Posts from — May 2007

A CBS –Associated Press report: Pet Food Poisoning Mystery May Be Solved

The breakthrough was made at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. A week ago, scientist Perry Martos mixed together a few drops of melamine and cyanuric acid, the two unauthorized chemicals found in tainted pet food.

In less than a second, they formed a mass of crystals nearly identical to crystals found in the kidneys of sickened animals.

“If you can imagine an instantaneous kidney stone — that’s essentially the way I would perceive it,” says Martos.

We now know why kidneys are failing – they are being blocked by these “instant kidney stones.” The new search is for a method of dissolving the stones without harming the animals. This confirms what the problem is, and makes targeting the research possible.

Chris Regan of Mythstory reminds us that today in 1469 Darth Cheney’s favorite author, Niccolo Machiavelli was born.

The Shrubbery thinks Karl wrote his copy of The Prince, the only one with cartoons.

CNN on US Green Zone press briefing:

A U.S. military commander said Thursday that an al Qaeda in Iraq militant believed to be involved in last year’s kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll has been killed.

He is Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri and was identified as the senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.

[snip]

Operation Rat Trap, a 72-hour push against militants between April 28 and 30, resulted in the deaths of 15 militants and the detention of 95 others, Caldwell said. In April, 87 militants were killed in U.S.-led coalition operations and 465 people detained, he said.

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count report for April, 2007 deaths: US 104, UK 12, Poland 1 – Total 117.

Excuse me, minister of information = press secretary, just like Caldwell. They killed 117 of ours, and we claim to have killed 87 of theirs – that is not a good thing. It is apparent that their surge is more effective than ours.

Walter M. Schirra, Captain, US Navy retired, one of the original astronauts, and the only one to fly on all three of the initial manned space flight vehicles, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, has launched on his final mission.

The BCC reports on a major double-parking problem:

Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road.

The decommissioned aircraft was being driven through the city at the weekend when the driver got lost and then abandoned the plane.

And I used to complain about boat trailers blocking my driveway.

This series of hexidecimal numbers should not posted according to some people:

09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

So, why are they there?

See rootkit to understand why.

The creator of that sequence has authorized its publication.

Melissa and Echidne, as well as many others, have been discussing the Saletan article on ultrasound.

I haven’t noticed an MD after Saletan. I’m not aware that he has any degrees or training in medical imaging. He’s an on-line columnist and occasional media talking head. Where is his basis for making medical decisions?

I use ultrasound [above 20kHz] for cleaning small parts and chasing off pests. While there have been no major studies that have revealed any problems with ultrasonic imaging, that may be because it is only used when problems are suspected. There are an awful lot of babies born in this world who have never been scanned by ultrasound.

I wonder how Mr. Saletan and legislators who are pushing sonographs would feel if they were required to have a prostate exam and marriage license before they could get a prescription for Viagra or buy condoms?

The guys and gals in Wired’s Danger Room have been looking at the new Army Regulation 530–1: Operations Security (OPSEC), and it is pretty pathetic.

The Army seems to believe Reporters = Foreign Spies?, and the DR people worry that New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too).

I know something about military security, you don’t get assigned to NSA unless it is thoroughly embedded in your brain. I dealt with stuff that had classified classifications, i.e. the indicators of the level of protection required for the information were themselves classified.

NSA isn’t only about gathering intelligence, it is also heavily concerned with insuring that US intelligence isn’t compromised. You have know what is important, and what isn’t. There is a lot of classified information, that isn’t inherently secret, but is classified because of how it was gathered. For example, there’s nothing secret about someone going to a particular restaurant, but if the only way you could know about it is via a phone tap, it is classified because of what it reveals about “sources and methods.”

When I read these reports the first things that came to mind were “Abu Ghraib and Pat Tillman.” These revisions are only peripherally concerned with operational security, the real thrust is to make it more difficult to expose incompetence and criminal behavior.

The flag officers must really be concerned that their retirements are threatened by the truth, and really worried they are going to be required to work for a living.

Ferret

Mustela putorius furo

Weasel¹

Mustela giuliana

1. see Wolcott on Weasels.

Responding to a thread over at Fallenmonk I realized there was a reasonable compromise that would be supported by Congress, and would enable the passage of a “clean” funding bill for the escalation in Iraq.

If the Shrubbery and Darth Cheney resign, I see no reason not to provide the funds to the Defense Department.

The latest report on any of the big media sites on the melamine problem is the AP report on MSNBC: FDA: Tainted feed a ‘minimal’ threat to humans. They aren’t saying anything about the import ban.

I’ve been getting information from Christie Keith at Pet Connection, Spoko at Spoko’s Brain, Goldy at Horsesass.org, Howl 911, and LitBrit at Shakesville. LitBrit has been my starting point, but these guys are all on the trail.

It’s looking like the melamine problem affects just about all of the food imports from China, either directly in the gluten, or indirectly from animals who have eaten feed containing the gluten. The import ban is probably the only way to make the Chinese government to take the problem seriously.

I don’t think we can assume that the melamine is the only problem with Chinese food imports. We need to start analyzing the food we import to find out what’s really in it.

Tom Poston died April 30^th, and while most people will remember him from his association with Bob Newhart, some of his funniest stuff was on the old Steve Allen show in New York with Louis Nye and Don Knotts as men in the street.

He was a USAAF pilot in World War II, dropping paratroops over Normandy on D-Day. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Pleshette, who is best remembered playing Bob Newhart’s wife on multiple shows. He was a funny guy with an extensive filmography.

Via LitBrit: FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs IMPORT ALERT #99-29 – 4/27/07:

“DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF ALL VEGETABLE PROTEIN PRODUCTS FROM CHINA FOR ANIMAL OR HUMAN FOOD USE DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF MELAMINE AND/OR MELAMINE ANALOGS”

TYPE OF ALERT: Detention Without Physical Examination (Countrywide)

(Note: This import alert represents the Agency’s current guidance to FDA field personnel regarding the manufacturer(s) and/or products(s) at issue. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person, and does not operate to bind FDA or the public).

PRODUCTS:

• Wheat Gluten
• Rice Gluten
• Rice Protein
• Rice Protein Concentrate
• Corn Gluten
• Corn Gluten Meal
• Corn By-Products
• Soy Protein
• Soy Gluten
• Proteins (includes amino acids and protein hydrosylates)
• Mung Bean Protein

[Read more →]

Two approaches to the same story, the resignation of the chief executive of British Petroleum.

Associated Press first paragraph:

LONDON – BP PLC’s chief executive, John Browne, resigned Tuesday only hours after a judge cleared the way for a newspaper to publish details of his private life.

BBC first paragraph:

The chief executive of oil giant BP, Lord Browne of Madingley, has resigned from his post with immediate effect.

Not hard to tell which is American and which is British, but the problem is the bit that the Associated Press doesn’t mention. The AP implies that the shocking revelations coming out in a newspaper are the reason for the resignation, rather than this from the BBC article:

The outgoing boss said that he had initially lied to the court about the circumstances in which he had met Mr Chevalier, because of “embarrassment and shock” at the revelations.

High Court judge, Lord Justice Eady said that he was not allowed to make allowances for the “white lie” told by Lord Browne.

Lying under oath in court is a bit more important to the story than the scandal mongering of the Mail. AP readers are going to think he resigned because he was gay and about to be outed in the press. Lord Browne’s sexual orientation is not the issue, it was perjury.