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POPSAt 31,000 mph, Space Probe Gets Halfway to Pluto in Record Time; ETA: July 2015 Should make for good visuals... During that time, the probe will capture 4.5 gigabytes of data, which it will have to keep sending the four-and-a-half hours back home for months. With its main mission accomplished, the craft will keep moving away from the sun, following in the extrasolar footsteps of the earlier Pioneer and Voyager missions, drifting ever farther away from us.
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POPSThe "patron saint of Troublemakers" :) " Blessed Mary MacKillop, the Australian nun once excommunicated and now beatified, is on her way to canonization. Is she the patron saint of troublemakers? Excommunicated today, canonized tomorrow, says John Allen, puckishly. For me, the best part of her story is how the church itself understands that sometimes even the holiest among us are occasionally at loggerheads with church leadership. (Cf. St. Mother Theodore Guerin)".
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POPSMumbai suspect is US double agent, India claims Indian officials are desperate to question Headley but have been frustrated by American refusals to grant them access. A team of Indian investigators travelled to Washington shortly after Headley was arrested in October but soon returned after their American counterparts told them they would not be able to meet him. They want to question him about the Mumbai attacks involved Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency in any way and the role of Indian extremists in providing logistical support. American officials say that under US law they cannot force any person in their custody to give evidence to foreign agencies. But Indian intelligence officers have questioned why Washington is not doing more to help their own inquiry
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POPSPredator Drones Not Encrypted The video feeds aren't encrypted? Why not? The video feeds from the drones should have been encrypted from the get go. Heads should roll for this.
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POPSBlackwater In the News.........Again
More information on the perils of "outsourcing" military and intelligence agencies' responsibilities below: "“It became a very brotherly relationship,” said one former top C.I.A. officer. “There was a feeling that Blackwater eventually became an extension of the agency.” Representative Rush D. Holt, chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, said in an interview that “the use of contractors in intelligence and paramilitary operations is a scandal waiting to be examined.” ... Mr. Holt said that the use of contractors in such operations “got way out of hand.” He added, “It’s been very troubling to a lot of people.” That gave Blackwater greater influence over C.I.A. clandestine operations, since company personnel helped decide the safest way to conduct the missions. “We keep finding functions that have been outsourced that common sense, let alone U.S. government policy, would argue should not have been handed over to a private company,” he said. “And yet we do it again
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POPSGobal warming on Mars There is no doubt that the earth is experiencing warming on a global scale. What is now left uncertain is the cause. It has almost become heresy to challenge or express doubts on our present understanding of climate change. Mars, as well as the moons of Saturn have all shown signs of warming. The early 1930's were also warmer than normal and temperatures continued to drop into the 70's. One would have expected continued warming as industrialization had continued to add co2 to the atmosphere. I'm not saying that man is not responsible for some of the effects we've been experiencing, but there our legitimate doubts...And why don't we hear more about decreasing the pollution of our air and water supplies?
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POPSLovely tribute to Liam Clancy, an Irish musical treasure, now gone. "And another thing, equally relevant and always worth remembering: Europe is free today because of the likes of Richard Todd, and Paddy and Tom Clancy, and John Howard, and Guy Gibson. For behind all great myths are usually great truths. The problem is that we usually don't know what they are." If you have never experienced Liam's music, you should treat yourself :) http://www.liamclancy.com
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POPSUS Air Force confirms 'Beast of Kandahar' drone I Love my country...However, unmanned doesn't mean uninvolved....laser designators, able to pinpoint a spot on the ground and relay this spot as a GPS coordinate.....then other aircraft carrying long ranged GPS guided munitions may intercept the laser'd site.....
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POPSMatthews Apologizes for West Point 'Enemy Camp' Slur Chris Matthews "Hardball".... West Point Slur VIDEO http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=GdqGQu2Guz People who have watched me over the years know, I think, of my strong devotion to this country and strong gratitude toward those who serve it in the military. It's because our military is so good and true I want the civilians who make the policies and set the missions to get ‘em right in this country's best possible interest. And by the way it's something we're allowed to argue about in this country. Whenever I meet someone with a service record I always say, "Thank you for your service." They know I say it and I hope they know I mean it. Now to President Obama and the criticism he's facing from both the left and the right. A few minutes ago I spoke with Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania, chairman of the subcommittee on Defense Appropriations. Newsbusters.org http://bit.ly/8GlFmg
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POPSReading List: Slave Hunter 'Can you recruit musicians for this Drop the Debt campaign?' And I was Perry's executive director, so the request came through me, and I just thought: 'Wow, this is a divine miracle!' So we pulled out Perry's Rolodex and contacted David Bowie and Bono and all these people, and they all came on board." It was one of the most successful campaigns in history: 27m signatures were obtained, and $300bn of debt was wiped out in a single stroke. For Cohen, though, it didn't stop there. The concept of "jubilee", the forgiving of debt and the freeing of slaves, has gone on to inform all aspects of his life ever since then.
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POPSMilitary Looks To Drugs For Battle Readiness This article is from 2002 and concerns primarily pilots. However, I have it on good authority that all branches and levels of military personnel are given access to amphetamines, tranquilizers, "cognitive enhancing" drugs, etc. More from the article below: "In April, four Canadian soldiers were killed and another eight injured when an American F-16 pilot on a long-range mission, thinking he was under attack, dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on an allied military exercise. "The initial version of the Canadian incident portrayed the pilot as behaving with inexplicable aggression tinged with paranoia, and my first thought was that the poor guy had been eating too much speed," says Mr. Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. Officials are still investigating that accident, and the pilot has been questioned, among other things, about the possibility of drug use. More recently, concerns have been raised about aggression and violence among soldiers returning from Afghanistan. In three of four
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POPSBlackwater:Ain't Misbehaving, Saving My Contracts for You
Of course the US government was blind to this - they didn't want to know, they turned a blind eye to what Blackwater was doing because it would have been too hard to arrange for another contractor to do all the security missions that it had ongoing. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, there are as many private contractors as there are uniformed military personnel. Most of them are not security guards as Blackwater's most visible function was. The lack of oversight is abhorrent but not surprising; the State Dept's failure to can this company is inexcusable. My only observation on this article is to suggest how the US government got into this predicament, and it's pretty easy to see. The Bush administration wanted to hold onto the fiction of a few conservative principles, one of those being the concept of a small federal government. Since it already blew that "principle" with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, I'm betting there was White House guidance that directed "no mo
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POPSFacts about The Moon Landing -The suit worn by the astronauts that went on the moon weighted around 180pounds on earth. But on the moon it only weighted 30 pounds because of the lower gravity.
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POPSCharitable Organization Funds To Preserve Journalism? The report is asking “philanthropic organizations to support local reporting.” That’s where the tax comes in " or fees " to be gathered in some fashion from telecom or internet providers.” I might not object if a clear definition of “journalism,” and adherence to that definition, must be met to get the nonprofit status. Of course, it all depends on the definition of the trade " like defining what “is” is. Next will be White House ordered legislation assuring that FOX News is excluded from “nonprofit status.” I cannot credit this report by linking to it, because the “original source” says I cannot (but never mind, they want me to donate to keep their less-than-honest endeavors alive) but go to Breitbart.com type in some keywords and you’ll find it.
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POPSWhy Obama Should Not Have Received the Peace Prize — Yet
Any one of these would have been worthy of global praise. Perhaps the Nobel committee can give him half the prize now and withhold the other half until he accomplishes one or more of these crucial missions. robert reich Why Obama Should Not Have Received the Peace Prize YetGiving the Peace Prize to the President before any of these goals has been attained only underscores the paradox of Obama at this early stage of his presidency. He has demonstrated mastery in both delivering powerful rhetoric and providing the nation and the world with fresh and important ways of understanding current challenges. But he has not yet delivered. To the contrary, he often seems to hold back from the fight — temporizing, delaying, or compromising so much that the rhetoric and insight he offers seem strangely disconnected from what he actually does. Yet there’s time. He may yet prove to be one of the best presidents this nation has ever had — worthy not only of the Peace Prize but of every global accol
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POPSPatterns in Mars crater floors give picture of drying lakes Rain and river water would have collected inside impact crater basins, creating lakes that may have existed for several thousand years before drying out. However, El Maarry believes that, in the northern hemisphere, some of the crater floor polygons could have been formed much more recently. “When a meteorite impacts with the martian surface, the heat can melt ice trapped beneath the martian crust and create what we call a hydrothermal system. Liquid water can fill the crater to form a lake, covered in a thick layer of ice. Even under current climatic conditions, this may take many thousands of years to disappear, finally resulting in the desiccation patterns
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