Future Mesopotamian Demigods

The Easter Gator

2007-04-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

Have I ever told you of the Easter Gator? In Florida, some years back, an Easter bunny was hiding eggs. A female alligator thought the bunny looked like a tasty treat and promptly devoured it. As punishment for eating this Easter Bunny, the powers responsible for such things cursed the unsuspecting gator with eternal life and a compulsion to hide eggs for the children each Easter.

This arrangement has not been without some drawbacks. The female alligator is extremely territorial when it comes to her eggs, and if she has reason to suspect that someone is trying to dig up her eggs, she will immediately go to the eggs' location and consume the egg hunter. This makes it very, very important for the parents of Florida children to distract the Easter Gator during an egg hunt. Children whose parents do not distract the Gator may be eaten.

Small Ocean Found Under East Asia

2007-03-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool. Apparently, scientists have found an ocean underneath China:

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.

Warming and Climate Change is Not Limited to Earth

2007-03-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

What if humans aren't the cause of global warming? That is the question that the mainstream global warming movement has forbidden people to ask... which leads me to question their scientific ability. We are very concerned with identifying the man-made (it couldn't possibly be anything but, right?) causes of global warming and stop them. Well, that's fine and I'm all for it. There are cleaner ways to produce energy (nuclear power, solar, etc) that allow me to enjoy the benefits of living in an advanced electricity-driven civilization without having to breathe in noxious fumes.

I present you with this article from SPACE.com.

Scientists hypothesize that observed phenomena on Mars are the result of Martian global warming:

features at the south pole were observed to retreat by up to 10 feet (3 meters) from one Martian year to the next.

The odd shapes -- circular pits, ridges and mounds -- were first photographed in 1999. Since then, the features have eroded away by up to 50 percent.

The scientists caution that their data is not conclusive, but it does tend to make one speculate that there may be an outside cause of global warming on Earth--like the sun. If the sun were producing more heat due to its heightened activity, it would make sense that Earth, as well as other planets would get hotter. In the face of such a possibility, it is irresponsible to put all our resources into figuring out how to stop global warming when there is a likelihood that we have nothing to do with it. We have to consider the possibility that global warming is inevitable and that we should be using our technology to cope with it and figure out how to produce food in and protect people from severe conditions brought about by global climate change.

It is also noteworthy that Astronomers think that "Jupiter is in the midst of a global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit on different parts of the globe". I'm pretty sure humans couldn't be the cause of that. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence in these matters to say that we are sure the solar system is experiencing a warming trend, but the fact is, we wouldn't be having this discussion if there weren't reliable data indicating that it might be happening. And if it is happening throughout the solar system, we need to drop this "we are causing global warming" mentality and start figuring out how we will cope with climate change, otherwise, a lot of people will die for no reason whatsoever.

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Keywords: News Science Space Astronomy Solar System Earth Mars Jupiter The Sun Climate Change Global Warming

Worrysome Advancements in RFID Technology

2007-02-21T00:42:00.000-05:00

Kodak Files Patent For Edible RFID Tags

NewScientist.com has uncovered a recently filed patent application from camera and imaging technology giant Kodak that outlines a compelling new application of RFID: ingestible tags that act as monitors for health characteristics within the human body.
. . .
The patent notes that in addition to passive, active RFID technology could be used instead, depending on the application.

RFID 'Powder' - World's Smallest RFID Tag

These devices could also be used to identify and track people. For example, suppose you participated in some sort of protest or other organized activity. If police agencies sprinkled these tags around, every individual could be tracked and later identified at leisure, with powerful enough tag scanners.

So now they can make RFID tags smaller than ever before, but they can also make them edible. That's just great. Talk about illegal searches... they can put an active RFID tracker in your sandwich, and in a few days, there'll be no evidence of it.

For those of you who don't know what an RFID tag is, here is a concise definition from Wikipedia:

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. Chip-based RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennae. Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source.

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Keywords: News Technology Cyberpunk Police State Surveillance Society RFID RFID Tags

Using Pornography to Send People to Prison

2007-02-19T19:18:00.000-05:00

If you don't like someone, you can send them to prison. It's easy. All you need is some digital pornography and the skills to to place them in your enemy's computer.

[Julie Amero] was convicted last month of exposing seventh-grade students to pornography on her classroom computer. She contended the images were inadvertently thrust onto the screen by pornographers' unseen spyware and adware programs.

But her argument has made her a cause celebre among some technology experts, who say what happened to her could happen to anyone.

"I'm scared,"the 40-year-old Amero said. "I'm just beside myself over something I didn't do. "It all began in October 2004.

Amero was assigned to a class at Kelly Middle School in Norwich, a city of around 37,000 people about 40 miles east of Hartford. Amero says that before her class started, a teacher allowed her to e-mail her husband.

She says she used the computer and went to the bathroom, returning to find the permanent teacher gone and two students viewing a website on hair styles.

Amero says she chased the students away. But later, she says, pornographic images started popping up on the screen. Computer consultant Herb Horner, who testified for the defence, said, "It can happen to anybody."

"It's absolutely plausible,"Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said of Amero's case. "It's a huge problem."

That she was convicted in spite of the fact that she might not have had anything to do with the pornography that was on her computer. Imagine if it was child pornography. The FBI doesn't care so much how it got on your computer as much as it cares that it's there at all. If you need to get rid of someone, all you need to do is make sure child pornography shows up on their hard drive and report them.

This is why you need good firewalls to keep hackers out of your machine.

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Keywords: News Computers Internet Technology Cyberpunk Pornography Child Pornography Law Legal System Justice System FBI Injustice Police State Cyberspace Combat Techniques Information Warfare

Brain Scanners Predict Human Intentions

2007-02-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

I saw this news story a few weeks ago, but never wrote anything about it. SFAM over at Cyberpunk Review was more responsive and did write a timely post about this new technology and it is worth a read.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have developed a brain scanner that can predict human actions before they take place.

The 'multivariate pattern recognition' technique uses a computer trained to recognise certain changes in brain activity associated with actions. It can predict intended actions before they occur with 70 per cent accuracy.

"In future it will be possible to read even abstract thoughts and intentions out of patients' brains," said the scanner's inventor Professor Dr John-Dylan Haynes.

The benefits of this technology include machines that can be directed by the human mind. I, being a paranoid threat-assessing sort, tend to be more aware of the detriments (not mentioned in the article).

For example, many people may have already noticed the growing prevalence of personality tests issued to job applicants by corporations. They want to know whether the person applying suited for the job. Unfortunately, people who don't like working for a boss, or don't like people will get screened out before the interview process. It seems to be getting harder to get a job unless one truly thinks a certain way, regardless of actual qualifications.

With technology like this, companies could actually see how their employees think and discriminate against them on that basis. It sounds harmless, but companies would be discriminating against people based on what they might do; not what they will do.

This was the sort of discrimination that was fought against during the Civil Rights movement. At that time, skin color was used as a grouping that could be used to predict behavior. This time it will be more insidious. There is no law keeping companies from discriminating on the basis of what a person thinks.

Typically, companies have only been able to let a non-conformist go if they were airing their opinions on company time and causing a disruption; so job-loss could be avoided by keeping one's mouth shut. Now, with new technology, it might not be enough to simply keep one's thoughts to one's self, because companies can screen out thoughts they don't like before the first interview.

Beyond that, imagine the applications for use by governments. If a domestic terrorist were defined as someone who opposed government policy, a lot of people could be detained on the grounds that their thought patterns fit the domestic terrorism profile (that is, if there weren't a successful Constitutional challenge to such a practice).

Welcome to the future.

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Keywords: News Science Technology Cyberpunk Brain Scanner Mind Reader Mind Scanner Personality Test Personality Screening Corporations Hiring Practices Big Brother Police State Discrimination Civil Rights

Theoretical Troll

2007-02-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

The name "theoretical troll" was used [in Shadowrun] to identify one of the inherent flaws in a previous edition release of the game. It referred to the fact that a player could select a Troll as a starting character and, through manipulation of rules, could make the equivalent of a walking, indestructible artillery platform, through various methods. Trolls were known for extremely high combat statistics (Body and Strength) which allowed players to abuse the system in ways it wasn't designed for.

Originally from Wikipedia - Shadowrun

* * *

The above article was removed from Wikipedia on 2007 January 22 at 13:57 by an editor called Max Overload. I considered it to be the most humorous part of the article, so I am sad to see it disappear (especially at the hand of an editor who has made some controversial edits). Those of us who have played Shadowrun with Enkidu will recognize his troll character in that description, and that's why I have decided to preserve that part of the article here.

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Keywords: Shadowrun Trolls Theoretical Troll Wikipedia Humor RPGs

Popular Word of the Moment: Surge

2007-02-10T18:58:00.000-05:00

Has anyone noticed the prevalence of the work surge in our news stories lately?

President Bush keeps talking about a troop surge. Sports teams are reported to surge ahead when they surpass the opposing team. Commodities prices surge up when there is a dramatic increase. Those are just a few examples. Anyone remember when the only surges were power surges?

I don't know about you, but the tendency of different branches of the media to parrot each other is disturbingly suggestive that not a lot of original thinking is going on.

Perhaps more disturbing, perhaps someone with the power to influence all major media outlets wants the word surge to be in our heads. If that's the case, we need to be asking why.

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Tags: News Media Words Surge Repetition Leading Following Mind Control Propaganda

Mars Rover is Still Going Strong

2007-01-05T15:40:00.000-05:00

Some good news to start off the year, the Spirit rover is still roving the red planet after three years, and still sending us pictures. Not bad at all. Hopefully we will be able to colonize that planet in a few years. It will be nice to have somewhere to go to escape all of the totalitarians who want to enslave us and all of the religious fanatics who want to blow us up.

Spirit rover starts unprecedented fourth year on Mars

A New Year is Upon Us

2006-12-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

I did not accomplish nearly as much as I should have last year. I will do more in 2007.

PSA: Ulli Lommel's Black Dahlia is Filth in Deceptive Packaging

2006-11-05T12:45:00.000-05:00

Ulli Lommel's (whoever that is) Black Dahlia is not, I repeat not the same thing as Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, starring Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson. The casual movie purchaser can however be fooled into thinking that it is due to the packaging making it look like a movie about the Black Dahlia. The publication date is 2006 and there is nothing on the cover to let a purchaser know overtly that this is not the movie they think it is (keep in mind that the casual purchaser might not know who the director of the theatrical version is, or who acted in it). It also didn't help that we didn't see this on the shelves until after the movie left theatres; and contrary to the naysayers, I have seen DVD releases following quickly on the heels of the movie leaving theatres (for example, I am fairly certain I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 still in our local theatre on November 2nd and it is slated for DVD release on December 5th).

I would say that this is the worst movie I've ever seen, but I didn't actually sit through more than ten minutes -- so Lord of Illusions still holds that dubious honor. Only an effete, condescending, snob of a film student with a desensitized palate could enjoy this dross. I will be trying to get my girlfriend's money back from Wal Mart, or making a huge stink about it if I can't. The only reason people are buying this offal is because they think it is De Palma's film -- the packaging looks similar to what one might expect, it was released in 2006, and it costs $19.99, which is $19.98 more than this filth is worth.

The production values are low (looking lower, actually, than a movie my class made in middle school). The beginning is disjointed and difficult to make sense of. When you see a girl performing some sort of black magic is the point at which you are absolutely sure (if you weren't already) that this is not the move you thought you were watching (although I was tipped off by all of the straight to DVD previews before the "movie").

I now know that if I ever see any movie with Ulli Lommel's name on it, it will be a ripoff of obscene proportions -- though it will be amusing to see if a Ulli Lommel's The Pirates of the Caribbean is released on November 27th.

Shame on Wal Mart and Blockbuster for putting this on their shelves without some sort of warning. Even Wierd Al's album, Alapalooza, carried a warning that it was not the Jurassic Park soundtrack, despite it being obvious to anyone glancing at the title (the cover art strongly resembled the Jurassic Park cover art). To not have some sort of sign or sticker warning casual customers amounts to, at the very least, negligence. If the omission was intentional, it could be fraud in the inducement (bait & switch).

Anyone who has bought this in error should keep their receipts (my girlfriend's was thrown out by a roommate) and look into filing some sort of class action against Wal Mart, Blockbuster, Lionsgate, and/or Ulli Lommel for foisting this bill of goods upon an unsuspecting public. The playing time is 81 minutes... that, taken with the overall quality and production values, makes a price-sticker of $19.99 nonsensical.

One of the better reviews I've seen of this so-called movie can be found here. The reviewer, Mark Finn, sums up the reaction to this "movie" quite efficiently with his last sentence: "Just because someone has the money to make a movie is no excuse to actually give it a try. Student filmmaking is better than this. If I ever meet this guy in person, I'm going to break his hands so that he can never type or hold a camera."

A blog called Inevitable Disasters wrote a good review of this film that can be found here.

Another blog called Flick Notes has an accurate review of this bilge here. The only thing they got wrong was to say that this rubbish was released in 2005 instead of 2006.

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Tags: Black Dahlia The Black Dahlia Lommel Ulli Lommel Ulli Lommel's Black Dahlia Deceptive Marketing Deceptive Packaging Ripoff Rip Off Movies Movie Reviews DVD Releases Consumer Alerts Consumer Warnings Public Service Announcement Public Service Announcements PSA Wal Mart Blockbuster

Bank of America Assaults the Little Guy

2006-10-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

I heard recently that Bank of America had someone arrested for attempting to cash a bad check. The thing is that he had asked them about the check before he cashed it. They didn't tell him anything was out of the ordinary. Nice guys, huh? I was thinking of switching to Bank of America, now I wouldn't dream of it. I probably wouldn't accept checks from Bank of America anymore, either... If they will not volunteer information that a check is fraudulaent, how can you ever know you are passing bad paper to them before they have you arrested? The police are not blameless in this story either... they had to decided that arresting this guy was an appropriate act. Given that the case was dismissed on the facts alone, I am willing to postulate that the police reasonably ought to have known that the guy was not a criminal.

Here's a link to the article I wrote for Wikipedia.

The origanal news story can be found here.

Here are what other Bloggers are saying:

Bank of America Has Bad Check Recipient Arrested; SFPD Complicit

Bank of America’s liability "protection" costs them $14 million and counting

Bank of America Sucks

Bad check lands craigslist seller in jail

Bank of America sends Matthew Shinnick to jail

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Tags: Bank of America BofA BOA Matthew Shinnick

Arrr, matey... It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day

2006-09-19T17:58:00.000-05:00

Aye, greetin's. Aye.

Ahoy, tis' International Talk Like a Pirate Day today, and in honor o' that, I have determined that my true pirate name is:

My pirate name is:

Captain Sam Cash

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Aye, me parrot concurs.

Does Tom Cruise's Baby, Suri look a little... different... to anyone?

2006-09-06T13:02:00.000-05:00

Mapother has produced offspring. Whether this is good or bad in the long run depends on Mapother's nature. If he is , in fact, some sort of demon, this could be bad. And look at these pictures of Suri. What three-month-old Anglo-Celtic child can you think of that has a full head of dark hair? I can think of only one... and his pediatrician -- one of many, many years of experience -- was quite... unsettled. As I am. I am not used to seeing a baby with such dark hair. It looks unnatural.

Hat tip to Dlisted for the pictures.

If you didn't' know, Tom Cruise's full name sounds slightly more eldritch: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has been Killed

2006-09-04T04:25:00.000-05:00

It was not a giant crocodile. Nor was it a poisonous snake. It was the comparatively harmless stingray. The barb went right through his heart. There was no chance of survival. This is just not right.

There weren't many better human beings alive than Steve Irwin and I will miss him. I thought he was invincible. I thought he was magic. I wish he was. His loss diminishes our capital as a race -- he didn't have a mean bone in his body and we need more of him, not less.

Here're some news stories:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20355112-601,00.html

Stephen Robert Irwin
February 22, 1962 - September 4, 2006
Rest In Peace, Crocodile Hunter.

Religion: More and More the Problem, not the Solution

2006-08-31T09:51:00.000-05:00

Does it bother you that the world's two largest religions are concerned with the end of the world? A lot of Christians I know are obsessed to the point that they don't seem to care about trying to make this life better. In fact, it is wrong not to want people to suffer, almost. If you aren't suffering, that means Satan doesn't see you as a threat, you see. A lot of Christians believe that in the end times, they will be "beamed up" by Christ during an event known as the Rapture -- which doesn't actually have basis in scripture. After that, life will be just great for them. Because of this, a lot of Christians 1.) don't care about making the Earth a nice place to live and 2.) actually would like to hasten its destruction so they can be beamed -- err, I mean "raptured" -- up.

Muslims also believe in the apocalypse. And they apparently would like to convert or kill everyone who is not a Muslim (Islamic world view divides the world into two houses: the House of Islam, or the converted; and the House of War, or those not yet converted).

Christianity, as practiced by many, is defective. Islam, as practiced by many, is genocidal. We need a new way. Or perhaps an old one. Anyone ever read the Tao De Ching?

When Clowns Attack...

2006-07-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well, this is disturbing:

For several nights last month, a group of thugs with black hooded sweat shirts pulled tight over their heads, including at least one in "angry" clown makeup, terrorized visitors to Pierce County's Fort Steilacoom Park, police say.

The group cried "woo, woo, Juggalo" as they assaulted park visitors with a machete and fists. They stole cellphones, cash and wallets and even threatened to cut their victims' heads off, according to court documents. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003121207_insaneclowns12m.html

In my opinion, violent clowns should be responded to with all the force you can bring to bear. The tendency in this society to question whether it is okay for people to defend themselves is emboldening predatory clowns.

For further reading, here are some true stories of evil clowns.

Where is My Rain?

2006-06-22T17:25:00.000-05:00

Hurricane season started so well, but I haven't seen any rain in a week. I want more.

Utnapishtim is Ready

2006-06-20T00:33:00.000-05:00

I am ready to begin. Now, if only I had something to discuss...

The Da Vinci Code

2006-06-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

Humbaba and I saw The Da Vinci Code on opening night. Good movie. I have one question for Christians who are denouncing it:

Is Christian faith so weak that all of Christ's teachings could be negated if it turned out that he had been married to Mary Magdalene?

I don't think so, but then, I am of the opinion that things are not true because Christ said them -- rather that Christ said things because they are true.

A Little Clarification

2006-05-06T02:12:00.000-05:00

For the record, those incidents that Humbaba and Urshanabi refer to occured during my more destructive youth. I assure you that I am more mellow now.

This is a test

2006-04-25T17:40:00.000-05:00

Nothing in particular to say; I'm just seeing how this blogging stuff works. By the way, you ought not complain so much, Urshanabi. Gilgamesh only wrecked your boat's propulsion system. He actually killed me, then cut down my cedar trees. That still makes me angry. That stupid electric fence I had up didn't even slow him down.

Welcome

2006-04-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

That is all. I will say more later. Someone please, please keep Gilgamesh away from my ferry. I just got it fixed.