50 things you are not supposed to know
1. The Ten Commandments We Always See Aren’t the Ten Commandments
2. One of the Popes Wrote an Erotic Book
3. The CIA Commits Over 100,000 Serious Crimes Each Year
4. The First CIA Agent to Die in the Line of Duty Was Douglas
Mackiernan
5. After 9/11, the Defense Department Wanted to Poison
Afghanistan’s Food Supply
6. The US Government Lies About the Number of Terrorism
Convictions It Obtains
7. The US Is Planning to Provoke Terrorist Attacks
8. The US and Soviet Union Considered Detonating Nuclear Bombs on
the Moon
9. Two Atomic Bombs Were Dropped on North Carolina
10. World War III Almost Started in 1995
11. The Korean War Never Ended
12. Agent Orange Was Used in Korea
13. Kent State Wasn’t the Only ? or Even the First ? Massacre of
College Students During the Vietnam Era
14. Winston Churchill Believed in a Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy
15. The Auschwitz Tattoo Was Originally an IBM Code Number
16. Adolph Hitler’s Blood Relatives Are Alive and Well in New York
State
17. Around One Quarter of "Witches" Were Men
18. The Virginia Colonists Practiced Cannibalism
19. Many of the Pioneering Feminists Opposed Abortion
20. Black People Served in the Confederate Army
21. Electric Cars Have Been Around Since the 1880s
22. Juries Are Allowed to Judge the Law, Not Just the Facts
23. The Police Aren’t Legally Obligated to Protect You
24. The Government Can Take Your House and Land, Then Sell Them to
Private Corporations
25. The Supreme Court Has Ruled That You’re Allowed to Ingest Any
Drug, Especially If You’re an Addict
26. The Age of Consent in Most of the US Is Not Eighteen
27. Most Scientists Don’t Read All of the Articles They Cite
28. Louis Pasteur Suppressed Experiments That Didn’t Support His
Theories
29. The Creator of the GAIA Hypothesis Supports Nuclear Power
30. Genetically-Engineered Humans Have Already Been Born
31. The Insurance Industry Wants to Genetically Test All Policy
Holders
32. Smoking Causes Problems Other Than Lung Cancer and Heart
Disease
33. Herds of Milk-Producing Cows Are Rife With Bovine Leukemia
Virus
34. Most Doctors Don’t Know the Radiation Level of CAT Scans
35. Medication Errors Kill Thousands Each Year
36. Prescription Drugs Kill Over 100,000 Annually
37. Work Kills More People Than War
38. The Suicide Rate Is Highest Among the Elderly
39. For Low-Risk People, a Positive Result from an HIV Test Is
Wrong Half the Time
40. DNA Matching Is Not Infallible
41. An FBI Expert Testified That Lie Detectors Are Worthless for
Security Screening
42. The Bayer Company Made Heroin
43. LSD Has Been Used Successfully in Psychiatric Therapy
44. Carl Sagan Was an Avid Pot-Smoker
45. One of the Heroes of Black Hawk Down Is a Convicted Child
Molester
46. The Auto Industry Says That SUV Drivers Are Selfish and
Insecure
47. The Word "Squaw" Is Not a Derisive Term for the
Vagina
48. You Can Mail Letters for Little or No Cost
49. Advertisers’ Influence on the News Media Is Widespread
50. The World’s Museums Contain Innumerable Fakes
50 Things You'Re Not Supposed to Know
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Friday, 20 February 2009
A Clockwork Orange
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.
The adventures of little Alex in Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange (1962) have become a near archetype in popular culture. The cult of Thug the Aesthete, born in a bolshy great apartment block in some future socialist hell is alive in our revisionist beliefs in the Family, the posse, the license to kill in the modern age. We prefer our worst sociopaths, the ones from our movies, literature, and imaginations, to have a preternatural connection to and appreciation of great beauty, or art. We want to see a refinement in our natural born killers, and even a beauty, perhaps because of the demented fear that the human who is beyond good and evil puts in us, or perhaps because of the stratum of violence our souls is grounded in. Perhaps the Great Victimizer tells us we really do love our deaths, as well as those who kill.
A Clockwork Orange at thefoolsparadise
The WETI Institute
WETI - What are you waiting for?
You've heard of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)? Well, the people over at WETI have a different approach. Here's their mission statement:
The mission of the WETI Institute is to understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of intelligent life in the universe. The WETI Institute has chosen an entirely novel approach to achieve that goal. Instead of actively searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, the idea is to simply WAIT - until the others find us.
Waiting is a notoriously underappreciated method in our efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It is cheaper and less stressful than any other type of research. It is also environmentally friendly and does not cause global warming, terrorism or nuclear conflicts. The WETI Institute has assembled an assorted group of professionals to explore the benefits of waiting for our understanding of life in the Universe. Combining the expertise from a wide range of disciplines - astrophysics, biology, neurology, psychology, philosophy - our objective is to set a new gold standard for scientifically meaningful waiting.
We assume we are conducting the most profound waiting in human history - waiting to know our beginnings and our place among the stars. Numerical simulations have shown that events that will occur with a certain finite probability at any given time will eventually occur with certainty, if only we wait long enough. This is strong evidence for the universal validity of our waiting approach, and it has profound implications for all fields of human endeavor.
We do not need to invoke science, however. When you've lost a companion in a large crowd, the best strategy is not to run around looking for the other person, but to remain in place and wait for them to find you. It would be outlandishly foolish to give up one's own known position to reach the unknown position of another person, who might have wandered off from that position already anyway. And since, in a philosophical sense, both humans and extraterrestrials are lost in a huge and very empty crowd called outer space, the very same logic applies there.
Mankind has always felt the urge of actively doing something of extraordinary relevance. By doing so, we have caused a great deal of grief and disaster. The WETI Institute proposes to abandon our reckless anthropocentric ambition, and to strive for a more humble approach of letting the universe explore us instead.
Visit WETI
You've heard of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)? Well, the people over at WETI have a different approach. Here's their mission statement:
The mission of the WETI Institute is to understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of intelligent life in the universe. The WETI Institute has chosen an entirely novel approach to achieve that goal. Instead of actively searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, the idea is to simply WAIT - until the others find us.
Waiting is a notoriously underappreciated method in our efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It is cheaper and less stressful than any other type of research. It is also environmentally friendly and does not cause global warming, terrorism or nuclear conflicts. The WETI Institute has assembled an assorted group of professionals to explore the benefits of waiting for our understanding of life in the Universe. Combining the expertise from a wide range of disciplines - astrophysics, biology, neurology, psychology, philosophy - our objective is to set a new gold standard for scientifically meaningful waiting.
We assume we are conducting the most profound waiting in human history - waiting to know our beginnings and our place among the stars. Numerical simulations have shown that events that will occur with a certain finite probability at any given time will eventually occur with certainty, if only we wait long enough. This is strong evidence for the universal validity of our waiting approach, and it has profound implications for all fields of human endeavor.
We do not need to invoke science, however. When you've lost a companion in a large crowd, the best strategy is not to run around looking for the other person, but to remain in place and wait for them to find you. It would be outlandishly foolish to give up one's own known position to reach the unknown position of another person, who might have wandered off from that position already anyway. And since, in a philosophical sense, both humans and extraterrestrials are lost in a huge and very empty crowd called outer space, the very same logic applies there.
Mankind has always felt the urge of actively doing something of extraordinary relevance. By doing so, we have caused a great deal of grief and disaster. The WETI Institute proposes to abandon our reckless anthropocentric ambition, and to strive for a more humble approach of letting the universe explore us instead.
Visit WETI
Underground Cinema
In September 2004, French police discovered a hidden chamber in the catacombs under Paris. It contained a full-sized movie screen, projection equipment, a bar, a pressure cooker for making couscous, a professionally installed electricity system, and at least three phone lines. Movies ranged from 1950s noir classics to recent thrillers.
When the police returned three days later, the phone and power lines had been cut and there was a note on the floor: "Do not try to find us."
When the police returned three days later, the phone and power lines had been cut and there was a note on the floor: "Do not try to find us."
Flushing Out a Record of Local Drug Use
Researchers have perfected a method of taking a small sample of incoming sewage at a water treatment plant and extracting the record of local drug use
By David Biello
DRUGS IN THE GUTTER: A new technique can isolate levels of drug use in a community from 1.8 milliliters of its sewage.
In the latest attempt to crack down on illegal drug use, scientists say they can determine the extent and pattern of illicit drug use—from marijuana to heroin to cocaine—by sampling sewage and extracting the telltale by-products.
For example, cocaine is snorted, does its brain-altering business and then passes through the liver and the kidneys on its way out of the body. It emerges in urine as benzoylecgonine and, as that urine travels from toilet to treatment plant, it mixes with a host of other by-products of human activity.
Environmental analytical chemist Jennifer Field of Oregon State University and her colleagues, using an automated system they developed, test small samples automatically collected at wastewater treatment plants over a 24-hour period. Solids are centrifuged out and the sewage sample then travels at high pressure through a machine that chemically separates the various compounds of interest chemically, such as benzoylecgonine. By measuring the relative mass of the various residual chemicals, the chemists can then identify what specific drugs have been recently used in that community.
"Here's a new tool for taking snapshots of communities over space and in time and getting a less biased view of drug use," Field says. Current methods, she notes, rely on either self-reporting in surveys or actual overdoses. "Certainly compared to the statistics approach, which is waiting for people to die," she adds, "this is more real-time."
The technique has been tried in at least 10 U.S. cities, ranging from towns with populations hovering around 17,000 people to medium-size cities of 600,000, according to Fields, though she declined to specify the municipalities by name. One trend: use of methadone and methamphetamine (a prescription opiate withdrawal aid and speed) remained constant over 24 days in these cities, but cocaine consumption routinely spiked on the weekends. "You can see this upswing in the recreational use of cocaine as evidenced by increases in some cases starting as early as Thursday," of each week studied, Field says.
The researchers presented the new drug testing technique at the biannual American Chemical Society conference in Boston today and hope to form partnerships in the future with interested communities. The work is part of a growing trend to monitor drug use via sewage pioneered in the Po River valley by toxicologist Roberto Fanelli of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan. The U.S. government has undertaken such drug-testing experiments since 2006 in more than 30 municipalities, ranging from San Diego to Fairfax County, Va. (just outside of Washington, D.C.).
The technique might help communities determine where to apply law enforcement or track the success of targeted drug-use prevention efforts, the researchers say—for example, helping to get a handle on methamphetamine-related deaths in Oregon, which have tripled over the past decade. But the strategy also raises privacy concerns, Field says. She notes it would be extremely difficult to track individual drug use with this method, both because it is hard to reliably estimate from a community-wide measure how many individuals are actually using the drug and sampling would have to take place almost all the way back in the individual toilet to trace it to a particular household. "It's not getting back to the individual," she emphasizes.
The next step, Fields says, will be to trace the unique by-products of extremely common drugs, such as caffeine and nicotine, to enable even more precise readings of local use. "We will be exploring are there ways to use human urinary biomarkers to try and assess the population?" she says. "Can you follow worker populations? Students moving in and out? And then answer questions about trends in drug use."
Source: SCIAM
By David Biello
DRUGS IN THE GUTTER: A new technique can isolate levels of drug use in a community from 1.8 milliliters of its sewage.
In the latest attempt to crack down on illegal drug use, scientists say they can determine the extent and pattern of illicit drug use—from marijuana to heroin to cocaine—by sampling sewage and extracting the telltale by-products.
For example, cocaine is snorted, does its brain-altering business and then passes through the liver and the kidneys on its way out of the body. It emerges in urine as benzoylecgonine and, as that urine travels from toilet to treatment plant, it mixes with a host of other by-products of human activity.
Environmental analytical chemist Jennifer Field of Oregon State University and her colleagues, using an automated system they developed, test small samples automatically collected at wastewater treatment plants over a 24-hour period. Solids are centrifuged out and the sewage sample then travels at high pressure through a machine that chemically separates the various compounds of interest chemically, such as benzoylecgonine. By measuring the relative mass of the various residual chemicals, the chemists can then identify what specific drugs have been recently used in that community.
"Here's a new tool for taking snapshots of communities over space and in time and getting a less biased view of drug use," Field says. Current methods, she notes, rely on either self-reporting in surveys or actual overdoses. "Certainly compared to the statistics approach, which is waiting for people to die," she adds, "this is more real-time."
The technique has been tried in at least 10 U.S. cities, ranging from towns with populations hovering around 17,000 people to medium-size cities of 600,000, according to Fields, though she declined to specify the municipalities by name. One trend: use of methadone and methamphetamine (a prescription opiate withdrawal aid and speed) remained constant over 24 days in these cities, but cocaine consumption routinely spiked on the weekends. "You can see this upswing in the recreational use of cocaine as evidenced by increases in some cases starting as early as Thursday," of each week studied, Field says.
The researchers presented the new drug testing technique at the biannual American Chemical Society conference in Boston today and hope to form partnerships in the future with interested communities. The work is part of a growing trend to monitor drug use via sewage pioneered in the Po River valley by toxicologist Roberto Fanelli of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan. The U.S. government has undertaken such drug-testing experiments since 2006 in more than 30 municipalities, ranging from San Diego to Fairfax County, Va. (just outside of Washington, D.C.).
The technique might help communities determine where to apply law enforcement or track the success of targeted drug-use prevention efforts, the researchers say—for example, helping to get a handle on methamphetamine-related deaths in Oregon, which have tripled over the past decade. But the strategy also raises privacy concerns, Field says. She notes it would be extremely difficult to track individual drug use with this method, both because it is hard to reliably estimate from a community-wide measure how many individuals are actually using the drug and sampling would have to take place almost all the way back in the individual toilet to trace it to a particular household. "It's not getting back to the individual," she emphasizes.
The next step, Fields says, will be to trace the unique by-products of extremely common drugs, such as caffeine and nicotine, to enable even more precise readings of local use. "We will be exploring are there ways to use human urinary biomarkers to try and assess the population?" she says. "Can you follow worker populations? Students moving in and out? And then answer questions about trends in drug use."
Source: SCIAM
Sonoluminescence: the star in a jar
The curious phenomenon of sonoluminescence has puzzled theorists and experimentalists alike. Seth Putterman explains how the rapid pulsations of a gas-filled bubble can transform sound into light.
Sound into light
Sound into light
The acoustics lab at the University of California in Los Angeles has seen a dramatic change in the past eight years. The transducers, microphones and amplifiers that are normally used for studying sound have now been joined by spectrometers, femtosecond lasers, the fastest oscilloscopes and photomultiplier tubes, as well as the most accurate time-interval meters. Equally important, but of a lesser technology, there is also equipment to purify water, and manifolds to prepare and control the gas content of fluids.
The phenomenon that demands this unusual confluence of equipment is sonoluminescence: the transformation of sound into light by the extraordinarily nonlinear pulsations of a gas bubble trapped in a fluid. Although sonoluminescence can be produced with equipment costing a couple of hundred dollars and can be detected by the eye for free, its measurement requires a set-up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In this month's Physics World magazine (information), Seth Putterman of the Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, reports on sonoluminescence.
Top-secret Microsoft prototype phone stolen
Microsoft was in panic on Wednesday after a prototype phone loaded with top-secret software created to rival Apple's iPhone was stolen, prompting fears of industrial espionage.
By Fiona Govan in Madrid
Last Updated: 3:04PM GMT 19 Feb 2009
The company unveiled plans this week to challenge the dominance of Apple's hugely successful iPhone with a new mobile operating system to be offered on the market by the end of the year.
But within hours of announcing the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a phone fitted with the new generation software was stolen from an executive's pocket.
The theft will no doubt embarrass Australian telecommunications giant, Telstar, whose CEO Sol Trujillo was reportedly given the device by Microsoft to test the system ahead of the launch.
He in turn handed the top secret product to an unnamed executive who was pick-pocketed during an evening function at the trade convention.
A spokesman for the Australian company confirmed the theft had happened. "One of our product executives was given the phone to test the system. He had it with him at an organised evening event and it was stolen from him – we don't know by whom."
There are fears that leaks regarding the features and early bugs in the software could mar the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 which the company hopes will give it the edge over the iPhone and the new Google Android operating system. The new product includes support for touch-screen technology similar to that found on the Apple iPhone.
Among the features offered in the new service unveiled by Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, on Tuesday, is a version of Windows Marketplace for Mobiles, which is set to compete with the popular Apple's App Store and provide easy ways to download music and products to mobiles.
Microsoft also unveiled plans for a Myphone service offering users a free online backup service for all their mobile data, including personal contacts, text messages and documents stored on their phone.
The MyPhone synchronisation service will make it easy for people to keep copies of files stored on their mobile phone, and will simplify the process of moving data between handsets when a device is lost or a phone is upgraded.
A spokesman for Telstar said it was not clear to what extent the theft of the phone could jeopardise the launch of the product.
"I'm not clear on what the security implications of the theft will be," said the Telstar spokesman. "That is for Microsoft to say."
Microsoft itself refused to comment. "We have nothing to say on this subject at this time," said a spokesman from their London office.
Petty crime in Barcelona, the capital of Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, is rife and there have been calls from planners of the annual Mobile World Congress, which ends today, to move it to another city.
Organiser GSMA has warned the Mayor of Barcelona that they would search for another venue if the city failed to improve levels of street crime after repeated incidents of theft were reported by attendees.
Source: Telegraph
By Fiona Govan in Madrid
Last Updated: 3:04PM GMT 19 Feb 2009
The company unveiled plans this week to challenge the dominance of Apple's hugely successful iPhone with a new mobile operating system to be offered on the market by the end of the year.
But within hours of announcing the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a phone fitted with the new generation software was stolen from an executive's pocket.
The theft will no doubt embarrass Australian telecommunications giant, Telstar, whose CEO Sol Trujillo was reportedly given the device by Microsoft to test the system ahead of the launch.
He in turn handed the top secret product to an unnamed executive who was pick-pocketed during an evening function at the trade convention.
A spokesman for the Australian company confirmed the theft had happened. "One of our product executives was given the phone to test the system. He had it with him at an organised evening event and it was stolen from him – we don't know by whom."
There are fears that leaks regarding the features and early bugs in the software could mar the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 which the company hopes will give it the edge over the iPhone and the new Google Android operating system. The new product includes support for touch-screen technology similar to that found on the Apple iPhone.
Among the features offered in the new service unveiled by Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, on Tuesday, is a version of Windows Marketplace for Mobiles, which is set to compete with the popular Apple's App Store and provide easy ways to download music and products to mobiles.
Microsoft also unveiled plans for a Myphone service offering users a free online backup service for all their mobile data, including personal contacts, text messages and documents stored on their phone.
The MyPhone synchronisation service will make it easy for people to keep copies of files stored on their mobile phone, and will simplify the process of moving data between handsets when a device is lost or a phone is upgraded.
A spokesman for Telstar said it was not clear to what extent the theft of the phone could jeopardise the launch of the product.
"I'm not clear on what the security implications of the theft will be," said the Telstar spokesman. "That is for Microsoft to say."
Microsoft itself refused to comment. "We have nothing to say on this subject at this time," said a spokesman from their London office.
Petty crime in Barcelona, the capital of Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, is rife and there have been calls from planners of the annual Mobile World Congress, which ends today, to move it to another city.
Organiser GSMA has warned the Mayor of Barcelona that they would search for another venue if the city failed to improve levels of street crime after repeated incidents of theft were reported by attendees.
Source: Telegraph
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Bill Hicks’ Censored Segment on David Letterman; Interview with Bill’s Mom
The following is the buildup and the actual censored segment of Bill Hicks from the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’...
One thing I would like to point out. In the first video where David Letterman is introducing Bill’s mom and talking about why she is here, he states that it was his decision to remove Bill’s routine from the show 16 years ago...
It appears that Letterman doesn’t remember why he removed Bill’s segment from the show, so I thought it would be appropriate to remind him and anyone else that may be interested. According to Bill Hicks, the reason that his segment was censored from the show is because the “CBS Standards and Practices felt that some of the material was unsuitable for broadcast.”
One thing I would like to point out. In the first video where David Letterman is introducing Bill’s mom and talking about why she is here, he states that it was his decision to remove Bill’s routine from the show 16 years ago...
It appears that Letterman doesn’t remember why he removed Bill’s segment from the show, so I thought it would be appropriate to remind him and anyone else that may be interested. According to Bill Hicks, the reason that his segment was censored from the show is because the “CBS Standards and Practices felt that some of the material was unsuitable for broadcast.”
Mat Made of Moss Stays Alive with the Help of Bath Water
A new bathmat made of moss is kept alive by the water that drips from your body as you dry. The mat contains a total of 70 pieces of ball, island and forest moss measuring 2.4in (6cm) each in diameter. It feels soft underfoot and does not smell when it gets damp.
Each piece of moss is cut into a foam frame, which prevents the moss from spreading or growing out of control. Its designer, Nguyen La Chanh, from Switzerland, says the mat is very relaxing and needs little care.
Google Earth Search: Pot Farm
Marijuana growers not feeling lucky after cops find farm online
Swiss police discovered a sizable marijuana plantation using sattelite images from Google Earth.
Swiss police searching for the address of two farmers suspected of growing marijuana stumbled across a two acre plot of drugs hidden in a corn field by using Google Earth's satellite mapping site.
The wired cops quickly recognized the illegal drug plantation and seized 1.2 tons of pot and cash and valuables worth approximately $780,000. Sixteen suspected drug ring members were arrested in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland as part of a widespread anti-narcotics investigation.
"It was an interesting chance discovery," Norbert Klossner, the head of a special Swiss police anti-drug unit, told the Associated Press.
Source NBC New York
Swiss police discovered a sizable marijuana plantation using sattelite images from Google Earth.
Swiss police searching for the address of two farmers suspected of growing marijuana stumbled across a two acre plot of drugs hidden in a corn field by using Google Earth's satellite mapping site.
The wired cops quickly recognized the illegal drug plantation and seized 1.2 tons of pot and cash and valuables worth approximately $780,000. Sixteen suspected drug ring members were arrested in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland as part of a widespread anti-narcotics investigation.
"It was an interesting chance discovery," Norbert Klossner, the head of a special Swiss police anti-drug unit, told the Associated Press.
Source NBC New York
Brassiere Brigade
Female employees of the phone company stole thousands of dollars from their employer by hiding coin rolls in their bras.
In September 1950, police in Miami, Florida accidentally discovered a crime ring that had been stealing thousands of dollars from the local phone company for years. The thieves were young women employed in the counting room of the Southern Bell Telephone Company. They were smuggling money out of the building by hiding coin rolls in their bras. The combination of attractive young women, lingerie, and money proved irresistible to the media, and the exploits of the “brassiere brigade” made headlines across the nation.
More here
Cults and Fashion
I had this idea to write a piece on cults and fashion. I started browsing the internet and found a lot of pictures of various cults, some scary, others not. The Manson Family came up often, as did Heaven’s Gate, the Branch Davidians, and Jim Jones’ People’s Temple. Actually, those are all pretty scary.
by Anna Dever-Scanlon
More here
Babelfish -Universal Translator Will Allow ET to Speak English -A Galaxy Classic
Since 1966 people have been pointing at Star Trek and asking "How come all the aliens speak English?" They go on to point out the impossibility of a universal translator, make fun of the show and basically prove that they couldn't have missed the point any harder if it was on the asteroid of Pluto. Of course, the reason a magic device can let everyone talk to each other is that forty-five minutes of people saying "I'm sorry, what?" is terrible television. But recent advances at the University of California might show that those nit-pickers aren't just petty-minded pedants, but flat-out wrong.
Professor Terrence Deacon believes that all languages must have a common universal structure. While there may be an infinite variety of means to communicate, there are only a finite number of things communication tries to do - the most fundamental of which is attempting to describe the physical world. By homing in on this fundamental goal any two languages must have in common, Professor Deacon believes it should be able to decode any xenoliguistics, be they communicated by sounds, scents, numbers or phllggQQ'arns.
He weakens his point by referring to how this happens the Carl Sagan book "Contact", which we can only hope he knows is fiction. And even if fiction was admissible in the court of scientific inquiry, a few entries from Stephen Baxter would destroy any "fundamental commonality" principle, conjuring the idea of alien races so fundamentally different from us we wouldn't even know they were there, let alone communicating. The intrepid interpreter's theories can be saved by an "argotic anthropic principle" - any species similar enough for us to even attempt communication with probably does have language as we would understand the term.
Of course, waiting around for ET to show up to test the theory might take a while. Dr Denise Herzing of Florida Atlantic University says we may be able to speak to dolphins using such a system. Then again, Dr Herzing is a research scientist working on animal consciousness with the Wild Dolphin Project, so it's hard to tell if that's expertise or bias. One things for sure: proving that dolphins can speak would trigger a huge response by animal rights organizations. Assuming the dolphin's name isn't "Flipper".
Posted by Luke McKinney.
dailygalaxy.com
New Planets & an Unknown Object Discovered Beyond the Solar System
"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars."
David Latham -Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
As astronomers become more adept at hunting for, and finding, exoplanets orbiting stars beyond the Solar System, international astronomers have figured out just what we should be looking for using the increasingly sophisticated technologies being developed.
Two exoplanets and an unknown celestial object, findings of the European Space Agency's COROT mission, an important stepping stones in the European effort to find habitable, Earth-like planets around other stars. These discoveries mean that the mission has now found a total of four new exoplanets.
More here
New Opening Title Sequence for 'The Simpsons'
The Simpsons is finally going HD — and, in what some fans might consider an even bigger development, getting a new opening title sequence as well.
Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant
A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
More here
What Cooked the World's Economy?
It wasn't your overdue mortgage
By James Lieber
Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 2:46pm
It's 2009. You're laid off, furloughed, foreclosed on, or you know someone who is. You wonder where you'll fit into the grim new semi-socialistic post-post-industrial economy colloquially known as "this mess."
You're astonished and possibly ashamed that mutant financial instruments dreamed up in your great country have spawned worldwide misery. You can't comprehend, much less trim, the amount of bailout money parachuting into the laps of incompetents, hoarders, and miscreants. It's been a tough century so far: 9/11, Iraq, and now this. At least we have a bright new president. He'll give you a job painting a bridge. You may need it to keep body and soul together.
The basic story line so far is that we are all to blame, including homeowners who bit off more than they could chew, lenders who wrote absurd adjustable-rate mortgages, and greedy investment bankers.
More here
By James Lieber
Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 2:46pm
It's 2009. You're laid off, furloughed, foreclosed on, or you know someone who is. You wonder where you'll fit into the grim new semi-socialistic post-post-industrial economy colloquially known as "this mess."
You're astonished and possibly ashamed that mutant financial instruments dreamed up in your great country have spawned worldwide misery. You can't comprehend, much less trim, the amount of bailout money parachuting into the laps of incompetents, hoarders, and miscreants. It's been a tough century so far: 9/11, Iraq, and now this. At least we have a bright new president. He'll give you a job painting a bridge. You may need it to keep body and soul together.
The basic story line so far is that we are all to blame, including homeowners who bit off more than they could chew, lenders who wrote absurd adjustable-rate mortgages, and greedy investment bankers.
More here
The Existential Words of Donald Rumsfeld
"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know" Donald Rumsfeld
Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government
Bin Laden's voice was detected regularly until [14 December 2001] by intelligence operatives monitoring radio transmissions in Tora Bora, according to the Pentagon [details]. Since then, nothing has been heard from the al-Qa'eda leader and President Bush has hinted in private that bin Laden's silence could mean he has been killed. [Telegraph, 12/28/2001]
More here
Geography professor claims to have found Osama bin Laden
A Californian geography professor has used techniques for hunting endangered species to pinpoint three houses in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden could be hiding.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Last Updated: 8:05PM GMT 17 Feb 2009
Osama Bin Laden: The most likely candidate is in Parachinar which housed many mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Photo: AP
Using patterns of how animal species spread, the world's most wanted terrorist can be tracked down to a town in the tribal region of North West Pakistan it is claimed.
By factoring in his need for security, electricity, high ceilings to accommodate his 6ft 4in frame and spare rooms for his bodyguards, the search can be further narrowed to three walled compounds.
According to a team led by Thomas Gillespie, at the University of California in Los Angeles, bin Laden's location is "one of the most important political questions of our time".
Mathematical models used to explain how animal species spread out say he should be close to where he was last spotted.
Their research published in MIT International Review also concluded he should also be in a large town with a similar culture to Afghanistan where he can remain largely anonymous.
The most likely candidate is in Parachinar, 12 miles inside Pakistan, which housed many mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Finally after looking at his need for electricity for dialysis, high walls, spare rooms for his entourage, and trees to hide from prying eyes, satellite pictures show just three suitable houses.
"We believe that our work involves the first scientific approach to establishing his current location" the research concludes.
"The methods are repeatable and can be updated with new information obtained from the US intelligence community."
Kim Rossmo of Texas State University, who has worked with the military to find terrorists told USA Today: "The idea of identifying three buildings in a city of half a million especially one in a country the authors have likely never visited is somewhat overconfident."
Source: Telegraph
By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Last Updated: 8:05PM GMT 17 Feb 2009
Osama Bin Laden: The most likely candidate is in Parachinar which housed many mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Photo: AP
Using patterns of how animal species spread, the world's most wanted terrorist can be tracked down to a town in the tribal region of North West Pakistan it is claimed.
By factoring in his need for security, electricity, high ceilings to accommodate his 6ft 4in frame and spare rooms for his bodyguards, the search can be further narrowed to three walled compounds.
According to a team led by Thomas Gillespie, at the University of California in Los Angeles, bin Laden's location is "one of the most important political questions of our time".
Mathematical models used to explain how animal species spread out say he should be close to where he was last spotted.
Their research published in MIT International Review also concluded he should also be in a large town with a similar culture to Afghanistan where he can remain largely anonymous.
The most likely candidate is in Parachinar, 12 miles inside Pakistan, which housed many mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Finally after looking at his need for electricity for dialysis, high walls, spare rooms for his entourage, and trees to hide from prying eyes, satellite pictures show just three suitable houses.
"We believe that our work involves the first scientific approach to establishing his current location" the research concludes.
"The methods are repeatable and can be updated with new information obtained from the US intelligence community."
Kim Rossmo of Texas State University, who has worked with the military to find terrorists told USA Today: "The idea of identifying three buildings in a city of half a million especially one in a country the authors have likely never visited is somewhat overconfident."
Source: Telegraph
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
The Plot to Kill Google
Google may not be evil, but it sure does have enemies.
By Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein
When Google's lawyers entered the smooth marble hallways of the Department of Justice on the morning of October 17, they had reason to feel confident. Sure, they were about to face the antitrust division—an experience most companies dread—to defend a proposed deal with Yahoo. But they had to like their chances. In the previous seven years, only one of the mergers that had been brought here had been opposed. And Google wasn't even requesting a full merger. It just wanted the go-ahead to pursue a small deal that it was convinced would benefit consumers, the two companies, and the search-advertising market as a whole. Settling around a large oval table in the conference room, the attorneys from Google and Yahoo prepared to make their arguments. Google wanted to serve its ads for certain search terms on Yahoo's pages in exchange for a share of the revenue those ads generated. It already had similar arrangements with AOL, Ask.com, and countless other Web sites. And the deal wasn't exclusive or permanent.
More here
Facebook now owns your content - forever
By Verity Burns
Facebook has updated its terms of service this month, claiming rights to all content uploaded to the site, even after you delete your account.
Previously, the terms had read that Facebook’s rights to to any original content you upload expired after you closed your account. This important little paragraph has now been deleted.
The terms were officially updated on 4 February, however the changes have only just come to light after a blog site highlighted them in an article that has sent the news worldwide.
The change has caused outrage among users and non-user alike, with many people feeling they should have been alerted to the changes before they went ahead.
However, Mark Zuckerberg has been quick to respond to the controversy on the Facebook blog under the title “On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information”.
Zuckerberg offered a simple example to show why the terms of service had to change.
“When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created—one in the person’s sent messages box and the other in their friend’s inbox. Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message.
“We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear”.
Zuckerberg added: “Trust us, we’re not doing this to profit from you, it’s so we are legally protected as we enable you to share content with other users and services”.
Source RINF
US security firm Blackwatch mired in Iraq controversy changes its name
Blackwater Worldwide renamed Xe as company tries to salvage its tarnished brand
Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticised work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. The parent company's new name is pronounced like the letter z.
Blackwater Lodge & Training Centre — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company's overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed US Training Centre Inc., the company said today.
The decision comes as part of an ongoing rebranding effort that grew more urgent following a September 2007 shooting in Iraq that left at least a dozen civilians dead. Blackwater president Gary Jackson said in a memo to employees the new name reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security.
"The volume of changes over the past half-year have taken the company to an exciting place and we are now ready for two of the final, and most obvious changes," Jackson said in the note.
In his memo, Jackson indicated the company was not interested in actively pursuing new private security contracts. Jackson and other Blackwater executives said last year the company was shifting its focus away from such work to focus on training and providing logistics.
"This company will continue to provide personnel protective services for high-threat environments when needed by the US government, but its primary mission will be operating our training facilities around the world, including the flagship campus in North Carolina," Jackson said.
The company has operated under the Blackwater name since 1997, when chief executive Erik Prince and some of his former Navy Seal colleagues launched it in north-eastern North Carolina, naming their new endeavour for the area swamp streams that run black with murky water. But the name change underscores how badly the Moyock, North Carolina-based company's brand was damaged by its work in Iraq.
In 2004, four of its contractors were killed in an insurgent ambush in Fallujuah, with their bodies burned, mutilated and strung from a bridge. The incident triggered a US siege of the restive city.
The September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square added to the damage. The incident infuriated politicians both in Baghdad in Washington, triggering congressional hearings and increasing calls that the company be banned from operating in Iraq.
Last month, Iraqi leaders said they would not renew Blackwater's license to operate there, citing the lingering outrage over the shooting in Nisoor Square, and the US state department said later it will not renew Blackwater's contract to protect diplomats when it expires in May.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said the company made the name change largely because of changes in its focus, but acknowledged the need for the company to shake its past in Iraq.
"It's not a direct result of a loss of contract, but certainly that is an aspect of our work that we feel we were defined by," Tyrrell said.
Source Guardian
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Last Heath Ledger Portrait
Still on the subject of the late Joker, on his last visit to Perth in December, Heath Ledger sat for artist Vincent Fantauzzo. Fantauzzo had planned to submit his portrait for the Archibald Prize this year, but released the image early with the approval of Ledger's family.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports: "The painting depicts the notoriously private actor as three separate images. The central, and largest, image is of Ledger, bare-chested, looking straight ahead, appearing pained and exhausted. The two background images are of Ledger wearing humorous expressions, whispering into the ears of his foreground image. Fantauzzo said he felt privileged to have worked with Ledger. 'Heath was a very private person, which is one of the reasons I was so honoured that he allowed me to paint him,' Fantauzzo told reporters. 'He was so easy and professional to work with. He didn't need any direction, (he was) absolutely focused. Once done, he was back to his usual charismatic self.' Ledger's childhood friend, hip hop artist N'fa, told Channel Ten News the actor couldn't wait to see the finished work. 'He was very excited about it. He was very excited to see the finished product,' N'fa said. N'fa said the picture had captured Ledger perfectly. 'This is the way he always was. He was always a thought ahead.'"
Chappaqua
Chappaqua is a 1966 cult film written, directed by and starring Conrad Rooks. It is based on Rooks' experiences with drug addiction. It includes cameo appearances by a host of famous names of the 1960s: author William S. Burroughs, guru Swami Satchidananda, beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Moondog, and Ravi Shankar, who co-wrote the score with Philip Glass. Rooks had commissioned jazz artist Ornette Coleman to compose music for the film, but his score, which has become known as the Chappaqua Suite was ultimately not used. Coleman too makes a cameo appearance in the film.
The film briefly depicts its namesake, Chappaqua, New York, a sleepy hamlet in Westchester County, in a few minutes of wintry panoramas. The hamlet is an overt symbol of drug-free, suburban childhood innocence, and is also one of the film's many nods to Native American culture. The northern Westchester area had been heavily inhabited by Native Americans; the word chappaqua itself derives from the Wappinger (a nation of the Algonquin tribe) word for 'laurel swamp'.
A Page of Madness
A Page of Madness (狂った一頁, Kurutta Ippeji) is a silent film by Japanese film director Kinugasa Teinosuke, made in 1926. It was lost for fifty years until being rediscovered by Kinugasa in a shed in 1971. The film is the product of an avant garde group of artists in Japan known as the shinkankaku-ha (or School of New Perceptions) who tried to overcome naturalistic representation. Yasunari Kawabata, who would win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, penned the original screenplay.
The film takes place in an asylum. Although cut together in an ever maddening maelstrom, the film loosely tells the story of the janitor of the asylum. His wife is one of the patients. One day their daughter shows up at the asylum to tell her mother about her engagement. This sets off a number of subplots and flashbacks which stitch together the family history (for instance, why the mother is a patient and why the daughter is unaware of her father's job as a janitor).
The film does not contain intertitles, making it difficult to follow for audiences today. Showings in 1920s Japan would have included live narration by a storyteller or Benshi (弁士) as well as musical accompaniment.
The Ultimate Joker
Dark clouds roll across the night sky of Gotham City as the moon directly overhead frames the silhouette of Batman’s imposing figure, ready to fight crime.
The Batmobile speeds through the narrow city streets until reaching a school bus that’s packed with children facing certain death. On one side of the bus we see circus images revealing to our super hero the attacker’s identity.
Laughing gas has the forty some children in tears, grabbing their stomachs gasping for air. From the top step of city hall, enjoying the view is none other than… Mathew Broderick! WTF!!!???
Can you imagine the super human efforts film companies would have to go through to find a fourth Joker after Heath Ledger? Is a better Joker even possible to imagine? Entertainment producers “sorry, but it’s simply impossible”
It’s impossible to imagine, impossible to draw or dub much less repeat the performance.
That’s why efforts to find one should simply cease. The Joker must die now and forever. Now is the time for him to rest in peace as Ledger has ennobled the honourable villain.
We want you to join our crusade to withdraw, for good, the character of the arch villain who killed Jason Todd and left Batgirl handicapped.
The ultimate Joker has been shown and deserves this homage.
Sign up here: The Ultimate Joker
Withnail sequel as Uncle Monty’s grotty cottage is saved for fans of finest wines
In the words of Withnail, the eponymous anti-hero of Withnail & I, Sleddale Hall seemed “free to those that can afford it, very expensive to those that can't”.
The tumbledown farmhouse, known to millions as Uncle Monty's cottage, sold for £265,000 yesterday in an auction that was almost as melodramatic as Richard E. Grant's performance as an alcoholic actor convinced he is destined for stardom.
Sebastian Hindley, a Cumbrian publican who fought off seven rivals to buy the house, was almost barred from taking part because he had not presented the guarantee required to bid by telephone. He had asked a friend to deliver a blank cheque by hand but the friend did not show up until the bidding began.
Spectators who packed the room at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge rowdily exchanged lines from the film as the auctioneer from Savills called the room to order. “What's in your hump?” shouted one. “We're not from London,” shouted another.
Withnail & I was a flop when it was released in 1987 but Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical story of resting actors achieved cult status after it was released on video, and continues to enthral the younger generation.
A “Camberwell carrot”, the name given to ambitiously large marijuana joints, has entered the lexicon and tea shops nationwide have grown tired of students demanding the “finest wines available to humanity”.
In West London yesterday a man with tousled hair began the bidding at £145,000, a price that grew to £170,000 without pause as one of five telephone bidders pitched in. The first man outbid his telephone rival but was challenged by Tim Ellis, 41, a conservation architect, who appeared to have triumphed with an offer of £190,000. Mr Ellis was about to claim victory when a second telephone bidder pushed him up to £201,000. It was only when Mr Hindley made his offer of £265,000 that Mr Ellis was forced to concede.
Mr Hindley, 40, who owns a pub in Ullswater, told The Times that he hoped to make the remote cottage available to everyone who loved the film. “I see the significance of Sleddale Hall as similar to that of Wordsworth's cottage on the other side of the Lake District,” he said.
“Before, you used to have to break in if you wanted to stay there. I want to make it accessible to everyone who makes a pilgrimage.”
The publican, who describes himself as a “local lad”, may have a fight on his hands. The building, owned since the 1920s by a series of water companies, cannot be occupied under existing planning rules.
Lake District National Park suggested yesterday that occupation would only be allowed if residents were “able to demonstrate essential need for the accommodation”.
A spokesman said: “It is unlikely that permission would be granted for a house — even one created from the conversion of existing buildings — unless it can be demonstrated that the residential use of Sleddale Hall has not been abandoned.”
The house, which is two miles from the nearest road, is in an unkempt state. Paul Mooney, the auctioneer, said that it would cost £150,000 to restore, assuming that permission was granted.
It is understood to have been unoccupied since the 1960s. The only known visitors are the cast and crew of Withnail & I, who used two of the rooms for filming, and a small group of musicians who make regular pilgrimages to the site.
Mr Hindley was undaunted. “If you work with the authority, I believe there's always something you can do. There's too many people who want to let heritage go to ruin.”
Mr Hindley has asked for anyone who wishes to help with the house to write to him at seb@easternfells.info.
Source TIMESONLINE
Pirate Bay prosecutor tosses infringement charges overboard
Watered down to ‘assisting making available’
By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author
Posted in Law, 17th February 2009 12:56 GMT
Free whitepaper – Integrating information across the enterprise
Half of the charges made against the four men behind the notorious file-sharing website The Pirate Bay have been sensationally dropped on day two of the trial.
Prosecutor Håkan Roswall made the surprise move this morning, according to reports on The Local and TorrentFreak.
He has amended the charges against Carl Lundström, Peter Sunde, Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg by removing all mention of "complicity in the production of copyrighted material" from the charge sheet filed with the district court in Stockholm, Sweden.
The new charges will be changed simply to read “complicity to make (copyrighted material) available”, thereby limiting it to the production of the actual torrent file and the resultant hard or soft copy of it.
Defence lawyer Per E Samuelsson described the amendment as “a sensation".
"It is very rare that you win half the case after one and a half days and it is clear that the prosecutor has been deeply affected by what we said yesterday," he said.
Samuelsson also claimed that Roswall “has not really understood” the BitTorrent technology used by The Pirate Bay.
The prosecutor reportedly used media evidence that included Harry Potter, Syriana and Walk the Line downloads in court yesterday. According to TorrentFreak, Roswall was forced to amend the charges today after failing to prove that the torrent files had used The Pirate Bay's tracker.
The Register asked the Stockholm district court if it can confirm Roswall’s amendment to the charge sheet, but at time of writing it hadn’t responded to our request. ®
Free whitepaper – Integrating information across the enterprise
Source The Register
OBAMICON.ME
Still on the subject of Shep Fairey's iconic Barrack Obama image appropriated by Team Obama, head over to Paste Magazine's Obamicon.me to create your own.
Here's one VOOSH made earlier.
Here's one VOOSH made earlier.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Associated Press Accuses Shepard Fairey Of Copyright Infringement
He may be our President, but you can’t escape Shepard Fairey's (Juxtapoz cover #82) iconic Obama HOPE poster imagery just yet. In fact, this new twist has us frustrated and more than a little peeved. It’s no secret that the poster of President Barack Obama, above right, by Shepard Fairey is based on the April 27, 2006 file photo of then-Senator Barack Obama by Associated Press photographer Manny Garcia at the National Press Club in Washington. However, even though Shepard Fairey has acknowledged that his poster is based on the AP photo, AP says it owns the copyright and wants not only credit, but financial compensation. "The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission," the AP's director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement."AP safeguards its assets and looks at these events on a case-by-case basis. We have reached out to Mr. Fairey's attorney and are in discussions. We hope for an amicable solution.""We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," says Fairey's attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School. "It wouldn't be appropriate to comment beyond that at this time because we are in discussions about this with the AP."Fairey has been very open that he found the photograph using a common Google Images search. He released the image on his own website shortly after he created it in early 2008 and made thousands of posters for the street in support of a candidate he had faith, and yes, hope in. The image caught on, and supporters snagged the image for their own uses, campaign-related and otherwise, yet Fairey never received any of the money raised using his unique imagery. Funny how when Shepard was a lesser-known, albeit hard-working, street and fine artist, not many seemed to mind or wonder where the inspiration for his artistry came from. Nothing like seeing a dollar to be made and seizing an opportunity. We’ll be sure to follow this case, but you can read further now on the Huffington Post.
Vatican advisers blamed for Pope's woes
Benedict's inner circle of sycophants rarely asked to contribute opinions, insiders say
Megan Williams
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
ROME – Call it trouble in paradise.
With the recent Vatican mishandling of the status of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, many observers say leaders of the Catholic Church are seeming out of touch with today's world and dangerously ignorant about public relations.
The latest trouble began when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of British-born Bishop Richard Williamson and three others belonging to the Society of Saint Pius X, an openly anti-Semitic Catholic sect.
They were banished in 1988 after their leader, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained them as bishops without papal approval. In a move to bridge the schism, Pope Benedict lifted their excommunications without fully rehabilitating the men into the church.
Only following international outrage did the Vatican publicly condemn the bishop's anti-Semitic views. The statement, however, was not released until Feb. 6, a full two weeks after the Pope had reinstated Williamson.
Vatican expert Robert Mickens says the slow response reveals the disturbing incompetence of advisers close to the Pope.
"Williamson has been known for years to be a Holocaust denier. So to say the Pope didn't know, I'm afraid will strike people as disingenuous."
It's not the first time the Vatican has seemed naive on hot-button issues. In 2006, the Pope quoted an inflammatory remark about Islam that set off violent protests in the Muslim world. It took months of diplomatic effort to quell tensions.
In July 2007, a Vatican declaration on the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church said Protestant denominations are not even churches "in the proper sense," reopening old wounds.
Vatican insiders say the Pope has chosen to surround himself with sycophants who are rarely asked to contribute opinions.
"You have to ask who's in the room when decisions are made?" asks U.S. priest and academic Thomas Reese. "The Pope is surrounded by loyalists ... To lead effectively, you need advisers as smart as you are."
Much of the problem, says author and Vaticanist Francis X. Rocca, lies with a woefully outdated notion of public relations, noting the Pope, unlike his predecessor, does not have a full-time press officer.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/585610
Megan Williams
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
ROME – Call it trouble in paradise.
With the recent Vatican mishandling of the status of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, many observers say leaders of the Catholic Church are seeming out of touch with today's world and dangerously ignorant about public relations.
The latest trouble began when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of British-born Bishop Richard Williamson and three others belonging to the Society of Saint Pius X, an openly anti-Semitic Catholic sect.
They were banished in 1988 after their leader, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained them as bishops without papal approval. In a move to bridge the schism, Pope Benedict lifted their excommunications without fully rehabilitating the men into the church.
Only following international outrage did the Vatican publicly condemn the bishop's anti-Semitic views. The statement, however, was not released until Feb. 6, a full two weeks after the Pope had reinstated Williamson.
Vatican expert Robert Mickens says the slow response reveals the disturbing incompetence of advisers close to the Pope.
"Williamson has been known for years to be a Holocaust denier. So to say the Pope didn't know, I'm afraid will strike people as disingenuous."
It's not the first time the Vatican has seemed naive on hot-button issues. In 2006, the Pope quoted an inflammatory remark about Islam that set off violent protests in the Muslim world. It took months of diplomatic effort to quell tensions.
In July 2007, a Vatican declaration on the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church said Protestant denominations are not even churches "in the proper sense," reopening old wounds.
Vatican insiders say the Pope has chosen to surround himself with sycophants who are rarely asked to contribute opinions.
"You have to ask who's in the room when decisions are made?" asks U.S. priest and academic Thomas Reese. "The Pope is surrounded by loyalists ... To lead effectively, you need advisers as smart as you are."
Much of the problem, says author and Vaticanist Francis X. Rocca, lies with a woefully outdated notion of public relations, noting the Pope, unlike his predecessor, does not have a full-time press officer.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/585610
Ron English Interview on Eve of "Abraham Obama" Film Release
On the eve of the San Francisco premiere of Abraham Obama, the new documentary film from JetSet Graffiti, Jeremy Hatch pulled legendary street, studio, and ‘popaganda’ artist Ron English aside to speak with him about the origins of his now iconographic image of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln fused together, forming one stunning (and slightly trippy) picture.
More here
NSA offering 'billions' for Skype eavesdrop solution
News of a possible viable business model for P2P VoIP network Skype emerged today, at the Counter Terror Expo in London. An industry source disclosed that America's supersecret National Security Agency (NSA) is offering "billions" to any firm which can offer reliable eavesdropping on Skype IM and voice traffic.
The spybiz exec, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that Skype continues to be a major problem for government listening agencies, spooks and police. This was already thought to be the case, following requests from German authorities for special intercept/bugging powers to help them deal with Skype-loving malefactors. Britain's GCHQ has also stated that it has severe problems intercepting VoIP and internet communication in general. Skype in particular is a serious problem for spooks and cops. Being P2P, the network can't be accessed by the company providing it and the authorities can't gain access by that route. The company won't disclose details of its encryption, either, and isn't required to as it is Europe based. This lack of openness prompts many security pros to rubbish Skype on "security through obscurity" grounds: but nonetheless it remains a popular choice with those who think they might find themselves under surveillance. Rumour suggests that America's NSA may be able to break Skype encryption - assuming they have access to a given call or message - but nobody else. The NSA may be able to do that: but it seems that if so, this uses up too much of the agency's resources at present. "They are saying to the industry, you get us into Skype and we will make you a very rich company," said the industry source, adding that the obscure encryption used by the P2Pware is believed to change frequently as part of software updates. The spyware kingpin suggested that Skype is deliberately seeking to frustrate national listening agencies, which seems an odd thing to do - Skype has difficulties enough getting revenues out of its vast user base at any time, and a paid secure-voice system for subversives doesn't seem like a money-spinner. But corporate parent eBay, having had to write down $1.4bn already following its $2.6bn purchase of Skype back in the bubble-2.0 days of 2005, might see an opportunity here. A billion or two from the NSA for a backdoor into Skype might make the acquisition seem like a sensible idea. We asked the NSA for comment, particularly on the idea of simply buying a way into Skype, but hadn't yet received a response as of publication. ®
Lewis Page Homepage: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/12/nsa_offers_billions_for_skype_pwnage/
Former Guantanamo Guard Tells All
Former Guantanamo Guard Tells All
by: Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine
Army Private Brandon Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo in the first years the facility was in operation. With the Bush Administration, and thus the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step forward and tell his story. "The stuff I did and the stuff I saw was just wrong," he told the Associated Press. Neely describes the arrival of detainees in full sensory-deprivation garb, he details their sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, »
Breaking News
How police control the news agenda
'A ground breaking documentary'- The Ecologist
Breaking News ( 14minutes )
An award winning documentary investigating how Police are trying to control the news agenda. The arrests of journalists during demonstrations is seen by many as a step too far. Repeatedly the reporters are released without charge once their news deadlines have passed. Undercurrents recorded incidents of reporters being arrested for filming Police misbehaviour, and even for forgetting the PIN on their Press Card.
Produced in 1999
Latest info on this can be found on the National Union of Journalists website
NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff said: “There are examples of NUJ members who have been arrested and had material and property such as camera equipment seized in circumstances where it would be difficult to argue that it was necessary and proportionate, and has had the added consequence of interfering with the ability to work and earn a living.”The film was produced in 1999 but the story is the same today.The Home Office is being daft in their response to the problem with this recent response.
Source undercurrents
'A ground breaking documentary'- The Ecologist
Breaking News ( 14minutes )
An award winning documentary investigating how Police are trying to control the news agenda. The arrests of journalists during demonstrations is seen by many as a step too far. Repeatedly the reporters are released without charge once their news deadlines have passed. Undercurrents recorded incidents of reporters being arrested for filming Police misbehaviour, and even for forgetting the PIN on their Press Card.
Produced in 1999
Latest info on this can be found on the National Union of Journalists website
NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff said: “There are examples of NUJ members who have been arrested and had material and property such as camera equipment seized in circumstances where it would be difficult to argue that it was necessary and proportionate, and has had the added consequence of interfering with the ability to work and earn a living.”The film was produced in 1999 but the story is the same today.The Home Office is being daft in their response to the problem with this recent response.
Source undercurrents
08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail
Click the image to download the pdf
Beyond the pandering focus groups, the billion-dollar fund-raising machinery, and the relentless myopia of the 24-hour news cycle, it was clear that something deep in the American psyche was stirring as the rumblings of the 2008 election first began. 08 follows the epic 2008 presidential campaign from inside the press bubble: the inevitable former first lady with a terrible plan to win, the freshman African-American senator who skyrockets to the Democratic nomination, and a former POW’s hangdog campaign that overcomes both the Mormon governor and thrice-married (and occasionally cross-dressing) mayor.
Taking its cue from campaign classics like Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 and The Making of the President series, 08 brings politico journalism into the graphic novel form. Reflect on all the single-issue candidates, the pundits, the meltdowns, the awkward missteps, and the ruthless maneuvers of the scorched-earth campaign trail as they knit themselves into a political tale of the present-day battle for the future of America.
http://dangoldman.net/08/
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge
Josh Neufeld
Seeing as how New Orleans just withstood its third Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina, it seems like a good time to alert you about a graphic novel project I'm writing and drawing. Entitled A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, the comic is about about escaping and surviving Katrina -- and what happens next in the lives of a diverse cross-section of Crescent City residents. A.D. is being serialized -- free for all readers -- on the personal storytelling website, SMITH Magazine.
Continue reading at huffingtonpost.com
SHOOTING WAR
Shooting War: The New Graphic Novel (trailer) from SMITHmag on Vimeo
SHOOTING WAR is a full-color 192-page hardcover graphic novel published by Grand Central Publishing (US) and Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK).
More here
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