Apple has more money than the U.S. Government

So yeah, apparently Apple has more liquid assets than the U.S government! 2 billion more in fact!

As the government struggled to reach an agreement on raising the , the U.S. Treasury's cash balance fell to $74 billion this week. That's less than the $76 billion that now has in cash.

It's not terribly likely that the government will ask Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs for help. But it wouldn't be the first time the government has asked for a bailout from an industry mogul.

In the mid-1890s, with the U.S. economy still recovering from the financial panic of 1893, the U.S. Treasury was in danger of going bankrupt as worried investors clamored to collect what they were owed from U.S. gold reserves. With few options left, President Grover Cleveland met with New York financier J.P. Morgan, who pledged a whopping $60 million in gold. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $1.5 billion today.

Read the rest of the article on it HERE

Google buys IBM patents and launches Hotel Finder

So google is snatching up tech patents from IBM (and I'd imagine other companies)... they just continue to grow...

Google has bought more than 1,000 technology patents from IBM as the Internet giant seeks to build up its portfolio and head off potential intellectual property suits.

Read an article on it HERE

 

Google also launched their new "hotel Finder' service

Google, which purchased a leading flight software company earlier this year, has launched a new tool for finding hotels.

Hotel Finder is an "experimental search tool" designed to help users locate and book hotels, software engineer Andrew McCarthy said in a blog post.

Hotel Finder, which is restricted to the United States for now, lets a user refine their choice by geographic area using and select hotels using various criteria including price, the number of stars and user ratings.

Read more on it HERE and find the service at HOTEL FINDER

AT&T to throttle data speeds for 'unlimited' hogs

Alright, so AT&T is now throttling those of us with grandfathered unlimited plans on our phones... and it's not just rumor, I started experiencing this 2 weeks ago and it's been consistant since, once I start using data in the morning my speeds quickly drop to a fraction of what people around me are getting. However, they claim they aren't going to do it till October 1st, then why AT&T am I feeling it now!

AT&T Inc. said Friday that it's going to start limiting speeds for the 5 percent of its customers with "unlimited" data smartphone plans who clog the airwaves the most.

The measure will take effect Oct. 1, AT&T said, and is intended to alleviate congestion on the network.

T-Mobile USA already throttles users who go over certain limits for data consumption.

AT&T stopped signing up new customers for "unlimited" plans last year. Instead, it now lets heavy users pay extra when they go over a certain data allotment.

See the rest HERE

See other issues I've had with AT&T HERE

 

Actually Kind of Limited Data Plan of the Day
see more TDW Geeks

 

Three US soldiers were arrested for allegedly plotting a new attack on Fort Hood

Photo: Facebook
Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood. (NY Post thanks to Pamela H)

Three US soldiers were arrested for allegedly plotting a new attack on Fort Hood, the Texas base where a former Army psychiatrist went on a deadly rampage in 2009, a report said Thursday.

One of those arrested was Pvt. Nasser Abdo. Abdo had applied for conscientious objector status, and has refused to deploy to Afghanistan claiming that Islamic law prevented him from killing other Muslims. Authorities found explosives in the car of one of the US soldiers who was arrested for planning the attack on Ft. Hood.

According to FOX news, Muslim soldier Abdo had jihadi materials with him and had made a large  purchase at Guns Galore in Killeen, Texas, the same ammunition store where Maj. Nidal Hasan purchased the weapons he allegedly used to gun down 13 people and wound 30 others on Nov. 5, 2009.

I anxiously await the same intense and extensive mainstream media coverage and obsession that we witnessed immediately after and in the ensuing days of the Norway massacre to determine the motivation behind this explosive plot at Fort Hood. I expect extremists Brian Williams, Anderson Cooper, the NY Times, LA Times, IHT, CNN, BBC, et al, to be just as rabidly obsessed and consumed with investigating what ideology incited this Muslim to recruit for jihad.

Was it Major Hasan's devotion and adherence to Islam that  inspired these servicemen to jihad? Or was it Islamic teachings and the jihadic doctrine? Were the violent teachings and command for jihad in the Quran to blame for this thwarted plot that could have slaughtered hundreds? Is the media all over this act of Muslim terrorism, pursuing blame as vigorously and as maniacally as they did in the Breivik act of barbarity?

Fox News is reporting:

At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.

Bob Jenkins, a Fort Campbell spokesman, told Fox News that Abdo was being investigated for child pornography found on his government computer.

Abdo went AWOL on July 4. On the eve of his first deployment to Afghanistan -- after only one year in the Army -- Abdo applied for conscientious objector status. It was denied by his superiors at Ft. Campbell but later overturned by the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Army review board.

He objects, I am sure, because a muslim must not kill another muslim -- quran 4:92

Muslims using conscientious objector status is on the rise. Patrick Poole wrote  this last month of Abdo's objector status:

A shocking decision made by the secretary of the Army last month--in the case of an U.S. Army soldier with the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell who refused to deploy to Afghanistan claiming that Islamic law prevented him from killing other Muslims--vindicates Fort Hood killer Major Nidal Hasan. He made identical claims and threatened [as Hasan did] that "adverse events" would occur if military officials didn't accede to shariah principles.

The subject of the Fort Campbell case is PFC Nasser Abdo, who was granted conscientious objector status last month ...

Abdo told Al-Jazeera:

I don't believe I can involve myself in an army that wages war against Muslims. I don't believe I could sleep at night if I take part, in any way, in the killing of a Muslim.

He also told ABC News:

A Muslim is not allowed to participate in an Islamicly unjust war. Any Muslim who knows his religion or maybe takes into account what his religion says can find out very clearly why he should not participate in the U.S. military.

  By granting PFC Abdo's conscientious objector claim, the Army may have created trouble for themselves in the court martial of Major Hasan for the murder of his thirteen fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Hasan's attorney can now claim that by refusing to acknowledge Major Hasan's claims under Islamic law as a conscientious objector and granting him an honorable discharge, the Army created irreconcilable conflict that prompted the Fort Hood massacre. And they can use the secretary of the Army's decision in the Abdo case as proof.

Fox report continues:

Another source told Fox News that two other U.S. soldiers also raised possible concerns. Authorities have recovered weapons and possibly explosive materials, Fox News was told.

On Nov. 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American Army officer, carried out a shooting attack on the Fort Hood base in Texas that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.
Hasan, a military psychiatrist, was arraigned on July 20 and is currently standing trial. His civilian lawyer withdrew from the case as it began.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Military Serviceman Arrested in Alleged Attack on Fort Hood By Mike Levine & Jennifer Griffin

At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

According to an Army source, one AWOL soldier is in the custody of the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood. He was not captured on base. According to another source, two other U.S. soldiers were also arrested earlier today after authorities recovered weapons and explosives.

Fox News has obtained the names of the three suspects, but is currently withholding that information.

Sources say the AWOL soldier in custody is from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

It's unclear if any possible attack was merely aspirational in nature. 

On Nov. 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American Army officer, carried out a shooting attack on the Fort Hood base in Texas that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others. 

Hasan, a military psychiatrist, was arraigned on July 20 and is currently standing trial. His civilian lawyer withdrew from the case as it began.

UPDATE: From ABC News:

A U.S. serviceman is in custody after he allegedly admitted he was planning an attack on the U.S. Army base at Fort Hood, Texas, the same base where 13 people were killed in a 2009 terror attack.

U.S. officials told ABC News an AWOL serviceman, identified by an FBI official as a Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo, was arrested Wednesday after making a purchase at Guns Galore in Killeen, Texas, the same ammunition store where Maj. Nidal Hasan purchased the weapons he allegedly used to gun down 13 people and wound 30 others on Nov. 5, 2009.

Abdo, 21, allegedly told law enforcement he was at the base to "get even," according to law enforcement documents obtained by ABC News. The soldier had gone AWOL from Fort Campbell's 101st Airborne Division over the July 4 weekend, according to a senior military officer.

When he was arrested, Abdo was in possession of large quantities of ammunition, weapons and what appeared to be the makings of a bomb, according to early accounts from law enforcement. He had also apparently purchased an Army uniform with Fort Hood patches from a local surplus store.

Abdo told ABC News in 2010 he was Muslim and should not have to participate in what he called an "unjust war" in the Middle East.

"Any Muslim who knows his religion or maybe takes into account what his religion says can find out very clearly why he should not participate in the U.S. military," Abdo said then.

READ: Devout Muslim Soldier Hopes to Avoid Deployment to Afghanistan

Local police were initially alerted to the man by the owners of Guns Galore who reported him as "suspicious."

A clerk at the store, who identified himself to ABC News as Mr. Ebert, said Abdo came to the store Wednesday afternoon looking for gunpowder and "reloading options."

Ebert called the police after he said he felt "concerned with the quantity of his request and his general demeanor."