Archive for April, 2011
New York Libraries: Come on in and Watch Some Porn
Photo: PFHLai (CC)
Sam Biddle writes on Gizmodo:
If you don’t mind getting your face punched in, New York’s public libraries might just be your new favorite place to watch people have sex with each other on the internet. Sure, you’re surrounded by other patrons, but it’s free!
You might think that watching people pound away at each other in the most graphic and jarring manner in public might run contrary to a library’s mission of promoting literature and the arts, while providing a safe and tranquil place to read, work, and study. And sure, in 1973 Miller v. California pulled porn out of the categorical forcefield of free speech. But, the NY Post reports, NYPL rep Angela Montefinise thinks everyone’s favorite part of the Bill of Rights includes PornHub: “In deference to the First Amendment protecting freedom of speech, the New York Public Library cannot prevent adult patrons from accessing adult content that is…
Over 400 Taliban Insurgents Escape Afghan Prison Through Thousand Foot Tunnel
Via Fox News:
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and the insurgents said Monday.
The massive jailbreak overnight in Afghanistan’s second-largest city serves as a reminder of the Afghan government’s continuing weakness in the south, despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. Kandahar city, in particular, has been a focus of the international effort to establish a strong Afghan government presence in former Taliban strongholds.
The 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison has been part of that plan. The facility has undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.
But on Sunday night, around 475 prisoners streamed out…
The Saga of Captain Midnight: ‘No Regrets’ About Jamming HBO 25 Years Ago (Video)
Paul McNamara writes in Network World’s BuzzBlog:
John MacDougall, then 25, was the lonely pamphleteer of lore, only instead of paper and ink he was armed with a 30-foot transmission dish, an electronic keyboard, and a burning objection to HBO’s decision in 1986 to begin scrambling its satellite signal and charging viewers $12.95 a month.
That move and price had offended MacDougall’s sense of fair play — and all but halted the sales being generated by his fledgling satellite dish business in Ocala, Fla. So at 12:32 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, he transformed himself into Captain Midnight by commandeering HBO’s satellite transmission signal – interrupting a showing of The Falcon and the Snowman — and putting in its place the above protest message that aired for four-and-a-half minutes.
The stunt touched off a nationwide manhunt by law enforcement to unmask Captain Midnight and a media circus that has MacDougall’s head spinning to this day. He would be caught, plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and receive a wrist slap of probation and a $5,000 fine.
Obama’s Birth Address Is Middle Of Highway
The White House thought it had us all fooled with today’s long-form Hawaiian birth certificate release, but that was until the latest revelation emerged. Enter 6085 Kalanianaole Highway, the supposed address of Obama’s childhood home, into Google Street View, and the red arrow points to ground in the middle of a freeway! Nice try, Barack Hussein, we’re too smart for you!
Update: this was intended to be humorous. But, apparently, it’s not too far off from actual “birther” arguments.
Via The Cheat Sheet tumblr:
KidZania: The Consumerism-Brainwashing Amusement Park Coming To The U.S.A.
The Morning News visits KidZania, a surreal amusement-park-of-the-future with locations in Dubai, Portugal, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and soon, the United States. Its a Sims-like miniature world in which children play-act at being adult worker-drones and consumers:
The children are learning factory work, it’s in a job bottling Coca-Cola, and when they’re working at a restaurant, that “restaurant” has golden arches. The dentist office is sponsored by Crest.
At the heart of the concept and the business of KidZania is corporate consumerism, re-staged for children whose parents pay for them to act the role of the mature consumer and employee. The rights to brand and help create activities at each franchise are sold off to real corporations.
Punk Icon Poly Styrene Dies
Feminist punk innovator Poly Styrene, former frontwoman for the British band X-Ray Spex, has succumbed to cancer at age 53, Pitchfork reports. Born Marian Joan Elliott-Said, Styrene broke boundaries in the macho realm of punk rock, influenced future generations (i.e. the riot grrl movement) and made a batch of extremely catchy music. In her words, “I said that I wasn’t a sex symbol and that if anybody tried to make me one I’d shave my head tomorrow.”
Below, from the documentary Punk in London, performing circa 1977.
As Texas Burns From Worst Wildfires In History, State Government Organizes Rain Prayers
Wildfire is ravaging the Texas landscape on a never-before-seen scale which will shatter previous records.
Governor Rick Perry’s response? He has commanded residents to pray for rain. No, not in a passing remark in a speech, but with an official decree designating “Days of Prayer for Rain” on which Texans will “offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land and the restoration of our normal way of life” and “to humbly seek an end to these dangerous wildfires.” No further comment needed.
Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate
Do you think this will stop the “birthers” from doubting President Obama?
British Newspaper Claims Gaddafi’s ‘Viagra-Fueled’ Troops Raping Children
A representative Daily Mail headline.
Britain’s Daily Mail tabloid newspaper has long been known for pushing stories of dubious provenance to appeal to the conservative outrage of its largely middle class readership. It has really outdone itself today, however, with this story about Libyan soldiers taking Viagra and raping small children (not that I doubt some atrocities are taking place – but the ‘Viagra-Fueled’ part?):
Children as young as eight are being raped in front of their families by Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, according to a leading charity.
Aid workers described horrific stories of widespread sexual abuse, including one incident in which a group of girls was abducted and held hostage for four days. When they were finally released, they were too traumatised to speak.
Other children have described being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped. They told Save The Children that they themselves were then brually beaten before…
SETI Shuts Down Search For Aliens
Screen shot of the screensaver for SETI@home. Source: Namazu-tron (CC)
There was a time when running the SETI@Home screensaver to provide spare computing power to find alien radio transmissions was the coolest thing on the Internet (SETI = Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). That was a long time ago, though, and now the SETI Institute has closed down the Alien Telescope Array, effectively giving up the search, for lack of interest and funding. Lisa Kriegel reports for the Mercury News:
If E.T. phones Earth, he’ll get a “disconnect” signal.
Lacking the money to pay its operating expenses, Mountain View’s SETI Institute has pulled the plug on the renowned Allen Telescope Array, a field of radio dishes that scan the skies for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
In an April 22 letter to donors, SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson said that last week the array was put into “hibernation,” safe but nonfunctioning, because of inadequate government support.
The…
Ron Paul Starts 2012 Presidential Committee
C’mon Ron, just run! (If you agree, on May 5th there’s a Money Bomb planned).
The Washington Post details Representative Paul’s initial 2012 plans:
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has launched an exploratory campaign, taking the first step towards an expected third run at the presidency and second candidacy for the Republican nomination.
The libertarian-minded congressman said he would make a final decision “one way or another” in May.
In 2008, Paul’s campaign got lots of buzz and media attention for deploying “moneybombs” — one-day fundraising drives that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. While he developed a loyal following among college students and libertarian activists, Paul was never able to expand his base of support enough to register in Republican primaries. He was also the Libertarian Party nominee in 1988.
Paul is better known now than he was three years ago, and his fiscal focus seems to fit the prevailing national mood. His approach and concerns…
An Outsider’s Firsthand Look At The Aghori And Tantra Traditions
James Curcio
Special guest host James Curcio talks to William Clark about the time he spent in India, covering everything from tabla, the aghori sects of tantra, hinduisim and all points in between.
Over the course of the Immanence of Myth project, James Curcio has had many conversations with mythic artists, intellectuals and professors, and outright mutants who in Hunter’s words are “too weird to live and too rare to die.” Most of these are being written or transcribed in part for the book.
The Gspot: William Clark and Tantra (Or listen to the podcast on Alterati.com)
In the time since, we produced a “Gonzomentary” satyr-play about the modern artist called Clark. This podcast provides a very different look at the character behind the character.
Private US Company Aims To Put A Man On Mars In 10-20 Years
One of these days, bang, zoom, straight to….Mars? SpaceX, a private company based in the California, is hoping to put a man on Mars within a decade or two. From Agence France-Presse via The Raw Story:
Private US company SpaceX hopes to put an astronaut on Mars within 10 to 20 years, the head of the firm said.
“We’ll probably put a first man in space in about three years,” Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal Saturday. “We’re going all the way to Mars, I think… best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years.”
SpaceX is one of the two leading private space companies in the United States and has won $75 million from the US space agency NASA to help its pursuit of developing a spacecraft to replace the space shuttle.
The California-based company last year completed its first successful test of an unmanned space capsule into orbit and back.
[Continues at…
Belgium Marks One Year Without Full Government
Photo: Didier Misson (CC)
Breaking Iraq’s record of 289 days, Belgium reaches a year without an entire government. BBC reports:
As Belgium marks one year without a government, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called the political impasse “extremely pitiful”.
The former Belgian prime minister told the De Standaard newspaper that the country would need a full government soon to decide on economic policy.
Member states are required to put long-term economic planning past the EU.
Caretaker Prime Minister Yves Leterme has said three more months might be needed to form a governing coalition.
Mr Leterme succeeded Mr Van Rompuy as prime minister in November 2009, but resigned in April 2010 after his government collapsed.
[Continues at BBC News]
Qatar To Use Remote-Controlled Clouds By 2022 World Cup
Of course, due to dangerous levels of pollution and radiation, by 2022 we will venture outdoors only for very brief periods. BLDG BLOG reveals the sky-architecture of the future:
“Artificial clouds” driven by solar-powered engines might be deployed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to help keep the stadiums from overheating. Each cloud, as a short video hosted over at the BBC explains, “is constructed from an advanced, lightweight, and strong carbon-fiber material.”
The interior of the cloud is injected with helium gas to make it float. The cloud hovers like a helicopter and is remotely controlled. In this way, the cloud hovers over the football ground, shielding it from direct sunlight and providing a favorable climatic environment. The cloud is also programmed to continuously change its shielding position according to the prevailing east-to-west path of the sun.
After all, I suppose it makes sense that the next step in temporary event architecture will…
Department Of Justice Declares New Orleans Police Force “A Threat To The Safety Of The Public”
“Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists as the greatest threat to the American public.”
Yes, there are bad cops everywhere, but the corrupt, racist, and violent New Orleans police department — in which officers engage in rape, arson, kidnapping, bank robberies, and murder, and citizens are arrested for little or no reason, held without charges for months, and routinely brutalized and tortured — is a different matter altogether. It is little exaggeration to say that the NOPD has become a criminal gang terrorizing the city’s residents. The New Statesman reports:
Something terrible lies at the heart of New Orleans – a rampant, widespread and apparently uncontrollable brutality on the part of its police force and its prison service. The horrors of its criminal justice system from decades before Hurricane Katrina and up to now lie somewhere between, with little exaggeration, Candide and Stalin’s Gulags.
Spit on the sidewalk here, and you may…
WikiLeaks Docs Reveal London As Al-Qaeda Global Hub
At least 35 terrorists incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay were sent to fight against the West after being indoctrinated by extremist preachers in “Londonistan,” according to secret files obtained by the Telegraph via WikiLeaks:
Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza, two preachers who lived off state benefits after claiming asylum, are identified by the American authorities as the key recruiters responsible for sending dozens of extremists from throughout the world to Pakistan and Afghanistan via London mosques.
The leaked WikiLeaks documents, written by senior US military commanders at Guantánamo Bay, illustrate how, for two decades, Britain effectively became a crucible of terrorism, with dozens of extremists, home-grown and from abroad, radicalised here.
Finsbury Park mosque, in north London, is described as a “haven” for extremists. United States intelligence officials concluded the mosque served as “an attack planning and propaganda production base”.
The files will raise questions over why the Government and security services failed to take action…
Joscelyn Godwin’s ‘Atlantis and the Cycles of Time’
David Metcalfe provides a thorough look at Joscelyn Godwin’s Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations:
Existing in the liminal spaces of the cultural narrative Atlantis has been a magnet for alternative theories of history and a tool for those looking for a vision of unity in the evolutionary development of human culture. With the solidification of allegory during the Enlightenment Atlantis provided the perfect mythic capstone for rationalists in a quest for historical accuracy in their explorations of the possibilities of a perennial culture.
From the 17th century inquiries of Athanasius Kircher to the publication of Ignatius Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World in 1882, the empirical search for Atlantis has provided an impetus for archaeological speculation on the unification of cultures across the globe. Where present facts show disunity, the idea of an advanced and far reaching civilization in prehistory gave momentum for theorists to develop complex models of…
Hundreds Of Chinese Christians Arrested At Easter Congregation
Holy Trinity Church in Singapore. Photo: BertholdD (CC)
The New York Times reports:
The authorities stepped up a three-week campaign against an underground Christian church on Sunday, detaining hundreds of congregants in their homes and taking at least 36 others into custody after they tried to hold Easter services in a public square, church members and officials said.
The church, Shouwang, an evangelical Protestant congregation that was evicted from its rented quarters this month, has been at loggerheads with the government since announcing plans to gather outdoors rather than disband or return to worshiping in private homes. The authorities have repeatedly stymied Shouwang’s efforts to lease or buy space for its 1,000-member congregation, one of the largest and most prominent so-called house churches in the capital.
The Chinese Communist Party tightly manages religious activity, requiring the faithful to join state-run churches, mosques or Buddhist temples. Until the most recent crackdown on Shouwang and a handful…
