Protesters Around the World March Against Monsanto
May 26th, 2013Via: USA Today:
Protesters rallied in dozens of cities Saturday as part of a global protest against seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces, organizers said.
Organizers said “March Against Monsanto” protests were held in 52 countries and 436 cities, including Los Angeles where demonstrators waved signs that read “Real Food 4 Real People” and “Label GMOs, It’s Our Right to Know.”
Flashback: GM Foods Not Served in Monsanto Cafeteria
Knife Attack on Soldier in Paris Treated as Terrorism
May 26th, 2013Via: BBC:
French anti-terrorist investigators are handling the case of a soldier stabbed while on duty near Paris on Saturday evening, prosecutors have confirmed.
The soldier was wounded while on patrol in La Defense, a business district west of the French capital.
Private First Class Cedric Cordier was approached from behind and stabbed in the neck with a small-bladed knife.
Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian told reporters that he had been targeted because of his profession.
His attacker, said to be a bearded man of North African origin, escaped and a police hunt is under way.
President Francois Hollande said there was no sign so far of a direct link with the killing of a soldier in London on Wednesday, for which two suspected Islamists were arrested.
Inside GCHQ
May 24th, 2013Not as interesting as a dead GCHQ employee, inside a gym bag, inside a safe house, but interesting nonetheless.
Via: Register:
For staff at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, there’s an air of Fight Club about the place. The first rule about GCHQ is you don’t talk about GCHQ.
It’s a well observed tradition, even though there are road signs and a bus route directing you to this highly secret establishment, the nerve centre of Britain’s communications surveillance operations.
911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Raped That There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts
May 24th, 2013Next time dial .357 Magnum.
Via: CBS:
An Oregon woman was told by a 911 dispatcher that authorities wouldn’t be able be able to help her as her ex-boyfriend broke into her place because of budget cuts.
Oregon Public Radio reports that an unidentified woman called 911 during a weekend in August 2012 while Michael Bellah was breaking into her place. Her call was forwarded to Oregon State Police because of lay-offs at the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office only allows the department to be open Monday through Friday.
“Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman. “You know, obviously, if he comes inside the residence and assaults you, can you ask him to go away? Do you know if he’s intoxicated or anything?”
The woman told the dispatcher that Bellah previously attacked her and left her hospitalized a few weeks prior to the latest incident. The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the woman for more than 10 minutes before the sexual assault took place.
“Once again it’s unfortunate you guys don’t have any law enforcement out there,” the dispatcher said, according to Oregon Public Radio.
The woman responded: “Yeah, it doesn’t matter, if he gets in the house I’m done.”
Recovery: 44% of Homeowners With a Mortgage Can’t Sell
May 24th, 2013Via: The Street:
About 44% of homeowners with mortgages cannot afford to sell their homes, according to a recent blog post from real estate company Zillow.
Despite a recovery in prices, over a quarter of homeowners with mortgage loans still owe more than their homes are worth. “But another 18.2 percent of homeowners with mortgages, while not technically underwater, likely do not have enough equity to afford to move,” according to the blog post.
43.6% of homeowners have less than 20% equity in their homes. That makes it hard for them to move or trade-up, given the considerable costs involved in buying and selling a home, including the cost of a down payment for the next mortgage.
Cryptogon Reader Sent $50 Donation
May 24th, 2013Thanks, DM. Much appreciated.
Is Google Going To Make Internet Access Available To Everyone?
May 24th, 2013Via: Bloomberg:
Google (GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt’s April 13 tweet was bold, ambitious, and a bit inexplicable. “For every person online, there are two that are not,” wrote the co-author of the book The New Digital Age. “By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected.”
Commenters were flummoxed by Schmidt’s prediction. There are many parts of the world without reliable telecommunications infrastructure. How do you wire parts of Africa—or the Indonesian archipelago?
In my conversations with Astro Teller, Google X’s excellently named director of moonshots, for this week’s cover story on Google X, I asked whether extending broadband Internet access throughout the world would be a problem deserving of attention from the top-secret lab. Teller gave nothing away, but it was clear from his answer that there’s plenty of passion for that particular goal inside his organization. “Having everyone connected is literally in the same category as making clean water available,” he said. “That sounds like a radical statement but I don’t think that it is. There is now a ton of evidence that connectivity drives freedom, democracy, economic development, health, and those things then turn into lower mortality and all of the things that we are trying to get at here.” Extending connectivity, he added, “is the most direct way, probably on an order of magnitude, to address the world’s biggest problems.”
Sears Turning Shuttered Stores Into Data Centers
May 23rd, 2013Via: Data Center Knowledge:
Will blinking blue lights of servers soon fill the aisles that previously offered the Blue Light Special? Sears Holdings has formed a new unit to market space from former Sears and Kmart retail stores as a home for data centers, disaster recovery space and wireless towers.
With the creation of Ubiquity Critical Environments, Sears hopes to convert the retail icons of the 20th century into the Internet infrastructure to power the 21st century digital economy. Sears Holdings has one of the largest real estate portfolios in the country, with 3,200 properties spanning 25 million square feet of space. That includes dozens of Sears and Kmart stores that have been closed over the years.
NIKKEI 225 DOWN 7.32%
May 23rd, 2013Via: Los Angeles Times:
Wall Street followed Europe in a broad sell-off following a 7.3% overnight plunge in Japan’s stock market.
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Weak Chinese manufacturing data helped send Japan’s Nikkei down 1,143.28 points, or 7.3%, to 14,483.98. The drop was reportedly the worst percentage loss since the country’s March 2011 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
Related: Japan Just Had Its ‘Lehman-Like’ Moment
The Robot-Driven Data Center of Tomorrow
May 23rd, 2013Via: Data Center Knowledge:
There is an evolution happening within the modern data center. Huge data center operators like Google and Amazon are quietly redefining the future of the data center. This includes the integration of robotics to create a lights-out, fully automated data center environment.
