Archive for February, 2008
Why Bird Flu Has Been Kept at Bay
February 13th, 2008Now that they know why bird flu isn’t readily transmissible from human to human, how long until a weaponized version is engineered? That’s me being optimistic; assuming that a weaponized form doesn’t exist already. Via: BBC: Scientists say they have identified a key reason why bird flu has so far not posed a widespread menace […]
GM Wants to Replace Much of U.S. Workforce with Lower-Paid New Hires; Offers Buyouts to 74,000 Current Employees
February 13th, 2008The fact that GM is viable at all is the real news. Via: CNN: In an effort to shave ongoing losses, General Motors offered lucrative buyouts Tuesday to 74,000 employees – its entire U.S. hourly workforce. The nation’s largest automaker announced the latest round of buyouts as it reported another loss on its core auto […]
Florida: Sheriff’s Deputy Dumps Quadriplegic Man from Wheelchair Onto Floor
February 13th, 2008Via: Tampabays10: The Hillsborough Co. Sheriff’s Office held a press conference at 10:30am regarding the deputy who can be seen on video dumping a man in a wheelchair onto the ground. They’ve announced that Deputy Charlette Jones has been relieved of her duties without pay pending the outcome of an investigation. She has not officially […]
Scalia: “Absurd” to Suggest that the U.S. Shouldn’t Torture Alleged Terrorists
February 13th, 2008Via: AP: One of the United States’ top judges said in an interview broadcast in Britain on Tuesday that interrogators can inflict pain to obtain critical information about an imminent terrorist threat. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that aggressive interrogation could be appropriate to learn where a bomb was hidden shortly before it was […]
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
February 13th, 2008Thank you. BW $10 TB $33 AS $75 DR $50 DS $50
EU Plans to Require Biometrics of All Non-European Visitors
February 12th, 2008Via: IHT: BRUSSELS: All non-Europeans would need to submit biometric data before crossing Europe’s frontiers under sweeping European Union proposals to combat illegal migration, terrorism and organized crime that are to be outlined this week. The plans – arguably the biggest shake-up of border management in Europe since the creation of an internal travel zone […]
Buffett Offers to Back Municipal Bonds
February 12th, 2008One crisis after another, They keep saving Their bacon, somehow. The show is definitely not over. Via: AP: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Tuesday that he has offered to help out troubled bond insurers by offering a second level of insurance on up to $800 billion in municipal bonds. In an interview on CNBC, Buffett […]
Geothermal Power in Alaska Holds Hidden Model for Clean Energy
February 12th, 2008Prepare to have your mind blown by this Popular Mechanics piece from February 2008. No, really. The greenhouse pictures are what nearly caused me to fall out of my chair. Actually, the really weird part is that a very similar concept was proposed in 1932, using solar hot water to run the evaporator instead of […]
Rand Sinks as South African Electricity Grid Fails
February 12th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Gold is above $900 an ounce and platinum has never been higher, yet traders are selling the South African rand faster than any other major currency because President Thabo Mbeki can’t keep the lights on. The rand is down 12 percent this year against the dollar, six times more than the next-worst performer […]
BlackBerry Service Out in North America
February 12th, 2008Via: AP: A major service outage afflicted users of the popular, addictive BlackBerry smart phones across the United States and Canada on Monday, wireless carriers said. Officials with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless said BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. told them customers of all wireless carriers were affected. It was not immediately clear how […]
