Balloons to Float Above Pentagon to Test Defenses
February 17th, 2007Ninety nine luftballons? No, just three. Hmm…
Via: Reuters:
Three large balloons will float above the Pentagon on Saturday as the U.S. Defense Department tests its chemical and biological weapons defenses, department officials said on Friday.
The balloons, each 6 feet in diameter, will be tethered to the Pentagon and sent 100 feet above the Virginia building from four different locations through the day.
According to department officials, the balloons are part of a series of tests the Pentagon does on its building defenses regularly.
“We do tests all the time. This one is just more visible,” a spokesman said.
The tests will be conducted by a unit of the Defense Department agency created to protect the Pentagon after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when al Qaeda hijackers flew a plane into the building, killing 125 people.
Officials would not say what role the balloons play in protecting the building against chemical and biological weapons, or when during the day they will be lifted.
Hitachi Develops RFID Powder
February 16th, 2007Via: Pink Tentacle:
RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder†type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years.
By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the chip substrates, Hitachi was able to create RFID chips 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips. Like mu-chips, which have been used as an anti-counterfeit measure in admission tickets, the new chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number.
The new chips are also 9 times smaller than the prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year, which measure 0.15 x 0.15 mm.
At 5 microns thick, the RFID chips can more easily be embedded in sheets of paper, meaning they can be used in paper currency, gift certificates and identification. But since existing tags are already small enough to embed in paper, it leads one to wonder what new applications the developers have in mind.
Research Credit: Dermot
Cryptogon Readers Contribute $20 and $35
February 16th, 2007Longtime reader and frequent contributor, MW, sent $20. JS sent $35. Thanks to both of you!
HOME PRICES FALL BY LARGEST AMOUNT EVER
February 15th, 2007* yawn *
Via: CNN:
The slump in home prices was both deeper and more widespread than ever in the fourth quarter, according to a trade group report Thursday.
Prices slumped 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of a year earlier, according to the report from the National Association of Realtors. That’s the biggest year-over-year drop on record, and follows a 1.0 percent year-over-year decline in the third quarter.
In addition, 73 metropolitan areas reported a decline in the fourth quarter, compared to a year earlier. That outpaced the 71 that saw a gain. It was both a record number and percentage of markets showing a decline in the group’s quarterly report. Five markets saw prices unchanged.
FLASHBACK: British Gave Bomb Technology to the IRA Which Is Now Being Used by Iraqi Insurgents
February 15th, 2007… while Iran is being blamed.
Ask these SAS guys about it. What else were they doing besides dressing up as Arabs and shooting at Iraqi police?
Via: Independent:
Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched “sting” operation more than a decade ago.
This contradicts the British government’s claims that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is helping Shia insurgents to make the devices.
The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the soldiers, as well as two private security guards, were initially created by the UK security services as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the troubles in the early 1990s.
According to security sources, the technology for the bombs used in the attacks, which were developed using technology from photographic flash units, was employed by the IRA some 15 years ago after Irish terrorists were given advice by British agents.
…
Even more alarming is the claim that the devices were supplied by the security services to an agent inside the Provisionals as part of a dangerous game of double bluff.
According to investigators examining past collusion between the security forces and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, members of the shadowy army undercover outfit, the Force Research Unit, and officers from MI5 learned in the early 1990s that a senior IRA member in south Armagh was working to develop bombs triggered by light beams. They decided the risks would be diminished if they knew what technology was being used.
“The thinking of the security forces was that if they were intimate with the technology, then they could develop counter-measures, thereby staying one step ahead of the IRA,” a senior source close to the inquiry explained. “It may seem absurd that the security services were supplying technology to the IRA, but the strategy was sound.
Related: My Comments About Visiting Northern Ireland
Research Credit: David
Amazing Stirling Engines
February 15th, 2007Insane!
More: YouTube User Mdevink
More: Mdevink’s Home Page
Depression, or Toxic Lifestyle Disorder?
February 15th, 2007Imagine my shock.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
The backdrop to therapeutic lifestyle change, or TLC, is an increase in depressive illness since World War II, Ilardi says. “There’s increasing evidence that we were never designed for our sedentary, socially isolated, indoor, sleep-deprived, frenzied, poorly nourished lifestyle,” he says.
Ilardi combines group therapy sessions with a set of lifestyle changes, each of which has proven effective against depression: aerobic exercise; ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids; light; positive social interaction; substituting activity for rumination; and increased sleep. The goal is for patients to live more like their Paleolithic ancestors.
The results of the 14-week regimen so far have been encouraging. In an ongoing study of 79 patients, with two-thirds assigned to his therapy and the rest to a control group treated mainly with antidepressant medication or traditional psychotherapy, Ilardi reports a 74% favorable response, compared with 16% for the controls.
Research Credit: Ran Prieur
Canadian Company Demonstrates 16 Qubit Quantum Computer
February 15th, 2007If these guys have a 16 qubit system, what does NSA have?
Via: Scientific American:
A Canadian manufacturer today unveiled what it called “the world’s first commercially viable quantum computer.” D-Wave Systems, Inc., “The Quantum Computing Company,” during a much ballyhooed rollout at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., hailed the new device as a big step toward the age of quantum computing, decades earlier than scheduled.
But experts say the announcement may be a bit—er—premature. Even if the computer were to work as advertised, it still would be nearly 1,000 times too small to solve problems that stump ordinary computers. Moreover, researchers do not know whether it will work at bigger sizes.
“There are still a lot of ifs and maybes here,” says quantum computing researcher Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But he credits D-Wave for its willingness to test the idea. “From the scientific perspective,” he says, “what they’re doing is very interesting.”
A working quantum computer is the dream of every national security official and hacker on Earth. The bits inside existing computers constantly flip between 0 and 1 as they perform small steps such as “if 0, then 1.” But quantum physics allows particles like atoms, electrons and photons to be in two places at once—meaning they can represent 0 and 1 simultaneously, allowing more complex calculations.
Researchers believe that by combining many of these quantum bits, or qubits, they will be able to perform certain tasks that are currently out of reach. Chief among them: the ability to swiftly crack encrypted communications.
PROPOSED U.S. LEGISLATION: EXIT TAX
February 15th, 2007As wealthy people attempt to flee America, the U.S. Government is planning to rob them at gunpoint with a tax on UNREALIZED gains on their property!
The proposal generally subjects certain U.S. citizens who relinquish their U.S. citizenship and certain long-term U.S. residents who terminate their U.S. residence to tax on the net unrealized gain in their property as if such property were sold for fair market value on the day before the expatriation or residency termination (“mark-to-market taxâ€). Gain from the deemed sale is taken into account at that time without regard to other Code provisions. Any loss from the deemed sale generally is taken into account to the extent otherwise provided in the Code, except that the wash sale rules of section 1091 do not apply. Any net gain on the deemed sale is recognized to the extent it exceeds $600,000 ($1.2 million in the case of married individuals filing a joint return, both of whom relinquish citizenship or terminate residency).
Related: An Exit Tax Coming
10 Stocks to Last the Decade, Revisited
February 15th, 2007Fortune should be called, How to Lose a Fortune.
Via: Fool:
Back in the summer of 2000, Fortune, a highly respected publication and home to many fine pieces of journalism over the years, published an article titled “10 Stocks to Last the Decade.”
An easy enough challenge, one might surmise — simply picking 10 companies that would, umm … not disappear. Actually, the article promised more than that. These stocks were specifically predicted to be winners, according to the piece’s introduction:
“Given the market’s recent volatility, a few of our picks could experience drops over the coming months and years. But if you’re a long-term investor, these 10 should put your retirement account in good stead and protect you from those recurring nightmares about the stocks that got away.”
Here’s the list, and how they’ve done since:
Company Returns since August 2000
Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) (78%)
Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW) (51%)
Enron Oops
Genentech (Nasdaq: DNA) 121%
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) 0%
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) (45%)
Nortel Networks (Nasdaq: NT) (96%)
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) (53%)
Univision (42%)
Viacom Kind of hard to explain
