‘Synthetic Biology Is Closer Than You Think’
November 5th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
George Church—he of the beard, tall man’s lope and overwhelming credentials—has hit the circuit to promote a new book: Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves.
…
Church figures it’s only a matter of time and proven safety before people start picking out traits for their offspring and cloning entire children. “Almost all technology in this area is banned until it works,” Church says. “In vitro fertilization was banned, and now it is immoral to deny an infertile couple their birthright to have a child produced by their bodies. At some point, someone will come up with an airtight argument as to why they should have a cloned child. At that point, cloning will be acceptable. At that point, people will already be choosing traits for their children. What politician will tell a parent that they can’t spend their hard-earned money on getting an extra 50 SAT points for their child as long as it’s safe?”
‘Trillions of dollars worth of stock certificates and other paper securities that were stored in a vault in lower Manhattan may have suffered water damage’
November 4th, 2012[???]
Via: CNN:
Trillions of dollars worth of stock certificates and other paper securities that were stored in a vault in lower Manhattan may have suffered water damage from Superstorm Sandy.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., an industry-run clearing house for Wall Street, said the contents of its vault “are likely damaged,” after its building at 55 Water Street “sustained significant water damage” from the storm that battered New York City’s financial district earlier this week.
The vault contains certificates registered to Cede & Co., a subsidiary of DTCC, as well as “custody certificates” in sealed envelopes that belong to clients.
The DTCC provides “custody and asset servicing” for more than 3.6 million securities worth an estimated $36.5 trillion, according to its website.
“At this point, it is premature to make an accurate assessment as to the full impact of the water damage nor would it be helpful to project on what specific actions need to be taken with respect to our vault,” said DTCC Chief Executive Michael Bodson in a statement. “We are aggressively working on this situation to minimize disruption to our clients and will provide additional updates as more information becomes available.”
Bodson said the DTCC’s computer records are intact and that the corporation has “detailed inventory files of the contents of the vault.”
Northeast: Heating Oil Shortage as Cold Snap Looms
November 3rd, 2012Via: Reuters:
Northeast residents lucky enough to have a roof after Hurricane Sandy struck now face a new problem: a heating oil shortage and widespread power outages mean some homes may go cold as the weather turns wintry.
A cold snap in the New York City area – with daily low temperatures set to drop into the upper 30s Fahrenheit (2-4 degrees Celsius) early next week – is raising concerns that residents of the storm-stricken areas of New York, New Jersey or Connecticut could be left without heat as they recover from one of the worst storms in U.S. history.
Some New York area heating oil distributors have already been forced to ration supplies. The fuel is used in nearly 5.8 million homes in the Northeast, the world’s largest heating oil market. In some storm hit areas, distribution has nearly collapsed.
Heating oil is usually dispatched in fleets of tanker trucks to boiler rooms in thousands of residential buildings and businesses. But on Friday, supplies were dwindling at many distribution centers in New York City and parts of New Jersey.
In addition, nearly 3.5 million homes and business were without power on Friday along the East Coast. While that number will likely diminish by next week, those without power that use heating oil will have limited options to stave off the cold.
Government attempts to alleviate the shortage by releasing strategic reserves of heating oil are unlikely to provide much relief, given the scope of the problem facing distributors.
Concerns are compounded by forecasts for unseasonably cold weather. In New York City, temperatures are expected to dip to between 3 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit below average for early November, said Bradley Harvey, meteorologist at MDA Information Systems in Maryland.
In the industrial Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn on Friday, heating oil distributors who typically supply buildings across the city said they were nearly out of fuel and had no idea when new supplies would arrive.
Some of the region’s fuel terminals which offload products from tankers and barges have no power, and at least two important oil refineries in New Jersey remain idled after the storm flooded the plants this week.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
Megaupload and the Government’s Attack on Cloud Computing
November 3rd, 2012Via: EFF:
Yesterday, EFF, on behalf of its client Kyle Goodwin, filed a brief proposing a process for the Court in the Megaupload case to hold the government accountable for the actions it took (and failed to take) when it shut down Megaupload’s service and denied third parties like Mr. Goodwin access to their property. The government also filed a brief of its own, calling for a long, drawn-out process that would require third parties—often individuals or small companies—to travel to courts far away and engage in multiple hearings, just to get their own property back.
Even worse, the government admitted that it has accessed Mr. Goodwin’s Megaupload account and reviewed the content of his files. By doing so, the government has taken a significant and frightening step. It apparently searched through the data it seized for one purpose when its target was Megaupload in order to use it against Mr. Goodwin, someone who was hurt by its actions but who is plainly not the target of any criminal investigation, much less the one against Megaupload. This is, of course, a bald attempt to shift the focus to Mr. Goodwin, trying to distract both the press and the Court from the government’s failure to take any steps, much less the reasonable steps required by law, to protect the property rights of third parties either before a warrant was executed or afterward. And of course, if the government is so well positioned that it can search through Mr. Goodwin’s files and opine on their content—and it is not at all clear that this second search was authorized—presumably it can also find a way to return them.
But in addition, the government’s approach should terrify any user of cloud computer services—not to mention the providers. The government maintains that Mr. Goodwin lost his property rights in his data by storing it on a cloud computing service. Specifically, the government argues that both the contract between Megaupload and Mr. Goodwin (a standard cloud computing contract) and the contract between Megaupload and the server host, Carpathia (also a standard agreement), “likely limit any property interest he may have” in his data. (Page 4). If the government is right, no provider can both protect itself against sudden losses (like those due to a hurricane) and also promise its customers that their property rights will be maintained when they use the service. Nor can they promise that their property might not suddenly disappear, with no reasonable way to get it back if the government comes in with a warrant. Apparently your property rights “become severely limited” if you allow someone else to host your data under standard cloud computing arrangements. This argument isn’t limited in any way to Megaupload — it would apply if the third party host was Amazon’s S3 or Google Apps or or Apple iCloud.
The government’s tactics here also demonstrate another chilling thing—if users do try to get their property back, the government won’t hesitate to comb through their property to try to find an argument to use against them. The government also seeks to place a virtually insurmountable practical burden on users by asking the court to do a slow-walking, multi-step process that takes place in a far away court. Most third parties who use cloud computing services to store their business records or personal information are not in a position to attend even one court appearance in Virginia, much less the multiple ones the government envisions in its submission to the court.
U.S. Marines Staging Off New York Coast
November 3rd, 2012Via: U.S. Department of Defense:
Marines and sailors of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., flew aboard the USS Wasp Nov. 1 to prepare to provide assistance to New Jersey, New York and Connecticut in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Within less than a day of receiving the order from Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Raymond C. Fox, the commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marines and sailors boarded aircraft and sortied from bases in North Carolina to meet the amphibious assault ship as it sailed off the coast of New York City, preparing to provide medical, logistical, engineering, and heavy airlift support to the storm-damaged areas if tasked by the secretary of defense.
“What’s important here is that the American public sees that their military can provide support to American cities, to American citizens, in a time of need,” said Marine Corps Col. Matthew G. St. Clair, 26th MEU commanding officer. The MEU is a Marine Corps crisis-response force that’s designed to remain afloat for months at a time.
Gasoline Situation Increasingly Dire in Days After Sandy
November 3rd, 2012Via: CBS News:
Commuters all over the New York area are still finding it very hard to find gasoline, as evidenced by long lines and angry drivers at the few stations that are open.
People all over the New Jersey shore are looking for gas and CBS New found one of the few stations still open in Manahawkin, N.J. But the secret is now out with people traveling 30, 40 and even 50 miles because they’re finding it very difficult to fill up.
Complete coverage of superstorm Sandy
Gas is being rationed in parts of New York and New Jersey. The pumps are running on empty — and so is patience. One man in Queens, N.Y., was charged with waving a gun at another driver in a gas line. At a station in New Jersey, frustration nearly became a fist fight. The police were called in to literally keep anxious drivers in line as they try to cut each other off.
According to the motor club AAA, 60 percent of the gas stations in New Jersey and 70 percent on New York’s Long Island are now closed.
And Now… China Is Building A Huge Eco-City
November 3rd, 2012Will there be room for the Chinese elite’s secret organic gardens?
Via: Business Insider:
Outside Chengdu, in central China, a 78 million square foot site has been determined for an unconventional sort of construction project. It will be a city built from scratch, for 80,000 people, none of whom will need a car to get around.
Click here to see the master plan >
The “Great City” is a plan for an ambitious urban center designed to limit its residents environmental impact by producing clean energy, reducing waste, and promoting public transportation over individual car use.
The project is the work of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, who note that “Chinese planning officials [are] beginning to see the effects of automobile-dependent design and are open to better alternatives to urban sprawl.”
Oregon: Volcano Power
November 2nd, 2012Via: Gizmag:
Having successfully negotiated the challenging regulatory slopes of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a host of Oregon state agencies, the Newberry Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) demonstration project is in the process of creating a new geothermal reservoir in central Oregon. The core of the new reservoir is a two mile (3.2 km) deep well drilled about four miles (6.3 km) from the center of Newberry Volcano. The rock surrounding the wellbore reaches temperatures in the order of 600° F (315° C), and is nearly impermeable to water. That, however, is about to change.
Secret Service Agent on President Obama’s Protective Detail ‘Is Dead of an Apparent Suicide’
November 2nd, 2012Via: CNN:
A Secret Service agent suspected of having a romantic relationship with a Mexican woman is dead of an apparent suicide, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.
The source said Rafael Prieto, 48, was assigned to President Obama’s protective detail.
The Secret Service confirmed Thursday that Prieto’s death last Saturday is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, along with the medical examiner’s office. No official determination of death has been made.
Prieto’s access to Secret Service facilities had been suspended while authorities were looking into his apparently unreported and long-term relationship with a foreign national, the law enforcement official said.
First Vertical Farm Opens in Singapore
November 2nd, 2012Via: Wired:
The first commercial-scale vertical farm has opened in the tiny, densely-populated city of Singapore, with the aim of decreasing dependence on food imports
Singapore, which lies at the end of the Malay Peninsula, is just 710 square kilometres, almost all of which is city. That leaves little space to grow vegetables. As a result, the city currently only produces seven percent of its vegetables locally, forcing it to buy from other countries.
The vertical farm, which has been developed by Sky Green Farms, consists of 120 aluminium towers, each extending up to 9 metres in height. It can produce 500kg of three kinds of vegetables per day, all of which are sold in the local FairPrice Finest supermarkets. However, they do cost a little more than imported vegetables.
Research Credit: latitude38
