Twittering DARPA's balloons for big bucks

Well they must be all right,as I understand it; they did invent the internet 40 years ago. "Zoom ahead 40 years,and you can hardly find anyone who hasn't been touched by, and whose life hasn't been improved by the Internet.” says Peter Lee, director of Darpa’s transformational convergence technology office
DARPA, the US Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring a $40,000 prize for the first person or team that can locate all 10 of the eight foot wide balloons that are located at ten fixed locations in the continental United States. Balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roadways...
DARPA says it is studying how social networks can be used by foreign enemies to gain information. And also how fast-breaking information can be organized on a battlefield.

Darpa’s transformational convergence technology office Red Balloon test focuses on tech and social trends that by give participants an incentive, like the prize money, the contest tests how people organize themselves and how they validate information. “Relatively little is known about how those networks respond when trust is a factor,”Lee said.

Its all about informational flow patterns and control. The one that controls the flow controls the battlefield.
In the meantime find those balloons.

Mountain high valley low,global warming

Mount Everest will be the sight of a meeting of Nepalese lawmakers on December 4th. Nepal officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia and the world's youngest republic.
It’s at the opposite extreme from the Maldives which held an underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the dangers of global warming.Now to boost awareness and not to be outdone Nepal lawmakers are headed to the 17,192ft. high base camp on Mount Everest. The summit is 29,035 ft.above sea level.
This meeting ,to be held before the Copenhagen climate conference, aims to highlight Himalayan glacier melt. With ice in the region melting at a rapid rate, lakes have been formed which could flood nearby villages. Melted ice and snow also makes mountaineering routes more hazardous.
Doctors will make a final health assessment before a helicopter takes the cabinet to base camp, at the foot of Everest. Once there they will hold a brief outdoor meeting.

Vermont’s $40,000 Taser payout

Ever so quietly in a Thanksgiving Day news story Vermont State gives notice of an out of court settlement and payout in a taser related incident from 2006.The $40,000 settlement is called “frankly ,a business decision” to avoid risk of trial .
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has paid $40,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who claims he was Tasered in 2006 by state police as he was having a seizure that was mistaken as an attempt to resist arrest.
State police deny wrongdoing, state assistant attorney general J.J. Tyzbir told the Valley News. He said he agreed to the settlement to avoid the risk of trial, where a jury could have awarded more money.

“We still believe Mr. Fairbrother was not actually in the throes of a seizure,” Tyzbir said. “We believe Mr. Fairbrother was actually trying to evade the officers and was resisting them and was noncompliant. But whenever you go to trial, you risk not getting a favorable outcome. This was, frankly, a business decision.”

A wise business decision might include continued review of the Taser policy as local police continue to equip themselves with the Tasers.
This October the Taser Company issued a training bulletin warning that 50,000 volt tasering could cause an “adverse cardiac event” when shot in the chest. Avoiding the chest, face and neck is now strongly advised .Suggested shot placements currently include back abdomen and thighs.
A Vermont State Attorney General Taser policy report of 2008 in its conclusion suggests room for further review of their safety.

There remain questions about the safety of the taser’s use in certain
situations and on certain categories of subjects. These
questions are particularly important in situations when
multiple tases or extended continuous tasings of a subject
are inflicted and when subjects are manifesting a condition
called “excited delirium”. Continued study of the safety and
health effects of tasers is warranted.

also posted on Green Mountain Daily

De kat op de kast is boos! Black Friday cat blogging

Remember........Saturday November 28th is Buy nothing Day

Thanksgiving interests

The 2009 cost of a Thanksgiving meal for ten according to the American Farm Bureau agribusiness trade group is $42.91. This is down slightly from last years average $44.61.
Maybe that tells only part of the cost as lobbyists in Thanksgiving related industries work hard all year to ensure there’s a butterball on every American’s table .We should be thankful for the clear eyed and heroic efforts lobbyists put in on behalf of our Thanksgiving.

"We don't want to even create an appearance that we're mixing our members' government affairs business with the business of making sure Americans enjoy their holiday."

said Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation.
Should we be thankful for the clear eyed and heroic efforts these lobbyists put in on behalf of our Thanksgiving? Where would we be without armies of industry lobbyists?
The National Turkey Federation spent $240,000 in lobbying this year .Keeping an eye on agriculture appropriations bills, avian influenza and climate change legislation.
There must have been little pending legislation that could have affected potatoes this year as the National Potato Council only forked over $30,000 in lobbying this year.
2008 was the United Nations International Year of the Potato so a quiet year may have been in the cards .

The cranberry lobby proved more active than potato interests in 2009 .The Cape Cod Cranberry Association and the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association managed to gain $1.25 million in federal research funds in an agricultural bill. The powerful Ocean Spray company spent $300,000 lobbying free trade and federal dietary guidelines that mention the benefits of cranberry juice.

Three Mile Island & 53 new nukes worldwide

At Three Mile Island this past weekend it seems Exelon was too busy for five hours to notify the state about a radiation leak and Gov.Ed Rendell is making some appropriate noises in the form of a strongly worded letter.
Amid renewed criticism from Gov. Rendell for a five-hour delay in telling emergency officials of a weekend radiation incident.

Ventilation fans probably caused the release of a small amount of radiation inside one building on Saturday afternoon, Exelon officials said. They said that the ventilation system had since been modified and that the 150 workers stationed in the building had all returned to work.
"Things are back to normal," site vice president Bill Noll said yesterday.

Indeed-------No reason this all won’t work out for the best, right ?
Meanwhile The Washington Post explores the new positive attitude environmentalists worldwide have toward new nukes as part of a well rounded clean energy strategy. Obama is prepared to prop-up a whole new generation of nuclear power plants with new tax dollars and incentives.

The Obama administration and leading Democrats, in an effort to win greater support for climate change legislation, are eyeing federal tax incentives and loan guarantees to fund a new crop of nuclear power plants across the United States that could eventually help drive down carbon emissions.
From China to Brazil, 53 plants are now under construction worldwide, with Poland, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia seeking to build their first reactors, according to global watchdog groups and industry associations. The number of plants being built is double the total of just five years ago.

An industry expert does not see the lack of long term storage as a problem and claims traditional business factors will determine nuclear industry plans . Says Steven Kraft the Nuclear Energy Institute group’s senior director for used fuel management in an interview this past Fall “Whether or not you build new nuclear plants in this country will be determined by traditional business factors,” he says. “We have to have a plan to deal with spent fuel, but we do not see it as an impediment.”

Smart meter slowed by lawsuit

My electric co-op meter reader had not heard of smart grid and the smart meters coming to Vermont. That he was amazed to hear about it may illustrate a point. As the electric system in Vermont quickly changes,are the utilities, the State and even the media doing enough to educate the public about what changes to expect? A recent article in the Burlington Free Press titled 'Listen up, bonehead:' Smart grid prepares to talk back may be an indication of the quality of an educational effort underway already.
California already is getting some experience with the smart grid and some of it isn’t going too well. A class-action lawsuit against PG&E alleges that the utility falsely advertised its smart metering program and is benefiting from unfair competition (namely, that it has none, giving consumers no choice in the matter).An original plaintiff filed suit after his bill tripled from $200 to $600 a month right after smart meter installation.
As a result of the suit PG&E has slowed distribution of smart meters in its system.
One energy technology reporter and expert suggests those promoting all this have their task cut out for them. Heavily regulated utilities with long histories of viewing their customers only as “rate payers” or “loads” will have to change attitudes and view them differently.
……The PG&E Bakersfield hullabaloo is just the beginning of the backlash against smart meters and smart grid technology, which will only grow as smart meters continue to be installed throughout the country. The public concern reminds me of when digital voting booths were introduced, or when consumers first started to online bank. There’s some real concerns about keeping digital information private and secure in these systems, but ultimately it’s the responsibility of the organization that’s leading the switch to the digital two-way system to keep the line of communication open


What are the lessons to be learned from Pacific Gas & Electric's unfortunate experience with customers who blame their new smart meters for jacking up their power bills?