U.S. Files Mortgage Fraud Lawsuit Against Wells Fargo
October 10th, 2012Via: Reuters:
The U.S. government filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit on Tuesday against Wells Fargo & Co, the latest legal volley against big banks for their lending during the housing boom.
The complaint, brought by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, seeks damages and civil penalties from Wells Fargo for more than 10 years of alleged misconduct related to government-insured Federal Housing Administration loans.
The lawsuit alleges the FHA paid hundreds of millions of dollars on insurance claims on thousands of defaulted mortgages as a result of false certifications by Wells Fargo, the fourth-biggest U.S. bank as measured in assets.
“As the complaint alleges, yet another major bank has engaged in a longstanding and reckless trifecta of deficient training, deficient underwriting and deficient disclosure, all while relying on the convenient backstop of government insurance,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border
October 10th, 2012Via: Business Insider:
Leaked emails from the private U.S. security firm Stratfor cite a Mexican diplomat who says the U.S. government works with Mexican cartels to traffic drugs into the United States and has sided with the Sinaloa cartel in an attempt to limit the violence in Mexico.
Many people have doubted the quality of Stratfor’s intelligence, but the information from MX1—a Mexican foreign service officer who doubled as a confidential source for Stratfor—seems to corroborate recent claims about U.S. involvement in the drug war in Mexico.
Most notably, the reports from MX1 line up with assertions by a Sinaloa cartel insider that cartel boss Joaquin Guzman is a U.S. informant, the Sinaloa cartel was “given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago,” and Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to finance and arm the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for information used to take down rival cartels.
Children’s Obsession with Screens ‘Causing Developmental Damage as Well as Long-Term Physical Harm’
October 10th, 2012Via: Guardian:
Doctors and government health officials should set limits, as they do for alcohol, on the amount of time children spend watching screens – and under-threes should be kept away from the television altogether, according to a paper in an influential medical journal published on Tuesday.
A review of the evidence in the Archives Of Disease in Childhood says children’s obsession with TV, computers and screen games is causing developmental damage as well as long-term physical harm. Doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which co-owns the journal with the British Medical Journal group, say they are concerned. Guidelines in the US, Canada and Australia already urge limits on children’s screen time, but there are none yet in Britain.
The review was written by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, author of a book on the subject, following a speech he gave to the RCPCH’s annual conference. On average, he says, a British teenager spends six hours a day looking at screens at home – not including any time at school. In North America, it is nearer eight hours. But, says Sigman, negative effects on health kick in after about two hours of sitting still, with increased long-term risks of obesity and heart problems.
The critical time for brain growth is the first three years of life, he says. That is when babies and small children need to interact with their parents, eye to eye, and not with a screen.
Microsoft CEO Sees Company Becoming More Like Apple
October 10th, 2012Microsoft has been copying Apple since the 1980s, so I doubt that this is much of a surprise to anyone.
Via: Reuters:
Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has signaled a new direction for the world’s largest software company, pointing to hardware and online services as its future, taking a page from long-time rival Apple Inc.
Ballmer’s comments in his annual letter to shareholders published on Tuesday suggested that Microsoft may eventually make its own phones to build on its forthcoming own-brand Surface tablet PC and market-leading Xbox gaming console.
“There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes, as we have chosen to do with Xbox and the recently announced Microsoft Surface,” wrote Ballmer.
The new approach mimics Apple Inc, whose massively successful iPhone and iPad demonstrated tight integration of high-quality software and hardware and made Windows devices feel clunky in comparison.
Related: Microsoft’s Desperation to Catch Apple in the Crackpad Race to the Land of Dumb and Dumber
U.S. Army: Frustrated with ‘Mainstream Ideologies’? You Might Be a Terrorist
October 10th, 2012Via: Wired:
These are some warning signs that that you have turned into a terrorist who will soon kill your co-workers, according to the U.S. military. You’ve recently changed your “choices in entertainment.” You have “peculiar discussions.” You “complain about bias,” you’re “socially withdrawn” and you’re frustrated with “mainstream ideologies.” Your “Risk Factors for Radicalization” include “Social Networks” and “Youth.”
An Autonomous Flying Robot with a Honey Bee Brain
October 10th, 2012Via: University of Sheffield:
Scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex are embarking on an ambitious project to produce the first accurate computer models of a honey bee brain in a bid to advance our understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how animals think.
The team will build models of the systems in the brain that govern a honey bee’s vision and sense of smell. Using this information, the researchers aim to create the first flying robot able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee, rather than just carry out a pre-programmed set of instructions.
If successful, this project will meet one of the major challenges of modern science: building a robot brain that can perform complex tasks as well as the brain of an animal. Tasks the robot will be expected to perform, for example, will include finding the source of particular odours or gases in the same way that a bee can identify particular flowers.
It is anticipated that the artificial brain could eventually be used in applications such as search and rescue missions, or even mechanical pollination of crops.
The Unintended Consequences Of China’s One-Child Policy
October 10th, 2012Via: io9:
“Historically, societies in which men substantially outnumber women are not nice places to live,” writes Hvistendahl, “Often they are unstable. Sometimes they are violent.”
She points to examples in history, such as fourth century B.C. Athens and China’s Taiping Rebellion in mid-19th century — both of which were the result of wide scale female infanticide. These eras were characterized by wide scale crime and violence.
In China, this practice has now resulted in a “surplus” of men who have little hope of marrying. Hvistendahl notes that these men tend to accumulate in the lower classes where the risk of violence is accentuated. Moreover, unmarried men who have low incomes tend to get restless — and in fact, areas with skewed gender balances tend to experience higher rates of crime.
And because it’s harder to find a wife, men are having to literally buy or bid for them. This has contributed to China’s elevated household savings rate where parents are having to squirrel away money in order to secure a bride for their son. It has also led to a boom in the mail order bride business — and prostitution.
And as a recent analysis by Wei Xing Zhu has shown, the imbalance is expected to worsen in the coming decades; the biggest gaps currently exist between the one to four-year old group — which means they’ll be the ones having to deal with the fallout in about in 15 to 20 years.
Big Brother Invades Classrooms
October 10th, 2012Homeschool.
Via: Salon:
The RFID tag system popularly known as “Tag and Track” is being sold to schools system across the country by a variety of vendors, including AIM Truancy Solutions, ID Card Group and DataCard.
In general, these systems consist of a school photo ID card affixed to a lanyard that is worn around the student’s neck. The ID has a RFID chip embedded in it. The tag includes a digit number assigned to each student. As a student enters the school or pass beneath a doorway equipped with an RFID reader, the tag ID is read, recorded and sent to a server in the school’s administrative office. The captured data not only provides an attendance list (sent to the teacher’s PDA), but tracks the student’s movement throughout the day.
Students and parents in San Antonio, TX, are up in arms over a decision by the Northside Independent School District to require students at two local schools to wear RFID-equipped nametags as part of the Student Locator Project. The two schools, John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School, plan to use the nametags to pinpoint student locations both at the school and outside its premises. In addition, students are required to use the microchip ID when checking out school library books, registering for classes and paying for school lunches.
Secret CIA Training Facility Found in North Carolina
October 10th, 2012Use sic erat scriptum as necessary when reading this piece. I thought it was worth mentioning because it describes a recent cut out operation.
Via: Atlantic Wire:
One of the reasons U.S. Navy SEALs were able to so skillfully execute the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound last year was a CIA training facility in North Carolina that mirrored the architecture of bin Laden’s actual compound in Pakistan. In 2011, during those crucial months that SEAL Team Six trained there, it was one of the most secretive facilities on U.S. soil. Now, for the first time, the facility has been revealed on Bing’s satellite map service during a phase when it was under construction.
More: Cryptome: Osama bin Laden Compound Raid Mock-up
‘Hand-Made Humans May Hold the Key to Saving the World’
October 9th, 2012This one is a keeper.
Via: Brisbane Times:
Human-induced climate change is one of the biggest problems that we face today. Millions could suffer hunger, water shortages, diseases and coastal flooding because of climate change. The latest science suggests that we may be near or even beyond the point of no return.
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Here are four examples of human engineering that seem feasible to implement in the near future and potentially have broad appeal.
Pharmacological meat intolerance
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Making humans smaller
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Lowering birth rates through cognitive enhancement
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Pharmacological induction of altruism and empathy
Research Credit: latitude38
