nerdgirl

Not sure if Lawrocket was recommended for Nobel or just for write-in President, but who would you consider viable candidates? My candidates are mostly future ones: To start, I’d recommend Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar for the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. My bet is that they’re short-listed and will get the award after Lugar leaves the Senate. The Director General of the OPCW (http://www.opcw.org/) when the world’s declared stockpiles of chemical weapons are finally eliminated, probably around 2025. When/if Iraq becomes a stable democratic state, the elected Iraqi leader and up to two heads of supporting states. If the Biden-Brownback federalization plan works, they may be candidates. If OIF had gone as hoped, President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and the first post-Hussayn democratically elected leader very likely would have been short list candidates (regardless of the presence or lack of “WMD.”) Who else? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

for the "gay bomb" proposal ... which wasn't funded. More on this year's Ig Nobels: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7026150.stm The awards ceremony is usually made available on-line ... & is typically hilarious! http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

One of the recommendations of the 9-11 report was improved information sharing across the government, including state and local law enforcement who are most likely to be the first responders in a domestic terrorism event. Last Saturday, the San Diego Union-Tribune published a story on Marines being investigated for turning over classified documents to individuals in local law enforcement agencies (LAPD & Sheriffs) that were not cleared to receive them. The article, which is overall quite sympathetic to the Marines, has the unfortunately sensationalistic headline: "Marine Took Files as Part of Spy Ring" http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20071006-9999-1n6spies.html. An updated article appeared in today’s LA Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-laspy12oct12,0,1983331.story From the SD Tribune: "Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz said patriotism motivated him to join a spy ring, smuggle secret files from Camp Pendleton and give them to law enforcement officers for anti-terrorism work in Southern California." “He knew his group was violating national security laws. But he said bureaucratic walls erected by the military and civilian agencies were hampering intelligence sharing and coordination, making the nation more vulnerable to terrorists.” There is no indication of espionage, involvement of any foreign nationals, or financial motive. Reportedly, over 100 documents were transferred, some at the TS and TS/Special Compartmentalized Information level, which may indicate that sources and methods are disclosed beyond just threats. Sgt. Maziarz pleaded guilty to breaking the law. Were the motives and reasons significant enough to validate or mitigate breaking the law? Were these guys acting like ‘Robin Hood in a forest of national security information, taking classified documents from the cleared and giving them to the uncleared’ (as one Secrecy wonk characterized it) who are on the proverbial front line of terrorism in the US? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

QuoteDo the gun lovers think that school massacres are just an unfortunate price that has to be paid so that they can keep their guns?Quote As a gun-agnostic realist, I don't think it's the correct question. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

You are kidding, aren't you? Uh, no ... the Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/) makes the awards. It's a privately run and privately funded organization. Very much the model of a free market organization. "In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established: "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry, "Karolinska Institute for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, "the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and "a Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) for the Nobel Peace Prize." The King of Sweden presents the non-Peace prize medals and certificate in a ceremony in Stockholm. The King of Norway presents the Peace prize medal and certificate in Oslo. Prize recipients give the speeches. Nothing about the United Nations any where ... VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Y'all do realize that it's not "UN Awarded," yes? It's awarded by the Norwegians; the other Nobel prizes are awarded by the Swedes. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is sharing the award with Gore. A number of Nobel peace prizes have been contententious. Two of the most prominent ones are Maathai's a couple years ago (also environmental-related) and Henry Kissinger's. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I liked him as the President in Last Best Chance: http://www.lastbestchance.org/ Request free copy of the DVD here: http://lastbestchance.kintera.org/dvd VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Perhaps stronger than mine would have been ... I sympathize with his sentiment, however. He didn't play along with their game. They came to his office; he didn't go to their studio. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

QuoteLess, less, lessQuote Okay, what do we keep? I stole ExAFO's list & added to it. There seems to be violent agreement that the current system for protecting individual and commercial private intellectual property rights has problems; no versus some system is still in dispute. How about intelligence gathering & analysis? Should it be funded (?), overseen (?), executed (?) by the representatives of the democratically-elected government or left to the private sector? The case for the latter is discussed in “Managing the Private Spies: The Use of Commercial Augmentation for Intelligence Operations" Glenn J. Voelz, MAJ USA, Joint Military Intelligence College, June 2006: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/voelz.pdf. VR/Marg p.s. Asserting 'geek' cred (altho' I'm more of a 'nerd' at heart): back in the days when I need Unix-like capabilities for running X-ray crystallography modeling programs, partitioned a hard drive to run Linux and MS. Linux worked fine; MS could not deal. Ended up getting 2 separate drives. Finally got a Sun system (oh - dating myself) Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What you're proposing is a potential model for something like hemorrhaghic E. coli H5O57 (the one that gets attention for killing kids when its in undercooked hamburgers or packaged salads). Still need a purely privately sector (not just private managed -- not just privately funded) model for human-to-human transmissible disease prevention. In order to get herd immunity, a certain *large* percentage of the population needs to be immunized. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Good example. Why has Linux worked? Why is it the seeming exception? (Other examples?) What has enabled the coders of Linus to be able to distribute their product without (substantial?) financial gain? Is there something unique about source code as a commodity that's based on moving electrons rather than more macroscale stuff? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

No, NO, HELL NO!!! The patent process was SUPPOSED to promote innovation, but it does exactly the opposite, and now we even have parasite companies whose entire business model is to go after companies that actually produce something and suck the blood out of them. The whole thing needs to die. Is what you describe a fault of the patent system ... or aggressive free market business practices? I'm in violent agreement with the need for revisions to the current systems, especially when it comes to reverse payments settlement agreements and allowing patents on some fundamental processes and natural organisms ... but to completely eliminate as a function of government? How do you propose avoiding the worst of the situations in China and other nations that don't value intellectual property rights? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Eventually the cost/benefit analysis will show diminishing returns. Who gets to make that call? That's a crucial question. I would pose that the democratically-elected representatives of the citizenry be empowered to designate which situations are left to the citizenry (i.e., the right to be as smart or as stupid as you want to be) or which situations warrant designation of an authority who gets to make that call. Which direction is the exceptionalism? Should the choice remain with the citizenry by default or be given by exception? It's my understanding that the California ballot initiative system was established to some extent to incorporate more active participation of the state's citizenry in the state government framework. There does not seem to be a consensus on how effective that experiment has been. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

No. I did not originally. That's another potential nominee for the list. I bet you & others here could cite the case of thalidomide babies as an example of where US FDA provided a protective service, which was largely due to one, stubborn in a very good way, FDA scientist-chick who refused to approve the sale/use in the US. Europe, which is now frequently regarded a more regulartory, did not prohibit thalimide ... But at the core of that is still an assumption of value in the health of other people's children ... Another example is the recent adulterated pet foods and toothpaste from China, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11656278 There was an excellent commentary on NPR's Morning Edition a short while ago ... that I can't locate ... that put it in context of the limit of the market. Hypothetically, consumers should be able to elect to not purchase goods they feel are potentially 'unsafe' but as goods to US intermingle, the US consumer can't always discriminate. (The original was better than my description - ). Conversely, while as much as an impact as the contaminated pet foods had on the pet owners, another contaminant (diethylene glycol - used because it's cheaper than non-toxic glycerin) in other products from China, e.g., cough syrup, has likely killed thousands in places like Bangladesh & Panama. NY Times did an an expose a few months back: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06poison.html?ex=1182139200&en=2196679c766f38b1&ei=5070 although it's been a suspected or identified problem for years ... just didn't have dying American cats and dogs to get the public's attention. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

In response to a query, exAFO offered up a list as a minimum: “Police/Corrections “Defense “Enforcement of Contracts “Education to 12th grade” Do folks agree with that? Less? More? Off the top of my head, I would add: -- Patent (intellectual property) registration -- Setting of standards … physical not ethical or moral The railroads tried to do this themselves at one point; multiple different gauges were employed -- Public health & mandatory vaccinations … that’s not some idealistic sentiment; microbes don’t discriminate -- Regulation of water and sewage treatment -- In complete agreement with Bush (Vannevar Bush) establishment and support of the National Science Foundation (or a more aggressive, risk-embracing equivalent), e.g., http://cnx.org/content/m14356/latest/ & http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nsf50/vbush1945.htm -- Oversight of the maintenance of core, historic documents such as those in the National Archives, e.g., Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Gettysburg Address. -- Control of printing money -- Federal reserve So what in that list can be done more efficiently and effectively by the private sector? What else should be included in that list? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Interesting At risk of this getting sent to Speakers Corner: check out 20500 VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Could you cite that? During the Congressional testimony last week Eric Prince (the CEO of Blackwater) suggested that one needs to be done -- just on the value to the taxpayer of contracting Blackwater versus employing federal workers in Iraq. Thanks. Yesterday I was at WR AFB. In a different area (i.e., not security), they've found that private contractors cost more. And were less successful. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Condolences to all - family, friends, loved ones. BSBD. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Those reports refer to a 15 July incident at a site close to Damascus. A pre-dawn explosion which reportedly killed15-30 people. There's no indication that Isrealis or other foreign states were directly involved in this. Appears to have been an explosion due to error, negligence, accident, or residual heat; it had been reaching 50C (122F) at the site the previous week. There has been unconfirmed (although much suspected) suggestion that the site, which also had Scud-C missiles, (SS-1d ... I don't name 'em), was doing RDTE with chemical warheads. Sulfur mustard is the thought to be the agent. Much easier to synthesize than sarin or VX. VR/Marg p.s. Sarin is a liquid at STP not a "gas." Neither is sulfur mustard, which solidifies at ~56F (depending on how pure). Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I once made a virus that glowed green. It was cool. Be careful - some might be suspicious. You must remember the Wimmer syn polio "not-so-cheap stunt" (to quote Steve Block (Stanford/JASON)), yes?. A few years ago, I was at a sponsored meeting, in which a speaker very seriously asserted that kits being sold to insert GFP in E. coli were a security threat. Sigh. Ya might be able to make a case for the 40 PhD scientists and engineers it took to make the kit 'bubba-proof.' VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What destroyed nuclear facility? The Der Al-Hadjar 30-kw research reactor near Damascus (built with assistance of Belgium, Germany, Russia, China, US & under IAEA safeguards) is still functioning, was not targeted by Israel, and poses minimal to no credible threat. Do you mean the 6 September bombing by Israelis? The target appears to have been short range Scud missiles or missile parts & possibly a Russian radar installation, which might have been helping guard the Dair el Zor site. What remains under some debate is whether the missiles/parts can be 100% ascribed to DPRK. Most unclassified evidence does point to Pyongyang. Reportedly, the US Navy wanted to board the ship in Morocco’s territorial waters but the Moroccan government vetoed the operation (if true, interesting aside of impact on Proliferation Security Initiative –such activity is *exactly* what the PSI was designed for!). For the wonkish, the targeted shipment is thought to have been SS-1d or SS-1e variety with ranges of 550-700km (~300-400 miles). The SS1-d have been adapted in the past to carry nerve agent (thickened VX & sarin)-containing warheads. Serious speculative questions arise within that context. http://www.dni.gov/reports/2004_unclass_report_to_NIC_DO_16Nov04.pdf See page 5 w/r/t Syria’s previous activities on obtaining SCUD missiles from DPRK & p.8 w/r/t DPRK’s role as the Wal-Mart of ballistic missile parts (okay, the IC doesn’t use that characterization, but it’s an apt metaphor). Additional serious context, Christopher Hill & his State VCI team just completed the latest round nuclear verifiable elimination (one can hope!) talks with DPRK - negotiations and international diplomacy to which John Bolton-esque folks have been opposed almost since Day 1. Kudos to Hill for sticking with a realist strategy. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

“Shoulds” are so normative. Does the kind of scenario you described happen? Yeah. When I started jumping I was in a fairly serious relationship. When my boyfriend, with whom I was happy, realized skydiving wasn’t going to be a one-weekend activity, he didn’t like it. I had to decide what my priorities were and own my choices. It wasn’t his fault. He made a great husband for someone else. R/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Thanks for the heads up! Implications for biosecurity community as well, e.g., syn bio. I find Venter’s approach to the marketing of the science … interesting. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Jim Slaton, JC Colclasure, & the other PD teams members swooping Mount Blanc (been there too ... on crampons), Eiger, & the Dolomites takes a lot more skill! They landed above the snow line - don't know what the MSL was. Everest has been para-ski'd and para-glide'd too. (And it's higher - 8848m

Thanks for the link! Very cool. It looks like the landing dz is either the Shyangboche airstrip (3810m), just above Nache Bazaar, or a smaller area closer to the Everest View Hotel. There aren't a lot of _flat areas_ around there