Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, August 06, 2013.
OND is a regular
community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Watusi Rodeo by Guadalcanal Diary
News below Aunt Flossie's hairdo . . .
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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Earth Scientists Pin Climate Change Squarely On 'Humanity'
By Christopher Joyce
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The federal government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its annual State of the Climate report Tuesday. Mostly, it was bad news: rising sea levels, less sea ice in the Arctic and warmer oceans. NOAA said 2012 was in the top 10 hottest years on record for global average temperature, but in the U.S. it was the hottest on record.
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Tom Karl, who runs NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, says the hard thing about measuring climate change is seeing the forest for the trees — a close-up view can be misleading. Take last year's record temperatures in the U.S., for example. "You know, is that just natural variability?" Karl says. "But if you compare that then to the whole suite of indicators that scientists are trying to look at, you see that no, that's part of a pattern we're seeing."
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Clement says she's not surprised that some people continue to question what most scientists consider to be hard evidence. "You know, that's life. Well, I would say, maybe that's not life. Let's call it politics — that's politics. And it's naive to think that we are not going to be dealing with those issues."
Clement points out that the AGU statement acknowledges that there are still uncertainties about the local effects of a warming planet. In fact, it's the continuing uncertainties — about how fast we'll see the effect of a warmer planet and exactly what they will be — that fascinate scientists and guide their new research. But the long-term trend is clear. It's getting warmer.
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US drug agency surveillance unit to be investigated by Department of Justice
By Karen McVeigh
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The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into revelations that the Drug Enforcement Agency uses surveillance tactics – including wiretapping and massive databases of telephone records – to arrest Americans, amid growing concerns from lawyers and civil rights groups over its lack of transparency.
Reuters on Monday detailed how the Special Operative Division – a unit within the DEA comprising representatives of two dozen agencies including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security – passes tips from wiretaps, informants and a database of telephone records to field agents to investigate and arrest criminals. Reuters reports that, although such cases rarely involve national security issues, the DEA agents using the tips are trained to "recreate" the source of the criminal investigation to conceal its true origin from defence lawyers, prosecutors and judges.
The revelations, which follow the Guardian's recent disclosures of the National Security Agency's wholescale collection of US phone data, have raised concerns among judges, prosecutors and civil rights lawyers over a lack of transparency. Many said the SOD practice violates a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial.
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"Even if a judge approved a wiretap, it doesn't mean there wasn't exculpatory or tainted evidence," she said. "If the judge does not know the genesis of the information there cannot be judicial review. When the DEA is concealing what the source of the information is and pretending it came from one place rather than another, there can be no judicial review."
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‘NewsHour’ Appoints First Female Anchor Team
By BRIAN STELTER
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PBS announced on Tuesday that Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff would take over the nightly newscast in September, putting an end to the rotating anchor format that has been in effect for several years. Ms. Ifill and Ms. Woodruff will also share the managing-editor responsibilities for the program.
The appointments are another milestone for women on television and in journalism, seven years after Katie Couric became the first female solo anchor of a network nightly newscast. PBS noted in a news release that “this will mark the first time a network broadcast has had a female co-anchor team.”
The co-anchor arrangement harks back to the 1970s, when Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil founded the nightly newscast that was later named “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” The two men jointly presented the program until 1995, when Mr. MacNeil retired. Mr. Lehrer continued to anchor it until 2011, when he retired. Their company, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, remains in charge of “NewsHour,” and they were involved in the discussions that culminated in Tuesday’s announcement.
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Both journalists said they envisaged opportunities for more fully integrating the Web and social media into the program, as virtually all news programs have sought to do in recent years. “We want to go where the viewers are,” Ms. Ifill said, “not think that they’re going to come find us.”
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International |
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Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar vows no power grab
By (BBC)
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Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar has said that his fighters will not seek to monopolise power when foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan next year.
In a speech marking the Muslim festival of Eid, he said the Taliban will try to reach an understanding with the Afghan people for "an inclusive government based on Islamic principles".
Mullah Omar also reiterated his disdain for elections, scheduled for next year.
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Uganda public order bill is 'blow to political debate'
By (BBC)
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Ugandan MPs have passed a controversial bill limiting public protests - branded a "serious blow to open political debate" by Amnesty International.
The Public Order Management bill was passed despite fierce criticism from religious leaders, opposition MPs and the public as well as rights groups.
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The bill gives the police discretionary powers to veto gatherings of as few as three people in a public place to discuss political issues. Police can also break up meetings of three or more people discussing political issues in their own homes.
Police must receive written notice of public meetings seven days in advance and they may only take place between 06:00 and 18:00.
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Thousands demand Tunisia government's ouster
By (Al Jazeera)
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Tens of thousands of Tunisians have crowded the streets of downtown Tunis to demand the government's ouster, in the largest opposition protests to hit the capital since the country's political crisis began two weeks ago.
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Protests have been held daily since the killing of leftist politician and assembly member Mohamed Brahmi on July 25, nearly six months after another leftist figure was gunned down.
More than 70 members of the assembly withdrew two weeks ago in protest at the two killings and organised a sit-in outside the assembly headquarters.
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Tunisians are facing the worst political crisis since the toppling of autocratic ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, in a revolt that sparked uprisings across the Arab world.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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5 Terrible Acts of Voter Discrimination the Voting Rights Act Prevented—But Won't Anymore
By Lauren Williams
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President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law 48 years ago today. But in June, the conservative justices on the Supreme Court struck down a major section of the law, freeing jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to change their voting laws without federal permission. For decades, Section 5 of the VRA required a number of jurisdictions, mostly in the South, to seek the feds' approval—called preclearance, in legal parlance—before modifying voting rules. The Supreme Court's decision gutted Section 5, paving the way for new discriminatory laws.
Since the high court ruling, North Carolina has passed what critics have called the worst voter ID law in the country, Texas pushed ahead with a voter ID law and redistricting plan that the VRA blocked last year, and Attorney General Eric Holder has vowed to continue to challenge discriminatory voting laws despite the Supreme Court ruling. Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, announced this week that he would renew his efforts to purge "noncitizens" from the voter rolls, a messy, inaccurate practice that the Justice Department says violates the VRA and unfairly targets black and Latino voters.
In honor of the VRA's anniversary, here are five recent and egregious examples of minority discrimination that were blocked by Section 5, the part of the law the Supreme Court eviscerated in June . . .
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Broad U.S. terror alert mystifies experts; ‘It’s crazy pants,’ one says
By Hannah Allam
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Analysts don’t dispute the Obama administration’s narrative that it’s gleaned intelligence on a plot involving al Qaida’s most active affiliate, the Yemen-based Arabian Peninsula branch. That would explain why most U.S. posts in the Persian Gulf are on lockdown, including the U.S. embassy in Yemen, which on Tuesday airlifted most of its personnel to Germany in an “ordered departure,” the government’s euphemism for an evacuation.
But how, then, does it make sense for the State Department to close embassies as far afield as Mauritius or Madagascar, where there’s been no visible jihadist activity? And why is it that countries that weathered numerous terrorist attacks – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, for example – were excluded or allowed to reopen quickly?
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In the absence of specifics about what the Obama administration refers to as a “specific threat,” seasoned analysts were reluctant to comment because there’s so little insight into the government’s decision-making. Instead, a mix of speculation and conspiracy theory fills the void.
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Analysts said they’d hold out for hard facts before commenting.
“I’ve been ignoring all of it because there’s an infinite range of possibilities,” said Gartenstein-Ross. “It would be like speculating on the reboot of the ‘Star Wars’ series.”
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Purchases The Washington Post for $250M
By Tiffany Kaiser
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Bezos' purchase ends four generations of family ownership by the Graham family. Donald Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Co., said that financial pressures and refusal to keep cutting costs is what led to the sale.
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"The paper's duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners," said Bezos in a letter to staff. "We will continue to follow the truth wherever it leads, and we'll work hard not to make mistakes. When we do, we will own up to them quickly and completely."
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Bezos could be the right guy to bring The Washington Post deeper into the digital era. Not only is he the leader of the e-shopping website Amazon, but he also developed the Kindle series of e-readers and tablets. These devices have transformed the way we read books, magazines, newspapers, etc. With his expertise in combining technology and reading, it only makes sense that he be the one to take hold of the newspaper business.
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US government sues Bank of America over mortgage securities
By (BBC)
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The US government filed two lawsuits against Bank of America relating to fraud on $850m (£553m) of mortgage-backed securities.
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In the Justice Department suit, the government alleged that Bank of America "knowingly and wilfully misled investors about the quality and safety of their investments" in a residential mortgage-backed security known as BOAMS 2008-A.
The security, worth around $850m when it was issued in January 2008, eventually collapsed during the crisis as the quality of the loans contained in it soured.
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Bank of America has recently announced a series of settlements, including an $8.5bn settlement with investors dealing with similar mortgage-based securities and a $1.6bn deal with MBIA Inc, a bond insurer.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
Back in the early ‘80s when alt-rock was still called post-punk or new wave and relegated to the ghetto of college radio, Athens seemed to grab all the cutting edge music glory in Georgia. While many music critics liked to insist Guadalcanal Diary came from that scene (their first LP was on Danny Beard’s DB Records, which while based in Atlanta, was known for breaking out The B-52s), the band actually hailed from Marietta, proving something much more innovative than the Big Chicken could hatch out of what’s often thought of as Atlanta’s most white-bread suburb.
It doesn’t seem like it could possibly have been three decades ago when they first got together to play a friend’s backyard wedding, but it’s mighty good to hear that Guadalcanal Diary, who broke up in 1987, are back and performing live, if only for two shows. The first was at AthFest last weekend, and rumor has it that the second at Smith’s Olde Bar is already sold out. Yeah, it seems like there are plenty of folks who miss hearing the voodoo jangly twang with an offbeat sense of humor of “Watusi Rodeo”—the name of their first EP released in 1983 . . .
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For those too young to remember, briefly how did Guadalcanal Diary get started and why the name?
Jeff and I had been writing songs together on and off for years, and we wanted to play them live. We both had been in a band called Strictly American with Rhett’s brother Curtis Crowe of Pylon, and John and Jeff were in a couple of bands together as well, The Motive and The Rooms. Rhett and I were a couple at the time and she wanted to learn to play bass, which Jeff taught her. The original idea involved doing a number of Civil War ballads all rocked up, but, thankfully, our originals sunk that idea. The name, taken from the Richard Tregaskis novel, seemed ambiguous enough to work creatively under. Plus, it sounds like water.
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What question do you wish someone would ask you but they never do, and what’s the answer?
I wish someone would ask me why I like peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches. Because they’re crunchy, sweet and sour.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Study Questions Nature's Ability to 'Self-Correct' Climate Change
By (ScienceDaily)
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Forests have a limited capacity to soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study from Northern Arizona University.
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By performing tests on subtropical woodland plots over an 11-year period, the researchers found that ecosystem carbon uptake was not significantly increased by the high CO2 treatment—in contrast to expectations. While plants did contain more carbon when CO2 levels were increased, soil actually lost carbon due to microbial decomposition; both factors essentially balanced one another out.
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In addition, the study results indicate that widely accepted carbon cycle models overestimate the role of ecosystems in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere because the models do not represent the responses of soil microorganisms correctly.
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Bold leadership from US insurers is needed to tackle climate change
By Mindy Lubber
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The insurance industry's core business is to protect people – and businesses – in harm's way. With the rise of extreme weather across the US, insurers are increasingly connecting the dots between climate change and its costs.
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Most importantly, these trends are triggering more honest discussion among insurers and regulators about appropriate price signals for property owners living in harm's way. New York and Connecticut homeowners are already seeing modest increases in private homeowners' insurance premiums and even bigger jumps in hurricane and wind-damage deductibles. There's also been renewed discussion about the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is mired in billions of debt due to a widening chasm between loss claims and premiums for the 5.5 million American homeowners and small businesses using the program. Last year's Congressional reforms to NFIP, requiring premium increases of about 25% a year over the next five years, are a welcome step.
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Reactive strategies where private insurers cut and run from high-risk areas, leaving consumers and local governments in the lurch, are not a satisfactory response. We've seen this already in many parts of the country, especially Florida where private insurers have largely abandoned the homeowners insurance market, thus forcing the state to take on the responsibility (and the huge financial exposure in the event of a big hurricane.)
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Proactive, bold leadership from US insurers is what we need, and it can come in many forms. Insurers must update their risk models to plan for future weather, not the storms of the past. With that information in hand, they should work more closely with regulators to set the right price signals that balance risks and consumer needs. Insurers can help communities plan for a warmer future – via stronger land use planning and building codes and by offering insurance products that incentivise climate-resiliency. And, lastly, the insurance industry needs to support policies to curb the carbon pollution that is causing climate change in the first place.
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Climate change pushing marine life towards the poles, says study
By Helen Davidson
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Rising ocean temperatures are rearranging the biological makeup of our oceans, pushing species towards the poles by 4.4 miles every year, as they chase the climates they can survive in, according to new research.
The study, conducted by a working group of scientists from 17 different institutions, gathered data from seven different countries and found the warming oceans are causing marine species to alter their breeding, feeding, and migration patterns.
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The team looked at a wide variety of species, from plankton and ocean plants to predators such as seals, seabirds, and big fish.
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The scientists found that 81 percent of the study’s observations supported the hypothesis that climate change was behind the changes seen.
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Science and Health |
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Brain Molecule Regulating Human Emotion, Mood Uncovered
By (ScienceDaily)
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A RIKEN research team has discovered an enzyme called Rines that regulates MAO-A, a major brain protein controlling emotion and mood. The enzyme is a potentially promising drug target for treating diseases associated with emotions such as depression.
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Now, a research team headed by Jun Aruga at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute has shown for the first time that a ligase named Rines (RING finger-type E3 ubiquitin ligase) regulates these levels. Their research shows that mice without the Rines gene exhibit impaired stress responses and enhanced anxiety, controlled in part through the regulation of MAO-A levels. The study is published today in Journal of Neuroscience.
As the first study to demonstrate regulation of MAO-A protein via the ubiquitin proteasomal system, this research presents a promising new avenue for analyzing the role of MAO-A in brain function. Further research promises insights into the treatment of anxiety, stress-related disorders and impaired social functions.
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Tide turns for U.S child obesity -- down in 18 states
By (UPI)
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U.S. obesity remains epidemic, but the tide has begun to turn for children in 18 states, with only three states showing weight increases, officials say.
A Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found after decades of rising rates, obesity among low-income preschoolers declined slightly in 19 states and U.S. territories from 2008 through 2011. Studies last year showed that places such as New York City and state of Mississippi found a drop in child obesity, but this study indicated a larger trend nationwide.
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"Today's announcement reaffirms my belief that together, we are making a real difference in helping kids across the country get a healthier start to life," said first lady Michelle Obama, who has promoted healthy eating and physical activity since arriving in the White House in 2009. "We know how essential it is to set our youngest children on a path towards a lifetime of healthy eating and physical activity, and more than 10,000 childcare programs participating in the Let's Move! Child Care initiative are doing vitally important work on this front."
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Jumping spiders' silk dragline trick revealed
By Victoria Gill
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High-speed cameras have revealed how jumping spiders use a dragline of silk to stabilise themselves mid-air and control their landings.
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The non-silk jumping spider would often lose balance - tipping forward and onto its back upon landing.
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The results, she said, suggested that the spiders were taking up the slack in their silk dragline by using the valve in their spinning system.
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Technology |
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Build your own point-and-shoot camera with Bigshot
By (dpreview.com)
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Budding young photographers (and curious adults) can put together their own camera with Bigshot, a DIY point-and-shoot aimed at teaching kids tech hardware basics. Developed partially with funding from Google, the kit includes everything needed to construct the camera including a 3 megapixel image sensor, 1.4 inch LCD and a wheel with three built in lens options – standard, panoramic and stereo for 3D images (all are fixed focal length). A rechargeable lithium-ion battery is also included, complemented by a hand crank for a little extra power when the battery dies.
An accompanying interactive online guide explains the concepts behind the hardware components. Recommended for children ages 8 and older, part of the Bigshot mission is introducing these advanced tech topics to elementary or middle school students. . .
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These Incredible New Buses Are Charged Wirelessly by the Road Itself
By Adam Clark Estes
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Imagine an electric vehicle that can travel endless distances without ever needing to stop at a recharging station. That sounds impossible, right? Because electric vehicles run on batteries, and at some point, you need stop and charge those batteries. Not this one.
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Researchers have high hopes for the technology, which was originally developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The SMFIR tech was unveiled a couple of years ago at Seoul Grand Park, a zoo and amusement park in the country's capital, but the hope is roll it out in more cities over the next few years. Any why not? The start up costs are minimal since the power cables don't need to be laid under the entire road, just sections along the route, and because those sections are only activated when a bus drives over them, the power use is minimal.
In the larger scheme of things, it's hard to see SMFIR technology this being applied to regular passenger vehicles since you'd have to rip up all the roads everywhere to install the cables. However, there are plans to start sending OLEVs around the world. The next stop is the Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia and Park City, Utah. . .
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Danny O'Brien on civil liberties groups, the NSA and Bruce Sterling
By Cory Doctorow
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. . . Danny O'Brien, who recently returned to a job at the Electronic Frontier Foundation after a stint at the Committee to Protect Journalists, has written an excellent essay on the way that civil liberties and civil society groups and activists have devoted their lives, and risked their safety, in the cause of civil liberties online.
Well, let’s go through the Chairman’s list alphabetically, and see if they have any excuse for their lack of aid and woeful ignorance about the electronic frontier.
. . . Access has a base in the United States, where aiding Snowden would get you hauled in for questioning on an espionage charge. I note they’ve been in such “a pitiful dream world” about the rule of law they spent a sizeable chunk of the last few years campaigning (with EFF and CPJ and many others) to get https turned on for a huge chunk of the Internet, thereby protecting it — I’m sure entirely accidentally — from unlawful NSA taps. You know, the ones that EFF has been telling people about since 2006.
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But hey, that’s just words on the Internet, right? What we really need is less of that online guff, and more direction action, right? Like our next witness, Aktion Freiheit statt Angst, who have been protesting surveillance in Germany since 2006, when they inspired 15,000 people onto the streets of Berlin.
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'Critical phase' for Iter fusion dream
By David Shukman
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The Iter project at Cadarache in Provence is receiving the first of about one million components for its experimental reactor.
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Further delay crept in with disputes over access to manufacturing sites in partner countries. Because each part has to meet extremely high specifications, inspectors from Iter and the French nuclear authorities have had to negotiate visits to companies not used to outside scrutiny.
The result is that although a timeline for the delivery of the key elements has been agreed, there's a recognition that more hold-ups are almost inevitable.
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A few said that could happen within 40 years but most said it would take another 50 or even 60 years. The fusion dream has never been worked on so vigorously. But turning it into reality is much more than 30 years away.
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Cultural |
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NRA attacks “shadowy network” of enviros and zoos fighting to ban lead bullets
By Claire Thompson
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Studies have shown that as many as 20 million birds, including endangered California condors, die each year from lead poisoning after ingesting bullet fragments. Ammunition is likely the greatest unregulated source of lead released into the environment, according to a statement [PDF] from scientific experts in lead and environmental health. Some states, notably California, are now weighing regulations to outlaw the use of lead in bullets.
The NRA isn’t going to stand by and let that happen. The group has launched a campaign called Hunt for Truth to fight back against “the assault on traditional lead ammunition” by targeting the groups and individuals — mostly scientists, nonprofits, and government agencies — behind this unconscionable attack on American values.
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According to the NRA, an “activist portion of the scientific community” has formed “a highly organized network of like minded researchers with an agenda to ban lead ammunition.” In order to thwart this looming threat, “Hunt for Truth will expose the researchers associated with ‘faulty science’ critical of lead ammunition,” the gun lobby says.
Scientists aren’t the NRA’s only new targets. Nonprofits like the San Diego Zoo and the California Condor Recovery Team are also on the enemies list. The NRA claims these groups “have considerable influence over many legislators and regulators,” which they use to “capture” the regulatory agencies and bureaucrats responsible for lead ammunition restrictions.
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14th century Italian statue's finger knocked off by American tourist
By Sarah Wolfe
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An American tourist visiting Italy's Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence has sparked outrage overseas after knocking the finger off a priceless 14th century statue.
The tourist, reportedly a 55-year-old Missouri man, was measuring the statue's pinky finger when he accidentally snapped it off.
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“In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten," the American head of the museum, Timothy Verdon, told MSN UK. "That is, ‘Do not touch the works.’”
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French woman offers breastfeeding service to gay couples
By (Reuters via theguardian.com)
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A French woman has posted an offer on a website to breastfeed babies of homosexual couples for €100 a day, stirring up media interest just weeks after a divisive same-sex marriage law was passed.
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The offer, addressed to gay couples who have been able to marry legally in France since May, promises up to 10 breastfeeds a day. The woman is mobile and based near Paris, it says.
Alexandre Woog, chief executive of the website where the post appeared, said its staff had contacted the person and had no doubt about her identity and the seriousness of the proposal.
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While France has just joined more than a dozen countries to legalise marriage and adoption of children by same-sex couples, it does not permit surrogacy or assisted reproduction for gay and lesbian couples.
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Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already. |