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lp and gardening books.” Time fillers? For one of the busiest people on Earth? Has Hillary discovered the 72 hour day? It gets better, when asked her opinion on the best books about Washington, DC to recommend, she chose Our Divided Political Heart by E.J. Dionne Jr., who “shows how most everybody has some conservative and liberal impulses, but just as individuals have to reconcile them within ourselves, so does our political system if we expect to function productively.” To the question “Is there one book you wish all students would read,” Hillary could not hold back providing three: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen, and Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally. As for the “one book that made you who you are today,” Hillary replied, as she does often, that it was the Bible, which she elaborates “was and remains the biggest influence on my thinking.” Which parts of the Bible remain unknown, but presumably she has read the wide range of choices including the parts about “an eye for an eye,” “turning the other cheek,” and “the golden rule.” More insights into her eclectic interests came from responses to the question “which books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?” “You might be surprised,” she admitted, “to see memoirs by Republicans such as Decision Points by President George W. Bush” (whose criminal Iraq War she voted for), “and Faith of my Fathers by Senator John McCain” chief sabre-rattler in the Senate. Perfecto! With this interview Hillary has used her literary interests to pander to homemakers, ethnic groups, poets, lovers of fiction, adversaries, hard-line Republican leaders in Congress, religious groups and the swooning credulous. Why is Hillary Clinton unable to resist straining our credulity? A few days earlier, Hillary told Diane Sawyer of ABC News that she and Bill left the White House “dead broke.” This comment prompted the press to report on their combined $23 million book contracts, ample Presidential pension, $200,000 a speech for Bill and other rewards provided to them by friends. Sure politicians are calculating, even cunning. Those are occupational traits. Maybe Hillary thinks she can push the envelope into prevarication and distortion with impunity. After all, as a Wall Street corporatist and a war-mongering militarist, she has gotten away with much worse. Rocky Anderson, the former twice-elected mayor of Salt Lake City, cited polls and examples in his presentation to the mass-media in which he both addressed Clinton’s “recognized reputation for lying, distorting and evading,” and suggested important questions that they may wish to ask Hillary on her North-American book tour. One such episode involved her trip to Bosnia as First Lady in 1996. By her account she landed under sniper fire and had to run “with our heads down to get into the vehicles.” This narrative was contradicted by the videos and the report from accompanying CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson. The video shows Clinton and daughter Chelsea, in Attkisson’s words “speaking with young people at the airport, taking their time and not rushing, heads down or otherwise, to any vehicles.” For the full list of Anderson’s basic questions, go to the Facebook group: Progressives Opposed to a Clinton Dynasty. On June 10, 2014 the lines of people seeking autographed copies of Hard Choices started lining up at 3am in front of the Barnes & Noble bookstore at Union Square in New York City, the launch of Hillary’s book tour. The New York Times reported that “dozens of Secret Service agents” were establishing orderly processions by the customers. Retired presidents and their families are given a permanent, small Secret Service detail. A private citizen doesn’t have “dozens of Secret Service agents” to help sell her books. The reporters didn’t push this subject. It is a small wonder that Hillary’s march to the White House is being described as “a coronation.” With so many curtseying instead of inquiring, how can her path by anything but Queenly? follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2014 Nader.Org, All rights reserved. </p> 18715419 2014-06-22 06:04:53 2014-06-22 06:04:53 open open hillary-s-haughty-hyperbole-ralph-nader-june-18-18715419 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan EGYPT – THE LOST CIVILISATION THEORY By Alan F. Alford http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/06/22/egypt-the-lost-civilisation-theory-by-alan-f-alford-18715406/ Sun, 22 Jun 2014 05:52:02 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] EGYPT – THE LOST CIVILISATION THEORY By Alan F. Alford The Panleonist Lost Civilisation Theory The panleonist theory proposes that a highly advanced civilisation existed on the Earth during during the precessional age of Leo (c. 10900-8700 BC), but was destroyed by a cataclysm circa 10500 BC and hence became a ‘lost civilisation’. The theory proposes that the lost civilisation encoded the date 10500 BC into their monuments (e.g. by astronomical alignments) so as to commemorate the date of the cataclysm. The panleonist theory is best known from the writings of Robert Bauval, Adrian Gilbert and Graham Hancock. But it has its roots in an assortment of different writings. Firstly, in Plato’s story of Atlantis, which recalled the destruction of an advanced civilisation nine thousand years before the time of Solon, i.e. c. 9600 BC. Secondly, in the prophecies of certain mystics, such as Edgar Cayce. And thirdly, in the writings of Zecharia Sitchin, who dated the beginning of history to the Great Flood in 11000 BC, at the beginning of the age of Leo. It is on the writings of Bauval, Hancock and Gilbert that I wish to comment here, in particular their claims that the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx were built to commemorate the date 10500 BC. The Orion Theory In ‘The Orion Mystery’ (1994), Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert made a very interesting discovery, namely that the three main pyramids at Giza (of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure) formed a pattern on the ground virtually identical to that of the three belt stars of the Orion constellation. This was a perfectly plausible hypothesis. However, Bauval and Gilbert then entered controversial territory. Using computer software, they wound back the Earth’s skies to ancient times, and witnessed a ‘locking-in’ of the mirror image between the pyramids and the stars at the same time as Orion reached a turning point at the bottom of its precessional shift up and down the meridian. This conjunction, they claimed, was exact, and it occurred precisely at the date 10450 BC. In ‘Keeper of Genesis’ (1996), Robert Bauval teamed up with Graham Hancock, and took the 10500 BC theory further, claiming corroborative evidence in the form of the Sphinx at Giza (see below). In ‘Heaven’s Mirror’ (1998), Graham Hancock tried to argue that the date 10500 BC was encoded also at the ancient Cambodian site of Angkor Wat (the temples, he alleged, were in the image of the constellation Draco at exactly 10500 BC). On 15th September 1998, I issued a detailed rebuttal of Hancock’s Angkor Wat theory, which I published on my website. I concluded that ‘Hancock’s case is extremely weak, and by pursuing it with such vigour (claiming ‘no doubt that a correlation exists’ p.126, and then winding back the skies to 10500 BC to claim a ‘precise’ match) he risks bringing this kind of research into disrepute. He certainly does Robert Bauval no favours, for many people will now highlight the poor quality of Hancock’s research to debunk the more plausible (though unproven) 10500 BC alignment at Giza.’ My comments were to prove farsighted. On 4th November 1999, BBC screened a Horizon documentary which raised serious questions about Bauval and Hancock’s panleonist theory. Hancock, in particular, was ridiculed for his theory of a 10500 BC alignment between Angkor Wat and the constellation of Draco (rightly so in my opinion). But Bauval too was criticised for being careless in his calculation of the 10500 BC alignment between the Giza Pyramids and the stars of Orion’s Belt. To the shock and horror of Bauval’s followers, the BBC claimed that the accurate 10500 BC ‘lock-in’ between the Giza pyramids and Orion’s Belt was not quite so accurate after all. Worse still, in the ensuing furore, Bauval and Hancock actually conceded the point and admitted that the alignment was not precise. Bauval and Hancock went on to accuse the BBC of bias, and their complaint was upheld in one respect (although not in the majority of respects) by an independent commission. Nevertheless, in the heat of the argument, the fact was obscured that (a) the alleged accuracy of the Pyramids/Orion’s Belt alignment had been absolutely central to Bauval and Hancock’s original argument of a lost civilisation of 10500 BC; and (b) the alleged accuracy of the Pyramids/Orion’s Belt alignment had been successfully rebutted by the BBC. The present situation is this. It is accepted that the alignment between the Giza pyramids and the stars of Orion’s Belt is not precise but approximate. Therefore, no firm conclusion can be drawn about any particular date which the monuments might have commemorated. Accordingly, the panleonist theory of Giza is entirely baseless (nevertheless, it remains an important discovery that the layout of the three Giza pyramids mirrors the shape of Orion’s Belt). The Sphinx Problem One of the foundation stones of the panleonist theory is the Great Sphinx of Egypt, which is presumed to have the body of a lion, thus evoking the precessional era of Leo (10900-8700 BC). In his follow-up work with co-author Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval wound back the skies to show that not only did the three Giza pyramids line up with the three stars of Orion’s Belt at 10500 BC, but also, at the same time, the constellation of Leo rose exactly due east of the Sphinx. This occurrence, they said, was unique to 10500 BC, and it was therefore beyond coincidence that the Sphinx had been carved in the form of a lion. According to Bauval and Hancock (and other researchers, such as John Anthony West) the weathering of the Sphinx by rainwater supports a date of construction c. 10500 BC, at the same time as the ground plan had been designed for the three Giza pyramids. I would like to make three critical observations on this theory. Firstly, the geological evidence for an older Sphinx, based on the work of the geologist Robert Schoch, is more in line with 5000-4000 BC than with the extreme date of 10500 BC. I know from personal discussion with Robert Schoch that he is quite unhappy with the way Bauval, Hancock and West have hijacked his evidence to fit their pet theory. Secondly, as I pointed out in chapter 1 (p. 24) of my book ‘The Phoenix Solution’ (1998), there is a much more plausible reason fot the importance of the age of Leo in ancient Egypt, namely that the Sun rose against the backdrop of Leo during the heliacal rising of the star Sirius at the summer solstice throughout most of Egyptian dynastic history. The leonine imagery of the Sphinx (if indeed it be a lion) points us not necessarily to the 11th millennium BC, but rather to the much more plausible era of the 4th millennium BC. Thirdly, I would question the assumption that the Sphinx has the body of a lion. In fact, as Robert Temple has pointed out, the Sphinx has ‘no mane, no tufted tail (and) no raised haunches’, which we would expect of a lion, and nor does it have a lion’s powerful shoulders. Furthermore, the lion was a dualistic concept in ancient Egyptian myth and architecture; lion sphinxes, for example, were generally built in pairs, protecting the entrances to temples. And yet the Sphinx of Giza is most certainly a solitary figure; there is no evidence whatsoever for a second Sphinx. On balance, it seems to me that, as Robert Temple has suggested, the Sphinx was built with the body of a dog, presumably to symbolise Anubis (with the cat’s tail representing a later modification). Anubis, it should be noted, was the god who guarded the Earth and the Underworld, and protected the body of Osiris. With the Pyramid representing Osiris (Pyramid Texts, Utterance 600), it would make sense that the Sphinx was originally an image of Anubis (its head was probably recarved from the head of a dog to the head of a king). The Anubis theory may, or may not, be correct, but its plausibility brings into question the widely-held assumption that the Sphinx has the body of a lion. Of course, if the Sphinx has the body of a dog, then astronomy is of no use whatsoever in dating it. All things considered, the Sphinx offers no evidence whatosever in support of the panleonist lost civilisation theory. It might well date to the pre-dynastic era (as I have indeed argued in ‘The Phoenix Solution’), but probably to no earlier than the 5th or 6th millennium BC. Summary Much credit is due to Bauval, Gilbert, Hancock and West for getting us all looking at Egypt again with a fresh perspective. But the debate must move on, and frankly I would like to see an end to this obsession with 10500 BC. At the present time, there is not one single piece of evidence anywhere in the world to justify the idea that 10500 BC was being commemorated by a lost civilisation. In my view, this obsession with 10500 BC has done great harm, and continues to do great harm, to the cause of those, such as myself, who would make a serious challenge to official dogma on the origin of the Giza pyramids and the history of civilisation. Yes, there is a mystery which requires an explanation. But what if the answer to the mystery lies not in 10500 BC but rather in the more plausible period of 6000-5000 BC? The worst thing we can do is investigate the past with a preconceived dogma to rival that of mainstream academia. Rather, it is time to take account of all the scientific evidence and draw our conclusions accordingly. Posted but not written by: Lou Sheehan </p> 18715406 2014-06-22 05:52:02 2014-06-22 05:52:02 open open egypt-the-lost-civilisation-theory-by-alan-f-alford-18715406 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Netanyahu ‘loathes’ Obama, Israel’s opposition leader charges http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/06/15/netanyahu-loathes-obama-israel-s-opposition-leader-charges-18669316/ Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:15:31 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Netanyahu ‘loathes’ Obama, Israel’s opposition leader charges PM’s hostility to president is ‘endangering Israel’s security,’ claims Labor’s Isaac Herzog, in rare confirmation of long-rumored strained ties between ‘Bibi’ and ‘Barack’ By TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF [ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “loathes” Barack Obama, and his hostile attitude to the US president constitutes a danger to Israel’s well-being, the head of the Israeli opposition charged on Friday night, in a highly unusual acknowledgement of the long-rumored strained personal ties between the two leaders. minister, Labor party chairman Isaac Herzog slammed Netanyahu for failing to listen to the international community, failing to present peace proposals of his own for an accord with the Palestinians, and failing to work properly with Obama. It was “a tragedy” that Netanyahu had not presented a peace plan, and was instead “dragged” into responding to other proposals, said Herzog. “The second tragedy, that endangers the security of Israel, is his loathing and hostility for Barack Obama,” Herzog went on, describing this as “one of Netanyahu’s gravest failures. Herzog, who was minister of welfare under Netanyahu from 2009-2011, was speaking in an interview on Channel 2 news in the aftermath of this week’s formation of a new Hamas-backed Palestinian unity government. Netanyahu had called on the international community to stand up against what he described as a government backed by a terrorist organization, but instead the US led the world in making clear that it would work with the new Palestinian government, and the EU, the UN and much of the rest of the international community quickly followed suit. US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu go informal at Ben Gurion Airport, March 22, 2013 (photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90) Netanyahu and Obama have long been perceived as having a strained relationship, with policy differences emerging over how to stop Iran’s nuclear program, and the prime minister’s expansion of settlements, among other issues. Obama gave an interview which indicated criticism of some of Netanyahu’s key policies just as the prime minister was flying to meet him at the White House in March, and Netanyahu was seen by some in the US as having sought to bolster Mitt Romney’s prospects in the 2012 presidential elections. But formally Israeli and American leaders have generally insisted that the two work together professionally. Obama took pains to speak of “my friend Bibi,” using the prime minister’s nickname, when he visited Israel last year, and Netanyahu reciprocated by calling him “my friend Barack.” For a figure as prominent as Herzog to use Israel’s most-watched news program to declare that the prime minister loathes the US president was unprecedented. Sources close to Netanyahu have claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry had promised the prime minister that the US would not work with the new Palestinian government, and had thus breached understandings with Israel. Herzog charged that Netanyahu “does not listen” to the international community, and they don’t listen to him. Under Netanyahu, Israel was now “completely isolated,” he said. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, left, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90) As opposition leader, Herzog receives regular briefings on diplomatic and security issues from Netanyahu and other leading figures. He has been urging relatively dovish members of the governing coalition — notably the Hatnua party led by Tzipi Livni and the centrist Yesh Atid of Yair Lapid — to leave the government and back him. Herzog said Israel needed to negotiate with the Palestinians on the principle of a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with land swaps and “arrangements” to resolve the contested fate of Jerusalem. When it was suggested to him that Netanyahu was prepared to go along with such ideas, Herzog retorted, “His mistake is that he’s not put a proposal on the table. In comments earlier in the week, Herzog had blamed the US and EU recognition of the Hamas-backed Palestinian unity government on the “complete collapse of Israeli foreign policy” under Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. “Netanyahu and Liberman failed to understand the international arena,” he said. “Netanyahu speaks [but] the world doesn’t listen,” said Herzog Wednesday, adding that the prime minister’s failure to lead a diplomatic process “let Hamas into the West Bank through the front door.” Herzog warned that if Netanyahu did not act on the diplomatic front, “Israel will lose the support of the international community and the ability to preserve [Israel] as a Jewish and democratic state.” The opposition leader called on the prime minister to come up with a clear plan to avoid Israel becoming a binational state with a Jewish minority. “The man who describes himself as strong against Hamas is revealed as being strong at nothing but talking, Herzog wrote in a Facebook post. Israel has castigated the US over its position, arguing that by maintaining ties with a government supported by a terror group, the US was indicating to PA President Mahmoud Abbas that it was okay to “form a government with a terrorist group.” “I’m deeply troubled by the announcement that the United States will work with the Palestinian government backed by Hamas,” Netanyahu said Wednesday, noting that the Islamist group has murdered “countless innocent civilians.” “All those who genuinely seek peace must reject President Abbas’s embrace of Hamas, and most especially, I think the United States must make it absolutely clear to the Palestinian president that his pact with Hamas, a terrorist organization that seeks Israel’s liquidation, is simply unacceptable,” he said. Earlier Wednesday, Kerry defended a US decision to work with the new Palestinian unity government, despite Israeli criticism, emphasizing that the new Palestinian leadership did not include any Hamas ministers. Speaking to reporters in Beirut, Kerry said Abbas “made clear that this new technocratic government is committed to the principles of non violence, negotiations, recognizing the state of Israel, acceptance of the previous agreements and the Quartet principles.” “Based on what we know now about the composition of this technocratic government, which has no minister affiliated to Hamas and is committed to the principles that I describe, we will work with it as we need to, as appropriate.” While on an unscheduled visit to Beirut, Kerry said: “I want to make it very clear we are going to be watching it (the government) very closely, as we have said from day one, to absolutely ensure that it upholds each of those things it has talked about, that it doesn’t cross the line.” The new Palestinian cabinet was sworn in Monday, after a surprise reconciliation deal reached in April between Hamas and the PLO. Read more: Netanyahu 'loathes' Obama, Israel's opposition leader charges | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-loathes-obama-israels-opposition-leader-charges/#ixzz341JqNttu </p> 18669316 2014-06-15 03:15:31 2014-06-15 03:15:31 open open netanyahu-loathes-obama-israel-s-opposition-leader-charges-18669316 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Can Progressives Learn from Eric Cantor’s Defeat? Ralph Nader June 13, 2014 http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/06/14/can-progressives-learn-from-eric-cantor-s-defeat-ralph-nader-june-13-18666081/ Sat, 14 Jun 2014 01:35:58 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] Can Progressives Learn from Eric Cantor’s Defeat? Ralph Nader June 13, 2014 The stunning upset defeat of House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) by Professor David Brat, an economist from Randolph-Macon College, in Tuesday’s Republican Primary has several takeaways for progressives besides envy and shame over why they do not directly take on the corporate Democrats. First, among all the reasons for Cantor’s fall, there were the ones encapsulated in the Nation’s John Nichols’ description of Brat as an “anti-corporate conservative.” Repeatedly, Brat said he was for “free enterprise” but against “crony capitalist programs that benefit the rich and powerful.” David Brat pointed out that Cantor and the Republican establishment have “been paying way too much attention to Wall Street and not enough to Main Street.” Brat supported “the end of bulk phone and email data collection by the NSA” and other government agencies on constitutional grounds. Professor Brat attacked the Wall Street investment bankers who nearly “broke the financial system,” adding the applause line: “these guys should have gone to jail. Instead of going to jail, where did they go? They went to Eric Cantor’s Rolodex.” An advocate of ethical capitalism, with religious-Christian overtones, Mr. Brat went after the deal-making in Washington, such as Cantor’s close relationships with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. He especially berated Cantor for weakening the proposed bill to ban insider trading by members of Congress by exempting their family members and spouses. He chastised Cantor on immigration, taking advantage of the latter’s wavering appeal to voters who believe that large corporations, represented by Cantor, want a never-ending supply of cheap foreign labor to hold wages down. On the other hand, Brat opposes a minimum wage on libertarian grounds. In addition, David Brat, described as a “commanding orator who mixes fiery rhetoric with academic references and self-depreciating humor,” wants a balanced-budget amendment, a “fair or flat tax,” and is opposed to federal educational programs such as “No Child Left Behind.” Brat is a mixed bag for progressives. But in that mix is a clear populist challenge by Main Street against Wall Street and by ordinary people against the corporate government with subsidies and bailouts that the Left calls corporate welfare and the Right calls crony capitalism. Therein lies the potential for a winning majority alliance between Left and Right as my new book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State, relates in realistic detail. Second, Professor Brat spent about $230,000 to Eric Cantor’s $5.7 million. However, David Brat more than made up for the money deficit with energy, focused barbs and the shoe-leather of his committed followers. On election night, Brat made the point that progressives would do well to heed, as they obsess over big money in politics; “Dollars don’t vote,” he said, “people do.” Interestingly, Tea Party forces and donors claim they thought Cantor was so unbeatable that they didn’t even fund David Brat even though he had two national radio talk show hosts speaking well of him. Can’t progressives find that kind of energy with their many broader issues and larger support base? Can’t they find capable so-called “nobodies” with hidden talent to become publically heralded champions? There are fresh voices everywhere who can take on the corporate Democrats, like the Clintons, who work with Wall Streeters and espouse crony capitalism and with neocons to advance militarism abroad, along with corporate-managed, job destroying trade agreements and off-shore tax havens? Unfortunately the driving energy of progressives, including the dissipating Occupy Wall Street effort, is not showing up in the electoral arena. The political energy, the policy disputes and the competitive contests are among the Republicans, not the Democrats, observed the astute political commentator and former Clinton White House aide, Bill Curry. The third lesson from the decisive Cantor upset is not to embrace the political attitude that calls for settling, from the outset, for the least-of-the-worst choices. Progressives have expressed and harbored strong criticisms of the Democratic Party establishment and their adoption of corporatist policies, but election cycle after election cycle, fearful of the Republican bad guys, they signal to the Democrat incumbents that the least-of-the-worst is acceptable. Like the liberals they often consort with, progressives do not ask: “Why not the best?” with the plan that they will either win or at least pull their Party away from the relentless 24/7 grip of big-time corporatism. The final takeaway from this fascinating Virginian contest in the 7th Congressional District near Richmond was that Cantor’s tactics backfired. The more Cantor spent on TV, radio, billboard ads and mailings, the more David Brat became known and the more people were reminded that Washington and Wall Street really do not care about people on Main Street. That is truly the nub of a Left-Right alliance. In recent decades, pollsters would sometimes pose a variation of the question: “Do you believe that X candidate or Y party or Z in Washington cares about people like you?” The responses revealed a sizable majority of people, regardless of their ideological or political labels, said “no.” With the interest of the public, the community and the country in the forefront, those “nos” can become “yeses” for a long-overdue rejuvenated and just society driven by reality and edified by its ideals. </p> 18666081 2014-06-14 01:35:58 2014-06-14 01:35:58 open open can-progressives-learn-from-eric-cantor-s-defeat-ralph-nader-june-13-18666081 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan DISCOVER MAGAZINE FROM THE JUNE 2014 ISSUE http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/31/discover-magazine-from-the-june-2014-issue-18567724/ Sat, 31 May 2014 23:56:57 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] DISCOVER MAGAZINE FROM THE JUNE 2014 ISSUE 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Noise Did you know the Big Bang was noiseless? By Jonathon Keats|Friday, May 23, 2014 RELATED TAGS: SENSES Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services39 Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock 1. The Big Bang was noiseless. Everything in the universe expanded uniformly, so nothing came into contact with anything else. No contact, no sound waves. 2. Astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term Big Bang in the ’50s, not because he thought it was noisy, but because he thought the theory was ridiculous. 3. For a really big bang, you should have heard Krakatoa in 1883. On Aug. 27, the volcanic island in Indonesia erupted with the explosive power of 200 megatons of TNT. The eruption could be heard nearly 3,000 miles away, making it the loudest noise in recorded history. 4. There are people who would outdo it if they could. They pack their cars with stereo amps to pump out 180-plus decibels (dB) of noise at so-called dB drag races. That’s how loud a jet engine would sound — if it were a foot away from your ear. 5. Jets get a bad rap. According to psychoacoustician Hugo Fastl, people perceive airplane noise as if it were 10 dB greater than the equivalent noise made by a train. 6. Since the decibel scale is logarithmic, growing exponentially, that means a jet sounds 10 times noisier than a train when the noise levels of both vehicles are objectively the same. 7. The only difference is that people find plane noises more annoying. The effects are dubbed the “railway bonus” and “aircraft malus.” 8. The first known noise ordinance was passed by the Greek province of Sybaris in the sixth century B.C. Tinsmiths and roosters were required to live outside the town limits. 9. Recognizing noise exposure as an occupational safety hazard took longer. The first scientific study was initiated in 1886 by Glasgow surgeon Thomas Barr. After he tested the hearing of 100 boilermakers, he determined that incessant pounding of hammers against metal boilers caused severe hearing loss. 10. One of Barr’s solutions to the problem of “boilermaker’s ear” was to suggest that clergymen shave their beards so that workmen could lip-read their sermons. 11. No wonder unprotected boilermaking was a problem: The human ear can perceive sound waves that move the eardrum less than the width of an atom. 12. You can fight noise with noise. The first patent on “active noise cancellation” dates to 1933, when German physicist Paul Lueg proposed to silence sound waves by simultaneously generating waves of the exact opposite orientation. The principle is now used in noise-canceling headsets. 13. Bring yours to the bar. Researchers at the Université de Bretagne-Sud have found that men imbibe more than 20 percent faster when ambient noise is cranked up from 72 to 88 dB. 14. And people are only getting louder. According to the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, the volume of an animated conversation between Americans increased by 10 dB during the ’90s. 15. Social and ambient noise causes hearing loss, often misdiagnosed as an effect of aging. Preventing it would require that cities become 10 dB quieter. 16. Deafness isn’t the only medical danger of noise exposure. The stress causes some 45,000 fatal heart attacks a year in the developing world, according to researcher Dieter Schwela of the Stockholm Environment Institute. 17. And then there’s the unintended assault on ocean dwellers by noisy navy sonar. The disorienting sound drives beaked whales to beach themselves, and it makes humpbacks extend the length of their songs by 29 percent. 18. To carry the same amount of information in a noisier environment, the whale songs have become more repetitive. Noise can be the nemesis of any signal. 19. Except when noise is the signal. Back in the ’60s, Bell Labs astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson kept picking up static with their radio telescope. They eventually realized that the noise was the sound of the universe itself, a remnant of a dense, hot plasma that pervaded the early cosmos. 20. Their discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation won them the Nobel Prize because the remnant heat showed that the universe must have begun with a violent explosion. Sorry, Fred Hoyle. The Big Bang is proven. </p> 18567724 2014-05-31 23:56:57 2014-05-31 23:56:57 open open discover-magazine-from-the-june-2014-issue-18567724 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS Pakistan: Worse Than We Knew Ahmed Rashid June 5, 2014 Issue The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014 by Carlotta Gall http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/31/new-york-review-of-books-pakistan-worse-than-we-knew-ahmed-rashid-june-5-2014-issue-the-wrong-enemy-america-in-afghanistan-2001-2014-by-carlotta--18567698/ Sat, 31 May 2014 23:36:37 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] Posted but not written by: Lou Sheehan NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS Pakistan: Worse Than We Knew Ahmed Rashid June 5, 2014 Issue The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014 by Carlotta Gall Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 329 pp., $28.00 Alexandra Boulat/VII A pro-Taliban rally in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, circa 2002 During the Afghan elections in early April I was traveling in Central Asia, mainly in Kyrgyzstan. I wanted to inquire into the fears of the governments there as a result of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. What did they think of the growth of Taliban and Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Officials in each country cited two threats. First, the internal radicalizing of their young people by increasing numbers of preachers or proselytizing groups arriving from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East. The second, more dangerous threat is external: they believe that extremist groups based in Pakistan and Afghanistan are trying to infiltrate Central Asia in order to launch terrorist attacks. Islamic extremism is infecting the entire region and this will ultimately become the legacy of the US occupation of Afghanistan, as the so-called jihad by the Taliban against the US comes to an end. Iran, a Shia state, fears that the Sunni extremist groups that have installed themselves in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on the Iranian border will step up their attacks inside Iran. In February Iran threatened to send troops into Balochistan unless Pakistan helped free five Iranian border guards who had been kidnapped by militants. (The Pakistanis freed four of the guards; one was killed.) Chinese officials say they are particularly concerned about terrorist groups coming out of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are undermining Chinese security. Although China is Pakistan’s closest ally, its officials have made it clear that they are closely monitoring the Uighur Muslims from Xinjiang province, who are training in Pakistan, fighting in Afghanistan, and have carried out several terrorist attacks in Xinjiang. Terrorist assaults from Pakistan into Indian Kashmir have declined sharply since 2003, but India has a perennial fear that Islamic militant groups based in Pakistan’s Punjab province may mount attacks in India. Many Punjabi fighters have joined the Taliban forces based in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, and they have attacked Indian targets in Afghanistan. India is also wary of another terrorist attack resembling the one that took place in Mumbai in 2008. For forty years Pakistan has been backing Islamic extremist groups as part of its expansionist foreign policy in Afghanistan and Central Asia and its efforts to maintain equilibrium with India, its much larger enemy. Now Pakistan is undergoing the worst terrorist backlash in the entire region. Some 50,000 people have died in three separate and continuing insurgencies: one by the Taliban in the northwest, the other in Balochistan by Baloch separatists, and the third in Karachi by several ethnic groups. That sectarian war, involving suicide bombers, massacres, and kidnappings, has gripped the country for a decade. Some five thousand Pakistani soldiers and policemen have been killed and some twenty thousand wounded, both as targets of terrorist attacks and during offensives against them. The economy has sharply declined, and there are widespread electricity shortages. The political elite is divided and at odds with the military over how to deal with terrorism, while many in the middle class are leaving the country. Two years ago all the states in the region would have publicly or privately accused Pakistan’s military and Interservices Intelligence (ISI) of supporting, protecting, or at least tolerating almost every terrorist group based in Pakistan. The ISI had links with all of them and often collaborated with them. Recently those relations have changed. Governments in the region now accept that Pakistan is in some ways trying to fight terrorism on its soil. But those governments are also concerned that the Pakistani military and political elite have lost control of large parts of the country and cannot maintain law and order. The US and Western countries fear that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons arsenal is vulnerable and that terrorists in Pakistan may be planning an attack comparable to that of September 11. There is still no overall political or military strategy to combat Islamic extremism. The Pakistani army tries to suppress some terrorist groups but not, for example, those that target India. Such a selective strategy cannot be maintained indefinitely and poses enormous risks to the entire world. Since the mid-1970s the ISI has supported extremist Islamic groups in Afghanistan including the Taliban, but that policy may now be changing. Contrary to many predictions, the situation in Afghanistan may be taking a turn for the better. Despite the threat of Taliban reprisals, seven million Afghans turned out on April 5 to vote in the first presidential election in which President Hamid Karzai was not a candidate. This was also the first genuine attempt in Afghan history to transfer power democratically. A remarkable 58 percent of the 12 million eligible voters turned out—35 percent of them women. Although the Taliban did not make a show of force to stop the vote, relatively few people voted in many Taliban-controlled areas in the south and east. Preliminary results released on April 26 show the Tajik leader Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 45 percent of the vote and his Pashtun rival Ashraf Ghani trailing with 32 percent. Over three thousand cases of fraud still have to be investigated before the count is final. Since neither candidate had a majority of 50 percent, there will be a runoff election between the two by the end of May. A new government will not be in place before July, which means that a security agreement with the US, which all the candidates have agreed to, will be delayed. The US and NATO want a military force of some ten thousand to stay in the country in order to train the Afghan army and gather intelligence. Such an agreement will be necessary if the US Congress and Europe are to be persuaded to keep the Kabul government financially afloat. Afghanistan needs a minimum of $7 billion a year to pay for its budget and army. In January the US Congress cut by half the $2 billion earmarked for US aid to Afghanistan. To bring the civil war to an end the new president will try to open talks with the Pashtun Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan is now also keen on such talks because two thirds of Pashtuns live in Pakistan, including members of the Taliban, and there has been talk by Islamists of carving out a separate Pashtun state. Will the Pakistan military put pressure on the Afghan Taliban leaders who live in Pakistan to talk to the new government in Kabul while Pakistan deals with its own Pashtun problem? A lot will depend on whether a much weakened Pakistan still has the power to force the Afghan Taliban to engage in negotiations. All the recent books I have seen on the Afghan wars have recounted how the Pakistani military backed the Taliban when they first emerged in 1993, but lost its influence by 2000. Then, after a brief respite following September 11, 2001, Pakistan’s military helped to resurrect the Taliban resistance to fight the Americans. My own three books on Afghanistan describe the actions of the Pakistani military as one factor in keeping the civil war going and contributing to the American failure to win decisively in Afghanistan.* Now in The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014, Carlotta Gall, the New York Times reporter in Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than a decade, has gone one step further. She places the entire onus of the West’s failure in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s successes on the Pakistani military and the Taliban groups associated with it. Her book has aroused considerable controversy, not least in Pakistan. Its thesis is quite simple: The [Afghan] war has been a tragedy costing untold thousands of lives and lasting far too long. The Afghans were never advocates of terrorism yet they bore the brunt of the punishment for 9/11. Pakistan, supposedly an ally, has proved to be perfidious, driving the violence in Afghanistan for its own cynical, hegemonic reasons. Pakistan’s generals and mullahs have done great harm to their own people as well as their Afghan neighbors and NATO allies. Pakistan, not Afghanistan, has been the true enemy. Dogged, curious, insistent on uncovering hidden facts, Gall’s reporting over the years has been a nightmare for the American, Pakistani, and other foreign powers involved in Afghanistan, while it has been welcomed by many Afghans. She quickly emerged as the leading Western reporter living in Kabul. She made her reputation by reporting on the terrible loss of innocent Afghan lives as American aircraft continued to bomb the Pashtun areas in southern Afghanistan even after the war of 2001 had ended. The bombing of civilians was said to be accidental, supposedly based on faulty intelligence; but it continued for years and helped the Taliban turn the population against the Americans. Before human rights groups or police arrived in remote, bombed villages, Gall was often there first. Thus in July 2002, she writes of driving “for three days over dusty and rutted roads” to reach a village in Uruzgan province that had been bombed during a wedding. Fifty-four wedding guests were killed, including thirteen children from one household, and over one hundred people were wounded. The survivors of this massacre “were collecting body parts in a bucket”—Gall’s quote of the provincial governor that haunted reporters and other observers in Kabul. She continued: Sahib Jan, a twenty-five-year-old neighbor, was one of the first to reach the groom’s house after the bombardment. Bodies were lying all over the two courtyards and in the adjoining orchard, some of them in pieces. Human flesh hung in the trees. A woman’s torso was lodged in an almond sapling…. Bodies lay in the dust and rubble of the rooms below. Some of those killed were friends of President Karzai and these bombings infuriated him and caused his relations with the US to deteriorate. As late as 2009 Gall was still covering such disasters, as when US planes bombed the village of Granai, killing 147 people—“the worst single incident of civilian casualties of the war.” Carlotta Gall was, in effect, a one-woman human rights agency. She spent much time and effort exposing the torture and killing of Afghans taken prisoner by the Americans. This was a highly sensitive issue—the American victors did not expect American media to expose their wrongdoings. But Gall went ahead. She told the heartbreaking story of Dilawar, a naive taxi driver who was wrongly arrested in Khost in eastern Afghanistan, incarcerated in an isolation ward at the US airbase at Bagram, and then beaten to death by his American jailors. She spent many weeks tracking down Dilawar’s family and obtained the death certificate issued by the US Army: I gasped as I read it. I had been looking to learn more about the Afghans being detained. I had not expected to find a homicide committed by American soldiers. Nobody was ever charged and the same US team of interrogators was deployed to Abu Ghraib in Iraq—the other site of grisly US treatment of prisoners. Gall’s modesty does not allow her to mention that it was this story that led to the making of the 2007 Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. Robert Nickelsberg Prayer flags at a Taliban graveyard on the outskirts of Kandahar city, Afghanistan, February 2005; photograph by Robert Nickelsberg from his book Afghanistan: A Distant War, just published by Prestel All her skills were put to the test when she reported on the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and tried to discover whether senior Pakistanis had been hiding him all along. Methodically adding one fact to another, she concludes not only that some were, which is convincing, but that all the top officials in the military and the ISI knew of his whereabouts, although the evidence she offers for such widespread knowledge is not wholly plausible; and her assertion that there was a specific “bin Laden desk” at the ISI appears, from my own inquiries, to be flimsy. For many Pakistanis the main failure of the government is that nobody has ever been punished or held responsible either for hiding bin Laden or not discovering him earlier. Gall surmises that the ISI had let it be known that bin Laden’s hideaway was an ISI safe house. That is why nobody ever knocked on the door—a reasonable assumption. However, the fiercest opposition to her views comes from American officials themselves. They insist, as they are obliged to do, that none of the top Pakistani leaders knew of bin Laden’s whereabouts. Gall’s conclusion that the Obama administration deliberately kept the ISI’s role in harboring bin Laden secret in order to save the US–Pakistan relationship is difficult to accept for two reasons. The first is simply the propensity of officials in Washington to leak to journalists. The second is that US–Pakistani relations would collapse a few months after the killing of bin Laden over different issues, notably Pakistan’s support of the Taliban. The US therefore would not have been so concerned to protect its relations with Pakistan. Most states today, including the US and NATO countries, believe that the Pakistani military is no longer in control of the Taliban in Afghanistan or capable of putting decisive pressure on them. The army leaders have too much of a problem at home with their own Pakistani Taliban. Their ability to persuade the Afghan Taliban to make peace with Kabul is very limited. Moreover, the Pakistani military has shown no willingness to kick the Afghan Taliban out of Pakistan and back to Afghanistan. The civilian government is trying to negotiate with the Pakistani Taliban but the military is against such talks and would rather use force, a major division in policymaking in Islamabad. There are enormous risks involved, such as the two Talibans merging to fight the Pakistani army. The Pakistani military belatedly understands that a Taliban conquest in Afghanistan would eventually ensure that Pakistan would find itself with a Taliban government in Islamabad. As Gall recounts, the Pakistani army has spent years propping up the Afghan Taliban, training their fighters, allowing them to import arms and money from the Arabian Gulf and to recruit among Pakistani youth. As Gall shows, the army even decided which tactics the Afghan Taliban should use. The army is now desperate to find a political solution that would send the Afghan Taliban home. Many army and police officers find themselves confused as they are ordered to protect some Taliban and other extremists and kill others. Pakistani officials are supposed to be loyal allies of the US and they take its money but they also are encouraged by powerful Pakistanis to promote anti-Americanism in society and the army. There has been no adequate explanation for these dual-track policies, which have ravaged state and society and undermined the army internally. Moreover the army is still not prepared to give up its militant stand against India. Gall writes that Pakistani soldiers “were fighting, and dying, in campaigns against Islamist militants, apparently at the request of America, but at the same time they were being fed a constant flow of anti-American and pro-Taliban propaganda.” Unfortunately she does not acknowledge that there have been shifts in the military’s thinking and that it faces the more open kind of confusion over its strategy and its loyalties that I have described. Her book starts and ends on the same note even though thirteen years have elapsed. Afghans have observed that the ISI has not interfered in the Afghan elections. Contrary to its policy since the 1970s, it has avoided favoring Pashtun candidates. It has also tried to improve relations with the former anti- Taliban Northern Alliance (NA) warlords it once opposed by meeting with the leaders of Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek groups that were the major components of the alliance. Consequently all the Afghan presidential candidates have softened their comments on Pakistan, avoiding the harsh rhetoric of Hamid Karzai. Yet for the reasons described by Gall, the Pakistani military still does not comprehend how deeply Pakistan is hated by most Afghans. Even today the worst atrocities and suicide bombings causing civilian deaths are often blamed on the Taliban elements “trained by Pakistanis.” Hatred for Pakistan is possibly even stronger among the Afghan Pashtuns who have been Pakistan’s traditional allies. The Pakistani army must undergo deep self-examination and show considerable humility in dealing with the Afghans if it is to genuinely create an opportunity for peace. However there are large gaps in Gall’s analysis that cannot be ignored. Pakistan was not the only cause of the failure to control the Afghan Taliban; the failure in Afghanistan has been an American failure as well. The lack of a US political strategy stretched over four administrations. Two Presidents—Bush and Obama—were unable to make up their minds about what to do in Afghanistan or how many troops should carry out which tasks. The overwhelming militarization of US decision-making and the hubris of American generals undermined diplomacy and nation-building; the US failed to curb open production of opium and other drugs. There was constant infighting between the White House, Defense, and State Departments over policy. There was also widespread corruption and waste both in the private contracting system used by the US military and in some of the operations of the US Agency for International Development. The list of such American failures is indeed long, and assigning responsibility for the losses in Afghanistan will occupy US historians for decades. Gall’s second omission is not to recognize the negative effects caused by the neighboring countries, apart from Pakistan, and their constant interference in Afghanistan. She ignores the Afghan civil war after 1989 when all the Afghan warlords had international backers. She fails to mention that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia backed the Taliban while Russia, Iran, India, Turkey, and the Central Asian republics supported the Northern Alliance. More recently Iran has given sanctuary to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, India is funding the Baloch separatist insurgency in Pakistan, and Afghanistan has provided a refuge to the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. The US presence has failed to provide protection for people in the region. Most Afghans will tell you today that what they fear most about the Americans leaving is that intervention from all the country’s neighbors will start again. Gall doesn’t blame neighbors other than Pakistan. Why did Pakistan adopt policies of intervention in Afghanistan, especially after September 11, when it had essentially lost the game in Afghanistan? There has been a disastrous logic to the military’s policies—which more thoughtful Pakistanis have always resisted. Here some history is useful. The Pakistan military has used militant political groups as an arm of its foreign policy in India and Afghanistan since the 1970s. This was allowed by the West as part of the cold war. During the 1980s the CIA funded the Afghan Mujahideen and Islamic extremists from forty countries when they were fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. It was not until September 11 that Pakistan’s use of Islamic extremists as a tool of its foreign policy became unacceptable. After September 11 General Pervez Musharraf and the military regime believed that they could, for a time, appear to meet US demands by capturing al-Qaeda leaders while avoiding harm to the Afghan Taliban. Musharraf was always treated as a messiah by the Bush administration; but a year after September 11 well-informed Pakistanis knew that Musharraf had started playing a double game with the Americans by covertly supporting a Taliban resurgence. What was the Pakistan military’s logic in doing so? After the war to oust the Taliban was over in 2001 the military faced the defeat of its Taliban allies and had to suffer the Northern Alliance and its backers—including India and Iran—as victors in Kabul. Musharraf felt he had to preserve some self-respect; and Bush appeared to acknowledge this when he allowed ISI agents to be airlifted out of Kunduz before the city fell to the Northern Alliance and its backers—a series of events well described by Gall. Bush had also promised Musharraf that the NA would not enter Kabul before a neutral Afghan body under the UN took over the city. But as the Taliban fled, the NA walked into Kabul without a fight and took over the government. The Pakistani military was further angered at Bonn in December 2001, when the new Afghan government was unveiled and all the provincial security ministries were handed over to the Northern Alliance, with Pashtun representation at a minimum. This was the usual outcome by which the spoils of war went to the victors, but for Pakistan’s generals it was further humiliation that bred resentment and a desire for revenge. The military was equally perplexed about why the US did not commit more ground troops to hunt down al-Qaeda instead of leaving that task to Northern Alliance warlords. The military was convinced that the Americans would soon abandon Afghanistan for the war in Iraq and leave the NA, backed by India, in charge in Kabul. Bush’s refusal to commit even one thousand US troops to the mountains of Tora Bora where bin Laden was trapped sent a powerful message to Pakistan. By 2003 US forces in Afghanistan still amounted to only 11,500 men—insufficient to hold the country. Five years later in 2008 there were only 35,000 US troops in Afghanistan, compared to five times that number in Iraq. The Pakistani military’s insecurity about American intentions and the growing power of the NA, India, and Iran led to its fateful decision to rearm the Taliban. It believed that the Taliban would provide a form of protection for the Pakistani military against its enemies. Instead the revamped Afghan Taliban helped create the Pakistani Taliban and the worst blowback of terrorism in Pakistan’s history. It is the Taliban’s terrorism within Pakistan rather than US pressure that altered the military’s position from backing the Afghan Taliban to its now seeking a peaceful Afghanistan. Gall’s account of the rise of the Taliban is also open to question. She writes that three commanders in Kandahar and Kabul—two of them drug smugglers and one of them a landlord—initiated the Taliban movement. Between 1994 and 1998, in Kandahar and Kabul, I interviewed nearly all the students who were the founding members of the Taliban and the three men she names were never mentioned, except as intermittent financiers. The founders of the Taliban were pious, conservative, simple young villagers who had fought the Soviets as foot soldiers and were now deeply disillusioned with their former leaders for fighting a civil war. They came together to rid Kandahar of criminal gangs. They then traveled around the country asking warlords to help end the civil war and bring peace. When that failed they decided to launch their own movement. Contrary to Gall’s account that they wanted power over Afghanistan from the first, the Taliban founders initially had only three aims—to end the civil war, disarm the population, and introduce an Islamic system. Until they reached the gates of Kabul in late 1995, they had no intentions of ruling the country. Instead they were demanding a Loya Jirga, or meeting of tribal elders, to decide who should rule. Some, like Mullah Borjan, were actually royalists who wanted to call back the former King Zahir Shah from exile. Gall says Borjan was killed at the behest of the ISI in 1996, although it is widely accepted that he died a year earlier in the first attack on Kabul. All the founding members of the Taliban I interviewed gave a different account from Gall’s of the rise of their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. They all had equal status, the requisite piety, and a strong record of fighting the Soviets. There was no natural commander among them. After much debate they picked Omar as the first among equals, the most pious and apparently the most humble. His status rose only after he insisted that his colleagues swear an oath of allegiance to him. He continues to be powerful. Too much of Gall’s information and analysis on the history of the Taliban seems to reflect the views of the Afghan intelligence service, whose own interpretation is flawed and one-sided. Today, with Pakistan torn apart by unprecedented violence and the situation in Afghanistan still precarious, the Pakistani military has strong reasons to change its past policies of sponsoring wars fought by nonstate organizations. Some changes are happening, but only at a glacial pace. Serious reform needs to start at the lowest level of the military, at the schools and colleges from which the army is drawn, where drastic curriculum changes are needed. The ISI needs to be brought under a code of conduct and accountability, particularly with respect to its dealings with violent organizations. Its personnel should be trained in political realism rather than in ideological prejudices. Unless changes in the army can be made more quickly, there is still the danger that this nuclear power could slip into chaos. </p> 18567698 2014-05-31 23:36:37 2014-05-31 23:36:37 open open new-york-review-of-books-pakistan-worse-than-we-knew-ahmed-rashid-june-5-2014-issue-the-wrong-enemy-america-in-afghanistan-2001-2014-by-carlotta--18567698 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Khety II (nomarch) http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/31/khety-ii-nomarch-18567671/ Sat, 31 May 2014 23:09:53 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Khety II (nomarch) [ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Khety II Nomarch of the 13th nomos of Upper Egypt Predecessor Tefibi Dynasty 10th dynasty Pharaoh Merykare Father Tefibi Burial Asyut Khety II was an ancient Egyptian nomarch of the 13th nomos of Upper Egypt ("the Upper Sycamore") during the reign of pharaoh Merykare of the 10th dynasty (c. 21st century BCE, during the First Intermediate Period).[1] Biography He was one of the last of a long line of nomarchs in Asyut with strong bonds of loyalty and friendship towards the herakleopolite dynasty: his father was the nomarch Tefibi, himself son of the nomarch Khety I, and a herakleopolite pharaoh had joined the mourning for the latter's grandfather (i.e. Khety II's great-great-grandfather). After Tefibi's death, Khety II was installed as a nomarch by king Merykare himself, who sailed up the Nile with his court on a fleet. It is known that Khety II undertook some restoration works in the local temple of Wepwawet.[1] He was loyal to the 10th dynasty until the end, and probably died shortly before the fall of Asyut by the Theban pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th dynasty, which preceded the final capitulation of Herakleopolis and thus the end of the civil war. Under the reign of Mentuhotep II, the old line of nomarchs represented by Khety II and his ancestors was replaced by a new, pro-Theban one.[1] His unfinished tomb at Asyut has been excavated several times since the late 19th century, most recently in 2003-2006.[2] References Hayes, op. cit., pp. 467–470. El Khadragu, Mahmoud, "New Discoveries in the Tomb of Khety II at Asyut", Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 17, 2006. Bibliography William C. Hayes, in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol 1, part 2, 1971 (2008), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-077915.</p> 18567671 2014-05-31 23:09:53 2014-05-31 23:09:53 open open khety-ii-nomarch-18567671 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Was Flight MH370 Taken Out by a US Drone? http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/29/was-flight-mh370-taken-out-by-a-us-drone-18556904/ Thu, 29 May 2014 01:20:14 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Flight MH370: mystery cargo continues to raise questions www.theweek.co.uk http://www.nnrusa.com/ LAST UPDATED AT 13:12 ON Fri 23 May 2014 Flight MH370 conspiracy theories: what happened to the missing plane? The mystery of flight MH370: 7 other planes that vanished Questions continue to circle around a mystery shipment that was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 when it disappeared more than two months ago. NNR Global Logistics, a Penang-based company that handled some of the cargo, has refused to reveal its contents. The company admitted that 200kg of lithium-ion batteries formed part of the shipment. But a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Engineering and Technology (E&T) Magazine this formed only part of the consignment, which weighed a total 2,453kg. He said that NNR Global has been told by its solicitors not to disclose details of the cargo because of the ongoing investigations into the missing aircraft. E&T says that "what is even more surprising" is that the company that produced the batteries has also not been named. Neither NNR Global Logistics nor Malaysia Airlines have been willing to identify the manufacturer, saying that it was "highly confidential". When questioned, the airline said that the remaining weight was "radio accessories and charges" but this was not documented in the cargo manifest. The manifest stated only that NNR shipped 133 pieces of one item, weighing a total of 1990kg, and 67 pieces of another item, weighing a total of 463kg. There were also strict instructions on the manifest that the batteries should be handled with care and that there was a flammability hazard. However, several experts have ruled out the theory that the plane might have caught fire, as it would have struggled to fly on for several hours afterwards. According to Malaysian newspaper The Star, NNR Global's base is less than 100m from Penang International Airport. "The complex is guarded by the police and only those with passes are allowed entry," said the newspaper. The underwater hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has resumed and will complete a search in a targeted area of the Indian Ocean before handing over to private contractors within the next week. Flight MH370: book claims missing plane was shot down 20 May A new book claims that the missing Malaysian Airways flight MH370 may have been shot down accidentally by US-Thai joint strike fighters in a military exercise that went wrong in the South China Sea. The book also claims that search and rescue efforts were deliberately sent in the wrong direction as part of a cover-up, the Daily Mail reports. Flight MH370 – The Mystery, by British writer Nigel Cawthorne, bases its theory on the account of a New Zealand oil rig worker Mike McKay who says he saw a jet liner "burst into fire" on the evening the flight went missing. McKay said that he saw something "burning at high altitude" over the oil rig on which he works, the Songa Mercur located off Vung Tau, on the south east coast of Vietnam. Cawthorne suggests that such evidence indicates that there may have been a cover-up over the disappearance of the MH370. In the book's introduction, Cawthorne says that relatives of the plane's passengers will "almost certainly" never know the fate of those who went missing. The family of Rod Burrows, an Australian man who was aboard the flight, criticised the timing of the book's release, 71 days after the jet went missing. Irene Burrows, his mother, told the Melbourne Herald Sun that the publication of the book was premature. "Nobody knows what happened so why would anyone want to put out a book at this stage?" she said. "There's absolutely no answers. It's devastating for the families. It's ten weeks tomorrow and there's nothing," she said. In a blog post, Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, wrote that he believes the US Central Intelligence Agency must know something about the plane's fate. "Airplanes don't just disappear," he wrote on his blog. "Certainly not these days with all the powerful communication systems, radio and satellite tracking and filmless cameras which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities. "For some reason, the media will not print anything that involves Boeing or the CIA." In an effort to counter the increasing swirl of rumours, Malaysia said today that it would release data from the British satellite company Inmarsat which had been used to define the search area for the missing plane. "In moving forward it is imperative for us to provide helpful information to the next of kin and general public, which will include the data communication logs as well as relevant explanation to enable the reader to understand the data provided," the Malaysian government said in a statement. Relatives of those on board Flight MH370, who have been critical of Malaysia's response, have previously claimed that Inmarsat's data did not "support a definitive conclusion that no other flight path was possible," The Guardian reported. Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/flight-mh370/57641/flight-mh370-mystery-cargo-continues-to-raise-questions#ixzz32zWJh0jv Posted by: Louis Sheehan </p> 18556904 2014-05-29 01:20:14 2014-05-29 01:20:14 open open was-flight-mh370-taken-out-by-a-us-drone-18556904 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan EU Parliamentary election polls show England's far-right UKIP party and Le Pen's party in France leading in their respective countries; in Greece, the far-left sees gains. http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/27/eu-parliamentary-election-polls-show-england-s-far-right-ukip-party-and-le-pen-s-party-in-france-leading-in-their-respective-countries-in-greece--18549215/ Tue, 27 May 2014 03:57:58 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Louis Sheehan ] The rise of far-right wing parties in Europe By REUTERS 05/26/2014 03:21 BRUSSELS - Eurosceptic nationalists scored stunning victories in European Parliament elections in France and Britain on Sunday as critics of the European Union more than doubled their seats in a continent-wide protest vote against austerity and unemployment. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called the breakthrough by Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, anti-euro National Front in one of the EU's founding nations a political "earthquake". Anti-establishment parties of the far right and hard left, their scores amplified by low turnout, made gains in many countries although in Germany, the EU's biggest member state with the largest number of seats, and Italy, the pro-European centre ground held firm. In a vote that raised more doubts about Britain's long-term future in the EU, Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party, which advocates immediate withdrawal, led the opposition Labour party and Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives comfortably with almost half the results declared. A jubilant Le Pen, whose party beat President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists into third place, told supporters: "The people have spoken loud and clear ... they no longer want to be led by those outside our borders, by EU commissioners and technocrats who are unelected. "They want to be protected from globalisation and take back the reins of their destiny." With 80 percent of votes counted, the National Front had won 26 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of the conservative opposition UMP on 20.6 percent, with the Socialists on 13.8, their second heavy defeat in two months after losing dozens of town halls in March. First official results from around the 28-nation bloc showed the pro-European centre-left and centre-right parties will keep control of the 751-seat EU legislature, but the number of Eurosceptic members will more than double. The centre-right European People's Party, led by former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, was set to win 212 seats, preliminary results issued by the parliament showed. "As the EPP has a strong lead ... I am ready to accept the mandate of the European Commission president," Juncker told reporters in parliament. "We will have a clear pro-European majority in this house." The centre-left Socialists led by outgoing European Parliament President Martin Schulz of Germany were in second place with 186 seats followed by the centrist liberals on 70 and the Greens on 55. Eurosceptic groups were expected to win about 141 seats, according to a Reuters estimate, the far left 43 and conservatives 44. A glum looking Schulz would not concede defeat, telling reporters he would negotiate with other parties. "It is a bad day for the European Union when a party with such a racist, xenophobic and anti-Semite programme gets 24-25 percent of the vote in France," he said. "But these voters aren't extremists, they have lost trust, they have lost hope." UKIP MAKE BIG GAINS The political fallout may be felt more strongly in national politics than at EU level, pulling mainstream conservative parties further to the right and raising pressure to crack down on immigration. In Britain, where voting took place last Thursday, UKIP had 29 percent half way through the count, with Labour and the Conservatives neck-and-neck for second place with just under 24 percent each. That will pile pressure on Cameron, who has promised Britons an in/out referendum on EU membership in 2017 if he is re-elected next year, to take an even tougher line in Europe. His pro-European Liberal Democrat coalition partners were set to lose nearly all their seats. "The whole European project has been a lie," Farage said on a television link-up with Brussels. "I don't just want Britain to leave the European Union, I want Europe to leave the European Union." In Italy, pro-European Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party was on course for a triumph, building a strong lead over the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of former comic Beppe Grillo, early projections showed. The anti-immigration far right People's Party topped the poll in Denmark and the extreme-right Jobbik, widely accused of racism and anti-Semitism, finished second in Hungary. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islam, Eurosceptic Dutch Freedom Party of Geert Wilders' - which plans an alliance with Le Pen - finished joint second in terms of seats behind a pro-European centrist opposition party. Although 388 million Europeans were eligible to vote, fewer than half cast ballots. The turnout was officially 43.1 percent, barely higher than the 2009 nadir of 43 percent, despite efforts to personalise the election with the main political families putting forward a leading candidate or "Spitzenkandidat". In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats secured 35.3 percent of the vote, down from a 23-year-high of 41.5 percent in last year's federal election but still a clear victory. The centre-left Social Democrats, her coalition partners, took 27.3 percent. The anti-euro Alternative for Germany won seats for the first time with 7 percent, the best result so far for a conservative party created only last year to oppose bailouts and call for weaker southern members to be ejected from the single currency area. GREEK FAR LEFT GAINS In Greece, epicentre of the euro zone's debt crisis, the radical left anti-austerity Syriza movement of Alexis Tsipras won the vote but failed to deliver a knockout blow to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' government. An official projection gave Syriza 26.7 percent, ahead of Samaras' conservative New Democracy on 22.8 percent, reflecting popular anger at harsh spending cuts adopted in recent years to meet the terms of Athens' EU/IMF bailout programme. "Europeans are celebrating the defeat of the bailout and austerity in the country the European leadership turned into the guinea pig of the crisis," Tsipras said. The two parties in the coalition, New Democracy and PASOK, won a combined vote larger than that of Syriza, and political analyst Theodore Couloumbis said the government's survival was not at stake despite its narrow two-seat majority. Sunday was the fourth and final day of voting in elections to the European Parliament, which is an equal co-legislator with member states on most EU laws. Far-right and radical left groups will have roughly a quarter of the seats, enough to gain a much louder voice but probably not to block EU legislation. Officials said final results and seat allotments would likely not be finalised until later on Monday. The record low turnout was in Slovakia, with just 13 percent. The highest was 90 percent in Belgium, where voting is compulsory and there was a general election on the same day. Sweden appeared to have elected the only feminist party member of the EU assembly. Posted but not written by: Lou Sheehan </p> 18549215 2014-05-27 03:57:58 2014-05-27 03:57:58 open open eu-parliamentary-election-polls-show-england-s-far-right-ukip-party-and-le-pen-s-party-in-france-leading-in-their-respective-countries-in-greece--18549215 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan David Lloyd George http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/23/david-lloyd-george-18527613/ Fri, 23 May 2014 23:23:03 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Lou Sheehan ] David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–1915), Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government (1916–22), during and immediately after the First World War. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of Germany in the Great War. He arguably made a greater impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his pre-war introduction of Britain's social welfare system, his leadership in winning the war, his post-war role in reshaping Europe and his partitioning Ireland (between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland which remained part of the UK). He was the last Liberal to serve as Prime Minister. Parliamentary support for the coalition premiership was mostly from Conservatives rather than his own Liberals. The Liberal split led to the permanent decline of that party as a serious political force. Although he became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, he was unable to regain power, and by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. In the Second World War he was known for defeatism. Although many barristers have been Prime Minister, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office. He is also so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and to have spoken English as a second language.[4] He was voted the third greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a poll of 139 academics organised by MORI, and in 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote. Posted but not written by: Louis Sheehan</p> 18527613 2014-05-23 23:23:03 2014-05-23 23:23:03 open open david-lloyd-george-18527613 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan WATCH: New robotic system seeks to meet threats posed by landmines, explosives. Jerusalem Post. http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/18/watch-new-robotic-system-seeks-to-meet-threats-posed-by-landmines-explosives-jerusalem-post-18475450/ Sun, 18 May 2014 07:27:06 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference. I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me. – Lou Sheehan ] By JPOST.COM STAFF LAST UPDATED: 05/14/2014 inShare New unmanned system could be applied to Israel's border patrol duties and forward combat engineering missions. Israel Aerospace Industries revealed on Tuesday the new Sahar robotic system intended to meet threats posed by explosives and mines. The project was developed jointly with Kinetic North America and Watairpoll LTD. The system prototype is being presented this week at the AUVSI exhibition in Orlando, Florida. Sahar is a completely autonomous system with the ability to tackle various operational activities such as detecting land mines, dealing with improvised explosive devices and various other threats, then removing them. A statement by IAI expressed that these and other similar tasks are currently undertaken by ground personnel or remote-controlled robots which require a great deal of skill and time from their handlers while the proximity necessary to deal with such threats poses a great danger to human personnel. The Sahar system was developed to overcome these challenges. IAI hopes to apply the new technology to Israel's border patrol missions and combat engineering's reconnaissance missions. Posted but not written by: Louis Sheehan</p> 18475450 2014-05-18 07:27:06 2014-05-18 07:27:06 open open watch-new-robotic-system-seeks-to-meet-threats-posed-by-landmines-explosives-jerusalem-post-18475450 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Did We Just Get One Step Closer To Finding The Zodiac Killer? Author’s New Book Points Finger at His Dad • By Justine Hofherr http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/17/did-we-just-get-one-step-closer-to-finding-the-zodiac-killer-author-s-new-book-points-finger-at-his-dad-by-justine-hofherr-18464759/ Sat, 17 May 2014 01:44:08 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Did We Just Get One Step Closer To Finding The Zodiac Killer? Author’s New Book Points Finger at His Dad • By Justine Hofherr • Boston.com Staff • May 14, 2014 3:44 PM Will a new book cause the case for the Zodiac killer to be reopened...or even solved? Maybe. Louisiana author Gary L. Stewart claims that the Zodiac killer, infamous for sending taunting letters and cryptograms to the Bay Area press, was his father, late rare book dealer Earl Van Best Jr. The serial Zodiac killer operated in northern California in the late 1960s and early 70s. In letters, he claimed to have killed 37 people, but only five have been confirmed as his victims. Though he was never identified, the horrifying story has fascinated people for decades. In 2007, the film “Zodiac,” based on the murders and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr., was released and grossed an estimated $65 million at the box office. Stewart, an electrical engineer, was abandoned by his birth parents early in life. According to The Washington Post: Adopted as an infant by a loving family, Stewart never knew the identity of his birth parents until his birth mother ? Judith Gilford ? reached out to him in 2002. He soon learned that she was 14 when she ran away from home with a 27-year-old rare book dealer named Earl Van Best Jr., later giving birth to his child in New Orleans in February 1963 when the two were on the run from the authorities searching for Gilford, a minor. Against the wishes of Gary?s frightened, confused teenage mom, Best abandoned their month-old son in a Baton Rouge apartment building. Armed with this new information, Stewart embarked on a mission to better understand his father. He sifted through government records, news reports, and tracked down numerous friends and relatives of his birth parents. As Stewart learned more about his father, he eventually became convinced that Earl Van Best Jr. was, in fact, the Zodiac killer. Stewart then teamed up with journalist Susan Mustafa to document his decade-long hunt for the truth about his father’s identity. His book describes Van Best as a “troubled boy with disturbing fixations,” “a frustrated intellectual with high culture pretensions,” and “a jilted lover” with an inability to quell his rage. HarperCollins told New York Magazine that Van Best, who had a criminal record in San Francisco involving forgeries and bad checks, had a mugshot that bore an uncanny resemblance to the police sketches of the Zodiac killer. The book, “The Most Dangerous Animal Of All,” hit bookstores in the U.S. on May 13. If you can’t get your hands on a copy, you can always rent the movie. You can reach me at justine.hofherr@globe.com. Follow me @Jhofherr29 Reposted by: Louis Sheehan </p> 18464759 2014-05-17 01:44:08 2014-05-17 01:44:08 open open did-we-just-get-one-step-closer-to-finding-the-zodiac-killer-author-s-new-book-points-finger-at-his-dad-by-justine-hofherr-18464759 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Reckless in Kiev: Neocons, Putin and Ukraine Al Jazeera Marwan Bishara http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/13/reckless-in-kiev-neocons-putin-and-ukraine-al-jazeera-marwan-bishara-18432047/ Tue, 13 May 2014 04:48:14 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Reckless in Kiev: Neocons, Putin and Ukraine Why Obama and Putin must desist from reckless military interventions in other countries' affairs. Last updated: 10 Mar 2014 15:55 Marwan Bishara Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. RSSBooks Moscow has largely failed to contain Western Ukrainian tendencies despite its sticks and carrots, writes Bishara [EPA] Like most of the people speaking about Ukraine,I am no expert. But I know one or two things about the history of the Cold War to recognise a polarising cliche when I hear one, or a demonising characterisation that leads to further escalation of a dangerous situation. Already, the ripples from Ukraine are having long terms strategic ramifications regardless whether a diplomatic solution is reached soon. Alas, much of that depends not on Ukrainians but rather on Moscow and Washington - my very focus here and in the next episode of EMPIRE . Both have cynically pulled and shoved this country in the name of freedom and security, euphemisms for imperial interests, and pretexts for intervention. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made bold moves and a few conciliatory statements since the crisis deteriorated, with lots of improvisation in between, in an attempt to achieve the twin goals of preserving Russia's interest in Ukraine and stemming the tide of Western expansion in Ukraine and former republics of the Soviet Union. And in the process reconstitute Moscow's area of influence His abrupt and repressive ways are questionable; indeed reprehensible. Counting the Cost - The price of military intervention How Washington reacts depends largely on its original motivations and goals for getting so deeply involved, and on whether the White House was privy to what US diplomats, notably Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland and US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt,, were cooking in Kiev. In other words, what did Obama know and when did he know it? Putin: Ukraine as a redline After so many east European nations and former republics of the Soviet Union deserted Moscow in favour of the West, Putin has made it clear over the last decade that Ukraine, like Georgia, is a Russian redline. And like all imposed lines, it's red on one side, green on the other, in this case, allowing Moscow to intervene while denying Washington the same power or privilege. This is of course a familiar notion in global power politics. (In Palestine, the green line is red to the Palestinians, green to Israelis.) But geopolitical familiarity shouldn't be confused with international legality. Ukraine, a country of 45 million, has been a major Russian economic and strategic partner, and is the last major buffer zone separating it from NATO. So it comes as no surprise that Moscow, the powerful former patron, subordinates Ukraine's sovereignty to its own national and strategic interests, two decades after it gained independence. Post-Cold War agreements, that granted Ukraine its independence and disarmed it of its nuclear weapons, allow Russia to maintain as many as 25,000 Russian troops in the Crimea region, the region with a Russian majority witnessing much of today's tension. Headed by a former KGB agent, Russia is most likely to be clandestinely and deeply involved in the internal affairs of its neighbour. Or as the Europeans have come to realise, Westerners come and go but Russian secret services have been at home in Ukraine. Headed by a former KGB agent, Russia is most likely to be clandestinely and deeply involved in the internal affairs of its neighbour. Or as the Europeans have come to realise, Westerners come and go but Russian secret services have been at home in Ukraine. Nonetheless, Moscow has largely failed to coopt or contain Western Ukrainian tendencies, despite its sticks and carrots including Putin's December offer of $15 bn in loans and discounted gas prices. Putin, who remained rather cool in response to Western meddling in Ukrainian affairs, has finally fired back rather aggressively after the removal and flight of President Viktor Yanukovich - referring to it as coup d'etat. Nuland: 'Yats is the guy' Victoria Nuland is the gal who made headlines after her infamous "F*** the EU" remark during a phone conversation with US ambassador to Ukraine Geofrey Pyatt. The exchange that appears to have been monitored and leaked by Russian intelligence - was posted on youtube under the Russian title - "Maidan Puppets". Although Nuland's profanity got all the attention, her arrogance during the conversation was far more telling and dangerous. Like an imperial commissaire from a past era, she assigned roles in the future government, and made it clear who would and who wouldn't join, dismissing Vitali Klitchko and anointing Arseniy Yasenyuk - who did become the present prime minister, all the while casually referring to them as "Klitsch" and "Yats". She insisted, "Yats is the guy" to lead. The same Yats who’s in Washington this week to discuss the future of Ukraine. If this sounds like a brazen old-fashion interference in another country's affairs, well, it is. It's also rash and counterproductive. When the foreign diplomats in question join demonstrations and give out cookies to protesters, as Nuland and others did, they're in effect saying; to hell with Russia. Judging by her record, Nuland is happy to provoke a crisis leading to a break up with Russia. But - at least - she and the State department, and yes, the CIA should have known that Russia wouldn't allow it. Or did they know it? Enter a major crisis that could escalate into a military confrontation. It's "deja vu all over again" - with the neocons providing the pretext to America's military interventionists to make the case for muscular intervention or even war, such as Nuland's former boss, Dick Cheney, the godfather of the 2003 war on Iraq. Cheney was quick to point out that Obama's weakness prompted Putin to act and that military rather than diplomatic moves are need to deter Putin. Cheney recommended at least three immediate military steps: Deploying missile systems in Poland, preparing for NATO military exercises close to the Russian borders, and arming and training Ukrainian forces. It's the closest thing to what American Russia expert Stephen Cohen called: "Two steps from a Cuban Missile Crisis and three steps from war with Russia for the first time." If it walks like a… A woman for all seasons when it comes to Washington politics, Nuland was at home in the Clinton and Bush administration as she is today at the Obama administration. She served as assistant Vice President Dick Cheney, ambassador to NATO, and an Obama State Department spokesperson before taking on her current position in September 2013. But there should be no mistaking her ideological leaning. Not only because she's the spouse of leading neoconservative, Robert Kagan. Or, that she's the sister-in-law of another prominent Neocon, Fredrick Kagan and wife Kimberly, both think-tank type military historians. Russia declares support for Crimea breakaway They all belong to a Washington clique of neoconservatives that continue to affect foreign policy who, like most of the other collaborators in the movement, haven't served in the military and are referred to by their detractors as "chicken-hawks". "F*** the EU" is the new improvised version of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the neocons' hostility towards "Old Europe". In his 2003 book, "Of Paradise and Power", Robert Kagan highlighted the difference and division between the US and Europe - Americans from Mars, Europeans from Venus. The Kagans reckon Europe should be marginalized because it's too soft, overly diplomatic. A charge the Europeans reject. Especially when it's the Polish, America's close friends in Europe, who have spearheaded EU diplomacy in Kiev before and after the crisis broke out in Ukraine. Another example of neocon-leaning activist, who has been playing an important role in Ukraine and paving the way for the anti Russian movement, is Carl Gersham, the head of the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.He served as head of the CIA associated Radio Free Europe at the height of the Cold War. Paradoxically, he's been at the helm of this democracy promoting organisation 30 years or longer than most of the world's autocracies. If you look up Ukraine at NED's website, you'll see the almost 70 programmes listed in 2012 that are financed by the organisation. That's not to say that Ukrainians have been merely instigated or that those who receive funds are suspect. Certainly not. They do have legitimate reasons to protest against corrupt leaders and in favor or better standard of living. But from Putin’s perspective, Gresham's activities constitute meddling in Ukraine’s affairs, plain and simple. For the record, I don't fault the neoconservatives for their idealism or declared position on the promotion of human rights, freedom and democracy. I am personally a staunch supporter of these principles in international relations. What I do question is their double standard - for example on Israel/Palestine - and methods - all too eager to use military force. The neocons are pretty messianic in the way they see the battle for universal freedom as integral to American power and the fulfillment of its destiny. Fortunately, President Obama has refrained from escalating militarily, preferring instead to remain diplomatically engaged. Unfortunately, however, the damage is already done. And it's doubtful the Russian Western relationship could get back on track any time soon. That's why Presidents Obama and Putin need to make it clear they regret their diplomats' political intrusion in Ukraine, and reject reckless foreign military interventions in other countries' affairs. And they must avoid war at any cost. A redline for both sides. Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. Source: Al Jazeera Posted by: Louis Sheehan </p> 18432047 2014-05-13 04:48:14 2014-05-13 04:48:14 open open reckless-in-kiev-neocons-putin-and-ukraine-al-jazeera-marwan-bishara-18432047 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Monica should apologize to Hillary May 11, 2014, 1:23 pm Read more: Monica should apologize to Hillary | Shmuley Boteach | Ops &amp; Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/monica-should-apologize-to-hilary Shmuley Boteach http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/12/monica-should-apologize-to-hillary-may-11-2014-1-23-pm-read-more-monica-should-apologize-to-hillary-shmuley-boteach-ops-blogs-the-times-of-israel-18430804/ Mon, 12 May 2014 20:11:01 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Monica Lewinsky is back in the news after a decade hiatus. She returned to tell us, as the headline of The New York Post put it, that ‘her life sucks.’ Because of her notoriety she can’t find a job. Because of her infamy she finds it difficult to sustain a relationship. There is nothing particularly newsworthy in any of this. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! But then she added she feels that Hillary was doing a disservice to women when she appeared to blame her own “emotional neglect” of her husband for driving him to Monica. Lewinsky is scandalized that Hillary is blaming herself rather than her husband, the perpetrator. Let’s be clear. The only thing that should bring Monica Lewinsky back into the public eye is repentance and a public apology to Hillary. It’s utterly crude to come back just to cause the woman more pain. I don’t care if people love Hillary Clinton as a public personality or hate her. This has nothing to do with the fact that in her husband’s affair she is the victim. Anyone who thinks otherwise has a broken moral compass. If our society is to retain any sense of values then it will declare the truth. Monica Lewinsky is a home wrecker. Pure and simple. She was an adult when she had an affair with a famously married man. This was deeply immoral and she owes the man’s wife an apology. What she further owes Hillary is just getting out of her face. She has to stop rubbing the offended party’s face in her own pain. Was Hillary responsible for Bill’s affair? Absolutely not. Not one bit. It was not her emotional neglect of her husband that led him to cheat. He always had the power to choose. There was nothing she did that removed from him his capacity for moral choice. If his wife was neglecting him emotionally then he could easily have gone to marriage counseling, talked to his wife about it, gotten a friend to talk to both of them about it, or, worst case scenario, seek a separation and divorce. All of these are moral choices. They may be painful, they may harm the family, but they are moral. But lying and cheating and deceiving is deeply immoral. And personal accountability dictates that we are responsible for the bad things we do and should never blame someone else. Do I believe for a moment that Hillary is right to blame herself for the affair, if that is indeed the truth? No. Absolutely not. But one thing I know for sure. The last person in the world who should be telling her this is Monica Lewinsky. It’s not for the woman who had the affair with her husband to stick her nose in it again. It’s for her to apologize and then stay clear of the couple. I have written an entire book on infidelity called Kosher Adultery. To write the book I interviewed countless couples where a partner was unfaithful. Discovering your spouse has lied to you and compromised the intimacy of the marriage is one of the most painful things in life you will ever discover. Those who are immoral enough to have relationships with married people deserve the same condemnation as the cheating partner themselves. And both need to repent. There are few things in life more cruel, heartless, and selfish than having an affair with a married man or woman. The harm it does to a family is incalculable. The pain it causes the victimized spouse is forever. When Moses encounters God for the very time he does so by seeing a manifestation of the divine in a burning bush. God orders him to remove his shoes, lest he tread on holy ground and desecrate it. Marriage is holy, marriage is special. It is that same holy ground. Outsiders dare not trample on it. The Clintons are fair game politically. If someone wants to dismiss them as political opportunists, that’s their prerogative. If you want to vote for their opponents, go ahead. If you want to assail their policies and positions, well, that’s what democracy is all about. But for those who want to delve deeply into their marriage – analyze it, hurt it, dissect it, make assumptions about it, intrude upon it –I’m sorry. That’s not their place. It’s wrong and it’s a violation. As a society we either believe in marriage or we don’t. It’s time for us to choose. Posted </p> 18430804 2014-05-12 20:11:01 2014-05-12 20:11:01 open open monica-should-apologize-to-hillary-may-11-2014-1-23-pm-read-more-monica-should-apologize-to-hillary-shmuley-boteach-ops-blogs-the-times-of-israel-18430804 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Ex-Mossad chief calls Newsweek spy story ‘delusional’ http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/12/ex-mossad-chief-calls-newsweek-spy-story-delusional-18427875/ Mon, 12 May 2014 07:00:15 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Danny Yatom says Israel has more advanced methods than crawling through hotel air vents to snoop on vice presidents By Spencer Ho and Times of Israel staff Posted by: Louis Sheehan A former head of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, on Sunday brushed off as “delusional” a Newsweek article alleging an Israeli spy hid in the vents of a Jerusalem hotel during a visit by then-US vice president Al Gore 16 years ago. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! “We did not spy on [Gore] or any other American targets in Israel or abroad,” Danny Yatom, who was chief of the Mossad at the time, said in an interview on Army Radio. “I think that there are much more advanced methods that everybody who’s seen movies and read books on the subject knows to say to himself that these methods of agents crawling through the ventilation ducts to get to the room of the vice president of the United States — these descriptions are delusional.” According to a former senior US intelligence agent who spoke to Newsweek, when Al Gore was vice president, a surprise guest was hiding in an air duct in his hotel room during a trip to Israel 16 years ago — an alleged Israeli spy. The source detailed how after US Secret Service agents swept the room, clearing it, one of the men stayed behind to use the bathroom before Gore was to arrive, when he heard a sound. “So the room was all quiet, he was just meditating on his toes, and he hears a noise in the vent. And he sees the vent clips being moved from the inside. And then he sees a guy starting to exit the vent into the room,” the former operative told Newsweek, adding that the Secret Service agent did not scramble for his gun. “He kind of coughed and the guy went back into the vents.” Former US vice president Al Gore (Photo credit: CC BY 2.0, Erik Charlton from Menlo Park, USA/Wikimedia) Former US vice president Al Gore (Photo credit: CC BY 2.0, Erik Charlton from Menlo Park, USA/Wikimedia) On Thursday, Newsweek published a report quoting unnamed former US intelligence officials, alleging that Israel’s aggressive spying activities in the United States have been routinely hushed up because of the country’s powerful connections in Congress. Israel has emphatically denied the claims. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said Saturday that an impression was forming in Israel that “someone” was trying to harm the “excellent” intelligence cooperation between Israel and the United States. The Newsweek article came two days after a story published in the magazine cited US intelligence officials and congressional staffers who have been privy to information on Israeli spying activities, calling the extent of it “shocking,” “sobering” and far exceeding similar activities by any other close US allies. The issue of spying has come to the forefront in recent months as the possible release of Jonathan Pollard, a jailed American-Israeli spy, was brought up in connection with Israel-Palestinian peace talks. Pollard, a US-born navy intelligence analyst, is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina prison for spying for Israel. He was captured in 1985. The issue of Israel’s spying also became an issue in its bid to join the US visa waiver program. Reports have indicated that Israel’s covert activities were holding it back from achieving its goal of joining the program, which would allow Israeli citizens to travel to the US with much greater ease. A former aide told Newsweek that even if Israel takes the required steps to enter the program, there are reservations within the American security establishment about letting them in. “They’re incredibly aggressive. They’re aggressive in all aspects of their relationship with the United States,“ the aide said. “If we give them free rein to send people over here, how are we going to stop that? Read more: Ex-Mossad chief calls Newsweek spy story 'delusional' | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-mossad-chief-calls-newsweek-spy-story-delusional/#ixzz31Twzt7N0 Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook </p> 18427875 2014-05-12 07:00:15 2014-05-12 07:00:15 open open ex-mossad-chief-calls-newsweek-spy-story-delusional-18427875 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan 5,000 years later, the wheel gets an Israeli update Read more: 5,000 years later, the wheel gets an Israeli update | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/5000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update/#ixzz31S3QkrXj Follow us: @timesofisra http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/11/5-000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update-read-more-5-000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update-the-times-of-israel-http-www-time-18426266/ Sun, 11 May 2014 23:11:17 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>With a flexible shock absorption system built into the wheel itself, SoftWheel boosts stability without sacrificing speed — in wheelchairs, bikes, cars, even planes By David Shamah May 11, 2014, 4:24 pm Posted by: Louis Sheehan Read more: 5,000 years later, the wheel gets an Israeli update | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/5000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update/#ixzz31S3X2lbX Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook SoftWheel, an Israeli company, is giving a high-tech update to the wheel, the ancient engine of civilization that enabled humans to explore their world. Its new technology, focused around a flexible shock absorption system built into the wheel itself, allows for better stability when needed without sacrificing speed. “With all due modesty, I say that what we have created is a game changer,” said Daniel Barel, CEO of SoftWheel. “Our wheel technology can be developed for and retrofitted to any vehicle,” notably including bikes, cars and jet planes. Read more: 5,000 years later, the wheel gets an Israeli update | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/5000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update/#ixzz31S3IrWCl Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook Its new technology, focused around a flexible shock absorption system built into the wheel itself, allows for better stability when needed without sacrificing speed. “With all due modesty, I say that what we have created is a game changer,” said Daniel Barel, CEO of SoftWheel. “Our wheel technology can be developed for and retrofitted to any vehicle,” notably including bikes, cars and jet planes. The airline industry is already in touch with SoftWheel, and the company sees immense potential there. But planes and automobiles will have to wait a while, Barel said, as the Israeli firm is focused first on wheelchairs and bikes. “People in the airline industry heard about what we were doing, and asked us to develop landing gear incorporating our technology,” said Barel. “We weren’t sure it could be done at first, but, after doing some work on the project, we became convinced that it could be done, and could save airlines lots of money. We’re now developing the landing gear system, which will eliminate the need for the expensive hydraulics currently used to ensure that a plane lands properly. This technology has not been updated in sixty years.” Still, in planes and cars, “it takes years to make changes. They have to be approved and implemented, factories have to adopt new manufacturing techniques, and so on,” said Barel. Much better to start with the wheelchair and bicycle markets, which are easier to break into. “Most of the world’s wheelchairs are used in hospitals, but there is a large premium market for people who want to live active lives but are restricted to wheelchairs by their disabilities. These people want to be as mobile and self-reliant as possible, and our technology makes this possible,” said Barel. Barel sees bikers embracing the SoftWheel. “Our wheel will enable bikers to ride faster and more smoothly,” he said. “In standard wheels, about 30 percent of propulsion energy is reserved for suspension, even if that suspension isn’t necessary at a specific time. With our system, suspension can be turned on and off as needed, reserving more energy for speed.” Daniel Barel (Photo credit: Courtesy) Daniel Barel (Photo credit: Courtesy) The oldest wheels found are about 5,000 years old from Mesopotamia, and it’s on that basic technology that modern wheels roll. What Barel and a team of engineers from Ziv-Av, an Israeli engineering firm, are doing entails a reimagining of the wheel — with a system redesign that incorporates shock absorption that turns itself on when necessary. The system, called Symmetrical Selective In-Wheel Suspension, uses sensors and three compression spokes to hold the wheel in place. When it encounters an impact, the wheel’s hub shifts, with the shock absorption cushioning the impact. The threshold can be preset by the manufacturer or user. Once past the impact, the wheel returns to its previous rigid state, saving the energy normally reserved for impact absorption in standard wheels and enabling it to be used for propulsion instead. Generally, only very high-end wheelchairs have shock absorption built in, necessitating wheelchair-accessible entrances to buildings. “It’s difficult and painful to use a wheelchair to cross the street, with the chair’s rider feeling the strong impact of a chair going off the sidewalk and onto a curb,” said Barel. “With a SoftWheel-equipped chair, a wheelchair user can cross streets or go down steps without feeling the impact.” Bikes, both manual and electric, are another big market for SoftWheel, which employs six people and is located in the Haifa area . “With cities around the world implementing biking programs for commuter, there is a big market for more comfortable rides,” said Barel. “Our wheels can easily replace the standard ones used for bikes, and make bike commuting much more comfortable.” For wheelchairs and bicycles, adding SoftWheel suspension is all about increasing energy efficiency and making the ride much more comfortable. For the car and plane markets, the system will be able to save manufacturers a lot of money, Barel predicts. “The bigger the vehicle, the more suspension you need, and both cars and planes have elaborate suspension systems,” said Barel. “In order to make up for the energy expended on the suspension, engines have to be made to work harder, using more fuel and resources. With our sensor-based technology and the suspension system built into the wheels, you can save a lot of fuel.” Ditto for cars, said Barel, although implementing the SoftWheel system in planes and cars won’t happen overnight. “Plane designs have to be approved by the Federal Aviation Industry in the US, and implementing changes in the automobile industry takes time. But eventually, both industries are going to adopt our design. Until now you had to choose between comfort and efficiency in wheel design, and now, for the first time, you can have both.” If the SoftWheel catches on in the way Barel thinks it will, Israel will become a world center of wheel technology and production. “Nearly all the materials we use to produce our wheels are made in Israel, and we are currently building a large production facility in northern Israel to build SoftWheels,” said Barel. “This, like our product, is an innovation as well, because not too many industrial products are made in Israel. All around we are developing a new paradigm, one we believe the world will embrace.” Read more: 5,000 years later, the wheel gets an Israeli update | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/5000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update/#ixzz31S3EMqYo Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook </p> 18426266 2014-05-11 23:11:17 2014-05-11 23:11:17 open open 5-000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update-read-more-5-000-years-later-the-wheel-gets-an-israeli-update-the-times-of-israel-http-www-time-18426266 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Sitting comfortably versus lying down: Is there really a difference in energy expenditure? J.L. Miles-Chanemail address , D. Sarafian , J.P. Montani , Y. Schutz , A.G. Dulloo http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/10/sitting-comfortably-versus-lying-down-is-there-really-a-difference-in-energy-expenditure-j-l-miles-chanemail-address-d-sarafian-j-p-montani-y-sch-18419315/ Sat, 10 May 2014 04:10:02 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Sitting comfortably versus lying down: Is there really a difference in energy expenditure? J.L. Miles-Chanemail address , D. Sarafian , J.P. Montani , Y. Schutz , A.G. Dullooemail address Received 27 September 2013; accepted 17 November 2013. published online 25 November 2013. Abstract Full Text PDF Images References Summary Background & aims Energy expenditure (EE) during sitting is widely assumed to be higher than that while lying down, but supporting evidence is equivocal. Despite this, resting EE in the sitting position is often used as a proxy for basal metabolic rate. Here we investigate whether EE differs in the comfortable seated position compared to supine (lying) position. Methods EE and respiratory quotient (RQ) were measured (by ventilated hood indirect calorimetry) in 19 healthy subjects (9 men, 10 women) after an overnight fast. Supine measurements were made using a comfortable clinical tilting table and sitting measurements made using an adjustable, ergonomic car seat adapted for the hood system. After about 30 min of rest in either position, metabolic monitoring was conducted until stabilization of EE for at least 15 min in each posture. Results EE in the sitting position was not significantly different compared to supine (</p> 18419315 2014-05-10 04:10:02 2014-05-10 04:10:02 open open sitting-comfortably-versus-lying-down-is-there-really-a-difference-in-energy-expenditure-j-l-miles-chanemail-address-d-sarafian-j-p-montani-y-sch-18419315 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Deception: A Review and Critical Analysis of the book, Encounter In Rendlesham Forest By Peter Robbins, April - May 2014 http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/10/could-get-a-movie-deal-also-we-already-had-somebody-18419271/ Sat, 10 May 2014 03:54:46 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Deception: A Review and Critical Analysis of the book, Encounter In Rendlesham Forest By Peter Robbins, April - May 2014 Posted by: Louis Sheehan This paper is provided copyright free and the reader is welcome to post, print, distribute, copy or otherwise share it in total without prior written consent from either the author or original publisher. Requests for permission to use excerpts should be secured by contacting the author at probbinsny@yahoo.com . An earlier version of the review contained in this book appears in UFO Truth Magazine, issue number six. Table of Contents Introduction 2 The Review and Investigation 4 The Investigation Continues 46 Conclusions 58 “I am afraid there is little I can offer; the only official report we have is from Lt Col Charles Halt which you already have. As far as I am aware, this report was looked at when it was received, and it was subsequently concluded that the events described were of no defence significance. The Ministry of Defence re ceives many UFO reports each year, and while we believe that explanations could be found for most, we accept that some will remain unexplained. It would seem that the RAF Woodbridge sightings would fall into this category. ... Finally, I wish you the best of luck with your book.” Excerpt from a February 2 1993 letter sent to me from the Ministry of Defence in response to my letter of inquiry, signed N. Pope “True we can put a book out then go on a book tour its OK with Warren and company so that what we shou ld do. We will finish our research put it in a book so everybody can see it at once and then go around and talk about it. Everybody else does that why not us! Maybe we put the cart before the horse Jim! Travis (Walton), Warren, Robbins and (Robert) SALAS a ll wrote one why not us! Everybody loves there books while we’re at it lets see if we 2 could get a movie deal also. We already had somebody offer to write it for us today how hard was th could get a movie deal also. We already had somebody offer to write it for us today how hard was that. I think I hear my phone ringing gotta go!” John Burroughs, April 7, 2012 “We have never attacked another direct witness, nor will we. We have pointed out incorrect information, and corrected that information with others. I believe you might be one of the people who can very well not handle what is going to be released ab out RFI, or where our investigation that John and I started on December 26, 1980 is about to cumulate in the near future. We can’t wait for it all to be factually all put out to the public, for them to analyze and to debate.” Jim Penniston, March 10, 2012 “Buy putting it in a book we will be able to show everything we have done. ... This is the best way then we can take question afterwards we want to thank Peter, Larry and Robert for the suggestion.” John Burroughs, March 23, 2012 “There are moments that g o beyond each of our poor lives.” Charles de Gaulle Introduction Some months back, my friend and colleague Gary Hazeltine, who is also publisher of UFO Truth Magazine in beautiful in West Yorkshire , asked if I’d be willing to use one of my regular magazine columns to review a new book due for publication in late April 2014. Issue number six of UFO Truth would going out to subscribers in early May so it was imperative that I locate, read, then write my review a s soon as possible, then make my deadline, something I regularly excelled at failing to do. Knowing something of my uneven history with two of the authors, Gary just wanted to make sure I was up for the assignment; he knew I would write an objective, even - handed review. About a month before its release date I requested a review copy from the publisher through proper channels. Several weeks later it had yet to arrive. I was visiting New York City that week and as usual when in town, stopped by my favorite bookstore, The Strand on Broadway and 12 th . I quickly made my way down the stairs to the basement, then advanced on the UFO and 3 paranormal stacks where, specifically the shelves belonging to the “P” authors. There it was, two copies actually, weeks before publication date, and at half the list price. Thank you Strand. Once home I flipped through it, but it sat for about a week before I actually begin reading it and making notes. And so it happened that as I read and wrote, making my objections and rendering praise in review form, I began to notice something, subtle at first, then more apparent, then truly begin to emerge from just below the surface of the words. If my imagination wasn’t running away with me I could only characterize what I was observing as a pattern, but a pattern that seemed to have been deliberately undertaken, in an intentional manner, and calculated only to manifest negative intent. And the more I observed it come into play, the more uncomfortable it made me feel. This feeling was soon re placed by one of anger, and finally one of serious concern. More, it was something very few readers would ever pick up on or even look for. The reason for this was that each separate element in the overall pattern was a specific piece of information only a vailable or found in Left At East Gate . Each data point was presented respectfully, if incomplete or in reconfigured form, then through the use of seemingly ‘’objective commentary and a dose of good common sense, would conclude that the pattern - point’s ‘fi ndings’ (again) strongly suggested there was good cause to doubt Larry Warren’s credibility and motivations regarding his involvement and claims, something which only reflected poorly on my professionalism, research and investigation skills, and reputation . By this point I was fully engaged in writing the most comprehensive book review in history and as a result, late in meeting my deadline as usual. It was handed it in running hysterically long, though Gary agreed to print it in its final form, even if he did have to breakdown and redesign the immediate page layouts. But somewhere along in my reading and writing the review, I began to write a separate paper, the intention of which was to focus on, detail, document and explain my concerns in a more appropri ate form. It was not lost on me that if I failed to make a case for what I perceived to be a grave series of concerns, no one else ever would. And possibly, no one else could. Over the next weeks I put more and more time into the paper until, by no stretch of the imagination, could it be defined as a ‘paper’ any longer. It was about here that I realized I was writing a book. I also realized how crazy it would sound to tell friends and colleagues I was writing a book that I had decided would take no longer t han a month to research, investigate, write, fact - check, edit, review, finalize, and have in print in just under a month, start to finish – with an expanded version of the original book review 4 included. Just under sixty pages of fourteen point translates i nto almost ninety standard book pages, so a book it is, even if a small one. Let me just add the following. I took no pleasure and little satisfaction in writing any part of what you are about to read. At the same time I knew it was important for me to do so. I did look for some way out of this, or for some alternate set of reasons that might explain or justify why Encounter In Rendlesham Forest was written in the precise manner it was. But I haven’t been able to and must conclude that parts of this book w as written with conscious intent to deceive its readers, and in so doing, demean the value of an outstanding book I had put almost ten years of my life into, and to minimize the contributions of the man responsible for setting that incredible undertaking i nto motion. I appreciate that in publishing this book I must take responsibility for all of the opinions, views and alleged conclusions expressed herein and I do. And now, Deception, the only book ever written that begins with a book review, I think. Peter Robbins Brooklyn New York May 7, 2014 The Review John Burroughs and Jim Penniston’s book on the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident is finally out, as written by Nick Pope in collaboration with the two eyewitnesses involved on the first of three nights of UFO activity, now collectively known as the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident. As any author of a serious work of nonfiction can attest, the actual writing of such a book should not be an extremely challenging process and one not to be undertaken lightly. There is no question that doing the initial research is critically important, and, but the ability to bring it all together in a fully professional manner is something else again. Having devoted nine years of my life to coauthoring a work on the same subj ect I speak from experience. Jim and John’s choice of Nick Pope as the lead author seemed a logical one. Nick is an established writer in the UFO field and author of four previous books on the subject. He brings with him both name recognition and the 5 uni que caveat of having served in Her Majesty’s Ministry of Defence for more than twenty years, several of which were spent officially charged with looking into UK UFO reports, a credential unique to this author. But there are downsides to this collaboration. To begin with, Penniston and Burroughs long - awaited personal story is communicated to us almost entirely in the second person and suffers for it. Let me say at the outset that no one I know disputes the involvement of these two witnesses, or the fact t hat their encounter experiences and those they incurred at the hands of ‘debriefers’ in its aftermath resulted in ongoing personal suffering, serious physical ailments, and uncontested symptoms of Post - Traumatic Stress. Even so, John’s somewhat glib notion about the ease of writing such a book on their own (“how hard was that.”?) seems to have proven a task beyond the pair’s collective abilities. Then again, neither of them are trained writers, nor have they ever claimed to be. In 1999 or 2000 I reviewed Nick’s first of two works of fiction, Operation Thunder Child, for Vicki and Don Ecker’s then - outstanding publication, UFO Magazine . I gave it a rave and deservedly so. It was an outstanding piece of ‘what if’ fiction and earned a review that reflected not hing less. Writing this review for Nick’s first new book in fourteen years has been proven to be something else again. A rather minor criticism to start with. This book is repetitious at times, in cases restating the same information, and occasionally on the same page. A far more significant shortcoming encountered in Encounter In Rendlesham Forest is that the book is entirely devoid of footnoted annotations. This is certainly a much less time - consuming way to write an inve stigative work, but diminishes its value as a serious research tool immeasurably. The book I co - wrote on the Rendlesham incident, Left At East Gate, included hundreds of carefully researched annotations, and make no mistake about it, compiling, organizing, and proof - checking each one was a boring, repetitive, labor - intensive process, but one I undertook gladly as both Larry and I felt that doing so was essential to the value and integrity of what we had set out to do. The absence of same here left me with t he distinct impression that rushing this book into print was more important to the authors than doing the best and most thorough job they were capable of. This leaves the reader with only the limited appendices, the book’s index, and if you want to include it, the table of contents, as reference tools. The index is problematic in itself as it lacks a surprising number of significant inclusions. I know it is a challenge 6 to make sure that all of the subjects, locations and individuals you’ve written about are listed in a book’s index and that you’re always going to miss a few no matter what, but it’s the job of the authors, their editor, and their publisher to do their best to assure that this is accomplished as successfully as possible. Encounter In Rendles ham Forest opens with a succinct introduction to its protagonists while setting the scene and offering some necessary background. The first chapter launches directly into the events of the first night with attention given to the other personnel who were di rectly or indirectly involved. I was surprised though at how disappointing it was to finally read Penniston and Burroughs’ long - awaited account, this only because – with the exception of a number of quotations and statements from the experiencers, it is to ld entirely in the third person by Pope. Nick shares the pair’s story clearly enough, but it is devoid of any real feeling or vitality, and I think it’s a shame that the witnesses themselves decided against relating this all - important narrative in their ow n words. What such a telling might have suffered in terms of loss of the professional polish that Nick supplies would have been more than made up for in heart, tension, and the ‘in - the - moment’ quality that can make the act of reading a good work of nonfict ion work so exciting. Jim and John’s selected statements, while welcome, are not an acceptable replacement for this. The two write their own chapter at the end of the book so why not here? Nick Pope never experienced the stress, challenge, or fear associat ed with these events, and when compared to experiencer accounts such as Travis Walton’s in Fire In the Sky , Whitley Strieber’s in Communion, Jesse Marcel Jr’s. in The Roswell Legacy, and Debbie Jordan and Kathie Mitchell’s in Abducted!,” there really is no comparison. Whitley of course is an accomplished professional writer but none of these other authors were. Here I must include Larry Warren as well. The incredible job he did in painstakingly writing, recreating, and relating his personal experiences in L eft At East Gate, also someone with no previous writing experience, Is consistently ‘in - the - moment’ and spot - on throughout. Then again, I’m biased. Hard work, definitely, but what a gift to the reader! The failure to fully recreate the most shattering nigh t of the witnesses’ lives gives us a book that opens on something of a flat, disappointing note. But as I read Nick’s treatment of the pair’s experiences, I couldn’t help but think about parts of Larry’s account, and in the form of a number of haunting si milarities shared by all three men during their respective 7 encounters: the malfunctioning radios, the ferocious static electricity charge in the air, John and Jim’s description of walking into the area “as akin to wading through deep water.” Larry’s memory of his movements having “become very slow, as if I were in a vacuum.” As Penniston and Burroughs approached the small clearing “there was a silent explosion of light.” As Warren and the men with him looked up to regard the reddish sphere of light, it “exp loded in a blinding flash (and without a sound).” Penniston observed “that what had first appeared to be a sphere of light in front of him had dissipated and now had the appearance of a craft of some sort.” Warren recalled “The explosion (of light) produce d no noticeable heat. But now, right in front of me was a machine occupying the spot where the fog had been.” Absolutely fascinating stuff. But when we come to the point in the narrative where Penniston touches the craft, there is a complete absence of any mention of his now - famous and insistent claim that a long binary code message down - loaded into his head. His December 2010 announcement of this allegation set off a major and still ongoing controversy in ufology, so why not introduce this charged moment i n the context of where and when it was actually supposed to have occurred? I do not know why Nick made this decision, but as a writer myself, I know that I’ve withheld such key information from its proper chronological place as a narrative device to buil d the reader’s sense of anticipation or tension. To the informed reader though I fear that in this context it may only come off as a bit ‘stagy.’ It certainly led me to feel that a ‘big reveal’ would be coming later on in the book. Unfortunately when we fi nally do encounter the binary code in the second to last chapter in the book, it is more with a whimper than a bang. As we continue to follow the story, we are reminded of how the pair chose to play down their anomalous experiences from the get - go, neith er of them wanting to be fully forthcoming in their respective written statements or reports. Nor is there any mention of the forty - five minutes of missing time they’d experienced, and with good cause. The UFO ridicule factor was and remains very much aliv e and well, and likely on steroids in a 1980 military context. Ask yourself this question: if you were in John or Jim’s place, would you have wanted such information to become a part of your permanent military record? Me neither. It was Deputy Base Command er Halt – very much a fixture in the men’s lives at this time and for more than twenty - five years to come, who suggested they use the phrase “unexplained lights” instead of ‘UFO’ in relevant reports. We are also reminded that the 8 Law Enforcement security b lotters for that night were removed, then classified, never to be seen again. In chapter two, “The Next Morning,” we begin with some military UFO - related history, information on base procedural matters, and are introduced to more of the personnel who had roles in the events during and/or leading up to the event. Burroughs and Penniston retrace their steps and return to the clearing where they again see the indentations in the soil associated with the craft. The next morning three others return to the site with them. Measurements and photographs are taken while plaster casts of the indentations are made. One of the men, Sgt. Ray Gulyas, later returns on his own to take personal photographs and make his own plaster casts. In chapter three, “Into the Darkness, ” we jump directly to the particulars of Col. Halt’s third night’s encounter and those of the men who accompanied him into the forest on another now - famous part of the Rendlesham chronicles. Nick supplies much detail here and excerpted statements from some of the men involved. Chapter four picks up where “Into the Darkness” ends and culminates with the episode’s most dramatic aspect, that of the unknown coming in over the group’s heads and shining a pencil - thin beam of light into their immediate area. Cha pter five, “Charles Halt Over the Years,” runs five pages, ironically, the exact length I take to review it here. It is the first point in this book where I felt the writing specifically calculated to present the reader with a consciously limited and highl y controlled assessment of its subject, this by way of what it does not include rather than what it does. The treatment begins with what for me is a major inaccuracy: “Until John Burroughs and Jim Penniston decided to speak out, Charles Halt had probably b een the person most closely associated with the Rendlesham Forest incident.” No, he “probably” was not. Larry Warren “probably” was. And while the author and I can debate the semantics of the use of the word ‘probably’ here, it is Larry Warren’s name and p resence that have been front and center in this regard for more than thirty years now. The reason any of us even learned the names Charles Halt, John Burroughs and Jim Penniston was due only to Larry Warren’s having given them, as well other names of indiv iduals involved to Coventry Connecticut Police Lieutenant and UFO investigator Larry Fawcett, this back in 1982. True, Halt’s name was included in the original October 2, 1983 New of the World coverage of the incident while Warren’s was noted in the same a rticle under the pseudonym Fawcett had created for him, but the following year Warren came out under his own 9 name, and very publicly at that, and it is that name which has remained at the forefront of those associated with the Rendlesham Forest incident ev er since. It was years before the colonel publically began to speak out on his involvement, during which time Larry Warren was left to go it alone in the face of public speculation and accusations, this while Halt, Penniston and Burroughs (commendably) con tinued their hitches in the Air Force. Nick then cites a series of statements made by Halt underscoring his involvement. This is certainly fair and appropriate, but the first of them is dated November 2007, hardly making him a pioneer in getting the word out in terms of chronology. Halt’s pro - UFO and pro - UFO cover - up statements are worthy of our respect, especially in their having come from an honorably retired United States Air Force officer, and it is his opinion that the intelligences behind the RFI we re extraterrestrial in nature, the likelihood of which I agree. It is also in this chapter that Nick makes reference to a September 2012 clash between Halt and Colonel John Alexander, a retired Army officer who undertook his own unofficial investigation in to the possibility of a government UFO cover - up. When Alexander concludes there was no Rendlesham cover - up, Halt responds that he is naïve, something with which I concur. But again, far more important is what Nick has chosen to leave out of this chapter, a nd in the process creating the distinct and decidedly false impression that all is copasetic between the officer and the two former enlisted men. He does this by omitting a number of ‘facts in evidence,’ at least in this reviewer’s opinion. In his article, “Rendlesham Forest Thirty Three Years On,” which appeared in the October 2013 issue of UFO Truth Magazine , Mr. Halt makes clear at least some of the ‘missing in action’ information I refer to: “The individuals originally involved in the first night/sigh ting have changed their story numerous times, to the point that one wonders what’s going on. At least four individuals - the three that were involved in the initial sighting and a wannabee (Warren, in Halt’s incorrect opinion), according to them were brou ght to the Office of Special Investigation (OSI) and “debriefed” with injected drugs and hypnotized by Special Agents. They (Jim and John) did not make me aware of this until several years later. If I had known then I would have gotten involved. I am convi nced the purpose of the “debriefing” was to get the facts and to plant false memories. There’s no doubt the “debriefing” was a success. On one occasion, one of the individuals (Burroughs) has taken me to the wrong “landing site” and made claims that 10 were c learly wrong. (Italics Halt’s) For 20+ years I repeatedly saw a notebook from the incident that was supposedly made that night on scene. I never saw any binary codes in the book and there are several glaring errors with what’s now being shown as authentic. None of this means the event didn’t occur. I’m firmly convinced the individuals that are now making different or absurd claims were messed with, for the lack of a better term. It’s truly sad the way what’s happened has ruined the lives of several of t he participants. I have tried to help them on several occasions only to be re - buffed. I knew two of the original participants from the first encounter (Penniston and Burroughs) very well personally. One worked with me countless hours as a Police Liaison in the command post on exercises. He was earmarked for special promotion. As a result of the UFO incident this didn’t happen. Another, I rode with on patrol numerous times. Both had their careers derailed and their personal lives turned upside down. They wer e never the same after the incident and the “debriefing.” For me, Charles Halt long ago emerged as the most enigmatic player among the witnesses. He is in the unique position of being both witness/victim and manipulator, especially with regard to the infl uence he had over Jim and John for most of their adult lives – and in that respect he has successfully played the pair off against Warren for several decades now. It’s both interesting and depressing, and not without some irony, to observe that the kind of critical undermining which Halt has used against Warren for so long he now applies to undermine the credibility of Burroughs and Penniston. Oh what a tangled web we weave. There is no question that Larry Warren’s 1982 ‘outing’ of the colonel caused signif icant problems in both his professional and private life, this while he has always maintained it has nothing to do with his opinions about or attitude toward my coauthor. Halt’s treatment of Burroughs has been particularly shabby though, exemplified by his statement about John having taken him to the wrong landing site, and that Burroughs had “made claims that were clearly wrong.” How can Halt possibly know with certainty what the correct or incorrect first night landing site was? He was not there. John Bur roughs was. Given this fact, I found it interesting that throughout the book Penniston is particularly respectful and supportive in his references to Halt as exemplified here: “ Colonel Halt is an officer who truly believes you are only </p> 18419271 2014-05-10 03:54:46 2014-05-10 03:54:46 open open could-get-a-movie-deal-also-we-already-had-somebody-18419271 draft 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day, by David J. Hand by Gabriel Popkin http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/09/why-coincidences-miracles-and-rare-events-happen-every-day-by-david-j-hand-by-gabriel-popkin-18414242/ Fri, 09 May 2014 01:30:31 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day, by David J. Hand by Gabriel Popkin 9:00am, May 6, 2014 Magazine issue: May 17, 2014 Incredible things happen routinely. People win the lottery — twice. Golfers hit holes-in-one several days in a row. Basketball players appear to get a “hot hand” (SN: 2/12/11, p. 26; SN Online: 10/29/13). Do these chance events validate superstition or suggest a hidden influence in our world — a higher power, perhaps? Absolutely not, argues Imperial College London statistician David J. Hand. The laws of mathematics and physics suffice to explain a world of coincidences. Hand weaves his principle from several strands dubbed the “law of inevitability,” the “law of truly large numbers” and others. Essentially, he argues that because so many things happen, and because we are biased toward noticing unusual events, we should not be surprised when an occasional startling coincidence emerges from a sea of ordinariness. Instead, we should be surprised if one doesn’t. In making his case, Hand devotes much space to debunking fallacies such as ESP-proving experiments and Carl Jung’s “synchronicities.” He also really likes dice. But if you’re not a gambler and already assume a rational universe, you may wonder how the improbability principle might apply to more pressing societal problems. Here Hand offers a few tantalizing examples: a mother exonerated by statistics after being convicted of double infanticide; CEOs whose swiftly appreciating stock options were found to have been postdated to just before a dramatic price increase; the unsettling frequency of stock market crashes. But more would have been welcome. Hand also seems forever worried that his reader will forget the previous chapter’s exposition, leading to much repetition. Still, his informal style, wide-ranging curiosity and knack for elucidating complicated mathematics make the book an enjoyable — and mostly convincing — read. Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27 Posted by: Louis Sheehan</p> 18414242 2014-05-09 01:30:31 2014-05-09 01:30:31 open open why-coincidences-miracles-and-rare-events-happen-every-day-by-david-j-hand-by-gabriel-popkin-18414242 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan The world according to Putin [From the Economist] http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/08/the-world-according-to-putin-from-the-economist-18413403/ Thu, 08 May 2014 19:56:56 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Posted by: Louis Sheehan From the Economist The world according to Putin Why should the Russian president’s innovative attitude towards borders be restricted to eastern Europe? May 10th 2014 | From the print edition WHEN Vladimir Putin justified his annexation of Crimea on the ground that he owed protection to Russian speakers everywhere, this newspaper took a dim view of his line of argument, pointing out that since linguistic borders do not match those of states, it would lead to chaos. We now recognise that this approach to international relations betrayed a deplorable conservatism. Since we pride ourselves on pushing the boundaries in search of a way to clamber out of the box and reach the summit of blue-sky thinking, we reckoned we should grasp the nettle of radical Putinism and run with it. We have, therefore, redrawn the world’s boundaries according to Mr Putin’s principles. We think readers will agree that the resulting map has considerable appeal. Under Mr Putin’s dispensation, things look up for the old colonial powers. Portugal gets to reclaim Brazil, Spain most of the rest of Central and South America and France most of west Africa, which would probably be fine by the locals, since many of their current governments are not much cop. A mighty Scandinavian kingdom comes into being—including Finland, although Finnish is very different from the Scandinavian tongues. Since Swedish is Finland’s second language, the Vikings would have strong grounds for bringing about the sort of peaceful merger based on shared cultural values for which they are famous. In this section Exorbitant privilege The world according to Putin A unified Arabia would stretch from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. There might be the odd squabble between Sunnis, Shias, Christians and adherents of archaic notions of nation; but united by a common tongue, the Arabs would be sure to get along fine, especially if they teamed up to smite the Persian-speakers on the other side of the Gulf. The two Koreas would become one, which might be a good thing—or not, depending on which system prevailed. Since Hindi and Urdu are both a mutually intelligible mixture of Sanskrit and Persian, India could make a claim for Pakistan—and vice versa. The existence of nuclear weapons on either side would bring added spark to the debate over linguistic precedence. Best of all, Britain would regain its empire, including—since it spoke English first—the United States. It would, obviously, give Barack Obama a prestigious position—Keeper of the Woolsack, say—and a nice uniform. Britain might, however, have to surrender some of London’s oligarch-dominated streets, as well as Chelsea Football Club, to Russia. A sizeable minority of The Economist’s staff also speaks Russian and would like to claim Mr Putin’s protection in advance of the next pay negotiations. There is, however a hitch. Consolidation would be undermined by linguistic independence movements. Dozens of segments would peel away from Mandarin-speaking China. Mayaland would agitate for autonomy in Central America. Swahililand would demand independence in Africa. The world’s 7 billion people speak more than 7,000 languages; in Russia alone there are more than 100. Perhaps, on second thoughts, Mr Putin should quit while he is ahead. </p> 18413403 2014-05-08 19:56:56 2014-05-08 19:56:56 open open the-world-according-to-putin-from-the-economist-18413403 publish 0 0 post 0 Louis Sheehan Lou Sheehan Better Eating, Thanks to Bacteria By JEFF GORDINIER http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2014/05/07/better-eating-thanks-to-bacteria-by-jeff-gordinier-18401377/ Wed, 07 May 2014 04:45:21 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Originally published in the New York Times. Posted by Louis Sheehan. Better Eating, Thanks to Bacteria By JEFF GORDINIER SAY this about Sandor Ellix Katz: the man knows how to get you revved up to eat bacteria. “Oh, this is nice kimchi,” he said on a summer afternoon at Momofuku Noodle Bar, using chopsticks to pull crimson-coated knuckles of Napa cabbage from a jar. “I like the texture of the sauce. It’s kind of thick.” Kimchi, like sauerkraut, is one of the world’s great fermented foods, and Mr. Katz, a resident of Tennessee, was curious to see what David Chang’s team of cooks in the East Village would do with it. Lately Mr. Katz has become for fermentation what Timothy Leary was for psychedelic drugs: a charismatic, consciousness-raising thinker and advocate who wants people to see the world in a new way. A fermented food is one whose taste and texture have been transformed by the introduction of beneficial bacteria or fungi. And Mr. Katz, who turned 50 this year, considers it a big part of his mission to remind us that the tangy delights of that metamorphosis surround us — and always have, if you look back at the arc of human evolution. “I don’t believe there’s a restaurant in the world that doesn’t have products of fermentation on their menu,” Mr. Katz said. “If you have bread, you have fermented food. If you have cheese, you have fermented food. If you have salad dressing or anything with vinegar in it, you have fermented food. If you have alcoholic beverages, you have fermented food. I mean, you really can’t get through the day without eating something fermented.” Nevertheless Mr. Katz, whose latest book, “The Art of Fermentation” (Chelsea Green), recently went into its third printing, maintains a special fondness for the funkiest manifestations from around the world. “When I walk into a restaurant, I peruse the menu to see if they have any special ferments,” he said. He was in luck at Momofuku, where the crew, led by Mr. Chang, prides itself on exploring new microbial pathways. Tim Dailey, a sous-chef at the Noodle Bar, brought Mr. Katz a glass of an amber-hued German-style helles beer that he had brewed (and that is not regularly served at the restaurant). There were pickles, too, and an egg marinated in soy sauce; a summer-squash salad that had been laced with white kimchi (that is, a kimchi without the usual spicy creek of red chile pepper running through it); and an assortment of warm fungi arrayed upon a pool of black-garlic yogurt. “Oh wow, what’s that?” Mr. Katz asked when that last dish arrived. “It’s a mushroom salad,” Mr. Dailey said. To share a meal with Mr. Katz is to be reminded that you are sharing it with a vast army of invisible dining companions. As he dug into the mushrooms and yogurt, he talked about a recent study, the Human Microbiome Project, that has deepened the understanding of how our bodies are occupied by “trillions of bacteria,” most of which appear to be committed to the noble enterprise of keeping us healthy and functioning. Mr. Katz believes that fermented foods help replenish a diverse variety of probiotic bacteria in our guts, and his interest in the topic can be traced back to a health crisis of his own. In 1991, while working in New York City politics, he learned that he had contracted H.I.V. Suddenly unsure of how many healthy years he had left, but certain that he didn’t want to squander them trudging through stress-throttled 80-hour workweeks, he moved to a rural commune in Tennessee. “I didn’t have experience as a gardener, but that was something I was interested in pursuing when I got there,” he said. “I felt myself called by plants.” Blame bumper crops of cabbage for his fermentation fixation: Since he had to do something with the cabbage before it rotted, he soon found himself making sauerkraut, and learning more and more about its health benefits and the role that preserved vegetables had played in the course of civilization. “Agriculture doesn’t make sense without ways of storing the harvest,” he said. “Stuff happens when you try to store food, or inadvertently let food sit around. Just as our bodies are covered with microorganisms, everything we eat is covered with microorganisms.” (Still, Mr. Katz often stresses that fermented food hasn’t “cured” him of H.I.V., although he does think it’s possible that friendly bacteria have helped reduce some side effects of the medications he takes.) If, as books by other authors have argued, cod changed the world and the Irish saved civilization, Mr. Katz’s work often brushes up against the idea that the discovery of fermentation provided a crucial step in human evolution. We ate, we drank, we changed. “It seems likely that our primate ancestors were familiar with fermenting berries and were even familiar with the phenomenon of inebriation,” he said. Human beings “figured out how to liquefy the berries and make beverages,” spurring the development of both pottery and poetry. There’s no denying that fermentation has drastically expanded the spectrum of what’s available to the human palate. “Ferments are huge sources of flavor complexity,” Mr. Katz said. “That’s why people find cheese so compelling. That’s why soy sauce has become a universally loved condiment.” At home, Mr. Katz devotes much of his days to flavor experiments. “This woman in North Carolina taught me that Cherokee people used to take their excess corn and pickle it in a brine, and it’s incredibly delicious like that,” he said. “I’ve been doing a variation on that where I cut kernels off the corn and make like a fermented corn relish. I ferment it just for a few days in a jar and it gets this beautiful, sharp flavor.” Pungent tastes and aromas don’t dissuade him. A while back he tried his hand at making balao-balao, a Filipino specialty in which rice is fermented with shrimp. “I loved it, and as the days passed and the flavors got stronger, I liked it more and more,” he said. “I brought it to a potluck meal that some friends had organized. And as I reheated it, I noticed that it got really, really smelly. A year later my friends are still telling stories about that crazy smelly fish that I tried to serve them.” Naturally, a seeker like Sandor Katz couldn’t resist an invitation to visit Momofuku’s laboratory of fermentation, so after lunch he took a short stroll to an unmarked sliver of office space in the East Village, where he met Dan Felder, the 28-year-old head of R&D for Mr. Chang’s network of restaurants. There, in the Momofuku test kitchen, Mr. Felder gave Mr. Katz a glimpse of a brilliantly demented-fermented future: Erlenmeyer flasks full of new iterations of soy sauce, jars of vinegar conjured up from ingredients like strawberries and cherries, little mounds of paste that represented the next wave in miso. There were vials of explosively flavored tamari, a mere droplet of which might garnish an oyster. “It’s basically, ‘How do we make umami from scratch?’ ” Mr. Felder explained. As with molecular gastronomy and the farm-to-table movement in the past, a deep focus on fermentation can help a chef like David Chang (or René Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen) stake out fresh territory for creative expression. Every time the Momofuku crew hatches a new flavor, Mr. Felder said, “the more expansive our repertoire can become.” To demonstrate this, he reached into a fridge and removed some laces of creamy fatback dusted with salt and a mold-colonized barley used to make products like soy sauce and miso. “Koji-cured lardo,” Mr. Felder said. “This is a new frontier.” Mr. Katz reacted to the lardo and everything else like a kid in a kimchi shop, even going into a brief reverie when a jar of Basmati koji was opened and his nasal passages got to bask in the fragrance. “Oh, my God, what a beautiful aroma,” he said. “It’s a gorgeous mold. I am so in love with koji.” Traditionally, miso has come from fusing that mold with rice or barley, then adding it to a base of soybeans. But Mr. Felder brought out several versions that had been made, instead, with ingredients like pistachios, pine nuts, lentils or mung beans. “I’m fascinated by this idea of nut-based misos,” Mr. Katz said. “I want to taste them all, really. The pine nut was amazing.” “That’s Chang’s favorite,” Mr. Felder said. “You get this incredibly creamy mouthful.” Mr. Katz swooned over the pistachio miso, too (“Oh, my God, this is so delicious”), and as he prepared to leave, his blue eyes were brightly shining. “It’s really exciting for me to see these crazy new applications,” he said. “I feel like this is going to influence my experimentation.” </p> 18401377 2014-05-07 04:45:21 2014-05-07 04:45:21 open open better-eating-thanks-to-bacteria-by-jeff-gordinier-18401377 publish 0 0 post 0 Lou Sheehan Louis Sheehan

2013

Gravity http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:52:48 +0200 http://www.blog.ca en 1.0 http://www.blog.ca http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ &quot; ... the prattling of idiots.&quot; [Page 413} -- Lou Sheehan http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2013/04/18/the-prattling-of-idiots-page-413-lou-sheehan-15765554/ Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:06:16 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Dolanweek8 Week 8 Discussion 1. A response from Tom Carey regarding the Roswell debris: From: TCarey1947@aol.com Subject: Re: Fair Questions? Date: April 17, 2013 4:20:49 PM EDT To: lousheehan@mac.com Dear Lou: See below for my responses to your all fair questions. Tom Carey In a message dated 4/15/2013 10:04:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time, lousheehan@mac.com writes: Mr. Carey, My all-to-glib understanding of the Roswell wreckage is that it consists of (i) the memory metal, (ii) the beam with markings, and (iii) seemingly, thin, light-weight metal that can't be dented with a sledgehammer. That was pretty much most of it as you indicate, but there were also wires that remind us today of "monofilament-type wiring," pieces of metallic debris (non-"I-Beam" pieces) with strange writing on them, like the "I-Beams," and a small, seamless black box that could not be opened. [For the sake of simplicity, allow me to use simple/generic words.] Assuming so (and ignoring Col. Corso's indirect claims), why was/is there no mention of 'gizmos' (assuming it takes more than memory metal, sledgehammer-metal and beam(s) to comprise a ship (scout or otherwise))? I can't account for or defend Corso, but we (and that includes Don Schmitt, Kevin Randle and Stan Friedman) simply reported what was described to us by the witnesses. That's what good historians do, right? Is it clear that there is a distinction between the memory metal and the sledgehammer-metal? Right. Is there a sense that when Mr. Marcel (Sr.) gathered the debris together, put it into his car, etc., that there was only ONE beam in his presumedly random collection ... or more than one beam? Marcel, Sr. only mentioned in detail a single "I-Beam," but I think in interviews over the years, his son suggested that there may have been more than one scattered amongst the wreckage. Thank you, -- Lou= 2. [Page 395 ] To some extent this answers a question I had in an earlier week: the Text Book references Tim Weiner?s book ?Blank Check.? I assume there was nothing in Weiner?s book even remotely connectable to UFOs? 3. [Page 405] I wondered about the referenced ?extensive discussion of Roswell? but only seven lines of text on an alleged 1950 crash in Texas. However, it might be difficult to say much about something that had been ?almost totally incinerated?: On 06 December, 1950, a second object, probably of similar origin,impacted the earth at high speed in the El Indio -Guerrero area of the Texas - Mexican border after following a long trajectory through the atmosphere. By the time a search team arrived, what remained of the object had been almost totally incinerated. Such material as could be recovered was transported to the A. E. C. facility at Sandia, New Mexico, for study. 4. [Page 408] I thought it was interesting to note that even as Steinman was writing to Dr. Walker (in 1987) Steinman was or had already developed his theories of a deep religious/Christian connection involving UFOs: http://www.ufoera.com/articles/ufo-statements-by-william-m-steinman_1190311114.html 5. [Page 411] Why does Dr. Walker refer to the seventh sense (I am assuming the ?sixth sense? for these purposes is ESP)? As per the following book title, is the ?7th Sense? supposed to be ?remote viewing?? The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a "Psychic Spy" for the U.S. Military [Paperback] Lyn Buchanan (Author) 6. [Page 413] Reference is made to a multiple witness sighting in Newtown, Connecticut. It can seem to be a small world. 7. The more I read of it, the more important I realize the Hudson Valley case was. I don?t understand why it hasn?t been investigated to the extent that, for example, Rendlesham has been investigated. Heck, Imbrogno said he, himself, eventually saw one of the vehicles simply by being in the area and involved in the investigation. I?d think seeing one of these things would be inspirational and motivating. I have the book in storage in Pennsylvania, but I ordered another copy be sent to me here in Texas. 8. [Page 421] I?m sorry, but John Lear seems to be a waste of time. He spouts incredible amounts of ... ?facts? ... without an iota of proof; I heard him spin his incredibly long yarn on Coast -2-Coast; I forget ... according to Lear there are 57 different types of aliens? I always wondered how Lear found himself to be a friend of Lazar, but now I understand Lear was in the capacity of MUFON State director for Nevada. 9. [Page 422] Bobby Ray Inman was a new name to me. Per Wikipedia, Admiral Inman was/is well-connected. I found it interesting that he DIDN?T have a techie educational background: ?Inman graduated from Texas with a bachelor's in history in 1950.? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Ray_Inman 10. [Pages 428/614] US Coast Guard case is also a good one and was new to me; shades of Bentwaters with the breaking off of various units. Here is a link to the Coast Guard?s Incident Report: (yes, yes, from one of Richard Dolan?s webpages which, byt the way, he references in his newest lecture on youtube): http://keyholepublishing.com/1988-3-CoastGuard.JPG 11. [Page 434] Entirely ignoring Ed Walters, Gulf Breeze is at least reasonable case. Undoubtedly debunkers want to focus on Ed, but apparently there were many other witnesses; I recollect seeing a television show where a large number of people living in the Gulf Breeze area claimed to have recently seen a UFO. I found it. It is on youtube, on UFO Cover-Up? Live! The Gulf Breeze discussion begins at about minute 48:30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA5GpKcJ3zc 12. [Page 445] I exchanged some e-mails with Stan Friedman regarding [missing] Blue Book Report # 13. From: STANTON FRIEDMAN <fsphys> Subject: Re: Regarding Reports 1 through and including 13 (Blue Book gave us Special Report 14), Condon Report page 511 says Date: April 18, 2011 12:16:06 PM EDT To: Louis Sheehan <lousheehan> Lou: I discuss this in Flying Saucers and Science. I did a job for FTD. Two final reports one unclassified one very highly classified not mentioned in the unc. one.. also involved FTD and Battelle where BB Spec. Report 14 was done.Two people have independently told me of seeing No.13 Stan From: Louis Sheehan <lousheehan> To: Stanton T Friedman <fsphys> Sent: Sun, April 17, 2011 1:30:36 AM Subject: Regarding Reports 1 through and including 13 (Blue Book gave us Special Report 14), Condon Report page 511 says "Starting in November 1951, Project Grudge and later Project Blue Book issued a series of 'Status Reports' numbered 1 through 12. Numbers 1 through 12 were originally classified 'Confidential,' while 10, 11 and 12 were classified 'Secret.' All were declassified as of 9 September 1960 but copies were not readily available until 1968 when they were published by NICAP." I assume 13 is out there somewhere? -- Lou From: STANTON FRIEDMAN <fsphys> Subject: Re: Regarding Reports 1 through and including 13 (Blue Book gave us Special Report 14), Condon Report page 511 says Date: April 20, 2011 8:19:05 AM EDT To: Louis Sheehan <lousheehan> In the past the USAF said it was included in 14 or there was none, just as some buildings don't have 13th floor. Hog wash!. FOIA is a crazy quilt.. some people are helpful, some are not. Sometimes they just don't know. I suspect that The Foreign Technology Div. has had many requests Stan.. From: Louis Sheehan <lousheehan> To: STANTON FRIEDMAN <fsphys> Sent: Wed, April 20, 2011 12:02:30 AM Subject: Re: Regarding Reports 1 through and including 13 (Blue Book gave us Special Report 14), Condon Report page 511 says I'm familiar with your FOIA sagas. I'm doing a physics project for my 'senior project' but, in retrospect, I wonder if I shouldn't have done a or several FOIA requests. Any thoughts as to the (probable) results of a FOIA request for 13? -- Lou 13. [Page 447] Cooper is a waste of time. 14. [Page 448] How the he** could -- I believe Doty and Collins -- assert the aliens had IQs that exceeded 200? Were these ?insect-like in appearance? aliens administered a human IQ test? Cut me a break. Or Collins/Doty provided us with their ... professional estimate? Those guys should be ashamed of themselves. 15. [Page 459] ?Zero Point Energy.? There are lots of good discussions of this on-line. As I recall, there was also an interesting inference on the BBC 4 Special ?The Atom.? zero point energy. Here is another website: http://www.cosmolearning.com/documentaries/the-race-to-zero-point-free-energy/ Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point In this award-winning, feature length, two-hour broadcast-quality Documentary you will learn about the latest developments in the field of Free and Zero Point Energy from Tesla to Dennis Lee. Hosted by Bill Jenkins, formerly of ABC Radio, this comprehensive documentary features physicists and inventors who are challenging orthodox science to bring this non-polluting technology forward despite ridicule and suppression. See actual working prototypes that defy classical physics including phenomenal experiments in anti-gravity and the transmutation of metals. 16. If only I had time,I would try reading the book ?The Threat.? It simply sounds implausible (including but not limited to: they have to turn their entire abduction into being invisible! their ability to float people through walls!). 17. As a practical matter, it might be a good idea to learn how to do hypnotherapy/hypnosis/regression. 18. Regarding Travis Walton, I know there is much emphasis on the lie-detector tests, but what about -- assuming Travis was NOT abducted -- the failure of the ?huge manhunt?s? and the ?tracking dogs?s? inability to locate Travis for 5 days? If he wasn?t abducted, how did he manage to avoid the manhunt? 19. In abductions, how do the ?aliens? seem to consistently (although not 100% of the time) have the ability to make people ?forget? their experiences fot at least a short time? 20. I was surprised at Minute 13:45 of the lecture that a letter to Kehoe was mentioned as Ben Simon), but there was no mention of Stan Friedman. Eventually I?ll have to check to see when Stan started his involvement. 21. It seems odd that so many aliens can communicate in English via telepathy. 22. Herb Shermer in Nebraska: the aliens came from another Galaxy!?!? 23. I?m disappointed by the inability of research groups? inabilities to get along. I recall hearing about a recent (big) investigation in Texas (I believe it was Stephenville) where, in doing their research, it seemed as if there was competition between the investigators rather than cooperation. 24. Why does the CIA seems so interested in these groups? The only down-to-Earth reasons I can think of are (i) they want to encourage such talk (?UFOs exist?) to cause people to think Top Secret test flights are UFOs or they are looking to be able to track back leaks from the Federal Government. </fsphys></lousheehan></lousheehan></fsphys></fsphys></lousheehan></lousheehan></fsphys></p> 15765554 2013-04-18 07:06:16 2013-04-18 07:06:16 open open the-prattling-of-idiots-page-413-lou-sheehan-15765554 draft 0 0 post 0 High Strangeness UFOs 1970 - 1990 http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2013/04/15/high-strangeness-ufos-1970-15756279/ Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:59:43 +0200 Beforethebigbang <p>Louis Sheehan High Strangeness UFOs 1970 - 1990 Various Discussion Points [in no particular order]: 1. [Page 320.] “Sarbacher replied on November 23, 1983. He confirmed he was ‘invited to participate in several discussions associated with the reported recoveries’ of UFOs, although he was unable to attend the meetings.” I take the man at his word ... but ... WHO WOULD THINK ANY OTHER MEETING WOULD ME MORE IMPORTANT TO ATTEND THAN A MEETING REGARDING A RECOVERED UFO [AND RECOVERED BODIES/ALIENS] !!! What was he thinking? 2. I was enjoying reading the Chapter when it dawned on me that it is more rewarding to be be able to discuss the reading with others. Then I thought: BookClub! I know that any such thing other than on an informal basis is more than ‘pie in the sky’ and even on an informal basis is highly unlikely. Heck, I don’t have the time to organize/moderate any such thing. Imagine, though, an online forum where once a month a group of people discuss the same book? Say “Night Siege” one month, and then the next month “You Can’t Tell the People”, etc. Then I thought of someone I saw on the movie “I know What I Saw” thinking he seemed level-headed, knowledgeable, and probably retired and that maybe he might want to try something like this? I checked and it was Richard Hall ... who passed away in 2009. Although, theoretically, Richard Dolan might try something like that every other month or so on his radio show .... I ordered a used copy of Mr. Hall’s UFO Evidence Vol. 1 as it was inexpensive [but for now I’m holding off on Vol. 2 as it is expensive]. Apparently these were Mr. Hall’s seminal works. The man dedicated his life to studying UFOs. http://www.theparacast.com/podcasts/paracast_090802.mp3 3. I’m intrigued by the number of cases (a minority, but nevertheless a ‘pattern’) of alleged extr-terrestrials who seem to ‘float’ along the Earth’s surface, i.e., as distinct from walking. I recall the aliens that the young children in Zimbabwe saw also ‘floated.’ 4. Clearly the author of our text (and has Crystal) picked up the frequency by which a form of communication takes place between people and the/the occupants of the UFOs via lights (flashlights, etc.)[Page 270, by way of example.] . I remember this being a key componenet of the ‘Allagash Case’ which I hope we will discuss. [Note: aliens as ‘insect-like’; see Dr. Sarbacher’s comments on Text page 320.] Allagash Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ-Pylynhb4 Allagash Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WuI7nTAc60 5. Another pattern is that which is described/demonstrated in the incident involving students at X’ian Unversity in Shani Provice (China) on June 18, 1981 [page 265]: an object splits into several parts, converges, etc. [Think of Bentwaters.] 6. Isn’t a reasonable interpretation of one aspect of the Hanna McRoberts photo [page 267] simply that they didn’t notice the ‘little dot’ of the UFO flying even as they took the picture(s)? She/they were probably simply staring at the beautiful mountain ... i.e., in my opinion there is no need to assume the craft could camouflage itself from the human eye but not the camera. 7. In the event anyone else is interested, here a link to a PDF of the 21 page NSA document discussed on page 275. Fascinating. http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/ufo/in_camera_affadavit_yeates.pdf 8. Our Text references the book ‘Clear Intent’ which sounds interesting. 9. Crystal mentioned the book “Night Siege.” I noticed the third co-author was Bob Pratt. Now I know more about the man [National Enquirer, MUFON, etc.]; it is nice to make these connections. 10. Are there any updates on Phil Imbrogno? 11. As to gary McKinnon, shouldn’t he have been given AN AWARD for showing the vulnerability of certain governmental computers, and not prosecuted? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon 12. I recall a video of Dr. Hynek saying words to the effect that he would be ‘disappointed if the UFO phenomenon were only a nuts-and-bolts’ phenomenon, After being a part of the composition of a book on the Hudson Valley sightings (something as ‘nuts-and-bolts’ as can be), he (seemingly) comes to a conclusion that it is all about fairies?!? [Pages 309-310.] [I did a quick search on youtube, but didn’t find the video I seem to remember.] 13. A few videos on Frederick Valentich [page 189]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOTi-dLBJY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6OEekOWoZU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiNaiflau4A -- Lou </p> 15756279 2013-04-15 01:59:43 2013-04-15 01:59:43 open open high-strangeness-ufos-1970-15756279 publish 0 0 post 0 ufo

2012

Gravity http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:52:48 +0200 http://www.blog.ca en 1.0 http://www.blog.ca http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ narcissism http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2012/01/16/narcissism-12467428/ Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:19:04 +0100 Beforethebigbang <p>The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement W. Keith Campbell; Jean Twenge About the Program The authors examine the cultural consequences of narcissism, which they say has grown exponentially in recent years. They use real-life anecdotes, like instant stardom through Youtube, to analyze narcissm in the culture at large and the possible means of combatting its effects. About the Authors Jean Twenge Jean TwengeDr. Twenge is the author of "Generation Me." She's been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time magazine and USA Today. Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound W. Keith Campbell W. Keith CampbellMr. Campbell is the author of "When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself." He's been featured in Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post and on Fox News Channel. Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound </p> 12467428 2012-01-16 17:19:04 2012-01-16 17:19:04 open open narcissism-12467428 publish 0 0 post 0 ufo 19024850 Felica http://wordpress.com/ 127.0.0.1 2013-04-03 16:01:46 2013-04-03 16:01:46 I actually didn't know what this word meant until today. 1 0 0

2011

Gravity http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:52:48 +0200 http://www.blog.ca en 1.0 http://www.blog.ca http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/ The Demetabolization of Humanity: If Not Now, When? http://Louis9J9Sheehan9esquire.blog.ca/2011/12/16/the-demetabolization-of-humanity-if-not-now-when-12314130/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:02:28 +0100 Beforethebigbang <p>The Demetabolization of Humanity: If Not Now, When? December 22, 2010 2039 AD BRIEFING, PART I Zeta Reticuli is a planetary system including two stars both of which are about 1 billion years older than the Earth’s sun (Adams, 2024). Zeti Reticuli is 39.2 light years from Earth and Zeta I is approximately one-eighth of a light year from Zeta II (Njatcha, 2018). The Zetan Founders evolved on a planet orbiting Zeta I Reticuli and populated a Zeta II Reticulan planet with a genetically altered version – to accommodate different environmental conditions – of their species (Zetapedia, 2039). Subsequently, on Earth the Founders attempted to genetically modify a native species of simians to approximate the Founders’ appearance and abilities in the context of yet another divergent environment (Meek, 2025).[1] As shown in many artistic renderings as well as written and oral traditions, Humanity has a long record of punctuated periods of involvement with the Founders (Von Daniken, 1970). Yet, consistent with Human behavior, all such involvement was officially denied and actively concealed by Human authorities (Wagner, 2029). During the summer of 1947, two Zeta Reticulan I Ovoid-Class extraterrestrial lenticular-shaped aerodyne craft collided while on an observance-only mission over the atomic testing grounds in the State of New Mexico, USA,[2] Earth (Green, 2017). Radar film and tower logs from American Holloman Air Force Base reflected the merger of three objects prior to collision and subsequent crashes with the third object believed to be an unrecovered test balloon (Majestic Twelve, 1952). The two Ovoid-Class craft experienced non-planned ground contact at two dispersed sites in New Mexico. [3] Four Zeta Reticulan I bodies were recovered, two of which were unevacuated in a damaged escape cylinder and two of which were found several yards from a second albeit evacuated cylinder (Majestic Twelve, 1952). One of the four – an evacuated body – was nonmetabolic and badly decomposed as a result of exposure and assumed predatory action. A second – the second evacuated body – became nonmetabolic within the first hour of the American Army Air Force recovery operation (Briefing Document, 1952). The two unevacuated bodies became nonmetabolic due to undetermined causes (Hetrick, 2025). All of the bodies were inadvertently cremated prior to autopsies (Cardene, 2025). Years of intensive Human study of the retrieved components of the two Ovoid-Class craft seeded numerous Human technological advances. Within decades of the recovery, the reverse engineering of recovered components led to the fruition, as examples, of fiber optics, integrated circuits, lasers, Kevlar and accelerated particle beam devices (Corso, 1997). In 2021, Human scientists at the Furey Institute,[4] Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, fully replicated [5] a functioning Ovoid-Class power source (Jefferson, 2022). The newly named Noorbaksh reactor was fueled with Element 114 [6] in a closed system. Fueling was the initial step in the provision of amplified Gravity-S waves and Magnetic-S waves allowing Villonian travel (a.k.a. “accelerated light” travel) (Umar, 2027).