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1995 ‘coup’: How Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Gwadabe were maltreated — Ex-EFCC chairman.
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri has given a fresh insight into the 1995 alleged coup during the Gen. Sani Abacha regime.

 Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Col. Lawan Gwadabe and Senator Chris Anyanwu were all tried and ended up in jail on the strength of the allegations against them.
Yar’Adua died in the Abakaliki Prisons while serving his term.
Mrs. Waziri believes there was something dubious about the alleged coup and the caliber of names linked with the plot made it questionable.
The former EFCC boss in her newly released memoir Farida Waziri: One Step Ahead recalls how she and a former Chief of Staff,...
General Abdulrahman Dambazau watched Obasanjo confidently rubbish the allegations leveled at him by Colonel Bello Fadile during the trial.
The book is about her life as a spy, detective and anti-graft czar. She said when she complained to a former Inspector-General of Police, the
late Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie that charges were being framed up against the suspects, he responded thus: “there are things beyond our power to control or influence.”
She described a former head of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Col. Frank Omenka as a psychopath who...
used to dance to Makossa music after torturing suspects.
The extracts read in part: “After 1976, my view about coup d’états was conservative. A coup, whether bloody or not, is a piece of a nasty conundrum and I’d rather ponder about it from a safe distance.
But as Commissioner of Police B Operations (B/Ops), there was no way I could stand aloof from the current situation.
”I was appointed into the legal team that was to work with the Special Investigative Panel (SIP) on the trial of the suspected coup plotters.
Retired Colonel Joseph Akaagerger, a former governor of Katsina State, led the legal team, while Major General Felix Mujakpero, a very nice gentleman, headed the SIP.
“The SIP was to convene at Alexander Avenue in lkoyi.
I decided to visit the location days before the start of proceedings. The intention was to familiarise myself with the environment in which I would no doubt be spending the next few working weeks or maybe months.
”Ikoyi was a quiet, beautiful suburb of Lagos with tree-lined...
avenues framing elegant colonial houses set on large generous grounds. “I went around the house and covered the grounds, including the BQs- a colonial legacy, dwellings set away from the main house for domestic servants. What I saw at the Boys Quarters filled me with unease.
“A detachment of soldiers was busy digging up the floors. In one room, they had dug out the tiles and were putting in hooks all over the now exposed earthen floor. In another room, the floor had been excavated creating a pit that the soldiers now proceeded to fill with...
refuse from the dustbin, the smell was pungent and unbearable, is it where the suspect will stay, why make it unhealthy, I asked them, but there was no response.
”Later, I realised only the junior suspects remained there. The panel commenced sitting, and work began in earnest.
The legal team didn’t participate in the interrogations, but its members witnessed some of the proceedings through a one-way glass window. “Not all the interrogations occurred in the open.
”Some took place in the reconstructed Boys Quarters.
Others progressed outside the premises at obscured locations, and there was no doubt that the interrogators employed torture. The suspects often returned in bad shape, with swollen faces and bruised bodies. Some of them could hardly walk.
“Colonel Frank Omenka was the chief interrogator. Many things had been written about Omenka by those who crossed his path. I can only add a few annotations. Omenka was harsh in his methods. He loved his job. He enjoyed the misery he inflicted on suspects.
”I hold the conviction that he was a full- blown psychopath. He had a record player in his office. After a vigorous interrogation session during which he was in a good mood, he’d go to his office and dance to loud Makossa music.
If you happened to come into his office at that time, he would invite you to dance with him.
”I always declined. “Given the political climate at the time, we knew our task was a delicate one from the outset. An air of palpable paranoia hung over the proceedings, particularly,...
when a young officer who was initially on the investigative panel, Captain Musa, suddenly appeared one day in manacles as a suspect. We never found out how his connection.
”But the lesson was passed. “We kept to ourselves for fear of being implicated.
It was a delicate situation for many of us on the legal team because we were familiar with quite a few of the detainees. Their approach was telegraphed to us by the loud clanking of their manacles that gave us ample time to take cover and thus avoid any accidental meetings.”
Mrs. Waziri recounted her observations and interactions with some of the high-profile suspects. She said: “Observing some of the detainees was somewhat disturbing, and for years, I was haunted by what I saw in their eyes. It was a look that defied verbal description, a look of...
naked despair. Even before interrogation, they had already resigned themselves to death.
“However, I broke my own rule. I couldn’t help but sympathise with a few of the suspects. For instance, Chris Anyanwu was a friend, a popular journalist, editor and publisher (and...
senator years later).The least I could do was to encourage her to eat and keep her spirit up. I urged her to write all she knew about the incident truthfully.
”Truth, I thought, always holds a glimmer of hope. “I also knew Colonel Lawan Gwadabe.
I would usually greet him whenever I saw him. He was a fine and outstanding officer, a brave man who showed no fear despite his ordeal at the hands of his interrogators.
”For some unfounded reasons, his interrogators had the conviction that he was involved in the coup plot, and..
they were determined to break him and extract a confession out of him by any means.
”Though held on the premises, he was frequently taken out to undisclosed locations for torture. “On one occasion, he was taken out early in the morning.
They brought him back the following morning a complete wreck, unable to walk.
“Upon orders from above, he was sent to undergo physiotherapy before his next interrogation could begin. On another occasion, they administered the so-called “truth pills” on him and the drug triggered
a cardiac arrest that left Gwadabe unconscious and threw his interrogators into a panic.
”The process came to a forced stop as they made frantic efforts to resuscitate him. They could not bear the thought of him dying because their mandate was to extract a confession.
On that score, Gwadabe defeated them. They could not break him. Their frustration became apparent at a meeting of the SIP.
“They claimed to have reliable intelligence that “what Colonel Gwadabe cherished most in this world is his wife.”
They would love to bring her in for ‘questioning’ to compel Gwadabe to cooperate.
“What a diabolical suggestion! I was seized by righteous indignation. It was clear by then to other dispassionate observers and me that Colonel Gwadabe was falsely implicated for reasons other than
being a part of the alleged coup.
“Now, they were suggesting giving the brutish Colonel Omenka the discretion to interrogate (a euphemism for torture) Gwadabe’s wife to coerce a confession out of the man. “Gentlemen, we cannot stoop this low,” I protested.
“We all know that no soldier planning a coup involves his wife. First, men don’t trust women to keep secrets.
“Secondly, the soldier knows his wife would be too terrified and would do anything within her power to prevent his involvement.
Everyone knows the deadly consequences of a failed coup. Wives are always the last to know what their husbands have been up to in this regard.
“They do find out just like any other member of the public, from the early morning broadcast and on the pages of the newspapers.
We cannot and should not co-sign the detention and possible abuse of an innocent wife, just to get at her husband.
” Mercifully, there was a unanimous agreement. The idea was dropped.” She added that the accuser given a script to implicate a former Chief of Staff, Supreme...
Headquarters, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua later admitted that it was the State Security Services (SSS) which gave him a script to act. She said the written report given to the accuser was later found hidden in the ceiling of the home of the accuser, She said: “I also had contact...
with General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.
“He was Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council when General Obasanjo was head of state from 1976 to 1979. He was brought in looking unsettled. I studied him through the one-way glass window.
He sat quietly in the room, nervous and chain-smoking, wracked intermittently by fits of cough.
“When I had the opportunity, I entered the room and politely said to him, “Sir, why are you doing this to yourself? It seems smoking is not good for your health.”
He gave me a wry look. “If you were in my shoes, what would you do?” he asked.
“If I were in your shoes, I would be praying,” I responded. “As an observer of most of the SIP sittings during the trial of General Yar’Adua, I had the conviction that he was falsely implicated.
The witnesses arranged against him could not substantiate their claims.
“For example, the chief accuser who claimed he attended the coup meeting in Yar’Adua’s lkoyi home couldn’t identify the house when driven around the neighbourhood.
Neither could he identify critical places, where clandestine meetings allegedly occurred with the general in attendance. His claim that about fifty (50) guests attended a dinner in Yar’Adua’s sitting room was proven false.
“When taken into the general’s home, he found a living room that could barely accommodate twenty, not 50 visitors. He had lamely changed his statement to “I was standing by the window.
“Caught in a web of lies, he later confessed that an SSS operative gave him a written report,
with the instruction to copy the information about Yar’Adua’s involvement in the coup.
“When completed, burn the book,” that was the instruction according to him. We found the book hidden in the ceiling of his home. The accuser was handcuffed and subsequently tried.
"After reviewing the evidence, the legal team agreed on reasonable felony for Yar’Adua. The basis was that he might have known about the coup, but it could not be proved. We drafted charges for a treasonable felony & closed for the day. “The next morning began on a dramatic note.
"Others were seated by the time I arrived. I found them in a pensive mood. My jovial greeting drew solemn responses. My offhand question ‘have we finished for the day’ drew murmurs. My file laid face down on the table. I turned it over & got a shock.
General Yar’Adua’s indictment
had changed to treason. I could hardly contain my anger: “What is this? Didn’t we all agree yesterday on treasonable felony?” “None of them replied.
They sat in subdued silence. I was so upset for this blatant interference with judicial due process that I dropped the file...
and abandoned the morning session.
I went home and told Ajuji, my husband, what happened. Just be careful was all he said. That was hardly satisfactory to me. “I headed to the Force Headquarters to complain to the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie.
“We know what is happening,” he said. “Sometimes, there are things beyond our power to control or influence.” “So it was that General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was sentenced for treason.
Sadly, he died in prison.” She described Obasanjo’s appearance before the SIP as the “most climatic
experience” because of his composure and brilliance.
She said: “The most climatic experience of the whole affair, for me, was my encounter with General Olusegun Obasanjo. When rumours circulated that the former Head of State was in custody as one of the conspirators, those of us
in the legal team didn’t know what to make of the new development.
“We all knew Obasanjo for his outstanding qualifications. He is a post-colonial senior officer of the Nigerian Army, a hero of the Nigerian Civil War with the 3rd Marine Commandos.
He was the Colonel who accepted the surrender of Biafra from General Philip Effiong, at the ceremony that ended the Nigerian Civil War in January 1970.
Above all, he is a former Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
“It seemed something was not right for two fundamental reasons. First, General Obasanjo was a superior military officer to all those at the helm of the current government.
Second, most of the officers with whom he allegedly conspired were not even commissioned into the Nigerian
Army when he was a ranking officer. “The situation was strange and unprecedented. No one could tell where it headed. The atmosphere at the premises in Ikoyi was tense.
We had mixed emotions of excitement, anticipation and fear.
“Our feelings were at fever pitch when finally, Gens Obasanjo and Yar’Adua arrived. Observing them through the one-way glass mirror of the interrogation room, I intuited a hidden agenda.
As I mentioned earlier, Gen Yar’Adua was nervous and looked troubled and sometimes angry.
Obasanjo, on the other hand, was unruffled. Calm and composed, he exuded an air of quiet dignity and confidence.
I found his reaction intriguing. He endured the interrogations with the same character with which he entered the premises.
Though his file did not come down to the legal depart, we observed some of his interrogations. “A session remained vivid in my mind. Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau & I observed the proceeding through a CCTV system.
We marveled at his brilliance, intelligence and forensic skills.
It was a particularly grueling session. “Obasanjo was brought in early in the morning. His interrogation lasted till dusk
Without the aid of notes or any other external props, he defended himself, reeling off facts, figures, dates, appointment schedules & myriad of other details.
When he took his turn to cross-examine his chief accuser, Colonel Bello Fadile, the general, in our opinion, destroyed the veracity of the accusations leveled against him.
At the end of the session, General Dambazau and I looked at each other and in unison concurred, “This man is
innocent.” “One even after an interrogation session, it was getting late, & Obasanjo, a diabetic patient, was waiting for his meal of beans from his farm in Ota.
There was a delay in getting it to him. He was in a great deal of discomfort as his blood sugar level began to drop.
Feeling sorry for him, I approached the senior officer and offered to dash home, not far, to prepare a meal of beans for him. The officer smiled and said nothing.
I missed the message. Another officer pulled me aside and cautioned me about getting involved with the detainees, to
avoid getting implicated.
What if you prepare food for him & something happens? “The legal team ultimately sentenced Gen Obasanjo to death; sentence was commuted to 30 years in prison; & the transitional government of Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar pardoned and released him from jail.
He subsequently became the democratically elected President of the Republic of Nigeria. “In later years, whenever I think of the events of February 1995, particularly about the two generals, I try to find answers to some riddles of life.
2 retired army gens, good friends with similar career trajectories, both accused of treason, both sentenced to death, they came to divergent endings. One did not live to tell the story; the other lived to rise to the highest office of the land by popular means— the irony of life.
Yar’Adua probably felt the premonition of death.” In what appeared a clear verdict, the former EFCC chairman described the alleged 1995 Coup as dubious. She said: “The alleged coup of Feb 28, 1995, it happened in the second year of General Sani Abacha’s reign as Head of State.
There was something dubious about it. Historians called it a phantom coup. In other words, a conspiracy by the powers-that-be against selected targets critical of the state of the nation. “Well, I have no opinion about that.
However, the calibre of names associated with the plot made it questionable, especially when the likes of retired Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, former Head of State, and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council, were alleged alongside high-ranking...
officers such as Brigadier Lawan Gwadabe who in all probability were the least likely candidates for mutiny.”

Culled.
#Nigeria
#NigerianHistory

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How do you guys feel about a little bit of history this Monday evening?

Oh, today's Tuesday. I seem to be slower than the times. Is it because of my addiction to history? 😂
Let's journey to South Africa. The Zulu Country with the setting in mid 18th century.

Mkabayi Kajama The Zulu Princess

Shaka Zulu was a great warrior and king of the Zulu in South Africa. His story has fascinated historians, who have tried to figure out the aspects that drove him to be the conqueror he is known today.

It is well known that he died in 1828 at the hands of his brothers, but what many do not know is the role of Princess Mkabayi Kajama in his death. The rebel Zulu princess would work to ensure Shaka become king, and then plot to have him killed.

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The story of Aare Ona Kakanfo Afonja, and the fall of the great Oyo Empire is absorbing. If you're interested in this beautiful history of pre-colonial south western Nigeria, keep a date with me later tonight. 🙏🏾

The Kakanfo and fall of Oyo Empire.
Thread.
Of the 14 Kakanfos so far, the tenures of three of them who were military commanders considerably impacted the history of, first, the Old Oyo Empire, and by extension, the rest of Yorubaland.

The three Kakanfos were Afonja of Ilorin, Kurunmi of Ijaye, and Obadoke Latoosa of Ibadan. The last two of the 14, who were civilians and honorary holders of the title nevertheless impacted the history of Yorubaland, and also the entire Nigerian nation.

Aare-Ona-Kakanfo Afonja:
In the mid-1700s, around 1750 and thereabouts, a powerful Oyo warrior was growing in stature; a man called Afonja. His father was Laderin. Laderin himself was the son of Alugbin, who himself was the son of Pasin.

Alaafin Majeogbe ruled Oyo from 1754 to 1770, and was succeeded by Alaafin Abiodun same year. Abiodun was on the throne for about 19 years, until 1789 when he was murdered by his own son, Aole.
Aole became Alaafin, and ruled from 1789 to 1796.
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Olaudah Equiano®
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President Muhammadu Buhari’s romance with Niger Republic has become an affront to the national interest of Nigeria. When he was sworn-in as an elected president in 2015 he went to Mamadou Issoufou’s presidential palace in Niamey, Niger Republic, to celebrate.

They gave him the reception of a conquering Fulani warlord: a white horse and sword.
I found that curious. How can a Nigerian leader celebrate his electoral victory in a foreign country and not Daura, his supposed hometown in Nigeria?

Answer has since been provided through Buhari’s policy actions in the past 5+ years. We have since learnt that Buhari is a first-generation Nigerian whose father, Ardo Adamu Buhari, a duck seller, had migrated from Niger, settled in Nigeria and married a Nigerian woman, Zulaihat.

The borders defined by the European colonial masters mean nothing to typical Northerners. When you hear that Nigerian borders are porous, what it really means is that there is no intention in the minds of Northern Nigerians and their elite to create an effective barrier between..

them and their kith and kin in the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Northern Cameroun. Meanwhile, the Southern borders are strictly monitored (within the limits permitted by the selfish interests of corrupt Customs and Immigration officials).
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Olaudah Equiano\xae
Olaudah Equiano®
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Biafra’s forgotten children.

The claim that Gabon’s president Ali Bongo is actually Nigerian has shone a spotlight on a subject not many were aware of, that of the children airlifted out of Biafra, and Nigeria, some never to be reunited with their families. Now they are adults.

In his latest book titled Nouvelle Affaires Africaine (New African Affairs), French writer Pierre Péan claims that Gabonese president, Ali Bongo is not actually from Gabon and that he is of Nigerian heritage. He claims that Ali Bongo was adopted from the secessionist state...

of Biafra during the bloody Nigerian Civil War by Omar Bongo, the now deceased previous Gabonese president and father of Ali Bongo.
Pierre Péan’s charge led Ali Bongo’s opposition to demand a DNA test from the president. Péan also claims that Bongo presented a forged birth...

certificate during the 2009 elections & that the elections were rigged, stating that the real winner was Andre Mba Obame.
Ali Bongo’s heritage & background has become a serious issue of contention for some, & has led to protests in Libreville over Bongo’s legitimacy as president.

According to the Constitution of Gabon, no one born to foreign parents can be president. It should be clear that these are all unsubstantiated claims. Ali Bongo ascended to the presidency in the 2009 elections, following the death of his father Omar Bongo who was President of...
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Olaudah Equiano\xae
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Later today, I'll be tweeting on the origins and history of the Ika people of Anioma. Please turn on notifications if you're interested.

The Origins And History Of Ika People of Anioma.

Ika communities mostly comprise the following: Agbor, Owa, Umunede, Mbiri, Abavo, Orogodo, Otolokpo, Igbodo, Ute-Okpu, Ute-Ugbeje, Idumuesah, Akumazi, Ekpon (Edo State), Igbanke (Edo State), Inyelen Edo State).

The Ika people are specifically located in the North-West of Delta State but some like Igbanke, Inyelen and Ekpon are presently located in Edo State.
Other Ika communities found in Edo State are Owanikeke, Owa-Riuzo Idu and Igbogili.

Specifically, Ika people occupy Ika North East and Ika South Local Government Areas of Delta State and a land area of about 117.45 square kilometres. Since the 2006 population census did not stipulate the official figure for ethnic groups, the total population figure of the Ika..

people remains officially unknown.
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“Thread: History of Valentines Day”

Ancient historical sources have claimed the existence of several saints by the name of St.Valentines who died on Feb 14. Among them, two were executed during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 269-270 A.D.
#valentinesday2021

[1]


It was the time when the Christian persecution was common. Another legendary account states that under the rule of Claudius II, Rome was involved in the bloody campaigns, therefore, to maintain a strong army, Claudius II banned all marriages and engagements in Rome.

[2]


The reason of forbidding marriages was forced by the reluctance of people to join military because of their strong attachment to their wives. But St. Valentine defied the orders of the Emperor Claudius II Gothicus and married couples secretly to spare the husbands from war.

[3]


A few claims have reported that St.Valentine endorsed illegal relationships which could end up into a marriage. When it was discovered by the emperor, St. Valentine was arrested and condemned to have his head cut off.

[4]


An order of Belgian monks spent almost three centuries to explore the lives of saints by the name of St.Valentines from archives around the world. Bollandists suggested, that there weren’t actually two decapitated Valentines, but the two different versions of one saint’s...

[5]
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Dr Robin George Andrews \U0001f30b
Dr Robin George Andrew...
@SquigglyVolcano
Buckle up, everyone, this story is *wild*.

The 62-year-old Dyatlov Pass mystery, in which nine students died at the hands of an unknown force, has likely been solved thanks to the movie Frozen and gruesome car crash experiments.

Me, for @NatGeo + thread!

In what has become known as the Dyatlov Pass incident, ten members of the Urals Polytechnic Institute in Yekaterinburg—nine students and one sports instructor who fought in World War II—headed into the frigid wilderness on a skiing expedition on January 23, 1959. 1/x

One student turned back after experiencing joint pain.

He never saw his friends again.

2/x

The team made camp on February 1, pitching a large tent on the snowy slopes of Kholat Saykhl, whose name can be interpreted as “Dead Mountain” in the language of the region’s Indigenous Mansi people. Ominous, sure - but these were experienced mountain hikers. 3/x


The nine were never heard from again.

When a search team arrived at Kholat Saykhl a few weeks later, the tent was found just barely sticking out of the snow, and it appeared cut open from the inside. The next day, the first of the bodies was found near a cedar tree. 4/x
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1/ The “I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most extraordinary speeches in American history. You should read it again. First, a few thoughts about the common American heritage Dr. King relied upon in calling Americans to rededicate themselves to the unfinished work of freedom.


2/ Dr. King delivered his speech in what he called the “hallowed spot” of the Lincoln memorial. More than a picturesque backdrop, King relied on America’s reverence for Lincoln and the common celebration of Lincoln’s words and acts, especially the Emancipation Proclamation.


3/ “Five score years ago…” King echoes the words of the Gettysburg Address. Like Lincoln, King invokes the Declaration of Independence and the fundamental principles of American freedom, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Every person in that crowd knew these words.


4/ The Declaration, Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation declared and established the fundamental American principles of freedom that all Americans knew and believed in. But these principles and promises remained unfulfilled for black Americans.


5/ Lincoln’s audience knew the history of slavery and many had suffered personal loss in the ongoing war. Dr. King’s audience knew the history of violent racism, segregation, and unequal economic opportunity. The Proclamation freed the slaves, “but the Negro still is not free.”
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Incunabula
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@incunabula
The greatest treasure looted from the Ethiopian people at Maqdala in 1868 isn't in the BL or V&A. The Kwer'ata Re'esu, the most sacred icon of the Ethiopian people, was stolen by a representative of the Queen, later sold by his heirs & remains hidden in a bank vault today. 1/10


The original painting, by an unknown Renaissance master, was brought to Ethiopia in the 16th century and became the talismanic icon of the Ethiopian people, a symbol of Imperial authority. Oaths were sworn on it & it was carried into battle at the head of the Emperor’s army. 2/10

Copes of the Kwer'ata Re'esu icon are ubiquitous in early Ethiopian art - here is one painted in the so-called Second Gondarene style in a late 17th century manuscript. 3/10


Its importance to the Ethiopian people is incalculable. In 1744 it was captured in a battle with Sudanese Muslims & later returned on payment of a ransom. James Bruce, a visitor to Ethiopia in 1768, wrote: "all Gondar was drunk with joy" on the return of the "quarat rasou”. 4/10


After the Siege of Maqdala it was stolen from the Emperor Tewodros' palace by Sir Richard Rivington Holmes of the BM, later the Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle, who took the painting - not for the British Museum or the Royal Collection - but for his own private collection. 5/10
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Sriram \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Sriram 🇮🇳...
@Vadicwarrior
Navigation in Ancient India

#LongThread


Indian civilization has been without a break for the last few millennia. This means there have been external connections and indigenous maritime assets.

Among the remains, the maritime assets archaeology are much prized and cited, a dock being the most prized. It also precludes the requirement of knowledge of the seas i.e. a compass.

The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Navgatih’. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.

There were Sanskrit terms for many parts of a ship. The ship’s anchor was known as Nava-Bandhan-Kilaha which literally means ‘a nail to tie up a ship’. The sail was called Vata Vastra, which means ‘wind-cloth’.
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1/x Fort Detrick History
Mr. Patrick, one of the chief scientists at the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., held five classified US patents for the process of weaponizing anthrax.

2/x
Under Mr. Patrick’s direction, scientists at Fort Detrick developed a tularemia agent that, if disseminated by airplane, could cause casualties & sickness over 1000s mi². In a 10,000 mi² range, it had 90% casualty rate & 50% fatality rate


3/x His team explored Q fever, plague, & Venezuelan equine encephalitis, testing more than 20 anthrax strains to discern most lethal variety. Fort Detrick scientists used aerosol spray systems inside fountain pens, walking sticks, light bulbs, & even in 1953 Mercury exhaust pipes


4/x After retiring in 1986, Mr. Patrick remained one of the world’s foremost specialists on biological warfare & was a consultant to the CIA, FBI, & US military. He debriefed Soviet defector Ken Alibek, the deputy chief of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://t.co/sHqSaTSqtB


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In 1949 the Army created a small team of chemists at "Camp Detrick" called Special Operations Division. Its assignment was to find military uses for toxic bacteria. The coercive use of toxins was a new field, which fascinated Allen Dulles, later head of the CIA
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SRI LALITHAMBIGAI, THIRUMEYACHUR (TN)
#bharatmandir #navratri2021

Kshetram where Shiva is worshipped as Meghanatha and his consort is Lalithambigai seen in Abhay mudra.
Once, a demon Pandasura was harassing the Devas who went to Devi Parashakti for protection. 
@GunduHuDuGa


Devi rose from a Yaga Gunda, mounted on the Sri Chakra Rath with the name Lalithambika, waged a war against Pandasura and destroyed him.  When her fury did not subside, Shiva asked her to go to Earth, assume the name Manonmani, perform penance and shed her fury.


Shiva blessed Devi to be Shanta nayagi. There is a sculpture here depicting Shiva pacifying Devi. If you observe closely, you can see that from your left hand side there will be a smile on Her face and if you see from your right hand side you can see anger in Her face.


Hayagriva taught the greatness of Lalitha Sahasranama to Rishi Agasthya. Pleased with his devotion, Ma Lalithambikai appeared before Agastya. He is believed to have then sung Lalita Navaratnamala in praise of Devi. He has also composed a hymn named Rahasyanamasahasram.
ALL
Shalini Singh Sengar
Shalini Singh Sengar
@Maverickmusafir
Remembering Colonel Anil Kaul, VrC (Retd) on his 3rd Death Anniversary.

“It was October 12, 1987, exactly 5:55 pm as I was… coming out of the cupola of my T-72 tank on a steamy evening in an unknown place called Kokkuvil in the Jaffna district of Northern Sri Lanka.+


I froze in that confined space at what I saw. An LTTE militant stood at 60 meters aiming his rocket-propelled gun at my tank.

In a flash he fired. Probably having lost his nerve he aimed too low. The projectile hit the left mudguard of the tank, but for some inexplicable reason+


did not explode. It then hit the side of the main gun and then exploded on top of the turret, all in a fraction of a second. Before I knew, it seemed I had received a straight right punch so to say to my chin. I saw some blood appear on my left hand and there was a sharp drop in+

my eyesight.

Lt Colonel (now Lt Gen) Dalbir Singh, then Commanding Officer of 10 Para Commando, who was standing on the engine deck said to me, “Yaar what a close shave.”

He suddenly saw me and the look on his face told me that something was very very wrong with me. In that+

fraction of a second, as if it was a rewind of my entire life, thoughts raced through my life as to how and when I had landed myself in such a situation…

I asked my gunner to pull out a first field dressing (FFD) which is standard equipment in a first aid box carried in each+
HISTORY
Roger Grosse
Roger Grosse
@RogerGrosse
Important paper from Google on large batch optimization. They do impressively careful experiments measuring # iterations needed to achieve target validation error at various batch sizes. The main "surprise" is the lack of surprises. [thread]

https://t.co/7QIx5CFdfJ


The paper is a good example of lots of elements of good experimental design. They validate their metric by showing lots of variants give consistent results. They tune hyperparamters separately for each condition, check that optimum isn't at the endpoints, and measure sensitivity.

They have separate experiments where the hold fixed # iterations and # epochs, which (as they explain) measure very different things. They avoid confounds, such as batch norm's artificial dependence between batch size and regularization strength.

When the experiments are done carefully enough, the results are remarkably consistent between different datasets and architectures. Qualitatively, MNIST behaves just like ImageNet.

Importantly, they don't find any evidence for a "sharp/flat optima" effect whereby better optimization leads to worse final results. They have a good discussion of experimental artifacts/confounds in past papers where such effects were reported.
MACHINE LEARNING