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8/29/2003



No More Smiling on Canadian Passport Photos :.

Hissing, snarling fascism coming to Canada:

Close your mouth. Look into the camera. Don't smile. Don't frown.

Canadians applying for passports must now submit photos showing "neutral expressions". They cannot be smiling, frowning, glaring or grimacing, the Canadian passport office said.


Are Canadians allowed to flip the camera the bird?

Research Credit: BH





CIA Enlists Tits and Ass for Recruitment Effort :.

It's all about maintaining appearances. Nothing more:

Jennifer Garner will soon be bait for potential real-life spies.

The CIA announced Thursday it has enlisted the 31-year-old "Alias" star to appear in a recruitment video to be shown at job fairs and college campuses. On the series she plays secret agent Sydney Bristow, who subdues bad guys with a combination of smoky sexuality and karate kicks. On the CIA video, Garner would provide the introduction and possibly a closing statement, said Chase Brandon, the agency's liaison to the entertainment industry.





This Is Where Capitalism* Meets My Delete Key :.

Free as in beer, free as in freedom, free as in the slowly collapsing pretense that 1s and 0s are worth any money, to anybody, anywhere. The culture-centric take: The Internet, built by professors and soldiers, went bust in the private sector's fumbling hands. Come 2003, ecommerce is all spam, fraud, and piracy, with the shadow of copyleft eclipsing revenue. Open Cultures aims to finish the job. They'd like to see free software evolve from a nifty way to program computers into a broad wave of social reform. It's Solidarnosc for the technosphere.

Logically - indeed, free-software geeks are the most logical hippies in the whole wide world - the revolution is at hand. Why should anybody pay for software? What do you get for your money besides shrink-wrap licenses, potential lawsuits, DRM cuffs around both wrists, and a cloud of viruses? "Property relations" are blocking social and technical progress. Secure computing and digital rights management are coercive regimes that would make George Orwell blush. The free market is a tissue of political fiction as brittle as an Eastern European regime. With open source code on tap, the software trade will collapse under its own weight.


* Capitalism does not exist, never did and never will, but it's fun to talk about destroying it anyway.


8/27/2003



Britain: Borrowers Pile Up Debt to Pay Off Bills :.

Nearly one in four people are turning to loans and credit cards just to pay their household bills or meet day-to-day living costs, research said today.

According to accountancy firm KPMG, just over half of the 2,000 people questioned owed up to �10,000, excluding their mortgage, while 16% had accumulated debts of between �10,00 and �40,000.

Fifteen per cent of people said their debts were spiralling out of control or keeping them awake at night, while 45% admitted they regularly failed to check their bank statements and credit card bills.





Total Madness: EPA Exempts Plants From Clean-Air Rule :.

The Bush administration on Wednesday exempted thousands of older power plants, refineries and factories from having to install costly clean air controls when they modernize with new equipment that improves efficiency but increases pollution.





Pacific Yurts: New Web Site :.

As you may or may not know, I want a yurt. Even if I decide to eventually live in an underground house, straw bale, cob, earthbag or geodome freak structure, my personal ecovillage will also include a yurt. Why?

Because the yurt calls to me.

I have actually visited Pacific Yurts in Cottage Grove, Oregon. I spent a few minutes inside the thirty footer. I said to myself, "Oh yes, this must be done."

So, forget about all the heinous crap occuring in the world---and dutifully documented on Cryptogon---and check out the beautiful structures designed and built by Pacific Yurts. I really like the new Yurt Configurator and Build a Virtual Yurt features.

If you're in the Cottage Grove area, feel free to stop by and visit the friendly folks at Pacific Yurts.





Total Madness: Black Projects Spending at Highest Level Since 1988 :.

"Black," or classified, programs requested in President Bush's 2004 defense budget are at the highest level since 1988, according to a report prepared by the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The center concluded that classified spending next fiscal year will reach about $23.2 billion of the Pentagon's total request for procurement and research funding. When adjusted for inflation, that is the largest dollar figure since the peak reached during President Ronald Reagan's defense buildup 16 years ago. The amount in 1988 was $19.7 billion, or $26.7 billion if adjusted for inflation, according to the center.


8/26/2003



Iraq: Mad Max Style :.

CMCC [Civil-Military Coordination Center] cites Adhamiyah, Rusafa, Thowra, al-Muthanna, Shaab, Hurriyah, Shuahla and the area around Saddam International airport as uncertain or hostile areas.

Carjacking is rife in the capital. Do not walk around the streets with bags or mobile/satellite phones.

The curfew in Baghdad begins at 11pm and ends at 4am.

Iraq�s highways are considered dangerous. Highway 10 between Baghdad and the Jordanian border is especially hazardous, particularly around the Ramadi area. Armed bandits operate this route, using fast cars to stop large convoys of vehicles. Highway 8, between Baghdad and Hillah is also considered a no go route by humanitarian organisations. Highway 1, between Baghdad and Qasim is also very dangerous.

Police are present on the streets of the capital but they are Out-gunned and outnumbered.





RFIDs on Food :.

Still stinging from failed attempts to introduce radio tags to consumers, retailers and their suppliers are now adding features to the technology to make it appear essential to the safety of the nation's food supply.





Bank for International Settlements :.

Good introductory article on BIS. Note: The web layout for this article is terrible. Highlight all the text to make it more readable:

While the Federal Reserve is a private corporation, it is also one of the owners of the Bank for International Settlements-BIS which America helped establish in 1930. Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown University, Dr. Carroll Quigley, said the BIS was to "serve as a 'Central Bankers' Bank'". The BIS is where all of the world's central banks meet to analyze the global economy and determine what course of action they will take next to put more money in their pockets since they control the amount of money in circulation and how much interest they are going to charge governments and banks for borrowing from them. Quigley further explained, "[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations."





U.S. Torture :.

�We won�t know, will we, until we have an opportunity to visit with him?� CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid told the expectant press when Chemical Ali�s capture was announced.


8/25/2003



Beyond Absurd: Florida Wants to Tax Your LAN :.

HAHAHAHAHA! Total collapse must be imminent:

A new rule now being formulated in Tallahassee could lead to a state tax of 9 percent -- or higher -- on computer networks commonly used in businesses.

"The standard response is on the border between surprise and outrage," says Arthur Simon, senior vice president of big-business lobby Associated Industries of Florida.

The proposal has its roots in a legislative directive handed down two years ago. It aimed to modernize how the state taxes communications.


HAHAHAHA! Did the Romans come up with unimaginable taxes as their show came down? HAHAHA! This is a good one.





Secret Saudi History :.

Just in case you need another glimpse at snarling, hissing fascism in the U.S., here's a blow by blow account of what one can expect when attempting to view public information at the National Archives. Never mind the fact that the public records are now, "theoretically" public:

"Ask again," he hissed, "and I will call security to remove you from the building and have you barred as a security risk."





Fluoride Linked to Low IQ :.

The same people who tell you that fluoride is good for you also tell you that vitamins are useless:

Children's intelligence declines as their natural drinking water fluoride levels increase, concluded a Chinese study in the May 2003 journal, "Fluoride."

Children scored inferior IQ's even when fluoride levels were similar to that added to U.S. water supplies to prevent tooth decay(1).

"As the fluoride levels in drinking water increased, the IQ fell and the rates of mental retardation and borderline intelligence increased," write researchers Xiang, et al.

Tested were 512 children, aged 8-13 years from Wamiao, a high-fluoride village, and Xinhuai, a low-fluoride village. The high-fluoride village was divided into five subgroups by water fluoride levels, from 0.62 mg Fluoride per Liter to 4.38 mg F/L. As water fluoride levels increased within the high fluoride village, IQ decreased.





Last Gasp: Existing Home Sales Surge :.

Sales of existing homes jumped to a record in July, a real estate group said Monday, as rising mortgage rates apparently spurred some indecisive potential buyers to jump into the market before rates get too high.





U.S. Gas Prices Make Record Jump :.

Supply shortages pushed average retail gasoline prices up more than 15 cents a gallon nationally during the past two weeks, the largest retail price hike on record since the Lundberg Survey began keeping records 50 years ago.


8/24/2003



U.S. Military Short of Rifles, Some Soldiers Use AK-47s Found in Iraq :.

America, the piss poor imperial power:

U.S. troops in Iraq may not have found weapons of mass destruction, but they're certainly getting their hands on the country's stock of Kalashnikovs � and, they say, they need them.

The soldiers based around Baqouba are from an armor battalion, which means they have tanks, Humvees and armored personnel carriers. But they are short on rifles.

"We just do not have enough rifles to equip all of our soldiers. So in certain circumstances we allow soldiers to have an AK-47. They have to demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon ... demonstrate an ability to use it," said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.





The Nightmare in Britain: Surveillance Chips in Every Car :.

DRIVERS were reeling last night at Government plans to put a computerised spy in EVERY car.

The hi-tech gadgets will record each time a motorist DRIFTS over a speed limit, WANDERS into a bus lane or even STOPS on a yellow line.

And it means the Government will hit Britain�s hard-pressed motorists with even more fines � and bring extra millions flooding into the Treasury.

The proposed scheme is guaranteed to cause outrage among Britain�s 38million drivers.





U.S. to Pump Oil from Iraq to Israel :.

Well, well. Isn't that convenient:

The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.




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