Archive for August, 2013
X-47B Lands on U.S. Aircraft Carrier
August 14th, 2013Via: Wired: The Navy’s X-47B drone completed its newest round of tests off the Virginia shore last week, making it the first pilotless unmanned jet in history to land aboard a moving aircraft carrier — one of aviation’s most challenging maneuvers. The Navy heralded the achievement as the future of warfare. “It isn’t very often […]
Taiwan Nuclear Power Plant Reportedly Leaking Radioactive Water
August 14th, 2013Via: The Hindu: An aging nuclear power plant in Taiwan has been leaking radioactive wastewater for three and half years, according to a report released by the government’s watchdog this week. The report by Control Yuan said spent fuel rod storage pools at the have leaked since December 2009. The pools of the two reactors […]
The Forgotten Cold War Plan That Put a Ring of Copper Around the Earth
August 14th, 2013Via: Wired: During the summer of 1963, Earth looked a tiny bit like Saturn. The same year that Martin Luther King, Jr. marched on Washington and Beatlemania was born, the United States launched half a billion whisker-thin copper wires into orbit in an attempt to install a ring around the Earth. It was called Project […]
Democracy Now On Amazon and Jeff Bezos
August 14th, 2013Disclosure: I have an affiliate relationship with Amazon. The Democracy Now discussion below contains some legitimate gripes about Amazon, which I’ve covered on here in the past. The most disturbing thing about Amazon (to me) is their work with CIA to build the agency’s new cloud computing infrastructure (news circa March 2013). That’s bad. But […]
Egypt: At Least 149 Killed as Troops Clear Pro-Morsi Camps
August 14th, 2013Update: Egypt Declares State of Emergency Via: Al Jazeera: A state of emergency has been declared across Egypt, as security forces and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi continue to clash around the country. The announcement on Wednesday came amid a deadly crackdown by security forces on two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo. The health […]
Saudi Prince Defects, Discusses Dictatorship
August 13th, 2013Via: Russia Today: Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of opposition forces in Syria, has increased crackdown on its own dissenters, with 30,000 activists reportedly in jail. In an exclusive interview to RT a Saudi prince defector explained what the monarchy fears most. “Saudi Arabia has stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded […]
Clintons Rent Republican Donor’s $11 Million Hamptons Mansion
August 13th, 2013More “Change” on tap for 2016? haha Via: Daily Mail: The Clintons have rented an $11 million Hamptons mansion owned by a wealthy Republican donor for the summer, MailOnline can reveal today. Former president Bill, 66, and ex-Secretary of State Hillary, 65, are expected at the six-bedroom property in Sagaponack – owned by Michael Saperstein […]
‘The Era of Ubiquitous Listening Dawns’
August 13th, 2013Via: MIT Technology Review: The Moto X, the new smartphone from Google’s Motorola Mobility, might be remembered best someday for helping to usher in the era of ubiquitous listening. Unlike earlier phones, the Moto X includes two low-power chips whose only function is to process data from a microphone and other sensors—without tapping the main […]
Clean Green Surveillance Drone
August 13th, 2013Via: Wired: A new small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) boasts something no other has been able to do thus far: continuous flight for 9 hours and all on the clean energy of solar power. AeroVironment‘s 13-pound Puma AE can be assembled and hand-launched in minutes and requires no infrastructure for launch or landing, making them […]
Obama’s NSA “Reform” Panel Will Report to James Lied-To-Congress Clapper
August 13th, 2013Via: Ars Technica: President Obama held a news conference on Friday at which he promised reform—but groups who wanted to see real reform in the surveillance area were understandably skeptical. Obama made promises that he would “work with Congress” to produce better oversight, but he treated the recent leaks about NSA spying as more of […]
