Did terrorists attack Washington with a deadly pathogen?

On Sept. 24th, tens of thousands of protesters marched past the White House and flooded the National Mall near 17th Street and Constitution Avenue in what may have been the biggest antiwar rally since Vietnam. Unknown to the crowd, biological-weapons sensors scattered across Washington were quietly doing their work. Sometime between 10 a.m. on Sept. 24 and 10 a.m. on Sept. 25, six of those machines sucked in trace amounts of deadly bacteria called Francisella tularensis. Why haven't we heard more about this?

Down At The Twist And Shout

Well I never have wandered down to New Orleans
Never have drifted down a bayou stream
But I heard that music on the radio
And I swore some day I was gonna go
Down Highway 10 past Lafayette
To Baton Rouge and I won't forget
To send you a card with my regrets
'Cause I'm never gonna come back home
They got a alligator stew and a crawfish pie
A golf storm blowin' into town tonight
Livin on the delta's quite a show
They got hurricane parties every time it blows...

Hiroshima Film Cover-up Exposed

The government didn't want the general public to know what our weapons had done

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, killing at least 70,000 instantly and perhaps 50,000 more in the days and months to follow. Three days later, it exploded another atomic bomb over Nagasaki, slightly off target, killing 40,000 immediately and dooming tens of thousands of others. Within days, Japan had surrendered, and the U.S. readied plans for occupying the defeated country -- and documenting the first atomic catastrophe.

But the Japanese also wanted to study it. In early September, just after the Japanese surrender, director Sueo Ito set off for Nagasaki. There his crew filmed the utter destruction near ground zero and scenes in hospitals of the badly burned and those suffering from the lingering effects of radiation.

Then, on Oct. 24, 1945, a Japanese cameraman in Nagasaki was ordered to stop shooting by an American military policeman. His film, and then the rest of the footage, was confiscated by the US. An order soon arrived banning all further filming. This footage, along with footage taken by the US military, was locked away for over 40 years. Even today, much of it has never been viewed by the public.

New Hosting Provider

The site has been moved to the new hosting provider, and the new e-mail is set up. If you have sent me an e-mail in the past few days and did not receive a response please send it again.

PETA: People Eradicating Tons of Animals

The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here with permission:

'Ethical' Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster, including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed. Police say PETA has been picking up the animals -- alive -- from North Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it's against the group's policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but 'that for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than euthanasia.' (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) ...Oops, my mistake: that's 'Playing God' Defined.

In his author's notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of them. The story of them killing animals isn't even unusual. According to PETA's own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the animals entrusted to its care -- a number that's rising, not falling. Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA's home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations. It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism (yes, really). But don't take my word for it: I got my figures from http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com -- and they have copies of PETA's state and federal filings to back it up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally yells and screams about how others "kill animals" but this is how they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA's official count of animals they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they're going around picking up animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone about the "ethical" treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring weird-but-true news stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click the link for info about free subscriptions.)

Could your child's baby teeth be a life saver?"

Digital DJs Are Turning the Tables

"Thank you for calling the suicide hotline.  Our office is closed at this time.  Please call back again during normal business hours."

A Navy program allows users to surf the internet, chat and send instant messages anonymously.  Now it's available to the public.

A rule to live by: "Be Cool to the Pizza Dude".

Forget the Freedom Tower, Rebuild the Twin Towers, but make one of the towers exactly 2,752 inches, one inch for each of the victims.

Psst...  Want to buy a cheap laptop?

Bill Gates says "Eventually there could be a car that wouldn't let itself crash."  Let's just hope the car isn't running Windoze...

Infinity smells money in Podcasting...  KYCY in San Francisco is converting to all-podcast, all the time.  Now I love a good podcast, but to listen to someone else's playlist?

Finally!  A new CDC report shows that a few extra pounds may actually lower your death risk!

The login behind 'Doug's' new format - You don't know 'Jack'.  But then again, why listen to someone else's iPod (with commercials) when you could listen to your own?

Please, drive faster!

More on the 93.1 format switch. I say DOUG is a DUD and the (quote/unquote) format will be replaced again within a few months.

The Detroit News calls 93.1's new format iPod shufflelike. I agree - and that's not a good thing!

So long WDRQ - 93.1 becomes "Doug".

Support Our Troops - Oppose War [ story | order ]

Geekfathers: CyberCrime Mobs Revealed (from Baseline)

Burp  --  Houston's Beer Can House to Be Restored.

Urban farming may well hold the key to the future of Detroit.

Call me -- 867-5309.

Hmmm... Maybe CAN-SPAM can work - We just have to all switch to wireless e-mail devices! (DMNews.com Article)

A Dangerous Loophole in Airport Security - If Slate could discover it, the terrorists will too.

Apple introduces an under $500 Mac. Maybe now I'll get rid of Bill.

This could be interesting - A pair of Googlesearches have been discovered to give access to over a thousand surveillance cameras.

Adam Peneberg of Wired believes that the FCC is "An Obscene Waste of Energy". I would have to agree...

More info at the Academy of Vedic Mathematics.

Wired News: Modern Students Devour Old Math

Don't even think about trying to find a copy of an award-winning civil rights documentary online. The copyright cops will be waiting (Salon.com Technology)

Crackpot or genius -- New calendar system creates regular dates? You decide...

The laser-wielding terrorists are coming --

NOT!