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.
3/25/16
TechNews for the week: March 25; March 23; March 21;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Deadly bombings rock Brussels airport, subway; Islamic State claims responsibility; The war against ISIS: What's changed for the terrorists; The Roots of Radicalism;
Despite potent attacks abroad, ISIS is in retreat in Syria, Iraq; U.S., allies target Islamic State in Syria, Iraq with 13 strikes; Iraqi forces launch campaign to retake Mosul;
Pentagon to increase US troop numbers in Iraq; senior ISIS leader killed; Turkish military strikes PKK in northern Iraq; Syrian army advances in Palmyra fighting;
Pentagon: al-Qaeda fighters killed in U.S. airstrike in Yemen;
ISIS propaganda video uses Trump's voice and photo;
UN approves blacklist of companies profiting from Israeli settlements; Sheldon Adelson is burnishing Donald Trump's image in Israel;
The Senate Defers Supreme Court choice to the N.R.A.; The lies Mitch McConnell tells;
Legal Challenges to Obama Health Law Could Cost Women;
'Ghost corporations' are helping to fund the 2016 election; Soros-linked Jewish PAC will intervene in Senate races for first time;
10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2016; GOP - and its big funders - rush to insulate Congress from Trump;
New Bill Would Eliminate Law Enforcement On Public Lands, Despite Risks Of Violent Extremism; Emails Show Federal Officials Knew Of Rashes In Flint In May 2014;
Blame government for voting crisis; How Republicans are gaming the voting system to tip the 2016 election in their favor;
Kansas GOP lawmakers cite rising frustration, even anger, with Brownback administration; What happened in Kansas when taxes were cut dramatically;
Kansas Senate approves GOP school funding plan;
Illinois Supreme Court strikes down Chicago pensions plan;
North Carolina passes bill blocking LGBT protections;
What Donald Trump gets wrong about China and US jobs;
Trump skeptical of NATO, U.S. military presence in Asia; reveals part of foreign-policy advisory team; Judge Asks US to Defend Secrecy of Trump Associate's History;
Supporters, protesters clash outside Trump rally in Utah; Trump, Clinton win delegate-rich Arizona, but falter in Utah, Idaho;
Sanders prods Israeli leaders in speech;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Report on NSA Overseas Spying and Executive Order 12333; Observations on the Surveillance that Resulted in the Capture of Salah Abdeslam;
U.S. charges Iran-linked hackers with targeting banks, N.Y. dam;
FBI may be able to unlock iPhone used in San Bernardino terrorist attack; Israeli Firm to Help; Researchers Find Flaw in Apple's iPhone Encryption;
Yahoo Partners With Google, Microsoft, Others To Publish New Email Security Standard; Switzerland's ProtonMail Delivers End-to-End Email Encryption;
Government-Backed Tor Project Supports the Strong Encryption DOJ Hates; iMessage Encryption Flaw Found and Fixed;
FBI Warns Drivers About Risks from Automobile Hacking; Report Shows Shipping Industry May Be At Risk Of Cybercrime;
Researchers: Wireless Mice Create Security Risk; Interesting Lottery Terminal Hack;
Math and science
One comet to swerve closer to Earth than any other comet in centuries; Current carbon release is unparalleled in 66 million years;
MIT Researchers Develop Autonomous Car System That Foregoes Traffic Lights; BASF Leads Pest Forecasting Science;
What Happens When a Piece of Paper Is Folded Seven Times Under a Hydraulic Press;
Sweating runners must check their salt intake;
Web and computing issues
A 5-second fix might make your Chrome browser much smoother;
Five excellent Windows defrag tools;
SC Politics
West Ashley Not Big on The Pig Proposal; Keep West Ashley Suburban;
Hollings Was Right About NAFTA;
Finance and Economics
Saudis to freeze oil output without Iran; China Is Getting Serious About Kicking Its Coal Addiction; France trims budget deficit but unemployment hits record;
The Reality Of How Terrorism Affects The Economy; Israel's desert city of Beersheba is turning into a cybertech oasis;
Bangladesh Bank Considers Suit Against N.Y. Fed Over Cyber Heist;
Banks Cutting Financing To Coal Industry; McConnell Tells Governors To Stop Working To Comply With Clean Power Plan;
Federal Study: Western Farms, Hydropower At Risk From Climate Change; IG Report: EPA Must Do More To Ensure Water Systems Stay In Compliance;
What Republicans did 15 years ago to help create Donald Trump today;
Supreme Court hears RJR Nabisco laundering claims;
Apprenticeships On The Rise As Industry Combats Skills Gap;
Should we fear a cashless world;
Other news
All the Things the Bible Wants to Execute You For;
John Oliver Aggressively Hammers Donald Trump Again;
10 Make-Ahead Breakfasts Under 300 Calories;
Does Engineering Education Breed Terrorists?
Education:
The Best College In Every State; ED Releases Report Listing Colleges With High Ratios Of Low-Income Graduates;
Graduation Rates for Black Students Aren't Increasing at Same Pace as for Other Students; Heavy Recruitment of Chinese Students Sows Discord on U.S. Campuses;
PreACT Test, to Help Students Prepare for ACT, Will Debut This Year ; Experimenting with Specifications Grading; The Math Mandarins;
There's More Than Protests to Blame for Mizzou's Enrollment Woes; Community Colleges Endorse Plan Sending UNC's Weakest Students to Them First;
After 3 Days of Talks, No Agreement on Rules to Protect Student Borrowers; More Former Corinthian Students Will Have Their Debt Forgiven;
Budget Crisis Ends in Pennsylvania, to the Relief of Public Colleges; California's 2-Year Colleges Explore a New Accreditation Model;
In Explaining Confederate Symbols, Colleges Struggle to Summarize History;
Coaches Must 'Step the Heck Out' of Sex-Assault Investigations of Players ;
3/18/16
TechNews for the week: March 18; March 16; March 14;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Islamic State has lost more than a fifth of its territory; IS group commander Shishani 'clinically dead'; To Maintain Supply of Sex Slaves, ISIS Pushes Birth Control;
Putin orders the start of Russian troops' pullout from Syria; Kurds announce federal region in northern Syria; Rouhani's Moment of Truth;
Israel expropriated West Bank land during end of Biden visit; Do Jewish Grandchildren Solve Trump's Israel Problem?
Saudi Arabia to scale down military operations in Yemen;
Angela Merkel refuses to abandon refugee policy despite election setbacks;
Brazil's Corruption Scandal Has It All;
Florida law suppresses anti-Israel campaigns; Orthodox Jews Set Sights on N.J. Town and Angry Residents Resist;
Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court;
Ryan confronts budget meltdown; Forget Trump: Here's Who's Really Destroying the Republican Party;
Redistricting or gerrymandering? N.C. dispute embodies national debate;
Louisiana budget cuts remain unclear as leaders calculate shortfall;
Citizens United decision effectively wiped out key campaign finance regulations;
Ohio Primary: Thousands switching party affiliation on eve of primary; Trump wins 3 GOP primaries; Kasich wins Ohio; Marco Rubio drops out;
Trump Blames CNN For Violence While Playing The Victim And Threatening More Violence; Trump warns of 'riots' if he's not the GOP nominee;
GOP official says Voters don't pick nominee; Fox's SLC GOP debate canceled after Trump and Kasich back out;
Ted Cruz And The Senate: Now We've Got Bad Blood; Ted Cruz on Trump's Supporters: Uninformed, Angry, 'Not That Engaged'; Cruz sternly rebuked by GOP colleagues;
How Trump struck a deal to profit off foreign labor;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
March Crypto-Gram, The FBI vs Apple, Strong Encryption, and more; New NIST Encryption Guidelines;
Cyberwar, out of the shadows ; Cybersecurity Analysts Blame Sophisticated Ransomware Attacks On Chinese Group; More Devices Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks;
Obama Urges Tech Industry to Cooperate on Encryption; Encryption fight puts Apple in a 'bizarre position'; US government pushed tech firms to hand over source code;
U.S. Considers Whether to Fight WhatsApp on Encryption;
Research Shows Common Origins For Several Android Malware Programs; Malicious Advertising Campaign Uses Expired Domain Names;
Analysis of Yemeni Cell Phone Metadata; Army Uses Crime-Reporting App to Fight Terrorism on Bases;
British Interior Minister Defends Internet 'Investigatory Powers Bill';
Research on Third-party punishment;
'Anonymous' Seek to 'Dismantle' Trump's Campaign;
Math and science
Egypt says scan of King Tut's burial tomb shows hidden rooms; Hiker Finds Rare Roman Coin That's Nearly 2,000 Years Old;
Bones found under a pub could forever change what we know about the Irish; Discovery of a horse-size dino could solve a T. rex mystery;
Astronomers discovered unexpected activity on a giant asteroid;
Bermuda Triangle "Mystery" Solved? Scientists Pinpoint Deep-Ocean Craters as Likely Cause;
Mathematicians shocked to find pattern in 'random' prime numbers;
UT Arlington Team Creates Synthetic Fuel Out Of CO2, Water;
Researchers Use 3D Bioprinters To Study Tissue Engineering; Harvard Engineers Developing 3-D Printing "Ink" To Replicate Living Material;
Student Develops App To Track Blood Samples;
Web and computing issues
Windows 10 tip: Reclaim precious disk space with these storage tools; Turning Off the New, Worse Twitter;
Where Computers Defeat Humans, and Where They Can't;
SC Politics
Former S.C. trooper pleads guilty to shooting unarmed driver;
Dark Money: Haley's Last Stand? Record Republican Primary Turnout can propel GOP takeover;
Finance and Economics
Fed leaves rates unchanged, lowers economic forecasts; Japanese Exports Down for Fifth Consecutive Month;
Interior Expected To Withdraw Plan For Drilling Permits On Atlantic Coast; US Opens Up New York Coast For Wind Development;
Natural Gas To Overtake Coal In US Power Sector; California Solar Plant May Be Shut Down, Producing Inadequate Electricity;
DOE Funding Massive Wind Turbine Blade Project;
Excessive Lead Levels In Nearly 2,000 Water Systems Nationwide;
Report: UAVs Only Pose Small Risk To Aircraft;
Sony Acquires Major Music Catalog for $750 Million;
Other news
The Obama Doctrine;
The career advice no one tells you;
Education:
Median Salaries of Senior College Administrators, 2015-16;
U.S. Colleges to Recruit More Students From Africa;
SIU predicts millions in cuts with no state budget; Eastern Illinois Lays Off 177 Employees as Budget Crisis Drags On;
Wisconsin's Tenure Battle Shifts to Campuses; Campus Free-Speech Bill Is Nixed After Author Says It Would Allow ISIS Recruiters;
Wealthy Black Students Have More Student Loan Debt Than White Counterparts; There's More Than Protests to Blame for Mizzou's Enrollment Woes;
Trial Questions Law Schools' Claims Of Jobs After Graduation; Study Finds Growing Debt-Related Stress Among Law Students;
Feds pull law firm from Corinthian Colleges assignment; In New Rule on Student-Loan Forgiveness, 2 Lawmakers Demand Fewer 'Hoops';
ED Considering Ban On College Mandatory Arbitration Clauses;
Hidden Scholarship: Achievements Academics Don't Report;
The Mental and Academic Costs of Campus Activism;
Tech May Streamline College Administrations, Not Just Classrooms;
As FCC Auction Looms, Colleges Consider the Value of Their Airwaves;
Scientific Publishing Disrupted? ASAPbio, Briefly Explained;
Disparities in Coaches' Academic Incentives Raise Concerns Over Gender Equity;
NFL official affirms link between football and brain disease; Berkeley Will Investigate Head Coach's Role in Reporting Alleged Harassment by Assistant;
3/11/16
TechNews for the week: March 11; March 9; March 7;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
It's Time to Seriously Consider Partitioning Syria; Leaked ISIS Documents Appear To Identify 22,000 Supporters; Over 50 killed in Tunisia border attack;
Iran's Hardliners Down But Not Out After Poll Defeat;
An Israeli leader wants to put Jerusalem's Arabs on the other side of new walls; About half of Israeli Jews want to expel Arabs;
There is no West Bank 'military occupation', it's just 'anti-terrorism cooperation'; What Palestinian-Israeli security cooperation;
Israel Is Building a Secret Tunnel-Destroying Weapon;
US Warns Saudi Arabia On Squeezing Lebanon Economy Over Growing Hezbollah Influence;
Pakistan PM visits Saudi Arabia amid debate over military ties;
Supreme Court blocks Louisiana enforcement of abortion clinic law; In Gay Marriage Legal Battle Alabama Supreme Court rejects the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage opinion;
Get Ready for Chaos: Ohio Republicans Can Vote Twice for President; The Right To Vote Just Got Terrible News From A Conservative Federal Appeals Court;
Senate GOP delays action on budget;
Special Tax Districts: a part of government you didn't even know existed;
D.C. police sometimes raid wrong homes on scant evidence, terrifying innocents;
Jindal left an economic disaster as he ran for president; Louisiana legislators look at another increase in sales taxes;
Louisiana Legislature approves 22-cent tax increase for cigarettes Sunday; Louisiana Will Tax Its Poor To Fill Budget Hole Caused By Tax Cuts For The Rich;
Kansas governor's warning on bond rating stalls Senate move;
West Virginia Overrides Governor's Veto To Pass Radical NRA-Backed Gun Law;
Seeds of GOP Splinter in Opposition to All Things Obama; How Dark Money Boomeranged on the GOP;
Trump to GOP: Unite behind me, or else; How Donald Trump broke Fox News' debate rules; Trump received tax credit for middle class taxpayers;
Racial tensions explode at Trump rallies; Trump challenged over ties to mob-linked gambler with ugly past; Ex-Wife: Donald Trump Made Me Feel 'Violated' During Sex;
Cruz's Unwavering Extremist Agenda;
Sanders's strategy focuses on whiter states; Koch-backed group praises Bernie Sanders;
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
Snowden disputes FBI's claim about unlockable iPhone; DOJ: Apple's Arguments In Encryption Dispute Are A "Diversion";
Fighting an invisible war -- in cyberspace; U.S. Plans to Blame Iran for Cyber Attack on N.Y. Dam;
Amazon to Restore Encryption Option for Fire Tablets;
Ransomware is the hot hacking trend of 2016; First Ransomware Targeting Mac Users; Critical flaw affecting every version of Windows;
Interesting Research on the Economics of Privacy; Frequent Password Changes May Not Improve Cybersecurity;
Hidden Credit Card Skimmers;
Math and science
Arctic Ice Continues To Melt At An "Unprecedented" Rate;
Area 6 Is Secret US Drone Testing Ground.; Pentagon Tests Secret Micro-Drones;
A Major Miss in Michigan Puts Polling Under the Microscope; Gamblers, judges and baseball umpires constantly make this dumb mistake;
Google computer beats world champion of Chinese board game Go;
DARPA Plans Neural Implant Project;
Web and computing issues
ICANN Submits Plan to End U.S. Oversight Role;
Election Tech: How campaigns win with big data;
Verizon Settles with FCC Over Use of 'Supercookies' in Ads;
FCC Drafts Privacy Rules for ISPs' Use of Customer Data; The FCC wants to keep your broadband provider's nose out of your online life;
Setting up Skype in Windows 10; How to Make a Pie Chart in Angular;
SC Politics
Games Being Played Over Scalia's Replacement;
Finance and Economics
Wall Street bonuses are down 9% to $146,200; Tell me again how Obamacare is a 'disaster';
Global Bank Regulators Consider Changes to Cover Cyber Attacks; Raytheon Faces $1 Billion Whistleblower Suit For Overbilling;
New Technology "Aimed At Heading Off Climate Change";
Solar Growth To More Than Double In 2016; Nationwide Debate Over Net Metering Threatens Future Of US Solar;
NRG Energy Completes Solar Farm In Southern California; New Mexico Could Benefit From Proactive Approach To Achieving Clean Power Plan Targets;
Kansas utility Seeks Residential, School Rate Hikes; Oklahoma Regulator Directs Reduction In Oil And Gas Waste From Well Operators;
Other news
Pat Conroy dies at 70;
The Leaders Who Influenced President Bill Clinton;
Education:
US Adults Trail Other Nations In Technological Problem Solving Skills; Study Finds US College Students Able To Manage Money;
The New SAT: What Students Said Right After Taking; Testing Companies Try to Balance Secrecy and Openness; Commentary: There's nothing wrong with grade inflation;
What Would Happen if North Carolina Sent Its Weakest Students to Community College First;
ED Pushing State Regulators To Crack Down On For-Profits; Federal Court Upholds Gainful-Employment Rule, Dealing For-Profit Group Another Loss;
160 Private Colleges Fail Education Dept.'s Financial-Responsibility Test; New Federal Rule Will Avert Deportation for Thousands of Students;
Senate Democrats: Students at For-Profits Need More Debt Protection; ED Orders Student Loan Servicers To Reimburse Military Borrowers;
Texas Governor Launches College Affordability, Workforce Task Force; Top Kansas GOP lawmakers pursue rival school funding plans;
How to Go Textbook Free; Texan who called Obama a gay prostitute may soon control what goes in textbooks;
Wisconsin Regents Approve New Layoff and Tenure Policies Over Faculty Objections;
Harvard Report Highlights Concerns About Exclusive All-Male Clubs; Berkeley Is Under Fire for How It Handled Sexual Harassment;
3/4/16
TechNews for the week: March 4; March 2; February 29;
War, Politics and Reports (Also, see Finance and Economics)
Cease-fire goes into effect in Syria; Syria's cease-fire frays as Russia resumes airstrikes; U.S. Snags Key ISIS Leader as Fight for Mosul Gets Underway;
Authorities Say Islamic State Group Sought Nuclear Material In Belgium; Hezbollah's Death Valley: a small enclave between Syria and Israel;
Saudi Arabia prepared for ground war in Syria; What the Israeli-Turkish reconciliation says about Gaza;
Iran's hard-liners handed embarrassing defeat in parliamentary elections; Reformers and moderates romp in Tehran as Iran election gauges popularity of nuclear deal;
Netanyahu and IDF Are Split on the Iran Nuclear Deal; Israel to launch one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world;
U.N. adopts sweeping new sanctions on North Korea;
Justice Department gives immunity to State Department staffer who set up Clinton email server;
Kansas tax collections nearly $54M below expectations in February; universities face millions in cuts; Kansas Senate bill seeks municipalities' traffic ticket revenues;
Kansas governor faces decisions on provisions in budget bill; Illinois Governor Blames House Speaker For University Funding Crisis;
More than half a million registered Texans don't have the right ID to vote on Super Tuesday;
3 winners and 2 losers from Thursday night's Fox News Republican debate;
Donald Trump refuses to disavow KKK support, then does; Trump plays the victim card against Hispanic judge; A trio of truthful attack ads about Trump University;
Why is Donald Trump threatening Amazon and Jeff Bezos; Cruz, Rubio and Romney demand Trump, NYT release off-the-record interview on immigration;
Why Trump's support among voters keeps expanding; The World According to Trump; Chris Christie is now ruined;
Romney calling Trump 'phony,' urging Republicans to shun him; CPAC says Trump drops out at 'last minute';
Math, science and technology:
Security issues
New York judge rules in favor of Apple in locked iPhone case; FBI Vs. Apple: Privacy Syllabus; Lots More Writing about the FBI vs. Apple;
Apple could lock down the iPhone to thwart government unlock orders; Industry Study Shows About Half Of Internet Traffic Is Encrypted;
IRS Review Shows 700,000 Taxpayers Affected by Cyber Attack; Company Tracks Iowa Caucusgoers by their Cell Phones;
'Fingerprint' security flaw ramps up malvertising campaigns; WikiLeaks Publishes NSA Target List;
Nothing Snowballs Online Like Fear; The Mathematics of Conspiracy;
Data Is a Toxic Asset; More on the "Data as Exhaust" Metaphor;
High-flying hack: Researcher shows how to seize control of a drone;
Math and science
Scientists Await Rare Birth of 'Baby Dragons' in Slovenian Cave;
Cornell Researchers Develop Artificial Glowing, Stretching Skin;
The cosmic hunt for Fast Radio Bursts;
Can Science's Reproducibility Crisis Be Reproduced?
Web and computing issues
How to prepare for your digital afterlife; How to share custom short URLs from your Android; How to blur objects in YouTube videos;
DIY drones: 10 kits to build your own;
SC Politics
Lessons from the GOP primary; South Carolina GOP voters reject their own leaders' call for inclusion; Chip Limehouse gets burned on the Confederate flag again;
The P&C's editorial board is cowardly at best, complicit at worst;
Finance and Economics
U.S. adds 242,000 jobs in February as unemployment holds at 4.9 percent; Saudi to seek foreign non-oil investors as crude slumps; China's Coming Ideological Wars;
Boeing Planning Layoffs For Aircraft Engineers; 7 Tech Jobs Hardest Hit By Layoffs In 2015;
Fracking Waste Could Still Be Shipped On Ohio River Despite Coast Guard Proposal Withdrawal; Oklahoma Officials Begin To Address Earthquakes Linked To Fracking;
Chief Justice Roberts Denies States' Effort To Block EPA Power Plant Limit;
Republican Report Says FCC Followed Obama on Net Neutrality;
Americans Increasingly Interested In Alternative Transit;
BASF Evaluating Rival Takeover Bid for DuPont;
Other news
Donald Trump embodies how great republics meet their end; It's Time to Abandon the Pursuit for Great Leaders;
Dick Cheney Story to Ruin Your Day;
Education:
10 Key Shifts in Higher Education; Why Do Colleges Still Use Grades? Should our kids have homework; 5 Reasons Kids should Not have Homework;
Community-College Advocate Urges 4-Year Colleges to Do More to Help Students Transfer; Charters' Social And Emotional Learning Linked To Better College Completion Rates;
As SAT enters a new era this week, students say the exam has improved;
College Board Bars Registrants Who Aren't Taking New SAT for 'Intended Purpose'; Theories Abound to Explain College Board's Abrupt Ban on Certain SAT Takers;
Ph.D.s Embrace Alternative Dissertations. The Job Market May Not; Study Shows Disparities In STEM Knowledge Begins Before Kindergarten;
2 Public Colleges in Illinois Announce Layoffs and Cuts; Moody's downgrades several Illinois universities; Budget Deficit Leads to 55 Layoffs at Illinois's John A. Logan College;
A Grim Budget Picture Means Even More Pain for Louisiana's Colleges; Kansas' Public Colleges to Lose $17 Million in State Funds Over Next 4 Months;
Report Raises New Concerns About Education Dept.'s Oversight of Loan Servicers;
Support Grows For Open-source Text Books To Save Students Money;
Controversial Oregon Police Chief Resigns Suddenly;
Ivy League football teams vote to quit tackling in practice to prevent injuries; Citing Budget Concerns, St. Cloud State Drops 6 Sports;
The Hottest Hire in Athletics: Learning Specialists;