Zimbabwe's banned independent Daily News has been licensed, in a develoment that will be seen as a major step towards reform in the country. Hurrah! I've missed the Daily News. The Harare Herald's a dreary government mouthpiece rag...
The newspaper and its sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, were banned in 2003 after refusing to register under the country's repressive media laws. But a high court later ruled that the government reconsider a fresh application from the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the papers. I think that was in 2005.
A special committee set up by the government to hear the application on Thursday That is, four years later...
wrote to ANZ to inform them that their application had been successful. "This letter serves to advise you that your application for registration as a mass media service provider was successful. The special board committee mandated by the then minister of information to adjudicate on your application is satisfied that you have complied with the provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)," Edward Dube, head of the committee writes. ANZ, Dube says, "is therefore advised to contact the relevant authority for their licence". That's all very well, and sounds all official and such, but chances are still good that they won't be allowed to operate. I think they've had a web edition going from Zambia, but it's irregularly updated and sometimes isn't there at all.
Dube has also written a separate letter to the Ministry of Information informing the government of his decision. There was no immediate comment from the ministry as to whether the paper would in fact be allowed to operate. Depending on internal ZANU/PF politix, likely they will be, but then they'll be shut down again in the not too distant future.
Under consitutional amendments agreed as part of the formation of the unity government, the Media and Information Commission, the body that was previously tasked with licensing media in Zimbabwe, is to be replaced by a new commission jointly appointed by the parties to the government. If the media is licensed then there's really no freedom of press. And probably the reasons for the licensing process look benevolent on paper. Newspapers that don't sling an occasional bit of mud are pretty worthless.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Dhaka University authorities yesterday suspended four students for six months and issued a show-cause notice on another for their involvement in two incidents of violence on the campus. You're out! Finished at Dhaka! I want you off campus by nine o'clock Monday morning!
Of those suspended, three are activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of ruling AL. They are SM Sakib Hossain, 3rd year student of Islamic studies department, Mozammel Haque, 2nd year student of philosophy and Abdur Rahman, 3rd year student of history. They were found responsible for the July 26 incident that left 10 BCL activists injured and their room ransacked at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall. Seven years of college down the drain! Might as well join the friggin Taliban!
They also vandalised office room, provost room, guest room, and some other rooms of the hall.
Md Redwan, a 2nd year student of information science and library management department, was suspended for beating up a student on the campus on April 19.
BCL activist Sheikh Sohail Uddin, a student of history, received a show-cause notice asking him to answer why legal action would not be taken against him in connection with the incident on July 26. If he fails to answer satisfactorily within a week, legal action would be taken against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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Wouldn't it be a damn better idea to close and disband the Islamic studies department?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/31/2009 7:11 Comments ||
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What do they feed their librarians in Bangladesh? I've never heard of one on the inflicting end of a beating.
TEGUCIGALPA, July 30 (Reuters) - The de facto Honduran government insisted on Thursday it would not allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, cooling hopes of a deal to end a political crisis following a coup last month.
Rafael Pineda, who as minister of the presidency is No. 2 in the interim government headed by Roberto Micheletti, told Reuters the administration was "firm, unchangeable" against Zelaya's return to power.
Micheletti, named by Congress as president after Zelaya was ousted in a coup on June 28, asked on Wednesday for a special envoy to come to Honduras "to cooperate in the start of dialogue in our country."
The new government coup leaders are under pressure from the United States to reinstate Zelaya and a source close to the de facto government said on Wednesday that Micheletti might be willing to consider letting Zelaya come back if there were assurances the ousted president did not try to derail democracy.
But Pineda rejected a return to office for Zelaya, who upset conservative critics by allying with socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "The position of the government in this issue is firm, unchangeable," Pineda told Reuters. "The agreement, if there has to be one, can only happen if President Zelaya is not reinstated in the presidency of the republic," he said.
Pineda earlier told a morning show on Honduran television that the de facto government was committed to dialogue but also ready to hold out until a presidential election set for November if talks do not produce a deal.
He said Micheletti could quit as part of an accord that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is trying to broker. "President Micheletti has said that to avoid the shedding of Honduran blood ... he would be willing to stand down but only on condition that his standing down does not mean Zelaya's return to the presidency," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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There's that COUP lie again, is Rooters retarded?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/31/2009 11:24 Comments ||
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Retarded? No. Dishonest? Yes.
Rooters knows full well that it wasn't a coup and that the action was completely legal and according to the Honduran Constitution.
Michigan's unemployment system is swamped with a backlog of about 100,000 claims involving disputes or problems, as it copes with 450,000 people receiving benefits. "This is not a normal situation," said Norm Isotalo, Unemployment Insurance Agency spokesman.
Indeed.
Michigan's 15.2% unemployment rate leads the nation. Since December, nearly 600,000 new claims were filed for unemployment benefits, with 58,000 new cases in June. To handle the load, the state added 400 unemployment workers -- a 28% increase. It has helped, but the system is still overloaded.
Those who apply or receive benefits can handle their claims online. Those who try to call by phone face hours-long waits, though a new 24-hour phone line aims to reduce wait times.
"I tried for three hours, and I still couldn't get through. My cell phone battery died," said Jerry Glover, 37, who was laid off from his job in Holland making environmental testing equipment.
Added Lillie Yarborough, 62, of Detroit, who lost her job as a customer service representative at AAA Michigan: "I could never get through."
She tried Monday and Tuesday to call to extend her benefits before finally driving to a claims office in Livonia. "They're overwhelmed," Yarborough said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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To handle the load, the state added 400 unemployment workers
The obvious solution is to hire more unemployed workers to process unemployment claims. Two birds with one stone, eh?
Actually, in Michigan, it is. You have the worst give-away welfare coupled with massive union bennies and high taxes that are chasing business out, so what did you expect when you kept voting in Democrats with those policies?
A majority of people in Michigan are nearly as stupid as people in Minnesota (Sen Franken!?!?!!!), and twice as self destructive.
Michigan: an abject lesson in what happens when you put into power the culture of the looters.
#6
Cash for Clunkers program is out of cash. Perhaps the one 'stimulus' program that was actually doing some stimulating - Depending on how much was skimmed for 'overhead' it should have been good for around one quarter million units of new car sales. (Of course it could have been 90% overhead and 25,000 car sales.) Looks like it must not have been Detroit iron though.
#8
A majority of people in Michigan are nearly as stupid as people in Minnesota, and twice as self destructive.
Hey, I resemble that remark! Interestingly enough, the stupidity is not evenly distributed. If you look at the 2008 election results by county for Michigan, you see a clear cut divide between rural Republican and urban Democrat. Or farmers vs union members and minorities, if you will. That big blue area down in the lower right is Detroit - Michigan's poster child for bad government for the last half century.
A lot of Michigan's social welfare and benefits were set up during the decades when the auto industry was thriving and state was booming. Little adaptation has taken place - other than deciding to plow up some of the paved roads and putting a tax on the business tax - because no pols want to play the Bad Guy and it is always easier to kick the can a little further down the road.
Vikings?
A ship was hijacked in Swedish waters early Friday morning last week, news wire TT reports. The boat was sailing between the islands of Öland and Gotland when the hijacking occurred.
Arriving in a boat with "police" painted on the side, a group of masked men searched the Malta-registered timber boat after tying up the crew, which was Russian.
The Swedish police only got word of the hijacking when the Russian Foreign Ministry called the Swedish police to ask why they acted in that fashion. But the Swedish police had never boarded the boat.
Ingemar Isaksson, who is heading the police investigation, said on Thursday that the hijackers spent more than 12 hours on the ship. Though its not completely clear what the English-speaking hijackers were after, the police suspect they were looking for drugs.
This is the first time that Ive heard about something like this happening in Swedish waters, Ingemar Isaksson told TT.
Swedish police started investigating the case on Wednesday, but they have still havent come into contact with the ship, which apparently continued its normal route after the attack.
#1
I think the first clue was the crudely painted "Police" on the side of the offending boat. My online Swedish dictionary says the proper word would have been "Polis" But then the Russians might not have known that.
AN 82-year-old masked man wielding a machine gun, a knife and a samurai sword was overpowered as he marched towards a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses, German police said today.
One of the congregation noticed the heavily-armed man approaching and swiftly ushered the 81 fellow worshippers out of an emergency exit of the church building, police in the northwestern city of Bielefeld said.
The pensioner entered the now empty building, stayed for a while and then departed, where he was promptly set upon by two of the Jehova Witnesses who forced him to the ground until police showed up to arrest him.
Police have begun an investigation into the incident, but no motivation for the man's actions have yet emerged.
India has plans to add about 100 warships to its navy over the next decade as it seeks to modernise its armed forces, and develop its low-cost shipbuilding capabilities. Captain Alok Bhatnagar, director of naval plans at India's ministry of defence, said on Thursday that 32 warships and submarines were under construction in the country's shipyards. Work on 75 more ships, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and amphibious vessels, would begin over 10 years.
New Delhi is sensitive to lagging behind Beijing's naval might in the region. China has three times the number of combat vessels as India and five times the personnel. Officials are wary of port developments in neighbouring Pakistan and Sri Lanka that offer Chinese warships anchorages and potentially greater control of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.
However, India has one of the fastest growing navies in the world. Its fleet of about 120 vessels is the fifth largest. At the weekend, it launched a locally built nuclear-powered submarine, based on a Russian design, to join only a few countries with the technical prowess to produce such a war machine.
Speaking at a seminar on naval self-reliance in New Delhi, Capt Bhatnagar said it was a "strategic necessity" for India to develop its own naval shipyard capabilities to avoid "being held hostage to foreign countries in a crisis situation".
Capt Bhatnagar identified its maritime priorities as energy security, protecting sea lanes, combating Islamic fundamentalism and responding to China's aggressive modernisation plans. "China is developing its navy at a great rate. Its ambitions in the Indian Ocean are quite clear."
Admiral Sureesh Mehta, chief of naval staff, said the navy would spend more than Rs200bn ($4bn, 3bn, £2.5bn) a year on new capabilities, with about 60 per cent devoted to acquisitions of naval hardware. He stressed the need to develop the indigenous defence industry with a view to becoming an exporter of technology to Middle East and south-east Asian countries. He advocated the creation of a business framework that encouraged international defence companies to "set up shop" in locally-based shipyards.
India has partnered Italy's Fincantieri in the design of the aircraft carrier, and Thales, the French defence company, to build six Scorpene submarines in Mumbai. Larsen & Toubro, the listed Indian engineering company, is building a Rupees 30bn shipyard near Chennai and supplies weapons and steering systems.
A Mumbai-based defence contractor said the government was considering raising the foreign direct investment cap in the defence industry to 49 per cent from 26 per cent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/31/2009 11:25 ||
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WAFF > T-72 TANKS MOVED INTO REMOTE SIKKIM area AFTER CHINA TESTS INDIAN DEFENSES ["Finger area" in North Sikkim]. In response to several CHIN = PLA incursions last year.
ALso, WMF > HAINAN ISLAND IS CHINA'S "GUAM" FOR ANTI-US, ANTI-USN STRATEGIC OPERATIONS AND GEOPOL MANEUVER IN ASIA-PACIFIC. Forefront for stopping US encirclement + isolation of China; + CHIN'S H-6K LR STRATEGIC BOMBER IS NOW PAR WITH THE "BACKFIRE" SOVIET BOMBER OF THE COLD WAR [ improved to threaten US Bases on JAPAN + GUAM, + BEYOND].
In another episode of lawyers' violence, a reporter and a cameraman of a private TV channel were made hostage and thrashed by the lawyers in sessions court for making footage of lawyers while beating an ASI of Nishtar Colony Police Station two days ago.
The same group of lawyers also manhandled an additional district & sessions judge when he refused to cancel the FIR registered against them on the complaint of the victim cop. The judge was of the view that how could he order to cancel the FIR as it was a legal requirement to issue notice to the respondents (state) on first date of hearing. But the adamant lawyers insisted the judge to issue cancellation orders and got infuriated when their demand was not fulfilled by the judge Malik Muhammad Rafi.
The violent lawyers got physical with the judge, and tore the case files and started shouting slogans against the judge besides threatening him dire consequences. The lawyers got hold of reporter Shaheen Attique and cameraman Nasir Hussain, who got an opportunity to cover live the lawyers' torture on the cop Wednesday. Shouldn't we break this up, sarge?
Ummmmmmmmm...in a minute.
In a bid to take revenge from the journalists, the lawyers attacked them and gave a good thrashing to them. The cameraman fell unconscious due to brutal beating by lawyers. The lawyers were led by MR Awan, vice president Lahore Bar Association. Some other lawyers who were involved in the attack are Sajjad Afzal, Mehar Jehangir, Malik Muhammad Hanif and Rana Asif. After the incident, the journalists protested on The Mall and also met Lahore High Court Chief Justice Kh Muhammad Sharif.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like the Iran - Iraq war; let's give both sides some guns & ammo and stand back.
[The News (Pak)] The Senate was told on Thursday that three top guns of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) had quietly pocketed about Rs 11.5 million as "performance" bonuses during last two years after giving certificates to themselves that they were the best in the business of securities. Who do these guys think they are, Citibank?
The Upper House was told that these amounts were paid to the three top guns after making changes in the rules in the same year of payment of honorarium (2007-2008) to enable them to pocket the money by giving it a legal cover.
The information about the distribution of bonuses and honorarium among themselves by these officials was placed in the House by Minister of State for Finance Ms Hina Rabbani Khar in a reply to a question put by Senator Saleem Saifullah Khan.
Saifullah Khan had sought the details of the amounts of honorarium/bonuses granted to the chairman and other members of the SECP during the last two years indicating also the basis on which it was granted. The senator had also asked whether it is a fact that the said amount was granted in violation of the prescribed rules.
Minister Hina Khar confirmed the payment of a huge bonus and honorarium to the three top guns who distributed the money among themselves. One for you, one for me. One for you, One for me.
Hey! I'm a top gun! You can't fool me like that!
Oh, sorry. One for you, one for YOU, one for me.
The House was told that in the year 2007-2008, a sum of Rs 1.7 million was paid to the then SECP Chairman Raziur Rehman Khan on account of performance bonus (Rs1.1 million) and Rs 584,010 (guarantees bonus). The then Commissioner Salman Ali Sheikh (and presently chairman SECP) also pocketed Rs1.7 million on similar account followed by Rashid I Malik who was also given Rs 1.7 million.
In the following financial year, these three top guns once again sat together and decided to give performance bonuses to themselves. This time the decision was taken to raise the amount of bonuses, perhaps keeping the inflation rate in view. The then chairman Razi got Rs1.8 million, Salman Ali Sheikh Rs1.8 million. However, the third was not given a raise over the previous year as he got Rs1.7 million.
One official source told The News this established an important aspect that only three top guns were competent and the rest of the employees working in the SECP were probably not upto the mark to even earn some crumbs of this bonus feast.
The House was told that actually a rule was used by the top SECP officials to pay themselves heavy bonuses. The minister said that Chapter 3 of HR Hand Book 2007 (service rules prescribed with the approval of the securities and exchange policy board) provides that all officers governed under the HR hand book shall be allowed one gross salary as fixed bonus every year and variable performance bonus on the rate approved by the SECP policy board (chairman being a member) on the recommendation of the commission.
Ms Khar, however, gave laughable excuse to the Upper House that no amount was granted in terms of the permissible rules. The amount was bonus and was granted to the commissioners and the chairman.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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A mob of armed men attacked a village, Chak 95 GB, near Koriyan, Gojra tehsil in Toba Tek Singh district on Thursday and set fire to at least 20 houses, a private TV channel reported.
According to the channel, several people were injured and casualties were also feared. The channel reported that many cattle had also been burnt alive in the incident. The incident sparked widespread violent protests against police and fire brigade officials for their late arrival. Protesters blocked the Faisalabad-Jhang Road, which affected the flow of traffic.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and directed the district coordination officer and the district police officer to visit the area personally and report back to him.
Talking to the channel, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the incident took place as a reaction to rumours of blasphemy and alleged desecration of the holy Quran.
Additional police force has been dispatched from Faisalabad to help control the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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Conservative Christians and Muslims abhor secularism, but only one group engages in violence against it.
Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, one of the militant group's top leaders, were on hand to congratulate 450 grooms who took part in the carefully stage-managed event.
"We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness," Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.
Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.
The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.
"We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war," local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech.
Now I have raw video of the event, and I want you to pay close attention to the 'brides' - especially as they walk in with the 'grooms' around the 4:00 mark. There is no way that any of these little girls - half the heights of their husbands - is more than 10 years old.
#1
Soccer Dad (http://soccerdad.baltiblogs.com) writes into the Jawa Report saying that the little girls shown were probably hired to be there in order to celebrate the weddings. More like flower girls. He notes that the brides and grooms wouldn't be seen holding hands like that in a Muslim wedding.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/31/2009 20:53 Comments ||
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that the little girls shown were probably hired to be there in order to celebrate the weddings
Yep. The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.
Not to say muslims don't marry off underage girls, but these little girls are not the brides.
Posted by: ed ||
07/31/2009 21:35 Comments ||
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In conjunction with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Pacific Fleet ships and crews successfully conducted the latest Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) at-sea firing event on July 30. During this event, entitled Stellar Avenger, the Aegis BMD-equipped ship, USS Hopper (DDG 70), detected, tracked, fired and guided a Standard Missile -3 (SM-3) Block (Blk) IA to intercept a sub-scale short range ballistic missile. The target was launched from the Kauai Test Facility, co-located on the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai. It was the 19th successful intercept in 23 at-sea firings, for the Aegis BMD Program, including the February 2008 destruction of the malfunctioning satellite above the earth's atmosphere. Stellar Avenger was part of the continual evaluation of the certified and fielded Aegis BMD system at-sea today.
Skype's proprietary scrambling technology is purportedly the bane of electronic spies at the NSA and GCHQ, and now in a move sure to spark conspiracy theories, eBay has quietly revealed it could rip out and replace the code at its core. In a regulatory filing this week, the online auction house said it might substitute Skype's encrypted peer to peer technology, which it has licensed from a company named Joltid.
"Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid," eBay told US regulators. "However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive," it warned.
The motivation for such a radical and risky action, eBay said, would be its ongoing intellectual property dispute with Skype's founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, who own Joltid. They sold Skype to eBay in 2006, but claim they retained rights over key intellectual property, which until recently eBay apparently happily licensed back to run the service.
Last year however, eBay admitted the multibillion-dollar Skype acquisition was a strategic and financial failure. It decided to spin it out as a separate company via an IPO.
In the meantime, eBay had upset Friis and Zennstrom with a lower earn-out payment than they were expecting. In apparent revenge, Joltid then threatened to pull Skype's licence, which would have disabled the service for hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Without owning, or at least securing use of Skype's core technology, the stock price eBay might attract from investors was limited.
Fighting back, eBay argued that Joltid doesn't actually own the intellectual property it claims to. The pair are now scheduled for a showdown at the High Court in London in June 2010. Until then, the IPO is on hold and now eBay has disclosed that Skype engineers are taking the precautionary step of developing backup technology.
Conspiracy theorists will balk at such a mundane explanation, however.
For years now a steady stream of reports and whispers have emerged that despite their batteries of supercomputers, intelligence agencies are frustrated by Skype's anonymity and strong encryption. Its base in Estonia also means the firm is out of the reach of the US lawful intercept laws and UK export legislation, which forces any firm supplying encryption technology to show GCHQ the backdoor.
At a counter-terrorism conference in February for example, an industry figure told The Register that the NSA had effectively put a bounty on Skype's head. Any firm that developed a method to reliably eavesdrop on the the service would be due for a massive payday, he said.
Any possibility that the workings of the world's most popular VoIP network might be set for re-engineering is therefore likely to at least interest the folks in Maryland and the chaps in Cheltenham.
So perhaps the paranoiacs have good reason to suspect the bid to replace Skype's core. Or perhaps eBay and Joltid will settle their lawsuit.
#1
It's not every day that the Burg can cite The Register.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/31/2009 11:20 Comments ||
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Help me out here⦠Ebay buys Skype for $3B, but the underlying technology that makes it work is not included in the sale, and the sellers (who made a killing) then sue Ebay for using it??
Forget about the fact that Ebay buying Skype was a dumb idea to begin with. But even if it made sense, was there no due diligence???
#4
Since I live a kilometer from Skype headquarters in Estonia, I'm getting a kick of out this post.
From what I heard thought, that Joltid found out through the release of patent documents in an unrelated trial that EBay was outsourcing the source code to other companies, cutting them out of profits that they should have gotten. This is a new angle for me.
The evil 'Merican conspiracy theory will play well here in Europe, though.
In modern warfare, where missions are sometimes over in minutes, a blind enemy is a defeated enemy. The electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear weapon detonated miles aboveground would zap an armys surveillance equipment, but not without causing heavy collateral damage. Instead, a new Air Force tool will fry electronics using high-power microwaves emitted by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
The U.S. Air Force recently secured $40 million for the project, and while program leader Robert Torres will confirm successful ground and in-flight tests of an earlier device, hes tight-lipped on future details. Edl Schamiloglu, a high-power microwave expert at the University of New Mexico, speculates that the weapon would focus microwaves on a target, where they would induce a power surge in unshielded wires, destroying circuits in satellite dishes, radars and anything else electronic. This would clear the way for troops or airstrikes and could even wipe out gear in hidden bunkers.
A UAV, such as Boeings upcoming stealth Phantom Ray, will probably be the conveyance of choice, because it can fly into enemy territory without risking a pilots life. This raises a challenge for powering the instrument, Schamiloglu says. Although a UAVs small engine could provide some power, it will take high-capacity batteries to produce the gigawatt microwave pulses. Torres will say that he expects a prototype to be ready for flight tests in 2012, during which his team will adjust the beam to ensure that it inflicts damage only on the target.
#1
Wow! 0.7 microseconds to cook a hot dog. Where can I get one?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/31/2009 8:53 Comments ||
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#2
Death rays! I love it.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/31/2009 9:47 Comments ||
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I have always read and loved Science Fiction,(The real stuff, not the crap slasher films deliberately mislabeled)
And have actually seen the supposed Science Fiction ideas come true.
HEINLEIN WAS RIGHT. wait long enough, and the products dreamed about WILL be fact.
Practical Nuclear power.
Nuclear Powered Warships.
Moon Landings.
Supersonic Fighter Aircraft
Robot Drones
(Almost here, still require humans as pilots)
Guided Missiles (As opposed to unguided Rockets)
Each and every one, a science fiction dream when I was born.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/31/2009 11:45 Comments ||
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#4
I really worry about developing weapons like this, because they're far more likely to be stolen and used against us than they are to be used against primitive enemies (Taliban/Iraq).
[Iran Press TV Latest] A Turkish minister has dismissed reports that a container-load of gold and cash, worth USD 18.5 billion, has been transferred to Turkey from Iran. 18.5 billion, ya say? Ummmmmm...nope. Haven't seen it.
Turkey's Kanal D channel had earlier reported that an Iranian businessman, Esmael Safarian-Nasab, had moved USD 7.5 billion in cash and 20 metric tons of gold to Turkey in October 2008. Ya got a tracking number on that?
Safarian-Nasab's Turkish lawyer, Senol Ozel, in an interview with Kanal D had claimed that his client wants his money back. Ya got a tracking number on that?
Ozel says Turkish government's move to adopt new regulations to facilitate foreign investment in the country had encouraged his client to take his fortune to Turkey. Yeah, He got an email from them and everything...
However, Safarian-Nasab now wants to withdraw his investment - a move which could create a big hole in the Turkish Central Bank's balance-sheet.
Turkish State Minister Hayati Yazici on Thursday dismissed the report, stressing that the claim is "false and baseless", Turkey's official news agency, Anadolu reported.
Turkish customs officials say that such a container has never entered Turkey, Anadolu reported. Ya got a tracking number on that?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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this would be a battle of who has less credibility
PressTV (funded by mullah Inc.) or Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey or a turkish lawyer representing an Iranian gangster
Posted by: Lord garth ||
07/31/2009 0:08 Comments ||
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Educators in Michigan are largely opposed to a proposal being considered next month by the State Board of Education to create a new, quicker route to a teaching certificate for people in areas such as math and science, according to a statewide survey.
The results of the survey, conducted by the Lansing survey research firm EPIC-MRA, found that 58% of those questioned oppose the plan. EPIC-MRA surveyed 400 professional educators. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.
Among the results: 58% oppose the plan, which could allow people with degrees in subjects like math and science to earn a teaching certificate within 15 months. "This proposal would weaken qualification standards for teachers in Michigan," said Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association, which released the results of the survey this morning. "Michigan's students deserve to be taught by the best prepared professional educators available." The new version of standing in front of the schoolhouse door...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2009 00:00 ||
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Sounds like it is to bring unemployed engineers and scientists into the schools. I think they are afraid of experienced competent new-comers that might actually know something useful to teach the kids.
#2
They are afraid of people who actually know Math and Science. If you have a Science or Engineering Degree all you need is about 12 months of very part time classes in Education to be up to speed.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/31/2009 8:43 Comments ||
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#7
takes time to brainwash people who tend to be rational.
More like they're concerned the emperor will be shown to have no clothes.
Though in my experience technically-proficient people who enter teaching, either fast-track or full-certification, seldom stick around. They just can't handle the stupidity and BS on a continuing basis. Better to go clerk at Home Depot.
#8
Indiana Jones comes immediately to mind, though he's fiction, real life has a number of real folks with enough real life experience to teach bettr than ANY "Book Larnin" non doer teaching now.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/31/2009 11:50 Comments ||
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#9
Back in the 50's, my most memorable high school teachers were WWII & Korean War vets, who got their teaching certs under the GI Bill.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Zimbabwe's banned independent Daily News has been licensed, in a develoment that will be seen as a major step towards reform in the country. 
[Bangla Daily Star] Dhaka University authorities yesterday suspended four students for six months and issued a show-cause notice on another for their involvement in two incidents of violence on the campus.
A mob of armed men attacked a village, Chak 95 GB, near Koriyan, Gojra tehsil in Toba Tek Singh district on Thursday and set fire to at least 20 houses, a private TV channel reported.
