Was it Bin Laden’s Funeral?

In the light of the unconfirmed intelligence reports about Bin laden’s death in late August due to a water-borne illness. Was it Bin Laden’s funeral that was being attended to by nearly 200 of the Taliban’s top leadership?

US Military missed bombing a Funeral attended by Taliban Leaders

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. military acknowledged Wednesday that it considered bombing a group of more than 100 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan but decided not to after determining they were on the grounds of a cemetery.

The decision came to light after an NBC News correspondent’s blog carried a photograph of the insurgents. Defense department officials first tried to block further publication of the photo, then struggled to explain what it depicted.

NBC News claimed U.S. Army officers wanted to attack the ceremony with missiles carried by an unmanned Predator drone but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.

It might be idle speculation. But why would nearly 200 Taliban leaders turn up for a funeral if it was not of some important guy?

Osama bin Laden dead?

Osama might have died of Typhoid

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday a secret service report saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died could not be confirmed but said it would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret documents.

The Defense Ministry issued the statement after a French regional newspaper, L’Est Republicain, published a report quoting a French secret service report as saying Saudi Arabia is convinced al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

“The information published this morning in the L’Est Republicain newspaper relating to the supposed death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed,” the Defense Ministry said.

“The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs.”

The report, which was stamped with a “confidential defense” label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on September 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.

Studying Science and Math Makes Your Dreams Come True

The renowned NASA is facing a big crunch. Its Scientific and Engineering community are ageing fast and are on the verge of retirement. But there are no new young engineers to replace them.

“The people that came into the field in the Apollo era and the early shuttle era are nearing retirement,” Dickman said. “The people that are going to make Mars happen, however, are the kids in school today.”

This is supposedly a worldwide problem. According to the “Golden oldies” the students of today are more interested in a career in the booming IT/Electronic gadgets industry with their fancy salaries and stock options rather than get their hands dirty and greased with traditional engineering fields like Mechanical, Electrical, Civil or Aeronautical Engineering. This sentiment is reflected by the statement of Mr Peter S Worden, the director of NASA Ames Research Center when he says

“The average age of my civil servants is 49 and we only have nine people under the age of 30,Then I talked to Google and they only have nine people over the age of 30.”

But being the bureaucrats that they are. Their approach to “popularising” the study of math and Science among today’s kids who they realise are the ones who will make Mars and beyond happen is quite disappointing.

In conjunction with the Space 2006 conference, the AIAA has a program called Education Alley to show young kids the magic of space and the necessity of learning math and science to get there. In a large hall adjacent to the main conference expo area, hundreds of kids lined up to talk with corporate sponsors and educators — and a speaking robot that wandered the floor.

With this approach they are more likely to scare off the kids rather than get them excited.

Instead they should emphasise success stories like Kalpana Chawla and Anousheh Ansari. Both were women who came from societies that did not put much emphasis about education of Women. But both made it by sheer dint of effort and their passion for the sciences. Their biography reads like the “American dream” and would inspire any kid to follow in their footsteps.

But there is more to it than just the politically correct news plug by NASA. Two commentors for that article have called it nothing but “empty talk”. They call the NASA HR department as a “black box” where applications go in and nothing comes out at the other end. They point out the fact that most of the younger engineers are forced to work as “contractors” or “temporary hires” for long periods and this job uncertainty coupled with lower salaries act as a “effective deterrent” against any “kid” finding his way to a career in NASA.

The situation is similar in India too. The points made by those two commentors brought back memories when i did my Final year engineering project in two such research institutions one a Aeronautical and another a Electronics facility in Bangalore and there too it was quite clear that the workforce was greying and there was not enough young recruits. Most youngsters who joined (as contractors/regulars) and were no less enthusiastic early on would get frustrated and leave in less than a couple of years to work for IT MNC’s where the pay and working conditions were much better.And ofcourse the “Golden oldies” here too would whine about the “kids” in the same way as NASA is doing.

The need of the hour therefore for NASA and other government owned research institutions across the world is to stop whining and fix their own houses. If they want youngsters to find it attractive to take up a career in science then they should allow space for some real passion rather than expect the youngsters to pay obeisance to their bloated egos.

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