False Alarm of the Day: Dutch Schools Temporarily Close Due to Shooting Threat on 4chan

More than 20 schools in the city of Leiden, Netherlands were closed today after a shooting threat was posted on 4chan over the weekend. Thanks to a tip from Swiss police, the Dutch government was able to announce the school closings Sunday night. As of Monday afternoon, a former student of The British School in the Netherlands had been arrested in conjunction with the threat.

(Source: theverge.com)

We Must Dig Deeper of the Day: In Search of Sunil Tripathi

Despite the partial sense of closure that was brought to the Boston Marathon bombing case this past weekend, the missing Brown University student who was wrongly accused of being a suspect is still nowhere to be found. Do you want to help? Join Facebook and Reddit in the ongoing search of Sunil Tripathi.

Open Internet Red Alert: A Blackout Protest Erupts After House Passes CISPA (Again)

Today, hundreds of websites, subreddits and Tumblr blogs are participating in a day-long blackout protest led by Anonymous against the the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protect Act (CISPA) passed by the House last Thursday. For the complete listing of websites participating in the blackout, check out the index page over at AnonyOps.

Space News of the Day: Three Exoplanets May Be Life-Sustainable

After four years circling space looking for new planets, the Kepler spacecraft has identified three planets that look like they could possibly sustain life. The first two, known as Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f (shown above, top and middle), are approximately 1,200 light-years away and have estimated temperatures of -3 degrees C (26.6 F) and -65 degrees C (-85 F) respectively. The third planet, Kepler-69c (shown above, bottom) boasts a summer day-like temperature of 27 degrees C (80.6 F). Some scientists think these planets could actually be covered in oceans, but they are unsure if they would be composed of water or some other liquid.

(Source: Wired)

Open Internet Red Alert: China Expands Social Media Censorship

China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has upped the ante on media censorship, with new regulations targeting editorial content, news sites and social media. The expanded powers come off the heels of another controversy involving SARFT’s decision to bleep the word “censorship” (yo dawg…) from renowned Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s award acceptance speech for Director of the Year last Friday.

(Source: stream.aljazeera.com)

Fan Art of the Day: The Gauntlet of Infinity

Could Patton Oswalt’s Marvel-crossover vision for the next Star Wars film actually become a reality? Redditor Criticalbuzz made this colorful mock-up poster in homage to Oswalt’s multi-verse script idea that he pitched during his recent appearance in an episode of Parks and Recreation. In the episode, Oswalt guest stars as a filibustering citizen who launches into an impressive non-stop eight-minute long improvised speech at a town hall meeting.

(Source: reddit.com)