Are Internet Providers Slowing Down Netflix on Purpose?

Verizon, Comcast and others are claiming slow streaming is due to congestion, but it may be a ploy to get users to pay for faster service; an international charity highlighted Syrian children’s needs with a heartwarming experiment; meanwhile, Uganda’s president signed a harsh anti-gay bill. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Is Netflix Slowing Down? Good Luck Finding Out Why The FCC wants to force ISPs to show whether delays are due to unavoidable congestion or created to extract fees from content providers.

Do Tell, MIT, What Exactly Is Street-Fighting Mathematics? A plea from a frustrated graduate school admissions reviewer: Professors, give your course a title indicative of its content.

Uganda’s President Signs Anti-Gay Bill Uganda’s president on Monday signed a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual sex, saying it is needed to deter what he called the West’s “social imperialism” promoting homosexuality in Africa.

Strangers Give Coats, Gloves to Shivering Boy SOS Children’s Villages, an international charity, set up an experiment to draw attention to the plight of Syrian children.

The Rising Cost of Protecting the 1% High-net-worth individuals have always worried about protecting their wealth.

Knesset Bill Threatens Israeli-Arab Representation or years, relations have been tense between veteran chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee David Rotem of Yisrael Beiteinu Party, and the Arab Knesset members.

Glass, Darkly For its wearable computer to be accepted, Google must convince people that the device isn’t creepy.