nspiring Moments to Remember Nelson Mandela

Former South African President Nelson Mandela died at age 95 on Thursday after months of fighting illness and lung infection, South Africa President Jacob Zuma confirmed. The anti-apartheid revolutionary and the country's first black president was known for his compassion and progress through peaceful resistance. Mandela spent 27 years in prison for treason of the white minority government and was released in 1990 after negotiating with his captors. He went on to lead the first fully democratic election in the country's history. His contributions and the number of people he inspired are innumerable

Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

Nelson Mandela died today in Johannesburg at the age of 95. Earlier this year, during Mandela's illness, Eve Fairbanks prepared this assesment of his life and legacy. Soon after I moved to South Africa in 2009, I rode through Soweto, the historic black township south of Johannesburg, with a young black journalist and public relations guru named Brian Mahlangu. The editor of a new design magazine, Mahlangu wanted to show me the township’s nascent sexy side. But the more we drove around, the more agitated he became. Soweto has some glorious houses, but where the lawns end and the sidewalks begin sit drifts of bleached-out Coke bottles, cheese-curl packets, empty KFC containers, chicken bones. South Africans litter profusely; Soweto’s parks are landscaped with garbage

World Leaders Honor Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and the man who fought to end apartheid, died at the age of 95 on Thursday. See also: 11 Inspiring Moments to Remember Nelson Mandela While tributes to his life almost immediately flooded Twitter, many of those came from world leaders, a selection of which are posted below: Nelson Mandela was inspirational. On behalf of NZ I’d like to express my sincere condolences to his family and all South Africans. — John Key (@johnkeypm) December 5, 2013 A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time. I've asked for the flag at No10 to be flown at half mast. — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 5, 2013

New 'Empire Strikes Back' featurette shows storyboards from classic asteroid chase

The promotion blitz for Star Wars: Episode VII is well under way. The franchise hit Instagram only days ago, and now a new featurette has landed on YouTube, featuring the Millennium Falcon's famous flight through the Hoth asteroid field. The clip, taken from The Empire Strikes Back, shows storyboards from the scene, exposing how the pre-production wizards envisioned the chase before filming. Hopefully more archival footage is released between now and when Episode VII hits theaters in December 2015.

Measles cases spiked in 2013, US health experts warn

It's been fifty years since the United States approved a vaccine to prevent measles — and more than a decade since the disease was declared eliminated in the country. But now, the rate of measles is once again on the rise: a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has concluded that 2013 saw measles infections increase to three times the typical number. A total of 175 confirmed measles cases have been diagnosed so far this year, most of them clustered in one of nine outbreaks that occurred across the country. And of those diagnoses, a whopping 98 percent were in patients who hadn't been vaccinated. "This is isn't the failure of a vaccine; it's the failure to vaccinate," Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director, told reporters at a press conference earlier today. "This is isn't the failure of a vaccine; it's the failure to vaccinate." Even after measles vaccines became commonplace in the US, the country still saw "imported" cases of measles on an annual basis — largely international visitors infected with the virus. In pockets of the country with low vaccination rates, however, that poses a serious threat: earlier this year, several unvaccinated members of a Texas mega-church became infected with measles after a local contracted measles overseas. According to the CDC, nearly every measles infection this past year can be linked back to international travel. "A measles outbreak anywhere is a risk everywhere," Frieden said. "The steady arrival of measles in the United States is a constant reminder that deadly diseases are testing our health security every day."

Instagram wants to share a moment with you next Thursday

Instagram is holding an event in New York City next week hosted by company CEO Kevin Systrom. The invitations include a card asking recipients to "share a moment" with Systrom and the Instagram team, and are each accompanied by a woodblock print of a square, filtered photograph. There are no details on what Instagram might announce, and while the physical blocks might imply a photo printing service, the latest rumors are that a messaging feature is in the works. The event will begin at 10AM next Thursday, December 12th, and you'll be able to turn here for all the news.

Mysterious Internet data hijacking operation discovered

A sizable chunk of Internet traffic made an unnoticed pit stop in Belarus and Iceland at several points over the past year, a security firm said today. Renesys, a company that monitors online activity, says some Internet traffic was hijacked en route to the US and other locations, including government destinations as part of a scheme of unknown origin. "These redirections took place on an almost daily basis throughout February, with the set of victim networks changing daily," Renesys chief technology officer Jim Cowie wrote in a post about some of the hijacking activity last month. "Victims whose traffic was diverted varied by day, and included major financial institutions, governments, and network service providers." On that list are places like the US, Germany, South Korea, and Iran. Victims varied by day, including major financial institutions and governments It remains unknown who exactly is behind the effort, or what happened with the data, including whether it was copied. Wired reports that the hijacking used the Border Gateway Protocol internet standard, which allowed the redirecting to go unnoticed by users on the final end of the equation since they still received their data — even with a stop along the way.