Spitting Image

Chinese Levitate Spiders, Beetles

A live beetle levitated by sound pressure in an experiment at Northwestern Polytechnical University.(Xinhua Photo)

"An interesting question is, 'What will happen if a living animal is put into the acoustic field?' Will it also be stably levitated?" researcher Wenjun Xie, a materials physicist at the university told LiveScience.

Xie and his colleagues utilized an ultrasound emitter and reflector to generate a sound pressure field between them. The emitter produced roughly 20-millimeter-wavelength sounds, meaning it could in theory levitate objects half that wavelength or less.

After the investigators got the ultrasound field working, they used tweezers to carefully place animals between the emitter and reflector. The scientists found they could float ants, beetles, spiders, ladybugs, bees, tadpoles and fish up to a little more than a third of an inch long in midair.

The levitated ant tried crawling in the air and struggled to escape by rapidly flexing its legs, although it generally failed because its feet find little purchase in the air. The ladybug tried flying away but also failed when the field was too strong to break away from.

"We must control the levitation force carefully, because they try to fly away," Xie said. "An interesting moment was when my colleagues and I had to catch escaping ladybugs."
The ant and ladybug appeared to suffer no ill effects following 30 minutes of levitation. The fish, according to the report, did not fare as well because of an inadequate water supply.

press release | Xinhua

New Software "Listens" for Angry Voices

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A software that allows a computer to listen like a human to detect anger with a high level of accuracy has been developed by Sound Intelligence.

The software is Sigard Sound Intelligence, and when combined with closed circuit TV systems it can quickly notify security personnel about loud, angry people in public transportation, outdoor public spaces, nightclubs and bars.

Sigard uses a single analysis computer to accept sensor input from several locations. When the software detects a verbally aggressive human voice, the camera at that location is activated, alerting the security guard to a potential problem.

The software imitates the way humans hear sound, splitting sound into different frequencies with varying amounts of energy. Just as a person can immediately detect anger and aggression in the midst of background noise, Sound Intelligence software "listens" for the same parameters that humans use in detecting aggressive speech.

This system is already in place in a few locations in the Netherlands. Police in the UK are also considering installing the system.

item

~How many years until software identified anger is used by police as a reason to arrest or shoot someone?

Photography/Interview: Todd Deutsch

Family Days

http://www.todddeutsch.com/familydaysthumbs.php

A Conversation with Todd Deutsch:
http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/archives/002401.html

Photography: Arnulf Rainer

google: arnulf rainer

from Consumptive

Movie: Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye (2008)

Plot Outline: Vietnam vet John Rambo is forced to emerge from his reclusive lifestyle and take justice into his own hands after his daughter gets kidnapped.

Also Known As:
Rambo IV: End of Peace (USA) (working title)
Rambo IV: Holy War (USA) (working title)
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color

Trivia: When Stallone originally conceived the idea around 2002, the plot involved Rambo going into Afghanistan to battle terrorists.

more; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462499/

~If this movie's ever made, you get the feeling they'll be changing the plot right up until the cameras start rolling?
I think they should give Rambo a son or another daughter.. he never knew he had...a veteran from Bush's Invasion of Iraq? It could be a buddy movie.

>somewhat related:
Fifth Ranger arrested in bank heist
Group hoped to set up B.C. crime network

The elite soldiers, all based at Fort Lewis, face charges in connection with an armed robbery of a Bank of America branch in Tacoma this summer.-- executed "with military-style precision and planning,"
FBI agent Monte Shaide wrote that the "the speed and efficiency of the robbers shows that they are highly disciplined and coordinated."
The men -- armed with AK-47 machine guns -- were in and out the door of the South Tacoma Way bank with about $50,000 in two minutes and 21 seconds, according to court records.

...a witness spotted the alleged getaway car -- a silver Audi A4 -- and reported its license plate number to agents.

story

Unabom Case: Exhibits & Evidence

New Evidence Revealed In Unabomber Case

Anna Werner reports on the tricks Ted Kaczynski used, the code he developed, and how he got away with his violent acts for so long.

story

Smaller treads attached to Kaczynski's regular shoes to throw investigators off.*

cabin/ bombs/evidence* slideshows http://cbs5.com/slideshows/local_slideshow_332010422/view?slide=3 (scroll)

~No mention is made if the FBI was fooled by these shoes at any time during the seventeen year long investigation. [See Unabomber Key Players David Kaczynski]

Also from the above: "Jan. 17, 1998: Bureau of Prisons psychiatrist Sally Johnson reports that Kaczynski is competent to stand trial, but also probably a paranoid schizophrenic, as his lawyers have maintained." In other articles about Ted Kaczynski's mental health that "probably a paranoid schizophrenic" becomes "diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic". (I thought he was probably an acid burnout.)

>related David's Story

>Rotten.com's article http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/serial-killers/unabomer/

Lessons learned: Never try to save money on shoes or lawyers.

Silly String: A Special Request from Troops

It's like, so cute. I couldn't resist,” said military mom Deborah Jones.

Earlier this week, in a care package for her son, Deborah included something unusual William specifically asked for. Silly string is quickly becoming a common request from troops overseas. The subject even made the pages of Time Magazine. So why do they want it?

"Because it's light weight and it helps detect wires when they're going through a doorway without setting off the explosive ordinance,” said Jones.

item | CBS13

~"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

Sexy Australian Golfers Calender Causes Controversy

Some of the top Australian female golfers posed for a racy calendar designed to support breast cancer research - only to have the breast cancer charity withdraw its support of the calendar.

The calendar, due out on Nov. 25, was more than halfway through its print run when Sue Murray, the general manager of the NBCF,(National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) of Australia.) changed her mind. The calendar was too racy, she said. Murray said she was concerned that the "perfect breasts" on (partial) display in the calendar photos would be "too confronting" for women who had lost their breasts to mastectomies.

The NBCF withdrew its support, and that initial print run of calendars had to be destroyed in order to remove the charity's logo.

(Australian golf pro Jenny) Sevil said that the NBCF was well aware of the revealing nature of some of the calendar photos throughout the process, and expressed surprise at the NBCF's move.
But the calendar goes on - and is likely to sell more copies as a result of the contretemps, thereby producing more money for its charities.

press release

~This is simply a marketing ploy; NBCF's doing Seville et.al. a favor?

Fudtz Sign Language

For decades, mankind has longed to be deaf. Jet engines, auto horns, the dullification of modern popular music - any one of these things alone might be worth the price of admission to a wholly silent world. So how does one sign up? Reproduced for the first time since its initial printing in 1972, we are proud to present its revised, expanded, fully up-to-date illustrated manual of contemporary American sign language, sometimes referred to as "finger spelling".

VIRGIN
Index and middle finger brand "V" shape against forehead.

The Big Book of Sign Language http://www.coldbacon.com/signlanguage.html

Sex in Sign Language

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/S/W3573.htm (Quicktime)

from Diederik

The Combat Videos on YouTube

Video cameras small enough to be attached to a soldiers helmet, and then turned on during combat, are becoming the hot battlefield accessory.

The U.S. Department of Defense wants to take the concept further. This has arrived in the form of ASSIST (Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology). This project is testing a wide variety of sensors that soldiers in action, especially patrols, can just wear. The images and sound collected from the vidcams would not just be recorded, but, with a powerful enough wi-fi network and computers to process the data, the troops would get quick (near-instant in some cases) feedback. The computers could be located elsewhere, either back at headquarters, or, via satellite link, back in the United States. This sort of "reach-back" has been used for several years already. Most Predator UAVs flying over Iraq and Afghanistan, are piloted by people stationed at an airbase back in the United States.

...what worries intel specialists about all the combat video on YouTube. It's showing the enemy how combat looks through the eyes of the "infidel" soldiers.

The crucial innovation with ASSIST is capturing the data on a computer, analyzing it, sending instant alerts to the troops, and building a database that would, over time, reveal patterns of enemy activity, or mistakes the friendlies are making.

Initially, ASSIST would be used to record useful data while troops are on patrol, or in combat. Each ASSIST sensor (basically a lipstick cam type unit) would include GPS and accelerometer (measuring movement). Thus if there was any contact with the enemy, there would be, like with the "black box" in aircraft, a record of who was where and how fast they were moving. Data on what patterns of movement mean what can first be obtained from training exercises. The computer would have a database of typical reactions of troops to different situations, enabling the software to alert commanders immediately when critical events occur (an IED going off, or other type of ambush).

press release | Strategy Page

related YouTube search combat iraq

The N-Word

Unmentionable Lessons of the Midterm Aftermath

~As in "..comparing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to the Enabling Act of 1933."

"...were the voters last month protesting Bush's policies—or were they complaining that he had not made those policies work? If Operation Iraqi Freedom had not been such an unqualified catastrophe, how long would the public have assented to the programs that accompanied the "war on terror": the legalization of torture, the suspension of habeas corpus, the unauthorized surveillance of law-abiding Americans, the unilateral exercise of executive power, and the Bush team's avowed prerogative to "create our own reality"?

...polite discussion of that question does not contain any derivative of the words fascism, propaganda, or dictatorship. God forbid Nazi or Hitler."

[A Fascist Philosopher Helps Us Understand Contemporary Politics by Alan Wolfe (2004)] --from above

article http://www.slate.com/id/2154567/nav/tap1/ by Diane McWhorter

thanks Conscientious

~Excellent.

War Protestor's Public Suicide in Chicago Went Unnoticed by Media

At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 - (Malachi) Ritscher, a frequent anti-war protester, stood by an off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire.
A glow for the crush of morning commuters, his flaming body was supposed to be a call to the nation, a symbol of his rage and discontent with the US war in Iraq.
"Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country," he wrote in his suicide note. "... If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country."
There was only one problem: No one was listening.
It took five days for the Cook County medical examiner to identify the charred-beyond-recognition corpse. Meanwhile, Ritscher's suicide went largely unnoticed.
Meanwhile, Ritscher's suicide went largely unnoticed. It wasn't until a reporter for an alternative weekly, the Chicago Reader, pieced the facts together that word began to spread.

...only Ritscher knew the motivations for his suicide. There is little doubt, though, that he was satisfied with his choice.
"Without fear I go now to God," Ritscher wrote in the last sentence of his suicide note. "Your future is what you will choose today."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112706T.shtml

>Google News has collected this month from English language newspapers around the world 213 articles with the words "malachi ritscher"

~You would think there would be more public suicides in the news? There are editorial guidlines that keep these stories from inspiring depressed dimwits?

US Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself

If accurate," the report says, its estimates indicate that these "sources of terrorist and insurgent finance within Iraq - independent of foreign sources - are currently sufficient to sustain the groups' existence and operation." To this, it adds what may be its most surprising conclusion: "In fact, if recent revenue and expense estimates are correct, terrorist and insurgent groups in Iraq may have surplus funds with which to support other terrorist organizations outside of Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112606Z.shtml
By John F. Burns and Kirk Semple | New York Times

~For the hell of it compare insurgent finances above to what it costs US taxpayers to fund the American military fighting them in Iraq... based on Congressional appropriations. (National Priorities Project)

[photo google: "cost of iraq war"]

News of the Weird

Can't Possibly Be True

(1) Britain's Channel 4 public television announced in July that it
would soon schedule a week of documentaries on masturbation,
including one by self-designated "orgasm coach" Betty Dodson,
"Masturbation for Girls," teaching hands-on techniques to three
women. (2) The pendulum swung the other way in October,
however, when Britain's Tesco stores agreed that a kit for learning
pole dancing (advertised on its website), to "[u]nleash the sex
kitten inside," with a garter and suggestive DVD, was perhaps
unsuited for its "toy" section, where it might have been appealing
to adolescent girls. (Tesco moved the listing to its physical fitness
section.) [Daily Mail, 9-21-06; The Times (London), 11-15-06]
[Daily Mail, 10-23-06]

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Tel Aviv newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported in October
that the much tighter border security that resulted from the recent
war with Hezbollah guerillas had caused marijuana prices in Israel
to jump as much as 800 percent. And, though general tensions
between Arabs and Jews remain high inside Israel, prominent
Ultra-Orthodox Jews joined militant Palestinian Muslims in fierce
opposition to the November gay-pride parade in Jerusalem,
according to a Boston Globe dispatch. (Said activist Rabbi Yehuda
Levin, "Only this onslaught of homosexual radicalism could bring
together such disparate voices.") [Reuters, 10-31-06] [Boston
Globe, 11-9-06]

http://newsoftheweird.blogspot.com/

~What are the chances that in the not so distant future "g-rated" pole-dancing becomes part of high-school and college cheer-leading routines? The Olympics? (Make up your own joke about masturbation competitions.)

A Force of Nature/ Fruits of the Deep Earth

A model shows a diamond, weighing 26.62 karats, in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region November 27, 2006. The diamond, named Aurora Borealis due to its color and place of discovery, is said to be valued at 40 million yuan (US$5.1 million). The diamond will go on an exhibition tour to other cities in China. @

myths & legends of diamonds via DeBeers

~In a radio commercial I heard a local diamond merchant say 'diamonds are a force of nature'.
(You think the photo above was retouched?)

Santa Baby Lyrics

Santa Baby,
Just slip a sable under the tree
For me
Been an awful good girl
Santa Baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby,
A '54 convertible too
Light blue
I'll wait up for you, dear
Santa baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the Fella's that I haven't kissed
Next year I could be just as good
If you'll check out my Christmas list

Santa Baby,
I want a yacht and really that's not
A lot
Been an angel all year
Santa Baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa honey,
One little thing I really need
The deed
To a platinum mine
Santa Baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie,
Fill my stocking with a duplex
And checks
Sign your 'x' on the line
Santa cutie,
and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some decorations bought at Tiffany's
I really do believe in you
Let´s see if you believe in me, too

Santa Baby,
Forgot to mention one little thing
A ring
I don't mean on the phone
Santa Baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry...tonight

@

~The more I spend on a date the better the sex. (Thunderstorms and blizzards also stimulate my libido. I've never been in a hurricane or in California during the winds.)

[photo google: santa baby/not Sing365]

'How Extensively Are Professional Modeling Photos Retouched?'

--Becky Carter

"Yes, you will have nightmares tonight!"*

links to more examples:
*http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/archives/002399.html

OLPC: One Laptop Per Child

"The mission of this non-profit association is to develop a low-cost laptop—the "$100 Laptop"—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children."

wiki OLPC home: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Main_Page

milestones: http://wiki.laptop.org/wiki/Current_events

>related: Low Cost Laptops to Reach Students in Brazil

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday (Nov. 27) will distribute the first batch of laptops to school students in the country, as part of the international project A Computer Per Student.

The OLPC intended to sell a million laptops in Brazil, but it said that orders have to reach up to 5 million units, from one or more countries, so that the production at such a cost is viable.

press release

~The production costs for these laptops are almost completely covered by charitable donations?
While the countries involved in the program are subsidizing their students' internet access, software upgrades, and battery charging/electric power expenses? Otherwise these students are getting some not very good food trays.
Students in America have no need for this program?

Israeli Drone Kills One

Israel's military operation kills one Palestinian in northern Gaza

One Palestinian was killed by a rocket fired from Israeli drone plane on a group of militants in the northern Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, (Nov. 23) security sources said.

The rocket was aimed at the Palestinian militants who were facing off Israeli troops that rolled more into the northern Gaza Strip in continued military operations, the sources said.

The slain was a 19-year-old civilian who was watching, they added.

Also on Thursday, a tank shell exploded near a group of students on their way to school, wounding eight of them.

Paramedics said six students were treated on the scene and two others were transported to hospital with moderate wounds.

Earlier at predawn, Israeli helicopter gunship targeted a money changer in Gaza city and destroyed it, but no reports on casualties.

So far, Palestinian rockets continued to fall in Israeli city of Sderot, the army expanded its incursion into Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya towns and Jabaliya refugee camp.

On Wednesday, Israel decided to continue its military operations in Gaza to curb increased rockets launching by Palestinian militants but ruled out large-scale offensive.

Source: Xinhua

[photo google: jabaliya/not from Xinhua]

~If you lived there...you'ld get use to it?

Is It Child Porn or Is It Censorship?

Uncertain of the legal risks, Saskatoon-based periodical BlackFlash left out the illustrations for a story on Canada's child pornography legislation

In what BlackFlash managing editor Lissa Robinson calls "an act of self-censorship," the magazine's six-member editorial committee agreed earlier this month to eliminate the reproductions of two 19th-century paintings of children, four photographs, including one 1879 pre-pubescent nude study by Alice in Wonderland creator Charles Dodgson, and a 1995 advertisement for Calvin Klein clothing. The decision came after a time-consuming search failed to turn up a printer willing to risk a test of the Child Pornography Act passed in July, 2005.

Much of the pre-publication debate at BlackFlash focused on a 1991 photograph by the late Robert Mapplethorpe. Called, variously, Rosie and Honey...

BlackFlash planned to run the Mapplethorpe as a full-page image. But when the magazine's lawyer indicated that this illustration and others might run afoul of child-porn statutes...the editors started to argue about which pictures may be considered pornographic by the law and which wouldn't.

In the end, Robinson said, the board voted to kill all seven, "partly to make a political point and partly because we didn't want to put our printer at risk."

"No one at [BlackFlash] or any artist for that matter is disputing the legitimate right of Parliament and the police to enact and enforce child-pornography laws. It's a question of whether artistic endeavours . . . will be exempted from such laws."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061127.wxblackflash27/BNStory/Entertainment/home

http://www.blackflash.ca/

from Growing Up Sexually

Chemotherapy Temporarily Affects the Structures of the Human Brain

Researchers have linked chemotherapy with short-term structural changes in cognitive areas of the brain, according to a new study. Published in the January 1, 2007 issue of CANCER (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom)

Patients receiving chemotherapy have also long complained of problems with memory, problem-solving and other cognitive abilities. Although chemotherapy was thought not to affect brain cells due to the blood-brain barrier, recent clinical studies have confirmed declines in cognitive functions in patients receiving chemotherapy.

...researchers used MRI to take high-resolution images and measure volumes in specific areas of the brain of breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy and those who did not one-year after surgery and three-years after surgery..

The authors write that this study suggests that regional brain changes are observable within 12 months and correlate with receiving chemotherapy rather than a secondary effect of the cancer...However, these structural changes to the central nervous system were not sustained for patients three years after chemotherapy.

press release

~Are many cancer survivors being treated (erroneously?) for depression? Are cancer survivors routinely screened for difficulties with memory, problem solving and decline in cognitive function? Do health insurance providers recognize these iatrogenic symptoms?
Do many survivors kill themselves within a year or so of their cancer's remission?

Fingerprint Technology -- To Identify the Dead

Technology developed for roadside fingerprints using hand-held devices...has also been pioneered in identifying the dead

The researchers made use of a handheld mobile wireless unit used in conjunction with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device for the capture of fingerprints from the dead. They also used a handheld single digit fingerprint scanner which utilises a USB laptop connection for the electronic capture of cadaveric fingerprints.

The researchers also tested the technique on ‘live’ candidates and found some interesting results.
Professor Rutty (of the East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit at the University of Leicester) said: “Although prints were acquired in all cases we observed a number of difficulties with the use of the unit which affected its operation and print quality. The quality of the prints depended on the gender and age of the individual with females worse than males; elderly female pads showed more cracking and loss of ridge details than males in the series captured. Greasy fingers or the use of hand creams decreased the ability to capture images. Grease, creams or sweaty fingers lead to the persistence of fingerprints on the scanner pad which caused smudged images or multiple images of later fingers. This was overcome by drying of the fingers with a cloth prior to capture.”

press release

~I don't understand the purpose of 'roadside fingerprints'. Are there that many Brit criminals running around free with fake picture IDs to justify the expense, bother and humiliation of routine roadside fingerprinting?

The Queen's subjects must be the most fingerprinted people on earth. Because fingerprinting cadavers in cases of mass fatalities for rapid identification only makes sense if you have significant numbers of fingerprints already on file.

For some perverse reason I take heart that greasy fingers from, for example, fish and chips can decrease the ability of the scanner pad to capture images. So that officers using these devices will need to carry plenty of handi-wipes and have access to suitable disposal containers.

Fun...Outdoors

X2

illinois beach state park

~If I'd moved the camera a little to the left pointing to where this access road disappears in its viewfinder, you would see in the distance (about a mile away) the retired Zion Nuclear Power Plant. It's very quiet here now.

Condom Wedding Dress

by Adriana Bertini

from ErosBlog

Abstract: re Contagious Sex Panic

Assessing the Possibility of a Pedophilia Panic and Contagion Effect Between France and the United States
Melanie-Angela Neuilly and Kristen Zgoba
Victims & Offenders Volume 1, Number 3 / 2006 225 - 254

Abstract:

"In the early and mid-1990s, the United States experienced what could be called a societal sex crime crisis. This led to the passage of specific types of legislation aimed at addressing what was perceived by the public to be a major social problem. In the mid- and late-1990s, Europe (mainly Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany) found itself in the same predicament as the United States. Legislation was passed, varying in its nature, in order to provide the public with an answer to its panic. According to a social constructionist approach, a moral panic occurs when certain types of behaviors or individuals are thought to be utterly harmful to the fabric of the social body. The present article aims at assessing whether there is a pedophilia/moral panic and whether it goes beyond the borders of one country. In order to identify potential contagion effects or parallel trends between France and the United States, the historical evolutions of legislation, reported incidence of child sexual abuse, and written media coverage of the events are triangulated into a multilevel analysis including the years 1990 thru 2005. Differences in intensity and in the dynamics are then established between the two sexual abuse moral panics."

>(fulltext from Taylor & Francis, good read)

from: Diederik F. Janssen, MD, BA http://lists.topica.com/lists/growingupsexually/

[illus google/not with above]

Journal of Politeness Research

>blurb

The JOURNAL OF POLITENESS RESEARCH responds to the urgent need to provide an international forum for the discussion of all aspects of politeness as a complex linguistic and non-linguistic phenomenon. Politeness has interested researchers in fields of academic activity as diverse as business studies, foreign language teaching, developmental psychology, social psychology, sociolinguistics, linguistic pragmatics, social anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, communication studies, and gender studies. The journal provides an outlet through which researchers on politeness phenomena from these diverse fields of interest may publish their findings and where it will be possible to keep up to date with the wide range of research published in this expanding field. The wealth of published material on the subject of polite language usage should not blind us to the need to extend the study of politeness beyond its linguistic aspects. Hence the multidisciplinary scope of this new journal, which aims to attract original contributions from researchers in a wide range of academic and professional fields. This ambitious and exciting new venture is also a long-awaited opportunity to create synergies between researchers from different disciplines and to encourage dissemination of findings from lesser studied languages and cultures in an effort to deepen our understanding of the nature of politeness within and beyond Western geographical and ideological boundaries.

The journal is published twice a year and publishes research articles,review articles on books published within the scope of politeness research and book reviews relevant to politeness research but of a more general nature. There will also be conference announcements and information on upcoming academic events.

JOURNAL OF POLITENESS RESEARCH is a peer-reviewed journal of international scope.

info http://www.degruyter.de/rs/384_7282_ENU_h.htm

thanks Diederik

List of Faux Pas

wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_faux_pas

Presidential Speeches Tagcloud

http://chir.ag/phernalia/preztags/

an interactive tagcloud of the words that US presidents used frequently in their speeches, showing which issues they deemed important over time. the dataset consists of over 360 documents, from speeches, official documents, declarations, & letters written by the Presidents of the US between 1776 - 2006 AD. a timeline slider allows users to animate the tagcloud over the years.

via this Information Aesthetics blog entry

>make your own timeline-based tagclouds http://chir.ag/tech/download/tagline/

Dead Plagerists Society

Will Google Book Search uncover long-buried literary crimes?

Given the popularity of plagiarism-seeking software services for academics, it may be only a matter of time before some enterprising scholar yokes Google Book Search and plagiarism-detection software together into a massive literary dragnet, scooping out hundreds of years' worth of plagiarists—giants and forgotten hacks alike—who have all escaped detection until now.

But wait, you might ask, don't people accidentally repeat each other's sentences all the time? It seems to me that this should not be unusual. Yet try plugging that last sentence word by word into Google Book Search, and watch what happens.

It: Rejected—too many hits to count
It seems: 11,160,000 matches
It seems to: 3,050,000
It seems to me: 1,580,000
It seems to me that: 844,000
It seems to me that this: 29,700
It seems to me that this should: 237
It seems to me that this should not: 20
It seems to me that this should not be: 9
It seems to me that this should not be unusual: 0

It seems to me that this should not be unusual is itself ... unusual.

article: http://www.slate.com/id/2153313/?nav=tap3 By Paul Collins

Fragilize Yourself

"Compassion is originary, it doesn't enter the commerce of any exchange, and from that point of view peace is not in dialogue with war. I don't have to feel empathy for my perpetrators, nor do I have to understand them, but this doesn't mean that I will hand them the mandate to destroy my own compassion which is one of my channels for accessing the non-I. To suffocate my own compassion would be a kind of mental and affective paralysis, since primary compassion is a spontaneous way of transsubjective knowing of/in the unknown Other before and beyond any possible economy of inter-subjective exchange. It is in that sense that in compassion one is fragilizing one's self."

--Bracha L. Ettinger, Ph.D (see Nov. '06 Underfire archives by author)

[photo defense link/not underfire]

~So much commerce so little time for knowing.

Comparison of Video Services

>Wiki

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of video hosts. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_video_services

Pat Tillman's Family Are Not Christians

Pat Tillman was a former NFL football player who joined the U.S. Army Rangers in 2002. When he was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, the Pentagon and the Bush regime seized on his death to build patriotic support for the war, and military and political officials appeared with the Tillman family at the funeral. But the official story released to the press and told to the Tillman family—that Pat had been killed by “enemy fire”—was a lie.

Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, the Army Ranger officer who commanded Pat Tillman’s regiment in Afghanistan, conducted the second Army investigation into his death. He told ESPN, referring to the Tillman family, “I don’t know, these people have a hard time letting it (their son’s death) go. It may be because of their religious beliefs.”

Kauzlarich, (also) told ESPN.com that he thought the Army had found out who actually had killed Tillman but that he had never found out! And he said, “You know what? I don’t think it really matters… I had no issue on not finding a specific person responsible for doing it.”

...after listening to officials talk about Pat being with God, Richard (Pat’s younger brother) spoke at the memorial and said, “Pat isn’t with God. He’s fucking dead. He wasn’t religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he’s fucking dead.”

article: http://revcom.us/a/070/tillman-en.html

[photo google]

>related: PBS broadcast "Fog of War" http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/246/index.html

Spitting Images's pat tillman entries

~Clash of cultures.

I see books about Pat Tillman and the way Bush used his killing and the manner in which the DOD worked the coverup. I don't see a major Hollywood motion picture. Atheists are box-office poison. Maybe a video documentary at Sundance. And a play?

>YouTube search results pat tillman
>Google video: pat tillman

The Video in the Villages Project

"You see the world of the other and you look at your own"

The Video in the Villages’ project has promoted over 14 years, the encounter of the Indians with their images. The project’s proposal is to turn the video into a tool that will enable the expression of their identity, reflecting their vision about themselves and about the world.
While equipping the indigenous communities with video equipment, the project has stimulated image and information exchange among the nations. Initially the training of Indian video-makers was done village-by-village, providing records for their own use. Today, through national and regional workshops, they learn and discuss together ways to present their reality, for their own people and for the world.

http://www.videonasaldeias.org.br/home_ingles.htm

~No videos on-line.

see Google Video Search results: Video in the Villages for links to sellars.

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1st Annual Gay LIfe Film Festival

Nov. 17-19 NYC

4:00 - THEATER C02 - SCHOOL'S OUT

The high school and college years can be a rollercoaster ride for some gays and lesbians. This collection of shorts explores all of these teenage phases: innocent curiosity, awkwardness, straight crushes, bullying, coming out, first love, and finally standing up for yourself and demanding equality. Whether you're still in school or you just want a trip down memory lane, come join us for a program of wit, comedy, and drama!
A high school student is determined to go to his prom in drag in the animated My Crazy Life. In Peace Talk (I Fred), two young girls, Jonna and Emilie, seem to only be playing a game, but is there something more serious going on? When Gareth is bullied in the locker room at his private school, he begins to question the meaning of true masculinity in Boys Grammar. The monogamy of a happy lesbian couple is jeopardized by the arrival of a third wheel in the dark comedy Open. Fifteen-year old Hannah tries to cope with her desire to dance with the prettiest girl in her class and forges an unlikely bond with her own worst enemy in Being A Boy (En Kille Som Jag). In Straight Boys, Ben is torn by his feelings for his straight roommate and must decide whether to risk the friendship or keep his secret to himself. In Sissy Frenchfry, the utopia of West Beach High is threatened when transfer student Bodey McDodey spreads intolerance and battles the beloved Sissy for Student Body President. Students in a high school GSA program strike back against school officials when their freedom of speech is compromised in Disruptive Items. -- Jonathyn Pankratz

My Crazy Life: Dirs. Carlos E Arguello & Enzo Ybarra. USA. 2006. Video. 6 min.
Peace Talk (I Fred): Dir. Jenifer Malmqvist. Sweden. 2005. Video. 14 min.
Boys Grammar: dir Dean Francis. Australia. 2006. Video. 8 min.
Open: dir Teale Failla. USA. 2005. Video. 12 min.
Being A Boy (EN KILLE SOM JAG): dir Mia Olsson. Sweden. 2004. Video. 10 min.
Straight Boys: dir Dave O'Brien. USA. 2006. 35mm. 15 min.
Sissy Frenchfry: dir JC Oliva. USA. 2005. Video. 28 min.
Disruptive Items: dir Isabella Bravo. USA. 2004. Video. 7 Min.

complete 2006 schedule: http://www.gaylifefilmfestival.com/schedule.htm

from http://www.growingupsexually.tk/

via google

Disney World Gay Days

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gallery: ["By clicking you acknowledge that you are 21 years of age or older and freely wish to inform yourself of the vulgar and offensive behavior taking place inside Disney Theme Parks.] http://www.stopgaydays.com/photo_gallery.htm

blog entry: videos, more photos:
http://gaytravelnetwork.blogspot.com/2006/11/spectromagic-2006-at-disney-world.html

UK: Camera Technology to Combat Anti-Social Behaviour

Being used for the first time the cameras, which are the size of an AA battery, are mounted on to police headgear. Officers can then patrol as usual with the cameras recording digital images to a special utility belt.

The equipment, which costs around £1,800 per pack and is funded by Haringey Council's Safer Communities Partnership , will be used to gather evidence and images will form part of any future court proceedings.

press release

more: London police to get 'RoboCop' cameras

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheNeuschwabenlandTimes/message/14202

Photocaption Non Sequitur

Kings do not touch doors.

With a friendly hand he holds it a while longer before pushing it back decidedly thus shutting himself in — of which, he, by the click of the powerful & well-oiled spring, is pleasantly assured. — Francis Ponge, "the pleasures of the door"

Hi-Tech T-Shirt Amplifies Air Guitar Into the Real Thing

Richard Helmer and a team of researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, fashioned the "wearable instrument shirt" out of an ordinary T-shirt fitted with an array of sensors.

The built-in technologies measure the movements of the wearer, allowing them to "play" by moving one hand to mimic guitar chord patterns and using the other to pluck virtual strings. The shirt is hooked up to a computer that is able to read the signals and turn them into guitar sounds.

The CSIRO team say they plan to create variants of the T-shirt which can mimic other instruments.

press release

~I want my air-guitar t-shirt also connected to an array of servos in the t-shirts given to selected female audience members. Rock On!

[photo not with press release]

Blog: Organomics

http://blog.organomics.org/

~"What do we want! "Human organs for sale!" "When do we want it!!?" "Now!!"

[illus google/ not from organomics]

Bend it Like Beckham: Embodying the Motor Skills of Famous Athletes

"Perceiving a highly skilled athlete inhibited similar motor behaviour in the observer."

Forty student participants were shown photos of the footballers Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen and the tennis players Tim Henman and Greg Rusedksi. None of the photos were action shots, but half showed the sportsmen in a sporting context whereas the other half showed them off-pitch, or off-court.

The participants’ task was to identify as quickly and accurately as possible the sportsman currently displayed, using either a keyboard key or a footpad. For example, during one trial the participants were required to press the footpad if the computer screen showed Rooney but to press the spacebar with their finger if the photo was of Henman. On another trial the means of response was reversed so that the footpad was used for identifying Tim Henman, with the keyboard used for Rooney. Hundreds of such trials were performed.

The crucial finding is that on average the participants were slower (by about 20ms) and less accurate at identifying the footballers when using their foot compared with their finger. By contrast, they were slower and less accurate at identifying the tennis players with their finger than with their foot. These effects were actually slightly greater when the sportsmen were shown out of a sporting context.

blog entry/links | BPS Research

~Were women equally inhibited by male or female sports stars? Perhaps women (and men who aren't sports fans) embody different photo subjects...differently?

Would photos of for example porn stars like Ron Jeremy have a similar effect on the viewers' corresponding body part?

Are some individuals more susceptible to photo-inhibited motor behavior?

[photo not from above]

Film: The Power of Nightmares

on YouTube

Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm807YQYzeY
Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pq9olUbF5E
Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlCtpjvoadE

Regards.

~ Priapo @

background, press release, etc.
http://www.spitting-image.net/archives/006052.html

~I wonder what's the largest collective illusion, political or cultural movement in operation in the world today? Can I join or am I already a member?

[photo google/ not from above]

Despite a Year of Ire and Angst, Little Has Changed on Wiretaps

When President Bush went on national television one Saturday morning last December to acknowledge the existence of a secret wiretapping program outside the courts, the fallout was fierce and immediate.

Mr. Bush's opponents accused him of breaking the law, with a few even calling for his impeachment. His backers demanded that he be given express legal authority to do what he had done. Law professors talked, civil rights groups sued and a federal judge in Detroit declared the wiretapping program unconstitutional.

But as Democrats prepare to take over on Capitol Hill, not much has really changed. For all the sound and fury in the last year, the National Security Agency's wiretapping program continues uninterrupted, with no definitive action by either Congress or the courts on what, if anything, to do about it...

While the Democrats have vowed to press for more facts about the operation, they are of mixed minds about additional steps.
Some favor an aggressive strategy that would brand the program illegal and move to ban it even as the courts consider its legality. Others are more cautious, emphasizing the rule of law but not giving Republicans the chance to accuse them of depriving the government of important anti-terrorism tools.

story By Eric Lichtblau NYTimes via TruthOut

~The men and women of Congress, their families, business partners lobbyists and corporate constituents, are not threatened by NSA's wiretapping program?

The outrage towards Bush's lawbreaking and the NSA's secret program hasn't fully acknowledged the sleaziness of it all. How simple it was for the President to ignore the Constitution, how readily Congress and the experts at the NSA go along with it and no matter if the most-up-to-date data-mining hardware and software are being used, how squalid it is to secretly listen in and record someone's private phone conversations. We're so shocked by our leader's lack of legal restraint and Congress' meek compliance or dazzled by what the experts say the program can do, we're unable to sense how perverse it is.

[illus google/not NYTimes]

Faraway Places

U.S. Marines conduct a twilight patrol through the deserted streets of Husaybah, Iraq, on Oct. 31, 2006. The Marines are attached to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). DoD photo by Cpl. Brian M. Henner, U.S. Marine Corps.

President George W. Bush (right), Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee (2nd from right), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace (3rd from right), and Lt. Gen. James Amos, deputy commandant for Combat Development and Integrations, attend the official opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps during the birthday celebration of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., on Nov. 10, 2006. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, U.S. Air Force.

U.S. Army Capt. Cindy McPherson examines an Iraqi boy's ears during a medical and humanitarian mission in Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 9, 2006. McPherson is a physicianís assistant with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. DoD photo by Master Sgt. Mike Buytas, U.S. Air Force.

U.S. Marines gather around the boots, helmet and rifle to pay homage to a fallen Marine during a memorial service in Barwanah, Iraq, on Oct. 25, 2006. DoD photo by Sgt. Jason L. Jensen, U.S. Marine Corps.

~Looking at Defense Link's latest photos (DefenseLink) I thought I'ld feel more pride of ownership, instead I feel slightly jealous and put-upon. So many different comradely ways...on what impossible machines...and in what strange sounding places the US military spends our taxdollars.

I should be grateful the military's not conducting twilight patrols through the deserted streets of my town.

16,000 Single Mothers Served In Afghanistan & Iraq

More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.
How these women have coped and how their children are managing have gone little-noticed...

story WashPost viaTruthOut

~A postmodern variation on the 'mother of soldier' icon...mother AS soldier*.

Did the WashPost sit on these stats until after the election, or was it the DOD who waited?
Single mothers are a Democratic Party concern.

With all the Iraqis killed since the US invasion and during the occupation there are probably an unprecedented number of single Iraqi mothers.

No mention is made of the numbers of married mothers and fathers serving in Bush's War on Terrorism. Wouldn't those numbers also be unprecedented?
(Because of the outsourcing of American jobs and Rumsfeld's use of the National Guard and its 'supplementing-their-income' older soldiers.)

I wonder if there're unprecedented numbers of single mothers now incarcerated in US prisons.
Unprecedented numbers of married people with children in prison?

Single mothers in college...married parents attending universtities?
Single-mothers who have mortgages?

*Mother/Soldier. About 19"x14" / Limited edition of 50 prints.
by P. John Burden @ via Google/not WashPost

~Chances are, before democracy is restored and all US troops return home, a American military mother will be killed while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and so will one of her children. Same thing for a GI father and son or daughter. (Have any US military husbands and wives died in combat?)
I'm guessing that the Iraqis have already had numerous examples of this cruel irony...parents & children killed in separate incidents...at American mothers and fathers hands?

Thanks

Driving a Wheelchair with Your Shirt

Garments printed with flexible sensors could help people with severely limited mobility control assistive devices.

The system, which is still in an early stage of development, identifies the ideal set of movements that can be employed as control commands for each individual user. "We think this will benefit the most difficult patients, such as those who can move only their head or shoulders," says Alon Fishbach, a scientist at Northwestern University.

The garment is printed with 52 flexible, piezoresistive sensors developed at the University of Pisa. These sensors are made of electroactive polymers that change voltage depending on the angle at which they are stretched. The sensors can detect fine scale movements of the upper body and arms.

press release | Technology Review

ART: Science Museum

Is This Your Future?

A collection of hypothetical products and 3 photographic scenarios explore the ethical, cultural and social impact of different energy futures.

Scenario 3: Meat Eating Products
A meat-eating robot has been developed by the University of South Florida. Microbial fuel cells contain living bacteria which break down food and convert the nutrients into electrical energy.

Imagine if this technology took off. How would things change?

Teddy Blood-Bag Radio

Would humans and animals be exploited in new and horrible ways? Or would laws be passed to protect them? Maybe domestic products like TVs would need to be fed meat in order to work. Human blood, rodents, or worms could also be used. Where would this meat come from —— special hybrid energy pet shops and butchers? Zoos as energy stores?

The Energy Gallery, The Science Museum, London (For children between 7—14 years)
Design team: Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Onkar Singh
Photography: Jason Evans

link to (009) Project Science Museum 2004- through here: http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/

via Aberrant News

Some Colleges Bypassing TV Sports Contracts in Favor of the Web

>from 8/16/06

Many schools, and now some conferences, have begun streaming their football and other sports broadcasts on their Web sites.

We can produce our own television and reach, literally, the entire world on the Web, without having to go through the issues of, is there cable availability? Is there satellite availability? Is there advertising support?" said Jeff Orleans, commissioner of the Ivy League.

He expects most sporting events in the league will be on the Web within the next seven years.

press release by Pat Eaton-Robb

~Bodes well for future non-sports streaming-tv broadcasts?

Bush Daughter Robbed in Argentina

A pair of thieves removed the purse from under a table while Secret Service agents stood guard at a distance, La Nacion reported.

story | MSNBC

~The restaurant is not named. This story also doesn't mention how they learned it was a pair of thieves (witnesses to some sort of scene within the restaurant?) or if Ms. Bush's phone and purse were returned. Does the US State Department negotiate with purse snatchers?

It's the season for schadenfreude. The most wonderful time of the year.

Vote for Your Favorite Falsies

At the end of each year, CMD (Center for Media & Democracy) issues the "Falsies Awards," to recognize the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment. This year, we are asking you to help identify the worst spinners and propagandists of 2006. We have put together a juicy selection of nominees -- but we need you to vote and tell us who deserves the Falsies this year.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5495 / Thanks for the Fake Memories

New Zealand: Banned Book/ Stolen E-mails

The leadership of the National Party is under renewed scrutiny after a High Court injunction designed to protect Don Brash’s private correspondence effectively backfired

Dr Brash is dismissing (the author Nicky) Hager’s calls to withdraw the injunction so its contents can see the light of day, arguing that he wants publication of his emails stopped.
But because, like everyone else, he cannot read the book, he was left to defend himself today (11/21) against a raft of general claims of “deceptive” and “unethical” National Party activities (e.g. national's dealings with the Exclusive Brethren) that Hager outlined from it.
He made no apology for last Thursday seeking the injunction to protect a swathe of his leaked personal emails, some of which have turned up in the book, and said he did not know about the Hager book at the time.
The book, “The Hollow Men, A Study in the Politics of Deception”, contained stolen material, he said, “if he has what I think he has”.

In the absence of the book’s specifics, Dr Brash struggled to address other claims Hager outlined about National’s donors, links to American neo-conservatives during the election campaign...

story

>Update: NZ Opposition Leader Retreats from Banning Book

""It feels like we've gone from trying to suppress the book to just wanting to delay it while they get their attacks and their damage control ready," says (book's author Nicky) Hager.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5499

~Politicians, cults (the Exclusive Brethen) AND intrique via the US sponsored Neo-Con Internationale!! I see a movie. The script will write itself.

CACI: Torture in Iraq, Intimidation at Home

..."a leading profiteer from the Iraq war engages in intimidation campaigns against journalists in America..."

...by trying to spin Abu Ghraib and bully the media into ignoring the story, CACI has violated the fundamental rules of corporate crisis management. PR consultants who specialize in the field talk about the "Tylenol model" - named for the pain-relief medication that faced a crisis in the 1980s after some of its bottles were found to contain cyanide. According to the experts, companies facing a crisis must "demonstrate concern, care and empathy" for the victims of its actions and should always "treat the media as a distribution channel, not as enemies." Rule number one is: "take responsibility."

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/44506/ by Joshua Holland via TruthOut

~Aren't journalists supposed to get flack for what they sometimes write ..poor babies.
Shouldn't CACI be a household word, like Halliburton, if not for their interrogators (that's too embarrassing for most Americans to care about) then for their business acumen? "CACI's defense contracts almost doubled in the year after the occupation of Iraq began, and profits shot up 52 percent." One would think they would advertise their patriotic entrepreneurship. With profits like that CACI's executives must do something newsworthy.

Iraq Rape Soldier Jailed for Life

A US soldier who raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and helped to kill her family has been sentenced to life in prison with possible parole

Specialist James Barker was one of four serving soldiers charged over the killings in the Iraqi town of Mahmudiya, which happened in March.

He is expected to be eligible for parole in 20 years.

story | BBC

from July'06 Spitting Image's related: entry

~He's a young man. He's fortunate he wasn't tried in Iraqi courts.
They could've used the same building and security set-up they had for Saddam.

It would've been bad for US military morale to have a US soldier tried in the courts of a newly conquered nation?
Haven't some GI's recently been tried for crimes in Japanese courts?

A google news search today links to 21 articles containing the words "james barker" jailed.
I must be doing something wrong. The story's almost a week old.

A google news search for "james barker" sentenced shows 190 results

Imprisoned "james barker" did not match any documents

There are no photos via Google Photo Search for "james barker" soldier.

American soldiers are going to be in Iraq for a long time.

Today there are more than 6,000 news articles collected by Google containing the words oj simpson book

Photographs of Instruments Built by Harry Partch

And Heard in His Recorded Music

Cloud-Chamber Bowls

BUILT: 1950-1951, near Gualala, and at Mills College, California.
SIZE: The rack is 7 feet long, 6 feet high.
MATERIALS: Redwood frame, glass carboys, rope. and funnels for suspension purposes.
TONES: From 10 to 12 tops and bottoms of 12-gallon Pyrex carboys (the bottoms are inverted). At the University of California Radiation Laboratory, at one time, centers were cut from such carboys for use in "cloud-chamber" experiments. Played on the edges with small soft mallets, also on the flat tops. The bowls give a bell-like tone, and each has at least one inharmonic overtone. When one of them breaks it is virtually impossible to find an exact duplicate.

more photos/samples of instruments: http://www.corporeal.com/instbro/instintr.html

>somewhat related: Show Us Your Instruments!

much more: Corporeal Meadows

Photography: Mona Kuhn

more photos: http://www.cowlesgallery.com/kuhn/color.html

more info/links/ & comment http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/archives/002386.html

~Don't these photos make you want to strip-naked and lounge around with your beautiful friends?

Don't these photos make you wish you and your beautiful friends could be as comfortable lounging around naked together?

Don't you wish you had beautiful friends?

Custom Creature Taxidermy Art

"Artist and naturalist Sarina Brewer recycles the natural into the unnatural breathing new life into the animals she resurrects..."

dried turkey head

more works:
http://www.customcreaturetaxidermy.com/intro/intro.html

Aliens & Children

Drawing made by the artist showing herself lying on a table surrounded by aliens. Many of their procedures made her sick.

more: http://www.aliensandchildren.org/

from Consumptive

New US Missile-Warning Sensor Hits First Milestone

Lockheed is prime contractor for the $10.6 billion Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), and Northrop Grumman Corp.... built the first sensor aboard a classified satellite that is rotating the Earth in highly elliptical orbit (HEO).

The program faced cancellation last year for cost overruns, but officials said it was doing better now...
SBIRS has three main elements, a ground system, launched in 2001, two big satellites that parallel the equator, and a pair of polar-orbiting sensors positioned on classified satellites.
The air force said the performance of the Northrop sensors was "meeting or exceeding all specified mission requirements" and would be certified as fully operational by summer 2008.

Gen. Kevin Chilton, who commands Air Force Space Command, told reporters the first images delivered by the Northrop infrared sensors were "truly exciting," allowing military leaders to see a good portion of the Earth."
SBIRS presents a new era of global surveillance with the ability to detect and report events that were previously beyond our capabilities, providing greatly improved support to our combatant commanders," he said in a statement.
Top Pentagon officials this week reviewed the overall SBIRS program, which was initially slated to cost just $3 billion to $4 billion, and the meeting went "very well," ...officials reviewed progress on two satellites that will orbit the Earth in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and their design was validated by the success of the Northrop sensor.

The positive review bodes well for the Lockheed-Northrop contracting team, which is trying to convince (Pentagon acquisitions chief Ken) Krieg to let it build a third GEO satellite, rather than proceeding with alternative sensors being designed by Raytheon Co and Science Applications International Corp.

...the first GEO satellite was on track for launch in late 2008.

press release | Reuters

>also:
U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin Team Completes On-Orbit Checkout of First SBIRS HEO Payload

"The HEO payload detects ballistic missile launches from northern polar regions as it operates in a highly inclined elliptical orbit. The first of a new generation of SBIRS sensors, this payload has improved sensitivity to detect dim theater missiles and can be tasked to scan off pole areas of military interest. press release | PRNewsWire

~No Northrup infrared sensor images from this GEO satellite were made available to the press? They're looking at the Russkies?

If it cost $10.6 billion to successfully send up a successful test SBIRS satellite, how much more might it cost to put the actual four GEO satellites into HEO? Around four times as much?

I wonder if SBIRS besides detecting ballistic missiles and "dim theater missiles' can also be used to spot forest fires, volcanoes, nuclear reactions, meth labs, camp fires in the taiga? I don't have a clue.

Wiki's SBIRS article

[illus Northrup @/ not above links]

Base Jumping Legend Dies

On Saturday, (Brian) Schubert strapped on a parachute and made his first jump in 40 years. Before 145,000 spectators, his daughter and his old El Capitan jumping partner, Schubert leaped off a bridge to his death.

Schubert's daughter, Cynthia Lee, 42, of Alta Loma, said his family was proud that he had decided to do the jump.
"He had lived for this jump for the last three or four months. He was so excited," she said. "My father died with a smile on his face because he has so much passion for what he loved — and that's our saving grace."
She was on the telephone with her older sister, Tina Lindebaum, 44, of Upland, who had gone with their father to Bridge Day. Tina gave her an account of what was happening as the events occurred:
"She said they just announced Dad is in line to jump and the media are going wild."
Tina then hung up on her sister, only to call back minutes later, saying: "Pray for our father's peace."

[Video shown nationwide captured Schubert leaping off an 876-foot bridge into the New River Gorge in Fayetteville, W.Va., during an event known as Bridge Day. He hit the water with a partly opened chute and died on impact. ]

story | LATimes

via Blog of Death's Obituary w/ link to World Base Fatality list

~Are there many suspected stunt suicides? Do film and news crews secretly or openly worry about (or hope for?) suicides when they cover certain events or point their cameras at large gatherings of people?

Since 9/11 so many CCTV-cameras have been installed in the world's urban areas. Are there reports from security guards about people snuffing themselves in front of their cameras?
Are there many suicide bombers caught on tape?

A google news search today has no results for "stunt suicide" or "suicide stunt". While the #1 google web search result for "suicide stunt" is Michelle Malkin's thoughtful report: THE GITMO SUICIDE STUNT; June 13, 2006--about America's detainees' suicides and suicide attempts.

Film: Boyhood Studies

"It is our contention that some films may offer productive ways of conceptualizing "male development", so called. This is perhaps a modest formulation of its agency. Film, in any case, is an eligible venue for psychoanalytic deliberation, social commentary, and visual archivists. We like to advertise in the list below examples of what we mean, particularly non-contemporary and non-mainstream examples...

Please suggest eligible additions."

http://boyhoodstudies.com/film.htm

Risky Business (1983)

[not from list above]

Blog: Listen Up

"Music Views, News & Reviews" http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/

~I don't like music reviews. Movie reviews are most informative when you've no intention of seeing the movie and art reviews supply you with buzz-words and help build your vocabulary. While music reviews are strictly for fans. Seeing my favorite band's name in print gets my attention everytime.

Yahoo News Photo Search: "deep-fried"

A view of a new fast food making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall. Ping-pong-sized balls of batter made with Coca-Cola syrup are deep-fried, then served in a cup, topped with more Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top. (State Fair of Texas/Handout/Reuters (Oct 27)

Art: Deep-Fried American Flags

>"'I feel extremely censored' says (artist William) Gentry."

An exhibit that opened Tuesday at Customs House Museum, (in Clarksville, Tennessee) "the Fat is in the Fire," bit the dust Wednesday, less than 18 hours after it opened.
The exhibit — which featured three American flags with words printed on them and dozens of small American flags deep fat fried in peanut oil, egg batter, flour and black pepper — were removed from the exhibit in fear of public outcry.

(Museum Executive Director Ned) Crouch said the problem was that Gentry's words were printed on the flags themselves, rather than on signs underneath. Printing on and deep frying American flags could be interpreted as desecration of the flag, Crouch said.

story

also the Wonkette's 'dumb art' post

~It's unfortunate the museum director didn't stop the artist from hanging the exhibit in the first place. From my limited experience in the art world I've learned before an exhibit opens it's essential to establish and maintain communication between museum directors, staff members, artists and if necessary lawyers.

Were the museum's phones jammed or the director's home besieged by calls from irate Clarkville patrons of the arts who had heard about the deep-fried flags...from where?
Maybe a concerned museum member/local political leader took time away from her busy schedule, her evening meal, to convince the director to rethink the exhibit. Were such phrases like 'legal liability' bandied about?
Perhaps a bomb threat helped the director see how 'the exhibit could be considered offensive to a majority of the museum's members".
Or did all it take was a single phone call from the nearby military base (re Kafka's The Castle) to get him to pull the plug. We'll never know.

I like dumb art more often than not. What bugs me is I can't find any photos to post here of the dozens of small flags deep-fried in batter.

Film: Fuck (2005)

Genre: Documentary

Tagline: The movie that dare not speak its name

Plot Outline: A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use

more IMDb info http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486585/

via http://lists.topica.com/lists/growingupsexually/*

*Diederik writes: "An thoroughly enjoyable ethnolinguistic study with some observations on the construction of children as "corruptible" by sheer power terms. This is actually a thought entertained by millions of people, and it just got to be one of the most bizarre propositions people have put forward. Enjoy."

Buy Nothing Day November 24 & 25, 2006

http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/

thanks Diederik

[illus from BND Japan posters & flyers]

~"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

BND's (could be) like Ramadan for consumerists, consumerics, consumerish, consumerans and the consumerati consumering.

Unknown Actresses: The British Girls Adult Film Database

XNK0651

*
@

Films
Color Climax Exciting Video 521 1980s
*Hypno Humpers 1980s

links to more unidentified actresses: http://bgafd.co.uk/unknowns/index.php

Friday News Dump: AP Gets Shocking New Report on Gitmo

SAN JUAN The U.S. military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from detainees and usually reached a decision within a day as it determined that hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo Bay were "enemy combatants," according to a new report.

The military held Combatant Status Review Tribunals for 558 detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in southeast Cuba between July 2004 and January 2005 and found all but 38 were enemy combatants. Handcuffed detainees appeared before a panel of three officers with no defense attorney, only a military "personal representative."

Twenty-one first-year law students at Seton Hall University in Newark, N.J., analyzed the documents [transcripts of tribunals that the government first released earlier this year in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press as well additional records provided by lawyers for 102 Guantanamo detainees.] ..to create a database analyzed by eight second- and third-year students.

Among their findings:

--The government did not produce any witnesses in any hearing.

--The military denied all detainee requests to inspect the classified evidence against them.

--The military refused all requests for defense witnesses who were not detained at Guantanamo.

The U.S. military now holds about 430 men at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban...

The Military Commissions Act, which President Bush signed on Oct. 17, strips all non-U.S. citizens held under suspicion of being an enemy combatant of their right to challenge their detention in civilian courts with petitions of habeas corpus.

story

~Will the Democrats get around to restoring habeas corpus for these prisoners...ever?

Remember kids whatever you do, don't ever become an "enemy combatant".

07/29/2004 Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - The facility where the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) will take place for detained enemy combatants. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Mobley large/url

more DoD Gitmo Tribunal photos/reports etc.: http://www.pentagon.mil/news/Combatant_Tribunals.html

>coincidentally:
US Military Wants War Crimes Compound for Gitmo Detainees

San Juan, Puerto Rico - The US military on Friday said it plans to build a $125 million compound at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base where it hopes to hold war-crimes trials for terror suspects by the middle of next year.

"We need to build more courtrooms, and we want to do multiple trials," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the government hopes to begin construction as soon as possible to be ready for trials no later than July 1.

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, described the compound proposed by the Pentagon as "a permanent homage to its failed experiment in second class justice."

The contractor will be required to complete work by July on the compound including "a secure perimeter," a garage for 100 government vehicles and a closed-circuit video transmission center...

Previously, 10 detainees were charged with crimes. A total of some 70 detainees are expected to be charged under the new law..

story | AP via TruthOut

~That's a lot of construction for those 70 detainess expected to be charged under Bush's new law. With the way the military adjudicates all they really need is a tent, tables, chairs and several coolers kept filled with ice and soft drinks. (see photo(s) linked above)
Do the math 70 into 150 million dollars equals an unbelievable amount of spending even for our heroic military who keep us all safe from terror.
Is there some provision in Bush's new law we haven't been told about?

Hope I don't see you in Gitmo.

Holland Proposes Burka Ban

A Muslim leader denounced the proposal as "a big law for a small problem," in a country where as few as 30 women wear burkas, and the mayor of Amsterdam warned that giving the issue too much attention could backfire.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said the ban was to promote security.

"The cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing, including the burka, is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens," Verdonk said in a statement.

"From a security standpoint, people should always be recognizable and from the standpoint of integration, we think people should be able to communicate with one another," Verdonk told national broadcaster NOS.

She said the ban would include not only the tent-like burka but full-face helmets and ski masks.

Last December, in a parliament debate it became clear a majority of the 150-member legislature would support a ban. But an advisory panel warned any law targeting Muslim dress would violate the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
The proposal was the latest move by mainstream parties to co-opt what were once the policies of the nationalist fringe.

story (with the latest look at legislation and the debate over wearing veils in Europe) | Cnews

~Are these Euro-crats onto something? Are burka-tented suicide bombers making their way to the historic centers of Western civilization? Will these proscriptions prove justified? Maybe next year?
Or are they simply politicing for the racist vote?

It's odd when leaders of countries are threatened by things that you never imagined were a threat.

The USA is behind in the burka-ban gap!

[photo google\ not from above]

~I always liked seeing flocks of nuns in movies.

Google Image: evangelical

@

NC State's New DARPA Urban Challenge Driverless Vehicle

[Entered as one of the 78 Track B teams..]

...a driverless Lotus Elise to compete in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. The team will modify the sports car with sensors and on-board computers that have been programmed to autonomously maneuver it through an urban setting complete with traffic, intersections and traffic circles – the vehicle will even have to park itself – all without the help of a human.

Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Grand Challenge competition was created to answer a congressional mandate to convert one-third of military vehicles to driverless, computer-driven mode by 2015. The objective of the competition is to have teams design a completely autonomous vehicle with no human assistance that can maneuver through an urban setting while avoiding obstacles.

press release

~Is this car smiling? That's a wicked smirk?
How fast do you think this Lotus will be going during the competition? Can Lotus's be driven that slowly? (They'll modify its transmission?)

I'ld like to see videos of robot vehicles attempting to maneuver through 'urban settings' at any speed. I always liked demolition derbys.

Refuse to Show ID, Get Tasered by Angry Cops

Excerpt:
"They have been used against unruly schoolchildren... and people who argue with police or fail to comply immediately with a command. Cases described in this report include the stunning of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Florida, following a dispute on a bus, and a 13- year-old girl in Arizona, who threw a book in a public library."

links to story, video, articles:
http://www.politechbot.com/2006/11/16/refuse-to-show/ | Politech

>Spitting Image's taser posts

~UCLA should remind their students that for their protection campus security guards are equipped with the latest, most up-to-date taser technology, which they will use on unruly or lawbreaking students. Maybe run a movie during orientation week showing exactly what tasers can do to a cow or a human? Or post signs throughout the campus: 'warning security guards have tasers!'?

[photo google: taser/ not from above]

Underfire: Evangelical Internationalism

...“missionary work” no longer refers to an activity in which predominantly Western or Americans go off to unilaterally evangelize “native” peoples. Instead, with the rapid emergence what Philip Jenkins has called the “next Christendom” – the numerical and social ascendance of the churches of the global south-- the worlds’ Christians evangelize in all directions. The United States remains the single largest “sending” country in the world, but South Korea, with its far smaller population, is second, and Nigeria, Brazil, and many others send large numbers of missionaries. (Well aware of, and often embracing, this globalization, US evangelical culture – through magazines, books, and even music video-- increasingly represents itself as impressively and necessarily internationalist in its outlook.]

complete entry: http://underfire.eyebeam.org/pipermail/underfire/2006-November/003385.html by Melani McAlister

Billy Graham, July 4th Parade, Grand Marshall, 1971
[photo from @/ not underfire]

Ownership of High Risk (Vicious) Dogs as a Marker for Deviant Behaviors:

Implications for Risk Assessment

i.e. "the presence of deviant behaviors in the owners"

study; http://www.docuticker.com/?p=8661

~I also learned today, this time via google, that 'man bites dog' besides being the name of a Tarantino rip-off movie was also the name of a band.

Is there anything humans have done to animals that has not been used as a name for a rock and roll band?

Historic Federal Courthouses

This site created by the Federal Judicial Center presents nearly 600 images of historic federal courthouses and other buildings that have served as the meeting places of federal courts. These photographs were compiled from the collections of various federal repositories and agencies

South Bend Indiana: U.S. Post Office and Court House (1933)
Completed in 1933. Architect: N. Roy Shambleau
Still in use by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Renamed the Robert A. Grant Federal Building and United States Courthouse in 1992.

http://www.fjc.gov/history/courthouses.nsf | Federal Judicial Center

~Unfortunately no photos of architectural details, interiors, murals, sculpture, mosaics or paintings.

In my experience county courthouses are more historically interesting if less visually impressive then these federal venues. So many have been destroyed by fire.

Still Not News: Stations Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs (Fake News)

The ongoing controversy over video news releases has not stopped television stations from airing the fake news segments without attribution.

press release: http://www.docuticker.com/?p=8694

>update: US Fake News Sales Slide

"...one significant difference between early 2005 and now is that the probability of regulatory action by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) appears to be more towards the "likely" end of the scale than than just being "possible"

...international sales (of VNRs at Medialink)...grew enough to offset just under half the drop from domestic VNRs income, Medialink reports that it has sought to expand its "international client base." But relying on expanding international consumption of VNRs is also vulnerable to regulators elsewhere following FCCs lead."

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5497

Pure Video & Other Video Search Resources

http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/11/16/another-video-metasearch-player-pure-video/

Publishers Weekly Reviews

The largest collection of book reviews published since 1987 in the print and online edition of Publishers Weekly has become open access (along with other materials in Publishers Weekly).

link to blurb, etc. http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/11/16/more-digital-reference-reviews-from-jacso-publishers-weekly-reviews/

First Reopen the (EPA) Libraries

In August, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the Bush Environmental Protection Agency began closing most of its research libraries, both to the public and to its own staff.

editorial: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111506R.shtml by Kelpie Wilson

related: The Bush Record: http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2005.asp | NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)

[photo not with above]

101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived

Some fictional characters have had more impact on the world than real people. Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan, and Jeremy Salter set about ranking the “characters of myth, legends, television, and movies [who] have shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of history” in their 2006 book...The book contains short essays explaining how each character had an effect on the world, whether for better or worse.

list

~The importance given to some of the characters from ads and Disney movies suggests the authors are quite a few years older than the majority of today's culture consumers? The Marlboro Man; Bambi?
Would the list be very different if three women from the same generation and literary background (librarians?) put it together?
I don't see Freddy, Chucky or Nemo and G.I. Joe is rated a bit closer to the top than Superman.
But it's a great idea.
In thinking about a list of characters who may have influenced me, it was difficult to make a distinction between real people and cartoon or fictional characters. In my head they're all in the same file.

[photo google: reindeer man/ not from above]

Internet Slang Dictionary

http://www.noslang.com/dictionary.php

from Aberrant News

tv friend

2X

Google News Search: "lost boy"/"lost dog"

Google News has collected 46 articles in the past 30 days which contain the exact phrase "lost boy"

Likewise google news has collected 95 articles in the past 30 days which contain the exact phrase "lost dog"

Does the phrase "lost girl" appear in more googled news stories than "lost boy"? Than "lost dog"?

It's because journalists prefer the phrase "missing child"?

In the last 30 days there are a greater percentage of "lost boy" (with at least one of the words) "found" stories than "missing child" (with at least one of the words) "found returned returns" stories.---re Advanced News Search

At some point in time a "missing child" can become a "lost boy" or a "lost girl"? Or the other way around?

"Lost boy" and "lost girl' are stronger more personal terms than "missing child". (More areas of your brain light up!)

[illus via google image search: lost boy / not from above links]

Re Fluid Borders, Structured Chaos, Weak Discipline

>The Originary Event of Peace is Compassion & Peace is a Relationship

[excerpted thread]

"In war, the social system in which the two are embedded has (pre-)determined the conditions of that open flow between the two individuals is dangerous and not in the interests of the system. Therefore, that relation must be restricted and re-formulated in the self interests of the system.

(or that the individuals have relinquished their autonomy-of-life decision and have taken on the vision/image that the social system has projected without objection, effectively closing any possible open pathway except the energy exchange pathway of violence that in the end destroys both -- one through receiving the energy of violence, a destroyed body, the other destroyed internally through the act of projecting the energy of violence.)

Media, or mediation, is 'that which carries energy' between the two beings mentioned above. In the case of peace, whatever the mediative pathway, there is a 'natural' flow. In the case of war, there are significant blockages to the flow, and also the imposition of those socially-determined pathways of relation.

Indeed it is an art to care, to practice compassion, and it is only half of a dialogue of relation...

from John Hopkins:
http://underfire.eyebeam.org/pipermail/underfire/2006-November/003384.html

[photo not from above]

~Whither compassion?

Bush: Immigrants May Be Held Indefinitely

Washington - Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.

In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.

story | AP via TruthOut

~How many years until American citizens are routinely denied due process because of 'suspicion of terrorism'? Will President-elect Hillary Clinton or John McCain find it necessary to expand executive powers and toss dozens of Americans in prison without charges in order to win the war on terrorism? Will the republican appointed majority in the Supreme Court let them?

[photo of Iraqi detainees in US Army custody/ not arrested immigrants inside the USA]

Call for Papers: Obscenity: An Interdisciplinary Discussion

2007 Obermann Center Humanities Symposium
Call for Papers - Deadline December 1, 2006 for abstracts

The University of Iowa March 1-4, 2007

In 1966, anthropologist Mary Douglas published her groundbreaking study, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concept of Pollution and Taboo, asserting that "dirt" is a "universal theme across huma