An amalgam of many things wrong in our society.
(Source: tastyhumanburgers)
The Russian English-language news channel, Russia Today (RT), has become the first in the world to reach one billion views on YouTube. Let’s put it into perspective
Slaaaavvvvvaaaaaaaa
This is…alarming.
(via antigovernmentextremist)
The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time…The technology companies, which participate knowingly in PRISM operations, include most of the dominant global players of Silicon Valley. They are listed on a roster that bears their logos in order of entry into the program: “Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.” PalTalk, although much smaller, has hosted significant traffic during the Arab Spring and in the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Dropbox, the cloud storage and synchronization service, is described as “coming soon.”
So if Yahoo’s on that list, and Yahoo owns Tumblr…
Great.
(via antigovernmentextremist)
Meet Deric Lostutter, a 26-year-old cybersecurity consultant who also goes by the moniker “KYAnonymous.” Lostutter obtained and published tweets and Instagram photos in which members of the Steubenville High School football team joked about an incident in which a 16-year-old girl was raped.
Lostutter’s actions inspired a group of people to take justice into their own hands. A hacker called “Bobcat” vandalized the Facebook page of the Steubenville football team. Other hackers took similar action.
It’s unclear if Lostutter participated in any hacking shenanigans, but if he’s indicted and found guilty of any, he faces 10 years in jail. By comparison, the Steubenville rapists received one- and two-year sentences each.
Stark difference.
I can taste the bile. Disgusting.
Poster showing a comparison of images from planetary surfaces ordered by increasing complexity of the surface processes. Image shows the surfaces of Asteroid Itokawa, the Moon, Venus, Mars, Titan, and Earth.
Source: Distant Horizons - Different Surfaces (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
ckck:
In Focus: The Terrible Beauty of California’s Powerhouse Fire.
The harrowing, expansive fire, captured in such shocking fashion above, began as a wildfire sparked last Thursday, near a hydroelectric plant in the Angeles National Forest. The uncontrolled, wind-aided blaze ultimately destroyed six homes in Lake Hughes, California, with yet more damaged, and prompted thousands of evacuations. The above images are as compelling an example of an intersection of artistry and terror as we’ve come across.
Inspired by Anita Sarkeesian’s Video Game Tropes vs Women, I wanted to pitch a Zelda game where Zelda herself was the hero, rescuing a Prince Link.
Clockwork Empire is set 2,000 years after Twilight Princess, and is not a reboot, but simply another iteration in the Zelda franchise. It just so happens that in this case, Zelda is the protagonist. I’m a very big Zelda fan, and worked hard to draw from key elements in the continuity and mythos.
This concept work is meant to show that Zelda as a game protagonist can be both compelling and true to the franchise, while bringing new and dynamic game elements that go farther than being a simple gender swap.
Hope you like it!
Supreme Court Rules Human Genes Cannot Be Patented
This morning, in a case challenging patents held by the Utah-based Myriad Genetics, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that human genes may not be patented.
Initially, the patents had been challenged by scientists and doctors who said that the patents hindered their ability to help patients.
The decision hewed closely to the position of the Obama administration, which had argued that isolated DNA could not be patented, but that complementary DNA, or cDNA, which is an artificial construct, could. The patentability of cDNA could limit some of the impact on industry from the decision.
The central question for the justices in the case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, No. 12-398, was whether isolated genes are “products of nature” that may not be patented or “human-made inventions” eligible for patent protection.
Myriad’s discovery of the precise location and sequence of the genes at issue, BRCA1 and BRCA2, did not qualify, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court. “A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated,” he said. “It is undisputed that Myriad did not create or alter any of the genetic information encoded in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.”
“Groundbreaking, innovative or even brilliant discovery does not by itself satisfy the criteria” for patent eligibility, he said.
But manipulating a gene to create something not found in nature, Justice Thomas added, is an invention eligible for patent protection. He also left the door open for other ways for companies to profit from their research.
They may patent the methods of isolating genes, he said. “But the processes used by Myriad to isolate DNA were well understood by geneticists, ” Justice Thomas wrote. He added that companies may also obtain patents on new applications of knowledge gained from genetic research.
Source: NY Times
The US army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage will represent himself at his upcoming murder trial, meaning he will question the more than two dozen soldiers he’s accused of wounding, a military judge ruled Monday.
Major Nidal Hasan’s attorneys will remain on the case but only if he asks for their help, the judge said. Hasan, 42, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
After questioning Hasan for about an hour, the judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, ruled that Hasan was mentally competent to represent himself and understands “the disadvantage of self-representation”. She repeatedly urged him to reconsider his request, noting that the lead prosecutor has more than 20 years of experience and that Hasan will be held to the same standards as all attorneys regarding courtroom rules and military law.
While Major Nidal Hasan has opted to represent himself, the judge has ordered all three attorneys from his legal team to remain in the court room, should Major Hasan decide he needs help at any time. Two of the attorneys will sit at the defense table with him, while the third will sit somewhere in the court room in case he’s needed as well. Jury selection is expected to begin on Wednesday.
I’m still racking my brain over this.
