Since 2016, American and Canadian diplomats at an embassy in Havana, Cuba have suffered neurological problems thought to have been caused by mysterious "acoustic attacks" from some sort of sonic weapon. While several theories have been posited about the cause of the so-called Havana Syndrome, a new scientific study suggests that the sickness may be related to insecticides used in Cuba to combat mosquitos and stop the spread of the Zika virus. — Read the rest

In recent years, American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been targeted with mysterious "sonic rays" (edit: actually there is no evidence that they were intentionally subjects to sonic rays). The attacks have caused the brains of the diplomats to shrink, according to a paper just published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. — Read the rest

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will join a government investigation into 'sonic attacks' that have left more than 25 U.S. personnel with mysterious ailments. — Read the rest

Last year, US and Canadian diplomats and their families in Cuba suffered from weird illnesses that led many to speculate about a "sonic weapon" of some kind. After analyzing a reported audio clip of the mysterious sound released by the AP (below), University of Michigan computer scientist Kevin Fu and his Zhejiang University colleagues Wenyuan Xu and Chen Yan suggest that the source may have been accidental interference between ultrasonic signals. — Read the rest

Two employees at the US embassy in Havana have been sent home after suffering hearing loss from a silent "acoustic attack."

From http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/09/politics/us-cuba-acoustic-attack-embassy/index.html:

The sophisticated device that operated outside the range of audible sound was deployed either inside or outside the residences of US diplomats living in Havana, according to three US officials.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney have developed a way to make velvety cold brew coffee in under 3 minutes — without sacrificing that distinctive smooth flavor.

The typical cold brew process involves steeping the grounds in cold water for 12-24 hours to gently extract the oils, aromas and flavors. — Read the rest

Remember the stories over the past year or so about mysterious attacks at U.S. embassies harming diplomatic staff and their families? William J. Broad's story in the New York Times today reports that doctors and scientists are now coming to the conclusion that microwave weapon strikes capable of causing "sonic delusions" and brain damage are to blame.

Remember when 15 US government workers in Cuba got sick from some kind of unknown "sonic attack" a couple of years ago? Well, today it was reported that a US consulate staffer in China was the victim of a "medically similar" attack. — Read the rest

Twenty-four US government officials and their relatives were subject to a series of unknown, invisible attacks on the US embassy in Cuba starting last year. Doctors who examined the victims say the people have suffered brain injury as a result.

From The Guardian:

Medical testing has revealed the embassy workers developed changes to the white matter tracts that let different parts of the brain communicate, several US officials said, describing a growing consensus held by university and government physicians researching the attacks.

The National Institutes for Health has abruptly ended its study of "Havana Syndrome" after it learned that the CIA forced people to participate in it. Though the agency isn't named in the NIH's announcement, CNN reports that "some of the people who reported being sick previously claimed that the CIA made them join the research as a prerequisite for getting health care." — Read the rest

I'm absolutely obsessed with learning about the so-called "Havana Syndrome." I know the U.S. intelligence community just released a report stating that Havana Syndrome was not caused by a foreign adversary or anything else nefarious, but that hasn't stopped me from wanting to learn more. — Read the rest

Musician, record label founder, artist, songwriter, filmmaker, and the definition of political solidarity, Fermin Muguruza just released "Black is Beltza II: AINHOA," the second installment in his graphic novel turned animated feature films series.

"Ainhoa was born by a miracle in La Paz (Bolivia), after the death of her mother Amanda in a simulated car accident.

We've posted before about the possible "sonic attacks" on the US embassy in Cuba that left American and Canadian diplomats with neurological problems. Spies have reported similar phenomena in Moscow hotel rooms and elsewhere around the world. In GQ, Julia Ioffe dives into "The Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion" suffered by CIA operative Marc Polymeropoulos. — Read the rest

[My friend Peter Sheridan is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for British national newspapers. He has covered revolutions, civil wars, riots, wildfires, and Hollywood celebrity misdeeds for longer than he cares to remember. As part of his job, he must read all the weekly tabloids. — Read the rest

Noah Shachtman's long Wired feature "They Cracked This 250-Year-Old Code, and Found a Secret Society Inside," tells the intriguing story of the cracking of the "Copiale" cipher, a strange text left behind by a mid-18th-century secret society called the Oculists. The Oculists had formerly been remembered as being concerned with performing and perfecting eye surgeries, but the Copiale cipher revealed them to have been either spies within Freemasonry, or Freemasons who'd formed another secret society to record and safeguard Mason rituals in the face of persecution from the Catholic church. — Read the rest

RealNetworks just screwed us all by settling lawsuits in which it might have lost–but which might also have given some new life to fair use for digital media.

The post-RealDVD world means that unless there's a major change to the law surrounding copy protection, there will never be a legal way to perform legal acts of copying or shifting protected movies, music, and games. — Read the rest