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Big Day Today

Our friend Robert Anton Wilson turns 71 today.
Happy Birthday to a High Priest of Eternal Imagination!

Born 5932 years after the birth of Hung Mung (the ancient Chaoist [pre-Taoist]
Chinese philosopher, who answered all questions shouting "I don't know! I don't
know!"), may The Great Bob Wilson flourish for very many more circumnavigations
of our star. Unlike The Wise Mung, methinks RAW knows something...

All the best to a Great Teacher on this day, the 18th of Verwirrung in the
Season of Chaos. Goddess knows Universe needs minds like RAW's causing ripples
in the noosphere shores moreso now than ever...

Also, this little news release:
Ong's Hat, New Jersey USA
New Year 117 A.M. (Feast of the Birthday of the Sage)
8 January 2003

Beloved Friend(s):

Greetings and apostolic blessings from our Diocesan family on this
January 8th, the one hundred and seventeenth anniversary of the
birthday of the Prophet, Noble Drew Ali (PBUH) - founder of the
restored Moorish Order and Lodge, Holy Sage of the Epoch, and
Illuminator and Guide of the Moorish Orthodox path.

In 1886, in North Carolina, our Sage first drew breath in his last
incarnation! Visit these websites for more information on his life
and work:

http://www.geocities.com/moorishorthodoxchurch/NOBLEDREWALI.html
http://www.hermetic.com/bey/catechsm.html
http://www.deoxy.org/moorish.htm

Via alt.fan.rawilson

George Orwell Was Off By Twenty Years

In what some would call science fiction and others political foreseeing, News.com Declan McCullagh draws a grim portrait of near future in the privacy field. From microcameras identifying us by our faces or car licence plate to six inches long flying scouts, from large drones flying day and night over our heads to a GPS receiver/transmitter on every car. And why not human microchip-tagging for location control? Or planting your fingerprint to make a purchase with a check or credit card? Do you think reading your mind through "non-invasive neuro-electric sensors" is science-fiction? The scariest part of it is all these technologies are being researched nowadays, and could be operational in five to ten years.
Editors Note: 1984 was a good book but I still prefer Animal Farm...

Woman tormented by demons plans protest

An American woman tormented by demons is planning a protest on behalf of fellow-sufferers. The 51-year-old former schoolteacher has spent six years seeking an exorcism. She now intends to demonstrate in front of the Norwich Diocese in East Connecticut. "I'll be carrying a sign and have my head covered in a hood. I want public exposure for the unpardonable neglect of people who are possessed by a demon," she said in the Norwich Bulletin.

Ms. B, who asked not to be identified by name, at one point was possessed by 19 demonic spirits and spoke in "a tongue in which she is not familiar" in a session with her psychiatrist, according to mental and spiritual assessments of her. Roman Catholic exorcisms are carefully planned rituals that can include holy water, crucifixes and sacred ruins, according to De Exorcismus et supplicationibus quibusdam, a manual approved by Pope John Paul II in 1998. But getting one in eastern Connecticut isn't easy, which is why Ms. B plans to protest in front of the Norwich Diocese at 201 Broad St. The symptoms started in 1993. "I heard hateful voices, I had an involuntary blurb here or there. I had involuntary motions. For example, if I had been cutting a vegetable, the knife would move. My eyes would move without my permission," she said.

Nigeria's journalist on the run

Two weeks ago, Isioma Daniel would have had no idea that writing an article about the Miss World beauty contest would lead to religious riots, more than 200 deaths and calls for her to be killed. Ms Daniel, who studied journalism and politics at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, only graduated in June last year before returning to Nigeria and working at the ThisDay newspaper.

'Pattern Recognition': The Coolhunter

Some die-hard fans lament that [William Gibson is] deserting the mother ship every time he tries something off the flight path of his first novel, 'Neuromancer' (1984)," writes Lisa Zeidner, the author of "Layover." His "elegant, entrancing seventh novel," she says, "is almost nose-thumbingly conventional in design."

"The novel's heroine, Cayce Pollard, is a freelance marketing consultant," a "coolhunter" revered by the advertising world for her ability to find the next big thing, explains Zeidner. Cayce is asked by her billionaire employer to investigate an Internet message board "devoted to 135 strange, unexplained, pointedly unattributed film clips that have appeared on the Net and developed a cult following." She "embarks on a jet-setting trek that takes her from London to Tokyo to Moscow" and sets her "on the trail of what may be an international conspiracy."

Zeidner calls the book "Gibson's most complex, mature gloss on the artist's relationship to our ever more commercialized globe." "He never gets lost in the language, as he sometimes has in the past," comments Zeidner, concluding that "Gibson's novel succeeds in being both up-to-the-nanosecond and also, in Cayce's highest praise, 'curiously difficult to date.'"

Read the review (NYT)
Audio: William Gibson Reads from 'Pattern Recognition'

Some charges against Bumfights filmmakers dismissed

Four filmmakers accused of paying homeless people to fight each other on film have had some charges against them dismissed. They are accused of bribing tramps with beer and doughnuts to fight so they could make and sell their Bumfights film. A superior court judge in El Cajon, California, dropped charges of felony battery and soliciting, ruling there's insufficient evidence. However, the men still face charges of staging an illegal fight and conspiracy to commit battery. The video, Bumfights: A Cause for Concern, has sold about 300,000 copies at $20 apiece. Some in the video say they were paid for their performances - but others said they were just drunk.
Editors note:Some stories elude all commentary...

Wanted: Math Solutions

Math's seven "millennium problems" have resisted solutions for decades. Now a $1 million reward has been offered for each correct answer. NPR's Scott Simon and Stanford University mathematician Keith Devlin compare numbers. Read about the problems online, including one that can be illustrated by the "Minesweeper" computer game (right).

Critics weigh in over speed of gravity

Scientists who announced a landmark first measurement of the speed of gravity on 7 January are fighting back against criticism that their experiment mistakenly measured only the speed of light.

Blogeur : I watch you watch

Awwww, isn't that sweet? Relton DuPiniot, blogeur, and cleanest man in the world watches our blog site obsessively. Almost makes one feel stalked...er...watched...I mean, wanted...never mind. Shucks.

Information Operations: A New War-Fighting Capability

Above link is to Maxwell AFB Air University, Chapter 4: Information Operations: A New War-Fighting Capability

Implanted Microscopic Chip

The implanted microscopic brain chip110 performs two functions. First, it links the individual to the IIC, creating a seamless interface between the user and the information resources (in-time collection data and archival databases). In essence, the chip relays the processed information from the IIC to the user. Second, the chip creates a computer-generated mental visualization based upon the user's request. The visualization encompasses the individual and allows the user to place himself into the selected battlespace.

Why the Implanted Microscopic Chip?

While other methods such as specially configured rooms, special helmets, or sunglasses may be used to interface the user with the IIC, the microscopic chip is the most viable. Two real operational concerns support the use of implanted chips and argue against larger "physical" entities to access the Cyber Situation.

First, future operations will demand a highly flexible and mobile force that is ready at moment's notice to employ aerospace power. The chip will give these forces the ability to communicate, visualize, and prosecute military operations. Having to manage and deploy a "physical" platform or room hampers mobility and delays time-sensitive operations. US aerospace forces must be prepared to fight or to conduct mobility or special operations anywhere in the world on extremely short notice although some of these operations may be staged directly from the continental United States.

Second, a physical entity creates a target vulnerable to enemy attack or sabotage. A highly mobile information operations center created with the chip-IIC interface makes it much more elusive to enemy attack. These reasons argue against a larger physical entity for the Cyber Situation. BWO The HIVE

Gene Simmons and Terry Gross battle to the death
NOTE: Audio file is a 3 meg MP3. Reccomended to do a SAVE AS.

Gene refused to let NPR post this interview to the web in either audio or transcript form (hmmmm), so here's a copy that someone had laying around. Also, here's a partial transcript. To get the full aroma of this interview, we recommend listening to the audio. Then you decide. Gene Simmons, consummate put-on man or biggest pompous asshole of the century? (or both?) Regardless, it has sparked mucho controversy which was recently resurrected due to NPR's recent rebroadcast of the interview coupled with Gene winning Crackpot of the Year (Entertainment Weekly) due to this interview (along with a plethora of snitty articles dissin' him).

Being Artful with ET

Dr. Doug Vakoch, social scientist-in-residence at the SETI Institute, may have the most intruiging job on Earth. As part of SETI's Interstellar Message Group, Dr. Vakoch is paid to think about the aesthetics and social values encoded in our messages to other civilizations. How do we signal not just the fact of our presence, but our sense of beauty - or altruism - in what is arguably the most important message humanity could ever send?

This is just the sort of concern routinely discussed at the Contact Conference, an annual NASA event that brings together some of the foremost international social and space scientists, science fiction writers and artists to explore every possible facet of alien contact. Best are the "Cultures of the Imagination" sessions, in which participants design an integrated world, alien life form and culture, and simulate contact with a future human society. One of these worlds, Epona, is fully documented online, and CalState LA has a complete online "World Builders Course" that walks you through the science of building your own.
CODA: The Epona project has a new URL: http://www.eponaproject.com/. Via BB Guestbar

Francis E. Dec audio
*The resurgence of conspiracy manifestos has become a pervasive part of the paranoid movement among urban schizophrenics, but few of the young bards so far have demonstrated a knowledge of the difference between well-intentioned pamphleteering and the creation of a valid theatrical experience. Dec has. As the highly critical editors of Little Sandy Review have noted, ‘…right now, he is certainly our finest contemporary manifesto writer. Nobody else even really comes close.’

Francis E. Dec, Esquire, of 29 Maple Ave, Hempstead, New York, is one of the most mysterious characters in all kookdom. Though thousands are familiar with his letters and rants, my researches have turned up only a few choice morsels of information about him. Until late 1995, none of his thrill-seeking fans had ever seen him; and to this day, none of them has ever heard him speak.

Dec is best known for his repeated invocations of the mantras "Frankenstein Earphone Radio," "Frankenstein Eyesight TV" and "Computer God Parroting Puppet Gangster Slaves," signature phrases that turn up in each of his flyers. [MORE] Via New World Disorder

Senators vow to halt `data mining' project

Reflecting increased alarm about a Pentagon plan to find terrorists by trolling the electronic records of all Americans, several senators took steps Thursday to rein in the project and halt other ``data mining'' efforts until Congress can review the implications on civil liberties. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., drafted an amendment Thursday night to the $390 billion federal spending bill now being considered by Congress to temporary stop the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness project.

Liberation spectrum
Wi-Fi radio and Indian sovereignty make for a potent mix -- even without antsy venture capitalists mucking things up. "Liberation Spectrum" is the second short story by Cory Doctorow published by Salon. 0wnz0red (also highly reccomended) appeared in August 2002.
Editor's note: Also check out Corey's new book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

The tiny multinational lumbered across the Niagara Falls border in its tour bus, Lee-Daniel at the wheel, sipping iced mocha from the flexible straw threaded through the eyelets on his jacket. All the way since the Akwesahsne debacle, he'd been steadily consuming the lethal blend of bittersweet chocolate and espresso and reciting mnemonic sleep-dep chants. But after twenty straight hours he was in deadly danger of falling straight to sleep and head-onning the bus into a Jersey barrier. Or a bullet train. Or a minivan. ->

Antiquities of the Illuminati

Antiquities of the Illuminati, version 4.3.2., 17 January 2003 (p.s.t.) is now published.

THE GENERAL EDITORIAL contains a rather long justification for our indignation at the flatulence and all around childish antics of the former Mr. Paul Joseph Rovelli, Piano Salesman, of Newark New Jersey (claims to be a Mason)... When we use the word childish, we have no intention of dirtying the concept of childhood, childishness, et cetera. Just a fitting figure of speech.Since we are all classed as Satanists there, we might just as well be Contras, too!

New Second-hand Book-stall items
NEW AD PIECE: "WOULDN'T YOU?" featuring Uncle Bill...
TEXTS
AND MORE

Reflections on a World Gone Gonzo

Reality has finally caught up with Hunter S. Thompson's ravings.

"We have anthrax, we have smallpox, we have very real fears of being blasted into jelly in the privacy of our own homes by bombs from an unseen enemy, or by nerve gas sprayed into our drinking water, or even ripped apart with no warning by our neighbor's Rottweiler dogs."

When the Gonzo Granddad was in his prime, these were the kinds of things he liked to make up.

The Network Is the Battlefield
The Pentagon's aim is to meld weapons systems and people into a whole, called network-centric warfare, that's greater than the sum of its parts

On Nov. 21, U.S. Air Force officials got their hands on the ultimate global video game. Thanks to a system upgrade by defense contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT ), flyboys (and girls) could hop onto a special Air Force network from any PC equipped with a Web browser and special military encryption and authentication software. Once on this network, they could call for air strikes, direct reconaissance planes, or plot the movements of the most powerful flying force on Earth -- all from their laptop in a café (or, more likely, at a secured facility). "All you need is Internet Explorer," says Doug Barton, the director of technology for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems, based in Gaithersburg, Md. [MORE] Via The HIVE

First truly artificial organism engineered

The world's first truly artificial organism has been engineered by researchers in California. The bacterium makes an amino acid that no other organism uses to build proteins.

The work is being hailed as "a very great accomplishment" and the technique promises to open unique avenues for manufacturing drugs.

Amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of life, making up the proteins which constitute all living cells. The DNA of every organism on Earth contains three-letter codes, known as codons, for 20 such amino acids.

Now, a team led by Peter Schultz of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla has managed to coax E. coli bacteria to produce a 21st amino acid and use it to make a protein, using only natural food sources such as sugar and water.

Disgruntled Artists Do It Better.

War, baby, war! Some graphic designers and artists just ain't into it, and they're making some very fun, very free imagery for anti-war.us. You can download print-quality PDFs for making stickers, illustrations, posters, or whatever you like... or just browse... or contribute something fabulous of yr own.

Betsy

You're remembered, along with the rest of the F.O.G. Group. Peace. We miss you. We waited a bit before saying goodbye publically.You'll be happy to know that it finally doesn't hurt to say goodbye anymore. Especially because we know we'll see you again.

ACLU: Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society
The ACLU's new report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, is an overview of the alarming trend toward a "surveillance society" in the U.S.

If we do not take steps to control and regulate surveillance to bring it into conformity with our values, we will find ourselves being tracked, analyzed, profiled, and flagged in our daily lives to a degree we can scarcely imagine today. We will be forced into an impossible struggle to conform to the letter of every rule, law, and guideline, lest we create ammunition for enemies in the government or elsewhere. Our transgressions will become permanent Scarlet Letters that follow us throughout our lives, visible to all and used by the government, landlords, employers, insurance companies and other powerful parties to increase their leverage over average people. Via Weblogsky

Zap!
Scientist bombards brains with super-magnets to edifying effect

Just by pointing his super-magnets at the right spots on your head, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone can make you go momentarily mute or blind. He can disrupt your working memory or your ability to recognize faces. He can even make it harder for you to say verbs while nouns remain as easy as ever. Weird, yes. Fringe, no.

Pascual-Leone is one of the premier scientific pioneers exploring a new technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which shuts down or revs up the electrical doings inside the brain by sending a potent magnetic field through the skull.

Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Together at last?
A new industry agreement on digital copyright issues says the government should stay out of enforcement. But it's a little late for that, says one expert.

Federally mandated copy-protection? Laws to prevent consumers from making copies of their DVDs and burning mix CDs? Never mind, don't worry about it. On Tuesday, trade groups representing the computer and music industries told the government that they don't need Congress to help them sort out digital copyright problems.

In a list of seven principles, signed on to by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), representatives of the music and tech industries pledged to oppose government-mandated technology to stop consumers from copying copyrighted songs and video. Instead, the technology and music companies agreed to collaborate on creating their own technical solutions to preventing the swapping of copyrighted materials.

Ten Thousand Monkeys 42nd Issue

Whew, I think I'm just about coming out of my New Year's day hangover coma. I'm not going out on a limb and claiming to be bright eyed and bushy tailed, but I think I can start to feed myself again. Let me tell you, that's quite an accomplishment!

And just in time too ... look at all the tasty little snacks we have lined up. Folk songs, and horror stories, Italy, hangovers (not just my own), and fantabulous new art! (if I do say so myself) It's a smorgasbord of treats.

As always, check it out. Let us know what you think (even if it's "I'm not hungry, I'll just pick.").

S-11 Redux: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse

It is a well-known and widely accepted fact that, during wartime, news companies and governmental representatives fuse their voices together into one univocal beam of support for the national military objective. And, while, for many, this is a vital aspect of institutional patriotism, it is also a very dangerous and troubling reality. For, if the news media have abandoned their responsibility to objectively inform the population, then our concept of a democracy (which is founded on the ability for all citizens to choose their nation's destiny based on a full spectrum of information) is in desperate peril.


But imagine a mediascape in which politicians actually said what they meant and meant what they said. One where the talking heads on broadcast news actually challenged the powerful interests in Washington not with fangless sensationalism, but with insightful deconstructions of true power and its manipulations. [MORE]

State of the Union... Not Good

"The records show that the Bush committee spent a total of $13.8 million to frustrate the recount of Florida's votes and secure the state's crucial electoral votes for Bush. By contrast, the Gore recount operation spent $3.2 million, about one quarter of the Bush total. Bush spent more just on lawyers - - $4.4 million - - than Gore did on his entire effort."

Bush's verbal mistakes "resignate" with Americans

Don't "misunderestimate" Dubya.
Those verbal Bushisms are beginning to "resignate" with the American people. Maybe they'll even "embetter" the English language. They may have started out as verbal slip-ups but several of President George W. Bush's mangled phrases found their way on Tuesday to a list of the top words of 2002. "There are already 11,000 instances of 'misunderestimate' on the Web. The more people use words, whether jocularly or seriously, the more likely they are to enter the language and last for generations," said Paul J.J. Payack, chairman of yourDictionary.com, which compiled the list. [MORE]

The Perpetual War Portfolio

The Perpetual War Portfolio is an evenly weighted basket of five stocks poised to succeed in the age of perpetual war. The stocks were selected on the basis of popular product lines, strong political connections and lobbying efforts, and paid-for access to key Congressional decision-makers.

"Escalate non-violence." --MLK

Today is Martin Luther King's birthday.

Also today: President-Select Bush announced that his administration would lend some legal aid to the fight against the affirmative action policies of the University of Michigan. He added, "And if we had never had affirmative action in the first place, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, neitha . . . "

Well, he didn't actually say that, but the Trent Lott connection should be clear, right? This is, after all, the party of racists . . . What is that called, "the Southern Solution?" Whereby Republican power is culled by courting the bigotry-friendly American southern states? Oh hey now, and don't forget the re-nomination of Judge Pickering--who fights for the little man, as long as the little man is burning a cross on the lawn of the nigra and his honky ho.

And they do both of these things right after the whole Trent Lott fiasco?

Aw man, they're just throwing it at you.

And to do it on Martin Luther King's birthday?


That's just a little extra something for you,

the taxpayer

the citizen

the slave

USA prepares rebuild plan for post-conflict Iraq
Not like it's for sure or anything...but...

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is preparing for its role in rebuilding Iraq after a projected US-led invasion and is expecting significant demands for units that can provide intelligence capabilities, chemical and biological detection and defence, civil affairs and force protection, US defence officials have disclosed to Jane's Defence Weekly.

The US armed forces are expected to maintain a significant presence in Iraq, well beyond the end of combat operations, to deal with what defence and humanitarian experts say could be a dangerous and volatile situation. Predictions range from the formation of armed resistance factions to water and food shortages. US officials would also want to seek out and destroy or secure any remaining stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and related equipment. They also are preparing for more conventional threats against US forces.

Alien implant for sale on eBay

Know that your alien implant is REAL, not just a piece of glass!!! Reserve is only set at 1 million dollars which is a very fair price since other on here that cannot be proven as real is currently over 10 Million. My father has two implants, one in his finger and one in his leg. You are bidding on your choice of ONE. My father is 47 year old, and has had the one in his leg since age 12. The one in his finger since age 16. High Bidder to pay for removal of implant and all costs of travel and accomodations in 3 star or better hotel if you want it done in your area. He would prefer to have it taken out by Doctor Leir if possible. You may be present and video tape it while it is taken out, He retains 50% of all video and photograph publishing rights. He believes that these are the implants of the little greys from Zeta Reticula, as he has partial memories.PICTURES OF SCOOP MARKS LOWER LEFT LEG AND LEFT INDEX FINGER. DISCLAIMER:HE NOR I ARE RESBONSIBLE IF ALIENS APPEAR IF THESE ARE TRACKING DEVICES. CASH OR CERTIFIED CHECK ONLY FOR THIS AUCTION. 5% Due within 10 days of auction close (so we can pay the ebay bill) and schedule time off work. Via NWD

Boos for Bush silenced at American Music Awards?

Did ABC censor a crowd’s disapproval of George H. Bush? The former president — and father of the current president — delivered a taped message at the American Music Awards on Monday night, and sources who were there tell The Scoop that the crowd booed him.

WHEN THE BAND Alabama received the Award of Merit, the elder Bush’s face appeared on screen. “I’m very proud to be part of tonight’s tribute honoring one of the most highly successful bands country music has ever known,” said the former president, but his image was met with a loud chorus of boos.

One source says Randy Owen, the lead singer for the band, was “pretty shaken” by the crowd’s reaction.

The boos from the crowd, however, were not audible in the broadcast, leading some to believe that they were deleted by censors.

“To be honest, I can’t tell you,” a spokesman for ABC told The Scoop, who referred the question to a spokesman for the production company.

“I don’t know and I can’t tell you,” said a spokesman for the production company, who referred questions back to ABC. Via The HIVE

Old Words on War Stirring a New Dispute at Berkeley

In her own day, the Russian-born anarchist Emma Goldman roused emotions including considerable fear with her advocacy of radical causes like organized labor, atheism, sexual freedom and opposition to military conscription. "Emma Goldman is a woman of great ability and personal magnetism, and her persuasive powers are such to make her an exceedingly dangerous woman," Francis Caffey, the United States attorney in New York, wrote in 1917. Goldman died in 1940, more than two decades after being deported to Russia with other anarchists in the United States who opposed World War I. Now her words are the source of deep consternation once again, this time at the University of California, which has housed Goldman's papers for the past 23 years. In an unusual showdown over freedom of expression, university officials have refused to allow a fund-raising appeal for the Emma Goldman Papers Project to be mailed because it quoted Goldman on the subjects of suppression of free speech and her opposition to war. The university deemed the topics too political as the country prepares for possible military action against Iraq. [MORE free reg-req.]

UN confirms DR Congo cannibalism

UN investigators have confirmed reports of human rights violations committed by rebel troops during recent fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including rape, torture, arbitrary executions and cannibalism. In one case, investigators heard how a young girl was cut into small pieces by the soldiers and then eaten. In others, how hearts and other organs were cut out of victims and forced on their families to eat.

Supreme Court upholds longer copyrights

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld lengthier copyrights protecting the profits of songs, books and cartoon characters -- a huge victory for Disney and other companies.

The 7-2 ruling, while not unexpected, was a blow to Internet publishers and others who wanted to make old books available online and use the likenesses of a Mickey Mouse cartoon and other old creations without paying high royalties.

Hundreds of thousands of books, movies and songs were close to being released into the public domain when Congress extended the copyright by 20 years in 1998.

Justices said the copyright extension, named for the late Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., was neither unconstitutional overreaching by Congress, nor a violation of constitutional free-speech rights.

Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
Structure and evolution of the Universe

How did the Universe begin? Does time have a beginning and an end? Does space have edges? Einstein’s theory of relativity replies to these ancient questions with three startling predictions: that the Universe is expanding from a Big Bang; that black holes so distort space and time that time stops at their edges; and that a dark energy could be pulling space apart, sending galaxies forever beyond the edge of the visible Universe. Observations confirm these remarkable predictions, the last finding only four years ago. Yet Einstein’s legacy is incomplete. His theory raises but cannot answer three profound questions:

• What powered the Big Bang?
• What happens to space, time, and matter at the edge of a black hole?
• What is the mysterious dark energy pulling the Universe apart?

The Beyond Einstein program aims to answer these questions. It will employ a series of missions linked by powerful new technologies and complementary approaches to shared science goals. -chiaroscuro

City trials 'Minority Report' surveillance tech

A US holiday resort is testing out face recognition software to find missing people and those wanted by the police - but some fear that its use could spread, raising questions about civil liberties. Police in the popular US resort city Virginia Beach recently began operating video surveillance cameras with controversial face-recognition technology that critics say brings the United States one step closer to becoming a society where "Big Brother is watching you." Virginia Beach, Florida, is -- along with Tampa, Florida -- one of only two cities in the United States to acquire the technology, which cost it $197,000. The system went live last September, at the tail end of the summer holiday period when the city was crowded with visitors.

Greenland's government falls over use of healer to cleanse offices

The government of Greenland has collapsed amid political bickering sparked by the use of an Inuit healer to cleanse government offices. Greenland premier Hans Enoksen, leader of the social democratic Siumut party, has dumped his left-wing coalition partner, the Inuit Ataqatigitt party. The coalition's collapse was linked to last month's use of a healer by the territory's top civil servant, Jens Lyberth to chase away evil spirits from government offices.

ABC News Closeup: Mission Mind Control

A 1979 documentary about the CIA's experiments in mind control and the MK Ultra program (classic!)

FASTER CONNECTIONS: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

SLOWER CONNECTIONS: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Via Libertythink

Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal

Some good stuff on Dan GIlmore's eJournal:

Baffling Software/Music Industry Copyright Deal

On Copyright, Cory's Less Optimistic than I Am

Believing in Copyright and a Public Commons

Copyright Cartel's Influence Weakening?

We Media, Redux

Etc.

SLICK SAUCERS
Or
An Electro-magnet Aerodynamic Augmentation Device From Alpha Centauri

Abstract: An analysis is offered as to how extra-terrestrial alien "saucers" ease their passage through our low atmosphere at supersonic speeds without sonic "booms" and what electromagnetic radio frequencies may leak from their related (and now patented) Aerodynamic Augmentation Device (AAD).1 Explained are UFO related enigmas like magnetic fields, glowing saucers and the lack of "sonic booms" during high speed encounters.2 Possible UFO related "radar" transmission frequencies are postulated. A method to distinguish alien vs. human produced crop circles is considered.

Annan Sees No Reason for Attack on Iraq

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday he sees no reason for an attack on Iraq and is optimistic that war can be avoided if the international community maintains pressure on Saddam Hussein and inspectors do their job aggressively.

Nonetheless, he said the United Nation is making plans to deal with an exodus of refugees and potential humanitarian crisis in the event of military action. U.N. experts are also doing some "preliminary thinking" about a possible post-conflict political organization and administration in Iraq, he said.

Uncle Sam: The Series

What war would be complete without Uncle Sam Posters? Where's your tinfoil hat?!

The Stadium of the Mind

If Americans spent as much time learning about world affairs or our Constitution and Bill of Rights as they do passing percentages and field goal ranges, maybe more than 13% of people aged 18-24 could locate Iraq on a map.

By valis from my weekly column at

The Hipster Handbook
Hipster: One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed as being cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck.") The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat.---- Robert Lanham, The Hipster Handbook

If there was ever a word in desperate need of a synonym (or an exile from the English Language), it's got to be "hipster". Without a doubt one of the media's most overused words, there is unfortunately no other way to describe this unique breed. You know who they are: the sarcastic girl behind the counter at the video store who laughs at you when you ask for Stepmom, or the vintage corduroy-clad boys swilling cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon at the local dive bar.

Modeled after such '80s classics as The Official Preppy Handbook and The Official J.A.P. Handbook, The Hipster Handbook offers hipster slang, personality profiles, illustrations, and more. Never has this mysterious species, so full of inconsistencies, been so well explained. If you can't hold out until February, check out www.thehipsterhandbook.com for a sneak peek. But with Hipsters being this generation's answer to the Preppy, can their extinction be close at hand?
Note: You're friggin' kidding me with this, right?

A Man Is Nothing But An Animal?
Other animals do not need a purpose in life. A contradiction to itself, the human animal cannot do without one. Can we not think of the aim of life as being simply to see?

"John Gray's (not that John Gray) philosophy could very well ruin your good day. He's either deeply cynical or dead on. Gray argues, essentially, mankind is just another animal struggling and crawling around the face of the earth. Humanism (which Gray describes as 'a secular religion thrown together from decaying scraps of Christian myth'), religion, science, moral philosophy and eco-politics are dead one and all, and their crippling error, Gray believes, is to believe that mankind is different from other animals and therefore not subject to the laws of Darwinian evolution. The ideas of progress in humanism are dismissed by Gray as 'only a secular version of Christian faith,'and he furthermore quotes James Lovelock. Lovelock is the founder of the GAIA theory, that purpots humanity as nothing special in the scheme of things (Gray says Gaia would know 'human life has no more meaning than the life of slime mould'), but also as 'so numerous as to constitute a serious planetary malady,' that is to say a 'plague animal,' quickly pummeling itself to extinction in a flurry of smog and carbon dioxide. The only real victory, however, that Gray could have is whittling down humanity's hubris. A fault with Gray, and the article notes this, is simply that if we accept his doom and gloom outlook (man's days are numbered and we soon face extinction), would it really affect us, cease social reforms or the daily grind? Human civilization might be an illusion, but it's an illusion well-kept and tightly held on to, regardless." Plastic

R/C Flying Lawnmower (The Sky Cutter) New Kit

...and the point is?

The Greatest American Zero
Link may be moving a little slow.

It's like GI Joe on Acid.

The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet View-Master Reels

Who Knew What & When Did They Know It?

Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission (an attempt at a Grand Unified Theory of all things conspiracy-related??) broke ranks with their former service provider Anomalies.net and changed their forums to a subscription plan, and their now-revived old, old forum (still public & free) is being overrun by well-educated "trolls" attempting to engage in a battle of wits with the unarmed natives.

Meanwhile, one of my favorite enigmas is going under-investigated: the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet viewmaster reels - a child's toy from 1954 that contains references to all things Hoaglandian: the Exploding Planet Hypothesis, the Face on Mars, artifacts on the Moon, and Hyperdimensional Physics. Interestingly, the Tom Corbett series science consultant, Willy Ley, who has connections to Dr. Wernher Von Braun (and thus to Disney), as well as to Arthur C. Clarke. You don't have to buy into everything Hoagland speculates about to see some odd connections here. [A brief summary is here, while this one has a bit of additional info.]

While you are looking at all that, you might want to keep Galidor and the Brookings Report in mind. Final PS - Want to see the contents of all the View-Master reels?

Program to generate toy universes

Program to generate toy universes with different values of four physical constants. Note the emphasis on "toy." This is a very simple program that makes no attempt to generate a universe in detail. Its main purpose is to demonstrate that long-lived stars, which are probably required for the evolution of life, does not depend on some "fine tuning" of the constants of nature but occurs for a wide range of parameters. It also shows that the large number concidence first proposed by Weyl is not uncommon.
Note that the weak interaction strength has not been inlcuded as a parameter. Also, the effect of strong interaction strength is not included in the calculation of astronomical quantities, although it does come in for the large number concidence. While the gravitational strength does not appear as a parameter, it is varied through variations in the proton mass.

To generate your own universe, click on MonkeyGod
Via abuddhas memes

Pete Townshend: Cops can come and get me

WHO star Pete Townshend last night told The Sun he wants cops to come into his home and check his computer for child porn. The rock legend, 57, said he was "deeply wounded" by suspicions he was a child porn pervert. He admitted he had looked at porn sites three or four times after accidentally stumbling across one. He said he had been driven to see what sort of material they contained for research and out of anger at how easy they were to access. But in a world exclusive interview with The Sun, he insisted he was NOT a paedophile and that his actions had been “stupid” rather than sinister. The millionaire spoke out after it emerged at the weekend that a British rocker’s credit card details were on a list of subscribers to a vile website in Texas. The list, compiled by US authorities, included some 7,000 British names passed to police in this country.

Another Link.

The (Rob) Lowe Down on Pee-wee

Could Rob Lowe's past mess with Paul Reubens' future?
Lowe's infamous homemade video featuring the future West Winger engaged in the body politic with two females, one of whom was underage, is one of the potential pieces of evidence in the child-porn case against Reubens.
Reubens, better known by his kid-TV alter ego of Pee-wee Herman, was booked November 15 on suspicion of possessing material depicting under-18 types engaged in compromising positions. He has pleaded innocent to the charge, a misdemeanor.

Brigitte Boisselier and The Girls of Clonaid

Is she an original or a reproduction? The nude pictorial in February's issue of Playboy will illustrate how repeating yourself can lead to some captivating confusion.