Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
In-Q-Tel
June 12th, 2012I haven’t posted any stories about in-Q-Tel in a while. Via: Mercury News: Silicon Valley in years past has supplied surveillance satellites, missiles and electronic warfare gadgets to the government. But more recently, a dazzling array of other innovations has grabbed the interest of the country’s covert operatives. Nearly a third of the 87 companies […]
Gates Grants: Galvanic Bracelets that Measure Student Engagement
June 12th, 2012Ok, kids, time for school. Don’t forget your GPS trackers, breakfast sticks, RFID cards and… Via: Washington Post: In the ‘you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff’ category, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spending about $1.1 million to develop a way to physiologically measure how engaged students are by their teachers’ lessons. This involves “galvanic skin response” bracelets that […]
The Macroeconomics of Chinese Kleptocracy
June 12th, 2012This otherwise good Bronte Capital piece doesn’t mention that China is home to a lot of serious gold bugs. Look at this recent article from Bloomberg: China will topple India this year as the largest bullion market as rising incomes bolster demand, the World Gold Council forecasts. Gold may gain for a 12th year in […]
EU CONSIDERING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
June 12th, 2012Via: AP: Olivier Bailly spokesman said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it’s necessary to protect public order or public security. “Some people are working on scenarios,” he said, adding that the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, was giving legal […]
Gunwalking: House Committee Schedules Contempt Vote Against Holder
June 11th, 2012Via: CBS: CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It’s the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member. This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn […]
‘Mass Transit Cameras Spot Bad Guys, No Human Judgment Required’
June 7th, 2012And while we’re at it, how about using Google searches to identify pre-crime? Via: Fast Company: A new breed of security cameras can supposedly detect terrorism and crime without a human judgment call–and mass transit agencies are shelling out big bucks for the product. San Francisco’s Municipal Transit Authority, which oversees the city’s MUNI trains, […]
Western Banks Reaping Billions from Colombian Cocaine Trade
June 6th, 2012Via: Guardian: The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich “consuming” countries – principally across Europe and in the US – rather than war-torn “producing” nations such as Colombia and Mexico, new research has revealed. And its authors claim that financial regulators in the west are reluctant to go […]
U.S. Army Increases Lithium Battery Power Density by 30%
June 6th, 2012“The primacy of new killing technologies and technologies of political control go hand in hand with the clean energy systems.” —Forget the Green Technology – The Hot Money Is in Guns Via: U.S. Army: Army scientists are squeezing more power from batteries by developing new methods and materials with incredible results. “Our battery group has […]
SpaceX Flight Opens Door for U.S. Military Payloads
June 6th, 2012Via: Reuters: Space Exploration Technologies’ unmanned Dragon capsule arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday following a test flight for NASA that could open the door to a long-desired and more elusive customer – the U.S. military. The cargo capsule blasted off May on 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida and three days […]
And Now… Unsourcing
June 6th, 201275.2 million people are on Facebook, pretending to grow vegetables and raise animals in their browser windows? … Has it really come to this? Getting ribbons for bragging rights in Facebook games? —The Future Where Soda Cans Have Screens Via: The Economist: Some of the biggest brands in software, consumer electronics and telecoms have now […]
