Sunday, October 20, 2013

A convenient way to buy your ticket, a simple way to steal your credit card information.
Alfonso A. Castillo reports:
Police are investigating an apparent credit and debit card scam involving tiny video cameras hidden on Long Island Rail Road ticket vending machines.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department first learned of the scam after a customer found one of the small video cameras on the floor — having apparently fallen off a ticket vending machine.
Authorities went on to find hidden cameras attached to seven machines at four LIRR stations: Bayside and Great Neck on the Port Washington branch, Merillon Avenue on the Huntington/Port Jefferson branch, and Greenvale on the Oyster Bay branch.
Police Friday were continuing to inspect all of the LIRR’s more than 200 ticket machines at 124 stations. MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said that, as of Friday night, all but 14 machines had been checked, and no additional cameras had been found.
Read more on Newsday (sub. req.)


Impressive! I wonder how many cities know what data they have and where their data resides...
City of Chicago’s Data Open Source Dictionary
“Welcome to the City of Chicago’s Data Dictionary. This website serves as a single, comprehensive database catalog for the City of Chicago and City of Chicago sister agencies. It is a resource for anyone who is interested in understanding what data is held by City agencies and departments, how and if it may be accessed, and in what formats it may be accessed. We invite you to explore the huge volume of data maintained by the City of Chicago.”


Interesting. I did a search for “Math” and found some interesting links.
– Reddit is a rich source of information and community on the Internet, all split up into different “sub-reddits”. But it can be very difficult to keep track of new sub-reddits, the current popular ones, or simply what subjects are available. That is where Reddit Metrics comes in, giving you all the information in a neat table with the relevant stats.


For my cultured students.
– Google has partnered with hundreds of museums, cultural institutions, and archives to host the world’s cultural treasures online. Discover exhibits and collections from museums and archives all around the world. Explore cultural treasures in extraordinary detail, from hidden gems to masterpieces. Create your own galleries and share favorite finds with friends.


I've got several audiences for articles like this one. (If I can do it, anyone can)
5 Fears You Can Destroy Today To Become A Kickass Blogger
Ever since their debut at the beginning of the millennium, blogs have been an integral part of what we consider as “the Internet”. Starting as a simple way to record and share your thoughts and experiences, blogs have developed into something much bigger: a full-blown alternative to printed newspapers and magazines.
Unlike newspapers, though, absolutely anyone can write a blog. Yes, even you. It takes almost no effort to set up your own blog, and once you do, you’re left with the really easy part: writing it. Think you can’t? Continue reading. When you’re done, consider again.


My weekly amusement.
The US government is back open again. Whee. The cost of the shutdown: an estimated $24 billion dollars. You know what else we could have done with that $24 billion? Free public higher education.
Education Week reports on the $41 million settlement that New York City is paying out to educators in back pay “after they had to work outside of their contractually mandated workdays because of slow school Internet connections and other technical challenges.”
Wolfram Alpha has launched a new tool called the Wolfram Problem Generator (available to pro subscribers) that, as the name suggests, creates unlimited, random practice problems.
Coming soon to Khan Academy: a complete Calculus course. Khan Academy is partnering with the prestigious boarding school Phillips Academy to create the course. Tuition at Phillips Academy will run you $47K a year, but hey, now you can learn from the most elite institutions for free!!
Educause has released its annual survey which asks some 113,000 undergraduate students about their technology usage. Among the findings: students aren’t interested in badges; students’ computing device ownership continues to grow; and 71% of students have used free or openly licensed educational resources.

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