Ireland Being “Run by Mad People in Brussels”
August 11th, 2011Via: Irish Times:
POTENTIAL PRESIDENTIAL candidate Gay Byrne has expressed concerns about the development of the European Union, saying Ireland was being “run by mad people in Brussels”.
The veteran broadcaster, who revealed this week he had been asked to consider running for the presidency by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, outlined his worries while speaking to reporters in Dublin last night.
“Those concerns are that I think it’s a crazy notion from the very beginning. We crossed the Rubicon when we joined the single currency. I think there’s no backing out now but it’s a mad, mad world and we are being run by mad people in Brussels,” Byrne said.
Gold Falls Most in Seven Weeks as Margins Raised
August 11th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
Gold futures fell the most in seven weeks after CME Group Inc. boosted margins on Comex contracts, prompting investor sales after a three-day rally to a record topping $1,800 an ounce and as equities rebounded.
CME Group, owner of the world’s largest futures market, raised margins on gold contracts by 22 percent. The minimum amount of cash that speculators must keep on deposit for an initial account increased to $7,425 on a 100-ounce contract from $6,075. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose as much as 3.2 percent after a drop in U.S. jobless claims.
Related: Wall Street Rallies 4%
Japan’s Nuclear Agency Hides Radiation Results from Thyroid Tests on Children
August 11th, 2011Different, But Related: I wonder what will happen to the data…
Via: ABC:
Japan’s nuclear watchdog has denied public access to the results of thyroid check-ups for more than 1,000 Fukushima children exposed to radiation.
Critics have accused Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission of denying the public accurate information about the crisis.
The commission had earlier uploaded the test results of more than 1,000 children who were checked to see if radioactive substances were accumulating in their thyroids.
TEPCO Lost Contact with 143 Nuclear Plant Workers; Kept No Records of Their Addresses or Exposure to Radiation
August 11th, 2011Many of these workers are homeless. See: Nuclear Ginza.
Via: Japan Today:
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Thursday that it has not been able to locate 143 individuals working to restore the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant since May. The utility said it has no idea if the 143 have been exposed to radiation and to what level.
According to a report from TEPCO given to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, TEPCO hired many of the workers through subcontractors from all over Japan for limited periods and kept no records of their addresses. On any given day, TEPCO said it has had up to 1,000 workers on rotating schedules at the stricken power plant.
China, North Korea, Iran, Libya… David Cameron Threatens to Shut Down UK Social Networks When Pre-Crime Detected
August 11th, 2011Via: Thinq:
In a move worthy of China’s communist regime, UK PM David Cameron wants to shut down social networks whenever civil unrest rears its head in Britain’s towns and cities.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Cameron said, “Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were, organised via social media.
“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
Although the Old Etonian didn’t give any clue as to how he intends to block use of the likes of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry messenger – which have all been implicated in the mob’s ability to stay 17 steps ahead of the cops as they turn up hours after the nation’s shops and businesses have been picked clean by gangs of feral teenagers – but the only way we can see it working is if the entire cellular network is turned off in affected areas.
Google Admits Handing over European User Data to U.S. Intelligence Agencies
August 11th, 2011Via: Softpedia:
Google has admitted complying with requests from US intelligence agencies for data stored in its European data centers, most likely in violation of European Union data protection laws.
Gordon Frazer, Microsoft UK’s managing director, made news headlines some weeks ago when he admitted that Microsoft can be compelled to share data with the US government regardless of where it is hosted in the world.
At the center of this problem is the USA PATRIOT ACT, which states that companies incorporated in the United States must hand over data administered by their foreign subsidiaries if requested.
Not only that, but they can be forced to keep quiet about it in order to avoid exposing active investigations and alert those targeted by the probes.
U.S. Military to Launch Unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2
August 11th, 2011Update: Contact ‘Lost’ During Flight
Via: USA Today:
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says contact with its experimental hypersonic glider was lost after launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.
The glider was launched from this Minotaur IV rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California..
The agency says in Twitter postings that its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 was launched Thursday atop a rocket, successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission’s glide phase.
The agency says telemetry was subsequently lost, but released no details.
—
Via: Guardian:
By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles. It would get from London to Sydney in less than an hour, while withstanding temperatures of almost 2,000C, hotter than the melting point of steel.
At 3pm BST on Thursday , the US Defence Advance Research Projects Agency will launch the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 on the back of a rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If all goes to plan, engineers will launch the Falcon HTV-2 to the edge of space, before detaching the plane and guiding it on a hypersonic flight that will reach speeds of 13,000mph (about 20 times the speed of sound) on its return to Earth.
The Falcon started life in 2003, part of a US military research project to build a plane that could reach (and potentially deliver bombs to) any part of the world in less than an hour.
The plane has been tested in computer models and wind tunnels, but they can only simulate speeds up to Mach 15 (11,400mph). A real test is the only way to determine if the plane will remain flying at high speeds.
Thursday’s flight will also test the carbon composite materials designed to withstand the extreme temperatures the plane will experience on its skin and also the navigation systems that will control its trajectory as it moves at almost four miles per second.
The U.S. Military’s Plans for London-Like Riots
August 11th, 2011These contingency plans are decades old. While this article does mention Operation Garden Plot, it doesn’t mention REX-84, which is also worth knowing about.
Via: Atlantic Wire:
With British Prime Minister David Cameron authorizing the use of rubber bullets and water canons in wake of the turbulent London riots spreading through Britain, questions have been raised about how authorities in the U.S. would respond to a similar domestic disturbance threatening the nation’s stability. According to National Journal’s White House correspondent Marc Ambinder the U.S. already has a game plan in place. “If what happened in London ever happened in the US, the military has plans — CONPLAN 3501 and 3502 — to suppress the ‘insurrection,’ he tweeted. The mysterious reference to a numbered military plan generated a flurry of interest on Twitter as NPR host Michele Norris shot back:”I want to know more about the military’s plan to suppress any potential ‘insurrection.’– CONPLAN 3501 and 3502????”
Interestingly, the CONPLAN (which stands for an “operation plan in concept format” at the Pentagon) Ambinder referenced is a popular subject among conspiracy theorists and critics of martial law. According to the public policy organization GlobalSecurity.org, CONPLAN 3502 is the U.S. military’s plan for assisting state and local authorities in the event of a riot or major civil disturbance: “Tasks performed by military forces may include joint patrolling with law enforcement officers; securing key buildings, memorials, intersections and bridges; and acting as a quick reaction force.”
It derives its constitutional backing from Article I, Section 8 stating that “Congress shall have power… to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions” and is rumored to have been activated during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, during the 1999 Seattle WTO riots and during the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. But, according to Nate Jones at the National Security Archive, “because historic Garden Plot activity was classified and current activity likely remains so, it is difficult to discern exactly how many times Garden Plot was evoked.”
Related: NorthCom and Compartmented Planning and Operations Cell
Research Credit: MS
NASA Researchers: DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space
August 10th, 2011Via: NASA:
NASA-funded researchers have evidence that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts assisted the origin of life.
“People have been discovering components of DNA in meteorites since the 1960′s, but researchers were unsure whether they were really created in space or if instead they came from contamination by terrestrial life,” said Dr. Michael Callahan of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. “For the first time, we have three lines of evidence that together give us confidence these DNA building blocks actually were created in space.” Callahan is lead author of a paper on the discovery appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
France: Banking Stocks Sharply Lower on Credit Rating Downgrade Fears
August 10th, 2011Via: AP:
President Nicolas Sarkozy cut short his vacation and pledged to slash France’s huge debts but rising concerns about a cut to the country’s credit rating helped send bank shares plunging Wednesday afternoon.
Worries that France would lose its triple A rating sparked the selloff, which built momentum on rumors that the banks’ financial health was in danger.
Credit Agricole ended 11.8 percent down. Societe Generale said it “categorically denies” all market rumors but its shares closed 14.7 percent lower. Its market value has now fallen from over 40 billion euros at the beginning of July to 17 billion euros Wednesday afternoon.
The sell-off hit banking stocks across Europe, with leading banks in Britain, Italy and Germany also suffering large falls in their share prices.
