"Report: Climate change may lead to war"
Assuming such a report truly did originate from the Pentagon, some of these claims are so dramatic I'm uncertain whether even the loudest proponents of global warming research would support them. Yet, if true, to me it's a welcome sign that some people see even the remotest risk of the entailing consequences of global warming as so dangerous that we must focus our attention on the possibility now---rather than waiting for a disaster.
Excerpt:
Its authors - Peter Schwartz, a CIA consultant and a former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of Global Business Network based in California - said climate change should be considered "immediately" as a top political and military issue.
It "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern", they were quoted as saying.
Experts familiar with the report told the newspaper that the threat to global stability "vastly eclipses that of terrorism".
Excerpt:
Its authors - Peter Schwartz, a CIA consultant and a former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of Global Business Network based in California - said climate change should be considered "immediately" as a top political and military issue.
It "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern", they were quoted as saying.
Experts familiar with the report told the newspaper that the threat to global stability "vastly eclipses that of terrorism".
"Bin Ladin 'cornered' in Pakistan"
Lots of unsubstantiated claims from unnamed sources, but interesting nonetheless. If true, it sounds like some pretty impressive techniques were employed to extract useful information from bin Laden's videos...
Excerpts:
Quoting "a US intelligence source", the Sunday Express said bin Ladin and "up to 50 fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16km wide and deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta". ...
Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Umar is believed to be with bin Ladin, according to the report. ...
The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that bin Ladin had been located. ...
The Sunday Express said bin Ladin's whereabouts had been discovered from "a combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by geographers and soil experts".
Excerpts:
Quoting "a US intelligence source", the Sunday Express said bin Ladin and "up to 50 fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16km wide and deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta". ...
Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Umar is believed to be with bin Ladin, according to the report. ...
The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that bin Ladin had been located. ...
The Sunday Express said bin Ladin's whereabouts had been discovered from "a combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by geographers and soil experts".
Making left-handedness sound worse than it is...
From Dictionary.com Word of the Day:
The left side of anything is often considered to be unlucky or bad, and our language reflects this. A "left-handed compliment," one that is insincere, backhanded, or dubious, is not one you are happy to receive; a "left-handed oath" is one not intended to be binding. Sinister, Latin for left, suggests or threatens evil. Gauche is tactless, awkward and clumsy, but droit, the French word for right, gives us adroit, "skillful," and dexter, the Latin for right, gives us dexterous (also meaning skillful). If you are ambidextrous, able to use both hands with equal facility, then, etymologically speaking, you have right hands on both sides (ambi-, "on both sides"). Left itself comes from Old English lyft, left, "weak, useless," since it names the hand which in most people is weaker.
Well, damn.
The left side of anything is often considered to be unlucky or bad, and our language reflects this. A "left-handed compliment," one that is insincere, backhanded, or dubious, is not one you are happy to receive; a "left-handed oath" is one not intended to be binding. Sinister, Latin for left, suggests or threatens evil. Gauche is tactless, awkward and clumsy, but droit, the French word for right, gives us adroit, "skillful," and dexter, the Latin for right, gives us dexterous (also meaning skillful). If you are ambidextrous, able to use both hands with equal facility, then, etymologically speaking, you have right hands on both sides (ambi-, "on both sides"). Left itself comes from Old English lyft, left, "weak, useless," since it names the hand which in most people is weaker.
Well, damn.
"Benign Viruses Shine on the Silicon Assembly Line"
Very interesting development:
Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has induced the virus to produce, at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials with semiconducting or magnetic properties. ...
Now she and her team report in the journal Science that they have selectively altered the DNA in their viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires made of magnetic and semiconducting materials. ...
"It's amazing," [Dr. Belcher] said. "Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned." ...
"The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components," said [William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology], "and she has opened the door to this." ...
It is all a matter of affinity, molecular recognition and genetic programming, Dr. Belcher said. "We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length," she said. "Then we burned off the virus and were left with single-crystal semiconductor wires."
Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has induced the virus to produce, at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials with semiconducting or magnetic properties. ...
Now she and her team report in the journal Science that they have selectively altered the DNA in their viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires made of magnetic and semiconducting materials. ...
"It's amazing," [Dr. Belcher] said. "Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned." ...
"The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components," said [William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology], "and she has opened the door to this." ...
It is all a matter of affinity, molecular recognition and genetic programming, Dr. Belcher said. "We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length," she said. "Then we burned off the virus and were left with single-crystal semiconductor wires."
A Threat of Pig Fat...
From the BBC News website. At the very least, the idea should score points for creativity:
Israeli police are to hang bags of pig lard on buses and in other public places to deter would-be Muslim suicide bombers, Israeli media have reported. ...
Rabbinical authorities sanctioned the plan to use the product - considered impure by Jews and Muslims - if it might save lives.
Officials hope the prospect of defiling their bodies with blown up pig lard might discourage would-be recruits.
And even more (?) outlandish:
The rabbi said if police do not enact the plan, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews will arm themselves with guns capable of spraying liquid pig lard at suspects.
Israeli police are to hang bags of pig lard on buses and in other public places to deter would-be Muslim suicide bombers, Israeli media have reported. ...
Rabbinical authorities sanctioned the plan to use the product - considered impure by Jews and Muslims - if it might save lives.
Officials hope the prospect of defiling their bodies with blown up pig lard might discourage would-be recruits.
And even more (?) outlandish:
The rabbi said if police do not enact the plan, tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews will arm themselves with guns capable of spraying liquid pig lard at suspects.
Quality of Decisions versus Quality of Outcomes
I raised the following point in discussion about Iraq with one of my friends recently:
In general, the quality of an outcome is not logically related to the quality of a decision. Thus, to argue the present poor outcome (i.e., the apparent failure to find WMD) implies a poor decision (i.e., the decision to go to war) is a logical misstep.
Of course: one can still argue that the decision to go to war was a poor decision on its own terms. But that would be a fundamentally different argument.
I am not the only one who thinks this way. Today, I saw an article arguing a similar point. ("The War in Iraq Was the Right Mistake to Make" by Jonathan Rauch) Even if you opposed the decision to go to war, it's a good read.
Excerpts:
So it is time to admit that the war was premised on a mistake. Had I known then what I know now, I would have opposed it. Next question: Does that mean the war itself was a mistake? Yes. But it was a special kind of mistake: a justified mistake.
A policeman shoots a robber who has killed in the past and who brandishes what seems to be a gun. The gun turns out to be a cellphone. ... In the end, if [the policeman] is exonerated, it is not because he made no mistake but because his mistake was justified. Reasonable people, facing uncertainty, would have thought they saw a gun.
George W. Bush and the CIA thought they saw a gun. So did French President Jacques Chirac, who last February warned of Iraq's "probable possession of weapons of mass destruction." So did Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean....
If reasonable people thought Saddam possessed forbidden weapons, that was because Saddam sought to give the impression that he possessed them.
In general, the quality of an outcome is not logically related to the quality of a decision. Thus, to argue the present poor outcome (i.e., the apparent failure to find WMD) implies a poor decision (i.e., the decision to go to war) is a logical misstep.
Of course: one can still argue that the decision to go to war was a poor decision on its own terms. But that would be a fundamentally different argument.
I am not the only one who thinks this way. Today, I saw an article arguing a similar point. ("The War in Iraq Was the Right Mistake to Make" by Jonathan Rauch) Even if you opposed the decision to go to war, it's a good read.
Excerpts:
So it is time to admit that the war was premised on a mistake. Had I known then what I know now, I would have opposed it. Next question: Does that mean the war itself was a mistake? Yes. But it was a special kind of mistake: a justified mistake.
A policeman shoots a robber who has killed in the past and who brandishes what seems to be a gun. The gun turns out to be a cellphone. ... In the end, if [the policeman] is exonerated, it is not because he made no mistake but because his mistake was justified. Reasonable people, facing uncertainty, would have thought they saw a gun.
George W. Bush and the CIA thought they saw a gun. So did French President Jacques Chirac, who last February warned of Iraq's "probable possession of weapons of mass destruction." So did Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean....
If reasonable people thought Saddam possessed forbidden weapons, that was because Saddam sought to give the impression that he possessed them.
"Women in Iraq Decry Decision To Curb Rights"
The title is misleading, as the law has not yet been (and will likely never be) approved by Bremer. Nonetheless, actions like this are not a good sign. At least it appears some women are mobilizing in opposition.
Excerpts:
For the past four decades, Iraqi women have enjoyed some of the most modern legal protections in the Muslim world, under a civil code that prohibits marriage below the age of 18, arbitrary divorce and male favoritism in child custody and property inheritance disputes.
Saddam Hussein's dictatorship did not touch those rights. But the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council has voted to wipe them out, ordering in late December that family laws shall be "canceled" and such issues placed under the jurisdiction of strict Islamic legal doctrine known as sharia. ...
The council's decisions must be approved by L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, and aides said unofficially that his imprimatur for this change was unlikely. But experts here said that once U.S. officials turn over political power to Iraqis at the end of June, conservative forces could press ahead with their agenda to make sharia the supreme law.
Excerpts:
For the past four decades, Iraqi women have enjoyed some of the most modern legal protections in the Muslim world, under a civil code that prohibits marriage below the age of 18, arbitrary divorce and male favoritism in child custody and property inheritance disputes.
Saddam Hussein's dictatorship did not touch those rights. But the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council has voted to wipe them out, ordering in late December that family laws shall be "canceled" and such issues placed under the jurisdiction of strict Islamic legal doctrine known as sharia. ...
The council's decisions must be approved by L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, and aides said unofficially that his imprimatur for this change was unlikely. But experts here said that once U.S. officials turn over political power to Iraqis at the end of June, conservative forces could press ahead with their agenda to make sharia the supreme law.
"Dean Hints He Would Accept Vice Presidential Slot"
"I would, to the extent, do anything I could to get rid of President Bush," Dr. Dean said on a morning radio program in Milwaukee. "I'll do whatever is best for the party. Obviously, I'm running for president, but whatever's best is what I'll do. Anything. We've just got to change presidents. We're really hurting right now."
"Powell might not have pushed for war had he known there were no WMD"
From the Independent (London) article, "Powell might not have pushed for war had he known there were no WMD":
"I don't know," was the bald reply of the Secretary of State when asked whether he would have argued for war under these circumstances.
It was the belief that a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons made Saddam Hussein "a real and present" danger, General Powell said. "The absence of a stockpile changes the political calculus; it changes the answer you get."
"I don't know," was the bald reply of the Secretary of State when asked whether he would have argued for war under these circumstances.
It was the belief that a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons made Saddam Hussein "a real and present" danger, General Powell said. "The absence of a stockpile changes the political calculus; it changes the answer you get."
"For Science, Nanotech Poses Big Unknowns"
Fantastic article. I've tried to capture the major points in the excerpts below. But really, do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.
Excerpts:
The technology, in which scientists manufacture things less than 1,000th the width of a human hair, promises smaller computers, stronger and lighter materials, even "nanobots" able to cruise through people's blood vessels to treat diseases. ...
But studies have also shown that nanoparticles can act as poisons in the environment and accumulate in animal organs. And the first two studies of the health effects of engineered nanoparticles, published in January, have documented lung damage more severe and strangely different than that caused by conventional toxic dusts. ...
No one knows how much "nanolitter" is being released into the environment, experts said, and disposal rules have yet to be crafted. ...
[The different behavior of nanoparticles] has not been integrated into the regulatory world. Take the growing number of factories in the United States making carbon nanotubes, which are made of graphite but behave very differently from ordinary graphite. ... But the data sheets that nanotube factories are filing to regulators are simply for graphite. ...
Mihail Roco, chief of nanotechnology for the National Science and Technology Council, ... also has said repeatedly that about 10 percent of the current nano budget in this country is devoted to environmental issues. But experts ... say that figure is deceiving. Almost all that money is going to study how nanotechnology may profitably be used to address existing environmental problems ... [not] how nanotech may negatively affect the environment.
Excerpts:
The technology, in which scientists manufacture things less than 1,000th the width of a human hair, promises smaller computers, stronger and lighter materials, even "nanobots" able to cruise through people's blood vessels to treat diseases. ...
But studies have also shown that nanoparticles can act as poisons in the environment and accumulate in animal organs. And the first two studies of the health effects of engineered nanoparticles, published in January, have documented lung damage more severe and strangely different than that caused by conventional toxic dusts. ...
No one knows how much "nanolitter" is being released into the environment, experts said, and disposal rules have yet to be crafted. ...
[The different behavior of nanoparticles] has not been integrated into the regulatory world. Take the growing number of factories in the United States making carbon nanotubes, which are made of graphite but behave very differently from ordinary graphite. ... But the data sheets that nanotube factories are filing to regulators are simply for graphite. ...
Mihail Roco, chief of nanotechnology for the National Science and Technology Council, ... also has said repeatedly that about 10 percent of the current nano budget in this country is devoted to environmental issues. But experts ... say that figure is deceiving. Almost all that money is going to study how nanotechnology may profitably be used to address existing environmental problems ... [not] how nanotech may negatively affect the environment.
"For Bush, a Tactical Retreat on Iraq"
Good editorial piece from the Washington Post. Analyzes the political strategy evident in the decision to create an independent panel to review Iraq intelligence failures, as well as some of the backpedaling and contradictory remarks by Bush and administration officials.
"US denies Iraq posed immediate threat"
This is sad and pathetic:
In what appears to be a massive about-face the White House has denied it ever warned Americans that Saddam Hussein posed an 'imminent' threat to the United States.
Spokesman Scott McClellan told journalists on Tuesday that it was the media who chose to use the word 'imminent' and not the administration.
In what appears to be a massive about-face the White House has denied it ever warned Americans that Saddam Hussein posed an 'imminent' threat to the United States.
Spokesman Scott McClellan told journalists on Tuesday that it was the media who chose to use the word 'imminent' and not the administration.
"CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring"
From "CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring":
"I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl," Timberlake said in a statement. "It was not intentional and is regrettable."
Gotta laugh at this one. "Wardrobe malfunction" sounds like something only the Pentagon could dream up...
Plus, the picture is just classic.
"I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl," Timberlake said in a statement. "It was not intentional and is regrettable."
Gotta laugh at this one. "Wardrobe malfunction" sounds like something only the Pentagon could dream up...
Plus, the picture is just classic.
