Archive for May, 2008
Iranian Weapons in Iraq? Woops
May 13th, 2008Via: Los Angeles Times: A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously […]
U.S. Government Letters Tell Students They’re Security Threats
May 13th, 2008Via: New York Times: A German graduate student in oceanography at M.I.T. applied to the Transportation Security Administration for a new ID card allowing him to work around ships and docks. What the student, Wilken-Jon von Appen, received in return was a letter that not only turned him down but added an ominous warning from […]
Former Head of the National Institutes of Health on Autism and Childhood Vaccines
May 13th, 2008Via: CBS: Dr. Bernadine Healy is the former head of the National Institutes of Health, and the most well-known medical voice yet to break with her colleagues on the vaccine-autism question. In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Healy said the question is still open. “I think that the public health officials have been too […]
Soviet Republic of Britain: Town Halls Should Map Race and Religion to Identify ‘Tension Hotspots’
May 13th, 2008Via: DailyMail: More than 10 million people are to have their everyday disputes, their politics and their business lives checked by new “tension monitoring” committees. The committees are to be set up to try to cut the risk of riots or disturbances in the aftermath of terrorist outrages or outbreaks of local racial trouble. They […]
Texas: “In-School Suspension Program” Uses GPS Tracking Systems Attached to Students
May 13th, 2008You’ve got to hand it to the New York Times. This one goes down smooth. The GPS system is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It tracks, it traces, it slices, it dices, it gets results, it saves lives. And it saves money! Who needs jail for the kiddies when an “in-school suspension program” is […]
Old Gas Pumps Can’t Handle Ever-Rising Prices
May 13th, 2008Via: AP: REARDAN, Wash. (AP) — Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can’t register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials. The pumps, throwbacks to a bygone era on the American road, are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and replacing them […]
This Mob Is Big in Japan
May 13th, 2008Must read. Full text follows. Via: Washington Post: This Mob Is Big in Japan By Jake Adelstein Sunday, May 11, 2008; B02 I have spent most of the past 15 years in the dark side of the rising sun. Until three years ago, I was a crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, […]
NSA vs. Military Academies
May 12th, 2008Via: Wired: Even with a solid network design and passable software choices, there was an element of intuitiveness required to defend against the NSA, especially once it became clear the agency was using minor, and perhaps somewhat obvious, attacks to screen for sneakier, more serious ones. “One of the challenges was when they see a […]
U.S. Government Trying to Prevent Meat Company from Testing All of Its Cows for Mad Cow Disease
May 12th, 2008Via: Time: The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority. The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Arkansas City, Kan.-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct […]
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May 12th, 2008DT sent $50 and IL sent $100. Thank you.
