Canadian Mom Gives Birth in U.S., Gets $1 Million Bill
November 24th, 2014Via: Newser:
Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel thought she’d dotted all the i’s. Six months pregnant in October of 2013, she was cleared by her doctor to vacation in Hawaii with her husband, and she made sure to get Blue Cross insurance coverage before her trip. Just two days in, though, her water broke and she was put on bed rest for six weeks with stern warnings about flying, even with a surgical team, reports CBC. She ended up having baby Reece nine weeks early, and her two-month hospital stay led to a $950,000 medical bill—and a letter from Blue Cross denying any coverage due to a pre-existing condition. In its letter, the company wrote: “Ms. Huculak was diagnosed and treated for a high-risk pregnancy in the six months prior to departure. … Any expenses incurred are not eligible under the terms of your policy.”
Regin: Top-Tier Espionage Tool Enables Stealthy Surveillance
November 24th, 2014Via: Symantec:
An advanced piece of malware, known as Regin, has been used in systematic spying campaigns against a range of international targets since at least 2008. A back door-type Trojan, Regin is a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen. Customizable with an extensive range of capabilities depending on the target, it provides its controllers with a powerful framework for mass surveillance and has been used in spying operations against government organizations, infrastructure operators, businesses, researchers, and private individuals.
It is likely that its development took months, if not years, to complete and its authors have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks. Its capabilities and the level of resources behind Regin indicate that it is one of the main cyberespionage tools used by a nation state.
Citigroup Executive Found Dead in Greenwich Village Bathtub With Throat Slashed
November 23rd, 2014Update: Suspected Suicide, Police Said
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Via: Bloomberg:
The death of Shawn D. Miller, a Citigroup Inc. (C) managing director found dead in his apartment in New York, is a suspected suicide, police said.
—
Via: NBC:
Police are investigating the death of a Citigroup manager who was found in his Manhattan apartment bathtub with this throat cut.
Police say 42-year-old Shawn Miller was discovered Tuesday afternoon by his doorman at his Greenwich Village apartment after a friend asked to check on him. He was found with a slash wound on his neck in his bathtub.
The FBI Is Very Excited About This Machine That Can Scan Your DNA in 90 Minutes
November 21st, 2014Via: Mother Jones:
Robert Schueren shook my hand firmly, handed me his business card, and flipped it over, revealing a short list of letters and numbers. “Here is my DNA profile.” He smiled. “I have nothing to hide.” I had come to meet Schueren, the CEO of IntegenX, at his company’s headquarters in Pleasanton, California, to see its signature product: a machine the size of a large desktop printer that can unravel your genetic code in the time it takes to watch a movie.
Schueren grabbed a cotton swab and dropped it into a plastic cartridge. That’s what, say, a police officer would use to wipe the inside of your cheek to collect a DNA sample after an arrest, he explained. Other bits of material with traces of DNA on them, like cigarette butts or fabric, could work too. He inserted the cartridge into the machine and pressed a green button on its touch screen: “It’s that simple.” Ninety minutes later, the RapidHIT 200 would generate a DNA profile, check it against a database, and report on whether it found a match.
The RapidHIT represents a major technological leap—testing a DNA sample in a forensics lab normally takes at least two days. This has government agencies very excited. The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Justice Department funded the initial research for “rapid DNA” technology, and after just a year on the market, the $250,000 RapidHIT is already being used in a few states, as well as China, Russia, Australia, and countries in Africa and Europe.
“We’re not always aware of how it’s being used,” Schueren said. “All we can say is that it’s used to give an accurate identification of an individual.” Civil liberties advocates worry that rapid DNA will spur new efforts by the FBI and police to collect ordinary citizens’ genetic code.
Congressman Suggests Moat Around White House
November 21st, 2014I just finished reading, Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle, so I naturally have to suggest that the regime should build a trace italienne for itself.
By the way, I only recommend Wolf in White Van for older nerds who also enjoyed The Stranger by Albert Camus.
You’ll find yourself internally screaming, “Why!?”
If you need there to be an answer, look for a different novel.
Via: Marketwatch:
Faced with an increasing number of White House intrusions that led to the resignation of a Secret Service director, a congressman on Wednesday suggested that maybe a moat should be erected around the president’s home.
The suggestion was made by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
With hand gestures, Cohen suggested a moat roughly six-feet wide may be “attractive” and “effective.”
Joseph Clancy, the acting director of the Secret Service, didn’t dismiss the suggestion out of hand.
“Sir, it may be,” he said. Clancy said the Secret Service and the National Park Service were discussing ways to ensure security along with access to the White House for the American people.
Research Credit: alvinroast
Amazon Robots Prepare for Christmas
November 19th, 2014Via: Marketwatch:
In its latest bid to boost productivity and speed delivery, Amazon.com Inc. is deploying a robot army.
The Seattle online retailer has outfitted several U.S. warehouses with squat, orange, wheeled robots that move stocked shelves to workers, instead of having employees seek items amid long aisles of merchandise, according to people familiar with the matter. At a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in Tracy, Calif., about 60 miles east of San Francisco, Amazon AMZN, +0.50% this summer replaced four floors of fixed shelving with the robots, the people said.
Now, “pickers” at the facility stand in one place and wait for robots to bring four-foot-by-six-foot shelving units to them, sparing them what amounted to as much as 20 miles a day of walking through the warehouse. Employees at some robot-equipped warehouses are expected to pick and scan at least 300 items an hour, compared with 100 under the old system, current and former workers said.
The robots are the fruits of Amazon’s 2012 purchase of Kiva Systems Inc. for $775 million. In May, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos told investors at Amazon’s annual meeting that he planned to deploy 10,000 Kiva robots by year-end, up from 1,400 at the time.
Crime-Fighting Robots Go On Patrol In Silicon Valley
November 19th, 2014Get your barf bag ready.
Via: CBS:
A new kind of security guard is on patrol in Silicon Valley: crime-fighting robots that look like they’re straight out of a sci-fi movie.
At first glance, the K5 security robot looks like a cartoonish Star Wars character.
“The vast majority of people see it and go, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cute.’ We’ve had people go up and hug it, and embrace it for whatever reason,” said Stacy Stephens, co-founder of Knightscope, headquartered in Mountain View.
They are unarmed, but they are imposing: about 5 feet tall and 300 pounds, which very likely will make someone think twice before committing a crime in their presence.
Bill Gates Looks at LENRs as Future Energy Source
November 19th, 2014Via: New Energy Times:
Bill Gates, pioneer in the digital world, is exploring low-energy nuclear reactions (LENRs), the frontier of energy research.
On Wednesday, he visited a small laboratory on the sprawling campus of a government lab in Frascati, just outside of Rome, Italy. The lab is one of several large ones under the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment.
Michael Brown Case: Missouri National Guard Activated
November 17th, 2014Via: CBS:
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed an executive order activating the Missouri National Guard on Monday afternoon.
According to a news release, the role of the National Guard is to “…support law enforcement during any period of unrest that might occur following the grand jury’s decision concerning the investigation into the death of Michael Brown.”
“As part of our ongoing efforts to plan and be prepared for any contingency, it is necessary to have these resources in place in advance of any announcement of the grand jury’s decision,” Nixon said in the release.
Nixon’s order also established that the Missouri State Highway Patrol, St. Louis County Police Department and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will operate as a unified command to keep members of the public safe and protect property, while allowing citizens to exercise their constitutional rights.
Under the executive order, the St. Louis County Police Department will have command and operational control over security in the city of Ferguson in areas of protests and acts of civil disobedience, should such activities occur.
Related: Police Nationwide Brace for Protests After Ferguson Decision
Life
November 16th, 2014I have a baby with chickenpox, an order shipping deadline on another business and the power is out.
Back in a bit…
