Gallery: Student Protests in Chile
September 29th, 2011Resistance…
U.S. style: Lots and lots of iCrap-TwitFace connectivity, diabetes, obesity, people eating McDonalds food, limousine liberals, very expensive cameras, not many participants (sometimes more cops than protestors in other galleries and video)…
vs.
Chile: General strike, streets clogged with thousands of people from all walks of life, protestors attack cops, not just the of the other way around, Communist student leader (Camila Vallejo) looks like a model/movie star, riot dog-type dogs doing back flips as the water cannons unload…
*sigh*
It’s just incredible—the nonsense that I have received over this Occupy Wall Street thing, when it looks like shuffle board at an old folks’ home/fat camp.
What the Hell happened to Americans? No, really, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO AMERICANS?! At what point did Occupy Wall Street (and the like) start to count as resistance in some people’s minds? Who or what is responsible for this?
The guy with the McDonalds slop at the anti-corporate “occupation”… I wish I hadn’t seen that. That one is going to haunt me for a long time…
Via: Boston Herald:
The ongoing student demonstrations in Chile began as a protest over the costs, profits, and fairness of higher education there. They have since attracted other segments of Chilean society venting frustration over wages, health care, and other issues. Uniting the protesters is common dissatisfaction with hugely unpopular President Sebastian Pinera and social inequality. Workers joined a 48-hour general strike in August which, like many demonstrations during the course of the protests, was met with police using tear gas and water cannons on the participants. With changes in the education system still unsettled, the student protests are likely to continue.
6 Images of Abandoned Weaponry You Won’t Believe Are Real
September 29th, 2011Via: Cracked:
Rare, expensive materials, cutting-edge designs and top-secret prototypes are all hallmarks of the military industrial complex. It’s how they produce all their beautiful toys: the stealth fighters, nuclear submarines and flying fortresses that are the cornerstone of our childhood fantasies and Michael Bay movies. But what happens when you get bored of your new toys? Why, you just toss them out into the middle of a field somewhere.
The A to Z of the pHood Industry’s Most Evil Ingredients
September 29th, 2011Via: Natural News:
Ever wonder what’s really in the food sold at grocery stores around the world? People keep asking me, “What ingredients should I avoid?” So I put together a short list that covers all the most toxic and disease-promoting ingredients in the food supply. These are the substances causing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and leading to tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs across America (and around the world).
If you want to stay healthy and out of the hospital, read ingredients labels and make sure you avoid all these ingredients…
‘Al-Qaida has sent a message to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks.’
September 29th, 2011Not even The Onion could top this.
Via: Guardian:
Al-Qaida has sent a message to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks.
Iranian media on Wednesday reported quotes from what appears to be an article published in the latest issue of the al-Qaida English language magazine, Inspire, which described Ahmadinejad’s remarks over the 11 September attacks as “ridiculous”.
U.S. Secretly Asked Japan to Help Dump Nuclear Reactors at Sea
September 29th, 2011Via: Asahi:
The United States secretly sought Japan’s support in 1972 to enable it to dump decommissioned nuclear reactors into the world’s oceans under the London Convention, an international treaty being drawn up at the time.
Countries working on the wording of the pact wanted to specifically prohibit the dumping of radioactive waste at sea.
But Washington wanted to incorporate an exceptional clause in the case of decommissioned nuclear reactors.
These facts came to light in diplomatic records held by the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo and released at the request of The Asahi Shimbun.
…
In the early 1970s, sea pollution was a huge international issue.
Against that backdrop, countries worked feverishly to put the finishing touches on the London Convention. The treaty designated high-level radioactive substances as well as other materials, including mercury and cadmium, as waste whose dumping at sea is prohibited.
In 1993 revisions to the London Convention, the dumping of radioactive waste at sea was totally prohibited. However, the clause that approved of dumping in exceptional cases remained.
For this reason, under the London Convention, it is possible for member countries of the treaty to dump radioactive waste at sea if they obtain the OK from the other parties as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency.
According to the IAEA, the United States has not dumped radioactive waste at sea since 1970. Instead, it buries decommissioned nuclear reactors underground.
The FBI’s Drone Bomb
September 29th, 2011Via: CNN:
A 26-year-old Massachusetts man with a physics degree was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting an attack on the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with a remote-controlled model aircraft, authorities said.
Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen from Ashland, Massachusetts, planned to use model aircraft filled with C-4 plastic explosives, authorities said.
As a result of an undercover FBI investigation, Ferdaus, who has a physics degree from Northeastern University in Boston, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda for attacks on U.S. soldiers overseas, authorities said.
His federal public defender couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
A law enforcement official said Ferdaus posed no immediate danger to the public because undercover operatives kept in close contact with him.
And Now… More Troops to Libya to Search for Thousands of Looted Surface to Air Missiles
September 29th, 2011Northrop Grumman will be pleased.
Via: AntiWar:
According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the United States is preparing to deploy additional forces on the ground in Libya to “secure conventional arms storage sites” as well as to try to track down missing surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
In the wake of the rebel invasion of Tripoli, large arms depots across the western half of the nation were looted, and it is estimated that some 20,000 shoulder-launched SAMs were among what had gone missing, many of them wound up on the arms markets in neighboring nations.
Though weapons of all shapes and sizes were looted, the shoulder-launched SAMs are of particular concern to the US, as they could pose a threat to US warplanes the world over now that they are out of the warehouses and in general circulation.
Nissan Developing Brain Machine Interface for Use in Cars
September 29th, 2011[???]
Via: Guardian:
One of the world’s largest motor manufacturers is working with scientists based in Switzerland to design a car that can read its driver’s mind and predict his or her next move.
The collaboration, between Nissan and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), is intended to balance the necessities of road safety with demands for personal transport.
Scientists at the EPFL have already developed brain-machine interface (BMI) systems that allow wheelchair users to manoeuvre their chairs by thought transference. Their next step will be finding a way to incorporate that technology into the way motorists interact with their cars.
If the endeavour proves successful, the vehicles of the future may be able to prepare themselves for a left or right turn – choosing the correct speed and positioning – by gauging that their drivers are thinking about making such a turn.
However, although BMI technology is well established, the levels of human concentration needed to make it work are extremely high, so the research team is working on systems that will use statistical analysis to predict a driver’s next move and to “evaluate a driver’s cognitive state relevant to the driving environment”.
By measuring brain activity, monitoring patterns of eye movement and scanning the environment around the car, the team thinks the car will be able to predict what a driver is planning to do and help him or her complete the manoeuvre safely.
Green Bay Packers’s New Security Measures, ‘Less Invasive Than the Full-Body Exam’
September 29th, 2011Oh, thank you, Master.
Via: Post Crescent:
Green Bay Packers fans should arrive early and expect some delays for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos as the team implements heightened security measures for the games at Lambeau Field this season.
The National Football League is pushing for enhanced security, and starting with Sunday’s game at Lambeau, all fans will be subject to a hand-held, metal-detecting wand test before being admitted.
The procedure would be similar to wand inspections at the airport, but this process would be less invasive than the full-body exam, said Doug Collins, Packers director of security.
India Files Biopiracy Lawsuit Against Monsanto
September 28th, 2011France24 Video: India vs. Monsanto: Seeds of Discord
Via: Global Research:
Representing one of the most agriculturally bio-diverse nations in the world, India has become a primary target for biotechnology companies like Monsanto and Cargill to spread their genetically-modified (GM) crops into new markets. However, a recent France 24 report explains that the Indian government has decided to take an offensive approach against this attempted agricultural takeover by suing Monsanto for “biopiracy,” accusing the company of stealing India’s indigenous plants in order to re-engineer them into patented varieties.
Brinjal, also known in Western nations as eggplant, is a native Indian crop for which there are roughly 2,500 different unique varieties. Millions of Indian farmers grow brinjal, which is used in a variety of Indian food dishes, and the country grows more than a quarter of the world’s overall supply of the vegetable.
And in an attempt to capitalize on this popular crop, Monsanto has repeatedly tried to commercially market its own GM variety of brinjal called Bt brinjal. But massive public outcry against planned commercial approval of Monsanto’s “frankencrop” variety in 2010 led to the government banning it for an indefinite period of time.
But Monsanto is still stealing native crops, including brinjal, and quietly working on GM varieties of them in test fields, which is a clear violation of India’s Biological Diversity Act (BDA). So at the prompting of various farmers and activists in India, the Indian government, representing the first time in history a nation that has taken such action, has decided to sue Monsanto.
“This can send a different message to the big companies for violating the laws of the nation,” said K.S. Sugara, Member Secretary of the Karnataka Biodiversity Board, to France 24 concerning the lawsuit. “It is not acceptable … that the farmers in our communities are robbed of the advantage they should get from the indigenous varieties.”
Research Credit: hydrogen smoothie?
