April 22, 2020
April 19, 2020
April 18, 2020
Randall Carlson Podcast Ep026 Comet Atlas, Wickramasinghe & Cosmic Biome...
May 11, 2014
Glenn Greenwald: The explosive day we revealed Edward Snowden's identity to the world
May 4, 2014
Wartoons - The History Club - Scout
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy— the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing Congress and the American people on Dec. 8, 1941. More than 65 years after President Roosevelt’s timeless announcement, it is easy for us to regard America’s entry into World War II as inevitable. But before Roosevelt spoke those words, the average American would have defined himself as determinedly isolationist. If World War I had taught Americans anything, it was that intervention overseas was a waste of lives and resources. The conflict looming in Europe throughout the 1930s was a problem, but not one he saw as his to solve. All that changed on Dec. 7, 1941. With the attack on Pearl Harbor, it became apparent that the United States’ role in the war was to be an active one, and the national state of denial was crushed. America needed a massive propaganda effort to get a rattled public to move to support intervention as quickly as possible, and every branch of media would have to be involved—including the redheaded stepchild of the film industry: the animated cartoon. Golden age of animation
Wartoons - The History Club - Scout
January 25, 2014
Exploding Nuclear Reactors vs Nuclear Weapons
“Aliens’ and your favorite mass media had it wrong. Nuclear Reactors do not explode like Nuclear Weapons for some very good, science based reasons. While still a major concern for a whole host of environmental and long term waste disposal reasons Nuclear Reactors are not really that high on a Terrorists targeting matrix. The attached article by a Penn State student simplifies the argument as much as possible. It is a quick read but essentially it is an Apples and Oranges argument.
Why a Nuclear Reactor Cannot Explode like an Atom Bomb
Jason Denhollander / http://www.personal.psu.edu/jdd5053/blogs/the_den/technical-description.html
Reactors and Atom Bombs
A nuclear reactor is a power plant, that uses nuclear fission to eventually generate electricity.
An atom bomb also uses nuclear fission to generate energy causing an explosion. However, due to
fundamental differences between the two a nuclear reactor cannot explode like an atom bomb. To
understand these differences, it is first important to understand the concept of nuclear fission and
criticality.
Background
Fission
Nuclear fission results when a neutron collides with an atom, causing it to become unstable and
split. Once the atom splits, neutrons are released, along with energy and radiation, this is shown below
in figure 1. In a reactor, the energy released is used to heat water. Eventually once the temperature of
the water is high enough, the water will change to steam. The steam is then forced through a turbine,
which creates electricity. Depending on the speed of the neutrons, a fission can be either a fast fission
or a thermal fission. Thermal fissions pertain to slower moving neutrons.
Figure 1. Fission Reaction
The concept of fission is the heart of the nuclear industry. In a reactor millions of fission
reactions are needed to generate the energy required to heat the water. Causing fissions over and over
again would not be an effective way to do this, instead a chain reaction is used. A fission chain
reaction is a fission reaction that sustains itself. When a neutron collides with an atom, more neutrons
are released. If there is an abundance of atoms, and the neutrons are contained, the neutrons that are
released from the first reaction, will cause more atoms to fission releasing more energy and more
neutrons. The number of neutrons present after each fission is the criticality of the reactor and is
denoted by the multiplication factor k.
The Multiplication Factor and the Six-Factor Formula
The multiplication factor, k, is simply the number of neutrons produced per fission, divided by he number of neutrons lost per fission. The six-factor formula is composed of six factors that when
multiplied together equal k, k = η f ε p PTNL PFNL . Each term represents a different way a neutron can be
lost or gained.
• η - Production Factor. The production factor compares the number of neutrons produced to the
number of neutrons being absorbed. It is dependent on the type of fuel being used.
• f - Thermal Utilization Factor. The thermal utilization factor compares the amount of neutrons
being absorbed by the fuel to the amount of neutrons being absorbed everywhere else.
• ε - Fast Fission Factor. The fast fission factor compares the total amount of fissions to the
amount of thermal fissions.
• p - Resonance Escape Probability. The resonance escape probability is the probability that a
neutron survives the resonances as it slows down from a fast neutron to a thermal neutron.
• PTNL - Thermal Non-leakage Probability. The thermal non-leakage probability is the probability
that a thermal neutron will not leak outside of the core.
• PFNL - Fast Non-leakage Probability. The fast non-leakage probability is the probability that a
fast neutron will not leak outside of the core.
Figure 2. The neutron life cycle
Figure 2 shows the neutron life cycle, which is simply the terms of the six-factor formula. Once
the multiplication factor is determined, the criticality of the reactor can be found.
• k > 1 --> supercritical, more neutrons are being produced than lost.
• k = 1 --> critical, the same amount of neutrons are being produced as lost.
• k < 1 --> subcritical, more neutrons are being lost than produced.
The criticality of a reactor is a crucial design element. A subcritical reactor is useless since it
will be impossible to start a fission chain reaction. While a critical reactor is the most desirable,
reactors are normally designed to be supercritical, and then through the use of moderators, are scaled
back to critical. Now that fission and criticality are understood, it is easy to see the differences between
an atomic bomb and a nuclear reactor.he Differences
There are two main fundamental differences between the design of an atomic bomb, and the
design of a nuclear reactor. One difference is the way the fission reactions are controlled and the
second difference stems from the enrichment of the fuel.
Control of Nuclear Fission
One main difference between the two is that the fission events in a reactor are monitored and
controlled closely. An atom bomb is an uncontrolled fission chain reaction, that releases exorbitant
amounts of energy quickly. The design of a nuclear reactor includes control rods. The control rods are
placed in the core to control the fission reaction. Control rods do this by absorbing neutrons, which
decreases the multiplication factor. The more control rods in the core, the lower the criticality, thus
there will be less neutrons available for fission. An atom bomb is designed to maintain all the neutrons
produced, making it always supercritical.
Enrichment
The second difference between the two is the enrichment of the fuel. Natural uranium, the
uranium found in the earth, cannot be used as a fuel because it is not reactive enough to cause a chain
reaction. This is because natural uranium is composed almost entirely of U
238, which is a relatively
stable element. By enriching it with U235, the uranium becomes more reactive, which increases the
production factor. While both fuel for a reactor and fuel for an atomic bomb are enriched, a reactor's
fuel is only enriched around 4 to 5 percent. Whereas an atomic bomb is enriched to about 90 percent.
This makes the multiplication factor much larger in a bomb than a reactor, which signifies a greater
number of available neutrons. The fuel used in a reactor is not capable of causing an explosion.
Explosions
While a nuclear reactor can never explode like an atomic bomb, an explosion can still occur.
All power plants are a potential site for an explosion, because the fuel used, whether it is coal, uranium,
or natural gas, needs to be energy dense. At coal plants, sparks can set coal dust on fire causing an
explosion. Gas leaks can cause explosions at natural gas plants. Typically at a nuclear reactor, the type
of explosion seen would be a steam explosion. A steam explosion could only occur if the reactor
suffered a meltdown. A meltdown means that due to lack of coolant, or too much fission, the core
becomes so hot that it melts. Due to the intense heat produced, water is turned to steam. Also, the fuel
rods melt, turning them into a liquid. This allows the metal to react with the steam, causing an
explosion.
The destruction at Chernobyl was caused by a steam explosion. Since the turbine feed valves
were closed, the steam in the core had nowhere to go. Then, the pressure in the core did not increase,
causing even more steam to be created. When the reactor core began to meltdown, liquid metal
touched the steam, causing an explosion. The explosion caused the roof of the core to lift off, exposing
the core to air. The air reacted with the graphite moderator in the core, resulting in the production of
carbon monoxide. Since carbon monoxide is flammable, it caught fire due to the extreme heat in the
core. The fire burned for days.
Conclusion
Even during the worst accident in the history of nuclear reactors, an explosion like an
atomic bomb did not occur. This is because the fuel and design of a nuclear reactor do not allow the
fission reaction to become uncontrolled making it impossible for an explosion like an atomic bomb to
occur.
October 5, 2013
Quiet Dumb Guy explains the NSA
We just had a century full of examples of why this sort of governmental behavior is irresponsible and dangerous. Yet people still hear 'If you have nothing to hide..'. Bullshit. Now, I'm not making a direct comparison to the current state of affairs and the Brownshirts or SS but we did fight two World Wars, the Cold War and a dozen armed conflicts over these same issues. Your average American aka the QDG understands the deal, why don't you?
'First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.' - Martin Niemöller
4 Reasons to Stop Freaking Out About the NSA -- powered by Cracked.com
(Via.)
August 25, 2013
Nemisis + Hubris = Maginot Line and Eric Snowden
NSA and FISA Courts + The Patriot Act = Snowden's Internet Gestapo
Tech Crunch has posted an excellent article that precisely describes exactly what happened that led to the end of free speech and the beginnings of "Good Speak" in America 2013. Just how did we go from the shining symbol of freedom and democracy to being afraid of talking in the same room as our xbox Connect? In less than ten years we willingly let the government surveillance juggernaut the NSA not so slowly roll up our right of freedom of speech, assembly and expression into a flag draped package to be stored in perpetuity. Nobody once asked or answered the glaring flaw in allowing the government to look into our metadata, listen to our calls, access our gmails or sift through our dropbox.
All of this data collection looked at the past. Not the future. Predictive analysis of the internet is not possible with today's technology so all the FBI can do is piece together what happened after the fact. Post Incident Forensic Investigation of data is unbelievably easy once you know what to look for that is why the DEA asked for, an got, access to our text messages and voicemail. Preventative or Pro-active enforcement requires talented analysts, lots of processors, great software, access to data and most importantly a set of Key Warnings and Indicators to flag in the system. Pattern and Link Analysis means you need all of the above AND Keystone Datapoints to anchor the sorts and sets of questions called PIR or Priority Intelligence Requirements to drive the assessment and control the collection efforts.
The US Intelligence collection today system was designed, built, managed and maintained by a generation of bureaucrats and political yes men. Its entire purpose and reason for being was the identification, capture and elimination of Osama Bin Laden and roughly 300 of his best friends. Now that Bin Laden is fish food and the rest are scattered in pauper's graves around the world what does this system do now? Like most bureaucracies it continues to churn until it becomes the weirdly familiar company in the movie "Brazil". In that world people die in avalanches of paper and the system never makes a mistake until it does…….. France learned the hard way when Hitler went around the Maginot Line. America learned the hard way when Snowden walked out of the most secure server room in the world with a portable USB hard drive….
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
The Maginot Line: "the 1930s, on the eastern border of France. An impenetrable series of bunkers, tunnels, and garrisons built with the object of preventing a German assault. It worked wonderfully, of course — so wonderfully that the Germans decided they should go around it.
The Maginot Line is what I think of when I hear about efforts to secure electronic communications, generally via increasingly complex encryption schemes. The battle is over, everyone. Believe it or not, we lost! In fact, we were completely routed, so to speak. And yet it seems like all anyone can think of doing is shoring up defenses which hardly came into play in the first place!
PGP? People can barely manage the privacy settings on Facebook, much less a stable of random numbers and the means to deploy them. Zero-knowledge storage? Great until a court orders you to decrypt your own data (in violation of the 5th amendment, likely, but how long until a friendly precedent on that account?). Self-destructing messages? Print screen says hello, at least until someone finds a nice exploit. End to end encryption? Lovely, so you get flagged as suspicious by the NSA and all your data is stored for five years — plenty of time for them to squeeze the keys out of you or a friend (identified by metadata), at which point they breach a whole network of trust. Tor? The feds are watching exit nodes like prohibition gangbusters outside a speakeasy. 256-bit WPA2 keys? If the password isn’t ‘password,’ ‘admin,’ or ‘123456,’ it’s probably written on a post-it note stuck to the goddamn router! Come on!"
(Via.)
October 27, 2012
American Zombie Invasion or Military Take Over?
| CIC Zombie Response Brigade |
Defense analyst Loren Thompson agrees. "The defining characteristics of zombies are that they're unpredictable and resilient. That may be a good way to prepare for what the Pentagon calls asymmetric warfare," Thompson said.
San Diego-based Halo Corp. founded by former military special ops and intelligence personnel has been hosting the annual counterterrorism summit since 2006. The five-day Halo counterterrorism summit is an approved training event by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provide funds to pay for the coursework on everything from the battleground tactics to combat wounds to cybersecurity. The summit has a $1,000 registration fee and runs Oct. 29-Nov 2.
Read more at: Marines, police prep for mock zombie invasion
May 31, 2012
' Bath Salts' Triggering Zombie Rages?
'Miami Cannibal' Victim still alive as his face was eaten.
- Rudy Eugene, 31, tore into victim's face with his teeth and growled Police believe he may have taken 'bath salts,' a potent new drug
- Images have been released of Ronald Poppo, 65, recovering in Miami hospital75 per cent of victim's face chewed off in 'some of the most horrific injuries staff have ever encountered'
- Was still conscious when he was stretchered off to hospitalInvestigators trying to piece together last hours of Eugene's life
January 5, 2012
Zombie Bees, Mind Controlled Animals and Stoned Insects.........ewwww
In a story straight out of the X-Files television show Honey Bees are rapidly shrinking in population around the world. Previously scientists believed a virus that alters the wing sized of the bee may be responsible for "Colony Collapse Disorder". However, new research, triggered by an accidental discovery in California may tell a much broader and very much scarier story in the demise of the common Honey Bee.
A small fly is taking over the body of the Honey Bee and leading it to its death.
http://news.yahoo.com/zombie-fly-parasite-killing-honeybees-230200867.html
While scary and potentially devastating to world agriculture the Honey Bee Zombie is not the first time science has found parasite driven Zombies in nature.
Other Zombiefied critters and a slide show.
Hint, be very careful with cat litter boxes and friendly mice.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=zombie-creatures-parasites
Remember the Truth is out there.........................
Peace Out.
ZombieMIB.com