Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
Google Quits Plans to Make Cheap Renewable Energy
November 24th, 2011Via: Reuters: Google Inc has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable energy cheaper than coal, the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page’s moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts. Google said on Tuesday that it was pulling the plug on seven projects, including Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal as well as […]
Japan: 8% of Country’s Surface Area Contaminated with Radioactive Fallout from Fukushima Disaster
November 22nd, 2011Via: ABC: Japan’s science ministry says 8 per cent of the country’s surface area has been contaminated by radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. It says more than 30,000 square kilometres of the country has been blanketed by radioactive caesium. The ministry says most of the contamination was caused by four large plumes of […]
Foreign Hackers Targeted U.S. Water Plant in Apparent Malicious Cyber Attack
November 20th, 2011Related/Update: Hacker Says Texas Town Used Three Character Password To Secure Internet Facing SCADA System Via: Threat Post: In an e-mail interview with Threatpost, the hacker who compromised software used to manage water infrastructure for South Houston, Texas, said the district had HMI (human machine interface) software used to manage water and sewage infrastructure accessible […]
All French Nuclear Reactors Need Safety Upgrades
November 18th, 2011Via: Reuters: France needs to upgrade the protection of vital functions in all its nuclear reactors to avoid a disaster in the event of a natural calamity, the head of its nuclear safety agency said, adding there was no need to close any plants.
A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage
November 18th, 2011I have a special relationship with the McRib sandwich. Long ago, I had a friend who used to eat those things and the smell of them turned my stomach. He found my revulsion hilarious and he would taunt me by offering me some of the McRib, or blowing the putrid fumes my way. One time, […]
Japan: Radioactive Contamination in Soil Will Severely Impair Food Production
November 15th, 2011Via: Telegraph: Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster. A team of international researchers said food production would likely be “severely impaired” by the elevated levels of caesium found in […]
Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors
November 14th, 2011Via: Vimeo: Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo. Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street is one of the world’s most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. This short documentary peeks inside, offering a glimpse of the massive material infrastructure that makes the Internet possible.
Mystery Radiation Detected ‘Across Europe’
November 12th, 2011Via: ABC News: The hunt is on for the source of low level radiation detected in the atmosphere “across Europe” over the past weeks, nuclear officials said today. Trace amounts of iodine-131, a type of radiation created during the operation of nuclear reactors or in the detonation of a nuclear weapon, were detected as early […]
Foxconn Wants to Build “Intelligent Robotics Kingdom” to Replace Human Workers with Robots
November 7th, 2011I love how they mention that this facility will create jobs! Yeah, 2000 jobs for people who are tasked with figuring out how to eliminate millions of other people’s jobs. This is definitely one for your Arbeit Macht Frei file folder. Via: Cnet: iPhone maker Foxconn aims to manufacture its own robots and automation equipment […]
Fukushima Residents’ Urine Now Radioactive
November 4th, 2011Via: Japan Times / Kyodo: More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has […]
