NSA data center 'meltdowns' force year-long delay. News By James Niccolai October 8, 2013 03:50 AM ET IDG News Service - A massive data center being built by the National Security Agency in Utah has been plagued by "chronic electrical surges" that have destroyed equipment and delayed its opening for a year, according to a report Monday. The facility has suffered 10 "meltdowns" in the past 13 months that destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of machinery, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing project documents and unnamed officials. The data center is expected to be the NSA's main facility for storing, decrypting and analyzing the vast amounts of data it collects through its surveillance programs. Those programs have been under scrutiny since the disclosures about Prism and other data collection efforts earlier this year.
The data center has cost a reported $1.4 billion excluding the computing equipment inside, and covers more than a million square feet. Schools Ban Tag, Cartwheels And 'Unstructured Play:' The Inevitable Outcome Of Unrealistic Promises And Expectations [UPDATED] From the look of these stories, there's no worse place for your cherished young ones to end up than the hellish warzone of the local school. Sure, we all made it through school with a minimum of injuries or threats from Pop Tart-wielding terrorists in training, but today? Today's school playgrounds are as safe as a minefield subject to hourly bombing runs. [UPDATE: As is pointed out in the comments, Weber Middle School's ban on balls and other activities is "temporary," due to construction occuring at the school.] A middle school in Long Island, New York has banned the playing of typical schoolyard games and the use of many pieces of athletic equipment during recess.CBS reported that Weber Middle School this week “instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.”
This isn't an isolated event from a single, overreacting school. This isn't the only form of panic being indulged by hysteria-prone school administrations. The RIAA Just Got Insanely Fast at Censoring Links From Google. Sweden Makes It Illegal To Take Photos In 'Private Environments' Without Permission. Boulder County ACLU Protests CU Censorship Of Student Art Featuring Female Genitalia.
The Boulder County chapter of the ACLU is urging the University of Colorado not to censor student art, following controversy over the school's removal of a student art exhibit featuring female genitalia. Judd Golden, chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union's local chapter, sent a letter to CU on Monday urging the art department to "encourage interested students and the public to view and draw their own conclusions. " Golden also offered to help CU develop a student art policy.
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard countered that it's not a free speech issue. Instead, he said, the exhibit, which was in a public lobby of the school's Visual Arts Complex, was moved to a basement gallery because the content was deemed too mature for touring high school students who regularly came through the lobby. "We made substantial accommodations for the student," Hilliard said. "We don't believe we engaged in censorship or anything like it. Her work came down Saturday, the scheduled end of its run. Pelosi: ‘Enough with the Public Nudity. Please. We Have Our Standards’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “Enough” with public nudity in San Francisco, adding, “Please. We have our standards.” She also encouraged people to attend the city’s Gay Pride Parade, remarking, “It’s fabulous, you’ll love it.” San Francisco’s ban on public nudity went into effect on Feb. 1, but not without protests as four naked people were arrested on the steps of City Hall.
“Enough with the public nudity,” Pelosi said in an interview with The Huffington Post on Feb. 12. “Please. Under the ban, however, public nudity is still permitted for children younger than age 5 and at certain events like the city's Gay Pride Parade. Though she says she’s had it with public nudity, Pelosi still encouraged people to attend the upcoming annual Gay Pride Parade on June 30. “Come see our gay pride parade,” she said. “It's a lot of exposure, shall we say,” Pelosi said. Iceland May Ban Online Porn. In a case of censorship for an ostensibly good cause — but censorship nonetheless — Iceland may soon become the first Western nation to use Internet filters to ban its citizens from viewing or downloading online porn.
The ban would likely resemble the Great Firewall of China used to block Chinese citizens from accessing many sites around the web, but would only apply to pornography. It could also make it illegal to use Icelandic credit cards to access pay-for-porn sites, according the Daily Mail newspaper. Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland's interior minister, is drafting legislation that would introduce the ban.
He argues that easy access to online porn increases the frequency and severity of sexual violence against women and causes longterm damage for children who view it at an early age. Jonasson has reportedly assembled task forces to figure out how best to handle the logistics of banning access to pornographic photos and videos via the proliferating plethora of Internet-connected devices. Study: Circumcision reduces sexual pleasure in men.
A new study claims to find that men who have had their foreskin removed as children or as adults enjoy less intense sexual pleasure and orgasm than men who have not. The study titled, Male circumcision decreases penile sensitivity as measured in a large cohort, was published in BJUI International. Reuters reports that lead study author Dr. Piet Hoebeke of Ghent University Hospital, said: "We're not saying less sexual activity or satisfaction, but sensitivity. " A Daily Mail report claims that three-quarters of US men have undergone the surgical procedure of circumcision for non-religious reasons, mostly for the sake of believed health benefits such as reduction in incidence of urinary tract infections. According to Reuters, about half of US newborn males have their foreskin surgically removed soon after birth, and about 30 percent of men worldwide are circumcised.
Read more... Circumcision is, however, relatively uncommon in the UK. Ancient Egyptian men being circumcised. CRAMER: Apple Is No Longer Magical, It's Like IBM, Or J&J. Morning Markets January 24. iNanny: Apple Takes Down Popular Photo Apps Because They Made Searching For Nude Photos 'Too Easy' We've written here before about Apple's autocratic control of its app store, which has resulted in many questionable removals. To date, Apple has blocked a dictionary (because it contained profanity), a Project Gutenberg scan of The Kama Sutra (ancient sexytime), any app that connects to Dropbox (because... Dropbox?) , an educational game based on the current war in Syria (too topical?) , a DUI checkpoint location app (political pressure), an app that allowed a mute 4-year-old girl to communicate with her parents (patents!)
Now, Apple has pulled apps related to the 500px photography network, citing the "easy" availability of nude photos. 500px was notified by Apple that its software update made it "too easy" to find nude images via the integrated search. Just as it has the whole time, the app defaults to a Safe Search mode that excludes nudity, and you have to log in on the desktop version to change that. But here's the thing: Flipboard integrates completely with 500px as well.