The Unauthorized Truth

Outsourcing death - NYTimes.com

2012-02-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Outsourcing death

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: February 11, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — Even dying is being outsourced here.

This is a war where traditional military jobs, from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers, have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many American generals and diplomats have private contractors for their personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.

American employers here are under no obligation to publicly report the deaths of their employees and frequently do not. While the military announces the names of all its war dead, private companies routinely notify only family members. Most of the contractors die unheralded and uncounted — and in some cases, leave their survivors uncompensated.

... Afghan War Risks Are Shifting to Contractors - NYTimes.com

Jewish societies to help immigrants -- MyJewishLearning.com

2012-01-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

A century ago, when the banksters turned their backs on us, we had

Jewish societies to help immigrants

Modern Tzedakah

A group of Jewish women from Seattle began Hebrew free loan societies.

Chapters in American Jewish History are provided by the American Jewish Historical Society, collecting, preserving, fostering scholarship and providing access to the continuity of Jewish life in America for more than 350 years (and counting). Visit www.ajhs.org.

In 1909, a group of Seattle Jewish women formed a whist and sewing club with dues of 25 cents per month. When they had accumulated $64, they offered to purchase a gift for their local synagogue. Because the rabbi knew that the women raised the money by playing cards, he refused the gift. Undaunted, the women started the Hebrew Ladies’ Free Loan Society of Seattle. Their thoughtfulness helped some of Seattle’s first Jewish entrepreneurs get started in business.
Jewish societies to help immigrants

Why Islamism Is Winning - NYTimes.com

2012-01-10T00:14:00.000-08:00

NYTimes Op-Ed Contributor

Why Islamism Is Winning

By JOHN M. OWEN IV

Published: January 6, 2012

Charlottesville, Va.

EGYPT’S final round of parliamentary elections won’t end until next week, but the outcome is becoming clear. The Muslim Brotherhood will most likely win half the lower house of Parliament, and more extreme Islamists will occupy a quarter. Secular parties will be left with just 25 percent of the seats.

Islamism did not cause the Arab Spring. The region’s authoritarian governments had simply failed to deliver on their promises. Though Arab authoritarianism had a good run from the 1950s until the 1980s, economies eventually stagnated, debts mounted and growing, well-educated populations saw the prosperous egalitarian societies they had been promised receding over the horizon, aggrieving virtually everyone, secularists and Islamists alike.

The last few weeks, however, have confirmed that a revolution’s consequences need not follow from its causes. Rather than bringing secular revolutionaries to power, the Arab Spring is producing flowers of a decidedly Islamist hue. More unsettling to many, Islamists are winning fairly: religious parties are placing first in free, open elections in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. So why are so many Arabs voting for parties that seem politically regressive to Westerners?

.... Why Islamism Is Winning - NYTimes.com

Boogeyman: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer

2011-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Boogeyman: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer

New York Times series on Derek Boogard -- Three videos and three articles

Derek Boogaard: An Enforcer’s Story — Video 1: Learning to Brawl - NYTimes.com
Derek Boogaard: An Enforcer’s Story — Video 2: Fight Club - NYTimes.com
Derek Boogaard: An Enforcer’s Story — Video 3: Punch Drunk - NYTimes.com
Derek Boogaard - A Boy Learns to Brawl - NYTimes.com
Derek Boogaard - Blood on the Ice - NYTimes.com
Derek Boogaard - A Brain ‘Going Bad’ - NYTimes.com

"Mickey Mouse" and D-Day

2011-12-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

"Mickey Mouse" and D-Day

Clarification of the usual "Mickey Mouse" and D-Day story:

... a very brief United Press item, datelined London, on June 8, 1944. The exact wording in the three papers differs, thanks presumably to editing, but the substance in each is the same. Here's the UP item as it appeared in the Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail:

Mickey Mouse played a part in the invasion of northern France, it was revealed today.
Naval officers gathering for invasion briefing at a southern port approached the sentry at the door and furtively whispered into his ear the password of admission: "Mickey Mouse."

MichaelBarrier.com -- "What's New" "Mickey Mouse" and D-Day

Driving in a barrel

2011-12-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Driving in a barrel

A traveling carnival in India builds this barrel and puts on this show. I am amazed no one flies over the edge.

Turn the sound off

Well of Death (AKA Maut ka Kuaa) - YouTube

Fun with a 15 Ton Loader

2011-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Fun with a 15 Ton Loader

Skills with a 15 Ton Loader - YouTube

BBC News - Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant

2011-12-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

BBC
5 December 2011 Last updated at 07:40 ET

Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant

Tepco said the water leak at the treatment system was found on Sunday morning

Contaminated water has leaked from a treatment system at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, with some potentially entering the sea, the plant's operator says.

Workers found the leak - caused by a crack in a concrete foundation - on Sunday morning.

Tepco said some 45 cubic metres (1,590 cubic feet) of water had escaped before sandbags blocked the leak.

....BBC News - Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant

Google: An explanation of our search results

2011-12-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Google: An explanation of our search results

If you recently used Google to search for the word “Jew,” you may have seen results that were very disturbing. We assure you that the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google. We’d like to explain why you’re seeing these results when you conduct this search.

A site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to appear that cannot be predicted. A search for “Jew” brings up one such unexpected result.

If you use Google to search for “Judaism,” “Jewish” or “Jewish people,” the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for “Jew” different? One reason is that the word “Jew” is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word “Jewish” when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah081500.asp

Someone searching for information on Jewish people would be more likely to enter terms like “Judaism,” “Jewish people,” or “Jews” than the single word “Jew” In fact, prior to this incident, the word “Jew” only appeared about once in every 10 million search queries. Now it’s likely that the great majority of searches on Google for “Jew” are by people who have heard about this issue and want to see the results for themselves.

The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the comprehensiveness of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page.

We apologize for the upsetting nature of the experience you had using Google and appreciate your taking the time to inform us about it.

Sincerely,
The Google Team

P.S. You may be interested in some additional information the Anti-Defamation League has posted about this issue at http://www.adl.org/rumors/google_search_rumors.asp. In addition, we call your attention to Google’s search results on this topic.

Google: An explanation of our search results

5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think | Cracked.com

2011-11-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think

By: Kathy Benjamin, CRACKED Staff, Karl Smallwood November 01, 2011

The Internet has introduced a golden age of ill-informed arguments. You can't post a video of an adorable kitten without a raging debate about pet issues spawning in the comment section. These days, everyone is a pundit.

But with all those different perspectives on important issues flying around, you'd think we'd be getting smarter and more informed. Unfortunately, the very wiring of our brains ensures that all these lively debates only make us dumber and more narrow-minded. For instance ...

#5. We're Not Programmed to Seek "Truth," We're Programmed to "Win"

.... 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think | Cracked.com

Kitten on a slide

2011-11-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

Kitten on a slide

Kitten on a slide - YouTube

WWE cat wrestling - YouTube

2011-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

WWE cat wrestling

WWE cat wrestling - YouTube

SCE to AUX - YouTube

2011-11-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

SCE to AUX - How Apollo 12 was saved

SCE to AUX - YouTube

Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com

2011-11-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

Can a Playground Be Too Safe?

By JOHN TIERNEY

Published: July 18, 2011

When seesaws and tall slides and other perils were disappearing from New York’s playgrounds, Henry Stern drew a line in the sandbox. As the city’s parks commissioner in the 1990s, he issued an edict concerning the 10-foot-high jungle gym near his childhood home in northern Manhattan.

“I grew up on the monkey bars in Fort Tryon Park, and I never forgot how good it felt to get to the top of them,” Mr. Stern said. “I didn’t want to see that playground bowdlerized. I said that as long as I was parks commissioner, those monkey bars were going to stay.”

His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.
Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington

2011-11-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington

Gentlemen:

While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.

If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.

G. Washington

Washington's Letter

Marks and Spencer produces excellent smiling dinosaur

2011-10-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

Marks and Spencer produces excellent smiling dinosaur

AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US - Yahoo! News

2011-10-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US

By TRACIE CONE - Associated Press | AP – 7 hrs ago

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation's food supply.

At the time, hundreds of agricultural scientists responsible for stopping invasive species at the border were reassigned to anti-terrorism duties in the newly formed Homeland Security Department — a move that scientists say cost billions of dollars in crop damage and eradication efforts from California vineyards to Florida citrus groves.

The consequences come home to consumers in the form of higher grocery prices, substandard produce and the risk of environmental damage from chemicals needed to combat the pests.

.... AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US - Yahoo! News

Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

2011-10-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies

Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Star Trek White Rabbit - YouTube

2011-09-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

Star Trek White Rabbit

Star Trek White Rabbit - YouTube

How the Feds reacted as 9/11 unfolded

2011-09-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

How the Feds reacted as 9/11 unfolded

By Sebastian Smith | AFP

"Did you just say somethin' hit the World Trade Center?" an incredulous military official asked shortly after the beginning of America's terrorism nightmare on September 11, 2001.

Minutes later, with air traffic authorities warning that another commercial jet was off course and just six miles (10 kilometers) from the White House, Washington ground control sounded in denial, saying it was "probably just a rumor."

Moments later American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon.

The stunned reactions by authorities to first reports about 9/11, in the full exchanges between ground control, pilots and military authorities during the hijacking chaos of 10 years ago were made public Thursday. They illustrate just how unprepared the United States was for the audacious plot.

.... Newly released tapes reveal full 9/11 air horror - Yahoo! News

halfass

2011-09-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

halfass

Pulp sport - half ass - YouTube

The Annals of Extreme Surgery - NYTimes.com

2011-08-30T01:25:00.000-07:00

NYT Op-Ed

The Annals of Extreme Surgery

By BARRON H. LERNER

Published: August 29, 2011

THE heat is on again in the world of cancer treatment, both literally and figuratively.

More and more doctors are now using an extremely aggressive procedure to treat certain colorectal and ovarian cancers called Hipec, in which patients first undergo surgery to remove any visible cancer, then have heated chemotherapy pumped into the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes to kill any remaining cells.

Although it has given some patients hope, there is almost no evidence that the treatment is more effective than traditional chemotherapy — besides one small trial in the Netherlands over a decade ago that did show a benefit, but in which 8 percent of the participants died from the procedure itself.

The Annals of Extreme Surgery - NYTimes.com

Dr. King Weeps From His Grave - NYT Op-Ed

2011-08-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

NYT Op-Ed Contributor

Dr. King Weeps From His Grave

By CORNEL WEST
Published: August 25, 2011
Princeton, N.J.

THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.)

These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: “The whole future of America depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King.”

Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of King’s life, when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of King’s opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in America. King’s dream of a more democratic America had become, in his words, “a nightmare,” owing to the persistence of “racism, poverty, militarism and materialism.” He called America a “sick society.” On the Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a sermon titled “Why America May Go to Hell.”

.... Martin Luther King Jr. Would Want a Revolution, Not a Memorial - NYTimes.com

string spin - zefrank.com

2011-08-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

string spin - zefrank.com

Penn Jillette: I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian - CNN.com

2011-08-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian

By Penn Jillette, Special to CNN

August 16, 2011 4:24 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- I try to claim that I was friends with the genius Richard Feynman. He came to our show a few times and was very complimentary, and I had dinner with him a couple times, and we chatted on the phone several times. I'd call him to get quick tutoring on physics so I could pretend to read his books.

No matter how much I want to brag, it's overstating it to call him a friend. I would never have called him to help me move a couch. I did, however, call him once to ask how we could score some liquid nitrogen for a Letterman spot we wanted to do. He was the only physicist I knew at the time. He explained patiently that he didn't know. He was a theoretical physicist and I needed a hands-on guy, but he'd try to find one for me.

About a half-hour later a physics teacher from a community college in Brooklyn called me and said, "I don't know what kind of practical joke this is, but a Nobel Prize-winning scientist just called me here at the community college, gave me this number, and told me to call Penn of Penn & Teller to help with a Letterman appearance."

.... Penn Jillette: I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian - CNN.com

The Periodic Table of Videos

2011-08-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

The Periodic Table of Videos

All Hail the (Democratic) King - NYTimes.com

2011-07-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed Contributor

All Hail the (Democratic) King

By AHMED CHARAI and JOSEPH BRAUDE

Published: July 11, 2011

Rabat, Morocco

IT isn’t news anymore when an Arab ruler facing mass protests pledges sweeping reforms. But Morocco’s July 1 constitutional referendum may be the most significant development in the Arab world all summer. For the first time since the Arab Spring began, a population broadly embraced its leader’s reforms and scaled back antigovernment demonstrations. In the weeks before the referendum, over 100,000 people had taken to the streets; after the vote only about 10,000 did.

A sizable majority of Moroccans approved the new Constitution, which calls for King Mohammed VI to cede half his power to a prime minister appointed from the parliament’s majority party and ensures the rights of women and non-Arabs, including the country’s large Berber population.

.... All Hail the (Democratic) King - NYTimes.com

‘The Rap Guide to Evolution’ Pays Homage to Darwin - NYTimes.com

2011-06-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

On View

Paying Homage to Darwin in an Unconventional Format: The Rap Guide to Evolution

By DENNIS OVERBYE

Published: June 27, 2011

Don’t sleep with mean people.

That’s a lesson some of us learn painfully, if at all, in regard to our personal happiness. That there could be a cosmic evolutionary angle to this thought had never occurred to me until I heard Baba Brinkman, a rap artist and Chaucer scholar, say it the other night. Think of it as the ultimate example of thinking globally and acting very, very locally. We are all in the process of recreating our species in our most intimate acts:

Don’t sleep with mean people, that’s the anthem

Please! Think about your granddaughters and grandsons

Don’t sleep with mean people, pretty or handsome

Mean people hold the gene pool for ransom.

.... ‘The Rap Guide to Evolution’ Pays Homage to Darwin - NYTimes.com

BallDroppings

2011-06-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

BallDroppings

Make music: BallDroppings

The Truth About the Economy

2011-06-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

The Truth About the Economy

YouTube - The Truth About the Economy

Global Commission on Drug Policy | Report

2011-06-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

War On Drugs

Report of the Global Commision on Drug Policy

June 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.

Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction.

Our principles and recommendations can be summarized as follows:

End the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others. Challenge rather than reinforce common misconceptions about drug markets, drug use and drug dependence.

Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. This recommendation applies especially to cannabis, but we also encourage other experiments in decriminalization and legal regulation that can accomplish these objectives and provide models for others.

Offer health and treatment services to those in need. Ensure that a variety of treatment modalities are available, including not just methadone and buprenorphine treatment but also the heroin-assisted treatment programs that have proven successful in many European countries and Canada. Implement syringe access and other harm reduction measures that have proven effective in reducing transmission of HIV and other blood-borne infections as well as fatal overdoses. Respect the human rights of people who use drugs. Abolish abusive practices carried out in the name of treatment – such as forced detention, forced labor, and physical or psychological abuse – that contravene human rights standards and norms or that remove the right to self-determination.

Apply much the same principles and policies stated above to people involved in the lower ends of illegal drug markets, such as farmers, couriers and petty sellers. Many are themselves victims of violence and intimidation or are drug dependent. Arresting and incarcerating tens of millions of these people in recent decades has filled prisons and destroyed lives and families without reducing the availability of illicit drugs or the power of criminal organizations. There appears to be almost no limit to the number of people willing to engage in such activities to better their lives, provide for their families, or otherwise escape poverty. Drug control resources are better directed elsewhere.

Invest in activities that can both prevent young people from taking drugs in the first place and also prevent those who do use drugs from developing more serious problems. Eschew simplistic ‘just say no’ messages and ‘zero tolerance’ policies in favor of educational efforts grounded in credible information and prevention programs that focus on social skills and peer influences. The most successful prevention efforts may be those targeted at specific
at-risk groups.

Focus repressive actions on violent criminal organizations, but do so in ways that undermine their power and reach while prioritizing the reduction of violence and intimidation. Law enforcement efforts should focus not on reducing drug markets per se but rather on reducing their harms to individuals, communities and national security.

Begin the transformation of the global drug prohibition regime. Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights – and adopt appropriate criteria for their evaluation. Review the scheduling of drugs that has resulted in obvious anomalies like the flawed categorization of cannabis, coca leaf and MDMA. Ensure that the international conventions are interpreted and/or revised to accommodate robust experimentation with harm reduction, decriminalization and legal regulatory policies.

Break the taboo on debate and reform. The time for action is now.

Download the complete report at Global Commission on Drug Policy | Report

Voyager 1 encounters the unexpected at edge of the solar system - CSMonitor.com

2011-06-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Voyager 1 encounters the unexpected at edge of the solar system

Voyager 1 has entered a place where the solar wind is no longer blowing. The finding suggests a 'doldrums' on the farthest edge of the solar system that scientists had not forecast.

By Pete Spotts, Staff writer / June 15, 2011

On its journey to the stars, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has hit an unexpected, knife's-edge region at the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space.

In short, Voyager 1 is in a spot where the sun's winds have, in effect, stopped blowing.

An analysis of Voyager 1 data, released Wednesday and appearing Thursday in the journal Nature, indicates that the transition between the sun's extended atmosphere and the beginning of interstellar space is not abrupt, as theorists had expected. Instead, the solar wind gradually tapers off to zero, setting up up a narrow region of what might be described as the solar "doldrums."

.... Voyager 1 encounters the unexpected at edge of the solar system - CSMonitor.com

Daniel Ellsberg: All the crimes Richard Nixon committed against me are now legal – In the Arena - CNN.com Blogs

2011-06-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Daniel Ellsberg: All the crimes Richard Nixon committed against me are now legal

Posted by:

Jay Kernis - Senior Producer

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today's OFF-SET questions is Daniel Ellsberg, author, defense analyst and prominent whistleblower.

He is the subject of a documentary about his life, "The Most Dangerous Man in America," nominated for a 2010 Academy Award, which took its title from the words former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger used to describe Ellsberg in 1971.

In the 1960s, Ellsberg was a high-level Pentagon official, a former Marine commander who believed the American government was always on the right side. But while working for the administration of Lyndon Johnson, Ellsberg had access to a top-secret document that revealed senior American leaders, including several presidents, knew that the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire.

.... Daniel Ellsberg: All the crimes Richard Nixon committed against me are now legal – In the Arena - CNN.com Blogs

3-Way Street on Vimeo

2011-06-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

3-Way Street

by ronconcocacola

3-Way Street from ronconcocacola on Vimeo.
3-Way Street on Vimeo

Japanese scientist: Fukushima meltdown occurred within hours of quake - The Washington Post

2011-06-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

Washington Post

Japanese scientist: Fukushima meltdown occurred within hours of quake

By Brian Vastag and Steve Mufson, Published: May 26

Nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant began melting just five hours after Japan’s March 11 earthquake, a Japanese nuclear engineer told a panel of U.S. scientists Thursday.

About 11 hours later, all of the uranium fuel in the facility’s unit 1 reactor had slumped to the bottom of its inner containment vessel, boring a hole through a thick steel lining, the University of Tokyo’s Naoto Sekimura told a committee of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sekimura’s assessment further damages the credibility of the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco). This week, the company admitted for the first time that nuclear fuel in three of the plant’s reactors had melted — a conclusion that independent scientists had reached long ago.

.... Japanese scientist: Fukushima meltdown occurred within hours of quake - The Washington Post

Nuclear fuel has melted through base of Fukushima plant - Telegraph

2011-06-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Telegraph.co.uk

Nuclear fuel has melted through base of Fukushima plant

The nuclear fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant has melted through the base of the pressure vessels and is pooling in the outer containment vessels, according to a report by the Japanese government.

By Julian Ryall, Tokyo

1:06AM BST 09 Jun 2011

The findings of the report, which has been given to the International Atomic Energy Agency, were revealed by the Yomiuri newspaper, which described a "melt-through" as being "far worse than a core meltdown" and "the worst possibility in a nuclear accident."

A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the company is presently revising the road-map for bringing the plant under control, including the time required to achieve cold shutdown of the reactors.

In a best-case scenario, the company says it will be able to achieve that by October, although that may have to be revised in light of the report.

.... Nuclear fuel has melted through base of Fukushima plant - Telegraph

Autism: Hundreds of genetic mutations likely linked to autism - latimes.com

2011-06-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

LATimes

Autism probably related to hundreds of genetic mutations, researchers say

Autism disorders are genetically very complex, involving many potential changes in DNA that may produce different forms of autism, three new studies say. One researcher says the studies give the first insight into how many areas of the genome are likely to contribute to autism.

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times

June 8, 2011, 10:59 a.m.

Autism is not caused by one or two gene defects but probably by hundreds of different mutations, many of which arise spontaneously, according to research that examined the genetic underpinnings of the disorder in more than 1,000 families.

The findings, reported in three studies published Wednesday in the journal Neuron, cast autism disorders as genetically very complex, involving many potential changes in DNA that may produce, essentially, different forms of autism.

The affected genes, however, appear to be part of a large network involved in controlling the development of synapses, the critical junctions between nerve cells that allow them to communicate, according to one of the three studies.

.... Autism: Hundreds of genetic mutations likely linked to autism - latimes.com

Phil Ivey files lawsuit, boycotts World Series of Poker - CNN.com

2011-06-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

CNN

Phil Ivey files lawsuit, boycotts World Series of Poker

By Anna Rhett Miller, CNN

June 2, 2011 6:13 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Phil Ivey, one of the world's best poker players, is boycotting this week's World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and is suing his sponsor.

Full Tilt Poker has damaged his reputation by not paying back $150 million owed to U.S. players, according to a lawsuit Ivey filed Wednesday in District Court in Clark County, Nevada.

"I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result, many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm," Ivey says on his website. "I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot."

....

Phil Ivey files lawsuit, boycotts World Series of Poker - CNN.com

Grey Bloke on the Rapture

2011-06-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Grey Bloke on the Rapture

YouTube - The Rapture

College is a waste of time - CNN.com

2011-06-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

CNN Opinion

College is a waste of time

By Dale Stephens, Special to CNN

June 3, 2011 1:23 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- I have been awarded a golden ticket to the heart of Silicon Valley: the Thiel Fellowship. The catch? For two years, I cannot be enrolled as a full-time student at an academic institution. For me, that's not an issue; I believe higher education is broken.

I left college two months ago because it rewards conformity rather than independence, competition rather than collaboration, regurgitation rather than learning and theory rather than application. Our creativity, innovation and curiosity are schooled out of us.

Failure is punished instead of seen as a learning opportunity. We think of college as a stepping-stone to success rather than a means to gain knowledge. College fails to empower us with the skills necessary to become productive members of today's global entrepreneurial economy.

.... College is a waste of time - CNN.com

The Mistake of 2010 - Paul Krugman NYTimes.com

2011-06-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist

The Mistake of 2010

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: June 2, 2011

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a blog post about the “mistake of 1937,” the premature fiscal and monetary pullback that aborted an ongoing economic recovery and prolonged the Great Depression. As Gauti Eggertsson, the post’s author (with whom I have done research) points out, economic conditions today — with output growing, some prices rising, but unemployment still very high — bear a strong resemblance to those in 1936-37. So are modern policy makers going to make the same mistake?

Mr. Eggertsson says no, that economists now know better. But I disagree. In fact, in important ways we have already repeated the mistake of 1937. Call it the mistake of 2010: a “pivot” away from jobs to other concerns, whose wrongheadedness has been highlighted by recent economic data.

To be sure, things could be worse — and there’s a strong chance that they will, indeed, get worse.

.... The Mistake of 2010 - Paul Krugman NYTimes.com

Legal highs sold to US kids

2011-06-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

ABC 20/20

Brian Williams investigates: Legal highs sold to US kids

[There should be a place on ABC where you can see the whole 20/20 episode but I cannot find it --RB]

'Legal Pot,' Made in China, Sold To U.S. Kids | Video - ABC News

Amazing goal from header off throw-in leads to state title upset - Prep Rally - High School Blog - Yahoo! Sports

2011-06-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Amazing goal from header off throw-in leads to state title upset - Prep Rally - High School Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Carl Gibson: America Needs Taxes

2011-06-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Carl Gibson

Co-founder of U.S. Uncut

America Needs Taxes

Posted: 06/ 1/11 04:58 PM ET

What do USAA, CVS Caremark, Costco, UnitedHealth Group and Berkshire Hathaway all have in common?

They're all multi-billion dollar American corporations that pay their fair share of taxes and don't hide their money offshore. In fact, if you combined the federal tax receipts of just these five corporations, that accounts for more than $7 billion. Theoretically, that money paid for 175,000 teachers at $40,000 a year, or for the guaranteed healthcare for sick and injured 9/11 first responders outlined in the Zadroga bill.

.... Carl Gibson: America Needs Taxes

How Twitter is upending British privacy laws - CSMonitor.com

2011-06-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

How Twitter is upending British privacy laws

While extreme gag orders, or 'super injunctions,' often keep the British press from airing the private details of celebrities' court cases, they haven't yet been able to quiet the Twitterati.

By Danna Harman, Correspondent / June 1, 2011
London

Which Premier League soccer star had an affair with which reality TV star? How did he try to hide it? Did she blackmail him? The British press, by law, couldn't tell you. But if you really want to know, check Twitter.

And what would one find there? It was Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs! But with who? Yes! We knew all along! Big Brother star and Welsh model Imogen Thomas! No Way!

In a country where celebrity gossip is as beloved as fish and chips, and no one is as big a celebrity as reality TV stars and mischievous soccer players, this is the stuff of major news.

Now, Britain is in the midst of a raging debate about celebrities' use of "super injunctions," or gag orders, to hide the details of court cases and private affairs after Mr. Giggs and Ms. Thomas were outed on Twitter. The key questions of the debate: Are injunctions overused? Do they put privacy ahead of free speech? And how do they apply in a world where tweets can be anonymous, relentless, and don't abide by British press laws.

.... How Twitter is upending British privacy laws - CSMonitor.com

Euronation

2011-05-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

Euronation

YouTube - Euronation (video) by European Gold

California's prison crisis

2011-05-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

California's prison crisis

No easy fix for California's prison crisis

Short Sharp Science: Best illusions: Masked face conceals a kiss

2011-05-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

NewScientist

Best illusions: Masked face conceals a kiss

.... Short Sharp Science: Best illusions: Masked face conceals a kiss

3 Classic Novels. 22 Minutes. Why Not?

2011-05-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

3 Classic Novels. 22 Minutes. Why Not?

By CHARLES McGRATH

Published: May 23, 2011

Elevator Repair Service has nothing to do with elevators. It’s a theatrical troupe whose main job lately has been to stage unusual readings of classic American novels. Book in hand, the actors recite the text and pretty soon start behaving in ways that indicate how they’ve been taken over by it.

The group has so far done the first chapter of Faulkner’s “Sound and the Fury” this way, as well as a version of “The Sun Also Rises,” by Hemingway, and most famously, a full-length, word-for-word performance of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby,” which, as “Gatz,” had an acclaimed run at the Public Theater last fall.

Over the weekend, as part of the centennial celebration of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the Fifth Avenue headquarters of the New York Public Library, the troupe presented a simultaneous mash-up of all three novels in brief performances in the library’s periodical room. “The Sound and the Fury,” “The Sun Also Rises” and “The Great Gatsby” in just 22 minutes? Why not? We all have short attention spans these days.

.... Elevator Repair Service Performs at New York Public Library - NYTimes.com

BBC News - Tepco confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant

2011-05-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

BBC News

23 May 2011 Last updated at 23:59 ET

Tepco confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has confirmed the meltdown of extra fuel rods in reactors at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The company said that the rods were in its Number 2 and Number 3 reactors.

...

Tepco's announcement came on the same day that a team from the United Nations' atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), kicked off a visit in Japan.

.... BBC News - Tepco confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant

Yugoslav War Memorials | HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

2011-05-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

Yugoslav War Memorials

‘During the 1960s and 70s, thousands of monuments commemorating the Second World War – called ‘Spomeniks’ – were built throughout the former Yugoslavia; striking monumental sculptures, with an angular geometry echoing the shapes of flowers, crystals, and macro-views of viruses or DNA. In the 1980s the Spomeniks still attracted millions of visitors from the Eastern bloc; today they are largely neglected and unknown, their symbolism lost and unwanted. Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers travelled the Balkans photographing these eerie objects, presented in this book as a powerful typological series. The beauty and mystery of the isolated, crumbling Spomeniks informs Kempenaer’s enquiry into memory, found beauty, and whether former monuments can function as pure sculpture.’

- Roma Publications

.... Yugoslav War Memorials | HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

The Disappearing Car Door

2011-05-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Disappearing Car Door - The most amazing videos are a click away

The Disappearing Car Door

In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S. - NYTimes.com

2011-05-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hidden Dangers

In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S.

By HIROKO TABUCHI, KEITH BRADSHER and MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: May 17, 2011

TOKYO — Emergency vents that American officials have said would prevent devastating hydrogen explosions at nuclear plants in the United States were put to the test in Japan — and failed to work, according to experts and officials with the company that operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The failure of the vents calls into question the safety of similar nuclear power plants in the United States and Japan. After the venting failed at the Fukushima plant, the hydrogen gas fueled explosions that spewed radioactive materials into the atmosphere, reaching levels about 10 percent of estimated emissions at Chernobyl, according to Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency.

Venting was critical to relieving pressure that was building up inside several reactors after the March 11 tsunami knocked out the plant’s crucial cooling systems. Without flowing water to cool the reactors’ cores, they had begun to dangerously overheat.

.... In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S. - NYTimes.com

Top Ten Donald Trump Failures

2011-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Top Ten Donald Trump Failures

Donald Trump is very proud of himself for forcing President Obama to release his birth certificate, ending the debate over whether he was legally fit to lead the country. But not everything the Donald has put his name behind has succeeded. TIME takes a look at some gambles that went bust

Trumped

.... View the full list for "Top 10 Donald Trump Failures

Venezuela resorts to rationing amid new blackouts

2011-05-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Venezuela resorts to rationing amid new blackouts

The government blames transmission line failures, but critics such as guest blogger Miguel Octavio point to government inefficiency. Last year Venezuelans endured blackouts for months.

By Miguel Octavio, Guest blogger / May 17, 2011

Nothing exemplifies the mismanagement of Venezuela more than the electricity crisis. Through a series of missteps and the lack of investment, Venezuela continues to be mired in an electrical crisis over a year and a half after it began. We have gone from blaming El Niño, to saying the problem had been solved, to now saying it is the increase in use of electricity that created the problem.

A while back I wrote this post to show the timeline of contradictions by the government, and I have actually been updating it given all that is being said. So, if you are interested in the problem, that post is dynamic, as I add news links to it. Check it out.

What is interesting is that, despite the vice president’s claim that “the growth in demand” is one of the main culprits of the electrical problem, data shows otherwise, as at least peak demand was higher in 2009 and 2010, due mostly to lower temperatures this year.

....Venezuela resorts to rationing amid new blackouts

Haitians eat dirt cookies to survive

2011-05-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Haitians eat dirt cookies to survive

This is not a joke:

YouTube - Haitians eat dirt cookies to survive

Britain Demands Sealed Oral Accounts of Irish Conflict - NYTimes.com

2011-05-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Britain subpoenas confidential accounts of Irish Troubles

By JIM DWYER

Published: May 13, 2011

As the war in Northern Ireland was reaching its end in the late 1990s, two interviewers set out to collect memories of the conflict from men and women who had been involved as paramilitary fighters in some of the era’s most violent and grim episodes.

The interviewers, working for an oral history project at Boston College, brought two tools: a digital minidisk recorder and a promise of confidentiality. In exchange for candor, the people being interviewed were assured that the contents would remain sealed until they were dead.
Now, however, authorities in the United Kingdom want oral histories that were given to Boston College by two members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army for an investigation into murders and kidnappings committed nearly 40 years ago.
.... Britain Demands Sealed Oral Accounts of Irish Conflict - NYTimes.com

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate - Times Online

2011-05-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

From The Times

August 4, 2007

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

Jane Macartney in Beijing

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.

“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1.

The 14-part regulation issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influence of Tibet’s exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and at preventing the re-incarnation of the 72-year-old monk without approval from Beijing.

.... China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate - Times Online

China bans time travel

2011-05-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

China bans time travel

April 3rd, 2011 by Olivia | Posted in Entertainment, News

From QQ:

Now there’s an interesting trend in China’s film and television industry: more and more time-travel themed dramas are made and aired. In these time-travel based TV plays, usually the protagonist is from the modern time and for some reasons and via some means, travels through time and all the way back to the ancient China where he/she will constantly experience the "culture shock" but gradually get used to it and eventually develop a romance in that era. Though obviously the Chinese audience is found of this genre of shows, the country’s authority -General Bureau of Radio, Film and Television, to be exact, is not happy about this trend and calls a halt to the making of this type of drama.

.... "No more time-travel drama", authority says it disrespects history | ChinaHush

As States Battle for Cash, Insurance Concerns Grow - NYTimes.com

2011-05-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Seeking Business, States Loosen Insurance Rules

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and LOUISE STORY

Published: May 8, 2011

Companies looking to do business in secret once had to travel to places like the Cayman Islands or Bermuda.

Today, all it takes is a trip to Vermont.

Vermont, and a handful of other states including Utah, South Carolina, Delaware and Hawaii, are aggressively remaking themselves as destinations of choice for the kind of complex private insurance transactions once done almost exclusively offshore. Roughly 30 states have passed some type of law to allow companies to set up special insurance subsidiaries called captives, which can conduct Bermuda-style financial wizardry right in a policyholder’s own backyard.

.... As States Battle for Cash, Insurance Concerns Grow - NYTimes.com

CIA Chief Leon Panetta interview by Jim Lehrer | PBS NewsHour | May 3, 2011 | PBS

2011-05-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

Leon Panetta interview by Jim Lehrer

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

CIA Chief Panetta: Obama Made 'Gutsy' Decision on Bin Laden Raid | PBS NewsHour | May 3, 2011 | PBS

Expiring eBooks are Wrong for Libraries

2011-05-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

Tell HarperCollins: Limited Checkouts on eBooks is Wrong for Libraries

Change.org:

On March 7, 2011, the publisher HarperCollins instituted an expiration policy on eBooks that are licensed to libraries. Under this new arrangement, eBooks would "self-destruct" after being checked out 26 times. This would require libraries to re-purchase the eBook if they wanted to continue to make it available. Libraries across the country are boycotting future purchases of HarperCollins eBooks, but our voices alone will not change their policy. We need your help.

As Cory Doctorow wrote, "the durability of eBook is a feature, not a bug." To place a cap on the circulation of eBooks in order to "simulate" the wear and tear of a physical book is not only insulting to readers, but this video shows how easily it can be proven wrong with physical books.

The significant advantage of eBooks for libraries is that it allows people to borrow books from home and read them on their computer or ereader. When the book is due to be “returned” to the library, the file is rendered inert and the next library user can check out the eBook. Limiting a book to 26 total checkouts means that it could be there one day and gone the next, leaving that 27th borrower in limbo as the library assesses whether to re-purchase the eBook. If left in place, this policy would threaten public access to eBooks by making them disappear from the virtual shelf.

Please join us in voicing your opposition to this policy of self-destructing eBooks.

To see if libraries are still boycotting HarperCollins, you can visit the website Boycott HarperCollins.

Sign the petition at Education Petition: Tell HarperCollins: Limited Checkouts on eBooks is Wrong for Libraries | Change.org

Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People | The Onion

2011-05-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People

April 21, 2011 | ISSUE 47•16

Romney claims he wishes he'd never aided helpless sick people.

BELMONT, MA—Though Mitt Romney is considered to be a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the national spotlight has forced him to repeatedly confront a major skeleton in his political closet: that as governor of Massachusetts he once tried to help poor, uninsured sick people.
Romney, who signed the state's 2006 health care reform act, has said he "deeply regrets" giving people in poor physical and mental health the opportunity to seek medical attention, admitting that helping very sick people get better remains a dark cloud hovering over his political career, and his biggest obstacle to becoming president of the United States of America.
....Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Is Superman a US Citizen?

2011-04-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Superman Renounces US Citizenship

Apr 27th 2011 By: Laura Hudson

After recently undertaking a journey to walk -- not fly -- across the United States in the "Grounded" storyline and reconnect with the country and everyday Americans, Superman appears to be taking another step that could have major implications for his national identity: in Action Comics #900...

...Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship.

Superman Renounces [SPOILER] in 'Action Comics' #900 - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

Silly kitty meow

2011-04-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Sillykittymeow

See the kitties: sillykittymeow.com

The Brick Testament

2011-04-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

The Bible, in Lego:

The Brick Testament

The 14 Most Unintentionally Terrifying Statues in the World | Cracked.com

2011-04-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

The 14 Most Unintentionally Terrifying Statues in the World

By: Pauli Poisuo April 26, 2011

Write a book or paint a painting, and who knows whether it'll still be around a few years later. But build a goddamned 100-ton bronze statue, and people will still be staring at that shit centuries from now. Which makes it all the more awesome when a sculptor creates a horrifying monument to his own insanity and gets it erected in city park or town square.

See the pictures at The 14 Most Unintentionally Terrifying Statues in the World | Cracked.com

Chernobyl nuclear disaster infographic

2011-04-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Chernobyl nuclear disaster infographic

Source:LiveScience
chernobyl nuclear disaster infographic

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

2011-04-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.
The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.
.... Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

Um, Uh …

2011-04-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

LiveScience

Um, Uh … Speech Stumbles Help Toddlers Learn New Words

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

Date: 14 April 2011 Time: 04:07 PM ET

Stuck with a word on the tip of your tongue when talking to a toddler? Don't worry — a new study finds that hesitant speech may help the kid learn new vocabulary.

Language disfluencies, or the "ums" and "uhs" that pepper everyday speech, give young children a clue that the next word coming will be a new one, according to the study, which was published online Thursday (April 14) in the journal Developmental Science. These clues may help children link new words with new objects in their environment.

.... Um, Uh … Speech Stumbles Help Toddlers Learn New Words | Speech and Language Learning | Disfluencies | LiveScience

Syria: How Many Bad Fridays Can Assad Afford? - TIME

2011-04-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Syria: How Many Bad Fridays Can Assad Afford?

By Robert Baer Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011

Syria could very well learn its fate this Friday. According to a source from the country with close ties to the regime, if large-scale demonstrations break out after midday prayer in Syria's two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, the regime will be faced with a stark choice: either crack down with unlimited violence, or meet the demonstrators' demands. In either case, Syria is looking into an abyss.

The regime is in uncharted waters. In 1982 President Hafez al-Assad, the father of the current president, ordered the shelling of the town of Hama, killing more than 10,000 people to put down an uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood, because he was worried about a general uprising of Sunnis against the minority Alawites who rule Syria. Assad feared that the Alawites would not only be driven from power but also face the real risk of slaughter. As of now his son Bashar has apparently ruled it out, if for no other reason than it is unlkely to turn the tide as it did in 1982. Indeed, he appeared to be trying to calm the public anger. On Thursday, he met with a large delegation from the town of Dara'a, the epicenter of the demonstrations.

Psych test

2011-04-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Psych test

Click to take an unusual psych test

Here are my results:

Verbally and mentally fluid, you are refreshing and illuminating to those around you. This is occasionally somewhat discounted by the obvious pleasure that you take in exercising your mental acuity. Although generally peaceful you can often take a verbally aggressive tact in relations with the world, which can often be misunderstood by those around you. Innovative in the extreme, you can often think yourself right out of the correct answer to a given problem. Many times you are referred to as your own worst enemy. You tire very quickly of routine and so make poor clerks or administrative help. You also have no respect for authority and little patience for those you regard as inferior, most especially those in charge. Experimentation is your watchword and can occasionally lead to experience for its own sake and shallow decadence. Your thought can sometimes be scattered and disconnected.

Interview with Sir James Goldsmith in 1994 Pt1

2011-04-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Interview with Sir James Goldsmith in 1994

YouTube - 1. A prophetic interview with Sir James Goldsmith in 1994 Pt1
YouTube - 2. A prophetic interview with Sir James Goldsmith in 1994 Pt2

NCAA Justice

2011-04-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist

NCAA Justice

By JOE NOCERA

Published: April 8, 2011

I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time stomaching the sight of Jim Calhoun holding the championship trophy after Monday’s final game of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament.

Not because it was a lousy game (though it was), but because Calhoun, the pugnacious coach of the University of Connecticut “program” — as the big-money Division I teams are called — shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near the gym.

.... N.C.A.A.’s Double Standard - NYTimes.com

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto

2011-04-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto

YouTube - A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto

Who Could Blame G.E.? - NYTimes.com

2011-04-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist

Who Could Blame G.E.?

By JOE NOCERA

Published: April 4, 2011

With tax day fast approaching, many Americans are thinking hard, and perhaps a little creatively, about finding deductions to help lower their tax bills. Nobody, after all, likes paying more taxes than they have to. So why in the world should we expect the mighty General Electric to act any differently?

.... Who Could Blame G.E.? - NYTimes.com

Radiation Dose Chart

2011-04-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Click thru to view full size

Sources here.

I waive all copyright to this chart and place it in the public domain, so you are free to reuse it anywhere with no permission necessary. (However, keep in mind that I am not a radiation expert, and this chart is intended for general public informational use only.)

Radiation Dose Chart

Police: Debt collectors for Citibank killed man who protested credit card bill - Yahoo! News

2011-04-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Thu Mar 31, 2:04 pm ET

Police: Debt collectors for Citibank killed man who protested credit card bill

By Zachary Roth

Never let it be said that American financial firms aren't doing their part to build global goodwill toward the United States.

The Jakarta Post reports that local police say three debt collectors working on behalf of Citibank killed an Indonesian political figure after he protested a higher-than-expected credit card bill today.

.... Police: Debt collectors for Citibank killed man who protested credit card bill - Yahoo! News

Global warming: Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on climate change - latimes.com

2011-04-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

LATimes

Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on global warming

A UC Berkeley team's preliminary findings in a review of temperature data confirm global warming studies.

By Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times

April 4, 2011

A team of UC Berkeley physicists and statisticians that set out to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming is finding that its data-crunching effort is producing results nearly identical to those underlying the prevailing view.

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project was launched by physics professor Richard Muller, a longtime critic of government-led climate studies, to address what he called "the legitimate concerns" of skeptics who believe that global warming is exaggerated.

But Muller unexpectedly told a congressional hearing last week that the work of the three principal groups that have analyzed the temperature trends underlying climate science is "excellent.... We see a global warming trend that is very similar to that previously reported by the other groups."

.... Global warming: Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on climate change - latimes.com

German doctors advised to give out more placebos - Yahoo! News

2011-03-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

German doctors advised to give out more placebos

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer – Thu Mar 31, 5:56 am ET

LONDON – For German patients plagued with problems like chronic pain and mild depression, doctors may soon be trying something a little different: a placebo.

After completing a major study on the use of placebos, the German Medical Association recently concluded the fake pills sometimes work better than real medicines and recommended that doctors give them out more often — even without explicitly telling their patients.

That is in stark contrast to guidance from American and British authorities, who say using placebos without the patient's consent is unethical. Placebo pills are often made from things like sugar, flour or dust, though doctors also use other things like vitamins, herbal supplements or drugs with very little active ingredient.

.... German doctors advised to give out more placebos - Yahoo! News

Sex-Change Chicken: Gertie the Hen Becomes Bertie the Cockerel | LiveScience

2011-03-31T15:26:00.000-07:00

Live Science

Sex-Change Chicken: Gertie the Hen Becomes Bertie the Cockerel

by Remy Melina
Date: 31 March 2011 Time: 03:25 PM ET

A British couple was surprised to witness their pet hen Gertie gradually transforming into a rooster. No, this is not an early April Fools' Day prank. Chickens really can undergo natural sex changes.

The first sign that something was afoot with Gertie was that she stopped laying eggs, her owners, Jim and Jeanette Howard of Huntingdon, England, told the local media. Next, she began strutting around their garden and crowing like a rooster. Over the next few weeks, Gertie put on weight and developed wattles beneath her chin, a feature normally exhibited only by males. She also grew dark brown plumage and a scarlet cockscomb atop her head, both male traits.

''I know it sounds ridiculous but I can assure you it's all true," Jim Howard told cambridge-news.co.uk. "People think it's a bit weird but apparently its one of those things that does happen."

.... Sex-Change Chicken: Gertie the Hen Becomes Bertie the Cockerel | LiveScience

Japan earthquake:Timeline map of the quake

2011-03-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Japan quake timeline map

I can't embed it, but click the link to see an animated timeline of the quake, beginning with the foreshock at noon March 9.

Japan earthquake: Interactive map tracks the foreshocks and aftershocks of the magnitude 9.0-magnitude quake that struck March 11, 2011 - latimes.com

YouTube - ONE HANDSHAKE AT A TIME: How Whitney Young Changed America

2011-03-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

ONE HANDSHAKE AT A TIME: How Whitney Young Changed America

YouTube - ONE HANDSHAKE AT A TIME: How Whitney Young Changed America

BBC News - Long game at Japan nuclear plant

2011-03-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

BBC

29 March 2011 Last updated at 08:51 ET

Long game at Japan nuclear plant

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

We are now in a long game at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Two-and-a-half weeks on from the colossal Tohoku quake and its associated tsunami, engineers are working tirelessly to regain full control of the facility.

The past week has seen major gains in getting on top of the crisis, but difficulties and frustrations continue to hamper progress.

.... BBC News - Long game at Japan nuclear plant

How far should you run?

2011-03-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

What happens if you pour a billion gallons of seawater on a pile of nuclear waste?

2011-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

BBC

26 March 2011 Last updated at 11:11 ET

Japan nuclear plant: Radioactivity rises in sea nearby

Levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are 1,250 times higher than the safety limit, officials say.

The readings were taken about 300m (984ft) offshore. It is feared the radiation could be seeping into groundwater from one of the reactors.

.... BBC News - Japan nuclear plant: Radioactivity rises in sea nearby

The Triangle Fire

2011-03-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

CNN

Remembering the Triangle Fire 100 years later

By Allan Chernoff, CNN Sr. Correspondent March 25, 2011: 11:19 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As labor unions battle to retain collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states, they are marking the centennial of a tragic factory fire that started the movement that first won those rights.

A scene of surreal horror engulfed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan 100 years ago on March 25, 1911 during a disaster that ultimately would lead to better and safer conditions for all working people in the United States.

It was a Saturday afternoon, 4:40 p.m., shortly before closing time. About 500 young, low-paid immigrant garment workers, who labored six-days-a-week, were crammed by their sewing machines and cutting boards, busy creating the popular women's blouses that buttoned down to the waist, known then as shirtwaists.
.... Triangle Fire and workers rights - Mar. 25, 2011
Time magazine pictorial: Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Let's Move Campaign Helps Bullies - The Daily Beast

2011-03-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

The first lady would be horrified by the idea that her Let’s Move campaign, which is dedicated to creating an America without any fat kids, is a particularly invidious form of bullying. But that’s exactly what it is, says Paul Campos.

Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Let's Move Campaign Helps Bullies - The Daily Beast

How long is a day on Saturn?

2011-03-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

LiveScience.com

How long is a day on Saturn? It depends on where and when

SPACE.com Staff

Date: 23 March 2011 Time: 04:43 PM ET

Saturn is sending astronomers mixed signals — radio signals, that is.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently found that the natural radio wave signals coming from the giant planet differ in the northern and southern hemispheres, a split that can affect how scientists measure the length of a Saturn day. But the weirdness doesn't stop there, researchers say.

The signal variations — which are controlled by the planet's rotation — also change dramatically over time, apparently in sync with the Saturnian seasons.

.... Weird Saturn Radio Signals Puzzle Astronomers | NASA & Cassini Mission | Saturn & the Solar System | LiveScience

1896 Tsunami

2011-03-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

1896 Tsunami

I quote Wikipedia:

Wave heights of up to 38.2 meters (125 ft) were measured. Nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed and 22,066 deaths were recorded. Most deaths occurred in Iwate and Miyagi, although casualties were also recorded from Aomori and Hokkaido. An unusual number of the victims were found with fractured skulls and limbs either broken or missing, testifying to the power of the tsunami.As was their normal practice each evening, the local fishing fleets were all at sea when the earthquake struck. In the deep water the wave went unnoticed, and when they returned the next morning they found themselves sailing amongst a mass of debris and bodies. The tsunami also caused damage in Hawaii where wharves were destroyed and several houses swept away, wave heights of up to 9 meters (30 ft) were measured.

75 years later, where did Japan build nuclear power plants?

1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NBC News March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island accident

2011-03-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

NBC covers Three Mile Island accident

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

msnbc video: March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island accident

How is the Yen doing?

2011-03-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Yen

How is the Japanese yen doing? You might be surprised.

XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Dollar
XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Euro
XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Gold

Cruel and unusual treatment of Bradley Manning

2011-03-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Cruel and unusual treatment of WikiLeaks suspect

By Terry A. Kupers, Special to CNN

March 16, 2011 8:53 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been imprisoned in the Quantico Marine Corps Brig for nine months, suspected of giving highly classified State Department cables to the website WikiLeaks. He has not been tried, yet is kept in solitary confinement in a windowless room 23 hours a day and forced to sleep naked without pillows or blankets.

Human rights groups have condemned his treatment, and even State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley spoke out against it. Crowley has resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Obama administration. Defense officials say Manning is stripped of his clothes nightly to prevent him from committing suicide, yet his civilian lawyer says his client is at no risk.

The problem with the argument that Manning is being kept in long-term solitary confinement to prevent his suicide is that long-term solitary confinement causes suicide.

.... Cruel and unusual treatment of WikiLeaks suspect - CNN.com

Japanese emperor: Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks on nuclear crisis - latimes.com

2011-03-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

LATimes

Emperor Akihito's speech underlines gravity of Japan's nuclear crisis

Instead of arcane court language, Emperor Akihito addresses the Japanese people in an unusually direct pattern of speech amounting to an imperial pep talk. He insists that the broadcaster interrupt his recorded speech if there are developments in the nuclear crisis.

.... Japanese emperor: Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks on nuclear crisis - latimes.com

All Things Nuclear • 40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

2011-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Union of Concerned Scientists
All Things Nuclear

Insights on Science and Security

40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

The New York Times ran a story today citing memos from September 1972 by officials in the Atomic Energy Commission, the forerunner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), showing longstanding concerns about the ability of reactors like those at Fukushima Dai-Ichi to contain a nuclear accident.

These documents and others that raise questions about the Mark I and similar pressure-suppression containment systems for reactors are likely to spur a discussion of its safety in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In the U.S., there are currently 35 operating boiling-water reactors, all of which use pressure-suppression containment. Of these, 23 reactors use the Mark I. In addition, there are 9 pressurized-water reactors operating in the U.S. that use ice-condenser containment, which has the same shortcomings.

The 1972 documents linked to by the NYT story were originally obtained by UCS through a FOIA request. UCS released them publicly with a press release in October 1972 - the month following the exchange of memos.

All Things Nuclear • 40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

Bradley Manning: The troubling punishment of Pfc. Bradley Manning - latimes.com

2011-03-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-manning-20110314,0,986384.story

latimes.com

Editorial

Punishing Pfc. Manning

Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was right to say that the Pentagon's treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning is "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

4:37 PM PDT, March 14, 2011
Illustrating the fact that telling the truth can be fatal in Washington, an Obama administration official has resigned after characterizing the Pentagon's handling of Pfc. Bradley Manning as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was referring to the harsh treatment that has been visited on Manning, who is suspected of turning over several hundred thousand confidential documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning, who is being held in the brig at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, has been confined to "maximum custody." He also has been subject to a "prevention of injury" order. The result is that he is kept in his cell 23 hours a day. According to his attorney, Manning is also denied sheets, forbidden to exercise in his cell and not allowed to sleep between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Most recently, the attorney has alleged that Manning has been stripped naked at bedtime — the result, apparently, of Manning's sarcastic comment that if he wanted to commit suicide, he could use the elastic band in his underwear or his flip-flops. After requiring him to sleep naked for several days, the Pentagon says Manning now sleeps in "tear-proof garments."

Undercutting the argument that Manning needs to be protected from himself is the fact that he is not on suicide watch, which requires a recommendation from a brig mental health official. According to Manning's attorney, a brig psychiatrist said that Manning's comment about the elastic in his underwear was in no way prompted by his psychiatric state. It's unclear whether President Obama knew these details when he told reporters last week that the conditions in which Manning was held were "appropriate" and that "some of this has to do with Private Manning's safety."

It's hard to resist the conclusion that punishment, not protection, is the purpose of these degrading measures. Punishment may be in Manning's future; he was charged last week with an additional 22 offenses, including aiding the enemy. But Manning's treatment should reflect the fact that he remains innocent until proven guilty.

Manning's lawyer was unsuccessful in convincing Quantico's base commander that his client should be removed from prevention of injury status and reclassified from maximum custody to medium detention. The matter is likely to reach Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Mabus should take a fresh look at Manning's complaint and not be influenced by Obama's comments, which essentially restated the Pentagon's position. If Mabus reviews the evidence, we expect he will agree with Crowley that the treatment of Manning has been "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

Bradley Manning: The troubling punishment of Pfc. Bradley Manning - latimes.com

The Abuse of Private Manning - NYTimes.com

2011-03-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

March 14, 2011

The Abuse of Private Manning

Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been imprisoned for nine months on charges of handing government files to WikiLeaks, has not even been tried let alone convicted. Yet the military has been treating him abusively, in a way that conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects. Inexplicably, it appears to have President Obama’s support to do so.

Private Manning is in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. For one hour a day, he is allowed to walk around a room in shackles. He is forced to remove all his clothes every night. And every morning he is required to stand outside his cell, naked, until he passes inspection and is given his clothes back.

Military officials say, without explanation, that these precautions are necessary to prevent Private Manning from injuring himself. They have put him on “prevention of injury” watch, yet his lawyers say there is no indication that he is suicidal and the military has not placed him on a suicide watch. (He apparently made a sarcastic comment about suicide.)

Forced nudity is a classic humiliation technique. During the early years of the Bush administration’s war on terror, C.I.A. interrogators regularly stripped prisoners to break down barriers of resistance, increase compliance and extract information. One C.I.A. report from 2004 said that nudity, along with sleep deprivation and dietary manipulation, was used to create a mind-set in which the prisoner “learns to perceive and value his personal welfare, comfort and immediate needs more than the information he is protecting.”

Private Manning is not an enemy combatant, and there is no indication that the military is trying to extract information from him. Many military and government officials remain furious at the huge dump of classified materials to WikiLeaks. But if this treatment is someone’s way of expressing that emotion, it would be useful to revisit the presumption of innocence and the Constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

Philip Crowley, a State Department spokesman, committed the classic mistake of a Washington mouthpiece by telling the truth about Private Manning to a small group (including a blogger): that the military’s treatment of Private Manning was “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He resigned on Sunday.

Far more troubling is why President Obama, who has forcefully denounced prisoner abuse, is condoning this treatment. Last week, at a news conference, he said the Pentagon had assured him that the terms of the private’s confinement “are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.” He said he could not go into details, but details are precisely what is needed to explain and correct an abuse that should never have begun.

The Abuse of Private Manning - NYTimes.com

A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end - CNN.com

2011-03-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

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A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end

(CNN) -- It started with a 5-year-old boy who had the decency to do the right thing.
It is about to end with tragedy layered upon endless tragedy.
Eric Morse, who was 5 in 1994, was asked by some older boys in his Chicago neighborhood to steal candy for them.
He said no. He didn't want to steal.
The older boys, who were 10 and 11 at the time, determined that Eric, who was growing up in a home marked by frequent parental absence, must be punished for his honesty. The 10-year-old, according to court documents, had an IQ that was below 60. The 11-year-old had an IQ of 76. They had led wretched lives of neglect and squalor.
On October 13, 1994, the two older boys encountered Eric and Eric's older brother, Derrick Lemon, who was 8. They asked Eric and Derrick if they would like to see a clubhouse.
Eric and Derrick agreed to follow the older boys.
The older boys led them to an abandoned apartment on the 14th floor of the Ida B. Wells housing project, a high-rise building that had the reputation of being a home base for drug dealers.
They led Eric and Derrick into the empty apartment. It is where they would execute Eric.
The older boys lifted Eric up and dangled him from an open window.
His 8-year-old brother would testify later that he was able to grab Eric's arm and pull him back in.
But then, Derrick testified, the two older boys ordered Eric to look out of a second window. If he refused, they said, they would strike him in the head with a brick.
Eric, afraid, complied. The older boys then picked the 5-year-old up and dangled him out the second window.
Again, his 8-year-old brother tried desperately to save him. He grabbed on to one of Eric's arms.
But, Derrick would testify, one of the older boys, seeing that he was trying to rescue his little brother, bit the hand with which he was holding Eric. With the boy's teeth sinking painfully into the flesh of his hand, he had to let go.
Eric's body dropped 14 stories. Derrick would later testify that he ran down all 14 flights of stairs. He believed, he said, that he might be able to get to the bottom in time to catch his brother.
The two older boys were almost immediately arrested by Chicago police. They were found guilty of murdering Eric. A judge sentenced them to be held in a juvenile prison until they turned 21. They were 11 and 12 at the time of the sentencing hearing.
There was much discussion at the time about what would happen to them, and to their communities, once they were released. The fear was that, without extensive psychiatric help, they would emerge from juvenile prison as adults who were a threat to society. And in fact, since their release, both have been in and out of Illinois prisons for various crimes.
Which left the fourth child who was in that 14th-floor apartment that October day in 1994: the 8-year-old brother, Derrick.
He received some counseling, but at a court hearing some years after Eric's murder, the social worker who treated Derrick testified that she had deep concerns about what was happening to him.
He was all but emotionally dead, she testified. He was haunted by the memory of the murder, she said, and about what he perceived as his failure to hang on to his brother and save his life. She said that he was depressed, anxious, and was unable to cope with daily pressures.
In her testimony, she told the court: "He thinks of himself as almost worthless."
No one knew with certainty then what would become of Derrick. And no one knows, even now, the totality of the factors that have formed his life.
But here is what happened last week:
In a Cook County criminal courtroom, prosecutors asked a judge to send Derrick Lemon away for a long prison term.
He is 24 now. He stands guilty of murdering a man named Illya Glover at a family barbecue in 2006. Glover was shot to death when he tried to stop Lemon from attacking a female relative at the gathering.
Lemon will be sentenced next month. He faces a term ranging from 45 years to life in prison.
Seventeen years ago, a 5-year-old boy did the honest thing by saying he would not steal the candy for the older boys. Somewhere, in his dismal and impoverished childhood, he had figured out that there was a difference between right and wrong, and that he should choose right.
Soon after, the older boys whose demand he had defied invited him and his brother to that supposed clubhouse on the 14th floor.
And since that moment, only anguish without end.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/13/greene.boy.murder/index.html?hpt=T2

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A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end - CNN.com

Cosmic Log - Tsunami awes even the experts

2011-03-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

This tsunami map shows a narrow red band that crossed the ocean and struck Crescent City California.

Cosmic Log - Tsunami awes even the experts

The Japan Quake took two days to reach its peak

2011-03-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

The Japan Quake took two days to reach its peak

The USGS has a webpage which lists Latest Earthquakes M5.0+ in the World - Past 7 days. Below I capture three days of that data. Note this begins as a 7.2 temblor 2011/03/09 02:45:20. The main 8.9 temblor occurs at 2011/03/11 05:46:24 which is 51 hours later. In that 51 hours, there were 22 temblors of 5.0 or greater. Four of them were magnitude 6.0 or greater. Who knew the big one was coming?

Latest Earthquakes Magnitude 5.0 and Greater in the World - Last 7 days

Versión en Español
Magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes located by the USGS and contributing networks in the last week (168 hours). Magnitudes 6 and above are in red. (Some early events may be obscured by later ones on the maps.)
The most recent earthquakes are at the top of the list. Times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Click on the word "map" to see a ten-degree tall map displaying the earthquake. Click on an event's "DATE" to get a detailed report.
DISCLAIMER
Update time = Fri Mar 11 9:12:19 UTC 2011

	MAG	UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s	LAT deg	LON deg	DEPTH km	Region
MAP	5.5	2011/03/11 08:46:48	37.421	142.453	37.3	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 08:40:56	37.465	141.122	38.6	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.5	2011/03/11 08:19:24	36.338	140.633	19.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.2	2011/03/11 08:15:41	37.034	144.612	27.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.2	2011/03/11 08:12:05	36.606	141.557	19.8	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.4	2011/03/11 08:10:47	34.695	139.655	30.5	NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 08:01:59	37.071	142.734	22.6	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.6	2011/03/11 07:56:16	37.130	142.305	34.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/11 07:54:45	37.742	141.565	45.3	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.8	2011/03/11 07:42:55	36.406	141.919	29.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 07:38:27	39.250	142.783	29.1	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/11 07:28:12	36.802	141.911	24.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/11 07:25:33	37.916	144.621	15.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 07:14:59	36.648	141.811	25.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 07:13:47	36.051	142.347	28.5	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.8	2011/03/11 07:11:00	37.899	142.734	30.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 06:57:15	35.758	140.992	30.2	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 06:48:47	37.993	142.764	22.3	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	7.1	2011/03/11 06:25:51	38.106	144.553	19.7	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.8	2011/03/11 06:15:46	36.126	140.234	30.2	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.4	2011/03/11 06:07:22	36.401	141.862	35.4	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.4	2011/03/11 06:06:11	39.025	142.316	25.1	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	8.9	2011/03/11 05:46:24	38.322	142.369	24.4	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/11 00:14:51	-54.369	-116.808	10.0	SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

MAP	5.0	2011/03/10 19:06:11	13.745	120.725	127.0	MINDORO, PHILIPPINES
MAP	6.5	2011/03/10 17:08:37	-6.862	116.765	508.1	BALI SEA
MAP	5.2	2011/03/10 16:54:45	38.053	143.253	4.7	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/10 11:21:08	38.611	143.049	17.6	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/10 09:02:22	38.652	143.146	21.9	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/10 08:08:21	38.630	143.304	17.2	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.4	2011/03/10 04:58:18	24.710	97.994	10.0	MYANMAR-CHINA BORDER REGION
MAP	5.0	2011/03/10 01:20:24	38.408	143.033	25.1	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

MAP	5.4	2011/03/09 23:37:01	38.438	143.185	32.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.5	2011/03/09 21:24:52	-6.022	149.659	29.0	NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP	6.1	2011/03/09 21:22:18	38.385	142.642	23.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.0	2011/03/09 18:44:35	38.502	143.199	23.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/09 18:16:15	38.378	142.506	22.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 13:57:28	8.631	92.395	23.2	NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 13:51:42	-20.216	-174.350	132.5	TONGA
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 13:24:08	-27.462	-68.853	108.0	CATAMARCA, ARGENTINA
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 11:27:52	38.529	143.040	28.2	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 08:02:36	38.606	143.103	15.4	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 07:56:28	38.849	142.929	10.7	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 07:13:48	38.246	143.108	9.9	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 06:25:12	38.299	143.067	10.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 04:45:54	38.543	142.740	27.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/09 04:37:04	38.666	142.991	25.5	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 04:32:10	38.727	143.001	32.1	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 04:05:54	38.870	142.420	10.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 03:19:00	38.795	142.962	19.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 03:08:36	38.339	143.097	24.4	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.6	2011/03/09 02:57:17	38.402	142.825	17.5	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	7.2	2011/03/09 02:45:20	38.424	142.836	32.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

MAP	5.0	2011/03/08 02:10:42	-30.349	-178.038	47.5	KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
MAP	5.0	2011/03/08 01:26:59	44.246	-129.391	17.8	OFF THE COAST OF OREGON