DSB gets sassy

From CS Monitor – US Defense Department confirmed the contents of a report by the Defense Science Board that is highly critical of the administration’s efforts in the war on terror and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.

More tests show we have harmful chemicals from rocket fuel in our milk and lettuce.

Inhaling toxic dust from the World Trade Center disaster on 11 September 2001 has damaged some rescue workers’ lungs more than years of smoking

Haha, I love it – Plant watered by Home Depot’s share values

See Chris. See Chris Consume.

I hope everyone had a good turkey/tofurkey day.

I took the leap. A Fuji Film F810 is being shipped to me. It was pricey ($380) compared to the 550 (same lens and digital chip, 250$ after rebates). But I put a pretty high priority on being able to pocket the camera. The F810 is not as small as my easily pocketed Dimage XT, but I think the gains are worth the extra size (great wide lens, 4x optical zoom, fast startup & focus, AF lamp, 6mp native/12mp interpol, lots of manual options, USB2, and a travel charger). The interesting thing about the camera is that it has a wide screen shooting mode & lcd. Doesn’t make much difference, as it is an internal crop, but it might be nice for visualization.

Interesting news: Paralyzed woman walks again after stem cell therapy

Russian archaeologists have announced that they have found the remains of a 4,000-year-old structure that they compare to England’s Stonehenge.

Your biomimicry of the day: Airplane wings that change shape like a bird’s have scales like a fish

Scientific experiments claiming that distant intercessory prayer produces salubrious effects are deeply flawed

Not sure if this works, but it might be worth a try: iPod – restore and maximize battery life

USD

Hopefully they realized that this idea was insane: Bush denied nuclear bunker-buster funds

More privacy issue super happy fun time: Airlines Cough Up Passenger Data

The US dollar continues to drop. Snow is singing the strong dollar song, but others arent buying it. Some say it will just be higher inflation and interest rates, others are a lot more alarmist.

ZAP got the green light to import the 60-mpg smartcars in U.S. – Smart USA only had plans to sell the SUV version.

The Aireo2 looks pretty snazzy, but I wonder what the battery life will be with the wifi on.

Iron Mountain

Anna, Pete, Paul, and myself hiked up Iron Mountain in Poway. It was a great hike, and a terrific view from the top. Our bodies did better than expected, as we have been slack on exercising for the past 3 weeks. We will have to try out some more local trails to get up to speed.

Anna and I tried out a lot of the gear we would be wearing and using in Peru; all of it worked quite well. If you find Smartwool stuff on sale, get it. It is heavier than poly tech stuff, but feels nice and doesn’t get stinky. I am really happy with my socks, tshirt and boxers. We both really like the Mountainsmith Ghost and Wraith packs. They are really lightweight and comfortable.

Bush says he stands for a strong dollar, but it is pretty clean that everyone else thinks the US sees a lower dollar as inevitable. It also might bring the Euros in to help negotiate with China over its yuan peg to the dollar. “The truth is that the U.S. fiscal and monetary excesses, which have been essential to keeping the global economy afloat in recent years, are no longer tolerated in the foreign-exchange markets” More at the CS Monitor.

Lately, the drug war has taken a back seat to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it’s still being fought, and statistically, at least, it’s being won. Yet behind the numbers, the drug war is changing – into a terror war of its own. And the success of that fight is harder to quantify.

Story on Salon: Privatization follies. Halliburton fraud. IRS tax-collection shenanigans. Voting-machine madness. There’s got to be a better way.

Damn, that’s cool: Make your own Altoids mp3 player

Not a user of it myself, but you can force the Google desktop search to check out other file types.