Researchers have long wondered why there is not more melted rock at Arizona's Barringer Meteorite Crater between Flagstaff and Winslow.
At an impact speed of 34,000 to 44,000 mph, the massive space rock should have melted substantial quantities of the white Coconino geological formation. One possible explanation has been that the meteor contained large amounts of water, which would have lessened the force of the impact that created the 570-foot-deep, 4,100-foot-wide crater.
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But new calculations suggest the rock, after it was broken up in the atmosphere, was going slower than previously believed.
The Barringer site "is probably the most studied impact crater on Earth," said astronomer H. Jay Melosh of the University of Arizona. "We were astonished to discover something entirely unexpected about how it was formed."
Using computer models for how such objects would interact with the atmosphere, Melosh and astronomer Gareth Collins of Imperial College London concluded that the 300,000-ton, 130-foot-diameter meteor fractured before it hit the ground, with about half of it dispersing into small fragments.
The remaining half struck the ground at a speed of 26,800 mph, about 10 times the velocity of a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle, but not fast enough to melt large quantities of rock, the scientists reported this week in the journal Nature.
The intact fragment exploded with the energy of at least 2.5 megatons of TNT, they said.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/13/2005 5:23:05 PM ||
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I have disagreed with Dr. Melosh about this. Keep in mind that he is not a geologist.
One problem with this scenario is the apparent expectation of large amounts of melted rock. At these energy levels, dissipating into a massive solid, the difference between the melting point, about 1500 C, and the boiling point, about 2800 C, is not at all enormous.
Keep in mind as well that the energy density in any particular part of the affected area is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center.
This means that the zone in which we could expect the rock to melt, but not vaporize, is comparatively narrow. Much of the liquified material could be well within the zone of dislocation by blast, since this component of the energy yield would be enormously high as a percentage of the total.
If so, a large part of the molten material would be blown into the atmosphere by blast and dislocation effects, where it would condense and re-crystallize as ordinary rock and dust.
#3
the difference between the melting point, about 1500 C, and the boiling point, about 2800 C, is not at all enormous.
Hmmm, AC. Are you forgetting the extra heat needed for the state change from liquid to vapor? Water, for example, needs about 500 times more heat to vaporize than to change its temp 1 degree C. Too lazy to look up silicon!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/13/2005 21:37 Comments ||
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Anything emanating from a point source will form a sphere. The area of the sphere is 4 pi r^2. so the energy is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
But actually, pie are round, cornbread are squared.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 21:49 Comments ||
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#9
What's the issue here? Meteors make big holes. I've seen one of the biggest existant - Wolfe Creek. Man thats a big hole.
#10
"Hmmm, AC. Are you forgetting the extra heat needed for the state change from liquid to vapor? "Water, for example, needs about 500 times more heat to vaporize than to change its temp 1 degree C. Too lazy to look up silicon!"
I probably should know that but I don't. I do know that water has a very high specific energy of state change compared to other substances, which is one reason steam power is so effective. A rock will not actually vaporize under these conditions since it is essentially a gross mixture of different compounds in the form of crystalline minerals. What will happen is that some constituent compounds will vaporize while others remain liquid or even solid, producing a tremendous explosion.
"I thought thermal was inverse r-cubed, with shock waves inverse r-squared."
The first is true for a purely thermal phenomenon such as expanding steam. In the case of a meteor impact, most thermal effects are a conversion of shock effects and follow the same energy density profile.
Three people are reported to have died and thousands have fled their homes as a result of floods in Iran. The rising waters have been caused by continuous rain, some of the heaviest in the past three decades. This rain and the floods it has caused have affected most of the country but the provinces in the west and north east have been hit particularly hard. About 100 villages have been flooded in the western province of Lorestan (rugged, nasty country up in the Zagros mtns. about 100 miles due east of Baghdad). Some of them are reported to have completely disappeared under the water. Expect "three people" to rise a tad.
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
03/13/2005 12:18:37 AM ||
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The U.S. code-breaking community is worried about China's advances in cracking U.S. codes.
Three Chinese cryptologists last month reported they had found a way to crack a U.S. government-approved information security system known as SHA-1, or Secure Hash Algorithm-1.
The SHA-1 encryption is used widely within the U.S. government, including the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community. It is currently the Federal Information Processing Standard and has been since 1994.
Put simply, SHA-1 is a security authentication device that is used to verify the integrity of digital media, and to make sure that data or messages, such as secure e-mail, are not changed during transmission.
Chinese researchers, Xiaoyuan Wang, Yiqun Lisa Yin and Hongbo Yu reported in a paper Feb. 13 that they had "developed new techniques that are very effective" for breaking SHA-1 code, without using time-consuming "brute force" attacks.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which made SHA-1 a federal standard, said in a statement that it could not confirm the Chinese code-breaking but noted that the three researchers are "reputable" specialists with cryptographic expertise.
NIST said the new "attack" or code-breaking "is of particular importance in digital signature applications, such as time-stamping, and notarization."
But the institute sought to play down the implications of the Chinese claim, stating that the method described in the paper will be "difficult to carry out in practice."
Still, the U.S. government is phasing out SHA-1 over the next five years. "Due to advances in computing power, NIST already planned to phase out SHA-1 in favor of the larger and stronger hash functions (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512) by 2010," the statement said.
Disclosure of the code break followed China's publication of a defense white paper in December that identifies the use of information technology as a central element of Chinese military doctrine.
U.S. defense officials say China's military believes its cyber-soldiers can successfully cripple the U.S. military by attacking key computer-run infrastructures and other information networks.
They've been trying for a while - remember the Red Lion virus?
Daniel E. Spisak, a private security engineer, said China is capable of building its own SHA-1 "cracker" using computers.
"This could potentially allow them to access sensitive systems," he said. "However, from what small knowledge I do have of how secure data links get set up for some kinds of DOD projects, I think it would be very difficult to exploit the SHA-1 [code break] to their advantage."
The danger, he noted in an e-mail, is that China could exploit a security lapse in U.S. government networks and systems.
Mr. Spisak said as long as U.S. government computers are properly protected by multiple layers of defense and authentication mechanisms, "one can ensure it is sufficiently difficult to gain illegal access to sensitive networks and systems even with one part failing."
But if proper security precautions are not taken, "then all bets could be off," he said.
Bruce Schneier, a cryptography and security specialist, said the Chinese breakthrough is not alarming. But he noted that within the U.S. National Security Agency there is an old saying: "Attacks always get better; they never get worse." Quantum computing has almost relegated codes to the dustbin. Ironically, the solution will be in the use of unbreakable J.S. Bell communications systems. You can't break a code unless you intercept a code, and if there is only a single compatible transmitter/receiver pair in the universe, there is nothing you can do about it.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
03/13/2005 11:57:25 AM ||
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I wonder if the taking of the P3 intelligence aircraft contributed to the Chinese advances in code breaking. I don't think the crew had a chance to destroy all of their equipment.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/13/2005 13:34 Comments ||
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Wouldn't be surprised, Jonathan, and James Dunnigan reported here (StrategyPage) on Chinese cyberwarfare ... this **** is heating up real fast ... I'd feel more confident if we knew for sure how much farther ahead the US is than China, but that's not known to civilians for a good reason.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
03/13/2005 14:32 Comments ||
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That's not Signal Orange. That's some Ft. Lauderdale designer color.
#5
I've been out of the business for 6 years, but SHA is just a hashing algorithm. Does "breaking" it simply mean you found a way to know what changes in the text will produce what changes in the hash? You can't run the sausage grinder backwords, since the hash is only 20(?) bytes long.
This could be used to tamper with digitally signed documents, I guess. But it can't be used to actually forge the signatures or timestamps. Though I suppose you could dink with the message until a hash came out that corresponded to one that your target did sign. But the timestamp would still be wrong.
"...That is also a sort of colonial question. The world has gone through colonialism and imperialism. We have seen the danger and shortcomings of those systems. If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the US thinks itself as the leader of the area and its interest should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and others, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period..."
#1
Everything has its shortcomings. The issue is, was it an improvement over what prevailed before and unquestionably colonialism was. That roads, schools, healthcare and rule of law thing.
#2
remember what happened when Yugoslavia's leader ceased to lead? Sometimes a leader is better tha chaos.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/13/2005 21:39 Comments ||
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"The world image of US is so clearly linked to its foreign policy and particularly its policy toward Iraq and Middle East, say its support of Israel."
#4
"We are seeing a decline only in paid subscriptions" says all you need to know about the Washington Post under the leadership of this beknighted ass.
#5
And which country or entity, pray tell us O learned Washington Post Editor, would you like to have lead the world? The Big Bad US, the UN, the EU, The People's Republic of China? Whom would you trust to make decisions respecting your life? Who would let you get away with all the BS that your fishwrap rag puts out under Bushitler?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 21:57 Comments ||
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#6
I think we should celebrate the freedom of speech which allows the Ward Churchills and WP Editors to prove their hate for Amerikkka
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2005 22:18 Comments ||
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Eh, the WaPo usually walks a more sober and realistic line than the NY & LA Times. I give them credit for introducing me to the Blogosphere (via Howie Kurtz' column) way back when it was only Instapundit, Daily Pundit, and Rantburg. I also temped in the WaPo public relations office in December 2001 and found everyone there to be exceptionally nice and all so very, very earnest. I would gladly work there if they asked me back. But I must say, I don't read it much anymore, now that I read blogs. :(
#8
He'd have been closer to the truth if he'd stopped after "think".
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/13/2005 22:23 Comments ||
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Great catch, Anony! The man says several pretty squirrely things, and I wonder if he will be called to account by the Blogosphere to explain himself. And I also wonder-- since this is obviously a translation back to English from Chinese-- whether Wapo has its own transcript of this conversation, and whether it will make it public.....
#2
hmmmm Colorado University gave him tenure? Maybe the rest of the faculty need to be reviewed if the standards are so low
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2005 21:40 Comments ||
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#3
Well, what did you expect from a college that gave no grades, just personalized evaluations? I got graded by the big, old (1967) institution 90 miles to the east...
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/13/2005 21:49 Comments ||
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#4
1867. 1867, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Basketball school (this year!)
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/13/2005 21:50 Comments ||
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#5
Hit CU in their pocketbook and that will send a message. I am still watching my boiler pressure after getting that call last month from the Univ of California, Berkeley Alumni association and their money begging pitch.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 22:00 Comments ||
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#6
Redirect your annual donation to 'higher education' to Widener College (scholarship program for children of servicemen killed in our defence) and cc. the cover letter to your alma mater, especially if it is CU
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
03/13/2005 16:36 ||
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It's only 2005. The election is three years and eight months away. There will be plently of time to reconsider. Right now she just needs to be the best Sec State she can be.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appointed Pakistani-American Dr Shirin Tahir-Kheli her senior adviser on the United Nations Reform. The appointment was announced by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in a statement on Saturday. Dr Tahir-Kheli would serve as the secretary of the state's senior adviser and chief interlocutor on the UN Reform. In collaboration with the assistant secretary for international organisations, Dr Tahir-Kheli will report directly to Rice. She will engage the UN secretary general and secretariat on UN reform efforts. She will coordinate within the State Department and interagency community about the US government's position on UN reform.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2005 12:34:27 AM ||
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The fall out from this move should be amusing. Popcorn, anyone? Confused seething should commence shortly!
The pistol-packing grandma about to be inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame is the most controversial appointment since its inception 22 years ago.
Why?
Because Marion Hammer, a squat senior citizen with a soft Southern twang, was the first — and only — female president of the National Rifle Association.
Gun control advocates and women's rights groups are outraged at the selection of Hammer, one of three women Gov. Jeb Bush tapped this year to join writer Zora Neale Hurston, tennis star Chris Evert, former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings among others "who have made significant improvement of life for women and for all citizens of Florida," according to the Hall of Fame's Web site.
Hammer, who said she never tells anyone how many guns she owns because "it's nobody's business," remains nonplussed.
"Isn't that a hoot?" she chuckled when told that the National Organization for Women and others plan to protest her nomination on Monday, the day before the induction ceremony takes place in the Capitol.
"Women who are out there trying to promote advancement for women, protesting the recognition of a woman who has broken many glass ceilings," Hammer said. "That's just a hoot."
But women's rights proponents aren't laughing, and neither are gun control activists who call her a "threat to public safety."
"Marion Hammer has been a strident advocate for weapons that kill and maim, even assault weapons," said Linda Miklowitz, the outgoing president of the Florida chapter of NOW. "She's an embarrassment to the Women's Hall of Fame."
Breaking glass ceilings isn't enough, Miklowitz said, "if it's for negative reasons."
Hammer is a Tallahassee lobbyist who works for the NRA and the Unified Sportsmen of Florida. She also lobbies pro bono for children with learning disabilities, the result of her experiences with her grandson who has severe dyslexia, and she was appointed by former Senate President John McKay to sit on a task force for scholarships for disabled children task.
She said she has known Gov. Bush for nearly 25 years and considers him a friend, but acknowledges that the political clout of the 4.4 million member-strong NRA gains her access to the governor and Republican lawmakers.
This year she is promoting a bill (HB 249) that would give people the right to defend themselves with guns in public.
"A person who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force," the bill reads.
"It's back to the frontier," said Arthur Hayhoe, executive director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Inc. "It's shoot first and ask questions later. And you tell me this woman is not a threat to public safety?"
But Hammer says, "There's still people out there who want to take your gold from you (your money), who want to take your homestead from you (your property), who want to take your horse from you (your vehicle)."
Hammer — who learned to shoot, hunt and "hook the mule up to the plow" growing up on her grandfather's farm in Columbia, S.C. — has toted the same Colt.38 Special with a 2-inch barrel since she received Florida's first concealed weapons permit in 1987, after successfully persuading lawmakers to approve her "Right to Carry" bill.
"Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, I carry a Ruger.357 Magnum," Hammer said. "And I still have license number one."
Although the.357 Magnum is probably more often associated with Clint Eastwood's character in Dirty Harry, Florida's answer to Annie Oakley calls hers "a gal's gun. It's got more stopping power."
Attorney General Charlie Crist, who is expected to run for governor in 2006, nominated Hammer and said he doesn't see what all the fuss is all about.
"She might be controversial to some people, but not to me," Crist said, adding she is a "freedom fighter who has expanded the freedoms" of Floridians by her advocacy for the Second Amendment.
The women who selected Hammer and nine others out of about 80 nominations said Hammer's political philosophy did not enter into their decision.
"Maybe it was just that we didn't think of the political fallout," said Anita Mitchell, a lobbyist from West Palm Beach who is chairwoman of the Hall of Fame Committee and a member of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.
Bush chose the three inductees. The others are Shirley D. Coletti and Judith Kersey. Coletti, of Clearwater, founded one of the largest drug treatment and abuse prevention programs in the nation, Operation Parental Awareness and Responsibility Inc. Kersey, of Cape Canaveral, is a scientist and engineer who worked on the Saturn and space shuttle missions at the Kennedy Space Center and has held numerous positions with the Society of Women Engineers.
Hammer's "tenacity and courage and her effectiveness," her work creating nationally recognized children's gun safety programs and her work on behalf of dyslexic children such as her grandson spurred the selection committee's choice.
"From a PR point of view, maybe we made a mistake," Mitchell said, "but I'd rather err on the side of the way that we did it.
Score another one for Condi!
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian opposition leader who announced his presidential bid while in jail was released to a hero's welcome Saturday, weeks after Washington raised concerns about his imprisonment, which called into question Egypt's pledges of democratic reform.
Ayman Nour, frail and still wearing his prison jump suit, stepped out of Cairo's police headquarters and flashed a V-for-victory sign to a waiting crowd of supporters.
Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour flashes a V sign as he is carried by supporters of his al-Ghad or Tomorrow party following his release in Cairo Saturday, March 12, 2005. Nour was detained in January on allegations he forged documents to officially register the party. His arrest angered Washington and caused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to refer to Nour as a 'hero' of democracy .
Word spread fast of the 40-year-old lawmaker's release, and within 15 minutes, a crowd of 400 supporters swelled to a few thousand.
"We are paying the price of our search for freedom" Nour said. "They tried for days to destroy a national project, the Tomorrow Party. But they failed."
As the crowd cheered, Nour repeated last week's jailhouse announcement that he would run for president this year against 24-year incumbent Hosni Mubarak.
"I announce that I will run in the presidential elections for you," Nour said.
Nour promised to run for office shortly after Mubarak gave the surprise order that the constitution be amended to permit multi-candidate elections later this year.
Mubarak, as the sole candidate, has won every presidential referendum since 1981.
Nour and his political party have maintained that the accusations against him were an effort from the ruling party to eliminate him as a political rival. Nour has not been charged with any crime, but he was accused of presenting fraudulent signatures to a government committee to get a license for his party. He has denied the accusations.
Washington called Nour's release a positive development.
"We welcome the release today of Ayman Nour," said Lou Fintor, a State Department spokesman. "We look forward to steps Egypt will be taking over the coming months to expand political participation."
Nour's Tomorrow Party was not approved until late last year, and was only the third to be legalized in the past 25 years. It has only seven legislators in Egypt's 454-seat parliament. Nour's detention since January drew wide attention, partly because he had championed the call for multi-candidate presidential elections.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she raised "very strong concerns" about Nour when she met Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Washington last month.
However, Nour distanced himself from the U.S. efforts: "We are not America's men, and we are not anybody else's men. We are the men of Egypt only," he said to claps and whistles from the crowd.
International human rights groups had also had called on Egypt to release Nour, saying his detention was politically motivated.
When Nour was released, his wife, Gamila Ismail, quickly hugged him.
"I am so happy. Ayman is of the people, for the people. He was never a stooge of the authorities," she said, watching her husband being carried on the shoulders of his supporters.
Prosecutor-general Maher Abdel Wahed ordered Nour's release on $1,725 bail, saying the reasons for his provisional detention had ended. He said how to handle the case would be determined soon, insisting it was a "criminal" not a "political" case.
"Now, we hope that Ayman will be referred to a fair and quick trial," said his party's deputy secretary general, Ragab Heilal Hmeida.
Egyptian security kept a low profile during Nour's release, with only two armored cars parked nearby as supporters chanted.
The show of support was quickly translated into election campaigning. Hmeida called the welcome a "renewal of his popularity."
"He has great weight, not only in the area, but in the whole of Egypt," Hmeida sai
Posted by: Sherry ||
03/13/2005 9:40:15 AM ||
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This seems to be in response to listener feedback from an interview with Popular Mechanics editor Ben Chertoff, who had run a series of articles critical of the various conspiracy theories usually applied to 9/11. A quick excerpt:
I have examined all the so-called evidence offered by those who make claims ranging from bombs to missiles and much more. I find no "smoking gun". That said, Coast-to-Coast AM has had SEVERAL guests that have talked about these claims WITHOUT CHALLENGE. The moment ONE Guest was aired with an opposing view the "wing nut" crowd started yelling unfair. How can a group of people who claim to be open minded possibly take such a closed minded view? Perhaps they are not as open minded as they claim. Worse yet, they call names and make threats. One post- 9-11 effect is clear, we are a much less civil society.
I wonder if a tipping point of some kind has just been reached.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 12:37:09 PM ||
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Oh dear; I hit "accept" and then saw "ust" instead of "just."
I need a new keyboard, but none of the ones I see on the market make me happy.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 12:38 Comments ||
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#2
Easy fix.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2005 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
The Marylites have taken Art's brain again. I say no ginger for the masses. Buy young sand and sell your old Nat Lamps, this is nothing but FAITH BASED SOCIALISM.
#17
And on a serious note...I listen to Art Bell from time to time. He turned his show on a dime and discussed very serious topics with serious people right after 9/11/01. It was a month or two at least before he went back to the Ufologists and ghost stories. I'm grateful he clarified his position publicly; his show and website are magnets to the "Our Government is Hiding The Truth From The American People" crowd.
#18
Seafarious---a little light and air and the See-BS anerobbes dry up and die.
Art Bell made his fortune on speculations on what is happening at Groom Lake, AKA Area 51. I say, let them get on with their work and leave em alone. Of course I only got to Area 12 in my times at the Nevada Test Site.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 16:50 Comments ||
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People would be surprised at just how mundane things are in the various deignated Area XX's.
For the most part they are all just references for areas that we would rather not have associated with specific (military/intelligence) activities.
I've been to Nellis, and a few places in Utah and other states in the west. And if there were all these gadgets, you'd think we'd have already used them to zap the mullahs, or at least Saddam, years ago. Especilly given who is in the whitehouse now, a genuine no-shit guy that will whack them as he sees them if he has the means.
#20
OldSpook: Yeah, the Tectonic Device would come in real handy about now.
Seafarious: I listen to Coast to Coast once in a while too... the amazing/disturbing/whatever thing to me isn't that he talks about UFO's per se, it's that a lot of their ufologist guests have built belief systems around them.
I've reached the point where I don't care whether there are aliens or not. I *know* there's a Great White Father in Washington, but I don't waste my time going out into the jungle to build an airstrip and wait for the cargo to come down.
(You know, we're going to have to change that expression when Condi becomes Pres.)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 19:17 Comments ||
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#21
There's something I've forgotten to mention during all of this: I know a lot of you are probably wondering why I'm so interested in the fringe media movement, or even Pravda.
Well, it's all very simple.
I'm looking for the headwaters of De-Nile.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 21:16 Comments ||
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#23
"Our Government is Hiding The Truth From The American People"...
Last night I happened to hear Bell on this... He thinks it is ludicrous to think that anyone would seriously consider that Prez ordered murder of thousands of Americans. Those people he termed "wingnuts".
He went on to say that he voted for Kerry because of the Nuclear Waste dump issue, but he thought Bush was personally a decent human being, and the thought of his being a mass murderer was beyond the pale.
I also think that it is far different to consider the odd possibilities of Roswell, Area 51, etc., than 9/11 consparicies. Apples and oranges.
I have family members, who I consider very sober, who have seen things in the night sky they cannot explain.
Oddly enough one family member saw the Georgia State Capital building "buzzed" by a disc shaped object in April of 1974. She thought nothing of it, "Those crazy baseball fans are taking this Hank Aaron thing too far". She turned on the radio and heard other people calling news stations with "What was that?" Then came the news that Jimmy Carter, then Gov of Georgia saw something odd...
Now I know what everyone, including myself thinks of Jimmy, but there were hundreds of others, including my relative who thought at first it was an overboard celebration of Hank Aaron's 715th Home Run...
So those two lines of thought must be seperate.
One can speculate about possibilities of UFO visitations, and at the same time ridicule the looney left and their creepy 9/11 conspiracy thoeries. Remember, Doc Howie, new DNC chief one mused about 9/11 conspiracy thoery.
(BTW, pardon me for not asking this before, but wasn't Ptah one of the system lords? :-)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 21:53 Comments ||
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#25
BigEd: My basic point was, if there are aliens, I don't think they're here to save us from ourselves.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 21:53 Comments ||
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#26
Phil, I think they (some group/species/whatever) may have tried once (over quite an extended period of time) and it resulted in a fuckup of biblical magnitude. Since time of Sargon II (I may have the ruler wrong-- ~1400BCE) they packed up. There is an image (seal) of him pointing at an empty throne as to signify that the Lofty Ones are, indeed, gone. In the seals of previous times, they (Lofty Ones) were on the thrones while the lowly ruler stood in attentive position in front of them.
Not that (if they are still around) they may not try to nudge here and there some, but the modus operandi has built in inherent plausible deniability, since perhaps some alien lawyer pointed out to them that free will of the earth inhabitants is an overriding principle they can't cross (I suppose it went like that, some sort of universal code of conduct--not ST prime directive! Interfere as you will provided that the free will is not infringed upon--a dilema that is not easy to untangle, so the interference has been really sporadic).
So, the Blue Book conclusion was, de facto, correct: There is nothing to suggest that the phenomena has any relevance from national security point of view. IOW, there are some unusual lights in our skies, but... so what?
#28
You mean the UFOs aren't from the Alternate Reality USAs crossing over to save us? Shucks.... You done ruined my day. I suppose it can't be quantum transposition of our multiple selves either?
#31
A quick glance at Rense shows 3 anti-Popular-Mechanics articles at the top of the page, along with six or so apparently anti-Art-Bell articles.
(And although I am skeptical of a lot of the "Peak Oil" theories, since they're predicated on oil production being limited solely by geology and economic decisions by rational actors, I'm creeped out by their reference to it as a scam put out by the "Zionists.")
The rest of the page is the usual low-grade dreck.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/13/2005 23:44 Comments ||
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#32
Phil_B, so it's not the evil Haliburton? Darn! I had high hopes thet their standing wave quake machine is really working.
#33
The only thing I know about aliens is the experience of a dear friend of mine some years back, detailed here and here. Other than that I haven't the experience or the knowledge to make any judgements.
I scrolled further down at R***e. POS does not BEGIN to describe it. He seems to be linking to all of the old-time antisemitism-is-their-reason-for-existance organizations. You should check out the article on Wal-Mart for an example.
Trailing wife: thanks for the links; I'm downloading the .pdf file to keep :-) I believe I've heard of similar experiments, related to me by the late, lamented Gharlane of Eddore, but I've lost the message. I may be misremembering. Does the name ring a bell? (Drop me an e-mail... pee gee eff at cox dash internet dot com).
To everyone else, it was delightful, be sure to try the borcht on your way out.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/14/2005 0:09 Comments ||
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#35
People would be surprised at just how mundane things are in the various deignated Area XX's.
For the most part they are all just references for areas that we would rather not have associated with specific (military/intelligence) activities.
I've been to Nellis, and a few places in Utah and other states in the west. And if there were all these gadgets, you'd think we'd have already used them to zap the mullahs, or at least Saddam, years ago. Especilly given who is in the whitehouse now, a genuine no-shit guy that will whack them as he sees them if he has the means.
#36
People would be surprised at just how mundane things are in the various deignated Area XX's.
For the most part they are all just references for areas that we would rather not have associated with specific (military/intelligence) activities.
I've been to Nellis, and a few places in Utah and other states in the west. And if there were all these gadgets, you'd think we'd have already used them to zap the mullahs, or at least Saddam, years ago. Especilly given who is in the whitehouse now, a genuine no-shit guy that will whack them as he sees them if he has the means.
It is worth looking more closely at how Weberââ¬s vision of the modern world has panned out in the century since the publication of ââ¬Ã¢â¬The Protestant Ethic.ââ¬Ã¢â¬ In many ways, of course, it has proved fatally accurate: rational, science-based capitalism has spread across the globe, bringing material advancement to large parts of the world and welding it together into the iron cage we now call globalization.
But it goes without saying that religion and religious passion are not dead, and not only because of Islamic militancy but also because of the global Protestant-evangelical upsurge that, in terms of sheer numbers, rivals fundamentalist Islam as a source of authentic religiosity. The revival of Hinduism among middle-class Indians, or the emergence of the Falun Gong movement in China, or the resurgence of Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia and other former Communist lands, or the continuing vibrancy of religion in America, suggests that secularization and rationalism are hardly the inevitable handmaidens of modernization.
One might even take a broader view of what constitutes religion and charismatic authority. The past century was marked by what the German theorist Carl Schmitt labeled ââ¬Ã¢â¬political-theologicalââ¬Ã¢â¬ movements, like Nazism and Marxism-Leninism, that were based on passionate commitments to ultimately irrational beliefs. Marxism claimed to be scientific, but its real-world adherents followed leaders like Lenin, Stalin or Mao with the kind of blind commitment to authority that is psychologically indistinguishable from religious passion. (During the Cultural Revolution in China, a person had to be careful about what he did with old newspapers; if a paper contained a picture of Mao and one sat on the holy image or used the newspaper to wrap a fish, one was in danger of being named a counterrevolutionary.)
SURPRISINGLY, the Weberian vision of a modernity characterized by ââ¬Ã¢â¬specialists without spirit, sensualists without heartââ¬Ã¢â¬ applies much more to modern Europe than to present-day America. Europe today is a continent that is peaceful, prosperous, rationally administered by the European Union and thoroughly secular. Europeans may continue to use terms like ââ¬Ã¢â¬human rightsââ¬Ã¢â¬ and ââ¬Ã¢â¬human dignity,ââ¬Ã¢â¬ which are rooted in the Christian values of their civilization, but few of them could give a coherent account of why they continue to believe in such things. The ghost of dead religious beliefs haunts Europe much more than it does America.
Weberââ¬s ââ¬Ã¢â¬Protestant Ethicââ¬Ã¢â¬ was thus terrifically successful as a stimulus to serious thought about the relationship of cultural values to modernity. But as a historical account of the rise of modern capitalism, or as an exercise in social prediction, it has turned out to be less correct. The violent century that followed publication of his book did not lack for charismatic authority, and the century to come threatens yet more of the same. One must wonder whether it was not Weberââ¬s nostalgia for spiritual authenticity -- what one might term his Nietzscheanism -- that was misplaced, and whether living in the iron cage of modern rationalism is such a terrible thing after all.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/13/2005 10:17:02 AM ||
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#1
"Fatally accurate"? "Iron cage"?
Fukyama really shows his colors here, doesn't he?
Jung had a better read than Weber on the 20th century, but that's not surprising seeing as he had half a century more to observe events.
Posted by: too true ||
03/13/2005 11:36 Comments ||
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Too true: It's interesting to note that Fukuyama is basically a Hegelian. Even Weber had a better read on things than Hegel (was Weber a Hegalian?)
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/13/2005 13:57 Comments ||
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MALAWI'S President Bingu wa Mutharika had temporarily abandoned his controversial palace because he was being haunted by ghosts, a top aide said today. "It's true that the president is no longer staying there, and we have asked clerics from several Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic, to pray for the new state house to exorcise evil spirits," said Malani Mtonga, an aide on religious affairs.
Mr Mtonga said that since the president, who is a Catholic, occupied the palace in December last year, he had been hearing "strange noises that keep him awake, or feels rodents crawling all over his body, but when he turns on the lights, he sees nothing". Since abandoning the palace in the administrative capital Lilongwe, Mr Mutharika has been operating from another palace in Kasungu, 100km away. Mr Mtonga said the president had asked for "special prayers" to exorcise the evil spirits.
Until last year the building housed the country's parliament, but Mr Mutharika kicked out the politicians, saying it was intended to be a residence and should "revert to its original proper use". The palace, containing some 300 air-conditioned rooms and set in 555 hectares of land outside the capital, is widely seen as a folly of the country's founding president Kamuzu Banda. It took 20 years to build, but was only occupied by Mr Banda for 90 days. Mr Mutharika's predecessor Bakili Muluzi refused to live in the palace, saying it was too extravagant. Mr Banda gained notoriety for building a number of palaces across the southern African nation as millions of his subjects suffered extreme poverty.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/13/2005 3:12:42 AM ||
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#1
Think he's getting ghosts and severe guilt muddled up ? i choose guilt , or he is just completely insane *chuckle*
#2
Its a ghost of Bob Mugabe that haunts him. No. Bob did not die yet, it is ghostia precox. Or ghost of Mugabism haunting the African south?
Bingu wa should really consider a hearty confession and scale down his greed and allow parliament to take the place as its home again and get more modest accomodation.
#4
It's a picture of Fred's house...brooding Castle Rantburg, hard by the shore of the Sea of Despond. The light at the dormer window at the top is Fred, gleefully pouring sanitizer down the sink trap. Mwahahahaha!
#7
Farraday Troll Cage----LMAO, Shipman!!!! Trapped like Mars flies in a Klein Bottle.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 16:44 Comments ||
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The light at the dormer window at the top is Fred, gleefully pouring sanitizer down the sink trap.
Actually, I think that's the TROLL TRAP he's filling, and it's sulfuric acid he's dumping down the drain!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/13/2005 17:46 Comments ||
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#9
Mmmmmm! Drano!
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2005 18:18 Comments ||
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#10
Hey, speaking of Drano....Remember in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Breakfast of Champions", wasn't it Kilgore Trout's mother that committed suicide by drinking Drano? What a way to go....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2005 21:51 Comments ||
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#11
President Mutharika:
Say Betelgeuse three times fast, and your problems will be over, he he he...
Muzaffargarh police on Saturday arrested eight people as a preventive measure to avoid threat to the life of rape victim Mukhtar Mai and her family in Meerwala village in Tehsil Jatoi. Muhammad Aslam, Khalil Ahmad, Ghulam Hussain, Huzoor Bakhsh, Rasool Bakhsh, Allah Ditta, Qasim and Nazar Hussain were taken into police custody after Maukhtar's brother filed an application that they posed threat to the life of his sister and family members, police officer Sardar Iqbal Khan told APP. "We have requested the Home Department to issue detention orders of these eight people," Mr Khan added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2005 12:59:58 AM ||
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A lawyer has filed a contempt of court petition in the Lahore High Court's Multan Bench against Mukhtar Mai, Dr Sarwar Bari, Dr Farzana Bari and 10 others for defaming the LHC's judgement in the Meerwala gang rape case. The contempt petition filed by Kanwar Intizar is expected to be heard on Tuesday. The office of the LHC's deputy registrar entertained the contempt petition following minor objections on Saturday.
The petition — filed on behalf of Ghulam Mustafa Chauhan — stated that LHC's Multan Bench had acquitted five accused with death sentences and commuted the death sentence of one of the accused into an imprisonment for life sentence. "Charging the court with injustice is a grievous contempt and the respondents demonstrated against the acquittal of five of the accused in the Mukhtar Mai case on several days. The respondents also delivered speeches against the honourable court," petition stated.
Criticising the role of non-government organisations (NGOs), the petition charged them with damaging the impression of Pakistani society abroad through the print and electronic media. "The office bearers of these NGOs have been earning millions of rupees from foreign donors by supplying them sensitive information against Pakistan's national interest by protesting under the garb of injustice to Mukhtar Mai. The NGOs were defaming Pakistan's judiciary in front of the world," it stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2005 12:43:55 AM ||
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#1
the petition charged them with damaging the impression of Pakistani society abroad
Umm - it's not possible to have a lower opinion of WakiPaki than I do.
#2
This is the "Religion of Peace" at work. If a woman is raped kill her and give the rapists a free pass.
This is an idea/philosophy that needs to be wiped out just like nazism and communism need to be.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Researchers have long wondered why there is not more melted rock at Arizona's Barringer Meteorite Crater between Flagstaff and Winslow.
MALAWI'S President 
Muzaffargarh police on Saturday arrested eight people as a preventive measure to avoid threat to the life of rape victim Mukhtar Mai and her family in Meerwala village in Tehsil Jatoi. Muhammad Aslam, Khalil Ahmad, Ghulam Hussain, Huzoor Bakhsh, Rasool Bakhsh, Allah Ditta, Qasim and Nazar Hussain were taken into police custody after Maukhtar's brother filed an application that they posed threat to the life of his sister and family members, police officer Sardar Iqbal Khan told APP. "We have requested the Home Department to issue detention orders of these eight people," Mr Khan added.
A lawyer has filed a contempt of court petition in the Lahore High Court's Multan Bench against 
