National Security Letters ruled unconstitutional

Thank fucking god.  These letters were the worst sort of intimidation and secret police bullshit that should never have happened in the US.  Sigh of relief goes here that ANY movement has been made on this.

The Good and Evil mix

I've been wanting to post about my old mix for years now and Soundcloud finally gave me a forum to make it available.  Although it draws from a variety of music styles, it has a distinctly electronic vibe, along with movie soundtracks, IDM, and ambient tracks.  I spent over a year making it and 3 more years trying to finish it in a satisfactory way.  Enjoy.

Disney Princesses vs. Miyazaki

This article puts words to something I've thought about many times: women defined by beauty and a man's love rather than having some kind of external identity.

Endless war

Some surprising actions by Rand Paul surrounding current military authority associated with the US War on Terror.

Firefox persona

I almost always setup one of the Firefox "skins" and then discard it after a few days because it's too distracting or too dull.  May have found one that works perfectly: Stormy Sunset.

Meteorite video

The British presenter is a dope, but the footage is incredible.  I never thought I'd see a meteor on film like that.

Antibiotic use in meat still increasing

Haven't heard anything good about factory farming in the last few years so this wasn't a surprise. The concern is that creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria hurts everyone.

The cat tells u what's up

Thanks cat.

(Note, this is a "GIF sound," which traditionally tends to fail after a few months.)

How to maintain privacy now

Although I wish the article would go into better detail, this article gives a good overview of many steps I would recommend.

Conservatism and why nothing's changed

Really enjoyed this David Frum article addressing the calls of "Socialism" that led up to (and ultimately didn't win) the recent American election.

Cloud storage Achilles Heel

Unfortunately, when you upload your information to a server outside of your computer, the US doesn't think you have any expectation of privacy.  Of course, you can encrypt that data, but it's still sad to see and something that's going to prevent widespread cloud service adoption.

Endorsement based on Climate Change

Really surprised by Bloomberg's endorsement.  I don't know that the recent hurricane was caused or worsened by global warming, but this could potentially be the biggest instance of a climate-based endorsement pushing a major election.  That could make it the most important news item all year.

Romney's Zombie advocacy

At first I thought "no way" and then Joss Whedon of all people said "way."

Again, not Microsoft

I had recently considered switching my email over to Microsoft's web email service ever since they updated their email client, added new features, and have a better overall privacy reputation than my Google service (including the Blogger service this is getting posted to).  Unfortunately, Microsoft backed off that policy today, to more or less match Google's.  Very unfortunate.