Prayer is an act of faith that God is love, that I am needy, and that by turning toward love I will someday, somehow be given a way to participate in the restoration of the good world God made.— Amy Julia Becker
The U.S. Constitution offers very broad protections for freedom of speech. While criticizing the government, or even waving the wrong flag, could get you imprisoned in any territory under Chinese rule, your right to freedom of expression is sacrosanct under the First Amendment—until you step into your place of work, that is. While the government is not entitled to punish political dissent, in most parts of America it is perfectly legal for your boss to fire you if they happen to dislike the person you voted for in the last election.
I'm convinced that reform to "at-will" employment contracts is definitely something that should be discussed, debated, and experimented with further.
I am a game designer with experience in a very small niche. I create and research games designed to be played in reality. I've worked in Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), LARPs, experience fiction, interactive theater, and "serious games". Stories and games that can start on a computer, and finish in the real world. Fictions designed to feel as real as possible. Games that teach you. Puzzles that come to life all around the players. Games where the deeper you dig, the more you find. Games with rabbit holes that invite you into wonderland and entice you through the looking glass.
When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before. I had almost built it before.
A great look at the psychology and game design behind the QAnon cult and conspiracies more generally.
The first version of the Electrobat, on which they glided through the streets of Philadelphia that fall and winter, looks like an uncovered wagon, complete with the spoked wheels — big ones in back, small ones up front. Two could comfortably sit atop the battery compartment, which housed the monster lead-acid cells, but it could have carried up to a dozen people. It gives the impression of a stagecoach missing both the horses and the coach, but it got the job done.
Today I learned that not only were the lead-acid battery and electric car invented many decades before I thought, electric cars almost beat out gasoline engines.
I felt like I was back in school recently, listening to a conversation with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. While recognizing the excitement of gathering onsite to worship, he said that one of the biggest adjustments will be to the far greater need for care and support. "I don't think we yet realize how hard this has been for people, whether they are in the heart of the congregation or just walk by our churches," he said. "People will be looking for places that listen to their pain and confusion, who offer compassion without pat answers, and offer real community."
Mixed in with the joy of worship and familiar faces will be the tears and fears of all we have gone through. It will be like the people gathering at the rebuilt temple in the time of Ezra. Some were thrilled to be back, while others grieved all that had been suffered. "Many of the older priests and families, who had seen the first temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of the new temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. It was so loud no one could distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping. And the sound was heard far away." (Ezra 3:12-13)
While thinking about regathering with others in our church community, these words from Pastors John Crosby and Rick Warren have resonated. What we're coming back to isn't the same that we left. There is no "normal" to return to as everyone has been changed in some way. I pray that our church communities can be good stewards of both joy and pain as we move forward into the new work God is doing.
The alleged drug syndicates, contract killers and weapons dealers thought they were using high-priced, securely encrypted phones that would protect them as they openly discussed drug deals by text message and swapped photos of cocaine-packed pineapples. What they were really doing, investigators revealed Tuesday, was channeling their plots straight into the hands of U.S. intelligence agents.
See more reporting from Vice and The New York Times. Just sensational. Two major intelligence operations revealed this week.
The FBI said it has seized $2.3 million paid to the ransomware attackers who paralyzed the network of Colonial Pipeline and touched off gasoline and jet fuel supply disruptions up and down the East Coast last month.
[...]
On Monday, the US Justice Department said it had traced 63.7 of the roughly 75 bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to DarkSide, which the Biden administration says is likely located in Russia. The seizure is remarkable because it marks one of the rare times a ransomware victim has recovered funds it paid to its attacker.
Way to go, FBI! Can't wait for the movie about how they managed to recover the private key.
You're finally in the flow, typing away and making progress on that strategy document. And then a team member IMs you a question. And then another one pops up. Before you know it, your afternoon is gone and you've made no progress. Sound familiar?
Except the part about being in the flow in the first place.
In 2011, Chinese spies stole the crown jewels of cybersecurity—stripping protections from firms and government agencies worldwide. Here's how it happened.