NSA Dishonest With Its Secret-Court Overseer

Those interested in the ethics surrounding Snowden's disclosures regarding the NSA's surveillance program to the American public may be interested in another data point.  Recently-declassified judicial opinions show the NSA was repeatedly caught by federal judges misrepresenting what it was doing with its surveillance authority in its communications with the secret court charged with overseeing its actions.

World Votes On MSFT's Value Without Ballmer

I saw MSFT up over a buck on the ticker Friday when I dropped by to make a deposit, and I couldn't figure out why.  Then I saw that Steve Ballmer announced his retirement within a year.  The market's reaction to regime change in Redmond?  You be the judge:

Jim Butcher Update from Space City 2013

I've reviewed several of Jim Butcher's books with what may be all the apparent objectivity of a fawning fanboy (but really, they're great).  But this blog is about what's offered to consumers, and he consistently offers a solid product.  Of course the good news gets reported with the bad.

The current news? At Space City 2013, Jim Butcher confirmed that his September draft deadline for Skin Game will be met with a September-ish submission, making for a year-end or early 2014 publication date.  Also year-end?  The short-story from the point of view of Harry Dresden's apprentice Molly, excerpted here, will finally appear in print December 3, 2013 as part of the George R.R. Martin-edited anthology Dangerous Women.

Amanda Palmer Explains How To Address a Lazy and Obnoxious Press

The glorious thing about the freedom of the press in the age of the Internet is that anyone can take their story to the world.  Performing artist Amanda Palmer had choice words to say about the Daily Mail's decision to "review" her inadvertently exposed nipple after a performance at the Glastonbury Festival.  The Daily Mail said of a slipped bra that it evidenced she'd "made a boob of herself."  I don't think she'd have begrudged them their adolescent giggle if they'd also said something honest about her performance, but they couldn't be bothered to talk about the art from which she makes her living; they ignored it completely to insult and demean her with derogative commentary about her wardrobe problem.

So Amanda Palmer, wife of the celebrated author Neil Gaiman, wrote her own piece about the Daily Mail.

And she's surely right when she predicts they won't review that, either.