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10/23/2004

“BRAIN” IN A DISH ACTS AS AUTOPILOT, LIVING COMPUTER :.

Oh yeah:

"Scientists at the University of Florida made a living 'brain' by extracting 25,000 neurons from a rat's brain and culturing them inside a glass dish. Then, the neurons began to extend lines to each other, creating a living neural network between them. The dish had a grid of 60 electrodes connected to a computer running a flight simulator. The scientists were able to train the 'brain' to control the plane in the simulator and to react to conditions of the plane. Are we getting closer to create an artificially made conscious being, or perhaps, a living computer?"



CIA Mind Control Victims Win Cash Claims :.

Full text follows:

HUNDREDS of mentally ill patients who were subjected to barbaric CIA-funded brainwashing experiments by a Scottish doctor could be entitled to compensation following a landmark court ruling.

Doctor Ewan Cameron, who became one of the world’s leading psychiatrists, developed techniques used by Nazi scientists to wipe out the existing personalities of people in his care.

Cameron, who graduated from Glasgow University, was recruited by the CIA during the cold war while working at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

He carried out mind-control experiments using drugs such as LSD on hundreds of patients, but only 77 of them were awarded compensation.

Now a landmark ruling by a Federal Court judge in Montreal will allow more than 250 former patients, whose claims were rejected, to seek compensation.

Gail Kastner, who underwent electroshock treatment at a Montreal psychiatric institute in 1953, and whose claim was rejected 10 years ago, successfully appealed the judgment.

Last week, Alan Stein, of Montreal law firm Stein and Stein, which represented Kastner, confirmed he was in the process of contacting former clients who could now renew their appeal.

“There are about 200 people still due compensation,” he said. “This judgment should send out strong signals to the Canadian government. Those who have previously missed out should have a strong case for appealing.”

Using techniques similar to those portrayed in the celebrated novel the Manchurian Candidate, it was believed that people could be brainwashed and reprogrammed to carry out specific acts.

Cameron developed a range of depatterning “treatments” while director of the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill University.

Patients were woken from drug-induced stupors two or three times a day for multiple electric shocks. In a specially designed “sleep room” made famous by Anne Collins’s book of the same name, Cameron placed a speaker under the patient’s pillow and relayed negative messages for 16 hours a day.

Kastner was a 19-year-old honours student suffering from mild depression when she first underwent “treatment” in 1953. On returning home she sucked her thumb, demanded to be fed from a bottle, talked in a baby voice and urinated on the floor.

She was ostracised by her affluent family, who were unable to cope with her changed state, and her marriage in 1955 quickly broke down due to her difficulties.

Cameron, who was born in Bridge of Allan in 1901, rose to become the first president of the World Psychiatric Association.

It took two decades and the persistence of Joseph Rauh, the distinguished American civil liberties lawyer, to uncover what happened and secure compensation for some of Cameron’s victims.


Research Credit: NF



Documentary Progress

People are writing in, wondering about the documentary. How am I funding this project? Did I manage to get a decent camera?

Yeah, I got the camera, but the funding certainly didn't come from donations to Cryptogon! (Thanks to the handful readers who have contributed recently. I bought food and gasoline with the money.)

Actually, there is no outside funding. I sold all of my 35mm still camera gear, an expensive mobile phone that I got for free (contract renewal) and a couple of other goodies I can manage to live without. That's how I raised the money to buy the Canon GL2 video camera and the 160GB firewire drive I'll need to edit this thing. At the moment, though, I don't know how I'll be able to afford gas to drive to interviews and blank video tape... I guess lights and a gel kit are not in the cards at the moment. I've read about other bum low-budget/no-budget filmmakers who use work lights from Home Depot on their projects. That might be the way to go.

A couple of you have written in to offer help with music and sound design. That's great, since I have no musical talent at all. Thanks for offering to help.

Oh, what's the topic?

Ahhh, it's a secret for now. I'll reveal it as I get closer to completing the project. But rest assured, production is well underway. In case you doubt it, take a look inside the Cryptogon Studios. Baby, if that doesn't look like progress, I don't know what does!




A Bush Pre-Election Strike on Iran 'Imminent' :.

I doubt it, but just in case...

According to White House and Washington Beltway insiders, the Bush administration, worried that it could lose the presidential election to Senator John F. Kerry, has initiated plans to launch a military strike on Iran's top Islamic leadership, its nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, and key nuclear targets throughout the country, including the main underground research site at Natanz in central Iran and another in Isfahan. Targets of the planned U.S. attack reportedly include mosques in Tehran, Qom, and Isfahan known by the U.S. to headquarter Iran's top mullahs.

The Iran attack plan was reportedly drawn up after internal polling indicated that if the Bush administration launched a so-called anti-terrorist attack on Iran some two weeks before the election, Bush would be assured of a landslide win against Kerry. Reports of a pre-emptive strike on Iran come amid concerns by a number of political observers that the Bush administration would concoct an "October Surprise" to influence the outcome of the presidential election.



Chips Coming to a Brain Near You :.

In this era of high-tech memory management, next in line to get that memory upgrade isn't your computer, it's you.

Professor Theodore W. Berger, director of the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California, is creating a silicon chip implant that mimics the hippocampus, an area of the brain known for creating memories. If successful, the artificial brain prosthesis could replace its biological counterpart, enabling people who suffer from memory disorders to regain the ability to store new memories.



Representative Tim Ryan (D) Ohio :.

Make sure you have Quicktime enabled and click that link!


10/22/2004

Cryptogon Reader Contributes $25!

Thanks JS.


10/21/2004

Is the Bush Administration Suppressing the Price of Gas? :.

TR and I have been discussing this for weeks. The price of gas at the pump has become largely decoupled from the price of the underlying commodity (oil). My only guess is that a determination was made (don't ask me by who or what) to keep gas prices stable in some parts of the country, while letting them rise in other areas. For example, prices in Oregon, where TR lives, are stable to down. Where I live, in Southern California, gas prices have shot up to near records.

This article goes into this phenomenon in detail. Excellent work:

I guess suppressing only the vote isn't enough for this administration.

It seems that the price of gas has suspiciously dropped in the face of rocketing oil prices. This is directly counter to the tight correlation that this commodity and its derivative have experienced in past years.

With a bit of analysis, we see that if the price of gas were to catch up with the price of oil in percentage terms (as it always has in the past), then a gallon of gas would be about $2.60 per gallon!

And check this out, it seems that Bush's approval ratings seem to move up and down right along with the price of gas. True, correlation alone does not mean causation -- but correlation coupled with good ol' common sense certainly does.


Note: By linking to this, it doesn't mean that I support Kerry. This election is a fraud. I don't participate in fraudulent activities.



U.S. Special Operations Command Visits Cryptogon

A user at the U.S. Special Operations Command (host: asoc3.soc.mil, ip: 204.34.247.9, time: 20/Oct/2004:12:03:58 -0700) conducted the following Google search: "joint special operations command".

The visitor from SOC went to The Secret War page hosted on Cryptogon.



U.S. Department of Homeland Security Interested in TV-B-Gone

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security user (host: n021.dhs.gov, ip: 63.162.143.21, time: 21/Oct/2004:04:41:19 -0700) conducted the following Google search: purchase tv-b-gone. The DHS user wound up clicking the link to Cryptogon.

Related: Cryptogon Mention of TV-B-Gone



Open Source Intelligence Support :.

Such services can include, but are not limited to: Rapid-response deep Internet and commercial (fee for service) research; Acquisition of specified overtly available information products and data services; Procurement of Russian military maps and other forms of geospatial information; Translation of foreign language materials in 29 languages; Providing OSINT training or advisory services.

The contractor will conduct surveys of foreign terrorist, guerilla and insurgent groups on the Internet and newsgroups within the indexed and un-indexed World Wide Web (WWW). Searches will be conducted in multiple languages to ensure comprehensive coverage. The contractor, at a minimum, will search in various dialects of English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Farsi, German, Korean, Russian, Italian and Arabic.

Conduct research and provide data emphasizing the capabilities of foreign Government Special Operations Forces (SOF).



Physical Compromise Ops Training :.

This procurement is intended to provide USSOCOM with a readily available source to provide technical surveillance training to personnel in the United States. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services to perform technical surveillance curriculum development and instruction...



Bush Ear Piece :.

More...



Cops = Robbers :.

Los Angeles Police officers robbed people at gunpoint for drugs, guns and jewelry!

FIVE police officers in Los Angeles stand accused of pursuing a four-year armed robbery spree, using squad cars, uniforms and badges to make the brazen heists look like official raids.

At least two men were shot with stun guns during the robberies, while another was beaten with a police baton, had a gun stuffed into his mouth and was burnt with a cigarette lighter. The five men, working with as many as fifteen accomplices, including a professional female boxer, stole 320kg (700lb) of marijuana and 50kg of cocaine, as well as cars, firearms and jewellery.

The gang used Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) 0surveillance tactics to keep a look out for police or witnesses, and restrained victims with standard-issue handcuffs.

In one instance, the thieves, confident they would not be caught, even identified themselves as LAPD as they stole television sets from a lorry. Their total haul has been valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly more.



Police Taser 75-Year-Old Woman at Nursing Home :.

The Rock Hill Police Department is investigating why an officer used an electric stun gun on a 75-year-old woman who refused to leave a nursing home where she had gone to visit an ailing friend.



American Passports to Get Chipped :.

New U.S. passports will soon be read remotely at borders around the world, thanks to embedded chips that will broadcast on command an individual's name, address and digital photo to a computerized reader.

The State Department hopes the addition of the chips, which employ radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, will make passports more secure and harder to forge, according to spokeswoman Kelly Shannon.



Very Interesting Book :.


10/20/2004

Oil Back at $55

I knew those couple of down days were a short squeeze setup. In the near term, the question is, how many traders got short on the recent downturn, and how many have covered as a result of the upside today? If lots of them are still short, look for a brutal squeeze above $55. The "5s" are sticky resistance and support levels. Prices, in general, have a harder time breaking through the 5 levels on the upside, and will find support at the 5 levels on the downside. The prices will briefly "overshoot" the 5s but tend to retreat/advance for some period before continuing. This is exactly what has been happening with oil at the $55 level.



Wake Up and Smell the Fascism :.

I just copied the bullet points. Click through to see the commentary and links for each point:

1.) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2.) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3.) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4.) Supremacy of the Military

5.) Rampant Sexism

6.) Controlled Mass Media

7.) Obsession with National Security

8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined

9.) Corporate Power is Protected

10.) Labor Power is Suppressed

11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment

13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

14.) Fraudulent Elections



Mostly PSYOPS Most of the Time :.

Media accounts of government PSYOPS; that's the news. And it's all designed to keep al Qaeda guessing... Isn't that nice...

What does it mean if the leader of al Qaeda is Dick Cheney?

When "unnamed U.S. government officials" leaked the story this fall that al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan had been arrested in Pakistan, media reports described British and Pakistani intelligence officials as furious about the resulting firestorm of coverage. Officials were quoted as saying that the news had blown a global sting operation by destroying Khan's value as a "double agent" who'd been turned against his al Qaeda colleagues. U.S. senators and British MPs on both sides of the aisle publicly deplored this shocking intelligence "debacle."

What a terrific story. But was any of it -- Khan's purported role as a double agent, the outrage of intelligence officers -- really true? There's a good chance that much of it wasn't.


Research Credit: AL



FARMERS NOT ALLOWED TO SAVE SEED IN IRAQ :.

Do you get it yet? The ability to grow food in a sustainable manner is dangerous to the machine:

When the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) celebrates biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers will be mourning its loss.

A new report by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

"The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors.

The new law in question heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds.

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.


10/19/2004

Scientists Create Monkey Drones :.

Read every word:

Scientists have discovered a way of manipulating a gene that turns animals into drones that do not become bored with repetitive tasks. The experiments, conducted on monkeys, are the first to demonstrate that animal behaviour can be permanently changed, turning the subjects from aggressive to "compliant" creatures.

The genes are identical in humans and although the discovery could help to treat depression and other types of mental illness, it will raise images of the Epsilon caste from Aldous Huxley's futuristic novel Brave New World.

The experiments -- detailed in the journal Nature Neuroscience this month -- involved blocking the effect of a gene called D2 in a particular part of the brain. This cut off the link between the rhesus monkeys' motivation and reward.

Instead of speeding up with the approach of a deadline or the prospect of a "treat," the monkeys in the experiment could be made to work just as enthusiastically for long periods. The scientists say the identical technique would apply to humans.

"Most people are motivated to work hard and well only by the expectation of reward, whether it's a paycheque or a word of praise," said Barry Richmond, a government neurobiologist at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, who led the project. "We found we could remove that link and create a situation where repetitive, hard work would continue without any reward."



Oil: Setting the Bear Trap?

This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument, but here's how I see it.

Oil prices have gapped down over the last two sessions. Traders are taking short positions thinking that the near term top is in. Watch out. Typically, when you see price action like this, it's a scam designed to lure in the shorts. My guess is that a nearterm gap above $55 is a very real possibility.



TV-B-Gone :.

I like it:

Altman's key-chain fob was a TV-B-Gone, a new universal remote that turns off almost any television. The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first.

Related: http://www.tvbgone.com/



Iraqis Bathed in Propaganda :.

Giant billboards call for unity. Posters assure skeptics that the January election will be fair. Car bumper stickers plead for divine protection for a nation that needs all the help it can get.

With anger and despair mounting over a seemingly endless cycle of violence, Baghdad's streets, airwaves and newspapers are being used to reassure the city's six million residents and try to imbue them with hope.

That's a tough sell in a city where most people have lost a friend, a relative or an acquaintance to the violence. Thousands of middle class families are fleeing the country in search of safety.


Don't forget to read the last two sentences to get a real flavor of the democracy in Iraq:

Congratulating Muslims on the occasion of Ramadan, the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade also had a stern warning to residents in newspaper advertisements. "Please stay clear from military vehicles to avoid traffic accidents and the use of deadly force."

Yep. Get out the vote...



U.S. Has Contingency Plans for a Draft of Medical Workers :.

This is from the New York Times:

The Selective Service has been updating its contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's medical corps.

In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted.

On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System should establish contacts in advance with medical societies, hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of medical journals and trade publications.

On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key and discreet because "overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public.


10/18/2004

Tech Sector Unemployment Apocalypse Gets Worse :.

Job cuts increase 127% at computer companies! WOW!!!

The U.S. technology sector suffered another round of widespread layoffs during the third quarter, with computer firms slashing jobs most aggressively, a report said on Monday.

"High-tech job cuts are on the way up as the end of the year approaches," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Behind this trend is the fact that technology companies have virtually no pricing power,"

Job cuts in technology jumped 60 percent between July and September to 54,701, compared with 34,213 layoffs in the second quarter. Computer companies alone saw job cuts jump 127 percent, to 30,624.

Manufacturers in the sector are having trouble making money since they have been forced to lower prices in order to attract consumers, Challenger said. So they end up firing workers in order to maintain healthy profit margins.

Worse yet, the growing number of layoffs is not being countered by any move to hire, Challenger added.



Election Day Red Alert? :.

If the pre-election internal tracking polls and public opinion polls show the Kerry-Edwards ticket leading in key battleground states, the Bush team will begin to implement their plan to announce an imminent terrorist alert for the West Coast for November 2 sometime during the mid afternoon Pacific Standard Time. At 2:00 PST, the polls in Kentucky and Indiana will be one hour from closing (5:00 PM EST – the polls close in Indiana and Kentucky at 6:00 PM EST). Exit polls in both states will be known to the Bush people by that time and if Kentucky (not likely Indiana) looks too close to call or leaning to Kerry-Edwards, the California plan will be implemented. A Bush problem in Kentucky at 6:00 PM EST would mean that problems could be expected in neighboring states and that plans to declare a state of emergency in California would begin in earnest at 3:00 PM PST.

The U.S. Northern Command, which has military jurisdiction over the United States, will, along with the Department of Homeland Security and Schwarzenegger’s police and homeland security officials in Sacramento, declare an “imminent” terrorist threat – a RED ALERT -- affecting California’s major urban areas.

Although the polls in California will not be closed as a result of the declaration, the panic that sets in and the early rush hour will clog major traffic arteries and change the plans of many voters to cast their ballot after work.

That terrorist emergency declaration could be made around 5:00 PM PST and with only three hours left for voting throughout the state, a number of working class voters in urban centers will either be caught up in California’s infamous freeway traffic and be too late to get to their polling places or be more concerned about their families and avoid voting altogether.

Without a doubt, many Democratic voters might simply opt to pick their kids up from day care centers or relatives and then go home without voting. These would tend to be the lower and middle income Californians and the Democratic base. The affluent voters in California who vote Republicans and can easily vote early (and be late for work) or have the option of leaving work at any time during the day to vote will have likely already cast their ballots. Therefore, the recipe of a White House-induced California terrorist alert and a low Democratic turnout could toss 54 electoral votes into Bush’s lap, especially if the scare tactics affect the turnout in such urban and typically pro-Democratic vote-rich areas as Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento.



Voting Problems in Florida... Already :.

Problems were already being reported with Florida's new voting system today as the state opened early polling.

Punch cards which caused "hanging chads" and widespread chaos at the last election have been replaced with touch screen machines in many parts of the state.

But one of the systems crashed shortly after it was fired up to allow Floridians to start casting early votes.

The machines have proved controversial because many do not provide a paper reading of how votes are cast, making a recount of a disputed result impossible.

As an alternative some polling stations are providing voters with paper ballot alternatives.

But a Democratic state legislator said when she asked for an absentee paper ballot it was incomplete.

Shelley Vana, from Palm Beach County, centre of the last election's debacle, said election workers were indifferent when she pointed out the oversight.

"This is not a good start. If there are incomplete ballots out there, I can't imagine I would be the only one getting it," she said.



OIL $55

Heating oil supply worries.




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