5.10.2009
Crop Circles -2009 Update- Number 10
[Formation Nº 10 @ Peaks Down - nr Swindon, Wiltshire - reported May 9, 2009]
Memos shed light on CIA use of sleep deprivation
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-interrogate10-2009may10,0,1512131.story
Reporting from Washington -- As President Obama prepared last month to release secret memos on the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods, the White House fielded a flurry of last-minute appeals.
One came from former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, who expressed disbelief that the administration was prepared to expose methods it might later decide it needed.
"Are you telling me that under all conditions of threat, you will never interfere with the sleep cycle of a detainee?" Hayden asked a top White House official, according to sources familiar with the exchange.
From the beginning, sleep deprivation had been one of the most important elements in the CIA's interrogation program, used to help break dozens of suspected terrorists, far more than the most violent approaches. And it is among the methods the agency fought hardest to keep.
[...]
Because of its effectiveness -- as well as the perception that it was less objectionable than waterboarding, head-slamming or forced nudity -- sleep deprivation may be seen as a tempting technique to restore.
But the Justice Department memos released last month by Obama, as well as information provided by officials familiar with the program, indicate that the method, which involves forcing chained prisoners to stand, sometimes for days on end, was more controversial within the U.S. intelligence community than was widely known.
Read more...
One came from former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, who expressed disbelief that the administration was prepared to expose methods it might later decide it needed.
"Are you telling me that under all conditions of threat, you will never interfere with the sleep cycle of a detainee?" Hayden asked a top White House official, according to sources familiar with the exchange.
From the beginning, sleep deprivation had been one of the most important elements in the CIA's interrogation program, used to help break dozens of suspected terrorists, far more than the most violent approaches. And it is among the methods the agency fought hardest to keep.
[...]
Because of its effectiveness -- as well as the perception that it was less objectionable than waterboarding, head-slamming or forced nudity -- sleep deprivation may be seen as a tempting technique to restore.
But the Justice Department memos released last month by Obama, as well as information provided by officials familiar with the program, indicate that the method, which involves forcing chained prisoners to stand, sometimes for days on end, was more controversial within the U.S. intelligence community than was widely known.
Jobless Spaniards sell kidneys to transplant tourists
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6257054.ece
A MACABRE traffic associated with poor countries in Asia and Latin America has sprung up for the first time in western Europe as the credit crunch reduces Spaniards to selling organs to “transplant tourists”.
Spanish “kidney for sale” advertisements have proliferated recently on the internet as people struggle to make ends meet in a country whose 17% unemployment rate is the highest in Europe.
Sergio, a 42-year-old welder and father of four, said he had received an offer of £20,000 from a German couple who needed his kidney for their five-year-old son. If tests showed them to be compatible, an operation would be performed in a “third country” since such transactions are illegal in Europe.
“Apparently, there’s a waiting list of at least five years for a kidney in Germany,” he told a television programme, “but in five years the kid will be dead.”
[...]
“The bank is on my back,” he said. “If I could think of some other way of raising the money, believe me, I would.”
Read more...
Spanish “kidney for sale” advertisements have proliferated recently on the internet as people struggle to make ends meet in a country whose 17% unemployment rate is the highest in Europe.
Sergio, a 42-year-old welder and father of four, said he had received an offer of £20,000 from a German couple who needed his kidney for their five-year-old son. If tests showed them to be compatible, an operation would be performed in a “third country” since such transactions are illegal in Europe.
“Apparently, there’s a waiting list of at least five years for a kidney in Germany,” he told a television programme, “but in five years the kid will be dead.”
[...]
“The bank is on my back,” he said. “If I could think of some other way of raising the money, believe me, I would.”
The end of the age of free
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/10/music-news-murdoch-free-google
In art, as in commerce, a price tag traditionally has magical powers. With the flick of a wand, a pound sign confers desirability on an item that might be thrown away if it was handed out for nothing.
And yet for almost a decade now, quality entertainment and culture, as well as mainstream sources of news, have been freely available on the web. The arrival of the internet has seen musicians, publishers and news organisations all slowly float off together into uncharted waters.
Consumers who have grown up during the past 15 years are completely at home in a world where much of what they want to hear, see or read will cost them nothing. True, in the case of some films and TV shows, the practices involved may skirt around the law a bit. Generally speaking, though, culture has become a happy free-for-all. Now may be the time to pay the bill.
Chris Anderson, a leading American commentator on the web and editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, puts the matter concisely: "Somehow an economy had emerged around 'free' before the economic model that could describe it." Anderson's next book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, will both celebrate and analyse the effect of all this giving-away.
[...]
One of the biggest players in the game last week questioned the rationale behind the current give-away culture. Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp, even went so far as to refer to it as a "flawed" business model when he spoke to reporters in New York. The media mogul – who owns the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World in Britain, as well as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in America – announced that he was considering charging for more of his internet sites.
"We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning," Murdoch said. His volte-face followed background news that profits from News Corp newspapers were down year-on-year from $216m to $7m and that British newspaper advertising revenues were down 21%.
Read more...
And yet for almost a decade now, quality entertainment and culture, as well as mainstream sources of news, have been freely available on the web. The arrival of the internet has seen musicians, publishers and news organisations all slowly float off together into uncharted waters.
Consumers who have grown up during the past 15 years are completely at home in a world where much of what they want to hear, see or read will cost them nothing. True, in the case of some films and TV shows, the practices involved may skirt around the law a bit. Generally speaking, though, culture has become a happy free-for-all. Now may be the time to pay the bill.
Chris Anderson, a leading American commentator on the web and editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, puts the matter concisely: "Somehow an economy had emerged around 'free' before the economic model that could describe it." Anderson's next book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, will both celebrate and analyse the effect of all this giving-away.
[...]
One of the biggest players in the game last week questioned the rationale behind the current give-away culture. Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp, even went so far as to refer to it as a "flawed" business model when he spoke to reporters in New York. The media mogul – who owns the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World in Britain, as well as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in America – announced that he was considering charging for more of his internet sites.
"We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning," Murdoch said. His volte-face followed background news that profits from News Corp newspapers were down year-on-year from $216m to $7m and that British newspaper advertising revenues were down 21%.
Aznar prefiere una "alianza de civilizados" a una de civilizaciones
http://www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20090509/53699923032/aznar-prefiere-una-alianza-de-civilizados-a-una-de-civilizaciones-gobierno-jose-maria-aznar-fernando.html
Estoril (Portugal). (EFE).- El ex presidente del Gobierno José María Aznar no cree en una "alianza de civilizaciones" sino en una "de civilizados" que respeten los principios de la democracia y rechacen otros como el terrorismo.[!!!]
Otro participante en el mismo acto, el profesor de la universidad británica de Oxford Tariq Ramadán, replicó los argumentos de Aznar y calificó de "incivilizado" mentir sobre las armas de destrucción masiva atribuidas al régimen iraquí o participar en un conflicto "ilegal" para la ONU como el de Iraq.
Aznar manifestó que no cree en la alianza de civilizaciones porque no reconoce que haya un "choque de civilizaciones" y piensa que "civilización hay una" [La suya, no?].
No obstante, ante una pregunta del público, señaló que le aceptó el término "diálogo de civilizaciones" al ex presidente de Irán Mohamed Jatamí, cuando ambos se reunieron, como gobernantes, hace ocho años porque sí está de acuerdo con la necesidad de "dialogar" [Primero tendríamos que saber qué significa exactamente 'dialogar' para el Sr. Aznar].
"Puedo creer en el diálogo entre distintas culturas y países y no entiendo otra cosa que una razonable alianza de gente civilizada", agregó Aznar, que considera fuera de esa posibilidad a quienes no respetan el pluralismo, los derechos humanos, atacan las Torres Gemelas de Nueva York o ponen bombas en Madrid. [Uf! Con lo que ya sabemos tod@s acerca del 9-11, del 7-7 y del 11-M...Cómo se puede tolerar que siga diciendo semejantes cosas?!]
Aznar alertó también del peligro de que Irán tenga el poder nuclear y sostuvo que "un mundo con seis potencias nucleares es un mundo desagradable pero con veinte es inmanejable"[!!!] porque alguna acabará en manos de alguien sin escrúpulos [Porque EEUU, Rusia, Reino Unido, Francia, etc., son todas potencias ''con escrúpulos'', a que sí?].
En relación con Oriente Medio defendió la coexistencia de un estado de Israel y otro palestino pero cree "internacionalmente inadmisible" que se pretenda acabar con el estado israelí.
En el ciclo de Conferencias de Estoril, que concluye hoy, participaron también esta semana, entre otras personalidades, los ex gobernantes Tony Blair, del Reino Unido; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, de Brasil; y Mary Robinson, de Irlanda.
[Fuente: lavanguardia.es]
Otro participante en el mismo acto, el profesor de la universidad británica de Oxford Tariq Ramadán, replicó los argumentos de Aznar y calificó de "incivilizado" mentir sobre las armas de destrucción masiva atribuidas al régimen iraquí o participar en un conflicto "ilegal" para la ONU como el de Iraq.
Aznar manifestó que no cree en la alianza de civilizaciones porque no reconoce que haya un "choque de civilizaciones" y piensa que "civilización hay una" [La suya, no?].
No obstante, ante una pregunta del público, señaló que le aceptó el término "diálogo de civilizaciones" al ex presidente de Irán Mohamed Jatamí, cuando ambos se reunieron, como gobernantes, hace ocho años porque sí está de acuerdo con la necesidad de "dialogar" [Primero tendríamos que saber qué significa exactamente 'dialogar' para el Sr. Aznar].
"Puedo creer en el diálogo entre distintas culturas y países y no entiendo otra cosa que una razonable alianza de gente civilizada", agregó Aznar, que considera fuera de esa posibilidad a quienes no respetan el pluralismo, los derechos humanos, atacan las Torres Gemelas de Nueva York o ponen bombas en Madrid. [Uf! Con lo que ya sabemos tod@s acerca del 9-11, del 7-7 y del 11-M...Cómo se puede tolerar que siga diciendo semejantes cosas?!]
Aznar alertó también del peligro de que Irán tenga el poder nuclear y sostuvo que "un mundo con seis potencias nucleares es un mundo desagradable pero con veinte es inmanejable"[!!!] porque alguna acabará en manos de alguien sin escrúpulos [Porque EEUU, Rusia, Reino Unido, Francia, etc., son todas potencias ''con escrúpulos'', a que sí?].
En relación con Oriente Medio defendió la coexistencia de un estado de Israel y otro palestino pero cree "internacionalmente inadmisible" que se pretenda acabar con el estado israelí.
En el ciclo de Conferencias de Estoril, que concluye hoy, participaron también esta semana, entre otras personalidades, los ex gobernantes Tony Blair, del Reino Unido; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, de Brasil; y Mary Robinson, de Irlanda.
Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista
http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=611061&idseccio_PK=1008
¿Existe vida a la izquierda de la izquierda? Al menos alguien intenta que la haya, sin traicionar los principios, pero adaptándolos a los tiempos que corren. A Olivier Besancenot (Levallois-Perret, 1974) el experimento le está yendo bien en Francia. Puede presumir de haber sacudido el espacio electoral izquierdista al ganarse el voto de millón y medio de franceses en las últimas presidenciales. Un golpe de efecto del que anhela contagiarse un partido presentado ayer en Barcelona y Madrid que busca aglutinar a la extrema izquierda cara a los comicios europeos.
La crisis económica puede ser el acicate para retomar una lucha contra el capitalismo que la caída del muro de Berlín parecía dar por terminada a finales del siglo pasado. Se trata de recuperar fuelle para "cambiar el mundo de base y derrocar el sistema". Utópico o no, con esa semilla germina Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista. Los principios suenan a otras épocas, pero los oradores han cambiado mucho y las palabras están matizadas.
Sin etiquetas
El referente, Besancenot, es un mileurista que trabaja como cartero cuatro días a la semana en Neuilly-sur-Seine, una rica ciudad contigua a París de la que fue alcalde Nicolas Sarkozy. Se le conoce como "el cartero trotskista", conjugando su oficio con la ideología que parece pregonar. Parece, porque él huye de etiquetas. "No soy ni trotskista, ni guevarista ni luxemburguista (por Rosa Luxemburgo; soy un revolucionario". Precisamente para no etiquetarse decidió disolver la trotskista Liga Comunista Revolucionaria (LCR) que presidía para fundar el Nuevo Partido Anticapitalista (NPA), del que Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista es discípulo. "El anticapitalismo requiere de un movimiento internacional como el de, por ejemplo, los comunistas o los verdes".
Así lo defendió ante entusiasmados "camaradas" catalanes, quienes comprobaron su perfil joven y contestatario y el aire fresco que intenta imprimir a su revolución con 35 años y una cara de niño que a algunos les recuerda a Tintín. Eso sí, a diferencia de la ácida sátira que el personaje de Hergé hizo del comunismo cuando viajó al país de los Soviets, el lavado de cara que impulsa Besancenot incluye autocrítica. "La revolución precisa de ser reinventada, porque ningún experimento revolucionario ha tenido éxito. Muchos de ellos terminaron como caricaturas sangrientas".
En resumen, una revolución corregida y aumentada, pero permanente (como decía Trotsky) y ahora también internacionalizada (como dice Besancenot). "De ilusión también se vive", pensarán algunos. "¿Por qué no?", responde el NPA español en su lema electoral.
[Fuente: elperiodico.com]
La crisis económica puede ser el acicate para retomar una lucha contra el capitalismo que la caída del muro de Berlín parecía dar por terminada a finales del siglo pasado. Se trata de recuperar fuelle para "cambiar el mundo de base y derrocar el sistema". Utópico o no, con esa semilla germina Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista. Los principios suenan a otras épocas, pero los oradores han cambiado mucho y las palabras están matizadas.
Sin etiquetas
El referente, Besancenot, es un mileurista que trabaja como cartero cuatro días a la semana en Neuilly-sur-Seine, una rica ciudad contigua a París de la que fue alcalde Nicolas Sarkozy. Se le conoce como "el cartero trotskista", conjugando su oficio con la ideología que parece pregonar. Parece, porque él huye de etiquetas. "No soy ni trotskista, ni guevarista ni luxemburguista (por Rosa Luxemburgo; soy un revolucionario". Precisamente para no etiquetarse decidió disolver la trotskista Liga Comunista Revolucionaria (LCR) que presidía para fundar el Nuevo Partido Anticapitalista (NPA), del que Revolta Global-Esquerra Anticapitalista es discípulo. "El anticapitalismo requiere de un movimiento internacional como el de, por ejemplo, los comunistas o los verdes".
Así lo defendió ante entusiasmados "camaradas" catalanes, quienes comprobaron su perfil joven y contestatario y el aire fresco que intenta imprimir a su revolución con 35 años y una cara de niño que a algunos les recuerda a Tintín. Eso sí, a diferencia de la ácida sátira que el personaje de Hergé hizo del comunismo cuando viajó al país de los Soviets, el lavado de cara que impulsa Besancenot incluye autocrítica. "La revolución precisa de ser reinventada, porque ningún experimento revolucionario ha tenido éxito. Muchos de ellos terminaron como caricaturas sangrientas".
En resumen, una revolución corregida y aumentada, pero permanente (como decía Trotsky) y ahora también internacionalizada (como dice Besancenot). "De ilusión también se vive", pensarán algunos. "¿Por qué no?", responde el NPA español en su lema electoral.
Famed UFO historian: humanity may be targeted by predatory Reptilian extraterrestrial species
http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m5d7-Famed-UFO-historian-humanity-may-be-targeted-by-predatory-Reptilian-extraterrestrial-species
[...]
According to the Knight-Jadczyk field theory[defined as "a psychological theory which examines patterns of interaction between the individual and the total field, or environment. The concept was developed by Kurt Lewin, a Gestalt psychologist, in the 1940s and 1950s."], a substantial portion of alien abductions are conducted by Grey robotic probes on behalf of these negative Reptilians. The Reptilians have designed and created the Greys as synthetic robots in order to operate in the Third Density (in which we humans exist), as the Reptilians cannot yet exist on their own in the Third Density.
The intention of the Reptilians is "total replacement" of the human race, “to move in and take over…. That has been their intention for some time. They have been traveling back and forth in time as you know it, to set things up so they can absorb a maximum amount of energy with the transference from third to fourth level that this planet is going to experience, in hope that that can overtake you on the fourth level [fourth density] and thereby accomplish several things.
"1. retaining their race as a viable species;
"2. increasing their numbers;
"3. increasing their power; and
"4. expanding their race throughout the realm of the fourth density.”
Because of their ability to move backwards and forwards in time in the Fourth Density, the field theory states, the Reptilians, who feed off human fear and suffering, have manipulated human affairs over time, creating intentional war and conflict in the areas of human religions, politics, economics, social organization, and in territorial, ethnic and national issues. Human fear is sustenance to the Reptilians.
The dominant reason for alien abductions, according to the field theory, is “Replacement” or “creating a race to replace human beings. You see if one desires to create a new race, what better way to mass hybridize, then mass reincarnate. Especially when the host species [humans] is so forever ignorant, controlled and anthropocentric…. The Nazi experience [designed by the Reptilians] was a ‘trial run’….”
The ultimate Reptilian plan, the field theory states, is replacement of up to 94% of existing humans, through “total consumption” of parts – human physical bodies and fluids like blood as well as human emotional bodies.
Read more...
According to the Knight-Jadczyk field theory[defined as "a psychological theory which examines patterns of interaction between the individual and the total field, or environment. The concept was developed by Kurt Lewin, a Gestalt psychologist, in the 1940s and 1950s."], a substantial portion of alien abductions are conducted by Grey robotic probes on behalf of these negative Reptilians. The Reptilians have designed and created the Greys as synthetic robots in order to operate in the Third Density (in which we humans exist), as the Reptilians cannot yet exist on their own in the Third Density.
The intention of the Reptilians is "total replacement" of the human race, “to move in and take over…. That has been their intention for some time. They have been traveling back and forth in time as you know it, to set things up so they can absorb a maximum amount of energy with the transference from third to fourth level that this planet is going to experience, in hope that that can overtake you on the fourth level [fourth density] and thereby accomplish several things.
"1. retaining their race as a viable species;
"2. increasing their numbers;
"3. increasing their power; and
"4. expanding their race throughout the realm of the fourth density.”
Because of their ability to move backwards and forwards in time in the Fourth Density, the field theory states, the Reptilians, who feed off human fear and suffering, have manipulated human affairs over time, creating intentional war and conflict in the areas of human religions, politics, economics, social organization, and in territorial, ethnic and national issues. Human fear is sustenance to the Reptilians.
The dominant reason for alien abductions, according to the field theory, is “Replacement” or “creating a race to replace human beings. You see if one desires to create a new race, what better way to mass hybridize, then mass reincarnate. Especially when the host species [humans] is so forever ignorant, controlled and anthropocentric…. The Nazi experience [designed by the Reptilians] was a ‘trial run’….”
The ultimate Reptilian plan, the field theory states, is replacement of up to 94% of existing humans, through “total consumption” of parts – human physical bodies and fluids like blood as well as human emotional bodies.
The Language of the Future: Evolutionary Math Breaks the Code
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/05/l-the-language-.html
Harvard mathematicians have found that words evolve in a concise manner directly related to frequency of usage. The research looked at the evolution of the English language over the past 1,200 years and found that it’s the infrequently-used words with the habit of changing.
Apparently, just as genes and organisms undergo natural selection, words are also subject to a similarly intense pressure to "regularize" as the language develops. The researchers quantified this trend and compare it with biological evolution.
"Mathematical analysis of this linguistic evolution reveals that irregular verb conjugations behave in an extremely regular way- one that can yield predictions and insights into the future stages of a verb's evolutionary trajectory," says Erez Lieberman, a specialist in evolutionary math at Harvard University. "We measured something no one really thought could be measured, and got a striking and beautiful result."
What they found is that the less often a word is said, the faster it will change over time, whereas more commonly uttered words are much more resistant to change. The researchers believe this is because often-used irregulars are easy to remember and get right, whereas seldom-used irregulars are more likely to be forgotten. Speakers often mistakenly apply the ‘-ed’ rule. The most commonly used word that they found this happened to was the verb ‘to help’ – the past tense was once ‘holp’, but is now ‘helped’.
"We're really on the front lines of developing the mathematical tools to study evolutionary dynamics," says Jean-Baptiste Michel, a graduate student in systems biology at Harvard Medical School. "Before, language was considered too messy and difficult a system for mathematical study, but now we're able to successfully quantify an aspect of how language changes and develops."
Read more...
Apparently, just as genes and organisms undergo natural selection, words are also subject to a similarly intense pressure to "regularize" as the language develops. The researchers quantified this trend and compare it with biological evolution.
"Mathematical analysis of this linguistic evolution reveals that irregular verb conjugations behave in an extremely regular way- one that can yield predictions and insights into the future stages of a verb's evolutionary trajectory," says Erez Lieberman, a specialist in evolutionary math at Harvard University. "We measured something no one really thought could be measured, and got a striking and beautiful result."
What they found is that the less often a word is said, the faster it will change over time, whereas more commonly uttered words are much more resistant to change. The researchers believe this is because often-used irregulars are easy to remember and get right, whereas seldom-used irregulars are more likely to be forgotten. Speakers often mistakenly apply the ‘-ed’ rule. The most commonly used word that they found this happened to was the verb ‘to help’ – the past tense was once ‘holp’, but is now ‘helped’.
"We're really on the front lines of developing the mathematical tools to study evolutionary dynamics," says Jean-Baptiste Michel, a graduate student in systems biology at Harvard Medical School. "Before, language was considered too messy and difficult a system for mathematical study, but now we're able to successfully quantify an aspect of how language changes and develops."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.png)
