We at USDemocrazy have been spending a lot of time surfing the Internet in search of constant updates on the uprising in Egypt. (See our previous coverage here and here.)

Every cable news channel, blogger, newspaper, and Twitter account has a different take, which could lend to information overload.

Here’s the tne news in a nutshell: the situation is scary and uncertain.

Overnight in Cairo, pro-Mubarak and anti-Mubarak demonstrators clashed in a dangerous way in Tahrir Square. CNN’s man in Cairo, Ben Wedeman gave a great analogy on the fighting between the two groups, insinuating what many have thought: that the government is organizing the pro-Mubarak demonstrators.

“It’s been going on for fifteen hours. Imagine if you had, in Times Square, two gangs fighting together for 15 hours, and the government didn’t intervene. There’s no other explanation.”

Five people were shot dead in the early-morning protest and recent reports are coming out of upwards of 800 people who were injured. Major news outlets reported guns and molotov cocktails flying in Tahrir Square last night.

When Egypt was without Internet, there was a huge backlash against this technological repression orchestrated by the government. So, one group, called Anonymous, retaliated by taking the government off the Internet by hacking their Web pages and proving a point, which The New York Times reports with a perspective from a hacking insider:

“We want freedom,” he said of the group’s motivation. “It’s as simple as that. We’re sick of oppressive governments encroaching on people.”

It’s been well reported that the uprising in Tunisia has influenced what’s happening in Egypt, and then of course what’s happening in the rest of the Arab world. The Week has a good rundown of what the domino effect is doing in Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Libya,, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. (Put simply, governments are being replaced, dissolved, or reformed.)

A lot of Americans have been turning to Al Jazeera English to keep posted on the situation in Egypt, and we remind you that you can keep up with the conflict on their live-blog of the protests!

You might remember our story of the poor Happy Meals that were banned by the San Francisco City Government from having toys inside…

Today we have another story of a city government legislative lock-down. The city is New York and the victim: Cigarettes.

The New York City council is banning smoking from city parks and beaches.

True, cigarettes do not make good victims. The statistics for health damage by smoke and second hand smoke are self evident.

But second hand smoke OUTDOORS? Some are calling that a reach. Others are calling it government overreach.

Government doing good, or government gone MAD? What do you think?

CSEE Professor Hillol Kargupta was named a IEEE Fellow for his contributions to distributed data mining. Dr. Kargupta's research focuses on distributed data mining that explores technology for data analysis in distributed environments where data cannot be centralized because of organizational, performance or privacy reasons.

He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. He is also a co-founder of AGNIK LLC, a ubiquitous data analytics company. His research interests include mobile and distributed data mining, mining in sensor networks, peer-to-peer data mining, privacy-preserving data mining, vehicular sensor networks.

The IEEE elevates a members to the grade of Fellow for "unusual distinction in the profession" and only for people "with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest". The number of new Fellows in any year is limited to at most one-tenth of one percent of the total membership.

Have you ever been stuck at home with the urge to explore the world’s most famous art museums?

If your answer was yes, Google can help.  If your answer was no, this is still pretty fascinating.

On Monday, Google announced their latest venture, fittingly titled “Art Project.”  The “Art Project” consists of virtual tours of 17 art museums from across the globe.

the search-engine company said Web users can now roam museums as they would neighborhoods on Google Street View, and eyeball 1,061 masterpieces.

Each of the museums is also allowing Google to display one piece of artwork at a resolution of 7 billion pixels.

Early reviews of the project have been mixed.  Some critics assert the digital experience can not replicate the real thing.  Lucky for you, you can now decide for yourself.

Take a look at part of the tour offered for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: