Tuesday, January 04, 2011

There is a right way and a "W"rong way of addressing morale on a nuclear aircraft carrier.

The USS Enterprise (click here)

As of late Admiral Mullen's wife has been more visible to the people of the USA than ever.  She is a wonderful example of a spouse 'in it for the long haul.'  It isn't easy being a spouse left behind for months and months at a time to find out 'the stunts' that have occurred on board your spouses deployment is a challenge to your marriage.

The USA military needs to address protocols for raising morale.  Where it the USO when you need them?

I find it really difficult to believe that Navy personnel 'have it so tough' that they have to amuse themselves with a comedian for a Commander. 

I don't think so.

Granted they are 'at sea' for 3 to 6 months or longer, but, they can't sustain themselves in good humor for that period of time?

Really?

Put a bowling ally and a movie theater on these ships and call it a day.

"Write home often !"

There was no extraordinary sunspot activity on Monday either. So much for cosmic.


Sunspot 1142 / C-Class Flares01/04/2011 (click title to entry - thank you)

 VE3EN at 01:00

Solar Update - Region 1142 which is located in the southern hemisphere of the sun, has grown into a decent sunspot cluster and has now produced atleast one C-Class flare. Continue to monitor this active region for further activity.
Sunspots 1140 and 1141 which are located in the northern hemisphere remain stable.


Prepared jointly by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA,
Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.S. Air Force.
Updated 2011 Jan 03 2200 UTC

Joint USAF/NOAA Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity
SDF Number 003 Issued at 2200Z on 03 Jan 2011

IA.  Analysis of Solar Active Regions and Activity from  02/2100Z
to 03/2100Z:  Solar activity remained at very low levels. Region 1141
(N35W50) produced isolated low-level B-class flares. No significant
changes were observed in Region 1141. It remained a Bxo group with a
beta magnetic configuration. Region 1142 (S13E07) showed an increase
in intermediate spots and was classified as a Dsi group with a beta
magnetic configuration. No new regions were numbered.

IB.  Solar Activity Forecast:  Solar activity is expected to be very low to low during the period (04 - 06 January) with a chance for an isolated C-class flare.
IIA.  Geophysical Activity Summary 02/2100Z to 03/2100Z:
The geomagnetic field was quiet.

IIB.  Geophysical Activity Forecast:  Geomagnetic field activity is
expected to be at quiet levels during days 1 - 2 (04 - 05 January).
Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels on day
3 (06 January) as a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream begins
to disturb the field.

Whatever is going on is SPECIES related. More than 350 miles away in Louisiana.

Maybe not.  There are starlings along with the Red Wing Blackbirds this time. 

On Monday, (click title to entry - thank you) state biologists were gathering up some of the approximately 500 blackbirds and starlings that lay dead along Louisiana Route 1 near Pointe Coupee Central High School for testing.... 

It is really odd this is happening to Red Wing Blackbirds in the South though.  There has to be a common denominator. 

This isn't just about birds, there was a fish kill within a week of the bird deaths in Arkansas. 

Temperatures? 

Maybe. 

There was a low pressure system over Shrevesport. Louisiana on January 1, 2010.

There was a rapid change in temperature and a fall in air pressure which makes sense, but, nothing that is very unusual for the area or the time of year.  Again, the Red Winged Blackbird is a hearty species that lives across the entire continent of North America in all weather extremes. 

The picture is NOT clear.

Taliban.

In this Nov. 20, 2010 file photo, Salman Taseer (r.), the Governor of Pakistani Punjab Province, listens to Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi (l.) at a prison in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan. Taseer was assassinated on Tuesday, Jan. 4, by one of his guards in the Pakistani capital, apparently because he had spoken out against the country's controversial blasphemy laws, officials said.
AP/File



Punjab Governor Salman Taseer assassinated in Islamabad (click here for video)

...The influential governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, has died after being shot by one of his bodyguards in the capital, Islamabad....

There was an article in National Geographic not long ago about the burgeoning influence of the Taliban in Punjab.  Well.  They infiltrated the ISI.  No surprise here.

Pakistan's Heartland Under Threat  (click here)

West meets East in prosperous, populous Punjab. But the Taliban wants to change the status quo.

By John Lancaster
Photograph by Ed Kashi
The Taliban would not be amused. On a sunny winter afternoon in Lahore, the local culturati have turned out in force for the annual show at the National College of Arts. In the main courtyard young men and women mingle easily, smoking and sipping from cans of Red Bull. Some of the men sport ponytails, and one has a pierced eyebrow....

Blasphemy Laws?  A single 'nut case' of a body guard?  Where is the honor in being a 'nut case?'  Taliban.

It is a social movement that spawns affiliation with religious extremists.


This is ethnic terror at its worse.  This is religious hatred and it directly relates to the oppression of women.  Men in Pakistan have no identity without victimizing women? Really?

Walking the tightrope on Pakistan's blasphemy laws (click here)

Anita Joshua

...The argument began after two women refused to drink water from a glass Aasia Bibi had touched because, according to them, it had been defiled due to her faith and caste. This was in 2009. In early November 2010 the sessions court announced the death sentence, triggering yet another debate on the dreaded blasphemy laws, which, according to the last report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, had come to haunt even the Muslims as rivals sects of Islam had begun to use the provisions against each other....


It is called a hostile work environment. I doubt if USA allies are impressed.

Navy Captain Owen Honors (click title to entry - thank you)

..."The videos were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew's attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc," the navy said in a statement to the newspaper....

My guess is he can 'stay portside' and supervise tug boats until his retirement.

Red Wing Blackbirds and Drum Fish has something in common. Water.

Drum Fish are 'bottom feeders.'  They are very large fish.  Therefore, when they feed they eat substantial amounts of food.  It could be a 'quantity' issue that was some kind of 'toxic' release which could be algae as well.  The Arkansas Fish and Game along with US Fish and Wildlife should be able to figure this one out.  If it is a 'physical' cause that damaged the internal organs of the animals then it is 'location' that is the key.
There is a lot of reason to believe these incidents are related.  It doesn't really make sense it is weather related, because the fish started showing up an entire week before the incident with the Red Winged Blackbirds.

...Red-winged Blackbirds (click here) roost in flocks in all months of the year. In summer small numbers roost in the wetlands where the birds breed. Winter flocks can be congregations of several million birds, including other blackbird species and starlings. Each morning the roosts spread out, traveling as far as 50 miles to feed, then re-forming at night....

...The oldest recorded Red-winged Blackbird was 15 years 9 months old.

Red Wing Blackbirds are found throughout North America, this is not a unique species in Arkansas.


With the 'flight range' the Red Wing has it is very easy to put them at the place where the fish were killed.  The two considerations are 'birds fly' and 'fish float and swim.'  These are not stationary objects.  They are living animals with habitat in common.

Drum fish are known to have longevity up to sixty years unless they are caught on a hook.  So, for this many Drum Fish to turn up dead something had to cause it.  These fish and birds are very hearty species.  They don't die easily.

If there is no CHEMICAL ASSAY or VIRAL or BACTERIAL ASSAY that shows anything then the next conclusion is 'concussion' and one has to wonder what exploded in the water with a concussion wave to injure the birds.

Internal bleeding is also caused by warfarin as well.  So, I doubt the investigation is over yet.  There are issues of city water dumping in that what is called 'clean water' is known to have 'medical waste' dumped from toilets.

The concussion wave?

Couple of things.

People on 'Winter Break' were actually playing with a significant amount of explosives and carried it out in the water where the sound would be muffled.

OR

There was a methane bed that broke lose and exploded.

Either way the birds could have sustained 'less damage' because they were 'in the air' and the air absorbed some of the concussive force so they didn't die instantly, but, were attempting to heal in a common 'familiar' area and finally succumbed to their internal injuries.  It makes sense to me the birds, being sturdy species, would not necessarily die immediately whereas the fish would be more impacted by an explosion in the water that would transmit the energy wave right at them with 'amplified' force due to the water density as opposed to air density.

Whatever the reason, the Arkansas River is involved and needs to be assessed for contaminants, including changes in 'free gases' dissolved in the water.  I believe a water analysis is in order regardless of the findings of the wildlife experts. 

The specimens needs to come from the locations involved and up and down stream while taking into considering where the water that may have caused this might be in the 'water flow' pattern at the time the specimens are drawn.  USGS could possibly comment on 'gas beds' in the region that might be disturbed for one reason or another.

I would be looking for any 'mining' or 'underground' explosion in the area as well to rule out where the 'energy wave' came from including 'terra firma displacement (earthquake, manmade or otherwise.)

Goldman Sachs partners with Facebook and what turns up? "God's War." (click title to entry - thank you)

...But Goldman’s (click here) bold move is also likely to focus the attention of regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which last month began an inquiry into the surge in trading shares of privately held Internet companies....

And that isn't the ONLY 'warring' feature added.  On "School of Wizardry" (click here) a Wizard's Hat lined with a munitions belt showed up at the same time Goldman went public with its bragging on the investment.

I guess Lindsay Graham isn't enough of war mongering to suit the Plutocrats.  They rather instill a sense of 'War' all the time in the concscience of the electorate of a global audience.

Won't that be great, huh?

No, I don't believe in coincidence.

I mean its Wall Street after all, what is the chance at that being coincidence is one is playing the 'margins.'

This 'interest' by Goldman isn't 'waiting for the public offering,' it is about influence and power.