Category: Worth a Look

C-Span Debate hub cool on a few levels

Ars pointed me to the C-SPAN debate hub and while I didn’t use it during the debate, I have to say it’s a site worth a look. There’s a lot of information on the page, but it seems pretty well designed to me.  It includes video and transcripts from segments from the debate, twitter feeds, blog posts, infoporn about what the keywords were during the debate and who spoke when. I’ll definitely check it out during the next debate.

C-Span has come a long way since the flap about videos of Colbert at the press club.

Edit: Looks as though The Current is trying something similar.

High school student faces 38 years in prison for hacking grades

A High school student faces 38 years in prison for hacking grades:

Khan apparently broke into school computers multiple times from January through May using a stolen login. He changed his C, D and F grades into As. He also altered the grades of 12 other students.

Dumb move on the kid’s part–had he actually been “hacking,” I might have said he’d be a great candidate for a comp sci degree.

Indefinite Imprisonment For Web Site Content

A New Zealand man, who ignored a gag order last year ordering that his website be taken down, is facing the possibility of Indefinite Imprisonment until he follows the court’s order. A look at more of the facts, as well as the website in question makes it pretty clear that this could never happen in America–his speech is clearly political and thus receives the highest protection (sounds like Near v. Minnesota to me). I’m no expert, but there’s even a “freedom of expression” clause in the New Zealand Constitution. It’s amazing this could happen in a “parliamentary representative democratic monarchy.”