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Los Angeles Gang Tour Puts A Twist On Drive-Bys

Posted by takyon on Friday July 29 2016, @11:36PM (#1998)
0 Comments
/dev/random

Los Angeles Gang Tour Puts A Twist On Drive-Bys

2010 article I found for crutchy on IRC.

Nvidia Announces Pascal-based NVIDIA Titan X

Posted by takyon on Friday July 22 2016, @05:25AM (#1984)
3 Comments
Hardware

NVIDIA Announces “NVIDIA Titan X” Video Card: $1200, Available August 2nd

Move Over GTX 1080, There’s A New Titan X In Town

Meaningless for anybody who doesn't want the general compute features. It's $200 more expensive than its predecessor, probably to avoid cannibalizing sales of more expensive Pascal GPUs intended for businesses.

Peter Thiel at the RNC

Posted by takyon on Thursday July 21 2016, @02:32PM (#1982)
9 Comments

Seagate 10 TB Helium-Filled HDDs for Consumers

Posted by takyon on Wednesday July 20 2016, @06:21AM (#1978)
2 Comments

Melania Trump Copies Michelle Obama Speech About Hard Work

Posted by takyon on Tuesday July 19 2016, @05:04AM (#1977)
17 Comments

Qandeel Baloch: Pakistani social media star strangled by bro

Posted by takyon on Saturday July 16 2016, @10:23PM (#1973)
4 Comments
News

Pakistani QT killed by brother for what would be usual vanity stuff for Westerners on social media:

Qandeel Baloch: Pakistani social media star strangled by her brother

Qandeel Baloch, one of Pakistan's most famous and controversial social media stars, has been strangled to death in what police are calling a case of so called "honor" killing in the city of Multan in the country's province of Punjab. Azhar Akram, Multan's chief police officer, told CNN that Baloch was killed by her brother in her family's home after he had protested at the "kind of pictures she had been posting online."

[...] She had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook, where her videos went viral but were also the subject of much debate and discomfort. In recent weeks, several of her posts encouraged her audience to challenge old practices of Pakistani society. In a July 14 post, Baloch referred to herself as a "modern day feminist."
Hamna Zubair, the culture editor of Pakistani newspaper Dawn, told CNN that she had received much criticism for carrying pieces on Baloch. One commentator asked her if she would be "reporting from a brothel" next.
Baloch tightly controlled her narrative in the media. She shared little about her personal life and was something of an enigma; nobody really knew which city she was based in.

She found fame and slipped into the national consciousness after declaring that she would perform a live strip tease online if Pakistan won a cricket match against arch rival India.
As her media profile grew, Zubair said Baloch became aware "of her power to deliver a certain message about being female in Pakistan," and that she had become a "burgeoning activist for increasing women's visibility" in the country. She made more headlines after posting selfies on her Instagram account with Mufti Abdul Qavi, a senior member of the clergy. The bizarre pairing led to frenzied media coverage and resulted in Qavis's suspension from his post on one of Pakistan's religious committees. After news of Baloch's death, while waiting to go on air on a local channel, Qavi told CNN that "her death should be a lesson for all those who point fingers at someone's honor."

[...] A couple of days ago, local media reported that Qandeel Baloch had married at 17 and left her husband about a year later. After the reports were published, she confirmed that her legal name was Fouzia Azeem and that she had been using an alias for safety reasons. Earlier this week Baloch had stirred up more controversy by releasing a kitschy music video on YouTube called "Ban," which mocked some of the restrictions that she had been subjected to. Behind the scenes, however, things were a bit different. Hassan Chaoudhry, a reporter for local paper Express Tribune, told CNN he had spoken to Baloch on the phone just two days ago, saying she was sobbing and "feared for her life." On the morning she was murdered, Qandeel had shared a picture of herself staring defiantly into the camera, wearing a pair of leopard print pants and a black tank top. She had written that she was a fighter. "I will bounce back," she said, adding she wanted to inspire women who have been "treated badly and dominated by society."

Crank Alert: Hydrino Based Power

Posted by takyon on Wednesday July 13 2016, @06:17AM (#1965)
3 Comments

White Jacketed Police

Posted by frojack on Friday July 08 2016, @12:07AM (#1951)
4 Comments
Security

Maybe its time to run our Police like the British, with predominantly unarmed officers, with fire-arms teams readily available when needed.

So what is a few criminals turn runner and get away because some physically un-fit cops can't chase them down? Most criminals get away, then get found out later.

Maybe Unarmed officers would wear WHITE jacketed uniforms, or maybe white sleeves, and wouldn't carry any weapons (and that includes no multi-shock Tasers) other than a small self-defense baton. (Something that leaves a distinctive trace-able mark). They could still wear bullet/stab proof vests if desired.

They'd get defensive martial arts training and conflict deescalation training instead of fire arms training.

This would not, as some claim, result in mass killing of police, because the white jacket would make it clear they are unarmed and present no immediate physical threat.

Even if they come to arrest someone, they are not likely to induce fear and loathing Most police effect most arrests without ever pulling a gun. Most arrests are not for crimes that killing someone is an acceptable outcome.

Even among thieves and drug dealers there's no glory in shooting an unarmed man. The unarmed white shirted police officer would be as safe as the ticket writing "meter maids" of the 50's who were never armed.

Armed apprehension teams could be dispatched when the need presented itself.

Why is it a 5' 2" female unarmed British constable can effect an arrest of a pub brawler, but American ex-military, 6'4" cops can't issue a speeding ticket without a side arm?

It works elsewhere.

The Sex Scandal Blowing Up Oakland's Police Department

Posted by takyon on Friday July 01 2016, @11:55PM (#1944)
5 Comments
News

http://www.vice.com/read/oakland-underage-sex-work-scandal

Not so long ago it was possible to point to Oakland as a police reform success story. In the last decade, the cops have gone from conducting an average of 3,000 searches without probable cause every year to 280 in 2015. Officers are now required to wear body cameras. After decades of abuse, violence, and corruption, the police department seemed to finally be changing.

In the last few weeks, though, a scandal has emerged that threatens to tear the department apart. In brief, 14 Oakland police officers are currently under investigation for sleeping with an 18-year-old sex worker—three of them when she was 17, thus allegedly committing rape and sex trafficking under California law. The woman, using the alias Celeste Guap, told the East Bay Express earlier this month that she was having sex with the cops for money and protection; she had been given a friend's arrest history and information about undercover prostitution stings.

Hints of the scandal surfaced last year, after a suicide note written one of the officers involved, Brendan O'Brien, mentioned Guap, prompting an investigation. But the higher-ups allegedly dragged their feet, and the supposed cover-up has only widened the sordid scandal has since expanded. (According to Guap's later comments to the media, she's actually had sex with "more than 30 officers" from multiple agencies around the Bay Area.)

The shocking and salacious events were the catalyst to Oakland appointing four police chiefs in two weeks. Initially, Sean Whent, who was promoted to top cop at the end of a similarly messy 2013 shuffle that saw three new police chiefs in three days, got canned because he allegedly knew about Guap sleeping with Oakland cops but didn't press for a speedy and public investigation.

Don't Blame Life Extension for Right-Wing Fox News

Posted by takyon on Thursday June 23 2016, @10:44PM (#1933)
10 Comments
/dev/random

A funny article I found on NBF:

Do not "blame" life extension for Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, If Murdoch died Fox would still be right wing

Which is a response to: Bonus Level: The World's Most Powerful Humans are Getting Another 10-15 Years on Earth

A common argument against life extension is that it would allow the elites to live indefinitely, accruing more power, wealth, and influence for themselves. To that I say: If you're so worried about it, stop waiting for them to die, and start killing them.