Archive for August, 2012
South Africa: Police Kill 34 Protestors, Survivors Face Murder Charges
August 31st, 2012Via: BBC: Workers arrested at South Africa’s Marikana mine have been charged in court with the murder of 34 of their colleagues shot by police. The 270 workers would be tried under the “common purpose” doctrine because they were in the crowd which confronted police on 16 August, an official said. Police opened fire, killing […]
Software Meant to Fight Crime Is Used to Spy on Dissidents
August 31st, 2012Via: New York Times: Morgan Marquis-Boire works as a Google engineer and Bill Marczak is earning a Ph.D. in computer science. But this summer, the two men have been moonlighting as detectives, chasing an elusive surveillance tool from Bahrain across five continents. What they found was the widespread use of sophisticated, off-the-shelf computer espionage software […]
Drones Over Britain
August 30th, 2012Via: BBC: This year the US Congress passed legislation giving US airspace regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until September 2015 to open up its airspace to drones, and Britain is expected to follow suit. The UK’s airspace regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has told BBC Newsnight that large unmanned drones could be flying […]
DHS Will Release ‘Harmless’ Bacteria Into Boston’s Subway Tunnels
August 30th, 2012Via: The Scientist: The Boston subway system will soon host simulated biological weapon attacks as the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) conducts tests of sensors designed to detect the presence of biological agents in metropolitan areas. After temporarily shutting down the transportation system, S&T will release small quantities of harmless and […]
Russians Dumped Old Nuclear Reactors and Radioactive Waste Into Sea
August 30th, 2012Via: Bellona Foundation: Enormous quantities of decommissioned Russian nuclear reactors and radioactive waste were dumped into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia over a course of decades, according to documents given to Norwegian officials by Russian authorities and published in Norwegian media. Bellona had received in 2011 a draft of a […]
Harvard: Researchers Grow Cyborg Tissues with Embedded Nanoelectronics
August 30th, 2012Via: Harvard Gazette: Harvard scientists have created a type of “cyborg” tissue for the first time by embedding a three-dimensional network of functional, biocompatible, nanoscale wires into engineered human tissues. As described in a paper published Aug. 26 in the journal Nature Materials, a research team led by Charles M. Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. […]
Ray Bradbury FBI File: Sci-Fi Legend Suspected Of Communist Sympathies
August 30th, 2012Via: Huffington Post: Late science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury was actively investigated by the FBI during the 1960s for suspected Communist leanings, according to FBI files released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Huffington Post. Bradbury aroused the suspicion of the FBI due to his outspoken criticism of the U.S. government […]
‘Americans Shot in Mexico Were CIA Operatives Aiding in Drug War’
August 30th, 2012Aiding in drug war… *cough* *wink* Via: New York Times: The two Americans who were wounded when gunmen fired on an American Embassy vehicle last week were Central Intelligence Agency employees sent as part of a multiagency effort to bolster Mexican efforts to fight drug traffickers, officials said on Tuesday. The two operatives, who were […]
Human Organs Found In Florida Storage Locker
August 29th, 2012Via: CBS: In what could be described as an episode of “Auction Hunters” turned reality horror show, authorities in Pensacola are investigating after finding human brains, hearts and lungs in a storage unit they say belonged to a former medical examiner. Someone bought the storage unit at an auction last week and noticed a foul […]
Spain’s Jobless Turn to Barter System
August 29th, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal: Even though she’s one of millions of young, unemployed Spaniards, 22-year-old Silvia Martín takes comfort in knowing that her bank is still standing behind her. It’s not a lending institution, but rather a time bank whose nearly 400 members barter their services by the hour. Ms. Martín, who doesn’t own a […]
