You wouldn't think that discovering the blueprints for Auschwitz would fill anyone with optimism. But that seems to be precisely the effect it had on the German newspaper Bild:
"The documents refute once and for all claims by those who deny the Holocaust even took place," it added.
About time, too!
The problem with Bild's argument -- one of them, anyway -- is that it implies that until now, Holocaust denial was comparatively respectable. It's only pathological now that we've found blueprints.
In reality, or what passes for it, Holocaust deniers have always been and will always be insane. If that sad event were conclusively disproved tomorrow, they'd still be crazy...just as Fred Phelps would be crazy even if God actually hated fags, and Joe McCarthy would be crazy even if the US State Department had actually been an outpost of the Kremlin.
That's a minor point, though. The more serious issue is that the blueprints do not, in fact, prove that the Holocaust happened. And once you've taken the radical step of denying the Holocaust, casting doubt on the authenticity of "genuine" blueprints that were "found" in an "apartment" is child's play: it's a simple matter of throwing a few scare quotes around. If anything, the fact that the Jews felt a need to foist these documents off on the public demonstrates that they're getting more desperate as more people catch on to the Myth of the Six Million. As such, it actually strengthens the denialists' case, as does pretty much everything else on God's green earth.
Unfortunately, this problem is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that the documents are old news:
Historian Robert Jan van Pelt, an expert on Auschwitz, said he had checked the "so-called 'new' material" on the Web site of Bild, a high-circulation daily, and found that "the drawings that are on their site are all old material, perfectly known" and published by himself and others in the 1990s....
Van Pelt expressed dismay that the Bild's claim of a new discovery had been picked up by newspapers around the world.
"Everyone is repeating the same nonsense, and the deniers are having great fun because it shows how people are gullible," he told JTA.
All of which just goes to show that those who remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
After it became obvious that the United States had elected a left-leaning black man with a foreign name to the highest office in the land, I figured I needed a few lurid memories of the event for my declining years, and that gaping at my laptop screen was insufficiently carnivalesque.
So I decided I'd head over to the bar, and down a few shots in honor of our looming gay radical Christofascist Islamosocialist atheocratic terrorist worker's paradise. It turned out to be a slow drive, what with the groups of cheering pedestrians, and the horns honking on all sides, and the fireworks arcing over the street.
As soon as I got inside, a complete stranger demanded a high five. Someone else waved an Obama sign, and the room cheered. At the bar, a black man, probably in his late forties, told me he felt like slavery had ended all over again. I bought him a beer; he gave me a long hug.
Dazed but happy people kept drifting in, and each new arrival was greeted with cheers and hugs and overexuberant toasts that sent liquor splashing in all directions. Things get hazy after that. I do remember the walk home, though: The sidewalk was spinning under my feet like the reel of a slot machine; I felt like I'd entered a log-rolling contest.
Having sobered up somewhat since then, I suppose I should try to explain that the things I liked and didn't like about Obama -- as I considered him in my bloodless, self-protectively analytical way -- were very far from my mind when he won; what mattered was that something had happened that I'd sincerely thought was impossible.
Part of it's generational, I think. My wife, who's over a decade younger than me, was equally gratified, but not nearly as astounded. Regardless, the important thing is that I was wrong. This wasn't impossible, and any opinion I'd had to the contrary was the product of feigned knowledge and learned despair. Which is why, in the end, all I can do is repeat what I said at Eschaton, when that odd feeling of being a bit more vibrantly and purposefully alive first took hold of me: "If this is possible, anything is."
I've always loved America for what it was: the birthplace of various arts and sciences and ideas, of George Herriman and Bix Beiderbecke and Skip James and Charles S. Peirce and Lucy Stone. And I've loved it for what it could be and ought to be. But this is the first time in my adult life I've been able to love it here and now, as it is.
And now, having paused for a moment to admire it, let's improve it, for God's sake. Because as much as we've accomplished, it isn't anywhere close to enough.
With that in mind, here's Ali Davis on California's Proposition 8:
The Mormon Church alone poured $20 million into the Yes on 8 campaign. Twenty million dollars that could have been used to feed the hungry, train people for jobs, or build a hospital a cancer wing instead got used to make misleading ads to stop people who just wanted to marry each other in peace.
And the people of California, the great bastion of liberal tolerance, have just decided to set aside a group of people and take away a fundamental right.
All of that is sickening and sad.
But what I saw volunteering for the No on 8 campaign was amazing....I’m still touched by the number of straight people I volunteered with who didn’t have a gay sibling, cousin, or uncle. Technically, Prop 8 didn’t affect them personally, but they took the stance that any discriminatory law affects them personally. That is progress....
Prop 8 didn’t happen because of hatred, it happened because of ignorance. And ignorance is something that chips away. As we make it easier for people in all communities to understand that, yes, they do have gay neighbors and bi siblings and transgendered aunts and they’re actually pretty nice people and the world hasn’t fallen apart, Prop 8 will seem sadder and sillier. And it will go away.
Ignorance is something we can handle. It just takes time.
Please don’t despair.
Good advice, especially given that Marilyn Musgrave has been defeated. And Kate Brown became Oregon's secretary of state. And Jared Polis was elected to the US House of Representatives.
Ten women were elected to the House, of whom eight are pro-choice. And three horrifically anti-choice bills failed. South Dakota's abortion ban lost for the second time. California's parental notification bill lost for the third time. And Colorado's "fetal personhood" bill suffered a spectacular defeat, receiving only 27% of the vote. In Michigan, meanwhile, a bill to expand embryonic stem cell research passed. (Amanda has more.)
California's Proposition 2 requires that "calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely." The fact that the passage of this modest bill is being treated as the End of the World by factory farmer demonstrates how necessary it was.
It's always a nice surprise when a political opponent turns out to possess some sort of rudimentary conscience, so I'm pleased to report that Laura Bush is apparently battling Dick Cheney over the future of the Pacific Ocean:
On one side is first lady Laura Bush, who according to the Washington Post has asked for two briefings on the issue from the White House staff, and has asked her aides to confer with scientists on how to preserve diverse ecosystems.
On the other side is Vice President Dick Cheney, who along with some officials in the Northern Mariana Islands argues that banning fishing and mineral exploration will hurt the region's economy.
Two new species of gecko have been discovered in Australia; no word yet on whose livelihood protecting them will threaten.
The Cape Range Gecko (Diplodactylus capensis) is found only on the Northwest Cape near Exmouth, while the Southern Sandplain Gecko (Lucasium bungabinna), occurs in the southern deserts in Western Australia and South Australia, north of the Nullarbor Plain.
Twenty people have been convicted for poaching Asiatic lions last year in India's Gir National Park. The twenty individuals will spend three years in prison and be fined 10,000 Rs each.
A rare baby pygmy hippo is doing well after being born in a zoo.
Born during the early hours of October 15, Monifa initially had to be patiently coerced into even trying to feed from a teated syringe. Ms Zammit and Ms Roberts spent alternate days working around the clock to keep her alive.
She has now doubled in weight and is drinking from a bowl, content to suckle the thumb of her keepers.
Bacteria can leach small amounts of valuable metals from otherwise useless ore, researchers have found.
These mineral-crunching microorganisms are a type of bacteria that use minerals as their source of energy. When the life-forms break down the matter through metabolism, they squeeze out metal ores or concentrates combined with sulfur in a process called bioleaching.
The method is emerging as an increasingly important way to extract valuable minerals when conventional methods such as smelting can't do the job cheaply enough, experts say.
A Patagonian fungus produces components of diesel fuel:
The harmless, microscopic fungus, known as Gliocladium roseum (NRRL 50073), lives quietly within ulmo trees in the Patagonian rainforest.
Gary Strobel of Montana State University has found that the fungus produces many energy-rich hydrocarbons, and that the particular diesel components produced can be varied by changing the growing medium and environment of the fungus. The fungus even performs under low-oxygen conditions like those found deep underground.
Almost makes you wonder what else is living quietly in rainforests.
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have come up with a promising antireflective coating for solar cells:
Untreated solar cells only absorb 66% of the light that hits them. When treated with this new coating, made from silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanorods, absorption was boosted to a nearly perfect 96%. The coating also lets solar cells absorb light from any angle. No more mechanized solar panels on articulated arms that have to follow the sun’s path. The researchers are calling it a “game-changer.”
WorldChanging describes the eerie properties of "ultra-clean water":
Ultra-clean water is produced using an advanced filtering system that removes salt, minerals, lime, heavy metals, and other byproducts. After filtration, high surface tension at the molecular level gives the water the ability to powerfully dissolve dirt. After being used to clean greasy parts, the water can be refiltered and then used to clean again, in a closed cycle. Manufacturers could also choose to filter the water and emit it into the sewage system without the usual discharge of hazardous chemicals. The process uses cold rather than hot water, increasing its energy efficiency.
While the strength of the battery is about half that of an ordinary battery, its storage capacity is more than that of Japan's water-powered fuel cells, he said.
The production cost of the chlorophyll organic battery is very cheap -- about NT$1 to NT$2 (US$.03 to US$.06) , Liao said, adding that the battery contains no toxic substances and will not pose an environmental hazard, even if discarded at will.
Make of that what you will.
As part of its quest to build a mathematically perfect One State, the EU has formed a renewable energy agency that is even now plotting to micromanage your life:
The agency, known as IRENA, will serve as a global cheerleader for clean energy. It plans to offer technical, financial, and policy advice for governments worldwide, according to a joint announcement from Germany, Spain, and Denmark - the project's leaders.
The last nerve gas landmine remaining at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has been destroyed:
Officials at the Umatilla Depot began destroying VX nerve agent munitions in September 2004, and began their effort to destroy the landmines in September 2008. In all, 122,000 pounds of VX nerve agent in 11,685 landmines were destroyed.
(h/t: ErinPDX.)
A physical basis seems to have been found for fibromylagia:
"Fibromyalgia may be related to a global dysfunction of cerebral pain-processing," Guedj added. "This study demonstrates that these patients exhibit modifications of brain perfusion not found in healthy subjects and reinforces the idea that fibromyalgia is a 'real disease/disorder.'"
Apart from the obvious fact that finding a cause is an essential step towards finding a cure, it's worth noting that the vast majority of fibromyalgia sufferers are women; it's probably just a coincidence that it's long been viewed as a symptom of hysteria or depression.
Probiotics are being used to prevent respiratory infections:
The authors found that the probiotic treatment was as effective as the antiseptic. Use of the bacteria has other advantages; there are common side effects associated with CHX use in oral care, including tooth discoloration, irritation and, very occasionally, serious allergic reactions. Moreover, CHX diluted by saliva and represents an additional risk for the creation of resistant strains. The authors claim that the L. plantarum 299 solves these problems, "It is not likely to incorporate resistance genes or plasmids or to transfer genetic material. Consequently it does not contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains. As the bacteria adhere to the oral mucosa, they are able to counteract potentially pathogenic bacteria around the clock, which is superior to the fairly short-term effect of orally applied chemical agents."
An odd study in the Lancet claims that green spaces help to reduce health inequalities:
In an accompanying article in The Lancet, Dr Terry Hartig, from the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, wrote: "This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than 'pretty up' the neighbourhood - it appears to have real effects on health inequality, of a kind that politicians and health authorities should take seriously."
We followed the stony way Hypselodoris apolegma traced for us Up to the plains of the air and the unique silence. We made our demanding love bleed, Our happiness wrestle each pebble.
Niger has been convicted by an African regional court of failing to protect women from the slave trade:
The case against the state was brought with the help of British-based anti-slavery organisations as a test case to press African governments to stamp out slavery, which campaigners say is rife in some African countries, despite legal prohibitions. The court ordered Niger to pay 10 million CFA francs (£12,200) in damages. There is no right of appeal.
And, in an equally unprecedented case, Egypt has prosecuted a man who sexually abused a woman:
When Noha Rushdi Saleh went to a police station to press charges against a man who had repeatedly groped her on the street, she was turned away. The police said that if she wanted to file charges against the man she would have to bring him to the station herself. Saleh, 27, promptly returned to the scene and sat on the hood of the perpetrator's vehicle and argued with him until they went to a local station where he was charged with assault.
Her decision to press charges paid off Tuesday, when a Cairo court sentenced Sherif Goma'a to three years in prison with hard labor and fined him 5,001 Egyptian pounds ($895).
In related news, Los Angeles is taking tentative steps towards processing its untested rape kits:
Under the terms of the plan, which the City Council is expected to vote on today, the LAPD would allocate $700,000 to hire 16 more DNA analysts and support staff -- a boost of about 33% over current staffing. The city would also increase by $250,000 the funds earmarked to pay private laboratories that the LAPD hires to help with the daunting workload.
Connecticut's attorney general has advised justices of the peace that they have no legal right to refuse to marry same-sex couples:
In his legal opinion, Blumenthal also said that same-sex couples who have had civil unions are not required to dissolve those unions before marrying. He said that the state will continue to grant both same-sex marriages and civil unions under current law, and that Connecticut will recognize both out-of-state civil unions and same-sex marriages.
This, of course, is the Greatest Injustice Ever...at least to hear this schmuck tell it:
“For the attorney general to try to force this upon people, it’s discrimination in reverse,” Norwalk JP Nicholas Kydes told The Stamford Advocate. “It’s discrimination against people who view marriage as a bond between and man and a woman.”
Discrimination in reverse? Why, that almost sounds like anti-discrimination! As Cicero observed during his prosecution of Gaius Verres, "Boo fucking hoo."
Here's one of those ideas that's so obvious that it makes your brain ache:
The e-charkha is an ingenious update to India’s ubiquitous charkha [spinning wheel] that transforms the simple machine into a potentially significant source of energy for millions of struggling families in India. Designed by RS Hiremath, the e-charkha “not only produces yarn but also generates electricity using a maintenance free lead acid battery fixed at the bottom, which functions as an inverter.”
HPS utilizes a proprietary technology to run 35-100 kilowatt mini power plants, delivering pay-for-use electricity to un-electrified villages in India's "Rice Belt." HPS' five pilot projects have become operationally profitable within six months, delivering sustainable, environmentally-friendly, low-cost energy that is dramatically improving the lives of rural Indians.
I agree with David Roberts that this quote from Obama is very heartening:
One of the most frustrating things over the last eight years has been the ability of George Bush to pile up debt and huge deficits and not have anything to show for it, right? So, if you're going to run deficit spending, then it better be in rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our sewer lines, our water system, laying broadband lines.
One of, I think, the most important infrastructure projects that we need is a whole new electricity grid. Because if we're going to be serious about renewable energy, I want to be able to get wind power from North Dakota to population centers, like Chicago. And we're going to have to have a smart grid if we want to use plug-in hybrids then we want to be able to have ordinary consumers sell back the electricity that's generated from those car batteries, back into the grid. That can create 5 million new jobs, just in new energy.
Sarah Palin, meanwhile, visited a solar panel manufacturer and used it as an opportunity to promote domestic drilling. The choice seems pretty clear to me.
About a month short of her 110th birthday, Amanda Jones – whose father spent some of his childhood as a slave – mailed in a ballot for the man who could be the first black president of the U.S. A life-long Democrat, Jones, who lives outside of Austin, first voted for president more than 60 years ago (for F.D.R.). Her father encouraged her to exercise her right, despite barriers preventing black people from voting – such as poll taxes and other means of voter suppression.
And speaking of voter suppression, Colorado citizens who'd been purged from the voter registration list will be allowed to vote:
Thousands of Colorado residents who had been scratched from voter registration rolls will be allowed to cast ballots on Election Day and their votes will be given special protection to ensure they are counted, following the resolution of a federal lawsuit filed against the state.
But wait...there's more!
In Michigan, a federal appeals court handed a similar victory to 5,500 people who had been thrown off the voter registration rolls....In a 2-1 ruling, the Cincinnati-based court said Michigan voters are properly registered when applications are approved and names are added to the rolls — not if they receive a card in the mail....
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction Friday that keeps early voting centers open in the Democratic strongholds of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago....The Court of Appeals rejected Republican arguments that state law required an unanimous decision by the election board to open the satellite centers.
In New York, the attorney general is taking steps to reduce corruption in wind-farm siting (a problem I previously discussed here).
New York's Attorney General launched an ethics code on Thursday that seeks to fight dirty business in the state's emerging wind power farm business....[R]esidents have charged that wind power companies have intimidated them and given gifts to officials in an effort to locate wind farms.
The code is a result of Cuomo's investigation into dozens of complaints from throughout the state.
In California, a new solar thermal plant was constructed in a mere seven months:
Ausra’s Bakersfield plant is expected to generate 5MW of electricity (enough to power 3,500 homes), and it is an exciting a proof of concept for a much larger 177MW facility set to open in 2010 in San Luis Obispo that will power more than 120,000 homes.
Ausra’s solar-thermal plants employ a technology called Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors. The process use mirrors to focus the sun’s heat upon tubes of water, creating steam that is used to drive power turbines to generate electricity. Unlike wind and photovoltaic systems, solar thermal plants are capable of storing heat for times when power is needed, and the steam produced can also used for other applications.
And in Europe, those crazy Europeans have the crazy European idea of building some sort of centrally planned collectivist solar grid thing, which'll undoubtedly serve as a Trojan Horse for their larger goal of seizing our guns and teaching oral sex techniques to our preschoolers.
The Europeans are serious about nanotechnology to wean countries off using fossil fuels in the next century. There´s considerable interest in setting up a solar grid that is global because the sun consistently shines on some part of the planet.
The technologies European scientists say are going to dominate the sustainable energy sector include Dye Sensitized solar Cells (DSCs) and biomimetics. These two technologies are popular because they show great promise for capturing or storing solar energy. At the same time, nanocatalysis already has begun to churn out efficient methods for energy-saving industrial processes convincingly.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to put on a bowtie, turn on every light in the house, and smoke three cigars at once. Those Yurpeens ain't the boss of me!
Europe's exotic deepwater fish, some of which can live up to 150 years, won more protection from the European Union on Monday as fisheries ministers agreed to hefty quota cuts for the next two years.
“We welcome this new verdict and hope it will deter other poachers and their accomplices from decimating wildlife and above all protect rare and vital species from extinction for the benefit of the people around Korup National Park and mankind as a whole,” said Dr Martin Tchamba, Technical Manager, WWF-Cameroon.
The US has taken steps to protect a couple of rare corals:
In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, elkhorn and staghorn corals in 2006 became the first species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act due to the threat of global warming and ocean acidification.
No word yet from the thinktank boys on whether this will lead to a new Stone Age and a human life expectancy of 23 years. But common sense says that if that doesn't do it, this will:
The United States, Mexico, and Canada will work together to conserve the vaquita, the world's smallest, and most endangered, species of cetacean.
The governments will fund research and work with fishermen in the upper Gulf of California to eliminate the use of fine-mesh gill nets and other fishing practices that threaten the species, which is estimated to number around 150 individuals. A U.S. vessel is already laying out a network of acoustic monitoring devices to track the porpoise in the Gulf.
A critically endangered bat has made a remarkable recovery:
Down from a handful of individuals in 1989, the Pemba flying fox population on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, now stands at more than 22,000. The recovery owes to the efforts of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the Department of Commercial Crops, Fruits and Forestry (DCCFF) which established new reserves to protect critical habitat for the species and launched local education initiatives to raise awareness of its plight and reduce hunting. Today local residents take pride in protecting the charismatic species, which is endemic to the island and is one of Africa's largest bat species (with a wingspan of five-and-a-half feet).
"Less than twenty years ago this bat looked set to disappear off the face of the planet forever. Thanks to the enthusiasm of local people, FFI's ongoing conservation efforts have managed to claw this species back from the brink of extinction," said Joy Juma, FFI East Africa Programme Assistant.
Costa Rica has banned the logging of a tree that houses the endangered great green macaw:
Costa Rica's high court has prohibited the cutting of a certain species of tree, in part because a highly endangered type of parrot uses the tree almost exclusively for nesting.
With one decision, the Sala IV constitutional court protected the mountain almond tree and the great green macaw, specifically in a sprawling area in northern Costa Rica. However, the court also ordered the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía to spread the word to all its regional officials, thus protecting the tree throughout the country. The Sala IV also ordered the environmental courts to monitor compliance with the decision.
Efforts are underway to rid the world (though not, perhaps, the world's bioweapons labs) of a dangerous parasitic disease:
"I'm in a very lucky position that a lot of people dream and talk about, but virtually nobody reaches," said Professor Lightowlers. "This disease has been identified as one that could be eradicated from the globe, so this is a very significant hurdle which means the end is well and truly in sight."
Five field trials were carried out in Peru, Cameroon, Mexico and Honduras between 2006 and 2008. All five trials achieved greater than 99% success.
The field trials have proved so successful that the team has been asked to provide 210,000 doses of the vaccine for a separate US$15.7m project funded by the Gates Foundation in Northern Peru, with the first of these doses arriving next week.
And in the Gambia, the incidence of malaria has dropped dramatically:
At each of the four sites with complete slide examination records, they found that the proportions of malaria-positive slides had decreased by 82%, 85%, 73% and 50% respectively between 2003 and 2007. Meanwhile, during the same period at the three sites with complete admission records, the proportions of malaria admissions fell by 74%, 69% and 27%. Proportions of deaths attributed to malaria in two hospitals fell by more than 90%.
Will I link to an exhibition of photos relating to ghosts, apparitions, angels, spiritual visitations and views of the future? As someone or other once said, you betcha! Other fish in the same barrel: Pinhole snapshots by Guillaume Zuili. Attentional landscapes by Odette England. And Tokyo Stories, "an exceptional exhibition of close to 100 rare prints, [that] reveals the multiple faces of Tokyo from the 1930s until the present day through the works of three of Japan’s leading photographers: Hiroshi Hamaya, Tadahiko Hayashi and Shigeichi Nagano."
A new study suggests that by 2030, we'll need two planets to support ourselves in the style to which we've become accustomed.
This study has some obvious conceptual problems. First, it ignores the potential benefits of wise policies like granting Monsanto patents on food crops, or killing all Islamofascists. Second, it's an example of what Gregg Easterbrook calls the Fallacy of Uninterrupted Trends: it overlooks the fact that science and markets will inevitably solve the problems caused by overconsumption, just as they've always done in the past.
As if to prove my point, India is lighting our way into the future by announcing its intent to mine the moon for uranium:
The Indian mission is scheduled to last two years, prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the moon and prospect the lunar surface for natural resources, including uranium, a coveted fuel for nuclear power plants, according to the Indian Space Research Organization.
This could provide a virtually limitless source of cheap, safe energy...so long as you ignore the staggering expense of interplanetary extraction and transportation, along with all the other little details that make this idea pointless, impractical, dangerous, and bizarre. Still, it's the thought that counts!
Of course, once India sets up housekeeping up on the moon, we know precisely where that will lead: Great Britain will move to establish a Lunar Raj and a new era of Company Rule, which will be cheered on interminably by Niall Ferguson and John Derbyshire (who has already been worrying himself sick over the threat of lunar multiculturalism).
One thing the moon doesn't have is fish. Rain follows the plow, granted...but I still think we should suspend this practice until we can get our lunar fisheries up and running.
Despite continuous warnings of emptying oceans due to overfishing, a new report finds that one-third of the world’s total marine catch is not feeding humans, but livestock. The fish are ground-up into meal and fed to pigs, poultry, and even farm-raised fish.
At the risk of sounding like some sort of radical firebrand, this is simply wasteful. There are plenty of redundant animals we don't eat that could just as easily be ground en masse into poultry feed. Rats come to mind, as do squirrels, vultures, and snakes; all of 'em will taste like chicken, in the end. That ought to keep us going until we're able to set up Punch and Judy shows by the lunar seaside.
If anyone doubts that scientific progress will reduce the resource exploitation that it constantly makes easier and more efficient, here's an inspiring example of human ingenuity:
A device placed on, say, a supermarket shelf scans the face of the person standing in front of it. It determines whether the person is a man or a woman and sends that information to a digital screen nearby. The screen will play an ad for women's razors if a woman is watching, Jeeps if a man is watching, or Gap if both a man and woman are watching. "People are not even aware that they are being watched and monitored," Rabenou said.
The video analytics software to do this was developed for the Israeli homeland security department. It can determine, by facial clues, the gender and age of the faces it scans. By next year, the company says, the software will be able to ascertain ethnicity as well.
The device can also track how long people stand in front of a retail display, determining whether the display is clear. In an Israeli trial, it helped advertisers realize that a lot of men were buying Pampers on Thursday nights, so the company started a promotion that gave free razors to shoppers who bought two packs of Pampers.
How's that for beating swords into plowshares? Of course, this sophisticated technology is intended to increase witless hyperconsumption...but why couldn't it be put to better uses?
Just imagine if it were used to display comforting messages when it detects shoppers with haggard, worried faces. Suppose I go into the drugstore, looking for a straight razor with which to slash my wrists. The store's video analytics software would recognize my puffy, red eyes, and the tears streaming down my cheeks, and it'd promptly cue up some reassuring message like "there is plenty of uranium on the moon," or "Precious Gems Discovered on Mars." And suddenly, I'd find the strength to carry on.
And that's just what's possible today. Who knows what we'll accomplish tomorrow?
We'll start this week's edition with a brief exchange between Alan Greenspan and Henry Waxman:
Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added: "I have found a flaw. I don't know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact."
Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. "In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working," Mr. Waxman said.
"Absolutely, precisely," Mr. Greenspan replied. "You know, that's precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well."
Meanwhile, FDR biographer Conrad Black reminds us of a few little details about the New Deal:
"The government hired about 60 per cent of the unemployed in public works and conservation projects that planted a billion trees, saved the whooping crane, modernized rural America, and built such diverse projects as the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh, the Montana state capitol, much of the Chicago lakefront, New York's Lincoln Tunnel and Triborough Bridge complex, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Yorktown.
It also built or renovated 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 schools, 13,000 parks and playgrounds, 7,800 bridges, 700,000 miles of roads, and a thousand airfields. And it employed 50,000 teachers, rebuilt the country's entire rural school system, and hired 3,000 writers, musicians, sculptors and painters, including Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock."
Granted, a few nonconforming ciphers who refused to praise the mathematically perfect life of the One State were asphyxiated in the Gas Bell Jar, but we can't allow innumerate pity to cloud our judgment. The New Deal seems, on the whole, to have been a worthwhile idea. Perhaps it's worth another shot.
As long as we're puzzling over the pros and cons of civilization, it's worth noting that prosecutions for rape are increasing in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
The United Nations has said the Democratic Republic of Congo has some of the worst sexual violence in the world, according to the New York Times, but some recent efforts are starting to slowly change that.
In the last several months, international groups have poured money into the country to try to bolster Congo’s justice system. Investigators are getting more training, and an American Bar Association clinic has been opened to help rape victims get their cases prosecuted. Rape victims themselves are also speaking out about their experiences in forums that move listeners to tears, the Times said.
One of BushCo's hired goons will resign at the end of January:
Bloch who is under investigation for not only refusing to protect LGBT workers but also for allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers in his own office said he will leave at the end of his term rather than stay on until a replacement is found by the next administration. Under federal law Bloch could stay for up to a year during the transition from Bush to the next administration.
Critics have termed Bloch’s tenure as special counsel as "bizarre," and lawmakers repeatedly have demanded he step down.
An extremely rare bird has been found in Indonesia:
Scientists have rediscovered the endangered Wetar Ground-dove (Gallicolumba hoedtii), one of the world's least known birds, 100 years after it was last seen on the remote Indonesian island of Wetar, reports Columbidae Conservation, a UK-based conservation group.
Surveying the rugged, 3600-square-kilometer island for bird life, scientists working for Columbidae Conservation found Wetar Ground-dove to be locally abundant, recording the largest-ever documented gathering of the species of 30-40 birds at a fig tree. The scientists also found the endangered Timor Imperial Pigeon (Ducula cineracea) to be locally abundant. In all, the expedition reported 39 new bird species for the island.
GrrlScientist has more on the recent ornithological discoveries in Indonesia.
In related news, a rare deer has been discovered in Sumatra:
A rare species of deer has been rediscovered in Sumatra 78 years after it was last sighted, reports Fauna & Flora International.
The deer, known as the Sumatran muntjac (Muntiacus montanus), was rescued from a snare during an anti-poaching patrol by the Kerinci-Seblat National Park Tiger Protection Team in Kerinci-Seblat National Park. Fauna & Flora International (FFI) subsequently caught two more of the deer on film using camera traps.
"In reviewing this issue, eBay has consulted with a number of organizations, including World Wildlife Fund, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Humane Society of the United States, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The team concluded that we simply can't ensure that ivory listed for sale on eBay is in compliance with the complex regulations that govern its sale. So, to protect our buyers and sellers, as well as animals in danger of extinction, eBay has decided to institute a global ban on the sale of all types of ivory. This global ban will be effective January 1, 2009."
Turkey has decided not to flood a cave full of hibernating bats:
One cave near newly completed Havran Dam is thought to hold 15,000 to 20,000 bats of eight or nine different species, the second largest colony in Turkey. According to a 2005 paper in the journal Zoology in the Middle East, "the species richness and the colony sizes qualify the site as an Important Mammal Area and would qualify it as a Special Area for Conservation, according to the Habitats Directive of the European Union."
There's talk of creating a global, interdisciplinary science library:
The existing networks for collecting, storing and distributing data in many areas of science are inadequate and not designed to enable the interdisciplinary research that is necessary to meet major global challenges. These networks must be transformed into a new interoperable data system and extended around the world and across all areas of science. The General Assembly of the International Council for Science agreed today to take the first strategic steps to establish such a system.
A new water harvesting device will allegedly pull up to 3.2 gallons of water per day out of the air:
[T]he WaterMill is a small, relatively simple home appliance that draws moisture from the outside air and condenses it into fresh potable water. The WaterMill promises to provide 3.2 gallons of drinking water a day under ideal conditions - enough for a family of six.
While the elegant design of the WaterMill is striking, its real breakthrough seems to be its efficiency. According to Element Four, the WaterMill operates “at a cost of approximately 11 cents per gallon (three cents per liter), the average operating cost of 35 cents a day is a fraction of that of bottled water, which averages around $4.00 per day for the same amount of water.” Not bad!
Inhabitat also looks at a boardwalk that uses kinetic energy from foot traffic to pump water:
Detractors may cite the projected figures: “1 step -> pumping -> 1 liter water”, and “50 visitors/day = 5000 steps = 50000 liters water”, not to mention the fact that in Nam’s drawings, precious, life-saving water seems to be spilling into the desert unimpeded. However, similar kinetic energy prototypes such as MIT’s Crowd Farm demonstrate that the technology is certainly feasible.
Apropos of boardwalks, New Jersey plans to build a wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City:
The wind turbines will produce 345 megawatts, enough electricity to power all the single-family homes in Passaic County plus all the single-family homes in Teaneck, Fair Lawn, Paramus, Ridgewood, Mahwah, Bergenfield, Dumont, Englewood and Hackensack.
India has an estimated eight million cycle-rickshaws. The makeover includes FM radios and powerpoints for charging mobile phones during rides....
The fully-charged solar battery will power the rickshaw for 50 to 70 kilometres (30 to 42 miles). Used batteries can be deposited at a centralised solar-powered charging station and replaced for a nominal fee.
The Sietch Blog links to a film of a solar furnace that can melt steel. (See also the collection of innovative stoves at AIDG Blog.)
A Japanese airport says it will store snow as a coolant for summer months:
An unspecified amount of snow will be collected in winter and stored through the summer under heat-insulating materials (again, unspecified exactly what those materials will be). Tests done last winter show that up to 45% of the collected snow could be stored until September. The snow will be used in the warmer months to chill the liquid in the airport’s cooling system, thereby avoiding energy use which would otherwise emit an estimated 2,100 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
An interesting idea, though as the article notes, the details are a bit too hazy for comfort.
New research suggests that "organic farming may offer Africa the best opportunity to break out of the devastating cycle of poverty and malnutrition parts of the continent have faced in recent decades."
The new report analyzed 114 projects in 24 African countries and found that yields had more than doubled when organic and near-organic practices had been implemented. In East Africa, the use of traditional farming techniques boosted yield by 128 percent.
A prospective translation of Gilgamesh for apes (via Plep). Our simian brethren and cistern may also enjoy these recordings from the National Sound Archives of the Jerusalem National University Library. Or this attic full of cylinders comprising field recordings of sea shanties from the 1920s. Anatomy Acts explains "how we come to know ourselves." And Written in Stone explains how we come to know the geology of Canada.
George Albert Smith’s Brighton Sea-going Electric Car (1897), discovered this year by the Filmoteca de Catalunya is a mysterious masterpiece in miniature. This was an elevated, sea-going platform, a sort of maritime tram, invented by Magnus Volk, which is seen to traverse the screen from right to left, like some bizarre vision of modernity drifting into view then out again.
"Hardship," "persecution" and "suffering" are among the prospects in a hypothetical letter from a "Christian from 2012" released today by evangelical leader James Dobson's political activist group Focus on the Family Action....
"I get tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat," says the fictional writer. "Now in October of 2012, after seeing what has happened in the last four years," America is no longer "the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Although these predictions are fictional, most of them are "based on established legal and political trends that can already be abundantly documented." In other words, the rigorous process of making shit up has not been tainted by bias, ideology, or wishful thinking.
Thus, we learn that in 2012, homosexual marriage "has been ruled a constitutional right that must be respected by all 50 states." Those of you who say it'll never happen are forgetting that there was a time when women couldn't vote, and blacks couldn't marry whites. Who can say how much further the gloomy path that leads away from bigotry will take us?
Once you've depicted the United States writhing under the lash of Teh Gayz, all other horrors seem trivial. But a few of them deserve mention, all the same.
By the fourth year of the Obama/Ayers regime, church buildings will be deemed "public accomodations" and will be as generously stocked with dental dams, condoms and lube as a Tribeca sex club. Adding insult to injury, high school students will no longer be allowed to pray together (or at least, not publicly, and we all know how insistent the Bible is on the importance of praying in public).
Also, the Boy Scouts will disband, kindergartens will replace Dick and Jane with Judith Butler and Monique Wittig, guns will be pried out of cold dead fingers by HIV-positive fags under the command of Janet Reno, in space no one will hear you scream, everybody will Wang Chung tonight, und so weiter.
Somewhat less surprisingly, it turns out that American healthcare will be inadequate in 2012. Some people actually may not get it when they need it.
"The great benefit is that medical care is now free for everyone – if you can get it," the letter writer says. "Now that health care is free it seems that everybody wants more of it....
"Because medical resources now must be rationed carefully by the government, people over 80 have essentially no access to hospitals or surgical procedures. Their 'duty' is increasingly thought to be to go home to die, so that they don't drain scarce resources from the medical system."
God forbid! If we ever limit access to hospitals and surgical procedures, it should be due to the patient's inability to pay the going rate, at which point the denial of care will be the just reward for a misspent life and a useful object lesson for lollygaggers and layabouts.
Interestingly, Obama's decision to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine will drive conservative talk show hosts off the air.
Conservative talk radio, for all intents and purposes, was shut down by the end of 2010.
This seems like a confession that these shows can only survive in carefully maintained hothouse conditions. But either way, the loss of principled men like Michael Savage and Sean Hannity, who'll inevitably choose silence before dishonor, is a comparatively minor inconvenience, given all the terrorist bombs that will be going off in American cities, and the fact that Russia will seize Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria "with no military response from the U.S. or the U.N." (I have to add that cramming all of this exciting activity into four short years strains my credulity, somewhat. If I'd written this letter, I would've set it in 2015, three years after Obama suspended the Constitution and declared himself Dictator for Life.)
Lest anyone think this letter is simply a matter of stirring up outrage against the usual suspects, the author is not shy about laying the blame for these imaginary outcomes squarely on misguided Christians who somehow failed to perceive that activist judges, homosexuals, environmentalists, the NEA, the ACLU, feminists, supporters of gun control, pacifists, and liberals in general are out to destroy everything God loves. That said, "Focus adds that evangelicals on both sides of the election should 'continue to respect and cherish each other's friendship as well as the freedom people have in the United States to differ on these issues and to freely speak our opinions about them to one another.'"
I agree wholeheartedly, and it is in this precise spirit of comity and benevolence that I offer this startling E-mail from 2012, every word of which has its roots in the deep, honest soil of Fact:
Hello from 2012!
First off, I'm sorry to have to inform you that Focus on the Family continues to comprise a gaggle of pathologically dishonest, power-hungry, pseudo-Christian fuckheads. Fortunately, not many people listen to them anymore, thanks in large part to the fact that James Dobson was recently caught sucking three men's dicks at a rest stop on I-10 near Rancho Mirage, CA. Despite stacks of incriminating photos, plenty of DNA and fingerprint evidence, and the eyewitness testimony of dozens of witnesses (including a busload of Boy Scouts), Dobson still maintains his innocence. Currently, he's claiming that he was kidnapped and drugged by a cabal of UN one-worlders, and didn't actually wake up 'til the flashbulbs started going off.
As for President Obama, he's pretty much what you'd expect: a smart, cautious centrist with limited interest in rocking the boat. I wish I could say that we're living in some kind of socialist wonderland, but that's not really the case. You'd never know it from listening to the Limbaugh and his ilk, though...they've all convinced themselves that they're suffering as no free people has ever suffered before. Their stately homes are mere outposts of the Gulag, to hear them tell it, and they condemn each of Obama's modest infrastructure projects as a new Belomorkanal.
On the bright side, Obama's not censoring scientists, he's reversed the global gag rule, he's made some wise investments in renewable energy and sustainable design, and he doesn't seem to mistake every single idea that wanders into his head for God's own truth. Things could be worse.
Not much else to report, except that Jonah Goldberg is writing a book on Pinochet. The working title is Tough Love: A Modern Day Man of Steel and His Lessons for the United Socialist States of America. In the only excerpt I've seen, he inventively links Pinochet's execution of Victor Jara with Plato's argument against "the assumption that in music there is no such thing as a right and a wrong." Plato calls this a "reckless excess of liberty" that leads ineluctably to the "refusal to submit to magistrates [and] emancipation from the authority and correction of parents and elders," and Goldberg's inclined to agree:
Much as we may deplore the inevitable excesses of a socialist like Hitler, the ongoing problem of entartete Kunst remains one that cries out for a final solution, whether we're speaking of the "universal confusion of forms" in Plato's time or the corrupting spirit of collectivist battle-cries like "People Who Need People" in our own era, which I think could arguably be called "Streisandian" for lack of a more authoritative scholarly term....
Liberals take great pains to pretend to find the idea of censoring musicians shocking, but if Toby Keith has not yet been lynched for his pro-America anthem "I Remember When That House Was White," it almost certainly has more to do with the feminizing effect of the metrosexual lifestyle than with any philosophical ideal of "tolerance." If liberals ate rare steak instead of wilted arugula, Keith would probably already be hanging from the nearest lamppost.
As you can see, not that much has changed in American political discourse in the last four years. On the other hand, a new pill from Eli Lilly makes it possible to take this stuff in good humor. The only side effect, so far, seems to be an increased tendency towards multiple orgasms, but I understand they're working on that.
Hill-tops like hot iron glitter bright in the sun, And the rivers we're eying burn to gold as they run; Burning hot is the ground, liquid gold is the air; Whoever looks round sees Hypselodoris infucata there.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that gay and straight Americans should have equal rights.
The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage on Friday in a victory for gay-rights advocates that will allow couples to marry in the New England state.
The court found that the state's law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.
Ya don't say.
An ill-conceived relocation program for the desert tortoise has been suspended:
Fort Irwin officials on Thursday suspended their disastrous desert tortoise translocation program, in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors. The flawed translocation project, undertaken to remove tortoises from an area where the fort intends to expand its training areas, has so far sustained huge losses. More than 90 relocated and resident tortoises have perished, primarily killed by predators, and more losses are expected due to healthy tortoises being introduced into diseased populations — against the recommendations of epidemiologists.
Black rhinos have been released into the wild for the first time in 25 years:
According to an article from ZSL the fifteen rhinos were sedated and had GPS transmitters installed in their horns before being moved to their new home. The fifteen individuals were selected from a single herd, so the animals would already be familiar with one another. If the release proves successful, ZSL hopes to take what is has learned in Kenya to Uganda and Tanzania for similar projects there.
Argentina has banned fishing and trawling in a sensitive coastal area:
Burdwood Bank is rich with endemic species and serves as an important feeding ground for sea lions, penguins, albatross and other marine life. The area is also a breeding site for southern blue whiting and Fuegian sardine and supports unique hard and soft coral species.
WCS reports that the Argentine Fisheries Secretary permanently banned all fishing activities in the area — including bottom trawling — on September 26th, 2008.
Hundreds of new species have been found off the coast of Tasmania, including this odd sea star.
Chevron has failed in its latest bid to avoid paying for clean-up efforts in the Ecuadorean rainforest:
The set back for Chevron comes after a July report revealed that the oil firm has hired lobbyists to persuade the Bush administration and Congress to threaten the use of trade sanctions against Ecuador to get it off the hook for damages.
According to The Sietch Blog, the environazis have taken another step towards dismantling civilization:
Solectria Renewables has completed delivery of more than 5 MegaWatts (MW) of 95 kW three-phase grid-tied inverters for multiple photovoltaic (PV) systems in South Korea. These systems were designed and installed by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Jarada Co. Ltd., Solectria Renewables’ distributor in South Korea. This is a great example of American made products being exported to other countries.
While we're on the subject of economic opportunity, consider this:
As the economic might of Japan faces up to the global banking crisis, a single cat has boosted the finances of a small Japanese city by millions of dollars, according to a study.
Tortoiseshell Tama is the master of the unmanned Kishi train station where she was born and raised, on the provincial Kishigawa Line. But it is not her labours on the platform which have seen the cash rolling in.
It is rather Tama's irresistible charm which has brought tourists flocking in their thousands to the western city of Kinokawa to see the feline worker patrolling in the uniform of her office -- a Wakayama Electric Railway cap.
With 55,000 more people having used the Kishigawa Line than would normally be expected, Tama is being credited with a contribution to the local economy calculated to have reached as much as 1.1 billion yen (10.44 million dollars) in 2007 alone, according to a study announced last week.
The path to our salvation is clear!
AIDG Blog links to a nice story about a remarkable urban garden in Milwaukee:
Will Allen already had the makings of an agricultural dream packed into two scruffy acres in one of Milwaukee’s most economically distressed neighborhoods.
His Growing Power organization has six greenhouses and eight hoophouses for greens, herbs and vegetables; pens for goats, ducks and turkeys; a chicken coop and beehives; and a system for raising tilapia and perch. There’s an advanced composting operation — a virtual worm farm — and a lab that is working on ways to turn food waste into fertilizer and methane gas for energy.
With a staff of about three dozen full-time workers and 2,000 residents pitching in as volunteers, his operation raises about $500,000 worth of affordable produce, meat and fish for one of what he calls the “food deserts” of American cities, where the only access to food is corner grocery stories filled with beer, cigarettes and processed foods.
“Bees and butterflies arrived within seconds after we put the walls up,” says Joyce Lewis, Urban Farming’s L.A. project manager, who organizes local volunteers to tend the vertical gardens. “They greened an environment that would otherwise just be concrete and steel.”
They are everywhere: images of animals and nature to market large corporations’ products. There is the simply-sketched penguin on every Penguin Book; the leaping silver jaguar from the car company of the same name; the jumping helmet-wearing dolphin of the Miami Dolphins’ football team; and the ubiquitous talking gecko used in Geico auto insurance commercials. Such logos have always been free; however a new campaign, Save Your Logo, will encourage corporations with animal or nature logos to support endangered species and their dwindling habitats.
According to an article on the IUCN website, the initiative is apart of a new partnership of the IUCN, The Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the World Bank with additional cooperation from the Belgian NGO, Noe Institute.
Consumer Reports has created a new website called Full Frontal Scrutiny in order to keep tabs on industry front groups.
[W]e created this site...to focus public attention on the people and organizations who function in our society as hidden persuaders. You'll find them at work posting to blogs, speaking before city councils, quoted in newspapers and published on the editorial page, even sponsoring presidential election debates. All this while pretending to represent the grassroots when in fact they are working against citizens' best interests. We call these organizations front groups. One of the best ways to put their agendas in proper perspective is to expose their work. That's what this website is for. We hope you'll use it, tell your friends about it, even contribute to it.
A recordsetting 61 Nobel laureates have endorsed Barack Obama.
We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation’s and the world’s most urgent needs.
"We know that many buildings are still buried under Cahuachi's sands, but until now, it was almost impossible to exactly locate them and detect their shape from an aerial view," Masini told Discovery News. "The biggest problem was the very low contrast between adobe, which is sun-dried earth, and the background subsoil."
Ethiopia has been chronically hit by droughts, affecting the humanitarian plight of millions as well as crippling its electricity production, which is heavily reliant on hydroelectric dams.
The landlocked Horn of Africa country -- Africa's second most populous -- is currently experiencing a severe drought and has been plagued by incessant power cuts in recent months.
Indigenous forest dwellers in Borneo will not allow an oil palm plantation on their land:
In a two-hour meeting Saturday in the city of Miri, representatives from the Berawan-Tering ethnic group officially rejected an overture to turn their land over to a private firm for oil palm development. About 90 percent of community members opposed the deal which would have given the oil palm a 60-year concession to their land, according to former Baram District Councillor Philip Ube, who represented the native.
Indonesian officials have agreed to protect Sumatra's forests:
The ten governors of Sumatra — along with four federal ministers — have signed an agreement to protect forests and other ecosystems on the Indonesian island, according to WWF. The announcement is significant because Sumatra is a biodiversity hotspot — home to rare and endemic wildlife — that is under great threat from logging and expansion oil palm plantations. The island has lost 48 percent of its forest cover since 1985.
[T]he Aquaduct is “a pedal-powered concept vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water.” Pedal to the well, fill up the tank and by the time you’re home you have 8 liters of purified water....It works by using a pedal-driven peristaltic pump to drive water from its trunk through a filter into a clean tank. The bike can carry enough water for an entire family, and can filter while moving or stationary.
Scientists have reportedly found a way to identify sources of mercury pollution:
For the past eight years, Blum and co-workers have been trying to develop a way of reading mercury fingerprints in coal and other sources of mercury. The hope was that they could then find those same fingerprints in soil and water bodies, much as a detective matches a suspect's fingerprints to those found at a crime scene, and use them to figure out exactly what the sources of mercury pollution are in certain areas.
"For some time, we weren't sure that it was going to be technically possible, but now we've cracked that nut and have shown significant differences not only between mercury from coal and, say, metallic forms of mercury that are used in industry, but also between different coal deposits," Blum said.
Four months after a successful hand transplant -- 35 years after amputation in an industrial accident at age 19 -- a 54-year-old man's emerging sense of touch is registered in the former "hand area" of the his brain, says a University of Oregon neuroscientist.
Geoff Manaugh makes some interesting and timely points about the fixation of the American political elite on rural "authenticity":
If the United States – if the entire world – is rapidly urbanizing, then it would seem like literally the last thing we need in the White House, in an era of collapsing bridges and levees, is someone whose idea of public infrastructure is a dirt road.
Read the whole thing, by all means. It ties in with some speculations of my own, which I may eventually get around to posting here, or chez Echidne. (In the meantime, let's consider tea as a North/South litmus test.)
