The United States has decided that it will meet a huge cyber attack with an attack of its own and might even go further. On the authority of the president it just might retaliate using missiles or bombs. I can't help but think that some of the people involved in these types of attacks are very intelligent and they are capable of using all sorts of rerouting to make you think that an attack might be coming from one area when in fact it was coming from another. I certainly hope that if we are ever attacked in a way that was considered a huge national threat, that we wouldn't launch a missile which would have the possibility of going to the wrong target. So who is responsible for suggesting the type of retaliation? It is a group called the National Cyber Response Coordination Group or NCRCG and is composed of the US-CERT computer readiness team, the Department of Justice and the Defense Department.

Throughout history people and companies have purchased ships. The HMHS Britannic was the sister ship to the Titanic and never saw passenger service. It was turned into a hospital ship in World War I and promptly sunk taking many lives down with it. Recently the ship was purchased. How can this be you say since she is laying at the bottom of the ocean? Simon Mills purchased the wreck in 1996 and has protected it. “I bought the ship for marine conservation. It's also the conserving of the artifacts. We want to create some sort of unique attraction around the world. It will combine science, history archeology, I want to see Britannic conserved for future generations and if I can start the process rolling, that's brilliant.” Plans have been formulated to start submarine visits to the Britannic for tourists.

The US Navy is doing its best to purchase a new fleet of electronic warfare planes to replace its aging EA-6Bs. It is just beginning to get some of the new planes. These planes are very important. They are capable of flying over an enemy target and detecting all missiles and radar sites among other things. If you remember what some of the older electronic warfare planes did during the Iraq war, you will realize how important they were. It got to the point where the Iraqi Army was afraid to turn on the radar for their surface to air missiles, because these planes could send a missile right down the radar beam to the missile battery. If the old plane could do this, I can't imagine what the new ones are fully capable of? The current group of planes were built in 1971 and their lifetime is expected to end by 2015.

Well it turns out that Craigslist might have many more uses than we suspected. A bank robber held up a bank wearing goggles, a blue shirt and a respirator mask. Immediately when he left the bank his description was relayed to the police who thought he would be easy to find. There was only one problem, this robber used Cragslist to help him escape. How did he do this you might ask? He put an ad in Craigslist to hire construction workers. It said that they were to meet him near the bank and they were to wear goggles, a blue shirt and a respirator mask. Picture this if you can, forty or fifty people running around all dressed exactly the same and none of their faces visible. Needless to say, the robber got away.

I thought that it was interesting to note that the biggest tree planting ever in one day has just taken place in Macedonia of all places. "Our goal is to make Macedonia "greener" and make people more aware of the needs of this planet". Thousands of people came to the planting sites and planted over 200,000 seedlings. One said, "Just as we take care of our homes, we should take care of our planet." Next year the organizer of this project is going to expand it to include all of the Balkans. "If Macedonia, a country of two million people, can plant six million trees, we can only imagine how many trees can be planted in other, bigger countries," he said.

There is a huge bunker about 25 miles from Berlin. No it wasn't built during World War II, but during the Cold War by the former East German leader Erich Honecker. It was constructed to hold Honecker along with 400 staff members. The location of the bunker was key, since it was in a village that was almost exclusively occupied by the East German Stasi. The Stasi were the secret police of East Germany. It was built into a hollowed out hillside and was said to be capable of withstanding all but a direct hit by a nuclear bomb or missile. After all that work and all that money being spent, Honecker only visited the bunker for 15 minutes once. The German government has determined that it is too expensive to maintain as a tourist attraction and has decided that the best thing to do is seal up the bunker. This will be a big job, because the bunker is three stories high and measures about 214 feet by 148 feet and used over 85,000 tons of concrete in its construction.

Remember the Iceman? He was the frozen corpse from the Copper Age that was found by tourists in the Alps. He had died around 3,300 BC and was named Otzi. I guess you must remember him now? Anyway some people now believe that he was cursed. It is claimed that eight people that were connected with him have died. We are talking about the mountaineer who led the scientists to him, the head of the forensic team, a journalist who covered the story and the tourist who found him, to name a few. One was in a head on crash, one got killed in a avalanche, one died from a brain tumor and one fell into a ravine. The so called curse is being equated with the one that people believe was placed on King Tut's tomb.