The Washington Independent » technology

Cell Phone Provider Offers Extra Service to Gullible Taliban

Spencer Ackerman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:44:42 +0000

Via Danger Room, it appears the Pakistani mobile-phone service provider Mobilink is expanding its coverage to South Waziristan, and extending a special offer to the Taliban:

Use of electronic telecommunication equipment by the Taliban has helped security agencies nab wanted men in the past, sources said, adding that “This is what we hope happen.”

Are Taliban fighters really that stupid? Use of those unlimited minutes is probably pretty helpful for CIA officials trying to figure out where to tell their drones to drop their missiles.

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Epic RNC Fail

David Weigel — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:32:42 +0000

Less than 48 hours after a Republican National Committee chairman candidates’ debate, during which contenders sang the praises of high tech and Twitter, the RNC held a meeting that was closed to non-members and electronic media.

GOP tech guru Patrick Ruffini tried to enter right after giving a presentation on his organization, Rebuild the Party. He tweeted:

Entered RNC meeting then they closed the room to nonmembers. Entering again so on supposedly

Then:

Wow… No quorum and they’re closing the forum to nonmembers = FAIL

Conservative blogger Adam Schmidt:

After losing an election to a candidate running on a platform of transparency the RNC needs to open up the process not bar press

Conservative blogger Jason Tolbert:

Where that welcome mat go?

RNC member Tom Wilson tweeted to cryptically explain that they “opted not to” make the forum public. Saul Anuzis, a candidate for RNC chairman and the party’s tweeter-in-chief, electronically reported on the meeting anyway. Doesn’t seem like the hoi polloi missed much.

Sustainable Aviation?

Suemedha Sood — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:36:48 +0000

At the beginning of this year, we reported on Air France’s plan to go green. Now the airline is joining forces with nine other industry leaders and environmental groups to reduce the industry’s dependency on fossil fuels.

The new project, called the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Users’ Group, says they are specifically committed to using biofuels from renewable sources that do not compete with the “agrifood sector,” do not interfere with drinking water and “improve the economic conditions of local populations.” (That means no corn ethanol, for one thing.) And, according to Air France, the airlines will factor in the “full life cycle” of the biofuels to assure that the overall impact of their usage yields fewer CO2 emissions.

Seems like a pretty bold proposition. We already know that aircrafts can fly on non-food-crop biofuels such as algae. But we also know that those green fuels have yet to be produced on a mass scale, largely because there’s a lack of funding for research and development. If the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users’ Group is serious about its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it may have to consider using airline resources to support building up sustainably produced biofuels.