Gees, I was right.

Yes, and even Allah notes that the fraud detection equipment is supposedly being used by the wire services, but are they? And can they keep ahead of the ability to manipulate the photos given the sheer volume being produced and published. I doubt it - on both counts.

Police in Pakistan have arrested dozens of activists belonging to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party.
Mr Sharif was deposed and exiled in a 1999 coup by Pakistan's current leader, Gen Pervez Musharraf.

[Link: news.bbc.co.uk...]

Al-Reuters prays are answered.

Digital means finger,

but I am not sure which one.

For what nefarious purpose has this been developed ? And, importantly, by whom ?

new generation editing tools competing with fraud-detection software

.

OTOH

you could put the top back on Sherry Glaser.

Oh, that's just great. Now more moonbat lunatics will occasionally accuse me of photoshopping this or that heinous picture of an anti-American asshole in action.

I still haven't even figured out the fundamentals of most photo programs. I am so behind the curve. Basically all I know how to do is crop and then lower the file size to fit it on the internet.

Reuters will love this.

I hear the Pali propaganda machine revving up.

re: #6 ctrlL

It's being done so that pages can be completely scalable. Photos are usually of fixed dimensions and LxW percentages. This enables photos to be stretched and compressed while retaining the meat of the photos - except for the parts that the editor deems unnecessary - like the airbrushing noted at the end of the piece.

It is kind of neat.

Complete fauxness. You won't be able to believe anything you see anymore.

Holy cow, I am watching the video now.

What they are doing is astounding!

Notice how the programmers all have Israeli names too.

Geniuses.

I'm not that knowledgable when it comes to this area of geekiness, but as the software smoothes over material lost by averaging the pixels around it, is there any way to note that material has been taken out?

Wow, that is one awesome program!

The narrators voice is somewhat sleep inducing, however.

re: #3 storagemanager Man, I wish you'd stop running from thread to thread! I first asked you this on the ROP/Pakistan thread, then the last thread and now this one (and I'm just PRAYING Charles doesn't throw up another thread before you see THIS ONE):
How are y'all doing my friend? Are you feeling/doing at least ok?

What?...Bill Richardson has a phone line to GOD...

...Sioux City, Ia. - God's will is for Iowa to have the first-in-the-nation caucus, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson told a crowd here Monday.

"Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary," Richardson, New Mexico's governor, said at the Northwest Iowa Labor Council Picnic. "And I want you to know who was the first candidate to sign a pledge not to campaign anywhere if they got ahead of Iowa. It was Bill Richardson."

Several people in the crowd snickered after Richardson made the comment.

"That was a little weird," said Sioux City resident Joe Shufro. "I don't know what God had to do with choosing Iowa among other states. I found that a little strange

[Link: www.desmoinesregister.com...]

re: #17 Ed Mahmoud's Sock Puppet Hey Ed, didja get the link I gave you for Fallback?

Perhaps the enemy won't use this technology because it appears to have been pioneered by a couple of Zionists.

/wishful thinking

re: #19 storagemanager Please see my #18 above.

So who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Suddenly, that phrase isn't so funny/profound.

OT (somewhat),

Let's hear it for the electric power grid, 125 years old today!

re: #18 realwest

re: #3 storagemanager Man, I wish you'd stop running from thread to thread! I first asked you this on the ROP/Pakistan thread, then the last thread and now this one (and I'm just PRAYING Charles doesn't throw up another thread before you see THIS ONE):
How are y'all doing my friend? Are you feeling/doing at least ok?

Hi real...been better...how are you?

re: #18 realwest

Realwest, Hope you are feeling OK today! Check your email!

Top

In the not too distant future, they'll be able to use Google's information to go back down the pipe, and erase prior references to stuff they don't want us to see.

And I bet Google will cooperate, and then remove the referring links.

If you don't host it yourself, it will be gone.

Charles: Not only would Stalin love this, but so would anyone who has a shitty relationship with a former spouse. Don't want her in the pic? POOF! She's gone! Yay!
That said, the race is on. Who will win? Only time will tell.

re: #10 lawhawk

Thanks much. Need more info on the - "except for the parts that the editor deems unnecessary".
/inquiring minds, etc.

re: #19 storagemanager Um, actually I think he "thinks" he has an intercom with God.

One good video deserves another.

Fatah officer being thrown off a roof by Hamas in Gaza.

In a world where people riot and murder over false rumors, this is very good news for the bad guys.

We can manufacture "proof". Imagine what the bad guys will do with this.

Now photos will have roughly the same level of credibility as cartoons.

re: #30 realwest

re: #19 storagemanager Um, actually I think he "thinks" he has an intercom with God.

lol...he is saying what he Thinks they want to hear...talk about out of touch with the people.

The field of fauxtography is getting even stranger, with new software that modifies images by removing and/or adding “seams” of less important information, allowing images to be stretched and compressed without visual distortion.

Unfortunately, the one thing it will distort is reality.

re: #26 1SG(ret) TOP! I did get your e-mail and then had to deal with an apparently new flood in our apartment (actually the whole apartment complex this time, not just our building) and am going back to finish my reply!

Its not lost on me that the names of the two developers of this technology are Israeli: Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir.

Oh, the irony.

That software is pretty impressive.

re: #25 storagemanager I'm doing ok - still sore as hell from running around this weekend, and a little nervous cause I gotta see my oncologist in two weeks, but other than that, I'm doing ok.
Sorry to hear you've been better, hope and pray that at least you're doing ok.

re: #24 Dar ul Harb

Nice link Dar ul Harb. I love to tell liberals that if we stop the oil (and coal) tomorrow they will literally be eating each other in 6 weeks.

Next step will be like that scene in "Blade Runner" (i.e. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) in which you can "turn the corner" inside static photographs and see what is not visible by using algorithms to analyze the light and shadows on the objects that are visible.

Well I won't believe anything now unless I've seen it with my own eyes.

re: #24 Dar ul Harb

OT (somewhat),

Let's hear it for the electric power grid, 125 years old today!

Are you just cheering so that you won't lose power in the near future ? Or for the ability of our ancestors to come up with this 125 years ago ?
IMO, the individual electric companies on this grid have fallen down on the job with re-investment to update and strengthen the system. In areas subject to increased development, they can barely supply the product to customers.

re: #33 zmdavid

Now photos will have roughly the same level of credibility as cartoons.

Speaking of credibility...

That is simply amazing, especially when you consider just how hard it is to do some of those things with "traditional" digital tools. Remember how obviously fake the smoke plumes over Beirut were?

And yes, you can bet that it will be used for nefarious purposes somewhere down the line. Don't show this to Reuters, indeed.

That is frightening.

re: #24 Dar ul Harb

OT (somewhat),

Let's hear it for the electric power grid, 125 years old today!

The problem with that article is that it doesn't point out how Edison's power grid was a dead end, technologically. It used direct current. The system we now have in place around the world is based on Tesla's alternating current power disitribution system. Edison fought hard against it, but this was one of the few battles he lost, because in the long run Tesla's system was safer.

re: #44 ctrlL

The unfortunate side effect of running businesses as 'get rich quick' schemes.

It's all about today's profits and CEO Salaries, and shareholder happiness. SCREW the future and it's issues.

re: #23 Silhouette

So who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Suddenly, that phrase isn't so funny/profound.

I've believed that for some time now. Hopefully there is software that can detect manipulation, otherwise you will be able to trust nothing but direct experience.

re: #43 yah

Well I won't believe anything now unless I've seen it with my own eyes.

Exactly. There goes my career.

re: #48 zombie

I thought it also had to do with the fact that DC only works only over short distances while AC can travel much longer distances without losing power.

But seriously...how long until we see the old woman with bullets in her hand that were fired via slingshot replaced with bandages on her hands because of those dirty american forces firing wildly and carpet bombing villages like B O says we do...

B O...his initials are B O...hehehe

re: #44 ctrlL

Right on the money, except for the fact that the power companies have run into road block after road block after road block when it comes to constructing new power plants. During the last brown outs in California they got into some financial troubles purchasing electricity from out of state. Have they built any new power generation facilities in California since then? I doubt it. NIMBY only works for so long.

Maybe News Organizations will have to file Polaroid confirmation pics of everything the put up digitally? Needs to be some sort of vetting mechanism for these already lying News Orgs.

New 12Z GFS says Tropical Disturbance 99L moves East, then turns around, and hits the East Coast, first near Hatteras, than Montauk.

99L is an area of non-tropical low pressure that formed on a decaying Canadian front, and while still battling some dry air and shear from the North, may be taking on tropical characteristics over the near 30° waters of the Gulf Stream.

Update later.

All of this has wag-the-dog on speed potential. The possibilities are so mind numbing it defies my limited imagination. Will there be a call for original files to be made available to check for retargeting? Is that possible? It may come down to character, i.e. I know I trust zombie but not al-reuters. and what will the Jihadis do with this? It being an Israeli tool won't slow them down.
/rambling
//depressed at the complete uncertainty of the validity of digital media

re: #50 easy

re: #23 Silhouette

So who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Suddenly, that phrase isn't so funny/profound.

I've believed that for some time now. Hopefully there is software that can detect manipulation, otherwise you will be able to trust nothing but direct experience.

Really sad that soon a day will come that photographs will NOT be admissible as evidence in a court of law...

re: #52 vxbush

re: #48 zombie

I thought it also had to do with the fact that DC only works only over short distances while AC can travel much longer distances without losing power.

Yes, that too. But also because it was a lot easier to accidentally cause fires and electrocutions with the Edison system.

Edison apparently couldn't accept that alternating current could transmit power. He couldn't wrap his mind around it.

re: #52 vxbush

re: #48 zombie

I thought it also had to do with the fact that DC only works only over short distances while AC can travel much longer distances without losing power.

I believe you're correct. Tesla's AC required many fewer power stations, but it was actually more dangerous, or so Edison argued.

re: #58 bushleague

This may require the digital camera manufacturers attach some kind of tag or encoding to raw image files to help identify real images from manipulated ones. That seems critical now that we're entering this age.

re: #51 zombie

But you have credibility. (and talent)

This only makes it easier to do what professional airbrushers and retouchers have been doing since the advent of photography.

Ultimately, you still have to trust the source.

No doubt Reuters corporate policy discourages, unless allows the practice if it results in an enhancement of the photographer's artistic propagandistic purpose.

More from the orgy of hate in Iran...

...Iran-Palestine-Ahmadinejad
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the issue of Palestine with over 60 years record is now regarded as a new injury to body of the Muslim Ummah and regional nations and the only solution to remedy the injury is resistance of Palestinian nation to occupation.

According to the president's website, Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a meeting with Palestine's foreign minister on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ministerial meeting in Tehran.

"The power of global arrogance is on decline," he said.

It is simple-mindedness to assume that the US and a number of European countries to take steps to the benefit of Palestinian nation because the Zionist regime is part of their own and representing them in the region, he said.

"Significant victories always come from hardships and the Palestinian nation has proved to be an invincible nation," he said.

Iranian government and its nation stood by the Palestinian cause and remain committed to Palestinian nation, he said.

Palestinian foreign minister, for his part, lauded the stand taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran along with the supports made by the Supreme Leader, Iranian government and its nation for Palestine's resistance.

"Huge pressure is now being exerted on the Palestinian government but struggle and Jihad for Palestine is our path," he said.

"Palestinian nation will be the ultimate winner of this struggle," the foreign minister said. [Link: www2.irna.com...]

re: #56 buzzsawmonkey

re: #48 zombie

Not only safer, but a better delivery system.

Tech was never my long suit, but apparently current in a direct system gets weaker the farther you get from the power generating source due to resistance in the lines, whereas alternating current overcomes this problem--thus enabling a steady source of equal power to the users, which direct current could not do.

True! Both you and vxbush nailed it.

More fake news...
UPI reports attack on al-Doura power plant that never happened

There’s a minor problem with this story. According to a source we have on the scene who works at that plant, a person we have heard from before and have every reason to trust, the attack never happened. The plant is still in full operation. No fire truck was set ablaze. There was small arms fire in the area that night, but other than that, nothing. Nada.

re: #66 storagemanager

Orgy of hate...I like that.

Very interesting technological developments. As a geek, I applaud it, but as a skeptic, I am unnerved by it.

The creeping desire to sex up a shot's drama is already a problem with current fauxtography. Have an innocent child too far away from a soldier? This process can smoothly shift that little cherub right into harm's way.

CT's will have a field day with the elastic perspective and distances.

The original DC power distribution system proposed by Edison would have lost most of its power during transmission because of resistance in the lines. Tesla and Westinghouse won that fight, luckily. But DC distribution has made a comeback, I believe High Voltage DC distribution is being used in Japan and Europe and is more efficient than AC distribution, have not researched this fact, but was told over ten years ago by an Electrical Engineer that it was so. And we still lose something like 25 or more percent of electricity via distribution with AC. If you could solve distribution losses, you would not have to build another generating plant in the US for 10 years.

Another good argument for local generation, and solar panels on roofs etc.

re: #72 jehu

I'd love to have local generation ability, but unfortunately, I'm not rich and them solar panels ain't cheap...

re: #61 Dar ul Harb

re: #52 vxbush

re: #48 zombie

I thought it also had to do with the fact that DC only works only over short distances while AC can travel much longer distances without losing power.

I believe you're correct. Tesla's AC required many fewer power stations, but it was actually more dangerous, or so Edison argued.

When Edison developed his DC power distribution network he failed to take into account copper losses (resistance in wire) and that at time there was no effective way of either stepping up or stepping down DC voltages. Tesla, who invented polyphase generators, motors, and transformers, made the modern transmission lines possible. You can generate 100000 VAC move it across the countryside in cables capable of handling only 10A then step it down to 120VAC with an Ampacity of around 8000A. Transformers are one electrical device that routinely has efficiencies approaching 95%+.

re: #72 jehu

Oh, for a practical high-temperature superconductor!

There is no reality, there is only Reuters.

#50 easy 9/04/2007 9:46:01 am reply quote report
re: #23 Silhouette

So who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Suddenly, that phrase isn't so funny/profound.

I've believed that for some time now. Hopefully there is software that can detect manipulation, otherwise you will be able to trust nothing but direct experience.

Even experience doesn't matter anymore... look at the Twuthers.

re: #61 Dar ul Harb

And the first example of long distance power transmission was the hydropower station at Niagara Falls, which powered Buffalo. Tesla and Edison were both arguing over which system would work - and be safe. Edison would fry cats and dogs on the AC wire systems and claim that DC was safer. Tesla turned around and ran several multiples of voltage through his own body (he was grounded of course). Tesla won the day.

re: #59 Sponge

Really sad that soon a day will come that photographs will NOT be admissible as evidence in a court of law...

I foresee a day when only "state approved" evidence will be allowed. For example, only video footage from official surveillance cameras, even if it conflicts with what I shot with mine. And that is scary indeed.

The scary part is this is not Photo shopped .

I wish people would open their eyes and see what is going on in Iran today...

Iran-NAM-Venezuela
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said here Tuesday that Venezuela supports NAM's Tehran Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity.

"On behalf of the Government of President Hugo Chavez, we would like to express our willingness to support, get involved and participate in the construction and strengthening of this center for the study of cultural diversity," Maduro told the NAM Ministerial Meeting for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity.

He said, "We are certain that this center for research, study and promotion of debate will boost the sustained and permanent advancement of all these ideas."
He added, "Venezuela believes that the only possible way to achieve a new pluri-polar time, without hegemony, without empires, without fratricidal wars, is to concrete, with the union of all our efforts, the emergence of a powerful international movement, a powerful humanistic ideology that recognizes dialogue among our cultures and civilizations as the greatest strength of our peoples."

Some of these countries claim to be our allys...But they seem to be in bed with these people. [Link: www2.irna.com...]

re: #76 Kreuzueber Halbmond

There is no reality, there is only Reuters.

Charles should use that line as a rotating banner, or whatever he calls those lines at the top.

re: #6 ctrlL

For what nefarious purpose has this been developed ? And, importantly, by whom ?

new generation editing tools competing with fraud-detection software

.

This has not been developed with any nefarious purpose in mind. Graphic artists have been air-brushing, retouching, cropping and so on since the birth of photography.

The idea is to make it much quicker and easier to manipulate photos for layouts and advertising and so on. Time = $$$, after all.

This is a perfect illustration of a "good" tool put to use to hoodwink and manipulate the news - a field for which digital manipulation is completely inappropriate other than perhaps a bit of cropping.

And the first example of long distance power transmission was the hydropower station at Niagara Falls, which powered Buffalo. Tesla and Edison were both arguing over which system would work - and be safe. Edison would fry cats and dogs on the AC wire systems and claim that DC was safer. Tesla turned around and ran several multiples of voltage through his own body (he was grounded of course). Tesla won the day.

And my mom said that rock 'n roll wasn't good for anything...

re: #21 XanaX

Perhaps the enemy won't use this technology because it appears to have been pioneered by a couple of Zionists.

/wishful thinking

An interesting side effect is that it subconsciously induces an insatiable desire to eat lox and bagels. With onions. And capers.

/take that, jihadis!

re: #44 ctrlL

Are you in California?

re: #62 vxbush

re: #58 bushleague

This may require the digital camera manufacturers attach some kind of tag or encoding to raw image files to help identify real images from manipulated ones. That seems critical now that we're entering this age.

The problem is that tricks like that can always be countered by those-in-the know.

Do you really see news publishers saying (to their freelancers and stringers), "No, we can't use that truthy image, because you didn't take it on one of our 'approved' cameras"?

That's not going to happen.

re: #82 meMarc

re: #76 Kreuzueber Halbmond

There is no reality, there is only Reuters.

Charles should use that line as a rotating banner, or whatever he calls those lines at the top.

Bring back the days of black and white film. All modern photojournalism should be suspect.

The US military believes that five Britons kidnapped last May in Baghdad are still alive, senior commander Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said Tuesday.

Four security guards and a computer expert were seized May 29 by gunmen wearing police uniforms from a Finance Ministry compound in the capital. ''We track every day where we think they might be,'' said Odierno, "we have reason to think they are still alive.'' Odierno would not say what indications the Americans had that the five were still alive

[Link: www.ynetnews.com...]

Sponge 73

I know, but in Germany the govt is partnering with private parties who are installing solar panels on roofs etc. One guy turned his farm into Solar Panels, got the initial capital from the govt, pays them back from some percentage of the electricity generated by the panels and still makes more money than he did growing whatever he grew. We have not even seriously attempted any change in energy policy here in 75 years. Oil is it, and nukes were shut down by Jane Fonda's crowd.

I don't know what it will take for America to get serious about energy. Apparently licking Muslim ass is not sufficient, nor our best being blown to bits in Fuckdad. Probably take 5 dollar gas for anyone to get mad enough to make the political changes, and demand a President and Congress that has an energy policy and not some re-worked tax shelters and more oil and gas or clean coal.

re: #74 Perplexed

Tesla was working with up to five phase AC power, but three was good enough

re: #74 Perplexed

re: #61 Dar ul Harb

re: #52 vxbush

re: #48 zombie

I thought it also had to do with the fact that DC only works only over short distances while AC can travel much longer distances without losing power.

I believe you're correct. Tesla's AC required many fewer power stations, but it was actually more dangerous, or so Edison argued.

When Edison developed his DC power distribution network he failed to take into account copper losses (resistance in wire) and that at time there was no effective way of either stepping up or stepping down DC voltages. Tesla, who invented polyphase generators, motors, and transformers, made the modern transmission lines possible. You can generate 100000 VAC move it across the countryside in cables capable of handling only 10A then step it down to 120VAC with an Ampacity of around 8000A. Transformers are one electrical device that routinely has efficiencies approaching 95%+.

One of the reasons for the first execution by electrocution was an attempt by Edison to discredit AC, by illustrating how dangerous it was when compared with DC. DC would have required power stations on every street corner.

re: #81 storagemanager

storage...when you read anything from Chavez just remember every day he stays in power is worth millions for his family and his cronies.

re: #84 Sponge

And the first example of long distance power transmission was the hydropower station at Niagara Falls, which powered Buffalo. Tesla and Edison were both arguing over which system would work - and be safe. Edison would fry cats and dogs on the AC wire systems and claim that DC was safer. Tesla turned around and ran several multiples of voltage through his own body (he was grounded of course). Tesla won the day.

And my mom said that rock 'n roll wasn't good for anything...

I wonder what the effect of such dramatic demonstrations would be on today's policymakers? I think we would reject both systems and outlaw all electric power in the name of safety.

re: #69 Killgore Trout

It was pre-news. UPI got tipped off about an attack - reported it - and then the attack came, but it wasn't as severe as reported.

UPI needs to come clean and out who their source was - and he needs to be charged with conspiracy at a minimum.

Dar ul Harb 75

Room Temperature Superconductor

I think one exists, and when found will be the biggest technological breakthrough since Edison's light bulb. Whole industries will arise that we have not even dreamed about.

FTS. We're moving to rural Idaho and getting off the grid.

Now here's a Tesla we can all support.

(No connection to the inventor, though).

re: #90 jehu

That is why I actually welcome the Global Warming Hoax. Even though the whole "climate change" fad was designed to intentionally damage western economies and hegemony, the unintended side effect of the political initiatives to stop global warming will be a lower dependence on oil -- and less money for the jihadis and Saudi oil ticks.

So bring on the innovative solar technologies! And let them go back to their desert tents.

I find this interesting...
Residents: Nooses spark school violence, divide town

Told by the vice principal they could sit wherever they pleased, the student and his pals plopped down under the sprawling branches of a shade tree in the campus courtyard.

The next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from those branches.

"I seen them hanging. I'm thinking the KKK, you know, were hanging nooses. They want to hang somebody. Real nooses, the ones you see on TV, are the kind of nooses they were," Robert Bailey, 17, one of the Jena 6, told the syndicated radio show "Democracy Now!"

The school's principal recommended expulsion for those behind the nooses, according to local newspaper in nearby Alexandria. Instead, The Town Talk reported, a school district committee overruled the recommendation and suspended three white students for three days for hanging the nooses, a gesture written off as a prank.

It's an unusually glowing report for a group of teens who beat another young man to death with thier bare hands. Citing Democracy Now seemed odd until I noticed the Koskidz...
BREAKING! The Jena Six story (Finally)

Are these kids going to be the new leftist heroes?

re: #99 zombie

So bring on the innovative solar technologies! And let them go back to their desert tents.

But they've got more sun too! Doh.

/what's next, sand-powered energy?

We owe a whole lot to Tesla. I feel the way our government dealt with him during from the 20's to the 40's was shameful. Here you have one of the true giants of our civilization withering away, unnoticed.

[Link: www.milkandcookies.com...]

This is where I originally saw the image resizing breakthrough.

re: #97 spam spam spam spam

FTS. We're moving to rural Idaho and getting off the grid.

Idaho? Stay out of the public restrooms.

Belarus speaks at the orgy of hate in Tehran...

...Iran-NAM-Belarus
Belarus Foreign Minister Sergei Martinov said here Tuesday that the US has no right to speak on behalf of the rest of the world.

"The US has no right to talk on behalf of other countries; even if there is a threat at work it should be dealt with under the framework of IAEA regulations. In this framework, we consider the IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei's recent Iran report as a positive sign," said Martinov when asked about the US claim that there is a global consensus against Iran over its peaceful nuclear program.

He made the remark in a press conference on the sidelines of the NAM Ministerial Meeting on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity (September 3-4, 2007).

Martinov said there is no justification that Iran's nuclear case should be investigated at the UN Security Council.

He said as an NPT signatory, Iran has the right to benefit from the Treaty's advantages and rights

The headlines today should read...Iran throws two day orgy of hate...and most of the world jumps into the bed. [Link: www2.irna.com...]

Shocking Study: Rock Stars Ascend Stairway to Heaven Earlier Than Most

Banner week for news of the obvious.

Jessica Alba is hot.

Smoking pot leads to eating.

Men like good looking women.

Now this.

Coming soon: Drinking heavily leads to alcoholism.

re: #87 looking closely

Oh, I don't know. Companies have, for ages, specified what hardware/software could be used by employees. The problem will be the stringers.

The Next War?

Buried in an article about the growing US -Iran confrontation, was this interesting little fact,

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for the training of 35,000 elite guards to be assigned to protect the kingdom's widely scattered oil installations. With 25 percent of the world's oil reserves, Riyadh has earmarked $5 billion to train and field as soon as possible a high-tech force.

Elite Security Guards? What's next, Special Forces Mall Cops?

re: #100 Killgore Trout

You haven't been following that? I have.

Six boys savagely kicked and beat an unconscious victim nearly to death.

Now they are heroes. To the Left, at least.

They will be the new Mumia abu Jamals.

The news is about to get way more interesting.

Orwell is spinning in his grave.

Speaking of Reuters (deft segue)

With the report coming out from General Petraus pretty soon, the media is really turning up the volume on their reports on progress in Iraq to try to counteract any good news he might be bringing. Just a few headlines from the last 48 hours:

- LATimes: Troop buildup fails to reconcile Iraq
- Reuters: Harsh justice where U.S. relies on Iraq tribes
- AP: Documents Show Troops Disregarding Rules
- LATimes: Iraq convoy was sent out despite threat
- NYTimes: Pattern Cited in Killings of Civilians by U.S.
- KUNA: Shiite violence threatens to overshadow gains

There's an underlying shrillness to the media reporting coming out right now that really belays a sense of panic. "What if America wins this war! We need to pull all the stops to make sure it doesn't!"

re: #83 galloping granny

Quite agree. This is just another good photo editing tool. Extremely useful where appropriate. Photographs have not been really trustworthy for over ten years, since the advent of photoshop...

News gathering organizations still need to come to grips with photo authentication...they have kind of ignored it up to now. The Reuters photoshopping of those clouds of smoke were easily detectable, and done by an amatuer. It could have been done far better. By the time photos get compressed for the web or halftoned for print, the artifacts of digital manipulation are pretty well wiped out. So there is no way to detect a really good photoshop job by the time it reaches distribution to the public.

BTW, there is a Tesla Society.

Iran-NAM-Ratifications
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Tuesday called on the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to propose resolutions to the UN General Assembly for ratification.

Mottaki made the remark in a meeting with Belarussian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov on the sidelines of the NAM conference on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity.

Mottaki added that NAM is reviving and it is necessary that its member states should hold constant negotiations to take new steps forward.

He thanked Martynov for taking part in NAM ministerial meeting in Tehran, saying that setting up new NAM groups among parliaments, organizations and international institutions should be observed.

Referring to forming such a group in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), he underlined the need for holding constant meetings among envoys of the Islamic countries of NAM member states.

[Link: www2.irna.com...]

re: #97 spam spam spam spam

FTS. We're moving to rural Idaho and getting off the grid.

Watch out for deranged, unemployed truck drivers.

Zombie 99

I agree, I think technology will be the eventual end-run around the Jihadists. Personally I detest Islam (moderate or jihad version) so much I would almost look forward to going back to horses.

/fantasy

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

I want to be on record as the first to say that Chavez is going to use this in a Stalin-istic fashion to edit people out of history.

Imagine, with face-recognition software, you could edit someone out of thousands of photographs automagically.

re: #112 docremulac

Actually, you're a news cycle behind - the latest is that the Bushitler junta is about to go to war on Iran, so everyone better rally against the coming war, which as those who are based in reality might argue - hasn't even been declared yet*.

*Iran has declared war on the US - and has since 1979, but the US hasn't exactly returned favor. The anti-US types are harping on the possibility that the US might decide to deal with Iran finally after years of Iranian malfeasance around the world.

re: #78 lawhawk

Yeah, but then Tesla helped make Tesla tanks for the Soviets and provided them with research for their "Iron Curtain" device, which turns vehicles invulnerable for a while..

Oh wait, that was from Command and Conquer: Red Alert.

/sorry, my bad. Too much playing of games when I was younger...

re: #113 charles_martel

re: #83 galloping granny

Quite agree. This is just another good photo editing tool. Extremely useful where appropriate. Photographs have not been really trustworthy for over ten years, since the advent of photoshop...

News gathering organizations still need to come to grips with photo authentication...they have kind of ignored it up to now. The Reuters photoshopping of those clouds of smoke were easily detectable, and done by an amatuer. It could have been done far better. By the time photos get compressed for the web or halftoned for print, the artifacts of digital manipulation are pretty well wiped out. So there is no way to detect a really good photoshop job by the time it reaches distribution to the public.

The one consolation, Charles Martel, is that a really GOOD photoshop takes some time and skill. I suspect that it is going to stay that way.

re: #99 zombie

Where I do agree that we need to seek a better alternative to foreign oil, they need to concentrate on developing that alternative. Ethanol sucks. Plain and simple. They tried it in the 70's and it sucked then. The reason that oil is popular is because it's the best out there. We should be tapping our own resources and investigating NEW alternatives. Corn should be food first. Find something else.

re: #72 jehu

high temperature superconductors will solve that problem.
and many others.

re: #122 galloping granny

Yep. I would hope so...but there will always be people around to do those jobs...every college kid in the western world learns photoshop...

re: #109 zombie

I just heard about it this morning and I'm still confused. If you reverse the race of the players and a group of white students beat a black student to death it would be a whole different story. It's kinda baffling and makes me think I'm missing something.

re: #107 vxbush

re: #87 looking closely

Oh, I don't know. Companies have, for ages, specified what hardware/software could be used by employees. The problem will be the stringers.

They have to lock down the machines to prevent users from installing new software. That's a harder sell with notebooks, especially for remote users.

re: #125 savage_nation

re: #116 MandyManners

re: #97 spam spam spam spam

FTS. We're moving to rural Idaho and getting off the grid.

Watch out for deranged, unemployed truck drivers.

:D

Gee, I wonder how that could have happened?

Forgot to add "Nazi."

The news article couldn't have been more fawning over the accused. Poor baby. He used to smile. But now that he almost beat someone to death and is in jail for it, he's sad.

The sneering sentence about the weapons being merely shoes, as if kicking someone can't be very harmful.

QUICK! We had better get somebody that can store and hide actual facts, figures and history of this world or else Poof! What they do in wikipedia, they'll do digitally. Soon schools won't have books. There won't be anything we can feel only see and that can be changed.
Wow. What a world my grandkids will inherit: where nothing is real!

re: #128 Killgore Trout
Well if LA keeps this up comedians will have to reitre all those AL and GA jokes. New Orleans wants to be a Chocalate City and that is kewl. Jena has a whole section that is made up of blacks and it is whiteys fault and bad. It is hard to keep up with the rule changes in this PC world.
/Oh BTW did I mention that Georgia Tech stomped Notre Dames this weekend?

re: #123 Sponge

there are only so many sorces of energy.

to be precise, there are only so many ways to store energy.

oil (which is NOT a fossil fuel) is one
hydrogen is another
ethanol is another.
batteries are another.

either we use oil and the energy it stored when it was formed in the Earth's mantle, we use solar and store it with hydrogen, ethanol, or batteries or nuclear and store that or use it right away.

fusion and high temperature superconductors if either is ever developed will be a great help.

Sponge 123

Yea the ethanol drive is a fiasco waiting to be a disaster. Stupid idea when the amount of energy put into crop production is more than you get out in the end product. Already caused problems in Mexico for their staple of corn tortillas and that is just starting.

Brazil can do this because they use sugar cane and have more sunlight. Better crop, more sunlight means they get more energy out than they put into production. However the farm lobby sure got lots of subsides. We need NEW technology while drilling for our own oil off Calif, in Alaska, and the Gulf during the transition. No reason the U.S. could not ultimately figure out fusion power and hydrogen technologies.

And get rid of the ancient inefficient internal combustion engine...sorry motor heads but the internal combustion engine has seen its day and needs to be parked in museums.

re: #132 Sue62

QUICK! We had better get somebody that can store and hide actual facts, figures and history of this world or else Poof! What they do in wikipedia, they'll do digitally. Soon schools won't have books. There won't be anything we can feel only see and that can be changed.
Wow. What a world my grandkids will inherit: where nothing is real!

It's too late. We're doomed!

re: #133 Just_A_Grunt

re: #128 Killgore Trout
Well if LA keeps this up comedians will have to reitre all those AL and GA jokes. New Orleans wants to be a Chocalate City and that is kewl. Jena has a whole section that is made up of blacks and it is whiteys fault and bad. It is hard to keep up with the rule changes in this PC world.
/Oh BTW did I mention that Georgia Tech stomped Notre Dames this weekend?

And Appy State knocked off Meshugguna? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

/michigan

Now, speaking of distributed generation capacity, I remember reading something to the effect that a midsize electric car would require 30X the energy of a typical house, and if the car generated its own electricity, say with a fuel cell, the car would be easily capable of powering the typical house loads when parked (and possibly the neighbors' houses besides).

True?

re: #138 Ward Cleaver

Maybe now the country will learn to pronounce Appalachian properly.

re: #120 lawhawk

"Actually, you're a news cycle behind - the latest is that the Bushitler junta is about to go to war on Iran, so everyone better rally against the coming war, which as those who are based in reality might argue - hasn't even been declared yet*."

Well, if we do hit BACK at Iran (I think it's important to word it that way, they've been killing our soldiers on the battlefield for months now) we definitely know who the lefties are going to be rooting for in this one.

re: #25 storagemanager

re: #18 realwest
Hi real...been better...how are you?

re: #39 realwest

re: #25 storagemanager I'm doing ok - still sore as hell from running around this weekend, and a little nervous cause I gotta see my oncologist in two weeks, but other than that, I'm doing ok.
Sorry to hear you've been better, hope and pray that at least you're doing ok.

hmm... I don't know either of you or what's ailing you, but I'm sending up prayers for both of you and your familes.

re: #138 Ward Cleaver

I think I heard something about that.
/

re: #131 Silhouette

The Koskidz diary mentions that this case is about "racial equality" but it's an ironic use of the term. It's inherently racist and it it was white kids it would be considered a hate crime.

The orgy of hate in Tehran calls for Muslims to unite...

...Iran-Haddad-Muslims
Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel on Tuesday called on the world Muslims and Islamic unions throughout the world to thwart the plots of global arrogance.

Haddad Adel made the remarks in a letter to Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir.

According to the Press Bureau and Public Relations Department of the Majlis, Rapporteur of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali delivered the letter to Sudanese parliament speaker.

"Global arrogance, by hatching various plots, tries to prevent Islamic enlightenment among world Muslim," he said in the letter.

Rapporteur of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali is now in Sudan to attend the 17th executive committee of Parliaments at the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Khartoum.

Referring to the existing problems of the world Muslims, he said continued occupation of Islamic Iraq, continued atrocities of usurper Zionists in the occupied Palestine, creating rift among political wings in Lebanon are among problems of the world Muslim.

[Link: www2.irna.com...]

re: #140 Silhouette

re: #138 Ward Cleaver

Maybe now the country will learn to pronounce Appalachian properly.

Wolverines, shmolverines. I'm still laughing over that one. Bo spins in his grave.

And get rid of the ancient inefficient internal combustion engine...sorry motor heads but the internal combustion engine has seen its day and needs to be parked in museums.

AAAHHH! ! ! !

FROM MY COLD DEAD HAND! ! ! !

/Charelton Heston

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

I'd say it's as current as yesterday's headlines.

re: #143 buzzsawmonkey

re: #132 Sue62

Wow. What a world my grandkids will inherit: where nothing is real!

Strawberry fields! Forever.

Is the world going Lennonist instead of Leninist? Let's hope not; and hope, too, that Lennon was not quite as prescient in "Imagine."

Strawberry Fields, exactly what I was thinking of. GMTA.

Should we start collecting all the old quotes now from the leftists during the build-up to the Iraq invasion where they all were claiming we should be going after Iran instead?

re: #142 reine.de.tout

re: #25 storagemanager

re: #18 realwest
Hi real...been better...how are you?

re: #39 realwest

re: #25 storagemanager I'm doing ok - still sore as hell from running around this weekend, and a little nervous cause I gotta see my oncologist in two weeks, but other than that, I'm doing ok.
Sorry to hear you've been better, hope and pray that at least you're doing ok.

hmm... I don't know either of you or what's ailing you, but I'm sending up prayers for both of you and your familes.

Thank you...that was very kind.

re: #119 29Victor

Nah... the people in the front row of Chavez' goofy television show are going to use the software to edit themselves out of the scene as soon as Hugo (*cough*) leaves.

How the West summoned up a nuclear nightmare in Pakistan
Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark reveal how misguided deals with Pakistan have created a terrifying threat of nuclear terrorism

General Pervez Musharraf was surprised. Visiting New York for a session of the UN, the last thing the Pakistani president expected was to be confronted with evidence of his country’s secret sales of nuclear bomb technology and equipment to members of the “axis of evil”.

Yet here on the polished wooden table of Musharraf’s hotel suite, George Tenet, director of the CIA, was laying out a sheaf of incriminating evidence.

There were intricate drawings of Pakistan’s P-1 uranium-enrich-ing centrifuge, with part numbers, dates and signatures. And there were details of the activities of Abdul Qadeer “A Q” Khan, the so-called Father of the Pakistani Bomb: his travels around the world, bank statements, even paperwork showing what his organisation had offered for sale and to which countries.

Frightening account of the Pakistani nuclear programme. However, I object to the assertion that Western (ie. US & UK) deals "created" the problem. The Pakistanis created the problem, while US & UK policy with Pakistan merely failed to adequately deal with it. Not the same thing at all.

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

Positively electric.

re: #51 zombie

Actually I wished you had enhanced some of your photos. Like the World Bike Ride photos...please photoshop it!

Gag.

re: #136 jehu

hydrogen is just a way to store energy generated in some other way.

biotech may help with a way to get a microbe to generate hdrogen.

the internal combustion engine is not even close to dead.
oil is a natural product of the Earth
it regenerates, slower that we use it, but it does regenerate.

[Link: freeenergynews.com...]

Ethanol won't work for mainly one reason: the vast majority of our food products are sweetened by high fructose corn syrup. If all the corn is used to make ethanol, the food prices will skyrocket all across the board!

#104 Ward Cleaver

re: #97 spam spam spam spam

FTS. We're moving to rural Idaho and getting off the grid.

Idaho? Stay out of the public restrooms.

I hear you knockin', but you can't come in.

BTW, I was refering to the photo manipulation, not the elecrical grid content of this thread. Didn't even notice the electrical grid content! Stop reading my mind. I have to go to the store fo more foil.

re: #120 lawhawk

re: #112 docremulac

Actually, you're a news cycle behind - the latest is that the Bushitler junta is about to go to war on Iran, so everyone better rally against the coming war, which as those who are based in reality might argue - hasn't even been declared yet*.

*Iran has declared war on the US - and has since 1979, but the US hasn't exactly returned favor. The anti-US types are harping on the possibility that the US might decide to deal with Iran finally after years of Iranian malfeasance around the world.

The proof of this supposed attack on Iran is the target list of 1200 possible sites. Well at the risk at giving away some big, deep, dark secret we have target lists for every country on the planet. Yes even Canada, sorry guys, although it was real hard coming up for one for Jamaica.

re: #158 charles_martel

Food prices are increasing significantly as a result of the diversion of a food staple for use as a fuel. It means higher costs all the way around.

re: #151 Silhouette

Get ready for the new line, the war against Iraq Iran is a distraction from the real war in Afghanistan Iraq.

re: #149 Dar ul Harb

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

I'd say it's as current as yesterday's headlines.

Bring it on 'Ohm

re: #155 easy

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

Positively electric.

Ohm my God! Stop it.

Speaking of inefficient internal combustion engines... got a whack job chem trail show on Discovery now...lol

re: #81 storagemanager

Seems like reading Chompsky is a requirement for everyone in the Venezuelan government. They're trying hard to appeal to the global left, with words like "hegemony" and "empire" along with the whole multi-culti angle. They're really trying to unite the global left with Islam to create a new superpower to rival the U.S..

re: #157 wargammer2005

re: #136 jehu

Coal gassification and nukes will fulfill our electrical power generation requirements. Autos... probably via better batteries.

re: #148 Sponge

And get rid of the ancient inefficient internal combustion engine...sorry motor heads but the internal combustion engine has seen its day and needs to be parked in museums.

AAAHHH! ! ! !

FROM MY COLD DEAD HAND! ! ! !

/Charelton Heston

Same here. After all, where would we be if we couldn't listen to a Model T, a classic Ferrari, or a Bud Moore-built Trans Am Mustang turning hot laps? I shudder to think.

Moon bats have a way home.

Apalachin State?

Isn't that right outside Binghamton?

/

re: #145 Killgore Trout

Their defense that the beaten boy used a 'racial slur' is no defense. Even if their version is 100 percent correct, seeing nooses a month ago and hearing a n-word today do not justify beating someone half to death.

OT: Iowahawk parody?

Robert Fisk: Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11

Whoa commander vimes! What timing!

    Sorry for the OT, but there appears to be some sort of overseas bomb intimidation scam going on.  I first heard about this on the radio this morning, and even though none of the incidents had happened in California yet that I can find, the DJs were predictably starting to stir up public fears, etc.  Per this source (for one) it appears that someone in Europe (we're given Portugal as the one identifiable country -- hmmm, don't they have Muslims there?*) is calling banks, credit unions, and grocery/department stores in the US and demanding that money be wired to them or they will explode bombs or shoot into the building.  They apparently attempt to get the people to believe that they are under their scrutiny.  From the aforementioned source:

The FBI is looking overseas for suspects who have phoned bomb threats to more than 26 grocery stores, banks and discount stores in 17 states, including Virginia.
The callers have threatened to set off a bomb unless store employees wire money to an account abroad. At a Dillons grocery store in Hutchinson, Kan., the caller ordered customers and workers to take off their clothes and threatened to force them to cut off a manager's fingers.
...
At the U.S. Bank branch, a man told an employee to have workers sit on the floor and wire funds to an overseas account. Another employee completed the transaction, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's office.
The caller also ordered the worker to put drawer and vault money in bags and go out to the parking lot. Deputies arrived to stop the worker from doing this.

    The DJs seemed to be inciting people to be overly anxious about going out for groceries, etc.  No one has apparently figured out that if we worried about all the banks/credit unions/stores in the country that statistically we'd be safe to go to any of them.  Still a good idea to be alert, though, I suppose.  Just an FYI.
}:)     [*Bombs, Muslims, extortion, there's gotta be a connection ...]

Charles if you are reading...

...Islamist Website Hosted in Minnesota Calls for Suicide Operations in Denmark

On August 31, 2007, the Islamist website [Link: www.ekhlaas.cc,...] hosted by SiteGenie LLC in Rochester, Minnesota, posted a document calling for "martyrdom [i.e., suicide] operations" in Denmark. The author, who identified himself as a member of Al-Qaeda, urged the Muslims not to forget the incident of the Danish cartoons, and promised the people of Denmark that the "brigades of martyrdom seekers are on their way... and will soon carry out blessed operations" in their country. He called on the Muslims to register on the site as candidates for these suicide operations.

Following are excerpts from the document:

"Some Muslims have put the affair of the Danish [cartoons] behind them and have completely forgotten it... I have reopened this issue in order to irritate the infidel Danes, and to remind them that the affair is not over and that the brigades of the martyrdom seekers are on their way.

"[My] goal is to urge [my Muslim] brothers to put down their names [so as to indicate] that the affair is not over, and that they will soon set out to carry out blessed operations in Denmark. Please put down your names in order to strike fear in the hearts of the Danish people.

"I take upon myself the honorable [task] of being the first martyrdom seeker to crush the strongholds of heresy in Denmark.

"[Signed] Abu Al-Bara Al-Dosari. Place of residence: the secret state of Al-Qaeda, from which we will set forth to crush the heretic [regimes]."

[Link: memri.org...]

re: #158 charles_martel

Ethanol won't work for mainly one reason: the vast majority of our food products are sweetened by high fructose corn syrup. If all the corn is used to make ethanol, the food prices will skyrocket all across the board!

Could we please go back to sodas sweetened with sugar? Tasted so much better

(and might this be a cause of the increased allergies lately?)

re: #160 Just_A_Grunt

we have target lists for every country on the planet. Yes even Canada, sorry guys,

You mean you've targetted our Molsons and Labatts plants? Dastardly!

re: #139 Dar ul Harb

again the problem is that the car is using energy stored in hydrogen or in some other "battery"

the only true sources of energy we have right now are the Sun or Nuclear.

oil, peat, and coal are just storing energy collect at some point in the past, most solar or from the formation of the Earth.

you can get hydrogen from natural gas or from pulling water apart, each takes some energy, in the case of natural gas not as much. but if you are going o burn hydrogen, why not just burn the natural gas? why bother to take it apart?

re: #9 insanity police

Reuters will love this.

I hear the Pali propaganda machine revving up.

Tbey already have, most Zawahiri As-Sahab videos are modified to include false backgrounds. Soon Bin Laden will live again as they redo images of him against new backdrops...

re: #162 lawhawk

re: #158 charles_martel

Food prices are increasing significantly as a result of the diversion of a food staple for use as a fuel. It means higher costs all the way around.

Yup. Cellulosic Ethanol is still a ways away. Ethanol from corn is just the start, and hopefully a temporary thing. There's no free lunch.

re: #167 Pyrocles

re: #81 storagemanager

Seems like reading Chompsky is a requirement for everyone in the Venezuelan government. They're trying hard to appeal to the global left, with words like "hegemony" and "empire" along with the whole multi-culti angle. They're really trying to unite the global left with Islam to create a new superpower to rival the U.S..

Yes I agree...I think thats what the two day NAM meeting in Tehran was all about.

At a McCain rally in New Hampshire:

Student: "If elected, you'd be older than Ronald Reagan, making you the oldest president. Do you ever worry you might die in office or get Alzheimer's or some other disease that might affect your judgment?"

McCain: "Thanks for the question, you little jerk. You're drafted."

re: #164 commander_vimes

See what you've sparked?

re: #176 storagemanager

"I take upon myself the honorable [task] of being the first martyrdom seeker to crush the strongholds of heresy in Denmark.

Lol. What are those silly Danes up to now?

re: #169 Ward Cleaver

I hear ya. There's a lobby group out there that keeps trying to get some legislation passed that forces people to buy new cars every ten years. Anything over 10 should be destroyed. My brother follows it and every year it gets booted to the curb, but they're still trying.

re: #184 Kenneth

re: #164 commander_vimes

See what you've sparked?

You can always hide in the land of far-far-a-day

FSNY in the New York area is running a condensed version of Michigan's humiliating loss at 10:30 this evening. A two-hour version.

Perhaps other Fox Sports affiliates are running it elsewhere.

Since it's a Fox affiliate, moonbats won't be tuning in.

re: #160 Just_A_Grunt

Well at the risk at giving away some big, deep, dark secret we have target lists for every country on the planet. Yes even Canada, sorry guys, although it was real hard coming up for one for Jamaica.

Like the attack plan we had for Iraq before 911. Of course we did. Bet we have one for the Marshall Islands too somewhere.

And France. Although that one is more compact: "Land. Yell, 'Boo.' Collect dropped weapons. "

re: #181 Ward Cleaver

re: #162 lawhawk

re: #158 charles_martel

Food prices are increasing significantly as a result of the diversion of a food staple for use as a fuel. It means higher costs all the way around.

Yup. Cellulosic Ethanol is still a ways away. Ethanol from corn is just the start, and hopefully a temporary thing. There's no free lunch.

Well if you listen to the BP commercials we have a whole pallette of alternatives to choose from - so say the man in the strret.

re: #178 Kenneth

re: #160 Just_A_Grunt

we have target lists for every country on the planet. Yes even Canada, sorry guys,

You mean you've targetted our Molsons and Labatts plants? Dastardly!

Not the beer factories but I am pretty sure Quebec is on the list.
/Just trying to help.

re: #179 wargammer2005

re: #139 Dar ul Harb

again the problem is that the car is using energy stored in hydrogen or in some other "battery"

the only true sources of energy we have right now are the Sun or Nuclear.

oil, peat, and coal are just storing energy collect at some point in the past, most solar or from the formation of the Earth.

you can get hydrogen from natural gas or from pulling water apart, each takes some energy, in the case of natural gas not as much. but if you are going o burn hydrogen, why not just burn the natural gas? why bother to take it apart?

Because hydrodgen contains no carbon, and thus no carbon (CO2) output. But then making hydrogen from water currently requires a lot of electricity

These electricity puns are reVOLTing.

Broke back Star Trek.

/ just satire don't kill me Trek fans.

Tesla never used hamsters.

Those poor hamsters.

Wha? the electricity pun blow the board?

KOS eats his own.

OR

Daily Kos Posters Berated by Founder for being Gullible Fools

re: #128 Killgore Trout

re: #109 zombie

I just heard about it this morning and I'm still confused. If you reverse the race of the players and a group of white students beat a black student to death it would be a whole different story. It's kinda baffling and makes me think I'm missing something.

The story in a nutshell:

At a high school in a small town in Louisiana there was a tree which the "jocks" sat under. Because the jocks were white, some people jokingly called it the "white tree." (Of course other cliques of other races hung out elsewhere; a common occurrence at most schools, frankly.) One day a black student asked if he could sit under the tree. The vice-principal said, "Of course, anybody can sit anywhere they want." The next day, three nooses were found hanging from the tree. The nooses were perceived as a racial taunt -- a warning to black students not to sit under the tree.

Three white kids were caught and punished for the prank. However, their punishment was not serious enough, according to some people (who wanted the perpetrators permanently expelled from the school system).

Anyway, the nooses and the punishment/absence-of-severe-punishment stirred up racial tension at the school. Arguments and rumors flew. Then (here's the key), a white boy who was not even involved in the noose incident was cold-cocked and knocked unconscious to the ground, where a group of six black boys surrounded him and started savagely kicking his unconscious body. They would have killed him if they hadn't been pulled away.

Now, those six boys have been charged with attempted second-degree murder. One has already been convicted.

And the Left is going berserk over it. The six attackers are considered the new Rosa Parks, the new Mumia, the new MLK, the new heroes. Because their punishment was worse than the punishment meted out to the noose-hanging boys.

A detailed, moonbat-themed description of the case from the apologists' point of view can be found on wikipedia.

Sorry for the long delay in responding, Killgore -- LGF was down for me for a while!

re: #21 XanaX

Perhaps the enemy won't use this technology because it appears to have been pioneered by a couple of Zionists.

/wishful thinking

Yes

Just got back from the Stop the Madrassa Press conference at City Hall. Got to say hello to Frank Gaffney and shake his hand and said 'thanks'! So cool! He came in from DC just to do this.

Tons of reporters where there. Atlas was there too. I'll have pics up on my blog tonight.

OT...This is getting VERY LITTLE press coverage.

NY Sun is on it:

Defense for Islamic Charity To Call Witnesses

Defense lawyers are scheduled to begin calling witnesses today on behalf of five leaders of an Islamic charity that prosecutors charge was a front for a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.

The opening of the defense in the case against the officials of the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development comes after the prosecution brought its presentation to a federal court jury in Dallas to an unexpectedly early close last week. Prosecutors called just 10 of about 40 individuals disclosed as possible witnesses in pretrial filings.

...

As the defense takes its turn, a former congressman who worked as a lawyer and lobbyist for Holy Land, John Bryant, is expected to be one of the first witnesses called to the stand. Mr. Bryant will explain that federal officials refused to respond to the group's repeated requests for guidance about which Palestinian charities were considered free of terror ties and which were suspect, court records indicate.

The defense is also expected to call a former American consul general in Jerusalem who later worked as a paid lobbyist for the Palestinian Authority, Edward Abington Jr.

While prosecutors have asserted that the Holy Land Foundation and the charities it supported focused their aid on the children of those killed in terrorist operations against Israel, a defense filing indicates that Mr. Abington will counter that "working with Palestinian zakat committees and supporting the families of Â'martyrs' along with other Palestinian families was not contrary to United States policy."

Another witness on the defense list is an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University, Bernard Haykel. Defense lawyers indicated in court papers that Mr. Haykel would opine on the origins of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its connections to Hamas.

Prosecutors also face a deadline today to respond to an unusual motion from the Council on American Islamic Relations seeking to be removed from a list of unindicted co-conspirators filed in the case. The designation's only formal significance is to ease the admission of certain prosecution evidence in the case. However, Cair contends that the public filing of the list violated Justice Department regulations and unfairly harmed the Islamic group's reputation and fund raising.

Some of the witnesses prosecutors did not call in their so-called case in chief could be called later to rebut defense testimony. Prosecutors are not the only ones who may have learned lessons from the Al-Arian case: One of the Holy Land defendants, Ghassan Elashi, is being defended by a former attorney for Al-Arian, Linda Moreno of Tampa, Fla.

re: #20 realwest

re: #17 Ed Mahmoud's Sock Puppet Hey Ed, didja get the link I gave you for Fallback?

yes

re: #199 rab3

KOS eats his own.

OR

Daily Kos Posters Berated by Founder for being Gullible Fools

Not to knock NB, but they're a couple days late with that one. Scroll down the LGF main page.

re: #69 Killgore Trout

More fake news...
UPI reports attack on al-Doura power plant that never happened

There’s a minor problem with this story. According to a source we have on the scene who works at that plant, a person we have heard from before and have every reason to trust, the attack never happened. The plant is still in full operation. No fire truck was set ablaze. There was small arms fire in the area that night, but other than that, nothing. Nada.

I've pointed out before that UPI has some Jihadis or their sympathizers with direct feed access to their wire. Expect more; if you watch their overnight feeds to breitbart you can sometimes catch this from the insanely garbled english over the wire. Mostly originates in Lebanon, Gaza, and Bahrain.
From wiki:

United Press International (UPI) is a news agency headquartered in the United States. With roots dating back to 1907, it was a mainstay in the press world and one of the three biggest news agencies, along with the Associated Press and Reuters. In recent years it has faced difficult financial times, and in 2007 cut its staff to the extent that, for the first time in history, it does not have a reporter in the White House press corp.[1].

It is now owned by News World Communications, the media arm of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.[2]

Its news stories are filed in English, Spanish and Arabic
By 2007, UPI had fewer than 50 employees. In August 2007, the company slashed that number still further, and currently has only five reporters, all based in Washington. UPI now concentrates on producing 100-word news summaries rather than producing its own stories.

IN other words it's the "youtube" of wire services now.

Leftists protest in Sydney...
Yahoo pic

A demonstrator waves the Palestinian flag while protesting against the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush in Sydney September 4, 2007.

Also see: "Disarm America"

Wanted for war crimes

Angry and ugly

Bush is Hitler

re: #200 zombie

Exactly why I never go to wikipedia! Hanging a rope in a tree is the same as beating a kid half to death. BS

Top

Did the Hamsters just strike?

re: #203 NoSubmission

Just got back from the Stop the Madrassa Press conference at City Hall. Got to say hello to Frank Gaffney and shake his hand and said 'thanks'! So cool! He came in from DC just to do this.

Tons of reporters where there. Atlas was there too. I'll have pics up on my blog tonight.

I'll have to check it out.

I like Gaffney. Hear him often with Monica Crowley.

Did everyone see this b.s.?

N.Y. Muslim convert posts Daniel Pearl parody on YouTube. [Jawa coverage]

Here's the video.

re: #206 JammieWearingFool

Rat's, Johnny come lately again. Still funny though.

re: #175 Kulhwch

Those bombs scares are just pranks being pulled by some kids in Portugal. It has nothing to do with terrorism, everything to do with the naivité and stupidity of small-town store managers.

Ahmadinejad Meets With Senior Fatah Official

(IsraelNN.com) Iran’s Mehr News Agency reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with senior Fatah official Farouk Kadoumi Tuesday, praising Fatah for staying tru to the path of “armed struggle”

“The Palestinian problem is still an open wound for the entire Islamic world and regional nations,” Ahmadinejad said. “The only way to treat it is the resistance of the Palestinian nation, accompanied by faith, unity and a firm stance.”

The Iranian President added that there is nobody who can beat the Arabs of “Palestine” and promised that the world’s current superpowers are on their way to destruction.

[Link: www.israelnationalnews.com...]

re: #208 Killgore Trout
Useful useless idiots!

re: #199 rab3

That Maccabee dude has quite an imagination.

He claimed to meet a Romanian cabbie who told him to leave Bush’s tyrannical America; he claimed to meet a Holocaust survivor who told him that Bush’s America resembles Nazi Germany; he claimed to meet another cabbie, Ugandan this time, who told him that Bush’s America is worse than Idi Amin’s Uganda; he claimed to have received a phone call from Balad, Iraq, revealing that the majority of the American Army’s mechanized strength is “out of commission”; and today, he claimed to have received a telephone call from an American aircraft carrier on deployment, revealing that the United States Navy is about to attack Iran. Oh, and he also learned that the naval rank and file detest George W. Bush, too.

re: #213 rab3

re: #206 JammieWearingFool

Rat's, Johnny come lately again. Still funny though.

No problem. Much hilarity was had with that the other day.

LGF never rests on weekends.

re: #200 zombie

Thanks, I hadn't picked up on the fact that the boy they ganged up on wasn't even involved in the tree incident.

re: #211 JammieWearingFool

re: #203 NoSubmission

Just got back from the Stop the Madrassa Press conference at City Hall. Got to say hello to Frank Gaffney and shake his hand and said 'thanks'! So cool! He came in from DC just to do this.
Tons of reporters where there. Atlas was there too. I'll have pics up on my blog tonight.

I'll have to check it out.
I like Gaffney. Hear him often with Monica Crowley.

Atlas got some excellent video of Dr. William Donohue, a former professor, and president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

re: #221 NoSubmission

Looking forward to seeing your pics!

re: #210 Rogue198

Did the Hamsters just strike?

They better get their stuff together or they won't be ready for the Hamster Ball Derby this weekend.

re: #164 commander_vimes

re: #149 Dar ul Harb

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

I'd say it's as current as yesterday's headlines.

Bring it on 'Ohm

Ohm, ohm, on the range (electric of course)

I note that it is Jooos who are authors of this technology. We're everywhere, aren't we?
Bwahahahaha!

/how come my checks never arrive?

re: #222 loppyd

re: #221 NoSubmission
Looking forward to seeing your pics!

Thanks, loppyd! Actually I shot the footage of Atlas's interview with Dr. Donohue. heh... It'll be up on her site later.

#200 Zombie:

Oh how bloody charming. I am so tired of the perpetually aggrived at this point

re: #218 loppyd

KOS Diary writing in three step.

Step 1. Drink bong water from last nights protest rally.

Step 2. Make up false stories and post in KOS diary.

Step 3. Hope nobody does a fact check.

Charles look at this ...
it says "Markos Moulitsas Zuniga" can do no wrong ...!

"Community Dream Team: Markos Moulitsas Zuniga/Charles Johnson

It all depends on whether or not you are liberal or conservative. If you are liberal, Markos, founder of DailyKos is your man. If you are conservative Charles Johnson, co-founder of Pajamas Media and Little Green Footballs is your go to guy. (Ariana Huffington (Huffington Post) is a close runner up for Markos Moulitsas spot on the dream team).

I first came across Johnson while reporting on the launch of Pajamas Media. Both blog networks create a space that brings out the best of a political slant. If you are a liberal, Markos can do no wrong. If you are a conservative, Johnson has created a space for you to fight for your political views. For either side these men are heroes. They haven't just created alternative media outlets -- they've built political machines with consequences that go well beyond blogging. In short, they have re-engaged people with politics and they have broken blogging open to the mainstream. Both are often looked at as success stories in the blogosphere, capturing its true potential. "

it's nearly down at the bottom of the page ...

"The Community Dream Team"

I bet he had never been in the middle east!

I've been drunk in Jena, Louisiana.

I spent the summer of 1993 working as a summer intern at Hunt Petroleum Corp in nearby Trout, LA, 5 miles West of town on Highway 84. Now, you can't buy beer in LaSalle parish on Sunday, you have to drive to Catahoula Parish. Anyway, Hunt had operations in a big forest up near Olla, wells 60 years old, some with the original steel derricks, plus some operations on Lake Catahoula and by the Jena Airport. Anyway, I always heard the real scary crackers were down in Nebo.

Not much to do in Jena. About halfway between Monroe and Alexandria, where the closest malls and movie theaters are.

They cruise Highway 84 on weekend nights.

I used to bass fish in Catahoula Lake and nearby Cowpens Bayou, although I usually caught gar.

The rednecks say the coonasses (the redneck-coonass line (coonass isn't racial, refers to the Catholics) runs through Alexandria. everyone in Jena was Baptist, the little Catholic chapel in Jena had a deacon come out on Sunday from the Shreveport diocese to do a Gospel reading, say a few prayers and distribute Communion consecrated by a priest back in Shreveport. Not enough Catholics to justify a priest) ate gar, boiled off the meat, mixed with bread crumbs, onions and celery, deep fried as gar balls. Rednecks don't eat gar.

Jena is home to the Pritchards, who run a convenience store. Most of th men, all big strapping fellows with hands like 10 lb hams, work in the oilfield. I even met a Pritchard working as a driller on the Diamond Offshore Drilling semi-submersible Ocean New Era in the Gulf years later. Same huge hands.

Back when the Ocean New Era was new, President Gerald Ford visited the rig, and they have displayed the IADC log where Ford was signed in as the tool-pusher.

re: #212 insanity police

Did everyone see this b.s.?

N.Y. Muslim convert posts Daniel Pearl parody on YouTube. [Jawa coverage]

Here's the video.

Monsters. "seefouraturdoor"? Sounds like a threat to me. I always honor a threat. Molon labe, goatf***ker.

And I missed SIGGRAPH this year! Rats!

They'd better keep those 35mm film cameras. Digital photographs shown as proof of anything are now a dead prospect. I'm surprised someone doesn't replace the unspent rounds with spent ones in the most recent old lady, "U.S. threw ammo at my house with their bare hands" photo.

It's amazing.

there are a number of implementations already on-line. some written in Java, others Flash...The Java one's not bad... available at
home.arcor.de/tit4tat/seamcarving.jnlp

have to have Java installed, though.

I like the idea...(and, of course, there will be programs to determine whether or not pixels have been manipulated)...I think it's just an excellent tool for re-sizing photos (getting away from those fixed aspect ratios).

That's just half of the scary future digital equation. Here's the other half:

Attention Actors, Meet Your New Digital Replacements.

umm...

The "young man" that Stalin had airbrushed out of that famous picture was not so young, just really short.

Nikolai Yezhov (1895-1939) was a high-ranking commissar in the secret police and Stalins police chief, (of the NKVD - he was Beria's predecessor), from '36-'38, during the bloodiest period of the Great Purge. Known as the "Bloody Dwarf" Yezhov was just five foot one. He didn't become "Water Commissar" until after Stalin had him removed from his post at NKVD.

Some people need to disappear...

VAPOR
TRAILS,
R

re: #73 Sponge

I have integrated solar panels on my roof (I live in So Cal and get about 350 sunny days per year). However, I'm attached to the electric grid and all power I generate goes back to the grid. In the event of a power outage, I'm affected along with everyone else. Only way to get by this is with expensive and tricky back up generator systems that can run the home until the power comes back up.

With technology like this, we are/have lost any concrete evidence. In the past, an eyewitness was the best evidence, then it became photographs or video, and now, they can both be manipulated and forged with ease. Will this impact court cases?

re: #235 J.S.

there are a number of implementations already on-line. some written in Java, others Flash...The Java one's not bad... available at
home.arcor.de/tit4tat/seamcarving.jnlp

J.S. interested in the photo manipulation detection software, what is the link? this is a 404 error page

"...how easy it is to completely remove people from photographs, with almost no trace. Stalin would have loved this."

WTF? Photographic evidence will truly be meaningless very soon. What's there, isn't. What wasn't there, is now.

Another of many, many signs in our time...

re: #241 6pat6

For the most part, photographic evidence is already inadmissible in court.

Local PD tells me that they will not and cannot accept such evidence from civilians.

However, I leave it to the expertise of our Lizard Lawyers to explain that better than I can...

BEHOLDERS
EYES,
R

re: #96 jehu

Dar ul Harb 75

Room Temperature Superconductor

I think one exists, and when found will be the biggest technological breakthrough since Edison's light bulb. Whole industries will arise that we have not even dreamed about.

...and there's a GOOD possibility that the RTS (room temp superconductor) material will end up being manufactured in a z-g (zero-gee) "field". See, you can combine metals and non-metals (melt or mix) in the z-g field and end up with a homogenous mixture (usually crystal, not liquid). There are endless possibilities and we are currently doing some secret and not-so-secret experiments on the Shuttle flights.

For example, mix Lead and Aluminum. On Earth, you get two distinct layers. In a z-g "field", you get a mixture that has different properties than either metal. Okay, add Iron. Add Antimony. Add...whatever! What do you get? We don't know, but it's going to be interesting to find out! ! You just may find a RTS or two in there...

...and I've just gotten started on "What good is the Space Program?"!

JAFLW

re: #129 Ward Cleaver

re: #107 vxbush

re: #87 looking closely

Oh, I don't know. Companies have, for ages, specified what hardware/software could be used by employees. The problem will be the stringers.

They have to lock down the machines to prevent users from installing new software. That's a harder sell with notebooks, especially for remote users.

I hear ya, buddy - the company I worked for had a tremendous problem with the "mobile workforce" trying to be mobile and us in IT trying to keep the bad crap off of their machines. They'd go to China, get the LT infected, then when they hooked back up to the in-house network they'd spew all kinds of malignant viruses and trojans all over my nice, clean, safe network! Just because managemnet insisted that they have superuser or even (shudder!) Administrator rights so they could install software on-the-go. Aaaargh!

JAFLW

re: #139 Dar ul Harb

Now, speaking of distributed generation capacity, I remember reading something to the effect that a midsize electric car would require 30X the energy of a typical house, and if the car generated its own electricity, say with a fuel cell, the car would be easily capable of powering the typical house loads when parked (and possibly the neighbors' houses besides).

True?

No. See Commuter Cars website for details, but I have calculated that the energy in/energy out approaches almost 50%. I helped design the charging system, so I should know...

Oh, BTW, ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) are only 8 to 18% efficient. And there's no idling in an electric car...

JALFW

re: #149 Dar ul Harb

re: #118 Silhouette

Let's not get into an Edison/Tesla debate. It's too highly charged.

I'd say it's as current as yesterday's headlines.

Everybody chant after me:

Ohm! Ohm! Ohmmm!

JAFLW
/sorry, couldn't resist!
//hehehehehehehe

To have photographs considered reliable, you'd probably have to invent some kind of super-rigorous tamper-proof resistant certification procedure.

Ideally, it would be something that could be administered by your friendly neighborhood photo center, while adherence to certification procedure would be audited by an outside party.

Step 1: Take your camera to the technicians to have your film installed and have the cover taped shut with tamper-resistant tape with fancy holographic designs. For digital cameras, make sure the memory card and the camera's internal memory are clear, and tape over the card cover and USB port.
It may be necessary to set the maximum level of certification at a lower grade depending on what kind of built-in editing functions are available on a particular camera.

Step 2: After taking the pictures, the technicians would take the camera and verify to the best of their ability that no tampering has been done, and produce a certified digital master in a lossless format. The masters would be available in an online database, browsable by the image's registry number--all certified copies of the image must include their registry number. The owner of the image would also have the option of adding a pass phrase for a measure of privacy against people randomly guessing registry numbers, though the pass phrase would have to be included with any certified copy of the image to enable people to check it with the master copy.

Step 3: Certified prints or computer files can be issued. Certified prints would be stamped with a holographic seal on the back as well as its registry number (and pass phrase, if one exists), and certified files would include the same information in their file properties.
Gold level: Images taken off hardware with tamper protections intact, minimal or no editing.
Silver level: Images taken off hardware with tamper protections intact, editing restrictions more relaxed than Gold.
Or, an image that would otherwise be up to Gold standards but is below a minimum required resolution.
Bronze level: Images taken off hardware with tamper protections intact, editing restrictions as permissive as possible without allowing for image details to be fraudulently inserted or removed.
Or, an image that would otherwise be up to Silver standards but below a minimum required resolution.
Or, an image that would otherwise be up to Gold standards but was obtained from unsecured hardware, though does pass examination and appears to be genuine.
Any editing mentioned is performed by the technicians and restricted to a particular list of permitted operations, restricted to certain degrees, as dictated by the certification level.

re: #233 threeCents

There is one thing that can save digital photos: digital signatures. A signature from the original camera with the date and time, a signature from the photographer, a signature from whatever program was used to process the photo and the date and time in it, and finally, a signature from the news agency that distributes it.

That way, if someone doctors the photo, at least you have a way to figure out the provenance of the image. Each successive signature would have to include the checksums of the levels below it. Now, all we have to do is to convince the news industry that this is worth doing.

If news agencies were truly serious about delivering the news, they'd have figured this out after the first fauxtography scandal. I think I'll sit down and enjoy the irony of that last statment.

Guys, just think Digitally Encrypted Checksum...

The exercise is left to the student.

JAFLW

re: #215 zombie

re: #175 Kulhwch

Those bombs scares are just pranks being pulled by some kids in Portugal. It has nothing to do with terrorism, everything to do with the naivité and stupidity of small-town store managers.

    Thanx, Zombie.  Glad to hear it was just a 'quality prank.'  Kids are a lot more innovative that I was at that age.

}:)     [Harrumph.]

re: #240 don_in_ga

That ("page not found") link was to a Java program to shrink or expand photos (it's for manipulation). If you're interested in the detection of manipulated photos -- then might want to use Google and search under "forgery detection techniques" Photshop, etc. There's one chapter from a book on-line..."Passive-Blind Image Froensics." here's the link...
http://www.ee.columbia.edu/ln/dvmm/publications/06 /ttng-book-chapter-06.pdf

Also, certain Camera manufacturers are now working to develop an anti-forgery system by embedding information (tamper proof) inside the camera which can be used for the purpose of authenticating photos...this is still in the development stage, I believe. (no cameras on the market are yet available). Meanwhile have to use the "Passive-Blind Image Forensics" techniques to detect forgeries/manipulations -- or PBIF as it's called.

Thanks J.S.
a little over my head but is interesting - the book acknowledges Worth1000 in the intro - very nice -.
When manipulating photos, I've noticed the histogram in PS change from an analog type of graph to a digital(for lack of a better word) graph and was curious to what was going on, looks like the book touches that also.
Thanks!

re: #252 don_in_ga

You're welcome, don_in_ga. Yeah, much of this is also beyond my computational abilities -- for example, the authors provide the algorithms for detection of manipulation of pixels (these are based on advanced statistical models) -- unfortunately, I don't know how to transfer these math algorithms into an actual computer program (or into a working script). I imagine there are a zillion programmers out there who do know how to do this -- that is, if you give them a math formula, they have the knowledge and capability of plugging it into a Java plug-in or program. I can't do that.

With regard to the changes you might see in a histogram with Photoshop -- here's the problem -- anytime you work with JPEGs and Photoshop, it's (as you're probably aware) it's a destructive manipulation...that is, you will be losing pixels (destroying pixel info, never ever to be retrieved again.) There are two ways of destroying pixel info -- one way is if you compress the range, then you'll see on the histogram "spikes" -- this is due to having bunched together a whole bunch of graded pixels into one lump, thus the spike. The other way of destroying pixels is to try to extend the range -- here you're perhaps attempting to extend the range of say a particular color (open up a black area) -- what Photshop will do is estimate what the "missing" pixels "should be" -- using a statistical process called interpolation...it's like a fill-in...but, the draw-back is that it's pretty obvious in the end result...anyway, on the histogram, this will be indicated by "gaps" - you'll see a block of pixel info, then a gap, then another block...this is usually "bad news." the image quality is degraded. Anyway, this may all come about through quite innocent attempts to make a photo more aesthetically pleasing -- not in any attempt to deceive. (so anytime a Photoshop feature such as "brighten" "contrast" etc., is used, you'll get a radically altered histogram.) The way around all of this is to stop using JPEGs. Switch to RAW (find a camera that supports the RAW format) -- then, you'll have a permanent, fixed, not-able-to-be-altered pixel version of your original photo -- and any alterations or enhancements are applied as if you were applying a filter overlay (which does not and cannot affect the original "digital negative.")