Germany to Roll Out ID cards with Embedded RFID; They Will Also Be Used for Establishing Identity Online
August 23rd, 2010Via: International Business Times:
The production of the RFID chips, an integral element of the new generation of German identity cards, has started after the government gave a 10 year contract to the chipmaker NXP in the Netherlands. Citizens will receive the mandatory new ID cards from the first of November.
The new ID card will contain all personal data on the security chip that can be accessed over a wireless connection.
The new card allows German authorities to identify people with speed and accuracy, the government said. These authorities include the police, customs and tax authorities and of course the local registration and passport granting authorities.
German companies like Infineon and the Dutch NXP, which operates a large scale development and manufacturing base in Hamburg, Germany are global leaders in making RFID security chips. The new electronic ID card, which will gradually replace the old mandatory German ID cards, is one of the largest scale roll-outs of RFID cards with extended official and identification functionality.
The card will also have extended functionality, including the ability to enable citizens to identify themselves in the internet by using the ID card with a reading device at home. After registering an online account bonded to the ID card, are able to do secure online shopping, downloading music and most importantly interact with government authorities online, for example.
Raytheon’s Directed Energy Pain Weapon Mounted from Ceiling in California Prison
August 23rd, 2010Here’s another one for your bulging Land-O-The-Free file folder.
Via: The Signal:
The reporters standing in front of me in line shouted in agony and crumpled in pain as the laser cannon zapped them.
With each agonizing shriek I heard, my time in front of the laser cannon grew closer until finally I stepped onto the firing line.
Would I pop like a popcorn kernel? I didn’t know.
I had a date with the Assault Intervention Device on Friday. And yes, the device is as horrifying as it sounds.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department tested its latest non-lethal weapon at the Pitchess Detention Center on hapless members of the news media.
The device looks like a robotic laser gun and shoots an invisible “millimeter wave” from up to 85 feet at rowdy inmates causing them to feel like they’re burning. It’s intended to break up fighting inmates and prison riots.
“Jails are prone to acts of violence,” said Commander Bob Osborne after a press conference in the North County Correctional Facility.
“We a have a lot of violent people with anger issues.”
Real Headline: First U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq Since Withdrawal of Combat Troops
August 23rd, 2010Combat Brigades in Iraq Under Different Name
Satire: Obama Declares Victory, Sort Of, Depending On How You Look At It, In Iraq
Via: Guardian:
An American soldier was killed by a rocket strike near Basra today, in the first US fatality since the last combat troops left Iraq.
Egg Recall
August 22nd, 2010Via: AP:
Two Iowa farms that recalled more than a half-billion eggs linked to as many as 1,300 cases of salmonella poisoning share suppliers of chickens and feed as well as ties to an Iowa business routinely cited for violating state and federal law.
Frederick Forsyth Claims NSA Wrecked Wife’s Computer by Remote
August 22nd, 2010I’d like to know more about what happened to her computer.
Via: BBC:
Frederick Forsyth, bestselling author of thrillers like The Day of the Jackal and The Dogs of War, was in the West African state of Guinea-Bissau last year when the president was assassinated.
His presence there, he now believes, led suspicious US intelligence forces to launch a cyber-attack on his wife’s computer.
…
Forsyth still writes a column for the Daily Express and says he thought he had better tell them what was going on in Guinea-Bissau. He does not use computers or mobile phones but borrowed a phone and dictated 1,000 words of copy.
“Unfortunately, the American intelligence services listened to it and wasted my wife’s computer screen and totalled all her lunch dates,” he claims.
Friends in ‘low places’
Mr Forsyth has no proof for this claim.
He suspected foul play as soon as he got back home to his farm in Berkshire and discovered that his wife’s computer had ceased to function.
He claims his suspicions were confirmed to him by his sources – the mysterious people who inform his thriller writing, whom he likes to describe as his “friends in low places”.
“Everything up there in the ether is intercepted, probably by the National Security Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland, and I think my report ended up somewhere on a desk at Fort Meade,” he says.
Gene Burnett – Jump You F*#kers (A Song For Wall Street)
August 22nd, 2010Research Credit: Carol
Hardship Withdrawals from 401(k) Retirement Plans Rose to Highest Level in Decade
August 22nd, 2010Via: CNN:
Hardship withdrawals from 401(k) retirement saving plans rose to the highest level in 10 years during the second quarter, Fidelity Investments said on Friday, in the latest sign of a dismal economy.
Fidelity reported that, as of the second quarter, 2.2% of all 401(k) participants had made a hardship withdrawal at some point over the preceding 12 months. That’s up from 2% in the prior year, and was the highest level in 10 years.
At the same time, the percentage of 401(k) participants that had an outstanding loan from their account rose to a record high of 22% in the second quarter. The average loan amount was $8,650 at the end of the quarter.
…
The top reasons people took loans and made withdrawals were to prevent foreclosure or eviction, pay for college, or purchase a home, according to the firm.
“The current economy has forced some workers to borrow from their 401(k) accounts in order to pay for critical living expenses, ultimately jeopardizing their future retirement,” said James MacDonald, president of workplace investing for Fidelity Investments.
Related: Small Investors Flee Stock Market
Combat Brigades in Iraq Under Different Name
August 22nd, 2010Via: Army Times:
As the final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., entered Kuwait early Thursday, a different Stryker brigade remained in Iraq.
Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division are deployed in Iraq as members of an Advise and Assist Brigade, the Army’s designation for brigades selected to conduct security force assistance.
So while the “last full U.S. combat brigade” have left Iraq, just under 50,000 soldiers from specially trained heavy, infantry and Stryker brigades will stay, as well as two combat aviation brigades.
Related: Satire: Obama Declares Victory, Sort Of, Depending On How You Look At It, In Iraq
Blackwater Founder Moves to Abu Dhabi
August 22nd, 2010Via: New York Times:
Erik Prince, whose company, Blackwater Worldwide, is for sale and whose former top managers are facing criminal charges, has left the United States and moved to Abu Dhabi, according to court documents.
Mr. Prince, a former member of the Navy Seals and an heir to a Michigan auto parts fortune, left the country after a series of civil lawsuits, criminal charges and Congressional investigations singled out Blackwater or its former executives and other personnel. His company, now called Xe Services, has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States government since 2001.
Current and former colleagues said Mr. Prince hoped to focus on security work from governments in Africa and the Middle East. They also said he was bitter about the legal scrutiny and negative publicity his company had received.
“He needs a break from America,” said one colleague, speaking only on the condition of anonymity about Mr. Prince’s long-rumored move.
Copenhagen Suborbitals
August 22nd, 2010Homebrew submarine: Check
Homebrew rocket: Check
Homebrew sealaunch platform: Check
The countdown is running on the test flight:
The micro spacecraft (MSC) Tycho Brahe-1 is the payload of the HEAT booster. It is a pressurized volume providing support for one upright standing/half-sitting person, with a full view through a polymer plexiglas-dome to experience the entire ballistic ride. Based on the expected flight data and future test-flights, g-force loads and rocket orientation, we will determine the seating construction and necessary support to ensure a safe human travel.
No matter what happens:
Via: Copenhagen Suborbitals:
Our mission is very simple. We are working towards launching a human being into space. This is a non-profit suborbital space endeavor lead by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen, based entirely on sponsors and volunteers.
Related: Something Awful Thread with Posts by Copenhagen Suborbitals Team Members
