BORN IN CALIF? THEY'VE GOT YOUR NUMBERS
An online genealogy company, RootsWeb.com, has posted the name, birthdate and mother's maiden name for 24 million Californians. Stories appeared yesterday in the San Jose Mercury News and the Sacramento Bee. Outrage ensued. Granted, this is all public information, but this company is now making it easily accessible in bulk, and for free. Think how many credit card companies ask you for your mother's maiden name "for security purposes." Late yesterday, the company agreed to delete the information, but only for those people who ask. You can fill in a form to reach their help desk here.
- posted by Amy @ 11/30/2001 10:47:00 AM

 

SWEDISH JOURNALIST KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
Ulf Stroemberg, a cameraman for Sweden's TV4, was shot to death when two masked men armed with Kalashnikovs rushed into the house he was sharing with other Swedish journalists, AP reports. They also took a satellite telephone and thousands of dollars, according to Reuters. The killing comes barely a week after four journalists were killed at an Afghanistan "checkpoint" and three reporters were killed the week before that. The Committee to Protect Journalists keeps a list of the 21 journalists killed so far this year. (Not yet including the Stroemberg death last night.) The list includes seven in Afghanistan, two each in Algeria, the Phillipines and Yugoslavia and one for each of the following: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Thailand and the United States. The one on U.S. soil was William Biggart, a free-lance photographer killed when the second tower fell in downtown Manhattan. CPJ also compiles a list of journalists deaths they rank as "uncomfirmed," meaning it is unclear if the journalists was killed because of their work. Among them is the photo editor for The Sun tabloid, who died of inhalation anthrax. There was a total of 24 killed in 2000.
- posted by Amy @ 11/27/2001 08:54:00 AM

 

HOLIDAY AIR REPORT
So just how did our friendly airlines fair through the long weekend? We'll, let's see, there was the man who accidentally fired his shotgun at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, there was a fatal crash in Zurich, security breaches and evacuations at Sea-Tac in Seattle, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, and Oakland Airport. If you're playing along at home, you can update your scorecard with some help from the BBC list of business changes made at each airline. And you may want to see the Fresno Bee column about why the airlines have themselves to blame for their current woes.
- posted by Amy @ 11/26/2001 12:12:00 PM