Security guards have a bad reputation for wanton enforcement of arbitrary rules. Is it deserved? Watch this video of a guard at Ground Zero silence a bunch of North Carolina school kids while they’re singing the National Anthem and decide for yourself.
Uber warned its drivers in China last Friday to stay away from mass protests against the ride-sharing service in the interest of “social order,” and threatened to fire any driver caught lingering near a protest scene, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company said it intended to enforce the order by tracking drivers’ GPS records to catch anyone who might disobey.
Ai Weiwei, the artist behind the 2008 Olympics' famous Bird's Nest stadium (and last year's Tate Modern Turbine Hall show), has been detained by Chinese authorities in Beijing after attempting to board a flight to Hong Kong. Ai—a funny guy whose "Study in Perspective" series has a special place in our eternally-teenaged hearts—has been "keeping an informal tally" on Twitter of the writers and activists detained by China in its latest series of crackdowns; as of this writing it's unclear whether he'd been "formally detained" (bad news) or simply held for questioning (less bad news). Police have also surrounded his Beijing studio and cut off its power, just in case any art escapes. [WSJ; image via MoMA ("Study in Perspective - Beijing") and AP]
On the anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution—which launched the nation's current, contested regime—Iran has blocked Gmail and slowed all internet service to such a crawl that some say they can't access any web-based email. A Google spokeswoman confirmed a "sharp drop in traffic." She continued, "Sadly, sometimes it is not within our control." [NYT]
