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3/13/2004



Robot Race Ends without a Winner :.

I think MTV needs to start a Jackass-related series that deals with university professors, their grad students and the circus antics they undertake that passes for "science." The show would be very funny.... until the viewer realized that public tax money is going up in smoke so these pseudo-intellectuals can operationalize their insane whims. I know, not all of these teams are on the DARPA tit, but many of the people involved with this race have been swindling grant money for decades:

A $1 million race across the Mojave Desert by driverless robots ended Saturday after all 15 entries either broke down or withdrew, a race official said.

Two of the entries covered about seven miles of the roughly 150-mile course while eight failed to make it to the one-mile mark. Others crashed seconds after starting.

The race ended just before 11 a.m. after the final four competitors were disabled, said Col. Jose Negron, race program manager.

Competitors suffered a variety of problems that included stuck brakes, broken axles, rollovers and malfunctioning satellite navigation equipment.

One six-wheeled robot built by a Louisiana team was disqualified after it became entangled in barbed wire.





U.S. Plans to Draft Computer Experts and Foreign Language Specialists :.

Ok, all of you out of work IT people, here's one for you! HAHAHAHA!

The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.

The Selective Service System has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.

Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, said planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts had begun last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas.





BLEEX: Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton :.

I saw this when Wired reported on it a couple of days ago, but when I went to the site and saw the movies, I laughed so hard I couldn't even bring myself to post a story about it. Clearly, at this point, the BLEEX project is all about swindling grant money. Eventually, though, this type of research could produce some very frightening stuff. Of course, you have to keep from pissing yourself laughing when you watch the video of it in operation. But give it ten years! I'll quote a sentence from my commentary on the the DARPA story below, "They want to leverage technology to eliminate the possibility of resistance (even armed resistance) from civilian populations."

Read 1984 again. Note how INGSOC was established. The technology made it possible.

I found the following quote from the Pogomatic page on the BLEEX site. This is a pretty concise statement of why they want to continue to involve humans in these endeavors. In short, the technology isn't good enough yet to entirely eliminate humans from the picture:

Even with the advent of faster computers and efforts to improve artificial intelligence, the ability of humans to make decisions and adapt to new environments still far exceed those of any machines built to date. As a result, there are still strong advantages for the construction of human-machine systems over purely autonomous systems. These devices utilize the intelligence and adaptive abilities of the human operator, while using the machine to provide increased strength, speed, and endurance.

Nerds can be smart and dumb at the same time. The young people who work on these projects know quite a lot about computers, robotics and math. However, they often don't see the evil underpinnings and wider implications of this type of work. They just worship technology and don't have much of a feel for the reality of where all of this is headed. Maybe they'll figure it out when this thing knocks on their door at 3am.


3/12/2004



DARPA Takes Battle to the Streets :.

You may think this article is just about technology the military wants for dealing with the insurgency in Iraq. There's more to it, America. They want this stuff for use at home as well. I've been saying it for a long time; they want to leverage technology to eliminate the possibility of resistance (even armed resistance) from civilian populations:

The U.S. military needs to figure out how to keep snipers from picking off its soldiers. After a breakneck, two-month development project, Darpa has come up with "Boomerang" -- a Humvee-mounted sensor suite designed to figure out approximately where a sniper is firing from. Fifty of the antenna-esque devices are now on their way to Iraq.

Here's how they work: five acoustic monitors, bunched together, listen for the shockwave created by gunfire, as well as for the muzzle blast from a rifle. Comparing the two noises -- the shockwave is supersonic, while the blast travels at the speed of sound -- allows Boomerang to broadly determine a gunshot's origin. A handheld device, with a set of lights replicating the numbers on a clock, gives the soldier a basic direction.

The next step is to network the Boomerang sensor arrays across a convoy of Humvees. The additional sets of ears should be able to pinpoint more accurately a sniper or an insurgent firing a rocket-propelled grenade. Boomerang can figure out which building a shot came from. This new effort -- code-named "Crosshairs" -- could determine which window the sniper has made his perch. Darpa should be formally announcing the Crosshairs project next month.





Lots of Email

Readers have been sending me loads of email over the last couple of days. If I don't write back, it doesn't mean I'm not interested in what you had to say. I'm just worn out. I go through phases where I say, "Oh f*ck this, I'm not doing this anymore." But then, more out of habit than anything else, I start posting again. Thanks for writing, though, and being on the look-out for interesting stories. NF, DG, AM, PW, AL, JM, MR, KH, BW and others, you know who you are.





NEW REPORT: Why Bush Supports Outsourcing :.

On the eve of his trip to Ohio to "focus on jobs," President Bush claimed yesterday that "we're creating jobs - good, high-paying jobs for the American citizen." His comments come despite the country having lost more than 2 million manufacturing jobs since he was elected. In Ohio, which lost 270,000 manufacturing jobs alone, the economic crisis has raised questions about why the president last month strongly endorsed the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. A look at the president's donors offers an answer.

Misleader compared the companies that outsource the most U.S. jobs (referred to as "captive remote services companies" on page 11 of the trade association report noted below) with the president's campaign finance records. The analysis shows that the president's campaign has pocketed more than $440,000 and his party more than $3.6 million in just 4 years. These companies have a direct stake in the president publicly supporting outsourcing and doing everything he can to water down or oppose legislation to curb the practice.


3/11/2004



'We Bombed Madrid Trains' Claims 'Al Qaida Group Email' :.

Hint: I seriously doubt ETA did this. This is completely out of their league. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the largest terrorist incident ever to hit Europe. Remember my essay from LONG AGO (9/1/2002) entitled, Is Europe Due for a Pearl Harbor Style Event? I wrote:

The imperial U.S. plan almost definitely includes direct control of Saudi Arabia and/or Iraq. There's one problem with all of this. How can the U.S. unilaterally build an empire while anti Americanism rises out of control across Europe? The U.S. has to get Europe on board. Britain is poised to be America's primary ally. The European public, however, is having the same reluctance to getting involved with America's War on Terror as Americans had to getting involved with World War II. Remember the event that changed American public opinion about World War II? Pearl Harbor.

In my opinion, Europe is about to suffer a Pearl Harbor style event that will affect pan European public opinion toward support of the U.S. led War on Terror; a war that is actually a crusade to secure control of the petroleum and mineral deposits of Central Asia and the Middle East.


I had expected it to hit London, but who knows? Maybe this is it:

The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said tonight it had received a claim of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings issued by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of al Qaida.

The claim received by email at the paper�s London offices said the brigade�s �death squad� had penetrated �one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain�.

The claim said: �This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America�s ally in its war against Islam.�

Referring to Spain�s Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the statement asked: �Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?�

The newspaper faxed the claim to The Associated Press office in Cairo.





Light Update Today

I've been building a solar water distillation system this evening. I got sick of paying $1 to $1.30 for a gallon of drinkable water. I'll have pics when it's finished. It's pretty cool so far.





Alex Jones on the George Noory, Coast to Coast AM Show Tonight :.

I think it's great that Alex Jones will be able to address such a large audience. Let's hope there's not some "last minute" schedule change:

Alex Jones (infowars.com) is a leading expert on the Patriot Act, and will discuss privacy and the current state of our civil liberties. He'll also share his insights on Bohemian Grove and its relationship to secret societies.


3/10/2004



Senate Panel Backs Climate Research Plan :.

Where I am in Southern California, we were in the 60s, then, in the space of 24 hours, the temp shot up to the 90s. There were heavy chemtrails for two days. All day, the sky was littered with them. Now, it's cloudy again and cool! The weather people chuckle and comment about the renegade band of high pressure and how great it was for beach goers. HA! You might as well sit your ass on the beach in March and get a tan. That sounds like appropriate activity during The End:

A $60 million program for researching sudden or unexpected changes in the climate would be created under legislation that won approval Tuesday by a Senate committee.

By voice vote and with little discussion, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee sent the bill to the full Senate for consideration.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, told fellow committee members the bill was important for Alaska. He had previously expressed concern with climate warming problems in his home state such as melting permafrost, possible village relocations, receding Alaskan forests and submerged air strips.

Under the bill, the research program for studying "abrupt climate change" - rapid alterations that people, animals and plants have difficulty adapting to - would be established within the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It would be run by NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.


Related: Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us


3/9/2004



Britain: Anti-GM Movement Vows to Fight Maize Approval :.

Interesting how that GM maize burns just like real maize...

Anger at the government's approval for the commercial growing of GM maize and pledges to continue to fight it were widespread yesterday, but biotech companies and some in the scientific community welcomed the decision.

The government was accused of ignoring public opinion and some groups promised direct action against the crops.

The director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper, said: "The government has given the thumbs up to GM maize, and shown two fingers to the British public. Moreover, this crop will be fed to cows to make milk that will not be labelled as GM, making a mockery of official claims that policy will preserve consumer choice."

Dr Sue Mayer, GeneWatch UK's director, said: "They've betrayed the public's trust, no wonder people are cynical about our political system. The government has ignored the conclusions of the public debate, has had no debate in parliament, and given the biotech industry the benefit of the doubt about scientific uncertainty."





Zimbabwe Seizes Plane Full of Suspected Mercs :.

Zimbabwe held a U.S.-registered cargo plane Monday which the government said was carrying suspected mercenaries and a cargo of military gear.

The United States said it had no connection with the plane, whose origin and destination remained a mystery.

The aging Boeing 727-100 aircraft was impounded Sunday evening at Harare International Airport "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said in a statement.

"The plane was actually carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities," Mohadi said, adding an investigation had also found military materiel. Television pictures showed hardware such as satellite telephones and military knives.


3/8/2004



Manufacturing 1 PC Takes 1.8 Tons Of Raw Material :.

According to the study, the manufacturing of one desktop computer and 17-inch CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor requires at least 240 kilograms of fossil fuels, 22 kilograms of chemicals and 1,500 kilograms of water. In terms of weight, the total amount of materials used is about equal to that of a mid-size car.


3/7/2004



New Day After Tomorrow Trailer Posted :.

This film is an overt desensitization piece aimed at getting people used to the fact that the weather is going to create chaos on this planet. Yeah yeah. I know. I'm nuts.

When I stepped outside today, it was 90 degrees; up about 20 degrees from yesterday. The sun feels really weird. Extremely intense. It stung my skin. I thought it was just me until I saw that several people in cars had wedged towels in their windows. Not one or two. I saw about 20 cars with this in the space of about an hour. I also saw a few idiots basking in it, and man oh man, they looked red. I made a point of pulling my hands and arms out of it as much as possible. This is how the sun felt when I was in the Caribbean a few years ago! But this is Southern California, at the coast.

Now, I know what you're thinking: I'm a pasty white computer nerd who doesn't like the sun. And that's right! But I can tell you with certainty, something weird is going on with the intensity of the sun. Is anyone else out there having similar experiences?

Update 3/8/2004: Chemtrails

The sky has been full of chemtrails all day today.

Related: Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us




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Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.

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