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With only a mobile phone and a promise of money from his uncle, David Obi did something the Nigerian government has been trying to do for decades: He figured out how to bring electricity to the masses in Africa's most populous country. For More It wasn't a matter of technology.
The Shadow Superpower - By Robert Neuwirth
A plunge in US violent crime over the last two years despite the economic downturn appears to confirm what experts have long known -- that poverty alone does not drive delinquency. The latest figures released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show the lowest level of violent crime since the 1960s and a 5.5 percent decline in 2010 alone, following a 5.3 percent drop the previous year. Robbery is also down nationwide -- by 9.5 percent in 2010 and 8.0 percent in 2009 -- despite soaring unemployment and a grim economic outlook. Experts differ on what could explain the decline and insist more research is necessary, but say they have long viewed poverty as a poor indicator for violent crime and a weak one at best for property crime. "There is no single satisfying answer to what causes changes in our crime rate, just like there is no single cause of weather," said Catherine Gallagher, a criminologist at Virginia's George Mason University.
Drop in US crime reveals complex role of poverty
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32286" title="090319-F-9919G-032" src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/10/090319-F-9919G-169-660x439.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="439" /> The U.S. intelligence community wants a sharp competitive edge on the world’s best and brightest ideas. In an effort to find the next big thing before it happens, they’re looking to do away with fallible human trendspotters, and enlist an algorithmic system to “scan the horizon” and tap into the first signs of burgeoning memes in science and technology. Iarpa, the intel world’s far-out research arm, is already wary of trusting big calls and predictions to flesh-and-blood experts alone.
[2010] U.S. Spies Want Algorithms to Spot Hot Trends | Danger Room
Sicherheitspolizei Estland Everyone thought Hermann Simm deserved to be honored. It was Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, and he was dressed in his best suit to attend the day's event.
Betrayer and Betrayed: New Documents Reveal Truth on NATO's 'Most Damaging' Spy - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International