"For the discriminating paratheologist"
Legba
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Posts by Legba
Gag order for Dr David Kelly death inquiry
Jan 24th
The inquiry into the death of UK weapons inspection whistleblower Dr. David Kelly in 2003 has taken another strange turn. Evidence related to his death (including the autopsy report and photographs) has been placed under a gag order, and will remain classified for 30 to 70 years:
One of the doctors seeking a full inquest, former assistant coroner Michael Powers, told the Mail on Sunday he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.
The letter states: “Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years.”
Dr Powers asked: “Supposedly all evidence relevant to the cause of death has been heard in public at the time of Lord Hutton’s inquiry. If these secret reports support the suicide finding, what could they contain that could be so sensitive?”
There’s also a scathing editorial by Norman Baker (MP) up at the Daily Mail. Lots of juicy tidbits about Lord Hutton, who led the inquiry and ruled the evidence should be classified:
Lord Hutton did not even inquire as to whose fingerprints were on the knife allegedly used to slit Dr Kelly’s wrist. That was left for me to establish through a Freedom of Information request, which revealed there were no fingerprints on the knife, and Dr Kelly was not wearing gloves.
Lord Hutton was to confess that he had not bothered looking into the death very deeply.
Writing in the Inner Temple Yearbook 2004, he unashamedly observed: ‘I thought that there would be little serious dispute as to the background facts [about Dr Kelly’s death].
‘I thought unnecessary time could be taken up by cross-examination on matters which were not directly relevant.’
So key questions went unasked, conflicting and contradictory evidence abounded, and no attempt was made to tie up the countless loose ends.
It remains to be seen whether this story will provoke enough outrage with the larger British public to force the release of all evidence. If you’re a loyal subject, maybe write your MP?
Ares rocket behind the scenes pics
Nov 1st
The Boston Globe has an awesome gallery of hi-res Ares rocket pics, including lots of behind the scenes stuff leading up to the launch. Go look.
Doomsday 2012 or 2200?
Oct 27th
Interesting claim by Dutch scientists that the Mayan calendar doomsday prediction of 2012 is off by 208 years. Unfortunately, the best version available so far is this Google translation. There’s also some discussion over at Slashdot.
My prediction: this is some sort of viral promotion for a sequel to the 2012 movie coming out in a couple of weeks. The trailer for that one reminded me of the star studded disaster films of the 1970′s by way of and Jerry Bruckheimer’s ConAir, so I was very disappointed to see there is no Bruckheimer involvement. 2012 is directed by Roland Emmerich, who produced The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. Think I’ll wait for this one on cable (if it even makes it there before the world ends).
100 Days Until Halloween
Jul 23rd
Thanks to John Rozum for reminding us there are only 100 Days Until Halloween.
The only way Apollo 11 could have been cooler
Jul 20th
Don’t know about Neil Armstrong, but I bet Buzz Aldrin would have been ok with this.
Rumor has it that all three Apollo 11 astronauts will make some sort of appearance with President Obama on Monday. Be interesting to see if Armstrong does any sort of speech, or leaves it to the others. Seems very quaint from our perspective 40 years on: a modern media plan would demand that Armstrong overexpose himself in perpetuity, or would have chosen a more media friendly astronaut (like Aldrin) to take the first steps on the moon instead.
Image via Comically Vintage
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Betelgeuse shrinking?
Jun 12th
UC Berkeley researchers say red giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the bright reddish star in the constellation Orion, has steadily shrunk over the past 15 years, according to University of California, Berkeley, researchers.Long-term monitoring by UC Berkeley’s Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) on the top of Mt. Wilson in Southern California shows that Betelgeuse (bet’ el juz), which is so big that in our solar system it would reach to the orbit of Jupiter, has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent since 1993.
Nobody’s 100% sure if this is a normal size variation, or the beginning of the end for Betelgeuse. Red supergiants are older stars, living out their retirement and telling comets to “stay the hell off my orbit!” Shrinkage could just be the next step on the way to the supernova grave. So raise a glass of Metamucil to Betelgeuse, in case this is the beginning of the end.
Remembering Barry Goldwater
May 29th
Goldwater: you know he's right!
That seemed to prove to me that UFOs were a fact, and do exist. But, are they all aliens? I highly suspect a majority are! Hell, they are no doubt far ahead of our level of intelligence. TheUnited States Air Foce knows the truth, but will they ever reveal it to this nation?
What you are Saying