Sysco, It’s What’s for Dinner, and Breakfast and Lunch
February 23rd, 2007Via: Slate:
A hot dog from Yankee Stadium. Potato latkes from the Four Seasons in Manhattan. Sirloin steak at Applebee’s. The jumbo cheeseburger at the University of Iowa Hospital. While it would seem these menu items have nothing in common, they’re all from Sysco, a Houston-based food wholesaler. This top food supplier serves nearly 400,000 American eating establishments, from fast-food joints like Wendy’s, to five-star eating establishments like Robert Redford’s Tree Room Restaurant, to mom-and-pop diners like the Chatterbox Drive-In, to ethnic restaurants like Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant. Even Gitmo dishes out food from Sysco. Should you worry that one source dominates so much of what you eat?
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The Serve Smart Chicken is particularly frightening. While it looks natural, it consists of parts of other chicken breasts mashed together into a single, chicken-breastlike block. As the company notes on its Web site, our “unique 3-D technology gives you the look and texture of a solid muscle chicken breast, at a fraction of the cost. … Available in four great flavors: teriyaki, BBQ, fajita and original.” What Smart Chicken tastes like, I’d rather not know.
Ron Paul on the Federal Reserve
February 22nd, 2007The Generation of ‘Damaged’ Girls
February 21st, 2007Via: Telegraph:
A generation of very young girls is being psychologically damaged by inappropriate “sexy” clothing, toys and images in the media that are corrupting childhood, leading psychologists warn today.
They say marketing takes unfair advantage of children’s desire for affection and the need to conform, leading to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.
Related: Children’s TV ‘Is Linked to Cancer, Autism, Dementia’
Growing a Brain in Switzerland
February 21st, 2007If you liked the one about the bits of rat brain and the flight simulator, you’ll love this!
Via: Spiegel:
A network of artificial nerves is growing in a Swiss supercomputer — meant to simulate a natural brain, cell-for-cell. The researchers at work on “Blue Brain” promise new insights into the sources of human consciousness.
The machine is beautiful as it wakes up — nerve cells flicker on the screen in soft pastel tones, electrical charges flash through a maze of synapses. The brain, just after being switched on, seems a little sleepy, but gentle bursts of current bring it fully to life.
This unprecedented piece of hardware consists of about 10,000 computer chips that act like real nerve cells. To simulate a natural brain, part of the cerebral cortex of young rats was painstakingly replicated in the computer, cell by cell, together with the branched tree-like structure of the synapses.
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The newborn “Blue Brain” surprised the designers with its willfulness from the very first day. It had hardly been fed electrical impulses before strange patterns began to appear on the screen with the lightning-like flashes produced by cells that scientists recognize from actual thought processes. Groups of neurons started becoming attuned to one another until they were firing in rhythm. “It happened entirely on its own,” says Markram. “Spontaneously.”
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Skeptics wonder what the purpose is of painstakingly replicating things when scientists have so little understanding of their purpose and function. Indeed, no one will know, within the foreseeable future, what exactly happens in the circuits of the replicated brain — except that whatever it is, it looks seductively authentic to an outside observer.
Perhaps the only ones who could have known are the scores of rats that carry on a shadow-like existence in this supercomputer. Researchers opened thousands of rat skulls over the years, removed their brains, and cut them into thin slices, which they kept alive. Then they directed tiny sensors at the individual neurons. They listened to the cells firing neurons, and intercepted the responses coming from the adjacent cells.
The brain slices were exposed to a variety of electrical impulses. The impulses reflected the stimuli that may have been received by the laboratory rats’ brains when the animals smelled cheese or were startled by a shape. The cells reacted — just as they did when the rats were still alive — by sending electrical charges through the neuroplexus. The researchers’ measuring devices recorded all signals until the brain slices expired.
In the end, the researchers at Markram’s lab collected the entire repertoire of behavior of hundreds of types of cells in every conceivable situation in a rat’s life — stored in endless tables. This vast stockpile of data let the researchers start building their digital doppelgänger.
Research Credit: Life After the Oil Crash
Britain and U.S.: The Worst and Second Worst Places for Children
February 21st, 2007Just put up a few more surveillance cameras. Sorted!
Via: Yahoo / Reuters:
Britain is the worst country in the industrialized world in which to be a child, closely followed by the United States, the
United Nations Children’s Fund said on Wednesday.
The UNICEF charity looked at 40 indicators to gauge the lives of children in 21 economically advanced nations — the first study of its kind — and found Britain’s children were among the poorest and most neglected.
Britain lagged behind on key measures of poverty and deprivation, happiness, relationships, and risky or bad behavior, the study showed.
It scored better for health and safety of children but languished in the bottom third for all other measures, giving it the lowest overall placing, just below the United States.
The United States was ranked worst for health and safety and only Britain scored lower for relationships and risky or bad behavior. The highest ranking for the United States was for education where it was ranked 12th out of the 21 countries.
The study found there was no consistent relationship between a country’s wealth, as measured in gross domestic product per capita, and a child’s quality of life.
The Czech Republic, for example, achieved a higher ranking than economically wealthier France, which was mired in the bottom third along with Britain and the United States.
Children’s happiness was rated highest in northern Europe, with the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark leading the list.
Related: Children’s TV ‘Is Linked to Cancer, Autism, Dementia’
Research Credit: West
Spies, Lies & KPMG
February 21st, 2007Social engineering is the easiest hack of all.
Via: Business Week:
In the spring of 2005, Guy Enright, an accountant at KPMG Financial Advisory Services Ltd. in Bermuda, got a call from a man identifying himself in a crisp British accent as Nick Hamilton. Hamilton said he needed to see Enright about matters of utmost importance.
Over the course of two meetings, Hamilton led Enright to believe he was a British intelligence officer, according to a person familiar with the encounters. He told Enright he wanted information about a KPMG project that Hamilton said had national security implications for Britain. Soon, Enright, who was born in Britain, was depositing confidential audit documents in plastic containers at drop-off points designated by Hamilton.
But Nick Hamilton was not an agent of Her Majesty’s secret service, and the documents never found their way to the British government.
Nick Hamilton was in fact Nick Day, now 38, a onetime British agent and co-founder of Diligence Inc., a Washington private intelligence firm that counts William Webster, former director of the CIA and FBI, among its advisory board members. Diligence’s client was not Britain’s Queen, but Barbour Griffith & Rogers, one of the most formidable lobbying firms in Washington. Barbour Griffith represented a Russian conglomerate whose archrival, IPOC International Growth Fund Ltd., was being audited by KPMG’s Bermuda office.
Research Credit: Treason Holdings
Neo-Nazi Rally Was Organized by FBI Informant
February 21st, 2007Do you get it yet?
Via: Orlando Sentinel:
A paid FBI informant was the man behind a neo-Nazi march through the streets of Parramore that stirred up anxiety in Orlando’s black community and fears of racial unrest that triggered a major police mobilization.
That revelation came Wednesday in an unrelated federal court hearing and has prompted outrage from black leaders, some of whom demanded an investigation into whether the February 2006 march was, itself, an event staged by law-enforcement agencies.
The FBI would not comment on what it knew about the involvement of its informant, 39-year-old David Gletty of Orlando, in the neo-Nazi event. In court Wednesday, an FBI agent said the bureau has paid its informant at least $20,000 during the past two years.
“Wow,” Gletty said when reached by phone late Wednesday. “It is what it is. You were there in court. I can’t really go into any detail now.”
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Bill White, a former spokesman for the National Socialist Movement who participated in the rally and now runs another neo-Nazi group, said he was surprised to hear of Gletty’s involvement with the FBI. He said Gletty did a lot for the cause.
A neo-Nazi offers his take
“If he was being sponsored by the FBI, then American National Socialism has a lot to thank the FBI for,” White said in an e-mail.
Lynum said that if the FBI was behind the march, she would like the agency to reimburse the city for the tens of thousands it spent to send officers — including SWAT-team and mounted-unit members — to police the march.
Adora Obi Nweze, president of the State Conference NAACP in Miami, said she was disturbed an informant set up the march and was working for the FBI.
“That’s very troubling that somebody like that would be an informant for the FBI,” she said. “You never know what they are capable of. No question, it bothers me.”
What Would You Do If Bush Declared Martial Law?
February 21st, 2007The mainstream limousine liberals are really whooping it up now. I read a couple of the comments to this story, and as I was being lulled to sleep by the clueless yammerings of the true believers in the Enemy Collaborator Democratic Party, I came across this one, which pretty much summed up the reality we’re facing:
The declaration of martial law will appear on page six, behind Britney Spear’s beaver shot. We know what matters!
I’m noticing that, increasingly, the most valuable commentary is totally absurd. (I almost don’t want to be seen as thinking that ANY aspect of this horror show is legitimate anymore. It’s embarrassing at this stage.) That’s tough for someone who’s expected to provide insightful analysis and commentary on events…
Via: Huffington Post:
And if they are planning a coup, what’s the goal? Who is going to fall in line? Arnold Schwarzenegger, my very own governor? Chet Culver? Kathleen Sebelius? Eliot Spitzer? Since the US is a corporatocracy, would we then all be forced to work for $2.00 per hour? Give up all workplace benefits? Attend the religious services of our choice on Sunday? Devote even more of our tax dollars to the war machine and the oil machine? Haven’t they taken everything already? Try as I might, I cannot imagine martial law in the US, except as something the population would agree to under threat from…from whom? Correct me if I am wrong (I know you will), but the last time martial law was declared was during the Civil War, and Americans, though the threats to the Union were profound and omnipresent, didn’t like it then. I can’t even imagine what would happen now.
Our armed forces can’t subdue Iraq. I can’t imagine that Bush thinks they could subdue New England or the West Coast, much less the whole US. To imagine himself commanding such a thing seems like magical thinking at its most obvious. So, what would you did if Bush declared martial law, laugh?
GPS Locators for Truant Kids
February 20th, 2007Sure!
Via: ajc.com:
Let’s say your teenager is a habitual truant and there is nothing you can do about it. A Washington area politician thinks he might have the solution: Fit the child with a Global Positioning System chip, then have police track him down.
“It allows them to get caught easier,” said Maryland Delegate Doyle Niemann (D-Prince George’s), who recently co-sponsored legislation in the House that would use electronic surveillance as part of a broader truancy reduction plan. “It’s going to be done unobtrusively. The chips are tiny and can be put into a hospital ID band or a necklace.”
Homeless by Choice
February 20th, 2007I’m from this area, and the fact that this guy only got done by the pigs once is amazing. His vehicle is pretty good. Anything bigger and it’s an automatic bust.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
After a long day of film classes, working at the Apple Store, rock climbing at the gym and finishing homework in the student union, Cal State Fullerton senior Andy Bussell heads home — to a white Toyota Tacoma with a twin-size mattress in the truck bed, a camper shell for protection and black curtains for privacy.
The 26-year-old has been living in his truck for nearly 19 months, skirting rules against sleeping in vehicles while otherwise living the life of a mainstream student. What started out as a way to save some cash has turned into a journey of self-reliance and independence.
“Even though I had a good job, I was tired of living paycheck to paycheck and not making any headway with my credit cards,” he said. “I’ve learned that I can push myself, break down my own boundaries. I’ve been able to learn that I can change and adapt to different kinds of situations.”
The odyssey began in 2005. Bussell was working full time as a “Mac genius” at the Apple Store in Newport Beach, sharing a $1,600-per-month apartment in Aliso Viejo. He had racked up more than $10,000 in credit card debt and was struggling to pay for school and save money for a three-month road trip. So on July 29, 2005, he started living in his truck, with the goal of lasting one year.
Co-workers created a pool on how long the truck life would last, with the longest prediction three months.
“I’ve beat that,” he said. “Once you find a routine, it’s actually really easy.”
Most mornings, Bussell heads to the university gym to shower, shave and brush his teeth. Then he heads to class, and later to work. Evenings are often spent rock climbing or doing yoga, visiting friends or studying in the student union, which has wireless Internet access. Then he heads back to the truck, which he parks in a variety of locations, and plays guitar, reads with a battery-powered headlamp or watches DVDs on his laptop.
There have been hiccups along the way — less than two months after Bussell began living in his truck, he was ticketed by a Costa Mesa police officer, who told him it was illegal to sleep in a vehicle. The citation cost him $177.50, “but when you haven’t paid rent for … months, it’s not that bad,” he said.
His mail goes to a post office box. What he misses most are a kitchen and a bathroom. To deal with the former, he buys food such as yogurt and fruit in small quantities, and to deal with the latter, he takes advantage of public facilities. On occasion, he has resorted to employing an empty Gatorade bottle.
“It’s handy being a guy,” he said.
