[Terrorism] Book of the Day

"Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace" by Col. Ralph Peters, Stackpole Books, 2003.

[Marc's Medical] Sick, Slept All Day

Glug. Trying some solid food, maybe not a good idea.

[Terrorism] Should We Profile?

HISTORY TEST

Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened!!!

Do you remember?

1. -1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by

a. Superman

b. Jay Leno

c. Harry Potter

d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by

a. Olga Korbett

b. Sitting Bull

c. Arnold Schwarzenegger

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:

a. Lost Norwegians

b. Elvis

c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:

a. John Dillinger

b. The King of Sweden

c. The Boy Scouts

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:

a. A pizza delivery boy

b. Pee Wee Herman

c. Geraldo Rivera

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was thrown overboard still in his wheelchair by:

a. The Smurfs

b. Davy Jones

c. The Little Mermaid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:

a. Captain Kidd

b. Charles Lindberg

c. Mother Teresa

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:

a. Scooby Doo

b. The Tooth Fairy

c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:

a. Richard Simmons

b. Grandma Moses

c. Michael Jordan

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:

a. Mr. Rogers

b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill' s women problems

c. The World Wrestling Federation

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:

a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd

b. The Supreme Court of Florida

c. Mr. Bean

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:

a. Enron

b. The Lutheran Church

c. The NFL

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:

a. Bonnie and Clyde

b. Captain Kangaroo

c. Billy Graham

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

[Terrorism] 2nd Pass London Bombs Biodegradable, May Have Weakened

http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_209182358.html

"The bombs, made of biodegradable material, had probably weakened by the time of the attack, officials have said."

[Terrorism] Conceptualizing Al Qaedaas an Internet Database

Instead, as Giles Kepel, the leading French authority on Islamists, puts it in his important study, The War For Muslim Minds: "al-Qaeda was [and is] less a military base of operations than a database that connected jihadists around the world via the internet ... this organisation did not consist of buildings and tanks and borders but of websites, clandestine financial transfers and a proliferation of activists ranging from Jersey City to the paddies of Indonesia". This central failure to understand the nature of al-Qaeda was the reason that the US attempted to counter it with such unsuitable policies: by targeting nations it considered sponsors of terrorism, so inadvertently turning itself into al-Qaeda's most effective recruiting agency.

Marc Says: I like this abstract model. We have a WWIII (Cold War) military designed to fight a nation (the USSR) and that military keeps tring to fight WWIV (the GWOT against Al Qaeda and others) as either as it it were a nation (Afghanistan) or as if it were the KGB-like action arm of a nation state (Iraq?).

[Terrorism] Inside Islam's ''terror schools''

This is also the conclusion drawn by the most sophisticated analysis of global jihadis to be published in recent years: Marc Sageman's Understanding Terror Networks. Sageman is a forensic psychiatrist and former CIA man who worked in Pakistan during the 1980s. In his study, he closely examined the lives of 172 al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, and his conclusions have demolished much of the conventional wisdom about who joins jihadi groups: two-thirds of his sample were middle class and university-educated; they are generally technically minded professionals and several have PhDs. Nor are they young hotheads: their average age is 26, most of them are married, and many have children. Only two appear to be obviously psychotic. It seems that Islamic terrorism, like its Christian predecessor, remains a largely bourgeois endeavour: "These are truly global citizens," writes Sageman, "familiar with many countries - the west as well as the Middle East - and able to speak several languages with equal facility ... Even their ideologues are not trained clerics: [Sayyid] Qutb [for example] was a journalist."

Marc Says: Data! Way too much propaganda floating around about who the terrorists actually are.

[Terrorism] Inside Islam's ''terror schools''

http://www.newstatesman.com/200503280010

[Terrorism] IRA says armed campaign is over

"The IRA has formally ordered an end to its armed campaign and says it will pursue exclusively peaceful means.

In a long-awaited statement, the republican organisation said it would follow a democratic path ending more than 30 years of violence."

Marc Says: An infamous Christian terrorist group makes the long-overdue decision to get out of the terrorism business.

[Terrorism] Vendetta -- Wikipedia

Vendetta originated in societies with no central government (or where the central government did not consider itself responsible for mediating this kind of dispute) where family and kinship ties were the main source of authority. An entire family was considered responsible for whatever one of them had done. Sometimes even two separate branches of the same family could come to blows over some matter. The practice has mostly disappeared with more centralized societies where law enforcement and criminal law take responsibility of punishing the lawbreakers.

Marc Says: Many aspects of the behavior of the Islamic terrorists seem to me to conform very closely to this concept of escalating vendetta. I gather that a Vendetta is an long-recognized aspect of "Honour". I also note that bin Laden issues personal fatwas proclaiming the laws the Westerners have broken and for which they must be punished (any Westerner or infidel will do, they are all guilty).

[Terrorism] Cultures of Honour and Cultures of Law

I just got another huge insight into the Global War on Terrorism. I had the "ah-ha" while reading this Wikipedia article, "Cultures of honour and Cultures of law".

"One can contrast cultures of honour with cultures of law. From the viewpoint of anthropology, cultures of honour typically appear among nomadic peoples and herdsmen who carry their most valuable property with them and risk having it stolen, without having recourse to law enforcement or government. In this situation, inspiring fear forms a better strategy than promoting friendship; and cultivating a reputation for swift and disproportionate revenge increases the safety of your person and property. Thinkers ranging from Montesquieu to Steven Pinker have remarked upon the mindset needed for a culture of honour.

Cultures of honour therefore appear amongst Bedouins, Scottish and English herdsmen of the Border country, and many similar peoples, who have little allegiance to a national government; among cowboys, frontiersmen, and ranchers of the American West, where official law-enforcement often remained out of reach, as famously celebrated in Western movies; among the plantation culture of the American South, and among aristocrats, who enjoy hereditary privileges that put them beyond the reach of general laws. Cultures of honour also flourish in criminal underworlds and gangs, whose members carry large amounts of cash and contraband and cannot complain to the law if it is stolen.

Once a culture of honour exists, it is difficult for its members to make the transition to a culture of law; this requires that people become willing to back down and refuse to immediately retaliate, and from the viewpoint of the culture of honour this appears as a weak and unwise act."

I suggest that the Mujhadeen of Afghanistan who fought against the Soviets crystallized the Islamic Culture of Honour into a revolutionary culture that can be readily sold to the disaffected young Islamics.

I wonder if when the Islamic council "froze" Islam many hundreds of years ago they also froze Islamic cuture into being a Culture of Honour, whereaas the Europeans and the Orientals kept developing their cultures into what are today almost completely Cultures of Law. I have read of "Honour Killings" by brothers of sisters because the sisters have had a relationship with non-Islamic males. I am a brother. I have a sister. Such a thing is so far outside my scope of conceptualization that I literally can not imagine it.

[Terrorism] 5th Bomber Loose Following London's Botched Attacks

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16070964-28698,00.html

"As Britain's biggest manhunt went into its sixth day, detectives said they were convinced a fifth bomber was on the loose, having discarded his bomb in a park near Wormwood Scrubs prison. Scientists said the bomb contained the same explosives as those used in the botched attacks."

[Marc's Medical] Inflammation Level: High

Inflammation levels very high today following yesterday's double-length high intensity ultrasound treatment.

Safety] 4 Scout leaders were electrocuted while erecting tent at Jamboree

By Kiran Krishnamurthy

Media General News Service

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

BOWLING GREEN -- The four adult Scout leaders from Alaska who were killed at the National Scout Jamboree yesterday died after a tent pole they were erecting came into contact with an overhead power line, an official said this morning.

The accident occurred as the Alaskans were setting up a large tent in their camp area at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County. Two other adults, a Scout leader and a contractor, were hospitalized.

Marc Says: Another tragic accident, utterly avoidable, and another set of nominations for the Darwin award. Come on here people, my dad was an Eagle Scout. I can't remember how many times he told me to keep everything away from power lines, conductive or not, and to always be sure that something could not fall over onto a power line (ladders come to mind here, along with flag poles). He knew better than to erect a tent pole near power lines. I might as well have had those instructions tatooed, he implanted them so deeply. I know better. These adult Scout leaders certainly should have both known better and been examples of how to do it right. Very sad. Completely avoidable by competent adults, particularly those tasked with training the young Scouts.

FW: Re: [Computer] DocuPen R700 Portable Scanner

I am way behind on making informative entries to my Blog. Sorry. Here are some of my thoughts on the DocPen R700 portable scanner.

I think the DocuPen R700 is right at the lower edge of usability (assuming I can get it hooke up and talking). A 200 dpi by 200 dpi scan is right at the bottom edge of what OCR can use (OCR really prefers 300 dpi by 300 dpi). Before I ordered the DocuPen I tried quite a few 200x200 scans on my Epson flatbed scanner. I fed those scans into my two OCR packages, one bundled with my Epson scanner and the other Adobe Acrobat Standard 6.0. They both did just fine, starting from newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and printouts from my HP Laserjet 1300. Of course, the flatbed scanner keeps everything straight and aligned, whereas the major defect in the DocuPen is that one can cant or skew the scan as one moves the DocuPen scanner down the page. The R700 has many rollers that supposedly help minimize that problem. When I cock the paper in my flatbed scanner the OCR packages continue to work just fine, so I don't think cocking is too much of a problem. Channging the alignment of the DocuPen scanner during the sweep over the page may give OCR fits, but I did not have a way to emulate that in my flatbed scanner (that I could think of).

-- Marc 09:44, Tuesday, July 26, 2005

[Colorado] Rain!

Still raining. I love it. Supposedly the miserable hot temperatures return tomorrow. I can wait. :-(

[Space] Shuttle Discoveriy is Up

So far so good. :-)

[Colorado] Real Rain

Not just the piddling drizzle stuff, but real actual rain drops. This should help dampen the many wild fires burning to the west of me.

[Colorado] Rain

Liquid water falling from the sky! Wonderful stuff. :-)

[Terrorism] Russia sees global jihad on southern flank | CSM

from the July 25, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0725/p07s01-woeu.html

Russia sees global jihad on southern flank

Sunday's train bombing is the latest in a string of nearly 80 deadly attacks in Dagestan so far this year.

By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

The Kremlin insists the wave of attacks that threaten to unhinge Russia's mainly-Muslim Caucasus region is being orchestrated by the same global jihad groups that have struck in London and Sharm-el-Sheikh in recent days.

Many experts, however, dispute this interpretation, arguing that Moscow's handling of the still-smoldering war in next-door Chechnya, as well as local poverty and corruption, have more to do with the roots of violence here. But most agree that there has been an alarming influx of foreign jihadis into Russia's vulnerable southern underbelly over the past year.

"Our forces have captured or killed citizens of 52 countries operating with the terrorists in the north Caucasus," says Sergei Markov, a Kremlin adviser. "The enemy brings an ideology of radical Islam that seeks political power through terrorist methods."

...

Recent incidents, including a bath-house bombing that killed 10 Russian soldiers in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala two weeks ago, suggest the attackers have absorbed sophisticated tactics used by jihadis in Iraq and elsewhere. A report issued last week by Igor Dobayev, an expert with the official Academy of Sciences, found that as many as 2,000 Islamist insurgents, many belonging to the Al Qaeda-linked Sharia Jamaat, are behind the wave of roadside explosions, car bombings, and assassinations.

"We are no longer talking about Chechen secessionists challenging Moscow," says Mr. Markov. "Now it's radical religious ideologues who aim to destroy the unbelievers and establish an Islamic caliphate."

Marc Says: I think the last sentence above expresses what is going on quite well. The US may not be at war with Islam, but segments of Islam are are war with the entire Third Wave (and the countries that are making the transition to the Third Wave inter-connected economies.

Trade] China's yuan gains against dollar | BBC

According to analysts at Capital Economics, the real reason behind the move may be political rather than economic.

"The timing is clever," they said in a note to investors.

"By changing the peg well in advance of President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington in September, Beijing may be able to avoid giving the impression of bowing too obviously to US pressure, while still doing the bare minimum necessary to defuse trade tensions."

[Terrorism] Police shot Brazilian eight times

The man mistaken for a suicide bomber by police was shot eight times, an inquest into his death has heard.
Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, at Stockwell Tube station, south London, on Friday.

Det Insp Elizabeth Baker revealed the details at a hearing in London.

Security sources have said Mr Menezes had been in the UK on an out-of-date student visa, but his family deny this and are considering suing the police.

Marc Says: It is important to realize that all handguns are ballistically inadequate to immediately stop someone. Contrary to what you may have seen on TV and in the Movies, where actors hooked to harnesses are thrown backward through windows by a single handgun bullet, in real life the most common reaction of someone shot with a handgun bullet is ... absolutely nothing. They keep right on doing whatever they were doing. There are well-documented cases of people hit with 33 9mm pistol rounds who kept right on doing what they were doing at the time (in that case, attacking several police officers).

Under the pre-9/11 rule set, the good guys (the police) were supposed to "shoot to stop", meaning, keep shooting the bad guy until the bad guy stopped doing whatever bad thing he (or she) was doing, such as attacking a victim or raping somebody. There was no particular intent to kill the bad guy. In fact, modern jacket hollow point bullets have a fatality rate of about 1% for a single hit, and about 3% to 4% fatality rates for multiple hits. Modern bullets are designed to cause a lot of shock and trauma, and to stop the attacker, rather than to kill him or her. They do an excellent job of that.

The post-9/11 rule set, and in particular the post-7/7 rule set is now quite different. The new rule set is to prevent the suspected homocide-suicide bomber from triggering the switch to detonate his/her bomb. If the would-be bomber is carrying the switch in his hand (common practice), he or she has to move one finger about 1/16 inch to press the button, close the switch, and kill the surrounding citizens and police. Preventing the switch closure requires shutting down the suspected bomber's nervous system.

Shutting down the nervous system using handgun bullets is extremely difficult to do. Handgun bullets are ballistically inadequate to the task (I keep saying that, and I will continue to keep saying that). Cutting the spinal cord and so stopping electrical signals to the bomber's hand requires severing the spinal cord, which is about as thick as your little finger. Hitting it while the shooter and the suspected bomber are moving around (or rolling around on the ground is effectively impossible. If you do not believe me I will invite you out to the range so you can demonstrate for me (we will use moving targets as thick as your finger and you will be running at the time, I can furnish the targets and the safe backstop, you bring the handgun and the ammunition that you claim you can do this with -- I really want to see this done).

So, to shut down the suspected bomber's nervous system before he or she can trigger the bomb the police have to shoot at the biggest target they have, the brain. This is extremely difficult to do with a handgun. As many of you may know, the brain is surrounded by the skull, a highly resilient and curved structure that does an excellent job of deflecting impacts and blows. There are many recorded cases of the skull deflecting handgun bullets. Shooting at somebody's head, particularly while the shooter and the target are moving, is extremely hard to do. The brain itself is about the size of a grapefruit, and it is all inside the skull. Shooting a bomber in the jaw will not stop him or her from triggering his or her bomb.

To make things even more difficult, the brain is a highly resilient and redundant system. It has two halves, either of which can run the body. There are many recorded cases of people who have suffered what a reasonable person would think are traumatic brain injuries (shootings and construction accidents being the most common) who were not affected in the least, and who then walked into the emergency room under their own power, and who lived after treatment. So shooting a suspected bomber in the head (and actually hitting the brain) is not at all sufficient to prevent the dedicated bomber from triggering the bomb.

So, given that handgun bullets are ballistically inadequate, given that the skull is very difficult to penetrate, and given that the brain is quite resilient and redundant, the proper protocol to stop a suspected homocide-suicide bomber from triggering his or her device is to empty the handgun's entire ammunition supply into the suspected bomber's upper head just as rapidly as possible. How fast is that? A semi-automatic handgun cycles at about 30 rounds per second. Nobody can pull the trigger that fast. A trained shooter can reasonably pull the trigger about 4 or 5 times per second, a well-trained shooter can pull the trigger about 8 times per second. I have the electronic timer and the first-hand experience to prove it. Don't believe me? Come on out to the range with me -- I bet I can train you to shoot 4 rounds per second in the first day of training, faster if you don't aim in between shots.

So what do I think happened? I think the officer chasing the suspect, shouting for him to stop, seeing the suspect run away, dodge, and run onto a commuter train, made the decision that this guy met the criteria for being a possible bomber. The officer pushed the suspected bomber down to the ground to clear the line of fire from hitting innocent civilians and emptied his handgun into the suspected bomber's head just as fast as he (the officer) could manipulate the trigger.

The London police are in the painful process of updating their rule sets. So is much of the rest of the Western world.

Mr Menezes' cousin, Alex Pereira, who is based in London, said the police would "kill thousands of people" if they were not held accountable for what had happened at Stockwell on Friday.

He said: "They just kill the first person they see, that's what they did. They killed my cousin, they could kill anyone."

Marc Says: Note first that Mr. Pereira omits any mention of Mr. Menezes' having a responsibility to stop when ordered to do so by police. Note also that Mr. Pereira goes off into unsubstantiated flights of fancy, as London police have not been killing thousands of people since the 7/7 bombings and the more recent change in policy concerning stopping suspected homocide-suicide bombers.

Tony Blair said he was "desperately sorry" an innocent man had lost his life.

Marc Says: I concur. Very sad. Utterly preventable, all the suspect had to do was stop, raise his hands, show the police the palms of his hands with his fingers spread widely apart, and make absolutely no motion.

A simple word of advice here, people -- when the police yell "Stop!" you are actually supposed to stop. Otherwise, in today's world of homocide-suicide bombers, you can reasonably expect to immediately become very terminally dead. Both Mr. Menezes and Mr. Pereira appear to have failed to grasp that simple and vital point of the new post-7/ 7 rule set.

I think we will soon see a new category for the Darwin Awards (the award for people who delete themselves from the human gene pool by doing incredibly stupid things) for "innocent" people who commit "suicide by security forces" by acting like a homocide-suicide bomber. I nominate Mr. Menezes for the award, and I nominate his cousin, Mr. Pereira for honorable mention.

[Terrorism] Radical Islam in Europe (Verbal Numbers from Interiew on Fox News)

Heard an interview with a terrorism expert (I did not get his name) on Fox News. He says:

*) 20 mosques in France are extreme radical mosques, according to French security services. These mosques actiely preach jihad and killing the infidels.

*) About 1% of the Muslims in Europe (about 200,000 total) are extreme and radical.

*) He says that the US is not at war with Islam, but extreme radical Islam is certainly at war with the US.

-- Marc 09:37, Monday, July 25, 2005

[Marc's Medical] Back Pain Level: Medium

Stiff. Stretching works and helps a lot. Mainly I tighten up badly while asleep.

[Fopuntain Pen] Suspending Noodlers Ink Drying-In-The-Pen Tests

I give up. 3+ weeks in the Namiki Vanishing point for Hellbender Red. 6+ weeks in the Mont Blanc with Legal Lapi. 8+ weeks in the Sensa Meridian (which still always skips no matter what I do) with Noodlers Black.

Noodlers inks probably do dry out, but not in any test I am going to conduct any time soon.

Scheaffer dries out in the tip in about 3 days. Mont Blanc black ink dires out in 3 to 4 day.

-- Marc 09:22, Monday, July 25, 2005

[Terrorism] Debate rages over 'shoot-to-kill' | BBC

However, the Muslim Association of Britain's Azzam Tamimi said: "It doesn't matter whether he (Mr Menezes) is a Muslim or not, he is a human being.

"It is human lives that are being targeted - whether by terrorists or, as in this case, by the people who are supposed to be catching the terrorists.

"I just cannot imagine how someone pinned to the ground can be a source of danger."

Marc Says: The Muslim community continues to marginalize itself. Azzam Tamimi either does not have much of an imagination or he is being proactively and provocatively naive(almost certainly the latter).

The rest of us do have imaginations. We can easily imagine what the Israelis have encountred multiple times, a homocide-suicide bomber with a chest-pack bomb and a pair of wires running down his sleeve to his hand, where he can close the switch to trigger the bomb's explosion by slightly moving one finger, whether he is pinned to the ground or not.

Police chief 'sorry' over death

Police chief 'sorry' over death:

"London's police chief apologises to the family of a Brazilian man shot dead by officers, but admits such incidents could happen again."

Marc Says: When the police in today's world yell, "Stop!" you should actually STOP!. It does not matter whether you are a criminal alien, a drug dealer, a petty thief, or a kid playing hookey from school. In the "good old days" the rule set said that running away from police was all in good fun and was OK. In the new GWOT rule set, running away from the police is not OK, and you should very reasonably expect to become terminally dead, shot either by the police pursuing you or by the justly-fearful law-abiding citizens you are running toward. The Israelis learned these lessons the hard way over a period of many years and many dozens of homocide-suicide bomb attacks (including shooting the suspected homocide-suicide bomber "just a little bit"). It will probably take the UK and the US a few more years to update their rule sets to the rule set the Israelis have already evolved.

Another way of saying the same thing is, "Suspected homocide-suicide bombers are guilty until proven innocent, no matter what the US constituion or the US Bill of Rights says." Nobody wants to be blown up to help demonstrate that the suspect was actually guilty of intending to blow them up.

Another side note is that the British police actually really screwed up by letting the fleeing suspected homocide-suicide bomber onto the train with the law-abiding commuters. Had the fleeing suspect wearing the heavy coat that could well have concealed a chest-pack bomb actually been a homocide-suicide bomber and detonated his chest pack bomb aboard the train, the UK press would be screaming for the UK Police Commissioner's resignation because the pursuing armed police allowed a suspected bomber to get onto the train.

[logitech io2 software] bummer dude - addendum take 2

Friend Bill D suggests that CounterSpy is blocking my installation attempts. I have to do some more experiments.

----Original Message-----
From: Bill
To: Marc
Subject: [logitech io2 software] bummer dude - addendum take 2
Date: Saturday, July 23, 2005 18:34

Hi again,

As writing to you reminded me that I had problems with the v1.4 of spybot, I decided to play with it some.

I noticed that TeaTimer.exe seems to be the active scan component. At least when you run it, it places an icon in the System tray and talks about all the things it has blocked access to.

The system tray icon also gives access to a menu that shows what _registry writes_ it *_has blocked_*.

The same menu seems to be the only way to _turn TeaTimer off_.

I could find no info on it or any way to start/stop TeaTimer in the Spybot software.
The only reference to it I found was during the install, the question do you want to turn it on.

TeaTimer was the app that blocked some of my installs during my multiphased rebuild of my notebook.
:-(

Worth looking at.

ttfn
Bill

[Sport] Tour de France

I watched the final stage of the Tour de France this morning. Wow! Congratulations to Lance Armstrong and his team mates. Wow!

[Computer] Submitted Error Report to Logitech iO2 Digital Pen Support

As I have reported earlier, my attempts to install the Logitech iO2 personal
digital pen software onto my Windows XP Home SP2 system have been utterly
without success. I even went so far as to download the most current version
of the 65MB installer from the Logitech web site. It got a little further
than the version on the bundled CD, but it failed with the same error number
(1001) and the same error report (not able to write to the registry).

After battling through many levels of the Logitech support web site and
support forums, I finally discovered the well-hidden top-secret method for
actually submitting a problem report. None of the printed literature with
the pen or the web site tells you how to communicate with a real human by
phone. That is so top-secret I have been unable to find any way to do it.

I attempted to register with the Logitech support site and to create an
account, but was repeatedly rebuffed by web site script errors. I finally
managed to submit a problem report. I have received confirmation e-mail
that my report has been received by the automated daemon process, and that I
can expect to hear back in 24 hours (I suspect that means 24 hours during
the work week, although the Logitech support web site and e-mail do not talk
about what their working hours are).

In their knowledge base, I did find a discussion of the error (1001) I am
encountering. The knowledge base did give a recipe for correcting the
problem, which did not work when I tried it. The knowledge base did not
give any instructions for what to do when their recipe did not work (the
general problem seems to be that the installer can not write to my
registry).

At this point I am so extremely frustrated with the entire exercise that I
suggest everyone avoid buying any Logitech product under any circumstances.
I may yet revise my opinion, but so far, this is the most difficulty I have
ever had installing any product of any type onto any computer with any OS.
The Logitech iO and iO2 Digital Pen support web site is the most difficult
to navigate, error-laden, baffling, and confusing I have ever tried to
traverse (and I have routinely used many software vendor?s support
interfaces on their web sites, with routinely good success until now).

Color me furious and frustrated. I am going to keep trying, but so far it is
Logitech 1 (they have my money) and Marc 0 (I have nothing I can use and no
known path to making it usable).

[Computer] Tear Jerkingly Painful Download of Norton's Password Manager

My Symantec Norton Anti-Virus and Firewall subscriptions have expired. It
is cheaper to buy the new Internet Security bundle from Norton?s web site.
I ordered the physical package from Norton, as I want the CDs. The bundle
included Norton Password Manager 2004 (which I am not really sure I care
about). Surprise, the Password Manager is a download (they did not tell me
that until after I gave them my money). I am trying to download it. It is
downloading at about 3 KB/s from their web site over my cable connection.
Every few second Norton Anti-Virus decides to scan what has been downloaded
so far, halting the download and chewing up my system?s CPU. What a bush
league operation. It is Norton?s software, Norton?s download, and Norton?s
brain-dead virus checker needlessly checking and rechecking the download of
Norton?s software, and there seems to be no way I can stop the virus checker
from spawning new checks every 2 or 3 seconds. Therefore, I disabled the
brain-dead hyperactive virus checker completely. Now the downloader and
installer tells me that many of the downloaded files are corrupt and I have
to start over. What a bush-league operation! :-(

[Computer] Unsuccessful Attempt to Install DocuPen's PaperPort Software

I have repeatedly and unsuccessfully failed to install the driver and
application software for my DocuPen portable scanner. The installer
software is pretty brain dead ? it does not give me any indication of
process or progress. Finally, Windows XP raises a dialog box telling me
that the DLL the installer is attempting to install is not a valid Windows
application. Time to contact the DocuPen support staff or return the
uninstallable product (I fear the CD may be bad). :-(

[Computer] Still Another Failed Attempt to Install Logitech Digital IO2 Pen Software

I turned off everything I could find, including Norton Anti-Virus 2004 and
CounterSpy. I still get the exact same error from the Logitech installer
that it cannot write to my computer?s registry. Time to start sending
queries to Logitech?s support line (likely a futile exercise from what I
have read, but I have to give it a try or just admit defeat and return their
uninstallable product).

Malpractice Litigation Wrongly Blamed For Inconsistent Health Care

Malpractice Litigation Wrongly Blamed For Inconsistent Health Care:

"CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Conventional wisdom holds that malpractice lawsuits are the bane of modern medicine, with high insurance premiums driving doctors from the profession and the threat of lawsuits discouraging health-care employees from reporting and correcting medical mistakes.

Examining these claims in a lengthy article in the Cornell Law Review and a shorter article in Regulation, a University of Illinois health-law scholar finds most of the assertions to be without factual basis.

"Health care is substantially more dangerous than it should be," David A. Hyman, Illinois professor of law and of medicine, concludes in articles co-written with Charles Silver, a law professor at the University of Texas. But malpractice litigation has little to do with the continuing failure of medical providers to deal effectively with the erratic quality of health care.

"In the United States, it is true both that one can obtain the best available care for most maladies and that health-care errors are the eighth leading cause of death, ranking ahead of AIDS, motor vehicle accidents and breast cancer," Hyman and Silver wrote. For example, hospital-acquired infections are so common that one estimate indicates that proper hand washing by health-care workers alone would save 20,000 lives a year.

In addition, according to the articles, health-care providers "routinely omit indicated procedures of known value, frequently perform treatments that are unnecessary and inefficacious, and employ practice patterns that vary widely and for no good reason. Adverse drug events are distressingly common. Tens of billions of dollars are spent annually on medical services whose value is questionable or non-existent."

[Humor, Fountain Pen] "Manual Transmission Ballpoint"

Heard on NPR a few moments ago. Story teller talking about owning a pcikup truck with a manual shift lever on the steering column. He speaks of telling passengers that the thing sticking out of the steering column is the manual shift lever. He says these are the same people who ask him what his kind of pen he is using (fountain pen) and he replies, "Manual transmission ballpoint".

I laughed so hard I choked. :-)

[Colorado] HOT

"Its bloomin' 'ot, it is", as one of my Brit friends would say. :-(

[Colorado] Rain!

At least a little. A good soaking would be welcome, but I doubt we'll get one.

[Crime, Technology] CCTVs to check crime in Delhi

The police in the Indian capital, Delhi, will be installing security cameras to check crime.
Starting next January, CCTV cameras will be set up in ten locations, including markets and railway stations, a senior police official told the BBC.

Hundreds of such cameras would be in place by the time Delhi hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2010, he said.

Delhi, which has one of the highest crime rates, will be the first Indian city to be extensively covered by CCTV.

A senior Delhi police official Karnal Singh said a central monitoring station would be controlling and keeping track of the cameras.

Another police official said the cameras will help to track down criminals.

Marc Says: London has more CCTV cameras than any other city. London is now the most violent city in Europe. CCTV cameras do not reduce crime or make law-abiding citizens safer. They do, however, provide a great excuse for higher taxes, less privacy, and bigger Police budgets.

[Entertainment] Star Trek's Scotty dies aged 85

Actor James Doohan, who played the chief engineer Montgomery Scott in Star Trek, has died at the age of 85.

Marc Says: I mourn. Scottie was by far my favorite character on Star Trek.

[Terrorism] Tancredo's Musings abotu Nuking Mecca in Retaliation for Nuke or Dirty Bomb Attack on US City

"So maybe the UK should have bombed the Vatican in retaliation to the IRA's bomb and mortar attacks?"

Marc Says: Best refutation I have heard yet, from a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.

[Colorado] Hot!

90F by 9 AM. :-(

[Pandemic] UK to stockpile 2 mln doses of bird flu vaccine

Source: Reuters

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - The British government plans to stockpile 2 million doses of vaccine to fight the H5N1 strain of bird flu which has hit Asia.

The vaccine will be used to protect key healthcare and emergency workers against a possible global flu pandemic, health minister Patricia Hewitt said in a statement on Wednesday.

Marc Says: The UK starts to react to the next pandemic. Will the US?

[Pandemic] Jakarta confirms bird flu deaths

"Test results confirm that Indonesia has suffered its first three human fatalities from the bird flu virus."

Marc Says: It begins.

[Terrorism] DEBKAfile - London Terror Inquiry Heads Secretly to the African Sahara

DEBKAfile - London Terror Inquiry Heads Secretly to the African Sahara:

"Last Friday, July 14, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 214 (Al Qaeda?s Zone 9: The Blue-faced Men of the Sahara) revealed that a top-secret gathering took place Wednesday, July 13, in one of the most out-of-the-way towns in the world, Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania. It was attended by linchpins of the services responsible for the war on al Qaeda, the American Central Intelligence Agency, the British domestic and foreign secret services, MI5 and MI6, and the security chiefs of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Last week too, a senior British official who specializes in intelligence and terrorism Kim Howells was dispatched to Morocco.

Add these moves to the earlier DEBKAfile finding that the explosives came from Serbia and it is clear that the real investigation is focused on West Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East - not Pakistan and Egypt.

The Nouakchott meeting was indeed called by British anti-terrorist services after their experts concluded that the team of terrorists that blew up three Tube trains and a bus in London on July 7 received their orders, explosives and operating funds from al Qaeda's West Africa arm.

Very little is known about this remote wing of the Islamist group known as the West African Jam'a functions from deep inside the Sahara Desert under the command of Mukhtav bin Mukhtar, known also as the Blind One because he is one-eyed.

Al Qaeda refers to this area of operations as Zone 9 and it is one of the most remote, bizarre and hazardous of all its sectors."

Marc Says: Very interesting. Debkafile has strong connections to the Israeli intel community, and frequently comes out with information long before the Western media does, particulary when the Western press is being used for disinformation purposes. (Conversely, Debkafile also comes out with information that later turns out to be wrong.) Debkafile has been saying all along that the explosives used in the UK bombings came from Serbia, and in this article traces the path they took to reach the UK.

[Energy] U.S., India May Share Nuclear Technology

U.S., India May Share Nuclear Technology:

"President Bush agrees to share civilian nuclear technology with India, reversing decades of U.S. policies designed to discourage countries from developing nuclear weapons."

Marc Says: I think this is an excellent idea. I think that the US and the India are natural allies. India has huge requirements for growing energy use as its economy grows and it attempts to transition from a Gap country into a Core country. Of course, the Chinese would also be very happy to supply that emerging market, so I think the US ought to get in there first.

[Terrorism, Biological Warfare] Japan rejects germ warfare claim

Japan rejects germ warfare claim:

"A Japanese court rejects claims for compensation by Chinese victims of biological warfare during WWII."

Marc Says: Yet another case of "moral relativism" pertaining to WWII, where the evil Americans started the war by embargoing oil to the Japanese, forcing the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor, and then needlessly perpetrated horrible nuclear attacks on the Japanese -- but the Japanese did not do anything wrong in conducting germ warfare experiments on Chinese citizens.

I suspect this will indeed go all the way up to the UN and I will be very interested to see what happens there. I view the UN as somewhere between mostly dysfunctional and completely dysfunctional, but I always continue to hold out hope. The UN has the designed-for-failure problem that it only has representatives from nations, so groups which are not affiliated with nations (trans-national corporations, NGOs, and religions) have no seats and no representations. What an interesting and far more relevant-to-today's-world place the UN would be if the Catholic Pope, and the Shiia, the Sunni, for example, had seats and votes. Each of them would represent the views and interests of far more people that the vast majority of the small nations that do have seats at the UN.

I also suspect that the G8, the people who really do what we wish the UN did (broker agreements between world powers and help institute new rule sets) will begin to address the issue. I understand they are already starting to think about the next global pandemic (probably avian flu from SE Asia).

In particular, as the world refines its rule set to deal with terrorism and biological weapons of mass destruction, I think we need to carefully examine our current global rule set as it pertains to those who use biological agents. For example, if Islamic terrorists deploy biological agents in Russia, Europe, and/or the US, should Russia, Europe, and/or the US reply with nuclear strikes against Muslim holy cities? Colorado's Tom Tancredo has made the news recently proposing that the US might consider doing just that in the case of nuclear or dirty bomb attacks.

As I understand the Cold War (WWIII) rule set, the tacit understanding was that if the USSR deployed biological agents the US would respond with nuclear weapons. I also understand from Judith Miller's excellent book on biological weapons during Iraq 1, the US apparently told Saddam Hussein that if he deployed biological weapons (which, ironically, the US had originally given him, which he had deployed against the Iranians during the Iran-Iraq wars, and against which the US knew its troops did not have protection) against the US troops fighting to liberate Kuwait, the US would respond with nuclear weapons on Baghdad and other large Iraqi cities. Hussein wisely chose not to deploy his stocks of biological weapons and the US wisely chose to publicly pretend that it never intended to attack to Baghdad or institute "regime change", as Saddam Hussein in turn had signaled that if the US attacked toward Baghdad he (Hussein) would deploy his biological weapons.

The big difference was that in Iraq 1 the US knew who Saddam was and where he lived, and he knew the US knew. In WWIV (GWOT) we do not necessarily know exactly who the attackers are or where they hail from, or even if they represent a "country", or they may even be citizens of the country they attack (as was the case with the recent UK tube and bus bombings).

I see the US as slowly beginnig to revise its rule sets from that of helpless victim of a biological or nuclear attack (gosh, we don't know who did it so there is nothing we can do but be victims) to a position where we start to hold broader communities responsible for controlling the behavior of their extremist sub-groups. I see the British taking the first steps in this direction as they tell their indigenous Muslim community that they were not responsible for the attacks and they are responsible for helping root out the extremist terrorists, rather than just wringing their hands and loudly proclaiming that they (the Muslim community) are victims too. I see similar movement in the US as well (Tancredo's recent comments not withstanding).

[Computer] Logitech IO2 Digital Pen

I received my Logitech IO2 digital pen yesterday. Today I have been trying to install it. As I expected (from reading the installation woes of others who have posted on the Logitech IO digital pen support forums at Logitech) I am having a terrible time getting the software installed. The installer gets all the files copied to disc and starts making registry entries, then fails, saying it can not access the registry.

I have been working to selectively disable Norton firewall, Norton anti-virus, and CounterSpy anti-spyware. I thought I had them all turned off, but I still cannot get the installer to modify the registry. I am going to think about it for a while longer and then call Logitech's support line to see if they can offer any suggestions. Logitech has a very well-earned reputation among IO and IO2 digital pen users for providing little to no support, so I do not hold out much hope. I may end up returning the pen if I can't get the software to install. :-(

[Marc's Medical] Still Sitting Up

A bit sore, but I have actually managed to sit up all day today. :-)

[Terrorism] A Remorseless Rudolph Gets Life Sentence for Bombing at Clinic - New York Times

A Remorseless Rudolph Gets Life Sentence for Bombing at Clinic - New York Times:

"Eric Rudolph, who has confessed to the Atlanta Olympics bombing and three other explosions that killed two and injured 150, received two life sentences today for a fatal abortion clinic blast after angrily denouncing abortion and telling the federal court that 'deadly force is needed to stop it.'"

Marc Says: More religious extremist terrorism, this time domestic and Christian. :-(

My folks were at the Atlanta Olympics. Happily for me, his bomb missed them.

[Computer] Bradcast_050716: Tablify your notebook! | The Bradcast: Engineered Thought from Brad Gibson

Bradcast_050716: Tablify your notebook! | The Bradcast: Engineered Thought from Brad Gibson:

"Today the Bradcast (thebradcast attt gmail.com) talks about turning an existing notebook computer into a pseudo-tablet PC."

Marc Says: A very interesting (to me) podcast. Friends Bill D and Joe O have been urging me to contemplate a notebook PC and a Wacom tablet versus a Tablet PC. This podcast shows that one can indeed do just that. Additionally, I learned that when one installs the Windows XP Language extensions (from Office 2003 or by downloading and installing the trial version of Microsoft's OneNote) gives you digital ink support and voice recognition.

[Environment] Public Relations Campaign for Research Office at E.P.A. Includes Ghostwriting Articles

Public Relations Campaign for Research Office at E.P.A. Includes Ghostwriting Articles:

"The strategy includes writing and placing "good stories" about the E.P.A.'s research office in consumer and trade publications."

Marc Says: One of the many reasons I don't trust the E.P.A. or the "research" it sponsers and/or conducts.

[Terrorism] Frustrated Iraqis ready to take law into own hands (Reuters)

Frustrated Iraqis ready to take law into own hands (Reuters):

"Reuters - Iraqis have begun barricading themselves in their homes and forming neighborhood militias in an effort to fend off relentless suicide attacks, residents in the capital said on Monday."

[Medical (Family)] Brother-In-Law Update

Spoke with Gary today. He is recovering very well from having had two
stents implanted into his cardiac arteries last week. Today he is sounding
very cheerful and energetic. He expects to work from home tomorrow and to
go back to work Wednesday.

[Books] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rpwling

Rereading...

[Terrorism] Weak Brits, Tough French

Weak Brits, Tough French

by Daniel Pipes

New York Sun

July 12, 2005

Thanks to the war in Iraq, much of the world sees the British government as resolute and tough and the French one as appeasing and weak. But in another war, the one against terrorism and radical Islam, the reverse is true: France is the most stalwart nation in the West, even more so than America, while Britain is the most hapless.

British-based terrorists have carried out operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and America. Many governments - Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Spanish, French, and American - have protested London's refusal to shut down its Islamist terrorist infrastructure or extradite wanted operatives. In frustration, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak publicly denounced Britain for "protecting killers." One American security group has called for Britain to be listed as a terrorism-sponsoring state.

Counterterrorism specialists disdain the British. Roger Cressey calls London "easily the most important jihadist hub in Western Europe." Steven Simon dismisses the British capital as "the Star Wars bar scene" of Islamic radicals. More brutally, an intelligence official said of last week's attacks: "The terrorists have come home. It is payback time for … an irresponsible policy."

While London hosts terrorists, Paris hosts a top-secret counterterrorism center, code-named Alliance Base, the existence of which was recently reported by the Washington Post. At Alliance Base, six major Western governments have since 2002 shared intelligence and run counterterrorism operations - the latter makes the operation unique.

More broadly, President Chirac instructed French intelligence agencies just days after September 11, 2001, to share terrorism data with their American counterparts "as if they were your own service." The cooperation is working: A former acting CIA director, John E. McLaughlin, called the bilateral intelligence tie "one of the best in the world." The British may have a "special relationship" with Washington on Iraq, but the French have one with it in the war on terror.

Marc Says: I had heard about the French internattional intelligence sharing. I also recall that Harvard professor Dr. Samuel Huntington, in his book "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order", harshly criticises "multiculturalism" as it allows ethnic and religious groups to avoid integrating into their new country and thus to keep their primary identity and allegience to an external entity other than their country and culture. I think that pretty accurately describes what we know so far of the four homocide/suicide bombers in the 7/7/2005 UK tube and bus bombings.

[Books] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rpwling

Reading...

[Medical] Why 'imaginary voices' are male -- BBC NEWS | UK | Education

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Why 'imaginary voices' are male:

"A university research team says it has discovered why most people "hearing voices" in hallucinations say they hear male voices.
Dr Michael Hunter's research at the University of Sheffield says that male voices are less complex to produce than female.

As such, when the brain spontaneously produces its own "voices", a male voice is more likely to have been generated.

Among both men and women, 71% of such "false" voices are male.

'False perception'

"Psychiatrists believe that these auditory hallucinations are caused when the brain spontaneously activates, creating a false perception of a voice," says Professor Hunter of the university's psychiatry department.

"The reason these voices are usually male could be explained by the fact that the female voice is so much more complex that the brain would find it much harder to create a false female voice accurately than a false male voice," he says.

Such imaginary voices are typically likely to be middle-aged and carry "derogatory" messages.

The research, published in NeuroImage, shows how the brain interprets information from human voices - and how female and male voices activate different parts of the brain."

[Terrorism] Muslim Radicals Tell al-Qaeda 'Stop Killing Innocent Civilians'

ENGLISH EXCLUSIVE: Muslim Radicals Tell al-Qaeda 'Stop Killing Innocent Civilians': "The murder of Egypt's ambassador in Iraq and the wholesale slaughter of Iraqi innocents by Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda affiliate have brought surprising denunciations from two Egyptian fundamentalist groups. The groups, Al-Jihad, or 'Holy War' and Al-Jamaa Al-Islaamiyya, argue that al-Qaeda's bloodthirsty mistakes are making life difficult for its radical Islamic brethren around the world."

Marc Says: Translated from Egyptian newspaper into English by a web news-watch service. Very interesting.

[Narcotics] Cocaine traces at EU parliament | BBC NEWS | Europe

BBC NEWS | Europe | Cocaine traces at EU parliament:

"Cocaine traces have been found at the European Parliament in an inquiry by one of Germany's main broadcasters.
The Sat-1 channel sent reporters to take 46 swabs from toilets and other public areas of the Brussels buildings. Nearly all tested positive for cocaine.
A European Parliament spokeswoman said cocaine abuse was not a problem among staff working at the buildings.
A professor who analysed the samples said the amounts found were too great to have been carried in on clothing."

[Terrorism] France 'to expel radical imams'

France 'to expel radical imams':

"French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy vows to deport any Muslim cleric preaching violence."

[Medical (Family)] Brother-in-Law's Heart Surgery

Marc Says: I chatted with my brother in law today. He gave me some more data on his heart surgery. He had two minor arteries that were 80% blocked. The surgeons put stents into these two arteries. While they were running optical probes around they inspected all his other heart arteries, which were all 100% open. They also looked at his carotid arteries, which were also 100% open. This is superb news. He has to take it easy this weekend, and he will start a graduated exercise program over the next three weeks.

Another piece of very happy news was that since he had his original cardiac stress test a month ago and I started hammering him about the ratio of Omega-6 essential fatty acids to Omega-3 essential fatty acids, he brought all of his blood numbers into the normal range by simply following a no-grains (source of Omega-6 EFA) diet and no simple sugars (no sugar, no honey, no high-fructose corn syrup, etc.) and doing mild exercise. Most excellent. I told him he is on the no-grain and no-sugars diet, plus exercise, for the rest of his life. He is a believer now. :-)

[Energy] Purdue Findings Support Earlier Nuclear Fusion Experiments

Purdue Findings Support Earlier Nuclear Fusion Experiments:

"Researchers at Purdue University have new evidence supporting earlier findings by other scientists who designed an inexpensive "tabletop" device that uses sound waves to produce nuclear fusion reactions. The new findings were detailed in a peer-reviewed papers that appeared in the May."

Marc Says: Very interesting!

[Space] Shuttle Repairs Will Take Days

Shuttle Repairs Will Take Days:

"The launch of Discovery is off for now while technicians try to ascertain why the craft can’t figure out how much gas is in the tank. Amit Asaravala reports from the Kennedy Space Center."

Marc Says: I passionately hate intermittent electrical faults. This one could be as nasty as a loose solder connection in the pin in a cable connector. Gack. My heart goes out to the sleep-deprived NASA trouble-shooting teams. :-(

[Terrorism] Possible Bomb Mastermind Arrested in Cairo [updated]

Possible Bomb Mastermind Arrested in Cairo [updated]:

"Scotland Yard has confirmed reports that a man has been arrested in Egypt in connection with the London terror bombs hunt.

The suspect, believed to have had a central role in making the explosive devices, was held near Cairo and was being questioned, the American television company ABC reported.

The network said authorities believed the man had left Britain two weeks before the London explosions on July 7.

The report said authorities were eager to learn whether more than one bomb-maker had been involved and whether more bombs had been made.

He is said to have been detained in a suburb of Cairo following a worldwide search involving the FBI, Interpol and other agencies.

More….

More:

The ABC report from London identified the man as Magdy Elnashar, 33, a U.S.-trained chemist. It cited Egyptian and western intelligence sources as saying he had been captured in a Cairo suburb."

[Military] Armoured Security Vehicle (ASV) in demand in Iraq

Armoured Security Vehicle (ASV) in demand in Iraq:

July 15, 2005 Our recent story on the "World's toughest bus which has been used to defeat many ambushes in Iraq caused a lot of reader response, so we thought it might be worth noting the United States Army’s US$500 million purchase of an additional 724 Armoured Security Vehicles (ASV) to protect troops in Iraq. The ASV is a 4X4 wheeled armoured vehicle that provides crew protection against medium calibre armour-piercing machine gun fire, large artillery projectile fragments, and land mines. The advanced exceedingly lightweight ceramic armour allows the vehicle to be able to "roll-on/roll-off" C-130 military transport aircraft. ASV’s off-road performance includes the capability to ford water depths of five feet, climb gradients of 60 percent, and overcome obstacles 2 feet high. Unlike many other vehicles, the ASV enables the crew to load, reload and clear gun jams under full armour protection. Special run-flat tires with central tire inflation offer the crew added mobility when under fire."

Marc Says: Transports on a C-130, mine resistant (see the full article), etc. But no mention of whether it can stand up to an RPG, the only question that actually matters in the next 50 years of urban counter-insurgency combat.

[Medical] One-Third of Major Medical Studies Inaccurate or Exaggerated

One-Third of Major Medical Studies Inaccurate or Exaggerated:"

"It's often the case that with every new medical "breakthrough" that comes along, there are two or three more to discount it. Now a new review has proven this phenomenon: About one-third of all major studies from the last 15 years were subsequently shown to be inaccurate or overblown. Two recent examples of this worth mentioning are:

• The initial finding that hormone-replacement therapy reduced older women's heart disease risk (a larger trial later found that HRT actually raised cardiovascular and cancer risk)
• The promise of vitamin E in preventing heart attack (it may not)."

[Medical] VCU Study Shows Big-brained People Are Smarter

"RICHMOND, Va. (June 17, 2005) Â? People with bigger brains are smarter than their smaller-brained counterparts, according to a study conducted by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the journal Â?Intelligence.Â?

The study, published on line June 16, could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Ever since German anatomist and physiologist Frederick Tiedmann wrote in 1836 that there exists Â?an indisputable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man,Â? scientists have been searching for biological evidence to prove his claim.

Â?For all age and sex groups, it is now very clear that brain volume and intelligence are related,Â? said lead researcher Michael A. McDaniel, Ph.D., an industrial and organizational psychologist who specializes in the study of intelligence and other predictors of job performance."

Marcfinally Finaly, my having a fat head has a benefit. :-)

[Medical (Family)] Brother-In-Law's Status Good Following Stent Surgery

Marc,

I spoke with Jennifer this morning and Gary seems fine. I think that he will come home today.

Dad

Marc Says: Phew!

[Terrorism, Religion] Moderate Muslims' citizenship duty

By Mansoor Ijaz

America's Muslims largely failed to rise up to their citizenship responsibilities after the 9/11 attacks, often choosing instead to play the role of aggrieved victims. Their voices in America's body politic are now marginalized as a result. Indeed, that moderate Muslims everywhere do not take meaningful steps to weed out Al Qaeda's dangerous roots in their communities is a stunning failure of leadership and lies at the heart of the increasing distrust secular societies have for all Muslims.

Marc Says: Cogently stated.

[Terrorism] Mastermind behind London blasts identified: Report

Thursday, 14 July , 2005, 06:26

London: British police have identified the man thought to be the mastermind behind last week’s bombings in London in which at least 52 persons died, a report said on Thursday.

The British-born man in his 30s, of Pakistani origin, arrived at a British port last month and left the country again the day before Thursday’s attacks, The Times reported.

The four suspected suicide bombers, three of whom have been identified by newspapers, were also Britons of Pakistani origin.

According to The Times, security sources believe the mastermind was involved in previous terror operations and has links with followers of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.

He is thought to have visited the bombers in their home city of Leeds, northern England, and identified targets on the London Underground rail subway system where three of the four bombs exploded, the paper said.

[Medical (Family)] Gary's Heart Surgery Successful

Brother in law Gary recovering after heart surgery. 2 stents inserted. His color is good and he is cheerful, reports my Dad. Mom and Sis just back in MN from the UK. Sis is at the hospital. Gary should go home tomorrow.

The Great American Debate Over Anonymous Sources Is Long Overdue

The Great American Debate Over Anonymous Sources Is Long Overdue:

"Le Monde, France, July 4"

Marc Says: American political manipulation of the press, as seen from a French perspective.

[News, RSS] Translations of Foreign Press Talking about USA -- Watching America

Watching America:

"Discover What the World Thinks About U.S."

Even has an RSS feed.

I found this gem via an article in the Christian Science Monitor.

[Terrorism] Explosives used in Thursday's Tube blasts came from the Balkans. - DEBKAfile

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism Security:

"London police sources now believe the explosives used in Thursday's Tube blasts came from the Balkans.

On July 8, 24 hours after bombings, DEBKAfile revealed that al Qaeda buys its bombs in Serbia.

July 13, 2005, 7:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

London police sources now believe the explosives used in Thursday’s Tube blasts came from the Balkans.

On July 8, 24 hours after bombings, DEBKAfile revealed that al Qaeda buys its bombs in Serbia.

This exclusive account with background was aroused great interest in the Belgrade media this week. We are therefore re-running the story.

July 8: Belgrade is where al Qaeda goes shopping for the explosives and arms for its terror attacks, according DEBKAfile’s exclusive intelligence and counter-terror sources. Thursday, July 7, eight hours after four coordinated blasts hit London transport and killed at least 50 people, British terror experts were on a special flight from London to the Serbian capital.

They were carrying samples of the explosives collected from the four crime scenes to probe their origin and find out how the substance was smuggled into the UK. According to our sources, several large illicit weapons traffickers set up business in Belgrade a year ago. Al Qaeda is one of their biggest customers. The Americans discovered this from examinations of explosives and weapons seized from terrorists in Iraq and Israeli probes of the origin of weapons seized from smugglers crossing through the southern Negev on their way from Egyptian Sinai to Jordan and thence to Iraq.

The arms traffickers in Belgrade help themselves to the contents of Serbian army arms stores by bribing the right officers. The Serbian government has not responded to appeals from Washington to shut down this arms racket.

Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved."

[Sport] View the Tour de France route with Google Earth

View the Tour de France route with Google Earth:

Folks at the Google Earth Hacks forums are offering files to download that map out the route of the Tour de France with previously-mentioned Google Earth.

The file downloads are broken down into each stage of the tour. Click on the stage you're interested in, and then the "Download File" link at the bottom of the post. This is a .kmz file and if you've got Google Earth installed, it will open up a map of that stage of the tour. Super-neat! (And given all the people who told me they spent hours playing with Google Earth, I feel a little guilty about listing this under "Productivity.")

Tour de France [Google Earth Hacks Forums via A Whole

[Terrorism] Herald Sun: Home-grown terror [14jul05]

Herald Sun: Home-grown terror [14jul05]:

"Home-grown terror

David Williams and Ben English

14jul05

THE face of terrorism in Britain changed forever yesterday as police established that the London carnage was inflicted by young, home-grown suicide bombers.

At least three were British-born, from outwardly respectable families of Pakistani origin.

They lived quietly in the northern city of Leeds and none had criminal records.

A relative of one of the dead men was being held under the Terrorism Act.
The identities of three of the suicide bombers emerged after police raided six homes in Yorkshire and seized several cars.

They were Hasib Hussain, 19, Shehzad Tanweer, 22 and Mohammed Khan, 30.

In one home, police found an apparent bomb factory. But the man who made the devices is thought to have fled the country.

Police are trying desperately to discover if other devices have been given to other would-be attackers.

A hunt is on for an al-Qaida "Mr Big" who may have masterminded the strikes that killed at least 52 commuters."

Marc Says: Foreign bomb maker and local mules. I wonder how much the "visiting" bomb maker got paid to make the bombs and recruite the local mules? I wonder whose money paid the "visiting" bomb maker?

[Computer] Downloaded and Installed Latest Microsoft OS and Office 2000 Security Patches

I downloaded and installed the 3 new OS patches for Windows XP Home and the 1 new security patch for Office 2000 (Word). Friends Joe O and Kenny G are probably chortling, as they have Macs and therefore probably don't know how to download security patches for their OS (they don't have to know, so far).

The Observer | Comment | Face up to the truth

The Observer | Comment | Face up to the truth:

"Face up to the truth

We all know who was to blame for Thursday's murders... and it wasn't Bush and Blair

Nick Cohen, Sunday July 10, 2005, The Observer

The instinctive response of a significant portion of the rich world's intelligentsia to the murder of innocents on 11 September was anything but robust. A few, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, were delighted. The destruction of the World Trade Centre was 'the greatest work of art imaginable for the whole cosmos,' declared the composer whose tin ear failed to catch the screams.
Others saw it as a blow for justice rather than art. They persuaded themselves that al-Qaeda was made up of anti-imperialist insurgents who were avenging the wrongs of the poor. 'The great speculators wallow in an economy that every year kills tens of millions of people with poverty, so what is 20,000 dead in New York?' asked Dario Fo. Rosie Boycott seemed to agree. 'The West should take the blame for pushing people in Third World countries to the end of their tether,' she wrote.

In these bleak days, it's worth remembering what was said after September 2001. A backward glance shows that before the war against the Taliban and long before the war against Saddam Hussein, there were many who had determined that 'we had it coming'. They had to convince themselves that Islamism was a Western creation: a comprehensible reaction to the International Monetary Fund or hanging chads in Florida or whatever else was agitating them, rather than an autonomous psychopathic force with reasons of its own. In the years since, this manic masochism has spread like bindweed and strangled leftish and much conservative thought.

All kinds of hypocrisy remained unchallenged. In my world of liberal London, social success at the dinner table belonged to the man who could simultaneously maintain that we've got it coming but that nothing was going to come; that indiscriminate murder would be Tony Blair's fault but there wouldn't be indiscriminate murder because 'the threat' was a phantom menace invented by Blair to scare the cowed electorate into supporting him.

I'd say the 'power of nightmares' side of that oxymoronic argument is too bloodied to be worth discussing this weekend and it's better to stick with the wider delusion.

On Thursday, before the police had made one arrest, before one terrorist group had claimed responsibility, before one body had been carried from the wreckage, let alone been identified and allowed to rest in peace, cocksure voices filled with righteousness were proclaiming that the real murderers weren't the real murderers but the Prime Minister. I'm not thinking of George Galloway and the other saluters of Saddam, but of upright men and women who sat down to write letters to respectable newspapers within minutes of hearing the news.

'Hang your head in shame, Mr Blair. Better still, resign - and whoever takes over immediately withdraw all our forces from Iraq and Afghanistan,' wrote the Rev Mike Ketley, who is a vicar, for God's sake, but has no qualms about leaving Afghanistan to the Taliban and al-Qaeda or Iraq to the Baath party and al-Qaeda. 'Let's stop this murder and put on trial those criminals who are within our jurisdiction,' began Patrick Daly of south London in an apparently promising letter to the Independent. But, inevitably, he didn't mean the bombers. 'Let's start with the British government.'

And so it went on. At no point did they grasp that Islamism was a reactionary movement as great as fascism, which had claimed millions of mainly Muslim lives in the Sudan, Iran, Algeria and Afghanistan and is claiming thousands in Iraq. As with fascism, it takes a resolute dunderheadedness to put all the responsibility on democratic governments for its existence.

I feel the appeal, believe me. You are exasperated with the manifold faults of Tony Blair and George W Bush. Fighting your government is what you know how to do and what you want to do, and when you are confronted with totalitarian forces which are far worse than your government, the easy solution is to blame your government for them.

But it's a parochial line of reasoning to suppose that all bad, or all good, comes from the West - and a racist one to boot. The unavoidable consequence is that you must refuse to support democrats, liberals, feminists and socialists in the Arab world and Iran who are the victims of Islamism in its Sunni and Shia guises because you are too compromised to condemn their persecutors.

Islamism stops being an ideology intent on building an empire from Andalusia to Indonesia, destroying democracy and subjugating women and becomes, by the magic of parochial reasoning, a protest movement on a par with Make Poverty History or the TUC.

Again, I understand the appeal. Whether you are brown or white, Muslim, Christian, Jew or atheist, it is uncomfortable to face the fact that there is a messianic cult of death which, like European fascism and communism before it, will send you to your grave whatever you do. But I'm afraid that's what the record shows.

The only plausible excuse for 11 September was that it was a protest against America's support for Israel. Unfortunately, Osama bin Laden's statements revealed that he was obsessed with the American troops defending Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein and had barely said a word about Palestine.

After the Bali bombings, the conventional wisdom was that the Australians had been blown to pieces as a punishment for their government's support for Bush. No one thought for a moment about the Australian forces which stopped Indonesian militias rampaging through East Timor, a small country Indonesia had invaded in 1975 with the backing of the US. Yet when bin Laden spoke, he said it was Australia's anti-imperialist intervention to free a largely Catholic population from a largely Muslim occupying power which had bugged him.

East Timor was a great cause of the left until the Australians made it an embarrassment. So, too, was the suffering of the victims of Saddam, until the tyrant made the mistake of invading Kuwait and becoming America's enemy. In the past two years in Iraq, UN and Red Cross workers have been massacred, trade unionists assassinated, school children and aid workers kidnapped and decapitated and countless people who happened to be on the wrong bus or on the wrong street at the wrong time paid for their mistake with their lives.

What can the survivors do? Not a lot according to a Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He told bin Laden that the northern Kurds may be Sunni but 'Islam's voice has died out among them' and they'd been infiltrated by Jews. The southern Shia were 'a sect of treachery' while any Arab, Kurd, Shia or Sunni who believed in a democratic Iraq was a heretic.

Our options are as limited When Abu Bakr Bashir was arrested for the Bali bombings, he was asked how the families of the dead could avoid the fate of their relatives. 'Please convert to Islam,' he replied. But as the past 40 years have shown, Islamism is mainly concerned with killing and oppressing Muslims.

In his intervention before last year's American presidential election, bin Laden praised Robert Fisk of the Independent whose journalism he admired. 'I consider him to be neutral,' he said, so I suppose we could all resolve not to take the tube unless we can sit next to Mr Fisk. But as the killings are indiscriminate, I can't see how that would help and, in any case, who wants to be stuck on a train with an Independent reporter?

There are many tasks in the coming days. Staying calm, helping the police and protecting Muslim communities from neo-Nazi attack are high among them. But the greatest is to resolve to see the world for what it is and remove the twin vices of wilful myopia and bad faith which have disfigured too much liberal thought for too long."

Marc Says: I think I am in shock. This from the socialist, ultra-leftist, ultra-liberal, hate-America-and-the-UK-first Guardian paper? Wow! Is this a case of, "A Conservative is a Liberal who has been mugged"?

[Terrorism] Military-Quality Explosives Suspected in London Blasts

Military-Quality Explosives Suspected in London Blasts:

"British investigators said the devices used in last week's attacks were sophisticated ones created by a skilled person."

[Terrorism] London Attacks Were Suicide Bombings, British Official Says

London Attacks Were Suicide Bombings, British Official Says:

"In an interview with the BBC, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the four men implicated in the terrorist bombings had "blown themselves up" during the attack."

[Marc's Medical] Improving

Better after this morning's adjustment.

[Medical] U.S. Still Spends More On Health Care Than Any Other Country

U.S. Still Spends More On Health Care Than Any Other Country:

"Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the United States continues to spend significantly more on health care than any country in the world. They also found that supply constraints and malpractice litigation could not explain the difference in health care costs."

[Terrorism] BBC NEWS | UK | London bombers 'were all British'

BBC NEWS | UK | London bombers 'were all British':

"Detectives now believe the London bombings were carried out by four British-born men in what were possibly the country's first suicide attacks.
Security sources said it was likely at least three of the men, said to be of Pakistani descent, are dead, after belongings were found at the scenes.
The details emerged as explosives were found in Leeds and Luton after a series of raids. One man has been arrested.
The BBC's Frank Gardner said an expert may have offered the bombers guidance.
The security correspondent said the suspected bombers - one of whom is thought to have been as young as 19 - may have been helped by someone who would have left the country before the bombs went off."

[Terrorism] In London, Islamic Radicals Found a Haven

In London, Islamic Radicals Found a Haven:

LONDON, July 9 -- On the morning after bombs ripped through the London Underground and crumpled a double-decker bus, four security guards escorted a one-eyed, Egyptian-born cleric, his arms amputated below the elbows from Afghan war injuries, onto the elevated dock of Courtroom No. 1 in Old Bailey,...

[Terrorism] The London Bombings: Who, Why, and What Happens Next -- Stratfor

Summary

The July 7 bombings in London were likely carried out by an al Qaeda cell hoping to draw attention and credibility back to the jihadist organization. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will face increasing pressure after the attacks, particularly regarding his Iraq policy, and relations between U.K. internal security and "Londonistan" are likely to change in coming days.

Analysis

A series of bomb attacks severely disrupted the London and southeast England transport network during midmorning rush hour July 7. At least 37 people died and hundreds were injured during the attacks. A previously unheard-of group calling itself "Secret Organization of al Qaeda in Europe" claimed responsibility for the bombings on its Web site, but Stratfor and Western intelligence agencies consider that claim to be dubious at best. However, the scale and nature of the attacks -- targeting crowded trains and the bus system -- indicates that a group with significant preparations is responsible, and Stratfor believes al Qaeda itself, and not the previously unknown group, carried out the bombings. The attacks are similar to the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which al Qaeda was found to be behind.

If al Qaeda did in fact carry out the London attacks, it adds to the organization's credibility as a still-functioning force able to make its presence known in the major capitals of the world. Striking London while the Group of Eight (G-8) summit has the world focused on the United Kingdom takes not only operational security and organization but also a fair amount of impudence. The relationship between U.K. internal security services and London's often-radical Muslim community is likely to change, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair can expect to face intensifying public pressure.

Four confirmed attacks took place in London. The first explosion occurred at 8:51 a.m. London time on a Circle Line train traveling westbound from Aldgate Station, when the train was 100 yards away from its destination at Liverpool Street Station. Liverpool Street is a major local transport hub that contains a National Rail station serving southeast England. The Circle Line is a shallow "cut-and-cover" line, on which it could be possible to receive a cellular phone signal -- a common method of detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- since the top part of the tunnel is above ground level. However, it is unclear whether mobile communication signal reception is reliable anywhere in the train system.

The second explosion took place five minutes later on a Piccadilly Line train heading north from Russell Square to King's Cross Station. King's Cross is a vital National Rail hub for trains going to northern and eastern Britain and is also a major Underground and local transport interchange. The Piccadilly Line is a deep-tunnel subway route, where it would be more difficult to send or receive mobile communications -- indicating that the bomb on this train was detonated by a timer.

The third blast, at 9:17 a.m. London time, occurred on the Hammersmith and City Line coming from Edgware Road toward Paddington Station. The bomb exploded as trains passed, blasting a hole in a wall and damaging at least one and possibly two other trains. Paddington is a major National Rail station serving southwestern England and Wales, and the Edgware Road station area contains London's high-security Paddington Green police station and a large Muslim population. The Hammersmith and City Line is another shallow "cut-and-cover" line, where mobile communications could be possible.

The upper deck of a double-decker bus running Route No. 205 near Tavistock Square, near the Russell Street underground station, was hit in the fourth explosion, which took place at 9:47 a.m. London time. Scotland Yard initially reported an unknown number of fatalities in this blast.

Following the blasts, U.K. mobile network operators reported problems related to high call volume but denied that the government had asked them to discontinue service; such a request would have indicated that authorities thought command-detonated devices were used. Some calls placed to London mobile numbers were successful by 3:30 p.m. London time. Bus services in the London area were set to resume by 4 p.m., though the Underground is scheduled to remain closed until the morning of July 8. National Rail services, excepting King's Cross, resumed.

Security alerts went out in other countries shortly after the bombings. Germany's Deutsche Bahn AG upped security on all its trains and stations, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised the national security threat level to orange for all mass transit facilities in the country. Both of these alerts were meant to give a sense of action, but were equivalent to closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. There was no credible intelligence that follow-on attacks were imminent, but the alerts went out to make people feel that something had been done to ensure their safety. Meanwhile, in the world markets, crude oil prices dropped because of the prospect of an economic slowdown brought about by the attacks.

Several unexploded or non-functional IEDs reportedly were found in the London Underground shortly after the blasts, but authorities said later that the suspected IEDs were only suspicious objects that would be detonated. One suspicious item was reportedly found at Baker Street, and another at Stockwell Square. Authorities are treating suspicious packages with extreme caution, and it is unclear how many -- if any -- were actually explosive. Though reports of undetonated IEDs could be false alarms, the discovery of unexploded devices would be a boon to understanding the anatomy of the attacks. Analysts could see what type of explosives were used -- and possibly figure out where the explosives might have been acquired -- and see what kind of detonator was used. Tracing the elements of an unexploded IED would take much less time than sifting through the remains of an exploded device. After the Madrid 2004 train bombings, Spanish authorities were able to identify the terrorists based on the cell phone they found attached to an unexploded bomb.

Multiple people would have to have been involved in planting bombs on the Underground lines, if indeed the bombs were either timer- or remote-detonated. Based on the bombs' locations and the directions in which they were traveling, it is unlikely that all of the attackers entered the Underground system from a central location near Russell Square or King's Cross. The attackers instead likely coordinated their bombings from different points in the city. If the attacks follow the Madrid model, the perpetrators planted the bombs on the trains and fled the scene. However, U.K. authorities have not yet ruled out the possibility that the attacks were suicide bombings, though this seems less likely.

It seems that only a well-prepared group with significant operational security would be able to carry out citywide attacks in short succession on infrastructure that could have a serious economic impact and a high casualty rate. Because London has been the recent hub of al Qaeda cell operations in Europe, Stratfor believes that the strikes were likely perpetrated by an al Qaeda cell, using either recruits from the local Islamist community or recent immigrants taking advantage of central London's large Muslim population. There have been recent reports of internal debates among London's Muslim clerics about whether or not U.K. residents should be allowed to stage attacks in the country. That the methods used in the attacks are similar to standard al Qaeda methods suggests that a ringleader or bomb maker -- perhaps one person serving in both capacities -- was brought in to coordinate the attacks.

Al Qaeda would have sufficient motive to carry out such an attack. As U.S. and coalition forces continue battling jihadist insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, al Qaeda appears to have become less effective. Periodic major attacks -- such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid -- help the jihadist network reassert itself and lend it a certain measure of credibility. Such credibility is necessary for its continued survival and for its recruiting operations. Ultimately, al Qaeda seeks to show the power of the Islamic world and the vulnerability of the United States and its allies. The audacious timing of the attacks -- during the G-8 summit -- brings this point home. Furthermore, the timing of the London bombings matches the 18- to 24-month operational cycle for major al Qaeda attacks.

Attacking during the G-8 summit will certainly draw attention to al Qaeda, if the organization did indeed carry out the London bombings. Still, the scale of the attacks represents a diminished power, and it could indicate that al Qaeda is in decline.

But whatever the implications for al Qaeda, the political timing for the attacks puts pressure on both the British government and its security infrastructure. Security attention had been focused well north of London this week in coordination with the G-8 summit, where Blair was pushing debt relief and climate-change action. Blair has faced ferocious domestic opposition, especially from the left and from Muslim communities, over his support for the Iraq war. This opposition is likely to increase after the London bombings, especially because of one piece of information: Unconfirmed rumors in intelligence circles indicate that Israel had warned the U.K. government several days prior to the bombings that such an attack was imminent. Not wishing to disrupt the G-8 summit or spoil celebrations over London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympics, the British government sat on the information and hoped it was a false alarm.

The short-term U.K. response to the attacks will almost certainly involve a shift in relations between British internal security services and London's sizeable -- and often radical -- Muslim population, which was subject to intense racial tensions during the last U.K. election cycle. MI5 has taken a light hand with "Londonistan," believing for the most part that local clerics had no significantly threatening connections with international terrorist organizations. That approach is likely to change. The response in the United Kingdom in coming days could set the tone for the larger European debate over Muslim immigration as both a security and cultural threat. Possibly hoping to head off the worst of a backlash, the Muslim Council of Great Britain has already issued a statement condemning the "evil" London attacks.

In the meantime, Blair will face continuing and intensifying questions about the future of his tenure, with Labor backbenchers increasingly willing to demand that he hand over power to popular Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Blair will have to make some visible change to his Iraq policy in response to these events -- though that does not necessarily mean an actual weakening of the British presence in Iraq. It is unclear whether or not the British public will offer an anti-government, anti-war backlash such as that in Spain after the Madrid attacks; it is not out of the question that the London attacks could simply strengthen the U.K. government's resolve on the Iraq issue.

Marc Says: More excellent analysis from Stratfor.

[Terrorism] The London Bombings: A Local Cell at Work? -- Stratfor

"Four bombs exploded in London's transportation system during the morning rush hour July 7, three striking the Underground commuter rail system and another tearing the top off of a double-decker bus. Scotland Yard has confirmed that 37 people died as a result of the blasts and that hundreds are injured, although estimates of the death toll reach higher than 50.

According to Scotland Yard, the first explosion occurred at 8:51 a.m. local time, 100 yards into the Underground tunnel from the Liverpool Street station, killing seven people. The second explosion occurred five minutes later on the Piccadilly Line heading north from Russell Square Station to King's Cross Station, killing 21 people. The third explosion took place at 9:17 a.m. as the train arrived at the Edgeware Road Station. That bomb exploded as two trains passed each other, blowing holes in both trains and at least one other train in the station. A total of five people died in that explosion. Half an hour later, a bomb detonated on the upper deck of the No. 205 bus near Upper Logan Square, killing perhaps 20 people.

Reports also circulated that several unexploded devices, or "duds," were found, including one at the Baker Street Station and another at Stockwell Square. Law enforcement sources said all but one of these were, in fact, only "suspicious items" that will be destroyed, though law enforcement personnel believe one is a real improvised explosive device.

The presence of decontamination tents and personnel wearing HazMat clothing at the bomb sites raised concerns that the attackers might have attempted to detonate a "dirty bomb," although these steps are taken as a precaution and are part of standard response procedures.

Given the number of devices involved in these attacks, British forensic investigators should be able to get to the bottom of the blasts, because each bomb -- exploded or not -- leaves valuable pieces of evidence. Forensic examination will also be important in this case to determine if there is any relation to the March 2004 Madrid train bombings. The sophistication of the bombmaker and the method of deployment also will come to light.

As of now, the kind of bombs used in the attacks is unclear, although the possibilities include command-detonated suicide bombers, command-detonated improvised explosive devices or timed explosive devices. We can assume, however, that we are dealing with devises -- and detonators -- rigged out of ingredients available on the open market, because the sale of bomb-making ingredients such as dynamite and gunpowder is tightly controlled in Britain, due to the country's history with the Irish Republican Army. The use of improvised detonators, which are not as reliable as industrially manufactured hardware, would explain the reports of multiple failures. Most improvised or homemade explosive mixtures would not be as powerful as the commercial-grade material used in the Madrid attacks.

Investigators will study the timing of the Underground blasts -- and reports that the explosions occurred as the trains pulled into stations -- as one method of determining the type of bombs used. The fact that the bombings appear to have been coordinated suggests that multiple perpetrators are involved -- mainly because it would have been impossible for one person to have planted all of the devices. It is possible that someone planted timed explosives on the trains, knowing the general time needed to travel between stations, though they risked having the bombs go off at the wrong time if a train was delayed.

The attackers could have used command-detonated bombs in order to guarantee a more precise detonation time and increase the number of casualties in the stations. If the devices were command-detonated, they probably did not use a cellular telephone as a trigger, because cellular phones typically do not work inside the London Underground system. Another possibility is that suicide bombers exploded their devices at predetermined times.

The attack likely was carried out by a cell of locals living in London and working with an operational planner and/or bombmaker from outside the country. The planner and/or bombmaker (one person often performs both jobs) probably arrived in Britain several weeks or a few months before the attack in order to plan the operation and manufacture the devices. After the attacks, this person most likely boarded a plane and left the country, ultimately to return to a location in the Middle East or South Asia. It is a practice of many jihadist organizations, al Qaeda in particular, to use mid-level operatives to set up cells throughout the world for the purpose of conducting attacks.

Within the context of the London Underground attacks, the bombing of the bus near Upper Logan Square is an anomaly, suggesting the bus was not originally a target. Compared to the other bombs, which detonated within a few minutes of one other, the device on the bus went off a half hour after the last explosion. One possible explanation for this is that it was a secondary bomb meant to cause casualties among people evacuating the Underground stations following the earlier explosions. Another possibility is that the bomber assigned to carry out one of the attacks got cold feet at the last minute or for some reason felt that his mission was compromised. Rather than risk capture, the bomber might have left the device on the bus that was taking him to his intended target. Left unattended, a failsafe timer on the device could have caused the detonation. It also is possible that a last-minute change of plans left the terrorists with an extra bomb, and it was decided just to leave it where it would cause casualties.

A group calling itself the Secret Organization of al Qaeda in Europe claimed responsibly for these attacks on a jihadist Web site July 7, although this claim obviously has not been verified. Because al Qaeda's ability to conduct major operations has been called into question in recent months, the leadership might have felt the need to conduct a large-scale attack in order to prove the network still is capable of causing harm to the West.

Following the attacks, U.S. authorities tightened security in the New York and Washington, D.C., subway systems, while the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level for transportation from Yellow to Orange. If al Qaeda carried out the London attacks, the network is probably incapable of conducting similar operations in the near future, given its diminished capability. By the time the terrorists are ready to strike again, security will likely have relaxed."

Marc Says: I very deeply respect Stratfor's analyses.

[Terrorism] Sky News : Website Claims Al Qaeda Behind Blasts

Sky News : Website Claims Al Qaeda Behind Blasts:

"Another website has claimed al Qaeda terrorists carried out the London transport bombings.
A statement has been posted in the name of the Europe Division of the network's Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades.
'A group of mujahedeen from a division of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades piled blow after blow on the infidel capital, the British capital, leaving dead and injured,' said the statement.
It was the second such claim posted on an Islamist website.
After Thursday's attacks, a similar statement was put out in the name of the 'al Qaeda Organisation - Jihad in Europe'."

Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution - New York Times

Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution - New York Times:

"An influential cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, which has long been regarded as an ally of the theory of evolution, is now suggesting that belief in evolution as accepted by science today may be incompatible with Catholic faith.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, pictured at the Vatican in 2003, said students should be taught that evolution is just one of many theories.

The cardinal, Christoph Schonborn, archbishop of Vienna, a theologian who is close to Pope Benedict XVI, staked out his position in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, writing, 'Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not.'"

Marc Says: We don' need no stinkin' science! Note the logical fallacy of trying to cast science as a "belief". That way there is no need to argue about the measurements or the data. Clever.

[Medical] Noise Can Help, Rather Than Hinder, People's Ability To Sense Things

Noise Can Help, Rather Than Hinder, People's Ability To Sense Things:

"We usually think of noise as a bad thing — like the background sound of street traffic that makes it hard to hear a conversation or your favorite CD. Researchers know that such extraneous stimuli exist for other senses, too: Noise can affect your ability not only to hear, but also to see and feel.

But it's not always a bad thing, it turns out. Researchers from the University of British Columbia recently showed that noise can at times help, rather than hinder, people's ability to sense things. Researcher Lawrence M. Ward said that "although counterintuitive ... noise can actually help us to see, hear or feel weak signals that would otherwise be imperceptible."

Marc Says: Noise affects me very strongly and very adversely.

[Pentagon's New Map] Wait a minute! Did you say $16 billion in remittances? -- Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett

Wait a minute! Did you say $16 billion in remittances?:

"Study Challenges Assumptions About Money Being Remitted to Mexico: Researchers say sizable sums don't seem to be going to families of migrants," by Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times, 7 July 2005, p. C4.

Turns out that of the $16 billion that Mexicans supposedly send back home from America each year, only half @half!@ actually go to the families of migrant workers. A mere $8 billion.

Peanuts. Hell, America gives something like $6 billion each year in official development aid each year to the entire Gap!

Hah! And Mexican migrants only provide a mere $2b more to families back home!

Why those lazy . . . !!

So the researchers (Mexican) try to figure out if the rest is being lost or just exaggerated or what.

Good, good.

Mexican government officials contend that better accounting is driving the number up, and that the actual flows are much bigger.

Here's the larger issue at work: Vincente Fox's government claims that people living in serious poverty have dropped from 24 million to 17 million, so any study that downplays the role of remittances makes Fox look like he's accomplished this more on his own.

The reality is that our two economies are more intertwined than ever, with Mexico City less and less in control of its own economic fate. In many practical ways, the United States of Mexico (the official name) have joined the United States of America in economic terms. The politics lags, of course, but this is far more set in stone than any of us realize."

Marc Says: I added the italics in the above quotes. Just as I contend we have to seal the borders and screen everyone coming across to keep out terrorists, so to I agree with Dr. Barnett's contention that the US has to import workers from south of the border and that the US will end up in an economic and political confederation with Middle and South America either as the United States of the Americas (you work it out) or something similar to the European Union.

I can't wait for Dr. Barnett's new book to come out. I have my copy pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

[Computer] Another brief blackout in Loveland

Once again, my Uninterruptible Power Supply saved me completely, as I was
madly typing away on my PC at the time.

7/8/2005 14:03

[Terrorism] Timers Used in Blasts, Police Say; Parallels to Madrid Are Found

Timers Used in Blasts, Police Say; Parallels to Madrid Are Found:

"Investigators said that the three bombs used in the subway apparently were detonated by timers, not suicide bombers."

Marc Says: Very strong similarities to the patterns of the Al Qeada mass transit bombings in Spain a year ago.

I have seen one analysis that showed that all three of the trains and the bus came through King's Cross station, with the timing of the transits such that a small group or even one person could have planted all the bombs on the trains at the King's Cross station and then boarded the double decker bus. This raises the plausible idea that a single person with a backpack or large duffel bag could have dropped off one packet of explosives on each of the three trains in the King's Cross station and then boarded the bus, where he detonated the last of his explosives.

I find the reassurances by US officials that there is no credible danger of a similar attack here in the US to be flatly unbelievable. How many drug trafficers walk across our wide-open southern border each day carrying a back pack or duffel bag full of illegal drugs? Have you ever seen the volume of plastic bundles of cocaine seized by the US Border Patrol on a daily basis? Have you thought about what that same volume of RDX explosives would do to BART or the Washington, D.C. Metro? Apparently the US officials are not capable of that reasoning... :-(

[Tea] Tea of the Day: Fortnum and Mason's "Royal Blend"

I am trying to deplete my aging stocks of increasingly stale F&M tea.

[Computer: Virus; Terrorism] Sasser suspect walks free | The Register

Sasser suspect walks free | The Register:

"By John Leyden
Published Friday 8th July 2005 12:03 GMT

The teenage author of the infamous Sasser worm has been sentenced to one year and nine months probation following his conviction for computer sabotage offences. Sven Jaschan, 19, escaped a prison sentence after confessing to computer sabotage and illegally altering data at the beginning of his trial in the German town of Verden this week. Jaschan will also have to serve 30 hours community service at the local hospital but he escaped any fine.

The teenager was tried behind closed doors in a juvenile court because he was 17 at the time the worm was created, a mitigating factor that went a long way to ensuring Jaschan escaped a more severe punishment for the havoc he wrought.

Sasser is a network aware worm that exploited a well-known Microsoft vulnerability (in Windows Local Security Authority Subsystem Service - MS04-011) to infect thousands of systems in May 2004. German prosecutors picked three German city governments and a broadcaster whose systems were disrupted by Sasser as specimen victims in the prosecution against Jaschan. These organisations were selected from the 143 plaintiffs with estimated damages of $157,000 who have contacted the authorities. All indications are that this is the tip of a very large iceberg. Anti-virus firm Sophos reckons Jaschan was responsible for more than 55 per cent of the viruses reported it last year, thanks to his role in creating bot the Sasser and NetSky worms."

Marc Says: The catch-and-release program for international terrorists who write computer viruses tells all such prospective virus authors that writing and releasing computer viruses is OK to do.

Hints of ?Another Madrid?

Hints of 'Another Madrid':

Newsday:

"U.S. intelligence had picked up warnings recently that the al-Qaida terror network or its followers were seeking to duplicate the dramatic 3/11 Madrid train bombings in another European city, two knowledgeable sources said Thursday.

The information lacked details on what city might be the target or when the attacks might occur, but it appeared to foreshadow Thursday’s London mass-transit bombing, which was similar to the 2004 Madrid attacks that also targeted commuter trains at rush-hour.

Some of that information had been culled from a notebook belonging to Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the No.3 official in al-Qaida and the group’s operations chief, who was arrested in Pakistan in May, one intelligence source said.

Read more…

"

[Terrorism] Sky News : Bus 'Suicide Bomber' Spotted By Passengers

Sky News : Bus 'Suicide Bomber' Spotted By Passengers:

"There is speculation the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.

Police say they are keeping an open mind but survivors have no doubts.

Richard Jones, 61, told The Sun: 'I noticed him as he looked nervous. He was continually diving into his bag, rummaging round and looking in it.'
Seconds after Mr Jones stepped off the bus, it exploded with the 'bomber' still on board.

Terence Mutasa, 27, a staff nurse at University College hospital, said: 'I treated two girls in their 20s who were involved in the bus bomb.

'They were saying some guy came and sat down and that he exploded.'"

[Medical, Pandemic] Bird flu reaches the Philippines

Bird flu reaches the Philippines:

"The Philippines records its first case of bird flu, with a huge poultry industry potentially at risk."

[Anthropology, Culture] Wired News: Guns, Germs, Steel and Now, TV

Wired News: Guns, Germs, Steel and Now, TV:

"By Jason Silverman

02:00 AM Jul. 08, 2005 PT

Why were some cultures able to conquer others? Why do some populations barely scrape by when others have more loot than closet space? Is it genetics? Work ethic? Plain dumb luck?

Or is geography the answer? That's what Jared Diamond posits in Guns, Germs, and Steel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book and, now, a three-part PBS series.

Diamond's theory goes something like this: Societies in agriculture-friendly environments began to master cultivation of their crops and domestication of their animals. Able to spend less time seeking food, these populations devoted more effort to the development of new technologies, some of which (guns, steel) gave them an enormous edge when confronting other societies.

Another advantage for agricultural societies was resistance to deadly diseases. Populations that lived with domesticated animals developed protections against certain diseases; hunters and gatherers didn't. Diseases crossed the oceans, conquerors survived and indigenous people did not."

Marc Says: I really liked the book. I have my VCR set to record the 3 PBS shows.

[Marc's Medical] The Royal Order of the Blue Toe

See my earlier post about the nadvisability of kicking one's cane while barefooted. :-(

[Household] Sprinklers, Sod Stomping

Sprinkler system running OK now. Watered in the area where the sprinkler repair guy had to dig up the sod to find the buried valves. Wandered around and stomped the dug-up sod to try to get the root systems down solidly. Will repeat the operation tomorrow and the day after.

[Medical] Diet imbalances or pesticides?

Diet imbalances or pesticides?:

"Multiple research projects have found a strong association between cancer with unbalanced diets, high in fat, low in plant foods and dietary fibre, but to date all studies which have examined possible links between pesticide residues and cancer have been unable to establish a definitive, positive link.

Thus, getting the public health message across that the scientifically proven health benefits that come with eating the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables by far outweigh any theoretical risk from residue levels present in the food consumed would seem to be a valuable goal in cancer prevention.

For those consumers who wish to take additional measures to reduce any possible pesticide residues in their foods, and wish to avoid the price premium associated with so-called "organic" non-pesticide treated produce, here are some tips from the Asian Food Information Centre.

All raw foods should be washed thoroughly before cooking and/or consumption. Washing in dilute vinegar solution, or solution of sodium bicarbonate, then rinsing with clean water will help to remove any chemical residues and also any soil or other foreign matter on the produce."

[Computer: Spyware] CounterSpy found 14, SpyBot found another 7

And all this with Internet Explorer's Privacy setting set to the
second-highest setting.

[Terrorism] ABC News: Officials: Unexploded Devices Discovered in London

ABC News: Officials: Unexploded Devices Discovered in London:

"July 7, 2005 -- In what appears to be the first major break in the London terrorist attacks, U.S. authorities tell ABC News that British police have recovered two unexploded bombs in London.

In addition, British investigators say that parts of timing devices have been recovered from several of the blast sites. The unexploded devices and timing mechanisms should provide important evidence that could help determine who was behind the attacks, sources told ABC News."

[Terrorism] London bombings toll rises to 37

London bombings toll rises to 37:

"Four terror attacks on London's transport network leave more than 30 people dead and 700 injured."

Marc Says: The terrorists are trying to repeat their success in influencing the Spanish elections. :-(

I very sadly predict (on the basis of no hard data) that the US, with its wide-open southern border, is next. :-(

[Computer] Comcast Cable Back after Power Failure

When Loveland's power failed a while ago my cable provider also went down
(not my modem, my ISP). I called and reported the problem. I was the first
to report it. They fixed it while I was on the line (my cable modem came
back up reporting signal on the cable). I am back on the air.

I have re-cabled my cable modem and my router onto my uninterruptible power
supply.

Now my computer insists that there is no USB connection to my
uninterruptible power supply. I have checked the cabling and all appears
fine. I will have to power down everything and power back up to see if I
can reestablish communications between Win XP?s APC UPS control software and
the UPS hardware. Oh, bother.

[Computer] Loveland Power Failure Knocked Out Comcast Cable

Although my PC survived the recent Loveland power failure just fine, my
cable provider did not. My cable modem is up but it shows I have no
incoming signal. I have no Internet. :-(

[Computer] Power Failure in Loveland

Loveland’s power just failed. My personal computer’s trusty Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) automatically clicked in and I stayed on the air without a hitch or a glitch. I love my UPS. I see I must remember to plug my cable modem into my UPS. Silly me.

Addendum: recabled my Linksys cable modem and router to drive them off the UPS. Should have done that originally. Silly me.

[Computer, Web, Search Engines] Google Maps weather (and web cams)

Google Maps weather (and web cams):

Yet another useful application of Google Maps, Weather Maps displays weather information for a region plus webcam feeds.

Enter a region and watch the map populate itself with weather information points. Click on one to expand and get the dew point, temperature, humidity and precipitation. Check off the web cams checkbox and get a live video feed from mapped points, too (that's my favorite part). Thanks, Steve!

Weather Maps [via Vespaway]

[Computer, Web, Search Engines] Convert currency with Google

Convert currency with Google:

Google now supports currency conversion: check out how the dollar's doing against the Euro, how many Malaysian ringgits one Brazilian real will buy you or how much in British pound sterling $3.50 is.

200 ngultrums? What a deal! [Google Blog]

[Household] Sprinkler Repairs Completed

2 defective Green Lawn brand valves replaced with 2 new (warranteed) Rain
Bird brand valves. Access boxes installed (the original installation was
completely buried and unmarked). Everything is working again. I am
watering in the area where we had to dig to try to keep all the grass alive
there. I am also manually running the stations that had been not working,
to give those parched sections of grass a much needed drink.

[Marc's Medical] Back Pain Level: Severe

The stretches no longer work.

[Household] Sprinkler Repairs Not Completed

Just got a call from the Modern Mole sprinkler repair guy. He had gone off to get parts for my system. He just called to say that he had stopped at another job site to see what parts were needed there. He had forgotten that the parts place closes at 5 PM.

Accordingly, no parts for my system and repairs will not be completed today. Again. Still. As usual. These folk seem to know how to fix sprinklers but they clearly did not attend Business 1001.

The adventure will continue tomorrow (he says, and we hope).

[Computer] Knoppix 4.0 DVD - Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Knoppix 4.0 DVD - Like a Kid in a Candy Store:

IdleTime writes "O'Reilly Developer Weblogs has a nice review of the new yet unreleased Knoppix 4.0 on DVD. As the article says 'A totally new release of Knoppix was unveiled at LinuxTag 2005, Knoppix 4.0. This is the release that introduces the split between "maxi" DVD and "mini" CD releases. I've tried out the 4.0 DVD and let me tell you, I'm like a kid in a candy store.'" AlexanderT points to some currently available torrent files for the DVD.

[Ham Radio] Morse Code on Cell Phones?

Morse Code on Cell Phones?:

"An anonymous reader writes "In a recent showdown, veteran Morse coders were able to send SMS messages faster via Morse than the fastest thumb-typists. What about embedding support for Morse code directly into handsets? This article on O'Reilly Network floats the idea of using Morse code to compose text messages, as well as tapping commands (i.e. answer call, forward to voice mail, etc) in hands-free mode by tapping on the handset case.""

Marc Says: This is far too rich. :-) As a ham myself (that is "amateur radio operator" to the rest of you) I chuckle that 150 year old Morse code (extremely high technology during the US 2nd Civil War in the 1860s) is still faster than the cell-phone doo-dads. :-)

[Psychology] Humans Not Irrational, Just Wary

Humans Not Irrational, Just Wary:

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Psychologists often conclude from research subjects’ behavior in psychological experiments that humans are irrational. New research indicates that humans are in fact quite rational; they just do not trust what people in lab coats tell them. The research suggests that by taking doubt into account, psychologists have the opportunity to strengthen the predictive power of many commonly used models and potentially better understand human behavior.

The research by Vanderbilt University computer scientist and psychologist David Noelle and University of California-San Diego psychologists Craig McKenzie and John Wixted is published in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

Noelle argues that accounting for doubt from the start of an experiment is more effective than trying to convince subjects that what they are being told is true.

“Part of the message of this paper is rather than banging your heard against the wall repeatedly trying to come up with a mechanism that pushes their level of trust in your instructions up as high as you can, why not just incorporate a parameter capturing their level of belief in those instructions into your account of their performance?” he said.

To account for doubt, Noelle and his colleagues developed a new model, dubbed the “trust model,” to interpret subjects’ performance in a simple task. The trust model represents the first time an attempt has been made to quantify and account for the impact of doubt on a subject’s performance in an experiment."

Marc Says: Based on my own extensive first-hand experience with the medical system, I would not under any circumstances trust what someone in a lab coat told me until I could independantly verify it. I do like the idea of these researchers in measuring and quantifying trust in the research subjects. Excellent idea.

[Terrorism, Criminal Aliens] Now departing for Mexico: one-way flights for illegals

Now departing for Mexico: one-way flights for illegals:

A US-funded program returns Mexicans deep into the country.

Marc Says: "Catch and Release" is still "Catch and Release" no matter where you release them. They'll be back, again and again until they get through, as you have now successfully trained them that there are no significant negative consequences for illegally crossing our borders. The "Catch and Release" program for coping with criminal aliens comes squarely under the category of "Management for Failure". Idiots.

[Household] Sprinkler System Repair

Repairs were supposed to happen last Friday, but the repair guys ran into a
broken water main and were not able to get to me (they called and told me,
bless them).

Today we managed to connect. I have 2 malfunctioning valves. We dug up
about 10 feet of the back yard to find them (they are buried and unmarked).
They turned out to be old style angle valves so the Modern Mole repair guy
has gone off to fetch the proper replacement style valves.

The adventure continues. :-(

[Brain, Memory] 83,431 Recited Digits of Pi

83,431 Recited Digits of Pi:

i_like_spam writes "59-year-old Akira Haraguchi of Japan recently broke the world record for the recited number of digits of Pi. Haraguchi-san recited an amazing 83,431 digits of Pi during a 13-hour overnight stretch. This almost doubles the previous record of 42,195 digits by fellow Japanese Hiroyuki Goto. Though it is not yet updated to reflect the new record, the Pi-World-Ranking-List has the rules for participation and breaks down the ranking by world, continent, and country. Links to world rankings for memorized digits of E and Sqrt(2) are also given."

Marc Says: My head hurts just thinking about it. :-)

[Science, History] Royal Society Finds Lost Newton Papers

Royal Society Finds Lost Newton Papers:

Quirk writes "The Royal Society has a story on a Lost Newton manuscript rediscovered. From the article: 'The notes are written about alchemy, which some scientists in Newton's time believed to hold the secret for transforming base metals, such as lead, into the more precious metals of gold or silver...The notes reflect a part of Newton's life which he kept hidden from public scrutiny during his lifetime, in part because the making of gold or silver was a felony and had been since a law was passed by Henry IV in 1404.'"

[Science] Schools Confront Science of Life Debate (AP)

Schools Confront Science of Life Debate (AP):

AP - For school districts across the country, the teaching of Darwinian theory reflects a re-emerging issue in public education. In local communities and state legislatures, evolution is being contested anew, prompting rebukes from scholars who fear politics and religion are eroding established science.

Marc Says: The US shows some distressing signs of wanting to convert from a Core country back into a Gap country. :-(

[Medical, Tea] FDA: 'Highly Unlikely' Green Tea Lowers Cancer Risk

FDA: 'Highly Unlikely' Green Tea Lowers Cancer Risk:

Under the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) "Consumer Health for Better Nutrition Initiative," the Agency is announcing the results of a review of qualified health claims that green tea may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. Based on a systematic evaluation of the available scientific data, the FDA intends to consider exercising its enforcement discretion for the following qualified health claims for breast and prostate cancer: "Two studies do not show that drinking green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer in women, but one weaker, more limited study suggests that drinking green tea may reduce this risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer."

[Environment, Energy] Ethanol, biodiesel from crops not worth the energy

Ethanol, biodiesel from crops not worth the energy:

Turning plants such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers into fuel uses much more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generates, according to a new Cornell University and University of California-Berkeley study. "There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel," says David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell. "These strategies are not sustainable."

Marc Says: This is what I had heard from several sources, but this is the first study I have seen.

[Medical: Pandemic] Avian flu moves among wild geese

Avian flu moves among wild geese: "

An outbreak of avian flu in wild geese in China raises fears that the virus reponsible could soon spread beyond its Asian stronghold.

"

[Computer: Search Engines] Google Maps Wifi hotspots

Google Maps Wifi hotspots: "

New web service gWiFi uses Google Maps to display wireless hotspots near a given location.

Developed by independent programmer and student Suramya Tomar, gWiFi's data isn't perfect (as it required some scraping and manual address-fixing). Suramya did a great job implementing Google Maps with scraped hotspot data; now how about wifi finder services with clean data (like Jiwire) follow the lead?

gWiFi [via Google Blogoscoped]

"

[Computer: Search Engines] Google Image search history

Google Image search history: "

Google is now including image search into their Search History feature. If you click on an image from search results while you're signed into Google with history recording turned on, a thumbnail of that image then appears in your search history along with clicked document results.

Google's bundled Search History into their "Personalized Search" offering (which sounds awfully similar to Yahoo!'s My Web), except Google's personalizing is based on past searches, not on your bookmarks and your friends' bookmarks like Yahoo!. Some may argue it's more work setting up your contact list in Yahoo! and saving links to My Web than Google's Search History (which records passively unless you pause or turn it off), but only time will tell which giants' results tailoring will prove most on target going forward.

Personalized Search Help (Beta) [via

"

[Photography] How to photograph fireworks - results!

How to photograph fireworks - results!: "

This just about made my week. A reader says, "I had never tried photographing fireworks before, but your post inspired me and thanks to the info I got from you I got some great results." Nice photos, Usbrit!

4th of July [usbrit's Flickr photoset]

"

[Medical] While On Trail Of Dioxin, Scientists Pinpoint Cancer Target Of Green Tea

While On Trail Of Dioxin, Scientists Pinpoint Cancer Target Of Green Tea:

Green tea appears to protect against cancer by affecting a "promiscuous" protein that pharmaceutical experts are already targeting in an effort to develop a new drug to stop the disease, scientists have found.

[Computer, RSS, Atom] WatchThatPage - Monitor web pages extract new information

WatchThatPage - Monitor web pages extract new information

WatchThatPage is a service that enables you to automatically collect new information from your favorite pages on the Internet. You select which pages to monitor, and WatchThatPage will find which pages have changed, and collect all the new content for you. The new information is presented to you in an email and/or a personal web page. You can specify when the changes will be collected, so they are fresh when you want to read them. The service is free!

Marc Says: Great solution for monitoring those Luddite pages that do not have RSS or Atom feeds yet.

[Energy] GSPC makes giant Indian gas find

GSPC makes giant Indian gas find:

"India's Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation announces the country's biggest natural gas discovery."

Marc Says: This is a huge deal to India's rapidly growing economy and energy needs.

[Computer, Terrorism] Sasser worm suspect on trial

Sasser worm suspect on trial:

"A German youth admits during his trial to creating the Sasser worm which crippled global computers.

Marc Says: International terrorism. Death penalty.

[Terrorism, Self-Defense] Thai teachers to be allowed guns

Thai teachers to be allowed guns:

"Thailand will let teachers in its violence-hit south carry guns, as hundreds stop work or seek transfers to other areas."

Marc Says: Interesting solution to the violence in schools problem.

[Computer: Tablet PC] Electrovaya releases new Scribbler SC-3000

Electrovaya releases new Scribbler SC-3000:

Electrovaya can be considered the leader in long life battery technology and the Scribbler line of Tablet PCs have always offered some of the longest runtimes.  The newly released Scribbler SC-3000 continues to add value to the product line and looks like a sweet slate.  The SC-3000 is powered by a 1.5 GHz Pentium M and has a 12.1" screen that is a wide angle display, an optional screen for outdoor viewing is also available for $289.  The base level Scribbler comes with 256 MB of memory, 40 GB hard drive and no attachable keyboard for $2049.  The premium unit brings 768 MB of memory, 60 GB HDD, attachable keyboard, wirestand and leatherette portfolio case for $2579.  The SC-3000 is about an inch thick and weighs 3.5 pounds in slate mode.  Full specs available on the Electrovaya web site.

Marc Says: Very interesting new battery technology. 9 hours run time? Really?

[Terrorism] Poverty in Africa BBC NEWS

BBC NEWS:

"Most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in the World Bank's lowest income category of less than $765 Gross National Income (GNI) per person per year. Ethiopia and Burundi are the worst off with just $90 GNI per person."

Marc Says: Remember that it is the states where per capita yearly income is less than US $3,000 that engage in and export terrorism. It is the most globally and economically disconnected states where these economic conditions prevail. Giving money to these countries does not fix the disconnectedness, it enriches the local kleptocrats who are keeping their countries and people disconnected so they can remain in power. Fix the disconnectedness and reward the change in rule sets with direct foreign capital investment(with recognition to Dr. Thomas P. M. Barnett's book "The Pentagon's New Map").

As we (the connected "Core" countries) chase the terrorists out of the now-disconnected Middle East they will flee into the remaining disconnected countries. The above map shows us where they will go (just look at the nearest most impoverished countries and expect to see the news stories about the anti-terrorist fighting there in a few years). Guess where France currently has troops on the ground fighting terrorists today (without a UN sanction, oh, shock and dismay!)?

[International] Stop begging, Africa leaders told

Stop begging, Africa leaders told:

"Libya's Muammar Gaddafi tells other African leaders to be more self-reliant and stop asking for Western charity."

Marc Says: And while you are at it, export terrorism, blow up passenger airplanes, lie about it, and still get to keep you job as El Supremo! Hey, it worked for him!

[Justice] 3 Dutch F-16's To Scan Aruba For Teenager

3 Dutch F-16's To Scan Aruba For Teenager:

ORANJESTAD, Aruba, July 2 (AP) - The Netherlands will send three F-16 warplanes rigged with search equipment to try to find a missing Alabama teenager, Aruban authorities said Saturday.

Marc Says: Bringing in fighter jets won't fix the utterly bungled criminal investigation.

[Environment, Energy] World’s First Hydrogen UAV

World’s First Hydrogen UAV:

July 4, 2005 AeroVironment (AV) has successfully completed the world’s first liquid hydrogen powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight tests. In doing so, the fifty-foot wingspan prototype Global Observer aircraft accomplished a major milestone in AV’s unmanned High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) development and continued the life work of one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known – Paul MacCready. MacCready founded AeroVironment after achieving the world’s first human powered flight and the world’s first solar powered flight more than a quarter of a century ago. The prototype flight was the last major milestone in the company’s HALE UAV technology development and demonstrates the practicality and operational robustness of the Global Observer system. AV’s Global Observer HALE platform will be able to operate at 65,000 feet altitude for a week at a time with a payload of up to 1,000 pounds. Using only two aircraft in rotation, this will provide seamless communication relay and remote sensing systems at breakthrough affordability. Some of the applications for the new system include persistent, global, near-space loitering capability for defence, low-cost, rapidly-deployable telecommunications infrastructure, hurricane/storm

Marc Says: Much better article, with many good pictures.

[Tea] Wired News: Software for Tea-Making Duties

Wired News: Software for Tea-Making Duties:

"Trust the Brits to turn their obsession with drinking tea into a "turnkey b2b enterprise-level web-based tea management solution infrastructure."

Londoner Nik Roope had grown so peeved with making cups of tea for co-workers without having the favor returned, he developed a website to bring order to tea-making duties. His site, Teabuddy, is social software for lovers of the leaf.

In British workplaces, where etiquette dictates that anyone venturing to the kitchen must make a cup for everyone nearby, tempers can boil if colleagues neglect their tea-brewing responsibilities.

"Open-plan offices may have revolutionized working patterns but, in the ever-polite U.K., it creates a situation where you can't just make one cup, you must make one for everyone in the entire room," said Roope, a designer with London-based creative agency Poke, where job applicants are vetted for their ability to make up to 18 cups a day.

"There are those who willingly accept their tea-making duties and those that don't," he added. "There are also those who, like a child, mess up the order (so) as to not be asked again. Some people are very determined not to make tea."

[Energy, Flight] First hydrogen plane tested in US

First hydrogen plane tested in US:

"An aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen successfully completes test flights in the US, the manufacturer says."

Marc Says: Neat idea. Might be a viable way to keep orbiting cell phone and broadband relays up over cities rather than building unsightly towers.

[Environment, Energy: Fusion] Commissioner visits fusion site

Commissioner visits fusion site:

"European science commissioner, Janez Potocnik, visits the French site chosen for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor."

Marc Says: Does the US really want the French to become the world leaders in developing, deploying, and selling fusion reactors?

[Medical: Pandemic] Bird flu experts warn of pandemic

Bird flu experts warn of pandemic:

"Scientists meeting in Malaysia warn more resources are needed to prevent bird flu causing a worldwide epidemic."

[Energy, Science, Politics] Senate Votes to Shut Down Laser Meant for Fusion Study

Senate Votes to Shut Down Laser Meant for Fusion Study:

"The Senate voted to stop construction of the nation's costliest science project, a laser roughly the size of a football stadium that is meant to harness fusion."

Marc Says: Oops! Where are we going to get massive amounts of energy without radioactive waste if not from fusion? The sun works, so we know fusion works. The rest is an engineering problem (a very hard engineering problem, but one we know has a solution and a proof).

[Medical] Women Feel More Pain Than Men, Research Shows

Women Feel More Pain Than Men, Research Shows:

"Women feel pain more than men despite the popular notion that the opposite is true, according to research by the University of Bath, in England. Scientists investigating gender differences in pain have found that not only do women report more pain throughout the course of their lifetime, they also experience it in more bodily areas, more often and for longer duration when compared to men.

Marc Says: First time I have seen this.

[Space, Science] Deep Impact Kicks Off Fourth Of July With Deep Space Fireworks

Deep Impact Kicks Off Fourth Of July With Deep Space Fireworks:

"After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT. Mission scientists expect the project will answer basic questions about the formation of the solar system, by offering a better look at the nature and composition of the frozen celestial travelers known as comets."

Marc Says: A technological feat of mastery that is allowing the astronomers to get a look at primordial matter - the center of comets dates back to the beginning of our universe. Outstanding technology, outstanding engineering, and outstanding science. Nobel prizes all around, please.

[July 4] What are we celebrating

From my own unique historical perspective (remember, I used to work in the U.S.S.R.): we are celebrating that we can gripe about the imperfections in our political system and not get an all-expenses paid permanent vacation to the Gulag as a result of the secret police agent who overheard our conversation.

-- Marc 14:40, Monday, July 04, 2005

[Mind Mapping] MindJet's Mindmanager for Dummies Book

Having decided that Tinderbox for Windows is actually never going to happen and that its utter lack of integration with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office will make me hate it if/when it really does ever happen (don't you love that certainty about the future?) I bought a book about MindJet's Mindmanager at B&N in FtC yesterday.

I bought the Dummies book on Mindmanager. As usual, as it is written for MBTI Sensors who lack an abstract model, it is a bottom-up book with loads of numbered recipes (the steps of the recipes are numbered, I meant). Nonetheless, the book's full of stuff I did not find anywhere in the Mindmanager marketing literature. MindJet's marketing is just terrible, I have concluded.

Mindmanager has a number of to-die-for features that I did not know it had.

Multi-Map View

When one has many maps linked together, Mindmanager can show you a single view of what are essentially thumbnails of all the linked maps. MindGenius has nothing even remotely similar to this multi-map view (and I have often wished for it).

Bi-directional Import/Export to/from MS Outlook

I live and die by Outlook, at least in part because of my HP Jornada 728 PDA. Apparently Mindmanager can import and export tasks, mail folders, calendar, and contacts. MindGenius can only export tasks to Outlook (it can not see what the task is doing in Outlook, as MindGenius does not have bi-directional synchronization or import from Outlook).

The idea of having all my 800+ contacts arranged in a mind map by organizational hierarchy boggles my mind. :-)

The idea of having my calendar expressed as a mind map is something I am still trying to wrap my brain around. My conceptualization has always been as a linear serial progression of time, the way every paper calendar I have ever seen shows time. But what if time is a mind map or a set of mind maps projected on to a linear progression of time?

When one opens a new contact in Mindmanager, the Outlook dialog box opens to have you fill in all the fields. I deduce that Mindmanager is invoking Outlook via the Outlook scripting API. Similarly for new calendar and task items opened in Mindmanager, the Outlook dialog box comes up to be fully filled in.

Scripting Language Interface

Apparently Mindmanager has a OO API that lets you write scripts to interrogate or generate map contents. I am still reading about that. The book talks about it only briefly, but has an appendix full of examples. Again, my mind boggles (not quite TB agents, but maybe close enough for many of my needs).

Integration with MS Office

Read/write with Word. As with MindGenius, Mindmanager can import a Word hierarchical outline and transform it into a mind map. Also as with MindGenius, Mindmanager can write out a Word document (though I am not quite sure yet whether that Word document is a hierarchical outline).

Apparently some ability to write an Access database (that is still a little murky, I am still reading about that).

Apparently some ability to export to Excel (that is a little murky, I am still reading).

Writes to PowerPoint.

Floating Topics

Interestingly, Mindmanager does not require that there be just one root node for the radially arranged tree. Mindmanager supports floating topics, each with its own sub-hierarchy. So, for example, the book shows a map with five root nodes. This is a topological option I have not seen elsewhere, particularly in Mindmanager's marketing literature.

MindGenius supports floating notes, but not floating topics, so far as I know.

Map Nodes Can be Programs

If I am reading the book correctly, a node in a Mindmanager map can actually be a program.

Also, if I an reading the book correctly, a node in a Mindmanager map can be a document, so clicking on the node wakes up the program that is associated with the document.

In MindGenius, so far as I know, I can only attach documents to map nodes, and I can neither have a map node be a program or a document.

RSS Feeds

Mindmanager supports having an individual node in a mind map be an RSS or Atom feed. I am not quite sure how this is useful.

Google Searches

A Mindmanager node can be a Google search. Generally, Mindmanager's integration with the web seems to be a lot higher than MindGenius', as MindGenius only comprehends URLs as attachments to nodes.

Add-Ons

Via the Mindmanager scripting API there are several dozen commercial after-market add-ons for Mindmanager. I am still reading about them. One that I know of is the Dashboard project management tool. There are many others.

Templates and Wizards

Mindmanager supports the concept of re-usable maps, as does MindGenius. However, Mindmanager goes a significant step further than MindGenius, as Mindmanager allows you to create a custom wizard for any specific template map. In the template and the wizard you can specify whether the new text entered in the Wizard's interrogation is to replace the text in the template map or to be appended to the text in the template.

I have to think about this some more. The immediate application is for staff meetings and all routine meetings. I always invented how to take notes for every meeting from scratch. This was clearly silly. I could instead build templates for the standard four meeting types, figure out which meeting type it is, and blast only a tiny bit of essential information into the template before I either zone out to think about other things or start thinking about the relationships inherent in the meeting's content.

Now I have to start thinking about all the other templates I ought to have been building with mind maps, no matter which tool I use to make the mind maps.

MISSING FEATURES:

Textual Outliner

As is true with MindGenius, Mindmanager only supports data entry via the graphical mind map. I really want to be able to blast indented information into an outliner view, as in Tinderbox. Mindmanager does have an indented textual navigation pane, as does MindGenius.

MAYBE FEATURES:

As the Dummies book is written bottom-up for Sensors (who usually need recipes more than they need abstract models of how things work), I am having trouble finding things in it (no surprise). Thus far I have not found how to make "mental connections" in Mindmanager. I assume they are present, but I have not found them yet.

GTD & TABLET PC USERS ADDICTIONS TO OUTLOOK, MINDMANAGER, & ONENOTE

I am starting to see why some of the die-hard GTD & Tablet PC addicts say they simply always keep Outlook, Mindmanager, and OneNote open at all times. Outlook is the microscopic view of one's life, Mindmanager is the macroscopic view, and OneNote is where you put "stuff" as a general-purpose GTD "In Basket" until you figure out what it is and where it ought to go. Some people are now saying that EverNote (a competitor to Microsoft's OneNote) is actually better, but it is simply another general-purpose input collection bucket (an electronic "In Box" that accepts anything, versus Outlook that accepts only in-bound e-mail).

I think I am finally starting to grasp what it is that the Tablet PC enthusiasts are on to, as the heavy duty enthusiasts all says they run Outlook, Mindmanager, and OneNote (or EverNote). I can start to see why they are willing to drag around their expensive Tablet PCs.

I also don't see why a Tablet PC is a must-have, as it seems to me one can do all this stuff with a regular notebook or desktop PC.

I also continue to note that everywhere I go (other than in the workplace) I never ever see any one with their Tablet PC. I have seen exactly one person using a notebook computer in a small meeting in a coffee shop. I always have my PDA with me. I just smile. :-)

-- Marc 10:01, Monday, July 04, 2005

[Friends] Bill D Picked Up Memory Test CD

Friend Bill D is putting RML's computers back together after a 5 hour brown-out. He dropped by to borrow a CD with PC memory tests on it (he originally cut the disc for me, so it seemed only fair).

Putin plans Russia vodka monopoly

Putin plans Russia vodka monopoly:

Russia's president wants the state to renew control of vodka production to reduce alcohol-related deaths.

Marc Says: This is about locking in all the tax revenues, not about public health.

[Independence Day] Flying the Flag

Bought a flag pole at the hardware store yesterday. Installed the bracket today above my garage door. Dug my flag out of my basement (my dojo flag) and hung it. Very patriotic. Must remember to take it down this evening.

[Computer] Cygwin Installation, Bash Shell, Zsh Shell

After four tries I found an installer mirror that would talk to me. I installed the most basic version of Cygwin. I discovered that it configured me to run the Bash shell. I have started hunting on the web for the good book on the Bash shell for a very experienced shell programmer ("sh" and "ksh", tens of thousands of lines of production code in each). Still looking.

In the mean time, I figured out that I can say

man bash | lpr

and the manual page comes out on my default Windows XP Home printer (my HP LJ1300). Cool. Time to go start reading the manual page.

Addendum: Talked with Joe O, he says to go with Zsh. Apparently it is a super-set of Ksh, my old flame. :-) Downloaded and installed it, then edited /etc/passwd to make it my shell. Printed out manual pages.

Researcher's Appraisals of Commentators Are Released

Researcher's Appraisals of Commentators Are Released:

"A researcher secretly retained by the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting appears to have concluded that most public radio and television guests were liberal."

Marc Says: Wow! Do you think? Gosh! What a revelation! (Not.)

[Marc's Medical] Inflammation: Very High

Completely out of control, in fact. :-( Ice packs, Vitamin C, and everything I can think of not touching it at all.

[Humor] the 10 winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton Contest, aka the "Dark and Stormy Night Contest"

Listed below are the 10 winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton Contest, aka the "Dark and Stormy Night Contest" run by the English Department of San Jose State University, wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel:

10. "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

9. "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

8. "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

7. "Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... Andre creep... Andre creep.'"

6. "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."

5. "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from meeking out a living at a local pet store."

4. "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."

3. "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

2. "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

AND THE WINNER IS.....

1. "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, 'You lied!"

Marc Says:

Thanks to friend Ed L for this contribution. :-)