International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten: "Boxers from Cuba are considered the best in the world. They are technically perfect, quick and well trained. But in order to box on the world stage, they must first defect from their homeland. Boxing promoters are eager to help."

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten: "Afghanistan is on the brink of chaos: That is the stark message from local leaders, the US military and development workers in the troubled country. The elected government, they warn, can no longer compete with the Taliban. By Ullrich Fichtner in Wardak province, Afghanistan more..."

NigerianNews::Nigerian News Portal; Unbridled and UnAfraid

NigerianNews::Nigerian News Portal; Unbridled and UnAfraid: "Jetting Out To the Glory of God
by Atsar Terver
A big storm has been generated across the nation with the recent acquisition of a private Jet by the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Many commentators have sought to find fault with the idea of such an expensive acquisition in the face of global economic downturn and the generally high poverty level among the followership of the church and the nation at large. The impression has also been created that the Jet is meant to boost the private comfort of the General Overseer of the Church. <><> NigerianNews Special"

Time offering 'customized' experimental magazine

Time offering 'customized' experimental magazine: "US news weekly Time, which like other publications has been looking for ways to reinvent itself in print and on the Web, is allowing readers to put together their own personalized magazine.

The experiment, called 'Mine,' allows readers to create a print or Web version of a magazine with content drawn from titles owned by Time and its partner in the venture, American Express Publishing.

The titles are Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, InStyle, Golf, and Travel + Leisure."

I think they are missing the market. I like the idea, but they need a less leisure oriented selection.

Deported former Nazi guard a free man in Austria | International | Reuters

Deported former Nazi guard a free man in Austria | International | Reuters: "VIENNA (Reuters) - A former Nazi concentration camp guard who was deported from the United States on Thursday is now a free man because he cannot be prosecuted in Austria, the Austrian justice ministry said on Friday.

Josias Kumpf, 83, who has admitted to participating in a 1943 massacre of 8,000 Jews in Poland's Trawniki labor camp, arrived in Austria on Thursday after the United States deported him following the revocation of his citizenship."

Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post: "CNBC HOST: WALL STREET FIRMS CAN'T 'BE RUN WELL' BY THOSE MAKING UNDER $250K"

French Workers Strike

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines: "French Workers Strike "

A Cold Clear Analysis of the AIG Monster

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: "The compensation paid to AIG's employees, however, is less a moral failure than a market failure. We don't like to admit to market failures because they indict our collective judgment; instead we scapegoat and move on. But there are some ways to address these market failures; the more time we spend focusing on those, and the less on AIG, the more money we the taxpayers will save ourselves in the end."

Seattle news, sports, entertainment | seattlepi.com - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle news, sports, entertainment | seattlepi.com - Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "The scene: The debut of the city's newest professional sports franchise sparkled from start to finish Thursday night, concluding with a perfect 3-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls as newest Seattle hero Fredy Montero scored a pair of goals."

Kisinger working for Obama???????????????????

Moscow News: "Kissinger back in Operation ‘Reset’
By Ayano Hodouchi, Anna Arutunyan and Tim Wall
The grand old man of U.S. foreign policy, Henry Kissinger, is due to lead talks in Moscow on Friday with senior Russian officials as the Obama administration seeks to revive its relations with Russia"

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten: "Europe Falls Out of Love with Labor Migration

With unemployment soaring, many European Union countries want the migrant workers they once attracted to go home as quickly as possible. They are sparing no expense or effort to encourage them to leave. By SPIEGEL Staff more..."

Media Holds a Wake

HorsesAss.Org » Blog Archive » It’s not your fault

Sighhhh


when is someone going to publish some actual numbers of the finances involved? How much of the problem IS the changing market vs. admin overhead and leverage? Is physical paper the problem?

Howsit that Google, Ebay and Amazon have viable businesses that live off what was the cash flow for the older media? Should/could Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo, MS, Google support a real newspaper? Would the draw add enough to their revenues to justify the expense?

Or we can just wring our hands and blame eash other.

Galileo Redux

Gmail - Daily Scan: This Week in Nature, Banning Bad Grant Applications, Improving Excel, more - stephenm.schwartz@gmail.com: "Unsuccessful Grant-Seekers Need Not Apply. For Grants

Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council says they will ban 'repeatedly unsuccessful applicants' from applying for grants."

Reviewing Shepard Fairey's First Retrospective - mediabistro.com: UnBeige

Reviewing Shepard Fairey's First Retrospective

While a lot of the focus recently has been on Shepard Fairey the man and not Shepard Fairey the artist, what with his ongoing legal battle with the Associated Press and his arrest in Boston with potentially more charges to come. But lest we forget, that very same arrest took place as he was heading to the opening of the first retrospective of his work at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Fortunately, art critic Ken Johnson has put together a great review of the collection, wonderfully entitled "Can a Rebel Stay a Rebel Without the Claws?" which speaks to the problem a lot of critics and viewers have had with Fairey's work, that it's all pomp and no circumstance, showy without much depth behind it. And that feeling has heightened while the artist became more popular and took on more commercial projects, thus blurring that line between "art" and attractive design. Well worth the read if you've ever had inner or outer turmoil with Fairey's work and trying to pin down exactly where it lands.

GERONIMO vs. Yale

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

Turks uncover proof of contested E. Jerusalem building's Arab ownership - Haaretz - Israel News

Turks uncover proof of contested E. Jerusalem building's Arab ownership - Haaretz - Israel News: "A document recently uncovered in Ottoman archives in Ankara confirms that Palestinians are the owners of disputed land and houses in East Jerusalem.

If an Israeli court accepts the document's validity, Palestinian families' could be saved from eviction from their homes."

Do We Have B2 Robots Now?

Danger Room - Wired Blogs: "MIT Professor Theodore Postol has proposed what he describes as a more politically palatable way of delivering missile defense: putting the interceptors on long-haul drones instead of parking them in the ground. Postol's idea is to develop a new kind of 'boost phase' defense that could target missiles as they slowly lift off from the ground. The missiles, he writes in a New York Times op-ed, could be delivered by long-range, stealthy drones:"

The NYT piece referred to here contains a statement by Postol that we already have B2 drone-robots IN THE AIR!

The B2 is that scary bat wing thing we only built so many off because it cost $$$$$$$$$$$$. Remember Bush's "siock n awe?" These were then bimbers that flew in, undetected by Iraqi radar. BUT, I suspect a drone version would be a lot cheaper and lots more scary! Imagine a supersonic, stealthy robot?

This creature could change everything ... imagine Israel protected by a "shield" of B2 robots with a counter shield flying over Iran? How would WE feel here in the safety of sea girded America if the Chinese were to patrol off our shores with their version of this thing. Who gets to patrol the North Pole?

One day later from the BBC:

TARANIS & MANTIS

It is thought the first test flight will take place in 2010

BAE Systems is working on two very different UAVs.

Mantis is a large pilotless aircraft, with a wingspan of 22m, can stay airborne for more than 24 hours and operate at more than 40,000 feet.

Speaking to the BBC, BAE's head of communications, Adam Morrison, said the Mantis could survey or patrol an area with great accuracy.

"Most UAVs are controlled on the ground, even if that control is a bunker somewhere in the US. Because of the human element, you're never going to get a precise and regular course over time.

"With Mantis, you can cover an area with almost regular monotony, which means not only constant coverage, but you can spot if anything in that area has changed.

"You could also use it for maritime patrol and with the autonomous nature of the plane, all you need to tell it is which airfield it takes off and lands at, the length of runway and off it goes."

The other UAV it is working on - Taranis - is very different. The £124m, four year project to develop it hopes to create an unmanned, stealth, deep-strike aircraft as part of the Government's strategic unmanned air vehicle experiment.

Initial ground trials are scheduled for late 2009, with a maiden flight scheduled for 2010.

More on Robobomber?

B-2

from Popular Science

The B-2, which can carry nuclear or conventional weapons, is today’s only stealth bomber. The 2018 bomber will be akin to a mini B-2: smaller, stealthier, and equipped with newer computers and communications systems that make it easier to change missions on the fly.

and a near term use for the robobomber?

MOSCOW – Russian news agencies cited a top defense official Wednesday as confirming that a contract to sell powerful air-defense missiles to Iran was signed two years ago, but saying no such weapons have yet been delivered.

Russian officials have consistently denied claims the country already has provided some of the S-300 missiles to Iran. They have not said whether a contract existed.

The state-run ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies and the independent Interfax quoted an unnamed top official in the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service as saying the contract was signed two years ago. Service spokesman Andrei Tarabrin told The Associated Press he could not immediately comment.

Supplying S-300s to Iran would change the military balance in the Middle East and the issue has been the subject of intense speculation and diplomatic wrangling for months.

Andrew Sullivan don't not want to pay for social security

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: "Half Don't Want To Pay

Andrew Biggs highlights an interesting new study on social security finding that 48 percent of American workers would opt out if they had the choice. I sure would."

OK by me as long as Andy pays HIS tax so others are covered! Or he could just return his benefits check whgn he gets to 6!7

The Oil Plateau?

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: "I am a well-site geologist and work on horizontal drilling projects in NM and Colorado.

If you look at the rotary rig count – rigs around the world actively drilling for oil and gas, there are about 1100 rigs drilling in North America (US and Canada) and another 1000 rigs drilling in the rest of the world. Doesn’t this seem surprising? That over half the rigs actively drilling wells are in the US and Canada and there are so few, relatively, drilling every were else. The reason is, I suspect, that drilling technology has advanced so far that it is cost effective to drill in aging and unconventional fields in North America, where in the rest of the world there still drilling the “easy to get” oil and gas. Eventually, the advanced technology learned here will be applied internationally to further extract massive amounts of oil and gas from all the fields around the world. We might be at or near peak oil, but I think the curve will remain a plateau before it plummets."

Classic Evidence for Intelligent Design!

The Top Five Space Illusions | Popular Science: "The Martian Canals: Percival Lowell mapped the straight lines he observed on the Martian surface, which he believed to be intentionally engineered canals. NASA"