Month: <span>May 2011</span>

Boing Boing: Geographers calculated 81% odds Osama was in Abbottabad with “island biogeography” theory

In 2009, UCLA ecosystem geographers authored a paper predicting the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. Using probability models they otherwise apply for studying, say, endangered birds, they calculated an 80.9% chance that the al Qaeda boss was in Abbottabad, Pakistan– where he was killed last night. They also correctly predicted bin Laden was living in a city, not a remote village or rural cave as widely presumed.

Original article (PDF)

Reuters.com: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden dead: U.S. officials

President Barack Obama was to make the dramatic announcement shortly in a hastily called, late-night appearance at the White House: That the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks was killed in an American-led operation in a mansion outside Islamabad.

It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden.

A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, “USA, USA.”