Ancestry

HOMAGE TO THE
TREE SHREW

It is interesting for me to learn how much the tree shrew can tell us about human nature. They were one of the first primates on the evolutionary branch leading to humans. Neuro-anatomical studies reveal that they were also the first primate to evolve a highly elaborate and differentiated visual system. Psychological tests show that this development gave rise to the ability to perform two tasks with equal skill: 1) focusing attention on interesting features (while filtering out irrelevant information) and 2) swiftly shifting attention to other interesting (or alarming) features in the environment.

We take these contributions for granted now, but both abilities were not equally present in mammals before the tree shrew. It is an adaptation that had survival value, allowing them to track prey without losing sight of their predators – a trick of nature that makes them equally suited to act as hunters, as well as survive being hunted as prey. We appreciate these contributions when something goes wrong, resulting in one form of attention deficit or another. I think we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to these little beings. They mark the beginning of neocortical evolution in man.

Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control

"Chapter 13"

Don't be a sinner

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

-Albert Camus

How Three Firms Came To Rule The World

"One often hears the statement that agriculture is changing and we must adapt to the changes", says William Heffernan, a professor of rural sociology at the University of Missouri. "Few persons who repeat the statement really understand the magnitude of the changes and the implications of them for agriculture and for the long-term sustainability of the food system. It is almost heresy to ask if these changes are what the people of our country really want or, if they are not what is desired, how we might redirect the change. These changes are the result of notoriously short-sighted market forces and not the result of public dialogue, the foundation of a democracy. Neither are the changes the result of some mystical figure or an 'invisible hand'."

Earlier this year the Farmers' Union hired Heffernan to undertake a study on consolidation in agricultural trade. Heffernan concluded that once you disentangle a web of subsidiaries, mergers, joint ventures, parternships, side agreements, marketing arrangements and alliances you find that "three food chains dominate the global food production system". These chains are: Cargill/Monsanto; ConAgra and Novartis/ADM. Even so, Heffernan notes that because of lax reporting requirements it's difficult to get a fix on precisely what these companies own and how they go about doing business. "Cargill has operations in 70 countries and it's a privately held firm. How do we get all of the necessary information? We've exposed the tip of the iceberg, but exposure only indicates the type of information needed to understand the global food system."

Heffernan points to the Cargill/Monsanto cluster as one of the most dangerous of the new alliances. In 1998 Monsanto and Cargill announced that Cargill had sold its vast seed operation to Monsanto (the world's leading biotech outfit) and entered into an agreement with the chemical company to develop new kinds of crop biotechnology. This alliance presents distinct benefits to both companies but dangers to consumers, farmers and the environment. A case in point is the alliances' so-called terminator gene. "No longer will Monsanto have to depend on access to farmers' fields for collection of tissue samples to make sure farmers do not keep seed from one year's crop to plant the following year", Heffernan warns. "Use of the terminator gene will mean that all crop farmers must return each year to obtain their seed from seed firms, just as corn producers have had to do for the past half-century."

If the press, which rarely mentions agricultural issues anymore, doesn't take this turn of events seriously, the corporate leaders of the agri-conglomerates certainly do. And they are not the least bit bashful about what's at stake. Dwayne Andreas is the politically wired former CEO of Archer Daniels Midland. He recently boasted to Reuters that he wanted to make ADM the world's dominant agriculture firm because, to his way of thinking, there's simply nothing more powerful than controlling the world's food supply. He said agribusiness is more powerful than the oil industry.

"The food business is far and away the most important business in the world," Andreas said. "Everything else is a luxury. Food is what you need to sustain life every day. Food is fuel. You can't run a tractor without fuel and you can't run a human being without it either. Food is the absolute beginning." (read more)

Danger if she gets to the White House

I Can Imagine a War with Sarah Palin in Power

It's Just A Plant

Hello

I browsed around this blog, and the one with pictures by Oberon.

I hope I don't disappoint my host.

Nudity! Oh my, oh my.

I am a poor kid from downtown Mexico City. I never went to any nude anything there. The closest experience is having a free thinking father, that used to take baths with us kids. Two boys and two girls. I forgot when he stopped that, maybe I was six, I really don't remember. But one thing is for sure I was not raised as a prude like some kids in that huge megalopolis.

You may wonder how the city is. Today it is legal to adopt, no matter the sexual orientation of the parents.  The federal government, conservative, is calling that city regulation into question. Two political parties one in the left, and one in the right, are vying for power in the 2012 presidential election.

I went to study at Santa Barbara, California, when I was 23. More Mesa Beach was my introduction to that weird gringo habit of taking your clothes off in front of strangers. I absolutely did not.

Sometime earlier, or after, I forgot by now, a bunch of friends in a lark, male and female went skinny dipping to some swiming pool in campus. Kid stuff, I guess. I was fitting in, or something.

Since then I haven't taken any part in such so.

I respect people that do it, but I am not going to go out of my way to start organizing a group like that here at the edge of the "elites' territory" in Acapulco. I am in Chilpancingo, and I would be "different" if I start to promote such social practices.

I read, going into that photography and poetry site, that some people find it objectionable, to post photographs, like the ones Oberon chose to put there.

I don't. I am more concerned about a possible collapse of civilization, than More Mesa Beach types going around with their sexual organs in display.

I may try my hand on some poetry in English here, though. If you read Spanish, I have a site for that in:

poeciaz.blogspot.com

I already have two followers there!

Secret Space

Not at all

these days my complaint is with

the way the world is going

i don't like what i see at all

no, not at all, not at all

Think

Thank you for inviting me here Oberon.

I hope my thoughts help others.

You can start by checking my Relevant Science blog.

Run Sarah Run

"So you people think

Washington is a zoo now?

Wait till I get there,

here comes the circus!

And wait till you see

who I'm bringing with me".

I love candy

What is the meaning of life?

Candy, candy, candy!

Space is the empty void,

the power of nothing.

From the nothingness,

something is pulled.

...Patience...

Something from nothing,

voila.

From the singularity,

to the multiverse,

all has been given for free,

everything is free because,

"God" is a liberal.

Oh, Squiggly Line

"Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid.

I see you there, lurking on the periphery of my vision.

But when I try to look at you, you scurry away.

Are you shy, squiggly line?

Why only when I ignore you do you return to the center of my eye?

Oh, squiggly line, it's all right. You are forgiven."

..."Stewie"...

Cross-Word Puzzle

Take the phrase, "TWO YEARS"

Now add a "D"

That's a total of nine letters

TWO YEARS + D

Now draw a tic-tac-toe


Place the nine letters

in the nine spaces

to make nine words

Good luck!

(solution)

Fear Factory

"War is peace

Freedom is slavery

Ignorance is strength"

George Orwell-1984

------------

Some guy on the news told me I should expect

a "terror attack" to happen anytime soon now.

I was surprised by involuntary spasms of fear,

as if splashed with buckets of ice cold water.

I thought to myself, this is how they do it,

it was beginning to sound like they had it all

planned out like some kind of perverse TV show.

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country...Hermann Goering.

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so...Unknown.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever...George Orwell.

The Whole Earth Catalog

The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. Although the WECs listed all sorts of products for sale (clothing, books, tools, machines, seeds -- anything for a self-sustainable "hippie" lifestyle) the Whole Earth Catalogs themselves did not sell any of the products. Instead the vendors and their prices were listed right alongside with the items. This led to a need for the Catalogs to be frequently updated.

Apple Inc. founder and entrepreneur Steve Jobs has described the Catalog as the conceptual forerunner of the World Wide Web.

The title Whole Earth Catalog came from a previous project of Stewart Brand. In 1966, he initiated a public campaign to have NASA release the then-rumored satellite photo of the sphere of Earth as seen from space, the first image of the "Whole Earth." He thought the image might be a powerful symbol, evoking a sense of shared destiny and adaptive strategies from people. The Stanford-educated Brand, a biologist with strong artistic and social interests, believed that there was a groundswell of commitment to thoroughly renovating American industrial society along ecologically and socially just lines, whatever they might prove to be. (read more)

Whole Earth Catalog

Breeding War

Sri Lankan kids inside the jungle
Taking shelter from the bombs
Stand beside the rebel soldiers
And watch their daddies kill their moms

Haitian children live in huts
Don’t go to school, can’t read a book
Their parents cannot feed them - ever
But we can’t see if we don’t look

In Gaza, secret army soldiers die
For children shot, and killed, and terrified
So posters now display the losses
They’re peppering the countryside

Chinese teens have been detained
For remembering the fight
That failed to bring their honor back
That failed, again, to show what’s right

The Belgian painted killer who
Could hear the voices in his head
Rode his bike into a town
And left a score of toddlers dead

And when their lifeblood jobs were lost
A Californian man and wife
Knew desperation, thought long and hard
And then they took their children’s lives

These are the headlines – all today
Death, destruction, blood, and war
So when these kids grow up to hate
I’ll bet you’ll wish you had done more.

Lettuce Prey Four Whirled Peas

Lettuce Prey Four Whirled Peas

("let us pray for world peace")

is my first blog and the inspiration

for "GlobaLove Think Tank".

Apparently, several people thought my

photographs and ideas were "objectionable"

and let Google know they were "offended".

I find this fact a vindication of my assertion

that some people are "offended" by the truth.

 http://lettucepreyfourwhirledpeas.blogspot.com/

The Illustrated Man

The Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. While none of the stories has a plot or character connection with the next, a recurring theme is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people.

The unrelated stories are tied together by the frame device of "the Illustrated Man", a vagrant with a tattooed body whom the unnamed narrator meets. The man's tattoos, allegedly created by a woman from the future, are animated and each tell a different tale.
(read more)

All Along The Watchtower

L.K. Hanson

War Odometer

Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove

Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove

Evil

"Nothing is required


for the triumph of evil


but that good men do nothing"

Gumby

Howard Zinn passed away today

The historian and devout activist Howard Zinn passed away earlier today from a heart attack. This saddens me greatly because he was a man whom I respected greatly and learned a lot from. I first heard of Zinn via Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting” where he mentions to Robin Williams that he was reading the wrong books, he should instead read “A People’s History of the United States” he claims that “it will knock your fucking socks off!” Now some claim that the only reason he said this is because they were neighbors when he was a young lad (Damon that is). I think this may be true to an extent but it is clear that Matt Damon has great respect for him. He narrated his biography and helped with Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.” I have only read about half of one of his books, but learned a great deal from “The People Speak” and have read bits and pieces of him online. His thoughts are very important but what I respected is that Zinn practiced what he preached. For example “On his last day at BU, Dr. Zinn ended class 30 minutes early so he could join a picket line and urged the 500 students attending his lecture to come along. A hundred did so.” (taken from one of his obituaries, most of the quotes are taken from various obituaries except for the one's near the end)

Zinn was greatly respected by many people “His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives,” Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, once wrote of Dr. Zinn. “When action has been called for, one could always be confident that he would be on the front lines, an example and trustworthy guide.” Even Alice Walker said he was “the best teacher I ever had.”

I will end this post with some of Zinn’s very own words, if anyone is reading this you will find comfort in knowing that Zinn lived a full life and that he did his best to make reforms and inspire people, and that makes him an extraordinary man.

“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”

“What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but “who is sitting in” — and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change.”

“If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves”

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”

“I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you you must go to war for this or that reason -that history is a protective armor against being misled”

“The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth. Truth has a power of its own. Art has a power of its own. That age-old lesson – that everything we … do matters – is the meaning of the people’s struggle here in the United States and everywhere. A poem can inspire a movement. A pamphlet can spark a revolution. Civil disobedience can arouse people and provoke us to think, when we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress. We live in a beautiful country. But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back”

He will be missed, but his dream of a better world may one day be actualized if we all work together toward it. Zinn did his part now it is our turn.

Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?

"Terrorism" is a tactic...not an enemy

It's just a matter of time before "terrorists"

will be able to kill us all, maybe it is time we

begin to address the root cause of "terrorism"

war

racism

poverty

starvation

corruption

subversion

nationalism

exploitation

homelessness

overpopulation

religious intolerance

corporate imperialism

-------------------------------

"Terrorism is the war of the poor

and war is the terrorism of the rich"

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, CBE

(April 16, 1921 – March 18, 2004)

Round Peg In A Square Hole

Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false-flag plan that originated within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to commit genuine acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere. These acts of terrorism were to be blamed on Cuba in order to create public support for a war against that nation, which had recently become Communist under Fidel Castro. One part of the Operation Northwoods plan was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington."

Operation Northwoods is especially notable in that it included proposals for hijackings and bombings followed by the introduction of phony evidence that would implicate a foreign government, namely Cuba.

The plan stated:

"The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere."

Several other proposals were included within the Operation Northwoods plan, including real or simulated actions against various U.S military and civilian targets.

Operation Northwoods was drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Northwoods was signed by Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer and sent to the Secretary of Defense.

Journalist James Bamford summarized Operation Northwoods in his April 24, 2001 book Body of Secrets:

"Operation Northwoods, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving Lemnitzer and his cabal the excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to launch their war". (read more)



The following photographs are of various airline crash sites. This is what real crash sites look like.












Now take a look at the Shanksville "crash site".

2,973 people were murdered on 9/11

More are dying from WTC "dust"

Investigate 9/11

Message To Wall Street

The Supreme Court and Corporate Power

The patently ludicrous legal concept that corporations are afforded the same rights as a living person in regards to the fourteenth amendment to the constitution is a result of the Supreme Court decision of 1886 – Santa Clara County vs. the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. This radical decision, helped transform the character of American life by effectively enhancing the power of corporations.

The recent decision by the Supreme Court has further exacerbated this essential inequality between individuals and powerful corporate structures by affording "free speech" rights to corporations. Furthermore, this right to free speech has been equated to monetary donations to political causes. This decision has effectively swept away any constraints upon the ability of the powerful to exert enormous influence in the determination of public policy through the use of the vast financial resources available to them. On account of the enormous discrepancy between the economic resources available to living and breathing individuals and corporations, it represents a further consolidation of power into the hands of the very few, and is yet another nail in the coffin of our nearly moribund democracy. I believe that the five ultra-conservative members of the Supreme Court, concerned about the rising tide of populism, knew exactly what they were doing.

Free TV

Liberal Media?

Ha!...

In the United States, movie production is known to be dominated by major studios since the early 20th Century; before that, there was a period in which Edison's Trust monopolized the industry. The music and television industries recently witnessed cases of media consolidation, with Sony Music Entertainment's parent company merging their music division with Bertelsmann AG's BMG to form Sony BMG and TimeWarner's The WB and CBS Corp.'s UPN merging to form The CW. In the case of Sony BMG, there existed a "Big Five" (now "Big Four") of major record companies, while The CW's creation was an attempt to consolidate ratings and stand up to the "Big Four" of American network (terrestrial) television.

There may also be some large-scale owners in an industry that are not the causes of monopoly or oligopoly. Clear Channel Communications, especially since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, acquired many radio stations across the United States, and came to own more than 1,200 stations. However, the radio broadcasting industry in the United States and elsewhere can be regarded as oligopolistic regardless of the existence of such a player. Because radio stations are local in reach, each licensed a specific part of airwave by the FCC in a specific local area, any local market is served by a limited number of stations. In most countries, this system of licensing makes many markets local oligopolies. The similar market structure exists for television broadcasting, cable systems and newspaper industries, all of which are characterized by the existence of large-scale owners. Concentration of ownership is often found in these industries.

In the United States, data on ownership and market share of media companies is not held in the public domain. Academics, for example at MIT Media Lab and NYU, have struggled to find data that show reliably the concentration of media ownership.

On June 2, 2003, FCC, in a 3-2 vote under Chairman Michael Powell, approved new media ownership laws that removed many of the restrictions previously imposed to limit ownership of media within a local area. The changes were not, as is customarily done, made available to the public for a comment period.

Single-company ownership of media in a given market is now permitted up to 45% (formerly 35%, up from 25% in 1985) of that market.

Restrictions on newspaper and TV station ownership in the same market were removed.

All TV channels, magazines, newspapers, cable, and Internet services are now counted, weighted based on people's average tendency to find news on that medium. At the same time, whether a channel actually contains news is no longer considered in counting the percentage of a medium owned by one owner.

Previous requirements for periodic review of license have been changed. Licenses are no longer reviewed for "public-interest" considerations.

(read more) (read more)

The Secret Astronauts

An early photo of the first MOL crew, the "Magnificent Seven".

They were the "Magnificent Seven" of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, some of the best pilots the U.S. military had to offer the officials who were making the first MOL crew selection in 1965. Two more crews would follow, including that of Bob Lawrence, the first African-American astronaut. These men, 17 in all, were set to make history in space as the first military astronauts, performing covert reconnaissance from orbit. Yet while NASA's astronauts were gracing magazine covers and signing autographs, the MOL teams were sworn to secrecy; most of the program's details remain classified even today. And MOL was canceled in 1969, before any of its astronauts went into space. To learn more about some of these secret astronauts and their subsequent career achievements,
click here.

The Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled X-20 Dyna-Soar project. It was announced to the public on the same day that the Dyna-Soar program was cancelled, December 10, 1963. The program was supposedly intended to prove the utility of man in space for military missions. However, this was just a cover story for the Russians and the public.

The program was developed as a space station used for reconnaissance purposes (KH-10). The space station used the Gemini B spacecraft that was derived from NASA's Gemini program. The contractor for the MOL was the Douglas Aircraft Company. The Gemini B/MOL craft was externally similar to NASA's Gemini spacecraft although it underwent several modifications. The most obvious was the addition of a circular hatch through the heat shield to allow passage between the spacecraft and the laboratory.
(read more)

Do you really think there are no more "secret astronauts?" (link)

The "Red" Planet

The Gold Portrait

Adele Bloch-Bauer I
1907
Gustav Klimt

Kill the Messenger Syndrome

There is ever-mounting evidence of the deleterious impact of the by-products of modern living on the natural environment and on human health. The clear and unambiguous association of increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere with climate change and the disruption of the chemistry of the oceans, the relationship between asbestos and nicotine on life threatening respiratory diseases, the established causal connection between Agent Orange (dioxin) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and the growing evidence of the insidious impact of Bisphenol A (BPA), a constituent of polycarbonate – a ubiquitous plastic, on human health are but a few examples of the collective price we are paying for what we have come to regard as human progress.

Despite these kinds of disturbing data, there still exists a strong and irrational response to this pervasive reality. Underlying this behavior is a fear of the change in our collective behavior that would be required to protect the future health and safety of the human species. As a result, true human progress is constantly stymied by this fear, for fear impairs reasoned analysis and fruitful discussion. It is this fear that holds science suspect in a feeble and misguided attempt to kill the messenger.

Classic Sci-Fi Movie Time

Robinson Crusoe On Mars by crazedigitalmovies

Regarding the Race for the Senator of Massachusetts

The race for the Senator of Massachusetts has come and gone. The results are being analyzed and debated ad nauseum. The conclusions reached by those who really believe they have true insights into the subtle and convoluted nature of events, never really touch on the underlying truths that explain the stark political reality of our collective experience within our floundering culture. Those who presume to explain to us the nature of events, see only tawdry and inconsequential, for reality is far more foreboding.

We are constantly being manipulated not by the news of events, but rather by the way we are expected to interpret what is happening. The fundamental problems that lie at the core of the current dilemma are to be avoided at all cost. Instead, we are encouraged to throw ourselves headlong into the vortex of empty-headed logic and overblown conclusions.

We are a people extremely out of balance; we seem to be unable to do what is best for our future generations. Our economic and political systems are essentially bankrupt - based on the premise that the individual is supreme and that profit is the essential guiding principle for behavior. Without major overhaul on our perceptions and worldview, we can only expect that our prospects will worsen. Are we prepared to live in a society where a majority of our people will have inadequate health care, education, nutrition and meaningful employment? Can such a culture thrive and prosper? I suppose history will be the ultimate judge.

For Oberon ....."Cooked with Gas"

The Axis Of Evil

The real


"Axis of Evil"


is...


Racism


Poverty


and War

Martin Luther King, Jr

"Injustice anywhere

is a threat to justice everywhere"

Martin Luther King Jr.

Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Heinrich Himmler

Remember, when listening to this, that the Nazi party was voted into power.

A vote is a precious thing. Use it wisely.

The Great Firewall

Has Google seen the Light?
Hooray for Google, here's their official comments...

"Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities." (read more)

Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China is conducted under a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. In accordance with these laws, more than sixty Internet regulations have been made by the People's Republic of China (PRC) government, and censorship systems are vigorously implemented by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, business companies, and organizations.

Most national laws of the People's Republic of China do not apply to the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong or Macau. There are no known cases of the Chinese authorities censoring critical political or religious content in those areas.

The escalation of the government's effort to neutralize critical online opinion comes after a series of large anti-Japanese, anti-pollution and anti-corruption protests, many of which were organized or publicized using instant messaging services, chat rooms, and text messages. The size of the Internet police is estimated at more than 30,000. Critical comments appearing on Internet forums, blogs, and major portals such as Sohu and Sina usually are erased within minutes.

The apparatus of the PRC's Internet repression is considered more extensive and more advanced than in any other country in the world. The regime not only blocks website content but also monitors the internet access of individuals. Amnesty International notes that "China has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world." The offences of which they are accused include communicating with groups abroad, opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong, signing online petitions, and calling for reform and an end to corruption. (read more)

Official Google Blog

God didn't make any "bad" people

Believe nothing,

no matter where you read it,

or who said it,

no matter if I have said it,

unless it agrees with your own reason

and your own common sense.

Buddha

Just because

Just

because

you

believe

something...

doesn't

make

it

true

I Like Smoking

I like smoking...

I know it's bad for me...

and I know I should quit...

but I don't want to give it up...

it's like losing an old friend...

maybe I could find another friend...

I don't know what I'm going to do.

(link)

Haiti

People of Haiti
besieged by grinding and relentless poverty,
forever reminded of race,
children of sorrow
descendents of slaves
hounded, discredited, ridiculed
by those who have watched
with indifference your
descent into the abyss,
children of catastrophe
forsaken by the very earth
that rumbles beneath your feet,
people of Haiti
fragile is the fabric that
ties the human family to the
illusive specter of civilization.

Vera Mantero

Fairy Tales

I once saw a television show about a woman who believed that humans, like some plants, could maintain their life force by converting the sun's light into usable energy.

I once read a book about a shaman who taught that humans could control their surroundings with the use of their will, which manifests itself as tentacles emerging from the torso.

I once heard the story of a woman curing her own lymphoma cancer by utilizing the Law of Attraction and employing positive thinking.

I once learned about a man who believed in nonviolent noncooperation; he stopped eating and then they abolished apartheid.

Every day of my life, I am told that magic is really an illusion; we have to play along with society's rules. The people who tell me these things consider themselves realists and label me a dreamer, a hippie, unrealistic, and even lazy.

Who do you believe?

Will work for food

I just want to eat