Archive for September, 2014
Vatican Archbishop Accused of Storing Tens of Thousands of Child Porn Files on Computer
September 29th, 2014Via: Inquisitr: The Vatican is facing a child porn scandal after former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was accused of storing tens of thousands of illicit videos and photos featuring children. The 66-year-old Wesolowski was arrested earlier this week at the Vatican, making him the highest-ranking Vatican official to be investigated for child sex abuse. He is […]
Curry Spice May Boost Brain Repair
September 29th, 2014Via: BBC: A spice commonly found in curries may boost the brain’s ability to heal itself, according to a report in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy. The German study suggests a compound found in turmeric could encourage the growth of nerve cells thought to be part of the brain’s repair kit. Scientists say […]
Hong Kong: Streets Blocked as Pro-Democracy Protests Spread
September 28th, 2014Via: BBC: Thousands of people have remained on the streets of Hong Kong for another day of pro-democracy protests, defying tear gas and ignoring appeals to leave. Overnight, riot police advanced on crowds who ignored official warnings that the demonstrations were illegal. Protesters are angry at Chinese government plans to vet candidates in Hong Kong’s […]
Mystery Man Who Moves Japanese Markets Made More Than 1 Million Trades
September 28th, 2014This is an entertaining piece about a Japanese daytrader who goes by the alias CIS. Via: Bloomberg: Betting on rebounds was dangerous, but he’d watched SoftBank lose a fifth of its value over nine days, and a drop in U.S. markets overnight had driven the shares even lower. The odds were tilting further in favor […]
Tinkering with Brain’s Decision Circuits Makes Rats Go Random
September 27th, 2014Via: Los Angeles Times: “Our brains have evolved to be strategic, so we have evolved to use our past experience to optimize future choice,” said lead investigator Alla Y. Karpova, a neuroscientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Virginia. “Against weak competitors, a strategic approach is probably useful, because if you […]
Ello: Something’s Missing from the About Page
September 27th, 2014I was looking for some sort of social networking site or software that Cryptogon contributors could use in a post-Cryptogon era. I thought Ello might be worth considering—until I researched it a bit more. Check this out. Via: Aral Balkan: What I didn’t know at the time was that they’d taken $435,000 in seed funding […]
NY Fed Fired Examiner Who Took on Goldman Sachs
September 26th, 2014Via: ProPublica: In the spring of 2012, a senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York determined that Goldman Sachs had a problem. Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman […]
Hungary Suspends Gas Supplies to Ukraine
September 26th, 2014Via: BBC: Hungary’s gas pipeline operator, FGSZ, says it has suspended delivery of gas to neighbouring Ukraine “indefinitely”. Ukraine has been receiving gas from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia since Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine in June in a dispute over unpaid bills. Ukraine’s state-owned gas firm, Naftogaz, confirmed the stoppage. It called the move […]
Argentina Uses Drones to Spot Wealthy Tax Cheats
September 26th, 2014Via: AP: Argentine tax evaders beware: The government is using a drone to spot you. The Buenos Aires province’s tax agency said Wednesday that it has used drones to identify some 200 mansions and about 100 swimming pools that haven’t been declared by their owners.
Bash Bug May Pose Bigger Threat Than Heartbleed
September 26th, 2014Unbelievable. Via: Reuters: A newly discovered security bug in a widely used piece of Linux software, known as “Bash,” could pose a bigger threat to computer users than the “Heartbleed” bug that surfaced in April, cyber experts warned on Wednesday. Bash is the software used to control the command prompt on many Unix computers. Hackers […]
