Month: September 2011

How the U.S. Government assassinates its own citizens

links, politics

The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Glenn Greenwald has an interesting paper in Salon that explains some disturbing facts about the recent assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, without him ever being formally charged with any crime.

Sure, he was a crazy fucked-up Al-Qaida fanatic, but the fact the U.S. Government can assassinate whomever it wants on presidential order is quite scary.

Where’s the outrage?

[UPDATE]

The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting ofAnwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/aulaqi-killing-reignites-debate-on-limits-of-executive-power/2011/09/30/gIQAx1bUAL_story.html?hpid=z1

Artificial Leaf Moves Two Steps Closer to Reality

cool, links, science

Artificial Leaf Moves Two Steps Closer to Reality – Wired.com.

Two independent research teams report today in Science that they’ve taken key strides toward harnessing the energy in sunlight to synthesize chemical fuels. If the new work can be improved, scientists could utilize Earth’s most abundant source of renewable energy to power everything from industrial plants to cars and trucks without generating additional greenhouse gases.

I for one welcome our new artificial trees overlords!

Scientists Disarm AIDS Virus’ Attack on Immune System

links

Scientists say they have found a way to disarm the AIDS virus in research that could lead to a vaccine.  Researchers have discovered that if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune system returns to normal.

via Scientists Disarm AIDS Virus’ Attack on Immune System | Health | English.

Old stuff [updated]

Uncategorized

As you can see, there’s now a whole bunch of old photos dated 2010 and much older. I just imported my old Blogger site ; WordPress is amazing for this! Now if only I could do the same to import my Tumblr site, I’d be a happy camper! Any tips are welcome!

[Update] Thanks to the excellent tumblr2wp I was able to merge my Tumblr blog to this one too. Years of stuff, all in one place. Neat.

Why authorities fear Anonymous

links

Anonymous demonstrators in Madrid (Reuters)

Anonymous began as a small group protesting internet censorship, using novel ways designed to grab press attention. As idealists swelled the ranks, though, its unusually open and officially leaderless structure allowed it to be penetrated by cyber criminals and career hackers, who launched direct attacks on law enforcement. This was a long way from the chatter on teen-oriented message boards inside the 4chan website, which was founded in 2003. (The name “Anonymous” comes from the identity given by default to anyone posting comments there.)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3645ac3c-e32b-11e0-bb55-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1Yv7HNtVR

(via BoingBoing)