Archive for May, 2010
Top Kill Failed
May 29th, 2010Now they want to cut off the damaged riser from the well and TRY to cap it with a valve. Via: AP: BP has failed in its latest attempt to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico with mud and cement, the company said Saturday. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the […]
U.S. Department of Defense Wants Autonomous Robot Army by 2034
May 29th, 2010Via: TechnoFascism Blog: “It will save lives”, or so the argument goes. Sending a robot warrior onto the battlefield instead of humans seems like the logical next step in a world moving toward greater efficiency and automation. Everyone seems in love with this new technological trend of automated devastation: from the corporations that will profit […]
Afghans Believe U.S. is Funding Taliban
May 29th, 2010NATO Forces Supplied Food, Water and Arms to Taliban Forces in Southern Afghanistan By some miracle, the article doesn’t mention opium. Via: Guardian: It’s near-impossible to find anyone in Afghanistan who doesn’t believe the US are funding the Taliban: and it’s the highly educated Afghan professionals, those employed by ISAF, USAID, international media organisations – […]
The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains
May 29th, 2010The QuickImage plugin for Firefox may be used to very easily turn image loading on and off. Via: Wired: During the winter of 2007, a UCLA professor of psychiatry named Gary Small recruited six volunteers—three experienced Web surfers and three novices—for a study on brain activity. He gave each a pair of goggles onto which […]
Goldman Trying To Get SEC Charge Knocked Down To “Material Omission” Instead Of Fraud
May 28th, 2010Funny how that Blankfein banner keeps coming in handy. Ok, maybe it’s not funny. Via: Business Insider: Goldman’s trying to settle with the SEC on a lesser charge than fraud, say John Gapper and Francesco Guerrera of the FT. The firm is also seeking to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and damages […]
Government Wants to Monitor Networks of All Critical Infrastructure Providers
May 28th, 2010Oh sure. Via: Wired: Companies that operate critical infrastructures and do not voluntarily allow the federal government to install monitoring software on their networks to detect possible cyberattacks would face the “wild” internet on their own and place us all at risk, a top Pentagon official seemed to say Wednesday. Defense Deputy Secretary William Lynn […]
Canada Will Spend $885 Million on Security for G-8 and G-20 Summits
May 28th, 2010Via: AP: Canada’s Conservative government says the nearly $1 billion it plans to spend on security at the G-8 and G-20 summits next month is worth it. Canada has budgeted up to $930 Canadian (US$885 million) for the summits. By comparison, the stated amount spent by Pittsburgh on security for last September’s G-20 summit was […]
Spain Loses AAA Rating at Fitch as It Struggles to Cut Debt
May 28th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Spain lost its AAA credit grade at Fitch Ratings, which said the country’s debt burden is likely to weigh on economic growth. The ratings company cut the grade one step to AA+ and assigned it a “stable” outlook, according to a statement from London today. Spain has held the top rating since 2003. […]
Bond Sales Fall to Least in Decade, Yields Soar
May 28th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Companies sold the least amount of bonds in a decade this month as concern Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will slow the global economy drove up relative borrowing costs by the most since the aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse.
New, Giant Oil Plume Seen in Gulf of Mexico
May 28th, 2010Via: AP: Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles (35 kilometers) from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama. The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science’s Weatherbird II vessel is […]
