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Flash cookies placed by many of the most popular Web sites are being used to track site visitors, even going so far as to re-create http tracking cookies after they're deleted by privacy-conscious surfers. A new study released by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and other universites found that the Flash cookies, or local shared objects, are used on 54 of the top 100 Web sites, as ranked by Quantcast. The Flash cookies are stored in a different location than regular http cookies, and are not removed if you delete cookies from within your browser. Per the report,...

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups. A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House OMB to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards... Supporters of a change say social networking and similar services, which often take advantage of the tracking technologies, have transformed how people communicate over the Internet, and Obama's aides say those services can make government more transparent and...

Federal Websites: Cookie Policy During the Open Government Initiative outreach, Federal employees and the public have asked us questions about the federal government’s policy on cookies. As part of our effort to create a more open and innovative government, we’re working on a new cookie policy that we’ll want your input on. But before we get into that, let’s provide some context. In June 2000, the OMB Director issued a memorandum (M-00-13, later updated by M-03-22)) that prohibited Federal agencies from using certain web-tracking technologies, primarily persistent cookies, due to privacy concerns, unless the agency head approved of these technologies...

Executives at online-advertising giant Google are helping President Obama and Capitol Hill legislators get their messages out to the public, but they're facing nascent opposition from privacy advocates and small competitors who say Google is inappropriately using its presence on government Web sites to track users' political activities online. These critics say that Google, aided by the White House, is using "cookie" software and the popular goal of government transparency to boost its own revenues and to build a vast database of citizens' political attitudes. Google's expanding role in government is illustrated by the deals that Google struck with the...

Since we've all worked hard all week, It's time to kick back, relax, forget about politics and enjoy a nice full glass of iced tea or Soda. Enjoy

Just as is the case with the newspaper industry, it seems as though the organization behind the Girl Scouts hasn't fully grasped how to integrate the Web into its business model. After one enterprising scout tried promoting her cookie sale online, the Girl Scouts of America got wise and stopped the little operation because it was against its rules. Little Wild Freeborn, 8, of Asheville, NC, wanted to sell 12,000 boxes of the cookies so that she and her troop could get a free trip to Scout summer camp. After doing the door-to-door bit, Wild posted a YouTube video to...

She is bright-eyed, pig-tailed and resplendent in Girl Scout green and a multitude of merit badges. Wild Freeborn -- adorable and age 8 -- has caused considerable hubbub with entrepreneurial spirit and a little homemade video. "Help me help others. Buy cookies. They're yummy," little Wild says in her one-minute sales pitch for Thin Mints, Samoas and other traditional mainstays of Girl Scout cookie cuisine. The modest message included an online order form, was videotaped by her father, Bryan Freeborn, in the family living room in Brevard, N.C., and posted at YouTube.com But not for long. • Click here for...

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 – Deployed servicemembers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Kuwait will not miss out on Girl Scout cookies this year, thanks to the troop-support group “Hugs for Our Soldiers.” Brownie Troop 61, from Duluth, Ga., display the Girl Scout cookies they plan to send to deployed sevicemembers as part of “Operation: Taste of Home.” Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The group’s first Girl Scout cookie drive was in 2004. Five years later, the group continues to partner with Gwen Lawrence and her Brownie Troop 61 to collect cookies for “Operation: Taste of Home.”...

It's been over a month since Greenwich Village baker Ted Kefalinos sparked outrage over his so-called "Drunken Negro Face" cookies, and the controversy will still not go away, despite his fumbling attempts to apologize. The New Black Panthers have been protesting on Saturdays outside his bakery, and the Secret Service paid him a visit because of his alleged remarks that "Obama will get he deserves, just like Lincoln." In a Villager article that can only be described as pure gold, Kefalinos says, "I get both sides. I get people who praise me and call me genius. I even got one...

Two Girl Scouts and their troop leader were robbed as they sold cookies outside a San Antonio store, reports say. The 9-year-old girls were packing up after hours of selling cookies outside a Walgreens in the city's North Side on Wednesday night when a man approached and stole their money, about $250, WOAI.com reports. No injuries were reported. "Both little girls are scared," the troop leader, who did not want to be identified, told WOAI.com. "And they've learned, firsthand, there are bad people out there."

(News 4 WOAI) Two little girls and their troop leader were robbed outside a North Side store Wednesday night. The Brownie troop leader became emotional as she told News 4 WOAI how she witnessed the thief steal from the two 3rd graders. "They didn't take it from me. They took it from my girls," the troop leader said. The 9-year-olds had set up and sold their cookies at the Walgreens in the Medical Center several times before, and everything had been fine. But Wednesday night, a man stole all of their hard-earned money. "We were finishing up our shift and...

Freeper Canteen:What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?   Today We Want To Know...What Girl Scout Cookie You Are Click here and take the quiz! At the last question, choose HTML, then submit, to get your answer. After you do so, please post your findings in the Canteen!   Have fun!

MYFOXNY.COM - Arnold Diaz's report about a pastry shop in Greenwich Village selling what the owner called "Drunken Negro Face" cookies generated strong reactions.

[UPDATE BELOW] At at a time when any decent baker should have been selling racially harmonious black and white cookies by the truckload, one Greenwich Village bakery popular with celebrities and shows like Sex and the City has outraged neighbors by selling a "Drunken Negro Face" cookie in, um, "honor" of President Obama. [Video below.] A shocked customer tells My Fox NY that Ted Kefalinos, proprietor of Lafayette French Pastry, asked her, "Would you like some drunken negro heads to go with your coffee? They're in honor of our new president. He's following in the same path of Abraham Lincoln;...

Beginning Jan. 16, Girl Scouts of the Moccasin Bend Council will be practicing Spanish as they ask customers to purchase the Dulce de Leche (DOOL-seh deh LEH-chay) cookies which means "candy of milk." Inspired by the classic confections of Latin America, the all-new Dulce de Leche cookies are rich with milk caramel chips and stripes and have a hint of cinnamon. This latest Girl Scout cookie adds an international flair to this year's Girl Scout Cookie Season. This new cookie also gives Girl Scouts a unique opportunity to celebrate Latin-American cultures and learn a little "Cookie Spanish" at the same...

I have had emails to 2 of my lists recently posting the same thing about Yahoo using web beacons. It makes it sound pretty concerning, saying they are tracking you where ever you go on the internet if you use any yahoo groups. I did a search, but couldn't find anything recent even on snopes. Anyone know what these are? Are they something to be concerned about? I tend to be skeptical, but still, I'd like to make sure. In part it says:Do you belong to any Yahoo groups because Yahoo is Tracking Group Members If you belong to ANY...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Dec. 24, 2008 – Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers gathered at the Ironhorse Oasis Dining Facility here Dec. 21 to celebrate Christmas in a traditional way by decorating Christmas cookies. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers decorate Christmas cookies to liven the holiday spirit at the Ironhorse Oasis Dining Facility at Camp Victory, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Lyndsey Dransfield  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As Christmas movies played in the background, the soldiers sat around a table filled with colorful frosting, sprinkles and cookies shaped as snowmen, angels and Christmas trees -- laughing...

Welcome to the ~ Freeper Canteen ~ Christmas Cookie Exchange To all you wonderful bakers out there......do you have a favorite cookie recipe? We've made some Gingersnaps to share..... The World's Best Gingersnap Cookie Recipe 1 cup butter 1 cup date sugar 1/4 cup dark molasses 1 egg Mix these ingredients together, then add: 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. ground cinnamon Mix these and then add: 2 3/4 cup flour (can use whole wheat flour...) 1 tsp. baking soda Mix until they are ready to roll into balls (do NOT roll in sugar of...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country? Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines. Ever since word got out of the president-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't get them out of the oven fast enough. "Two months ago I was giving these cookies away," co-owner Rodney Maxfield said. "Now, it's like 'I need two dozen cookies. I need four-dozen cookies."' The Obamas became frequent visitors to the cafe during the summer of 2007 when the Illinois...

"Really, he was angry at the court reporter because he thought she was tampering with the jury by bringing them brownies and cookies."

CONCORD, N.H. - A man walks into Perfecto's Caffee in Andover, Mass., proclaims his support for John McCain, then, inexplicably, orders a gingerbread man frosted to resemble Barack Obama. "I don't need a bag," he tells owner Max Gabriello, then bites the head off the cookie and throws the rest in the trash. "That's what I think of Obama." At a time when the negative tone of the presidential race is enough to turn anyone's stomach, Mr. Gabriello and like-minded bakers, chefs and bartenders hope voters save some room for food and drinks resembling, named for or inspired by the...

The maker of Archway and Salerno cookies said the company, crumbling under rising prices for raw ingredients, has halted operations and filed for bankruptcy. The Michigan-based company maintains a distribution center in Mokena's Corporate Corridors business park. Information wasn't available Wednesday about how many employees were affected by the company's shutdown. In its bankruptcy filing, Archway & Mother's Cookie Co. listed assets in excess of $50 million and liabilities of more than $500 million. The company said it had hired Jeffrey Granger as chief restructuring officer, but it wasn't clear whether Archway's brands or manufacturing operations would be sold. "Like...

OAKLAND — An Oakland cookie company has closed its doors for good. After operating in Oakland for 92 years, Mother's Cookies shut down when its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. --snip-- In filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy .. company officials cited rising prices for raw materials and fuel.

click the link to see video of these two specimens who stole from a girl scout selling cookies. There's a commercial first, then the video.

Excerpt - Hydrox, the defunct chocolate-sandwich wafer, is returning for one more rematch with its nemesis, the Oreo. Bowing to more than 1,300 phone inquiries, an online petition with more than 1,000 signatures and Internet chat sites lamenting the demise of the snack, Kellogg Co. has decided to temporarily relaunch Hydrox, the left-for-dead cookie. WSJ's Christopher Rhoads speaks to Adam Najberg about Hydrox cookies, and why consumers are fighting to bring back the defunct chocolate-sandwich wafers. (May 28) "These loyalists can be proud to know they've been heard," says Brad Davidson, head of Kellogg's snack division. Kellogg quietly killed off...

Police say a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos has overturned, spilling the cookies still in their plastic sleeves into the median and roadway. Illinois State Police Sgt. Brian Mahoney says the truck's driver was traveling from Chicago to Morris on Interstate 80 around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median. "The boxes came out of the trailer and boxes were ripped open," he said. The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation. Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed...

MORRIS, Ill. (AP) — Police say a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos has overturned, spilling the cookies still in their plastic sleeves into the median and roadway. Illinois State Police Sgt. Brian Mahoney says the truck's driver was traveling from Chicago to Morris on Interstate 80 around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median. "The boxes came out of the trailer and boxes were ripped open," he said. The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation. Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes...

LONDON -- "It's very dark. It's almost black." May Woodward, an office worker in central London, is holding an Oreo cookie in her hands. It's the first time she has ever seen one "in the flesh as opposed to on an American TV show," and she's not sure she likes what she sees. "It's the color of wet mud!" she complains. "And the bit ... looks like toothpaste rather than cream." She twists and turns the cookie in her fingers, staring at it from every angle with a screwed-up look on her face that seems to say, "Gross!" not "Mmm,...

DETROIT -- Jennifer Sharpe is one sharp cookie, especially when it comes to selling Girl Scout Cookies. The 15-year-old from Dearborn, Mich., sold more than 17,000 boxes of cookies. Jennifer was on a street corner with her mom every day selling Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos and the rest of the cookie line. Pam Sharpe, Jennifer's mother and troop leader, said the sales effort helped build her daughter's confidence. She said that at first, Jennifer was shy and quiet but came out of her shell selling the cookies. National Girl Scout officials said there is no cookie sale record on the books,...

Unlike its iconic American counterpart, the Oreo sold in China is frequently long, thin, four-layered and coated in chocolate. But both kinds of cookies have one important thing in common: They are now best sellers. The Oreo has long been the top-selling cookie in the U.S. market. But Kraft Foods had to reinvent the Oreo to make it sell well in the world's most populous nation. While Chinese Oreo sales represent a tiny fraction of Kraft's $37.2 billion in annual revenue, the cookie's journey in China exemplifies the kind of entrepreneurial transformation that CEO Irene Rosenfeld is trying to spread...

CINCINNATI, April 10, 2008 – It’s reasonable to think servicemembers deployed the world over might be missing Girl Scout cookies again this year, but that’s not necessarily the case. More than 150 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines soon will be enjoying Girl Scout cookies and other goodies thanks to the Thank You Foundation and several members of the greater Cincinnati community. “This was a real community effort,” said John Guinn, president and founder of the Thank You Foundation. “Students from St. Margaret of York [School] collected items, and several Girl Scout troops donated cookies. Senior citizens from the Lebanon...

FORT HUACHUCA — While deployed in Kuwait, Spc. Herbert Brown remembers how much he and his comrades appreciated the little things from home. So when boxes of Girl Scout cookies were shipped to his unit, the men and women were completely moved by the gesture of good will. “It’s really hard to express how much this means to the soldiers,” Brown said, recalling what it was like to be on the receiving end of the cookies. “I was in Kuwait in ‘05-’06, and it meant a lot that people I didn’t even know were thinking about me.” For the past...

Welcome to the ~ Freeper Canteen ~A place on the internet where we honor our troops, our allies and their families 24/7/365...366 in leap year!Today's topic is just for fun... We'd like to know... What Is Your Favorite Cookie? Are you sweet on sugar cookies? Greedy for gingerbread? My favorite....snickerdoodles! Do your sugar cookies need icing or colored sugar or both? Please remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.  

Greetings members of the sisterhood. Well, it's that time of the year again. Girl Scout cookie time. A time when our little sisters in bondage are forced by their patriarchal masters to spend rainy Saturday mornings in front of supermarkets, post offices and department stores, peddling over-priced cookies on rickety tables, in order that they raise monies to support the organization that helps enslave them and prepare them for a lifetime of subjugation, submissiveness and slavery. Yes, my fellow sisters, I'm talking about the Girl Scouts of America. An organization formed by our evil paternalistic forefathers to ensure that...

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- The State Attorney's Office will decide whether to charge two teens who admit they robbed a 9-year-old Girl Scout selling cookies outside of a Boynton Beach supermarket. "I thought that it was a really mean thing to do, and I was sad after," Girl Scout Gracie Smith told WPBF News 25. Authorities said that a 17-year-old girl in a hot-pink sweatshirt approached Smith outside of a Winn-Dixie supermarket at Hypoluxo and Jog roads in Boynton Beach Wednesday evening and asked the girl what her favorite cookies were. Police told WPBF that, while Smith was telling the...

Robert Fliegel was craving a Hydrox. The 52-year-old computer consultant says he always liked the way the chocolate sandwich cookie, which he found crisper than Oreos, "stood up to the milk" when dunked. But Mr. Fliegel, who used to be able to devour an entire package of the crème-filled biscuits in a sitting, couldn't find them in any stores near his East Stroudsburg, Pa., home. Only when he went online a few months ago to try to order some did he learn the truth: Hydrox is dead. In 2003, without warning or announcement, Kellogg Co. killed off the cookie --...

Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. But the crisp cookies wrapped around enigmatic sayings have spread around the world. They are served in Chinese restaurants in Britain, Mexico, Italy, France and elsewhere. In India, they taste more like butter cookies. A surprisingly high number of winning tickets in Brazil's national lottery in 2004 were traced to lucky numbers from fortune cookies distributed by a Chinese restaurant chain called Chinatown. But there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent: China. Now a researcher in Japan believes she can explain the...

12/19/2007 - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Volunteers gathered more than 5,500 cookies for the single Airmen living in the dormitories Dec. 14 during Operation Cookie Crunch at Eielson Air Force Base. "The importance of the cookie drive is for morale building," said Jeanette Pauer, OCC project coordinator and wife of Lt. Col. Brett Pauer, a member of the 353rd Combat Training Squadron. "Providing home-baked cookies for our single Airmen is a simple sentiment that sends a message that there is big family here at Eielson who appreciates them." With temperatures (at times) dipping down to minus 30 F,...

12/17/2007 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- Wounded American servicemembers aeromedically evacuated out of Ramstein Air Base every Tuesday leave Germany with home-baked goods made by base spouse group volunteers. The program, called Wounded Warrior, is sponsored by spouse groups in the 86th Operations Group and occurs every Tuesday throughout the year as injured Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen prepare to fly to the states. "I felt so honored to offer this service to those who have served us," said Paige Norris-Miller, a 37th Airlift Squadron spouse who delivered cupcakes and decorated sugar cookies with the Wounded...

SIERRA VISTA — More than 1,000 snickerdoodles and other cookies are on their way to troops in Saudi Arabia, a holiday treat inspired by a Andrea Fisher’s recent trip. When Fisher was asked to visit Saudi Arabia in October by her husband, who was stationed there with the military, she was nervous to make the journey. She never expected to travel to the Middle East, especially during a war. “My initial reaction was a simple ‘No thank you, I am not the one who signed my name on Uncle Sam’s dotted line,’ ” the Sierra Vistan wrote about the experience....

Privacy, consumer and technology groups yesterday proposed the creation of a Do Not Track list similar to the Do Not Call phone list, allowing people to prevent companies from tracking which Web sites they visit. This proposal comes as large Internet companies are looking to increase the tracking of users' online behavior to tailor ads to their interests. Nine groups... submitted the proposal to the Federal Trade Commission ahead of a two-day conference on behavioral advertising. The Do Not Track list is modeled after the popular Do Not Call registry maintained by the FTC.... The FTC does not regulate ad...

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse. If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese...

Rove’s gift basket for the Seattle Times By Michelle Malkin  •  August 20, 2007 02:09 PM Remember the fair, objective journalists at the Seattle Times who cheered Karl Rove’s resignation? Via the Media Blog and HA Headlines, here’s news in Howard Kurtz’s WaPo column of Rove’s farewell gift: In an embarrassment to the industry, some staffers at a Seattle Times news meeting cheered when Rove’s resignation was announced. To his credit, Editor David Boardman made the incident public and warned that staff meetings should not “evolve into a liberal latte klatch.” Rove responded by sending a basket of cookies to the...

I have "http://www.freerepublic.com" set in my Windows' "Trusted Zone", and thus have never been bothered with needing to OK any scripts that want to run. This morning whenever I view a page at FR I get an IE7 dialog to OK running a script. Thus far I've said NO, and it seems to have no detrimental effects. That's normal for a web page that isn't in my trusted zone because of the way I have my Internet Explorer's "Internet Zone" configured. Is FR running a new Active-X or Java control that is not fed from "http://www.freerepublic.com?" I'll change it from...

CONWAY, N.H. (AP) - At one point in a steamy rally today (Sunday) in a Conway, New Hampshire school auditorium, Illinois Senator Barack Obama handed his jacket to wife Michelle. But it was clear she's more than a coat-holder for the Democratic presidential candidate. When someone in the audience asked Michelle Obama why voters should vote for her husband, she walked confidently onto the stage, took the microphone and smoothly answered her husband is man who has put his values before his profit. The line brought a standing ovation. Michelle Obama says her husband's run for the presidency "is a...

4/27/2007 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFNEWS) -- Girl Scouts near Spokane, Wash., finished their third year of collecting cookies for deployed troops through Operation Troop to Troop April 23 and will be sending approximately 9,600 boxes of cookies to servicemembers fighting the war on terrorism. More than 2,200 Scouts canvassed more than 52,000 square miles and collected $38,400 for their cookies destined for American forces overseas. The Girl Scouts took on the challenge to give back to their community and support the troops. "The goal is to give back to the community and provide a way for the...

Homebrewers...don't make another batch of beer until you see this unusual use of malt extract and a most unusual ingredient! Don't tell your friends about the "secret ingredient" until they've had their share.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2007 – When the Girl Scouts combined their knack for selling cookies with their dedication to community service, they cooked up the Gift of Caring program. Each Girl Scout troop can choose a Gift of Caring partner to receive donated boxes of Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Trefoils and other baked favorites throughout the cookie-selling season. Girl Scouts near the nation's capital are sending cookies to deployed servicemembers through the Gift of Caring Program. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Many girls of the 4,000 troops in the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital have...

Fifteen employees at a Weyerhaeuser plant in Stayton became sick Tuesday after eating cookies tainted with marijuana, police said. Paramedics were called after the workers said they started feeling dizzy and light-headed. Investigators said the workers ate homemade cookies while at the plant, located on Deschutes Drive. According to investigators, someone intentionally laced the cookies with marijuana. The Stayton Police Department is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Oh, those holiday pitfalls: a martini and a handful of Chex mix at the office party, Grandma's fruitcake, the plate of gingerbread cookies from your neighbor. Eating all those goodies will definitely cost you. To burn off the calories in one gingerbread cookie, you will have to swim 18 minutes. The martini and party mix will take 47 minutes on the bike. And the fruitcake? Take an 84-minute walk. Those are the calculations in a new book that lists the calorie content of 7,500 foods and tells you just how long it will take to work it off. "Most of...