay propaganda" gets banned online in Russia?
• Nokia defies Google over WebM video standard, guarding VP8 codec patents
• Groupon, Aaron Swartz, and the Failings of the Second Great Tech Boom—"In the name of convenience, we've surrendered our data. And in the name of progress, we're not sure if we even care."
• Senate embraces Internet taxes—"Senators vote 75 to 24 to glue an endorsement of Internet sales taxes onto a Democratic budget bill, despite opponents predicting the idea is antibusiness and a 'bureaucratic nightmare.'"
• Departing commissioner says net neutrality was FCC’s biggest recent failure
• Fla. House passes bill banning Internet cafes, adult arcades

Swartz

• Aaron Swartz's estate seeks release of documents—"The representatives said the protective order 'hinders the public's access to vital information about Mr. Swartz's case without any substantial justifications.'"
• MIT to release documents related to Aaron Swartz case
• Secret Service Reopens Aaron Swartz Freedom of Information Act Requests
• The American Library Association Has Given Aaron Swartz Its First Ever Posthumous Award
• How to fix the worst law in technology

Cyberwarfare

• Tone Down the Cyberwarfare Rhetoric, Expert Urges Congress
• NATO Cyber War Manual Says Hackers Are Targets: Online Geneva Conventions proposed for cyber war
• Is All The Talk About Cyberwarfare Just Hype?

CISPA

• Reddit, Craigslist and 30,000 Other Websites Oppose CISPA
• CISPA Petition Reaches 100,000 Signatures, White House Owes Response
• Pro-CISPA Lawmaker Deletes Retweet about Money Received from Pro-CISPA Groups
• How to defeat CISPA once and for all
• Don’t Just Hate CISPA — Fix It

Surveillance and Privacy

• Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages
• Emails should be protected like regular mail, California senator says
• 'We're going to have more visibility and less privacy': Mayor Bloomberg admits soon NYPD surveillance cameras will be on nearly every corner and in the air—Nibbling away at your civil liberties.
• Twitter Sued for $50M in France for Withholding the Identities of Anti-Semitic Users
• Microsoft admits revealing subscriber data to India govt
• Victory for Transparency: Microsoft Releases Report on Law Enforcement Requests for User Data
• Skype in hot water over failure to let French police eavesdrop
• Feds: No Warrant Needed to Track Your Car With a GPS Device—Claims it's needed to fight terrorism, but hopefully Congress can do something about this invasion of privacy.
• Activist sues San Francisco PD after warrantless search of his phone
• Big Data Is Opening Doors, but Maybe Too Many—"The dawn of mainframe computers offered huge technological benefits, but also challenged notions of privacy. Now Big Data is bringing similar expectations and concerns." NYT

Google

• Google apologizes for Digg de-indexing, saying it "inadvertently" applied a webspam action to whole site
• Google Keep Gets Frosty Reception—"Keep" it to yourself, Google Reader killers.
• The Problem With Google -- and The Cloud
• Google's trust problem
• CollegeHumor: Google is Full of Crap

SimShitty

• EA Didn’t Give Me A SimCity Refund, But Agreed To Switch It For A Game I Can Actually Play
• Flaw Exposed in Electronic Arts's Origin Store
• SimCity 5's Always-On Requirements: What Happened, And Why It Needs To Stop
• Electronic Arts CEO resigns, effective on March 30
• Team Meat dev: Apathy and refunds are more dangerous than Piracy

'Murica, Republicans, Budget, Vote Machinations, Racism, Religious Wrong, Corruption, Public-Private Partnerships, Daily Caller; Politics and Media

'Murica

• The American Mind—"The historian Garry Wills has written better than anybody else about modern America."
• The Politics of Misperception—"Ever wonder what our public discourse would be like if everyone agreed on the facts? You can keep wondering."
• Does Irrationality Doom America?—"How rational problem-solving has ceased to be "serious" among US elites."
• Are Americans Too Stupid For Democracy?—"How can we rationally pursue our self-interests when we don't know what's going on?"
• Kerry defends liberties, says Americans have "right to be stupid"

Republicans

• GOP Senate candidate: Paul Ryan too moderate—"Rep. Paul Broun, who is running for Georgia's Senate seat, pens Op-Ed demanding more austerity and cuts." Salon
• Why Tea Partiers Are Boycotting Fox News
• Michele Bachmann runs away from reporter—"Don't you dare ask the congresswoman about something she said in a speech." She also is running away from Papa Bear. Salon
• Birther Hypocrisy- Right Wing Has No Problem With Canadian Born Senator Ted Cruz Running For President
• The American Phenomenon We Should Stay Far Away From—"The GOP is not suffering federally because, as the report in part claims, it fails to have sufficient spokespeople with black, Hispanic or Asian faces, or who are women, but because it has become a farm team for intolerance, anti-intellectualism and undesirables."
• Republicans love poor people now—"The party that forever demonized struggling Americans now realizes it needs them, in order to survive. Oops." Salon
• Salon's Joan Walsh: Rush Limbaugh Helped The GOP Lose The Election
• Krugman: The Dunning-Kruger-Madoff Effect—"Nothing will shake the right-wing faith."
• Drum: The Republican Party Might Not Be Quite Dead Yet
• The numbers prove it: The GOP is estranged from America

Budget

• GOP: We've been lying all along—"Boehner's admission that we don't really have a debt crisis reveals his party's ulterior, program-cutting motives." Salon
• WBI: More on the Chicken-and-Egg Deficit-and-Jobs Issue
• Economists Disagree With Paul Ryan’s Claim That 'Debt Is Crushing Our Economy'
• Selling the Store: Why Democrats Shouldn't Put Social Security and Medicare on the Table
• Senate Votes 40-59 To Reject Ryan Budget

Vote Machinations

• Republicans Win Congress as Democrats Get Most Votes
• One Day After RNC Calls For Minority Outreach, Arkansas GOP Passes Bill To Suppress Minority Vote
• Desiline Victor, Obama's 102-Year-Old Voter, 'Shocked' By Scalia's 'Racial Entitlement' Remark

Racism

• Survivor Zerlina Maxwell Defies Racist Death Threats After Speaking Out on Fox News
• Native American Lawmaker To Anti-Immigrant Kansas Official: 'When You Mention Illegal Immigrant, I Think Of All Of You'
• When The GOP Told Whitey I Aint Gonna Take It No More
• Race, Denial, Obliviousness and Oblivion
• FDNY Heir Really Outdid Himself With the Racist Tweets
• 'Being White in Philly': America agonises over race and free speech after article sparks furore—"Candid reflections by Robert Huber, a white author, on life in Philadelphia, the city where the US founding fathers first met, have triggered outrage amid a racial debate across America. Philip Sherwell reports."
• Published Rant Causes Controversy In Lincoln County—"An anonymous caller left a rant, making slurs against homosexuality, religion and race, on the newsroom's voicemail...", saying to "clear them people out and have good, white, God-fearing Christians" and "keep Lincoln County white and right."

Religious Wrong

• Stuck With Each Other—"The religious right can't get away from the GOP, and the GOP can't get away from the religious right."
• How The Internet Is Erasing The Religious Right's Political Power
• Gov. Steve Beshear vetoes religious freedom bill, says it threatens public safety, civil rights
• Petition Interdiction: Tenn. legislator seeks to make it a crime to protest church-state violations
• IRS revokes 'Pray away gay' group's tax-exempt status

Corruption

• Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns—"Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity at the center of a $300 million illegal gambling investigation."
• Rick Perry's $487 Million Corporate Slush Fund Doesn't Need Your Stinkin' Audit—"The Texas governor doesn't agree that his corporate-handout fund needs an audit—because he and two other GOP pols already monitor it."
• JobsOhio to refund public money—"JobsOhio has voluntarily complied with Auditor Dave Yost's subpoena and will repay the state the millions of taxpayer dollars it's received, the privatized economic development agency said. The main question now is why the public money is being returned."

Public-Private Partnerships

• White House Petition: Make Lawmakers Wear Logos Of Financial Backers On Clothing, Like In NASCAR
• Conflicts of interest run rampant in state legislatures—"Rules are few, oversight weak so lawmakers vote regularly on bills that affect their outside interests."
• Corporate Welfare Grows to $154 Billion even in Midst of Major Government Cuts

Daily Caller

• 3 women were paid to falsely claim they had sex with Menendez, Dominican police say
• Lawyer behind Menendez prostitution allegations recants, fabricates media conspiracy
• Controversial Daily Caller Editor Admitted to Posing As Radical Animal Rights Activist

Politics and Media

• Colbert Busch wins South Carolina Democratic primary&
• How to turn a state liberal—"Colorado's progressive miracle is a road map to a much brighter America. Here are 9 steps behind the transformation." Salon
• How Noam Chomsky is discussed—"The more one dissents from political orthodoxies, the more the attacks focus on personality, style and character."
• Liberal Hypocrite Purchases Home—Conservative bloggers' faux outrage documented.
• Detroit Waits, Apprehensive, for Manager to Take Over—"A city whose finances are in a dire state loses the power to run itself, and everyone waits to see what will happen next." NYT

Earth Hour, Keystone XL, BP, Energy; China; Climate Change; Ecology, Extinction; World Water Yesterday

Earth Hour

• Apple Says Data Centers Now Use 100% Renewable Energy
• Windfarm sickness spreads by word of mouth, Australian study finds—"Health complaints from people living around turbines shown to be psychological effect of anti-wind lobby making people worry."
• Fox News: Solar Power "Might Be Tanking Our Economy"

Keystone XL

• Keystone XL pipeline will create 35 permanent jobs, State Department says—Whee.
• Keystone XL pipeline not good for Canada, opposition leader suggests—"Thomas Mulcair criticises Canada's Conservative government and says pipeline is exacting heavy environmental cost."
• Dirty little secrets about the dirty tar sand oil—"It is time the press starts doing the hard work of investigative reporting and stop spewing a one-sided view of the Keystone XL."
• When to Say No—"The revised plan for the proposed oil pipeline is still a threat to the environment." NYT
• Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Measure Passes Senate

BP

• BP asks judge to halt 'fictitious' and 'absurd' Deepwater oil spill payouts—"Oil giant asks New Orleans judge to temporarily halt payouts and says it could be 'irreparably harmed' by billions in costs."
• Gulf Coast attorneys general say BP 'wrong' to challenge oil spill claims process
• BP accused of rewriting environmental record on Wikipedia—"A British Petroleum representative allegedly rewrote 44 percent of the oil giant's Wikipedia page, including the environmental sections. Some Wikipedia editors are crying foul."

Energy

• America's Most Obvious Tax Reform Idea: Kill the Oil and Gas Subsidies—"In a world where $100-a-barrel oil is here to stay, there's no need to pad the industry's bottom line."
• EPA reverses water pollution decision after lobbyist steps in—"A Texas mining project was approved despite contamination fears, exposing a troubling pattern of aquifer exemption." Salon
• Sewage Plants Struggle To Treat Wastewater Produced By Fracking Operations

China

• In China, public anger over secrecy on environment
• China: More Pigs Found in River—The number of dead pigs found dead in Shanghai, which already started at nearly 3,000 "rose to more than 13,000" and now the latest count is at 16,000. NYT
• Demand for chopsticks killing trees, Chinese lawmaker says

Climate Change

• Climate science-denying GOPer to head climate subcommittee Salon
• We're Screwed: 11,000 Years' Worth of Climate Data Prove It
• Texas Climatologist: Global surface temperatures likely to set a new record this year
• Research Reveals Almost All Climate Science Denial Books Linked to Conservative Think Tanks
• Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change
• Thousands sign school climate change petition started by 15-year-old—"Esha Marwaha from west London says she is outraged that climate change has been scaled back in national curriculum."
• German scientists quit oil sands research over public climate concerns

Ecology

• 86 elephants killed in Chad poaching massacre—"Armed ivory poachers are reported to have killed 86 elephants in less than a week, including pregnant females and calves."
• In Asia, tide slowly turning against shark fin soup
• Five shark species win protection against finning trade—"Cites summit votes for strictly controlled permits to export fins of oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and three species of hammerhead."
• Overfished and under-protected: Oceans on the brink of catastrophic collapse
• Deer cull would threaten thousands of jobs, say furious gamekeepers
• EU could impose pesticide ban to protect bees
• PETA Goes After Assassin's Creed For Its Depiction Of Whaling; Ubisoft Responds With A Heaping Dose Of Sarcasm

Extinction

• Re-re-re-thinking the rise of mammals and death of the dinosaurs
• Extinction that paved way for dinosaurs definitively linked to volcanism—"New dates also show life started recovering while eruptions were in progress."
• A Stealthy De-Extinction Startup—"Who wouldn't want to see a saber-toothed tiger?"

World Water Yesterday

• U.N. chief warns of growing water scarcity
• Wichita Falls, Texas, Could Go Dry by Year's End
• Pentagon weapons-maker finds method for cheap, clean water

Corruption; Banks, Eurozone, Cyprus; Fascism, Racism, Israel and Gaza; Iraq'd, Military Disservice, Journalism

Corruption

• Spanish government to sue El Pais—"Spain's conservative ruling party has launched a lawsuit against top newspaper El Pais for allegations of corruption among the party's leaders."
• Pakistani activist for poor shot dead in Karachi
• Lima's first woman mayor Villaran 'survives recall vote'—"Ms Villaran's supporters have accused the country's business elite and powerful conservative politicians of trying to oust her because of her progressive social policies."
• Swaziland government sells maize donated by Japan and banks the cash—"Government sold 12,000 tonnes of maize and deposited money in central bank, even though Swaziland has not been able to feed itself since 1970s."
• Poor-quality Chinese concrete could lead to skyscrapers collapsing

Banks

• Britain fails in last-ditch bid to dilute bankers' bonus law—"Britain has failed in a last ditch effort to alter EU proposals to cap bankers' salaries from next year."
• Barclays announces £38.5m bonuses on budget day—"Bank awards its investment bank chief Rich Ricci £17.5m of shares – which he immediately cashes in - and chief executive Antony Jenkins £5.3m shares."
• This Is What Happens When A Journalist Forces A Banker To Actually Answer A Question

Eurozone

• The next supermodel—"Politicians from both right and left could learn from the Nordic countries."
• Leaders wrestle with austerity as thousands protest
• What British 'austerity' would look like if we were in the eurozone

Cyprus

• Cypriots stunned by forced savings cuts
• The Botching of the Cyprus Bailout: Worse Than Lehman Brothers
• How German fears of underwriting Russian oligarchs pushed Cyprus to crisis
• Cyprus's wealth tax makes perfect sense – its rich won't escape unscathed—"Ignore the hysterical reaction to the tax on Cypriots' bank deposits. This is a practical, fair solution to a complex problem."
• Saving Cyprus: Tapping Bank Customers Is the Right Move
• Eurozone crisis live: Cyprus crisis deepens as MPs reject bailout terms
• Russia rebuffs Cyprus, EU awaits bailout "Plan B"

Fascism

• Texas tea party leader promotes Fascist Party as 'pro-Constitution, pro-America'
• Fascism mounts a comeback in Italy
• Over half of Austrians think the Nazis would be elected if the party was readmitted to politics
• Greek footballer Giorgos Katidis banned for Nazi salute
• Greek neo-Nazi MP can be prosecuted for attacking left-wing rivals on live TV

Racism

• 'It's not racism. The Muslim players just shouldn't be here': Beitar Jerusalem fans walk out over signing of two Muslim Chechen players
• Bus taunts that sparked Australian racism debate
• India-born football fan assaulted in UK racist attack before 200 onlookers
• BBC gets heat for censoring Elvis Costello's 1979 hit "Oliver's Army"—"The Mail reports that BBC censored the 'one more widow, one less white nigger' lyric, despite the fact that the song has generally played uncensored on the radio for more than thirty years." Salon
• Blast from the Past: Racism: The Arab world's dirty secret NYT

Israel and Gaza

• Obama: Settler Violence Against Palestinians Shouldn't Go Unpunished
• Gaza rockets fired at Israel during Obama visit
• Australia MPs: Gaza is world's largest outdoor jail

Iraq'd

• Dick Cheney Marks Tenth Anniversary of Pretending There Was Reason to Invade Iraq
• Former Halliburton Subsidiary Received $39.5 Billion In Iraq-Related Contracts Over The Past Decade
• Charts: Bush Lowballed Us on Iraq by $6 Trillion
• Punished for telling truth about Iraq war—"Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki dared to call out the Bush administration for inadequate preparation for the Iraq war and lost his job...."
• Canada's 'No' To Iraq War A Defining Moment For Prime Minister, Even 10 Years Later
• The Iraq War Ten Years After: Declassified Documents Show Failed Intelligence, Policy Ad Hockery, Propaganda-Driven Decisionmaking
• Iraq Anniversary: 10 Lessons from America's 'Dumb War'
• Iraqis' Pain Never Abates as Attacks Kill Dozens—"Nineteen bombs and an assassination on Tuesday served as a reminder of the violence that regularly afflicts Iraq a decade after the American-led invasion." NYT
• Bush promised Iraqi civilians a better future. What are their lives like now?
• Ten Years After the Iraq Invasion: Baghdad Then and Now

Military Disservice

• America's combat veterans: The waiting wounded—"The government is failing to keep faith with ex-soldiers."
• Returning from Iraq, the Damage Done—"It's easy to send soldiers off to war. It's harder to face them when they come home."
• AP: Costs of US wars linger for over 100 years—"If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat."

Journalism

• Bang the Drum Loudly: The Failed Journalism That Sent America to War in Iraq
• Why WPost's Hiatt Should Be Fired—"Toting up the Iraq War's cost is staggering, including nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead. But a decade later, few of its architects in government or apologists in the press have faced accountability."
• How to Write an Iraq War Apologia
• The Speechwriter: David Frum on the Rhetoric of Iraq
• Iraq War Anniversary New York Times - Pleased To Be Shutting The Piehole Now—"The 'public editor' of The New York Times tells us today that the paper's coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War is likely to be less of a hoot than back in the drum-banging days when Judy Miller was standing atop a great pile of stove-piped bullshit while Bill Keller threw roses at her feet."

International Day for Forests; Occupy Steubenville, Rape Culture; Gender Issues; Abortion and Birth Control; India; Culture Clash

International Day for Forests

Occupy Steubenville

• Two teens found guilty in Steubenville rape case
• Meet Reno Saccoccia: Steubenville's head football coach—"Evidence shows Saccoccia knew about the rape early on, but didn't report it. So why does he still have his job?" Salon
• Two girls charged with threatening Steubenville rape victim
• Steubenville Rapist to Appeal Because His 'Brain Isn't Fully Developed'—He was already tried as a minor.
• The Steubenville Victim's Name Aired on All Three Cable News Networks
• Steubenville rape trial forces depressed Ohio town to look inward for answers
• Steubenville, weary of investigation, faces new probe

Rape Culture

• CNN grieves that guilty verdict ruined 'promising' lives of Steubenville rapists
• CNN's Steubenville coverage called too sympathetic to teens found guilty
• The Steubenville Rapists Are Not Tragic Heroes—Scary how close to home The Onion hits with this piece.
• I Am The Blogger Who Allegedly "Complicated" The Steubenville Gang Rape Case -- And I Wouldn't Change a Thing
• Steubenville: this is rape culture's Abu Ghraib moment—"The pictures from Steubenville don't just show a girl being raped. They show that rape being condoned, encouraged, celebrated. What type of culture could possibly produce such pictures?"

Gender Issues

• Off The Battlefield, Military Women Face Risks From Male Troops—And all that awaits them after getting raped is a 'broken system.'
• CPAC: Where Ashley Judd Rape Jokes Happen
• Republican: Violence Against Women Act 'horrible' because it protects transgender people
• Bolshoi ballet was 'giant brothel' claims former dancer
• UN Declaration on women passes

Abortion and Birth Control

• Hawaii Senate OKs emergency contraception bill—"Republican Sen. Sam Slom tried and failed to amend the bill to allow hospitals to claim a religious exemption instead of distributing the morning-after pill."
• North Dakota lawmakers OK strictest abortion ban
• Sen. Rand Paul introduces 'fetal personhood' bill to outlaw abortion
• Kansas House members reject rape, incest exceptions for abortion
• "Fiscally conservative" lawmaker happy to spend taxpayer millions defending unconstitutional abortion ban Salon

India

• Six men arrested over gang-rape of Swiss tourist in India: woman must share blame for attack, say police—"[I]nspector says she should never have been camping in the area," and that "the tourists had been careless in travelling to a remote part of the country they knew little about."
• Woman gang-raped inside lawyer's chamber
• British tourist jumps from hotel balcony in Agra to escape sexual assault
• Lok Sabha passes anti-rape bill, age of consent stays at 18
• Five men arrested for allegedly teasing Norwegian woman

Culture Clash

• Muslim Brotherhood’s Statement on Women Stirs Liberals' Fears NYT
• South Africa: 'Over 25% of schoolgirls HIV positive'—"At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because 'sugar daddies' are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said."
• Yemen: Brothers kill sister for eloping—"Four men shot dead their sister and her husband for bringing 'shame' to the family."