Alice in Exurbia

DNA Art by DNA 11 | Your DNA as artwork on canvas

2009-01-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

DNA Art by DNA 11 | Your DNA as artwork on canvas

During The Olympics

2008-08-16T03:15:00.000-07:00

1. Unlike any other media in the world - or the International Olympic Committee for that matter - the US lists its medal tallies by total medals won. This keeps them in front of China. For once The New York Times, Fox News and the US Olympic broadcaster NBC all agree on something. Even the US Olympic Committee site defaults to the wisdom of NBC.

Although both Australia and France score better with the US system, neither The Sydney Morning Herald nor France2 use it.

In an on-line article We're No. 1: U.S., China Chase Top Spot NBC admits to the difference, adding the feel-good diplomacy of:

"I think China will win the golds and the US will win the overall medal count and it will be a nice compromise, leaving everyone feeling good about the Olympics and both nations able to say they won," says Terry Rhoads, of Zou Marketing, a Shanghai-based sports consultancy.

2. An editorial in Asahi (63 Years After The War) is relieved that as the Olympics are held over the anniversary of the end of World War TWO that there has not been anti-Japanese feelings from the Chinese spectators. This was especially noticed when the Japanese anthem was played.

3. As August 13 is the anniversary of the the building of the Berlin Wall, Deutsche-Welle (no visible medal tally) has photos of Der Mauer today including the delightful irony that parts of it are fenced off to protect it.

4. Serbian B92 has no apparent Olympics news but does have a poll asking how the situation in South Ossetia will effect feelings about Kosovo.

B92 are often ahead of the game.

As of today, 68 of 190 had said it would be favorable (sic) for Belgrade.
('sic' refers to US spelling of 'favourable' - not the poll result.)

4. Back to feel-good diplomacy: The Asia Times writes of the significance (symbolism) of China and the US opening mutual embassies at this time:

Despite his insistence that his presence in Beijing is purely linked to sport, the American president's schedule included several non-Olympics related events. Among these was the inauguration of the new American Embassy in the Chinese capital.

The $434 million building is a sprawling glass and chrome structure spread over 500,000 square feet. It is the second-largest US embassy in the world, after Iraq, and according to Clark T Randt Jr, the US ambassador to China, is a symbol of "the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century".

Significantly, the inauguration of the building came only a week after Chinese officials opened their own giant embassy in Washington DC, which, at 250,000 square feet, is the biggest embassy in the US capital.

5. And of course, NBC's "expert on all things China" (Ni hao from the Bird's Nest) - Joshua Ramo.

Ken Silverstein reports in Harpers (NBC’s Olympics, Brought to You By Henry Kissinger) that NBC have neglected to point out he works in the Beijing office of Henry Kissinger's consulting firm.

Zhou Enlai listens on as Chairman Mao gives advice to Henry Kissinger, predicting that Kissinger, Alexander Haig and Brent Scowcroft wil all have consulting firms in China in the future. Imagine that. Mao and Kissinger later agreed to disagree on the Olympic medal tally.

Thatcher's legacy

2008-08-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Reporting on the discussion about whether Margaret Thatcher should receive a state funeral is focused on the "venom" of letters to The Guardian.

Most quoted seems to be:

Thatcher should only be allowed a state funeral if the contract is put out to compulsory competitive tender and awarded to the lowest bidder. Any offers?
Rob Watling
Nottingham

Mail Online (The Daily Mail) asked Why is the Left so full of hate for Lady Thatcher?

Nil nisi bonum de mortuis dicere...
...but she is not yet dead.

The Guardian also reported that:

...plans for a formal procession could be jeopardised by a lack of troops to line the route as the armed forces were overstretched in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sykpe and Reporters Without Borders’ advice to foreign journalists facing Internet censorship

2008-07-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

Back in April 2006, Niklas Zennström, Skype’s chief executive, told The Financial Times (Skype says texts are censored by China) in an interview about Skype's joint venture partner in China, Tom Online:

“Tom had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing,” said Mr Zennström. “Those are the regulations.”

He claimed that compliance with Chinese censorship was no different from obeying rules governing business in western countries. China, along with the US and Germany, is one of Skype’s three biggest markets in terms of active users of its free telephony service, which routes encrypted calls between computers via the internet.

The advice to foreign reporters posted by Reporters Without Borders can be found at Reporters sans frontières - Beijing Games 2008. The advice itself, which includes a recommendation not to use the Chinese version of Skype and how to access blocked websites via proxies, gives some indication of what reporters are up against getting information within, into and out of the PRC. Here are the first three:

Reporters Without Borders therefore offers the following practical advice to foreign journalists to help them cover the human rights situation in China.

1. Install programmes on your computer that will help you to circumvent firewalls and protect your communications. Before going to China, you should install Tor (www.torproject.org/index.html.en), Psiphon (http://psiphon.civisec.org/) or Proxify (https://proxify.com/). The international version of Skype is recommended, rather than the one available in China, which is not secure. It is also advisable to encrypt emails with PGP (http://www.pgpi.org). More information is available in the Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents: http://www.rsf.org./article.php3?id_article=26187

2. Protect your computer against Trojan viruses and ensure that it is password-protected. Do not leave your equipment and contact lists in an accessible condition in a hotel room.

3. When making phone calls or sending emails, bear in mind that there is no guarantee of confidentiality. Use several SIM cards, especially when contacting “sensitive” people.

There were a number of news reports late 2007 about the German police trying to hack / eavesdrop on Skype. Also reports that the Austrian Police have alluded to a backdoor into Skype. The German solution seems to be to install Trojans on computers remotely. According to Reuters ( Skype encryption stumps German police) back in November 2007:

"The encryption with Skype telephone software ... creates grave difficulties for us," Joerg Ziercke, president of Germany's Federal Police Office (BKA) told reporters at an annual gathering of security and law enforcement officials. "We can't decipher it. That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance -- that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted."... Ziercke said there was a vital need for German law enforcement agencies to have the ability to conduct on-line searches of computer hard drives of suspected terrorists using "Trojan horse" spyware.

The computer security industry must not be happy about the development of what is variously called "white-hat malware", "remote forensic software" or "a law enforcement Trojan". How do you design anti-virus software that customers will trust if it has to - in agreement with various Governments - allow the "white-hats" in? And who chooses or manipulates which "good guys" to let in: US, German, Chinese, Nigerian?

Stories about Skype in China began with "filtering" (censoring) certain words and terms. But to describe the Chinese Skype as "not secure" implies a little more. It is suspected that the Chinese Skype comes with a Trojan pre-fitted.

Rules in Cyberspace

2008-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Cyberethics For Kids

The US Department of Justice has a site for kids on 'Cyberethics". It includes, after warnings about the consequences of hacking, this common-sense admonition:

"The best way to stay out of trouble with computers is to imagine before you do something how you'd feel if someone did it to you. You wouldn't like it if someone opened your mail or looked into your bedroom windows, and if you wouldn't do this either, don't hack into computers."

(I like the way the section is called You Can Get in Real Trouble for Hacking! on the main page and "reckless" in the URL address.)

So, here are links to this year's main stories about what is being called "Main Core" and it's probable history in the Department of Justice's use (and massive copyright infringement) of the Inslaw's PROMIS software:

Wall Street Journal: NSA's Domestic Spying Grows  As Agency Sweeps Up Data

Salon.com: Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power

Radar: The Last Roundup

The DOJ 'Cyberethics - Hacking' page concludes with:

"If you like computers, don't use your brains to hack systems, invade other people's privacy, and take away their networks. Hacking can get you in a whole lot more trouble than you think and is a completely creepy thing to do. If you're so smart, use that computer to do great things!"

Maybe that was behind the 2004 hospital room showdown between Ashcroft and Gonzales.

But talking about "creepy", remember this DARPA/DOD half-way house between PROMIS and MAIN CORE:

Someone designed this logo. Someone thought it was a good idea. Someone approved it. Imagine that.

The Fake Wife

2008-07-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

With this fake wife, I divorce thee (Reuters)

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - An Indian man who took an impersonator to court to get a divorce faces legal action after his real wife found out, lawyers said Friday.

Sanjib Saha presented a woman as his wife in a lower court in the eastern city of Kolkata this month. Both said they sought a mutual divorce, something the court granted immediately.

Saha's real wife was then asked to leave the marital home. She has since appealed the ruling at a higher court, charged her husband with cheating and the original divorce was suspended.

"The case exposed the legal loopholes in our system," Kaushik Chanda, lawyer of Saha's real wife, said.

(Reporting by Sujoy Dhar, Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Miral Fahmy)

Dr. Dragan David Dabić

2008-07-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Dr. Dragan Dabic - Neuropsihijatar i Bioenergeticar - Neuropsychiatry, Alternative Medicine and Energy, Eastern Meditation, Yoga, Spiritual Cleansing, Chinese Medicine, Medicinal Herbs and Macrobiotic Diet

Toward the end of Dr. Dragan David Dabić's web page (aka Radovan Karadžić) is a list of his favourite ancient chinese sayings. The last one is, perhaps, a threat about not revealing his identity:

- Onaj koji proda roda svoga, neka dve rake iskopa.

- The one who gives up his own, shall dig two graves.

G8 Summit Discusses Food Crisis

2008-07-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

Just two of the 19 dishes on the dinner menu at the G8 food shortages summit - The Guardian

Getty Images

Using CCTV Cameras to listen

2008-06-27T00:26:00.000-07:00

PC Pro: News: AI could power next-gen CCTV cameras

8 degrees of advertising separation

2006-12-12T02:35:00.000-08:00

So, I think the story goes something like this:

There's a band called The Bastard Fairies.

On their website they offer their latest songs for free download, asking all to copy and pass them on to spread the word about their band.

The Bastard Fairies make a video called "The Coolest 8 Year Old In The World Talks About O'Reilly" and posts it on YouTube on November 1.

The band is credited at the end of the clip. On their MySpaceMusic Blog, comments refer to the clip as "the add". It's easier to find (new) bands on YouTube than it is on MySpaceMusic.

"So I was watching Oprah the other day and that idiot Bill O'Reilly was on the show. He was taking the common view that violence today comes from kids like me playing video games and listening to rock music. Well let me remind you that violence in society is nothing new and violence in music is nothing new either. How about 'Onward Christian Soldiers' and 'Ten Little Indians' for example."

Quick search of the Oprah site to find:

"Bill O'Reilly: You know, we have our military fighting for our country overseas. We at home have to fight for our country... What are the kids listening to now? Ho's. Glocks. Drugs. We've come a long way, haven't we? … These are the kids at 9, 10 …They know all about it. There's no more Temptations. They're obsolete. How about movies? What did we go to see? We went to see The Blob. Steve McQueen running around going, "There's the blob." We had a lot of laughs. Popcorn. Now they have a chainsaw guy cutting off people's arms. That's what kids are seeing. Oh, we've come a long way, haven't we? This country is under siege."

(Ummm... didn't the generation who made and watched 'The Blob' invent the internet? Aren't they the ones who own all those entertainment and news companies? Oh, never mind...)

Over a month later as the clip's hits soared, Fox News' Impact Segment with Bill O'Reilly does a story on the clip under the banners "The Rise Of The Machines" and "Internet Abuse?".

O'Reilly: "This little girl was posted saying vile things. We're not going to publicise the site or the adults behind it - we know who they are. But you need to know what's going on."

Fox edited out the reference to O'Reilly and invited a guest (Boston Child Advocate and Attorney, Wendy Murphy) to damn the parents of this child and to talk about it as "child abuse". He: "This child is being raised by nuts." She: "A child of that age has no idea what she is saying" (an odd thing for an advocate for children in abuse cases to say). Although it's not included in the YouTube clip, O'Reilly went on to say that Social Services should be brought in to investigate the parents as "simply not suitable to raise the child".

BTW, this time last year, O'Reilly and Murphy were criticised for mis-representing the American Civil Liberties Union's position in a trial case: The ACLU were arguing for the same sentences for heterosexual and homosexual cases involving sex with teenagers. Murphy described their view as "Yeah, you gotta love it when they're waving the flag of constitutional rights around for kids so they can have sex with adults."

Anyway, The Bastard Fairies at some time (added?) posted a comment with the clip:

"OFFICIAL STATEMENT: THIS VIDEO FEATURES A TALENTED YOUNG ACTRESS PLAYING A FICTITIOUS CHARACTER. IT IS A COMMERCIAL FOR THE BAND 'THE BASTARD FAIRIES' AND DIRECTED BY AN AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM MAKING TEAM."

Wendy Murphy herself once said: ""What happened to the idea that the press should disclose all the facts because only the fullest plate of information leads to the truth? What happened to the principle that, in the marketplace of ideas, everyone gets a voice, however meek?"

By December 10 the clip of the 8 year old had rocketed up the Viral Videos Top Viewed list (where you can track where videos were first posted and by whom). By December 12 it has almost 730,000 views on YouTube, 8500 comments (for and against - quite a heated debate - ages unknown) and around 11 video responses, including Air America Radio who themselves posted a recorded excerpt of The Stephanie Miller Show laughing at O'Reilly's comments over still photographs - how to get radio onto YouTube. Miller doesn't mention The Bastard Fairies and so really ends up just playing in O'Reilly's yard.

Meanwhile, it appears that someone at Fox was that week trawling the same internet sites that O'Reilly complained about (where they came across the "8 Year Old") and found on LiveLeak (of all the possible stories which included North Korean anti-american clips, Madonna demonstrating a blow job with a bottle, and movies from troops in Iraq) a clip of a distressed father who had been separated from his son for 12 years trying to commit suicide by setting himself on fire during a discussion about father's rights on live TV in Italy (link). Different upload at YouTube here.

Fox did a short "shock and amazement and watch this" story about it (link - "You talk about making a statement!"), used the LiveLeak footage (watermark top left corner) and re-wrote the LiveLeak comment as their own voice-over. Ok - they may have sought out the original ANSA news service report, but either way they got it wrong. He had been re-united with his son after a 12 year separation. Fox said he was protesting the separation from his son; ANSA said it was to call attention to dads unable to see their children.

So in this join-the-dots about how to get exposure in the media and on the net, I have contributed mentions and links to at least eight companies and organisations. The name of the Italian man is Nicola De Martino.

And the same weekend that I find the O'Reilly clip, I read in the 'Escapes' section of the New York Times (on-line) the headline Times Sq. Ads Spread Via Tourists’ Cameras - about how advertisers have discovered the potential of our postings on the net to spread their words and images. Their example: Times Square, New York - not just all those tourist photos of walls of advertising but staging events within Times Square that get photographed and uploaded to blogs and Flickr and such.

Hey! I've done that too.... October, 2001. The news banner announced the start of bombing Afghanistan. I took a picture.

Same as this post...

...without the bombs....

Factoring your photos and vids into advertising campaigns

2006-12-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

Is this smart or insidious? The New York Times has a story (Times Sq. Ads Spread Via Tourists’ Cameras) about all those neon signs that end up in your photo albums.

As a result of the growing popularity of consumer-generated pictures, videos and e-mail messages on Internet sites like YouTube and Myspace, advertisers are getting consumers to essentially do their jobs for them... spreading advertisers’ messages well beyond Manhattan, using their cell phones and video cameras as they walk through the marketing crossroads of the world.

Maybe time for William Gibson to update Raymond Chandler:

I smelled Los Angeles before I got to it. It smelled stale and like a living room that had been closed too long. But the coloured lights fooled you. The lights were wonderful. There ought to be a monument to the man who invented neon lights. Fifteen stories high, solid marble. There’s a boy who really made something out of nothing. (The Little Sister)

Two Heart Attacks

2006-12-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

The current President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, and her mother were tortured under Pinochet's regime. Her father, an Air Force General under Allende, died of a heart attack as a result of torture.
Details and biog at Website of the President of Chile

"El Gobierno de la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet ha decidido que el general (R) Augusto Pinochet no tenga funerales de Estado y que sólo sea sepultado con los honores militares correspondientes a su condición de ex comandante en jefe del Ejército." (The Government of President Michelle Bachelet has decided that General (R) Augusto Pinochet will not have a state funeral and that he will only be buried with the military honors corresponding to his rank of ex-Army Commander-in-Chief)
www.chile.com

"Last night Baroness Thatcher was said to be “greatly saddened” by General Pinochet’s death. A spokesman said that she would be sending her “deepest condolences” to his family."
TimesOnLine - Dec 11, 2006

How to knit a binary scarf

2006-12-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

Instructions

Spy Museum Gift Shop

2006-12-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Spy Museum Gift Shop

An Ex-Spy’s Guide to Spy Museums - The New York Times

Stasi Museum - Leipzig - The one described in Anna Funder's STASILAND

The CIA Homepage for Kids

Historically-demonstrative Hall of Federal Service of Security of Russia (former name - the Chekist Hall of KGB of the USSR)

Fly Me To The Moon

2006-12-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

Click on image to enlarge

From the Wooster Collective site:

Nico woke up in his flat in Split Croatia. On his closet door was a map created by his girlfriend, Andrea. The map showed different places for Nico to look as his took his usual route from his apartment to the academy where he studies.

What Nico found was an elaborate love poem done on the streets of Split by Andrea. She had put up stencils, paint, aerosol, collage wheat pastes etc. with last piece reading.... "i love you".

Original Post

Transport of a child by Swarm-bots

2006-12-04T04:25:00.001-08:00

The Swarm-bots website has more videos - or search "swarm-bots" on YouTube.

The Information Factories

2006-12-03T03:02:00.000-08:00

"A power company could give away PCs and make a substantial profit selling power."
Urs Hölzle, Google

The Information Factories - Wired - October 2006

Iraqi Children Chase The Water Bottle

2006-12-03T00:46:00.001-08:00

How not to win a war.

Osama Family Guy

2006-12-03T00:26:00.001-08:00