We've got war already, and it was a big war, long before the invasion of Georgia. The battlefield runs from Afghanistan into Somalia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel, across northern Africa, and deep into Europe. The latest Russian gambit is part of that big war, as any of our friends and allies in the war zone will tell you.

Insofar as America is seen as weak, our enemies will redouble their actions and our friends will hold back, fearing that association with us will not protect them, and single them out for attack. Those consequences are immediate, traveling across the airwaves of the BBC and al Jazeera and the other propaganda outlets favored by our enemies.

Once you grasp the full dimensions of the war, it becomes easier to conceive useful options, military and other. We are well placed to demonstrate that this is not a one-way street. The Russians think they have shown that it's costly to be a friend of the United States. We need to show that there can be a high price for friendship with Russia.

This week we shall explore some of the research that is being undertaken for a variety of maladies. Also research that includes further understanding of the human genome and physiology generally.

First is the new research of malaria taking place. With the help of x-ray microscopy at Berkeley's Advanced Light Source lab, one of the world's oldest diseases has a map of how the plasmodium parasite infects the body.  The brilliant detective work being done by these researchers is so remarkable it may finally "tame the ancient beast" of malaria that still kills millions of people every year.

Then there's my friend who works at Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA. Some of the current research taking place here is taking a deeper look at diabetes.  Broad's scientists have discovered the genes linked to height. 

And, in a step towards personalized prevention, Broad has a panel of genetic variants found to predict both cholesterol and heart disease risk.

 Like me, I bet you can't think of more than a handful of movies made in recent years you really liked. Imagine that - there are dozens of movies coming out of Hollywood each year, and most of them are what are called in the business "stinkers."

Somehow it just doesn't seem fair.  "Professional" moviemakers who seemingly can only make third-rate films get rich, while we, who are obviously far more talented, aren't even in the picture.

Well, as a matter of fact, there is a place where you can show off your directing, producing and even acting abilities - and even make money off your work.

The mullahs in Tehran love hoaxes.  The most hilarious was the recent photo of a "new warplane," which on examination was a plastic toy model.

This was of a piece with the Photoshopped "evidence" of "new Iranian missiles," which was doubly deceptive: it was an old missile, not (as claimed) a new one, and there was only one of "them," not (as claimed) four launched simultaneously.

Alongside these hoaxes, designed to convince their people and the West that Iran is a mighty military power, Iranian leaders brag about their economic power as well. It's another hoax; every Iranian knows that the country is a basket case.

Yet our government plays right along.  We act in such a feckless way as to permit the mullahs to say to their people, "You see, the Americans are afraid of us. They will do nothing. You have no hope." And the hell of it is that the Islamic Republic is hollow, as its own behavior and its own results on the battlefield prove abundantly.

Let's skip across the treetops of technology this week. 

Thanks to a Navy TTP reader who notified Bill Gregory who then notified me of a new technology via Google. Its called Goolgle-411, simply enough and it is pretty slick.

You pick up your cell phone and dial 800-Goog411 (466-4411) and you speak your location into the phone. Next tell the phone what you are looking for and voila, the business, restaurant, or site of interest is served up to you promptly free of charge...

... Some new digital cameras are showing up with an interesting addition to their already amazing qualities. Facial recognition software is being included with a number of models...

...Then there's this trio of tidbits, plus a glorious technological surprise...