"FAA chief Huerta cited rescue operations and crop dusting as two big areas where drones could assist or replace manned aircraft"

"Just last week, two people were killed in two different accidents involving crop dusters -– exactly the type of job a small unmanned aircraft could do with much less risk to people and property on the ground"

"Hackers have compromised the Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex . . . withdrawing roughly $61 million from various consumer accounts."

"It’s unclear whether Bitfinex can sustain a loss of that magnitude"

"U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed"

"The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward."

Plotted: A Literary Atlas is $2.99 right now at Amazon

128 pages, $2.99 right now at Amazon.

TOA Heavy Industries Storm Shadow figure

BAIT X GI Joe x 1000 Toys. Here's more pics of the Snake-Eyes, which can be ordered from BAIT now:

Hand of the King card game

Coming soon:

The king has called for a tourney and a feast to be held at King’s Landing, and the Great Houses of Westeros have answered the call. Stark, Greyjoy, Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Tyrell, Tully—all have gathered, for the whisperers say that the King will choose his new Hand at this feast. Intrigues abound, as every House attempts to gain the aid of Varys, the Spider. Only the most cutthroat and ruthless will rise to become the power behind the Iron Throne!

Hand of the King is a fast-paced card game of cunning deals and clever maneuvering. Each turn, you and your opponents will compete, using the services of Varys, the Master of Whispers, to gain influence over the Great Houses of Westeros. The player with the most influence at the end of the game becomes the next Hand of the King, but to get there, you’ll need to make alliances and know when to betray your former allies.

"How Monsanto And Scofflaw Farmers Hurt Soybeans In Arkansas"

NPR:

But, Monsanto went ahead and started selling its dicamba-resistant soybeans before this herbicide was approved. It gave farmers a new weed-killing tool that they couldn't legally use.

Monsanto says it did so because these seeds weren't just resistant to dicamba; they also offered higher yields, which farmers wanted. In an email to The Salt, Phil Miller, Monsanto's vice president for global regulatory and government affairs, wrote that "there's incredible value in the Xtend technology independent of herbicide applications: There is great demand for strong yield performance and our latest industry leading genetics." Monsanto says it also made it clear to farmers that they were not allowed to spray dicamba on these dicamba-resistant beans.

Farmers themselves, however, may have had other ideas.

...

Farmers in this part of the country are struggling to control a weed called Palmer amaranth, also known as pigweed. Many of the weedkillers they've used in the past don't work anymore. Weed expert Bob Scott says they're desperate for new tools. "If we didn't need this so bad, we wouldn't be having this conversation," he says.