Archive for May, 2011
The U.S.: Where Europe Comes to Slum
May 16th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: The newest slumlord in Los Angeles is a pillar of German capitalism. Earlier this month, the city attorney’s office filed suit against Deutsche Bank, the world’s fourth-largest bank, for letting many of the more than 2,000 L.A. homes it has foreclosed on descend into squalor and decay. A yearlong city investigation […]
European McDonald’s Partially Replacing Employees with Touchscreen Terminals
May 16th, 2011Via: Financial Times: McDonald’s is to change the way customers order its meals in Europe, partly replacing cashiers and the use of banknotes at its 7,000 fast-food restaurants in the region with touchscreen terminals and swipe cards. … Mr Easterbrook said that the changes would make life easier for consumers as well as improve efficiency, […]
UAE Hires Blackwater to Establish 800-Member Mercenary Battalion
May 16th, 2011Via: Washington Post: The crown prince of Abu Dhabi has hired the founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide to set up an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the United Arab Emirates, the New York Times reported Sunday. The Times said it obtained documents that showed that the unit being formed by Erik […]
13 Palestinians Killed During Protests Along Israel’s Borders
May 16th, 2011Do you really think that this was coordinated over open social networks and Israel didn’t know about it? I don’t know what the point of this is, but there is no chance that Israel was “surprised” by it. Via: Toronto Star: The popular uprisings that swept the Mideast this year reached Israel’s doorstep Sunday as […]
Fukushima: Highly Radioactive Sewer Sludge [???]
May 15th, 2011Wha?? How?? I… *mumble* *sputter* What is happening here? Is this from fallout coming down in rainwater and then getting into the sewage infrastructure? Via: Mainichi: Highly radioactive sludge found at sewage plants in Fukushima Prefecture will be temporarily kept at those plants, the central government has announced. The move came after high levels of […]
Thousands of Greeks Seek Cheaper, Rural Lifestyle
May 15th, 2011Mmm hmm. Via: Guardian: High in the hills of Arcadia, in a big stone house on the edge of this village overlooking verdant pastures and a valley beyond, a group of young Athenians are busy rebuilding their lives. Until recently Andritsaina was not much of a prospect for urban Greeks. “But that,” said Yiannis Dikiakos, […]
Not The Onion: Blackwater Alumni Start Corporate Intelligence Firm Called Operation Jellyfish
May 15th, 2011I’m standing by to hear that this is a hoax. (Please, tell me this is a hoax.) Until then, why not put these slimy, primitive tentacles to use for all of your corporate intelligence needs? I think that Operation Cthulhu would have been better.Cthulhu Awakening Front Via: Wired: Veterans from the most infamous private security […]
Another Synthetic Photosynthesis Breakthrough: Cuprous Oxide Stabilized for Semi Conductor Use in Water
May 15th, 2011Via: Press Release / Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: This discovery will make it possible to improve photoelectrochemical cells. In the same way that plants use photosynthesis to transform sunlight into energy, these cells use sunlight to drive chemical reactions that ultimately produce hydrogen from water. The process involves using a light-sensitive semi-conducting material such […]
Morganza Spillway Will Be Opened for First Time in 38 Years
May 15th, 2011Via: Weather Channel / AP: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says federal officials have been given approval to open a Louisiana spillway as early as Saturday to avert a Mississippi River disaster in places like Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Jindal said Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers had received permission to open the Morganza […]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Head of IMF Arrested for Sexual Assault in New York
May 15th, 2011Via: Guardian: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and the man French Socialists hope will be the next occupant of the Elysée Palace, was arrested at JFK airport in New York on Saturday afternoon accused of a sex attack on a Times Square hotel maid earlier in the day. He was taken […]
