A close call…

[politics filter]

Well, it looks like at least one major terror strike – another one using aircraft as weapons – was narrowly averted. This report from debka:

May 22 Update: Further to the report below, DEBKAfile’s counter terror sources have more exclusive revelations: The three men detained at Jeddah airport Monday May 19 were not Moroccans but Saudi nationals married to Moroccan women and using false passports. The Saudi government is anxious to remove the stigma of aircraft hijackers attached to Saudis since 9/11 – hence the obfuscation over the detainees’ nationality. Final identification of all the remains found on the sites of the May 12 bombings Riyadh jumps the death toll to 60. Nonetheless, the Saudis refuse to budge from the figure of 34.

May 21: The terrorist mega-attack against which security – like the US, Britain, Australia and other western powers – has been on high alert since Tuesday, May 20, almost happened this week.

On Monday, May 19, Saudi authorities detained three Moroccan al Qaeda suspects at Jeddah international airport just as they were preparing to board a Saudi national airlines plane bound for Sudan. While “Saudi security sources” claimed the next day that the men planned to hijack the Saudi plane and crash it over Jeddah, DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources reveal that, under interrogation, the suspected al Qaeda terrorists admitted they had intended flying the captive Saudi airliner over Israel and crashing it over an Israeli city.

That first Saudi announcement claimed the suspects carried knives and their last testaments. The Saudis make it a habit never to mention Israel in the context of al Qaeda’s attacks – even one which they thwarted. Then, Wednesday evening, May 21, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef denied there had been any hijack plot. He said two not three Moroccans had been detained in connection with “previous security cases”.

According to DEBKAfile’s sources, neither Saudi version is correct. The terrorists were not just armed with knives but were loaded with explosives, and there were three of them, not two.

The high alert declared in Israel Tuesday also placed the Israeli Air Force on round–the-clock patrol to guard against hijackers reaching Israeli skies to attack Israeli towns.

I’d say that was a close one – and it may be the only major strike that was in the works, so the angel of death may have passed us over this time. (Knock on wood)

Still, keep your eyes open the next few days – there may still be a nasty surprise or two left in the works.

Published in: on May 23, 2003 at 16:42  Comments Off on A close call…  
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On this day in 1934…

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were gunned down in Texas. News story courtesy of the New York Times.

This bit of work avoidance has been brought to you by the letters ‘t,’ ‘h,’ ‘e,’ ‘s,’ ‘i,’ and ‘s.’

Published in: on May 23, 2003 at 11:13  Comments Off on On this day in 1934…  
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Protected: Well, that was interesting…

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Published in: on May 18, 2003 at 17:04  Comments Off on Protected: Well, that was interesting…  

Avoiding work yet again…

Roleplaying purity test

Published in: on May 18, 2003 at 12:45  Comments (1)  

Interesting article…

On Edge, Martin Rees – a noted cosmologist, someone who definitely knows what he’s doing – has an article about multiverse cosmology. (This is a general-public article, BTW, not a technical one)

Now, I’ve got one primary objection to this article, which is that it makes multiverse cosmology sound like something much more agreed upon in the scientific community than it actually is; its current status is more on the lines of “a definite possibility, one whose details haven’t been worked out yet, but has some really good features as a prospective model.”

But that aside, he has some interesting things to say on the subject. One intriguing possibility he brought up, which I hadn’t heard before, was that in an infinite universe, someone has very likely developed extraordinarily powerful computers, ones powerful enough to simulate not just individual life forms but even large sectors of the universe itself, and that for all we know, we may be living in such a simulation.

The philosophical implications of this sort of thought are rather intriguing. On the one hand, we couldn’t necessarily intrinsically tell whether we’re in such a simulation or not, since we don’t have any outside reference points to work by; but it may be possible under such circumstances to communicate with the simulators, by some means or another, and indicate that yes, there’s life inside here.

The good/bad thing with this line of thought is that it seems that one could use it as a basis for virtually any argument; it’s like theology, but even less constricting. Can’t explain some property of the universe? Maybe the simulators programmed it to be that way. (Like the “well, that’s just how God planned it” excuse – a great way to avoid answering any inconvenient questions)

What’s interesting, here, is that this seems to arise naturally as a consequence of certain kinds of cosmology: If the universe really is large enough to contain all things, one must expect such simulations to exist therein. But this gives us no information whatsoever about whether we’re elements of such a simulation.

Anyway, this is just sleep dep and a great deal of physics (from the past few days) talking at this point. There are some interesting issues brought up here, but they’re about on a par with solipsism as far as really arguable points. Perhaps it’s time for bed.

Published in: on May 18, 2003 at 00:10  Comments (3)  
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Time to be careful

[politics filter]

For those of you who haven’t checked the news yet, there was an attack by al Qaeda today on Casablanca – five simultaneous bombings, current numbers are 41 dead, many injured. This being the second major attack in a week, there’s good reason to believe that this is the signal for a major escalation, and further attacks are to come.

While their strength is definitely greatest outside the U.S., in a band going across Northern Africa through to Central Asia, the readiness of whatever forces they may have available in this country is unknown. An attack on American soil therefore cannot (and should not) be ruled out. However, the biggest threat right now is to American and/or Jewish interests (n.b. the target list for today’s bombings…) abroad. If you have any family or friends out there, make sure they’re being alert.

Published in: on May 17, 2003 at 13:19  Comments Off on Time to be careful  
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Published in: on May 16, 2003 at 11:29  Enter your password to view comments.  

Hmm.

Strange dream last night. I had been doing a stint of military service (in a place where people spoke Hebrew, but looked more like Switzerland… but dangerous…) and was finishing up my stint as a major. I had to decide whether I wanted to re-up, knowing that if I did I would make colonel in pretty short order, or start the next phase of my life then. Both seemed pretty attractive.

I’m pretty sure this dream had some fairly significant symbolic meaning for me, but I haven’t figured it out yet. I’m not a hair away from any desirable rank in physics, but I am thinking about starting a new life…

Published in: on May 16, 2003 at 10:13  Comments Off on Hmm.  
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