Klintron’s Brain

The Cobalt is a response to the discerning public need for the next convergence device to blend elegance with simplicity and portability. The Cobalt’s round OLED touch screen allows easy access to all its features with a simple flick of the thumb left, right, up or down. The default screen shows time, date, temperature, and updates on voicemail, email and text. Completely customizable on every level, the default screen’s settings can be changed to suit your needs - from minimal analog hands to a full on digital display.

The Cobalt is designed with the style conscious in mind - when Bluetooth technology can be seamlessly integrated with earrings and other accessories for all-day wearability. Along with state-of-the-art voice recognition software, there’s a hidden spot on the back for house keys. All I need is this, a monocle, top hat, and a walking stick.

Text and one more pic: Yanko Design

(via Grinding)

What to make of the Libertarian Party anointing Bob Barr as their presidential candidate in 2008? Some libertarians are pleased, others see it as the end of the LP. As something of an outsider I see it as essentially the death of the LP as it was, and the birth of a new LP.

Here’s slightly (but only slightly) over the top, conspiratorial summary of what happened.

This new direction of the LP is positioned to capitalize on the successes of the Ron Paul campaign, attract new members to the party, and possibly pick up new votes. This will be good news to some libertarians, but it doesn’t come without a price. The LP is the party of principle no more. It is now the party of compromising to reach out to a larger audience. Barr will attract many conservatives who are fed up with the Republican Party. But in doing so it becomes not a libertarian party, but a conservative party. Many libertarians will stick around for this new libertarian-conservative alliance, particularly those who put economic libertarianism above all else.

I have to admit I’m a little saddened by this turn of events. I’ve never been a member of the LP, and I’m not by most definitions a libertarian (I consider myself a civil libertarian, and the most inclusive, “big tent” definitions would probably include me). But I’m something of a “libertarian sympathizer.” I even voted for Harry Brown in 2000 (it’s not like Gore was going to win Wyoming, and Nader wasn’t even on the ballot). But really, libertarian-leaning liberals like me have probably never made up much of the base of the LP, so alienating us isn’t likely to have any effect. And the Barr nomination is probably very good news for Obama.

One curious reaction comes from Radley Balko: “It’s the first time the LP has nominated a serious candidate in a long time. I’ve become rather fond of Barr over his 5-year conversion to libertarianism. Second place went to nutjob Mary Ruwart, who would have continued the party’s long history of kook-ism.”

Is this an admission that holding to the party line constitutes “kook-ism”? Is there any “real” libertarian that would pass the “kook-test”? I wonder if there’s any chance the LP could ever get Peter Thiel to run for office.

More reactions to the Barr nomination:

Skip Oliva

Christine Smith

Fox News contributor and former Washington Times bureau chief Liz Trotta calls Obama “Osama” and openly jokes/wishes for assassination in the same clip.

(Via The Agitator)

‘In the past, the Church used graphic, sometimes pornographic images of the devil as an enemy against which everyone could unite, and as a way of quelling dissent. Today we have lost the devil. The devil disappeared from public culture in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, and what replaces it? At the moment, child abusers are the new devil we all can rail against.’ That is why, he says, paedophile panics often come across like ‘religious crusades’, where those who ask critical questions about the facts can be denounced as ‘unbelievers’ and ‘deniers’.

Most strikingly, the Jersey bone episode reveals an essential truth about paedophile panics: they come from above rather than below. In recent years, it has become fashionable in intelligent, liberal circles to fret about the ‘anti-paedophile lynch mob’, who, triggered by a News of the World headline, might go out and burn down people’s homes or beat individuals to a pulp. In truth, it takes people with clout to trigger a moral panic – and in the case of the dark, secretive, murderous Jersey home scare, the panic was triggered by top policemen and the metropolitan, latte-drinking media elite in London. As Webster wrote in The Secret of Bryn Estyn: ‘Of all the misconceptions about historical witch hunts, perhaps the most important is the notion that they were driven forward by the common people - that they were based on the untutored instincts of the mob. This is the very opposite of the truth.’ And so it remains today.

‘Jersey shows that it is not ordinary people who start this off’, he tells me. ‘Witch hunts don’t happen without an educated elite behind them. In the past, bishops and priests let panics loose. Today it is the police, social workers and broadsheet journalists.’

Full Story: Spiked

(via OVO)

On the February 26, 1992, six months after Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Ministry of the Interior erased 18,305 legal inhabitants from the Permanent Population Register. With a stroke of the pen, 18,305 individuals became stateless “residents without status,” unable to work legally, losing their drivers licenses, passports and other legal papers. Many were permanent residents of Slovenia who had emigrated elsewhere in Yugoslavia. Some were married to citizens or other residents and had raised families in the country. Suddenly thousands of breadwinners were unable to earn an income. Some were deported, some unable to leave the country — trapped in poverty and bureaucratic limbo. See some of their stories here.

Marc at Osocio sends word about a public, citywide campaign in Slovenia’s capital city Ljubljana to shine a light on The Erased and their ongoing plight. The design studio Poper has postered the town in partnership with Amnesty International Slovenia, the Peace Institute and the city government, rendering the stories of The Erased throughout the city. The campaign’s goal is to raise awareness of the issue, the State’s arbitrary response and blatant disregard of Constitutional Court rulings.

Full Story: Social Design Notes

As a promotion for the new Cory Doctorow book Little Brother, Instructables is running a series of related “how to” articles, including:

How to blend in with crowds
How to lie to authority figures
Encrypt your Gmail Email!
How to locate pinhole cameras
Spice Mister
Avoiding Camera Noise Signatures
How to Start A Flash Mob
How to block/kill RFID chips
Photo-emulsion Screen Printing
What to do if the police stop you

It’s shaping up to be an “anarchist cookbook” for the 21st century.

Instructables: Little Brother

Full Story: Xconomy

Michael Sheehan is on a one-man mission to put terrorist threats into perspective, which is a place they’ve rarely or ever been before. Already you can see it’s going to be a hard slog. Fighting the inflated menace of Osama bin Laden has become big business, generating hundreds of billions of dollars for government agencies and contractors in what one friend of mine in the Washington policy-making stratosphere calls “the counterterrorist-industrial complex.”

[...]

Before September 11, said Sheehan, the United States was “asleep at the switch” while Al Qaeda was barreling down the track. “If you don’t pay attention to these guys,” said Sheehan, “they will kill you in big numbers.” So bin Laden’s minions hit U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, they hit the Cole in 2000, and they hit New York and Washington in 2001—three major attacks on American targets in the space of 37 months. Since then, not one. And not for want of trying on their part.

What changed? The difference is purely and simply that intelligence agencies, law enforcement and the military have focused their attention on the threat, crushed the operational cells they could find—which were in fact the key ones plotting and executing major attacks—and put enormous pressure on all the rest.

Full Story: Newsweek

See also: The Power of Nightmares

This story’s been in high circulation on the blogosphere lately:

Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.

Full Story: The Guardian

Now how about this:

Thousands of foreigners are being allowed to work in high security parts of Britain’s airports without passing proper criminal record checks, it was disclosed last night.

Despite warnings that terrorists would try to recruit people working “airside” in terminals – with direct access to aircraft and baggage – no attempt has been made to check whether foreign workers have committed any offences abroad.

The vetting process checks only for crimes committed in Britain. Foreign workers – arriving from inside or outside the European Union – are not checked in their country of origin.

This means that someone with a conviction for firearms or explosives offences committed abroad could, for example, take a job loading bags on to aircraft at Heathrow, Gatwick or any other airport, provided they had committed no crimes here.

Full Story: The Telegraph

(via Cryptogon)

Rose Colored news returns to regular operations

Crime prevention organization making a difference in Chicago

Man grows new finger thanks to ground-up pig bladder

Argentina Decriminalizes Drug Consumption

Alaska: Appeals Court Cracks Down on Coercive Searches

Low cost, small scale wind turbines to power off-grid villages

Gel-like Material Shows Promise As Oral Insulin Pill For Diabetes

Bakeries urge customers to plant wheat in their lawns

Florida: No crime in photo of undercover officer

Since so much has been made of Obama’s old preacher, here are some people reporters could ask other politicians to renounce:

John Hagee, who’s support John McCain is “very proud” to have, told NPR that hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment of the city of New Orleans for homosexuality. Read more about Hagee.

Robert Tate, music director at a church George H.W. Bush attended growing up, was convicted of possessing child pornography.

Douglas Coe, who Hillary Clinton said “is a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God.” I don’t even know where to start on this guy. Here’s some stuff his son said about the members of the religious organization they run:

He walked to the National Geographic map of the world mounted on the wall. “You guys know about Genghis Khan?” he asked. “Genghis was a man with a vision. He conquered” - David stood on the couch under the map, tracing, with his hand, half the northern hemisphere—”nearly everything. He devastated nearly everything. His enemies? He beheaded them.” David swiped a finger across his throat. “Dop, dop, dop, dop.”

David explained that when Genghis entered a defeated city he would call in the local headman and have him stuffed into a crate. Over the crate would be spread a tablecloth, and on the tablecloth would be spread a wonderful meal. “And then, while the man suffocated, Genghis ate, and he didn’t even hear the man’s screams.” David still stood on the couch, a finger in the air. “Do you know what that means?” He was thinking of Christ’s parable of the wineskins. “You can’t pour new into old,” David said, returning to his chair. “We elect our leaders. Jesus elects his.”

He reached over and squeezed the arm of a brother. “Isn’t that great?” David said. “That’s the way everything in life happens. If you’re a person known to be around Jesus, you can go and do anything. And that’s who you guys are. When you leave here, you’re not only going to know the value of Jesus, you’re going to know the people who rule the world. It’s about vision. ‘Get your vision straight, then relate.’ Talk to the people who rule the world, and help them obey. Obey Him. If I obey Him myself, I help others do the same. You know why? Because I become a warning. We become a warning. We warn everybody that the future king is coming. Not just of this country or that, but of the world.” Then he pointed at the map, toward the Khan’s vast, reclaimable empire.

Read more about the Coes at Harper’s, Mother Jones, and Wikipedia.

Since Obama has denounced Wright, and the media has spent a great deal of time covering the controversial statements Wright made, it follows that McCain, Bush, and Clinton will also denounce these controversial religious figures and the media will spend equal time covering their statements and actions. Right? Right?

From 2008 Annual Arab Public Opinion Poll(PDF) conducted by Anwar Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland with Zogby Zogby International.

(via Cato at Liberty via the Agitator)

ICED puts you in the shoes of an immigrant to illustrate how unfair immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights. These laws affect all immigrants: legal residents, those fleeing persecution, students and undocumented people.

Play the game

This game is from the immigrants right organization a href=”http://www.breakthrough.tv/”>Breakthrough

Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB “thumb drive” that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer’s Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.

It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.

Full Story: Seattle Times

I found this story via Abe, who wrote “Microsoft hacks itself. How retarded is this company? I can imagine they are now about to get sued for false security claims…”

But looking at the story it doesn’t sound like backdoors were written for law enforcement. It sounds more like a collection of tools - like password decryption - that are available from multiple third parties, compiled into a single, easy to use device for non-technical uses.

“Miranda is a black box-like arrest documentation device that records video, audio, motion, impact, location, and other data and streams it over cell phone data networks to third party observers such as the ACLU.”

More information

Is this a real, available device or just a design concept?

(Thanks Michael)

From Day to Day:

To combat the skyrocketing price of flour, several Massachusetts bakeries have taken on a project that’s part Little Red Hen, part World War II Victory Garden. The bakeries are recruiting their customers to till up their lawns and gardens and plant wheat.

Listen to it at NPR

This sounds like a better solution to the food shortage than hoarding food.

Johnny Brainwash rightly pointed out that food rationing isn’t really happening. But it’s scary to see the WSJ pushing food hoarding:

I don’t want to alarm anybody, but maybe it’s time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You’ve seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they’re a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

“Load up the pantry,” says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street’s top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. “I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn’t going to happen here. But I don’t know how the food companies can absorb higher costs.” (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Full Story: Wall Street Journal

(Thanks Nemo)

The new issue of Trevor Blake’s OVO Magazine has many names familiar to Technoccult readers and/or Esozone attendees (and some not so familiar): Anonymous, Dmitry Babenko, Johnny Brainwash, Klint Finley, Witta Kelssling-Jensen, Vincent Al Ken, Ruggero Maggi, Mail Art Paul, Willi Melnikov, Thom Metzger, Emilio Morandi, No Institute, Wes Unruh, Carlos Valdez and Edward Wilson.

Download OVO 18: Money for no money.

In my article I explore the politics of alternative currencies, which is sadly more relevant now than I realized when I wrote it in October.

For those not in the know, OVO has been published by Trevor Blake since. Trevor says of his work:

When I started publishing OVO I was just a self-important hayseed living in a small town making a dumb little zine among thousands of others. But OVO did accomplish a few things in the first fourteen issues. OVO was the first to publish several essays by Hakim Bey that later appeared in his book T.A.Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone. OVO published work by Mike Diana long before his work drew the attention of State and Federal employees. Photographs of body piercing appeared in OVO two years before the Modern Primitives issue of Re/Search. The phrase ‘phone tag’ appears in print for the first time in the first issue of OVO. ‘Liberating Wednesday’ by PM, author of bolo’bolo, appears in OVO for the first (and only) time; this is nearly a decade before and fifty-two times more radical a suggestion than ‘Buy Nothing Day.’ Crop circles and the Men in Black are referenced at a time when they were still obscure. The first appearance of Ride Theory in print occurs in Ignatz Topolino’s contribution to OVO. And OVO was aware enough of the outer edges of scientific ethics to mention gene patents in the same year they first were granted.

I am honored to be a contributor to such a worthy publication.