Reality Check

The Trans-Asian Axis

Well.. haven’t posted here in some time either.

So… updates.

I’m working on preparing the office for a new podcast, same show, same old host (me) - Looks like I am missing show number 8 at the moment. It was on Olav’s machines, and… well, old news we won’t revisit. I’ll look for it on my personal archives though and get that online.

Several new items here.

I’m working with a local talk show host who’s rather well known, his name is “Chuck” - that’s all I’ll say for now, to assist him in getting set up to do a live, real-time streaming internet show. I’m trying to convince him to podcast his daily live radio show for now, and get the streaming going later… but, oh well.

I’ve sent him a couple large messages with information on “how-to” and offered my assistance. He listened to some of my shows and told me they were good, he was impressed. Coming from him, that makes me feel good about what I did.

A few days ago, my wife asked me why I wasn’t doing podcasts any more… since I’ve been busy doing other things I didn’t have time, and just didn’t feel like it. I barely blog these days, except about my boat, and I’ve never even sailed it yet so… this winter is coming on, no boat work, and I guess that I can put together a show a week over the course of the next few months.

Last weekend I rebuilt my laptop, and I’m installing my necessary software, setting up some archives to hold past and future shows so they won’t get lost like number 8 did.

With the new Administration coming in, I’ve decided to get my feet back in the Freedom of Speech Door before someone slams it shut so they will have a harder time shutting down Conservative Talk Radio using the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”.

So, now… my requests.

I’m asking for the Staff here on TAA to give me ideas, format ideas, show ideas, voice overs, whatever. And for the posters here, who’ve not had a chance to be involved…. now is your chance.

I need some people who want to participate and help in creating the programs.

I can do all the work myself, I can do the research, set up the show, do the technical aspects, do the talking, and put it all together at the end… but could use some people that would like to assist.

Voice overs, ads for the site (to help get us some people) - I’d like a nice, deep voice announcer - like a regular talk show has, some music that isn’t copyrighted, a show intro theme song, outro-them song… things like that. Perhaps some graphics for the mp3 podcast “album covers” and so on.

Credits to those who help go into the show information.

Any one interested, contact me here by PM, or send me an email at rickdonaldson [at] earthlink.net (OBVIOUSLY you need to replace the @ symbol in that address!)

Alternatively you can write to “taarealitycheck @ gmail.com” - but I don’t check that as often at present. If I can figure out how to have Thunderbird check it, it’ll be more frequent in the near future.

Three cold and boring months of winter is coming - let’s use it wisely, efficiently and make sure we keep our American Freedoms IN PLACE, not lose them, and not have to fight the impossible to get them back!

Wake up America!

The time to fight is NOW - not after it’s all gone.

Rick Donaldson
Reality Check

Http://www.transasianaxis.com

‘Report on Sept. 6 strike to show Saddam transferred WMDs to Syria’ | Jerusalem Post

n upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday.

Furthermore, according to a report leaked to the TV channel, Syria has arrested 10 intelligence officials following the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.

It would seem that all of the Left’s crowing and blowing about “no connection to terrorists” and “Bush lied, there were no weapons of mass destruction” is finally, once and for all going to be answered somehow.

Furthermore, it appears we might finally have some sort of an answer on exactly what was bombed in Syria a few months back, by the Israelis.

There has been speculation, based on the secretiveness of the mission and the closed mouths on all sides of the issue after the air raid on the site in Syria about everything from nuclear weapons, to nuclear reactors, to WMD. Perhaps we will finally know the answer when all of this comes out.

I think we will wait and see the outcome.

Comments are welcomed, please.

SPACE.com — Asteroid With Chance of Hitting Earth in 2029 Now Being Watched ‘Very Carefully’

This article:

Asteroid With Chance of Hitting Earth in 2029 Now Being Watched ‘Very Carefully’
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 24 December 2004
09:58 am ET

States that the risk of impact from 2004 MN4, an asteroid known as “Apophis” now has an increased chance of hitting Earth, and is now roughly 1-in-45.

Update, Dec. 25, 9:47 p.m. ET: The risk of an impact by asteroid 2004 MN4 went up slightly on Saturday, Dec. 25. It is now pegged at having a 1-in -45 chance of striking the planet on April 13, 2029. That’s up from 1-in-63 late on Dec. 24, and 1-in-300 early on Dec. 24.

Astronomers still stress that it is very likely the risk will be reduced to zero with further observations. And even as it stands with present knowledge, the chances are 97.8 percent the rock will miss Earth.

A 97.8 percent chance of missing the Earth is good news. The odds of it hitting are the bad news. Basically, you have a 1-in-300,000 chance of being hit by lightning, and yet roughly 67 people are killed each year by lightning, and another 300 are seriously injured.

Lightning strikes and kills many more people in any given year than, for example tornadoes do, however, in the last couple of years many people have been killed by tornadoes. In 2008, so far, at least 54 people have been killed by tornadoes to day (this number might be higher, I couldn’t find good statistics on this yet).

The article goes on to say the following:

The asteroid’s risk rating a possible impact scenario on April 13, 2029 has now been categorized as a 4 on the Torino Scale. The level 4 rating — never before issued — is reserved for “events meriting concern.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, it is a 0-10 rating scale, with 4 being the top of the “yellow scale”. Basically it means “be on alert”. The next number up, 5 is in the orange scale.

Scientists have yet to make a determination that this is a ‘dangerous’ interaction, and yet, they will say in “scientific terms” that if this particular asteroid hits a certain “space keyhole” the asteroid has a 100% chance of hitting us on the next go-around, about 2036.

Essentially, this asteroid is a smaller rock, and probably won’t cause a global disaster, but will certainly “rock the planet” - to coin a phrase. Localized damage could be significant in the region struck. At this point, I don’t know of anyone that has publicly accomplished the calculations on exact time it “could strike” or where, simply because most are writing this off as a “near miss”.

At this point, I won’t predict anything, since I have not personally run the numbers yet, but I will be doing that within a couple of years as data comes in.

But, I will say this, IF the asteroid hits the “keyhole” it will most definitely be upgraded to an 8 on the Torino scale. My gut feeling is that this will probably happen, but we can’t base predictions of objects affected by gravity on “gut feelings”, and need to stick to science. I’ll leave it at that, for now.

But, I strongly suggest everyone begin learning about the Torino Scale, this asteroid and the possible impact implications for Planet Earth, since you have just about 21 years left to be in a safe location!

Al Jazeera English - News - China ‘On Alert’ Over Us Space Hit
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B9E96F00-5FB9-4121-86DE-0D309AD99D51.htm

NEWS AMERICAS
China ‘on alert’ over US space hit
China has suggested that the US strike was a cover to test anti-satellite weapons [EPA]

China has called on the US to provide more information about its shooting down of a crippled US spy satellite, voicing concern about the potential international impact of the operation.

A foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday: “China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security.”

A foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday: “China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security.”

Hours earlier, the US military confirmed that a missile fired from a ship in the Pacific had hit the satellite more than 200km above Earth.

The US had said it needed to shoot the satellite down to prevent highly toxic hydrazine propellant falling on populated areas.

But China and Russia have both criticised the strike, saying that it could be a cover for a test of US anti-satellite weapons and could fuel an arms race in space.

Rogue satellite

Satellite code name USA-193 launched in December 2006 on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

Top secret military reconnaissance mission - otherwise known as a spy satellite

Controllers lost contact with satellite hours after it entered orbit

Carrying approximately 450kg of toxic hydrazine rocket fuel

Satellite itself weighs about two tonnes and is about the size of a bus

On Monday, ahead of the mission, China said it was “highly concerned” over the proposed US strike, calling on Washington to take steps to “ensure that the security of outer space and relevant countries will not be undermined”.

But on Thursday, after the hit was confirmed, the foreign ministry spokesman appeared to take a less confrontational approach.

“China further requests that the US fulfil its international obligations in earnest and promptly provide to the international community the necessary information and relevant data… so that relevant countries can take precautions,” Jianchao Liu said.

China itself was criticised by the US and its allies over an exercise last year in which it destroyed one of its own obsolete weather satellites using a ground-launched ballistic missile.

The test, which destroyed a satellite in a much higher orbit than the crippled US spacecraft, was also heavily condemned for creating thousands of new pieces of space debris, posing a danger to other satellites in orbit.

China and Russia have both recently expressed concern over what they say are US moves towards the militarisation of space.

Earlier this month, Russia’s foreign minister put forward a joint Russian-Chinese proposal to the UN for an international treaty banning weapons from space.

On Thursday, Admiral Timothy Keating, head of the US Pacific command, acknowledged similarities between the US strike and China’s destruction of its own satellite last year, but he said the US action was significantly different because the US gave public notice first.

“They just shot, they didn’t tell anybody about it,” he said

China accuses US of double standards over satellite strike | Science | guardian.co.uk

Well, OF COURSE they think it is a double standard. We asked them to not do this, they said they would, so we said, “Ok, then we will too… there, how’s that?”

Duh… China… STFU.

China accuses US of double standards over satellite strike

* James Randerson in Washington and Mark Tran

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday February 21 2008. It was last updated at 14:05 on February 21 2008.
A US warship test-fires a Standard-3 missile

A US warship test-fires a Standard Missile-3, the same model used to shoot down a spy satellite. Photograph: AP/US Navy

China today accused Washington of double standards after the US navy fired a missile to destroy a failed satellite 150 miles above the Pacific.

Beijing - which was criticised by the US and others when it shot down one of its own satellites last year - turned the tables on the Bush administration after the satellite was shot down today.

“The United States, the world’s top space power, has often accused other countries of vigorously developing military space technology,” the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist party’s newspaper, said.

“But faced with the Chinese-Russian proposal to restrict space armaments, it runs in fear from what it claimed to love.”

Earlier this month, Russia and China proposed a treaty to ban weapons in space and the use or threat of force against satellites and other spacecraft.

Washington rejected the proposal as unworkable, saying it favoured confidence-building efforts, US reports said.

At a regular news conference, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said: “The Chinese side is continuing to closely follow the US action, which may influence the security of outer space and may harm other countries.”

US defence officials said they were confident that a missile, fired from the USS Lake Erie, had hit its target, destroying a tank of toxic fuel on the satellite, which failed soon after being launched in 2006.

Video footage released by the Pentagon showed a fireball when the missile struck the satellite, indicating that the fuel tank - containing hydrazine - had exploded.

“All indications are that it was a successful intercept,” General James Cartwright said. The official added that it could take another 24-48 hours to know for certain whether the tank had been destroyed.

The missile was fired at 3.26am GMT, despite earlier reports that the operation would be postponed because of bad weather in the Pacific.

The modified tactical standard missile 3 (SM-3) hit the satellite at an altitude of 150 miles (247km) while it was travelling at approximately 17,000mph.

Two other ships, the USS Decatur and the USS Russell, were close by, and part of the task force, run by the Army Space and Missile Defence Command in Colorado Springs. If the initial shot had missed the satellite, they could have provided back up missiles.

Pentagon officials insisted the operation was necessary to prevent possible deaths following the satellite’s re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. The craft, a spy satellite, was carrying around 450kg of toxic hydrazine fuel.

The successful launch proved that the US navy’s Aegis anti-missile radar system could be quickly adapted to shoot down satellites.

When China shot down a defunct weather satellite last January, there were protests from western governments.

In the aftermath of the exercise, Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said: “The US believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area.

“We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”

Downing Street also expressed its concern at the time, condemning what it said was a “lack of consultation”.

The Chinese action was also criticised because of the millions of pieces of orbiting space junk, created by the satellite’s destruction, which could damage other satellites or the space shuttle while in orbit.

However, space junk should not be a problem from today’s space shot though. Because of the satellite’s relatively low altitude, debris began re-entering the atmosphere almost straight away, the US defence department said.

Most debris should re-enter the atmosphere within 48 hours, and the remaining pieces will leave orbit within 40 days.

Scientists and groups opposed to the militarisation of space backed China’s criticism of the US exercise.

Professor Michio Kaku, the distinguished physicist and author of Physics of the Impossible, said: “With a certain amount of justification, the Chinese claim there is a double standard … this latest move can be seen as provocative, since the US has refused to renegotiate and strengthen the 1987 outer space treaty.

“What is needed is a comprehensive ban on the militarisation of outer space … arming the heavens will only put us one step closer to a disastrous war in space that no one can win.”

US missile hits spy satellite - World - theage.com.au
US missile hits spy satellite

Washington
February 22, 2008
Advertisement

A MISSILE interceptor launched from a US Navy warship yesterday struck a dying American spy satellite orbiting 210 kilometres above the Pacific Ocean, according to the Pentagon.

“A network of … sensors confirms that the US military intercepted a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite which was in its final orbits before entering the Earth’s atmosphere,” the Pentagon said.

The USS Lake Erie, an Aegis-class cruiser, fired a single missile that hit the satellite as it traveled at more than 27,000 km/h, the statement said.

Officials cautioned that while early information indicated that the interceptor’s “kill vehicle” had hit the satellite, it would be 24 hours before it was determined whether the fuel tank with 450 kilograms of toxic hydrazine was destroyed. The navy had a firing window that lasted only seconds.

NEW YORK TIMES