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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (28677)	9/30/2010 1:36:16 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 28931

Who, or maybe WHAT, is behind the Stuxnet worm? The infamous Stuxnet worm is surrounded by cloak and dagger reports and conspiracy theories worthy of a movie plot. However, it's time to break out the tinfoil hats as some people question if nuclear systems have been attacked by an extraterrestrial cyber-worm. Wait, it gets even more bizarre than alien written worms because psychic spies are in on it too. Okay, I admit it. I don't believe in E.T. or psychic spies, but I like a good conspiracy theory. I like to tell people to open their minds. I should take my own advice; what is truth to one person is fiction to another. Here is the "truth" mixed in with a couple of wild "conspiracy theories." First, what we think is the truth: Stuxnet was created to attack Siemens SCADA system software like those that are used in power plants, oil pipelines and factory industrial control systems. It has exploited four zero-day vulnerabilities and used two valid certificates from JMicron and Realtek. Iran has admitted that machines at Bushehr nuclear reactor and at least 30,000 other Window's PCs have been infected with the Stuxnet worm. As reported by Gregg Keizer, Liam O Murchu, of Symantec's security response team, said Stuxnet can re-infect cleaned computers by embedding malicious DLL into Step 7 files. Now that is no conspiracy; that is impressively scary malware. The Stuxnet worm is thought to have been developed for sabotage instead of espionage and spread via USB sticks...the same way that the Pentagon was attacked in 2008. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is refusing to confirm or deny if it launched the Iranian nuke worm attack. The Associated Press stated, "A number of governments with sophisticated computer skills would have the ability to create such a code. They include China, Russia, Israel, Britain, Germany and the United States." As different security researchers point fingers at different nations, it might be interesting to point out that Homeland Security Newswire published Israel used cyber weapon to disrupt Iran's nuclear reactor. If it were a movie, then we would look for misdirection to find the light of who created the cyber-weapon. Enter the mind-boggling theory that there is a connection between this cyber-arms invasion, 'psychic spies' and allegations of nuclear intrusion by UFOs. The American Chronicle wrote, "Sources to STARstream Research have reported that U.S. government intelligence agencies targeted Iranian underground nuclear facilities using 'psychic spies' -- a method left over from the cold war, when the Defense Intelligence Agency collected psychic intelligence against the Soviet Union." Furthermore, the article talks of a Department of Defense report. "Questions of interest to the members of the intelligence community include discovering ways of reading the human mind (artificial telepathy), improving human cognitive performance, remote control of mental states, and machine-mind interfaces." Starpod had previously reported on a psychic warning for terror threats to London and Paris, but updated its article as psychic spy intelligence confirmed by new terror threat reports. Chris Robinson, the 'dream detective' is allegedly part of that spy intelligence. Robinson claims to have been involved with U.S. intelligence officials following the 9-11 attacks and has warned other governments of impending attacks. ABC news stated that a senior U.S. official called the threats "credible." The Telegraph reported that an al-Qaeda terror plot to attack Britain was thwarted by a drone strike in Pakistan. Yet it doesn't state who specifically helped "Western intelligence agencies." MSNBC cited "unidentified intelligence sources" helped identify alleged terror plots planning simultaneous strikes in London, as well in France and Germany. Since I don't really follow news on psychic spies or UFOs, more than an occasional sci-fi movie, I considered making a tinfoil hat when Wired's Danger Room explained that seven retired Air Force officers disclosed "that they witnessed the UFOs rendering U.S. nuclear missiles temporarily inoperable during the Cold War." AOL reported, UFOs have occasionally tampered with nuclear weapons sites for nearly 60 years. In a CNN video, UFO researcher Robert Hasting stated, "Declassified U.S. government and witness testimony from former or retired U.S. military personnel confirm beyond any doubt the reality of ongoing UFO incursion at nuclear weapon sites...This planet is being visited by beings from another world who for whatever reason have taken an interest in the nuke arm race that began at the end of WWII." Many media sites said the United Nations was secretly ready to appoint the first ambassador to E.T. but the Guardian heard back from the supposed ambassador. Malaysian astropsychicist Mazlan Othman wrote, "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it." Why would E.T. write a worm if aliens have the power to just shutdown nuclear systems? What if E.T. is not a little green man, but a nation-state intent upon putting the hurt to its enemies? Even with extraterrestrial aliens allegedly monitoring our nukes and psychic dreamers warning of terrorist attacks, there is no proof it's tied to the most dangerous malware ever written. The truth behind who created the Stuxnet worm is currently obscured. Other Stuxnet theories suggest all of the "Stuxnet hype" was started just as the U.S. tries to justify cybersecurity laws and back door wiretaps in all communications. Some people believe in ghosts, so why not aliens? Some people believe Big Brother is watching, and although some believe that is paranoid, more and more people believe it's true. It depends who you are and what you consider a conspiracy, but it definitely would make a good sci-fi movie. blogs.computerworld.com

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (28677)	10/2/2010 8:51:15 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 28931

Salem man finds 2,000-year-old shekel on the shore By Kendra Noyes Staff Writer The Salem News Thu Sep 30, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT MANCHESTER — What a builder thought was a quarter has turned out to be a 2,000-year-old shekel, the kind of coin Judas was paid to betray Jesus. The coin was found during the reconstruction of a Manchester wharf in the spring of 2006, and now the finder and property owner are trying to solve the mystery of how it got there. Phillip Pelletier of Salem was reconstructing the wharf at 7 Norton's Point Road in Manchester when he found what he thought was a quarter in a small hole in the sand. He pocketed the change without thinking twice and set it aside when he got home. But later, after a closer look, Pelletier realized the coin wasn't a quarter at all. He brought it to one of his wife's co-workers, a coin collector, who identified the silver piece as a shekel of Tyre. The collector told Pelletier the 90 percent silver coin dated to biblical times and was the type of silver used to pay Judas for the betrayal of Jesus. Pelletier said he is shocked he found a 2,000-year-old coin in Manchester but finds it ironic that he discovered the shekel on Holy Thursday, the day that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles; it was after the meal that Judas betrayed Christ. Pelletier said he held on to the coin for a while, thinking he had struck big. Some further research, however, revealed the coin was worth about $800 or so. The worldwide coin source online lists the coin as worth about $1,000. Curiosity got the best of Pelletier, though. "I had to find out where it came from," he said. He called Anita Brewer-Siljeholm, the owner of 7 Norton's Point Road, to see if there were coin collectors in her family who might have lost the shekel. Brewer-Siljeholm said she had no history of coin collectors in her family and was just as puzzled by the ancient coin being on her property. "It's a complete mystery to me as to how it got there," Brewer-Siljeholm said. Pelletier gave the coin to Brewer-Siljeholm so she could photograph and research it. Brewer-Siljeholm said she would return the coin to him after she finished her search, according to Pelletier. Brewer-Siljeholm still has the coin. Brewer-Siljeholm rented a metal detector to search the area for significant metals on her property after Pelletier suggested it. She said she found no other substantial artifacts. Pelletier and Brewer-Siljeholm said they wanted to get the story out so they could solve the mystery of how a Phoenician shekel arrived in Manchester. Brewer-Siljeholm said she took the coin to J.G.M. Numismatic Investments, a Beverly coin and jewelry dealer, which verified it as a real shekel of Tyre. The inspector first weighed the coin to confirm its authenticity; the coin had worn and lost some of its mass, Brewer-Siljeholm said. The appraiser also noted that there was evidence the coin had been submerged in water for a significant time. The authenticity was verified, but no formal paperwork or record was drawn up by the company, she said. The shekel was minted by the Phoenician-Judean city of Tyre, which is in present-day Lebanon, from 126 BC to 66 AD. The coin replaced the Greek coinage of Alexander the Great. The silver shekel features a graven image of Melkart (Baal), the Phoenician deity on one side; the reverse is an Egyptian-style eagle with its right claw resting on a ship's rudder, which is associated with Hercules. The Greek inscription on the coin is "Tyre, the Holy and Inviolable," followed by the date. The real question is how did this ancient coin arrive in Manchester? Brewer-Siljeholm called it an "unsolved mystery" and acknowledged her research has suggested there are hundreds of ways the coin could have gotten to Manchester. Brewer-Siljeholm noted the harbor is very close to where the coin was found and thought that the Phoenicians may have came here to trade with the Vikings. "The Phoenicians were great sailors," she said. The house was owned by two other families before Brewer-Siljeholm's family purchased it in 1951. The home was built in 1890 and its first owners owned the Waltham Watch Co., which may have had a connection to coin collecting, she said. Brewer-Siljeholm said, to her knowledge, there was no history of coin collectors in the other owners' family, either. "The only other plausible explanation I've heard to date is that a bird such as a sea gull picked it up and dropped it there," Brewer-Siljeholm said. Pelletier also noted that it could have been buried or dug up from underground by a squirrel or other creature. salemnews.com