Military drone mistaken for ‘UFO’ along DC highways - craft being hauled on a flatbed truck on I-270 -

Military drone mistaken for ‘UFO’ along DC highways - craft being hauled on a flatbed truck on I-270 - 






People in the D.C. area are buzzing after pictures began popping up online showing what many believed to be a 'UFO' in transport along the Capitol Beltway.


The spotting took place around 11:00 p.m. Wednesday when drivers first saw the craft being hauled on a flatbed truck on I-270, then on I-495.


Maryland State Police confirmed that the strange craft was actually a drone aircraft made by Northrup Grumman that was being transported from West Virginia to Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland.


It wasn't the first time aircraft being transported had been mistaken for 'UFOs'. Last year, residents of Cowley County, Kansas mistook a similar flying machine.


DefenseTech.org reported last year that engineers practice aircraft carrier take-offs and landings with the drone on a strip of runway at Patuxent that's painted to resemble a carrier's flight deck.






Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/18785637/beltway-ufo-said-to-be-military-drone-aircraft?clienttype=printable

Apple Will Let You Geo-Fence Your Friends - keep tabs on people -

Apple Will Let You Geo-Fence Your Friends - keep tabs on people - 




Got an iPhone? Need to keep tabs on people? Want to your spouse or boss or pals be notified when you leave work, say, or arrive home? Then the upcoming version of Find My Friends is for you.


The updated app, which will launch with iOS 6 this fall, comes with a geo-fencing feature — that is, you can designate an area around yourself, as small as a building or as large as a state. When you arrive or leave that area, your friends can be notified.


As with all notifications in Find My Friends, this can be set for a limited time only. But we hear some Apple employees are already using this feature to let their bosses know when they’re arrived at the office — and even when they’ve left their house. (After all, it’s a long commute from San Francisco to Apple HQ in Cupertino; chances are, you’ll be late.)


Call it the 21st century time clock.


Otherwise, there’s one major update to Find My Friends: it features the Maps app front and center on your Friends page, a design treatment never given to Google Maps (which Find My Friends used in its first incarnation).


Read more -
http://mashable.com/2012/06/13/ios6-find-my-friends/

Greeks Withdraw $1 Billion a Day Ahead of Vote - and stock up with food -

Greeks Withdraw $1 Billion a Day Ahead of Vote - and stock up with food - 


Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro.


Bankers said up to 800 million euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election.


The last published opinion polls showed the conservative New Democracy party, which backs the 130 billion euro ($160 billion) bailout that is keeping Greece afloat, running neck and neck with the leftist Syriza party, which wants to cancel the rescue deal.


As the election approaches, publishing polls is now legally banned and in the ensuing information vacuum, party officials have been leaking contradictory "secret polls".


On Tuesday, one rumor making the rounds was that Syriza was leading by a wide margin.


"This is nonsense," one reputable Greek pollster said on condition of anonymity. "Our polls show the picture has not changed much since the last polls were published. Parties may be leaking these numbers on purpose to boost their standing."


The pollster said there was some consolidation, with voters turning to New Democracy and Syriza from smaller parties but the pool of undecided voters remained unusually large so close to the election and the result was impossible to predict.


Both parties say they want Greece to remain in the single currency but Syriza has pledged to scrap the bailout agreement signed in March which has imposed some of the toughest austerity measures seen in Europe in decades.


Read more - 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47793980

NuSTAR space telescope is scheduled for launch today - will search for undiscovered black holes in the Milky Way -

NuSTAR space telescope is scheduled for launch today - will search for undiscovered black holes in the Milky Way - 




A once-canceled space telescope is set to launch into Earth orbit, where it will search for undiscovered black holes in the Milky Way and at the hearts of other galaxies.


The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array will hunt for black holes that have been obscured by the dust and gas floating through space and measure how fast some of them are spinning. NuSTAR will also examine with fresh eyes the remnants of exploded stars known as supernovae.


"It's a very exciting mission," said Roger Blandford, director of the Kavli Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University and a member of the NuSTAR science team. "It opens up a new window on the universe."


Black holes, supernovae and other cosmic sources can give off light across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, from low-energy infrared waves to high-energy gamma radiation. But much of that light is invisible even to the Hubble Space Telescope and the ChandraX-rayObservatory, which are focused on the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and low-energyX-rayportions of the spectrum.


In addition, much of the lower-energy light gets absorbed by gas and dust floating through space, essentially blocking these objects from view.


NuSTAR will capture high-energyX-raysemanating from these cosmic bodies. But it's hard for instruments to detect the rays directly — they tend to go straight through. These are, after all, the same kind of X-rays dentists use to penetrate your skin and take images of your teeth, explained Caltech astrophysicist Fiona Harrison, the mission's principal investigator.


To catch these X-rays, NuSTAR will position its highly reflective mirrors at an angle that's almost parallel to incoming light. That way, when an X-ray hits the mirrors at such a glancing angle, it can then be bounced right into the detector, about 30 feet away at the end of a mast.


The steep angle reduces the amount of light that can be captured, so to compensate, NuSTAR's mirrors are arranged in 133 conical nested shells, like so many Russian dolls.


Read more - 
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-nustar-black-holes-20120613,0,7768940.story

iPoo bathroom app pays off for jokesters - provides chat opportunities and up-to-the minute stool-related statistics -

iPoo bathroom app pays off for jokesters - provides chat opportunities and up-to-the minute stool-related statistics - 




Just call it plan number two.


Amit Khanna, a 30-year-old Markham native, used to be a high school teacher. Now, he’s manages the, uh, business end of a crass — and successful — app.


It’s called iPoo and yes, it’s what you think: an app you use on the ivory throne. It connects users with others conducting similar business, provides chatting opportunities, even offers up-to-the minute stool-related statistics, such as how many squares of toilet paper are being flushed.


“Imagine that you’re on the can, and think about the things that you would maybe want to do,” said Khanna, one of the app’s three creators.


Apparently for some, that’s more than just read a newspaper. Since it was created in 2009, the $1 app has been downloaded nearly 300,000 times.


Because it’s sold through iTunes, Apple takes 30 per cent of the profits, but it leaves a sizable chunk of change for the three partners. One co-creator was able to pay his way through Harvard Business School, while Khanna has made real estate investments.


“We were surprised but not totally shocked,” Khanna said. The trio suspected they could make some money, since other joke apps — such as iPoo’s equally unpleasant predecessor, iFart — have found financial success.


The idea surfaced much as you’d think: three bathroom humour loving guys were sitting around in someone’s Markham home, trading “wouldn’t it be funny” schemes. When conversation turned to toilet activities, someone suggested an app to pass the time.


Khanna’s co-creators, both developers, got to work and began sharing the app with friends. As soon as they made it available, they knew it would become larger than an inside joke.


Among the most used features is the “virtual wall” where a profile is created for public toilets, such as the Tim Hortons bathroom near Yonge and Bloor. Users can leave virtual graffiti on the wall, just like in the real bathroom.


Read more - 
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1210345--ipoo-bathroom-app-pays-off-for-jokesters

Mow your lawn, or else - Town Threatens To Fine Residents $10K For Not Mowing Lawn... -

Mow your lawn, or else - Town Threatens To Fine Residents $10K For Not Mowing Lawn... - 




The Massapequa Park village board passed a law Monday that imposes big fines on homeowners who don’t mow their lawns and maintain their properties.


Officials said unkempt property lowers home values and can create a health and public safety hazard.


First time offenders could be hit with a $1,000 fine. Fines for repeat offenders can reach a whopping $10,000.


Not everybody is on board with the law.


A resident named Joseph told Xirinachs he thinks there has to be a better, more neighborly way.


“I think this is a type of place, I live here because people help each other out, not because they report each other,” he said. “If it’s an elderly couple that’s having problems maintaining their property, I think we should help them out. I don’t think we should fine them $1,000.”


Recently, Mayor James Altadonna also proposed a new law that would charge a bank $500 every time a village employee has to clean up an unkempt property that has fallen into foreclosure.


Read more - 
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/massapequa-park-passes-new-law-on-lawn-maintenance/

Toxin from GM crops found in human blood - AND detected the toxin in fetal blood -

Toxin from GM crops found in human blood - AND detected the toxin in fetal blood - 


Fresh doubts have arisen about the safety of genetically modified crops, with a new study reporting presence of Bt toxin, used widely in GM crops, in human blood for the first time.


Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks.


These genes make crops toxic to pests but are claimed to pose no danger to the environment and human health. Genetically modified brinjal, whose commercial release was stopped a year ago, has a toxin derived from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt).


Till now, scientists and multinational corporations promoting GM crops have maintained that Bt toxin poses no danger to human health as the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of this toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.


Scientists from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, have detected the insecticidal protein, Cry1Ab, circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women.


They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation. The research paper has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The study covered 30 pregnant women and 39 women who had come for tubectomy at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) in Quebec.


None of them had worked or lived with a spouse working in contact with pesticides.


They were all consuming typical Canadian diet that included GM foods such as soybeans, corn and potatoes. Blood samples were taken before delivery for pregnant women and at tubal ligation for non-pregnant women. Umbilical cord blood sampling was done after birth.


Cry1Ab toxin was detected in 93 per cent and 80 per cent of maternal and fetal blood samples, respectively and in 69 per cent of tested blood samples from non-pregnant women. Earlier studies had found trace amounts of the Cry1Ab toxin in gastrointestinal contents of livestock fed on GM corn. This gave rise to fears that the toxins may not be effectively eliminated in humans and there may be a high risk of exposure through consumption of contaminated meat.


"Generated data will help regulatory agencies responsible for the protection of human health to make better decisions", noted researchers Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc.


Given the potential toxicity of these environmental pollutants and the fragility of the foetus, more studies are needed, particularly those using the placental transfer approach, they added Experts have warned of serious implications for India. Cottonseed oil is made from seeds of genetically modified cotton and thus Bt toxin may have already entered the food chain in India.


"Indian regulators should be immediately called for detailed toxicological studies to know the extent of contamination of the human blood with Bt toxins coming from cottonseed oil, and also ascertain its long term health impacts," said Devinder Sharma, an anti-GM activist.


Read more - 
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/toxin-from-gm-crops-found-in-human-blood/1/137728.html

Indiana First State to Allow Citizens to Shoot Law Enforcement Officers... -

Indiana First State to Allow Citizens to Shoot Law Enforcement Officers... - 






Police officers in Indiana are upset over a new law allowing residents to use deadly force against public servants, including law enforcement officers, who unlawfully enter their homes. It was signed by Republican Governor Mitch Daniels in March.

The first of its kind in the United States, the law was adopted after the state Supreme Court went too far in one of its rulings last year, according to supporters. The case in question involved a man who assaulted an officer during a domestic violence call. The court ruled that there was “no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.”

The National Rifle Association lobbied for the new law, arguing that the court decision had legalized police to commit unjustified entries.

Tim Downs, president of the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police, which opposed the legislation, said the law could open the way for people who are under the influence or emotionally distressed to attack officers in their homes.

“It’s just a recipe for disaster,” Downs told Bloomberg. “It just puts a bounty on our heads.”


Read more -
http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Indiana_First_State_to_Allow_Citizens_to_Shoot_Law_Enforcement_Officers_120611

Beware Facebook ‘account cancellation’ scam -

Beware Facebook ‘account cancellation’ scam - 




Last summer, some Facebook users fell victim to the distressed traveler scam, where they received a message from one of their "friends", claiming they're overseas and need money to get out of a jam.


This summer, we’re seeing a new Facebook-related scam – this time saying your account will be cancelled unless you click to confirm or cancel the request. If you click on the link in the authentic-looking email, malicious software (“malware”) could be installed on the your computer. Once the computer is infected, victims may see a pop-up window that says you should purchase the advertised software to rid your PC of this malware.


This isn’t coming from Facebook. You initiate cancellation requests and it’s all done within your Facebook account and not via a random email.


"Scareware" tactics trick users into buying software to remedy a problem caused by the same individual or organization (or a partner in crime). But when a social network like Facebook has more than 900 million members, chances are high the spammed messages in our inboxes are reaching Facebook users -- and thus more likely to fall for the scam.


The email may look something like this:


Hi [email address],


We are sending you this email to inform you that we have received an account cancellation request from you. Please follow the link below to confirm or cancel this request.


Thanks,


The Facebook Team


To confirm or cancel this request, follow the link below: (a hyperlink is included)


Related: This scam promises to reveal Facebook stalkers


The link might look like it’s an official Facebook page but it’s really a third-party website that asks you to run an executable program.


If you receive this email, simply tap the delete button to send the message to trash. It’s also highly recommended to use strong antimalware software to protect your computer from various threats.


Read more -
http://www.moneyville.ca/blog/post/1209234--beware-facebook-account-cancellation-scam?bn=1

Marquette University study shows Radiation from Airport scanners extends into Organs -

Marquette University study shows Radiation from Airport scanners extends into Organs - 


A study by the Marquette University College of Engineering concludes that the radiation dose from full-body backscatter X-ray scanners in airports extends to organs beyond the skin, but is still lower than health standards.


The study is the first nongovernment funded research to estimate the amount of radiation to individual organs. The research was conducted by Taly Gilat Schmidt, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Marquette, and Michael Hoppe, a Marquette graduate student.


The study estimates the radiation exposure to 29 organs – including skin, eye lens, heart and the brain – using complex mathematical models that more accurately represent the shape and tissue density of human bodies and organs. By comparison, previous studies funded through the Transportation Security Administration   used more simplified, generic mathematical models, according to Marquette.


The Marquette study used four models: a 34-year old male, a 26-year-old female, an 11-year old female and a 6-year-old male. Although radiation is deposited beyond the skin, the study concludes radiation doses in organs for all four models is below recommended standards and considerably lower than radiation levels of other x-ray procedures, such as a mammogram.


Read more - 
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2012/06/11/marquette-university-study-shows.html?ana=twt