Archive for January, 2010
Douglas Rushkoff On Corporations As Uber-Citizens
Long-time friend of disinformation Doug Rushkoff always has great insight on cultural matters. This considered essay following the Supreme Court’s controversial decision last week permitting corporations to finance political parties is one of the best I’ve read so far:
Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling was positive in one respect: it made law out of what was already happening. While corporations earned “personhood” back in the 1860’s when a court clerk (likely bribed) added this language into the margins of another court decision, they never quite had the rights of citizenship before. They already write our laws (through lobbies) elect our leaders (with money) and create public opinion (with money and PR). If you’re interested in how and why that happened, please read my book Life Inc. But they have always tended to do so by working around government’s efforts to limit their influence.
It was a losing game for a government by the people, of course,…
U.S. Budget Deficit To Hit $1.3 Trillion In 2010
This is really out of control … how do you ever recover from that kind of deficit? Hard times are ahead in the U.S., the only question being how long can the government postpone the inevitable. This report at Marketwatch:
The U.S. budget deficit will hit $1.3 trillion in 2010, congressional budget analysts estimated Tuesday, in a fresh piece of grim news for President Barack Obama.
The estimate from the Congressional Budget Office assumes current laws and policies remain unchanged.
Economic growth will also probably be “muted” for the next few years, the CBO said in its budget outlook for 2010.
The CBO’s estimates come about a week before Obama transmits his fiscal 2011 budget to Congress, on Feb. 1. Obama is under mounting pressure to cut the deficit but also to create jobs, in the wake of last week’s victory in a special Senate election in Massachusetts by Republican Scott Brown.
In his first…
Hunt For Earth’s ‘Twin Planet’ Takes Leap Forward
The Telegraph reports that scientists are on the brink of discovering the first Earth-like planet outside the solar system:
Professor Michel Mayor, the scientist who led the team that identified the first extrasolar planet in 1995, believes a planet similar in size and composition to Earth will soon be found.
Prof Mayor, of Geneva University, said that the prospect of finding a planet habitable for humans had come a step closer through rapid technological advances allowing observation of planets outside the solar system.
Addressing a Royal Society conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programme, he said: “The search for twins of Earth is motivated by the ultimate prospect of finding sites with favourable conditions for the development of life.
“We’ve entered a new phase in this search.”More than 400 extroplanets have been discovered over the past 15 years, he added.
However, it is doubtful that any of these could…
Hacking Humanity: The Do-It-Yourself Biology Movement
“I wanted to make a dent in the suffering and death caused by aging…” says one “DIY biologist”. “Of course, there are also DIYers with no ambitions to save the world, who are content to ‘make yogurt glow’ in the basement for their own personal satisfaction!”
And meanwhile, Tyson Anderson, a U.S. Army specialist, is engineering bioluminescent yeast to construct sugar-powered lamps for his friends in Afghanistan!
This article profiles a growing movement – DIY biology – that bypasses the bureaucracies hobbling traditional research to write their own genetic code and even design their own biological systems. (In one lab, the on-site laser was modified from a tattoo-removal system.) But the article predicts that “We will probably see a rise in the number of hobbyists who treat their own bodies as machines to be worked on – like a radio or a car – branching out from personalized genomics to things like…
The Mysterious Ellie Light: President Obama’s Number One Fan
Check out Sabrina Eaton’s work in the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the latest on this. Johanna Neuman writes in the LA Times:
Her name, we think, is Ellie Light, or maybe that’s a composite. Claiming to be a local resident, Ellie has been writing letters to editors all over the world defending President Obama against his critics.
In nearly-identical letters to scores of publications, Light writes in defense of the president. Since news of her serial letter-writing campaign surfaced in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one sleuth has tracked 70 sightings of Ellie Light letters.
This one ran in Ohio’s Chillicothe Gazette, a template for the others: “Today, the president is being attacked as if he were a salesman who promised us that our problems would wash off in the morning,. He never made such a promise. It’s time for Americans to realize governing is hard work and that a president can’t just wave a magic…
Japanese Scientists Create Elastic Water
Kevin Parrish writes on tom’s guide:
Elastic Water could eventually replace plastic, or be used in an environmentally-safe plastic.
Bernama, a part of the Malaysian National News Agency, reports that Japanese scientists have created “elastic water.” Developed at the Tokyo University, the new material consists mostly of water — 95-percent — with an added two grams of clay and organic material. The resulting substance resembles jelly, but is extremely elastic and transparent.
The invention was originally revealed last week in the latest issue of the Nature scientific magazine. According to the article, the new material is quite safe for the environment and humans, and may be a “long-term” tool in medical technology, possibly to help wounded or surgically cut tissue to remain closed.
Glenn Beck Talks the Beatles’ “Revolution”
I actually don’t think Glenn Beck believes the Beatles were secret maoists; it’s just his latest attempt to turn the word “progressive” into the f-word. He’ll make any possible connection in order to do that. Oh well, it’s fun to play both clips together and wait and see if Glenn Beck’s head will explode:
But when you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright…
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know know it’s gonna be alright…
Celebrity Portraits Made From Hundreds Of Prescription Pills
Another interesting drug-mosaic artist. Via IncredibleWorld.net:
It is well known that lot of celebrities have problems with using drugs. American artist Jason Mecier decided to speak about this problem in his own way. He created a number of celebrity mosaic-portraits out of colored prescription pills.
There you can find portrait of Heath Ledger who has lost his life because of drugs overdose. The Michael Jackson portrait is pretty interesting too. If you look those photos from a distance or resize them to a tiny images, you’ll see that those portraits are pretty realistic.
Jason Mecier is a mosaic portrait artist who has worked for a years in creation of amazing mosaic portraits using beans, noodles, yarn and similar inexpensive materials. He claims that there’s no any ‘fooling’ about his artworks and that he is not using any trick shots or studio touch ups to create his artworks.
Read and see more art on IncredibleWorld.net
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A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter: Is This How Artificial Intelligence Begins?
Very weird. I agree with the author of this article, does sound like it came from the mind of William S. Burroughs. Scott Timberg writes on io9.com
A devious device looking suspiciously like the pain box from Dune — or a minimalist sculpture from the ’60s — is now selling on eBay. In fact, that’s all it does. This robot sells itself on eBay every week.
Called “A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter (2009),” by the artist Caleb Larsen, the imposing cube has a mind of its own, literally:
Hooked up to the internet, it will put itself up for sale every seven days. Right now — the auction lasts until Thursday — you can land it for just north of four grand. But a week later, the cube will offer itself up for sale again.
It seems to be for real: That is, this thing comes with a legal contract binding the collector to facilitating…
NASA Announces Designs for Personal Flying Suit
DAN SALTZSTEIN writes in the NY Times:
Forget the Segway. Leave that jet pack behind. NASA is working on a personal flying suit.
Conceptual designs for the experimental vehicle, called Puffin, were introduced by Mark D. Moore, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, at a meeting of the American Helicopter Society on Jan. 20 in San Francisco. The Puffin is designed to be 12 feet in length, with a total wingspan of 14 and a half feet; it would weigh in at 300 pounds (without a pilot).
Under the Weather? Just Swallow A Doctor
Steve Connor writes in the Independent:
The day when patients can “swallow their doctor” has come a step closer with the development of a submicroscopic nanoparticle that acts as an intelligent pill to deliver drugs when and where they are needed in the body.
Each nanoparticle is built to target a specific part of the body and to release their drugs in a controlled manner over a given period of time. They are so small that millions of them could be injected into the bloodstream without harming healthy tissues.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge have designed the first nanoparticles designed to target the walls of the arteries around the heart. They bind specifically to the proteins that only stick out from the inner lining of the these blood vessels when they are damaged.
Once the nanoparticles take up position in the diseased arteries they are programmed to release small…
Pentagon Hired ‘Crackpot’ Conspiracy Theorist As Al Qaeda Specialist
Justin Elliott writes on TPM Muckraker:
When the Pentagon’s internal think tank decided in 2004 it needed a better understanding of Al Qaeda, it turned to an unlikely source: the terrorism analyst Laurie Mylroie, who was known as the chief purveyor of the discredited idea that Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11 and many other attacks carried out by Al Qaeda.
Mylroie was paid roughly $75,000 to produce a 300-page study, “The History of Al Qaida,” for the Defense Department think tank, known as the Office of Net Assessment, a DOD spokesman tells us. The study, which is dated September 2005, was posted on an intelligence blog last month.
It documents the development of Al Qaeda and spends many pages dancing around the theory that has defined Mylroie’s career — that key Qaeda leaders acted at the behest of the Iraqi regime. She also argues that group-think among U.S. analysts has obscured the true nature of the terrorist group.
Those who know Mylroie’s work are shocked that the Pentagon would hire her.
ACLU Slams Senators: The Constitution is Not ‘Optional’
From The Raw Story:
Four U.S. Senators are pursuing legislation they believe would fix the “mistake” President Obama made with the man who allegedly failed to blow up a Christmas Day flight into Detroit.That “mistake” was treating him like a serious criminal, tossing him in jail and planning a trial.
Nevertheless, Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Bennett (R-UT) and John Ensign (R-NV) are pushing legislation that would require civilian authorities to consult with intelligence leaders when taking an accused terrorist into custody.
“[This] legislation would not deprive the President of any investigative tool,” Sen. Lieberman’s Web site claims. “It would not preclude a decision to charge a foreign terrorist in our military tribunal system or in our civilian criminal justice system.”
In a response, Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, fired back: “It is extremely disturbing that members of the U.S. Congress are essentially calling for…
Biden: U.S. to Appeal Dismissal of Blackwater Case
From The Washington Times:
The U.S. will appeal a court decision dismissing manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.Biden’s announcement after a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows just how diplomatically sensitive the incident remains nearly three years later. A lawyer for one guard, noting that word of the intended appeal came in Iraq, accused the Obama administration of political expediency and the U.S. was pursuing an innocent man, rather than justice.
Blackwater security contractors were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in Nisoor Square, a crowded Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq.
Biden expressed his “personal regret” for the shooting and said the Obama administration was disappointed by the dismissal. “A dismissal is not an acquittal,” he said.
The…
‘Net Neutrality’ Key to Free and Open Internet
From The Hill:
When it comes to Internet freedom, the United States of America can be a beacon to the rest of the world. But we must start at home.
On Friday, The Hill published an attack on our organization Free Press from an industry-funded hit man trying to distract policymakers with hyperbole, character assassination and fear-mongering. This screed didn’t say much about the crucial issue of Network Neutrality, but it used a lot of scary words like “bloodthirsty,” “radical,” “neo-Marxist” and “fringe” designed to scare policymakers.
Andrew Keen of Arts + Labs, twists a Free Press statement about an important speech delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (actual headline: “Free Press Echoes Secretary Clinton’s Call for Internet Freedom”) into an attack. He tries to drive a wedge into the broad alliance of individuals and organizations – Democrat and Republican, innovative companies and consumer groups, churches and libraries – that support…
Afghanistan will Take Longer to Tackle than Iraq, General David Petraeus Says
From The Times:
The new American-led surge in Afghanistan will take longer to fight the insurgency than a similar injection of force in Iraq three years ago when violence fell sharply within months, the top US general in the region told The Times.
General David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, also warned that the fight in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where British and US forces are based, as well other areas, would become even tougher before the situation improved.
Frontline offensives will run alongside initiatives to reach out to Taleban elements. When the time was right, General Petraeus said, there was a possibility that Afghan officials would hold reconciliation talks with senior Taleban and other insurgent leaders, perhaps also involving Pakistan.
In 2005, the commander predicted that Afghanistan would be the longest campaign in the war on terror. “That turned out to be fairly prophetic,” he said, speaking at his headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
[Read…
Banned Mormon Cartoon?
I can see why this might be disowned by the Powers That Be. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Oil in Haiti – Economic Reasons for the UN/US Occupation
From the Pakalert Press blog, an October 2009 article by Marguerite Laurent:
There is evidence that the United States found oil in Haiti decades ago and due to the geopolitical circumstances and big business interests of that era made the decision to keep Haitian oil in reserve for when Middle Eastern oil had dried up. This is detailed by Dr. Georges Michel in an article dated March 27, 2004 outlining the history of oil explorations and oil reserves in Haiti and in the research of Dr. Ginette and Daniel Mathurin.
There is also good evidence that these very same big US oil companies and their inter-related monopolies of engineering and defense contractors made plans, decades ago, to use Haiti’s deep water ports either for oil refineries or to develop oil tank farm sites or depots where crude oil could be stored and later transferred to small tankers to serve U.S. and Caribbean ports. This…
Aliens Are Likely To Look And Behave Like Us
Richard Alleyne reports for the Telegraph on a leading scientist who claims that alien life, if it exists at all, is likely to be just like us. He also believes aliens would also share our human weaknesses for greed, violence and the exploitation of others:
Professor Simon Conway Morris at Cambridge University will tell a conference on alien life that extraterrestrials will most likely have evolved just like “earthlings” and so resemble us to a degree with heads, limbs and bodies.
Unfortunately they will have also evolved our foibles and faults which could make them dangerous if they ever did visit us on Earth.
The evolutionary paleobiologist’s beliefs mean that science fiction films such as Star Wars and Star Trek could be more accurate than they ever imagined in depicting alien life.
Prof Conway Morris believes that extraterrestrial life is most likely to occur on a planet similar to our own, with organisms made…
