Big Unflattering Stories You May Not Have Heard

The US Helped Put Saddam In Power
Okay, this one isn't so much under reported as not remembered and not often brought up (seeing as we spent a lot of time and energy getting him out of power, bringing that up would do little for the cause)

The Anthrax Attacks of 2001 Were Probably Perpetrated by an American
Bruce Ivins was an American biodefense scientist who worked for the army. He died of an overdose in July of 2008 before standing trial for killing 5 people by sending them anthrax in the mail. Thats right. That was this guy.Really, kind of a sweet looking guy. Too bad he was basically the next Tylenol killer. On top of killing people and stirring up national panic, he helped create up the pro-war sentiment that ended up landing us in Iraq. Reason you may not have heard about it? Possibly national pride, probably not wanting to further upset the 65% of Americans who believe the war is no longer worth fighting.

The Internet Is Out of Control
The government can't stop hackers. Net neutrality is still an uphill battle. Property and copyright laws are so far behind many people see no other choice than to resort to pirating. For instance I can buy a movie legally on iTunes, but unless I want to watch it on my computer screen, I have to use open source software to (hypothetically) rip a bootleg copy that will work in my DVD player.

Traditional journalism has started to rely more heavily on the "blogosphere" where facts are often even more confused and exagerated than on the networks themselves. This is because it is faster, easier and cheaper than doing real investigative work. In addition, the government doesn't even ask for a warrent to spy on citizens using the internet. Take for example Magic Lantern, and Black Widow. Reasons you may not have heard about it? I'm not sure. It might be because it is scary. It might also be that the major media companies don't want to muck up a chance at controling the net when everything settles down, so they just arn't talking about it. Or maybe nobody cares but the nerds and the corporations.

Gulf War Syndrome is Real
In December 2008, a federal report finally confirmed that the illness really does exist. Symptoms include pain problems, neurological damage, and respiratory problems among others. For years, soldiers and veterans have been reporting the illness without verification from the larger community that it was real. Why have you probably not heard the story? It was the US government's fault (not a biological weapon as some had previously assumed). The syndrome is a side effect of a widely used pesticide meant to keep bugs off the troops and equipment.

Down the Rabbit Hole!

I know it is probably just corporate America taking advantage of my interest in mystery and danger in order to sell me some game or movie but...

HEY!

LOOK!

A new ARG!


(oh god, I'm Navi)

Head in the Clouds

Cloud computing is on the way! A (very) Brief definition: Cloud computing is where you use the internet to access your software and data which is stored somewhere else.

Pros:
Have everything everywhere
Save memory space
Computer death does not equal file loss

Cons:
You NEED the internet (some stuff can be backed up)
Somebody else can see your stuff
A lot of these applications and programs are new and not always reliable

Now you may think that the idea of all of your information being... somewhere else is a little scary, and it is. There are some pretty hefty implications of putting all our eggs in one basket. Not to mention the fact that private institutions will be in charge of taking care of the basket (let's not forget the Verizon employees who lost their jobs for checking Obama's account activities).

Call me an optimist, but I trust the powers that be not to let anything get too out of control.
I recently picked up Google Docs along with Gears which lets you simultaneously download backup copies of the files you are working on as you create them. I used the slide show creator to work up two major projects. The software is pretty basic, but all the major functions are there. Best of all, the software is free, available at any computer. Even if I woke up in a ditch in South Dakota, I could stagger into the nearest public library and edit and print the latest revision of my abstract.

This kind of setup also allows access to software and data from devices like cell-phones, ipods and smaller laptops which would not be able to store large amounts of resources. Added bonus with these devices: they are in your pocket right now! So too could be all the data you ever needed. Imagine being able to use all your favorite software anywhere? Need to photoshop an image right now? Login. Want to play that game you just bought on your friends' laptop? You bet. Now all this stuff is down the road a bit, but is definitely feasible.

Pretty cool. I hope this really is where the tech market is going. If you're interested in applications that use this, check out MobileMe (for Macs only) and Google Docs.