U.S. General Rodriguez Claims 'Islamic State' Runs Training Camps in Libya
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsDW
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

A US general has claimed Islamic State militants have set up training camps in eastern Libya. Army Gen. David Rodriguez has told reporters at the Pentagon that hundreds could be training in a "nascent development."

Rodriguez told reporters at the Pentagon that the US Army was monitoring camps set up by "Islamic State" (IS), although he added it was not clear just how many were operating.

The general, who heads US Africa Command, told Pentagon reporters that there may be "a couple of hundred" fighters undergoing training at the sites, although details remained sketchy.

"We'll have to just continue to monitor and watch that carefully in the future to see what happens or whether it grows unabated," said Rodriguez. "Right now it's just small and very nascent and we just have to see how it goes."

When asked if the camps might be a target for US airstrikes, Rodriguez said, "That policy discussion is ongoing and we'll see how that goes." He added that that the camps were not being targeted "right now."

The general said it appeared that many of the trainees were members of Libyan militias who were seeking to make a name for themselves and establish connections. He added that it was unclear if they planned to go on to fight for IS in Iraq or Syria.

"It's mainly about people coming for training and logistics support right now, for training sites, and that's what we see right now. As far as a huge command and control network, we have not seen that yet," Rodriguez said.

Parliament forced east

Libya has seen ongoing instability in recent months, with the Islamist group Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) having seized the capital in Tripoli after a month-long battle with a rival group. The country's internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and his legislature have been forced to work from the east of the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of officials from 60 different countries involved in the coalition against IS that a campaign launched in August which has since involved some 1,000 airstrikes had dealt a "significant" blow to the Sunni group.

Kerry said there was no military coordination with Iran, which has deployed F-4 Phantom jets that it acquired from the US before the 1979 Islamic revolution. However, he said there was an understanding that, in IS, Washington and a mainly Shiite Iran were both fighting a common enemy.

Strange Stock Market Trades Confuse Wall Street
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsCNBC
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Rock Musicians As Mediums (Excerpts)
Dec 4th, 2014
Commentaryfbns@wayoflife.org. - David Cloud
Categories: Contemporary Issues

In the following statements, rock musicians describe an outside power to which they were connected or that has actually possessed them while they wrote and performed rock music. Since these are people who don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the source of the influence must be that which is described in Ephesians:

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Ephesians 2:2-3).

JIMI HENDRIX'S girlfriend, Fayne Pridgon, said: "He used to always talk about some devil or something was in him, you know. He didn't know what made him act the way he acted and what made him say the things he said, and the songs and different things like that … just came out of him. It seems to me he was so tormented and just torn apart and like he really was obsessed, you know, with something really evil" (sound track from film Jimi Hendrix, interview with Fayne Pridgon, side 4, cited by Heartbeat of the Dragon, p. 50).

ROBERT PLANT and JIMMY PAGE of LED ZEPPELIN both claim that they don't know who wrote their occultic song Stairway to Heaven. Plant testified: "Pagey had written the chords and played them for me. I was holding the paper and pencil, and for some reason, I was in a very bad mood. Then all of a sudden my hand was writing out words. … I just sat there and looked at the words and then I almost leaped out of my seat" (Robert Plant, quoted by Stephen Davis, Hammer of the Gods, p. 164).

PETE TOWNSHEND of The Who says that he began acting as a medium for music when he learned to play the harmonica as a boy. "I got lost in the sound of the mouth organ, and then had the most extraordinary, life-changing experience. Suddenly I was hearing music within the music--rich, complex harmonic beauty that had been locked in the sounds I'd been making. The next day I went fly fishing, and this time the murmuring sound of the river opened up a wellspring of music so enormous that I fell in and out of a trance. It was the beginning of my lifelong connection to ... what might be described as the music of the spheres. ... One day I found some chords that made me lightheaded. As I played them my body buzzed all over, and my head filled with the most complex, disturbing orchestral music. ... I had the ability to create alpha-state music in my head, go into a creative trance, have musical visions... Since so much of this music bubbled up urgently from my subconscious mind, I'm left to interpret it much like anyone else" (Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir, HarperCollins, 2012, pp. 41, 46, 62, 145).

"In the end you have to look at a song and not know exactly where it came from" (BRUCE SPRINGSTEIN, Dateline, Dec. 14, 1998).

"I've always considered that there was some way where we were able to channel energy, and that energy was able to be, from another source, if you like, like a higher power or something, that was actually doing the work. I've often thought of us just being actually just the earthly beings that played the music because it was uncanny. Some of this music came out extremely uncanny" (BILL WARD OF BLACK SABBATH, cited by Mike Stark in Black Sabbath An Oral History, p. 7).

"It's amazing, 'cause sometimes when we're on stage, I feel like somebody's just moving the pieces. ... I'm just going, 'God, we don't have any control over this.' And that's magic" (STEVIE NICKS OF FLEETWOOD MAC, Circus, April 14, 1971).

ANGUS YOUNG, lead guitarist for AC-DC, is called the "guitar demon"; and he admitted that something takes control of the band during their concerts: "... it's like I'm on automatic pilot. By the time we're halfway through the first number someone else is steering me. I'm just along for the ride. I become possessed when I get on stage" (Hit Parader, July 1985, p. 60).

KEITH RICHARDS OF THE ROLLING STONES said that their songs "came spontaneously like an inspiration at a séance" and "arrived 'en masse' as if the Stones as songwriters were only a willing and open medium" (Rolling Stone, May 5, 1977, p. 55). Richards said that he received the opening riff to the wicked song "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" in a dream. He woke up and sang it into a tape recorder. 

LITTLE RICHARD said, "I was directed and commanded by another power. The power of darkness ... that a lot of people don't believe exists. The power of the Devil. Satan" (cited from Charles White, The Life and Times of Little Richard, p. 206).

"You can't describe it [playing rock music] except to say it's like a mysterious energy that comes from the metaphysical plane and into my body. It's almost like being a medium...." (MARC STORACE, vocalist with heavy-metal band KROKUS, Circus, January 31, 1984, p. 70).

"They [THE BEATLES] were like mediums. They weren't conscious of all they were saying, but it was coming through them" (YOKO ONO, The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Berkeley, 1982, p. 106.).

Of the Beatles' album Rain, which featured one of the earliest instances of backward taping, RINGO STARR said, "I feel as though that was someone else playing. I was possessed!" ("Rain," Rolling Stone, Dec. 9, 2004).

"[Of his music JOHN LENNON said] "It's like being possessed: like a psychic or a medium" (The Playboy Interviews, p. 203). 

"It's amazing that it [the tune to 'In My Life'] just came to me in a dream. That's why I don't profess to know anything. I think music is very mystical" (JOHN LENNON, quoted in "The Beatles Come Together," Reader's Digest, March 2001).

"I felt like a hollow temple filled with many spirits, each one passing through me, each inhabiting me for a little time and then leaving to be replaced by another" (JOHN LENNON, People, Aug. 22, 1988, p. 70).

"When the real music comes to me, it has nothing to do with me 'cause I'm just a channel. It's given to me and I transcribe it" (JOHN LENNON, quoted by Mickey Hart, Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music, p. 134).

"The music to 'Yesterday' came in a dream. The tune just came complete. You have to believe in magic. I can't read or write music" (PAUL MCCARTNEY, interview on Larry King Live, CNN, June 12, 2001).

"I wake up from dreams and go 'Wow, put this down on paper,' the whole thing is strange. You hear the words, everything is right there in front of your face. I feel that somewhere, someplace it's been done and I'm just a courier bringing it into the world" (MICHAEL JACKSON, Rolling Stone, Feb. 17, 1983).

"When I hit the stage it's all of a sudden a 'magic' from somewhere that comes and the spirit just hits you, and you just lose control of yourself" (MICHAEL JACKSON, Teen Beat: A Tribute to Michael Jackson, Summer 1984, p. 27).

"A lot of the songs were written in 15-30 minutes, very stream-of-consciousness, as though it was being channeled through us" (ALANIS MORISSETTE, quoted from Hells Bells2 by Eric Holmberg).

"When the Siberian shaman gets ready to go into his trance, all the villagers get together... and play whatever instruments they have to send him off [into trance and possession]. …  It was the same way with The Doors when we played in concert... I think that our drug experience let us get into it... [the trance state] quicker.... It was like Jim [Morrison] was an electric shaman and we were the electric shaman's band, pounding away behind him. Sometimes he wouldn't feel like getting into the state, but the band would keep on pounding and pounding, and little by little it would take him over. God, I could send an electric shock through him with the organ. John could do it with his drumbeats" (DOORS keyboardist RAY MANZAREK, cited by Jerry Hopkins and Daniel Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive, pp. 158-60).

"That certain feeling happened to me in a big way quite often with the first King Crimson. Amazing things would happen--I mean, telepathy, qualities of energy, things that I had never experienced before with music … you can't tell whether the music is playing the musician or the musician is playing the music" (ROBERT FRIPP, guitarist for KING CRIMSON, Down Beat, June 1985, p. 61).

"I believe inspiration comes through me and that I channel it" (JIM KERR, SIMPLE MINDS, cited by Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 147). 

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, leader of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, testified: "One night we were playing and suddenly the spirit entered into me, and I was playing, but it was no longer me playing" (Circus, April 1972, p. 38).

GLEN TIPTON of JUDAS PRIEST says, "I just go crazy when I go onstage … it's like someone else takes over my body" (Hit Parader, Fall 1984, p. 6).

In 1974, JONI MITCHELL told the press of a male spirit who helps her write music. "Joni Mitchell credits her creative powers to a 'male muse' she identifies as Art. He has taken so much control of not only her music, but her life, that she feels married to him, and often roams naked with him on her 40-acre estate. His hold over her is so strong that she will excuse herself from parties and forsake lovers whenever he 'calls'" (Why Knock Rock? p. 112, citing Time magazine, Dec. 16, 1974, p. 39).

GINGER BAKER, drummer for the popular '60s band CREAM, said: "It happens to us quite often--it feels as though I'm not playing my instrument, something else is playing it and that same thing is playing all three of our instruments. That's what I mean when I say it's frightening sometimes. Maybe we'll all play the same phrase out of nowhere. It happens very often with us" (Bob Larson, Rock and the Church, p. 66).

JOE COCKER, who contorts grotesquely during his performances, claims that something "seizes" him when he songs rock & roll (Time magazine, cited by Bob Larson, Rock and the Church, p. 66).

"When I'm singing and in touch with the energy I'm generating, I sometimes literally have no awareness of where I am. The ego disappears, and me and my surroundings with it. … that's the reason I'm in music--to achieve that feeling" (DARYL OATES of HALL AND OATES, interview with Timothy White, 1987, Rock Lives, p. 592).

The original recording of "I Put a Spell on You" was done after the SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS and his band members got drunk and "some type of presence seemed to seize him." He began "grunting, growling, screaming, gurgling in strange unknown tongues, and wildly dancing around the studio" (Heartbeat of the Dragon, p. 40).

Pentagon Front - Runner Carter, Quietly Supportive of Israel, Loud on Stopping Iran
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Muslims Invoke the Name of Jesus?
Dec 4th, 2014
CommentaryMatt Ward
Categories: Exhortation;Warning

MK Stern: Leaders Can't Just Rely on G - D
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

MK Elazar Stern

Flash 90

MK Elazar Stern (Hatnua) aroused controversy Thursday when he said, in a conference hosted by Besheva magazine, that public leaders should not rely exclusively on G-d.

"We have to hope, we need to pray, but to be rational,” he explained. “In the places that I am aware of, when we only trusted G-d, we lost out.”

The rabbi of Migdal Haemek, Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman, did not like what he heard and remarked: “Elazar and I are soul friends. It is written: 'Wise men, be careful of what you say.' I am sure that you do not mean what you say. But...there are children sitting here and what do they hear? 'We relied on G-d and we lost out?'"

"Without G-d there is no world, there is no Nation of Israel, there is no State of Israel, there is nothing, nothing! Elazar, my beloved friend...you can say the same words on another occasion," continued the rabbi.

MK Stern sought to clarify his statement. “I have no doubt that what the rabbi says is true. Without G-d we are not here; the state of Israel is a miracle. It has no explanation, without G-d in the picture. And yet – a leader must have rational considerations...I want to say something to people who think G-d works for us...We try to put logic into G-d and assign roles to him, but G-d does not have the figure of a man, either in terms of values or rationally.”

Stern – who retired from the IDF as a general – added that he and Rabbi Grossman go back a long way.

“All that I did in the military in terms of Jewish identity, including conversion, and all of my legislative bills – there is not one of them that does not have rabbis behind it, whom this public is familiar with.” He stressed that he does not advance bills that do not enjoy the support of rabbis he is familiar with.

MK Stern is a controversial figure in the religious Zionist world, where he is remembered as an active supporter of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, which took place when he was head of the IDF's Personnel Directorate. 

A year ago, an emotional controversy erupted between the Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, Rabbi Dov Lior, and MK Stern. 

Speaking in the Knesset plenum, MK Stern accused the rabbi of making derogatory comments about Ethiopian Jews and questioning their Jewishness. Two days later, a youth in MK Stern's synagogue spat in his face and said he was doing it in response to Stern's accusations against Rabbi Lior.

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Satanic Temple Approved For Capitol Holiday Display
Florida’s Capitol will have a new holiday decoration this year. The Satanic Temple will be among its nativity scenes and secular presentations. It’s for Festivus, a non-commercial festival “for the rest of us,” is close to coming back as a 6-foot stack of empty beer cans. The Florida Department of Management Services this week approved the proposed holiday display from the Satanic Temple, which a year ago was rejected because the agency said its proposal was “grossly offensive.”  

Putin says foes hope to dismember Russia; rouble falls
"We are ready to meet any challenge of the times and win," he declared to applause from an audience of 1,000 dignitaries, almost all of them loyal supporters.  

Blackholes Align in ‘Spooky’ Way, Showing Great Order of Universe
New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed that the rotation axes of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies align with each other across billions of light-years.  

'Aggressor nation' bill put to parliament
State Duma deputies have drafted a motion defining all countries that introduce sanctions against Russia as “aggressor nations” and ordering automatic reciprocal sanctions against them.  

U.S. Confirms ISIS Has Training Camps in Libya
The head of the U.S. Africa Command said on Wednesday that Washington is “very carefully” watching what he described as “nascent” Islamic State (ISIS) training camps in Libya.  

What Will the Next Financial Crisis Look Like—and Are We Ready?
In the six years since Lehman’s collapse, much effort has gone into thinking about the next crisis and about how to strengthen financial rules and practices so that the fallout is contained. Has this effort been productive? Will the repercussions of the next crisis be less damaging? The answer, as with many things economic, is: it depends.  

Before Beheading, Children Tell ISIS: 'No, We Love Jesus'
"ISIS turned up and they said to the children, 'You say the words that you will follow Muhammad,'"'No, we love Yasua. We have always loved Yasua. We have always followed Yasua. (This spelling is similar to the Hebrew name, Yeshua, which is translated "Jesus" in English and Spanish.) Yasua has always been with us,'" White recounted. "[The militants] said, 'Say the words!' [The children] said, 'No, we can't do that.' "They chopped all their heads off."  

Lebanon: DNA test says child is IS head's daughter
Lebanon's interior minister says DNA tests have confirmed that a child held by authorities is the daughter of the Islamic State group's leader.  

Putin: Crimea is as sacred to Russia as the Temple Mount is to the Jews
Crimea is as sacred to Russia as Jerusalem's Temple Mount is to Jews, Russian President Vladimir Putin says. In his annual speech on Thursday Putin defended the Kremlin's aggressive foreign policy, saying the actions are necessary for his country's survival.  

States sue Obama administration on immigration
A coalition of 17 U.S. states sued the Obama administration on Wednesday saying it acted illegally by issuing an executive order to ease the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants who are in the country without the proper documents.  

EU, NATO agree to strengthen defense cooperation
European Council President Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday agreed to continue close cooperation for a stronger defense. The two leaders agreed in a meeting that a strong NATO ensures stability in Europe, and a stronger Europe also contributes to a strong NATO.  

Human foetus cells injected into baby mice to create ‘supermouse’
The cells from a human foetus have been injected into baby mice to create animals which have brains that are half human. Although Professor Goldman said that the cells did not make the mice ‘more human’ he admitted that the team had stopped short at injecting the cells into monkeys. “We briefly considered it buy decided not to because of all the potential ethical issues,” added Prof Goldman.  

After France, Belgian parliament in line to recognize ‘Palestine’
Belgium is the next country likely to make some type of move toward recognizing “Palestine,” though it is not clear what form that recognition will take.  

Putin says Russia will overcome any challenge
President Vladimir Putin portrayed Russia as a strong state on Thursday that would overcome its current difficulties.  

Australia exercises sweeping new security laws, bans Syria travel
Australia on Thursday for the first time exercised sweeping new security powers allowing it to block citizens from travelling to overseas conflict zones such as those in Iraq and Syria, where dozens of Australians have joined Islamist militant groups.  

Massive New ‘Wilderness’ Designation Slipped Into Defense Authorization Bill
A proposal to designate more than 250,000 acres in the western U.S. as “wilderness” — thereby placing severe restrictions on land use and having the potential to ultimately drive ranchers out of business — was quietly inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act by House and Senate lawmakers Tuesday night.  

France: Attack highlights anti-Semitism concerns
An attack on a French couple this week is reviving worries about long-simmering anti-Semitic sentiment in France. The Service for the Protection of the Jewish Community in France says two people were handed preliminary charges Wednesday night of religion-motivated violence, armed robbery, rape, sequestration and extortion.  

Pope sacks the head of his Swiss Guard for being 'too strict'
He has dismissed and demoted cardinals, bishops and the Vatican secretary of state, and now ...the head of his own private army, the Swiss Guard. In a dispassionate one-sentence notice, the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, announced on Wednesday that Daniel Anrig will no longer serve as the commandant of the 500-year-old corps after the end of next month.  

Russia Chechnya: Deadly rebel attack rocks Grozny
Rebel gunmen have shot their way into the heavily fortified Chechen capital, Grozny, in a night-time attack which left as many as 16 people dead. Arriving at 01:00 (22:00 GMT Wednesday) in cars, they fired on a traffic police checkpoint before attacking a media building and a school. An Islamist group said it had launched a suicide attack to avenge attacks by security forces on Muslim women.  

President Putin urges Russian resilience for hard times
President Vladimir Putin has warned Russians of hard times and urged self-reliance, in his annual state of the nation address to parliament. Speaking to both chambers in the Kremlin, Mr Putin accused Western governments of seeking to raise a new iron curtain around Russia. Russia has been hard-hit by falling oil prices and by Western sanctions imposed over its role in eastern Ukraine.  

Far-right party helps to bring down Swedish government
Sweden’s left-green coalition has called elections on 22 March after an anti-immigrant party helped defeat its draft budget. Stefan Lofven, the Socialist Democrat PM, announced the move on Wednesday (3 December) following a parliament vote on his spending proposals.  

US House of Representatives passes bill declaring Israel 'major strategic partner'
A bill declaring Israel a “major strategic partner” of the US passed the US House of Representatives unanimously on Wednesday and now goes to US President Barack Obama for his signature. The bill enhances Israel’s trade status to expedite export licensing; increases cooperation on energy, water engineering, research and development; and expands authority for forward-deployed US weapons stockpiles in the Jewish state.  

Islamic State setting up Libya training camps, US says
Islamic State militants have set up training camps in eastern Libya, the head of the US Africa command says. Gen David Rodriguez said there could be "a couple of hundred'' IS fighters undergoing training at the sites. He said the camps were at a very early stage, but the US was watching them "carefully to see how it develops".  

U.S. leads 25 more air strikes against Islamic State militants: CENTCOM
The United States military launched 14 more strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and led 11 strikes in Iraq since Monday, according to U.S. Central command.  

Feds balk at releasing docs showing IRS sharing tax returns with White House
Less than a week after ’fessing up that it found some 2,500 documents potentially showing that the IRS shared taxpayer returns with the White House, the Obama administration has reversed course and won’t release the trove to a group suing for access.  

Super Typhoon Hagupit 2014 a monster storm on path for Philippines
Hurricane season is over for the Atlantic and East Pacific, but it's still going strong farther west where a super typhoon is headed toward the Philippines. Super Typhoon Hagupit had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph Wednesday afternoon and gusts of up to 184 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.  

Protests Erupt After Cop in Eric Garner Chokehold Death Not Indicted
A crowd of protesters briefly took over a section of Manhattan's West Side Highway and were in a standoff with police Wednesday evening, hours after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer in the death of an unarmed black man on Staten Island earlier this summer — in a case that was recorded on video and showed the dead man crying "I can't breathe."  

Google Wants to Replace Passwords With Fingerprints and Eyeballs
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsQuartz
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Google Glass is due to receive an update in 2015, and if a Google patent submitted last month is any indication, it could include a new feature to let wearers use their fingerprints, or scans of their eyes, instead of passwords on websites.

In November’s patent application, Google explored ways to replace website passwords with biometric data from a wearable device. In the filing, Google references “head-mounted displays” (HMD) that could scan a wearer’s fingerprints, eyeballs, veins, or even her voice pattern, then use that data to access a website on a computer or mobile device.

While the application doesn’t mention Google Glass or Android Wear by name, it repeatedly mentions “wearables” and the diagrams look a lot like a certain $1,500 head-mounted Google computer.

As the application says: “The biometric data may be used to authenticate a user in lieu of a password, e.g., so that a user’s HMD can log the user on to a webpage on their laptop. As such, the biometric data can serve as a replacement for passwords entirely.”

It makes sense that Google would be exploring ways to secure web activity on its devices. Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanning, introduced in iOS 7 on the iPhone 5S, significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to authenticate an app download or unlock an iOS device.

Still unknown is whether this is a feature that Google plans to incorporate more generally into Android, or if it will even be included in the next version of Google Glass. But if Google wants to catch up with Apple’s fingerprint security, this could be a step in the right direction.

Google had not responded to Quartz’s request for comment on its patent filing at the time of publishing. We will update this post if we hear back.

Google wants to replace passwords with fingerprints and eyeballs

This might be what logging on looks like in the future. (AP Images/Chris Pizzello)

SHARE

Written by

Mike Murphy@mcwm

Obsession

Internet of Everything

December 4, 2014

Google Glass is due to receive an update in 2015, and if a Google patent submitted last month is any indication, it could include a new feature to let wearers use their fingerprints, or scans of their eyes, instead of passwords on websites.

In November’s patent application, Google explored ways to replace website passwords with biometric data from a wearable device. In the filing, Google references “head-mounted displays” (HMD) that could scan a wearer’s fingerprints, eyeballs, veins, or even her voice pattern, then use that data to access a website on a computer or mobile device.

While the application doesn’t mention Google Glass or Android Wear by name, it repeatedly mentions “wearables” and the diagrams look a lot like a certain $1,500 head-mounted Google computer.

Looks familiar.(US Patent and Trademark Office)

As the application says: “The biometric data may be used to authenticate a user in lieu of a password, e.g., so that a user’s HMD can log the user on to a webpage on their laptop. As such, the biometric data can serve as a replacement for passwords entirely.”

It makes sense that Google would be exploring ways to secure web activity on its devices. Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanning, introduced in iOS 7 on the iPhone 5S, significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to authenticate an app download or unlock an iOS device.

Still unknown is whether this is a feature that Google plans to incorporate more generally into Android, or if it will even be included in the next version of Google Glass. But if Google wants to catch up with Apple’s fingerprint security, this could be a step in the right direction.

Google had not responded to Quartz’s request for comment on its patent filing at the time of publishing. We will update this post if we hear back.

Popular on Quartz

There’s science behind your inexplicably close relationship with your cat

The view from above: Can you name these countries using only satellite photos?

White people on Twitter are confessing to crimes that get black people arrested

These are the US colleges where tuition has skyrocketed

Hope it was worth it.(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

SHARE

Written by

Zach Wener-Fligner@zachwe

3 hours ago

It’s no secret that getting a college education in the United States is massively expensive, and costs continue to rise year after year. If you’ve paid much attention to the growing cost of college, you’ve likely seen some version of this chart, which shows just how dramatically tuition costs have outpaced inflation (with inflation represented here by the US Consumer Price Index):

Almost every school has raised tuition over time. But some have increased it far more than others. Using data from The College Board compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education, we’ve pinpointed the public and private schools where the cost of tuition has shot up the most over the last 15 years.

Warning: these price spikes may shock and alarm you. They also might help explain why US student debt, currently at about $1 trillion, keeps growing.

In all of these charts, colleges are ranked by the largest increases in 2014 US dollars, after adjusting for inflation. (In some categories, schools reported data going back to 1998, in others the data dates back to 1999. For each category, we started with the oldest data available.)

Where locals get gouged

Here are the four-year public universities where in-state tuition has risen the most since 1998. This list includes top state schools like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, where the real price of tuition has more than doubled from $6,212 to $15,020 (in 2014 dollars) in less than two decades.

Where it hurts to cross state lines

These are the four-year public schools where out-of-state tuition increased the most. This list includes seven schools in the University of California system that cost an average of $17,442 more (in 2014 dollars) than they did in 1999.

Where private schools are getting even more expensive

These are the four-year, non-profit private schools where tuition increased the most since 1998.

It’s worth noting that at Cooper Union, the leader on this list, offered every student at the school a full-tuition scholarship until 2013. They now give every student a half-scholarship or more—so although the listed cost of tuition has increased greatly, no student actually pays more than 50% of the official cost.

Officials in higher education are always quick to point out that these are effectively sticker prices. Not all students pay full freight. In fact, research from the College Board, via the Brookings Institution (pdf), suggests that while average private tuition rose roughly 25% to $41,000 over the last 10 years, the average net tuition—what students actually pay—has stayed steady at roughly $23,000. That’s because many schools, particularly highly selective ones, have more generous need-based financial aid policies that accompany higher tuitions.

So how do you find out what the real price of attending a particular college or university for someone of your family’s income level?

It’s no easy task. Colleges are now required by the US government to post a net-price calculator on their web sites. That sounds good, but another recent Brookings Institution report (pdf) found that these calculators are pretty useless because they’re hard to find and near impossible to complete without delving into family tax documents. The US Department of Education’s College Scorecard has some net price information, as does the Education Department’s College Navigator site. Unfortunately, the Brookings report suggests that the numbers just aren’t right. (“The reported prices that these institutions charge to low-income students based on data from the College Navigator cannot be accurate,” the report said.)

In short, more needs to be done to promote real price transparency. Given that the entire US higher education infrastructure floats on an ocean of direct government loans to students, the government arguably has a fiduciary duty, if not a moral obligation, to make that happen.

Get the Quartz Daily Brief in your inbox:

For early morning delivery 

UBER ATTENTIVE

All the ways investment banks are cozying up to Uber ahead of a possible IPO

The IPO drumbeats are getting louder. (Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

SHARE

Written by

John McDuling@jmcduling

4 hours ago

An Uber IPO might not happen for quite some time but Wall Street firms already are positioning themselves for a piece of the action.

Consider the following:

Goldman Sachs, itself an early investor in Uber through its venture arm, is reportedly raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the app- enabled car service from wealthy clients… for free!

Remember, Goldman offered a similar service for Facebook about five months before the giant social network went public.

Morgan Stanley’s research department (entirely separate from the investment banking arm that would be involved in underwriting an initial public offering, of course) earlier this year issued a lengthy and highly upbeat report on the global livery/automotive fleet industry, essentially saying that the 1 billion cars on the roads globally, worth $20 trillion, are extremely underused.

It said Uber eventually could have an enormous fleet of self-driving vehicles, available at rates so cheap that the idea of car ownership would, for many people, become obsolete.

It’s important to note that there are Chinese walls that officially separate analysts and bankers inside places like Morgan Stanley. But when a banker is pitching for a role in an IPO, it surely can’t hurt to have analysts inside the same organization who are highly positive about a prospective client’s business. (Eventually those analysts effectively will become arbiters of the company’s stock price once it is trading publicly).

Lastly, Citi yesterday announced that Uber was now a “recommended transportation option” for its 250,000 employees globally. OK, as evidence of a firm ingratiating itself with a prospective client, this one’s a bit flimsy. But if you are seeking to do business with a company, it can’t hurt to be a customer.

It is not clear when, or even if, Uber will go public. It certainly is not starved of capital. The company raised $1.2 billion in fresh funds in June and reportedly is in the process of raising an additional $1 billion, over and above the private placement that Goldman Sachs is handling. Leaked financial documents suggest Uber is growing rapidly. But given the nature of its business (ie. an intermediary) it’s reasonable to assume it is not burning through all of this cash. Even if it was, say due to aggressive expansion, it’s unlikely it would have trouble finding investors in the private markets.

So the only reason for an IPO would be to allow early investors to cash out with a windfall. Or, as Matt Levine wrote this week in Bloomberg View:

The point of an Uber IPO will not be to raise money for Uber. The point of an Uber IPO will be to retroactively justify the private fundraising that Uber is doing now.

And it would leave plenty of underwriting fees and prestige up for grabs on Wall Street.

down payment

People are getting smarter about college costs and it’s squeezing the whole industry

Before getting smarter at college, there's getting smarter about college.(Reuters/Keith Bedford)

SHARE

Written by

Max Nisen@MaxNisen

2 hours ago

Today’s college students are more aware and informed about rising costs and financial aid, and more sensitive to price. That’s going to put ongoing pressure on the whole higher education industry’s finances, according to a Moody’s report (paywall) which gave a gloomy outlook for the whole sector.

A severe version of this is putting major pressure on US law schools, which are actively competing on tuition (paywall) for students, slashing faculty, or closing altogether. Since the 1970s, US tuition costs for undergraduate and graduate degrees have climbed to historic highs. But tuition hikes have slowed substantially as the number of schools have grown, spurring more competition.

This year, a far greater number of the graduate and undergraduate schools Moody’s surveyed projected under 2% tuition growth, a fraction of what we’ve seen for years, and below the cost of inflation:

Foreshadowing of Daniel 9:27? Jordan's King Abdullah Pushes for Final Peace Accord
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Anti-Israel;Contemporary Issues

Expert Group Wants 3 More Volcanoes Added to List Under 24 - Hour Watch
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Asian Shimbun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

An experts' panel studying the forecasting of volcanic eruptions has urged the government to add three more volcanoes to the 47 under round-the-clock observation, and recommended enhancing monitoring near craters to improve early detection.

Earth is Lliving on Borrowed Time: Scientists Fear Killer Asteroids
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily Newsnews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Asteroid impact on Earth could happen. And could be deadly. Source: ThinkStock

AN array of the world’s leading experts in astrophysics want everyone to stop worrying about what’s happening on Earth and start planning for what could one day crash into it.

We’ve seen it play out in Hollywood before: A killer asteroid is hurtling toward our precious planet while NASA scrambles to find a way to stop the celestial beast in its tracks.

But an international group of astronauts and scientists, led by British royal astronomer Lord Rees, have joined forces to go on the hunt for the precarious projectiles, warning the public that the possibility of a deadly strike is actually a terrifying reality, the Financial Times reports.

“NASA has done a very good job of finding the very largest objects, the ones that would destroy the human race,” said Ed Lu, an astronaut who flew three trips to the International Space Station. “It’s the ones that would destroy a city or hit the economy for a couple of hundred years that are the problem.”

For the past 50 years, academic projects have been created to track down killer asteroids and meteors around the solar system. The efforts were increased in 1998 when NASA was given 10 years to identify near-Earth objects of a size that could lead to the extinction of the human race, according to the Financial Times.

But as time passed, astrophysicists soon established that rocks as small as 164 feet across would still be big enough to cause devastating results on Earth. The need to find such threats sparked the creation of the group’s campaign this week, which ultimately urges officials to do something before it’s too late.

“The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it becomes that the human race has been living on borrowed time,” said Brian May, guitarist for Queen and renowned astrophysicist.

The Rock and Roll hall of famer dropped out of school to become a musician before returning to complete his doctorate at the University of London’s Imperial College in 2007, the Financial Times reports.

“The campaign launched this week is intended to raise awareness and put pressure on governments to act,” May added.

In 2013, an undetected meteor estimated to be around 65 feet in diameter was filmed entering Earth’s atmosphere over Russia before incinerating several miles above the surface. The intense shock wave from the blast injured 1,500 people.

China's Top Paper Says West Stoking Extremism in Middle East
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

China has expressed concern about the rise of Islamic State in countries like Syria and Iraq, nervous about the effect it could have on its own unruly far western region of Xinjiang where Beijing says it faces a threat from Islamist extremists. 

Western countries are stoking extremism in the Middle East with their support for anti-government opposition movements, China's top newspaper said on Thursday, repeating a call for non-interference in the region's turmoil.

But it has also condemned efforts by Western nations to arm certain groups fighting against the Syrian government, and has shown no sign of wanting to join U.S. efforts to use military force against Islamic State.

The People's Daily, the official paper of China's ruling Communist Party, said that moves by the West to support anti-government movements in the Middle East were having the opposite effect.

"The facts prove that by letting jihadists pass unchecked into Syria to join battle has caused the expansion of the extremist group Islamic State," the newspaper wrote in a commentary.

"This is a classic case of how rearing a tiger will court calamity," it added. "The entry of major powers must avoid by all means adding to the chaos."

The United States needed to understand that the enemy of your enemy was still your enemy, the newspaper added.

The piece was published under the pen name "Zhong Sheng", meaning "Voice of China", often used to give views on foreign policy.

However, the international community could not just sit by and watch as Islamic State grew. It needed to play a constructive role and follow the rules of the United Nations charter, the commentary said.

That meant respecting countries' sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, it added.

Before Beheading, Children Tell ISIS: 'No, We Love Jesus'
Dec 4th, 2014
Daily NewsCharisma News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Christian children from Mosul, Iraq, who fled with their families from violence in their country, found safety in Jordan—unlike the brave young martyrs in Iraq who refused to renounce Jesus even at the point of a sword. (Reuters)

Some of the bravest martyrs this generation may ever know are teenagers—and perhaps even younger.

When Islamic State militants threatened four children in Iraq—all under the age of 15—with death if they did not promise to follow Islam's "prophet" Muhammad, they defiantly stated, "No. We love Yasua (Jesus). We have always followed Yasua."

Andrew White, an Anglican priest known as the "Vicar of Baghdad," has seen violence and persecution against Christians unprecedented in recent decades. In a CBN News video embedded on this site, he recounts the story of the Iraqi Christian children who were told by ISIS militants to convert to Islam or be beheaded.

"ISIS turned up and they said to the children, 'You say the words that you will follow Muhammad,'" White says on the video.

"The children, all under 15, four of them, they said, 'No, we love Yasua. We have always loved Yasua. We have always followed Yasua. (This spelling is similar to the Hebrew name, Yeshua, which is translated "Jesus" in English and Spanish.) Yasua has always been with us,'" White recounted. "[The militants] said, 'Say the words!' [The children] said, 'No, we can't do that.'

"They chopped all their heads off."

White's account does not make clear whether he personally witnessed the children's martyrdom, nor does it say where in Iraq this occurred.

"How do you respond to that?" he asked rhetorically. "You just cry. They are my children. That is what we have been going through. That is what we are going through."

"[Militants] say to one man, an adult, 'You say the words of conversion or we will kill all of your children.' He was desperate. He said the words. Then he phoned me and said '[Father], I said the words, does that mean Yasua doesn't love me anymore? I have always loved Yasua. I said those words because I couldn't see my children be killed.' I said, 'Jesus still loves you. He will always love you.'"