3:47 PM
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/army_uav_hack_122009w/
Senior Pentagon officials raised concerns in 2004 about Russia and China intercepting and manipulating video from UAVs, but the concerns were ignored due to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed the lack of encryption in 2004 and 2005, but officers weren't concerned because they believed militants were technically unsophisticated!
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/18/Drone-security-questions-raised-years-ago/UPI-85461261152750/
Robots with US Special Ops now do psychological warfare:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/18/military_robot_psyops/
Less than a year after the first facial transplant in the US, the DoD is fast-tracking the surgical science of face transplants to help the 200 veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries too serious for cosmetic surgery. A Boston hospital received a $3.4 million grant to try to do 6 to 8 face transplants in the next 18 months. It used to be that 3 soldiers would return with serious injuries for every battlefield fatality, but now the ratios is 9
serious injuries to each casualty:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/pentagon-fast-tracks-face-transplants-8-operations-in-18-months/
The states got a 16-month postponement on the Real ID deadline, so travelers will still be able to use their driver's licenses at airports and other locations after January 1:
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20091220/NEWS01/912200304/States-get-16-month-reprieve-from-REAL-ID
Georgia Tech is beginning a 5-year, $3.5 million NSF study to study how effective robotics and engineering design could be to teach 8th grade physical science content and get students more interested and engaged in science, math, and engineering:
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=48152
Status update on the different flying car projects--the Parajet skycar can be ordered now ($80k) and is scheduled for delivery less than a year from now:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/12/status-of-flying-cars-parajet-samson.html
Study found that women do not choose to major in computer science because of the stereotype that computer science people are geeks surrounded by computer games, science fiction memorabilia and junk food:
http://www.rdmag.com/Community/Blogs/RDBlog/Environment-Steers-Females-Away-From-Computer-Science/?wnnvz=1737,01270978431
T-rays may replace X-rays as a way to detect bombs on terrorists or illegal drugs on traffickers--T-rays are more effective AND do not have the possible harmful effects of X-rays:
http://dmc-news.tamu.edu/templates/?a=8244&z=15
Hospitals are beginning to advertise their emergency room waiting times--critics say that the information can be misleading (those in serious need of attention will be taken right away), but for many patients this can be a huge time saver:
http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-he-er-wait-times21-2009dec21,0,2748034,full.story
Honda is apparently going to premiere its new small car concept at the New Delhi Motor Show on January 5, a car targeted for India and other emerging markets:
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/12/21/report-honda-to-premiere-new-small-car-concept-at-delhi-motor-s/
Maine legislator wants to have all cell phones sold in their state carry a brain cancer warning even though the science is not clear on that. San Francisco's mayor wants the absorption rate level next to each phone to be required to be at least as big as the price in print, with a large "WARNING" in red text:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091220/ap_on_re_us/us_cell_phone_warnings
Huawei beat out Ericsson for the first national 4G network in Sweden...Ericsson's home country!
http://www.telecomseurope.net/content/huawei-wins-first-national-4g-network-deal-sweden?section=HEADLINE&utm_source=lyris&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=telecomseurope
4-year-old Tennessee boy wants to go to jail because that is where his Dad is, so he has been found walking around his neighborhood at night, drinking beer and wearing a little girl's dress that he stole from under a neighbor's Christmas tree!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34465839/ns/us_news-weird_news/?gt1=43001
Kansas Man is called Superman after lifting a car off a 6-year-old girl. The adrenaline really must have helped him because he hasn't been able to lift a car since he saved that girl:
http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-superman-car-child-121809,0,5927951.story
Some sick person in Minnesota actually *glued* a cat to a freeway! I'm glad that the cat was rescued:
http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/79701822.html
19-year-old Wisconsin teenager was convicted of fleeing to Tennessee with his girlfriend in a stolen car. The judge ordered that he cannot date any female for the next 3 years unless he gets permission of his probation agent:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/18/ap/strange/main5997344.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesSecondary
Simon Cowell's brother revealed on his radio show that Simon will leave American Idol after this season and bring the X Factor to the US the following year:
http://www.ainow.org/index.php/top-stories/1557-tony-cowell-qsimon-will-leave-idol-at-the-end-of-2010q
Hunter called 911 because he thought he was having a heart attack, then accidentally shot and killed himself as he tried to get down from the stand in a swamp. They think he might have lost his balance when he suffered a heart attack:
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2009/12/leoni_township_hunter_dies_aft.html