Technology

Pakistan: Government Bans Accessing Internet Through Virtual Private Networks!

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Nice dictatorship!

– Pakistan to ban encryption software (Guardian, August 30,  2011):

Millions of internet users in Pakistan will be unable to send emails and messages without fear of government snooping after authorities banned the use of encryption software.

A legal notice sent to all internet providers (ISPs) by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, seen by the Guardian, orders the ISPs to inform authorities if any of their customers are using virtual private networks (VPNs) to browse the web.

Virtual private networks allow internet users to connect to the web undetected, meaning that they can access banned websites and send emails without fear of government interception.

Pakistan’s 20 million internet users have previously been banned from popular social networks, such as Facebook, because of blasphemous material about the prophet Muhammad. All internet traffic in the country travels through the Pakistan Internet Exchange, which can be intercepted by the military and civil intelligence agencies. The move echoes a crackdown against encrypted communications across the border in India and in China.

Read morePakistan: Government Bans Accessing Internet Through Virtual Private Networks!

‘Smart’ CCTV Could Track Rioters (BBC News) – Guess Who Developed The Technology? Dr. James ORWELL And His Team At Kingston University

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Dr. Orwell???

You can’t make this stuff up!

The elitists play their age-old terrorist game of ...

PROBLEM – REACTION – SOLUTION!


Dr James Orwell and his team at Kingston University have developed the technology

– ‘Smart’ CCTV Could Track Rioters (BBC News, August 23, 2011)

CCTV that can automatically monitor criminal behaviour and track suspects is being developed by UK scientists.

Researchers at Kingston University have created a system that uses artificial intelligence to recognise specific types of behaviour, such as someone holding a gun.

The technology is capable of following a person across multiple cameras.

Privacy campaigners warned that it might be used to target groups such as political protesters.

Read more‘Smart’ CCTV Could Track Rioters (BBC News) – Guess Who Developed The Technology? Dr. James ORWELL And His Team At Kingston University

Mexican Terrorists Target Nanotech Researchers With Package Bombs

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– Mexican terrorists target nanotech researchers with package bombs (Times Union, August 24, 2011):

A Mexican terrorist group is targeting nanotechnology researchers around the world.

The group, which is influenced by the Unabomber, has sent package bombs to universities and research facilities in South America and Europe. A number of victims, including professors, were injured after they opened mail that exploded.

Read moreMexican Terrorists Target Nanotech Researchers With Package Bombs

Hospital Patients Now Being Microchipped With With ‘Electronic Tattoos’

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– Hospital patients now being microchipped with “electronic tattoos” (NaturalNews, August 25, 2011):

Being microchipped is now being spun as a method of protecting the health of hospital patients. To help mask the practice of this bodily invasion with a trendy, high-tech appearance, microchipping sensors are being referred to as “electronic tattoos” that can attach to human skin and stretch and move without breaking.

Supposedly the comparisons of this hair-thin electronic patch-like chip to an electronic tattoo are being made because of how it adheres to the skin like a temporary tattoo using only water.

The small chip is less than 50 micrometers thick, which is thinner in diameter than a human hair. It is being marketed as a “safe” and easy way to temporarily monitor the heart and brain in patients while replacing bulky medical equipment currently being used in hospitals.

This device uses micro-electronics technology called an epidermal electronic system (EES) and is said to be a development that will “transform” medical sensing technology, computer gaming and even spy operations, according to a study published last week.

Read moreHospital Patients Now Being Microchipped With With ‘Electronic Tattoos’

Torture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

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All to protect civilians, right?

– Pentagon’s Secret War: U.S. Special Operations Forces To Be Deployed in 120 Countries By The End Of This Year (Counterpunch)

– Bahrain Seeks Mercenaries From Indonesia, Malaysia And Pakistan (ABC Radio Australia)

– Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families (BBC News)

– UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

– Blackwater Hired To Set Up A 800-Member Mercenary Battalion For The United Arab Emirates (Reuters)

– Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya (Asia Times)

– Torture in Bahrain Aided by Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg, Aug 23, 2011):

The interrogation of Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar followed a pattern.

First, Bahraini jailers armed with stiff rubber hoses beat the 39-year-old school administrator and human rights activist in a windowless room two stories below ground in the Persian Gulf kingdom’s National Security Apparatus building. Then, they dragged him upstairs for questioning by a uniformed officer armed with another kind of weapon: transcripts of his text messages and details from personal mobile phone conversations, he says.

If he refused to sufficiently explain his communications, he was sent back for more beatings, says Al Khanjar, who was detained from August 2010 to February.

“It was amazing,” he says of the messages they obtained. “How did they know about these?”

The answer: Computers loaded with Western-made surveillance software generated the transcripts wielded in the interrogations described by Al Khanjar and scores of other detainees whose similar treatment was tracked by rights activists, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its October issue.

The spy gear in Bahrain was sold by Siemens AG (SIE), and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and NSN’s divested unit, Trovicor GmbH, according to two people whose positions at the companies gave them direct knowledge of the installations. Both requested anonymity because they have signed nondisclosure agreements. The sale and maintenance contracts were also confirmed by Ben Roome, a Nokia Siemens spokesman based in Farnborough, England.

Read moreTorture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

Geeky Science: The Ultimate Spy Tool – ‘And Suddenly Everybody Is (RFID) Chipped, Everybody Is Monitored And Everybody Is Trackable Everywhere On Earth’ (Video)

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‘An international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore.’


YouTube Added: 19.08.2011

The journal Science is reporting this week that a super thin electronic patch that sticks to the skin like a temporary tattoo could transform medical sensing, computer gaming and even spy operations. The micro-electronics technology – called an epidermal electronic system or EES – was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore. One of the creators – Professor John Rogers from the University of Illinois has said that EES eliminates the “distinction between electronics and biology” because it “integrates with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user.” In test studies the patch was used instead of bulky electrodes to monitor brain, heart and muscle tissue activity and users who had it on their throat operated a voice-activated video game with more than 90 percent accuracy. The wireless device is nearly weightless and requires so little power it can fuel itself with miniature solar collectors or by picking up electromagnetic radiation. Less than 50-microns thick – the device is thinner than a human hair and as soft as human skin and it can stick to the skin without any glue or sticky material. In fact – EES uses a molecular force known as “van der Waals interactions” to create adhesion between the patch and human skin on the molecular level. Scientists have spent six years developing this technology and they believe that EES might find future medical uses in patients with sleep apnea, babies who need neonatal care and for making electronic bandages to help skin heal from wounds and burns.

On the other hand, it could also be the ultimate spy tool. Imagine somebody comes up to you and touches your neck and, unbeknownst to you, you are now carrying a device that can transmit to somebody else everything from your blood pressure – are you under stress or lying? – to the words you’re speaking. Future versions may even have cameras in them. And they wouldn’t even need to touch you – a few thousand of them could be blown into a crowd – it wouldn’t even look like a little bit of dust – and suddenly everybody is chipped, everybody is monitored, everybody is trackable anywhere on earth. And this isn’t my paranoid rant – this is explicitly why the spy organizations of the countries that collaborated to develop this – Singapore, China, and the United States – are so excited about it. More as the story develops…

US: UAVs To Patrol Our Skies – They Can Taser You From Above!

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– Tased From Above! New Robot Copter To Begin Patrolling Our Skies (Video)


The new, heavily-armed ShadowHawk can track perpetrators using normal or infrared light.

Forget the idea that weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are only for military operations in wars fought in far off lands. Soon they’ll begin setting their sights on criminals within our borders. And they’ll be packing heat, not the long-range missiles of the X-47B, but with up close and personal stun guns, 12-gauge shotguns and, believe it or not, grenade launchers.

The ShadowHawk is the seven-foot, 50-lb copter that is the toy-sized dealer of destruction from Texas-based Vanguard Defense Industries. The copter is the result of three years of development. If being tased from above sounds frightening to you, I suggest you cease all criminal activities now (simply staying indoors is an option). There’s a good chance ShadowHawk’s spine tingling buzz could be heard approaching a city near you. As a sign of new law enforcement tactics to come, the Sheriff’s Office of Montgomery County, Texas was recently awarded a grant by the Department of Homeland Security for a squadron of ShadowHawks. Montgomery County’s Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel is psyched. “We are very excited about the funding and looking forward to placing the equipment into the field. Both my narcotics and SWAT units have been looking at numerous ways to deploy it and I absolutely believe it will become a critical component on all SWAT callouts and narcotics raids and emergency management operations.”

The Department of Homeland Security grant is just the latest indication that the US is taking the military’s lead – with over 7,000 drones in the skies of Iraq and Afghanistan – and using drones as a key tactical tool. In 2009 a surveillance drone called the Wasp was used during a SWAT raid in Austin, Texas. The Wasp climbed to 400 feet and beamed realtime video of a house in which an armed drug dealer was hiding. After the team had confirmed that there were no unforeseen dangers lurking in the backyard, they stormed the house and arrested the suspect. Drones are also helping the US to secure its borders against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Just a few months ago the Obama administration began sending drones to Mexico to gather intelligence and help in the country’s war on drugs.

Read moreUS: UAVs To Patrol Our Skies – They Can Taser You From Above!

German Village Wildpoldsried (Pop. < 2,600) Produces 321 Percent More Energy Than It Needs And Is Generating $5.7 Million In Annual Revenue

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– German Village Achieves Energy Independence … And Then Some (BioCycle, August 2011, Vol. 52, No. 8, p. 37):

Wildpoldsried produces 321 percent more energy than it needs and is generating $5.7 million in annual revenue — a remarkable accomplishment for a modest farming community that has been able to invest in new municipal infrastructure without going into debt.

IN 1997, when the newly elected Mayor and Village Council of Wildpoldsried, Germany took their posts, everyone agreed that its goals should be to build new industry, keep initiatives local, bring in new revenues and create no debt. Those goals included construction of a new sports hall, theater stage, pub, and retirement house. Without going into debt, the mayor and council assumed it would take several decades to achieve. But clever thinking, a national policy that “paid back” on investments in renewable energy and a community-supported vision of environmental and economic stewardship, have led to fulfilling those goals in significantly less time. This article tells the story of Wildpoldsried, a small agricultural village in the state of Bavaria, which serves as a model of how to achieve community sustainability in the 21st century — and remain debt-free.

In May 2011, 14 years later, Mayor Arno Zengerle announced at a town hall meeting that it’s “half time” of his third term. He walked the community through a massive list of accomplishments that include nine new community buildings (including the school, gym and community hall) complete with solar panels, four biogas digesters with a fifth in construction, seven windmills with two more on the way, 190 private households equipped with solar, a district heating network with 42 connections, three small hydro power plants, ecological flood control and a natural wastewater system. Wildpoldsried (pop. <2,600) now produces 321 percent more energy than it needs and is generating 4.0 million Euro (US $5.7 million) in annual revenue. This is a remarkable accomplishment for a modest farming community that turned a village with no industry into an industry of renewable energy with the help of local entrepreneurs and pioneers. Small businesses have sprung up to sell and install technologies and provide services to the renewable energy installations — from solar panels to district heating to the anaerobic digesters and energy efficiency retrofits.

Read moreGerman Village Wildpoldsried (Pop. < 2,600) Produces 321 Percent More Energy Than It Needs And Is Generating $5.7 Million In Annual Revenue

Fascism We Can Believe In: Blackout On DHS Backscatter Vans And Body-Scanners

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– Redacting all but your privacy – DHS Voyeurism, Backscatter Vans and Body-scanners (Activist Post, August 18, 2011):

Apparently public information can be redacted into an unaccountable oblivion, and the only boundary to black-marks are your private parts where they end for the sake of voyeurism. EPIC’s Freedom of Information Act request was answered with what looks more like a Hubble malfunction than a document regarding body-scanners and mobile X-ray (Backscatter) vans. See PDF.

“ZBV” – Z Backscatter Van

YouTube

The implication of such things are many, and it is not surprising that the very agency vigilantly attempting to criminalize normal civilians would want to keep these technologies as private as possible while applying them on the public. The good news – however hopeless – is that EPIC has filed suit to force disclosure of these documents. If it is the public who are to be the subjects of this technology, then it is the public who should be thoroughly informed of it. The DHS clearly opposes this, and seeks to covertly employ their spyware wherever they can. We really must ask where this will stop if left unchecked. The likeliest answer is that it will not.

The Eccentric Intelligence Agency: Helping the Ouroboros finish itself.

Read moreFascism We Can Believe In: Blackout On DHS Backscatter Vans And Body-Scanners

Architects & Engineers: Solving The Mystery Of WTC 7

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Website: Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth

YouTube Added: 16.08.2011

Architects & Engineers: Solving the Mystery of WTC 7

This is AE911Truth’s new 9/11 documentary on the mysterious destruction of World Trade Center Building #7 on 9/11/01. Join actor, Ed Asner and Architect Richard Gage, AIA and Architects and Engineers as they narrate an unfolding story that decimates the official account (“collapse due to normal office fires”) of this 47 story high-rise which was destroyed on the afternoon of 9/11 in record time: top to bottom in under 7 seconds – and at free-fall acceleration for a third of its fall. Solving the Mystery of the Free-Fall collapse of WTC 7.

Read moreArchitects & Engineers: Solving The Mystery Of WTC 7

Fake Facebook Identity Used By Military Contractors Plotting To Hack Progressive Organizations

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– Fake Facebook Identity Used By Military Contractors Plotting To Hack Progressive Organizations (ThinkProgress, Aug 18, 2011):

Earlier this year, ThinkProgress obtained 75,000 private emails from the defense contractor HBGary Federal via the hacktivist group called Anonymous. The emails led to two shocking revelations. First, that an assortment of private military firms collectively called “Team Themis” had been tapped by Bank of America to conduct a cyber war against reporters sympathetically covering the Wikileaks revelations. And second, that late in 2010, the same set of firms began work separately for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a Republican-aligned corporate lobbying group, to develop a similar campaign of sabotage against progressive organizations, including the SEIU and ThinkProgress.

Read moreFake Facebook Identity Used By Military Contractors Plotting To Hack Progressive Organizations

9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out (Documentary – Trailer)

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Website: Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth


YouTube Added: 31.07.2011

This is the trailer for the expert-packed feature-length documentary by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. The documentary premieres around the world the week prior to the September 11, 2011 Anniversary.

More on 9/11:

– Richard Gage, Founder Of Architects And Engineers For 9/11 Truth, Backed By 1,500 Architects And Engineers On Press TV – 9/11 Thermite Evidence Haunts US Liars

– Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik: Osama Bin Laden Died In 2001, 9/11 A False Flag (Video)

– Bush Cousin Judge John M. Walker Presides Over 9/11 Suit Against Cheney, Rumsfeld, Myers

– Former Governor Jesse Ventura on Government Cover-Ups . . . 9/11, the Reality of HAARP and Making Government Better

– The NEW Remember WTC Building 7 TV Campaign

Read more9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out (Documentary – Trailer)

Electric Vehicle Called ‘Schluckspecht’ (‘Boozer’) Sets New 1,013.8 Miles Record On Single Battery Charge

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– ‘Boozer’ EV sets 1,000 miles-plus record on single charge (PhysOrg, August 17, 2011):

An experimental electric vehicle called “Schluckspecht” (“boozer,” or “tippler” in German) has set the record for achieving the longest drive in a battery-powered vehicle on a single battery charge. Its record-breaking distance was 1,013.8 miles (1,631.5 km). The trip lasted 36 hours and 12 minutes. The Schluckspecht E, as the winning machine is called, was developed at Germany’s University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, in collaboration with other academic groups. The test drive took place in Boxberg at the Bosch corporate test track, where a team of four drivers made the trip, as they took turns navigating over the long stretch of hours.

While nothing beats a world record, this is not the first time Team Schluckspecht has made the EV design scene sit up and take notice. They also won attention at the South African Solar Challenge last year, driving 389 miles on a single charge.

Read moreElectric Vehicle Called ‘Schluckspecht’ (‘Boozer’) Sets New 1,013.8 Miles Record On Single Battery Charge

Doomed To Fail: The Explosive Truth Behind Fukushima’s Meltdown

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– The explosive truth behind Fukushima’s meltdown (Independent, August 17, 2011):

Japan insists its nuclear crisis was caused by an unforeseeable combination of tsunami and earthquake. But new evidence suggests its reactors were doomed to fail.

It is one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the 11 March earthquake inflict on the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit?

The stakes are high: if the earthquake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every similar reactor in Japan may have to be shut down. With almost all of Japan’s 54 reactors either offline (in the case of 35) or scheduled for shutdown by next April, the issue of structural safety looms over any discussion about restarting them.

Read moreDoomed To Fail: The Explosive Truth Behind Fukushima’s Meltdown

Superfast Hypersonic Glider Crashes In Pacific Ocean – DARPA Statement

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– Superfast Plane Crashes In Pacific Ocean (Sky News):

A test flight of the ‘world’s fastest plane’ has ended in disaster, after the vehicle crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

The US military’s Falcon HTV-2 – which travels 22 times faster than a commercial airliner – was launched amid promises of flights from London to Sydney in less than an hour.

Attached to the back of a rocket, the plane blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, before detaching at the edge of space.

But after around nine minutes, the craft stopped sending signals and is believed to have plunged into the ocean.

Engineers had hoped to guide the plane on a hypersonic flight, and that it would reach speeds of around 13,000mph upon its return to Earth.

– DARPA issues statement on failed flight of hypersonic aircraft (Los Angeles Times):

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released a statement on today’s flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2.

According to the statement, DARPA, as the agency is known, said that everything was going to plan up until the glide phase, which occurred about nine minutes into flight.

As we reported earlier: The Falcon launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and began to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

Then the trouble began.

Read moreSuperfast Hypersonic Glider Crashes In Pacific Ocean – DARPA Statement

And Now … London Riots? Blame The Blackberry!

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– London Riots? Blame The Blackberry! (Techdirt, Aug 9, 2011):

from the oh-come-on dept

The London riots sound a bit crazy, but perhaps even crazier is the fact that officials now seem to want to blame messaging via Blackberry devices for the riots:

Steve Kavanagh, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said that “really inflamatory, inaccurate” messages on Twitter were mainly to blame for the disorder. “Social media and other methods have been used to organise these levels of greed and criminality,” he said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

Ah, right, just like vocal cords, pamphlets, telephones and other communication tools “were mainly to blame” for previous riots. Hint to the Metropolitan police: if you’re going to always blame the tool, you’re not going to do a very good job dealing with riots. If people want to speak out, they’ll figure out a way to speak out. It’s not the technology that is to blame. The technology is just a tool, and if you block off one path, you can be damn sure that they’ll figure out another path instead.

Read moreAnd Now … London Riots? Blame The Blackberry!

US Government Scientists Tell Power Companies To Prepare For Possible Disruptions As Solar Storms Set To Hit Earth

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See also:

– NOAA: Solar Storms Could Debilitate Earth this Decade

– Power companies prepare as solar storms set to hit Earth (Reuters. Aug 6, 2011):

Three large explosions from the Sun over the past few days have prompted U.S. government scientists to caution users of satellite, telecommunications and electric equipment to prepare for possible disruptions over the next few days.

“The magnetic storm that is soon to develop probably will be in the moderate to strong level,” said Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

He said solar storms this week could affect communications and global positioning system (GPS) satellites and might even produce an aurora visible as far south as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

An aurora, called aurora borealis or the northern lights in northern latitudes, is a natural light display in the sky in the Arctic and Antarctic regions caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.

Read moreUS Government Scientists Tell Power Companies To Prepare For Possible Disruptions As Solar Storms Set To Hit Earth

NOAA: Solar Storms Could Debilitate Earth this Decade

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– Solar Storms Could Debilitate Earth this Decade: NOAA (International Business Times, August 6, 2011):

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency that focuses on the condition of the oceans and atmosphere, said that a severe solar storm could cause global chaos, debilitating satellite communications and taking down the most important global power grids.

The NOAA predicted four extreme solar emissions which could threaten the planet this decade. Similarly, NASA warned that a peak in the sun’s magnetic energy cycle and the number of sun spots or flares around 2013 could enable extremely high radiation levels.

Government studies revealed that extreme solar flare emissions could cause blackouts, possibly for years, in large portions of the U.S.

This type of storm could also induce geomagnetic currents that could debilitate transformers on the power grid. Electric power would be out for years or even decades.

Read moreNOAA: Solar Storms Could Debilitate Earth this Decade

Richard Gage, Founder Of Architects And Engineers For 9/11 Truth, Backed By 1,500 Architects And Engineers On Press TV – 9/11 Thermite Evidence Haunts US Liars

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Don’t miss:

– BBC News Reported WTC7 Collapse 20 Minutes BEFORE It Fell! (Enhanced Video)

Visit the link to watch the video:

– 9/11 thermite evidence haunts US liars (Press TV, Jul 25, 2011):

The implosion and fall of building 7 on September 11, 2001, the third building, not hit by an airplane and the presence of molten metal and thermite particles only made in military labs backs NIST into corner.

Press TV talks with Richard Gage, founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth who, backed by 1,500 architects and engineers, claims that NIST the official investigating committee has hidden much of the evidence and ignored first hand testimonials concerning building 7 in a deliberate action to support the official story by the US government. Following is a summarized transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Can you tell me the main premise of the work that you’re doing?

Richard Gage: We have 1,500 architects and engineers who are demanding a new investigation; one that accounts for all of the evidence that we haven’t seen in the official reports from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). We want a new investigation that accounts for the molten metal seen at the base of the three skyscrapers not just two that collapsed on that day; the evidence of extreme temperatures throughout all the dust that settled and the evidence for the free-falling of World Trade Center seven that cannot be explained according to office fires as NIST has attempted to do so. So we do want a new investigation.

Read moreRichard Gage, Founder Of Architects And Engineers For 9/11 Truth, Backed By 1,500 Architects And Engineers On Press TV – 9/11 Thermite Evidence Haunts US Liars

Technology Giant Foxconn To Replace Workers With 1 Million Robots In 3 years

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– Foxconn to replace workers with 1 million robots in 3 years (Xinhua, July 29, 2011):

Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.

The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers’ dance party Friday night.

The company currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to Gou.

Read moreTechnology Giant Foxconn To Replace Workers With 1 Million Robots In 3 years

Mind-Control: Harnessing The Power Of Feedback Loops

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“As such, it is perhaps the most promising tool for behavioral change to have come along in decades.”

– Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops (Wired, June 19, 2011):


The premise of a feedback loop is simple: Provide people with information about their actions in real time, then give them a chance to change those actions, pushing them toward better behaviors. Photo: Kevin Van Aelst

In 2003, officials in Garden Grove, California, a community of 170,000 people wedged amid the suburban sprawl of Orange County, set out to confront a problem that afflicts most every town in America: drivers speeding through school zones.

Local authorities had tried many tactics to get people to slow down. They replaced old speed limit signs with bright new ones to remind drivers of the 25-mile-an-hour limit during school hours. Police began ticketing speeding motorists during drop-off and pickup times. But these efforts had only limited success, and speeding cars continued to hit bicyclists and pedestrians in the school zones with depressing regularity.

So city engineers decided to take another approach. In five Garden Grove school zones, they put up what are known as dynamic speed displays, or driver feedback signs: a speed limit posting coupled with a radar sensor attached to a huge digital readout announcing “Your Speed.”

Read moreMind-Control: Harnessing The Power Of Feedback Loops

Big Brother UK: The Town Where EVERY Car Is Tracked By Police Cameras

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– Big Brother is watching you: The town where EVERY car is tracked by police cameras (Daily Mail, July 30, 2011):

A sleepy Home Counties market town has become the first in Britain to have every car passing through it tracked by police cameras.

Royston, in Hertfordshire, has had a set of police cameras installed on every road leading in and out of it, recording the numberplate of every vehicle that passes them.

The automatic number-plate recognition system will check the plates against a variety of databases, studying them for links to crimes, and insurance and tax records, and alerting police accordingly.

There were just seven incidents of vehicle crime in the town last month, and residents believe the unmarked cameras are an invasion of their privacy.

The system, due to be switched on in the next few days, also allows police to compile ‘hotlists’ of vehicles that they are interested in and which will be flagged up when the ANPR system

Read moreBig Brother UK: The Town Where EVERY Car Is Tracked By Police Cameras