Last week we were duly shocked by the discovery that the government is looking into a proposal to make ISPs retain a log of every website you ever visit. Now it’s coming out that they may want ISPs to link that information to other personal data like your passport number.
Ben Grubb over at ZDNet broke the original story, and yesterday followed it up with a deeper insight into the proposed scheme. While the government is denying it would capture individual browsing histories, unnamed sources from ISPs are saying that the original data set sent to ISPs from the government said that they’d require allied personal information, including passport numbers.
The entire post at ZDNet is well worth a read – it seems the government is defending its intentions purely by claiming different definitions. It’s an extremely scary position to find ourselves in as a country and something every one of us should be paying close attention to.
Bonobos have been filmed appearing to ’say no’ by shaking their heads, report scientists.
On a number of occasions, bonobos were filmed using side to side head movements to prevent others from doing something they did not want them to do.
In one film a mother is seen shaking her head to stop her infant playing with its food.
This may reflect an early precursor to head-shaking behaviour amongst humans in one of our closest relatives.
The study has been published in the journal Primates.
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New York (CNN) — A Picasso painting fetched nearly $106.5 million at auction Tuesday, a record for any single work of art, Christie’s New York said.
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold for $106,482,500 to an unidentified telephone bidder, the auction house said in a news release.
“Silence fell over the packed saleroom as Christopher Burge conducted nine minutes of bidding that involved eight clients,” it said. “Christie’s lead auctioneer took bids from a client in the saleroom as well as those on the phone before the competition settled down to two bidders at the $88 million mark and a one-on-one battle ensued. The final bid was hammered down at 7.32 p.m. at $95 million.”
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It’s an earthworm so mysterious, people compare it to the Loch Ness Monster. Rarely sighted since the 1980’s, the giant Palouse earthworm was said to grow almost three feet long, smell like lilies, and spit at predators. It was so elusive, that some even doubted its existence–but now, a team of conservationists from the University of Idaho has found several of these mysterious creatures in a prairie field.
But what a let down it was.
Contrary to popular claim, the earthworms did not smell like lilies or spit at their predators. They weren’t even particularly giant, causing lead researcher Jodi Johnson-Maynard to remark: “One of my colleagues suggested we rename it the ‘larger than average Palouse earthworm’” [The Telegraph].
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ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2010) — Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington have found the first solid evidence of horizontal DNA transfer, the movement of genetic material among non-mating species, between parasitic invertebrates and some of their vertebrate hosts.
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But don’t worry. The feds tell us it’s not terrorism:
The police discovered a car bomb in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said.
Crowds were lined up on the south side of 43rd Street as the heart of Times Square was closed off to traffic.
There was no explosion.
“It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth” Avenues on 45th Street, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.
The device, he said, contained “explosive elements” that included “propane tanks, some kind of powder, gasoline and a timing device.”
“This is very much an active investigation,” he said.
The police would not say whether they had any suspects, and did not say if they had determined what might have been behind the event.
A federal official said it was not considered it [sic] a terrorist threat and that the New York Police Department had told the Department of Homeland Security to stand down. The official would not say why he believed that or what the New York Police Department told them about the episode.
Not a terrorist threat. Hoo-kay then.
Hot Air quotes what sounds like a Reuters story as follows:
Police officials said a witness reported a running Nissan Pathfinder with Connecticut plates, with smoke coming out of the back. A bomb squad robot popped the back latch of the Pathfinder, and officers found what they initially believed was a bomb. The vehicle was found to contain explosives, gasoline, propane and burned wires, a Fire Department officer told Reuters.
The officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said that a man was seen fleeing the S.U.V. and that the police evacuated the area in case there were other threats nearby.
But it’s not terrorism.
The system worked!
UPDATE: Just so it’s clear what we’re dealing with here, let me quote Allahpundit, who reminds us of a similar-sounding plot to detonate fuel-air bombs in London. There, like tonight’s bomb, propane tanks were to be used to set off a tremendous explosion:
Fuel-air bombs are hugely destructive, as this harrowing Danger Room article published after the London plot broke made all too clear. A fuel-air bomb properly detonated in Times Square on a Saturday night likely would have killed hundreds of people. If that’s what this was — and the feds evidently aren’t sure yet, despite reports of “fireworks” going on in the back seat and someone running away from the vehicle — then there’s a seriously dangerous individual running around NYC right now. Stay tuned.
I get a little sick of federal officials quickly declaring that there is no terrorism angle to an act that makes most sane people think instantly of terrorism. It’s not reassuring; on the contrary, it just seems clueless. Which is pretty damned far from reassuring.
