Archive for December, 2012
U.S. Taxpayers Likely to Lose Billions of Dollars on GM Bailout
December 20th, 2012Via: Detroit News: The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares — or 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. — back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit the Detroit automaker by March 2014. The Detroit automaker said it will purchase 200 million shares of GM […]
Citizen Drone Warfare?
December 20th, 2012How long until direction finding and jamming equipment will have to be carried by police? I know: Ban drones! Via: YouTube:
Guns and Magazines: Panic Buying
December 20th, 20124K for an AR-15??? Really? Via: Bloomberg: With President Barack Obama endorsing sweeping gun restrictions in the wake of the school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, prices for handgun magazines are surging on EBay (EBAY) and semi-automatic rifles are sold out at many Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) locations. … On EBay Inc.’s auction website, shoppers have […]
Irving Women Claim Assault, Humiliation After Roadside Cavity Search
December 19th, 2012Update: Troopers Indicted After Roadside Cavity Search Of Two Women Via: CBS: CBS-11 has learned two state troopers involved in a controversial roadside cavity search of two North Texas women have been indicted on criminal charges by a Dallas County Grand Jury. CBS-11 has learned that one of the troopers, Kelley Helleson, who left the […]
Recovery: More Homeless Young Adults
December 19th, 2012Via: New York Times: Across the country, tens of thousands of underemployed and jobless young people, many with college credits or work histories, are struggling to house themselves in the wake of the recession, which has left workers between the ages of 18 and 24 with the highest unemployment rate of all adults. Those who […]
How Wal-Mart Used Payoffs to Get Its Way in Mexico
December 18th, 2012Via: New York Times: Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda’s alfalfa field. It was an ideal location, just off this town’s bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world. With its usual precision, Wal-Mart calculated it would attract 250 customers an hour if only […]
‘A Dog on Two Legs?’
December 17th, 2012Via: Der Spiegel: A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can’t do it anymore. … […]
Rudi Dekkers Behind Bars for Drug Trafficking
December 17th, 2012Indeed, why now? Via: Mad Cow Morning News: The long run of Rudi Dekkers, 56, the Dutch national who first passed out bunks to Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi when they arrived in the United States to enroll at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Florida, ended last week when he was arrested for drug trafficking in […]
UBS Faces $1 Billion+ Fine Over LIBOR Rate Rigging
December 17th, 2012$1.5 Billion Fine Via: BBC: Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate. It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay $450m to UK and US authorities in the […]
Woman Has Extraordinary Skill at Controlling Robotic Arm with Her Thoughts
December 17th, 2012Why Rise of the Machines? The military side will use the data from brain machine interfaces like this to develop algorithms for their killer robots. Remember the one from 2004, about the rat neurons that learned to control a simulated aircraft? ‘Brain’ In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer: A University of Florida scientist […]
