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2/11/2006

RFID Chip Implant Required to Enter Corporate Datacenter :.

Two employees have been injected with RFID chips this week as part of a new requirement to access their company's datacenter.

Cincinnati based surveillance company CityWatcher.com created the policy with the hopes of increasing security in the datacenter where video surveillance tapes are stored. In the past, employees accessed the room with an RFID tag which hung from their keychains, however under the new regulations an implantable, glass encapsulated RFID tag from VeriChip must be injected into the bicep to gain access, a release from spychips.com said on Thursday.



Off Topic: Last of the Precious Metal on eBay :.

Well, folks, this is the last of it:

Two - 1 Ounce American Eagle Gold Coins - 1991 and 1999

Take advantage of the recent gap down in gold prices! I'd like to hold out... Unfortunately, it's not in the cards for me. It's almost time for me to board the great bird that will carry me across the ocean to The Land of the Long White Cloud.

Thanks for bidding!



Fox Aired Photos of Aliens Attacking Library Tower :.

WTF?

In a February 9 speech, President Bush disclosed details of what he described as a foiled Al Qaeda plot to fly a commercial plane into the tallest building in Los Angeles. Shortly after his speech concluded, Fox News aired numerous images from the 1996 film Independence Day (Twentieth Century Fox) showing the reported target of the attack -- the Library Tower, now known as the U.S. Bank Tower -- being destroyed by alien invaders.


2/10/2006

Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation :.

Clear and present danger:

Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.

"Coming on the heels of serious consumer concern about government snooping into Google's search logs, it's shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the Desktop software can index. The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn't even be notified in time to challenge it. Other litigants---your spouse, your business partners or rivals, whoever---could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files."



Rockbox iPod Firmware :.

Maniacs are working hard to uncripple the iPod.


2/9/2006

Bush/Clinton Dynasties Growing Closer :.

Yeah, those tender moments in the crypt, and the cocaine flights have a way bonding men together:

"They've got this secret handshake that nobody else knows about," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat who was a top White House adviser to Mr. Clinton.

Related: Bill Clinton: A New Member of the Bush Family



30-Year Treasury Bond Makes Return :.

This is amazing. Anyone who thinks this thing is coming down anytime soon just needs to take a good long look at news like this. Buying these bonds makes about as much sense as taking driving lessons from a drunk uncle, but there you have it:

The 30-year Treasury bond made a long-awaited return on Thursday, delighting bond investors and the cash-strapped federal government.

The Treasury Department sold $14 billion of the bonds with a yield of 4.53 percent. Strong demand helped to keep the yield at its lowest level ever.

The yield was 5.52 percent the last time the 30-year bond was auctioned, on Aug. 15, 2001.

Bond sales stopped while the government ran a string of budget surpluses. Deficits returned and set records, so the government reintroduced the bonds, hoping to lock in interest payments at low rates for a longer period.

"This was certainly a successful launch for the 30-year bond," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Wyss and other economists said the government benefited from the strong demand for long-term debt instruments, particularly from pension funds that are investing for younger workers who will not retire for decades.



U.S. Plans Massive Data Sweep :.

Switch all links to goatse or tubgirl and that will fix them:

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

"We don't realize that, as we live our lives and make little choices, like buying groceries, buying on Amazon, Googling, we're leaving traces everywhere," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We have an attitude that no one will connect all those dots. But these programs are about connecting those dots - analyzing and aggregating them - in a way that we haven't thought about. It's one of the underlying fundamental issues we have yet to come to grips with."

The core of this effort is a little-known system called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Only a few public documents mention it. ADVISE is a research and development program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), part of its three-year-old "Threat and Vulnerability, Testing and Assessment" portfolio. The TVTA received nearly $50 million in federal funding this year.


2/8/2006

Sweden Plans to be World's First Oil-Free Economy :.

This is better than nothing, I guess. It will allow the profligacy of the U.S. to continue for a few more weeks or months. Every Hummer driver should thank a Swede for making more petroleum products available:

Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations.

The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.


2/7/2006

Gold Hammered Lower :.

Wow. That was a weird move:

GOLD and other precious metal prices fell sharply overnight after climbing to new highs last week, with gold posting its biggest one-day decline in 13 years.

A correction was inevitable following a jump in prices over a short period of time, but the metals had potential to strike again after a breather, dealers said.



GPS Gum Balls :.

L.A. pigs won't chase cars anymore. They'll just dart suspect vehicles with GPS tracking units and swoop in for the kill later.

I wonder: What's to stop the criminal from pulling over and sticking the thing to another car, or a city bus, or dog, or...

The car chase capital of the world is going high-tech to end dangerous pursuits across Southern California.

Police Chief William J. Bratton unveiled a strange new weapon in the police department's strategy to halt high-speed pursuits -- adhesive darts with a global positioning system that are fired at fleeing cars by police.

Once fired from a patrol car, the GPS dart is designed to stick to a fleeing car, allowing squad cars to back off the chase.

"Instead of us pushing them doing 70 or 80 miles an hour," Bratton said, "this device allows us not to have to pursue after the car. It allows us to start vectoring where the car is."

U.S. Department of Justice officials suggested testing the StarChase system in Los Angeles. A small number of patrol cars will be equipped with the compressed air launchers, which fire the miniature GPS receivers in a sticky compound resembling a golf ball.



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NATIONAL FORECLOSURES INCREASE EVERY QUARTER OF 2005 :.

RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released year-end data from its 2005 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which showed that 846,982 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure in 2005, and a 25 percent increase in the number of new foreclosures from the first quarter to the fourth quarter.


2/6/2006

Goleta Mass Murderer: 'Been a Member of a Cult?' :.

Had Jennifer San Marco been altered?

Police in New Mexico say San Marco, who was white, distributed a publication called "The Racist Press." The newsletter included error-laden explanations of various world religions and a confusing theory linking the U.S. government to "Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz, the Ku Klux Klan, and racist murders.

....

The Los Angeles Times on Friday reported San Marco contacted the newspaper a few months ago about placing a classified ad that read, "Been a member of a Cult? Did that fad go out in the '70s-'80s? Any unexplained suicides? Please read The Racist Press, PO Box 3393, Milan NM 87020."

The newspaper said San Marco was told to submit a copy of the publication, a standard procedure for mail-order ads, but she never did and the ad never ran.


Research Credit: ME



The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers :.

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders.

Research Credit: SA




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