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.
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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.
DF sent:
Secret ‘Trigger’ & blueprint for emergency domestic military crackdown plan revealed
Martial Law in America – Conplan 3502 Exposed
and
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.
Is A Gold Swiss Franc In The Works?
August 10th, 2011I don’t agree with the part about credit being allowed on these accounts, but, wow!
Via: Forbes:
Now, in Switzerland, efforts are underway to create an official Gold Swiss franc (GSF) with a set of coins, each with a fixed content of gold. The proposed constitutional change would permit private institutions to issue an unlimited number of coins whose appearance, content and weight of gold, and definition would be under the supervision of the Swiss government.
For example, the smallest coin would have a face value of 1 GSF and have 0.1 grams of gold in its center, similar to today’s bi-metallic euro coins, and be worth—at today’s price of gold, about $4.00.
Five, 10, 20 and 50 GSF coins would have 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 grams of gold and today would be worth approximately $20, $40, $80 and $200 respectively. Gold Swiss franc bank notes are conceivable, as are GSF bank deposits, but they would have to be 100% backed by gold held by the issuing institution. Credit transactions would be legal, but fractional reserve credit would be forbidden under Swiss law.
U.S. Equities Selling Off
August 10th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Spot Gold: $1797.87
Comex Gold Futures: $1801
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Spot Gold: 1785.00
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DJIA -4%
Spot Gold: New record high, $1779.79.
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DJIA and NASDAQ are both down over 3% at the moment.
School Bans Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-5, So Vonnegut Library Gives Copies to Students for Free
August 10th, 2011Via: io9:
Most of us regard Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five as a masterpiece of thought-provoking science fiction, but the School Board of Republic High School in Missouri felt differently. They decided to ban the novel.
And in response, the Vonnegut Memorial Library offered to provide a free copy to any of the 150 students who were originally supposed to read it.
Vonnegut’s novel filters his World War II trauma through the lens of time travel and alien abduction, and in the process creates some fascinating insights into trauma, history and brutality. But the high school banned the book for creating “false conceptions of American history and government or that teach principles contrary to Biblical morality and truth.”
Dylan Ratigan Rant Over Political and Economic System Designed to “Extract America”
August 10th, 2011I hardly ever see these talking heads shows, so I don’t know if this type of thing happens often. Apologies if this is just standard fare on the TV nowadays.
Ratigan’s description of the issue represents a lie by omission, and his prescription would perpetuate the problem. Mainly, I liked how workers in the background became concerned and started to gather around to watch what was happening. HAHA. Although this ‘audience’ was probably just set dressing, I found it entertaining anyway.
Ok, so even during a pants shitting rant, the Federal Reserve system should not be mentioned. Isn’t that interesting?
Yes, politicians are corrupt. Thank you, Captain Obvious, but what makes it possible to “Extract America,” by the tens of trillions of dollars?
How about asking why there are trillions of dollars in the first place? That would lead to the real core of this, which is the fact that, by design, the Federal Reserve system makes it impossible for the U.S. to get out of debt. The goal of the ritual is to make the victim believe that the way out of the hole is to dig the hole deeper.
Even during a vein popping rant, where the soundtrack from The Exorcist should be playing in the background, these issues must not be mentioned, and the prescription winds up being more low interest loans…
I agree, though, that it would be a good start for the president to come out and address the issue of political corruption and lucre. Oh, woops. It’s impossible for anybody who isn’t completely corrupt and compromised to be elected president.
The U.S. is a shit sandwich—sprinkled through with thousands of nuclear weapons. There is no way to reform that thing. They’ll just keep looting the shop for as long as possible, and then they’ll torch the place. (‘Place’ meaning the U.S. and possibly much of the rest of the planet.) Anyone who doesn’t see the beauty of these mafia tactics, confetti currencies and burnt offerings will quickly find themselves relegated to the fringes of any discussion about how to proceed.
So what can be done?
At the state, regional and global levels, nothing can be done. Too many people are on the take or busy just following orders.
I would say to get to a place with abundant clean water, decent soil and relatively few people. Produce your own food and participate in local food economies. There will probably be pockets of survivors, and the place that you pick to go might contain to some of them.
Japan Ignored Radiation Forecasts; Used School Downwind of Fallout Plume as Evacuation Center
August 10th, 2011Via: AP:
Japan’s system to forecast radiation threats was working from the moment its nuclear crisis began. As officials planned a venting operation certain to release radioactivity into the air, the system predicted Karino Elementary School would be directly in the path of the plume emerging from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
But the prediction helped no one. Nobody acted on it.
The school, just over six miles (10 kilometers) from the plant, was not immediately cleared out. Quite the opposite. It was turned into a temporary evacuation center.
Reports from the forecast system were sent to Japan’s nuclear safety agency, but the flow of data stopped there. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and others involved in declaring evacuation areas never saw the reports, and neither did local authorities. So thousands of people stayed for days in areas that the system had identified as high-risk, an Associated Press investigation has found.
At Karino Elementary in the town of Namie, about 400 students, teachers, parents and others gathered in the playground at the height of the nuclear crisis stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Many ate rice balls and cooked in the open air.
They were never informed of the predictions that they were at risk. In an interview with the AP, Namie’s mayor said it took more than 24 hours for him to realize — from watching TV — that the evacuees were in danger. He sent buses to move some of them out. But, unaware of the risks, they were taken to another part of town also forecast to be in the plume’s path. Most were left to fend for themselves.
“When I think about it now, I am outraged,” Principal Hidenori Arakawa said. “Our lives were put at risk.”
Dollar Declines The Most Against Swiss Franc In At Least 40 Years
August 10th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
The dollar tumbled the most in at least 40 years against the Swiss franc after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep its key interest rate at a record low at least through mid-2013 to revive the flagging economic recovery.
The greenback declined versus the majority of its most- traded peers as the Fed said growth was “considerably slower” than it expected and it’s prepared to use a range of policy tools to boost the economy. The meeting came a day after economic weakening and a Standard & Poor’s U.S. credit-rating cut spurred a global stock rout. Commodity currencies recouped losses sustained just after the meeting. Stocks and gold surged.
