Archive for April, 2016
Pentagon Touts “Loyal Wingman” for Combat Jets
April 15th, 2016If your trillion dollar F-35 boondoggle can’t fight, why not throw a magic-8 ball brain into older fighters that can? Via: Flightglobal: US Air Force plans to insert a “brain” into current-generation fighter jets to create autonomous flying wingmen paired with the Lockheed Martin F-35 were given a bump today, with the Pentagon’s second-in-charge saying […]
‘Wow!’ Signal Could be Explained After Almost 40 Years
April 15th, 2016Via: Guardian: He didn’t find aliens but he did find two suspicious looking comets. Known as 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs, they have never been investigated before because they were only discovered in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Paris found that they were both in the vicinity of Chi Sagittarii on the day that the ‘Wow!’ signal was […]
Canadian Police Have Had Master Key to BlackBerry’s Encryption Since 2010
April 14th, 2016Via: Vice: A high-level surveillance probe of Montreal’s criminal underworld shows that Canada’s federal policing agency has had a global encryption key for BlackBerry devices since 2010. The revelations are contained in a stack of court documents that were made public after members of a Montreal crime syndicate pleaded guilty to their role in a […]
Most Americans Think Economy Is Getting Worse
April 14th, 2016Recovery! Via: CNBC: Consumers have been the missing link in the U.S. economic recovery and are likely to remain so absent a major change in sentiment. Despite the seemingly endless stream of Wall Street economists who believe the U.S. is about to snap out of its malaise, most Americans think the economy is bad and […]
UC Davis Spent At Least $175,000 on PR Related to Pepper-Spraying of Students
April 14th, 2016Via: Sacramento Bee: UC Davis contracted with consultants for at least $175,000 to scrub the Internet of negative online postings following the November 2011 pepper-spraying of students and to improve the reputations of both the university and Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, newly released documents show. The payments were made as the university was trying to […]
Japan’s Demographic Time Bomb
April 14th, 2016Via: Vox: Japan has a major demographic problem: 26 percent of its population is elderly, the largest percent of any country in the world. That’s because Japan’s birthrate is declining, as is its overall population. In other words, a huge chunk of its population is getting old and leaving the workforce, and not enough people […]
The Plan to Send Featherweight Robotic Spacecraft to the Nearest Star at One-Fifth of the Speed of Light
April 13th, 2016100 billion-watt laser??? Via: Guardian: In an unprecedented boost for interstellar travel, the Silicon Valley philanthropist Yuri Milner and the world’s most famous cosmologist Stephen Hawking have announced $100m (£70m) for research into a 20-year voyage to the nearest stars, at one fifth of the speed of light. Breakthrough Starshot – the third Breakthrough initiative […]
Japan Prepares for Release of Tritium from Fukushima Plant
April 12th, 2016Via: Japan Today: To dump or not to dump a little-discussed substance is the question brewing in Japan as it grapples with the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima five years ago. The substance is tritium. The radioactive material is nearly impossible to remove from the huge quantities of water used to cool melted-down […]
Swiss Banker Whistleblower: CIA Behind Panama Papers
April 12th, 2016Via: CNBC: Bradley Birkenfeld is the most significant financial whistleblower of all time, so you might think he’d be cheering on the disclosures in the new Panama Papers leaks. But today, Birkenfeld is raising questions about the source of the information that is shaking political regimes around the world. Birkenfeld, an American citizen, was a […]
Goldman Sachs to Pay $5 Billion in Damages Over Mortgage Bond Swindling
April 11th, 2016Via: Reuters: Goldman Sachs Group Inc has agreed to pay $5.06 billion to settle claims that it misled mortgage bond investors during the financial crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday. The settlement, which Goldman disclosed in January, stems from the firm’s conduct in its packaging, securitization, marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed […]
