The Supreme Court Stole Your Right to Check the Feds Power
April 27th, 2015Via: The Truth About the Law:
What do you call a situation where the law is ignored? Tyranny.
What about where the law is turned on its head? Fraud.
What about where the government steals the rights of the people to expand its own powers? Corruption.
…
And so is your “right to petition the government for redress of grievances” the reality?
Sadly, as usual, no. The reality is far removed from the fantasy they teach the poor saps in their mandatory indoctrination centers.
Research Credit: Pookie
“Experts Gathered in Nepal a Week Ago to Ready for Earthquake”
April 27th, 2015Via: AP:
Nepal’s devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming.
Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to Kathmandu, Nepal, to figure out how to get this poor, congested, overdeveloped, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, a repeat of the 1934 temblor that leveled this city. They knew they were racing the clock, but they didn’t know when what they feared would strike.
“It was sort of a nightmare waiting to happen,” said seismologist James Jackson, head of the earth sciences department at the University of Cambridge in England. “Physically and geologically what happened is exactly what we thought would happen.”
But he didn’t expect the massive quake that struck Saturday to happen so soon. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed nearly 1,400 and counting and caused widespread destruction.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
China: Social Credit System
April 27th, 2015Via: de Volkskrant:
The Chinese government is currently implementing a nationwide electronic system, called the Social Credit System, attributing to each of its 1,3 billion citizens a score for his or her behavior. The system will be based on various criteria, ranging from financial credibility and criminal record to social media behavior. From 2020 onwards each adult citizen should, besides his identity card, have such a credit code.
Company Wants to Plant One Billion Trees a Year Using Drones
April 27th, 2015Terraforming… Our own planet.
Via: Independent:
A drone start-up is going to counter industrial scale deforestation using industrial scale reforestation.
BioCarbon Engineering wants to use drones for good, using the technology to seed up to one billion trees a year, all without having to set foot on the ground.
26 billion trees are currently being burned down every year while only 15 billion are replanted. If successful, the initiative could help address this shortfall in a big way.
Drones should streamline reforestation considerably, with hand-planting being slow and expensive.
“The only way we’re going to take on these age-old problems is with techniques that weren’t available to us before,” CEO and former Nasa-engineer Lauren Fletcher said. “By using this approach we can meet the scale of the problem out there.”
Toddlers Using Tablets Before They Can Talk
April 27th, 2015Related: Why Can’t We Read Anymore?
Via: New Zealand Herald:
More than a third of American babies are tapping on smartphones and tablets even before they’re walking or talking, according to a new study.
And by their first birthday, one in seven infants is using devices for at least an hour a day.
The results of the First Exposure and Use of Mobile Media in Young Children survey was presented to the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego on the weekend.
The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages the use of entertainment media such as televisions, computers, smartphones and tablets by children under two-years-old.
Research Credit: TD
Robotic Strawberry Harvesters
April 27th, 2015Via: Tampa Tribune:
A company backed by strawberry growers in Florida and California is developing a high-tech robot that can pick and package berries in the field.
Harvest CROO Robotics has already spent $1 million on a prototype automated picker. Research is continuing, and the company working on a more advanced model to harvest strawberries by the 2016-17 season, said Gary Wishnatzki, owner of Wish Farms, one of Plant City’s largest producers.
Audi “E-Diesel”
April 27th, 2015It probably costs more per litre than I make in a month, but still interesting.
By the way, aren’t we do for another trillion dollar oil war?
Via: IB Times:
German car manufacturer Audi says it has created the “fuel of the future” made solely from water, carbon dioxide and renewable sources.
The synthetic “e-diesel” was made following a commissioning phase of just four months at a plant in Dresden, Germany.
Unlike regular diesel, the clear fuel does not contain any sulphur or fossil oil, while it has an overall energy efficiency of around 70%.
Germany’s federal minister of education and research, Dr Johanna Wanka, said she has already used the fuel in her Audi A8, while the company hopes the Dresden factory, operated by clean tech company Sunfire, will produce 160 litres of it every day in the coming months.
Texas: “Undetermined Amount of Explosives” Reported Missing from Halliburton
April 27th, 2015Via: News West 9:
A report of missing explosives was made to Odessa Police on Thursday morning.
Odessa Police tell NewsWest 9, the Odessa Police Department Bomb Squad Unit was made aware of an undetermined amount of explosives that were reported missing from Halliburton.
The explosives were supposed to be transported from a Halliburton yard in Ector County to a location in Reeves County.
Officials say it is unknown if the explosives were misplaced or stolen from Halliburton.
The explosives are described as oilfield igniters that are approximately 2” in length and a 0.5” in diameter. There is no printing on them to indicate that they are hazardous.
Mindfulness Therapy as Good as Medication for Chronic Depression
April 26th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may be just as effective as anti-depressants in helping prevent people with chronic depression from relapsing, scientists said on Tuesday.
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally.
Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of psychotherapy or a combination of both. Yet many patients fail to get better and suffer recurring bouts of illness.
MBCT was developed to help such people by teaching them skills to recognize and respond constructively to thoughts and feelings associated with relapse, aiming to prevent a downward spiral into depression.
In the first large study to compare MBCT and anti-depressants, researchers found little difference in outcomes.
U.S. Troops in Ukraine
April 26th, 2015Via: Reuters:
As the crisis in Ukraine drags on, U.S.-Russia relations continue to deteriorate. The United States has just taken a step that risks bringing that relationship to a new low.
As part of its effort to support Ukraine, the U.S. military recently sent 290 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, to train the Ukrainian National Guard.
