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.
10/26/12
TechNews for the week: October 26; October 24; October 22;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Rapid expansion of U.S.-trained Afghan security force comes at a cost; Secret ops expand at U.S. base;
U.S.: Evidence doesn’t show planning in Libyan attack;
China’s other transition: Military to be led by new generation; Europe’s far-right groups;
Misleading voter ID ads create confusion in Pennsylvania ; Groups worry about possible Romney link to Ohio county voting machines;
E-voting puts vote accuracy at risk in four key states;
106 Counties may decide Presidental race;
Romney’s ‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt’ op-ed jumps to top of NYT’s ‘Most Viewed’ list; What Romney’s moderation conceals;
Mitt Romney’s tax increase on poor Americans; Romney’s George W. Bush problem; Romney's In-Law Problem;
Indiana GOP SDenate candidate: God at Work When Rape Leads to Pregnancy;
Florida Republican Rep. David Rivera Charged In Ethics Probe;
Senators seek action on Volcker Rule;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
U.S. Voting System Has Improved Since 2000, but Problems Remain;
Five portable antivirus and antimalware tools to carry with you at all times; Antivirus Tool Fail: Blocking Success Varies By 58%;
Weaponizing Office Supplies;
The Risks of Trusting Experts;
Math and science
How the Moon Was Made;
London 3D printer show;
Mathematics and What It Means to Be Human, Part 3;
Web issues
XP To Windows 8? Why It's Best To Wait; Microsoft Surface: Cheat Sheet;
SC Politics
Foreign hacker steals 3.6 million Social Security numbers from state Department of Revenue;
Finance and Economics
U.S. economic growth improves to 2 percent rate; U.S. jobs or more outsourcing?
Obama, Romney offer no clear path on sequestration; Defense contractors gird for fiscal cliff;
Few college savings plans get top Morningstar honors; the complete rating list;
China’s grip on the world’s rare earth market may be slipping;
Other news
Celebrating the Woody Guthrie Centennial;
Cuban missile crisis still a teachable moment;
Education:
Sticker Prices Go Up at Public 4-Year Colleges, but at a Slower Pace; College Board: What Average Student Pays For College Is Increasing;
In Admissions, Many Shades of ‘Uncertainty’; Are Top-Performing but Low-Income Students Applying to the Right Colleges?
Proposal would tie funding for Georgia colleges to success, not enrollment; Roger Williams U. Plans to Freeze Tuition and Urge Marketable Minors;
Poor Endowment Results in 2012 Are Blamed on European Debt Crisis;
UVa’s Accreditor Says ‘Questions Remain’ About President’s Ouster; Court: California university must move to disclose venture returns;
Citing Fallout From Scandal, Moody’s Lowers Penn State’s Credit Rating;
Why Long Lectures Are Ineffective; OnPoint: iPads In The Classroom;
NCAA: Football and Men's Basketball Players' Graduation Rates Reach New Highs;
10/19/12
TechNews for the week: October 19; October 17; October 15;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Iran says it will cut imports of nonessential goods; Agency: Sanctions against Iran hurt oil exports; U.S. Drops Gaza Scholarship Program After Israeli Travel Ban;
Army retools training for new threats; Blowback to high-tech warfare;
Sarah Palin's email leads to Alaska high court ruling;
Judge Dismisses Suit: HHS Mandate No Threat to Religious Freedom;
Supreme Court denies Ohio request to curtail early voting; Four Ways Ohio and Others Have Toughened Voting Rules;
Leadership profiles of Romney; of Barack Obama;
A closer look at the first presidential debate; Focus on jobs as Obama, Romney meet in second debate;
Romney primary message shifts as election nears; Romney’s facts are curious things; goes from Etch a Sketch to sketchy; Romney tries to bury Obama in ads;
Analysis says GOP tax plan would only minimally reduce federal tax rates;
Koch Industries, other CEOs warn employees of layoffs if Obama is reelected; Romney Wants Small Business Owners To Tell Their Employees How They Should Vote;
Bill Graham Is No Longer Saying Mormonism Is a Cult For Some Reason;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Crypto-Gram October Newsletter, SHA-3, Master keys, and Password Cracking; Master Keys set available on eBay;
Congress Huawei claims more in fear than facts; Studying Zero-Day Attacks; Stoking Cyber Fears;
Election 2012: Could Hackers Change Results?
Islamist Hackers Blamed for Attack on BB&T Website;
Math and science
Moore's Law: The rule that really matters in tech;
Tiniest Alien Solar System Discovered: 5 Packed Planets;
Mathematics and What It Means to Be Human, Part 2;
Web issues
Keep your PCs clean with five portable antivirus and antimalware tools;
HTML5 video progresses with Real Time Communications;
SC Politics
Beach Co. sidestep resistance to Kiawah River Plantation development;
Harrell skips District 114 Forum;
Finance and Economics
Forget the fiscal cliff: U.S. has other possible economic threats looming; Economists argue about sequestration’s effect on jobs; Is $250K a middle-class income?
Will T-Mobile, MetroPCS and Sprint Deals Change the Industry?
Other news
On Court Order, Boy Scouts' Confidential 'Perversion Files' Go Public; The LA Times database; "Perversion files" show locals helped cover up;
Education:
Making Income-Based Repayment of Student Loans Cost-Effective; Loan-Repayment Plan Will Be 'Windfall' for Wealthy;
Franklin & Marshall Caps Loans for Middle-Income Students;
Maybe We Don't Need Military Academies;
The Rise of the Double Major; An Old-School Notion: Writing Required; A Tax for Higher Education;
Should High Schools Teach Big Data? 'Hackathon' Events Proliferate for Student Programmers;
Minnesota Gives Coursera the Boot, Citing a Decades-Old Law; San Jose State U. Says Replacing Live Lectures With Videos Increased Test Scores;
How to Reinvent College Sports;
Penn State Won't Renew Accused Athletic Director's Contract;
10/12/12
TechNews for the week: October 12; October 10;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Iran faces rising food prices, inflation; Shrill accusations, street protests prompt worries that Iran may curb IAEA access to nuclear facilities;
Iran aids Syrian surveillance of rebels; Amid unrest in Iran, Israel alters tone; Netanyahu calls for early elections in Israel;
WHY IT MATTERS: Issues at stake in election;
Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital;
Wealthiest members of Congress have prospered since recession; How The Post calculated congressional wealth;
Congress members back legislation that could benefit themselves, relatives;
Revenue At 30 Major Corporations Can Be Traced To Research Backed By Government;
House panel calls for block of U.S.-China telecom mergers;
Romney's scrubbing on foreign policy; Talking tough — without specifics — on the Middle East; talks tough on Syria but is fuzzy on getting the job done;
In appeal to swing voters, Romney offers a more centrist message;
Romney shifts to more moderate stances on taxes, immigration, health care, education; Republicans shift tone on taxing the rich;
Biden and Romney debate abortion and the role Catholicism plays in their positions; Ryan takes a new position on abortion;
Biden, Ryan duke it out in debate; dispute economic toll of raising the top tax rates;
Congressman calls evolution lie from 'pit of hell'; the released video;
Anti-choice Tea Party Congressman: My mistress wasn't pregnant when I insisted she have an abortion;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Lawmakers to U.S. companies: Don't buy Huawei, ZTE; Story of a CIA Burglar;
Ten simple, common-sense security tips; The Insecurity of Networks, in general; "Ask Nicely" Doesn't Work as a Security Mechanism;
Worm Spreading Through Skype Instant Messages;
Cyberattack on Mideast energy firms among worst yet; U.S. Bank Hacks Expand: Regions Financial Hit;
Math and science
Einstein's Letter Questioning God Goes Up for Auction; Hidden in Einstein's Math: Faster-than-Light Travel?
Mathematics and What It Means to Be Human, Part 1;
Web issues
Key Issues Involved in IPv6 Transition;
U.S. Says No Changes Needed on Internet Oversight;
Google rolls out 'biggest update ever' for Street View; Set up a Google Custom Search Engine for your website;
Is the computer mouse headed toward extinction?
SC Politics
Judges OK SC voter law, say it must wait to 2013;
Speaker Harrell’s diverse critics; Thurmond, Tinkler Senate race;
Pryor, Summey push %26 extension;
Citadel grad Arpaio sentenced in carjacking conspiracy;
Finance and Economics
Dodd-Frank opposition goes to courts; Insight into private-equity leaders;
BBC Pension Scheme hedges its liabilities as deficit swells;
Suit takes aim at Wells Fargo’s lending practices;
Philippines Supreme Court Suspends Internet Law;
Other news
Leading the Federal Election Commission;
Education:
Are Military Academies still needed?
The College Payoff: Economics ... and Then Some; Census Bureau Releases New Data on Career Earnings by Major;
Preliminary Data Show College Enrollment Dropped Last Year; How Falling State Support Affects Enrollment Management;
Benefits of Attending College Outpace Rising Costs; Survey: Heavily Indebted Student-Loan Borrowers Lacked Guidance;
UC Online Strives to Compete in an Era of Free Courses; New York U. Turns to Free Site to Help Teach Computer Programming;
Embattled Florida State College President Resigns; Conn. Higher-Education Leader, Facing Heat, Suspends Controversial Raises;
NCAA's Chief Policy Adviser to Step Down; Governing Boards Are Urged to Sharpen Their Oversight of Sports;
NCAA Bars 2 Texas Southern U. Teams From Postseason Play;
10/5/12
TechNews for the week: October 5; October 3; October 1;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Afghan troops get a lesson in American cultural ignorance;
Egypt, Yemen stand up to U.S. ideas of free speech; U.S. foreign aid under fire after attack on embassies;
Israel finance minister says Iran economy 'on verge of collapse'; Iran faces soaring food prices, rising inflation;
Turkey fires on Syria in response to shelling of Turkish town; Turkey authorizes military action in Syria;
Where did the mammoth US budget deficits come from? How Income Divides Democrats, Republicans, And Independents;
Many states not prepared for health-care law; On Health Care, Two Visions With Their Own Set of Facts;
Judge halts Pa.'s tough new voter ID requirement; Three views on whether states should require voter ID;
FBI Probing Rep. David Rivera's Involvement In Justin Sternad's Florida Congressional Primary Campaign;
Case against Florida congressman Rivera gets weirder; Rivera ran secret campaign, Sternad tells FBI;
Amid the debt crisis, Paul Ryan sat on the sidelines; Paul Ryan on tax plan: 'Too long to go through all the math’;
Romney Says He Would Not Deport Illegal Students Who Hold Special Permits;
Debate eve: Romney says he might cut deductions for home mortgage interest and health care costs; Romney goes on offense, forcing Obama to defend record;
Romney must convince voters that the man at the debate was the real him; Romney: ‘47 percent’ remarks were ‘completely wrong’;
Romney relentlessly eluded being pinned down by facts; Romney's Medicare plan raises cost questions; Romney attacked on Chinese investments;
6 takeaways from the second Brown-Warren debate;
Congress financial forms now online;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
2013 U.S. Homeland Security Budget; Post 9/11 DHS program produced little terror intelligence; Effort Named Citizens, Not Terrorists;
Bank Site Attacks Trigger Ongoing Outages, Customer Anger; Sophisticated Hackers Likely Behind Bank Attacks;
Google to Warn More Users of Possible Attacks; Scary Android Malware Story; Terrorism Tradecraft;
White House Computers Targeted by Attack;
Math and science
Google Maps First: Panoramic Underwater Images of World's Reefs;
Australians Surge In Quest For Quantum Computer;
MIT Scientists Examine Black Hole in Galaxy 50 Million Light Years Away; Why We Need a Supercomputer on the Moon;
Tracking the Debate on Twitter: Southern Cal Tool Mines Political Sentiments in Real Time;
Fracking blamed for series of odd quakes;
Web design issues
Five indispensable apps to carry on a USB stick; Five free Adobe Reader replacement PDF viewers;
Apps That Make iPhone a Networking Device; YouTube Revises System for Taking Down Videos;
Kevin Hoffman: Leading Productive Meetings;
SC Politics
Haley: too soon to decide on re-election bid;
Finance and Economics
U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September; unemployment rate drops to 7.8 percent; Microsoft Says 6,000 Jobs Open, Wants More Visas;
Who would be better for the markets, Obama or Romney? HUD chief: Hands off homeowners’ tax break;
Medicare to begin fines over hospitals' readmitted patients;
American Express agrees $113m settlement over deceptive practices;
Suit against JPMorgan alleges widespread mortgage fraud at Bear Stearns; JPMorgan suit heralds wave of US action;
Which ISPs are capping your broadband, and why?
Chinese wind farm group to sue Obama;
Other news
Along Virginia’s Route 15, the South’s cultural border displays a political divide;
He built that: The man behind the “MC ‘Bama” and “Real Mitt Romney” videos;
Israeli Universities and American Freedoms;
Boy Scouts to report pedophiles missed previously;
Education:
Public Colleges Pledge to Raise Number of Graduates, Seek Help in Doing So; Virginia Database Shows What Graduates of Specific College Programs Earned;
Cal Tech Tops World University Rankings; Report Reveals Engineering Skills Shortage In UK;
Report: Many Colleges’ Net-Price Calculators Are Still Hard to Use; Default Rate on Federal Student Loans Rises Again;
Number Of Students Enrolling In Advanced Placement Math, Science Increases;
John Wiley & Sons Buys Online-Learning Company Deltak for $220-Million;
A Cheating Heart: There Are Reasons, but No Excuses; Misconduct, Not Error, Found Behind Most Journal Retractions ;
How Does Football Success Affect Student Performance? Tutors Knew of Lifted Passages in U. North Carolina Athletes' Papers;
Citadel Associate AD pleads guilty to soliciting prostitution;