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I pride myself in setting out every day to learn something new. Lately however, my taste for things scientific has given way to my overwhelming sense of inadequacy when it comes ito the language of scientific inquiry…mathematics. I rue the fact that I am a language-y, feeling-y type. I’d rather be a cold, hard, logical person any day. Then I could be working with CERN or something.
Oh well, my jealous phase shouldn’t last long. I have other interests to keep me occupied in the meantime, and was very impressed with a BBC program from a few years ago that explains so much more than even the documentary’s producers could have known at the time. The focus is on the American Neo-Conservative movement and the Radical Islamic movements that came about roughly around the same time. The series explains A LOT about where we are today and the tension that exists between and within the U.S., Middle Eastern countries and Radical Islamic Factions. Very interesting stuff, so I’ll post all of the segments here.
**Ironically, my s/o has just recently found and begun playing the Bible quest video games they talk about in one of the segments…he has no idea why he remembered about them, but has been playing every night lately!**
President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And, if it is a nod to America’s rejection of the type of leadership from the past eight years, then he deserves it. Maybe not yet…but that is for another post. I am changing the subject.
Let us revisit Orwell’s 1984…”whoever controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.” Here they are speaking about the events in history, and our recollection of it. Oh, and manipulation of it. My interest came from two stories that caught my attention today.
I have been loosely following CERN’s work on the Hadron Collider since AirForceStepDad stated “I just know they opened up some kind of hole-in-time…” when it broke. Don’t mind him–he took the pills during Desert Storm. So I was dismayed that a researcher in the facility was arrested. First, there was conflicting information on the French physicist working in the vicinity of the Large Hadron Collider had been arrested with links to Al-Qaeda. He was in contact with the organization, and although he had not begun preparing for any specific action, he had expressed an interest in carrying out attacks. My info discrepancy came from the actual number of individuals arrested, from NPR and the BBC coverage of it. Hate to ignore blogs, but I was looking for traditional media on this one, because a few originally led me to believe that he was actually working ON THE LHC. Which terrified me. But he was not, and in fact he was working on the Beauty Quark with independent researchers (also neat subject matter…and anti-matter), and so was not actually working with CERN on figuring out the origins of the universe (and I guess the Higgs Boson – Thanks wikipedia!). For their part, CERN did make sure that they knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the electrical failure from last year was exactly that. Even still, the thought of terrorist activities so close to the only gigantic particle accelerator is not all that comforting. The physicist was unnamed in reports.
This led me to a blurb that I know I heard somewhere…Iranian Atomic Scientist missing, or kidnapped? I searched for a bit, but wasn’t able to find anything until I ran across Al Jazeera’s information. Apparently, Shahram Amiri is missing, and was purportedly working on Tehran’s nuclear program. From what I read however, there is speculation on whether he defected or was kidnapped. Al Jazeera indicated that many media outlets believe he defected to the west, while his family dismisses that notion. So then, Iran goes and holds Saudi Arabia (there they are!!!) responsible for not protecting Amiri when he disappeared from their country. Here’s a thought: If you want to play the “Big Boy Totalitarian Country” game, you don’t let your important people leave the country. I think that is the third rule down the list.
While the Iranian foreign minister claims that they have proof of American interference, but U.S. officials have said that they don’t have any information on Amiri. He went missing before the secret site at Qom was revealed, by about three months, so it is safe to guess that he is safe. But…ummm….unless he is here, and quite secure in the United States, I think we should be a little more concerned.
Which brings me to my important point. Once I found the article on Al Jazeera, and had his name, then I found all sorts of articles about his disappearance, with the headline that most often included “nuke scientist” (Is that considered proper?). These were all within the last week. What concerned me about Iran was that there was no report of his disappearance, and if he had ended up with really vicious people, we wouldn’t have known until a few days ago–if at all. More disturbing is that if his disappearance was reported…it’s getting harder to use a search engine to find news from a specific day, specific event, or for events over a year ago.
I, like many people rely on digital news. What is beginning to happen is, without the help of a blogger’s link, sometimes you cannot search and find information about what happened if it was too obscure, or if it was too long ago. Obviously, there was no report of his disappearance. I also tried searching for information reported when the LHC malfunctioned last year, and consistently came up with the physicist’s arrest. I gave up and went to CERN’s site for the date of the incident, then was able to find news in a search. In searching for this information, I realized how easy it is to manipulate information over time. I have heard numerous people screaming “1984!!!” without realizing just what that would mean. The true danger from 1984-style media control does not lie within the United States, simply because there are so many “citizen journalists”. There are, however, repressed societies that can foster misinformation and virtually change the past before their very eyes (although a more subtle approach would probably be preferable).
This has been an interesting week. The most notable parts seem to have been bookended by a dead squirrel.
Yes…a dead squirrel. I was going through the Declaration of Independence and the abridged Constitution to see how it is perceived that the Obama administration is violating them (or doing so in any way that could be construed as more than the Bush white house); I went outside for a smoke, and lo…
It looks like he had fallen from the largest tree in our backyard onto the driveway, and probably didn’t feel much after hitting the ground. Technically, roadkill. It was then that I realized that squirrels are conservative by their nature–quite content to scamper by and around the dead one, eating nuts, chasing each other–basically ignoring the dead one and its misfortune. For my part, I didn’t know what to do with it; dead, gross, a rodent, and covered with ants already. I figured the squirrel community wasn’t going to get together and throw “a Celebration of Life,” so I watched it over the next few days, and hoped that the cold snap that was keeping the odor down would hold.
I realized on Monday that there is a new job scam…you apply for a legit looking job posted somewhere, you get back a legit looking email response. Then they ask you to pull your credit. From a link theyprovided in the e-mail. So, alas, no real job there, as I haven’t heard back from two of them since I sent a reply that I had gotten my free yearlies from www.annualcreditreport.com, the one that is the official partnership of the three agencies. The job charlatans are smart, though. There are so many rackets out there, waiting to ensnare the desperate jobseeker. A word of advice: NEVER pay to work. Not ever.
I have to say I was disappointed at Iran’s launch of long-range missiles. This is probably not the best move to make while all the time insisting that the country’s nuclear program aims are peaceful. I went to check out the IAEA’s minutes and other info on Iran from the past couple of years to see if they did report the building of the under-mountain site…apparently, almost everything that goes on between a sovereign nation (like us) and the IAEA is supposed to be confidential. Iran was pretty upset about a few details that leaked in the Bush years, which ultimately led to more U.N. sanctions against the country.
In other news, it’s pretty crappy that while being pounded by a typhoon, about 3 huge earthquakes occur causing giant tidal waves. That is nuts for a region of the world to endure at the approximate same time. As I write this, for the Philipines, there’s another typhoon looming; for Indonesia, another earthquake just rocked the area.
But Derrion Albert will never read this blog post. No, he was beaten to death with boards and vicious kicks, while being filmed on cell phone, while trying to walk home from school (or help a friend…details are foggy). My mistake was watching the video, which his family wants to remain on the web, to raise awareness. My heart broke when he tried to get up, and the boys just jumpedon him and ended it all. From where I was in front of the computer, I wanted to stop it somehow, but by the time I saw the video, this Chicago honor student was gone forever. If you’ve ever been a teacher (or ever been in school, for that matter), you know that kids will run to wherever the fight is, and just watch transfixed–that is your worst fear for the school day. But this was outside of school, and apparently no-holds-barred. I am saddened and sickened. Again, I’m reminded that this could have been my baby brother, just a year older than Derrion was. I can’t even grab all these kids–gang members and spectators–by the shirtcollar and explain to them how utterly dumb this kind of behavior is. I hope the judge can.
On the subject of Chicago, I think it’s a bad idea for the windy city to host anything. Let South America have the games for a change–Illinois doesn’t need the debt anyway (they have plenty). And, not saying that the Olympics are full of terrorists, but I’d rather not take the chance 100 miles from where my grandma lives. There are enough Chicago people (see characterization in paragraph above) in my small hometown to make me nervous for her safety already.
I also decided to try and learn Arabic. I’m working my way through a couple of resources and methods on the web, but I wish I could take a class. Oh well, we’ll see how this goes first. If anyone knows of any outstanding websites for learning how to speak and read/write, let me know.
Then…on the third day…he was…gone? I went outside to have my wake-up cigarette on Thursday morning and the squirrel was just gone. I only got a half-chuckle when I informed my fiance that I’d given our buddy (who we’d been watching succumb to nature and ants) a new, Biblically-inspired name. Well, I thought it was funny, even though I was pretty sure that one of the neighborhood cats finally came by.
At any rate, I have tons of stuff to do today. We’re going to our university’s homecoming weekend activities, and I have to pack and run a few other errands. I never did finish looking for the parts of our Declaration and Constitution that had been stomped on, but hopefully nothing too crazy will happen today.
I finished reading A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone during the 90s. It is his memoir, but more than that, it is a book that raises awareness of the plight of children who are forced to “grow up”–and kill–in completely destabilized African nations.
This is probably the best book I’ve read in a long time…upon finishing I just felt like an awful human being. Awful, because when I was 12, I was upset because my mom wouldn’t let me “sleep-over” at a friend’s house…at 12, Ishmael lost his family in a rebel attack on their village, sending him on a hellish journey for the next five years of his life.
Now, at the approximate same age as Ishmael, I have not a single life experience in common with him. I can thank God that I’ve never had to kill anyone for anything, and this is something I’m sure he lives with today and for the rest of his life. But…he, at 28, with this book, with his speeches at the UN, and with his involvement in Human Rights Watch, is doing so much to bring awareness to the children that continue to be forced into fighting wars, that it is clear he was spared for a reason. I am thankful that Ishmael survived, and came back from the most wicked edge of humanity to write this book, so gripping in its details that I could not put it down.
Read this. If you are anything like me, you will want to gather the children to you (ALL of them, in every war-torn country you’ve ever heard about) and shield them, before their childhoods are taken in such horrific ways. You will be haunted, but the time spent reading will be worth it.
Apparently, well-respected Atomic Scientists don’t even believe North Korea detonated a Hiroshima sized nuclear device on 5/25. The seismic data suggests that the explosion was stronger than the 2006 test, but still only a nuclear equivalent to approximately 4 kilotons or smaller.
These smart folks came up with four possible theories of what might have happened. [1]That they did have a bomb of Hiroshima size/yield, but it failed to detonate properly (Most likely–they’re working with plutonium from nuclear waste and plutonium is the more tricky material to work with). [2]That they have been working on a higher tech or smaller yield or a more compact method of delivery (pretty much ruled out because of the fact that they aren’t known for their technology or resources). [3] They faked it with large amounts of conventional explosives (LOL!). [4] They detonated a device in a much larger cavity to muffle its yield (Highly unlikely – why bother?).
I just thought this was an interesting read, and it may explain the lack of motivation to slap N. Korea down real quick. Check it out!
Ahmadinejad not in a position to lecture, but he made some good points.
September 24, 2009 in current events, The World | Tags: Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, commentary, democracies, democracy, dictatorships, God, Imperialism, Iran, Iraq, Israel, mccarthyism, oppression, Pakistan, Palestine, political propaganda, regimes, Terrorism, totalitarian, UN, UN Speech, United Nations, United States, Zionism | Leave a comment
I had to take a day to collect myself after hearing Ahmadinejad’s UN speech. I actually had to lie down directly after hearing it. Don’t get me wrong–I DO NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING he says (and really disagree with what he does, for that matter), but I tried to listen to the speech with an open mind. I also try to listen often to the EIB with an open mind…although my teeth remain clenched more often than not. The Iranian leader’s speech was actually a nice break from that.
Yesterday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a scary amount of sense in what he had to say. Now, he does not have the mandate of God to sit in the ivory tower and shout down the truth at us, not with the magnitude of human rights atrocities that have and are still occurring in Iran. But…we majority nations–the U.S. (anihilation of many Native Americans, slavery, acutal use of atomic weapons, the Jim Crow/civil rights era, McCarthyism), Great Britain (imperialism on a GRAND scale, religious intolerance, oppression of the poor); add to this list the former Soviet Union, China, Germany, Israel–can not exactly claim purity, and can only speak from the perspective of repented sinners that have not been 100% rehabilitated. Not one of us may cast the first stone.
That being said, if it helps, remove the man himself from the statements and just listen to the speech. There are parts that could appeal to anyone and every nation. I can only pull from the experience of being an American, so this is what I heard.
The above statement would ring true with about 95% of our U.S. population, although we (myself included) would pick and choose what aspects of the statement we agree with.
When he spoke to Katie Couric, there was some ambiguity on whether Ahmadinejad now believes (or whatever) that the holocaust did occur. How one cannot believe that this happened is completely unfathomable, but he does state that the genocide and the consequence or outcome (creating Israel) do not logically make sense. It was, after all, a Nazi Germany that perpetuated the crimes, and our solution (although noble in intent) was to partition off a part of Palestine? In my lifetime, there has always been an Israel, and thus, there have always been strained relations with other nations in the middle east.
There has been unbelieveable cruelty from both Palestine and Israel towards each other. In the U.S. we tend to hear the Israeli side, and it is heartbreaking what they go through in an attempt to simply live their lives. But a clear picture requires the other side of the story as well. An interesting take on the Palestinian side is from the documentary “Death in Gaza,” which is well worth the time a viewing takes. After watching the documentary, genocide may not be the best descriptor, though.
Hmm….he goes on to say:
Before “Practice what you preach, brother,” is said, take into consideration the truth in those words. I cannot understand how this is the same man who pretty much authorized the torture and murder of election protestors and supressed the media (so the rest of the world wouldn’t find out about it? Really? In the age of Twitter???) during the same time frame. And while he also has a real problem with Israel, the recommendations he made to the UN to restructure are pretty logical too.
Still, I feel that we need to discuss with Iran why they want to enrich uranium, then, lend Iran the assistance of our best scientists, and help to keep the nuclear activities focused on electricity and medicine. Maybe forge a new partnership in creating something great that would benefit many nations? Someone on Huffington Post made a good point; if Iran gets and uses a nuclear weapon to harm anyone else in the world, they will cease to exist (some nation will make sure of it)–and nobody really wants that.
Had we and the British not interfered and had Mosaddeq overthrown, Ahmadinejad, his regime, and his views might not be before us today. Iran could have been our greatest ally in all of the events of the past half-century, and especially throughout the last decade. But here we are instead. *sigh*
(Oh, and by the way, a Republican administration made the original “overthrowing” happen.)