USDA offers up new seed money for small farmers gristsusie, grist.org Make your hydroponic backyard organic kale dreams come true, now with help from the federal government. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a microloan program to assist veterans, minority growers, and small-time farmers who mig… USDA offers up new seed money for small…
US cities employ precog algorithm to predict murder By Kim Zetter, wired.co.uk Politics Who needs the freaky precogs of Minority Report to predict if someone’s likely to commit murder when you have an algorithm that can do it for you? New crime-prediction software used in Maryland and Pennsylvania, U… http://flip.it/4MS8c Related articles Movie Review :…
US diplomats believe Syria dropped hallucinogenic weapon on rebels By Noah Shachtman, wired.co.uk Politics The Syrian military used an exotic chemical weapon on rebels during an attack in the city of Homs, some US diplomats now believe. That conclusion — first reported by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin and laid out in a… RT @WiredUK: US…
The Amazon will message authorities when loggers strike By Liat Clark, wired.co.uk Technology Brazilian authorities hope to combat deforestation in the Amazon by fitting trees with wireless location devices that send out alerts if their host tree is cut down. Invisible Tracck is a device about the size of a… RT @WiredUK: The Amazon will…
How Washington, DC became the capital of bike-sharing in the US By Nathan Ingraham, theverge.com Washinton, DC was never known for being bike-friendly — but over the last decade, the city is home to the largest and most successful bike-sharing program in the country. Slate tracks its rise, pinning much of the success on former……
JSTOR begins offering free yet limited access to its online academic library By Ben Kersey, theverge.com Online digital library JSTOR will begin offering free access to its catalogue of journals, papers, and books. The Register & Read program will now allow individuals to register for the service, but members will only be able to read……
Keith Ratliff, YouTube’s most famous gun lover, found dead By Chris Welch, theverge.com Keith Ratliff, whose gun enthusiast YouTube channel FPSRussia is among the most popular on the video site, was found dead on January 3rd — killed by a single shot to the head. Ratliff’s body was discovered in the office where he stored……
America’s first bookless public library will look ‘like an Apple Store’ By Laura June, theverge.com Bexar County, Texas says that it will open the first 100 percent digital public library system in the country, unveiling plans for its first location this past week. The plan has been in the works for a while, headed up…
New Data: Americans Hate Congress More Than Root Canals, Cockroaches Or Nickelback By Rebecca Boyle, popsci.com But Congress narrowly beats ebola, bullies and Lindsay Lohan. Root canals, head lice, cockroaches, Donald Trump, Ghengis Khan, Nickelback—they’re all terrible things, but in the eyes of Americans, none of those things is worse than the… http://flip.it/JpCHr Related articles…
2013 Prediction: Science Funding Remains Strong By Juliet Eilperin, popsci.com Barack Obama’s second term should see the same focus on funding science and technology—although the budget ax is looming. Science and technology have utterly transformed human life in the past few generations, and forecasts of the… RT @gram_positive: But will remain weak in the Philippines.…
Washington, Massachusetts Top TechNet State Broadband Rankings John Murrell, allthingsd.com If the local broadband climate is a major factor in deciding where in the U.S. to settle your family or business, TechNet has some guidance to offer. The technology advocacy group surveyed the states to compare indicators on… http://flip.it/fEhqx Related articles Washington state No. 2…
Teenager Gets New iPhone For Christmas… Along With 18-Point Contract From Mom Killian Bell, cultofmac.com Imagine your delight as a teenage boy who’s just unwrapped a shiny new iPhone for Christmas. It’s probably your first smartphone — maybe even your first cellphone period — and you can’t wait to turn it on and start playing…
FDA Guidance on Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information pharma-mkting.com Two days after Christmas, on December 27, 2011, while most of us were still on vacation, the FDA quietly issued “Guidance for Industry Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical… RT @pharmaguy: FDA Guidance on Responding to Unsolicited Requests…
76 things banned in the Bible, most of which are punishable by death Xeni Jardin, boingboing.net An oldie but goodie single-purpose Tumblr listing things banned in Leviticus, the banny-est of all scriptures. The sex stuff you can imagine (no bonking animals, dudes if you are a dude, divorcées, your grandmother, or your own children… RT…
Loud Bicycle: Car horn for your bike Mark Frauenfelder, boingboing.net An outstanding Kickstarter project – a bike horn that is as loud as a car horn! Cycling in traffic can be frightening and dangerous. The Loud Bicycle horn prevents accidents by alerting motorists with a familiar sound. The safety benefits of … RT @BoingBoing: Loud…
Urban Outfitters Among Fashion Brands Using L.A. “Sweatshop” Labor, Say Feds ecouterre.com Looks like Forever 21 isn’t the only apparel label on the hook for promoting sweatshop-like conditions in downtown Los Angeles. Federal and state labor authorities announced on Thursday the discovery of “widespread” labor… RT @inhabitat: Love to shop at Urban Outfitters, Free People,…
Study Finds A Third Of NYC’s Seafood Is Mislabeled, Posing Health Risks Mary Beth Quirk, consumerist.com (J Dailey)It isn’t just Los Angeles that is having a problem with mislabeled fish — a new study that tested seafood on menus, at grocery stores and in fancy specialty shops in New York City says plenty of the…
Obama: `Weapon of War’ Has No Place in American Communities Bloomberg By The Numbers » 15.5 How many points the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort index rose in the past 17 weeks., bloomberg.com Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images A “weapon of war” — President Barack Obama’s term today for the semi-automatic assault rifle used in the slaying of…
How America’s Spies Use iPhones And iPads By Neal Ungerleider, fastcompany.com Deep inside the NSA guidelines for iOS, warnings about “juice-jacking,” “hot mikes,” and requirements to cover iPad cameras with tape. Years ago, when spooks and government employees needed a secure smartphone, they turned to Research in… RT @nealunger: iSpy: Inside the #NSA’s best practices…
Infographic: Watch A Company’s Management Team Mutate Over 4 Years By Mark Wilson, fastcodesign.com What would your corporate structure look like if you tracked every employee, manager, and department over years? Maybe a lot like this. Unless you’re self-employed, we’re all cogs in a larger machine. The problem can be, how do you track that……
Worried Workers: BYOD Or You’re SOL [Infographic] Brian Proffitt, readwrite.com It is a common perception around the world that Americans, by and large, have problems relaxing. We don’t take what little vacations we do get and increasingly use technology to blur the line between work and home life. But a new study shows that… RT…
How Obama Knew How You’d Vote, Even Before You Did Dan Rowinski, readwrite.com Imaging you were a political analyst who time traveled from 1990s to November 5, 2012. A quick look at the national polls for the presidential election, you would probably have thought that Republican nominee Mitt Romney had a pretty good shot at……
discovermagazine.com Like the debate on climate change and other societally important issues caught in the maw of our culture wars, the discourse on guns and violence has had a depressing, unchanging quality. Here’s President Obama two years ago: You see, when a trage… http://flip.it/R8QPz How Cultural Cognition Can Inform the Gun Conversation Related articles Climate…