These pages are a modest attempt to provide up-to-date news that is relevant to the areas of mathematics, education, computer science or information technology. Reader should keep in mind that old links often disappear.
11/25/11
TechNews for the week: November 23; November 21;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Iraq oil: fools rush in ; U.S. commander predicts turbulence in Iraq; Maintaining a U.S. presence in Iraq; Hezbollah, Iran uncover CIA informants;
Egyptian Cabinet submits resignation, state television reports; Egypt’s generals to cede power early;
Protests expose Egyptian military's used to immunity; Thousands Fill Tahrir Square For Anti-Military Demonstration;
Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam captured; Yemen president of 33 years to quit amid uprising;
U.S. probing use of surveillance technology in Syria; Syria kills more civilian protesters;
Pakistan’s envoy to U.S. resigns amid scandal;
Burma pursued nuclear arms with N. Korea;
Occupy Wall Street Message Resonates With Workers;
Supercommittee fails to reach agreement; Failure puts Bush tax cuts in spotlight; Congress may try blocking cuts; Why the supercommittee failed;
The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP; The GOP's Unwitting Tax Hikes;
Goldwater predicted in 1976 epic political and ideological battles over taxes and entitlement spending;
Congress: Trading stock on inside information? Dirty Politics And Big Money;
Excerpt: Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off of Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism;
Moderate Americans Elect group hoping to add third candidate to 2012 ballot;
Perry-backed judge proposes Latino districts, infuriates GOP; Gingrich calls for private retirement accounts;
Cain Clarifies on Libya, Says Al-Qaida, Taliban Part of New Government; Fears Doctors with Muslim-Sounding Names;
Obama paints Republicans as hypocritical on taxes; Democrats fight changes to proposed birth-control rule;
SC Governor has emails with staff deleted;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
U.S. probes cyber attack on Illinois water system; No proof found of cyberattack in Illinois; Water-pump failure wasn't cyberattack after all;
FBI declined to pursue NYC bomb plot;
Pentagon Says Military Action Is an Acceptable Response to Cyber-Attacks;
Senator Seeks Answers on X-Ray Body Scanners;
Android Malware on the rise;
Math and science
Forget 'six degrees'--we are actually closer;
Free Applied Cryptography Book;
Book: Math Girls;
Web design issues
Be more productive in Google Docs; 20 most useful Android smartphone apps;
Other news
Rush Limbaugh: First Lady Was Booed Partly Because Fans Hate Her ‘Uppityism’;
Finance and Economics
U.S. inequality debate only in the minds of the deniers; U.S. Billionaires Avoid Reporting Cash to IRS;
Margin Call: A Small Movie Unveils Big Truths About Wall Street;
Crisis-stricken Italy takes on tax evasion; European Stcks and Euro decline on Portugal downgrade; EU plans Rating Agency Crackdown;
New Payment System Sidesteps Credit Cards;
Education:
Colleges' Data on Student Learning Remain Largely Inaccessible;
What Law Firms Teach (and Law Schools Don’t): How to Be a Lawyer; Colleges Map an Online Future for Foreign-Language Instruction;
A Plea to College Presidents: Exercise Your Moral Leadership; CA college president vows pepper spraying probe;
Tired Students Skip Sleep for Texting; Gingrich says Put Poor Students to Work;
State Auditor, College Board Investigate U. of Southern Mississippi Over Tablets;
U. of Maryland Will Cut 8 Sports to Close Budget Gap;
Paterno Clashed With Penn State Official Over Discipline for Football Players; Penn State Could Be Forced to Open Records;
11/18/11
TechNews for the week: November 18; November 16; November 14;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Karzai sets terms for partnership with U.S.; In Pakistan, a deep civil-military divide;
Syria suspended from Arab League; King of Jordan Calls for Syria’s Leader to Step Down;
Israel will retain Palestinian funds;
Pentagon: Cyber offense part of U.S. strategy; Troops feel more pity than respect;
Economist Monti to quickly form new Italian govt;
Wall street movement is made for the media; Police to Occupy Cal protester, after cracking his rib with baton blow: "You have no rights";
Obama administration to announce effort to expand health-care workforce; Most Americans do not want health law repeal;
House rejects balanced budget proposal; Congress set to declare pizza and french fries as vegetables;
Deficit gridlock looms, supercommittee deadlocked; A second look at war savings and debt reduction ; Credit-rating agencies draw scrutiny;
Fact checking the CNBC debate; Candidates Misfires on Iran, China in GOP debate; SC Debate: The Ultimate Waterboarding Championship;
Perry issues plan to ‘uproot’ government, make Congress part-time; Cain caught on camera joking about Anita Hill;
Past gubernatorial staff call Mitt Romney computer buybacks ‘unprecedented’;
Gingrich Paid At Least $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac; found gold in health issues; Defends Shifting Statements on Climate Change;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Crypto-Gram November Newsletter, Advanced Persistent Threat, ATM Theft Tactic, and more;
Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners Used at U.S. Airports; TSA Puts Off Safety Study of X-ray Body Scanners;
Map shows nuclear material spread across United States;
Iran Admits Computer Virus at Nuclear Sites;
Remotely Opening Prison Doors;
Detecting Psychopaths by their Speech Patterns; A Link between Altruism and Fairness;
Math and science
Discovery could rewrite the laws of physics; Reclocked CERN neutrinos still break the speed limit;
Extra Giant Planet May Have Dwelled in Our Solar System; NASA time-lapse of Earth;
Aging Brains Use Extra Regions to Shore Up Eroding Abilities;
Why no two snowflakes are the same ; Science panel: Get ready for extreme weather;
Web design issues
Five top alternatives to Microsoft Outlook; 20 most useful iPad apps; How to change your Facebook password;
Facebook Porn and Gore Exploit Spiraling Out Of Control;
Other news
Why the 'broken web' should stay broken;
The 10 best Android smartphones;
Finance and Economics
Government Blameless in Bubble/Bust/Bailouts? Some U.S. states raise taxes for poor, cut taxes for others; Why Iceland Should Be in the News But Is Not;
Does government regulation really kill jobs? Economists say overall effect minimal;
HCL Exec says Indian Outsourcing Model 'Over'; Foreigners Don't Take IT Jobs, They Create Them;
Top Internet Companies Oppose Online Piracy Bill; SOPA: 5 Key Provisions Of Anti-Piracy Bill;
Education:
Report: Bachelor's Degree Is Still Best Path to Middle-Class Jobs and Earnings; Do Too Many or Too Few People Get Degrees? New Evidence;
Engineering Majors Hit the Books More Than Business Majors Do; Grades: What Are They Good For? Liberal-Arts Colleges Alumni See Value in Their Degrees;
U. of Texas Says Faculty at Flagship Bring In Twice as Much Money as They Cost;
Chinese Students Enroll In Record Numbers At US Universities, Colleges;
Moody's May Downgrade Penn State's Credit Rating in Wake of Scandal;
A Look at Education Tax Benefits by Income; Overpayments on Pell Grants Have Dropped by Millions of Dollars;
In wake of Penn State, another college reveals abuse probe; Citadel Says It Investigated but Did Not Report on Alleged Sex Incident in 2002;
Sex Abuse Allegation at the Citadel; Haley calls Citadel response to ReVille complaint 'unacceptable';
Ex-Student Accuses UC-Davis of Ignoring Hazing and Sex Abuse;
University Asks FBI to Probe Grade-Altering;
Georgia Tech Wipes Class Wikis From Web;
Football Coaches’ Pay Averaged $1.5-Million in 2011; Division I Football Coaches salary database, 2006-2011;
Commentary: It’s Time to End Intercollegiate Sports; More About Why Intercollegiate Sports Should Be Abolished; Arkansas’s Enacts New Law on Sports Agents;
NCAA Opens Investigation of Penn State; Penn State’s Faculty Senate Calls for Independent Investigation of Scandal; Joe Paterno's Curious Real Estate Move;
Syracuse Associate Head Basketball Coach, Facing Child-Molestation Allegations, Is Put On Leave;
Ex-Fiesta Bowl COO indicted by federal grand jury for filing false income tax returns for game;
Facing Budget Shortfalls, Officials Urge U. of Maryland to Drop 8 Sports ; West Virginia Tech’s Football Program Is Eliminated;
11/11/11
TechNews for the week: November 9; November 7;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
U.S. troops leave border base to Afghans; Warring factions divide Yemen’s capital;
Pentagon officials talk new threats to garner support for increasing their budgets;
In Athens, Greeks’ frustration festers ; Italy government borrowing rates hit euro-era high; Italian PM agrees to resign after passage of economic reform bill;
Analysts say Heavy-handed pressure on Italy, Greece may yield little; France shocked by S&P downgrade error;
The wrong model for China;
Public-sector cuts drag down job growth ; Report: Federal pay gap is widening ; Most of the unemployed no longer receive benefits;
Federal Appeals court upholds Health-care law; Census Bureau’s new measurement pushes the U.S. poverty parameter;
Ohio Voters Reject Law to Curtail Public-College Faculty Bargaining Rights; Anti-abortion ‘personhood’ amendment fails in Mississippi;
Perry makes light of gaffe, vows not to quit; Perry: Bad. Cain? Worse. Another night at the circus with the GOP;
Romney appears to shift position on euro zone crisis;
Oakland Police Clash With Fringe Protesters; Occupy protestors interrupt Michele Bachmann speech in South Carolina;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Ex-General Says U.S. Should Discuss Cyber Weapons; Supreme Court invokes '1984' fears with GPS car tracking;
Did Anonymous Crash Israeli Government Websites?
Anyone with a Smart Cover Can Break into Your iPad 2;
Math and science
Math Monday: Columnar transposition ciphers and permutations; New Discoveries About Knots Boost Mathematicians' Case for Studying Them;
Is math too hard? Or just not interesting enough?; How To Fix Math Education in High School and College; mathemagics skills at TED;
Web design issues
Google+ rolls out brand pages;
Flash is dead. Long live HTML5; Will this kill educational content?
Making the Most of iAnnotate on the iPad;
How to enable iOS 5's hidden panorama camera;
Seven useful Windows 7 tips and tricks;
Other news
Economy, lack of engineers could hinder U.S. innovation;
Rep. Joe Walsh defends market place-problem is government making rules;
Reviving the military’s golden age of leadership development; How To Get One Version Of The Truth;
Finance and Economics
Steven Pearlstein: You bet it’s another bubble; What caused the financial crisis? The Big Lie goes viral;
Venture capitalists, trying to curb health-care costs; New proposed formula would reduce Social Security increases;
‘Aftershock’ Book Predicts Economic Disaster Amid Controversy; U.S. wealth gap between young and old is widest ever;
Wall Street’s resurgent prosperity; Local TV stations rake in money from political ads;
Senate Fails to overturn Net Neutrality Rules; UCLA Engineering Professor Discusses Impact Of New Patent Law On Universities;
East Texas should think about tar sands’ impact; State Department mulls new route for Canada oil pipeline;
Education:
Universities Try To Figure How To Lower The Attrition Rate Of Engineering Majors;
To get More Scientists and Mathematicians Close the Gender Gap; Around the World Gender Gaps in Higher Ed;
The 10 college majors with the lowest unemployment rates; Poll: Young Adults See Student Debt as Growing Unmanageable;
Endowments Returned 19.8% Last Year but Have Yet to Recover From 2008 Crisis;
Audit: Naval Academy Wasted $3.5-Million on Recruiting Ads;
Consumer culture in college: Pay Attention in Class;
The Citadel Won’t Give Details of Youth’s Complaint About Incident at Its Summer Camp;
Software Catches (and Also Helps) Young Plagiarists;
Penn State trustees oust football coach Joe Paterno, president Graham Spanier; Penn State Scandal, a 'Cautionary Tale,' Could Trigger NCAA Sanctions;
Penn State Promises Full Investigation of Scandal and the Dark Side of Loyalty; The Stench From Penn State Permeates Big-Time College Sports;
OSU self-imposes reduction of 5 scholarships; NCAA alleges 'failure to monitor';
U. of Central Florida AD Resigns in Wake of Recruiting Violations;
U. of Missouri to Join the Southeastern Conference;
Study: White Males Still Hold Most of College Sports’ Leadership Positions;
11/4/11
TechNews for the week: November 4; November 2; October 31;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Officials say U.S. warned about Afghan prison abuse; U.S. revises its strategy for ending the Afghan war;
Sectarian violence kills dozens in Syria;
In Israel, speculation grows about Iran strike; US admits flying drones out of Ethiopia;
An all-volunteer military poses challenges for U.S.; Many soldiers not fit for combat for medical, other reasons; Joint Chiefs warn of proposed budget cuts;
Greek vote on debt deal puts plans in doubt; Greek lawmakers break with Papandreou over bailout referendum; On Greek debt, lessons from South America;
PM scraps referendum on Greek debt plan; Greek Prime Minister's government survives confidence vote;
The debt fallout: How Social Security went ‘cash negative’ earlier than expected; Article Repeatedly Misleads On Social Security;
Reports: Richest members of Congress get richer; and Thirty companies paid no U.S. income tax 2008-2010;
GOP hopefuls’ tax plans don’t give average Americans anything to be happy about;
Health insurer profits at issue in Maine lawsuit; U.S. challenges South Carolina immigration law; Judges Are for Sale -- and Special Interests Are Buying;
Tax The Poor: Forget Occupy Wall Street, Conservatives Have A Different Idea ;
Cain's Conflicting Statements on Sexual Harassment Allegation Create More Questions; Rick Perry backs off threat to skip future 2012 debates;
Senate GOP blocks Obama infrastructure plan; House Democrats say GOP wants too many days off;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Full Extent of the Attack that Compromised RSA in March; Report Outlines Risks of ‘Economic Secrets’ Online; Journal Article on Cyberwar;
Captcha security not much of a gotcha; Were Your IDs, Passwords Stolen? Check PwnedList;
Cell Phone Surveillance System; Weaponized UAV Drones in the Hands of Local Police;
Microsoft admits Hackers Exploiting Windows Bug;
‘Anonymous’ Hackers Threaten Mexican Crime Group;
Math and science
China Has Homemade Supercomputer Gain;
The #1 way to lie with statistics is . . . to just lie!
Web design issues
2 Reasons Videoconferencing Remains A Niche;
How to know who is tracking your Web activities;
How to organize website content for easy navigation;
Cerf, Dyson Voice Concerns About Domain Expansion;
Other news
A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs;
Top 10 Reasons We’re Angry at the Poor;
U.K., U.S. Reject Calls for More Internet Controls; Unrest Not Cause for Net Censorship;
Ad for gun training bars Muslims and Obama voters;
Finance and Economics
Economy adds 80K jobs in Oct.; unemployment dips to 9%; Research Desk: Did the top 1 percent inherit its wealth?
Americans 'Hooked on Government' as Record Number Get Benefits;
Fox's The Five Characterizes Increase In Income Inequality As A Positive; Downplays Huge Profits Of Big Oil;
Bank of America abandons plan to charge $5 debit card fee;
Judge dismisses SEC charges against two former State Street executives;
Senate passes $182B spending bill; House Approves Ban on New Wireless Taxes; Copyright bill controversy grows as rhetoric sharpens;
Occupy Wall Street A Threat To Outsourcing?
Education:
Is college still worth it? Report: Class of 2010 Graduates Took Out an Average of $25,250 in Loans;
Defense Dept. Delays Action on Plan to Cut Military Tuition Benefit; Senate Committee Reported Incorrect Data on For-Profit Veterans' Education Benefits;
American colleges find the Chinese student boon a tricky fit;
Study Finds Freshman 15 to Be a Myth; Mortality of College Students Varies From What Was Predicted;
Discussion of Leadership on TED;
US Students Show Limited Gains On NAEP Math; Bill Would Require Schools To Make Computer Science Part Of Core Curriculum;
Austerity budgets, fiscal squeezes, and territorial obligations: the end of an era?
U. of Texas Regents Invest in Company With Ties to Ex-Chancellor; Court rules Ohio State U. Must Pay Taxes on Property It Rents Out;
4 States Put Questions About Higher-Education Financing and Labor Rights to Voters This Fall; Coloradans Vote Heavily Against a Tax Increase;
Higher-Education Disclosure, in Theory and Practice; Disclosure Requirements for Colleges Are Often Ignored or Just Loosely Followed;
Integrating a Digital Project Into a Class, Part 2—An Update; iPads, Not Android Tablets Being Deployed in U.S. Schools;
Students need lessons on where to find their facts; Video Games Helps Children With Creativity;
NCAA athletes deserve respect more than money; Is ESPN Driving Conference Realignment? Opinion: BCS represents college football’s ongoing scandal;