Winning the Hearts & Minds - real meaning

JO attended two briefings in DC, by General David Petraeus, the 10th and current Commander, US Central Command. General Petraeus previously served as Commanding General, Multi National Force - Iraq (MNF-I). Very interesting guy. He seemed very sure that adding more troops and having more time in Iraq and Afghanistan would bring victory. He seemed more optimistic about Afghanistan saying that the Afghani people do have a sense of national identity eventhough there are many different ethnic groups. Afghans as a people can still harken back to the good ole days of the "golden age" in the 1960's. The general steered away from questions related to the war on terror as a war on Islam. Even if we call the Taliban a radicalized form of Islam... it's still Islam. The JO believes that all wars are holy wars. People just fighting over different beliefs in the end. The general commented on Gen. Stanley McChrystal's idea of "winning the hearts & minds" ( of the Iraqi's and Afghani's ) - the real meanining is - to win the hearts & minds of the people to make them see that the (Taliban ) radicals are destructive and oppressive and that the good people of Iraq and Afghan should take up arms and be willing to fight to protect their futures... so eventually American soldiers won't have to.
Like King Arthur in Monty Python says on his Crusades - Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.

"I'm not talking about Burma" ( that's off the record )

The JO has been following The Hon. Kurt Campbell, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia & the Pacific. Yesterday the JO was lucky enough to sit and listen to Dr. Campbell talk ( off the record at CSIS ) about the outlook for US policy in the ASEAN for 2010. The JO has been able to ask Dr. Campbell a few questions about Burma. What about the upcoming election ? What about China's influence on Myanmar ? What should ASEAN do ? What about imprisoned US citizen Mr.Kyaw Zaw Lin ? Dr. Campbell answered all these questions thoughtfully ( and off the record ).In our latest encounter, he said ( I don't want to talk about Burma ). Then added ( the situation is very delicate ).( We know more about North Korea than we do about Myanmar ). ( We expect Japan to do more on the issue of human rights in Burma than trade )... I guess Dr. Campbell momentarily forgot about all the fingernails the Japanese pulled out in Burma during WWII... aaaah, nothing heals pulled out fingernails like foreign investment.... the JO thinks Japan is on theright track. ASEAN knows Myanmar well ( more than North Korea ) because of trade. If the US wants to learn more about Myanmar than open up trade. The human rights will take care of itself... dont make it such a huge issue that engagement and diplomacy become a non-starter. It's a real learning experience listening to Dr. Campbell. Dr. Campbell speaks like a scholar and thinks like a soldier.

"Plato and Aristotle at the Job Fair" by Raphael

Do not go to grad school in the humanities - study science instead! Speedy has been saying thissince he got BA in Art History... oops. After college Speedy did alot of traveling all over the world as a ummm... "contractor"... yeah, that's it "contractor". Speedy picked up a few foreign languages, studied how nuclear physics works, and then settled down to a nice desk job in DC. Recently Speedy read an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education - "Graduate Schoolin the Humanities: Just Don't Go". There are only just a few slots for phd's to fill in the humanities. But in the science field there are numerous research positions. Okay, the pays not that great for science researchers but you can get a job ( if not in the US some other advanced countries ). American maufacturing industries are outsourcing everything these days. There needs to be better science education in the U.S. President Obama just announced this morning a $250 million initiativefor science and math teachers. Let's see how that goes. Anyhoo, Speedy is not against the humanities, but the jobs aren't there and it's misleading for humanities professors to imply there will be in the future. Here's the Chronicle article - ( join me on Facebook and see more... )

http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

"Abra Cadabra... Hocus Pocus... "

So ASSK got to meet some of the senior leaders of the NLD. But why ? One topic that no reputable media outlet is going to talk about when talking about Myanmar is the topic of "magic'. Well, the JO is not all that reputable so let's take on the subject.

Freemasonry was a major organizing element of the American Revolution against the British. Freemasonry provided a system of management and symbolism to communicate secretly and accomplish its goals. Numerolgy plays a major symbolic role in Freemason activities and planning.

The number "9" represents "rulership". The number "7" is for "perfection". The number "8" equals "infinity" ( just turn it on its side, see ? ) The number "11" means to be "stuck"... thus "7-11" which means "always perfect". And don't get me started on "13".

Washington DC was built on Freemason designs - no buildings over 13 stories; the monuments form a pentagram; the White House address number is "1600" ( 1+6=7) and the zip code is "20007" ( 2+7=9 ). These numbers have no special powers but do represent the organizational and management power and skill to accomplish these achievements.

Now ASSK recently met party leaders - NLD Chairman, Aung Shwe and Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Lun Tin. Lun Tin is "88" years old and Aung Shwe is "92". Such perfect numbers for the Regime. "88" represents the tragedy and NLD loss of 1988; and "92" ( 9+2=11) - thus: "to be always stuck in tragedy and loss". ( and they met on the 17th of the month ... 1+7=8 ) These numbers have no magic power but do hint at the show of power by the Regime. Freemasonry, numerolgy, and symbolism are not wishful thinking and prayer - they are shows of power, skill, and management.

Anyhoo, all powerful entities pick their days carefully - Microsoft premieres Windows products on full moons; Sony on new moons; everybody loves feng shui, right ? If it was good enough for George Washington, we should all learn a little bit more.... ( American Revolution - 1776 - 7+6 = 13; and he waited until there were 13 colonies... que the eerie music ~~~~~~ )

The Future of Human Spaceflight...

What is the future of human spaceflight ? What's up at NASA ? Can we continue the same programs at these financial costs ? And what about the Space Shuttle ? It's so big and needs big equipment to set it up and that huge runway is too long ( and endangering to the alligators who wind up being runway kill on landing... )
Human spaceflight is a global endeavor nowadays. And what about the ISS ? We're not really going to junk it in 2016 are we ? We need to make that thing bigger to fit more people ! Didn't the people at NASA see the movie 2012 yet ?! The best way for the U.S. to continue its leadership role is to continue with space exploration. Spaceflight is also recently becoming a private commercial enterprise. Someone needs to build the Imperial Lambda Shuttle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda-class_shuttle Anyhoo, lots of important people are thinking about the future of human spaceflight and what resources we have available to continue our space adventures.
( read what the experts say - http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/press_release_files/Augustineforweb.pdf

Howard Hughes Medical Institute - clones are us...

Janelia Farms is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's place to be for making clones, stem cells, and flubber. It's a world-class medical center and it's the leading non-governmental medical center with the biggest budget... about $13 billion for an endowment ( NIH is about $30 billion ). But at NIH, scientists can't do what they want... the federal government needs to answer to the people. But at Howard Hughes scientists are encouraged to do what they want. Outstanding scientists are given $1 million over five years to do their research. Although they have to give up their current positions in academia or industry, researchers get to build their team and live and work at "Janelia Farms". Janelia Farms is based on the models MRC Cambridge and Bell Labs. Janelia Farms is located in Ashburn, Virginia. Speedy noticed that the big difference between private and public medical institutions is not the cloning or stem cells lying around, but the bathrooms and boardrooms!... cant beat those corporate toilets... ( although federal toilets probably costs more )... visit the webpage for more info - http://www.hhmi.org/janelia/

Great Wall of solar panels...

Driven by climate concerns and a desire to modernize its economy, Beijing has begun addressing the emissions issue. Beijing calls its current stage of Green development as a "teething" stage."Regardless of whether the United States passes its own legislation, China will take positive measures because this is a requirement for our own economy to conserve resources," said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission and China's point man in international climate talks. If China mimics the West's wasteful modernization path, he said, the environment would not be livable.In climate talks, China has argued that industrialized nations should do more to slow the pace of climate change compared with developing nations, where raising living standards is the priority. China has also noted the cumulative emissions of advanced economies since the Industrial Revolution. And some Chinese commentators have accused Western nations of using a carbon cap as a way to contain China's advancement.Nonetheless, the government has set ambitious targets for renewable energy, which is supposed to account for 15 percent of the country's fuel mix by 2020, and for tree planting, to boost forest cover to 20 percent of China's land mass by the end of next year. China plans to quadruple its nuclear power; by the end of next year, it may have 18 nuclear energy plants under construction, half of the world's total under construction.If China implements its Copenhagen commitment and the United States implements President Obama’s target, U.S. per capita emissions would still be double those of China in 2020. So, will we start seeing on solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, the ubiqutous "made in China" ?

PM Hatoyama raises hand for karate chop on science budgets in Japan

Japanese researchers are in uproar about the drastic budget cuts being recommended for science projects by a new cabinet-level government advisory unit. Since 11 November, working groups of the Government Revitalization Unit, created in September and chaired by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, have been re-evaluating 220 government-funded programmes, including dozens of prominent science projects. The drastic shake-up will hit the SPring-8 synchrotron in Harima, a planned supercomputer that was destined to be the world's fastest, ocean drilling projects and basic grant programmes, to name but a few.The recommendations, part of an effort to trim ¥3 trillion (US$ 33.7 billion) off next year's budget, are the most concrete indication so far that Japan's new government intends to make comprehensive, long-lasting changes to the country's research priorities. Scientists are reacting with frustration and, in some cases, apocalyptic predictions. One prominent crystallographer, who requested anonymity, said: "If this goes on, Japanese scientists, including young scientists, will flow overseas, and Japanese science will die."Hatoyama's government rode into power in August, promising to shift government expenditure from wasteful projects to initiatives that will benefit the average person, such as ending highway tolls. In August, Hatoyama said that he would nonetheless increase support for science. But since then, his government has been slicing into budgets. In October, the science and education ministry reduced the total grants for 30 of the projects under the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST) from ¥270 billion to ¥100 billion2. - Politicians know that the ordinary Joe, or in this case, Yamamoto, wants to see the government make budget cuts. So, in order to get votes in the upcoming House elections, make the ordinary folks happy. PM Hatoyama is actually the first PhD to become PM of Japan. PhD in math from Stanford. Speedy guesses that's how he learned to do subtraction ! HI-YA CHOP !!!!

MAS BioEnergy - what is that ?!

Dr. Kennetg Reardon joined the department of chemical and bio engineering in 1988 after a year of postdoctoral research at the Universitat Hannover as an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow. Since that time he has developed a research program in four areas. Most of his group's work is environmental biotechnology, particularly bioremediation. The goals of these projects are to improve our understanding of microbial degradation of hazardous compounds (often with the use of molecular biological and proteomic methods) and to develop better processes for cleanup of contaminated air, water and soil. A second research topic is the design of biosensors for environmental contaminants and toxicity. In collaboration with colleagues in Environmental Health Dr. Reardon conducts research in the area of quantitative toxicology. His fourth research topic is the development of innovative bioreactor strategies for products such as biosurfactants. Dr. Reardon holds joint appointments in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology and the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences. Professor Reardon is seeking the multidiscplinary approach on sustainable Bioenergy. He is helping organize a symposium at CSU in March 2010 on science education and issues related to multidisciplinary approaches.