Archive for August, 2011
Sarkozy Calls for Tax on Financial Transactions to Fund Global Development
August 16th, 2011Via: AFP: French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday called for a tax on all financial transactions at the UN Millennium Goals summit to pay for global development. “Finance has globalized, so why should we not ask finance to participate in stabilizing the world by taking a tax on each financial transaction,” Sarkozy told the summit. […]
Doubling Down: Germany, France Propose Collective Government for Eurozone Led by EU President
August 16th, 2011HAHA. What could possibly go wrong? Via: CBC: The leaders of Germany and France are proposing collective governance for the euro zone led by the European Union president. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy announced the proposal Tuesday after meeting in Paris, as new figures showed economic growth in the region all but stalled even before […]
MABEL: University of Michigan Demonstrates Running Bipedal Robot—Sort Of
August 16th, 2011This is from the description of the University of Michigan MABEL video on YouTube: In our opinion, this is the most realistic, human-like running achieved on a robot. Call me old fashioned, but most humans that I’ve seen running don’t require a boom to keep them from toppling over as they run. And they usually […]
Shell Finds Second Oil Leak in North Sea
August 16th, 2011Via: Guardian: A second oil leak has been discovered from an offshore platform in the North Sea. An estimated 216 tonnes (1,300 barrels) has already spilled into the sea after the initial spill, which began at the Gannet Alpha platform 112 miles east of Aberdeen last Wednesday. Glen Cayley, technical director of platform operator Shell’s […]
Cyber Recruits Key Part of NSA Hiring Blitz
August 16th, 2011Via: Federal News Radio: The National Security Agency is on a hiring blitz. The cryptologic intelligence agency — home to the government’s chief codemakers and breakers — announced its intention to hire as many as 3,000 people over the next two years, many of them cybersecurity experts. In fact, NSA recruiters even took a trip […]
ATF Promotes Operation Fast and Furious Supervisors
August 16th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico. All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns […]
Britain: Police Could Get New Curfew Powers
August 16th, 2011Via: Guardian: New powers allowing police to clear the streets and create “no-go” areas for the public are being considered, the home secretary, Theresa May, has said. May said it was time to consider whether the police needed a power “to impose a general curfew in a particular area” in the aftermath of last week’s […]
Swiss Ponder Unthinkable as World’s Chaos Turns Franc Economy Upside Down
August 16th, 2011Infinite dollars. Finite world. Via: Bloomberg: Switzerland, the nation that hasn’t gone to war with a foreign power since Napoleon, is reluctantly debating a generational taboo: ceding monetary independence to win a battle over its runaway currency. Swiss National Bank Vice President Thomas Jordan said the central bank is assessing “a whole range of options” […]
As Economy Tanks, “New Normal” Police State Takes Shape
August 15th, 2011Via: Dissident Voice: Forget your rights. As corporate overlords position themselves to seize what little remains of a tattered social net (adieu Medicare and Medicaid! Social Security? Au revoir!), the Obama administration is moving at break-neck speed to expand police state programs first stood-up by the Bush government. After all, with world share prices gyrating […]
A Short Meditation on America’s Loss of Manufacturing
August 15th, 2011Via: Dissident Voice: By now most people are aware that the United States produces very little of its own furniture, carpeting, toys, textiles, shoes, electronics and appliances. Those once flourishing industries are a thing of the past. Indeed, hard as it may be to believe, a sizeable number of American flags are now made in […]
