Archive for May, 2010
Alan Moore Creates Supergroup
Super heros? Nope. Guitar heros. via pitchfork
Moore has teamed up with some big music names lately. He’s currently working with Gorillaz on an opera about the life of the English alchemist and magician John Dee. And on July 5 in the UK and July 6 in the U.S., Lex will release Unearthing, a box set centered around audio of Moore reading a story with a score by a crew of out-music all-stars.
The Unearthing score is credited to Crook&Flail, a duo comprised of Fog’s Andrew Broder and Adam Drucker, better known as abstract rapper Doseone. Others drop in to contribute: Mike Patton, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Jesu/Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick, and prolific drum-wrecker Zach Hill.
Democrats Propose Manditory National ID/Fingerprint Card
Photo: PabloBM (CC)
In the wake of Arizona’s new racial-profiling reign-of-police-terror law, Senate Democrats countered by unveiling their own Orwellian immigration reform “solution”: biometric ID cards for all American workers. Yep, that’s going to go over really well. The Hill reports:
A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation’s immigration laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday.
Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker in the nation to carry a national identification card with biometric information, such as a fingerprint, within the next six years, according to a draft of the measure.
The national ID program would be titled the Believe System, an acronym for Biometric Enrollment, Locally stored Information and Electronic Verification of Employment.
The American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties defender often aligned with the Democratic Party, wasted no time in blasting the plan.
“Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically…
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access
Since Michael Powell pulled my old college radio station off the air for a month back in 2005, I have always been afraid of the FCC. This story from WSJ reminds us that sometimes even the censors can be better friends to you than your ISP:
In a move that will stoke a battle over the future of the Internet, the federal government plans to propose regulating broadband lines under decades-old rules designed for traditional phone networks.
The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable companies and their allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and consumer advocates.
Breaking a deadlock within his agency, Mr. Genachowski is expected Thursday to outline his plan for regulating broadband lines. He wants to adopt “net neutrality” rules that require Internet providers like Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all traffic equally,…
White Castle To Sell Candles That Smell Like Disgusting Hamburgers
Miss the smell of low-grade meat?
Starting in May, bottom-of-the-barrel fast-food behemoth White Castle will begin offering a ten-dollar aromatic candle with the “steam-grilled-on-a-bed-of-onions scent” of the White Castle “Slyder” burger.
They have inadvertently created the perfect gift for the stoner in your life.
Lie-Detection Brain Scan Could Be Used in Court for First Time
This bizarre article from Wired shows how technology is catching up with the power of the brain. What does this mean for the idea of “justice?”
Illustration: Wikimedia Commons
A Brooklyn attorney hopes to break new ground this week when he offers a brain scan as evidence that a key witness in a civil trial is telling the truth, Wired.com has learned.
If the fMRI scan is admitted, it would be a legal first in the United States and could have major consequences for the future of neuroscience in court.
The lawyer, David Zevin, wants to use that evidence to break a he-said/she-said stalemate in an employer-retaliation case. He’s representing Cynette Wilson, a woman who claims that after she complained to temp agency CoreStaff Services about sexual harassment at a job site, she no longer received good assignments. Another worker at CoreStaff claims he heard her supervisor say that she should not be placed on…
American Town Bans Bottled Water
Photo: Ten Thousand Bullets (CC)
Is this the beginning of the end for plastic bottles of water? Is there hope that the Great Pacific (and Atlantic) Garbage Patch might stop growing? Here at disinformation we’re sensitized to the issues as we’ll soon be releasing the movie Tapped on DVD, but could this ban be going to far, too soon? Report from The Boston Channel:
The town of Concord has banned the sale of bottled drinking water in town beginning in 2011. “We only have one planet and I just don’t want to see it spoiled,” said Jean Hill, who introduced the measure at Concord’s Town Meeting.
Hill said that New York, Illinois and Virginia, as well as more than 100 cities, have taken action to cut spending on bottled water.
The measured passed by Concord would allow the sale of refillable containers of water, which could still be sold and delivered in town. Only plastic bottles that…
Randy Marsh and the Paradox of Thrift
Will Shannon writes at Diatribe Media:
A grateful world (myself included) has learned so much from South Park over its fourteen seasons and (now) 200 episodes. We have learned that: pig and elephant DNA just don’t splice, the true nature of God, Canadians and their flappy heads are not to be trusted, the rainforest sucks, Bono is really a living piece of shit, Family Guy is really “written” by trained manatees, clouds of “smug” are far more dangerous than smog and that Kyle’s mom is a big, fat, fucking bitch.
This is but a small sample of the lessons taught by Messrs. Marsh, Broflovsky, Cartman and McCormick and the other denizens of that hick-assed, redneck, white bread mountain town. South Park has really been a cultural touchstone, entering the debate on issues and ideas in a way that few other animated shows ever have.
So, when I saw the episode, “Margaritaville” last year (you can watch it…
Will Graphene Chips Be 1000 Times Faster?
Graphene (the carbon found in pencils) can be used to create circuits that are almost superconducting, potentially speeding electronic components by as much as 1000 times, researchers have discovered. (That’s three terahertz — a jump of three orders of magnitude!)
“We’re talking about that smartphone in your pocket having a thousand times the computing power of your desktop PC, but using no more power than it does right now.”
This could ultimately provide the processing power necessary for real-time speech-to-text translation, augmented reality, high-speed DNA sequencing, and even smarter robots. And because IBM has already created a working 30 GHz device using graphene transistors, graphene “could begin making its way into computers as early as 2012…and almost certainly by 2020.”
Activist Spied On? Man Wins Settlement
Anyone who knows anything about Evergreen State College in Washington knows that there is nowhere in the world with a higher concentration of young hippies. Apparently, the state police went for the easy meat and got more than they bargained for. The Seattle Times reports:
Photo: Derek Redmon (CC)
A 22-year-old anti-war activist from The Evergreen State College will get $169,000 as part of a settlement with the State Patrol and two other law-enforcement agencies over allegations that their officers engaged in political spying and harassment.
Philip Chinn was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving by state patrol troopers in May 2007, while traveling to an anti-war protest at the Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen.
According to court documents, Chinn was pulled over after police had broadcast an “attempt to locate” his car, which was described as containing “three known anarchists.”
The criminal charge was dismissed after tests showed Chinn had no alcohol or drugs…
Scientists Use Math To Analyse The ‘Om’ Chant
Marc Abrahams for the Guardian:
Indian scientists wield sophisticated mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional meditation chanting sound ‘Om’
Two Indian scientists are wielding sophisticated mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional meditation chanting sound “Om”. The Om team has published six monographs in academic journals. These plumb certain acoustic subtleties of Om, which these researchers say is “the divine sound”.
Om has many variations. In a study published in the International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, the researchers explain: “It may be very fast, several cycles per second. Or it may be slower, several seconds for each cycling of [the] Om mantra. Or it might become extremely slow, with the mmmmmm sound continuing in the mind for much longer periods but still pulsing at that slow rate. It is somewhat like one of these vibrations:
‘OMmmOMmmOMmm…
‘OMmmmmOMmmmmOMmmmm…
‘OMmmmmmmmOMmmmmmmmOMmm’…
Dow Throws A Party In Brooklyn: Zombies Show Up
The Yes Men strike again!
Bucolic Prospect park in Brooklyn, NY played host to a bizarre spectacle on Sunday, as a dramatically under-attended Dow-sponsored “Run for Water” was infiltrated and turned upside down by hundreds of furious activists, including a hundred dressed as Dow spokespeople…
1970 Kent State Shootings are an Enduring History Lesson
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State Shootings, and this article from USA Today is a good reminder of the basic details. Disinfo.com readers who remember the event are invited to post their memories in the comments section.
Photo: Asfband (CC) via Wikimedia Commons
Forty springs ago, on the day the Vietnam War came home as it never had before, Mary Ann Vecchio was there. She’s the girl in the haunting photo — crying, kneeling over the student’s body.
That was Kent State University, May 4, 1970, a few days after Richard Nixon, who’d campaigned for president on an implicit promise to end the war, widened it by invading Cambodia.
Across the nation, students protested. At Kent State, where two days earlier the ROTC building was burned down, National Guardsmen fired into a crowd and killed four unarmed students, the closest of whom was nearly a football field away.
Vecchio found Jeffrey Miller…
Super Surprising Facts About ‘Our Enemy’ Iran Remind Us That We Don’t Know Squat
American’s aren’t exactly known for our knowledge of things like history and geography… This article from Alternet reminds us of how little we have bothered to learn about Iran:
What can possibly justify the relentless U.S. diplomatic (and mainstream media) assault on Iran ?
It cannot be argued that Iran is an aggressive state that is dangerous to its neighbors, as facts do not support this claim. It cannot be relevant that Iran adheres to Islamic fundamentalism, has a flawed democracy and denies women full western-style civil rights, as Saudi Arabia is more fundamentalist, far less democratic and more oppressive of women, yet it is a U.S. ally. It cannot be relevant that Iran has, over the years, had a nuclear research program, and is most likely pursuing the capacity to develop nuclear weapons, as Pakistan, India, Israel and other states are nuclear powers yet remain U.S. allies—indeed, Israel deceived the U.S. while…
Medical Marijuana Legal in Foggy Bottom, on Capitol Hill and all over Washington D.C.
Personally, I hope the smell stinks up the whole rotten town. This article from the Examiner gives more details:
Illustration: Oren neu dag (CC)
One of the biggest expenses the medical marijuana lobby has had to face is the cost getting US Congressmen and Senators out of town for a medical marijuana dispensary tour.
That expense was eliminated today with the unanimous passage of Initiative 59 by the Washington DC Council.
Currently, 14 states have effective medical marijuana laws and more than a dozen others are considering them. In November, South Dakotans will vote on a medical marijuana ballot initiative, and Arizona is expected to have one on the ballot as well. Eighty-one percent of Americans support medical marijuana laws, according to a January ABC News/Washington Post poll.
But getting federal legislation passed and changing DEA and FDA regulations has been up to the US Congress and the US Senate. For example, the AMA recommended last…
Winning The Battle Against High Fructose Corn Syrup
For once, some good news in the fight against the poster child for processed food, High Fructose Corn Syrup, in the New York Times:
For much of 2009, Michael Locascio, an executive at ConAgra Foods, watched with concern as the bad news about high-fructose corn syrup kept coming.
In January, there were studies showing that samples of the sweetener contained the toxic metal mercury. Then came a popular Facebook page that was critical of the syrup. By year-end, there were about a dozen spoofs on YouTube mocking efforts by makers of high-fructose corn syrup to show that science is on their side.
But it was pleading comments like this one, from a devoted ConAgra customer, that finally persuaded Mr. Locascio, president of the meal enhancers category at ConAgra, to take action: “Hunt’s is by far the best ketchup ever, but please start making a variety without the high-fructose corn syrup,” wrote Jennifer from New…
The Key to the Secret of the Universe, Part 2
Robert Singer writes:
Part 1 of The Key to the Secret of the Universe claims the key is the following arithmetic calculation from dates and numbers found in the Bible:
- 1978 – 1290 = 688 A.D. (Historical Event 3 – Israel is at peace with its Arab neighbor took place in 1978)
- 1967 – 1279 = 688 A.D. (Historical Event 2 – the control of the holy of holies. The people of Israel had control of the Temple Mount in 1967)
- 1948 – 1260 = 688 A.D. (Historical Event 1 – the end of Diaspora. The people of Israel had their own state in 1948) Is Jesus Christ Coming Back to Earth in XXXXIII (2023)?
The following verses identify the Mosque of Omar (the Dome of the Rock), built in 688 A.D. as the “abomination of the desolation” as spoken of by the messiah Jesus Christ:
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,…
Uncover ‘Hidden Wisdom’ This Week with Author and Freemason Tim Wallace-Murphy
If you will be in the New York-metro area this week, please come and join us for a talk and book signing for Tim Wallace-Murphy’s new book Hidden Wisdom: The Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition. Please RSVP on Facebook (see links below) or if not there, then by comment on this article:
Thursday, May 6, 2010: East West Living Bookstore and Cafe
Saturday, May 8, 2010: New York Theosophical Society
Monday, May 10, 2010: Livingston Masonic Library
Whether you can make it or not, here’s the first five chapters of Hidden Wisdom available on Scribd:
From Egyptian mythology to Jewish mysticism, Rome and Greece to the Druids and the Gnostics, Tim Wallace-Murphy exposes in Hidden Wisdom a fascinating lineage of hidden mysteries and secret societies, continuing through the Templars, Rosicrucians, and Freemasons to our modern visionaries. This hidden stream of spirituality and that of sacred knowledge are inseparably entwined to form the single most important continuous strand in the entire Western esoteric tradition.
More info at www.hidden-wisdom.com.
Light Rain: Lasers Could Trigger Downpours on Demand
From the Daily Mail:
People in drought-stricken countries could one day create rain clouds on demand thanks to laser technology. Physicists have discovered that firing short laser bursts into the air can trigger the formation of water droplets. The breakthrough technique could help stimulate rainfall in the future.
Scientist Jerome Kasparian and his team from the University of Geneva wanted to find a more environmentally friendly alternative to cloud seeding. This 50-year-old process attempts to artificially induce showers. A red laser pulse ionises the air and triggers the condensation of water droplets to create a cloud, which is illuminated by a green laser
Rockets carrying silver iodide particles are scattered in the sky. The particles act as ‘condensation nuclei’ around which water drops can form. Dr Kasparian said cloud seeding is not an efficient method despite decades of development. He added: ‘There are also worries about how safe adding silver iodide particles into…
Do Tasers Hurt?
Seems like a stupid question right? But remember the old saying, ‘there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers…’ From Discovery News:
Since the advent of our nation’s pastime, there has been a longstanding tradition of the fan who thinks it will be just HILARIOUS to jump onto a baseball diamond and get his or her 15 minutes of fame before getting tackled by security guards.
On Monday, 17-year-old Steve Consalvi decided to do just that during a Philadelphia Phillies game.
Except this time, the overzealous fan who told his dad he was looking for a “once in a lifetime experience” got a little more than he bargained for: he got Tasered. It’s the first time a Taser has been used to stop a spectator who’s running on the field.
The kid’s OK, and now the Phillies and Philadelphia police are investigating whether the officer’s use of the Taser was appropriate…
