Random Thought

The biggest irony about it all is that it ended up with getting a lot of politicians and others who don't usually agree rallying together against terrorism in Paris.The Wall Street Journal has a photo of everyone from Netanahyu to Merkel to Abbas all joining hands in a march against Terrorism.Probably the first time that Abbas and Netanahyu have agreed on anything.

It's because none of them holds a speech that's why.
It's a different story if they talk.

On the ISS, the US department had to be evacuated today due to toxic gas leaking. But it appears to be a false alarm. It's still not certain yet, though.

Japan has passed it's new budget of $814 billion... Abenomics continues. They also have a record military budget, a new military space policy, as well as coercing closer cooperation with Australia... basically more military & defense.

Now, a pro-North activist has been arrested in South Korea. It could be a crackdown on spies especially due to the recent hacking of Japanese and SKoreans. They also are working on changing the personal IDs that have turned out to be flawed and prone to ID-theft.

Computer judges a human's character better than family, friends, and spouse
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30775401
Well, it's all about profiling so of course it's better than any layman.

Humans are too subjective especially about relatives,is probably the reason.

Only a month now until Spring Training gets under way and we're still not even to the Superbowl!

The governor of Washington State is talking about making the tax system fairer by raising more taxes on the 1% here,which means we are probably even further from getting a new NBA team in Seattle.

Still the NBA Shop has a lot of old Sonics gear available such as hoodies and jerseys and caps.

Woke up today with what I felt was a charlie horse in my left leg.Still hurts like heck but settling down(I hope).

Didn't get the paper today because the roads weren't plowed yet.

Well, a few days ago I also seem to have twisted my left arm while sleeping. It still hurts when I move it into a certain position or twist it a bit. I dunno how it happened as this is the first time.

Right now the threat level in Europe is very high as there aren't many countries left without an incident. And we all know the rival groups need promotions. Belgium and Germany are tracking down everyone as a precaution. But some countries are keeping things calm which makes them perfect targets.

Some "hackers" have released protocols from turkish intelligence (MIT) saying that MIT supplied ISIS & Al-Queda.
https://twitter.com/FGunay1/status/555083439066869761

Nothing new imho. Last year on 19. January 2014, turkish police in Adana province searched 3 trucks on their way to Syria. Attorney Aziz Takci usigned the search warrant. And as I said long ago they all got fired. Actually, everyone eagerly working in anti-terror got fired by now and were replaced by sympathizers.
http://ekurd.net/turkeys-intelligence-service-mit-shipped-weapons-to-al-qaeda-military-says-2015-01-16
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html
And before that

Now, that things got critical a major information war is going to start.

Even thought the war in the Ukraine is still going on as if nothing changed we will be hearing steadily less about it. Not to mention the other rest of the world where thousands die.

-------------
Google and MS are fighting it out with revealing each others software weaknesses.
Heh. Samsung recently released their new smartphone with the free Tizen OS in india for just ~$92 USD. No doubt free open source/indie software is getting more attention by companies.

The Beagle 2 Mars lander is finally found and high resolution images show it's intact.
However, it's only partially deployed its solar panels, hence, the antenna never got out.

It's Martin Luther King day!

It seems the investigators will release a preliminary report on the AirAsia plane next week (28th). This will be interesting. They say the pilots were too busy to report anything over the radio... I don't see a problem, though.

Looks like there's major fighting going on over the airport in the Ukraine. There's virtually nothing unscathed there. It's a wonder people are still there.

The BBC is reporting on the hack on the F35
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30875442
But frankly that news (refers to) dates back from 2009 so what the?

I noticed these days Japan's news are full of murders and fatal accidents.

Contrary, it seems Ebola is going to be under control soon (in a few months). If nothing new breaks out in the later half of the year that's good progress.

I wonder what King would have thought of this new crops of Civil Rights leaders.

They had a blurb in the paper today where a pundit associated with Fox News Channel had to walk back a comment about Birmingham,England being a majority Moslem city.

Well everyone here is all excited about the big come from behind win against the Packers yesterday.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Seahawks locker room at the half just to hear the uncensored version of what was said there that got them finally motivated.

I have to admit that there are nights when I feel like giving up on watching anime raw and go back to the subs.But I also remember that I can't get anywhere by just giving up so easily,it do take time and
effort.Also slowly but surely things are getting where I want to be.I just need patience and keep at it.

This is the time for Malcome X!

Looks like the rebels have taken the airport in the Ukraine. Well, it was pretty much shot up, hence, no place left to fight or take cover.

These days a lot is going on behind the scene that don't make it to mainstream media...like the real reason behind the recent currency downfall of the Euro.

Now that Abe has stepped on a bad guy's mine I bet Japan will see trouble soon.

I read just today that the mother of one of the hostages is asking for the Japanese government to do something.Her son ironically went over there to see if he could help free the other hostage.

The mayor of Seattle met with both Commissioners of both the NHL and NBA to see about getting
both leagues to come to Seattle.It was during the Conference of Mayors of NYC.

Looks like "Deflate-gate" is adding up to be just a lot of hot air.Very few people think it amounts to much.Though it has taken off the focus of whether or not the Seahawks can win another Superbowl
and on whether or not the Patriots can actually play a game without cheating or being accused of it.

In any case just a few weeks more to Spring Training.

The deadline already passed yesterday. I doubt there's any hope.
Japan has been keeping to all this time and out of trouble all this time. It's nearly the most peaceful country in the world. But with the recent conflict with China Japan obviously realized they got not support from anyone. Hence, Abe's policy of nationalism + international involvements. He should have taken more precaution than just jumping into action. Now, this is gonna be a major political incident for him. Not to mention when an attacks happens on Japan's soil. They don't have much security other than their tight control on immigration/visa.

"Deflate-gate" ...well, it's a media show or however you call it. It's all show these days just look at the WWE. The problem things might be close to fixing games. Just as we see happening in the soccer or horse racing or the common wealth games or even olympics. Each a few hundreds of billions business.

Thanks to my connections with humanitarian orgs I got some new first hand amazing/interesting life stories around the world again. But can't tell yall any as lives depend on them.

In contrast to what's been happening:Ernie 'Mr.Cub' Banks died on Friday at the age of 83.Preliminary
examination appears to have been a heart attack.
A real Sportsman and Gentleman.

Well, the new Greek government is up and running at breakneck speed. This will be interesting economically.

There has been a breakthrough in measuring the universe and the answer is : it's (virtually) infinite.
To get into the matter read this.
http://galacticinteractions.scientopia.org/2012/02/27/the-minimum-size-of-the-whole-universe/
It's not explaining everything well but it has most topics/details covered.

Edit:
Some major news on planet hunting:
A planet with a gigantic ring system larger than Saturn!
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31001936
Ancient system with planets that are double as old.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-31002598

And some emergency mobilization of some NATO forces are going on...

"To Infinity And Beyond!"...Buzz Lightyear...sorry had to use that quote.

Infinity really depends on your perspective though.The universe probably does have a limit but being human we can't see it because it's way beyond our ken of being to see.

Of interest is that scientists have discovered a butterfly that is both male and female split down the middle.It's one of the species that sex is dictated by wing coloration.

Yeah, unless you got god like powers no living being will ever see or travel throughout the universe regardless of how high technology is.

Asymmetry...so it means it doesn't care about the partner or maybe the environment is confusing it, hmm.

In the Ukraine a major separatist offensive is going on and the government is offering bounties:
2400 Euros for a tank, 6000 Euros for a fighter plane
I dunno if it's the regular rating but seems cheap. If you are a merc I doubt it pays for the "missile" used.

Preliminary report on AirAsia crash
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31034135

the plane ascended sharply before dropping, rising from 32,000ft (9,750m) to 37,400ft within 30 seconds, then dipping back to 32,000ft. The process took about three minutes.

Sounds very like the AirFrance plane. Too high AoA (climbing like a fighter), => losing speed & lift = stalls => falls straight down. Maybe they lost power due to ice just before but didn't check or know it, too. Looks like another avoidable accident due to incompetence.


I had thought François Hollande talked crap, and hence, ruined France even more as predicted but Alexis Tsipras is pure craziness. He reversed all the measures to save Greece and wants to get money from the rich and not pay back the EU. Tsipras rehires government employees... For decades it's common practice in Greece to pay employees a 13th. (or even 14th. in some cases) month's salary aside from the regular bonuses etc. And then there's was no taxing on the rich at all.
Problems:
1. the rich are already gone elsewhere.
2. it's unsocial and unfair to the EU rest.
3. negative budged
Heh. So will they end up selling off everything? Not like anybody would want to buy this economically worthless stuff. It will probably take a decade(s) to get things to work (properly) again, I doubt people would want to spend (more in the meanwhile) and wait until then.

It probably more to do with the Conservative government's unpopularity than anything else.Austerity
may not have been pleasant but they had to do what they did to keep Greece from falling into economic
chaos.Of course once people's free ride was taken away from them they got angry.
I think the same will happen here if we ever wise up and decide to get rid of Welfare or try to reintroduce the Work Fare that Obama dropped.

Interesting when Jamestown was failing Captain Smith introduced a policy of "He who does not work
does not eat"and not only did it make the colony financially viable but also saved it from becoming yet another failed venture in America.

Yeah. Their obvious goal not to pay anything back has already cause a rift. And Spain seems to want to follow the example.

I saw some snow/frost this morning, although, it didn't last any length of time.

Kenji Goto has been killed (probably on friday). Japan has no choice but follow Abe's military and international ambitions. But they are unprepared e.g. they don't have a special force. What they have is more like Lurps (LRRP) or Force Recon, well trained but not specifically prepared or experienced. Only recently they got this counter bad guys unit. I guess we will have to babysit them a bit until they are really up to the task. There probably will be some violence by extremist or nationalistic japanese against foreigners again.

There's been a gathering of astronauts in israel for the sake of promoting space exploration, including the japanese astronaut. There's also an exhibition on security matters. The IDF has issued a warning to members again about using social media where they could be tracked (Facebook) and get kidnapped. The IDF has always had issued a generation recommendation not to join any media at all.

Due to the Ukraine certain NATO forces have been scrambling for the past few days. Since they have moved in "unconventional" ways it was kind of obvious. It's only a show of force.

Edit:
Patriots vs. Seahawks
@Mitsuki: Sorry, your team lost, but it was a good exciting game.

Yeah,Well they are still 1-1 under Wilson and Carroll when it comes to Superbowls.
The pluses that I see are:
*All of the fair weather fans are probably jumping off the Seahawks bandwagon now.
*It gives more incentives to the team for next season to try to get back to the Big Dance.
*Not too many teams have made it to the Superbowl 2 years in a row or can claim to have mutiple
Superbowl visits so it does put them in a position of being one of a very few elite teams.
*Wilson certainly hasn't hurt his Hall of Fame cred.(How many QBs have won a Rose Bowl and then
2 years later took their NFL team to the first of at least 2 Superbowls and have gone 1-1?)
*Spring Training begins in another 2 weeks so most people will have forgotten all about it by then and will be focusing on who'll make it to the World Series this time.
*It was only by 4 points,and if that pass had been caught it would be another story altogether.

I strained my back yesterday getting the garbage ready for today.Stupid!

Been reading Mark Twain's Roughing It this week.
And now I know how we can get all those Terrorists to confess all their sins,all we need do is keep
telling them the story of the stage coach driver Hank Monk and Horace Greeley over and over again!

Apropos book:
Have you seen Rise of ISIS - A Threat We Can't Ignore by Jay Sekulow
It's not complete and doesn't cover the saudis etc. and he pretty much is biased toward OB. I'm not saying he's wrong there but it's a bit unbalanced.

The ESA considers Philae missing and lost but hope that it will activate when the comet gets closer to the sun. Well, I wonder if it will go that well. There might be other problems like parts of the comet breaking, hence, "moving" the lander as it's not anchored. *shrugs*

Pft. The press jumps on something that's been going on for ages since hamas&co.:
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2015/02/02/spanish-call-centers-and-butchers-shops-fund-jihad_1df00c4e-9948-4fd4-8678-be54f2cbac31.html

So we want to arm the Ukraine and (Putin) the separatist say they want to up their army to 100000 men. That's probably more men than there are russian descendants over there. Heh. The problem is Putin doesn't give in at all. I start to wonder if he's in control and knows what's going on or has he reverted to old stubborn communist tactics. Big uncertainty.

Anyway,
Mummified monk in Mongolia 'not dead', say Buddhists
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31125338

well-preserved

=dead
Looks like the austrian mummies.

The way things go it seems the Ukraine is being "coerced" into accepting Putin's demand. Russian TV already "declares" his victory. Heh. Not like they would see anything else.

Japan has taken away a journalist's passport to prevent him from going to Syria. So typical. For the upcoming Tokyo marathon they will send police as runners armed with cameras. As if that would help...

Election in Nigeria has been pushed back due to renewed bad guys offensive last week. Looks more like the government wants to stay longer in power.

Looks like the swiss central bank's recent move to abandon Swiss franc-euro cap
might end soon. The back story is they did it because it's time for them to collect debt from EU members like germany. The franc is higher now, hence, they get more back. Now they are amassing the Euro for when they get back for another gain. They will probably get a new record earning in 2015. Sounds like the gold standard issue and how France paid back in the 60's. Due to the high franc swiss people have been "invading" EU member nation's shops as they pay only 1/3 compared to their own country's prices including tax returns.

On the medical front
the new Ebola wave has already started. we just don't know yet how bad it will be.
Maesles is making the rounds again. On the other hand ex-Pres. Carter is closing on his goal of eradicating the guinea worm.

I sent in my order for Sailor Moon Set 1 and Cardcaptor Sakura Movie today.

We're actually having rain here today.It's been raining since about Friday or Saturday here and a lot of the snow has already disappeared.

China's president is supposed to make his official first trip to the US.Apparently he's been here before but not in the capacity of China's president.

I checked out a book called Origin of the Species by some guy I don't think you've heard of
called Charles Darwin.
I haven't read it in awhile.

Dentist at 8:00 today.So glad that's over.I thought it was next week because I hadn't gotten the usual
notice card in the mail but they called up and said it was today instead.The reason I like to do it so early is because there aren't as many people waiting and I can get it done and do other things.

Ok...so that meeting with Xi was after he had become President of China but it was informal and
that's why I thought it was before.

Cracked at a list of things we get wrong because of tv and movies.Interesting they had that the katana isn't as great a sword as we're led to believe.Turns out it's rather brittle and you have to use
it a certain way after a lot of training or it'll break.
Wonder why if that's the reason you see anime characters using more Western style swords like
claymores.

mitsuki lover wrote:Interesting they had that the katana isn't as great a sword as we're led to believe.Turns out it's rather brittle and you have to use
it a certain way after a lot of training or it'll break.
Wonder why if that's the reason you see anime characters using more Western style swords like
claymores.

I could be wrong but
If you saw this from a certain test, that was a biased test. Notice there's not test of claymore on claymore or Katana on Katana. That would have revealed the real difference.
For one the Claymore is heavier (2-300 grams), has more metal and is broader. The Katana is not brittle it's tough it doesn't break but it bends. That's the basic of it's creation and the many layers (up to 100k compared to 400). By having a curvature and bending it's tenacious in cutting and pressing on into the flesh. The curvature means it has a long cutting path, hence, it enhances the cutting force. That is using the same force per length on a longer path gives a large resulting overall work. Basic physics. That's why it's more versatile than a straight sword.
The claymore on the other hander and harder in material science = more brittle.
The Katana cannot cut it because it's tough=softer. But if you use another claymore on claymore it would break.

Now, Jon Stewart is leaving, too. Stephen Colbert is already onto the late show. Gonna miss the fights among them.

So the captain of the Costa Concordia got 16 years for manslaughter. I guess that's the end of his career.

Jeb Bush deletes leaked personal data. Well, do people really consider him for President... It seems Hillary is serious going for it, though.

Anyway, Abe already is expanding Japan's affiliation with countries in the fight. The government also decided to beef up security measures at foreign japanese schools. Also a massive military campaign has started to recruit personnel. AKB49 is doing the ads, too. Paruparu (Salt) is among them. Of course Abe has held a feisty speech on National Foundation Day. All toward military.

You have to take in to account the fact that I did say I found that bit about the katana on Cracked so
you do have to take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah,never did watch The Daily Show but Jon Stewart,as far as I know,was supposed to be a bit of a stickler for getting the facts right even though it was a comedy show on Comedy Central.
He loved screwing with Fox News,especially Bill O'Reilly.

I'm back to the neverending task of re-writing my genealogy.
I'm trying to get it where it's to the extent that it's at least 80% accurate and can pass muster.

Nearly forgot the new poll at Rightstuf is a Valentine's Day one:vote for
Utena and Anthy!