Chronicles of Mario

On page four of a literary work is a reference to something that appears on “page five.” But the thing being referenced appears at the very top of page six. So I change the reference from “page five” to “page six.” All is good. But in so doing, because the word “six” is shorter than  [ Read More ]

Someone anonymously claims to have stolen Romney’s tax returns, sends data to Republican and Democratic leaders, and threatens to release the information publicly unless Romney pays $1 million. The U.S. Secret Service is looking into claims that this unknown person has hacked PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) to obtained the tax returns of the presidential nominee and the  [ Read More ]

The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) has been used in DC. Not familiar with CMAS? It is a private-public partnership between the federal government and commercial cell phone carriers to send text message style alerts with important notifications that is prioritized over normal voice and data services to people based on their location (as determined by what cell  [ Read More ]

Checked your Facebook profile lately? Facebook removed your email account and swapped in an @Facebook.com email account. Here’s how to quickly fix it: Click “About” on your profile and scroll down to your email address. Click “Edit” to change them. Click on the circle next to your Facebook email address and change its setting to  [ Read More ]

A new Louisiana law requires sex offenders and child predators to state their criminal status on their Facebook and other social networking page, with the law’s author saying the bill is the first of its kind in the nation. And thus another entry in the saga of absurd laws relating to technology. To cover themselves,  [ Read More ]

Note: This was co-authored by Sens. John D. Rockefeller IV, (D-W.Va.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). In February, these four senators jointly sponsored the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, a bill that has been in the works for more than three years. Every day, rival nations, criminal syndicates and maybe even  [ Read More ]

I get interviewed with my girlfriend, her mom, and her family friends on Bethesda Cares’s Red Parking Meters for the Homeless.

This is a pretty telling description of why PIPA/SOPA was going so smoothly through Congress. West-coast tech companies don’t really pay much attention to east-coast politics … unless it starts meddling in their business. I could understand their initial reaction — when I read these bills, I thought they’d be dead in the water because  [ Read More ]

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Why ask a bunch of “nerds” what the right thing to do is?

A social scientist’s dream is to be able to do experiments with policy. One of my personal favorite ideas has been to cut all entitlements for 12 months. Especially if done by a Democratic President during his second year in office, I imagine that there might be a dramatic change in electorate opinion. Republicans can tout  [ Read More ]