Confused 911 caller outs NYPD spying in NJ

This is quite alarming. The NYPD was caught spying … in New Jersey! Be sure to listen to the 911 call for yourself.

A building superintendent at an apartment complex just off the Rutgers University campus called the New Brunswick Police 911 line in June 2009. He said his staff had been conducting a routine inspection and came across something suspicious.

“What’s suspicious?” the dispatcher asked.

“Suspicious in the sense that the apartment has about — has no furniture except two beds, has no clothing, has New York City Police Department radios.”

“Really?” the dispatcher asked, her voice rising with surprise.

The caller, Salil Sheth, had stumbled upon one of the NYPD’s biggest secrets: a safe house, a place where undercover officers working well outside the department’s jurisdiction could lie low and coordinate surveillance. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the NYPD, with training and guidance from the CIA, has monitored the activities of Muslims in New York and far beyond. Detectives infiltrated mosques, eavesdropped in cafes and kept tabs on Muslim student groups, including at Rutgers.

via “What?” Confused 911 caller outs NYPD spying in NJ :: WRAL.com.

Lightning and nuclear reactions

We had a few close bolts of lightning during last evening’s thunderstorm. One of the bolts caught fire to a neighbor’s backyard shed. It was one of the scarier lightning storms I’ve experienced.

I decided to look up some info on lightning today and came across this PBS page written by a lighting expert. Dr. David Dwyer, Associate Professor of Physics and Space Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology, answers questions about lightning. I found this Q&A particularly intriguging.

Q: Within the NOVA Web site I read that lightning heats the surrounding air of a lightning bolt to ~50,000°F, or hotter than the sun. The sun, as I understand it, generates heat through fusion reactions. So why don’t we see fusion reactions taking place within the surrounding air of a bolt of lightning? Casey, La Jolla, California

The surface of the sun is about 10,000°F, which is much cooler than the hottest part of lightning. However, the nuclear fusion that powers the sun occurs only near the center where the temperatures are much higher (30 million°F) and the pressures are very large. In comparison, lightning is downright chilly. As a result, no nuclear reactions are expected to take place during lightning. Having said all this, several independent research groups have recently measured nuclear by-products associated with lightning, which according to our standard picture doesn’t seem possible. If these results are correct, then something very unusual is happening with lightning—so stay tuned.

I did more poking around and found some articles of studies that seem to show that lightning can produce gamma rays. Those bolts may also be hurling antimatter into space! Fascinating!

via NOVA | Lightning: Expert Q&A.

Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24

  • Two weeks past the election and @tonygurley still has signs everywhere. Pick them up, please. #ncpol #ncgop #keepamericabeautiful #
  • Cx 1 wk, but still RT @mtdotnet One week past the election and @tonygurley still has signs everywhere. Pick them up, please. #ncpol #ncgop #
  • Yikes! A HUGE bolt of lightning just landed within a few hundred yards of our home. #
  • Lightning sparks shed fire in Woodcrest neighborhood of East Raleigh. #ncwx http://t.co/n3E0kvyd #

Twitter Updates for 2012-07-24

  • Two weeks past the election and @tonygurley still has signs everywhere. Pick them up, please. #ncpol #ncgop #keepamericabeautiful #
  • Cx 1 wk, but still RT @mtdotnet One week past the election and @tonygurley still has signs everywhere. Pick them up, please. #ncpol #ncgop #
  • Yikes! A HUGE bolt of lightning just landed within a few hundred yards of our home. #
  • Lightning sparks shed fire in Woodcrest neighborhood of East Raleigh. #ncwx http://t.co/n3E0kvyd #

In getting it wrong the NCAA might have actually found their voice

The NCAA slapped Penn State with a massive $60 million fine, vacated a decade of victories, and took away scholarships for four years as punishment for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. While I don’t know how Joe Paterno slept at night knowing the evil that Sandusky was committing, I’m not sure sanctions are right for this case. Paterno’s actions may have been cowardly and cold-hearted but the athletes and alumni aren’t at fault. Punishing them seems misguided.

Meanwhile, over in Chapel Hill it’s beginning to stink to high heaven with the allegations of egregious academic fraud, yet those in Baby Blue get off with a slap on the wrist. Go figure.

To me, as heinous as this matter is — and it is undeniable that it is far worse than impermissible benefits or academic fraud — it was still a matter for law enforcement as opposed to the fellow member institutions that make up the NCAA. The people responsible for what occurred are either in jail for life, headed there, or dead. What has happened today, with the announced penalties, severely punishes hundreds of people who had exactly nothing to do with the past culture of football isolationism.

via In getting it wrong the NCAA might have actually found their voice – WRALSportsFan.com.

Sweetie weekend

Atop Hanging Rock

Kelly and I have enjoyed a wonderful “sweetie weekend” hiking around Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC, after Kelly took the kids up to stay with Kelly’s parents for a few days. We boarded the dog Saturday morning and headed west, stopping by the Tanger Outlet mall to get a few clothes. Then we headed up to Hanging Rock to spend the first of two days hiking around this beautiful park.

Upon arrival at the park’s visitor center, Kelly asked the park ranger what trails he suggested. Peering around the room, the ranger noted there were no kids in tow and suggested we try one of the more strenuous trails: Moore’s Wall Loop Trail. We took that advice and set off for the trailhead near the lake’s bathhouse.

Moore’s Wall Loop Trail is a challenging hike in one direction and not so much the other. We opted to go counter-clockwise towards the highest point in the park, Moore’s Knob, and that proved to be a very tough climb! It was step after step for what the ranger said was 700 steps until reaching the base of the lookout tower on Moore’s Knob.
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