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From the "In Case You Thought They Were Kidding" File...
(NOTICE: This goes to a site that has been appropriated by the USDOJ. The more paranoid among you may want to turn on your cloaking devices.)

National Academy of Sciences postpones plans for CloneFest '04

Warning that human cloning may well herald a horrific and dystopian future, the House of Representatives on Thursday voted in favor of legislation outlawing all forms of human cloning. The measure, which passed 241 to 155, would make any attempt to clone a human embryo a crime, punishable by a $1 million fine and up to 10 years in the ol' gray bar hotel. While many applauded the House's decision, opponents of the legislation decried it as a tragic mistake that will stifle medical innovation. Indeed, the National Academy of Sciences contends that cloning does hold scientific promise. "Extreme conviction seems to be crowding out understanding here today," said Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who has a Ph.D. in physics. "These researchers are not crazed Dr. Frankensteins. They are people like your neighbors, highly ethical, who are working hard to relieve suffering, to improve quality of life. Let's not make them criminals." Even as the House debated the ethics of human-cloning experiments, the folks over at Clonaid took a much needed break from making unsubstantiated claims about the existence of the first human clone, to announce a new effort to develop an artificial womb. Clonaid contends that these "Babytron" devices will someday allow infertile couples to parent clones without the hassle of finding a surrogate mother. | Via John Paczkowski

Cosmic Eggs and Quantum Bacon
A metaphysical comedy in five Shakespearean acts

In 1854, allegedly, spirits from the beyond told Victor Hugo that reincarnation was a fact of the universe and our planet was a 'prison world.'
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Is a knowledge of Ancient Greek and modern physics the kind of background necessary to create a work of pan-dimensional art? Perhaps not; but such rigorous training did Tom Mellett no harm when it came to the production of his full-length play, Cosmic Eggs and Quantum Bacon, by Threshold Theatre at the University of Texas Austin, in 1989. The play is about Sir Francis Bacon and Leonardo da Vinci trying to reincarnate as twins in Austin, Texas. Inevitably, there are complications, requiring the discarnate twins to consult with God and the husband, with Albert Einstein, and with Neils Bohr. "I found Cosmic Eggs and Quantum Bacon an imaginatively conceived and brilliantly executed feast of ideas about the nature of reality in the guise of a play.

What You Need to Build a Snow Gun

Video, Audio and lots of links.

Bible College Gets 666 Prefix Removed
Associated Press, Fri Feb 28, 3:17 PM ET

VANCLEVE, Ky. - After months of asking for a new telephone number, the Kentucky Mountain Bible College has finally dropped the 666 prefix that disturbed Christians who recognized it as the biblical mark of the beast. The college is now removing the number from printed material, including its official letterhead. The 666 prefix had been the only one available in Vancleve. In the Book of Revelation, 666 is stamped into people's foreheads or right hands during the last days. Those who receive the mark, according to Scripture, are damned to eternal punishment.

Net plays big role in war news, commentary

Americans are turning to the Internet in record numbers for news and opinion, underscoring in new ways the Web's powerful, global reach as the United States prepares for war.

By the millions, they are going online to get up-to-the minute news, read reports in the foreign and alternative press, and check out so-called "warblogs,'' electronic diaries pushing myriad views on the conflict with Iraq.

With the Internet, "the town square is global, the bullhorn is loud and it's not very expensive,'' says Dave Winer, a valley technologist and blogging pioneer. >>

Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline

Semantic Web Overview | Via #!/sablog

Get Your Game Theory On...

Delta to test new airport security plan

Delta Air Lines will begin testing a new government plan for air security next month that will check background information and assign a threat level to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight.

The system, ordered by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, will gather much more information on passengers than has been done previously. Delta will try it out at three undisclosed airports, and a comprehensive system could be in place by the end of the year.

Transportation officials say a contractor will be picked soon to build the nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and compare passenger names with those on government watch lists.

"This system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely."

The Euro Effect: The Real Reason for the War in Iraq

This lengthy essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the 'petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency | Via mousemusings
Note: We heard just a few days ago that Saddam was one of the first to convert his holdings from US $ to Euro and that he is being made an example of so that others will hesitate to follow suit.

Sounds about right

Mr. Bush - This War Is Not a Sign of Strength, But of Desperation!
speaking of drug crackdowns. check this out. a powerful full page ad in todays ny times.... -rf

Open Letter by Matthias Rath, M.D. to US-President George Bush and to the People of the World!
"As the physician and scientist who was privileged to contribute discoveries that make the eradication of cardiovascular disease by natural means possible and save millions of lives, I am asking you: could it be that this war is not about fighting 'terrorism' or conquering oil fields but about protecting the largest investment industry - the pharmaceutical industry - from collapse?"
Millions of people worldwide are waking up to the fact that the pharmaceutical industry is an investment industry based on the continuation of diseases. The survival of the pharmaceutical investment industry is threatened by four main factors: >>

Ten Thousand Monkeys 45th Issue

Hi everybody. If you're reading this, I've landed, settled in, eaten a pizza or two, and actually published the latest issue of Ten Thousand Monkeys. All in the nick of time. Hurray for me!
If you're not reading this, then, HEY what am I doin' here?! Writing into thin air?? Sheesh.
ANYWAY, please to enjoy this next fabulous issue of Ten Thousand Monkeys . As usual it's jam packed with nifty keen reading and lookin' at type stuff ... and as usual we're always on the look out for new stories, art work, poetry, and other experimental, interesting, and generally lookable atable content for your viewing pleasure. (Sorry, the jet lag really messes with my mind.)

Amazon awarded patent for retail chat
Amazon.com has received a patent for an online retailing chat technology, marking the company's latest push to appeal to more consumers by adding customer-centric features.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the patent, which protects Amazon's technology that lets customers join in on discussions and share information regarding an item for sale on the site. The technology is not yet a part of the Amazon site. A company spokesman would not comment on whether the company was considering implementing it anytime soon.

Note: Amazon patented 'online discussion' Tuesday. I'm stunned that this isn't ALL over the net. | chiaroscuro

Feds Smoke Out Chong?

Tommy Chong's Chong Glass makes a promise to its customers. All of its products--chiefly, handmade pipes that the Los Angeles Times once wrote "could double as a bong"--are, the company Website says, "for legal blend and tobacco use only."
Or maybe not.
Chong, once one-half of the high-flying (literally) comedy team, Cheech & Chong, saw his Gardena, California, factory and Pacific Palisades home raided Monday by federal drug agents and other authorities, Los Angeles TV station NBC4 reported. >>

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Looking Inside the Brains of the Stingy

Quote of the Day: "Neuroeconomics could be to consumer theory what agency theory is to the production-function approach." Behind those deceptively simple words from professor Colin F. Camerer, an economist at the California Institute of Technology, is the fascinating study of the biological factors of economic behavior. The scary part: Marketers studying brain activity and hormone levels to find out what really pushes our buttons. The encouraging part: As a species, we seem to act more generously than game theory would predict | Via John Paczkowski

The Woolly-Thinker's Guide to Rhetoric

Here you'll find top tips for besting your enemies. As employed by the world's best woolly-thinkers. Learn, for example: how to play the 'biological reductionist' card to maximum effect; how 'language games' can help you out of a sticky situation; and how lucky it is that 'truth' is relative to particular discourses (especially yours). | Via MeFi

Artificial stupidity
Part 1 of two parts

The saga of Hugh Loebner and his search for an intelligent bot has almost everything: Sex, lawsuits and feuding computer scientists. There's only one thing missing: Smart machines.

All Hugh Loebner wanted to do was become world famous, eliminate all human toil, and get laid a lot. And he was willing to put up lots of good money to do so. He's a generous, fun-loving soul who likes to laugh, especially at himself. So why does everybody dislike him so much? Why does everybody give him such a hard time?

Loebner contests are often farcical and Hugh Loebner does act foolishly. But the closer one looks at the history of the Loebner Prize, the more it appears that Loebner's real offense was showing up the biggest stars in "real" artificial intelligence as a bunch of phonies.

War Protesters Use Telephone to Lobby

Thousands of calls and e-mails protesting the prospect of a war with Iraq flooded Senate offices today, making it impossible to reach Senators or their staffs. Senators were inundated whether they had supported the war or not, as protest organizers urged telephone and internet users to contact Senate offices across the board. NPR's Andrea Seabrook discusses the protest.

Watch it live: http://www.moveon.org/onlinehq/index_04.html

Also see: Anti-war protesters flood Senate, White House offices with calls in 'virtual march'

From the front: As ones who volunteered their Kung Fu to set up and admin Voice/Fax dialing servers, all we can say is, "Jam the Circuits Baybee, Yeah!"
The call volume is estimated at over one million calls. Circuits were jammed, but on the lighter side, those staffers that were forced to field the calls and messages were sent "care packages" of snacks and such. Dissent hax0r stylee.

Playboy's Search Is on for the 'Women of Starbucks'

Calling all coffee-making cuties! Playboy magazine is looking for "Women of Starbucks" to pose in an upcoming issue. Interested female candidates who are currently employed at the popular coffee chain should send a recent full-figure photo in a two-piece swimsuit and a head-and-shoulders portrait to the Playboy headquarters in Chicago.

How to block spambots, ban spybots, and tell unwanted robots to go to hell

I recently woke up to the staggering level of abuse occurring on this web site. This is old news to some, but we all wake up at different times. I’m talking, of course, about automated robots and spiders. They come at all hours, they take as much as they can, and they leave me with the (bandwidth) bill. They do so without respecting the Robot Exclusion Standard, now almost 10 years old. Some come to gather email addresses, which are then sold to spammers; some come to steal images or other content, and republish it without my consent; some come to spy on me and sell information to their clients about perceived violations of copyright, trademark, or some nebulous concept of brand identity.

Blueprint for a Prison Planet
by Nick Sandberg, 2001

The purpose of this piece is to introduce the reader to the possibility that much of what we typically believe about our world, notably its history and its political structure, may be some distance from the truth.

In writing it is not my intention to reveal some vast, secret government or destiny, but simply to allow interested readers to indulge themselves in the exercise of re-evaluating just what is going on around us.

Whether or not anyone chooses to believe the scenario portrayed is entirely up to him or her. I make no categorical statements about "how the world is" because our interpretation of our world and the events of our lives is ultimately an entirely subjective experience.

Introduction

Part One - The World Outside

Part Two - The World Inside

Part Three - Building the Prison Planet

Part Four - Escape | Via The HIVE

Farewell, Pioneer 10

After over 30 years, it appears that Pioneer 10 has sent its last signal to Earth. The power source on Pioneer 10 finally degraded to the point where the signal to Earth dropped below the threshold for detection in its latest contact attempt on 7 February 2003. No more attempts at contact are planned at this time. The previous three contacts had very faint signals with no telemetry received. The last time a Pioneer 10 contact returned telemetry data was on 27 April 2002.

Operation Northwoods

CODENAMED Operation Northwoods, the plan, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving [Lyman L] Lemnitzer* (right) and his cabal the excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to launch their war.

Also see:
Operation Northwoods

NORTHWOODS: A PLAN FOR TERROR TO JUSTIFY WAR

Culture and Life: Operation Northwoods and the two towers
• U.S. Terror Plan Called Cuba Invasion Pretext
• America’s Phoney Wars PART TWO: PROJECT NORTHWOODS
• September 11, 2001 - Another Operation Northwoods?
• Operation Northwoods - Proof US Government Could Harm Americans
• Operation Northwoods In The Moscow Times
• What really happened on Sept. 11th? - Part 1
• Friendly Fire: Book: U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba

SECRECY NEWS

New Secrecy News out today

This is Punk?

He's a former prep school outcast with degrees in science and education. He’s Adam Goren -- a.k.a. Atom and his Package -- underground rock’s most visceral satirist.

Nuke Lab Can't Keep Snoops Out

There are no armed guards to knock out. No sensors to deactivate. No surveillance cameras to cripple. To sneak into Los Alamos National Laboratory, the world's most important nuclear research facility, all you do is step over a few strands of rusted, calf-high barbed wire.

I should know. On Saturday morning, I slipped into and out of a top-secret area of the lab while guards sat, unaware, less than a hundred yards away.

Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes

Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA.

The Saddam and George show

Tony Blair, moderator: Welcome to the first televised debate between George W Bush and Saddam Hussein, live from United Nations headquarters in New York. We will begin with a brief opening statement from each of you.

Bush: First of all I would just like to welcome my evil friend to the UN, one of the great American institutions for the propulsion of freedom throughout the world.

Saddam: Thank you, Great Satan. I hope that in today's debate we may find some common ground between the Iraqi people's commitment to peace and human progress and America's desire to destroy the Middle East. | Via Dumbmonkey

In God He Trusts: How George Bush Infused the White House With A Religious Spirit

Bush's born-again Christianity cannot be questioned. Indeed, it dovetails with his widely attested lack of intellectual curiosity, his seemingly utter certainty of his convictions and with the difficulty of persuading him to change a mind already made up. Few mortals can compete with God for his ear.

Mr Bush's Christian fervour only confirms suspicions that the looming war with Iraq is indeed a "crusade" against Muslims, exactly as Osama bin Laden suggests. For world-weary Europe the presidential language evokes mirth and queasiness in equal measure. A European leader who spoke in such terms would be laughed off the stage. An American one who speaks this way only increases the fear that simplicities of faith, and a habit of seeing a hideously complicated world in a black-and-white, good or evil fashion, are a recipe for disaster. [more] [via]

Crazy fuckin' fundamentalists.

Declassified Mk-Ultra Project Documents

Artichoke Project
Bluebird Project
Pandora Project
Mk-Delta Project
Mk-Naomi Project
Mk-Action Project
Mk-Search Project
Mk-Ultra Project

Operations Pipe Dreams And Headhunter Put Illegal Drug Paraphernalia Sellers Out Of Business
National Sweep Shuts Down Retailers, Distributors and Internet Sites

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Acting DEA Administrator John B. Brown, III today announced the indictment of 50 individuals on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. The charges are the culmination of two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter and include indictments against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and businesses nationwide. DEA offices in Boise, Idaho; Des Moines, Iowa; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Dallas and Tyler, Texas were involved in these investigations.

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia business is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and Internet access. And in homes across America we know that children and young adults are the fastest growing Internet users. Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge. This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement. Today, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Associate Deputy Attorney General Karen Tandy, has taken decisive steps to dismantle the illegal drug paraphernalia industry by attacking their physical, financial and Internet infrastructures." >> | Via MeFi

Image Via Orlin Grabbe

ready.gov



the slick, generic in-flight-style info-graphics
1. make it hard to believe this is real
2. make the whole thing scarier | Via #!/sablog

When U.S. Foreign Policy Meets Biblical Prophecy

Does the Bible foretell regime change in Iraq? Did God establish Israel's boundaries millennia ago? Is the United Nations a forerunner of a satanic world order?


For millions of Americans, the answer to all those questions is a resounding yes. For many believers in biblical prophecy, the Bush administration's go-it-alone foreign policy, hands-off attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and proposed war on Iraq are not simply actions in the national self-interest or an extension of the war on terrorism, but part of an unfolding divine plan. >>

Bill Maher wants YOU -- to think
Raising hackles with new book

He's trying to make a point about the need for sacrifice, one of the subjects of his new book, "When You Ride Alone You Ride With bin Laden" (New Millennium), and an audience member on CNN's "TalkBack Live" just isn't getting it.

"The leaders of our country have encouraged us to continue with our way of life, to not let terrorism win," says a college-age male from Massachusetts. "I mean, if we alter our lifestyle, then they're winning."

"Well, that's exactly the wrong attitude," Maher replies evenly, a hint of anger crowding into his voice. "That is not the attitude they had in World War II. Your attitude is that freedom means you can do whatever you want whenever you want it, and that sacrifice is somehow un-American. ... But the idea that we should also be defensive about our flaws and weaknesses and our vulnerabilities is ridiculous."

That's the kind of shoot-from-the-lip opinion that won Maher many viewers -- but ultimately cancellation -- on his late-night talk show, "Politically Incorrect." Late in 2001, his observance that the September 11 hijackers weren't cowardly, that "[the United States has] been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," got him in hot water with the White House and (perhaps more important) advertisers. The show was finally canceled at the end of May. >>

WHAT’S WRONG WITH SALON?
At This Point, Who Cares?
Rittenhouse Review

I can’t for the life of me imagine how Salon can call itself a “magazine.” This is a site that never found its voice, its niche, its purpose, nor even its reason for being. “Let’s be everything to everyone,” seemed to be the closest thing to a mission statement these people ever came up with. “It’s the web! The world is our audience. If you post it, they will come!”
You know, people believed that tripe back in 1998 and 1999, possibly even into the early months of 2000, but they don’t any longer. And they are all the wiser for it. >>

Word Bursts...
Daily Bytes: Mining Blogs: Using R.

Andre Restivo is using this software to work on the word bursts problem mentioned in the New Scientist article a little while back. | Via #!/sablog

Repress Yourself
Traumatized people may be better off repressing the experience than illuminating it in therapy

For years, therapy has been about discussing and reliving your trauma. But now there's a an argument that it may be better simply to keep it to yourself. >> | Via Sassafrass

Raise Limbaugh's blood pressure! Keep Salon in business

Did you ever get the feeling that some people want you dead? Last week's flurry of news stories about Salon's imminent demise produced another wave of hate mail from those eager to dance on our grave. (The fact that Salon never seems to actually die -- despite the tone of absolute certainty in these perennial press obits that this time, yes, it MUST be going under! -- never diminishes these letter writers' bloodlust.) >>

Psy-Ops Today

Magazines for kids that include ads featuring friendly soldiers instead of videogames; popular movies distributed to the elite citizens who own VCRs, in which the typical pre-show trailer is replaced with a message from the U.S. government – the psyops units have the capacity to use a variety of media to their advantage. And, in the so-called information age, more options seem to crop up with each new conflict.

Most recently in Iraq, emails were sent to Saddam Hussein's generals, urging them to defect. Baghdad temporarily shut down its Internet server in response to these electronic appeals. Other plans for the future might include digital morphing, in which sound and pictures would be altered to put words in enemy leaders' mouths or make them appear as though they are faltering. One idea that was reportedly investigated by the Air Force called for a giant hologram of Allah to appear before the Iraqis, who would be ordered by their God to turn on Saddam. Further use of the Internet is also being explored, but the prospect of creating psyops Web sites is complicated by the fact that the military is not allowed to target Americans, who might visit the sites.

Also

Psychological Action Group

Commando Solo

Leaflets

Radio

Loudspeakers | Via LibertyThink

In Case You're Not Confused Enough Already...World Conspiracy Chart!
Via relicious

Love Letter from Dick's Counsel - WHITEHOUSE.ORG

Maybe they should have mentioned Duct Tape or Ready-Steady-Gov? They need to re-read this book maybe?

SUPERIDOL by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran: a complete short story in comics.

The Complete works of H. P. Lovecraft

/ U B U _ E D I T I O N S

My hope, with the /ubu ("slash ubu") series, is to complement and augment relatively "traditional" methods of publication by usurping one of the most common functions of independent presses -- bringing vital new literature to the attention of a wider public -- while moving into an area that most small press publishers are not able to approach: reprinting important works from the past decades that are too commercially unviable to do as print books.

What made this idea seem interesting now, as opposed to eight or so years ago when internet publishing began its colorful but checkered history (prematurely vaunted by poets as the sequel to the "mimeo revolution") is the realization that people are willing to read long, complex works of literature from the internet provided they can print them out.

U B U W E B :: R A D I O __ R A D I O

RADIO RADIO is a sixteen-part series of forty-five minute broadcasts which asks an honest question: Is there really a place on radio for experimentation? Twenty people immersed in radio, sound and performance (Prix Italia winners, Prix Futura winners, SONY winners and platinum recording artists as well as sound poets, unconventional radio producers, audio artists, critically savvy DJs and writers on the social and aesthetic margins) offer, in their own ways, answers to this question through conversation and the presentation of their work. Things called "voice bumpers" frame and counterpoint larger discussions throughout the series. Ironic versions of the music bumpers in NPR-style magazine programs, these voice bumpers combine found sound with conversation fragments from interviews with important radio critics, scholars and inventive practitioners (Allen Weiss, Kersten Glandien, Kenneth Goldsmith, Lauren Goodlad, Mark Percival, Himan Brown, Tim Crook, Matthew Finch, David Chesworth, Sonia Leber, Simon Elmes and Jo Tacchi) to create a listening experience more restless and engaging than it is wallpaper.

How The Government Watches You

In December of last year, when Congress passed and President Bush signed the Homeland Security Bill, it authorized the creation of two large databases, TIA and CAPPS-II (the first CAPPS was started after the 1998 Atlanta Olympic bombing). The first, TIA, is going to be created and controlled by the Pentagon. Although it's still in the research and development phase, ultimately it's going to be a database that's going to be a collection of all types of data, from medical records to wiretap information. CAPPS-II is also going to be a large database that's going to collect information on airline passengers, to screen passengers. Those who are thought to be suspicious will either be interviewed or prevented from flying. What both databases have in common is that the fields of data are not known, to prevent terrorists from learning how to take advantage of the profiling system. This means that both databases could, potentially, be a collection of many types of data.

Note: Oops! I guess they changed the name and slipped it thru while we were all watching "Duct and Cover"...it's not TIA, now it's TTIC.

Saul Williams - Not in my Name - Pledge of Resistance

Several Remixes by various talents @ ninjatune.net. | Via The HIVE

NPR : Commentary: WiFi

Commentator David Weinberger relates the story of a recent technology conference he attended. The conference venue was equipped with Wifi -- wireless Internet Connectivity. People were taking notes and carrying on sneaky conversations over their laptop computers as the sessions were underway. Weinberger says it was a glimpse of the not-very-distant future.

Blogcritics: The Critiquees - Blogcritics Music Awards - Album of the Year

Just in time to laugh at the Grammys, The Critiquees ("Cri-teek-ees"), the Blogcritics.org music awards for 2002 are here! Results are based upon a poll of our critics and readers. If you want to stock up on the best of 2002, you could do worse than snapping these babies up - click on the links for reviews.

We will list the Top 10 for Album of the Year, and Top 5 for the others. Please see sidebar for the complete listing of categories and posts | >>

CBS EXECUTIVES WANT NO 'ANTI-WAR' STATEMENTS DURING GRAMMYS

Top CBS executives are deeply concerned that Sunday night's GRAMMY Awards may turn from a celebration of music -- into a giant anti-war political rally, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The GRAMMY broadcast, which is set to air live from New York City, will feature performances by Eminem, Sheryl Crow, Springsteen, Coldplay, James Taylor and others.

Word has reached network suites how one star is allegedly planning a dramatic anti-war gesture.

"I would hope the artists will remember they are on stage because of their music," a top CBS source told the DRUDGE REPORT Friday morning. | >>

Rising Anti-American Sentiment Could Slam the Tech Sector
As the technology industry becomes truly global, consumers angered by a war with Iraq could turn their backs on U.S. products.

Every day we see new evidence of how technology is shrinking our globe. When we say "globalization" we really mean "technologization."

Dramatic evidence of our linked global society came last Saturday with the massive, coordinated worldwide demonstrations against a possible war in Iraq. News reports called it the largest protest movement in history, and that seemed likely. But how did it get so big so fast, and, as many reports pointed out with wonder, before a war even happened?

In a word, technology.

A wee bit crazy? Science now has a name for you
It's called schizotypal - a 'lite' version of a schizophrenic who feels his bizarre beliefs makes him smarter than others

I have good news. If you dress funny, talk funny, have no friends, believe in ghosts and communicate with UFOs, science finally has a name for you. You're a schizotypal.
You're in a classification all by yourself: You're a bit nutty, in other words, but you manage to get by.
And there are probably more of you in Los Angeles than anywhere else.

A significant difference between a schizophrenic and a schizotypal is that the former has delusions while the latter has, well, beliefs.

A schizotypal realises his ideas might border on the bizarre, but feels that makes him smarter and better than everyone else because he bops along a mental road less travelled.

Dr Raine hinted at the 'suspicion' that even writers could possess one or two of the traits that would label them schizotypals, and added that the same might also be true in the world of academia. It has to do with the close association of madness and creativity. | Via NWD

The Rise of Open Source, Network-Based Movements
Growing Another World

The vast, coordinated protests that occurred worldwide last Saturday were just the latest manifestation of the power of the loose, non-hierarchial, evolutionary movements that have been enabled by the development of the Internet. And this fundamental social change is just beginning.

Hackers Run Wild and Free on AOL

Using a combination of trade tricks and clever programming, hackers have thoroughly compromised security at America Online, potentially exposing the personal information of AOL's 35 million users.

The most recent exploit, launched last week, gave a hacker full access to Merlin, AOL's latest customer database application. As a security measure, Merlin runs only on AOL's internal network, but savvy hackers have found a way to break in.

Why Did Google Want Blogger?

Forget war and strife, the only news that mattered on the Web this week was Google's acquisition of Pyra Labs, the scrappy San Francisco startup behind the Blogger weblogging tool.

News of Pyra's sale for an undisclosed sum broke on Feb. 14, but details about the deal have so far been scant. Neither Google nor Prya is saying much about it. Evan Williams, Pyra's co-founder, blogged his day-to-day life for the last three years right up until it got interesting. Williams pulled his blog offline earlier this week.

Meanwhile, thousands of weblogs and weblog indexes like Daypop and Blogdex have been loaded with debate about what the deal meant for the Web, for searching and for blogging. The acquisition has puzzled some onlookers: what would a search company want with a tool for making weblogs?

Someone in a unique position to speculate is Chris Cleveland, CEO of Dieselpoint, a search software company based in Chicago that worked with Pyra last year to develop a search engine for Blogger.

"We worked on this project for a couple of months and everything seemed to be going pretty well until about January when communication stopped," said Cleveland. "Now I know why." [Full Story]