From The Science Headlines

You Decide If This Could Be Good
Google and NASA are teaming up. Who knows hat this alliance will bring about.

NASA and Google have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), that outlines plans for co-operation in a variety of areas, including large-scale data management, massively distributed computing, bio-info-nano convergence and encouragement of the entrepreneurial space industry. The MOU also highlights plans for Google to develop up to one million square feet, within the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field.

G Scott Hubbard, director - NASA Ames center, said, "Our planned partnership presents an enormous range of potential benefits to the space program. Just a few examples are new sensors and materials from collaborations on bio-info-nano convergence, improved analysis of engineering problems as well as Earth, life and space science discoveries from supercomputing and data mining, and bringing entrepreneurs into the space program. "

Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer, Google, said, "Google and NASA share a common desire - to bring a universe of information to people around the world. Imagine having a wide selection of images from the Apollo space mission at your fingertips whenever you want it. That's just one small example of how this collaboration could help broaden technology's role, in making the world a better place."

Located on property at Ames Research Center, the NASA Research Park is being developed into a world-class, shared-use educational and R&D campus. As part of a comprehensive plan for this area, new laboratories, offices, classrooms, housing, auditoriums, museums, a training and conference center, open space, parking and limited retail facilities are envisioned.

The plan calls for NASA to partner with local communities, academia, private industry, non-profit organizations and other government agencies in support of NASA's mission to conduct research and develop new technologies.

And my friend PJ said, "yeah, whatever. It's not like humanity is going to get laid more as a result."

Arctic Meltdown Continues



It needs to be said that if this trend continues, it's not going to bode well for many countries that are island atolls.
Here's another article on where this horror situation is at:

Combined with record or near record declines since 2002, the ice appears to be slipping into a long-term meltdown that may be slowly accelerating as the summer sun pumps more and more heat into the green-dark surface of the sea.
If the sea ice continues to shrink at the same rate, the summertime Arctic could be completely ice-free well before the end of this century, the scientists said.
While many factors contribute to the ice loss -- warm water creeping north from the Bering Sea and Atlantic Ocean, changes in air circulation, thinning floes that don't rebound in winter -- overall warming across the Arctic appears to be a growing influence.
"The sea ice cover seems to be rapidly changing and the best explanation for this is rising temperatures," said climate researcher Mark Serezze, a senior scientist at the snow and ice center. "My view is it's getting increasingly difficult to argue against the notion that what we're seeing is a greenhouse gas effect taking hold."

This is really not the most fun news around. meanwhile the powers that be in 'conservative' (read 'head-in-the-sand') governments keep refusing to acknowledge there is a great problem. Their excuse is that any measures to counter Global Warming might be bad for the economy. Well, there might not be an economy left if this is left to continue.
Argh, I've said my piece.

Gorillas Use Tools



More Monkey Business right here
Gorillas use tools.

"We've been observing gorillas for 10 years here, and we have two cases of them using detached objects as tools," said Thomas Breuer, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who heads the study team in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"In the first case, we had a female crossing a pool; and this female has crossed this pool by using a detached stick and testing the water depth, and trying to use it as a walking stick," he told the BBC.
The second case saw another female gorilla pick up the trunk of a dead shrub and use it to lean on while dredging for food in a swamp.

She then placed the trunk down on the swampy ground and used it as a bridge.

"What's fascinating about these observations is the similarity between what these creatures have done, and what we do in the context of crossing a pond," observed Dr Breuer.

"The most astonishing thing is that we have observed them using tools not for obtaining food, but for postural support."
This discovery makes the gorilla the last of the great apes to be documented using tools in the wild.

Chimpanzees use stone tools to process food, and their close relatives bonobos will use the mashed ends of sticks to soak up liquids.

Orangutans - the only Asian great ape - use branches to forage for food, and leaves to modify their calls.

Though some monkeys and birds also use tools, Thomas Breuer believes that the great apes are special.

"We have now seen tool use in all the great apes in the wild," he said.

The issue remains, monkey.

1 Game Ahead, 4 More To Play

Homerun No.47 from A-Rod

The MLB season is drawing to the finish line and we have a serious race on our hands in the AL-East.
Coming into today, the Yankees and Redsox were lined up at 92 wins a piece, tied with the Al Central Wildcard contender, Indians.
The Yankees won 2-1 against the Orioles behind Shawn Chacon, after yesterday's miserable pitching melt-down. A-Rod hit his 47th Homerun for the season making him the most prolific Right-handed Homerun hitter in Yankee history. People have said that historically, he's not competing with much but the fact is, he's turned his performances at Yankee stadium into the sorts of performances he held at the Bandbox in Arlington; that feat alone should single him out as one of the greatest hitters of all time.
The Red Sox lost 7-2 to the Blue Jays and the Indians took a loss as well. So now the Yankees have outright possession of first place again, and may go into Fenway with that advantage, this coming weekend.

Of course they could choke and lose as they last year, but heck, that's been the story of this up&down year. However, if they sweep the floor with the Bosox, it will be Cleveland who come marching into the post-season over the Bosox. And that just might be a bit of fun retribution.
Could it happen?

Chewbacca Is A Southpaw

We have proof. 'Chewie' threw out the first pitch in the important game where the Bosox lost to the Jays. So maybe Chewie is subliminally a Yankee fan too.

Pleiades Mailbag-Drop

Chinese Missile Frigates
Here they come according to the Associated Press.

China's navy has commissioned the first in a new class of domestically designed and built warships, official media reported Tuesday.

The missile frigate Wenzhou, named after a port city in eastern China, entered service Monday at a ceremony attended by East China Fleet commander Zhao Guojun, according to a brief report on the official Wenzhou Newsnet.

The report gave no other details about the ship, but Western military experts have described it as the first in the 054 Ma'anshan class, representing China's most advanced missile frigates.

Along with superior electronics, anti-submarine capabilities and air defenses, the ships boast sloped, covered sides and a special exterior paint intended to make it more difficult to spot by radar, according to the reports.

The ships are designed to operate far out at sea, part of the People's Liberation Army's development of a "blue water" navy intended to assert Chinese claims to Taiwan and other territories and protect sea lanes transporting vital natural resources.

Taipei, here we come?
You'd think that the latest military vessel would be pretty difficult for which to get a pictue, but hey, 'dogpile' got these two pickies in a flash.

Bird 'flu Impact
In a classic case of isolationism by NZ, this was spotted on the Net:

Bird flu may see NZ close borders
23 September 2005
By LOUISE BLEAKLEY

New Zealand may lock down all air and sea ports if a lethal bird flu epidemic takes hold internationally, potentially turning planes around and putting all arrivals into quarantine.

The disease has killed more than 50 people, but it has not yet learned to rapidly transmit between humans.

In late October, New Zealand border agencies would look at the logistics of stopping all people and imports, such as food and medicine, from entering the country in the event of a pandemic, Customs business development unit manager John Ladd said yesterday.

Enormous problems would accompany such a move, he said.

"What do you do when you have got a whole lot of people in quarantine? Are there legislative processes available to stop New Zealanders coming into the country?"

The agencies would have to consider whether it was reasonable to direct planes in mid-air not to land in New Zealand.

People may need to be quarantined for as long as eight days if New Zealand hoped to stop the outbreak spreading while keeping its borders open, Ladd said. "How do we feed all these people?"

AdvertisementAdvertisementEven closed borders or quarantines might not stop the deadly flu from spreading to New Zealand.

"It�Ls quite possible it will come into the country before we even know there�Ls an outbreak," he said.

Customs officials will visit Christchurch next Wednesday to discuss a plan of action with airport staff.

This week, Indonesian officials battled to contain the threat of an epidemic that was prompting reports of widespread panic.

Two girls who died in Jakarta are thought to have contracted the deadly H5N1 strain, while several patients in Jakarta hospitals are showing symptoms of the disease.

Christchurch microbiologist Ben Harris said New Zealand borders might need to be closed for many months to allow the pandemic to run its course.

"To do that, all those people overseas on holiday would not be allowed in either. It sounds a good idea, but I would find it interesting to see whether it could ever be done," he said.

Protective gear such as masks would not be 100 per cent effective against the deadly strain if it became as contagious as conventional influenza, Harris said.

"It may never come. It may come mildly or it may be like a blast from hell. Personally, I�Lm very concerned. It makes one look at one�Ls values in life," he said.

Bird flu kills one in two victims.

In Canterbury, Civil Defence will begin stockpiling protective gear as health authorities and emergency services crank up efforts to manage an outbreak.

Health authorities met emergency services this week to discuss how they would co-ordinate efforts if the region were hit by bird flu.

Canterbury District Health Board chief medical officer Nigel Millar said local authorities had discussed various strategies, such as limiting social gatherings, to restrict the spread of the disease.

Staff would have to think about whether it was safe to go home to their families at the end of a working day.

"The key thing is to manage processes so health workers are protected if we want them to front up and see people," he said.

Health Ministry acting director of public health Ashley Bloomfield said the ministry would release advice today about whether people travelling to or living in Asian countries should obtain antivirals or use other treatment options to prepare for an outbreak.

"The ministry and other government agencies are taking the potential pandemic influenza threat very seriously. There were three influenza pandemics last century and it is certain there will be another one. What we don�Lt know is when this will happen," he said.

Bloomfield said the ministry employed 26 part and full-time staff on pandemic planning projects.

It's one way of dealing with trouble I guess.

More Monkey Trials

It should drive us all bananas that in this day and age of high-tech everything from cars to computers to dildos, that we should be assailed by the reality that some people want to impose thier medieval views on future children.

Here's another monkey trial, this time where parents are having to sue a distrct board for teling Biology teachers they must teach 'Intelligent (LOL) Design" as well as Evolution.

HARRISBURG, PA. — Tammy Kitzmiller testified yesterday that she is a firm believer in the separation of church and state, a stand that has made her a reluctant soldier in the battle raging across the United States over the teaching of evolution in high-school biology classes.

An office manager for a landscaping company and the mother of two teenage daughters, Ms. Kitzmiller is also the lead plaintiff in Kitzmiller et al v. the Dover District Board of Education, a case that opens a new chapter in the century-old struggle over the teaching of evolution that reached an early climax with the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925.

She and 10 other Dover parents have sued their school district, arguing that the board imposed a religious view on public-school students after board directors demanded that biology teachers present a one-minute statement promoting the intelligent-design concept as an alternative to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which it describes as flawed.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism -- the belief that Earth and its beings were created by God and not by natural selection -- could not be taught in public schools since it violated the separation of church and state

And as if that is not enough, there's the rest of it with this:

More than 30 U.S. states are considering measures to teach alternatives to evolution, Reuters reported. The Harrisburg case is the first to challenge such initiatives in court and is widely expected to end up at the Supreme Court of the United States, regardless of the outcome.

The parents and their supporters in the scientific community and at the American Civil Liberties Union argue that the intelligent-design concept is simply a retooled effort to introduce the God of Genesis into biology class.

The board and its supporters among Christian conservatives insist the intelligent-design concept is a valid scientific theory that makes up for fatal flaws in evolutionary theory.

Advocates on both sides of the divide are watching the case closely. President George W. Bush waded into the controversy recently by suggesting that schoolchildren should be taught both views.

The Dover parents are being represented pro bono by the ACLU and backed by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the National Center for Science Education.

The school district is being represented, also free of charge, by the Thomas More Law Center, a non-profit legal firm dedicated to the defence and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians; it litigates key church-and-state issues including school prayer, abortion and, now, intelligent design.

In testimony before Federal Court Judge John Jones yesterday, parents said that key school board members had initially wanted creationism introduced into the biology class, despite the fact that U.S. courts have rejected such attempts.

After advice from their lawyers, the directors settled on requiring a statement about intelligent design before the evolution lessons, which suggested students read a book on the concept, Of Pandas and People, which had been purchased and placed in the school library.

Ms. Kitzmiller, whose daughter, Jessica, opted out when the intelligent-design statement was delivered to her Grade 9 biology class last year, said the board's policy has devalued science education in Dover District High School, and subjected her daughter to ridicule for protesting against the move.

"I feel they brought a religious idea into the classroom, and I object to that," she said.

Bryan Rehm taught science at Dover High but transferred last year. He also has a daughter in Grade 9 who will have to decide whether to stay in the classroom or opt out when the intelligent-design statement is presented prior to the class taking up evolution in January.

Mr. Rehm said he attended several board meetings and met with board members who made it clear they considered evolutionary theory to be anti-Christian, even un-American. For several years, he said, teachers resisted pressure to "balance" their teaching of evolution and natural selection with the creationist notion that God created the Earth no earlier than 10,000 years ago with all species as they now exist.

"You're not going to tell me I come from apes," he recalled one angry board member, Jim Buckingham, demanding of him.

In fact, he said, the Grade 9 biology curriculum does not deal with the origin of the human species but focuses on evolutionary changes within organisms, changes that can lead to superbugs in humans and plants that are resistant to antibiotics and pesticides.

Yeah, buddy, you don't come from apes. You come from Harrisburg PA. While we're at it, the Earth is flat too; that's how we fly spaceshuttles in this day and age... not!

The thing is, it's not even that I object to organised religion (which is a different thing altogether); it's the sort of brazeen ignorance parading itsself as akind of pride, when in fact it'ss just a naked ego dance. And there's nothign to distinguish that kind of pride from say, Gay Pride or Feminism or any old crappy chauvinism or reverse-chauvinism. It still doesn't meaan what you believe in is scientific. Sort of like the stupid rantings of the Angry Fat Man, really.

There's also the ugly notion that every kid has to sit there and listen to this crappy piece of fiction when indeed there might be kids from non-Christian backgrounds to start with. Or as Chris once famously encountered while talking about Evolution in class to his students, a Muslim girl piped up and said, "Sir, I don't think you should be pushing your Christian views on to us".

The Blame game
There's not much to make folks laugh in the aftermath of hurricane Katrinaa, but you might like this for a laugh:

A combative Michael Brown blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress. In response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former FEMA director.

House members' scorching treatment of Brown, in a hearing stretching nearly 6 1/2 hours, underscored how he has become an emblem of the deaths, lingering floods and stranded survivors after the Aug. 29 storm. Brown resigned Sept. 12 after being relieved of his FEMA onsite command of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response effort three days earlier.

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays (news, bio, voting record), R-Conn. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."

"You get an F-minus in my book," said Rep. Gene Taylor (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss.

At several points, Brown turned red in the face and slapped the table in front of him.

"So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans," Brown said.

"What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate," Shays retorted.

Talk about people sinking really low.
This is the government, people. Isn't it clear by now that the inmates definitely run the asylum?

Lynndie England Gets 3 Years In Jail

The Woman Who Held The Leash
Infamously, Lynndie England landed in our consciousness as the woman who held the leash on an Iraqi POW in Abu Ghraib. She's in for 3 years at the other end of the leash, so to speak, after some legal squabbling.

In sentencing testimony just hours before, England, who had faced a maximum of nine years behind bars, said she was sorry for her actions but said she remained an American patriot.

"After the photos were released, I've heard that attacks were made on U.S. armed forces because of them," she said.

"I apologize to coalition forces and all the families," England, speaking slowly, told the jury of five officers, also apologizing to "detainees, the families, America and all the soldiers."

England, 22, was convicted on Monday of abuse such as being photographed pointing to the genitals of a naked Iraqi prisoner in a section of the prison were the administrative clerk did not have any official duties.

She stood at attention to hear the verdict and remained standing and looking toward the front of the courtroom after the trial ended as tears welled in her eyes. Her mother, Terrie, then came over to give her a very long hug.

Within 45 minutes, England's hands and feet were shackled and she was slowly walked from the courthouse to a van that brought her to jail. She made no final comments.

In her court testimony, the former West Virginia chicken factory worker blamed her involvement on Charles Graner, the abuse ringleader and father of her child.

"I was embarrassed because I was used by Private Graner; I didn't realize it at the time," she said, sometimes pausing at length to gather her thoughts. "I trusted him and I loved him."

The thing I've commented on previously is that she was probably the most susceptible to the phenomenon of Milgrim's 37. Nobody's talking about it but there she is, probably wondering how the hell she got there.


The really odd thing was that there was this other woman Sabrina Harmon who seems to have escaped any kind of prosecution. Is the beauty-bias working here? Because her smile is certainly a lot more appealing than that of Ms. England's. Can you imagine the media outcry if Ms. Harmon was sent to prison for these photos?





The point I'm making is that all things being equal, the person I actually remembered and associated with the Abu Ghraib fiasco/scandal was this woman with her thumb up, not the short, squat woman holding the leash.
What's going on there?

UPDATE
Naturally, the Iraqis are not happy with 3 years.

Iraqis claim the punishment would have been far harsher if her crimes had been committed against Americans.

"America should be ashamed of this sentence. This is the best evidence that Americans have double standards," said Akram Abdel Amir, a retired bus driver from Baghdad.

"There are Iraqis in jail without any charge, just based on suspicion. But when it comes to Americans, the matter is totally different."

Muntasser Abdel Moneim, a labourer, said: "The sentence is nothing compared to what she has done."

England, who had faced a maximum sentence of nine years, was also given a dishonourable discharge.

The former West Virginia chicken factory worker is the last of a group of US soldiers to be convicted of abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Charles Graner, England's former boyfriend and the father of her child, was sentenced to 10 years in jail last year.

During her trial, England apologised for her actions but accused Graner of being the ring-leader.

The prisoner abuse scandal provoked global outrage and deepened Iraqi resentment of US troops.

Iraqis remember her as the American soldier who held an inmate by a dog leash, a highly degrading act in a country where dogs are considered unclean.

"The whole thing is theatre. The Americans want to pretend they defend human rights and are a civilised nation," said Munir Abdel Sahib, a university lecturer.

"I believe that England would not have committed these crimes without orders from above."

Well, for a university lecturer Mr. Munir Abdel Sahib's probably very ill-informed about psychology, but all the same, the US Military has done nothing to make him think they are legit, so the damage is done. What a mess.

There's also this interestng link to the 'Institute of Public Accuracy'

"Lynndie England was convicted and sentenced but that is not satisfactory for us. It’s obvious that the rank and file people are the small fry. What we would like to know is the whole story: what really happened, from the memos down. Available information clearly indicates that this isn't a case of just a few bad apples. What we want is a credible independent investigation, and just 'bipartisan' is not good enough because my experience has been that bipartisan can also be biased. I think the U.S. should create an independent investigation commission and invite international participation. That would help with the credibility of the investigation, and it would be a very concrete way for the United States to reach out to the international community, to show that we are serious about investigating what really happened and continues to happen, and we would like to redeem ourselves and regain a sense of morality."

Hmmmm. As disgusting as the events may have been, I think an independent investigator might let Ms. England go free.

Jimi From The Mailbag

Gotta love this article...

Although the Band of Gypsies had been together for only a month - following the break-up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience - the new six-piece formation keep up pretty well with their mercurial leader. They look as if they are enjoying themselves, too.

On the phone from his home in Nashville, one of them, Billy Cox, says he met Hendrix when they were both in the 101st Airborne Division in 1962. They played together on and off, before Hendrix moved to London and got back in touch after Noel Redding left the Experience. Cox is keen to clear up a few myths "because Jimi Hendrix is like Elvis, or the Beatles: surrounded by outrageous folklore".

He is particularly dismissive of the tale that Hendrix hadn't slept for three days before his gig at the festival because of, well, you know what. "No, no, no. That whole drug culture thing that has been loaded on poor old Jimi Hendrix's back was not the way it was. You can't do all that and play the way he did."

According to Cox, the night before going on, they had tinkered around on acoustic instruments then slept for about five hours in a house near the stage. No drugging or boozing. "Jimi was upbeat, he was energised. We were tight, on the same vibe."

Hendrix's most impromptu move at Woodstock, Cox reports, was The Star-Spangled Banner. The band had heard him play it around the house but had never rehearsed it with him and although Cox says he tried to keep up for the first eight bars, he stopped when he realised that "Jimi was off on one".

Three years of rock stardom hadn't changed his old friend, Cox says. "He was the same guy, a good person, very spiritual, with wisdom beyond his years. And very funny. He always managed to overcome his problems with his sense of humour."

The biggest problem Cox encountered came not from the band's leader but from his management. "The office did not want our group to exist, mainly because it was too black." By now, four out of six of Hendrix's band were African-Americans, and deemed an iffy proposition in business terms for the white rock audience of the time. But Woodstock loved them. When the Band of Gypsies finally left the stage about 11am, their mood was buoyant. Legend has it that Hendrix promptly collapsed with exhaustion.

"Bullshit!" says Cox. "We all drove off to a little joint down the road for a hamburger."

So much for the legendary 'simultaneous spiritual orgasm' that was allegedly felt by all at Woodstock, according to folklore.

iComposition News

iCompositions is moving on to version 3.0 today as we speak. Last I looked they'd overshot their scheduled time of launch by 2 hours but these things are always difficult. We're all very excited in user land as version 3 of the site will address some of the technical niggles that have annoyed us all.

Also, I've uploaded a song in the last couple of days called 'Always A Reason'.
I've also uploaded an A Cappella version of just the vocal tracks in the style of the a cappella version of 'Leave It' by Yes. So be sure to check them out. :)

UPDATE
Well, it went live and suddenly, so many people tried to get on to it at once that it killed their server. So it's going to take them 'a little while' to get it all sorted out. It goes to show that so many people who shouldn't post, like the Angry Fat Man simply shouldn't post. or maybe not. :)

Gen X In Space

Here We Come, Here We Come
According to this cool article.

It is all very exciting… and long overdue. The Gen X-ers seem especially excited, as well they should be. Not only were they born too late to see the last moon landing, but at last, they may have found the great generational quest they've been longing and training (think computer games, robotic competitions, Star Wars/Trek, extreme sports, etc.) for their entire lives.
Some, like Elon Musk, couldn't wait for NASA. He took the millions he made founding PayPal and started Space Explorations Technology, the celebrated new rocket launch company. As it happens, Elon and I made a small side bet a couple years ago after he predicted to me that he would put a man on Mars within 15 years. It is a bet I sincerely hope to lose.

But the enthusiasm of Gen X-ers for space exploration should also be a warning. The more you ponder NASA's new plan the more you realize that it is fundamentally flawed. While the NASA lunar exploration plan is up-to-date on all of the new technologies invented over the last 50 years, philosophically and organizationally it is still trapped in the big business/big government paradigm of the '50s.

Like many established bureaucracies, NASA has largely failed to account for the generational — and attendant cultural — shift that has taken place outside of its walls. After my father retired from the Air Force, he went to work for NASA, and thus I spent a lot of the '60s hanging out (and eventually interning) at NASA's Ames Research Center. Looking at the old photos and memorabilia from that era, I am reminded that it was another country. NASA was the glorious culmination of an organizational culture that had its birth in the late 1930s at places like General Motors, was literally battle tested in World War II, and perfected in the corporate America of the 1950s.

The space program was the culmination of that culture, manned by the ex-GIs of the so-called "Greatest Generation" and led by the middle-aged men of the previous, arguably even greater, generation — those men and women born in the late 19th century, who came of age in the '20s. This group, the most extraordinary of any in American history, save the founders, included the likes of Eisenhower, Marshall, Dulles, Watson and Sloan.

It experienced more change than any generation that has ever lived. (My grandmother, who spent her infancy in a dugout cave on the Cherokee Strip, lived to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon). And they knew how to build and manage huge, bureaucratic organizations. They also had millions of WWII vets, with their unique combination of discipline, duty and independent thinking, to fill those organizations. Between them, they created the wealthiest society in history, defeated totalitarianism and reached the moon. It is a legacy that will resound through history.

Damn it, let's go, let's go...

Imbecilic Denial
Also known as 'Intelligent Design' *gag* faces its first court-trial.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania will hear arguments Monday in a lawsuit that both sides say could set the fundamental ground rules for how American students are taught the origins of life for years to come.

At issue is an alternative to the standard theory of evolution called “intelligent design.” Proponents argue that the structure of life on Earth is too complex to have evolved through natural selection, challenging a core principle of the biological theory launched by Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” in 1859. Instead, contend adherents of intelligent design, life is probably the result of intervention by an intelligent agent.

Argh. There is no end to these monkey trials.

Things That Make You Wonder

They Come In Threes

Jaret Wright, who has so far been hit by a line drive and a broken bat got hit in the chest by another come-baker today in the first inning. What are the odds of that? At least it didn't hit him in the nuts, but he's got to be thinking he's jinxed. The way I figure it, these things come in threes.

So here he is again lying on the ground, then throwing him out and then collapsing. All in the first inning. He's a tough dude, I'll give you that. I'd be like, "What? Why me Again?".

Jaret Wright must feel as though there's a bull's-eye on his back -- not to mention his neck, chest and elbow.

Bruised by a line drive again, Wright was ineffective and the Toronto Blue Jays ended New York's five-game winning streak Saturday with a 7-4 victory over the Yankees.

``A bat, two balls -- I don't know,'' Wright said. ``When it keeps happening, it's definitely frustrating.''

A bat and two balls you say. That would look like a...
He's only got one more shot at redemption in the 30 September game against the Red Sox. If he dominates them at Fenway, he's a hero; if he loses that one he's a bust. If he gets hit by a come-backer again he's a fricken' monkey's ass. Having said all that, at the bottom of my heart, I've decided I'll root for this guy to pitch well. Not only do the Yanks need him to do well, I feel sorry that he hasn't really been able to pitch at his peak level too often this season. He deserves to let us know why he was considered good bet by the Tampa brass, and that he has a shot at 'life as a good pitcher after Atlanta'.

He might be a crappy, injury prone guy, but the performance peaks have been high, and he's certainly been game. He's sort of the Ace in the hole that could turn out okay yet. I certainly don't expect Aaron Small to win the next 2 games.

The Yanks took a 4-7 loss to the Blue Jays while the Bosox won, so they are now tied in the lead for the AL East. 9 games to go. Even if the Yanks sweep the Orioles and take out the rest of the two games with the Blue Jays, they'd need to be another game better than the Bosox to go into the Boston Series on top. Chances are, both teams will go 4 wins from 7 games before they meet, so this is going down to the wire.
Bet we knew that before today. :)

Shark Attack Again

I promise I'm not obsessive; another man was attacked by a shark off the coast of South Australia.

A surfer is recovering in hospital from lacerations to his legs after being attacked by a shark at a remote location off Kangaroo Island, south of Adelaide today.

The 25-year-old man was surfing with a group of four friends near Cape du Couedic, on the island's south-western tip in Flinders Chase National Park, when he was bitten by a great white shark about 12.05pm (CST).

Cape du Couedic is not a renowned surfing location and is famous for its magnificent sandstone lighthouse that was erected in 1909.

Today's attack follows one on Friday, when surfer Brad Satchell fought off a shark by punching it in the head at Perth's Scarborough Beach. Mr Satchell was not injured.

SA Ambulance spokesman Lee Francis said following today's shark attack, the man was treated at the scene before being airlifted to the Flinders Medical Centre where he underwent surgery for lacerations to both of his legs.

"He's very lucky to be alive on this occasion," Mr Francis said.
"It could've been a fatal attack if it wasn't for the quick-thinking of his friends."

Two of the man's friends dragged him out of the water after the attack and pulled their injured mate onto rocks at the base of a cliff, before climbing up steep cliffs to make an emergency call from a nearby ranger station.

National Parks and Wildlife officer Anthony McGuire, who was on duty at the time of the incident, said while emergency crews were notified immediately they took some time to arrive because of the remoteness of the location.

"It's a fairly rugged spot and it's a long way from Adelaide - it's not really a common surfing beach either," Mr McGuire said.

Today's incident is the latest in a series of recent shark attacks in South Australian waters.

I ain't going' back into the sea down there.
BC35 once told me that they see Great Whites all the time as they windsurf between the mainland and Kangaroo Island. Clearly, they've got a taste for us now.

Pleiades Mailbag-Drop



Weather Wars?
The number one with a bullet from the mailbag is this page at NASA showing the pictures and video of how a hurricane evolves.

There's also this link on the more out-there takes on these pics. And I warn you, their conviction that this is part of the 'weather wars' is pretty un-nerving.

Next up...


What's Going On here?
I haven't a clue. However, check this out.
First, it was Brits being arrested by Iraqi police.
Then it was allegations that they shot some Iraqi police. Why would they do that?
Then it turns out they were from the SAS. Oka-a-aay
Then the Brits 'rescue' them (read bust them out) with tanks and helicopter gunships. Now that's like some Hollywood movie.
Then the British government denies it happened and says the prisoners were handed over after negotiations.

British troops had arrived at the police station where the two men were being held and encircled the building, where they were attacked by demonstrators with stones and petrol bombs.

One soldier was seen engulfed by flames tumbling from a tank and gunfire was exchanged between the two sides, leaving three soldiers injured and two civilians dead while 15 others were injured.

Earlier an MoD spokesman said: "We can confirm that two military personnel were detained by Iraqi authorities earlier today."

He added: "We are continuing to try to thrash out with the Iraqi authorities what's happened and what can be done. We are trying to get to the bottom of what happened but at the moment we don't know."

Photographs showed the unshaven pair in custody, dressed casually in T-shirts and trousers, and sitting on the floor with their hands behind their backs.

One of the men had his head swathed in bandages and appeared to have bloodstains on his top. The other, who apparently had blood smeared on his trousers, had plasters on his head.

Nadhim al-Jabari, the Basra provincial council's spokesman, said the two men were likely to go before an Iraqi court. It was unclear if they had yet been charged.

He said top officials from Basra province were negotiating to defuse the crisis.

The Basra governor called the rescue of two Britons from the city's jail by British troops a barbaric act of aggression.

Mohammed al Waili, the governor of the province, said the British raid was "barbaric, savage and irresponsible".

"A British force of more than 10 tanks backed by helicopters attacked the central jail and destroyed it," he said.

"This is an irresponsible act."

He added that the British force had spirited the prisoners away to an unknown location.

Naturally, the Arab take on it is incredulous

Yet the BSBC, along with the rest of the Western media continues to put out endless reams of disinformation about ‘al-Zarqawi’ and his connection to the fictitious ‘al-Queda in Iraq’. Given the long-held assertion by the West that goes back to 2003, that Iraq was on the verge of ‘civil war’, it’s instructive to note that as the military situation of the occupation forces has deteriorated, so too has the level of so-called al-Queda operations increased, in a transparent attempt to divide the Iraqi national resistance, thus the increasing stories about impending civil war and the wave of ‘suicide’ bombings.

The exposure of the undercover SAS operations will only add to the resolve of Iraqi resistance forces to step up their campaign to expel the occupiers regardless of what kind of blatant propaganda line the UK government puts out.

It furthermore exposes the untenable position of the Iraqi ‘government’ which is now being squeezed by both sides, thus we get contradictory positions from the Iraqi ‘government’, with one denying that the SAS operatives had been handed over to ‘Shiite militia’ and the other trying desperately to tread an almost invisible line between condemning the actions of the British government whilst blaming the actions of the Iraqi police in Basra on ‘insurgents’ who have ‘infiltrated’ the police force. Yet it is a fact that at best, perhaps only 25% of the Iraqi military can be relied upon to serve their colonial masters.

Continuing to call them insurgents is itself an admission that the majority of Iraqis are opposed to the occupation and indeed, the bulk of the fighting is being carried out by the Kurdish Peshmerga as Iraqi forces simply cannot be relied on. It’s a classic situation that the US and UK military top brass know only too well having ‘been there and done that’ before.

Thus the occupiers become more desperate to destabilise the situation and no doubt we’ll see more SAS and US provocations revealed over the coming weeks as the situation continues to deteriorate.

Right.
So who do you believe? Who washes the Washmen?

More on 'Weather Warfare'
There's this link to 'Weather warfare'.
Inside it is this link

Others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can
alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the
use of electromagnetic waves. So there are plenty of ingenious minds out
there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon
other nations. It's real, and that's the reason why we have to
intensify our efforts, and that's why this is so important."

—Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen
DoD News Briefing, Monday, April 28, 1997

"All countries, where appropriate, should develop and implement
resettlement programmes that address the specific problems of displaces
populations in their respective countries."

— Agenda 21, Chapter 7, Section 7.9, paragraph (g)

Latest update for this section: Wednesday, 14-Sep-2005 04:39:12 EDT

Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025
Air Force report on governmental manipulation of the weather as a tool
to enhance military operations.

Tsunami Bomb NZ's Devastating War Secret
New Zealand Herald, June 30, 2000
"Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the coast of
Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified files reveal. An Auckland
University professor seconded to the Army set off a series of
underwater explosions triggering mini-tidal waves at Whangaparaoa in 1944 and
1945. Professor Thomas Leech's work was considered so significant that
United States defence chiefs said that if the project had been completed
before the end of the war it could have played a role as effective as
that of the atom bomb."

To Own the Weather
Frontline Magazine, January 1999
"The U.S. has covertly pursued a military operation, launched during
the Vietnam War, to acquire weather modification technology for possible
use in combat."

Weather Modification: The Law
Weather modification, as written into the United States Code.

Sustainable Development and Natural Hazzards Mitigation
Is Weather/Climate Manipulation being used to relocate populations of
people into tightly-controlled sustainable communities, in accordance
with Agenda 21? (pdf format)
"...one of the roadblocks to implementation is the fact that much of
the land within local jurisdictions has already been developed according
to practices and traditions that are far from sustainable... the time
immediately following a natural disaster provides a community with a
unique window of opportunity for inserting an ethic of sustainability...."
(page 19)

Methods of Artificial Weather Manipulation Help Agriculture, Devastate
the Enemy, and Control the World Economy
"Computer models obviously focused on the ionosphere, which acts as a
filter for the solar radiations to reach the earth. If one can
manipulate and control the filter, it becomes a potential source of massive
weather modification."

Katrina Fuels Global Warming Storm
Human activity is blamed for a phenomenon called "global warming".
Articles like this one from the CONtrolled press, often quote "experts" who
say rising temperatures are causing weather anomalies. At the same
time, they fail to mention who the experts are, and that there are many
experts who do not agree with the global warming rhetoric.

The Leipzig Declaration
"As the debate unfolds, it has become increasingly clear that --
contrary to the conventional wisdom -- there does not exist today a general
scientific consensus about the importance of greenhouse warming from
rising levels of carbon dioxide. In fact, many climate specialists now
agree that actual observations from weather satellites show no global
warming whatsoever... based on all the evidence available to us, we cannot
subscribe to the politically-inspired world view that envisages climate
catastrophes and calls for hasty actions..."

That's all very cyberpunk and I'm probably like the Danny DeVito character in 'LA Confidential' when I say, "It's all on the hush hush, on the QT". Somebody is compiling this stuff; but some of our good friends have been saying for sometime these statements on their own are weird but taken as a whole, might indicate something- an 'insight' for which I credit Mr. 'Avon Brandt'.

The other thing to look at is this week's Hoagland blog entry where he discusses this stuff.
I'm still undecided as to the nature of this 'scalar technology' because I'm still a sceptic with regards to a technology I don't understand the physics thereof. Just to be sure, I present this link which goes through why 'scalar technology' is utter bunk.

If you do a Google search for "Tesla Scalar Weapon" you will find about 3,810 articles about these "horrible weapons." All of those websites are WRONG. No Scalar device can ever be used as a weapon.

In science, there are two types of mathematical quantities, Vector and Scalar. A vector quantity has two parts, magnitude and direction. But a scalar quantity only has magnitude or the "scale" of the quantity, but no direction.

Vector Example: When you shoot a bow and arrow or a gun, the arrow or bullet has a magnitude of mass, and it also has a velocity or direction - where you aimed it. If the bullet or arrow is just sitting on the table it has mass, but no direction. So the bullet or arrow is not a weapon until you fire it in some direction.

Scalar Example: There are several examples of scalar measurements. One is the air pressure in your room. Another is the temperature in your room and and third is the electrostatic charge in your room. You can measure the pressure, temperature and electrical charge and it may change, but it has no direction. It is always the same everywhere in the room. Therefore those can never be used as a weapon since they are not aimed at anything.

Can the scalar heat in the oven in your kitchen be used as a weapon? Well, you can stick someone in the oven and that might kill them. But you can't aim the heat from the oven across the room and try to use it as a weapon. As soon as you take the heat from the oven and somehow focus the heat at someone, then that becomes a vector weapon - the direction where the heat is focused. It is no longer a scalar device. An oven by itself is just a scalar device.

The very same is true for any scalar quantity of pressure or electrostatic charge. As scalar devices they cannot be used as weapons, until they are turned into a vector quantity by aiming them in a certain direction. But then they are NOT called Scalar devices. They become Vector weapons.

I now know exactly what Tesla's Scalar Device is and how it works. As a senior scientist and physicist, I have actually built many models and they all work the same way. I made my first one back in 1967, and I've even have had one of my home-made Tesla Scalar devices running in my bedroom for the last 3 years.

Its not a weapon at all, and could never be. It is simply an "air ionizer" which first went on sale as a health device and air cleaner in the 1960's. They are often called Negative Ion Generators. You can buy an updated scalar device as the Spring Aire negative ion air cleaner from Sharper Image.

It will increase the electrostatic charge or scalar charge in your room. That's all a Scalar Device is. It radiates electrons, or electrical energy in all directions. It is not directional or not Vector energy -- it is Scalar or non-directional. The electrostatic energy in your room is a Scalar quantity, just as is the temperature and pressure in your room.

Professor Tesla was clearly an early electronic genius. But, his "Scalar Device" was a big mistake, a complete flop. But then, he could not prove or disprove it 100 years ago. Tesla thought the electrons or negative ions which he measured streaming from the ball on top of his conical RF coil could be spread in all directions and then they could be "rectified" or captured and converted back to DC energy at some remote location.

Tesla actually thought his device could be used to replace the very expensive long-distance electrical transmission lines. He was wrong, but he didn't know it, only because 100 years ago there was no "receiving" device to collect the energy -- so he was never able to test his "scalar invention."

But today we do have such devices to collect non-directional scalar energy. Today we call it Radio. Every AM, FM and TV station in the world is a "Scalar Device" that is not aimed, but broadcasts in all directions. That broadcast scalar energy is gathered out of the air and then the energy is used to make the speakers move in your stereo receiver to make sounds - or move the electrons on your TV screen to make pictures.

So, there are NO hundreds of scalar weapons around the world. And No, they are not used to control the weather. It can be questioned whether the thousands of broadcast scalar devices are being used to control populations by the propaganda and false news they broadcast, but that is not a property of the non-directional scalar waves coming from the radio station.

Therefore: HAARP is NOT a Tesla Scalar device. Especially since, HAARP is a higly focused vector device aimed directly upward at the ionosphere, and nowhere else. And there are NO such things as scalar weapons. Be sure to tell that to all those websites which promote false stories about how the military or the government is using horrible Tesla Scalar Weapons to control weather, the environment, armies or population. And now you know why.

The only people who are using "Tesla's Scalar Weapons" are those people who run websites or sell books in an attempt to terrorize you into believing that horrible Scalar weapons actually exist. These "scalar" terrorists are using the false scalar weapon stories to promote their latest book, or promote themselves.

Some of these "scalar" terrorists may even have advanced credentials, such as a Ph.D., but not in science. Any scientist knows there are no such things as scalar weapons, anymore than there is an elves union at the north pole. Why? Because neither Santa nor Wal-Mart allows unions. Case Closed.

Right. I understand that scientific line of thought. It's properly reasoned and satisfactory for any sceptic and it even fits my understanding of electro-magnetics.

However, weather-war devices might still exist. The Russians had EMP weapons. As in, Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapons designed to scramble computer technology from across the street. The EMP device is portrayed even in 'Ocean's Eleven' where it blows out a whole section of grid (but hey, that's a movie). As observers, we're pretty sure such a device exists at a military grade, with lots of money behind it.
Well, what happens if such a thing got pointed at the Ionosphere for a prolonged period of time? I actually don't know. But I tell you what, these folks are doing exactly that.

Where does that leave us? In the seat knowing that something dastardly might be possible; that some people have the means; they've said they have the means; they've said other have the means; and a crowd of people saying it's already going - but those people also believed a comet was going to hit the North Atlantic earlier this year.
So what do we have? We have Rumsfleds 'Known Unknowns, and Unknown Unknowns' and a perfectly reasonable sceptic's seat.
At best we've only got anecdotal evidence, and snippets of phrases here and there; and lots of speculation. Not knowing is tough. Knowing might be tougher.

Half A Game Back

I was away for 10days, and somewhere in there, Bubba Crosby had a very big Yankee moment.
Indeed, in the 10 days while I was in absentia, the Yankees won 7 of 10 games. They've won 10 of the last 15, and they look pretty hot as they surge towards the finishing line. Considering the Red Sox were 4.5 games ahead before I left, I feel like this is a pretty good sign that the last series of the year is going to be corker.

In fact, Alex Belth at Bronx Banter says that if the Yankees win the next 2 games against the Orioles sweeping them, they would completely erase that half game difference that comes from the fact that the Yankees have played one fewer game than the Red Sox. So. Who starts?

With that in mind, here's how the rotation projects over the remainder of the schedule:

Wed 9/21 v Bal: Johnson
Thu 9/22 v Bal: Mussina
Fri 9/23 v Tor: Chacon
Sat 9/24 v Tor: Wright
Sun 9/25 v Tor: Wang
Mon 9/26 @ Bal: Small
Tue 9/27 @ Bal: Johnson
Wed 9/28 @ Bal: Mussina
Thu 9/29 @ Bal: Chacon
Fri 9/30 @ Bos: Wright
Sat 10/1 @ Bos: Wang
Sun 10/2 @ Bos: Small

This actually works out very well for the Yankees. If Wright falters on Saturday, Wang and Small can pitch on regular rest in the first two Boston games, bouncing Wright to the pen and moving Randy Johnson into the starting spot in the season finale on regular rest. If the Yankees need to win that final game to force a one-game playoff, Johnson could similarly step in for Small, with Small moving to the bullpen. Mussina would then be in line to start the playoff game, which would be played on Monday. However, if the Yankees have already clinched a tie entering the final game, they could take their chances with Small, saving Johnson for the potential playoff game and Mussina for Game One of the ALDS, with Johnson and Mussina set up to start the ALDS if Small wins and the playoff game is not needed.

That's pretty interesting.
The return of Chien-Ming Wang has been big as well as Aaron Small's miraculous run of 9 winning decisions without a loss. He hasn't been all that great in the last 2 starts, but he's managed to pull something from the fire.
Shawn Chacon has lost his sparking 1.something ERA, but he's been good enough to keep the Yankees in the game and hit their way out of trouble.
Jaret Wright has been good in patches but he keeps getting hit by projectiles and knocked out of the game. That has to be a statistical anomaly. So maybe there's something in the Wright signing after all.
That leaves Randy Johnson to do his *thang*; and a jack-in-the-box Moose who may be good to go, or totally crap; and Al Leiter to be the backup option for Moose when he goes only 4 innings.
Well, this is not the rotation they built in January, but it sure is the product of those decisions. If they don't make the post-season this year, I guess at least it's been an interesting season.

UPDATE OF THE DAY
Randy Johnson pitched the Yanks past the Orioles 2-1. Matt Lawton got his yankee moment as he hit a 2-run shot to bust out of a slump; and it was all the Big Unit needed. Meanwhile the Bosox lost a late lead to the Devil Rays and just like that, the Yankees stepped up in front with 11 games left. The Yanks and Bosox both play the Blue Jays and the Orioles, followed by the finale series iin Fenway where they meet for the last time in the regular season. It's going to be a very close finish indeed.
Who remembers the Boston massacre of 1978? - I do. :)

UPDATE 2
The yanks outlasted the Orioles today behind Moose and won 7-6. Moose was okay with 6Ks, No BBs in 6IP, and it was the Bullpen that gave up the 6 earned runs according to the scorers. Jorge Posada had 2 homers. It's all good as the Yankees now have a full 1-game lead.

More On The Space Vision Stuff

This Just In From The NYT
Nobody seems to quite agree on where the space program is going. The NYT has this article going through the various parties' objections to the current plan as it stands.

Advocates of the plan praise the recent choice of Dr. Griffin as head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, saying he has the knowledge, drive and experience to make big things happen. A physicist and an engineer with wide experience in academia, industry and the federal government (as well as six advanced college degrees), he joined the agency in April with a mandate to re-energize exploration plans.

"He's outstanding," said Louis D. Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, a group in Pasadena, Calif., that advocates space exploration. "He's got a serious intent to do it and do it right."

Backers also say Dr. Griffin is seeking to achieve the exploration goal within a level space agency budget, at least initially. His goal is to squeeze the shuttle to pay for developing new rockets and exploration vehicles. That, the supporters say, helps make the overall aim achievable, at least in theory, despite tightening budgets.

"From my own experience, the administration is very serious," said Douglas O. Stanley, an aerospace expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology who led the NASA exploration study. But Mr. Stanley added a significant caution, noting that the plan still faced votes in Congress.

Skeptics see a huge spending gap. Even if Congress blesses the effort, they say, no real bill will come due until Mr. Bush is long out of office.

"Stick the next administration with an impossibly expensive and pointless program and let them take the blame for ending human space exploration," said Robert L. Park, a physicist at the University of Maryland and an official at the American Physical Society, which has opposed many piloted space programs as scientifically unproductive. "This is a poison pill."

Dr. Park noted that in 1961 Kennedy promised a Moon landing "before this decade is out" and that the nation did so in eight years. By contrast, he said, Mr. Bush's goal is to redo the same accomplishment in 14 years, nearly twice as long.

"We went to Moon because of the cold war and won hands down," he said. "Now there's no political reason to do it."

Dr. Park noted that the first President Bush in 1989 proposed a space program with the same exploratory goals but failed to make any progress. Some political analysts say Mr. Bush consciously or unconsciously seeks to avoid his father's mistakes on Iraq, taxes, conservatism and other issues.

Rightly, the sceptics are looking at the plan as being incrdibly retrograde in its vector. The worst outcome would be if the program produces a destination for the embattled shuttle to go to.
OTOH it seems it's time to seriously think about the Sky Needle.

While we're on the topic, I found this article where the main gist is that any space program is not worth contemplating.

Since the 1980's, the U.S. space program seems to have no real goal or mission (other than to waste taxpayer money). We have spent enormous sums to build a fleet of space shuttles, which do nothing but orbit the earth and launch satellites.

We can launch satellites much quicker and cheaper with the use of rockets. This method also removes the risk of the loss of life. Considering the fact that each shuttle launch costs $600 million, the use of rockets seems an obvious answer. In fact, every scrubbed launch costs over $600,000 in labor and fuel costs.

Of course, the argument over whether or not the space program is a complete waste of money has been raging for decades. Truthfully, the American taxpayer sees very little or no return on their yearly donations to NASA. Private industry however, has reaped the largest rewards.

Here is a short but rather amusing list of some of the discoveries or 'side-benefits' of the taxpayer-funded space program:

-scratch resistant lenses
-golf ball aerodynamics
-athletic shoes
-sports bras
-fogless ski goggles
-cordless power tools

Presidents Clinton and Bush as well as the Republican-led Congress have all supported the expensive Mars Rover Project. Billions of dollars were spent to retrieve a few rocks and photos from the Red Planet. Besides pleasing lots of techno-nerds--the benefits of the project are tough to find.

How much impact does the discovery of an obscure mineral really have on the lives of most Americans?

President Bush has spent more on social programs than any other president (Republican or Democrat). Our supposedly conservative leader has never seen a spending bill he didn't like, or like to increase. Bush has never vetoed one bill. He recently signed a shameful pork-laden $286 billion highway bill. There seems to be no end to his generosity with our money.

It is obvious that we cannot rely on our current president to bring any measure of sanity to Congress' spending habits. We must find a leader who is a true conservative, both socially as well as fiscally. At this point, most of us would settle for one or the other.

There will come a time in the near future when we will be forced to cut back (and not just cuts in the increases!) on federal spending. The current space program is both wasteful and redundant. It must go!

Of course this sort of thing wouldn't get said if the current space program actually looked like it was doing something better than toss shuttles in the air and hope they come back down safely. The thing is, it could be so much better.

Idiot Watch
More on Creationists trying to convince science it ain't true.

Lenore Durkee, a retired biology professor, was volunteering as a docent at the Museum of the Earth here when she was confronted by a group of seven or eight people, creationists eager to challenge the museum exhibitions on evolution.
They peppered Dr. Durkee with questions about everything from techniques for dating fossils to the second law of thermodynamics, their queries coming so thick and fast that she found it hard to reply.

After about 45 minutes, "I told them I needed to take a break," she recalled. "My mouth was dry."

That encounter and others like it provided the impetus for a training session here in August. Dr. Durkee and scores of other volunteers and staff members from the museum and elsewhere crowded into a meeting room to hear advice from the museum director, Warren D. Allmon, on ways to deal with visitors who reject settled precepts of science on religious grounds.

Similar efforts are under way or planned around the country as science museums and other institutions struggle to contend with challenges to the theory of evolution that they say are growing common and sometimes aggressive.

One company, called B.C. Tours "because we are biblically correct," even offers escorted visits to the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Participants hear creationists' explanations for the exhibitions.

So officials like Judy Diamond, curator of public programs at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, are trying to meet such challenges head-on.

Dr. Diamond is working on evolution exhibitions financed by the National Science Foundation that will go on long-term display at six museums of natural history from Minnesota to Texas. The program includes training for docents and staff members.

"The goal is to understand the controversies, so that people are better able to handle them as they come up," she said. "Museums, as a field, have recognized we need to take a more proactive role in evolution education."

Dr. Allmon, who directs the Paleontological Research Institution, an affiliate of Cornell University, began the training session here in September with statistics from Gallup Polls: 54 percent of Americans do not believe that human beings evolved from earlier species, and although almost half believe that Darwin has been proved right, slightly more disagree.

"Just telling them they are wrong is not going to be effective," he said.

It should be enough, though.
There is seemingly no end to religious idiocy. No End.

I'm Back From New Zealand

And It Didn't Hurt One Bit
The sheep-fucking jokes all go eastwards. The South Africans think Australians fuck sheep. We think New Zealanders fuck sheep. New Zealanders of course think we fuck sheep, but they're easily persuaded it is indeed the South Africans who do; this is mostly on the strength of the 1995 Rugby World Cup where some South African chef poisoned the All-Blacks the night before the Grand Final. And so it is in that spirit that I just want to quickly jot down some thoughts on NZ.

Sheep? What Sheep?
Considering that we were headed out into the rural area of NZ, and what with all the sheep-fornicating jokes, I expected to see whole lot more sheep than I actually saw. Indeed, the farms and paddocks mostly featured cows. Loads of cows. And one bull, which was happily having its way witha cow as we drove by.

Hung Election
Who really gives a shit about elections? I do.
Who really gives a shit about other countries' elections. I do.
And it so happened the Kiwis were out to vote during my stay there. Interestingly enough they don't have compulsory voting there, which means the issues of state are open to being taken hostage by the extremists of all persuasion by pure dint that political extremists are more likely to vote than moderate, easy-going, less-motivated folks. With one of the lowest voter participations in their history, the fate of the next NZ government came down to nearly equal measures right-wingers and splinter-special interest groups on the other ledger.

The Partying On The Right Are Now Partying On The... Far Right
The funny thing about trends in world politics is that the Old Left has fragmented into a bunch of single-issue causes while the Old Right has steadily drifted towards less and less liberal ideas. I don't really know why, but I can take a guess and it is the fact that in a world that increasingly relies on mass-media to carry a soundbite as THE MESSAGE, it becomes easier to just say the simple shit, reagardless of the quality of the soundbite as fact or truth. So if Truth is the first casualty in War, well, it's certainly the first thing that gets knocked comatose in an election.

Who Are You Exactly?
The funniest group of all the splinter parties in NZ is New Zealand First, an aberrant bunch of nobodies fronted by one Winston Peters. Winston Peters is legendary for being totally self-serving and vain and venal. Sure enough, he doesn't let anybody else in his party talk to the press. 'NZ First' went to the polls promising they would back which ever off the major parties came out with more votes. In other words his promise was that he would be part of a coalition government no matter what the agenda. In practical terms, a vote for 'NZ First' would mean more confusion, not less confusion, but that didn't stop him taking this truly absurd position. It was hilarious.
In the end, Winston Peters lost his seat of 21 years, but for reasons only known to the devil himself, in spite of the self-evident stupidity of their position and promise,' New Zealand First' won 7 seats. What does one make of this? I don't know.

So Why Is It So Exciting?
Democracy is cool. It's the only time you can go out there and put your views on paper and make it count; short of picking up arms and taking to the sea of troubles. I mean, I can write here endlessly about the injustices of the world and all that crud but it just doesn't do as much as voting against the current incumbent bastard. Anyway, if you hate a politician, there's nothing like ballot to do the work of a bullet. And if you hate all politicians, then it's still worth putting that down on the ballot.

The New Zealand election revealed a whole lot more about the importance of compulsory voting in our own fragile democracy that keeps on getting subverted by bureaucrats and non-liberal Conservatives who would rather not let us have our say. We live in dangerous times when the hard-won fruits of history (such as separation of Church and State) are being rescinded by asshole governments around the world and we as the populace are doing jack-shit to stop these bastards from doing so. Seriously folks, if you don't like the way the world is run, you should take time to vote carefully.
Watching another country go through the motions really made me envious we won't be having a Federal Election for a long while and that the bastard incumbents will be in there, ruining our nation for a long time more.

And One More Thing About Traveling In Times Of Terror
I always get stopped at customs coming back to Australia. They always look at my passport and ask me asshole questions.
This time, a guy asked me if as a film-maker I'd made anything he'd know. I said, "not likely."
They asked, "how long have you been in your business?"
I said "twenty years."
"Twenty years in the business and nothing I've ever heard of?"
Fucken Jesus. I felt like saying: "Go catch a real terrorist or something. For fuck's sake, leave me alone, you stupid, stupid, stupid cunt."
But of course I didn't. That's why I'm writing it here instead. Custom officers really suck scrapie sheep cocks. If the film 'Max' is anything to go by, when I'm the dictator, I'm sending these SOBs to be made into lampshades first.

A Quick Note About Working With Geoff Murphy And Brian A. Williams
I promise to write more about this one day, but not tonight. I do want to report a couple of things. We holed up in Geoff's mountain cabin for 8 working days and knocked out a script we were all happy with. Now that's pretty amazing considering that we all have very different tastes and temperaments; and it wasn't exactly a camel by committee either. So I'm happy to report here the expedition was a great success.

I will report one funny anecdote. Geoff was working on the sound post of 'Under Siege 2' when in storms Steven Segal who starts to complain about the sound effect of a single gun. He says to Geoff that the specific type of gun used on screen does not make such a loud sound; but Geoff explains this is the movies and people expect to hear a dramatic bang when there's a dramatic bang on screen. Steven Segal huffs and puffs and says: "but I'm only interested in making realistic pictures."

...It's even funnier when you have seen the ending of that film. :)

2020 Hindsight

Back To The Future, Here We Come
We're talking the moon here. I saw the news bullwtin in the plane as I was heading back from NZ. NASA is planning to return to the moon with a manned mission by 2020. The pricetag? 135 Billion. Naturally critics are grumbling.

Some pundits took a stance similar to those at The New York Times, who saluted NASA’s “Apollo on steroids” approach in an editorial but also noted: “Unfortunately, the new plan lacks the pizzazz to inspire public support and will be operating under budget constraints that make delays or overruns likely.”

NASA’s roadmap to the moon, Mars and beyond also prompted House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican from New York, to applaud the exploration architecture while underscoring budgetary concerns.

Boehlert congratulated Griffin and his team on the “very thorough work” they have done. “While we are still reviewing the details, it appears that NASA has come up with an effective way to move forward, making the most of past U.S. investments in human space travel to enable us to enter the next phase of exploration in the safest, least expensive and most efficient way.”

That being said, Boehlert added: “The question Congress and the administration will still have to grapple with most is not the nature or desirability of the exploration architecture, but rather its timing.”

The lawmaker cited funding shortfalls in the space shuttle program, explaining that there is simply “no credible way” to accelerate the development of the shuttle follow-on — the Crew Exploration Vehicle — unless the NASA budget increases more than has been anticipated.

“Whether such an increase is a good idea in the context of overall federal spending at this time is something neither Congress nor the administration has yet determined,” he said in a written statement.

It's unappealing because in people's minds, the moon is a place where we've been and gone. People are looking to Mars. At the same time it should be noted that what NASA is talking about is talking about is developing a heavy lift vehicle that will take on future missions to Mars, let alone the moon. There's alos a Zurbin quote heere that's notable:

Zubrin also said there is negative aspect to the heavy-lift launch vehicle decision.

While preserving the heavy-lifter infrastructure, the plan relegates its development to a subsequent administration. “In consequence, for the next 13 years, NASA will continue to send crew after crew up and down to low Earth orbit, at a cost of some $70 billion, for no justifiable purpose whatsoever.”

In the post-Columbia environment, Griffin and others “have made the point that if we are to accept the costs and risks of human spaceflight, we should be undertaking missions that are worthy of those costs and risks,” Zubrin explained. “But for the next 13 years, we will continue not do so.”

So it might be the case that they get to the moon much later than the scheduled 2018/"by 2020".

Paul Spudis, a lunar and planetary scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory, a research and development arm of the Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland, takes issue with those that see the NASA vision as an Apollo replay.

There is significant difference in Apollo of yesteryear judged against the NASA plan of today, Spudis said.

In the first place, the systems making up the vehicles are being designed for maximum leverage: long-life, cryogenic-based propulsion, potential reuse in space, Spudis explained.

Secondly, the mission is different.

“In Apollo, the mission was to prove we could land on the Moon and return safely to Earth. In this case, the mission is to determine the best site to collect and use the resources of the Moon and to emplace the necessary infrastructure to do so,” Spudis said. “Admittedly, the early missions will be very much like a ‘super-Apollo.’ However, they have potential to grow into something very different.”

Exactly what kind of 'different' he didn't say.

Going To NZ

That's NZ, Not OZ
I'll be leaving this Saturday with Mr. Williams to visit Mr. Murphy in New Zealand to a do rewrite of the 'Giants at Dawn' script. It's long overdue, but hey, better that it gets done now than even later. That's the way it goes in the film business.
I'll be back on the 20th. If I don't post in between, it'll be because I'm not near the internet to make my un-humble opinions known. :)

Depressing Article About Screenwriting
This is truly depressing to read on almost the eve of departure.

After 20-plus years of a middling career as a Hollywood screenwriter, Mr. Benedek, 56 - the brother of Peter Benedek, a partner in the United Talent Agency - is forging a new path in the field of fine arts, using the raw material of his past failures for a canvas. Having shot the "Ivory Joe" script, which he wrote in 1992, Mr. Benedek will make it into a bronze sculpture, or take photographs with a special camera for striking jumbo prints. He will show these and other pieces this month in an exhibition at the Frank Pictures gallery in Santa Monica titled "Shot by the Writer - Works on Paper: 1982-2004."

In an era of self-referential entertainments like "Entourage" and "Fat Actress," it all seems somehow appropriate. With his shuffling gait, hangdog air and dark-rimmed glasses, Mr. Benedek might be the contemporary answer to the Michael Douglas character in the 1993 vigilante drama "Falling Down." In that film, Mr. Douglas was an otherwise peaceable Everyman who, after being fired from his white-collar job and suffering other indignities, takes control of his life by shooting his way across Los Angeles.

In the Hollywood hierarchy, the screenwriter is Everyman, an undervalued cog - albeit a well-paid one - in the whirring entertainment machine. Mr. Benedek's move to take control of his own work sounds like a dark fantasy for many of the movie world's ink-stained wretches.

It ain't art in my books. It's just misery; but you see, I still write screenplays and it hasn't completely burnt me out.
Hollywood film development is such a crappy process.

From The Pleiades Mailbag
It's an outrage. It really is. Incompetent idiots you wouldn't leave in charge of a high school chemistry laboratory are in charge of the the world's most powerful nation.

There's also this link to an editorial by Keith Olbermann:

And as that sorry recital of self-absorption dragged on, I have resisted editorial comment. The focus needed to be on the efforts to save the stranded — even the internet's meager powers were correctly devoted to telling the stories of the twin disasters, natural... and government-made.

But now, at least, it is has stopped getting exponentially worse in Mississippi and Alabama and New Orleans and Louisiana (the state, not the city). And, having given our leaders what we know now is the week or so they need to get their act together, that period of editorial silence I mentioned, should come to an end.

No one is suggesting that mayors or governors in the afflicted areas, nor the federal government, should be able to stop hurricanes. Lord knows, no one is suggesting that we should ever prioritize levee improvement for a below-sea-level city, ahead of $454 million worth of trophy bridges for the politicians of Alaska.

But, nationally, these are leaders who won re-election last year largely by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping the country safe. These are leaders who regularly pressure the news media in this country to report the reopening of a school or a power station in Iraq, and defies its citizens not to stand up and cheer. Yet they couldn't even keep one school or power station from being devastated by infrastructure collapse in New Orleans — even though the government had heard all the "chatter" from the scientists and city planners and hurricane centers and some group whose purposes the government couldn't quite discern... a group called The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological.

It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water.

Mr. Bush has now twice insisted that, "we are not satisfied," with the response to the manifold tragedies along the Gulf Coast. I wonder which "we" he thinks he's speaking for on this point. Perhaps it's the administration, although we still don't know where some of them are. Anybody seen the Vice President lately? The man whose message this time last year was, 'I'll Protect You, The Other Guy Will Let You Die'?

I don't know which 'we' Mr. Bush meant.

For many of this country's citizens, the mantra has been — as we were taught in Social Studies it should always be — whether or not I voted for this President — he is still my President. I suspect anybody who had to give him that benefit of the doubt stopped doing so last week. I suspect a lot of his supporters, looking ahead to '08, are wondering how they can distance themselves from the two words which will define his government — our government — "New Orleans."

For him, it is a shame — in all senses of the word. A few changes of pronouns in there, and he might not have looked so much like a 21st Century Marie Antoinette. All that was needed was just a quick "I'm not satisfied with my government's response." Instead of hiding behind phrases like "no one could have foreseen," had he only remembered Winston Churchill's quote from the 1930's. "The responsibility," of government, Churchill told the British Parliament "for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact, the prime object for which governments come into existence."

In forgetting that, the current administration did not merely damage itself — it damaged our confidence in our ability to rely on whoever is in the White House.

As we emphasized to you here all last week, the realities of the region are such that New Orleans is going to be largely uninhabitable for a lot longer than anybody is yet willing to recognize. Lord knows when the last body will be found, or the last artifact of the levee break, dug up. Could be next March. Could be 2100. By then, in the muck and toxic mire of New Orleans, they may even find our government's credibility.

Somewhere, in the City of Louisiana.

Now, if you spoke to the Angry Fat Man he'd tell you that George Dubya Bush was doing a 'magnificent' job (what an asshole, but it needs to be said for what he truly is: WHAT AN ASSHOLE!) I guess it's unfair to judge a leader based on the quality of his supporters, but then again, whoever vouches for you should tell you a lot about who you are. It was no surprise that Pauline Hanson's supporters were the least well-educated and had to lowest IQs of any group of voters.

Tempel 1 Points To Panspermia

That's Right, You Heard The Man
Upon collision with Deep Impact, Tempel-1's contents revealed some very interesting substances. One of them was methyl cyanide, a chemical involed in the formation of DNA.

From the Christian Science Monitor (Perhaps a bit of Oxymoronic Irony there, no?) is this passage:

They have yet to identify all of the chemicals present in the material, which was ejected on July 4, when the comet collided with a projectile the Deep Impact spacecraft released.

But what they've seen so far makes it "more likely" that comets seeded Earth with the chemical precursors for organic life, says Michael A'Hearn, a University of Maryland planetary scientist and the mission's lead researcher.

Past studies from ground-based observatories and comet flybys have identified many of the chemicals in the halo of dust and gas that surrounds the core, as well as in the bright tails of comets.

But these sightings have had little to say directly about the amounts and relative abundance of the compounds comets contain in their cores.

As the team continues to pour through its data, researchers expect to identify all of the chemicals "that comets brought in abundance to the early Earth," Dr. A'Hearn says. "That will be our biggest contribution" to understanding comets' roles in the story of life on Earth.

One surprise: The team has detected an unexpectedly high concentration of methyl cyanide. Biologists say methyl cyanide is a key player in reactions that form DNA.

"If methyl cyanide is a particularly abundant component, it would suggest that comets could have delivered an abundance of these highly reactive compounds to the early Earth," notes Tom McCollom, a researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics.

Methyl cyanide's abundance may also confirm that comets like Tempel 1 can open a window on conditions from which the sun and solar system formed some 4.6 billion years ago.

In the dust and gas that inhabits the distances between stars, hydrogen cyanide is more abundant than methyl cyanide, notes Diane Wooden, an astrophysicist at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

But once frigid clouds of dust and gas begin to condense, methyl cyanide begins to dominate hydrogen cyanide in the center of the cloud where sun-like stars and planets will form.

Thus, Deep Impact may be looking at the heart of the cloud that gave birth to our solar system.

Deep Impact also has given planetary scientists the first direct measurements of a comet's density. The results imply that the nearly four-mile-wide nucleus is a loose ball of rubble. Global pictures of the nucleus suggest that it is built from two smaller sections that merged early in the object's history.

Moreover, when the impact struck, it burrowed into a layer of loosely bound, fine icy dust that is at least 30 feet deep. The surface appears to offer little support to anything that would land on it.

So in a roundabout way, Hoagland's ruminations about panspermia are being reinforced by the data that is coming out.
Oh yes, more notably, there are still no new photos or analyses. How'bout that, nudge-nudge-wink-wink?

Here's the same topic as covered by our fave popular science rag, 'New Scientist':

On 4 July, about 80 telescopes on Earth and in space trained their sights on Comet Tempel 1 when a 370-kilogram copper impactor was sent hurtling into its path. Just after the smash, a bright vapour plume spewed from the surface at about 5 kilometres per second, followed quickly by a stream of particles that spread into a cone.

The cone appeared to remain attached to the comet's surface for about 22 hours before separating into a detached arc. Researchers used this gravitational attraction to estimate the mass and density of the comet's main body, or nucleus. They found that the 72 trillion kilogram-nucleus was extremely porous, with as much as 80% of its volume taken up by empty space.

"That tells me there is no solid layer all the way down to the centre," says Mike A'Hearn, the mission's principal investigator at the University of Maryland in College Park, US. He says he had expected that the ice might become denser towards the core of the nucleus, but that instead "probably all the way in, ice is all in the form of tiny grains".

"It’s like a sponge, with a lot of cavities," agrees Horst Uwe Keller, an astronomer at the Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. He observed the event with Europe's Rosetta spacecraft and says the discovery confirms previous observations suggesting other comets are also porous. "When you touch it, it just crumbles under your hands."

Observers estimate the impact released about 5 million kilograms of water from beneath the comet's surface and between two and five times as much dust. There was so much dust, in fact, that mission members have not been able to see the impact crater with the high-resolution camera on the mission's flyby spacecraft, about 500 km away.

To add to the problem, that camera was malfunctioning but now image-processing techniques may have revealed a glimpse of the crater and team members may release the image later on Wednesday.

So there are images to come...
That ought to make things a lot more interesting.

BY THE WAY...
I'm off to NZ for 10 days. I may not have internet access during that time, in which case I won't be posting.
Just lettin' you all know so that you know why it's going to be quiet here. :)