Geeksta's Paradise: Apparently, there is a phenomenon I was shamefully unaware of called Geeksta Rap, or Nerdcore. While this ought to be enough to send you scrambling to read all about it, here's a little more to whet your appetite: "The stigma that was once attached to computer geeks and role-playing nerds is diminishing incredibly fast," said "digital gangster" Bryce Case Jr., aka ytcracker. "It has almost become trendy to have skills on a computer. Rather than guns and 'hos, I speak about DDOS attacks and camgirls." The self-proclaimed "#1 greatest computer science gangsta rapper ever" is MC Plus+, a geeksta leading light whose moniker comes from the C++ programming language. For some reason, I feel like this will be of interest to a number of my friends... you know who you are.

Google's Watching: Wired has an article with some warnings for avid google-fans (like me.) In other techn news, Roomba is coming out with a version that can be preprogrammed, so you can wake up to clean floors. I have a Roomba that I got as a present after I took the LSAT, which is therefore named El Sayad. It works really well in my small, carpetless studio apartment. However, it is still quite loud, and that is not a way I would like to wake up in the morning. But I do love my Roomba, which not only cleans for me, but serves as a pet since I can't have any "real" animals right now.

News for When You Have Time: RFK, Jr's has an article on a vaccine coverup which got a lot of criticism recently from medical officials (NY Times has two articles rebutting the claims, here and here). RFK responded to those critiques. It seems to me that it is not about the scientific validity of the claims, but whether or not data is being covered up, because without the full story, how can medical professionals have a real scientific debate on the actual issue? (I'm not a medical professional, so I can't judge on that basis, but I am for open debates, and I think this is an instance where transparency seems appropriate.)
And for those who still aren't caught up on it, there is even more reason to pay attention to the weird and ever-more twisted Ohio scandal which is implicating more and more Ohio government officials.