Thursday, 18 August 2011

♪♫ Fried Dähn - Cuento

One of germanys leading artists on the electric cello.
camera: hanna smitmans. recorded summer 2009.
www.friedstyle.com

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

What laws did BART break or bend on August 11th when they cut cell service?

On August 11th, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority shut off cell service at multiple underground stations to disrupt a planned protest. This tactic has become common in totalitarian regimes like Syria, Tunisia, Iran & Egypt, but until last Thursday it has never been used in the United States. BART’s police Lieut. Andy Alkire called their action a “great tool to utilize.” Swift condemnation from groups like ‘No Justice, No BART‘, the ACLU and the EFF rained down.
There is no precedent for communication disruption by a government transportation authority in U.S. history, but it’s certain that laws were broken. Specifically, the California & U.S. Constitution, and the Communications Act of 1934 which is enforced by the FCC. For a good overview of the issues and recent news (especially regarding the protest on Monday Aug 15th which shut down all downtown BART stations), there’s an excellent overview at SFAppeal.
During an interview on CNN with Brooke Baldwin, Linton Johnson (Chief of Communications for BART) referred to cell service as an “amenity” and returned time and time again to an invented “Constitutional right to safety” or the right to get from “point A to point B”, both of which do not exist:

“They made us choose between people’s ability to use their mobile phones. An amenity that we provide–and our customer’s constitutional right to be able to get from point a to point b which is what we’re in business for…. [People made us] take the very tool that we put in place … the mobile phone as a safety tool.. to turn it around and use it against our customers to try to violate their constitutional right to safety...”

Continue reading

Daniel @'MONEYDICK'

The (Continuing) Adventures of the Manly Men

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have gone on a joint fishing trip to the country's most beloved river -- the Volga. The politicians headed for the southwestern city of Astrakhan on Tuesday to relax, do some fishing and even try their hand at underwater hunting. After a short speed-boat trip, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin took the covers off their spinning rods and the president was lucky enough to pull a mid-sized pike out of the Volga depths. Dmitry Medvedev put his well-known photography skills to the test during an underwater photo shoot using a special camera. It is not the first time the two have spent quality time together. They have already shared the pleasures of mountain-skiing and bicycle rides, and played badminton while at home in Moscow. The tandem's vacation on the Volga River has showcased both leaders' support for free fishing in Russia, and their willingness to safeguard this traditional activity for all of Russia's citizens.

8 Hours in Brooklyn

All footage was shot within an 8 hour span in Brooklyn, NYC
Check out our blog for more info:
nextlevelpictures.com/blog/2011/8/11/8-hours-in-brooklyn-w-the-phantom-flex.html
Shot on Rule Boston Camera's Phantom Flex camera.
Director/Cinematographer: Jonathan Bregel
Color Grade: Khalid Mohtaseb
Production NGAFers: Dan Selby, Jesse Korman, Chris Dowsett
Executive Producer: James Douglas
Production Company: Next Level Pictures
Song used: Skream - Where You Should Be
Via

The Politics of Desire and Looting

HA!

YES!!!

£3 Million To Launch A Pop Act? Has The Industry Lost Its Mind?

Why CCTV has failed to deter criminals

gypsylantern Stephen Grasso

Talk at Treadwells tonight on London psychogeography. Feds can't stop it. Tell all badman. No snitchboys.

'Every touch leaves a trace': how Google helped track bomb hoax suspect

The American Dream: R. Buckminster Fuller, William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg (9th February 1976)

On '9 in the Morning' WTOP-TV, Washington, D.C.

21 Reasons Rick Perry's Texas Is a Complete Disaster

♪♫ Deeder Zaman - Brothers & Sisters (IR25 Dubversive Mix)

Remembering Galdino In Ethiopia

Love the remixed 't' shirt too...
Via

CIA told Kennedy in 1960 that Cuba invasion plan was 'unachievable'

This week, in response to a FOIA request from the National Security Archives project at George Washington University, the CIA released most of its top-secret internal history of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. The 1200 page history was written between 1974 and 1984 by Jack Pfeiffer, who later became the agency's official historian. Four of the five volumes have now been posted on the NSA's website. A fifth volume, which critique's the Agency's own internal review of the incident is still classified.
The released documents contain a number of interesting revelations including a friendly-fire incident during which one of the CIA transport boat shot at one of the invasion force's own planes. Most interesting for presidential historians may be the minutes of a briefing given to President-Elect Kennedy on Nov. 15, 1960, during which the CIA task force expressed skepticism about whether the mission was viable with the small invasion force that the administration insisted upon, in order to maintain plausible deniability. They wrote:

Our [CIA's] original concept is now seen to be unachievable in the face of the controls Castro has institutued. There will not be the internal unrest earlier believed possible, nor will the defenses permit the type strike first planned. Our second concept (1,500-3,000 man force to secure a beach with airstrip) is also now seen to be unachievable, except as a joing Agency/DOD action. Our Guatemala experience demonstrates we cannot staff nor otherwise timely create the base and lift needed.

Reviewing the (still-classified) minutes decades later, Pfeffer wrote:

How, if in mid-November 1960 the concept of the 1,500-3,000 man force to secure a beachhead with an airstrip was envisioned by the senior personnel ... as "unachievable" except as a joint CIA/DOD effort, did it become "achievable" in March 1961 with only 1,200 men and as an Agency operation?

Good question, and perhaps some more ammunition for Tom Ricks' contention that Kennedy was "the worst American president of the previous century."
Joshua Keating @'FP'

Chain Reaction w/ Peter Hook & John Cooper Clarke

Chain Reaction is Radio 4's tag-team interview show. Each week, a figure from the world of entertainment chooses another to interview; the next week, the interviewee turns interviewer, and they in turn pass the baton on to someone else - creating a 'chain' throughout the series.
After Rhys Thomas interviewed Simon Day, Simon interviewed the musician and author Peter Hook. This week, Peter interviews a fellow Salfordian, the punk poet laureate John Cooper Clarke. Coming to prominence during the punk years of the late 70s, Clarke would appear on the bill with The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, and Peter's own Joy Division - and Peter's next band, New Order, would support John on a tour of New Zealand and Australia. The interview takes in their shared Salford heritage, doing adverts in the 1980s, and John's recent appearance on the GCSE English syllabus.
Download/Listen @'BBC'