Blogging is a useful way for me to record my
thoughts and digital travels every so often. Hope you enjoy my digital stream of consciousness. 
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September 26, 2006 
Another great article from George Monobiot showing the systematic disinformation campaigns by oil and tobacco
companies. In her sixth article in five months which misrepresents the science of climate change in the Business Pages of The Daily Telegraph, Ruth Lea erroneously asserts that there is wide scientific disagreement about the likely impact of climate change. In fact, the peer-reviewed scientific literature, of which Lea appears to be completely unaware, shows that continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a rise in global average temperature of between 1.4 and 5.8 centigrade degrees by 2100.(7)
But what the Royal Society didn't know, and I reveal in the first extract of my book today, is that part of the campaign of disinformation was started not by a fossil fuel company but by the tobacco company Philip Morris. Its a weird and profoundly disturbing story the firm attempted to distract attention from its funding of a campaign to deny the effects of tobacco by funding people to deny climate change as well.
September 25, 2006
I just
purchased one of these Arduino
Board for some home projects. It is a hardware board with a
programmable microcontroller which you can program from your Mac,
Linux, or Windoze PC to control various sensors, switches, lights, and
other hardware. Very cool. I've used the Basic Stamp modules before but their support for non-Windoze
systems is limited. The Arduino is an open-source (well
open-hardware) project and the programming language looks a lot clear
with more features. I hope to revive a pair of hardware projects with
it.
So I don't
know a larger rebuke of the Bush administration / Neocon strategy than
this article in the NY Times saying that Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat. Like I've
said before, the war is more with the moderate Islamic public than the
crazy terrorists. Our actions in Iraq have fanned the flames of
extremism as any sociologist would have told you if the administration
could only listen. That they continue to "stay the course" and scare
us with terrorist fears, that they continue to question the patriotism
of the descent, that they now are making plans to repeat the process
in Iran just shows you how very, very screwed we really are. And when
the Islamic factions get angry enough with our imperialism and
injustice and detonate a dirty bomb in Washington or NYC, they will
pound their fists and talk about how the rest of the politicians were
weak, regardless of the fact that they have transformed an almost
universal outpouring of support right after 9/11 into the current
culture of international distrust and distain. The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.
The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States, it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.
September 22, 2006
Amazing piece with
transcripts nad recordings of the NORAD tapes on 9/11. Very, very sobering. It exposes how
terrible the communications and radar systems were at our top military
defense organization. For the NEADS crew, 9/11 was not a story of four hijacked airplanes, but one of a heated chase after more than a dozen potential hijackings -- some real, some phantom -- that emerged from the turbulence of misinformation that spiked in the first 100 minutes of the attack and continued well into the afternoon and evening. At one point, in the span of a single mad minute, one hears Nasypany struggling to parse reports of four separate hijackings at once. What emerges from the barrage of what Nasypany dubs "bad poop" flying at his troops from all directions is a picture of remarkable composure. Snap decisions more often than not turn out to be the right ones as commanders kick-start the dormant military machine. It is the fog and friction of war live the authentic military history of 9/11.
More evidence
about the bumbling and coverups regarding last year when hurricane Katrina
flooded New Orleans. There have been a lot of claims like this and I
don't know how to take them. I chalk it all up to standard
incompetence but this sounds more sinister. Here's another story
about the confusion. IEM and FEMA did begin a draft of a plan. The plan was that, when a hurricane hit, everyone in the Crescent City would simply get the hell out in their cars. Apparently, the IEM/FEMA crew didnt know that 127,000 people in the city didnt have cars. But Dr. van Heerden knew that. It was his calculation. LSU knew where these no-car people were they mapped it and how to get them out.
Dr. van Heerden offered this life-saving info to FEMA. They wouldn't touch it. Then, a state official told him to shut up, back off or there would be consequences for van Heerdens position. This official now works for IEM.
The UN
nuclear watchdog IAEA has protested a
US government report on Iran's nuclear program. They say it is
"erroneous" and "misleading". Here we go again. The administration
looks to be sowing the seeds for the inevitable war with Iran. Signed by a senior director at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vilmos Cserveny, the letter raises objections over the committee's report released on 23 August.
It says the report was wrong to say that Iran had enriched uranium to weapons-grade level when the IAEA had only found small quantities of enrichment at far lower levels.
The letter took "strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion" that the IAEA removed senior safeguards inspector Chris Charlier for "allegedly raising concerns about Iranian deception" over its programme.
The IAEA and the US clashed over intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war in Iraq in March 2003.
More news from the
Voyager 1 spacecraft which is still producing scientific data,
now almost 30 years after it was launched. What a testimony to the
craft and the scientists. Magnetic Potholes: Every now and then, Voyager 1 sails through a "magnetic pothole" where the magnetic field of the heliosheath almost vanishes, dropping from a typical value of 0.1 nanoTesla (nT) to 0.01 nT or less. There are also "magnetic speed bumps" where the field strength jumps to twice normal, from 0.1 nT to 0.2 nT. These speed bumps and potholes are an unexpected form of turbulence. What role do they play in scattering cosmic rays? "This is under investigation," says Stone.
September 21, 2006
NASA/JPL
scientists have used satellite images over the years to document significant changes in the North Pole arctic ice. The permanent
ice flows shrunk by 14% from 2004 to 2005 alone. Click on the picture
on the right for the side by side image. A team led by Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., used NASA's QuikScat satellite to measure the extent and distribution of perennial and seasonal sea ice in the Arctic. While the total area of all the Arctic sea ice was stable in winter, the distribution of seasonal and perennial sea ice changed significantly.
"Recent changes in Arctic sea ice are rapid and dramatic," said Nghiem. "If the seasonal ice in the East Arctic Ocean were to be removed by summer melt, a vast ice-free area would open up. Such an ice-free area would have profound impacts on the environment, as well as on marine transportation and commerce."
Statistical
analysis of the risk factors of death. On the right are some of the examples of the
comparative risk factors. | SEVERE | Driving off the road | 254,419 |
| HIGH | Dying from work | 59,730 |
| ELEVATED | Killed by the flu | 19,415 |
| GUARDED | Accidental gunshot | 8,536 |
| LOW | Terrorism | 3,147 |
In the five years since [9/11], the government has spent billions on anti-terrorism projects, instituted a color-coded alert system that has never been green, banned fingernail clippers and water bottles from airplanes, launched a preemptive war on false pretenses, and advised citizens to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting.
But despite the never-ending litany of warnings and endless stories of half-baked plots foiled, how likely are you, statistically speaking, to die from a terrorist attack?
Comparing official mortality data with the number of Americans who have been killed inside the United States by terrorism since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma reveals that scores of threats are far more likely to kill an American than any terrorist -- at least, statistically speaking.
Cool
product. Rechargeable USB
batteries that you recharge by plugging into a USB port. It uses
the 5 volts from a powered USB port to charge the AA form-factor
battery in ~5 hours using the USB connector built into the top of the
battery. One question was whether they have an exact AA form-factor
-- they look a little larger.
September 18, 2006
Very well written commentary on Don Rumsfeld by Keith Olbermann. I have made a local transcript of the piece.
Excellent. But back to today's omniscient ones, that about what Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this, this is a democracy, still, sometimes just barely and as such, all voices count, not just his. Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience, about Osama bin Laden's plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein's weapons four year, ago, about Hurricane Katrina's impact one year ago, we all might be able to swallow hard and except their omniscience as a bearable, even useful recipe of fact plus ego.
But to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance and its own hubris. Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to flu vaccine shortages to the entire fog of fear which continues to envelope our nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and their cronies have inadvertently or intentionally profited and benefited, both personally and politically.
September 12, 2006
Very
interesting article comparing the longevity in 8 parts of America. The research group divided
America into the following 8 parts and found significant longevity,
income, and other quality of life differences. I fascinated/horrified
both by the groupings themselves as much as the statistical data.
The EU has
warned carmakers that they need to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the vehicles they produce
or face EU legislation. Good for them. It's nice to see someone
standing up to industry in the public's best interest. The commission announced that CO2 emissions from cars have fallen 12.4 per cent since 1995, but said this was not enough if the industry is going to hit its target of a 25 per cent reduction by 2008/9.
Commission vice president and commissioner for enterprise and industry Gunter Verheugen said while car manufacturers have made continuous and substantial progress since 1995 "the situation is not satisfactory. I urge industry to step up their efforts. We expect that industry sticks to its commitments".
The DOD is
working hard to stop cyberattacks from
other countries. A large percentage of them are "civilian" units
inside China with the goal of disrupting the military's information
and communications networks. China has downloaded 10 to 20 terabytes of data from the NIPRNet (DODs Non-Classified IP Router Network), said Maj. Gen. William Lord, director of information, services and integration in the Air Forces Office of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, during the recent Air Force IT Conference in Montgomery, Ala.
They're looking for your identity so they can get into the network as you, said Lord, adding that Chinese hackers had yet to penetrate DOD's secret, classified network. There is a nation-state threat by the Chinese.
September 11, 2006
Fabulous article
from the Onion published on 9/11 entitled NYC Unveils 9/11
Memorial Hole. I heard it quoted on a NPR report on the progress
(or lack thereof) of building at the site in the 5 years after 2001.
The Onion piece, like many of theirs, is almost too close to the truth
to be funny. Almost. "From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit," said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. "This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."
September 7, 2006
The Mars rover Opportunity is closing on Victoria Crater which is about a 1/2 mile in diameter
(750m). Since early 2004, Opportunity has traveled 7.2km and for the
last year has been heading towards Victoria. Amazing that these
things are still rolling at all. Very, very cool. NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is closing in on what may be the grandest overlook and richest science trove of its long mission.
During the next two weeks, the robotic geologist is likely to reach the rim of a hole in the Martian surface wider and deeper than any it has visited. The crater, known as "Victoria," is approximately 750 meters (half a mile) wide and 70 meters (230 feet) deep.
Images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter show the crater walls expose a stack of rock layers approximately 30 to 40 meters (100 to 130 feet) thick. Opportunity will send back its initial view into the crater as soon as it gets to the rim. Scientists and engineers will use Opportunity's observations from points around the rim to plot the best route for entering the crater.
President Bush
has (quietly I think) signed himself up for another year of war powers
by claiming that the national emergency of 9/11 is ongoing. It is
ongoing due to the Bush War in Iraq which continues to inflame radical
factions and boost support for terrorists. Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the measures adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2006. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency I declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.
Lebanon is
now the latest implementation of the "destroy and
lend" policy. Lebanon is firmly en route to becoming the third nation in the Middle East after Iraq and the Palestinian territories to experience a devastating Washington-backed war and a massive influx of new illegitimate debt to cover reconstruction expenses, anti-debt activists say...
Initial official figures estimate the first phase of reconstruction at 2.5 billion dollars. Damages include some 150 bridges and an oil spill that dumped 15,000 tonnes of oil into the sea and polluted 140 kilometres of coastline.
According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 60,000 housing units in Lebanon were damaged or destroyed in the war, of which at least 15,000 were completely destroyed while another 15,000 sustained major damage.
A new wind turbine
is making the news. The SkyStream 1.8 kilowatt turbine has been made for residential
locations. It is quiet and has the inverter built in which means it
plugs directly into your home wiring to reduce your electric
bills. Other news sources: gizmowatch, NW Florida Daily News. I want to install the 10 Kilowatt Bergey
Excel. Skystream is a wind generator installed on top of a tower that converts the kinetic energy in the wind into electricity to be used in a home's electrical system.
In a typical residential application, a home is served simultaneously by the Skystream and a local utility. If the wind speeds are below "cut-in speed" (8 mph) there will be no output from the generator and all of the needed power is purchased from the utility. As wind speeds increase, the Skystream's output increases and the amount of power purchased from the utility is proportionately decreased. When the Skystream produces more power than the house needs, the meter spins backwards creating a "credit" that can be used later. All of this is done automatically without any interaction by the homeowner. Batteries are not required with Skystream.
A new article
in Pediatrics magazine links childhood obesity with continued weight problems. Other news
articles: foodcomsumer.org, Food USA, Forbes. Persistence of obesity is apparent for both the preschool and elementary school period. Children who were ever overweight (>85th percentile), that is, 1 time at ages 24, 36, or 54 months during the preschool period were >5 times as likely to be overweight at age 12 years than those who were below the 85th percentile for BMI at all 3 of the preschool ages. During the elementary school period, ages 7, 9, and 11 years, the more times a child was overweight, the greater the odds of being overweight at age 12 years relative to a child who was never overweight. Sixty percent of children who were overweight at any time during the preschool period and 80% of children who were overweight at any time during the elementary period were overweight at age 12 years.
Very
disturbing article about the marketing of the Iraq War. The article accuses the
administration and intelligence officials with deliberately leaking
false information to the press about WMD among other sins. I can only
hope that the article is way off base. It was damning stuff -- just the kind of evidence the Bush administration was looking for. If the charges were true, they would offer the White House a compelling reason to invade Iraq and depose Saddam. That's why the Pentagon had flown a CIA polygraph expert to Pattaya: to question al-Haideri and confirm, once and for all, that Saddam was secretly stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
There was only one problem: It was all a lie. After a review of the sharp peaks and deep valleys on the polygraph chart, the intelligence officer concluded that al-Haideri had made up the entire story, apparently in the hopes of securing a visa.
Scary article
tying the recent war in Lebanon to the oil politics of the region. I don't think
that there is a causal relationship between the two but certainly
nothing can be done in the region without some indirect relationship
to the trillions of oil dollars flowing into the region. The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US "protectorates", firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel.
Israel has a stake in the Azeri oil fields, from which it imports some twenty percent of its oil. The opening of the pipeline will substantially enhance Israeli oil imports from the Caspian sea basin.
But there is another dimension which directly relates to the war on Lebanon. Whereas Russia has been weakened, Israel is slated to play a major strategic role in "protecting" the Eastern Mediterranean transport and pipeline corridors out of Ceyhan.
Wow! Hammacher Schlemmer just started to sell the
Tango electric
vehicle. Good for them! Price is $108k and they say to allow 4-6
weeks for delivery. I really hope that they sell a bunch. I need the
price to come down before I can afford one. :-) This is the electric car that can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds to a top speed of 120 mph in one gear with no shifting thanks to its two electric motors -- smaller versions of the same kind found in diesel-electric locomotives -- that combine to produce over 1,000 lbf ft. of torque...
The car generates no emissions and operates from a set of lead-acid batteries that can recharge using any service up to 50 amps, providing enough power for a range of 40-80 miles, up to four times the average commute in the U.S.
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