Archive for April, 2015
German Intelligence Helped NSA Spy on European Politicians and Defense Contractors
April 24th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Germany’s intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has been helping the NSA spy on European politicians and companies for years, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The NSA has been sending lists of “selectors”—identifying telephone numbers, e-mail and IP addresses—to the BND, which then provides related information that it holds in […]
“Not Science Fiction”: Miami Police Implements Pre-Crime System
April 23rd, 2015Via: Miami Herald: Armed with high-tech software and years of crime data, Miami police believe they will soon be able to stop crimes by predicting when and where they will occur. It sounds a little like something out of a science fiction novel, but the department is in the process of adopting a system called […]
Head Transplant Doctor: Creating Immortality Is the Goal
April 23rd, 2015Via: Independent: The Italian doctor who has claimed that he could transplant a man’s head onto a donor’s body has said that he could do much of the procedure in less than an hour. The procedure — which Canavero has admitted is just a first step towards his ultimate aim of creating immortality — will […]
Chinese Scientists Admitted to Tweaking Genes of Human Embryos for First Time
April 23rd, 2015Via: Business Insider: A recent biotech discovery — one that has been called the biggest biotech discovery of the century — showed how scientists might be able to modify a human genome when that genome was still just in an embryo. This could change not only the genetic material of a person, but could also […]
Tesla Batteries Already Deployed in 11 California Wal-Mart Stores
April 23rd, 2015Via: Bloomberg: As part of a pilot program with sister company SolarCity, Tesla has installed batteries at about 300 California homes equipped with solar panels. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a relationship with SolarCity, has Tesla batteries installed at 11 California stores; Cargill Inc. plans a one-megawatt system for its animal-processing plant in Fresno.
And Now… “How Tor Is Building a New Dark Net with Help from the U.S. Military”
April 22nd, 2015You betcha. Via: TheDailyDot: To stay ahead in the security race, Tor is building the next-generation Dark Net in part with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. military agency charged with inventing the cutting edge of new technology. The funding, which began in 2014, comes as part of DARPA’s Memex project, […]
Jeb Bush Praises Obama’s Expansion of NSA Surveillance
April 22nd, 2015Via: FirstLook: One of the most glaring myths propagated by Washington — especially the two parties’ media loyalists — is that bipartisanship is basically impossible, that the two parties agree on so little, that they are constantly at each other’s throats over everything. As is so often the case for Washington partisan propaganda, the reality […]
Brain-Damaged UK Victims of Swine Flu Vaccine to Get £60 Million Compensation
April 22nd, 2015Via: IB Times: Patients who suffered brain damage as a result of taking a swine flu vaccine are to receive multi-million-pound payouts from the UK government. The government is expected to receive a bill of approximately £60 million, with each of the 60 victims expected to receive about £1 million each. Peter Todd, a lawyer […]
FBI Admits Flaws in Hair Analysis Over Decades
April 20th, 2015Via: Washington Post: The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000. Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, […]
Walmart Raises Suspicions After Closing 5 Stores In Same Day For “Plumbing” Problems
April 20th, 2015Via: Consumerist: There are thousands of Walmarts in the U.S., so the fact that five of them were temporarily shut down all on the same day, all for the same reason, and all for the same estimated amount of time, may be statistically insignificant. But some workers and city officials are raising questions about what’s […]