| House-Price Expectations, Alternative Mortage Products, and Default Posted: 30 Sep 2013 02:00 AM PDT |
| Government Blurs the Lines Between Bad Guys and Average Americans Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:30 PM PDT Does the Government Only Label Bad Guys As Terrorists? Preface: Whether you believe this is a conspiracy by the government – or just over-reaction, incompetence or cronyism – the end result is idiotic … and counter-productive. Former NSA boss Michael Hayden compared privacy advocates to terrorists: "If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?" said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to "nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years". "They may want to come after the US government, but frankly, you know, the dot-mil stuff is about the hardest target in the United States," Hayden said, using a shorthand for US military networks. "So if they can't create great harm to dot-mil, who are they going after? Who for them are the World Trade Centers? The World Trade Centers, as they were for al-Qaida." Hayden provided his speculation during a speech on cybersecurity to a Washington group, the Bipartisan Policy Center, in which he confessed to being deliberately provocative.
Similarly, Slate reported last year: If you've ever cared about privacy while using the Internet in public, you might be a terrorist. At least that's the message from the FBI and Justice Department's Communities Against Terrorism initiative. The project created flyers to help employees at several types of businesses—including military surplus stores, financial institutions, and even tattoo shops—recognize "warning signs" of terrorism or extremism. An admirable goal, perhaps, but the execution is flawed—particularly for the flyers intended to help suss out terrorists using Internet cafes. The flyers haven't been publicly available online, but Public Intelligence, a project promoting the right to access information, collected 25 documents that it found elsewhere on the Web. As Public Intelligence puts it, "Do you like online privacy? You may be a terrorist." Complaining about the taste of your tap water could also get you labeled as a potential terrorist. Having "strange odors" or "bright colored stains on clothes" (what if you eat mustard or ketchup?) could get you labeled as a potential terrorist. Complaining about U.S. drone assassinations could get you labeled a terrorist. So could expressing fears of big brother or of economic collapse … or otherwise believing that we're in a crisis. (Irony alert: if you're afraid of the government, the government might go after you?) Indeed, any American could be labeled as a potential terrorist by our government on a whim. For example, the following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a "suspected terrorist" today: And holding the following beliefs may also be considered grounds for suspected terrorism: In other words, the "terrorism" label has become so ridiculously broad as to lose all meaning … and some government officials are simply using it to harass anyone they wish to punish.  |
| Time to Tame the NSA Posted: 29 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Word: “We have learned that in pursuit of its bureaucratic mission to obtain signals intelligence in a pervasively networked world, the NSA has mounted a systematic campaign against the foundations of American power: constitutional checks and balances, technological leadership, and market entrepreneurship. The NSA scandal is no longer about privacy, or a particular violation of constitutional or legislative obligations. The American body politic is suffering a severe case of auto-immune disease: our defense system is attacking other critical systems of our body.” - Yochai Benkler, law professor and director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, The Guardian.
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| First 60 Seconds of Your Presentation Posted: 29 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT You have 60 seconds to win over your audience. Here’s how. by Bruce Kasanoff on Sep 18, 2013  |
| The Rise & Fall of Blackberry Posted: 29 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT Click for ginormous graphic
Source: NYT  |
| 10 Sunday Reads Posted: 29 Sep 2013 04:30 AM PDT Tday is Sunday. Here is what I am reading: • Byron Wien is Wary of Market’s Optimism (Barron’s) but see 19 charts that will restore your faith in the global economy (Quartz)
• How to Turn a 3% Return Into a 10% Gain (Morningstar)
• Special Report: Pimco shook hands with the Fed – and made a killing (Reuters)
• The importance of rebalancing (CBS News) see also Frequency of Rebalancing: Why it matters (and why it doesn't) (The Reformed Broker)
• Social Media? Keep Your Trades To Yourself (The Kirk Report)
• Toyota Camry's Run as No. 1 U.S. Sedan May End Next Year
(Bloomberg)
• The Wall Street Protection Racket: Pay the Government Fines, and Bankers Don’t Get Prosecuted (Buzz Flash)
• Republican hard-liners block strategy to avoid federal government shutdown (Washington Post)
• The Monkey Business of Pure Altruism (WSJ)
• Google turns 15: Here are 10 milestones that have shaped its search program (The Next Web) see also Google Alters Search to Handle More Complex Queries (Bits)
Whats for brunch? Delveraging
Source: Washington Post  |
| Ferrari 458 Speciale Revealed Posted: 29 Sep 2013 03:00 AM PDT 
Details: • 4.5-litre V8 engine has been fettled from 562bhp to 597bhp – a 35bhp increase
• 1,290kg dry weight – 90kg less than standard
• Ferrari claims the 0-62mph time drops to 3.0 seconds
• 0-124mph is now just 9.1 seconds
• 1.5 seconds quicker than the once benchmark Enzo
• £210,000 ($327k)
Source: Forty One Six  |
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