Developed by the state-funded Agency for Defense Development, the K-11 consists of a semi-automatic 20mm smart grenade launcher, an under-slung assault rifle firing a standard 5.56mm NATO round, and a top-mounted computer-assisted sighting system with integrated rangefinder and thermal infrared night vision capabilities. 

I wonder if it works after you drop it ...

The first of class Astute nuclear powered attack submarine left BAE Systems’ shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness for the first stage of sea trials designed to prove its capability as the most formidable vessel of its kind ever operated by the Royal Navy.

I wish they were less totalitarianism-oriented these days ...

Also ...

The third Type-214 submarine was named after Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean independence fighter who assassinated Japan's first resident general, Hirobumi Ito, in 1909 in retaliation for Japan's annexation of Korea. The diesel-electric submarine, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries under technical cooperation with Germany's Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), is expected to play a key role in sea denial to North Korean and other hostile forces, and anti-submarine warfare, Navy officials said.

Across Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan and Karabino-Balkaria, Islamist fighters are waging a violent struggle to overthrow their local and federal rulers. Increasingly, they are winning. Friday's apparent bombing of an express train between Moscow and St Petersburg raises the spectre that this conflict in Russia's troublesome Muslim south is again spilling over into Russia's vulnerable European heart. A second deadly attack similar to Friday's explosion would confirm that after a deceptive five-year pause, Chechen terrorism is defiantly back.

Once upon a time, we took a look at why creating black holes in particle colliders and using them to generate energy for our power grids was fraught with problems. However, if at sometime in the future we could scale up our lasers and use them to create a black hole with a mass energy equivalent of a million tons, relativistic rocketry would be within our reach. Artificial black holes that small would evaporate away in about a century or so while radiating so much energy, they could power a spacecraft to near light speed in just a decades. Or at least that’s the big idea advanced in a paper by Louis Crane and Shawn Westmoreland, mathematicians with a passion for theoretical physics and inspired by science fiction novels which sought to provide exotic power sources for highly advanced alien civilizations crisscrossing the cosmos in giant spacecraft at their leisure.

Interesting ...

Okay, I’ve been doing the martial arts since’67. I’ve lived through judo in the fifties, karate in the sixties, kung fu in the seventies, and Arnis and Ninjitsu and MMA, and I’ve analyzed durn near every art there is. I’ve made up a list of things which I wish people would have told me when I first started out. The point here is that classes were where you learned to sweat, and not where you learned to talk. However, the reason a lot of people didn’t talk was because they didn’t know anything. So are you ready to learn the things you should know before you start learning that system of karate or kung fu or Aikido?

The Department of Homeland Security continues to care about you even after the Thanksgiving holiday feasting. After numerous reports of spectacular waistband failures across the country have been reported to the Department, we pass on the following safety tips to you:

6. Do not ask for assistance in reapplying your pants. It is just gross. 

7. Never simply dip your lower half of your body into ink in an effort to appear to be wearing pants. Please.

It is not clear whether the couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, had an invitation to attend the dinner. Considering how elaborate and meticulous such dinners are and the level of planning they require, it is inconceivable that anyone could have bluffed their way into perhaps the world’s most guarded complex.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this story because it's pretty obvious what happened. However, in reference to the statement above, I will point out that inconceivability is the most potent weapon used against security. If no one would conceive of attempting a particular form of interference the interference will virtually always work because no one will be actively preventing it ...

Here then, are some more internet privacy related tips, extras, and favourite solutions.

Good stuff, follow the links, too ...

These are exciting times in science. Space scientists are seeing unparalleled vistas and continue to unlock mysteries of the universe. Recently, water, so precious to us on Earth, has been found in places we would never have imagined.

The footage initially shows cars on a busy road, near the city of Johannesburg, when the meteor suddenly streaks across the night sky. The meteor appears as a brilliant green light before it explodes on the horizon, transforming into an orange ball of flame.

These dream USB devices are proving an absolute nightmare for IT managers as they struggle to ensure the security of the data they carry. A standard DVD-data-sized (4GB) key fob USB drive can be bought online for less than £10 and from high-street retailers for little more. Coupled with the fact that a growing number of mobile phones and MP3 players are now starting to reach this level of storage capacity - and come with standard or mini-USB connectors, and you begin to understand the scale of the informatio security problem.

Warden is uniquely suited to that challenge. He won't get very specific about who he works for. (He says it's "a federal government agency in a field of labor and employee relations.") But as a certified pistol instructor and range safety officer with a law degree, he's got the chops to argue he's been wronged. While the NRA and Alan Gottlieb's Second Amendment Foundation have also filed similar suits, Warden says his public stunt at the community center actually gives him a leg up. "It has to do with legal standing," he says. "In order to have your case heard by a judge you have to have been harmed in some tangible way. The other case they may have standing. My goal was to simply make sure that that wasn't even an argument."

It's poor reasoning to assume from his pedigree that he isn't nutz, but with that said - Best of Luck on your suit ...

Police say that the home invader went on a shooting spree, killing four horses on two properties on County Road 232 in Nacogdoches County and firing a shot into a third home.  The criminal then allegedly went to the door of a home and shouted that he was going to kill the homeowner.  At this point, the armed homeowner is said to have fired in self defense, wounding the would-be intruder.  Police reportedly arrived and apprehended a suspect, Steven Spradley, who was suffering from a non life threatening gunshot wound to his lower torso.  Spradley, who was previously charged with arson, has been charged with four counts of cruelty to animals, one count of burglary with intent to commit assault, and one count of deadly conduct, according to police.

What we have today is mainly based on the sporting aspect of things; were it to be trained for sport, then it would be clearly defined in much the same way Judo is clearly defined and understood as a sport or MMA is defined and understood as a sport. That would make sense and would make for some effective training and no one would ever question why they were training; to win trophies. What about those who want Self Defense? What modern Sensei have done for those people is take the sporting methodology and repackage it with the overused and misunderstood term 'self defense.' One size fits all is at work, the Sensei banks on the idea that the public are idiots and won't know any better, but they eventually start to question things and come to some realizations.

Always worth repeating ...

Gavan admitted six charges of possession of documents containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. These were books entitled ‘Booby- traps’, ‘Improvised Weapons Manual’, ‘Guerilla Warfare and Special Forces Operations 1961’ and two PDF files including the Anarchists Cookbook volume four.

There are a variety of illustrative aspects to this story, not the least of which pertains to the uselessness of Britains gun ban, but the aspect  that I find interesting today is the fact that it is a crime to possess the above listed books. These books have been out there for decades and the information has been widely distributed. It's a genie that won't go back in the bottle. The point is that no security or close protection should be without the information described in these books because the techniques described are precisely the types of techniques that will be used against your principals by non-state actors (or state actors running false flag ops). In the same way a gun ban only hinders those who abide by the law, making possession of these books a crime also only hinders those who abide by the law ...

St. Peters police officials expect a spike in thefts this holiday shopping season, and the department has assigned officers to provide extra security in and around Mid Rivers Mall. "During the holiday season, starting with Black Friday and through Christmas, we have extra security at the mall just to keep everyone safe," St. Peters patrol officer Sarah Brueggeman said Friday morning while standing in the second-level parking lot near JCPenney at the mall.

This really isn't appropriate. On the one hand, if St. Peters want to get into the mall security business, there are far cheaper ways to do it, and on the other hand, there are likely real crimes requiring a other-than-mall-security skill-set out there that need to be resolved ...

Migrant gangs in Calais are targeting British holidaymakers in terrifying ‘highway robberies’. Would-be illegal immigrants are forming human roadblocks to force motorists passing through the French port town to stop.  Travellers are then robbed at knifepoint by the migrants, who are desperate for funds to help them sneak into the UK.

Of course, the question is "Are the conditions there such that any group of people in those conditions would resort to those tactics?" If not, then it would appear to be an Islamic problem. If so, then it would appear to be a desperation problem. Unfortunately, that info isn't provided so we have no way of knowing whether the reference to the Koran is valid in this case ...

While the location has not been disclosed, the Peace Bridge historically has been the site of the launch of the NRP’s “Festive Season R.I.D.E. Program” on late Sunday afternoons during the Christmas season when the Buffalo Bills host an NFL game. “It is believed thousands of vehicles and drivers will be stopped at this R.I.D.E. checkpoint,” the email states. Last year, 3,900 vehicles were stopped and 124 roadside breath tests were administered resulting in 18 12-hour licence suspensions and four impaired driving charges.

Hmmm ... be able to boost the cume while also inconveniencing the maximum number of people ... what's not to like ...?

Baroness Neville-Jones, Shadow security minister, said: “Over the years there has been a huge rise in the number of anti-terrorism stops and searches but very few arrests and charges have followed. We also know that this power has been used inappropriately. It is reported that even the Government’s Minister for Security and Counter Terrorism has been stopped and searched. 

Take it and like it!!! ... by the way, from now on I think it appropriate for everyone to refer to me as the Shadow Counter-interference Minister ... just sayin' ...

Reading out the resolution, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said: “Terrorism has no justification whatsoever in a civilised world and it is the duty of every country which wants to see peace and progress to resist and defeat these dark forces of terrorism.” Sharing the sorrow of the families affected by the attacks, the resolution added: “Realising the global network of terrorists and their unlimited resources, sophisticated arms and training and also their diabolic mindset, there is an urgent need to mobilise the resources and coordinate actions by all countries to track down and eliminate these enemies of mankind.”

Sure instills a lot of confidence, don't it ...?

Prosecutor Henry Boyce says the July 25 shooting of Eulogio Garcia was a "clear case of self-defense." Investigators say Garcia was shot once in the head with a .410-gauge shotgun. According to police, Garcia brought a shotgun to the home of neighbor Ed Brown and said he was going to shoot him. Authorities say Garcia raised his shotgun, but Brown fired first, fatally shooting Garcia.

Tucco: "If you're going to shoot, shoot; don't talk ..."

"I started screaming bloody murder," Parlier said of the attack earlier this month in Augusta, Ga. "There were no cars, so no one could hear me. I knew from my self-defense classes that I had to take him to the ground."

... so his accomplice would be able to kick my face with out having to stretch out first ...

Head butts, eye gouges, throat strikes, biting, hair pulling, clawing, fish hooking, groin strikes, strike to spine, downward elbow strikes (especially to back of head or spine), spitting and my favorite....fingers in any orifice of the body. It is amazing how fast a guy will let go of you when you put your thumb up his butt.

The police may look at you kinda funny while they're processing you, though ...

While you may be handy and are tempted by a cheaper do it yourself installation option, there are important factors to consider. What kind of protection is that system offering you? Is it just an alarm that sounds when an intruder invades your home or is it connected to a monitoring center that will alert police when the alarm is triggered? Another important consideration is how complex the installation is. If there are multiple components that work together to provide home security, it is vital that all of these components are working in tandem and are properly connected in order for the security system to function properly. Do you have the type of expertise that is required to make sure all of this is accomplished?

Hmmm ... don't assume that the answer they seem to be leading you toward is necessarily the correct answer ...

Like Behel, I’m here at the Coast Guard pier in Monterey for flight school—a training course for prospective Super Falcon pilots. Behel has a bit more flight experience than me, however: He used to fly F-4 Phantom jet fighters for the military. It’s not surprising that he was drawn to the Super Falcon, since the two craft share many of the same design principles. Long and thin, with a tapered nose, the Super Falcon has rear horizontal stabilizers, two large tail rudders and dual acrylic cockpit canopies. It also has inverted wings, which turn the aeronautic concept of lift upside down, allowing the sub to literally fly through the water. Whereas conventional subs rely on ballast, the Super Falcon descends as forward speed creates a pressure differential between the top and bottom of the wings. Free of ballast, the sub is positively buoyant, which dramati­cally increases safety. Lose power and the vessel automatically floats to the surface. 

Hmmm ... a personal sub ... Christmas IS coming, you know ...

A 60,000-mile-high wave of super-hot plasma blazing across the sun’s surface at 560,000 mph? Yep.

Glad they don't happen here? Yep.

"We're hearing this noise around us and we realize it is pieces of whale blubber hitting the ground around us (from) 1,000 yards away. A piece of blubber the size of a fingernail could kill you if it hit you in the right part of the head, so we ran away from the blast scene, down the dune and toward the parking lot. Then we heard a second explosion ahead of us, and we just kept going until we saw what it was: A car had been hit by this coffee-table-size piece of blubber and had its windows flattened all the way down to the seats."

I must have missed this at the time ... cool video, though ...

Guards apparently waved the Salahis through security checkpoints. "It appears that proper procedures were not followed," Donovan said. The couple did not pose a threat to the president or other dignitaries, Donovan said. Partygoers, including the uninvited Salahis, had to pass through metal detectors, he said. At the dinner, the president, vice president and others were still protected by their "usual complement" of Secret Service personnel, Donovan said. "In that regard, everything worked the way it's supposed to work," he said.

That would seem to be about the only applicable regard ...

It's disturbing to realize that someone, possibly not even a government, was routinely intercepting most (all?) of the pager data in lower Manhattan as far back as 2001. Who was doing it? For that purpose? That, we don't know.

Hmmm ...

Billionaire Jeff Bezos, of Amazon.com fame, is currently involved in constructing a new spacecraft, which is designed to be capable of routinely flying numerous astronauts to suborbital flights, at very low prices. The Bezos Blue Origin business plan is currently undergoing testings at a private launch site in Texas, which is also funded by the billionaire. From what was made transparent, the design is that of capsule with vertical landing and take-off capabilities. This design differs from others set up for suborbital flights, Space reports. 

Gotta love it ...

An alarming number of people would consider stealing sensitive data from their employer if it suited their own ends, and the figure is rising, new research has found. One in three employees canvassed by information security company Cyber-Ark said they had used their employee permissions to access privileged corporate information such as HR records and customer databases without authorisation. Worryingly from a security point of view, fully three quarters of those questioned in the US and UK claimed they could bypass the controls their companies had put in place to protect such information.

It seems that ethicalism is becoming a decreasing priority in peoples lives ...

Here’s what Holder said during a Q&A with anti-gun New York Sen. Charles Schumer: “The position of the Administration is that there should be a basis for law enforcement to share information about gun purchases. Fully respect the Second Amendment, fully respect the Heller decision. It does not seem to us that this is inconsistent to allow law enforcement agencies to share that kind of information, for that information to be retained and then to be shared by law enforcement.” 

Surprise, surprise ...

As Black Friday-the day after Thanksgiving-approaches, retailers are serving up offers to pull customers into the store for one of the busiest sale days of the year. Consumers focused on finding the perfect gift do not usually have misleading advertising, scams and understanding purchase details on the forefront of their minds.

And you really need to ...

“This is a way we can better protect ourselves,” said board Chairman Jeff Stone, who authored the resolution that was approved on a 3-1 vote. “I want to make sure our citizens have that ability.” Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff said late Tuesday that he welcomes the suggestions by Supervisors, but indicated it will do little to change policies. “In the end, each decision is based upon the reasonableness of need and the background of the applicant,” Sniff said in a written response to several questions. “There are training requirements and high standards required of each applicant to rigorously match the public trust involved in granting” the permits.”

Sounds like someone needs to be voted out of office ...

But the decrease in data breaches is deceptive. In fact, the number of personal records that were exposed--data like Social Security numbers, medical records and credit card information tied to an individual--that hackers exposed has skyrocketed to 220 million records so far this year, compared with 35 million in 2008. That represents the largest collection of lost data on record. And the majority of 2009's data loss stems from a single source: credit card processing firm Heartland Payment Systems.

Britain has some of the most draconian security laws of the “free” world.  Many of these laws are brought in under the guise of fighting terrorism and paedophiles (which are always guaranteed vote winners) and of course, if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to worry about. Unless you’re an schizophrenic amateur scientist with a distrust of the authorities and you refuse to hand over the encryption keys (passwords) to your USB memory sticks.   That’ll cost you an initial 13 months in jail followed by detention in a secure mental unit at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Coming to a law enforcement system near you ...

The recently released Microsoft Security Intelligence Report highlights the vast improvements in security from Windows XP to Windows 7. Even so, no operating system is perfect. I asked security experts what they think about Windows 7 security and came up with a list of what Microsoft got right and where Microsoft is still missing the mark.

“When I admitted I’d been too busy to install the software, he started almost squealing down the phone and then gasping for air. He wasn’t too happy either that my password was my surname56 – he seemed amazed that every month, when I was forced to change the password, I simply increased the number. I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. “Simon wanted to know if there were any documents that could potentially cause a problem. Of course not, I assured him – except perhaps the Word document with the usernames and passwords I used, and the networking details on to connect the laptop to the network. (Who could remember all those codes and instructions?) 

Could this be you ...?

New DataTraveler Locker+ USB flash drives boasts of hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption that protects all the data store on it. Data stays secured and promises a user friendly user interface to access the data only after feeding a strong password. For security of data in case of misplacement or theft, the new DataTraveler Locker+ drive locks down and re-formats itself after 10 incorrect password attempts.

Most observers believe that Israel’s preoccupation with Iran’s nuclear program stems from the fear that Iran would either use a nuclear weapon against Israel or give the bomb to one of its direct proxies, most likely Hezbollah. Given Tehran’s open hostility toward Jerusalem, such foreboding makes sense. But such a scenario is highly improbable. Tehran’s profound dislike of the Jewish state notwithstanding, it is unlikely to attack Israel with a nuclear weapon because Israel’s atomic arsenal is orders of magnitude larger than whatever infant capability Iran could muster in the foreseeable future. Moreover, Israel is believed to possess a secure submarine-based second-strike capability that could devastate Iran. 

If the Iranians are as crazy as what we're told about them makes them sound (and I tend to doubt it but have no independent means of making a determination), it seems like a valid concern ...

Similar to the current problem plaguing NASA, the Russian space program also has an aging spacecraft, the Soyuz spacecraft, with no specific details of a new next-generation shuttle on the horizon.  The Soyuz already is used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), but will be unable to reach Mars or any other planets at this current stage.

Let's hope so ...

The experiment, which will gather data and test theories on the formation of planets, will fly aboard New Shepard. Blue Origin, which is developing the next-generation vehicle, is among several companies seeking commercial flight opportunities as NASA prepares to retire the space shuttle and develops its replacement.

Hmmm ... interesting ...

On Saturday, the Cassini spacecraft conducted a flyby of Saturn's sixth-largest moon, Enceladus, snapping some rather breathtaking photos along the way. The flyby, whose purpose was to gather the highest-resolution photos ever of the moon's southern polar region and to thermally map the "tiger stripe" terrain there, gathered some stunning images including some of the geyser-like plumes Cassini discovered on the moon's surface during previous flybys.

Similar to the popular Flip Video HD series, this camera records in 720p HD video and captures 5 Megapixel still images. It also features unique night mode, and motion detection capability (camera will record only when it detects movement). Unlike the Flip, this gadget only comes with 64MB of memory built in, meaning you will need to go out and purchase an additional SDHC card. The good news, these cards are dirt-cheap, 8GB can be had for less than $20. 8GB is the same amount of storage found in the best Flip camera. 

Sounds like a bargain ...

The federal Sept. 11 Commission’s final report included 10 pages that focused solely on the issue of terrorism and identity fraud. The report states: “Travel documents are as important as weapons. Fraud is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are.” DePaul professor Tom Mockaitis, who researches terrorism, describes this potential breach in security as “one that’s exploitable.” He said it was another reason why terrorists believed that TSA was not as stringent as it used to be.

Have I mentioned before that who you are is totally irrelevant because regardless of who you are if you've been deprived of the means to interfere with the flight you can't interfere with the flight ...?

LeBeau Lagmay, 26, of Kapa‘a was arrested and charged with 14 counts of first degree terroristic threatening, resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, and open container. Police officers saw Lagmay “burning rubber” as he was exiting the Lihu'e 7-11 store at around 3:30 a.m. The officers attempted to stop Lagmay, but he continued heading northbound leading police on a pursuit, the release says.

Terroristic threatening ... really?

A gas explosion at a mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang province killed at least 42 workers and trapped 66 more Saturday, officials said. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the scene as 156 rescue workers gathered at the Xinxing Coal Mine, about 250 miles east of the provincial capital of Harbin, where they worked working on repairing the mine's damaged ventilation system, the state-run Chinese news service Xinhua reported.

Hmmm ... I wonder if they'll execute some upper managers over it ...

Police say that the homeowner had suffered multiple burglaries from his property, causing him to invest in an alarm system.  At about 3:30AM on Thursday, the homeowner reportedly heard the alarm go off, prompting him to grab his self defense gun and investigate, while his wife called 911.  The homeowner is said to have discovered 23 year old Brett Lee Canada using bolt cutters to break in to the homeowner's trailer, where he kept the lawn maintenance equipment used for his business.  Upon being caught in the act, the burglar lunged at the homeowner, at which point the homeowner fired in self defense, according to police.  The burglar, who has recently been arrested for stealing other lawn mowing equipment, died from the gunshot.  The homeowner, who police say will not face any charges for his lawful self defense action, was unharmed.

I sooo love it when they fight back ...

There are many objects around us that can be used as an improvised weapon if we make use of our awareness and creativity. A little preparation and quick thinking can quickly turn you from a victim into a hero! Turning everyday objects into weapons is not as easy as it looks cause without the basic knowledge one might end up picking a nearby object, hitting it aimlessly and missing the assailant completely!

Interesting article ...

If the law we followed invariably was that anyone taking illegal steps would be accountable for disobeying the law, two results would follow: (1) If the perpetrators were right about saving us from a true ticking bomb and could prove it, they would likely be acquitted, or their sentence suspended, a sort of nullification because they were demonstrably moral wrongdoers acting in an extraordinary situation. Or (2)if their self-righteous claim could not be proven to be correct, however noble their motivation, they would be guilty of violating the law and punished. They could argue self defense, good faith, whatever case they wished to make, in justification of their acts. What standards apply would be up to the presiding judge — did their acts shock the public's conscience or violate relevant statutory or international laws? The appropriate punishment would be up to judges and juries in the sentencing phase of criminal trials or the damages phase of civil trials.

Beyond that, even if they are subsequently executed, they are merely giving there life for their country and we ask idiot, 18 year-olds to do that all the time ...

Now, some may not consider AD the best directory service available to businesses, but it is the most used, and plenty of IT engineers know how to work with Group Policy. All of Microsoft's major endpoint encryption offerings--including BitLocker, BitLockerToGo, and DirectAccess--offer centralized management through Active Directory, as do Microsoft's enterprise encryption technologies. The latest updates to Windows 2008 and Windows 7 provide additional settings for administrators to configure via Group Policy. What's the downside to using Microsoft encryption technologies? In-house expertise is essential for key length, cache sizes, recovery options, and other considerations. If you support Mac OS or Linux boxes, you won't be able to leverage these technologies enterprise-wide. But Windows shops can get powerful full- and portable-disk encryption, mobile device encryption, e-mail encryption, folder and file encryption, and database encryption for free. You can't beat that price.

Leave it to MS to get in first ...

I have come to the conclusion that, whatever the extent my thinking is in fact responsible for my physical condition, it is advantageous for me to “act as if” there is a strong correlation and begin to look inside for patterns of thoughts, behaviors, or beliefs which may not be serving me. It seems to me like the first and easiest line of defense. If I experience dis-ease, for which I cannot find a mental connection, I will then explore other available remedies.

This has been my experience, as well ...

Sen. Kit Bond, the Republican vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, of-fered legislation Oct. 30 that would essentially extend all the powers outlined in the current law. "Our intelligence community should never be forced to question whether our priority is protecting Americans' safety or protecting the privacy of terrorists," he said. "This bill makes clear to our intelligence professionals that keeping our nation safe is their highest responsibility and ensures they have the tools needed to get the job done."

Sounds like he is equating Americans with terrorists ...

The left’s going to hyperventilate over this thinking that she’s calling for Arab or Muslim soldiers generally to be profiled, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. She simply wants the military not to look the other way at jihadist sympathizers in the ranks for fear that it’ll be accused of profiling Muslim soldiers if it investigates. Not a controversial position — Palin-hater Christopher Hitchens quite agrees, and a new CBS poll finds fully 51 percent think the military had enough evidence that they should have prevented the shootings — but it’s only a matter of time before some media outlet twists this to accuse her of supporting racial or religious profiling. Anyone want to start a pool on which one does it first? Put me down for ten bucks on the AP.

Probably shouldn't ignore the fact that she's 'milf-alicious', too ...

So you have one person with one gun shooting one bullet at a time. How big of a difference can a sniper make to the Army?

One of each, please ... cool video ...

How sturdy is the Japan Self-Defense Force Sunglasses?  According to the product page, the lens can withstand being struck by a hard 6.5mm object travelling at 106mph.  It also won't shatter when you drop a half kilo slab of iron from 1.27 meters high.  Based on those numbers, I doubt it will really kill off speeding bullets, but you have my permission to try.  Ouch. The glasses reportedly "look super cool," apart from providing unusually sturdy performance.  It measures 16 x 15 x 4 cm, with a 2 mm thick lens, adding approximately 35 grams of weight to your face. If you break your sunglasses often, the Japan Self-Defense Force Sunglasses should prove a more durable option.  For once, you just might end up with a pair of shades that can last you more than a week of unusually clumsy abuse.  You can grab one for $317.

Hmmm ... kinda pricey ...

Contrast that to what the overall murder rate is in this country, 5.4 murders per 100,000. So, the average CCW holder is (5.4/100,000)/(1/142,000) or 7.668 times less likely to murder someone than your average private citizen. And that's not correcting for the exaggerations pointed out by Sebastian and the conservative numbers used by Waldron (it's actually 34/5,000,000+ or 1/147,059+). So the real number is probably on the order of 10 times less likely.

Keep up the good work there in North Central Idaho ...

Video footage of a 16-year-old accused of smuggling a loaded gun in to the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center earlier this month shows the teen flashing the gun in his palm while two guards talked to co-workers instead of watching him. “There's one point in the video that show the gun in his palm and kind of in his pocket,” Juvenile Probation Department Executive Director Harvey Hetzel said Wednesday. “He kind of flashed it to another kid.” Hetzel described the video at a lunchtime meeting of the County Juvenile Board where members blasted him over revelations the teen got the loaded pistol to his cell after passing through a metal detector that appears to have been unplugged for the past month, as well as a “strip search” in which a guard was to watch the boy undress in a bathroom. The video Hetzel detailed was of that search. Board members gave Hetzel 48 hours to explain how the security lapse happened.

That's easy! They were hanging out waiting for their next paycheck instead of doing their job. Remember: Today is the day, every day ...

The Cisco SIO To Go iPhone app gets its information from the company's Security Intelligence Operations (SIO) system which gathers information in real time from 700,000 sensors located at customer sites, ISPs, and other sites around the world. The data from the disparate sources allows Cisco engineers to do threat correlation to detect Internet attacks and spam campaigns. The app is designed for professionals and security geeks, not the average consumer, said Michael Weir, Cisco security marketing director. 

That's nice ...

The twin STEREO spacecraft confirmed their reality in February 2009 when sunspot 11012 unexpectedly erupted. The blast hurled a billion-ton cloud of gas (a coronal mass ejection, or CME) into space and sent a tsunami racing along the sun’s surface. STEREO recorded the wave from two positions separated by 90 degrees, giving researchers an unprecedented view of the event. “It was definitely a wave,” says Spiros Patsourakos of George Mason University, lead author of a paper reporting the finding in Astrophysical Journal Letters. “Not a wave of water, but a giant wave of hot plasma and magnetism.”

Interesting, with cool video ...

It's just a rumor for now, but it makes sense. In theory, you'd be able to upload videos you shot to YouTube or wherever else right from the camera. Possibly, you'd be able to watch other videos on it too, but who knows. In any case, it's exciting to see these products growing and changing as they get more popular, adding great new features.

Interesting possibilities ...

Cool explosion video ..., but it's kind of hard to get a sense of size ...

President Obama explained that “we must uncover what steps-if any-could have been taken to avert this tragedy. The purpose of this review is clear: We must compile every piece of information that was known about the gunman, and we must learn what was done with that information. Once we have the facts, we must act upon them. If there was failure to take appropriate action before the shootings, there must be accountability. Beyond that – and most importantly – we must quickly and thoroughly evaluate and address any flaws in the system, so that we can prevent a similar breach from happening again,” according to the White House transcript.

With all due respect, the only flaw was that everyone had to wait around for someone else with firepower to come and bust a few in his Jihadi carcass ... fix that and you'll find that you've fixed a lot of problems all over the outfit ...

Let's see if I understand this. The infamous "Shoe Bomber" acted alone, did not kill anyone and is called a terrorist. To protect us from other terrorists like him, we now must remove our shoes at the airport. The Fort Hood shooter also acted alone. He killed 13 people and wounded 29 but is not considered a terrorist. Nor are we taking any measures to protect the public from others like him.

The first is obviously terrorism because it was intended to force us to change our policies out of fear (and it was successful, we sacrifice our dignity and privacy for the illusion of security), whereas the second wasn't terrorism because it was just intended to kill a bunch of people ... what's so difficult to understand ...

It doesn’t stop there. In a study done this year by an Internet security firm, 8 percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees reported having dismissed someone for behavior on social networking sites.

Richard's Second Natural Law of Security: It's cheaper to be invisible than it is to be invincible.

GAO made the recommendations following ongoing concerns among lawmakers that LANL had not managed to fully protect its sensitive information after a number of security lapses in the past decade. "A key reason for the information security weaknesses GAO identified was that the laboratory had not fully implemented an information security program to ensure that controls were effectively established and maintained," the report stated.

Sounds about right ...

Does it work? Here's one example from the report: "The Canadian Firearms Program provided support to an RCMP detachment, assisting with a Criminal Code of Canada warrant to recover firearms from a subject who had reportedly pointed a rifle at a co-worker and threatened to kill him." "[It] confirmed the suspect had... nine long guns registered in his name. A warrant was granted and executed, resulting in the recovery of all nine long guns, including the suspect firearm and a quantity of ammunition."

Yeah, and no nasty old trials or guilty verdicts were necessary ... congratulations, subject ...

Concealed handgun permit holders killed eight law enforcement officers and 77 private citizens (including 10 shooters who killed themselves after an attack) during the period May 2007 through October 2009 according to a new Violence Policy Center (VPC) online resource that tallies news reports of such killings. The web site, CCW Killers, is located at http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm and is updated monthly to include new fatal shootings and changes in the legal status of concealed handgun permit holders facing criminal charges. (Any concealed handgun permit holders who are eventually acquitted of their alleged crimes are not included in the tallies maintained on the site although the facts surrounding the shooting are detailed.)

Hmmm ... they seem to have left out all the numbers that would make such statements meaningful ...

But even in the case of Muslims who do go on suicide missions, from 9/11 to the London bombing to the Bali attacks and, most recently, the Mumbai massacre, the quest for heaven hardly seems to be the primary motive. Robert Pape's Dying to Win, a detailed study of suicide missions, concludes that these have nothing to do with promises of postmortem reward but rather are propelled by more mundane motives of revenge against enemies: They invaded our country, they stole our land, they raped my sister, and so on.

The murderous types just seem to like to rationalize their longing for what Nietzsche called the 'happiness of the knife' ...

One question has not been asked. Did Hasan shave excess hair from his body and put on perfume? This is apparently a telltale sign for a Muslim about to conduct a suicide attack.

Interesting ... I hadn't heard that one before ...

 

At the same federal lockup where Mohammed and the others are to be held, federal prison guard Louis Pepe was attacked in late 2000 by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a former top aide to Osama bin Laden who was awaiting trial in the embassies case. Salim surprised Pepe by using a squeezable plastic honey bear container filled with hot sauce as a kind of homemade pepper spray that temporarily blinded the guard. The inmate then took a plastic comb ground into the shape of a dagger and plunged it into Pepe's left eye. The point pierced deep into his brain, causing severe permanent injury to his sight, speech, and movement. After the attack, prosecutors say papers found in the cell showed Salim's plan had been to take hostages inside the prison and free his co-defendants. While such a "breakout" plot may sound far-fetched given the security of the federal buildings, in Salim's case the very attempt nearly killed someone.

Hmmm ... doesn't say whether they would all still be in the cage if they had successfully killed the guard ... I imagine that they would have been ...

 A very cool site for those who enjoy Firefighter-related video ...

He says he is an attorney, licensed to practice in Washington, and that when he took his oath of attorney he promised to support the Constitution. Last month, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels banned guns on such city facilities as parks and community centers where children gather. Signs banning guns have since been posted at city parks. Warden said he took action because he believes the ban is illegal. He noted that the state Attorney General's Office has said so. "They know full well it's illegal, but they went ahead and did it anyway," Warden said Friday, adding that he is not a member of the National Rifle Association.He questioned the mayor's motives in announcing the ban. "How is it for public safety?" Warden said. "Are you promoting public safety if you forbid responsible, trained, intelligent people who know how to shoot a firearm from possessing one?"

Respect ...

Police say that an unknown number of intruders kicked in the door of a home near Rancho and Vegas Drive at 5:30AM.  The intruders are said to have attacked the elderly homeowner, prompting him to grab his gun and fire in self defense.  One of the attackers was fatally wounded, and the other criminals fled, according to police.  The homewoner was unharmed.

Had another one just like it Saturday ... gotta love it ...

Cool HDR pic ...

The passenger, who was not identified by officials, was not adequately screened before passing through security about 11:20 a.m., a TSA spokeswoman said. Security workers had to stop screening passengers so the passenger could be located and pass through security again, the spokeswoman said.

Hmmm ...

According to the FBI, a house, apartment, or condominium is burglarized once every 15 seconds. This results in thousands per hour and untold millions in stolen goods, not to mention the rise in insurance premiums. Don’t be part of the statistics by following these top ten DIY cheap and easy ways to protect your home.

Some plants that are likely to wound intruders are: dwarf conifers, such as bird's nest spruces; low growing shrubs, such as English yews and globose blue spruces (Picea pungens), also known as "Glauca Globosa"; or thorny plants that stay small, about three to four feet high and wide. One shrub that people aren't likely to hide behind, with its tight mass of thorny leaves, is Rotunda Chinese holly; hardy oranges (Poncirus trifoliata); and devil's walking stick (Aralia spinosa) are also good.

HUBO Walking! HUBO Taichi! HUBO with sword! HUBO aiming for your heart and lungs!

My suspicion is that this is more RC that cyborg ... cool video, though ...

Armor-piercing rounds for the FN are only sold to military and law enforcement personnel, said Mangan, and there are plenty of other pistols that use armor-piercing ammo. But the FN 5.7’s have a particularly notorious reputation. In the vault that day were about 45 recently seized FN 5.7 Herstals. “FN will say its stock ammunition ‘is not armor-piercing’ but we’ve done demos and it does pierce certain types of soft body armor,” said Mangan.  (A company spokesperson said in an email that the 5.7 model “is often mischaracterized as a new firearm which shoots armor-piercing ammunition. To be clear: armor piercing ammunition can be shot from any firearm; however such ammunition has been illegal for Commercial sale since 1986 and is only available to Law Enforcement and Military.”)

Rifle ammo shot at BA rated for pistol ammo will go through it but that doesn't make make it armor peircing ...

The New York Police Department, which will have a major role in any security operation to protect the federal court and prison complex in lower Manhattan, says it’s standing by for a trial. "It's highly appropriate that those accused in the deaths of nearly 3,000 human beings in New York City be tried here, and the NYPD is prepared for the security required," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told NEWSWEEK in a written statement.

I wonder how the NYPD measures will affect the security of the citizens of NY ...

Each year, tens of thousands of Palm Beach County residents pay hundreds of dollars to companies that monitor their home and business alarms, ready to send police at the first sign of trouble. But the sense of security they peddle can be illusory, a review by The Palm Beach Post found. Local police agencies, inundated by tens of thousands of false alarms a year, are far slower to respond to security alarm calls than active crimes.

Might want to try having a trusted, hard-core neighbor respond, in exchange for you doing the same ...

"[In] order to have fully effective law enforcement, we need Congress to create the legal foundation for bringing the millions of illegal immigrants in this country out of the shadows, require them to register and pay all taxes they owe, and enforce the penalties that they will have to pay as part of earning legal status," Napolitano added. "Let me emphasize this: we will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows."

It would probably help if we all admitted that we encouraged them to come here illegally so that we would have an exploitable underclass ...

The armed robber earned his name when he first started robbing auto parts stores and would ask the clerk for a box of automobile fuses before pulling a gun. Police said it's a technique he's used at least 16 times in the past month to rob stores ranging from auto parts facilities to fast food restaurants and even dry cleaners.

Probably shouldn't give them cool names in the media ...

A Waterloo man is charged with Terrorism after a shooting Tuesday afternoon. At 3:43 p.m. the Waterloo Police Department was called to 905 Logan Ave on a report of a shooting. Witnesses at the scene told officers that three shots were fired, and one shot hit the house.

Terrorism ... REALLY?!?

That was six years ago. Tuesday night, John Allen Muhammad was finally executed. I've always been opposed to capital punishment, and I remain so. Yes, Jewish scripture lists many crimes punishable by death, but the rabbis who later interpreted those passages couldn't fathom that this is what God would have wanted. So they made it even more difficult to execute a person under Jewish law than it is under U.S. law. One sage suggested that a rabbinic court that executes one criminal every 70 years is a bloody court. Jewish law accepts capital punishment in principle, but rejects it in practice.

Interesting ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - United Technologies (UTX.N) in nearing a purchase of General Electric Co's (GE.N) fire alarm and security systems unit for at least $1.8 billion, and a deal could be announced as early as Thursday, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Somebody's making money on the stuff ...

Police say that the woman was at home with her two children, ages 8 and 12, when a violent man she knew came to her home and tried to break in.  The woman called 911, and hid her children in the bathroom.  She then grabbed her handgun, and before police could arrive the man broke a kitchen window, entered the woman's home, and advanced on her while brandishing an "improvised weapon."  The woman fired her handgun in self defense, striking the violent home invader and ending the attack.  Police arrived to find the intruder dead.  The woman and her children were unharmed.

I do SOOO love it when they fight back ...

After running an elaborate scam that netted about $9 million, eight men were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for their alleged roles in a massive ATM hacking scheme. While similar heists have been pulled before, this one is impressive not only because of the large chunk of cash, but because of the sheer scope of the crime, as well.

Patton seemed to love the French proverb "Audacity, audacity, always audacity" ...

Yet hesitate they did. Too bad Hasan didn’t try to smuggle a bottle of water aboard an aircraft. Then of course they’d have thrown the book at him.

So true ...

At least six Egyptian border security officials were wounded in a standoff with Bedouin smugglers after the Egyptians confiscated cement being smuggled into Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Why were they having to smuggle cement in ...

Shouldn't an army base be the last place where a terrorist should be able to shoot at people uninterrupted for 10 minutes? After all, an army base is filled with soldiers who carry guns, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Beginning in March 1993, under the Clinton administration, the army forbids military personnel from carrying their own personal firearms and mandates that "a credible and specific threat against [Department of the Army] personnel [exist] in that region" before military personnel "may be authorized to carry firearms for personal protection." Indeed, most military bases have relatively few military police as they are in heavy demand to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All citizens should be able to carry their firepower wherever they want. Clinton would have been better off making it a law that no military objective or order could be used as a defense for shooting a US citizen by milpers ...

Terrorist Israeli naval forces had boarded early Wednesday morning (11/4/09) the Antiqua-flagged trading ship "Francop" while in the international waters close to Cyprus, and kidnapped it to Ashdod port in Israel. The Israelis claimed that the ship was carrying Iranian weapons, with English markings, destined to Syria and to Lebanese Hezbollah. They consider it their duty to intercept every ship they suspect of carrying any weapons to their enemy and to confiscate these weapons. It is an act of self defense as they claim.

Sounds like a valid claim, all things considered ...

With the eSecure application from Protection One, users can confirm that the security system is armed while on vacation or turn off the alarm while at work to let in cleaning crews and other contractors. When armed, the eSecure system will send text or e-mail messages when motion is detected, a particular door is opened, in the event of a flood, if high carbon-monoxide levels are recorded and even when a liquor or medicine cabinet, safe or other sensitive area is accessed. 

Hmmm ... might be good ...

The primary weapon in the Taliban’s deadly, dumbed-down arsenal of explosives is the simple fertilizer bomb. Each one typically weighs 50 or 60 pounds. Each one is powerful enough to blow holes in armored vehicles, and kill soldiers instantly. So it is an extremely big deal that NATO and Afghan troops announced today that they found 500,000 pounds of the stuff — along with 5,000 improvised bomb components — in a Kandahar compound.

Fine work, fellas ...

The process of introducing encryption into an application is a fairly complex endeavor, requiring changes to the application logic, the addition of the cryptographic services, and assumption of key management tasks. You must additionally alter the database structure to store the encrypted strings, and alter any database queries that selected/used the now-encrypted data. The approach is very flexible, enabling you to encrypt pretty much any or all data. It also can be very secure, but the sheer amount of effort to make this work scares most people off. Another misconception about cell-level encryption is it's faster because you encrypt less data. In practice, this is not correct. First, if you have sensitive data, then very seldom is it only a single row you are protecting. For example, if you have credit card numbers, then odds are you have one in every row of the table. Second, if you are running queries against encrypted data, then it is faster to decrypt that data as a whole column or table than row by row or element by element -- a lot faster. Technologies that work at the object level are more efficient in general-use cases and a heck of a lot simpler to implement.

10 Things Airports Won't Tell You

Guys, Nadal Sand Loser was just another candidate for Suicide By Cop waiting to happen. What happened? He killed a baker's dozen Good Guys, and seriously screwed up another 30 of them ... including the lady Rent-A-Cop who returned the compliment by punching his ticket in the most effective manner. Good on her, and I think she should receive a Major Medal plus Congress should give her a munificent Pension For Life.

Interesting thoughts ...

Here's one fact: One of the only other countries that has had a similar violence problem has been Australia which saw a string of mass shootings in the 1980s and 1990s. Finally, in 1996, armed with a semiautomatic rifle, Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people at a Tasmanian historical site. Australian lawmakers reacted with tough gun control legislation banning semiautomatic rifles. The result? No mass shootings since the ban.

And the massive jump in violent crimes against the citizens (subjects) isn't relevant ...