Archive for June, 2014
Elon Musk Needs a Very Big Factory for His New Solar Technology
June 19th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Billionaire, Tesla founder, and private space entrepreneur Elon Musk announced yesterday that Solar City, the solar installation company where he is chairman, plans to acquire a startup called Silevo for $200 million (plus up to $150 million more if the company meets certain goals). And with typical bravado, he also said […]
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions in June
June 19th, 2014Thank you for saving Cryptogon. AN $25 CB $144 JG $120 BM AU$100 AH $25 RT $15 JR $40 PW £10 CM $25 RH $20 JM £10 AM $5 CH $20 KL $5 KH $15 JS $25 JH $50 Eileen $75 Windhorse NZ$100 DR NZ$150 I need to note a correction for April: GS sent […]
Global Peace Index 2014
June 19th, 2014Keep scrolling down to find the U.S. at position 101. Via: Guardian: The top five most peaceful nations were completely unchanged from the previous year’s study, with Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland again runners up to Iceland. Europe remained the most peaceful region as a whole although the United Kingdom ranked 47th, France 48th […]
The Fall of Iraq – What You Aren’t Being Told
June 18th, 2014Via: Storm Clouds Gathering: Research Credit: Pookie
U.S. F-18s Over Iraq
June 18th, 2014I’ll update this with a better source when it becomes available. Via: Daily Mail: The United States began flying surveillance missions over Iraq in F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets on Wednesday, it emerged late in the afternoon. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked President Obama for air strikes against the Islamist offshoots of al-Qaeda […]
Infertility in Spanish Pigs Has Been Traced to Plastics. A Warning for Humans?
June 18th, 2014Via: National Geographic: A strange catastrophe struck Spain’s pig farmers in the spring of 2010. On 41 farms across the country—each home to between 800 and 3,000 pigs—many sows suddenly ceased bearing young. On some farms, all the sows stopped reproducing. On others, those that did become pregnant produced smaller litters. When investigators examined the […]
Obama Deploys Troops to Protect Embassy in Iraq
June 18th, 2014Via: Time: President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 275 military personnel “equipped for combat” into Iraq to protect the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Monday, as American and Iranian diplomats met briefly to discuss whether the two countries can work together to defuse the crisis exploding in Iraq.
It’s Complicated: Facebook’s History of Tracking You
June 18th, 2014Via: ProPublica: For years people have noticed a funny thing about Facebook’s ubiquitous Like button. It has been sending data to Facebook tracking the sites you visit. Each time details of the tracking were revealed, Facebook promised that it wasn’t using the data for any commercial purposes. No longer. Last week, Facebook announced it will […]
South Africa: Riot Control Drone Can Fire a Variety of Ammunition to Subdue Unruly Crowds
June 18th, 2014“Payload capacity of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is 40 kg” 40KG? Via: Defense Web: South African company Desert Wolf yesterday unveiled its Skunk riot control drone at the IFSEC security exhibition outside Johannesburg. Armed with four paintball guns, it can fire a variety of ammunition to subdue unruly crowds. The Skunk is designed to […]
Netherlands: Drastic Reduction in Use of Antibiotics on Farms
June 18th, 2014Via: Modern Farmer: Along with every other livestock producer in the Netherlands, Oosterlaken is in the midst of a high-stakes, government-mandated experiment: Can large-scale meat production succeed without routine use of antibiotics? “Growth promoters,” the microdoses of everyday antibiotics given to livestock to fatten them, have been banned in Europe since 2006—but the Netherlands decided […]
