The Carrington Event

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Wednesday April 01, 2009 · 8:58 AM PDT

2009/04/01 · 08:58

Sadly, no. This has nothing to do with any remake of "Dynasty."

This is related to a tremendous solar "sneeze" that occurred on September 1, 1859 that flung a ball of solar snot, also known as "plasma", so powerful that, beginning less than 24 hours later, communications systems world wide were severely disrupted (1). Considering that all they had back in those days was the telegraph, this seems fairly significant. The plasma eruption itself (more properly called a Coronal Mass Ejection, a term I'll have to remember the next time I have a particularly wet sneeze) was associated with a solar flare that was observed by one of England's foremost solar astronomers, Richard Carrington.

Carrington also reportedly, at that moment, coined the phrase, "Oh, THIS can't be good."

sxwarren

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Tuesday September 09, 2008 · 4:10 PM PDT

2008/09/09 · 16:10

As Magnifico noted in a this diary earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office released its budget/deficit projections and noted that (Newsflash!) "The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course." However, the numbers in their chart, though they ARE formulated the same way they have been for decades, don't really put the deficit in perspective. They project a "record" deficit of $438 billion for FY 2009, but the reality is much, much worse.

sxwarren

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Wednesday January 09, 2008 · 6:42 AM PST

2008/01/09 · 06:42

There are 4,040 delegates to be voting at the National Convention. Of these, 333 are "declared/committed".

Of the 333 declared so far:
CLINTON = 184 (55%)
OBAMA = 78 (23%)
EDWARDS = 52 (16%)
Richardson 19 ( 6%)
Kucinich 1 (0.3%)

"WTF?" Some folks may be thinking. "But Clinton was THIRD in Iowa and only had a (relatively) narrow win in NH! How is this possible??!!"

Ah, yes. Well, the thing is there are "delegates" (that ordinary voters select), and then there are the SUPERDELEGATES, some of whom may well wear tights

and capes, but that's for another diary.

sxwarren

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Wednesday April 04, 2007 · 4:53 AM PDT

2007/04/04 · 04:53

A couple of days ago, I wrote about a serious new vulnerability discovered in Windows related to the way the operating system processes animated cursors - HERE. This issue was sufficiently serious that Microsoft elected to provide a patch "out of cycle", that is to say, before their normal "Patch Tuesday" on April 10th. This special patch was posted last night and some of those folks who have "Automatic Updates" turned on may wake up this morning (as I did) to find their PC rebooted and displaying the following error message:

sxwarren

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Monday April 02, 2007 · 9:29 AM PDT

2007/04/02 · 09:29

It was discovered last week that the way that ALL VERSIONS of Windows process the code for animated cursors is open to attack by malicious code. This vulnerability is now being exploited widely. There is no method, currently, for separately disabling the Windows subsystem that processes cursor animations.

This is a particularly dangerous vulnerability in that it allows malicious code to effectively execute at will and also be injected into every process running on the system, even in Safe Mode.

Be sure to download/install the latest updates to your antivirus software and Windows this week, if these updates are not configured to occur automatically.

sxwarren

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Saturday March 17, 2007 · 8:34 AM PDT

2007/03/17 · 08:34

This from the FDA today, 3/17/07:

Recall of Pet Foods Manufactured by Menu Foods, Inc.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been informed that Menu Foods, Inc., a private-label pet food manufacturer based in Statesville, Ontario, Canada, is recalling all its "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food produced at its facility in Emporia, Kansas between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. The products are sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The recall was prompted by consumer complaints received by the manufacturer and by tasting trials conducted by the manufacturer. There has been a small number of reported instances of cats and dogs in the United States that developed kidney failure after eating the affected product. Ten deaths, one dog and nine cats, have reported at this time. The firm has undertaken extensive testing of the pet food products in question, but to date has been unable to find the source of the problem.

sxwarren

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Saturday February 17, 2007 · 6:50 AM PST

2007/02/17 · 06:50

Well, I have my doubts, but there are several tasty ironies and ominous portents given life in my fevered brain by tha certain report from this morning.

As most here know, on Wednesday, a car bomb was detonated in Zahedan, an eastern Iranian city of about a half-million in the Sistan-Baluchestan province near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. The explosion took out a bus of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, killing 11 and wounding another 30 or so. A "shadowy Sunni militant group", the Waziristan-based Jundallah (Army of God), reportedly claimed responsibility for the Wednesday attack and another, non-fatal detonation in Zahedan on Friday. Jundallah, which apparently emerged only in 2003 as a supposed ethnic Baloch insurgency, is also accused of plotting to assassinate "Sunni and tribal leaders to sow discord and foment conflicts between the Shiite and Sunni citizens in Sistan-Baluchestan province."

But that's not the good part. See below.

Poll

27 votes Show Results

I beleive that . . .

27 votes Vote Now!

I beleive that . . .

This report could use a little more salt.

2 votes

Iran is toying with us.

2 votes

The average "unnamed Iranian official" is smarter than ours.

3 votes

The Fars news agency is actually a subsidiary of Fox News.

2 votes

This is all part of the Neocon/Big Oil evil plan.

0 votes

This is actually pretty close to the truth.

16 votes

sxwarren wears his Reynold Wrap with considerable panache.

1 vote

Pie.

1 vote

One more time: E-VOTING IS BULLSHIT. (w/POLL)

sxwarren

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Wednesday September 20, 2006 · 1:08 PM PDT

2006/09/20 · 13:08

I'm an IT professional, specializing in system and network security. While I have to admit that constructing a perfectly accurate and 100% tamper-proof e-voting system is hypothetically possible (though highly unlikely), this whole argument misses the point.

The absolute number one requirement for any voting system is that the entire process must be transparent to virtually every citizen. It is this transparency that ensures fairness, accuracy and security. Since, with any e-voting system, the entire recording/counting process is conducted by program code that only a miniscule percentage of US citizens can understand, e-voting systems are inherently NOT transparent.
Read More

IF Bush 'orders' attack on Iran, what then?

sxwarren

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Sunday August 27, 2006 · 7:26 AM PDT

2006/08/27 · 07:26

I've seen several diaries on the theme of "Bush planning to attack Iran and he's more than crazy enough to do it" and counter diraies along the lines of "Attack on Iran - not gonna happen." Most of the comments in both types of diaries have been of the "Yes, he will" or "No, he won't" variety or explanations of why it would be foolish strategically, militarily impossible, catastrophic for the US and/or the world, lead to WWIII (or IV or V or VI), etc.
What I haven't seen, perhaps because they've quickly scrolled away into obscurity, are diaries dedicated to discussing the following questions:
- What might happen immediately after Bush issues an order to attack?
- What legal (and, possibly, extra-legal) actions might be taken to prevent this order from being executed? And by whom? Read More

Survey of Online MSM 'Coverage' of YearlyKOS.

sxwarren

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Sunday June 11, 2006 · 4:35 PM PDT

2006/06/11 · 16:35

While the site has been up-and-(apparently) down this evening, I thought I'd cruise the online MSM to see what the "reviews" are for the show.

This is by no means comprehensive and many of you have probably already found these. Just thought it might be helpful to pull a sampler together for folks who want a quick read. Read More

Turning to other news ....

sxwarren

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Monday February 13, 2006 · 5:48 AM PST

2006/02/13 · 05:48

Kenneth Starr, lawyer sent fake letters. Bogus letters sent to governor asking to spare client's life.* Ok, the letters in question were gathered by a contractor/investigator and filed by Starr's office, but I bet the hairs are standing on the back of his neck.

Rumsfeld pushes U.S. ties in N. Africa. Who knew he moonlighted as a haberdasher?

Cheney steps up war on lawyers. That's the actual headline from Canada.com. Seriously.

Half-price sale on chicken in Rome. Germany classifies "Chicken Run" as a subversive film.

Speaking of film, Robert Altman makes a movie out of "Prairie Home Companion" starring Streep, Lohan, Tomlin and some guy named Keillor.

Microsoft does RIM job.

Ford and GM argue over who sold more crappy cars.

CARTOON Wars? Bring 'em ON!!

sxwarren

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Tuesday February 07, 2006 · 7:16 AM PST

2006/02/07 · 07:16

So, an Iranian newspaper editor has challenged European newspapers to a battle of blasphemous cartoons? Ahhh, if only all wars were fought with snarky, offensive cartoons instead of bullets and bombs.
Read More

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Older

RSS

The Carrington Event

CBO Deficit Projections - NOT the whole story.

Clinton leads delegate count big-time (so far).

WINDOWS ALERT - Patch problem, follow-up

WINDOWS Alert - Animated cursor vulnerablity

ALERT: Major DOG and CAT FOOD RECALL

US-supported Terrorism in IRAN? UPDATED.

One more time: E-VOTING IS BULLSHIT. (w/POLL)

IF Bush 'orders' attack on Iran, what then?

Survey of Online MSM 'Coverage' of YearlyKOS.

Turning to other news ....

CARTOON Wars? Bring 'em ON!!