Saturday, January 14, 2012
This is the original document.
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YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH, 3rd Circuit
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Google has some 'splaining to do!
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LulzSec tool "causes Real People Real Problems"
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LulzSec tool "causes Real People Real Problems"
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Iraq suicide bomber kills 53 at pilgrimage climax
A suicide bomber killed 53 people in an apparent sectarian attack in southern Iraq on Saturday, casting a pall over the conclusion of a Shiite Muslim pilgrimage that draws millions.
The attack on devotees on the outskirts of the port city of Basra, which left 137 wounded, came with Iraq mired in a political row pitting the Shiite-led government against the main Sunni-backed bloc and stoked sectarian tensions less than a month after US forces completed their pullout.
The violence was the latest in a spate of attacks against Shiite pilgrims in the two weeks leading to the conclusion of Arbaeen, which marks 40 days after the Ashura anniversary commemorating the slaying of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures, by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.
The bombing killed 53 people and wounded 137, according to Riyadh Abdulamir, head of Basra province's health department. He said women and children were among the casualties, but did not give further details.
The death toll was the highest since attacks on Shiites in Baghdad and southern Iraq killed 70 people on December 5, and the deadliest single attack in the country since March 2011.
It was condemned by UN envoy Martin Kobler, and described as "a crime targeting national unity" by parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni.
The attacker, who had been distributing cake and other food to pilgrims walking to the Khutwa Imam Ali, a site on the outskirts of Basra venerated by believers for its associations with a key figures of their faith, blew himself up near a security checkpoint.
"I saw a soldier take hold of the attacker to take him to the officer in charge," said Kadhim Nasser, who ran a nearby rest stop for pilgrims. "As he was pushing him, something happened and the soldier fell to the ground."
"Immediately, he blew himself up. When he did that, women and children were passing by. I saw dozens of women and children among the wounded," the 42-year-old added.
Pilgrims in southern Iraq who cannot visit the central shrine city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen typically make the shorter trip to Khutwa Imam Ali, which lies around 12 kilometres (seven miles) west of Basra.
Hundreds of thousands did make it to Karbala on Saturday amid massive security in face of the Sunni insurgent threat.
Officials said 15 million pilgrims have passed through the city in the past two weeks leading up to the end of the commemorations, including some 500,000 from outside Iraq.
Waves of mourners swamped Hussein's shrine, parading their remorse for not defending him by beating their heads and chests in rituals of self-flagellation.
Sad songs blared from loudspeakers throughout the city and black flags fluttered alongside pictures of Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas, both of whom are buried in the city.
"Those people who are carrying out their attacks are idiots and stupid if they think they will stop us from walking to Karbala," said 45-year-old Mehdi Hussein, who was on his way back to Baghdad after completing the rituals.
He said the example of Nazhan Faleh, a Sunni Arab army captain who gave his life to protect Shiite pilgrims from a suicide bomber earlier this month, had "strengthened our unity".
Karbala governor Amal al-Din al-Har said the province's power and road networks were overwhelmed by the sheer number of pilgrims.
Some 35,000 police and troops were deployed to provide security throughout the rituals, with a further two brigades added to protect pilgrims heading home, said Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanimi, who commands forces across central Iraq.
He said no incidents had been reported in Karbala.
Provincial health spokesman Jamal Mehdi said hospitals in the shrine city had treated 20,000 pilgrims but that there had been no deaths.
This year is the first Iraqi troops have been solely charged with security for Arbaeen since the US-led invasion of 2003. American troops, who previously aided with surveillance and reconnaissance, completed their pullout last month.
The seventh century battle near Karbala is at the heart of the historical division between Islam's Sunni and Shiite sects.
Now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime barred the vast majority of Ashura and Arbaeen commemorations.
Shiites make up around 15 percent of Muslims worldwide. They represent the majority populations in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain and form significant communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia.
Fuck milk, got Coke? Fuck coke, got guns? Americana 2012
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BREAKING: Black & Berg Hacked Again!
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To Understand Google Favoritism, Think "If Google+ Were YouTube"
To Understand Google Favoritism, Think "If Google+ Were YouTube"
by Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.comJanuary 12th 2012 2:17 PM
Vertical Search Is What Search Engines Should Do
Long-time Google-critic and occasional Microsoft consultant Ben Edelman has this out today:
I’ve found more than a dozen Google services receiving favored placement in Google search results. Consider Google Blog Search, Google Book Search, Google Checkout, Google Health, Google Images, Google Maps, Google News, Google Realtime, Google Shopping, and Google Video. Some have developed into solid products with loyal users. Others are far weaker. But each enjoys a level of favored placement in Google search results that other services can only dream of.
That complaint about vertical search favoritism is the type of thing I previous said I found laughable from Google critics (though that doesn’t mean everything Edelman says is laughable, nor should be dismissed just because of his Microsoft connections).
Providing vertical search results that lead OUT of your web site is exactly what search engines should do. That’s why Bing does it, as well.
To understand more, read these past posts from me:
Especially read the last two, if you really care about understanding this important issue.
Google+ Is Not Vertical Search
Google+ is a completely different creature. Google+ is a Google destination, a place people go not to search and exit Google but to hang around.
Yes, plenty may leave through shared links. But Google+ is not a search engine, nor was it designed to be a way to search through all the web’s socially shared content.
Google did have something like this. It was Google Realtime Search, which Google decided it had to close when it failed to renew an agreement with Twitter for however that failed to happened. See these articles for more about that:
Google+ Is First Non-Search Engine With “Results” In Google
Since Google+ it’s not a search engine, having Google+ suggestions positioned on the Google search results pages is simply unprecedented in my time covering the company — and I’ve covered it from the start.
I cannot recall any other product where Google has done this. The search results page has always been for showing search results that come from a diverse list of sources, with the exception of maybe Google Books, where it’s hard to find similar book search engines that should be included
To really understand the big change that has happened here, how it is far different from what critics have mistakenly considered some type of unfair favoritism in the past, consider this.
Google Video Vs. YouTube
When Google launched Google Universal Search in 2008, it took great care to stress that video content blended into its results came from Google Video, not from YouTube. That’s because YouTube doesn’t have video from across the entire web. Google Video was a more inclusive service.
Now imagine if this week, Google had announced that YouTube results would replace the Google Video results displayed when you do a search. Suddenly, video content from across the web would have no visibility.
Google+ Results = YouTube, Not Google Video
That’s what Google did with the Google+ results that now get shown. It effectively launched a “who to follow” search engine, a way to show people and companies with social accounts that searchers might be interested in. But it based that solely around Google+, when it has the data to include social accounts from Twitter and Facebook, as well.
You can easily see this. Do a search that triggers the Google+ suggestions to come up, such as “music.” Click on the “see more” link at the bottom of those results. You’ll be taken into results from Google+ itself, like this.
Google+ equals YouTube, not Google Video, not a way to search beyond Google’s own hosted content.
Yes, it can seem like YouTube is favored by Google (especially more and more) in Google’s search results, but much of that is down to YouTube simply having so much content. It drowns out other things, sometimes rightfully so.
So Build A Real “Who To Follow” Search Engine
Google+ is a different issue. It’s not drowning out the others, because the others aren’t even being allowed to swim in the pool.
I’d love to see is Google retool the social suggestions that come up, so they aren’t simply Google+ “People & Pages” results injected into Google but more inclusive of other social sites, as well. Because that type of inclusive search product is what Google does well, and what we expect for the company to provide.
Original Page: http://searchengineland.com/to-understand-google-favoritism-think-youtube-107857
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Privacy Watchdog EPIC Asks Federal Trade Commission To Investigate Google
Privacy Watchdog EPIC Asks Federal Trade Commission To Investigate Google
by Chris Sherman, marketingland.comJanuary 12th 2012 4:35 PM
Google faces both criticism and governmental inquires regarding “competition” issues (aka anti-trust concerns). At Search Engine Land, we’ve covered many of them, including Bing’s Travel Search & Kayak Favoritism Angers No One, While Google’s Gets Headline Attention From WSJ, Dear Congress: It’s Not OK Not To Know How Search Engines Work, Either, Koreans Accuse Google Of “Obstructing” Antitrust Investigation and many others.
The FTC “commission’s consent order” was something Google agreed to last year over concerns about Google’s ill-fated Buzz service. With that order, Google agreed to make more prominent privacy disclosures to users (and obtain their consent for any data sharing).
“Although data from a user’s Google+ contacts is not displayed publicly, Google’s changes make the personal data of users more accessible. Users can opt out of seeing personalized search results, but cannot opt out of having their information found through Google search,” said a note on EPIC’s website.
Last September, EPIC asked the FTC to investigate Google’s acquisition of YouTube, arguing that Google was favoring YouTube videos in search results. Over on Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan examines the allegations of favoritism in his post, To Understand Google Favoritism, Think “If Google+ Were YouTube”.
Original Page: http://marketingland.com/privacy-watchdog-epic-asks-federal-trade-commission-to-investigate-google-3298
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Privacy Watchdog EPIC Asks Federal Trade Commission To Investigate Google
Privacy Watchdog EPIC Asks Federal Trade Commission To Investigate Google
by Chris Sherman, marketingland.comJanuary 12th 2012 4:35 PM
Google faces both criticism and governmental inquires regarding “competition” issues (aka anti-trust concerns). At Search Engine Land, we’ve covered many of them, including Bing’s Travel Search & Kayak Favoritism Angers No One, While Google’s Gets Headline Attention From WSJ, Dear Congress: It’s Not OK Not To Know How Search Engines Work, Either, Koreans Accuse Google Of “Obstructing” Antitrust Investigation and many others.
The FTC “commission’s consent order” was something Google agreed to last year over concerns about Google’s ill-fated Buzz service. With that order, Google agreed to make more prominent privacy disclosures to users (and obtain their consent for any data sharing).
“Although data from a user’s Google+ contacts is not displayed publicly, Google’s changes make the personal data of users more accessible. Users can opt out of seeing personalized search results, but cannot opt out of having their information found through Google search,” said a note on EPIC’s website.
Last September, EPIC asked the FTC to investigate Google’s acquisition of YouTube, arguing that Google was favoring YouTube videos in search results. Over on Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan examines the allegations of favoritism in his post, To Understand Google Favoritism, Think “If Google+ Were YouTube”.
Original Page: http://marketingland.com/privacy-watchdog-epic-asks-federal-trade-commission-to-investigate-google-3298
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