Alex Jones: People in charge of the world are on drugs

Weird stuff. I enjoy listening to Alex Jones. I don’t know if he is right about powerful “globalists” screwing us all, but in the bigger picture, I do believe in the Star Trek vision where the world gets unified, stops the wars, focuses our energy on solving our problems… what is so evil about a united world with a population that fits our resources? Seems more civilized. Is Alex Jones expressing veiled xenophobia when he warns about globalists? I’m against totalitarianism and fascism, but are those the only possible visions of a united world? :-/

Google+ challenges Facebook in social network battle

Online search giant Google has launched a new social networking website in its latest attempt to take on Facebook, which now claims more than 500m users.

Google+ allows individuals to share photos, messages and comments but also integrates the company’s maps and images into the service.

It also aims to help users easily organise contacts within groups.

But some analysts say Google has simply reproduced features of Facebook while adding a video chat function.

Google, which handles roughly two out of every three internet searches in the US, has taken several stabs at Facebook in recent years.

But its previous efforts ended in failure, with both Google Wave and Google Buzz proving unpopular with users.

New functions

The company is now boasting that four features in Google+ could help make the company a permanent player in social networking:

Circles – a functionality that allows individuals to place friends into groups, allowing users to share different forms of content with targeted clusters of friends

Hangouts – live multi-user video conferencing that permits friends to drop in and out of live group conversations

Huddle – group instant messaging

Sparks – a feature that connects individuals on the network to others with common interests.

The current version of Google+ has only been released to a small number of users, but the company has said it soon hopes to make the social network available to the millions of individuals that use its services each day.

“Online sharing needs a serious re-think, so it’s time we got started,” Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google, said in a press release. …

via BBC News – Google+ challenges Facebook in social network battle.

Hacker group Anonymous declares war on Orlando, Florida

The hacker group Anonymous has taken down a US tourism website in Orlando, Florida as a protest against the arrests of people handing out food to the city’s homeless.

Anonymous said the attack on orlandofloridaguide.com was retaliation for the arrest of members of the group Food not Bombs.

The website, which is not owned by the city, went offline for part of Tuesday.

Anonymous rose to prominence by hacking the sites of major corporations.

Anonymous is often seen as a political collective and has pledged to take action against those its members view as acting improperly.

They have been linked to several high-profile web attacks, including several on Sony websites as well as the Church of Scientology. …

Anonymous has warned that more attacks could follow as part of what it has dubbed “Operation Orlando”.

The row between the city of Orlando and the non-profit organisation Food Not Bombs started when the group began feeding homeless people in a park in the city’s downtown.

They did not obtain a permit to do so, a move which is required by law in Orlando.

Since then members of Food Not Bombs, including the group’s president, Keith Mchenry, have been arrested several times in the past month for handing out meals.

“We’re in a difficult position, and we’ve tried everything,” the Orlando spokesperson said.

“If Food Not Bombs continues to violate the ordinance, they will be subject to the consequences of violating it, which is arrest.”

Meanwhile, Food Not Bombs has said it has no affiliation with the Anonymous hacker group.

Spanish police arrested three suspected members of the Anonymous group earlier this month. …

via BBC News – Hacker group Anonymous declares war on Orlando, Florida.

Arrest of people giving out food is ridiculous, unless the food is unsafe or contains illegal drugs.

100 Years Ago, Mars Killed a Dog in Egypt

Exactly a century ago, on June 28, 1911, an explosion shook the Nakhla region of Alexandria in Egypt at 9 a.m. Soon after, around 40 chunks of meteorite debris from the high altitude blast rained down. 22 pounds 10 kilograms of the bolide were recovered by witnesses of this cosmic event.The Smithsonian received two

samples of the Nakhla meteorite the following August and then acquired a larger 480 gram one pound piece in 1962 pictured top. By the 1970′s, the Smithsonian had collected 650 grams 1.4 pounds of the meteorite.The Nakhla meteorite fragments — dubbed “Nakhlites” — are now known to originate from Mars. Even better than that, scientists have been able to narrow down to where on the Martian surface the original meteoroid came from.Nakhlites are igneous rocks rich in the mineral augite. This indicates the original rock formed as a basaltic magma approximately 1.3 billion years ago, when Mars was volcanically active.Through careful analysis of the rock’s crystalization ages and crater-count chronology of different regions on Mars, the Nakhla meteorite most likely formed in the ancient volcanic regions of Tharsis, Elysium or Syrtis Major Planum, according to the Smithsonian website.

Exactly a century ago, on June 28, 1911, an explosion shook the Nakhla region of Alexandria in Egypt at 9 a.m. Soon after, around 40 chunks of meteorite debris from the high altitude blast rained down. 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of the bolide were recovered by witnesses of this cosmic event.

The Smithsonian received two samples of the Nakhla meteorite the following August and then acquired a larger 480 gram (one pound) piece in 1962 (pictured top). By the 1970′s, the Smithsonian had collected 650 grams (1.4 pounds) of the meteorite.

The Nakhla meteorite fragments — dubbed “Nakhlites” — are now known to originate from Mars. Even better than that, scientists have been able to narrow down to where on the Martian surface the original meteoroid came from.

Nakhlites are igneous rocks rich in the mineral augite. This indicates the original rock formed as a basaltic magma approximately 1.3 billion years ago, when Mars was volcanically active.

Through careful analysis of the rock’s crystalization ages and crater-count chronology of different regions on Mars, the Nakhla meteorite most likely formed in the ancient volcanic regions of Tharsis, Elysium or Syrtis Major Planum, according to the Smithsonian website.

The surface of the Red Planet was then hit by a large meteorite, blasting debris from the surface and into space. One of those pieces of Martian crust became the meteoroid that drifted to Earth and fell as the Nakhla meteorite.

As famous this meteorite is, it’s also infamous for its canine-killing ways. According to the Smithsonian blog, one particularly dramatic eyewitness account recounts that morbid day for Fido:

“The fearful column which appeared in the sky at Denshal was substantial. The terrific noise it emitted was an explosion which made it erupt several fragments of volcanic materials. These curious fragments, falling to earth, buried themselves into the sand to the depth of about one meter. One of them fell on a dog…leaving it like ashes in a moment.”

While it’s entirely possible a meteorite hit an unfortunate dog, the “leaving it like ashes” part seems a little over-the-top. As we’ve learned from certain Israeli meteorite misadventures, meteorites — particularly meteorite fragments that likely fell to Earth at terminal velocity — are usually cold on arrival. So it’s hard to see how the dog would turn to “ash,” rather than simply being squashed.

via 100 Years Ago, a Chunk of Mars Hit Egypt and a Dog : Discovery News.