Links and Miscellany – September 28 – One of Those Good News, Bad News Kind of Days

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media The Guardian (UK)

Iran Hacked US Navy Computers The cyberwars are well underway, and since the U.S. has declared the Internet a free-fire zone I don't think we can expect any nation to play nice.

In the 1960s, a team of GE engineers proposed a design for a single-person space escape pod called Man Out of Space Easiest (later changed to Manned Orbital Operations Safety Equipment), or MOOSE Obviously, the free market doesn't ensure the best products are made.

Parasitic filmmakers beg for handouts on Kickstarter to make third installment of failed Atlas Shrugged movies Similarly, the free market doesn't ensure that bad products go away.

The September 24, 2013 magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the Baluchistan province of northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 350 people and leaving more than 100,000 homeless, created a bizarre-looking island in the Paddi Zirr (West Bay) near Gwadar, Pakistan.

Source: NASA Earth Observatory website

World’s biggest solar thermal power plant fired up in California Circular arrays of mirrors reflect sunlight to central towers, heating water to produce steam, which spins turbines and produces electricity.

© BrightSource Energy

Bond market algo-traders steal a march on competitors, get market-moving information from the Federal Reserve milliseconds early – leaks from the Fed's "lockup room" suspected. The financial sector is now 40% of the U.S. economy but is good for very little. In almost every instance, making money off of money is an abuse of We the People's currency, serves no public purpose, and makes the lives of ordinary citizens not a whit better.

31 Photos From the Golden Age of Airships, When Zeppelins Ruled the Sky (Gizmodo) From childhood I've loved airships almost as much as steam locomotives.

Super luxury "Seven Star" train unveiled in Japan Bringing the opulence of passenger airships to the rails.

Discover Thomas Jefferson’s Cut-and-Paste Version of the Bible, and Read the Curious Edition Online (Open Culture) You can, virtually, leaf through the well-used original here.