Jack the Ripper’s Real Identity Was Poet Francis Thompson, Teacher Claims

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England’s most notorious serial killer may have been renowned poet Francis Thompson, according to one teacher who claims to have cracked the century-old murder mystery.

Thompson penned poetry by day and butchered prostitutes by night under the guise of legendary murderer Jack the Ripper, Australian teacher Richard Patterson claims.

The 45-year-old educator says research from an exhaustive 20-year study shows the artist is the legendary culprit behind the grisly 1888 slays of five London prostitutes during a 10-week killing spree.

Thompson, from Preston, Lancashire, had surgical experience and hinted at his double life in some of his poems in which he talked about killing people, Patterson told the Mirror.

He “kept a dissecting knife under his coat, and he was taught a rare surgical procedure that was found in the mutilations of more than one of the Ripper victims,” the researcher said. (Read more from “Jack the Ripper’s Real Identity Was Poet Francis Thompson, Teacher Claims” HERE)

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This Is the Final Sign of World War III on the Precipice

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“A mysterious bright light in the sky has sent Californians into panic,” reports the BBC. “Videos posted online show a bright flare rising high, before a wide, bright blue flash emerges in a cone shape. Many videos continue to track the light for several minutes.”

Last night, Californians immediately leapt to social media to propose their theories of the phenomenon, ranging from a nuclear missile attack to meteors. “Law agencies and news media in San Diego were flooded with calls about 6 p.m. from people reporting everything from a flare to a comet to a nuclear bomb in the western sky,” reports the San Diego Union Tribune . . .

The “official” explanation of this event — and remember that “official” explanations are almost always cover stories — is that the U.S. Navy launched a test missile just because they “routinely” test missiles.

Obviously, the official cover story is pure bunk. So what’s the real story behind this? It all has to do with China and the covert war that’s already underway between China, the US and Russia. . .

Last night’s test launch of the Trident missile over Orange County was staged near a high population area for a tactical reason: To have as many witnesses (and videos) as possible, sending a very visible warning message to China that says, “We can destroy you if you don’t back off.” (Read more from “This Is the Final Sign of World War III on the Precipice” HERE)

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The FCC Says It Can’t Force Google and Facebook to Stop Tracking Their Users

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The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it will not seek to impose a requirement on Google, Facebook and other Internet companies that would make it harder for them to track consumers’ online activities.

The announcement is a blow to privacy advocates who had petitioned the agency for stronger Internet privacy rules. But it’s a win for many Silicon Valley companies whose business models rely on monetizing Internet users’ personal data.

It’s also the latest move in an ongoing battle to defend the agency’s new net neutrality rules, which opponents warned would result in the regulation of popular Web sites and online services. By rejecting the petition, the FCC likely hopes to defuse that argument. The rules, which took effect this summer, allow the FCC to regulate only providers of Internet access, not individual Web sites, said a senior agency official.

Consumer Watchdog, an activist group, petitioned the FCC in June to support a technology that would allow consumers to signal to Web sites that they did not want to be tracked. By clicking a button in their browser settings, users would have been able to send a “do not track” message to Web site operators when they surfed the Internet.

Some Web sites have committed to honoring those requests voluntarily, but many do not. If it had succeeded, the petition could have made Do Not Track a U.S. standard. (Read more from “The FCC Says It Can’t Force Google and Facebook to Stop Tracking Their Users” HERE)

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Nearly 600 Earthquakes Within Three Weeks in California

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A total of 583 small earthquakes have shaken San Ramon, California, in the last three weeks or so – more than five times the record set 12 years ago, according to the latest US Geological Survey updates.

“It’s the swarm with the largest number of total earthquakes in San Ramon,” said USGS scientist David Schwartz, who is more concerned about the size of quakes than he is the total number of them. Still, the number tops the previous record set in 2003, when 120 earthquakes hit over 31 days, with the largest clocking in at a magnitude of 4.2.

The largest magnitude earthquake in the current swarm, which began on Oct. 13, is a magnitude 3.6. (Read more from “Nearly 600 Earthquakes Within Three Weeks in California” HERE)

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Woman Randomly Bursts Into Flames on Park Bench in Germany

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A woman was left fighting for her life after apparently bursting into flames on a park bench in Germany.

According to the Flensburger Tagesblatt and The Local, fire and smoke emerged from the woman, who is believed to be in her 40s and originally from Mauritius, as she sat on a bench in Flensburg, northern Germany.

She has reportedly been left severely burned, despite the best efforts of a passer-by who tried to beating out the blaze with his jacket.

Witnesses at the scene told local media the woman “did not say anything” as the flames engulfed her.

She was taken to hospital and has since been transferred to a specialist burns unit in Lübeck, where she is said to be in a critical condition. (Read more from “Woman Randomly Bursts Into Flames on Park Bench in Germany” HERE)

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Is Mount St Helens About to Erupt?

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Its scarred and jagged crater is a reminder of the terrible devastation that Mount St Helens wrought over the Washington countryside 35 years ago.

Now a new study of the volcanic plumbing lurking beneath the 8,363ft (2,459 metre) summit suggests the volcano could yet again blow its top in an explosive eruption.

Geologists studying the volcano, which is responsible for the most deadly eruption in US history, have discovered a second enormous magma chamber buried far beneath the surface.

This giant pool of molten rock, which lies between seven to 25 miles (40km) below the surface, is connected to a slightly smaller chamber that lies directly beneath the mountain . . .

They said a series of distinct earthquakes in the months leading up to the massive eruption on 18 May 1980, which killed 57 people, may have been caused by the pumping of magma from the lower to the upper chamber. (Read more from “Is Mount St Helens About to Erupt?” HERE)

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Target Closing Over a Dozen Stores, Here’s Why

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Target plans to close 13 stores nationwide, including one in New Ulm and two others in Milwaukee and Superior, Wisconsin . . .

Target was hurt by a massive credit-card breach before Christmas 2013 that sent shoppers temporarily fleeing. The company also pulled the plug on a major expansion into Canada earlier this year . . .

Layoffs in 2015 included 2,500 jobs, or about one-fifth of the workers in the company’s corporate offices in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park. (Read more from “Target Closing Over a Dozen Stores, Here’s Why” HERE)

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Creepy Ways Local Law Enforcement Is Watching You

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Did you RSVP to any Halloween parties on Facebook? Maybe tweeted about your plans? Posted an Instagram of your costume? These days, when you’re reading tweets or looking at your friends’ photos, you might be joined by cops . . .

Once you get in your car, get ready to be tracked. Law enforcement agencies all over the country use ALPRs (automated license plate readers) to track drivers’ locations and activities. ALPRs are cameras — mounted on police cars or placed in stationary locations like light poles — that detect when a car passes, capture a picture of that car and record its license plate number. Accumulated location data creates a history of drivers’ movements that can provide private and intimate details on people’s lives, like where they work, where they live, where they worship, where they go throughout their day and whom they associate with. Law enforcement agencies like the New York Police Department have used ALPRs in exactly this way, trying to map out the entire Arab and Muslim community of New York and Newark. The Los Angeles Police Department and the LA County Sheriff’s Department scan 3 million plates every week . . .

Speaking of driving, do you go through any tolls on your commute? Many cities have switched to electronic tolls, either via an RFID chip in your car or via an account tied to your license plate number. In 2013, we noted that the San Francisco Bay Area had switched to all electronic tolls, making it functionally impossible to cross the Golden Gate Bridge without authorities knowing about it. And the Bay Area isn’t alone; other major urban areas like New York and even some states, like Washington, have moved to all (or nearly all) electronic tolling . . .

You may escape tracking by not driving and by purchasing a transit ticket in cash, but you’ll still be captured by ubiquitous surveillance cameras. In many U.S. cities, there are now surveillance cameras on every block. In San Francisco, you could appear on security cameras dozens of times in one day. In New York, “[t]he NYPD can tap into roughly 6,000 street cameras, two-thirds of which are privately owned. There are another 7,000 in public housing and more than 4,000 in the city’s subway stations” . . .

You’ve probably noticed that Facebook recognizes your friends and you in your photos. A mask might not be enough, though: Facial recognition technology has gotten so good that Facebook can even recognize the back of your head. (Read more from “Creepy Ways Local Law Enforcement Is Watching You” HERE)

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The Third-Grade Math Question That’s Baffling Parents

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Parents everywhere are stumped by another Common Core math problem. This time, the third-grade assignment in question fueled a viral Reddit debate on what 5 x 3 equals.

The student wrote 15, because “5 + 5 + 5” equals 15. The teacher marked it wrong because of how the student arrived at the answer; the correct answer, according to the repeated addition problem is: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 equals 15 . . .

Under Common Core, which was launched in 2009 and currently in use in 42 states, you have to read 5 x 3 as “five groups of three” instead of “three groups of five.” (Read more from “The Third-Grade Math Question That’s Baffling Parents” HERE)

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FINALLY: White House Preparing for Catastrophic Solar Flares

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If a giant solar flare hit the Earth, it could knock out the entire power grid, meaning no more new Justin Bieber singles, no more televised presidential debates, and no more Facebook photos of babies . . .

That’s why the White House released its National Space Weather Strategy on Thursday . . .

The six-step plan requires government agencies, schools, the media, the insurance industry, nonprofits, and more to work together. In other words: We might be doomed. “This is a real and present danger,” the White House’s assistant director for space weather tells the Post. Back in 1859, a huge solar storm did impact Earth and caused some sparking telegraph lines. The National Academy of Sciences says something like that today could mean a $2 trillion economic hit. Something like that almost did happen in 2012, when NASA says we were nearly hit by two large plasma clouds. “If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” one physicist says. The White House’s new plan calls for the US to get better at predicting space weather, shore up our infrastructure against EMPs, and more, the Chronicle reports. It’s a plan we may truly need: The Post quotes NASA as stating there’s a 12% chance of a giant solar flare in the next 10 years. (Escape doomsday in a luxury missile silo.) (Read more from “The White House Is Preparing for Catastrophic Solar Flares” HERE)

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