January 2011
7 posts
WatchCubesat
“If the experiments prove successful, scientists are hoping to be able to launch...”
– Japanese scientists seek to harness solar power in space - Telegraph
Self-help books may have opposite effect - →
High Economic Cost of Top Students Not Wanting to...
Efforts to help US schools become more effective generally focus on improving the skills of current teachers or keeping the best and ejecting the least effective ones. The issue of who should actually become teachers has received comparatively little attention. Yet the world’s top-performing systems—in Finland, Singapore, and South Korea—recruit 100 percent of their teaching corps from students...
Military to unleash new system that 'can see...
The Washington Post © January 3, 2011
By Ellen Nakashima
and Craig Whitlock
In ancient times, Gorgon was a mythical Greek creature whose unblinking eyes turned to stone those who beheld them. In modern times, Gorgon may be one of the military’s most valuable new tools.
This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance...
August 2010
1 post
December 2009
19 posts
Basics of Space Flight →
“With demanding this money, developing countries don’t seem to understand what...”
– A hard bargain at Copenhagen » The Comment Factory
“the Laptop of Mass Destruction (LMD) isn’t embedded with a chip that can be...”
– Laptop of Mass Destruction: Programmed to Explode — or Implode? « Nukes and Other WMD
Key Issues: Ethics: Issues: The Nuclear Crucible:... →
In the realm of international law versus political expediency and technological justification/rationalization, the human memory can be short. Historical memory, however, recalls us to the Declaration of St. Petersburg. The declaration was the result of a conference of European military officers who met to take action on a new type of bullet that expanded on entry into the body, causing painful...
“Arrowhead Global Solutions, Inc
Founder: Mary Ann Elliot
...”
– Online Journal of Space Communication
“Churchill saw his role as countering the military’s tendency to stick with...”
– Calling the Shots: Should Politicians or Generals Run Our Wars? | Foreign Affairs
“In his important new book, Supreme Command, Eliot Cohen describes all this as...”
– Calling the Shots: Should Politicians or Generals Run Our Wars? | Foreign Affairs
Nuclear Exchange: Does Washington Really Have (or... →
Response to: The Rise of U.S. Nuclear Primacy
Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press
For four decades, relations among the major nuclear powers have been shaped by their common vulnerability, a condition known as mutual assured destruction. But with the U.S. arsenal growing rapidly while Russia’s decays and China’s stays small, the era of MAD is ending — and the era of U.S. nuclear...
Military Spending Toolkit →
It is evident through commitments governments have made on paper to the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness that the international community recognizes investment in development is necessary to create conditions for sustainable security. Yet in 2006, military spending amounted to $1,204 billion, while Official Development Assistance amounted to less than $80...
“We have noticed some attempts by the Iraqis to use a GPS-jamming system that...”
– armada international - the air, sea and land communities’ publication
John P. Kotter’s best-selling book Leading Change identifies eight elements common to most successfully executed transformations:
Establish a Sense of Urgency. Some internal or external stimuli, either recently introduced or predicted to occur soon, create a threatening change in the operational environment.
Create a Guiding Coalition. The leadership must identify, convert, and align those...
“Trees, plants and vegetation account for only 18% of the land’s carbon...”
–
Scoop:
Speech by Gavin Middleton, Organics Aotearoa NZ
Common Aero Vehicle/Hypersonic Technology Vehicle →
The Common Aero Vehicle was originally conceived as an unmanned spacecraft that would travel at five times the speed of sound, carrying 1,000 pounds of munitions or troops from the US to anywhere in the world within two hours. In 2004, the offensive strike part of the project was cancelled and the Common Aero Vehicle was renamed Hypersonic Technology Vehicle. However, Hypersonic Technology...
GPS & Satellites vital to operation of financial...
Global navigation 2.3
There is an increasingly wide range of applications for satellite-sourced information. This is especially true of the global positioning systems (GPS), which may account for nearly half global spending on satellite services.[3] The best known of these is the US-operated GPS. This is shortly to be joined by the European Galileo, a revamped Russian Glonass and China’s...
Parliament of Australia: Senate: Committees:... →
Space
→
This area of the site contains information on Australian Government activities on space, including space licensing and safety.
New Zealand Nuclear in New Zealand: Attitudes and... →
New Zealand is famously (or notoriously) antinuclear. For many it is a matter of national pride and the stance is seen to bestow a sense of moral virtue (superiority) and the satisfaction of „standing up to the big guy‟. Anti-nuclearism may be the closest thing we have to a state religion, with the 1987 Act our sacred text and David Lange as our first saint. This gives rise to a certain rigidity...
November 2009
96 posts
“The project would give the global scientific community the first practical...”
– NZ rocket launches into space - National - NZ Herald News
Op-Ed Columnist - America vs. The Narrative -... →
In his Cairo speech last June, President Obama effectively built a connection with the Muslim mainstream. Maybe he could spark the debate by asking that same audience this question:
“Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, ‘This is not Islam.’ I believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn’t. You need to tell us what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being...
At This School, It’s Marijuana in Every Class -... →
At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program.
“This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,” said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old...
“With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once...”
– The Safety Net - Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades - Series - NYTimes.com
“Making Space Matter
As commercial prospects in space grow, a niche practice may...”
– Making Space Matter - Magazine - ABA Journal
Space Treaties, Declarations and Principles →
“In January 2007, the Chinese used a projectile from a ballistic missile to...”
– Making Space Matter - Magazine - ABA Journal
Res Communis - Space law blog →
List of National space agencies - Wikipedia, →
http://www.spacelaw.olemiss.edu/library/space/IntOr... →
The Workshop noted that appropriate national space legislation should be a high priority for States involved in space activities.
National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space... →
Mark J. Sundahl - The Duty to Rescue Space Tourists and Return Private Spacecraft
Supplements:
1968 - Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space
Res. 1962 (XVII) Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space (1963)
ST/SPACE/11/Rev.2/Add.2 - Status of...
Obama: The Political Scene: Making It : The New... →
Barack Obama on the South Side during his first campaign, for the State Senate. An outsider in Chicago’s system, he was meticulous about constructing his own political identity and coalition. “These old nationalist guys start beating a drum—probably not the right metaphor—about how Barack should let this elder back in and how seniority’s important,” Burns said But, almost as fast as the threat to...
Blair 'knew Saddam did not have WMD before war... →
Intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have access to weapons of mass destruction was received by the Government ten days before Tony Blair ordered the invasion of Iraq, the inquiry into the war was told yesterday.
Inspectors in Iraq had also told the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that they believed that Saddam might not have chemical and biological weapons. But with British and US troops...
The warmist conspiracy: the emails that most damn... →
“(In 1 Samuel 15:3, the Lord orders a mass slaughter of the Amalekite tribe: “Now...”
– Op-Ed Columnist - The Religious Wars - NYTimes.com
The Black Hat Briefings have become the biggest... →
HP researchers develop browser-based darknet |... →
The global warming conspiracy: its silencing of... →
This time we’ll focus on the sheer thuggery of the “The Team” - how this conspiracy of powerful alarmist scientists tried to drive sceptics and non-allies out of their jobs, and even succeeded.
Here’s three examples:
Example one is the email from Tom Wigley to IPCC author Timothy Carter about the Climate Research journal, then edited by sceptic Chris de Freitas:
PS Re CR, I do not know the...
““Land based primary industry generates 64 percent of New Zealand’s export...”
–
Scoop:
Farmers Out Of ETS ‘Faster Than A Rat Up A Drain’
White paper orders huge military build-up | The... →
KEVIN Rudd is set to announce Australia’s biggest military build-up since World War II, led by a multi-billion-dollar investment in maritime defence, including 100 new F-35 fighters, a doubling of the submarine fleet, and powerful new surface warships. The new defence white paper will outline plans for a fundamental shake-up of Australia’s defence organisation to ensure that the...
The Role of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand in... →
The defence dialogue with new regional states could profitably be deepened and expanded upon. In tandem with this it would be useful too if New Zealand could further its engagement with ASEAN in the defence arena. Although the idea seems to have been dropped for the time being, the concept of an ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Plus would be an apposite one. New Zealand could, perhaps,...