China is spying on you through your Kettle - 20 to 30 appliances 'had hidden chips that send out malware to networks -

China is spying on you through your Kettle - 20 to 30 appliances 'had hidden chips that send out malware to networks -



Russian investigators claim to have found household appliances imported from China which contain hidden microchips that pump spam data and malware into wi-fi networks.
Authorities in St Petersburg allegedly discovered 20 to 30 kettles and irons with 'spy microchips that send some data to the foreign server', according to Russian media.
The revelation comes just as the EU launches an investigation into claims that Russia itself bugged gifts to delegates at last month's G20 summit in an attempt to retrieve data from computers and telephones.

This has led to speculation that the chips allegedly found in the home appliances may also have the ability to steal data and send it back to Chinese servers.
The allegations against the Chinese were made in St Petersburg news outlet Rosbalt, which quotes a source from customs broker Panimport, but does not detail what data was being sent or to where.
According to The Register, which translated the article, it would be possible to build a malicious microchip - sometimes referred to as a spambot or spybot - small enough to hide in a kettle.

It also believes there are many readily available transformers which could be used to convert Russia's 220V electricty supply to power the chips without destroying them.
But it casts doubt on the report's claims that the devices were discovered because they were overweight as it is unlikely that the difference of a few grams would have been enough to raise suspicion.
This might only have happened if the appliances were air-freighted, it said, which was probably not the case because they were cheap items.


Read more: -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2480900/China-spying-KETTLE-Bugs-scan-wi-fi-devices-imported-kitchen-gadgets.html

GOLDMAN SACHS pays Hillary nearly half a million -- for two speeches? -

GOLDMAN SACHS pays Hillary nearly half a million -- for two speeches? - 



Hillary Clinton spoke at two separate Goldman Sachs events on the evenings of Thursday, October 24 and Tuesday, October 29. As both Politico and the New York Times report, Clinton’s fee is about $200,000 per speech, meaning she likely netted around $400,000 for her paid gigs at Goldman over the course of six days.

Last Thursday, Clinton spoke for the AIMS Alternative Investment Conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, a closed event exclusively for Goldman clients. AIMS is an annual conference that explores the latest strategies and products available to financial advisers. At the event, Clinton offered what one attendee described to me as “prepared remarks followed by questions.”

On Tuesday, Clinton spoke at the Builders and Innovators Summit, devoted to discussing entrepreneurship and how to help innovators expand and grow their businesses. According to Politico, Clinton conducted a question-and-answer session with Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the subject of her remarks or why Mrs. Clinton in particular was invited to the events.

Keeping close to the investment world, Clinton also made visits to private-equity firms KKR in July and the Carlyle Group in September. At KKR’s annual investor meeting in California, Clinton answered questions from firm co-founder Henry Kravis on the Middle East, Washington, and politics. At Carlyle Group, Clinton made a speech to shareholders moderated by Carlyle founder David Rubenstein.

Clinton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more - 

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362637/hillary-clintons-lucrative-goldman-sachs-speaking-gigs-alec-torres

REPORT: Toronto mayor caught on tape smoking crack... -

REPORT: Toronto mayor caught on tape smoking crack... - 



Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair made the stunning announcement Thursday that police have recovered digital video files containing images he says are consistent with "images previously reported in the press." Mayor Rob Ford appears in at least one of those video files, Blair said.
Blair explained that several computer hard drives were seized on June 13, in the course of Project Traveller raids. Investigators began combing through those drives and found evidence of deleted files.
Blair said that on Tuesday, forensics teams were able to recover a deleted file that contained the video.
He said the footage is "consistent with what has been described in the media," but would not detail what activities were depicted in the video.
In May, allegations of a video appearing to show Ford smoking crack cocaine surfaced after reporters from the Toronto Star and the U.S. website Gawker.com reported they were offered to buy copies.
Blair said he had seen the video recovered from the hard drive that appears to show Ford. When asked whether he was shocked by what he saw, Blair responded: "I'm disappointed."
Blair also said that as a result of their investigation, they "have this morning taken into custody a Mr. Sandro Lisi and laid a charge of extortion with respect to the evidence that's been collected." A further news release from police say it is alleged the accused "made extortive efforts to retrieve a recording."
Lisi, a friend of the mayor who was arrested on marijuana trafficking charges earlier this month, is due to appear in court "at a date not yet determined" to face these new charges.
Blair added that evidence is still being reviewed and that further charges could be laid.
Ford has not offered comment to the newest charges, nor has the mayor's brother and longtime supporter Doug Ford.
On Thursday morning, Mayor Ford yelled at a group of reporters as he left his Etobicoke home, telling them to get off his driveway. He pushed away at least one photographer before getting into his Cadillac Escalade and driving away without answering reporters' questions.
Lisi's arrest comes the same day that the Crown released more than 300 pages of a document used in the investigation that led to his earlier arrest on Oct. 1.
That document reveals it was the Gawker.com and Toronto Star reports that sparked the investigation, code-named Project Brazen 2. It says police began an investigation within days and began surveillance on Lisi.
Police documented Lisi exchanging several phone calls with Ford, using four different numbers to reach him. For example, starting from Aug. 7, when police began tracking the phone numbers of calls to and from Lisi's cellphone, until Sept. 19, Ford and Lisi exchanged 349 phone calls.
They also documented him meeting with Ford several times, often in gas stations and abandoned parking lots, sometimes leaving behind packages in white plastic bags or manila envelopes.
In one incident on July 11, police followed Lisi to a west end gas station where Ford had just arrived. While Ford used the station's restroom, Lisi allegedly placed an envelope inside the mayor's Escalade. The two did not speak. The mayor then got back into his vehicle and drove away.
The police surveillance teams also report that Lisi engaged several times in "counter surveillance measures" as he drove, sometimes speeding to evade pursuit.
After police lost track of Lisi several times, they then began to track his movements using Toronto Police Service aircraft to follow him.
None of the allegations in the document have been tested or proven in court.

Read more: -

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/we-have-images-consistent-with-alleged-crack-video-toronto-police-chief-bill-blair-1.1521469

Man sets new record driving coast to coast in under 29 hours... - Average speed of 98mph... -

Man sets new record driving coast to coast in under 29 hours... - Average speed of 98mph... - 



A 27-year-old Lamborghini dealer and two friends from Atlanta have set a new Guinness World Record after piloting a highly-tuned Mercedes CL from the east coast to the west coast of the United States in under 29 hours.

Ed Bolian and his two co-drivers averaged a law-breaking 98mph across the 2,813.7-mile trip in a souped-up Mercedes that boasted spare fuel tanks and an array of gadgets in order to evade the long arm of the law. 

The trio took the classic route from Midtown Manhattan in New York to Redondo Beach in Los Angeles, which was first driven in the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash of the 1970s. 

On board the mischievous Merc was a police scanner, two GPS units and iPhone apps such as Trapster that locates speed cameras and mobile police units, while friends of Bolian travelled the route roughly 150 mile ahead to check for potential obstacles. 

The car was also fitted with two laser jammers and a truck-mounted antenna in order to prevent police cameras from clocking the highly illegal speeds. 

According to Jalopnik, Bolian dreamed of breaking the record since he was a teenager.

When explaining the potential pitfalls of the record attempt, he revealed that he chose the Mercedes CL-Class not only because of its impressive fuel economy, but also for its active suspension, in order to handle the additional fuel tanks. 

"I thought about a Ferrari 612," he said. 

"But gas mileage would've been bad. A Bentley would've been perfect, but you'd want the V8 for gas mileage, and those are still way too expensive." 

Bolian's record time of 28 hours and 50 minutes beats the previous record set by Alex Roy back in 2006 at 31 hours and four minutes – the very man Bolian sought advice from on how to prepare both himself and the car for the trip. 

Bolian said: "Every year, Alex hears about five to seven attempts to break the record. None of the challengers come close."

Read more - 
http://cars.aol.co.uk/2013/10/31/driver-completes-the-cannonball-run-in-record-breaking-29-hours

Obamacare D.C. health exchange security question: What are your Lotto numbers? -

Obamacare D.C. health exchange security question: What are your Lotto numbers? - 



Problems with web-security questions were one of the key glitches the Obamacare rollout faced early on, both on federal and state-based exchanges. Now that they’re working more smoothly, at least one congressman is poking fun at a question on the D.C.-run exchange in which federal lawmakers and their staffs are expected to enroll.
“Here’s a helpful security question for those using the DC Exchange website,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Kansas Republican, tweeted Wednesday with an attached photo.
The screen grab from the D.C. Health Link website showed this question, highlighted in blue: “What are the last four digits of your lotto [sic] numbers?”
So maybe the congressman doesn’t play Lotto, or at least doesn’t use the same numbers when he does. But the question, and others around it, suggested the security questions on Obamacare sites go beyond the usual mother’s-maiden-name fare.
Others ask users to name the host city of their favorite Olympic Games, while another requires at least a little brain power: “What is the first name of your significant other’s eldest sibling?”

Read more: - 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/31/dc-health-exchange-security-question-lotto/

Happy Halloween! - This song has been stuck in my head - now it can get stuck in yours 2 - What Does the Fox Say? -

Cops Forced To Buy Own Uniforms, Ammo In Cash-Strapped Detroit... -

Cops Forced To Buy Own Uniforms, Ammo In Cash-Strapped Detroit... - 



Detroit police on the beat in an insolvent city have resorted to buying their own gear.

That includes uniforms, according to Detroit Police Officers Association President Mark Diaz, who says the first compliment is issued by the Detroit Police Department — but officers are pretty much on their own after that.

“It’s obviously to the world the city of Detroit’s in a fiscal state of emergency, so the funds really aren’t being allocated to the uniforms as they should be,” Diaz said.

Officers, some who make as little as $14 an hour, might spend $1,000 per year out-of-pocket on uniforms, he said, ” … And the stipend that an officer gets on an annual basis is not enough, truly, to keep the officers outfitted properly.”

“The uniform just doesn’t stop with the shirt, the hat and the pants,” said Diaz, “… parts of the uniform such as boots, those aren’t covered; and the true quality boots that last and that can live up to the rigors of patrolling in a city like the city of Detroit — that’s an extra $300 on an annual basis.”

In addition, Diaz said, although cops are given ammunition for weapons qualification, many officers have to buy their own bullets to have enough to stay sharp.

Read more - 

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/10/31/cops-buy-own-uniforms-bullets-in-cash-strapped-detroit/

PETA cries foul over selling cockroaches as pets... -

PETA cries foul over selling cockroaches as pets... - 



Cockroaches aren’t on the typical child’s Christmas list, but an Ann Arbor company is hoping to change that with a cyborg device meant to turn the creepy crawlers into scientific entertainment they can control with a smartphone.

Backyard Brains has developed a Kickstarter project, the RoboRoach, that allows one to cut live cockroaches and implant electrodes to control the insects’ movements. One hundred and eighty three people have pledged $12,339 — exceeding the $10,000 goal to fund the project.

It’s like a remote-controlled car in the body of a live bug, the game “Operation” writ large. But the creators want it to be taken seriously, with Greg Gage saying his product advances the study of neural circuits, allowing students to make scientific discoveries.

“Twenty percent of the world will have a neurological disorder with no known cure and so what we are trying to do is get kids interested in neuro-science at an early age and and we can actually capture those kids and turn them into neuro-scientists and actually help us cure these diseases,” said Gage.

PETA doesn’t see it like that. PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is crying fowl and believes the RoboRoach kit should be declared illegal. PETA counsel Jerrod Goodman claims it promotes the practice of veterinary medicine without a license by altering an animal from its normal condition.

“This cruel and inhumane product instructs children to, without anesthesia, send down various parts of a living cockroach’s body,” Goodman said in a statement Tuesday. “They stab a syringe through the animal, force electrodes into the animal, and superglue apparatuses to the inside and the outside of the cockroach’s body.”

According to Backyard Brain’s website, The RoboRoach circuit is not a toy, but a tool for studying neural circuits and allows for students to make discoveries about electrical micro-stimulation.

“Cockroaches are intelligent animals, they have learning and memory capacities,” Goodman said. “They have sophisticated social lives with each other and they can feel pain. It’s not okay to pull the wings off of flies and it’s not okay to teach children to torture and mutilate cockroaches. You can hate and dislike someone all you like, but it doesn’t make it okay to torture them.”

Read more - 

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/10/30/cyborg-cockroaches-at-the-center-of-ethics-debate/

A Chip In The Head: Brain Implants Will Be Connecting People To The Internet By The Year 2020 -

A Chip In The Head: Brain Implants Will Be Connecting People To The Internet By The Year 2020 - 



Would you like to surf the Internet, make a phone call or send a text message using only your brain?  Would you like to “download” the content of a 500 page book into your memory in less than a second?  Would you like to have extremely advanced nanobots constantly crawling around in your body monitoring it for disease?  Would you like to be able to instantly access the collective knowledge base of humanity wherever you are? 

Image: Wikimedia Commons.
All of that may sound like science fiction, but these are technologies that some of the most powerful high tech firms in the world actually believe are achievable by the year 2020.  However, with all of the potential “benefits” that such technology could bring, there is also the potential for great tyranny.  Just think about it.  What do you think that the governments of the world could do if almost everyone had a mind reading brain implant that was connected to the Internet?  Could those implants be used to control and manipulate us?  Those are frightening things to consider.
For now, most of the scientists that are working on brain implant technology do not seem to be too worried about those kinds of concerns.  Instead, they are pressing ahead into realms that were once considered to be impossible.
Right now, there are approximately 100,000 people around the world that have implants in their brains.  Most of those are for medical reasons.
But this is just the beginning.  According to the Boston Globe, the U.S. government plans “to spend more than $70 million over five years to jump to the next level of brain implants”.
This new project is being called the Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS), and the goal is to be able to monitor the “mental health” of soldiers and veterans.  The following is how a recent CNET article described SUBNETS…
SUBNETS is inspired by Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical treatment that involves implanting a brain pacemaker in the patient’s skull to interfere with brain activity to help with symptoms of diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s. DARPA’s device will be similar, but rather than targeting one specific symptom, it will be able to monitor and analyse data in real time and issue a specific intervention according to brain activity.
This kind of technology is being developed by the private sector as well.  In fact, according to Scientific American scientists are becoming increasingly excited about how brain implants can be used to “reboot” the brains of people with depression…
Psychological depression is more than an emotional state. Good evidence for that comes from emerging new uses for a  technology already widely prescribed for Parkinson’s patients. The more neurologists and surgeons learn about the aptly named deep brain stimulation, the more they are convinced that the currents from the technology’s implanted electrodes can literally reboot brain circuits involved with the mood disorder.
Would you like to have your brain “rebooted” by a chip inside your head?

Read more - 

http://www.infowars.com/a-chip-in-the-head-brain-implants-will-be-connecting-people-to-the-internet-by-the-year-2020/

Russia’s goodie bag gifts ‘bugged’ G-20 delegates - “Trojan Horses” designed to download info and send it back -

Russia’s goodie bag gifts ‘bugged’ G-20 delegates - “Trojan Horses” designed to download info and send it back - 



They’re spies like us!

Crafty Russian operatives gave goodie bags to world powers at the G-20 summit with USB drives and phone chargers — but they were “Trojan Horses” designed to download info and send it back to the motherland.

The cloak-and-dagger spy game played out at last month’s conference in St. Petersburg, where Vladimir Putin and President Obama appeared to patch up their feud.

But little did Obama know that Putin’s henchmen were making sure every delegate at the G-20 walked out with equipment that could compromise state secrets.

The clever Boris-and-Natasha ploy was reported Tuesday by the major Italian newspapers La Stampa and Corriere della Sera as the US remains under fire for NSA spying on world leaders’ phone calls.

European Union President Herman Van Rompuy became suspicious of the gift-bag devices, which bore the red-and-blue “Russia G20” logo, so he asked technical experts in Belgium and Germany to check them out, according to EU sources.

Read more - 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/30/russias-goodie-bag-gifts-bugged-g-20-delegates/?intcmp=latestnews

Woman to hand out 'obese letters' to overweight children on Halloween -

Woman to hand out 'obese letters' to overweight children on Halloween - 



Imagine going trick-or-treating for candy this Halloween and getting a critical letter in your candy bag.  

That’s what may be happening to some kids in North Dakota this year. One woman called into the Y94 radio station in Fargo this week to say she doesn’t plan to just give Halloween candy to all of the children who come to her door.  

She said she also plans to give a sealed letter to any overweight children who visit her, which the children are then supposed to give to their parents. In the letter, the woman plans to tell the parents that they are acting irresponsibly by sending their children out to seek candy when they are already overweight.

The letter, which Y94 says was emailed to them by the woman, reads in part:

“You [sic] child is, in my opinion, moderately obese and should not be consuming sugar and treats to the extent of some children this Halloween season.

My hope is that you will step up as a parent and ration candy this Halloween and not allow your child to continue these unhealthy eating habits.”

When asked by the hosts of the show why she didn’t give out toys or stickers instead of candy, the woman, who identified herself only as Cheryl, said she didn’t want to be the “mean lady” in the neighborhood. The woman also said that she doesn’t plan to deny candy to any of the children who visit her house.

“Well really, I just want to send a message to the parents of kids that are really overweight. It’s just, these kids, I can see them and they’re struggling to stay healthy and they want to play with the other kids, and I think it’s really irresponsible for parents to send them out looking for free candy just because all the other kids are doing it,” the woman said.

Corey “Zero” Schaffer, one of radio hosts who conducted the interview, said they plan to follow up with the woman to see if she carried out her plans.

“I’d love to have her back on Friday morning and see if she went through with giving those letters out,” Schaffer told FoxNews.com.

Read more - 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/10/30/woman-to-hand-out-obese-letters-to-overweight-children/

NFL offers tackling 'safety' clinic for moms... - "Football Safety Clinic for Moms." -

NFL offers tackling 'safety' clinic for moms... - "Football Safety Clinic for Moms." - 



NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came to town to teach mothers how to tackle safely.

I am not making this up.

The event, sponsored by the league and the Chicago Bears, was titled "Football Safety Clinic for Moms." The intent, no doubt, was to ease fears about letting their sons play the game. The timing was nothing if not fortuitous.

Last month, studies by researchers at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences concluded that football players as young as 7 suffer hits to the head every bit as traumatic as those suffered by high school and adult players. Last week, an HBO Real Sports-Marist poll headlined "Youth Football Takes Hard Hit" found that 56 percent of respondents said the risk of long-term brain injury would be an important factor in deciding whether to allow their son to play football.

Five kids aged 16 or younger have died playing high school football since August, two from brain injuries and a third suffered a broken neck. More than 25,000 football players from 8 to 19 years old seek treatment for concussions at emergency rooms every year.

None of that was mentioned during the breezy, 80-minute clinic.

It began with an introduction from Goodell, followed by remarks from TV talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, who's a heart surgeon by training but needed no coaching on how to sell the game. Maybe because he's already featured in an NFL promotional campaign that aired during last weekend's games called "Together We Make Football."

Oz was followed by athletic trainers who stressed the importance of properly feeding and hydrating young football players, and they were followed by Dr. Elizabeth Pieroth, who is the Bears neuropsychological consultant, but not a medical doctor. She presented checklists for recognizing concussion symptoms and recommendations for treatment, but suggested on balance that "boys like to hit things" and without proper channels for their aggression, they might do other things like drive too fast or drink too much.

It made me wonder how much more havoc NFL players might wreak if they weren't playing, but then came time for the 200 or so moms to line up and learn the tackling techniques taught as part of USA Football's "Heads Up Football" program.

"I line up my front foot right in the middle of my target, and why?" one of the instructors said during a demonstration, without waiting for an answer.

"So I can put my head to the side and make the tackle safely."

Never mind that the improving science on concussions increasingly suggests all those measures above combined - and applied at every level - will reduce the numbers only so much, let alone the way the game is played in the NFL.

At one point, I walked up to Goodell and tried to ask how much safer he believed football could actually be made. Instead of answering, he looked away and a burly member of his security detail inserted himself between us and said "No questions."

Fortunately, though, Goodell had time for the moms. And after 20 minutes of practice, they were stoked. When they returned to their seats for a final 20-minute question-and-answer session with a panel that included the commissioner, Pieroth and several former Bears, one of the first questions was:

"My son is 5 years old. I see linebacker in his future. When is too soon for him to start playing?"

Understandably, several panel members assumed she was asking about flag football. When people in the crowd made clear there were tackle football leagues in the area for kids that young, the consensus on the panel was that each family had to make its own determination.

Read more - 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBN_JIM_LITKE_103013?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-30-03-59-22

Study Shows Eating Alone Is Bad For Your Health -

Study Shows Eating Alone Is Bad For Your Health - 



You are what you eat -- but apparently, who you eat with is pretty important too. Research shows that eating alone means eating a less nutritious diet, especially for those over 50.

The European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC Norfolk) has shown that loneliness and social isolation have a harmful impact on the eating habits of older adults. Started in 1993, the study followed 25,000 people between the ages of 40 and 80 in Europe over the past 20 years. Researchers looked at how diet and lifestyle affect the onset of chronic diseases including diabetes and cancer.

Older adults that were single ate 2.3 fewer vegetable servings per day, and widows or widowers living alone ate 1.1 fewer vegetables servings per day than their married or cohabiting counterparts. Widows and widowers living with someone, however, ate just as many vegetables as married or cohabiting people -- highlighting the importance of social interaction.

Vegetables are essential to any diet. They provide key nutrients that can reduce the risk of a wide range of health problems including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"People's diet is not fixed, it changes over time. Furthermore, the ability to eat healthily is influenced by a person's social environment, including factors like marriage, cohabitation, friendships and general social interacting. As people age, they are less likely to eat well -- and when older people are living alone their diet often suffers," says social epidemiology researcher, Annalijn Conklin, in a release.

An estimated 19 percent of men and around 37 percent of women over 65 live alone, according to the National Institute on Aging, a number rising in the last 40 years.

Researchers say this phenomenon means a growing need for concern as the population of aging people rises. In the U.S., the number of people over 65 will more than double what it was in 2000, to nearly 80 million, the Administration on Aging estimates.

The UK-based Campaign to End Loneliness says loneliness affects overall health as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and is worse for you than other health risk factors like drinking and lack of exercise. Lonely people are more likely to suffer from dementia, depression, and cognitive decline.

The good news in all of this is improving the social ties of older adults can potentially improve not only their physical health but their emotional well-being. Since post 50s are more likely than any other group to lose relationships due to divorce or death, researchers say it's important for communities to provide more social opportunities for aging populations.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/loneliness-affects-diet_n_4173944.html

Alberta grizzlies getting fatter, more fertile due to global warming, study says -

Alberta grizzlies getting fatter, more fertile due to global warming, study says - 



Research by the University of Alberta shows that grizzly bears in parts of the province are getting fatter and more fertile thanks to global warming.

The study conducted over 10 years found that warmer temperatures and easier access to food help grizzlies build more body fat and increase their likelihood of reproduction.

Bears in the more development-prone foothills of the Rockies are generally larger and healthier than those in remote old-growth forests in places like Jasper National Park, data shows.

“It is kind of contrary to what you would think,” said Scott Nielsen, a biologist in the university’s Department of Renewable Resources in Edmonton.

Bears in secluded alpine environments are less productive because they have a more limited food supply, Nielsen said. The down side is that animals that live closer to development have higher mortality rates.

“The bears do better, but they don’t live as long,” Nielsen said. “The important thing is controlling their interactions with people. They do quite well if left alone.”

Nielsen and colleagues at the Foothills Research Institute in Hinton monitored 112 grizzly bears over the duration of the study, which concluded in 2008. Funding for the project was received from more than 40 sources, including the Alberta Conservation Association, Canadian Wildlife Service, Carleton University, Environment Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Suncor, Syncrude and Weyerhaeuser.

Read more - 

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/29/alberta-grizzlies-getting-fatter-more-fertile-due-to-global-warming-study-says/

Animal sightings spark 'kid cages' at New Mexico bus stops -

Animal sightings spark 'kid cages' at New Mexico bus stops - 



A child waiting for a school bus in Reserve, a tiny community in rural New Mexico, may feel a little caged in, perhaps claustrophobic — but that’s precisely the point.

About a half-dozen wooden and mesh "kid cages" are located at bus stops in the rural, western New Mexico town, where there have been sightings of the Mexican gray wolf. Some of the 300 or so residents say the shelters could save the life of a child who waits in the predawn hours for a ride to school, but critics say they are part of an effort by ranchers to demonize the animals.

“They’re designed so children can step up in them and sit down and wait for the bus,” Catron County Sheriff Shawn Menges told FoxNews.com. “What happens out here in these rural areas is that most of the time, the parents are going to sit and wait with the children [for the bus] in their vehicle, but that’s not always true.”

Read more -

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/29/are-kid-cages-protecting-nm-children-or-case-ranchers-crying-wolf/?intcmp=latestnews

The Ten US Cities With Less Than Ten Days Of Cash On Hand -

The Ten US Cities With Less Than Ten Days Of Cash On Hand - 



As the Detroit bankruptcy hearing heats up following news that the city's unsecured creditors, among them pensioners, are set to recover pennies on the dollar, 16 to be precise, the question of which are the next cities to follow in the footsteps of bankrupt Motown, becomes relevant once again. Courtesy of the WSJ, and the second part of its series on "U.S. Cities Grapple With Finances", here is a list of the US cities that when push comes to shove metaphorically, and when the money runs out literally, will have no choice but to knock on the door of the local regional bankruptcy court and submit that long-prepared bankruptcy petition. Specifically, here are the cities that have 10 days or less in cash on hand available. Because, unless one is the Fed, cash and lack thereof is all that matters.

The list below ranks the top 10 cities in terms of days cash on hand. Needless to say, a city with a low number in this category (such as 0.0) may have trouble paying bills, bribes, lap dances and other core municipal outlays.




Shifting away from the stock, and looking at the flow, as Detroit showed the world the very hard way, cities mired in pension costs will ultimately default and lead to massive haircuts to the retirees. The following 10 cities have the greatest percentage of pension costs as a percentage of the city's general fund.




Of course, cash on hand while perhaps the most important factor, especially if a city becomes a net cash burner, is hardly the only indicator to keep an eye on. Additional consideration must be given to amount of reserves, or the ratio of a city's total fund balance to expenditures, because if this is negative it means the city spends more than is available.




Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-29/ten-us-cities-less-ten-days-cash-hand

Beijing divorces soar over property tax... -

Beijing divorces soar over property tax... - 



Beijing's divorce rate has soared as couples seek to avoid a property tax imposed earlier this year by using a loophole for those whose marriages end, state media reported Tuesday.

Nearly 40,000 couples divorced in the Chinese capital in the first nine months of this year, up 41 percent on the same period in 2012, the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing official figures.

In March China introduced a nationwide capital gains tax of 20 percent on the profits owners make from selling residential property.

But the terms allow couples with two properties who divorce and put each house into one person's name to then sell them tax-free under certain conditions -- after which they can remarry.

Read more - 

http://www.france24.com/en/20131029-beijing-divorces-soar-over-property-tax

UN Plans to Fight Asteroids with 'Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space'... -

UN Plans to Fight Asteroids with 'Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space'... - 



It's a scenario familiar to any science fiction fan: An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and humans must deflect or destroy it to save themselves and every other living creature on the planet.

But unlike most sci-fi plots, this one is a real threat, right now. And the United Nations is on it.

Last week, the U.N. General Assembly approved the creation of an International Asteroid Warning Group. Former NASA astronaut Ed Lu and other members of the Association of Space Explorers have been calling for the formation of a global asteroid-fighting group for years, but the meteor that exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February got people taking the ASE's recommendations seriously.

The new U.N. plan to save Earth from killer astroids has three basic components, drawn heavily from the Association of Space Explorers and Lu's asteroid-battling nonprofit, the B612 Foundation.

Part 1: Get prepared
This may seem like a letdown: Isn't forming an International Asteroid Warning Group preparation enough for the big space rock? The problem is that the U.N. relies largely on member states, and the world's space superpowers are woefully behind the curve, says ASE member Rusty Schweickar, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969.

"No government in the world today has explicitly assigned the responsibility for planetary protection to any of its agencies," Schweickar said at an Oct. 25 discussion at the American Museum of Natural History. "NASA does not have an explicit responsibility to deflect an asteroid, nor does any other space agency." Among other things, lots of research is needed on the best way to derail an asteroid.

Countries also have to come up with contingency plans in case the U.N.'s new group doesn't detect a huge asteroid in time. That could mean spotting the projectile years before projected impact. "If we don't find it until a year out, make yourself a nice cocktail and go out and watch," Schweickar deadpanned.

Here are Lu, Schweickar, and their ASE colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History, in a discussion on the asteroid threat hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson (it's almost an hour long):

Part 2: Find the asteroids before they find us
The Chelyabinsk meteorite was a wake-up call because nobody saw it coming. "The world's space agencies found out along with the rest of us, on Twitter and YouTube," says Clara Moskowitz at Scientific American. This will be the main mission of the new International Asteroid Warning Group: To act as a clearinghouse of information from nations or groups that have found potentially deadly asteroids or other space rocks.

The IAWG will also have its own asteroid-detecting infrared telescope, the Sentinel Space Telescope, developed with private financing by the B612 Foundation. Once the Sentinel is launched, hopefully in 2017, the U.N. will have its own eye in the sky. "There are 100 times more asteroids out there than we have found," Lu warns. "There are about one million asteroids large enough to destroy New York City or larger."

If Step One is the Boy Scout motto ("Be prepared"), Step Two is the catchphrase from the old GI Joe cartoon: Knowing is half the battle. "Early warning is important because it increases the chance of being able to deflect a threatening asteroid once it is found," explains Scientific American's Moskowitz. "If a spacecraft struck an asteroid five or 10 years before the rock was due to hit Earth, a slight orbital alternation should be enough to make it pass Earth by."

Part 3: If necessary, blast that sucker out of our path
This is where the U.N. really gets in on the action. If the International Asteroid Warning Group discovers a deadly projectile speeding Earthward, the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space — yes, that's a real agency, formed in 1959 and tucked into the U.N. Office of Outer Space Affairs — springs into action.

Or at least bureaucratic action: The committee will help coordinate an international mission to deflect the asteroid by slamming a space ship into it.

That's probably the easiest method of defense: "Smashing spacecraft into threatening asteroids, causing them to veer off course," says Nicholas Tufnell at Wired. But it isn't the only one for the group to consider. There's also "a nuclear explosive device, kinetic impact, a gravity tractor, or even wrapping the asteroid in a sheet of reflective plastic such as aluminized clingfilm, which will act as a solar sail," Tufnell adds.

The Week's Chris Gayomali, looking at the same question, ruled out nukes as impractical and not up to the task. Ramming a rocket into the object to change its trajectory is probably our safest bet. "And just in case that same pesky asteroid circles back around the sun, we send a second probe hitchhiking behind the impactor for extra insurance."

This probe wouldn't crash into it again. Rather, it would move to a "station-keeping position" near the space rock, "using its own gravity to very gently tug the rock into a safe orbit." No messy nuclear explosion necessary. [The Week]

If that still sounds like a long shot, you can take some comfort that there is now an internationally sanctioned group of scientists charged with coming up with the best way to protect the Earth from hostile rocks. It's too bad it takes an existential threat to bring us together. Kumbaya.

Read more - 

http://theweek.com/article/index/251842/how-the-un-plans-to-defend-earth-from-asteroids

Facebook knows when you’re going to break up -

Facebook knows when you’re going to break up - 



Facebook can predict when you’re going to break up.
Yes, apparently the fate of your relationship is not written in the stars but in your social circle.
Cornell University researcher Jon Kleinberg and Facebook senior engineer Lars Backstrom proved as much when they presented their co-written research paper at a social computing conference in February.
The researchers took the datasets of 1.3 million Facebook users listed as being in a relationship, and found that the more well connected their mutual friends were, the more likely they were to break up.
This theory is described as dispersion.
Couples with high dispersion have mutual friends who are not well connected.
Couples with low dispersion have mutual friends who are well connected.
Therefore the Facebook theory suggests that if you and your partner share the same social circle on Facebook (low dispersion), you’re less likely to have your own lives and therefore the relationship is more likely to implode.
A healthy relationship, according to Facebook, is one where both partners have connections to a lot of different groups of people, even if those friendships aren’t particularly strong.
“Instead of embededness, we propose that the link between and an individual and his or her partner should display a ‘dispersed’ structure: the mutual neighbors of u and v are not well connected to one another and hence u and v act jointly as the only intermediaries between these different parts of the network,” the researchers wrote in the study.
In a nutshell, get your own damn lives and friends.
Of course, this algorithm might not take into account the fact that some couples don’t take their social circles on Facebook particularly seriously and therefore might look like they don’t have as wide group of friends when they actually do.
Probably because they are out living their lives.

Read more - 

http://nypost.com/2013/10/29/facebook-knows-when-youre-going-to-break-up/

STUDY: People look more at women's chests than their faces... -

STUDY: People look more at women's chests than their faces... - 



A new study has confirmed something women have been complaining about for years.

The research, out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and published in the Springer-published journal Sex Roles, essentially corroborates the belief that people tend to focus more on the breasts and figure of a woman when analyzing her appearance than they do on her face.

According to researchers, the study was the first ever to use eye-tracking technology to examine the glances of men when the “ogle” or “check out” women, whereas previous research had used only women’s self-reported experiences.


After monitoring how the gazes of 29 women and 36 men from a large Midwestern university reacted to images of the same group of female models with various body shapes, scientists concluded that participants focused more on the female’s chests and figure when asked to evaluate their appearance than they did on the women’s facial features.

Unsurprisingly, women with narrow waists, full breasts and larger hips – the classic hourglass figure – were rated more favorably than their less voluptuous counterparts, even when men were asked to assess a woman’s personality (rather than attractiveness) based on her appearance in the photos.

But perhaps what’s most interesting is that women also tended to objectify other females in the same way that men did. They, too, spent more time focusing on figure than face.

Read more - 

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/10/29/gaze-tracking-study-apparently-confirms-everyone-really-is-staring-at-your-chest/

A very modern milestone: One in three kids use a mobile phone or tablet before they can talk -

A very modern milestone: One in three kids use a mobile phone or tablet before they can talk - 



Nearly a third of children now learn to use a mobile phone or a tablet computer before they can talk, a report has revealed.
Some 29 per cent start using the gadgets as toddlers, with 70 per cent mastering them completely by primary school age.
The report also found that by the time they reach the age of nine, children have typically sent 116 texts and 85 emails.

But despite believing that their child will benefit from using technology, 57 per cent of parents said they still worry about their safety.
The survey, commissioned by US pressure group Common Sense Media and electronic learning experts VTech, found that 38 per cent of children aged under two have used gadgets like iPhones or Kindles for playing games or watching films.
In 2011 the same figure was just 10 per cent.
The researchers said that the findings showed a ‘fundamental change in the way kids consume media’.
They should also serve as a wake-up call to parents who increasingly turn to gadgets to entertain their children - but could be doing them harm.
The current recommendation from the American Academy of Paediatrics is that the under-twos should have no screen time at all.

Jim Steyer, director of Common Sense Media said: ‘Kids that cannot even talk will walk up to a TV screen and try to swipe it like an iPad or an iPhone.’
The survey results showed the speed at which mobiles and other gadgets are becoming a fact of life, even for babies, when they were compared to a similar study that was carried out in 2011.
Back then, 38 per cent of under-eights had used a phone or a Kindle. Now that same statistic applies to the under-twos.
But despite the rise in the use of gadgets, TV still is the dominant media that children consume
Despite the rise in the use of gadgets, TV still is the dominant media that children consume
In 2011 the amount of time the under-eights spent on their phones or tablets was just five minutes a day.
The figure for this year is 15 minutes, on average.
The study, called ‘Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America, 2013’ was based on a national survey of 1,463 parents with children under eight.
Vicky Rideout, the author of the report and the similar one released in 2011, said: ‘I was blown away by the rapidity of the change.
‘iPhones and tablets are game changers, because they are so easy to use.
‘While there was some floor on how young you could go with computers and video games, a young child can touch a picture, can open an app, or swipe the screen.’
A spokesman from VTech, which commissioned the survey, said: There’s no shying away from the fact children are more tech savvy and connected to the world and each other than ever before. 
‘They are actively consuming digital technology from a very early age.’
Among the other findings were that children now typically spend an hour a day in front of screens, though that covers everything from watching TV to using computers and watching films.
Children aged two to four average two hours a day, and those aged five to eight averaged two hours and 20 minutes.
But despite the rise in the use of gadgets, TV still is the dominant media that children consume.
Almost 100 per cent of children under eight have a TV and cable.
Thirty per cent have the Internet with their TVs meaning they can watch films on demand.

Read more: -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2478328/One-kids-use-mobile-phone-tablet-speak-sentences.html

Did you smell my text? Device sends scented alerts -

Did you smell my text? Device sends scented alerts - 



Move over, ring tone alerts.

Scentee, a new device you can attach to your smartphone, releases a burst of fragrance of your choice whenever you receive a text, email or other notification, Engadget reported.

Made in Japan, the plug-in accessory attaches to the headphone socket of your iPhones or Android smartphone.

An LED light also glows when you have an incoming notification.

In no particular order, the aromas you can choose from include bacon, rose, mint, cinnamon roll, coffee, curry, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lavender, apple, coconut, strawberry and even...corn soup?

The Scentee also has a timer that can release the fragrance of your choice however often you want to smell it, according to The Huffington Post.

The gadget costs about $35 on Amazon and each cartridge goes for $5, according to Engadget.

It's currently only available in Japan, but the company said it plans on making Scentee available to Americans at some point.

Read more -

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/did-you-smell-my-text-device-sends-scented-alerts/-/1637132/22666700/-/re2gdk/-/index.html

Sex okay for burning calories, but not as good as jogging: study -

Sex okay for burning calories, but not as good as jogging: study - 



A small new study published last week claims that when it comes to burning calories, sex is better than a walk, but not as good as a jog.
Published online October 24 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, the new study finds that a session of moderately vigorous lovemaking can burn 4.2 calories a minute for men and 3.1 calories a minute for women, at least when young, healthy people do it.
Researchers from Montreal's University of Quebec enlisted 21 heterosexual couples ages 18 to 35 for the study, and asked them to wear the fitness tracker SenseWear.

Each subject first completed a 30-minute jog on a treadmill to provide a baseline measure of their calorie expenditure.
Then they were sent home with the armbands and instructions to have sex while wearing the sensors.
Most sex sessions lasted around 25 minutes (with some as short as 10 minutes, others almost reaching an hour), with men expending more energy than women.
On average, men burned 101 calories when having sex, and women burned 69 calories. Still, that didn't beat the calorie burn when jogging: men burned 276 calories, or 9.2 per minute, while women burned 213 calories, or 7.1 per minute.
A separate study published earlier this year, however, offers a different conclusion, finding that sex only burns 21 calories on average.
David Allison, a biostatistician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tested the "sexercise" theory -- that sex can be exercise -- but found that sex lasted only six minutes on average, burning a paltry 20 or so calories. The findings were published in February in New England Journal of Medicine.


Read more - 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/sex-okay-for-burning-calories-but-not-as-good-as-jogging-study-1.1516901

Police firing GPS tracking 'bullets' at cars during chases -

Police firing GPS tracking 'bullets' at cars during chases - 



It's called Starchase. Essentially, it's a cannon that fires "bullets" that are sticky GPS devices.

CBS 12 offered an example in real life of how it's done.

Iowa state trooper Tim Sieleman seemed rather mesmerized. He told CBS 12: "If you had told me 16 years ago that I would have had a cannon on the front of my car, I wouldn't have believed it."



Officers in St. Petersburg, Fla., also are testing the system. As ABC News reports, the operation of the compressed air gun (not too unlike the sort that fires T-shirts into the crowd at NBA games) is quite simple.

Read more -

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Police_firing_GPS_tracking_%27bullets%27_at_cars_during_chases/29910/0/0/0/Y/M.html

9/11 Suspects Can’t Mention being Tortured during Trial Testimony because Their Torture is Classified -

9/11 Suspects Can’t Mention being Tortured during Trial Testimony because Their Torture is Classified - 



In the Alice in Wonderland meets 1984 world of the U.S. concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, official state secrecy about matters already known the world over trumps the human rights of the prisoners still languishing there, according to lawyers trying to represent them despite the bizarre rules that hamper their efforts.

Take the issue of torture, which arose at a recent Guantánamo Bay hearing. It is an indisputable fact that the U.S. tortured detainees, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, during interrogations between 2001 and 2006. Yet when defense attorney Jason Wright pointed out at a recent hearing that his client “was subjected to waterboarding for 183 sessions,” Judge James Pohl ruled him out of order for discussing classified information that can be uttered only behind closed doors.

Fellow defense attorney Cheryl Bormann complained that such rulings undermine the defense team, whose efforts keep coming up against “a brick wall because of the classification issue.”

“You can’t gag somebody about talking about torture and then want to kill them,” she argued.

Defense attorneys want to raise the issue of torture both because its practice is illegal under U.S. and international law and because it is believed by most experts to yield inherently unreliable information. At the hearing, the defense team said the secrecy of their clients’ detention and torture in secret CIA prisons “violated the U.N. Convention against Torture,” which the U.S. ratified in 1994, and prevented them from filing complaints with the U.N. under that treaty.

Because they are being prevented from even raising the issue in their clients’ defense, the defense team asked that the death penalty be ruled out as a possible sentence.

“You have the power to dismiss the death penalty or dismiss these charges because of the obstacles we face in this case,” argued Walter Ruiz, who represents detainee Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Although the Convention against Torture “gives certain rights” to the accused, “those rights do not exist, certainly not in front of this commission,” said Ruiz.

But prosecutor Clay Trivett argued that if detainees felt they were “mistreated in U.S. custody” they could file a complaint in federal court, and that should be sufficient.

Read more -

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/911-suspects-cant-mention-being-tortured-during-trial-testimony-because-their-torture-is-classified-131028?news=851498