Yes, and you were a stone-cold paranoid nutbag in the 1990s if you believed ‘black helicopters’ were tracking people and vehicles across states. Soon, you won’t even see the surveillance craft, as it soaks up data from your physical shape, gait and shadow, from miles above, and determines if you are engaged in suspicious behaviour.
When necessary, the unblinking 24 hour surveillance may also be able to take body heat readings, to determine, perhaps, if you’re ‘hot’ enough with pandemic flu virus to be….de-registered.
Real-time streaming video of Iraqi and Afghan battle areas taken from thousands of feet in the air can follow actions of people on the ground as they dig, shake hands, exchange objects and kiss each other goodbye.
The video is sent from unmanned and manned aircraft to intelligence analysts at ground stations in the United States and abroad. They watch video in real time of people getting in and out of cars, loading trunks, dropping things or picking them up. They can even see vehicles accelerate, slow down, move together or make U-turns.
“The dynamics of an urban insurgency have resulted in a rapid increase in the number of activities visible in the video field of view,” according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
“The U.S. military and intelligence communities have an ever increasing need to monitor live video feeds and search large volumes of archived video data for activities of interest due to the rapid growth in development and fielding of motion video systems,” according to the DARPA paper, which was written in March but released last month.”Now with new full-motion video intelligence techniques, we are looking at people and their behavior in public…”
The resolution capability of the video systems ranges from four inches to a foot…
The video itself is also shaped by the angle to the ground from which it is shot, although there are 3-D capabilities that allow viewers on the ground to manipulate videos of objects so they can see them from different vantage points.
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While most of the world seems consumed by the rise of Barack Obama to the White House, the BushCo. reign of foreign terror and torture and general Muslim slaughterage is not yet over, particularly now they have flying killer robots wasting children in Afghanistan schools and a corporate army trying to force Iran into coming to Syria’s defence.
BushCo. is not over yet, but it’s close. Less than 90 days to go, unless BushCo. decides to keep hold of the White House for a little longer, which he can do, needing only to initiate a state of emergency, and the imposition of martial law, in the event of a terror attack, pandemic flu outbreak or his interpretation of the extent of domestic disturbances, say, in the event of post-election violence and rioting.
Bush may, however, decide to leave the White House early, if he sees a need to flee the country, even before he gets to open his presidential library, due to the filing of international war crimes against his administration.
The new Bush family compound in Paraguay awaits. The land in northern Paraguay is said to have one of the best sources of fresh spring water in the world, along with Waco, Texas, not far from Crawford, the soon to be former home of a Bush family presidential compound.
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In mere days the nation will be out looking to vote in their choice of Presidential candidate. On that same day there are a multitude of other decisions that will be decided as well. Various referendums and local and state officials will gain, maintain, or lose their positions. While I tend to not be as directly involved in local elections outside of where I live, I was born and raised in the Bronx – so I have a vested interest.
As those who have looked at my bio are aware, I went to Evander Childs High School. It was a decent public high school, with books older than I was at the time, and I have fond memories of the place. Evander has been closed and in its place (literally) there will now be 4 separate high schools. As stupid as that decision may sound it is what has happened. But in May 2008 there was a final reunion of all alumni.
The final reunion gathered hundreds of teachers and students going back as far as the 1930’s. It was impressive to see all the successes that all had spent time at this one local Bronx institution on learning. Also at the event was Carl E. Heastie, NY State Assemblyman.
Assemblyman Heastie is up for re-election, his district is the 83rd and his local office is at
1351 East Gun Hill Road
Bronx, NY 10469
718-654-6539
I met Assemblyman Heastie at the event, and after a short discussion we set up a plan to see if I could interview him. It would be good for his election hopes, and I’m never reluctant for good publicity as well. So I started to do my homework.
Elected in 2000, Assemblyman Heastie is a member of the Democratic State Committee and was Chair of County Elections Committee of the Bronx Democratic Party from 1996 – 2000. He is a member of the NAACP (Williamsbridge), did not go to Evander but did go to public school, did go to Stonybrook College for his B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Baruch College for his M.B.A.
Assemblyman Heastie is a native New Yorker, and like many people in the Bronx a Democrat. He grew up within years and miles of me. He was not rich, and he is involved in the community. He sits on Aging, Housing, Labor, and Small Business committees. He is highly involved in education and is directly involved and leads in creating new schools.
Learning all this I was very interested in interviewing Assemblyman Heastie. I tried to contact him within a week of the Evander reunion. After 3 attempts I let it go. A month later Assemblyman Heastie had his office contact me in reply.
This was mid- to late June. The office of Assemblyman Heastie informed me of their interest in having the interview. They were excited in the fact that I have an international presence, and that my political comments are followed by enough people to fill a small city. I asked at this point if they had read any of my blog posts, which I learned they had not. I suggested that they do so, and we arranged a date for the interview – 2 days later – which had to be via phone since Assemblyman Heastie was too busy to meet with me in person (I was willing to go to the Bronx to interview him in person).
A bonus I noted was the fact that not only would this interview appear in my blogs, but I had the ability to include it on one of the biggest blogs in the world (in the top 5,000 out of 55 million at the time – 1800blogger.com – ranked higher now) as well as several blogs related to the subject. I also planned to release a press release to ensure maximum exposure.
The next day I was contacted by the office and told that they were very excited by the chance to be interviewed by me. They were
“…looking forward to express on a national basis the support Assemblyman Heastie has for Senator Obama”
In addition Assemblyman Heastie wanted to highlight his work on education. I had no problem with this and stated that I was willing and eager to allow him to discuss the issues he supported. I again repeated the fact, that I have stated many times to every person I have interviewed or discussed the matter with, that I would provide them the opportunity to review (but not alter) the final interview 24 hours prior to publishing – factually incorrect data would be corrected in this manner (ie. typos or incorrect transcription). I also stated, as is my policy, that any additions, clarifications, or expansion of points they might wish to include would be posted as well, verbatim.
Thus, as with all my interviewees, they had the opportunity to discuss even more any issue that Assemblyman Heastie felt was important to his constituents and the nation. That could be his support of Senator Obama, need for funding and reform of Bronx schools and education on a national level, and/or even cheerleading the Democratic Party. Whatever he wished, I would have published verbatim.
Again the office of Assemblyman Heastie expressed interest and eagerness. Then they failed to contact me.
I contacted them 3 more times up to the end of July. Each time I was not allowed to speak with the staff in charge of the scheduling that I had previously spoken to. Each time I was told to leave a message. Each time I received no follow-up, or any form of information explaining why Assemblyman Heastie had abandoned our scheduled interview.
Now I am not vindictive. I’m a grown man and I can take a hit. My blogs do not rise or fall with the influence of any politician. So I let the issue go. But it has nagged me since. Not because I still have yet to hear from Assemblyman Heastie but because of what it might mean to my readers.
My concern is not for Assemblyman Heastie. My concern is his inability to face questions from an ordinary person just like his constituents. As an interviewer I wanted to discuss issues that I believe are important to the people he represents. Many have no idea of how to contact him; and fewer believe that even if they could contact an elected official that that official would pay attention to their concerns. This was an opportunity for Assemblyman Heastie to alleviate those concerns and express his beliefs. Obviously he has a desire for greater political office at some point, an interview of this nature and international exposure could have done that. I have no doubt that in the future he will attempt to do this again. But the fact that he backed out so suddenly made me wonder why.
What might I have asked Assemblyman Heastie?
Do you support any candidate for President?
What does the campaign of Senator Obama for Democratic nominee mean to you? What does it mean to African Americans in your view?
What is your position on Iraq and Afghanistan?
Many African Americans were divided by the Clinton campaign during the Primaries – what would you say to those with questions/hesitation?
You are quite young for a politician, what motivated you to enter politics?
Growing up in the Bronx, how important has education been in your life?
How important is the youth vote?
How is the current mortgage crisis affecting the 83rd district compare to the rest of New York City, NY State, and the nation?
How are your constituents being affected by the economy?
As a native New Yorker 9/11 had to have a massive impact on your life – what efforts have you worked on to provide safety in the world’s largest city and ensure that no America is ever compromised again?
Those were exactly the prepared questions I had for Assemblyman Heastie. I do not think they are too harsh or difficult to answer. I believe that in June, July, and August – if not now – many in America would like to see their elected officials answer these questions.
I was not asking Assemblyman Heastie why he did not respond to the 2006 and/or 2008 Political Courage Test. I did not question his political ratings that include his votes such as:
45% in favor of business
37% in favor of conservative issues
90% in favor of liberal issues
54% in favor of animal rights issues
100% in favor of environmental and anti-gun issues
and an unclear stance on pro-life, choice, or abortion issues.
Overall I felt I was fair, or would have been. But why did Assemblyman Heastie back away?
Was he afraid of an issue he thought I might have researched and learned of? Did he believe that via my ties to the community he serves I had heard something that he did not want to address nationally about his past or present? Was he not committed to his support of Senator Obama and feared that being brought to life after the interview? Does he have a prejudice against Republican Black Puerto Ricans, or at least this one in particular?
I cannot answer any of these questions. Assemblyman Heastie has refused to give me the opportunity to ask these questions. Assemblyman Heastie has refused to allow his constituents to hear the questions or answers up til now.
Assemblyman Heastie may be a very good man, and/or a great politician, I do not know. All I can say is that he agreed to and then ran from an interview without stated cause. I presume he has political ambitions beyond State Assembly. He may or may not be re-elected.
I neither support nor am against Assemblyman Heastie. His constituents will decide what to do in the voting booths next week. I ask Assemblyman Heastie to respond to the questions I have placed here, and am still willing to interview him – whether or not he is re-elected. If he chooses to respond via email I will provide that response on my blogs verbatim. If he chooses to contact me, and he has all my contact information, via phone or regular mail I will transcribe the information verbatim as best is possible and provide that on my blogs. But in all honesty I do not believe that Assemblyman Heastie will do that.
Assemblyman Heastie has acted in a manner that I personally find rude at the least. This may or may not be reflected in his political actions. But if I were still in the 83rd District on Election Day and I were posed with a choice of re-electing Assemblyman Heastie I would be hard pressed to vote for him over a rabid dog.
This is my opinion. I look forward to hearing from anyone that knows of Assemblyman Heastie or his political actions that would like to respond.
** I should note that I am sending a copy of this to Assemblyman Heastie after it was posted. Again, any response will be posted verbatim.**
A lot of people, millions of Americans, are going to totally lose their shit if Obama doesn’t win. Almost the entire mainstream media is telling them, “Obama will win, McCain will lose”, it’s a dangerous chant to screw into peoples’ heads, anything could happen before election day. The tide for Obama could easily, quickly turn against him, a breaking scandal of jaw-dropping outrage might mean just enough lost Obama votes for McCain to stumble over the line.
If Obama wins, the American government is expecting trouble. And if McCain wins, events could easily turn very nasty indeed.”But the news every night said Obama would win! Why didn’t he win? Why? Why? Why? Why didn’t he win?”
The Department of Homeland Security has helped outfit American police with billions of dollars worth of anti-riot gear, water cannons, military-style vehicles, instant checkpoints, supposedly non-lethal weaponry since 9/11. They won’t need much encouragement to get into the streets and use it. Police forces in many larger American cities have been training for election day riots and ‘unrest’.
People don’t like to feel that something they passionately believe in has been stolen from them.
And you’d expect that the millions of people who are already paranoid about their electronic votes being flipped are going to be hard to calm down or pacify if they see it happening in front of their eyes on election day.
How many more Obama assassination plots will be uncovered in the next seven days?
Most of the European, and Russian media, report on the Obama assassination plots with a stunned disbelief, as though they imagine legions of Deliverance extras heading for the next Obama rally in a convoy of shotgun-wracked pickup trucks, yehawing and shouting through mouthfuls of nicotine-orange tombstone teeth, “Hyuck! I gonna go in bag me one of dem big ones, just like my grandpappy did! Hyuck!”
The American media, meanwhile, seem to accept it as a fact of everyday American life that there are plenty of white, heavily armed American males who are driven insane by the thought of “that one” in the White House. Kind of like, hey, what did you expect? If a black man runs for president, he has to learn to duck and weave. And run, when necessary.
Change is coming, Obama promises, change is coming.
The world waits, in hope, expecting the worst.
One week to go.
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When asked Thursday night by NBC television presenter Brian Williams whether an abortion clinic bomber was a terrorist, Palin heaved a sigh and, at first, circumvented the question.
“There’s no question that Bill Ayers by his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our US Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist,” Palin said, referring to a 1960s leftist who founded a radical violent gang dubbed the “Weathermen” — and who years later supported Obama’s first run for public office in the state of Illinois.
“Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to… I don’t know if you’re gonna use the word ‘terrorist’ there,” the ardently pro-life running mate of John McCain said.
All bombs are terror. Whether they’re strapped to the back of a suicide bomber bolting through a crowded weekend market, dropped from a hunter-killer flying robot onto schools, and schoolchildren, in Pakistan, hidden away on a city bus to ‘tickle’ (as the CIA call it) the enemy in false flag operations, or deposited on the door step of an abortion clinic, all bombs are terror. It’s that simple.
Which is why President Bush, and the other leaders of countries devoted to the ‘War On Terror’ now usually refer to the enemy as “extremists.”
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The Italian police have new toys. These are not practical police cars, more so mobile recruitment ads, a good way to spark up convos with car enthusiast youth, and a great ad for Lambos.
In other news, if you’re a political campaign volunteer, and you’re planning to fake a story about how some crazed Obamaniac hauled you from your John McCain stickered car and carved a big B into your cheek, it’s a good idea to get someone else to carve the B in your flesh and not do it yourself, using a mirror, so the B is backward.
Some interesting rumours flying around about what Barack Obama is actually up to in Hawaii, where he’s supposed to be visiting his grandmother. Apparently there’s a big meeting happening right now in Hawaii, involving military leaders from the US, and other countries, including Iran, where Obama is representing the United States, as incoming president.
Obama is being briefed and dealt with as though he’s already won the election, which of course, he has, even if he doesn’t get to the White House, in the end.
Stopping total economic collapse is on the Hawaii agenda, as well as trying to avoid the outbreaks of more war that are expected to follow such a collapse.
Interesting rumours indeed, but just rumours for now, of course. Until they turn out to be true.
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This was originally posted on this blog on December 15, 2007. George Carlin died on June 28. He saw what was coming, and who was responsible :
“They don’t give a fuck about you. The real owners of this country don’t care about you. They don’t care about you at all. At all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.
“And that’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick being jammed up their arseholes everyday.
“Because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called The American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
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What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made at work? Have you made a bad choice that resulted in your boss losing a bucket of cash? Don’t feel bad. We have a world history new champion for monu-mega-mentally screwing up in the workplace.
Former US Treasury Secretary Alan Greenspan’s screw ups have helped to wipe away trillions in American wealth, and plunged the world into super financial clusterfuckery. Now he admits, shock, he might have made a bit of a “mistake”. Yet it was a “mistake” hailed by those who knew how to profit from it, and did, while the rest of ask, “So, what’s this derivatives thing about again?” :
‘Yes, I found a flaw,” Greenspan said in response to grilling from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. ”That is precisely the reason I was shocked because I’d been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”
Greenspan said he was ”partially” wrong in opposing regulation of derivatives and acknowledged that financial institutions didn’t protect shareholders and investments as well as he expected.
Never feel bad about fucking up, ever again. Why should you? Greenspan doesn’t even feel the need to apologise to Americans, and the world, for his monumental, history-changing “mistake”.
Shit happens, eh?
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Whoops, I missed the three year birthday for Your New Reality last month. There’s been something like 1300 posts blurted on this blog during that time, including about a million words of opinion, commentary, bitter rants, and not-often-enough attempts at parody and humour.
The initial aim of this blog was to basically record the news events and societal changes that seemed important or particularly interesting at the time. It was an idea of digitally clipping and storing news stories without winding up with piles of old, yellowing newspaper filling boxes, stuffed under a bed.
Finding a few thousand steady, regular readers from a couple of dozen countries around the world, wasn’t at the front of my mind when I started this, but it’s been an excellent surprise.
I thought, back then, how cool it would be, once every few months, to go and have a read back of a month’s worth of archived posts to see what news events I’d already forgotten about, or what small story back then had exploded into a huge event. But tonight’s the first time I’ve actually gone back to the first month of blogging to fully re-read each post. Been to busy writing more blog posts instead. Which is sort of back to the boxes of old newspaper clippings that are never opened and rummaged.
It was a bit scary re-reading that first month. Lots of mistakes, and…a bit of hysteria, well, plenty of hysteria, but then Hurricane Katrina was a week long hysterical TV event, shocking and appalling, daily scenes of horror and deprivation tsunamiing out of the box. I’ll do a round-up of some of those stories as part of this series of looking back at three years of Your New Reality (although this may turn out to be the only anniversary re-post, there’s a lot going on these days and anything like a series of posts, even reposts, can tend to dwindle away here, never to be mentioned again).
Here’s one weird thing I’ve noticed. I thought blogging would only make me more cynical. But recent posts seem to be far less cynical now. Maybe intense cynicism runs its course, or you just wear it out. Or, perhaps, does regularly, chunky blogging actually make you, dare I say it, optimistic?
Here’s a piece from September, 2005. The cynicism squirts out like lemon juice in the eye :
FASHIONABLE SYDNEY SET OUTRAGED AT AL QAEDA TERROR THREAT SNUB
MELBOURNE JOINS ‘MOST BOMBABLE’ WORLD CITIES LIST
“SYDNEY IS, LIKE, SO OVER,” SAYS AL QAEDA’S AL ASUQUF
By Darryl Mason
Sydneysiders are reeling this morning over news that Al Qaeda has announced Melbourne as a possible new target of their worldwide campaign to scare the piss out of people.
This is being seen as a major snub in social and political circles of the 2000 Olympic City, and leading Sydneysiders are calling on Al Qaeda to reconsider their choice of future targets.
The Al Qaeda announcement is also expected to make it even harder for Sydney poltiicians to redirect millions of taxpayer dollars from spending on education, child care and medicines for the elderly to buy CCTV cameras and other anti-terror related security measures.
“It’s terrible news,” said one Sydney security specialist who has been campaigning for the NSW government to spend $100 million on his line of robot dogs that sniff out bombs concealed in the buttholes of Islamomaniac poodles.
If Sydneysiders are disappointed by the Al Qaeda snub then Melbournians are absolutely gloating at the news that hit front pages and headlines around the world today.
Fashionistas down south claim the Al Qaeda announcement is yet another sign of just how ‘cool’ Melbourne had become.
“Obviously even Al Qaeda knows Melbourne is the city to be seen in if you have any taste at all,” said socialite Rita Tayor. “Melbourne is so cool right now, everybody is flocking here, even bomb-happy, kill-crazy matyrs who hate our freedom.”
An Al Qaeda spokesman has confirmed that Melbourne was chosen over Sydney because it is now seen internationally as the ‘IT’ Australian city of today.
“Sydney is, like, so over,” said Al Qaeda media whiz Al Asuquf. “Well, not over, like bombed to hell over. Just over as a fashionable target for self-detonating suiciders.”
“We do monitor what’s hot and what’s not in terms of the world’s great cities,” said Asuquf, “and Melbourne is definitely hot. We don’t want to be seen as being out of touch with fashion trends, and so Melbourne was an obvious choice as the Australian city to honour with a September 11 anniversary threat of looming carnage and mayhem.”
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the new Al Qaeda threat confirmed the necessary validity of his plan to track terrorist suspects by satellite, install ‘hate thought’ detectors in peoples’ brains and lock up four year old children fleeing war zones until they learn what Free Australia actually means.
“When you’re dealing with terrorists who hate our freedom,” said Howard, “it is vitally important to stand up to their threats by restricting the freedoms of Australians as much as possible, to show the terrorists that we will freely continue to fire bomb Muslims from the sky with our freedom jets until the whole world is free.”
In the US, President George W Bush celebrated the September 11 anniversary by opening a string of new freedom-related enterprises. Bush oversaw the ribbon cutting ceremonies at the new Freedom Juice Company, the Freedom Jail for Jihadic Newborns, the Freedom Torture Centre and the plush new Freedom Execution Hall.
Bush has also endorsed a new line of products to help fight terror, including Freedom Shackles, the Freedom Infant Decapitator Bomb, Freedom Napalm and Freedom Testicle Electrocuters.
“We have always loved freedom, we continue to love freedom and we will never stop loving freedom,” said Bush, who loves freedom, during ceremonies to officially announce that September 11 will now be known as ‘Freedom Day’.
“To celebrate Freedom Day every free citizen of free Western society will be required by threat of torture and detention to freely celebrate their freedom by being free and freely repeating ‘I love freedom’ one hundred times,” said Bush.
“Being free requires the strict enforcement of free laws to enforce freedom,” Bush said. “You cannot be free unless there are free laws to make sure you are being free correctly.”
Both Bush and Howard have also denied rumoured plans to build a 100 foot tall wall completely encircling Iran, Iraq and Syria to create the ‘Republic of Freedomistan’.
“I thoroughly, and freely, reject these scandalous lies,” said Howard at the joint media conference. “But all options are still on the table.”
Bush then searched under the table before asking Howard, “I can see the media but where’s the joint?”
I think I was watching and reading a lot of British satirist Chris Morris back then.
Another look back at past rantings, later. Maybe.
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There’s certainly nothing much more interesting happening in the world today, nothing big enough, or world changing enough, to compete with The Ten Best Egg Cups. Anyway, who doesn’t love a boiled egg? Particularly with a platoon of buttered soldiers lined up for the compulsory dip n’ soak.
So how thrilling could these egg cups be that this story hits Number One? This thrilling :
Have you ever felt a burning desire to make a “visual statement at the breakfast table”? Toxic hangovers with a tumbling gut full of kebab and bourbon do not count.
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More images of Clownists gathered at a ‘convention’ in Mexico here
By Darryl Mason
I’m not worried about communism, socialism, fascism, islamism, globalism or totaltechtarianism. I’m too busy being worried about these creepy Clownists gaining control of the levers of power. And they will do anything to get that power. Those big floppy shoes will not slow them down, and the manic smiles do not hide the darkness in their hearts.
Al Qaeda terrorists?
They have one, maybe two suicide bombers in a bus or truck at most.
These fuckers can pack ten of themselves into one Noddy car.
And already, thousands of them are gathering, for ‘conventions’.
Extreme Clownists already have their schools, all over the world, where they indoctrinate new generations of Clownists, they have their false idol god blatantly displayed at restaurants throughout our countries and they are widely beloved, even worshipped, by hundreds of millions of children. We even let them take the floor to spread their anti-frown ideology at our kids’ birthday parties, for fuck’s sake. And we pay them to do it!
In our elderly years, our grand-children will shake their heads sadly as they ask us : “Why? Why? Why didn’t you do something about the threat of Extreme Clownists when you had the chance?”
What will we tell them?
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“Sarge, Reynolds Is Thinking About Cheerleader Porn Again”
It’s called ’synthetic telepathy.’ Ultra-advanced EEG, or something not yet invented, will read brain signals and interpret them into communication. Not a new idea, by any stretch, but a little closer to our reality than science fiction of the 1960s :
Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an e-mail, dial a phone or even speak a word.
Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.
The Army grant to researchers at University of California, Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland has two objectives. The first is to compose a message using, as D’Zmura puts it, “that little voice in your head.”
The second part is to send that message to a particular individual or object (like a radio), also just with the power of thought. Once the message reaches the recipient, it could be read as text or as a voice mail.
This story talks about a ’synthetic telepathy’ struggling to interpret our words and phrases. The obvious solution would be a new visual language based around universally recognised shapes and symbols. Wouldn’t it be easier to think a shape of a certain colour than a whole sentence?
The first development of a wireless communication system based around brain signals, instead of speech, sounds, type or hand signals is, naturally, for military purposes, but its potential uses are legion. iTelepath will revolutionise video games, the stock market, social networking, cinema, music, all forms of communication and discussion, and help further to deisolate the physically and mentally disabled.
Maybe we can build space freighters out of the 10 billion or so mobile phones we’ll have discarded by the time this synthetic telepathy comes online.
And a warning, or a wish :
“…people would learn to think in a way the computer couldn’t interpret.”
The story discusses synthetic telepathy as being based around equipment in a hood or a baseball cap that will read your brain signals. Ridiculous. The cheaper and more obvious way such a system would function would be through it being installed, that is, two little scanner chips on each side of your brain, say, implanted in the flesh behind your ears. But to link into the iBrain network, as with today’s internet, you would risk letting into your consciousness, and your dreams, nefarious surveillance and, of course, fucking brain spam.
Imagine if you could be detained, and charged, for your dreams? We already live in societies where convictions for thought crimes (what you may have intended to do, but didn’t actually do) are now a reality, and on the rise.
Are you responsible for what your brain gets up to when your alpha-stating?
We will either learn to hide our more immoral thoughts, especially the darkest ones we would never dare share with anyone, even on the brink of death, or we will learn to never think such things, for fear of prosecution.
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Mandatory genetic screening, probably for insurance reasons, will one day mean that Down Syndrome children, like Annie Jennings, could become extinct. Why do we presume that these children are somehow ‘backward’ or less intelligent than most others? If they don’t fit in well enough with our society, is it their fault or the fault of our society?
I once asked a Down Syndrome kid why he and his friends on the bus I used to catch always laughed so much. “Because it’s fun.” Then they all laughed.
When I first started riding that bus, it was filled with miserable looking people, usually pissed off about the craparse day they had at work. That soon changed after the Down Syndrome kids became regular riders. The rest of the passengers looked forward to the kids getting on, and every afternoon, within minutes of those kids boarding, everybody on the bus had a smile on their face. Those that weren’t laughing along with them.
One afternoon, a Down Syndrome kid of only 10 or 11 got up in front of the whole bus, totally fearless and uninhibited, and announced that everyone was going to sing along with him to the ‘Wheels On The Bus’ song. And almost everyone did. It was utterly magical.
How did the rest of us ‘normies’ lose so much of that pure joy of simply being alive?
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Beautiful story, about practical recycling. It took 20 years, but these two brothers have finally completed their race car built from old junk they found scattered around their property.
The two brothers, Zhao Xiushun and Zhao Baoguo, wanted desperately to pay tribute to their late father who died in an earthquake 32 years prior. After some pondering of what best could honor their father, they came up with the idea to build their own pseudo racecar out of pots, pans, bikes, steel doors and anything else they could muster. Inspiration, of course, came from their father who always told them, “It’s no big deal to drive, but it’s quite something to build a car.”
Full story is here.
The brothers claim they learned how to build the car solely from magazines and books, and it can hit 100mph. Excellent!
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In a lengthy, and somewhat convincing, endorsement of Barack Obama, the Washington Post editorial team sums up the United States today, and its place in the world. If you read this in a book of fiction even ten years ago, you’d never believe it could become reality :
Start with two ongoing wars, both far from being won; an unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan; a resurgent Russia menacing its neighbors; a terrorist-supporting Iran racing toward nuclear status; a roiling Middle East; a rising China seeking its place in the world. Stir in the threat of nuclear or biological terrorism, the burdens of global poverty and disease, and accelerating climate change. Domestically, wages have stagnated while public education is failing a generation of urban, mostly minority children. Now add the possibility of the deepest economic trough since the Great Depression.
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People still believe that the Iraq War did not inspire, or lead to, acts of deadly terrorism. Tony Blair said this was not so. So did President Bush. Former Australian prime minister, John Howard, repeatedly claimed the invasion of Iraq and the slaughter of civilians had no link to the catastrophic rise in terrorism, after 2003. Some people still believe this, one of the truly great lies of a war utterly debased by lies and deceit.
The people with access to the information, however, know for a fact that the ‘Iraq War Did Not Increase Terrorism’ propaganda was, and is, complete and utter bullshit :
A former head of MI5 today describes the response to the September 11 2001 attacks on the US as a “huge overreaction” and says the invasion of Iraq influenced young men in Britain who turned to terrorism.
She challenges claims, notably made by Tony Blair, that the war in Iraq was not related to the radicalisation of Muslim youth in Britain.Asked what impact the war had on the terrorist threat, she replies: “Well, I think all one can do is look at what those people who’ve been arrested or have left suicide videos say about their motivation. And most of them, as far as I’m aware, say that the war in Iraq played a significant part in persuading them that this is the right course of action to take.”
“So I think you can’t write the war in Iraq out of history. If what we’re looking at is groups of disaffected young men born in this country who turn to terrorism, then I think to ignore the effect of the war in Iraq is misleading.”
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A rare thing indeed. An insightful explanation of why uncomfortable comedy works so well, and is so hugely popular, from Ricky Gervais, writer and star of The Office and Extras (plus two of the funniest live in concert vids you will ever see). The full story is here :
“A friend used to do this card trick where, for about 10 seconds, you thought he’d really messed up, before all was revealed to be part of the act. I grew to love that 10 seconds, of people feeling sorry for him, of feeling a bit smug. And I’ve always tried to do that. People thinking: this is terrible, this is awful, this is uncomfortable. “Redemption is my favourite thing. As an atheist, I think forgiveness is the greatest virtue. You have to be a very harsh person to not accept someone genuinely saying sorry.
“In every good comedy or drama someone represents us. If they’re redeemed, we feel we’ve been liberated, or saved. If it’s done well, you’re part of the journey. That’s why everything begins or ends with empathy. If you’ve got that, you’ve got nearly anything. Everything else is the icing on the cake.”
“…I don’t think there’s any real altruism. But you want to be in a society where everyone’s all right, otherwise it’s not OK for you…it’s not a good place to be. Deep down, we’d like everyone to be happy, because then you’re happy.”
“Laughing is infectious. Crying makes you feel a bit sad. We’re hard-wired. So if you get empathy on screen, it hits you on an emotional and subliminal and fundamental level.
“Someone can do a hundred of the best one-liners. You’d laugh. But they could throw in a false punchline and you’d still laugh because you’ve got the rhythm. You won’t remember one of them, and you won’t care. But with Laurel and Hardy, say, I like them because I want to hug them. I laugh because I fucking love them. I can’t laugh at someone I don’t like. If someone’s hurt you it’s not funny. It’s not that you stop yourself laughing; it’s just not funny.”
“After The Office, there was a rush to play unsympathetic characters. But with a lot of them, there was no redemption and no worthwhile journey. You need representation, not just embarrassment. The Office would never have worked had Tim not existed. You need someone to roll your eyes with. You can’t just have decapitated jokes.”
“I like doing things that are Trojan horses. You start people watching with the knockabout stuff but then you take them to a different place. Otherwise it’s empty. It’s just white bread.
“Think of the people that aim low and still fail. There must be nothing worse than selling out and still being fucked.”
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