Sunday, May 12, 2013

Perhaps we could install a “Phone Locator” to help police (or a remotly triggered Taser to make me feel better)
"Incidents of cellphone theft have been rising for several years and are fast becoming an epidemic. IDG News Service collected data on serious crimes in San Francisco from November to April and recorded 579 thefts of cellphones or tablets, accounting for 41 percent of all serious crime. In just over half the incidents, victims were punched, kicked or otherwise physically intimidated for their phones, and in a quarter of robberies, users were threatened with guns or knives. This isn't just happening in tech-loving San Francisco, either. The picture is similar across the United States. A big reason for such thefts, until recently, is that there had been little to stop someone using a stolen cellphone. Reacting to pressure from law enforcement and regulators, the U.S.'s largest cellphone carriers agreed early last year to establish a database of stolen cellphones."


Don't never mess
with the I.R.S.
'cause we assume you're guilty
hiding offshore is futility
      extract from: Keep your cash under the mattress by Rap Master Bob
"Tax authorities in the U.S., Britain, and Australia have announced they are working with a gigantic cache of leaked data that may be the beginnings of one of the largest tax investigations in history. The secret records are believed to include those obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that lay bare the individuals behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands, Singapore and other offshore hideaways. The IRS said, 'There is nothing illegal about holding assets through offshore entities; however, such offshore arrangements are often used to avoid or evade tax liabilities on income represented by the principal or on the income generated by the underlying assets. In addition, advisors may be subject to civil penalties or criminal prosecution for promoting such arrangements as a means to avoid or evade tax liability or circumvent information reporting requirements.'"


Out with the old! Is this going to seriously impact “Big Music?”
Same Old Song? Not Exactly.
… It turns out that many oldies hits have been re-recorded by the original artists in recent years, and in most cases for a simple reason: royalties.
… Short of renegotiating an expiring contract, which is rarely an option, Chusid says, “those artists have every incentive to re-record and try to license” the new recording with a fairer royalty arrangement.


I keep promising myself that I'll have my students create their own textbook in most of the “Intro to” classes. But even if I organize my handouts, tools like this could be useful.
Getting a book published is not an easy task. Apart from the enormous task of getting a publisher to agree to publish your book, there are other details to worry about. These details are mostly relevant to the visuals of the book. For example, what the cover of the book is going to be, how its contents are going to be ordered, and the general structure of the material. Thankfully in this modern age we can create eBooks that give the book writer full control over their content.
If you are looking for a competent web service that helps you create eBooks in various formats, you should check out the site Papyrus Editor.
Papyrus Editor is a free to use web service that lets its users create eBooks.
… When you are done writing your eBook, you can have it published online and downloaded in the PDF, Mobi, and ePub file formats. All three formats can be downloaded together, compressed in a ZIP archive. The website works best on Chrome and Safari.
Similar tools: Readlists, Moglue and Wikipedia Book Creator.

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