The NYT brings to light the warning signs and risk factors surrounding a suicide in the U.S. Army:
The Army declared him fit for duty and ordered him to Afghanistan after he had twice attempted suicide at Fort Campbell, Ky., and after he had been sent to a mental institution near the base, the home of the 101st. After his arrival at Kandahar early in 2010 he was so troubled that the Army took away his weapon and forced him into counseling on the air base, according to the e-mails from the Army investigator. But he was assigned a roommate who was fully armed. C.I.D. investigators have identified the M-4 with which Sergeant Senft was killed as belonging to his roommate.
“I question why, if he was suicidal and they had to take away his gun, why was he allowed to stay in Afghanistan?” asked Sergeant Senft’s father. “Why did they allow him to deploy in the first place, and why did they leave him there?”
A group of security experts recently mentioned to me that the Oil-producing countries are all well-aware that their resources are limited. They explained this in terms of Iran’s urge to develop nuclear power.
Whether or not you accept that argument, it makes a fitting backdrop to VW’s decision to announce a super-efficient fuel-economy concept car at the Qatar Auto Show.
Take half a regular TDI engine, reduce the body weight about half, and sprinkle in some high tech bits and you get the XL1:
Now, Piech’s Volkswagen has combined state-of-the-art technology, from common rail diesel-supplemented plug-in hybrid power to carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer lightweight body material, to create the XL1. The concept consumes 0.9 liters of diesel fuel per 100 kilometers, the automaker says, which translates to an EPA fuel mileage figure of 261.3 mpg. That mileage equals 24 grams of CO2 per kilometer, VW says. Our CO2 converter converts 261.3 mpg to 0.30 pounds per mile. VW chose to unveil this car as part of an auto show in Qatar, the one part of the world where fuel efficiency isn’t much of an issue.
Thomas Hoeren, a professor at the Institute for Information, Telecommunication and Media Law at the University of Muenster told Deutsche Welle that the recent changes won’t be enough.
“It’s still not perfect, but it’s certainly an improvement to previous regulations. But I doubt that the alterations will solve the problem,” he said.
“Rights of third parties are affected and Facebook can’t shift its responsibilities onto others. If Facebook provides such an infrastructure, that’s a contributory infringement and Facebook can’t just pass that on to the user.”
This view is echoed by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute in the United Kingdom.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but Facebook is light-years away from adequate regulations for data protection and privacy in terms of European regulations,” he told Deutsche Welle.
“You still don’t have complete control. Facebook says the moment you participate in the network, exploitation rights are passed over to us. The system becomes very simple since everything belongs to Facebook. But this is no longer sufficient for a lot of people. Startups such as Diaspora or MyCube allow users to be in control as they can decide on how long they are willing to share certain things online.”
The Department of Defense will conduct GPS tests on January 20th through February 22nd, 2011. During testing, the GPS signal may be unreliable or unavailable.
My GPS has been so unreliable lately I am surprised the DoD felt compelled to issue a warning. They should send out warnings when GPS will be actually accurate or available.
a blog about the poetry of information security, since 1995