The New York Times, reporting on things that happened a generation ago.
Twice per year something really cool happens: the stars, or rather one particular star, aligns with the grid of streets running through Manhattan island, offering photographers and astronomers alike an opportunity to go out and snap a few very unique and very cool photos. On May 29th (today) and July 12th of this year (it varies a bit each year) the sun sets in perfect alignment with the Manhattan grid. It’s known as “Manhattanhenge“
At least 20 modules available for the malware bring a menu of highly advanced spying capabilities to the unknown people who control it. One plugin turns on the internal microphone of infected machines so Skype conversations can be secretly monitored in real time. A separate module scans nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices for names and phone numbers stored in contact lists. A third monitors machine activity by taking screenshots every 15 to 60 seconds, depending on whether Outlook or another targeted application is in use, and uses SSL-protected connections to send the images to the attackers. Flame can also sniff traffic passing over local networks to siphon user names, passwords, password hashes, and other sensitive data that attackers can use to further monitor their targets.
Promising to make you look wired and magically promote your content in social networks, the Like, Retweet, and +1 buttons occupy a good spot on pretty much every page of the World Wide Web. Because of this, almost every major site and world brand is providing free advertising for Twitter and Facebook. But do these buttons work? It’s hard to say. What we know for sure is that these magic buttons promote their own brands — and that they tend to make you look a little desperate. Not too desperate, just a little bit.
What do we know about Tom Bombadil? He is fat and jolly and smiles all the time. He is friendly and gregarious and always ready to help travellers in distress.
Except that none of that can possibly be true.
Below are satellite images from Google Earth that show two neighborhoods from a selection of cities around the world. In case it isn’t obvious, the first image is the less well-off neighborhood, the second the wealthier one.
While digital-age manners experts have naturally covered the valediction waterfront (apparently you can only use respectfully when addressing a superior), really, we’re all making it up as we go along. And, while naturally there were more strictures in earlier times, there was always room for interpretation, and history is filled with examples of creative gentility that puts our pallid “bests” and “take cares” to shame. Writing on the subject, Lewis Carroll opined, “If doubtful whether to end with ‘yours faithfully,’ or ‘yours truly,’ or ‘your most truly,’ (there are at least a dozen varieties, before you reach ‘yours affectionately’), refer to your correspondent’s last letter, and make your winding-up at least as friendly as his: in fact, even if a shade more friendly, it will do no harm!”
