Archive for May, 2009
Why the World Trade Center Dust Matters
The importance of iron microspheres is simple. Iron melts around 2,800 Fahrenheit, which is about twice the highest temperature that an open-air fire could produce.
A microsphere can only be produced by first melting iron, then dispersing the melted iron by some energetic means (like explosion) into an aerosol whose particles, influenced by the surface tension of the molten metal, form spheres as the smallest surface area required to contain any specified volume of matter.
Once again, as with the NASA thermal survey, an intense source of energy other than the WTC fires is required to melt iron or steel, as even the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) admitted in its reports.
The science is pretty simple; only its political consequences are complicated, and troubling.
Is Everyone in Washington Being Blackmailed?
Obama’s Attorney General — Eric Holder — approved “extraordinary renditions” during the Clinton presidency.
And so now Republicans are blackmailing Holder, saying they will focus the spotlight on his role in approving renditions if Holder pulls back the cover too far on torture under the Bush administration.
This ties into Sibel Edmonds’ allegations that virtually everyone in Washington is being blackmailed not to rock some boat or another.
The Boy Scouts (Yes, the Boy Scouts!) Training to Fight Immigrants on the Border
The Boy Scouts of America apparently have a youth anti-terrorism training program here in California, partially dedicated to simulated border patrol exercises.
“The Explorers program,” as it’s called, “a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.”
This training, we read courtesy of The New York Times, “can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out ‘active shooters,’ like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses.” The kids, toting compressed air guns styled to look like heavy weaponry, even once “raided” a simulated marijuana-growing operation.
…
Karzai’s Brother Threatened McClatchy Writer Reporting Afghan Drug Story
The ride to Kandahar airport was tense. The Afghan president’s brother had just yelled a litany of obscenities and said he was about to beat me.
Ahmed Wali Karzai is feared by many in southern Afghanistan, and being threatened by him, in his home, isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Gef, The Talking Mongoose
“I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you’d faint, you’d be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt.”
During the early 1930’s, a family living in a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Man claimed multiple encounters with an elusive 79-yr-old talking mongoose named Gef.
Gef was investigated by the two leading psychic researchers of the era — Harry Price and Nandor Fodor — neither of whom were able to draw any definitive conclusions about the case.
Whether cryptid or poltergeist, tulpa or hoax, Gef was undeniably one thing — utterly unique. Let us join together to celebrate the wit and wisdom of this archetypal trickster!
Gef the Talking Mongoose
“I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you’d faint, you’d be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt.” (Gef the talking Mongoose)
During the early 1930’s, a family living in a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Man claimed multiple encounters with an elusive 79-yr-old talking mongoose named Gef.
Gef was investigated by the two leading psychic researchers of the era – Harry Price and Nandor Fodor – neither of whom were able to draw any definitive conclusions about the case.
Whether cryptid or poltergeist, tulpa or hoax, Gef was undeniably one thing – utterly unique. Let us join together to celebrate the wit and wisdom of this archetypal trickster!
‘I Made a Promise’ The Story Of Indira Singh: Wall Street 9/11 Whistleblower
Indira is an IT professional who started First Boston’s Information Technology Group in 1970 and had worked on Wall Street up until 2002. She has been an IT consultant for Bank Trust, the U.N., JP Morgan, and American Express. In 1988 she started TibetNet, a derivative of the Defense Advanced Research Project (DARPA) Internet, the service on which you are likely reading this report at the moment.
On 9/11/2001, Indira worked for JP Morgan in a field called Risk Management, involving computer systems and programs designed to keep JP Morgan’s entire information and financial structure safe. She had also worked with a Defense Advanced Research Project – DARPA-funded technology group, with close ties to the CIA. This provided her with contacts deep within the government and corporate America. She was working on a program for JP Morgan – the next generation of risk software – whose function was to think about…
Obama Breaks with Gates, Cancels Nuke Program
Obama’s new budget plan includes a little-noted sea change in U.S. nuclear policy, and a step towards his vision of a denuclearized world. It provides no funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, created to design a new generation of long-lasting nuclear weapons that don’t need to be tested. (The military is worried that a nuclear test moratorium in effect since 1992 might endanger the reliability of an aging US arsenal.)
But this spring Obama issued a bold call for a world free of nuclear weapons, and part of that vision entails leading by example. That means halting programs that expand the American nuclear stockpile. For the past two budget years the Democratic Congress has refused to fund the Bush-era program. But Obama’s budget kills the National Nuclear Security Administration program once and for all.
The National Initiative for Democracy
Led by former US Senator Mike Gravel, the National Initiative empowers us to check and balance representatives, similar to ballot initiatives in 24 States, but at all levels from local to national and with major improvements. It gives us a “Plan B” whenever representatives don’t represent us. (Do torture, perpetual wars and debt, domestic spying and bailouts for the rich represent you??)
A few Congress members have tried to get us this power from Congress since 1907, without success. Gravel discovered the Founders had the same problem: the existing 13 Legislatures refused to share their power with the USA. The Founders found a way: The People ratified the Constitution at the Constitutional Conventions. James Madison said “The people were in fact, the fountain of all power, and by resorting to them, all difficulties were got over.”(His 2nd response in the 1787 Debate)
Now we resort to you to read and vote to ratify the National…
Peace Mom vs. Torture Mama by Cindy Sheehan
First of all, Dastardly Dick Cheney and his traveling lascivious smirk has been appearing all over cable news openly admitting to being an authorizer of torture. Secondly, Republican Pete Hoekstra of the House requested (through the Freedom of Information Act) the CIA memos that showed prominent Democratic leaders were briefed on what the Robber Class Politicians and conspiratorial media call: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques or what Torquemada called “torture.”
Nancy Pelosi is not only the Torture Mama, but she is the insistent “Impeachment off the Table” Speaker of the House that did everything in her power to insure that George and Dick were not held accountable for their crimes.
Why? Because in true gangster fashion, the Bush Crime Cabal brought the Democrats in on their mess: It’s called Robber Class Protectionism.
The Presumption of Innocence
One of the biggest arguments against closing Guantanamo Bay has been that “we don’t want these people here.” The media and politicians whipped up a fervor about alleged terrorists ending up on US soil in US prisons if the facility closes down. We’re now in full pandemic mode, being told to believe that the Gitmo inhabitants will somehow easily escape and crash planes into our swimming pools.
‘Generation Kill’ Author Evan Wright’s Immersion in War, Porn, and Anarchy
Toby Warner, Flavorwire: Generation Kill chronicled Evan Wright’s experience reporting as an embedded journalist in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His original Rolling Stone articles won him a National Magazine Award, and the resulting book was spun off into an HBO series. But Wright’s writing career didn’t begin with war reporting, and Hella Nation attests to this.
It’s a collection of the best of his long-form journalism, comprising thoughtful and immersive portraits of individuals and communities who have seceded from the normal. Hella Nation is stuffed with dispatches from weird America: neo-Nazi conventions, anarchist riots, porn sets, and the living rooms of professional skateboarders. Wright spoke with our sister publication Boldtype about journalism, voyeurism, and his taste for insanity.
Boldtype: In your essay on Porn Valley, you write that you had the feeling of “being in a group of people deliberately and methodically engaged in acts of insanity.” That could describe a lot of these articles, which…
‘Missing Link’ Found: New Fossil Links Humans and Lemurs?
Meet “Ida,” the small “missing link” found in Germany that’s created a big media splash and will likely continue to make waves among those who study human origins.
In a new book, documentary, and promotional Web site, paleontologist Jorn Hurum, who led the team that analyzed the 47-million-year-old fossil seen above, suggests Ida is a critical missing-link species in primate evolution.
The fossil, he says, bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs.
“This is the first link to all humans,” Hurum, of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, said in a statement. Ida represents “the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor.”
Ida, properly known as Darwinius masillae, has a unique anatomy. The lemur-like skeleton features primate-like characteristics, including grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs.
“This specimen looks like a really early…
France Plans To Legalize Police Keylogging, Censor Sites, Set Up Citizen Database
The French government, fresh from passing its controversial “three strikes” law to boot repeat file-sharers off the Internet, is now prepping its next assault on online malfeasance. A new bill would legalize government keyloggers, institute ISP censorship of child porn sites, and set up a massive citizen database called Pericles.
Trial of CIA, Italian Agents Provides Rare Look At Intelligence Work
Testimony about the alleged ‘rendition’ of Egyptian Abu Omar features feuds and rogue conduct in a case that has apparently made and crushed careers. [Thanks Russ Kick!]
The two spies were allies and kindred spirits.
Robert Seldon Lady, the CIA station chief in Milan, and Col. Stefano D’Ambrosio, the local head of the SISMI, Italy’s intelligence agency, shared pride in their fight against terrorism and disdain for self-serving bosses.
On a fall day in 2002, the American made an explosive revelation. He told D’Ambrosio that, over his objections, a CIA team was in Milan doing reconnaissance for the “rendition” of an Egyptian extremist ideologue. The American was worried that the risky operation would ruin his carefully built alliances, D’Ambrosio testified years later, and could even lead to a shootout between the Americans and the Italians if things went awry on the street.
With an urgent look, spy to spy, Lady said: “Talk to your…
Illegal Downloaders Ten Times More Likely To Buy Music
From the Guardian:
Piracy may be the bane of the music industry but according to a new study, it may also be its engine. A report from the BI Norwegian School of Management has found that those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don’t.
We are made to imagine legions of internet criminals, their fingers on track-pads, downloading songs via BitTorrent and never paying for anything. One of the only bits of good news amid this doom and gloom is the steady rise in digital music sales. Millions of internet do-gooders, their fingers on track-pads, who pay for songs they like – purchasing them from Amazon or iTunes Music Store. And yet according to Professor Anne-Britt Gran’s new research, these two groups may be the same.
How The Poor Pay More For Everything
You have to be rich to be poor. Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace.
“The poor pay more for a gallon of milk; they pay more on a capital basis for inferior housing,” says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). “The poor and 100 million who are struggling for the middle class actually end up paying more for transportation, for housing, for health care, for mortgages.”
The Washington Post explores the myriad ways in which poor people pay extra for goods and services on a daily basis; Rather than banks, there’s checking cashing (which eats about 5 percent of one’s paycheck) and payday loans (with effective annual interest rates of about 800 percent). Paying the electric bill costs extra when it’s done as a money order. There’s the expense and time spent at the laundromat, time lost waiting for the bus.…
Multiple Choice Test Profiles Potential Gang Members In Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — In more than 40 years of studying this city’s street gangs as a social psychologist, Malcolm Klein says his home was burglarized nine times. Now, the retired University of Southern California professor is offering the city what he hopes one day will help stem crime: A test that he says could predict if a child is destined to join a gang.
The multiple-choice screening, some 70 questions long, shows how closely Los Angeles has begun to examine the work of social scientists to tackle complex policy issues like gang violence. Last year, city officials turned to Dr. Klein and his colleagues at USC to design a test that they hope will empirically identify which children are headed toward a life on the street. This year, the test will help decide the direction of the millions of dollars the city spends annually on gang-prevention efforts.
The screening, intended for children…
Could ‘Terminator’ Robots Really Save the Military?
A Rutgers philosopher is proposing super-moral robots who could question their orders and reduce civilian casualties and war crimes. But meanwhile, one science magazine counts the ways robots are already being used in U.S. warfare.
There are up to 12,000 “robotic units” on the ground in Iraq, some dismantling landmines and roadside bombs, but “a new generation of bots are designed to be fighting machines.” One bot can operate an M-16 rifle, a machine gun, and a rocket launcher — and 250 people have already been killed by unmanned drones in Pakistan.
They also tells the story of a berserk robot explosives gun that killed nine people due to a software glitch in South Africa. “Robots might be better at distinguishing civilians from combatants,” argues the ethicist, “or at choosing targets with lower risk of collateral damage, or understanding the implications of their actions.”
But he also points out that “having the technological ability…
