DARPA’s Experimental Spaceplane XS-1
February 12th, 2014Via: space.com:
The United States military is making progress toward developing a new unmanned space plane, which it aims to begin flight-testing in 2017.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to award the first design contracts for the vehicle project — known as Experimental Spaceplane, or XS-1— in May or thereabouts, officials said. Current schedules call for the vessel to get off the ground for the first time in late 2017 and make an orbital test flight the following year.
DARPA has high expectations for the XS-1 program, which it hopes can eventually launch 3,000- to 5,000-lb (1,361 to 2,268 kilograms) payloads to orbit for less than $5 million per flight — and to do it at least 10 times per year.
Woman Added to No-Fly List Because FBI Agent Checked Wrong Boxes on Form
February 11th, 2014Ten years of legal battles later…
Via: Wired:
The government contested a former Stanford University student’s assertion that she was wrongly placed on a no-fly list for seven years in court despite knowing an FBI official put her on the list by mistake because he checked the “wrong boxes” on a form, a federal judge wrote today.
The agent, Kevin Kelley, based in San Jose, misunderstood the directions on the form and “erroneously nominated” Rahinah Ibrahim to the list in 2004, the judge wrote.
“He checked the wrong boxes, filling out the form exactly the opposite way from the instructions on the form,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote (.pdf) today.
The decision makes Ibrahim, 48, the first person to successfully challenge placement on a government watch list.
Much of the federal court trial, in which the woman sought only to clear her name, was conducted in secret after U.S. officials repeatedly invoked the state secrets privilege and sought to have the case dismissed.
Attorneys working pro bono spent as much as $300,000 litigating the case and $3.8 million in attorney’s fees.
The judge issued a brief ruling last month declaring that the Malaysian woman was a victim of a bureaucratic “mistake.”
Foxconn Working With Google on Robotics
February 11th, 2014Via: Wall Street Journal:
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Foxconn has been working with former Android executive Andy Rubin since last year to carry out the U.S. company’s vision for robotics.
To speed up robot deployment at its own factories, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met with Rubin in Taipei recently and they discussed new robotic technologies, they said.
At the meeting, Gou expressed excitement over new automation technologies demonstrated by Rubin, they said. Rubin also asked Gou to help integrate a technology company that Google is acquiring as Foxconn’s strength lies in mechanical engineering.
Google set up a new robotics group and acquired eight robotics companies last year, including Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The New York Times first reported Google’s robotics efforts and the acquisitions in December.
The report also said the targets of Google’s new robotics team are in manufacturing — such as electronics assembly, which is now largely manual — and competing with companies like Amazon in retailing.
The cooperation comes as Foxconn has been striving to accelerate automation efforts at its factories amid challenges of rising labor costs and workplace disputes in China, where it has more than a million workers. Foxconn’s chairman has reiterated his ambitions to build factories with robots in recent years as the company seeks to transform itself into a high-tech manufacturer focusing on high-margin, capital-intensive products such as automobile and medical equipment.
Google to Run and Renovate U.S. Government Airfield
February 11th, 2014Via: AP:
The U.S. government has picked a Google subsidiary to run and renovate a federal airfield that is frequently used for the personal flights of the Internet company’s billionaire executives.
The decision announced Monday clears the way for Google’s Planetary Ventures LLC to take over management of the 1,000-acre Moffett Federal Airfield, a former U.S. Navy based 4 miles from Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The airfield, which was built in the 1930s, has been managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center for the past 23 years.
Financial terms of the new arrangement still must be worked out among Google, NASA and the General Services Administration.
We Track ‘Em, You Whack ‘Em
February 11th, 2014Via: First Look:
The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people.
According to a former drone operator for the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a target’s identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using.
Related: NSA Can Track Mobile Phones That Are Turned Off
CEO of American Title Services Found Dead; “Self-Inflicted Wounds from a Nail Gun”
February 10th, 2014Via: Denver Post:
The founder and CEO of American Title Services in Centennial was found dead in his home this week, the result of self-inflicted wounds from a nail gun, according to the Arapahoe County coroner.
Richard Talley, 57, and the company he founded in 2001 were under investigation by state insurance regulators at the time of his death late Tuesday, an agency spokesman confirmed Thursday.
It was unclear how long the investigation had been ongoing or its primary focus.
A coroner’s spokeswoman Thursday said Talley was found in his garage by a family member who called authorities. They said Talley died from seven or eight self-inflicted wounds from a nail gun fired into his torso and head.
Also unclear is whether Talley’s suicide was related to the investigation by the Colorado Division of Insurance, which regulates title companies.
The division is a part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
DORA spokesman Vince Plymell confirmed that the investigation was focused on Talley and the company but would not provide additional details.
Research Credit: LoneWolf
The Terrifying Surveillance Case of Brandon Mayfield
February 9th, 2014Via: Al Jazeera:
During a live Web chat in late January, National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden explained one of the least discussed dangers of bulk collection. By indiscriminately sweeping up the call records and the international communications of Americans, the government has the ability to engage in retroactive investigation, or mining the historical data of targets for any evidence of suspicious, illegal or simply embarrassing activities. It is a disturbing capability that should make even those fully convinced of their own propriety to think twice before uttering out loud, “What do I have to fear if I have nothing to hide?”
But there’s another danger that Snowden didn’t mention that’s inherent in the government’s having easy access to the voluminous data we produce every day: It can imply guilt where there is none. When investigators have mountains of data on a particular target, it’s easy to see only the data points that confirm their theories — especially in counterterrorism investigations when the stakes are so high — while ignoring or downplaying the rest. There doesn’t have to be any particular malice on the part of investigators or analysts, although prejudice no doubt comes into play, just circumstantial evidence and the dangerous belief in their intuition. Social scientists refer to this phenomenon as confirmation bias, and when people are confronted with data overload, it’s much easier to weave the data into a narrative that substantiates what they already believe.
NDR Interview with Edward Snowden
February 8th, 2014Via: NDR:
One of the major programmes that faces abuse in the National Security Agency is what’s called “XKeyscore”. It’s a front end search engine that allows them to look through all of the records they collect worldwide every day.
What could you do if you would sit so to speak in their place with this kind of instrument?
You could read anyone’s email in the world. Anybody you’ve got email address for, any website you can watch traffic to and from it, any computer that an individual sits at you can watch it, any laptop that you’re tracking you can follow it as it moves from place to place throughout the world. It’s a one stop shop for access to the NSA’s information. And what’s more you can tag individuals using “XKeyscore”. Let’s say I saw you once and I thought what you were doing was interesting or you just have access that’s interesting to me, let’s say you work at a major German corporation and I want access to that network, I can track your username on a website on a form somewhere, I can track your real name, I can track associations with your friends and I can build what’s called a fingerprint which is network activity unique to you which means anywhere you go in the world anywhere you try to sort of hide your online presence hide your identity, the NSA can find you and anyone who’s allowed to use this or who the NSA shares their software with can do the same thing. Germany is one of the countries that have access to “XKeyscore”.
Research Credit: emulsified
MIT 2014 Cold Fusion 101 Video Lectures
February 8th, 2014Via: Cold Fusion Now:
Cold Fusion 101: Introduction to Excess Power in Fleischmann-Pons Experiments began Monday, January 27, 2014 for a week of classes led by Dr. Peter Hagelstein of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Dr. Mitchell Swartz of JET Energy.
‘What I’ve Been Doing Out Here’
February 8th, 2014Becky and I were into our 30s before we started to execute our exit strategy. Our neighbors, Thomas and Catherine, pulled it off and they are only in their mid 20s.
I think that it’s a beautiful coincidence that people with core values that are so similar to ours happen to live across the road from us.
Via: b’acens and weardsetls:
Thomas and I bought a property last May. What is so special about this is that we were able to buy the place out right. We have NO MORTGAGE and NO DEBT. Our household expenses are comprised of electricity, our yearly property rates and lpg gas bottles every few months. This equates to approximately NZ$200-250 a month. For two people. The situation that we have put ourselves in is a very rare and unique one, for this country and for my native country as well. Do I feel a tiny bit liberated? Oh yes, I really do. We can do the unthinkable: Save money. Lots of money. We have no credit card debt, no vehicle debt, no loan debt of any kind. We do not live above our means, in fact, we probably live below it.
