Archive for May, 2011
PayPal Co-Founder Hands Out $100,000 Fellowships for Students to Drop Out of College and Start Businesses
May 26th, 2011Oh man. I can hear the squealing from the Student Loan Industrial Complex already. Via: NPR: Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and one of the first investors in Facebook, is proposing a controversial path toward more rapid innovation. Today his Thiel Foundation announced that it was giving 24 people under 20 $100,000 fellowships to drop […]
Fed’s Secret Loans to Big Banks
May 26th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) each borrowed at least $30 billion in 2008 from a Federal Reserve emergency lending program whose details weren’t revealed to shareholders, members of Congress or the public. The $80 billion initiative, called single-tranche open- market […]
Why Are Spy Researchers Building a ‘Metaphor Program’?
May 26th, 2011Via: The Atlantic: A small research arm of the U.S. government’s intelligence establishment wants to understand how speakers of Farsi, Russian, English, and Spanish see the world by building software that automatically evaluates their use of metaphors. That’s right, metaphors, like Shakespeare’s famous line, “All the world’s a stage,” or more subtly, “The darkness pressed […]
Three Chinese Government Buildings Bombed
May 26th, 2011Via: Telegraph: Three Chinese government buildings have been bombed in the southern city of Fuzhou, in Jiangxi province, killing two and injuring six. The first blast went off in the car park of the Fuzhou public prosecutor’s office just after nine o’clock this morning, as workers were arriving for the day. Two other bombs went […]
Groups Sue FDA to Stop Addition of Antibiotics in Livestock Feed
May 26th, 2011Via: Washington Post: Several environmental and public health groups filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to try to force the government to stop farmers from routinely adding antibiotics to livestock feed to help animals grow faster. The groups say widespread agricultural antibiotic use and the FDA’s allowance of the practice are […]
U.S. Runs Surveillance Operations Based on Secret Interpretations of Patriot Act
May 26th, 2011Via: Wired: You may think you understand how the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizens. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) says it’s worse than you’ve heard. Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. But Wyden says that what Congress will renew is a […]
Serbia Arrests Ratko Mladic
May 26th, 2011Via: CBS News: The Serbian government confirmed Thursday that Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most wanted war crimes fugitive, had been arrested. A man who identified himself as Milorad Komadic when he was arrested Thursday is the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander. The director of communications for the government of President Boris Tadic confirmed to CBS News’ […]
Angry Parents in Japan Confront Government Over Radiation Levels
May 26th, 2011Via: New York Times: The accusations flew on Wednesday at the local school board meeting, packed with parents worried and angry about radiation levels in this city at the heart of Japan’s nuclear crisis. “Do you really care about our children’s health?” one parent shouted. “Why have you acted so late?” said another. Among other […]
China: Yangtze River Drought Crisis Forces Government to Release Five Billion Cubic Meters of Water from Three Gorges Reservoir
May 26th, 2011More iPads! *BOOM* *CRASH* Via: Guardian: The Yangtze – Asia’s biggest river – is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, forcing an unprecedented release of water from the Three Gorges reservoir. The drought is damaging crops, threatening wildlife and raising doubts about the viability of China’s massive water diversion ambitions. Between now and 10 […]
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May 26th, 2011Thank you. MW $20 DS $20
