Do you use "My Yahoo" as your homepage? If not, I'd like to recommend that you give it a try. Go to Yahoo.com and choose My Yahoo to get started. You can customize the page to the nth degree, adding stock quotes, news services, and even cartoons. You can also add RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide another way for you to add content to the page, and this includes blogs. For example, you can add Gizmodo and receive hourly updates on new gizmos.
AND (drumroll please) you can add this blog by choosing Add Content, RSS, and type in www.astoundingnews.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Thank you and goodnight.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Friday, January 28, 2005
Why Are We In Iraq?
As I listen to the flow of "news" on our cable and network stations, I am constantly amazed at the lack of awareness of the underlying reasons that we are in Iraq. It seems to be common knowledge that the reasons fed to us by Bush, Chaney, Rice and others were lies. They blame these lies on “faulty intelligence”, often claiming that everybody, including other countries’ intelligence agencies, believed the “faulty intelligence”, and therefore, how could they be blamed. Further investigation reveals that all of this intelligence was hyped at the source: yellow-cake uranium, aluminum tubes, Rumsfeld’s internal Pentagon propaganda machine, etc.
The real reason we are in Iraq is clearly stated in the neoconservative (neocon) document entitled Rebuilding America’s Defenses http://newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf This is a 90-page document which is amazing for it’s honest statement of the neocon position. A summary can be found at http://gvtc.com/~mpingo/pnac2.html A longer exploration of the concept is Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project). I’m guessing that most readers don’t have the time to read these references, so I will take it upon myself to summarize.
America finds itself in a unique position as the world’s only superpower.
We must take advantage of this position by insuring that we remain the only superpower (at least for the next century, if not forever).
We can do this only if we control:
1. The oil spigot (middle east)
2. The military use of space
3. Cyberspace
In his book The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, O’Neill reveals that at one of his first meetings with the National Security Council, long before 9/11, maps of Iraq were laid out on the table and the oil fields were being divided up. Remember Chaney’s (Haliburton) early meetings with oil company exec’s? The secret meetings which they refuse to even identify those in attendance (and apparently will not have to do so)? These were the first steps in the privatization of Iraq.
So the short answer is that we are “in Iraq” as one of the first steps in the realization of the neocon agenda. These people are very focused and very powerful. As the Bush "dynasty" continues under their control, they will continue to move forward with this agenda.
Stay tuned.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
"Winning the Hearts and Minds"
I hate it when people use "the children" to promote their cause. But you must go to this site to see what is being done in your name.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/01467.htm
Seymour Hersh: "We've Been Taken Over by a Cult"
I've written before about "Democracy Now!" on Free Speech TV. This is a streaming video of Seymour Hersh, who is apparently the only reporter with the guts to speak the truth, talking about the current situation in Iraq. If you haven't been following what Hersch is saying, do yourself a favor and listen now.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/26/1450204
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/26/1450204
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Don't Trigger the Slide
Argentina/USA
Some analysts are beginning to talk of a very big correction, suggesting that it would take very little to trigger panic selling leaving the world economy down a very slippery slope. The US Treasury is calling the bluff of all its creditors, mainly Japan and China, who would not dare start a run on the dollar as it would merely devalue the assets that they have sitting in their central banks. Doomsayers are starting to talk about horrific scenarios, the United States becoming an overnight Argentina and the Euro and gold sky-rocketing in value. Mainstream commentators are avoiding such reckless forecasts for the moment if only to ensure that they are not the ones to trigger the slide but such nightmarish visions are certainly in their thoughts if not in their articles. The Bush administration's weak dollar policy may prove to be brinksmanship taken a little too far.
Allston Mitchell
25 January 2005
Some analysts are beginning to talk of a very big correction, suggesting that it would take very little to trigger panic selling leaving the world economy down a very slippery slope. The US Treasury is calling the bluff of all its creditors, mainly Japan and China, who would not dare start a run on the dollar as it would merely devalue the assets that they have sitting in their central banks. Doomsayers are starting to talk about horrific scenarios, the United States becoming an overnight Argentina and the Euro and gold sky-rocketing in value. Mainstream commentators are avoiding such reckless forecasts for the moment if only to ensure that they are not the ones to trigger the slide but such nightmarish visions are certainly in their thoughts if not in their articles. The Bush administration's weak dollar policy may prove to be brinksmanship taken a little too far.
Allston Mitchell
25 January 2005
Monday, January 24, 2005
From Amy: Light Bulb Update
Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?
Saturday, January 22, 2005
They are Here Now!
Micromusclebot
Peter Weiss
In a Los Angeles laboratory, researchers have let loose scores of what amount to living micromachines. Dwarfed by a comma, each tiny device consists of an arch of gold coated along its inner surface with a sheath of cardiac muscle grown from rat cells. With each of the muscle bundles' automatic cycles of contraction and relaxation, the device takes a step.
Viewed under a microscope, "they move very fast," says bioengineer Jianzhong Xi of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "The first time I saw that, it was kind of scary." Xi and his UCLA colleagues Jacob J. Schmidt and Carlo D. Montemagno describe their musclebots in the February Nature Materials.
Microcontraptions of this sort may someday make pinpoint deliveries of drugs to cells or shuttle minuscule components during the manufacture ofother itsy machines or structures, Xi says. Variations on the same design could lead to muscle-driven power supplies for microdevices or laboratory test beds for studying properties of muscle tissue. Because the musclebot is both minuscule and designed to operate in body fluids, "this is the Fantastic Voyage kind of thing" that might someday roam the bloodstream and carry out on-the-spot surgery or disease treatments, comments physicist James Castracane of the State University of New York in Albany.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050122/fob6.asp
Copyright ©2005 Science Service.
Peter Weiss
In a Los Angeles laboratory, researchers have let loose scores of what amount to living micromachines. Dwarfed by a comma, each tiny device consists of an arch of gold coated along its inner surface with a sheath of cardiac muscle grown from rat cells. With each of the muscle bundles' automatic cycles of contraction and relaxation, the device takes a step.
Viewed under a microscope, "they move very fast," says bioengineer Jianzhong Xi of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "The first time I saw that, it was kind of scary." Xi and his UCLA colleagues Jacob J. Schmidt and Carlo D. Montemagno describe their musclebots in the February Nature Materials.
Microcontraptions of this sort may someday make pinpoint deliveries of drugs to cells or shuttle minuscule components during the manufacture ofother itsy machines or structures, Xi says. Variations on the same design could lead to muscle-driven power supplies for microdevices or laboratory test beds for studying properties of muscle tissue. Because the musclebot is both minuscule and designed to operate in body fluids, "this is the Fantastic Voyage kind of thing" that might someday roam the bloodstream and carry out on-the-spot surgery or disease treatments, comments physicist James Castracane of the State University of New York in Albany.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050122/fob6.asp
Copyright ©2005 Science Service.
Blog On
Yes, its time to get with it, and start your own blog.
When the internet was first getting started, future thinkers started talking about the next level of consciousness for the human race. Internet users, like neurons in the brain, would hook up through the nervous system of the planet, telephone wires, and boom, a singularity would be created, and the planetary brain would take us all to a new level. While I’m not sure this is going to happen, if it is, it will undoubtedly include bloggers.
Step 1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/ and start your account.
Note: your account name is not the same as your blog name. Your web address will be http://www.”yourblogname”.blogspot.com/. You can have multiple blogs under one account.
Step 2. Pick out a format, and set the details of how you want it to work. Note: You can change your format at any time.
Step 3. Create your blog and publish it. Blogger doesn't seem to have a spell-checker, so I usually write in Word and cut and paste to Blogger. Adding pictures is a bit more difficult. You download a program called Picasa/Hello for this purpose. All of this is free (for now).
Get started. If you let me know your blog name, I’ll publish it on my site. Who knows, somebody might actually be interested in what you have to say. At least you’ll know that you are a neuron in the new brain.
When the internet was first getting started, future thinkers started talking about the next level of consciousness for the human race. Internet users, like neurons in the brain, would hook up through the nervous system of the planet, telephone wires, and boom, a singularity would be created, and the planetary brain would take us all to a new level. While I’m not sure this is going to happen, if it is, it will undoubtedly include bloggers.
Step 1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/ and start your account.
Note: your account name is not the same as your blog name. Your web address will be http://www.”yourblogname”.blogspot.com/. You can have multiple blogs under one account.
Step 2. Pick out a format, and set the details of how you want it to work. Note: You can change your format at any time.
Step 3. Create your blog and publish it. Blogger doesn't seem to have a spell-checker, so I usually write in Word and cut and paste to Blogger. Adding pictures is a bit more difficult. You download a program called Picasa/Hello for this purpose. All of this is free (for now).
Get started. If you let me know your blog name, I’ll publish it on my site. Who knows, somebody might actually be interested in what you have to say. At least you’ll know that you are a neuron in the new brain.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Somebody Finally Noticed
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned.
Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told dpa on Thursday.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed acomplaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.
Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told dpa on Thursday.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed acomplaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Gold Spot Price
The best way to follow the "spot" price of gold, silver, and other precious metals.
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
From George McKelvey's Picks of the Week
Axis of Evil
by John Cleese
Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil", Libya, China and Syria today announced that they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil, " which they said would be more evil than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of at his State of the Union address. Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new Axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name.
"Right. They are just as evil...in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. "They told us it was full", said Syrian president Bashar al-Assad."An Axis can't have more than three countries", explained former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In WWII you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three, and a secret handshake."
International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered. Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what has become a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan and Serbia announced they had formed the "Axis of Somewhat Evil", forcing Somalia to join Uganda and Myanmar in the "Axis of Occasionally Evil", while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the "Axis of Not So Much Evil Really as Just Generally Disagreeable".
With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the "Axis of Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the Olympics Anytime Soon." Canada, Mexico, and Germany formed the "Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Have Some Nasty Thoughts About America", while Scotland, New Zealand and Spain established the "Axis of Countries That Want Sheep to Wear Lipstick". "That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do" said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.
While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axis's, although he rejected the establishment of the "Axis of Countries Whose Names End in'guay'", accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
by John Cleese
Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil", Libya, China and Syria today announced that they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil, " which they said would be more evil than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of at his State of the Union address. Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new Axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name.
"Right. They are just as evil...in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. "They told us it was full", said Syrian president Bashar al-Assad."An Axis can't have more than three countries", explained former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In WWII you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three, and a secret handshake."
International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered. Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what has become a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan and Serbia announced they had formed the "Axis of Somewhat Evil", forcing Somalia to join Uganda and Myanmar in the "Axis of Occasionally Evil", while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the "Axis of Not So Much Evil Really as Just Generally Disagreeable".
With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the "Axis of Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the Olympics Anytime Soon." Canada, Mexico, and Germany formed the "Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Have Some Nasty Thoughts About America", while Scotland, New Zealand and Spain established the "Axis of Countries That Want Sheep to Wear Lipstick". "That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do" said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.
While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axis's, although he rejected the establishment of the "Axis of Countries Whose Names End in'guay'", accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Monday, January 17, 2005
The Incredible Shrinking Dollar
"In 2002 dollars, the Dow actually has gone from 8,000 to 6,000. You actually lost 25% of your nest egg over the past two years!" So, as an example, if you had $100,000 in purchasing power two years ago, and now you have only $75,000 in purchasing power, thanks to the devaluation of the dollar by 25%, and you want to privatize Social Security by forcing people to put money into the stock market? Hahahaha!"
The sage words of MOGAMBO GURU, who can be found spouting forth every Monday at www.dailyreckoning.com. I highly recommend this site, which provides a free daily email for those who care about things financial.
The sage words of MOGAMBO GURU, who can be found spouting forth every Monday at www.dailyreckoning.com. I highly recommend this site, which provides a free daily email for those who care about things financial.
Doom and Gloom
I guess I must have been about 15 years old when Philip Wylie’s book “Tomorrow” came out. His description of a nuclear war and its aftermath had a profound effect on me. I dreamed that one day my survival skills would be put to the test. I didn’t dream that this would happen after I turned 65. But I do now.
I recently sent a gloomy forecast of the future, “As The World Burns”, http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/120104_world_burns.shtml out to some of you as an email. I’m guessing that most didn’t read it because it was “too long”. Hey, I know a nine page article is taxing, and I suggested that you print it out to read. And some of you probably stopped reading when it started to sound scary. Wouldn’t want to get scared now would we.
But new projections are being published, and they are similar.
WASHINGTON - In the next six years, Al Qaeda will launch terrible attacks on America's casinos, shopping malls, and rail lines. The federal government will intern tens of thousands of Muslims in remote facilities and issue national identification cards. The price of oil will spike to more than $80 a barrel, and rebel forces will launch a successful coup in Saudi Arabia. And one more thing: Iran will obtain an A-bomb.
That's the vision of the future in a lengthy cover story in the current Atlantic Monthly by former counterterrorism tsar Richard Clarke, who predicts the American economy - not to mention civil liberties - will decline precipitously after a second wave of attacks that he says Al Qaeda will launch this year.
Written as the transcript for a fictional lecturer, Roger McBride, giving a 10th annual September 11 address to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Mr. Clarke drives his point home when he writes, "No one could stand here today, in 2011, and say that America has won the war on terror."
www.nysun.com/article/7487
Although the Atlantic Monthly wants a subscription fee to read the article, others soon published it on the web, some to ridicule it. Free Republic, a right-wing site, stole the article in its entirety and published it here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318735/posts along with a humorous collection of nitwit comments.
I recently sent a gloomy forecast of the future, “As The World Burns”, http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/120104_world_burns.shtml out to some of you as an email. I’m guessing that most didn’t read it because it was “too long”. Hey, I know a nine page article is taxing, and I suggested that you print it out to read. And some of you probably stopped reading when it started to sound scary. Wouldn’t want to get scared now would we.
But new projections are being published, and they are similar.
WASHINGTON - In the next six years, Al Qaeda will launch terrible attacks on America's casinos, shopping malls, and rail lines. The federal government will intern tens of thousands of Muslims in remote facilities and issue national identification cards. The price of oil will spike to more than $80 a barrel, and rebel forces will launch a successful coup in Saudi Arabia. And one more thing: Iran will obtain an A-bomb.
That's the vision of the future in a lengthy cover story in the current Atlantic Monthly by former counterterrorism tsar Richard Clarke, who predicts the American economy - not to mention civil liberties - will decline precipitously after a second wave of attacks that he says Al Qaeda will launch this year.
Written as the transcript for a fictional lecturer, Roger McBride, giving a 10th annual September 11 address to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Mr. Clarke drives his point home when he writes, "No one could stand here today, in 2011, and say that America has won the war on terror."
www.nysun.com/article/7487
Although the Atlantic Monthly wants a subscription fee to read the article, others soon published it on the web, some to ridicule it. Free Republic, a right-wing site, stole the article in its entirety and published it here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318735/posts along with a humorous collection of nitwit comments.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Digital Video Recorders
I'm sure you've heard of TiVo, the service that lets you control your TV. Perhaps you didn't know that you don't need TiVo to do this - you just need a DVR (digital video recorder). The DVR is actually the heart of the system; recording what you watch automatically and allowing you to rewind at anytime. In addition, the DVR allows you to record programs you are not watching and view them later (time-shifting) and, this is the best part; avoid commercials by hitting the 30-sec advance button and gleefully skipping past them. This is "empowered" TV watching, and once you try it you will not want to watch without it.
As commercials gradually took over TV, watching became a painful experience. TV commercials are the "spam" of TV, but we seem to accept them as a necessary evil. Cable and HBO type channels provide a subscription alternative to advertising, but believe me, there are parts of these that you will want to skip as well. A 30-minute show can easily be watched in 20 minutes. A football game, with its 30-sec play clock, can be watched in one hour rather that 3. All of that commentator bs is gone!
The only thing TiVo adds is a service that will monitor what you watch and try to find additional similar material to record for you. The "monitoring" part is unnecessary and, to some, undesirable. (This is how they were able to announce within hours that over 3 million viewers had "TiVoed" Janet Jackson's breast). Your DVR can be purchased or rented from your cable or dish provider, and there is no additional monthly fee. If High Definition TV is available in your area, there are even HDTV DVRs.
DVRs come with different storage capacities, measured in hours of TV. Mine stores 60 hours and cost $200 over a year ago. I'm not sure what the current price is, but whatever the price, if you value your time, you can't make a better investment.
P.S. For the real TV nut, you can even port your saved programs from the DVR to your PC, and burn your own DVDs. This will soon be made impossible by the box manufacturers pressured by big TV, so you may want to buy this technology now!
As commercials gradually took over TV, watching became a painful experience. TV commercials are the "spam" of TV, but we seem to accept them as a necessary evil. Cable and HBO type channels provide a subscription alternative to advertising, but believe me, there are parts of these that you will want to skip as well. A 30-minute show can easily be watched in 20 minutes. A football game, with its 30-sec play clock, can be watched in one hour rather that 3. All of that commentator bs is gone!
The only thing TiVo adds is a service that will monitor what you watch and try to find additional similar material to record for you. The "monitoring" part is unnecessary and, to some, undesirable. (This is how they were able to announce within hours that over 3 million viewers had "TiVoed" Janet Jackson's breast). Your DVR can be purchased or rented from your cable or dish provider, and there is no additional monthly fee. If High Definition TV is available in your area, there are even HDTV DVRs.
DVRs come with different storage capacities, measured in hours of TV. Mine stores 60 hours and cost $200 over a year ago. I'm not sure what the current price is, but whatever the price, if you value your time, you can't make a better investment.
P.S. For the real TV nut, you can even port your saved programs from the DVR to your PC, and burn your own DVDs. This will soon be made impossible by the box manufacturers pressured by big TV, so you may want to buy this technology now!
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Seeking Truth in TV Viewing
If you are tired of what passes for news these days on the propaganda outlets, see if you can find Free Speech TV in your local listings. If you have Dish TV, its ch 9415. On Comcast I think it's known as Link TV. Sometimes it's on PBS. Amy Goodman tells it like it is on a program called Democracy Now! If you can't find it on TV, you can stream it from www.FreespeechTV.org
And while you are seeking real news, you might check out http://english.aljazeera.net/homepage as an antidote to the "western press". I know, you are probably afraid that your connections are being monitored by NSA or Echelon, and they probably are, but be brave and seek the truth.
And if you can stand a dose of "reality", check out http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/, a blog from inside Baghdad. Be advised that reality is often difficult. Don't look at the photographs if you have a weak stomach.
And while you are seeking real news, you might check out http://english.aljazeera.net/homepage as an antidote to the "western press". I know, you are probably afraid that your connections are being monitored by NSA or Echelon, and they probably are, but be brave and seek the truth.
And if you can stand a dose of "reality", check out http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/, a blog from inside Baghdad. Be advised that reality is often difficult. Don't look at the photographs if you have a weak stomach.
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