Hampster on a Piano
The soundtrack song is pure evil, so mute this before playing. But do play it.
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Damn you, Lora. I’ll get you for this.
HEMP: A Threat Assessment
Another report from the ever-lovin’ Congressional Research Service, this one formerly classified and only recently prised from the grip of the Bush Administration:
“High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments” (PDF)
Congressional Research Service, as updated March 26, 2008
“Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is an instantaneous, intense energy field that can overload or disrupt at a distance numerous electrical systems and high technology microcircuits, which are especially sensitive to power surges. A large scale EMP effect can be produced by a single nuclear explosion detonated high in the atmosphere. This method is referred to as High-Altitude EMP (HEMP). A similar, smaller-scale EMP effect can be created using non-nuclear devices with powerful batteries or reactive chemicals. This method is called High Power Microwave (HPM). Several nations, including reported sponsors of terrorism, may currently have a capability to use EMP as a weapon for cyber warfare or cyber terrorism to disrupt communications and other parts of the U.S. critical infrastructure. Also, some equipment and weapons used by the U.S. military may be vulnerable to the effects of EMP.
“…In the past, the threat of mutually assured destruction provided a lasting deterrent against the exchange of multiple high-yield nuclear warheads. However, now even a single, specially designed low-yield nuclear explosion high above the United States, or over a battlefield, can produce a large-scale EMP effect that could result in a widespread loss of electronics, but no direct fatalities, and may not necessarily evoke a large nuclear retaliatory strike by the U.S. military. This, coupled with the possible vulnerability of U.S. commercial electronics and U.S. military battlefield equipment to the effects of EMP, may create a new incentive for other countries to develop or acquire a nuclear capability.”
Iraq Coup Plot Busted, 35 Arrested says NY Times
The New York Times reported this today, but so far no real traction on the story…which is interesting:
“35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry”
by Campbell Robertson & Tarig Maher
Dec. 17, 2008, NY TimesUp to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, according to senior security officials in Baghdad.
The arrests, confirmed by officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security as well as the prime minister’s office, included four generals, one of whom, Gen. Ahmed Abu Raqeef, is the ministry’s director of internal affairs. The officials also said that the arrests had come at the hand of an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
The involvement of the counterterrorism unit speaks to the seriousness of the accusations, and several officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security said that some of those arrested were in the early stages of planning a coup.
Oh yeah, those guys…
Recently released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS):
“Iran’s Nuclear Program: Status” (PDF) — Nov. 20, 2008
And since you mention it…
“Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues” (PDF), as updated on June 20, 2008.
“Pakistan-U.S. Relations” (PDF), updated August 25, 2008
“India-U.S. Relations” (PDF), updated August 12, 2008
Also (but not from the CRS):
“Indian nuclear forces, 2008″ (PDF)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 38-40
By Robert S. Norris & Hans M. Kristensen
Related blog post by co-author Kristensen
(Sources: Secrecy Blog, and FAS Strategic Security Blog. Thanks.)
Murnau and Borzaga’s Early Sound Works for Fox
Holy crap.
Normally those really spendy, over-extravagant DVD box sets just kinda piss me off. But Fox Studio Classics has just released one that I might just feel compelled to actually splurge on. (It’s also kind of a toing, because just two nights ago I spontaneously decided to watch Sunrise on DVD and meandered through the extras.)
As you can see above, Murnau, Borzage and Fox is a ginormous, 12-DVD dee-luxe $et ($240 SRP, $180 on Amazon — ouch) with not one but two hefty books of essays and photos, and a new 2 hour documentary about the directors. Mmokay. But the real grabber is the list of films — 2 by Murnau and 10 by Borzage, spanning 1925-1932, the late silent through the early sound/talkie era.  A couple are acknowledged masterpieces, several are highly respected, and most-all of them have long been unavailable on any kind of decent home video. Martin Scorsese, in his BFI documentary for British television, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), singled out Borzage as one of the best Hollywood directors of the early sound period, not only making intelligent films but occasionally pushing the severely limited technical capabilities of the time, especially with camera work. I’ve been intending to delve into his stuff for a while now.
The two Murnau gems are noteworthy. The Sunrise disc includes two versions of the film: the Movietone version, as well as the European silent version. This is important, because the silent version was not only a somewhat different cut, it used negative from a different camera (and thus slightly different angles), and sometimes different takes. Also, the infant sound-on-film format used a fairly wide area of the available film for the actual sound, slightly reducing the horizontal space available for the image. The silent film negatives had a different aspect ratio. The DVD released a couple-few years ago (as part of a different box set) included only the Movietone version. If the official PR is to be believed, the Movietone version on this new disc has a 1:30 aspect ratio, and the Euro silent one is in 1:20.
I’m also happy to see City Girl (1930, with a 1:19 aspect ratio, thanks for asking) is included. Originally titled Our Daily Bread, Fox took control of it away from Murnau and re-edited it somewhat. He left the studio very soon after. Murnau’s original cut is, of course, lost so I’ve wanted to see the surviving version.
Dave Kehr recently gave this set a learned and positively elegiac review in the New York Times in “When Titans Roamed the Backlot at Fox” (Dec. 8, 2008):Â “Altogether, Murnau, Borzage and Fox represents the best that home video has to offer in quality, scholarship and enduring aesthetic interest; this is not a set that anyone will exhaust soon.”
Anyway, here’s the list, not including the scads of extras, commentaries, outtakes, mini-docs, and all that…
Murnau silents:
Sunrise (1927) (Movietone score version and European silent version)
The City Girl (1930)
Borzage silents:
Lazybones (1925)
Seventh Heaven (1928)
Street Angel (1928)
Lucky Star (1929)
Borzage talkies:
They Had to See Paris (1929)
Liliom (1930)
Song O’ My Heart (1930) (full sound version and music/effects version)
Bad Girl (1931)
After Tomorrow (1932)
Young America (1932)
(Thanks to the Bioscope blog’s post for the tip-off.)
Best Swing Dance Sequence Ever
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A dance sequence with some absolutely astonishing Lindy Hopping, from Hellzapoppin’ (Universal, 1941). Things really get rolling at about 2:40 min. into the clip.
No seriously, this totally kicks ass. Ya gotta see it.
If the Intermets aren’t failing me, the dance troupe are the Harlem Congaroo Dancers (aka Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers). Featured in the routine, in order, are:
- William Downes (overalls) and Frances “Mickey” Jones (maid)
- Norma Miller and Billy Ricker (chef’s hat)
- Al Minns (white coat, black pants) and Willa Mae Ricker
- Ann Johnson (maid) and Frankie Manning (overalls)
Read some more about Hellzapoppin’s “plot,” and check out some vintage poster art and blog-grabs.
I watched Hellzapoppin’ on DVD a couple years ago, stumbling across it one night at Scarecrow. (Forrest J Ackerman always used to refer to it in Famous Monsters of Filmland.)  It’s like Airplane! meets low-budget 1930s movie musical. There’s some really pretty out-there stuff in it. If you Google it, you’ll find some grey-market DVD-Rs floating around.
Millions of Photographs from the LIFE Photo Archive
The LIFE magazine photo archive hosted by Google has “millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time…”
All fully searchable, of course, or you can just browse like the folks at the WFMU blog, who’ve kindly compiled choice links to myriad photo treasures to be found there.
So long, Bettie
Bettie Page interview, NBC TV, 1997
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Above, Bettie Page in her only television interview (although she refused to be actually shown), in a 1997 piece by Tim Estiloz, apparently for an NBC program called Real Life. She was in her 70s at the time, and has a very thick southern accent. Estiloz walks us through her life story, intercut throughout with the interview. Via YouTube. (If this is the only TV interview, does anyone know if there’s filmed interview footage with her?)
RAND Study for Homeland Security on Creating a Domestic Intelligence Agency
Reorganizing U.S. Domestic Intelligence: Assessing the Options
By Gregory F. Treverton (RAND, 2008)
Also, definitely check out the print-quality organizational map of the “US Domestic Intelligence Enterprise”.
One of the questions in the fight against terrorism is whether the United States needs a dedicated domestic intelligence agency separate from law enforcement, on the model of many comparable democracies.
To examine this issue, Congress directed that the Department of Homeland Security perform an independent study on the feasibility of creating a counterterrorism intelligence agency and the department turned to the RAND Corporation for this analysis but asked it specifically not to make a recommendation.
This volume lays out the relevant considerations for creating such an agency. It draws on a variety of research methods, including historical and legal analysis; a review of organizational theory; examination of current domestic intelligence efforts, their history, and the public’s view of them; examination of the domestic intelligence agencies in six other democracies; and interviews with an expert panel made up of current and former intelligence and law enforcement professionals.
The monograph highlights five principal problems that might be seen to afflict current domestic intelligence enterprise; for each, there are several possible solutions, and the creation of a new agency addresses only some of the five problems. The volume discusses how a technique called break-even analysis can be used to evaluate proposals for a new agency in the context of the perceived magnitude of the terrorism threat.
It concludes with a discussion of how to address the unanswered questions and lack of information that currently cloud the debate over whether to create a dedicated domestic intelligence agency.
Joint Intelligence DNA Database
The Joint Federal Agencies (or more often: Antiterrorism) Intelligence DNA Database (JFAIDD) is described in a 2007 briefing slide as “a searchable database of DNA profiles from detainees and known or suspected terrorists.â€
The JFAIDD contains 15,000 DNA profiles, according to a 2007 report of the Defense Science Board, with “a queue of 30,000 new samples in the laboratory and 400 [pending] requests for DNA profiles, searches, or comparisons.â€Â See “Defense Biometrics†(pdf, at page 32).
…But “The FBI can process [only] two samples every three days using manual methods. Given this rate, the DNA Analysis Unit… cannot keep up with the collection of these samples.”
The Justice Department therefore requested funding to automate the DNA analysis process, to permit analysis of 40 samples a day, five days a week so as to keep pace with the anticipated delivery of “approximately 9,000 samples per year from detainees of the U.S. government.â€
More, including related documents and slides, at Secrecy News.
(Anybody else besides me suddenly reminded of John Poindexter’s secret little Total Information Awareness program?)