Archive for May, 2014
U-2 Spy Plane Caused Widespread Shutdown of U.S. Flights
May 5th, 2014Update: FAA Confirms Spy Plane Scrambled Air Traffic Control in California Via: NBC: The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed an exclusive NBC News report that a Cold War-era spy plane scrambled the computer systems of a major air traffic control system in Southern California, resulting in region-wide air travel delays affecting hundreds of flights and […]
Aging Baby Boomers Becoming the Roommate Generation
May 4th, 2014Via: ABC: There was Felix-and-Oscar. There were The Golden Girls. Such arrangements–adults living with adult roommates–are about to get less comic and more common, say experts on housing and on the aging of the Baby Boom. One pair of roommates—Carol Loper, 69, and Gerry Venable, 74—recently was profiled on the front page of the L.A. […]
CIA, FBI Agents Advising Ukraine Government
May 4th, 2014Via: AFP: Dozens of specialists from the US Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation are advising the Ukrainian government, a German newspaper reported Sunday. Citing unnamed German security sources, Bild am Sonntag said the CIA and FBI agents were helping Kiev end the rebellion in the east of Ukraine and set up a […]
Black Hawk Helicopter: Pilot Optional
May 3rd, 2014Via: Wired: The Army’s most iconic helicopter is about to go pilotless. The U.S. Army and defense contractor Sikorsky Aircraft demonstrated hover and flight capability in an “optionally piloted” version of the Black Hawk helicopter last month. It’s part of the Army’s effort to reduce troops and costs, in this case by letting the five-ton […]
Stephen Hawking: Artificial Intelligence Doom
May 3rd, 2014Via: Independent: Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.
FBI Releases Heavily Blacked Out Sandy Hook Records
May 2nd, 2014Via: The Courant: The FBI has released about 175 pages of heavily blacked-out documents from the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre investigation. Of the 175 pages released in response to a Courant Freedom of Information request, 64 were completely redacted and most of the other 111 pages were heavily redacted. The Courant submitted the request […]
‘Solar’ Jet Fuel Made Out of Thin Air (Average Efficiency of 1.73%)
May 2nd, 2014This is nowhere near viable (at least in terms of what is publicly acknowledged), but I thought it was interesting anyway. Via: Chemistry World: The dream of producing hydrocarbon fuels from carbon dioxide and sunlight is one step closer thanks to chemists in Europe who have made jet fuel from scratch in a solar reactor […]
The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell
May 2nd, 2014Kindle edition available! haha Via: Amazon: If our technological society collapsed tomorrow, perhaps from a viral pandemic or catastrophic asteroid impact, what would be the one book you would want to press into the hands of the postapocalyptic survivors? What crucial knowledge would they need to survive in the immediate aftermath and to rebuild civilization […]
More Than 92 Million Americans Remain Out Of Labor Force
May 2nd, 2014Via: CBS: Despite the unemployment rate plummeting, more than 92 million Americans remain out of the labor force. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.3 percent in April from 6.7 percent in March, the lowest it has been since September 2008 when it was 6.1 percent. The sharp drop, though, occurred because the number of people […]
Miami’s Poor Live on $11 a Day as Boom Widens Wealth Gap; “This Is Where the Gentleman Ate the Homeless Guy’s Face”
May 2nd, 2014Via: Bloomberg: As the luxury bus ferried a dozen of his clients past building sites, Miami property consultant Peter Zalewski rattled off names of 50 area high-rises being financed by money from Venezuela, Hong Kong and Argentina. Blocks away, locals live on as little as $11 a day. It’s another boom in Miami, which has […]
