On Thursday, Wind Power Generated 140% of Denmark’s Electricity Demand
July 11th, 2015Via: Guardian:
So much power was produced by Denmark’s windfarms on Thursday that the country was able to meet its domestic electricity demand and export power to Norway, Germany and Sweden.
On an unusually windy day, Denmark found itself producing 116% of its national electricity needs from wind turbines yesterday evening. By 3am on Friday, when electricity demand dropped, that figure had risen to 140%.
Interconnectors allowed 80% of the power surplus to be shared equally between Germany and Norway, which can store it in hydropower systems for use later. Sweden took the remaining fifth of excess power.
All-Electric Airbus E-Fan Aircraft Crosses the English Channel
July 10th, 2015Via: The Verge:
This adorable little two-seater isn’t about to replace Airbus’ airliners, but the E-Fan — a light aircraft powered by lithium-ion batteries and two electric motors — just set a notable aviation milestone by crossing the English Channel. The 36-minute event took place earlier today, departing from Lydd, England and arriving in Calais, France.
More: Airbus Group’s E-Fan Technology Demonstrator
Blood & Fog: The Military’s Germ Warfare Tests in San Francisco
July 10th, 2015Via: Discover:
The Nuremberg Code was drafted in 1947 following the appalling revelations of human experimentation committed in Nazi concentration camps. The overarching goal of the Code was to establish a set of rules for the ethical conduct of research using human subjects, guaranteeing that the rights and welfare of such participants would be protected. Two important principles guide and define this Code: the concept of voluntary, informed consent and that no experiment shall be conducted in which “there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur.”
Just four short years later, the government of the United States would violate the Code as it undertook one of the largest human experiments in history, spraying the city of San Francisco with a microbe, Serratia marcescens, in a simulated germ warfare attack.
Jade Helm: No Media Allowed
July 9th, 2015Via: Washington Post:
Jade Helm 15, the controversial Special Operations exercise that spawned a wave of conspiracy theories about a government takeover, will open next week without any media allowed to observe it, a military spokesman said.
Embedded reporters won’t be permitted at any point during the exercise, in which military officials say that secretive Special Operations troops will maneuver through private and publicly owned land in several southern states. Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command, said his organization is considering allowing a small number of journalists to view selected portions of the exercise later this summer, but nothing is finalized.
“All requests from the media for interviews and coverage of U.S. Army Special Operations Command personnel, organizations and events are assessed for feasibility and granted when and where possible,” Lastoria said in a statement released Wednesday to The Washington Post. “We are dedicated to communicating with the public, while balancing that against the application of operations security and other factors.”
NYSE HALTED
July 8th, 2015[???/Coincidence] “Bizarre: New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street Journal, and United Airlines all downed by technical glitches”
—
[Related?] United Airlines Ground Stop, “Automation Issue”
—
Update: BloombergTV Live: DHS and FBI Treating Outage as Internal Technical Issue with NYSE
—
Update: BloombergTV Live: Orderly Trading Continues on Other Market Systems
—
Yep. Technical difficulties. Sure. In other news, China’s stocks have been nosediving for days. Also, China Bans Stock Sales by Major Shareholders for Six Months.
Via: CNBC:
Trading in all symbols was halted on the New York Stock Exchange floor Wednesday due to an apparent technical issue.
“NYSE/NYSE MKT has temporarily suspended trading in all symbols. Additional information will follow as soon as possible,” the NYSE said in a statement on its status page.
The exchange was investigating the issue that caused the halt, Reuters reported, citing a source. Trading stopped around 11:30 a.m. ET.
The NYSE said all open orders would be canceled, according to Reuters. The issues seemed to be limited to the NYSE floor, and the exchange said it did not affect the NYSE Arca and NYSE Amex/Arca Options.
Heroin Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Nearly Quadrupled Between 2002 and 2013
July 8th, 2015One more for your herniating Mission Accomplished file folder.
Via: Reuters:
Heroin overdose deaths in the United States nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, fueled by lower costs as well as increased abuse of prescription opiate painkillers, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.
The report found that heroin use increased by 63 percent from 2002 to 2013. In 2013, roughly 517,000 people reported that they had used heroin in the last year, a 150 percent increase from 2007. As many as 8,200 people died from heroin overdoses in 2013 alone.
Such medicines, which include Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet, increase individuals’ susceptibility to heroin addiction, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.
“Everything we see points to more accessible, less-expensive heroin all over the country,” Frieden said of the joint report by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which analyzed national survey data on drug use from 2002 to 2013.
The report found that nearly all people (96 percent) who use heroin also use multiple other substances, and that the strongest risk factor for heroin abuse is prescription opiate abuse. In recent years people in nearly every demographic group are using the drug more: For example, heroin use has doubled among women.
According to the report, individuals who abuse prescription opiates have a 40 times greater risk of abusing heroin. The increased use has fueled sharp increases in overdose deaths.
San Francisco Pier Shooting Suspect Francisco Sanchez Allegedly Used Federal Agent’s Gun
July 7th, 2015Claim: Weapon Stolen from BLM Ranger’s Car
Via: San Jose Mercury News:
A Bureau of Land Management ranger’s service pistol was stolen from a car four days before police said a Mexican national and five-time deportee used it to shoot and kill Kathryn Steinle on a San Francisco pier.
But it isn’t clear how he got the gun, and police aren’t saying whether he was involved in the theft.
The agency-issued handgun was stolen from a car June 27 while the agent was in downtown San Francisco on official government travel, said Dana Wilson, a spokeswoman for the federal agency that administers 15.2 million acres of public land in California. The agent immediately reported the theft to San Francisco police, she said.
—
Via: ABC:
The man accused of killing a young woman on a tourist-heavy San Francisco pier in a crime that has sparked a debate about illegal immigration used a gun belonging to a federal agent, according to sources.
Further details about the gun, including which agency it belonged to, were not immediately available.
At his arraignment Tuesday, a lawyer for the suspect, Francisco Sanchez, said that he meant the victim no harm.
Sanchez, 45, pleaded not guilty to murder and was held on $5 million bail, according to court records. He has been charged with one count of murder with enhancements for the use of a firearm, according to court records.
Earlier this week, Sanchez told ABC station KGO-TV in a jailhouse interview that he started wandering on Pier 14 Wednesday after taking sleeping pills he found in a dumpster. He said he then picked up a gun that he found and it went off.
U.S. Vaccine Researcher Sentenced to Prison for Fraud
July 2nd, 2015Via: Nature:
Rare is the scientist who goes to prison on research misconduct charges. But on 1 July, Dong-Pyou Han, a former biomedical scientist at Iowa State University in Ames, was sentenced to 57 months for fabricating and falsifying data in HIV vaccine trials. Han has also been fined US$7.2 million and will be subject to three years of supervised release after he leaves prison.
Doctor Who Practiced Alternative Medicine Murdered
July 2nd, 2015Via: News-Press:
The killing of a popular Estero doctor has left family and friends puzzled and saddened.
The body of Dr. Teresa Ann Sievers, 46, was found Monday morning at her Jarvis Road home after she didn’t arrive at work.
“We don’t know anything but that she was murdered,” said Sievers’ sister, Annie Lisa, 52. She said Sievers, her husband and children had come to Connecticut for a gathering and her sister flew home alone Sunday.
“She called her husband and told him she got there safely,” Lisa said. “We don’t know what happened.”
…
She described the type of medicine she practiced on her LinkedIn page: “Often when patients come to see me they have seen several conventional medical doctors and are not getting the answers they want or more importantly they are not getting better. My goal is to prevent age-related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, dementia, cancer, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis as well as look for root causes of problems.”
Related? “Doctor Who Opposed Vaccines Found Dead in Apparent Suicide”
Britain: Young People Face ‘Housing Exile’, Cabinet Minister to Warn
July 1st, 2015Via: BBC:
Many young people are being “exiled” from the neighbourhoods they grew up in because of a lack of affordable housing, a cabinet minister is to warn.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark will tell council leaders it is a “defining test” for any government to provide homes to keep the “chain of community”.
Harriet Harman will tell the conference the housing shortage is now “chronic”.
Tory plans to make housing associations sell homes will make matters worse, the acting Labour leader will say.
