Wall Street protests reveal slice of America's barely tamed brutality
An amateur video shows a small group of women protesters, who are doing nothing menacing at all, having been kettled by police. As they stand there fenced in and defenceless, the two white shirts walk up to them, hold out a pepper-spray canister and zap them straight in the face.
It's the officers' insouciance that is most shocking. They engage the pepper spray as calmly as if they were handing out parking tickets, then turn and just as calmly walk away.
The video reminded me of another recent event at which I was present: last week's execution in Georgia of Troy Davis. The case drew international attention because there was no forensic evidence and seven out of nine key witnesses had recanted their testimony.
But it was the incidental details outside the prison that caught my eye. An impassioned but entirely peaceful crowd of protesters had gathered to make the pretty reasonable argument that states should not go around killing innocent people. Georgia's response was to line up a Swat team in black riot gear like extras in a Batman movie and fly police helicopters with spotlights overhead. Add to that the balmy night and the loud buzzing of the crickets and it was like stepping back in time into a pastiche of the old Deep South.
UFO hovered in front of Navy Destroyer
A UFO hovered in front of an Australian Navy destroyer for more than half an hour and did not appear on the warship’s radar, an Australian Navy reservist claims.
The 39-year-old man said he was working on the guided missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane in 1992 as quartermaster gunner when an “illuminating, bright light” appeared in front of the vessel.
“We were sailing in the Great Australia Bight when the light was suddenly in front of us, about 45 degrees, high in the sky.
“We watched it for about half an hour – but nothing was on the radar.”
The Navy Reservist said the light then “quickly moved to south east and then south west and gave a bit of a jiggle”, before it “shot up and disappeared”.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, came forward after visiting Katherine recently, where he heard about a spate of sightings of unexplained lights and objects in the sky.
Online gamers crack enzyme riddle
Foldit, developed in 2008 by the University of Washington, it is a video game in which gamers, divided into competing groups, compete to unfold chains of amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - using a set of online tools. To the astonishment of the scientists, the gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks.
Zero: an investigation into 9/11
ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version of the events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony, which directly conflicts with the US Government's account.
The mysterious Saudi family that vanished two weeks before 9/11
Did you know that a Saudi family living in Sarasota, Fla., that met with 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta disappeared without a trace—leaving behind their cars, food, and furniture—two weeks before the attacks? Neither did Congress, or the 9/11 Commission! The FBI didn't think to tell them.
It turns out the couple, Anoud and Abdulazzi al-Hiijjii, had ties to the 9/11 hijackers.
TITLE: HARDWORK AND HONESTY
Sub: Corruption, Bribery, Cheating and Shirking
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The person who earns money by means of bribery, corruption, cheating , fraud and shirking is an unfortunate person who does wrong to his own parents, brothers, sisters, children and friends by earning Wages of Sin.
The law of nature says that ill-gotten money becomes a poison. The conscience of every individual dies who is fed in any way with such a cursed money. He becomes a shameless person, various evils and diseases take hold of him, he turns into an axis of evil, his ability to do good comes to an end and thus the doors to heaven are also closed for him.
Advice: Please spend over your loved ones, the lawful money earned only through HARDWORK and HONESTY.
Thank you,
S.A.Rehman
Peace Activist
PAKISTAN
No end in sight for Fukushima disaster as bureaucrats battle the laws of physics
The physicist Dr. Michio Kaku said,
“The situation at Fukushima is relatively stable now… in the same way that you are stable if you hang by your fingernails off a cliff, and your fingernails begin to break one by one.”
Loch Ness search for mysterious balloon-like object
Emergency services undertook a night-time search of Loch Ness after reports a balloon-like object was seen falling from the sky.
The police, coastguard, lifeboat and an RAF search and rescue helicopter scoured the area but found nothing after members of the public said they saw a blue object fall on the south of the Loch, near Dores.
Police thought it might have been a hang glider or microlight. However, following a three-hour search the emergency services could find "nothing untoward".
"We believe the reports were based on sightings causing genuine concern and we commend the actions of the members of the public that contacted the emergency services."
Stars step up war on music leaks
Storing music on fingerprint-protected hard drives that were kept in locked suitcases, wi-fi on computers disabled during recording, pop-up studios in hotel rooms around the world, draft versions of songs were not sent by email but collaborators had to visit the temporary studios to record their contributions in person.
Jay-Z and Kanye West employed tight security and extreme tactics to ensure their album Watch The Throne did not fall victim to the curse that hits almost every other big release - the online leak.
