ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2012) — The National Science Foundation has awarded a $130,000 grant to a team co-led by University of Virginia professor Ahmed Abbasi to fund research that will analyze social media, including tweets and online discussion forums, to… Read More ›
Control, Inhibiting Self Determination,
China warns Canada “Business is business. It should not be politicized,” in China’s Takeover over of Canadian Oil
China envoy warns Canada against politicizing Nexen deal Posted 2012/09/22 at 11:26 am EDT TORONTO, Sep. 22, 2012 (Reuters) — China’s ambassador to Canada warned in remarks published on Saturday against allowing domestic politics to drive the Canadian government’s decision… Read More ›
Outcry over jailed Russian chemist
Narcotics expert Olga Zelenina falsely accused of aiding drug trafficking, say supporters. Quirin Schiermeier 21 September 2012 For Olga Nikolaevna Zelenina, a Kafkaesque nightmare has come true. The Russian chemist stands accused of complicity in organized drug trafficking, and is currently… Read More ›
Enemy at the gait: New cameras identify you by your walk
A new biometric “gait recognition” system has been developed by Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, meaning that individuals can now be recognized and located by their “signature” walk. Serious privacy concerns have been aired about the system and its potential… Read More ›
Nudge or Think: What works best for our society?
If approached in the right way, citizens are willing to change their behaviour and do more to help themselves and others, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 21 September 2012 If approached in the… Read More ›
Revolutionary life saving Palantir software denied to the 3rd Infantry Division because of Red tape. Even though the company offered its technology on a cost-free basis
Army Investigating 3rd Infantry Division’s Acquisition of Controversial Intel Software Sep. 20, 2012 – 06:16AM | By PAUL MCLEARY An Aug. 16 email from the Army’s acting assistant secretary for acquisition, Heidi Shyu, demanded “immediate corrective action” after she discovered… Read More ›
Pakistani retailer faces blasphemy charges after not joining film protest
Published: 20 September, 2012, 11:12 Edited: 20 September, 2012, 11:12 Pakistani police are probing a local businessman over alleged blasphemy. His refusal to close his shops in solidarity with demonstrators against an Islam-insulting film led to a standoff which could… Read More ›
The More People Rely On Their Intuitions, the More Cooperative They Become: ” stopping to think encourages selfishness “
It’s an age old question: Why do we do good? What makes people sometimes willing to put “We” ahead of “Me?” Harvard scientists are getting closer to an answer, showing that people’s first response is to cooperate and that stopping… Read More ›
Author defends Monsanto GM study as EU orders review; Claims ” people are responsible and guilty of authorizing this GMO after only three months,”
Author defends Monsanto GM study as EU orders review Posted 2012/09/20 at 11:56 am EDT BRUSSELS, Sep. 20, 2012 (Reuters) — The French author of a study linking a type of genetically modified corn to higher health risks in rats… Read More ›
Creepy UK installs CCTV in School’s bathrooms
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 Over 200 UK state schools have installed cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms to monitor students, a recent surveillance survey reported. British parents will likely be shocked by the study’s findings. The survey is based on… Read More ›
Sen. Jay Rockefeller pitches cybersecurity bill to top CEOs: Offers them immunity from liability in the event of a cyberattack
By The Christian Science Monitor Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:02 EDT Seeking to overcome opposition from the US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to a cybersecurity bill, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia took the unusual… Read More ›
Notes from the First Billionaire Club ” Billionaire Club in Bid to Curb Overpopulation ” 2009
Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation John Harlow The Sunday Times Published: 24 May 2009 SOME of America’s leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s… Read More ›
New Philippines law bans ‘cybersex’
By Stephen C. Webster Wednesday, September 19, 2012 13:01 EDT Topics: EFF ♦ electronic frontier foundation ♦ New Philippines law bans The president of the Philippines signed a cyber crime bill into law on Tuesday that, much to the chagrin… Read More ›
China rounds up and puts its beggars in CAGES … so they couldn’t spoil the fun at town fair
Temple fair in Nanchang, Jiangxi place beggars in ‘zoo-like’ cages Ceiling of cages so low the ‘inmates’ are forced to sit If the beggars chose to leave they are banished from the city By Sara Malm PUBLISHED:08:05 EST, 19 September… Read More ›
USAid ordered out of Moscow as Putin’s protest crackdown continues
American agency for international development has until 1 October to shut its office in Moscow Miriam Elder in Moscow and Chris McGreal in Washingtn guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 September 2012 16.43 EDT Vladimir Putin has drawn on stereotypes and conspiracy theories to… Read More ›
Debt crisis: central bank action is work of the devil, says Germany’s Jens Weidmann
The head of Germany’s Bundesbank has raised eyebrows across Europe after he appeared to compare Mario Draghi’s bond buying programme with the “devil’s work”. Jens Weidmann said that efforts by central banks to pump money into the economy reminded him… Read More ›
Federal court allows top donors to tax-exempt groups to remain secret
By Eric W. Dolan Tuesday, September 18, 2012 17:03 EDT Topics: chris van hollen ♦ court of appeals ♦ FEC The D.C. Circuit Court on Tuesday ruled that tax-exempt groups like Crossroads GPS only had to disclose donors who give… Read More ›
Former Justice Souter: ‘Pervasive civic ignorance’ in U.S. could bring dictatorship
By Eric W. Dolan Monday, September 17, 2012 18:20 EDT Topics: Justice Souter ♦ Souter ♦ U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter ♦ University of New Hampshire School of Law Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter thinks… Read More ›
Obama considers executive order in wake of Cybersecurity Act failure
By Eric W. Dolan Monday, September 17, 2012 20:16 EDT Topics: executive order ♦ Homeland Security and Counterterrorism ♦ President Barack Obama The Obama administration is considering issuing an executive order to achieve some of the aims of the Cybersecurity… Read More ›
Democracy declined worldwide in 2011, Arab Spring nations at risk: report
By Stella DawsonPosted 2012/09/17 at 8:26 pm EDT WASHINGTON, Sept 17, Sep. 17, 2012 (Reuters) — Democratic governance declined throughout the world in 2011, showing that gains made in the Middle East and North Africa during the Arab Spring are… Read More ›
Can we engineer love and morality?
By RICHARD WEIKART The Modesto Bee Published: Sunday, Sep. 16, 2012 – 1:00 am Recently Oxford philosophy professor Julian Savulescu moved his campaign for “moral enhancement” out of the ivory tower and into the mainstream. This month Reader’s Digest… Read More ›
The government was mum when China’s heir apparent Xi Jinping went missing, and political jitters persist now that he’s reappeared. How many scandals can the leadership take?
Is China Losing It? Sep 16, 2012 4:45 AM EDT This year has been Beijing’s annus horribilis. The Chinese regime has been pummeled by a steady stream of political controversies, purges and rumor mongering, made all the more nerve-wracking because… Read More ›
NSA whistleblower: Illegal data collection a ‘violation of everybody’s Constitutional rights’: The Story of “ThinThread”
By Paul Harris, The Guardian Saturday, September 15, 2012 14:53 EDT Former National Security Agency official Bill Binney says US is illegally collecting huge amounts of data on his fellow citizens Bill Binney believes he helped create a monster. Sitting… Read More ›
Obama attorneys ask court to restore indefinite detention power
By Stephen C. Webster Friday, September 14, 2012 16:09 EDT Topics: Katherine Forrest ♦ Obama ♦ President Barack Obama Less than 24 hours after a judge blocked a law that gives the government the power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens… Read More ›
Malware being installed on computers in factories, warns Microsoft : ” found forged versions of Windows on all the machines “
Researchers find malware pre-installed on brand new computers bought in China Associated Press guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 September 2012 07.41 EDT Microsoft investigator David Anselmi shows how malware can wind up on consumer computers. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP Criminals are installing malware on… Read More ›
Economist Richard Duncan: Civilization May Not Survive ‘Death Spiral’
Money Morning By Terry Weiss, Money Morning Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America’s $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a “death spiral, “as he told CNBC. And it could… Read More ›
‘Humiliating punishments for working too slow, bars on the windows and squalid dorms’: Inside the factory that makes the iPhone 5
By Eddie Wrenn PUBLISHED:09:51 EST, 12 September 2012| UPDATED:11:59 EST, 12 September 2012 For Apple’s American workers, today is a big day, with the release of the iPhone 5. But behind the scenes at the Foxconn factory in China, tasked… Read More ›
New Research on “Junk” DNA Raises Questions on Eve of Crucial Court Hearing
On September 19, the Ninth Circuit is set to hear new arguments in Haskell v. Harris, a case challenging California’s warrantless DNA collection program. Today EFF asked the court to consider ground-breaking new research that confirms for the first time… Read More ›
Study: Banks to blame for over 800,000 unnecessary foreclosures
By Pro Publica Tuesday, September 11, 2012 16:25 EDT By Paul Kiel ProPublica Over the past several years, we’ve reported extensively on the big banks’ foreclosure failings. As a result of banks’ disorganization and understaffing — particularly at the… Read More ›
How China and US ‘secretly tested genetically modified golden rice on children’
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:07:13 EST, 11 September 2012| UPDATED:07:22 EST, 11 September 2012 Genetically manipulated Golden rice has been proposed as a solution to vitamin A deficiency China’s health authorities are investigating allegations that genetically modified rice has been… Read More ›
‘The Americans are our worst enemies’: Doctor who helped lead U.S. to bin Laden says Pakistan spy agency lists America as greatest foes and ‘maintains relations just to extract billions in aid’
Dr Shakil Afridi says Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency calls the U.s. it’s worst enemy He was sentenced to 33 years in prison in June Dr Afridi helped the U.S. by setting up a fake vaccination programme that allowed him to … Read More ›
How do you contribute to modern day slavery of human trafficking?
By The Christian Science Monitor Sunday, September 9, 2012 20:46 EDT In this week’s Monitor cover story on the misunderstood scourge of human trafficking, some human rights advocates suggest that the global problem gets eclipsed by the issue of domestic… Read More ›
Criminals to be caught by their tattoos: Recognition software will scan Facebook for incriminating markings
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:13:30 EST, 9 September 2012| UPDATED:14:25 EST, 9 September 2012 Police may soon be able to catch criminals by the ink they are sporting. Computer scientists are developing a new program that will be able to… Read More ›
France’s socialist president set to unveil unprecedented austerity plan: 75-percent tax on income exceeding one million euros
By Agence France-Presse Sunday, September 9, 2012 12:09 EDT PARIS — France’s Socialist President Francois Hollande was due to announce on Sunday unprecedented belt-tightening measures of billions of euros amid mounting discontent over the flagging economy and job cuts. Hollande,… Read More ›
France’s richest man applies to become Belgian to escape 75 per cent tax rate
By Peter Allen PUBLISHED:05:13 EST, 9 September 2012| UPDATED:09:50 EST, 9 September 2012 Bernard Arnault has applied for Belgian nationality France’s richest man has applied for Belgian nationality – as the Socialist government in his home country raises the tax… Read More ›
EU funding ‘Orwellian’ artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour”: Project Indect
Repost for Filing 2009 The European Union is spending millions of pounds developing “Orwellian” technologies designed to scour the internet and CCTV images for “abnormal behaviour”. By Ian Johnston 9:08PM BST 19 Sep 2009 A five-year research programme, called Project… Read More ›
Indian PM says social media could spark ethnic tensions
By Agence France-Presse Saturday, September 8, 2012 17:35 EDT Indian Premier Manmohan Singh warned Saturday over the use of social media to inflame ethnic tensions after online threats and text messages sparked a mass exodus of migrants from southern cities…. Read More ›
Smart drugs to ‘moral enhancement’: a chemical approach to transhumanism
By Olivia Solon 06 September 12 Steroids. Ritalin. Modafinil. Prozac. EPO. These are just a selection of drugs that could be described as boosting the cognitive or physical performance of human beings. As part of Wired.co.uk’s Transhuman Week, we take a… Read More ›
Are restrictions to scientific research costing lives? ” doctors and researchers are denied full access “
Contact: Katie Baker katie.baker@sagepub.co.uk 020-732-48719 SAGE Publications Are restrictions to scientific research costing lives? London, UK (05 September 2012) – In ‘Censors on Campus’, Index on Censorship asks whether lives might be saved by making vital research freely available. As… Read More ›
Family told ten rare Double Eagle gold coins worth $80 million obtained in ‘uncertain circumstances’ belong to the U.S. not them
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:13:10 EST, 6 September 2012| UPDATED:15:47 EST, 6 September 2012 A judge has ruled that ten rare gold coins worth $80 million belong to the U.S. government and not to a family that had sued the… Read More ›
Samsung accused of exploiting younger workers in China
Workers barred from sitting during shifts and some suffer physical and verbal abuse, alleges China Labor Watch Charles Arthur and agencies guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 September 2012 11.04 EDT A Samsung production line in South Korea. The electronics company is… Read More ›
BP executives sought to blame “blue collar rig workers”: U.S.: “”This was a decision designed to ensure that the public and legal lines of accountability would be focused exclusively on blue collar rig workers and other contractor/defendants – but at all cost, not upon BP management and the inexplicable behaviors that coursed through the pages” of the internal BP emails.”
By David IngramPosted 2012/09/06 at 7:25 pm EDT WASHINGTON, Sep. 6, 2012 (Reuters) — BP executives wanted to concentrate blame for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster on “blue collar rig workers” in order to save themselves, U.S. government lawyers… Read More ›
Social psychologists espouse tolerance and diversity — do they walk the walk? The Answer is NO
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science Every ten years or so, someone will make the observation that there is a lack of political diversity among psychological scientists and a discussion about what ought to be done ensues…. Read More ›
Banks plan outside spending group to influence elections
By Alina SelyukhPosted 2012/09/05 at 4:54 pm EDT WASHINGTON, Sep. 5, 2012 (Reuters) — A major banking industry trade group is planning a foray into the U.S. elections by creating a tax-exempt organization capable of raising unlimited anonymous funds, the… Read More ›
Briton who launched first web page in 1990 reiterates opposition to extending government control of internet
Tim Berners-Lee: the internet has no off switch Charles Arthur and agencies guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 September 2012 12.02 EDT Sir Tim Berners-Lee at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation in London, where he said the internet ‘has no… Read More ›
Eurozone demands six-day work week for Greece, set the minimum daily rest to 11 hours
Eurozone demands six-day week for Greece Government in Athens under pressure to introduce a six-day working week as part of the terms for a second bailout Ian Traynor in Brussel guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 September 2012 15.37 EDT Terms for… Read More ›
Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods,…Stanford Institution Fails to List Conflict of Interest (COI) in Meta analysis: Claimed Pesticide Laden Crops are Organic
Contact: Michelle Brandt mbrandt@stanford.edu 650-723-0272 Stanford University Medical Center STANFORD, Calif. — You’re in the supermarket eyeing a basket of sweet, juicy plums. You reach for the conventionally grown stone fruit, then decide to spring the extra $1/pound for its… Read More ›
Christians should ‘leave their beliefs at home or get another job’:” such as wearing a cross, means they might have to resign and get another job, government lawyers have said”
Christians should leave their religious beliefs at home or accept that a personal expression of faith at work, such as wearing a cross, means they might have to resign and get another job, government lawyers have said. Nadia Eweida Photo:… Read More ›
Witch hunts targeted by grassroots women’s groups: Yes, Actual Witch Hunts ( India )
Contact: Andy Henion, Media Communications, Office: (517) 355-3294, Cell: (517) 281-6949, Andy.Henion@cabs.msu.edu; Soma Chaudhuri, Sociology, Office: (517) 353-0874, chaudh30@msu.edu Published: Sept. 04, 2012 EAST LANSING, Mich. — Witch hunts are common and sometimes deadly in the tea plantations… Read More ›
Now TSA agents are testing drinks purchased INSIDE the airport
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:23:18 EST, 3 September 2012| UPDATED:23:23 EST, 3 September 2012 Travelers’ angst is being taken up a notch now that TSA agents are adding yet another seemingly arbitrary security check at airports. The federal agency is… Read More ›
Engineering Evil 