UPDATED! 11 April 2023 - H2O and USB

 

This post originally appeared on 19 July 2011

1. Vitamin Water is offering USB ports to charge mobile devices in bus shelters in various US cities.
2. This is in support of their "ad positioning" as an alternative energy source.
3. There is supposed to be nothing but electrical power being supplied by these ports.

While the pseudo-altruism of free electricity is somewhat appealing, and perhaps borderline clever as well, it is quite apparent that there is more here than meets the eye. It would be nearly incredible if for every USB session initiated by electron-hungry consumers, there weren't some kind of Trojan, Worm, or Virus being initiated and/or installed.
As we've known for most of recorded history, tanstaafl - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch - and there ain't no such thing as a free charge either.

Just who is behind the applications being installed, and to whom will data be delivered? We'll have updates here as soon as more data becomes available.

Posted by Listener 43

--- UPDATE ---

It appears that our top-notch federal are finally catching up with us here at this site.

This link will take you to a legacy media site's coverage of this new discovery. 

1. This is not the same threat we identified here a dozen years ago.
2. This does show that we've been out in front of the pack, identifying threats to your security.
3. This also raises the question, "Has the FBI finished slurping your data (or injecting malware), and now they want to make sure no one else does it to you?" If not, why this warning?

As always, we'll look for further developments in this story, and updates will be posted here as soon as we have more information.

 Posted by Listener 43 (with thanks to Gyro Gearloose for his comments on the original post)

 

Speaking Power to Truth

 If one is old enough to remember the days of "sticking it to the man" and "questioning authority" or even "speaking truth to power" then one can hardly help but be shocked by the way our "rulers" continue to ignore facts and truth, instead repeating bald assertions as though their simple repetition will render them believable and believed. 

For example, a federal judge in the 4th circuit has asserted that words don't mean what they mean if he doesn't like them:

In the 56-page decision, Motz noted, "The ADA excludes from its protection anything falling within the plain meaning of 'gender identity disorders,' as that term was understood 'at the time of its enactment.'" However, the judge then contended: "But nothing in the ADA, then or now, compels the conclusion that gender dysphoria constitutes a 'gender identity disorder' excluded from ADA protection.

In other words, Judge Motz Humpty-Dumpty is asserting that words mean only what he decides they mean, not what English speakers know them to mean.

"I have the power, so shut up about facts and truth." If he weren't so enthralled by gender dysphoria, one might be tempted to compare the judge to He-Man. But I digress.

What a flaming moron, and worse, what an arrogant, overly-empowered sycophant. It's time we get back to speaking truth to power rather than allowing its converse.

 We'll likely make this a regular feature here. It's a shame we have so much fodder for reviving this long nearly-abandoned blog.

Posted by Pygmalion 56

The Threat of Transparency - RE - RE-UPDATED!!

Perhaps you recall this revised post from some time back? 

It appears that the glass frog mentioned below in the originally re-updated post are not the only chordates becoming transparent. 

No, it's not politicians - more's the pity - it seems that there are now fish with transparent heads.

Our regular readers will not be surprised to find that the author(s) of the linked article attempt to pass this all off as a natural occurrence. No mention is made of these previous efforts at animal transparency. Further, these fish are using their new-found "clarity" as a competitive advantage. They can now look up through their own skulls to see prey which would not - until now - have worried about discovery from below.

One wonders when still higher life forms will get the "glass treatment" and just what other changes in the food chain or predator-prey relationships are in the offing.

One further wonders how a fully transparent human might manage to dominate those who remain visible. H.G. Wells had some instructive thoughts about this topic, but we oughtn't consider this question settled!

As to what is to come, time may tell, but we certainly will tell!

The Threat of Transparency - RE-UPDATED!!

Perhaps you recall this post from some time back?

The Threat of Transparency

1. Scientists have added colors to worms through genetic coding.
2. There may well be plans by governments and law enforcement agencies to use these colors as markers and tracking systems for criminals and other citizens.
3. Japanese scientists at RIKEN have found a way to make human tissue transparent.

Treating biological tissues with the newly discovered reagent renders it transparent, allowing the underlying structures to be easily examined.
Administering the next generation of this reagent intravenously is expected to render all parts of the treated subject equally transparent.
Work is underway on an antidote to this reagent, and the word is that it's being called a deagent. It seems clear that a transparent man could be a very effective spy, especially when that deagent is available to restore his opacity. The one sticking point seems to be a way of retaining some level of opacity in the retinas, to allow for vision, while still reducing the appearance of floating pink discs.

When more information becomes available, we'll report back here.

Posted by Listener 43

Well, they're at it again. Scientists at Cal Tech have created a transparent mouse - complete with transparent organs! (Why that is supplied as extra information is a bit hard to
 understand. If they're transparent, then their organs must be as well, no?)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-create-transparent-mouse-complete-with-seethrough-organs-9641860.html
Now all we need is for Putin to steal this technology and Ukraine won't be the only soon-to-be-former nation in his sights.

Posted by Listener 43

It would appear that there has been some biological leakage from one of these experimental laboratories!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glass-frog-wears-its-heart-all-see

Today amphibians, tomorrow higher chordates, next week primates? Science marches on to the drumbeat of despots and lunatics. Can't you see it? Hordes of transparent amphibian soldiers making their way through the marshes and estuaries of the Baltic to retake Estonia et al? No. You can't see it because they're transparent.

When we have more information, we'll report back here again.

Posted by Listener 43

They Can't Have It Both Ways!

1. Scientists tell us that the dinosaurs were wiped out (pun intended?!) by an asteroid strike that created the Caribbean Sea. [viz. the Alvarez Hypothesis]
2. Scientists used to tell us that the Caribbean Sea is where Spain (and Portugal - all of the Iberian Peninsula, in fact) used to fit before Pangaea split up and continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean. [viz. the Caribbean and Iberia] (This theory had the added benefit of explaining why Mexicans speak Spanish rather than English.)
3. Despite the supposed asteroid strike, Spain seems to have existed throughout history, rather than having been pummeled out of existence by an interplanetary interloper.

Is this just the result of multiple, competing theories? Is it simply something in the same vein as "are Sasquatch and Yeti related or are they the same creature?" or "was Zeus and alien pretending to be a god, or was he a man pretending to be an alien?" While that is certainly a possible explanation, there is almost certainly something much more sinister at work here.

What purpose could be served by claiming that the Atlantic is expanding while the Pacific is shrinking?
What purpose could be served by claiming that huge rocks from space crash to Earth and kill nearly all life?
Could it be something as obvious as wanting to drive a wedge between the United States and her traditional European allies while causing a cozying up between the States and the Asian Pacific Rim nations?
Or ... could it be something far more troubling, something far more devious?
Is it aimed at driving us to cooperate with the Japanese scientists working to add color genetically to transparent worms even as our own scientists work feverishly to turn human beings transparent?

There isn't enough evidence to come down firmly on just one of these possible explanations, but we will continue to investigate, and will report back as further information becomes available.

Posted by Listener 43

Apple's Surprise Announcement

Oh great, even without Jobs being there to insert his reality distortion field into the announcements of the upcoming announcement to be announced on March 9th the interwebs are going at least gaga, if not worse.

Just so you don't have to wait more than a week to find out just what those secretive geniuses at the infinite loop (Fruit Lops, anyone?) are going to say, here are the actual facts as we now know them.

Those amazing innovators aren't going to announce a new watch (that was Pebble, did you miss it, bub?). They aren't going to announce a car or truck (Tesla and Google are already busy trying to dismantle the recently-rescued rusty three don't you know). They aren't even going to announce a new iPhone, iPad, or a new name for Siri.

No, they seem to be channeling Luther Burbank rather than Irving Cupertino (or whatever his name really was). After a decades-long program of grafting and cloning, Apple scientists have actually succeeded in creating miniature (or bonsai) versions of the original Macintosh apple tree - and they claim these miniature trees (shrubs?) actually bear full-size fruit. The first successful tree-let was named LISA - Living In-Situ Apple-producer. I kid you not - these guys are brilliant (just ask them).

Now you can belly up to the genius bar and have a glass of hard apple cider while you wait for the indentured hipster to replace the shattered glass in your iPhone.

Yes, the mighty have fallen, folks. Apple is reduced to producing apples.
Chumps.

Posted by Gyro Gearloose

The Threat of Transparency - RE-UPDATED!!

Perhaps you recall this post from some time back?

The Threat of Transparency

1. Scientists have added colors to worms through genetic coding.
2. There may well be plans by governments and law enforcement agencies to use these colors as markers and tracking systems for criminals and other citizens.
3. Japanese scientists at RIKEN have found a way to make human tissue transparent.

Treating biological tissues with the newly discovered reagent renders it transparent, allowing the underlying structures to be easily examined.
Administering the next generation of this reagent intravenously is expected to render all parts of the treated subject equally transparent.
Work is underway on an antidote to this reagent, and the word is that it's being called a deagent. It seems clear that a transparent man could be a very effective spy, especially when that deagent is available to restore his opacity. The one sticking point seems to be a way of retaining some level of opacity in the retinas, to allow for vision, while still reducing the appearance of floating pink discs.

When more information becomes available, we'll report back here.

Posted by Listener 43

Well, they're at it again. Scientists at Cal Tech have created a transparent mouse - complete with transparent organs! (Why that is supplied as extra information is a bit hard to
 understand. If they're transparent, then their organs must be as well, no?)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-create-transparent-mouse-complete-with-seethrough-organs-9641860.html
Now all we need is for Putin to steal this technology and Ukraine won't be the only soon-to-be-former nation in his sights.

Posted by Listener 43

It would appear that there has been some biological leakage from one of these experimental laboratories!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glass-frog-wears-its-heart-all-see

Today amphibians, tomorrow higher chordates, next week primates? Science marches on to the drumbeat of despots and lunatics. Can't you see it? Hordes of transparent amphibian soldiers making their way through the marshes and estuaries of the Baltic to retake Estonia et al? No. You can't see it because they're transparent.

When we have more information, we'll report back here again.

Posted by Listener 43

Related Posts:

Nematodes, DNA, and UV Radiation

Human DNA Has Been Enriched

Dinosaurs, Birds, and Aussies? - UPDATED

1. Scientists from Emory University in Georgia (USA) claim to have found bird fossils in Australia.
2. They claim these fossils are contemporary with others of standard dinosaurs.
3. They further claim that these fossils are evidence of birds having landed in soft rock or sand which then hardened, retaining the "footprints" of the purported avians.

How reasonable is it to believe that a bunch of guys from Georgia would take a trip to Australia and end up finding fossilized bird footprints at the beach? Australia (and New Zealand, a similar and nearby island nation) are home to flightless birds such as the emu and the kiwi, and these "scientists" want us to believe they've found tracks that are "remarkably similar to those in the sands and muds of the Georgia coast, made daily by the herons, egrets, and shorebirds."

When will these scientists release the results of the soil composition tests?
When will they release full-size castings of the "feet" which supposedly made these tracks?
When will they admit that birds large enough to have left these tracks would have left other evidence as well?

It seems more likely that these are either much more recent tracks of current era birds, or that these are actually the tracks of the beings who taught the Australian Aboriginal peoples to make the strange, Nazca-like figures in the deserts of the island continent. Why no mention of either of these much more likely, Occam-approved possibilities? Perhaps government funding is involved, and dinosaur-age birds are on the green-lighted list, while Aboriginal Alien Encounters are not to be publicized!

We'll continue to investigate and report back when we have even more facts.

UPDATE:
Now we hear that a new species of humpback dolphin has been identified off the coasts of Australia (no word on whether they sport near New Zealand at this point). See here for the detailed report: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.12535/abstract
Can we really be expected to believe that this is purely a coincidence?
Do they really think us that gullible?
Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

Posted by Listener 43

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