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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Friday, February 18, 2011

17 February - Noted at iGoogle

Coat of arms of Libya -- the "Hawk of Qur...Image via Wikipedia
Because I can't code, I find myself in interesting predicaments occasionally when Copy and Paste on Blogger ends up wrecking my prepost formats.
Rather than lose my surfing 'finds' I reposted into Opera and added links and trimmings to basic text by hand.
Now you know how I can post such volumes...and without tech support.

Hibernating bears studied in unprecedented detail

Five bears have been the subject of the most detailed hibernation study ever undertaken in animals of their size.
Researchers reporting at the AAAS meeting in Washington say the bears' metabolism drops to just 25% of its normal level - much more than their drop in body temperature would suggest.
The bears remain in a state of reduced metabolism even weeks after awakening.
The research may in time inspire new techniques that could prove useful in emergency medicine.
Hibernation is widely held to be a means for animals to reduce their energy use during the coldest seasons.

Libyans in US allege coercion
In an apparent effort to control the public narrative in the wake of rare protests that have spread throughout Libya, the country's government is threatening to withdraw scholarship funding from citizens studying in the US unless they attend pro-government rallies in Washington this weekend, Al Jazeera has learned.
Several Libyans studying in the US said they and their peers have received phone calls this week from a man employed by the Libyan embassy instructing them to join rallies in the capital on Friday and Saturday.
The man told the students that their government-funded scholarships would be cut off if they did not attend.
The apparent coercion comes as protesters in Libya attempted to mount a "day of rage" on Thursday and continued their calls for the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year reign as Libya’s leader.

Top US lawmakers reject Pakistan aid cuts in feud

played down prospects for cutting aid to Pakistan as leverage to win the release of a US national imprisoned for allegedly shooting dead two Pakistani men.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, just back from a visit to Pakistan to discuss the fate of Raymond Davis, suggested a solution to the bitter diplomatic dispute over his fate come come within days.
( It's interesting the U.S.A. doesn't trust other countries' criminal justice systems given its own chronic disdain for Due Process...or perhaps that's the problem.
What are the chances of sending Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld over for examination ? Zip ? Oh. Obama and the Clintons too ? )

Iranian warships sailing through Suez poses prickly decision for Egypt
The canal is an internal body of water and as such, Egypt has sovereignty over it. But Egypt also is bound by the 1976 Camp David Accords, which guaranteed the right of free passage by ships belonging to Israel and all other nations on the basis of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Before that, Egypt did not allow Israeli ships to sail through the canal.
Last week, Egypt's military government said it would honor all its international treaties. That would include Camp David.
Now it finds itself in the position of allowing ships belonging to the sworn enemy of their peace treaty partner to sail through.
By Moni Basu, CNN
( Seems obvious. Egypt had a problem letting Israeli military in its waters as a security matter. Iran, OTOH, has not been aggressive to its neighbours. That should affect Risk Assessment more than results of international arm twisting which suddenly realizes access for all...means all. Even the proposed victim aka make-believe threat.
What am I talking about ? Sample : Full text of Iran's letter of complaint to the UN over US threats of nuclear attack )


U.S. May Have To Shift Approach To Mideast Peace
"There's definitely a sense that the Arab world is now much more empowered and emboldened TM * toconfront oppressors and to take on U.S. foreign policy, to take on Israel. It's definitely viewed as a game-changer here" ( * Definitely a U.S. contribution to DuckSpeak and Framing : codewords as content.)

Discovery
Killer Plant Sucks in Prey at Record Speed
Coca-Cola's Secret Recipe Bubbles Up
10 Trickiest Spy Gadgets Ever
Trade Secrets: What Companies Don't Want You to Know: Slide Show
Does a Massive Planet Lurk in the Outer Solar System?
Stunning Photos from a Comet Near-Kiss
Faces of Our Ancestors
Solar Boom! Sun Unleashes Monster Flare
A Cure for Baldness?

THE BIEBER FACTOR: WHAT MAKES VOICES UNIQUE
Pollard and colleague Daniel Blumstein examined eight different species of rodents that live in social groups of different sizes and complexities.
Social group complexity did not predict the uniqueness of each voice, but the size of the groups did. The larger the social group, the more distinctive the voices were.


Techdirt
Homeland Security Won't Even Admit Whether Or Not It Seized Mooo.com, Taking Down 84,000 Innocent Sites
Yesterday, I wrote about how there were many reports, starting over the weekend, claiming that Homeland Security's inept Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) group had once again screwed up the process of seizing domains. However, this time, the mistake appeared to be on a much larger scale. While some other sites have simply assumed that Homeland Security seized the entire mooo.com domain, thereby publicly accusing 84,000 sites (nearly all of which were perfectly legitimate) of trafficking in child porn, we were at least willing to give Homeland Security the benefit of the doubt and question whether it was really involved.

Given that no one seemed to confirm that Homeland Security was involved, I figured I might as well ask. I sent off a quick email to a press contact at Homeland Security, asking a simple question: did Homeland Security seize -- and then unseize -- the mooo.com domain? It seemed like a simple yes or no question, and given that Homeland Security is a part of the Obama administration, which has promised the utmost transparency, I figured the least it could do was provide that simple answer. Instead, the response I got was:
"I need to refer you to DOJ for a response to your question."
This, of course, is not true. The actions were taken by Homeland Security's ICE group. It was Homeland Security that put out the bragging press release about seizing more domains and putting up their "this site trafficked in child porn" graphics. But it can't even answer a simple yes or no question about a specific domain? That's not transparency. It also seems to suggest quite strongly that DHS and ICE did, in fact, screw up royally here.

I responded to the press contact, and pointed out that there is simply no reason that Homeland Security cannot answer this question, and repeated the question, but I have not heard back. I also sent an email to the Justice Department, and have also received no response.

Lots of folks are pointing out the incredibly serious First Amendment concerns brought out by such a seizure. If there were actual due process, involving an actual adversarial hearing, moves like this would be avoided.

Next Tech Area To Be Hindered By Patents: Nanotech... And Much Of It Is Funded With Your Tax Dollars
The single largest "patent patron" in nanotechnology... is the federal government. Yes, the government is spending your tax dollars to have these new inventions locked up so you can't use them.

Scientists build the world's first anti-laser
The device, created by a team from Yale University, is capable of absorbing an incoming laser beam entirely.In a paper published in the journal Science they demonstrated that the anti-laser could adsorb 99.4 per cent of incoming light, for a specific wavelength.

Study to test human ability to control robotics with the mind
Researchers are ready to advance their tests of a novel brain-computer interface (BCI) from animals to human subjects, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency just granted them more than $6 million over the next three years to get those human clinical trials under way.
the study will test two separate electrodes on human participants, and the team is already brainstorming more sophisticated approaches to the technology, including a telemetry system that would enable wireless control of prosthetic arms with sensory components.

Solar flare eruptions set to reach Earth
Scientists around the world will be watching closely as three eruptions from the Sun reach the Earth over Thursday and Friday.
The biggest flares can disrupt technology, including power grids, communications systems and satellites.

Boy without a cerebellum baffles doctors

Chinese Researcher Points Out How Patents Can Hinder Innovation
I have no doubt that many Chinese officials understand quite clearly how the patent system is really a protectionist system and are fully intending to use it as an economic weapon against foreign competitors to Chinese companies. It's really kind of brilliant when you think about it. The US has been pressuring China on patent laws for decades, and this way China gets to say it's following exactly what the US has demanded of it, and "respecting" intellectual property, while, at the very same time and using the very same system, basically using it to harm the very American companies who for years have complained about Chinese companies infringing on patents. Live by the patent, die by the patent.
( Calling that 'Surprising' is interesting too. Try 'Hoist on Own Petard'...Medieval talk for skewed with your own excuse. )

Millennium Park Garden Deemed Not Copyrightable, Because Gardens Are Not Authored
Copyright only applies to works that are "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." And here it sees a big problem: a garden is not fixed.
To the extent that seeds or seedlings can be considered a "medium of expression," they originate in nature, and natural forces--not the intellect of the gardener--determine their form, growth, and appearance.

Comments
opit Feb 17th, 2011 @ 2:20pm
LOL This should shake up the legal eagles who are busy registering native/aboriginal cultured strains as corporate property. Norwegian archives are filling with seeds from all over to be preserved. And then there's Monsanto.
I don't know how eager you are to get into the Rumsfeld WMD activity : NWO plans without a doubt, enabled by the USDA.
Try this : no promises. It was changed to Monsanto HQ's URL athttp://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2009/07/corporate-farming.html!
The World According to Monsanto - YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvGddgHRQyg

New Scientist TV
HIV as you've never seen it before
An image of this visualisation just won first place in the 2010 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored jointly by the journal Science and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The model contains 17 different viral and cellular proteins and the membrane incorporates 160 thousand lipid molecules, of 8 different types, in the same proportions as in an actual HIV particle. It denotes the parts encoded by the virus's own genome in orange, while grey shades indicate structures taken into the virus when it interacts with a human cell.

Despite Warning, Babies Still Get Cough Medicine
Survey Shows Many Parents Don’t Heed Warning on Risks of Cough and Cold Medicines
( I'm reminded of a comment to distribution staff about cough medicine from years ago : If it worked effectively at cough suppression there would be a risk of killing the user. )
Microsoft Releases New Version of Bing Bar Toolbar With Facebook Integration
Available to users of Internet Explorer 7 or later running Windows 7, Vista, or XP
( If you don't want to use the standard IE browser, I've played with Avant for a few years - just because I could )

Digital Blasphemy
It was suggested (on my Facebook page) that "Island Time" would make an excellent freebie. Looking outside my window this grey February morning I cannot help be concur. I hope my users enjoy it and perhaps consider the benefits of DB Membership

Ikea building its own personal windfarm
partnered with Stockholm-based O2 to oversee the construction and maintenance of a nine-turbine wind farm slated to be completed in 2012.
IKEA has already made headway into the transition to renewable power, buying three wind farms in France from Volkswind in 2009, and six German-based wind farms from Spain's Gamesa in 2010. It now currently owns 52 wind turbines that together generate about 10 percent of the IKEA Group's total energy use.

Proposed Islamic Centre targeted by EDL suffers arson attack
Shotton Town Council this week has-
written to North Wales Police chief constable Mark Polin to thank the force for its ‘offer of CCTV cameras for the protection of the local Muslim community’ following the blaze at Shotton Lane Social Club on February 4. Three councillors have put their names to the letter, which was written by the Rev Peter Francis, warden of Gladstone Library in Hawarden. The cause of the fire at the site, which had been earmarked to be turned into an Islamic cultural centre, is still under investigation.

10% Twitter
http://t.co/n110K7c
Hey @guardian if he is in reserve and about to be deployed he is not an 'ex soldier'
US surge in Afghanistan likely to stay long beyond Obama’s initial plan to pull troops out in large numbers this yearhttp://bit.ly/dG5Nvp
Obama to teach Cameron & Clegg how to be right wing but still have liberals support you on UK visit.
RT @jeremyscahill: Say what?!? There is actually a Drone Caucus in Congress: http://bit.ly/dMRCa7
Like the US we love democracy; Bahrain is home to UK Maritime Component Command, which supports Royal Navy warshipshttp://bit.ly/h9m6xo

@WongaWoman Access to low price credit is indicative of wealth/class, you are targeting victims of crisis unregulated capital created. 1 hour ago
@WillardFoxton that may be because they got caught by the ASA http://bit.ly/ibT7pN2 hours ago
@WillardFoxton he has that special plasti-flesh created by androids to replicate photoshop filters in real life! 2 hours ago
@WillardFoxton regulated to sane rates they could serve a purpose, but they generally exist to exploit desperation. 2 hours ago
@WongaWoman so only 365% apr on those then, a bargain...2 hours ago
New 10% Blog Post: Proposed Islamic Centre Targeted By EDL Suffers Arson Attackhttp://bit.ly/f67ZGo 2 hours ago
Wonga.com advertise on TV are the shiny new face of loan sharks in Austerity Britain, they offer a typical APR of 4214%http://bit.ly/fVvF3c 3 hours ago
'cost of fuel...increases the cost of living in rural areas by 10 to 20 per cent above the cost for urban families' http://bit.ly/dPT23Y5 hours ago
spot the pattern- key ally of the US in the region, Bahrain houses a major military base for Washingtonhttp://bit.ly/eHlFtt6 hours ago

Still lying about history
Confronted by reporters earlier this week was to refuse to condemn those in his state who would resurrect the infamous Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, slave trader and Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and put his image on a commemorative license plate. "I don’t go around denouncing people," Barbour said.
Nostalgia for the "War Between the States" is a fact of American life. But Barbour’s failure to do the right thing comes close on the heels of another embarrassing episode in which the onetime chairman of the Republican National Committee claimed that racial segregation and violence had not marred his hometown of Yazoo City, Mississippi during his younger years in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Forrest played a central part in one of the most despicable murder sprees of the Civil War. At Fort Pillow, in Tennessee, black soldiers (twice as many as white) were brutally slain after having surrendered. Forrest was an officer out of control, one who violated the rules of war and that vaunted sense of honor supposedly so dear to the Confederacy. Nathan Bedford Forrest -- the historical figure, not the movie version -- embodied racial hatred in the most vicious way. He was elected the head of a terrorist organization after the war ended; it is well known that attacking civilians and spreading fear through violence was the modus operandi of the KKK. So, to put the ignoble Nathan Bedford Forrest on a Mississippi license plate would be no different than featuring Timothy McVeigh on an Oklahoma tag.

Forest sale axed: Caroline Spelman says 'I'm sorry

I'm sure I saw a piece where this ridiculous melodrama was reported as staged to embarrass the new PM... payback. )

Ozone Layer’s Future Linked Strongly to Changes in Climate, Study Finds
The report, prepared by the Scientific Assessment Panel of the U.N. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, also presents stronger evidence that links changes in stratospheric ozone and Earth's climate.
The report finds that over the past decade, global ozone levels, and ozone levels in the Arctic and Antarctic regions are at a turnaround point -- no longer decreasing but not yet increasing. The abundances of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are responding as expected to the controls of the Montreal Protocol, with many now declining in both the lower and upper atmosphere.
By successfully controlling the emissions of ozone-depleting substances, the Montreal Protocol also has been beneficial for the climate, because many of these substances are heat trapping, or greenhouse, gases that are linked to Earth's warming.
"The Montreal Protocol has succeeded in protecting the ozone layer from much higher levels of depletion," said A.R. Ravishankara, director of NOAA's Chemical Sciences Division and co-chair of the Scientific Assessment Panel that produced the report. "But the ozone layer will increasingly be influenced by other factors related to the changing climate."
For example, climate change alters the atmosphere's temperature and circulation patterns, which in turn affect the processes that deplete the ozone layer. One projected outcome of this relationship is that ozone in the Arctic, where the most severe changes in climate are being observed, is projected to be more sensitive to climate changes than ozone in the Antarctic, where climate change is relatively less of an influence on the ozone layer.
Effects also work in reverse. Changes in the ozone layer have been linked to observed shifts in seasonal surface winds over the Southern Hemisphere, contributing to the Antarctic Peninsula warming and the high plateau cooling
The full report is posted on the UNEP website:
http://www.unep.ch/ozone/Assessment_Panels/SAP/index.shtml
( Translation. Not only are things more complicated than presented in the media, they continue to be so. )

Mysterious Blue Spiral Light

Better collection than seen previously at http://my.opera.com/nepmak2000/blog/
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