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07 Feb 2012 16:32

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U.S.: Bashar al-Assad knows a thing or two about easy-to-remember passwords

  • 12345 Assad’s password; go check his e-mail source
  • » The second-most-common password online: Anonymous had an easy time hacking the Syrian president’s e-mail Monday, finding that the password was as easy as QWERTY (except one line up on the keyboard). Many of the 78 accounts at the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs had this porous password. Among the finds? An e-mail prepping Assad for his interview with Barbara Walters, where he infamously denied involvement in the killing of his own citizens. Read more about the incident over at Haaretz. (ht Mashable)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:59

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U.S.: South Carolina AG sues Justice Department over voter ID law

  • then The U.S. Justice Department blocked enforcement of a new law in South Carolina, which would have required government issued photo identification in order to vote at one’s polling place; Justice says the law would have inordinately disenfranchised minority voters.
  • now The attorney general of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, has sued the Justice Department, hoping to get it overturned. The Republican Party has supported the law as anti-voter fraud, with many Democrats opposed, saying it amounts to voter suppression. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 14:55

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U.S.: CDC: majority of Americans’ salt comes from bread

  • Too much salted dough? A report by the Center for Disease Control claims the majority of salt in the American diet comes from bread consumption. You might find this surprising, especially considering evidently high-salt items like potato chips rank far lower on the list (tenth, in fact). The CDC attributes this to people’s willingness to overindulge in those sorts of foods, which despite a lower salt content in general can smuggle a high sodium total into the body. Salt intake for an otherwise healthy adult is advised at no more than 2,300 milligrams per day, but the average American consumes 1000 milligrams more than that. (Photo by Charles Haynes) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 01:35

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U.S.: Earthquake drills: Millions remember New Madrid by hiding under desks

  • 2.2 million people in eight states to participate in a “ShakeOut” source
  • » Get ready Tuesday morning: In honor of Missouri’s earthquake awareness month and timed in honor of the New Madrid Earthquake, millions will take part in a giant earthquake drill that starts at 10:15 CST. Will you take part? You never know when another earthquake might hit.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 01:22

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U.S.: The day the Plains shook: The New Madrid Earthquake, 200 years later

  • Set your watches: At 3:45 a.m. CST, it will have been 200 years since the strongest earthquake Middle America has ever seen. One of four major earthquakes from the 1811-1812 era, the New Madrid Earthquake (which averaged about 7.8 in magnitude) was felt hundreds of miles away and was so powerful that it destroyed the Missouri town that gives it its name. But could it happen again? Experts say it’s likely, and the damage could be far worse. “If another quake of the magnitude of the New Madrid Quake of 1811 should hit the region, it would be the worst natural disaster in American history,” Arkansas state auditor Charlie Daniels wrote in the 1990s. “Almost all of downtown Memphis would fall.” Is that enough to fret over, though? (Photo: 1904 photo of an earthquake fissure filled with intruded sand in Mississippi County, Missouri, originally created during the New Madrid Earthquake. Photo via USGS; see more photos here.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Feb 2012 23:46

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U.S.: Former White House intern’s book claims to expose Kennedy sex scandal

  • An 18-month affair: A former intern for the Kennedy administration plans to release a tell-all book titled “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath.” Starting when she was 19, Mimi Alford worked at the White House and claims to have had an 18-month affair with President Kennedy. Alford, who says she lost her virginity to the president, claimed that the president overpowered her, but he did so using his charm, not physically, “because I really think I was willing to do it.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Feb 2012 20:03

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U.S.: Amid molestation scandals, parents keep Miramonte Elementary students home

  • 73% of Miramonte students showed up Monday source
  • » And parents were protesting outside: Roughly three dozen parents and supporters protested outside the L.A.-area school Monday, which has been rocked by two shocking but unrelated allegations of sexual molestation. The first case, involving a former teacher accused of doing unspeakable things to his students (note: trigger warning), was shocking enough; the second case, involving a teacher active until last week, only worsened things, as the allegations against him came out only as a result of the first case. The initial allegations did not lead to parents keeping their children home en masse (as the school had over 90 percent attendance throughout last week), but the second case, however, did. Low attendance hurts the school’s funding, so this hurt financially, but the school will also close Tuesday and Wednesday for emergency staff meetings, so the pain could go even deeper for the school. And things might go deeper: A third allegation at a different school in the region led to the arrest of a janitor.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

06 Feb 2012 10:16

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U.S.: Georgia court strikes down assisted suicide law on free-speech grounds

  • The State has failed to provide any explanation or evidence as to why a public advertisement or offer to assist in an otherwise legal activity is sufficiently problematic to justify an intrusion on protected speech rights.
  • The Georgia Supreme Court • In a unanimous ruling on a 1994 assisted suicide law that said two things — one, it didn’t fully make assisted suicides illegal, and two, it blocked legal forms of free speech, meaning that the law ran smack-first into the First Amendment. As a result of the incident, members of the Final Exit Network, who were facing charges over allegedly helping a cancer-stricken man die, won’t face trial for the incident. The 1994 law, passed in the wake of Jack Kevorkian, made it a felony for anyone who “publicly advertises, offers or holds himself or herself out as offering that he or she will intentionally and actively assist another person in the commission of suicide and commits any overt act to further that purpose.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2012 11:01

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U.S.: Missing mushroom pickers found alive after six-day ordeal

  • They just got turned around. They sought some shelter in a hollowed-out tree and basically they stayed in the same place. But it was heavy vegetation where they were.
  • Curry County, Ore. Sheriff John Bishop • Discussing the disappearance and later recovery of a family of mushroom pickers who spent six days lost in an an Oregon forest. Considering their situation — lost in a forest in freezing temperatures for roughly six days — the three family members (husband and wife Belinda and Daniel Conne and son Michael) came out of the situation relatively unscathed, with the three suffering only minor injuries. It helped that they largely stayed in the same spot. While the trio could see the helicopters circling them overhead, they had no way of sending them a signal informing them of their presence, slowing things down. The trio were lucky — former CNet editor James Kim died under similar circumstances five years ago. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2012 16:31

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U.S.: Second teacher accused of molestation at Los Angeles-area school

  • Monday Los Angeles’ Miramonte Elementary School was cast under a pall after unspeakable allegations against one of its third-grade teachers, Mark Berndt, surfaced. We covered the allegations over here. (Note: Trigger warning.) Let’s just say it’s not pretty, and was so bad that his $2.3 million bail was increased tenfold later in the week.
  • Thursday Another student, inspired by the arrest of Berndt, came forward in regards to another teacher at the school. The teacher has been removed from their duties while the investigation continues. Also, word that Berdnt was investigated for molestation in 1994 has surfaced, leading to much anger at the school district. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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