You are hereArchive - 2015
Archive - 2015
Good deed ripples far: barbers give free haircut to homeless in Dublin, Melbourne, Philippines, Costa Rica, Jamaica, NYC, LA, TX
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For Bustos, now 30, it all started in 2012, where he gave free haircuts to needy children at a local barbershop. "It made such a strong positive impact on me that I decided to bring it back home to NYC," said Bustos. Calling him "angel", Ray said, "When someone comes along and gives you something you never get… it makes me wanna cry." read more »
Majestic Cecil, one of oldest, most famous lion kings, lured to tragic death - hunter paid $50,000, plans to kill elephant next
*update* 08 August 2015
One of the 3500 remaining male lions, Cecil ("had some years to go"), is shot dead as 90% lion population has been wiped out. The following hunting figures may well distinguish and re-define "eliminating" from "hunting" -
Africa's Lion Population Has Declined 90% in the Last 75 Years;
Cheetahs Have Disappeared From More Than 75% of Their Range;
There Are More Tigers in Captivity Than There Are in the Wild Every Cecil matters. A lot!
Only 3,500 of male lions roaming Africa.
on the ban-hunting-trophies list: @AirFrance @KLM @Iberia @IAG @Qantas @lufthansa @flysaa @AmericanAir @Delta @AirCanada @united @British_Airways @VirginAtlantic
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Tech takes over driver's wheel, remote controls engine, steering... Recall: wireless connection to turn off a Jeep as it drives
*update 11 Aug 2015*
money.cnn - It's a relatively simple hack. And while researchers only tested one type of device, it raises serious questions about how dangerous it is to use them at all - Cars can be hacked by their tiny, plug-in insurance discount trackers The latest way to remotely hack a car? By tapping into one of those plug-in tracking devices from insurance companies. In some cases, hackers can send a text message -- and disable a car's brakes, according to research presented by computer security experts on Monday. It's a relatively simple hack. And while researchers only tested one type of device, it raises serious questions about how dangerous it is to use them at all. read more »
Kenya. Exceptionally large cheetah jumps into Jeep, just inches away fr Irishman's face, he's shocked but so cool (would you?)!
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"I've been living in Kenya all my life and I've never seen anything like this" - Surprise! Cheeky cheetah leaps into safari jeep, and crept toward Mickey McCaldin, inched less than a foot away from the face of the Irish man... This could have ended badly.
During a safari tour through the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, an exceptionally large cheetah jumped up onto the backseat of the tourists' Jeep and crept toward an Irish man, Caters News reports.
The cheetah inched less than a foot away from the face of Mickey McCaldin, who miraculously did not have a nervous breakdown.
"I've been living in Kenya all my life and I've never seen anything like this," said David Horsey, a family friend of McCaldin's who lives in Mombasa and was on the safari. "The cheetah just wasn't scared of getting up close and personal." Horsey, who captured the pictures of the incident in June, had been tracking the family of cheetahs, noting that they hadn't had a kill lately and "had been looking for a gazelle for a few days with no luck."
Turns out, the mother cheetah who hopped up first, named Malaika, wasn't looking for a kill – she was just snooping around.
the closest encounter - an exceptionally large cheetah jumped up onto the backseat of the tourists' Jeep and Irish tourist Mickey McCaldin Irish tourist Mickey McCaldin read more »
In chips we trust: "data supermarket". Stored, stolen, sold: “They took money fr my credit card & told me I use stolen cards"
A data leak has resulted in around a million dollars worth of Woolworths gift cards needing to be cancelled. When Jason Wang checked the balance on his gift cards he found some had already been spent in Sydney stores.
*update* 11 August 2015
WashingtonPost - By breaking into the wire services, some of Wall Street's most vital and unnoticed information hubs, investigators said the hackers and traders were able to defraud investors on a massive scale while leaving no public trace, a worrying development for the increasingly intricate networks that keep the financial world online. With advance details on financial performance and corporate mergers from dozens of companies — including Bank of America, Boeing, Ford Motor, Home Depot, defense contractor Northrop Grumman and Smith & Wesson — the team made rapid and lucrative trades from shared brokerage accounts, funneling the money through shell companies and offshore bank accounts in Estonia and Macau... the sophisticated hacks targeted not just people's identities, but corporate intelligence, targeting a core vulnerability of the financial system in one of the digital age's most sprawling insider-trading schemes, and some hackers and traders were even aided by former broker-dealers. “The traders were market-savvy, using equities and options … to maximize their profits”, ...pocketed more than $100 million from illicit trades.
*update* 4 August 2015 read more »
WWii ace pilot, at 95, still remembers brave voices (1 vs 12 head-on); modern youth think Battle of Britain took place last year
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update March 5th 2016 marks 80 years since the first flight of the Supermarine Spitfire, which had a vital role defending the UK during the Battle of Britain The prototype Spitfire first flew from Southampton Airport in 1936 read more »
"Without fuel, you can fly longer"! Two pilots, both innovators and pioneers, inspire Solar aviation technology for clean future
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"Now you can fly longer with no fuel than you can with fuel. So, what Andre has done is not only a historic first for aviation, it's a historic first for renewable energies. And this is why we are doing this project." The Swiss team is using the various stopovers on its round-the-world journey to carry a campaigning message to local people on the topic of clean technologies. The vehicle is covered in 17,000 photovoltaic cells. These either power the vehicle's electric motors directly, or charge its lithium-ion batteries, which sustain the plane during the night hours. Mr Piccard told reporters at Kalaeloa: "Andre's flight was longer than all the other single-seater flights that had fuel. That's an incredible message.
"Now you can fly longer with no fuel than you can with fuel. So, what Andre has done is not only a historic first for aviation, it's a historic first for renewable energies. And this is why we are doing this project." read more »