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Link Round Up and the Week Ahead

Posted: 14th September 2012
By: CHRIS
Link Round Up and the Week Ahead

Here are a few favorite stories from the past week, and given recent events be sure to follow our monitoring of events in Egypt and Libya:

A Timeline Of The Attacks In Libya And Egypt — And The Responses (Talking Points Memo) –

“An anti-Muslim video posted on YouTube was the apparent trigger for violent protests Tuesday at the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. By Wednesday morning news reports confirmed U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three U.S. staffers had been killed. A crush of initial reports and public comments confused the order and location of key events.”

The Weatherman Is Not a Moron  (The New York Times) –

“Why are weather forecasters succeeding when other predictors fail? It’s because long ago they came to accept the imperfections in their knowledge. That helped them understand that even the most sophisticated computers, combing through seemingly limitless data, are painfully ill equipped to predict something as dynamic as weather all by themselves. So as fields like economics began relying more on Big Data, meteorologists recognized that data on its own isn’t enough.”

Sensitive Words: Xi Jinping and More (China Digital Times) –

“As of September 11, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function). Xi Jinping: Hu Jintao’s presumed heir apparent has not been seen in 11 days, leading to wild speculation about his whereabouts.”

Pro-al Qaeda group seen behind deadly Benghazi attack (CNN) –

“The group suspected to be behind the assault — the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades — first surfaced in May when it claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi. The following month the group claimed responsibility for detonating an explosive device outside the U.S. Consulate and later released a video of that attack.”

When Networks Network (ScienceNews) –

“Findings so far suggest that networks of networks pose risks of catastrophic danger that can exceed the risks in isolated systems. A seemingly benign disruption can generate rippling negative effects. Those effects can cost millions of dollars, or even billions, when stock markets crash, half of India loses power or an Icelandic volcano spews ash into the sky, shutting down air travel and overwhelming hotels and rental car companies. In other cases, failure within a network of networks can mean the difference between a minor disease outbreak or a pandemic, a foiled terrorist attack or one that kills thousands of people.”

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