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Bald laufen wir mit «Google-Brillen» herum

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2013General, Media, Politicsaldous huxleys, antonio zugaldia, big business, big data, data mining, englischen staatstheoretiker, evgenij samjatins, google brillen, grosser bruder, john locke, Mark Zuckerberg, marshall mcluhan, menschen wolf, mini display, ray bradburys, thomas hobbes

Parallel zur staatlichen breitet sich eine private Überwachung grossen Stils aus. Widerstand scheint aussichtslos. (Teil 2)

Red. In einem ersten Teil befasste sich der Autor mit staatlichen Überwachungsdiensten und den möglichen Folgen für demokratische Gesellschaften. Der zweite Teil zeigt auf, welche Rolle dabei die digitale Technologie und das Internet spielen.

Zur neuen Entwicklung gehört, dass es neben der staatlichen Tätigkeit immer mehr auch Private sind (Einzelpersonen, Agenturen, Detektivbüros, Sicherheitsfirmen, privatwirtschaftlichen Unternehmen), die andere überwachen oder überwachen lassen, so dass man sagen kann, dass nach dem englischen Staatstheoretiker Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) der Mensch nicht nur des Menschen Wolf, sondern auch dessen Grosser Bruder und Datenspeicher ist. (more…)

Stretchable energy sources

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2013Scienceactive electrodes, bingqing wei, China, cnt, continuous carbon nanotube, donghua university, electrochemical performance, energy management systems, energy storage devices, network, polyvinyl alcohol, shanghai, solid electrolyte, stretchable energy sources, sulfuric acid gel, supercapacitors, tsu wei chou, wss

UD researchers develop stretchable wire-shaped supercapacitor

Advances in flexible and stretchable electronics have prompted researchers to explore ways to create stretchable supercapacitors — robust energy storage devices — to power these and other devices.

Supercapacitors offer significant advantages over common batteries, including the ability to recharge in seconds, exceptionally long life span and high reliability, leading to their incorporation in portable consumer electronics, memory backup devices, hybrid vehicles and even large industrial scale power and energy management systems. (more…)

Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2013Scienceblack rock desert, bothell, california, capsule, Chernobyl, crashing rockets, nevada desert, nuclear power facility, robert hoyt, robert winglee, sample return technology, tethers unlimited, ukraine, university of washington

During spring break the last five years, a University of Washington class has headed to the Nevada desert to launch rockets and learn more about the science and engineering involved. Sometimes, the launch would fail and a rocket smacked hard into the ground.

This year, the session included launches from a balloon that were deliberately directed into a dry lakebed. Far from being failures, these were early tests of a concept that in the future could be used to collect and return samples from forbidding environments – an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space. (more…)

Global warming led to dwarfism in mammals — twice

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2013Environment, Scienceabigail dambrosia, carbon dioxide, climate change, diacodexis, dwarfism in mammals, early horse hyracotherium, early horses, eocene thermal maximum, etm2, future global warming, geological past, global warming, greenhouse gases, heat trapping, human caused, hyperthermals, hyracotherium, jaw fossils, modern day horse, paleocene eocene, paleontologist, petm, philip gingerich, primate cantius, thermal maximum, university of michigan, will clyde

ANN ARBOR — Mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events. A new finding that suggests a similar outcome is possible in response to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan paleontologist and his colleagues.

Researchers have known for years that mammals such as primates and the groups that include horses and deer became much smaller during a period of warming, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), about 55 million years ago. (more…)

Überwachung kann Richtung Totalitarismus abgleiten

By Guest PostNovember 6, 20131 commentPoliticsabraham lincoln, alten china, amerikanischen, Angela Merkel, aurel schmidt, cia direktor, david petraeeus, deutschen bundeskanzlerin, fbi, fisc, foreign, fred kaplan, geheimgericht, gettysburg address, handy, infosperber, intelligence surveillance court, journalist john pilger, licht der oeffentlichkeit, national security agency, nsa, totalitarismus, ueberwachung, verbotene stadt

(Teil 1) Um Terroranschläge zu verhindern, kommen Instrumente zur Anwendung, die jederzeit den Wandel zu einem Polizeistaat erlauben. (1)

Das Monitoring der Menschen, ob privat oder staatlich, folgt einer eigenen Logik. Wo ausgespäht und ausgehorcht wird, sind alle verdächtig. Niemand ist ausgenommen und der Generalverdacht zur Norm geworden, wie die neueste Episode in der Geschichte der amerikanischen National Security Agency (NSA) zeigt: Sogar das Handy der deutschen Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel wurde von den US-Staatsschützern «abgegriffen», wie der Ausdruck lautet. (more…)

Unpublished WW1 novel shares secrets of the past with a new generation

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2013Culture, Politicsa romance, acts of courage, analysis, dcm, distinguished conduct medal, egalitarian belief, first world war, forest of dean, frederick william harvey, gloucestershire regiment, gloucestershire soldier, grant repshire, herbert howells, ivor gurney, new generation, poetry, prisoner of war, roger deeks, semi autobiographical novel, severnvale, soldier, university of exeter, unpublished ww1 novel, will harvey, world war

A heroic World War One soldier’s previously unknown semi-autobiographical novel has come to light following the completion of a project to archive and make public the manuscripts, poems and correspondence of Frederick William Harvey.

F W Harvey’s papers are now available to the public thanks to a major collaborative project between the University of Exeter and the Gloucestershire Archives.

The Gloucestershire soldier became well known nationally for his poetry and his acts of courage. Despite having trained as a solicitor, he enlisted in the ranks and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal before being made an officer. Found among Harvey’s papers was an unpublished novel titled ‘Will Harvey – A Romance’, which is a fictional, but semi-autobiographical, novel which covers the early lives and school-days of two brothers. The story then follows them into the trenches of WWI, where Eric is killed (as was F W Harvey’s brother in real life) and Will is captured (again as in real life). There were several attempts to have it published however it seems that the post-WWI public was no longer interested in reading about the war. (more…)

Transgender controversies can lead to ‘gender panic,’ study finds

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2013Culture, Healthgender binary, gender identity, gender panic, surgery requirement, transgender controversies, transgender men

When New York City moved in 2006 to make it easier for transgender people to revise the gender on their birth certificates, the proposal was widely expected to pass. (more…)

Microsoft unveils game-changer for South Africa’s small businesses

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2013Technologyafrica, bcg, biz4afrika hub, boston consulting group, business leader, chief operating officer, crime line, kevin turner, Microsoft, mteto nyati, small business, sme, South Africa, Technology

Boston Consulting Group research highlights potential for technology to help drive significant revenue and job growth by SMEs.

JOHANNESBURG — Nov. 5, 2013 — Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner on Tuesday unveiled an online hub that will give South African small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) access to a range of free products and services from Microsoft and other partners.

The hub, at https://southafrica.biz4afrika.com, is specifically designed to aggregate all the best resources — both IT and non-IT — available to local SMEs. The baseline services offered are free and highly relevant for South African SMEs looking to bring their business online and improve their general competitiveness. The launch offer will provide SMEs with the opportunity to get their businesses online for free for the first year. This includes a free .co.za domain, a free website, as well as free email and collaboration tools.* (more…)

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