Ford Workers Using Exoskeleton Vests at 15 Auto Plants in Seven Countries
August 12th, 2018Via: CBS:
Ford Motor Company will unveil its plan Tuesday to use wearable technology to lighten the load on some of its human workers. Exoskeleton vests are being introduced in 15 auto plants in seven countries, and the business of providing technology to augment the human workforce is expected to boom in the coming years.
As CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports, the vest Ford is giving to employees cost around $6,000. But the goal is to reduce injuries, which is both good for workers and the company, which could save money.
Resisting the Ideology of Screen-Based Learning
August 12th, 2018Via: Aeon:
As a parent, it is obvious that children learn more when they engage their entire body in a meaningful experience than when they sit at a computer. If you doubt this, just observe children watching an activity on a screen and then doing the same activity for themselves. They are much more engaged riding a horse than watching a video about it, playing a sport with their whole bodies rather than a simulated version of it in an online game.
Berry Growers Use Lasers To Stave Off Thieving Birds
August 12th, 2018Via: NPR:
During every berry-picking season in the Pacific Northwest, blueberry and raspberry growers fight to prevent birds from gobbling up the crop before harvest. This year, some farmers are trying something new to scare away the thieving birds: lasers.
Justin Meduri manages a large blueberry farm and cherry orchard outside Jefferson, Ore. Birds like both fruits.
“Flocks can move in of up to 2,000 to 3,000 starling birds,” Meduri says. The starlings gorge themselves and knock down berries right as the crop is ready to pick. When he didn’t take countermeasures, Meduri says the damage was “Inconceivable, huge. We had almost a 20 to 25 percent, maybe even 30 percent damage loss.”
Meduri says he previously hired a falconer to protect his fields. But the falcons were expensive, temperamental and sometimes flew away. Then last year, he became one of the first farmers in the U.S. to install automated lasers.
MONSANTO ORDERED TO PAY $289 MILLION IN WORLD’S FIRST ROUNDUP CANCER TRIAL
August 10th, 2018Via: Reuters:
A California jury on Friday found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages.
The case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate causes cancer. Monsanto, a unit of Bayer AG following a $62.5 billion acquisition by the German conglomerate, faces more than 5,000 similar lawsuits across the United States.
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Brent Wisner, a lawyer for Johnson, in a statement said jurors for the first time had seen internal company documents “proving that Monsanto has known for decades that glyphosate and specifically Roundup could cause cancer.”
Classified Human Subjects Research Continues at DOE
August 10th, 2018Via: Federation of American Scientists:
A dozen classified programs that involved research on human subjects were underway last year at the Department of Energy.
Human subjects research refers broadly to the collection of scientific data from human subjects. This could involve physical procedures that are performed on the subjects, or simply interviews and other forms of interaction with them.
Little information is publicly available about the latest DOE programs, most of which have opaque, non-descriptive names such as Tristan, Idaho Bailiff and Moose Drool. But a list of the classified programs was released this week under the Freedom of Information Act.
Human subjects research erupted into national controversy 25 years ago with reporting by Eileen Welsome of the Albuquerque Tribune on human radiation experiments that had been conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission, many of which were performed without the consent of the subjects.
Man Arrested at New Mexico Compound Is Son of Imam with Possible Link to 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
August 9th, 2018Update: New Mexico Jihad Compound Mysteriously Destroyed By Authorities
Via: ZeroHedge:
New Mexico authorities have executed a court order to destroy an encampment where the son of a famous New York Imam ritualistically murdered his three-year-old son and trained nearly a dozen other children to commit school shootings, according to Taos, NM prosecutors.
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Refer to the remarkable recordings of FBI informant Emad Salem with his FBI handler to get an idea of the Bureau’s role in the first World Trade Center bombing. The whole operation was supervised by the FBI.
More: FBI Blunders and the First World Trade Center Bombing
And now…
Via: CBS:
The man arrested at a squalid New Mexico compound is the son of a controversial Brooklyn imam who was on a list of people who “may be alleged as co-conspirators” to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, according to court documents released by prosecutors Wednesday. Siraj Wahhaj, who shares a name with his son who was arrested Saturday, testified as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the notorious “blind sheikh” who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks in the U.S.
Authorities found 11 children and four adults living in “filthy” conditions at the compound Saturday in Amalia, New Mexico. Prosecutors also alleged in court documents that Wahhaj, 39, was teaching the children to commit school shootings. The documents claim Wahhaj was conducting weapons training with assault rifles at the compound with the children.
Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe previously said adults at the compound were “considered extremist of the Muslim belief.” He did not elaborate, saying it was part of the investigation.
Fewer Than 1 in 5 Residents Can Afford a Home in Bay Area
August 9th, 2018Via: Mercury News:
The Bay Area continues to lead the state in shattered home-ownership dreams.
Record home prices and rising interest rates have pushed statewide home affordability rates to a 10-year-low. In the Bay Area, fewer than 1 in 5 residents can afford to buy into one of the nation’s most expensive real estate markets, according to a study released Wednesday by the California Association of Realtors.
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A typical state resident needs an annual income topping $125,000 to afford a median home priced at $596,000. In Los Angeles, about 3 in 10 households could afford to buy, while about 4 in 10 residents in the Inland Empire could make a purchase.
Bay Area residents find a much starker balance sheet. A household needs roughly $220,000 in income to afford a home at the median price of $1.04 million, according to CAR. After a down payment of more than $200,000, a typical new Bay Area homeowner would have a $5,500 monthly mortgage payment.
Psychological Techniques Used to Keep Kids Online
August 8th, 2018Parental controls. Use them.
Via: AP:
Children’s advocates want the American Psychological Association to condemn the tech industry’s practice of using persuasive psychological techniques to keep kids glued to their screens.
The advocates, citing research that links excessive use of social media and video games with depression and academic troubles, say it’s unethical for psychologists to be involved in tactics that risk harming kids’ well-being. Skeptics say the research is inconclusive, and they note that psychologists have been involved in other industries’ marketing and advertising for decades.
The group seeking intervention includes 60 U.S. psychologists, researchers, children’s advocates and the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, a project of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. The network was publishing a letter Wednesday to the American Psychological Association, coinciding with the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
Millennials Try to Explain the First Amendment
August 7th, 2018Via: Campus Reform:
A recent survey found that many Americans are unable to name a single one of the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Would Ivy League students do any better?
Massive Wildfire Becomes Largest in California History
August 6th, 2018Via: Reuters:
The Mendocino Complex became the largest wildfire in Californian history on Monday as it raged at the southern tip of the Mendocino National Forest where crews battled to keep flames from descending into foothill communities.
The Mendocino Complex Fire, made up of two separate conflagrations that merged, grew to 283,800 acres (114,800 hectares) and was still growing, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
The fire surpassed the Thomas Fire, which burned 281,893 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in 2017, as prime weather conditions are expected to persist.
