The White House memo that was released with redacted or inked out words have been deciphered by cryptologist David Naccache, using a rather obvious method. The open space and the font size being compared, it is possible to come up with a rather limited list of English words that could have fit. Grammar and common considerations sense reduced it down to only one.
Environmentalists have responded with perfect hysteria to genetically modified plants, well beyond the caution that reasonably should be expected for any new and powerful technology.
Thus, don't expect many of them to notice the potential environmental benefits of GM. Nitrogen fertilizers from agriculture is a major source of pollution. Now scientists have found that endowing plants with a corn gene helps them absorb greater amounts of nitrogen, allowing them to grow in soil containing just one tenth the normal amount.
If Shi'ite religious authorities issued a fatwa, or edict, telling him to disband his Mehdi Army militia then he would comply with it, Sadr said.
"The dissolution of the Mehdi Army depends on the religious authorities. If they issue an edict to disband the Mehdi Army then we will disband it. If not, then it will remain to defend this country and its sanctity," he said.
I wonder if he will follow through if such a fatwa comes. Al-Sadr isn't precisely known as a honorable man.
The US Navy were testing a robot submarine off the coast of Norway, and the sub fell victim to the weird currents, saline and temperature levels in our waters.
The 3.5 meter (11-foot) mini-sub, or Battlespace Preparation Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, disappeared April 29 during tests off the port of Kristiansand in southern Norway.
"On Monday, the crew of its mother ship, the minesweeper USS Swift, said that they considered it lost for good," said Cmdr. Thom Knustad, a spokesman for the Norwegian joint command.
However, on Tuesday Hermund Arnø (69) and his wife Jorunn, found it on a beach, 200 kms away from where it swam away. They called the police, and the Norwegian navy was dispatched to pick it up for handing it back the the Americans.
What the CNN story didn't tell, however, was the role of beer in the recovery. When the sub went missing, the US navy people went to the Norwegian media, promising a crate of beer in reward for recovering the sub. They obviously know what the stuff costs here, and probably thought it'd make 4.5 Norwegians people hunt for it like crazy. Well, at least it got lots of media attention for the search (as did the fact that specially trained navy dolphins, who presumably don't drink beer, were looking for it). And somebody did find it.
The beer story was apparently a joke, but there is some reward for the guy who found the sub. The first thing the Norwegian police asked him when he told them he had found it, was if he liked beer.
