The UK goes dark to mark the lives lost during World War I
A policeman stands guard as a lantern is placed at the front door of Number 10 Downing Street during “Lights Out”, as part of commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I on August 4, 2014.
Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I — a deadly conflict that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers and civilians.
The United Kingdom went all out to commemorate the lives lost and rememeber the historic conflict. Among the tributes was a sea of red poppies planted around the Tower of London — red poppies are a powerful memorial to the dead of World War I around the British Commonwealth.
In addition, the UK turned out its lights for an hour to honor the dead, and commenced a week's worth of tributes. Among them were light shows, readings of the dead and simple moments of silence. The Guardian has a collection of photos from Monday night in London.
(Editor's note: The Global Scan can be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Just register and sign up today.)
Click here for FBI surveillance
OK, not really. But the idea isn't far from reality. For years, hackers have been able to infect the computers of people who visit a specific website. Merely by loading the site, the hacker installs malware onto the visitor's computer. But now, the FBI is getting in on the act. If you visit a certain website, you could find your computer being monitored by the FBI.
Wired looks at the FBI program, which was designed to circumvent the TOR anonymous browsing protocol and allow the FBI to track people suspected of dealing in child pornography or other nefarious products. But there's a side effect: a lot of innocent people are being swept up in the FBI net. And that has some critics outraged.
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Stereotypes aside, the Caribbean, on paper at least, isn't a place that's all that friendly to legalized use of marijuana — but that could be changing. The Jamaican government is poised to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot, for personal use. The new rules would take effect next month. There's a movement in Grenada to do the same.
Global Voices looks at the arguments pro and con, as well as the prospects for decriminalization, or out-and-out legalization, around the Caribbean islands. Either way, though, the effort to roll back restrictions on marijuana that has swept through several US states as well as Uruguay seems poised to grow even further.
A brief history of unsettling photos of Kim Jong Un
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, like his father before him, likes to look at things — and the country's state-owned media organization dutifully distributes the photos of him looking to the world. But not all of them are exactly comforting or even pleasant. The Independent gathered some of the more "unsettling" photos of Kim Jong Un looking at things.
Among the photos? Kim watching a missile take off, Kim giving guidance to lackluster meteorologists, Kim inspecting the latest military technology and even Kim laughing maniacly while looking on at a group of children. That isn't creepy or unsettling at all.
Embrace your love of AC/DC
What? You don't associate AC/DC with public media? Maybe you should. PRI's The World looks at AC/DC's Australian roots, through the eyes of a new book that appropriately tells people who aren't fans of AC/DC to "stop being so bloody pretentious!" Author Jesse Fink says it's OK to rock, it's OK to feel connected to AC/DC even as an adult — after all, his own connection to AC/DC came about as he was dealing with a divorce just a few years ago.
Of course, we couldn't do an AC/DC story without collecting some of the best AC/DC covers on the Internet. So make sure to scroll to the bottom of the story to hear our favorites. And leave your favorite AC/DC covers in the comments.
What we're seeing on social
Weather around the world
One person is dead from a serious wildfire in Sweden as heat sweeps the northern nation and and the blaze engulfs thousands of acres and imperils about 1000 homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, it's the worst wild fire in more than 40 years. Monday's high temperature of 92 degrees Fahrenheit, 33 Celsius, in Stockholm is the hottest it has been there in more than 20 years. Firefighters say it could take weeks or even months to fully extinguish the blaze.
Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I — a deadly conflict that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers and civilians.
The United Kingdom went all out to commemorate the lives lost and rememeber the historic conflict. Among the tributes was a sea of red poppies planted around the Tower of London — red poppies are a powerful memorial to the dead of World War I around the British Commonwealth.
In addition, the UK turned out its lights for an hour to honor the dead, and commenced a week's worth of tributes. Among them were light shows, readings of the dead and simple moments of silence. The Guardian has a collection of photos from Monday night in London.
(Editor's note: The Global Scan can be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Just register and sign up today.)
Click here for FBI surveillance
OK, not really. But the idea isn't far from reality. For years, hackers have been able to infect the computers of people who visit a specific website. Merely by loading the site, the hacker installs malware onto the visitor's computer. But now, the FBI is getting in on the act. If you visit a certain website, you could find your computer being monitored by the FBI.
Wired looks at the FBI program, which was designed to circumvent the TOR anonymous browsing protocol and allow the FBI to track people suspected of dealing in child pornography or other nefarious products. But there's a side effect: a lot of innocent people are being swept up in the FBI net. And that has some critics outraged.
Is the Caribbean the next frontier for legalized marijuana?
Stereotypes aside, the Caribbean, on paper at least, isn't a place that's all that friendly to legalized use of marijuana — but that could be changing. The Jamaican government is poised to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot, for personal use. The new rules would take effect next month. There's a movement in Grenada to do the same.
Global Voices looks at the arguments pro and con, as well as the prospects for decriminalization, or out-and-out legalization, around the Caribbean islands. Either way, though, the effort to roll back restrictions on marijuana that has swept through several US states as well as Uruguay seems poised to grow even further.
A brief history of unsettling photos of Kim Jong Un
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, like his father before him, likes to look at things — and the country's state-owned media organization dutifully distributes the photos of him looking to the world. But not all of them are exactly comforting or even pleasant. The Independent gathered some of the more "unsettling" photos of Kim Jong Un looking at things.
Among the photos? Kim watching a missile take off, Kim giving guidance to lackluster meteorologists, Kim inspecting the latest military technology and even Kim laughing maniacly while looking on at a group of children. That isn't creepy or unsettling at all.
Embrace your love of AC/DC
What? You don't associate AC/DC with public media? Maybe you should. PRI's The World looks at AC/DC's Australian roots, through the eyes of a new book that appropriately tells people who aren't fans of AC/DC to "stop being so bloody pretentious!" Author Jesse Fink says it's OK to rock, it's OK to feel connected to AC/DC even as an adult — after all, his own connection to AC/DC came about as he was dealing with a divorce just a few years ago.
Of course, we couldn't do an AC/DC story without collecting some of the best AC/DC covers on the Internet. So make sure to scroll to the bottom of the story to hear our favorites. And leave your favorite AC/DC covers in the comments.
What we're seeing on social
Weather around the world
One person is dead from a serious wildfire in Sweden as heat sweeps the northern nation and and the blaze engulfs thousands of acres and imperils about 1000 homes. According to the Wall Street Journal, it's the worst wild fire in more than 40 years. Monday's high temperature of 92 degrees Fahrenheit, 33 Celsius, in Stockholm is the hottest it has been there in more than 20 years. Firefighters say it could take weeks or even months to fully extinguish the blaze.
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