Guardian Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

[…]

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

….read the whole Guardian Exclusive HERE

….read the Court Order HERE

Some have decried F1 as too political, a haven for spoiled rich kids, and an empire run by a billionaire tyrant who is eccentric at best. But the race in Monte Carlo is grand in the best sense of the word: Fast**, colorful, loud, dangerous, interesting and spectated by some of the wealthiest people on earth.*** 

When I was there last week I saw the single largest conglomerate of 6-foot tall women with impeccable skin and hair worth thousands in upkeep I’ve ever seen. They flocked to pop-up clubs like Amber Lounge and Billionaire’s Club, followed closely by solitary or two-by-two 40-something men in collared shirts and blazers.

It cost 800 Euros per person to get into the Amber Lounge and 300 Euros per person plus a two-bottle minimum to get into the famous Jimmyz club. One close friend told me he personally saw a man spend $200,000 in one night at the Billionaire’s Club. (This year it was located at the bottom of the Fairmont Hotel. The Amber Lounge was in Le Méridien.)

…..read & view it all HERE

Why prestige is the enemy of passion, or how to master the balance of setting boundaries and making friends.

“Find something more important than you are,” philosopher Dan Dennett once said in discussing the secret of happiness,“and dedicate your life to it.” But how, exactly, do we find that? Surely, it isn’t by luck. I myself am a firm believer in the power of curiosity and choice as the engine of fulfillment, but precisely how you arrive at your true calling is an intricate and highly individual dance of discovery. Still, there are certain factors — certain choices — that make it easier. Gathered here are insights from seven thinkers who have contemplated the art-science of making your life’s calling a living.

What you should not do, I think, is worry about the opinion of anyone beyond your friends. You shouldn’t worry about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world.

[…]

Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like.

[…]

Prestige is just fossilized inspiration. If you do anything well enough, you’ll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mind—though almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself.

Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That’s the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on. It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn’t suck, they wouldn’t have had to make it prestigious.”

More of Graham’s wisdom on how to find meaning and make wealth can be found in Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age

……read thinker’s 2-7 and all the links HERE