I knew it would happen- it's one of those things that is relatively common with people who have albinism. We have to suffer enough with no depth perception, and some of us with near-blindness and other wonkiness in our vision, but there are things that tend to develop with us more quickly than with the general pigmented population.

I'm talking about cataracts. And yes, I'm developing one in my right eye- which will need surgical intervention within 5 years. My retinas are fine- my visual acuity is as good as it's ever been, but my eyes were vulnerable to cataracts because of their partial pigmentation. (If you look at that shot of my eye in the icon, you can see where the lack of pigmentation creates a lighter colored 'sunburst' around the pupil of my eye.)

What I thought was a dimming in my right eye is the cataract. My eye doctor doesn't seem terribly worried about it- he didn't even dialate or do much other than shine that painful blue light into my eye and say, 'yes, you've got a cataract, let's come back in a year and monitor it'. Apparently replacing the lens is relatively easy- he does the surgery, and told me that he replaced fifteen of them the day before. It almost sounds as easy as plugging in an SD card- and he can even build in focusing elements for me. That's way cool, and god knows what they'll have in five years, but it's still surgery. On my damn eye.

And, easy as it might be, it's still a sign that I am getting older, and that my albinism does have a heavy price. I expect that when I see the dermatologist in a couple of weeks, he'll have a field day with me, too. If you don't have melanin, melanomas do not look like melanomas. I plan to go over myself the night before and draw circles around all the odd looking spots I have. He'll probably laugh, but that's OK. I want him to look at every dumb little thing I draw a ring around.

Albinism sucks, y'all. Sure, I lucked out and can see well enough to drive, and my 'type' is 'yellow' rather than stark white, but it's still not pleasant at times.

Take care of your eyes, ears and your skin. Stay well.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/report-pakistani-intel-helped-mullah-omar-flee-quetta.html

Fiend, er, Friend and Ally Update. "EXCLUSIVE: Taliban chief hides in Pakistan," by Eli Lake, Sara A. Carter, and Barbara Slavin for the Washington Times, November 20 (thanks to Alan):

Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan and found refuge from potential U.S. attacks in the teeming Pakistani port city of Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service, three current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Mullah Omar, who hosted Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders when they plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, had been residing in Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban shura -- or council -- had moved from Kandahar after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Two senior U.S. intelligence officials and one former senior CIA officer told The Washington Times that Mullah Omar traveled to Karachi last month after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, a city that so far has escaped U.S. and Pakistani counterterrorism campaigns, the officials said.

The officials, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI, helped the Taliban leaders move from Quetta, where they were exposed to attacks by unmanned U.S. drones.

The development reinforces suspicions that the ISI, which helped create the Taliban in the 1990s to expand Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, is working against U.S. interests in Afghanistan as the Obama administration prepares to send more U.S. troops to fight there.

Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on al Qaeda and the Taliban, confirmed that Mullah Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently.

"Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe" from U.S. drone attacks, said Mr. Riedel, who headed the Obama administration's review of policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan last spring. "There are huge madrassas in Karachi where Mullah Omar could easily be kept."

Mr. Riedel also noted that there had been few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and al Qaeda not wanting to "foul their own nest."

A U.S. counterterrorism official said, "There are indications of some kind of bleed-out of Taliban types from Quetta to Karachi, but no one should assume at this point that the entire Afghan Taliban leadership has packed up its bags and headed for another Pakistani city."

A second senior intelligence officer who specializes in monitoring al Qaeda said U.S. intelligence had confirmed Mullah Omar's move through both electronic and human sources as well as intelligence from an unnamed allied service....

THIS WINDOW
CASSETTE CULTURE 1989 - 2009-11-20
m4tr

Like father like son, he triumphantly assessed. Peter Bright, the This Window fulcrum, passes the power to his son Jake to remix! There’s trust for you! Of course if it gets screwed up Peter gets the chance to sneer, ‘kids today!’ with added authority.

( Read more... )

http://www.m4tr.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thiswindow

Tags: philosophy, spechtreum, tov, vampires, videos
Current Location: The Haunted Noctuary
Current Mood: rejuvenated
Listening To: Acheron: Those Who Have Risen

The "G1/8" specc'd for the back of the £7 vac gauge turns out to be 1/8 BSP. Looking up BSP in more detail yields the info that 1/8" BSP isn't actually 1/8th of an inch in any dimension. 1/16 BSP isn't even as low as 1/8th of an inch.

Gah.

Still, found part of the worst of the pumps from Steve's can be used as a 1/8 to 1/4 BSP, which is the same as used in the odds and ends of gas fires I have. So have a compression nut that fits it that I can glue to the new chamber.

The plastic test tubes are filled with the faux uranium crystals, and the caps fit perfectly into the old pump manifolds. Glow real nice under UV.

Found the gluesticks for the hot glue gun.

Also found a damaged all-brass coat stand today. The hooks are broken, but the rest seems to be made entirely of brass.

Some progress on new moulds. Casting items tomorrow after tip run and putting up last 4 panels of aqua-panel in the kitchen.

--

Motivation down a bit today. Poo.

Tags: technical gubbins, workshop
Current Location: The Workshop

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/american-convert-to-islam-endorses-death-penalty-for-apostasy.html

After this post, I decided to write to Umar Lee (with whom I've had some interaction in the past) and ask for an interview. Here is our exchange, in which he endorses the death penalty for apostasy in principle, just not at the moment in America. At very least, his honesty about Islamic teaching is a refreshing departure from the deceptions and diversions of Honest Ibe Hooper, Brave Ahmed Rehab, and their ilk:

1. Spencer to Umar Lee:

Umar

How you doing? It's been a long time. I hope you're well.

I've read your post on Muslims in the military with great interest, and am posting about it now at Jihad Watch.

Would you be up for an interview with me on this and related issues?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your friend as ever,
Robert Spencer

2. Umar Lee to Spencer:

Mr. Spencer, i do not have time to grant interviews at this time. Regarding my position on muslims in the military i stand by the fatawa posted on my blog and that is why i encorage all muslims in america to not join. My feelings on the ft hood shooting and brother nidal hassan will be in the next edition of muslim quarterly magazine in an article titled why the fort got hood.

3. Spencer to Umar Lee:

Thanks for your kind and informative note. I respect the fact that you base your position on Sharia norms as delineated by the Qur'an and Sunnah. In line with that, I was wondering about what you thought on a tangential but related matter: in light of all the publicity that the Rifqa Bary case has gotten, and the many statements by Muslim leaders in the U.S. denying that Islam mandates death for apostates, do you uphold the traditional death penalty for apostasy as taught by Muhammad and by all the madhahib?

Thanks and regards
Robert

4. Umar Lee to Spencer:

Im not that up on that case. What i do know is we live in a very imoral society and teens are bombarded with negative messages. Any teen girl who is not a serial fornicator is seen as square and if she has good muslim parents making sure she is not acting like a ho she may rebel. I am not a scholar but the ruling on apostacy is clear. In an ideal world the apostate would face death but there is no authority to implement the shariah in america so no she shouldnt be killed and besides this girl may very well be making the whole thing up.

http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=7e7d27ec0e28adcb83ba3315d9bc9c41

The Large Hadron Collider , the world's most powerful particle accelerator, is drawing near to its long-awaited reboot. More than a year after the European collider's initial start-up was quashed by a helium leak caused by a faulty electrical connection , particle beams have been injected into the collider, known as the LHC, and may be guided fully through its rings in the coming hours. [More]

http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=16d2f9ac48dcf5b4ba6ce8563d2aeb40

Could nuclear power plants last as long as the Hoover Dam?

Increasingly dependable and emitting few greenhouse gases, the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants will likely run for another 50 or even 70 years before it is retired -- long past the 40-year life span planned decades ago -- according to industry executives, regulators and scientists.

[More]

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/rifqa-rally-video.html

Ace videographer Dave Miles kindly sent along these superb videos from the Rifqa Rally for human rights and religious freedom, Columbus, Ohio, November 16.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/russian-orthodox-priest-who-preached-among-muslims-shot-to-death-in-church.html

The identity of the masked gunman is not yet known, but the number of threats against Fr. Sysoyev that already existed because of his work among Muslims is itself noteworthy. And Russian prosecutors are also proceeding with the theory that "religious motives" are behind the murder.

"Russian Priest Gunned Down in Church," by Alexander Marquardt for ABC News, November 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A Russian Orthodox priest known for his missionary work among Muslims was gunned down in his Moscow church, Russian officials said Friday.

Thirty-four-year-old Daniil Sysoyev was shot at least four times at in the head and chest in the Church of St. Thomas by a masked gunman Thursday night, according to the Prosecutor General's Investigative Committee. The assailant also wounded the church's choirmaster, Vladimir Strelbitsky.

Sysoyev died on the way to the hospital. Strelbitsky is in critical condition.

"The main theory is that religious motives are behind the crime," a prosecutor's office spokesman told reporters.

Sysoyev routinely denounced Islam and actively reached out to Muslims and various religious sects to convert them. In a recent interview with a Russian newspaper, Sysoyev boasted that he had baptized 80 Muslims.

But with his ambitious missionary work came death threats.

"They've threatened to cut my head off 14 times," Sysoyev told Komsomolskaya Pravda in the interview. "The FSB [Federal Security Service] got in touch with me a year ago to say they had uncovered a murder plot against me."

He told a television interviewer in February 2008 that he considered it a sin not to preach to Muslims, according to the Interfax news agency.

Sysoyev was originally from the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, where a large majority of the population is Muslim. He published books titled "An Orthodox Response to Islam" and "Marrying a Muslim," which criticized the faith and drew fierce responses from Muslim organizations.

'No Reason to Kill'

Russia's Council of Muftis strongly denounced the murder Friday, saying differences should be worked out in a civilized way....

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/minnesota-sixth-muslim-charged-with-recruiting-somali-residents-for-jihad.html

Still another "misunderstander" of Islam. Funny how that keep happening. "Sixth area Somali man is indicted in probe," by James Walsh, Richard Meryhew and Allie Shah for the Star Tribune, November 20:

A 24-year-old local Somali man has been indicted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on charges of conspiring to provide support to terrorists.

Omer Abdi Mohamed, an unemployed employment counselor and father of a 2-month-old boy, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" people in foreign countries, according to an indictment filed Tuesday but made public Thursday.

Mohamed, of Minneapolis, is the sixth Somali man with local ties to be charged in connection with a two-year-old federal counterterrorism investigation aimed at finding out who recruited as many as 20 area men of Somali descent to return to their homeland and train and fight with the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab. The probe is considered to be one of the most sweeping international counterterrorism investigations since Sept. 11, 2001.

When asked if investigators allege that Mohamed was a recruiter, Peter Wold, his attorney, said: "In the end, I think you'll see that certainly wasn't the case."

The indictment released Thursday provides few details, but it links Mohamed to a broad conspiracy involving other men who returned to Somalia to fight or train with terrorists, including Shirwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old Minneapolis man believed to be the first U.S. suicide bomber.

According to the indictment, others connected to the conspiracy include: Salah Osman Ahmed, Kamal Said Hassan, Ahmed Ali Omar, Abdifatah Isse and Khalid Mohamud Abshir -- all of whom left the United States in December 2007 with a final destination of Somalia. Ahmed, Hassan and Isse all have pleaded guilty to the same charges Mohamed faces.

Wold said after the hearing Thursday that his client knew the other men through the mosque where they prayed. Isse Hussein, Mohamed's cousin, said Mohamed prayed "a lot" at Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in south Minneapolis. [...]

A Minneapolis woman who described herself as an acquaintance of Mohamed said he was known by the nickname "Galeyr" and was good friends with Salah Ahmed. She said Mohamed also was related to Adarus Abdullah Ali, 25, who admitted in federal court this month to lying to a grand jury about knowing men who went to Somalia to fight.

The woman, who was close friends with Mohamoud Hassan, a local Somali who was killed in Mogadishu in September, said Mohamed and Ahmed and some of the other men who left Minnesota for Somalia often spent time at Abubakar, the largest Somali mosque in the state. [...]

The woman said she doesn't know for certain why all the men left for Somalia, but said she believes it's rooted in a combination of patriotic feelings toward the Somali homeland and religious fervor. [...]

Minneapolis has been at the center of the international counterterrorism investigation since the first of up to 20 young Somali men from Minnesota began quietly leaving to return to their homeland. In most cases, the men left without telling their families or friends of their plans.

The focus of the investigation has been uncovering the identities of those who recruited the men and financed their return to Somalia to train and fight.

The men are believed to have been recruited by Al-Shabaab, which has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization with links to Al-Qaida.

Since October 2008, five of the Minnesotans who left have died. A sixth man, a Muslim convert from Minneapolis, also is thought to have been killed.

covers by Todd Nauck and Lucio Parrillo

( full sized )

Current Location: 94306
Current Mood: weird
Listening To: Invasion

http://www.iheu.org/universal-children%E2%80%99s-day-sees-enormous-support-%E2%80%98please-don%E2%80%99t-label-me%E2%80%99-billboard-campaign

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed Universal Children’s Day (Nov. 20, 2009), declaring itself overwhelmed by support for its ‘Please Don’t Label Me’ billboards, including endorsements and praise from magician and illusionist Derren Brown, author Philip Pullman, and musician and comedian Tim Minchin who, along with other users of Twitter, contributed with his tweets to the campaign ‘trending’ on Twitter (meaning it was one of the top ten most popular stories circulating on the social networking site).

read more

http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=49c42faa737cd18fbffb634d42c1d94d

A stellar explosion known as a nova that was detected in 2000 formed a two-lobed shell of material ejected from the star. Shaped like a bow tie, it continues to swell at great velocity. But, curiously, the coat of ejecta flowing outward from the star lacks hydrogen, the most common gas in the universe. [More]

was I the only person who thought the cartoon characters singing on children-in-need as actually quite good?

I need to get out more, don't i?

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/74496d1/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn181820Efrankenstein0Efix0Elets0Easteroid0Emission0Echeat0Edeath0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18182

The beleaguered Hayabusa asteroid probe is back on track to return to Earth after ground controllers cobbled together a working engine from two dead ones

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/7448c10/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A0A90C110Ctoday0Eon0Enew0Escientist0E20A0Enove0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/11/today-on-new-scientist-20-nove.html

Today's stories on newscientist.com, at a glance, including: the rise of the tiny medibots, the colliders that will follow the LHC, and an interview with Belle de Jour

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/7448c11/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A0A90C110Cbelle0Ede0Ejour0Eon0Escience0Eand0Eprostitution0Bphp0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/belle-de-jour-on-science-and-prostitution.php

The professional scientist and former prostitute Brooke Magnanti told her agent, "If New Scientist asks for an interview, I'll do it." We did ask

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/74435df/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A4273510B60A0A0Epickled0Eevidence0Efor0Eevolution0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427351.600

Animal specimens preserved in jars look Victorian, but the images in Evidence of Evolution show there's still nothing better for studying new species

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/7446232/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A0A90C110Cpickled0Eevidence0Efor0Eevolution0Bphp0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/pickled-evidence-for-evolution.php

Animal specimens preserved in jars look Victorian, but the images in Evidence of Evolution show there's still nothing better for studying new species