Wikileaks, the website that has provided damning classified material on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has announced it is currently under attack by a denial of service attack as the site prepares to release another set of secret U.S. documents. Wikileaks is under a mass distributed denial of service attack, meaning that hackers are using multiple machines to persistently request information from Wikileak’s web server, essentially blocking the capacity for the Wikileaks site to service other users. —JCL The BBC: Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks says it is under attack from a computer-hacking operation, ahead of a release of secret US documents. “We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack,” it says on its Twitter feed. It adds that several newspapers will go ahead and publish the documents released to them by Wikileaks even if the site goes down. Read more Related Entries November 23, 2010 Iran’s Parliament Schemes to Impeach Ahmadinejad November 22, 2010 Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion
Continue reading …Decision Time: Invest In Distributed, Versus Central Power & High Voltage Transmission Lines?
November 28, 2010 No Comment
US electricity demand projections…low but continuing rate. Image credit: USEIA Most of last remaining State electricity rate caps will have fallen away by the end of this year. The resulting electric bill increases – stemming from both “rate cap removal” and higher-priced coal – tend to be in the 20% and higher range. “Coal Dems” and “Tea Partiers” won’t have “Cap & Trade” to blame for the pain of higher electric bills, however, as higher bills are a direct result of the deregulation fervor which arose during era of the Clinton Administration (an Admini… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, is on a kick to improve his country’s standing in Europe. His strategy? To develop “allies” abroad who will serve as walking PR agents for Israeli policy. —JCL The Guardian: Israel has instructed its embassies in 10 European countries, including the UK, each to recruit 1,000 members of the public to act as advocates for its policies in a new public relations offensive. A cable from the foreign affairs ministry was sent to embassies last week, with instructions from Avigdor Lieberman, the controversial and extreme right-wing foreign minister, to adopt a range of measures aimed at improving Israel’s standing in Europe. The most unusual was the order to identify up to 1,000 people by mid-January to act as “allies” to Israel. One source described them as “friends who are willing not just to receive messages but to actively promote these messages”. These individuals – likely to be drawn from Jewish or Christian activists, academics, journalists and students – will be briefed regularly by Israeli officials and encouraged to speak up for Israel at public meetings or write letters or articles for the press. Read more Related Entries November 28, 2010 Recruiting ‘Allies’ to Israel November 24, 2010 More News, Less Turkey
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Police in Morenci, Michigan were searching Sunday for 3 young brothers who haven’t been seen since their father tried to hang himself Friday. Investigators say John Skelton told them he left his sons with a woman he met online. (Nov. 28)
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enlarge As the charges against Julian Assange heat up , the anonymous folks of Wikileaks continue undaunted and promise another bombshell : Who: WikiLeaks. What: A Twitter message posted by the whistle-blowing website announced plans to release classified U.S. diplomatic cables reporting corruption allegations against foreign governments and leaders. WikiLeaks said the latest release will be seven times larger than the previous leak of classified Pentagon documents of roughly 400,000. U.S. State Department officials say the upcoming dump features corruption allegations and is set to cause serious embarrassment for American and foreign governments and politicians named in them. Where: It is not yet known where the classified documents would be released, however, the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, gave America’s New York Times, Britain’s Guardian newspaper and the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel – access to the documents some time ago. When: WikiLeaks has not specified when the tranche of documents would be released but Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said U.S. officials were expecting a possible release of documents ‘late this week or early next week’. As would be expected, the State Department has claimed that the leaks could cause irreparable harm and could put lives at risk . The latest leak is expected to include documents covering US dealings and diplomats’ confidential views of countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, Israel, Russia and Turkey. The letter from the US state department’s legal advisor Harold Koh was a response to correspondence from Mr Assange, who had written to the US ambassador to Britain, Louis Susman. Mr Assange had asked which individuals would be put at risk due to the leak, the State Department said. A senior American official told the BBC that Mr Assange was offering to negotiate over limited redactions. Of course, expect the government to go into overdrive in demonizing Assange even further in the hopes of deflecting the information.
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Would you ever in your wildest dreams imagine Chris Matthews flatteringly comparing Sarah Palin to former President Bill Clinton? During a lengthy opening segment about Palin's
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Hezbollah leader slams UN investigation, accuses Israel of interfering in in order to sully group’s name
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Milliyet report says bill in works eases restrictions on land purchase to attract foreign investment, but prohibits sale to Greek, Israeli citizens. Bill also favors Iranians, Syrians, and Saudis by exempting them from limitations
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enlarge It’s a scary time, when the Republican Party moves further to the right each day . While this may be good for Democrats at least some of the time, it’s really not good for our country. It makes the possibility of an actual right-wing takeover that much more plausible: In an age when far-right tea party activists have taken over the Republican Party and demanded lockstep allegiance, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been one of the few GOP lawmakers to step out of line. In particular, Lugar, the ranking GOP member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blasted his own party for relentlessly blocking ratification of the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, calling on his fellow GOP senators to “ do your duty for your country ” and complete the pact. Not surprisingly, this insubordination has earned Lugar significant scorn within the Republican base, which now seems to value blind obedience over principled independent decision-making. In a New York Times profile of Lugar published today, former GOP Sen. John Danforth feared that the backlash against Lugar from his own party signals that the GOP has gone “ far overboard ” with no hope of turning back: “If Dick Lugar,” said John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, “having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy, is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption .” Mr. Danforth, who was first elected the same year as Mr. Lugar, added, “I’m glad Lugar’s there and I’m not.” Danforth’s fears are not unfounded. Lugar, who is up for reelection in 2012, has already been targeted by tea party groups . “If I was Dick Lugar, I would certainly expect a challenge ,” noted veteran political analyst Stuart Rothenberg. As Diane Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Tea Party, told the Times, removing Lugar “will be a difficult challenge. But we do believe it’s doable, and we think the climate is right for it and we believe it is a must.”
Continue reading …Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video)
November 28, 2010 No Comment
If, like us, you’ve been waiting to see Kinect in control of a truly marquee game, your wait has now come to an end. The same fella that brought us the Kinect lightsaber has returned with a hack enabling eager nostalgics to enjoy a bout of Super Mario controlled only by their body contortions. OpenKinect was used to get the motion-sensing peripheral — originally intended exclusively for use with an Xbox 360 — to communicate with his PC, while a simple NES emulator took care of bringing the 25-year old plumber to life. The video awaits after the break. Continue reading Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video) Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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