Sunday 28 November 2010

Police radar guns could help identify suicide bombers

The radar guns police use to spot speeding motorists have inspired a version that aims to identify a would-be suicide bomber in a crowd.

A radar gun fires microwave pulses at a car and measures the Doppler shift of the reflected signal to calculate its velocity. However, the strength and polarisation of the reflected signal – the "radar cross section" – can provide additional information about the size and shape of the reflecting object and the material it is made from.

William Fox of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and John Vesecky of the University of California, Santa Cruz, wondered whether the wiring in a suicide vest would alter the radar cross section of a bomber enough to allow a radar gun to pick him or her out in a crowd.

To find out, the pair used software to simulate how radar signals at 1 gigahertz and 10 gigahertz would be reflected by the most common arrangements of looped wiring typically used by suicide bombers. They found that the clearest reflected signals were in the 10 gigahertz range...

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Paul Marks @'New Scientist'

US-South Korean exercises begin

'Read The Fourth Ammendment, Perverts'

HERE

Remember...

The Real Threat to America

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

UCL Occupation Coverage - Billy Bragg Speech

Bit worried exactly where his other hand is...

Saturday 27 November 2010

Samuel Beckett BBC Radio Plays

Download

1. A Piece of Monologue (UK, 1986)

BBC Radio Cast: Ronald Pickup

2. Cascando (UK, 1964)

BBC Radio Directed by: Donald McWhinnie Cast: Denys Hawthorne, Patrick Magee Music composed by Marcel Mihalovici

3. Cascando (Ireland, 1991)

RTE Radio Directed by: William Styles Cast: Bosco Hogan, Frank O’Dwyer Music by Gerard Victory

4. Embers (UK, 1959)

BBC Radio Directed by: Donald McWhinnie Cast: Jack MacGowran, Kathleen Michael, Kathleen Helme, Patrick Magee Music performed by Cicely Hoye

5. Rough for Radio (UK, 1976)

BBC Radio Directed by: Martin Esslin Cast: Billie Whitelaw, Harold Pinter, Patrick Magee, Michael

6. Words and Music (UK, 1962)

BBC Radio Directed by: Michael Bakewell Cast: Patrick Magee, Felix Felton Music composed by John Beckett

7. The Old Tune (Ireland)

Adaptation by Beckett in English of La manivelle, a radio play by Robert Pinget RTE Radio Directed by: William Styles

Cast: Peter Dix, Brendan Gauldwell

8. Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable (Ireland, 1958; Caedmon Audio, read by Cyril Cusak)

@'seedy'

U.S. Shuts Down Web Sites in Piracy Crackdown

U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent Search Engine Domain and More

North Korea is Ecstatic Over Response to Attack

EBR - William S. Burroughs Tribute Mix

1] Shackleton - Short Wave - Skull disco
2] Clouds - Protecting Hands Part 1 - Deep Medi
3] Martyn - Far Away - 3024
4] Ramadanman - Don't Change For Me - Hessle Audio
5] Breakage - Justified - Digital Soundboy
6] Von D - Nouvelle Histoire - Argon
7] Ramadanman - I Beg You - Hessle Audio
8] Martyn - Seventy Four - 3024
9] Shackleton - Death Is Not Final - Skull Disco
10] Burial - Raver - Hyperdub
11] Mj Cole - Sincere (Nero rmx) - Prolific
12] Mrk1 - Troubleshoot - Dark Circles
13] The Others - 100 $ bills - MILF
14] Trolly Snatcha - We Rock The Forest

Download

@'Mixcloud'

One giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars!!!

90,000 cargo ships travel the world's oceans. Photograph: Peter Maenhoudt/AP

Britain and other European governments have been accused of underestimating the health risks from shipping pollution following research which shows that one giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars.
Confidential data from maritime industry insiders based on engine size and the quality of fuel typically used by ships and cars shows that just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760m cars. Low-grade ship bunker fuel (or fuel oil) has up to 2,000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in US and European automobiles.
Pressure is mounting on the UN's International Maritime Organisation and the EU to tighten laws governing ship emissions following the decision by the US government last week to impose a strict 230-mile buffer zone along the entire US coast, a move that is expected to be followed by Canada.
The setting up of a low emission shipping zone follows US academic research which showed that pollution from the world's 90,000 cargo ships leads to 60,000 deaths a year in the US alone and costs up to $330bn per year in health costs from lung and heart diseases. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates the buffer zone, which could be in place by next year, will save more than 8,000 lives a year with new air quality standards cutting sulphur in fuel by 98%, particulate matter by 85% and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80%.
The new study by the Danish government's environmental agency adds to this picture. It suggests that shipping emissions cost the Danish health service almost £5bn a year, mainly treating cancers and heart problems. A previous study estimated that 1,000 Danish people die prematurely each year because of shipping pollution. No comprehensive research has been carried out on the effects on UK coastal communities, but the number of deaths is expected to be much higher.
Europe, which has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, has dramatically cleaned up sulphur and nitrogen emissions from land-based transport in the past 20 years but has resisted imposing tight laws on the shipping industry, even though the technology exists to remove emissions. Cars driving 15,000km a year emit approximately 101 grammes of sulphur oxide gases (or SOx) in that time. The world's largest ships' diesel engines which typically operate for about 280 days a year generate roughly 5,200 tonnes of SOx.
The EU plans only two low-emission marine zones which should come into force in the English channel and Baltic sea after 2015. However, both are less stringent than the proposed US zone, and neither seeks to limit deadly particulate emissions.
Shipping emissions have escalated in the past 15 years as China has emerged as the world's manufacturing capital. A new breed of intercontinental container ship has been developed which is extremely cost-efficient. However, it uses diesel engines as powerful as land-based power stations but with the lowest quality fuel.
"Ship pollution affects the health of communities in coastal and inland regions around the world, yet pollution from ships remains one of the least regulated parts of our global transportation system," said James Corbett, professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, one of the authors of the report which helped persuade the US government to act.
Today a spokesman for the UK government's Maritime and Coastguard Agency accepted there were major gaps in the legislation. "Issues of particulate matter remain a concern. They need to be addressed and we look forward to working with the international community," said environment policy director Jonathan Simpson.
"Europe needs a low emission zone right around its coasts, similar to the US, if we are to meet health and environmental objectives," said Crister Agrena of the Air Pollution and Climate Secretariat in Gothenburg, one of Europe's leading air quality organisations.
"It is unacceptable that shipping remains one of the most polluting industries in the world. The UK must take a lead in cleaning up emissions," said Simon Birkett, spokesman for the Campaign for Clean Air in London. "Other countries are planning radical action to achieve massive health and other savings but the UK is strangely inactive."
The calculations of ship and car pollution are based on the world's largest 85,790KW ships' diesel engines which operate about 280 days a year generating roughly 5,200 tonnes of SOx a year, compared with diesel and petrol cars which drive 15,000km a year and emit approximately 101gm of SO2/SoX a year.

John Vidal @'The Guardian'

SageFrancis Come on!!! Willie Nelson Arrested in Texas for 6 oz of weed? That's so ridiculous. This is a good time to start a new "hash" tag. #FreeWilly

US warns allies on Wikileaks' potential diplomatic leak

Electronic Explorations Podcast 133 – Shackleton

01) – Shackleton and Vengeance Tenfold – Stripped III (version)

02) – Shackleton – Man On A String Part 1 and 2

03) – Shackleton – Angel On A String

04) – Shackleton – Fireworks

05) – Shackleton – Deadman

06) – Shackleton – Bottles

07) – Shackleton – Hypno Angel

08) – Shackleton – Something Has Got To Give

09) – Shackleton – Massacre

10) – Shackleton – Torn Skin III (version)
Download

The self-effacing Lancashire-born Sam Shackleton first came to prominence during the early rise of the dubstep scene, running the label Skull Disco alongside Appleblim. Skull Disco is considered to have been quite influential, in that it combined more abstract or avant musical forms with music that could work on advanced dancefloors. It was home to Shackleton’s cuts such as ‘Stalker’, ‘Death Is Not Final’ and ‘Blood On My Hands’, reworked by Ricardo Villalobos into an 18 minute four to the floor version. Most recently he released 3 EPs on Perlon, a Berlin label renowned for its low key approach to high creativity. From dubstep to techno, Shackleton’s maverick take on big basslines and complex beats doesn’t fit into any easy categories and that’s how it’s going to stay. Shackleton’s records and live sets are thrilling and unique in their absorbing complexity and pure dancefloor enchantment.

“I got into making music on a computer by default. My previous partner in music went to the other side of the world and converted to Islam, and I didn’t want to be a one-man karaoke outfit so I bought a computer. This turned out to be a good thing for me as it made it easier to make the music that I wanted to make. Mine and my friend’s lives had a diverse soundtrack, but I remember that Stooges, Can, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk and Faust were all favourites. To be honest, I haven’t really moved on from that stuff. I started playing guitar in a punk band at 14. We were not very good and got booed off stage and things thrown at us. Plus ça change, really!”

Discussing his forthcoming Fabric 55 release (Dec 2010)

fabric 55 is a timely record of Shackleton’s electric live performances, recorded in the studio but directly inspired by the fabric floor. The mix features partly new and unreleased original material – as well as tracks that have previously appeared on Perlon, Skull Disco and Hotflush, but in very different forms than the listener will have heard before. Rising out of the murky opening atmospheres are Shackleton’s favoured tribal drums and percussion that rapidly kick things into action. Refined sub-bass underpins much of the music here, alongside ceaseless drums, ominous vocal samples and layers of precise hisses, bleeps and mournful melody. Key to Shackleton’s sound is a lightness of touch and delicacy in the arrangement that could be at odds with the force of his sound but instead illuminates the different parts and awakens the senses. At times seriously freaky and twisted, with frantic percussion and jarring keys, there’s an all-encompassing deepness to the whole as Shackleton weaves a path that completely absorbs up to the final sigh of the closing bars. It’s a mix that instantly captures the listener and barely lets up before finally releasing you after 80 minutes of some of the most deep, intense and beautiful electronic music you are likely to hear this year.

“ I never thought that fabric would be interested in my music to be honest and so it was a pleasant surprise when they asked me to play in room 1, back before most other London venues would touch me, or indeed had probably heard of me. It was an even more pleasant surprise for me that some people enjoyed it. I’ve since been asked back quite regularly and every time it seems to go better. I think this is because of the sound system. It is amongst the best I have played on…. With the mix I’ve made, I have tried to make a set that would best represent the set I played on that night [at fabric], but minus the mistakes. Some of the tracks are re-jigged versions of older material, some of them are new. Some of them will never see a release in any form aside from this. Some of them are not even tracks just coincidental parts merging with each other between tracks. Those are the best bits actually. I don’t expect everyone to like it. I know it is not to everyone’s taste. That’s why I appreciate Judy sticking her neck out for this and I hope some people like it.”

@'Electronic Explorations'

jeremyscahill Re: alleged US support for PKK in @wikileaks docs, remember allegations #Blackwater weapons ended up w PKK in #Iraq 2 minutes ago via Echofon

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves - And Why It Matters

Joy Division public Q&A with Stephen Morris, Peter Saville and Jon Savage

Joy Division’s Stephen Morris will be talking about the influence and legacy of his former band at a public Q&A session in London next month.

Drummer Morris will be in discussion with Peter Saville (who has designed the new Joy Division +/- box set) and music critic Jon Savage. The event takes place on Wednesday 8 December at 7pm at Rough Trade East, London E1 6QL.

The event is co-hosted by Rough Trade and Rhino UK in association with NME. Numbers are strictly limited; for more information contact Rough Trade East.

@'FACT'

Peter Saville

Arkitip No. 0049 will be a virtual catalog of Peter's work including essays from Saville's colleagues throughout his career. It will also include two original prints from the designer in an edition of 1500. The prints will be 12 x 12 inches on 100 lb. archival stock and will sit on top of the magazine inside a custom designed box carefully encasing the magazine and prints.

HERE

Iceland to elect citizens' panel to rewrite constitution

The divide is bigger than we thought...

(Thanx Fifi!)

Dutch Court Says That Copyright Owners Are Better Off When People Are Downloading From Unauthorized Sources

Here's a bit of a surprise. According to this report, beyond just the FTD ruling we wrote about last week, there was another copyright case decision in the Dutch appeals court of The Hague, which stated that "since downloading from illegal sources for private use was permitted under Dutch law," it's actually to the advantage of copyright owners that such sites exist.

Of course, part of the reasoning for this is that there's a private copying levy, and the court was arguing that unauthorized downloads should be taken into account when calculating that levy. So, this could mean higher subsidies and "you must be a criminal" taxes in the Netherlands. Still, the argument is somewhat striking:

With reference to statements made by the Minister of Justice, the Court argued that the legitimate interest of the right holders is more adequately protected in a regime that allows downloading from illegal sources. In view of the Dutch government's statements, such a levy system better ensures that compensation is due to right holders for the use of their work.

I'm not convinced that's actually true, but it's still quite surprising to hear a court say it like that. I would imagine entertainment industry lobbyists are banging down Dutch doors right now...

@'techdirt'

HA!

(Click to enlarge)

Court affirms jail time for Pirate Bay founders

wikileaks UK Government has issued a "D-notice" warning to all UK news editors, asking to be briefed on upcoming WikiLeaks stories. about 1 hour ago via web

Friday 26 November 2010

Grinderman live

North Korean shelling heard near Yeonpyeong

South Korea reported sounds of artillery fire emanating from North Korea today, but said it appeared to be routine training. The news came hours after Pyongyang warned that the South's joint drill with the US was pushing the peninsula to the brink of war.

Seoul-based broadcaster YTN said the shells appeared to have landed within the North, away from the disputed maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea.

The firing came days after four people on a nearby island were killed in a Northern artillery attack. Pyongyang said that was a response to shelling by the South, which was conducting a live-fire drill exercise.

Seoul said its troops did not fire towards the North. But Pyongyang's foreign ministry said yesterday that shells were "bound to drop inside [the North's] territorial waters". It does not accept the Yellow Sea border, drawn unilaterally by the US at the end of the Korean war.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the few dozen residents who remain on Yeonpyeong fled to emergency shelters as they heard the distant explosions this afternoon.

Earlier the North had threatened "a shower of fire" in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency, warning: "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again war exercises targeted against the [North]."

It added that it was "ready to annihilate enemies' stronghold" and said its forces "precisely targeted and struck" South Korean artillery units on Tuesday.

Pyongyang often issues bellicose warnings when military manoeuvres are due in the area.

The US has dispatched an aircraft carrier group led by the USS George Washington to take part in training with the South Korean navy from Sunday. The exercises were planned before this week's attack but had been postponed with the US citing scheduling conflicts.

Beijing has expressed concern about the exercises in the Yellow Sea, which lies between Korea and China. But its protests were far more muted than the complaints which saw off plans for drills there earlier this year.

The US is pressing China to restrain its ally and a White House official said Barack Obama is likely to discuss the Korean situation with President Hu Jintao within days.

Domestic criticism of Seoul's response to the bombardment has continued despite the defence minister's resignation yesterday.

Hundreds of South Korean veterans demonstrated in the border town of Paju today, accusing the government of being too weak.

"The lazy government's policies towards North Korea are too soft," said Kim Byeong-su, the president of the association of ex-marines.

"It needs to take revenge on a bunch of mad dogs. We need to show them South Korea is not to be played with."

Tania Branigan @'The Guardian'

He will be missed but never forgotten

unklesleazy
(Post by Pacman) Peter Christopherson's book of condolence
http://unklesleazy.tv/
8 minutes ago via web

GB2010

Student protests: video shows mounted police charging London crowd

Disparity and consequences

Technology – particularly the Internet – was hailed as “the great leveler” in the early days, and indeed it many ways it has been.

But I was struck by a comment on someone’s post today, that both of his grandchildren – 4½ and 7½ – were getting iPads in their xmas stockings. “Really?” I thought. Those things are not cheap, and I don’t believe childproof.

But what struck me wasn’t the obvious display of disposable income (shocking to my thoroughly calvinist upbringing lol – still working on that), but that those kids are being handed – handed- the future keys to success: technical aptitude. And what that means is increasingly society will be delineated by the “haves” and “have nots”, since the kids in the “haves” group will have such a clear, relevant advantage.

Now I’m not a social crusader. I get that “life isn’t fair” and that there have always been inequities between the rich and poor, with all the associated privileges, be it access to better food, medicine, investment opportunities, recreation, etc. But it just seems that there’s never been something with quite as much power to create so much disparity. The kids with early access and education using it will thrive in the future, the rest will not.

We need to make sure that the kids in the “have not” group have at least a chance of success in the future where technical savvy is a requirement. Moral obligations aside (I’m not a fan of using morals to make an argument), but from a pragmatic perspective: among the ranks of those underprivileged kids could be the next brilliant programmer, leader, designer who makes life better for us all.

I’m sure all of this has been dicussed and anticipated many times, one of the results being the “One laptop per child” program. But we need to ensure that in the US as well, we provide a system that supports the training and development tools to all the kids in our country. How else are we as a nation going to stay competitive on a global basis?

@'the decahedaralist'

(BIG thanx to Linda, who explores "the intersection between technology, business strategy, and psychology" at her wonderful blog.

Go on subscribe - you know it makes sense!!!)

WTF???

Richard Lloyd's apres Thanksgiving smoke!

Richard Lloyd
Richard enjoys a little Tobacco, after dinner with the Patterson's. No photoshop here baby, just Richard doing what he does best -- stuff nobody else would dare to...(Unless you an an Ononomou Indian from Venezuela)

Via Facebook

WikiLeaks Insurance File???

Now is a good time to download some "history insurance" https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance 6 minutes ago via web

Background story

HERE

(Russia Today 26 July 2010)

♪♫ Scuba - You Got Me (I Got You)

♪♫ SBTRKT - Look At Stars

Is This Really the End for Ahmadinejad?

Casual Iran observers tend to portray the country's most prominent political division as that between fundamentalist hard-liners and secular moderates. In reality, however, the struggle for Iran's future is a three-way fight waged by the different branches of conservatives that control the parliament, the presidency, and the theocracy. The Green Movement may have stalled, but the parliamentary opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has only grown stronger and more assertive over the past year -- culminating in a recent push to charge the president with abuses of power warranting impeachment. Those efforts are coming to a halt under orders from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who fears that the parliament's attempt to assert itself against the president will also be at the expense of his own power base, the country's conservative mullahs.

In fact, this isn't the first round of infighting among Iran's leaders. In July 2009, legislators warned Ahmadinejad that they would seek to oust him as the chief executive if he continued acting in an autocratic manner. Ahmadinejad responded by claiming the executive branch is the most important one of the government.

Ahmadinejad has also clashed with parliamentarians over his prerogative to influence the activities of the Central Bank. As financial hardships mount on common Iranians, in part due to mismanagement and in part from international sanctions, their elected representatives are blaming the president and his bureaucrats for the economy's woes.

It's a naked power struggle that has cloaked itself in ideology. Ahmadinejad and his cohorts in the executive branch of Iran's government increasingly reference secular Iranian nationalism. They recently celebrated an exhibition honoring Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire over 2,500 years ago; they have also been known to castigate influential mullahs for diminishing Iran's greatness, going so far as to encourage the separation of religion from the government. Meanwhile parliament speaker Ali Larijani and his legislative supporters present themselves as adherents to the fundamentalist traditions of Shiite Islam and as true believers in the velayat-e faqih, Iran's system of governance by Muslim jurists.

But at its root, the infighting is motivated by differences over pragmatic political strategy. At a time of economic stagnation and international isolation, Iran's power players are all competing to put their stamp on national crisis management...

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Jamsheed K Choksy @'FP'

HA!

Anatomy of an Epic Fail

Turkey warns Israel against attacks

Damien Hirst’s Medicine Cabinets

Among the most iconic pieces in artist Damien Hirst’s controversial body of work — a bizarre mix that includes dissected animals, a pickled shark, dot paintings, spin paintings, butterfly assemblages, a rotting cow’s head, and diamond-encrusted skulls — are the Medicine Cabinets.

The first two cabinets, which were made in 1988 by the then 23-year-old Hirst in his London kitchen, contained pharmaceutical packaging from his recently deceased grandmother’s medicine cabinet. He followed these sculptures, Sinner and Enemy, with a suite of twelve cabinets that were titled after the tracks on the Sex Pistols debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. Four of the medicine cabinets from the series were exhibited in Hirst’s degree show at Goldsmiths College of Art in 1989, but the whole group has never been shown together — that is, until now.

New York’s L & M Arts has assembled the artist’s Sex Pistols medicine cabinets, along with Sinner and Enemy; a monumental four-part cabinet, titled The Sex Pistols, from 1996-97; and a cache of actual Sex Pistols’ memorabilia into a comprehensive overview of this important chapter in Hirst’s dynamic career. The gallery also collaborated with the artist’s publishing company, Other Criteria, to produce a catalogue that includes an essay by art scholar Arthur Danto, some punk prose by the notorious James Frey, a catalogue raisonné of the complete medicine cabinets, and a hilarious conversation between Hirst and former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, who’s an outspoken radio disc jockey in Los Angeles.

Damien-Hirst: Medicine Cabinets is on view at L & M Arts through December 11.

Paul Laster @'Flavorwire'

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