Tales of Two Women
Two American women are in the news this morning, both having to do with events in other countries. Did you ever think Yanira was guilty of drug smuggling? I didn't. If not for modern day technology (surveillance), she'd be in jail for a long time. I know that drones sometimes take away privacy, but I also believe they are necessary, even in the case of collateral damage. When your time is up in this program .. it is ... which takes us to the second story - Monica who fought for what she believed in but died trying.
The Arizona mother detained in Mexico for more than a week on drug charges has been released and returned to the U.S. after a video showed she boarded a bus with no packages that could have contained 12 pounds of marijuana, as police had alleged. Yanira Maldonado, 42, walked out of the jail late Thursday night local time, and thanked well-wishers and Mexican officials. Maldonado told one jail official in Spanish, "Thank you for everything and the quality of person you are."
Michigan woman dies in Syria fighting for opposition: family Reuters - May 31, 2013
A 33-year-old Michigan woman, Monica Mansfield Speelman, and convert to Islam has been killed in Syria while fighting with opposition forces against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war, her family said on Thursday. The woman's aunt told Reuters that the FBI had informed her on Thursday afternoon of the death of her niece, Nicole Mansfield of Flint, but said she did not have the details of how she died.
You'll read a lot more about drones in the future. As with all things, there will be positive and negative occurrences.
Drones to enter public skies in 2015: Will it be safe? Yahoo - May 31, 2013
Nothing stresses out drone enthusiasts more than reading in the news that some hobbyist decided to pilot a homemade, remote-controlled helicopter drone over Alcatraz or, as in a reported case in March, test out a three-foot-wide drone near a jetliner landing at John F. Kennedy airport. These flights are illegal - people must keep drones within their line of sight, under 400 feet, and away from airports - but that hasn't stopped a few rogue hobbyists from breaking the rules. It was these kinds of incidents that led the Federal Aviation Administration to greatly restrict small drone flights in the first place in 2007 and begin the process of coming up with still-uncompleted universal safety standards for unmanned aircraft that could be as stringent as those for commercial airliners.
What's on Mars?
Is Mars Infested With Pareidolia Rats? Discovery - May 30, 2013
It has finally happened. Not content with (potentially) infecting the pristine Martian surface with our germs, it appears that we've sent a rat (yes, a whole rat) to the Red Planet. And this isn't some far-fetched hypothesis, there's photographic evidence! NASA's Mars rover Curiosity snapped this panorama (above) of the Rocknest site with its MastCam camera on sol 52 of the mission. Now, with a keen eye and fertile imagination, a UFO enthusiast realized there was a camouflaged rodent hiding in the rocks. Needless to say, there's no other evidence supporting this claim, it's just something that looks like a rodent.
Mars Rover Curiosity Finds Pebbles Likely Shaped by Ancient River Space.com - May 30, 2013
Smooth, round pebbles found by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity provide more evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet, according to a new study. The Curiosity rover snapped pictures of several areas with densely packed pebbles, and by closely analyzing the rock images, researchers discovered that the shapes and sizes of the individual pebbles indicate that they traveled long distances in water, likely as part of an ancient riverbed.
There are three choices about what the object is:
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a rodent brought from Earth,
a rodent that escaped from an alleged underground facility run by humans and/or aliens,
an interesting rock formation.
Consider ... how would a rodent survive on Mars? It couldn't - under NASA's statement of what Mars' atmosphere is. I know you would love to see proof of any kind of alien life - so would I, but this is not it. Look at some of the other rocks and you will see different images - it's called rock scrying. We won't know about aliens until something big happens here. Many believe it is soon, others believe it will never happen. You decide.
