Military Stats Reveal Epicenter of U.S. Drone War

Danger Room provides updated stats for prevalence of drones in military use. Writer Noah Schachtman advises where is most of the action: "The real center of the U.S. drone campaign is in plain sight — on the hot and open battlefield of Afghanistan...The American military has launched 333 drone strikes this year in Afghanistan. That’s not only the highest total ever, according to U.S. Air Force statistics. It’s essentially the same number of robotic attacks in Pakistan since the CIA-led campaign there began nearly eight years ago." How many drones are in use? Schachtman provides current talley: "The military has 61 Predator and Reaper “combat air patrols,” each with three or four robotic planes. The CIA’s inventory is believed to be just a fraction of that: 30 to 35 drones total, although there is thought to be some overlap between the military and intelligence agency fleets. The Washington Post reported last month that the CIA is looking for another 10 drones as the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) become more and more central to the agency’s worldwide counterterror campaign." How many drones does it take to win a war?

What Are Drones?

Drone Wars UK provides good survey of booming drone business not seen inside United States. "The US has two separate ‘squadron’ of armed drones – one run by the US Air Force and one run by the CIA. Using drones, the USAF Air Force has increased the number of combat air patrols it can fly by 600 percent over the past six years; indeed at any time there are at least 36 Ameri- can armed UAVS over Afghanistan and Iraq. It plans to increase this number to 50 by 2011. CIA Director Leon Panetta has recently said that drones are 'the only game in town',”  reveals article.   A Reaper costs 50 million-plus, according to video, but still well below cost of a F-35 at an estimated 150 million.

Manufacturers seeking new markets for drones, represent bleak prospect for US citizens.  The bottom line reported in article, "Military drone manufacturers are looking for civilian uses for remote sensing drones to expand their markets and this includes the use of drones for domestic surveillance. Drones will no doubt make possible the dramatic expansion of the surveillance state. With the convergence of other technologies it may even make possible machine recognition of faces, behaviours, and the monitoring of individual conversations. The sky, so to speak, is the limit."

Tonight's Sky: January 2013

"Tonight's Sky" produced by HubbleSite.org, home to online presence of Hubble Space Telescope.  You Tube provided description:  "This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes and other astronomy videos at HubbleSite.org. In January, look for the constellation Auriga, pictured as a goat herder by the Greeks and Romans.  Visit Tonight's Sky on HubbleSite."

Nacreous Clouds Over Sweden

Thanks goes to spaceweather.com and Göran Strand, who took photos of rare Nacreous Clouds on Dec. 28th in Östersund, Sweden.  Atmospheric Optics provides description of clouds below:

"Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are rare but once seen are never forgotten. They are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn when they blaze unbelievably bright with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours. They are filmy sheets slowly curling and uncurling, stretching and contracting in the semi-dark sky. Compared with dark scudding low altitude clouds that might be present, nacreous clouds stand majestically in almost the same place - an indicator of their great height. They need the very frigid regions of the lower stratosphere some 15 - 25 km (9 -16 mile) high and well above tropospheric clouds. They are so bright after sunset and before dawn because at those heights they are still sunlit.They are seen mostly during winter at high latitudes like Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. Sometimes, however, they occur as far south as England."

2013: Year Of The Great Comets

Stargazers looking ahead, may experience, year of the great comets in 2013.  Two Russian Astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichono discovered Comet Ison on September 21, 2011. Writer David Whitehouse previews more recently what sky watchers can expect in "'Brighter than a full moon': The biggest star of 2013... could be Ison - the comet of the century":

"By the end of summer it [Comet Ison] will become visible in small telescopes and binoculars. By October it will pass close to Mars and things will begin to stir. The surface will shift as the ice responds to the thermal shock, cracks will appear in the crust, tiny puffs of gas will rise from it as it is warmed. The comet's tail is forming...By late November it will be visible to the unaided eye just after dark in the same direction as the setting Sun. Its tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon. Then it will swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, far closer than any planet ever does, to emerge visible in the evening sky heading northward towards the pole star. It could be an "unaided eye" object for months...."

Comet Ison may be visible to the unaided eye for months - an impressive prospect!  Perhaps, more remarkable, two comets may be plainly visible in night skies of 2013 as Whitehouse explains:

"Remarkably Ison might not be the only spectacular comet visible next year. Another comet, called 2014 L4 (PanSTARRS), was discovered last year and in March and April it could also be a magnificent object in the evening sky. 2013 could be the year of the great comets"

The present writer grew up on tales of the 1910 Halley's Comet, but it's return in 1986 proved a disappointment.  Halley's Comet wasn't  large or bright on its last pass only a speck in the night sky.  Hale-Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997 proved highly satisfying, remaining visible for over a year!  Comet Ison will hopefully live up to its advanced billing and exceed Hale-Bopp!  Heavenly bodies are earthbound!

December 27, 2004: Greatest Gamma Ray Burst Recorded

A Daily Galaxy article reveals dramatic event occurred several years ago in a far corner of our Galaxy:

"It came suddenly from the distant reaches of the Constellation Sagittarius, some 50,000 light years away. For a brief instant, a couple of tenths of a second, on December 27, 2004, an invisible burst of energy the equivalent of half a million years of sunlight shone on Earth. Many orbiting satellites electronics were zapped and the Earth's upper atmosphere was amazingly ionized from a massive hit of gamma ray energy."

"The source of the invisible attack was a rare magnetar, SGR 1806-20, on the other side of the Milky Way. These soft gamma ray repeaters, SGRs, occur when twisted magnetic fields attempt to realign themselves and crack the magetar's crust releasing the awesome burst or pulse of energy with a death-zone of a few light years. Magnetars have magnetic fields 1000 times those of ordinary pulsars -so powerful as to be lethal at a distance of 1000 kilometers."

Gamma Ray Bursts are explained, in article, as brightest event in the universe:

"Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's most luminous explosions. Most occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel. As a star's core collapses, it creates a black hole or neutron star that, through processes not fully understood, drive powerful gas jets outward. These jets punch through the collapsing star. As the jets shoot into space, they strike gas previously shed by the star and heat it. That generates bright afterglows."

Physicist Paul Laviolette suspects a gravitational bow wave may have preceded gamma ray burst on December 27, 2004 that possibly triggered Indonesia tsunami:

"A very interesting event occurred almost simultaneously with the Tsunami event but it appears few have noticed but this gamma ray burst almost coincided with the tectonic event (it was slightly afterward) here on Earth. I am curious if what we witnessed was a gravitational bow wave effect that preceded the actual gamma radiation as a shock-wave. Just coincidence?"

Our Milky Way

Astronomy Central describes our Milky Way galaxy:

"The Milky Way is a giant, being average to large as galaxies go. It is 100,000 light years across, 1,000 light years thick, and with a circumference of between 250,000 to 300,000 light years. If you could see the Milky Way from deep space it would be as striking as any other, with two major spiral arms that encircle the nucleus in a graceful spiral structure. It is now thought that our Galaxy has a central bar that stretches 27,000 light years from end to end ...The two major spiral arms are connected to the ends of this central bar structure, and it is thought that the bars of such galaxies like our own act as a channel for dust, gas, and other interstellar material to get transported towards the core, eventually ending up in a super-massive black hole in the centre... the two main arms are the Scutum-Centaurus arm and the Perseus arm. The solar system is contained in a minor arm called the Orion-Cygnus arm. The Milky Way is thought to contain between 200 and 400 billion stars..."

A galactic year is explained, in article, as time it takes our solar system to do one orbit of the galactic center. How long is it? A galactic year and our solar system orbit are described below:

"Our Sun lies 24,000 to 26,000 light years out from the core, and orbits around the centre of the Galaxy. The Milky Way is so vast that the time it takes the solar system to do just one orbit of the Milky Way’s centre is 250 million years, this is known as a galactic year. The Sun has been in existence for 20 galactic years, so it has only done 20 orbits in all of its life so far...As the Sun and its planets travel around the galactic centre it does not just stay level as it makes its trek, it actually bobs up and down in the 1,000 light year thickness of the Galaxy’s plane. This up and down motion amounts to an oscillation of 3.7 times per orbit...As with all galaxies we also have a monster at the centre of ours, Sagittarius A is the name for the energetic region at the Galaxy’s core. This region is an intense radio source, it marks the centre of the Galaxy, and the motion of stars and material around it gives it away as an object of very large mass, a super massive black hole. This is a turbulent and dynamic area of bright star clusters, very hot gas, intense x-rays, and huge magnetic fields. The black hole at the centre of all this activity has a mass of 2.6 million to 4 million times the mass of our Sun."

The Encyclopedia of Science supplies more information on our Milky Way.

The Killshot: Approaching The Moment

Will solar flares intrude upon the Earth to breach our atmosphere? "The Killshot: Approaching The Moment" documents discoveries of remote viewers led by retired Maj. Ed Dames.  "During the top-secret Remote Viewing (RV) CIA and U.S. Army research program, trained viewers that were normally tasked with foreseeing the outcome of war related events began picking up on a future occurrence that appeared to mark a dramatic shift in global life. At first, these viewers, along with Major Ed Dames, the program's senior operations and training officer, had feared their subconscious was foreseeing nuclear war. It turns out after years of Remote Viewing sessions, the event is in fact a series of solar flares that are so devastating to the Earth, it may cause the death of billions and change life on Earth as we know it," as described on the Killshot website. Are we approaching the moment for the killshot?

Naomi Wolf Calls It Official: Police State Is Here

At theguardian Naomi Wolf makes official call in article, "The Coming Drone Attack On America."I am sorry to say that with the importation of what will be tens of thousands of drones, by both US military and by commercial interests, into US airspace, with a specific mandate to engage in surveillance and with the capacity for weaponization – which is due to begin in earnest at the start of the new year – it means that the police state is now officially here,"  writes Wolf.   If that's not enough to get your stomach churning, article peeks into near future to see where finger-pointing between government and private interests, might be used to escape culpability: "... the scary thing about this new arrangement is deniability: bad things done to citizens by drones can be denied by private interests – 'Oh, that must have been an LAPD drone' – and LAPD can insist that it must have been a private industry drone." Welcome to the Police State, but it won't be fun and games!

UFO War in Antarctica: Fact or Fiction?

Can you say psyop? The presenter writer wants to believe and remains suspicious of clandestine activities on the frozen continent of Antarctica!  Dr. Michael Salla provides succinct synopsis of a doubter's dilemma in article, "UFO War in Antarctica: fact or fiction?":

"According to John Kettler, a former US military contractor and scientist, there is an expanding UFO war that is now taking place in waters off Antarctica. Kettler cites unnamed 'sensitive sources' to substantiate his claims that a US led coalition of naval forces is militarily engaging with hostile extraterrestrials. This UFO war is an extension of alleged naval battles off the coast of San Francisco earlier reported by Gordon Duff from Veterans Today who refers to his own unnamed 'reliable' sources. There is little more than a collection of unnamed sources supporting such allegations, and there is good reason to conclude that Kettler’s and Duff’s claims are part of a psychological warfare operation that may be related to planning for a false flag alien event."

What suggests to present writer disinformation, reader is also informed of UFOs destination!  True, with satellite networks it's possible to track them,  but the information smacks of a finished product - too complete when Kettler claims:

"...20 UFOs, traveling at 25,000 mph, left the Antarctic Ocean in a group and went to Guadalajara, Mexico. Another group of 15, flying at the same speed, went to Argentina. This morning, 12 more emerged and went to Chile."

Again, present writer wants to believe but with only suppositons, it's most likely Project Blue Beam.  An Antarctic UFO war - even if true - opponents may not be alien as recent post covering Russian documentary suggests, "Secret Nazi Base On Antarctica...." A reader can go away convinced between 'Operation High Jump" and "Britain's Secret War in Antarctica," there is something down there worth fighting over!

Major Banks Target Of More Cyber Attacks

An Atlanta Business Chronicle article alerts public major banks under another siege of cyberattacks!  "A group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters announced plans to attack banks in a Dec. 10 statement posted on the website pastebin.com, said Bloomberg. The group also claimed responsibility for cyber attacks in September and October against financial institutions. The attacks were carried out in response to a video uploaded to YouTube ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad, the group said...The attacks typically send large volumes of Internet traffic to websites, causing delays and disruptions...The comptroller’s office said the attacks can distract bank personnel to gain access to customers’ accounts, block customers from reporting suspected fraud and prevent banks from alerting customers," reports Business Chronicle article.  Who's fooling who?  Are the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam latest permutation of al-CIADA?  Will banks, simply say, we dutifully warned public before coffers were emptied?  You've been warned!

Hangar 18: The UFO Warehouse

Hangar 18 at mysterious Wright Patterson AFB is subject of a UFO Files episode, "Hangar 18: The UFO Warehouse."  A description of episode follows below:  "What happens when a UFO crashes? Some experts claim that the UFO wreckage and even the pilots are transported to a top-secret facility in Dayton, Ohio called "Hangar 18" located on Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Declassified Government documents prove that the "disk" from the famous Roswell event and fragments of other mysterious crashes were shipped to Wright Patterson. Hear stories involving elected officials, UFO researchers, and former base employees, some of whom are going on the record regarding "Hangar 18." They spin a tale of flying saucer debris, alien bodies, cryogenic chambers and a vast underground network that may hold the secrets to the UFO mystery. Is there a conspiracy to hide UFO evidence from the highest branches in the U.S. Government, or is it all just a myth?" You can finally hear what military men were told to shut up about in the past!

Secret Nazi Base On Antarctica: Russian Documentary

"Secret Nazi Base On Antartica" provides fuller perspective of German development in the thirties of base 211, attracting attention of Americans that possibly resulted in massive expedition Operation High Jump.  Russian documentary supplies best explanation of events of February 26, 1947, when the operation led by Admiral Richard Byrd took heavy casualties after saucers burst from seas at high speed to inflict heavy losses.  Occult involvement in saucer development by Thule, Vril and Ahnenerbe secret societies are familiar subjects.  Portals or wormholes are reported present at the North and South Poles, and documentary suggests, HAARP is used to track UFOs entering and leaving Earth space!  Just last five minutes on wormholes make Russian video must viewing!

The Man Who Hunts Spy Satellites

Thierry Legault, astro- photographer, occupies unique place in astronomy because of amazing images captured from the Earth's surface.  In "The Man Who Hunts Spy Satellites," you get an intimate glimpse and some names of websites the premiere astrophotographer visits in less than 12 minutes.  Find out how Legault developed software and tracking of satellites.  It's a must view!

Could X-37B Intercept North Korea Satellite?

John Clover in a Quora blog entry asks question many wonder, "Could X-37B Intercept North Koream Satellite?"  Top Secret X-37B spy plane (picture, left) could easily shift to a polar orbit so answer seems "yes"  but risk-benefit ratio makes maneuver seem unproductive? Clover writes, "there is almost no reason to do this though. First, there would be chaos in space warfare if we did, this is not a secret satellite, so if the US interfered with it, there would be consequences. Second, it probably really is a weather satellite, or worst case, a very rudimentary spy satellite. We would probably not glean much intelligence by collecting the satellite and inspecting it, the cost of such a project would be higher than the return. If we just wanted to remove the satellite from orbit, the US could do that with a ship launched missile, but even this is a risky proposition because of the potential interference caused by space debris." The above appraisal assumes rational leadership, which may be a subject open to question? The coincidence still fires one's imagination and makes prospect of real Star Wars seem closer to reality?

Street Artist Behind Satirical NYPD “Drone” Posters Arrested

from thelastdefense2012.tumblr.com: A street artist who hung satirical posters criticising police surveillance activities has been arrested after an NYPD investigation tracked him to his doorstep. With the help of a small crew, the artist now identified as Essam Attia had placed the fake Big Brother-style adverts in locations throughout Manhattan, using a fake Van Wagner maintenance van and uniforms to avoid detection.

In a video interview with Animal New York prior to his arrest, a voice-scrambled and silhouetted Attia explained that he placed the provocative ads to “create a conversation” about disturbing trends in police surveillance, alluding to recent efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to “facilitate and accelerate the adoption” of unmanned aerial drones by local police departments. The posters also followed recent expansions in NYPD surveillance powers which allow officers to monitor citizens by creating fake identities on social networking sites.

The NYPD’s response seems to have proven Attia’s point: months after forensics teams and a “counter-terrorism” unit was spotted on the scene, the NYPD last Wednesday successfully tracked down and arrested the 29-year-old art school vandal, who identified himself in the video as a former “geo-spatial analyst” serving US military operations in Iraq.

It’s not the first time the NYPD has overreacted to unsanctioned public art. Earlier this year, the department arrested 50-year-old Takeshi Miyakawa after he illuminated the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn with harmless LED lanterns made from plastic “I Heart NY” shopping bags. The crackdown in Attia’s case, however, seems to have more to do with the public embarrassment faced by the department as a result of the mock ads.


Attia now faces 56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and grand larceny possession of stolen property for his spree last September, with an additional charge of weapons possession after officers allegedly found an unloaded .22 caliber revolver under his bed during the raid. As for the drones themselves, the NYPD has still not revealed any plans to use aerial robotic enforcers. But if the expanding list of FAA authorizations and documented use of drones by local police in Texas and Miami, Florida are any indication, it may be only a matter of time.

Government seeks to shut down NSA wiretapping lawsuit

from arstechnica.com: Warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency began as a Bush-era program in October 2001; in 2008, the government essentially allowed the practice in the FISA Amendments Act. The same year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed lawsuits challenging the surveillance.

At a hearing today in San Francisco federal court, the debate over whether NSA can continue its practices heated up again. Under questioning from US District Judge Jeffrey White, EFF and government lawyers sparred about how the case should move forward, or if it can at all. The Department of Justice argues the case can't move forward—at all—without violating the "state secrets privilege."

"There is nothing non-privileged about any of this case," said DOJ lawyer Tony Coppolino. The Jewel v. NSA lawsuit filed by EFF is an example of a case where "secret and non-secret information cannot be separated," he added. "The information is inextricably intertwined, and the risk of exposure occurs at every outset. All of the NSA's methods for collecting foreign intelligence info to protect this country are privileged." 

It's been a long, winding road to get here. The initial lawsuit filed in 2008 was already thrown when the first judge who heard the case ruled that it was merely a "general grievance" that couldn't sustain a lawsuit, but an appeals court disagreed and revived the case. Now it's back in district court, although with a different judge. (US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who first heard the case, has retired.)

The government wants the case dismissed for additional reasons, too; one of them is that they say the plaintiffs simply don't have standing. That is, they can't prove that they were actually wiretapped by the NSA. Mark Klein, the whistleblower who revealed that AT&T was working with the NSA, didn't really know what he saw, said Coppolino; nor did J. Scott Marcus, the expert who backed up Klein's claims. "No disrespect to Mr. Marcus and Mr. Klein, but they indicated they heard something. Maybe someone from the NSA was at the facility. But they don't actually know."

 "Well that's kind of a Catch-22, isn't it?" responded EFF lawyer Richard Wiebe. According to the government, "if the plaintiffs weren't subject to surveillance, then they have no standing, and no right to sue," said Wiebe. "The information [about whether they were surveilled or not] goes to the heart of the case."

At one point, Judge White asked how he should proceed if he disagrees with the government and decides not to dismiss the case at this point. The mere suggestion seemed to alarm Coppolino.

"That would be completely unprecedented in the history of the judiciary from the beginning of the Republic," he said. Discovery into whether or not a person has been subject to surveillance would "inherently risk the disclosure of information we're trying to protect. If you're going to go down this road, let us appeal [immediately]."

EFF's lawyer Richard Wiebe responded that it was the government's behavior that was truly novel.
"The mass dragnet surveillance the government is conducting is completely unprecedented in the history of the republic," said Wiebe. "At the AT&T facility, right here in San Francisco—at Second and Folsom—all of the traffic between AT&T and other providers is split. An exact copy of all of that traffic is sent to a room under the control of the NSA."

The court could, and should, set up a procedure to review evidence in camera, out of public view, said Wiebe.

Judge White kicked off the hearing by saying he had not decided how to proceed. He went through several questions over the course of a hearing that lasted about three hours. In addition to the core issues, he asked whether or not the lawsuit should be allowed to proceed against individual government officers.

EFF also tried to sue AT&T for violating its customers' privacy rights, but that legal stratagem died when Congress provided immunity to telcos in the 2008 law.

The Bush administration admitted that the government listened in on some phone calls between Americans and overseas parties, but both the Bush and Obama administrations have refused to disclose whether there is warrantless, widespread, "dragnet"-style data collection taking place within the US.

The Obama administration has generally followed the same line as the Bush administration, arguing that national security would be in danger if the allegations were to be addressed in court. The EFF's case against the government, Jewel v. NSA, was heard together with Shubert v. Bush, a class action suit over the same issue.

Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered

from Slate.com: When a former senior White House official describes a nationwide surveillance effort as “breathtaking,” you know civil liberties activists are preparing for a fight.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the little-known National Counterterrorism Center, based in an unmarked building in McLean, Va., has been granted sweeping new authority to store and monitor massive data-sets about innocent Americans. 

After internal wrangling over privacy and civil liberties issues, the Justice Department reportedly signed off on controversial new guidelines earlier this year. The guidelines allow the NCTC, for the first time, to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, using “predictive pattern-matching,” to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. The data the counter-terrorism center has access to, according to the Journal, includes “entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others.”

Notably, the Journal reports that these changes also allow databases about U.S. civilians to be handed over to foreign governments for analysis, presumably so that they too can attempt to determine future criminal actions. The Department of Homeland Security’s former chief privacy officer said that it represents a “sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public.”

Related:
Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones To Record Passenger Conversations


The snooping effort, which officials say is subject to “rigorous oversight,” is reminiscent of the so-called Total Information Awareness initiative, dreamt up in the aftermath of 9/11 by the Pentagon’s research unit DARPA. The aim of the TIA initiative was essentially to create a kind of ubiquitous pre-crime surveillance regime monitoring public and private databases. It was largely defunded in 2003, after civil liberties concerns. However, other similar efforts have continued, such as through the work of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence-gathering “Fusion Centers.” Most recently, Fusion Centers were subjected to scathing criticism from congressional investigators, who found that they were accumulating masses of data about “suspicious” activity that was not of any use. The intelligence being swept up, the investigators found, was “oftentimes shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens’ civil liberties and Privacy Act protections.”

Such sweeping surveillance efforts pose difficulties for the authorities because they can end up drowning in data, attempting to find a needle in a haystack, in the process deeming innocent people suspicious. As the Journal’s Julia Angwin notes, the risk is that “innocent behavior gets misunderstood—say, a man buying chemicals (for a child's science fair) and a timer (for the sprinkler) sets off false alarms.” The U.S. government clearly feels far-reaching surveillance initiatives are necessary to help detect potential future terror attacks. But ultimately, in a democracy, the decision should surely rest in the hands of the American public. It is a question of balance: How much liberty should be sacrificed in the name of security? The revelations about the NCTC’s activities may be about to rekindle that debate.

Internet remains unregulated after UN treaty blocked

from guardian.co.uk: A proposed global telecoms treaty that would give national governments control of the internet has been blocked by the US and key western and African nations. They said they are "not able to sign the agreement in its current form" at the end of a International Telecoms Union (ITU) conference in Dubai.

The proposals, coming after two weeks of complex negotiation, would have given individual governments greater powers to control international phone calls and data traffic, but were opposed as the conference had seemed to be drawing to a close late on Thursday.

The move seems to safeguard the role of the internet as an unregulated, international service that runs on top of telecoms systems free of direct interference by national governments.

The US was first to declare its opposition to the draft treaty. "It is with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that I have to announce that the United States must communicate that it is unable to sign the agreement in its current form," Terry Kramer, head of the US delegation, told the conference, after what had looked like a final draft was approved.

"The internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without UN regulation. We candidly cannot support an ITU Treaty that is inconsistent with the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance."


The US was joined in its opposition by the UK, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Qatar and Sweden. All said they would not sign the proposed final text, meaning that although a number of other countries will sign it, the treaty cannot be effectively implemented.

"In the end, the ITU and the conference chair, having backed themselves to the edge of a cliff, dared governments to push them off," commented Kieren McCarthy, who runs the internet consultancy dot-nxt. "They duly did."

But Access Now, a lobbying group against ITU oversight of the internet, said that "despite all of the assurances of the ITU secretariat that the WCIT wouldn't discuss internet governance, the final treaty text contains a resolution that explicitly 'instructs the [ITU] secretary-general to take the necessary steps for the ITU to play and active and constructive role in... the internet.'" It urged governments not to sign it.

The ITU is a UN organisation responsible for coordinating telecoms use around the world. The conference was meant to update international treaties which have not evolved since 1988, before the introduction of the internet.

But the conference has been the source of huge controversy because the ITU has been accused of seeking to take control of the internet, and negotiating behind closed doors. Google has mounted a vociferous campaign against conference proposals that would have meant that content providers could be charged for sending data and which would have given national governments more control of how the internet works. Instead, lobbyists have said the treaties should simply not mention the internet at all because it is a service that runs atop telecoms systems.

But a bloc led by Russia, with China and the United Arab Emirates – where the conference is being held – said the internet should be part of the treaties because it travels over telecoms networks. A Russia-driven vote late on Wednesday seemed to push to include the internet in a resolution – a move the US disagreed with.

The failure to reach accord could mean that there will be regional differences in internet efficacy. "Maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented internet," Andrey Mukhanov, of Russia's Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, told the Reuters news agency. "That would be negative for all, and I hope our American and European colleagues come to a constructive position."
The US and Europe have indicated that they instead want private companies to drive internet standards.

McCarthy, who has published ITU planning documents that would otherwise have been kept out of sight on dot-nxt's website, criticised the conduct of the meeting: "attendees were stunned to find a conference style and approach stuck in the 1970s," he said.

Writing on the dot-nxt site, he said: "A constant stream of information was available only in downloadable Word documents; disagreement was dealt with by increasingly small, closed groups of key government officials; voting was carried out by delegates physically raising large yellow paddles, and counted by staff who walked around the room; meetings ran until the early hours of the morning, and "consensus by exhaustion" was the only fall-back position."

Attempts by the ITU to encourage the US to sign the proposed treaty by removing clauses – such as one that would give individual countries rights over website addresses – failed.

Incoming: Feb 15, 2013 Flyby Of Asteroid 2012 DA14

Author Ted Twietmeyer alerts readers in article, "February 2013 Asteroid To Pass THROUGH Satellite Belt," the 187 ft rock will pass through the satellite belt not once but twice at 10.6 miles per second on February 15, 2013.  "Telephone and television satellites are parked in geostationary orbits in the Clarke Belt at 22,500 miles with less than two degree spacing. The belt is named after Arthur C. Clarke. He came up with the idea of parking satellites at that distance from Earth while establishing the correct velocity. This invisible sweet spot around Earth is called a geostationary orbit, and allows satellites to operate there almost indefinitely, requiring very little energy to keep it from drifting," explains Twietmeyer.   Asteroid 2012 DA14 estimated closest approach to Earth at 21,497 miles, means it will pass through satellite belt twice on its incoming swing and as it leaves vicinity on its return into outer space!  Spanish skygazers discovered 2012 DA14 earlier this year and initially thought its chances good of striking Earth?

Twietmeyer took occasion of two flybys of 4179 Toutatis on 12-12-12 and 2012 XE54 the day before to remind readers of our next known upcoming date for a  close encounter:   

"All three of these asteroids are registered as 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroids' (PHA.) Fortunately Toutatis is the biggest one of these three asteroids which can wipe out life on Earth, and it remains far away. Asteroids earn PHA classification by a combination of Earth-crossing orbit, a certain size and velocity. All these characteristics combine together can enable a PHA to destroy a continent or even the entire Earth. Fortunately, 2012 DA14 and 2012 XE54 are not large enough to cause global or continental damage."

It must be considered a plus that Asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't rate as a terminator roid, but what about its return in 2056?   Are reports of Near Earth Objects intended to play on our fears? Dr Carol Rosin reminds us of agenda to weaponize space because of asteroid threat?

Project Blitzkrieg: Cyberattacks On Banks

Brian Krebs provides details on threat posed by Project Blitzkrieg.   "The campaign, purportedly to be rolled out between now and the Spring of 2013, proposes organizing hacker cells throughout the cyber- criminal community to collaborate in exploiting these authentication weaknesses before U.S. banks erect more stringent controls," writes Krebs. Video (click on cc for closed captions) illustrates how "...the operation will flood cyberheist victim phone lines while the victims are being robbed, in a bid to prevent account holders from receiving confirmation calls or text messages from their banks." Krebs identifies one of the perps as 27 year old Moscow resident, Oleg Vsevolodovich Tolstykh. A prudent measure covered further in related article, "Banking On A Live CD," simply advises, to avoid accessing bank account with Windows.  An obvious question here, would be, why the long roll out as time seems previous factor to beat banks before they can institute security fix?

North Korea Claims Success in Rocket Launch

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports North Korea successful rocket launch, Wednesday, the country also "...issued a brief statement saying the rocket successfully launched a satellite into space. Other countries saw the launch as a cover for a test of long-range missile technology."  Perseverance pays off as WSJ summarizes previous efforts: "North Korea has attempted four such launches previously. Each failed to reach space but it claimed success in three of the attempts. In its last attempt, in April, North Korea's rocket crashed 80 seconds after takeoff into the Yellow Sea west of South Korea." The present launch occurred reportedly, "...shortly before 10 a.m. local time, flew south over the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the Philippines, according to Japanese military authorities who tracked it closely..." Success may bring more urgency to direct military focus on North Korea, one of two surviving points in  George W. Bush's  "Axis of Evil."  Does North Korea demonstrating adequate delivery system for its nuclear weapons and likelihood of increased trade in its missile tech only serve to bring country closer to war?  What more of an excuse would US military require as grounds for another war? 

Military Flying Drones Throughout US

Steve Watson reveals in article, "New Documents Show Military Is Flying Drones Throughout US."  "Thousands of pages of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents released under the Freedom Of Information Act highlight that the military is extensively flying surveillance drones in non-restricted skies throughout the country...three branches of the military are operating drones within civillian airspace. Those branches are the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency),"  gleaned from documents released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation informs article.  Drones flying America's skies aren't simply small ones used for surveillance, but as Watson reports: 

"...most disturbingly, DARPA, according to the documents, is flying full sized Reaper drones in areas of Nevada, California and Utah that are able to use technology that can capture motion imagery of entire cities. The technology, known as “Gorgon Stare” uses an array of nine to twelve cameras attached to the drone to take concurrent footage from multiple different angles."

Gorgon Stare can record from 12 cameras, simultaneously.  The Air Force will not stop there, however, "but as crazy as that is, Darpa is working on a project that could put Gorgon Stare to shame. The 'Argus' program, recently highlighted by David Hambling, uses 92 cameras at once...," as reported in a Danger Room article.

Watson goes on to add in his article:

"Feeds from those drones can be fed into artificial-intelligence software developed by DARPA known as the 'Mind’s Eye project', which can analyze all the data at once, meaning that essentially a machine can keep watch over everything happening in an entire city."

Can you say national surveillance state? Gorgon, by the way, is word derived from Greek "gorgos," which means dreadful - how appropriate!

'Tonight's Sky': December 2012

"Tonight's Sky:  December 2012" provides excellent five minute presentation for amateur stargazers!  You Tube caption describes show: "Backyard stargazers get a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere's skywatching events with 'Tonight's Sky.' In December, look for open star cluster M34 and keep your eyes open for the Geminid meteor shower. 'Tonight's Sky' is produced by HubbleSite.org, online home of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes — and other astronomy videos — at HubbleSite.org."   You can explore galazy, by simply, stepping outside after dark to gaze skyward from your own backyard!

Megaupload boss wins right to sue New Zealand

from AP-Perspective.blogspot.com: Kim Dotcom wins right to sue New Zealand's spy agency for unlawful spying.

Kim Dotcom, internet tycoon and Megaupload founder, has won the right to sue New Zealand's foreign intelligence agency for unlawful spying by a US led probe on online piracy which led to his arrest earlier this year.

Helen Winkelmann, High Court chief judge, on Thursday ordered New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) to disclose all details of any information-sharing arrangements it had with foreign agencies, including the US authorities.

"I have no doubt that the most convenient and expeditious way of enabling the court to determine all matters in dispute is to join the GCSB in the proceedings," she stated in a written judgement.

Dotcom, who changed his name from Kim Schultz, is fighting a US attempt to extradite him from New Zealand in what has been described as the world's largest copyright case.

His US-based lawyer, Ira Rothken hailed the court decision as a major victory.

Armed police raided Dotcom's mansion in January at the behest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,leading to a court ruling that the search warrants used were illegal, opening the way for him to seek damages from New Zealand Authorities.

Dotcom was released on bail and New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key issued an apology after it was revealed in September that the GCSB had spied on Dotcom before police raided his Auckland mansion.

Dotcom is a German national with residency in New Zealand, making it illegal for the GCSB to spy on him.


William Akel, one of Dotcom's lawyers, said that the court decision was expected. "We can now determine the extent of GCSB's involvement, and we'll be able to claim for damages," he told Reuters.

US authorities allege Megaupload and its file-sharing sites netted more that $175 million and cost copyright owners more than $500 million by offering pirated content.

Dotcom maintains that Megaupload, one of the world's most popular websites before it was shut down in January, simply provided online storage services, and should not be held responsible for stored content.

Dotcom and three other defendants face an extradition hearing in March.

Google Drones Launch In Africa

from fastcompany.com: The World Wildlife Fund and Google are teaming up to deploy a fleet of anti-poacher UAVs in Africa. The goal? Survey and stop rhino poachers.

Google-funded drones will fight rhino poachers in Africa. On Tuesday, Google announced the disbursement of a 5 million dollar grant to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to purchase a fleet of drone aircraft in Africa. The WWF already uses trackers in Nepal to protect endangered species.

The $5 million grant is part of Google's Global Impact Award program and will help the WWF acquire an undisclosed number of lightweight “conservation drones,” which are launched by hand and can fly approximately 18 miles. According to Mother Jones' Dana Liebelson, the WWF will use the drones to track African ivory poachers.

Related:
Clinton wants drones to help find Kony

McAfee's Rise And Downfall Via Technology

John McAfee, a pioneer developer of anti-virus software that grew into McAfee Associates, was arrested Wednesday in Guatemala after nearly a month as a fugitive from murder in Belize. McAfee's neighbor, Gregory Faull "... reportedly complained about McAfee’s rowdy lifestyle and his pack of dogs that occasionally bit passersby. On Nov. 9, four of the dogs died of poisoning. Two days later, Faull was shot in the head in his home," reports Yahoo News.  McAfee was located when "...journalists released an iPhone photo [here] with metadata that included the exact coordinates of McAfee’s location. They were in Rio Dulce, a small town near Guatemala’s Caribbean coast not far from the Belize border." McAfee amassed fortune of $100 million, which evaporated to single digits with dwindling economy.  Tech giveth and tech taketh away! 

To The Moon? Firm Hopes To Sell $1.5 Billion Trips

from foxnews.com: A team of former NASA executives is launching a private venture to send people to the moon for a price that is definitely out of this world. For $1.5 billion, the newly formed business is offering countries a two-person trip to the moon, either for research or national prestige. The venture was announced Wednesday. NASA's last trip to the moon was 40 years ago. The United States was the only country that landed people there, beating the Soviet Union in a space race to the moon that transfixed the world. But once the race ended, there has been only sporadic interest in the moon. President Barack Obama cancelled NASA's planned return to the moon, saying America had already been there. But the firm has talked to other countries, which are showing interest in going, said former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern, who is president of the new Golden Spike Company. Stern said he's looking at countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Japan. "It's not about being first. It's about joining the club," Stern said. "We're kind of cleaning up what NASA did in the 1960s. We're going to make a commodity of it in the 2020s."

The Black Marble: Earth At Night

Universe Today supplies the eye candy in article, "The Black Marble: Stunning New Orbital Views of Earth at Night."  "Two months of night-time imagery gathered by the Suomi NPP satellite have resulted in a stunning new look at Earth at night, appropriately nicknamed the Black Marble.  The nighttime views were made possible by the new satellite’s 'day-night band' of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite."  It's two minutes of visual immersion:  "NASA | Earth at Night."

Iran Reports Capture Of Another US Drone

Reuters news service reports, "Iran said on Tuesday it had captured a U.S. intelligence ScanEagle drone in its airspace over the Gulf in the last few days, but the United States said there was no evidence to support the assertion...The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said on its website that the drone had been flying over the Gulf in the last few days and was 'captured' when it strayed into Iranian airspace....The IRGC statement did not specify when or where the drone was found, nor whether it was shot down or crashed." ScanEagle, a relatively cheap surveillance drone, has been in operation since 2004. Iran asserts it's a second capture after downing of a CIA RQ-170 drone, last December, covered in a prior post here.

Operation Sandy

Was Hurricane Sandy a geo-engineered event?   Les Crane writes in, "Operation Sandy," three reasons Hurricane Sandy was unnatural: 1) Hurricane Sandy occurred in late October well past August end of hurricane season, 2) no hurricane has hit New York in 500 years, and 3) Hurricane Sandy came ashore during a full moon to maximize tidal flooding.  Crane makes an interesting observation about how chemtrails interrupt a normal weather cycle:  "...the U. S. Chemtrail Air Force hates normal weather. Its purpose is to destroy it.  They fly hundreds of old retired commercial aircraft which they have converted into spray-tankers. These tankers carry huge loads of powdered aluminum and boron dust which is sprayed from the highest altitudes they can achieve. The dust is light and it hangs in the air for the rest of the day. What it is does is to reverse the normal workings of the weather machine in order to create drought.  This aluminum and boron dust is abnormally heated by the Sun. Now, when the moisture laden surface  air rises, it is not capped by a normal cold layer of air but, rather, it rises up and up into the artificially heated stratospheric air. Thus, it cannot form clouds or rain but must rise, further into the now artificially heated stratosphere. The result is, no rain. The Chemtrail program puts weather-engine into reverse."  Crane provides additional arguments in article well worth you time.  Doubts will linger after reading whether weather wizards are responsible for Operation, err, Hurricane Sandy?

Nuclear Christmas, False Flag In America To Blame On Iran

Gordon Duff, Veterans Today Senior Editor, discusses possibility of nuclear false flag this holiday in PressTV article, "Nuclear Christmas, false flag in America to blame on Iran." Duff sees more than one city involved, if nuclear terrorism takes place!  Nukes gone missing include those lost in the early nineties in Somalia and 2007 Barksdale missing nuke episode here in the US:

"In 2007, a religious cult within the US Air Force stole between 6 and 9 H Bombs and loaded them on a B-52 bound for “places unknown.” Not all of those weapons were recovered when the plane was forced down at Barksdale Air Force Base. The public was told a wild story of dozens of mistakes in mishandling nuclear weapons."

Senior Editor Duff does excellent job building case with background info many Americans still do not recognize:  "There is substantial reason to believe that, in order to shift blame from powerful extremist groups in the US, with ties to drug cartels and multi-national organized crime, the 'Global War on Terror' was begun and the non-existent organization, 'Al Qaeda' was invented." Yes, the "War on Terror" is a complete fiction - intended to shift blame - for illegal activities of multinationals, other organized crime and their government lackeys to a stereotyped bogeyman:  Al-CIAda!

A nuclear false flag rumor resurfaces, over years, based on model - terrorism at home - begins with drills!  Portland went through extensive 2007 Top Off 4 that alarmed even casual observers, and also, Phoenix with similar 2011 Vigilant Guardian drill.  Drills in Portland and Phoenix, are recounted, in prior post here and a 2011 Intel Hub article.

Readers should be reminded of predictive programming in mainstream media last year with report of 25 letters received in Chicago area, claiming nuclear devices hidden by Al Qaeda in US cities!  Predictive programming became obvious, last year, when Zen Gardner pointed to obvious and clumsy planting of idea in public's mind.  Gardner referred to a report of a lost bomb during Vigilant Guardian in a Sept 5, 2011 Intel Hub article, when he posted, "Are you frikking kidding me? They’re practicing with live bombs? And they LOSE them? And they TELL everybody?" Phoenix would be the Freemason favorite as city is located on 33rd parallel, its very name implies the credo "Ordo Ab Chao," i.e., Order Out of Chaos.  The symbolic shouldn't be underestimated, the perps are insane!

Duff may be fear-mongering to hype his website, but implies there's recent activity from his anonymous sources: 

"Sources within the intelligence community have confirmed that key former military personnel, some employed by the government to provide security for nuclear facilities, others with training in the assembly and detonation of  'special weapons,' are being sought and actively recruited by “militant extremists” who represent, for the most part, powerful international corporations."

The body of evidence pointing to a nuclear false flag, on Christmas, in Phoenix, AZ proved sufficiently compelling that author S K Bain included an addendum to his book, "The Most Dangerous Book In The World," below:

"In a weighty addendum entitled, The Next 9/11?, Bain moves into the world of speculative fiction. Once again making use of occult symbolism and numerology, he warns of a possible new and even more horrifying act of mass terror, coming this Christmas to Phoenix, AZ, and the rest of the world."

The present writer, hopes certainly, present article will help deter perps from implementing their dark intentions!

Did Drone Strike Hit Indianapolis Homes?

Internet rumors drawing attention to whether gas explosions cause of  damage to US buildings?  Rumors surfaced about Indianapolis homes destroyed with two deaths in a gas explosion, last month.   Sorcha Faal,an unreliable source at whatdoesitmean.com, followed up with article shortly after incident,  "Massive Explosion Reported After CIA Drone Targets Indianapolis," where Russian agency "...Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) states that Kosmos 2479 detected the firing of two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a MQ-1 Predator drone ...being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over the United States city of Indianapolis that resulted in a massive explosion....Kosmos 2479 is an early warning satellite launched in 2012...and monitors the US from geostationary orbit for all possible threats, including the tracking of American airspace for US Air Force and CIA fighter jets, bombers and drones...Most ominous in this VKO report is its stating that the “intended targets” of these Hellfire missiles were the US Army Resource Services (PPBES) and the US Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), both located in Indianapolis...."  Report could simple be disinfo by an enemy source?

A Steve Quayle alert added that an eyewitness saw something fall from sky, and others, who heard a sonic boom, which can occur when a bomb falls?   Jim Stone, freelance reporter makes observation on Indy explosion, "...they blew up the house in Indianapolis without checking the residence first to even see if it had gas service, which it did not, so they could not peddle the lie with that one." These are rumors, however explosive energy involved, does cloud incident whether it was a natural gas explosion? Did a drone strike go awry?

US Power Grid Vulnerable to Just About Everything

from oilprice.com: As Washington hunts ill-defined al-Qaeda groups in the Middle East and Africa, and concerns itself with Iran’s eventual nuclear potential, it has a much more pressing problem at home: Its energy grid is vulnerable to anyone with basic weapons and know-how. Forget about cyber warfare and highly organized terrorist attacks, a lack of basic physical security on the US power grid means that anyone with a gun—like disgruntled Michigan Militia types, for instance--could do serious damage.

For the past two months, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been tasked with creating a security strategy for the electric grid and hydrocarbon facilities through its newly created Office of Energy Infrastructure Security. So far, it’s not good news.

“There are ways that a very few number of actors with very rudimentary equipment could take down large portions of our grid,” warns FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff. This, he says, “is an equal if not greater issue” than cyber security. FERC’s gloom-and-doom risk assessment comes on the heels of the recent declassification of a 2007 report by the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences on 14 November warned that a terrorist attack on the US power grid could wreak more damage than Hurricane Sandy. It could cause massive blackouts for weeks or months at a time. But this would only be the beginning, the Academy warns, spelling out an “end of days” scenario in which blackouts lead to widespread fear, panic and instability.

Saturn's Hexagon Revisited

A fascinating feature of Saturn's pole is its hexagon! The Daily Galaxy reports on details of natural phenomenon  in article, "Saturn's Hexagon - One of the Most Bizarre Things Seen in the Solar System."  "One of the most bizarre things seen in the solar system is captured in the image...taken on 27 November by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini's camera zoomed into Saturn's polar hexagon storm's eye from a distance of about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers). The spacecraft observed in infrared wavelengths, which can peer through the top layer of clouds to reveal the complex texture beneath. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been traveling the Saturnian system in a set of inclined, or tilted, orbits that give mission scientists a vertigo-inducing view of Saturn's polar regions, yielding spectacular images of roiling storm clouds and the swirling vortex at the center of Saturn's famed north polar hexagon."  Holy Hexes first visited Saturn's Hexagon in 2010, a link to post here.

US Military's Next X-37B Space Plane Launch Faces New Delay

from space.com: The next launch of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane, a robotic spacecraft used to fly classified payloads into Earth orbit, has been delayed until next month pending final approvals, SPACE.com has learned. The secretive X-37B space plane, an Orbital Test Vehicle that resembles a miniature space shuttle, is now expected to be boosted in early December by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It marks the latest in a series of delays for the unmanned space plane. The mission, called OTV-3, had been pushed back from Oct. 25 to Nov. 13, and then to Nov. 27. "We are working toward a planning date for OTV of Dec. 11," United Launch Alliance spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in a message to SPACE.com yesterday (Nov. 20).

Drone Tech: Nano Drones And Switchblade

The Young Turks (TYT) webcast reports latest in drone tech.  TYT Host Cenk Uygur reveals 50 countries have drones and adds, "they are cheap!"   There's also new variant of formation-flying swarms of Nano drones. Pentagon funds 5.5 lb drone, Switchblade,  soldiers can carry in a backpack and deploy with guided missile precision!  Has CIA drone warfare opened a Pandora's box?  

A Dose Of Daily Science Fiction

 A dose of Daily Science Fiction (DSF) to make your day better!  DSF website greets visitors: "'Science Fiction' means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer."  "Sapience And Maternal Instincts" recommended as excellent short story - a thumbs up!

Ban ‘Killer Robots’ Before It’s Too Late

We must ban killer drones and other robotic systems before it's too late!  Human Rights Watch (HRW) recommended recently that governments, "...should pre-emptively ban fully autonomous weapons [picture, UK Taranis drone] because of the danger they pose to civilians in armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said..." A 50 page HRW report, “'Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots,' outlines concerns about these fully autonomous weapons, which would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians. In addition, the obstacles to holding anyone accountable for harm caused by the weapons would weaken the law’s power to deter future violations...It is jointly published by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic," informs Human Rights Watch website. It's, perhaps, most important question confronting human civilization. Mankind has reached the 1984 Terminator movie world of Cyberdyne and Skynet. You may drop below fold for three minute You Tube video, "Pull the Plug on Killer Robots."

Sci-Fi Short Weekend: 'The Chameleon'

"The Chameleon" provides fast paced hard hitting suspense in five minutes! "A hostile race of aliens has invaded Earth and the government fears that the aliens are modifying their DNA to pose as humans. When a military officer abducted months ago mysteriously reappears, his wife is called in to ask him questions only she would know to find out who or what he really is. Starring James C. Burns (Call of Duty: Black Ops). Based on a story by science fiction author Colin Harvey,"  supplies You Tube plot summary.  It's another excellent sci-fi short with a twist at the end!

Sci-Fi Short Weekend: 'The Gift'

An adrenaline rush Sci-Fi short film provides thrill of high speed chase! The plot of "The Gift" revolves around an enigmatic "unicorn device" that courier makes off with after slashing Russian aristocrat recipient's throat. The household robot gives chase to take possession of unicorn box, when hapless courier gets hit by a bus. Chase scene takes place when robot mounts motorcycle to flee Moscow city police on snowy deserted streets. You may discover fate of robot and the unicorn in less than five minutes!  Directed by Carl Rinsch, short sci-fi film delivers excellent cgi in condensed experience for quick adrenal fix!

Sci-Fi Short Weekend: 'Archetype'

"Archetype" appears to be successful short version of longer film as rights to short picked up by John Davis.  "RL7 is an eight-foot tall combat robot that goes on the run after malfunctioning with vivid memories of once being human. As its creators and the military close in, RL7 battles its way to uncovering the shocking truth behind its mysterious visions and past. Directed by Aaron Sims starring Robert Joy (Land of the Dead, CSI:NY) and David Anders (Heros, 24).," informs plot summary on You Tube.  It's well done and can't wait to see full feature!