Archive for May, 2010
Oil Slickonomics
May 3rd, 2010Via: The Big Picture: Three scenarios lie ahead. They rank as bad, worse, and ugliest (the latter being catastrophic and unprecedented). There is no “good” here. The Bad. Containment chambers are put in place and they catch the outflow from the three ruptures that are currently pouring 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf every […]
DynCorp Running “Counter-Narcotics” Missions Along Pakistan/Afghanistan Border
May 3rd, 2010Counter-Narcotics. *wink* Via: Wired: The airspace along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border is pretty crowded these days: Along with U.S., Afghan and Pakistani military missions, the CIA is running its own covert drone ops. Less well known, but perhaps equally controversial, is the State Department’s counter-narcotics air force, staffed by mercenaries. A recently released State Department Inspector […]
Small Businesses Doing Well Building and Maintaining Backyard “Microfarms”
May 3rd, 2010Via: Los Angeles: Companies are sprouting up across the country, offering help building and maintaining backyard vegetable gardens for those who lack the time — or green thumb — needed to keep the crops coming. Ignoring his aching back, Todd Lininger squatted down on his knees and inched his way around the vegetable field. The […]
Using Lasers to Create Clouds and Rain
May 3rd, 2010Via: New Scientist: A laser has been used to generate small clouds on demand in lab, and real-world experiments suggest this could be a way to call down rain when it’s needed. People have experimented with cloud seeding for decades in the hope of boosting rainfall, usually by sprinkling silver iodide crystals into clouds high […]
Third of U.S. Bee Colonies Did Not Survive the Winter
May 3rd, 2010Via: Guardian: Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter. The decline of the country’s estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder […]
Brian Alexik Update: Tile Mosaic Replica of CIA Emblem On Floor, Hugo Chavez Portrait Hanging Above It
May 3rd, 2010See: Sophisticated Counterfeiting Operation Run Out of Apartment Facing Federal Reserve Building in Los Angeles
Most Modern Video Cameras Aren’t Allowed to Be Used for Commercial Purposes Unless Additional Codec Licensing Fees Are Paid
May 3rd, 2010Via: OSNews: We’ve all heard how the h.264 is rolled over on patents and royalties. Even with these facts, I kept supporting the best-performing “delivery” codec in the market, which is h.264. “Let the best win”, I kept thinking. But it wasn’t until very recently when I was made aware that the problem is way […]
Industrial Robots + Industrial Food = ?
May 2nd, 2010U.S. Generals Want Congress to Implement Nutrition Standards for iZombies Because They’re Too Fat to Fight
May 2nd, 2010Via: BBC: Rising rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, two retired generals have warned. More than a quarter of young Americans are now too fat to fight, they said. Writing in the Washington Post, the ex-commanders said the fat crisis ruled out more potential military service recruits […]
A ‘Catastrophic’ Rupture Hits Boston’s Water System; Two Million Ordered to Boil Drinking Water
May 2nd, 2010Via: Boston Globe: About 2 million Greater Boston residents lost their supply of clean drinking water when a huge pipe burst yesterday, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and to impose a sweeping order for homeowners and businesses to boil the untreated water now flowing through their pipes. Governor Deval Patrick said residents […]
