A new $32,000 electric camper is getting some hype this week, but we are highly skeptical about the vehicle. Is it a scam?
Electric Brands, a Germany-based startup, has been taking reservations and investments for what it calls the eBussy, a modular electric vehicle platform that can be configured in different vehicles, including an electric camper.
Several media outlets have been reporting on the project this week, resulting in thousands of reservations for the vehicle.
O,.o wut?
Cosmic Loners
The problem with the GEODE hypothesis is that the strange objects need to resemble but not act like black holes. The only way that GEODEs could expand the universe without destroying everything around them is if they were isolated in empty pockets of the cosmos. But black holes often sit smack dab in the middle of galaxies.
“This becomes a problem if you want to explain the accelerating expansion of the universe,” lead author Kevin Croker said in a press release. “If they moved like black holes, staying close to visible matter, galaxies like our own Milky Way would have been disrupted.”
Right now it looks like the graphics from Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, but the engineers want to add full color.
On Oct. 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh returned an indictment charging six computer hackers, all of whom were residents and nationals of the Russian Federation (Russia) and officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
These GRU hackers and their co-conspirators engaged in computer intrusions and attacks intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against, or otherwise destabilize: (1) Ukraine; (2) Georgia; (3) elections in France; (4) efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, on foreign soil; and (5) the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games after Russian athletes were banned from participating under their nation’s flag, as a consequence of Russian government-sponsored doping effort.
Their computer attacks used some of the world’s most destructive malware to date, including: KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine; NotPetya, which caused nearly $1 billion in losses to the three victims identified in the indictment alone; and Olympic Destroyer, which disrupted thousands of computers used to support the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false registration of a domain name.
In the last few years, countless cyber-attacks were reported globally that were linked to the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese cyber-hackers, who target the foreign networks and websites are sponsored by the Chinese government. They are highly trained and have acquired abilities not only to exploit common vulnerabilities but also to discover and even create new vulnerabilities.
The US National Security Agency’s in-depth report of 23rd October points out that one of the greatest threats to the US National Security Systems, Defence Industrial Base and Department of Defence information networks is the “Chinese state sponsored malicious cyber activity”. The report underlines that the Chinese hackers exploit “computer networks of interest that hold sensitive intellectual property, economic, political, and military information.”
In July 2020, US had ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Huston, when it discovered that the Chinese officials there were involved in the intellectual property theft and indicted two Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking hundreds of companies and crucially had attempted to steal coronavirus vaccine research. The United States Department of Justice has charged five Chinese national for their involvement in hacking targets not only in the US governments but also the networks of the Indian and Vietnam government. They also carried out attacks on the UK government network unsuccessfully.
Circa 2017
Josiah Zayner, a biochemist and former NASA worker, has become the first person known to have edited his DNA after removing a protein which inhibits muscle growth mirror.
An early model Nissan Leaf has been given a new lease of life with a battery upgrade for a fraction of the price it would cost if done by Nissan.
The 2011 Nissan Leaf came with a 24kWh battery, and even when new had a very modest driving range of 117km based on the US EPA ratings.
But after nine years of use, this particular Nissan Leaf’s maximum range had degraded to around 100km, prompting owner Daniel Öster to undertake an upgrade using a 30kWh battery from a 2017 Nissan Leaf.
