I'm looking at Usain's tagline on twitter:

The most naturally gifted athlete the world has ever seen

I know this is an issue for some people. I can pretty much run through the whole thing in my head--black athletes are naturally gifted, they're fierce, white athletes are clever, have heart, work to get where they are, etc.

I can never tell from just one sentence (especially without attribution), if it's one of the ones that does mean "oh, and they have so much rhythm besides..." or it's just a thing that's true.

But it does catch my eye.

Jessica,

His phones were backed up to icloud, but his computer(s) weren't. He didn't backup his computers to a hard disk. If he had done that, and had 2-factor authentication turned on for gmail, he would have experienced a few hours of inconvenience, but nothing more than that.

His phones were backed up to icloud, but his computer(s) weren't.

Ah, got it.

I have to say, I find the "IS THE CLOUD DANGEROUS?" response to this whole thing pretty baffling. If he'd backed up to Carbonite or something, he wouldn't have lost anything!

If he'd backed up to Carbonite or something, he wouldn't have lost anything!

Assuming they didn't hack that too.

If he'd backed up to Carbonite or something, he wouldn't have lost anything!

Okay, this is where I have to admit maybe I don't understand the concept of The Cloud. Because...Carbonite is an online backup service, right? How is that not a "Cloud" thing? (Or are people specifically talking about Apple's iCloud?)

right. they went to a lot of trouble to target him in particular and wipe him out. I wonder if he knows his hackers.

He knows one of the hackers now. He talked to one of them via twitter, and told the hacker he wouldn't press charges if the hacker told him how the hacker did it. Which the hacker did.

An "extremely rare anti-masturbation device" - Boing Boing

The rare 19th century item is made of copper and was designed to be worn by boys so they could not commit the 'sin'. Attached to a belt it would have encased the genitalia. The bizarre antique dates back to around 1880 and was used in Catholic France. It is being offered for sale on auction website eBay with a starting price of £750.

Seller David Burns, of Curious Science, says that during a quarter of a century dealing in medical curiosities he has never had one for sale... "This is the first example we have offered for sale in 24 years. The condition is excellent. Three and half inches top to base."

Okay, this is where I have to admit maybe I don't understand the concept of The Cloud. Because...Carbonite is an online backup service, right? How is that not a "Cloud" thing? (Or are people specifically talking about Apple's iCloud?)

I also admit ignorance here. Isn't The Cloud online storage? And how is it different from iCloud?

tommy,

is that right? did he find out why he was targeted?