Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 5

CNN ^ | March 12, 2004

[thecabal]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.

"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

[WestCoastGal]

Black Winds of Death....I thought of the oil fires in Iraq. I heard this morning there were two attacks on the oil pipelines in Iraq either yesterday or today or both.

Add that to the alert yesterday for Texas refineries and it makes you wonder. Plus all the tanker accidents in the last 3 days. Why have all these big incidents been tankers with volatile fuel loads?

[WestCoastGal]

Ok Ruth, what have you found here? What do you suppose this business could be?

Anyone want to call them?

Death of a Thousand Cuts
3781 Halfway Road
The Plains, Va, 20198
phone 540-253-5682

[Oorang]

Many many thanks for going through the entire magazine StillProud. We are very lucky to have you here with us.

This article link, if you scroll down, on the right, has video links of bin laden and al Azwahiri from the April 2003 message. Hope that helps. I'll keep looking for text of the 4/03 message. Thanks again.

[Oorang]

Thanks and bookmarked.

[PrivateIdaho]

Looks like it is just some kind of business consultants. There is a white paper entitled "Death of a Thousand Cuts - Strategic Peril and Potential in the New Market Data Industry" here. Here's an excerpt:

Organizations that do not modify their business model to adapt to the new reality will, over time, find themselves the victims of the "Death of a Thousand Cuts".

[knak]

I think they actually are pretty common. I've been googling "tanker" for a couple months now and gas tankers seem to just fall over sometimes. Anyway it's not uncommon to see a wreck about every day or so somewhere in the country. But it does make you go hmmmm.

[Revel]

I Hate the Yahoo groups format. I knew what was wrong with FR when I tried to get on. I just did not know there current IP address to put in the hosts file. I have a link to the yahoo group, but because I detest that place so much, I just went over to the LP and looked for all the "HA HA posts"(Biker Bar) that I knew would be there. Sure enough they were there right along with links to FR via there IP and even the instructions for modifying the hosts file.(And a full description of what had happened via John Rob's posts) I found it all in two minutes. It would have taken me an hour to find it at Yahoo. I rarely post at LP and stay away from the Anti-Freeper crowd, but there format is very much like FR was in the old days. And there are some good posters there.

[TexKat]

Are there two escape from New York roads blocked now or something?

I have not heard any reports of that manner knak.

[TexKat]

Thanks Cindy.

[Oorang]

Thanks for all your Yellowstone posts.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I have to agree with you, access and escape are being pretty well blocked.

If we are lucky, they will settle for all the fear that we have, by knowing what they are up to and not set off the
"Big One".......

Sorry, but I find that there is way too much going on today to call it all an accident.

[Letitring]

You are welcome. :) Been sitting here on this beautiful day just GLUED to this stuff. Here's more.

Scientists find major mercury emissions in Yellowstone

By MIKE STARK

Gazette Wyoming Bureau

The hissing and huffing hillsides of Roaring Mountain in Yellowstone National Park are doing more than just blowing off a little steam.

Scientists measuring mercury levels in the park last month were stunned by what they found near the base of the mountain: probably the highest levels of mercury at an undisturbed natural area that has ever been recorded scientifically.

"I looked at it and did a double take," Mike Abbott, a scientist with Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, said Tuesday. "I thought my instrument was busted."

Abbott said several areas between Mammoth and Norris Geyser Basin showed "fairly high" levels of mercury, which is a highly toxic pollutant often associated with volcanic areas.

That information is helping scientists answer a crucial question about Yellowstone: whether the park is an important contributor of mercury in the atmosphere.

The research plays into a larger national issue as the federal government works to regulate mercury emissions from industrial sources such as coal-fired power plants. If places like Yellowstone contribute significant amounts of mercury to the air, one theory goes, then regulations on man-made sources may not be as effective as once thought.

Although man-made mercury emissions are pretty well understood, not much is known about natural emissions.

But after their research this fall, scientists have a better grasp on the role that Yellowstone might play.

"In my mind, it's a potentially big source," Abbott said.

Preliminary estimates from measurements taken in Yellowstone in early September seemed to indicate relatively low levels of mercury. But data collected later in the month, and made public Tuesday, showed otherwise.

Judging by what was measured at Roaring Mountain and other nearby spots in the park, Abbott said it's conceivable -- though highly speculative at this point, he emphasized -- that Yellowstone Park could emit as much mercury as all the coal-fired power plants in Wyoming.

"That's not a real estimate but something based on just a few measurements," Abbott said. "It could even be bigger than that, we just don't know."

Several places in Yellowstone showed signs of mercury in the air at levels higher than background levels at locations not associated with volcanic activity, mining operations, power plants or other known sources.

But it's the corridor between Mammoth and Norris that has piqued the curiosity of researchers.

Abbott said one possibility seems to be that the higher-than-expected levels of mercury along that stretch might be associated with the acidic sulfate system in that area.

Places like Norris basin, Frying Pan Spring and Roaring Mountain seem to point to a connection between the mercury levels and acid sulfate features.

"We haven't gotten it figured out yet but there seems to be some significant sources there," Abbott said.

At Roaring Mountain, Abbott measured mercury emanating from the clay hillside at up to 2,400 nanograms per square meter per hour, significantly higher than measurements of 200-700 at other sites in the Norris-Mammoth corridor. By comparison, background levels away from geothermal areas range from zero to 10.

more on mercury

Abbott said he was shocked by the measurements at Roaring Mountain and returned to Yellowstone last week to double-check his figures.

"It knocked me over," he said, adding that he's never seen numbers so high for a natural area that hasn't been mined. "It's one of the highest, if not the highest, ever measured."

Abbott said the mercury from Yellowstone poses no danger to visitors.

But, he said, measurements were only taken at a select number of sites. The unusually high level of mercury raises tantalizing questions about total mercury emissions at Yellowstone, Abbott said.

"Yellowstone is a large area. Now that we know where to look, we'd like to do more detailed measurements to produce a reasonably accurate estimate of total emissions," he said.

Once that happens, federal regulators will have a better idea of how much mercury is emitted by natural sources and how much comes from man-made operations.

In December 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would require coal-fired power plants, considered to be the largest source of mercury emissions in the country, to reduce their discharge of the toxic metal.

Mercury from power plants often settles over rivers, lakes and other waterways and can contaminate fish, according to the EPA. When people eat contaminated fish, especially those with high levels of the chemical, they are at a higher risk of neurological and developmental damage, particularly in children and developing fetuses, the agency says.

The amount of mercury in the air has been rising in the last century. About 158 tons of mercury is emitted into the air each year, according to government officials.

No one's sure exactly how mercury moves in the atmosphere and it can be difficult to pinpoint where it comes from without intensive testing.

Until now, no one had tried to quantify Yellowstone's contributions.

Abbott said he's hoping INEEL and other researchers, including the U.S. Geological Survey and several universities, will be able to get funding to take a more comprehensive look at Yellowstone's emissions.

"That's going to be a big job," he said.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm#LATEST

[TexKat]

I thought of the oil fires in Iraq.

And I wonder if Russia has a little hand in that.

[nw_arizona_granny]

It is more than likely a nothing find, but it was on the second page of:

death from a thousand cuts

from the google search, near the bottom as I recall.

It was simply "too" in line with our news.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Please do and put me on the Ping List.We have been wanting to do this for some time. But don't have a clue how to get started. My husband has been looking on Ebay. We thought used stuff to begin with till we figured out what we are doing.

[Letitring]

Some more on Supervolcanos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

This is the 3rd outlying area arson (of Oak Ridge) in the last 2 weeks.

Arson suspected in multiple Blount Co. brush fires

One of Thursday's fires started by the Foothills Parkway.

March 25, 2004

By DANIELLE BANKS
6 News Anchor/Reporter

BLOUNT COUNTY (WATE) -- Firefighters with the Department of Forestry have been busy Thursday fighting several brush fires in Blount County.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1738866

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

And the hits keep coming...Knoxville is a busy little town these days HHMMMMMMMM

Plane lands in Knoxville, passenger taken into custody

March 24, 2004

KNOXVILLE (AP and WATE) -- A Comair flight from Cincinnati to Fort Lauderdale made an unscheduled landing Wednesday in Knoxville to remove a passenger described as unruly.

The FBI took the man into custody after the jet landed at McGhee Tyson Airport. The task force removed all luggage and passengers from the plane but found nothing suspicious.

6 News caught up with the passenger at a Greyhound bus station after the FBI released him.

"Michael" said he's from Switzerland. "I was in toilet for, as we say, 10 minutes. But because of that, I am not a terrorist. There came a dog, to try to find out if on the plane is some explosion. It doesn't make to me any sense that my behavior was a reason for them to make me a suspicion."

The flight continued on to Fort Lauderdale after an hour on the ground.

Some portions of this report, copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1737133

[judicial meanz]

Granny:

Being part wild indian, I remember an old tale from my youth about an old American Indian practice of torturing enemies called the "death of a thousand cuts".

Basically, it involved staking your enemy to the ground with stakes and leather straps which were wetted to allow them to tighten.

After that, small cuts were made to slowly allow the person to bleed to death over a long period of time.

I wonder if that is relevant?

[freeperfromnj]

It's all a matter of multi-tasking and window hopping. I pretty much have it down pat -- freep, switch to an excel spread sheet, move on to a power point chart and input a brief on Word.