Archive for January, 2013
1,200 Pages of New ‘Food Safety’ Regulations
January 5th, 2013Via: Washington Post: The rules, which span 1,200 pages, are aimed at creating safer conditions from farm to fork. Produce farmers would be required to ensure that their crops aren’t contaminated by bad water or animal waste. Some will likely be compelled to build fences to keep out wildlife and to provide adequate restrooms and […]
America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead
January 5th, 2013Via: Mother Jones: In 1994, Rick Nevin was a consultant working for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on the costs and benefits of removing lead paint from old houses. This has been a topic of intense study because of the growing body of research linking lead exposure in small children with a […]
Caffeinated Seas Found off U.S. Pacific Northwest
January 5th, 2013Via: National Geographic: The Pacific Northwest may be the epicenter of U.S. coffee culture, and now a new study shows the region’s elevated caffeine levels don’t stop at the shoreline. The discovery of caffeine pollution in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon is further evidence that contaminants in human waste are entering natural water systems, with […]
Greece: Communities Ditch Euro, Use Local Currencies and Bartering to Beat the Economic Crisis
January 5th, 2013When I first posted about the Tem back in March 2012, there were only an estimated 300 people using it. Now, there are 1,300. Via: Guardian: It’s been a busy day at the market in downtown Volos. Angeliki Ioanitou has sold a decent quantity of olive oil and soap, while her friend Maria has done […]
In Spain, Locksmiths Refuse to Cooperate with Foreclosures and Evictions
January 5th, 2013Via: The World: In Spain, in 2012, more than 50,000 families were evicted from their homes when they failed to pay their rent or mortgage. As the year wound down a handful of people committed suicide after learning they would be evicted. Now, in Pamplona, a group of experts who help carry out the evictions […]
U.S. Military Does Deal with Microsoft for Windows 8 and Other Software
January 5th, 2013Since Windows 8 is a bigger turd than Vista, it must be nice for Microsoft to be able to dump it on the U.S. taxpayer via Uncle $cam. Via: U.S. Department of Defense: The Defense Department has leveraged the buying power of more than two million information technology users to award a three-year, $617 million […]
Cass ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ Sunstein on Gun Control
January 4th, 2013Via: Big Think: While he left his post as the head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs this past summer, Sunstein remains one of the most influential legal scholars of his generation. His ideas — which apply behavioral economics to public policy — are highly nuanced, and often make both libertarians […]
Write Gambling Software, Go to Prison
January 3rd, 2013Via: Wired: In a criminal case sure to make programmers nervous, a software maker who licenses a program used by online casinos and bookmakers overseas is being charged with promoting gambling in New York because authorities say his software was used by others for illegal betting in that state. New York authorities say that about […]
Military Must Prep Now for ‘Mutant’ Future
January 3rd, 2013Via: Wired: The U.S. military is already using, or fast developing, a wide range of technologies meant to give troops what California Polytechnic State University researcher Patrick Lin calls “mutant powers.” Greater strength and endurance. Superior cognition. Better teamwork. Fearlessness. But the risk, ethics and policy issues arising out of these so-called “military human enhancements” […]
Why Did a Train Carrying Biofuel Cross the Border 24 Times and Never Unload?
January 3rd, 2013Via: Oil Price: This enabled Bioversal to accumulate over 12 million RINs from the 24 trips, worth between 50 cents and $1 each, which they can then sell on to oil companies that haven’t met the EPA’s renewable fuel requirements. Research Credit: HPLovecraft666
