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  Staring Into The Video Gamer's Eyes

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 7:56pm EST by JacobSloan

  Photographer Robbie Cooper made this amazing video for the New York Times by filming from behind a screen. Called "Immersion," it's a series of weirdly hypnotic clips capturing kids' faces as they play video games.
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  End The Fed – Houston Rally With Ron Paul

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 7:55pm EST by Join_Or_DIE

  Hot off the flash, is video of Congressman Ron Paul's speech to a crowd of about 500 people, in front of the Fed building in downtown Houston.
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  Iran: A Nation Of Bloggers

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 6:38pm EST by ralph

  Motionographer: Four international students at Vancouver Film School, Aaron Chiesa, Hendy Sukarya, Lisa Temes and Toru Kageyama created a thought-provoking short film entitled "Iran: a nation of bloggers" for their final term 3 project.I have a penchant for posting visual essays, and this one is on a topic I knew next to nothing about. The primary thrust of the project is that blogging is a cultural outlet for thousands of Iranians, despite it being a sometimes dangerous practice. Blogging is, in essence, a means of revolution.Visually, the project benefits from restraint. The visuals are completely justified by the script, with very little eye candy and a deadpan seriousness befitting the subject matter. That doesn't keep them from being entertaining and engaging, though.
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  HIV Could Be Eliminated In A Decade

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 6:37pm EST by majestic

  The virus that causes AIDS could theoretically be eliminated in a decade if all people living in countries with high infection rates are regularly tested and treated, according to a new mathematical model. It is an intriguing solution to end the AIDS epidemic. But it is based on assumptions rather than data, and is riddled with logistical problems. The research was published online Tuesday in the medical journal, The Lancet. "It's quite a startling result," said Charlie Gilks, an AIDS treatment expert at the World Health Organization and one of the paper's authors. "In a relatively short amount of time, we could potentially knock the epidemic on its head."
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  Goth Cruise: The Movie

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 6:37pm EST by JacobSloan

  The film Goth Cruise will be available on IFC onDemand beginning on Thanksgiving day. It's a documentary (or 'gothumentary') about hundreds of goths who go on a Caribbean cruise. Really. Because even goths need sunshine, buffets, and revue-style entertainment sometimes. I spotted the aged, bleach-blonde proprietor of New York's Trash and Vaudeville clothing store speaking in the trailer. Goth Cruise the Movie trailer - a 'Gothumentary' from jeanie finlay on Vimeo.
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  Fox News and NewsBusters Attack Margot Adler

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 6:36pm EST by alee8582

  The Wild Hunt Blog reports on an attack by FOX News on a friend and previous Invisible Web guest Margot Adler (my interview with Margot is here): It just seems like yesterday that I was discussing the smear job on NPR reporter (and fellow Pagan) Margot Adler by the "liberal media bias" watchdogs at NewsBusters. "It seems that Graham's biggest problem with Adler is that she isn't a conservative Christian, that an atheist was hanging around when she recorded the report, and that she didn't talk to some conservative Christians. Oh, and she didn't find a (Christian or conservative) protester to talk to in a completely unrelated story." It seems that the folks at Fox News loved that dish so much they asked for seconds! "A pagan priestess runs into the president of the atheists in a phone booth in New York
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  Sitting Now Podcast Interview With Douglas Rushkoff!

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 6:36pm EST by kenscanna

  This week we talk to one of my all time favourite writers and thinkers Douglas Rushkoff.In this episode we discuss, Obama's potential to tap into bottom-up politics, what happens if we stop believing in the economy, Conspiracy Culture, hacking reality, what the next renaissance might look like, writing comics, why advertising doesn't work and Magick.I really hope you enjoy this special 20th episode of the show. I'm a HUGE fan of Mr Rushkoff making this a very special episode for me!
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  Pakistan Daily Published a List of Iraqi Academics Assassinated in Iraq During the U.S.-Led Occupation

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 12:14am EST by phunkychic666

  Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Blog:This is a particularly meaningful aspect of the Iraq genocide, the extermination of its intellectual classes. It wasn't enough to invade and occupy what was once the most advanced country in the Middle East and destroy its economy. Iraq had to be obliterated, its history re-written and its future denied.The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative Roger Wright said in the October 2004 report: "Iraq used to have one of the finest school systems in the Middle East." Who remembers now that Saddam Hussein's Iraq was awarded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) prize for eradicating illiteracy in 1982!
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  U.S. War On Drugs Has Failed, Report Says

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 12:13am EST by ralph

  By Tracy Wilkinson, LA Times: The United States' war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired by a former president of Mexico.The former president, Ernesto Zedillo, in an interview, called for a major rethinking of U.S. policy, which he said has been "asymmetrical" in demanding that countries such as Mexico stanch the flow of drugs northward, without successful efforts to stop the flow of guns south. In addition to disrupting drug-smuggling routes, eradicating crops and prosecuting dealers, the U.S. must confront the public health issue that large-scale consumption poses, he said."If we insist only on a strategy of the criminal pursuit of those who traffic in drugs," Zedillo said, "the problem will never be resolved." The indictment of Washington's counter-narcotics campaign comes in a report released this week by the Brookings Institution that advocates closer engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean.
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  A Fifth Grader's Plan To Take Over The World

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 12:13am EST by HAL9000

  FOUND by Brooke in Long Beach, Mississippi:Haha, I found this on the floor in my school's hallway ... I'm guessing he likes Halo. This child is ... well ... um ... _______. Yeah!
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  The Bailout Is Very Large

  Posted: November 30th, 2008, 12:12am EST by JacobSloan

  These pie charts compare the financial bailout - which may end up totaling $4 trillion or more - to other historic, large-scale government projects. For ten times the (inflation-adjusted) price of New Deal, is it reasonable to expect that the 2008 bailout had better be as successful as FDR's?
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  Feds Seize Cocaine Jesus Christ

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 5:46pm EST by JacobSloan

  Federal agents seized a statue of Jesus Christ made out of cocaine and arrested the woman who was attempting to smuggle it across the Mexican border into Texas. The statue, valued at about $30,000, was examined more closely after drug-sniffing dogs took notice. It was being smuggled into the US on behalf of a drug dealer named "The Spider."
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  Classification of Illegal Drugs Should Be Free From Political Influence, According to UK Government

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 5:42pm EST by dragonking

  The power to decide the classification of illegal drugs should be taken out of the hands of the home secretary and given to a small, independent committee of experts, according to a proposal being considered by the government's top advisory body on drug classification. The new group would act rather like the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, which since May 1997 has decided interest rate levels.Under the proposals discussed couple of days ago, by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, a "classification committee" of scientists, social scientists and experts in the drug field would decide which class a drug should occupy based on evidence of the harm it causes to individuals and society.
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  36 Million Americans Are 'Food Insecure'

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 1:11pm EST by imkaan

  UPI: More than 36 million Americans, including 12.4 million children, are food insecure, officials of a U.S. non-profit group said.Feeding America, a U.S. hunger-relief organization, said the actual number of Americans forced to skip meals and survive without adequate nutrition is even greater than the report indicates because it is based on statistics from 2007."It is important to note that the U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers released today are 2007 figures and do not take into account the unprecedented economic crisis that our country is currently facing," Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America said in a statement."Feeding America believe that this is just the beginning of a downward trend and we expect things to get worse before they get better," Escarra said. The organization serves more than 200 food banks that provide food to the vast majority of food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding centers nationwide. More than 4 million people stand in line every week for a few bags of groceries to help feed themselves and their families, Escarra said."Our food banks are calling us every day, telling us that demand for emergency food is higher than it has ever been in our history," Escarra said.
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  Holy Smoke, Batman! Are You Dead? 'Batman R.I.P.' Concludes

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 10:30am EST by ralph

  The Independent: For almost 70 years, he's seen off every "baddie" fate has thrown at him, but now Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, seems to have finally met his match: a middle-aged comic book writer from Glasgow.In the final instalment of Batman R.I.P., the latest series chronicling the veteran superhero, the Scottish author Grant Morrison apparently kills Mr Wayne, after allowing him to be ejected from a speeding aeroplane, without his famous cape and mask.The closing page of Morrison's new comic book, released to a mixture of frenzied anticipation and mounting controversy in the US - and in UK newsagents yesterday - ends with an eerie picture of the outfit fluttering to earth. Wayne is missing, presumed dead. Rumours of Wayne's demise have been circulating for months, not least because of the title of the new DC Comics series, but reached fever pitch this week when Morrison told an interviewer that the hero faced "a fate worse than death". He added: "This is the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman.
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  New Friendly Fire Coverup: Army Shreds Files on Dead Soldiers

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 10:29am EST by ralph

  Mark Benjamin: Last month, Salon published a story reporting that U.S. Army Pfc. Albert Nelson and Pfc. Roger Suarez were killed by U.S. tank fire in Ramadi, Iraq, in late 2006, in an incident partially captured on video, but that an Army investigation instead blamed their deaths on enemy action. Now Salon has learned that documents relating to the two men were shredded hours after the story was published.Three soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. — including two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died — were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents about Nelson and Suarez. One of the soldiers preserved some of the documents as proof that the shredding occurred and provided them to Salon. All three soldiers, with the assistance of a U.S. senator's office, have since been relocated for their safety.Iraq (12-min. edited version). Warning: Contains graphic violence and profanity.
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  A Whisper, Perhaps, From the Universe’s Dark Side

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 3:19am EST by ralph

  DENNIS OVERBYE, NY Times: Is this the dark side speaking?A concatenation of puzzling results from an alphabet soup of satellites and experiments has led a growing number of astronomers and physicists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter that makes up a quarter of creation but has eluded direct detection until now.Maybe."Nobody really knows what's going on," said Gordon Kane, a theorist at the University of Michigan. Physicists caution that there could still be a relatively simple astronomical explanation for the recent observations.But the nature of this dark matter is one of the burning issues of science. Identifying it would point the way to a deeper understanding of the laws of nature and the Einsteinian dream of a unified theory of physics.The last few weeks have seen a blizzard of papers trying to explain the observations in terms of things like "minimal dark matter" or "exciting dark matter," or "hidden valley" theory, and to suggest how to look for them in particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider.Inflating a balloon that may have detected a sign of dark matter annihilation.
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  2,700-Year-Old Marijuana Found in Chinese Tomb

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 3:19am EST by ralph

  Dean Beeby, THE CANADIAN PRESS: Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany. The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour. "To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.
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  Is The Video Game Industry Recession-Proof?

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 1:23am EST by SpaceNeedle

  Daniel Terdiman, cNet:It would be tempting for those in the video game business to take some recent news - for instance, that October sales were through the roof, or that the latest World of Warcraft expansion broke the all-time record for single-day PC game sales - as proof that their industry may be immune from the deep despair confronting the global economy.And indeed, that seems to be exactly what many people in the industry are choosing to believe: that in rough times, people always spend money on entertainment, and that as entertainment goes, video game software and hardware offer much higher value than other options. In other words, the theory goes, the video game industry is recession-proof.But people holding to that notion may yet want to consider getting their resumes ready or holding off on buying that Porsche, since all optimism aside, the future may not be so bright. It's true that sales may be up in the short term, and look good for the holidays, but Wall Street doesn't appear to be impressed.
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  Ain't It Cool News Exclusive: New 'Star Trek' Trailer With Spock(s)!

  Posted: November 29th, 2008, 1:23am EST by SpaceNeedle

  Merrick, AICN: A week or two ago, we got our first look at the trailer for J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie. As big, splashy, and flashy as it was ... there was something missing from that trailer - an element of the film many of us already knew about & wanted to see.Through the generosity of J.J. & Company, and various Powers That Be at Paramount, we thought we'd kick off your Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday season by dropping a little something extra into the trailer. This is pretty much the same material you saw before ... but with one little tweak (which is also a rather big tweak).Click here to see the TweakSee what I mean ... : )
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  Japanese Blood Mascots

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 7:25pm EST by disinfogreg

  They may be cute, but they thirst for blood. These official mascot characters are tasked with recruiting blood donors in Japan.Japan's most well-known blood donation mascot is Kenketsu-chan ("blood donation girl"), a little pixie with big shiny drops of blood for ears. Kenketsu-chan is the official blood donation mascot of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which maintains a website devoted to the character.From the site, we know that Kenketsu-chan's ears shrink when she runs low on blood, but return to their original size when people donate. We also know that she comes from Tasuke Island (Help Island), which features a heart-shaped spring at its center. The spring shoots forth rainbows that carry Kenketsu-chan to wherever people need blood.
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  A Bacon Chocolate Bar Is An Unexpected Hit with British Tastebuds

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 4:47pm EST by SonnyListon

  Tamara Cohen, Daily Mail:In a league of favourite foods, bacon and chocolate would both be near the top.Usually, it has to be said, eaten separately.Now, however, confectioners have combined the two in the world's first bacon chocolate bar. And it is proving a major success with British customers.The unlikely hit Christmas gift is Mo's Bacon Bar, which contains chunks of applewood smoked bacon combined with smoked salt and milk chocolate.At £5.99 per 3oz bar it is far from a cheap treat, but Selfridges - the only UK stockist - sold its entire stock of several hundred within 48 hours at its four stores and has urgently ordered more.The manufacturer, Chicago-based Vosges Haut-Chocolat, encourages first-time buyers to 'engage your five senses ... let the lust of salt and sweet coat your tongue'.
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  Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shoppers Knock Him Down

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 2:29pm EST by disinfogreg

  NEW YORK (AP) - Police say a Wal-Mart worker has died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long Island store opened Friday.Nassau County police say the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened. The cause of death was not immediately known.A police statement says a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground." Police also say a 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation.Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede during the day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, but said a "medical emergency" caused them to close the store.
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  Take A Break on Black Friday and Buy Nothing!

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 2:15pm EST by mpodoba

  I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving today and eats well since know I will be this year. The girlfriend and I will be going to her brother's and we are going all out this year since with the economy going the way it is next year we may only be able to afford to feast on cold cereal.Now, most people will get up early tomorrow and try to take advantage of good deals and shop all day. I think people who get in line at 11 PM the day before stores open are not buying for other people but mostly for themselves. I have never felt the need to battle with the crowds on the day after Thanksgiving so would never buy anything myself. Little did I know what I did informally was being done by social activists for years in protest of our over consumption and called it Buy Nothing Day.
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  International Space Station Turns 10

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:33pm EST by BattyMcDougall

  These are some amazing pictures...This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first launched module of the International Space Station (ISS). The module Zarya was lifted into orbit on November 20th, 1998 by a Russian Proton rocket lifting off from Baikonur, Kazhakstan. In the decade since, 44 manned flights and 34 unmanned flights have carried further modules, solar arrays, support equipment, supplies and a total of 167 human beings from 15 countries to the ISS, and it still has a ways to go until it is done.Originally planned to be complete in 2003, the target date for completion is now 2011. Aside from time spent on construction, ISS crew members work on a good deal of research involving biology and physics in conditions of microgravity. If humans are ever to leave the Earth for extended periods, the ISS is designed to be the place where we will discover the best materials, procedures and safety measures to make it a reality.Astronaut James Newman is seen here making final connections the U.S.-built Unity node to the Russian-built Zarya module. (Credit: NASA)
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  Man 'Carefully Planned' His Chainsaw Death After Losing Eviction Battle With Developers

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:19pm EST by sororyzbl

  Daily Mail: The last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished cut his own head off with a chainsaw to highlight the 'injustice' of being asked to move out, an inquest heard today.Detective Sergeant Mark Huxford told the hearing: 'The head was still attached by the right shoulder and his head was lying to the left.
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  Chinese Pirates Crack Blu-ray DRM, Sell Pirated HD Discs

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:18pm EST by ralph

  Jacqui Cheng, arstechica: Forget boring old standard-def DVDs-movie pirates have moved on to selling high-definition discs in an effort to make money on the HD craze. The HD discs are not genuine Blu-ray discs and don't boast as high resolution as Blu-ray does, but they're apparently good enough to fool many consumers, and the movie industry is worried.Law enforcement in Shenzhen, China, raided a warehouse last month that contained HD copies of a number of popular movies. There were over 800 discs (so, what is that, like eight spindles?) that were packaged in faux Blu-ray boxes, complete with holograms to make them appear legitimate. According to the Motion Picture Association International, this is the "first ever" seizure of these types of discs in China.The pirates are apparently ripping high-def movies (cracking Blu-ray's AACS and BD+ encryption in the process) and re-encoding them using AVCHD, which offers a 720p picture. Because of the reduction in resolution, file sizes are smaller and can be burned to regular DVDs instead of the more costly Blu-ray discs, netting a tidy profit. Needless to say, the film industry isn't thrilled by the news.
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  11 of the Most Important Economic Events of the Last 11 Years: Collapsing the Economy

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:18pm EST by salviad

  Since 1999, the following events have either caused or been the symptom of the present economic crises: 1) Year 1999: Introduction of the euro to world financial markets 2) Year 2000: Collapse of the Dot-com bubble 3) Year 2000: Iraq dumps the US dollar and switches to the euro 4) Year 2005: Rewriting the U.S. Bankruptcy Law 5) Year 2006: Discontinuance of M3 6) Year 2006: Iran moves from US dollars to the euro 7) Year 2006/07: Subprime Market Collapses 8) Year 2007: Run on The Bank in the US and UK 9) Year 2007: 52% Support U.S. Military Strike Against Iran 10) Year 2008: US comptroller general and head of the Government Accountability Office resigns 11) Year 2008: US and UK impose Short selling ban Implications: Expansion of War or New Sustainable Paradigms?
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  Woman May Lose Home Over Decade-Old Blowjob

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:18pm EST by EasyRider

  The Agitator: Wendy Whitaker, 29, has been on Georgia's sex offender list for more than 12 years. Her crime? She performed oral sex on a high school classmate just after turning 17. The boy was just shy of his 16th birthday. Both were sophomores. Whitaker is now suing, claiming that given her crime, her sex offender status is cruel and unusual punishment.After the international uproar associated with the Genarlow Wilson case (Wilson, you'll remember, was convicted of a similar crime - having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old while he was 17), Georgia's legislature clarified state law to prevent these sorts of cases-what Whitaker did 12 years ago is no longer a crime in Georgia. But because some Georgia lawmakers stubbornly wanted to keep Wilson in jail, the legislature took a separate vote to keep the law from applying retroactively. Wilson and Whitaker are still convicted felons.Whitaker's suit cites the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling in Wilson's case, which found that Wilson's 10-year sentence and mandatory sex offender status amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
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  Leashing The Dogs Of War

  Posted: November 28th, 2008, 1:17pm EST by majestic

  In this essay, Simon Chesterman, who has written widely on international institutions, international criminal law, human rights, the use of force, and post-conflict reconstruction, considers how the activities of Blackwater and other private contractors in Iraq have helped to focus public attention on the post-Cold War trend toward the outsourcing of military services. Are such scandals proof of the impossibility of holding modern mercenaries to account, or evidence that the market for force is beginning to mature?
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  Square America: Vintage Amateur Photography

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 8:25pm EST by disinfogreg

  This is a great slice of Americana — a nicely curated collection of family photography. Includes civil servants, double exposures, the space race, perverts, vacations, and of course Bar Mitzvahs in 3-D!
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  Saddam's Hussein's Letter To The American People

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 6:50pm EST by majestic

  Two years ago this month Saddam Hussein was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed 2 years ago next month. He wrote a letter to the American people just weeks before his conviction and execution. The letter was collected by one of Saddam's attorney's Ramsey Clark, who in fact asked him to write the letter. It has not been widely published so as a matter of interest on the eve of the second anniversary of his execution we publish the letter in full as follows: "To the American people: Peace upon those who believe in peace and desire it, and the mercy of God and His blessings. I address you in this letter from the place of my confinement, as my attempt on the basis of my moral, human, and constitutional responsibility so that no one among you might say that no one came to us with a message of peace after the war began, refuting the arguments for it and desiring peace for you and for our upright, loyal, heroic people. And as I say this, I do no know whether my brothers and comrades who are leading the Resistance outside the prison have come to you with a letter before or not.
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  Actual Turkey Head Salt and Pepper Shakers

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 1:33am EST by SpaceNeedle

  David Pescovitz, BoingBoing: Guy Michael Davis made these turkey head salt and pepper shakers. The seasonings come out their nostrils. His former studiomate, Katie Parker, told me that "all (the molds for) his animals come from either 'freshly dead' specimens or from freeze-dried taxidermy." They're $65 dollars on Etsy.
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  Sarah Palin 'Pardons' A Turkey, Then Does Interview While Turkeys Are Slaughtered in the Background

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 1:31am EST by ralph

  Honestly, I thought I was sick of Sarah Palin, but some videos you just have to see to believe, as reports The Huffington Post:On Thursday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared in Wasilla in order to pardon a local turkey in anticipation of Thanksgiving. This proved to be a slightly absurd but ultimately unremarkable event.But what came next was positively surreal. After the pardon Palin proceeded to do an interview with a local TV station while the turkeys were being SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes.
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  Ensuring The Future of Food

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 12:29am EST by JacobSloan

  This thought-provoking video from Japan discusses the seldom-examined issue of food security, and the ways in which a country's food supply could suddenly diminish, or poison citizens from within. With a hint of paranoia, it is pointed out that Japan produces little of its own food (and would never be able to, as there is scant farmland); food arrives in shipments from a select number of countries (such as China and Australia). If relationships with those places ever soured, it would mean drastic trouble very quickly.
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  Bailout Nation: This Bailout Costs More Than...

  Posted: November 27th, 2008, 12:26am EST by ralph

  Barry Ritholtz: Whenever I discussed the current bailout situation with people, I find they have a hard time comprehending the actual numbers involved.If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.Jim Bianco of Bianco Research crunched the inflation adjusted numbers. The bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures - combined:- Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion- Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion- Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion- S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion- Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion- The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion- Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion- Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion- NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billionTOTAL: $3.92 trillion
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  First Hand Accounts Of Terrorist Attacks In India On Twitter and Flickr

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 11:51pm EST by ralph

  Michael Arrington, TechCrunch: Forget CNN, which so far has few details of the ongoing attacks in India. People are giving first hand reports of what they're seeing directly on Twitter. Flickr is another important information resources — images are here.Twitter isn't the place for solid facts yet — the situation is way too disorganized. But it's where the news is breaking. GroundReport is doing a good job of aggregating citizen reports, and a Wikipedia page is being edited with the known facts so far.
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  Terror Attacks In Mumbai (Video)

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 10:25pm EST by majestic

  Terrorists armed with automatic weapons, bombs and grenades attacked at least seven sites in Mumbai on Wednesday and were holding Western hostages at two hotels, authorities said. Police and Indian media reported at least 80 people were killed and 250 wounded.The gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, a police station, a crowded train station and other sites in India's financial capital in attacks that began late Wednesday and continued into Thursday, police and witnesses said.
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  Is Uncle Sam About To Default?

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 9:40pm EST by majestic

  PhD economist Marc Faber thinks the U.S. will go bankrupt. He's not alone.Credit default swaps betting that America will default on its obligations keeps going up and up and up:(click for full image; and see this).The failure of Citigroup has put the viability of the entire banking system in question.
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  Sale of Dutch Magic Mushrooms Banned Starting December 1, 2008

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 9:40pm EST by dragonking

  A national ban on the sale of fresh hallucinogenic ‘magic' mushrooms will take effect in the Netherlands on December 1, 2008. In dried form those mushrooms already were banned under Dutch Opiate Laws. The ban was first proposed in October 2007, after as series of high-profile deaths and injuries linked to magic mushroom trips.
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  Health Paradoxes Around The World: When Nutritionists Go Wrong

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 9:39pm EST by disinfogreg

  The most famous is the French Paradox. Over the years, many studies have highlighted a conundrum: Despite the typical French diet contains large amounts of butter, cream, and other foods rich in artery-clogging ‘unhealthy' saturated fats, the French incidence of heart disease is low.They don't diet and they don't spend hours panting round the gym. This is, of course, seen as a ‘paradox' because conventional wisdom has it that such a diet should increase heart disease rates.
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  This Day In Pirate TV History: November 26, 1977 – The Vrillon Incident

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 8:45pm EST by ralph

  Wikipedia: Vrillon, a purported representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, was the name used by an unidentified voice who broadcast on the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the United Kingdom for six minutes at 5:10 PM on Saturday November 26, 1977.The voice, which was disguised and accompanied by a deep buzzing, broke into the broadcast of the local ITV station Southern Television, over-riding the audio signal of the early-evening news from ITN to warn viewers of "the destiny of your race" and "so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid a disaster which threatens your world and the beings on other worlds around you."As the broadcast did not affect the video signal, it was difficult to detect its source, and the transmission disappeared at the end of what sounded like a prepared statement.Some observers have concluded that the broadcast was a hoax, achieved by directing a powerful signal at the Hannington UHF transmitter, while others take the Vrillon incident far more seriously.
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  South Park: Burning Down Hot Topic

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 8:04pm EST by ralph

  Who knew? The way to destroy an infestation of "vampires" in your town is the burn down your local Hot Topic. Of importance to Goths who detest the recent Vamp craze:
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  Most Trusted News Sources: FOX and the Internet

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 4:50pm EST by JacobSloan

  A new Zogby poll, commissioned by the Independent Film Channel, shows that the internet is Americans' most trusted news medium, easily beating out television and the printed word. FOX News is by far the most trusted news outlet on TV, with a robust 40% of respondents picking the channel over CNN (16%) and MSNBC (15%). As far as "news personalities," people named Rush Limbaugh (13%) and Bill O'Reilly (10%) as most trustworthy. MSNBC's Chris Matthews was seen as trustworthy by the least number of those polled. Thank goodness people have some sense.
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  Coffee Cup In Space

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 4:50pm EST by JacobSloan

  Astronaut Dr. Don Pettit demonstrates how to drink coffee from a zero-gravity cup in space. That hypnotically-sloshing gravity-free coffee looks so tasty right now; I wish some would float on over into my mouth.
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  U.S. Government Supplying Deadly Unapproved Drugs To Population

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 3:15pm EST by majestic

  Dozens of deaths have been linked to medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.Taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs, and millions of private patients are taking them as well.The AP analysis found that Medicaid paid nearly $198 million from 2004 to 2007 for more than 100 unapproved drugs, mostly for common conditions such as colds and pain. Data for 2008 were not available but unapproved drugs still are being sold. The AP checked the medications against FDA databases, using agency guidelines to determine if they were unapproved. The FDA says there may be thousands of such drugs on the market.The medications date back decades, before the Food and Drug Administration tightened its review of drugs in the early 1960s. The FDA says it is trying to squeeze them from the market, but conflicting federal laws allow the Medicaid health program for low-income people to pay for them.
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  Czech Lower House Approves Lower Marijuana Penalties

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 3:15pm EST by dragonking

  The Czech lower house of parliament Tuesday approved changes in the country's penal code that distinguish between hard and soft drugs and make possession of small amounts of marijuana only a low-level offense. The reform must now pass the upper chamber and be signed by the president of the republic.
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  The 15 Most Expensive Paintings in the World

  Posted: November 26th, 2008, 2:15pm EST by SpaceNeedle

  Mike Payne, StyleCrave: In 2006, media mogul David Geffen sold Jackson Pollock's masterwork, No. 5, 1948, for $140 million. This made Pollock's work the most expensive painting in modern history, leading a list of the world's most highly acclaimed artists. From Pollock to Picasso, Renoir to Van Gogh, famouse fine art fetches an other-wordly price on today's market. In celebration of their masterworks and the riches now behind them, here is a list of the 15 most expensive paintings in the world.To round out this list, we've arranged these paintings by an adjusted price in 2008 dollars. The U.S. dollar has inflated quite a bit since 1987, when Van Gogh's Irises sold for $53.9 million. Today, that $53.9 million is worth roughly $102.3 million.Number One: No. 5, 1948 by Jackson PollockJackson Pollock's 1948 painting entitled No. 5, 1948 was arguably his greatest masterwork, the most vivid expression of the painter's unique style. When it was sold by David Geffen in 2006, it became the world's most expensive painting in history at a price-adjusted $149.70 million dollars.
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  Is Accused Soldier Actually a Murderous Reptoid?

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 7:35pm EST by rastamanjesus

  A veteran accused of multiple rapes and murders blames his bad behavior on the fact that he is actually a "Black Raptor."David Icke, The Book of Revelation, the Serpent of Genesis, and World of Warcraft all collide in this story that is way too strange to be fiction.
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  Election Guru Nate Silver Projects Al Franken To Win Minnesota Senate Recount By 27 Votes

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 7:35pm EST by ralph

  FiveThirtyEight.com: As we wrote yesterday evening, the ever-increasing number of challenged ballots in Minnesota is making it more and more difficult to determine the extent to which Al Franken is in fact gaining ground in the state's recount process. An analysis of precinct-by-precinct returns available on the Secretary of State's website, however, suggests that Franken's position is somewhat stronger than it appears, and that he may in fact be the favorite to prevail in the recount process.Here's how this site predicted the 2008 Presidential Election (off by 0.7 percent):
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  Indiana Inmates Sneak Through Ceiling to Have Sex

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 5:41pm EST by SonnyListon

  BLOOMFIELD, Ind. (AP): Three male and three female inmates at a southern Indiana jail face charges that they devised a way to sneak between cell blocks to help pass their time behind bars by having sex. The inmates figured out how to remove metal ceiling panels in the Greene County Jail and used the passageway more than a dozen times in September and October, according to court documents.The men — ages 44, 38 and 17 — and the women — ages 27, 26 and 21 — crawled through the ceiling after midnight, having sexual encounters and drinking homemade alcohol that was found hidden in the male cell block, a police affidavit said. One male inmate who was not charged said the female inmates would "hang-out, play cards or have sex with some of the male inmates" in their cell block, the affidavit said.The inmates were able to find a security camera "blind spot" where they could remove ceiling tiles and create a passage between the cell blocks, Sheriff Terry Pierce said.
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  Obama's FCC Transition Co-Chair is a Hardcore 'World of Warcraft' Player

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 5:04pm EST by ralph

  House of Hackers writes:I've had a political dream for a while now that I think all of us WoW players can agree on: someday, I hope, we will have a President in the White House that plays videogames. We're not quite there yet, but we're closer - apparently, Obama's FCC transition co-chair is a WoW player, and has played in two different endgame guilds, including Joi Ito's famous We Know guild.This is a guy who knows all about the communities that these MMOs create, and just how awesome it is to run through Karazhan, or grind PvP for a Merciless Gladiator weapon ... and he's been selected by the incoming President of the United States to run the FCC. That's beautiful.Too many government officials (both Democrat and Republican, this isn't partisan at all) suffer from the "series of tubes" mentality - they are being asked to regulate and coordinate things that they don't understand at all.But getting guys like Kevin Werbach in there, no matter what your political affiliation, is a great step forward for all of us gamers - we'll have people behind the regulatory wheel who know how important and wonderful virtual worlds like Azeroth can be.
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  A Tale of Two Bailouts: Wall Street vs. Detroit

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 3:36pm EST by ralph

  The Rachel Maddow Show: Rachel's take on why there appears to be two different standards of bailouts. White collar vs. blue collar, those who take a shower before work and those who take one after:
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  The Rashomon Nightmare Ahead: 100 Year Bear Market

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 3:36pm EST by majestic

  What is next? If the "Great Depression 2" scenario plays out, what's after 2011? Recovery? A new bull? How can you protect your money? Or are we all helpless victims of the raging winds of fate and Wall Street's self-serving brand of capitalism. Let's review several scenarios in the bright lens of Akira Kurosawa's classic 1950 film, "Rashomon," at once an ancient Kabuki morality play, a tense modern courtroom drama, and a revealing documentary on human psychology. In "Rashomon" we witness the murder of a Samurai warrior and a rape through the eyes of several witnesses, each swearing they saw what "really happened." We "see" these tragedies in a forest through the eyes of a Woodcutter, Priest, Samurai's Wife, the accused Bandit, and the Samurai, speaking through a Medium. But as "the facts" unfold, the lies and contractions of biased minds are exposed and the truth becomes increasingly blurred. In the end, we are still wondering: What really happened? Similarly, today we're asking; "What really happened to America, so fast?" With Bush, Paulson, Bernanke and their Reaganomics ideology? To my 401(k), my CDs, my kid's college fund, my retirement nest egg. To the great American dream? What happened?
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  The Town Where No One is Allowed To Die

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 3:18pm EST by digitalfever

  The tiny locale of Longyearbyen on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway is one of the world's most northerly towns. In this land above the Arctic Circle, the sun shines 24-seven in summer, then leaves inhabitants in perpetual darkness in winter.University students learn to shoot polar bears in self-defense while kindergarten kids see physiotherapists to check on mobility issues caused by heavy snowsuits. And residents worry about the effects of global warming on their Icefjord, which doesn't actually ice up in winter anymore.But if life in Longyearbyen is unusual, it's nothing compared to the prospect of death: the town rule is, if you die here, you will not be buried.The town doesn't mean to be selective about who gets entry into its small graveyard, it's just that the permafrost in these cold climes doesn't encourage the natural decomposition of dead bodies. No one has been admitted into the graveyard for over 70 years; to receive a proper burial, citizens must make advanced arrangements to be flown to another part of Norway.
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  Citigroup Deserves to Die

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 2:59pm EST by ralph

  Jonathan Golob, The Stranger's Slog:Nominally, in my posts this would be the time where I make a nicely reasoned discussion of the negatives and positives of the latest action. I can't. I'm apoplectic - consumed with rage beyond rational thought.Citigroup is eponymous for the sort of financial bullshit that sank all of us - the entire fucking global economy - into what is increasingly likely to be a decade - (or decades -) long period of abject misery. I. Cannot. Even. Start.In 1998, the formation of Citigroup unilaterally ended the Depression-era Glass-Steagall act. That's right, this fucking financial monstrosity simply decided a cornerstone of American financial regulation shouldn't exist, and acted accordingly.The lawmakers - led by professional Republican asshole Phil Gramm, triangularization expert Rubin and President Clinton - moved out the way.It took a decade for the repeal of these protections to crater the economy.And now they want a bailout. The same fucking management team, the same collection of self-important idiots.Let me tell you something. I could pick 20 random people off the street, hand them a billion dollars each, and I'd be confident they'd create a better bank than these shitheads.
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  360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 1:14pm EST by Join_Or_DIE

  Matthew McDermott, treehugger: Say what you like about Wal-Mart (and I certainly have said some less than flattering things), but sometimes the world's largest retailer does something undeniably positive: Like make its first major purchase of wind power in the United States.Wal-Mart Stores will be supplying 15% of the electricity in approximately 360 Texas stores and other facilities though wind power, purchased from Duke Energy. Wal-Mart says that the purchase will be the equivalent power of some 18,000 ordinary homes.While the solar panel in this photo is pretty much a token renewable energy gesture, Wal-Mart's wind power commitment is significantly more substantial.
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  The Lessons of the Weather Underground

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 1:11pm EST by TrueFalse

  The Recent notoriety of 1960's radial activist Bill Ayers has sparked renewed interest in the revolutionary group he helped found, The Weather Underground. In a recent article in the The Nation, fellow founder Mark Rudd shared his insights about the group's legacy. From The Nation: "The Weather Underground set its sights on the revolutionary overthrow of the United States government. Its members preached sacrifice of privilege and solidarity with anti-racist struggles from Vietnam to America's ghettos. As one of its leaders, Bernadine Dohrn, said, 'White youth must choose sides now. They must either fight on the side of the oppressed, or be on the side of the oppressor.' "During the 1970s, the Weather Underground staged over a dozen bombings at sites ranging from the New York police department to the Pentagon. Aside from one accidental detonation that killed three Weathermen, the group did not inflict any casualties. "Today, Rudd is unsparing in his critique of the organization he helped found. 'It was juvenile, it was less than juvenile,' Rudd said. Though the Weather Underground gained rapid notoriety for its views, the group, Rudd argues, helped pave the way for the unmaking of the student left. By discarding SDS and pursuing
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  Facebook Awarded $873 Million in Lawsuit Against Spammer

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 1:11pm EST by HAL9000

  Eric Eldon, Venture Beat: Spam marketing messages on Facebook have been getting worse over the last year as the site has grown - but maybe such spamming is about to stop. On Friday, the company won a court battle against spam perpetrator Adam Guerbuez and his front company, Atlantis Blue Capital: An $873 million award it will likely never be able to fully collect. You can download the ruling here.Ads included objectionable (if not inaccurate) material for things like "legal marijuana" and male enhancement products. Sample spam messages in the link.The civil action was filed under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM), a 2004 law that, among other things, prohibits false or misleading marketing emails. Guerbuez's messages were sent by fake or compromised Facebook accounts, using the site's messaging system - such messages are being interpreted by courts as applicable to CAN-SPAM.
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  Obama Appoints Net Neutrality Champions To Review The FCC

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 6:59am EST by JacobSloan

  Wired reports: The Obama-Biden transition team on Friday named two long-time net neutrality advocates to head up its Federal Communications Commission Review team. Susan Crawford, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and Kevin Werbach, a former FCC staffer, organizer of the annual tech conference Supernova, and a Wharton professor, will lead the team's review of the FCC. Both have been harsh critics of the Bush administration's telecom policies [and strongly signal] an entirely different approach to the incumbent-friendly telecom policymaking that's characterized most of the past eight-years at the FCC. This March at a telecom policy conference in Hollywood, for example, Crawford bluntly told Ambassador Richard Russell, the White House' associate director on science and technology policy, that he lived in a fantasyland. "We're doing very badly, and we're in a dismal state," she said of U.S. high-speed internet access. And in a final introductory statement (that's likely to send shivers down the spines of telecom company executives) she said that she believes internet access is a "utility."
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  Earth Being Bombarded By Dark Matter

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 6:58am EST by HAL9000

  Russia Today: Scientists think they may have discovered an elusive substance known as dark matter - which experts believe makes up 90 percent of the universe. It's hoped it may hold the key to how and when the universe was formed.The breakthrough was made by a high tech system above Antarctica which detected that a nearby object is pounding the earth with particles. The authors of the new study, the ‘Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter' (ATIC), believe that it could be one of two cases."In the first case, we have now seen for the first time a nearby source of cosmic rays. Nobody's seen that before," said study co-author John Wefel, a physicist at Louisiana State University.However, as remarkable as that is, scientists are hoping that it could be long awaited proof of the existence of dark matter.
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  Pundits Mocking Peter Schiff's Accurate Predictions About The Economy

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 2:43am EST by Join_Or_DIE

  Joseph Cannon: If you haven't seen this video yet, consider it a must. An absolute must.This video sequence offers a compendium of appearances (covering the 2006-2007 period) by Euro Pacific Capital President Peter Schiff, who is a frequent - and frequently disrespected - talking head on cable news shows. What astonishes is not just the accuracy of his dour predictions about the economy but the sheer arrogance of every other person appearing on these programs.I don't know who comes off as worse - the supremely snotty Ben Stein, or the well-named Arthur Laffer. I just wonder how Ben Stein feels about the financial markets as an investment now.This is an astonishing compilation of clips. It just keeps getting more outrageous as it goes along. Every time Schiff says something sensible, the pundits surrounding him snort and howl. They treat him with undisguised contempt and hatred, as though he had just called for ending the laws against homicide or reducing the age of consent to three.
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  Scientology Building Security Guard Shot And Killed Man Wielding Two Samurai Swords

  Posted: November 25th, 2008, 12:16am EST by McNA5TY

  LOS ANGELES - A security guard shot and killed a man wielding two Samurai swords Sunday on the grounds of a Scientology building in Hollywood, police said.The unidentified man approached three guards around noon in the parking lot of the Scientology Celebrity Centre, Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Terry S. Hara said.The man was "close enough to hurt them" when one of the guards shot him, Hara said. Detectives were questioning the guard to figure out the swordsman's motive and determine whether the shooting was justified.Surveillance tape showed the man arriving at the center's parking lot in a red convertible, then approaching the guards with a sword in each hand, Hara said."The evidence itself, it's very, very clear," Hara said. "The security officers were defending their safety."Detective Wendi Berndt told the Los Angeles Times the man was involved with the church a long time ago."There was a previous relationship, but it is unclear to what degree," Berndt said.Calls to Scientology spokespeople were not immediately returned Sunday.
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  Church Tells Congregation To Have Sex Every Day

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 11:27pm EST by majestic

  And on the seventh day, there was no rest for married couples. A week after the Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives among his flock of 20,000 to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex, his advice was - keep it going. Madeline and Rob Hulsey on Sunday after the weeklong sex challenge for married couples at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Tex. The evangelical church has 20,000 members. Mr. Young, an author, a television host and the pastor of the evangelical Fellowship Church, issued his call for a week of "congregational copulation" among married couples on Nov. 16, while pacing in front of a large bed. Sometimes he reclined on the paisley coverlet while flipping through a Bible, emphasizing his point that it is time for the church to put God back in the bed. "Today we're beginning this sexperiment, seven days of sex," he said, with his characteristic mix of humor, showmanship and Scripture. "How to move from whining about the economy to whoopee!"
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  Guess Who's Getting Bailed Out Now? Citigroup Gets $20 Billion

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 11:27pm EST by ralph

  Greg Farrell, Financial Times: The US government rode to the rescue of Citigroup late Sunday, entering an agreement to backstop up to $306bn in problematic assets and injecting $20bn in capital to restore confidence in a bank that defines the term "too big to fail."The 11th-hour transaction, announced just before midnight on Sunday, calls for Citi to absorb the first $29bn in losses it sustains from problematic assets, and for the federal government to stand behind as much as $277bn more.The arrangement also provides for the injection of $20bn in new capital to Citi, in return for which the bank will issue preferred shares to the government, paying dividends at a rate of 8 per cent annually.
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  The Pink Sari Gang: India's Vigilante Women

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 9:48pm EST by TrueFalse

  In India, a group of women dressed in pink saris are taking the law into their own hands. The female gang was established to force the government and police to clean up their acts. The women also carrying pink sticks called Lathis, and while the sticks are supposed to be for self defense, the Pink Saree Gang sometimes uses them in anger.Listen to the NPR News story HERE.The several hundred vigilante women of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state's Banda area proudly call themselves the "gulabi gang" (pink gang), striking fear in the hearts of wrongdoers and earning the grudging respect of officials.The pink women of Banda shun political parties and NGOs because, in the words of their feisty leader, Sampat Pal Devi, "they are always looking for kickbacks when they offer to fund us".Read the BBC News story HERE.
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  Jim Marrs On 'Coast To Coast AM' Tonight: Nov. 24 at 10 PM PST

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 5:02pm EST by god

  Hey everyone, just a heads up that Jim Marrs will be on Coast To Coast AM tonight (Nov. 24, 2008) at 10 PM PST discussing his new book ABOVE TOP SECRET with host George Noory.Jim is always fascinating - highly recommended late night listening!To find your local Coast to Coast AM affiliate in the U.S. and Canada, click here. Coast to Coast AM is also on Sirius XM Channel 165 and has an internet cast.
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  What's New With The Glue Society

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 3:58pm EST by SpaceNeedle

  Hi-Fructose: Our Australian friends The Glue Society, a group of artists, designers and projecteers, have created these amazing series of sculptures and films where they've created chair rainbows on the frozen tundra, a curb-side wrap party, gratuitous nudie pictures for airplanes passing by, a house of crates, and a blow-up doll's vacation paradise.The Glue Society's past projects include a very chilling series of "God's Eye View" Google Earth's shots of classic biblical scenes (scroll and see down below) and their "Hot With the Chance of Late Storm" melting ice cream truck which we're featuring in the upcoming Hi-fructose Collected Edition. See The Glue Society's new videos with the beautiful photos by Derek Henderson and much more in the link.
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  Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 2:54pm EST by ralph

  CNBC.com: Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial crisis, the average taxpayer, never mind member of Congress, might not be faulted for losing track. CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved.Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's $4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources.Not only is it a astronomical amount of money, its' a complicated cocktail of budgeted dollars, actual spending, guarantees, loans, swaps and other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other offices of government taken over roughly the last year, based on government data and news releases.Some 68-percent of the sum falls under the Federal Reserve's umbrella, while another 16 percent is the under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, as defined under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, signed into law in early October. (The TARP alone is bigger than virtually any other US government endeavor dating back to the Louisiana Purchase. See slideshow.)
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  Dalai Lama Unleashes Revolutionary New Reincarnation Techniques

  Posted: November 24th, 2008, 10:30am EST by kultra

  Deciding that they should be the ones to appoint all future Lamas, in an attempt to gain the upper hand in the mindspace of the people of Tibet in their struggle against them for independence, the Chinese government recently enacted a law giving themselves full authority over all reincarnations. Well played China. Well played. But the Dalai Lama knows how to play the game as well.
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  U.S. Teen Lives 118 Days Without Heart

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 10:24pm EST by ralph

  MIAMI (Reuters): An American teenager survived for nearly four months without a heart, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said on Wednesday.The doctors said they knew of another case in which an adult had been kept alive in Germany for nine months without a heart but said they believed this was the first time a child had survived in this manner for so long.The patient, D'Zhana Simmons of South Carolina, said the experience of living for so long with a machine pumping her blood was "scary.""You never knew when it would malfunction," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, at a news conference at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center."It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here," she said of living without a heart.
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  General Motors' Scary Video

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 5:02pm EST by majestic
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  Attend Oxford University For Free

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 5:02pm EST by majestic

  Oxford University's podcast series allows you to audit courses at the English-speaking world's oldest university - free of charge, and from afar.Learn about quantum nanotechnology while riding the subway. Study Milton in the Laundromat. And hear the creation story as it's described in the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran. You can also hear American economist Joseph Stiglitz's recent talk on the credit crunch (it's the top-ranked podcast at iTunes) and tag along with Michael Palin (Oxford '65, Monty Python '83) as he gives you a video tour of the university and its Bodleian Library (it's home to 9 million items, including four Magna Cartas). Oxford has launched the careers of countless movers and shakers - including 25 prime ministers. Here's your chance to join their ranks!Oxford podcasts
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  IBM To Build Brain-Like Computers

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 3:02pm EST by HAL9000

  Jason Palmer, BBC News: IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.Part of a field called "cognitive computing", the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists. As a first step in its research the project has been granted $4.9m (£3.27m) from US defence agency Darpa.The resulting technology could be used for large-scale data analysis, decision making or even image recognition. "The mind has an amazing ability to integrate ambiguous information across the senses, and it can effortlessly create the categories of time, space, object, and interrelationship from the sensory data," says Dharmendra Modha, the IBM scientist who is heading the collaboration."There are no computers that can even remotely approach the remarkable feats the mind performs," he said. "The key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and behaviour of the brain."
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  Brain Worms. Yep, Brain Worms.

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 3:02pm EST by disinfogreg
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  The IFC Media Project: Revealing The Truth Behind The News

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 12:09am EST by ralph

  This new IFC original series, produced by Meghan O'Hara (Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko) and Nick McKinney (The Daily Show and Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days, reveals the truth behind the news. The thought-provoking series examines the current state of investigative journalism and how it affects our perceptions of the world around us. The first episode tackles the third rail of American journalism — the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
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  Files Show Maryland Police Watched Variety of Activists

  Posted: November 23rd, 2008, 12:08am EST by ouranos

  BALTIMORE, MD: Surveillanc