hype cycle

The life science hype cycle is a pretty good graph/idea.

the nanotech knoll

Morgellons Disease is an intelligently designed radio-receptive nanotech invasion of living human tissue

Morgellons is a very odd phenomenon on its own. It even has its own Morgellons Research Foundation now. The mashup meme of a strange new skin disease (dermatology problems are the most disgusting things I can think of) plus alien implant/conspiracy is crazy fascinating. I guess this would be promising vector for invading aliens, remaking a planet's inhabitants into yourself through nanotech.

So wrong

I was completely wrong about the Virginia Tech shooter. I was also wrong about the situation, I was convinced that with that many casualties that he was sniping. Amazed still that that many people were killed by a guy with two handguns.

Was shooter a Marine?

Gunman kills 30 at US university. The only question now is, was he a Marine?

      HARTMAN
Do any of you people know who Charles

Whitman was?

No response.

      HARTMAN
None of you
dumbasses knows?

COWBOY raises his hand.

      HARTMAN

Private Cowboy?

      COWBOY
Sir, he was that guy who shot
all those people
from that tower in Austin, Texas, sir!


HARTMAN
That's affirmative. Charles Whitman killed
twenty
people from a twenty-eight-storey
observation tower at the
University of Texas
from distances up to four hundred yards.


HARTMAN looks around.

      HARTMAN
Anybody know who Lee
Harvey Oswald was?

Almost everybody raises his hand.


HARTMAN
Private Snowball?

      SNOWBALL
Sir, he shot
Kennedy, sir!

      HARTMAN
That's right, and do you know how
far away
he was?

      SNOWBALL
Sir, it was pretty far!
From that book
suppository building, sir!

The recruits laugh at
"suppository. "

      HARTMAN
All right, knock it off! Two
hundred and fifty
feet! He was two hundred and fifty feet away

and shooting at a moving target. Oswald got
off three rounds with an
old Italian bolt action
rifle in only six seconds and scored two
hits,
including a head shot! Do any of you people

know where
these individuals learned to
shoot?

JOKER raises his hand.


HARTMAN
Private Joker?

      JOKER
Sir, in the Marines,
sir!

      HARTMAN
In the Marines! Outstanding! Those

individuals showed what one motivated
marine and his rifle can do!
And before you
ladies leave my island, you will be able to
do
the same thing!

from Full Metal Jacket

We got the neutron bomb

US accused of using neutron bombs

Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi told Al Jazeera that US forces used neutron and phosphorus bombs during their assault on Baghdad airport before the April 9 capture of the Iraqi capital.

I remember reading how France assembled some of neutron bombs in the late 70s early 80s and the US made some, but didn't assemble them. That was supposed to make people feel better. Obviously no proof but very interesting that this story came out.

Name Game

Carbona Not Grey Goo