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Katashi_itto
Katashi_itto's Journal
Katashi_itto's Journal
April 26, 2015
?8562
WASHINGTON—In an effort to streamline the process for qualifying travelers, officials from the Transportation Security Administration introduced a new precheck program Thursday that provides expedited interrogations for Muslim passengers.
“Whenever I fly, there’s always a long wait in line before I get pulled aside for a security check and ushered into a back room where I’m grilled about my identity and background; but for just $120 and a short appointment, all of that waiting is removed, and I can skip straight to being questioned at length by law enforcement,” said Akron, OH resident Asma Soubra, who, along with other accepted applicants in the program, will be allowed to bypass other passengers and proceed immediately to a small, windowless interrogation room in the airport where officers will take turns attempting to pin extremist sympathies onto her.
“I used to have to get to the airport so early to make sure I could get through the line and then all the intrusive searches of my belongings and the inquiries about my travel plans, religious values, and political beliefs.
Now, I just show up four hours before my flight, jump ahead of everyone else, go right into the holding cell for a few hours of invasive examination, and then I’m on my way.” TSA officials also confirmed they were planning to offer the expedited interrogations to non-Muslim travelers who simply look like they are from the Middle East.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-tsa-precheck-program-offers-expedited-interrog,38477/
New TSA Precheck Program Offers Expedited Interrogations For Muslim Passengers
?8562
WASHINGTON—In an effort to streamline the process for qualifying travelers, officials from the Transportation Security Administration introduced a new precheck program Thursday that provides expedited interrogations for Muslim passengers.
“Whenever I fly, there’s always a long wait in line before I get pulled aside for a security check and ushered into a back room where I’m grilled about my identity and background; but for just $120 and a short appointment, all of that waiting is removed, and I can skip straight to being questioned at length by law enforcement,” said Akron, OH resident Asma Soubra, who, along with other accepted applicants in the program, will be allowed to bypass other passengers and proceed immediately to a small, windowless interrogation room in the airport where officers will take turns attempting to pin extremist sympathies onto her.
“I used to have to get to the airport so early to make sure I could get through the line and then all the intrusive searches of my belongings and the inquiries about my travel plans, religious values, and political beliefs.
Now, I just show up four hours before my flight, jump ahead of everyone else, go right into the holding cell for a few hours of invasive examination, and then I’m on my way.” TSA officials also confirmed they were planning to offer the expedited interrogations to non-Muslim travelers who simply look like they are from the Middle East.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-tsa-precheck-program-offers-expedited-interrog,38477/
April 25, 2015
NASA scientists working on a project called EmDrive have accidentally stumbled upon something that will send science fiction junkies into a frenzy. The possibility of a real-life warp drive has been placed on the table thanks to readings that indicate the EmDrive’s resonance chamber sent beams traveling faster than the speed of light, which would be considered warp speed. Researchers have considered the possibility of traveling faster than the speed of light, but until the recent NASA study, the feat had never been achieved.
Mysterious Universe notes that the NASA scientists are buzzing about the discovery on the NASA Spaceflight Forums. The forums are a place for information regarding the engineering aspects of the space flight and NASA. Therefore, the discovery that laser beams may have just breached the speed of light sent the page into discussions on the long-term implications of warp speed bubbles and the possibly of future warp speed travel.
First, the researchers note that though beams that were shot into the EmDrive were recorded at speeds faster than light, there is still one more study that must be performed to determine with certainty that the light speed barrier was broken. Scientists note that the beams must be shot through the EmDrive in a vacuum environment. This will ensure that the effect was not a result of atmospheric heating.
“I don’t think we can call this length contraction (even though it might look like it) for sure until the same results are in repeated in vacuum.”
Commenters note that the whole finding was one big accident and that researchers did not even realize that the EmDrive was replicating a well-known physicist’s theory of warp bubbles.
http://www.inquisitr.com/2040259/did-nasa-just-accidentally-produce-a-warp-bubble-emdrive-could-lead-to-warp-drive/
Did NASA Just Accidentally Produce A Warp Bubble? EmDrive Could Lead To Warp Drive
NASA scientists working on a project called EmDrive have accidentally stumbled upon something that will send science fiction junkies into a frenzy. The possibility of a real-life warp drive has been placed on the table thanks to readings that indicate the EmDrive’s resonance chamber sent beams traveling faster than the speed of light, which would be considered warp speed. Researchers have considered the possibility of traveling faster than the speed of light, but until the recent NASA study, the feat had never been achieved.
Mysterious Universe notes that the NASA scientists are buzzing about the discovery on the NASA Spaceflight Forums. The forums are a place for information regarding the engineering aspects of the space flight and NASA. Therefore, the discovery that laser beams may have just breached the speed of light sent the page into discussions on the long-term implications of warp speed bubbles and the possibly of future warp speed travel.
First, the researchers note that though beams that were shot into the EmDrive were recorded at speeds faster than light, there is still one more study that must be performed to determine with certainty that the light speed barrier was broken. Scientists note that the beams must be shot through the EmDrive in a vacuum environment. This will ensure that the effect was not a result of atmospheric heating.
“I don’t think we can call this length contraction (even though it might look like it) for sure until the same results are in repeated in vacuum.”
Commenters note that the whole finding was one big accident and that researchers did not even realize that the EmDrive was replicating a well-known physicist’s theory of warp bubbles.
http://www.inquisitr.com/2040259/did-nasa-just-accidentally-produce-a-warp-bubble-emdrive-could-lead-to-warp-drive/
April 25, 2015
Want James Bond to Use Your Product? Hand Over $5-50 Million and Be 'the Best.'
(I found this article fascinating because we are in the middle of getting product placements for our indie movie. Currently approaching seventy plus companies. Very curious to see how our approach pans out. Course we are not in any league remotely like the Bond franchise. But still it's cool to see how the other side does things.)
Everyone knows how James Bond takes his martinis and what kind of car he drives, but the British spy’s phone of choice is still up for debate.
While Sony was willing to pay a cool $5 million for Daniel Craig -- who stars as Bond in the upcoming flick Spectre -- to hold one of its Xperia Z4 smartphones, money might not be enough. According to hacked emails at Sony Pictures (ones other than these), Craig and the movie’s director Sam Mendes were opposed to the Bond-Sony pairing for “creative” reasons. As Andrew Gumpert of Columbia Pictures wrote in one of the emails, “Sam and Daniel don’t like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the ‘best,’ and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the ‘best’).”
The other option movie execs discussed was to have the character Q -- played by Ben Whishaw -- use the phone instead. Rather than Craig’s $5 million, Whishaw would receive $1 million.
Moreover, as The Verge reports, Samsung wants to get in on the action, offering $50 million for some product placement.
There’s no word on who will win out, but we’d be willing to bet that Daniel Craig’s preferences will be taken into account. After all, people who disagree with Bond tend to end up on the wrong side of his crosshairs.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245484
April 24, 2015
Louisiana State University (LSU) said this week that it had been forced to start planning for bankruptcy in response to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) budget. And it’s just one of as many as 20 campuses that were starting the process.
LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander told The Times-Picayune that his administration had begun the process of declaring financial exigency — which is essentially an academic bankruptcy — after the state Legislature and Jindal’s administration had failed to close a budget gap.
“We don’t say that to scare people,” Alexander explained. “Basically, it is how we are going to survive.”
According to the paper, Moody’s Investors Service has already downgraded the university’s credit outlook, meaning that it would have to pay more to borrow money. It was also expected to make it more difficult to recruit staff.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/20-cash-starved-public-colleges-drafting-bankruptcy-plans-thanks-to-bobby-jindals-budget/
20 cash-starved public colleges drafting bankruptcy plans thanks to Bobby Jindal’s budget
Louisiana State University (LSU) said this week that it had been forced to start planning for bankruptcy in response to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) budget. And it’s just one of as many as 20 campuses that were starting the process.
LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander told The Times-Picayune that his administration had begun the process of declaring financial exigency — which is essentially an academic bankruptcy — after the state Legislature and Jindal’s administration had failed to close a budget gap.
“We don’t say that to scare people,” Alexander explained. “Basically, it is how we are going to survive.”
According to the paper, Moody’s Investors Service has already downgraded the university’s credit outlook, meaning that it would have to pay more to borrow money. It was also expected to make it more difficult to recruit staff.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/20-cash-starved-public-colleges-drafting-bankruptcy-plans-thanks-to-bobby-jindals-budget/
April 22, 2015
Regular readers who follow the increasingly bizarre antics of “men’s rights activists” (MRAs) have probably seen this strange story of a Gamergate-affiliated attempt to disrupt the Calgary Expo, a sci-fi convention apparently targeted because MRAs are pissed about their anti-harassment policies. (Protecting the “right” to harass is a number one concern for MRAs, and has driven most of Gamergate’s energy.) A group that calls themselves the “Honey Badgers”—a group that exists to put a female face on movement misogyny, even though the group is half male, in an ill-fated attempt to pretend it’s not misogyny—showed up to troll the conference and got kicked out. Which was entirely predictable, as they knew they were breaking the no-harassment rules, and suggests that the was a plot to get kicked out so they could preen about how they are all victims of the feminazi cops.
Knowing Calgary Expo doesn’t want to be party to hate speech, the Honey Badgers used false pretenses to get in, according to the Mary Sue.
However, Honey Badger Radio did not use their website to apply for vendor/exhibitor status. The “Honey Badger Brigade” on the Calgary Expo website links to a webcomic site (run by Honey Badger Tieman) instead. If you didn’t think all of this was enough to warrant expulsion from the convention (it is), there’s more.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/misogynists-disrupt-sci-fi-convention-play-the-victim-when-kicked-out/
Misogynists disrupt sci-fi convention, play the victim when kicked out
Regular readers who follow the increasingly bizarre antics of “men’s rights activists” (MRAs) have probably seen this strange story of a Gamergate-affiliated attempt to disrupt the Calgary Expo, a sci-fi convention apparently targeted because MRAs are pissed about their anti-harassment policies. (Protecting the “right” to harass is a number one concern for MRAs, and has driven most of Gamergate’s energy.) A group that calls themselves the “Honey Badgers”—a group that exists to put a female face on movement misogyny, even though the group is half male, in an ill-fated attempt to pretend it’s not misogyny—showed up to troll the conference and got kicked out. Which was entirely predictable, as they knew they were breaking the no-harassment rules, and suggests that the was a plot to get kicked out so they could preen about how they are all victims of the feminazi cops.
Knowing Calgary Expo doesn’t want to be party to hate speech, the Honey Badgers used false pretenses to get in, according to the Mary Sue.
However, Honey Badger Radio did not use their website to apply for vendor/exhibitor status. The “Honey Badger Brigade” on the Calgary Expo website links to a webcomic site (run by Honey Badger Tieman) instead. If you didn’t think all of this was enough to warrant expulsion from the convention (it is), there’s more.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/misogynists-disrupt-sci-fi-convention-play-the-victim-when-kicked-out/
April 19, 2015
President Barack Obama offered qualified support for efforts made in the U.S. Senate to decriminalize medical marijuana during an interview for CNN's documentary "Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution," which will make its debut Sunday night. Hosting the program is Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the network's chief medical correspondent
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/obama-to-offer-qualified-support-for-medical-marijuana-on-sanjay-guptas-latest-weed-special/
Obama to offer qualified support for medical marijuana on Sanjay Gupta’s latest ‘weed’ special
President Barack Obama offered qualified support for efforts made in the U.S. Senate to decriminalize medical marijuana during an interview for CNN's documentary "Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution," which will make its debut Sunday night. Hosting the program is Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the network's chief medical correspondent
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/obama-to-offer-qualified-support-for-medical-marijuana-on-sanjay-guptas-latest-weed-special/
April 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton Runs First, Thinks Last
The revealing headline: “Hillary Clinton Will Run; She Still Has to Explain Why.”
The money quote from the story beneath that headline: “For months, Mrs. Clinton has lamented the stagnant wages holding back lower-income people and the concentration of wealth among a sliver of the wealthiest, a sentiment echoed in her first public remarks as a 2016 candidate.”
Linger on that sentence’s introductory phrase: “For months.”
Months?
!
What?
Hillary has been a political animal for decades. She’s been a possible future presidential candidate since at least 1996 — the year she last drove a car. She’s just getting around to figuring out what her politics are?
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/ted-rall/61834/hillary-clinton-runs-first-thinks-last
April 19, 2015
new report shows that more than half of the $100 million the city of Los Angeles spends on homelessness each year goes to the LAPD. Critics say this illustrates the city’s priority on criminalizing the homeless instead of helping them, LA Times reports.
The LAPD arrested almost 15,000 homeless people in 2013 — that’s a whopping 14% of all of the department’s arrests. Taxpayers footed the bill to the tune of somewhere between $46 million and $80 million.
Additionally, the report shows that approximately $6 million goes to fund the LAPD’s mental evaluation unit that intervenes with people with mental illness. Another $6.7 million is allocated to the Safer Cities Initiative — a team of 71 officers deployed on skid row who frequently interact with mentally ill people lingering on the sidewalk.
By contrast, the emergency response teams from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that deals with most of complains related to homelessness is supported by only $330,000 in city general fund money and is ill-equipped to respond adequately.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/los-angeles-spends-more-money-policing-the-homeless-than-helping-them-report-shows/
Los Angeles spends more money policing the homeless than helping them: report
new report shows that more than half of the $100 million the city of Los Angeles spends on homelessness each year goes to the LAPD. Critics say this illustrates the city’s priority on criminalizing the homeless instead of helping them, LA Times reports.
The LAPD arrested almost 15,000 homeless people in 2013 — that’s a whopping 14% of all of the department’s arrests. Taxpayers footed the bill to the tune of somewhere between $46 million and $80 million.
Additionally, the report shows that approximately $6 million goes to fund the LAPD’s mental evaluation unit that intervenes with people with mental illness. Another $6.7 million is allocated to the Safer Cities Initiative — a team of 71 officers deployed on skid row who frequently interact with mentally ill people lingering on the sidewalk.
By contrast, the emergency response teams from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that deals with most of complains related to homelessness is supported by only $330,000 in city general fund money and is ill-equipped to respond adequately.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/los-angeles-spends-more-money-policing-the-homeless-than-helping-them-report-shows/
April 19, 2015
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s new budget has such major slashes that even the GOP is getting nervous about it. Of course it does sport a number of characteristics one would expect Republicans to champion, like cuts to environmental programs and schools, but with the first votes looming on Walker’s two-year plan, it seems that local Republicans think he’s finally pushed too far when it comes to the disabled and the elderly.
The budget hacks away at some of Wisconsin’s most important programs for seniors. Walker is looking to cut $15 million from SeniorCare, a prescription drug assistance program for residents who are 65 and older. The program assists over 85,000 Wisconsin residents at low cost, but Walker wants to shift pharmaceutical costs to Medicare Part D, which would be more costly for those enrolled in the program.
Walker has accepted federal money to help fund Medicare Part D, but has refused to take money to fund Medicaid.
“The hypocrisy is piping hot on this one,” Rep. Andy Jorgensen told a local media outlet. That same story quoted 73-year-old Judith Joslin-Crary, whose household has to pay for six separate prescriptions for her and her husband. The couple have already sold their house in an effort to free up more money for medicine. “They talk about going from steak to hamburger, but at this age most of us are already at hamburger and we’re looking at going without,” she said, “You jump for joy when you have a program like SeniorCare come along and you just cross your fingers and you hope that they don’t mess with it.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/scott-walkers-new-budget-is-so-brutal-even-republicans-are-afraid-of-it/
Scott Walker’s new budget is so brutal even Republicans are afraid of it
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s new budget has such major slashes that even the GOP is getting nervous about it. Of course it does sport a number of characteristics one would expect Republicans to champion, like cuts to environmental programs and schools, but with the first votes looming on Walker’s two-year plan, it seems that local Republicans think he’s finally pushed too far when it comes to the disabled and the elderly.
The budget hacks away at some of Wisconsin’s most important programs for seniors. Walker is looking to cut $15 million from SeniorCare, a prescription drug assistance program for residents who are 65 and older. The program assists over 85,000 Wisconsin residents at low cost, but Walker wants to shift pharmaceutical costs to Medicare Part D, which would be more costly for those enrolled in the program.
Walker has accepted federal money to help fund Medicare Part D, but has refused to take money to fund Medicaid.
“The hypocrisy is piping hot on this one,” Rep. Andy Jorgensen told a local media outlet. That same story quoted 73-year-old Judith Joslin-Crary, whose household has to pay for six separate prescriptions for her and her husband. The couple have already sold their house in an effort to free up more money for medicine. “They talk about going from steak to hamburger, but at this age most of us are already at hamburger and we’re looking at going without,” she said, “You jump for joy when you have a program like SeniorCare come along and you just cross your fingers and you hope that they don’t mess with it.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/scott-walkers-new-budget-is-so-brutal-even-republicans-are-afraid-of-it/
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Gender: MaleCurrent location: New Orleans
Member since: Wed Jul 20, 2011, 10:14 AM
Number of posts: 10,175
