Month: December 2014

Singularity Hub – by Jason Dorrier

Who needs science fiction? Nature is a wealth of imaginative plot twists. Take carbon. Carbon is common. It’s the fourth most abundant element in the universe. And yet, carbon is also exceptional.

It’s the elemental keystone of terrestrial life. It stores and releases enough energy to power industrial revolutions. And flakes of the stuff, first peeled off graphite with scotch tape, might one day repel bullets and shield spacecraft.

Experimenting with the one-atom-thick sheets of carbon known as graphene, Researchers at Rice University recently wrote the material’s properties make it exceptionally good at dissipating the energy of incoming projectiles.   Continue reading “Graphene Armor Would Be Light, Flexible and Far Stronger Than Steel”

Extreme Tech – by Grant Brunner

For Firefox diehards, iOS has always been a bit of a sore spot. Mozilla dabbled on Apple’s platform a few years back with an app dubbed “Firefox Home,” but the company has largely shied away from iOS due to Apple’s restrictions surrounding rendering engines. Now, Mozilla is changing course, and bringing a version of Firefox to iOS running WebKit — Gecko be damned. Can this strategic decision help turn the table in Mozilla’s favor, or is the move to WebKit a nail in Firefox’s coffin?   Continue reading “Firefox for iOS is coming, but it’s not what you think”

Natural Society – by Barbara Minton

Women who want to avoid breast cancer or its recurrence need to be aware of the real risk factors, not the ones that oncologists use to scare you into accepting radiation and chemotherapy. Real risk factors are imbalances in the body that are within your control. While there are numerous ways to restore this balance, 2 compounds can be especially effective at preventing breast cancer – zinc and selenium.

But are you getting enough zinc and selenium, the two minerals that fight breast cancer and are key in maintaining balance in the body?  Recent research has added to the pile of data underscoring the importance of these two minerals in helping to keep women cancer-free.   Continue reading “Two Must-Have Minerals for Fighting Breast Cancer”

AOL – by MARK GILLISPIE and JOHN SEEWER

The family of a 12-year-old who had a pellet gun when he was shot by a Cleveland police officer filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday, saying two officers acted recklessly when they confronted the boy in a terrifying manner and fired within seconds.

The federal lawsuit filed against the city and the two officers also said the officers waited four minutes before anyone provided medical help to Tamir Rice after he was shot outside a city recreation center.   Continue reading “Family of Tamir Rice files wrongful death lawsuit against Cleveland Police Department”

The Gazette

The two military operations responsible for protecting North America are getting a new commander.

He succeeds Army Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr.   Continue reading “NORAD, Northern Command getting new leader”

Intellihub – by SHEPARD AMBELLAS

CHINO VALLEY, Ariz. (INTELLIHUB.COM) — Marie Snow and her friend Cori Gunnelsknew they stumbled across something sinister, one November day, this year, when they saw what appeared to be 50 to 60-foot long “raindrops”, “solid” in nature, falling from the sky in clusters, after three C-130 military aircraft flew overhead, minutes prior, at an altitude of an estimated 5,000-8,000 ft.

Using critical thinking skills, Snow and Gunnels, patriots and local residents, decided to collect samples of the fibrous material which was deployed from the three military planes earlier that day, saving the samples for testing. In fact, the fibers looked so ominous that Snow even opted not to touch them with her “bare hands” and collected them on “white pieces of paper”.   Continue reading “C-130 aircraft caught dropping massive ‘raindrop shaped fibers’ onto populace, lab tests confirm “metals””

CounterPunch – by Mike Whitney

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin clinched a groundbreaking deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that will strengthen economic ties between the two nations and make Turkey the major hub for Russian gas in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, Russia will pump additional natural gas to locations in central Turkey and to a “hub at the Turkish-Greek border” which will eventually provide Putin with backdoor access to the lucrative EU market, although Turkey will serve as the critical intermediary. The move creates a de facto Russo-Turkey alliance that could shift the regional balance of power decisively in Moscow’s favor, thus creating another formidable hurtle for Washington’s “pivot to Asia” strategy.  While the media is characterizing the change in plans (Putin has abandoned the South Stream pipeline project that would have transported gas to southern Europe) as a “diplomatic defeat” for Russia, the opposite appears to be the case.  Putin has once again outmaneuvered the US on both the energy and geopolitical fronts adding to his long list of policy triumphs. Here’s a brief summary from Andrew Korybko at Sputnik News:   Continue reading “Putin Gobsmacks Obama and Euro-Leaders with Surprise Gas Deal”

CNBC – by Jeff Cox

Consider it a brutal lesson in government math.

Friday’s turbocharged jobs headline came thanks to seasonal adjustments and other wizardry at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported that U.S. job growth hit 321,000 even as the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent.

Those numbers, courtesy of establishment survey estimates, sound nice on the surface, and they certainly present reasons if not for unbridled optimism then at least confidence that the job market continues to mend and is on a pretty steady trajectory higher.   Continue reading “Hold on: Jobs report wasn’t so great after all”

CNS News – by Ali Meyer

The labor force participation rate remained at a 36-year low of 62.8 percent in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The participation rate, which is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who participated in the labor force by either having a job during the month or actively seeking one, was 62.8 percent in November which matches the percentage since March 1978.   Continue reading “Labor Force Participation Remains at 36-Year Low”

National Review – by Joel Gehrke

Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) seized on a White House admission that beneficiaries of President Obama’s immigration orders will receive tax credits, a sign that the orders amount to more than an exercise of prosecutorial discretion.

“This is yet one more illustration of the enormous cost inflicted by the President’s illegal action,” Sessions told National Review Online in a statement. “He has now launched a new $100 million facility and staffing operation to provide illegal immigrants with the exact benefits rejected by Congress – including work permits, Social Security and Medicare. These credits will cost American taxpayers billions every year and represent an enormous cash transfer from American workers to lower-wage illegal workers. These tax credits are not refunds, but a direct cash payment from the Treasury to illegal immigrants – at a time when the Treasury is running huge deficits.”   Continue reading “Jeff Sessions: Obama Is Giving Cash Benefits to Illegal Immigrants”

The Telegraph – by Justin Huggler

Continue reading “East German communists return to power 25 years after fall of Berlin Wall”

KFOR 4 News

MARLOW, Okla. – A seemingly innocent picture of a cat and a Benjamin Franklin quote has a Marlow history teacher in hot water.

Right now, he’s suspended and could possibly lose his job over the controversial picture hanging in his classroom.

Steven Alcorn has been a teacher for nearly 40 years.   Continue reading “Oklahoma teacher suspended over controversial quote”

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Counter Current News

Is anything that corrupt cops get away with surprising any more?

Another story out of Florida comes to us, telling of an off-duty police officer abusing his power by arresting a citizen who he claimed “stole” his parking spot.

Now to be sure, stealing parking spots is not cool. But Clausel Pierre says that he pulled into a parking space at a Deerfield Beach shoe store back in January 2011 and never saw a BSO off-duty officer waiting to pull in.   Continue reading “Man Sues After Being Arrested For ‘Stealing Parking Space’ From Cop”

Market Daily News – by Adan Salazar

Shoppers participating in the post-Thanksgiving consumerist phenomenon known as Black Friday typically tend to purchase useless material possessions they don’t really need.

This past holiday, however, many Americans demonstrated that they’re more interested in their Second Amendment rights than flat screen TVs or cheap DVDs.   Continue reading “Americans Bought More Guns Than Flat Screen TV’s On Black Friday”

Economic Policy Journal

Bernard von NotHaus, who was convicted in 2011 of counterfeiting charges for minting and distributing a form of private money called the Liberty Dollar, has finally been sentenced.

U.S. District Judge Richard Vorhees upheld the conviction but sentenced 70-year old NotHaus to only six months house arrest. Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of between 14 and 17 years in prison.   Continue reading “Creator of ‘Liberty Dollar’ Sentenced to Home Detention”