Oops. Things just turned serious.

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A State Department official in charge of the department during two of the three breaches into the passport files of Sen. Barack Obama has a direct tie to Bill and Hillary Clinton and department officials are investigating whether she furnished information to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Maura Harty was in charge of the Bureau Of Consular Affairs during the first two breaches of Obama’s passport. Former President Bill Clinton appointed her to an ambassadorship during his Presidency.

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Sony LaptopSony and crapware have a special relationship, so much so that it takes over two minutes for its laptops to boot into Windows (compare that with 30 seconds for a MacBook). The company has even issued press statements explaining its reasoning: “The programs are carefully selected and provide benefits to many consumers, up to 30% of whom act on the offers.”

And if you read the rest of the article, you have to wonder - are they selling you a laptop, or are they selling your eyeballs to the crapware merchants?

Last night YouTube announced the 2007 Video Awards winners, as voted by online viewers.

Here’s one of the winners:

The others:

Adorable — Laughing Baby.

Comedy — Potter Puppet Pals in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise”.

Commentary — LonelyGirl15 is Dead!.

Creative — The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond.

Eyewitness — Battle at Kruger.

Inspirational — Blind Painter.

Instructional — How to solve a Rubik’s Cube (Part One).

Music — “Chocolate Rain” Original Song by Tay Zonday.

Politics — Stop the Clash of Civilizations.

Series — The Guild - Episode 1: Wake-Up Call.

Short Film — my name is lisa.

Sports — balloon bowl.

Nominees in each category.

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The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany has ruled that the identities of file-sharers must remain private and can no longer be revealed to media companies who accuse them of copyright infringement. In future, only those accused of ‘heavy’ crimes such as murder, child pornography or kidnapping will be revealed.

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Uncle Milton Industries has been selling ant farms to children since 1956. Some years ago, I remember opening one up with a friend. There were no actual ants included in the box. Instead, there was a card that you filled in with your address, and the company would mail you some ants. My friend expressed surprise that you could get ants sent to you in the mail.

I replied: “What’s really interesting is that these people will send a tube of live ants to anyone you tell them to.”

Security requires a particular mindset. Security professionals — at least the good ones — see the world differently. They can’t walk into a store without noticing how they might shoplift. They can’t use a computer without wondering about the security vulnerabilities. They can’t vote without trying to figure out how to vote twice. They just can’t help it.

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A top investment bank said yesterday that some of its traders had tried to protect their massive bonuses with a £1.4billion scam.

Credit Suisse was forced to admit it will pay the price for the traders’ ruthless scheming by sinking into the red.

All the traders involved - some of them based in London - have been fired or suspended.

Shares in the bank, which is based in Zurich, tumbled 7.5 per cent yesterday.

I guess I’m going to have to create a full “Robber Barons” category on this weblog now…

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Camp Hill Mayor Lou Thieblemont switched his lifelong Republican registration this week so he can vote for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama in Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary.

“I’m sick and tired of the politics of fear in this country. He’s the only one who doesn’t do that,” Thieblemont said of Obama. “He’s the only candidate who’s said he’d talk to our enemies and try to get some common ground.”

A retired airline pilot, Thieblemont, 62, said he doesn’t believe the Bush administration’s claims that the United States is safer now. “We’re all alone in the world. We have basically lost all our friends in the world with comments like ‘bring it on.’”

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Two State Department employees were fired and a third has been disciplined for improperly accessing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s passport file, the State Department announced Thursday night.

Senior Department officials said they learned of the incidents only when a reporter made an inquiry Thursday afternoon. They said an initial investigation indicated the employees - all of whom worked on contract - were motivated by “imprudent curiosity.”

[..]

The employees were each caught because of a computer monitoring system that is alerted when the passport account of a “high-profile person” is accessed, department spokesman Tom Casey said.

In other words, just a bunch of morons. I’m pretty sure State Department tells every employee with access to the system about this monitoring…

Telling a story via Google Maps. I’m not sure it works, but it sure is a new way of doing things…

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But what happens when you combine typography with motion? That’’s the process of kinematic typography and the results, when paired with some excellent scenes from your favorite films and TV shows, can be moving and marvelous. Here are some of the best examples of film kinematic typography on the web.

One example:

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There is a rich, deep kind of irony that must be shared. I’m blogging this from the Apple store in the Mall of America, because I’m too amused to want to wait until I get back to my hotel room.

I went to attend a screening of the creationist propaganda movie, Expelled, a few minutes ago. Well, I tried … but I was Expelled! It was kind of weird — I was standing in line, hadn’t even gotten to the point where I had to sign in and show ID, and a policeman pulled me out of line and told me I could not go in. I asked why, of course, and he said that a producer of the film had specifically instructed him that I was not to be allowed to attend. The officer also told me that if I tried to go in, I would be arrested. I assured him that I wasn’t going to cause any trouble.

If you want to know what the “rich, deep kind of irony” actually is, follow the link and read the story. It’s the best laugh you’re going to get today!