A large group of writers, including Stephen Fry, Jeffrey Archer, Katharine Norbury, Will Self, and others (include me!) have signed onto an open letter condemning a UK court decision that… Read the rest of the article: Writers condemn UK book censorship order

A great, full-body-squick-inducing article in National Geographic provides an overview of the current research on parasites that use a combination of techniques to control their hosts' behavior, making them sacrifice… Read the rest of the article: Mind-controlling parasites (and the parasites that infect them)

The two will read from their latest titles; tax-deductible admission is $20 ($10 under 15), with proceeds to the Locus Science Fiction Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Locus Magazine.

Dave writes, "A birdwatching group sent a letter to two federal cabinet ministers citing concerns over the effects of certain chemicals on the life of bees. Shortly thereafter, they received… Read the rest of the article: Canadian government threatens bird watchers for writing concerned letter about bee die-off

The man who kicked off Gamergate and the brutal harassment of untold women by posting a 9,000-word screed about his ex-girlfriend's sex-life says he'd do it again (can't make an… Read the rest of the article: Eron Gjoni, unrepentant jerk

Les Klinger's enormous volume has earned critical praise from Neil Gaiman, Gahan Wilson, Peter Straub and Harlan Ellison; the book is big enough to stun an (eldritch demon) ox, and… Read the rest of the article: Massive, tentacle-covered annotated works of HP Lovecraft

With Joe Haldeman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Pat Cadigan, Charlie Stross, David Brin and many more!

Circuit board green, cyber space orange, floppy yellow, graphic green, green.com, infra red, megabyte blue, megahertz maroon, on-line orange, plug & play pink, point & click green, transistor yellow, ultra… Read the rest of the article: The lost cyber-crayolas of the mid-1990s

The 4.0 version of the secure, anonymized, private browser disables SSL3 (in deference to the POODLE attack) and uses new transports that are intended to defeat the Great Firewall of… Read the rest of the article: Tor Browser goes 4.0

If your phone is designed to be secure against thieves, voyeurs, and hackers, it'll also stop spies and cops. So the FBI has demanded that device makers redesign their products… Read the rest of the article: FBI chief demands an end to cellphone security

John Frost writes, "It's been 46 years of happy haunts at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, an attraction both Cory and I share a certain affinity for; when the attraction first opened,… Read the rest of the article: Please, Disney: put back John's grandad's Haunted Mansion tombstone

Using some clever computing, Atockar took the NYC Taxicab Dataset and not only calculated the annual income of every hack in New York, but also figured out who goes to… Read the rest of the article: If you think you've anonymized a data set, you're probably wrong

The company expanded the "ex parte temporary restraining order" so it could stage one-sided, sealed proceedings to take away rival businesses' domains, sometimes knocking thousands of legit servers offline.

Back in August, I blogged the announcement of the forthcoming Discovering Scarfolk, a book-length adaptation of the brilliantly creepy Scarfolk Council blog, which chronicles the government publications of a English… Read the rest of the article: Scarfolk: creepy blog is now an amazing book

Maria writes, "Freedom and responsibility are considered two sides of the same coin at democratic schools, where students direct their own learning. Students are involved in hiring staff, deciding school… Read the rest of the article: Democratic schools: trusting kids to direct their own learning

Stock Android phones with the Darkmatter OS use encrypted storage, OS-level app controls, and secure messaging by default, but if the phone thinks it's under attack, it dismounts all the… Read the rest of the article: Darkmatter: a secure Paranoid Android version that hides from attackers

When some genius set up a 1960s non-directive chatbot psychotherapist to reply to #notyourshield tweets, hilarity ensued!

Designer Cristina Moraleja created these clever 2011 wedding invitations for her clients Lois and Cris.

Becky Stern's created a totally awesome "cyber tank girl" costume based on electronics components from Adafruit, centered around a flexible, LED-lit 3D printed bandoleer. I saw much of her costume… Read the rest of the article: HOWTO make a "cyber tank girl" Hallowe'en costume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBb5J2Qoytw Haphead, the wonderful science fiction webseries about gamer culture that I wrote about in March, is kickstarting a budget for kick-ass post-production. It's from Jim Munroe, who made Ghosts… Read the rest of the article: Kickstarting Haphead, a science fiction web series about gamer culture