Archive for November, 2018
Google Patents Reveal Plans to Monitor Our Moods, Our Movements, and Our Children’s Behavior at Home
November 25th, 2018I found myself thinking of a haiku about an imaginary situation in which my father (who died a while back) would be standing in a room, arguing with one of these “smart” speakers and eventually challenging it to a fight with his weapon of choice, a yard-long section of 2×4 lumber. Old man stands bugeyed […]
U.S. Closes Mexican Border Crossing, Repels Some Migrants with Tear Gas
November 25th, 2018Via: Reuters: The United States closed its busiest border crossing with Mexico on Sunday after Mexican police broke up a protest of Central American migrants massed in Tijuana, scattering some demonstrators toward the border where U.S. officers hurled tear gas from the American side. Traffic in both directions was suspended at the San Ysidro port […]
“The Greatest Manmade Disaster in History”
November 25th, 2018Via: Guardian: A decade after the Communist party took power in 1949, promising to serve the people, the greatest manmade disaster in history stalks an already impoverished land. In an unremarkable city in central Henan province, more than a million people – one in eight – are wiped out by starvation and brutality over three […]
South Africa: Detective Who Exposed Elite Pedophile Ring Found Dead
November 25th, 2018Minnie said the book was, “Only the beginning,” and that he would reveal more. Via: NeonNettle: A former police detective-turned-investigative author has been found dead, just days after publishing a book that exposed a high-level government pedophile ring. 58-year-old Mark Minne was found with a bullet to his head on August 14, but many people […]
Large Riots in France Over New Fuel Taxes
November 24th, 2018Via: Daily Mail: Huge plumes of smoke were seen on one of France’s most iconic streets today, as protesters burned large plywood sheets, chairs and other material in demonstrations against planned fuel hikes. A water cannon and rounds of teargas were also used by riot police against thousands of French ‘Yellow Vest’ fuel protesters in […]
Company Trying to Create 90% Efficient Solar Panel
November 24th, 2018Stories about exotic solar panels and energy storage systems come out all the time. As we all know, however, the gap between the laboratory and a product available to purchase is very large. In other words, don’t hold your breath—or delay a solar system purchase—waiting for this to happen. That said, it’s still fun to […]
Seaweed Could Drastically Cut Methane Emissions from Cows
November 24th, 2018Via: MIT Technology Review: There’s growing momentum behind the seaweed approach, thanks to almost shockingly effective results in initial scientific studies. In 2014, Australian researchers found that low doses of a red algae known as Asparagopsis taxiformis virtually eliminated methane production in lab experiments. Field trials with live sheep cut emissions as much as 80%, […]
Texas Is About to Create OPEC’s Worst Nightmare
November 24th, 2018Via: Bloomberg: The map lays out OPEC’s nightmare in graphic form. An infestation of dots, thousands of them, represent oil wells in the Permian basin of West Texas and a slice of New Mexico. In less than a decade, U.S. companies have drilled 114,000. Many of them would turn a profit even with crude prices […]
Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Moving Parts
November 21st, 2018I found a video of the flight: Via: Scientific American: Behind a thin white veil separating his makeshift lab from joggers at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology indoor track, aerospace engineer Steven Barrett recently test-flew the first-ever airplane powered with ionic wind thrusters—electric engines that generate momentum by creating and firing off charged particles.
Quantum Computers Put Blockchain Security at Risk
November 20th, 2018Disclosure: I am long Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL). Via: Nature: By 2025, up to 10% of global gross domestic product is likely to be stored on blockchains. A blockchain is a digital tool that uses cryptography techniques to protect information from unauthorized changes. It lies at the root of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency2. Blockchain-related products are […]
