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/_/_/ |_|__/|__/_/ |_/http://www.acronymchile.com/yawn.html
2002-12-24
In a consumer society there are inevitably two
kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and
the prisoners of envy.
################## WHAT IS THE STARS ####################################
Alternative horoscopes:
http://www.martian.fm/stars.htm
What star-sign are you? Phobos, Deimos, Alpha Centauri, or maybe Sensimilia.
################## LIVE #################################################
http://adbusters.org/magazine/40/imperialism.html
Has one very good quote:
"The less people really live - or perhaps more correctly, the more they
become aware that they haven't really lived - the more abrupt and
frightening death becomes for them, and the more it appears as a
terrible accident"
-- Theodor Adorno
Article itself is by John Zerzan, and appears relatively measured
considering his reputation...
################## DIE ##################################################
President George W Bush has authorised the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) to kill about a dozen terrorist leaders named on a secret list
prepared by the White House, US media has reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2576949.stm
################## ENGINEER #############################################
http://boingboing.net/2002_12_01_archive.html#90055144
Brin attempts to follow the engineer's ethos, which Google's mission
statement sums up as "Don't be evil".
################## CYCLE ################################################
Are cycle lanes much safer?:
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/bike-saf.html
Interesting article about how to ride a bike safely in traffic. Makes good
(IMHO) points about cycle tracks (cycle lanes on the footpath). That they
aren't really very safe as you have to contend with erratic pedestrians,
and they tend to hide you from motorists as you approach junctions. I
gather from statistics the author quotes, cycle tracks give of order of 30%
reduction of accidents on straight stretches, and 30% increase in accidents
at junctions. However, that second is 30% of a much larger number as
junctions are where the accidents happen.
She has some other good bike articles too:
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/tips.html
################## LIGHT UP MY LIFE #####################################
DIY enhancing LED bike lights
http://www.audax.uk.net/lights/ledpage.htm
And more of the same:
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/cateyetail2.html
Or build your own:
http://www.audax.uk.net/lights/ledpage3.htm
How bright is it?
"...just like a little supernova hanging on the handlebars."
Interestingly (don't laugh!) I note that even the newest Cateye light i
have, which has 3 LEDs actually has contact pads and lenses for 5, so one
could add two more LEDs with no big problem.
################## THINK ################################################
I knew this was coming... i read it in a magazine once! A robot controlled
by neurons culled from rat embryos:
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_cameron121802.asp
Very interesting story.
################## THOAP ################################################
BBC comedy available online
http://boingboing.net/2002_12_01_archive.html#90060089
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/
################## SMASH THE BLACK IRON PRISON ##########################
On incunabula.org/blog... Philip K. Dick's Black Iron Subdermal Prison:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_inganamort_121702_subdermal.html
################## IT'S VERY REAL #######################################
Very very worth-reading post on Danny O'Brien's blog:
http://www.oblomovka.com/entries/2002/12/19#1040323800
He's going through the procedure of becoming a permanent US resident, but
has had difficulties with the documentation and filing it all exactly
right. He makes the point that a lot of people from Arab backgrounds have
been imprisoned for making just the sort of mistakes he can make and get
away with (being a white college-educated sort of guy). The INS requested
a large number of naturalisation applicants attend for a special
registration event. Approximately 25% were then arrested and detained,
though no numbers were confirmed by authorities.
http://www.dailystar.com/star/today/21219NATTACK-IMMIGRATION.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/12/19/MN33452.DTL
All arrested were men and boys. Kinda smacks of internment.
#################### I AM WHO AM ##########################################
Raelians claim to have cloned a human... the baby is due shortly:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021219/UCLONN/Headlines/headdex/headdexNational_temp/2/2/35/
################ SCIENTOLOGY ##########################################
Another from boingboing:
http://boingboing.net/2002_12_01_archive.html#90055042
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/4173/scott.html
An interview with Jeffrey Scott, a writer of numerous 1980s cartoons
including "Dungeon & Dragons," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "The
Littles," "Duck Tales," "SuperFriends," and "Muppet Babies." In it, he
mentions how some of the scenes he wrote for these cartoons were
inspired by his belief in Scientology. Superman espouses one of the
eight dynamics in a "SuperFriends" episode, and Miss Piggy is caught up
by "the misunderstood word" in a "Muppet Babies" episode.
################## OLD TIMES ############################################
Marks Models:
http://www.marksmodels.com/
Web design is crap though. Is it REALLY necessary to have to open a
javascript popup to view the table of contents of the site?
################## PAYBACK ##############################################
very nice indeed:
The music industry owes you $20 -- and you can collect
Remember when the music industry was convicted of price-fixing? Well,
everyone who bought a CD between 1995 and 2000 in the US is eligible
for a piece of the settlement -- between $5 and $20. If enough people
sign up, the money goes to charities that are working to reform the
music industry.
http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/english/default.htm
http://boingboing.net/2002_12_01_archive.html#90058574
################## ? ####################################################
irony
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993168
################## PSYCHE-WAR ###########################################
Analysis of public psychological reaction to Gore's loss in 2000, and why
he couldn't win in 2004:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14785
################## MEMORY ###############################################
What is NiCd battery memory? Probably not what you think it is...
http://www.repairfaq.org/ELE/F_NiCd_Battery.html
http://www.antonbauer.com/handbook/handbook.html
################## LISTEN ###############################################
On Slashdot was this story regarding possible security problems for winamp
and WinXP wit maliciously crafted MP3's:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/19/1329243
################## LINUX ################################################
Rivals Sony and Matsushita have made an agreement to jointly develop the
GNU/Linux OS for consumer electronic products:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1039523785796
################## THEY ALWAYS RUN ######################################
Writer on the run:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=223498&group=webcast
You can read his stuff here:
http://www.voxnyc.com/
The following comment indicates that voxfux might have inadvertently made a
threat against the president, which would be an illegal action:
http://www.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=223611&group=webcast
though it could all just be a hoax.
Update here, which adds more to the mix, clarifies little:
http://www.memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1423&mode=flat&order=0&thold=-1
FWIW, a comment right at the end of the thread:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=223498&group=webcast
indicates that Richard Humphreys, who made the "God might speak ... through
a burning Bush" remark got 37 months in jail. Sounds severe.
################## MONEY = ##############################################
Since i don't mail forwards any more (i'm in rehab for that), i've
duplicated a mail i got on the zmag list this week at the following url:
http://www.acronymchile.com/zmag_repro_001.txt
There's probably info on the zmag website too. Refers to a story which
will-appear/has-appeared in Die Tageszeitung regarding the information
damaging to the US that may be contained in the Iraqi weapons declaration.
It appears that damaging information is contained in the dossier regarding
the involvement of US/western companies in building up Iraq's military
machinery. There was also a report in the (London) Independent which some
readers may have already seen (it is reproduced in the mail above). A
particular point is that Germany's involvement "outstripped all other
countries put together", and allegedly included help in the development of
poison gas used on Kurds.
################## HEART ################################################
Old heart medicine better than more expensive alternatives:
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=%7B24EECAEB-9C78-4F2E-865E-1EE4FD2198E6%7D
Sounds like results from a pretty rigorous study too: 42,000 patients and
US$125million involved.
################## PYTHON ###############################################
Free Python book for experienced programmers:
http://diveintopython.org/
################## MONEY ################################################
Title looks interesting, but I have not read it yet:
"Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment: A Critical Assessment of
Cross Country Evidence"
http://www.newschool.edu/cepa/papers/archive/cepa200217.pdf
Got the link here:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6922
Which is also worth a read. Saves reading the original articles he
critiques.
################## STOP #################################################