TECHNOLOGY: Fool drone to land in Iran

Friday, December 23, 2011

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/15/2013249/us-sentinel-drone-fooled-into-landing-with-gps-spoofing

McGruber writes “Following up on the earlier Slashdot story, the Christian Science Monitor now reports that GPS spoofing was used to get the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone to land in Iran. According to an Iranian engineer quoted in the article, ‘By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain.’ Apparently, once it loses its brain, the bird relies on GPS signals to get home. By spoofing GPS, Iranian engineers were able to get the drone to ‘land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications.'”

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How did they know that?

Mole, lucky guess, or something else?

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Are “kops” worth more than “mundanes”

Thursday, December 22, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Brooklyn-DA-promises-no-plea-deals-for-killer-of-NYPDs-Peter-Figoski-135988493.html

Brooklyn DA promises no plea deals for killer of NYPD’s Peter Figoski
Felony muder can hold all five liable
By CATHY HAYES, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 8:00 AM
Updated Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 8:00 AM

*** begin quote ***

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is determined to see justice for hero cop Peter Figoski, who’s shooting death has led to the arrest of five suspects who will soon stand trial for murder.

Hynes unsealed the indictments against the five on Tuesday, bluntly stating that his office won’t make deals with any of the accused, even if they didn’t fire the murder weapon.

‘This will be a trial,’ Hynes told the Daily News. ‘There won’t be plea bargaining in this case.’

*** end quote ***

With this declaration, he implies that the police are more important than the average victim.

It would seem that he’s not earning his salary.

Argh!

What’s wrong with pleas? It’s good enough for ordinary victims.

(I’m for eliminating ALL plea deals. Force the Gooferment to prioritize. And, we should be about “restitution”; not punishment or even “rehabilitiation” (whatever that is?) and most certainly not enriching the Gooferment by fines. The victim gets squat and the State enriches itself.

Perverse!

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Understanding “counterparty risk”

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

via SurvivalBlog.com by James Wesley, Rawles on 12/14/11

*** begin quote ***

“Anything that is on paper anything that involves a promise or a commitment is no longer valid because as we said there isn’t a rule of law anymore. People can steal from you. Your money can be confiscated. And think how easy now it is to confiscate people’s wealth. Most of our wealth in this society exists as zeroes and ones on a computer server. It takes no effort whatsoever to steal zeros and ones on a computer server. So what I have been telling people is you need to get into physical commodities. And the rule of thumb is if you can stand in front of it with an assault rifle and physically protect it, then it’s real—it’s a real commodity. That includes food, that includes water, that includes long guns and ammunition. That includes fuel. That includes precious metals—gold and silver coinage. Most especially silver coinage because silver is the metal of barter and transaction and currency.” – Ann Barnhardt, former head of Barnhardt Capital Management. (She ran the firm before she went Galt.)

*** end quote ***

When I was on Wall Street, it was called “counterparty risk”. And, everyone was very very worried about it.

So when MF GLOBAL goes broke, all the “counterparties” are <synonym for the past tense of the procreation act>!

That’s why you see all the screaming to Congress and the “regulators” cause they were robbed.

When you have your bullion coins (e.g., platinum, gold, palladium, silver, nickels <yeah the 5¢ coins>, pennies) in you hand or buried in your backyard, there’s no counterparty risk. There are other risks, but not from Corzine and his ilk.

When you have something that’s paper, you’ve got “counterparty risk”. Even if that paper is a faith-based curency like a “dollar” (whatever that is) aka Firbie (i.e., federal reserve banknote).

Toilet paper is more intrinsically valuable.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: GOODRX is an interesting concept

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

GoodRx – Different pharmacies tend to charge different prices for the same drug but as consumers, we don’t have that much information about medicine prices. Sometimes, companies even offer discounts on medicines which many of us are unaware of but thanks to GoodRx, we can track of all the above mentioned things. Read more: GoodRx: Find Lowest Price Medicine Across Different Pharmacies

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QUOTE: Sowell “betters”

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Freedom is not simply the right of intellectuals to circulate their merchandise. It is, above all, the right of ordinary people to find elbow room for themselves and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of their “betters.”

— Thomas Sowell “Knowledge and Decisions” 1980

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RANT: Elect Ron Paul; get the girls and boys home NOW!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

[This came up in my daily google search for “reinke”. Most likely no relation. But, so what if it’s not.]

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/former-soldiers-families-reassess-war-s-impact/article_2fd857be-2877-11e1-a0ff-0019bb2963f4.html

The Pueblo Chieftain News Local news
After Iraq Former soldiers, families reassess war’s impact
Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 11:30 pm, Fri Dec 16, 2011.
By PETER ROPER

*** begin quote ***

Scott Reinke, father of Army Staff Sgt. Gavin Reinke, who was killed in Iraq in May 2006.

Reinke is proud of his son’s service to his country and is certain nearly all U.S. service men and women who took part in the Iraq war share that same pride. But that’s not the same thing as believing the war was worth the cost.

“I was reading a story in the paper this morning where this Iraqi was saying that Americans didn’t leave new schools and factories, that we left a nation of widows and orphans,” Reinke said and then softly cursed. “After all we put into that country. If that guy’s sentiments represents a majority of the Iraqi people, then what we’re getting out of that war isn’t worth all that we put into it.”

Reinke recounted how President George W. Bush urged American intervention in Iraq in 2003 on the basis that dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. None was found.

“Granted, Hussein was an evil man. But it’s hard for me to justify our sticking our nose in that country’s business. The Middle East has always been in turmoil. Maybe if I felt that the Iraqi people were truly grateful.”

Reinke said he recently ate lunch next to an Army engineer who talked about all the friends he’d lost in Iraq.

“This soldier talked about how his guys would be building a school or working on some infrastructure project and the Iraqis hated Americans so much, they’d just attack them anyway,” Reinke said. ” I don’t think anyone who lost a child, or a husband, or a wife, or had someone severely wounded over there will tell you that it was worth it. Now I wish we’d do the same in Afghanistan.”

*** end quote ***

It’s one thing if the girls and boys are down at the beach or the border to resist an invasion, but that hasn’t happened since 1812?

Not one drop of blood, nor a penny of treasure, is worth sticking our <plural synonym for donkey> in another country’s business.

Ron Paul is the ONLY “peace” candidate. And, he’s not an isolationist; nor, stupid about defending America. He’s just serious about it.

This may be our ONLY chance to reverse the “imperial” rule of the “chicken hawks”. You don’t see their children dying overseas. Hell, they don’t even send their kids to “publik sckrules”!

Argh!

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GUNS: Self-protection is ones own duty

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/buddhist-packing-bond-pistol-shows-american-warm-embrace-of-guns.html

Buddhist Packing Bond Pistol Shows American Embrace of Guns
By Ken Wells – Dec 9, 2011 5:37 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

Bates, 64, says she believes guns can be potent equalizers that well-trained civilians can handle. “A gun is like a fire extinguisher,” she says. “It isn’t there because you want to have a fire or expect to have a fire. It’s there because you may find yourself in that situation where it can save your life and give the professionals time to get there.”

This is why more Jews should join the conceal-carry bandwagon, says Dovid Bendory, an Orthodox rabbi in Livingston, New Jersey, who heads the 4,500-member Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Post-9/11, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ranks the domestic terror threat against synagogues equal to that of railroads and utilities.

“I ask Jews all the time, ‘Are you prepared for an active shooter in a synagogue?’” Bendory says. “‘What would you do?’ The common answer is ‘I’d dial 911.’ So I ask, ‘And what would you do until the police got there? Hide?’ They don’t have a good answer for that. I believe we are woefully unprepared for such an attack.”

*** end quote ***

“Victim disarmament is the view that it is somehow better to see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose, than see her with a gun in her hand.” — T.D. Melrose

Sorry, but I think that guns should be “loaned” by the bailiff when the woman picks up her “order of protection”.

Americans should NEVER be victims. They have rights and the Second Amendment recognizes their right to protect their rights.

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FUN: Sad day needs a fun YouTube

Monday, December 19, 2011

http://youtu.be/ynnwhzWnnVg

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MEMORIES: Forty One years ago today …

Monday, December 19, 2011

Forty One years ago today …

… on December 19, 1970, …

… in Saint Henry’s Church in Bayonne at about 11:30 in the morning, our lives changed.

“I, John, take thee Evlynn, to my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law; and thereto I plight thee my troth.”

(I stuck the “troth” part in. My maternal Grandmother was an English Protestant. Father Chuamark deigned not to notice.)

(Explanation of “plight” and “troth”: “Plight” here used means to pledge. “Troth” means a promise of truthfulness, and is derived from the same word as “truth”. “Plight thee my troth” – The groom pledges his truthfulness, faithfulness and loyalty to his promise. “Give thee my troth” -The bride likewise gives her word. Also note “betrothed” is “be” – “trothed” from the word “troth”, meaning promised or contracted to marry.)

(Grandma explained that to me when was very young and I asked why my Mom and Dad weren’t together. I knew then that this ‘marriage stuff was serious business.)

“I, Evlynn, take thee John to my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law.”

(I’m surprised that whole Congregation didn’t have a collective gasp! Our Girl said: “obey”. I teased her about that later.)

It was a great party.

Great honeymoon.

But, she’d finally given in and married me. And, my life was forever hers.

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Humorous story: At the back of the church, Ev’s father asked her what was wrong with me. She didn’t know but said that I was the color of my shirt. When her hand was passed to me, she asked. I said “scared <synonym for excrement> less”. She said: “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of us.” And she did that.

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MEMORIES: An “acceptable excuse”

Monday, December 19, 2011

http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/you-matter-to-your-spouse/

You Matter To Your Spouse

“And for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man put asunder (separate).” Matthew 19:5-6, Amplified

*** begin quote ***

Just as you chose your spouse, you were also chosen. Out of the millions of other people in the world, two souls were linked together in holy matrimony because you couldn’t bear to be without each other for the rest of your lives. Your vulnerability in the marriage bed, your giving of yourself to passion and pleasure, and your desire matter to your beloved, too. Such things can only and should only be shared in the intimate bonds of marriage, and for that you have chosen one another. You share not only this mystery, but also your joys and sorrows, hearts and dreams, and vulnerabilities and transparencies. He or she is there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on and to laugh with you over nothing at all. You share a history, a love story, and a life that you travel together. Know that your companion is yours forever and that you matter deeply, profoundly, and intricately to your spouse.

*** end quote ***

Somehow this doesn’t help as the one who was left behind.

“Double Star” is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, my favorite author, and there’s a line in there that goes something like “death is the only acceptable excuse for missing an appointment”.

So today, when Frau Reinke misses our forty first anniversary, she has an “acceptable excuse”.

But it doesn’t help much!

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