Major advances in understanding emotions conveyed by voice

After 15 years of breakthrough neuronal research, eXaudios developed capabilities to understand people’s emotions through their voice in real time as they speak. Launching at DEMO, this revolutionary new product is designed for call centers and can mitigate escalations, identify fraudulent situations, outperform sales and customer satisfaction, provide “how-to” recommendations, and monitor performance by management.

No Racism Here

Attorney General Eric Holder suddenly reversed course and had the DoJ dismiss the voter-intimidation case against two New Black Panther Party activists stemming from an incident in 2008 in Philadelphia, many questioned why the DoJ would quit a case it had already won. Here is the leader of the group advocating killing white babies and attacking "crackers."

First humans arrived in Britain 250,000 years earlier than thought

Flint tools bring the first Britons to life.

Obama's Med Czar: Anti-Free Enterprise, Promotes Redistribution

Obama named Donald Berwick his recess appointment to be the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In 2008 while speaking on the British health care system in the UK, Berwick said wealthy individuals must redistribute their wealth to those less fortunate for health care funding. Also during this speech, he told those in attendance that he opposes free markets.

“Any health care funding plan that is just equitable civilized and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.”

Berwick added in his assault on free enterprise:

“Please don’t put your faith in market forces. It is a popular idea that Adam Smith’s invisible hand will do a better job at designing care than leaders with plans can do. I do not agree. I find little evidence anywhere that market forces bluntly used that is just consumer choice among a ray of products with competitors fighting it out, leads to the health care system you want and need”, said Berwick.

Rod Stewart - Rhythm of my heart [HQ] , Dedicated to the Troops

Rod Stewart Live at Royal Albert Hall (2004), Rod's girlfriend plays a mean bagpipe.

Turning Points in Warfare: Keegan

Combat warfare over time is re-invented and the '90s were a critical time that can be easily overlooked in the history of warfare since the period is relatively undistinguished as opposed to earlier crucial periods of world history. As expressed by the preeminent military historian, John Keegan, "There are certain dates in the history of warfare that mark real turning points. November 20, 1917, is one, when at Cambrai the tank showed that the traditional dominance of infantry, cavalry, and artillery on the battlefield had been overthrown. November 11, 1940, is another, when the sinking of the Italian fleet at Taranta demonstrated that the aircraft carrier and its aircraft had abolished the age-old supremacy of the battleship. Now there is a new turning point to fix on the calender, June 3, 1999, when the capitulation of President Milosevic proved that a war can be won by air power alone" (Keegan as quoted in War, Halberstam, p. 478).

20 November 1917 Battle of Cambrai, 2:06

The Battle of Cambrai (20 November - 3 December 1917) was a British campaign of World War I. Noted for the first successful use of tanks in a combined arms operation, the British attack demonstrated that the Hindenburg Line could be penetrated, while the German counter attack showed the value of new infantry tactics that would later be part of the Kaiserschlacht. Liddell Hart called the battle "one of the landmarks in the history of warfare, the dawn of a new epoch."[1]

Cambrai is a French town in the Nord département (Nord-Pas-de-Calais). In 1917 it was a key supply point for the German Siegfried Stellung (part of the Hindenburg Line) and the nearby Bourlon Ridge would be an excellent gain from which to threaten the German rear to the north.

NATO maintains extensive documentation on its activities.

3 June 1999, :07

A bird's eye view depicting attacks on mortar and artillery in the field.

NATO precision bombing

One of the most difficult bombings was thought to be nearly impossible because of its location in a busy urban area ("Novi Sad Bridge in downtown Belgrade," p. 459, Halberstam), :07. Doubts existed about one of the ten most expensive military planes and newer technology, such as the B-2 (Stealth) Bomber, until it was actually successfully deployed in warfare (Cf. Encyclopedia of Modern US Military Weapons by Timothy M. Laur, p. 23ff.

Novi Sad Highway Bridge bombed

Cf. Maps and Aerial Views of post- and pre-strikes used during the Press Conference by General Wesley K. Clark, 16 Sept. 1999, Source: NATO photos.

Against the Cyber Bill?

Scroll down to the "Reader Comments" and note a comment posted by yours truly, the Blog Smith.

Trailer for "Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad's Coming War For Islamic Revival And Obama's Politics"

U.S. 2 vs. Russia 11

Moscow 'offers former Russian colonel and nuclear expert to U.S. in Cold War-style spy swap to bring Anna Chapman home.' I am going to go out on a limb here and state that at first glance this does not look like a good deal. I am not saying that it won't happen, since when has Obama outsmarted anyone in the world? I am just stating that we appear to be losing in this deal as well. Obama has already squandered significant advantages in nuclear weaponry and retreated in the placement of nuclear missiles in Europe against the Russians so I am not optimistic that he will come out ahead on this deal either if it happens.

TSA Reverses "Controversial Opinion" Web Policy

Since the TSA has reversed its "Controversial Opinion" Web Policy maybe this was floated to see if anyone objected to the Obama's regime rejection of 1st Amendment principles.

Halberstam's Insight About Obama's General and American National Security

One of the most revealing passages in David Halberstam's, War in a Time of Peace, is a discussion of General Jack Sheehan of the Marines (pp. 412-413) and his possible nomination as Joint Chiefs of Staff. For an administration lacking military commitment and support, such as Clinton's, Sheehan proved to be problematic.

"Sheehan, it was judged, would be the hardest of the senior men to control, and in a dispute over strategy, the most likely to resign in protest. That was the nightmare. This formidable, exceptionally impressive marine, who agreed with the Clinton administration's theory of what we should be doing in foreign policy, might go public if it was unwilling to make the necessary commitment. Sheehan would not get the chairman's job" (p. 413).

This is a startling passage in light of the Stanley McChrystal resignation (cf. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/stanley-mcchrystal-retiri_n_628463.html). This resignation is most often compared to Truman's sacking of MacArthur for insubordination.

Cf. pp. 320, War In Peace (The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of Postwar Conflict, Volume 2 Ashley Brown, 1985); Manchester, William Raymond, American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964.

Perhaps not. This resignation is more akin to an uncontrollable Sheehan who can not be managed or spun, yet, he was eminently qualified for the position, and who moreover is telegraphing grave concerns about Obama's regime. If Clinton lacked support for the military, and he was rightly perceived as such, the internationalist, pro-Islamic, and quixotic Obama is something beyond a Clinton.

Questions about Obama's past and lack of documentation have troubled military personnel more than anyone else. Witness the numerous challenges to Obama's documentation that question his commitment to American national security. The military has questioned Obama's tenacity (Cf. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/opinion/30brooks.html?_r=3), Major General Carroll D. Childers agreed to be a plaintiff against Obama on the grounds that he was ineligible to qualify for the Office of the Presidency, and thus occupies the office illegally. 1st LT. Scott Easterling, Al Rowley, CDR, USN, (Retired), Charles E. Jones, Brigadier General US Air Force, Retired, Colonel Harry Riley Former Division Chief National Security Agency, Major James L. Cannon, SSGT. Brian A. Keith, Sgt. Mathew Michael Edwards, Lt Col. Chuck Miller, among others, have all brought public and legal actions against the regime. The military may be indicating with these actions that they have grave reservations about Obama.

During the Obama regime we are involved in two foreign wars and yet the public seems barely aware or conscious of the ongoing costs and security concerns as expressed, in the only ways available to them, by the American military.

David Halberstam, Global Economy, and Middle Class Existence: "The new definition of national security is... 'How good is your high school graduate?'

Halberstam talks about how young people today are going to compete with people from around the world for jobs that their parents were almost guaranteed. "The new definition of national security is... 'How good is your high school graduate?' The easy affluence has gone; other nations have caught up... Americans are now competing with people their age from Osaka, Beijing, Singapore, Jakarta etc."

Top 10 Sites for Creating Slide Shows

David Kapuler

How to block the Kagan nomination

Update

Arizona Gold

At least one company is actively mining for gold in Arizona.
http://www.entreegold.com/properties/united_states/

Arizona gold publications are now online for anyone to mine.
http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2009/01/arizona-gold-publications-now-online.html

China is the world's top gold producer according the the USGS.
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gold/mis-200902-gold.pdf

Bernard Lewis on Muslim Scientific Decline, Renaissance, Brahe

In What Went Wrong?, Bernard Lewis writes of the key role of the Middle East in the rise of science in the Middle Ages, before things went wrong:

And then, approximately from the end of the Middle Ages, there was a dramatic change. In Europe, the scientific movement advanced enormously in the era of the Renaissance, the Discoveries, the technological revolution, and the vast changes, both intellectual and material, that preceded, accompanied, and followed them. In the Muslim world, independent inquiry virtually came to an end, and science was for the most part reduced to the veneration of a corpus of approved knowledge. There were some practical innovations — thus, for example, incubators were invented in Egypt, vaccination against smallpox in Turkey. These were, however, not seen as belonging to the realm of science, but as practical devices, and we know of them primarily from Western travelers.

[. . .]

Another example of the widening gap may be seen in the fate of the great observatory built in Galata, in Istanbul, in 1577. This was due to the initiative of Taqi al-Din (ca. 1526-1585), a major figure in Muslim scientific history and the author of several books on astronomy, optics, and mechanical clocks. Born in Syria or Egypt (the sources differ), he studied in Cairo, and after a career as jurist and theologian he went to Istanbul, where in 1571 he was appointed munejjim-bash, astronomer (and astrologer) in chief to the Sultan Selim II. A few years later her persuaded the Sultan Murad III to allow him to build an observatory, comparable in its technical equipment and its specialist personnel with that of his celebrated contemporary, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. But there the comparison ends. Tycho Brahe's observatory and the work accomplished in it opened the way to a vast new development of astronomical science. Taqi al-Din's observatory was razed to the ground by a squad of Janissaries, by order of the sultan, on the recommendation of Chief Mufti. This observatory had many predecessors in the lands of Islam; it had no successors until the age of modernization.

The relationship between Christendom and Islam in the sciences was now reversed. Those who had been disciples now became teachers; those who had been masters became pupils, often reluctant and resentful pupils. They were willing enough to accept the products of infidel science in warfare and medicine, where they could make the difference between victory and defeat, between life and death. But the underlying philosophy and the sociopolitical context of these scientific achievements proved more difficult to accept or even recognize.

Kagan Falsified Abortion Document: Smooth Sailing for Confirmation

Politics More Important than Qualifications.

Citizen Journalist Documents Military Presence in Gulf Disaster

Damning report on oil spill response

And, these highly motivated local public officials are not shy at sharing their opinion.

5 July 2010

Bis Sis Bans TSA from Duties: Allows Porn

The Big Sis Napolitano directed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to block certain sites from the federal agency's computers, most alarmingly, denying access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a "controversial opinion," according to an internal email obtained by CBS News.

The email states that as of July 1, TSA employees will no longer be allowed to access five categories of websites that have been deemed "inappropriate for government access."

The categories include:

• Chat/Messaging

• Controversial opinion

• Criminal activity

• Extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content

• Gaming

The email does not specify how the TSA will determine if a website expresses a "controversial opinion." I wonder if anyone asked Kagan during her confirmation hearings what the government considers a controversial idea.

There is also no explanation as to why controversial opinions are being blocked, although the email stated that some of the restricted websites violate the Employee Responsibilities and Conduct policy.

The TSA did not return calls seeking comment by publication time.

If the TSA had responded perhaps they could have answered how the TSA is supposed to investigate actors of ill intent. Muslim terrorists are known to frequent chat rooms for jihad and are engaged in criminal and violent actions. The Net is filled with areas for those who have ill intent for travelers. On the other hand, frivolous, non-work related sites such as porn are not restricted.

The most troublesome area of the memo is the controversial opinion restriction. I wonder if this memo is one that Obama would like to extend to the Net in general to cut off problematic actions of his regime.