An Example Of "An Army Of Davids”

From Yahoo News -

Amateur Cracks Secret Nazi Code
Walaika K. Haskins, newsfactor.com Thu Mar 2, 7:15 PM ET

Nazi code that eluded the best cryptographers the Allied forces had to offer during World War II has been solved by an amateur codebreaker with the assistance of a network of computers.
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To solve the puzzling mystery, details of which had been published in a cryptography journal in 1995, Krah wrote a codebreaking program and then went online in January to post information about his project and ask for assistance.

In an interview with the BBC, Krah, a resident of Utrecht, The Netherlands, said it was "basic human curiosity" that prompted him to attempt to break the code. "Clearly, the project is from the 'because-we-can' department," Krah wrote on a bulletin board online.
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Krah said that he is not sure the remaining two codes will be cracked. So far, the power of thousands of PCs joined in this effort has resulted in little success. "There is no guarantee that another break will occur at all," Krah was quoted as saying. "There is simply a fair chance."

To volunteer your computer's processing power to crack the final two codes, go to www.bytereef.org/m4_project.html

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"An Army Of Davids" refers to the title of a book just out written by Glenn Reynolds of INSTAPUNDIT.COM. The title comes from the story of David and Goliath ... people on the internet, when working together, become "An Army Of Davids"!

"First Responders" - Asleep At The Switch

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

From Associated Press, by Lara Jakes and Margaret Ebrahim

New Video Shows Blanco Saying Levees Safe

WASHINGTON - In the hectic, confused hours after Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, Louisiana's governor hesitantly but mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans' protective levees were intact, according to a new video obtained by The Associated Press showing briefings that day with federal officials.

"We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29, according to the video that was obtained Thursday night. "We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee. I think we have not breached the levee at this time."

In fact, the Bottom of Form National Weather Service received a report of a levee breach and issued a flash-flood warning as early as 9:12 a.m. that day, according to the White House's formal recounting of events the day Katrina struck.

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Corporate Responsibility & Awareness

From the Progressive Grocer Magazine -

MARCH 03, 2006 -- SALISBURY, N.C. -- For a fifth consecutive year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will recognize Food Lion here with an Energy Star partner award, the retailer said yesterday.Food Lion, a major U.S. division of the Delhaize Group, has earned its latest Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award for outstanding and continued leadership in protecting the environment through energy efficiency and superior energy management. Food Lion will receive the award at a March 21 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"At Food Lion, we believe a company can help protect the environment and meet its business objectives," said Kyle Mitchell, Food Lion v.p. of construction and indirect procurement in a statement. "Food Lion is demonstrating a long-term commitment to the environment and to its bottom line, which benefits the environment, our customers, the company and its investors. Our company goal is to be a world-class leader in energy management in the supermarket industry."

According to the EPA, the Sustained Excellence 2006 Award goes to a select group of organizations that exhibit outstanding leadership, year after year. These organizations set and achieved aggressive goals, employed innovative approaches, and have shown others what can be achieved through energy efficiency. The award winners are selected from thousands of organizations that participate in the Energy Star program.

Food Lion also earned the Sustained Excellence award in 2004 and 2005. Food Lion received Energy Star Partner of the Year Awards in 2002 and 2003. Food Lion is the first supermarket company to earn Energy Star partner awards in five-consecutive years.

Since 2000, through new lighting, refrigeration and heating and cooling technologies and company-wide energy management efforts, Food Lion has reduced its energy use by more than 2.29 trillion Btu. In 2005, Food Lion saved 312 billion Btu and cut its natural gas consumption by nearly 18 percent. The company reduced its water consumption by more than 5 percent.

Food Lion announced in late 2005 that more than 400 of its stores had earned the prestigious Energy Star designation from the EPA. Food Lion plans to add 200 more Energy Star stores in 2006 through benchmarking, renovations, and new construction.

Not a shakedown strategy, just a corporate strategy - nuff said!

From VEEP To Shakedown Artist

From the New York Post-

ORLANDO - Former Vice President and wannabe media mogul Al Gore is hitting up Madison Avenue for help on a major ad blitz aimed at fighting global warming.

Speaking to a room of advertising and media executives, Gore announced yesterday that a coalition of environmental, labor and religious groups will launch a three-year campaign to warn the U.S. public about the "climate crisis."

"Mother nature is knocking on our door," said Gore, who delivered the keynote speech at an annual media gathering.

Since losing his White House bid in that same state, Gore has been trying to reinvent himself as a media mogul and the chairman of Current TV, a network he launched to target the under-30 crowd.

As part of his pitch to Madison Avenue, Gore called on the industry to publicize the dangers of global warming and he challenged it to match the forthcoming campaign "dollar for dollar."

He said the members of the coalition, which would be revealed next month, would be making "significant ad buys" in each of the next three years, although he didn't provide a dollar amount.

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Am I the only one in the room who sees the tatics of Al Gore to be similiar to those used by Jessee Jackson when he gives a presentation to Corporate America?

What a great shakedown though – instead of a promise of bad publicity about racist hiring practices (ala Jackson), the former Vice-President and would be President suggests a “climate crisis” and that “Mother nature is knocking at the door” based on the scientific theory of human induced global warming as a hammer for contribution.

Oh yes! A contribution - a "dollar for dollar" matched contribution - to bring awareness of “global warming” when the whole of the mainsteram media establishment and liberal politicians are hammering on the rest of us daily about the impending peril if our tax dollars are not used for another government program, an energy infrastructure development set aside, or international agreement that would target our economy against all other nation economies.

Where do I mail the money?

Not Fishing … Phishing!

From the New York Post - March 2, 2006 – "PHISHING EXPEDITION"

INTERNET thieves have done it now — they've pissed off the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating phishing operations that are trying to coax vital data like Social Security numbers and ATM pin codes out of unwitting taxpayers. But the kicker to the latest scheme is that these phishers (yes, cool people spell it with a "ph") are pretending to be from the IRS.

"We take this very seriously," J. Russell George, the inspector general for tax administration at the Treasury Department, told me when I reached him this week. "It bothers us very much when people attempt to use a very important division of the U.S. government to enrich themselves and cheat people."

The Treasury and IRS are actively investigating the antics and are especially worried because now — at tax filing time — people are most vulnerable to this particular con game. Here's why.

The thieves are sending out official-looking messages with the title "Internal Revenue Service IRS.gov" at the top. Underneath are the words "Department of the Treasury." The official seal of the IRS (and, no, it's not a bureaucrat with his hand in someone's pocket) is at the top of the message.

"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity," the "IRS" note says, "we have determined that your are eligible to receive a tax refund of $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it."

"Wow!" a taxpayer is supposed to say. "Please tell me more."

"A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline," the note says in strained syntax. "To access the form for your tax refund, please click here."

To give an additional bit of authenticity the phishers also added the tag line "Copyright 2006, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved."

When you click through to the second page, the phishers ask for your Social Security number, a personal identification number (or PIN) for an automated teller machine and a credit card, so that the $68.80 can be placed in your account.

Don't do it! It's all a hoax.

But you have to admit that these crooks are pretty crafty. No round numbers for them. The 68 dollars and 80 cents makes you think it just could be true. Since this is tax time and people are waiting for their refunds, the IRS is concerned that people might fall for it.

What if you give the phishers your vital statistics? Well, they'll probably be using your credit cards until you figure it out — with you, of course, waiting the 6-to-9 days for your tax "refund" to show up. But the Social Security number and you PIN will give the crooks pleasure long after that and you'll be trying to get your financial identity back for years.

Inspector General George says his agency is cooperating with other parts of the government to track down the perps.

Investigators wouldn't say how they were proceeding. But I can think of some very phreaky things they could do.
Credit: john.crudele@nypost.com

Bird Flu At The Bahamas - USA Next?

From AFP -
"Bahamas bird deaths raise fears avian flu has reached Americas"
Mar 02 2:27 AM US/Eastern

Experts probed the unusual deaths of 14 birds in the southern Bahamas amid fears the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus strain had reached the Americas.

In Europe, meanwhile, Swiss officials confirmed the Alpine nation's first case of the disease's highly pathogenic strain that can kill humans, while the world's top health agencies played down the death of a German cat from H5N1.

Ten flamingos, three roseate spoonbills and a cormorant were found dead in a wildlife reserve on the Bahamas island of Great Inagua, which has a population of about 50,000 flamingos and a large lake popular with migrating birds.

"It is definitely an unusually high number, normally you don't find wild birds dropping out and dying," said Eric Carey, director of Parks and Science for the Bahamas National Trust, which runs the Inagua National Park.

He said, however "any number of things," including poisoning or weather, could have caused the deaths.

"We remain optimistic it is related to one of these factors rather than the anticipated speculation of bird flu or some other terrible disease," he told AFP.
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In Paris, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which monitors the veterinary side of the bird flu scare, noted that in 2004 more than 40 tigers died at a zoo in Bangkok after being fed H5N1-infected chickens, and there had also been cases of infection among domestic cats in Asia.

But it stressed that so far avian flu "has fundamentally remained a bird disease."

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UPDATE - No flu found ... for now (from einnews.com - The Bahamas News. Service for global professionals. Constantly updated news and information about The Bahamas).

Deconstructing AP Tape - Overtopping vs Breaches

From Captain's Quarters -

March 02, 2006
"Katrina Tape Half-Story"

Most news agencies have reported on the AP's tape of a meeting involving President Bush, Michael Brown, and a number of other FEMA officials and local and state politicians during Hurricane Katrina. In the tape, most of the reports claim, Bush specifically heard warnings about levees being breached. However, that's not what the tape shows, at least the portion aired by the AP and NBC on their broadcast last night (available at MS-NBC at the above link). What is does show is an expert saying to the group, "At this point, we don't know whether the levees will be overtopped or not."

As Dafydd ab Hugh at Big Lizards points out, breaching and overtopping are two very different events. Neither are particularly desirable, of course, but overtopping would result in the release of excess water from Lake Pontchatrain, while the breaches released an exponentially larger volume, resulting in far more devastation. No one in this clip mentions the word "breach" at all, and the breathless reporting at the AP winds up being highly misleading. It's used to indict the president, who later said that no one imagined that the levees would be breached -- and if this clip is as good as the media has, then apparently the president is right.
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In fact, the record shows that the White House had been fully engaged in the disaster and had repeatedly asked for updates. Brown himself notes (and NBC did report this) that Bush had personally called him twice that day, and it was still only noon. The White House also followed the media reports closely, demanding to know whether the reported breaches had actually occurred. (The fact that the media could not be trusted to get the story straight was later proven when the hysterical reporting about cannibalism, murders, and toxic flood waters all turned out to be false.) What answer did the White House get? The local and state authorities told them that nothing had happened, and that the flooding so far had come from the storm itself and not the lake.
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UPDATE: Power Line has more deconstruction of the AP report, including factual errors on when the National Guard arrived and more.

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Iraq - Civil War Musings

Thoughts about civil war in Iraq from Captin's Quarters:

False Notes On Civil War Fears

The New York Times issues a warning about an impending civil war in Iraq that sounds a couple of false notes. Its editorial this morning attempts a historical review of the Iraqis that misses a couple of germane points while it scolds the administration indirectly for causing the problem by toppling Saddam Hussein:

Iraq has moved perilously close to civil war. Everyone who knows anything about the tortured history of that country, cobbled together from disparate parts by British colonial officials less than a century ago, has always dreaded such an outcome.

Fear of civil war stayed the hand of the first President George Bush, when he turned back American troops and left Saddam Hussein in power. It generated much of the opposition to the current President Bush's invasion in 2003. Yet many critics of the invasion, including this page, believed that the dangers from civil war were so dire that American troops, once in, were obliged to remain as long as there was a conceivable route to a just peace.
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I agree that civil war in Iraq remains a dangerous potential outcome. Had we left it to the Left in 2002, however, that is exactly what we would have today by their own design. I find their belated concern over the consequences of civil war somewhat disingenuous now.

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Iraq - Story From "The Front"

More, direct from Baghdad - Ralph Peters, New York Post

March 1, 2006 -- BAGHDAD, OUR Humvees splashed through troughs of sewage, between ponds of filth that covered several acres. Shanties crowded on accidental islands fringed with stands of reeds. A stall selling brilliant vegetables did a brisk business at the edge of the sludge.

The Risalah slum is home to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis no one ever cared about. No one. Until the U.S. Army arrived. And tried to make their lives better. We were on our way to inspect a "minor" project to change the lives of the poor.
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Saddam didn't just ravage the physical infrastructure — he wrecked the moral infrastructure, too. The recovery will be long and often painful. But the patient wants to get better, something that's easily lost amid skewed headlines.
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At the edge of a clotted irrigation ditch, we pull in beside a small compound. As they do at every site, threatening or not, the troops flow smoothly into a defensive posture, making it look far easier than it is. But even before we can set up a hasty perimeter, we're attacked. By a horde of children. Rushing out from the edge of the slum.
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Gandara (Lt.-Col. Joe Gandara, the commander of the Special Troops Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division's 4th "Cobra" Brigade) and his men are here to save the children's lives. The "minor" project is a nearly completed "compact sewage-treatment plant." Built from scratch for relative pennies, the plant will drain the sewage that routinely backs up into alleys and homes while further polluting a wretched water supply.

Read The Whole Story>>

Iraq - No Civil War - NONE!

Direct report from Baghdad - Ralph Peters, New York Post

March 1, 2006 -- THE reporting out of Baghdad continues to be hysterical and dishonest. There is no civil war in the streets. None. Period.

Terrorism, yes. Civil war, no. Clear enough?

Yesterday, I crisscrossed Baghdad, visiting communities on both banks of the Tigris and logging at least 25 miles on the streets. With the weekend curfew lifted, I saw traffic jams, booming business — and everyday life in abundance.

Yes, there were bombings yesterday. The terrorists won't give up on their dream of sectional strife, and know they can count on allies in the media as long as they keep the images of carnage coming. They'll keep on bombing. But Baghdad isn't London during the Blitz, and certainly not New York on 9/11.
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You are being lied to. By elements in the media determined that Iraq must fail. Just give 'em the Bronx cheer.

The Whole Story>>

Fast Food Soda Hazard

This from Convenience Store News - "Weird But True"

An award-winning middle school science project produced some disturbing results -- 70 percent of the time, ice from fast-food restaurants was dirtier than toilet water, reported ABC News.

Jasmine Roberts, the 12-year-old who conducted the experiment, collected ice samples from five restaurants in South Florida -- from both self-serve machines inside the restaurant and from drive-through windows. She then collected toilet-water samples from the same restaurants and tested all of them for bacteria at the University of South Florida, according to the report.

In several cases, the ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste and has been linked to several illness outbreaks across the country. "These [bacteria] don't belong there," Dr. David Katz, medical contributor to "Good Morning America," told ABC News. "It's not cause for panic, although it is alarming because what she found is nothing new. You're not more likely to get sick now. But she's done us a favor by sounding the alarm."

Both Roberts and Katz said in the report that the ice is likely dirtier because machines aren't cleaned and people use unwashed hands to scoop ice. Toilet water is also surprisingly bacteria-free, because it comes from sanitized city water supplies.

Questions:

Will this hazard show itself to be a contributing factor in the spread of Avian Flu?

Should Fast Service Food restaurant operations near poultry processing plants be especially alerted to this potential crossover delivery hazard?

Add-On Questions:

Where is PETA as it relates to the Human health hazard when their precious little birds begin to spread Avian Flu?

What will PETA's reaction be when chikens are being slaughtered en mass in order to reduce or prevent the spread of Avian Flu (background for reaction here>> ) ?

Will PETA insist that the process be ethical and humane? The organization may not have enough time on its hands.

Just asking!

Photo Credit: SerVend Restaurant Equipment