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NASA To Test Mars Bound Flying Saucer Thursday

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The United States has a rich history of flying saucers, not just from UFO reports, but actual experimental planes that flew, or rather hovered, in the 1950s.

While those planes didn’t work out so well, NASA has been busy with a flying saucer concept of its own. That concept will actually fly on Thursday.

The agency is testing something called the low-density supersonic decelerator (LDSD), better known as a flying saucer, because that’s just what it looks like.

The purpose of the futuristic (or retro) looking LDSD is to test bigger and stronger parachutes which we’ll need to safely land a spacecraft on future missions to Mars.

After yesterday’s launch from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, was scrapped because waves were too high to successfully recover the LDSD when it returns to Earth. The launch is planned for around 1:30 pm eastern time June 3rd.

The LDSD is an important step toward a successful Mars mission. It also marks NASA continuing to push American innovation forward, after years of being starved of funds and attention.

Because Mars has a thin atmosphere, the kind of parachutes we use on Earth aren’t enough slow down a spacecraft for a safe landing. While a manned mission to Mars is still a ways off, the LDSD’s technology will probably be used to improve parachute technology for the next rover that will be sent to Mars. Each of the previous martian rovers have used the same parachute design first invented in 1976.

The LDSD’s parachute system actually consists of three devices.

The first two are called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (SIADs), which inflate as the spacecraft reaches Mars, increasing the surface area, creating drag, which slows it down.

Then there’s the Supersonic Ringsail parachute, a massive 100-foot diameter rig, to compensate for Mars’ thin air.

This combination system will increase the weight a spacecraft can be for a safe Mars landing from 3,300 pounds to between 4,400 and 6,600 pounds. It should also improve landing accuracy from within six miles to within two. For rovers this accuracy isn’t a huge factor but in a human mission accuracy could be the difference between life and death.

For viewers who want to see the test live, with cool camera angles all over the spacecraft, tune into the NASA stream, here, around Noon Thursday.

Update: NASA has again posponed the test, this time until Thursday, June 4th around noon

Facebook Owned Instagram To Be Covered In Ads

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When a tech billionaire buys a product that is ad free and all about the users its usually a sign that things will change in the very near future.

True to form, serial privacy invader Facebook has confirmed plans to cram its photo filter app Instagram full of ads, according to a blog post on Tuesday.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for roughly $715 million. Since doing so, the company has put a small number of ads into the product.

But ads will be small no more, as businesses of all sizes will soon be able to buy ads directly, in a push to make the photo sharing app profitable.

Instagram’s ad’s will be “native” in design and will allegedly be an unobtrusive addition to the photo-sharing service.

Except, of course, the whole privacy thing. The more ads get shown and the more elaborate the ad platform becomes, the less privacy users have. Given Instagram is an app, and its owned by Facebook, it has a vast amount of data about you, which will now happily be shared with advertisers of all sorts.

For the 300 million or so people who share their pics on Instagram this means advertisers can target you “based on demographics and interests”.

In other words your habits, location, stage of life, relationship status and other creepy data will be heavily tracked and sold by the new ad businesses.

But Facebook, of course, thinks this is all sunshine and lollipops:

There are more than two million advertisers who actively use Facebook to market their business and we want to leverage the best of Facebook’s infrastructure for buying, managing and measuring the success of ads on Instagram.

We will start by opening the Instagram Ads API to a select group of Facebook Marketing Partners and agencies, and we plan to expand globally throughout the year.

Don’t be fooled though. The entire world will very shortly be able to buy your data in order to target you with ads.

Which is a good reminder that if a product from Silicon Valley is free, it isn’t actually the product.

You, and your personal information, are the product.

Dairy Giant Bans Milk From Suppliers Who Mistreat Cows

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People are increasingly demanding accountability from animal producers regarding what animals are fed and how they’re raised. Big corporations, who have traditionally turned a blind eye to such concerns, are increasingly taking notice.

Global dairy giant Saputo, based in Canada, announced on Tuesday that it will no longer buy milk from farmers who mistreat their animals.

The company, which is one of the largest dairy processors in the world, unveiled its new policy Tuesday in the wake of an undercover video released last year that showed employees of one of its suppliers viciously beating cattle.

The footage, released by Mercy for Animals, led to eight employees of the Chilliwack Cattle Company to be fired.

“Saputo has zero tolerance for any act of animal cruelty,” the company said “This includes, but is not limited to, willful mistreatment and neglect of animals and acts that maliciously cause pain, injury or suffering. We expect all dairy cattle workers (employers and employees) to adopt and adhere to proper animal care and handling methods at all times.”

Saputo will now require suppliers to adhere to a code of conduct, renewed each year, and train employees in animal welfare. It also “wants to change” two widespread industry practices: Tail docking and dehorning cattle without pain control.

It was unclear on Tuesday whether or when the company will completely eliminate the two mentioned practices.

If “credible evidence” of animal cruelty emerges the supplier will be suspended and then need to follow strict criteria to be reinstated.

Mercy for Animals praised Saputo’s announcement and curged other large dairy companies to follow suit.

“It’s never been clearer that the days are numbered for dairy factory farms that beat and drag cows, and mutilate them without painkillers,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday.

In an age of social media bad news spreads quickly. Successful companies are taking notice of this and increasingly implementing policies to stop such news from surfacing, in-line with the expectations of their consumers for what is deemed ‘bad’.

California Proposes Tough New Pipeline Standards After Santa Barbara Spill

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It seems California doesn’t trust big oil companies which perhaps has something to do with the massive spill late last month onto Santa Barbara’s pristine Refugio State Beach. In addition to being a big spill, the pipeline company was slow to react, slow to alert authorities and then lowballed the estimates until it was proven, as we covered here and here, that the spill was far worse than thought.

Two lawmakers from Santa Barbara County on Tuesday proposed legislation that would require annual inspections, quicker responses, better technology and another attempt to bar oil drilling in environmentally sensitive portions of the coast.

Four bills will be introduced by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara).

“It has reminded us of just how precious our coastline and our wildlife are and how vulnerable we are to oil spills,” Jackson told reporters during a conference call.

Jackson was particularly concerned upon learning that the pipeline that broke had not been inspected for at least two years. The new measures would stipulate annual inspections. “We know that the pipeline that ruptured was not inspected frequently enough and that if it had problems [the spill] might have been prevented,” she said.

To address the six hours it took for the state to respond to the leak, the legislation will require two large oil skimming devices to be positioned along the Santa Barbara County coast and would allow local commercial fishermen to be immediately deputized to help respond to such disasters.

A further bill will put a moratorium on the use of dispersants, chemicals which are widely regarded as “toxic and ineffective,’’ until the U.S. EPA completes their study on the chemicals.

The senator and her colleagues also will push legislation for a Senate vote this Wednesday to ban offshore oil drilling in sensitive areas of northern Santa Barbara County. A similar bill did not get support last year in the Legislature amid strong oil industry opposition. The political climate may now be more favorable to pass such legislation.

Assemblyman Williams, noting the ruptured pipeline did not have an automatic shutoff valve, said he will introduce legislation to require pipeline companies to use the best technology available in environmentally sensitive areas.

“I’m deeply saddened and angered to see one of California’s most beloved beaches and campgrounds closed,” he said.

Overall it appears, like many oil spills, that the situation was entirely preventable but was not stopped because of cost control measures which resulted in lax safety standards.

As America considers large pipelines like Keystone XL, the legislation may serve as a framework for how pipelines must be operated, at least in environmentally sensitive areas.

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Embattled World Soccer President Resigns In Shame After Latest Revelations

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Sepp Blatter, head of corrupt world soccer body FIFA, announced he will step down as head of the governing body but only after a fresh vote “for the election of my successor,” he said Tuesday.

The announcement comes after fresh allegations this morning that the FIFA president was deeply involved in the bribery scandal that resulted in over a dozen charges against FIFA members. Tuesday’s reports detail how his right hand man, Jerome Valcke, sent a $10 million payment to Jack Warner, who has been charged for his involvment in the bribery.

Prior to today, Blatter, who was just re-elected last Friday, had distanced himself from the allegations. Today’s evidence indicates otherwise.

Blatter did not say when the election would be held but said it that it would happen before the next World Congress in May 2016

“I have thoroughly thought about my presidency and the 40 years FIFA has played in my life. I love FIFA more than anything else and I only want to do the best. I decided to stand again for election for the good of football,” he said.

However, he went on to say that his “mandate does not appear to be supported by everybody.”

Iran Jails Cartoon Drawer For 12 Years Just Days After Holding Cartoon Drawing Contest

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Don’t let Iran’s art takeovers or cartoon drawing contests fool you: Its still a fanatically religious country where oppression and human rights abuses are the norm.

The latest news out of Iran confirms this as it was revealed Tuesday that an Iranian artist was sentenced to over 12 years in prison for drawing a cartoon criticizing members of parliament over their decision to restrict birth control for women.

Atena Farghadani, 28, had a sham Iranian trial in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on May 19th and learned on Monday of the verdict and harsh sentence for “insulting members of parliament through paintings” for drawing the officials as animals, according to Amnesty International.

The family plans to appeal, though sentence, due to quirky Iranian law, will only last a little over seven and a half years.

“Naturally we are all upset by the sentence,” said a family member. “But seeing how optimistic Atena has been, we are trying to maintain that outlook, too.”

“She’s truly an angel,” a relative said, anonymously, for fear of government reprisals. “She just loves people and animals, and besides for all her artistic talent, she is such a strong supporter of human rights.”

“I hope Atena’s case is a wake up call for the international community and that they put the human rights on top of the agenda in their dialogue with the Iranian authorities.” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of group Iran Human Rights.

In addition to the ridiculously harsh sentence, Farghadani’s family has been threatened. It is “just another way of putting pressure on Atena and making sure no one speaks to the media” Amiry-Moghaddam said.

“It’s crazy to think her name spread as a result of a cartoon, because she has done so many wonderful things to help humanity, doing things quietly and not wanting credit,” he said.

Farghadani has been in prison since last August, when the Revolutionary Guards raided her home and blindfolded her, confiscated her personal items and then imprisoned her, according to Amnesty International.

Farghadani posted an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to her Facebook page stating:

“What you call an “insult to representatives of the parliament by means of cartoons” I consider to be an artistic expression of the home of our nation (parliament), which our nation does not deserve! I, therefore, must pay retribution for defending my beloved defenseless people.”

She has since been held in solitary confinement, a method the United Nations views as torture, at Tehran’s Evin prison, where she was hospitalized in February after going on a three week hunger strike and suffered a heart attack.

Farghadani’s family visits the prison weekly, the family member said.

“Atena is a prisoner of conscience – she has committed no real crime,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “She is being unfairly punished simply for exercising her right to free speech, association and assembly. We’ve been calling on Iran’s Supreme Leader and Head of the Judiciary to release Atena immediately. If not, we’ll continue to fight for her freedom.”

Judge Abolghassem Salavati, the judge overseeing her case, is known as “Iran’s hanging judge” or the “judge of death” for handing out hundreds of death penalty sentences, particularly against journalists, bloggers, artists and political activists.

So while Iran puts out slick propaganda showing it holding cartoon drawing contests against ISIS or filling Tehran with works of art, the reality is that it is run by religious fanaticals who do not believe in human rights or the rule of law.

ISIS Declares War On Palestine, Kills Top Hamas Commander

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ISIS Declares War On Palestine, Kills Top Hamas Commander

The Islamic State (ISIS) seems to want war with everyone, everywhere as militants announced they have assassinated a top Hamas commander by blowing up his car. They went on to declare war on Palestine and threaten genocide against the Palestinian people.

Hamas’ senior commander Saber Siam was killed on Sunday after ISIS loyalists placed a bomb in his vehicle.

ISIS militants said in a statement that Siam was killed because he was “a partner in a declared war against religion and against Muslims, working for the heretical government in Gaza,” according to Israeli reports.

The attack was conducted by ISIS-affiliated Salafist rebels who have also warned local residents to stay away from Hamas offices and buildings as it plans to carry out more attacks.

The conflict between Hamas and ISIS in Gaza started when Palestinian forces demolished a makeshift mosque used by Ansar al-Bayt al-Maqdis in early May.

Ansar al-Bayt al-Maqdis is an Egyptian Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS and has been recruiting Palestinians for the Islamic State.

After demolishing the Almtahabin mosque, Hamas then arrested seven men, including a local Salafist Sheikh Yasser Abu Houli.

ISIS claims it will kill Hamas personnel “one by one” and that it knows the names and addresses of all the officers working for the Palestinian Intelligence agency.

Google Can Now Count The Calories Of Your Food Porn

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Google continues to push hard into the realm of artificial intelligence, with its Google Now service increasingly offering predictive alerts based where you are and what you’re doing.

Its latest project, yet to be released, looks to calculate the calories on your Instagram posts, which it announced at the Rework Deep Learning Summit.

The tool, called Im2Calories, will identify food in pictures and then calculate the calorie content.

Google researcher Kevin P Murphy says the AI technology an images pixel depth and use “sophisticated deep-learning algorithms” to judge both the size and shape of the food.

According to Popular Science, the company has recently filed a patent for the technology.

“To me it’s obvious that people really want this and this is really useful. OK fine, maybe we get the calories off by 20%. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to average over a week or a month or a year.

Now we can start to potentially join information from multiple people and start to do population-level statistics. I have colleagues in epidemiology and public health, and they really want this stuff,” said Murphy.

While the research is still ongoing, such a tool could become a feature of Google’s newly launched Photos app. The goal of that app is to replace Facebook and Instagram as the go-to spot to store pictures. The service offers free, basically unlimited, storage of high resolution photos, making it a natural fit for analysis tools like Im2Calories.

Teens Pursuing Healthier Habits After Searching The Web

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New research shows that parents’ fears about their teens and the internet may be well overblown. Many are actually switching to healthier habits after consulting the Web.

The new study, the first in more than a decade to examine how teens use online tools for health information, almost one third of teenagers said they used online tools to improve behavior, like cutting back on drinking soda, using exercise to fight depression and trying healthier recipes.

The study was released Tuesday by researchers at Northwestern University.

The study debunks the myth of “all the negative things kids are doing online,” while highlighting the importance of making sure there is accurate, and easily reachable information available to teens, “because it’s used and acted upon,” said Ellen Wartella, lead author of the report.

Teens, nearly one-quarter of them, also look for information on health conditions affecting friends or family. Yet a surprising 88 percent said they did not feel comfortable sharing their health concerns with friends on Facebook or other social media, which shows the issues are deeply personal.

“I mainly find it kind of moving, because it really illustrates that a lot of teens are grappling with very real, very important health challenges and that the Internet is empowering them with the information they need to take better care of themselves,” said Vicky Rideout, an author of the study.

While the internet is quickly becoming a vital tool, parents are still the leading source of health information, with 55 percent of teens saying they got “a lot” of health information from parents.

While not surprising that teens rely on their parents for health information what is surprising is that only a small number, 13 percent, said they turned to the Internet because they couldn’t talk to a parent.

“The Internet is not replacing parents, teachers, and doctors; it is supplementing them,” the researchers wrote.

The conclusion fits with what retailers and media companies are seeing: Consumers are using smartphones and the internet to augment traditional channel, such as in-store retail or television, not replace it.

More devices mean more crosschecking and referencing, not fully replacing traditional sources.

U.S. Planes Flying In Circles Rather Than Bombing ISIS

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The U.S. response to ISIS has been underwhelming, as while the threat was forecast by Pentagon officials since 2012, the U.S. has still not committed significant military forces to curbing what could be the worst humanitarian crisis since the Holocaust.

While the U.S. has reportedly been conducting limited air strikes, Iraq’s former national security adviser said on Tuesday that most U.S. fighter jets deployed to bomb terrorists in the Arab country return to their bases without dropping any bombs.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie sharply criticized the U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS as ineffective.

“From where I sit in Baghdad,” said Rubaie, “eight out of each 10” aircraft loaded with ammunition return to their bases without striking their targets.

“Only two out of ten strike their targets in Iraq,” he said in an interview.

“I think the United States government needs and should and ought to do a lot more,” in Iraq, he went on to say.

The United States and dozens of allies have been launching airstrikes against the ISIS targets in Iraq since August. The raids have also included Syria since September.

Yet the terror group is now stronger than ever, having recently captured a variety of key cities in both Syria and Iraq.

North Korea Wants Two Million Tourists To Visit

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North Korea has a bit of an image problem. Between starving its people, publicly executing officials with anti-aircraft guns and its nuclear ambitions, the hermit kingdom isn’t the kind of place most people would think of as a tourist destination.

The odd defector to successfully make it out usually confirms that life in the world’s most secretive state is indeed quite dreadful.

Yet rotund leader Kim Jong-un has a coveted assignment for the North Korean tourist board (yes, that’s a thing): entice two million annual visitors in the next five years to the self-proclaimed ‘socialist fairyland.’

We’re sure failure will be tolerated very well, in typical North Korean fashion.

Currently North Korea accepts about 100,000 tourists per year. Like much of the country, tours are rigorously regimented, photography banned and independent movement is strictly prohibited, unless you’d like a permanent stay.

Kim Jong-un is personally behind the move, as he has seen an opportunity to open the curtain on his family’s ghastly creation. Speaking in Pyongyang, he said: “Tourism can produce a lot of profit relative to the investment required, so that’s why our country is putting priority on it.

Many people in foreign countries think in a wrong way about our country [but] we are developing our economy. So I think many people are curious about our country.”

Aside from the personal safety and boredom aspects there are also deep ethical concerns about giving money to the repressive regime. The elites of the country get nearly all the proceeds of such ventures so there are concerns that foreign travel dollars just enable the regime to continue its long line of atrocities.

The State Department, UK Foreign Office and all other government advisory boards in the west currently advise against travel to North Korea.

Wikileaks Offers $100,000 Bounty For Full Text Of Shadowy TPP Trade Deal

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The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the most secretive trade deal in history. It is a defining deal for the Obama administration, solidifying their place in American history as the most secretive administration ever. And perhaps the most hypocritical, given Obama ran on a platform promising transparency yet did the precise opposite.

Despite greatly impacting the American people, even Congress doesn’t have any input on the exact provisions of the trade deal.

Wikileaks has published excerpts of early drafts, which show lots of shady side-deals, measures to destroy the environment and the surrendering of Americans’ rights to foreign governments in the interests of ‘trade’.

In short, its a hand wrapped and delivered gift to American corporations and big Obama backers, at the direct expense of the American people.

On Tuesday, whistle-blowing site Wikileaks announced a plan to crowd-source a $100,000 reward for the remaining chapters of the deal it hasn’t published. To date only three chapters of the shadowy agreement have surfaced.

“The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let’s open the TPP once and for all,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a written statement.

Interest in the deal between the United States and other Pacific Rim countries is so high because it would hurt American workers and the economy. At least according to the explosive first three chapters.

Even the three chapters, while giving some idea of what a deal would look like, are old, going back as far as 2012 and as recently as 2014.

The $100,000 reward is the first under a new program for the organization, in which users can pledge funding on the chapters they want the most.

Apple’s Most Trusted iPhone Manufacturer Will Soon Be Building Tons Of Electric Cars

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Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, thanks to lucrative manufacturing contracts to produce Apple’s iPhone, iPad and other devices.

But it is increasingly a big player in electric car rentals in China, announcing plans today to expand its electric-car rental business in ten more cities in China. The company started the business in Beijing just last year.

Foxconn, in partnership with Chinese automaker BAIC, now has 200 charging stations offering more than 1,000 BAIC E150 electric cars for rent in Beijing.

Earlier this year Hon Hai has launched in Hangzhou and Changzhou in the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu respectively. Guiyang, located in southwest Guizhou province, will begin with 100 electric cars in July.

As the company looks to open ten new operations this year candidate cities include the megacities of Shanghai and Shenzhen, in addition to Wuzhou in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang region.

Users book the cars through the company’s smartphone app, website and via the WeChat platform, China’s version of WhatsApp. The company works with Alibaba’s Alipay unit for online payment.

The electric vehicle rental business doesn’t make much revenue for the company as the market is still young.

But the most interesting part is that Hon Hai is aiming for the bigger contract manufacturing market behind it, according to one source.

Which means Apple’s number one builder of devices will very soon have all the tools to mass produce electric vehicles.

Its not a great leap of logic to imagine Foxconn making electric cars based on Apple designs, should the iPhone maker wish to enter the market.

Putin’s Favorite Tigers Are Making A Comeback

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In Russia, what dictator Vladimir Putin wants, Vladimir Putin gets. The increasingly erratic Russian leader is known to have a soft spot for the endangered Amur tigers, which call Russia home. These tigers are continuing their comeback in Russia’s Far East.

According to a new census, there may now be over 540, including just under a hundred cubs. Ten years ago there were just 420 a decade ago while in the 1940s, the species nearly went extinct with a population below 40.

The large tigers, the largest of their species, weigh up to 660 lbs yet still remain endangered. Poaching remains the greatest threat to wild tigers today, with parts of their body in high demand throughout Asia, particularly China, which notoriously disregards wildlife trafficking laws. The parts are used in quack medicine.

The most recent census was organized by the Russian government, with support from the Amur Tiger Center and the WWF. More than 5,792 sq miles was covered in the research, which involved a few thousand field specialists who used GPS, satellite navigators, and camera traps.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, known for having a soft spot for big cats, has supported efforts to protect Amur tigers. Through harsher punishments and the introduction of criminal charges for the hunting, storage, and trafficking of endangered animals and their parts within Russia have aided the tigers’ comeback. Russia is also working with China to relax some border controls in order to give the cats more space to roam.

“The key is strong political support,” said Mike Baltzer, who leads the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative. “Where we have it, in countries like Russia and India, we are seeing tremendous results. By contrast, tiger populations in Southeast Asia are dwindling due to weaker political support.”

Netflix To Start Running Advertisements On Shows And Movies

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Netflix claimed on Monday its just “experimenting” with ads that run both before and after every episode and video. The company claims its a test but if the data is good the company will likely roll this out to all users in the coming months.

For now, the company is copying the HBO model of running teasers for its own original programming. Netflix swears up and down that it will never run third party ads and instead just pitch its shows like Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards, but if the money’s right it wouldn’t be out of this world for Netflix to go down that path.

Interruption ads, especially as users binge-watch show after show, are very lucrative. When combined with a cable-like monthly fee, which Netflix already charges, the numbers start getting close to what cable companies make presently. They’ve long been chasing this number but have thus far not found a model to get there.

In addition to running interruption ads Netflix has the ability to deliver much more targeted ads, which command higher rates, than a standard cable company. Netflix, in addition to having a detailed history of what you watch, also knows your location, demographic and browsing history. Its data is unparalleled meaning, combined with interruption ads, it would command the highest rates possible for video advertising.

“We are running a test to show some of our original programming,” a Netflix spokesperson told reporters. “As with any Netflix product test, this may never come to all our members.”

Thus far feedback on Twitter has been negative, with numerous tweets complaining about the ads

“Internet TV is divorced of the need of advertising revenue because we can develop direct relationships with the consumer,” Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt told reporters last year. Marketers should “find a different place to advertise,” he added.

Make no mistake, if the data is good, meaning the subscribers tolerate some ads, you’ll start seeing them on Netflix more often.

U.S. Military Sent Live Anthrax To Canada, New Reports Confirm

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The U.S. military’s live anthrax scandal widened on Tuesday as USA Today reports that more samples were shipped to three laboratories in Canada by a U.S. military lab. The news comes in the wake of last week’s disclosures that samples of the bacteria were mistakenly sent to 11 U.S. states and two other countries.

Two U.S. Defence Department officials, who wished to remain anonymous, said the samples sent to Canada came from the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, which is where the other samples in the case appear to trace back to as well.

The lab is responsible for inactivation and shipping of biological material commonly used in weapons.

Yet a Pentagon spokesperson said late Monday that the Pentagon had nothing to announce about the anthrax shipments.

So far reports have confirmed that 11 states had received “suspect samples,” as did Australia and a U.S. air base in South Korea.

The military has ordered a sweeping review of the procedure used to inactivate the deadly bacteria.

All laboratories have been ordered to stop working with any “inactive” samples sent from the Defence Department, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Bio-safety experts are astonished by the lapse.

“These events shouldn’t happen,” Stephen Morse of Columbia University, who was formerly a program manager for bio-defense at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said last week.

Those working with dangerous pathogens have a “two-person rule,” never handling samples alone. The second pair of eyes should insure scientists take proper precautions during handling and experiments.

“We can put greater safeguards in place,” Mr. Morse said.

Lego Launches Surprise Video Game Based On Minecraft

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Children’s toy Lego has increasingly expanded its empire of physical toys, doing collaborations with Batman, Jurassic Park and even video game company Minecraft.

But apparently Lego wants more and yesterday it announced its own video game, which is very similar to Minecraft. Lego Worlds is now available through popular game platform Steam’s ‘early access’ program. So while the release amounts to a paid beta program where you can purchase games still in development.

Its also the same model Minecraft used to launch its hyper-successful game.

And just like Minecraft, Lego’s game features worlds where players modify their surroundings to create whatever they like. The big difference is that in the Lego game those worlds are made of Lego’s famous bricks.

“Lego Worlds enables you to populate your worlds with many weird and wonderful characters, creatures, models, and driveable vehicles, and then play out your own unique adventures,” the game’s page explains.

The full and final version of Worlds is expected to launch early next year, with some key additions. These are reported to include social features like online multiplayer and the ability to share your in-game creations.

“We want to ensure that we provide it with the utmost care and attention as we expand on our ideas,” Lego said of the latest release.

$400 Surprise Expense Is Enough To Plunge 47% Of American Households Into Financial Emergency

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There’s a raging debate among economists and investors about just how well the U.S. economy is doing. Labor force participation is at all-time lows, so while employment stats look OK, many people have just given up and aren’t even searching anymore.

The latest piece of data to suggest that things are not particularly rosy in the U.S. economy is the frightening findings contained in the Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2014.

IT found that “forty-seven percent of respondents say they either could not cover an emergency expense costing $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money.”

While Americans may be feeling better about their finances, as some recent surveys seem to indicate, the statistic that a mere $400 expense would plunge an average household into chaos shows just how under-capitalized American households are. A $400 surprise expense, the survey found, would have to be covered by either liquidating assets or taking out a loan.

“Even prior to the [Great Recession], and more acutely after the recession, it’s true, American households are vulnerable,” said Gregory B. Mills, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, concerning the report. “Depending upon the measure you use, somewhere between one-third and one-half of households are at great risk—as in, they would be unable to fend off hardship.”

Mills sees something even more disturbing than households not having enough savings. The number of households using alternative financial services are on the rise, as we’ve profiled here, meaning that Americans are turning to non-bank lenders for credit: payday loans, peer to peer lending, refund-anticipation loans, pawnshops, and rent-to-own services.

According to an Urban Institute report, the number of households that used such credit products increased 7 percent between 2011 and 2013. That’s an increase of about 750,000 households total and a significant figure for an economy in recovery.

Families that are seeking credit aren’t finding it in mainstream financial institutions. “You used to be able to get small loans for reasonable rates, below 36 percent,” Mills says. “That’s what’s opened the door for more predatory products.”

The type of household seeking alternative financing is also changing.

According to Mills’s research, households looking for non-bank credit with incomes above $30,000 increased from 42 to 48 percent between 2011 and 2013, while those making more than $75,000 increased from 7 to 11 percent over the time period.
“People who are in these [non-bank] situations are not using these forms of credit to simply overcome an emergency, but are using them for basic living experiences,” Mills says.

“Nearly a third of respondents went without some medical treatment in the past year because they could not afford it.”

Late this summer, over 7.5 million Americans will find out whether they will get to keep their healthcare policies.

Here’s hoping most of them do.

Russia Joins The Spy On Your Citizens Party With Backdoored Russian Made Smartphone

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In Russia at least they’re honest that the government is spying on you. While our NSA performs legal acrobatics to convince the American public they’re abiding by the law when in fact they are not, the Russians don’t mince words.

When state company Rostech Corp unveiled the YotaPhone this week, company CEO Sergey Chemezov made a surprising admission. “The FSB will have access [to users’ information]. We don’t have the right to sell phones on the market in any other way – otherwise, the devices could be used by terrorists, criminals,” said Chemezov.

The FSB is the equivalent of our NSA. In Russia, however, at least they admit every phone they sell contains a backdoor. Here in America, it takes security researchers to discover what the NSA is up to, like its plan to backdoor the Google and Apple App Stores.

Like a good tech CEO, Chemezov didn’t miss the opportunity of trashing the competition, claiming the iPhone has become ‘the choice of terrorists’.

So get ready – Chemezov promised that the third version of the YotaPhone is coming in February 2016, and a more affordable version of the YotaPhone to hit shelves around Christmas of 2016.

Silicon Scammer Ellen Pao Appeals Her Loss In Court

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Conniving Silicon Valley scammer Ellen Pao is still going for the money. The supposed female rights advocate, and current Reddit CEO, will appeal the result of a gender discrimination lawsuit she brought against the powerful Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, according to a court document filed on Monday.

In March, a San Francisco jury cleared Kleiner Perkins of claims it stalled Pao’s career because she is a woman, instead finding that Pao and her husband hatched an elaborate plan to sue KPCB after Pao’s plan to sleep and blackmail her way to the top of the firm failed.

Pao was described by partners as a decidedly average investor with poor skills at dealing with portfolio companies, which was the reason her career did not advanced. Pao had been receiving increasingly negative performance reviews at the time she sought a promotion.

Yet Ms. Pao’s brazen, and vocal, attempt to publicly extort the firm has sparked a wide discussion about gender at the center of the U.S. technology industry.

Kleiner spokeswoman Christina Lee stated: “We remain committed to gender diversity in the workplace and believe that women in technology would be best served by focusing on this issue outside of continued litigation.”

Currently the venture capital firm is seeking to recover about $973,000 of its litigation costs, while Pao’s lawyers argue, for some bizarre reason, that she should not have to pay.

A hearing on costs is set for later this month.

Kleiner has generously offered to withdraw its costs request in exchange for an end to the case, which is common when defendants prevail in employment lawsuits.

For more on the full details of Pao’s extortion plot, see our coverage here.

French Unemployment Surges To Record Highs

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Whatever it is that France and or Europe is doing, it isn’t working. Despite numerous promises by the socialist Hollande government, French unemployment has risen non-stop for 4 years. It also just an all-time record record high in April, with 3.53 million people out of work. 20,000 new people were jobless from the month of March.

The news is likely a death blow to the government of President Francois Hollande, who has pledged to step aside in 2017 if he is unable to reverse the upward trend in unemployment.

While quarterly growth rose to .6 percent, the second highest in the EU, the labor ministry warned: “We will need a few months before the economic pick-up translates into jobs.”

Clearly. It may be more than a year before even a dent is put into the latest figures.

Since Hollande was elected over three years ago, on the back of a socialist agenda, he has seen the monthly unemployment figures decline only four times and 600,000 more jobseekers have been added.

More concerning is that the percentage of long-term unemployed has grown by more than 10 percent in a year.

The terrible numbers have meant terrible numbers at the polls. Marin Le Pen’s Front National Party is both leading in the polls, and pushing for an EU in/out referendum.

Forget About China, India Is About To Go On A Tear

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Those in the know about China often state that the country will grow old before it grows rich. Its corrupt communist leaders, aging population and maturing state of development mean the rapid growth it has enjoyed over the last ten years has come to an end.

But in an age of rapid development in formerly third world economies there is always someone ready to take over the engine of world growth.

As China falters, India is poised to blossom.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has begun to spend on road and rail building, starting much needed investment that has been put off for some time.

By doubling spending on roads and bridges in fiscal 2015/16, and raising the rail budget by a third, India is about to go a whole lot faster.

“They have acknowledged that infrastructure is the big elephant in the room,” said Vinayak Chatterjee, head of infrastructure company Feedback Infra.

“Once these measures are implemented, the elephant would start dancing, and with it the overall economy.”

Modi’s chief economic advisor, Arvind Subramanian, forecasts the investments will grow the economy more than one percentage point this year.

With last Friday’s data showing an economy growing at 7.5 percent last quarter the latest government spending could push growth to nearly nine percent. That’s well ahead of China.

Yet the key risk is whether various government ministries will actually spend the extra $11 billion they’ve been allocated for infrastructure this year. While they seem on-pace to do this, its a lot of money that needs to be spent in a short period of time.

To help with this allocation the government has prioritized infrastructure projects that have been planned but shelved due to bureaucracy, a lack of matching private sector investment, or litigation.

The government has recently eased rules for the private sector, and allowed financially stressed companies holding up projects to exit them without penalties.

The government is stepping up in their place to make things happen.

It will also ensure all public tenders have all approvals secured in a move that addresses a major reason why so many projects remain stalled.

As a result of the measures and spending, Modi’s government hopes road building will reach 19 miles a day by the end of next year from 7.5 miles presently. To help get there it plans to award projects for 6,300 miles of road this year, up a whopping 25 percent from last year.

While there are obviously issues to contend with in deploying this amount of money in such a short time and on such complex projects, India’s future is bright. With a young population and dynamic new leadership the country is set to finally launch.

Canadian Province Considers Removing Gender From Its Birth Certificates

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As Bruce Jenner shows the world that the idea of gender may be more fluid than most assume, up in Canada the Human Rights Tribunal in British Columbia will consider removing gender designations from birth certificates. The moves comes in response to a complaint from the Trans Alliance Society (TAS) and a few other affected parties, according to media reports.

“We need to stop acting as if doctors can tell the sex of a baby just by looking at the baby’s genitals: Birth certificates [can] give false information about people and characterize them in a way that is actually wrong, that assumes to be right, and causes people actual harm,” said transgender woman and TAS chair Morgane Oger. “It’s considered true and infallible when it isn’t,” she added.

The lawyer representing the group, Barbara Findlay said that the current practice of putting “male” or “female” on birth certificates is incorrect because those are not the only two genders and that a person’s “gender develops” over time.

“Children are raised ‘as’ the birth-assigned gender, which is a crazy-making experience,” Findlay said via e-mail. “Instead of living in a social reality that recognizes that gender develops, and does not exist at birth, those children have nothing to work with except that something feels profoundly wrong,” she added.

Among the other complainants are Colin and Megan Cunningham, the parents of Harriette Cunningham, a transgender child who became one of the first in British Columbia to have her birth certificate changed last year.

The parents allege that “Harriette was mistakenly assigned the gender ‘male’ at birth.” “Since it is impossible to tell an individual’s gender at birth it is discriminatory to issue a birth certificate with that information on it,” the complaint reads.

At this stage the tribunal has simply agreed to look into the complaints, which doesn’t mean that the policy will change. Yet British Columbia is one of the most liberal and progressive territories in the world. It also comes as Bruce Jenner, now known as Catilin, breaks the internet with a massive publicity tour celebrating his recent gender change.

Hollywood Quickly Starting To Produce Virtual Reality Movies & TV Shows

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We’ve covered before how 2016 is poised to be the year of virtual reality and the momentum keeps gaining pace. The latest reports are that movie studios, television producers and artists are now quickly adopting the technology, which immerses people in faraway realms using yet to be released goggles.

Content producers in Hollywood are drawn to virtual worlds because when users look left, right, up or behind they experience an alternate environment, even when they’re sitting in a theater or are at home on a couch.

“What’s better for jump scares than, like, turning your head and it’s right in your face?” says Matt Lipson, Sr. Vice President of digital marketing at Focus Features, a Hollywood studio owned by heavyweight Universal.

Universal’s Focus Features recently released a virtual-reality experience promoting the upcoming “Insidious: Chapter 3” horror movie.

In these early days the project means a truck around the country, inviting fans to wear virtual-reality goggles purchased by the studio. It’s also combined the truck tour with mailing out thousands of movie-branded Google Cardboard kits, which fold around smartphones to turn them into rudimentary VR viewers. Fans just download the app from Google Play, or the App Store, and presto – 3d goggles.

Fellow film heavyweight Lionsgate used a similar strategy for its movie “Insurgent”.

While presently VR is only used for promotion new content created for future films will also take advantage of VR goggles. We previously highlighted that even magazines are getting in on the action, with heavyweight Conde Nast producing both magazines and movie experiences using the new tech.

Reality TV speciailist Discovery Communications is also planning to launch VR content under the Discovery Virtual brand, with the first titles being released in August.

Part of the challenge right now is figuring out just what, exactly, makes for a compelling viewing experience. Discovery’s Shark Week will likely feature the technology to increase the fear factor, which companies like Facebook are looking to move their two dimensional social network into a virtual world, where friends sit around a virtual living room watching the big game or chatting. Such group experiences may also become part of movies or video games in the near future.

With big studios, tech companies and consumer gadget makers all lined up virtual reality will become a reality before the year is out.

Uber Stabs Carnegie Mellon In The Back, Steals Their Entire Robotics Department

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Uber isn’t known for being kind, gentle or even a good place to work. It is increasingly becoming one of the most evil big technology companies, underscored by recent moves to track users of its app around the clock and operate illegally in virtually all of its markets.

Its latest evil deed was to put Carnegie Mellon University, home to one of the world’s top robotics research institutions, into crisis after it partnered with the school to gain access to top scientists and then paid them over the top salaries to leave the school.

Flush with cash after raising over $5 billion from investors, Uber paid the scientists bonuses of hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to doubling their salaries to join the company’s new robotics tech center in Pittsburgh.

The surprise move came after the school and Uber announced a strategic partnership in which the school would “work closely” with the taxiservice to develop driverless car technology. That partnership was announced in February but Uber clearly had no intent of actually helping the school – it just wanted easy access to its talented researchers.

The sleazy tactic has led to one of America’s finest university institutions being hollowed out and the school is struggling to recover.

Uber is working on self-driving cars that will replace its tens of thousands of contract drivers,whom the company openly despises. With no in house capability, the San Francisco company went to the one place in the world with enough talent to build a team instantly: Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics Engineering Center.

In all, Uber stole six principal investigators and 34 engineers, including NREC’s director, Tony Stentz, and most of its key program directors. Before Uber’s recruiting, NREC had only about 100 engineers and scientists developing technology for companies and the U.S. military.

With its program directors and senior scientists gone the school may never again regain its former glory.

Robotic Pancreas Will Soon Allow Diabetes Patients To Leave Insulin Forever

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Fresh hope has emerged this month that diabetes patients may one day soon be totally free of insulin, thanks the development of an implantable robotic pancreas currently undergoing FDA trials.

The pancreas is an organ near the liver which secretes insulin to control the concentration of glucose in the blood. In patients with type 1 diabetes the pancreas makes no insulin of its own, so those with the disease must work hard to manually replace that organ’s function. This means several times a day the patient must prick a finger to test blood sugar, making complicated calculations and estimates to account for meals, physical activity and time of day.

After half a century of work, a solution may be just around the corner: the artificial pancreas.

“It is a classic problem in control technology, which is the methodology used in process control,” says Ahmad Haidar, a researcher at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM). Haidar’s group is one of a number of academic and corporate teams vying to create a closed-loop system for an artificial pancreas, whereby a computerized control system determines how much insulin to inject and how often to inject it. It completely takes patient judgement out of the loop.

“Each patient is represented by a set of differential equations,” Haidar says, “parameterized based on physical information—body weight and total daily insulin dose, for instance.” From there computer processors and software algorithms do the rest.

The research is bearing fruit, with partial versions being rolled out now, and more advanced versions in clinical trials.

The reason this relatively simple concept is only just hitting the market is thanks to advances in sensors, actuators, algorithms, and insulin that are just now coming together to create the artificial pancreas.

“The thing that was cool about it was that it works,” says Herrick, 27, who directs strategic communications at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Together with a colleague, he spent several days and nights in a controlled setting, surrounded by doctors and engineers.

So far trials of fully automatic devices have mainly looked at nighttime control, which is vital, because the patient may not wake in time to handle a bout of low blood sugar. “My mother is still fearful of my sleeping at night, even though I’ve got my fiancée sleeping next to me,” said one patient involved in the trial.

The information provided by the new, fully automated meter, can also be used to prove to insurers that money spent on health care is producing results. “Health care providers are more and more being paid for outcomes,” one company executive was quoted as saying “Payers want patients to stay on the system; now they can make sure that patients do.”

While not quite yet on the market the FDA looks set to approve fully automated machines within the next two years from a host of companies.

It is estimated that within five years nearly all machines sold, especially those covered by insurance, will be fully automated devices.

Google Announces Snow Job Of ‘Privacy Improvement’ In Attempt To Distract And Confuse Users

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Google Announces Snow Job Of ‘Privacy Improvement’ In Attempt To Distract And Confuse Users

It’s important to remember that search, video and mobile phone operating systems are not the products Google makes.

You’re the product.

Or rather the troves of data the search giant maintains on you and sells to advertisers is. Between its dominant search engine, its successful display ad network Adsense and the Android operating system, Google has an unprecedented window into your life.

Today, Google would like you to believe that it has bolstered “privacy” controls on its services. But don’t believe the hype. Second only to maybe Facebook, Google is the worst privacy abuser the planet has ever known.

For example today, no actual changes have been made to the company’s data gatherings and scraping policies. But there have been press releases!

Instead, Google will take the path of number one privacy invader Facebook, and launch a ‘tool’ that it disingenuously claims will put you in control.

Or put another way, Google will have so many privacy tabs, toggles and settings that it will make is confusing and difficult for you to fully opt out of its tracking programs.

Or as the company spins it:

We’re rolling out two significant improvements to our privacy and security tools: a new hub for managing your Google settings called My Account, and a new site that answers important questions about privacy and security on Google.

What you should be aware of as a user, is that when you can control privacy settings for YouTube, Google Search, Android, Adsense and every other Google product under one roof, is that these massive properties are tracking you and Google’s reach is tremendous.

Audit Finds That The TSA Fails To Prevent Weapons And Explosives On Planes 95 Percent Of The Time

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) isn’t exactly known for hiring the most competent employees, which has often led to speculation that the agency does nothing but perform security theater, in an effort to make America’s airports look safer than they actually are.

New reports confirm this suspicion as a leaked TSA internal investigation revealed security failures at nearly all of the nation’s busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials.

The tests were conducted by Homeland Security teams who posed as passengers setting out to beat the system.

According to a recent Homeland Security Inspector General’s report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with undercover agents repeatedly able to get weapons through checkpoints.

In one test an undercover agent was even stopped after setting off a metal detector, yet TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosives taped to his back during a follow-up pat down.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who must be red-faced over the shocking revelations, was apparently so frustrated by the findings he sought a detailed briefing on them last week at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

“Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General’s report, Secretary Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of actions, several of which are now in place, to address the issues raised in the report,” the DHS said in a written statement.

Homeland security officials insist that security at the nation’s airports is strong, yet they admitted just last week that thousands of security badges have gone missing this year alone. Such badges allow access to nearly all sensitive areas inside an airport, including access to aircraft.

The latest findings by the DHS inspector general’s office after it recently concluded a series of undercover tests targeting checked baggage screening.

That review found numerous “vulnerabilities”, attributing them to human error and technological failures.

The review determined that despite spending $540 million for checked baggage screening equipment and another $11 million for training since 2009, the TSA made no noticeable improvements in that time.

The findings seem to support what we’ve always known – enhanced security checks are just time-wasting theater and do not stop persistent attackers from perpetrating terrorist acts.

D.C. Insider Lindsey Graham Launches Presidential Bid

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Don’t expect to see any straight shooting fresh faces in the 2016 presidential race as Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday announced he, too, will be running for President. Graham joins a crowded field of Republicans who are trying to find a worthy, and well heeled, contender to presumptive Democratic candidate Hillary Clitnon.

Mr. Graham’s entry into the race is just a year after his political career looked to be over, when he was targeted by Tea Party conservatives for being too moderate.

Mr. Graham, 59, is a savvy political operator and fought the challenge off with ease. In his announcement Graham said his fear that the world is “falling apart” inspired him to run for the White House. He brings a hawkish foreign policy voice the Republican field with no clear domestic platform at this stage.

He will use a simple, issues based platform at home and “security through strength” abroad, in a formula he hopes will be an effective challenge to the Clinton mega-campaign.

“I want to be president to protect our nation that we all love so much from all threats foreign and domestic,” he told the crowd in his hometown, where he announced the bid. “So get ready. I know I’m ready.”

Mr. Graham is a political insider, having first been elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving eight years in the House of Representatives.

His candidacy is viewed as an underdog bid who has polled lower than rivals Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

“I think that no one here in South Carolina has any illusions that Lindsey Graham is on a fast track or even near the front part of the pack in that crowded group,” said Robert Wislinski, a political strategist.

While Americans ostensibly have choice in the upcoming election, it appears more likely the nominee for each party will bring more of the same to our nation which badly needs fresh, uncorrupted, thinking.

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