The Forgotten Cold War Plan That Put a Ring of Copper Around the Earth
August 14th, 2013Via: Wired:
During the summer of 1963, Earth looked a tiny bit like Saturn.
The same year that Martin Luther King, Jr. marched on Washington and Beatlemania was born, the United States launched half a billion whisker-thin copper wires into orbit in an attempt to install a ring around the Earth. It was called Project West Ford, and it’s a perfect, if odd, example of the Cold War paranoia and military mentality at work in America’s early space program.
The Air Force and Department of Defense envisioned the West Ford ring as the largest radio antenna in human history. Its goal was to protect the nation’s long-range communications in the event of an attack from the increasingly belligerent Soviet Union.
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Concern about the clandestine and military nature of West Ford continued following this second launch. On May 24 of that year, the The Harvard Crimson quoted British radio astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell as saying, “The damage lies not with this experiment alone, but with the attitude of mind which makes it possible without international agreement and safeguards.”
Recent military operations in space had given the U.S. a reckless reputation, especially following 1962’s high-altitude nuclear test Starfish Prime. This famously bad idea dispersed radiation across the globe, spawning tropical auroras and delivering a debilitating electromagnetic pulse to Hawaiian cities.
Democracy Now On Amazon and Jeff Bezos
August 14th, 2013Disclosure: I have an affiliate relationship with Amazon.
The Democracy Now discussion below contains some legitimate gripes about Amazon, which I’ve covered on here in the past.
The most disturbing thing about Amazon (to me) is their work with CIA to build the agency’s new cloud computing infrastructure (news circa March 2013). That’s bad. But for a real thrill, let’s ask: Which U.S. companies with large footprints on the web aren’t colluding with U.S. intelligence? *silence* Learn from Lavabit. So what’s going on with the likes of Google and Facebook, etc.? A lot of ankle grabbing is my guess. I wouldn’t, however, be expecting splash pages to show up on those sites explaining how they’re shutting down because they refuse to collaborate with feds.
With the Bezos-buys-The Washington Post situation, in effect, we have a CIA contractor buying an old time CIA rag. *meh* People who talk about the Washington Post in reverential tones are just sad. It’s like the Hope and Change crowd. Give me a break. In the Democracy Now discussion, Jeff Cohen says, “The Washington Post has really been a newspaper of the bipartisan consensus.” That’s it.
If you want to make a point of criticizing Amazon’s labor practices, you better make the most of it while you can. Here’s where Amazon is headed; in a word, robots:
As for the bleating about the death of the traditional publishing model—It needs to die, and I’m glad that it’s dying. For all of the romantic talk about the age of local bookshops and publishers’ real or imagined appreciation of books and reading, etc. the publishers decided what was published! Sure, anyone could self publish, assuming that they could afford it, but that was not a trivial task in the old days. Selling those self published books would be another non trivial matter. With Amazon’s direct publishing model, many new authors, who would have never been published under the traditional system, are experiencing great success. This is a very positive development (for authors, not so much for publishers) and the fact that it wasn’t mentioned at all in the Democracy Now piece is incredible.
While we’re on about the big bad Amazon, let’s not forget about Amy Goodman: “Her silence about 9/11 is stunning.”
For people concerned with purity in their associations, the world as it is today is going to present one disappointment after another. I don’t know of any area where this is more true than with alternative news. Yep, Amazon is building computer systems for the CIA. That’s bad. What’s worse, if you ask me, is that one of the biggest figures in “alternative news” can’t deal with 9/11.
Thinking outside the box is good, as long as you understand that the “box” is really a Matryoshka doll.
Now, as for me earning money from being an Amazon Associate, I continue to be amazed that they even allow you guys to support Cryptogon in this manner. Here is a small selection of companies who have explicitly refused to allow Cryptogon to participate in revenue sharing programs:
REI
Sierra Trading Post
Overstock.com
Lehman’s
Dell Small Business
New York Mint
48HourPrint
I’m sure there are many others, but this is a list that was easy to pull.
The following companies initially allowed Cryptogon to participate in their revenue sharing programs, but subsequently terminated the relationships:
Google – Reason for termination: Bogus invalid-click explanation (look it up), and they held onto the earnings I’d accumulated. They get away with this hilarious fraud every day. I advocate the use of adblock+ because it’s bad for Google. I don’t even care that it blocks ads on my own site, by all means, use it!
Tradeking – No explanation for termination.
Swanson Health Products – They seem to want only want U.S. based affiliates now.
So, as for the claim in the piece below that Amazon is endangering, “The marketplace of ideas,” I’m living proof that this assertion is bullcrap.
But this CIA cloud business… *sigh*
So it goes.
Via: Democracy Now:
The Washington Post announced on Monday the paper had been sold to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million. Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest men, now controls one of the most powerful newspapers in the country. Some critics of the sale have cited Bezos’ close ties to the U.S. government. In 2010, Amazon pulled the plug on hosting the WikiLeaks website under heavy political pressure. Earlier this year, Amazon inked a $600 million cloud-computing deal with the CIA. Independent booksellers and publishers have also long complained about Amazon’s business practices. We host a roundtable on the history of Amazon and the future of the newspaper industry. “Monopoly newspapers, especially The Washington Post in the nation’s capital, while it might not be a commercially viable undertaking, it still has tremendous political power,” says Robert McChesney, co-founder of Free Press. “What we have is a plaything for these billionaires that they can then use aggressively to promote their own politics.” Media critic Jeff Cohen notes that while The Washington Post notably published reports on Watergate and the Pentagon Papers decades ago, he thinks concerns that Bezos will ruin its journalistic tradition is unfounded, saying that in recent years, “The Washington Post has really been the newspaper of the bipartisan consensus.” We also speak to Dennis Johnson, publisher of Melville Books. “Amazon is a company that feels no pain. They’ve, as far as I can tell, never made money. … So, when you see him taking over The Washington Post and you wonder is he going to be able to monetize it, is he going to make it profitable, he probably doesn’t care,” Johnson says.
Research Credit: conceptualdecay
Egypt: At Least 149 Killed as Troops Clear Pro-Morsi Camps
August 14th, 2013Update: Egypt Declares State of Emergency
Via: Al Jazeera:
A state of emergency has been declared across Egypt, as security forces and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi continue to clash around the country.
The announcement on Wednesday came amid a deadly crackdown by security forces on two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
The health ministry said at least 149 people had been killed in clashes around the country, but some members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood said the death toll was much higher.
The state of emergency began at 4pm local time (14:00 GMT) and will last for a month, the presidency said in a statement.
The exceptional measures were taken as “the security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and attacks on public and private buildings and the loss of life by extremist groups,” the presidency said.
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Via: NBC:
Egypt’s capital descended into a chaotic bloodbath Wednesday after security forces moved in on protest camps set up by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, sparking deadly violence.
A month-long nationwide state of emergency was declared as the interim government tried to maintain order.
At least 95 people were killed and 874 injured, the country’s health ministry said, as unrest spread to other parts of the country.
Witness reports and pro-Morsi volunteers in Cairo put the toll much higher, but the none of the higher figures could be immediately confirmed by NBC News.
Unverified pictures posted to social media showed dozens of bodies after tear gas and gunfire engulfed the protest camps at Rabaa and Nahda.
Saudi Prince Defects, Discusses Dictatorship
August 13th, 2013Via: Russia Today:
Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of opposition forces in Syria, has increased crackdown on its own dissenters, with 30,000 activists reportedly in jail. In an exclusive interview to RT a Saudi prince defector explained what the monarchy fears most.
“Saudi Arabia has stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded with force to demonstrations by citizens,” Human Rights Watch begins the country’s profile on its website.
Political parties are banned in Saudi Arabia and human rights groups willing to function legally have to go no further than investigating things like corruption or inadequate services. Campaigning for political freedoms is outlawed.
One of such groups, which failed to get its license from the government, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was cited by AFP as saying the kingdom was holding around 30,000 political prisoners.
Saudi Prince Khaled Bin Farhan Al-Saud, who spoke to RT from Dusseldorf, Germany, confirmed reports of increased prosecution of anti-government activists and said that it’s exactly what forced him to defect from his family. He accused the monarchy of corruption and silencing all voices of dissent and explained how the Saudi mechanism for suppression functioned.
“There is no independent judiciary, as both police and the prosecutor’s office are accountable to the Interior Ministry. This ministry’s officials investigate ‘crimes’ (they call them crimes), related to freedom of speech. So they fabricate evidence, don’t allow people to have attorneys”, the prince told RT Arabic. “Even if a court rules to release such a ‘criminal’, the Ministry of Interior keeps him in prison, even though there is a court order to release him. There have even been killings! Killings! And as for the external opposition, Saudi intelligence forces find these people abroad! There is no safety inside or outside the country.”
Research Credit: windhorse
Clintons Rent Republican Donor’s $11 Million Hamptons Mansion
August 13th, 2013More “Change” on tap for 2016? haha
Via: Daily Mail:
The Clintons have rented an $11 million Hamptons mansion owned by a wealthy Republican donor for the summer, MailOnline can reveal today.
Former president Bill, 66, and ex-Secretary of State Hillary, 65, are expected at the six-bedroom property in Sagaponack – owned by Michael Saperstein – at the end of the week.
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Michael Saperstein, 72, who is a former senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Co, is a listed Republication donor and gave $15,000 to Mitt Romney’s failed Presidential campaign last year. He is also listed as an official Republican voter on property records linked to the Sagaponack address.
‘The Era of Ubiquitous Listening Dawns’
August 13th, 2013Via: MIT Technology Review:
The Moto X, the new smartphone from Google’s Motorola Mobility, might be remembered best someday for helping to usher in the era of ubiquitous listening.
Unlike earlier phones, the Moto X includes two low-power chips whose only function is to process data from a microphone and other sensors—without tapping the main processor and draining the battery. This is a big endorsement of the idea that phones could serve you better if they did more to figure out what is going on (see “Motorola Reveals First Google-Era Phone”). For instance, you might say “OK Google Now” to activate Google’s intelligent assistant software, rather than having to first tap the screen or press buttons to get an audio-processing function up and running.
This brings us closer to having phones that continually monitor their auditory environment to detect the phone owner’s voice, discern what room or other setting the phone is in, or pick up other clues from background noise. Such capacities make it possible for software to detect your moods, know when you are talking and not to disturb you, and perhaps someday keep a running record of everything you hear.
Clean Green Surveillance Drone
August 13th, 2013Via: Wired:
A new small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) boasts something no other has been able to do thus far: continuous flight for 9 hours and all on the clean energy of solar power.
AeroVironment‘s 13-pound Puma AE can be assembled and hand-launched in minutes and requires no infrastructure for launch or landing, making them attractive for frontline use where time and space can be too scarce for the requirements of full-scale drones.
And while it may be some time before the Pentagon is showing off solar-powered tanks, AeroVironment insists these types of solar technology advancements are indispensable for the military.
“This is a critical milestone with far-reaching implications for the many ways small UAS can benefit military, public safety and commercial customers,” said Roy Minson, senior vice president of the Monrovia, CA-based AeroVironment.
AeroVironment enlisted the help of Alta Devices for its proprietary, ultra-thin solar cells. Past attempts to attach solar power to small UAS were either too heavy or couldn’t produce enough power for long-range flights but, according to Minson, recent tests prove that the solar Puma AE technology ”can produce enough power, while adding negligible weight, so that endurance is no longer an issue for most customer missions.”
Obama’s NSA “Reform” Panel Will Report to James Lied-To-Congress Clapper
August 13th, 2013Via: Ars Technica:
President Obama held a news conference on Friday at which he promised reform—but groups who wanted to see real reform in the surveillance area were understandably skeptical.
Obama made promises that he would “work with Congress” to produce better oversight, but he treated the recent leaks about NSA spying as more of a PR problem than anything else. The leaks had been revealed “in the most sensationalized manner,” he stressed. But Obama maintained that the programs were not being abused. Notably, the president didn’t suggest he would reduce the amount of surveillance taking place in any way.
But the “high level group of outside experts” that Obama promised to convene is unlikely to change any hearts and minds, unless its composition changes. Today it was announced the “outside” committee would report to James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence—one of the officials most scorned by reformers.
It was Clapper who dissembled in front of a Congressional committee when he was questioned directly by NSA critic Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) back in 2011. Wyden asked if “any kind of data at all” was being collected on millions of Americans. “No sir,” said Clapper at the time.
Now, with at least some of the facts about widespread surveillance making headlines, Clapper maintains he thought Wyden was just talking about e-mail and that “mistakes will happen.” Wyden’s question, of course, was about “any data at all”—which is not only the phrase Wyden used, but the question that was sent to Clapper the day before.
Increased TV Viewing by Children Associated with Subsequent Decreases in Vocabulary and Math Skills, Classroom Engagement
August 12th, 2013Via: Nature:
Background:
Using a large population-based sample, this study aims to verify whether televiewing at 29 mo, a common early childhood pastime, is prospectively associated with school readiness at 65 mo.
Methods:
Participants are a prospective longitudinal cohort of 991 girls and 1,006 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development with parent-reported data on weekly hours of televiewing at 29 mo of age. We conducted a series of ordinary least-squares regressions in which children’s scores on direct child assessments of vocabulary, mathematical knowledge, and motor skills, as well as kindergarten teacher reports of socioemotional functioning, were linearly regressed on early televiewing.
Results:
Every SD increase (1.2h) in daily televiewing at 29 mo predicted decreases in receptive vocabulary, number knowledge scores, classroom engagement, and gross motor locomotion scores, as well as increases in the frequency of victimization by classmates.
Conclusion:
Increases in total time watching television at 29 mo were associated with subsequent decreases in vocabulary and math skills, classroom engagement (which is largely determined by attention skills), victimization by classmates, and physical prowess at kindergarten. These prospective associations, independent of key potential confounders, suggest the need for better parental awareness and compliance with existing viewing recommendations put forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
More:
Children’s Poor Motor, Social Skills Linked To Too Much Television Watching
Extra Hour Of TV Can Ruin A Child’s Educational And Social Opportunities
World Changing Technology Enables Crops to Take Nitrogen from the Air
August 12th, 2013Via: University of Nottingham:
A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world’s crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.
Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
Professor Edward Cocking, Director of The University of Nottingham’s Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots. His major breakthrough came when he found a specific strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugar-cane which he discovered could intracellularly colonise all major crop plants. This ground-breaking development potentially provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The implications for agriculture are enormous as this new technology can provide much of the plant’s nitrogen needs.
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N-Fix is neither genetic modification nor bio-engineering. It is a naturally occurring nitrogen fixing bacteria which takes up and uses nitrogen from the air. Applied to the cells of plants (intra-cellular) via the seed, it provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix nitrogen. Plant seeds are coated with these bacteria in order to create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship and naturally produce nitrogen.
