bananas
bananas's JournalDr Ron Levin - 17th Annual International Mars Society Conference
The Mars Society
Published on Aug 20, 2014
Presentation made by Dr. Ron Levin, son of Gil Levin, during the 17th Annual International Mars Society Conference held in League City, Texas from Aug. 7-10.
Navy kicks out 34 for roles in cheating ring at nuclear power training site
Navy kicks out 34 for roles in cheating ring at nuclear power training site
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
Published: August 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — At least 34 sailors are being kicked out of the Navy for their roles in a cheating ring that operated undetected for at least seven years at a nuclear power training site, and 10 others are under criminal investigation, the admiral in charge of the Navy's nuclear reactors program told The Associated Press.
The number of accused and the duration of cheating are greater than was known when the Navy announced in February that it had discovered cheating on qualification exams by an estimated 20 to 30 sailors seeking to be certified as instructors at the nuclear training unit at Charleston, South Carolina. Students there are trained in nuclear reactor operations to prepare for service on any of the Navy's 83 nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers.
<snip>
Unlike an Air Force exam-cheating scandal that came to light in January at a Montana base that operates land-based nuclear-armed missiles, the sailors involved in the Navy cheating had no responsibility for nuclear weapons.
Navy investigators did, however, find one key link between the two episodes. Their investigation report said "a triggering event" for the unidentified sailor at Charleston who alerted superiors to cheating on Feb. 2 was media reports a few weeks earlier about exam cheating at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Nearly 100 nuclear missile launch officers were implicated at Malmstrom.
"This increased his concern enough about being caught to outweigh the group behavior of his peers," the report said, apparently alluding to peer pressure this unidentified sailor may otherwise have felt not to report the misconduct.
<snip>
Woman sentenced in plot to steal U.S. nuclear secrets
Source: Reuters
A 71-year-old former contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after admitting conspiring with her physicist husband to sell U.S. nuclear secrets, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni pleaded guilty last year to plotting to pass classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official. Her husband Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, 79, has also pleaded guilty.
<snip>
According to court documents, Pedro Mascheroni, a Ph.D. physicist, worked as a scientist at the facility in New Mexico from 1979 to 1988. His wife was employed there from 1981 to 2010, and her duties included technical writing and editing.
<snip>
"The indictment ... did not allege that the government of Venezuela or anyone acting on its behalf sought or was passed any classified information, nor did it charge any Venezuelan government officials or anyone acting on their behalf with wrongdoing," Martinez said.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-usa-new-mexico-nuclear-idUSKBN0GK2FT20140820
How to Create Your Own Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop
National Geographic
Published on Aug 19, 2014
Habitat loss and the destruction of native plants have been responsible for the rapid decline of the monarch butterfly, the most recognized butterfly in North America. To help protect these majestic insects as they migrate, citizens in the U.S. are resorting to a simple yet powerful tool: gardening. Gardens full of milkweed and nectar plants can serve both as rest stops for adult monarchs and as nurseries for their eggs.
Read more about the challenges monarch butterflies face as milkweed declines:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140819-monarch-butterfly-milkweed-environment-ecology-science/
FIELD PRODUCER AND VIDEOGRAPHER: Fritz Faerber
SENIOR PRODUCER: Jeff Hertrick
EDITOR: Jennifer Murphy
Confirmed: Microbial life found half mile below Antarctic ice sheet
Source: Los Angeles Times
In an icy lake half a mile beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists have discovered a diverse ecosystem of single-celled organisms that have managed to survive without ever seeing the light of the sun.
The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature is not so much a surprise as a triumph of science and engineering. The research team spent 10 years and more than $10 million to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that life did indeed exist in subglacial lakes near the South Pole.
<snip>
"I wasn't surprised to find life under there, but I was surprised how much life there was, and how they made a living," said Priscu, who teaches at Montana State University. "They are essentially eating the Earth."
Priscu and his team report the discovery of close to 4,000 species of microbes growing in the cold, dark environment of Subglacial Lake Whillans in western Antarctica. Each quarter teaspoon of the tea-colored lake water that they brought to the surface had about 130,000 cells in it, they write.
<snip>
The findings have major implications for the search for life outside of Earth, especially on the moons of Enceladus and Europa, where scientists believe a thick icy crust covers a vast, internal liquid ocean.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-microbe-ecosystem-antartic-ice-sheet-20140819-story.html
Plankton found in space: Sea creatures are discovered living on the exterior of the ISS
Source: Daily Mail
Traces of plankton and other microorganisms have been found living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), according to Russian space officials.
They claim the plankton were not carried there at launch – but are thought to have been blown there by air currents on Earth.
<snip>
The discovery was made during a routine spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Olek Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov, who were launching nanosatellites into space.
They used wipes to polish the surface of windows - also known as illuminators - on the Russian segment of the ISS and later found the presence of plankton and other microorganisms using ‘high-precision equipment’.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2728979/Never-mind-alien-life-SEA-PLANKTON-space-Creatures-living-surface-ISS-officials-say.html
World's Major Human Rights Abusers Giddy Over Ferguson
NewsyVideos
Published on Aug 18, 2014
Hardly in a position to criticize, Iranian, Chinese and Russian media outlets are having a field day with the protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
Follow Elizabeth Hagedorn: http://www.twitter.com/ElizHagedorn
See more at http://www.newsy.com
Sources:
<snip>
World's major human rights abusers giddy over Ferguson
Source: Newsy
The images out of Ferguson, Missouri, this past week - replete with tear gas and police in riot gear - have not only prompted vigorous debates here in the U.S.
They're also provoking an almost giddy reaction from some of the world's most notorious human rights offenders.
<snip>
Still, while it may be easy to dismiss the judgment coming from Iran, China and Russia as hypocritical propaganda, how the U.S. is perceived abroad does have an impact.
Perhaps Julia Ioffe at The New Republic sums up the global criticism best: "Like it or not, this is what the world is seeing, the world to which we strive to be an example."
Read more: http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/18/major-human-rights-abusers-giddy-over-ferguson/20948782/
India cancels Pakistan talks in row over Kashmir
Source: Agence France-Presse
India on Monday cancelled talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month, in an angry reaction to a meeting between Pakistan's high commissioner and Kashmiri separatists.
The foreign ministry said Monday's meeting between the Pakistani envoy and separatist leaders in Indian-administered Kashmir had undermined efforts by the new Indian government to engage with Islamabad.
"I can confirm the foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan have been called off," foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told AFP.
Akbaruddin later told reporters that the high commissioner's meeting with separatist leaders "undermines the constructive diplomatic engagement initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his first day in office".
<snip>
Read more: https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24747344/india-cancels-pakistan-talks-in-row-over-kashmir/
"So, finally, after our Precautionary paper, a GMO lobbyist seems to be after us" - Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
August 8 at 7:32pm
So, finally, after our Precautionary paper, a GMO (Monsanto) lobbyist (name: Val Giddings) seems to be after us, with naive demonization techniques, very elementary efforts at delegitimizing me in person. I thought we were doing something wrong before that. But the problem is that the fellow is not very skilled at it and can't seem to get more than 900 pple on twitter (a net of 300 followers after reciprocation).
I wonder if something has changed in the smear campaign business. Not that it has ever been a great idea. Ralph Nader a lone activist faced a smear campaign by GM (failed). Same with Edmond Safra with American Express paying journalists to smear him (failed too, but he got them to pay big bucks and benefited hugely from the affair).
Anyway, worth inspecting how these things work.
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UPDATE: So far reactions by lobbyists to our paper are not worth answering scientifically so far as they have been ALREADY addressed in text. The lobbyists just perform strawman deformations. Answering these other than telling them they are spinning means entering their game.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=51&page=G
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