The New (Digital) Terrorist Threat

I read this very interesting article in the International Herald Tribune today. It talks about how the terrorists involved with the Madrid bombing shared common email accounts and saved drafts to leave each other notes: "Intelligence officials have said in the past that terrorist groups were using the trick, which investigators call a 'virtual dead drop.' But few concrete examples have come to light, especially in an attack as extreme as the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people." Tools designed for convenience should not aid in destruction, but there is no real way to track this sort of thing, which must be frustrating to techies everywhere, to say the least.

You'll Whatmyprofessor.com?

I think a lot of students have conflicted feelings about Ratemyprofessor.com. It is the only source to get a wider, un-anecdotal look at a teacher before taking a class, but oftentimes, the overall impressions one can glean are anything but objective. Look at these two actual comments on a professor I might take. They actually appear one after another, and they couldn't be more polarized. In all fairness, it's not the website's fault, but it's still a problem.

Blacklight Tattoos

This is pretty incredible. I've never wanted a tattoo because I think that I would only want one in a certain mindframe and then I'd have to suffer through other situations with this ink on my body. Plus, I don't like the idea of adding anything unnatural to myself—too wierd. I know that's the attraction for some people, but it's too permanent. This seems to be less like that, check it out.

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Ahhfreekaah

I love old maps. I found this one when searching on Google for an image of "Africa" for Graphic Design. Apparently it's from the 1910's, which would make sense considering the appearance of some long forgotten locations like Persia (Iran-ish) and the Gold Coast (Ghana-ish). These discoveries are almost certainly better in old books, but that is most certainly where this image came from anyway, so why not have it on Google?

Busy, Busy

Apologies for this week. Things are only getting more intense around here. I can do little but offer up this huble yet hillarious web advertisement. Especially notable is the prize. What a reward for participating in democracy.

Cherry Blossoms

With the outbreak of Spring in D.C. comes the blooming of the cherry blossoms around the city, but mainly around the tidal basin. They come with thousands of international tourists, congestion of the Smithsonian Metro stop, and their own peak bloom forecast in the Post. They are very beautiful but limited in color. It's a subtle beauty that I wish I could more thoroughly enjoy without thousands of rude strangers, but I suppose that's selfish. It's easy to forget that the capital thrives on this kind of foreign intensity.