Google used a secret program called “Bernanke” that used historical bidding data to give its ad-buying system a major advantage over its rivals, an antitrust lawsuit filing claims, a program that earned the company hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Google is in the process of dealing with an antitrust lawsuit from a group of state attorneys general, about its advertising technology and ad industry dominance. In a response to the lawsuit filed by Google in early April, the search company accidentally let slip of some of its behind-the-scenes work.

In the initial version of the filing, seen by the Wall Street Journal, Google failed to properly redact some sections, revealing the secretive business elements. A federal judge allowed Google to refile the properly-redacted version under seal.

Source: Apple Insider

Bernanke? Does that tell you something? Oh yeah right! The head of the US Federal Reserve. The one responsible for zero interest rates and money printing. And for the billions of billions for the banks in the financial crisis. For the largest bottom-up redistribution of wealth in the history of the world. That Bernanke!

It’s a zombie economy. For 40 years, we’ve eroded the wages of workers and transfered their share of profit and productivity to owners of capital. This is a problem, because people need money to buy things, and if they run out of money, they stop buying and profits vanish.

Source: Cory Doctorow

Today I present a very special treat. Conservative groups in Alabama uphold a ban on yoga in school citing fears of the practice spreading Hinduism.

Legislation that would have allowed yoga to be taught in Alabama public schools died in committee Wednesday, stalling a years-long battle by one state legislator to bring the practice back.

Bill AL HB246 was put forth by Alabama State Rep. Jeremy Gray, who wrote that bringing yoga back to school would be voluntary. It sought to overturn a ban on the practice in Alabama schools in place since 1993.

Source: Insider

Just as in the Middle Ages: “Witches are made of wood. That’s why they swim.”