All posts by Ken Cole

‘Today We Turned Science Fiction Into Science Fact’: Latest on the New Missile That Can Fry Electronics

Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:26am by Liz Klimas

Boeing has completed another successful test for technology that fries enemy electronics with little to no collateral damage to other objects. This news comes a little more than a year after TheBlaze reported on Boeing’s previous successes with its Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP).

Boeing describes CHAMP as “a non-kinetic alternative to traditional explosive weapons that use the energy of motion to defeat a target.” In its most recent test that took place last week with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., over the Utah Test and Training Range, Boeing proved CHAMP could follow a pre-programmed flight plan and wipe out enemy target data and electronic subsystems by emitting high amounts of energy.
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test

Computers inside CHAMP’s target building before it was blasted with high-energy microwaves. (Image: Boeing)
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test

Computers were knocked offline after the missile was fired. (Image: Boeing)

“This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare,” Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works, said in the company’s press release. “In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.”
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test

Artist’s rendition of the missile. (Image: Boeing)

Watch this Boeing report on the latest test of the first fully functional CHAMP:

In a recent feature on CHAMP’s latest test, Boeing describes how the missile approached a two-story building, fired high-powered microwaves at it and effectively knocked out the computers and other electrical systems inside. It states that even the cameras that were inside the building to record the test were wiped out.

“Today we turned science fiction into science fact,” Coleman said in Boeing’s feature.

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2 Boys Fatally Stabbed on Upper West Side; Nanny Arrested

By  and 
Published: October 25, 2012

Two young boys were discovered fatally stabbed on Thursday inside an apartment in a luxury building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan by their mother, who came home from work to find a horrific scene.

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

The stabbings took place at the La Rochelle on West 75th Street, shown here in 2006.

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The New York Times

 

The children’s nanny, who was found with a self-inflicted stab wound, was arrested after the stabbings inside the apartment at 57 West 75th Street, the police said.

One neighbor, who declined to give his name, reported hearing screams around 5:30 p.m., around the time that the children’s mother arrived home from work to find her children, boys ages 6 and 2, stabbed and in a bathtub.

The police declined to provide details about those stabbed. The police said the boys were pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital, where the nanny was in extremely critical condition.

“It’s a chaotic scene,” a fire official said.

Neighbors watched nervously as several of those injured in the stabbing were taken out on stretchers and loaded into ambulances. The entire block, from Central Park West to Columbus Avenue, was shut down by the authorities.

The building, the La Rochelle, a block west of Central Park, is an 11-story prewar complex with grand columns at the entrance.

James Barron contributed reporting.

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SATURDAY OCT 20: ONE DAY DISCUSSION WITH DALAI LAMA AT ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT: His Holiness will be having a one-day discussion on Contemplative Practice and Health: Laboratory Findings and Real World Challenges organized by the Mind & Life Institute at the Caspary Auditorium, Rockefeller University. Contact Website: http://www.mindandlife.org

The university’s main entrance is at 1230 York Avenue (at East 66th Street) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.


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The Rockefeller University

www.rockefeller.edu/

Many of our benefactors consider an involvement with The Rockefeller University one ofthe soundest investments they can make in the future of medical science.

1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065
(212) 327-8000

Apple Addresses iPhone 5 Lens Flare Issue

Remember that purple lens flare issue with the iPhone 5’s camera?

Upon the release of the iPhone 5 last month, some users began reporting a strange issue with the iPhone 5 camera where a purple flare or haze appears when taking a photo near a bright light source such as a lamp or the sun. The issue was first reported by a forum user going by “Kaido” on the tech review site AnandTech who posted several different photos taken inside and outside that showed a purple haze.

Later, Fisher found that the iPhone 5 was in fact particularly vulnerable to lens flare of the sort Kaido and others had described. Interestingly, PCMag’s digital camera analyst found that Apple’s previous-generation handset, the iPhone 4S, was one of the best at minimizing the reproduction of flare caused by out-of-shot light sources (the Galaxy S III was another phone that handled lens flare well, he found).

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Video Comparison between iPhone 5 & iPhone 4S

The bottom line from iMore: “There isn’t that big of a difference between the cameras on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. There is improvements to the iPhone 5′s camera, but if you were wondering if you should upgrade because of the camera, the answer is definitely no.”

But, if you’re still not convinced that the iPhone 5 isn’t quite a DSLR-replacer just yet, take a look at it compared to a Canon 5D Mark III. That ought to change your mind.

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President Obama returns to Los Angeles

President Obama is scheduled to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport after 1 p.m. Sunday, October 7. His Sunday evening is scheduled to include a backstage reception, concert and dinner. The concert, called “30 Days to Victory” at downtown L.A.’s Nokia Theater, will feature Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Jon Bon Jovi. Presidential pal Clooney will make a special appearance to introduce Wonder. After the concert, Obama will head next door for a $25,000-per-plate dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s chic WP24.
Obama is scheduled to depart from LAX on Monday morning and head to a midday ceremony in Keene, near Tehachapi, where he will dedicate the new César E. Chávez National Monument. The President will then continue north to San Francisco for a fundraising dinner hosted by superstar chef Alice Waters, and a concert headlined by John Legend.

Obamajam

Party-time

Hollywood Joins in

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule « 2012 Election Central

October 3, 2012
Topic: Domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)

The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.

The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.

October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential
Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)

The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.

October 16, 2012
Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

October 22, 2012
Topic: Foreign policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)

The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.

More Info

 

Court keeps Indefinite Detention effective during lawsuit against it

by Joel McDurmon on Sep 19, 2012

RT.com reports,

A lone appeals judge bowed down to the Obama administration late Monday and reauthorized the White House’s ability to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or due process.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that an temporary injunction on section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 must be made permanent, essentially barring the White House from ever enforcing a clause in the NDAA that can let them put any US citizen behind bars indefinitely over mere allegations of terrorist associations. On Monday, the US Justice Department asked for an emergency stay on that order, and hours later US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier agreed to intervene and place a hold on the injunction.

The stay will remain in effect until at least September 28, when a three-judge appeals court panel is expected to begin addressing the issue.

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UN Small Arms Treaty Passes While Media Sleeps

 

 

The United Nations Small Arms Treaty passed in its second session. The Media was silent over its passage.

According to the UN’s press release,

Concluding its two-week session today, the second United Nations conference to review the 2001 Programme of Action on trafficking in small arms and light weapons adopted a consensus outcome document that highlighted the international community’s renewed commitment to preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade.

The document’s adoption represented a major achievement for delegations, who had failed to agree on a final outcome at the first review conference, held in 2006. “We accomplished something great today,” said U. Joy Ogwu ( Nigeria), President of the Conference, formally known as the United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

According to the text, Member States renewed their pledge to rid the world of the scourge brought upon it by the illicit manufacture, transfer and circulation of small arms and light weapons, and their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many parts of the world. They also committed to mobilizing the necessary political will and resources to implement the Programme of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, with the aim of achieving clear and tangible results over the next six years, through 2018.

Further by the text, States emphasized that the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons continued to sustain conflicts, exacerbate armed violence, undermine respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law, aid terrorism and illegal armed groups, and facilitate increasing levels of transnational organized crime, as well as trafficking in humans, drugs and certain natural resources.

Ahhh yes, the cries of terrorism and drugs and boogey men for the passage of the treaty. This comes from member nations who knowingly promote these kinds of things. Even the United States is now in the midst of a scandal involving gunwalking, known as Fast and Furious, and at least one man arrested has come forward and said that Fast and Furious was all about arming drug cartels in Mexico, never about tracking them.

All countries signed the declaration and further documentation can be found here.

According to the program of action:

“8. Reaffirming our respect for and commitment to international law and the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, including the sovereign equality of States, territorial integrity, the peaceful resolution of international disputes, non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, “. Non-intervention and non-interference? How about Syria? NATO is part of the United Nations.

Right about now you are probably thinking, so what? As long as the Senate doesn’t ratify all if well. Ask yourself if you are familiar with the United Nation’s Agenda 21. The Senate didn’t ratify that. Instead Bill Clinton basically passed it by executive order. Mike Opelka, at the Blaze writes:

Agenda 21 is a two-decade old, grand plan for global ’Sustainable Development,’ brought to you from the United Nations. George H.W. Bush (and 177 other world leaders) agreed to it back in 1992, and in 1995, Bill Clinton signed Executive Order #12858, creating a Presidential Council on ‘Sustainable Development.’ This effectively pushed the UN plan into America’s large, churning government machine without the need for any review or discussion by Congress or the American people.

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Lindsay Lohan Arrested, Accused of Hit and Run in Manhattan | Observer

 

 

We know everyone will be deeply shocked to learn this morning that actress and Worst Case Scenario of the Decade Lindsay Lohan has been arrested in Manhattan after police say she struck a pedestrian while parking her vehicle, then left the scene. TMZ, that Grim Reaper of celebrity gossip websites, tells us what happened after Ms. Lohan allegedly struck the 30-year-old male around 2 a.m. ET:

We’re told one of Lindsay’s passengers in the SUV got out and checked the vehicle for damage, and then LiLo and co. went inside the hotel.

We’re told someone called police while Lindsay was inside … and when she walked out of the hotel — around 2:30AM ET — officers arrested her.

TMZ goes on to report that Ms. Lohan was booked on misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and released on her own recognizance.

The pedestrian was hospitalized. Police apparently say alcohol played no part in the incident.

TMZ speculates that this incident may end up causing the actress new troubles in California, where she is on probation for jewelry theft.

via Lindsay Lohan Arrested, Accused of Hit and Run in Manhattan | Observer.

The Master Loses Control of Its Flock: Underserved Cast Overacts in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Pretentious Sermon | Observer

Cringing at cinema’s latest in a line of ‘lobotomized catatonia,’ our critic laments the golden years

 

I never cease to be amused by the pile of unmitigated crap that gets shoveled off onto the moviegoing public by pretentious critics. They’re at it again with The Master, a load of film-festival tripe that was BOOED IN VENICE and greeted with MASSIVE WALKOUTS IN TORONTO but is now being defended in an organized rescue mission that hopes to develop a minor cult following in New York before the whole thing mercifully vanishes in a puff of twaddle. With an embarrassing, overwrought performance by the dependably creeped-out Joaquin Phoenix…

With so many amateurs who run what’s left of the once-great movie industry making bad movies that pander to an easy-to-satisfy youth market that doesn’t care what it’s watching as long as the projectors keep running, and with so many bogus producers who used to be parking lot attendants at the Brown Derby always miraculously raising the money to make more, one thing is certain: no matter how rotten the movie is that you just suffered through, there’s always another one on its way that is 10 times worse. Paul Thomas Anderson, the egomaniacal writer-director of The Master, is a member of the new group of anarchists that includes Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, freaky Todd Solondz and the dismally overrated, no-talent Charlie Kaufman, who wins critical praise for writing incoherent movies about why he can’t write coherent movies. Abominations like the neo-Kafka burlesqueSynedoche, New York are algebraic extensions of all of them put together—eccentric but brainless. And now The Master, which follows in a perfect line—all style and no content—and therefore offers no fresh equation of its own.

Call The Master whatever you want, but lobotomized catatonia from what I call the New Hacks can never take the place of well-made narrative films about real people that tell profound stories for a broader and more sophisticated audience. Fads come and go, but as Walter Kerr used to say, “I’ll yell tripe whenever tripe is served.”

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