Saturday, January 28, 2012

Harvard Law School Food Law Society to Host a Raw Milk Debate!

As far as I know, I have never had raw milk*. However, I have heard many stories about its alleged benefits. Personally, I have never liked the pasteurized milk in the grocery stores (except in Frosted Flakes), because it just always seemed weird to drink the liquid from another animal. Nevertheless, there are numerous arguments on both the pros and cons of milk and I won't go into them here. However, the Harvard Food Law Society will host a debate where people will discuss these things. If I lived near Harvard, I would have to go check this one out.

Please note that the below press release was released by attorney Fred Pritzker (or someone representing him) and for disclosure purposes of this blog article, Pritzker is anti-raw milk.

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Raw Milk Debate at Harvard Law School

Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker will be participating in a debate about raw milk at Harvard Law School on February 16, 2012. He and Dr. Heidi Kassenborg will be arguing that raw milk is an unsafe product.

Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker has been invited to participate in a raw milk debate sponsored by Harvard Law School’s Food Law Society. Pritzker, senior partner at PritzkerOlsen, P.A. and Dr. Heidi Kassenborg, Director, Dairy & Food Inspection Division, Minnesota Department of Agriculture will be debating the dangers of raw milk consumption. Opposing them will be Sally Fallon Morell, President, Weston A. Price Foundation, and David Gumpert, Author, The Raw Milk Revolution, both leading raw milk proponents.

The debate is scheduled to be held on February 16 at Harvard Law School in the Langdell South classroom at 7:15 pm. The event is open to the public.

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Image Source: Jgharston (Subject to license).

*Please note that in the United States of America, a green top represents buttermilk and not raw milk. The above photo is a file photo of a "green-top" milk bottle (for raw, unpasteurized milk) from the United Kingdom.


Friday, January 27, 2012

NYPD Considering Using Unmanned Aerial Drones to Monitor City Streets and Parks


One of my favorite sayings from the Internet radio shows is "track, trace and database!" It is essentially the electronic surveillance network grid that has been established worldwide. Residents of the Big Apple may find themselves under even further surveillance as New York City Police Department appears to want a new tool in its fight.

Namely, the NYPD is taking a cue from the U.S. military and is considering adding an unmanned drone fleet to this arsenal. I will bet that this fleet won't be looking for foreign insurgents or enemy terrorists in NYC. It is more likely that these drones "that can shoot live missiles" will be patrolling for NYC residents or perhaps even "enemies" of the State. The video also explains a little about the proposed drone program.


In a recent email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, an NYPD Detective in the Counterterrorism Unit asks the Federal Aviation Administration about the use of drones as a way to protect the city.


Source: WPIX


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Royal Saudi Air Force Participates in U.S. Red Flag Exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada


I had no clue what a "Red Flag exercise" was prior to posting this article, but now I know, and as they say, knowing is half...

The Red Flag exercises, held periodically at the Nellis Air Force Base since 1975, are very realistic aerial war games. The purpose is to give pilots from the U.S., NATO and other allied countries an opportunity to practice and refine their skills for real combat situations. This includes the use of "enemy" hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises within the Nellis complex. The exercises with flares and all kinds of aircraft can make a spectacular show, especially at night. There are usually two or three sorties per day (except on weekends): One or two sorties during daytime and one in the evening or at night. The night exercises usually inlude only one half of the daytime forces.

There are two teams, the good guys (Blue Team) and the aggressors (Red Team). The Red Team is composed of Nellis AFB-based pilots specially trained for this purpose, flying F-15 and F-16 aircraft. The Blue Team is composed of the various guest "players" in their native aircraft.

The above quoted information is from an older website, so I cannot vouch for how accurate the information is in 2012. This exercise will also include military participants from South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

From The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia:

A series of joint exercises, dubbed Red Flag 5, have begun at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada with the participation of the U.S. Air Force, the Saudi Royal Air Force, and Republic of Korean Air Force. The Saudi contingent includes pilots, technicians and aides operating several fighter jets. The exercises are scheduled to last for ten days.


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Red Flag 12-2 scheduled Jan. 23-Feb. 3

Release Number: 010112

1/10/2012 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. - -- Southern Nevada residents may notice increased military aircraft activity as the Air Force conducts Red Flag 12-2 Jan. 23 - Feb. 3, 2012.

Red Flag is a realistic combat training exercise involving the air forces of the United States and its allies. The exercise is hosted north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range--the U.S. Air Force's premier military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. With 1,900 possible targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, Nellis and the NTTR are the home of a "peacetime battlefield," providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together, survive together and win together.

The 414th Combat Training Squadron is responsible for executing Red Flag and the exercise is just one of a series of advanced training programs administered at Nellis and on the NTTR by organizations assigned to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center.

Throughout the Red Flag exercise, more than 90 aircraft are scheduled to depart Nellis twice a day, around noon and again around 6 p.m. Aircraft may remain in the air for up to four hours. The flying times are scheduled to accommodate the other flying missions at Nellis and provide Red Flag participants with valuable training in planning and executing a wide-variety of combat missions.

The exercise will include units from:

Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota, Louisiana, Utah, California, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Massachusetts and Oklahoma flying aircraft including the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, E-3 Sentry, B-1 Lancer, and KC-135 Stratotanker.

In addition to U.S. aircraft, the Saudi Royal Air Force and the Republic of Korea will participate with their nations' F-15 aircraft.

For more information about Red Flag, call the Nellis Public Affairs Office at (702) 652-2750 or go to http://www.nellis.af.mil/redflag-nellis/.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Nellis will hold a Red Flag Media Day Jan. 31, 2012. Outlets interested in attending the media day can email your name, date of birth, media outlet represented and coverage goals for Red Flag 2-12 to 99abw.pacurrent@nellis.af.mil no later than Jan. 22, 2012. International Media must also submit nation of origin and passport number. Media requests submitted after Jan. 23, 2012, will not be facilitated.

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Animation of Approaching Potent Solar Proton Pulse Storm from Sunspot 1402!



Sunspot 1402 is spitting out a whole lot of energy these days. The animated .gif above shows that the solar storm will hit the Earth tomorrow morning. However, there is no word on whether there will be electronic chaos on the planet.

Late Sunday, the sun aimed a huge coronal mass ejection (CME) at our planet, along with a "solar energetic particle" event – the largest since September 2005 – which is expected to cause a solar storm of highly energetic protons to hit us on Tuesday at 9am Eastern Time, plus or minus seven hours.




Source: The Register