For your own good

It's been a busy month for The Warming propaganda machine. Firstly, it appears that in early March, the Nobel Laureate Al Gore allegedly refused to debate the current 'president' of the EU (who is also the actual president of the Czech Republic), Mr Vaclav Klaus. Mr Klaus is an outspoken skeptic of this Warming malarkey (and he also compared the EU to a Communist State, something Mr Klaus is intimately experienced with having lived in one).

Mr Vaclav Klaus

From the article:

""A dialogue (between Klaus and Gore) was to take place on one stage. We accepted the U.S. proposal positively. But the organisers reassessed the idea in the end," Klaus's spokesman Radim Ochvat told the paper.

"Gore might have feared such a clash," he added."

It is remarkably curious that the most public advocate of this hoax is afraid to be publicly challenged about it. But as I have hinted previously, this isn't really about concern for the Planet, it is all about political power. And if you think I'm exagerating, here's Dr James Hansen (Gore's right hand man in the Warming posse...I've touched on his work previously here and here) in the Guardian:

"James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. "The democratic process doesn't quite seem to be working," he said."

The implications of his views have now been ably demonstrated this week by a local council in England:

A scheme is already under way in Broadland District Council in Norfolk, which has spent £30,000 hiring a plane with a thermal imaging camera.
...
The aircraft took images of homes and businesses, with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue.

The council's head of environmental services, Andy Jarvis, said the original plan was to target businesses but it was realised the scope could be extended to include residental properties.

Note the inevitable mission creep, from monitoring businesses environmental impact to monitoring individual citizens.

'The project we put together was for a plane to go up on various nights flying strips of the district and taking pictures,' he said.

'Through those images, a thermal image photograph can be created in which you can pick out individual properties which are losing a lot of heat.

'We do a lot on domestic energy conservation already and realised it would be useful to see if any of the homes which were particularly hot were properties where people had not insulated their lofts.

Now if the fact that local councils send up spyplanes, using your tax dollars, to spy into the homes of individual citizens doesn't disturb you, I'd recommend you have another look at this film to see how much fun it is to live in a society with 24 hour State surveillance.

Not only is the project unlikely to stop, but other councils are interested, This statement is particular illustrative (emphasis mine)

Council leader Simon Woodbridge said the project would 'effectively pay for itself within a few weeks in terms of the amounts of money we can help people to save'.

Paraphrased: "We are invading your privacy and peering into your homes for your own wellbeing."

On a less scary note but no less stupid, California legislators now want to ban black paint on cars:

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black.

You can't make this shit up. First they came for the lightbulbs...

A potentially illegal yet "environmentally friendly" Toyota Prius (picture source)

Space - the final frontier...for bats and high-school kids

picture of the stratosphere taken with a high school extra credit DIY project (source from the article)

So with the news that 4 Spanish high-school kids with the help of their teacher and a budget of less than £100, made a DIY weather balloon-camera contraption that successfully took pictures of the stratosphere, I will firmly state that:
a: My high-school education was lacking in certain areas
b: It's entirely possible the sovereign state of Iran has been able to launch satellites

Also, the US Space program seems to have their own fare share of troubles, what with all the bats attempting to get space-borne.

close up of a bat clinging to the orange foam of the main shuttle rocket booster at launch March 15, 2009

For the animal lovers out there hoping for a happy space-faring ending:

Flight director Paul Dye said no one has seen the bat since. "I heard that it was clinging to the tank at liftoff, but I don't think anyone has seen it since," he said.

Bacon Butties

From this story.

“Emma, said: "I'm a student and don't have time to exercise" she said "We all want to lose weight to stop the abuse we get in the street, but we don't know how."”

Here’s a thought...eat less, exercise more.

And the thing is, they're complaining that their welfare payments don't allow them to get enough food.

Mosquito vs Lasers

I have always dreamed of something like this.

The first company to get something like this to market will be bigger than Microsoft.

Facelaw

Facebook is a powerful networking tool. The propensity for humans to publish to the world their embarrassing moments and photos is clearly a powerful urge. It is also the first port of call for enterprising journos when trying to get a bit of background on any public figure (I'm sure most Aussies remember those saucy pics of gold medalist Stephanie Rice that made it to the mainstream media, before she tightened the security on her Facebook profile).

Sharing your experiences, parties, photos and emotional state with your "friends" can be quite addictive. Individuals signing up for a free service on the internet should probably not expect that the privacy options of said service are really of any use. A court case in Canada, where a plaintiff is suing...someone about how a car accident "lessened his enjoyment of life" is now being forced by the defendants lawyers to open up his Facebook profile to the court to prove his life has been a life less enjoyed:

""If you are alleging that, as a result of an accident, you have not been able to enjoy life the same way and there is a photo taken after the accident showing you skiing or exercising ... that could be relevant," the civil litigation and intellectual property lawyer said in an interview yesterday."

And the litigation use of Facebook is by no means confined to North America and Canada. In NZ, the High Court has now approved the serving of court papers via Facebook. And from the same article:

"a recent court case in Australia where the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court approved an application to use Facebook to legally notify a couple they lost their home after defaulting on a loan."

I guess if your keen enough to put your life on the Web, then it was only a matter of time before the State got in the act. Space Monkey forbid if we ever have to have federal elections via our Facebook profiles.

Further Links:

It appears that the US court system is struggling to cope with illegal Googling and this always connected generation:

"A juror on a lunch or bathroom break can find out many details about a case. Wikipedia can help explain the technology underlying a patent claim or medical condition, Google Maps can show how long it might take to drive from Point A to Point B, and news sites can write about a criminal defendant, his lawyers or expert witnesses."

Where technology intersects Governance, we are going to see possibly the greatest shake up of societal laws, rules and norms ever seen before.

Defamation of Space Monkeys

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948 by the UN General Assembly states:

Article 18.

* Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

A fairly straightforward declaration that any individual should be free to pursue his religion or system of beliefs. And by system of beliefs, I take that to mean anything from mystical teapots to atheism, whereas the 'faith' in that there is no God, has just as much right and freedom to be practiced as those faiths that that believe in Him.

So it is without much surprise for anyone who has seen any of the UN's most recent work (see Darfur, Rwanda, etc, etc...), that they have passed resolution "62/154. Combating defamation of religions"

Here's a little sampling of the document, just to give you an indication of the sheer plethora of religions that will be covered by this religious defamation declaration:

From the preamble:

"Alarmed at the serious instances of intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence based on religion or belief, intimidation and coercion motivated by extremism, religious or otherwise, occurring in many parts of the world, in addition to the negative projection of Islam in the media and the introduction and enforcement of laws that specifically discriminate against and target Muslims, particularly Muslim minorities following the events of 11 September 2001, and threatening the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms,"

Because clearly, September 11 had nothing to do with Islam...I think it was all Dubya's fault or something.

5. Also expresses its deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism;

Wrongly. Oh so wrongly. (Warning, graphic images)

6. Notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September 2001;
...

8. Deplores the use of the print, audio-visual and electronic media, including the Internet, and any other means to incite acts of violence, xenophobia or related intolerance and discrimination against Islam or any other religion, as well as targeting of religious symbols;

Oops	Ooops again	Oh shit, oops..again

9. Stresses the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred, against Islam and Muslims in particular;

"in particular" Well, quite frankly the media has not shown much respect for my pastafarian beliefs, so I don't know why the Muslims get particular attention..Oh yeah, that's right

And here's the real point of this document:

14. Underscores the need to combat defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred by strategizing and harmonizing actions at the local, national, regional and international levels through education and awareness-raising;

For 300 odd years, the West has borne the fruits of the Enlightenment to the rest of the world, the separation of Church and State being the inevitable outcome of promoting Reason above Faith, and now we have the "well-intentioned" yet utterly corrupt transnational organisation wanting to rewind the clocks.

A final word from one of my favourite atheists:

"the U.N. resolution seeks to extend the whole area of denial from its existing homeland in the Islamic world into the heartland of post-Enlightenment democracy where it is still individuals who have rights, not religions."

Chairman Obama

I realise that with a few issues *cough UN cough Global Warming cough* it may seem that I am seeing reds under the beds everywhere, however in my defence, many people with many more brains, fore and hindsight, and most importantly, experience, than your humble author have attempted to alert the free world to the dangers of Communism. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the West rejoiced thinking that the evil of collectivism had been defeated once and for all.

Unfortunately, we were wrong.

A common question I hear every time I rail against Commies: "What's so wrong about Communism anyway?"

Apart from the 100% epic fail rate of any country that has adopted Communism and the serious mountains (and I mean MOUNTAINS) of human corpses that result from any flavour of Communism, the terrible standard of living for most, and the abject human misery that always follows, well yes, there's nothing wrong with Karl Marx's totalitarian ideas.

And if you think I'm exaggerating, just check out for yourself the document that started it all...The Communist Manifesto. I would recommend checking out the bit about what Marx thinks about family units and how children should be reared (hint: by the State, not the parents)

All this is kind of by the by, because I'm sure some University Professor could argue I'm not nuancing enough and anyways that was "Communism:old skool", not the new and radically improved "Communism:Friendly State version".

I have previously written about the socialist tilt of Obama's ideological mentors, his slightly confused supporters, but here's an interesting article that compares what Obama is doing right now, with the current election 2008 manifesto of the US Communist party (aka the CPUSA, document available here)

So what's the score? Of 44 items on the CPUSA's list,

* 22 are already enacted.
* 21 are in work.
* 1 is being violated.

Yay...go Bailout. I would be hard pressed to say we are seeing the beginning of the United Socialist States of America, however 22 out of 44 items of the CPUSA already enacted?? Gotta be more than a coincidental leaning...

Chinese Underpants

picture source

Now, I'm not an experienced or qualified commentator on geo-politics (funnily enough these are the exact qualifications to write about them on a blog), however I find this method of Navy warfare slightly disconcerting.

Harrassing the USS Impeccable (the irony will soon become apparent), 5 Chinese flagged boats just kinda got in its way in the South China sea.

"We expect Chinese ships to act responsibly and refrain from provocative activities that could lead to miscalculation or a collision at sea."
...
The Impeccable responded by spraying one of the vessels with fire hoses and its crew disrobed to their underwear.

The article doesn't make it clear which crew disrobed, but either way....weird.

My secret shame

OK, I am going to lose a few points here for admitting this guilty secret, but hey what else is the internet for if not for that. So here goes...

I watch CSI:Miami. Something about Horatio's mostly righteous anger, despite the fact it's overplayed and is now so cliched that it's become truly ridiculous:

Horatio: some obvious one liner...[puts sunglasses on]....end of one liner
--Every episode ever made - CSI:Miami

But I haven't watched it for a season, and now, the computer technology has gone all Minority Report.

Now there is definitely Minority Report technology out there, and I don't doubt that some government agencies use them, however I find it hard to believe the pricepoint is low enough for a department of the Miami police department to afford 3D holographic gesture interfaces...in the back of their cars.



I understand that from a TV/Film point of view, you need something visually interesting to keep the audience engaged. From an IT perspective, the oversimplification of technology pisses me off. However I completely relate to the fact that searching a database is hardly the most of exciting activities, and perhaps some artistic licence is required.

But come one, a real-time access to any camera public or private, 2 second access to massive fingerprint databases, voice recognition software blah blah blah.

No wonder people get shitty ...[pushes spectacles up his nose]... when their printer doesn't work...

picture source

Northern Diversions

This is interesting.

"Both of South Korea’s airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, have diverted flights from the east after a statement on North Korea’s official media which implied a threat of attack against civilian aviation"

Of course, the North Korean regime could hardly be accused of being the most rational of actors, however it takes certain gumption to threaten civilian airliners. However, I'm guessing that South Korea is not really the target of these threats.

"The US-South Korean exercises, code named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, will begin on Monday and last for eleven days. ... this year they take place at a time of increasing tension over the North’s preparations for firing a long range rocket, which could potentially strike targets in the far western United States. "

I thought all this kind of tension would just...disappear...with the election of The One. Oh well, I guess the more things change, blah blah blah

End of the World...nearly

Just when you thought it was safe to emerge from your Nuclear fallout shelter, space throws another 10 storey bulding sized asteroid at planet Earth.

And the scary thing? They only worked it out after the event.

Where's Ben Affleck when you need him?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (or TMS for short)

picture source

Of course this had to come from the boffins at MIT. Not entirely sure what it's practical uses are:

"TMS feels like a determined and annoying older sibling repeatedly flicking you in the head. It's easy to imagine the subtleties of subjective experience being lost in the snapping, cracking, and the arm-twitching, that, while involuntary, is easy to misinterpret as sheer exasperation. Ow, quit it! Ow, quit it!

At first I imagine that my arm jerking is just me responding to the annoyance of being thumped on the head. I am, in short, confabulating wildly. Then I lift my arm on my own power, and watch as it continues jump in midair. I am definitely not doing that."

Sounds like a bunch of fun. And then this bit got me a bit worried:

"Focused on a bipolar patient, TMS can also induce massive mania and psychosis. The effect there is also also temporary, although the damage to the person's credit rating, car or goodwill of his neighbor may not be."

Exactly how did they work that out, and how did it pass the University's ethics board?

Live action Space Invaders

In case you ever wanted to see Atari-era style Space Invaders attack in live action, here's Royskopp's latest video (via MetaFilter)



Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo

Motions a third of a world away

Following this story.

One wonders why a local city council 14,165.46km (or 8,802.01 miles or inexplicably 8,323,812.78 Smoots) away thinks a motion will do anything other than paint Marrickville in a completely deluded and racist light.

Sorry, my bad, you see it's not racism to hate the Jews Israelis, it's just anti-Zionism.