Showdown at the Airport Body Scanner

[ I point out that the manufacturers of body scanning machines have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to ensure their deployment. Finally, for good measure, I ask my frisker whether he has heard about the “cancer cluster” at Boston’s Logan airport. Security workers there have argued that their cancers were caused by standing close to the X-ray baggage scanners. T.S.A. officers do not like to hear about the Logan cancer cluster.
There are studies that show a correlation between extremely low-level, non-ionizing forms of radiation and cancer, just as there are many studies showing the opposite. Many scientists will insist that the low levels of radiation absorbed in airport security checks have no deleterious effect. That’s wonderful — I’m happy to concede that my fears are most likely baseless. But as long as there is any question of risk, no matter how small, I will continue to avoid the machines ]

Financial Literacy Certification Test

The Financial Literacy Certification Program has touched the lives of more than 250,000. On average, 75 percent of students pass the Certification Test every year, graduating financially literate. The ranking will be published annually, giving all schools that participate in the Financial Literacy Certification Program an opportunity to earn a place on it each year.
For more information about w!se, contact info(at)wise-ny(dot)org, or visit the program website http://www.wise-ny.org/
This is a huge joke.
This is not a national ranking (since the certification program is not even offered in 22 states) and to claim that it is is just plain false.
1997, The NFI Report said the average financial literacy score was 57.3% — a failing grade, but that’s the best it has ever been, and it has fallen consistently ever since.
2013 83% of Students Want Financial Education in Schools, however the curriculum requirements are largely set at the state and local level. Only Four States Virginia, Missouri, Utah and Tennessee Mandate one stand alone class in personal finance in high school. By 2014, personal finance education will be mandatory in schools in the UK!
2013 National opinion poll of high school students probed their attitudes and found teenagers almost expect to be victimized by financial firms. 60% of students firmly believe that credit card companies often entice people into taking on more debt that they can handle, while 70% believe that businesses try to “trick” young people into spending more than they should. The stock market is rigged mostly to benefit greedy Wall Street bankers.
– Top 25 of the 100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance 2013
1.    High School for Math, Science & Engineering at City College, New York, NY
2.    Itineris Early College High School, West Jordan, UT
3.    Coeur d’Alene High School, Coeur d’Alene, ID
4.    Utah County Academy of Sciences, Orem, UT
5.    Aviation High School, Queens, NY
6.    Central Magnet School, Murfreesboro, TN
7.    Wausa Public School, Wausa, NE
8.    Heritage High School, Newport News, VA
9.    Passaic County Technical Institute, Wayne, NJ
10.    Townsend Harris High School, Queens, NY
11.    Halifax County High School, South Boston, VA
12.    Eleanor Roosevelt High School, New York, NY
13.    Holston High School, Damascus, VA
14.    Shenendehowa High School, Clifton Park, NY
15.    Queens High School for the Sciences, Queens, NY
16.    High School for Arts & Business, Corona, NY
17.    Queens Gateway to Health Sciences, Queens, NY
18.    Willsboro Central School, Willsboro, NY
19.    Leon M. Goldstein High School, Brooklyn, NY
20.    High School for Law & Public Service, New York, NY
21.    Cascades High School, New York, NY
22.    Whitney Young High School for International Studies, Chicago, IL
23.    Menchville High School, Newport News, VA
24.    Southold High School, Southold, NY
25.    Lexington Technology Center, Lexington, SC

GREAT #RIAA group’s financial power is weakening!

RIAA Makes Drastic Employee Cuts as Revenue Plummets

• Ernesto • May 22, 2013
http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-makes-drastic-employee-cuts-as-revenue-plummets-130522/
New tax records reveal that the RIAA has made heavy employee cuts after revenue dropped to a new low. Over the past two years the major record labels have cut back their membership dues from $33.6 to $23.6 million. RIAA staff plunged from 107 to 60 workers in the same period. The IRS filing further shows that the music industry group paid $250,000 to the six strikes anti-piracy system. The RIAA has submitted its latest tax filing to the IRS, covering the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. The figures follow the trend we spotted last year and show a massive decline in revenue for the music group. In just two years overall revenue has reduced from to $34.8 to $24.8 million.
For decades the RIAA has been the anti-piracy bastion of the music industry, but the new numbers show that the group’s financial power is weakening.
The drop in income can be solely attributed to lower membership dues from the major music labels. Over the past two years label contributions have dropped to $23.6 million, and over a three-year period the labels cut back a total of $30 million, which is more than the RIAA’s total income today. The cutbacks are not immediately apparent from the salaries paid to the top executives.
RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman, for example, earned $1.46 million compared to $1.37 million the year before. Senior Executive Vice President Mitch Glazier also saw a modest rise in income from $618,946 to $642,591.
A lot of the revenue decline has translated into employee cuts. Over a two year period the number of RIAA employees has been slashed almost in half from 107 to just 60. The reduction in legal costs is even more significant, going from to $6.4 million to $1.2 million in two years.
In part, this reduction was accomplished by no longer targeting individual file-sharers in copyright infringement lawsuits, which is a losing exercise for the group. Looking through other income we see that the RIAA received $196,378 in “anti-piracy restitution,” coming from the damages awarded in lawsuits against Limewire and such. Finally, the tax filing also reveals that the RIAA paid $250,000 to the Center of Copyright Information for the “six strikes” scheme.
Together with the MPAA the RIAA coughs up half of the CCI budget, but since the fiscal year ended March 2012 it’s probably not the full year payment
. Overall the filing appears to suggest that the major labels believe that the RIAA can operate with fewer funds. This is a trend that has been going on for a few years and it will be interesting to see how long it continues.
KNOW YOUR JURY RIGHTS DEFEAT THE RIAA IN COURT DEFEND YOURSELF IN COURT FROM THE RIAA THE JURY ACTS AS THE FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT The Principle of Jury Nullification.
ISP ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING WARNINGS
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHY FILE SHARING IS NOT THEFT AND THE FALSE CLAIMS OF THE RIAA DUE TO P2P
MUSIC LAW: CONTRACTS AND MUSIC DEALS
FAIR USE Learn more about why file sharing is not theft and the false claims of the RIAA due to P2P, From the Educational CyberPlayGround.

NASA funds 3D food printer, pizza is the first item on the menu

By Melissa Grey May 21st, 2013
<http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/nasa-funds-3d-food-printer/>
Last week we had lab-grown burgers; this week it’s powdered pizza. NASA’s gotten in on the synthesized food action by awarding a $125,000 grant to Anjan Contractor, head of Systems & Materials Research Corporation, to develop a 3D food printer. The first device Contractor plans to build under the six-month grant is based on RepRap’s open-source hardware and will be designed to print a pizza comprised of three layers of nutritional powders mixed with water and oil. As the final frontier gets further and further away, NASA’s need for a nutritious, long-lasting food supply suitable for space travel grows. Since the powders used in Contractor’s design — potentially sourced from insects, grass and algae — have a shelf life of about 30 years, his 3D food printer would be well-suited to the task. If your appetite’s survived the idea of snacks made from pulverized insects, you can watch the grant-winning prototype print some synthesized chocolate after the break. [snip]