Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Cops Want Your TXTs
Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans’ text messages State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years — in case they’re needed for future criminal investigations. via CNET News. I find this rather troubling. Cops addicted to power. Congress too…
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Pensioners Take Note, Municipal Bond Storm Coming
[B]ut California too is now starting to hand it to bondholders. Cities in California are now testing the limits of bankruptcy law, and not paying the debt nor the payments for retirees to the state system. Thus this article describes how the state retirement system (CALPERS) is suing to demand payment, and saying that retiree…
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And you thought taxpayer propaganda was dead???
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Chicago’s New Billboard Deal All But Signed
Kudos to Alderman Bob Fioretti: A Chicago City Council committee signed off Monday on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest privatization deal—even though, after nearly five hours of testimony, aldermen still didn’t quite know how it added up for taxpayers, what its shortfalls might be, or exactly which companies were included in putting it together. In more…
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New Faces Of Meth
Eight years ago, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office launched a campaign called “the Faces of Meth” to address Oregon’s methamphetamine problem. The images showed the jarring effects of meth on addicts’ faces through before-and-after pictures from their arrest records. Rehabs.com recently followed suit with this infographic. Warning: these images are disturbing. via Business Insider. Ugh.
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Plastic Bulb Promises Better Quality Light
The new light source is called field-induced polymer electroluminescent Fipel technology. It is made from three layers of white-emitting polymer that contain a small volume of nanomaterials that glow when electric current is passed through them. The inventor of the device is Dr David Carroll, professor of physics at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.…
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$55 Million Paid to Kids to Do Nothing
Records provided to CNN show that $54.5 million was spent on the NRI program, mostly through the governor’s discretionary fund, which doesn’t require legislative approval. The only data on the program’s accomplishments come directly from the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority. The NRI states that it created more than 3,484 jobs, provided counseling for more than…
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Who Would Rather Not Work?
This first came up (recently at least) with the Hostess workers: Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits. “They’re just taking from us,” said…
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Pregnant Hurricane Sandy Victim and 2-year-old Daughter Homeless
A pregnant Hurricane Sandy victim was booted from her hotel room yesterday and forced to hunt for a place to stay because FEMA dropped the ball on her reservation. Keri Christian, 27, was living at Brooklyn’s Nu Hotel with her daughter, Serafina, 2, after the storm destroyed their Staten Island home. Now the eight-months-pregnant mom…
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$45k/yr is the “New Rich”
Implemented in 1969 to make sure upper-income Americans pay their share of taxes, the AMT has increasingly snared more middle-income Americans over the years because it was never indexed for inflation. During the 2011 tax year for example, the higher tax hit single taxpayers with incomes as low as $48,450 and joint filers making only…
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