With the newsroom clock about to strike 11.30am Natalia Ariede, a 26-year-old reporter from Brazil’s biggest TV network, was gearing up for another day’s work.

Minutes later she was 2,400 feet over one of the world’s largest cities, racing to the scene of a road-traffic accident in her floating office - Globo television’s specially adapted four-seater Squirrel helicopter better known as the Globocop.

“Even if something happens on the other side of the city we can be there in 15 minutes,” she said as the aircraft swept towards its target across a seemingly endless sea of concrete dotted with swimming pools, helipads, shantytowns and abandoned warehouses.

as of now THE MAJOR #01 is almost ready to go to the printer, just waiting on an ad. my main problem at the moment that i won’t attend the San Diego ComiCon, so…

can anybody here with a table at SDCC spare a spot for just a small stack of this book? I won’t be able to attend the con but this baby will… if somebody can handle it there. low maintenance, of course:

i’ll ship to wherever you’ll stay, to cut on weight for you. all proceeds from sales are yours to cover con expenses. i’m not sending a huge amount of copies and the main goal is to get the word out there.

potential remaining copies to be shipped back to me on my resources or something quicker at the con itself, maybe handing them out to whomever you feel is suitable [your editor friends, for example =) ].

let me know: hectorlima AT gmail DOt com

If a threat gets really up close and personal, divers, soldiers, campers and hunters all have to rely on their trusty knife when all else has failed. The trouble is, if your shark, elephant or enemy combatant is close enough for you to stab them, they’re well within range to lay some serious hurt on you if your knife aim isn’t true - and there’s plenty of angry animals out there capable of disposing of you even with a blade hanging out of them. That’s why WASP have created the Injector Knife, which forces a massive charge of freezing compressed air into the stab wound. WASP claims the shock and tissue freezing can stop the largest of land predators in its tracks, and it’s even more effective on underwater predators.

Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past.

Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an “acoustic cloak”, which could make objects impervious to sound waves.

The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships.

Scientists have previously demonstrated devices that cloak objects from microwaves, making them “invisible”.

antigamente era mais trampo:

as more news approach us, i’ve decided to create an email newsletter separate to my own personal one.

it’s not an email discussion list, it’s an announcement \ resources feed with info relevant to readers and retailers.

if you want in on it, send a blank email to themajor-subscribe@googlegroups.com or let me know.

http://groups.google.com/group/themajor

por quê? porque foi esticado por mais 2 dias o prazo de votação do HQ Mix, no qual o MAJOR concorre na categoria “Melhor Webquadrinho”.

caso você seja um dos 1200 votantes e AINDA não recebeu sua cédula por email, avisa lá os caras da organização.

você é um dos 1200 votantes do HQ Mix? então já deve ter recebido a cédula eletrônica por email pra votar online nos melhores Quadrinhos de 2007. o Major está concorrendo na categoria WEBQUADRINHOS; é a última da cédula [a mais nova da premiação, acredito eu]. caso ainda não tenha recebido a cédula avisa lá porque a votação acaba dia 10 de Junho. e não esquece da gente, hehe.

In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups
[…]
What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant—someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.”
[…]
“This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political dissent,” says Jordan Kushner, an attorney who represented Ganley and other Critical Mass arrestees. “The Joint Terrorism Task Force is another example of using the buzzword ‘terrorism’ as a basis to clamp down on people’s freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian government.”