Nothing like a press guide

. . . to get you behind on any other work. Along with preparing for the county's simulated emergency test and finishing the edits on the SNW paper for the CoSIDA Digest, doesn't leave much time for a blog.

But, couple of items. First, I've got to say I'm a little peeved with CBS -- their new show Jericho made the ham radio operator in the town seem like a lunatic.

Second, one of the more interesting student newspaper rants against the "restrictions" put on athlete's Facebook usage comes from Ohio State. The Ohio State editorial hit the nail on the head. Does a university only care about its athletes, and not the general student body? Exactly. The students, not just the student-athletes, need to be warned, be warry and be afraid.

Read this News Feed

While considering cough syrups . . .

I have to laugh between coughs at the shock, shocked and appalled -- they are, at the latest "improvements" at Facebook. Chalk it up to yet another I told you so, kids, you gave up your rights to privacy when you signed up for most of these SNWs.

This is the quote of the day, from our own student newspaper at Arkansas:
"It's all about reading the fine print and people don't do it. People don't like it because it's boring," Chris Medrano said.

Hey, guess what -- the adults know that, and the smart kids, too. That's why they scammed you into giving up all your rights when you clicked OK on the EULA.

Here's your black helicopter moment: Did you catch the story last week about Project Strike Back? The FBI data mining of Department of Education financial aid records. It comes a couple of years after the outcry over Talon, the DoD's surveillance project to look for key words in emails. Then there's the continuing program for FBI direct access to Sevis records of foreign students. By the time this generation gets it, it may be too late to get off the grid.

Michael Ostrokenk with the Liberty Coalition summed it up in The Chronicle:
"This is another example of Big Brother gone wild. In the age of everything is a national security issue, we are destroying the very liberties and privacy rights which make our country unique and great in the history of the world."

Hey, but if you can get a free email account and free spam blocker, why not?