Rotundus.com

Keeping an Eye on Online Test-Takers

"... now eavesdropping technologies worthy of the C.I.A. can remotely track every mouse click and keystroke of test-taking students. Squads of eagle-eyed humans at computers can monitor faraway students via webcams, screen sharing and high-speed Internet connections, checking out their photo IDs, signatures and even their typing styles to be sure the test-taker is the student who registered for the class."

Egypt, two Coptic Orthodox children aged 9 and 10 risk jail on blasphemy charges

"On 26 February, the Court of Bani Suef (Upper Egypt) dismissed the appeal of the families of the two children Rzik Nagy, aged 10, and Mina Farag, 9, accused of desecrating the Koran. They have been detained in a juvenile prison since April 2012. ... the two were stopped by a local imam who accused them of having urinated on the Koran. ... Nabil and Nady are both illiterate and according to the parents could not have known what was written on those pages, found in among rubbish."

For Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Joy of Live Music

Perhaps lighting displays and maybe heavy bass might make this interesting - but I'm finding it a bit hard to see the appeal of concerts for the deaf. (Not deaf but generally not all that interested in attending concerts either).

Burglar returns family’s stolen goods with apology note. Adds in $50 for broken door

"When a Guelph, Ont., couple woke up last Friday, they found their digital camera and Xbox console in a plastic bag on the front porch. According to the attached letter, they’d been robbed the night before — and the thief had been having second thoughts."

Bryan Caplan in We the Sheeple:

I almost never actually listen to politicians. I’ll sometimes read transcripts. I find the transcripts less emotionally aversive than actually listening to them say their words. And when I read those transcripts -- no matter what the party of the person is -- I just think ‘I would give you a C in my economics class.’ This is just not acceptable for a person to be saying, it’s just so wrong.

*sigh*. Grade inflation.

Am I the only one who cringes every time Pat Robertson winds up in the news?

Saint David's Day

It's on March 1 - and to quote the BBC: "Nearly nine out of 10 people in Wales believe St David's Day should be a public holiday, even if a day's holiday was lost elsewhere, a poll has found."

World's nerdiest marriage proposal

Even I'm not that nerdy - not that I'm planning a marriage proposal anytime in the foreseeable future.

Unprovoked shark attacks: 1912 - 2012

For how many problems can you capture a century's worth of all known victims - not just those killed but also those injured - in a single graphic?

'Lost Generation' Feels Italy's Fiscal Squeeze

"Italians born in 1970, who are about 43 now, will pay 50% more in taxes as a percentage of their lifetime income than those born in 1952, according to research from the Bank of Italy and the University of Verona. The research also found they will receive half the pension benefits that Italy’s 60-somethings are getting or are poised to get." (HT: MR). Another example of the intergenerational wealth transfer in pretty much all of the Western world.