May 08, 2012
The first accurate Atomic Clock
A film produced by the NPL Film Unit in the 1950s explaining the principles behind the first accurate atomic clock, designed by Louis Essen and built at the National Physical Laboratory in 1955.
Elizabeth Warren - a case of mistaken identity
Harvard Law Professor and Massachusetts Senatorial Candidate Elizabeth Warren has been coming under fire. She claims that she is 1/32nd Cherokee. The problem that Ms. Warren is having is that the truth always comes out and it certainly has in her case.
From Breitbart:
Elizabeth Warren Ancestor Rounded Up Cherokees For Trail of Tears
For over a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Warren has described herself as a Native American. When recently asked to provide evidence of her ancestry, she pointed to an unsubstantiated claim on an 1894 Oklahoma Territory marriage license application by her great-great grand uncle William J. Crawford that his mother, O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford, Ms. Warren's great-great-great grandmother, was a Cherokee.
After researching her story, it is obvious that her “family lore” is just fiction.
As I pointed out in my article here on Sunday, no evidence supports this claim. O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford had no Cherokee heritage, was listed as “white” in the Census of 1860, and was most likely half Swedish and half English, Scottish, or German, or some combination thereof. (Note, the actual 1894 marriage license makes no claim of Cherokee ancestry.)
But the most stunning discovery about the life of O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford is that her husband, Ms. Warren's great-great-great grandfather, was apparently a member of the Tennessee Militia who rounded up Cherokees from their family homes in the Southeastern United States and herded them into government-built stockades in what was then called Ross’s Landing (now Chattanooga), Tennessee—the point of origin for the horrific Trail of Tears, which began in January, 1837.
This new information about Ms. Warren’s true heritage came as a direct result of a lead provided to me by William Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection, who in turn had received the information from one of his readers. Jacobson, who has questioned Warren's explanation for her law faculty listing, calls this discovery “the ultimate and cruelest irony” of the Warren Cherokee saga.
Jonathan Crawford, O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford’s husband and apparently Ms. Warren's great-great-great grandfather, served in the East Tennessee Mounted Infantry Volunteer Militia commanded by Brigadier General R. G. Dunlap from late 1835 to late 1836. While under Dunlap’s command he was a member of Major William Lauderdale’s Battalion, and Captain Richard E. Waterhouse’s Company.
These were the troops responsible for removing Cherokee families from homes they had lived in for generations in the three states that the Cherokee Nations had considered their homelands for centuries: Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
A bunch more at the site.
Maybe she can apply for work at wherever Ward Churchill is working these days.
Would you like fries with that?
Interesting little "experiment"
From GPS World:
Massive GPS Jamming Attack by North Korea
Large coordinated cyber attacks from North Korea near its border with South Korea produced electronic jamming signals that affected GPS navigation for passenger aircraft, ships, and in-car navigation for roughly a week in late April and early May. To date, no accidents, casualties, or fatalities have been attributed to jammed navigation signals aboard 337 commercial flights in and out of South Korean international airports, on 122 ships, including a passenger liner carrying 287 people and a petroleum tanker. One South Korean driver tweeted “It also affects the car navigation GPS units. I am getting a lot of errors while driving in Seoul.”
South Korea experienced similar electronic attacks in March 2011, and in August and December of 2010, all of which were blamed on the North. The South Korean Defense Ministry said it is developing anti-jam programs to counter the attacks, which are being launched by what it termed a regiment-sized electronic warfare unit near the North Korean capital Pyongyang, and battalion-sized units closer to the inter-Korean border.
“Despite disruption in GPS, there is no serious threat to the safety of flights because planes are using other navigation devices,” claimed a Transport Ministry spokesperson. Officials say planes can use other navigation devices like very-high-frequency omni-directional range (VOR) and inertial navigation systems.
“We have traced the jamming signals to the direction of Kaesong,” said a Korean Communications Commission deputy director. Kaesong lies roughly 10 kilometers from the border between the two countries, and roughly 50 kilometers from downtown Seoul, Incheon International Airport, and the Yellow Sea.
It is unknown how long the jamming may continue, or when it might resume if halted. In March 2011, GPS jamming signals from the North lasted for 10 days during an annual U.S.-South Korea joint military drill. The motivation for North Korea to develop and employ anti-GPS technology would appear to come from its fear of attack by GPS-guided cruise missiles that might target key sites within the country. Clearly, any such military capability would require regular testing.
What a wonderful regime. They are also the major source of counterfeit US currency.
A letter to the Editor
From Joe Bastardi at WUWT:
Letter to the editor: A wish for Dr. Michael Mann to clear some things up from an errant PSU grad
Being I am branded as a “denier”, I am having trouble dismissing the relevance of the tree ring studies that challenge the hockey stick, in light of the magnitude of the weight against co2 having any relevance to the climate.
I am hoping Dr. Mann can clear some things up for me, a PSU meteo grad that as I understand is no longer welcome in our department because of my outspoken stance on the climate change issue. A response here can also enlighten the other Neanderthals, some of them apparently devious enough to fool entire departments so they have PHDs, as to the latest “situation” with you and Andy Revkin. Andy, I am hoping this is not too “divisive or toxic”.
Bastardi completely eviscerates Mann's hockey stick.
Joe is someone who knows a bit about this subject:
Joe Bastardi – Chief Forecaster
Formerly the Chief Long Range Forecaster at Accuweather, Joe Bastardi is an institution in the science of weather prediction. Many companies across a multitude of industries, from energy to retail, have profited from his forecasts. His exceptional skills are rooted in a comprehensive understanding of global oscillations and in-depth analysis of historical weather patterns. Mr.Bastardi’s analog approach, which finds similarities between current and historical weather patterns, allows him to make an accurate forecast, sometimes in defiance of computer model consensus.
During his 32 year tenure at Accuweather, Mr. Bastardi built a large private client services business. Additionally, Mr. Bastardi was well known for his blog featuring the popular videos “The Big Dog” and “The Long Ranger.”
His reputation for making bold and accurate forecasts has landed him on major television programs including Fox News Live, ABC World News, The O’Reilly Factor, The Colbert Report, CBS’ The Early Show, Imus in the Morning, and several others.
Mr. Bastardi graduated from Pennsylvania State University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Meteorology.
Computer model — meet reality…
May 07, 2012
Big doings at CRU
The scientists at the Climatic Research Unit are liars.
So says (and proves) Steve McIntyre at Climate Audit:
Yamal FOI Sheds New Light on Flawed Data
Phil Jones’ first instinct on learning about Climategate was that it was linked to the Yamal controversy that was in the air in the weeks leading up to Climategate. I had speculated that CRU must have done calculations for Yamal along the lines of the regional chronology for Taimyr published in Briffa et al 2008. CRU was offended and issued sweeping denials, but my surmise was confirmed by an email in the Climategate dossier. Unfortunately neither Muir Russell nor Oxburgh investigated the circumstances of the withheld regional chronology, despite my submission drawing attention to this battleground issue.
I subsequently submitted an FOI request for the Yamal-Urals regional chronology and a simple list of sites used in the regional chronology. Both requests were refused by the University of East Anglia. I appealed to the Information Commissioner (ICO).
A week ago, the Information Commissioner notified the University of East Anglia that he would be ruling against them on my longstanding FOI request for the list of sites used in the Yamal-Urals regional chronology referred to in a 2006 Climategate email. East Anglia accordingly sent me a list of the 17 sites used in the Yamal-Urals regional chronology (see here). A decision on the chronology itself is pending. In the absence of the chronology itself, I’ve done an RCS calculation, the results of which do not yield a Hockey Stick.
In today’s post, I’ll also show that important past statements and evidence to Muir Russell by CRU on the topic have been either untruthful or deceptive.
A bit of backstory here: YAD06 – the Most Influential Tree in the World
Cherry-picking at its most egregious.
Hat tip to Anthony for the link.
Lots more at both sites. One of Anthony's commentors — MattN — sums it up nicely:
Yep. Sloppy initial work. Then groupthink. Then small fibs, then larger fibs to cover. Then “it doesn’t matter”.
And Science dies a little…
Say hello to AR1476
A big sunspot is coming our way — from Space Weather:
BIG SUNSPOT:
One of the largest sunspot groups in years rotated over the sun's northeastern limb this weekend. With a least four dark cores larger than Earth, AR1476 sprawls more than 100,000 km from end to end, and makes an easy target for backyard solar telescopes.
The active region is crackling with impulsive M-class solar flares. Based on the sunspot's complex 'beta-gamma' magnetic field, NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of more M-flares during the next 24 hours. There is also a 5% chance of powerful X-flares.
“This one is going to be fun as turns to face us!” predicts Friedman. He might be right.
This puppy is big. Keeping fingers crossed that we do not have another Carrington Event.
Occupy Cleveland not a terrorist group - NOT!
Sucks to be you — from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Suspect in bridge bombing plot signed lease on Occupy Cleveland warehouse
One of the five self-described anarchists arrested last week for attempting to blow up a local bridge signed the lease for a West Side warehouse where about a dozen members of the Occupy Cleveland group live.
In a one-hour recording of a Friday evening general assembly meeting of the group posted on its website http://occupycleveland.com/live-stream/, occupy leaders expressed concern about Anthony Hayne's name being on the lease, which strengthens his link to the group.
“We have a person facing terrorism charges on the lease of our warehouse,” said one of the leaders. “If this gets into the media, it would be a disaster.”
Emphasis mine. Heh… And Hayne is not a choirboy:
At the time of his arrest, Hayne was wanted by Cuyahoga County for violating his probation. In January, Hayne pleaded guilty to theft and breaking and entering a Lakewood restaurant and stealing $2,000. He was placed on probation for 18 months. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest in April.
He served a year in prison starting in 2007 for beating his wife.
I do not think that these morons can claim any moral high ground…
Trying to stay relevant - Noam Chomsky
From Zuccotti Park Press comes a pamphlet:
Occupy
By Noam Chomsky
“Easy to read, affordable, loaded with photos and practical advice for activists, “Occupy is another vital contribution from Chomsky to the literature of defiance and protest, and a red-hot rallying call to forge a better, more egalitarian future…. an excellent read.”
It must be a strange thing to look back on your career and see that your work only appealed to the naive and the mentally ill.
The Zuccotti Park Press also “publishes” work from convicted cop killer Mr. Jamal and unrepentant terrorist and Marxist Angela Davis,
RIP Chick Callenbach
Ernest was the author of Ecotopia. Died of cancer on April 16th 2012.
He left a file on his computer — Tom Engelhardt has it — from Tomgram:
Epistle to the Ecotopians
By Ernest Callenbach
[This document was found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012) after his death.]
To all brothers and sisters who hold the dream in their hearts of a future world in which humans and all other beings live in harmony and mutual support — a world of sustainability, stability, and confidence. A world something like the one I described, so long ago, in Ecotopia and Ecotopia Emerging.
As I survey my life, which is coming near its end, I want to set down a few thoughts that might be useful to those coming after. It will soon be time for me to give back to Gaia the nutrients that I have used during a long, busy, and happy life. I am not bitter or resentful at the approaching end; I have been one of the extraordinarily lucky ones. So it behooves me here to gather together some thoughts and attitudes that may prove useful in the dark times we are facing: a century or more of exceedingly difficult times.
How will those who survive manage it? What can we teach our friends, our children, our communities? Although we may not be capable of changing history, how can we equip ourselves to survive it?
I contemplate these questions in the full consciousness of my own mortality. Being offered an actual number of likely months to live, even though the estimate is uncertain, mightily focuses the mind. On personal things, of course, on loved ones and even loved things, but also on the Big Picture.
But let us begin with last things first, for a change. The analysis will come later, for those who wish it.
Visit the site and read the rest. Callenbach actually had a decent vision — not like the raving Marxists running the environmental movement today.
May 06, 2012
Nothing much tonight either
Spent a long day working in my garden (it had sat fallow for a couple of years) and moved one of my chicken coops down to the community garden. There are already a couple of birds living there so this will be a major lifestyle upgrade for them!
Refurbishing an old computer of mine for the local Water Co-op. Their machine is over ten years old and about the only good thing to say is that it had Windows XP installed. Installing this one with Win7 and some goodies (CCleaner, etc…) This one is three years old and I tend to buy pretty hot machines so this will last them a long long time. They are using QuickBooks Pro for accounting and billing.
Also donating one of my HP Workgroup Laser Printers (an 8100). I love these machines — they originally sold for $5K on up, are built like a tank, cost a fraction of a penny per page and last forever. This one will duplex and print up to 11*17. Actually handles envelopes pretty well too. I buy them at auction for $25 to $50 — nobody wants them because they are big. Their loss.
Long day tomorrow too — we are in for a stretch of great weather so looking to get the garden whipped into shape. Sprayed RoundUp today and will plant on Tuesday.
May 05, 2012
Oh Yeah - forgot to mention this stupid good deal
I was in the Bellingham Costco today and they had the new Canon PowerShot A1200 for sale for $69.
Yes, a 12.1 MPx camera kit for $69!!!
On the off-side, it only has a 4X optical zoom and when recording video, it's 720p and not 1080p. No image stabilization either.
On the plus side, it's a 12.1 MPx camera for under $70 and it takes two AA size batteries and not some proprietary rechargeable unit. If you run out, you can pop in some new batteries; you aren't forced to buy several $30 specialty batteries and keep them all charged.
What I bought it for was to run the amazing CHDK software (Canon Hack Development Kit). I have a Canon G11 that I dearly love and carry with me all the time and CHDK runs really well on it but I want to be able to do things like leave it outside for extended time-lapse runs and I am not going to do this with a $400 camera. I will breathe a lot easier with a $70 camera.
There is no port of CHDK for the A1200 yet but it just hit the shelves so I'll wait a month or two.
Nothing tonight
Worked on a friends website all day today and then working on some music software tonight.
Weekends are generally slow news-wise anyway.
Occupy Wall Street
Sean Hannity takes ten minutes and interviews an Occupy Wall Street “leader”
Talk about useful idiot…
May 04, 2012
The Big Lie
Why am I feeling my spidey-senses tingling — from local radio station KGMI:
County Planners Prioritize Ag Lands
County planners are looking at making some possible changes to how agricultural lands can be used in Whatcom County.
Planners and consultants met last night at Cornwall Church to discuss a plan for rearranging parcels of ag lands to make sure that farmers don't build on land that is most valuable for growing.
Samya Lutz with Whatcom County Planning and Development Services says the reconfiguration would shift future development potential to areas that are least valuable as farmland.
Lutz says farmers would not gain or lose any development rights under the proposal, they would just get shifted around.
She also says the plan would also have no affect on property values.
The County Planning Office is noted for being top-down nanny-statist. They grab power, centralize it and then our property taxes go up to fund their activities. I know a lot of local developers and each one of them hates dealing with planning…
May 03, 2012
Quote of the day - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
From here — nineteen others to read.
Just remember, the bourgeoisie is us, the taxpayers.
Obama is creating two classes, the recipient class and the elite who 'manage' them.
It failed spectacularly in Russia, ditto China, North Korea anyone? Cuba? Bueller? Anyone???
But what's 100 Million dead kulaks when you have the high moral ground and a spiffy narrative.
The health benefits of raw milk - NOT!
From the US Food Safety blog:
21 sick from raw milk in Oregon; again ‘people missed the boat on one of the great advances in public health – pasteurization’
Oregon health officials suspect two more illnesses are part of a raw milk outbreak traced nearly three weeks ago to a farm near Wilsonville.
William Keene, senior epidemiologist with Oregon Public Health, told Lynne Terry of The Oregonian the two adults had both consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm, including one person who continued to drink it after being warned about the outbreak.
This shit (literally) is dangerous — more:
Four children who drank the milk were hospitalized with acute kidney failure, which is associated with E. coli O157:H7. As of Friday, they were still in the hospital, Keene said.
Kidney failure is not a case of the sniffles. E. Coli is bad stuff and it can be neutralized completely through pasteurization. Sad that there are so many silly people out there — maintaining these dietary practices change being infected with E. Coli from a vanishingly small “if” to a downright scary “when”.
A breath of fresh air from Daniel Hannan
From the UK Telegraph:
Europe's crisis is about to get a whole lot worse
Here's your starter for ten. The European People's Party is the largest bloc in the European Council, as measured by voting weight; can you guess the second largest?
Congratulations to anyone who plumped for the European Conservatives and Reformists, who edge ahead of both the Liberals and the Socialists.
Euro-Lefties have been having a thin time of it recently. Only three per cent of EU citizens live under socialist or socialist-led governments. That, though, is about to change. France, where the state already consumes 56 per cent of GDP, and whose budget was last in balance in 1974, seems likely to elect François Hollande on a platform of 'growth, not austerity'. (Who knew it was that easy?) Greece, which also votes on Sunday, is inclining toward a pack of communist parties; the politicians there who talk openly of the need for cuts currently command less than seven per cent in the polls. Romania, too, is about to install a Leftist ministry, following the defeat of the last government's austerity platform. As other elections follow around Europe, we can expect more of the same.
What will be the impact? Europe will accelerate all the policies that brought it to its present unhappy condition: wastrel spending, unsustainable borrowing, punitive taxation, deeper integration. Voters are in no mood to accept less generous perks and pensions. They'd rather be told that the money can somehow be got out of the rich. A politician who admits the truth – namely that the rich have nothing like enough to pay for all the things that modern governments want to do – is liable to have dead animals lobbed in his direction.
More at the site.
It will be interesting to see what happens if François Hollande gets elected. He is an avowed socialist. France and Germany are the two 'healthiest' nations in the EU and if France goes down, the whole house of cards will soon follow.
Oopsie - a bit of corruption at the top
From the FBI:
Former Acting Director of Intelligence for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Pleads Guilty to Role in Fraud Scheme
James M. Woosley, 48, the former acting director of intelligence for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), pleaded guilty today to defrauding the government of more than $180,000 in a scheme involving fraudulent travel vouchers and time and attendance claims.
And it's not just the one bad apple:
Four others earlier pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme: Ahmed Adil Abdallat, 64, a former ICE supervisory intelligence research specialist, pleaded guilty in October 2011; William J. Korn, 53, a former ICE intelligence research specialist, pleaded guilty in December 2011; Stephen E. Henderson, 61, a former contractor doing work for ICE, pleaded guilty in January 2012; and Lateisha M. Rollerson, 38, a former assistant to Woosley, pleaded guilty in March 2012. Abdallat pleaded guilty in the Western District of Texas, and the others pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia.
All told, the actions of the various defendants cost ICE more than $600,000.
More than half a million of our tax dollars squandered by these mokes. That is our money they pissed away.
The Charging document is available online here.
And the joke of it is that he will walk away with a slap on the wrist…
Desecration of books
I am very much a bibliophile. I have zero desire for an eBook (Kindle/Nook/Whatever).
This news from China gives me the willies — from China Daily:
Ads to appear on book covers
Publishers have started printing advertisements on book covers in a move to help their industry sustain development and survive.
The book, My Son, Yo-Yo, written by the mother of renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and released in March, was the first book to carry an advertisement, said Li Baozhong, deputy director of the Publishers' Association of China.
On the back cover, beneath a sentence describing the love between a mother and her children, is the logo of a well-known Chinese textile manufacturer.
Li's association signed a deal in 2011 with Jinghua Aobo, a Beijing-based advertising agency, to promote products and services on book covers.
Jinghua Aobo has signed agreements with more than 100 publishers across the country, and plans to place advertisements on the covers of 10 more books shortly.
However, all cover advertisements will be sayings related to public service in line with the theme of the books. Commercial enterprises that advertise can only display company logos and not products or prices, said Li.
For every copy of a book with an advertisement sold, Jinghua Aobo will pay the publisher the equivalent of 1 to 2 cents, Li said.
Is nothing sacred? This is a perfect example of the camel's nose under the tent.
A transit of Venus
I'll be looking this up and getting more information but this is a once in a life-time event (literally).
From Science Daily:
Venus to Appear in Once-In-A-Lifetime Event
On 5 and 6 June this year, millions of people around the world will be able to see Venus pass across the face of the Sun in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It will take Venus about six hours to complete its transit, appearing as a small black dot on the Sun's surface, in an event that will not happen again until 2117.
More:
Transits of Venus occur only on the very rare occasions when Venus and Earth are in a line with the Sun. At other times Venus passes below or above the Sun because the two orbits are at a slight angle to each other. Transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, with the gap between pairs of transits alternating between 105.5 and 121.5 years — the last transit was in 2004.
Missed 2004 — where I live was in the sliver of land where it was not visible. CBC news had some photos but link rot has set in and they are no longer available.
Hoping for better luck this time around — 2117 is a bit of a wait…
May 02, 2012
Down the tubes
Say buh-bye to our space program.
We now depend on the Russians to get to the International Space Station.
The USA spent $72B, the Russians $12B, Europe $5B, Japan $5B and Canada $2B
And now, we no longer have the ability to visit — we have to depend on the Russians. (Thanks Barry!)
And now this — from USA Today:
Report warns of weather satellites' 'rapid decline'
Predicting the weather is tricky enough. Now a new government-sponsored report warns that the USA's ability to track tornadoes, forecast hurricanes and study climate change is about to diminish.
The number and capability of weather satellites circling the planet “is beginning a rapid decline” and tight budgets have significantly delayed or eliminated missions to replace them, says a National Research Council analysis out Wednesday.
The number of in-orbit and planned Earth observation missions by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projected to drop “precipitously” from 23 this year to only six by 2020, the report found.
That means the number of instruments monitoring Earth's activity is expected to decline from a peak of about 110 last year to fewer than 30 by the end of the decade.
“Right now, when society is asking us the hardest questions and the most meaningful questions, we're going to be even more challenged to answer them,” said Stacey Boland, a senior systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and a member of the committee that wrote the report. “We'll slowly become data-starved here.”
To channel my inner Steve Martin: Excuuuuuuuuse Meeee!
The US Government and State Governments spend 0.3% of their budgets (2012 figures) on Space flight, research, and supporting activities.
They spend 16.2% on Pensions, 17.2% on Health Care, 15% on Education, 10.8% on Welfare and 14.4% on the Military.
Space (and science in general) is not where we should be cutting.
I am not suggesting that we pull the rug out from under Granny but if we stop creating new generations of 'entitled' voters, we would get Government spending knocked back into real numbers in 10 years.
You have a pension now — fine; you will keep it. Coming into the workforce now? There are some new rules. All of these entitlement programs are recent — last forty years or so. We survived well before then.
Now this will be fun
From Gizmodo:
This Treasure Hunter Says He Has Located Bin Laden’s Body
That smiling guy is Bill Warren, the Californian treasure hunter who claimed he was searching for Osama Bin Laden's dead body back in June 2011. He didn't find him then, but now he claims he has located the cadaver.
Talking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Warren says he has no doubt about where Osama is:Warren —- who claims he has discovered more than 200 shipwrecks during his career as a treasure-hunter -— says that bin Laden's body is still at that same location, deep under water. His thought is that, since the Navy weighted down the bag, the body hasn't moved from where it was dropped. He is now trying to rent Russian deep diving equipment to locate his payload, and to conduct DNA tests once he finds him.I've located where they threw him away. I'm the only one with this information. He's 200 miles to the west of the Indian city of Surat.
At least, that's what he believes. He says he pinpointed the drop point from photos recently released by the US Navy.
The article concludes with the obvious:
But who knows, maybe Bill will prove himself right this time. Or maybe the body will not be there because Osama bin Laden is alive and well, playing cards and drinking mai tais with Elvis and Marilyn, in that secret government paradise island in the middle of the Pacific.
Hell, I'd pony up $100 just to feed the corpse a BLT sammitch. Mmmmm Bacon!
Another useless hack butting in where he should not be
Talk about major asshat — 'Senator' John Kerry is over in Egypt playing at diplomacy.
From The Jewish Press:
Senator Kerry in Talks with Muslim Brothers Presidential Candidate
Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate foreign relations committee, arrived in Cairo Tuesday evening, as part of his tour of the region, to hold talks with Egyptian officials about the “democratic transformation” of Egypt, according to the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. Kerry and his Egyptian hosts will be discussing the presidential elections due late in May, and the conflicts in the region, including Syria, the Sudan and Israel.
According to Al Ahram, Senator Kerry and US Ambassador to Cairo Ann Patterson will meet with Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate and head of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Mohamed Mursi, at the FJP headquarters on Wednesday.
The guy has never worked a day in his life. He married into money and is Livin' La Vida Loca off of her ketchup dollars. He is one of our elite masterminds in Washington who know how to manage our lives better than we do. His presidential run a few years ago show the content of his character.
A bit more about the Muslim Brotherhood can be found here at Discover the Networks:
Founded in 1928 by the Egyptian schoolteacher/activist Hasan al-Banna (a devout admirer of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis), the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — a Sunni entity — is one of the oldest, largest and most influential Islamist organizations in the world. While Egypt historically has been the center of the Brotherhood’s operations, the group today is active in more than 70 countries (some estimates range as high as 100+). Islam expert Robert Spencer has called MB “the parent organization of Hamas and al Qaeda.” In 2003, Richard Clarke – the chief counterterrorism advisor on the U.S. National Security Council during both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations – told a Senate committee that Hamas, al Qaeda, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were all “descendants of the membership and ideology of the Muslim Brothers.”
Lots more at the site. These people are the worst of the worst. To think that we can open diplomatic relations with them is downright foolish in the worst Carterian sense of the word. They will view this as weakness on our part, they will cut us some slack to show how 'tolerant' and 'understanding' they are and all the while, they will be massing forces to commit acts of terror in the USA. They are masters of public relations and spin. They are also pure evil and need to be shut down for good.
John F. Kerry is a fool tool.
Smart doggie
Wonderful fifteen-minute video on canine intellegence.
From a Nova show aired February 9, 2011 on PBS with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting:
A tip 'o the hat to Bayou Renaissance Man for the link.
May 01, 2012
Green Fail
Great breakdown on the 'Green' companies which have been given money by the Federal Government (this is our tax dollars folks…)
From American Thinker:
Obama's Epic Green Fail
As we get into the campaign season (has Obama ever left it?), some recollections of what President Barack Hussein Obama said and has done (courtesy of Peter Schweizer and Ashe Schow) are both humorous and instructive. Humorous because you have to laugh at what Obama has said and done to keep from crying. Instructive because this is what we can expect from Obama (and more) if he gets re-elected.
A partial list:
- SunPower, after receiving $1.5 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
- First Solar, after receiving $1.46 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
- Solyndra, after receiving $535 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Ener1, after receiving $118.5 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Evergreen Solar, after receiving millions of dollars from the state of Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- SpectraWatt, backed by Intel and Goldman Sachs, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Beacon Power, after receiving $43 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Abound Solar, after receiving $400 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Amonix, after receiving $5.9 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Babcock & Brown (an Australian company), after receiving $178 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
A lot more here.
Looks like we are recapitulating Spain's fifteen-year experience with 'green' energy where for each person hired for a green project, there was such an adverse effect to the 'normal' economy that 2.2 jobs were lost. Primary report here (PDF). More here, here and here.
Nerd heaven
A local Ham group is having their annual festival this following weekend.
I have been to this one before — lots of fun!
Getting ready for a big one
From 38 North:
North Korean Nuclear Test Preparations: An Update
Recent press reports on the impending North Korean nuclear test have been ambiguous. Some have quoted reliable sources that a test is imminent. Others have stated that there are no obvious signs that a test will happen soon. The most recent commercial satellite imagery available of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test facility supports the contention that preparations are continuing and that the North Koreans are preceding as if the test go-ahead decision has already been made. The imagery does not, however, give any indication of when that detonation may take place.
Satellite pictures from April 18, 2012 are the latest in a series of photos that document continuing preparations for an upcoming nuclear test. A March 8, 2012 image shows that North Korea dumped spoil material—excavated from the test tunnel—and created two adjacent teardrop shaped mounds, together covering an area that is 300 square meters greater than observed in 2011 (indicating that the tunnel has been expanded since then) (see figure 1). Overall, some 8,000 cubic meters of rubble have been excavated at the site covering 4,000 square meters. The photo also reveals a dark-toned material situated adjacent to the tunnel entrance which may be stemming material intended to eventually seal the tunnel, but is more likely mud impeding work at the site.
Looks like initial reports are correct.
A little bit more than I planned
Just spent $400 on the new Ham Radio including mounting kit, antenna, wire, external speaker, shipping, etc…
I was looking at around $200 total but this gives me a lot more capability of operation. There is a knee around the $300 price where the feature-set just gets major silly.
This will give me the ability to work directly with another station, work through any of the local repeaters, use digital communications, automatic position reporting (built-in GPS receiver). The unit can be programmed through a computer (USB interface). I ordered the truck-mount kit as well.
The actual real value is amazing. I was into radio as a kid and back then, you were looking at several thousand dollars of 1960's money to get a fraction of what is being shipped to me now.
As I said, one of the main drivers for getting my license is because public services are spread pretty thin on the ground out where I live. I will be joining the Whatcom Emergency Communication Group (my instructors were all members) and will be participating in a few of their events.
Just what I need — another hobby… (:)
