US Army Will Have Laser Weapons by 2023 as Research Bosses Say Killer Technology Is ‘Very Close’

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The US Army is planning to deploy the first laser weapons in 2023, it has been revealed.

Mary J. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, told the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities ‘I believe we’re very close,’ when asked how close the Army is to developing offensive and defensive directed-energy weapons.

She said the programmes would be extensively tested as the Army wants to understand the lasers’ full capabilities ‘before we offer it to a Soldier’ . . .

‘We have to make sure the lasers work and do the full set of scopes against the threats we project. And those threats include the counter-rockets, counter-artillery and counter-mortar as well as [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] and cruise missile threats.’

Miller explained that the Army wants to understand the lasers’ full capabilities ‘before we offer it to a Soldier.’ (Read more from “US Army Will Have Laser Weapons by 2023 as Research Bosses Say Killer Technology Is ‘Very Close'” HERE)

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Apple’s Tech Allies Oppose the FBI, but Still Want Your Data

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In its fight with the FBI, Apple insists it’s defending the privacy and safety of all iPhone users by resisting government calls to help unlock an extremist’s iPhone. And now other big tech companies such as Google and Facebook are rallying to Apple’s side.

Wait just a minute: Aren’t those the same companies that Apple has previously criticized by lobbing veiled accusations that they exploit your personal information – to sell ads – and effectively endanger your privacy?

Some might argue that Apple’s allies are hypocrites when it comes to privacy, much like the fraternity brothers in “Animal House” who declared: “He can’t do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges.” (Read more from “Apple’s Tech Allies Oppose the FBI, but Still Want Your Data” HERE)

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Pentagon Research Could Make ‘Brain Modem’ a Reality

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The Pentagon is attempting what was, until recently, an impossible technological feat—developing a high-bandwidth neural interface that would allow people to beam data from their minds to external devices and back.

That’s right—a brain modem. One that could allow a soldier to, for example, control a drone with his mind.

This seemingly unlikely piece of technology has just gotten a lot less unlikely. On Feb. 8, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—the U.S. military’s fringe-science wing—announced the first successful tests, on animal subjects, of a tiny sensor that travels through blood vessels, lodges in the brain and records neural activity.

The so-called “stentrode,” a combination stent and electrode, is the size of a paperclip and flexible. The tiny, injectable machine—the invention of neurologist Tom Oxley and his team at the University of Melbourne in Australia—could help researchers solve one of the most vexing problems with the brain modem: how to insert a transmitter into the brain without also drilling a hole in the user’s head, a risky procedure under any circumstances. (Read more from “Pentagon Research Could Make ‘Brain Modem’ a Reality” HERE)

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Why US Attorney General Eric Holder Used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Birth Name as His Official Email Address

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Former US Attorney General Eric Holder is a huge fan of NBA hall of famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

So much so that Holder used Abdul-Jabbar’s birth name, Lew Alcindor, as an alias for his official Department of Justice (DOJ) email account, raising more questions about the email practices of top Obama administration officials, and about the ability of US government agencies to track down correspondence in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The Lew Alcindor revelation was made in a February 16 letter that DOJ sent to VICE News and Ryan Shapiro, a historian and doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in national security research . . .

The letter was part of about 500 pages of heavily redacted emails and other documents given to VICE News and Shapiro in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed in late 2014. The documents show that Justice Department officials sent emails to Lew Alcindor regarding calls from lawmakers for a federal investigation into claims that CIA personnel spied on Senate staffers while the Senate was drafting a report about the CIA’s torture program. Holder’s name does not appear anywhere in his Lew Alcindor email account. (Read more from “While US Attorney General, Eric Holder Used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Birth Name as His Official Email Address” HERE)

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NASA Reports Huge Explosion of Seven Meter Space Rock Over the Atlantic

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Photo Credit: Andrezej Wojcicki/Science Photo A huge fireball crashed into the Atlantic earlier this month – and went almost unseen.

The event took place on February 6 at 14:00 UTC when a meteor exploded in the air 620 miles (1,000km) off the coast of Brazil.

It released energy equivalent to 13,000 tons of TNT, which is the same as the energy used in the first atomic weapon that leveled Hiroshima in 1945.

This was the largest event of its type since the February 2013 fireball that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, leaving more than 1,600 people injured . . .

That fireball measured 18 meters across and screamed into Earth’s atmosphere at 41,600 mph. Much of the debris landed in a local lake called Chebarkul. (Read more from “Nasa Reports Huge Explosion of Seven Meter Space Rock Over the Atlantic” HERE)

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Ex-NSA Chief Backs Apple on iPhone ‘Back Doors’

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By Susan Page. Retired four-star general Michael Hayden, who as director of the NSA installed and still defends the controversial surveillance program to collect telephone metadata on millions of Americans, says he opposes proposals to force Apple and other tech companies to install “back doors” in digital devices to help law enforcement.

In an emerging court battle over access to information on the iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino attackers, Hayden says “the burden of proof is on Apple” to show that limited cooperation with investigators would open the door to broader privacy invasions. Apple is being asked not to decrypt information on the smartphone but rather to override the operating system so investigators could try an endless series of passwords to unlock it.

“In this specific case, I’m trending toward the government, but I’ve got to tell you in general I oppose the government’s effort, personified by FBI Director Jim Comey,” Hayden told Capital Download in an interview about his memoir, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror. “Jim would like a back door available to American law enforcement in all devices globally. And, frankly, I think on balance that actually harms American safety and security, even though it might make Jim’s job a bit easier in some specific circumstances.”

In a statement released late Sunday, Comey said the San Bernardino litigation “isn’t about trying to set a precedent or send any kind of message. It is about the victims and justice. Fourteen people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and bodies ruined. We owe them a thorough and professional investigation under law. That’s what this is. The American people should expect nothing less from the FBI.” (Read more from “Ex-NSA Chief Backs Apple on iPhone ‘Back Doors'” HERE)

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Cruz: Apple Should Open San Bernardino Attacker’s Phone

By Ian Hanchett. GOP presidential candidate Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz argued that “Apple has the right side on the global don’t make us do this to every iPhone on the market. But I think law enforcement has the better argument” in unlocking the phone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists during CNN’s Republican Presidential Town Hall on Wednesday . . .

He added, “I think Apple has serious argument that they should not be forced to put a backdoor in every cell phone everyone has. … So I think Apple has the right side on the global don’t make us do this to every iPhone on the market. But I think law enforcement has the better argument, this concerns the phone of one of the San Bernardino hackers. And for law enforcement to get a judicial search order, that’s consistent with the Fourth Amendment. That’s how the Bill of Rights operates, to say Apple, open this phone, not Anderson’s phone, not everyone’s here, open this phone.” (Read more from “Cruz: Apple Should Open San Bernardino Attacker’s Phone” HERE)

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Leap Year 2016: Why Does February Have 29 Days Every Four Years?

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A leap year, where an extra day is added to the end of February every four years, is down to the solar system’s disparity with the Gregorian calendar.

A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but the Gregorian calendar uses 365 days. So leap seconds – and leap years – are added as means of keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its seasons . . .

Under his predecessor Julius Caesar, February had 30 days and the month named after him – July – had 31. August had only 29 days.

When Caesar Augustus became Emperor he added two days to ‘his’ month to make August the same as July.

So February lost out to August in the battle of the extra days. (Read more from “Leap Year 2016: Why Does February Have 29 Days Every Four Years?” HERE)

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Netflix Is Going After a New Market – Evangelical Christians

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Netflix isn’t just a binge-watching paradise, but also a powerful tool for saving souls, according to televangelist Ed Young.

Young is one of four Christian pastors to have their sermons added to Netflix’s content library late last year . . .

Young, an evangelical superstar, previously had a program on E! network, in addition to publishing a handful of books and hosting a podcast.

“Jesus said that we should become fishers of men. If I’m going to catch the most fish, I’ve got to put a lot of hooks in the water,” he explained to the Gazette. “But I’m most excited about Netflix right now” . . .

Netflix’s CPO, Neil Hunt, told Business Insider that the company has seen that variations in show preferences within countries are greater than those between countries. That means that though an evangelical Christian show, like Young’s, might only appeal to a certain percentage of the US audience, it could appeal to similar niche communities in different countries throughout the world. (Read more from “Netflix Is Going After a New Market – Evangelical Christians” HERE)

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7 Second Video Summing up 2016 Election Is Going SUPER Viral

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The 2016 race for the White House has seen its ups and down – downs coming mainly from whatever comes out of Hillary Clinton’s and Bernie Sanders’ mouths – but it has also been very entertaining.

Here’s a funny mashup of some candidates making, um, awkward noises…

Clinton barking like a dog was great. Maybe she’s telling everyone that she needs to be kept outside the White House and not let in! (Read more from “7 Second Video Summing up 2016 Election Is Going SUPER Viral” HERE)

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Doctors Battling to Stop Cancer Hail Revolutionary Treatment

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Doctors battling to combat cancer have hailed a revolutionary ­treatment that teaches the body how to kill the disease itself.

Trials of immunotherapy showed remarkable results with 94% of terminal leukaemia patients told they had just months to live going into remission.

And more than half of 40 suffering other blood cancers were left disease-free, according to US researchers.

The treatment could reduce the ­reliance on chemotherapy, which has debilitating toxic side-effects.

In a second major breakthrough, an Italian study found the therapy could be used to develop a vaccine-style drug that stops the disease coming back after it has been successfully treated. (Read more from “Doctors Battling to Stop Cancer Hail Revolutionary Treatment” HERE)

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