Archive for April, 2009
Killer Robots and a Revolution in Warfare
April 22nd, 2009Via: Reuters: They have no fear, they never tire, they are not upset when the soldier next to them gets blown to pieces. Their morale doesn’t suffer by having to do, again and again, the jobs known in the military as the Three Ds – dull, dirty and dangerous. They are military robots and their […]
SUPREME COURT CUTS BACK OFFICERS’ SEARCHES OF VEHICLES
April 22nd, 2009WOW! It’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not on Cryptogon this morning. This is the best news I’ve posted in… Well, I’d pretty much forgotten about good news. It’s not all good (as you’ll read if you click through), but when the driving doom of Cryptogon lets up, even a little, it feels significant. Of course, […]
Britain’s Budget Deficit Threatens to Hit 12 Percent of GDP
April 22nd, 2009Via: Telegraph: That is just about the worst performance of any major country at any time in history, during peacetime. Gordon Brown’s sin as Chancellor was to run a fiscal deficit of 3pc of GDP at the top of the long boom, when other countries were prudently using their windfall tax revenues to build a […]
U.S. Recession Linked to More Abortions, Vasectomies
April 22nd, 2009This is not quite Kill Off, but it’s close enough. Via: Reuters: The recession may be a factor influencing more Americans to opt out of parenthood with abortions and vasectomies, although there is no data available yet to suggest a trend Even so, there is some anecdotal evidence that would-be parents are factoring the rough […]
Freddie Mac Acting Chief Financial Officer David Kellermann Found Dead; Apparent Suicide
April 22nd, 2009Update: Hanging or Gunshot? Not Clear, Apparently Suicide, though. Definitely a suicide. Trust us. Via: AHN: Police are not speculating on the cause of death of Freddie Mac’s acting head, David Kellermann, at this point and will leave it up to the medical examiner, Fairfax County Police Public Information Officer Lucy Caldwell told AHN Media. […]
Feinstein Sought $25 Billion for Agency that Awarded Contract to Spouse
April 21st, 2009Via: Washington Times: On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms. Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention […]
Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says
April 21st, 2009Chinese newspeak. Via: New York Times: “Ma,” a Chinese character for horse, is the 13th most common family name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people. That can cause no end of confusion when Mas get together, especially if those Mas also share the same given name, as many Chinese do. Ma Cheng’s book-loving […]
Bank Bailout May Hurt Taxpayers, Be Open to Fraud
April 21st, 2009No shit? Had me going there for a second… Wake me up when someone can tell us where all of that money went. Via: AP: Taxpayers are increasingly exposed to losses and the government is more vulnerable to fraud under Obama administration initiatives that have created a federal bank bailout program of “unprecedented scope,” a […]
Edgar Mitchell: “Our destiny … is to become a part of the planetary community.”
April 21st, 2009I have no idea what to make out of this. What do you think? Via: CNN: Earth Day may fall later this week, but as far as former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell and other UFO enthusiasts are concerned, the real story is happening elsewhere. Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, […]
Rent-A-Cops: Cash-Strapped Cities Using Private Armed Guards Instead of Police
April 21st, 2009Via: Wall Street Journal: Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards. The City Council recently voted to hire International Services Inc., a private security agency, to patrol crime-plagued districts. While a few Oakland […]
