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Is Google Going Underground With Hypersonic Tech?
Via:
IEEE: Google is carrying out research on hypersonics, probably for new
technologies to slash the cost of geothermal energy and tunneling. It
could also be acquiring a Washington-based startup called HyperSciences
that has already built prototype devices. … The technology being
developed by HyperSciences should make it cheaper to reach much higher
temperatures even […]
Los Angeles: How Can a Place with 58,000 Homeless People Continue to Function?
How
Can a Place with 58,000 Homeless People Continue to Function? Answer:
With favelas and airmobile paramilitary forces. Most Americans couldn’t
identify Brazil on a map, but the sprawling U.S. ghettos will
increasingly look like Rio. Via: Los Angeles Times: Homelessness affects
the lives of all Angelenos, not just those forced to live on the […]
Youtube Deletes Entire Health Ranger Video Channel
The
Health Ranger YouTube channel is currently returning: “This account has
been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” Well, I
went through being added to Google’s shit list over a decade ago. So… I
have no idea why people who deal with alternative information continue
to rely on Google’s platforms, given the company’s long history […]
Yesterday
Uber and Lyft Drivers’ Median Hourly Wage Is Just $3.37
Via:
Guardian: Uber and Lyft drivers in the US make a median profit of $3.37
per hour before taxes, according to a new report that suggests a
majority of ride-share workers make below minimum wage and that many
actually lose money. Researchers did an analysis of vehicle cost data
and a survey of more than […]
‘Dorm Living for Professionals Comes to San Francisco’
The
New York Times is promoting Khrushchyovka-style living in San Francisco
for $1,400 to $2,400 a month. Via: New York Times: Shared bathrooms at
the end of the hall and having no individual kitchen or living room is
becoming less weird for some of the city’s workers thanks to Starcity, a
new development company that […]
Mar 04
Men’s Sperm Counts Are Dropping, and Scientists Don’t Know Why
Via:
Yahoo News: The topic of overpopulation has been much discussed over
the past few decades, but what if the real issue is a severe decline in
population? It sounds like something straight out of a dystopian
nightmare, but new research shows sperm counts are drastically dropping
across the Western world. Researchers from Hebrew University-Hadassah
[…]
Mar 03
MI5 Agents Can Commit Crime in UK, Government Reveals
Shocker.
Via: Guardian: MI5 agents are allowed to carry out criminal activity in
the UK, the government has acknowledged for the first time. The prime
minister was on Thursday forced to publish the text of a direction to
the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, the spying watchdog, on
governing “security service participation in criminality”. It instructs
[…]
40Hz Audio and Visual Stimuli and Alzheimer’s
Via:
Nature: In March 2015, Li-Huei Tsai set up a tiny disco for some of the
mice in her laboratory. For an hour each day, she placed them in a box
lit only by a flickering strobe. The mice — which had been engineered to
produce plaques of the peptide amyloid-? in the brain, a […]
Mar 02
Dumping U.S. Debt, a Possible Weapon in Global Trade War
Via:
Reuters: U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to slap stiff tariffs on
imported steel and aluminum has rattled financial markets and stirred
fears that some trading partners might retaliate by dumping U.S.
Treasuries. Should China, Japan and other nations, which have recycled
their trade dollars through their Treasuries holdings, suddenly decide
to whittle them down, […]
Tor Is a Foreign Policy Weapon of the U.S. Government
Via:
Yasha Levine: For years, the Tor Project — along with other U.S.
government crypto tools like Signal — has been seen in almost religious
terms by the privacy community as the only way to protect people from
government spying online. The Electronic Frontier Foundation held up Tor
as the digital equivalent of the First […]
Mar 01
The Disturbing Acceptance of Google’s New ‘Smart’ Camera
Via:
The Week: In the reviews that rolled out recently for Google’s new
Clips smart camera, there were the rote things that you’d expect in all
tech reviews: what was good, what was bad, and, inevitably, whether or
not you should buy it. There was, however, a key idea conspicuously
absent: whether or not the […]
South Africa to Seize Land from White Farmers Without Compensation
“But
he stressed it must be conducted in a manner which preserved food
production and security.” Oh sure. Russian Famine of 1921–22 Great
Chinese Famine Cambodian Famine Keep those in mind when you see the kids
in the streets waving hammer and sickle signs. Via: Independent: South
Africa‘s parliament has passed a motion to seize […]
Former Google Exec: Don’t Worry About Terminator Robots for Another Decade or Two
Via:
Defense News: Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and military
robotics have some concerned that the development of Terminator-like
killer robots will be humankind’s downfall. But that doesn’t seem to
worry Eric Schmidt, the former executive chairman of Google parent
company Alphabet, who addressed the impact of technology on democracy at
the Feb. 16-18 Munich […]
Feb 28
Trump: “Take the Guns First, Go Through Due Process Second”
Via:
USA Today: President Trump said Wednesday he favors taking guns away
from people who might commit violence before going through legal due
process in the courts, one of many startling comments he made in a
rambling White House meeting designed to hash out school safety
legislation with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. “I like […]
The Poignant Gulag Art by Stalin’s Doomed Meteorologist
Via:
Atlas Obscura: AN ARCTIC FOX, A HEN, wild berries, a reindeer, a single
candle glowing in the darkness, glaciers floating at sea, and an aurora
borealis. These are some of the subjects of delicate, precise
illustrations created by a man imprisoned in a Soviet gulag during the
1930s. The man’s drawings and letters, teeming […]
Palantir Has Secretly Been Using New Orleans to Test Its Predictive Policing Technology
Via:
The Verge: The program began in 2012 as a partnership between New
Orleans Police and Palantir Technologies, a data-mining firm founded
with seed money from the CIA’s venture capital firm. According to
interviews and documents obtained by The Verge, the initiative was
essentially a predictive policing program, similar to the “heat list” in
Chicago […]
Feb 27
Trump Announces Re-Election Campaign and Campaign Manager
It’s
a bit like the Christmas shit appearing in stores in October. Hmm. I
wonder if They’ll fit Hillary with a powered exoskeleton suit this time?
Via: CBS: President Donald Trump announced that he’s running for
re-election in 2020, and Brad Parscale, who served as the Trump
campaign’s 2016 digital guru, has been named campaign […]
California to Allow Testing of Self-Driving Cars Without a Driver Present
Thinking
about the security side of this sends a chill down my spine. We’ve all
heard of botnets. We’re probably not more than a couple of years away
from the first botnet consisting of thousands of autonomous vehicles. I
have roughly zero confidence that the security around autonomous
vehicles will be sufficient to prevent this […]
Feb 26
Norway Will Spend $13 Million to Upgrade Its Doomsday Seed Vault
Via:
The Verge: Norway will spend 100 million Norwegian Crowns ($12.7
million) to upgrade the doomsday seed vault it built 10 years ago. The
Svalbard Global Seed Vault was constructed in an abandoned Arctic coal
mine to store and safeguard the world’s crops and plants from global
natural or man-made disaster. If nuclear war or […]
Kids Use Tech So Much They Can’t Hold A Pencil Anymore, Doctors Say
Swipetarded
parents. Swipetarded children. This should be a boon for the public
school to private prison gravy train. Via: Guardian: Children are
increasingly finding it hard to hold pens and pencils because of an
excessive use of technology, senior paediatric doctors have warned. An
overuse of touchscreen phones and tablets is preventing children’s
finger muscles […]
Apple Confirms It Uses Google’s Cloud for iCloud
Via:
CNBC: A file that Apple updated on its website last month provides the
first acknowledgment that it’s relying on Google’s public cloud for data
storage for its iCloud services. The disclosure is fresh evidence that
Google’s cloud has been picking up usage as it looks to catch up with
Amazon and Microsoft in the […]
Feb 25
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Officer Left Work Feeling Ill, Hasn’t Been Seen Since
Via:
NBC: A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee was last
seen 11 days ago, when he left work early after complaining that he felt
unwell, Atlanta police said Friday. Timothy Cunningham, 35, works as a
commander in the U.S. Public Health Service and has responded to the
Ebola virus and the Zika virus […]
China Sets Stage for Xi to Stay in Office Indefinitely
Via:
Reuters: China’s ruling Communist Party on Sunday set the stage for
President Xi Jinping to stay in office indefinitely, with a proposal to
remove a constitutional clause limiting presidential service to just two
terms in office.
Feb 24
Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears
Via:
Reuters: When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users’ iCloud accounts
in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new
laws there, Chinese authorities will have far easier access to text
messages, email and other data stored in the cloud. That’s because of a
change to how the […]
Daimler’s
Truck Boss Thinks Tesla Semi Specs Defy Laws of Physics, Musk Thinks
Production Tesla Semi Will Exceed Specs for Same Price
Via:
Electrek: As we reported last week and discussed on the Electrek
podcast yesterday, many people still have a difficult time wrapping
their head around the Tesla Semi specs that the company announced last
year. But now CEO Elon Musk says that he is ‘optimistic’ they can beat
those specs with the production version of […]
Thanks to “Consent” Buried Deep in Sales Agreements, Car Manufacturers Are Tracking Tens of Millions of U.S. Cars
Via:
BoingBoing: Millions of new cars sold in the US and Europe are
“connected,” having some mechanism for exchanging data with their
manufacturers after the cars are sold; these cars stream or batch-upload
location data and other telemetry to their manufacturers, who argue
that they are allowed to do virtually anything they want with this […]
SpaceX Begins Starlink Satellite Broadband Trial
Via:
cnet: A pair of small satellites named for an adventurous Belgian
cartoon character could serve as proof of concept for an ambitious
global broadband service envisioned by Elon Musk. After days of delays, a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two small satellites, newly dubbed
Tintin A and B by Musk (but known more […]
A Larger Role for Midwives Could Improve Deficient U.S. Care for Mothers and Babies
Via:
ProPublica: In Great Britain, midwives deliver half of all babies,
including Kate Middleton’s first two children, Prince George and
Princess Charlotte. In Sweden, Norway and France, midwives oversee most
expectant and new mothers, enabling obstetricians to concentrate on
high-risk births. In Canada and New Zealand, midwives are so highly
valued that they’re brought in […]
Construction Begins on Jeff Bezos’ $42 Million 10,000-Year Clock
Via:
The Verge: Installation has finally begun on Jeff Bezos’ 10,000-year
clock, a project that the Amazon CEO has invested $42 million in (along
with a hollowed-out mountain in Texas that Bezos intends for a Blue
Origin spaceport), with the goal of building a mechanical clock that
will run for 10 millennia.
Feb 23
CNN Town Hall: Stick to the Script
Via:
Real Clear Politics: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
survivor Colton Haab appeared on FOX News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight to
talk about his saga with CNN and how they “scripted” a question for him
to use at Wednesday night’s town hall event hosted by the network and
moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Haab, a […]
SpinLaunch
I
just hope there’s plenty of 4K footage of the launch centrifuge
facility when it experiences catastrophic failure. Via: TechCrunch: What
if instead of blasting cargo into space on a rocket, we could fling it
into space using a catapult? That’s the big, possibly crazy, possibly
genius idea behind SpinLaunch. It was secretly founded in […]
Feb 22
Nissan to Begin Easy Ride Trial in Japan
Via:
Reuters: Facing a future in which self-driving cars may curb vehicle
ownership, Nissan Motor Co is taking its first steps to becoming an
operator of autonomous transportation services, hoping to break into a
segment set to be dominated by Uber Technologies and other technology
firms. In partnership with Japanese mobile gaming platform operator DeNA
[…]
How General Electric Gambled on Fossil Fuel Power, and Lost
Disclosure:
I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Reuters: Rather than
rising, GE Power’s profit fell 45 percent last year, forcing GE to slash
its overall profit outlook and cut its dividend for only the second
time since the Great Depression. Its shares have plunged more than 50
percent since the March […]
Feb 21
Ex-CIA Director: U.S. Meddles in Foreign Elections for a ‘Very Good Cause’
Via:
The Hill: Following a federal indictment of Russians accused of
meddling in the U.S election, a former CIA director on Friday said the
U.S. “probably” meddles in other countries’ elections, as well. The
Russian embassy flagged his comments. When asked whether the U.S.
interferes in other countries’ elections, James Woolsey said, “Well,
only for […]
The Car of the Future Will Sell Your Data
No.
Via: Bloomberg: Picture this: You’re driving home from work,
contemplating what to make for dinner, and as you idle at a red light
near your neighborhood pizzeria, an ad offering $5 off a pepperoni pie
pops up on your dashboard screen. Are you annoyed that your car’s trying
to sell you something, or pleasantly […]
Feb 20
South Korean Cryptocurrency Regulator Found Dead at Home
Via:
Wall Street Journal: A South Korean official who guided Seoul’s
regulatory clampdown on cryptocurrencies was found dead on Sunday,
according to a government spokesman. Jung Ki-joon, 52, was head of
economic policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination. He
helped coordinate efforts to create new legislation aimed at suppressing
cryptocurrency speculation and illicit […]
Academic Investigating Chinese Influence Peddling in New Zealand Had Break-Ins at Home and Work
Via:
New Zealand Herald: A New Zealand academic who made international waves
researching China’s international influence campaigns has linked a
number of recent break-ins to her work. University of Canterbury
professor Anne-Marie Brady, speaking today from Christchurch to the
Australian Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee in Canberra,
outlined three recent events which caused her conc
Feb 19
The Secret on the Ocean Floor
Via:
BBC: In the summer of 1974, a large and highly unusual ship set sail
from Long Beach in California. It was heading for the middle of the
Pacific where its owners boasted it would herald a revolutionary new
industry beneath the waves. Equipped with a towering rig and the latest
in drilling gear, the […]
L.A. County’s Homeless Problem Is Worsening Despite Billions from Tax Measures
Build
the sprawling San Angeles favelas with autonomous construction drones!
No? Via: Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles County’s homeless population is
increasing faster than the supply of new housing, even with the addition
of thousands of beds in the last two years and millions of dollars
beginning to flow in from two ballot measures targeting […]
San Francisco Streets More Filthy Than Third World Slums
Via:
NBC: How dirty is San Francisco? An NBC Bay Area Investigation reveals a
dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown
San Francisco. The Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city –
the more than 20-mile stretch includes popular tourist spots like Union
Square and major hotel chains. The area – […]
Feb 18
Oregon UFO Incident
Via:
The War Zone: Last November, The War Zone posted an exclusive story
detailing a bizarre incident involving an unidentified aircraft that
transited the skies of the Pacific Northwest in the early evening of
October 25th, 2017. What started as a radar target moving at very high
speed over Northern California turned into a series […]
Feb 16
Brazil Military Takes Control of Rio de Janeiro’s Security
Via:
Bloomberg: Brazil’s military will take control of public security in
the state of Rio de Janeiro as a wave of violence rattles the population
and dominates media coverage ahead of this year’s presidential
election. President Michel Temer will issue a decree on Friday putting
the military in charge of Rio’s security forces, his press […]
Feb 15
Florida High School Shooting
Update:
On the Day of the Shooting, Teachers Were Told There Would Soon Be a
“Code Red” or “Lockdown” Drill Via: Miami Herald: When the fire alarm
rang near the end of the school day on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, teacher Ernest Rospierski assumed it
was a “code red” drill. […]
Feb 14
NSA Shooting: 3 in Custody, Officer Injured After SUV Stopped at Fort Meade Security Gate
Via:
Baltimore Sun: FBI officials said they are continuing to investigate an
incident at Fort Meade early Wednesday that left three people injured
when the driver of an SUV attempted to make an unauthorized entry into
the National Security Agency’s compound. Dave Fitz, a spokesman at the
FBI’s Baltimore field office, said late Wednesday investigators […]
Feb 13
Whistleblower: VIX Being Rigged
Via:
MarketWatch: One of the most popular measures of volatility is being
manipulated, charges one individual who submitted a letter anonymously
to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. The letter makes the claim to regulators that fake
quotes for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.26% are skewing levels of the
[…]
Total U.S. Household Debt Soars to Record Above $13 Trillion
Via:
CNBC: The American consumer is loading up on debt. Total household debt
rose by $193 billion to an all-time high of $13.15 trillion at year-end
2017 from the previous quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data report released Tuesday.
Israeli Police Recommend Bribery Charges Against Netanyahu
Wake
me up when this monster is prosecuted for war crimes. Via: Reuters:
Israeli police on Tuesday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu for bribery, opening the way for what could be the biggest
challenge yet to the right-wing leader’s political survival. … In a
detailed statement, police named Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood producer and
[…]
Feb 12
Hey Buddy, Can You Give Me a Hand?
Via: Boston Dynamics:
German Court Rules Facebook Use of Personal Data Illegal
Via:
Reuters: A German consumer rights group said on Monday that a court had
found Facebook’s use of personal data to be illegal because the U.S.
social media platform did not adequately secure the informed consent of
its users. The verdict, from a Berlin regional court, comes as Big Tech
faces increasing scrutiny in Germany […]
The Economist: It Appears Market Conspiracy Theorists Were Right
I
wasn’t going to post this. It might have been newsworthy 20 years ago,
but since people are submitting it, here you go. Via: ZeroHedge: Three
new recently published scientific papers seem to confirm what many have
claimed for years: the “efficient markets” are not only inefficient –
from an informational standpoint – they are […]
Feb 11
The 11 Cities Most Likely to Run Out of Drinking Water – Like Cape Town
Via:
BBC: Cape Town faces the unenviable situation of being the first major
city in the modern era to run out of drinking water. However, the plight
of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a
problem that experts have long been warning about – water scarcity.
Feb 10
Foxconn Unit to Cut Over 10,000 Jobs as Robotics Take Over
Via:
Nikkei: Foxconn’s panel arm Innolux is planning to slash more than
10,000 jobs this year as part of the company’s aggressive efforts to
increase the use of automation in manufacturing, said Honorary Chairman
Tuan Hsing-Chien on Tuesday. “We will reduce our total workforce to less
than 50,000 people by the end of this year, […]
Israeli Jet Shot Down After Bombing Iranian Site in Syria
Via:
Reuters: Anti-aircraft fire downed an Israeli warplane returning from a
bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria on Saturday in the most
serious confrontations yet between Israel and Iranian-backed forces
based across the border. The F-16, one of at least eight Israeli planes
despatched in response to what Israel said was an Iranian drone’s […]
Feb 09
Russian Nuclear Scientists Connect Airgapped Supercomputer to Internet to Mine Cryptocurrencies
*har*
Via: BBC: Russian security officers have arrested several scientists
working at a top-secret Russian nuclear warhead facility for allegedly
mining crypto-currencies. The suspects had tried to use one of Russia’s
most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoins, media reports say. The
Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov, western Russia, is a restricted area.
The centre’s press […]
Stimulus Puts U.S. Debt On An Upward Trajectory
Via:
AFP: As part of a pledge to “Make America Great Again,” President
Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are pursuing aggressive economic
stimulus while slashing taxes at the same time. The result, budget
analysts say, is likely to be swelling debts and deficits for the
world’s largest borrower. America’s budget deficit was already on an […]
U.S. Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot
Via:
DefenseOne: In a historic first, the Army conducted a live fire
exercise with a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle armed with a
.50-caliber machine gun. It plans to conduct more exercises with more
heavily armed ground robots within the next couple of years. The
demonstration was part of the annual Northern Strike exercise, which
took […]
People Fleeing Bay Area
Via:
CBS: The number of people packing up and moving out of the Bay Area
just hit its highest level in more than a decade. Carole Dabak spent 40
years living in San Jose and now she’s part of the mass exodus that is
showing no signs of slowing down. The retired engineer’s packing up […]
Mad Max Violence Stalks Venezuela’s Lawless Roads
Via:
Reuters: It’s midnight on one of the most dangerous roads in Latin
America and Venezuelan trucker Humberto Aguilar hurtles through the
darkness with 20 tons of vegetables freshly harvested from the Andes for
sale in the capital Caracas. When he set off at sunset from the town of
La Grita in western Venezuela on […]
Feb 06
Trump Wants a ‘Grand Military Parade’ in Washington
Via:
CNBC: At the urging of President Donald Trump, the Pentagon is moving
forward on planning for “a grand military parade later this year
showcasing the might of America’s armed forces,” the Washington Post
reported Tuesday. The paper said the cost of the parade “could run in
the millions” given the cost to ship tanks […]
SpaceX Launches Falcon Heavy Rocket on Historic Maiden Voyage
Update:
Astronomers Spot Musk’s Roadster Via: Virtual Telescope: The car was
about as bright as magnitude 15.5, requiring a large (more than 16? –
400 mm in diameter) to be seen visually. Below is a video, obtained with
54 images taken back to back, from 11:12 to 12:15 UT, 8 Feb. 2018. —
Update: Was […]
Satire: FBI Warns Republican Memo Could Undermine Faith In Massive, Unaccountable Government Secret Agencies
Via:
The Onion: “If we take away the people’s faith in this shadowy monolith
exempt from any consequences, all that’s left is an extensive network
of rogue, unelected intelligence officers carrying out extrajudicial
missions for a variety of subjective, and occasionally personal,
reasons.” At press time, Wray confirmed the massive, unaccountable
government secret agencies were […]
EHANG 184 AAV Manned Flight Tests
Via: Ehang:
Feb 05
China Deploys Experimental Railgun Aboard Warship
Via:
news.com.au: WANT to win a war? Build a better gun. Now China appears
to have taken a huge stride ahead of the United States with the first
experimental deployment of a new ‘supergun’ aboard a warship. The first
images began circulating on the internet last week. They showed a
Chinese amphibious assault ship — […]
U.S. Treasury Set to Borrow Nearly $1 Trillion This Year
Via:
CNBC: Don’t look now, but the U.S. government needs to borrow more
money at exactly the wrong moment — when interest rates are spiking.
Last week, in a development first reported by The Washington Post, the
Treasury Department quietly released data estimating its 2018 borrowing
needs would check in at $955 billion, then top […]
Feb 03
The Breakneck Rise of China’s Colossus of Electric-Car Batteries
Via:
Bloomberg: The next global powerhouse in the auto industry comes from a
small city in a tea-growing province of southeast China, where an
unheralded maker of electric-vehicle batteries is planning a $1.3
billion factory with enough capacity to surpass the output of Tesla and
dwarf the suppliers for battery-powered cars by GM, Nissan and […]
Syrian Rebels Down Russian Plane, Kill Pilot
Via:
Reuters: Syrian rebels shot down a Russian warplane on Saturday and
killed its pilot on the ground after he ejected from the plane, Russia’s
defense ministry and Syrian rebels said. The SU-25 came down in an area
of northern Idlib province that has seen heavy air strikes and fighting
on the ground between
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