Cryptogon Reader Contributes NZ$300
September 11th, 2013Wow! Thank you, DR.
UN Team Finds No Proof of Chemical Weapons Use in Syria
September 11th, 2013Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
United Nations investigators have listed a wide range of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Syria, but provided no conclusion on the issue of chemical weapons use.
“On the evidence currently available, it was not possible to reach a finding about the chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrators,” the team probing human rights violations in Syria said in its latest report on Wednesday.
It was clear however that “the majority of casualties result from unlawful attacks using conventional weapons,” the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement.
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Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime “have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity,” according to the report, which covers the period from May 15 to July 15.
It also charged that anti-government groups had “committed war crimes,” including murder, torture and hostage-taking.
Research Credit: cgroove69
NSA Shares Raw Intelligence Including Americans’ Data with Israel
September 11th, 2013Via: Guardian:
The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.
Details of the intelligence-sharing agreement are laid out in a memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart that shows the US government handed over intercepted communications likely to contain phone calls and emails of American citizens. The agreement places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the Israelis.
Best Times for the 1 Percent Since 1920s
September 11th, 2013Via: AP:
The gulf between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America is the widest it’s been since the Roaring ’20s.
The very wealthiest Americans earned more than 19 percent of the country’s household income last year — their biggest share since 1928, the year before the stock market crash. And the top 10 percent captured a record 48.2 percent of total earnings last year.
U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. And it grew again last year, according to an analysis of Internal Revenue Service figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.
One of them, Berkeley’s Emmanuel Saez, said the incomes of the richest Americans surged last year in part because they cashed in stock holdings to avoid higher capital gains taxes that took effect in January.
In 2012, the incomes of the top 1 percent rose nearly 20 percent compared with a 1 percent increase for the remaining 99 percent.
Stealth Coating Based on Squid Skin Could Make Soldiers Invisible to Night Vision
September 11th, 2013Via: Telegraph:
Most camouflage materials used to disguise soldiers and vehicles during the day show up easily when viewed through night vision goggles and infrared cameras.
This is because leaves and other foliage reflect infrared light in a different way to other fabrics and materials.
However, scientists at the University of California Irvine have created a new “stealth” coating that can change the way it reflects infrared light on command.
The films, which are around 100,000 times thinner than a human hair, can be switched on and off using a chemical signal.
Tests conducted by the researchers have shown that they can make an orange surface blend into green foliage when the coating is activated.
The technology mimics the active camouflage used by squid, where they change the colour and even the texture of their skin to blend into the background.
The researchers claim their new coating can be attached to a wide range of surfaces and is a first step towards developing “shape shifting clothing” capable of adapting to the environment around it.
Dr Alon Gorodestsky, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and material science at University of California Irvine, said: “Our approach is simple and compatible with a wide array of surfaces, potentially allowing many simple objects to acquire camouflage capabilities.
“Our long-term goal is to create fabrics that can dynamically alter their texture and colour to adapt to their environments.
“Basically, we’re seeking to make shape-shifting clothing – the stuff of science fiction – a reality.”
Possible Slow Updates Due to Loss of Internet Access
September 10th, 2013Telecom NZ has been having problems on their mobile network for the last couple of days. As of now, they’re blaming it on the weather.
In any event, if updates slow down, you’ll know why.
On a happier note, there’s good news to report in terms of Internet access for us going forward. The long years of crappy, very overpriced Internet access are nearly over.
After years of trying to convince a company called Ubernet to build a wireless repeater out here, they finally agreed to do it… IF I could find a suitable (meaning high enough) property and convince the owner to host the tower.
I did it.
More delays, delays, delays. Finally, it was time to build the tower. This job pretty much required a helicopter to get the tower and associated materials up there, but Ubernet didn’t want to pay for it. The site is not accessible while the ground is wet by any vehicles. The plan was to wait until summer and then try to drive the stuff up to the site once the ground dries out.
My neighbors and I pressed Ubernet to come up with options to just get this thing done, outside of shelling out NZ$1500 for the helicopter.
Ubernet said that if we didn’t want to pay for the bird, or wait until summer, we could carry the gear up there on foot.
Oh sure! We decided to do that. How hard could it possibly be?
More weeks passed and the day of the trek finally arrived. Standing at the base of the climb, I had a very definite, “Oh shit,” moment. It was very steep and very far. Over tall hills were more and taller hills, through mud.
Some of my neighbors, an Ubernet contractor and I carried a 6 meter tall, galvanized steel tower up about 2KMs into these hills on our shoulders. Another neighbor managed to take four 25KG sacks of concrete about half way up on his quad.
I don’t know how heavy that tower was, but I wouldn’t agree to doing anything like that ever again. Internet or no Internet, that climb through the steep slop was effing ridiculous. If I had it to do over again, I’d definitely take the Wait-For-Summer-And-Let-Someone-Else-Get-Paid-To-Do-This option. Anyway, the pain and bruises are gone now.
As of last night, the tower was up, but without any electronics, solar panels or the battery. Apparently, the battery weighs 50KGs. I don’t know what the plan is for that, but it definitely won’t include me in a pack animal role. I know! Wait for the ground to dry out in summer! haha.
Bottom line: We could be as little as days to a couple of weeks away from that thing being operational. Or not. Even if it does take until summer, it’s finally going to happen.
In the meantime, Telecom NZ has red status lights across the board right now.
This one affects us:
Sep 11, 2013
Loss of Mobile ServicesDue to heavy rain and strong winds throughout the country, some customers may be experiencing a loss of service and may be unable to make or receive calls from their mobile phones. Our technicians are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Apple Taking Biometric ID Mainstream with New iPhone
September 10th, 2013Via: Engadget:
Apple’s brand-new iPhone 5s isn’t dramatically different from last year’s model, but it has at least one major addition: a “Touch ID” sensor. Us human beings are calling it a fingerprint sensor, and it’s built into the phone’s main Home button below the screen. Apple’s Phil Schiller says, “It reads your fingerprint at an entirely new level” — it’s 170 microns in thickness with 500 ppi resolution. According to Cupertino, it “scans sub-epidermal skin layers,” and can read 360 degrees. As expected, the sensor is actually part of the Home button, making it less of a button and more of a…well, sensor. Using Touch ID, users can authorize purchases in iTunes, the App Store, or in iBooks by simply using their thumbprint (starting in iOS 7, of course). Pretty neat / scary!
As rumored, the sensor uses a laser cut sapphire crystal cover; it retains a tactile input for those wary of the sensor wearing down after lengthy use. The sapphire crystal, acting as a lens, takes a highly detailed image of your fingerprint, which Apple says is “never stored on Apple servers or backed up to iCloud.” According to Apple’s official PR on the new phone, Touch ID’s fingerprint info is “encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Enclave inside the A7 chip” (the A7 chip is the new processor at the heart of the 5s).
New Bird Flu ‘Has Unique Traits’
September 10th, 2013Keep in mind, work on weaponized H5N1 is also occurring at Erasmus University Medical Centre in The Netherlands:
Bird Flu Researchers to Continue Work on Engineered Virus
Scientist Makes H5N1 Highly Contagious
And now Dr. Fouchier wants to do “gain of function” research on H7N9.
Via: BBC:
The new flu which has emerged in China has unique traits, say scientists.
It is able to infect both the nose, giving it the potential to spread easily, and penetrate deep in the lungs where it causes pneumonia.
The authors of the American Journal of Pathology say the twin attack has not been detected in previous bird flus.
Meanwhile, a separate study has taken the early steps towards a vaccine for another emerging virus, Mers-coronavirus.
There have been 135 people infected with avian influenza A(H7N9) and 44 deaths since the outbreak started in Spring.
However, restrictions on live poultry markets have largely curbed the number of infections.
The study, by the Erasmus University Medical Centre in The Netherlands, looked at what parts of the body the virus could bind to and infect.
Infections like the common cold spread easily as they infect the upper respiratory tract, the nose and throat, so sneezing releases a lot of viruses into the air.
Other more deadly infections, such as the H5N1 bird flu, infect the lower respiratory tract deep in the lung where they can cause deadly pneumonia.
One of the researchers Prof Thijs Kuiken told the BBC the new bird flu could do both: “This has not been shown for this virus before.
“The study points to the fact that the virus has the potential to transmit easily in people and give pneumonia.”
Ridgway Banks and the Nitinol Engine
September 10th, 20131980 CNN report by science editor Kevin Sanders:
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The Individualist:
The Individualist from Zoe Banks on Vimeo.
Related: Proceedings of the NITINOL Heat Engine Conference, 26-27 September 1978, Silver Spring, Maryland
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Mcdonnell Douglas Scale Up:
U.S. ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO SYRIA: ASSAD HAS ONE WEEK TO TURN OVER CHEMICAL WEAPONS
September 9th, 2013Update: Syria ‘Welcomes’ Proposal to Put Chemical Weapons Under International Control
Via: CNN:
Syria on Monday embraced a Russian proposal for Bashar al-Assad to put his nation’s chemical weapons under international control as part of an effort to head off a possible military strike from the United States over an alleged poison gas attack.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Moscow on Monday that his nation “welcomes” a statement from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said his country would urge Syria to take that step if it would avert a U.S. military response.
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Via: Guardian:
The US secretary of state has said that President Bashar al-Assad has one week to hand over his entire stock of chemical weapons to avoid a military attack. But John Kerry added that he had no expectation that the Syrian leader would comply.
Kerry also said he had no doubt that Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack in east Damascus on 21 August, saying that only three people are responsible for the chemical weapons inside Syria – Assad, one of his brothers and a senior general. He said the entire US intelligence community was united in believing Assad was responsible.
