kebmodee

Government-sponsored study destroys DEA’s classification of marijuana

2012-07-03T14:59:00.002-04:00

APOD: A Sundial that Shows Solstice (and Equinox)

2012-06-26T00:15:00.002-04:00

very cool!

Collapsing U.S. credibility

2012-06-25T13:38:00.002-04:00

Two Op-Eds in The New York Times this morning both warn of the precipitous decline of American credibility on matters of human rights and peace ushered in by the Obama presidency. Taken together, they explain much of why I’ve been writing what I’ve been writing over the last three years. The first is from Columbia Professor and cyber expert Misha Glenny, who explains the significance of the first ever deployment of cyberwarfare — by the U.S. (first under Bush and accelerated under Obama), along with Israel, against Iran:,

The second is from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter an actually meritorious Nobel Peace Prize winner who describes the record of his fellow Nobel laureate the current President in an Op-Ed entitled “A Cruel and Unusual Record“:

MYSTERIOUS CIRCLE-SHAPED OBJECT IN THE BALTIC SEA

2012-06-23T23:06:00.001-04:00

This sounds very interesting.

“During my 20-year diving career, including 6000 dives, I have never seen anything like this. Normally stones don’t burn. I can’t explain what we saw, and I went down there to answer questions, but I came up with even more questions “, says Stefan Hogeborn, one of the divers at Ocean X Team.

More details here:

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12438930-baltic-sea-ufouso-disables-electronic-equipment-mystery-deepens

Hybrid grass linked to Texas cattle deaths

2012-06-23T22:46:00.001-04:00

Weird.

See clarification here:

http://cryptogon.com/?p=30142

It's actually a hybrid grass.

DefCon: 20 Years of Hackers, Hijinks and Snooping Feds

2012-06-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

Capture the Flag, a digital version of King of the Hill, is the core contest at DefCon, which pits teams of hackers against one another in a battle to gain root on a networked box and fight off adversaries who would unseat them. Teams often work round-the-clock throughout the conference, never leaving their computers for long.

Guest Post: The Economic Abuse Of Veterans In America | ZeroHedge

2012-06-20T11:51:00.000-04:00

Volunteering to join the military has always been a process rife with internal and external conflictions. A vital aspect of one’s ultimate decision to do so often depends greatly upon the era in which one becomes eligible. U.S. citizens leaped at the chance to defend their country at the onset of World War II because the enemies were indeed a legitimate and obvious threat to the freedom and sovereignty of all nations. During Vietnam, the waters were muddied (at least in the view of millions of citizens), and many Americans did not see the fight as their own. The line between our system, and the enemies we were supposed to despise, had become progressively more foggy and disjointed. For any wise and honorable man to go out of his way to risk his life, the fight must be clearly just, otherwise, he may feel that his death will serve no purpose.

Obama Asserts Executive Privilege Over Fast And Furious Fiasco | ZeroHedge

2012-06-20T11:49:00.000-04:00

President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off a contempt vote against Holder by Republicans in the House. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is expected to forge ahead with its meeting on the contempt resolution anyway.

Feds scrap traveller eavesdropping program at Ottawa airport

2012-06-20T10:55:00.000-04:00

UPDATE:

The federal government has scrapped a plan to eavesdrop on travellers’ conversations at the Ottawa international airport pending further study after news of the program drew criticism from privacy watchdogs.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) installed microphones at the Macdonald-Cartier Airport to further screen travellers in a plan Public Safety Minister Vic Toews defended Monday as a way to prevent smuggling. Toews assured critics Canadians’ privacy would be respected. No conversations had been recorded, according to reports.

Ottawa airport wired with microphones as Border Services prepares to record travellers’ conversations

2012-06-17T01:21:00.000-04:00

Sweet

Cost of Rearing a Child Rises to $234,000

2012-06-15T09:33:00.000-04:00

Jesus Christo!

Do Not Track - Universal Web Tracking Opt Out

2012-06-15T01:09:00.001-04:00

Do Not Track is a technology and policy proposal that enables users to opt out of tracking by websites they do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks, and social platforms. At present few of these third parties offer a reliable tracking opt out, and tools for blocking them are neither user-friendly nor comprehensive. Much like the popular Do Not Call registry, Do Not Track provides users with a single, simple, persistent choice to opt out of third-party web tracking.

U.S. again bombs mourners

2012-06-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

Note that there is no suggestion, even from the “officials” on which these media reports (as usual) rely, that the dead man was a Terrorist or even a “militant.” He was simply receiving condolences for his dead brother. But pursuant to the standards embraced by President Obama, the brother — without knowing anything about him — is inherently deemed a “combatant” and therefore a legitimate target for death solely by virtue of being a “military-age male in a strike zone.” Of course, killing family members of bombing targets is nothing new for this President: let’s recall the still-unresolved question of why Anwar Awlaki’s 16-year-old American son, Abdulrahman, was killed by a U.S. drone attack in Yemen two weeks after his father was killed.

Mystery 8th-century cosmic blast captured in trees

2012-06-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

Very cool

Hong Kong Skyscraper Images

2012-05-28T11:28:00.002-04:00

Germany sets new solar power record, institute says

2012-05-28T11:26:00.002-04:00

Leap Motion

2012-05-23T16:58:00.002-04:00

From Graduate School to Welfare - Graduate Students

2012-05-17T10:05:00.002-04:00

Jesus!

Chinese Physicists Smash Distance Record For Teleportation - Technology Review

2012-05-12T19:53:00.000-04:00

Holy Smokes Batman!

Harvard Medical School to Face Trial for Research Fraud

2012-05-08T12:57:00.000-04:00

Dr. Kenneth Jones, the chief statistician for the NIH grant, blew the whistle after realizing that measurements used to demonstrate the reliability of the study had been secretly altered. Without these alterations, Dr. Jones explained, there was no statistical significance to the major findings of the study. After Dr. Jones insisted that the altered measurements be subjected to a reliability study and that the results could not be presented as part of a $15 million federal grant extension application, he was terminated and his career came to an end.

The First Circuit overturned a lower court decision finding that the court had failed to consider substantial evidence of fraud. This evidence established that Harvard knew of the falsifications and failed to take action to correct or disavow the data.

The Light of Stars

2012-05-08T08:51:00.002-04:00

Amazing time-lapse videos of the night sky from the Canary Islands

Same Kidney Transplanted Twice | Singularity Hub

2012-05-01T10:13:00.002-04:00

amazing!

Aurora Over Raufarhöfn

2012-04-30T10:02:00.002-04:00

Seeing this image makes me want to start listening to Zeppelin's Immigrant Song at high volume! Here is a link to same said song and a portion of the lyrics:

We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

And here is more info about Arctic Henge:

http://sagatrail.is/index.php/en/22arctichenge

The Arctic Henge at Raufarhöfn is under construction. The Henge will harness the Midnight Sun at the Arctic Circle. It is inspired by the mythical world of eddic poem Völuspá (Prophecy of the Seeress). The Henge will be 52m in diameter, containing a Dwarf Path including the names of 72 dwarfs which form a year-circle in which each dwarf has five days. A crystal at the top of an 8-metre-high column will throw light all over the Henge. Each dwarf will have his name and character, and visitors can find their own Birthday Dwarf.

From D.C. To Beijing In 2 Hours – Evacuated Tube Transport Could Revolutionize How We Travel

2012-04-27T12:21:00.000-04:00

Holy time travel Batman!

ETT does the maglevs one better by sending its levitated capsules down guider tubes out of which the air has been sucked, creating a vacuum. Like maglev vehicles, linear electric motors in the track will use the attraction and repulsion between the track and the capsules in a coordinated manner to propel the capsules forward. But because there is virtually no resistance in the evacuated tube, once the train gets up to speed it can just coast. Not only does ETT lack an engine – and a need for fossil fuel propulsion – but because it can glide along almost indefinitely through the vacuum it takes full advantage of Newton’s age-old “an object in motion stays in motion.” That is, until someone hits the brakes.

Regenokine: The Unproven Treatment That Professional Athletes Are Flying To Germany For

2012-04-27T12:16:00.002-04:00

very interesting

The Regenokine treatment involves extracting the blood and then slightly heating it. The heat creates a kind of “fever” for the blood, inducing the inflammation that is a normal healing mechanism for the body. The blood is then put in a tube and spun in a centrifuge which separates the blood into its constituent parts. A layer of red blood cells collect at the bottom of the tube, a yellowish layer forms above it. The yellowish serum contains the good stuff, now-concentrated cytokines that fight inflammation and proteins that promote good health and block pain. After being injected back into the patient, the serum brings immediate pain relief to most patients. In others it can take several weeks. The feel good effects are effective in about 75 percent of patients and typically last two to four years.

All of this is according to the very small group of physicians that administer Regenokine.