Talking humanoid robot launches on Japan rocket

from bigstory.ap.org: The first talking humanoid robot "astronaut" has taken off in a rocket.

Kirobo — derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot" — was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday for the International Space Station from Tanegashima, southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said.

The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata, and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November.

Robot designer Tomotaka Takahashi, of the University of Tokyo, advertiser Dentsu and automaker Toyota Motor Corp. worked on the robot.

The challenge was making sure it could move and talk where there was no gravity.
Ahead of the launch, the 34-centimeter (13-inch) tall Kirobo told reporters, "one small step for me, a giant leap for robots."

Japan boasts the most sophisticated robotics in the world, but because of its "manga" culture, it tends to favor cute robots with human-like characteristics with emotional appeal, a use of technology that has at times drawn criticism for being not productive.

But Takahashi, the designer, said sending a robot into space could help write a new chapter in the history of communication.

"I wish for this robot to function as a mediator between person and machine, or person and Internet and sometimes even between people," he said.

JAXA, Japan's equivalent of NASA, said the rocket launch was successful, and the separation of a cargo vehicle, carrying the robot to the space station, was confirmed about 15 minutes after liftoff.

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."

New Facial Recognition Technology From Japan

from brasschecktv.com: A new camera technology from Japan can scan days of camera footage instantly, and find any face which has EVER walked past it. It can scan 36 million faces per second and stores a biometric image of every face it scans. The technology raises the specter of governments - or other organizations - being able to 'find' anyone instantly simply using a passport photo or a Facebook profile. Governments, or anyone else for that matter, will be able to buy this technology as soon as next year.

activist moms push for change in land of rising radioactivity

Knowing the Japanese government has been unreliable and less than forthright, activist moms take to networking to push for change, according to AP article. Mizuho Nakayama, among a small group of activists, "...a 41-year-old mother joined a parents group — one of dozens that have sprung up since the crisis — that petitioned local officials in June to test lunches at schools and day care centers for radiation and avoid using products from around the troubled nuclear plant." Nakayama has a Geiger counter with her at all times!

Nakayama and other activists have a surprising obstacle, the country's affluence! The article spells out dilemma:

"Still, the growing dissatisfaction may not be enough to bring about fundamental change. Japan's affluence is an obstacle. Most people live comfortably and are reluctant to make too big a fuss, even if they're unhappy with the political leadership. Culturally, it's considered better to adjust to one's surroundings than to try to change them, said Ken Matsuda, a sociologist at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka."

Is it a case of "going along to get along"? Or, are people so complacent creature comfort in the moment takes precedence over truly safe environment? It seems a diabolical wedge?

Japan failed to handle Fukushima with decisiveness the Soviet Union handled Chernobyl! It's conceded, Fukushima presents a more difficult problem, but efforts to date seem highly questionable? Fukushima will be far more deadly than Hiroshima and Nagaski. Fukushima continues to fission and spew radioactivity into immediate environment and across the globe. Radioactivity is bio-accumulative, it means shortened lives. Hats off go to Mizuho Nakayama, and the hope, she is successful!

russians want moon cave for lunar base

A cave makes for a ready-made dwelling - no digging! Russians are considering a moon cave to house a lunar base. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) released photo (pictured) taken by their lunar orbiter, as reported at The Daily Galaxy: "In 2009...lunar orbiter, Kaguya, spotted a big hole in the moon - sixty five meters across and at least eighty meters deep shown above, and potentially part of a much larger 'lava tube'." The prospect of a porous moon makes it a more interesting destination as caves provide shelter from radiation and meteors.

10/13 defcon: outage, buyout, lineup

video: fbi makes arrest after johansson emails hacked*

mitsubishi heavy, japanese defense contractor, targeted by over 50 computer viruses*
fake netflix app poses data-stealing risk*
blackberrys buzz back to life after long outage*
dennis ritchie, father of 'c' programming language, dies at 70*
microsoft skype buyout is officially official*
faithful line up as apple's new iphone 4s hits stores friday*

china on the cyberattack!

Is it the law of the jungle or just payback? China internet buzz set off rumors of cyberattacks on Japan commemorating, on Sept 18th, 80th anniversary of the Manchurian Incident.

The Telegraph article reports: "the attacks took place on Saturday and Sunday... and affected the sites of the National Personnel Authority, the Cabinet Office and a government video distribution service...Hackers also targeted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which has admitted that computers and servers at eight of its plants across the country had been compromised." Is China turning predator, jumping on a weakened foe and who is next?

japan disaster: radiation update

American somnambulists live as if radiation is a far away problem. An Inspector unit records 178 times background radiation on August 20th, 2011 in St. Louis, MO. The reading dispels wishful thinking; perhaps there's no problem. We're living in a radioactive age. Americans conduct themselves as if our leadership will look after them? In reality, our government is attempting a huge dodge, unwilling to face the catastrophe! A recent article by P F Louis, "Nuclear expert says Fukushima radiation coming to USA, massive cover-up under way," believes our government will pretend absolutely nothing is wrong! A clue to the dimensions of our dilemma comes when this article points out: "Geiger counters formally measured with Rems (Roentgen equivalent man) or millirems. The figures on Geiger counters now represent mSv units per hour. There is always a low level of measurable background radiation in our environment from celestial bodies and earthly elements...Whenever Geiger counters measure more, there is concern. Putting concerns into perspective, smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes (tobacco leaves absorb radioactive isotopes) daily causes an annual exposure level of 13 mSv per year."

The article confirms, also, present writer's concern, "many experts have questioned why the sarcophagus solution was not employed or even considered." The simple hideous explanation is they do not want to contain spread of radiation. It's more toxicity in our environment to act as a soft killer over time. It's also plausible deniability. Governments employ the label of "natural disaster" as a cover, but lack of any effective response reveals their true intent! The missing response blows their cover!

An echo reverberates, from ten years ago, when EPA poser Christine Todd Whitman advised New Yorkers that the air was safe to breath just days after 9/11! Don't believe them and start looking after yourselves! Leadership won't be there when you need it!

radioactive weekend roundup: pacific nw infant deaths increase

Are increased infant deaths recorded in Pacific NW, since March, due to Fukushima fallout? Where is the US government to provide any guidance? Are you psychologically prepared for the answer? A recent Counterpunch article by Dr Janette Sherman and Joseph Mangano begins starkly, "US babies are dying at an increased rate." The article reports statistics, as provided by the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, eight cities in the Pacific Northwest totaled a greater number of infant deaths for babies less than a year old. Infant deaths averaged 9.25 per week for four week period ending March 19, 2011. Infant deaths averaged 12.5 for ten week period ending May 28, 2011. The eight cities contributing to statistically significant total: Seattle, Spokane, Boise, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Berkeley and Santa Cruz. The Japanese government has yet to move to entomb the reactors or dig ditches to prevent contamination of surrounding groundwater! This uncharacteristic lack of initiative seems a huge indicator of a sinister agenda at work behind the scenes and will be of interest to note any change in course after the Bilderbergers meet?

chernobyl nuclear disaster: 25th anniversary

On 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, an amusement park stands nearby in abandoned Prypiat, Ukraine as a monument to unrealized dreams. The park was scheduled to open May 1, 1986--five days too late--and no one ever got a chance to ride the ferris wheel (pictured). Prypiat, a new city built in 1970 especially for the Soviet Union's nuclear power industry, remains a radioactive ghost town, today.

The unfolding Fukushima disaster raises important questions. A talking head like Professor Christopher Busby, informs us a fissioning reactor cannot be sealed like Chernobyl. Busby still compliments a rapid Russian response in comparison to a weak one in Japan. Col-Gen. Nikolai Antoshkin involved in the 1986 cleanup, as reported by The Telegraph, believes, "Soviet efforts to contain the Chernobyl nuclear disaster a quarter of a century ago were far better than Japan's 'slow-motion' response to the disaster at Fukushima.."

The present writer believes the courage and intelligence is clearly present to respond effectively at Fukushima. The sad reality is a reaction similar to Antoshkin's, "...said he was shocked at how poorly Japan had coped with its own nuclear disaster". Everyone should be asking what containment efforts can be implemented? There are other ways to effect a measure of containment even if a shroud of concrete to cover a fissioning reactor isn't possible. The world should be shouting--do something!

fukushima daiichi nuclear plant damaged by stuxnet?

Did Stuxnet infiltrate Fukushima Daiichi plant? The question is getting asked--and rightfully so! Fukushima plant uses Siemens Supervisory Control And Data Acquistion Software (SCADA), which Stuxnet is designed specifically to target. Is Stuxnet implicated in rendering, say, water pumps inoperable, a question asked recently on The Ugly Truth podcast? A Stuxnet link is also examined at whatREALLYhappened.com, "So now the difficulty the Fukushima nuclear plant operators faced in recovering control over their runaway reactors takes on a darker significance. Remember that the first problem following the quake was that the automated shutdown systems failed to operate at some of the reactors, because pumps failed and valves would not open even while running on batteries; the very sorts of mischief Stuxnet supposedly was designed to cause at Iran's power station." Multiple failures experienced at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant begs the question whether Stuxnet malware involved? Webster Tarpley's call for action seems truer than ever at the moment: get active--or get radioactive!

update: attack code for scada vulnerabilities released online

aurora alert: year's largest solar flare

The largest so far this year, a category M6.6 solar flare is earthbound. A skywatcher alert has been issued for auroras in possibly lower as well as higher latitudes. Experts agree a cloud of radiation from a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), will hit the Earth's magnetic field on or about Feb. 15th. The source of the activity is sunspot 1158, which is expected to grow. Many thanks go to Oystein Lunde Ingvaldsen for his wonderful images like the one pictured. The captured Northern Lights image is from the present buffeting of the magnetosphere above Bo, a town in Norway. They are a wonder to behold!. You can enjoy more aurora pictures from another Norwegian, Bjorn Jorgensen, here.


update: solar flare jams radio, satellite signals*
largest solar flare in 4yrs could disrupt power grids, satellite communications*
dept of energy to spend $27m on 'sun shot'*
japan may send humanoid tweet-bot to space*

'cyber storm iii' tests US on cyber attack

stuxnet & cyberstorm3 are unrelated, nothing to see here...
from defencetalk: US keyboard warriors were doing battle Tuesday with a simulated cyberattack on government and private computer networks that undermines basic trust in the Internet. The "Cyber Storm III" exercise involves participants from seven US government departments, including the Pentagon, 11 US states, 60 private companies and 12 international partners.

The biennial exercise is being staged by the Department of Homeland Security and is the first test of the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center based in an office building in this Washington suburb. The NCCIC booted up in October 2009 to serve as the coordinating center for US cybersecurity operations and houses US government computer experts and their private sector counterparts under one roof.

Briefing reporters ahead of "Cyber Storm III," Brett Lambo, the director of DHS's Cyber Exercise Program, stressed that the exercise, which is expected to last three days, is "completely simulated... We're not attacking any real networks," Lambo said. "We're not taking down a network. We're not injecting any real malware."

The thousands of participants in the exercise will receive more than 1,500 "injects" of simulated events that they will have to react to as unknown adversaries seek to exploit known vulnerabilities in cyber infrastructure...

The international partners taking part in the exercise are from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland.

update: millions of comps hit by virus across china*
'cyber storm iii' simulates large-scale cyberattack*
dhs tests cyber response plan in global drill*
cyber attack on iranian industry appears well-funded*
iran says no virus hit nuclear systems*
in a computer worm, a possible biblical clue*

defcon 7/29: leaky lawsuits

100 million facebook pages 'leaked' on torrent site*
hackers shut down eu carbon-trading website*
7 people have been entrusted with the keys to the internet*
video: isp's spying on australians, govt document heavily censored*
'minority report' technology used by uk police to predict crimes*
tokyo trials digital billboards that scan passers-by*
US wants increased police access to email: report*
video: 2nd student sues school district over webcam spying*

defcon 12/12: regimes, lists, biometrics & privacy promis

how to shut down the 'net: a guide for repressive regimes*
will 2010 bring a wake-up call for cybersecurity?*
fbi: 19,000 matches to terrorist screening list in '09*
bank firewalls cracked by cyberhackers*
men charged with hijacking dod paychecks*
apple loses $21.7m patent suit, appeal in progress*
surgery fools japan's fingerprint checks*
radio nodes may succeed rfid tags*
verichip's merger with credit monitoring firm worries privacy activists*
dhs releases cyber incident response draft plan*
history commons: category added to inslaw/promis timeline*