All-purpose news and politics thread

[Iangould]

Reviving this from YABS.

to kick off:

a possible cure for type 2 diabetes.

New type of aerial vehicle may mean people finally stop asking "where's my flying car"?

First solar plant capable of delivering power around the clock opens.

Possessed Hand" technology lets a computer take control of a person's hand. Very nearly as creepy as it sounds.

[Iangould]

Before his death, Osama Bin Laden was talking about "rebranding" Al Qaida.

Because, you know, the problem with their public image was their name, not the fact that they were murdering scumbags.

his proposed new names:

"Taifat al-Tawhed Wal-Jihad”, which means the “Monotheism and Jihad Group”. Another was “Jama’at l’Adat al-Khilafat al-Rashida”, which means “Restoration of the Caliphate Group."

Because they roll so naturally off the tongue.

[snarkbunny]

Ian, the possessed hand is pointing to the solar plant link.

The diabetes link was interesting, although I thought there was plenty of evidence already that losing weight could improve the pancreas performance.

[Iangould]

Ian, the possessed hand is pointing to the solar plant link.

Not any more.

[snarkbunny]

Not any more.

Thanks. Creepy is a good description. I can understand the potential value of possessed hand, but my reptile brain is kind of creeped out at the thought.

[Iangould]

Hugo Chavez hasn't been seen in public for two weeks after undergoing supposedly minor surgery in Cuba.

Rumors are circulating in Venezuela that he may be seriously ill.

[Iangould]

Afghanis build their own wireless internet network out of trash and off-the-shelf consumer electronics.

Funded primarily by the personal savings of group members and a grant from the National Science Foundation, residents of Jalalabad have built the FabFi network: an open-source system that uses common building materials and off-the-shelf electronics to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles.
...
Jalalabad's longest link is currently 2.41 miles, between the FabLab and the water tower at the public hospital in Jalalabad, transmitting with a real throughput of 11.5Mbps (compared to 22Mbps ideal-case for a standards compliant off-the-shelf 802.11g router transitting at a distance of only a few feet). The system works consistently through heavy rain, smog and a couple of good sized trees.

With FabFi, communities can build their own wireless networks to gain high-speed internet connectivity---thus enabling them to access online educational, medical, and other resources.

In FabLabs, technology brings people and ideas together. FabFi embraces this same principle. The public hospital, which houses the endpoint of FabFi Afghanistan's longest link, has become a shared community resource, providing downlinks to a growing number of locations in the city center.

The shared infrastructure facilitates communication between FabFi users all over the city as they collaboratively grow and maintain the network. The FabFi user group is learning valuable skills that will soon allow them to generate revenue for themselves and the Lab by building, installing and maintaining FabFi links as part of a "FabFi Club" at the FabLab.

Fast Company reports that residents can build a FabFi node out of approximately $60 worth of everyday items such as boards, wires, plastic tubs, and cans that will serve a whole community at once.

[Paradox]

So, the two tin cans and a string thing? Not a joke, then?

Really though, always points for ingenuity.

[the4thpip]

Scientists in Germany convinced Silvana Koch-Mehrin to step down from the research committee of the European Parliament. She briefly joined the committee earlier in the week - after losing her Ph.D. due to plagiarism.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15189978,00.html

"Ms Koch-Mehrin, you were just shown to be a complete fraud as a researcher. What will you do next?"
"Why, join the research committee of the European Parliament, of course!"

[the4thpip]

TSA Agents Now Making Elderly Women Remove Their Adult Diapers

[Charles RB]

As the government and unions rattle sabres over the idea of strikes, Michael Gove decides the best thing he can do is suggest parents should work as scab teacher during a teaching union strike.

Speaking of Tories, Cameron has trumpeted the success of one of his constituency's youth centres and how it proves the Big Society works. It's going to close down because people aren't donating enough money.

In better news, two sixth formers have succeeded in getting a judicial review of tuition fee rises.

[Charles RB]

Afghanis build their own wireless internet network out of trash and off-the-shelf consumer electronics.

That's incredible.

[RAWroulette]

Are the American people obsolete?

By Michael Lind

SalonHave the American people outlived their usefulness to the rich minority in the United States? A number of trends suggest that the answer may be yes.

In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority.

In North America and Europe, the economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. Without mass consumption, the factories in which the rich invested would grind to a halt. Without universal conscription in the world wars, and selective conscription during the Cold War,theU.S. and itsalliesmighthavefailed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to a market economy.

Globalization has eliminated thefirst reason for the rich to continue supporting this bargain at the nation-statelevel,whiletheprivatization of themilitarythreatenstheotherrationale.

The offshoring of industrial production means that many American investors and corporate managers no longer need an American workforce in order to prosper. They can enjoy their stream of profits from factories in China while shutting dopwn factoriesin theU.S. And ifChinese workers have the impertinence to demand higher wages, American corporations can find low-wage labor in other countries.

Read more at Salon.

[Gary_B]

Maybe. What do you think?

[RAWroulette]

It's getting more and more like it everyday....