GlaxoSmithKline Clears Cash From Eurozone On A Daily Basis
February 8th, 2012It’s like having a PayPal account! *chortle*
Via: Telegraph:
GlaxoSmithKline is clearing cash out of eurozone countries on a daily basis to protect itself against a potential banking and liquidity crisis in the region.
Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of Britain’s biggest drug maker, said that early last year the company had started emptying “tens of millions of pounds” in cash every day out of most eurozone countries into accounts in Britain.
“We don’t leave any cash in most European countries. We sweep any cash we raise during the day out of local banks into banks we think are robust and secure,” he added. “You do your best to actively manage the risk.”
Research Credit: GP
More Concerns Over San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Safety
February 8th, 2012Via: San Diego Reader:
Concerns about safety and the durability of components at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are continuing to surface as the plant approaches a full week of complete shutdown. The plant’s Unit 3 reactor was taken out of commission after a radioactive water leak was discovered on January 31, while Unit 2 was already down for scheduled maintenance. The Unit 1 reactor was taken offline permanently in 1992.
In the immediate aftermath of the detection of a leak in the piping of a recently installed steam generator, officials downplayed any potential threat, noting that the amount of radiation leaked was so small that Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules did not call for a mandatory shutdown. Later it was disclosed that radioactive gas from the leak had been vented to an auxiliary building that did not have the same safety seals to prevent radiation from being released into the atmosphere as are found on the reactor.
Once the Unit 2 reactor was shut down, it was discovered that hundreds of tubes on the generator, replaced in 2009 as part of a $670 million-plus overhaul using components supplied by Japan-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, had suffered significant deterioration over their relatively short service lives. Aside from the one tube known to have failed at Unit 3, two tubes at Unit 2 were found to have more than a third of their thickness worn away, requiring them to be plugged and incrementally increasing the burden on the remainder of the 9,700 tubes in the system. While only these two were worn to the point of needing to be taken offline as a safety precaution, 69 other tubes showed deterioration of at least 20 percent, and more than 800 had thinned by 10 percent or more.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that over so short a period of time,” retired Nuclear Regulatory Commission engineer and researcher Joram Hopenfeld told the Associated Press about the level of damage discovered.
Edison spokesman Gil Alexander disagreed, countering that “It’s not unprecedented in the industry for there to be accelerated wear in small sections of tubes in early years of usage.”
Britain: Undercover Police Officer Chased Himself Round the Streets for 20 Minutes After a CCTV Operator Mistook Him for Suspect
February 8th, 2012Via: Telegraph:
The junior officer, who has not been named, was monitoring an area hit by a series of burglaries in an unnamed market town in the country’s south.
As the probationary officer from Sussex Police searched for suspects, the camera operator radioed that he had seen someone “acting suspiciously” in the area.
But he failed to realise that it was actually the plain-clothed officer he was watching on the screen, according to details leaked to an industry magazine.
The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the “suspect” on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was “hot on his heels”.
The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the “suspect” and laughed hysterically at the mistake.
Putin’s Internet Troll Army
February 8th, 2012Via: Guardian:
The Russian youth group Nashi has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to a vast network of bloggers, journalists and internet trolls to create flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and discredit his political rivals, according to a haul of thousands of emails allegedly sent to and from the group that have been released by Russian hackers.
Britain: Girls, 13, Given Contraceptive Implants at School
February 8th, 2012Via: Telegraph:
Girls as young as 13 have been fitted with contraceptive implants at school without their parents knowing.
The procedure was carried out in Southampton, Hants, as part of a government initiative to drive down teenage pregnancies.
As many as nine secondary schools in the city are thought to have been involved.
But it has caused a backlash from parents who weren’t aware that their daughters had been fitted with the 4cm device, which sits under the skin.
It is currently unknown exactly how many youngsters have taken part in the scheme.
Britain: Royal Society Report Discusses Development Neural Interface for Weapons Systems
February 7th, 2012…and much, much more.
Via: Royal Society:
Neural interfaces can be broadly separated into devices that input into neural systems and interfaces that record activity from brains to predict motor intentions. The most common method of establishing an interface is through the external recording of EEG signals although more invasive methods, such as implanting microelectrodes into the brain, are also being investigated. For example, Braingate, a small square chip with 100 microelectrodes, has been tested on paralyzed individuals, allowing them to control the movement of a cursor by simply imagining this motion. Braingate and other similar devices are implanted intracortically by a surgical procedure that involves the removal of a bone ‘flap’ and implantation of the chip on the surface of the brain. Electrical activity is recorded from tens to hundreds of neurons from the cortical surface, especially in areas like the motor cortex that initiate movement. These signals are picked up by the implant, decoded, and fed into an artificial limb, which allows a replication of actual motion.
NIS such as Braingate could also be used to allow long-range control of motion. Electrode arrays implanted in the nervous system could provide a connection between the nervous system of an ablebodied individual and a specific hardware or software system. Since the human brain can process images, such as targets, much faster than the subject is consciously aware of (see target detection) a neurally interfaced weapons systems could provide significant advantages over other system control methods in terms of speed and accuracy. However, such developments could raise significant ethical and legal concerns (see section 3 for further discussion).
Related:
Independent: Government May Sanction Nerve-Agent Use on Rioters, Scientists Fear
Guardian: Neuroscience Could Mean Soldiers Controlling Weapons with Minds
Research Credit: RJF
New York City Surveillance Center Staffed with Employees from Large Wall Street Firms
February 7th, 2012Via: Counterpunch:
The New York Times, the worldwide news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), Wired Magazine, the New York City Council had all previously reported the location of the supposedly super secret counter terrorism center on their public web sites: 55 Broadway in the bowels of the financial district. What was a secret about the operation, and not reported by 60 Minutes to its viewers, despite being well aware of the facts, is that the center is jointly staffed and operated by the NYPD along with the largest Wall Street firms – the same firms under investigation in 50 states for mortgage and foreclosure fraud and widely credited with causing the Nation’s economic collapse. The Wall Street firms that were involuntarily bailed out by the 99% are now policing the 99%.
In a telephone conversation with the co-producer of the program, Robert Anderson, he conceded that he was aware of the presence of the Wall Street firms in the center. It would have been hard to miss them. The facility is designed with three long rows of computer workstations. The outside of each cubicle bears a brass plaque with the names of the occupants: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorganChase, etc.
Research Credit: roaches
The Army Wants You … to Be a Virtual Lab Rat
February 7th, 2012Via: Wired:
American soldiers already prep for war using virtual worlds. One day, the Army hopes, you’ll join the GIs in a military-approved digital realm.
In the Army’s latest call for research proposals, the service is looking for ways to develop a “Virtual Laboratory of Aggregate Behavior,” or VLAB. Put simply, the program would yield a digital domain wherein hundreds or thousands of civilians could assemble and partake in “randomized controlled trial experiments” of the Army’s design.
But if you’re thinking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — think again.
The Army’s not looking to train civilians in the ways of war-fighting. Instead, they want a platform that can offer more robust testing for behavioral theories. For example, how a community is apt to react during a crisis, or how and why certain social networks end up coalescing while others fall apart. Right now, the Army’s solicitation complains, behavioral hypotheses often depend on small-scale tests of five or 10 people. Those tests are then extrapolated, via logic or computational models, to yield society-wide conclusions.
Related: Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation
Congress Passes Bill That Opens U.S. Skies To Unmanned Drones
February 7th, 2012Via: AP:
A bill to speed the nation’s switch from radar to an air traffic control system based on GPS technology, and to open U.S. skies to unmanned drone flights within four years, received final congressional approval Monday.
…
The FAA is also required under the bill to provide military, commercial and privately-owned drones with expanded access to U.S. airspace currently reserved for manned aircraft by Sept. 30, 2015. That means permitting unmanned drones controlled by remote operators on the ground to fly in the same airspace as airliners, cargo planes, business jets and private aircraft.
Currently, the FAA restricts drone use primarily to segregated blocks of military airspace, border patrols and about 300 public agencies and their private partners. Those public agencies are mainly restricted to flying small unmanned aircraft at low altitudes away from airports and urban centers.
Within nine months of the bill’s passage, the FAA is required to submit a plan on how to safely provide drones with expanded access.
DARPA Calls for Implantable Biosensors
February 7th, 2012Via: Wired:
Now, the Department of Defense’s far-out research agency is after the ultimate kind of Quantified Self: Soldiers with implanted body sensors that keep intimate tabs on their health, around the clock.
In a new call for research, Darpa is asking for proposals to devise prototype implantable biosensors. Once inserted under a soldier’s skin, Darpa wants the sensors to provide real-time, accurate measurements of “DoD-relevant biomarkers” including stress hormones, like cortisol, and compounds that signal inflammation, like histamine.
