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Submission + - The Contras, Cocaine and the CIA .. (gwu.edu)

An anonymous reader writes: An August, 1996, series in the San Jose Mercury News by reporter Gary Webb linked the origins of crack cocaine in California to the contras, a guerrilla force backed by the Reagan administration that attacked Nicaragua's Sandinista government during the 1980s. Webb's series, "The Dark Alliance," has been the subject of intense media debate, and has focused attention on a foreign policy drug scandal that leaves many questions unanswered.

Comment Re:Completely off Base (Score 1) 555

As for their being innate, that can't be true. If the were innate, people would have had the same rights everywhere and throughout history.

Before asshat politicians came along and started making laws, people pretty much had the same rights everywhere and throughout history. It's a sad state of affairs when people don't understand what rights are.

From Wikipedia:

Natural rights are rights which are "natural" in the sense of "not artificial, not man-made", as in rights deriving from deontic logic, from human nature, or from the edicts of a god. They are universal; that is, they apply to all people, and do not derive from the laws of any specific society. They exist necessarily, inhere in every individual, and can't be taken away. For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life. They're sometimes called moral rights or inalienable rights.

Submission + - Facebook, Twitter, Google opening URLs in your email (computerweekly.com)

qubezz writes: You have emailed someone a confidential email with a URL that gives them secure access to your site — well guess what, your email provider is logging into it also. Several email and messaging platforms are reading message contents and following web links in the messages.

Security firm High-Tech Bridge set up a dedicated server to see which of the services picked up and used a unique URL they added to emails sent through various services. During the 10 days of the experiment, only six services out of the 50 took the bait, but they included four of the biggest and most used social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Formspring.

Comment Re:Failed technology (Score 2) 132

No project is beyond the prototype stage, even the one in Scotland, and none of them are profitable. It's just not a very good idea.

You expect a prototype to be more effective than technologies that have had a century of development supporting them, not giving wave technology much of a chance are you.

Wind, Solar, Wave, Geothermal, Tidal, Hydro etc will be around for billions of years, we might as well invest in those because coal, oil and gas won't be around for long relatively speaking.

Submission + - Online law banning discussion of current affairs comes into force in Vietnam (bbc.co.uk)

another random user writes: A controversial law banning Vietnamese online users from discussing current affairs has come into effect.


The decree, known as Decree 72, says blogs and social websites should not be used to share news articles, but only personal information. The law also requires foreign internet companies to keep their local servers inside Vietnam.


The new law specifies that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information".


It also prohibits the online publication of material that "opposes" the Vietnamese government or "harms national security".


Last month the US embassy in Hanoi said it was "deeply concerned by the decree's provisions", arguing that "fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline".

Submission + - More bad news from Fukushima 1

PuceBaboon writes: Both Reuters and the BBC are carrying the story of an increase in radiation levels reported by Tepco for contaminated water leaking from storage tanks on site. When this leak was discovered almost two weeks ago, Tepco reported that the radiation level was 100-millisieverts. It now transpires that 100-millisieverts was the highest reading that the measuring equipment in use was capable of displaying. The latest readings (with upgraded equipment) are registering 1800-millisieverts which, according to both news sources, could prove fatal to anyone exposed to it for four hours.
Coincidentally (and somewhat ironically), today is earthquake disaster prevention day in Japan, with safety drills taking place nationwide.

Comment Re:I never understood the principle. (Score 1) 454

Doesn't kill people, why would you say that?

White phosphorus victims looks like many dead to me, warning - very graphic.

And what about MK77 Napalm v2.0.

The American military used white phosphorus in Iraq, Fallujah. Perhaps Obama should deal with the extremes committed by his own military before killing thousands more innocent men, women and children.

And what's with using munitions that are radio-active, cue idiots claiming depleted uranium isn't dangerous.

Submission + - http://istumblrdown Shuttered by Cease and Desist Order (istumblrdown.com)

TrueSatan writes: Blogging platform Tumblr has issued a Cease and desist notice to http://istumblrdown.com/ a rather trivial and harmless site that simply offered status updates for Tumblr. The site owner claims this to be symptomatic of Tumblr's disregard for users needs quoting http://zachinglis.com/posts/why-tumblr-sucks and their fixation on banning users rather than any more positive improvements they might make to their platform. http://www.dailydot.com/news/missing-e-banned-tumblr/

Submission + - War, no thanks we're British

An anonymous reader writes: In a shock vote British MP's voted against joining a coalition in a war against Syria. Some members of the ruling Conservative party revolted against the gov't with concerns about the accuracy of the evidence and with an unwillingness to head in to a war that the British people are against.
NASA

The Next US Moonshot Will Launch From Virginia 92

As reported by the Washington Post, a U.S. spacecraft headed for the moon (to circle it, though, not to land) is to be launched for the first time from the facility at Virginia's Wallops Island. If you'll be in the D.C. area on the night of September 6 and the weather cooperates enough for a launch, it should be worth staying up for. "The robotic mission is to collect detailed information about the moon's thin atmosphere. Sometimes thought to be nonexistent, the lunar atmosphere has been described as extremely tenuous and fragile, but present. According to the space agency, the launch will record many firsts. One will be the first launch beyond Earth orbit from the Virginia facility. It also will be the first flight for the Minotaur V rocket, NASA said. NASA said the five-stage Air Force rocket is an excess ballistic missile that was transformed into a space-launch vehicle. It will boost the space probe into position for it to reach lunar orbit." Though the satellite is NASA's, the launch will be controlled by Orbital Sciences.

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