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FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

Skyrocketing energy prices are hammering Americans. Five years ago this week, gasoline cost an average of $1.43 a gallon at the pump; this week, it's $3.94. And home electricity averaged 5.43 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2003; it was up to 10.31 cents in December. The underlying cause, of course, is that oil, coal and natural-gas prices have all gone berserk - with no relief in sight. What to do? Individually, of course, most of us will start conserving - people are already driving less, buying more fuel-efficient cars, etc. We'll keep on finding ways to save as prices stay high....

In Case We Can't Give Up the Cars -- Try 16 Trillion Mirrors What if we wait too long to act on global warming? What if nothing we do is enough? Already, scientists are working up plans of last resort: stratospheric sprays of sulfur, trillions of orbiting mirrors and thousands of huge off-shore saltwater fountains. Each is designed to counteract global warming by deliberately deflecting sunlight, rather than by retooling the world's economy to eliminate carbon-rich oil, coal and natural gas. More at link (a must read) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118246650280644111.html Another related article from February 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/6298507.stm

That dynamic duo of demagoguery -- Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran -- visited the United Nations earlier this month. Their outrageous addresses before the U.N. brings to mind the definition of "demagogue" proffered by H.L. Mencken. He said a demagogue was "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." Thus, any reasonable person who failed to walk out of the U.N. as these two leaders babbled on deserve the label of "idiot."

CHAVEZ (through translator): "Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it. Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.] "It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century,...

Bloomberg cannot be posted to FR, so here is a link to the story:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBZvrM76tIlk&refer=worldwide_news

WASHINGTON, D.C. – What are the limits of organic life in planetary systems? It’s a heady question that, if answered, may reveal just how crowded the cosmos could be with alien biology. A study arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council (NRC), has pulled together a task group of specialists to tackle the issue of alternative life forms -- a.k.a. "weird life". To get things rolling, a workshop on the prospects for finding life on other worlds is being held here May 10-11. The meeting is a joint activity of the NRC’s Space Studies Board's Task...

If you’ve got a nose for news, here’s a bulletin: Mars may smell to high heaven. Recent revelations about the red planet from NASA’s two Mars exploration rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- have relayed back details about the volcanic and water-laden landscape. For example, at the Meridiani Planum site in which the wheeled Opportunity now roves, the robotic field geologist found a very high concentration of sulfur. The chemical form of this sulfur appears to be in magnesium, iron or other sulfate salts. Using its science gear, the robot has detected a hydrated iron sulfate mineral called jarosite. On...

The first use of the tools on the arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit reveals puzzles about the soil it examined and raises anticipation about what the tool will find during its studies of a martian rock. Today and overnight tonight, Spirit is using its microscope and two up-close spectrometers on a football-sized rock called Adirondack, said Jennifer Trosper, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We're really happy with the way the spacecraft continues to work for us," Trosper said. The large amount of data -- nearly 100 megabits -- transmitted from Spirit in a single...

A combined oceanographic and geologic image today. Click the image below to see the larger image, which is only 515 MB. I was struck both by the phenomenon caught by the satellite and also the amazing colors of the Namibian landscape. See the link at the bottom for another Namibian feature of note, which is north of the area seen in this image. Web page: Sulfur plume off Namibia Brandberg Massif The Brandberg Massif is a highly- visible geologic feature that is familar to astronauts.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 18 Io Volcano Culann Patera Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: What causes the unusual colors surrounding Io's volcanoes? Io, the innermost large moon of Jupiter, is known to be the most tumultuous body in the Solar System. Approximately the size of Earth's Moon, Io undergoes nearly continuous volcanic eruptions from an interior heated by gravitational tides from Jupiter and Jupiter's other large moons. The robot...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 19 Io's Surface: Under Construction Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: Like the downtown area of your favorite city, the roads you drive to work on, and any self-respecting web site ... Io's surface is constantly under construction. This moon of Jupiter holds the distinction of being the Solar System's most volcanically active body -- its bizarre looking surface continuously formed and reformed by lava flows....

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 6 The Lagoon Nebula in Three Colors Credit: R. Barba, N. Morrell et al. (UNLP), CTIO, NOAO, NSF Explanation: The bright Lagoon Nebula is home to a diverse array of astronomical objects. Particularly interesting sources include a bright open cluster of stars and several energetic star-forming regions. When viewed by eye, cluster light is dominated by an overall red glow that is caused by luminous hydrogen...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 29 Venus: Just Passing By Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun, is a popular way-point for spacecraft headed for the gas giant planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Why visit Venus first? Using a "gravity assist " maneuver, spacecraft can swing by planets and gain energy during their brief encounter saving fuel for use at...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 July 12 Recycling Cassiopeia A Credit: R. Fesen (Dartmouth) and J. Morse (CASA, U. Colorado), Hubble Heritage Team, NASA Explanation: For billions of years, massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy have lived spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After a few million years, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 22 Io: The Prometheus Plume Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: Two sulfurous eruptions are visible on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io in this color composite Galileo image. On the left, over Io's limb, a new bluish plume rises about 86 miles above the surface of a volcanic caldera known as Pillan Patera. In the middle of the image, near the night/day shadow line, the ring shaped...

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, June 16-22, 2002

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 March 27 Looking Into an Io Volcano Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA Explanation: What would it look like to peer into one of the volcanoes currently active on Jupiter's moon Io? The caldera of Tupan Patera, named after a Brazilian thunder god, reveals itself to be a strange and dangerous place, replete with hot black lava, warm red sulfur deposits likely deposited from vented gas, and hilly...