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Paul E Ester
Paul E Ester's Journal
Paul E Ester's Journal
March 29, 2013
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300381/Vigilantes-seize-town-Mexico-shoot-tourists-commander-killed.html
Standing up for themselves against a corrupt system.
Thousands of armed vigilantes takeover Mexican town, arrest police
Thousands of armed vigilantes have taken over a town in Mexico and arrested police officers after their 'commander' was killed and dumped in the street.
The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group.
The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away.
The self described 'community police' and arrested 12 officers and the town's former director of public security, who they accuse of taking part in the killing of Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, on behalf of a local organised crime group.
The 1,500-strong force has also set up improvised checkpoints on the major road running through Tierra Colorado, which connects the capital Mexico City to Acapulco, a coastal city popular with tourists less than 40 miles away.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300381/Vigilantes-seize-town-Mexico-shoot-tourists-commander-killed.html
Standing up for themselves against a corrupt system.
March 29, 2013
Israel sets up 'field hospital' to treat injured Syrians
In light of the steady increase in the number of wounded Syrians Israel has been treating, the IDF has set up a "military field hospital" at army outpost 105 in the Golan Heights, AFP reported Thursday.
Israeli officials confirmed that the hospital was set up to treat injured Syrians near the border fence and avoid having to evacuate them to hospitals inside the country.
In the past month, several Syrians who were injured in the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been treated in northern Israel hospitals. According to AFP, eight of them were repatriated and three have remained in Israel for further treatment.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4361748,00.html
Israeli officials confirmed that the hospital was set up to treat injured Syrians near the border fence and avoid having to evacuate them to hospitals inside the country.
In the past month, several Syrians who were injured in the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been treated in northern Israel hospitals. According to AFP, eight of them were repatriated and three have remained in Israel for further treatment.
March 29, 2013
SAC hedge fund executive Michael Steinberg charged over insider trading
Source: Guardian UK
US authorities have arrested Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at SAC Capital and the most senior executive to date to be questioned in the investigation into the hedge fund giant.
Steinberg, 40, was led out of his Park Avenue apartment early Friday morning in handcuffs after returning from a family vacation in Florida. He has been charged with conspiracy and securities fraud.
Steinberg pleaded not guilty in federal district court in Manhattan on Friday and was freed on $3m bail.
The arrest comes amid a widening investigation into SAC, the Connecticut-based hedge fund founded by multi-billionaire investor Steven Cohen. At least nine current or former SAC employees have now been tied to allegations of insider trading. Four have pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/29/us-authorities-hedge-fund-sac
In the meantime, Cohen has been making headlines for other reasons. The hedge fund king added Picasso's Le Rêve to his $1bn art collection for $155m. Last week he paid $60m for an oceanfront home in the Hamptons.
March 29, 2013
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/tvguide/article/Conservatives-Offer-Jim-Carrey-Memorabilia-for-4394660.php
Conservatives Offer Jim Carrey Memorabilia for Gun Money on eBay
Jim Carrey's recent anti-gun Funny or Die video sparked outrage from conservatives, prompting one eBay user to sell paraphernalia of the star with the purpose of buying a gun with the proceeds.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, eBay user astrobuzz listed an item titled "Jim Carrey Autographed 8X10 Photo So I Can Afford a Gun!" in response to Carrey's video. The black-and-white autographed reprint of Carrey also had the inscription, "Spank you very much!" The Hollywood Reporter notes that while identical items sell for only $8 and attract few bids, astrobuzz's listing generated 103 bidders, raising the price up to $860 by Wednesday afternoon.
Late Wednesday night, all references to guns were purged from the item's description and the bids disappeared. "I'm selling this Jim Carrey autographed B&W photo (mint condition) for purposes I cannot explain because it might be against eBay's Terms & Conditions," the new description read.
Astrobuzz's original post spawned copycats, including eBayers who said that they would use the money to join the NRA or pursue classes and apply for a concealed-carry permit. But as of late Wednesday, the word "gun" was removed from all Carrey memorabilia on eBay.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, eBay user astrobuzz listed an item titled "Jim Carrey Autographed 8X10 Photo So I Can Afford a Gun!" in response to Carrey's video. The black-and-white autographed reprint of Carrey also had the inscription, "Spank you very much!" The Hollywood Reporter notes that while identical items sell for only $8 and attract few bids, astrobuzz's listing generated 103 bidders, raising the price up to $860 by Wednesday afternoon.
Late Wednesday night, all references to guns were purged from the item's description and the bids disappeared. "I'm selling this Jim Carrey autographed B&W photo (mint condition) for purposes I cannot explain because it might be against eBay's Terms & Conditions," the new description read.
Astrobuzz's original post spawned copycats, including eBayers who said that they would use the money to join the NRA or pursue classes and apply for a concealed-carry permit. But as of late Wednesday, the word "gun" was removed from all Carrey memorabilia on eBay.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/tvguide/article/Conservatives-Offer-Jim-Carrey-Memorabilia-for-4394660.php
March 29, 2013
Ex-Nev. assemblyman Steven Brooks arrested hours after expulsion (watch video)
Source: AP
Former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks has been arrested in California on charges including resisting arrest and throwing objects, just hours after he became the first lawmaker ever expelled from the Nevada Legislature.
Jail records show Barstow police arrested Brooks, 41, at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 at Stoddard Wells.
“We had started to discuss possible next steps,” Mitchell Posin, Brooks’ attorney, told The Associated Press Friday. “Next thing I know, I heard about this.”
Read more: http://www.rgj.com/viewint/article/20130329/NEWS07/303290040/Ex-Nev-assemblyman-Steven-Brooks-arrested-hours-after-expulsion-watch-video-
March 29, 2013
The coming homeless die-off
A national study out of Pennsylvania says the median age of single adult homeless people is now 53 — and that without a big push toward getting older indigents into housing and medical care, huge swaths of them will be dying off in the next decade.
Social scientists say the median age has been steadily increasing for many years, supporting the “big bang” theory that many of today’s street people hit the gutter back in the 1980s era of recession and slashings of social programs.
Life expectancy on the street is about 64, and the new study, led by University of Pennsylvania social policy Professor Dennis Culhane, projects that without special attention, most of that “big bang” group of homeless people will die in the next 15 years.
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2013/03/27/the-coming-homeless-die-off/
Social scientists say the median age has been steadily increasing for many years, supporting the “big bang” theory that many of today’s street people hit the gutter back in the 1980s era of recession and slashings of social programs.
Life expectancy on the street is about 64, and the new study, led by University of Pennsylvania social policy Professor Dennis Culhane, projects that without special attention, most of that “big bang” group of homeless people will die in the next 15 years.
March 29, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/user/FPSRussia
FPSRussia compound raid leaves 40-plus ATF, FBI agents empty-handed
Dozens of federal agents scoured the family property of YouTube celebrity Kyle ‘FPSRussia’ Myers while searching for illegal explosives and possibly weapons, but left empty-handed.
The noise made by popular YouTube channel FPSRussia – famous for destroying man-made mechanisms with the most advanced firearms – has finally been heard in federal quarters. On Wednesday, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents accompanied by FBI agents launched an operation at two locations in Georgia, looking for illegal explosives allegedly used by FPSRussia to produce its YouTube clips.
The ATF suspected Kyle Myers, the iconic 26-year-old host of FPSRussia, of using explosives “with malicious intent,” Onlineathens.com quoted ATF spokesperson Richard Coes as saying. Coes cited the cars, fridges and other objects that were regularly blown up on Myers’ channel.
With nearly 4 million subscribers, FPSRussia is one of the most popular YouTube channels, and is dedicated solely to guns and shooting – and explosions. In the channel’s videos, Myers speaks with a strong Russian ‘accent’ and demonstrates the use of exotic modern and vintage weapons, or anything else that can be shot, be it a WWII Soviet submachine gun, a 50-calibur sniper rifle, a flying drone, a rocket launcher, a tank or a cannon – practically any weapon that’s still functional.
http://rt.com/usa/atf-raided-farm-fpsrussia-035/
The noise made by popular YouTube channel FPSRussia – famous for destroying man-made mechanisms with the most advanced firearms – has finally been heard in federal quarters. On Wednesday, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents accompanied by FBI agents launched an operation at two locations in Georgia, looking for illegal explosives allegedly used by FPSRussia to produce its YouTube clips.
The ATF suspected Kyle Myers, the iconic 26-year-old host of FPSRussia, of using explosives “with malicious intent,” Onlineathens.com quoted ATF spokesperson Richard Coes as saying. Coes cited the cars, fridges and other objects that were regularly blown up on Myers’ channel.
With nearly 4 million subscribers, FPSRussia is one of the most popular YouTube channels, and is dedicated solely to guns and shooting – and explosions. In the channel’s videos, Myers speaks with a strong Russian ‘accent’ and demonstrates the use of exotic modern and vintage weapons, or anything else that can be shot, be it a WWII Soviet submachine gun, a 50-calibur sniper rifle, a flying drone, a rocket launcher, a tank or a cannon – practically any weapon that’s still functional.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FPSRussia
March 29, 2013
DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE (DRC)
DARPA Building Real Life Terminators Military Robots
One day the enemy will be hunted down with the help of robots like these.
DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE (DRC)
The primary technical goal of the DRC is to develop ground robots capable of executing complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. Competitors in the DRC are expected to focus on robots that can use standard tools and equipment commonly available in human environments, ranging from hand tools to vehicles, with an emphasis on adaptability to tools with diverse specifications.
To achieve its goal, the DRC aims to advance the current state of the art in the enabling technologies of supervised autonomy in perception and decision-making, mounted and dismounted mobility, dexterity, strength, and platform endurance. Success with supervised autonomy, in particular, could allow control of robots by non-expert operators, lower the operator’s workload, and allow effective operation even with low-fidelity (low bandwidth, high latency, intermittent) communications.
The DRC consists of both robotics hardware and software development tasks and is structured to increase the diversity of innovative solutions by encouraging participation from around the world, including universities, small, medium and large businesses, and even individuals and groups with ideas on how to advance the field of robotics.
http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/TTO/Programs/DARPA_Robotics_Challenge.aspx
To achieve its goal, the DRC aims to advance the current state of the art in the enabling technologies of supervised autonomy in perception and decision-making, mounted and dismounted mobility, dexterity, strength, and platform endurance. Success with supervised autonomy, in particular, could allow control of robots by non-expert operators, lower the operator’s workload, and allow effective operation even with low-fidelity (low bandwidth, high latency, intermittent) communications.
The DRC consists of both robotics hardware and software development tasks and is structured to increase the diversity of innovative solutions by encouraging participation from around the world, including universities, small, medium and large businesses, and even individuals and groups with ideas on how to advance the field of robotics.
March 28, 2013
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/27/former-hotchkiss-student-awarded-42-million-after-contracting-disease-on-school-trip/
Former Hotchkiss Student Awarded $42 Million After Contracting Disease On School Trip
A federal jury in Bridgeport has awarded almost $42 million to a young girl who suffered brain damage as a result of a disease she picked up on a school trip.
Cara Munn was a freshman at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. when she partook in a school-supervised trip to China.
Munn, then 15, and the other students were taken to a mountainous region known to be at high risk for tick-bourne illnesses.
Her attorney, Antonio Ponvert, said 10 days after the trip, Cara was hospitalized and diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis.
Cara Munn was a freshman at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. when she partook in a school-supervised trip to China.
Munn, then 15, and the other students were taken to a mountainous region known to be at high risk for tick-bourne illnesses.
Her attorney, Antonio Ponvert, said 10 days after the trip, Cara was hospitalized and diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/27/former-hotchkiss-student-awarded-42-million-after-contracting-disease-on-school-trip/
March 27, 2013
Some retailers are buying counterfeits and mixing it in with legitimate product.
China's fake-NIKE town
In Putian, a small costal town in the southern Fujian Province, manufacturing fake Nike shoes is a huge industry that employs nearly 10 percent of the local population. However, unlike many other Chinese towns with the all-too-common counterfeiting factories, Putian stood out in its ability to produce high-quality counterfeits capable of fooling even professional quality control personnel. Putian's factories have gotten so good at producing shoes that could pass for Nike's, that people have taken to honoring them with a paradoxical title: "legitimate knock-offs".
Some retailers are buying counterfeits and mixing it in with legitimate product.
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