What Adam Curry is reading

AskFM suicides bullying
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  Tue, 07 May 2013 09:05
  Following the online-bullying-related suicides of Jessica Laney, Ciara Pugsley, and Erin and Shannon Gallagher, supporters of the girls are calling for the shutdown of Ask.fm.
  On Sunday, 16-year-old Jessica Laney was found dead in her Hudson, Fla., home after she was called things like a ''fuckin ugly ass hoe'' on the question-and-answer network.
  On Ask.fm, Laney answered anonymous questions about her sex life, relationships, and weight.
  "Can you kill yourself already?" asked a commenter. Another wrote, "Nobody even cares about you."
  Supporters started a Facebook remembrance page less than 24 hours after Laney's death. Many commenters shared kind words for the teenager; others decried Ask.fm and signed a Change.org petition calling for it to be shut down.
  ''Signed......Rest In Peace little angel. Kids watch what you say to each other please. Words can hurt deeply!!! Treat other how you want to be treated,'' Tamara Cooper wrote on Facebook.
  Ask.fm cofounder Mark Terebin responded publicly on his own page, deflecting responsibility and blaming the media for "encouraging" and "promoting" suicide:
  Mass media is knocking on wrong door. It is necessary to go deeper and to find a root of a problem. Its not about the site, the problem is about education, about moral values that were devaluated lately. Ask.fm is just a tool which helps people to communicate with each other, same as any other social network, same as phone, same as piece of paper and pen. Don't blame a tool, but try to make changes'... start with yourself... be more polite, more kind, more tolerant of others'... cultivate these values in families, in schools.
  Suicide is not something to encourage via mass media. The more you promote suicide, the more it happen. Do you think mass media cares? They want scandals, they want sensations and finally they want money. Sorry, but we do not want to participate in it.
  What happened is a true tragedy and we give our deepest condolences to the victim's family and relatives.
  On Sept. 19, 15-year-old Ciara Pugsley committed suicide in woods near her home. For two months before her death, the Irish Timesreported, Ask.fm users called her a ''slut'' and ''ugly.''
  ''Ciara did not want to die. She enjoyed living and had so much more living to do. She was driven to it,'' a family member of Pugsley said at her funeral, according to the Irish Times. ''I appeal to those involved in this dreadful activity to see the devastating consequences of their malicious comments here today.''
  In late October, 13-year-old Erin Gallagher committed suicide after encountering ''vicious online bullying,'' the Independent reported. A day earlier, she had told her tormenters she would kill herself.
  ''In a post on Friday, the day before she died, she responded to a comment [on Ask.fm] which appears to refer to her being the victim of a physical attack in which she'd had her hair pulled,'' the Independent reported. ''She wrote back to her anonymous tormentors: 'Do u think ur funny bulling me over ask.fm yeah u prob think it was funny when a f**in put a rope round my neck cause of yous, yous are that sad!'''
  Tragically, just two months after Erin's death, her older sister, Shannon, 15, was found dead in her Ballybofey, Ireland, home Thursday.
  The mother of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old who committed suicide on Oct. 10 after a man distributed nude images of her around the Internet, expressed support for the grieving families on Twitter.
  The Daily Dot has reached out to Ask.fm for a comment and has not heard back at time of publication.
  Laney's and Pugsley's Ask.fm pages are still up. Many of the hateful messages still remain, as well as this haunting, hopeful note from Laney, posted on Thanksgiving after someone asked her about suicide:
  ''If you ever feel this low i just wanna [say it's] not your fault. People are mean. I know you feel useless broken not wanted and alone. i was there. But i promise you it will get better,'' Laney responded. ''Nothing is worth it; it will all get better
john doe witnesses bullcrap
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  Tue, 07 May 2013 08:59
  Prosecutors have prevented defense forensic experts from conducting a full examination of the digital media containing the "bin Laden evidence". They are also seeking to limit both discovery and cross examination, as well as to prevent defense from conducting a pretrial interview of their anonymous witness, Mr. John Doe, who was involved in the raid of bin Laden's compound and who will testify about the evidence allegedly found there.
  Prosecutors argue that the "bin Laden evidence" proves Manning gave intelligence to the enemy, because it confirms receipt by the enemy. Prosecutors also argue that the "bin Laden evidence" proves their case against Manning for "wanton publication of intelligence", because it confirms that the information was made "accessible to the enemy".
  Citing "classified information privileges" by the Secretary of Defense over the identity of Mr. John Doe as well as the acting director of the CIA's over classified information related to the bin Laden raid, prosecutors argue there is "no court to mediate or arbitrate what's an appropriate question" by the defense "within the scope of the privilege." Defense objected to treating Mr. Doe differently than any other U.S. Government witness, citing a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers.
  When defense mentioned that the raid of bin Laden's compound was well documented in Hollywood movies and books, lead military prosecutor Major Ashden Fein urged Judge Lind to close the Court: "This is why we said we needed to go to a closed session, your Honor." Redacting his own sentence, Fein added that the "U.S. Government does not necessarily acknowledge-- publicly-- formally-- " Presumably, Fein intended to say that the U.S. Government does not acknowledge its own bias prosecution of a young soldier on 22 charges including the capital offense of aiding the enemy for leaks of information marked at the lowest levels of classification, while issuing a stern letter to the former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, whose published account of the Bin Laden raid, the Department of Defense says violated the terms of his non disclosure agreement to protect classified information.
  Judge Lind recently ruled that Mr. John Doe may testify under a pseudonym, in civilian clothing and a light disguise, at an offsite location, in a closed session.
  Prosecutors have also sought to closed the court for the classified testimony of 28 other witnesses, including Ambassador Stephen Seche, who legal and national security commentator Marcy Wheeler notes will likely testify that Manning harmed the U.S. by exposing secret U.S. cluster bombing in Yemen and the December 2009 targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen assassinated by the Obama administration.
Don't be CIA's Next Patsy - 10 Preventative Steps - henrymakow.com
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  Tue, 07 May 2013 08:56
  May 5, 2013
  ( Step Seven. Make sure your complexion is not dark, resembling a Muslim.)
  An increasingly common pitfallin modern life is finding that youhave been blamed for a CIA false flag.These practical steps will help avoid this perilous predicament.
  by Henry Makow, Ph.D.
  Modern life presents some unique challenges. STD's. Student loans. Banks seizing your accounts, etc. None is greater than the danger of becoming a patsy. This short article will help you avoid becoming the object of a massive, televised manhunt, and being butchered in the process.
  (Patsy, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was 27)
  You see, being a patsy means you cannot be arrested and tried in a Court of Law. You cannot be allowed to speak publicly. That would defeat the whole purpose of blaming you for something they did. They will pretend you died resisting arrest. That's when they will take a meat cleaver to your chest. (I should not be flippant here. Tamerlan was arrested alive and subsequently murdered by the police.)
  Step Number One: Do not under any circumstances agree to participate in a "drill" designed to test precautions against "a terror attack." No matter how much money they offer, or how much they appeal to your patriotic instincts, this is a "sorry, no-can-do." Also, wherever this "drill" is, make sure you are a hundred miles away.
  Step Number Two: Convert to Judaism. Patsies are never Jews. Your local synagogue will provide information on Talmud Torah classes.
  (left, patsies do not have to look menacing)
  Step Number Three: Patsies can be teenagers. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, is 19.If you are a teenager, or even a child, do not assume you are safe. Babies can rest easy, for now.
  Step Number Four: Question your gender. Homosexuality also confers immunity against becoming a patsy. If you are still in school, join a "gay-straight alliance." They will help you with the conversion process.
  Step Number Five: If you cannot become a Jew or homosexual, at least establish your liberal bona fides. Let slip that you voted for Barack Obama, love Diane Feinstein, read the New York Times, and watch Jon Stewart and SNL religiously. Put a PBS bumpersticker on your car. Patsies are never liberals.
  Step Number Six: Prepare a plan to follow in case they still make you the terrorist. When the bullets are flying, saying "I'm a patsy" won't cut it. You will need a hideout that is better than a boat parked in the backyard.
  Step Number Seven: There are cosmetic products that will help you lighten your complexion. Avoid suntans. You should not be mistaken for a Muslim. Your life depends on it.
  Step Number Eight: Make burial arrangements in advance. When the public has been incited to believe you are the incarnation of evil, funeral directors will have a hard time accepting your business.
  (left, the Patron Saint of Patsies)
  Step Number Nine - Study the lives of some of the great patsies in modern history. Lee Harvey Oswald. James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan, Timothy McVeigh. Osama Bin Laden. James Holmes. Adam Lanza. What mistakes did they make that you can avoid? Certainly, one is getting involved with a CIA-FBI front group.
  Step Number Ten- Avoid friendly strangers with deep pockets who offer to arrange foreign travel and adventure for you and your friends.
  I welcome other suggestions from readers for sidestepping this common hazard. Anyone who believes the mass media accounts of these "terror attacks" is also a patsy, as are people who support the West's NWO-inspired aggression. Don't be one.--------Related - Are you a Terrorist? Take the Quiz-------- 10 Steps to Ensure Your Activist Group Has Not been Infiltrated
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Karzai Says CIA Payments to Continue
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  Mon, 06 May 2013 16:47
  KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday that the CIA's station chief in Kabul has assured him that regular funding the U.S. intelligence agency gives his government will not be cut off.
  He said the Afghan government had been receiving funds from CIA for more than a decade as part of regular monthly assistance from the U.S. government.
  Karzai had earlier confirmed that his government had received such payments following a story published in The New York Times that said the CIA had given the Afghan National Security Council tens of millions of dollars in monthly payments delivered in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags.
  "The help and assistance from the U.S. is for our National Directorate of Security. That is state-to-state, government-to-government regular assistance," Karzai said. "So that is a government institution helping another government institution, and we appreciate all this assistance and help, all this assistance is very useful for us. We have spent it in different areas (and) solved lots of our problems."
  Karzai would not say how much assistance his government had received because it was being used for intelligence work, but acknowledged it was in cash and that "all the money which we have spent, receipts have been sent back to the intelligence service of the United States monthly."
  He claimed that much of the money was used to care for wounded employees of the NDS, Afghanistan's intelligence service, and operational expenses.
  "It is an official government deal between the two governments. This is happening all over the world -- such deals between governments -- and in Afghanistan, which is a needy country, these sorts of deals are very important and useful," he said at the news conference, held to announce the results of his recent trip to Europe.
  Karzai confirmed the payments during a news conference earlier this week in Helsinki, Finland. After Karzai's confirmation in Europe, White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to comment on the newspaper report, referring questions to the CIA, which also declined comment.
  In his gathering with reporters at the presidential palace, Karzai said he had met earlier in the day with the Kabul station chief of the CIA. "I told him because of all these rumors in the media, please do not cut all this money because we really need it," Karzai said. "We want to continue this sort of assistance and he promised that they are not going to cut this money."
  He added that negotiations for a new bilateral security agreement with the United States had been delayed because of conditions that Afghanistan had placed on such a deal. The security agreement is to govern a U.S. military presence after 2014 when nearly all foreign combat troops are to have finished their withdrawal from Afghanistan. The talks, which started in late 2012, are set to last up to a year.
  President Barack Obama has not said how many troops will remain, although there have been estimates ranging from 8,000 to 12,000. It is unlikely such an announcement will be made until the security agreement is signed. Those troops would help train Afghan forces and also carry out operations against al-Qaida and other militant groups.
  Karzai said Afghanistan was ready to sign a deal as long as the American government in exchange for being able to stay on bases in the country agrees to terms of Afghan security, funding assistance and help with training and equipping Afghan security forces. It is thought that the contentious issue of providing U.S. troops immunity from Afghan law is a low priority for the Afghan government in the negotiations.
  The Afghan government has not said how much rent it would want for three or four U.S. bases, but it is believed to be in the billions. Afghanistan is also thought to be seeking security guarantees to protect its porous borders, including the frontier with Pakistan that is the main infiltration route for insurgents who retain sanctuary in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.
  "The position of the United States about the security of Afghanistan and relations with neighboring countries, or whatever attacks are happening from the neighboring countries to Afghanistan, should be very clear," Karzai said. "So we are trying our best that the security of Afghanistan should be guaranteed, peace in Afghanistan should be guaranteed, a strengthening of the Afghan security forces should be guaranteed, as well the economy of Afghanistan should be guaranteed."
  It was unclear how Karzai expected the United States or any of its allies to guarantee Afghanistan's borders against attack.
  Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been severely strained in recent months, especially over the delicate issue of the demarcation of their border.
  Afghan and Pakistani forces engaged in a nearly five-hour exchange of fire last Tuesday along Afghanistan's eastern border. One Afghan border policeman was killed and two Pakistani soldiers were wounded in the fighting in eastern Nangarhar province.
  The main problem is that Afghanistan does not recognize the disputed Durand Line, the 19th century demarcation between present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Pakistan does.
  "Since the Durand line has been imposed on Afghanistan, it was not acceptable to the Afghans and we cannot accept the Durand line," Karzai said. "No government in Afghanistan will accept the Durand Line."
  Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been tense neighbors. Afghanistan has been deeply suspicious of the motives of a government that long backed the Taliban regime and has since seemed unable or unwilling to go after militant leaders taking refuge inside its borders. The killing of al-Qaida chief, Osama bin Laden, in Pakistan only strengthened Afghan wariness of the neighboring country.
  In an effort to defuse tensions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on April 24 brought Karzai and Pakistani military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani together in Brussels for security talks. But he meeting apparently did little to ease the tension.
  "We need Pakistan. They are our neighboring country," Karzai said. "While I'm president, I will continue to improve relations with Pakistan. But our position is clear, we don't accept the Durand Line and we will not accept it.
  "Whatever the British empire imposed on Afghanistan, it was not acceptable in 1893 and it is not acceptable to us today."
  (C) Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Secrets of Body Language (Full Version) Underground Documentaries
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  Archived Version
  Source: Stuff Ain't Right » Uncategorized
  Mon, 06 May 2013 16:53
  The History Channel unveils how much can learned by body language and other non-verbal communication. They analyze famous politicians' and celebrities' famous speeches and moments to see if they were lying or telling the truth.
  Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously.
  John Borg attests that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings. Others assert that ''Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior.''
  Body language may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication, among many other cues.
  via Secrets of Body Language (Full Version) Underground Documentaries.
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'Humane' Force-feeding Begins At Guantanamo Bay
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  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Mon, 06 May 2013 16:42
  I remind you that at least half of the inmates are innocent of any wrongdoing (Afghan warlords turned random people in for the reward money). The wingnuts insist that because some of the men previously released joined al Qaeda to seek revenge, we can't let anyone go! And we can't try the valid cases in U.S. courts because so much evidence has been compromised by torture and would be inadmissible, anyway. Oops!
  Oh, and in case you forgot, we are the alleged "good guys" in this gruesome situation:
  Emaciated and frail, more than 100 men lie on concrete floors of freezing, solitary cells in Guantnamo, silently starving themselves to death.
  Stripped of all possessions, even basics such as a sleeping mat or soap, they lie listlessly as guards periodically bang on the steel doors and shout at them to move an arm or leg to prove they are still conscious.
  The notorious detention centre is in crisis, suffering a rebellion of unprecedented scale, with most of the camp on lockdown and around two-thirds of the 166 detainees on hunger strike.
  This week 40 American military nurses were drafted in to try to stem a mass suicide. The last Brit inside, Shaker Aamer, has said he is prepared to strike to his death.
  The US administration does its best to keep prying eyes from the unfolding tragedy but the The Independent has obtained first-hand reports.
  Twice a day, the 23 most weak are taken into a room. Their wrists, arms, stomach, legs and head are strapped to a chair and repeated attempts are made to force a tube down their noses into their stomachs. It is an ugly procedure as they gag and wretch, blood dripping from their nostrils.
  According to international standards,prisoners are entitled to refuse food and drink. But President Obama has ordered the force-feeding.
  Without any decisive action or announced intent to change the situation that has driven the prisoners to this point, that order strikes me as highly unethical.
BBC News - Analysing the threat from Irish republican dissidents
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  Mon, 06 May 2013 16:14
  6 May 2013Last updated at05:15 ETBy Peter TaylorBBC NewsA leading police chief in Northern Ireland has said it is "difficult to see an end" to dissident republican violence.
  I interviewed Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, head of the PSNI's Crime Operations, as part of a documentary, The New Dissidents.
  It would be unwise to overestimate the present threat, but ACC Harris made it clear these republican terror groups are not to be taken lightly.
  "It's serious," he told me.
  "It still causes the odd sleepless night. It's very difficult to see an end of this."
  In particular, what is likely to keep ACC Harris, and MI5, awake is the threat from the new amalgamated group known as the 'New' IRA.
  The group was formed last year and is made up of the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and powerful elements of unaffiliated, hardened former Provisional IRA members from County Armagh and East Tyrone.
  He worries about the emergence of a critical mass.
  "If that starts as a trend, people may feel it's better to be within this bigger grouping," he added.
  "Hitherto they have been very diverse and mistrusting of each other."
  I wondered if there was intelligence that other groups were contemplating joining the 'New' IRA?
  "We would watch very carefully for that," he said.
  'Radicalisation'"All these groups say to themselves that they are in this for the long run."
  His other concern is that a new generation of young people is being attracted to the dissidents and he described the process with words that I have come to associate more with Islamist extremists than Irish republicans.
  "Radicalisation is happening," he said.
  "Young men, even in their very early 20s, are being charged with serious terrorist offences who must have only been very small children at the time of the Good Friday Agreement.
  "They don't have any buy-in to the [peace] process and almost a nihilist response in terms of what a united Ireland would be like. That's worrying."
  Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has not pulled his punches in confronting the so-called "dissidents".
  There is no doubt about his visceral loathing, having steered the Provisional IRA from "war" to peace and power-sharing at Stormont.
  To call the dissidents "traitors to Ireland" with the PSNI's then chief constable, Sir Hugh Orde, standing at his side, was about the most damning insult that he could pay them, many of whom are his former comrades in arms.
  Nor was he daunted recently when the PSNI warned him of a serious death threat and his house was daubed with paint.
  At last month's Sinn Fein's ard fheis (party conference), he departed from his prepared speech and scathingly asked: "Where were they when there was a war?"
  Interviewing Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly, I got the distinct impression that the party was now rowing back from inflammatory remarks of this kind, perhaps realising that such attacks may be counterproductive.
  Mr Kelly was almost emollient.
  No mention of "traitors" or republican draft dodgers, although he made his opposition clear in a measured way.
  'Former comrades'
  "I think they are wrong," he said.
  "I don't think they have an analysis. I don't think they have a strategy.
  "But you have to deal with fact, that there are some young people in it.
  "They get caught up in the ideology. I can understand where they are coming from.
  "What I'm more critical of are the ones who - some of them my former comrades - are almost trying to plot a revolution after it has taken place."
  I asked if he had spoken to the dissidents and asked why they were continuing the "armed struggle" when the "war" was over?
  "The answer is yes," he added.
  "At this moment, the offer is out from myself, and from Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, to speak to them about their analysis, our analysis, and where we believe they are going wrong.
  "That is a very open door."
  Continue reading the main storyI don't think they have an analysis. I don't think they have a strategy''
  End QuoteGerry KellySinn Fein assembly memberIt was almost as if Mr Kelly was offering the dissidents an olive branch. Behind the scenes there are signs that some of them may be prepared to take it up.
  'Naivety'The problem with the dissidents is that they appear to have no coherent and cohesive political programme.
  When all is stripped away, it is "Brits Out" and self determination for the Irish people.
  They do not accept that the cross-border referendum, in which there was an almost unanimous vote in favour of the peace agreement, was tantamount to self-determination.
  Talking to dissidents today reminded me of talking to the Provisional IRA way back in 1972 when the IRA leadership, that included Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams, met the Northern Ireland Secretary, William Whitelaw, for negotiations in Chelsea's Cheyne Walk.
  The IRA effectively told Mr Whitelaw that if the British wanted peace, they had to withdraw the constitutional guarantee to the unionist majority and leave by 1 January 1975. The British were appalled at the IRA's naivety.
  Perhaps the light then gradually dawned on Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness, realising that a simplistic "Brits Out" strategy was going nowhere.
  It was three years after Cheyne Walk, that Mr Adams and his comrades in the "cages" of the Long Kesh internment camp began to map out the IRA's long-term strategy that, over two decades later, led to their controversial acceptance of the Good Friday Agreement.
  The IRA's acquiescence led to the split in 1997 from which the Real IRA emerged. The following year, they bombed Omagh.
  The Real IRA then split into yet more armed dissident groups that are now bombing and killing to try to destabilise the peace process and carry on from where the Provisional IRA left off.
  ConcernsLeading dissident Londonderry republican, Gary Donnelly, places the 'New' IRA in a longer timeframe.
  "The Provisional movement didn't appear overnight," he told me.
  "It would probably take them (the 'New' IRA) a lot of effort and a lot of time to get up to full steam.
  "But the reality is that (as long as) there's a British presence in Ireland, there will always be a respectable minority who will challenge it and who will use force of arms."
  However, despite his concerns, ACC Harris does not believe there is any danger of a return to the dark days of the past.
  "There's not actually the broad base of support to mount a sustained campaign," he said.
  Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly is even more emphatic.
  "It is not gaining momentum because the people do not want it," he added.
  "It's as straightforward as that."
  Peter Taylor's report on "The New Dissidents" will be broadcast on Tuesday, 7 May at 20:00 BST on BBC Radio Four.
Adobe is killing Creative Suite; here's why | VentureBeat
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  Mon, 06 May 2013 15:06
  Since its launch, Adobe's Creative Cloud has clearly indicated where the company's future lies. But no one expected the company to get rid of Creative Cloud's predecessor, Creative Suite, quite so soon.
  But that's exactly what Adobe is doing. Not only is the creative services software shop closing down the Creative Suite version numbers and branding; it's getting rid of the entire paradigm of old-school, cereal-box* software.
  *Our own term for CD-based hard copies of software you'd buy in a store, where they were lined up like boxes of cereal, instead of downloading it online.
  RIP Creative SuiteIn a conversation with Scott Morris, Adobe's director of product marketing, we learned, ''Adobe has made the decision that moving forward, we are focusing all our efforts on Creative Cloud. We have no plans for a perpetual release.''
  That means no more waiting two years for bug fixes. No more waiting for your design software's features to catch up with what the web guys have been doing for six months.
  It also means a new purchasing paradigm for an entire industry of creatives. Every ad agency, every magazine, every indie design firm and print shop '-- they will all be transitioning from bought-and-owned software at $200 or $700 or $2,000 a pop to the Creative Cloud subscription model, which can cost as little as $20 per month.
  As for existing and even older versions of Creative Suite software, Morris said, ''We're not doing any [new] feature development. For the next major release of Mac OS and Windows, the products are supported.'' And CS6 purchasers will get special, rock-bottom subscription prices.
  But that's as far as it goes. This is the last stop for the Creative Suite train; all passengers must deboard.
  Why CS had to go''The writing is on the wall for where Adobe is headed, but people are surprised we're going all in as soon as we are,'' Morris said.
  Over the past 18 months or so, the company has been headed in a decidedly modern direction. It's been making making big bets on responsive design and adding cloud-based collaboration features to some of its most popular products. It acquired Behance, a web-based portfolio service and creative community, and started integrating those features into its other software.
  Creative Cloud itself is the crown jewel as well as the signpost for Adobe's recent directions. It presents more tools for developers (and transitioning designer/developers) and puts a greater emphasis on community, collaboration, and the web.
  ''They're lightweight, task-specific tools to get the job done,'' said Morris. ''That's the direction things are heading. This model lets us meet the new world way better than the old model ever would have.
  ''We have a beautiful vision of where creative workflows are going,'' said Morris, ''but it is incredibly taxing on our engineers to have two different code bases '... We're not as focused as we want to be.''
  Killing off Creative Suite, he said, ''frees up our product teams to come up with new innovations faster.''
  And speed is, these days especially, of utmost importance. Morris said, ''With responsive design or HTML5, to be quite frank, when all that started coming out, Adobe had a hard time keeping up. '... There wasn't time to do another product cycle. The amount of time it takes to make that happen is tremendous, and it slowed us down enough that our customers felt left behind.''
  Responses to Creative CloudAdobe has been frankly surprised by the creative community's response to Creative Cloud and the new web-based software delivery and management model. Morris said customers are volunteering to migrate in huge numbers. ''They love the promise that you get everything new as soon as it's available,'' he said.
  But there are others who aren't as immediately jazzed.
  ''It's gonna be difficult,'' said Morris of the shift. ''We're gonna have some cranky customers who aren't ready for this transition. But it modernizes the way we operate. We have a 20-year-old desktop franchise, and things have changed so rapidly around us that we were getting pretty slow. We wen're an agile, nimble company because of the software model.''
  That agility, he said, is palpable. He continued to say that even employees at Adobe are more excited to come to work because instead of promising new features with the next release cycle in 2015, they can offer something much more responsive.
  But to the die-hards who resist change because '-- let's be honest '-- the current model is good enough and already required substantial financial investment, Morris said, ''We've been through this before.
  ''Ten years ago, we moved from only individual products to suites, and we were told, 'No! I don't want this ''CS'' thing! I don't get it.' But we proved it was valuable because of all the things you could do with it. And now, everyone's on Creative Suite, and they love it.
  ''It's not just a business model change; it lets them do things better and faster than before. That's what Creative Cloud is going to do, and we're just at the beginning of this journey.''
FBI claims to have thwarted terror attack in Minnesota '-- RT USA
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  Archived Version
  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Mon, 06 May 2013 14:41
  Authorities said Monday that a terror attack was disrupted with the apprehension days earlier of a 24-year-old Minnesota man who reportedly stockpiled weapons in his mobile home.
  Buford Rogers of Montevideo, Minnesota was arrested on Friday and charged him with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. More charges could be on the way, however, following a Monday morning statement made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  In a press release issued Monday, the FBI wrote they believe ''that a terror attack was disrupted by law enforcement personnel'' by arresting Rogers and that ''the lives of several local residents were potentially saved'' thanks to the investigation.
  Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Division of the FBI, J. Christopher Warrener, said in the statement that ''cooperation between the FBI and its federal, state and local partners enabled law enforcement to prevent a potential tragedy in Montevideo'' last week.
  Authorities believed there "would have been a localized terror attack, and that's why law enforcement moved quickly,'' FBI spokesman Kyle Loven told the Associated Press on Monday.
  Police say that they executed a search warrant at Rogers' home on Friday and uncovered Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and at least one gun. Because he was previously convicted of a felony burglary, Rogers cannot lawfully own a firearm and was subsequently charged with illegal possession for owning what the AP has identified as a Romanian AKM assault rifle. The AP has also uncovered another 2009 misdemeanor conviction for Rogers involving the dangerous handling of a weapon.
  The FBI thought Rogers was in the ''planning stages'' of a terror attack, the AP continued, and he is believed to have targeted an area in western Minnesota.
  Montevideo is roughly 130 miles west of Minneapolis, MN and only a few minutes' drive from the state's border with South Dakota.
  A local Fox affiliate wrote Monday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Minnesota State Patrol, Bloomington police bomb squad and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources were all involved in executing the search warrant.
The Atlantean Conspiracy: Quit Your Slave Job! (And Live Your Dream Life)
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 13:04
  If every day you go to someone else's establishment, work on their schedule, do everything they say, and make money for them, then I'm sorry to bear bad news, but you might be a slave. If you often awake to an alarm clock smothering your dreams to death with a pillow then you very well might be a slave. If you went into debt so you could spend the best years of your life qualifying for a piece of paper to qualify for a salary-wage job, then you're likely a slave. Even if you work in a fancy high-rise building, a compartmentalized neck-tie drone in some sociopathic hierarchy, you might still just be an office slave, an expendable rung on the corporate ladder.No matter how attractive the position, whenever you work for someone else, your financial means of subsistence, your ability to provide food, water, and shelter for your family, is completely in the hands of another person. Regardless of pension promises or signed contracts, the real fact of the matter is there is no ''job security'' in working for someone else. If at any time for any reason the boss has a problem with you, the market goes south, your contract's over, the clientele fades, the account goes red, or the business goes belly-up, then you're high and dry on your way to becoming an unemployment statistic. Tenures get overturned, pensions get sucked away, and promises of rich retirements are rarely worth the wait. Real job security and financial freedom means owning your own business (and refusing to pay any taxes, fees or fines from the mafia government that wants to keep you their slave).The only true success that exists is when we find a way to make a living doing exactly what we want. When you wake up every morning and create your day exactly how you dream it to be, that is success. When your passion and your work are aligned, when you would do your job for free because you like it so much, that is success. The root of ''work'' and ''worship'' are the same, and if you're living your dreams aligned with your passions, doing what you were placed here on Earth to do, then your work really is like your worship, your service to the world.Slave jobs are great for when you need quick reliable short-term income to get back on your feet or gather start-up capital for your next venture, but remaining someone's slave for too long, even high-paid lap-dogs will eventually wish to leave their master. No matter how attractive the position, whenever you work for someone else, you will always be selling your time wholesale to someone who is profiting from you retail. No boss can afford to pay any employee the amount of money which that employee brings to the company, as that would cause the business to bankrupt. The only way to run a profitable business is to pay employees less than they're worth, usually far less. So if you are working for someone else, your financial stability is completely in their hands, and it is guaranteed that they are paying you less than you are worth.You can't just up and quit your slave job without some serious planning and hard work though. There are several steps that all wage slaves must take before riding the entrepreneurial underground railroad to financial freedom. The first step to quitting your slave job and manifesting your dream lifestyle is getting a clear picture of your life's purpose. What were you born to do? What makes you happy? What is your true passion? What would you like to spend your days doing? If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your life? Once the answers to those questions form a clear image in your head, step two is imagining and creating a product or service aligned with your purpose. For instance, if your absolute favorite thing in life is skateboarding, always has been and always will be, it makes you happy and it's your favorite way to spend your time, then your step one is simple and complete. Your step two would be deciding what marketable aspect of your passion appeals most to you. Would you like to open a skate shop? Would you like to manufacture skateboards? Would you like to design them? Would you like to teach skating? Would you like to make skating videos or start a skating magazine? How would you most like to express your passion and how can you use it to enrich, inspire, empower and add value to others?Once your vision is clear, step three is to get free of all debt. If you quit your slave job but still owe debts to the bank or anyone else, then you are no less of a slave. So it is crucial that you pay off all your debts (and don't take on any more!) To pay off your debts, you must make sure your monthly expenditures always remain lower than your monthly slave income. If your expenditures are too high you must find ways to thriftily cut corners so that you can always stay in the black. Calculate your slave salary minus your monthly expenses equals the amount you can put away each month towards your debt. Also note that if you are able to pay ahead on the principle (and not just the monthly minimum) you can exponentially cut down the total interest due. Once you are debt free, step four is to take the difference between your slave salary and your monthly expenditures and start saving it! You will need to save up enough money to cover two important costs: the start-up expenses for your entrepreneurial venture, and a savings safety net to fall back on. To calculate your start-up costs add up all the expenses you will need to create and get your product or service on the market. This includes things like materials, advertizing, transportation, consultations, shipping, rentals, any and all potential expenses necessary to start your venture. Beyond this you will also need a savings safety net, enough money to cover your living expenses for several months kept away as an emergency fund in case any unexpected problems arise (which they will). Calculate your average monthly living expenses and save at least 3-12 times that for use if you're ever having trouble living off your business' income alone.While in the saving phase, now is the time to start your business. If you quit your job first then try to start your venture, it will likely fail to bring in enough reliable income to sustain you, since building a reliable, sustainable income usually takes time. So you will essentially have to work two jobs for a while; your slave job from 9-5, and your dream job from 5-9 (and make sure to get enough sleep in there somewhere). If your business sells a product then you will need to start manufacturing, advertizing, and making sales whenever possible in your down-time. If your business sells a service you will need to refine, advertize and start providing your service on nights and weekends (or whenever you are free). This process of promotion and building a loyal customer base could feasibly take anywhere from a couple months to a couple years. Advertizing and self-promotion is usually the most difficult, most time and money-consuming part of growing a successful business, but it is also the most important, because without finding some reliable and effective advertizing methods, you will never secure a stable customer base. Once word spreads and repeat sales start coming in, the final step to financial freedom is growing the monthly income from your business until it exceeds your monthly living expenses. When you're making all the money you need to sustain yourself from your own business then you're ready! It's time to quit your slave job and live your dream life! Life is too beautiful to waste living for someone else. Work and play are too important to be separated. If you love your job so much that you would do it for free then you are certainly on the right path, but anything less than that is selling yourself short. When people say ''there just aren't enough good jobs,'' or when governments and corporations act like they're economic saviors by ''creating jobs'' for us, I can't help but laugh at the fact that there are, have always been, and always will be just as many ''jobs'' as there are people on the planet! If you have two functioning arms and half a brain then there will always be work that you can do. What the governments and corporations won't tell you is that it's up to you to create your own job, find your own niche passion, add value to the market, and that's the reality of ''job creation.'' Being ''employed'' means being a slave, so don't worry about the ever-rising ''unemployment rate.'' In a perfect world every single person would be unemployed (and unemployable!) because they are already making an income doing exactly the work that they worship.
Macaroni and cheese the new sought-after side dish? | Coolum & North Shore News
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 12:39
  Topics: easy eating, recipe
  Samuel Muston5th May 2013 6:00 AMMAC and cheese, it seems to me, is the Alexander the Great of food.
  For in the past 12 months the dish has annexed restaurant menus with the same speed and facility which the King of Macedon cleaved his way through Persia.
  It is a culinary whirlwind, a phenomenon cast in molten cheese and elbow pasta.
  It is now as ubiquitous in restaurants as "small plates" and those exposed filament light bulbs.
  Visit Byron in Cambridge and you'll find it served as a gold-crusted side; at Goodman, in The City, it reaches some sort of apotheosis coming with black truffle; go south from there to Brixton's Wishbone and witness them throwing angina-worries to the wind as they dip their version in deep-fat fryer.
  Or, if you prefer, have it as an adornment to your finger-lickin' chicken at Brighton's BBQ Shack.
  Not your thing? Oh well, you can still visit Mayfair's Automat and order it as a starter or main, plain or with bacon.
  The list astounds me because once upon a time in the land of my Nineties and early-noughties childhood it was a thing to be reviled; a culinary freak, the flabbiest of TV dinners - a dish whose preparation was measured out only in microwave bings.
  Mrs Beeton may have written two recipes for it in 1861, but a century or so later it seemed only to come in pre-prepared packets, or worse, in tins -glutinous, gloopy, like the contents of some prehistoric swamp liberally doused with Bird's Custard powder.
  No restaurant of quality would have had it on its menu. It was as uncool and as Seventies as the Bee Gees.
  I recall wistfully looking at packets of it in supermarket freezers, taking in the parental dogma that it was "gloppy rubbish" but all the same thinking that melting cheese was good, and pasta was good - so surely this would be double good?
  At that time what was la mode in our house was Jamie's Moroccan lamb curry and rocket salads with parmesan shavings.
  As I grew older, hungrier, I resented my parents' attitude. I recognise now, however, that they had suffered themselves at the receiving end of the packets of dehydrated pasta and cheese powder.
  Yes, they could have made the dish from scratch, but they had little desire to make a meal of such little adventurousness; we were after all still in the first years of New Labour, we were optimistic, grasping at sophistication. We made our own guacamole.
  Maybe now that optimism has gone, we are looking to simplicity, to homeliness once again.
  Perhaps we want comfort in discomfiting times.
  Which explains why we have lustily gobbled up so much down-home Americana of late, a genre of food in which mac and cheese surely sits.
  Either way, what is clear is that it is a survivor. Maccheroni, to use its Roman name, has survived centuries of changing fashion largely unscathed.
  Why? Because it is as adaptable as a chameleon. Google "mac 'n' cheese recipe" and you get 13 million hits.
  "There are so many different ways to make it," says Wishbone's William Leigh, the father of the deep-fried version. "You can make it with b(C)chamel, with condensed milk, with ham, leave it gooey or crisp it up and use any number of cheeses."
  The cheese, in fact, is a point of fierce debate. You will find proponents of soft French cheese, Italian parmesan, Swiss gruy(C)re and Welsh Caerphilly - on their own, and combined together.
  At London's Pitt Cue Co, Tom Adams counsels: "Ogle Shield and Montgomery Cheddar, which has a nice acidity, for the base sauce; then finish with a stilton or stichelton."
  William Leigh won't even tell me what he uses at Wishbone (though he has generously given us his home recipe, published here).
  A hastily convened focus group in my kitchen, however, preferred a mixture of English cheddars. A b(C)chamel base we disapproved of, too. Much better to bind the mix with cr¨me fra®che or cream or cottage cheese. Butter does quite nicely, too.
  In fact the exact composition of flavours is secondary to the texture of the finished product.
  Leigh hits the nail on the head when he says, "the important thing is that it is soft and gooey, with a certain stringiness; the macaroni should have a limited bite and a bit of crunch should be in there somewhere."
  The way one can guarantee a happily-textured macaroni is simple: add lots and lots of cheese, whatever it is. If in doubt, add more. If you dare, and you should, the ratio is best at around 2:1, cheese to mac.
  Why is it important to use so much? Only at the level when you risk a cheese avalanche do you get a truly indulgent dish. And as Leigh says, that is what mac and cheese is now: "It's a luxury product - and the luxury is the indulgence."
  It may not be rarefied, or expensive or require a water bath and tweezers to construct, but what it is, however, is a momentary two fingers to healthy eating, a cocked snook at the make-your-own-guacamole years - and it is all the finer for that.
  >>More Easy Eating
  William Leigh's Ham Hock and Jalape±o Mac 'n' Cheese
  Serves 4 hungry people
  285g elbow macaroni80g ham hock, flakedPickled jalape±os (as many or as few as you'd like, diced)50g butter50g plain flour600ml milk1 dash hot sauce (Frank's is great)1 dash of Worcestershire sauce150g red Leicester grated75g mozzarella (the grated, bagged stuff - nothing posh - this needs to go really gooey and stringy)75g Parmesan cheese, grated1 tablespoon cornflour75g pankoSalt and pepperMethod
  Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and set aside. Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour.
  Cook over a low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture starts to change colour. I always cook it a little further just to make sure the flour is "cooked out" and loses its raw taste.
  Add the milk gradually until the mixture thickens. Add the hot sauce and Worcestershire to the milk. Mix all the cheeses together and reserve about 1/5.
  Toss the 4/5 with the cornflour (this is to stop it sticking together). Add to the milk/butter/flour mix (your roux) and stir until smooth.
  This may take a few minutes. Season to taste.
  Mix with the pasta, add the flaked ham hock and the jalape±os and pour into a baking dish. Mix the remaining cheese with the panko breadcrumbs and scatter over the top. Bake till golden and bubbling.
RealHamster
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 10:37
  By entering this site you certify that you are over 18 years of age, wish to view or purchase some filthy smut, that this smut is not prohibited in the community in which you live and that you will not show any of this smut to minors.
K7QO's Code Course Page
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 09:29
  This page last updated February 14th of 2005.
  This page contains the files for the K7QO's Code Course.
  ISO file for entire course.Course manual in PDF format.Answers manual in PDF format.Individual files available from K7QO's home page.
K7QO's Home Page
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 09:26
  K7QO's Home PageThis page updated April 19th, 2013.
  K7QO's Lab Notebook is back!
  I got tired of people sending me email about the lab book and it was not here. I took it down to do some work on it. But after Googling the Web I find that there are so many old copies of it floating on some web pages where it is not supposed to be. :-) So, send them emails and tell them they are behind the curve. Here it is and it is work in progress, but I am going hot and heavy on it for the rest of April and most of May. I have an iPad 2. I love my iPad 2. This manual is in PDF format and if you read it on your iPad 2 with Adobe Reader (a free app), I think you will like it. I prefer sitting in an easy chair reviewing it over sitting here at the monitor. Enjoy.
  K7QO's Lab Remodelling
  I know that I got behind on several projects of interest to some on the Net and for that I apologize. I was just overwhelmed by not being able to find stuff. So I decided to bite the bullet, stop everything and get down to redoing the lab.
  A year and a half ago, my wife and I moved from Prescott AZ, where we had resided since September 1999, as we just needed to downsize due to the size of the house and the property and she was getting tired of the winter months at the higher elevation. I regret having to give up the 80 meter vee-beam, but sacrifices have to be made from time to time.
  My new lab consists of a casita (guest house) that isn't that large, but it is better than nothing. I just have too much stuff to fit it all in, but I'm trying. I use a full size solid core door for a desk and workbench. I used a hand router to make some 3" width shelves using 1/4" plywood and a plywood back with grooves to glue the shelves into to maintain a straight line and to preven some warping. I was using pill bottles for storage. Here is a picture of the setup a few days ago (March 28th, 2013).
  Up close you can see that some of the pill bottles are mostly empty. I got to worrying about the wasted space, so I came up with the following.
  I bought some Diamond brand Daily Mini Cups from Wal*Mart. These can be found in the paper plates/cups section of the food market. They cost about $3 US for 50 cups with lids. They are 2 oz size and I like the snap on lid that stays secure. Haven't tried a drop test, but will let you know when it does happen and you know that it will happen at some time.
  K7QO's 005 Picture of three cups stacked with toroids in them. Takes up about the same space as one pill bottle.K7QO's 007 50 4.032MHz crystals the same day I started using the mini cups.K7QO's 009 Some Manhattan PCB pads for building.K7QO's 010 SMD resistors in storage.K7QO's 013 Now you see desk and the shelves with all the little storage cups nicely labeled and organized. I also emptied 4 of the shelves and I plan on putting more items on them in the next few days.K7QO's 016 Here is closeup with pill bottles replaced with the mini cups with caps.K7QO's 015 Here you see the monitor back in position and I use the computer and monitor to display construction manuals for building some kits. It is the trend to not provide a manual, but have the builder go online for the manual. I do not print things off any more, I just download everything and save it on a 2TB drive.K7QO's 017 Here is the drawers for coin envelopes and they are full, so some of the stuff will come out and go into the mini cups. The four drawer chest below will hold pill bottles that have overflow from the cups. Kind of a reserve parts that will refill the cups as the deplete over the months and years to follow. If I can just stay on the path to build more equipment and not get off track. :-)OMG!!!
  I found the following PCB while moving things around and putting on the shelves. If you immediately know what this is without me telling you, then you go way back.
  In 1976 Oliver Audio Engineering came out with a paper tape reader that ran about $74 US at the time. I got the kit and built one and used it to read in a Basic Incremental Compiler that I and three other guys developed for SWTP company in San Antonio TX.
  So I go and google for OAE and look at what I find that I had no idea was even still around.
  OAE web page information and photos.6800 Assembly Code I wrote this while I was a professor in EE at Texas A&M University from 1974-1980. I was also Associate Editor of the 68' Micro Journal at the time and did a number of monthly articles during that time period. The thing that I miss is the articles that I also wrote for Dr Dobbs at that time and even had some codes for Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors.I apologize for the lack of comments in the code, but this was back in the day before a lot of computer science work was done on the development of code and documentation. The 68 Journal was for experienced 6800/6809 programmers.
  That was a journey back in time.
  K7QO's PCB Projects
  Use care and common sense in doing the following. Wear safety glasses when working with chemicals. The hydrogen peroxide goes into the pyrex FIRST and then the muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) at 14.5% by volume. Do work in a well ventalated area with fan blowing fumes away from you. Don't inhale.
  You see me using surgical gloves in handling the board in the solution, except for one point and for that I apologize. You will get a laugh out of 0014, 0015 and 0016. :-)
  The first test board is done with about 4"x5" dual sided with 2oz layers (thick), thus the extra time to finish the etching and I removed almost all the copper from both sides of the board. Your boards will most likely take less time.
  video 0006 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- Mixing of 2:1 of H_2O_3:HClvideo 0007 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- 5 Minutes into etchingvideo 0008 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- More etchingvideo 0009 [68.2MB] Part of the above video -- 13 minutes into etchingvideo 0010 [14.9MB] Part of the above video -- 21 minutes and finishedvideo 0011 [68.7MB] Part of the above video -- steel wool to clean the toner off the tracesvideo 0012 [12.7MB] Part of the above video -- Wally World clear paint to be applied to the board (lightly)video 0013 [68.0MB] Part of the above video -- Finished drying and solder applied to pads.video 0014 [134.0MB] How to use a laminator with the printer output and a PCB.video 0015 [27.1MB] Starting the soaking in water process to remove the paper.video 0016 [51.7MB] Removal of first layer of paper.video 0017 [93.3MB] Starting of etching process.video 0018 [17.9MB] More etching at 5 mins into the process.video 0019 [29.1MB] About 13 mins into the process.video 0020 [42.8MB] Board with toner removed.video 0021 [35.1MB] Board with light coating of clear enamel.K7QO's Arduino AD9850/AD9851 RF Shield Fixture
  In wanting to experment with the Arduino uP based system, I decided to try to use it with one of the cheap Chinese ebay.com vendors version of an AD9850 DDS module. Everything you see here was ordered from ebay.com and all except the PCB material came from the ROC.
  Here are the steps to the start of my experiment. First is the PCB to create what is called a 'shield' for the Aruinod. A shield is nothing more than a fixture for one or more modules or interfaces to the outside world via the Arduino ports.
  K7QO RF Shield Photo of the board before drilling.Dremel Tool plus Sears Drill Press for same Important setup to drill boards. Do not do this by hand, a drill press with appropriate drill bit.Foot Pedal from Harbor Freight Most important part to free up both hands is a foot pedal for on and off of the Dremel tool. You can find these at Harbor Freight or just about any Sewing Machine dealer or repair shop. Just a pedal with a plug that is controlled by the foot pedal. Note that I do not have the Dremel set at the highest speed. Experiment to find out what works best for you.Drilled Shield Photo of the board on the copper side.Drilled Shield Photo of the board on the component side. Use a piece of scrap hardwood or plywood (thin) to back the PCB when drilling. This will prevent 'tearout' and/or hasty edges on the holes. Been there. Done that.Headers Headers (0.10" centered) for use on the shield.Headers in place Headers (0.10" centered) soldered onto the shield.Headers in place Headers (0.10" centered) soldered onto the shield.Headers in place Female headers added for plugin of the AD9850 DDS module. Chinese call these 'break away' headers, but there is no break away involved. Use your diagonal cutters to destroy the next pin by cutting and then trim the ragged edge that you cut. Sacrifice one to experiment with and how to get it looking good. Also, learn to count..... :-)Arduino UNO and Shield Here is the shield ready to be plugged into the headers on the Arduino board.Arduino UNO and Shield Here is the shield plugged in.Arduino UNO and Shield and AD9850 Module Here is the RF shield all ready to go.Here is the ExpressPCB pcb file that I used for this shield. I would cut a little more off the board on the opposite end of the RF out to make room for the USB and Power connectors. You will need the room.
  Let me play a little more with the software before I put it here. I'm thinking of adding a MC1350 with AGC to flatten the output from 100KHz to 35MHz for a constant output RF signal generator. Because the board has 10-bit analogue to digital (ADC) conversion ports, I'm going to add a variable resistor to "sweep" a range of frequencies instead of using either buttons or other means. Then probably add a digital frequency display module for reference. This could expand into a complex project. Don't they all?
  Radiative Transfer Physics Research
  The following material is from past research and current research. I have about 20 programs that I have written over the years that have not been published, so I thought that I had better put them into space before the opportunity passes by.
  Monte Carlo Scalar Radiatve Transfer Program PDF document on how to write a complete Monte Carlo simulation code for simulation of photon transport in planetary atmospheres. I wrote this document in 3 days and it will get a tune up as time allows. The main function is to give Dr George Kattawar, Professor of Physics, Texas A&M University, a starting point for some graduate students to learn simulation techniques for a Radiative Transfer class, so I have some exercises and some personal comments in this document. [last updated January 24, 2013]Monte Carlo Vector Radiatve Transfer Program PDF document on how to write a complete Monte Carlo simultation for photon transport with polarization in planetary atmospheres. A more complex sceanario that the scalar code and more accurate for events occurring due to polarization in atmospheric effects.On qrp-tech@yahoogroups.com we are doing a project, Project 003.3, to celebrate the upcoming 33rd anniversary of Roy Lewallen's, W7EL, ARRL HB article optimized QRP transceiver. There was another kit done, with some band modifications along with using a TUF-1 for the mixer instead of homebrewing one. Here is the link to the Tejas RF Technology Backpacker II QRP transceiver. Bill Hickox, K5BDZ (sk), did the kit and here is the manual.
  I posted on March 15, 2013 that I would build one using Manhattan style construction and do it for 15 meters. Here are the steps as I get them done.
  My email address is the usual hiding from Internet bots.
  chuck dot adams dot k7qo at gmail dot com
  K7QO's Home PageThis page updated April 19th, 2013.
  K7QO's Lab Notebook is back!I got tired of people sending me email about the lab book and it was not here. I took it down to do some work on it. But after Googling the Web I find that there are so many old copies of it floating on some web pages where it is not supposed to be. :-) So, send them emails and tell them they are behind the curve. Here it is and it is work in progress, but I am going hot and heavy on it for the rest of April and most of May. I have an iPad 2. I love my iPad 2. This manual is in PDF format and if you read it on your iPad 2 with Adobe Reader (a free app), I think you will like it. I prefer sitting in an easy chair reviewing it over sitting here at the monitor. Enjoy.
  K7QO's Lab RemodellingI know that I got behind on several projects of interest to some on the Net and for that I apologize. I was just overwhelmed by not being able to find stuff. So I decided to bite the bullet, stop everything and get down to redoing the lab.
  A year and a half ago, my wife and I moved from Prescott AZ, where we had resided since September 1999, as we just needed to downsize due to the size of the house and the property and she was getting tired of the winter months at the higher elevation. I regret having to give up the 80 meter vee-beam, but sacrifices have to be made from time to time.
  My new lab consists of a casita (guest house) that isn't that large, but it is better than nothing. I just have too much stuff to fit it all in, but I'm trying. I use a full size solid core door for a desk and workbench. I used a hand router to make some 3" width shelves using 1/4" plywood and a plywood back with grooves to glue the shelves into to maintain a straight line and to preven some warping. I was using pill bottles for storage. Here is a picture of the setup a few days ago (March 28th, 2013).
  Up close you can see that some of the pill bottles are mostly empty. I got to worrying about the wasted space, so I came up with the following.
  I bought some Diamond brand Daily Mini Cups from Wal*Mart. These can be found in the paper plates/cups section of the food market. They cost about $3 US for 50 cups with lids. They are 2 oz size and I like the snap on lid that stays secure. Haven't tried a drop test, but will let you know when it does happen and you know that it will happen at some time.
  K7QO's 005 Picture of three cups stacked with toroids in them. Takes up about the same space as one pill bottle.K7QO's 007 50 4.032MHz crystals the same day I started using the mini cups.K7QO's 009 Some Manhattan PCB pads for building.K7QO's 010 SMD resistors in storage.K7QO's 013 Now you see desk and the shelves with all the little storage cups nicely labeled and organized. I also emptied 4 of the shelves and I plan on putting more items on them in the next few days.K7QO's 016 Here is closeup with pill bottles replaced with the mini cups with caps.K7QO's 015 Here you see the monitor back in position and I use the computer and monitor to display construction manuals for building some kits. It is the trend to not provide a manual, but have the builder go online for the manual. I do not print things off any more, I just download everything and save it on a 2TB drive.K7QO's 017 Here is the drawers for coin envelopes and they are full, so some of the stuff will come out and go into the mini cups. The four drawer chest below will hold pill bottles that have overflow from the cups. Kind of a reserve parts that will refill the cups as the deplete over the months and years to follow. If I can just stay on the path to build more equipment and not get off track. :-)OMG!!!I found the following PCB while moving things around and putting on the shelves. If you immediately know what this is without me telling you, then you go way back.
  In 1976 Oliver Audio Engineering came out with a paper tape reader that ran about $74 US at the time. I got the kit and built one and used it to read in a Basic Incremental Compiler that I and three other guys developed for SWTP company in San Antonio TX.
  So I go and google for OAE and look at what I find that I had no idea was even still around.
  OAE web page information and photos.6800 Assembly Code I wrote this while I was a professor in EE at Texas A&M University from 1974-1980. I was also Associate Editor of the 68' Micro Journal at the time and did a number of monthly articles during that time period. The thing that I miss is the articles that I also wrote for Dr Dobbs at that time and even had some codes for Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors.I apologize for the lack of comments in the code, but this was back in the day before a lot of computer science work was done on the development of code and documentation. The 68 Journal was for experienced 6800/6809 programmers.
  That was a journey back in time.
  K7QO's PCB ProjectsUse care and common sense in doing the following. Wear safety glasses when working with chemicals. The hydrogen peroxide goes into the pyrex FIRST and then the muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) at 14.5% by volume. Do work in a well ventalated area with fan blowing fumes away from you. Don't inhale.
  You see me using surgical gloves in handling the board in the solution, except for one point and for that I apologize. You will get a laugh out of 0014, 0015 and 0016. :-)
  The first test board is done with about 4"x5" dual sided with 2oz layers (thick), thus the extra time to finish the etching and I removed almost all the copper from both sides of the board. Your boards will most likely take less time.
  video 0006 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- Mixing of 2:1 of H_2O_3:HClvideo 0007 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- 5 Minutes into etchingvideo 0008 [53.3MB] Part of the above video -- More etchingvideo 0009 [68.2MB] Part of the above video -- 13 minutes into etchingvideo 0010 [14.9MB] Part of the above video -- 21 minutes and finishedvideo 0011 [68.7MB] Part of the above video -- steel wool to clean the toner off the tracesvideo 0012 [12.7MB] Part of the above video -- Wally World clear paint to be applied to the board (lightly)video 0013 [68.0MB] Part of the above video -- Finished drying and solder applied to pads.video 0014 [134.0MB] How to use a laminator with the printer output and a PCB.video 0015 [27.1MB] Starting the soaking in water process to remove the paper.video 0016 [51.7MB] Removal of first layer of paper.video 0017 [93.3MB] Starting of etching process.video 0018 [17.9MB] More etching at 5 mins into the process.video 0019 [29.1MB] About 13 mins into the process.video 0020 [42.8MB] Board with toner removed.video 0021 [35.1MB] Board with light coating of clear enamel.K7QO's Arduino AD9850/AD9851 RF Shield FixtureIn wanting to experment with the Arduino uP based system, I decided to try to use it with one of the cheap Chinese ebay.com vendors version of an AD9850 DDS module. Everything you see here was ordered from ebay.com and all except the PCB material came from the ROC.
  Here are the steps to the start of my experiment. First is the PCB to create what is called a 'shield' for the Aruinod. A shield is nothing more than a fixture for one or more modules or interfaces to the outside world via the Arduino ports.
  K7QO RF Shield Photo of the board before drilling.Dremel Tool plus Sears Drill Press for same Important setup to drill boards. Do not do this by hand, a drill press with appropriate drill bit.Foot Pedal from Harbor Freight Most important part to free up both hands is a foot pedal for on and off of the Dremel tool. You can find these at Harbor Freight or just about any Sewing Machine dealer or repair shop. Just a pedal with a plug that is controlled by the foot pedal. Note that I do not have the Dremel set at the highest speed. Experiment to find out what works best for you.Drilled Shield Photo of the board on the copper side.Drilled Shield Photo of the board on the component side. Use a piece of scrap hardwood or plywood (thin) to back the PCB when drilling. This will prevent 'tearout' and/or hasty edges on the holes. Been there. Done that.Headers Headers (0.10" centered) for use on the shield.Headers in place Headers (0.10" centered) soldered onto the shield.Headers in place Headers (0.10" centered) soldered onto the shield.Headers in place Female headers added for plugin of the AD9850 DDS module. Chinese call these 'break away' headers, but there is no break away involved. Use your diagonal cutters to destroy the next pin by cutting and then trim the ragged edge that you cut. Sacrifice one to experiment with and how to get it looking good. Also, learn to count..... :-)Arduino UNO and Shield Here is the shield ready to be plugged into the headers on the Arduino board.Arduino UNO and Shield Here is the shield plugged in.Arduino UNO and Shield and AD9850 Module Here is the RF shield all ready to go.Here is the ExpressPCB pcb file that I used for this shield. I would cut a little more off the board on the opposite end of the RF out to make room for the USB and Power connectors. You will need the room.
  Let me play a little more with the software before I put it here. I'm thinking of adding a MC1350 with AGC to flatten the output from 100KHz to 35MHz for a constant output RF signal generator. Because the board has 10-bit analogue to digital (ADC) conversion ports, I'm going to add a variable resistor to "sweep" a range of frequencies instead of using either buttons or other means. Then probably add a digital frequency display module for reference. This could expand into a complex project. Don't they all?
  Radiative Transfer Physics ResearchThe following material is from past research and current research. I have about 20 programs that I have written over the years that have not been published, so I thought that I had better put them into space before the opportunity passes by.
  Monte Carlo Scalar Radiatve Transfer Program PDF document on how to write a complete Monte Carlo simulation code for simulation of photon transport in planetary atmospheres. I wrote this document in 3 days and it will get a tune up as time allows. The main function is to give Dr George Kattawar, Professor of Physics, Texas A&M University, a starting point for some graduate students to learn simulation techniques for a Radiative Transfer class, so I have some exercises and some personal comments in this document. [last updated January 24, 2013]Monte Carlo Vector Radiatve Transfer Program PDF document on how to write a complete Monte Carlo simultation for photon transport with polarization in planetary atmospheres. A more complex sceanario that the scalar code and more accurate for events occurring due to polarization in atmospheric effects.On qrp-tech@yahoogroups.com we are doing a project, Project 003.3, to celebrate the upcoming 33rd anniversary of Roy Lewallen's, W7EL, ARRL HB article optimized QRP transceiver. There was another kit done, with some band modifications along with using a TUF-1 for the mixer instead of homebrewing one. Here is the link to the Tejas RF Technology Backpacker II QRP transceiver. Bill Hickox, K5BDZ (sk), did the kit and here is the manual.
  I posted on March 15, 2013 that I would build one using Manhattan style construction and do it for 15 meters. Here are the steps as I get them done.
  My email address is the usual hiding from Internet bots.
  chuck dot adams dot k7qo at gmail dot com
Broadcast Video Will Soon Be Packed into Smartphone Signals
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: New on MIT Technology Review
  Mon, 06 May 2013 00:58
  Putting broadcast signals within LTE mobile network technology could open up bandwidth and disrupt business models.
  If you want to watch video on your phone or tablet, you'll find that many networks can't always serve up the data fast enough. So your choices are either to find a Wi-Fi hotspot, take your chances on congestion and high data charges on a cellular network, or plug in a special dongle that picks up TV broadcasts (see ''Broadcast TV Aims for Your Smartphone'').
  Early next year, an emerging wireless technology known as LTE Broadcast could change all that, essentially making it possible for carriers to put a TV-like broadcast stream within LTE cellular signals.
  Putting data in broadcast mode reduces congestion but makes the most sense in situations where everyone is watching the same newscast, sports match, or other special piece of content at the same time. In such situations, using LTE Broadcast mode, a carriers' transmitter needs to just send a signal out over one channel rather than separate ones for each mobile device. That's how the traditional TV broadcast works: it doesn't matter if 100 or a million people are watching, because the content is out there for the taking.
  The software in a carrier's base station can tweak the LTE signal to include one or more channels that work in broadcast mode''enabling multiple users to receive the same content at the same time.
  Carriers have made no announcements on what precise services may emerge. But there are hints at potential business models: Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam, has publicly stated an interest in using LTE Broadcast technology for the 2014 Super Bowl and other live events on an la carte basis to mobile customers. In such circumstances, a user would pay a fee to get access to the event; from Verizon's point of view, they'd just have to send it out on one signal, making it a huge revenue source without taxing the network.
  Any such effort by Verizon would be the leading edge of wireless carriers getting increasingly into the TV game and disrupting the cable TV model. And as mobile carriers implement the platform, some obvious first applications could be new ways to increase network capacity during peak demand occasions'--like big sports games or breaking news'--by carrying those on the broadcast frequency.
  ''It makes sense because there are a certain number of applications that clog up the wireless networks, particularly video streams. If people are watching live video or online sports, it will make more sense to use the broadcast stream,'' says Dipankar Raychaudhuri, director of the wireless research lab at Rutgers University.
  Chipset maker Qualcomm says that a chip and software package for LTE Broadcast will be commercially available in early 2014. ''It provides them the flexibility to customize their offerings'--including broadcast services, with better quality to the user, without taxing the data network,'' says Mazen Chmaytelli, senior director of business development at Qualcomm Labs. Ericsson and other vendors are also offering software upgrades to base stations for mobile operators that want in.
  Video traffic on mobile devices is already dominating network usage; Cisco has predicted it will take up 90 percent of mobile traffic this year. And devices are getting larger, faster, and higher-resolution, leading to ever-higher demand. ''I don't think we will see broadcast TV surviving in its present form in 15 years,'' Raychaudhuri says. ''It gets eventually replaced broadly by wireless and Internet content. And the broadcasters want to use new technology to offer on-demand content as well as broadcast content.''
  The technology does require carriers to use the latest wireless standard, known as LTE, which is still rolling out around the world. But AT&T, for example, expects that LTE will reach 300 million people in North America by late 2014. Already, other proposed advances to LTE will greatly boost bandwidth with new tricks like sending multiple signals to multiple antennas on future phones (see ''LTE Advanced Is Poised to Turbocharge Smartphone Data'').
Norwegians: Outsiders in Their Own Country
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: FrontPage Magazine » FrontPage
  Mon, 06 May 2013 00:54
  It just keeps coming, the propaganda. A new wave every day. Poured out by ideologues determined to flood the truth '' to drown it out '' in wave after wave of lies.
  ''Norway isn't becoming less Norwegian because it's changing,'' a man named Salimi cheerfully reassured Aftenposten the other day. Salimi '' who came to Norway 37 years ago and was in on the founding of SOS Racism, the Anti-Racist Center, and various other enterprises and activities, including a well-known annual food festival in Oslo '' described today's Norway with enthusiasm as a place where immigrants and natives are gradually and peacefully adapting to one another, each embracing the new and mysterious aspects of each other's cultures. Although ''extremist Islam and Islamophobia'' represent threats to these marvelous developments, noble and well-meaning Muslims, Christians, and Jews, working together on the basis of ''shared universal values,'' are striving with increasing success to forge a harmonious multicultural society founded on mutual respect and acceptance.
  Blah, blah, blah.
  Every now and then, to be sure, one of the major national newspapers will proffer a brief glimpse of reality. But more often, you have to look elsewhere for it. On April 27, it was the business newspaper Finansavisen, of all publications, that served up a tonic dose of the truth. Reading the headline, ''Life as a Minority,'' readers might have expected the usual sob-sister fantasy about how tough it is to be a Muslim in Scandinavia. But this article was something different. It was a searing portrait of the New Normal in Groruddalen, a huge stretch of East Oslo, where the ''minority'' in question is Norwegian.
  The article was based on interviews by Finansavisen's reporters, Kjell Erik Eilertsen and Ole Asbj¸rn Ness, with two teenagers, both ethnic Norwegians. Andreas (a pseudonym) is 16; Marius S¸rvik is 19. In grade school, both boys' heads were stuffed with pretty words about intercultural understanding. Repeatedly, they were encouraged to be sensitive to their classmates with foreign backgrounds. Andreas: ''All the teachers said it, the principal said it, that if you come into conflict with them, I was supposed to understand what a bad life they'd had, that they came from countries where there had been war. I thought he was kidding. It was the grandparents who had immigrated from Pakistan. If I hit someone, would nobody yell at me because my grandfather was in the Resistance? But I believed in it.''
  Eventually, however, both boys realized that, as Marius puts it, ''everything you've learned in school is wrong.'' For Marius that day came in seventh grade, when seven or eight Somali boys jumped him on a tennis court and beat him to a pulp, knocking his teeth out. Afterwards Marius tried to hold his head up, but he could only take the constant fear for so long. He suffered a heart attack. The producers of Our Valley, an NRK documentary series about life in Groruddalen, interviewed him, but decided not to include him in the program, explaining that his ''views'' didn't fit into their ''concept.'' (The series, as Eilertsen and Ness observe, is ''government-financed propaganda'' designed to cover up the reality of Groruddalen. Naturally, ''views'' such as Marius's aren't welcome.)
  As for Andreas, it was his well-intentioned but deplorably na¯ve mother who decided to raise him in Groruddalen, so he'd ''get to know the new Norway, to get acquainted with many different cultures.'' That he did '' mostly through schoolyard beatings. (''They're a gang. They're always a gang. They're dogs. They hunt in packs.'') He was hit, but wasn't permitted to hit back. At first he responded to the bullying by trying to fit in with the thugs '' deliberately making simple grammatical mistakes, limiting his vocabulary, and behaving submissively. He even made a Muslim friend '' who started trying to convert him. When Andreas resisted, and persisted in his resistance, his friend threatened to kill him. Seeing no other way of protecting himself, Andreas joined an ethnic Norwegian motorcycle club. ''If I hadn't known them, he'd have killed me,'' Andreas says.
  It's a battle '' and, as Marius points out, the battle isn't a fair one. A Norwegian kid who finds himself in conflict with, say, a Pakistani kid, isn't likely to have anyone on his side, whereas the Pakistani kid will have a whole clan of brothers, cousins, and uncles ready to turn violent on his behalf. Integration, Marius suggests, is a lie: none of these people wants to become Norwegian: ''Norwegian is synonymous with weakness.'' Nor can Norwegian kids count on support from their teachers or principals '' they're terrified, too, and they do everything they can to accommodate the Muslim kids to avoid trouble. Moreover, while Norwegian boys learn early on to keep their hands off Muslim girls, Muslim boys hit on Norwegian girls with impunity; indeed, ''Norwegian girls prefer them'....they're tough, and they have money even though they don't have jobs.''
  One way to avoid the constant warfare, of course, is to surrender: Marius alone knows five people who have converted to Islam.
  Since ''Life as a Minority'' wasn't published online, and since few people outside the business community read Finansavisen, the article might have come and gone without gaining widespread notice. But excerpts posted by bloggers attracted so much attention that Finansavisen ended up putting the whole text online last Friday. It goes without saying that readers weren't drawn to the article because it told them anything new; on the contrary, they were drawn to it because they so rarely see the raw, fundamental truths of their own current lives reflected in the mainstream media '' at least not without oodles of euphemism and herculean efforts to achieve ''balance'' and avoid ''offense.''
  Not everybody in Norway, to be sure, lives in the midst of the kind of hell that Andreas and Marius do. Certainly the people who call the shots in the media, producing pap like Our Valley, don't reside in the neighborhoods, like Groruddalen, that they're determined to idealize. They live in pleasant west Oslo districts, where they rub shoulders with their fellow makers of opinion '' politicians, academics, and others who share their ardent devotion to multiculturalism but who, like them, don't have to live with its consequences.
  These multicultural elites may be cowards and reprobates, but they aren't total fools. They have a pretty good idea of how challenging everyday life can be like for Norwegians, especially teenage males, in places like Groruddalen. They've seen the statistics demonstrating that while Muslims are settling in such areas in huge numbers, infidels are fleeing in droves. But, quite simply, they don'tcare '' not enough to change their stripes, anyway. After all, those aren't their kids having their teeth knocked out of their heads and being made to feel like outsiders in their own country. (Their kids go to safe schools where they feel firmly in the majority.) The country's leftist elites have a responsibility to kids like Andreas and Marius; but that responsibility is infinitely less important to them, alas, than their determination to keep alive their own beloved multicultural ideology. Never mind that it's precisely that ideology that's responsible for the nightmare that is Andreas's and Marius's world.
  That's the reprehensible bottom line here: to preserve the Big Lie of a magnificently multicultural Norway, the Norwegian elite is willing to fiercely deny the defining truths of such kids' lives. And in service to this cause, the mainstream media are a powerful weapon. The newspapers' readiness to echo official claims about immigrants and Islam is only enhanced by their eagerness to continue receiving official subsidies (Finansavisen, it should be noted, is one of the few sizable Norwegian newspapers that don't get government handouts). And then there's state-run NRK, which uses license fees squeezed out of the parents of young people like Andreas and Marius to create programs smearing the likes of them as liars and bigots, while depicting the savages who torment them as the innocent, virtuous objects of nativist prejudice.
  Andreas says his grandfather was a member of the Resistance '' a brave band of brothers who risked their lives to deliver Norway from the Nazi invaders. Can you imagine what that man would think if he could see what has happened to the nation he served '' and to his grandson, who no longer even feels that that nation is his own?
  Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.
George Carlin On Civil Liberties In America
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: The Daily Bail
  Mon, 06 May 2013 00:52
  Well your response says it all chiller. Your lack of education and brainwashed beliefs show through your poor language, name calling and chest-beating. Guns, gold and god....that's what fools still believe in and derive their faux sense of security and courage. I really don't care to own a gun nor do I have the sense of insecurity to worry about the future like you do. But, that's your life. You are no different than those that drive the US genocide machine around the world. You are prideful of meaningless and unproductive things. You beat your chest like a bully. And you can't wait to get even with those that see through your BS and suicidal objectives.I do know who I'm talking to. I see your kind everyday. You, and those like you, think the solution is fighting, killing, maiming and creating a new society ruled by wild west laws. You can't live without violence because that's all you know. You continue to bully because critical thinking is not your forte. And you believe that guns, gold and god will save your ass.
  Your wonderful ancestors weren't fighting wars for liberty or freedom. They were fighting wars for the bankers...and nothing more. You don't have a clue what happened in the 1700s, and why it happened the way it did. I suggest you read Merciers, Invisible Contracts. Big money interest and corruption have always been with us, even with the founding fathers.
  You won't be saved by your guns, gold or god because you believe it is these inanimate things that make you strong. I suggest you do some soul searching and realize its time for you and others to stop the violence or the US will continue on with its global genocide. Don't forget your roots brother. You and your wonderful ancestors nearly wiped out the natives of this continent. And the genocide continued from that day on. Is your government of guns, gold and god gonna do a better job when you seize power and show others how to live?>
  Nothing could be more comical
News Analysis: Terrorists Find Online Education for Attacks
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Mon, 06 May 2013 00:50
  David Longstreath/AP; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, via EPA; AFP-Getty; Uncredited/FBI, via AP
  HOMEGROWN TERRORISM From left, Timothy J. McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City; Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Tex.; Faisal Shahzad, who planted a bomb in Times Square; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who has been held in the Boston bombing.
  WASHINGTON '-- Aware that intensified American counterterrorism efforts have made an ambitious Sept. 11-style plot a long shot, Al Qaeda propagandists for several years have called on their devotees in the United States to carry out smaller-scale solo attacks and provided the online education to teach them how.
  ''I strongly recommend all of the brothers and sisters coming from the West to consider attacking America in its own backyard,'' wrote Samir Khan, an American who joined Al Qaeda's Yemen branch and emerged as a fervent advocate of homegrown, do-it-yourself terrorism before he was killed in an American drone strike in September 2011.
  ''The effect is much greater, it always embarrasses the enemy, and these types of individual decision-making attacks are nearly impossible for them to contain,'' Mr. Khan wrote in a Web publication.
  The Boston Marathon bombing '-- which the authorities believe was carried out according to instructions that Mr. Khan posted online '-- offers an unsettling example of just how devastating such an attack can be, even when the death toll is low. It shows how plotters can construct powerful bombs without attracting official attention. It offers a case study in the complex mix of personality and ideology at work in extremist violence. And it raises a pressing question: Is there any way to detect such plotters before they can act?
  The bombing killed three people, compared with 3,000 in the 2001 attacks. But it achieved the spectacular media impact that terrorists covet, marring an American institution with television footage of gruesome injuries and panicked crowds. Officials are worried about its copycat appeal.
  The Boston case remains under investigation, and some facts set it apart from other domestic plots. F.B.I. agents are still studying whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who investigators believe carried out the attack with his younger brother, Dzhokhar, 19, received any training during a six-month visit last year to turbulent Dagestan in southern Russia. Intelligence agencies are reviewing whether two Russian warnings about the older brother in 2011 were handled properly.
  At a news conference on Tuesday, President Obama suggested that the bombers had acted on their own, saying that ''one of the dangers that we now face are self-radicalized individuals who are already here in the United States.'' Mr. Obama said such plots ''are in some ways more difficult to prevent.''
  So far, the Tsarnaev brothers appear to have been radicalized and instructed in explosives not at a training camp but at home on the Internet. Their bombs were concocted from inexpensive everyday items whose purchase set off no alarms: pressure cookers, nails and ball bearings, gunpowder from fireworks and remote controls for toys. Their choice of an open-air event meant no gate, metal detector or security inspection to pass through with their bombs.
  In other words, as Dzhokhar told investigators, they followed the script from Inspire magazine, which Mr. Khan published in Yemen along with his mentor, the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in the same drone strike on Sept. 30, 2011. Mr. Awlaki's incendiary sermons and Mr. Khan's training articles survived them on the Web, where the brothers found them.
  Just a month before the Boston attack, the Qaeda branch in Yemen posted on the Web the ''Lone Mujahid Pocketbook,'' a compilation of all the do-it-yourself articles with jaunty English text, high-quality graphics and teen-friendly shorthand.
  ''R U dreamin' of wagin' jihadi attacks against kuffar?'' the 64-page manual asks, using a pejorative term for unbeliever. ''Have u been lookin' 4 a way to join the mujahideen in frontlines, but you haven't found any? Well, there's no need to travel abroad, because the frontline has come to you.''
  Some of the manual's ideas seem harebrained '-- spilling oil on the road to cause car wrecks or welding blades to a pickup truck and driving into a crowd. But specialists say its bomb-making instructions are quite accurate. The Boston attack seems to have followed Inspire's tips: gunpowder emptied from fireworks, shrapnel glued inside the pressure cooker, a commercial remote control as detonator.
  ''The pressurized cooker should be placed in crowded areas and left to blow up,'' the manual says. ''More than one of these could be planted to explode at the same time.''
The PBS Avengers assemble to save us all from stupid TV
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 06 May 2013 00:48
  When Honey Booboo and other godawful reality shows clog the airwaves, there's only four people you can call. Carl Sagan. Mr. Rogers. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bob Ross. Together, they are the PBS Avengers, and this world would be a better place if this video were real.
  Not a real movie, mind you, although that would be great too. I mean, real real, as in the four of them actually piloted a giant PBS logo-shaped spaceship around the planet, taking control of everyone's TVs.
  Note: The only thing this video lacked wasReading Rainbow's LeVar Burton as the team's Nick Fury. That is all.
14-30 MHz Magnetic Loop Antenna
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 05 May 2013 19:41
  14-30 MHz Magnetic Loop Antennaby Dr. Carol F. Milazzo, KP4MD (posted 03 September 2012)E-mail: kp4md@arrl.net
  The small magnetic loop antenna is a compact efficient antenna that is ideal for portable deployment or limited spaces and can be improvised inexpensively. The antenna is essentially a tuned circuit with an inductor formed by a loop of wire measuring less than 1/4 wavelength and resonated to the operating frequency with a capacitor. Since its radiation resistance is low and circulating current large, the loop must be constructed of a low resistance large outer diameter conductor for best efficiency. Typically these loops are built from coaxial cable, hardline, or copper or aluminum tubing. These loops have a very narrow bandwidth, requiring a variable capacitor (and preferably a reduction drive) for tuning to the operating frequency. As a voltage on the order of several thousand volts develop across the capacitor, air variables or vacuum variable capacitors are used. To maintain the lowest possible series circuit resistance, the connections are preferably soldered and a split-stator or "butterfly" capacitor is preferred.
  1. Materials used for the tuning enclosure: 3¼'' x 2½'' x 4½'' craft storage box from Michael's (2 for $2.99), 1/2" conduit clamp (5/$0.99) and .08" acrylic sheet ($1.99) from Lowe's, and a Jackson Bros. 4511 DAF 6:1 planetary reduction ball drive.
  2. Butterfly capacitor ($5 at swap meet), 19 plates 1.5" diameter, 0.02" plate spacing provided a 12-58 pF tuning range. A piece of the acrylic sheet was cut and drilled with a Dremel tool and mounted to the front of the capacitor.
  3. Another piece of acrylic sheet was cut and drilled to mount the reduction drive needed due to the very sharp tuning of the resonance point. Planetary ball drives are available through The Xtal Society and MFJ Enterprises. An angle bracket was attached to mount the assembly inside the tuning enclosure.
  4. The assembled tuning enclosure. The shell of a SO-239 connector was soldered with 8 AWG stranded copper wire to each stator of the butterfly capacitor. The center pins and the capacitor rotor were left unconnected. The NE-2 neon lamp serves as a resonance indicator. Both leads of the lamp are soldered together to only one of the stator sections. The lamp is in the air about an inch away from the other stator section.
  5. Schematic diagram of ferrite toroid core feed Magnetic Loop Antenna with variable transformer ratio. As described by G4FON on http://www.g4fon.net/MagLoopTwo.htm2, a 3 position switch was wired to vary the transformer ratio, selecting taps at either 5, 7 or 8 turns to achieve the lowest SWR on each frequency band.
  6. A wide-spaced 8-turn coil of 14 AWG solid copper wire was wound on an FT140-43 ferrite toroid core threaded over the loop wire (a 112 inch length of RG-8A/U coaxial cable terminated in PL-259 connectors). Taps would later be soldered on the 5th and 7th turns after mounting in the coupling enclosure. Spreading the coil turns over the full circumference of the core improves coupling, antenna Q and radiated field strength.
  7. A view of the bottom of the coupling enclosure showing the 3 position switch and BNC connector. This switch was salvaged from a defunct blow dryer.
  8. The magnetic loop antenna assembled on a 5 foot length of 1/2 inch PVC conduit and mounted on a tripod. The 112 inch loop of RG-8A/U cable is attached to the SO-239's on the tuning enclosure. The transmission line is RG-58/U coaxial cable coiled into 2 turns threaded through ferrite cores to form a choke balun at the feed point. The capacitor is adjusted using a vinyl mini-blind wand attached to the shaft of the reduction drive.
  9. A close-up view of the tuning enclosure with the NE-2 neon lamp glowing at resonance. The tuning range of this capacitor allowed operation from slightly below 14 MHz to above 30 MHz. Attaching a 150 pF fixed capacitor in parallel across the butterfly capacitor allowed tuning over the 7 MHz band. A 47 pF capacitor in parallel allowed operation on the 10.1 MHz band.
  10. The capacitor is first adjusted for maximum received noise on the operating frequency, then fine tuned for lowest SWR while transmitting. Tuning for maximum brightness on the the neon lamp coincided with maximum deflection of the field strength meter and was sufficiently close to minimum SWR.
  11. A view of the coupling enclosure on the assembled antenna. The 3 position slide switch selects 5, 7 or 8 turns of the primary winding on the ferrite toroid core. SWR was 1.1:1 or better at resonance. Best match occurred with the 5 turn tap on 25-28 MHz, the 7 turn tap on 21-25 MHz and the full 8 turns on 14-21 MHz. There was no perceptible heating of the core at 20 watts transmitted power. Higher power level was not used as it would exceed the capacitor voltage rating.
  12. A test run of the magnetic loop antenna using 5 watt WSPR transmissions with a FLEX-1500 on 14 MHz yielded these confirmations of reception and transmission with Japan, Hawaii, Venezuela, Canada and the U.S. between 2226 UTC 01 JAN and 0356 UTC 02 JAN 2012.
  REFERENCESMagnetic Loop Antenna for 80-20 Meters, Doerenberg, F, N4SPPPortable Magnetic Loop Antenna Version Two, Goff, R, G4FONSmall High Efficiency Loop Antennas, Hart, T, W5QJRSmall Transmitting Loop Antennas, Yates, S, AA5TBA Universal HF Magnetic Loop NEC Model, Milazzo, C, KP4MDMagnetic Loop Antenna Project, River City Amateur Radio Communications SocietyLINKSPhoto AlbumMagnetic Loop Antenna Club ProjectMagnetic Loop Antenna Yahoo GroupReturn to KP4MD Home Page
Darrell Issa says there was 'clearly a political decision' regarding Benghazi talking points [video]
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Sun, 05 May 2013 16:30
  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa revealed startling new details about Benghazi this morning on CBS' ''Face the Nation.''
  Here are some of the highlights from what Issa had to say:
  Additionally, Issa revealed some of the testimony from Benghazi whistle-blower Greg Hicks, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya.
  Here's the entire segment:
  As the truth about an attack that left four Americans dead in Libya is continually pursued through Congressional hearings, Twitchy will be all over it.
  Related:
  Report: Two new witnesses to testify at Benghazi hearing
Art Platform Raises the Art Bar at Barker Hangar : Cartwheel Art
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 05 May 2013 09:26
  Posted by Lisa Derrick on October 1, 2012 in Collecting & Collectors, Events, Show & Event Coverage
  Say Los Angeles, and people think traffic and celebrities. This weekend screw Carmageddon with its closure of the 405 Freeway''Art Platform is here bringing in stars and ingenues of the art world. Some of the biggest, established names in art along with exciting newer artists, emerging artists, alternative artists, and up-and-comers are on exhibit at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar.
  If one gallery at Art Platform had to sum up the trajectory of avant-garde art over the past century, that would be Denis Bloch where Rene Magritte, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauchenberg and Andy Warhol share space with Mr. Brainwash and Speedy Graphito. Plus Bloch' s got some Keith Haring and Damien Hirst thrown up for good measure. Very all star.
  Frank Lloyd hung a large, pale pink sparkling luminescent acrylic dome from the late Cool School artist Craig Kauffman, whose last shows were at that gallery, with a posthumous exhibition on the way, juxtaposing Cindy Kolodziejski's mixed media installation of dozens of small pieces which included ceramic breasts, drawings on velum, hand-painted children's games, clowns, devils, insects and chickens.
  Chickens are gaining momentum in high art. While they aren't quite the equivalent of the octopus seen in pop culture''so ubiquitous are the cephaelopods they on coffee mugs and tee shirts as well as in galleries''poultry is making its place in portraiture. Kolodziejski, who keeps chickens, featured five pieces focusing on our feathered friends/food, while at Amstel Gallery, Belgian conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen's Fame Portraits, part of his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, gave fowl a gravitas long overdue. Vanmechelen breeds chickens as part of his conceptual project and has over 1,200 birds at home.
  Based in Amsterdam, Amstel focused on Dutch and Belgian artists for their foray at Art Platform. Agniet Snoep's photography clearly carries on the tradition of Dutch still lifes and vanitas paintings, while Micky Hoogendijk clearly lays out the Dutch embrace of mortality in her portrait of Austin Chronicle's fashion and society editor Stephen MacMillan Moser, Death Becomes Her.
  There was an international contingent throughout Art Platform. Artra Curatorial Co/LabFair in conjunction with Los Angeles Art Resources and Art Platform created an art fair within an art fair for alternative spaces, non-profit art institutions and independent art initiatives with close to twenty alternative artists from all over the world, while Australia, China and Turkey delivered solid artists in their own spaces.
  A major standout: Rachel Lee Hovnanian's Cafe 2012 and Gates of Narcissus Metal Panels 2012 two interrelated installations. Cafe is simply that: A Texas cafe called Mud Pie, an installation with a coffee shop counter, two waitresses, and menu. On the counter sits a plaster mud pie surrounded with with cast metal narcissus flowers. The waitresses, with name tags @Cafewaitress, interact with Southern charm, serving edible bits from the menu; the pastoral scene in the windows never changes. A video loop shows a young man staring into cafe. On one wall hangs a piece from Gates of Narcissus Metal Panels, with the same metal flowers found on the pie plate. Mud pies are fake, we cannot eat them. The food in the cafe is real, but unlike any food we know. Are we real when we are online? More of Hovnanian Gates of Narcissus hang at Leila Heller Gallery, huge shimmering textured, metal flakes fluttering over jagged edges and the blooms of narcissus.
  Marc Trujillo's newest work hangs across Cafe 2012 unwittingly and fittingly because Trujillo, who received a Guggenheim and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, deals with spaces that are familiar yet put us off center; we know that location, yet in his renderings the locations''a fast food restaurant, a theater, a mega-mart, an airport lounge become disconnected through deja-vu.
  CARTWHEEL will be having more coverage later today and throughout the week.
  Dennis Bloch Fine Arts
  Mr. Brainwash at Denis Bloch
  Speedy Graphito at Denis Bloch
  Craig Kauffman
  Cindy Kolodziejski installation
  Kolodziejski's chickens
  Kolodziejski's chicken
  Koen Vanmechelen, Fame Portraits
  Koen Vanmechelen, Fame Portraits
  Snoep's photographic take on vanitas
  Agniet Snoep
  Death Becomes Her: The model, portrait and artist
  Rachel Hovnanian, Cafe
  Mud pie is not served at the Mud Pie Cafe, it can only be viewed.
  Marc Trujillo
  One of Trujillo's newer works hangs in the VIP lounge
National Institute of Mental Health abandoning the DSM Mind Hacks
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 05 May 2013 08:44
  In a potentially seismic move, the National Institute of Mental Health '' the world's biggest mental health research funder, has announced only two weeks before the launch of the DSM-5 diagnostic manual that it will be ''re-orienting its research away from DSM categories''.
  In the announcement, NIMH Director Thomas Insel says the DSM lacks validity and that ''patients with mental disorders deserve better''.
  This is something that will make very uncomfortable reading for the American Psychiatric Association as they trumpet what they claim is the 'future of psychiatric diagnosis' only two weeks before it hits the shelves.
  As a result the NIMH will now be preferentially funding research that does not stick to DSM categories:
  Going forward, we will be supporting research projects that look across current categories '' or sub-divide current categories '' to begin to develop a better system. What does this mean for applicants? Clinical trials might study all patients in a mood clinic rather than those meeting strict major depressive disorder criteria. Studies of biomarkers for ''depression'' might begin by looking across many disorders with anhedonia or emotional appraisal bias or psychomotor retardation to understand the circuitry underlying these symptoms. What does this mean for patients? We are committed to new and better treatments, but we feel this will only happen by developing a more precise diagnostic system.
  As an alternative approach, Insel suggests the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, which aims to uncover what it sees as the 'component parts' of psychological dysregulation by understanding difficulties in terms of cognitive, neural and genetic differences.
  For example, difficulties with regulating the arousal system might be equally as involved in generating anxiety in PTSD as generating manic states in bipolar disorder.
  Of course, this 'component part' approach is already a large part of mental health research but the RDoC project aims to combine this into a system that allows these to be mapped out and integrated.
  It's worth saying that this won't be changing how psychiatrists treat their patients any time soon. DSM-style disorders will still be the order of the day, not least because a great deal of the evidence for the effectiveness of medication is based on giving people standard diagnoses.
  It is also true to say that RDoC is currently little more than a plan at the moment '' a bit like the Mars mission: you can see how it would be feasible but actually getting there seems a long way off. In fact, until now, the RDoC project has largely been considered to be an experimental project in thinking up alternative approaches.
  The project was partly thought to be radical because it has many similarities to the approach taken by scientific critics of mainstream psychiatry who have argued for a symptom-based approach to understanding mental health difficulties that has often been rejected by the 'diagnoses represent distinct diseases' camp.
  The NIMH has often been one of the most staunch supporters of the latter view, so the fact that it has put the RDoC front and centre is not only a slap in the face for the American Psychiatric Association and the DSM, it also heralds a massive change in how we might think of mental disorders in decades to come.
  Link to NIMH announcement 'Transforming Diagnosis'.