Archived threads in /news/ - Current News - 184. page

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An artisan cheese festival descended into chaos last night.

The "fromage-themed extravaganza" took place on Wednesday at London's famous Borough Market, and hordes turned up, all eager to get a taste of free cheese.

More than 18,000 people said they were attending on Facebook, and it seems many of them actually went (unlike most events). It was too packed. People vented their annoyance at the festival, complaining of 'dangerous overcrowding'.

Only adding to the misery, others were frustrated at the appearance of a group of vegan protesters, who hurled insults in an anti- cheese demonstration while streaming videos of sad-looking cows.


'Elbowed in the boob'

Kelly Fox had a torrid time and even got hit in the face by a flailing backpack.

“Couldn’t get a look in at any of the stalls," she wrote.

"At one point we were just stuck in the middle of everyone and no one was moving.

"I got elbowed in the boob and backpacked in the face! Gave up in the end and went to Regent Street to look at the Christmas lights. Was looking forward to this all month. Disappointing.”

David Wallace didn't even see any cheese.

want free cheese? come to borough market and knock people out for it. pic.twitter.com/CQe3yOPb0k

— Aimee Louise Forbes (@aimeesucksx) December 14, 2016
“Gave up on this before we even saw any cheese, never mind tasted it,” he wrote.

“Utter, utter shambles. Ridiculously overcrowded, poorly organised and, frankly, a public relations disaster for Borough Market.”

Andy Green travelled all the way from Kent to eat cheese and was very upset by the meltdown.

He said on Facebook: “What a terrible shame you could not organise this properly, it was just an evening of squeeze!”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/posh-cheese-festival-descends-chaos-9465159

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Two lawyers were charged Friday with a "massive extortion scheme" in which they uploaded X-rated films to file-sharing sites, sued the people who downloaded them — and collected millions from victims who feared public humiliation, prosecutors said.

Paul Hansmeier and John Steele actually produced some of the pornography, solely for the purpose of copyrighting it so they could file "sham lawsuits" used to shake down their targets, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said.

"The conduct of these defendants was nothing short of outrageous," Luger said at a press conference hours after Hansmeier and Steele were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering and perjury.

"Everything about their practice of law was fraudulent."

Authorities arrested Paul Hansmeier, of Woodbury, shortly before U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced charges on Dec. 16. Carlos Gonzalez / ZUMAPRESS.com
Luger sounded disgusted as he described the alleged scheme in which two officers of the court allegedly used unwitting judges to unmask those who downloaded the porn — until it became clear in 2013 that the lawsuits were not legitimate.

The lawyers began by offering to represent the makers of sex films against video pirating, prosecutors said. But instead of trying to protect the copyrighted material, they allegedly put them on websites where they knew they would be illegally downloaded.

Because all they had was internet addresses for the downloaders, the attorneys filed copyright infringement lawsuits against "John Does" and then sought subpoenas that gave them names.

They never intended to go forward with the lawsuits because the litigation would reveal that they had uploaded the movies themselves, Luger said. Instead, they offered the victims the chance to settle and keep their name out of court papers for several thousand dollars, according to the indictment.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-lawyers-charged-porn-fueled-copyright-extortion-scheme-n697046

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http://www.dw.com/en/rent-a-jew-project-hopes-to-ward-off-anti-semitism-in-germany/a-36710940

>With a population of 100,000 Jews, Germany is home to the world's fastest-growing Jewish community. And yet many Germans have never met a Jewish person - something "Rent a Jew" aims to change. DW's Kate Brady reports.

>"How many of you have met a Jew?" At a technical college in Solingen, Western Germany, 15 out of 20 cautious teenagers answer with just as many variations of no.

>"I've most likely crossed paths with one," says one student. "But I wouldn't necessarily know."

>That's where "Rent-a-Jew" steps in. "You never forget your first," the project's tagline reads. The initiative - with its admittedly provocative name - was launched by the Munich-based European Janusz Korczak Academy.

>The program's 50 members are leading seminars with private groups and educational establishments across Germany. In reaching out to non-Jews, the initiative aims to provide the opportunity to socialize with the Jewish community and break down prejudices in the process. Among them is Moscow-born Mascha Schmerling and Hanoverian Monty Aviel Zeev Ott.

>But what's in the name? "We know it's questionable. It's there to provoke, to promote conversation," Schmerling told DW.

>"People don't trust themselves to say 'Jew,'" Ott said. "But it's all about context," Schmerling added.

>'We don't want to be defined by history'

>Like many of the country's Jews, Schmerling arrived in Germany from the former Soviet Union with her mother in 1992. They were part of the so-called "contingent refugees" who today account for around 80 percent of Germany's total Jewish population of approximately 100,000.

>"We want to give people the chance to talk to the Jewish community. We want them to see that we're completely normal people," Schmerling explained.

...

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https://theintercept.com/2016/12/09/a-clinton-fan-manufactured-fake-news-that-msnbc-personalities-spread-to-discredit-wikileaks-docs/

>The phrase “Fake News” has exploded in usage since the election, but the term is similar to other malleable political labels such as “terrorism” and “hate speech”; because the phrase lacks any clear definition, it is essentially useless except as an instrument of propaganda and censorship. The most important fact to realize about this new term: those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.

>One of the most egregious examples was the recent Washington Post article hyping a new anonymous group and its disgusting blacklist of supposedly pro-Russia news outlets – a shameful article mindlessly spread by countless journalists who love to decry Fake News, despite the Post article itself being centrally based on Fake News. (The Post this week finally added a lame editor’s note acknowledging these critiques; the Post editors absurdly claimed that they did not mean to “vouch for the validity” of the blacklist even though the article’s key claims were based on doing exactly that).

>Now we have an even more compelling example. Back in October, when WikiLeaks was releasing emails from the John Podesta archive, Clinton campaign officials and their media spokespeople adopted a strategy of outright lying to the public, claiming – with no basis whatsoever – that the emails were doctored or fabricated and thus should be ignored. That lie – and that is what it was: a claim made with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard for its truth – was most aggressively amplified by MSNBC personalities such as Joy Ann Reid and Malcolm Nance, The Atlantic’s David Frum, and Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald.
...

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>Egypt has recently signed a trade deal to export nearly 10,000 donkeys to China, with another agreement likely soon to send dogs to Korea.

The General Organization for Veterinary Services at the Ministry of Agriculture in Egypt agreed on the deal after requests from many Chinese companies.

Dr. Ibrahim Mahroos, the organization’s director, confirmed that Egypt will send the donkeys alive to China in accordance with an Islamic ruling in Egypt’s al-Azhar.

He added that China wants the donkey’s skin rather than its meat.

Egypt is also looking into requests from Korea to export dogs there, especially after several shelters have said they are at full capacity and were putting down stray dogs.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2016/12/10/Egypt-to-export-10-000-donkeys-to-China-dogs-to-Korea.html

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>Police in Spain have arrested more than 200 Chinese nationals in a €16m ($17m, £13m) fraud investigation involving call centres run from luxury Spanish villas, officials say.

The group is alleged to have convinced Chinese families to deposit money in bank accounts by pretending to be police officers.

Authorities said 13 call centres were discovered and dismantled in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.

More than 600 officers took part.

"We are talking about thousands of Chinese citizens, mainly poor families who were robbed of their modest savings," Spanish police crime commissioner Eloy Quiros told a news conference.
The gang is alleged to have used bases in Spain to contact people in China by telephone. Pretending to be friends or family, they would warn their victims of various scams.

The calls would later be followed up by members of the same gang impersonating police officers and claiming to be investigating the scams.

Victims would then be encouraged to help the authorities with their inquiries by depositing money in a number of bank accounts.

Spanish police said in a statement that up to 50 individuals worked "in great secrecy" at the call centres.

The suspects detained are mostly Chinese nationals who arrived in Spain as tourists and then remained in the country.

China said it was seeking the extradition of all of its citizens connected with the investigation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38323328

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http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a24172/fusion-reactor-working/
>The Wendelstein 7-X reactor, which uses a complex design called a stellerator, is performing just like it was predicted to.

http://interestingengineering.com/germanys-new-machine-brings-us-leaps-closer-nuclear-fusion/http://interestingengineering.com/germanys-new-machine-brings-us-leaps-closer-nuclear-fusion/
>Germany’s New Machine Brings Us Leaps Closer to Nuclear Fusion

http://www.ibtimes.com/nuclear-fusion-germanys-wendelstein-7-x-stellarator-operating-expected-2456267
...
>Currently, the approach toward testing the viability of nuclear fusion involves using either a tokamak or a stellarator. A tokamak — one of which is currently being tested by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center — is a doughnut-shaped device that can contain high-energy plasma using two-dimensional magnetic fields created by a ring of magnets. On the other hand, the stellarator — whose design is still largely untested — performs the same function using twisted, 3D magnetic fields.

>The world’s largest stellarator is currently being operated by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany, and researchers have now revealed that the extraordinarily complex device is functioning as expected.
...
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13493
>Confirmation of the topology of the Wendelstein 7-X magnetic field to better than 1:100,000

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/us/politics/steven-terner-mnuchin-trump-treasury-secretary.html

>Steven Mnuchin, a financier with deep roots on Wall Street and in Hollywood but no government experience, is expected to be named Donald J. Trump’s Treasury secretary as soon as Wednesday, people close to the transition say.

>Mr. Mnuchin, 53, was the national finance chairman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, and his selection would elevate a wealthy loyalist to a pivotal economic post. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner, before creating his own hedge fund, moving to the West Coast and entering the first rank of movie financiers by bankrolling hits like the “X-Men” franchise and “Avatar.”

>If confirmed, Mr. Mnuchin would play a critical role in carrying out Mr. Trump’s promised economic policy changes, including the enactment of a large package of tax cuts, sweeping changes to foreign trade agreements and the fulfillment of a huge new infrastructure spending program. He could also help lead any efforts to roll back President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and the administration’s opening to Cuba by reimposing sanctions on Tehran and Havana.

>Mr. Mnuchin’s selection fits uneasily with much of Mr. Trump’s campaign attacks on the financial industry. Mr. Trump, in a campaign ad intended as a closing argument, portrayed the chief executive of Goldman Sachs as the personification of a global elite that the ad said had “robbed our working class.”

>The selection of Mr. Mnuchin (pronounced mi-NEW-chin) came as Mr. Trump moved on Tuesday to fill the ranks of his domestic policy team with seasoned Washington insiders chosen to help smooth the way in Congress for his two marquee campaign promises: the repeal of Mr. Obama’s health insurance coverage law and the large package to repair infrastructure, which could reach $1 trillion.

...

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http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38308842

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http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/the-public-evidence-behind-claims-russia-hacked-for-trump/

>President-elect Donald Trump continues to discount or attempt to discredit reports that the intelligence community has linked the hacking of the DNC, the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, and related information operations with a Russian effort to prevent Clinton from winning the election—thus assuring Trump's victory. In his latest of a stream of tweets, Trump posted:

>The hacking was brought up well before the election. And it was monitored as it was happening—by the intelligence and law enforcement communities and by private information security firms.

>"CrowdStrike's Falcon endpoint technology did catch the adversaries in the act," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer of Crowdstrike. "When the DNC brought us in to conduct an investigation in May 2016, we deployed this technology on every system within DNC's corporate network and were able to watch everything that the adversaries were doing while we were working on a full remediation plan to remove them from the network."

>Much of the evidence from Crowdstrike and other security researchers has been public since June and July. But while the hackers may have been caught in the act digitally, the details by themselves don't offer definitive proof of the identity of those behind the anti-Clinton hacking campaign. Public details currently don't offer clear insight into the specific intent behind these hacks, either.

>What is indisputable, however, is the existence of genuine hacking evidence. And this information certainly does provide enough to give the reported intelligence community findings some context.
...

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-education/devry-agrees-to-100m-settlement-in-case-alleging-deception/2016/12/15/c6ba61fc-c310-11e6-92e8-c07f4f671da4_story.html?utm_term=.234e970cb630

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/trumps-victory-in-wisconsin-affirmed-following-recount.html

President-elect Donald Trump's victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were certified Monday, further affirming his win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in last month's presidential election.

>Wisconsin finalized its recount, which showed Trump beating Clinton by more than 22,000 votes, on the same day that a federal judge issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania's presidential election and scan some counties' election systems for signs of hacking.

>Later Monday, Pennsylvania certified the state's results in the Nov. 8 election, which saw Trump defeat Clinton by more than 44,000 votes.

>Green Party candidate Jill Stein successfully requested, and paid for, the Wisconsin recount. In addition to her failed Pennsylvania recount attempt, Stein's bid for a similar statewide recount in Michigan was blocked by the courts. Stein only got about 1 percent of the vote in each of the three states, which Trump swept on his way to the White House. She argued, without evidence, that voting machines in all three states were susceptible to hacking.

tee hee hee liberals BTFO yet again

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http://phys.org/news/2016-12-social.html#jCp
December 12, 2016
Applying the '80/20 rule' to social costs: Adults with the most costly problems could be spotted in preschool

A detailed analysis of the lives of nearly a thousand people from birth to age 38 shows that a small portion of the population accounts for the lion's share of social costs such as crime, welfare dependence and health-care needs as adults.

Just one-fifth of the study population accounted for 81 percent of criminal convictions and 77 percent of fatherless child-rearing. This fifth of the group also consumed three-quarters of drug prescriptions, two-thirds of welfare benefits and more than half of the hospital nights and cigarettes smoked.

The researchers found they could have predicted which adults were likely to incur such costs as early as age 3 based on assessments of "brain health," giving them hope that early interventions could avoid some of these social costs.

The analysis, by researchers at Duke University, King's College London and the University of Otago in New Zealand, combined data from a long-term study of a group of people born in the same year in Dunedin, New Zealand with their electronic health records and governmental databases on such things as health, welfare and criminal justice.

cont.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bW1vuCgEaA

https://vimeo.com/153670027

IN BRIEF

The Hadrian X is a prototype robot that can automate all of the brick laying process. Laying around 1000 standard bricks an hour, the robot has the ability to create houses at a rate that previous ages only dreamed of.

While it has long been expected that 3D printing will revolutionize the construction industry, companies are looking at a host of other technologies that will allow us to build the homes of the future…technologies that could help us build houses at next to no cost and in record time.

https://futurism.com/constructing-the-future-homes-can-now-be-made-in-a-day-with-3d-printing/

One of those technologies is robots, and one of the most promising robots is the Hadrian X, an Australian robotic bricklayer.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/video-the-latest-on-the-one-armed-robot-that-can-lay-1000-bricks-an-hour-2016-9

Unlike other construction types, brick structures still mostly rely on people laying bricks one-by-one. Obviously, that is a laborious process, and it generally takes days to complete. But the Hadrian X can lay 1,000 standard bricks in just one hour from a 30 meter boom.

It works just like a 3D printer, using robot arms to take and place bricks precisely where they’re needed. That actually means you don’t have to use as much mortar material, since the bricks are layered to a snug fit.

The company that built the robot, Australia-based Fastbrick Robotics, has already landed a deal to demonstrate their technology.

They partnered with Archistruct Builders and Designers in the construction of 11 homes, each with an area of at least 180 square meters, and have at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms. That may be rather small in size, but it could mean safe housing for the estimated 100 million people worldwide who are homeless.

https://futurism.com/brick-by-brick-this-one-armed-robot-is-revolutionizing-housing/

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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-officials-putin-personally-involved-u-s-election-hack-n696146