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MonthDecember 2007

Vanity Fair coverage of the deaths of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake

December 21, 2007 /

Blake wrote of how he and Duncan had been ‘harassed here to the point of absurdity’ by people who were so ‘paranoid’ that it made him ‘laugh.’ He said that they had been ‘defamed by crazy Scientologists,’ threatened and followed by ‘their thugs.’ (The Church of Scientology has denied any knowledge of the couple.) He wrote of how New York was starting to seem like the place for them to be, a place where they could speak ‘freely’ to ‘exceptional people’ and get their projects started.

Meanwhile, Hollywood, Blake said, was ‘under a pathetic right-wing invasion’ by the Bush administration and ‘extremist religious groups.’ He mentioned a couple of media companies with obvious Republican leanings. And then he said, ‘They are even running ads on the Cartoon Network recruiting people to be in the CIA!’

He spoke of how he was beginning to realize that his work had the ‘power to influence’ a global audience without the need for ‘corporate backing.’ ‘I am starting to see this as a very powerful thing,’ he said. ‘Almost miraculous. Best, J.B.’

Full Story: Vanity Fair.

(via Robot Wisdom).

Previous coverage.

More info: Rigorous Intuition. (Starting with July 24th entry).

Podcast round-up

December 21, 2007 /

Halfcase episode 8.

Phase II: Wes Unruh interview.

The G-Spot episode 20 Sean Marsden interview, and more.

Plus Ultra: Joel Gilbert, writer and director of Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran, and the Revolt of Islam.

Point of Inquiry: Richard Dawkins – Science and the New Atheism.

Point of Inquiry: Student Freethought Leaders Speak Out.

The Viking Youth: How to Cook a Hippie.

Someday You Will Be Dead.

Occult of Personality: An Inquiry Into Suppressed Information.

AT&T Unveils Managed RFID Service for School Systems

December 21, 2007 /

“Telecommunications giant AT&T expanded its portfolio of RFID offerings last week with a managed service for schools. The solution comprises AT&T’s cellular network, RFID asset tracking and a global positioning system (GPS) technology, and can be packaged in a variety of applications. These include helping schools track and manage their fleets of buses, track bus-riding students, automate attendance procedures and lunch payments, and track mobile computers and other assets within the school.

Created for educational institutions (kindergarten through grade 12), the service includes designing, deploying and managing the solutions. Depending on the school system’s needs, AT&T will help determine the most appropriate technologies, such as active WiFi-based tags for tracking equipment, or ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags incorporated into student and faculty badges for automated attendance procedures, or for ensuring students safely get on and off buses.”

(via RFID Journal)

Study Examines Role of Tattoos in Construction of Personal Identity

December 20, 2007 /

“Marketing experts know that consumers use products to help construct personal identity. When a person decides to purchase a Hummer rather than a Prius, for instance, that person is also buying a certain lifestyle or attitude. And with so many products to choose from, it is easy to change one’s identity by simply purchasing different products.

But what about tattoos? For marketing researchers, tattoos present interesting questions because unlike clothes, jewelry, cars and even houses, tattoos do not change. They are permanent, infinitely customized and essentially immutable products. A University of Arkansas researcher says people use tattoos as a way to find meaning, permanence and stability – and thus a coherent identity – in an increasingly complex and fragmented world. “

(via Physorg)

At $1 per Watt, the iTunes of Solar Energy Has Arrived

December 20, 2007 /

“A Silicon Valley start-up called Nanosolar shipped its first solar panels — priced at $1 a watt. That’s the price at which solar energy gets cheaper than coal. Curious that this story is not on every front page.

Still, to commemorate the achievement, Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen (pictured) is reserving the first three commercially-viable panels. One is staying on display at company HQ; one has been donated to San Jose’s Tech Museum of Innovation. And the other is on sale at ebay.

Starting price? 99 cents.”

(via SolveClimate)

(Nanosolar)

links for 2007-12-19

December 19, 2007 /

Ontological Terrorism for the Holidays

December 19, 2007 /

My latest Spliced column:

Christmas is always a good time of year for ontological terrorism. For example, “The psychedelic secrets of Santa Claus” by Dana Larsen from Cannibus Culture Magazine is one of my favorite links to spread around Christmas time. Larsen makes the case that though Santa Claus is now a symbol of our annual collective consumer-orgy, he may originally have been inspired by amanita muscaria mushroom eating shamans. That the very same politicians that enforce and promote the war on drugs tend to also whole heartily endorse a religious figure birthed of ancient drug culture amuses me to no end. Larsen’s idea, apparently taken from Jonathan Ott, might not pass skeptics’ muster. But most, if not all, of Christmas traditions stem from pagan practices.

Full Story: Alterati.

F.C.C. Reshapes Rules Limiting Media Industry

December 19, 2007 /

“The F.C.C. approved two new rules on Tuesday that are likely to reshape the nation’s media landscape by setting new parameters for the size and scope of the largest news and cable companies. One rule would tighten the reins on the cable television industry. By stipulating that no one company can control more than 30 percent of the market, the rule introduces fresh regulation to an industry where there has been little of it, angering both the cable industry and Republican commissioners, who favor a free-market approach. The other rule, which gives owners of newspapers more leeway to buy radio and television stations in the largest cities, is a step in the direction of deregulation. It is intended to help the newspaper industry, which is suffering from dwindling advertising revenue, and to recognize that the historical conditions that gave rise to cross-ownership restrictions have changed, now that more news sources are available on the Internet and cable television.

Under the new rule, a company can own both a newspaper and either a television or radio station in those markets as long as there remain at least eight other independent sources of news. If it is a television station, the rule requires that it cannot be one of the top four.”

(via The New York Times)

Student Faked Threats, and Inflicted Injuries on Himself For Pro-Chastity Cause

December 19, 2007 /

“Francisco Nava ’09 said his falsification of threatening emails to prominent campus conservatives and subsequent assault on himself stemmed from a belief that his actions would draw attention to the pro-chastity cause, attendees at a Monday-evening meeting said early Tuesday morning. The gathering included Nava, Butler College administrators and fellow Anscombe Society members. During the meeting, Nava also reportedly said he was the only person responsible for sending threatening emails to himself three other Anscombe members and noted conservative professor Robert George and had no assistance in fabricating the alleged Friday-evening assault on him. Additionally, he described how he inflicted upon himself the injuries he had claimed resulted from the attack.

“He said he pummeled his face; he didn’t say what with. He scraped his head against a brick wall [and] broke the bottle … over his head,” Anscombe president Kevin Staley-Joyce ’09 said, referring to a glass Orangina bottle with which Nava had initially said his assailants beat him during the attack. “It certainly was enough to merit treatment by doctors,” Staley-Joyce added.”

(via The Daily Princetonian)

Sending and Searching for Interstellar Messages

December 18, 2007 /

Received a link from Mr. Zaitsev’s comment on the “Who Speaks For Earth” post. Since it’s no longer on this page I thought I’d post the link to his earlier paper for those who would like to read it.

“There is a close interrelation between Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). For example, the answers to the questions “Where to search” and “Where to send” are equivalent, in that both require an identical selection from the same target star lists. Similar considerations lead to a strategy of time synchronization between sending and searching. Both SETI and METI use large reflectors. The concept of “magic frequencies” may be applicable to both SETI and METI. Efforts to understand an alien civilization’s Interstellar Messages (IMs), and efforts to compose our own IMs so they will be easily understood by unfamiliar Extraterrestrials, are mutually complementary. Furthermore, the METI-question: “How can we benefit from sending IMs, if a response may come only thousands of years later?” begs an equivalent SETI-question: “How can we benefit from searching, if it is impossible now to perceive the motivations and feelings of those who may have sent messages in the distant past?” A joint consideration of the theoretical and the practical aspects of both sending and searching for IMs, in the framework of a unified, disciplined scientific approach, can be quite fruitful. We seek to resolve the cultural disconnect between those who advocate sending interstellar messages, and others who anathematize those who would transmit.”

(Sending and Searching for Interstellar Messages)

(Link to other papers written by Alexander Zaitsev)

(Thanks to Alexander Zaitsev!)

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