Dutch Cops Use TomTom Data To Position Speed Cams
May 2, 2011
TechRadar.com
By Chris Smith
TomTom has issued a statement after it was revealed that police in Holland are using historical speed data, captured by its savnav devices, as a guide for positioning speed traps.
Devices like the Go LIVE 1000 collect speed information automatically and backs it up to a TomTom database, which allows the company to improve the service the dashboard companion can offer.
TomTom also makes the database available to authorities for safety and logistic purposes, but says it was unaware that the police were using it in this way and promises to listen to customer concerns.
The statement reads: “We make this information available to local governments and authorities.
“It helps them to better understand where congestion takes place, where to build new roads and how to make roads safer.”
Customers
TomTom continues: “We are now aware that the police have used traffic information that you have helped to create to place speed cameras at dangerous locations where the average speed is higher than the legally allowed speed limit.
“We are aware a lot of our customers do not like the idea and we will look at if we should allow this type of usage.”
Satnavs like TomTom have traditionally informed drivers of where speed cameras are located, so news that speed information of drivers could be used in this way is a strange reversal of roles.
TomTom also assured customers that any information it gathers is anonymous and can never be traced back to drivers, so there’s no need to worry about a speed ticket coming through your door.
Has Bin Laden’s Corpse Has Been On Ice For Nearly a Decade?
May 2, 2011 by Brandy
Filed under Government
May 2, 2011
Infowars.com
By Paul Joseph Watson
A multitude of different inside sources both publicly and privately, including one individual who personally worked with Bin Laden at one time, told us directly that Osama’s dead corpse has been on ice for nearly a decade and that his “death” would only be announced at the most politically expedient time.
That time has now come with a years-old fake picture being presented as the only evidence of his alleged killing yesterday, while Bin Laden’s body has been hastily dumped into the sea to prevent anyone from finding out when he actually died.
In April 2002, over nine years ago, Council on Foreign Relations member Steve R. Pieczenik, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, and James Bake, told the Alex Jones Show that Bin Laden had already been “dead for months”.
Pieczenik would be in a position to know such information, having worked directly with Bin Laden when the US was funding and arming the terror leader in an attempt to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the late 70′s and early 80′s (a documented historical fact that talking heads in the corporate media are actually denying today in light of developments).
“I found out through my sources that he had had kidney disease. And as a physician, I knew that he had to have two dialysis machines and he was dying,” Pieczenik told Jones during the April 24, 2002 interview.
“And you could see those in those films, those made-up photos that they were sending us out of nowhere. I mean, suddenly, we would see a video of bin Laden today and then out of nowhere, they said oh it was sent to us anonymously, meaning that someone in the government, our government, was trying to keep up the morale on our side and say oh we still have to chase this guy when, in fact, he’s been dead for months,” added Pieczenik.
Pieczenik then stated that the video tape of a fat Bin Laden look alike “taking responsibility” for 9/11 that was released in December 2001 was “such a hoax” designed to “manipulate” people in the emotional aftermath of 9/11.
The subsequent war in Afghanistan that followed 9/11 was orchestrated “With the agreement of the bin Laden family, knowing fully well that he would die,” said Pieczenik. “And I think that Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, spilled the beans by accident three months ago when he said that bin Laden was dead because his kidney dialysis machines were destroyed in East Afghanistan.”
Click here to read the full report from Infowars.com.
New Research Proves The Brain Really Can Be Half Asleep
May 2, 2011
The Telegraph
By Richard Alleyne
Researchers discovered that contrary to popular opinion the brain is not always entirely asleep or awake but parts of it can go “offline”.
This they claim accounts for the feeling of being “half asleep” which causes forgetfulness and small errors such as misplacing keys or putting the milk in the cupboard or the cereal in the fridge.
The team at the University of Wisconsin, who measured electrical waves in the brain, discovered that some nerve cells in tired yet awake individuals can briefly go “offline”.
Professor Chiara Cirelli, a psychiatrist and author of the study, said: “Even before you feel fatigued, there are signs in the brain that you should stop certain activities that may require alertness.
“Specific groups of neurons may be falling asleep, with negative consequences on performance.”
Until now, scientists thought that sleep deprivation generally affected the entire brain. Electroencephalograms (EEGs), that measure electrical activity in the brain, show network can detect whether neurons in the brain are on or off.
Prof Cirelli said: “We know that when we are sleepy, we make mistakes, our attention wanders and our vigilance goes down.
“We have seen with EEGs that even while we are awake, we can experience shorts periods of ‘micro sleep’.”
She said periods of micro sleep were thought to be the most likely cause of people falling asleep at the wheel while driving.
However, the new research found that even before that stage, brains are already showing sleep-like activity that impairs them.
The researchers inserted probes into specific groups of neurons in the brains of freely-behaving rats. After the rats were kept awake for prolonged periods, the probes showed areas of “local sleep” despite the animals’ appearance of being awake and active.
MS Caused By Vitamin D Deficiency
May 2, 2011
Natural News
By M.K. Tyler
Is it really as simple as soaking up some rays?
While the phenomenon of vitamin D deficiency is seen all over the world, countries in the northern hemisphere have been linked to significantly higher rates of MS. Scotland, for example, has one of the largest populations of MS sufferers, while the disease is “virtually unknown” in Africa. Even in sunny areas of the globe, it’s not uncommon for people to become vitamin D deficient during the winter, as the sun’s rays aren’t often high enough to penetrate atmospheric layers.
The research put forth by the University of Oxford suggests that, while those who already have MS may not benefit exponentially simply by increasing levels of vitamin D, getting more sun could be an effective preventative measure against developing the disease and managing symptoms.
More importantly, MS sufferers may be able to boost immunity to other conditions with an increase in vitamin D. A recent study by Anticancer Research affirms that typical adults need much more than the daily dosage recommended by the U.S. Government. According to that research, 4,000-8,000 IUs of vitamin D every day could not only help prevent MS but also several types of cancer and Type 1 diabetes.
The health care industry, of course, won’t promote a natural and safe preventative measure for degenerative diseases. Instead, people are warned about the dangers of UV exposure and the risks of vitamin toxicity. With vitamin D deficiency afflicting 90% of the U.S. population, however, it may be time to get a tan. Here are some interesting facts about the relationship between vitamin D and health:
1. It’s free. Five to thirty minutes of sunlight a couple of times a week is usually sufficient for helping the body create enough vitamin D
2. Getting enough vitamin D from food is virtually impossible
3. Sunscreens may block the body’s ability to generate vitamin D
4. Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium in the body
5. Those who live further from the equator generally require longer periods of sun exposure to generate enough vitamin D
6. A lack of vitamin D can affect bone strength. One theory suggests that women who are deficient in vitamin D can suffer from contracting pelvises, which can result in the death of babies during labor
7. Vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed quickly. It takes months for the body to increase and regulate vitamin D levels. This is why short periods of sun exposure are not only safe but also necessary for the synthesis of this important substance
For those with MS, increased sun exposure may be an easy and safe preventative measure against further cognitive and physical degeneration. As a direct threat to the medical establishment, however, it remains to be seen whether further government warnings and regulations about vitamin D will eventually ban people from sun bathing.
Al Qaeda Threat Released By WikiLeaks
May 2, 2011 by Brandy
Filed under Government
May 2, 2011
ninemsn
The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks warned that al-Qaeda has hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe which will unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” if Osama bin Laden is captured, leaked files revealed.
The terror group also planned to make a 9/11 style attack on London’s Heathrow airport by crashing a hijacked airliner into one of the terminals, the files showed.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told Guantanamo Bay interrogators the terror group would detonate the nuclear device if the al-Qaeda chief was captured or killed, according to the classified files released by the WikiLeaks website.
Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has been held at Guantanamo since 2006 and is to be tried in a military court at the US naval base on Cuba over the attacks.
His nuclear threat was revealed in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, one of several media outlets which have published the classified assessments of detainees at Guantanamo.
The German weekly Der Spiegel, also citing WikiLeaks, said that Sheikh Mohammed had told his interrogators he had set up two cells for the purpose of attacking Heathrow in 2002.
The aim was to seize control of an airliner shortly after take-off from Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, turn it around and crash it into one of the four terminals.
Sheikh Mohammed said one cell had been formed with the aim of taking flying lessons in Kenya, while the other had been tasked with recruiting participants.
Click here for the full report from ninemsn.
WH Debates To Release Photos Of Bin Laden’s Corpse
May 2, 2011 by Brandy
Filed under Government
May 2, 2011
ABC News
By Jake Tapper
The Obama administration has photographs of Osama bin Laden’s dead body and officials are debating what to do with them and whether they should be released to the public, officials tell ABC News.
“There’s no doubt it’s him,” says a US official who has seen the pictures and also reminds us that OBL was 6’4”.
The argument for releasing them: to ensure that the public knows and can appreciate that he’s dead. There is of course skepticism throughout the world that the US government claim that it killed bin Laden is true.
The argument against releasing the pictures: they’re gruesome. He has a massive head wound above his left eye where he took bullet, with brains and blood visible.
In July 2003, the US government released photographs of Saddam Hussein’s dead sons Uday and Qusay Hussain but not until after they’d been touched up by a mortician, making them look not quite real.
Click here for the full report from ABC News.
DNA Confirms Osama bin Laden’s Death
May 2, 2011 by Brandy
Filed under Government
May 2, 2011
Associate Press
By Kimberly Dozier & David Espo
WASHINGTON – Declaring the killing of Osama bin Laden “a good day for America,” President Barack Obama said Monday the world was safer without the al-Qaida terrorist and mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. His administration used DNA testing to help confirm that American forces in Pakistan had in fact killed bin Laden, as U.S. officials sought to erase all doubt.
“Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can’t do,” Obama said. He hailed the pride of those who broke out in overnight celebrations as the stunning news spread around the globe.
An elite crews of American forces killed bin Laden during a daring raid on Monday. Bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight and then quickly buried at sea. White House officials were mulling the merits and appropriateness of releasing a photo.
As spontaneous celebrations and expressions of relief gave way to questions about precisely what happened and what comes next, U.S. officials warned that the campaign against terrorism is not nearly over — and that the threat of retaliation was real.
Senior administration officials said the DNA testing alone offered near 100 percent certainty that bin Laden was in fact shot dead. Detailed photo analysis by the CIA, confirmation by a woman believed to be bin Laden’s wife on site, and matching physical features like bin Laden’s height all helped confirmed the identification.
Click here for the full report from Yahoo News.
