Archive for March, 2013
Mexican Vigilantes Seize Town, Arrest Police
March 28th, 2013Via: AP: Hundreds of armed vigilantes have taken control of a town on a major highway in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, arresting local police officers and searching homes after a vigilante leader was killed. Several opened fire on a car of Mexican tourists headed to the beach for Easter week. Members of the […]
Russian Authorities Raid Amnesty International and Other NGO Offices
March 28th, 2013Via: New York Times: The Russian authorities on Monday raided the local headquarters of the human rights group Amnesty International, the latest in a continuing series of office searches intended to put pressure on nongovernmental groups. The head of Amnesty’s office in Russia, Sergei Nikitin, said in a telephone interview that officials from the general […]
Appeasing The Dictator, 140 Characters At A Time: Twitter Censors Content Within Russia
March 28th, 2013Via: PJ Media: If you have been following the Internet crackdown underway in Russia, you will not be surprised to learn that Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has recruited many websites — which are either terrified of his wrath or interested in currying his favor — to help crush and eradicate criticism of his government online. However, […]
FBI Wants Real-Time Gmail, Dropbox Spying Power
March 28th, 2013Via: Slate: Despite the pervasiveness of law enforcement surveillance of digital communication, the FBI still has a difficult time monitoring Gmail, Google Voice, and Dropbox in real time. But that may change soon, because the bureau says it has made gaining more powers to wiretap all forms of Internet conversation and cloud storage a “top […]
Cyprus Prepares Money Controls Before Banks Reopen
March 27th, 2013Via: AP: Cypriot authorities are preparing limits on how much money depositors can take out of their accounts a day before banks are set to reopen. A banking official said Wednesday — on condition of anonymity because the measures have yet to be officially announced — that they include restrictions on large-scale money transfers from […]
Drones Visualization: Every U.S. Drone Strike In Pakistan Since 2004
March 27th, 2013Via: Huffington Post: Pitch Interactive, a Berkeley-based data visualization unit, has created a graphic tracking every drone strike the United States has carried out in Pakistan since 2004. … The visualization, seen below, tracks the victims of the strikes using data from the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, specifically noting children and civilian collateral damage. Note […]
The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go
March 27th, 2013Via: CNBC: If you meet Baxter, the latest humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics – you should get comfortable with him, because you’ll likely be seeing more of him soon. Rethink Robotics released Baxter last fall and received an overwhelming response from the manufacturing industry, selling out of their production capacity through April. He’s cheap to […]
H5N1 VIRAL-ENGINEERING DANGERS WILL NOT GO AWAY
March 27th, 2013Definitely check out Channel 4’s Utopia. It’s a pretty good documentary series. *grin* Via: Nature: Barely two months after a small group of influenza virologists lifted a moratorium on work to make the H5N1 avian flu virus as transmissible between humans as seasonal flu, researchers are at it again. Earlier this month, a Dutch scientist […]
‘This Isn’t Ready for Prime Time’: Brain Scans Predict Which Criminals Are More Likely to Reoffend
March 27th, 2013Via: Nature: In a twist that evokes the dystopian science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick, neuroscientists have found a way to predict whether convicted felons are likely to commit crimes again from looking at their brain scans. Convicts showing low activity in a brain region associated with decision-making and action are more likely to […]
And Now… Video Game Urinals
March 27th, 2013Via: U.S. News and World Report: A minor league baseball team in Pennsylvania will become the first professional sports franchise to offer urine-controlled video games in its restrooms when the season starts in April. Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs will debut the “Urinal Gaming System” in its men’s bathrooms—the custom urinals feature a “pee controlled” video […]
