Chris Hayes: In last night’s excellent speech Obama mentioned receiving a donation from a woman in the form of a money order for $3.01 with a excerpt of scripture attached. One of Mark Kleinman’s commenters figured out the significance of the amount: Another reader provides what must surely be the answer to the puzzle: $3.01 […]

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Remember how I wrote a while back that, upon unwrapping my iPhone, I fantasized about a scenario where bars or parties would create playlists on the fly by wirelessly polling the playlists of the people in each room and streaming the songs everyone was likely to enjoy? Well, UCLA computer scientist Kevin Eustice has already […]

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Yes, yes, there are a brazillian of them out there, but given the general awesomeness of the ShoutingMat.ch sites, I’m keeping my eye on this one.

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I had been meaning to write something more about the way the administration is, even more brazenly than usual, attempting to get its way by manufacturing an intelligence “crisis”—but Slate‘s invaluable Dahlia Lithwick spares me the trouble. The old “ticking time bomb” hypothetical isn’t quite as effective when you’ve planted the bomb yourself.

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I can already hear the talking point: “Even the libertarian Cato Institute thinks the president needs to be able to tap your phone without a warrant…” That will doubtless be the upshot of this phenomenally disappointing Wall Street Journal op-ed by Roger Pilon on the ongoing debate over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. […]

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Over here.

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This Will Wilkinson post may be the best thing I’ve read. Ever. I was going to excerpt it, but I’d just end up quoting the whole thing. Go. Read.

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Over at Ars Technica.

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Even without FISA reform, police may have an easy means to read your e-mail without a warrant. The full story is over at Ars.

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Ezra sez: Occasionally, I get e-mails from folks moving to DC and asking what’s worth doing. In general, I mean to reply to these e-mail with something along the lines of “never go out in Adams Morgan or Dupont Circle.” I tend to forget to do that. But Gridskipper has a good list of soul-sucking, […]

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