Sydney - Home Secretary Jack Spratt says that the country will not take the bombings lying down. "We're rested, tanned and ready for a scrum, mate. You yanks have just stepped into the wrong billabong. If you ever want to see another six pack of Foster's in America again you will quell your provocative adventurism. We got some blokes in the outback that will point the bone at ya and the results won't be pretty."
"This guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something," Zimmerman told the dispatcher. "It's raining, and he's just walking around looking about." The man tried to explain where he was. "Now he's coming towards me. He's got his hand in his waistband. And he's a black male...Something's wrong with him. Yup, he's coming to check me out. He's got something in his hands. I don't know what his deal is...These assholes, they always get away."*
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| Chimp - Carnegie Mellon |
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| Thor - Virginia Tech |
The DARPA Robotic Challenge will focus on developing robots that can operate in rough terrain and austere conditions, using aids (vehicles and hand tools) commonly available in populated areas. Specifically, we want to prove that the following capabilities can be accomplished:
Compatibility with environments engineered for humans (even if they are degraded)
Ability to use a diverse assortment of tools engineered for humans (from screwdrivers to vehicles)
Ability to be supervised by humans who have had little to no robotics training.
Supervised autonomy is critical, as it allows simple tasks to be performed by the robot without full-time operator intervention. This will be especially important in unreliable communications environments.
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| robosimian - NASA |
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| Schaft Inc. - HRP-2 based biped |
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| IHMC high point robot |
“Are you saying that a U.S. citizen targeted by the United States in a foreign country has no constitutional rights?” she asked Brian Hauck, a deputy assistant attorney general. “How broadly are you asserting the right of the United States to target an American citizen? Where is the limit to this?”Read more about the suit here.
She provided her own answer: “The limit is the courthouse door.”
The government has argued that the matter is best left to Congress and the executive branch, not judges, and that courts have recognized that the defense of the nation should be left to those political branches.
Brian Hauck, a deputy assistant attorney general lawyer who argued the case for the government Friday, noted that President Barack Obama, in a speech in May to the National Defense University, said he didn't think it was constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen without due process.
"Where was the due process in this case?" asked Collyer, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
Hauck said there were checks in place, including reviews done by the executive branch.
"No, no, no, no, no," Collyer retorted. "The executive is not an effective check on the executive" when it comes to protecting constitutional rights.
Hauck said Congress is also briefed on drone attacks. He added that U.S. officials should be allowed to do their jobs without the threat of litigation hanging over their actions.
"You're saying there is no courthouse door where this goes through," Collyer said later. She repeatedly pressed Hauck to say what checks and balances the president faces, at one point saying in exasperation, "There's a man who won't be taken off message."
When Hauck mentioned the constitutional structure as one such constraint, Collyer replied that the Constitution sets out three branches of government, including the judiciary — "the one that's usually yelled at and not given any money."
She added: "I consider us a nation of laws, and everybody from the president down to homeless people have to follow the law."
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer repeatedly expressed concern that the government's position would essentially strip U.S. citizens abroad of their constitutional rights. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Hauck argued there was a difference between having a constitutional right—which he said could be protected by the executive and legislative branches—and being able to make constitutional claims in court. Collyer countered that not being able to access the courts would deprive citizens of the ability to enforce their rights.From WRAL:
"I'm really troubled…that you cannot explain to me where the end of it is," Collyer said. "That, yes, they have constitutional rights but there is no remedy for those constitutional rights."
"The government has killed a 16-year-old American boy," he wrote. "Shouldn't it at least have to explain why?"
The high-profile case attracted a rare fully-packed courtroom. When Collyer walked into the room, she said, "Holy cow! This is a really serious matter, so I shouldn't say holy cow, but holy cow!"
“That’s just total nonsense,” Boehner said, cutting off a reporter before he could finish his question about how Congress has recently had fewer and fewer bills signed into law.The good Speaker says he isn't doing commemorative bills. I have a question? What do you call the bills he passed yesterday, the 39th attempted repeal of the ACA, the Obamacare program which is the law of the land and has zero chance of being repealed in the Senate? Talk about a monumental waste of time, resources and taxpayer money. Give it a rest already.
“Now listen: We made clear when we took over that we weren’t going to be doing commemorative legislation on the floor,” Boehner said. “In addition to that, most Americans think we have too many laws. What they want us to do is repeal more of those. So I reject the premise to the question. We got a big job to do here. We need to stay focused on those things that are most important to the American people.”
The Ohio Republican vowed when he took office that the House would not fill its time with post office naming bills or other insignificant measures that Congress rubber-stamps and the president auto-pens.
“The metrics used to hold Congress accountable are often flawed,” Boehner said in his 2010 Pledge to America. “Rather than using the scale of how well elected representatives represent the views of the people, the scale is often currently measured in bills passed, dollars spent and programs created.”
Section 1021 of the NDAA reads in part that the president of the US can indefinitely imprison any person who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the US or its coalition partners, as well as anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the US under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of the hostilities.” The power to do as much was allegedly granted to the commander-in-chief after the Authorization to Use Military Force was signed into law shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but a team of plaintiffs have argued that Section 1021 provides the White House with broad, sweeping powers that put the First Amendment-guaranteed rights to free speech and assembly at risk while also opening the door for the unlawful prosecution of anyone who can be linked to an enemy of the state.But don't worry. President Obama issued a signing statement and says that he won't be abusing the privilege.
“I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. My Administration will interpret section 1021 in a manner that ensures that any detention it authorizes complies with the Constitution, the laws of war, and all other applicable law.”And just because he signed it doesn't mean that he agrees with it.
“The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.”Talk about playing both sides of the fence. The problem regarding detaining people indefinitely without trial, until the cessation of hostilities, is that when you are fighting a "war" against an amorphous enemy named terrorism, or tooth decay for that matter, the war never ends and people never get a chance to defend themselves. And that right to a defense is a supposed bulwark of our rights as American citizens. Those rights we used to have.
Reuters) - The farming and ranching town of Deer Trail, Colorado, which boasts that it held the world's first rodeo in 1869, is now considering starting a 21st century tradition - paying bounties to anyone who shoots down an unmanned drone.*
Next month, trustees of the town of 600 that lies on the high plains 55 miles east of Denver will debate an ordinance that would allow residents to purchase a $25 hunting license to shoot down "unmanned aerial vehicles."
Similar to the bounties governments once paid to hunters who killed animals that preyed on livestock, but only after they produced the ears, the town would pay $100 to anyone who can produce the fuselage and tail of a downed drone.
"Either the nose or tail may be damaged, but not both," the proposal notes.
“This is unsustainable, it’s outrageous and must be stopped immediately,” said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel.Yesterday we learnt about "hops."
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) — who sponsored the USA Patriot Act, which ostensibly authorized the collection — warned that the House might not renew Section 215 of the act, a key provision that gives the government its authority.
“You’ve got to change how you operate 215 . . . or you’re not going to have it anymore,” Sensenbrenner said.
“The court has approved us to go out two or three ‘hops,’ ” NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis said. “And it’s often at the second hop” that information is gained that leads the FBI to investigate the person’s contacts further.
A “hop” refers to the way in which analysts broaden their analysis. When analysts think they have cause to suspect an individual, they will look at everyone that person has contacted, called the first hop away from the target. Then, in a series of exponential ripples, they look at everyone all those secondary people communicated with. And from that pool, they look at everyone those tertiary people contacted. This is called a second and a third hop.
“The first hop takes you to 100 people” the person called, Jaffer said. “The second one takes you to 10,000. The third one takes you to a million.”
“Snowden, I don’t like him at all,” said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.), “but we would have never known what happened if he hadn’t told us.”
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the committee, said he was surprised that the programs had been kept secret for so long.
“Do you think a program of this magnitude gathering information involving a large number of people involved with telephone companies could be indefinitely kept secret from the American people?” Goodlatte asked.
“Well,” ODNI general counsel Robert S. Litt said with a slight smile, “we tried.”
Cameras have become so sophisticated, with sharper lenses and data-processing, that companies can analyze what shoppers are looking at, and even what their mood is.*
For example, Realeyes, based in London, which analyzes facial cues for responses to online ads, monitors shoppers’ so-called happiness levels in stores and their reactions at the register. Synqera, a start-up in St. Petersburg, Russia, is selling software for checkout devices or computers that tailors marketing messages to a customer’s gender, age and mood, measured by facial recognition.
“If you are an angry man of 30, and it is Friday evening, it may offer you a bottle of whiskey,” said Ekaterina Savchenko, the company’s head of marketing.
Nomi, of New York, uses Wi-Fi to track customers’ behavior in a store, but goes one step further by matching a phone with an individual.
When a shopper has volunteered some personal information, either by downloading a retailer’s app or providing an e-mail address when using in-store Wi-Fi, Nomi pulls up a profile of that customer — the number of recent visits, what products that customer was looking at on the Web site last night, purchase history. The store then has access to that profile.
“I walk into Macy’s, Macy’s knows that I just entered the store, and they’re able to give me a personalized recommendation through my phone the moment I enter the store,” said Corey Capasso, Nomi’s president. “It’s literally bringing the Amazon experience into the store.”
Nomi then uses Wi-Fi signals to follow the customer throughout the store, adding to the information it maintains. “If I’m going and spending 20 minutes in the shoe section, that means I’m highly interested in buying a pair of shoes,” Mr. Capasso said, and the store might send a coupon for sneakers.
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| Gaze differential between men and women |
If Google Glass users took a picture that happened to have a QR code visible in the background, the Glass would process that QR code as if the user had scanned it directly, and would attempt to link to the specified URL. If Glass wasn't previously connected to a Wi-Fi network, the act of trying to open a URL might cause Glass to search for available networks in order to complete the process.Google is supposedly fixing the problem.
This is a serious vulnerability, as criminals could create an open Wi-Fi network, stick it in a public place and then place a QR code in that public place that either directly or indirectly initiates a connection to that network.
If a Google Glass wearer happened to take a picture in that area that captured an image of that QR code, Google Glass would interpret the code as if the user had intended to scan it, and connect to that network.If that were to happen, your Glass would be cooked: criminals could then use that connection to transmit malicious software, all without the user ever intending to connect to the network or even photograph the QR code in the first place.
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"The existence of dinosaurs does not contradict with the Bible in any way, shape, or form. In fact, dinosaurs fit perfectly in with what the Bible says. The Bible says that God created all the land animals, including dinosaurs and man, on Day 6. So yes, dinosaurs and man did live together in the past. However, they didn’t call them dinosaurs. They called them dragons. Dragons are mentioned in the Bible 34 times.
So why don’t we still see dinosaurs today? Well, there could be a few still around. It is impossible to know what is living on every square inch of this planet. Most of the dinosaurs were killed during the flood of Noah’s day. Dinosaurs getting off of Noah’s ark faced a very different and harsh environment from that of the pre-flood world. Many died as a result of this post-flood climate change.
Many were also killed by man. There are many legends all over the world about people slaying dragons.
Most of the dinosaur fossils that we find are from the dinosaurs that were buried quickly during the flood of Noah’s day."
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| Retinal Burn, Stone Steps |
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| © Robert Sommers 2013 |
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| Ranger's eye © Robert Sommers 2013 |
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| Orange tree, Tetons © Robert Sommers 2013 |
“Studies have shown that what a witness will do with a six-pack is pick the person who looks the closest to the one they saw,” said Jan Stiglitz, a professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego and co-director of the California Innocence Project based there.
“Then if they do a live lineup, the witness tends to identify the person not from the crime, but from the six-pack. And then the witness sees the guy in the courtroom, and each time that choice gets reaffirmed. So when it comes to trial, the witness is absolutely certain that the defendant is the person they saw.”
[Consider] ...Uriah Courtney, a 25-year-old construction worker from North Park. His picture was put in a photo lineup and the victim, although not completely sure, picked him out. So did another witness.Courtney was arrested. The main evidence against him at trial was the eyewitness testimony. He was convicted of kidnapping and rape and sentenced to life. He told the victim in court he didn’t do it and said he hoped the truth would one day come out.This is not new. San Diego County was an initial participant in the groundbreaking study that proved the need for better practices in this regard.
It has. Recent DNA testing on the victim’s clothing cleared Courtney and pointed to a felon who lived about three miles away from where the attack occurred. Charges were dismissed and Courtney freed from prison after serving eight years.In the Courtney case, when the victim picked him out of the photo lineup, she said she was 70 percent sure he was the rapist, according to Alissa Bjerkhoel, his Innocence Project attorney. At the trial, the victim was 100 percent certain. She said seeing him in person made her more confident.
The San Diego Police Department is among four departments in major U.S. cities included in a study of how police lineups are used to identify suspects. The study reveals that 18 percent of the time, the eyewitness incorrectly identifies the suspect when a photo array is used compared to only 12 percent when lineup photos are shown one by one.San Diego County needs to shift to double blind sequential line ups. Are they smart enough to? Do you think that they care one way or another?
"The danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person ... would have believed the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force."It has nothing to do with the actual or real threat George Zimmerman faced, instead it is legally allowable to surmise what he thought that he faced. And that is a quite slippery slope, the notion that we can get into people's heads and allow them to commit criminal actions because of something we suppose or are led to believe that they are or were thinking...
Michael David Dunn, 45, acted "as any responsible firearms owner would have," his lawyer said of the Friday evening incident at a gas station outside a convenience store in Jacksonville, Fla.
“In fact, ERM’s own publicly available documents show that the firm has business with over a dozen companies with operating stakes in the Alberta tar sands.”But Friends of the Earth’s review of Environmental Resources Management’s business connections found that, in fact, ERM and TransCanada have worked together at least since 2011 on another pipeline – the Alaska Pipeline Project, a partnership between ExxonMobil and TransCanada designed to connect Alaska’s North Slope natural gas resources to new markets."This is not the first time that there has been conflict of interest charges regarding the project.
The SEIS was required because the State Department’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, FEIS, written by contract consultant Cardno Enterix and issued in August 2011, did not cover a change to the route through Nebraska to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region over the Oglalla Aquifer. In February 2012, this FEIS was criticized for conflict of interest in a report by the State Department’s own Inspector General.And maybe even a coverup.
"In recent weeks, as calls grew louder for an investigation of the numerous conflicts of interest tainting the State Department's handling of the Keystone proposal, an ERM employee tried to cover up his work for the Alaska Pipeline Project, a partnership between ExxonMobil and TransCanada."Of course, not everybody sees the relationship between the companies as exactly a problem. Listen to this guy's semantical histrionics over at Forbes. Talk about doublespeak.
