Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google co-founder

The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world. I am more worried than I have been in the past," he said. "It's scary."

The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry's attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of "restrictive" walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

The Guardian

With a perfect storm of security, child protection and sexualisation and copyright enforcement we may be sleepwalking into the end of freedom online as we know it.  The Commentator

Rock Lobster

1979 - The B-52's on YouTube – Official The B52’s Site

Milk

In this case in the USA, but it ‘s the same everywhere.. Dairy cows are the hardest worked farm animals. and mothers. The only reason they produce milk is to feed their calves... but we steal their milk and deprive their calves of the love and affection, security that is their right as living, breathing creatures. They suffer abuse, neglect, illness. Separated from all the calves they give birth to. Dairy cows living in a happy healthy environment can live for up to 25 years. But because of their hard lives, they are worn out by 4 or 5 years old. They will be sent to slaughter, where many cannot even stand up anymore.

PETA - Dairy Cruelty Australia – YouTube

Spanish King Elephant-Hunting Trip Causes Outrage

Spain's 74-year-old king came under scathing criticism Sunday for going on an expensive elephant hunting trip in Botswana amid the nation's deep financial woes. Making matters worse, an accident on the trip sent King Juan Carlos into surgery. Doctors said Sunday that he was recovering well after a hip replacement but would not be able to resume full duties for more than a month.

Tomas Gomez, Madrid's regional Socialist party leader, said the time had come for the head of state to choose between his public responsibilities "and an abdication that would allow him to enjoy a different lifestyle."' Spanish newspapers were filled with accounts of how hunting trips to Botswana, where Juan Carlos fell, cost more than most Spaniards earn in a year. El Pais, Spain's leading newspaper, said the cost to arrange a hunting trip in Botswana to kill an elephant usually comes in at (EURO)44,000 ($57,850), about twice the country's average annual salary.

Huffington Post

Kim Jong-un uses first public speech to call for push to 'final victory'

North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, has delivered his first public speech at a military parade to celebrate of the birth of the country's founder, his grandfather Kim Il-sung. Kim, the third from his family to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang, calling for a push to "final victory".

The speech suggested Kim would stick to his father and grandfather's "military-first" policy. But the fact that he spoke at all was a surprise after years of silence from his father when he presided over similar events. Kim Jong-un inherited power when Kim Jong-il died in December.

He praised his grandfather and father as the "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces". "Let us move forward to final victory," the twentysomething leader urged tens of thousands of military and civilians, who applauded throughout his speech of more than 20 minutes.

The Guardian

Sunday

(Psychic Conversation #9) by Crocodiles

Nasa Scientists find life on Mars and kill it, 36 years ago

Nasa chiefs are believed to have found tiny Martians — but KILLED them by boiling them alive. Two spacecraft that landed on the Red Planet in 1976 are now thought to have detected live microbes in Martian soil.

Scientists at the time failed to spot the signs of life — and COOKED the bugs at 160°C during experiments. Now an international team has used modern techniques to re-examine data collected by the two unmanned Viking probes. Biologist Joseph Miller, of the University of Southern California, said: “I’m 99 per cent sure there’s life there. To paraphrase an old saying, if it looks like a microbe and acts like a microbe — then it probably is a microbe.”

The Sun - phenomenica.com

The Menace of Underage Hand-Holding

Like any state legislature dealing with 8 percent unemployment and thousands of its residents facing disenfranchisement, the Tennessee Senate (Nashville, Tennessee, USA) is targeting the menace of underage hand-holding. Last week, the Senate passed SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor.

Since the bill specifically bans teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is. Breaking these laws could result in a lawsuit, as Hunter from Daily Kos notes: If your teacher teaches you anything about sex that isn’t specifically on the approved curriculum, like demonstrating “holding hands” for the class instead of quietly tsking about the dangers it poses, they can be sued.

Still, this anti-hand-holding push may only be the second-worst bill passed in Tennessee this month. Nearly a century after the Volunteer State played host to the Scopes Monkey Trial, the legislature has now enacted a new law allowing educators to teach creationism alongside evolution.

ThinkProgress

Sex Pistols Decline to Perform at London Olympics Closing Ceremony

Britain’s legendary punk outfit The Sex Pistols is reportedly just as rebellious after all these years. According to the Guardian, the band said a curt “no thanks” to London Olympics organizers who asked them to participate in a commemorative closing ceremony.

Spokespeople for the surviving Sex Pistols, who are led by frontman John Lydon (the erstwhile Johnny Rotten), have refused to comment, possibly supporting the Telegraph’s claim that this is a “snub to the establishment.”

TIME.com

Kazak Rules

The National Fanfare of Kadebostany (Uncensored Official Video) on Vimeo

Bloodshed feared as Bahrain Formula One grand prix given go-ahead

Human rights activists fear further bloodshed and a violent crackdown by authorities in Bahrain after race organisers gave the green light to next weekend's Formula One grand prix in the troubled Gulf kingdom.

As the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) said it was satisfied that all proper security measures were in place for the race on 22 April, Nabeel Rajab, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), said: "I'm afraid we might see local people who will be killed in the coming days because of the F1."

Anti-government protesters have called for the event to be cancelled, arguing that it lends legitimacy to a regime which continues to perpetrate human rights abuses.

The FIA, the sport's governing authority, confirmed that it would go ahead, with beefed-up security, after receiving reassurances. John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Met who is in Bahrain advising on police reform, wrote to the FIA president, Jean Todt, to say he felt safer living in Bahrain "than I have often felt in London".

The Guardian – BBC - Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Freedom Needs YOU!!!

The Love Police

Stuxnet Loaded by Iran Double Agents

The Stuxnet virus that damaged Iran’s nuclear program was implanted by an Israeli proxy — an Iranian, who used a corrupt “memory stick.32,” former and serving U.S. intelligence officials said. In the continuing battle to hold off the Iranian nuclear program, Iranian proxies have also been active in assassinating Iran’s nuclear scientists, these sources said.

These sources, who requested anonymity because of their close proximity to investigations, said a saboteur at the Natanz nuclear facility, probably a member of an Iranian dissident group, used a memory stick to infect the machines there. They said using a person on the ground would greatly increase the probability of computer infection, as opposed to passively waiting for the software to spread through the computer facility. “Iranian double agents” would have helped to target the most vulnerable spots in the system,” one source said. In October 2010, Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi said an unspecified number of “nuclear spies” were arrested in connection with Stuxnet.33 virus.

Former and senior U.S. officials believe nuclear spies belonged to the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which Israel uses to do targeted killings of Iranian nationals, they said. “The MEK is being used as the assassination arm of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service,” said Vince Cannistraro, former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism. He said the MEK is in charge of executing “the motor attacks on Iranian targets chosen by Israel. They go to Israel for training, and Israel pays them.” Other former agency officials confirmed this.

Industrial Safety and Security Source

The Science of Fox News: Why Its Viewers are the Most Misinformed

In June of last year, Jon Stewart went on air with Fox News’ Chris Wallace and started a major media controversy over the channel’s misinforming of its viewers. “Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?” Stewart asked Wallace. “The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll.”

Stewart’s statement was factually accurate, as we’ll see. The next day, however, the fact-checking site PolitiFact weighed in and rated it “false.” In claiming to check Stewart’s “facts,” PolitiFact ironically committed a serious error—and later, doubly ironically, failed to correct it. How’s that for the power of fact checking?

See the facts at AlterNet - This is an excerpt from Chris Mooney’s new book The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality.

Walking with a Ghost

The National Fanfare of Kadebostany

Who needs a $30,000 watch?

The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church was caught on camera wearing a $30,000 Breguet watch. I can think of little that’s more worthless than spending the entirety of a middle-class working person’s yearly salary on an ostentatious geegaw that has no function that isn’t served as well as a $10 throwaway or the ubiquitous cell phone…no function other than showing off that you’re more profligately wealthy than anyone else, that is. You know, if someone gave me something that trivial and that overpriced, I would thank them, quietly sell it, and then find a cause on Foundation Beyond Belief that could make better use of the money than being tied up in flashy bling. But what do I know. I’m a godless atheist, he’s the moral leader of millions.

But he does have some shame. After the photo appeared, the church quickly whipped out a copy of photoshop and doctored the image to hide the jewelry. Can’t have the peons witnessing the church’s conspicuous consumption!

Pharyngula

Breaking the Silence

Breaking the Silence the Rwandan version or: ‘you’re not alone’  has got its blessings! Some 600 people visited the two first performances in Kigali and have approved its right to be.

There is a difference caused by the opposite governmental policy after genocide. While Cambodian government, till now, is frustrating the open debate on (the Khmer Rouge) genocide and its juridical aftermath, Kagame has been provoking every citizen to speak up during the gacaca’s. He has found it necessary to dictate strict rules to the debate – like to forbid to speak about Tutsi’s and Hutu’s and to make jokes about the genocide. The audience did speak up and proved to be very interested in the history of the Cambodians – and how it does and does not mirror their own experiences.

More on Breaking the Silence blog – Cambodian (radio) version

The Long Awaited

The Long Awaited, 2008 by Patricia Piccinini. Sculptures By Patricia Piccinini on Avax News

US Military Prepare Alien Invasion

What would we do if earth was invaded by aliens? Could they be preparing the public for a possible false flag attack by a superior Alien war machine? ADG Facebook

U.S. Sends Loaded Warship To Iran! "Ready If Obama Orders Military Action..."

April 09, 2012 CNN - MOXNews.com

New EU rules to ban hairdressers from wearing jewellery and high heels

Hairdressers could be banned from wearing high heels, jewellery and even watches under barmy new Brussels rules.

They would have to don “suitable clothes” and face a strict limit on the number of haircuts they can do each day. And to prevent them suffering “emotional collapses”, bosses would be ordered to meticulously plan their working day so staff can have regular natters with each other.

The Sun

Chinese activist jailed for fraud and 'making trouble'

Chinese lawyer Ni Yulan, disabled after police beating, and her husband Dong Jiqin have been jailed a year after they were detained. Ms Ni was sentenced to two years and eight months, while her husband was handed a two-year term.

The couple are known for providing legal help to people whose homes have been seized by the government. They were jailed on charges of "picking quarrels, provoking trouble and wilfully destroying private and public property", a court spokesman said. The couple were detained last April as authorities rounded up scores of activists amid online calls for protests similar to those taking place at the time in the Arab world.

BBC News - The Guardian - CNN

Riots may be controlled with chemicals

UK Police look at firing chemical irritants at rioters in search for 'less lethal' weapons, such as plastic bullets, to deal with civil disorder. Future riots could be quelled by projectiles containing chemical irritants fired by police using new weapons that are now in the final stages of development. The Discriminating Irritant Projectile (Dip) has been under development by the Home Office's centre for applied science and technology (Cast) as a potential replacement for plastic bullets.

Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that last summer's riots in England provided a major impetus to Home Office research into new-generation riot control technology, ranging from the Dip to even more curious weaponry described by Cast technicians as "skunk oil".

The briefing by Cast for the Police Service of Northern Ireland says that last year's disorder sparked a surge of ideas to the Home Office from the public as well as companies manufacturing police technology. To capitalise on the interest, Cast convened a "brainstorming" event in October. Participants included police from London and Northern Ireland, the Police Federation, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

The Guardian

Saudi Arabia to execute 25 Indonesian maids for alleged crimes

The Saudi Arabian regime has ruled to execute 25 Indonesian maids working in the kingdom over alleged crimes, a report says.

According to a report published by Lebanese Ad-Diyar Arabic daily on Sunday, 22 other Indonesian maids have been acquitted and deported from the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government plans to send a delegation to Riyadh for negotiations over the death sentences. Indonesian Embassy officials in Riyadh say six of the maids sentenced to death worked in the capital. About 1,700 Indonesian nationals are in prison in Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian Embassy says.

PressTV

Legal loophole could let billionaires BUY other planets before human settlers arrive

Private companies should be able to buy land on The Moon or other planets for tourism, mining or even to sell property, a space policy expert has said.

Rand Simberg said that if governments started to provide property rights then entrepreneurs and billionaires might pile in and invest - and added that the 'time is ripe'. He has proposed a law that would circumvent the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which states no individual or government can have sovereignty over any body in space.

Mail Online