Archive for June, 2015
Greece Defaults
June 30th, 2015Via: USA Today: Greece’s midnight deadline passed Tuesday for repaying $1.8 billion to the International Monetary Fund and other international creditors, deepening a financial crisis that threatens the Mediterranean nation’s membership in the European Union. Despite an eleventh-hour effort by Greek lawmakers Tuesday to secure a new two-year debt deal before the deadline, European finance […]
FBI Investigating 11 Attacks on San Francisco-Area Internet Lines
June 30th, 2015Via: USA Today: The FBI is investigating at least 11 physical attacks on high-capacity Internet cables in California’s San Francisco Bay Area dating back a year, including one early Tuesday morning. Agents confirm the latest attack disrupted Internet service for businesses and residential customers in and around Sacramento, the state’s capital. FBI agents declined to […]
Water Fluoridation Doesn’t Prevent Cavities
June 30th, 2015Via: Newsweek: The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of doctors and researchers known for their comprehensive reviews—which are widely regarded as the gold standard of scientific rigor in assessing effectiveness of public health policies—recently set out to find out if fluoridation reduces cavities. They reviewed every study done on fluoridation that they could find, and then […]
F-35 Gets Its Clock Cleaned by 1970s Era Fighter
June 30th, 2015Meanwhile, in Russia: Sukhoi PAK FA. Via: Medium: The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35?—?which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon. … The F-35 was flying “clean,” with no weapons in its bomb bay or […]
Puerto Rico Can’t Pay $72 Billion Debt, Governor Warns
June 29th, 2015Via: AP: The governor is warning that Puerto Rico can’t pay its $72 billion public debt, delivering another jolt to the recession-gripped U.S. island as well as a world financial system already worrying over Greece’s collapsing finances. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is hoping to defer debt payments while negotiating with creditors, spokesman Jesus Manuel Ortiz […]
Media Reports Allege Australian Politics Infiltrated by Italian Mafia
June 29th, 2015Via: Reuters: Two Australian media organisations reported on Monday that Australian politics has been infiltrated at high levels by the Italian mafia, although there was no suggestion of direct links between lawmakers and the criminal syndicate. A year-long investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax media found one element of the Calabrian mafia, known […]
“Doctor Who Opposed Vaccines Found Dead in Apparent Suicide”
June 28th, 2015Via: AP: Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, an anti-vaccine physician, has been found dead in what police believe is a suicide. Bradstreet died of what authorities say appears to be a self-inflicted gun shot to the chest, the Associated Press reports. His body was found by a fisherman on June 19 in Rocky Broad River in Chimney […]
GREEK BANKS AND STOCK EXCHANGE SHUTDOWN FOR WEEK
June 28th, 2015Via: Sky: Banks in Greece and the country’s stock exchange will be shut all week in a sign of the deepening financial crisis. The drastic move comes after people rushed to withdraw their cash amid panic ahead of the referendum on bailout terms. Under the controls, there will be a daily €60 limit on withdrawals […]
Greece: Bank Holliday
June 28th, 2015Via: Washington Post: Greek leaders planned to shutter their banks on Monday amid last-ditch discussions about their nation’s economic future, as panicked citizens tried to pull their money from their accounts while they still were able. Sunday’s decision to declare a bank holiday was a signal that Greece’s five-year battle to stay in the shared […]
DARPA: Engineering Organisms That Will Terraform Mars [???]
June 28th, 2015Via: Vice: The goal of terraforming Mars would be to warm up and potentially thicken its atmosphere by growing green, photosynthesizing plants, bacteria, and algae on the barren Martian surface. It’s a goal that even perpetual techno-optimists like Elon Musk think isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but it’s a goal that DARPA apparently already […]
