Italy Downgraded Three Notches
October 5th, 2011Via: Guardian:
Italy’s sovereign debt rating has been cut for the second time in as many weeks, with ratings agency Moody’s citing “sustained and non-cyclical erosion of confidence” as it slashed its forecast for the country.
In a report released after US stock markets closed on Tuesday, Moody’s downgraded Italy’s government bond ratings from Aa2 to A2 with a “negative outlook”, suggesting further cuts could be to come. The move threatens to increase Italy’s cost of borrowing, and will add yet more pressure to European finance ministers now wrestling with a financial crisis that has spread across the continent.
Introducing Siri: DARPA’s Ghost in Apple’s Machine
October 5th, 2011So their eyes are growing hazy
cos they want to turn it on
so their minds are soft and lazy, well…
give em what they want
—10,000 Maniacs – Candy Everybody Wants
One of the stocks that I used to kick around in the 1990s was that of a now long dead company called General Magic. Back then, I looked into the company and learned that it was, in essence, divested from Apple in 1990. It was made up of former Apple employees and Apple held 10% of the company.
Apple has been thinking about the post PC era (that we’re actually entering now, according to them) since the 1980s. Here’s Apple’s Knowledge Navigator concept from 1987:
This wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, so they spun it off into General Magic.
If you’ve seen Apple’s Siri in action, that’s the type of thing that General Magic wanted to do back in the 1990s. With the old Portico system, users called into the service, rather than the service running on the phone, as is the case with Siri. Here’s an almost unwatchable promo for General Magic’s Portico product (circa 1997):
If you’re interested in Siri, definitely read Wired’s, Bill and Andy’s Excellent Adventure II from 1994. The point is that Apple and Apple alumni have been beating around this bush for a very long time.
Flash forward to what Apple unveiled yesterday:
Now, what’s in a name?
Look closely at the name: Siri. What letters stand out?
See it yet?
S i R I.
SRI = Stanford Research Institute.
It turns out that Apple’s Siri used to be SRI’s Siri, and SRI’s Siri is… Are you ready? A spinoff of DARPA’s PAL (Perceptive Assistant that Learns) program, which SRI called CALO (Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes).
This is SRI’s CALO information page:
SRI International is leading the development of new software that could revolutionize how computers support decision-makers.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under its Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL) program, has awarded SRI the first two phases of a five-year contract to develop an enduring personalized cognitive assistant. DARPA expects the PAL program to generate innovative ideas that result in new science, new and fundamental approaches to current problems, and new algorithms and tools, and to yield new technology of significant value to the military.
SRI has dubbed its new project CALO, for Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes. The name was inspired by the Latin word “calonis”, which means “soldier’s servant”. The goal of the project is to create cognitive software systems, that is, systems that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise.
The software, which will learn by interacting with and being advised by its users, will handle a broad range of interrelated decision-making tasks that have in the past been resistant to automation. It will have the capability to engage in and lead routine tasks, and to assist when the unexpected happens. To focus the research on real problems and to ensure the software meets requirements such as privacy, security, and trust, the CALO project researchers will themselves use the technology during its development.
SRI is leading the multidisciplinary CALO project team, and, beyond participating in the research program, is also responsible for overall project direction and management and the development of prototypes.
Here’s more from Venture Beat, Shadowy Government Project Spins Off Siri to Help Direct Your Affairs:
Conspiracy theorists will love this one: A computerized assistant that can help you manage your day to day life, built atop an artificial intelligence platform developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the United States’ internal military research group. Siri, the startup building the assistant, is today announcing $8.5 million in venture funding.
As befits its spookish origins, Siri isn’t saying a great deal yet about what it will do. Co-founder Dag Kittlaus, who licensed technology from DARPA’s CALO (Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes) project, calls it “a smarter, more personal interaction paradigm for the Internet.” Unfortunately, that’s about as specific as calling Google “a thing that finds stuff.” Those who want a sneak peek at Siri will instead have to look to CALO.
So here’s what we know about CALO: It’s a concerted effort to take the first real step toward artificial intelligence, with five years of work and $200 million in funding to date. Rather than being immediately useful, it learns about the user over time, much like a real personal assistant would. As it learns, it becomes capable of making logical associations and initiating its own actions.
Siri, Apple's Implementation of DARPA Sponsored Artificial Intelligence Technology
People are going to pay a lot of money to have their asses tracked to within a couple of meters by a device running a civilian version of DARPA’s soldier’s servant software.
The most disturbing aspect of this is not what the iPhone 4s is going to be phoning home to Apple (which is unknown), or the invasion of The Complex into most aspects of our lives, but the fact that, in general, people would think that you were nuts for having these reservations at all. I mean, what could possibly be wrong with re-purposed DoD AI software running on a mass market consumer device that persistently reveals the user’s location to the state?
Ah well, give em what they want.
Denmark Introduces ‘Fat Tax’ on Foods High in Saturated Fat
October 4th, 2011Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig
Via: ABC:
Denmark has introduced what’s believed to be the world’s first fat food tax, applying a surcharge to foods with more than 2.3 percent saturated fats, in an effort to combat obesity and heart disease.
Danes hoarded food before the tax went into effect Saturday, emptying grocery store shelves. Some butter lovers may even resort to stocking up during trips abroad.
The new tax of 16 kroner ($2.90) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of saturated fat in a product will be levied on foods like butter, milk, cheese, pizza, oils and meat.
Japan to Remove Some Restrictions on Fukushima Evacuation Zone
October 4th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
Japan’s government may lift restrictions this week on some areas outside the exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima nuclear where residents had been told to prepare for evacuation.
The so-called Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zone was set up in April for areas 10 kilometers beyond the 20 kilometer (12.6 mile) no-go zone. The area includes five cities, towns and villages where residents were allowed to stay after the nuclear accident on the condition they were prepared to evacuate at any time if radiation levels spiked.
…
“The government may be easing restrictions because concern about reactor explosions has diminished,” Tetsuji Imanaka, professor of nuclear engineering in Kyoto University, said by phone today. “Radiation contamination of the land hasn’t decreased so far.”
Afghan Yuppies Get Rich On Ten Years of War
October 4th, 2011Via: AFP:
“Business is booming, I have made good profits since the Taliban were ousted,” said a smiling Sayed Habib as he showed Western dresses to young women in one of Kabul’s glitziest shopping malls.
Habib, 34, is one of a new generation of rich young Afghans driving flashy cars and wearing designer labels who have made fortunes in Afghanistan’s war economy since the US-led invasion 10 years ago.
His shop is one of many signs that some in the Afghan capital are now very wealthy — although Kabul’s mirrored glass malls and lavish mansions often sit on dusty roads dotted with children begging for money, highlighting wider, ingrained poverty.
SSL Was Broken by Design
October 4th, 2011Via: Cryptome:
So how was it that Netscape SSL had exactly the same faults as IPsec, ISAKMP, Oakley, IKE? Political pressure! Somebody really REALLY wanted to be able track users and intercept/substitute….
Do I have proof? No, it’s merely circumstantial. Also, my multi-year FBI personal investigation over PPP CHAP was coincidental, too.
Netscape caved, for their commercial interests. There was also the CA business model. User’s own interests took last place.
So, arguing about ease of use is a waste of time, as long as the easy to use protocol was designed to be broken. It really is time to start over.
Most Popular Contraceptive Used in Parts of Africa May Double Risk of Contracting HIV
October 4th, 2011Instead of cheap, effective, ubiquitous neem oil being promoted by alleged humanitarian organizations for birth control, dangerous and expensive pharmaceutical products are used that also happen to double the risk of women being infected with HIV.
That’s an absolutely fascinating coincidence.
Via: New York Times:
The most popular contraceptive for women in eastern and southern Africa, a hormone shot given every three months, appears to double the risk the women will become infected with H.I.V., according to a large study published Monday. And when it is used by H.I.V.-positive women, their male partners are twice as likely to become infected than if the women had used no contraception.
The findings potentially present an alarming quandary for women in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of them suffer injuries, bleeding, infections and even death in childbirth from unintended pregnancies. Finding affordable and convenient contraceptives is a pressing goal for international health authorities.
But many countries where pregnancy rates are highest are also ravaged by H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. So the evidence suggesting that the injectable contraceptive has biological properties that may make women and men more vulnerable to H.I.V. infection is particularly troubling.
Neem Oil: An Effective, Non Toxic and Extremely Inexpensive Contraceptive
October 4th, 2011Neem oil can be used as an effective, non toxic contraceptive. It is extremely inexpensive and could potentially wipe out billions of dollars in pharmaceutical industry profits per year.
National Research Development Corporation (India):
Pressure extracted neem oil was found to have in-vitro spermicidal activity against rat, monkey and human sperms. On intravaginal application before coitus, neem oil was found to prevent pregnancy in rats, rabbits, monkey and human beings. When neem oil was applied intravaginally after coitus, it was found to prevent implantation and cause abortion in rats. All these effects were systemic and dose dependent. The application of neem oil did not alter the hormonal profile.
In short neem oil was found to be a promising (a) pre-coital vaginal contraceptive and (b) a post-coital contraceptive preventing implantation and also (c) an abortifacient agent. All these effects are reversible. Only one ml of oil is to be applied for these effects every time and the cost is negligible as one litre of neem oil can be used for 30 cycles by a woman if it is daily used as a pre-coital vaginal contraceptive. It is purely of herbal origin available in plenty and indigenous. The smell can be marked by adding lemon grass scent can be used with the help of an applicator.
Application of neem oil once daily for 10 days in rabbits did not cause any vaginal irritation. When it was applied once daily in rats for eight weeks there was no toxic effect.
Here are some extended excerpts from, Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems, National Research Council, 1992 (Other Sources: Google, Amazon):
BIRTH CONTROL
Research has shown that neem oil acts as a powerful spermicide. This finding is preliminary and may eventually prove of little consequence, but it may also prove of paramount importance. Perhaps 80 percent of the expected population explosion, which may double the number of people on earth in the next 40 years, will occur in countries where neem can be grown. An inexpensive birth-control method that can be produced in the backyards of even the remotest and poorest villages could be a vital resource.
11
Khalid et al., 1986; Khalid et al., 1989.
12
Badam et al., 1987.
13
Terumo Corporation 1983, 1985. Anti-inflammatory polysaccharides from Melia azadirachta. Japan Kokai Tokyo Koho JP 82-05532 and 83-225021.
Neem and Birth Control
Scientists at India’s Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) have isolated a neem-oil extract (Nim 76) that they believe can be refined into a new birth control method. Their trials have found that neem oil is strongly spermicidal. Rhesus monkey and human spermatozoa, for example, became totally immotile within 30 seconds of contacting the oil.
Studies in 20 rats, 8 rabbits, 14 rhesus monkeys, and 10 human volunteers showed that neem oil applied intravaginally before sexual intercourse prevented pregnancy. Histopathological studies on the rat tissues (vagina, cervix, and uterus) showed no ill effects. By contrast, nonyl-phenoxy polyethoxy ethanol, the spermicide in a popular vaginal contraceptive cream, produced obvious irritation. Radioisotope studies indicated that neem oil was not absorbed from the vagina.
DIPAS scientists maintain that neem oil might be an ideal contraceptive: it is a natural product, readily available, inexpensive, and nontoxic. Moreover, they anticipate that it will be widely accepted. The only disadvantage, they say, is neem oil’s unpleasant odor. However, adding a small amount of scent masks most of the smell without reducing the spermicidal property.
All in all, they conclude, neem oil has particular potential for widespread use by the poor. It seems likely to be the cheapest contraceptive available, and villagers in remote areas may well accept it as a regular method of birth control because sophisticated methods are financially beyond their reach and because they are extremely apprehensive about sterilization and other sophisticated methods.
In a scientific article in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, DIPAS researchers report that tests also show that Nim 76 can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus. Nim 76 was effective in rats and rabbits if applied on day 2 to day 7 of the expected pregnancy. The minimum effective dose was very small (only 25 µ1 for rats). And a month after the applications ceased, the animals were completely fertile again. According to the researchers, there were no deleterious effects on subsequent pregnancies or offspring (see Appendix B, page 104).
Indian scientists have demonstrated that neem oil is a potential new contraceptive for women (see sidebar). It kills spermatozoa within 30 seconds and has proved effective both in laboratory trials and in practice—where an intravaginal dose of I ml of neem oil was used. Histopathology failed to reveal any side effects.
As a follow-up to these experiments, the Indian army provided neem oil to 20 soldiers and their families as a birth-control measure. This trial was considered so successful that the colonel in charge of the program was honored by the prime minister. A neem-oil formulation called “Sensal” is now sold in India for contraceptive purposes.
Neem-leaf extracts have also shown promise as male birth-control products because they reduce fertility in a variety of male mammals. Reportedly, there was no impotence or loss of libido.14
More details of these tentative but potentially far-reaching discoveries are given both in the sidebar (opposite) and in Appendix B.
APPENDIX B
BREAKTHROUGHS IN POPULATION CONTROL?
Most observers conclude that today’s skyrocketing growth in human population is creating a serious underlying threat to the well-being of the world’s natural and economic resources. Between 1990 and 2025, for instance, the number of people on the planet is expected to rise by 3.2 billion.1 And by the year 2000, it is projected that 1.7 billion people will be added to countries that can barely support their populations now, let alone create an economic climate to raise everyone out of poverty.
Whether neem can help reduce runaway population growth is uncertain. However, as noted earlier, exploratory research has indicated that certain neem ingredients have contraceptive properties. Thus it is possible that, given research attention, products from this tree could come into widespread use for the reduction of unwanted pregnancies. This could be an important breakthrough because perhaps 2 billion of the projected population increase before 2025 will occur in regions where neem can be grown.
Eventually, contraception could perhaps become the greatest of neem’s contributions. Because of the importance of any breakthrough in this area, we reproduce in this appendix the abstracts of three recent research papers that point toward the possibility of neem providing cheap, widely available contraceptives for even the remotest regions of many of the already overpopulated nations.2
1
United Nations Department of International Economic and Social Affairs. 1989. World Population Prospects, 1988. Population Studies No. 106. United Nations, New York.
2
Other antifertility effects of neem are summarized in Jacobson, 1988, pages 145-147.
NEEM OIL FOR THE “MORNING AFTER”
Shakti N. Upadhyay, Charu Kaushic, and G.P. Talwar. 1990. Antifertility effects of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil by single intrauterine administration: a novel method for contraception. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences 242:175-179.
A novel use of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil, a traditional plant product, for long-term and reversible blocking of fertility after a single intrauterine application is described. Female Wistar rats of proven fertility were given a single dose (100 µl) of neem oil by intrauterine route; control animals received the same volume of peanut oil. Whereas all control animals became pregnant and delivered normal litters, the rats treated with neem oil remained infertile for variable periods ranging from 107 to 180 days even after repeated matings with males of proven fertility. The block in fertility was, however, reversible, as half of the animals regained fertility and delivered normal litters by five months after treatment, without any apparent teratogenic effects. Unilateral administration of neem oil in the uterus blocked pregnancy only on the side of application, whereas the contralateral uterine horn treated with peanut oil had normally developing foetuses; no sign of implantation or foetal resorption was noted in the neem-oil-treated horn. The ovaries on both sides had 4-6 corpora lutea, indicating no effect of treatment on ovarian functions. The animals treated with neem oil showed a significant leukocytic infiltration in the uterine epithelium between days 3 and 5 post coitum, i.e., during the pre-implantation period. Intrauterine application of neem oil appears to induce a pre-implantation block in fertility; the possible mechanisms of the antifertility action are discussed.
NEEM OIL AS SPERMICIDE
Gp. Capt. K.C. Sinha and Lt. Col. S.S. Riar. 1985. Neem oil—an ideal contraceptive. Biological Memoirs 10(1 and 2):107-114.
Neem oil in vitro proved to be a strong spermicidal agent. Rhesus monkey and human spermatozoa became totally immotile within 30 seconds of contact with the undiluted oil.
In vivo studies in rats (20), rabbits (8), rhesus monkeys (14), and human volunteers (10) proved that neem oil applied intravaginally before sexual intercourse prevented pregnancy in all the species.
Neem oil has also been found to have anti-implantation/abortifacient effect in rats and rabbits if applied intravaginally on day 2 to day 7 of expected pregnancy. The minimum effective dose is 25 µl for rats. One month after the stoppage of neem oil application there was complete reversibility in fertility in these animals. It had no deleterious effect on the subsequent pregnancies and the offsprings.
Histopathological studies on rats’ vagina, cervix, and uterus showed no ill effects of neem oil in these tissues. In contrast, nonyl-phenoxy polyethoxy ethanol, a popular vaginal contraceptive cream, showed signs of severe irritant reaction in these tissues. Radioisotope studies indicated that neem oil was not absorbed from the vagina; it thus ruled out its possible systemic effects.
Results of the present study indicate than neem oil is an “ideal” female contraceptive, being easily available, cheap, and nontoxic. Therefore, its mass acceptance is anticipated.
NEEM-LEAF EXTRACT TO REDUCE MALE FERTILITY
N.L. Sadre, Vibhavari Y. Deshpande, K.N. Mendulkar, and D.H. Nandal. 1983. Male antifertility activity of Azadirachta indica in different species. Pages 473-482 in H. Schmutterer and K.R.S. Ascher, eds. 1984. Natural Pesticides from the Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) and other tropical plants. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany.
Male antifertility activity of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) was studied in mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs by daily oral feeding of a cold-water extract of fresh green neem leaves. The infertility effect was seen in treated male rats, as there was a 66.7 percent reduction in fertility after 6 weeks, 80 percent after 9 weeks, and 100 percent after 11 weeks. There was no inhibition of spermatogenesis. During this period there was no decrease in body weight and no other manifestation of toxicity were observed. There was a marked decrease in the motility of spermatozoa. The infertility in rats was not associated with loss of libido or with impotence and the animals maintained normal mating behavior. The male antifertility activity was reversible in 4 to 6 weeks and the active principle from the extract was observed to be thermostable. Neem extract also shows reversible male antifertility activity in mice without inhibition of spermatogenesis. In guinea pigs and rabbits, however, it exhibited toxicity, as demonstrated by 66.6 percent and 74.9 percent mortality in guinea pigs and 80 percent and 90 percent mortality in rabbits at the end of 4 and 6 weeks, respectively.
Greece Falls Into ‘Death Spiral’: Rising Debt, No Growth
October 4th, 2011Greece just needs a central bank and an international community who will look the other way when it buys hundreds of billions of dollars of its own debt. Thousands of nuclear warheads, and a vast network of military bases around the world would also help.
But substitute the word Greece with America anyway. The economic situation is remarkably similar.
Via: Reuters:
Drowning in red ink, Greece has nowhere to turn to revive the economic growth that might put its debt on a sustainable trajectory, reassure angry foreign creditors and offer hope to its recession-weary citizens.
Instead, the country finds itself in a vicious circle—a death spiral, some would say—in which it is borrowing ever more to keep up on its existing debts, crushing growth in the process and thereby worsening its all-important ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product.
Putin Wants to Build ‘Eurasian Union’
October 4th, 2011Via: Reuters:
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a “Eurasian Union” in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country’s next president.
Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which from next year will remove all barriers to trade, capital and labor movement between the three countries.
“We are not going to stop there and are setting an ambitious goal — to achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union,” Putin wrote in an article which will be published in Izvestia newspaper on October 4.
