The “Rise of the Warrior Cop” is a phenomena with which the public is becoming all too familiar. Most recently, we saw an excessive display of militarized regulatory agencies when the Bureau of Land Management’s “armed officers, helicopters and four-wheel
“The Future is Bitcoin” panel at Freedom Fest was standing room only. People dragged chairs in and squeezed into the conference room to hear the panelist talk about the world’s newest currency. [Full disclosure: I have not studied Bitcoin and
Steve Forbes spoke at Freedom Fest this morning about free market solutions to healthcare. The origin of the problems with our health care system, he said, is that the patient is not in charge any more. He illustrated his point
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey gave the keynote address at Freedom Fest this afternoon in a speech dedicated to praising capitalism. At one point in his speech he explained to the audience that the intellectual class has always hated capitalism
Freedom Fest’s first major panel of the conference opened with the question: “NSA, TSA, IRS: Are Big Brother and The Thought Police Here?” And the question didn’t mean “here” as in watching the conference, it meant “here” like in the
A consortium of interested groups launched a giant airship to fly over the NSA’s new snooping repository in Bluffdale, Utah. A 135 foot long thermal airship flew over the snoop headquarters last Friday with the message: “NSA Illegal Spying Below”
In states with legalized recreational marijuana and legalized medical marijuana use, police are finding themselves sued by citizens who have wrongly had their pot seized as evidence. Only a few years ago, police could confiscate “illegal pot plants by ripping
Google announced yesterday that it will enter the domain name marketplace. With the release of over 1400 new top level domains, like .vote, .guru and .coffee, Google will be a competitor with companies also in the domain registration business that
A study released yesterday reveals that adults who watch three or more hours a day of television double their risk of early death. The study was released in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Nielsen recently reported that adults
On Monday, a federal court released a “secret government memo” explaining the 2011 killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was a United States Citizen and accused Al Qaeda operative killed during a drone strike in Yemen.The U.S. Court of Appeals for
Earlier this week, the DIY/Decor-o-sphere was rocked by the news that flat-boxed furniture conglomerate IKEA was attempting to shutdown its largest fansite, the 8-year-old, IKEAHackers. Full disclosure here, I’m a huge fan of IKEAHackers and long time reader. Have I
Now that private and commercial drone use is becoming more popular, it seems as good as time as any to integrate the devices into the use of social media. Enter “the dronie.” A play on the ubiquitous “selfie” phenomenon, a
Mary Barra, the embattled CEO of General Motors, currently embroiled in a recall scandal, is also on the Board of NSA surveillance contractor General Dynamics. Specifically, General Dynamics is the contractor helping the NSA process recorded phone calls going in and
Financial disclosure forms reveal the Clinton’s earned a hefty $12M in the year following their exit from the White House. According to 2000 financial forms, they left the White House in some level of debt: the Clinton’s held assets ranging
This morning on ABC News , Steve Coburn apologized for his sore loser remarks following the loss of California Chrome at the Belmont Stakes. Coburn, appearing with his wife Carolyn said he was “ashamed” of his remarks and congratulated the
(In this Aug. 31, 1955, file photo, owner William Woodward Jr. congratulates Nashua and jockey Eddie Arcaro in the winner’s circle after Nashua won the Great Match Race against Swaps at Washington Park in Homewood, Ill. Though Nashua didn’t win
On Friday night, Sister Cristina Scuccia won Italy’s The Voice. The 25 year-old Sicilian nun received 62% of the votes and won a recording contract with Universal. Upon winning, the nun prayed on stage: “My presence here is not up
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is planning to send a solar power station into space. The target date is set for 2025. Vice.com describes the endeavor: “Floating 24,000 miles above the Earth’s surface is a mammoth power plant (power satellite
The Guinness Book of World Records has revealed the world’s oldest cat, a 24 year-old tortie named Poppy. The newly decorated feline was born in 1990 and is considered to be 114 years-old in human years. Craig Glenday, Guinness World
NASA is slowly approaching a manned mission to Mars. Information transmitted from rovers Opportunity and Curiosity are helping the space agency determine how to get to the surface of the Red Planet. Future expeditions are focused on learning about the
A woman in Virginia Beach, Virginia has complained that a drone operated by a perverted voyeur was filming bathing suit-clad women at a private residential beach. According to a participant on Reddit, she “heard this whirring noise above us, and
A venture capital firm in Hong Kong has named a robot to its board of directors, and the robot “will be treated ‘equal’ to the other board members.” The announcement came in a press release from Aging Analytics UK, a
Mason Michalec has taken a pledge…not to say the pledge of allegiance. ‘I’m really tired of our government taking advantage of us,” said Michalec. “I don’t agree with the NSA spying on us. And I don’t agree with any of
Reddit user Seventy_Seven was the lucky recipient of an unmanned drone, delivered erroneously by UPS. Gizmodo describes, “thanks to one hell of a mixup, Reddit user Seventy_Seven just got a $400,000 unmanned aerial vehicle delivered straight to his doorstep. Talk about service.”
Gangs in the United Kingdom are using drones equipped with heat-sensing technology to locate their rivals marijuana crops to steal them. The hydroponic lamps used to grow the crops allow the drones to locate heat signatures so their owners can
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility took a swipe at the EPA for sending bureaucrat Gina McCarthy on an greenhouse gas generating five city tour for Earth Day. Administrator McCarthy will undertake a greenhouse gas laden week-long tour that
Maryland’s Attorney General Douglas Gansler accused his opponent, Iraqi war vet and Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, of not being capable of a ‘real job’. Gansler and Brown are both fighting over the democrat nomination for Governor in Maryland, so this
A drone manned by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard crashed near Lickdale elementary school yesterday afternoon. “The aerial vehicle, controlled by a remote operator, was part of a training exercise at Fort Indiantown Gap, said Maj. Ed Shenk, public affairs
Elle Magazine published a story titled ‘Meet the 10 Most Powerful Women in D.C.’ this month, but the piece only includes one right-leaning woman. It’s not clear why a fashion magazine believes it is qualified to determine who are the
Rasmussen’s latest polling effort shows that almost 2/3 (61%) of voters oppose the United States abdicating control of the internet. Last week, the government quietly announced that it would relinquish control over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Sergei Lupshin, a roboticist based in Zurich, revealed his new “leashed quadcopter drones” at at TED 2014. Lupshin calls them “Fotokites” because they look like a kite and do not require any special piloting skills to operate. They also provide
It’s the day that mathletes and number freaks wait for all year. March 14, also known as 3/14 is celebrated everywhere as Pi (π) day. Pi (π) is the mathematical constant 3.1415926535897932 … Here are a few facts about Pi (π) to drop
This Friday (3/14) the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) will hold it’s third meeting. The purpose? To “encourage Americans to focus on eating a healthful diet — one that focuses on foods and beverages that help achieve and maintain a
Digitalglobe, a Colorado firm with a vast commercial satellite network, is posting images online for the public assist in the search for missing Malaysia flight 370. The site has seen so much interest in the project that the website has
Obama appeared on Zach Galifianakis’ web show “Between Two Ferns” presumably to pitch his ill-performing health care program. The President managed to offer a quick quip on the NSA surveillance dragnet revealed by Edward Snowden. During the six minute
Yesterday, the NSA asked the surveillance court for permission to retain millions of phone records beyond the five-year limit currently imposed on the agency. The DOJ argued that they need to retain the data as “evidence” because of the privacy
A team of Hungarian researchers have created a swarm of ten drones that can “self-organize” in the air. The project was modeled on birds such as pigeons, “which fly in tight bunches while making adjustments and decisions.” Tamas Vicsek, a
Lisa De Pasquale, a contributor here at the exclusive Conversation, has just published her first book entitled Finding Mr. Righteous. Many know Lisa from her years as executive director of CPAC, a job she handled admirably. Lisa’s latest literary endeavor
Nicole Curtis is the host(ess) of “Rehab Addict”on the HGTV/DIY networks. I confess to being a huge fan of hers, her show and HGTV/DIY. This morning Curtis took to her Facebook page to issue some smack down to “entitled” women.
Spike Aerospace is building a new supersonic private jet with an innovative addition: live-streaming hi-def screens instead of windows. The S-512’s exterior will be lined with tiny cameras sending footage to thin, curved displays lining the interior walls of the
