Archive for July, 2010
Are Sports Boring? Zirin Vs. Gupta Smackdown Video
Here at the disinformation New York offices there are those who couldn’t care less about sports, and others (that would be me) who spend way too much time in the world of sports, playing, watching, coaching, trash talking, etc. In this Democracy Now video, founding editor of the Indypendent, Arun Gupta, debates Nation Magazine sports columnist Dave Zirin.
Who do you think wins?
Offshore Oil Strike: The BP Board Game
Want to teach your kids about the fun of deep-sea drilling? Pick up a copy of the unfortunate 1970 board game Offshore Oil Strike, produced by BP. “The 1st player to make $120,000,000 cash is regarded as the winner.” Via BLDGBLOG:
With this “exciting board game for all the family,” released in 1970, BP delivered all “the thrills of drilling, the hazards and rewards as you bring in your offshore petro-dollars.”
It’s “a race to find and develop the riches ‘neath the seabed,” where no deepwater is beyond the horizon of possible drilling.
Accumulating this fortune, however, is not without its difficulties. Each player has “Hazard” cards to deal with; here are some of the risks BP thought to include:
—”Fire breaks out. Pay $2,500,000 for repairs.”
—”Hit High-Pressure Gas—Rig Damaged. Specialists called in.”
—”Blow-Out! Rig Damaged. Repairs cost $2,000,000″
—”Drill pipe breaks. Pay $500,000 for replacement.”
—”Strike High Pressure Gas. Platform Destroyed.”
—”Blow-Out! Rig Damaged. Oil Slick Clean-Up…
False Flag Cyber Attack
Steve Watson warns of false flag attacks in cyberspace that could take down the Internet, at InfoWars:
An increasing clamour to restrict and control the internet on behalf of the government, the Pentagon, the intelligence community and their private corporate arms, could result in a staged cyber attack being used as justification.
Over recent months we have seen a great increase in media coverage of inflated fears over a possible “electronic Pearl Harbor” event, with reports claiming that the U.S. could be “felled within 15 minutes”.
Vastly over-hyped (and in some cases completely asinine) claims that the power grids and other key infrastructure such as rail networks and water sources are wired up to the public internet have permeated such coverage.
Is the United States government or outside forces the real threat to cyber security? Alex Jones says that the government is trying to silence free speech in America by expanding their reach on the internet. He also says his own personal sites have been censored, even deleted.
Threats against computer networks in the United States are grossly exaggerated…
Star Found 265 Times Heavier Than Our Sun
A cluster of stars recently photographed at the European Southern Observatory is found to be much larger, brighter and hotter than our humble Sun. R136a1 is said to be the largest star ever recorded. The New York Times details:
A huge ball of brightly burning gas drifting through a neighboring galaxy may be the heaviest star ever discovered — hundreds of times more massive than the sun, scientists said Wednesday after working out its weight for the first time.
Those behind the find say the star, called R136a1, may once have weighed as much as 320 solar masses. Astrophysicist Paul Crowther said the obese star — twice as heavy as any previously discovered — has already slimmed down considerably over its lifetime.
In fact, it’s burning itself off with such intensity that it shines at nearly 10 million times the luminosity of the sun.
“Unlike humans, these stars are born heavy and lose weight as they…
The Taliban’s Army Of Monkey Soldiers, In CGI
The New York Post reports on rumors that the Taliban is arming monkeys with AK-47s at the Pakistani border and training them to shoot American soldiers, using bananas as a reward. Below is a helpful CGI recreation of the Taliban’s banana-fueled monkey army, released by the Taiwanese news organization NMA.
Hippie Crack: The Nitrous Oxide Mafia
The Village Voice delves into the dark side of the jam band scene, profiling the “Nitrous Mafia” — a criminal gang that sells nitrous oxide-filled balloons to concertgoers at summer music festivals. Apparently, neo-bohemians can’t get enough of the addictive balloon huffing, casually known as “hippie crack.”
Every morning, the festival campgrounds are riddled with balloons, “like bullet shells on a battlefield,” says a fan. Unlike traditional drugs, which have long-lasting effects and can carry a fan through a concert, the high from N20 is cheap and quick. After that, it’s often back to the end of the tank line for another round. “It’s an instant rush of pure euphoria, but it only lasts for 30 seconds or a minute, and then you want it back,” says Justin Heller, a fan who owns his own biodiesel company. He no longer does balloons, but remembers the days of buying 15 in a row.…
Debunking I-Dosing Digital Drugs
CrunchGear’s Nicholas Deleon debunks the idosing digital drugs story:
One hundred percent nonsense. That’s the only way I can describe the story going around talking about how teens are “getting high” while I-Dosing. I tried using I-Doser nearly three years ago, and let me tell you something: it’s bunk. Well, the science is there, but don’t equate it to “getting high.” Do not call your congressman trying to get it banned or whatever because you’d simply be wasting your time.
The story, which seems to have originated in The Daily Mail, focuses on YouTube videos that young people have posted, each apparently showing them “freaking out” while I-Dosing. Because bored teens would never post untruthful videos to YouTube, right?
This is all basically Reefer Madness for the iPad generation.
The actual act of I-Dosing isn’t all that new. It’s based on an old audio technique called binaural beats, which was discovered in the 1800s.
The danger of…
Spies Among Us: Modern-Day Espionage
Long after the Cold War’s end, nations still send secret agents across borders. But corporations, terrorists, and private investigators are also part of the sleuthing underground. Newsweek takes a look at who’s spying on whom; the section on corporate espionage is perhaps the most interesting:
Spying isn’t just the stuff of war and international politics. While researching his 2010 book Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage, journalist Eamon Javers uncovered the dealings of private-sector spy firms employed by companies to detect deception in negotiators, surveil competing investors, and glean intelligence that could give them an edge in their dealmaking. Espionage has become so ubiquitous in the corporate world, Javers says, that billion-dollar merger-and-acquisition deals are almost never made these days without highly skilled spies getting involved…
U.S. Navy Uses Laser To Shoot Down Drones (Video)
OK, this is pretty cool – at least if you were the kind of kid who loved Flash Gordon, Star Trek or any other sci fi movies or TV series with laser weapons … report from CBS News:
The U.S. Navy has used a a laser weapon to shoot down four unmanned aerial vehicles in a test that rings up memories of Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense shield in the 1980s.
The successful test of the Laser Weapon System off the coast of California was announced…
The Genocide Behind Your Smart Phone (Video)
Alan Mascarenhas writes on Newsweek:
It takes a lot to snap people out of apathy about Africa’s problems. But in the wake of Live Aid and Save Darfur, a new cause stands on the cusp of going mainstream. It’s the push to make major electronics companies (manufacturers of cell phones, laptops, portable music players, and cameras) disclose whether they use “conflict minerals” — the rare metals that finance civil wars and militia atrocities, most notably in Congo.
The issue of ethical sourcing has long galvanized human-rights groups. In Liberia, Angola, and Sierra Leone, the notorious trade in “blood diamonds” helped fund rebel insurgencies. In Guinea, bauxite sustains a repressive military junta. And fair-labor groups have spent decades documenting the foreign sweatshops that sometimes supply American clothing stores. Yet Congo raises especially disturbing issues for famous tech brand names that fancy themselves responsible corporate citizens.
A key mover behind the Congo campaign is the anti-genocide Enough Project: witness its clever spoof of the famous Apple commercial.
Jesus, Sodomy, and Glocks
Via the First Church of Mutterhals:
That sounds like a Warren Zevon song from hell, but it’s not. It’s what I saw on someone’s car on the way to work today. Three bumper stickers, right in a row; the first one said Jesus Saves, Obama Spends. The second said Obama is Socializing and Sodomizing America. The third said Body Piercings by Glock.
Let me pull up my favorite arm chair and give this guy a go. I think his choice in bumper stickers has less to do with his distaste for Obama and his policies and more to do with his fervent desire to get reamed long and hard by a Jewish hippie. Of course, that’s really none of my business. But is it appropriate to put your deep seated sexual fantasies on the back of your car?
Also, I thought christians were supposed to be anti-sodomy? I distinctly remember a ‘no spilling…
Danger! Car Salesmen Now in Possession of A “Perfect Handshake” Equation…
Danger, indeed. Aidan Jones writes on Discover:
To seal more car deals, Chevrolet UK looked to arm its salesmen with the perfect weapon of confidence: an unstoppable handshake. Here’s the secret they received from Geoffrey Beattie, Head of Psychological Sciences at the University of Manchester:
PH (Perfect Handshake) = √ (e^2 + ve^2)(d^2) + (cg + dr)^2 + π{(4^2)(4^2)}^2 + (vi + t + te)^2 + {(4^2 )(4^2)}^2
We hope (and suspect) the training posters and equation, supposedly meant for Chevrolet-sellers, are meant for publicity and are not a real attempt to improve customer relations…
Locally Made: The Dead Sea Scrolls
Source: Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics
Discovery News reports that researchers who probed tiny fragments of a Dead Sea Scroll with protons found its chemistry matches that of the water in the area where the ancient document was found:
Proton beams have shed new light on the origin of the longest of the Dead Sea scrolls, suggesting its parchment was manufactured locally.
According to a study carried out at the labs of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Catania, Sicily, the 28-foot-long Temple Scroll was made in Qumran, in what is now Israel, in the same area on the Dead Sea coast where the faded parchments were found hidden in caves half a century ago.
The scrolls, a collection of about 900 highly fragmented documents, are considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century. They include the earliest written texts of the Bible and are nearly 2,300 years…
UN Accreditation For Gay Rights Group
The U.N. Economic and Social Council approved the US-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission application for a “consultative status.” With many countries still prosecuting laws against homosexual activity and gay rights, this accreditation from the UN has been a great leap forward. The Washington Post reports:
The U.N. Economic and Social Council voted Monday to accredit the U.S.-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission after strong lobbying by the Obama administration.
Obama, in a statement issued by the White House, welcomed the vote as an “important step forward for human rights.” With the group’s inclusion, he said “the United Nations is closer to the ideals on which it was founded, and to values of inclusion and equality to which the United States is deeply committed.”
The group will now be able to attend U.N. meetings, submit statements and collaborate with both government and U.N. agencies on human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual…
Record Collapse of Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Puzzles Scientists
Space.com reports:
An upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere recently collapsed in an unexpectedly large contraction, the sheer size of which has scientists scratching their heads, NASA announced. The layer of gas — called the thermosphere — is now rebounding again. This type of collapse is not rare, but its magnitude shocked scientists.
“This is the biggest contraction of the thermosphere in at least 43 years,” said John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab, lead author of a paper announcing the finding in the June 19 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. “It’s a Space Age record.”
The collapse occurred during a period of relative solar inactivity — called a solar minimum from 2008 to 2009. These minimums are known to cool and contract the thermosphere, however, the recent collapse was two to three times greater than low solar activity could explain.
“Something is going on that we do not understand,” Emmert said.
Parachuting Donkey Advertises and Shocks
Beachgoers on the shores of the Sea of Azov in southern Russia region of Krasnodar were surprised and devistated by the cries of a donkey parachuting above them. The donkey was tied to a parachute as a promotional stunt. The shrills of the donkey led to the tears of children as people began filming the event and calling local newspapers. Not until later were regional police called. When did radio advertising and blimps not become enough?
The story was aired on Russia Today:
Film A Cop: Go To Jail
One of the classic signs of a police state: any criticism of the police or the state is a crime in itself. Police should be accountable, as should every government agency, so citizens photographing or shooting video of police actions should help to keep these public servants (yes, that’s what they are, technically) on the straight and narrow. One would like to think so, anyway… Report from ABC News::
That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.
But it wasn’t his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later — taken with his helmet camera — of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore…
Darryl Cunningham Investigates Various So-Called “Moon Hoaxes”
There are many things to question is this world, but that people landed on the Moon forty-one years ago today (July 20th) isn’t one of them. Very informative explanation in comic strip form from Darryl Cunningham:
Nix The Needle And Prepare For The Patch
Researchers have developed an alternative to the dreaded needle. Instead of getting jabbed in the arm for a vaccination, a patch could be applied painlessly. BBC reports:
The patch has hundreds of microscopic needles which dissolve into the skin. Tests in mice show the technology may even produce a better immune response than a conventional jab.
Writing in Nature Medicine, the team of researchers said the patch could one day enable people to vaccinate themselves.
Each patch, developed by researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, contains 100 “microneedles” which are just 0.65mm in length. They are designed to penetrate the outer layers of skin, dissolving on contact. To test the technology, the researchers loaded the needles with an influenza vaccine.
One group of mice received the influenza vaccine using traditional hypodermic needles and another group were vaccinated with the patch. Patches that had no vaccine on them were applied to a…
