‘Stingray’ Mobile Phone Tracking System
September 23rd, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal (TinyPaste):
For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply “the Hacker.” Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest.
Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it’s not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries.
…
A stingray works by mimicking a cellphone tower, getting a phone to connect to it and measuring signals from the phone. It lets the stingray operator “ping,” or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. The device has various uses, including helping police locate suspects and aiding search-and-rescue teams in finding people lost in remote areas or buried in rubble after an accident.
The government says “stingray” is a generic term. In Mr. Rigmaiden’s case it remains unclear which device or devices were actually used.
The best known stingray maker is Florida-based defense contractor Harris Corp. A spokesman for Harris declined to comment.
Harris holds trademarks registered between 2002 and 2008 on several devices, including the StingRay, StingRay II, AmberJack, KingFish, TriggerFish and LoggerHead. Similar devices are available from other manufacturers. According to a Harris document, its devices are sold only to law-enforcement and government agencies.
Faster Than Light Particles Found
September 23rd, 2011Via: Reuters:
An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light — a finding that could overturn one of Einstein’s long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, told Reuters that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than light would have done.
“We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing,” he said. “We now want colleagues to check them independently.”
If confirmed, the discovery would undermine Albert Einstein’s 1905 theory of special relativity, which says that the speed of light is a “cosmic constant” and that nothing in the universe can travel faster.
That assertion, which has withstood over a century of testing, is one of the key elements of the so-called Standard Model of physics, which attempts to describe the way the universe and everything in it works.
The totally unexpected finding emerged from research by physicists working on an experiment dubbed OPERA run jointly by the CERN particle research centre near Geneva and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in central Italy.
A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos — tiny particles that pervade the cosmos — were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away, where they were picked up by giant detectors.
Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds — or 60 billionths of a second — less than light beams would have taken.
“It is a tiny difference,” said Ereditato, who also works at Berne University in Switzerland, “but conceptually it is incredibly important. The finding is so startling that, for the moment, everybody should be very prudent.”
Ereditato declined to speculate on what it might mean if other physicists, who will be officially informed of the discovery at a meeting in CERN on Friday, found that OPERA’s measurements were correct.
“I just don’t want to think of the implications,” he told Reuters. “We are scientists and work with what we know.”
RNA from Rice Can Survive Digestion and Alter Gene Expression
September 22nd, 2011Via: Discover:
It’s no secret that having lunch messes with your biochemistry. Once that sandwich hits your stomach, genes related to digestion have been activated and are causing the production of the many molecules that help break food down. But a new study suggests that the connection between your food’s biochemistry and your own may be more intimate than we thought. Tiny RNAs usually found plants have been discovered circulating in blood, and animal studies indicate that they are directly manipulating the expression of genes.
Federal Appeals Court Allows ACLU Challenge to Warrantless Wiretapping Law to Proceed
September 22nd, 2011Via: ACLU:
In September 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the government’s request that all of the court’s judges rehear a lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenging the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), a law that gives the executive branch virtually unchecked power to collect Americans’ international emails and telephone calls. The denial of rehearing allows the ACLU’s lawsuit to proceed, upholding an unanimous March 2011 ruling by a three-judge panel that the plaintiffs have the right to challenge the constitutionality of the law.
Research Credit: noncompliant
Disclosure: I’m Long Oil
September 22nd, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Update: Stopped out of USO. No position USO. Tight stop on that one.
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I’m long United States Oil Fund (Symbol: USO).
Atlanta Increases Surveillance of City
September 22nd, 2011I almost didn’t bother to read this one. I mean, there’s going to be more surveillance—thanks, Captain Obvious. But even I was taken aback by this one.
Private CCTV cameras are feeding the “Video Integration Center.”
Via: AJC:
Plans to put Atlanta’s public spaces under camera surveillance will move forward this week with the opening of a state-of-the-art video monitoring center.
Whether it’s good that Atlanta is joining other big cities in the video surveillance race depends on your comfort level with being watched more often by police.
The downtown “Video Integration Center,” funded by a mix of private donations and public money, has already given Atlanta police links to more than 100 public and private security cameras.
Talks are underway to link up with more cameras at CNN Center, Georgia State University, the Georgia World Congress Center and MARTA, along with cameras in Buckhead.
Officials say hundreds or thousands more private-sector cameras will eventually feed into the center. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution toured the center last week, as live footage of a traffic stop and archived video of a DragonCon parade played on a 15-foot screen. Officers can watch up to 128 views at once.
“This is just the beginning,” said Dave Wilkinson, president of the Atlanta Police Foundation, which helped raise money for the center. “This is going to grow by leaps and bounds over the years. The goal, of course, is to have the entire city blanketed.”
With enough cameras, it might be possible to never lose sight of a suspect after a crime occurs, advocates say. And camera backers say signs warning of constant surveillance help prevent crime, although they acknowledge it is difficult to know how much.
Research Credit: noncompliant
Young Adults: America’s Lost Generation
September 22nd, 2011Via: AP:
Call it the recession’s lost generation.
In record-setting numbers, young adults struggling to find work are shunning long-distance moves to live with Mom and Dad, delaying marriage and buying fewer homes, often raising kids out of wedlock. They suffer from the highest unemployment since World War II and risk living in poverty more than others — nearly 1 in 5.
New 2010 census data released Thursday show the wrenching impact of a recession that officially ended in mid-2009. It highlights the missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged slump with high unemployment.
“We have a monster jobs problem, and young people are the biggest losers,” said Andrew Sum, an economist and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. He noted that for recent college grads now getting by with waitressing, bartending and odd jobs, they will have to compete with new graduates for entry-level career positions when the job market eventually does improve.
“Their really high levels of underemployment and unemployment will haunt young people for at least another decade,” Sum said.
Richard Freeman, an economist at Harvard University, added, “These people will be scarred, and they will be called the ‘lost generation’ — in that their careers would not be the same way if we had avoided this economic disaster.”
Related: Inside the Trillion-Dollar Underground Economy Keeping Many Americans (Barely) Afloat in Desperate Times [Research Credit: HPLovecraft666]
European Stocks Sharply Lower, U.S. Futures Sharply Lower
September 22nd, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Large European markets are down about 5% at the moment about an hour before the regular U.S. session kicks off.
ES down 25. Yep.
Ok, on gold, the 50% retracement that I mentioned is coming into view. Spot gold is down $42.40 (2.38%) at $1738.10.
Feds Probe Possible ‘Arabic-Type’ Markings On Southwest Jets
September 22nd, 2011Watch out for those possible “Arabic-Type” markings!
Someone queue the ghost of Bin Laden effect and the Theremin.
Ready, and……… ACTION!
Via: CBS – Los Angeles:
Federal agencies were working with Southwest Airlines on Thursday to determine who has been vandalizing their aircraft with mysterious markings.
KNX 1070 investigative reporter Charles Feldman has learned that since February, several Southwest jets have been vandalized with mysterious writings that show up on the underbelly of their 737 passenger aircraft.
The writings — which some have interpreted as being either Arabic or Arabic-type symbols — appeared to have been done with a chemical process that reveals the text once an auxiliary power unit is turned on and heats up the outside skin of the aircraft, according to Feldman.
While it remains unclear how many aircraft are involved, the trend has reportedly increased in recent weeks.
Southwest Airlines has ordered its employees not to discuss the matter with the media, Feldman said.
Research Credit: MS
Capture Camera Clip System by Peak Design
September 22nd, 2011This looks great / wish I had it 20 years ago.
Via: Amazon:
Capture Camera Clip System by Peak Design
The Capture Camera Clip System is a new way for active photographers to carry their camera – by rigidly clipping it to any strap or belt on your existing gear. The product consists of a compact, ultralight aluminum “chassis” that securely clamps down onto your belt, backpack strap, messenger bag strap, climbing harness, life vest, or other garments you already own. A small aluminum “camera connection plate” screws into the tripod mount on your camera. The plate allows your camera to slide and lock into the chassis, letting you securely carry your bulky SLR camera with ease. Furthermore, Capture keeps your camera readily accessible with it’s “quick release lock.” With the press of a button, you can slide your camera out of the chassis, snap a photo, and click it back into place. Whether you’re hiking, biking, skiing, climbing mountains, or just snapping pictures at a family gathering, the versatility of Capture will revolutionize the way you transport and handle your camera.
