December 2, 2016

Duran Duran 'shocked' after losing legal copyright battle

Source: BBC

Pop group Duran Duran have said they are "outraged and saddened" at losing a High Court fight to reclaim US rights to some of their most famous songs.

"We are shocked that English contract law is being used to overturn artists' rights in another territory," said founder member Nick Rhodes.

The group had argued that US copyright laws gave them the right to call for a reversion of copyright after 35 years.

But lawyers for Gloucester Place Music Ltd successfully argued that English laws of contract stopped them from doing so.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38182418

December 2, 2016

Report: Downtown Minneapolis Macys To Close

Source: CBS

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) After decades as a flagship department store in the downtown district, the Nicollet Mall Macys will soon be shutting its doors, according to a report from Twin Cities Business Magazine.

The publication says Macys informed city officials of its plans to permanently close in the first half of 2017. The rumored announcement isnt expected until after the holiday season, which means this year may be your last chance to visit the long-running Santaland attraction at the store.

Earlier this year, the company announced plans to close 100 of its stores, but didnt specify which ones.

Read more: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/12/01/report-downtown-minneapolis-macys-to-close/#.WEC87xtnwVI.gmail

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It's not looking good for Macy at all. Here in Seattle they are selling off complete floors at the downtown flagship store.

October 30, 2016

FBI Director Begins Briefing Congressional Leaders on Email Review

Source: ABC

FBI Director James Comey has reached out to top Republicans and Democrats in Congress to brief them on the agency's review of newly discovered emails in connection to the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, congressional sources tell ABC News.

Comey spoke Saturday with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican of Virginia, and the panel's ranking Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan.

Others leaders in Congress, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, both of California, have requested briefings.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/fbi-director-james-comey-begins-briefing-congressional-leaders/story%3fid=43173237

October 25, 2016

Current Florida Vote Totals

Not sure if this has been posted but here is a good website for the vote totals in Florida.

https://countyballotfiles.elections.myflorida.com/FVRSCountyBallotReports/AbsenteeEarlyVotingReports/PublicStats

October 7, 2016

Comcast gets closer to nationwide data caps with expansion in 18 states

Source: Arstechnica



Comcast is bringing data caps to a bunch of new cities beginning November 1, roughly doubling the number of markets where it imposes data limits and overage fees. As before, customers will be allowed to use 1TB of data per month before being hit with overage charges of $10 for each additional 50GB. For an extra $50 per month, customers can purchase unlimited data.

Prior to the expansion, Comcast said it was enforcing data caps in 14 percent of the markets in its 39-state territory. Instead of immediately imposing caps nationwide, Comcast has been steadily rolling them out to new markets since 2012, usually adding a few at a time and gauging customer feedback before expanding to more. The caps were originally 300GB a month, but as more customers started exceeding them, they were boosted to 1TB (downloads and uploads combined) this year. Comcast says more than 99 percent of its customers use less than a terabyte of data.

Here are the newly capped areas, according to a Comcast FAQ: Alabama (Dothan); California; Colorado; Florida (North Florida, Southwest Florida and West Palm); Southeastern Georgia; Idaho; Indiana (Indianapolis and Central Indiana, Fort Wayne and Eastern Indiana); Kansas; Michigan (Grand Rapids/Lansing, Detroit, and Eastern Michigan); Minnesota; Missouri; New Mexico; Western Ohio; Oregon; Texas (Houston); Utah; Washington; and Wisconsin.

Comcast's data caps already existed in these markets: Alabama (excluding Dothan); Arizona; Arkansas; Florida (Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami); Georgia (excluding Southeastern Georgia); Illinois; Northern Indiana; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Southwestern Michigan; Mississippi; Tennessee; Eastern Texas; South Carolina; and Southwest Virginia.

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/comcast-gets-closer-to-nationwide-data-caps-with-expansion-in-18-states/

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This is a direct move to counter the cord cutters.

October 4, 2016

Solar panels surpass coal-fired electricity in previously ‘unthinkable’ feat

Source: Independent

Solar panels generated more electricity than coal in the past six months in a historic year for getting energy from the sun in the UK, according to a new analysis.

Research by the Carbon Brief website found that solar generated nearly 7,000 gigawatt hours of electricity between April and September, about 10 per cent more than the 6,300GwH produced by coal during the same period.

The figures represent a dramatic turnaround in the UK’s electricity supplies.

The first ever day when solar produced more than coal was only on 9 April – when there was no coal-fired electricity for the first time since 1882. But then May became the first ever month when this happened.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/solar-panels-electricity-coal-power-stations-uk-sun-a7344326.html

October 3, 2016

HSV-2 Swift Destroyed Off Yemeni Coast By Anti-Ship Missile

Source: The Drive



The futuristic looking HSV-2 Swift, an ex-U.S. Navy experimental high-speed logistics catamaran now being utilized by the UAE government, was struck by a missile on the evening of October 1, according to multiple reports. The ship was operating near the Yemeni port of Mokha located on the northeastern edge of the Mandeb Strait, a narrow and strategic body of water that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Destabilizing the Mandeb Strait could be part of a larger Iranian-backed regional strategy, one that has the potential to inflict significant economic pain on Saudi Arabia and the west. And this isn't the first time a Sunni Arab coalition vessel has been attacked by the Shiite anti-Yemeni government group; a year ago, two coalition ships were supposedly sunk by Iranian-supplied anti-ship missiles. A third ship was struck just months before that.

The video below supposedly shows the attack. The missile launch does appear to be that of an anti-ship missile, and the ship on fire does appear to be an HSV-2. A massive explosion is shown when the supposed missile impacts the ship; it likely detonated the fuel onboard, plus any flammable or explosive cargo. The ship's aluminum hull and commercial ship design standards offer little resilience to an anti-ship missile attack, and the HSV-2 is not equipped with a close-in weapon system (CIWS) capable of fending off such attacks.

This attack is another reminder of the growing danger that anti-ship missiles represent—especially those that are more frequently being obtained by unpredictable non-state actors. This strike in particular is reminiscent of the 2006 attack on an Israeli Sa'ar 5 class corvette by another Iranian-backed group, Hezbollah, that had been supplied with a similar anti-ship missile system. Although in that case, the targeted ship was armed with a CIWS, albeit one that was not fully activated at the time.




Read more: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5404/hsv-2-swift-destroyed-off-yemeni-coast-by-anti-ship-missile

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Nobody is talking about Yemen.

September 27, 2016

U.S. owes black people reparations for a history of ‘racial terrorism,’ says U.N. panel

Source: Washington Post

The history of slavery in the United States justifies reparations for African Americans, argues a recent report by a U.N.-affiliated group based in Geneva.

This conclusion was part of a study by the United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a body that reports to the international organization's High Commissioner on Human Rights. The group of experts, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, pointing to the continuing link between present injustices and the dark chapters of American history.

"In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent," the report stated. "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching."

The panel drew its recommendations, which are nonbinding and unlikely to influence Washington, after a fact-finding mission in the United States in January. At the time, it hailed the strides taken to make the American criminal justice system more equitable but pointed to the corrosive legacy of the past.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/27/u-s-owes-black-people-reparations-for-a-history-of-racial-terrorism-says-u-n-panel/

September 26, 2016

Latest Crime Statistics Released

Source: FBI

Today, the FBI released its annual compilation of crimes reported to its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by law enforcement agencies from around the nation. Crime in the United States, 2015 reveals a 3.9 percent increase in the estimated number of violent crimes and a 2.6 percent decrease in the estimated number of property crimes last year when compared to 2014 data.

According to the report, there were an estimated 1,197,704 violent crimes committed around the nation. While that was an increase from 2014 figures, the 2015 violent crime total was 0.7 percent lower than the 2011 level and 16.5 percent below the 2006 level.

Among some of the other statistics contained in Crime in the United States, 2015:

The estimated number of murders in the nation was 15,696.
During the year, there were an estimated 90,185 rapes. (This figure currently reflects UCR’s legacy definition. Learn more about the revised rape definition.)
There were an estimated 327,374 robberies nationwide, which accounted for an estimated $390 million in losses (average dollar value of stolen property per reported robbery was $1,190).
Firearms were used in 71.5 percent of the nation’s murders, 40.8 percent of robberies, and 24.2 percent of aggravated assaults.
Property crimes resulted in losses estimated at $14.3 billion. The total value of reported stolen property (i.e., currency, jewelry, motor vehicles, electronics, firearms) was $12,420,364,454.


Read more: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/latest-crime-statistics-released

September 25, 2016

One astonishing picture of Hillary Clinton shows who and what we've become

"Increasingly we prefer to be seen with each other, instead of looking at each other.

We live not to be there, but to be seen to be there."

http://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/one-astonishing-picture-of-hillary-clinton-shows-how-selfie-centered-weve-become/

Selfie life is something else.