Archive for June, 2014
Holder Announces Task Force on ‘Homegrown’ Terrorists
June 9th, 2014And then police officers are killed in Las Vegas by… Homegrown terrorists? Via: Los Angeles Times: The task force will chiefly comprise leaders from the FBI, the Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorneys. Called the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, it is a recreation of a task force formed by former Atty. Gen. Janet […]
Chatbot Passes Turing Test for First Time
June 9th, 2014Via: ZDNet: A computer program that pretends to be a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy called Eugene Goostman passed a Turing test at the Royal Society in London yesterday (Saturday 6 June) by convincing 33 percent of the judges that it was human during a five-minute typed conversation. The test was suggested by computer scientist Alan Turing […]
Russian Companies Prepare to Pay for Trade in Renminbi
June 9th, 2014Via: Financial Times: Russian companies are preparing to switch contracts to renminbi and other Asian currencies amid fears that western sanctions may freeze them out of the US dollar market, according to two top bankers. “Over the last few weeks there has been a significant interest in the market from large Russian corporations to start […]
Streetview Time Machine Shows Detroit’s Collapse
June 9th, 2014Via: ZeroHedge: With the stock market hitting record highs day after day, it is easy to move on and forget that one of American’s once premier cities, Detroit, has been bankrupt for nearly a year. But out of mind doesn’t mean out of sight, especially now that Google has launched its street view Time Machine, […]
Las Vegas: Police Officers Killed in Ambush Shooting
June 9th, 2014Interesting Timing: Holder Announces Task Force on ‘Homegrown’ Terrorists Via: Los Angeles Times: The task force will chiefly comprise leaders from the FBI, the Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorneys. Called the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, it is a recreation of a task force formed by former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno after the […]
SJR (Super Joule Ringer) Looper LED Flashlight Circuit V3
June 8th, 2014Via: LaserHacker:
Organic Agriculture Attracts a New Generation of Farmers, Nobody Said It Was Going to Be Easy
June 7th, 2014There’s no app for that. Individuals might consider vertical cells for salad greens, strawberries and some other crops and larger containers on the ground. I like vertical and containers because you’re minimizing the amount of effort required for keeping weeds down. You can compost the spent soil and recharge it with whatever fertilizer you might […]
A New Way to Make Laser-Like Beams Using 250x Less Power
June 7th, 2014Via: University of Michigan: With precarious particles called polaritons that straddle the worlds of light and matter, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam. They have made what’s believed to be the first polariton laser that is fueled by electrical current as […]
Newborns Exposed to Dirt, Dander and Germs May Have Lower Allergy and Asthma Risk
June 7th, 2014Via: MedicalXpress: Infants exposed to rodent and pet dander, roach allergens and a wide variety of household bacteria in the first year of life appear less likely to suffer from allergies, wheezing and asthma, according to results of a study conducted by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and other institutions. … A report […]
Dawn of a Robot Revolution
June 6th, 2014Via: Financial Times: At the Automatica robot and automation fair in Munich this week the organisers devoted a whole section to so-called “service robots” for the first time. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for manufacturing, engineering and automation demonstrated a Care-O-Bot that sweeps office floors and empties waste paper bins. Pal Robotics showed Stockbot, which […]
