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MonthJune 2009

Boy chosen by Dalai Lama turns back on Buddhist order

June 5, 2009 /

As a toddler, he was put on a throne and worshipped by monks who treated him like a god. But the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader has caused consternation – and some embarrassment – for Tibetan Buddhists by turning his back on the order that had such high hopes for him.
[…]

According to the foundation biography, another leader suspected Torres was the reincarnation of the recently deceased Lama Yeshe when he was only five months old. In 1986, at 14 months, his parents took him to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. The toddler was chosen out of nine other candidates and eventually “enthroned”.

Guardian: Boy chosen by Dalai Lama turns back on Buddhist order

(via OVO)

See also: The Shadow of the Dalai Lama.

Chemical gel could be used for non-electronic robots and more

June 5, 2009 /

It seems like electronics-free robots is only the tip of the iceberg:

A chemical gel that can walk like an inchworm, or looper caterpillar has been demonstrated in a Japanese robotics lab.

The video above shows the material in action. It was created in the Shuji Hashimoto applied physics laboratory at Waseda University, Tokyo.

Shingo Maeda and colleagues made the colour-changing, motile gel by combining polymers that change in size depending on their chemical environment. This is based on an oscillating chemical reaction called the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The result is an autonomous material that moves without electronic stimulation.

The BZ reaction is one of a class of chemical systems in which the concentration of one or more compounds periodically increases and decreases. As well as producing stunning patterns (video), it can even be used to perform calculations using a dish containing the pulsing patterns as a chemical brain.

New Scientist: Chemical ‘caterpillar’ points to electronics-free robots

(via Grinding)

Competing Against Free

June 5, 2009 /

Under the circumstances, I think it may prove very difficult for commerce-oriented enterprises to succeed over the long term. Someplace like a dry cleaner is able to make money because it doesn’t need to worry about being undercut by competitors who aren’t trying to earn a profit. If for some reason Bill Gates decided to pour $5 billion into a foundation dedicated to offering not-for-profit dry cleaning services to Washington, DC then the existing dry cleaners would be in huge trouble. They don’t have that problem because nobody wants to run non-profit dry cleaners. But lots of people want to write about political issues for reasons that have nothing to do with profit-maximization. And my sense is that organizations are increasingly doing this. CAP/AF was a think tank early adopter in terms of building robust in-house new media capacity, but to the best of my knowledge just about every think tank and advocacy shop in town would like to get in on the action. And ultimately, a proliferation of content that’s not supposed to make money is going to make it even harder than it already is for those trying to make profits to do so.

Think Progress

(via Jay Rosen)

See also: Kevin Kelly’s article The New Socialism.

One hundred years since the death of Friedrich Nietzsche: a review of his ideas and influence

June 5, 2009 /

World Socialist Web Site’s Nietzsche retrospective from 2000:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

(Thanks Nick Hate)

A very good set of essays, if unfair to Nietzsche’s work as a whole. The third part is the weakest. Steinberg obviously has an axe to grind with the post-structuralists et al. and that’s fine. But it’s perfectly reasonable to agree with some things a philosopher wrote and disagree with others. Nietzsche was clearly a reactionary, but does he offer nothing of worth?

Apologists for Nietzsche seek to distance him from the policy and activities of the Nazis. But is Nietzsche’s position here so remote from Adolph Hitler’s entreaty, in an internal NSDAP memo of 1922, for the: “most uncompromising and brutal determination to destroy and liquidate Marxism”? Adolph Hitler was certainly no philosopher, just as Nietzsche was not merely a political ideologue. But who can reasonably doubt that the former had little difficulty in seamlessly incorporating the latter’s thoroughly backward-looking programme of biological racism, hatred of socialism and the concept of social equality—together with his advocacy of militarism and war—into the eclectic baggage of ideas which constituted the programme of National Socialism?

Here Steinberg is correct: there’s no reason to put lipstick on a pig. Nietzsche held some reprehensible views and to pretend otherwise is either dishonest or naive.

I’m reminded of the conversation we had about H.P. Lovecraft’s racism: some racists get a pass, others don’t. I caught some flak about posting the complete text of Might is Right here, but I doubt I would have heard a peep if I’d posted the complete text of On the Genealogy of Morals.

Democracy Now guests on right wing populism and Tiller

June 4, 2009 /

Good conversation on today’s Democracy Now:

FREDERICK CLARKSON: Well, yeah. There’s been a big controversy about whether any of the anti-abortion groups should be called domestic terror organizations. There is one called the Army of God that’s an above-ground organization of largely veterans of anti-abortion violence or proponents of anti-abortion violence. And the Justice Department has decided that it’s not a terrorist organization, even though it publicly espouses crimes that could be called terrorism by any reasonable definition and has many convicted felons. […]

CHIP BERLET: Well, I think in the current context of the PATRIOT Act and other repressive legislation, we have to be very careful about the use of the term “terrorism.” Arguably, if you look at the Federal Criminal Code, many active anti-abortion violence would not be classified as terrorism in some interpretations. I don’t think the issue here is urging the government to expand its repressive powers. I think that’s a mistake. I think what we have here are groups of criminals and criminal individuals who need to be pursued and prosecuted, as appropriate.

And I think it’s important to understand that, for many years, clinic violence was not treated with the same aggressive attention by the federal government and state governments as other forms of vandalism and violence. And I think that that’s because the anti-abortion movement has a very large political and religious constituency that makes it very difficult for state and federal officials to try and actually enforce the existing laws that they should be doing. […]

Democracy Now: Tiller Killing Spurs Renewed Calls for US to Reverse Longstanding Passivity on Anti-Abortion Extremists

See also: My partner’s experience as a patient of Tiller’s.

Where will women go now?

June 3, 2009 /

Susan Hill, President of the National Women’s Health Foundation, who knew Dr. Tiller for over two decades and referred girls and women to his clinic, said in a phone interview, “We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller.” Those included women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses, and rape victims so young they didn’t realize they were pregnant for months. “We sent him 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds who were way too far along for anybody [else] to see,” said Hill. “Eleven-year-olds don’t tell anybody. Sometimes they don’t even know they’ve had a period.”

Salon: Where will women go now?

Why the government wants you to believe in crashed UFOs

June 3, 2009 /

It’s worth noting (mainly because few have bothered to note it, or to understand and appreciate the significance of the matter) that one of the “Recommendations” of a lengthy Technical Report prepared by the Air Force’s flying saucer study, Project Grudge, way back in August 1949, states: “That Psychological Warfare Division and other governmental agencies interested in psychological warfare be informed of the results of this study.”

The Department of Defense’s official definition of psychological warfare is: “The planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives.”

As the above Grudge revelations show, way back when in the formative years of Ufology, certain players were looking to understand how the subject could be used psychologically.

UFO Mystic: Crashed UFOs? Probably Not…

(via Mac)

Danish court rules against Christiania

June 3, 2009 /

christiania

Residents of Copenhagen’s famed Christiania neighbourhood have no right to use the land they have occupied for four decades, a Danish court has ruled.

The 900-odd residents had expected the ruling from the Eastern High Court and planned to appeal, a spokesman said.

The court dismissed a lawsuit by them that they had the right to use the former naval base in the Danish capital even if they did not own it.

Tension has risen in recent years over drug crackdowns and regeneration plans.

BBC: ‘No land rights’ for hippy Danes

This article does at least mention that Christiania DOES pay property taxes and pays city utility bills. They were formally recognized by the Danish government in 1995.

For more information about Christiania, here’s their official site. Previous RF/Technoccult coverage here.

(Apparently Denmark doesn’t have adverse possession laws?)

Who is a terrorist?

June 3, 2009 /

You don’t need me to fill you in on the details of the murder of George Tiller in Kansas. […]

He’ll be charged with murder, but there’s no mention yet of any sort of terror charges. The FBI and others have been eager to use anti-terror provisions of the PATRIOT Act to go after ALF and ELF activists, some of whom have done nothing more than organize protests or post information to the web. Many of them have destroyed property, but no one has done any killing, or even wounded someone other than themselves.

Alternet quotes the National Abortion Federation for these statistics here:

“Not surprisingly, his killer is strongly suspected to be affiliated with the ‘pro-life’ movement. If that’s the case, it makes Tiller the 10th person in the United States to be murdered by anti-choice terrorists.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Since 1977, there have been at least 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery and three kidnappings committed against abortion providers in North America. Tiller himself survived an assassination attempt in 1993.

Compare the anti-abortion movement’s record on violence with the environmental and animal rights movements, and see who you think should more properly be charged with terrorism.

Dynomia: Domestic Terror

Ignite Portland 6 (July 16) lineup announced

June 2, 2009 /
  • 10 Vegetables that Could Improve Your Sex Life by Jeanne Turner
  • Critical life lessons learned from my four years as a hooker by James Keller
  • Derailing the Train: How to stop Ignite Portland in its tracks by Reid Beels and Amye Scarvada
  • DIY Healthcare in Portland by Sandra Clark
  • Everyone needs a little space by Noel Franus
  • How to build and program a multitouch display by Todd Greco
  • It’s the End of the World As We Know It, and It’s About %#$@& Time! by Uriah Zebadiah
  • Massage 2.0: Myofascia-The Real Interweb by Megan Bradley
  • My Updated and Revised Commencement Speech to the Graduating Class of 1989 by Andrew Berkowitz
  • Sauna Etiquette: Proper Decorum Amongst Naked, Sweaty Strangers by Miki Tokola
  • Seven lessons learned while trying to reinvent television news by Aaron Weiss
  • The death of authority: a kind of elegy by Eva Miller
  • The History of Magic and Technology by Seth Raphael
  • The Scandalous Lies I’ve Told My Children by Michael Buffington
  • The Webcomic Age or, A Young Geek’s Illustrated Primer by Ben Bleything
  • Tips on How to Be a Gentleman From a Guy Wearing Jeans and a Tee Shirt by Chris Alan
  • You can stop S#$%#y Little Dog Syndrome by Bridget Pilloud

    • Ignite Portland 6 Lineup (Includes more info about specific talks and speakers)

    You’ll note that frequent Renegade Futurist commenter (and round-table participant) Uriah Zebadiah is giving the talk “It’s the End of the World As We Know It, and It’s About %#$@& Time!”:

    Yes, the world is coming to an end. You know it, I know it, we all know it. But rather than get down in the dumps about it, here’s five fast-paced minutes of good reasons we should all be happy about it. We’ll cover why the world sucks, why the people running the world suck, what you can reasonably expect to come out of all this, why the future will kick ass, and above all, what you can do to live fat, free and happy throughout the transition.

    More info: “It’s the End of the World As We Know It, and It’s About %#$@& Time!”

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