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Just when you thought you couldn't stuff any more SuperInteresting into your eye and ear holes, Julian Assange gets closer to Freeing the Beast /Dropping the Poison Pill by agreeing to meet with Police regarding charges against him. This story continues to explode out in all directions, and it's becoming obvious that we're only at the beginning stages of this one.. And that it's execution was much more thought out than is currently, publicly thought.. But first, today's events:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is "in the process of making arrangements" to meet with British police regarding a Swedish arrest warrant, his attorney said Monday.
Assange is wanted for questioning by Swedish authorities over sex-crime allegations unrelated to WikiLeaks' recent disclosure of secret U.S. documents. Mark Stephens, his British lawyer, told the BBC no time had been set for the meeting as of Monday evening, but one is likely "in the foreseeable future."
And:
WikiLeaks, which facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information, has been under intense pressure from the United States and its allies since it began posting the first of more than 250,000 U.S. State Department documents November 28. Since then, the site has been hit with denial-of-service attacks, been kicked off servers in the United States and France and found itself cut off from funds in the United States and Switzerland.
In response, the site has rallied supporters to mirror its content "in order to make it impossible to ever fully remove WikiLeaks from the Internet," with more than 500 sites responding to the appeal by Monday evening, it said.
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In addition, WikiLeaks has posted a massive, closely encrypted file, identified as "insurance" -- a file Assange's lawyer has described as a "thermonuclear device." Assange has said the more than 100,000 people who have downloaded the file will receive the key to decoding it should anything happen to him or should the site be taken down.
At first glance, it looks as if WikiLeaks is in trouble, but this isn't necessarily correct. I'm assuming that Assange prepared for much more political and cyber blowback than any government anywhere can throw:
"Nobody has really picked up on this yet, but apparently there is a schedule. And where there is a schedule there is a plan. And looking at where things are going, the plan is for radical change, and it relies on an open source model."
Xymphora says it perfectly:
"Wilikeaks is a hologram, breaking up into innumerable little pieces each containing the same information. The shattering was planned."
Cyber Jujitsu, anyone? The entire WikiLeaks saga has, as I said earlier, only just begun.
I really do believe that all the pieces are already in place, and it's just a matter of release, but the release is more confirmation of already-posessed information, not something new to download. Just an assumption, there, but the absolute thorough- and thoughtful-ness of Assange's actions point to a studied, cyber-apocalyptic outcome. Whatever you think of this event so far, you should not forget that you are watching History in the making, and the more you pay attention, the more detail you can provide your descendants, when you tell them about all you witnessed.
From UniverseToday. Excerpts:
Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft will arrive at Venus later today, and will enter orbit around the planet. The box-shaped orbiter will make observations from an elliptical orbit, from a distance of between 300 and 80,000 kilometers (186 to 49,600 miles), looking for — among other things — signs of lightning and active volcanoes.
The Akatsuki probe (Japanese for “Dawn”)((Which is really interesting to this guy)) has been traveling for six months, and launched along with the IKAROS solar sail mission. The timing for the orbit insertion burn is Dec. 6 at about 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT), which is early Tuesday morning Japan Standard Time.
Lately, enthusiasts of The Unusual have been on quite a roll. Webbots, Wikileaks, Solar filaments, UFOs, Major Space Discoveries.. So far, it's been an amazing year, our species adding new elements to our understanding of "reality," and how our universe works. While Mars is certainly worthy of our continued research and exploration, so is Venus. And, judging by these last eleven months, Japan might provide some amazing insights into our closest neighbor. Thanks, Japan, and here's hoping for something Wonderful..
12:55 p.m. CST $29.90/oz. The link's to Urban Survival's Kitco chart at the top of the page. Oh yeah, it's already broken $30 today, and is hanging out just below that mark. Will it break the barrier at the close of today's trading? Monday, Monday..
The authorities in Ecuador have begun evacuating people from the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano after it started spewing ash.Scientists say fast-moving currents of extremely hot gas and rock could be seen flowing from the volcano's crater...Scientists with the Ecuadorean Institute for Geophysics say the number of explosions has increased. They say the ash cloud has reached 2km (1.2 miles) in height.People living on the slopes reported the ground and buildings shaking, and a rumbling sound coming from the volcano...The tourist town of Banos is one of those being evacuated.In 1999, its 15,000 inhabitants were forced to evacuate when the Tungurahua had its last major eruption. Residents were not able to return to their homes for a year.
South Korea to Begin Artillery Tests Excerpts:
South Korea's military said Monday it would test-fire artillery at 29 locations this week, including one of the islands in the Yellow Sea maritime border area where North Korea was angered by such testing two weeks ago.
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On Sunday, North Korea's state media maintained its barrage of criticism at South Korea, saying Seoul was "far from drawing a lesson from the deserved punishment" of the North's attack on the South's Yeonpyeong Island nearly two weeks ago.
The latest statement, issued by Korea Central News Agency, said South Korea is "getting more frantic in military provocations and war moves." The statement also showed that Pyongyang closely watched Friday's confirmation hearing of South Korea's new defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin.
Mr. Kim said South Korea would respond to any fresh attacks by North Korea with air power, something it didn't do during the Nov. 23 assault on Yeonpyeong, an island in the Yellow Sea a few miles from the North Korean coastline. Four South Koreans—two civilians and two marines—died in the attack. South Korea has added new weaponry, including multiple rocket launchers, to the island since the attack.
Yeah, so no one seems to be backing down just yet. As I write this, live fire exercises have been going for a little over six hours. Happy Monday, everyone! It's gonna be one exciting week, huh?
Top secret American spy plane returns to Earth after seven months... but U.S. still won't say what it was doing in space
The U.S.'s first unmanned re-entry spacecraft landed at an airfield today, seven months after it was launched.
The X-37B's exact purpose remained shrouded in secrecy when it touched-down at at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast 130 miles north west of Los Angeles.
It was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 22, with a maximum mission duration of 270 days and is suspected of being an advanced spy plane.
The rest of the article is a yawner, as it basically tells you nothing more than these three sentences. But that's what's intriguing: One knows nothing more about Why it went on a Seven Month Mission. Words were strung together, but nothing was said. So what is it's real purpose?
WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning "designed Facebook" as a schoolboy, friends sayThis person sounds much more.. capable of the know how needed to engineer such a massive transfer of information, and the thoughtfulness to understand and stand up for his beliefs and motivations. Excerpts:Bradley Manning, the prime suspect in the leaking of top secret documents to the WikiLeaks website, was such a computer expert that he designed a version of Facebook years before modern social networking sites took off, friends have disclosed.Friends remember the teenager as a shy schoolboy who was determined to speak his mind and “had his own sense of right and wrong”."He produced a website with another schoolmate. It was pre-Facebook. It was like a community site. It didn’t really lift off, but it was a good idea."It was pretty much a social networking site before its time. You could log in and find out about local news."....Those who befriended Manning when he arrived in Wales aged 13, after his parents divorced, suggested that he had always possessed some of the character traits which may have prompted the biggest-ever leaks of confidential information from the US government.Mr Dyer told Channel 4 News that Manning had quickly established a reputation for computer expertise at his West Wales comprehensive...He said: “He's always had this sense that 'I'm going to right a big wrong'. He was like that at school.Mr Dyer insisted that Manning never meant any harm but was simply determined to stand his own ground."He has his own sense of what is right or wrong,” he added. “It’s not directed against another person in particular. He's certainly not malicious in any of his actions."This portrait of Manning doesn't really fit the Lady Ga Ga narrative pushed when the story initially broke. Will his early friends stand by and not respond to the "Manning is treasonous" talk thrown around the punditsphere? I find the differing reactions to the event so far very interesting. The calls for Assange's arrest, execution(Very Christlike, Mike, by the way..), assassination, re-classification as terrorist, and yet, fascination with the cables they might have interest in...**Like this: I would not want to be in Mr. Assange's shoes right now. Assange gave an interview to Forbes earlier this month. Wikileaks is supposed to be unveiling a major U.S. banking scandal in early 2011, consisting of thousands of documents obtained from a major U.S. financial firm (Goldman Sachs ??? Those are some documents I wouldn't mind seeing). ** Ron Paul, though, gets it right.. "In a free society we're supposed to know the truth," Paul said. "In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble. And now, people who are revealing the truth are getting into trouble for it."I can't attribute this yet, but something I picked up this week's readings was this: If the government can know all of your secrets and peer into so many aspects of your private life, why shouldn't they be held by the same standard? Do not forget, they indeed work for us; not us for them. Whether or not you agree with Bradley Manning's actions, it does sound like he stands behind his convictions and probably hasn't changed his mind about what he has brought about. This story becomes more compelling with each passing day..
Come January, it's payback. The Irish are mad, and ready to kick some Fianna Fail ass. The other traditional opposition parties(Fine Gael, in first, at the moment, Labour in second and Sinn Fein, third) are crushing Fianna Fail(by default) which has dropped to last place in the "major" parties (not counting the Greens), and elections are slated for the second week of January. In a quirk of Irish politics, Fine Gael is to the right of Fianna Fail, but works with Labour, which is similar in spirit to the progressive left of the American Democratic Party. (It would be nice to have that cooperation stateside, but, you know..)
Fianna Fail has seen their popularity plummet from 42 percent to 13 percent, and are projected to lose as many as 55 seats in this disaster election scenario created by their greed and unshakable allegiance to the banks that got them in trouble in the first place. And now, members of its own party might not follow suit for December 7th's budget vote. And if the budget doesn't pass and Ireland refuses the bailout and the entire government collapses, this will cause a whole new set of problems for the EU, the IMF, and bankers from other countries. Stay tuned..
Wow.. I thought this was a parody article, but it is definitely not. Beautiful excerpts in italics:
.. Julian Assange also revealed he would publish classified U.S. files about aliens and unidentified flying objects.
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In a fresh twist, Mr Assange, who is in hiding somewhere near London, pledged to publish leaked diplomat cables relating to flying saucers.
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But he said: ‘It is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFO's.'
Oh F/N Snap! Every day, new secrets drop, bombshells here and there.. But when UFO cables start coming out(Proving the phenomenon either real or fake), the space bombshells could be too big to ignore, and will require a response from both the government and the media.
And now, if what Julian Assange said is true, the truth really is out there.. Already.
Dollar Rises Against Euro on Prospect U.S. Payrolls ExpandedNorth Korea may attack the province that surrounds Seoul, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper said, citing an unidentified person who quoted an official in the communist nation. South Korea will hold artillery drills on Yeonpyeong, the island shelled by the North last week, on Dec. 6, television broadcaster MBN reported today, citing government officials it didn’t identify.Japan and the U.S. will conduct a joint military exercise from tomorrow until Dec. 10.“Geopolitical risk appears to be returning a bit on worries that North Korea may attack the South,” said Satoshi Okagawa, head of the foreign-exchange and money trading group in Singapore at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s third-largest banking group. “There’s some safe-haven buying of the yen and the dollar.”And:The won strengthened for a third day as funds based abroad bought $373 million more Korean shares than they sold yesterday, the biggest net purchases in almost three weeks, exchange data show. The Kospi index of shares posted its highest close since Nov. 10 on optimism that tensions between North and South Korea are easing.“We haven’t seen North Korean retaliation, which they pledged to do after the attack, and the lack of negative events let risk aversion subside,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “Positive sentiment globally boosted appetite for risk assets like the Korean won.”US, Japan begin war games; China denounces drillsIn an ongoing show of force following a deadly North Korean attack on a front-line island, the U.S. and Japan began one of their biggest-ever military exercises Friday, mobilizing more than 44,000 troops, hundreds of aircraft and a U.S. supercarrier.The drills come just after the U.S. and South Korea concluded maneuvers in the Yellow Sea. The exercises brought immediate criticism from China, which is wary of having foreign navies off its shores and has been increasingly assertive over large swaths of waters in the south and east China seas, where some of the drills would take place...The Nov. 23 North Korean attack killed two South Korean marines and two civilians on Yeonpyeong Island, a tiny enclave of civilians and military bases located near a disputed maritime border.The attack has heightened tensions in the region and renewed fears of a bigger clash breaking out that could draw in neighboring countries, including Japan, where about 50,000 U.S. troops are based under a security pact.South Korea’s New Defense Chief Threatens Air Strikes on North South Korea’s new defense minister vowed retaliation that would include airstrikes if North Korea makes another attack following last month’s deadly artillery bombardment.“I will mobilize all combat capabilities available to severely punish the enemy,” Kim Kwan Jin, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today at a confirmation hearing. “I will surely use planes. This is a matter of self-defense.”This may be a sign that the crisis is cooling a bit..“The latest tough talk seemed to be mostly aimed at deterring North Korea from further provocations,” said Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “There is only so much South Korea can do in terms of tough actions when there’s little assurance of how far North Korea will go.”Or maybe cooling not so much.. A news report says North Korea now has more multiple-launch rockets capable of hitting Seoul.Yonhap news agency says North Korea has increased its arsenal of rockets by 100 pieces to about 5,200. Yonhap cited an unidentified South Korean military source.The agency says the rockets have a range of 37 miles (60 kilometers), putting Seoul within striking distance.
A lot of alliteration and allegations regarding the Horn of Africa's crazypants country, eh? 1,000-Man Militia Being Trained In North Somalia. All the ingredients for a super weird, intriguing, politically charged situation slash latest George Clooney thriller are here(Of course, this isn't the plot of Clooney's latest; but it could be!): In the northern reaches of Somalia and the country's presidential palace, a well-equipped military force is being created, funded by a mysterious donor nation that is also paying for the services of a former CIA officer and a senior ex-U.S. diplomat.
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training for an anti-piracy force of up to 1,050 men has already begun in Puntland, a semiautonomous region in northern Somalia that is believed to hold reserves of oil and gas.
But key elements remain unknown — mainly who is providing the millions of dollars in funding and for what ultimate purpose.
Pierre Prosper, an ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues(Heh. This guy's desk probably had two inches of dust covering it..) under former President George W. Bush, told AP he is being paid by a Muslim nation he declined to identify to be a legal adviser to the Somali government, focusing on security, transparency and anti-corruption. (Read that again. Then again. Still senseless, right?)
Somalia hasn't had a fully functioning government since 1991 and is torn between clan warlords, Islamist insurgent factions, an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, government forces and allied groups. Given that mix, the appearance of an unknown donor with deep pockets is troubling, said E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group.
"We don't know if this unknown entity is operating in the interests of Somalis or their own self-interest," he said in an interview. "If it's a company, there has to be a quid pro quo in terms of (oil and gas) concessions. If it's a government, they are interested in changing the balance of power."
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"You cannot have oil exploration if you have insecurity," Mohamed Farole said. "You have to eliminate the pirates and al-Shabab."
Energy exploration has started mainly just south of the mountains, although the amount of estimated reserves is unknown, or at least not publicly divulged.
Michael Shanklin, who was the CIA's deputy chief of station in Mogadishu 20 years ago, told AP he is employed by the unidentified donor country as a security adviser and liaison to the Somali government. Prosper said he is encouraging the Muslim donor nation, which insists on keeping its identity secret, to become more transparent. (The only one saying this "unknown" country is "Muslim" is a former CIA deputy chief. It might be true, but I'd like a second opinion before believing this..)
And:
In recent weeks, Shanklin and Prosper met several Nairobi-based diplomats to discuss the contract between the Puntland and Mogadishu governments and a private security company called Saracen International, Prosper said in written replies to questions from AP. Prosper said Saracen is doing the military training and is being paid by the unnamed Muslim nation. Saracen is not providing the militia with any weapons, he said.
Uganda-based Saracen International was named in a March letter written by the Somali president's former chief of staff, Abdulkareem Jama, and obtained by AP that described training for the presidential guard. And it was named in a Nov. 18 statement from Puntland's government announcing the anti-piracy training. Bill Pelser, the chief executive of Saracen International, said it is "definitely a mistake or a misrepresentation."
Pelser denied being involved in the training program in Puntland or the one for the presidential guard in Mogadishu, saying he merely made introductions for another company called Saracen Lebanon. Lebanese authorities have no record of a company called Saracen. Pelser did not respond to requests for contact information for Saracen Lebanon.
Pelser is a former South African special forces soldier. Like many of his staff, he used to work for Executive Outcomes, a South African mercenary outfit credited with helping defeat rebel forces in Sierra Leone in return for mineral concessions.(Fantastic. Subplots within denials, misdirection and nonexistent companies with no follow up information. Clear cut, so far..)
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Whoever controls a well-trained, well-equipped and consistently paid military force is in a strong position to make a bid for filling the power vacuum in Somalia.
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The U.N. is quietly investigating to see if the creation and outfitting of the new military force violates an arms embargo.. (Creating an army is considered violating an arms embargo?)
The embargo forbids the importation of arms, military equipment or any support to any armed group in Somalia, including to any Somali government, without authorization from the U.N.'s sanctions committee. There is an exemption for support for counter-piracy operations, provided the Security Council was notified and gave permission. In the case of the new military force, the Security Council was not notified. (Not notified? Another shock, I tells ya..)
Let's see.. A politically somewhat stable region of an unstable country with factional leadership and continual infighting receives support and paramilitary training from an unknown, possibly "Muslim" nation in exchange for unknown monies/ influence/ resources. Unknown country is facilitated in their efforts by a South African former mercenary, a Ugandan "anti-piracy" training something-or-other corporation, a former CIA deputy chief, and a former Bush administration official as Liaison?
When this becomes a movie, I certainly hope Clive Owen plays the South African mercenary. So sexy, and I'm sure he can handle the accent..
Here's the raw footage. Provided by CBS News, no less. Watch the entire video. These were not balloons. Not balloons. NOT BALLOONS. Project Bluebeam, maybe, but not balloons.
Druglord Loves Justin Bieber (Fantastic Outsider art mural picture included..)
Justin Bieber has groupies where you'd least expect them. An army of Brazilian cops raided the Rio headquarters of one of the country's most notorious drug gangs.
According to Perez Hilton, it appeared to be a typical seizure. 11 tons of marijuana, a “small arsenal” of weapons and… a gigantic mural of Justin Bieber?
I wonder what 2 a.m., any night, pre-bust at the casa was like? Who would film such a scene: David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, or Brian DePalma?
Side note: Three years ago, Justin Bieber could still be confused for a "normal" kid.
Interesting location for a quake.
New York City was jolted by a 3.9-magnitude earthquake Tuesday morning, rocking the area around Long Island.
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It is thought to be the biggest quake in the region in more than 18 years.
US navy seeks to move jet fuel in rare Japan-Korea route It's the "little stories" that worry me.. Excerpts:
The United States navy is seeking a medium-range oil tanker to move at least 30,000 tonnes of jet fuel from Japan to South Korea, industry sources said on Wednesday, at a time of heightened military tension on the Korean peninsula.
The transport route is unusual for jet fuel, shipping sources said, but an unnamed US military official said shipments of fuel for operational use are standard.
So.. Sources in shipping say this is unusual and the military says this is usual. I'm sure the military's right..
"We don't have any information on what you are talking about in terms of the contracting," the US military official said. (Really? Nothing?)
"There is no particular movement that has taken place in response to an incident in terms of large delivery of jet fuel or anything else."
Interesting choice of words, "no particular movement" is.
From AboveTopSecret, originating from Astrosurf. Someone's been busy. Excerpt:
This image is a 1 billion pixel RVB mosaic of the galactic center region (340 millions pixels in each R,V and B color). It shows the region spanning from Sagittarius (with the Milky Way center and M8/M20 area on the left) to Scorpius (with colorful Antares and Rho Ophiuchus region on the right) and cat paw nebula (red nebula at the bottom). This mosaic was assembled from 52 different sky fields made from 1200 individual images and 200 hours total exposure time, final image size is 24000x14000 pixels. The images were taken with a SBIG STL camera + Takahashi FSQ106Ed f/3.6 telescope and NJP160 mount from the clear skies of ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile. This mosaic is one of the three parts of the ESO Gigagalaxy Zoom project together with this incredible whole sky mosaic image by ESO/S.Brunier and this fantastic ESO mosaic image of the Lagoon nebula region.
Check all these links out. These images are amazing. Some will resonate with their form of "heaven," whatever that is, while more logical types might consider our species progress thousands of years from now, our future ancestors spreading out further in our system, galaxy, or universe than we can possibly imagine. Consider: Each and every one of these worlds, each of these points of light, could,*could* host a form of consciousness, a location for interwoven experience, for perspective, for lifeforms that we, now, couldn't begin to understand.. They could. Could.
Now remember: These are only the entities we are aware of. These are only images of Observable Space, observed from our vantage point only. What's out there that we don't see?
Are you beginning to grasp the enormity, the totality, the magnificence, the infinite nature of all that surrounds you?
From Space dot com..The dark brown stripe of clouds on Jupiter that disappeared from view last year is reappearing.Astronomers confirmed Wednesday (Nov. 24) that the gas giant's South Equatorial Belt (SEB), one of two distinctive dark stripes formed by the planet's cloud chemistry and winds, is coming back. They attributed the return of the view to a shift in Jupiter's cloud cover.
Irish bailout 'stuns' experts The €35bn (£29.8bn) going into Ireland's banks shocked experts, who feared bailout might or might not help Ireland, but in any case might not contain contagion elsewhere in the eurozone.Brian Lucey, associate professor of finance at Trinity College Dublin was "stunned" at the cash poured in: "We've already put at least €32bn into them, so that's going to be €67bn, which is 50% of GNP, that's a world record". He also warned that a new government next year could rip up the deal. "Sovereign governments have a right to effectively do whatever they want," he said.Portugal's still feeling the heat.. Portugal's high debt burden remained a concern for the eurozone and financial markets on Monday, a day after European Union countries endorsed a plan to help Ireland with its ailing finances.Officials in the 16 nations using the euro currency had hoped Sunday's agreement to give euro67.5 billion ($89.4 billion) in loans to Dublin would check the spread of investor jitters to other fiscally vulnerable members of the bloc, especially Portugal and Spain.Portugal is regarded as the next weakest link after Ireland because of its high debt load and weak growth. It has been a target for market concern since Greece's bailout in May.Trouble in Portugal also could affect neighboring Spain, where low growth and high unemployment are shackling the economy.And:Roubini, a professor of economics at New York University who had predicted the financial crisis, told daily paper Diario Economico it is "increasingly likely" Portugal will require international assistance.He was quoted as saying there are ample funds to shore up Portugal, one of the eurozone's smaller countries which contributes less than 2 percent to the 16-nation bloc's gross domestic product. Roubini said Portugal is approaching "a critical point."But, he said, Spain, Europe's fourth-largest economy, is "too big to bail out."Meanwhile, in Greece: You know things are bad when governments can't buy arms from other governments.. Spain continues to reel: Irish backlash hits Spain, EU warns of blow to growth Contains the sentence: He commented: "Are we witnessing the early stages of a breakdown of the euro and indeed, possibly the European Union as well?"Wiki Leaks and Korea are more sensational, but this story is no less important. The possibility of a debt implosion contagion spreading to multiple countries thereby jeopardizing the whole European Union is, at this moment, very real. We are still in unknown territory, and none of the related news is optimistic.And, lest we forget.. Let the protests begin!
From e! Science News Excerpts:A tenuous atmosphere infused with oxygen and carbon-dioxide has been discovered at Saturn's moon Rhea by the Cassini-Huygens mission, the first time a spacecraft has captured direct evidence of an oxygen atmosphere at a world other than Earth. The NASA-led international mission made the discovery using combined data from Cassini's instruments, which includes a sensor designed and built at UCL's (University College London) Mullard Space Science Laboratory.Published today in Science Express, results from the mission reveal that the atmosphere of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon at 1500 km wide, is extremely thin and is sustained by high energy particles bombarding its icy surface and kicking up atoms, molecules and ions into the atmosphere.The density of oxygen is probably about 5 trillion times less dense than in Earth's atmosphere. However, the formation of oxygen and carbon dioxide could possibly drive complex chemistry on the surfaces of many icy bodies in the universe."The new results suggest that active, complex chemistry involving oxygen may be quite common throughout the solar system and even our universe," said Dr Ben Teolis, a Cassini team scientist based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and lead author. "Such chemistry could be a pre-requisite for life. All evidence from Cassini indicates Rhea is too cold and devoid of the liquid water necessary for life as we know it."All evidence.. For now..
Saber rattling continues near NLL Excerpts:
Tensions are heightening in the area around Yeonpyeong Island, with the confirmation that North Korean forces deployed multi-launch rocket systems (MLRSs) forward to a coastal location facing the island and opened additional naval artillery firing ports on Sunday, the first day of joint South Korea-U.S. exercises. The North Korean military was also reported to have stepped up its anti-air posture targeting aerial activity by South Korean fighter planes, with the forward deployment of SA-2 earth-to-air missiles in the area north of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.
“The North Korean military was found to have deployed some of its 122 mm MLRSs forward to an inland area near Kaemori, from which the attack on Yeonpyeong Island was launched, and opened additional 76.2 mm naval artillery firing ports besides the previous fourteen locations,” said a military official said Sunday. “The South Korean military is also stepping up its alertness posture to prepare for a potential provocation situation.”
“It appears that North Korea positioned SA-2 earth-to-air missiles to the front following the attack on Yeonpyeong Island,” said a government source. “The government is mobilizing all its resources to precisely monitor the movements.”
Military authorities are taking this activity from North Korea as targeting South Korean fighter planes flying in the area near the NLL. The SA-2 is an anti-aircraft missile developed by the former Soviet Union, and has a firing range of 13 to 30 kilometers. The anti-ship missiles positioned by North Korean on the West Sea coast north of the NLL include Samlets and Silkworms, with a firing range of 80 km.
Although Monday's exercises were cancelled because of bad weather, the tension is still very high. North Korea is even using the really cool phrase "Ultra-Emergency" to describe the situation.. The South Korean military is protesting, and South Korea's President said Monday "Kick sand in our face just one more time and there's gonna be trouble.." Shit's heating up, yo.. Like I said, more updates to come..
WikiLeaks has staged document dumps in the past(Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm looking in your direction..), but nothing like this: Seven times the size of Iraq's release, and that was almost four hundred thousand documents! The focus of today's release? U.S. Diplomatic cables regarding everyone. Everyone. Allies, enemies.. It doesn't matter. And now, it's going to be all out there. And it's going to take months for press organizations, other governments, braver souls than I, etc.. to go through all these documents and really assess what they mean and the totality of their impact. Our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world is a big deal, and "lifting the veil" on how that diplomacy works and what our government is really thinking(and how they gossip about it)is a Big Deal.
And someone's not happy with Assange/WikiLeaks. I mean, of course, hackers(or groups wanting to look like hackers), disinformation groups, and the usual right wing types and Administration mouthpieces..
Sweet tribute to Hendrix from Aquarius Papers, complete with quite a few performance videos. He was The Innovator, and music and musical history was forever changed..
Here's my post regarding Hendrix from August of last year: Jimi Hendrix; Space Alien..
Chinese government to make 'urgent' announcementThe Chinese government said Sunday it will make an "urgent" announcement later in the day amid rising military tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula.Whether anyone wants to officially admit it or not, China's involved. So there will be More-To-Follow, I'm sure..
Expats recalled as North Korea prepares for war
A mass exodus of North Korean workers from the Far East of Russia is under way, according to reports coming out of the region. As the two Koreas edged towards the brink of war this week, it appears that the workers in Russia have been called back to aid potential military operations.
Nothing coming out of the region suggests an easing of hostilities. And there's still those pesky Military Exercises coming up.. What will happen next?
Another great analysis from Gonzalo Lira. Excerpts:If I had to bet on which country will bring about the end of the Euro—and perhaps even the end of the European Union—I’d have to say it’s Spain.Right now, no one is talking about Spain—Spanish spreads are as quiet as a guilty man in a police line-up—everyone’s too concerned over Ireland, and the upcoming Portuguese Situation.But Spain is the key—Spain is what you should be paying attention to, if you want to find out what will happen to the European Monetary Union (EMU), and the European Union (EU) itself.And:According to IMF numbers for 2009, the gross domestic product of Greece was $331 billion, Ireland was $221 billion, and Portugal was $233 billion——but Spain’s GDP in 2009 was $1.468 trillion. Roughly twice Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. In other words, close to half of Germany’s GDP.And:Therefore, to bail out Spain, and plug up its fiscal balance sheet hole over the next three years would cost €450 billion—minimum. That’s about $600 billion.Look at that number again—look at it closely, and take your time:€450 billion.(600 billion US) That’s twice the size of Ireland’s total GDP for 2009.In order to figure out how much each party would have to shoulder of this €450 billion price tag, Bruce Krasting, in some private e-mail exchanges, thought that the percentages that the EU, the ECB and the IMF were shouldering for the Greek and Irish bailouts could serve as a template.Fair enough: If we go by Greek and Irish percentages, then roughly a third of that €450 billion price tag to bail out Spain would be shouldered by the IMF—and as everyone knows, the U.S. puts up 20% of IMF money.So the U.S. would be on the line for €30 billion—$40 billion—to save Spain.Then Bruce delivered his verdict: “The U.S. is going to say ‘Yes’ to that and ‘No’ to California? No way. Not going to happen with this new Congress."And:Therefore, the IMF’s participation in a Spanish bail-out will be severely reduced, if not marginal. Therefore, bailing out Spain will be a strictly European affair.Does Europe have €450 billion to bail out Spain? That is, does Germany have €450 billion to bail out Spain?No it does not. It does not have the money for such a bailout—and even if it did, it does not have the political will to push through such a bailout.Period.And Finally:Best case?Though they remain in the European Union, the weaker economies exit the EMU and go back to local currencies, which they quickly depreciate, while their Euro-denominated sovereign debts are restructured and paid off over time. The Euro becomes the currency of France, Germany, Holland, Finland and Austria.Worst case?I can imagine a number of worst cases, all of them different, except for one thing in common: They’ll all be bad.
North Korea intensifies threats ahead of Korea-U.S. military exercise near Yeonpyeong Island slated for Sunday. Excerpts:
Threatening "a shower of dreadful fire," North Korea warned Friday it will wipe out its enemies if its sovereignty is violated, raising already high tension after the communist country exchanged deadly artillery barrages with South Korea earlier this week.
The warning by the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea is the latest and one of the strongest threats the North has issued since South Korea and the U.S. agreed to hold joint drills near the communist country in a show of force.
Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed in the artillery exchange between the Koreas on Tuesday in one of the most violent clashes on the peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea, officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), denies initiating the clash, warning it will mount additional attacks if its territorial waters are violated.
And:
Meanwhile, South Korea's military is checking reports of sounds of artillery fire around Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea border with North Korea, officials said. (Hence the "So that's what that was" reference..)
Joint Military Exercises with the U.S. start Sunday, so we've got that to look forward to..
'Artillery fire' heard near South Korea island Pre War Excerpts:
South Korea's military said two explosions were heard on Friday and it was checking the source of the sounds.
The two blasts were heard off Yeonpyeong island near the disputed border in the Yellow Sea, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told AFP.
"We're checking the origin of the sounds," he said.
And:
Officials said “dozens” of artillery rounds had landed on Yeonpyeong Island at in the Yellow Sea, 50 miles off the South’s northwest coast in an area close to a disputed sea border.
Other reports suggested around 200 shells could have been fired in the attack which began at 2.34pm local time (7.34am GMT).
F-16 fighter jets were scrambled and South Korean land-based forces returned fire on the North as civilians were evacuated to emergency bunkers, according to witnesses quoted by the Seoul-based cable news television channel YTN.
If this turns out to be artillery fire, the Korean situation is rapidly blooming into Worldwide crisis. Once again, timing(Global Debt Crisis)and associations(China) figure heavily into why this sabre rattling is so much more important than past border squabbles. If we aren't already there, we're rapidly approaching the border of "One wrong move and it's over."
From Robert Wilkinson at Aquarius Papers In an article full of perfect passages, these are my two favorites:
So if you struggle with endings, of unknowns and apprehensions of what will or will not be, detach from the "not knowing" and contemplate your life as a timestream of experiences coaxing forth skills, strengths, realizations and talents throughout the difficulties and endings. You are an eternally evolving Consciousness, collecting forms of understanding to apply in your world the best you are able.
You have imagination and an ability to be creative in ways you've never known. You have a mind that when trained can easily cut through illusions and fears and express the strength of your heart's direct knowing. With an open mind and a strong heart you can move into unknown futures and find yourself doing your Being in excellent ways.
Read the whole thing. Good stuff.
Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers' Excerpts:
Tests found that the DNA of some villagers in Liqian, on the fringes of the Gobi Desert in north-western China, was 56 per cent Caucasian in origin.
Many of the villagers have blue or green eyes, long noses and even fair hair, prompting speculation that they have European blood.
A local man, Cai Junnian, is nicknamed by his friends and relatives Cai Luoma, or Cai the Roman, and is one of many villagers convinced that he is descended from the lost legion. (Click the link and look at that picture. That man looks European to me..)
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The genetic tests have leant weight to the theory that Roman legionaries settled in the area in the first century BC after fleeing a disastrous battle.
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Thousands of Romans were slaughtered and Crassus himself was beheaded, but some legionaries were said to have escaped the fighting and marched east to elude the enemy.
They supposedly fought as mercenaries in a war between the Huns and the Chinese in 36BC – Chinese chroniclers refer to the capture of a "fish-scale formation" of troops, a possible reference to the "tortoise" phalanx formation perfected by legionnaries. The wandering Roman soldiers are thought to have been released and to have settled on the steppes of western China.
The theory was first put forward in the 1950s by Homer Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at Oxford University.
We are what we are, but sometimes we discover that we are more or different than we think..
Compelling news story from Houston's ABC affiliate about potentially THE biggest archaeological discovery EVER. If correct, what we think we know of our ancient history all comes up for review.
Hopefully, as more discoveries are made, what we think we know regarding this existence will be obsolete.. And replaced with something much more fantastical and genuine very soon. Here's hoping..
China, Russia quit dollar. Excerpts/Italics:
St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
Chinese experts said the move reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies.
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The yuan has now started trading against the Russian rouble in the Chinese interbank market, while the renminbi will soon be allowed to trade against the rouble in Russia, Putin said.
And:
Wen said Beijing is willing to boost cooperation with Moscow in Northeast Asia, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in major international organizations and on mechanisms in pursuit of a "fair and reasonable new order" in international politics and the economy.
Sun Zhuangzhi, a senior researcher in Central Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new mode of trade settlement between China and Russia follows a global trend after the financial crisis exposed the faults of a dollar-dominated world financial system.
Pang Zhongying, who specializes in international politics at Renmin University of China, said the proposal is not challenging the dollar, but aimed at avoiding the risks the dollar represents.
This is some pretty dire news. The systems and relationships propping up the Dollar-as-World-Currency are failing, one by one, and soon, it'll be too big to ignore. But for now, take solace in Bristol Palin flaming out on Dancing With The Stars. No need to think about a plan of action just yet, right?
US Aircraft Carrier Heads for Korean Waters
A U.S. aircraft carrier headed toward the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, a day after North Korea launched dozens of artillery shells on a South Korean island.
The nuclear-powered USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of over 6,000, left a naval base south of Tokyo on Wednesday morning and would join exercises with South Korea from Sunday to the following Wednesday, U.S. officials in Seoul said.
"This exercise is defensive in nature," U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement. "While planned well before yesterday's unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK (South Korea)-U.S. alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."
China came under heavy pressure to rein in North Korea after its reclusive ally fired dozens of artillery shells at the South Korean island, killing two South Korean soldiers and setting houses ablaze in the heaviest attack on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.
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"We're in a semi state of war," South Korean coastguard Kim Dong-jin told Reuters in the port city of Incheon where many residents of Yeonpyeong island fled in panic as the bombardment triggered a fire storm.
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South Korea, its armed forces technically superior though about half the size of the North's one-million-plus army, warned of "massive retaliation" if its neighbor attacked again.
Sounds like South Korea has had enough. Two things set this apart from normal North/South squabbling: The heaviest attack since 1953 and on a completely domestic target (they'll count as one), and the particular timing of this event. Any escalation on the Korean peninsula will impact an already fragile, swaying world market. Will China via North Korea pull out one more global Jenga piece? Once events are set in motion, Inertia becomes impossible to stop. We are descending every day into bigger and more Novel situations in all facets of our lives. Maybe that was what The Tipping Point was about.
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