Al Qaeda chides Iran over 9/11 ‘conspiracy theories’

Al-Qaeda has accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of spreading “conspiracy theories” about the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Inspire, an al-Qaeda-linked online magazine, described Mr Ahmadinejad’s controversial speech to the United Nations last week as “ridiculous”.

The Iranian leader said he believed the World Trade Center towers could not have been brought down by aircraft.

The article said such a belief “stands in the face of all logic and evidence”.

Entitled “Iran and the Conspiracy Theories”, the Inspire article said Iran used the theory “as a rallying call for the millions of Muslims around the world who despise America”.

Iran “is a collaborator with the US when it suits it” nonetheless, the Yemen-based author said.

There have been sharp sectarian tensions between mainly Shia Iran and Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda – although are both fiercely opposed to US influence.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech last Thursday triggered a walkout from the General Assembly by diplomats from more than 30 countries. …

via BBC News – Al Qaeda chides Iran over 9/11 ‘conspiracy theories’.

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you know what I’m thinking about this one.

City Makes Thousands From Sagging Pants

Officials of one Georgia city says cracking down on sagging pants has earned nearly $4,000 in fines in less than a year.

Albany, Ga. City Attorney Nathan Davis said that 187 citations have been issued and fines collected of $3,916 since the ordinance went into effect Nov. 23.

Officials say the ordinance bans anyone from wearing pants or skirts more than three inches below the top of the hips, exposing the skin or undergarments. First-time offenders face a $25 fine. On further offenses, the fine can rise to $200.

The ordinance also allows 40 hours of community service to be completed in lieu of fines.

via City Makes Thousands From Sagging Pants – Greenville News Story – WYFF Greenville.

 

Piranhas described as “devoted parents” attack 100 beachgoers in Brazil

Authorities in a state in Brazil’s northeast are scrambling to take the fright and the bite off the beach after piranhas sunk their teeth into about 100 beachgoers, UOL Noticias reported.

The problem — rather fearsome given piranhas’ horror-movie teeth and ability to sink them into human flesh — has been the biggest at the main beach area in Piaui state; authorities said they need to act fast to reduce a piranha overpopulation situation.

Last weekend, at least 100 bathers were treated at the hospital in Jose de Freitas not far from Terezina, Piaui’s capital, after being bitten on the heels or toes at the local beach.

“Since they have no predators, piranhas have started attacking people on the beach,” said Romildo Mafra, a local environment official.

Environmental officials so far have added tilapia to the piranhas’ local food chain hoping to quell some of the predators’ hunger.

But Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet’s “River Monsters” suspects the problem may not be about food availability but the fish’s nesting season. He points out they covered a similar phenomenon in the show’s first season and the fish were biting swimmers to defend their nests.

“The only way to avoid this is to keep out of these shallow areas at these times,” said Wade, “but unfortunately during these months both humans and piranhas are drawn to the same water: what’s a good place for piranhas to breed in is also (normally) good water for humans to bathe in.”

He points out that the nippings are a sign that the piranhas, contrary to their fierce image, are “devoted parents.”

via Piranhas Attacking Beachgoers in Brazil : Discovery News.

Electricity – anytime, anyplace

Elinor Richards – An energy scavenger device that can convert both solar energy and movement energy into electricity to power portable electronics has been made by scientists from Korea and the US. The device could find its way into your home in the future as it’s flexible enough to be attached to clothes, bags, curtains or flags, say the researchers.

Sang-Woo Kim from Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon and colleagues made the device from piezoelectric zinc oxide and an organic solar cell so that electrical energy can be provided either by sunlight or wind or body movement, depending on which source is available at the time.

It’s been believed that solar energy is sufficient for powering portable electronics because it has a high efficiency, but many mobile electronics are operated indoors in areas with dim lighting. In such cases, the power that can be harvested drops by two to three orders of magnitude, say the researchers, and harvesting energy from other sources becomes viable. …

In tests, the device gave outputs of tens of millivolts to 120 millivolts when using solar energy and tens of millivolts to 150 millivolts when using piezoelectric energy.

‘Materials chemistry can provide integrated solutions to energy harvesting and regeneration via new developments, especially in the area of smart and multifunctional systems. This work presents one such development via the fusion of photovoltaic and piezoelectric hybrid materials,’ says Elias Siores, an expert in piezoelectric materials from the University of Bolton, UK. ‘Such systems will pave the way forward in enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in energy conversion systems.’

via Electricity – anytime, anyplace.

Google helps put Dead Sea Scrolls online

The 1,200 megapixel images capture extremely small details on the scrolls.

Ultra-high resolution images of several Dead Sea Scrolls are now available on the web, after Google helped digitise the ancient texts.

The search firm lent its expertise in scanning documents to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Both amateur and professional scholars will now have access to 1,200 megapixel images.

Five scrolls have been captured, including the Temple Scroll and Great Isaiah Scroll.

Ardon Bar-Hama, a noted photographer of antiquities, used ultraviolet-protected flash tubes to light the scrolls for 1/4000th of a second. The exposure time – which is much shorter than a conventional camera flash – was designed to protect the scrolls from damage.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 inside 11 caves along the shore of the Dead Sea, East of Jerusalem.

As well as containing the oldest copies of many biblical texts, they also include many secular writings relating to life in the 1st and 2nd Centuries AD.

The texts are generally written on papyrus or parchment, and in many cases only small fragments remain.

Scrolls available for viewing online are:

The Temple Scroll: lays out plans for the construction and operation of the Temple. Written on thin animal skin.

The War Scroll: one of the first scrolls to be found. The War Scroll outlines an end of days time where the the archangel Michael leads the “Sons of Light” against the “Sons of Darkness”.

The Community Rule Scroll: also known as the manual of discipline, the scroll outlines a comprehensive guide for the “community”, whose identity remains uncertain, although is believed to be the Jewish sect the Essenes.

The Great Isaiah Scroll: the best preserved of all the biblical scrolls, it contains a Hebrew version of the book of Isaiah.

The Commentary of Habakkuk Scroll: interprets the first two chapters of the book of Habakkuk.

Google has assisted in digitising a large number of historical documents, including the Art Project, which brings together high resolution versions of many classic paintings from galleries around the world. …

via BBC News – Google helps put Dead Sea Scrolls online.

One-Third of Sun-Like Stars Have Earth-Like Planets In Habitable Zone

The Kepler orbiting observatory is specifically designed to find Earth-like planets around nearby stars.

Earlier this year, the Kepler team released the mission’s first 136 days of data and it has turned out to be a veritable jackpot. In that time Kepler looked at some 150,000 target stars and found evidence for 1,235 potential exoplanets. That’s quite a haul. …

“About one-third of FGK stars are predicted to have at least one terrestrial, habitable-zone planet,” he says.

So by this measure, there are plenty of other Earths out there.

via One-Third of Sun-Like Stars Have Earth-Like Planets In Habitable Zone  – Technology Review.

Sunspot 1302 Continues to Turn Toward Earth

 

“Almost as soon as it was dark we were seeing vertical columns of light extending high into the sky, with the ever-present green color, but also lots of red color!” said Travis Novitsky of Grand Portage, Northeastern Minnesota, of this image he took on Sept. 26. Image Courtesy of Travis Novitsky.

 

The severe geomagnetic storm (Kp=7-8) that began yesterday when a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field is subsiding. At the peak of the disturbance, auroras were sighted around both poles and in more than five US states including Michigan, New York, South Dakota, Maine, and Minnesota.

via NASA – Sunspot 1302 Continues to Turn Toward Earth-UPDATED.

China: Awesome gentleman builds homemade flying contraption powered by eight motorcycle engines

 

Local farmer Shu Mansheng starts the engines of his self-designed and homemade flying device before a test flight in front of his house in Dashu village on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province September 21, 2011. The round steel flying device, which cost more than 20,000 yuan ($3,135), is the fifth model made by Shu, a junior middle school graduate. It measures around 5.5 meters (18 feet) in diameter, and is powered by eight motorcycle engines. Shu managed to hover for 10 seconds at about 1 metre (3.3 feet) above ground during a recent test flight. (REUTERS/Stringer)

via China: Awesome gentleman builds homemade flying contraption powered by eight motorcycle engines – Boing Boing.

Iranian Navy Sending Ships Near U.S. Waters

The Iranian navy plans to move naval vessels out of the Persian Gulf and into the Atlantic Ocean, “near maritime borders of the United States,” the Tehran Times reported Tuesday.

According to the English-language paper based in Tehran, the announcement came from a top Iranian naval officer on Tuesday.

“As the global arrogance (forces of imperialism) have a (military) presence near our sea borders, we also plan to have a strong presence near the U.S. sea borders with the help of the soldiers who are loyal to the vali-e faqih (supreme jurisprudent),” said Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, as quoted and paraphrased by the Tehran Times.

“We’ve been pushing freedom of the seas for years and the Iranian navy can go wherever it wants,” said Pentagon Spokesman Capt. John Kirby.

Iranians might face a challenge in refueling its fleet. Some in the Pentagon have speculated it could gas up in Venezuela, whose President, Hugo Chavez, is known to have a close relationship with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Iranians gave no indication of when or what kind of vessels they might deploy, but the announced plan comes just months after Iran sent warships through the Suez following the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. It was the first time Iran had moved ships into the Mediterranean and the move put Israel on high alert.

via Iranian Navy Sending Ships Near U.S. Waters – Iran – Fox Nation.

Self-cleaning cotton breaks down pesticides, bacteria

Andy Fell – UC Davis scientists have developed a self-cleaning cotton fabric that can kill bacteria and break down toxic chemicals such as pesticide residues when exposed to light.

“The new fabric has potential applications in biological and chemical protective clothing for health care, food processing and farmworkers, as well as military personnel,” said Ning Liu, who conducted the work as a doctoral student in Professor Gang Sun’s group in the UC Davis Division of Textiles of Clothing.

A paper describing the work was published Sept. 1 in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Liu developed a method to incorporate a compound known as 2-anthraquinone carboxylic acid, or 2-AQC, into cotton fabrics. This chemical bonds strongly to the cellulose in cotton, making it difficult to wash off, unlike current self-cleaning agents. Unlike some other experimental agents that have been applied to cotton, it does not affect the properties of the fabric.

When exposed to light, 2-AQC produces so-called reactive oxygen species, such as hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide, which kill bacteria and break down organic compounds such as pesticides and other toxins.

Although 2-AQC is more expensive than other compounds, the researchers say that cheaper equivalents are available.

via Self-cleaning cotton breaks down pesticides, bacteria.