Archive for April, 2011
Scientists Say They Can Now Test Theory Of Early Universe Being One Dimension
Site where stars are being born in Emission nebula NGC 604 2.7 million light years from Earth.
A relatively new theory suggests that the early stages of the universe may have been only one dimension and gradually gained more dimensions as it expanded. Does this mean the universe may eventually see a fourth dimension? Via Daily Mail:
Did the early universe have just one spatial dimension? That’s the mind-boggling question at the heart of a theory scientists say they are on the brink of solving.
The theory was first proposed by physicist Dejan Stojkovic and colleagues from the University of Buffalo in 2010.
They suggested that the early universe – which exploded from a single point and was tiny at first – was one-dimensional (like a straight line) before expanding to include two dimensions (like a plane) and then three, which is the world in which we live today.
The theory, if valid, would address…
Mask For Full-Head Pixelation In Public Places
If you long for privacy in a world of near-constant surveillance, take note. Finally there is an analog device for pixelating one’s face while walking the streets. Wearing this will definitely liven up your day. Via Co.Design (thanks to John K. Smith for the tip):
Martin Backes has designed some conceptual fashion headwear to assuage your paranoia. “Pixelhead” is a full-coverage mask decorated in pixelated colors, so that if you do get caught by Google Street View’s cameras, your privacy is assured.
Clearly, Mr. Backes has his tongue at least partly in-cheek with his design: as he explains on his site, that pixelated pattern is actually a “fashionable” de-rezzed image of German Secretary of the Interior Thomas de Maizière. Pixelhead is no tossed-off piece of conceptual art — created with advisement from fashion designer Liza Sander, this “media camouflage” is made from the finest stretch satin.
If you feel like your commitment to upholding…
What Would Abbie Hoffman Do To Stop The Koch Brothers?
Robert Greenwald is something of an expert on Abbie Hoffman, having directed Steal This Movie!. He’s also behind the Koch Brothers Exposed campaign.
Robert answers his own question at Huffington Post:
He levitated the Pentagon, brought down Lyndon B. Johnson, shamed Richard Nixon, challenged Wall Street and pioneered a cultural revolution.
Sometimes I still hear his Brooklyn meets Boston accent when I think about Abbie Hoffman, his family or his legacy. I directed Steal This Movie to capture what I consider to be Abbie’s greatest gift: using satire and culture to impact and inspire people to take action. Steal This Movie was the last narrative film I did, and Abbie inspires me to this day…
Why Is George Monbiot Shilling For Nuclear Power?
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George Monbiot. Photo: SlimVirgin (CC)
Brian Gordon writes:
Helen Caldicott and George Monbiot have recently attacked each other in anti and pro-nuclear articles, and honestly I now am entirely unsure of the truth. Both claim scientific backing, though Monbiot appears to shred Caldicott’s claims. I have a great deal of respect for Monbiot; back when I was doing my own research on climate change (I was a sceptic and was attempting to see if it was real, was human-caused, was dangerous, etc, and I read lots of real science in the process), I found him to be ruthlessly honest and perfectly aligned with the actual science.
That said, I think the pro-nuke crowd, now including George Monbiot, is making two grave errors. The first is claiming that low levels of radiation are safe.
As an example of this, something that really struck me as a blow to the nuke movement was a seemingly unrelated article posted…
TSA Deems Complaining About TSA To Be Terrorist Indicator
The TSA’s behavior detection officers are on the lookout for “anyone who displays arrogance or expresses contempt for the screening process.” Because scientific anti-terror detection techniques reveal that getting fresh about poor treatment by airport security indicates you are most likely a terrorist.
Atomic And Radioactive Products
“In the early 1900s, radium was more valuable than gold and platinum. As such, the term “Radium” was incorporated into the brand names of any number of products even when these products didn’t actually contain radium. The same was true for the term ‘X-Ray.’”
How To Be A Retronaut has a nice collection of early to mid-twentieth century consumer brands that tapped into a general public enthusiasm for anything related to atomic bombs and radiation. Those were simpler times, when happiness meant an “atomic meal” on every kitchen table and (usually faux-) radioactive products in every medicine cabinet.
Turn Your Remains Into Vinyl When You Die
A British company called And Vinyly promises to do just that for a fee of £3,000. Pets and body parts accepted. After your passing, rotate forever on your relatives’ turntables, preferably in the form of ‘Kokomo’ or something else similarly cheery:
When the album that is life finally reaches the end wouldn’t it be nice to keep that record spinning for eternity? We offer you the chance to press your ashes in a vinyl recording your loved ones will cherish for generations. Record a personal message, your last will & testament, your own soundtrack or simply press your ashes to hear your pops & crackles for the minimal approach.
Marijuana Odor Is No Longer ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ For Mass. Cops
Via Raw Story:
BOSTON (Reuters) – The smell of marijuana smoke is no longer enough reason for police to order someone out of a car, now that pot has been decriminalized in Massachusetts, the state’s highest court said in a decision published on Tuesday.
The ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was in response to an appeal filed by lawyers for Benjamin Cruz from Boston, whom police ordered out of a car in 2009 when they approached the vehicle parked in front of a fire hydrant and smelled marijuana.
Cruz was later charged with possession of a class B controlled substance with intent to distribute and committing a controlled substance violation in a school zone.
The high court said a key factor in its decision was the 2008 change in state law which made possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a civil rather than a criminal offense.
“Without at least some other additional…
IMF Says China To Surpass United States In 2016
China will become the world’s number one economy — and therefore most powerful nation — by 2016. Brett Arends provides some analysis at Marketwatch:
The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed.
For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China.
And it’s a lot closer than you may think.
According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China’s economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.
Put that in your calendar.
It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington, D.C., right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and…
Can Manhood Survive The Lost Decade?
Via Newsweek:
If this isn’t the Great Depression, it is the Great Humbling. Can manhood survive the lost decade?
Brian Goodell, of Mission Viejo, Calif., won two gold medals in the 1976 Olympics. An all-American, God-fearing golden boy, he segued into a comfortable career in commercial real estate. Until 2008, when he was laid off. As a 17-year-old swimmer, he set two world records. As a 52-year-old job hunter, he’s drowning.
Brock Johnson, of Philadelphia, was groomed at Harvard Business School and McKinsey & Co., and was so sure of his marketability that he resigned in 2009 as CEO of a Fortune 500 company without a new job in hand. Johnson, who asked that his real name not be used, was certain his BlackBerry would be buzzing off its holster with better offers. At 48, he’s still unemployed.
Two coasts. Two men who can’t find jobs. And one defining moment for the men in…
Hip-Hop And The Middle East Uprisings
Via Freemuse:
Hip-hop plays a central role in the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya. Rap songs create an important platform for communication creating moral support and encouraging a spirit of resistance and revolt against the regime…
Crop Circles In New York City
The best crop circle documentary yet, Suzanne Taylor’s What On Earth? has landed in New York with special screenings all week at Manhattan’s Quad Cinema (Wednesday April 27th’s evening screening features Suzanne, Alex and Allyson Grey and Daniel Pinchbeck, moderated by disinformation’s Gary Baddeley).
The New York Times just reviewed the film, calling it:
A cheery, chummy documentary about the pastoral patterns inaccurately described as crop circles…
… Merging homey interviews with photographs and film of the hundreds of varieties of patterns (which pop up mysteriously overnight and are found all over the world), the film makes no pretense of objectivity or analysis. Everyone on screen — most sporting little blue flowers in their lapels, like a club insignia — is convinced of an intelligence behind the designs.
The film’s main attractions, though, are the patterns themselves: fantastically precise whorls and curlicues, radiolaria and mandalas that drift across the screen like the endlessly reforming crystals in a kaleidoscope.…
Dr. Helen Caldicott On The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Nuclear facts you’d be more comfortable not knowing from a very clued up professional who will not be bought or intimidated into silence: Dr. Helen Caldicott, true to style, tells it as it is/as she sees it/like you wont usually hear it.
To find out more about this Morally Driven Woman.. check out the links below.
http://www.helencaldicott.com/about.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Caldicott
http://www.conflict-resolution.org/sitebody/education/lecture_series/Caldicot…
The Happiest Places Have The Highest Suicide Rates
The Danish royal family: Are they really so happy? Photo: Bill Ebbesen
From ScienceDaily:
The happiest countries and happiest U.S. states tend to have the highest suicide rates, according to research from the UK’s University of Warwick, Hamilton College in New York and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.The new research paper titled “Dark Contrasts: The Paradox of High Rates of Suicide in Happy Places” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. It uses U.S. and international data, which included first-time comparisons of a newly available random sample of 1.3 million Americans, and another on suicide decisions among an independent random sample of approximately 1 million Americans.
The research confirmed a little known and seemingly puzzling fact: many happy countries have unusually high rates of suicide. This observation has been made from time to time about individual nations, especially in the case of Denmark. This new…
Obama Says Manning ‘Broke the Law’ Before Being Tried or Convicted
As always, I’m not sure what’s worse: the fact that once again our president doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about and searches for above-average vocabulary to employ throughout his stumbling; or the fact that he’s talking about how we’re a “nation of laws” and the world works by following rules, and the fact that one was broken is more important than the war crimes it purportedly unveiled.
The Passover Plot
Several years ago disinformation published a new edition of the late Hugh Schonfield’s classic and controversial alternative history of Jesus of Nazareth, The Passover Plot.
There is probably no other figure in modern Jewish historical research who is more controversial or famous than Dr. Schonfield, who once said: “The scholars deplore that I have spilled the beans to the public. Several of them have said to me, ‘You ought to have kept this just among ourselves, you know.’”
What he did to “spill the beans” was present historical evidence suggesting that Jesus was a mortal man, a young genius who believed himself to be the Messiah and deliberately and brilliantly planned his entire ministry according to the Old Testament prophecies—even to the extent of plotting his own arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.
The book has sold millions of copies in the decades since its original publication in 1965 and is still a popular read for…
Homelessness: The Game
Zachary Sniderman writes on Mashabe.com:
It’s one thing to feel bad for homeless people; it’s another to be forced into their shoes. Advertising agency McKinney has teamed up with Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD), a non-profit based in North Carolina, to create SPENT, an online game that guides users through what it feels like to be homeless.
Here’s how it works: If you accept the challenge to play, you enter a simple point-and-click game, navigating multiple choice questions about your livelihood. The site says you have been stripped of your savings and are currently unemployed, asking, “Can you make it through the month?”
You’re given simple choices with varying consequences. Do you want to try working in a restaurant? A factory? If you live far from the city your rent will be cheap, but, as you’re informed through pop-ups, you’ll have to pay more for gas or transportation.
The game’s integration with Facebook is its best feature.…
Dogs Playing Poker: Leave The Gamblers Alone!
John Stossel writes on Fox Business:
Yesterday ESPN announced they will remove all poker-related programming and advertising (except for this year’s World Series of Poker).
Wimps. And the gambling industry is no better. Industry lobbyist, former senator Al D’Amato, claims “[poker] is a game of skill” and therefore should not be subjected to federal anti-gambling laws. “Regulate it, but don’t ban it,” he says.
Give me a break. The cowardice of business in standing up for free markets never ceases to amaze me.
What wimps! Why don’t they have the courage to say the government has NO business intervening in an activity between consenting adults? I’d hope the poker lobby and the leading sports network would defend the game and its players. Instead they push legal tricks or distance themselves from poker.
The feds accuse the companies of bank fraud and money laundering…
