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Monday, January 13, 2025

Revolutionary technology is breaking out of the lab. The British government has announced that it is deploying a top-secret quantum clock, developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), across the military over the next five years. read more


The Army is already nearly halfway to meeting its ambitious goal of recruiting 61,000 active-duty soldiers during this fiscal year, according to internal data reviewed by Military.com. The service has 30,000 new enlistments this year -- an increase of 6,000 compared to the same period last year, the data shows. read more


Many have been meeting with senators individually. Now, they'll go this week before the committees overseeing the agencies that Trump wants them to run. read more


DOJ Review and Evaluation Tulsa Race MassacreOn the night of May 31, 1921, a violent attack by as many as 10,000 white Tulsans destroyed the thriving Black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma -- a prosperous area often referred to as "Black Wall Street" The attack, which lasted into the afternoon of June1, was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence. What men murdered hundreds of Black resident, burned businesses and homes to the ground, and left survivors without resources or recourse. In the aftermath, authorities failed to offer meaningful help, and efforts to seek justice through the courts foundered. read more


Three Humvees and other military equipment were stolen from an Army Reserve center near Santa Ana, Calif., Wednesday, as wildfires devastated parts of Los Angeles County.


Comments


Blasters - Dark Night (1985)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
Hot air hangs like a dead man
From a white oak tree
People sitting on porches
Thinking how things used to be
...
The neighborhood was changing
Strangers moving in
A new boy fell for a local girl
When she made eyes at him

[Verse 3]
She was young and pretty
No stranger to other men
Open doors were being locked at night
And old lines drawn again

[Chorus]
I thought these things didn't matter anymore
I thought all that blood had been shed long ago
Dark night, it's a dark night

[Verse 4]
He took her to the outskirts
He pledged his love to her
They thought it was their secret
But someone knew where they were

[Verse 5]
He held her so close
He asked about her dreams
When a bullet from a passing car
Made the young girl scream
...
I thought these things didn't happen anymore
I thought all that blood had been shed long ago
Dark night, it's a dark night
Dark night, it's a dark night


Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby (1987)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
Happy nightmare, baby
Happy nightmare, baby
Cause you're mine, all mine

We're gonna go for a ride
Gonna go for a ride
Down in the city tonight

Gonna be my baby
Will you be my baby?
Tonight, tonight

Our love is gone
Our love is gone
Into the night, into the night

Close your eyes, come along with me
Down into the bottom of the sea

Happy nightmare, baby
Happy nightmare, baby
Cause you're mine, all mine

Gonna be my baby
Will you be my baby?
Tonight, tonight
...


Quite the odd tune.

@#5 .. Information Commissioner's Office, from the original post. ...

Thanks, I missed that TLA.

About the ICO / Who we are
ico.org.uk

... The ICO exists to empower you through information. Find out more about our organisation and structure. ...

So, you disagree or agree with the ICO's opinion on google's "Don't be evil" motto?


@#232 ... Discuss that with the pilot that had a hole punched in his wing by the drone. As if aerial fire drops don't have enough issues to begin with. ...

Thanks for providing more context.

Did that pilot live to talk about it?

If yes, I stand by my comment.

What I see...

FBI working to piece together drone that damaged super scooper while battling Palisades Fire
abc7news.com

... The FBI released new photos of a damaged water-dropping super scooper firefighting aircraft that collided with a drone over the Palisades Fire.

According to officials, the plane collided with a privately-owned drone, causing significant damage to it. The drone put a 3x6 hole in the aircraft, causing a 20- to 30-minute delay in the aerial firefight.
FBI

"I'd just like to stress, that technique, using that super scooper aircraft, are our most effective technique to fight fires like this, and when this happens, it puts everybody's lives at risk," said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.

The low-flying, surface-skimming planes dip into the water before dumping its contents over blazing wildfires. As the wind-driven fires continue across Southern California, officials are pleading with people to not fly drones over wildfire-ravaged areas.

"Our biggest concern is that there are so many unauthorized drones in the area that they are impacting law enforcement and firefighters' efforts to suppress this fire and actually get it contained," said Davis.

Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are put in place by the FAA to alert pilots of areas of restricted air travel due to a hazardous condition, a special event, or a general warning for the entire FAA airspace.

TFRs are currently in place over the Palisades and Eaton fires, allowing firefighting aircraft the airspace they need. They apply to all aircraft, including drones.

Drone videos of destroyed neighborhoods are spreading over social media, despite the threat of jail time.

"We'll work backwards through investigative means to try and recreate that drone and figure out what company owns that drone and who it was assigned to," said Davis. ...


... as if the great people of that area do not currently have enough issues to deal with, now there are drones apparently taking down defensive aircraft..



Google's Motto Was 'Don't Be Evil'? (October 2024)
www.snopes.com

...
Claim: Google's company motto was once "Don't be evil."

Rating: Mostly True

About this rating

Context

Google has used the phrase "Don't be evil" -- which a Google representative described as an "unofficial motto" -- in official communications since the early 2000s, including in documentation filed for its 2004 initial public opening.

The company has used the phrase less frequently since 2018, when it removed most -- but not all -- mentions of it from Google's code of conduct.

However, Google has never officially disavowed the phrase, one instance of which remained part of the most-recent version of the company's code of conduct available at the time of this writing.
...


An ode to the upcoming Trump administration?

You decide.

Tuff Darts -- (Your Love Is Like) Nuclear Waste (1977)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

madmusic.com

... I'd rather crawl through poison ivy
or grab high tensions wires
cut my legs off at the knees
or set myself on fire

Than have to feel your charms
closing in around me
or feel your slimy kisses covering my body

Your love is like a nuclear waste
your body is a danger to the human race
they should stamp contaminated right across your face
your love is like a nuclear waste

I'd rather stick my tongue into a vat
drink ex-lax all day long
or have to chew on razor blades
or--------- to king kong

Than have to be between the sheets with you for any time
or have to feel your scaly flesh moving onto mine

Your love is like a nuclear waste
your body is a danger to the human race
they should stamp contaminated right across your face
your love is like a nuclear waste
...


I'll go out to Tueday ...

...
After the initial crush of personnel announcements for President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, now the nominations process officially begins.

Senate hearings are scheduled this coming week for several of Trump's picks for the Cabinet. Many have met with senators individually. Now, they will go before the committees overseeing the agencies that Trump wants them to run.

Here's a look at the schedule for Senate hearings set so far, in Eastern time:

Tuesday

9 a.m.: Doug Collins, Department of Veterans Affairs

The former Georgia congressman is up first, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Collins is a Baptist minister, former U.S. Navy chaplain and Air Force Reserve colonel. The VA provides health care to former members of the U.S. armed forces.

9:30 a.m.: Pete Hegseth, Department of Defense

The former "Fox & Friends" weekend host and Army National Guard combat veteran goes before the Senate Armed Services Committee after weeks of meetings during which some senators have questioned his fitness for the role amid allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct. The Pentagon chief's authority over the U.S. military is second only to that of the president's.

10 a.m.: Doug Burgum, Interior Department

The former governor of North Dakota and businessman appears before members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who will consider his nomination as interior secretary, the chief steward of U.S. public lands. Burgum, who endorsed Trump after ending his own 2024 presidential bid and campaigned for Trump, has also been tapped to lead the National Energy Council. Trump has said the council will seek to establish U.S. "energy dominance" around the world.
...

@#3 ... When I read things like this I wonder what the accuracy is compared to, the clock will not gain or lose the relative to what? ...

That is a great point to raise.

To explain my view, allow me to take a step back and bore you with a true story from a prior life of mine ...

OK, I was responsible for the engineering aspect of IT in a company I worked for. As such, i had many conversations with the manager in charge of the IT operations and also the techs in IT who toiled to keep things running.

One time I was trying to track down an anomaly that seemed to occur with three different servers in the computer room.

As I tried to trace the ~event~ among those servers, one of the first things I noticed was that the timestamps on the system logs were, I'll be kind, not in agreement.

Stated differently, an event that I knew occurred at the same time on three servers was presented in the logs of those servers as occurring a couple minutes apart.

So, I asked a question ... how are the clocks on those servers set. The answer was, when the server is started, the tech inserts the time from their watch.

That ain't good. When trying to trace events across multiple servers, the time clocks of those servers need to agree within a needed resolution.

So, I raised an issue, and the IT manager then put into place a substantial NTP infrastructure for the servers in the company.

The company servers were now all within milliseconds of each other, which made trouble-shooting so much easier. Because I could then look at the log files and see how things occurred relative to other events. (kudos to you if you are still hanging in here)

OK, that is a long way around to saying a simple thing, if you want to look at what is happening concurrently, the clock you use must provide the resolution you need to attain that goal.



ponsible for the engineering aspect of IT in a company I worked for. As such, I had many conversations with the manager in charge of the IT operations and also the techs in IT who toiled to keep things running.

One time I was trying to track down an anomaly that seemed to occur with three different servers in the computer room.

As I tried to trace the ~event~ among those servers, one of the first things I noticed was that the timestamps on the system logs were, I'll be kind, not in agreement.

Stated differently, an event that I knew occurred at the same time on two servers was presented in the logs of those two servers as occurring a couple minutes apart.

So, I asked a question ... how are the clocks on those servers set. The answer was, when the server is started, the tech inserts the time from their watch.

I raised an issue, and the IT manager then put into place a substantial NTP infrastructure for the servers on the company. They were now all within milliseconds of each other, which made trouble-shooting so much easier. Because I could then look at the log files and see how things occurred relative to other events. (kudos to you if you are still hanging in here)

OK, that is a long way around to saying a simple thing, if you want to look at what is happening concurrently, the clock you use must provide the resolution you need to attain that goal.


@#217 ... It's just all the "fire hydrants are out of water" and "why isn't anyone using ocean water" and "what about the reservoir" are all specific to the Palisades fire. ...

Maybe one reason for not using the ocean water is ...

Two More CL-415 Super Scoopers On The Way To Fight Palisades Fire After One Damaged By Drone
www.twz.com

... Officials hope the aircraft hit by the drone will be repaired and ready to fly again early next week.

Cal Fire will receive two more CL-415 Super Scoopers from a Canadian non-profit to replace the one damaged Thursday by a drone strike as it was fighting the Palisades Fire, The War Zone has learned. This will take the total force of Super Scoopers currently available to Cal Fire from one to three. In addition, it is hoped that the aircraft, which has a hole in its left wing, will be back on line by early next week. The appearance of the drone in the firefighting area, despite restrictions, temporarily grounded all firefighting aircraft working that fire, as The War Zone was the first to report.

"The new planes will be sent in the middle of next week if the weather is good for flying," Stephane Caron, spokesman for the Quebec-based SOPFEU non-profit, told us on Friday. At issue, he said, are the winds and snow often present in Canada during this time of year that can often keep aircraft grounded. The organization has eight CL-415s and six older CL-215s, Caron explained. ...


Related ...

Quantum-entangled atomic clock keeps spookily accurate time (2021)
www.livescience.com

... Physicists imagine a day when they will be able to design a clock that's so precise, it can detect dark matter.

Physicists imagine a day when they will be able to design a clock that's so precise, it will be used to detect subtle disturbances in space-time or to find the elusive dark matter that tugs on everything yet emits no light. The ticking of this clock will be almost perfect.

That dream may not be far off: A group of researchers has created a clock that, with some tweaks, could be four to five times more precise than the world's best clocks. To put that into perspective, if today's most precise clocks started ticking at the birth of the universe, they would be off by only half a second today; with more improvements, this new clock has the potential to be off by only 0.1 second.

"Atomic clocks are by far the most precise instruments mankind has ever made by many orders of magnitude," said Vladan Vuleti, a professor of physics at MIT and senior author of a recent paper describing the work. Now, "we are pushing this boundary" further, he added. ...



@#19

Bodycam video appears to show Baltimore police officer planting evidence in drug bust, public defender says (2017)
abcnews.go.com

... Bodycam footage allegedly shows a Baltimore police officer tampering with evidence by planting what appears to be drugs, according to the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

The video was taken on January 24 when three police officers were searching for drugs in a yard filled with debris, Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jason Johnson said in a press release Wednesday.

The footage purports to show one of the officers hiding a bag of drugs in a can and then later "finding" the drugs, while two other officers "look on and take no action," the public defender's office said in a press release. ...

"Body cameras have an important role to play in the oversight and accountability of police officers but only if they are used properly and the footage is taken seriously," said Debbie Katz Levi, head of the Baltimore Public Defender's Special Litigation Section. "Officers should not be able to decide when to turn the cameras on and off, and footage like what was presented here needs to result in immediate action by the State's Attorney and the Police Department." ...


Yeah, it seems that officer did not know that the body-cam remembers and saves the 30-seconds of video it captured before it was "turned on."

Body cam video shows police officer planting drugs, attorneys say (2017)
www.cbsnews.com

... "What we think we see, and if you slow down the video especially in the first five seconds, the officer appearing to place a red can underneath some trash, push the fence up, and hide it," said public defender Debbie Katz Levi.

The footage was caught on camera in January, but not discovered by a public defender in Levi's office until this month.

Levi says the alleged act of planting drugs was caught because Baltimore police body cameras capture the 30 seconds before an officer actually hits the record button, but without audio.

When the sound does kick in, "he then walks down the alley and miraculously goes to the same space where he appeared to have just planted the can with the suspected narcotics," Levi said. ...



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