Input Junkie

Overview of searches, imprisonment, and electronic equipment seizures at the borders, which seem to be targeted at people who aren't keeping their heads down enough-- a student of Islamic studies, a programmer associated with defending Bradley Manning, a woman who's made a film about anti-US insurgents in Iraq and another about radicals in Yemen. Admittedly, sometimes apparently random people get harassed, too.

"Courts have long held that Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches do not apply at the border" -- I had no idea this was doctrine, but I suppose it explains a lot of what's going on.

An editorial about the above: Laptop seizures have a chilling effect

A number of cities are installing audio surveillance on buses. Are you feeling safer now?

"Cities that have installed the systems or have taken steps to procure them include San Francisco, California; Eugene, Oregon; Traverse City, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio; Baltimore Maryland; Hartford, Connecticut; and Athens, Georgia."

New $50 bill can't be saved, scanned, or printed.

The thing is, I believe that I usually have a pretty good idea of what's technologically possible, and I can't imagine how such a thing could be done. Has anyone actually tried scanning a $50 bill?

I can imagine ways around such a limitation (scan the bill in small sections, make a slightly blurry scan, use a scanner that wasn't made in the US....), but maybe I'm missing something.

I bet that the low-res image would be good enough to spend in a harried ill-lit environment like a bar.