3-Sweep: Extracting Editable Objects from a Single Photo, SIGGRAPH ASIA 2013
September 12th, 2013Via: Daniel Cohen-Or / YouTube:
Fukushima: Tritium Levels Up 15X Over Three Days
September 12th, 2013Via: Reuters:
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said levels of tritium – considered one of the least harmful radioactive elements – spiked more than 15 times in groundwater near a leaked tank at the facility over three days this week.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said tritium levels in water taken from a well close to a number of storage tanks holding irradiated water rose to 64,000 becquerels per liter on Tuesday from 4,200 becquerels/liter at the same location on Sunday.
Tepco said last month that 300 metric tons of highly radioactive water leaked from one of the hastily built steel tanks at the plant, which was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
A Tepco representative told reporters on Wednesday the company was investigating the high tritium reading and could not rule out the possibility that last month’s leak had contaminated the groundwater.
The elevated readings of radioactive elements at the plant come just days after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the International Olympic Committee that the situation at the Fukushima facility, 230 km (140 miles) from Tokyo, was “under control”, with contamination limited to the area immediately surrounding the plant. Tokyo was chosen over the weekend to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
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September 12th, 2013Thank you, SR.
The RAR Energia Gravity Motor
September 11th, 2013When one follows “free energy” inventors, a lot of times, the path leads to madness.
The machines in question (that don’t work, by the way) are usually very small—table top scale—bicycle tires and JB Weld sorts of things.
Knowing all of this, I nearly fell out of my chair when I looked at what RAR Energia has built in Brazil. That thing is about two stories tall, and must have cost a minimum of hundreds of thousands of dollars to build.
Take a look: RAR Energia [Be sitting down for this one.]
Now, I ask you…
Alleged Brooklyn Heroin Dealers Careful To Observe Shabbat
September 11th, 2013Via: Gothamist:
The NYPD’s narcotics team announced today that it busted a group of allegedly observant Sheepshead Bay drug dealers, a ring that dealt its wares—which included heroin, oxycodone, cocaine and more—in accordance with Shabbat.
The six-month sting—dubbed “Only after Sundown”—resulted in the April arrest of five men, with the indictment handed down today. Among the details that came to light was the group’s “strict policy of closing shop in observation of Shabbat,” as well as texts that “repeatedly cautioned customers against arriving after sundown on a Friday or before sundown on Saturday.” According to prosecutors, they don’t roll on Shabbat.
To its credit, the group was very conscientious about alerting its customers to the exact times G-d would allow them to fetch their wares, as it turns out He is apparently fine with illicit drug dealing so long as the day of rest of adequately observed.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
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September 11th, 2013Wow! Thank you, DR.
UN Team Finds No Proof of Chemical Weapons Use in Syria
September 11th, 2013Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
United Nations investigators have listed a wide range of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Syria, but provided no conclusion on the issue of chemical weapons use.
“On the evidence currently available, it was not possible to reach a finding about the chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrators,” the team probing human rights violations in Syria said in its latest report on Wednesday.
It was clear however that “the majority of casualties result from unlawful attacks using conventional weapons,” the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement.
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Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime “have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity,” according to the report, which covers the period from May 15 to July 15.
It also charged that anti-government groups had “committed war crimes,” including murder, torture and hostage-taking.
Research Credit: cgroove69
NSA Shares Raw Intelligence Including Americans’ Data with Israel
September 11th, 2013Via: Guardian:
The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.
Details of the intelligence-sharing agreement are laid out in a memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart that shows the US government handed over intercepted communications likely to contain phone calls and emails of American citizens. The agreement places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the Israelis.
Best Times for the 1 Percent Since 1920s
September 11th, 2013Via: AP:
The gulf between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America is the widest it’s been since the Roaring ’20s.
The very wealthiest Americans earned more than 19 percent of the country’s household income last year — their biggest share since 1928, the year before the stock market crash. And the top 10 percent captured a record 48.2 percent of total earnings last year.
U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. And it grew again last year, according to an analysis of Internal Revenue Service figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.
One of them, Berkeley’s Emmanuel Saez, said the incomes of the richest Americans surged last year in part because they cashed in stock holdings to avoid higher capital gains taxes that took effect in January.
In 2012, the incomes of the top 1 percent rose nearly 20 percent compared with a 1 percent increase for the remaining 99 percent.
Stealth Coating Based on Squid Skin Could Make Soldiers Invisible to Night Vision
September 11th, 2013Via: Telegraph:
Most camouflage materials used to disguise soldiers and vehicles during the day show up easily when viewed through night vision goggles and infrared cameras.
This is because leaves and other foliage reflect infrared light in a different way to other fabrics and materials.
However, scientists at the University of California Irvine have created a new “stealth” coating that can change the way it reflects infrared light on command.
The films, which are around 100,000 times thinner than a human hair, can be switched on and off using a chemical signal.
Tests conducted by the researchers have shown that they can make an orange surface blend into green foliage when the coating is activated.
The technology mimics the active camouflage used by squid, where they change the colour and even the texture of their skin to blend into the background.
The researchers claim their new coating can be attached to a wide range of surfaces and is a first step towards developing “shape shifting clothing” capable of adapting to the environment around it.
Dr Alon Gorodestsky, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and material science at University of California Irvine, said: “Our approach is simple and compatible with a wide array of surfaces, potentially allowing many simple objects to acquire camouflage capabilities.
“Our long-term goal is to create fabrics that can dynamically alter their texture and colour to adapt to their environments.
“Basically, we’re seeking to make shape-shifting clothing – the stuff of science fiction – a reality.”
