Last night on 60 Minutes NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly shared an interesting piece of information. Apparently, according to Kelly, the NYPD has anti-aircraft capabilities. While Commissioner Kelly was careful to point out that the decision to deploy the cities AA assets would only be made in the most extreme situations, he did say they are equipped and prepared should the need arise.

Because Kelly declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the NYPD’s anti-aircraft arsenal we are left to speculate what exactly that might be. While there are a vast array of AA weapon systems available, my guess is that the NYPD is most likely fielding the FIM-92 Stinger Missile in its man portable configuration (seen to the left being fired by a US Marine). Since the NYPD would most likely need to deploy its anti-aircraft weapons against a single small aircraft, a shoulder fired solution seems like the best choice. In this sort of situation the city wouldn’t need the multi-fire capability of a vehicle mounted system and being man portable, the stinger can be discreetly transported without panicking the public, is quickly deployable and still deadly accurate (ironically the same reason authorities are afraid terrorist may choose to use a shoulder fired missile against a commercial aircraft).

Regardless of the weapons system the NYPD is using, the fact of the matter is that they are capable of shooting an aircraft that they feel is a threat out of the sky. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand I can understand a municipality to wanting to be able to protect its citizens (and thus its businesses and tax revenue) from every possible threat. However, what we are witnessing is incredibly powerful weaponry being placed in the hands of police officers and I don’t know if that is a good thing. What do you think?

Fighting terrorism in New York City [via Gizmodo]

What was quite possibly the best opportunity for President Obama to announce the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life to the world has passed without a single word on the subject. Of all the supposed venues for announcement that have been theorized, today’s speech was the only event that would allow the President to make what would be the most important announcement in world history without any overbearing American nationalism. With this opportunity passed, I believe the chances of disclosure coming from President Obama or his administration are slim to none. Barring any action from the UN or another national government, it would appear the current tradition of silence and deception will, for the time being, remain the status quo as it has for the past 62 years.

The missing fingers and tooth of Galileo Galilei were discovered at an auction stored in a wooden case. Friday’s announcement by Italian authorities brings the century old mystery to a close. The finger and tooth were removed from the 17th century astronomer’s corpse when it was exhumed from its original unsanctified grave to be moved to the Florentine church of Santa Croce in 1737. During the ceremony naturalist Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti removed three fingers, a vertebra and a tooth to be kept as relics. One of the fingers and the vertebra were preserved and are currently on public display. The remaining two fingers and tooth were passed through a series of owners and disappeared completely over a century ago. The newly re-discovered remains will be on display when the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence reopens in March as the Galileo Museum.


Galileo’s Fingers and Tooth Recovered by Collector [via Chris Holly's Paranormal World]