Engineered surfaces can increase efficiency of cellular reprogramming
Stem Cell Research and Advocacy Conference: "Culturing a Stem Cell Community"
Presented by the UC Berkeley Student Society for Stem Cell Research
Daniela Kaufer and Lydia Sohn awarded Bakar Fellowships for translational research
David Schaffer, John Flannery and colleagues have developed an improved gene therapy vector for treating vision impairment
Acute stress enhances hippocampal neurogenesis
Michael Rape wins Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Research
Many efforts are dedicated to understanding the biology and exploring the therapeutic potential of stem cells. Stem cells are immature cells that exist in various locations of our bodies. Throughout our lifetimes, these cells divide and develop into the specialized cells that perform the functions necessary for life. Therefore, if we contract a disease that kills those specialized cells, our stem cells are a potential source for replacing lost cells to counteract or even cure the disorder. There are several challenges that must be overcome in this field. In particular, efforts to engineer tissues rely upon the ability to control stem cells. That is, the signals that control stem cell function and fate must first be discovered, and then integrated into cellular microenvironments to control stem cell expansion and lineage-specific differentiation.
There have been efforts in novel signal discovery, computational and experimental analysis of the biological networks that cells use to interpret and implement these signals, and on the integration of these signals into synthetic, polymeric microenvironments for optimal stem cell control in collaboration with the group of Prof. Kevin Healy (Bioengineering). This blend of stem cell biology, systems biology analysis, and biomaterials engineering has led to significant advances in the application of stem cells for tissue repair.
The Future of Eugenics. Eugenics, although based on the science of genetics, is not itself a science, for it must above all concern itself with social values, with the question: Whither mankind? Perhaps general agreement could be had that freedom from gross physical or mental defects and the possession of sound health, high intelligence, general adaptability, and nobility of spirit are the major goals toward which eugenics should aim; perhaps even that diversity of nature is better than uniformity of type. But how far ought selective reproduction to interfere with human freedoms? Genetically, as in other respects, "there is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us" that it is hard to assess the worth of the manifest hereditary characteristics are the product of environment, particularly for those qualities that are eugenics' major concern: sound health, high intelligence, and the like. The Jukes and Kallikaks were horrible examples of degenerate humanity, but what might they have been in a better world? Were their alcoholism, their crime, and their vice inescapable products of their genes? It seems very doubtful. Only the experiment of putting them from earliest infancy into an optimum environment--not forgetting that it need not be the same for everyone--than to modify gene frequencies by wise selection. Once mankind has produced an approximation of that optimum environment, the eugenics task will be much simpler. In fact, the natural selection exerted by such an environment may make eugenics quite unnecessary.
-H. Bentley Glass
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States led by its newly created space agency NASA. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth, and doing it before the Soviet Union, as part of the early space race. It involved 7 astronauts flying a total of 6 solo trips. On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space in a suborbital flight after the Soviet Union had put Yuri Gagarin into space and orbit one month earlier. John Glenn became the first American to reach orbit on 20 February 1962, he was the third person to do so, after soviet Gherman Titov had made a day long flight in August 1961. When the project ended in May 1963, the Americans' NASA program was still behind the Soviet Space Program, but the gap was seen as closing. The race to the Moon began.
The space race started in 1957 by the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I. This came as a shock to the American public and led to the creation of NASA to gather the efforts in space exploration already existing in USA. After the launch of the first American satellite in 1958, manned space flight became the next goal. The spacecraft was produced by McDonnell Aircraft. It was cone shaped with room for one person together with supplies of water, food and oxygen in a pressurized cabin. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida by modified military missiles, most importantly Atlas D, and had a rescue tower for protection from a failing rocket. The whole flight could be controlled from the ground through a network of tracking stations which also allowed communication with the astronaut. If necessary, the astronaut could override commands from the ground. For reentry into Earth's atmosphere, small rockets were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit. A heatshield would protect the spacecraft from the heat of reentry, and a parachute would slow the craft for a water landing. Here both astronaut and spacecraft were picked up by helicopter and brought to a ship.
From a slow start with humiliating mistakes, the Mercury Project became popular and the manned flights were followed by millions on radio and TV not only in United States, but around the world. Apart from the manned missions, Mercury had a total of 20 unmanned launches as a part of the development of the project. This also involved test animals, most famously the chimpanzees Ham and Enos. Mercury laid the groundwork for Project Gemini and the follow-on Apollo moon-landing program, which was announced a few weeks after the first manned flight. The astronauts went under the name Mercury Seven and they named their spacecraft with a "7" to the name. The project name was taken from Mercury, a Roman god. It is estimated to have cost $1.71 billion and have involved the work of 2 million people.
Yossi Leshem worked at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the leading NGO in Israel, for 25 years, as a guide, as Director of a Field Study Center,as Head of the Nature Protection Department, Initiator and Director of the Israel Raptor Information Center between 1980-1991, and as the Executive Director of the SPNI between 1991-1995. Leshem is Senior Researcher in the Department of Zoology in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University and is the founder and Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, Israel, established by Tel Aviv University and the SPNI. In November 2007 he was elected as the Chairman of the SPNI Council. Leshem has been involved in many aspects of nature conservation, with the emphasis on bird research for 38 years. Since 1984 his research for his doctorate, which was conducted with the cooperation of the Israeli Air Force and the Ministry of Science, has resulted in a decrease of 76% in the number of collisions with aircraft caused by birds, and has saved 790 million dollars, not to mention the numbers of lives, both human and avian. Today he serves as Lt. Col. (Ret) in the Israeli Air Force and continues this research. In 2005 he won the prestigious Mike Kuhring Prize for achievements of high significance for an improved flight safety concerning the bird problems of aviation, and for his mission to connect safety with nature conservation via education that gave bird strike prevention world wide appreciation. Leshem is involved in a variety of activities in bird migration research, in educational activities that take place in over 250 schools in Israel part of cooperation with the Palestinians and the Jordanians, and has developed an educational and scientific site on the Internet ( www.birds.org.il ) called "Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries". Leshem developed a 6 year research and an educational program in cooperation with the Palestinians and Jordanians under the same title as the web site. At the moment Dr. Leshem is conducting a number of scientific projects, among them a project which tracks migrating birds that have been fitted with satellite transmitters, and a project that tracks migration with the aid of radar, in cooperation with a team of Russian immigrant scientists. Leshem initiated a program to use Barn Owls and Kestrels as pest controllers to reduce the use of pesticides in agricultural fields, which became a national program and a regional project with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Leshem published 3 books, scientific papers, and hundreds of articles in popular magazines. Dr. Leshem visited Japan as a visiting Prof. at the University of Tokyo, June 30 th – October 12 th, 2006. Leshem is a Recipient of "Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Protection" in 2008, given for sixty years of Israel
It is important to understand the cultural background of the era that created this field of science.” After the Civil War, there was turbulent economy and an influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. The economy of the US had rapid fluctuations and remained in this tenuous manner until WWI. As the economy became more uncertain, the social inequalities between different segments of society became more visible.
In the same era, the idea of Social Darwinism became popular and was used to explain these social inequalities. Social Darwinism utilizes the concept of natural selection from Charles Darwin and applies it to society. Social Darwinism explains survival of the fittest in terms of the capability of an individual to survive within a competitive environment. This explains social inequalities by explaining that the wealthy are better individuals and therefore better suited to survive in the uncertain economy. In terms of survival of the fittest the wealthy are more likely to survive and produce more offspring than the poor.
However, this was not occurring. The birthrate of the elite was declining while the birthrate of the poor was increasing. Meanwhile governmental social programs and aid were doing little help the increasing poverty. The government utilized the idea of scientific management, known as progressivism. Progressive reformers relied on science to control both nature and human society. This view of science as a method of reform and the newly rediscovered science of genetics gave rise to social engineering. Eugenicists believed genetics were the cause of problems for the human gene pool. Eugenics stated that society already had paid enough to support these degenerates and the use of sterilization would save money. The eugenicists used quantitative facts to produce scientific evidence. They believed that charity and welfare only treated the symptoms, eugenic sought to eliminate the disease. The following traits were seen as degenerative to the human gene pool to which the eugenicists were determined to eliminate: poverty, feeble-mindedness-including manic depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, rebelliousness, criminality, nomadness, prostitution.
The accuracy of eugenicist methods was severely overrated. Although based on genetics, the eugenic scientists did not document any genetic relationship to some qualities that they studied, such as politeness, bluntness, etc. It is especially amazing that the scientists made such brilliant relationships between genes and behavior at a time when they did not even know that DNA carried genes, causing the researchers to treat complex behavior as though it had a single cause. Other flaw in research included the researchers did not did not take into account the impact that the environment plays into a person’s phenotype. They also used culturally based IQ tests on immigrants to determine IQ. Finally, the early eugenicists made up results to give scientific results.
Many of the eugenicist's ideas came from studies of the supposed deterioration of a genetic stock over time. For example, the sociologist Richard Dugdale based his study on “The Jukes,” which is a clan of 700 criminals, prostitutes, and paupers. Dugdale believed that bad environment caused their degeneracy and could be reversed over time. A.H. Estabrook resurveyed the Jukes in 1915 but saw little improvement in the family. He concluded that several traits associated with inadequacy were inherited. However, since the eugenicists did not understand genetics and the methods of inheritance, they formed their method of inheritance. The meant that desired traits could only be spread to children through marriage between two “worthy” families. Undesired traits were always spread between “shiftless” families. A child between a worthy family and a shiftless family would be mostly shiftless…but a little desirable.
Before eugenics became internationally recognized in WWII, it was a very popular movement in the United States. In fact the American Eugenics Society set up pavilions and "Fitter Families Contest" to popularize eugenics at state fairs. The average family advocated for the utilization of eugenics while educational systems embraced eugenics, which was presented as science fact by the majority biology texts. In fact, eugenics became so popular that eighteen solutions were explored in a Carnegie-supported study in 1911, to report the best practical means for eliminating defective genes in the Human Population. Although the eighth of the 18 solutions was euthanasia, the researchers believed it was too early to implement this solution. The most commonly suggested method of eugenicide in America was a lethal chamber, or gas chamber. Instead, the main solution was the rapid expansion of forced segregation and sterilization, as well as increased marriage restrictions. However, not everybody was in favor of eugenics, Punnett at the first international congress for Eugenics in 1911 stated, “Except in very few cases, our knowledge of heredity in man at present is far to slight and far too uncertain to base legislation upon.” Carrie Buck, and her mother Emma, had been committed to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in Lynchburg, Virginia. Carrie and Emma were both judged to be “feebleminded” and promiscuous, because they had both had children out of wedlock. Carrie’s child, Vivian, was judged to be “feebleminded” at seven months of age. Hence, three generations of “imbeciles” became the “perfect” family for Virginia officials to use as a test case in favor of the eugenic sterilization law enacted in 1924. Upon reviewing the case, the Supreme Court concurred “that Carrie Buck is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization.” It is impossible to judge whether or not Carrie was “feebleminded”, but she was not promiscuous. Vivian’s was the result of Carrie’s rape by the nephew of her foster parents. She was probably institutionalized to prevent further shame to the family. Just as clearly, Vivian was no imbecile. Vivian’s first grade report card from the Venable School in Charlottesville showed that this daughter of a supposed social degenerate got straight “As” in deportment (conduct) and even made the honor role in April 1931. She died a year later of an intestinal disorder.
Although in 1942 the Supreme Court made a law allowing the involuntary sterilization of criminals, it never reversed the general concept of eugenic sterilization. In 2001, the Virginia General Assembly acknowledged that the sterilization law was based on faulty science and expressed its "profound regret over the Commonwealth's role in the eugenics movement in this country and over the damage done in the name of eugenics.” On May 2, 2002 a marker was erected to honor Carrie Buck in her hometown of Charlottesville.
Laws against interracial marriage had existed in some states since colonial times, but the number increased after the Civil War. In 1913, 29 states had laws forbidding mixed-race marriages. Twenty-two states had stiff penalties -- fines of up to $2,000 and/or prison terms of up to 10 years. Eugenicists actively supported the old laws and the making of new ones. The eugenicist-inspired Virginia Integrity Act of 1924 prohibited marriage between a white person and anyone with a trace of blood other than Caucasian. The Act was struck down, along with all other anti-miscegenation laws, in 1967. The world thought Hitler was mad, but the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race was not Adolf Hitler’s. The idea was created in the United States at least two decades before Hitler came to power. In fact, in 1924, when Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, he frequently quoted American eugenics and displayed a thorough knowledge. “There is today one state, Hitler wrote, in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of immigration] are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States." Hitler told his fellow Nazis that he closely followed American eugenic legislation. “I have studied with great interest the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock.”
During the beginning of the third Reich, eugenicists across America welcomed Hitler’s plans as the logical implementation of their own research. Ten years after Virginia passed its 1924 sterilization act, Joseph DeJarnette, superintendent of Virginias Western State Hospital, complained in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “The Germans are beating us at our own game.”
In 1934, the number of sterilizations in Germany was accelerating beyond 5,000 per month. Beginning in 1940, thousands of Germans were taken from homes for the elderly, mental institutions and other state ran institutions and was systematically gassed. In all, between 50,000 and 100,000 were killed. Hitler’s believed that Jewish were racially inferior. They played a decisive role in social degeneracy, such as prostitution, pornography, modern art, financial crimes, and the narcotics trade. Jewish people possessed no ethics or morality and that they had been engaged in a 4,000-year-old conspiracy to dominate the world pursuant to their view of themselves as the chosen people. Just like other eugenicists, Hitler believe that these characteristics and values were in the genes of the Jewish people, and therefore are able to be eradicated from the general population (cf. generally Mein Kampf). Hitler's made his threat to exterminate European Jewry was made to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939: “In the course of my life I have often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it . . . If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevisation of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation [Vernichtung] of the Jewish race in Europe”
Hitler attempted to succeed in this goal by annihilating hundreds of thousands of the Jewish population in concentration camps using the American favored method of extermination of the gas chambers. There were also rumors that Hitler made Lebensborn a "stud farms" where SS men and suitable young women were mated to breed a master race. However this is nothing more than a myth. Lebensborn was in fact a conservative institution with a conservative sexual code, attempting to maintain middle-class respectability.
The connection between the American Eugenics movement and the Nazi eugenic movement was further solidified in the Nuremburg trials that judged the crimes committed by the Nazis during the war. In their defense the Nazis quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes from the infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell trial. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind . . . Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”
• Hereditary feeble-mindedness: 200,000
• Schizophrenia: 80,000
• Epilepsy: 60,000
• Manic-depressive psychosis: 20,000
• Serious physical deformities: 20,000
• Hereditary deafness: 16,000
• Hereditary alcoholism: 10,000
• Hereditary blindness: 4,000
• Huntington's chorea: 600
• TOTAL: 410,600
The most commonly suggested method of eugenicide in America was a lethal chamber, or gas chamber. Instead, the main solution was the rapid expansion of forced segregation and sterilization, as well as increased marriage restrictions. However, not everybody was in favor of eugenics, Punnett at the first international congress for Eugenics in 1911 stated, “Except in very few cases, our knowledge of heredity in man at present is far to slight and far too uncertain to base legislation upon.” Carrie Buck, and her mother Emma, had been committed to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in Lynchburg, Virginia. Carrie and Emma were both judged to be “feebleminded” and promiscuous, because they had both had children out of wedlock. Carrie’s child, Vivian, was judged to be “feebleminded” at seven months of age. Hence, three generations of “imbeciles” became the “perfect” family for Virginia officials to use as a test case in favor of the eugenic sterilization law enacted in 1924. Upon reviewing the case, the Supreme Court concurred “that Carrie Buck is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization.” It is impossible to judge whether or not Carrie was “feebleminded”, but she was not promiscuous. Vivian’s was the result of Carrie’s rape by the nephew of her foster parents. She was probably institutionalized to prevent further shame to the family. Just as clearly, Vivian was no imbecile. Vivian’s first grade report card from the Venable School in Charlottesville showed that this daughter of a supposed social degenerate got straight “As” in deportment (conduct) and even made the honor role in April 1931. She died a year later of an intestinal disorder.
The Philadelphia Experiment was a naval military experiment alleged to have been carried out at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA sometime around October 28, 1943. The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge was claimed to be rendered invisible (or "cloaked") to enemy devices.
The story is thought to be a hoax. The U.S. Navy maintains that no such experiment was ever conducted, and details of the story contradict well-established facts about the Eldridge itself, as well as commonly accepted physics. The experiment was allegedly based on an aspect of the unified field theory, a term coined by Albert Einstein. The Unified Field Theory aims to describe mathematically and physically the interrelated nature of the forces that comprise electromagnetic radiation and gravity, in other words uniting the fields of electromagnetism and gravity into one field. Consequently, if light were bent, then space-time would be bent, effectively creating an invisible time machine. According to the accounts, unspecified 'researchers' thought that some version of this Unified Field Theory would enable a person to use large electrical generators to bend light around an object so that the object became completely invisible. The Navy would have regarded this as being of obvious military value, and by the accounts, it sponsored the experiment. Another unattributed version of the story proposes that researchers were preparing magnetic and gravitational measurements of the seafloor to detect anomalies, supposedly based on Einstein's attempts to understand gravity. In this version, there were also related secret experiments in Nazi Germany to find antigravity, allegedly led by SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler. There are no reliable, attributable accounts but in most accounts of the experiment, the destroyer escort USS Eldridge was fitted with the required equipment at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Testing allegedly began in the summer of 1943, and it was supposedly successful to a limited degree. One test allegedly resulted in the Eldridge being rendered almost completely invisible, with some witnesses reporting a "greenish fog" appearing in its place. Crew members supposedly complained of severe nausea afterwards. Also, it is said that when the ship reappeared, some sailors were embedded in the metal structures of the ship, including one sailor who ended up on a deck level below that where he began, and had his hand embedded in the steel hull of the ship, as well as some sailors who went "completely bananas". At that point, it is said that the experiment was altered at the request of the Navy, with the new objective being solely to render the Eldridge invisible to radar. None of these allegations has been independently substantiated. The conjecture then alleges that the equipment was not properly re-calibrated, but in spite of this, the experiment was repeated on October 28, 1943. This time, the Eldridge not only became invisible, but she physically vanished from the area in a flash of blue light and teleported to Norfolk, Virginia, over 200 miles (320 km) away. It is claimed that the Eldridge sat for some time in full view of men aboard the ship SS Andrew Furuseth, whereupon the Eldridge vanished from their sight, and then reappeared in Philadelphia at the site it had originally occupied. It was also said that the warship went approximately 10 seconds back in time. Many versions of the tale include descriptions of serious side effects for the crew. Some crew members were said to have been physically fused to bulkheads, while others suffered from mental disorders, and still others supposedly simply vanished. It is also claimed that the ship's crew may have been subjected to brainwashing, in order to maintain the secrecy of the experiment.
The earliest practical precursor to the human space flight program was Project Albert. It was a horrific failure, with nearly all its pilots unable to survive the ordeal. Of course, these pilots were monkeys. Still, their story — full of confiscated rockets, drugs, and desert skies raining body parts — is one of the most tragic tales of the early space program.
Towards the end of World War II, a group of German aviation experts found themselves in possession of a lot of rockets and not a lot of pleasant options. They had engineered the V-2 rocket, which had been used to vigorously bomb Britain. They were on the losing side of a war that had inflicted massive casualties on the USSR. Both armies were now closing in and the scientists didn't relish the prospect of being captured by either of them. And so they went looking for Americans. When they found them, they offered to lead the American military to whatever rocket parts they could offer in exchange for political considerations and transport to America.
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Remember the time we bombed Mexico with German rockets?
Germany spent the end of the 1930s and half the 1940s inventing and perfecting missiles. They made so many, they still had a ton of them left over… Read…
They got the transport, and America got a lot of rockets. These aviation experts did various things with the V-2s, including accidentally bombing Mexico once, but one of the most exciting ideas they had was preliminary tests for sending humans into space. This was hard to do, since no one knew anything about the effects of space on physiology. It was entirely new territory. And so they started the project in 1948 with an ill-fated rhesus monkey named Albert.
The Grisly Failures of Project Albert, Precursor to the Apollo Space Program
SEXPAND
On June 11th Albert went up on the first test, drugged slightly, but otherwise healthy. At least on the way up to the 63 kilometer high trip he was healthy. No one had a reliable way to monitor his vital signs, and so it fell to medical experts afterwards to discover that the dead monkey that scientists found at the end of the trial had suffocated during the flight, not in reaction to the altitude. A year later Albert II went up to 134 kilometers. This time the person examining the corpse was asked for time, not cause of death. The parachute to his rocket had failed to deploy.
Albert III went up in September. His rocket exploded at ten kilometers up. No one was consulted this time about either time or cause of death. Albert IV was snuffed in another parachute failure in 1949.
It's fair to say that the scientists were somewhat disillusioned with what the V-2s had to offer at that point, and so they switched to rockets made by Aerojet in the fifties. They kept the name Albert, though, and the next two Alberts inherited the luck of the first four. Yet another parachute failure claimed Albert V. It seemed that luck was changing when Albert VI landed alive and safe in 1951. Sadly, he landed rather off course. He waited for hours in the New Mexico sun in a sealed metal container until military teams found and recovered the rocket, but he died of stress and heat exhaustion two hours after the recovery.
At last the proto-space experts decided to switch the names as they had switched the rockets. Two monkeys named Patricia and Mike survived a flight in 1952. Their flight had also not gone as planned, and had only managed to climb a little over twenty kilometers. But, considering they were the first monkeys to make it out of a rocket comfortably alive, their flight was celebrated. It took another seven years - and no more monkeys named Albert - for any simians to actually make it to space and back alive. Still, let us give thanks for all those fallen Alberts, and wonder if NASA should institute some new naming requirement for their missions.
Germany spent the end of the 1930s and half the 1940s inventing and perfecting missiles. They made so many, they still had a ton of them left over… Read…
They got the transport, and America got a lot of rockets. These aviation experts did various things with the V-2s, including accidentally bombing Mexico once, but one of the most exciting ideas they had was preliminary tests for sending humans into space. This was hard to do, since no one knew anything about the effects of space on physiology. It was entirely new territory. And so they started the project in 1948 with an ill-fated rhesus monkey named Albert.
The Grisly Failures of Project Albert, Precursor to the Apollo Space Program
SEXPAND
On June 11th Albert went up on the first test, drugged slightly, but otherwise healthy. At least on the way up to the 63 kilometer high trip he was healthy. No one had a reliable way to monitor his vital signs, and so it fell to medical experts afterwards to discover that the dead monkey that scientists found at the end of the trial had suffocated during the flight, not in reaction to the altitude. A year later Albert II went up to 134 kilometers. This time the person examining the corpse was asked for time, not cause of death. The parachute to his rocket had failed to deploy.
Albert III went up in September. His rocket exploded at ten kilometers up. No one was consulted this time about either time or cause of death. Albert IV was snuffed in another parachute failure in 1949.
It's fair to say that the scientists were somewhat disillusioned with what the V-2s had to offer at that point, and so they switched to rockets made by Aerojet in the fifties. They kept the name Albert, though, and the next two Alberts inherited the luck of the first four. Yet another parachute failure claimed Albert V. It seemed that luck was changing when Albert VI landed alive and safe in 1951. Sadly, he landed rather off course. He waited for hours in the New Mexico sun in a sealed metal container until military teams found and recovered the rocket, but he died of stress and heat exhaustion two hours after the recovery.
At last the proto-space experts decided to switch the names as they had switched the rockets. Two monkeys named Patricia and Mike survived a flight in 1952. Their flight had also not gone as planned, and had only managed to climb a little over twenty kilometers. But, considering they were the first monkeys to make it out of a rocket comfortably alive, their flight was celebrated. It took another seven years - and no more monkeys named Albert - for any simians to actually make it to space and back alive. Still, let us give thanks for all those fallen Alberts, and wonder if NASA should institute some new naming requirement for their missions.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's Project Albert is the research and development effort whose goal is to develop the process and capabilities of Data Farming, a method to address decision-maker's questions that applies high performance computing to modeling in order to examine and understand the landscape of potential simulated outcomes, enhance intuition, find surprises and outliers, and identify potential options. Data Farming is the method by which potentially millions of data points are explored and captured. It could be considered akin to Data Mining combined with feedback which allows for the more intelligent collection of more data points. This process is made possible, in part, by the exploitation of High Performance Computing assets and methods, and the project is fully supported by the Maui High Performance Computing Center. The Project Albert modeling approach is achieved through the development of a suite of models, called Distillations, to drive home the point that these models are produced as an intentional complement to the very highly-detailed simulations being developed within the DoD, which by the very fact that they are so highly-detailed and encumbered, do not permit the examination of a very wide range of possibilities and outcomes.
By virtue of their being much easier to run and understand (think: SimCity adapted to a combat situation), they are proving to be effective tools that help capture and scientifically reproduce the ideas of Subject Matter Experts, such as those thinking about tomorrow's concepts, doctrine, and requirements. This suite of entity-based models allow for rapid and highly tailorable changes in entity characteristics and behaviors, quite amenable to, and intentionally designed for rapid, repeatable concept exploration. Project Albert develops a suite, vice a single model, to allow for the testing of robustness of observations across modeling platforms, and because each model has inherent strengths and unique capabilities with regard to each aspect of modeling how entities think, decide, shoot, move, and communicate. The Project Albert suite of models includes Map-Aware Non-Uniform Automata (MANA), Socrates, and Pythagoras. It is of note that MANA is developed by the New Zealand Defense Technology Agency, and it is used free of charge by members of the Project Albert Team. Project Albert is also harnessing existing, and developing new, methodologies for investigating the results of running such models. In this regard, a wide range of Data Exploration and Data Visualization tools and methods are being employed.
Also being developed is the concept and initial implementation of Automated Red Teaming, a methodology that helps identify how Red can beat Blue through intelligent, effective, and efficient search through the space of possibilities. This is accomplished in part through the employment of a variety of evolutionary algorithms.
Currently, Project Albert is collaborating with military decision-makers, both inside the USMC, jointly, and within coalitional arrangements, to apply these techniques and tools to real-world questions. Some examples of the work efforts can be found on the Project Albert International Workshop pages. Another example of collaboration efforts is Project Albert 's Internship and Experimental History Program. This program has employed interns from U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Postgraduate School, U.S. Military Academy, and civilian academic institutions. Experimental History describes the process of taking a historical battle of interest and recreating it in one or more of our distillations and applying the process of data farming to it to yield a set of data that address interesting what ifs. In a sense, it is akin to taking a single data point (of history) and expanding the understanding of it to a region of possibilities. Finally, initial progress is also already being made on the integration (translation of scenarios) between different models and C2 Platforms, e.g. from C2PC to one of the Project Albert models, and on the development of collaborative environments that assist in the whiteboarding and creation of scenarios and in the joint understanding of the data that results from Data Farming the scenario.
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States led by its newly created space agency NASA. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth, and doing it before the Soviet Union, as part of the early space race. It involved 7 astronauts flying a total of 6 solo trips. On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space in a suborbital flight after the Soviet Union had put Yuri Gagarin into space and orbit one month earlier. John Glenn became the first American to reach orbit on 20 February 1962, he was the third person to do so, after soviet Gherman Titov had made a day long flight in August 1961. When the project ended in May 1963, the Americans' NASA program was still behind the Soviet Space Program, but the gap was seen as closing. The race to the Moon began.
The space race started in 1957 by the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I. This came as a shock to the American public and led to the creation of NASA to gather the efforts in space exploration already existing in USA. After the launch of the first American satellite in 1958, manned space flight became the next goal. The spacecraft was produced by McDonnell Aircraft. It was cone shaped with room for one person together with supplies of water, food and oxygen in a pressurized cabin. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida by modified military missiles, most importantly Atlas D, and had a rescue tower for protection from a failing rocket. The whole flight could be controlled from the ground through a network of tracking stations which also allowed communication with the astronaut. If necessary, the astronaut could override commands from the ground. For reentry into Earth's atmosphere, small rockets were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit. A heatshield would protect the spacecraft from the heat of reentry, and a parachute would slow the craft for a water landing. Here both astronaut and spacecraft were picked up by helicopter and brought to a ship.
From a slow start with humiliating mistakes, the Mercury Project became popular and the manned flights were followed by millions on radio and TV not only in United States, but around the world. Apart from the manned missions, Mercury had a total of 20 unmanned launches as a part of the development of the project. This also involved test animals, most famously the chimpanzees Ham and Enos. Mercury laid the groundwork for Project Gemini and the follow-on Apollo moon-landing program, which was announced a few weeks after the first manned flight. The astronauts went under the name Mercury Seven and they named their spacecraft with a "7" to the name. The project name was taken from Mercury, a Roman god. It is estimated to have cost $1.71 billion and have involved the work of 2 million people.
Yossi Leshem worked at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the leading NGO in Israel, for 25 years, as a guide, as Director of a Field Study Center,as Head of the Nature Protection Department, Initiator and Director of the Israel Raptor Information Center between 1980-1991, and as the Executive Director of the SPNI between 1991-1995. Leshem is Senior Researcher in the Department of Zoology in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University and is the founder and Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, Israel, established by Tel Aviv University and the SPNI. In November 2007 he was elected as the Chairman of the SPNI Council. Leshem has been involved in many aspects of nature conservation, with the emphasis on bird research for 38 years. Since 1984 his research for his doctorate, which was conducted with the cooperation of the Israeli Air Force and the Ministry of Science, has resulted in a decrease of 76% in the number of collisions with aircraft caused by birds, and has saved 790 million dollars, not to mention the numbers of lives, both human and avian. Today he serves as Lt. Col. (Ret) in the Israeli Air Force and continues this research. In 2005 he won the prestigious Mike Kuhring Prize for achievements of high significance for an improved flight safety concerning the bird problems of aviation, and for his mission to connect safety with nature conservation via education that gave bird strike prevention world wide appreciation. Leshem is involved in a variety of activities in bird migration research, in educational activities that take place in over 250 schools in Israel part of cooperation with the Palestinians and the Jordanians, and has developed an educational and scientific site on the Internet ( www.birds.org.il ) called "Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries". Leshem developed a 6 year research and an educational program in cooperation with the Palestinians and Jordanians under the same title as the web site. At the moment Dr. Leshem is conducting a number of scientific projects, among them a project which tracks migrating birds that have been fitted with satellite transmitters, and a project that tracks migration with the aid of radar, in cooperation with a team of Russian immigrant scientists. Leshem initiated a program to use Barn Owls and Kestrels as pest controllers to reduce the use of pesticides in agricultural fields, which became a national program and a regional project with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Leshem published 3 books, scientific papers, and hundreds of articles in popular magazines. Dr. Leshem visited Japan as a visiting Prof. at the University of Tokyo, June 30 th – October 12 th, 2006. Leshem is a Recipient of "Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Protection" in 2008, given for sixty years of Israel
About the Bologna Center
Home to the oldest university in Europe, Bologna’s long tradition of education, cultural heritage and political vitality makes it an attractive location for SAIS' European campus. On the cusp of its 60th anniversary, SAIS Bologna is distinguished by strong faculty-student relationships, vigorous debate and a cohesive social and intellectual community. Exposure to contrasting European and U.S. perspectives on global issues offers a distinctive academic pairing—making for an extraordinarily enriching experience.
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Master of Arts
Master of Arts in International Affairs
Master of International Public Policy
Diploma in International Studies
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SAIS Bologna has an open-door policy for prospective students and encourages vists throughout the academic year when classes are in session. To arrange a visit, contact the Admissions Office at admissions@jhubc.it.
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Open Day is an opportunity for students to visit the SAIS Bologna campus. During the day-long event visitors meet current students and faculty and attend classes. To register for Open Day, please click here
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We understand that many of our applicants live far from the places we travel to. To make sure as many candidates as possible have their questions answered, we have arranged a set of online information sessions. To connect to the sessions, prospective students need access to a computer, an internet connection and a phone line (or Skype). For instructions on how to log-in, please contact admissions.eu@jhu.edu. Below is the fall 2013 schedule.
August 28 at 4pm - general introduction
September 26 at 10 am - standardized tests
October 23 at 4pm - statement of purpose
November 26 at 10am - letters of recommendation
December 12 at 4pm - analytical essay
all times local Bologna, Italy time
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Various seminar series are organized at SAIS Bologna throughout the academic year. Seminars are grouped thematically and each one is hosted by a SAIS Bologna faculty member. These events bring prominent scholars and practitioners from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world to present current research to the Bologna Center and local community.
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The,Bad,Science,Mark,R.,Rowe,San,Diego,California,92102,Mark,Rowe,David,Rowe,Nina,Dougherty,Clifford,Dougherty,Anita,Ferguson,Virginia,Ferguson,William,Jones,Frederick,Jones,Charles,Rowe,Jacqueline,Kennedy,Esther,Rowe,Ralph,Rowe,Judy,Garland,Ethel,Kennedy,Robert,John,Kennedy,international,affairs,world,economic,domination,and,control,policy,makers,decisions,for,material,gain,persuasion,of,the,masses,Did,you,know,that,the,NSA,can,track,the,location,of,your,phone,even,when,it,is,turned,off,and,the,batteries,have,been,removed,This,admission,went,largely,unnoticed,in,a,Washington,Post,report,entitled,NSA,growth,fueled,by,need,to,target,terrorists,In,the,article,writer,Dana,Priest,details,how,teams,of,NSA,employees,stationed,around,the,globe,are,dedicated,to,tracking,phones,in,real,time,By,September,2004,a,new,NSA,technique,enabled,the,agency,to,find,cellphones,even,when,they,were,turned,off,JSOC,troops,called,this,The,Find,and,it,gave,them,thousands,of,new,targets,including,members,of,a,burgeoning,al,Qaeda,sponsored,insurgency,in,Iraq,according,to,members,of,the,unit,At,the,same,time,the,NSA,developed,a,new,computer,linkup,called,the,Real,Time,Regional,Gateway,into,which,the,military,and,intelligence,officers,could,feed,every,bit,of,data,or,seized,documents,and,get,back,a,phone,number,or,list,of,potential,targets,It,also,allowed,commanders,to,see,on,a,screen,every,type,of,surveillance,available,in,a,given,territory,The,technique,by,which,the,NSA,can,wiretap,cellphones,even,when,they,are,turned,off,and,powered,down,is,most,likely,being,performed,with,the,complicity,of,telecommunications,companies,who,have,proven,friendly,to,NSA,snooping,Trojan,horse,programs,disguised,behind,routine,system,updates,are,the,likely,method,through,which,the,NSA,gains,direct,access,to,millions,of,Americans,cellphones,and,other,devices,you,may,recall,the,fact,that,Verizon,and,ATT,notably,did,not,sign,the,collective,letter,asking,the,government,to,allow,affected,companies,to,release,information,on,government,requests,for,data,writes,Tim,Cushing,given,this,background,its,not,unimaginable,that,Verizon,and,ATT,would,accommodate,the,NSA,and,FBI,if,it,wished,to,use,their,update,systems,to,push,these,trojans,as,we,have,also,previously,highlighted,terms,of,agreement,for,many,of,the,apps,you,download,to,your,smartphone,now,use,your,microphone,to,listen,to,you,and,your,camera,to,take,pictures,of,you,without,your,knowledge,the,notion,of,the,federal,government,tracking,your,location,via,your,cellphone,is,particularly,prescient,given,yesterdays,report,concerning,the,DHS,funded,mesh,network,system,that,seattle,police,eventually,intend,to,roll,out,across,the,city,but,have,temporarily,been,forced,to,deactivate,due,to,a,privacy,outcry,aruba,networks,company,behind,the,system,of,wifi,hubs,which,can,record,the,last,1000,locations,of,cellphones,belonging,to,anyone,in,the,coverage,area,bragged,in,their,promotional,material,that,the,grid,could,track,rogue,or,unassociated,devices,In,other,words,even,if,you,do,not,allow,your,phone,to,connect,to,such,wifi,networks,they,can,still,access,your,device,record,its,current,and,historical,location,as,well,as,download,private,information,from,your,apps,and,other,settings,And,there,appeared,a,great,wonder,in,heaven;,a,woman,clothed,with,the,sun,and,the,moon,under,her,feet,and,upon,her,head,a,crown,of,twelve,stars:,And,she,being,with,child,cried,travailing,in,birth,and,pained,to,be,delivered,And,there,appeared,another,wonder,in,heaven;,and,behold,a,great,red,dragon,having,seven,heads,and,ten,horns,and,seven,crowns,upon,his,heads.,And,his,tail,drew,the,third,part,of,the,stars,of,heaven,and,did,cast,them,to,the,earth:,and,the,dragon,stood,before,the,woman,which,was,ready,to,be,delivered,for,to,devour,her,child,as,soon,as,it,was,born.,And,she,brought,forth,a,man,child,who,was,to,rule,all,nations,with,a,rod,of,iron:,and,her,child,was,caught,up,unto,God,and,to,his,throne.,And,the,woman,fled,into,the,wilderness,where,she,hath,a,place,prepared,of,God,that,they,should,feed,her,there,a,thousand,two,hundred,and,threescore,days.,And,there,was,war,in,heaven:,Michael,and,his,angels,fought,against,the,dragon;,and,the,dragon,fought,and,his,angels,And,prevailed,not,neither,was,their,place,found,any,more,in,heaven,And,the,great,dragon,was,cast,out,that,old,serpent,called,the,Devil,and,Satan,which,deceiveth,the,whole,world:,he,was,cast,out,into,the,earth,and,his,angels,were,cast,out,with,him.,And,I,heard,a,loud,voice,saying,in,heaven,Now,is,come,salvation,and,strength,and,the,kingdom,of,our,God,and,the,power,of,his,Christ,for,the,accuser,of,our,brethren,is,cast,down,which,accused,them,before,our,God,day,and,night,And,they,overcame,him,by,the,blood,of,the,Lamb,and,by,the,word,of,their,testimony;,and,they,loved,not,their,lives,unto,the,death,Therefore,rejoice,ye,heavens,and,ye,that,dwell,in,them.,Woe,to,the,inhabiters,of,the,earth,and,of,the,sea!,for,the,devil,is,come,down,unto,you,having,great,wrath,because,he,knoweth,that,he,hath,but,a,short,time.,And,when,the,dragon,saw,that,he,was,cast,unto,the,earth,he,persecuted,the,woman,which,brought,forth,the,man,child,And,to,the,woman,were,given,two,wings,of,a,great,eagle,that,she,might,fly,into,the,wilderness,into,her,place,where,she,is,nourished,for,a,time,and,times,and,half,a,time,from,the,face,of,the,serpent,And,the,serpent,cast,out,of,his,mouth,water,as,a,flood,after,the,woman,that,he,might,cause,her,to,be,carried,away,of,the,flood.,And,the,earth,helped,the,woman,and,the,earth,opened,her,mouth,and,swallowed,up,the,flood,which,the,dragon,cast,out,of,his,mouth,And,the,dragon,was,wroth,with,the,woman,and,went,to,make,war,with,the,remnant,of,her,seed,which,keep,the,commandments,of,God,and,have,the,testimony,of,Jesus,Christ,Charles,Rowe,Jacqueline,Kennedy,Esther,Rowe,Ralph,Rowe,Judy,Garland,Ethel,Kennedy,Robert,John,Kennedy,international,affairs,world,economic,domination,and,control,policy,makers,decisions,for,material,gain,persuasion,of,the,masses,Did,you,know,that,the,NSA,can,track,the,location,of,your,phone,even,when,it,is,turned,off,and,the,batteries,have,been,removed,This,admission,went,largely,unnoticed,in,a,Washington,Post,report,entitled,NSA,growth,fueled,by,need,to,target,terrorists,In,the,article,writer,Dana,Priest,details,how,teams,of,NSA,employees,stationed,around,the,globe,are,dedicated,to,tracking,phones,in,real,time,By,September,2004,a,new,NSA,technique,enabled,the,agency,to,find,cellphones,even,when,they,were,turned,off,JSOC,troops,called,this,The,Find,and,it,gave,them,thousands,of,new,targets,including,members,of,a,burgeoning,al,Qaeda,sponsored,insurgency,in,Iraq,according,to,members,of,the,unit,At,the,same,time,the,NSA,developed,a,new,computer,linkup,called,the,Real,Time,Regional,Gateway,into,which,the,military,and,intelligence,officers,could,feed,every,bit,of,data,or,seized,documents,and,get,back,a,phone,number,or,list,of,potential,targets,It,also,allowed,commanders,to,see,on,a,screen,every,type,of,surveillance,available,in,a,given,territory,The,technique,by,which,the,NSA,can,wiretap,cellphones,even,when,they,are,turned,off,and,powered,down,is,most,likely,being,performed,with,the,complicity,of,telecommunications,companies,who,have,proven,friendly,to,NSA,snooping,Trojan,horse,programs,disguised,behind,routine,system,updates,are,the,likely,method,through,which,the,NSA,gains,direct,access,to,millions,of,Americans,cellphones,and,other,devices,you,may,recall,the,fact,that,Verizon,and,ATT,notably,did,not,sign,the,collective,letter,asking,the,government,to,allow,affected,companies,to,release,information,on,government,requests,for,data,writes,Tim,Cushing,given,this,background,its,not,unimaginable,that,Verizon,and,ATT,would,accommodate,the,NSA,and,FBI,if,it,wished,to,use,their,update,systems,to,push,these,trojans,as,we,have,also,previously,highlighted,terms,of,agreement,for,many,of,the,apps,you,download,to,your,smartphone,now,use,your,microphone,to,listen,to,you,and,your,camera,to,take,pictures,of,you,without,your,knowledge,the,notion,of,the,federal,government,tracking,your,location,via,your,cellphone,is,particularly,prescient,given,yesterdays,report,concerning,the,DHS,funded,mesh,network,system,that,seattle,police,eventually,intend,to,roll,out,across,the,city,but,have,temporarily,been,forced,to,deactivate,due,to,a,privacy,outcry,aruba,networks,company,behind,the,system,of,wifi,hubs,which,can,record,the,last,1000,locations,of,cellphones,belonging,to,anyone,in,the,coverage,area,bragged,in,their,promotional,material,that,the,grid,could,track,rogue,or,unassociated,devices,In,other,words,even,if,you,do,not,allow,your,phone,to,connect,to,such,wifi,networks,they,can,still,access,your,device,record,its,current,and,historical,location,as,well,as,download,private,information,from,your,apps,and,other,settings,The,Future,of,Eugenics,Eugenics,although,based,on,the,science,of,genetics,is,not,itself,a,sciences,for,it,must,above,all,concern,itself,with,social,values,with,the,question:,Whither,mankind?,Perhaps,general,Agreement,could,be,had,that,freedom,from,gross,physical,or,mental,defects,and,the,the,freedom,from,gross,physical,or,mental,defects,and,the,possession,of,sound,health,high,intelligence,general,adaptability,and,mobility,of,sprier,are,the,major,goals,toward,which,eugenics,should,aim;,perhaps,even,that,diversity,of,nature,is,better,than,uniformity,of,type,But,hour,far,ought,selective,reproduction,to,inters,with,human,freedoms:,Genetically,as,in,other,respects,"there,is,so,much,bad,in,the,best,of,us,and,so,much,good,in,the,worst,of,us",that,it,is,hared,to,asses,the,worth,of,the,manifest,hereditary,characteristics,of,a,person;,and,the,numerous,hidden,recessive,genes,or,genes,of,low,penetrance,make,it,quit,impossible,Nor,can,on,determine,to,what,extent,a,person's,manifest,characteristics,a,the,product,of,environment,particularly,for,this,qualities,what,eugenics',major,concern:,con,health,high,intelligence,and,the,like,THe,Jukes,and,Kallikaks,were,horrible,examples,of,degenerate,humanity,but,what,might,they,have,been,in,a,better,world:,Were,their,alcoholism,their,crime,and,their,vice,inescapable,products,of,their,genes?,It,seems,very,doubtful,Only,the,experiment,of,putting,them,from,earliest,infancy,in,to,an,optimum,environment,could,possible,yield,and,answer,It,is,easier,to,define,the,essentials,of,a,optimum,environment,not,forgetting,that,it,need,not,be,the,same,for,everyone,than,to,modify,gene,frequencies,by,wise,selection,Once,mankind,has,produced,an,approximation,of,that,optimum,environment,the,eugenic,task,will,be,simpler,In,fact,that,natural,selection,exerted,by,such,an,environment,may,make,eugenics,quite,unnecessary,See,also,Birth,Control,Genetics,Mark,Rowe,David,Rowe,Nina,Dougherty,Clifford,Dougherty,Anita,Ferguson,Virginia,Ferguson,William,Jones,Frederick,Jones,Charles,Rowe,Jacqueline,Kennedy,Esther,Rowe,Ralph,Rowe,Judy,Garland,Ethel,Kennedy,Robert,John,Kennedy,international,affairs,world,economic,domination,and,control,policy,makers,decisions,for,material,gain,persuasion,of,the,masses,Did,you,know,that,the,NSA,can,track,the,location,of,your,phone,even,when,it,is,turned,off,and,the,batteries,have,been,removed,This,admission,went,largely,unnoticed,in,a,Washington,Post,report,entitled,NSA,growth,fueled,by,need,to,target,terrorists,In,the,article,writer,Dana,Priest,details,how,teams,of,NSA,employees,stationed,around,the,globe,are,dedicated,to,tracking,phones,in,real,time,By,September,2004,a,new,NSA,technique,enabled,the,agency,to,find,cellphones,even,when,they,were,turned,off,JSOC,troops,called,this,The,Find,and,it,gave,them,thousands,of,new,targets,including,members,of,a,burgeoning,al,Qaeda,sponsored,insurgency,in,Iraq,according,to,members,of,the,unit,At,the,same,time,the,NSA,developed,a,new,computer,linkup,called,the,Real,Time,Regional,Gateway,into,which,the,military,and,intelligence,officers,could,feed,every,bit,of,data,or,seized,documents,and,get,back,a,phone,number,or,list,of,potential,targets,It,also,allowed,commanders,to,see,on,a,screen,every,type,of,surveillance,available,in,a,given,territory,The,technique,by,which,the,NSA,can,wiretap,cellphones,even,when,they,are,turned,off,and,powered,down,is,most,likely,being,performed,with,the,complicity,of,telecommunications,companies,who,have,proven,friendly,to,NSA,snooping,Trojan,horse,programs,disguised,behind,routine,system,updates,are,the,likely,method,through,which,the,NSA,gains,direct,access,to,millions,of,Americans,cellphones,and,other,devices,you,may,recall,the,fact,that,Verizon,and,ATT,notably,did,not,sign,the,collective,letter,asking,the,government,to,allow,affected,companies,to,release,information,on,government,requests,for,data,writes,Tim,Cushing,given,this,background,its,not,unimaginable,that,Verizon,and,ATT,would,accommodate,the,NSA,and,FBI,if,it,wished,to,use,their,update,systems,to,push,these,trojans,as,we,have,also,previously,highlighted,terms,of,agreement,for,many,of,the,apps,you,download,to,your,smartphone,now,use,your,microphone,to,listen,to,you,and,your,camera,to,take,pictures,of,you,without,your,knowledge,the,notion,of,the,federal,government,tracking,your,location,via,your,cellphone,is,particularly,prescient,given,yesterdays,report,concerning,the,DHS,funded,mesh,network,system,that,seattle,police,eventually,intend,to,roll,out,across,the,city,but,have,temporarily,been,forced,to,deactivate,due,to,a,privacy,outcry,aruba,networks,company,behind,the,system,of,wifi,hubs,which,can,record,the,last,1000,locations,of,cellphones,belonging,to,anyone,in,the,coverage,area,bragged,in,their,promotional,material,that,the,grid,could,track,rogue,or,unassociated,devices,In,other,words,even,if,you,do,not,allow,your,phone,to,connect,to,such,wifi,networks,they,can,still,access,your,device,record,its,current,and,historical,location,as,well,as,download,private,information,from,your,apps,,and,other,settings,washington,the,white,house,has,cancelled,a,planned,summit,meeting,next,month,between,president,barack,obama,and,russian,president,vladimir,putin,and,one,of,the,reasons,given,was,moscows,decision,to,grant,asylum,to,an,american,who,leaked,top,secret,information,Former,Vice,President,Dick,Cheney,called,Edward,Snowden,a,traitor,for,leaking,top,secret,documents,from,the,National,Security,Agency,in,an,interview,that,aired,Monday,afternoon,on,CNN,Cheney,added,that,he,hopes,the,U,S,is,eventually,able,to,catch,Snowden,who,was,granted,a,one,year,asylum,in,Russia,in,August,and,hopes,he,receives,the,justice,he,deserves,Cheney,said,Snowden,leaks,which,most,recently,revealed,that,the,National,Security,Agency,monitored,the,phone,conversations,of,35,world,leaders,have,hurt,Americas,ability,to,defend,itself,The,former,second,in,command,would,not,comment,on,whether,or,not,that,the,surveillance,began,in,2002,as,the,documents,indicated,The,fact,is,we,do,collect,a,lot,of,intelligence,without,speaking,about,any,particular,target,or,group,of,targets,Cheney,told,CNN,Jake,Tapper,That,intelligence,capability,is,enormously,important,to,the,United,States,to,our,conduct,of,foreign,policy,to,the,defense,matters,to,economic,matters,And,Im,a,strong,supporter,of,it,The,same,day,Cheney,came,out,against,Snowden,Wikileaks,set,up,a,Free,Snowden,a,website,designed,to,collect,money,to,defend,the,former,NSA,contractor,whose,asylum,ends,in,August,2014,Damascus,knows,the,struggle,for,the,moment,is,to,sway,American,public,opinion,With,that,in,mind,President,Assad,In,his,interview,with,CBS,and,statements,from,other,Syrian,officials,,have,stressed,at,least,three,ways,in,which,a,US,military,strike,would,backfire,There,is,the,unspecific,warning,if,not,outright,threat,of,direct,reprisals,by,Syria,,and,indirect,action,by,its,allies,such,as,Hezbollah,in,Lebanon,and,Iranian,backed,Shia,militias,in,Iraq,There,is,the,warning,that,American,action,would,strengthen,rebel,factions,linked,to,al,Qaeda,and,could,even,enable,them,to,seize,power,if,the,strike,were,damaging,enough,And,there,is,the,threat,echoed,by,Moscow,that,any,such,attack,would,scupper,already,dim,chances,of,a,political,settlement,through,peace,talks,in,Geneva,In,reality,much,depends,on,what,exactly,the,Americans,intend,to,do,If,their,strike,is,as,Mr,Kerry,said,incredibly,small,the,repercussions,might,be,very,limited,Iranian,backed,militias,in,Iraq,might,fire,off,some,mortars,at,the,enormous,US,embassy,compound,in,Baghdad,for,example,But,more,serious,actions,such,as,Hezbollah,striking,at,Israel,are,unlikely,unless,the,US,launches,a,very,major,operation,indeed,Russia,has,asked,Syria,to,put,its,chemical,weapons,stockpiles,under,international,control,and,then,have,them,destroyed,in,an,attempt,to,avoid,US,military,strikes,Foreign,Minister,Sergei,Lavrov,said,the,offer,was,made,during,talks,with,his,Syrian,counterpart,Walid,Muallem,who,welcomed,the,initiative,The,US,said,it,was,skeptical,but,would,have,a,hard,look,at,the,plan,The,US,accuses,Damascus,of,war,crimes,allegations,denied,by,the,regime,US,Secretary,of,State,John,Kerry,in,Europe,to,garner,support,for,the,military,action,,inadvertently,started,the,talk,of,Syria,giving,up,its,chemical,weapons,early,on,Monday,When,asked,at,a,news,conference,whether,there,was,anything,Syrian,President,Bashar,al,Assad,could,do,to,avoid,military,action,Mr,Kerry,replied,that,he,could,hand,over,his,entire,stockpile,of,chemical,weapons,within,the,next,week,US,officials,subsequently,clarified,that,Mr,Kerry,was,making,a,rhetorical,argument,rather,than,a,serious,offer,However,Mr,Lavrov,later,revealed,in,a,news,conference,that,he,had,urged,Mr,Muallem,to,not,only,agree,on,placing,chemical,weapons,storage,sites,under,international,control,,but,also,on,their,subsequent,destruction,He,said,he,had,also,told,Mr,Muallem,that,Syria,should,then,fully,join,the,Chemical,Weapons,Convention,Mr,Muallem,told,reporters,through,an,interpreter,that,Syria,welcomed,the,initiative,and,praised,Russia,for,attempting,to,prevent,American,aggression,against,our,people,Mr,Kerry,and,Mr,Lavrov,spoke,on,the,phone,after,the,Russian,proposal,was,put,forward,but,US,officials,sounded,a,cautious,note,over,the,plan,White,House,spokesman,Jay,Carney,said,the,US,government,would,study,the,proposal,but,had,skepticism,over,the,credibility,of,the,Assad,regime,In,an,interview,earlier,Assad,refused,to,even,acknowledge,that,he,has,chemical,weapons,Of,course,the,whole,world,knows,he,does,said,Mr,Carney,White,House,spokesman,Jay,Carney,said,the,US,would,study,Russia's,proposals,He,promised,that,the,US,would,continue,to,push,for,strikes,because,the,credible,threat,of,military,action,was,vital,in,putting,pressure,on,the,Assad,regime,US,allies,have,also,reacted,cautiously,UK,Minister,David,Cameron,said,the,destruction,of,the,weapons,would,be,a,huge,step,forward,but,warned,that,it,should,not,be,used,as,a,distraction,tactic,French,Foreign,Minister,Laurent,Fabius,called,on,Mr,Assad,to,make,rapid,serious,and,verifiable,comments,to,the,plan,German,Chancellor,Angela,Merkel,said,it,was,an,interesting,proposal,but,added,that,she,hoped,real,action,would,follow,Pay,the,price,Moscow,has,been,Mr,Assad's,main,international,ally,throughout,Syria's,two,and,a,half,year,civil,war,Russia,has,blocked,three,resolutions,against,Syria,in,the,UN,Security,Council,and,has,dismissed,US,claims,that,Mr,Assad's,forces,carried,out,a,chemical,attack,in,Damascus,on,August,killing,people,Mr,Assad's,government,blames,the,attack,on,rebels,fighting,to,overthrow,him,in,a,conflict,that,the,UN,says,has,claimed,some,lives,The,UN,sent,weapons,experts,into,Damascus,to,investigate,the,attack,UN,Secretary,General,Ban,Ki,moon,said,on,Monday,that,if,the,experts,concluded,chemicals,had,been,used,,he,would,consider,asking,the,Security,Council,to,approve,a,safe,zone,in,Syria,where,the,weapons,could,be,destroyed,Meanwhile,the,Syrian,leader,gave,an,interview,to,US,network,PBS,in,which,he,warned,the,US,against,intervention,saying,the,Middle,East,was,on,the,brink,of,explosion,You're,going,to,pay,the,price,if,you're,not,wise,with,dealing,with,terrorists,There,are,going,to,be,repercussions,he,said,The,government,is,not,the,only,player,in,this,region,You,have,different,parties,different,factions,different,ideologies,You,have,everything,in,this,decision,now,Mr,Assad,did,not,explain,whether,his,comment,was,a,threat,that,Syrian,backed,groups,such,as,Hezbollah,would,launch,retaliation,or,a,warning,that,strikes,would,bolster,al,Qaeda,linked,groups,He,also,denied,using,chemical,weapons,saying,there,was,no,evidence,to,hold,his,government,responsible,for,the,August,attack,Continue,reading,the,main,story,Start,Quote,The,proposal,to,destroy,Syria's,chemical,weapons,could,be,a,one,day,wonder,but,it,could,also,be,a,game,changer,Mark,Mardell,North,America,Heavy,lift,US,President,Barack,Obama,has,cleared,his,schedule,this,week,to,focus,all,his,attention,on,building,support,for,the,Syrian,intervention,He,has,acknowledged,he,faces,a,heavy,lift,to,win,congressional,backing,A,poll,carried,out,by,ABC,and,the,BBC,on,Friday,suggested,more,than,members,in,the,House,of,Representatives,were,either,opposed,or,likely,to,oppose,strikes,Just,representatives,said,they,would,support,or,were,likely,to,support,action,and,a,large,proportion,are,still,undecided,on,the,issue,Many,US,politicians,and,members,of,the,public,remain,concerned,that,military,action,could,draw,the,nation,into,a,prolonged,war,and,spark,broader,hostilities,in,the,region,of,the44,21,230,433,100000,1429,21
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