Aaron Dames
China Looks to Master Its Control Over the Weather
Aileen McCabe writes in the National Post:
China plans to step up its use of the weather modification techniques that brought sunny skies for both the Beijing Olympics and last year’s giant military parade on National Day.
The official China Daily newspaper reported Thursday that China is even going to try to regulate the weather during the five-month long Shanghai Expo that begins on May 1.
“The Shanghai event will be a challenge as it lasts 184 days and may be affected by monsoons and high temperatures,” the paper said.
Zheng Guoguang, head of China’s Meteorological Administration, told the paper that manipulating the weather is a developing science that needed more research and study. “It is still at a research-and-use stage and there are still a lot of problems to be resolved.”
Still, Zheng said…
John Taylor Gatto – The Underground History of American Education
In this clip the former New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year reviews the epigraphs from the chapters of his book, The Underground History of American Education. I’ve been reading the book (a heavy 388 pg. textbook), and find his writing much more exciting than his speaking.
Assessing the QDR and 2011 Defense Budget
By Gordon Adams at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
The new Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the fiscal year 2011 defense budget request have arrived. Unfortunately, they miss the mark: The QDR vastly expands the military’s missions, and the budget responds in kind by expanding for the fourteenth consecutive year.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that the two documents were “shaped by a bracing dose of realism” with regard to risk and resources. I respectfully disagree. The QDR’s risk assessment piles on missions like a short-order cook stacks pancakes at IHOP, setting no priorities between near-term challenges and long-term requirements. And the budget continues to accommodate such a limitless agenda. The bottom line: This lack of discipline will broaden the country’s defense requirements and expand military spending in ways that will…
Obama Signs One-Year Extension of Patriot Act
From the AP:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation’s main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act.
Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama’s signature Saturday.
The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government’s ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security.
Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:
Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.
Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.
Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group…
Emergency Shipment of Condoms Headed to Olympic Athletes
I realize this story is being posted a little late; nevertheless here’ s an interesting story by John Shumel writing for Vancouver Now:
Rowdy curling crowds; spontaneous street parties; public drunkenness. You don’t have to look far for evidence that the crowds at Winter Games in Vancouver know how to have a good time.
And, as if anymore proof is needed that a wild Olympic atmosphere permeates B.C.’s largest city, now there’s an apparent condom shortage. That’s right. As you read this, an emergency shipment of condoms is desperately making its way across Canada to the West Coast city.
Health officials in Vancouver have already provided 100,000 free condoms to the roughly 7,000 athletes and officials at the Games. That’s about 14 condoms per person. But as of Wednesday, those supplies started running…
Solar Storms Could Be Earth’s Next Katrina
By Jon Hamilton for NPR:
A massive solar storm could leave millions of people around the world without electricity, running water, or phone service, government officials say.
That was their conclusion after participating in a tabletop exercise that looked at what might happen today if the Earth were struck by a solar storm as intense as the huge storms that occurred in 1921 and 1859.
Solar storms happen when an eruption or explosion on the surface of the sun sends radiation or electrically charged particles toward Earth. Minor storms are common and can light up the Earth’s Northern skies and interfere with radio signals.
Every few decades, though, the sun experiences a particularly large storm. These can release as much energy as 1 billion hydrogen bombs.
How Well Can We Weather The Solar Storm?
The exercise,…
Ron Paul Floor Statement on Assassinations
From Daily Paul. The speech was given on 2/24/10.
World’s Top Firms Cause $2.2 Trillion of Environmental Damage
From the Guardian:
Report for the UN into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment.
The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world’s biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.
The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.
Later this year, another huge UN study – dubbed the “Stern for nature” after the…
The Curious Case of the Evolving Apostrophe
Technology Review’s physics arXiv blog:
Last year, grammatical tragedy struck in the heart of England when Birmingham City Council decreed that apostrophes were to be forever banished from public addresses. To the horror of purists and pedants alike, place names such as St Paul’s Square were banned and unceremoniously replaced with an apostrophe-free version: St Pauls Square.
The council’s reasoning was that nobody understands apostrophes and their misuse was so common in public signs that they were a hindrance to effective navigation. Anecdotes abounded of ambulance drivers puzzling over how to enter St James’s Street into a GPS navigation system while victims of heart attacks, strokes and hit ‘n’ run drivers passed from this world into the (presumably apostrophe-free) next.
Why the confusion? Part of the reason is that apostrophes are not particularly…
U.S. Airport Security Plan Calls For 500 Body Scanners In 2011
“No wonder you’re having nightmares. You’re always watching the news.” – Lori in Total Recall
By Thomas Frank at USA Today:
Body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden weapons could be in nearly half the nation’s airport checkpoints by late 2011, according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday.
The $215 million proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,” aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan all passengers.”
The push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar…
Ron Paul Comments on Americans Told to Consider Killing Other Americans
From the Daily Paul:
Dr. Paul is referring to Anwar al Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and is now a Muslim cleric in Yemen. Apparently Anwar is well on his way to become the first U.S citizen on the CIA’s official target list.
Iraq To Sue U.S., Britain Over Depleted Uranium Bombs
Via the Tehran Times:
Iraq’s Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the U.S. over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says.
Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah newspaper that the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment.
According to the reports, during the first year of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium.
According to Iraqi military experts, the U.S. and Britain bombed the country with nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the early years of the Iraq war.
Atomic radiation has increased the number of babies born with defects in the southern provinces of Iraq.
Iraqi doctors say they’ have been…
U.S. Raises Stakes on Iran: Deploys Ships and Missiles
Chris McGreal at Global Research:
Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran.
The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait — and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles.
Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations.
American officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat.
Gone But Not Forgotten: Future Implications of Human Killed-Off Species
Via the Economist:
Between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago roughly half of the earth’s larger mammals (species that were sheep-sized or bigger) went extinct. The distribution of these extinctions in time and space suggests strongly that humans were responsible.
Large mammals in Africa, which had evolved alongside humans for millions of years, were for the most part spared. The species which died out elsewhere — 178 of them, possibly more — tended to do so at around the time that they first encountered modern humans coming forth out of Africa with pointy sticks, good throwing arms and large appetites.
Ecologists have shown that wiping out big animals is surprisingly easy, since big animals reproduce slowly, which means that a small increase in the rate at which predators pick them off can have a…
‘Sex Puppeteers’ Force Sex Changes and Virgin Births in Bugs Via Genes
Christine Dell’Amore writes in National Geographic News:
Fast-spreading parasite species force sex changes on their victims, induce virgin births, and turn animals into “gross monsters” — among other horrors. Now a new study has decoded how the bacteria may be able to wreak their havoc: by shutting down immune systems.
The parasites, of the Wolbachia bacteria genus, cause a gene in wasps to stifle the insect’s protein-based “alarms” against the bacterial invaders, say researchers who mapped the genomes of three species of Nasonia wasp for the first time. As a result, the wasps’ antibacterial defenses are never deployed, allowing Wolbachia to begin their dirty work.
Banksy “Speaks” At ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’ Sundance Premiere
Kevin Kelly writes in Cinematical:
The infamous street artist Banksy premiered Exit Through The Gift Shop at Sundance last night, which was part of Sundance’s “Secret Spotlight” series. In short, we enjoyed it, but there’s a lot to say about it this movie, so check back later for our review. The title itself refers to Disneyland and Disney World’s engineered design of having guests exit attractions right through the gift shop, so as to better serve all of their merchandising needs.
Banksy, whose real identity is an extremely well-kept secret, may or may not have been at the screening last night (how would we even know?), but he did send a letter which Sundance Director of Programming John Cooper read aloud to the audience. Read on for the full text of the mysterious letter, keep your eyes peeled for our reviews … and for more mysterious street art to appear.
Schwarzenegger Asks: Why Not Build Prisons in Mexico?
Kevin Yamamura writes on the Sacramento Bee:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday offered yet another way California can save on incarcerating illegal immigrants: pay to build prisons in Mexico.
Schwarzenegger said in a Sacramento Press Club speech that rather than raise taxes, the state could find money by cutting pension costs, allowing offshore oil drilling and lowering prison expenditures.
His budget calls for an $880 million infusion from the federal government to pay for housing illegal immigrant prisoners who have committed crimes in California. The governor also wants to rely more on private prison companies.
Secret Bill-Writing On The Rise
Jim Abrams on the Washington Post:
Schoolchildren are taught that a bill finally goes to the president after selected lawmakers meet openly to forge a compromise, and the House and Senate approve their accord.
But in today’s Congress, formal conference meetings are rare, the minority party is usually shut out and the public has little or no access to the process.
That trend has been on display this month as Democrats and the White House engage in closed-door talks on how the government is going to change the delivery of health care that have effectively excluded the public and the media.
Dating back to 1789, the House and Senate have dealt with differences in bills by convening conference committees to thrash out a unified approach that the chambers can pass and send to the…
Ron Paul: ‘We Need to Take Out the CIA!’
Michael Nystrom on the Daily Paul:
Excerpt from the Campaign for Liberty Regional Conference in Atlanta, GA. As the crowd begins to cheer, Ron Paul states, “We need to take out the CIA!”
There’s been a coup — have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. The CIA runs everything! They run the military .. and they’re every bit as secretive as the Federal Reserve. And yet, think of the harm they have done since they were established at the end of World War II. They are a government unto themselves. They’re in businesses, in drug businesses, they take out dictators … We need to take out the CIA!
