A Brief History of Plutocracy
January 5th, 2012Via: Robin Upton at Chaos Computer Club:
This whistlestop re-telling of world economic history squeezes 12,000 years of history into 18 slides. Its focus is the changing nature of money and the rise of the monied class in US and Europe.
It outlines how the modern system of banking was instituted, how international organising allowed the power of the rich to gradually eclipse that of national governments, how war was managed for profit, and how the super-rich set about using the organs of the state in an effort to secure their position of control.
CNN Pulls the Plug on Live Feed of Soldier Talking About Voting for Ron Paul
January 4th, 2012Update: Soldier in Trouble for Praising Ron Paul on National TV
Noguru sent this in.
Via: ABC:
Rep. Ron Paul likes to silence the GOP rivals who criticize his foreign policy as “dangerous” by reminding them that he receives more financial support from military personal than all the other candidates combined.
But the Army is now investigating whether a 28-year old reservist breached military protocol when he praised Paul’s foreign policy positions on national television during a Paul rally Tuesday night.
The soldier, Cpl. Jesse Thorsen, walked on stage and lobbed praise on the Texas congressman, calling his foreign policy “better than any candidate out there.”
At one point, Thorsen stopped, reached out his hand out to Paul and exclaimed, “I’m flabbergasted right now. This is an incredible moment for me. It’s like meeting a rock star.”
The Department of Defense policy does not prevent soldiers from advocating for a political candidate, but active duty troops wearing a uniform are expected to avoid activities that “imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.” Thorsen is not active duty.
—End Update—
Flashback/Classic: CNN and PSYOPS:
Military personnel from the Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, have until recently been working in CNN’s hq in Atlanta.
CNN is up in arms about our report in the last issue of CounterPunch concerning the findings of the Dutch journalist, Abe de Vries about the presence of US Army personnel at CNN, owned by Time-Warner. We cited an article by de Vries which appeared on February 21 in the reputable Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, originally translated into English and placed on the web by Emperor’s Clothes. De Vries reported that a handful of military personnel from the Third Psychological Operations Battalion, part of the airmobile Fourth Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, had worked in CNN’s hq in Atlanta.
De Vries quoted Major Thomas Collins of the US Army Information Service as having confirmed the presence of these Army psy-ops experts at CNN, saying, “Psy-ops personnel, soldiers and officers, have been working in CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta through our program, ‘Training with Industry’. They worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news.”
Via: YouTube:
H.R. 3166: Enemy Expatriation Act
January 4th, 2012My guess is that, “supporting hostilities” will mean anything the maniac state makes up at its whim about your behavior, reading choices, purchases, etc.
Via: GovTrack:
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3166
To add engaging in or supporting hostilities against the United States to the list of acts for which United States nationals would lose their nationality.
Recommended Links for WordPress
January 4th, 2012Nathaniel Taintor, of Golden Apples Design, is now actively developing Recommended Links for WordPress. This plugin will allow WordPress administrators to offer Reddit-like social news functionality to their existing users.
For years, I have struggled to offer Cryptogon readers a good way of sharing links with me and each other. Reddit is an open air nut house, and there are currently no—that’s right, NO—good social news software offerings available for free, or at any price. Year in and year out, this discrepancy persists.
Some work has been done to allow WordPress to be used for social news, but what is needed is a way for the existing blog content to continue to appear as usual while reader generated story submissions exist in their own ecosystem. The site’s readers need to be able to vote links up or down, sort the links by various criteria and leave comments on the submissions. While a number of people like to write on various threads that such a system would be trivial to create… talk is cheap. Nobody has actually done it.
Recommended Links is going to be the solution.
If you run a WordPress blog that values story submissions from readers, Nathaniel wants your input right now. Consider installing Recommended Links and let him know what you think it needs.
Scientists Grow Sperm in Laboratory
January 3rd, 2012Via: Telegraph:
The development opens up the possibility of infertile men being able to father their own children rather than using donor sperm.
Researchers in Germany and Israel were able to grow mouse sperm from a few cells in a laboratory dish.
In a world first a team headed by Professor Stefan Schlatt, at Muenster University in Germany, were able to grow sperm by using germ cells. These are the cells in testicles that are responsible for sperm production.
Scientists grew the sperm by surrounding the germ cells in a special compound called agar jelly to create an environment similar to that found in testicles.
Prof. Mahmoud Huleihel, who also grew the sperm at Israel’s Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, said: “I believe it will eventually be possible to routinely grow human male sperm to order by extracting tissue containing germ cells from a man’s testicle and stimulating sperm production in the laboratory.”
Hope, 2012 Edition
January 3rd, 2012
Hope, 2012 Edition
Belarus: Browsing Foreign Websites a Misdemeanor
January 3rd, 2012Via: Library of Congress:
As stated in an explanatory note published together with the Law, this act was issued to implement the Decree of the Belarusian President of February 1, 2010, on Improvements to the Usage of the National Segment of the Internet. The newly published Law imposes restrictions on visiting and/or using foreign websites by Belarusian citizens and residents. Under this new Law, the violation of these rules is recognized as a misdemeanor and is punished by fines of varied amounts, up to the equivalent of US$125. (Id.)
The Law requires that all companies and individuals who are registered as entrepreneurs in Belarus use only domestic Internet domains for providing online services, conducting sales, or exchanging email messages. It appears that business requests from Belarus cannot be served over the Internet if the service provider is using online services located outside of the country. The tax authorities, together with the police and secret police, are authorized to initiate, investigate, and prosecute such violations. (Id.)
Additionally, the Law states that the owners and administrators of Internet cafés or other places that offer access to the Internet might be found guilty of violating this Law and fined and their businesses might be closed if users of Internet services provided by these places are found visiting websites located outside of Belarus and if such behavior of the clients was not properly identified, recorded, and reported to the authorities. The Law states that this provision may apply to private individuals if they allow other persons to use their home computers for browsing the Internet. (Id.)
Also, the Law authorizes the government to establish and update the list of banned websites to which access should be blocked by Internet providers.
SOPA: Internet Giants Consider ‘Nuclear Option’
January 3rd, 2012Via: Cnet:
The Internet’s most popular destinations, including eBay, Google, Facebook, and Twitter seem to view Hollywood-backed copyright legislation as an existential threat.
It was Google co-founder Sergey Brin who warned that the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act “would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world.” Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman argue that the bills give the Feds unacceptable “power to censor the Web.”
But these companies have yet to roll out the heavy artillery.
When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com, and their Internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA, you’ll know they’re finally serious.
True, it would be the political equivalent of a nuclear option–possibly drawing retributions from the the influential politicos backing SOPA and Protect IP–but one that could nevertheless be launched in 2012.
“There have been some serious discussions about that,” says Markham Erickson, who heads the NetCoalition trade association that counts Google, Amazon.com, eBay, and Yahoo as members. “It has never happened before.”
Trans Fats and Nutrient Levels Linked to Alzheimer’s Brain Shrinkage
January 3rd, 2012The paper’s first author is Dr Gene Bowman from the Departments of Neurology and Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. He and his colleagues describe three sets of findings:
1. Elderly people with diets high in several vitamins or omega 3 fatty acids were less likely to have the brain shrinkage that usually accompanies Alzheimer’s disease than people whose diets were low in those nutrients.
2. Those whose diets were high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins were also more likely to score better on tests of mental ability than those whose diets were low in those nutrients.
3. Those whose diets were high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and perform less well on thinking and memory tests than those whose diets were low in trans fats.
Weston A. Price members yawn. Again.
Via: Food Navigator:
Consumption of ‘junk food diets’ containing high levels of trans fats may lead to brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer’s, whilst consumption of foods high in vitamins may offer protection, says new research.
Research Credit: getdusted
Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater and Outdoor Shower
January 2nd, 2012Here’s an on-demand water heater for under $100.
Via: Amazon:
Enjoy instant hot water wherever you go with the Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater. Generating more than 1 gallon of hot water per minute, this compact, energy-efficient heater creates a more comfortable and convenient outdoor experience for you and your family. The water heater comes with everything you need, including the adapters required to attach any standard garden hose nozzle and propane tank (tank not included).
