I've been following a parliamentary debate all day. As a result I have a longish article that I can't seem to finish. It remains a rambling mess full of a hundred strands that I have not been able to weave together. Trying to keep up with even a tenth of this stuff is counter-productive to having any kind of life!

Anyway I have posted every day this month, and don't want to miss the very last day. So, I'm taking emergency measures. Here are a few links randomized from my stumbleupon toolbar. It's a cheap gimmick I know, but hey it's been a tough day.
:)

Check out these random swirls, but don't look too long, it's oddly hypnotic!

Did you know Google search had keyboard shortcuts?

Cartoon horses singing four part interactive harmony anyone?

You can watch 1112 Networks present.. absolutely nothing

Or waste a few frivolous moments on classic arcade games..

Maybe you would like to use the Wayback Machine to visit the webs early years.

Anyway that's it from me. I'll try to get the article up tomorow and the podcast for later in the week. If you bothered to read this, and you've been here before thank you!  I'm off to have a life that doesn't revolve around a computer for a while!
:)

The UK Government has begun a process whereby it can issue "Control Orders" to it's subjects when it believes they represent a threat to National Security. The series of measures legitimizes house arrest, curfews, tagging, and bans on telephone and internet use.

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair, has also gone on the record to support this new repressive security agenda. In an interview transcript taken from a GMTV interview, he expresses his backing for the introduction of ID cards with biometric identifiers for all citizens, and seems strangely unconcerned about protecting the rights of prisoners who have been detained unlawfully by the state.

"I think this is a set of Control Orders, that will prohibit, and prevent, as far as we possibly can, individuals from becoming involved in activities, that we know are dangerous to the State, and I think that's very important"

So important in fact, that it is now acceptable to indefinitely imprison people in their own homes, without recourse to trial by jury. Limits to be placed on their ability to interact with the world by telephone, Internet, or private visit, their private lives the property of the State. It is also acceptable to allow people who have never been given the right to trial, to be tortured by the government or its representatives in a foreign country. Evidence obtained under this torture, can then be used against that person to obtain a conviction.

Please, I have to ask, have I moved address? Am I now located on an outer ring somewhere near Dante's Inferno!? A place where elected officials don the masks of inquisitors, and sanction torture, as a legitimate means of obtaining confessions? A location where men and women can be removed from society by house arrest, simply because the government desires it? What sort of madness is this, and who is sanctioning it?

Of course this is all small potatoes compared to the Civil Contingencies Bill, which became an Act of Parliament on 18 November, 2004. The powers contained in this Bill allow the government to seal off cities, introduce travel bans, cut off phones, and shut down websites. Demonstrations can be banned, and the news media made subject to censorship. New offences against the state can even be created by government decree. (Statewatch.org)

So, it seems we are now only one major bombing or natural disaster away from dictatorship..

A toy-maker in Japan is targeting elderly people with talking dolls. The Yumell Doll has a vocabulary of 1200 phrases, and is billed as a "healing partner."

It seems a sad indictment of a society, when technology toys' are offered to the old as a replacement for human company. I'm not saying that the whole idea is bad, but there is something strangely affecting about the image of a lonely old man or woman, living out the final years of their life, with their principle company being a cleverly crafted piece of code disguised as a toy child.

It is very rarely that I read the text of a politicians speech, and feel good about the content. However, making his last speech in the House of Commons, British Labour MP Mr Brian Sedgemore, produced the following stinging condemnation of the Blair Government, its Anti-Terror legislation, and the police state mentality driving it.

"How on earth did a Labour Government get to the point of creating what was described in the House of Lords hearing as a "gulag" at Belmarsh? I remind my hon. Friends that a gulag is a black hole into which people are forcibly directed without hope of ever getting out. Despite savage criticisms by nine Law Lords in 250 paragraphs, all of which I have read and understood, about the creation of the gulag, I have heard not one word of apology from the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary. Worse, I have heard no word of apology from those Back Benchers who voted to establish the gulag.

Have we all, individually and collectively, no shame? I suppose that once one has shown contempt for liberty by voting against it in the Lobby, it becomes easier to do it a second time and after that, a third time. Thus even Members of Parliament who claim to believe in human rights vote to destroy them.

Many Members have gone nap on the matter. They voted: first, to abolish trial by jury in less serious cases; secondly, to abolish trial by jury in more serious cases; thirdly, to approve an unlawful war; fourthly, to create a gulag at Belmarsh; and fifthly, to lock up innocent people in their homes. It is truly terrifying to imagine what those Members of Parliament will vote for next.I can describe all that only as new Labour's descent into hell, which is not a place where I want to be."

I applaud the Rt Hon. Mr Sedgemore for being that rare thing. A politician with principles. For once, I actually feel the need to say "Hear hear!"

Watch the speech here

Mr Sedgemore starts speaking 1 min in.

An endless stream of personal information continues to leak from Paris Hiltons hacked cell-phone, and onto websites everywhere. This follows the hack of her previous phone, and the infamous hotel room tape, which now appears on porn sites everywhere. Celebrities such as Vin Diesel, Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Fred Durst, and Jay-Z, have been forced to change their cell numbers to avoid a series of prank calls. Some who did not respond quickly enough, promptly found that their voices had been uploaded onto the net.

Does this woman have no ability to protect her personal privacy!? It seems that every few minutes, her most intimate and private moments are appearing on the Internet. Is she a complete dunderhead, who keeps making the same silly mistakes over and over again? Judging from some of the text messages she has (allegedly) sent, and her spelling of Germany as 'Jermany' I am tempted to accept this explanation but, there are a few odd elements in this saga, that lead me to wonder. This is the THIRD time that something like this has happened to her. What kind of idiot allows themselves to be 'done up like a kipper' that many times in short succession!? Also, why do all the photos from the phone, appear to have been taken by a third party?

The main beneficiary of these constant hacks has been the profile of Paris Hilton. Before the 'sex tape' who thought of 'Paris' as anything other than the capital of France, or a character in Homers' Odyssey? Now 'Paris Hilton' is one of the most searched terms on Google. She has become a brand, with a hit series on MTV, and is even beginning to take the odd movie role. Quite a remarkable feat for a moderately pretty heiress from New York, who seemed destined to be remembered as 'Paris the Heiress' the daughter of a wealthy father, part-time girlfriend, and a bit part model and socialite.

If you want more, probably the best place to find it is at Defamer

I wanted to link to this fine blog put up by journalist Dahr Jamail who is posting almost daily from inside Iraq. His posts about events inside Fallujah, are both brave and troubling. If you care about these things, please take the time to read it for yourself.

A noble effort has begun to raise awareness of the plight of bloggers' suffering imprisonment, arrest, censure, and torture, for excercising the right of free speech. Organised by The Committee to Protect Bloggers, a campaign is underway, calling on bloggers' worldwide, to use their sites to focus attention on these attacks.

Arash Sigarchi was arrested in Iran last month, after he used his blog to speak out against the arrest of online journalists. Coinciding with an online day of action (which took place on Feburary 22nd), the Iranian authorities sentenced Arash Sigarchi to 14 years in prison.

Another Iranian blogger, Motjaba Saminejad, used his website to report on bloggers' being arrested. He was subsequently taken into custody, and is still being held.

Following on from the recent clampdown on Internet cafes in China, it has not been a good few weeks for online freedom. This is more evidence, that when the interests of free speech conflict with the activities of the state, bloggers' cannot rely on govenments' to protect their freedom of expression.

Take Action Now!

Link to:

Committee to Protect Bloggers
Reporters without Borders
BBC News
International Bloggers Bill of Rights

I realize that the things I believe to be true about the world are not mainstream opinion. Without being disrespectful, I would say that most people simply do not know very much about the way the world around them is governed or controlled. Sadly, a lot of them don't want to know.

The majority of people rarely do any significant research after leaving school or college. They fulfil the requirements of their education, are streamed into an appropriate career, and simply cease to be students. They may 'dabble' in some area of interest, but in the main, they are happy never to have to do any real thinking ever again.

It is so much easier to dismiss reality, and retreat inside a 'soma bubble.' There are lots of ways to escape, and you need never pay attention to anything that you don't want to ever again. This wired, multi-channel, broadband assisted world of ours, has plenty of digital candy to choose from.

The truth is difficult to discern amidst a mountain of lies, it can also bring the unpleasant feeling that you have been suckered, lied to, or allowed yourself to be taken for a fool. Nobody wants to wake up to an unpleasant reality, when they are in the middle of a amiable dream. It is easier to accept the illusion crafted by those people who have mastered the art of telling you the story you want to hear, than it is to wake up, and hear the truth, and begin thinking for yourself.

Even should you choose to start digging, there is a mountain of misinformation, (some deliberately propagated), to wade through. It's hard, frequently frustrating, and often lonely work. Even after spending the best part of a decade searching, I still have days where I want to doubt the evidence of my own research. I miss my soma contentment, even though I know it wasn't real.

In the end, there are really only two valid views of the way in which history works, the accidental view, and the conspiratorial. Believe me, if I could believe something other than I do in this area I would do so. The truth I have found, is not comforting, or reassuring. Nonetheless, from pronouncements made by President's to the back of a one dollar bill, the world around us is filled with signs and symbols, that point to something other than mere accident as being responsible for the course our world is taking.

Hello!!!

Am I the only one who thinks this is pretty f**ked up!? I mean hello? Pigs with human blood!!? Is that kosher ? Mixing human sperm in genetically engineered mice? Injecting living creatures with human cells to produce hybrid animals...? I'm grossed out already.. I mean is this legal? Moral? Accepted fact?? Surely someone, is about to diagnose this as a pathology!!? Mixing human and animal sperm is not only demeaning to the creatures the mutilation is inflicted upon, it's demeaning to human beings.

What do Hunter S. Thompson, Britney, Paris Hilton, and the United Nations have in common? According to various search engines, they are some of the most popular words and phrases that people are searching for on the web today.

The 67-year-old Hunter gets a big mention, because he tragically killed himself in an apparent suicide on Feburary 19th. Of course, he contributed his own unique perspective to the world through a variety of drug fuelled writings, articles, and political campaigns, but the main reason he is suddenly a name flashing across keyboards worldwide, is because he is dead. Somehow that always gets peoples attention! Thompson was quoted, as saying that his big subject was "the death of the American dream," and chronicling that sad retreat is undoubtedly a noble use of literary talent. He also once famously shot a computer, which in itself is an act worthy of fond remembrance! Anyway, probably the best way to remember a writer, is by reading something they wrote, so here's a quote from the King of Gonzo himself:

"The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy - then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight - assuming it was straight in the first place."

From: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

Continuing my trawl through the current superstars of the search engine charts, next up is the cultural colossus that is Britney Spears. Britney seems to have achieved a status whereby people searched her name more often than the current US President G.W. Bush, but not quite as often as God! Perhaps she needs to consider running for the Presidency, because she eclipses George's paltry 14.5 million hits, with a stellar 19 million right off the bat. In fact even her ugly and less well-known sister (Briney Spears) racks up a respectable 88,000 hits on Goggle. Sadly (much like her more famous sister), people seem to be mainly interested in seeing Briney naked.

Googles Britney Spears spell correction chart.

The same fate has befallen young Paris Hilton. Paris racks up a very respectable 6,990,000 hits. In the process of obtaining such a total, she has been quite literally hacked to bits by the information age choppers. Not only is she apparently naked everywhere, (both pictorially and on a best-selling reality video), but the contents of her mobile phone have been uploaded for all to see, and she is doing the rounds as an e-mail virus. (Obviously a busy little multi-million heiress !) The virus appears as an e-mail attachment, asking users to disregard all thoughts of security, and download Paris doing whatever it is she does. The fact that it works at all, says a great deal about the publics insatiable desire to see well known folks in the buff!

All of which brings me crashing to a blinding stop at the thorny subject of the UN. Not nearly as popular as either Britney or Paris, the future leaders of the 'free' world can only manage a meagre 787,000 hits. Despite recent rumours that they were planning to 'takeover the internet', and a series of of salacious sex and bribery scandals it seems that by and large the men in suits, are not nearly as interesting to people as Britney or Paris in their birthday attire!

Oh and oddly enough nobody seems to be interested in what Hunter S Thompson was or was not wearing!

 


Having portions of my skull removed, and 96 tiny electrodes resembling human hairs wired into the exposed portions of my brain, is not high on my list of things to do! Nor do I crave the experience of undergoing surgical alteration, and being connected by the wires coming out of my head, to a computer controlling a large robotic arm. However, this is exactly the fate of the monkeys' in the neurobiology lab at the University of Pittsburgh.

Trained to manipulate the arm using a joystick, the computer system records and studies the bioelectrical and neural activity of the primate’s brainwaves. The computer 'learns' the patterns of the creatures' thoughts, and how to 'read' the neural electrical data being transmitted from the monkeys' minds. The joystick is then unplugged, but the computer is able to continue translating the neural information, and convert the signal into mechanical movements of the robotic arm.

Does this represent another a grand day for Science? We now have evidence that thoughts (or brain activity for the incurably detached) are a discernible energy source. One that is translatable by a computer, into a readable pattern that can be used to control a mechanical device. One of the scientists remarked;

"Once you have an output signal out of the brain that you can interpret, the possibilities of what you can do with those signals are immense,"

The hope is that as work progresses, the scientists will be able to give the monkey a more realistic arm, and even working fingers.

Personally, I have a few serious questions; How far down this road we are willing to go? Is it now acceptable to create entirely hybrid creatures from the living beings that share this planet with us? Do we have the right to dominate and distort all living flesh, into whatever forms suit our intellectual and social purposes at the time? Yes, perhaps we will in some way benefit the lives of some members of our own species, but is it acceptable that in order to do so, we  prey in such an ugly way on the existence of others?

I fail to see how these creatures can take pleasure or natural satisfaction whilst imprisoned in this environment. They are meat puppets of flesh and spirit, co-opted by the machine, to function as slave components, in a cybernetic feedback grid. They are the first citizens of a new race of cybernetic hybrids harvested from nature, and designed to service the technological whims of our culture

Moral relativists and rationalists, state that "the end justifies the means," and therefore they can happily justify what seems to me, to be cynical surgical farming of our primate neighbors. All things might be possible, but if the only way we can advance our understanding is to shackle our primate cousins to the hell of the machine, perhaps not all things are wise or right.

Link to the Wired story.

It's playtime with Georgey Junior...
Dress up the Commander in Chief!
Lots of interesting wardrobe extras!
or,
Gimp out his Poppa here!!

I found these pictures of soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at The Memory Hole.A couple are pretty graphic, so if you have a strong aversion to such things you have been forewarned. Nonetheless, this is one reality that you do not see in the mainstream press.

So I stumbled upon this! It's a lot of fun, and if you use it for a while it will take you to the end of the Internet!