Archive for July, 2010
More Car Buyers Paying With Cash Rather Than Borrowing
July 22nd, 2010This is exactly what Becky and I have been doing for years: “It seems people are re-assessing their financial situations and deciding to spend less, buy used and pay more often with cash…” Via: Car Connection: It appears the recent economic downturn and spate of fuel price rises has not only changed the types of […]
Canada: Woman Humiliated During Airport Strip Search
July 22nd, 2010Via: Toronto Sun: Shileen Flynn, 29, had already missed one flight and lost her luggage when she says she found herself in a room at the Vancouver airport, naked and squatting, while two crude border agents strip-searched her. … Flynn — a frequent traveller who has been strip-searched twice before — said this time was […]
Emotiv Systems Neural Interface
July 22nd, 2010Via: TED: Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.
Big Picture Gallery: Oil Spill in Dalian, China
July 22nd, 2010Via: Big Picture: Five days ago, in the northeastern port city of Dalian, China, two oil pipelines exploded, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air and burning for over 15 hours, destroying several structures – the cause of the explosion is under investigation. The damaged pipes released thousands of gallons of oil, which flowed […]
BP Photoshopping Images
July 22nd, 2010“If you’re not monitoring it independently, you’re asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene.” —James Cameron on BP Oil Spill With the initial batch of Photoshopped images, I thought, “BP lies. Thanks, Captain Obvious.” This new one, though, is hilarious. Via: Gizmodo: This week it came to light that BP […]
Half of Americans Have Less Than $2,000 Saved for Retirement
July 21st, 2010Here’s some great advice from the Washington Post: To Retire Comfortably… Save Up Between $1.5 and $3 Million. HAHAHAHA. Via: Alternet: With declining earnings and a culture of borrow-and-consume, America’s workers face a future of uncertainty and little money to pay for their retirement. The days of quietly retiring with a nest egg built up […]
Joint Special Operations University: Blogs and Military Information Strategy
July 21st, 2010Via: U.S. Special Operations Command / Hosted at Cryptome (PDF): In this regard, information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence already within the target nation, group, or community to pass the U.S. message. In this way, the U.S. can overleap the entrenched inequalities and make use of […]
Google Bends Over for China
July 21st, 2010Imagine my shock. Via: Washington Post: China renewed Google’s Internet license after it pledged to obey censorship laws and stop automatically switching mainland users to its unfiltered Hong Kong site, an official said Tuesday. It was Beijing’s first public comment on its decision to allow Google to continue operating a China website following a public […]
Gordon Brown on Saddam Hussein: “This New World Order That We Were Trying to Create Was Being Put at Risk”
July 21st, 2010Mafia Money-Laundering Profits Swell in Credit Crisis
July 21st, 2010Via: Bloomberg: The mafia has cranked up money laundering activities in Italy after the credit crunch prompted banks to stop lending, leaving a funding gap that criminal capital has filled, according to the Bank of Italy. “The crisis has given organized crime room to thrive because access to credit has become more difficult,” said Anna […]
