News for February 14, 2006

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The Flying Luxury Hotel  (February 14, 2006) - Even though the Aeroscraft dwarfs the largest commercial airliners, it requires less net space on the ground than any plane because it doesn’t need a runway. The airship takes off and lands like a helicopter: straight up and down. This is not a Blimp. It’s a sort of flying Queen Mary 2 that could change the way you think about air travel. It’s the Aeroscraft, and when it’s completed, it will ferry pampered passengers across continents and oceans as they stroll leisurely about the one-acre cabin or relax in their well-appointed staterooms.

‘3rd intifada on its way’ (February 14, 2006) - With Hamas now in power, the long-ruling Fatah party and its “military wing” Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades forced into the opposition, and Israel announcing it will soon withdraw from the West Bank, Palestinian terror leaders tell WorldNetDaily recent events here are leading them to launch what they call a third intifada – or violent confrontation – against Israel consisting of suicide bombings, rocket attacks against Jewish communities and “a few new surprises in our arsenal.” Some terror leaders, particularly from the Al Aqsa Brigades, whose associated Fatah party scored poorly in last month’s parliamentary elections, say they are planning massive violence against Israeli civilians mostly to revolt against the new Hamas-controlled Palestinian government. “The new intifada is only a question of time and this will be the hardest and the most dangerous one. It’s just about timing until the order to blow up a new wave of attacks will be given,” Abu Nasser, a senior Al Aqsa Brigades leader from the Balata refugee camp in northern Samaria told WorldNetDaily in an interview. Israel expecting new wave of terror. In the last 10 days Israeli forces intercepted 12 potential suicide bombers and have stopped several dozen bombings the past few months, prompting fears of “a new and worrisome wave of terror,” said Yuval Diskin, head of Israel’s Shin Bet security services. more...

Al Gore Event Funded by Bin Laden’s Family (February 14, 2006) - The Saudi Arabia seminar that was addressed by former Vice President Al Gore over the weekend in a speech that criticized the U.S. for being too tough on Arabs was sponsored, in part, by Osama bin Laden’s family. On Saturday, the state-run Saudi news outlet Arab News reported that the Jeddah Economic Forum, where Gore spoke, was funded by “Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Saudi Binladin Group, Gulf One Investment Bank, Saudi Basic Industries Corp.” and an array of other big companies with ties to the Middle East. The Saudi BinLadin Group - which is Saudi Arabia’s largest construction company - is run by Osama bin Laden’s brothers and cousins. Jeddah, the site of the forum attended by Gore, is Osama bin Laden’s hometown. Although family members claim they’ve disowned bin Laden, his mother told reporters after the 9/11 attacks that she received advanced warning from him that something big was about to happen. A wealthy bin Laden niece also reportedly abandoned her lower Manhattan apartment three weeks before the 9/11 attacks. The BinLadin Group’s longtime involvement in the Jeddah forum has been widely reported in the Mideast and European press. more...

Northeast Digs Out From Record Snowstorm (February 13, 2006) - Road crews scrambled to clear streets and travelers stranded at airports tried to get home as the Northeast dug out from a record-breaking storm that dumped two feet or more of snow across the region. Utility workers were restoring power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses left in the dark. Winds gusting up to 50 mph knocked down and snapped power lines, while others were damaged by falling trees. The storm blanketed the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Maine over the weekend, dropping 26.9 inches Central Park - the heaviest since record keeping began in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947, the National Weather Service said. While the storm was bad, it would have been worse on a weekday, said Patrick Maloit, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. “The headache has been minimized because it happened on a Sunday,” Maloit said. “It was good timing for a storm of this magnitude.” Elsewhere, 30.2 inches of snow fell in Fairfield, Conn., 27 inches in Rahway, N.J., and 27 inches at Columbia University, according to unofficial observations reported to the National Weather Service. Just west of Philadelphia, 21 inches were recorded in West Caln Township; the average snowfall for an entire winter in Philadelphia is about 21 inches. more...

Russia will demand that Hamas disarm (February 13, 2006) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that talks with Russian leaders had yielded a pledge from Moscow to demand that Hamas recognize Israel and disarm its militia. Russian officials may meet with leaders of the Islamic movement. Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Rice emphasized the importance of sending a “consistent” message to Hamas and pointed out, as she did several times last week, that Russia had agreed to the Quartet statement drafted in London three weeks ago. The statement stipulated that a Palestinian government must recognize Israel’s right to exist, disavow violence and accept previous agreements aimed at a two-state solution. more...

Germany vows support against Hamas (February 13, 2006) - Germany backs Israel’s demand that the international community shun Hamas unless the it renounces violence and recognizes the Jewish state, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday, during his first visit to Israel. “I wanted to let Israel know that it can count on our solidarity, especially after the Palestinian elections,” Steinmeier said after meeting acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “I affirm the (Israeli) principles for contacts with the Hamas movement.” The German reassurances come at a time when Israel is increasingly concerned the international front against Hamas is crumbling. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Hamas leaders to Moscow, saying he will press the Palestinian group to recognize Israel and give up violence. France has supported Moscow’s approach. more...

Israel Urges World to Reject Hamas (February 13, 2006) - But Israeli officials said they did not plan a harsh response to the invitation, preferring instead to work to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to maintain international pressure on Hamas. The invitation last week was Russia’s latest effort to assert itself in Mideast peacemaking. It runs counter to the stand recently taken by the so-called Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators, comprising Russia, the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. The Quartet, which backs the “road map” peace plan, insisted it would not deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed aid to the cash-strapped government unless the group recognized Israel and renounced violence. more...

Ahmadinejad to Iranians: Israel ‘will be removed’ (February 12, 2006) - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today echoed his earlier threats to “wipe Israel off the map” by telling a mass demonstration in Tehran, commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, that Palestinians and “other nations” will remove Israel from the region, adding a warning to the West that harsh measures against the nation’s nuclear program would result in Iran walking away from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). “The policy of Iran has so far been pursuing nuclear technology within the framework of the NPT and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” he said. “If we see you (the West) want to violate the right of the Iranian people by using those regulations (against us), you should know that the Iranian people will revise its policies. You should do nothing that will lead to such a revision in our policy,” said Ahmadinejad. The crowd, numbered in the hundreds of thousands accoding to state media, responded to Ahmadinejad’s defense of its nuclear program – believed by U.S. intelligence to be an effort to acquire atomic weapons – with cries of “Nuclear energy is our undisputable right,” “Death to America,” “Death of Israel,” “Death to Denmark.” “The West is hiding its ugly face behind international bodies, but these bodies have no reputation among nations. You have destroyed the reputation of the NPT,” the Iranian president said. Ahmadinejad blamed “Zionists” for the publication of cartoons that featured caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed in a Denmark newspaper, according to the German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The resulting backlash has been angry Muslim protests around the world. more...

Pentagon plans blitz on Tehran (February 12, 2006) - Planners with the Pentagon’s Central Command and Strategic Command are working closely with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to develop working plans for a devastating strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to block its efforts to produce nuclear weapons, reports the London Telegraph. The increasing number of threats against Israel and the West by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the growing disclosures about Iran’s nuclear program have forced the administration to assess all military options. As reported by WorldNetDaily, Ahmadinejad told a large crowd in Tehran yesterday that Israel would be “removed” by the Palestinians and “other nations,” and dismissed the West as “hostages of the Zionists.” “The people of the U.S. and Europe should pay a heavy price for becoming hostages to Zionists,” Ahmadinejad declared. “We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them. Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations.” Ahmadinejad also threatened to abandon previous commitments to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty if harsh measures were taken against Iran for its nuclear program. more...

Magnitude 5.2 - GULF OF MEXICO - usizan (February 11, 2006) - A moderate earthquake occurred at 04:14:17 (UTC) on Friday, February 10, 2006. The magnitude 5.2 event has been located in the GULF OF MEXICO. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.) Earthquake Details: Magnitude 5.2
Date-Time Friday, February 10, 2006 at 04:14:17 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time
Thursday, February 9, 2006 at 10:14:17 PM = local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones more...

Science losing war over evolution (February 10, 2006) - This just in from the front lines of the battle between evolution and intelligent design: evolution is losing. Evolutionary biologist and filmmaker Randy Olson greets audience members before the screening of his film. (Staff photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office) That’s the assessment of Randy Olson, a Harvard-trained evolutionary biologist turned filmmaker who explored the debate in a new film, “Flock of Dodos: The Evolution - Intelligent Design Circus,” which was screened Monday (Feb. 6) at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Featuring Harvard faculty as well as scenes shot within the museum, the 90-minute film strikes a humorous tone as it explores the debate, poking a bit of fun at both intelligent design and the scientific community. Though Olson is obviously on the side of evolution, he exposes the shortcomings of both sides. He portrays intelligent designers as energetic, likeable people who compensate for their shaky theory’s shortcomings through organization, personal appeal, and money. Scientists, on the other hand, squander their factual edge through indifference and poor communication skills. But Olson said there’s something deeper than the surface face-off between those on the front lines. The efforts to teach intelligent design in the schools is backed by media-savvy, well-financed organizations like the Discovery Institute that aren’t afraid to hire high-powered public relations firms to advance their cause. more...

New Antigravity Solution Could Enable Space Travel Near Speed of Light Link Lost (February 14, 2006) - New Exact Solution of Einstein’s Gravitational Field Equation Discovered by Physicist Franklin Felber Will Revolutionize Space Propulsion by Enabling Low-Cost Propulsion Near Speed of Light.

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein's 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque. The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light. Felber’s antigravity discovery solves the two greatest engineering challenges to space travel near the speed of light: identifying an energy source capable of producing the acceleration; and limiting stresses on humans and equipment during rapid acceleration.

“Dr. Felber’s research will revolutionize space flight mechanics by offering an entirely new way to send spacecraft into flight,” said Dr. Eric Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin and STAIF peer reviewer of Felber’s work. “His rigorously tested and truly unique thinking has taken us a huge step forward in making near-speed-of-light space travel safe, possible, and much less costly.”

The field equation of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity has never before been solved to calculate the gravitational field of a mass moving close to the speed of light. Felber’s research shows that any mass moving faster than 57.7 percent of the speed of light will gravitationally repel other masses lying within a narrow ‘antigravity beam’ in front of it. The closer a mass gets to the speed of light, the stronger its ‘antigravity beam’ becomes. more...