Dale Amon gives a quick review of a recent physics paper about generating gravitational pulses. In his words, it “finally moved from physics grad student’s pub time what-if to verifiable laboratory manipulation of gravity“.
In other words, anti-gravity may have just become a real-life (albeit years down the road) possibility.
People have made a big stink over the recent review of US nuclear deployment plans. But I continue to be more worried about Pakistan and India than about our own arsenal. The vast majority of people in the US agree that using nukes isn’t an appealing option, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in Pakistan. And that’s scary.
Once again, the Saudis have pulled a new off a new, and totally revolting, low. Apparently, female modesty is so important to the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice that they would rather 15 school girls burn to death than run outside without their abaya. “Abaya”, by the way, is Saudi speak for the Afghani burqua. And you might remember the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” from the Afghani police organization of the same name.
This is so far over the line that even some Saudis are disgusted by it. I can appreciate the fact that Saudi Arabia is an important ally, but we need to start pressuring them on this one.
The North Koreans who stormed past guards in Beijing and made it into the Spanish Embassy have been granted permission to travel to South Korea. While I’m glad to hear they’ll get to escape their repressive homeland, I had to wonder at these paragraphs from the article:
The group of 25 North Koreans had threatened suicide if they were sent back to the Stalinist state, which has suffered years of drought, floods and fierce winters.
. . . . .
Beijing has quietly given North Korea food to help stave off famine that has stalked the country since the mid-1990s.
It’s amazing how CNN makes it sound like all of North Korea’s troubles are from external forces of nature. Doesn’t anyone over there realize that “hard-line” “Stalinist” government is destroying the country from the inside out? It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that South Korea is on the same peninsula, yet is surviving quite well.