Navy SEALs Seize Oil Tanker from Libyan Rebels
March 18th, 2014Via: USA Today:
A U.S. Navy SEAL raid to seize control of an oil tanker that had been commandeered by Libyan rebels reflects a broad U.S. policy to try and help bolster the country’s weak central government, which has struggled since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
No shots were fired during the operation, which involved a large number of elite naval commandos, U.S. European Command said.
The tanker is steaming back to Libya with a team of U.S. sailors aboard. U.S. officials have not decided what to do with the armed Libyans who had seized control of the ship.
The militants are believed to be linked to one of the militias that operate in the country and rival the central government.
The tanker had earlier evaded efforts by Libyan security forces to prevent it from leaving a Libyan port. Libyan and Cypriot authorities had sought U.S. help in detaining the vessel.
New York: Investment Banker Found Dead on Sidewalk Outside East Side Apartment Building
March 18th, 2014And another one.
Via: New York Post:
A 28-year old Manhattan investment banker has died after an apparent suicide, police sources said.
Kenneth Bellando, who worked at Levy Capital since January, was found dead on the sidewalk outside his East Side building on March 12, after allegedly jumping from the sixth-story roof, sources said.
Bellando, a former investment bank analyst at JPMorgan, is the son of John Bellando, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Condé Nast. His brother, John, a top Chief Investment Officer with JPMorgan, works on risk exposure valuations.
Several John Bellando emails were cited during testimony at the Senate Finance committee’s inquiry into the bank’s losses during the infamous London Whale trade fiasco.
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions in March
March 18th, 2014This is the most exclusive club of Cryptogon contributors in a long time!
Thanks to Pookie for sending $75 and thanks to DM for sending $15.
Earnings in January and February
March 18th, 2014Thanks to the handful of people who kept Cryptogon going in January and February.
Total earnings in January came to $1176.06. Total earnings in February came to $804.64.
Thank you, contributors from February:
MH $20
PT $50
TM $10
Eileen $75
Pookie $75
Thanks also go out to the owners of greenfriar.com and mindfulstyle.com for signing up for hosting with BlueHost. They earned Cryptogon $180.
Amazon France Terminates Cryptogon’s Affiliate Account
March 18th, 2014First amazon.de, now amazon.fr. I don’t know what’s going on out there in Amazon land. If they punch my ticket on amazon.com, I might finally have to drop the curtain on this Cryptogon show.
—
Bonjour,
Nous vous remercions pour votre participation au Programme Partenaires d’Amazon EU.
Nous sommes au regret de vous informer que nous avons pris la décision de clôturer votre Compte Associates Amazon EU ayant l’Identifiant Associates Partenaire cryptogon0d-21 et de mettre un terme aux Conditions Générales d’Adhésion du Programme Partenaires d’Amazon EU nous reliant, avec effet à compter du 10 mars 2014.
Merci de retirer de votre site tous les liens redirigeant vers le Site Amazon, toute Marque Amazon, tout autre Contenu ainsi que tout autre élément qui vous ont été fournis ou rendus disponibles par nous ou en notre nom dans le cadre des Conditions Générales d’Adhésion du Programme Partenaires d’Amazon EU ou en lien avec le Programme Partenaires d’Amazon EU.
Toute éventuelle rémunération publicitaire restant dû sera payée environ 60 jours après la fin du mois calendaire de la résiliation. Veuillez noter que vous continuerez à recevoir vos rapports et autres informations par email pendant que votre paiement sera en attente de versement.
Pour nous contacter, merci d’utiliser ce formulaire
https://partenaires.amazon.fr/gp/associates/contact
Nous vous remercions pour votre participation au Programme Partenaires d’Amazon EU.
The One About Satellites Beaming Power Down to Earth Is Making the Rounds Again
March 17th, 2014*roll eyes*
Via: Wired:
For decades, the Pentagon has been the world’s largest oil consumer, and as global petroleum prices continue to rise, the military has been searching for feasible energy alternatives. Now they’re looking in space.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building technology that will allow the military to capture solar power in orbit and project it back down to Earth. Not only would space solar potentially save the Pentagon buckets of cash, but it could simplify military deployments. Fuel tankers would no longer have to reach remote or volatile areas, and missions could run longer without having to return to base to refuel.
So far, NRL has built and tested two different prototypes of what they call a “sandwich” module, named for a design innovation that packs all the electrical components between two square panels. The top side is a photovoltaic panel that absorbs the Sun’s rays. An electronics system in the middle converts the energy to a radio frequency, and the bottom is an antenna that transfers the power toward a target on the ground.
Ultimately, the idea is to assemble many of these modules in space by robots — something the NRL’s Space Robotics Groups is already working on — to form a one kilometer, very powerful satellite.
Flashback 2009: And the Black World Said: Let There Be Light and PG&E Agreed to Buy Orbit-Generated Electricity from Solaren in 2016
A Tale of Two Internets
March 15th, 2014It sounds a lot like U.S. politics: “A world where you think you are making choices, but in reality, your options are narrowed and refined until you are left with merely the illusion of control.”
Via: Scientific American:
Imagine an Internet where unseen hands curate your entire experience. Where third parties predetermine the news, products and prices you see—even the people you meet. A world where you think you are making choices, but in reality, your options are narrowed and refined until you are left with merely the illusion of control.
This is not far from what is happening today. Thanks to technology that enables Google, Facebook and others to gather information about us and use it to tailor the user experience to our own personal tastes, habits and income, the Internet has become a different place for the rich and for the poor. Most of us have become unwitting actors in an unfolding drama about the tale of two Internets. There is yours and mine, theirs and ours.
Forests Around Chernobyl Aren’t Decaying Properly
March 15th, 2014Via: Smithsonian:
Nearly 30 years have passed since the Chernobyl plant exploded and caused an unprecedented nuclear disaster. The effects of that catastrophe, however, are still felt today. Although no people live in the extensive exclusion zones around the epicenter, animals and plants still show signs of radiation poisoning.
Birds around Chernobyl have significantly smaller brains that those living in non-radiation poisoned areas; trees there grow slower; and fewer spiders and insects—including bees, butterflies and grasshoppers—live there. Additionally, game animals such as wild boar caught outside of the exclusion zone—including some bagged as far away as Germany—continue to show abnormal and dangerous levels of radiation.
However, there are even more fundamental issues going on in the environment. According to a new study published in Oecologia, decomposers—organisms such as microbes, fungi and some types of insects that drive the process of decay—have also suffered from the contamination. These creatures are responsible for an essential component of any ecosystem: recycling organic matter back into the soil. Issues with such a basic-level process, the authors of the study think, could have compounding effects for the entire ecosystem.
Research Credit: P7y845W4
1996: The Public School Nightmare
March 15th, 2014Via: tysknews.com:
How did a Prussian system of dumbing children down take hold in American schools?
Wireless Electricity: “It’s Perfectly Safe”
March 15th, 2014No thanks.
Via: CNN:
Don’t worry about getting zapped: Hall assures that the magnetic fields used to transfer energy are “perfectly safe” — in fact, they are the same kind of fields used in Wi-Fi routers.
In the house of the future, wire-free energy transfer could be as easy as wireless internet.
If all goes to WiTricity’s plans, smartphones will charge in your pocket as you wander around, televisions will flicker with no wires attached, and electric cars will refuel while sitting on the driveway.
WiTricity have already demonstrated their ability to power laptops, cell-phones, and TVs by attaching resonator coils to batteries — and an electric car refueller is reportedly in the works.
Research Credit: Haven
