US spy planes flew jamming missions over the Colombian jungle during the final moments of the hostage rescue, jamming the radios as FARC commanders tried to communicate with their superiors, so says the UK Telegraph newspaper. The hostage keeper tried of four separate occasions to reach their commanders, but their calls were jammed and intercepted by US intelligence contractors in Colombia.
You know what, there are no updates. Not really. Lots of speculation, and rumors of previous ransom payments five or six years ago, but there is a bit more hype than fact right now. The original story is still out there from the Swiss Radio, but as far as any proof or any other claims (i.e. what bank, who did the transfer, etc) there is pretty much nothing.
So for now, the story is either FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) planted by someone who cannot accept that this was actually a military mission, or filed away in the ‘we may never know’ column.
Nice audio interview about the ransom can be found here.
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Yet another ‘honor killing’ is being reported, this time in the US.
Why are they called honor killings? It’s is as if the media is trying to justify the killing in some way, implying that yes, there was a killing, but it was for honor.
Perhaps the media needs to re-examine itself and consider calling these ‘dishonor killings’, implying that there is dishonor in the killing itself.
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for the new Apple iPhone 3G given the obscene fees Rogers is demanding.
Canadian Apple Retail stores won’t be selling the new 3G touchscreen phones come Friday, representatives for the Cupertino-based company said during a private conference call on Monday evening. Instead, it will be up to Rogers and its partner Fido to lock subscribers into steep 3-year contracts that require a minimum monthly payment of $60 for just 150 minutes, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data.
You’d kind of think they would have talked about rates before they did the deal, no?
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A bit of a row is brewing in Germany between the pro-Obama Berlin city government and the more cautious Federal Government of Andrea Merkel. Obama wants to visit Berlin and speak where JFK and Reagan spoke, in front of the famous Brandenburg gate. Merkel and the government are saying ‘no dice’ as they feel it would give a German stamp of approval to the Obama candidacy.
What will final transpire? Wait and see.
More here:
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A death ray in a C-130. Watch out.
ST. LOUIS, May 19, 2008 – The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has fired a high-energy chemical laser aboard a C-130H aircraft in ground tests for the first time, achieving a key milestone for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program.
The successful laser firing occurred May 13 at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
“First firing of the high-energy laser aboard the ATL aircraft shows that the program continues to make good progress toward giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.
After conducting a series of additional laser tests on the ground and in the air, the program will fire the chemical laser in-flight at mission-representative ground targets. The test team will fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through the aircraft’s belly.
“Later this year, we will fire the laser in-flight at ground targets, demonstrating the military utility of this transformational directed energy weapon,” Fancher said.
Last year, the high-energy laser concluded laboratory testing at Kirtland, demonstrating reliable operations in more than 50 firings.
ATL, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations. Boeing’s ATL industry team includes L-3 Communications/Brashear, which made the laser turret, and HYTEC Inc., which made various structural elements of the weapon system.
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This Cardinal has been flying into my windows repeatedly for four days now. I’m not sure why. Every few minutes. SMACK-SMACK-SMACK.
I’m tempted to catch him and take him for a ride somewhere so he’ll give me some peace.
The New York Times wrote about this today as well. ]]>
Random photos of Berlin and Potsdam
Originally uploaded by penguinsix
Oh boy. Just what we need in that region. Let’s throw gasoline on stirred up bees and push them out of the frying pan and into the fire. (Yeah, it takes that many metaphors to summarize this one)
If true, that’s just a level of ‘not thinking’ that goes beyond any level of stupidity every seen.
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