LA Sheriff Secretly Recorded All of Compton From Above

On May 8, 2014May 7, 2014 By A.P.In Big Brother, California, Compton, Crime, Doug Iketani, Human Behavior, Kebmodee, Los Angeles, Persistent Surveillance Systems, Ross McNutt, spy, surveillance, The Future2 Comments

In 2012, a private company working with the LA County Sheriff’s Department flew a civilian plane rigged with multiple high-powered video cameras over the city of Compton, recording “video of everything that happened inside that 10-square-mile municipality,” all without telling residents, according to The Atlantic. Expanding on a previous piece by the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Atlantic says that the project was a test-run of sorts by the company, Persistent Surveillance Systems, eager to show off its tech to the country’s largest sheriff’s department. (Neither article says how long the plane was in the air or exactly how many times it flew and recorded, but the head of the company himself brags that “We literally watched all of Compton during the time that we were flying, so we could zoom in anywhere within the city of Compton and follow cars and see people.”)

They didn’t tell Compton because Compton might not have liked it.

Ohio-based PSS sells surveillance equipment (known as wide area surveillance) that uses cameras mounted on the underside of planes to record video, allowing police to pause, rewind, and zoom in on footage that’s been recorded in real-time, like a much creepier DVR. The Sheriffs were “persuaded” by Ross McNutt (the Air Force veteran who owns PSS) to let him fly a plane outfitted with cameras over Compton in response to a chain of horrible crimes terrorizing the city’s residents: a string of necklace-jackings. The plan was to have McNutt’s aircraft hover over areas where reported thefts had taken place, and to look for anything that might help investigators.

“Our whole system costs less than the price of a single police helicopter and costs less for an hour to operate than a police helicopter. But at the same time, it watches 10,000 times the area that a police helicopter could watch,” McNutt told CIR. While the tech sounds futuristic (in a dystopian way), it is thankfully still limited: the cameras are not powerful enough yet to recognize faces. (Nowhere near as fancy/invasive as the license-plate recognition software that the LAPD uses.) McNutt himself predicts that technology will advance within the next few years, so don’t even sweat it.

At no point was any of this revealed to the residents of Compton because the cops knew they wouldn’t much care for having their entire city recorded. “A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so in order to mitigate any of those kinds of complaints, we basically kept it pretty hush-hush,” says LA County Sheriff Sgt. Doug Iketani, the project’s supervisor.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/la_sheriff_secretly_recorded_all_of_compton_from_above.php

Thanks to Kebmodee for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

TED 2013: SpaceTop 3D see-through computer revealed

On March 6, 2013March 3, 2013 By A.P.In 3D computer, California, computer, Jinha Lee, Los Angeles, Science, Technology, TED, The FutureLeave a comment

A transparent computer that allows users to reach inside and touch digital content has been unveiled at the TED conference in Los Angeles.

TED fellow Jinha Lee has been working on the SpaceTop 3D desktop in collaboration with Microsoft.

The Super Supercapacitor: Graphene super capacitor could make batteries obsolete

On February 27, 2013February 27, 2013 By A.P.In batteries, California, graphene, invention, Inventions, Los Angeles, power storage, Science, super supercapacitator, supercapacitator, The Future, UCLA4 Comments

A Feb. 21, 2013 article in Rewire reports on a breakthrough in power storage that hold the promise to change the world. Researchers at UCLA have found a way to create what is in effect a super capacitor that can be charged quickly and will hold more electricity than standard batteries. What’s more, it is made with Graphene, a simply carbon polymer that, unlike batteries that have toxic metals in them, is environmentally benign and is not only biodegradable but compostable.

The researchers expect that the manufacturing process for the Graphene super capacitor can be refined for mass production.

The real world applications of an energy storage device that can be charged quickly and can hold as much if not more electricity as batteries is mind blowing.

For instance, electronic devices such as cell phones and tablet computers can be charged in seconds and not for hours and would hold a charge for longer than devices with standard batteries. This will diminish those annoying instances when one’s device suddenly goes dead for lack of energy.

Eventually the technology can be scaled up for electric cars or storage devices for wind turbines and solar collectors. Currently it takes hours to charge up an electric car. Such vehicles would become more viable if one can “refuel” them as quickly as one can a gasoline powered car.

This is all predicated on the notion that the technology lives up to its promise and doesn’t have a flaw, as yet uncovered, that will undermine it. In the meantime the UCLA researchers are looking for an industrial partner to build their super capacitor units on an industrial scale.

http://www.examiner.com/article/graphene-super-capacitor-could-make-batteries-obsolete

Daily aspirin may increase risk for age-related blindness

On January 22, 2013 By A.P.In age-related macular degeneration, aging, American Heart Association, aspirin, Australia, Blindness, California, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. George A. Diamond, Dr. Gerald Liew, Dr. Gregg Fonarow, Dr. Sanjay Kaul, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Los Angeles, macular degeneration, Medicine, National Eye Institute, University of California, University of SydneyLeave a comment

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Many people take aspirin to prevent heart attacks, but new research suggests the added benefits may be coming at the expense of pill-takers’ eyesight.

A 15-year-study published Jan. 22 in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that people taking regular aspirin faced a higher risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of blindness in older adults. The research also suggests the risk may worsen over time.

AMD commonly affects adults 50 and older, gradually destroying their “macula,” which is a part of the eye that provides sharp, central vision that’s required to see objects clearly. There are two types of the disease: “Dry” AMD is most common and occurs when the light-sensitive cells in the macula slowly break down, gradually blurring central vision while “wet” or neovascular AMD occurs when blood vessels under the macula leak blood and fluid, causing damage. Wet AMD is often more severe but also more rare, affecting about 10 percent of patients with AMD.

People at a high risk for having a heart attack — such as those who have heart disease — are encouraged by the American Heart Association and other medical groups to take a daily low-dose of aspirin.

For the study, Australian researchers tracked nearly 2,400 adults who were given four exams during the 15 year study. More than 250 of these individuals took aspirin regularly because aspirin is thought to prevent clots from forming by “thinning” the blood.

The researchers found an increased risk for wet AMD among aspirin takers, with 1.9 percent of patients having the condition at five years, 7 percent at 10 years and 9.3 percent at 15 years. That compares with 0.8 percent of non-aspirin takers at five years, 1.6 percent at 10 years and 3.7 percent at 15 years.

“Regular aspirin use was significantly associated with an increased incidence of neovascular AMD,” concluded the authors, led by Dr. Gerald Liew of the University of Sydney in Australia.

In December, a study published in JAMA also found that people who used aspirin regularly for 10 years were more likely to have wet AMD, but the overall reported risk was still low.

Liew wrote that the decision to stop taking aspirin is a “complex” one and should be decided on an individual basis. For example, those at a higher risk for AMD such as people with a family history or smokers — who are two times more likely to develop AMD than non-smokers — may want to consider changing their aspirin regimen.

In an accompanying editorial published in the same issue, Dr. Sanjay Kaul and Dr. George A. Diamond, cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, wrote that the study was observational, and could not prove cause and effect. Therefore, it may be too soon to recommend people curb their aspirin intake.

“In the absence of definitive evidence regarding whether limiting aspirin exposure mitigates AMD risk, one obvious course of action is to maintain the status quo,” they wrote.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, added to HealthDay that more rigorous randomized controlled trials have yet to demonstrate any increased risk of blindness from people taking aspirin.

“Individuals prescribed aspirin for high-risk primary prevention or secondary cardiovascular prevention should not be concerned or discontinue this beneficial therapy,” he said.

To reduce your risk for AMD, the National Eye Institute recommends exercising, eating a healthy diet rich in leafy greens and fish, maintaining normal blood pressure and cholesterol, and avoiding smoking.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57565181/daily-aspirin-may-increase-risk-for-age-related-blindness/

Samurai Isao Machii slices speeding pellet (200 mph) in half

On January 2, 2013December 30, 2012 By A.P.In California, Dr. Ramani Durvasula, Isao Machii, Lo Show Dei Record, Los Angeles, Oddity Central, samurai, World RecordsLeave a comment

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This truly needs to seen to be believed: A man who calls himself a modern-day samurai warrior has been videotaped slicing a speeding pellet in half with a sword.

Isao Machii accomplished the seemingly superhuman feat in a video filmed at a firing range outside Los Angeles last year. The clip was recently recirculated by Oddity Central. The filmmakers used a special camera to slow down the film by 250 times. Viewers can see Machii’s blade slicing into the pellet, which was moving at 200 mph.

Witness Dr. Ramani Durvasula, an associate Professor of Psychology from California State University, said she heard the blade connect with the bullet, but could not see it.

“This is about processing it at an entirely different sensory level because he is not visually processing it,” Durvasula says in the video. “This is a different level of anticipatory processing. Something so procedural, something so fluid for him.”

Machii’s skills with a blade are well-documented.

The Daily Mail notes that the swordsman began studying the ancient art at age 5 and is now the leader of his own samurai school.

Machii also holds multiple Guinness World Records, including one for most sword cuts to straw mats in three minutes. Machii’s record of 252 cuts was achieved on the set of Lo Show Dei Record, in Milan, Italy, in April 2011.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, YouTube is filled with videos of the talented samurai’s various feats. Machii has been filmed cutting an egg in half, slicing the delicate top of a mushroom and cutting clean through an iron pipe.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/isao-machii-modern-day-samurai-cuts-pellet-half_n_2377386.html