Archive for December, 2009
Carcinogenic Fire Retardant Being Phased Out (Finally)
December 20th, 2009Via: New York Times: Three manufacturers of a commonly used fire retardant have voluntarily agreed to phase out its production within three years in a pact with the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmentalists have long advocated a ban on the retardant decabromodiphenyl ether, or DecaBDE, which is used widely in consumer electronics, furniture and textiles, among […]
U.S. Participated in Slaughter of Dozens of Civilians in Yemen
December 20th, 2009Via: AFP: A local Yemeni official said on Sunday that 49 civilians, among them 23 children and 17 women, were killed in air strikes against Al-Qaeda, which he said were carried out “indiscriminately.” Exiled southern leader Ali Salem al-Baid had accused the Yemeni authorities of killing at least 62 civilians in Thursday’s air strikes Sanaa […]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Secret Detention
December 20th, 2009Via: The Nation: “If you don’t have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he’s illegal, we can make him disappear.” Those chilling words were spoken by James Pendergraph, then executive director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of State and Local Coordination, at a conference of police and sheriffs in August […]
Telecom XT Blues: Resolved with Directional, High Gain Antenna
December 20th, 2009Update: Tennatron Directional Antenna Works Great As anticipated, the antenna did the trick. I bought and installed Tennatron’s antenna for mobile networks in New Zealand. With the antenna installed, my XT connection hit 2.6 megabits/sec down and 1.5 megabits up. (That’s *bleeping* fantastic; considering our deep wopwops location.) More importantly, the connection is stable. I […]
“Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible.”
December 19th, 2009Via: Shanghai Daily: IT is getting harder for governments to buy United States Treasuries because the US’s shrinking current-account gap is reducing supply of dollars overseas, a Chinese central bank official said yesterday. The comments by Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, referred to the overall situation globally, not specifically to […]
FDIC Friday
December 19th, 2009Via: CNN: Banks in six U.S. states were closed Friday, bringing the total number of failed banks this year to 140, at a cost of over $1 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Among the institutions seized by regulators was a so-called “bankers’ bank” in Illinois called Independent Bankers’ Bank (IBB), which had about […]
France: Former President Chirac Indicted for Embezzlement
December 18th, 2009Via: France24: A drawn-out case involving claims that former French president Jacques Chirac set up fictitious jobs while he served as mayor of Paris is heading to court after a judge ordered Chirac’s indictment on embezzlement charges.
U.S. Army Lightning-Gun ‘Approaching Weaponisation’
December 18th, 2009Via: Register: The Pentagon continues to pour funding into Arizona-based laser plasma lightning blaster-gun firm Applied Energetics, formerly known as Ionatron. The US Army says that the firm’s lightning guns are “approaching the level of maturity needed to begin weaponization”. The military assessment came as the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (ARDEC) inked […]
Not Just Drones: Militants Can Snoop on Most U.S. Warplanes
December 18th, 2009Via: Wired: Tapping into drones’ video feeds was just the start. The U.S. military’s primary system for bringing overhead surveillance down to soldiers and Marines on the ground is also vulnerable to electronic interception, multiple military sources tell Danger Room. That means militants have the ability to see through the eyes of all kinds of […]
People Fed Pizza as Reward for Receiving Swine Flu Vaccination
December 18th, 2009Via: WXYZ: The Detroit Health Department is fighting swine flu with pepperoni. When kids return to school after the holiday break, each class has the opportunity to get a free pizza party – if they sign up for the shots. … The Detroit Health Department has already been working especially hard to get the vaccine […]
