Eurostar Rolls Out ‘SmartCheck’ Facial Biometric Check-In System
July 31st, 2023Via: iProov:
Oh, You’re From the Government
July 31st, 2023— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) July 31, 2023
Say Goodbye to Permissionless Travel
July 31st, 2023Via: Reason:
Once upon a time, citizens of the United States could travel to almost every country in the European Union for 90 days without asking any government for permission beyond showing a passport at the initial point of entry. It was—and still is, for a few waning months—a marvelous if underacknowledged achievement for liberty.
Alas, the days of frictionless travel will soon be a memory. Starting at a so-far-unspecified date in early 2024, Americans and residents of 62 other countries that currently enjoy visa-free visitation to the Schengen Area of the E.U. will need to pay a fee and submit an online application (including biometric information, work experience, medical conditions, and initial itinerary), then pass a criminal/security background check, before enjoying that croissant in gay Paree. The grimly named European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is projected to cost 7 euros per application and take up to 14 days to render a decision.
Before you start shaking your fist at freedom-hating Eurocrats, know that ETIAS is the belated continental answer to a system the U.S. has imposed on residents of friendly countries since 2009, called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. Like ETIAS, ESTA is a response to 21st-century terrorist attacks and combines modest fees ($21) with less-than-instantaneous turnaround times (a promised 72 hours). Both either tweak or torpedo (depending on your point of view) the notion of reciprocal “visa waiver” travel between high-trust countries.
Meanwhile, In San Francisco
July 30th, 2023Closed…
Illegal Bio-Lab Discovered In Remote California City, “At Least 20 Potentially Infectious Viral, Bacterial, and Parasitic Agents Were Present Including E. Coli, Malaria, and Even COVID”
July 29th, 2023Via: Your Central Valley:
An investigation into a Reedley warehouse uncovered a large-scale illegal medical lab complete with bioengineered mice, infectious agents, nearly 30 refrigerators and freezers some of which were non-operational, incubators, and more leaving officials shocked and the public worried.
Local, state, and federal agencies are all involved and what prompted this investigation was a simple garden hose that was illegally attached and coming out of a wall in the back of the building.
It was inside an ordinary warehouse located on “I” and Ninth Streets in the City of Reedley that a disturbing and shocking discovery was made back in April.
“This is an unusual situation. I’ve been in government for 25 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba.
Even county health officials were left in shock.
“I’ve never seen this in my 26-year career with the County of Fresno,” said Assistant Director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health Joe Prado.
What was supposed to be an empty building used only for storage was home to a black-market type of lab testing facility.
…
The city then obtained several search warrants to enter the building and once inside they found something they have never seen.
“There was a special room that was built housing about 1000 white lab mice,” Zieba explained.
What they found was absolutely terrifying.
“Through their statements that they were doing some testing on laboratory mice that would help them support, developing the COVID test kits that they had on-site,” Prado said.
Health officials discovered nearly 1,000 lab mice, 200 of which were already dead.
Also found were thousands of vials, many of which contained biohazardous materials including human blood, and other unknown substances.
“A lot of these labels have been removed from bottles so there was only so much testing. We could do those chemicals,” Prado continued.
According to court documents officials with the Centers for Disease Control tested what they could and determined that at least 20 potentially infectious viral, bacterial, and parasitic agents were present including E. Coli, malaria, and even COVID.
Three Ukrainian Drones Downed Over Moscow
July 29th, 2023Via: AFP:
Three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said, in an attack that damaged two office towers and briefly shut an international airport.
While one of the drones was shot down on the city’s outskirts, two others were “suppressed by electronic warfare” and smashed into an office complex. No one was injured.
Play Deprivation Is A Major Cause of the Teen Mental Health Crisis
July 28th, 2023Via: After Babel:
The central idea of my forthcoming book, The Anxious Generation, is that we have overprotected children in the real world, where they need a lot of free play and autonomy,while underprotecting them online, where they are not developmentally ready for much of what happens to them.
California Lost More Than $300 Million in Tax Revenue from Wealthy Residents Moving
July 28th, 2023Via: KTLA:
For the third straight year, the state of California has experienced a decline in population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and many of those packing up and heading east are some of the state’s wealthiest.
A study of IRS Migration Data by an online real estate portal found that no state experienced a larger loss of tax income from migration than California.
The study, conducted by MyEListing.com, found that California lost more than $340 million in 2021 IRS tax revenue due to residents moving.
Worldcoin Isn’t as Bad as it Sounds: It’s Worse
July 28th, 2023One person is willing to sell their soul every 8 seconds for a shitcoin and a cattle tag. Extreme clown world alert. https://t.co/RZeJYANCAV
— Whitney Webb (@_whitneywebb) July 26, 2023
Via: Blockworks:
Worldcoin — a new financial system connected to sensitive biometric information, mostly harvested from poor people — sure sounds like a terrible idea.
“Terrible” doesn’t do it justice.
Worldcoin will need to assemble a vast database of iris data. But not everyone is eager to gaze into an Orb. In the bootstrapping phase, at least, you had to pay people to scan their eyes. And so Worldcoin turned to the global south — home to the cheapest eyeballs — and played a dark game of ‘what will people do for money?’
Incredibly, Worldcoin was unprepared for an obvious consequence of this rollout strategy: A black market for verified credentials. You can now seemingly buy a World ID for as little as $30. Anyone, then, with more than $30 on hand can command more than one digital identity (although Worldcoin is aware of this issue and has proposed solutions to resolve it). Connecting real people to digital identities is a thorny puzzle.
NASA Picks Lockheed Martin to Develop Nuclear Rocket
July 27th, 2023Via: PhysOrg:
NASA and the US military said Wednesday they had selected defense contractor Lockheed Martin to develop a nuclear powered rocket, with a view to using the technology for missions to Mars.
The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program may launch as soon as 2027, officials said on a call.
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems could cut journey times, increase fuel efficiency, and require less propellant, meaning future spacecraft could carry larger payloads than today’s best chemical rockets.
NTP works by pumping a liquid propellant, in DRACO’s case cryogenic hydrogen, through a reactor core, where uranium atoms split apart through fission.
