Hmmm ... very business-like, but I like it. Check out the photos gallery at the bottom.

From the looks of it, Orion fared well in its trials which took place yesterday 20 miles off the Florida coast.

Home Invasion Roundup:

Police were investigating an early morning break-in and home invasion in nicetown on Wednesday.

A resident on Cambridge Drive reported a home-invasion robbery shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Florida State Police Department.

A man and his wife were attacked this afternoon by a knife-wielding man who broke into their home on Summerhill Road, police said.

A home invasion robbery in Lodi quickly fell apart Monday night when one of the suspects shot himself in the leg.
... with a shotgun!

Arm yourselves and be ready to go, always!

The AETA makes it illegal to "interfere" with an animal enterprise, in an overly vague and extremely subjective way. As a result this law not only endangers these four defendants charged with violating the AETA themselves, but also has the potential to have a chilling effect on free speech and protest. In fact, the FBI news release announcing the arrests indicated the charges were designed to "send a message" by making an example of the defendants.

I agree that the law is ill-advised and it's application is unwarranted (and probably won't pass constitutional muster in the long run), but your buddies strike me as ignorant douche bags and their tactics strike me as unbridled douche-baggery.

It is essential on grounds of principle because the law has defined this nation, a nation of laws not of men, since its founding. “Reverence for the laws,” as Abraham Lincoln observed, is the “political religion of the nation.” It would by a Pyrrhic victory if, in our struggle to preserve this country against the threat of international terrorism we sacrificed so central a part of what this country stands for and why it has been a model for the rest of the world.

I can understand why they say that we are 'a nation of laws', but I think the fact that it's true is a big part of our problem. There are a lot of really irrational and corrupt laws on the books and enforcing them is no virtue, it's merely irrational and corrupt. I think that we would be better off if we adopted the wording from the Pledge and called ourselves 'a nation of Liberty and Justice for ALL' and then made sure that it was true. Yeah, it's a little more work, but I think it would be worth it.

This image shows an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope of the central region of the Milky Way, with a pullout showing a Chandra image of a region located only 1.4 degrees away from the center of the Galaxy.

Imagine robots that operate without electronic components. Well, this week scientists at a robotics lab in Japan revealed a creation that could bring the scenario a step closer to reality. The team has created what looks to be a Technicolor inchworm made of motile gel that not only crawls by itself, but changes color depending on the environment it's in. And its creators say that this creeping, self-propelled goop might one day find its way into robots.

Interesting, if somewhat short, video ...

Although almost no technical information has been released concerning the early American signals intelligence satellites, some information has been declassified concerning satellites proposed in the early years of WS-117L. In 1956 electronics company RCA produced an outline of a satellite development plan indicating that their proposed ferret satellites would monitor the radio spectrum from 40 megahertz to 40 gigahertz. The proposal also included a notional illustration of a ferret satellite that looked like something out of a later James Bond film. With its nose pointed toward the earth, the satellite payload fairing peeled back like the petals of a flower, each petal sprouting a dish antenna.

Hmmm ... interesting.

Small, agile and quiet, they soar across the border, sometimes just a few feet off the desert floor. And now ultralight aircraft packed with narcotics are the newest weapon in some drug cartels' arsenals.

Fun AND profit.

“For thousands of New Yorkers, the site of the airplane overhead brought back horrible memories of the 9/11 tragedy,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “We must be much more careful in the future to recognize the impact of aircraft in no fly zones around New York City and the FAA must be more diligent in coordinating with local officials.”

... elsewise we might rile the Wussies.

Home Invasion Roundup:

FAKE COP & IDSLIWTFB: Gunmen dressed as police officers burst into a house in the Pilot community in southern Franklin County, sparking a shoot-out that injured two people late Wednesday, authorities said.

Two people were killed Sunday night during a home invasion near Winter Park.

Colquitt County Sheriff's deputies find a man shot to death in a driveway late Saturday night - the victim of an apparent home invasion.

Although the creation of a national information security office will mean more regulation, oversight, and filtering of Internet traffic, Howard said, "There is a palpable feeling of excitement about national cyber defense."

And it's all based on ignorance of the nature of security. The third natural law of security states: All Security is Individual and Relative. The act of having a national information security office guarantees several things:

1) Security measures will be uniform across diverse systems so that no individual system will have security optimized to its own particular vulnerabilities.
2) Hacking any one system will reveal the vulnerabilities of all the rest.
3) Bureaucracies move slowly so solutions will become available just as the vulnerability-exploitation process has run it's course.
4) All systems that are covered by the NIS office will always be vulnerable to personal and political corruption in that office.

What a bargain!

So whether you're walking down the street or running along a trail, every woman can take charge of her own personal safety by putting these basic self-defense tips into practice:

Especially Number 5 ... but don't make the mistake of thinking that practicing these tips will take the place of being ready to go for it.

On your journey to martial arts training excellence it’s important to understand the stages we go through as we are learning and developing, so we know where we are at and know where we are going.

Interesting ...

Drivers trained in mileage-maximizing techniques such as smooth acceleration and coasting to red lights were able to get an extraordinary 1,445.7 miles out of a single tank of gas during a fund-raising effort in Washington, D.C. that concluded today. They did it by averaging 81.5 miles per gallon in an off-the-showroom floor, non-modified 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, the most fuel-efficient midsize car in North America - nearly doubling its U.S. certified mileage.

Hmmm ... Ford's got it goin' on these days.

Mexico, which was rocked by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake on Monday, said the number of confirmed and suspected deaths from the flu had now risen, as other countries urged against non-essential travel to the tourism hotspot.

That's just piling on ...

Home Invasion Roundup:

A reported home invasion had South Bend Police looking for two suspects armed with shotguns early Monday.

A pitbull dog was shot, and later died, during a home invasion at an Allentown apartment Sunday morning, city police said.

In a news-release issued at about 6 p.m. today, Sunday, Boyne City Police Department officials said officers and ambulance crews were called to a home on Michigan Avenue at about 4:19 a.m. today when a woman called 9-1-1 reporting that she had just been awakened by her 9-year-old daughter saying that someone had hurt her. The mother told dispatchers she was afraid that the perpetrator was still inside the house.

Arm yourselves and be ready to go, always.

My God ... it's full of WIN!

Obviously, the idea of tapping into the near limitless power of the Sun to achieve greater energy security is tantalizing, even to the casual observer. All else being equal, the benefits of an effective SBSP system are potentially enormous, ranging from the revitalization of the beleaguered aerospace industry to a means of reducing global emissions of greenhouse gasses. As is the case with all public policies, though, all else is not equal and one must ask if it is truly the right time for the United States to embark on a project of such epic proportions such as SBSP.

... and then accidentally scorch a mile-wide scar across four states.

The show began with an “impartial” experiment. Give three students with no gun experience, who do not own guns themselves, a gun and sit them in a classroom. Each of the students not only have no experience with a firearm, they are also all inexplicably wearing something that will ensure they cannot shoot quickly and accurately should the need arise - such as an oversized shirt which makes it difficult for them to draw their weapon; headgear which makes it difficult for them to see their target; or gloves, which makes it difficult for them to handle their weapon.

On the gun counter at Ace Sporting Goods in Washington County, customers are greeted with a picture of President Barack Obama next to the caption, "Salesman of the Year."

I hadn't noticed this before.

I have used weapons since I was big enough to carry one, and now own two handguns, four shotguns and three rifles, two with scopes. I use them carefully, for hunting game from our family woods and fields, and occasionally for hunting with my family and friends in other places. We cherish the right to own a gun and some of my hunting companions like to collect rare weapons. One of them is a superb craftsman who makes muzzle-loading rifles, one of which I displayed for four years in my private White House office.

And yet ... the Second Amendment isn't about hunting, is it? If you feel better having clearly inferior firepower when the need arises (and I pray it never does), I support your choice. But if I choose to cover all the bases with sport/utility rifles so that I know I'll have the tools to get the icky jobs done, don't pretend that it's some kind of criminal tendency.

When seven astronauts board the Atlantis shuttle on 11 May for an 11-day mission to repair the ailing Hubble telescope, they will be aware of the formidable task ahead. Five spacewalks to replace broken parts. No space station nearby as a refuge. Earth more than 350 miles below. But the significance of the Hubble repair mission goes much further than the technical challenges facing the crew. This mission amounts to the swansong of the shuttle, the culmination of a 30-year, $170bn (£115bn) programme to consolidate humankind's mastery over space.

More on space tornadoes.

The spacecraft bears the largest space-borne camera ever, a photometer composed of 42 charge-coupled devices (CCDs), to monitor those stars for periodic dips in stellar brightness that occur as orbiting planets block a portion of the stars' light from Kepler's view.

The United States declared a public health emergency and a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said she feared there would be deaths in the United States as the new strain of flu spreads.

On the off chance that it turns out to be nothing, we better panic now so we aren't deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate what a Nation of Wussies we've become.

Linux-based software such as Android is attractive because it is free, while Microsoft charges a hefty licensing fee for the Windows operating system. In order to hit super low price points, manufacturers need to cut costs wherever they can and that means ditching Microsoft's Windows software.

It's nice to see some alternatives coming down the pike. If nothing else, it will probably make MS more responsive.

The gamma-ray sky comes alive in a movie made from data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during its first three months of operations. Gamma rays from sources near and far turn the sky into a hypnotic froth. The sun arcs serenely across the northern sky as active galaxies called blazars flare up and fade out.

Interesting ... but somewhat crunchy.

Ethiopian Federal police said that the terrorist operation was planned by a “terrorist group” called “Ginbot 7” based in the USA.

Hmmm ... it's interesting how easy it is to wonder whether the tangos are the good guys or the bad guys when the news is coming out of Africa.

Some inter-stellar eye candy ...

This is weird.

It can always be worse ...

Not your usual car show pics ...

If you singled out ANY OTHER group by race, religion, or color and persecuted them the way the left and the media goes after this group of law abiding citizens, the A.C.L.U. would be on your doorstep with an injunction in 20 Minutes! Imagine if you needed a permit to be Jewish, legally required to keep you Koranlocked up,restricted to certain “safe and approved” denominations of Christianity. Would you stand by and be limited to only one church service a month? What if it was a crime to practice your faithacross state lines? What would you do if all Gays were required to register themselves with the state? Would you support a ban on Catholicism if if could be proven it was the “religion of choice” for Mexican Drug cartels? Are these not the same “common sense” and “reasonable restrictions” that people want applied to Lawful American Gun Owners?

Rep. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, has introduced a bill to close the so-called "gun show loophole." The "loophole" is that federally licensed gun dealers are required to run instant background checks on people buying guns, but those who are selling guns privately and are not dealers do not have to run such checks.

Hmmm ... Lautenburg, New Jersey ... vote out of office ... anyone else that supports ... vote out of office!

Small as they are, the motors generate their share of power, using a two-stroke, one-cylinder engine. They push 35 miles per hour and sip gasoline at a snail’s pace, reaching up to 150 miles per gallon.

It is odd that more isn't being done in this arena.

Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:
-- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.
-- We understood what the CIA was doing.
-- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.
-- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.
-- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.

One of the down sides of secret briefings is that they don't invest the people who matter (the citizenry) with ownership of the action you were taking.

When you board a bus or tram make sure that the people around you are not drunk. If so, then try to occupy that part of the bus or tram which is not very crowded and people around are sane and healthy.

Always good advice.

“Gun owners should not be subject to fear of prosecution or legal action for acting responsibly in defense of themselves or others,” Alloway said. “My bill would ensure that gun owners will have the right to act in response to serious threats from criminals.”

Hmmm ... Richard Alloway II ... Pennsylvania ... OK to vote for - so far.

Home Invasion Roundup:

FAKE COP - The fake officer said he was there to "conduct a follow-up to a prior incident at her residence." When the woman opened the door, she said the impostor and two masked Hispanic men forced their way inside, assaulted her and then bound her with duct tape.

Police spokesperson Debbie George told WAVY.com after the suspects forced their way into the South Saratoga Street home, they forced four people inside onto the floor then stole their wallets, cash and cell phones.

IDSLIWTFB - A Pittsburg man fought off two men who broke into his home early Friday morning, wrestled away a shotgun and shot one of the suspects with it as he fled, according to the victim and police.

Meridian Police are investigating a home invasion and armed robbery in the 22 hundred block of Poplar Springs Drive Friday night. It happened around 8:40. Police were looking for three black male suspects who fled the scene on foot.

Southwest Mercer County Regional police Chief Riley Smoot said the two were wanted in connection with a home invasion at 1002 Walnut Ave. Smoot said a woman who lives there had just returned from taking her children to school when two armed men pulled guns on her, forced her out of her car and into the home, bound her with duct tape and marched her upstairs.

Arm yourselves and be ready to go, always!

"It's scary to know how many people actually have a concealed weapons permit and the places that they can carry them now," said Angela Rice, Director of Richmond County Probate Court.

What's scary is that this gal has any role in administering the legal system.

Sheldon Simon, a political science professor and security expert at Arizona State University, said the unemployment rate is key. “Times of economic crisis can lead to extreme political activity. Studies particularly on right-wing extremism in this country show a correlation between severe economic difficulties and the tendency to scapegoat,” he said.

Gee, I wonder if they show the exact same tendency on the left. That's essentially what the report was ... a left-wing attempt to scapegoat the right.

On Saturday 11 April the Planck spacecraft was transferred from the S1B building, dedicated to spacecraft preparations, to the S5A building, dedicated to fueling operations.

Never mess with the awesome power of science, Timmy.

Also ...

And as long as we're on the subject ...

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said he'll continue to tell officers they can't assume people are carrying guns legally in a city that has seen nearly 200 homicides in the past two years. "My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we'll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have a right to carry it," Flynn said. "Maybe I'll end up with a protest of cowboys. In the meantime, I've got serious offenders with access to handguns. It's irresponsible to send a message to them that if they just carry it openly no one can bother them."

Milwaukee may want to think good thoughts about getting a somewhat more flexible police chief. It will probably save them some settlement money.

Home invasion round-up:

A former Columbia police officer said he heard the gunshot from a nearby townhouse and rushed to aid his neighbors. Antowan Gourdine said he found Grate leaned back in a chair with blood "pouring from his chest."

According to police, the victim was inside his home in the 2000 block of Oak Street in New Albany when the five men burst in. The victim ran out and the men started chasing, shooting at him in the street. The victim ran into a home where two young girls were inside. Police say the men fired a final shot at their target, narrowly missing the girls.

Investigators are looking for two people involved in two separate home invasions in Putnam County.

The arrest of a man in connection with a home invasion and sexual assault, reportedly leads Wildwood police to a motel room with the body of a woman inside.

“He had what appeared to be a handgun, and the guy tied him up with a cord,” Cpl. David Viel, a police spokesman, said. “He then lets in two more suspects through the front door. They were demanding money and drugs, but (Hrachovina) had none.”

Los Angeles County awarded millions of dollars in contracts to a Torrance security firm even though federal and state investigations dating back more than a decade found problems with the company's practices.

I don't even know where to start on this one.

A former state Tax Department worker stole the identity of thousands of New Yorkers and racked up more than $200,000 in bogus credit card charges, officials said Wednesday.

Knowing how to handle yourself in a situation is important, and that’s where self defense comes into play. Here is a video montage of secret self defense techniques that will elevate your self defense 10 fold

Some will work better than others but they are all worth knowing.

I'll take one of each!

A man flying a home-built airplane equipped with a special parachute was able to take the aircraft down safely in front of a house near Black Diamond Monday night, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

One event that required skills in design was the Cardboard Duct Tape Boat Race at the J.L. Sorenson P.E. Building swimming pool. The object of the contest was for participants to design and build a boat made from cardboard and duct tape that would carry two people across the pool the fastest without sinking.

If college were this fun all the time, everyone would go.

Space tornados ... why wasn't I notified.

Hmmm ... Dragon Thrusters.

Authorities say San Diego planted bombs at the corporate offices of two biotechnology companies, Chiron Life Sciences Center in Emeryville, Calif., and Shaklee Corp. in Pleasanton, Calif.

Hmmm ,,, doesn't say whether he's a Republican or not.

This set of pics from Cassini is awesome (and full of win).

The last time a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress banned civilian sales of military-style assault weapons, it took American voters just seven weeks to rebel. They handed Republicans control of the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years.

Yesss, and we're feeling far less forgiving now.

While a few sections of the Bill of Rights apply only to the federal government, amendments that protect fundamental rights - including the Second Amendment - can be enforced against the states, said Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain in the 3-0 decision.

I didn't really expect this out of the 9th, but I'll take it wherever I can get it.

Gov. Butch Otter allowed the ban to expire, and an Otter spokesman says it’s unclear whether the governor can restrict firearms in the Statehouse due to a law passed last year that appears to allow the regulation of firearms only by the Legislature.

I doubt he would have done it, anyway.

There were far less-promising things than this funded.

It means considering things that are uncomfortable for people across the political spectrum. We consume massive energy, and in order to feed this need, we'll have to choose from among a portfolio of options--some of which we won't like.

Hmmm ... applied economics.

Home invasion roundup:

"Few things are more frightening to the average citizen than violent criminals who will brutally attack you in your home," says Wright. "This legislation will increase the penalties for home invasion and hopefully deter some criminals while ensuring those who do commit the crime are removed from society for a long time."
This law should read "... of those who aren't immediately killed by the home owner/occupant."

Denver police are asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a home invasion robbery. According to police, the victim was followed into his home in the 4500 block of North Tulsa Street on Feb. 28. Police said victims in the home were bound and the suspect attempted to take items from the home.
Identifying them doesn't take nearly this long when they die at the scene.

Residents of two Port St. Lucie home invasions on Easter night 2007 described being beaten and threatened by masked men armed with handguns, but none could identify two men on trial as their assailants.
See above.

In Jackson County, officials say 2 men are in custody and facing charges for armed home invasion.

State police are looking for suspects after two people are tied up during a home invasion. It happened last night on Highway 2036 in the Letcher community of Letcher County. The incident affected a nearby school. State police say three people in masks forced their way into this home armed with a rifle. After tying up a man and a woman, police say the trio left with prescription pills, cash and a cell phone. It's a crime that's on the rise.

The most recent attack marks the 10th home invasion in the counties. This time the intruder also beat the victim's 61-year-old husband, who reportedly walked into the house after the attacker had entered through its front door. The husband, bloodied, stumbled to a neighbor's house for help. The couple were treated at a local hospital and later released.

So, imagine her surprise when, over the past couple of days, a story broke revealing taped phone calls from 2006 in which Harman promised an Israeli spy that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two AIPAC officials. The quid pro quo was that this Israeli agent would lobby Nancy Pelosi on Harman’s behalf in order to try to secure for Harman the Chair of the House Intelligence committee, assuming Democrats took control of the House, as they were expected to do (Pelosi ultimately passed over Harman).

I'm going to let this one percolate for awhile. It's almost too perfect to be true.

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder wrote in the 35-page decision that the department must follow a 9th Circuit Court decision from 2006 saying that applicants don't lose their status as spouses because the government didn't rule on their cases before the citizen's death.

The female passenger was checking her carry-on luggage when she observed that she was carrying a Swiss army knife with a 1 1/2 inch blade and another knife with a 2 1/2 inch blade, Davis said. The crew was made aware of the knives and turned the plane around.

Hmmm ... TSA missed the knives, the passenger that had the knives notified the crew that she had them when she realized it and they still had to turn the plane around and go through a bunch of theatre even though the knives didn't actually pose any risk.

Put yourself in the shoes of the people who were asked to interrogate al-Qaeda prisoners in 2002. One former officer told me he declined the job, not because he thought the program was wrong but because he knew it would blow up. "We all knew the political wind would change eventually," he recalled. Other officers who didn't make that cynical but correct calculation are now "broken and bewildered," says the former operative.

This is a lesson that everyone should learn. Don't do things that are only supportable in an atmosphere of fear, because sooner or later the fear will subside and the formerly fearful will use you as reaction mass to push themselves away from there own sense of guilt and self-loathing. It has always been this way, which is why not torturing is always the correct answer.

But Max Abrahms, a fellow at Stanford University, disputes this conclusion, noting that they focus narrowly on the well-known but rare terrorist victories – while ignoring the much broader, if more obscure, pattern of terrorism's failures. To remedy this deficiency, Abrahms took a close look at each of the 28 terrorist groups so designated by the U.S. Department of State since 2001 and tallied how many of them achieved its objectives.

In the U.S, the only objectives that seem to have been accomplished are the ones we ascribed to the tangos, i.e. reducing our liberty, dividing us, etc. They don't seem to have had much luck getting us to turn Islamic or making us go away and leave them alone.

Self-defense related:

A man shot and killed Monday night had forced his way into a home in an attempt to contact a woman who had a restraining order against him, according to police.

Pennsylvania has laws in place to protect individuals who use force in self-defense, but Alloway said he is concerned about Pennsylvania's "duty to retreat" clause, which requires individuals to avoid using force if they can safely retreat or surrender their possessions to an attacker.

Spartanburg County deputies determined that a man who shot two people Monday night outside his residence was acting in self-defense and charged the two men on Tuesday.

Astronomers claim to have discovered an exoplanet that is the most similar to Earth in terms of mass than any previously discovered.

I wonder if this type of research will precipitate a legitimate quest for FTL travel.

Reporters learned from a news conference at this meeting that 24 nuclear power units are currently under construction in China, and that they are mainly spread out over coastal provinces.

Hmmm ... can't predict any difficulties here.

Fourteen years after the Oklahoma City bombing and almost eight years after the 9/11 attacks, nearly 38 percent of Oklahoma voters are "not really worried at all" about a major terrorist attack on the nation in the next few months.

Maybe it's because they know the odds of actually being killed in one are very low. I know that's a relief to me.

SEO strategies that push Web sites to the front of the Google ranking algorithm line are regularly employed by online retailers and news media outlets. How well they will work to divert tech-savvy, disgruntled Muslim youth from adopting a terrorist mentality is questionable, according to at least one think tank.

I have my doubts as well but at least they're thinking innovatively.

Home invasion round-up:

According to Pulford, the male spoke to the victim, asking for assistance before gaining entry to the home. Once inside the house, the suspect demanded money and the victim was pushed to the floor.

Shaquan Altrek Johnson is wanted in connection with a home invasion on April 12.

Jason Brown rushed to his mother’s home Monday after she told him her badly beaten neighbor had hopped onto her front stoop bound, gagged and screaming for help.

All four are charged with armed robbery, second-degree aggravated battery, felony criminal conspiracy and entry of an inhabited dwelling.

According to the sheriff's office Web site, McDonald was booked on a first-degree felony charge of residential home invasion with a firearm or other deadly weapon, fleeing police at high speed and other charges. He was being held without bond Monday.

It takes years to master cane fighting like Hernandez or Shuey, but they say they can teach a senior several crucial moves in an hour. Perhaps more importantly, though, it gives them confidence that can help them escape a dangerous situation.

I'm tentatively supportive of this (because I do so love it when they fight back), but confidence should always be directly proportional to competence or you're asking for a rather surprised look on your face as you die.

A 28-year-old woman who told police she stabbed her 33-year-old ex-husband in self-defense was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault Sunday afternoon, police said.

This only works if you don't have a violent history or do have supporting video.

Oh, sure. It's fun ... 'til somebody puts an eye out!

Gotta get me one of these!

Gun control policies wrought by the likes of liberal Sens. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Schumer (D-N.Y.) amount to "cruel indecency and forced victimization" argues rocker Ted Nugent in an April 20, 2009 column in U.S. News and World Report.

To bad he otherwise seems to lean pro-authoritarian.

A year ago, however, he was able to step off his wheelchair and float about in a state of zero gravity aboard a special plane. He hopes to repeat the experience in space, above the atmosphere, aboard the maiden, suborbital flight of the Virgin Galactic of British billionaire Richard Branson's venture company Virgin Group, whose first flight is planned for next year.

Sounds good to me, Steve.

"Now that the Obama administration has signalled a clear interest to engage with Iran this could widen the terms of debate from the narrow technical issues like the number of centrifuges to include political objectives," says one western diplomat.

I think Israel has been signaling a clear interest to engage with Iran, as well, but it seems unlikely that it will be in terms of debate.

Large Hadron Rap

This IS pretty clever.

Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport.

Infernal machine ... that's kinda catchy ... kinda catch-all too, but so what. Let the Supremes sort it out.

Our Founding Fathers didn’t have in mind weapons that could mow down innocent citizens in a matter of seconds when they wrote the Second Amendment. Such high-powered weapons did not exist in the Revolutionary War era of militias.

Having just over-thrown the existing government (remember King George?), I suspect they envisioned whatever weapons those they might have to face would have. If the other guys, be it criminals or oppressors, had innocent-citizen-mow-down-in-seconds weapons, then the general populace should also have them.

Indian space scientists are going ahead full steam with the planning of next moon odyssey Chandrayaan-2, a mission which will see a soft landing of small rovers on the surface of earth's natural satellite.

"The muddling of counter-terrorism and immigration enforcement is the single biggest mistake we've made since 9/11," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations.

This is true. Do one thing well, not two things poorly.

But Secretary Janet Napolitano added that "a number of groups far too numerous to mention" want to commit domestic terrorism attacks and are looking for new recruits.

What exactly is stopping them, and why not mention 10 or 20 just to give the journalists something to report on?

Did you know that President Obama trained in Tae Kwon Do, a traditional Korean martial art?

Interesting ...

Apollo encouraged a whole generation of kids to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to pursue space and science-related careers. Yet since Eugene Cernan set his boot into the lunar dust on the Apollo 17 mission, mankind hasn't been back to the Moon, let alone beyond.

Apollo was arguably some of the best money ever spent, but for some reason space flight just wasn't politically sexy.

You might think the persistence of the drug traffickers' main business, which consists of transporting and selling products that are entirely illegal on both sides of the border, would give pause to those who think they can block the flow of guns to the cartels. Instead, the violence fostered by drug control feeds demands for equally futile gun control.

Despite all the security measures the district has implemented in the last 10 years, Zehner stopped short of saying she’s confident they would prevent a Columbine-style attack. “I feel they are (safe), but of course, you can’t prevent everything,” he said. “If there’s a heavily armed threat intent on getting into our buildings, it could happen, but we’re doing the best we can.”

Uhh ... short of arming the folks that would actually have to deal with it.

Wanted: Computer hackers. Federal authorities aren't looking to prosecute them, but to pay them to secure the nation's networks.

It probably still won't work (because they won't be willing to hire the 9 year-olds) but at least they're on the right track, now.

The 28 year-old resident of Kampala is among the initial group of Virgin Galactic space tourists who have signed on for a trip to outer space that includes four to five minutes of weightlessness and will take 2.5 hours.

I bet this will be fun (if you don't die).

Cassini has given us some great photos ...

The core of concern is that the law “presumes” deadly force is justified if a person “reasonably believes” it's immediately necessary.

You can always clarify the law later. This is a great improvement over 'shall retreat' doctrines.

Now is a good time for a home invasion round-up:

One person was shot and another assaulted during what authorities believe was a home invasion.

One of the victims, a 32-year-old man, struggled with the suspect and was shot. Both victims then fled the house. The wounded man suffered non-life threatening injuries and was released from a hospital. (IDSLIWTFB)

Two teenagers charged Monday in a home invasion and assault on Derbyshire Road in Daytona Beach are facing additional charges stemming from an earlier home invasion and shooting at a Palm Coast home.

The reported home invasion call was received just before 3 a.m. from the 800 block of Brickell Avenue in Palm Bay. Officers who responded were told two males wearing masks forced entry into the home and when they confronted the male resident, one of the suspects fired a gun and shot the victim.

Admittedly, the first run ended on a sandbank, but that – and everyone agrees – can happen to any sailor.

Hmmm ... it doesn't really say how they keep it from interfering with other craft.

"The thing that bewilders me is that this president just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people," Axelrod argued. "I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere because he certainly understands the burden that people face."

Maybe it's the magically, not-yet-existing trillions being wildly spent that someone (wink, wink) will eventually have to pay for.

The free sale of those weapons has been an enormous boon for the Mexican drug cartels that now easily outgun Mexican police forces in border provinces. That is a major reason why President Calderon sent the Mexican army into those regions to try to re-establish law and order.

Naturally, the Mexican non-governmental populace, being subjects and all instead of citizens, have no guns and so are prostrate in a battle between an overwhelmingly corrupt government and several government-manufactured criminal enterprises.

Local police said Xiong's being in financial dire straits and his psychological problems contributed to the killing spree.

O'course, being China and all, he might have just been innocent. That's the problem with not being strongly justice oriented, there's no reason to believe anything that happens within the system.

“To picture individuals lying in a coffin is sufficiently prejudicial enough without the compounding issues related to the apparent removal of the unborn child and placing that child in clothing and in a casket to be viewed by the jury,” the defense attorneys wrote.

This is one of those trials that, despite the sensational aspects, will probably be worth following. The defendant doesn't seem very sympathetic, but may nevertheless be innocent.

Hmmm ... never heard of this bunch.

So when the USNS Impeccable, a U.S. surveillance ship, was snooping in the area last month, China set a trap. Five Chinese vessels crowded around the U.S. ship. Crew members hurled chunks of wood into the Impeccable's path and used poles to try to snare its acoustic equipment. When U.S. sailors turned a fire hose on their assailants, the sodden Chinese crew aboard one of the vessels stripped to their underwear and closed to within 25 feet, the Pentagon said.

Yes, friend or foe, indeed?

According to an incident report filed by Martin County sheriff’s deputies, [Linda] Schultz said Reber shot out her glass back door, wounding her in the neck. When he came through the door, she fired at him with her .40 caliber handgun, hitting him at least three times. He dropped the shotgun and staggered back out the door.

I do so love it when they fight back.

Also, an aphorism from Mrs. Bulldog: the best way to a man's heart is through his chest ...

Scientists are warning of a possible chocolate shortage as disease ravages cocoa crops across the world.

Nooooooooooo ...

Officials would not confirm whether Madoff was responsible for a brutal incident last week in which an inmate was forced to bite down on a shower faucet and then repeatedly kicked in the back of the head.

Good one!

1. The LFTR would provide sustainable energy. There is enough recoverable thorium in the earths crust to provide the human population of the world its energy needs for millions of years.

2. The LFTR is safe.
7. The LFTR can be used to dispose of nuclear waste.

Mmmm ... fast breeders.

"We know that it is a politically delicate topic because Americans truly cherish their constitutional rights," Calderon said.

They DO seem to be increasingly fond of #2 these days (and it's about damn time).

Hmmm ... yesss!

My sense is that torture, or whatever you want to call it, significantly reduced the general invisibility (resistance to selection for interference) with minimal/no counterbalancing increase in invincibility (resistance to interference). If you watched the video linked to the side of the page, you would already know that means that the general security (protection from interference) was reduced.

Additionally:

Torture, and its use, is one of those "canary in the mineshaft" issues for me; it shows a government has no respect for law. Any attempts to try and domesticate it and limit it under strict guidelines are likely to fail. As we are finding here at home in the UK, if you give governments powers, then they will use them, sooner or later, against innocent people.

Yeah, me too.

A man aboard a small passenger plane fought to push open the aircraft's door at 23,000 feet over northern Canada and leaped to his death, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing with the door ajar, police said Thursday.

That's ... uhhh ... crazy!

Deterrence can be adopted by those in a strategically offensive posture or those on the strategic defensive. The former pursue deterrence for the purpose of compelling the opponent to submit to their demands without going to war, while the latter seek to make the “opponent feel his attack may fail or lead to the loss outweighing the gain” (p. 216-217). China officially adopts a strategic defensive posture in the international arena; concurrently, it is arguable that the Chinese government pursues a strategically offensive form of deterrence toward perceived threats to domestic stability or national unification.

So it appears.

Even if First Amendment concerns are put aside, vague intelligence reports like these are entirely unhelpful to the street cop or agent. What could a cop reading the Virginia fusion center report do but start watching student groups? What could an agent reading the Missouri fusion center report do but start monitoring the above-ground anti-tax, anti-abortion and pro-gun activists? These are places you are unlikely to find the bad guys.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Kepler mission is the first set up specifically to find planets like ours -- small, rocky habitable planets orbiting sun-like stars in the habitable zone.

Additionally: A photo

The flip-side of over-zealous surveillance is that spying can achieve positive results for communities.

Hmmm ... it could ... but for some reason it never does. Perhaps they should do a stakeholder analysis.

Texas did secede in 1861, but the North's victory in the Civil War put an end to that.

Somehow, I don't think it would go much better this time, but ...

Police in Wales said an 86-year-old woman used her metal crutch to beat a 26-year-old burglary suspect to tears and forced him to sit and wait for officers.

I do so love it when they fight back.

For having our pulse, and all ... they sure seem to apologize a lot.

Update: They were even warned that it was dumb.

“We’re also seeing counterfeit routers and chips, and some of those chips have made their way into US military fighter aircraft.. You don’t sneak counterfeit chips into another nation’s aircraft to steal data. When it’s done intentionally, it’s done to degrade systems, or to have the ability to do so at a time of one’s choosing.”

I certainly hope we're doing the same to them ... only better.

A cool space pic ...

Reopening the debate on gun rights is apparently a fight the White House does not want to take on right now.

Hmmm ... that must be why the sock puppets talk about nothing else.

Microsoft has announced two new projects aimed at helping governments increase multiagency effectiveness, reduce costs, and help combat threats to public safety and security.

I wonder if they mean those kind?

Possibly coming to a car near you.

I still can't believe that this didn't turn out to be a hoax.

Solaren’s solar-power satellite would consist of mirror arrays up to several kilometers wide, which would focus sunlight onto photoelectric cells. The electrical power would be converted into a microwave beam directed towards Earth, where it would be converted back into electricity.

I can't imagine anything going wrong here.

"I realized they were not police because police do not carry a gun exposed from the waist like that,” Mahabal testified Wednesday at the Gwinnett County trial for Quincy Marcel Jackson, charged in connection with three home invasions, one ending in murder.

This is becoming more frequent and it's putting the citizens in a position of having to assume that anyone forcing their way in are bad guys even if they're saying they're the police.

The rural poor?!? I want one, too.

Hmmm ... interesting.

(via New Scientist)

There is still a great deal to be learned (and unlearned, apparently) about this whole sorry event.

Gotta love Montana ...

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a growing number of national security experts are calling on Congress to consider using letters of marque and reprisal, a power written into the Constitution that allows the United States to hire private citizens to keep international waters safe.

Plus an explanation of why crews don't resist.

(both via Volokh)

Hmmm ... it needs audio capability.

Here's a depressing site ...

Interesting ...

Hmmm ... may be time for a test-drive.

Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?

Good one.

East Timor's notorious martial arts gangs are growing in size and strength and pose an increasing threat to Australia's security, a new report says.

Good thing that Aus has plenty of victim disarmament laws in place.

Officers recovered a vast cache of weapons including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 800 shots per minute, a number of rifles and an array of ammunition.

Hmmm ... mostly looks like a vast array of empty magazines to me ... but the girl looks like she could be my next ex-wife 8o)

(via Drudge Report)

Additionally ...

"Jet Li's commitment to promoting community involvement and young people's participation in social and health issues will be a great asset to WHO's work,” said Chan of Li’s appointment.

His celluloid beatings are quite tasty as well.

It could have been a lot worse. Still ... I hope the daughter is OK.

Ahhh ... Marilyn!

What would I do? Well, first, I'd get a huge grant, since I'll need money for materials, equipment, and to hire subjects. Then I'd get a large facility, preferably a school type building with lots of different sized rooms. Then I would recruit hundreds of people, and specifically filter for CCW holders, veterans, police, serious martial artists, and security types. I want all of those types of people in the study, but I want to know who they are. I also want lots of people with no such training or experience.

Demand and prices remain stable for stolen credit cards, Social Security numbers and other private information, according to a new study by security software maker Symantec Corp.

A man who murdered a British couple with a hammer in the Canary Islands has been jailed for nearly 40 years by a Spanish court.

It's a good thing he didn't have a gun.

A worker strengthening pipes for two nuclear reactors altered welding data because he didn't want extra work to cut into his vacation, officials of the suppliers of the piping said Monday.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but whether he was doing something illegal or not he (and everyone) should have any data you don't want being looked at on an encrypted drive.

Additionally ... some thoughts from Orin. (via Volokh)

Interesting idea ...

This worked out nicely (except for the guy dyin', of course).

The problem with this argument is that it misses the 'fact' that ex-felons having guns is not any more of a problem than 'good citizens' having them. The problem starts when the ex-felon has one and the good citizen standing next to him (or her) doesn't. I can see no reason why anyone not currently in jail or prison should be disallowed from being armed. Moreover, Columbine would never have happened if guns were as ubiquitous as they were meant to be by the founders, because the type of abuse that supposedly precipitated it doesn't happen in polite (read 'armed') society.

This almost looks like it could be real, but the file itself reads like some kind of pulp paperback. It's actually cheezy-sounding, so if it is real I'm very embarrassed for whoever the author was.

Update: This also seems unlikely.

Update: I can't believe it's not bullshit ...

It looks like piracy may become somewhat less safe in the near future.

"We still do not know how our records were compromised," said Lamb, who mentioned that his own name was on the list. "We don't know if somebody was supposed to shred that information, but it ended up in a Dumpster."

It really does behoove everyone to determine exactly which employees can possibly access identity data and them make sure that they, and there staff, understand how much damage they can do if they don't maintain proper data security measures.

Related:

For example, if a project involves PII, or personally identifiable information, that invariably leads us to one security procedure: encryption. But we constantly find ourselves having to justify the need for encryption. If we can standardize our encryption requirements for PII, we may be able to cut some arguments short.

Ford seems to be having some 'better' ideas, again. One of which was maintaining a sane financial base.

Some eerie pics of seed pods ...

(via MeFi)

"CCTV enforcement lacks connection with the driver until after the event and some drivers might regards it as Big Brother."

D'ya think?

A little physicist humor ...

SEALS! Get sum ...

It's probably a good idea to remember that this is possible. It's a shame to go after the wrong person ...

Geez ...

A solar boat ... might be worth keeping an eye on.

Interesting ...

I think we may need to get some 10 year olds involved in this ...

There is a big difference between favoring reinstitution of an assault-weapons ban, or any other limited gun-control measure, and such sweeping attacks on gun ownership as the NRA and Glenn Beck have suggested are in the works.

No there isn't.

This doesn't look like a very comfortable way to arrive.

Some interesting discussion on Missouri campus CCW bill ...

Indeed ...

An interesting piece comparing death sentences to life without the possibility of parole.

It's usually a bad idea to shoot them in the back ...

“If you wanted to create jobs in every sector of this economy and every community … you could do it in less than a month without hiring any federal employees,” Wynn said. “You’d simply say if a company can prove that it has increased its regular work force, with health insurance … we will give you a tax credit to support the payroll of that new hire.”

An interesting question ...

The difficulty here is that gubmints really have no 'desires' that can be furthered by continuing work on the space station. On the other hand, there are numerous fields of endeavor that have private firms that would benefit from having a presence in zero-g, pharma and materials come to mind. We need to come up with a way to treat ISS like Antartica, so that a private firm that has the desire and where-with-all to get there and hook on can do so with the understanding that the fact of being able to get there ensures there right to be there once they arrive.

Police Chief Greg Anderson issued an alert Friday asking for help in tracking down the individuals responsible for a series of dangerous pranks pulled on motorists traveling on Burlington Road.

There is frequently a disconnect between the citizens and police in such situations. Pranking is usually done by the young, and is usually done as a sort of self-test to determine ones own boundaries relative to the adult world. We all did it during that age. The citizens may desire police intervention but expect that the intervention will follow the form of 'OK, this is what happens, go and sin no more' which is the 'proper' form for the intervention to take to ensure that proper development of the young citizen in question takes place. Unfortunately, the state of the police paradigm is such today that there is no distinguishing between ritual interaction with our youth, and regular police-function interaction. The result is that the pranking youth is victimized rather than guided and leaves the experience with no feeling of obligation to the society he is trying to find his place in. I think that the main cause of this disconnect is that too many police officers are not old enough to have seen there own children go through this phase, and may not recognize that the pranking is a necessary part of growing up and is not, in fact, an indicator of criminal intent or tendency.

Oh! OK. Well ... let's roll over and go back to sleep then (prediction alert).

Stylin' for a chain lock, but it really doesn't overcome the weaknesses in all chain locks.

This sounds like fun ...

Citizen Security Reduction roundup:

“On the national level, the issue is considered toxic by Democrats,” said Ross Baker, an expert on Congress at Rutgers University. “I think part of it has to do with (the Democrats’) remarkable success in capturing seats previously held by Republicans. Many of these new Democrats ran on platforms of not tampering with Second Amendment rights, and they don’t want to pull the rug out from under them.”
This, at least, is a good thing.

President Obama has said that while he agrees with a citizen’s Second Amendment right to own a gun, gun ownership should be “subject to reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe.” This is not an unreasonable statement.
All together now: Regulating the guns of people that abide by regulations doesn't make the 'streets' safe!

With some 280 million weapons available in the country, it's little wonder guns account for roughly 12,000 of the 17,000 people murdered each year. As the nation did following the April 20, 1999, Columbine murders, it is time to confront the many causes of gun violence.
We should start by making sure that the good citizens stop leaving all those guns at home.

I tremble with disgust ...

We really need a war on ignorance and hypocrisy!

"He literally beat them to death with his hands and feet," Abdullin said. "The family were poor and drank a lot. He blamed them for infecting his wife and the entire corridor with lice."

I'm marginally ashamed at how funny I found this.

Despite this, I have a hard time believing that Iran (or anyone else for that matter) would be satisfied with destroying an Israeli (or anyone else's for that matter) city or 10 knowing that it is a dead-bang certainty that their country would then becoming a rather large, radioactive, smoking-glass crater. There is a valid argument to be made for FedEx-ing them a couple of 10 megaton nukes and saying "Welcome to the big time. Don't fvck up!"

SCC is the best show ever!!!

Hmmm ... outting Area 51. What's not to like?

Looks like it was a pretty cool plane ... before the crash.

I have difficulty understanding this. The stand-off is between a US guided-missile destroyer and a lifeboat and the Navy feels it's prudent to send back-up for the destroyer.

Mmmmm ... 196 megapixels.

I do so love it when they fight back.

I don't recall having one of these when I was in high school.

Interesting ...

LOL!

It would probably have been better if I hadn't seen this.

(via Overlawyered)

Well, at least he's where he can get helped gang-buggered.

(via The Agitator)

Wonder if maybe we need to 'boost the cume' a little bit, intelligence-wise.

Economy of scale ... quickly, please.

You would think that since Y2K, somebody in government or business would have come up with a contingency plan to manually override computer control in the event that something like this took place. Networked systems are fine, but we all know that everything from lightning to EMP to Gamma Ray bursts in distant regions of space could knock the computer controls out for extended periods. It's not like we don't know how to manually control the power grid. And anything that has the potential for catastropic negative externalities if hacked should simply never be connected to a network. Neither the software nor hardware should even have the capability of being networked.

Update:

"The end result is that, as part of our modernization, we've made ourselves more vulnerable," said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Ummm ... dual redundancy disks ... 32Tb per side.

I wonder if it comes with A/C.

I imagine this goes on quite a bit more that we hear about ... except the 'getting caught' part.

Oops! How embarrassing!

I do so love it when they fight back.

An Easter reminder ... I guess?!?!

Ouch!

This is very cool!

For some reason this nation’s leaders cannot stop teenaged drug dealers, certifiable nuts and criminals from easily getting a gun.

Maybe they could criminalize such behavior or something.

What tied these shootings together is that both incidents occurred with guns that, until four years ago, were illegal under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB).

Gee, and all this time I thought it had only been illegal to import or make new ones.

I don't recall seeing anywhere that post-post-ban weapons were used in these incidents. If someone else did please correct me on this.

Hmmm ... there's this:

HARRISBURG — The killing of three Pittsburgh police officers will renew gun control efforts in the Pennsylvania Legislature, but the outlook for enacting laws remains doubtful because the National Rifle Association has "a stranglehold" over lawmakers, a key House member said Tuesday.

And then there's this:

Helmke blamed the NRA for "fear mongering" that leads people to believe the government is coming for their guns, as friends said Richard Poplawski feared. Police said Poplawski killed two of the officers with a shotgun and used an AK-47 to exchange gunfire with SWAT team members and other officers.

I'm thinking that it might not be the NRA that has people thinking the gubmint might be coming for their guns.

Get sum!!!

Ummm ... 22 inches ... cheap!

In that the actions they're defending significantly decrease your invisibility and don't provide any counter-balancing increase to your invincibility, it's pretty clear that they aren't defending it to improve your security.

High-tech, WWII-style.

(via Dry Roasted Blend)

What our economy actually needs is a product that is so desirable that about 50 million people are willing to scrimp and save to get one. This isn't quite it, but with a some smart automation and some economy of scale it would be.

(via Instapundit)

Bruce is fairly crunchy, today (but thought-provoking as ever.)

It's cheaper to be invisible than it is to be invincible.

It appears that the military showed quite a bit of restraint while this was going on.

Hmmm ... a fundamentally new way to search my interwebz. I can't wait.

My sense is that Nicotine Replacement Therapy would be far more effective if there were several more step decreases in nicotine from each system than are currently available. Once you've gone from 4mg to 2mg, you should be able to them move on to 1mg, 1/2mg, 1/4mg and so forth. It's still a huge leap from a 2mg piece of gum to a 0mg piece of gum.

I wish this was a little closer to Vegas.

If college were always this fun, everyone would go.

Gotta love the timing on this ...

"We get all worked up after every earthquake, but it's not in our culture to construct buildings the right way in a quake zone, that is, build buildings that can resist (quakes) and retrofit old ones. This has never been done," Boschi said.

That's a darn shame!

It seems likely that whoever develops the capability to project force from orbit with any effectiveness will be the superpower for the next hundred years or so. In the mean time, this is probably a good idea.