Narco subs pose new challenge for US coast guards

From the article:

The first time they found one, authorities dubbed it “Big Foot.” They had heard rumors that such things existed, but nobody had actually seen one.

It was late 2006, and Big Foot was not lurking in a forest, but at sea, 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Costa Rica. And it was not an ape-like creature, but a hulking, blue vessel resembling a submarine and carrying several tons of cocaine…

Dozens of these subs have been intercepted, with the largest carrying 5 tons of cocaine.

See also:

MIT helps inch towards the goal of fusion power

See also:

- MIT Fights for Clean Power With Holy Grail of Fusion in Reach

- Fusion Reactors: The Ultimate Nuclear Power Plant

[See previous question]

Then see one small example of how subliminal messages are being used in the presidential campaign:

See also:

For Mortgages Underwater, Help Swims In

From the article:

The mosquito fish is well suited for a prolonged housing slump. Hardy creatures with big appetites, they can survive in oxygen-depleted swimming pools for many months, eating up to 500 larvae a day and giving birth to 60 fry a month. That can save environmental crews from having to repeatedly spray pesticides in the pools while the houses grind through the foreclosure process…

More info on the mosquito fish program:

Cosmology Primer

See also Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe:

[See previous question]

Panda Bear Cub’s Growth

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The obvious question is, “why are they so small at birth?” This article offers the following description:

At birth, the cub is helpless, and it takes considerable effort on the mother’s part to raise it. A newborn cub weighs three to five ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter. Pink, hairless, and blind, the cub is 1/900th the size of its mother. Except for a marsupial (such as the kangaroo or opossum), a giant panda baby is the smallest mammal newborn relative to its mother’s size.

Cubs do not open their eyes until they are six to eight weeks of age and are not mobile until three months. A cub may nurse for eight to nine months. A cub is nutritionally weaned at one year, but not socially weaned for up to two years.

See also:

- Growth and Development of Giant Panda Cubs: A Timeline

- Meet the pandas

[See previous photos]

The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power

From the article:

The Church of Scientology, started by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard to “clear” people of unhappiness, portrays itself as a religion. In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner. At times during the past decade, prosecutions against Scientology seemed to be curbing its menace. Eleven top Scientologists, including Hubbard’s wife, were sent to prison in the early 1980s for infiltrating, burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block their investigations. In recent years hundreds of longtime Scientology adherents — many charging that they were mentally or physically abused — have quit the church and criticized it at their own risk. Some have sued the church and won; others have settled for amounts in excess of $500,000. In various cases judges have labeled the church “schizophrenic and paranoid” and “corrupt, sinister and dangerous.”

[See previous doesn’t work]

If you would like to witness an actual surgery, this video shows the procedure. It is not for those who get queasy easily:

Breast Augmentation Surgery

There are also non-surgical options available, including the Brava vacuum device:

Brava Breast Non-Surgical Enhancement News Story

For more info see: How Breast Implants Work

Now it is available on Google video, which does not seem so out of balance.

How I Built a Working Poker Bot, Part 1

From the article:

Several years ago, a client asked me to come up with a prototype for a real-money online poker bot. That’s right: a piece of software you park on your computer while it goes out to a site like PokerStars or Full Tilt and plays no-limit Holdem for you, at 4 or 14 different tables, for real-money stakes.

If you’re a poker player, and particularly if you’re an online poker player, you’ve probably heard rumors about the rise of the poker bots. Unfortunately there’s very little hard information out there (for obvious reasons) about how to build one of these bots. In fact, many so-called authorities still dismiss poker bots as a relic of the overactive poker player’s imagination.

Well, I’m here to tell you that online poker bots are 100% real, and I know this because I’ve built one. And if I can build one, well. Anybody can build one. What’s more, over the course of this multi-part article, I’ll show you how…

[See previous DIY]