Damn Kids

Officer named in lawsuit for knocking teen off mini-bike when off-duty

"A St. Paul Park teen’s family alleges that an off-duty St. Paul police officer who lives in the city intentionally knocked the teen off his mini bike and verbally assaulted him. A civil suit has been filed against officer Ronald Himes by Jessica Heroux on behalf of her son Mica Franke, 16, who was involved in a May altercation with Himes and was left scraped, bruised and with a handprint on his chest. Franke told police Himes ran out into the road, hit him in the chest and knocked him off the mini bike. Franke said Himes then stood over him and proceeded to yell at him, the police report said. The lawsuit claims Franke was not given a warning and he was subjected to a 'profanity-laced tirade' from Himes." Continue reading →

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Barrett Brown Faces 105 Years in Jail

"Encountering Barrett Brown's story in passing, it is tempting to group him with other Anonymous associates who have popped up in the news for cutting pleas and changing sides. Brown's case, however, is a thing apart. Although he knew some of those involved in high-profile 'hacktivism,' he is no hacker. His situation is closer to the runaway prosecution that destroyed Aaron Swartz, the programmer-activist who committed suicide in the face of criminal charges similar to those now being leveled at Brown. But unlike Swartz, who illegally downloaded a large cache of academic articles, Brown never broke into a server; he never even leaked a document." Continue reading →

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Young Greeks Helping Each Other to Combat Crisis

"The political class may have set the rules, but almost everyone adhered to them. Now the game is over, and there is no money left for fakelaki and rousfeti, corruption and nepotism, two basic principles of Greek political life until now. Suddenly there is room for those who want to set up new rules, and who want change and more cooperation. Some 3,000 initiatives were established throughout Greece in the last three years. They all have the same goal: to do things better than before. There are food cooperatives, community gardens, social pharmacies and neighborhood assistance programs for the poor. In Crete alone, there are now five alternative currencies." Continue reading →

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Teen arrested for using app to “shoot” his classmates with a cellphone

"Police arrested a 15-year-old high-schooler Thursday in Louisiana for 'terrorizing' his classmates with a phone app that edits video to make them appear as though they are being gunned down. Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s Capt. Dawn Foret told the Lafourche Daily Comet that the H.L. Bourgeois High School student, used a phone app called 'The Real Strike' to superimpose video game style guns on video from an iPhone and similar devices. The app allows a user to virtually 'shoot' things in front of the camera. The boy is charged with terrorizing and interfering in the operation of a school." Continue reading →

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The future of work: on to a freelance model?

"If work is changing and freelance-like work is on the rise, bringing with it increased freedom, autonomy and diversity but also probably added unpredictability in terms of steady incomes, then we’ll probably also need a societal change and start questioning our need to own things and how we approach borrowing and lending money. For many, facing all this change can seem daunting, which was probably why at some point of our interesting dinner conversation my friend suggested that for a couple maybe one could pursue a project-based/entrepreneurial activity of some sort while the other could guarantee some 'stability' from a 'traditional' job." Continue reading →

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Americans Aren’t Buying the Media’s Push For A War In Syria

"While the mainstream media has enjoyed a monopoly on this thought-enforcement for decades, thanks to decentralized power of the internet there are signs that Americans are starting to wake up. Administration claims, whether they be about the next country that needs to be bombed or the status of the economy, are now more easily scrutinized than ever before. Rather than an acceptable, bipartisan mainstream and a kooky fringe, slowly but surely the real ideological battle lines are being drawn: individualism vs. authoritarianism. Those of us who believe in peace and the Bill of Rights on one side, and those who believe in unlimited state power on the other." Continue reading →

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Turkish protester’s tear-gas death sparks angry new demonstrations in Istanbul

"Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at thousands of people who gathered in Istanbul Tuesday to protest the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator in southern Turkey. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people rallied on the outskirts of Taksim Square, scene of unprecedented mass anti-government protests in June, and shouted slogans including 'Taksim will be the graveyard of fascism', an AFP journalist witnessed. Police prevented the protesters from entering the square, before pushing them back using tear gas and plastic bullets. Ahmet Atakan died in hospital Monday night after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister during clashes between police and around 150 protesters." Continue reading →

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Israel closes probe into Palestinian activist’s tear-gas death

"Israel’s army has decided to close an investigation into the killing of a Palestinian activist during a West Bank demonstration in 2009, an Israeli rights group said Tuesday. According to B’Tselem, the military’s prosecutor general had decided to close the case for lack of evidence. Bassem Abu Rahmeh, 30, who was struck in the chest by a tear-gas canister on April 17, 2009 at a protest in the village of Bilin, and died of his wounds. The army had decided to open an investigation into Abu Rahmeh’s death in 2010 after a team of international experts found its forces had fired the tear gas in violation of regulations." Continue reading →

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How Millennials will shape the future of work

"92 percent of Millennials believe that business should be measured by more than just profit and should focus on a societal purpose. Millennials want the flexibility to work from home and make their own hours. A Cisco study shows that 70 percent of students believe it is unnecessary to be in an office regularly. Millennials will make working from home or from shared office spaces the norm — goodbye cubicles! The New York Times reports that the average amount of office space per employees in the U.S. has already dropped from 400 square feet to 250 and in the future will be reduced to 150. The idea that we’ll be walking into a major office building will face away." Continue reading →

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