John McAfee Teases 31TB Blob on Corrupt Officials Set to Dead Man’s Switch
June 9th, 2019Via: Twitter:
I've collected files on corruption in governments. For the first time, I'm naming names and specifics. I'll begin with a corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials. Coming today. If I'm arrested or disappear, 31+ terrabytes of incriminating data will be released to the press.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 9, 2019
The Future Will Be Recorded, on Your Smart Speaker: Always-On Corporate Listening Devices, “Are Certainly Our Future”
June 9th, 2019Mmm hmm.
Via: Bloomberg:
Amazon’s patent application for an always-on feature for Alexa, its popular voice-activated personal assistant, has raised a lot of concern. “If you’re already freaked out by the privacy implications of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo,” says Gizmodo, “we have some bad news.” A headline in ScienceAlert is even more direct: “Newly Released Amazon Patent Shows Just How Much Creepier Alexa Can Get.” You get the idea.
But the anxiety is much ado about nothing. An Alexa that’s always listening will likely prove more useful than an Alexa that isn’t; and, in any case, always-on devices are certainly our future.
Richard Dolan: Leaked UFO Notes on Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson
June 9th, 2019Document link: Imgur
If it was anyone else besides Richard Dolan, I wouldn’t post this here without much more vetting.
But it’s Richard Dolan.
So, if this turns out to be fake, let’s get it over with.
Via: Richard Dolan:
Low Probability of Having to Evacuate Edinburgh and Glasgow if Nuclear Power Plant Turned Back On
June 8th, 2019Via: Edinburgh Live:
The two reactors at Hunterston B nuclear power plant near Ardrossan are 43 years old – the oldest in Europe.
They’re already well beyond their operating lifetimes, which have twice been extended by EDF Energy, and they’re scheduled to close down for good in 2023.
However, there’s a serious safety fault in the reactors. The fault is known as keyway root-cracking: where the graphite moderator cores in the reactors develop cracks leading to instabilities that could lead to a major nuclear accident: which would lead to a large swathe of Scotland’s central belt having to be evacuated.
“In the very worst case the hot graphite core could become exposed to air and ignite leading to radioactive contamination of…the metropolitan areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh.”
The reactors have been closed since October 2018 as a result, but owners EDF Energy are currently making a case for turning them back on, with help from trade union GMB.
Although the probability of a meltdown is still low, the consequences could be incredibly severe. In such an event, both Glasgow and Edinburgh would need to be entirely evacuated due to radioactive contamination.
The Future Of School Safety Includes Round-The-Clock Surveillance Of Students
June 7th, 2019Via: TechDirt:
To go to school is to be surveilled, on campus and off. The average school hosts a number of cameras, and the average school administration is always looking for more ways to keep tabs on students, even after they’ve gone home.
The move towards pervasive surveillance of off-campus activities is generally justified with the meaningless assertion that if it stops one person from shooting up a school (or just shooting themselves), it’s all worth it. Two articles based on public records requests — both written by Benjamin Herold of Education Week — show there’s a surveillance state being built one school district at a time. (h/t Amelia Vance)
Documents obtained by Education Week via open-records requests show that over the past year, state agencies have discussed the possibility of sharing a breathtaking amount of data. That included more than 2.5 million records related to Floridians who received involuntary psychiatric examinations, records for over 9 million people placed in foster care, diagnosis and treatment records for substance abusers, unverified criminal reports of suspicious activity, reports on students who were bullied and harassed because of their race or sexual orientation, and more.
This database is currently on hold as education officials try to figure out how much of this incredibly sensitive info they can share with other agencies, much less collect in the first place. But once these details are ironed out, the rollout will continue, urged along by Governor Ron DeSantis, who has publicly expressed his frustration that schools aren’t placing students under round-the-clock surveillance quickly enough.
Citizen Cattle
June 7th, 2019Via: Ben Garrison:
Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year
June 7th, 2019Via: Smithsonian Magazine:
Microplastics are everywhere in our environment: oceans, soils, the air, the bodies of animals. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the tiny fragments have also been found in humans. But a new study is shining troubling light on the quantity of microplastics Americans are consuming each year—as many as 121,000 particles, per a conservative estimate.
Trails Made by Starlink Satellites
June 7th, 2019“Please note that the density of these satellites is significantly higher in the days after launch (as seen here) and also that the satellites will diminish in brightness as they reach their final orbital altitude.”
I would have added:
Please note that this is from 25 of the first batch of 60 satellites of a constellation that will eventually include approximately 12,000 satellites!
Also note that Starlink is only one of three (possibly five) low earth orbit satellite Interet provider constellations that are planned:
1) Starlink (Satellites already in orbit, target constellation size: 12,000)
2) OneWeb (Satellites already in orbit, target constellation size: 1972)
3) Amazon Project Kuiper (Planning, target constellation size: 3,236)
Others:
Via: International Astronomical Union:
An image of the NGC 5353/4 galaxy group made with a telescope at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, USA on the night of Saturday 25 May 2019. The diagonal lines running across the image are trails of reflected light left by more than 25 of the 60 recently launched Starlink satellites as they passed through the telescope’s field of view.
Although this image serves as an illustration of the impact of reflections from satellite constellations, please note that the density of these satellites is significantly higher in the days after launch (as seen here) and also that the satellites will diminish in brightness as they reach their final orbital altitude.
Celera 500L Aircraft
June 7th, 2019Via: The Drive:
More than two years after The War Zone was first to report on a mysterious bullet-shaped aircraft appearing at the Southern California Logistics Airport near Victorville, a refined version of the plane has conducted taxi tests and looks to be getting close to its first flight. Even though much about its design and purpose remain unclear, we do know now that the aircraft, which is called the Otto Aviation Celera 500L, is definitely focused on potentially game-changing high-efficiency flight that has the potential to disrupt the aerospace marketplace.
NASA to Let Tourists, Film Crews Into International Space Station
June 7th, 2019Via: Independent:
Nasa will allow tourists to live inside the International Space Station.
The space agency plans to open the floating lab up to private astronauts as well as commercial companies, it said. That could include film crews, for instance, who could be allowed to make ads or whole films in space.
The first space tourists could head up to the ISS in 2020, Nasa said.
The plans allow private companies to lease out time on Nasa’s part of the International Space Station. They will also be able to borrow its own astronauts for their commercial work, and take their technologies to the floating lab – though they are expected to pay heavy prices for the opportunity.
Nasa has long been resistant to the idea of commercialising its operations, including the ISS. Previously, anything that was taken up to the ISS needed to have an educational or research component.
