LISBON — A row broke out in Portugal on Monday after a Nobel Prize-winning author denounced the Bible as a “handbook of bad morals”.

Speaking at the launch of his new book “Cain”, Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.

Roman Catholic Church leaders accused the 86-year-old of a publicity stunt.

The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son who killed his younger brother Abel.

At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not

think the book would offend Catholics “because they do not read the Bible”.

Read the rest at Raw Story

Posted via email from Anthony’s Posterous

Headed cross-country and worried about a new law that might get you stopped by the police in Arizona because you look like an illegal immigrant? Not to fear! Google has now added an “Avoid Arizona” option for those generating directions.

Google’s other options have been super helpful. You can get directions suited for taking public transit, walking, bicycling or by car. Now the Avoid Arizona option gives you directions that route you around that state:

Yeah, the option’s a joke I made up, if that’s not obvious. The law, unfortunately, is real.

Posted via email from Anthony’s Posterous

Posted via email from Anthony’s Posterous

Why in the world would Google’s Street View cars be scanning for MAC addresses? According to the German Federal Data Protection Commissioner, Street View cars are equipped with Wi-Fi scanners that are mapping the location of wireless networks. What the?!?

The data-protection official is worried that Google is acquiring various pieces of information about WiFi networks, including their location, name and protection protocol. The worse part, Schaar says, is that all this data is linked to a physical MAC address that could then be used to link IP addresses to real locations and, by extension, to real people.

Posted via email from Anthony’s Posterous

Posted by John C Dvorak in Ecology

Click map to Embiggen

Posted via email from Anthony’s Posterous