Saturday, December 3, 2016
Seanan McGuire's Down Among the Sticks and Bones is great
Two sisters step through a magical doorway, find themselves in a gothic moor, are adopted by a vampire lord and a mad scientist, and soon find themselves on a path to becoming mortal enemies. Down Among the Sticks and Bones is essentially a prequel to Every Heart a Doorway, but I liked it more and recommend reading it first. It comes out this summer, but you can add it to your wishlist now.
Friday, December 2, 2016
"I Dialed a Wrong Number and Stumbled Into International Phone Fraud"
Atlantic:
A few weeks ago, I was trying to call Cuba. I got an error message—which, okay, international telephone codes are long and my fingers are clumsy—but the phone oddly started dialing again before I could hang up. A voice answered. It had a British accent and it was reading: “...the moon was shining brightly. The Martians had taken away the excavating-machine…”
Apparently, I had somehow called into an audiobook of The War of the Worlds.
...
The recordings can be random. “We get everything from fake rings, heavy breathing, adult entertainment, lottery reading, psychic readings, music—so random recordings,” said one veteran industry fraud analyst. The goal is just to get people to stay on the phone as long as possible.
"Scammers Ran A Fake U.S. Embassy In Ghana For A Decade Before Being Shut Down"
"Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime members operated the 'embassy' three days a week, selling bogus visas and other government documents. While the building looks nothing like the actual embassy, the scammers did fly a U.S. flag outside and decorated the office inside with a photo of the president."
"Psychologists have failed to replicate a famous study suggesting that short fiction improves readers’ abilities to read the emotional states of others"
Atlantic:
In 2013, a widely publicized study in the journal Science by David Kidd and Emmanuele Castano of the New School suggested that reading “literary” short stories immediately improved participants’ abilities to read the facial expressions, and thus the emotional states, of other people.
"Princess Cruises given record fine for dumping oil at sea"
Guardian:
the illegal practices came to light when an engineer aboard the Caribbean Princess discovered the “magic pipe” in 2013 off the coast of Britain and told investigators about it.
Authorities later learned the 952ft ship had been illegally discharging oily water into the ocean since 2005.
...
illegal practices were found on four other Princess ships, including use of clean ocean water to fool onboard sensors that would otherwise detect dumping of improperly contaminated bilge water. Authorities say cost savings was the motive and that the ship’s officers and crew conspired to cover up what was going on.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
"State troopers confiscated about 50 handguns and 80,000 rounds of ammunition stored in the Arizona Department of Economic Security's basement shortly after Director Tim Jeffries--who had expanded the agency's armed police force--was forced to resign and escorted from the building"
AZC:
"These jihadists in San Bernardino attacked a social service center for the developmentally disabled. They will go anywhere," Jeffries said. "As a director, one of my highest priorities was to protect my people and my clients. I stand by that with pride."
...
After taking office, Jeffries put armed guards in the DES lobby and outside its parking garage as well as field offices for security purposes. Jeffries said that before he took office, the agency used contract security officers in its field offices.
The agency put some of those officers in special light-brown uniforms with pants that resemble military fatigues. The phrase Ditat Deus, Arizona's motto that means "God enriches," is on one shirt sleeve. The uniforms also had a yellow smiley face, a symbol Jeffries had incorporated and used for employee T-shirts and other promotional DES items, on the back between the shoulder blades.
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