Stories below the fold

StrategyPage has a summary of the Afghanistan tribal wars (Pashtun vs everyone else) and why things are complicated there.

includes this intriguing snippet: refugees are going home.

November 22, 2019: The number of Afghans returning from Iran has accelerated this year because of the growing poverty and public protests in Iran. So far this year nearly 400,000 have returned. About 60 percent of those returning were illegal migrants in Iran. Another 50,000 returned from Turkey and Pakistan. Over a million Afghans returned in 2018, mainly from Pakistan

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related story: Tetsu Nakamura, a doctor who spent his life helping the Afghan people. Not just as a physician, but building irrigation canals and improving infrastructure of the area.

sigh.

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Is all that Alzheimer's research investigating the wrong thing? and did the "scientific consensus" mean other theories were not funded or published?

Summary: maybe the amyloid and tangles should be seen as the result of a disease, not the cause.

Well, since amyloidosis in other organs is from inflammation (e.g. seen in chronic TB), and one sees Alzheimer's disease in young (age 40) people with Down's syndrome, who have known immune problems, this makes sense.

headsup via Instapundit.
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Having trouble with the internet bad guys spying on you? Try ERASE.

Yes, the internet is dark and full of terrors, but there is a glimmer of hope! I’ve teamed up with DARPA to announce a brand-new program designed to protect you from yourself in this scary information environment: Elective Reversible Amnesia and Social Eradication (ERASE)!

Yes, it's a Satire.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice BEETLEJUICE.

no, not the film: The star:




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The Nutcracker is a traditional Christmas Ballet

(alas, the latest Disney film of the Nutcracker was okay but so visually ugly that I couldn't enjoy the film... I noticed this same visual ugliness in the Wrinkle in Time, making me wonder what's up at Disney's art department.)

So what is the history of nutcrackers?



so turn up your speakers and enjoy:

.................
update:

Crazy Trumpieboy said something about hoping North Korea's threatened "gift" would be a vase

as usual, passed off as a crazy quip in the MSM, and I saw a lot of commentary if Vase is pronounced vaez or vazh, but when I lurked on a conspiracy page I found a commenter who pointed out:

Chinese Charms -- Hidden Meaning of Symbols primaltrek.com/impliedmeaning.html A picture of a bottle or vase can represent the meaning of "peace" or "safety" because both the character for vase (ping 瓶) and that for peace (ping an 平安) are pronounced ping. A vase ( ping 瓶) with flowers from all four seasons ( siji 四季) conveys the hidden meaning of peace for all the year ( sijipingan 四 季 平 安) . primaltrek.com/impliedmeaning.html

I checked, and here is another link (scroll down page).

As 平 píng ‘peace’ sounds the same, the gift of a vase symbolizes a wish for peace. A rare and precious vase 宝瓶 bǎo píng sounds the same as 保平 bǎo píng ‘ensure peace

so was Trumpieboy sending a message to Kim while trolling the MSM? 

Military Stories behind the news

JEDI is going to microsoft

The US Department of Defense recently (25 October) selected the winner of long overdue JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) contract (to) Microsoft (who) will get $10 billion over a 10–year period to provide a single cloud computing network for all online Department of Defense operations...

the conspiracy theory about this is that Trumpieboy was mad at Bezos for his WaPo propaganda against him so Amazon lost the contract. 
And you thought Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories were crazy...

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the choice of a new cloud has to do with the ongoing cyberwar, that was ignored for years despite warnings by experts.

You think the Russian hacking was bad? What about China stealing everything in sight, including trade secrets and my federal OPM file?

I was just a lowly physician working for the feds, so probably not of interest to China, but the breach included military and civilians in security areas.

Austin Bay summarizes here what that last one was important: they now have the personnel files on the US military and US Spies.

In 2015, stupidity and reckless senior leader neglect at the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, led to a data breach that will harm American national security for another 10 years. Hackers stole personnel data on some 4 million federal workers.

StrategyPage.com reported that the theft "included all military personnel" (former and retired). "Since the CIA recruits many ... field agents from former (often retired) SOCOM personnel, many key CIA people were now much less secret," the site said. "Identify theft" like this cripples American intelligence operations.

In August 2017, FBI agents arrested a mainland Chinese citizen involved in the OPM breach. China and other adversaries target the whole of America.

and it's not just spying on military types:

Hackers steal economically valuable knowledge (intellectual property) from businesses, schools and civilian research institutions.

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Spacex new spaceship blew up. More HERE.

there is a minor war between NASA and SpaceX. if you are interested, google some articles, but this one at Space.com summarizes the David Vs Goliath feud: the nimble upstart kid vs the slow moving behemoth.

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StrategyPage podcast on broken ships. MP3

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in old films, you see the Brits giving their sailors a rum ration: but now the US Navy uses coffee. History lesson here.

A single cup of morning coffee is scientifically proven to improve mood, vigilance, and energy levels while also generally improving overall physical performance by 11 percent on average.[i] This caffeinated beverage is the backbone of the maritime profession; it is the item responsible for its strength and fortification throughout its many branches and departments. 

Photo source: US NAVAL HISTORY ORG.

and read the article there about the Sailor's love of coffee, and why you never, never wash your coffee mug.

other stuff being ignored: Facebook, the moon, and of course Mama Mary

the UK is supposed to be "secular", but in the BBC, a recent poll showed  3 in 5 of the population believes in miracles.

but then they quote a PC Catholic priest to say, hey the miracles didn't really occur: people just shared their soggy 2 day old pita bread.

 Which says a lot about the PC politics over morals church there.

or should I say "anti church"?
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 the pope says calm down and pray the rosary.

He's better watch it: a million Pinoys praying the rosary overthrew Marcos, and you don't want to get Mama Mary mad at you. (/s)

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an election is coming up in Mexico, and the Diplomad2.0 discusses.
He notes Mexico's traditional anti Americanism, and says learn about their revolution to find out why.

Mike Duncan is podcasting the Mexican Revolution on his Revolutions podcast, so go and download some history.

related item: from PhysOrg: BP reached a settlement with Mexico after the 2010 Deepwater  spill.

According to PODER, a corporate transparency group, BP secretly negotiated to pay Mexico $25.5 million—a fraction what it paid in the United States—even as it invested hundreds of millions in President Enrique Pena Nieto's prized project, the reopening of the Mexican energy sector to foreign firms. 

Gee, do you think all of that is a coincidence?(/s)

On the other hand, (UKTelegraph) a lot of BP compensation in the US went into corrupt pockets.

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NASA's space plans: to the moon and beyond.

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related item: Marketing the moon:





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First my Federal OPM personnel file, and now this: Facebook hacked.

several scandals have popped up recently. 

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from Drudge:

Tim Berners Lee (who actually invented the internet) has a new plan for a new internet.

This week, Berners-Lee will launch Inrupt, a startup that he has been building, in stealth mode, for the past nine months.

Backed by Glasswing Ventures, its mission is to turbocharge a broader movement afoot, among developers around the world, to decentralize the web and take back power from the forces that have profited from centralizing it. In other words, it’s game on for Facebook, Google, Amazon.

For years now, Berners-Lee and other internet activists have been dreaming of a digital utopia where individuals control their own data and the internet remains free and open. But for Berners-Lee, the time for dreaming is over. “We have to do it now,” he says, displaying an intensity and urgency that is uncharacteristic for this soft-spoken academic. “It’s a historical moment.”

Ever since revelations emerged that Facebook had allowed people’s data to be misused by political operatives, Berners-Lee has felt an imperative to get this digital idyll into the real world. In a post published this weekend, Berners-Lee explains that he is taking a sabbatical from MIT to work full time on Inrupt. The company will be the first major commercial venture built off of Solid, a decentralized web platform he and others at MIT have spent years building.

for later reading: Drudge also linked to WND (right wing) that has a three part series  that interviews the author of Life After Google.

Stories below the fold

fat military recruits meet feminized training methods. what could go wrong? StrategyPage analysis.

the good news? China has similar problems.
more on China HERE.

did you know why Winnie the Pooh is banned in China?



related item: SP has an article and podcast about the world wide threat analysis.

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How to criticize a politician. By Dilbert

a summary of how to morph non facts and rumors into a meme.

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one of the Pope's attack dogs wants to shut down ETWN.

how dare he report the news attack the Pope.

it was about this interview:.....

...
and that was before this inteview with Philip Lawler (later in this newscast at 23:00) who has a new book about the Pope...
 


headsup from Father Z. and CWR has a book review here.

This is not the first time progressive bishops tried to shut down the network, but Mother Angelica stopped them ("I'll blow the damn place up before I let them have it" she exclaimed). But since she died, I guess some figure they can bully the lay board that runs the network.

but this is about letting respected Catholic intellectuals point out that there is a problem, letting ordinary people actually hear why they are worried. (whereas the MSM and the Catholic MSM prefers to dismiss such criticisms as being from alt right kooks.).

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the Emoji movie won the Razzie for the worst film of 2017.

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AlJ on Kuwait's Christians. 264 locals and 900 thousand expats who work there. (total pop est 3.5 million).

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from DavidReneke: Outer space trivia.

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600 computers used to mine bitcoins were stolen in... Iceland!?

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the pampered chickens of Silicon valley.

now there is a push to regulate the practice.

pdf from the CDC: how backyard chickesn could spread bird flu to Humans. webpage here.

some cities in SEAsia have banned urban chickens for this reason.


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technology help for small farms:

drones in farming.

more HERE.

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Important stories below the fold

Why is there a global shortage of Penicillin?

AlJ has a very long and fact filled article that discusses not only the diseases affected, but the problems in modern day pharmacutical businesses

They are actually talking about the long acting shot here:  you can give the long acting shot in the third world (which means you don't have to worry if they take all their pills).

It is commonly used to treat syphilis (including congenital syphilis), strep throat (with it's complication of Rheumatic fever.

Problem: it's on "old" drug so not a lot of profit, and there has been a problem with some Chinese companies who make it... and India is underpriced by the Chinese companies so isn't making a lot of the drug.

The article also discusses the failure of drug companies to develop newer antibiotics.

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Also from AlJ: The Ebola outbreak in the Congo

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from PhysOrg: Can CRISPR save the world?

Only if you allow it to. It is a way to edit genes, as in GM food...

and the aim is to make plants resistant to fungus and other pests. They discuss wheat, and potatoes.

 but actually the big problem right now is Bananas: All bananas have a narrow genone: they don't produce seeds, you have to grow them from another plant...
and much of those produced for export are monoculture.

. In the first world, they are a fruit, no problem, but in parts of Africa and Asia they are a major source of calories.

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I'll have to read up on the latest cyberattack, but I find this interesting:from GlobalVoices: China's computers are involved: half of the affected computers are in China.

Part of the blame is that  students are playing games on the university computers.

but there is also this: A lot of computers there (and in the Philippines for that matter) use pirated versions of windows. Here, you have to watch it when you buy a computer: Often the Windows or other programs you bought look fine, but then you find you can't load upgrades, or you get a notice that you have to buy a real version of the software, which of course is often ignored by people.

Cyberwar for Dummies

...

some of this sounds like the DieHard film where all the infrastructure was shut down by hackers.

Lots more at StrategyPage. Their most recent stuff:

LINK
Russian hackers know where you live

LINK
Americans got lots of stuff on ISIS bad guys because they don't use secure computers..

and China etc. doesn't worry because there is little push back for stealing.

my federal records were among those stolen, and so I now have "insurance" just in case they steal my money.

And of course, this doesn't include the problem that anyone with half a brain can go to our family page on Facebook and find that Lolo graduated from Frostbite Falls High school.

You want something scary? Look at your "history" of searching or viewing and remember someone can find them all.



PBS is due to have a special on it. Since we don't get PBS, and it takes a couple of years for NOVA to get on youtube, it means I will have to illegally download it or try to watch it on a streaming site (which here go on and off thanks to lousy connectivity).

Except there are rumors about that Pacific trade agreement which could stop illegal downloads (which merely means we have to buy new movies, straight from the Chinese pirates, at the Palenke for fifty pesos)

Stuff below the fold

Are Giants beings from outer space, or just very large humans (who just look like giants because everyone else is short)?

Ancient Standard discusses.

Found inside an abnormally long tomb, the man’s height measured 6 feet, 8 inches (202cm)—which would have been gigantic in ancient Rome, where the typical man averaged about 5.5 feet (167cm). For comparison, it’s worth noting that the modern-day “tallest man” is 8 feet, 3 inches high (251 cm).

They discuss if it was due to "giantism" (i.e. pituitary  problems) but it could also be nutrition related: I saw this in my son's home in southern Colombia. They were 5'6", and a little taller than most of the men in the area, but when we went across the border to visit Ecuador, where it was poorer, the average man was only about 5'0"...
Similarly, the children attending high schools (boarding schools) in Zimbabwe tended to be a few inches larger than the local kids who did not, again due to nutrition.

which is why the Romans and Greeks who ate the low fat/low protein "Mediterranean diet" were so short next to the cattle raising barbarians, and American soldiers tended to be smaller than the Native Americans of the plains who hunted.

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Nat Geo has a new film on the Human family presumably a remake of the previous special.
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Dr. Mary Beard notices the eco nannies in L.A.

The hotel I'm in is already a good start -- "environmentally friendly" gone engagingly mad. I mean not just the usual (sensible) notice in the bathroom about using your towel more than once, but also a rather stern list on instructions left on the pillow about refilling your own reusable bottle of water from the tap, and turning off the lights when you are out of the room, etc.
All of this is absolutely right, and it's what I would do anyway ("turn the bloody lights off" having been drummed into me in the womb). But -- counter-suggestibility again --when I see the rules all written down and left on my pillow, even I start to feel like turning the aircon up to maximum, and going out for the day. Or even marking myself out as a self-confessed eco-criminal by prominently displaying the "Daily laundering requested" notice.

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Science news you can use: The heck with Global Warming: beware of Local Warming...

(via Improbable research): caution: put down coffee before watching....link

Geeks One, Drones Zero

From StrategyPage:

July 4, 2012: A group of electronic navigation researchers at a Texas university demonstrated to government officials recently how some UAVs can have their operation disrupted via manipulating the GPS signals the aircraft navigation depends on. Using about a thousand dollars' worth of electronics gear, the researchers demonstrated how the GPS signal manipulation enables one to, in effect, take control of a UAV.

article then goes on to discuss how the military is getting around the problem...