A colleague of mine recently pointed out that the populations Sternglass refers to having lower SAT scores in the below article are now at their peak of wealth and influence. People in their fifties. Is this a possible reason we are collectively acting so stupid?
After posting this elsewhere people have commented that the dose in rads of radioactive Iodine was small compared to current day exposure. They completely missed the point that the thyroid has specific mechanisms for concentrating Iodine.
EMP is a health hazard only if it is concentrated.
Another false concept is that EMP "out of the blue" will fry your brain and/or body the way lightning strikes do. In the levels created by a nuclear weapon, it would not pose a health hazard to plants, animals, or man PROVIDED it isn't concentrated.
EMP can be concentrated.
That could happen if it were "pulled in" by a stretch of metal. If this happened, EMP would be dangerous to living things. It could become concentrated by metal girders, large stretches of wiring (including telephone lines), long antennas, or similar set ups. So--if a nuclear war were in the offing-- you'd do well to avoid being very close to such concentrations. (A safe distance for nuclear-generated EMP would be at least 8 feet from such stretches of metal.) http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:k8STRXOMEVsJ:www.rmsg.us/textfiles/emp1.htm+electromagnetic+pul....
CT, this is right up our alley. Whatever the Russians have been working on they are very excited about its prospects.
“We have been working on the Moon programme in Russia since Soviet times,” Perminov said. “I am saying with all responsibility that no country in the world has the kind of experience Russia has.”
The Kliper is intended not just for taking crews to the ISS and back, but also for interplanetary missions, including flights to Mars.
They have been negotiating with the European Space Agency and NASA. I don’t believe I saw China mentioned.
-Am
Earthlings can send manned mission on Mars before 2020
28.06.2004, 21.09
MOSCOW, June 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Earthlings can send a manned expedition to Mars by 2020 if they pool their efforts, the head of the Russian Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, said.
He told an Internet briefing on Monday, “There are technical possibilities for such an interplanetary mission but it has to be prepared very thoroughly.”
In his view, “No one state can carry out such an ambitious programme alone.”
Perminov said his view was shared by NASA head Sean O’Keefe.
He believes that “a manned mission to Mars may take place before 2020 but it will require serious preparations and the resolution of questions in three spheres: financing, technical side, and the training of cosmonauts and astronauts”.
“The flight will last about two years. Russia has experience, and I would say very valuable experience of preparing and conducting such long-term expeditions,” he said.
However Perminov stressed, “Before going on a manned mission, it is necessary to conduct a large number of unmanned experimental flights.”
“We have to start with Moon,” he said, adding, “By the way, we have discussed the Moon programme with NASA.”
“We have been working on the Moon programme in Russia since Soviet times,” Perminov said. “I am saying with all responsibility that no country in the world has the kind of experience Russia has.”
Russia suggests that ESA take part in new spaceship project
29.06.2004, 07.43 MOSCOW, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia has suggested that the European Space Agency (ESA) take part in the development of a new manned spaceship, which can be used for both flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and to other planets, Anatoly Perminov, chief of the Federal Space Agency (FSA), has said during an Internet briefing.
"It is a question of a promising general-purpose spaceship, the Clipper, which is being developed by the Energia space rocket corporation," Perminov explained.
The FSA chief said, "The Clipper will take the place of the world's most reliable spaceships from the Soyuz family, which get obsolete in both the duration of the use and in components. The Clipper will make it possible to deliver six people to the ISS, not 2-3, as currently is the case. This constitutes the prospect of developing new-generation spaceships, not a shuttle. The Clipper will be adapted not only for flights to the ISS but also for research into the interplanetary space, and expeditions to other planets, including Mars".
The financial aspects of a project to launch Russian Soyuz spaceships from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana will be settled soon, Perminov said. "Negotiations are currently under way on a final financing of the Soyuz-Kourou project. I think all these matters will be resolved soon, within June-July," he pointed out.
Perminov believes that by combining efforts, the terrestrials will be able to send a manned spaceship to Mars some time before the year 2020. "Such an interplanetary flight is technically feasible but it must be thoroughly prepared. Any one country by acting alone will not be able to implement such a large-scale programme," he emphasised. Perminov said NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe shares his view of the prospect.
The FSA chief is confident that "A manned mission to Mars can be accomplished before 2020. This will require serious preparation and solutions to matters concerning all the three aspects: financing, technical execution, and the training of astronauts and cosmonauts,"
Perminov regards the emergence of private cosmonautics in Russia as possible. "I take a highly positive view of private suborbital flights. I think this is feasible in Russia as well," he said.
The FSA chief said the Russian military orbital group of satellites would be substantially modernised. "A decision has been already taken in principle on an in-depth modernisation of spacecraft of military purpose," he said. "First of all, such a modernisation is in extending the service length and in creating various systems and assemblies of spacecraft on an utterly new component basis," Perminov explained.
Russia No nation can be self-sufficient in manned space exploration now
12:05 2004-06-29 No nation can be self-sufficient in manned space exploration now, the Director of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Anatoli Perminov, said at his first ever online news briefing Monday.
"Our priority today is to maintain the International Space Station in an operable condition and to complete its assembly. This wide-scale project is multinational. But in the present circumstances, Russia has to play a dominant role. Since American space shuttle flights were suspended [last February], we have had to carry [all ISS] crews on Soyuz vehicles and cargoes on Progresses."
But despite these difficulties, Russian space research continues its way forward. The Russian spacecraft maker Energia, for one, is now developing a universal vehicle, Kliper, Perminov said. He described the model as modern and viable, but said it needed further elaboration. He also said that specialists from other countries should be engaged in the project.
Soyuz spacecraft are becoming outdated and there is a need for a more powerful vehicle, one that would sit six people instead of just two or three, the Russian Space Agency chief said. The Kliper is intended not just for taking crews to the ISS and back, but also for interplanetary missions, including flights to Mars.
Russia discusses all its projects with other space powers," Perminov said. "I recently met with European Space Agency head Jean-Jacques Dordain, and we discussed this particular project, among others," he reported.
Already, there are customers interested in the launch of satellites into orbit with the help of the Soyuz booster, from the Kourou launching pad, in French Guyana, Perminov said. Negotiations over the project's financing are now underway, which he expects to be completed before the end of July, he said.
The construction of a new launching facility will get started at Kourou soon, Perminov announced. He said that the project, to be commissioned in 2006, would make it possible for all nations, including Latin American, to get involved in the launch of spacecraft. The man believes that Russia should actively develop collaborative projects with Latin American countries, especially Argentina and Brazil.
The Federal Space Program's 2006-2015 budget will be posted on the Federal Space Agency's website once it gets confirmed, Perminov said. The Federal Space Agency is now finalizing the draft, and will submit it to the Cabinet for approval by the year's end, he added.
By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea and Iran may be seeking the ability to attack the United States by triggering a nuclear device at high altitude to disrupt vital computer networks, a congressionally mandated task force reported on Thursday.
Looking out 15 years, the panel said the detonation of a nuclear device above the United States "has the potential to hold our society at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces."
U.S. forces are increasingly dependent on digital networks for finding, tracking and killing their foes.
The task force was chartered by the Republican-controlled Congress to assess the threat from a weapons-generated "electromagnetic pulse," or EMP, that could fry electronics and disrupt financial and other networks.
"Rogue states, such as North Korea and Iran, may also be developing the capability to pose an EMP threat," said the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack.
The nine-member commission did not specify in publicly available material the source of its information on North Korea and Iran, which President Bush grouped with prewar Iraq in what he called an "axis of evil."
Russia and China had "considered" limited nuclear attack options that, unlike their Cold War plans, involve EMP as their primary or sole weapon, it said.
"The U.S. must establish a global environment that will profoundly discourage such attacks," the report said. It also must develop the capability to "fail as gracefully as possible" if financial and other networks were knocked out.
The Pentagon had no immediate comment.
Seven members of the commission were appointed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, with the others named by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The findings were unanimous.
It was headed by William Graham, a science adviser to the late president Ronald Reagan and member of two congressionally chartered panels -- on ballistic missiles and space -- that Rumsfeld led before Bush took office in 2001.
The report's executive summary was made public at a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. A detailed assessment of potential threats was classified.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
