Solar Power Grew Faster Than Any Other Source of Fuel for the First Time in 2016
October 4th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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Via: Bloomberg:
Solar power grew faster than any other source of fuel for the first time in 2016, the International Energy Agency said in a report suggesting the technology will dominate renewables in the years ahead.
The institution established after the first major oil crisis in 1973 said 165 gigawatts of renewables were completed last year, which was two-thirds of the net expansion in electricity supply. Solar powered by photovoltaics, or PVs, grew by 50 percent, with almost half of new plants built in China.
“What we are witnessing is the birth of a new era in solar PV,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said in a statement accompanying the report published on Wednesday in Paris. “We expect that solar PV capacity growth will be higher than any other renewable technology through 2022.”
‘Australia Presses for More Facial Recognition in Terror Fight’
October 4th, 2017Via: New York Times:
The Australian government wants to strengthen its counterterrorism efforts by making use of a fundamental part of all Australian citizens: their faces.
On Thursday, at a national security meeting in Canberra, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to pressure states and territories to hand over the driver’s license photos of every citizen, which would be added to the federal government’s database of passport and citizenship application photos.
The licenses would be a prized jewel: They are more prevalent than passports, and they have more regularly updated photos that can be fed into a sweeping surveillance system, to the alarm of privacy advocates.
The government contends that its Face Verification Service helps combat identity theft and terrorist plots. The push for more photos will “further advance and harmonize our response to the threat of terrorism,” Mr. Turnbull said.
Research Credit: Rb
Zucktown, USA
October 4th, 2017Via: The Baffler:
Facebook, Amazon, and Google are reviving the ill-fated “company towns” of the Gilded Age.
Las Vegas: Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History
October 2nd, 2017Update: Campos Surfaces on the Set of ‘Ellen’
Via: Los Angeles Times:
The mystery is over: Las Vegas security guard Jesus Campos has been found.
On the set of “Ellen.”
On Wednesday, Ellen DeGeneres’ television talk show is expected to broadcast the much-anticipated first interview with the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino security guard, who was the first shooting victim in the Oct. 1 massacre in Las Vegas.
DeGeneres tweeted a photo of Campos holding a cane on the set Tuesday alongside maintenance engineer Stephen Schuck, who was also shot at by the gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
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Update: Where in the World is Jesus Campos?
Private security is in front of his house. A reporter named Laura Loomer managed to get what amounted to a “no comment” from someone inside the Campos home.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
The story seemed straightforward: The unarmed security guard approached Stephen Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, distracting the gunman and potentially saving lives.
With a gunshot wound to his leg, he helped point officers to the gunman’s location and stayed behind to evacuate hotel guests.
He was hailed a hero by many, even as the story changed. Twice.
Now, the man that many want to honor and who can help bring clarity about the timeline of the shooting has vanished from the public eye, less than two weeks since the Oct. 1 massacre, which left 58 people dead and more than 500 injured.
David Hickey, president of the Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America union, said it has been four days since he last saw Campos.
“We have had no contact with him…. Clearly, somebody knows where he is,” he said.
Hickey said he was with Campos last Thursday, coordinating a series of interviews that the guard was scheduled to give about the attack. They included appearances on the Sean Hannity show on Fox, as well as news shows on CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC. Campos was staying in a suite in a Las Vegas hotel, Hickey said.
Hickey said he was attending a meeting with MGM representatives in one room of the suite as Campos waited with a security guard — hired by MGM — and another union member in the living room.
When the meeting ended around 2 p.m., Hickey said Campos was no longer in the room.
“When I got in touch with the other union member, I was told Campos was taken to the Quick Care” health clinic, Hickey said. He didn’t hear from the guard afterward and announced to a scrum of reporters that night that Campos had canceled interviews.
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Update: Forensic Acoustic Proof of SECOND Shooter in the Las Vegas Massacre
Via: Mike Adams/ Health Ranger:
In essence, because of the differences in the speed of sound vs. the speed of the bullets from a known cartridge (.223 Remington, in this case), the time lag between the last bullet hitting the pavement and the last audible report of the rifle muzzle can be used to very accurately calculate the range of the shooter.
More importantly, when the audio from the Las Vegas shooting is analyzed, it reveals TWO shooters operating at the same time, not just one shooter. Shooter #1 is operating at 425 – 475 yards, which is consistent with the Mandalay Bay hotel, but shooter #2 is operating at approximately 250 – 270 yards.
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When Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo Is Asked About Paddock’s Car at Press Conference, Someone Whispers, “Don’t Go There”
This is the original source on the CBS YouTube channel.
Question: “The car was planned for him to escape?”
35:50, someone whispers, “Don’t go there.”
Via: CBS:
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UPDATE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CONTRACTOR SHARES NAME WITH COMPANY THAT BOUGHT PADDOCK’S PLANE IN 2013
Update: Volant, LLC, Volant Associates, LLC, Volant Associates?
Look at the domain contact. Hmm. If they’re different organizations, this is a spectacular coincidence.
Whois volant-associates.com:
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Well, well, well.
Are Volant LLC and Volant Associates, both in the CIA’s backyard, completely different organizations, as some are sure to say? Maybe. But I think they’re close enough for government work, especially CIA cut out work, and easily appropriate for the Coincidence category.
Via: Political Vel Craft:
Looking closely, the first thing you will notice is that the shooter, Stephen Paddock, had a pilot license and owned two planes. This is well-established fact. The tail number of one of those planes is N5343M, a Cirrus SR-20. You can see that this was owned by Paddock by going to the website Flightaware.com. But Paddock doesn’t own this plane anymore. It was grounded three years ago, and it’s now in the hands of none other than Volant LLC, which there is little information on.
However, Volant Associates is none other than a Department of Defense contractor. Meaning Paddock’s plane has been in the hands of the United States government for the past three years and grounded since – if Volant LLC is being used as a way to hide information. Considering what Volant Associates does, that wouldn’t be so far fetched. But the plane’s information is all easily verified here on Flightaware.com. It’s been in Roanoke, Virginia since April 25, 2014.
Volant’s describes it’s mission on their website as providing “the industry’s preeminent professionals to discriminating U.S. government and intelligence-and-defense-industry customers.”
Research Credit: EB
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Update: MGM Resorts International CEO James Murren Sold Majority of His Shares in the Company Back in September
James Murren is also a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Hmm.
Via: American Banking and Market News:
MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) CEO James Murren sold 259,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.19, for a total value of $8,881,194.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 71,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,442,601.98.
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Update: Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo: “He Had to Have Some Help at Some Point”
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Investigators were still trying to understand what drove Paddock and whether something triggered him in October 2016, when he began buying dozens of guns.
Officials also declined to release details of their interviews with the gunman’s girlfriend, but Lombardo said he questioned whether Paddock had managed to amass an arsenal and prepare for an attack on his own.
“He had to have some help at some point,” Lombardo said. “Maybe he’s a superguy.… maybe he’s a super yahoo, was working out all this on his own, but it would be hard for me to believe that.”
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Update: Paddock’s Brother, Eric Paddock: Steve Was an Ar—“
Listen between 14:42 and 15:02. He was about to say, “Steve was an Army…”
Steve was an Army what? Hmm.
Via: CBS News:
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Update: Paddock’s Girlfriend Used Two Social Security Numbers and Was Married to Two Men at the Same Time
Via: Newsweek:
Marilou Danley, the live-in girlfriend of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, and now a “person of interest” in the shooting investigation, is a Philippines native who has used two Social Security numbers during her two-plus decades in the United States, and was married to two men at the same time, public records show.
The person who may hold the key to solving the mystery of why the Vegas gunman killed 59 and wounded nearly 600 people led a convoluted life of her own, with two simultaneous husbands, a bankruptcy, two Social Security numbers, multiple addresses in several states and even different ages depending on which state records you review.
The details are part of a Newsweek investigation into Danley’s past, which takes on a new urgency now that the FBI is frantically working to bring her “immediately” back from overseas for more information about the shooting and the $100,000 Paddock wired to her family there days before the shooting.
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Paddock Wired $100K To Philippines, Where Girlfriend Traveled
Via: Newsweek:
Las Vegas shooter and millionaire gambler Stephen Paddock reportedly wired $100,000 to the Philippines days before his rampage, which raises more questions about his girlfriend’s connection to the shooting.
The allegations were reported by NBC News and later confirmed by CNN.
It was not immediately clear who the money was wired to or the date when the cash was sent. Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, is from the Philippines and has family there.
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Update: Bump Stocks
Via: AP:
The purchasing of fully automatic weapons has been significantly restricted in the U.S. since the 1930s.
In 1986, the federal National Firearms Act was amended further to prohibit the transfer or possession of machine guns by civilians, with an exception for those previously manufactured and registered.
Numerous attempts to design retrofits failed until recent years when bump stocks came on the market.
The device basically replaces the gun’s shoulder rest, with a “support step” that covers the trigger opening. By holding the pistol grip with one hand and pushing forward on the barrel with the other, the shooter’s finger comes in contact with the trigger. The recoil causes the gun to buck back and forth, “bumping” the trigger.
Technically, that means the finger is pulling the trigger for each round fired, keeping the weapon a legal semi-automatic.
Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock had 23 guns in his hotel room.
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Update: Multiple Shooters?
Listen from 0:44 to 1:10. One shooter?
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Update: Father Was Psychopath, Bank Robber… Decorated Air Force Veteran?
Via: Washington Post:
Paddock’s father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, described on a 1969 wanted poster as “psychopathic’’ with suicidal tendencies.
He escaped from prison that year and, according to news accounts, was not captured until 1978, when he was nabbed while running a bingo parlor in Oregon.
Stephen Paddock was the oldest of four boys. Eric, eight years his junior, was the youngest, with two in between: Bruce and Patrick.
Their father died a few years ago, but Eric Paddock grew up thinking their father was already dead. He found out otherwise when Patrick went to the Air Force Academy and was told his father was a decorated veteran and still alive.
“We didn’t grow up under his influence,” Eric Paddock said. “I was born on the run in Tucson. My dad was about to be arrested for robbing banks.”
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Update: Paddock Had Worked at Lockheed Martin in the Late 1980s
Man, it’s a very weird one, no doubt about it. Please keep an eye out for other links to black world/special operations.
Via: Daily Mail:
The retired accountant had worked as an internal auditor at Lockheed Martin for three years in the late 1980s, and was a manager and investor in apartment complexes located in Mesquite, Texas and California, which made him millions, according to his brother.
Local police said they had no run-ins with the man, not even traffic violations, and his brother described him as ‘just a guy who lived in Mesquite who drove down and gambled in Las Vegas and… liked burritos.’
So the discovery that he had used 10 suitcases to methodically move an arsenal up into his Mandalay Bay room over the preceding weekend came as a shock to those who knew him.
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Update: At Least 50 Killed and More Than 200 Wounded in Las Vegas in Deadliest Shooting Massacre in U.S. History
Via: USA Today:
More than 50 people were killed and over 200 injured when a “lone wolf” gunman opened fire on people attending a country music festival in Las Vegas, police said.
It is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Authorities shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15 after receiving reports of an active shooter at the Route 91 Harvest festival, near the Mandalay Bay Casino at about 10:10 p.m. local time.
Authorities ruled out terrorism, NPR reported.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo of Las Vegas Police confirmed at a news conference that the shooter had fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. He said officers responded and the suspect was dead. Numerous firearms were found at the scene.
He named the suspect as Stephen Paddock, 64, a local resident.
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Update: Clearer Audio Recorded Closer to the Shooter
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Full auto weapon. Drum or belt fed. Listen at 1:53 on this video. That’s the clearest sound signature I’ve heard so far.
If I had to guess, I’d say M240 Bravo.
Via: Reuters:
A gunman opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100 others before the shooter was killed by police.
Police described the suspect as being a local Las Vegas man who acted alone and was not believed to be connected to any militant group, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.
“We have no idea what his belief system was,” he said. “Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static.”
Authorities were seeking a woman they named as Marilou Danley, he said. He gave no details of whether she was suspected of involvement in the attack but described her as an “associate”.
He said rumors of other shootings or explosives such as car bombs in the area were false.
Spanish PM Faces Crisis After Violent Secession Vote in Catalonia
October 2nd, 2017Via: Reuters:
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces Spain’s biggest constitutional crisis in decades after Sunday’s violence-marred independence referendum in Catalonia opened the door for its wealthiest region to move for secession as early as this week.
The streets of Barcelona, the Catalan capital, were quiet on Monday, but newspaper editorials said the banned referendum, in which Catalan officials said 90 percent of voters had chosen to leave Spain, had set the stage for a decisive clash between Madrid and the region.
“It could all get worse,” the moderate Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia said in an editorial after Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets to disrupt the vote, sparking violence that Catalan officials say injured around 840 people.
With Widespread Power Failures, Puerto Rico Is Cash Only
October 1st, 2017Via: New York Times:
Juan Jimenez squinted into the dark lobby of his bank early Friday, thinking about the paycheck sitting in his account, just behind the locked doors. If only he could get to it.
With power failures and communications outages still widespread nine days after Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico has become a cash-only island for Mr. Jimenez and others who desperately need to buy food, gasoline and ice from stores that cannot run credit cards, take phone payments or process electronic government benefits.
“You’re broke even if you have money,” Mr. Jimenez, 40, said.
Fewer than half of Puerto Rico’s bank branches and cash machines are up and running, still crippled by diesel shortages, damaged roads and severed communications lines. Bank officials say they are struggling even to find employees who can get to work when there is no public transportation and gasoline is hard to find.
Across the island, people who have spent their last dollars on an $8 bag of ice or $15 for gasoline are waiting for hours outside banks and A.T.M.s in hopes of withdrawing as much money as possible.
Chaos and Hackers Stalk Investors on Cryptocurrency Exchanges
September 29th, 2017Cryptocurrency exchanges have always been a nightmare. I’ve never left any Bitcoins or cash in an exchange for any longer than it took to trade them. Then I’d immediately pull my money out. I always try to keep my overnight balance as close to zero as possible on Bitcoin exchanges.
I just assume the thing is going to be hacked or seized by some government any minute.
Via: Reuters:
Some of the freewheeling exchanges are plagued with poor security and lack investor protections common in more regulated financial markets, Reuters found. Some Chinese exchanges have falsely inflated their trading volume to lure new customers, according to former employees.
There have been at least three dozen heists of cryptocurrency exchanges since 2011; many of the hacked exchanges later shut down. More than 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen, which today would be worth about $4 billion. Few have been recovered. Burned investors have been left at the mercy of exchanges as to whether they will receive any compensation.
Mystery Surrounds Metal Towers Popping Up In Tunnels & Bridges
September 27th, 2017Nuke detectors is the obvious guess. But if not that, then what?
Via: CBS:
Mysterious metal towers are popping up at local tunnels, and soon they’ll start appearing at bridges, too.
But even people on the MTA board in charge of the towers can’t say why they’re being used or what’s in them, CBS2’s Dave Carlin reports.
Jose Lugo said the tall metal towers quickly appeared up after the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel tolls booths came down.
“We don’t really know what’s the purpose of this,” he told Carlin.
It’s a $100 million MTA project shrouded in secrecy, with 18 of them for tunnels and bridges. So what are they exactly?
The MTA’s man in charge of the bridges and tunnels, Cedrick Fulton, dodged Carlin’s questions Wednesday.
“I said no comment,” he said.
First Look at Shell’s New Electric Car Charging Stations Being Deployed at Its Gas Stations
September 27th, 2017Via: Electrek:
Earlier this year, oil giant Shell announced that they would start deploying electric car charging stations in Britain and the Netherlands.
Today, we get our first look at the custom charging stations that they are deploying and they look just like gas pumps.
Tesla Powerwall 2 Installations Finally Start to Accelerate
September 27th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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As someone in the industry, it was immediately clear to me, from the moment the Powerwall 2 was announced, that it had no competition:
As far as I can tell, this authoritatively blows away all other residential energy storage options…
This is a bit disturbing because this upsets the entire storage industry. There is no competition to this. For companies with existing energy storage offerings, there are two options:1) Drastically drop prices
2) Die
And now we can see the carnage among Tesla’s “competitors.”
This is the storage industry equivalent of the Highway of Death.
It’s not like it was hard to tell that this was going to happen, if one was familiar with existing offerings. I’m worried that Tesla’s solution is so far ahead that we could see a situation where Tesla becomes like the Microsoft or Google of the energy storage sector.
Is it already too late for the dozens of established companies and startups that are trying to figure out how to compete with Tesla? All they really have are vaporware press releases about what they’re going to release in couple of years.
Where will Tesla be by then?
Via: Electrek:
After Tesla unveiled and started taking orders for Powerwall 2 almost a year ago, the deployment of the company’s new home battery pack has been fairly slow.
Now it looks like it’s finally starting to accelerate as the company dominates the market in California and starts to expand.
