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8/6/2005

FBI to Dictate Wiretap-Friendly Design for Internet Services :.

Practically, what this means is that the government will be asking broadband providers - as well as companies that manufacture devices used for broadband communications – to build insecure backdoors into their networks, imperiling the privacy and security of citizens on the Internet. It also hobbles technical innovation by forcing companies involved in broadband to redesign their products to meet government requirements.



Shortages Stifle a Boom Time for the Solar Industry :.

American suppliers for the solar energy industry say that burgeoning demand both domestically and overseas, a weak dollar and shortages of raw material have created back orders of several months on electricity-generating photovoltaic, or PV, panels.

"For all the years I've been doing this," said Daryl Dejoy, owner of a solar installation company in Penobscot, Me., "I could get all the solar panels in the world and no customers. Now I have all the customers in the world and no product."


Research Credit: AB



Bush's Former Health Secretary: RFID Chips for All Americans :.

Slap another Jesus fish on your SUV for the trip down to the chipping center! Praise Bush! Praise the Lord! Support our troops! Chips for strength!

So, how will the Cult of Death/Evangelical Christians deal with this one?

President Bush's former health secretary Tommy Thompson is putting the final touches to a plan that could result in US citizens having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip inserted under their skin, The Business has learned.

The RFID capsules would be linked to a computerised database being created by the US Department of Health to store and manage the nation's health records. It could be the precursor to a similar scheme in the UK.

The president's budget for 2006 continues to support the use of health information technology by increasing funding to $125m for pilot schemes.

Thompson, now a director of Applied Digital Solutions, the company that makes the chips, intends to publish the proposal in the next 50 days, by which time he plans to have had a VeriChip inserted in his arm. Thompson believes the capsules could help save thousands of lives every year.



Researchers Create Radio Controlled Humans :.

This is pretty stupid, but give it a decade or two.


8/5/2005

Fake Terror Attacks in New York :.

Government scientists have set up a network of sensors around midtown Manhattan to study how the city's skyscrapers and concrete canyons would affect the spread of wind-borne toxins in a chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attack.

Chemicals known as tracer gases will be released at several locations between tomorrow and Aug. 26 in tests sponsored by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, Defense Department, Environmental Protection Agency, and Energy Department, officials said today.

The Urban Dispersion tests, in preparation for two years, come two weeks after New York police began randomly searching the bags of subway riders in response to terrorist bombings in London. Data from the tests will help emergency response planning, said Thomas Kiess, a Homeland Security official.



Brits Going Bankrupt in Record Numbers :.

The number of personal insolvencies in England and Wales has risen to its highest level in 45 years, official figures showed today.

In the April to June period, the number of personal insolvencies rose to 15,394, the highest since comparable records began in 1960, the Department of Trade and Industry said.



Hiroshima: 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing :.

Tens of thousands of people from around the world gathered in Hiroshima on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city and to renew calls for the abolition of nuclear arms.



Interesting Biofuel Story :.

Cryptogon forum author MO describes alternative fuel developments in his area. While I don't see biofuels as a mainstream solution to the energy crisis, I think they will play a critical role in localized sustainability movements. In other words, the pockets of survivors will be making use of biofuels. Remember, though, to stock up on tires, hoses, belts and other goods that are made out of oil.

If the powerdown results in a total collapse, we will see a return to animal power. Actually, we're already seeing a return to animal power.

From MO's post:

The other day at the pub I ran into my new friend Joe. He is a farmer and grows primarily onions in the black dirt region nearby, and has about 150 acres of farmable land. Somehow we got on the discussion of oil, and he unloaded his future business model for biodiesel based on a soy crop.



Crude Oil Hits New Record :.

* yawn *


8/4/2005

Cryptogon Reader Contributes $50

MO is the top financial supporter of Cryptogon. He's helping keep the site free and open to all!

THANKS MO!

Simon writes:
Hi Kevin... I noted that you donated $25 to Amnesty International a while back. I think next time The Memory Hole would be a good choice. They've just asked for help a few weeks ago.

Keep it up!
I agree. The Memory Hole has done great work for years. I'm zapping $20 to them now.



Two Men Held in Secret, Underground U.S. Gulag :.

Two Yemeni men say they were held in solitary confinement in secret, underground U.S. detention facilities in an unknown country and interrogated by masked men for more than 18 months without being charged or allowed any contact with the outside world, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Both men claimed they were tortured by Jordanian intelligence agents for four days and then flown to what they believe were underground jails in an unknown location.

Once there, they were held in solitary confinement for more than 18 months, interrogated daily by U.S. guards who dressed "like Ninjas" and blared Western music all day and night. No charges were ever filed against them, they said.

The men said their first jail was underground, surrounded by high walls and that it took more than 4 hours to fly there from Jordan. After six to eight months they were transferred to a modern prison run by U.S. officials a three-hour plane journey away that also appeared to be underground.



Energy Innovations: Sunflower 250 :.

The best ideas are simple and elegant. Too bad Energy Innovations is building these in China.



New British Special Forces Unit Executed Brazilian :.

A new army special forces regiment was involved in the operation that led to the killing of an innocent man at Stockwell tube station in south London last week, the Guardian can reveal.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, set up in April to help combat international terrorism, was deployed in the surveillance operation which led to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, on July 22, according to Whitehall sources.



Police Agree on Shoot-to-Kill Rules :.

Ever heard of a dead-man's-switch? What's going to happen when the cops shoot the would-be suicide bomber's head off? * BOOM *

The Post said the police chiefs' guidelines say an officer does not have to wait until a suspected bomber makes a move in order to use deadly force, but just needs to have a "reasonable basis" to believe that the suspect can detonate a bomb.



Scientists Clone a Dog :.

South Korean researchers are reporting today that they have cloned what scientists deem the most difficult animal, the dog.


8/3/2005

'Eternal Planes' to Watch Over Us :.

Unmanned surveillance vehicles are increasingly evident in a world that relies on knowing what people and places are doing.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) patrol innocuous-looking skies and silently report back streams of strategically important data, video, and images from locations around the world.

They are the ultimate Earth watchers.


Research Credit: AM



Powered On Mobile Phone Tracks Your Location :.

This has been common knowledge for years. Although, one has to wonder if They have real-time access to the system that provides the triangulation data... They must:

The wireless system used in Italy and most of the rest of Europe [and the USA] relies on a stamp-sized smart card that is inserted in the back of every handset. This removable "SIM" card stores an individual's phone number and other account data.

A unique numerical identifier is assigned to every phone and every SIM, said Bruno Errico, director of consulting for Openwave Global Services, a company that provides tracking applications and other software to wireless companies worldwide.

Wireless companies are obliged by law to keep records of the unique data that each phone exchanges with the cell network as well as the numbers to which calls are placed, he said.

Since a phone is served by several cells at any given time, investigators can easily triangulate the location of a device, Errico said. In an urban area, where the network of cells is dense and overlapping, such tracking can have a margin of error of just a few yards.


Research Credit: whisp



How Britain Helped Israel Get the Bomb :.

Documents uncovered by Newsnight in the British National Archives show how, in 1958, Britain agreed to sell Israel 20 tonnes of heavy water, a vital ingredient for the production of plutonium at Israel's top secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert.

Robert McNamara, President John F Kennedy's defence secretary, has told Newsnight he is "astonished" at the revelation that Britain kept this secret from America.


Research Credit: DG


8/2/2005

Solar Within Competitive Range of Grid Power :.

Interesting... A revolutionary solar power technology goes into the deployment phase within months of Chevron announcing that, "the era of easy oil is over."

Very interesting, I'd say...

Coming into production in September, thermal solar panels from International Automated Systems will produce electricity at 3-5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Bladeless turbine has wide range of waste-heat-harnessing applications. Methanol production technique will utilize CO2, drawing it out of the environment and recycling it. New U.S. energy bill opens a financing method that will enable this technology to quickly become a foundational component of the energy-generation infrastructure.

More: Is This a Pump and Dump Scam?

Probably, maybe, maybe not. We don't have long to wait to find out.

I wouldn't trust a pink sheet company any more than I would one that's listed on the Nasdaq 100. Just because International Automated Systems has had run-ins with the law doesn't mean they don't have this technology. It doesn't mean they do, either.

Many companies have runins with the law and SEC actions, etc. The corporation exists to shield the officers from personal liability. In practice, the corporation serves as a vehicle for all order of criminal activities. Why are we surprised when those entities behave in a slimy manner?

A Cryptogon reader writes:
Hi, Kevin,

Regarding, the revolutionary solar power technology from International Automated
Systems...

I have done some researching into this company and the Johnson family (Neldon,
Randale et al) that run it, and I have a strong suspicion that the press releases on their new solar power technology are either a hoax or a scam.

This company has in the past been targeted by the SEC for issueing false press releases in an attempt to boost the stock price of IAS.

Check the following links to

http://classaction.findlaw.com/cases/securities/sec/sec1/files/1998/lr15898.html

http://www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2005/04/04-4067.htm

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/041014/iaus.ob10ksb.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=iaus.ob

http://securities.stanford.edu/1009/IntlAutomated96/001.html

to get a better 'feel' of this company, and then ask yourself if their solar power
technology press releases are credible.
Studying the Cryptogon isn't like punching numbers on a calculator and getting a result. Nothing is that reliable in this world. It's mostly noise piled ontop of nonsense. Speculating that they don't have this, based on their past slimeball activities, would be as stupid as believing they do have it because their press release says so.

IBM assisted the Third Reich with The Final Solution. Do you parse IBM press releases any differently because of that fact?

Re: asking myself if their press releases are credible, HA, it's a press release. "Press release," means professionally engineered propaganda. I don't make decisions based on press releases. You'll know if it's a scam if they start making excuses about delays, etc.



U.S. Pacific Coast Dying :.

Marine biologists are seeing mysterious and disturbing things along the Pacific Coast this year: higher water temperatures, plummeting catches of fish, lots of dead birds on the beaches, and perhaps most worrisome, very little plankton -- the tiny organisms that are a vital link in the ocean food chain.



Will You Join Us? :.

I wonder if I need to consume more mass media than I'm currently getting. I don't watch TV at all, and the only paper-based periodical I read is Wired (purely for mindless entertainment). Now, when I first came across www.willyoujoinus.com, I thought I was just looking at another Peak Oil site:
Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century. One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over. What we do next will determine how well we meet the energy needs of the entire world in this century and beyond.

So we invite you to join us for a series of discussions on some very important issues. Will you join us?
Blah, blah... Pretty standard stuff for any of about a million Peak Oil sites...

Spend a minute on the front page. Take it all in. Do you see the title of the page in your browser pane? Take a gander at the corporate logo at the lower right.

Nope. You're not smoking crack.

It's a Chevron site.

I don't know when this started, or where Chevron is running the ads, but if this is what Joe and Jane Six Pack are being fed, it must mean that we're getting close to having to make BIG changes.


8/1/2005

Brits Might Be Issued "Carbon Cards" Under Proposed Energy Rationing Plan :.

British residents could face a form of energy rationing within the next decade under proposals currently being studied to reduce the U.K.'s carbon dioxide emissions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol.

Under the proposals, known as Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs), every individual would be issued a "carbon card," from which points would be deducted every time the cardholder purchased fossil fuel, for example, by filling up a car or taking a flight.



Community Solution :.

I don't suggest buying any more books or videos about Peak Oil.

Enough.

Get land. Build shelter. Grow food. Raise animals. Take some close friends with you.

Do it now:

The Community Solution is a program of Community Service, Inc. Community Service is dedicated to the development, growth and enhancement of small local communities. We envision a country where the population is distributed in small communities that are sustainable, diverse and culturally sophisticated.

Research Credit: GH



The Constant Gardener :.

It's just a movie:

"Big pharmaceuticals, they're right up there with the arms dealers."



Homeland Security Nets More Than 500 Gang Arrests :.

Department of Homeland Security... In the hood?

Federal authorities arrested 582 alleged gang members over a two-week period, officials said Monday, targeting an estimated 80 violent groups they say have spawned street crimes across the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the gangs "a threat to our homeland security and ... a very urgent law enforcement priority."


Research Credit: PT



Hacker Forced Release of Tenth Planet Information :.

The briefing was hastily arranged after Brown received word that a secure website containing the discovery had been hacked and the hacker had threatened to release the information.



Former ECB Chief Duisenberg Found Dead :.

I'm sure there's a master Dead Banker list somewhere.

Wim Duisenberg, former president of the European Central Bank, was found dead yesterday at his villa in the south of France.

The 70-year-old's death was being treated as accidental by French police. He was found late yesterday morning in the villa's swimming pool, where he had apparently drowned.


Related? Ex-Citigroup Banker Zankel Dead in Fall :.

Arthur Zankel, a former Citigroup financier and patron of the arts, died in a fall from the ninth floor of his Manhattan apartment building, a family member said.

Zankel, 73, in a fall from the Fifth Avenue building on Thursday, his son Tom Zankel said.


Related? Two British Bankers Murdered On December 2

A Cryptogon forum author mentioned World Bank spokeswoman Cristina Mejia.

Nope, this isn't a microbiology thread. Or... Hmmmmm.



Loftus: London Bombing Mastermind Is MI6 Agent :.

UPDATE: Watch Fox News Video

Qutb, the author of this post on Rigorous Intuition's board, doesn't cite a reference for these allegations. I've emailed John Loftus, asking for confirmation that he made these comments. In the meantime...

Former Justice Dept. prosecutor John Loftus claims alleged London bombing mastermind Haroon Rashid Aswat is a "double agent" who "works for the MI6".

For those who don't know who he is, Loftus is the author of "The Secret War Against the Jews", a (highly recommended) book resulting from his research into American corporations' and intelligence agencies' collusion with the Nazis before, during and after WWII, research which he conducted with an above top secret security clearance which gave him access to hitherto secret intelligence archives. He is now usually billed as a "terrorism expert".

Prosecutors in Seattle wanted to indict Aswat in 1999 for trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, but were ordered not to touch him by the highest level in the Justice Department. According to Loftus, the reason was that Aswat was an agent of British intelligence. He claims that "while British police were trying to catch him, the MI6 were trying to hide him".



Oil Surges to Record on King Fahd's Death, Supply Concerns :.

Crude oil rose to a record $62.30 a barrel after the death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd heightened concern about the stability of the world's largest oil exporter.


7/31/2005

Mac OS X Intel Kernel Uses DRM :.

I take no pleasure from calling these things in advance. I wish I'd been wrong:

Several people have discovered that the new Intel kernel Apple has included with the Developer Kit DVD uses TCPA/TPM DRM. More specifically, it includes "a TCPA/Palladium implementation that uses a Infineon 1.1 chip which will prevent certain parts of the OS from working unless authorized.



T.E. Lawrence and the Mind of an Insurgent :.

Via Xymphora:

". . . Lawrence distilled six fundamental principles of insurgency that even today have remarkable relevance. First, a successful guerrilla movement must have an unassailable base - a base secure not only from direct physical assault, but from attack in other forms as well, including psychological attack. Second, the guerrilla must have a technologically sophisticated enemy. The greater this sophistication, the greater this alien force would rely on forms of communications and logistics that must necessarily present vulnerabilities to the irregular. Third, the enemy must be sufficiently weak in numbers so as to be unable to occupy the disputed territory in depth with a system of interlocking fortified posts. Fourth, the guerrilla must have at least the passive support of the populace, if not its full involvement. By Lawrence's calculation, 'Rebellions can be made by 2 percent active in striking force and 98 percent passively sympathetic.' Fifth, the irregular force must have the fundamental qualities of speed, endurance, presence and logistical independence. Sixth, the irregular must be sufficiently advanced in weaponry to strike at the enemy's logistics and signals vulnerabilities."



Post Collapse: Earthaven Ecovillage :.

Post collapse living doesn't have to be punctuated by misery, famine and darkness. To thrive in the times ahead, people need to make preparations while the present system is still functional. Those who build a symbiotic relationship with the natural world and have access to appropriate and sustainable technologies will have the opportunity to serve as an example to humanity of how peaceful and rewarding life on this planet can be.

Ecovillages are the crucible of future possibilities. I know that many of you aren't yet ready to think in terms of ecovillage living, and that's fine. But for the handful of people who: 1) Realize that politics is a waste of time and 2) Are over the existential depression that accompanies the realization that this system is in the process of collapsing, and 3) Want to BE THE SOLUTION, you might seriously consider joining an ecovillage.

Cryptogon forum author, skateari, has posted an exciting summary of what the Earthaven Ecovillage is doing to prepare for Peak Oil. I encourage you to check out his posts and further develop the thread.

Related: Intentional Communities



Cryptogon Reader Contributes $20

Thanks JG. I realize that you have literally millions of websites to choose from to read and or support. The fact that you---and all Cryptogon supporters---chose to contribute to my effort is very humbling and greatly appreciated.

July was the best month for contributions in the history of Cryptogon. To celebrate, I'm sending $25 to Amnesty International.




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:. Reading

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.

The Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing
Helen and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating, timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.

Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd In Silent Theft, David Bollier argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs, software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often, however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps give away our assets. Amazingly, the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed because we have lost our ability to see the commons.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide by John Seymour The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.

When Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten When Corporations Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their own narrow ends.

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener This expansion of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock, the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other topics.