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...the computers that will tally the final vote, saying the outcome is so easy to manipulate that even a monkey could do it.

And they showed video of a monkey hacking the system to prove it.

In the minute-long video produced by Black Box Voting, Baxter the chimp is shown deleting the audit log that is supposed to keep track of changes in the Diebold central tabulator, the computer and program that keeps track of county vote totals.

On October 20, 2016, Otto and Budweiser completed the world’s first shipment by self-driving truck.
The truck drove itself on I-25 from Fort Collins, through Denver, to Colorado Springs.
The driver was out of the driver's seat during the entire 120 mile stretch of highway.

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Image courtesy Voting Machines and lybio.net

Only 5% of plastic waste is effectively recycled, at plants like this one in Indonesia.

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Washington Post - By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says
If we keep producing (and failing to properly dispose of) plastics at predicted rates, plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish pound for pound in 2050, the nonprofit foundation said in a report Tuesday.

According to the report, worldwide use of plastic has increased 20-fold in the past 50 years, and it is expected to double again in the next 20 years. By 2050, we’ll be making more than three times as much plastic stuff as we did in 2014.

Guardian UK - One refuse truck’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse
According to a new Ellen MacArthur Foundation report launched at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, new plastics will consume 20% of all oil production within 35 years, up from an estimated 5% today.  read more »

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Danny Thompson, son of American racing legend Mickey Thompson, has set a land speed record at age 66. And it was a long time coming.

1960 -
In 1960, Mickey hit Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in a streamlined car called Challenger that was built to set a land-speed record. And it did. Sort of.
He made a single 406.6 mph pass, becoming the first American to break the 400 mph barrier. However, official speed records require two consecutive runs, one in each direction, and mechanical issues prevent him from making the second attempt.

1968 –
Mickey returned in 1968 with a new car dubbed Challenger 2, but the event was cancelled due to bad weather and the car was eventually mothballed as he focused on other racing and business pursuits.

1988 –
But about twenty years later, the bug bit again, and he and Danny hatched a plan to update the car and go for a record again, this time in the Southern California Timing Association’s naturally-aspirated, piston-powered, wheel-driven class. Tragically, before they could, Mickey and his wife were gunned down in what authorities later discovered was a hit put on Thompson by a former business associate, and the dream died with them in 1988.

2014 -
At least it seemed like it did. A few years ago, Danny decided to finish the family business once and for all. So he dug the car out of storage, put in a pair of nitro-burning Hemi V8 engines with a total of 4,000 horsepower and an all-wheel-drive system, and went back to Bonneville Speed Week in 2014.

2015 -  read more »

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Princeton University to Staff: Stop Using the Word 'Man' Princeton University is telling faculty and staff to avoid using the word “man” and other male-leaning language.

August 19, 2016 Princeton University Orders Staff To Stop Using Term 'Man'
Instead of using 'man', employees are told to use words such as human beings

(Q: how to take the forbidden “man” out of “human”?)

Switch out 'man made' with artificial, handmade or manufactured, the Princeton University guidelines state.

(Q: “man-made” means “handmade”?
“man-made” means “manufactured”?
“man-made” disaster means “manufactured” disaster?
how to take the forbidden “man” out of “manufactured?)

Princeton has become no man’s land.

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia

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MiamiHerald July 25, 2016 Judge ruled: Bitcoin is not actually money
In a case closely watched in financial and tech circles, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled that Bitcoin was not backed by any government or bank, and was not “tangible wealth” and “cannot be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars.”

A Miami-Dade judge ruled Monday that Bitcoin is not actually money, a decision hailed by proponents of the virtual currency that has become popular across the world.

In a case closely watched in financial and tech circles, the judge threw out the felony charges against website designer Michell Espinoza, who had been charged with illegally transmitting and laundering $1,500 worth of Bitcoins. He sold them to undercover detectives who told him they wanted to use the money to buy stolen credit-card numbers.

But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled that Bitcoin was not backed by any government or bank, and was not “tangible wealth” and “cannot be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars.”

“The court is not an expert in economics; however, it is very clear, even to someone with limited knowledge in the area, the Bitcoin has a long way to go before it the equivalent of money,” Pooler wrote in an eight-page order.

The judge also wrote that Florida law — which says someone can be charged with money laundering if they engage in a financial transaction that will “promote” illegal activity — is way too vague to apply to Bitcoin.  read more »

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National Geographic July 18, 2016 - Although the feat has yet to be certified by Guinness World Records, Indian officials have reported that volunteers planted a whopping 49.3 million tree saplings on July 11, blowing past the previous record for most trees planted in a single day.

That record of 847,275 trees was set by Pakistan in 2013.

A reported 800,000 volunteers from Uttar Pradesh worked for 24 hours planting 80 different species of trees along roads, railways, and on public land. The saplings were raised on local nurseries.
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Photo courtesy Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press