Friday 20 May 2011
Future Vintage 035 @ Red Light Radio 05-17-2011 (Sun Ra special for the Sun Radio Dedication Night at Toko MC May 21st)
Sun Ra - Interstellar Low-ways
Sun Ra - On Jupiter
Madvillain - Light of the Past
Sun Ra - Third Planet (live)
Alan Lomax compilation - Jesus on the Mainline
Sun Ra - Images
Mo Kolours - Drum Talking
Sun Ra - Interplanetary Music
Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty
Sun Ra - Love in Outer Space
Africa Hitech - Light the Way
Sun Ra - Somebody Elses Idea (live)
Sun Ra - On Jupiter
Madvillain - Light of the Past
Sun Ra - Third Planet (live)
Alan Lomax compilation - Jesus on the Mainline
Sun Ra - Images
Mo Kolours - Drum Talking
Sun Ra - Interplanetary Music
Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty
Sun Ra - Love in Outer Space
Africa Hitech - Light the Way
Sun Ra - Somebody Elses Idea (live)
Sonic Youth rare live tracks
Scream (Recorded Live, Rolle, Switzerland 6/83) [2:20] *
"Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile" (full version)
Performed with Mike Kelley, Live at Artist's Space, New York City, December 5, 1986 with Molly Cleator and Adam Rudolf. Recorded by C. Parkinson.
NOTES
* From Tellus #1 (1983)
@'UbuWeb'
"Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile" (full version)
Performed with Mike Kelley, Live at Artist's Space, New York City, December 5, 1986 with Molly Cleator and Adam Rudolf. Recorded by C. Parkinson.
NOTES
* From Tellus #1 (1983)
How to Read Freedom House's Censorship Circumvention Report
Freedom House released Leaping Over the Firewall last month, a report covering two angles: details about Internet censorship in Azerbaijan, Burma, China, and Iran; and the use of circumvention software in those countries to bypass Internet censorship. As government censorship of the Internet spreads worldwide, research about the technology, norms and policies determining the flow of information is going to be increasingly vital.
Leaping Over the Firewall blends a non-technical survey method with some lightweight lab testing of circumvention software. This approach is unique, but has some limitations that affect how the report should be read in order to avoid confusion.
The report isn't about how to communicate securely and safely. Internet filtering and blocking is increasingly combined with Internet surveillance, partly because tools capable of surveilling Internet traffic can help better identify what and how to block and filter. A software tool can provide circumvention but still be well-short of providing any kind of meaningful security against a government. The report does surface the complexity of making security decisions around using the Internet, but the report also makes notable misuses of "security" throughout.
Here is an example of "security" being used irresponsibly:
Tor is software that a user can run to give themselves a relatively strong guarantee of anonymity online.1 Tor's design allows it to work as circumvention software, but its value extends beyond getting access to blocked or filtered information—Tor's design is intended to give its users anonymity by taking measures to defeat network surveillance and traffic analysis.
A reader glossing over the report might see that Tor received 2 stars in security, and make the unfortunate judgment that Tor shouldn't be used on that basis. What this graphic actually means is that Freedom House's survey respondents—on a purely anecdotal, non-random sampled basis—evaluated Tor to present "operational problems" while having fewer technical support resources available.2
Everywhere else in the report, this category of poll question is called "security and support," but for some reason, in the box summary, it's inappropriately reduced to just "security." Looking at the questions, the category referred to as "security" in the boxes actually represents survey respondents' views on usability and support—essentially whether or not users had trouble using or understanding the software, and whether or not there were resources to help them understand what was wrong. Usability and support are certainly important characteristics, but describing it as "security" is a gross misnomer.
The security ratings for the circumvention tools don't appear to heavily weight crucial elements of the design of the circumvention software system as a whole—in particular, whether or not the operators of the circumvention software have tracking or data collection capabilities over users of the software, and whether or not the source code of the tool has been made available for analysis.3 One baseline factor in evaluating the security of a piece of software is whether or not the widest possible community of knowledgable technologists has had the opportunity to identify defects, from design and architecture, down to the code itself. From a computer security perspective, most (if not all) software has exploitable flaws—taking advantage of those flaws to disrupt or control a piece of technology is more or less a matter of time and resources. And so there's a general understanding that any tool whose source code hasn't been made widely available doesn't have the benefit of having allowed broad research into the ways that it could be exploited, making claims of security essentially impossible to validate.
The report features a decision-making flowchart, where the resulting recommendation of software rests upon whether or not users are seeking to receive information or upload information; and also whether or not they're interested in speed or security. But without sufficient context—details buried in the written descriptions about software—users are being encouraged to conduct a risk assessment without the broad range of knowledge that may be necessary to make a truly improved decision about which circumvention software to use, and how to use it.
A second goal is to help "tools developers to learn how their tools are perceived by the users in these countries, and what enhancement would be beneficial." In this regard, the report could be beneficial if tools developers take the anecdotal survey findings and seek additional evidence to see if there are patterns that need addressing.
Ultimately, the Leaping Over the Firewall report seems to face a difficult internal contradiction: approaching circumvention tools from a largely non-technical perspective. The blocking of Internet content by governments and the circumvention of those blocks is a deeply technical topic where the adage that "code is law and architecture is policy" are powerfully validated.
However, there is value in attempting to identify and quantify what end users of circumvention software experience, and Freedom House's general finding that users will trade security for operational speed raises a number of vital questions about exactly why that choice is being made. Under what conditions does a user switch from a slow, highly secure channel to a faster, less secure channel? And for activists, when is an appropriate time to make that decision, and when should speed be sacrificed for security? The answer to these questions will help tool developers, activists, and users understand how to continue to have free expression on the Internet even and especially when faced with censorship.
Leaping Over the Firewall blends a non-technical survey method with some lightweight lab testing of circumvention software. This approach is unique, but has some limitations that affect how the report should be read in order to avoid confusion.
What are the report's goals?
The report is about circumvention tools—software used by Internet users to get around blocking and filtering technologies set up by governments. More specifically, the report is a vehicle for two very different sets of information:- the results of non-probability sampled surveys about users of circumvention software, distributed to and collected from users in Azerbaijan, Burma, China, and Iran; and
- the results of lab-based testing of circumvention software.
Freedom House conducted this product review to help internet users in selected internet-restricted environments assess a range of circumvention tools and choose the tools that are best suited to their needs. [...] By providing this assessment, Freedom House seeks to make circumvention tools more accessible in countries where they are needed, thereby countering internet censorship. The evaluation is also useful for tools developers to learn how their tools are perceived by the users in these countries, and what enhancement would be beneficial.
What are the report's limitations?
The survey results are not representative. Note that the survey was only issued to users in four countries, and that those users were not randomly sampled. Understandably, safety and operational considerations limit the ability of researchers to conduct a more robust survey—but it also means that the findings in this report should not be treated as generally applicable. Internet censorship takes place in many countries apart from Iran, China, Azerbaijan, and Burma. China and Iran in particular are understood to have more sophisticated, aggressive Internet censorship operations than other countries. Readers must be careful to avoid over-generalizing the report's results to other countries that practice censorship of the Internet, but differ in userbase, politics, technology understanding, and more.The report isn't about how to communicate securely and safely. Internet filtering and blocking is increasingly combined with Internet surveillance, partly because tools capable of surveilling Internet traffic can help better identify what and how to block and filter. A software tool can provide circumvention but still be well-short of providing any kind of meaningful security against a government. The report does surface the complexity of making security decisions around using the Internet, but the report also makes notable misuses of "security" throughout.
Here is an example of "security" being used irresponsibly:
Tor is software that a user can run to give themselves a relatively strong guarantee of anonymity online.1 Tor's design allows it to work as circumvention software, but its value extends beyond getting access to blocked or filtered information—Tor's design is intended to give its users anonymity by taking measures to defeat network surveillance and traffic analysis.
A reader glossing over the report might see that Tor received 2 stars in security, and make the unfortunate judgment that Tor shouldn't be used on that basis. What this graphic actually means is that Freedom House's survey respondents—on a purely anecdotal, non-random sampled basis—evaluated Tor to present "operational problems" while having fewer technical support resources available.2
Everywhere else in the report, this category of poll question is called "security and support," but for some reason, in the box summary, it's inappropriately reduced to just "security." Looking at the questions, the category referred to as "security" in the boxes actually represents survey respondents' views on usability and support—essentially whether or not users had trouble using or understanding the software, and whether or not there were resources to help them understand what was wrong. Usability and support are certainly important characteristics, but describing it as "security" is a gross misnomer.
The security ratings for the circumvention tools don't appear to heavily weight crucial elements of the design of the circumvention software system as a whole—in particular, whether or not the operators of the circumvention software have tracking or data collection capabilities over users of the software, and whether or not the source code of the tool has been made available for analysis.3 One baseline factor in evaluating the security of a piece of software is whether or not the widest possible community of knowledgable technologists has had the opportunity to identify defects, from design and architecture, down to the code itself. From a computer security perspective, most (if not all) software has exploitable flaws—taking advantage of those flaws to disrupt or control a piece of technology is more or less a matter of time and resources. And so there's a general understanding that any tool whose source code hasn't been made widely available doesn't have the benefit of having allowed broad research into the ways that it could be exploited, making claims of security essentially impossible to validate.
The report features a decision-making flowchart, where the resulting recommendation of software rests upon whether or not users are seeking to receive information or upload information; and also whether or not they're interested in speed or security. But without sufficient context—details buried in the written descriptions about software—users are being encouraged to conduct a risk assessment without the broad range of knowledge that may be necessary to make a truly improved decision about which circumvention software to use, and how to use it.
What are the essential take-aways?
Does the report deliver on its stated goals? As far as helping users assess a range of circumvention tools, the report's writeups about circumvention software projects do include valuable contextual details—such as that a software project is not openly documented or described, or that the operator of the software is able to log what its users are accessing. But the reductive star ratings and the conflation of survey content with lab research content throughout cast doubt on how beneficial this report will be to end users who don't read the report in its entirety, with an eye for the few caveats that establish the report's limitations.A second goal is to help "tools developers to learn how their tools are perceived by the users in these countries, and what enhancement would be beneficial." In this regard, the report could be beneficial if tools developers take the anecdotal survey findings and seek additional evidence to see if there are patterns that need addressing.
Ultimately, the Leaping Over the Firewall report seems to face a difficult internal contradiction: approaching circumvention tools from a largely non-technical perspective. The blocking of Internet content by governments and the circumvention of those blocks is a deeply technical topic where the adage that "code is law and architecture is policy" are powerfully validated.
However, there is value in attempting to identify and quantify what end users of circumvention software experience, and Freedom House's general finding that users will trade security for operational speed raises a number of vital questions about exactly why that choice is being made. Under what conditions does a user switch from a slow, highly secure channel to a faster, less secure channel? And for activists, when is an appropriate time to make that decision, and when should speed be sacrificed for security? The answer to these questions will help tool developers, activists, and users understand how to continue to have free expression on the Internet even and especially when faced with censorship.
- 1. EFF sponsored Tor early in its development because of its explicit, sophisticated focus on Internet anonymity, which EFF considers to be central to free expression.
- 2. The poll questions chosen by Freedom House leading to the "Security" star rating were:
- Problems: How often have you encountered operational problems using the abovementioned tools?
- Solutions: When you have encountered a problem, how easy was it for you to obtain help?
- Support Validity: How frequently does the help you find come directly from the tool’s developers or the tool’s network?
- 3. The technical testing methodology has a section for "logging practises," but is not clear how this detail was represented in the relatively non-granular star rating.
John Zorn - Branded to Kill
Flipping around the channels of late-night TV in my Tokyo apartment in 1984 I came across what seemed like a B movie from the ’60s. The studio: Nikkatsu. The star: Joe Shishido. The director: Seijun Suzuki. I was not at all prepared for what I was about to see, and I remember spending much of the following hour or so riveted to the screen with my mouth open. That night changed my life and set me on a journey to explore the darker side of a culture known predominantly for its classical beauty.
What I discovered were entire genres of popular films that had never been seen outside of Japan. Hard-Boiled Noir, Nikkatsu Action, Toei Pink, Roman Porno. Far from the highly respected award-winning films on the international film circuit, these were the popular low-budget B pictures that the public thrived on. This, then, was the world of gossip columns, fan magazines, and superstars who graced the walls of Yakitori shops, nomiya (bars), and family-run businesses. This was the life and blood of Japan, neatly hidden from foreign eyes who, it was assumed, would not understand what the attraction was in the first place.
In the postwar ’50s and ’60s, Japan had its own version of the Hollywood star and studio system. Names like Tetsuya Watari, Mie Kitahara, and Akira Kobayashi may be largely unheard of in the west, but in Japan they are as famous as Bogart, Monroe, and Brando. Countless directors flourished in the studios of Daiei, Toei, and Nikkatsu as directors for hire—auteurs in their own right. By comparison, Kurosawa’s work is considered more “Western.” Here we are looking at a whole new aesthetic, where plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images. Character development is often distilled into moments. There is a quality of timelessness—The Floating World translated to the scope screen.
Of all the B studio directors, the one who perhaps most deservedly has earned the title auteur is Seijun Suzuki. Of the forty-two films Suzuki made for Nikkatsu, the final fourteen films he made between 1963 and 1967 are some of the most important, original, and Japanese films of all cinema, and of all his disturbing masterpieces, none is as powerful or unique as Branded to Kill. Each time I see it I discover something new—it’s like seeing it for the first time.
Astonishing. Exhilarating. Inspiring.
Nobody utilized Cinemascope like the Japanese (its similarity in shape to the Kabuki stage is suggested as a possible reason) and the use of the scope screen reached extravagantly delirious heights in the hands of master cinematographers like Mine Shigeyoshi and Nagatsuka Kazue, and directors like Seijun Suzuki. In Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo Nagaremono), each shot is a masterpiece of Japanese design. These traditions go back centuries, but on the scope screen they hit us afresh and right where we live.
Born in 1923 during the short-lived and quirky Taisho period in Japan, Suzuki inherited a powerful appetite for Haikara (modern style) that was tempered by his experiences in World War II. As the member of a meteorological unit, he was twice shipwrecked in the Philippines and Taiwan, and bore witness to atrocities we can only imagine. His nihilistic philosophy is quite apparent in this work—“Making things is not what counts: the power that destroys them is”—as a kind of playful irreverence that echoes the French New Wave that influenced Suzuki and his contemporaries.
Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill is a cinematic masterpiece that transcends its genre. It is about as close to traditional Yakuza pictures as Godard’s Alphaville is to science fiction. Suzuki paid a price for his brilliance, however. Fired for “incomprehensibility” after making Branded to Kill, he was unable to work in film for ten years. This film is his seminal work; a genre film from a major Japanese studio by a team of creative geniuses who made no compromises. But here the genre is merely a point of departure.
Branded To Kill
@'Criterion'
(Thanx SJX!)
What I discovered were entire genres of popular films that had never been seen outside of Japan. Hard-Boiled Noir, Nikkatsu Action, Toei Pink, Roman Porno. Far from the highly respected award-winning films on the international film circuit, these were the popular low-budget B pictures that the public thrived on. This, then, was the world of gossip columns, fan magazines, and superstars who graced the walls of Yakitori shops, nomiya (bars), and family-run businesses. This was the life and blood of Japan, neatly hidden from foreign eyes who, it was assumed, would not understand what the attraction was in the first place.
In the postwar ’50s and ’60s, Japan had its own version of the Hollywood star and studio system. Names like Tetsuya Watari, Mie Kitahara, and Akira Kobayashi may be largely unheard of in the west, but in Japan they are as famous as Bogart, Monroe, and Brando. Countless directors flourished in the studios of Daiei, Toei, and Nikkatsu as directors for hire—auteurs in their own right. By comparison, Kurosawa’s work is considered more “Western.” Here we are looking at a whole new aesthetic, where plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images. Character development is often distilled into moments. There is a quality of timelessness—The Floating World translated to the scope screen.
Of all the B studio directors, the one who perhaps most deservedly has earned the title auteur is Seijun Suzuki. Of the forty-two films Suzuki made for Nikkatsu, the final fourteen films he made between 1963 and 1967 are some of the most important, original, and Japanese films of all cinema, and of all his disturbing masterpieces, none is as powerful or unique as Branded to Kill. Each time I see it I discover something new—it’s like seeing it for the first time.
Astonishing. Exhilarating. Inspiring.
Nobody utilized Cinemascope like the Japanese (its similarity in shape to the Kabuki stage is suggested as a possible reason) and the use of the scope screen reached extravagantly delirious heights in the hands of master cinematographers like Mine Shigeyoshi and Nagatsuka Kazue, and directors like Seijun Suzuki. In Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo Nagaremono), each shot is a masterpiece of Japanese design. These traditions go back centuries, but on the scope screen they hit us afresh and right where we live.
Born in 1923 during the short-lived and quirky Taisho period in Japan, Suzuki inherited a powerful appetite for Haikara (modern style) that was tempered by his experiences in World War II. As the member of a meteorological unit, he was twice shipwrecked in the Philippines and Taiwan, and bore witness to atrocities we can only imagine. His nihilistic philosophy is quite apparent in this work—“Making things is not what counts: the power that destroys them is”—as a kind of playful irreverence that echoes the French New Wave that influenced Suzuki and his contemporaries.
Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill is a cinematic masterpiece that transcends its genre. It is about as close to traditional Yakuza pictures as Godard’s Alphaville is to science fiction. Suzuki paid a price for his brilliance, however. Fired for “incomprehensibility” after making Branded to Kill, he was unable to work in film for ten years. This film is his seminal work; a genre film from a major Japanese studio by a team of creative geniuses who made no compromises. But here the genre is merely a point of departure.
Branded To Kill
@'Criterion'
(Thanx SJX!)
Henry Rollins on WikiLeaks
Henry: If WikiLeaks is treason, then so was the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame [VP Dick Cheney called her and her husband "Fair Game" after they proved and announced to the media that Bush was lying about Saddam Hussein's WMD's] and let’s get everyone into court and get it going. If America has so many things that we are not supposed to know about, perhaps it’s time to change the way we do things. The way America conducts itself at this point only seems to lead to new conflicts. If America didn’t go to Iraq, there would be no deficit. Since the American media has been bought and paid for, some people need alternate sources to get their information.
I don’t go to CNN for news like I don’t go to a Burger King for a meal.
Max: In a time when many American's are wanting more transparency in government and to get their voices heard, what do you see as the most honorable and expedient way to get the government to listen to the will of the people?
Henry: Campaign finance reform would help. Thanks to the Citizens United case, politicians can be wholly own by corporations and really don’t have to listen to the people. If the government really listened to the people, do you think we would be in Iraq now? Do you think we would have the healthcare system we do? I think for at least the last three decades, politicians have been distancing themselves from the citizens they serve. I don’t know if that will change in our life time. I think both the left and right are part of the problem.
Toth: Aside from Campaign finance reform, how can the US public get our government to realize the importance of transparency?
Henry: I don't think it can. I think that big business, multi-national corps. have had every administration's ear from at least post-FDR to now. At the end of the day, your vote is somewhat meaningless, rioting is useless, destruction is pointless. When the SCOTUS gave corporations First Amendment rights, the writing that has been on the wall for years was set in neon. I think what needs to happen is more things like wikileaks. The curtain that protects the wizard has to be assaulted. You might not like what you get but in the end, I think we will all be the better for it.
Toth: In your opinion, what is the best means of networking for like-minded people who want change?
Henry: Internet, twitter, things like that. They are cheap, hard to stop and easy to start.
Toth: Do you boycott certain businesses, if so which ones?
Henry: I don't eat at fast food places. I don't base any opinion I have on things I learned on any network news outlets, even if it turns out to be true. I have to cross reference the information. Past that, I rely on myself to make the right decision at the time. I don't have kind of list though.
Toth: For all the rumors about "secret societies" do you believe that most of the major decisions are made by "shadow governments" and if so, how do the People out them?
Henry: I think business runs the world. Always follow the money. From all that hearts and minds crap in any country the America is "spreading Democracy" in to anywhere else. Dig down into the ground. If there's oil there, chances are, that country needs some Democracy and we're the country to drone strike them into freedom.
Toth: Do you think WikiLeaks as a whistle blower outlet and activist for "free press" is a good idea? Why?
Henry: Ultimately, yes. The America has to change its policy. It won't unless it's outed. Why should it? Corps in the America loved Mubarak, he bought their shit with your tax dollars. Great deal. Transparency means transparency. Ripples in the water upset those who are used to navigating in placidity. That is to say, there will be some lawyers involved.
Full Interview
Via
abumuqawama Andrew Exum
When GOP candidates whip up fury about Obama and Israel, their primary audience is not Jewish voters but Evangelical Christians
When GOP candidates whip up fury about Obama and Israel, their primary audience is not Jewish voters but Evangelical Christians
Internet Freedom
A Foreign Policy Imperative in the Digital Age
By Richard Fontaine and Will Rogers
(PDF)
A Foreign Policy Imperative in the Digital Age
By Richard Fontaine and Will Rogers
(PDF)
Thursday 19 May 2011
Fake security software catches out Apple owners
Hundreds of people who installed the software have turned to Apple's forums for help to remove it.
The program's tactic of peppering screens with pornographic pictures has made many keen to get rid of it.
MACDefender seems to have been successful because of the work its creators did to make it appear high up in search results.
The number of people seeking help was uncovered by ZDNet journalist Ed Bott. In a blog post, he wrote about finding more than 200 separate discussions on Apple's official forums about MACDefender.
The volume of reports about the problem was "exceptional" in his experience, he said.
The fake Mac anti-virus software, which goes by the name of both MACDefender and Mac Security, began circulating in early May and has steadily racked up victims.
Such programs, often called scareware, urge people to install software that then pretends to scan a machine for security problems. It then fabricates a list of threats it has found and asks for cash before it will fix these non-existent problems.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said the scareware's creators had turned to search engines to get the program in front of potential victims by linking it with innocuous phrases such as "Mother's Day".
"You search for something on Google Images, and when you click on an image you are taken to a webpage which serves up the attack - regardless of whether you are running Mac OS X or Windows," he said.
One trick the software uses to make people cough up cash quicker was to fire up the browser of unattended machines and call up one of several different pornographic websites.
Mr Cluley said the vast majority of malware that Sophos and other security firms see is aimed at Windows users. About 100,000 novel malicious programs for Windows are detected every day, he said.
"Although there is much less malware in existence for Mac OS X than there is for Windows, that's no reason to put your head in the sand and think that there are no Mac threats out there," he said.
@'BBC'
The Secret Sharer - Is Thomas Drake an Enemy of the State?
The government argues that Drake recklessly endangered the lives of American servicemen. “This is not an issue of benign documents,” William M. Welch II, the senior litigation counsel who is prosecuting the case, argued at a hearing in March, 2010. The N.S.A., he went on, collects “intelligence for the soldier in the field. So when individuals go out and they harm that ability, our intelligence goes dark and our soldier in the field gets harmed.”
Top officials at the Justice Department describe such leak prosecutions as almost obligatory. Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General who supervises the department’s criminal division, told me, “You don’t get to break the law and disclose classified information just because you want to.” He added, “Politics should play no role in it whatsoever.”
When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined. The Drake case is one of two that Obama’s Justice Department has carried over from the Bush years...
Continue reading
Jane Mayer @'The New Yorker'
Rare colour photographs of the Great Depression
A young boy in Cinncinnati, Ohio, in 1942 or 1943
Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family in Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940
Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room at the Chicago and Northwest Railway Company in Clinton, Iowa, April 1943
Re-Touching McLuhan – The Medium Is The Massage (Marshall McLuhan Centennial Weekend, Berlin)
Conference | Screening | Installation | Performance
Embassy of Canada / Marshall McLuhan Salon
Leipziger Platz 17. 10117 Berlin
http://mcluhan2011.eu/berlin
transmediale in collaboration with the Embassy of Canada and Marshall McLuhan Salon invite you to a key event celebrating the 100th anniversary of famed Canadian media philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan's birth. Having coined expressions such as the global village and the medium is the message in the early days of TV and electronic culture, the Re-Touching McLuhan events explore the many interpretations of McLuhan's play on language and media that shape today's networked society.
The international conference Re-Touching McLuhan: The Medium is the Massage chaired by Dieter Daniels and moderated by Christopher Salter, sees leading international media and digital culture researchers Richard Cavell, Dieter Daniels, Martina Leeker, Claus Pias, Katja Kwastek, Liz Kotz, Janine Marchessault, Graham Larkin and Lorenz Engell explore McLuhan’s unique take on tactile and multi-sensory media expressed by the media philosopher's unintentionally published blurring of the words message and massage.
The opening of the Centennial Weekend features the worldwide (re-)launch of McLuhan's 1968 audio art classic The Medium is the Massage, digitally remastered for the first time, produced and presented by hip-hop musician and conceptual artist Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky.
Legendary McLuhanist Derrick de Kerckhove and Berlin-based McLuhan scholar Steffi Winkler elaborate on rare material from the McLuhan archives in the first session of the McLuminations screening and discussion series, produced by Baruch Gottlieb.
The Centennial Weekend will feature the European première of Through the Vanishing Point, a major new multi-media installation by leading Canadian digital artists David Rokeby and Lewis Kaye, as well as Play_McLuhan, an exhibition by media art students from the Hochschule Darmstadt under the direction of Sabine Breitsameter will be presented.
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
Friday May 27, 18.00
Re-Touching McLuhan Centennial Weekend
Opening and Reception featuring Richard Cavell and Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Saturday May 28, 10.00 – 18.00
Re-Touching McLuhan: The Medium is the Massage
Conference chaired by Dieter Daniels
Sunday May 29, 14.30
McLuminations #1
Screening & Discussion featuring Derrick de Kerckhove and Steffi Winkler
Sunday May 29, 17.00
Through The Vanishing Point
Installation by David Rokeby and Lewis Kaye - Vernissage
Full event schedule: http://mcluhan2011.
Download the flier : http://dl.dropbox.com/
Friday, May 27, 12.00 – 17.00
Global Village: Calamity or Chance? 2nd German-Canadian Professionals Conference feat. keynotes by Brian Lee Crowley, Linus Neumann and Gundolf S. Freyermuth, moderated by Ariane de Hoog, Deutsche Welle.
http://gcp-conference.de/2011
Friday, May 27th, 17.00
PLAY_McLUHAN Exhibition presentation by Sabine Breitsameter and students of the Hochschule Darmstadt
FURTHER INFORMATION
All events are free and open to the public but spaces are limited so please RSVP at rsvp@mcluhan2011.eu, and arrive early to ensure enough time for embassy security.
All RE-TOUCHING McLUHAN conference presentations will also be streamed live at http://mcluhan2011.eu/
Address:
Embassy of Canada / Marshall McLuhan Salon
Leipziger Platz 17. 10117 Berlin
U-Bahn / S-Bahn Potsdamer Platz
(Please arrive early to alow time for Embassy Security)
http://mcluhan2011.eu
http://facebook.com/
http://twitter.com/
#mcluhan2011eu
Contact: Michelle O'Brien +49 30 24749 762
mo@mcluhan2011.eu
McLUHAN IN EUROPE 2011
The RE-TOUCHING McLUHAN Berlin Centennial Weekend is a project of the McLuhan in Europe 2011 network, initiated and directed by Stephen Kovats in collaboration with Michelle Kasprzak, celebrating the centenary of visionary Canadian media philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan, and his impact on European art and media culture.
The event is supported by the Government of Canada, the Deutsch-Kanadische Gesellschaft, RIM / Blackberry and serve-u.
Through The Vanishing Point was commissioned in 2010 by the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival (Bonnie Rubenstein, curator) and the Faculty of Information McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology (Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, director) University of Toronto, Canada.
McLUHAN IN EUROPE 2011
The RE-TOUCHING McLUHAN Berlin Centennial Weekend is a project of the McLuhan in Europe 2011 network, initiated and directed by Stephen Kovats in collaboration with Michelle Kasprzak, celebrating the centenary of visionary Canadian media philosopher Herbert Marshall McLuhan, and his impact on European art and media culture.
The event is supported by the Government of Canada, the Deutsch-Kanadische Gesellschaft, RIM / Blackberry and serve-u.
Through The Vanishing Point was commissioned in 2010 by the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival (Bonnie Rubenstein, curator) and the Faculty of Information McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology (Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, director) University of Toronto, Canada.
(Thanx Lalitha)
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Resigns
Press Release No. 11/187
May 18, 2011
Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn today informed the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of his intention to resign as Managing Director with immediate effect. Mr. Strauss-Kahn made the following statement in a formal letter of resignation to the Board:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board:
It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF.
I think at this time first of my wife—whom I love more than anything—of my children, of my family, of my friends.
I think also of my colleagues at the Fund; together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.
To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.
I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially—especially—I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The Fund will communicate in the near future on the Executive Board’s process of selecting a new Managing Director. Meanwhile, Mr. John Lipsky remains Acting Managing Director
@'International Motherfuckers'
May 18, 2011
Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn today informed the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of his intention to resign as Managing Director with immediate effect. Mr. Strauss-Kahn made the following statement in a formal letter of resignation to the Board:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board:
It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF.
I think at this time first of my wife—whom I love more than anything—of my children, of my family, of my friends.
I think also of my colleagues at the Fund; together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.
To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.
I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially—especially—I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The Fund will communicate in the near future on the Executive Board’s process of selecting a new Managing Director. Meanwhile, Mr. John Lipsky remains Acting Managing Director
@'International Motherfuckers'
HA!
Norman N.
@oldmansearchMy dad is 81 years old. I'm teaching him how to use the internet. I told him twitter was how to search things on Google. These tweets are what he's searching.
@oldmansearchMy dad is 81 years old. I'm teaching him how to use the internet. I told him twitter was how to search things on Google. These tweets are what he's searching.
Scotland's hate crime figures rise to highest in five years
One of Scotland's most senior prosecutors has said there will be "zero tolerance" of religious and racist bigots after the latest hate crime figures showed a 10% increase in charges for sectarianism.
Frank Mulholland QC, the solicitor general, said religious bigotry was being tackled by an "extremely robust" prosecution policy after the number of cases reported to prosecutors increased to nearly 700 last year, the highest level in five years.
The latest statistics, which also showed that charges of racism reported to prosecutors fell by 3.6% to 4,165, follows the dramatic escalation in sectarian attacks and disputes in recent months centred on Glasgow's Celtic and Rangers football clubs.
Two men were arrested last week for explosives offences after allegedly being involved in a parcel bombing campaign against Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other prominent Catholics, including Lennon's lawyer, and an Irish republican group.
Rangers and Celtic fans are being prosecuted for alleged bigotry and racist offences on the internet and at football matches.
Earlier this week it emerged that the former Rangers' director and prominent lawyer Donald Findlay QC was sent a knife in the post.
Alex Salmond, speaking in the Scottish parliament as he was confirmed as first minister of Scotland, said the country should be proud of its reputation for hospitality and religious and racial tolerance, not for bigotry.
Clearly shaken by the damage caused to his party's message that Scotland is inclusive and multi-ethnic, he told the parliament that being Scottish included those Catholics who fled famines in Ireland.
"Modern Scotland is also built on equality. We will not tolerate sectarianism as a parasite in our national game of football or anywhere else in this society," he said.
Salmond's government has been accused of neglecting anti-sectarianism. Until a series of violent on- and off-the-field disputes involving Celtic and Rangers earlier this year, anti-bigotry charities faced closure due to funding cuts.
The first minister has since promised a renewed crackdown on sectarianism, including tougher legal sanctions and policing of online bigotry.
The last five years of figures show no decline in sectarianism offences; the highest annual number of prosecutions hit 704 in 2005/06, dropping slightly to 699 in 2006/07.
The figures also included the first full year for reporting of a new offence of homophobic and anti-disabled bigotry: there were 448 charges reported aggravated by sexual orientation, 50 charges aggravated by attacks on a person's disability, and 14 with an aggravation of transgender identity.
Mulholland said that last year 94% of sectarian offences detected by police were prosecuted.
"I hope this sends a strong message to anybody who still feels that such behaviour is acceptable – there is no place for them in a modern Scotland," he said. "They can expect to be met with a zero-tolerance prosecution policy."
The Crown Office, Scotland's prosecution agency, is carrying out a study into the religious content of bigotry offences after the Catholic church insisted that Catholics were bearing the brunt of sectarianism in Scotland.
The last study, in 2006, found two-thirds of reported offences were anti-Catholic in nature and a third were football related.
The church said those findings showed that, based on overall population, Catholics were six times more likely than Protestants to be a victim of bigotry.
That figure is contested by Professor Steve Bruce, an expert on loyalism and sectarianism at Aberdeen University.
He argues the figures are much less clear since there was no evidence about the identity of the victims, and many offences took place in areas with large Catholic populations.
Severin Carrell @'The Guardian'
This BBC Panorama programme aired in Feb 2005 was actually made by my brother-in-law over in Glasgow and is just frightening to read. Nothing's changed for the better obviously...
Scotland's Secret Shame
Frank Mulholland QC, the solicitor general, said religious bigotry was being tackled by an "extremely robust" prosecution policy after the number of cases reported to prosecutors increased to nearly 700 last year, the highest level in five years.
The latest statistics, which also showed that charges of racism reported to prosecutors fell by 3.6% to 4,165, follows the dramatic escalation in sectarian attacks and disputes in recent months centred on Glasgow's Celtic and Rangers football clubs.
Two men were arrested last week for explosives offences after allegedly being involved in a parcel bombing campaign against Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other prominent Catholics, including Lennon's lawyer, and an Irish republican group.
Rangers and Celtic fans are being prosecuted for alleged bigotry and racist offences on the internet and at football matches.
Earlier this week it emerged that the former Rangers' director and prominent lawyer Donald Findlay QC was sent a knife in the post.
Alex Salmond, speaking in the Scottish parliament as he was confirmed as first minister of Scotland, said the country should be proud of its reputation for hospitality and religious and racial tolerance, not for bigotry.
Clearly shaken by the damage caused to his party's message that Scotland is inclusive and multi-ethnic, he told the parliament that being Scottish included those Catholics who fled famines in Ireland.
"Modern Scotland is also built on equality. We will not tolerate sectarianism as a parasite in our national game of football or anywhere else in this society," he said.
Salmond's government has been accused of neglecting anti-sectarianism. Until a series of violent on- and off-the-field disputes involving Celtic and Rangers earlier this year, anti-bigotry charities faced closure due to funding cuts.
The first minister has since promised a renewed crackdown on sectarianism, including tougher legal sanctions and policing of online bigotry.
The last five years of figures show no decline in sectarianism offences; the highest annual number of prosecutions hit 704 in 2005/06, dropping slightly to 699 in 2006/07.
The figures also included the first full year for reporting of a new offence of homophobic and anti-disabled bigotry: there were 448 charges reported aggravated by sexual orientation, 50 charges aggravated by attacks on a person's disability, and 14 with an aggravation of transgender identity.
Mulholland said that last year 94% of sectarian offences detected by police were prosecuted.
"I hope this sends a strong message to anybody who still feels that such behaviour is acceptable – there is no place for them in a modern Scotland," he said. "They can expect to be met with a zero-tolerance prosecution policy."
The Crown Office, Scotland's prosecution agency, is carrying out a study into the religious content of bigotry offences after the Catholic church insisted that Catholics were bearing the brunt of sectarianism in Scotland.
The last study, in 2006, found two-thirds of reported offences were anti-Catholic in nature and a third were football related.
The church said those findings showed that, based on overall population, Catholics were six times more likely than Protestants to be a victim of bigotry.
That figure is contested by Professor Steve Bruce, an expert on loyalism and sectarianism at Aberdeen University.
He argues the figures are much less clear since there was no evidence about the identity of the victims, and many offences took place in areas with large Catholic populations.
Severin Carrell @'The Guardian'
This BBC Panorama programme aired in Feb 2005 was actually made by my brother-in-law over in Glasgow and is just frightening to read. Nothing's changed for the better obviously...
Scotland's Secret Shame
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