ATTACK OF THE METEORS

They seem to be popping up everywhere. First in Russia, then Cuba, then California. A slew of meteors in just a few days. So what are these foreign objects?

Shows of force.

The world is posturing for the nuclear-program-strutting North Korea, trying to show they have the capability to shoot down projectiles headed for populated areas. Though the Russian meteor was merely the size of a bus, it was still successfully blasted before inflicting maximum damage.

North Korea's bizarre emblem, with a star raining down  laser beams and meteors.

How will North Korea react to these displays? Probably with some more displays of their own, some pouting and strutting around, a little crying, and a lot of yelling. According to the U.N., China is the only country able to stop Kim Jung Un (though we'll bet the war hawks up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. have something to say about that), but China doesn't seem to be doing anything.

We say gear up for some nuclear action within the next five years. But maybe we're wrong about everything. Maybe the Russian meteor was a fridge they chucked out of the ISS. Then they threw out the microwave and toaster.

WE'RE ALL GOING UP IN FLAMES

A month after a "malware attack" took an entire Iranian oil terminal offline, cyber-security group Kaspersky has  broken news of a new piece of malware called "Flame" that is "one of the most complex threats ever discovered". While they're still unsure who is behind the program (and may never find out without first being killed) there is quite a bit of information being released.
Read More at Securelist.com.

Some of the frightening facts:

• Flame is a huge package that access Bluetooth for nefarious purposes, take screenshots, monitor network data, log keystrokes and even record audio through microphones connected to the PC.
• It appears, due to its complexity and size and the fact that it is not interested in bank account information or general tomfoolery, that Flame is the creation of a nation state, such as the U.S., Britain, Israel, etc.
• Flame is mainly targeting 7 Middle Eastern countries: Iran, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabi and Egypt.
• Flame may be related to the massive Stuxnet and Duqu malware that are basically Skynet 1.0.

Read More at Wired.com.

Virus interpretation by DROUET via Wikimedia Commons.

It's interesting that Israel is listed as one of the infected countries (though some people have indicated that only Palestinian computers were infected). This infection in Israel could be a ploy to draw attention away from them as culprits. 

Of course, most fingers are going to be pointing to the United States, as that's who is regularly mucking about in the Middle East and that's who has the biggest problem with Iran these days. This information gathering is likely the handiwork of the CIA and possibly the NSA in an attempt to more closely monitor Iran's nuclear progress. 

THE ATOMIC FILMMAKERS

This is a clip from one of the best documentaries we've ever seen. It outlines the activities and duties of a group of filmmakers tasked with recording the United States' testing of nuclear weapons. Their footage is mind-blowing, and the interviews are extraordinary, giving you first-hand accounts and insight into what was going on.

One of the most memorable and haunting lines came from a Japanese-American filmmaker who questioned the validity of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war was basically over, but we wanted to show our strength. Could we not have simply shown them the power we had? Did we really need to obliterate 200,000+ human beings when we could have said, "Watch this", and dropped "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" into the ocean near the coast of Japan? Perhaps it wasn't the "Axis" forces we were showing off to . . . *cough*Russia*cough*.

It's an amazing documentary on a fascinating, yet terrifying subject. Hit us up and we'll loan out the VHS we got at Salvation Army.

Watch it on Amazon.