Ahh, where was it that I read "those who fail to remember the failures of the past are doomed to repeat them"? - This is most interesting, disturbing, and enlightening - just a traveler
The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.
It all started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack.
But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted.
He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones.
Nonetheless, he knew the terrorist was going to strike (although he didn't know where or when), and he had already considered his response. When an aide brought him word that the nation's most prestigious building was ablaze, he verified it was the terrorist who had struck and then rushed to the scene and called a press conference.
"You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion.
Two weeks later, the first detention center for terrorists was built in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the leader's flag was everywhere, even printed large in newspapers suitable for window display.
Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation's now-popular leader had pushed through legislation - in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it - that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people's homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.
Immediately after passage of the anti-terrorism act, his federal police agencies stepped up their program of arresting suspicious persons and holding them without access to lawyers or courts. In the first year only a few hundred were interred, and those who objected were largely ignored by the mainstream press, which was afraid to offend and thus lose access to a leader with such high popularity ratings.
Within the first months after that terrorist attack, at the suggestion of a political advisor, he brought a formerly obscure word into common usage.
He wanted to stir a "racial pride" among his countrymen, so, instead of referring to the nation by its name, he began to refer to it as "The Homeland," a phrase publicly promoted in the introduction to a 1934 speech recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's famous propaganda movie "Triumph Of The Will."
As hoped, people's hearts swelled with pride, and the beginning of an us-versus-them mentality was sewn.
Our land was "the" homeland, citizens thought: all others were simply foreign lands. We are the "true people," he suggested, the only ones worthy of our nation's concern; if bombs fall on others, or human rights are violated in other nations and it makes our lives better, it's of little concern to us.
Read the full article by Thom Hartmann
When Democracy Failed - The Warnings of History
http://www.thomhartmann.com/democracyfailed.shtml
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
When Democracy Failed - Warnings of History
Kick Boxing Geishas
Veronica Chambers' Kickboxing Geishas does an admirable job to change that. Based on dozens of interviews with Japanese women, she presents a layered, contradictory picture of a rapidly shifting social landscape in which women play a central and catalytic role.
"Even in 2000, in most Japanese companies it was still 1974," Chambers writes. Indeed, even in 2007, foreign investment banks and other multinationals aggressively hire the qualified and talented women who still struggle to find their place in corporate Japan.
Only 4% of Japanese women occupy managerial posts, against 25% in the US. Given these career prospects, it is hardly surprising that, when Chambers visits a classroom of eight-year-old girls and asks them what they want to be when they grow up, they uniformly reply "housewife" - the Japanese woman's job-for-life of choice, or necessity.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Plastic Turned Back Into Oil
You did now that plastic was made from oil? - just a traveler
All that is needed, claims Global Resource Corporation (GRC), is a finely tuned microwave and, presto! – a mix of materials that were made from oil can be reduced back to oil and combustible gas (and a few leftovers).
Key to GRC’s process is a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials.
As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas.
Read more
TV Blackout 2009
When Feb 18, 2009 comes around, millions of TV's in some homes across America will not be broadcasting anything.
This is the date that America will finally switch over to the digital transition.
The Association for PublicTelevision Stations conducted a poll back in January, and found that 61% of the people they polled had no idea this digital transition is going to take place.
The government has also committed $1.5 billion for viewers to spend on converter boxes that will translate digital signals on older TV's.
Anyone who has digital reception knows the picture is sharper, along with the sound being better. But that's not the reason the broadcasting industry and the government has in mind - they simply want to make better use of the airways.
TV Stations and the government both want to free up some "prime space" in the "electromagnetic spectrum" which will be auctioned for other uses - their words, not mine.
After the first of the year the plan is to give each household two coupons worth $40 each, and the coupons will be used to buy two converter boxes. Congress has already set aside $1.5 billion to pay for the coupon converter box program.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Caribbean's YouTube
Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame on film, well - now it's more like - 15 minutes of fame on the internet. And like YouTube and other sites here in the U.S., the Caribbean has its very own site to watch videos, upload, and share around the world.
And now, there's http://www.watchmi.com/, and the Trini's had to have their own domain name (http://www.watchmeh.com/). WatchMi is the Caribbean's very own video-sharing site to watch videos, or upload and share videos privately with friends or publicly with the world.
The home of reggae and soca, reggaeton and chutney should indeed have its own face, feel and force in video-sharing cyber space. And of course, WatchMi is totally FREE.
I headed over to the site today and downloaded several videos from Beres Hammond (Rockaway and What About Joy), and , and River Run Red by Richie Spice.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Trinidad Carnival
Awesome costume! - just a traveler
The Wrath of Tutankhamun (Curtis Eustace), King of Carnival, competing at the Jean Pierre Complex on Dimanche Gras night - Photography by Mark Lyndersay
For two days every February, hundreds of thousands of people flock to the streets of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago’s capital, as well as San Fernando, the other city in Trinidad, and towns all over both islands.
They come to look at costumed masqueraders dancing to the sounds of calypso and pan. The calypso is driving; the pan heartbreakingly sweet. The parade of costumes is stunning, with designs inspired by fantasy, history, contemporary politics, art and whatever else strikes the fancy of the mas designers.
But when Carnival is over, pieces of costumes litter the streets.
Masqueraders literally strip themselves once the band has passed the judging points, where adjudicators examine the flow of bands that can be tens of thousands strong, an endless stream of colourful cloth, sequins, glitter, plumes and plastic.
Having been seen, the mas players get down to the real work of the day: drinking, dancing and losing themselves in the thing that cannot be contained in words or images, the spirit of Carnival.
When Carnival's over, how do Trinidadians preserve all the elements that make their festival the Greatest Show on Earth? Lisa Allen-Agostini goes in search of answers
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Rihanna's Banking on Totes
Rihanna's latest hit "Umbrella" has been on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts for 15 weeks.
And it didn't take a marketing genius to figure out what the new emdorsement would be - Umbrella's
Totes, a British company has partnered with the Barbadian singer to develop a line of five new products.
The slim umbrella bearing her name is $14.99, and the heavy duty version is selling for $50.
Rihanna's other endorsements include Reebok, Clinique, Secret deodorant, and CoverGirl Cosmetics.
Work it! Ella, Ella, Ella... Eh, Eh, Eh!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Impoverished Culture in America
"The loss of recognition for artists, thinkers and scientists has impoverished our culture in innumerable ways, but let me mention one.
When virtually all of a culture's celebrated figures are in sports or entertainment, how few possible role models we offer the young.
There are so many other ways to lead a successful and meaningful life that are not denominated by money or fame.
Adult life begins in a child's imagination, and we've relinquished that imagination to the marketplace."
Dana Gioia - Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. This quote is from his June 17, 2007 commencement address at Stanford University.
Harry Potter Fans Find Pages Missing!
Is the world gonna end or what!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has missing pages.
The book's publisher says a few hundred of the 12 million books that we sold have 32 pages missing - and die hard fans are rushing back to the stores to exchange them.
But some Potter fans look at the misprint of the final edition as valuable, and stashing them away, only to go buy another copy.
Others are opting to sell the missing pages books. Just this morning, several copies of the misprinted books were on eBay with opening bids starting at $30.00.
The list price for the book was $34.99, and many fans didn't pay that much since retailers offered discounts of 40% or more.
Monday, July 23, 2007
We Got to Do Better from Hot Ghetto Mess
THE NAME CHANGE:
It's not a Hot Ghetto Mess no more - even though the shows content remains the same - the show will now be called "We Got To Do Better".
THE SPIN:
"We've decided to change the name because we want to highlight the shows real intent, which is to offer social commentary in a context that sparks dialogue, debate, and most importantly, change," BET said in a statement.
The rep for the shows host, Charlie Murphy contends that the name change had nothing to do with the controversy.
whataboutyourdaughters was described as a "little known" blog, whose owner, readers and fellow bloggers campaign against the show were of little importance.
THE REALITY:
The truth is BET was forced to deal with the efforts of Gina McCauley, an Austin lawyer - and blogger's successful campaign against the show's advertisers. Two corporate sponsors dropped their campaign after being contacted by McCauley.
McCauley launched a successful online campaign that brought Black bloggers around the nation rallying against BET and corporate advertisers. And just this week a third party had to be called in to reach an agreement between BET and McCauley. So much for "little known".
With a new "positive" name change for a show set to air in just days, I bet this has BET figuring out how to make a "hot mess better" real quick. One things for sure, when July 25th comes around, people will be watching - some more closely than others - just a traveler
What other bloggers are saying:
get your mind right blog says
But, I believe it was Shakespeare who wrote, "a rose by any other name, would smell as sweet". I happen to believe the same statement applies to CRAP, and by CRAP I mean THIS SHOW. The producers of this show, just like most of the shows on BET, only care about ratings and money, not about social responsibility. It doesn't matter to me that BET is "White Owned" now because when it was "Black Owned" you had the same socially irresponsible programming.
The Electronic Village Blog says the name change does the following:
It removes the direct and obvious connection to the pornographic website upon which the show is based.
It removes the denigrating reference ('Hot Ghetto Mess') that would be inevitably tied to the African American community.
It removes the irritating HGM logo from the network.
Most importantly, it demonstrates again the power of Black bloggers if we are strategic and direct in our approach.
Previous Posting on HGM
Who Is Norman Borlaug?
He's just a man who has helped to save the lives of ONE BILLION PEOPLE around the globe!
But last week there was little to no coverage of the fact he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
According to Wikipedia - he's an American agricultural scientist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution.
He doesn't like the current agricultural policy. He calls the farm bill "ridiculous corporate welfare payments" which are paid to a small number of wealthy and absentee farmers.
The farm bill pays more than $1 million a year to each farmer for food that are making children obese.
Did you ever wonder why junk food is cheaper than nutritious food? Because it's taxpayer-funded!
Did you know that? We're being taxed by fat, paying to buy food, and then paying some more to lose it!
Read full article at MSNBC
Don't Judge a Book by its Cover
We have a habit of pre-judging people by the way they look, and how they dress, but in doing so it only puts our character in question - read on . . . just a traveler
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.
The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard & probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.
"We'd like to see the president," the man said softly.
"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied.
For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.
"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him!
He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't touched. He was shocked. "Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it cost to start a university? Why don't we just start our own? "
Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.
Mr & Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.
A True Story By Malcolm Forbes
Condoleezza Can't Get Published
Condi Rice and the CEO of Cisco Systems co-authored an opinion piece about Lebanon a few months ago which discussed how public/private partnerships could be of use in rebuilding Lebanon after last summer's war.
Why is this news? - No one would publish it!
Every major newspaper including the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times refused an opinion piece by the Secretary of State!
The State Department's public relations department even tried a foreign publication -the Financial Times of London, but they also turned it down.
And in a last ditch effort, the State Department even considered translating the article into Arabic, and contacted a Lebanese paper, but again the answer was no. And the article was about rebuilding Lebanon!
Why wouldn't anyone publish this article?
The newspaper editors all basically said the same thing - there was no news in the article - just "glowing references" to President Bush's wise leadership", which read like a campaign speech.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Is The Ghetto Mess Too Hot for BET?
BET (Black Entertainment Network) has disabled the link on their site to their new show, (HGM) Hot Ghetto Mess.
Evidently the nation and worldwide campaign among Black bloggers is working. AT&T, Chrysler, Home Depot, State Farm Insurance, and Target were among the corporate sponsors.
Home Depot and State Farm dropped their sponsorship after the bad publicity erupted.
Will the show still air? If so will Chrysler and Target sponsor the show?
To be continued . . .
see previous posting
White German Kids in Black Face
The ad says, "I'm waiting for my last day in school, the children in Africa still for their first one."
UNICEF ads in Germany feature White German Kids in Black Face - and that appeals to who?
Evidently not some European citizens and global bloggers who contacted UNICEF, and now the ad campaign has stopped.
What's UNICEF's response? Before publishing the ad, we had carefully discussed possible misinterpretations and the agency had also tested public reaction in a survey in Germany, without receiving negative comments. Neither did we receive any negative reaction from the German public after publication.
Source: Black Women In Europe
Walls Made from Water
Next year the World Expo opens in Zaragoza, Spain and one of the most interesting attractions is sure to be a 5,400 sq ft "Digital Water Pavilion" building with walls made from water.
Over 6 million people are expected to attend the Expo during June 14 - Sept 14, 2008.
The water will come from thousands of jets than can be switched on and off - in fact the building will also be able to vanish right before your eyes, since the roof can be lowered all the way to the ground.
Images and text can be made to scroll in the water walls, and the sensors can shape the water flow to make a door appear anywhere in the wall, and once you walk through the door will close.
The Digital Water Pavilion will feature an exhibition area, café and various public spaces—all enclosed within curtains of recycled water.
Architects from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed the concept of "walls of water", and the estimated cost is $3 million.
Check it out on YouTube
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Poison Fema Trailers
FEMA suppressed the warnings from its own field workers about hundreds of health problems experienced by hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees living in trailers provided by the government.
What they means in plain language is that FEMA lies, but that's nothing new.
E-mails obtained by investigators clearly show that FEMA's lawyers rejected a proposal for systematic testing of the levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde gas in the trailers.
What that means is that FEMA did not want to be liable when the truth finally came out
Formaldehyde is used as a wood preservative in construction materials. Formaldehyde is on the particle boards under the bedding that the men, women and children sleep on every night. The physical effects of being exposed to formaldehyde causes vision and respiratory problems. And long term exposure has been linked to cancer and higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children.
These people have been in these trailers long term, FEMA knew this would happen, so now add evil, and murder to the lies.
This week some of the trailer residents testified before an investigative panel in Washington and they described frequent nosebleeds, respiratory problems and mysterious mouth and nasal tumors. They also said that their pediatricians and veterinarians had warned that their children and pets might be experiencing formaldehyde-related symptoms.
After two deaths were reported FEMA made a decision to test just one trailer - no more trailers were tested - and this is despite the fact that FEMA knew formaldehyde poisoning was the possible cause of the two trailer residents deaths. FEMA said that after testing one trailer, no high levels were found, so no need to test more.
More lies - this one trailer tested was where one of the victims died.
When it came time for FEMA to respond at the hearings this week, here's what the director said . . .
FEMA Director David Paulison apologized and said "in hindsight" that FEMA should have tested trailers earlier. "The health and safety of residents is my primary concern," he said. But he depicted the 200 or so complaints as voiced by a small fraction of the total number of families in trailers, and said more research is needed to determine why some trailer residents have become sickened, and what level of formaldehyde is unsafe in homes.
There needs to be a special place in Hell for this man, and many others in this Administration.
Americans should be up in arms about this, but we continue to go on with our lives. Katrina is just old, sad news. In fact Hurricane Rita is forgotten news - but remember the people displaced by Rita are still living in these poison trailers too.
Many Americans have short memories and are just "stuck on stupid".
Call yourself stupid if you think this government will come to your aid in your darkest hour. The victims of Katrina and Rita know the truth, the whole World saw it all on TV and they know it too.
It's stupid Americans who don't understand that their own government lies constantly, and cannot be counted on in an emergency. It's stupid Americans who continue to elect these liers, and pay their salaries. As for the 30% of Americans that continue to support this government, I'll leave it up to you to decide what they are.
Disasters will happen again, and when the next one comes, you better have a plan.
The World Clock and More!
See the world change before your eyes
The World Population, Births, Population Growth,US Illegal Immigration, US Divorces, Abortions, HIV Infections, Cancer Incidence, Earth's Temperature, Species Extinct, Forest Lost, Cars Produced, Bicycles Produced, and Computers Produced.
And it's pretty awesome to see how fast the figures change on the number of barrels of Oil Produced.
Stop by the "World Clock" and see for yourself - Then point your browser to poodwaddle The World Clock
Thought of the Day
We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing.
With just a little witty skepticism we can kill a good deal of the future in a young person. Life is waiting everywhere, the future is flowering everywhere, but we only see a small part of it and step on much of it with our feet."
Hermann Hesse, German poet and novelist
Dave Chappelle at 1600 Pennsylvania
CNN's White House Correspondent Ed Henry says one of the best parts of the White House beat is that you just never know who’s going to show up at those black iron gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And low and behold, who was at 1600 Penn other than Dave Chappelle.
Last media reports said that Dave was in the hospital in San Francisco, but he's out and was standing in front of the White House gates when Ed took the opportunity to meet, and write about meeting him. Well Ed is a reporter, and it must have been a slow news day at the White House.
Ed says, "Chappelle looked healthy in a pair of black athletic pants and matching polo shirt. But there was a solitary cigarette with a lighter cupped delicately in his left hand as he walked casually, politely stopping at one point so that he did not step in the way of a tourist snapping a photo of her family in front of the North Portico of the White House."
Read Dave Chappelle - Next White House Press Secretary
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Hot Ghetto Mess
I got a lot of e-mail, especially from friends and family about the posting on "What About Our Daughters"
It was late in the morning when I ran across "what about our daughters" website, and after reading all about BET's plans to air their new show "Hot Ghetto Mess", it made me so tired that all I could do was add the pic (which some people did not get), and link to the site, and go to bed.
By the way, I've posted the picture again with this posting, and hopefully some of you will understand its meaning - I'm talking to my family Okay?
On to the Hot Ghetto Mess website - where BET got the idea for the new show.
The site is run by Jam Donaldson, a Black female attorney, and she says "my mission with this site is to usher in a new era of self-examination. And because I am proud member of the black community, they are my priority.
However, those of other races take note and if the shoe fits wear it. I think it is time that the black community or (insert your race here) needs to take a good look at itself in the mirror and each of us ask ourselves why are our communities are going to hell."
And what does this Black female attorney showcase on her website?
Hot Ghetto Mess of the Month pics, Women, Children and Babies - some poses are nothing but soft porn, Playboys, Queens, and she had also added a White Token of the Month - don't accuse her of ghetto discrimination. And where do all these images come from? Website readers and subscribers of course! And who would they be? Ghetto!!!!
The way I see it that those who send in "hot ghetto mess" videos to the site are just the type of people that the site claims to want to change - and these people will see it as an "opportunity" to be featured on her site - kind of like "a fifteen minutes of de-fame" thing.
Another group that will return again and again to this site are those that want to see soft porn pics of women and children, and those people would be called what? Maybe Sex Offenders - you think?
And then there are those who just love too see a "train wreck", which has become one of America's favorite pastimes. And last but not least, there are those who just love to see a reinforcement of historic Black stereotypes - Remember Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" movie?
After viewing some of the site, Hot Ghetto Mess is not just showing Blacks at their worst, White women and babies also have their ghetto mess opportunities to be showcased. Babies and small children are shown on the site in very questionable poses - one baby with a gun in his mouth, another with a liquor bottle in the mouth. These parents should have a visit from Child Protective Services, and their day in court - and not be showcased on an attorney's website - has her State Bar seen this site?
But, then there is a website heading called NOT GHETTO - and singer/song writer Alicia Keys is featured
Jam Donaldson says - "Now, I know what you’re thinking….Alicia Keys? Although a gorgeous woman, she looks a mess more often than not, her stylist should be fired , and frankly she talks like an ex-boyfriend of mine from Brooklyn. HOWEVER, this is not about style. At least not physical style. Alicia Keys has demonstrated what more artists need to do with their talent, money and exposure - try to help somebody."
Alicia looking a mess - PLEASE! Give me a break - Alicia is beautiful, and there is NOTHING wrong with her hair. And not about "style", Alicia has got it going on, and has plenty of style. We all know those sistas that hate on people, then cover it up with adding a little something good. Yeah, I got your number Jam.
In fact in my opinion, that's what this whole site is about. The appearance of a so called lofty mission, while showing the worst as prime examples. And let's not forget that BET's show is based on her website, so let's factor in some financial gain.
On the Note From The Editor page on Hot Ghetto Mess, there is this quote
"As long as ignorance prevails, blacks will be the tools of the exploiting class." -- Charles Hamilton Houston
BET, which stands for Black Entertainment Network, but is owned by Viacom. In using the quote from Jam's editor page, Viacom (the exploiting class) plans to make a profit, and Donaldson has provided them the very tool for them to do it with - a lot of ignorant people. So what does that say about her?
And girlfriend better make some money to cover her website bandwidth charges! My best buds are going to watch the show (I'm opting out), and let me know who the advertisers are - and I'll do a post about those advertisers in a future post.
P.S. You notice I did not put a direct link to Hot Ghetto Mess - that's on purpose! You can find it if you want it.
Just a Traveler
Backward in Time Travel Research
It can take a village to save science -
A village that so far includes a Las Vegas music mogul, Kirkland rocket scientist, Port Townsend artist, Bothell chemist, Louisiana gas-and-oil man with a place in Port Angeles and a Savannah, Ga., computer programmer.
The public has stepped forward with cash to boldly go where nobody in the mainstream scientific establishment wants to go - or, at least, to have to pay for the attempt to go.
Backward. In time, that is.
None of the standard scientific funding agencies wanted any part of the project. NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts said it was getting out of the advanced concepts business, and most of the space agency's money is going to the federal government's renewed push into manned spaceflight.
Nasa getting out of advanced concepts business - when did they announce they were in this type of business? Advanced Concepts - kind of like "consulting" - it can be whatever you want it to be, or not - Just a Traveler
The most creative branch of the military-science-industrial complex (known as DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) also rejected the proposal. Officials at DARPA say the UW physicist experiment is "too weird", but they gave money in support of a project aimed at creating Terminatorlike liquid robots.
So "Terminatorlike liquid robots" are okay, but backward in time travel is "too weird"? The terminator liquid robot thing is just too scary - what will they be used for? Just a Traveler
Read full article about Backward in Time Travel
Nicotine, the Wonder Drug
"When we can give people their medicine in a form that doesn't kill them, it will be real progress."
Wow! I ran across this article yesterday, and had to post - Just a Traveler
Smoking may be bad for you, but researchers and biotech companies are quietly developing pharmaceuticals that are decidedly good for brains, bowels, blood vessels and even immune systems - and they're inspired by tobacco's deadly active ingredient: nicotine.
Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.
Not surprisingly, the first scientific work that identified these chemicals and how they affect the body came out of nicotine research -- much of it performed by tobacco companies.
Read full article at Wired
Researchers Light Up for Nicotine, the Wonder Drug
Richard Branson Forms Band of Elders with Mandela, Carter, and Tutu
This week former South African president Nelson Mandel, along with Richard Branson and several other world figures plan to announce a private alliance to launch diplomatic assaults on problems around the globe that not being addressed, or easily solved.
The Elders alliance include retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu; Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president; the retired United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, and Mary Robinson, the human-rights activist and former president of Ireland.
The name of the group, The Elders, is named after the preeminence of elders in African village societies.
Mandela has stated that since none of The Elders hold public office allows them to work for the common good, not for outside interests.
"This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," the remarks state. "Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair."
Over the last year Branson held a series of meetings at his Caribbean base, Necker Island, at which potential members and backers were recruited to the cause and asked to contribute their own ideas.
Carter said the meetings were a tightly held secret. "Before we went I didn't know what the meeting was all about," he said. "I went because of Sir Richard. We'd talked earlier about the possibility of a biofuels plant in my town, Plains."
A spokeswoman said the group would jointly decide where to step in, based in part on the seriousness of an issue and their ability to contribute to a solution.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Harry Potter Book Release Angers Orthodox Jews
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, " the latest and last of the Harry Potter series has sparked anger from Israel's Orthodox Jews, and even the Israli trade minister.
The release date is scheduled for this coming Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath - and Israeli law requires most businesses to close. Israeli law forbids businesses to force their employees to work on the Sabbath.
Due to the demand for the new book, many bookstors are planning to open anyway, and the trade minister has threatened to fine stores that sell the Harry Potter book Saturday.
Steimatzky is Israel's biggest bookstore chain, and they are holding a gala event in Tel Aviv starting Friday night to launch the book. And the company says it has no plans to change the time, and that they are required by an agreement with the book's publisher to launch the book at the same time as everywhere else in the world.
Of course the bottom line is profits, since the bookstore has already received tens of thousands of advance orders for "Deathly Hallows" in English. The Hebrew translation is not due out until the end of this year.
iPhone Security Flaws
Apple's iPhone has a built in function that allows users to dial numbers from within its Safari web browser; a neat little function, yes, until a flaw leaves your phone open to attackers, allowing them to steal your minutes and possibly your money.
The flaw was recently discovered by Security research firm, SPI Labs, that allows Safari's access to the iPhone's functions to be exploited by attackers to perform various attacks such as tracking a users phone calls, placing calls from the victims phone without knowledge, redirecting calls placed by the user, preventing the phone from dialing, and even locking the iPhone up by putting it into an infinite loop of attempting calls.
Visit SPI Labs Blog for more info, and pass along to iPhone users . . . Just a Traveler
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Moving herdlike, kids have decided that IT jobs are excruciatingly uncool
Of course it was the coolest thing on the planet just seven years ago, when interest in computer science as an undergraduate major hit a 20-year high. The pop culture image of infotech workers flipped from dot-com billionaires in Gulfstreams to Dilbertesque drones writing code in cubicles and Third World masses working for pennies an hour.
read more | digg story
Ice cream stick (5 million of them) ship set to sail
LELYSTAD, Netherlands, July 17 (UPI) -- A Viking sailing ship, made in the Netherlands from 5 million recycled ice cream sticks with the help of 5,000 school children, is ready for the high seas.
read more | digg story
Monday, July 16, 2007
Painting with Light: Awesome
A number of graffiti artists have been tagging everything thought to be impossible without being caught. Well — it’s actually not illegal for them.
read more | digg story
Marine says officers ordered to 'crank up' violence in Iraq
A Marine corporal testifying in a court-martial said Marines in his unit began routinely beating Iraqis after officers ordered them to "crank up the violence level."a procedure called "dead-checking" was routine. If Marines entered a house where a man was wounded, instead of checking to see whether he needed medical aid, they shot him to make sure
read more | digg story
Yourminis Widgets
I'm usually in a hurry when surfing, so I grab lots of URL's that may be of interest, and when I get time I go back and take a look.
One of the sites I found was yourminis, which has lots of cool widgets to add to your blog, website, desktop or home page.
The site was buried in a bunch of URL's, and it took sometime to run across it. In the future I will start to put these kind of sites in a "widget" category, and making other sites easier to find by categorizing them too. I'm getting my act together, and my new goal is to get the "info overload" organized. What's the use in having all this info, and never getting around to viewing it?
Check out yourminis, I picked "Best Week Ever". I want a lot more mini's, but maybe I need to start a new blog, and not clog up this one - oh well, head on over to yourminis and find some widgets - Just a Traveler.
http://www.yourminis.com/
Niche Wiki - Create Your Own Outer Space
One of my classmates, who is a Treki, asked me to post about Galaxiki, Okay Troy, here is it!
I checked it out, and will pass on creating my own solar system, but hey, if it floats your boat head on over to check it out - Just a Traveler
Galaxiki is an online community based around an editable universe that’s accessible to all. It officially launched earlier this month. You can create your own solar system history, from the individual stars, to moons and planets as well.
Each item is its own wiki, and are displayed on what looks and operates like a Google map for outer space.
You can also create stories to go along with each item in order to create its history. The community part comes into play when collaborating on a solar system, maintaining a cohesive history for the solar system and attending to the known laws of nature.
MultiTasking Culture Generation
As I open my e-mail each day, I find jokes and notes from friends and family, lots of people asking me to buy stuff that I never signed up for, SPAM about sex and other bizarre things, and surprise - sometimes a friendly note from someone I never met who lives way across the ocean that read one of my blog postings.
Sometimes its hard to seperate the important stuff that I need to deal with, and either delete or ignore the things that are not really important to my day or life. And I admit that my judgement on what I need to do - or not do often changes by the day, or week - depending you know on what's important at the time. Yeah, I need to work on that.
Technology moves millions of bits of information, sights and sounds at a fast speed everyday - and I'm on it! Along with most of my friends, we live in a world of talking on the cell, text messaging/checking e-mail, meeting up with each other, shopping, surfing the net, blogging, listening to podcasts, downloading music, watching TV - all done simutaneously - thank you very much. Since I decided not to attend summer classes, I have even more time to multitask, and when college starts back up, attending class and homework will be multitasked back into the mix again.
I never gave any conscious thought about all this multitasking until one of my professors brought up the subject last semester. He said that my generation, and those even younger, have become numb to "feelings" and "just thinking" about things - like life in general. He also said we have become accustomed to having and doing everything fast - we like instant gratification. Many in the class were not paying much attention, but I remember his words.
Wikipedia says that a common way of understanding culture is to see it as consisting of four elements that are "passed on from generation to generation by learning alone": Values, Norms, Institutions, and Artifacts.
So, I started thinking about multitasking not just as unconscious behavior - but my generations culture. Culture has become an interesting word to pin down world - that's because it is being eroded in some cases, while being expanded in other areas. There's high culture, pop culture, cyber culture, and I assume that more prefixes will be added to the word to further define people and what we do. How about multitasking culture?
But, you always have to start at the very beginning to fully understand anything - and culture obviously has its roots at the beginning of time. All of our ancestors built societies, established values and norms, and the artifacts are the living testimony of who they were, what they accomplished, and what has been passed down to our current global societies.
Since the beginning of time the definition of culture was used to define people by race, class, religion and gender.
The ruling classes of the world became very adept in erasing, ignoring or stealing from other cultures, and therefore deprieving entire races of their cultural history. The history books in the U.S. have many misconceptions and lies that are clouded by race, class and gender. The "institutions" responsible for the publication will not change the U.S. history books. On TV several years ago, I actually heard one of the publishers say it would be too expensive to rewrite the books - more lies - it would be too embarassing for the U.S. to admit teaching a false history to generations.
As our modern technology continues to bring us new concepts of communication, along with the gadgets, I hope my generation does not forget that nothing is more important than physically being with another human being, being touched, being loved and having someone around who is a really good listener when you need to talk.
I hope we realize that instant gratification (we get it, forget it and want more) is not useful in creating a sustainable culture for future generations.
And most of all I hope that many in my generation can travel to different parts of the world, and truly experience other cultures. And if you can't afford to go, read about other cultures.
That's the main reason I started this blog - Just a Traveler
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Bent Objects Blog
Very interesting blog by a fellow Hoosier- that's what we call ourselves in Indiana!
He uses just about any object in very creative ways. I especially loved the MacDonald's Fries and Ketchup, the Hot Dog and Bun, and of course the pic I copied here. Go see for yourself - this guy is awesome! - Just a Traveler
Here's what Bent Objects Blogger says about himself. . .
I'm a person who laughs at the absurdities of life, which there are many. After four decades on Planet Earth, I feel I've finally found a way to bring into existance all of my crazy thoughts and ideas. It's been a struggle searching for a "language" that I can translate them into, so that others might appreciate my points of view. Yes, I know -blah,blah,blah! Enough about me already. One more thing though - I do hope you enjoy your time here. Life is short, have fun!
Delicious Food Blogs
Visited "Google Blogs of Note" - ahh to only be considered. Well maybe, someday. I love to stop by and find new noteworthy blogs, and for some reason I am especially drawn towards the food blogs.
I love to eat, but I don't do any serious cooking other than breakfast, grilled cheese, hamburgers and such. Oh I do make great nachos - individual ones that is, so every chip has the same amount of meat, cheese, taco sauce, sour cream and black olives.
But, back to why I love the food blogs. I don't ever copy any of the recipes, and have no interest in preparing the food - I JUST LOVE TO LOOK, and those pics are SOOOO COLORFUL!
Perhaps if some of you see this post and visit these blogs of food, you can actually try out the recipes. If you remember where you got these links, come back and let me know how they turned out . . . Just a Traveler
Grab Your Fork - Because Life is One Long Buffet
The BBQ Pork Pic is from this blog
http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/
Desert Blog
All over Syria and Lebanon, women are chopping parsley. The quiet rhythm of their knives, swish, swish against the cutting board, slicing bunches of verdant green leaves, part of the rhythm of the region. Tabboule is considered the national dish of Lebanon and the pride of Syrian cooks, a salad of bright green parsley flecked with tomatoes, bulgur, mint and lemon.
Part of the pride of tabboule is the labor it takes to make it, the parsley must be chopped by hand (a food processor bruises the parsley too much), and it takes a lot of chopped parsley to make even one serving of tabboule.
http://desertcandy.blogspot.com/
Tartelette
A French pastry chef on sabbatical, paired up with a fine Southern gentleman. There is always something in the cookie jar or on the stove in case you are dropping by. We love a good sugar rush and a good glass of wine. We share a common love for history, people and places...and of course food!
http://tartelette.blogspot.com/
Anne's Food
I just love food. I love reading about food, writing about food, cooking food and.. not surprisingly, eating food. I live in Stockholm, Sweden, with my husband and our five cats, and I'm 30 years old. I love reading other people's blogs too - for fun, I mostly read food blogs, but in my work, I keep track of Swedish politics and international events.
http://annesfood.blogspot.com/
Once Upon a Feast - Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories
It's all about food. Here are some of my favorite recipes, cookbooks, kitchen toys, local markets...
Lot's of yummy pasta dishes . . . - Just a Traveler
http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/
Saturday, July 14, 2007
More Research Travel Online Than Buy
Consumers are continuing to use the Internet to make their travel arrangements, but usage has declined over the past few years according to the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
Among the consumers whose online travel arrangements increased this year, ease of use and instant availability are the most important element, followed by past experience and internet promotions.
Lodging is the most researched activity while airline tickets are the most booked online.
Among those using the Internet to make travel arrangements, the ability to book airfares online garnered the highest level of satisfaction, with 48% of customers claiming they are "extremely" satisfied. The ability to make car rental arrangements online also received high marks with nearly 42% of customers saying they are extremely satisfied.
More women than men (21% versus nearly 19%) used travel websites solely to research their travel arrangements. But more men than women (34% versus 33%) researched and also booked their travel arrangements via a travel website.
In terms of satisfaction with travel websites, only 30% of consumers expressed a high level of satisfaction with these sites, although an additional 55% say they are somewhat satisfied.
Beheadings Rise in Saudi Arabia
Beheadings take place all over Saudi Arabia, usually in a square next to a mosque.
The figure for 2007 is already at least 102, including three women.
Amnesty International says some defendants are convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception.
Beheadings are carried out with the sword, with police holding back spectators making sure no one takes photos. Prisoners are usually sedated, and are made to kneel facing the victim's family. The victim's family is urged to pardon the prisoner before the beheading. Others pardon before the execution date in exchange for money, or sometimes the royal family asks the family for a pardon.
Prisoners recite verses from the Quran while a government official reads the charges and the verdict. Halfway through the reading the executioner nicks the back of the prisoner's neck with his sword, which causes them to tense and raise his head involuntarily - then, in one swift move, the prisoner is decapitated.
In a recent interview with a Saudi daily newspaper, an executioner called his job "a very ordinary profession, just like any other profession."
UNBELIEVABLE - Just a Traveler
Best Hotel in the World
The Oberoi Udaivilas luxury hotel in Udaipur has been ranked the best hotel in the world with an overall score of 94.36 in the prestigious Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2007 readers' survey, it was announced Wednesday.
To arrive at the rankings, hotels across the world were evaluated on characteristics ranging from accommodation and service to location.
It's the first time ever that a hotel in India has achieved this kind of award. Since the "world is wide" I had to post this before heading out because I had no idea where Udaipur was located, and had never heard of this hotel.
Learn something new everyday!! - Just a Traveler.
CaribFest: A splash of the Caribbean
CaribFest, anchored at Norfolk's Harbor Park, brings a splash of the Caribbean to the downtown area with a parade, entertainment, food and more.
Organizers say there are about 22,000 Caribbean Americans living in Hampton Roads and this event gives them a chance to showcase the culture of the region - a group of islands from the tip of Florida to South America that also includes the West Indies.
The affair - with ethnic dishes, dancing and music such as reggae, soca and calypso - patterns the carnivals held in the Caribbean a week before Lent, which is 40 days of fasting and contrition.
Read more about CaribFest
Talk To Me
Following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the streets of Washington DC erupted.
The scene, fiery and chaotic, similar to other cities across the US at the time, appears in Talk to Me through the eyes of Petey Greene (Don Cheadle).
Shocked by the news, he stands outside the WOL-AM office where he’s a DJ and surveys the turmoil.
Figures barely discernable run past, papers fly through smoke, windows break across the street, a car blows up. Petey pauses, then heads back inside, where he takes the mic and starts doing what he does best: he starts talking.
Read more about the film, and view a trailor at PopMatters
Ghana Harnessing Human Resources
Ghana is well known for a considerable variety of natural resources, including gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, cocoa, timber, rubber and other items, its human resources are a far more valuable resource than all of these.
In recent decades some estimated two million Ghanaians had relocated to various countries around the globe, acquiring in the process unique cutting edge knowledge in a wide range of scientific, technical, financial, business, academic and other professional fields.
If Ghana is to compete in the rapidly emerging global markets in the near future, the country needs to pay far more attention to the process of identifying external human capital assets and combine their knowledge with population residing within the country.
The view from former government officials is that Ghana and Africa have played only a marginal role (as producers of raw materials) in the Agricultural Revolution of the last millennium, which enabled most advanced countries to feed themselves.
And Ghana lost out in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, so the country can not afford to also miss out on the Information and Knowledge Revolution of the 21st century.
Source: allAfrica.com
Bridging Ethnic Gap Turks and Hip-Hop Culture
The global influence of hip-hop on the young Turkish and Turkish Cypriot generation is becoming increasingly visible on the streets of London, Cyprus and Turkey highlighting the growing relationship between hip-hop culture and diaspora communities worldwide.
ETHNIC MELTING POT OF LONDONIn Turkish nightclubs, it is now extremely common to hear the jubilant, propulsive rhythms of Turkish pop played alongside mainstream hip-hop and RNB, and hip-hop stars are clearly dictating young peoples fashion sense, the hoodie, chains, and low slung, baggy jeans being the stereotypical attire.
ALTERNATIVE IDENTITY FORMATIONSocially conscious German-Turkish rap groups in Berlin have become the spokespeople for a generation of young Turks by using hip-hop to highlight concerns about segregation, cultural prejudice and promote an anti-racist stance.
Read full article -
http://www.toplumpostasi.net/index.php/cat/9/news/10929/PageName/News_in_ENGLISH
Friday, July 13, 2007
Live Earth a Flop?
The Live Earth concert show on NBC, designed to raise public awareness about global warming, attracted some 19 million viewers at one point or another Saturday night, according to Nielsen ratings released late yesterday.
The bad news is that more than 16 million of those folks switched away from the three-hour concert that consumed the network's prime time Saturday evening.
In Britain, the BBC reported 3.1 million watched the show, which was less than a third of the 11.4 million audience for the Princess Diana concert two weeks ago.
Are Americans experiencing "green fatigue"? Are celebrities the best people to promote the issue? Do we really care?
- Just a Traveler
__________________________________________
The ratings for Live Earth, which was billed as a must-see event, were dismal.
The American broadcast drew just 2.7 million viewers, making it the least-watched U.S. program on Saturday night.
Despite its undeniable entrenchment in pop culture and media, some experts say that the current incarnation of the green movement is just another "We Are the World" moment that consumers and businesses won't be able to sustain over the long term.
Read the rest of the article at ABC News
Timeless Enchantment of Venice
As any traveler who’s been there knows, there’s simply no place in the world like Venice!
From its romantic canals to its echoing halls of art, this timeless city has an unparallelled allure. Laura & Drew, Realtravelers from Virginia, found out that even the most touristy of activities are magical in Venice:
Visit Real Travel for their story
KBR Gets $8.5 Million Contract
This stuff is just too much to stomach. . .
Wednesday the U.S. Navy gave $8.5 million to KBR (the former division of Halliburton - once headed by Dick Cheney) as payment for additional personnel services at two Iraqi oil platforms.
This new contract brings the total currently paid to KBR to $13.5 million - and get this - the TOTAL contract is worth up to $500 million, which includes a four year extension option.
I just can't understand why some of the American public don't see this for what it is - a rip off! Americans and Iraqi's are dying while others are getting rich.
When will this madness end????????
Just a traveler
Politics of the Day
From the Middle Earth Journal
The Quote of the day and the Plus both come from Larry Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics.
First the Quote of the Day:
We have heard and seen more than a few Republican leaders brighten up about their 2008 prospects by saying, "2006 was the worst of it, and 2008 will have to be better." They are dreaming.
Not only can 2008 be as bad as 2006 for the GOP, it can be a good deal worse. Something we've learned from studying the 220 years of our Republic's elections: the political party that is found whistling past the graveyard usually ends up six feet under.
And as a bonus we have a second quote of the day from Sabato: Democrats keep looking for another John F. Kennedy and the Republicans continue to search for a second Ronald Reagan; neither party will ever find its man.
Free the iPhone
I can't even afford the new iPhone, but if I could would I want to switch to AT&T?
A few of my friends have the iPhone, and it looks so cool - the reviews are somewhat mixed, but most of them just love having it. Of course being one of the first gets you lots of attention - and envy (smiles).
Back to the AT&T issue . . .
I received an e-mail today from Save the Internet, and it answered some of the issues regarding AT&T -
The slick ads for Apple's "revolutionary" new iPhone promise to "put the Internet in your pocket." But the only way to get one of these gadgets is to sign on with AT&T -- which limits what you can do and where you can go on the wireless Web.
You don't have to own an iPhone to know how this works: The big mobile phone companies lock their devices so they won't work on other networks, cripple innovative applications, stifle competition in markets and restrict access to their "preferred" content.
It doesn't have to be this way. http://www.freetheiphone.org/
Monday, July 02, 2007
Second Life - Your World, Your Imagination
As part of an exciting new collaboration, Global Kids will work with 20 students at the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria, Queens during the 2006-2007 school year, on a groundbreaking digital moviemaking project.
Students will have the unique opportunity to learn a variety of skills that will empower them to become critical thinkers, media producers, and global citizens.
Participants will create their own virtual films in a supervised, teen-only area of Second Life , a three-dimensional, interactive, animated online community.
The latest film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK54WRu0jW4
More Than One Story Out There: An Interview With Henry Rollins
When talking with Henry Rollins, anything is fair game and you better be ready to keep up. The former Black Flag frontman has made a living out of continually reinventing himself.
"I just don't think we know the whole story... and for America that is very dangerous."
The seminal hardcore rocker and sage spoken-wordist chats with PopMatters about Iraq, Iran, music and activism, and how contemporary culture profits off those who defy it.
Read full interview at PopMatters
