Thursday, January 08, 2004
Video artists on BushCo's lies, fraud, waste, cronyism, greed, opportunism, bloodlust, and bad faith: Bushin30seconds.org
War Profiteers go Tradeshow (The Nation)
The screen at the front of the room is playing an advertisement for "bomb resistant waste receptacles": This trash can is so strong, we're told, it can contain a C4 blast. And its manufacturer is convinced that given half a chance, these babies would sell like hotcakes in Baghdad--at bus stations, Army barracks and, yes, upscale hotels. Available in Hunter Green, Fortuneberry Purple and Windswept Copper.
Fortuneberry purple?
The screen at the front of the room is playing an advertisement for "bomb resistant waste receptacles": This trash can is so strong, we're told, it can contain a C4 blast. And its manufacturer is convinced that given half a chance, these babies would sell like hotcakes in Baghdad--at bus stations, Army barracks and, yes, upscale hotels. Available in Hunter Green, Fortuneberry Purple and Windswept Copper.
Fortuneberry purple?
"I have closed more companies than anyone in the world, so no one knows better about all the things that can go wrong in a business." Silicon Valley liquidator says that 2004 is going to be a boom year in the tech shutdown business with "6,500 to 7,500 companies out there who are among the walking dead."
A suit alleges that George Harrison's doctor forced him to sign a guitar while he was dying.
``George was literally lying there dying and the doctor forced George to sign a guitar,'' Paul LiCalsi, an attorney for Harrison's estate, said Tuesday. ``The doctor should not be permitted to profit from this behavior.''
``George was literally lying there dying and the doctor forced George to sign a guitar,'' Paul LiCalsi, an attorney for Harrison's estate, said Tuesday. ``The doctor should not be permitted to profit from this behavior.''
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
U.S. Deficit Threatens Global Economy: Thank you, again, BushCo. As long as your cronies want for nothing...
With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report made public today bythe International Monetary Fund.
In nearly 60 pages of carefully worded analysis, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration's tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits posed "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world.
With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report made public today bythe International Monetary Fund.
In nearly 60 pages of carefully worded analysis, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration's tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits posed "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world.
The analytics of music
Acoustic scientists studying complex sounds typically measure their 'power spectra': a measure of the patterns with which volume changes over time. For music with a thumping, regular rhythm, for example, the loudness power spectrum would have a peak corresponding to the main beat.
But power spectra are rather crude measures, Jennings and colleagues say, and can hide some of the complexities of different musical forms. For one thing, a power spectrum might not distinguish a series of sequential changes in rhythm from several overlapping rhythms.
To get around this, the researchers fed four-minute stretches of music into a more sophisticated technique, called detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). This has been used in the past to study complicated signals in economic, genetic and heartbeat data.
The method produces a number, denoted alpha that quantifies the complexity of patterns in a signal - in this case, the volume of music. A low alpha (less than 1) indicates relatively non-complex music, whereas more complex musical signals have a value of alpha closer to 1. Music with alpha larger than 1 will tend to have long patches of loud and quiet, and will tend to be quite boring, says coworker Plamen Ivanov of Boston University in Massachusetts. But for alpha=1, the sound will probably be judged more interesting and pleasant, he says.
Acoustic scientists studying complex sounds typically measure their 'power spectra': a measure of the patterns with which volume changes over time. For music with a thumping, regular rhythm, for example, the loudness power spectrum would have a peak corresponding to the main beat.
But power spectra are rather crude measures, Jennings and colleagues say, and can hide some of the complexities of different musical forms. For one thing, a power spectrum might not distinguish a series of sequential changes in rhythm from several overlapping rhythms.
To get around this, the researchers fed four-minute stretches of music into a more sophisticated technique, called detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). This has been used in the past to study complicated signals in economic, genetic and heartbeat data.
The method produces a number, denoted alpha that quantifies the complexity of patterns in a signal - in this case, the volume of music. A low alpha (less than 1) indicates relatively non-complex music, whereas more complex musical signals have a value of alpha closer to 1. Music with alpha larger than 1 will tend to have long patches of loud and quiet, and will tend to be quite boring, says coworker Plamen Ivanov of Boston University in Massachusetts. But for alpha=1, the sound will probably be judged more interesting and pleasant, he says.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Screw the phone system! Scype is a free broadband internet phone app from the Kazaa guys.
Businessweek Online's article on Skype
Businessweek Online's article on Skype
The corrupt U.S.D.A. works with the cattle industry to cover up the risks of contaminated beef. (by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schosser
Alisa Harrison has worked tirelessly the last two weeks to spread the message that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, is not a risk to American consumers. As spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, Ms. Harrison has helped guide news coverage of the mad cow crisis, issuing statements, managing press conferences and reassuring the world that American beef is safe.
For her, it's a familiar message. Before joining the department, Ms. Harrison was director of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the beef industry's largest trade group, where she battled government food safety efforts, criticized Oprah Winfrey for raising health questions about American hamburgers, and sent out press releases with titles like "Mad Cow Disease Not a Problem in the U.S."
Alisa Harrison has worked tirelessly the last two weeks to spread the message that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, is not a risk to American consumers. As spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, Ms. Harrison has helped guide news coverage of the mad cow crisis, issuing statements, managing press conferences and reassuring the world that American beef is safe.
For her, it's a familiar message. Before joining the department, Ms. Harrison was director of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the beef industry's largest trade group, where she battled government food safety efforts, criticized Oprah Winfrey for raising health questions about American hamburgers, and sent out press releases with titles like "Mad Cow Disease Not a Problem in the U.S."
Monday, January 05, 2004
iTunes DRM cracked wide open for Linux
Exclusive Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen, who broke the DVD
encryption scheme, has opened iTunes locked music a tad further, by
allowing people to play songs they've purchased on iTunes Music Store
on their GNU/Linux computers.
"We're about to find out what Apple really thinks about Fair Use,"
Johansen told The Register via email.
Exclusive Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen, who broke the DVD
encryption scheme, has opened iTunes locked music a tad further, by
allowing people to play songs they've purchased on iTunes Music Store
on their GNU/Linux computers.
"We're about to find out what Apple really thinks about Fair Use,"
Johansen told The Register via email.
Haiti wants to ban Grand Theft Auto: Vice City entirely. They're also seeking $15K in damages of some sort (15K?)
The Free Software Community After 20 Years: With great but incomplete success, what now? by GNU founder Richard Stallman
Non-free software carries with it an antisocial system that prohibits cooperation and community. You are typically unable to see the source code; you cannot tell what nasty tricks, or what foolish bugs, it might contain. If you don't like it, you are helpless to change it. Worst of all, you are forbidden to share it with anyone else. To prohibit sharing software is to cut the bonds of society.
Non-free software carries with it an antisocial system that prohibits cooperation and community. You are typically unable to see the source code; you cannot tell what nasty tricks, or what foolish bugs, it might contain. If you don't like it, you are helpless to change it. Worst of all, you are forbidden to share it with anyone else. To prohibit sharing software is to cut the bonds of society.
Torture By Proxy: How immigration threw a traveler to the wolves
So, they put Arar on a private plane and flew him to Washington, D.C. There, a new team, presumably from the CIA, took over and delivered him, by way of Jordan, to Syrian interrogators. This covert operation was legal, our Justice Department later claimed, because Arar is also a citizen of Syria by birth. The fact that he was a Canadian traveling on a Canadian passport, with a wife, two children and job in Canada, and had not lived in Syria for 16 years, was ignored. The Justice Department wanted him to be questioned by Syrian military intelligence, whose interrogation methods our government has repeatedly condemned.
The Syrians locked Arar in an underground cell the size of a grave: 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, 7 feet high. Then they questioned him, under torture, repeatedly, for 10 months. Finally, when it was obvious that their prisoner had no terrorist ties, they let him go, 40 pounds lighter, with a pronounced limp and chronic nightmares.
These are the actions of your government. To permit it is to condone it.
So, they put Arar on a private plane and flew him to Washington, D.C. There, a new team, presumably from the CIA, took over and delivered him, by way of Jordan, to Syrian interrogators. This covert operation was legal, our Justice Department later claimed, because Arar is also a citizen of Syria by birth. The fact that he was a Canadian traveling on a Canadian passport, with a wife, two children and job in Canada, and had not lived in Syria for 16 years, was ignored. The Justice Department wanted him to be questioned by Syrian military intelligence, whose interrogation methods our government has repeatedly condemned.
The Syrians locked Arar in an underground cell the size of a grave: 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, 7 feet high. Then they questioned him, under torture, repeatedly, for 10 months. Finally, when it was obvious that their prisoner had no terrorist ties, they let him go, 40 pounds lighter, with a pronounced limp and chronic nightmares.
These are the actions of your government. To permit it is to condone it.
Friday, January 02, 2004
President Coolidge's Burden (the Atlantic)
A recent biography places Coolidge's failed presidency in the context of the deep depression he fell into after the death of his son.
A recent biography places Coolidge's failed presidency in the context of the deep depression he fell into after the death of his son.
Free Speech Zone: The administration quarantines dissent
When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”
When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”
[War profiteer: one who makes what is considered an unreasonable profit, especially on the sale of essential goods, during times of war.]
In a welcome departure from all the mallpunk that litters the racks, AntiFlag has a coherent, political message that dares to look at subjects beyond their own egos. Listen to their latest album, The Terror State, while reading essays that accompany the album on Underground Action Alliance's site
Kuwait was ready to go to re-establish cell phone service in Iraq. They have the infrastructure to do it and they’re right next door… seems like it would be common sense to go with Kuwait. But wait! I’m forgetting that Kuwait uses the European standard for cell phone networks. American companies aren’t going to make any money if the new system isn’t using the American standards & equipment! So instead the contract goes to MCI, a company that really doesn’t have such a great track record. For one thing they’ve never set up a cell phone network before, and for another, their management pulled off one of the biggest accounting frauds in modern business history.
In a welcome departure from all the mallpunk that litters the racks, AntiFlag has a coherent, political message that dares to look at subjects beyond their own egos. Listen to their latest album, The Terror State, while reading essays that accompany the album on Underground Action Alliance's site
Kuwait was ready to go to re-establish cell phone service in Iraq. They have the infrastructure to do it and they’re right next door… seems like it would be common sense to go with Kuwait. But wait! I’m forgetting that Kuwait uses the European standard for cell phone networks. American companies aren’t going to make any money if the new system isn’t using the American standards & equipment! So instead the contract goes to MCI, a company that really doesn’t have such a great track record. For one thing they’ve never set up a cell phone network before, and for another, their management pulled off one of the biggest accounting frauds in modern business history.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
[The "dark scenario"]
According to British intelligence papers just released under a 30-year rule, the U.S. was ready to sieze Arab oil by force in 1973 under threat of an embargo. (BBC)
It was thought that US airborne troops would seize the oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and might even ask the British to do the same in Abu Dhabi.
The episode shows how the security of oil supplies is always at the forefront of governments' planning.
According to British intelligence papers just released under a 30-year rule, the U.S. was ready to sieze Arab oil by force in 1973 under threat of an embargo. (BBC)
It was thought that US airborne troops would seize the oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and might even ask the British to do the same in Abu Dhabi.
The episode shows how the security of oil supplies is always at the forefront of governments' planning.