Tuesday 10 April 2012
rigel 7
Monday 9 April 2012
medienecho or leaves of grass
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐, ๐, foreign policy
jabberwocky or orion’s belt
Contemporary imagineering for skies darkened by flocks of autonomous drones is unsettling enough without harking back to vintage visions of the future and premature excitement over the dawning nuclear age, however, an interesting article from Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine that is over two decades old, reflecting on event more distant Cold War sentiments, previsions that sort of same primed grid of surveillance and offense. After America was dissuaded from pursuing the Orion Project and experimentation with nuclear-propelled space craft due to treaties that underscored how potentially catastrophic arming space and accidents in the upper atmosphere could be for all life on Earth. Partially bemoaning the loss to space exploration and the work of researchers and scientists, attention turned to miniaturization and weaponization with the same ram-jet technology engines that would funnel and focus the force of an atomic explosion that would shuttle forward this sort of infernal, eternal ballistic drone.
Die heutige Flugroboter sind schlimm genug, aber in der Vergangenheit vom dem Nuklear Goldener Zeit hat man auch gefรคhrlich Personenpotential. Ein zweiundzwanziger-jรคhriger Beitrag vom Smithsonian Museums (auf Englisch) magazine hatte eine รคhnliche Atmosphรคre die vollautomatisch Todesmaschinerie und weitverbereitet Abdeckung vorhersagen. Vertrรคge und Wagnis hat Amerika vom Experimentieren mit Nuklearantrieb ins Weltall widerraten. Also damit war dieser Forschung nicht umsonst, haben die Wissenschaftler ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf andere Dinge—wie die Bewaffnung. Die gleiche Grundsรคtze kann als die Kraftquelle fรผr einer ewiger Drohne benutzt warden, wie ein Atom-U-Bootflotte. Im Angriff-Modus, es wurde ein Sturtzflug machen und halten tief und langsam unterwegs zu sein. Es wurde ein abgebrannter und strahlender Weg durch feindlichen Gelรคnde bahnen. Glรผcklicherweise wurde keine dieser Prototyp je zustand kam. Hoffenlich wurde aufgrund angebliche Fortschritte in der Technologie zur Kontrolle nieman so wider begeistern.
catagories: ⚛️, ๐ก, ๐ญ, ๐ฅธ, transportation
Friday 6 April 2012
hippety-hoppety
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ✝️, holidays and observances, language
Thursday 5 April 2012
ex cathedra
Via the tremendously brilliant Boing Boing, there is a op-ed piece by Richard Clarke (DE/EN), anti-terrorism czar to the Clinton and Bush II administrations, chairman of the 9/11 Commission and cyber-security authority, that once again demonstrates the boundless work-shopping potential of the hubris and reach of the US Department of Homeland Security.
catagories: ๐, ๐ก, ๐, ๐ฅธ, networking and blogging
Wednesday 4 April 2012
honorarium
A very clever young man from the Netherlands, named Jurre Herman, offered a very elegant solution to help staunch the currency-crisis in the euro zone, which I think deserves more than an honourable mention in the open contest economic contest calling for submissions from all sources. Herman suggests that the Greeks, and probably with wider applicability, revert to using the drachma for day-to-day, internal affairs, buying drachmas from the government at an equitable rate with their euros. The government then can use the euro to pay down the debt. The value of the drachma of course drops precipitously but that again can make industry and the labour force more competitive. For those hording euro or stowing it away overseas, there would be a punitive exchange rate applied. And for those doing business internationally, they would be able to sell their drachma back for euro, at a rate slightly favourable to the government. With some tweaking, I think such a plan might work and perhaps economists and analysts are not the one to dictate what is and is not feasible.
catagories: ๐ช๐บ, ๐ฌ๐ท, ๐, economic policy
kopfgeld
The awkward tension between Switzerland and Germany over emerging taxation treaties, banking reforms and German bounty-hunter tactics has resulted in a legal volley between the two countries, including the arrest-warrants for the offending tax-inspectors, a travel-ban for employees at a major Swiss bank for Germany and harsh language that threatens to undermine any progress on transparency and cooperation struck recently (DE/EN). In February 2010, three German tax-inspectors entered into negotiations with an anonymous former bank executive, perhaps disgruntled, to acquire a data CD pilfered on the executive’s way out, which supposedly contained intelligence on international clients who may or may not have been banking in Switzerland for purposes of tax-evasion (the overwhelming countries and banking systems of choice for tax-dodgers are UK and American parking-spots, despite all the flailing and over-reaching of jurisdiction by Britain and the US) .
catagories: ๐ช๐บ, ๐ฅธ, economic policy, foreign policy, philosophy, Star Wars