Signal App to Australia: Good Luck with That Crypto Ban
December 17th, 2018Via: Ars Technica:
Signal, one of the most secure messaging apps, essentially told Australia this week that its attempts to thwart strong crypto are rather cute.
“By design, Signal does not have a record of your contacts, social graph, conversation list, location, user avatar, user profile name, group memberships, group titles, or group avatars,” Joshua Lund, a Signal developer wrote. “The end-to-end encrypted contents of every message and voice/video call are protected by keys that are entirely inaccessible to us. In most cases now we don’t even have access to who is messaging whom.”
A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Fired After She Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath
December 17th, 2018Via: The Intercept:
A children’s speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic, and speech-impaired elementary school students in Austin, Texas, has been told she can no longer work with the public school district after she refused to sign an oath vowing that she “does not” and “will not” engage in a boycott of Israel or “otherwise tak[e] any action that is intended to inflict economic harm” on that foreign nation. A lawsuit on her behalf was filed early Monday morning in a federal court in the Western District of Texas alleging a violation of her First Amendment right of free speech.
…
In order to obtain contracts in Texas, then, a citizen is free to denounce and work against the United States, to advocate for causes that directly harm American children, and even to support a boycott of particular U.S. states, such as was done in 2017 to North Carolina in protest of its anti-LGBT law. In order to continue to work, Amawi would be perfectly free to engage in any political activism against her own country, participate in an economic boycott of any state or city within the U.S., or work against the policies of any other government in the world — except Israel.
Drs. Wolfson: Wide Awake Seminar Free to View for Limited Time
December 17th, 2018Via: Drs. Wolfson:
They told us vaccines were safe. They lied. They told us vaccines were effective. They lied. They told us vaccines were necessary. They lied. It’s time to learn the truth and see the information they don’t want you to see. Join The Drs. Wolfson for a rare full-length cinema seminar presentation regarding the danger of vaccination, why the viruses and bacteria are beneficial, and ways to boost your immune system naturally.
Something Very Weird with Google’s Autocomplete, Searching on Google vs. Duckduckgo
December 16th, 2018Yep. I tried it.
Via: Reddit:
U.S. Troops to Occupy Third of Syria, “Perhaps Indefinitely”
December 16th, 2018Via: Stars and Stripes:
RAQQA, Syria — This ruined, fearful city was once the Islamic State’s capital, the showcase of its caliphate and a magnet for foreign fighters from around the globe.
Now it lies at the heart of the United States’ newest commitment to a Middle East war.
The commitment is small, a few thousand troops who were first sent to Syria three years ago to help the Syrian Kurds fight the Islamic State. President Donald Trump indicated in March that the troops would be brought home once the battle is won, and the latest military push to eject the group from its final pocket of territory recently got underway.
In September, however, the administration switched course, saying the troops will stay in Syria pending an overall settlement to the Syrian war and with a new mission: to act as a bulwark against Iran’s expanding influence.
That decision puts U.S. troops in overall control, perhaps indefinitely, of an area comprising nearly a third of Syria, a vast expanse of mostly desert terrain roughly the size of Louisiana.
EVs, Oil, And ICE: Impact By 2023 And Beyond
December 16th, 2018Via: Ross Tessien – SeekingAlpha:
Legacy auto companies are planning on the EV disruption taking several decades. But disruptions never take that long once the new technology can match the old.
Megapack: Tesla Making Shipping Container Sized Battery for Utility Scale Energy Storage
December 15th, 2018They’re going into a 1.2 GWh project in California.
1.2 GWh…
Via: Electrek:
Electrek has learned some exclusive information about Tesla’s Megapack, the company’s upcoming new stationary energy storage product.
The big new battery system is going to debut at Tesla’s giant 1.2 GWh energy storage project with PG&E in California.
As we reported earlier this year, Tesla is working on a new energy storage system called ‘Megapack’.
Not much was known about the product at the time.
Electrek can now confirm that it’s a large container-size energy storage system that Tesla plans to debut in its upcoming project commissioned by PG&E at the Moss Landing substation.
We obtained Tesla’s proposal for the project and it shows that the company plans to use ‘Megapack’ instead of its usual Powerpack for large utility-scale projects.
According to the document, a Tesla Megapack consists of long 23?-5? (7.14m) x 5?-3? (1.60m) battery system, which the company mostly installs back to back with another unit.
Parrot Uses Alexa to Order Watermelon, Lightbulbs While Owner Is Out
December 15th, 2018Via: Newsweek:
A peckish parrot has been caught ordering strawberries, a watermelon and even a water boiler through his foster owner’s electronic personal assistant.
Rocco, an African Grey, requested the items through an Alexa device while his minder was out of the home. Luckily, due to a parental lock, none of his attempted purchases went through.
Rocco, who lives with Marion Wischnewski in Berkshire, U.K., has attempted to order everything from kites and lightbulbs through Alexa since moving to her home. He also gets the device to tell him jokes and play his favorite tunes.
Federal Judge Rules Obamacare Unconstitutional
December 14th, 2018Via: Reuters:
A federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was unconstitutional based on its mandate requiring that people buy health insurance, a decision in a case that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth agreed with a coalition of 20 states that a change in tax law last year eliminating a penalty for not having health insurance invalidated the entire Obamacare law.
The coalition of states challenging the law was led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, both Republicans.
Republicans have opposed the 2010 law – the signature domestic policy achievement of Republican President Donald Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama – since its inception and have repeatedly tried and failed to repeal it.
O’Connor ruled that under the logic of the landmark 2012 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law, the individual mandate, which required that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a tax, is now unconstitutional.
J&J Knew for Decades that Asbestos Lurked in its Baby Powder
December 14th, 2018Via: Reuters:
A Reuters examination of many of those documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, shows that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos, and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public.
