“Amazon Could Equip Drones to Keep Watch Over Your Home”
June 19th, 2019Via: Times:
Amazon’s delivery drones could one day be fitted with an arsenal of cameras and sensors to monitor customers’ homes in between drop-offs.
The retail giant has obtained a patent for a “surveillance as a service” function for the drones, which could be fitted with thermal-imaging cameras, surveying lasers and chemical sensors to detect burglars and fires, among other threats. Amazon intends to use the drones to deliver parcels to its customers and has tested the technology in Britain, with the co-operation of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in Widely Used Blood Pressure Drug
June 19th, 2019Via: CNBC:
A pharmacy warned the Food and Drug Administration that it found a chemical believed to cause cancer in a widely used blood pressure medication, according to a filing from the federal agency.
Valisure, an online pharmacy company licensed in 37 states, told the FDA last week that high levels of dimethylformamide were found in valsartan, a drug produced by Swiss drugmaker Novartis and other pharmaceutical companies. The drug is used to treat hypertension in adults. The World Health Organization classifies dimethylformamide, or DMF, as a probable human carcinogen.
Valisure asked that the medication be recalled and requested that the FDA review and significantly lower the acceptable intake of DMF from its current level of 8,800,000 nanograms to less than 1,000 nanograms. The online pharmacy said it found the cancer-causing chemical in valsartan produced by five companies.
DHS to Move Biometric Data on Hundreds of Millions of People to Amazon Cloud
June 19th, 2019Via: Nextgov:
The Homeland Security Department is looking to upgrade the software it uses to analyze biometric data on hundreds of millions of people around the globe, and it plans to store that information in Amazon’s cloud.
The agency’s Office of Biometric Identification Management will replace its legacy biometric analysis platform, called the Automated Biometric Identification System, or IDENT, with a new, more robust system hosted by Amazon Web Services, according to a request for information released Monday.
IDENT essentially serves as an enterprisewide clearinghouse for troves of biometric and biographic data collected by the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service and other Homeland Security components. The system links fingerprint, iris and face data to biographic information, allowing officials to quickly identify suspected terrorists, immigration violators, criminals and anyone else included in their databases.
In total, IDENT contains information on more than 250 million people, a Homeland Security spokesperson told Nextgov.
Police Department to Deploy ‘RoboCop’ to Monitor Public Areas
June 19th, 2019Via: Fox6:
The Huntington Park Police Department is set to unveil “HP RoboCop,” the latest tool in the force’s arsenal that will keep an electronic eye on public areas, the city of Huntington Park announced in a news release.
The device is “an autonomous data machine that is meant to serve outdoors,” that will use 360-degree HD video footage to “act as an extra set of eyes and monitor areas such as parks, city buildings and corridors where police might not have the time to consistently patrol,” the release said.
The city released a video of HP RoboCop rolling down a sidewalk, making electronic sounds and at one point even saying, “Good day to you.”
Over $1 Billion Worth Of Cocaine Seized At Philadelphia Port, U.S. Attorney’s Office Says
June 18th, 2019Via: CBS:
Over $1 billion worth of cocaine was seized during a drug bust at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says. Federal sources confirmed to CBS3 that a bust took place on a cargo ship that was docked at the port.
…
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 16.5 tons of cocaine was confiscated, making it the largest drug seizure in the history of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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Two people were arrested and federally charged.
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The suspects’ identities have not been released.
Libra: The Central Bank of Facebook
June 18th, 2019This is hilariously stupid.
Via: ZeroHedge:
It won’t, however, be a cryptocurrency in the traditional sense. It won’t have a limited supply, defined inflation rate or any commodity character whatsoever.
Proof-of-work? Phsaw! Every good Friedmanite knows that opportunity cost in creating new monetary units is simply wasted capital!
Only mouth-breathing rubes stuck in the 19th century think that’s important.
Instead Libra’s supply will be regulated just like every other fiat currency, by a central authority. Facebook already wants all your data, whether you’re an account holder or not.
Now they want to control your currency as well.
More: “Facebook Will Make the Money Now”
Literal Fur Babies: The Evolution of ‘Puppy Dog Eyes’
June 17th, 2019Via: AFP:
The researchers found two muscles around the eye were routinely present and well formed in the domestic dogs, but not the wolves, and only dogs produced high-intensity eyebrow movements as they gazed at the human.
“It makes the eye look larger, which is similar to human infants,” Professor Anne Burrows of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, who was one of the co-authors, told AFP. “It triggers a nurturing response in people.”
Since the muscles were robust in the dogs but not wolves, “that tells us that that muscle and its function are selected,” she added.
The current study was led by Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth and also included researchers from Howard University in Washington and North Carolina State University.
It builds on past work, including a notable 2015 paper by a group of researchers in Japan that demonstrated that gaze exchange between humans and their pet dogs led to a mutual spike in the so-called love hormone oxytocin, similar to an effect seen between human mothers and their babies.
GPS Outage Would Cost U.S. Economy $1 Billion Per Day
June 17th, 2019Via: Ars Technica:
Since becoming fully operational in 1995, Global Positioning System technology has become widely adopted in the United States and abroad. The concept of satellite-based navigation has become so essential that other world powers, including China, Russia, the European Union, India, and Japan, have all started building their own regional or global systems.
Now, one of the most comprehensive studies on the subject has assessed the value of this GPS technology to the US economy and examined what effect a 30-day outage would have—whether it’s due to a severe space weather event or “nefarious activity by a bad actor.” The study was sponsored by the US government’s National Institutes of Standards and Technology and performed by a North Carolina-based research organization named RTI International.
To The Stars Academy CIA UFO “Disclosure” Scam
June 16th, 2019I began warning on Tom Delonge back in 2016.
My current best guess assessment of this To The Stars/CIA imbroglio is that it’s a high profile limited hangout. See, Limited Hangout: ‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects.
Via: Dark Journalist:
Electric Grids Down in Argentina and Uruguay
June 16th, 2019In other news:
U.S. Ramps Up Online Attacks on Russian Power Grid, NYT Says:
The U.S. is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir Putin, the New York Times reported, citing current and former government officials.
While the U.S. has probed the Russian grid since at least 2012 and there’s no evidence it has turned off power, the Trump administration’s strategy has shifted more toward offense with the deployment of U.S. computer code inside the grid and other targets, the newspaper said. The effort has gotten far more aggressive over the past year, the Times quoted an unidentified senior intelligence official as saying.
The administration declined to disclose specifics, according to the report. However, National Security Adviser John Bolton said publicly on Tuesday that the U.S. is taking a broader view “to say to Russia, or anybody else that’s engaged in cyberoperations against us, ‘You will pay a price,”’ the Times said.
and…
The Russian Hackers Behind Triton Tried to Attack the U.S. Power Grid:
A hacking group linked to the Russian government has been attempting to breach the U.S. power grid, Wired reports.
The hackers have been tracked by security experts from the non-profit group the Electric Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) and security firm Dragos. They warn that the hacking group has been probing the grid for weaknesses, searching for ways that they could access the systems.
Even though there are no signs that the group has succeeded in accessing the power grid, the attacks still have experts worried. And that’s partly because of the history of this particular hacking group: Xenotime, who created the infamous Triton malware. Triton attacked critical infrastructure like industrial control systems which are often used in power plants, and could have been used to cause massive destruction through tampering with power plant controls. That lead it to be labeled the “world’s most murderous malware.”
And now two entire countries just had their grids fail.
I wonder if this is blowback.
Via: BBC:
A massive electrical failure has left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power, according to a major Argentine electricity provider.
Reports said the power cut had also affected parts of Brazil and Paraguay.
Argentine media said the power cut occurred shortly after 07:00 (11:00 BST), causing trains to be halted and failures with traffic signalling.
It came as people in parts of Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local elections.
“A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power,” electricity supplier company Edesur said in a tweet.
Argentina’s energy secretary, Gustavo Lopetegui, said the cause of the power failure had not yet been determined. He said power was being restored to some parts of the country, but added that the process could take several hours.
Edesur said that power had been restored to parts of Buenos Aires.
Uruguay’s energy company, UTE, said in a tweet that power had been restored to coastal areas.
The combined population of Argentina and Uruguay is about 48 million people.
