Smooth Running

Microsoft has some very cool tech as seen by their many contributions to Siggraph, the place to go to see the latest and greatest in CG, a conference yours truly has gone to on numerous occasions (the parties rock). :) To whit:

We present a method for converting first-person videos, for example, captured with a helmet camera during activities such as rock climbing or bicycling, into hyper-lapse videos, i.e., time-lapse videos with a smoothly moving camera. 

Works for me. :)

Had to put in the tech version as the research MS has done on this is incredible.

The precursor to this is Photosynth, awesome tech that brings 3D to 2D photos.

You can run but you can't hide

"You can run but you can't hide." - Joe Louis aka the Brown Bomber

Joe Louis by van Vechten

Great Whites - up close & natural

Looking at Great Whites from a cage after baiting them to come to the cage is artifical to the max as the behavior of same has been altered by chumming the water to get them close enough to photograph. With the Woods Hole SharkCam, the first real glimpse into how Great Whites conduct their lives can be done without question. :)

The Visual Microphone

Without question, the NSA, CIA, FBI and significant others will cap on this tech in a NYC second.

They recovered intelligible speech from a video of a potato chip bag that was shot at a distance of 15 feet behind soundproof glass. The team also obtained useful audio signals from videos of aluminum foil, the surface of a glass of water, and the leaves of a potted plant.

The researchers, led by Abe Davis, a graduate student at MIT, will present their findings at the Siggraph computer graphics conference to be held next week in Vancouver, Canada.

Hal can relate to this, right? :)

Evolution - In Real Time

The Voyage of the Beagle is enchanting. Darwin's thought process in starting to formulate the notion of evolution to explain how live evolves, is a revelation, a glimpse into the creative process every "artist" goes through when working out a new idea whether it be evolution, a jazz composition or the design of a new building. In this light, a terrific article tiled, In Darwin's Footsteps, an amazing discovery, made by researchers Peter and Rosemary Grant, proves that evolution can happen in real time.

Their goal, as they relate in their new book, “40 Years of Evolution,” was to study finches in the genus Geospiza — the birds that gave Darwin some of his first inklings of evolution by natural selection — and to try to reconstruct part of their evolutionary history. Instead, they made an amazing discovery.

After several years of meticulous measurements, the Grants and their students realized that the finches’ dimensions were changing before their eyes. Their beaks and bodies were evolving and adapting from year to year, sometimes slowly, sometimes strikingly, generation after generation. The researchers were watching evolution in real time, evolution in the flesh.

Seen below are pictures of finches who reside on Daphne Major, a volcanic island in the Galapagos.

Water water everywhere...

BRT has long believed GW is real, now, researchers further substantiate this fact not only by tracking increased CO2 levels detected in the air and oceans but also by tracking increased levels of water vapor in the atmosphere, another prime driver of GW, produced only by us and not Earth, the planet we all call home. :)

A new study from scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and colleagues confirms rising levels of water vapor in the upper troposphere – a key amplifier of global warming – will intensify climate change impacts over the next decades. The new study is the first to show that increased water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere are a direct result of human activities.

Click here to get the full report.

Something is different this time.

Something is different this time. This is the worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history, and this particular strain appears to be spreading much more easily than others have. So far, 1,323 people have been infected in the nations of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Of those 1,323 victims, a whopping 729 of them have died. But a number that is even more alarming was buried in the middle of a Reuters report on Friday. According to Reuters, “more than 100 health workers” that have been fighting Ebola in Africa have contracted the virus themselves. Considering the extraordinary measures that these health workers take to keep from getting the disease, that is quite chilling. We are not just talking about one or two “accidents”. We are talking about more than 100 of them getting sick. If Ebola is spreading this easily among medical professionals in biohazard body suits that keep any air from touching the skin, what chance are the rest of us going to have if this virus gets out into the general population?

12 Monkeys comes to mind when reading about Ebola as this amazing film gives you the willies, you know, the creeping feeling of dread one gets regarding a possibly catastrophic event happening, something totally out of anyone's control, something truly frightening like an Ebola type virus getting out into the wild, able to kill with horrific efficiency. Yours truly is certainly not panicking as of yet but keeping a watchful eye on this rapidly evolving situation is not such a bad idea. Seen below is the life cycle of this most dangerous of diseases.

Something different applies here as well.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said, as the WHO formally launched a $100 million response plan that includes deploying hundreds more health care workers.

Click here to get the CDC's take on Ebola.

The Internet Must Go

Informative and witty, this tells why NN is vital to the National Interest.

The baying of hounds

Condemning Putin without hard evidence regarding MH-17 is dangerous at best because Russia "ain't" Iraq, Libya, Iran or Syria. It's a nation armed to the teeth with nukes and the ability to deliver them with great efficiency to anywhere in the world without issue. In BRT, the mantra yours truly tries to abide by as best as possible is: vetting. How good is the content yours truly is quoting? Is it kosher, is it viable, can it stand up to scrutiny, something "W" violated to the max when gaining hard US intel in order to sell an illegal war to America. The same thing is now happening in the Ukraine where no hard evidence as to exactly what happened to MH-17 has been released, only conjecture, hearsay and invective. 

To whit

Blood on Putin's Hand

The world may have averted its gaze towards Israel and Gaza, but this week the rumbling warfare in eastern Ukraine has been erupting into something growing daily more dangerous.

Three Ukrainian planes have been reported shot down with missiles, scores of soldiers and separatist fighters killed, and an apartment block destroyed by an air strike, though it is disputed who fired the missiles that killed 11 people inside.

Meanwhile the Russian bear, still pretending to be an innocent party despite blood dripping from its paws, has begun stealthily rebuilding its forces on the border.

Now we may well have witnessed the kind of shocking event that happens when heavy armaments are placed in the hands of untrained and desperate militias.

Notice the word REPORTED, not fact but hearsay.

It's gets better.

It's Putin's Missile!

And here’s the spin war verdict: the current Malaysia Airlines tragedy – the second in four months – is “terrorism” perpetrated by “pro-Russian separatists”, armed by Russia, and Vladimir Putin is the main culprit. End of story. Anyone who believes otherwise, shut up.

Why? Because the CIA said so. Because Hillary “We came, we saw, he died” Clinton said so. Because batshit crazy Samantha “R2P” Power said so – thundering at the UN, everything duly printed by the neo-con infested Washington Post. [1]

Because Anglo-American corporate media – from CNN to Fox (who tried to buy Time Warner, which owns CNN) – said so. Because the President of the United States (POTUS) said so. And mostly because Kiev had vociferously said so in the first place.

Right off the bat they were all lined up – the invariably hysterical reams of “experts” of the “US intelligence community” literally foaming at their palatial mouths at “evil” Russia and “evil” Putin; intel “experts” who could not identify a convoy of gleaming white Toyotas crossing the Iraqi desert to take Mosul. And yet they have already sentenced they don’t need to look any further, instantly solving the MH17 riddle.

It doesn’t matter that President Putin has stressed the MH17 tragedy must be investigated objectively. And “objectively” certainly does not mean that fictional ”international community” notion construed by Washington – the usual congregation of pliable vassals/patsies.

But two questions, one...

A  simple search at reveals that MH17 was in fact diverted 200 kilometers north from the usual flight path taken by Malaysia Airlines in the previous days – and plunged right in the middle of a war zone. Why? What sort of communication MH17 received from Kiev air control tower?

Kiev has been mute about it. Yet the answer would be simple, had Kiev released the Air Traffic Control recording of the tower talking to flight MH17; Malaysia did it after flight MH370 disappeared forever.

and 2, what if it wasn't a missile? Conjecture perhaps but not without merit

I recommend to click on the little picture to the left. You can download this photo as a PDF in good resolution. This is necessary, because that will allow you understand what I am describing here. The facts speak clear and loud and are beyond the realm of speculation: The cockpit shows traces of shelling! You can see the entry and exit holes. The edge of a portion of the holes is bent inwards. These are the smaller holes, round and clean, showing the entry points most likely that of a 30 millimeter caliber projectile. The edge of the other, the larger and slightly frayed exit holes showing shreds of metal pointing produced by the same caliber projectiles. Moreover, it is evident that at these exit holes of the outer layer of the double aluminum reinforced structure are shredded or bent – outwardly! Furthermore, minor cuts can be seen, all bent outward, which indicate that shrapnel had forcefully exited through the outer skin from the inside of the cockpit. The open rivets are are also bent outward.

The picture

In conclusion...

If we now consider the armament of a typical SU 25 we learn this: It is equipped with a double-barreled 30-mm gun, type GSh-302 / AO-17A, equipped with: a 250 round magazine of anti-tank incendiary shells and splinter-explosive shells (dum-dum), arranged in alternating order. The cockpit of the MH 017 has evidently been fired at from both sides: the entry and exit holes are found on the same fragment of it’s cockpit segment!

Isn't it time to find out what really happened to Malaysian Flight MH17 before it's too late. Before the hounds of hell are unleashed as they were in 1914. Something to consider if you ask me.

Addendum: A shelved BBC video showing a reporter interviewing villagers who saw a jet approach MH17. Interesting to say the least.

Click here to read the transcript. Maybe the politicos of the US should look at this before rushing to judgment. Sounds like a viable plan to me.

And one last link from Zerohedge describing Russia's take on the MH17 tragedy. Worth reading without question.

Addendum II: Flight 17 Shoot-Down Scenario Shifts

Contrary to the Obama administration’s public claims blaming eastern Ukrainian rebels and Russia for the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, some U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that the rebels and Russia were likely not at fault and that it appears Ukrainian government forces were to blame, according to a source briefed on these findings.

This judgment – at odds with what President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have expressed publicly – is based largely on the absence of U.S. government evidence that Russia supplied the rebels with a Buk anti-aircraft missile system that would be needed to hit a civilian jetliner flying at 33,000 feet, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The baying of hounds indeed.

Reaping the Whirlwind

Reaping the whirlwind applies here thanks to the feckless Hobby Lobby decision, courtesy the SC. Seems satanists are demanding the same rights as fundamental christians but this time, on a woman's right to choose along with the unrestricted worship of Satan.

Because medicine and scientific fact are the tenets of satanists’ faith, then medically inaccurate and coercive counseling laws present a substantial burden, according to Greaves. This is pretty much what Ruth Bader Ginsburg was talking about in her dissent when she said the justices had “ventured into a minefield.” It just so happens that these are satanists making a faith claim under the legal precedent, and not, you know, a company that produces soy milk and hates birth control. But it’s the same idea.

Hobby Lobby's a Pyrrhic victory without question. Corporations as people and the shattering of the corporate veil, will keep this version of the supremes up to their eyeballs in a CF of their own making, something akin to what our esteemed congress is doing in terms of inept governance.

It's not the Flying Spaghetti Monster but, as per all religions, the belief system's the same.