Underperforming Chinese Workers Made to Drink Urine, Eat Bugs
November 8th, 2018Via: Reuters:
Workers at a Chinese home renovation company who failed to complete their tasks had to drink urine, eat cockroaches or get whipped by a belt.
Others had to shave their heads or drink water from a toilet bowl and had their salaries withheld by a month, according to images and videos on Chinese social media cited by state media.
The punishments were all publicly meted out in the presence of other staff, state media said, citing workers who had quit the company in the southwestern province of Guizhou.
Forgetful staff who did not wear leather shoes to work or failed to turn up in formal attire were given 50 yuan ($7.20) fines.
Windows 10: BitLocker on Self-Encrypted SSDs Blown
November 7th, 2018haha Un-Effing-Believable.
Via: ComputerWorld:
Reacting to a recently discovered security hole in hardware-based encryption in solid state drives, Microsoft recommends that if you’re using BitLocker to protect a solid-state drive, you switch from hardware to software encryption.
Related: Compromised from the Operating System Down to the Silicon
Cancer-Linked Chemicals Manufactured by 3M Are Turning Up in Drinking Water
November 5th, 2018Via: Bloomberg:
Water tests show that 110 million Americans have levels of PFAS in their water that the most cautious scientists call unsafe, according to the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization that advocates for public health issues. At the same time, new studies show how the chemicals can cause harm even at tiny doses. As awareness spreads, 3M has been named in dozens of lawsuits, several this year alone.
Chicken Meat ‘Cultured’ from Chicken Cells
November 4th, 2018Via: Engadget:
You may know Just (formerly Hampton Creek) for its vegan cookie dough and mayo, but the company has also been working on cultured meat — real meat that’s made from animal cells rather than taken from an animal itself. While it’s not the only company doing so — there are actually quite a few — it could be the first to get a product on the market. Just CEO Josh Tetrick told Engadget earlier this year that his company would have either a chicken nugget, foie gras or sausage available by the end of 2018, and now it looks like Just is gearing up to release a chicken nugget. A cultured chicken nugget, that is.
…
To make cultured chicken, you have to first collect some cells, and that can be done through a small, harmless biopsy from a live chicken, through a cell bank or even from a feather, among other means, Noyes told Munchies. In a video Just posted last year, the company said that when it used the feather method, it chose “the single best chicken that we could find,” — a chicken with clean feathers, a healthy comb and a nice wattle. However, Just’s first product won’t be produced from cells collected from a feather, said Noyes.
Russia Holding Record Amount of Physical Gold
November 4th, 2018Via: Russia Today:
The Central Bank of Russia bought over 92 tons of gold in the three months to the end of September breaking the Soviet peak of 2000 tons in gold reserves seen in 1941, according to a new report by the World Gold Council (WGC).
Russia reportedly purchased more gold than any other country in the world, followed by Turkey, Kazakhstan, and India, which bought 18.5 tons, 13.4 tons and 13.7 tons respectively.
That marks the highest quarterly net purchase since 1993, when the WGC started tracking the country’s data. Russia’s gold stockpile now accounts for 17 percent of the country’s overall foreign exchange reserves.
There’s Something Different About The Gut Microbes of Babies Born at Home
November 4th, 2018Via: ScienceAlert:
Compared to the babies born at home, the findings reveal that hospital-born infants had a lower diversity of gut flora, and this change persisted for the entire month.
“The reasons for the differences between infants born at home versus in hospitals are not known, but we speculate that common hospital interventions like early infant bathing and antibiotic eye prophylaxis or environmental factors – like the aseptic environment of the hospital – may be involved,” says senior author Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, a researcher in microbiota function at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
These results suggest that babies born in hospitals are immediately exposed to less microbes and, therefore, have less diverse microbiomes in the first month of life.
Soros Partners With Mastercard To Hand Out Money To Migrants
November 4th, 2018Via: ZeroHedge:
Billionaire investor George Soros has repeatedly denied rumors that he is helping to finance the migrant caravans making their way up from Honduras and Guatemala through Mexico with the ultimate aim of reaching the US.
But that’s about to change, as the “Open Society” founder – who famously financed much of the opposition to Trump SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh – is now partnering with Mastercard to hand out money (in the form of ‘investment capital’) to migrants, refugees and “others struggling within their communities worldwide,” according to Reuters. Through their partnership, Soros is effectively providing open financial support for migrants and refugees seeking to enter the US and Europe.
Analyst Estimates Bayer Could Have $800 Billion in Future Roundup Liability
November 4th, 2018Via: WakingTimes:
The judge decided to reduce the punitive damage award from the original total of $289 million following a verdict reached earlier this summer, down to $78.5 million. A decision which concerned jurors who decided on the higher award amount in order to send a clear message to Monsanto that they deserve to be punished for covering up the dangers of their herbicide.
The good news is that this ruling affirms the company’s liability for causing illness from their product, and opens the door for more lawsuits and stricter regulation of agrochemicals in the future. Ian Hilliker, an analyst at Jefferies LLC in London, estimated in a note to clients that based on a class action lawsuit involving 8,700 plaintiffs believed to have cancer as a result of glyphosate exposure, Monsanto’s liability could reach $800 billion dollars. To put this in perspective, the original Bayer-Monsanto buyout offer was $57 billion dollars. Clearly, this no longer looks like an “asset” to Bayer and its stockholders.
GM Electric Bicycles Unveiled
November 2nd, 2018Tesla might also do an electric bike.
Via: Electrek:
Today is a big day for car companies jumping on the electric bicycle bandwagon. First Elon Musk dropped a bombshell saying Tesla might build an electric bike, and now GM electric bicycles are on the horizon too.
GM gave a surprise announcement this morning where they revealed not one but two new electric bicycles.
The US’ largest vehicle manufacturer apparently wants in on the electric bicycle game.
According to the Director of General Motors Urban Mobility Solutions, Hannah Parish:
“As an avid cyclist and urban commuter, I know how great it feels to get where I’m going easily and to show up sweat-free. We blended electrification engineering know-how, design talents and automotive-grade testing with great minds from the bike industry to create our e-bikes.”
The bikes and motors were developed in-house by GM’s electric vehicle team, including some of the engineers responsible for the Chevy Bolt.
Chinese-Style ‘Digital Authoritarianism’ Grows Globally
November 2nd, 2018Via: AFP:
Governments worldwide are stepping up use of online tools, in many cases inspired by China’s model, to suppress dissent and tighten their grip on power, a human rights watchdog study found Thursday.
The annual Freedom House study of 65 countries found global internet freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2018, amid a rise in what the group called “digital authoritarianism.”
