Lefty Blogs
williampfaff ++ ++
Russian News ++
seaton-newslinks. USA expat in Europe ++
bilegrip Asu spleen ++
us-rockstroh a rant, not a blog ++
aboutmyplanet eco ++
sfgate ++
crookedtimber ++
onthecommons ++
sjlendman ++
....
abutamam freeiraq ++
airamericaradio +
amygdalagf +
angryarab ++
annezook +
antiwar ++
norwegianity
terrorism-news
blogspot
ourtomorrow
politickybitch
welcome-to-pottersville
aviraqi
billmon ++ whiskeyB
consortiumnews ++
dahrjamailiraq
dailywarnews ++
drforbush +
english +
fallujahinpictures
freespeechradio
halcyondays ++
healingiraq
hereticalideas ++
icasualties
maru
om
boxspinning boxes

jamaicaobserver newspaper
jameswolcott +
lefarkins +
liberalgirlnextdoor ++
lonehighlander Libya, not lefty
mahablog +++ solid
maruthecrankpot +
indymedia melbourne
messopotamian +7Apr06
monkey ++
motherjones ++
fisk
nocapital +
norightturn +NZ
peakoil ++
pilger +
politicalhumor +
raedinthemiddle
rafahtoday Feb05?
rense w= wacko conspiracies
rigorousintuition x
hegemon ++
ruckus ++
rudepundit ++
satiricalpolitical +
scaramoucheblog ++
secretsinbaghdad ++15Ap06
Energring
aliveinbaghdad ++
riverbendblog ++
sideshow +++
signs-of-the-times +++
slashdot ++techy
talkleft ++
thinkprogress ++
thismodernworld +++
uncapitalist ++
velorution ++ bicycles
org ++Brazil peasants
warandpiece +
warfare.ru +russia military
greenpeace
allhatnocattle
alternet ++
americanpolitics
antiwar
gbruno ++YT
axisoflogic ++
blackcommentator
bobharris +
bradblog +
buckfush +funnies
buggery +
buzzflash ++
changeforamerica
countercurrents
counterpunch +++
crisispapers
crooksandliars ++?
csmonitor
dahrjamailiraqhref="http://www.dailykos.com/
davidcorn
democracynow
democracyuprising
dissidentvoice
earthfirstjournal
earthstation5
empirenotes
foodfirst
fpif
fromthewilderness
geocities
granta
grist ??
gristmagazine
guerrillanews
gulf
hizbollah
huffingtonpost ++
informationclearinghouse
infoshop +
inthesetimes x
iranmania x
ivaw
jihadunspun
juancole ++
kuro5hin ++ notlefty
kurtnimmo ++
lrb ++ Iraqi?
mahablog
lewrockwell ++
marklynas climate change
mnftiu get your war on comics
motherjones
nilemedia
nybooks
occupationwatch
oriononline
palestine
prisonplanet
rall ++ Ted Rall cartonist
ratical
redpepper
rense
robert
rollingstone
scoop
selvesandothers ++
smirkingchimp
snappingturtle
socialistworker
spiked
tblog
theiraqiroulette
theleftcoaster +
thepoorman +
tnr ++ magazine
tompaine ++ mag
traprockpeace ++
truthout +
boondocks ++
crowning3
. . . helix
Base
rain radar
Weather
worldtribunal +
worldwatch ++ $ required
zaman + Turkish news
youcantmakeitup + ?
youngfox ????????????
bareknucklepolitics videos?
popdrain videos??
discovery videos??
cs videos??
aegisIraq video??
mariyaguchi video??
iwilltryit video..
baghdadtreasure
ahram cairo newspaper
felbers
thepartyline
jfaughnan 28/04/2006 10:25AM
shrillblog +
thinkprogress +
marchforjustice + pictures
messopotamian + Iraqi not so radical, but scared (also see IraqTheModel which was a USA front, but is now also scared)
scaramoucheblog +
counterpunch
.............
blogads liberal blogs by CPM $ per view
malakandsky ++ stolid?
republicoft + black gay parent??
dailykos ++
rawstory ++
democraticunderground ++
atrios ++
workingforchange +
leftinthewest +
dembloggers +
talkingpointsmemo +
firedoglake ++
vastleft ++
pamspaulding +
americablog +
washingtonmonthly ++
mydd +
politics1 +
bartcop ++
politicalwire +
sisterstalk black lesbian?
culturekitchen ++
alternet
wonkette +++
billstclair +
freefreedomtoldhere ++ pipe bomb

......
almuajaha defunct
whynot defunct
winstonsmith defunct
samadams dormant
mquinn02 defunct
iraqblogcount ++14Apr06 suspended
iraqicomments most recent: jan2005
iraqidoctor most recent: Aug2005
georgemustgo + moved?
vialls ++Dormant (joe is dead)
warblogging Defunct
hammeroftruth quiescant?
mediastorm quiescant? +
bushwhackedusa defunct
hamasonline defunct
4Jul06

23 July 2009

Sierra UAV, Folate, Hoki Hokum

Sierra UAV
The Science Instrumentation Environmental Remote Research Aircraft (SIERRA) is a medium class, medium duration UAS originally designed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center developed a partnership with NRL to evaluate the utility of this class of aircraft to the NASA earth science community. The relatively large payload (~100lbs) coupled with a significant range (500 miles) and small size (20ft wingspan) makes it an attractive observational platform that complements the current suite of modified NASA science aircraft. This UAS conducts very low altitude missions for tropospheric chemistry sampling and remote area urveys such as arctic ice reconnaissance


- this looks rather like the Aerosonde UAV that was designed(?) in Australia. That had a longer range(!) it flew across the Atlantic
The Aus govt thought it wasnt macho enough for spying on Indonesia et al, so they opted for much bigger 'predator' style uavs. - donr know if they actually bought any. I guess the USA bought up the small UAV
- the Aus Govt web site for the 'Aerosonde' is now deleted.

... I expect Hezbollah to fly a bunch of these into a Tel Aviv football stadium some day soon. Maybe they could release some powder that would pass the UV Anthrax test of the Ceeker™ - a handheld detector designed by New Zealand-based company Veritide Ltd. That would cause a big laugh.
....Apparently the NZ govt hasnt bought any Ceekers, despite the fact that the Taxation dept has a "Powder room" where they put letters containing suspicious white powders. I had no idea that sending white powder through the mail had become so popular, since Yoo & Cheney pioneered the idea in Dec 2001 - of course they used actual military grade anthrax spores, which killed a few mail clerks and put the frighteners on a couple of Senators who were thinking about opposing the "Patriot Act"

aaa
nasa

aaa

bbc
aaa

PS:
rising-hegemon
chasers punk John Yoo

_________________________________________________
Folate Supplements

"There is no evidence that supplements of any type reduce cancer risk, and increasing evidence that they may increase the risk for some cancers in some people," said Kristal, who is a professor of epidemiology and associate director of the cancer prevention program at Fred Hutchinson. "The only exception is calcium for recurrence of colorectal polyps , where there is solid evidence that calcium can reduce risk."
I hope that Quickease counts as calcium...
"folate pills may be increase Prostate cancer risk" - but note this is in the USA where bread is already fortified
But 10-year study also showed having enough folate in diet might offer protection...
And as my old man the doctor said.... every man over 70 has prostate cancer...
eating fish or other sources of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may decrease a man's risk of being diagnosed with more advanced prostate cancer.
The entire epidemological testing of supplements, asking a bunch of old guys to take, or not, for 10 years seems sus. I tend to act on biochemistry [Vit A may actually be bad for smokers but...]


Mandrax Mansion
The real(sic)estate section of the nyt features a "mansion" in St Mary's Bay Auckland which has an asking price of NZ$2.2M (dream on!)
...This looks suspiciously like "Mandrax Mansion" , a run down (in 1972) wooden pile where Hello Sailor introduced "Gutter Black" - which is now the theme of "Outrageous Fortune" a rather unusually good TV series.
Sheer luck that the song turned out so well - believe me, I was there... Hello Sailor werent that good. Mostly they tried to do a Reggae beat, which in this one rare instance turned into a shambolic minor gem. Otherwise it was "Sweet Jane" again and again, fueled by Mr Asia early imports.
In those days you could fill a talcum powder tin in Thailand with pure #4 heroin, add a covering letter "happy birthday" and mail it to yourself. Not that Graham B himself did that... Im just saying it was possible.
nytimes

aaa
Actually not the same place?
____________________________________________________________________________



Hoki Hokum
hoki are bottom trawled, hence not sustaimable??

..Upmarket grocery chain Waitrose has refused to stock New Zealand hoki because the "destructive" method of bottom trawling did not fit with its sustainable suppliers programme....
New Zealand orange roughy was already not accepted by a variety of retailers in Europe and North America because of non-sustainable fishing practices....
Maybe I need to reconsider my enthusiasm for Hoki fishing, which was based on a good word from a chap from MinAgFish
How bad is the seabed damage? to 8% of NZs zone? Worse than the damage to forests caused by wheatfields?
nzherald
stuff


Mothers Pension Domestic Purposes Benefit
The domestic purposes benefit should be axed to discourage young women from getting pregnant, a Business Roundtable paper on Maori and welfare argues.

dpb cuts so as to cut pregnancies? Abortion rights cut so as to increase pregnancies?
As the developed world, with educated women, proceeds towards negative population growth...
A prediction: Lots of frantic confusion will arise - reactionary forces will swing wildly - see contradictory policies above.
The obvious answer to population growth is to allow immigration, but that presses another reactionary button...
they like immigration as it lowers wages demands, but they like even more to ride racist attitudes amongst the proles
Basic principle: Fewer hilux consumers are essential
If rich people want babies, they could 1) steal babies by stealing them from poor people in the tropics or 2) bring in families and become godparents - the immigrant parents might become maids and gardeners?

the DPB was radical. in the 1970s in NZ heaps of young women were scurrying about, hiding their boyfriend's clothes, when the welfare dept inspectors popped in to ensure they werent in a couple.



Climate:
The oil-crash, aka Olduvai die-off will likely trump climate change. The best response is to concentrate on efficiency, particularly oil efficiency.

Less emphasis on animal-methane and trees? But keep a sharp eye on coal.
Amery Lovins "Factor 4" is a good read on efficiency... theres a lot to be gained by designn of pumps, ducts, electric motors and insulation.
Transport has some easy fixes: 1) 30kph traffic speeds... this will allow lightweight bubble cars in towns. Existing cars could be re-chipped to run on 2 cylinders.
Lovins is big on lightweight cars, but he wants to keep that 100kph speed. Where does that come from? It appears to be the highest speed that we can achieve for a tolerabel death rate.
....Traffic death rate in the 70s was around 200 per million. Since then belts, airbags, breathtests ,crushzones and better brakes have cut the death rate to 90 per million
Also helicopter transfer to hospitals with better surgery procesured have switched many deaths to injuries.
....There is no absolute natural right to drive at 100kph. Its just that at 180kph theres heaps more petrol used and heaps more injury crashes. "heaps" is a value-laden term. We feel sort of in control at 100kph.
Meanwhile society is transformed into a racetrack.
30kph could be achieved with existing vehicles
Bus lanes also work with little investment. The idea is to put actual physical walls on motorways, to enforce the lanes.
- see George Monbiot for his ideas on fast busses.

Can industrial society avoid the crash long enough to build wind turbines, bulldoze some terraces and storage ponds? Can it survive long enough to invent cheap PV and batteries?


60th anniversary of Wellington Trolleybusses
aaa
How I went to school...
c/o poneke
__________________________________________________
Mercedes hybrid S-Class..
"The powerhouse comes in the well known V6 petrol engine combined with a compact hybrid module that grinds out 299 HP, punched with a maximum torque of 385 Newton meters"
pointless greenwash


The coupistas have expelled the Venezuelan embassy. Update3: The Venezuelan diplomats have refused to leave! They say that they don’t recognize the coupistas as a government. This amounts to daring the coupistas to roust them from the embassy. If the coupistas did roust them, it would technically be an act of war.


dailymail
aaa
Everest 1991 kodachrome
__________________________________________________
..

22 July 2009

Solar Eclipse, Gas,

Solar Eclipse and God

In about 1.5 hours Shanghai will experience a solar eclipse... more people will see this eclipse than any other in history
Right now video feeds from Shanghai (UT 00:46)seem overloaded
My advice.. check the dappled light beneath a tree, the spots of light are actually pinhole images of the sun, you realise this as the moon takes a chunk out of the suns disc, and beneath the tree you see hundreds of discs with chunks missing.
Its best to witness an eclipse on a hilltop with a bunch of schoolgirls... as you see the moon shadow racing across the land towards you at 1700kph, all the girls will scream, you will realise you are standing on a big rock in the vastness of space, with immense spheres moving at fantastic velocities, the sun has a fiery corona, earth is a planet, gravity is holding you, your jaw is open, you want the moment to continue forever, simultaneously, you desperately want the sun to come back. God does not exist, God is almighty in his mercy, Presidents and peasants are equal... then a spot of light appears on the black moon disc and the eclipse is about to be over.

update 01:10 no free webcasts are working, it appears the internet is not yet working across this planet. one day perhaps...


this is a post i made about miracles frecently:

Miracles: The only miracles that have happened during my lifetime, as recognised by the Pope in Rome, apear to be remissions of various cancers, and some unlkikely healings.
These may be due to Immune system becoming able to recognise tumour cells. Somatic Hypermutation operates by allowing "error prone" DNA replication in B lymphocytes, randomising their antigens.
This is a nifty way for GOD to intervene in the physical world, no laws of physics broken. The right random mutation heals.
So maybe Jim Morrison was wrong... perhaps you can Petition the Lord with prayer?

Or possibly the human brain is optimised to see the world as a set of objects with intentions... thunder does sound angry.

Proof of Gods jokiness?.... it is odd that the moon so closely matches the solar disc during a solar eclipse. But when I witnessed an eclipse, I wasnt overwhelmed by a sense of god, I was overwhelmed by a sense of the depth of space, the size of the bodies, and the speed of their movements... I recommend being on a hilltop, to see that moon shadow racing towards you at 1700kph... it'll make an athiest out of you.

My altarboy career convinced me that insisting on belief in miracles is a technique designed to brainwash, to snap the mind out of the rational into the meekly obedient.

Other evidence for DOG: cyanobacteria use2 photons to split water... hence O2, animals, us..
otoh: it evolved rather fast ... was DOG impatient? then sat around for 3Billion years before sharks, ants and people formed?
(Sharks have Somatic Hypermutation, perhaps we can pray for them? Lampreys have a crude form, worms do not. So we cannot pray for our compost heap?)
Ants have pockets on their legs containing benificial bacteria... so they dont need our prayers?
iayork
_posted in discovermagazine


Natural gas
futures July 17 (Bloomberg) -- may fall to seven-year lows as demand drops .
.. chemical plants and power producers are burning less, gas inventories rose to 2.886 trillion ft³ ..July 10, the highest for any week in July since at least 1994, Natural gas is down 36% this year..compared with a 39% gain in oil.
.
.
Gas futures for August ...$3.669 per million Btu ..
..
..Industrial gas consumption is forecast to drop 8.2% this year and total demand will slide 2.3% to 62.1 billion ft³ a day..
Natural gas will probably average $4.97 per million Btu ... U.S. mills last week were operating above 50% of capacity for the first time since Dec. 1.

.....
U.S. potential natural gas resources rose 39% from two years ago to 1,836 trillion ft³, ..



aaa
2 metres tall