• NATO's International Security Assistance Force finally found a useful purpose for Twitter by getting into a tit-for-tat duel with the Taliban in the Twitterverse.

• The flight from New York to Geneva crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 2, 1998, killing 229 passengers and crew. The plane carried a Saudi prince, a relative of the former shah of Iran and high profile UN officials. A half a billion dollars of diamonds and gems were also never found.

• The latest batch of e-mails documenting the Obama administration's involvement in a $535 million federal loan to bankrupt solar company Solyndra has liberals scrambling to point fingers at an array of perceived villains. Whether fairly or not, Republicans are using the flawed investment to attack the whole lot of government-led green investments. Here's what Democrats are saying to push back:

• Nobel prize winner for physics in 1973 Dr. Ivar Giaever resigned as a Fellow from the American Physical Society (APS) on September 13, 2011 in disgust over the group's promotion of man-made global warming fears. Climate Depot has obtained the exclusive email Giaever sent titled "I resign from APS" to APS Executive Officer Kate Kirby to announce his formal resignation.

Biden says new information about a possible plot for a car bombing in Washington or New York comes from a "credible source" but isn't confirmed. Biden says there's "no certitude." He says the government is doing everything possible to guard against any attack, and "all hands are on deck."

Speaking Friday on NBC's "Today" show, Biden advised residents of Washington and New York to "continue your life as normal" and remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcers.

• Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced new partnerships between the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) "If You See Something, Say Something" public awareness campaign and several sports organizations and collegiate universities.- Partnerships include National Football League (NFL) teams, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (USTA), Ohio State University, and the University of Oklahoma.-

• Children 12 years old and younger soon will no longer be required to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress on Tuesday. The policy also includes other ways to screen young children without resorting to a pat-down that involves touching private areas on the body

• As it turns out, Paul was not speaking purely in hypotheticals. Back in 2008, Kent Snyder -- Paul's former campaign chairman -- died of complications from pneumonia. Like the man in Blitzer's example, the 49-year-old Snyder (pictured) was relatively young and seemingly healthy* when the illness struck. He was also uninsured. When he died on June 26, 2008, two weeks after Paul withdrew his first bid for the presidency, his hospital costs amounted to $400,000. The bill was handed to Snyder's surviving mother (pictured, left), who was incapable of paying. Friends launched a website to solicit donations.

The controversy was ignited by Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, who claimed that the vaccine against human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer, was a "very dangerous drug" that could lead to "mental retardation".
That claim immediately drew a barrage of criticism from the medical profession and even from Bachmann sympathisers on the right, forcing her to backtrack slightly. She told a conservative talkshow: "I have no idea. I am not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, I'm not a physician. All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me at the debate."
But doctors and scientists say that her remarks risk further reducing the already low take-up rates for the vaccine, as more parents will be convinced to reject the vaccine for their daughters.
Professor Gregory Zimet, co-leader of the cancer control programme at Indiana University, said of Bachmann's comments: "People will say there's no evidence for it and that is true, there is no evidence. But I would go further: Bachmann is absolutely wrong."

A super right-wing propaganda rag — The Washington Post — has officially declared Obama’s “AttackWatch” campaign snitch website DOA:

On Twitter, where the Web site has an account to help Obama supporters submit evidence of “attacks” on the president using the hashtag #attackwatch, nearly every tweet about the site has ridiculed it.
“There’s a new Twitter account making President Obama look like a creepy, authoritarian nutjob,” an Arizonan tweeted. “In less than 24 hours, Attack Watch has become the biggest campaign joke in modern history,” a contributor to conservative blog The Right Sphere wrote. …
It’s safe to say that in its 24 hours of existence, Attack Watch has already backfired in drumming up support for Obama 2012. This tweet summed it up: “Wow, not only are Obama & Co. incredibly thin-skinned, they’re paranoid.”

IBM's supercomputer system, best known for trouncing the world's best "Jeopardy!" players on TV, is being tapped by one of the nation's largest health insurers to help diagnose medical problems and authorize treatments.

Most days, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer David Gasho sends three unmanned spy planes into the skies over the rugged Sonora Desert to hunt for drug smugglers crossing into southern Arizona from Mexico.

But in mid-June, as the largest wildfire in Arizona history raged, Gasho sent one of the Predator B drones soaring over residential neighborhoods in search of another threat -- rogue brush fires. Working from an air-conditioned trailer, his crew aimed an airborne infrared camera through thick smoke and spotted a smoldering blaze.

Using coordinates fed from the drone, airborne firefighters then doused the hot spot from helicopters and watched over a secure Internet feed as the heat signature of the flames cooled.

It was the latest example of once-secret military hardware finding routine civilian uses. Seven surveillance drones are chiefly used to help patrol America's northern and southern borders. But in recent months, they also have helped state and local authorities fight deadly fires, survey damage from floods and tornadoes, and inspect dams and levees.