Archive for March, 2012
Britain: CCTV at Petrol Stations Will Prevent Uninsured Cars from Being Fueled
March 14th, 2012Wow. How long until this is linked to other databases? Unpaid property taxes, unlicensed pets, overdue library books, or who knows what else??? Via: Mirror: Cameras at petrol stations will automatically stop uninsured or untaxed vehicles from being filled with fuel, under new government plans. Downing Street officials hope the hi-tech system will crack down […]
Cyborg Snails
March 14th, 2012Via: Nature: The dozen or so brown garden snails crawling around the plastic, moss-filled terrarium in Evgeny Katz’s laboratory look normal, but they have a hidden superpower: they produce electricity. Into each mollusc, Katz and his team at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, have implanted tiny biofuel cells that extract electrical power from the […]
Spain Has ‘Worse Problems Than Greece’
March 14th, 2012Via: CNBC: Spain’s eye-wateringly high unemployment and the collapse of its real estate market mean that Spain has significantly worse problems than Greece and could threaten the euro zone’s new-found, albeit fragile stability, an analyst told CNBC.com Tuesday. “Spain has very large downside risks and it needs to tread very carefully – Spain is in […]
Surreal Situation in U.S. Post Office
March 14th, 2012My dad went to his local post office to mail me some CDs that I had forgotten to pack when I left the U.S. back in 2006. He said that a bunch of other “old farts” in the post office were also sending packages to their children and grandchildren who were living overseas. He overhead […]
NEW YORK STATE SET TO ADD ALL CONVICT DNA TO ITS DATABASE
March 14th, 2012Via: New York Times: New York is poised to establish one of the most expansive DNA databases in the nation, requiring people convicted of everything from fare beating to first-degree murder to provide samples of their DNA to the state. On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on […]
After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses
March 14th, 2012The Internet, and all of the data on it, could disappear in the blink of an eye. Have a nice day. Via: New York Times: After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. Those coolly authoritative, gold-lettered reference books that were once sold door-to-door by a fleet of traveling salesmen and displayed […]
Classified Documents Contradict FBI on Post-9/11 Probe of Saudis, Ex-Senator Says
March 13th, 2012Via: MSNBC: Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who co-chaired Congress’ Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has seen two classified FBI documents that he says are at odds with the bureau’s public statements that there was no connection between the hijackers and Saudis then living in Sarasota, Fla. “There are significant inconsistencies between the […]
Canada Too Dangerous for Cheney to Visit
March 13th, 2012Via: Ottawa Citizen: Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled an April appearance in Toronto citing concerns that Canada is too dangerous. “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” said Ryan Ruppert, president of promotions company Spectre Live Corp., which had booked Cheney for an April 24 appearance […]
Go to Trial: Crash the Justice System
March 13th, 2012Good luck with that. Via: New York Times: AFTER years as a civil rights lawyer, I rarely find myself speechless. But some questions a woman I know posed during a phone conversation one recent evening gave me pause: “What would happen if we organized thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people charged with crimes to […]
And Now… Homeless People Used as Wi-Fi Hotspots
March 12th, 2012Via: BuzzFeed: At SXSW, the annual tech startup conference in Austin, 13 homeless men are hanging around the conference center wearing white shirts that say “I’m _____, a 4G hotspot.” Each is carrying a wireless internet device, and for a PayPal donation, will provide conference-goers with internet access for as long as they want. . […]
