Projo Subterranean Homepage News

Reporter Finds U.S. Sniper in Iraq Who Shot Knight Ridder Correspondent: Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher describes today's story in Salon (The victim and the killer, watch an ad to enter Salon Premium) this way:

One of the most remarkable stories of the Iraq war appears today at the online magazine Salon, written by its longtime foreign correspondent Phillip Robertson. Amazingly, he managed this month to track down the American sniper who apparently shot and killed Knight Ridder correspondent Yasser Salihee, 33, on June 24. The article, "The Victim and the Killer," chronicles this search, and lengthy exchanges between Robertson and the sniper, described only as "Joe."...

That's Salihee at right, holding his daughter Danya.

At NPR, Jacki Lyden of Weekend Edition remembers Salihee, her translator in Iraq: Dr. Yasser Salihee, Translator and Friend.

Also worth noting:

Ocean spray lubricates hurricane winds (and oil calms troubled waters): At physics.org,

According to a new study by two University of California, Berkeley, mathematicians and their Russian colleague, the water droplets kicked up by rough seas serve to lubricate the swirling winds of hurricanes and cyclones, letting them build to speeds approaching 200 miles per hour. Without the lubricating effect of the spray, the mathematicians estimate, winds would rise to little more than 25 miles per hour....

"If you could develop a detergent to reduce the size of the droplets, you might be able to stop a hurricane," (Chorin) said. "That's not as far fetched as it sounds. In ancient times, sailors carried oil to pour out on the water to calm storms. Pouring oil on choppy waters was not a superstition."

In their paper, the mathematicians conclude that "We think that the action of oil was exactly the prevention of the formation of droplets! The turbulence was restored after the oil was dropped, the turbulent drag increased, and the intensity of the squall was reduced. Possibly hurricanes can be similarly prevented or damped by having airplanes deliver fast decaying harmless surfactants to the right places on the sea surface."

Healing from within? A new understanding of how immune system targets disease From the University of Rochester Medical Center:

Study sets foundation for new generation of vaccines for HIV, influenza Scientists have taken a major step toward the goal of altering viruses, bacteria and tumor cells so that they demand attention from immune cells designed to destroy them. According to research published today in the journal Immunity, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have determined for the first time a single biochemical feature of disease-causing molecules (pathogens) that, if changed, would force them to provoke an attack by the human immune system.

Drive yourself nuts: KAX is a very simple game:

"Guide the arrow to the star without hitting the walls. The catch is that you only have one key to control movement."

You'll see.