George Soros pay for anti-Bush ad in Wallstreet Journal

Wed, 29 Sep 2004 21:47:22 GMT

Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush George Soros: In business, I made billions as an investor, more than my family will ever need. I have given away billions promoting freedom and fighting Communism around the world. I have assisted the birth of new democracies in Eastern Europe and supported intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo. I condemned the invasion of Iraq for reasons I explain in this pamphlet and in my book The Bubble of American Supremacy:The Costs of Bush's War in Iraq . Born in Hungary, I lived through fascism and the Holocaust, and then had a foretaste of communism. I learned at an early age how important it is what kind of government prevails. I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society. This is the most important election of my lifetime because President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests and undermining American values. Using the war on terror as a pretext, the President dragged us into an unnecessary war in Iraq that has become a quagmire. He turned the spontaneous outpouring of world sympathy after 9/11 into equally widespread resentment. He suppressed debate by labeling all criticism unpatriotic. If we re-elect him, we endorse the Bush doctrine of preemptive action and the invasion of Iraq, and we will have to live with the consequences. As I shall try to show, we are facing a vicious circle of escalating violence with no end in sight. But if we repudiate the Bush policies at the polls, we shall have a better chance to regain the respect and support of the world and to break the vicious circle. Our future, and the future of the world, is at stake. I hope you will read this pamphlet and my book, The Bubble of American Supremacy: The Costs of Bush's War in Iraq. Image from Lowercase Tee Link

Oil peak: the coming overshoot

Sun, 26 Sep 2004 17:21:41 GMT

Crude Awakening: a prominent physicist warns in a new book that the world is running out of oil and we're not doing anything to stave off the coming crisis. By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 3:47 p.m. ET Feb. 17, 2004

Feb. 17 - Remember 1973? If you do, there are plenty of reasons to wish you didn't. Chief among them (right after leisure suits) would be the oil crisis that began in October. The Middle Eastern OPEC nations stopped exports to the United States and other Western nations just as stateside oil production was peaking. The artificial shortage that followed had devastating effects: The price of gas quadrupled in the United States, climbing from 25 cents to more than a dollar, in a matter of months. The American Automobile Association reported that in one isolated week up to 20 percent of the country's gas stations had no fuel; in some places motorists were forced to wait in line for two to three hours to gas up. The number of homes built with gas heat dropped. But that was the 1970s and this is now, right? Not according to David Goodstein. Saudi princes and SUV drivers may do well to read his new book, “Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil” (W.W. Norton), in which Goodstein argues that our oil-dependent civilization is in for a crude awakening when the world's oil supply really begins to run out — possibly within a few decades. [...] BB: How do you suggest people prepare now? DG: Right now we don't have the kind of leadership that would take us in the direction that would make major changes. As individuals we can do things; I drive a hybrid car, for example. But as a society we have to redesign cities so that people live close to where they work. There are all kinds of measures. We are so profligate in the use of energy that even with the smallest effort we can reduce the rate at which we use energy very significantly, as Californians showed after the last energy crisis. But what we really need is massive infusion of research on all of the possible ways of ameliorating this problem.

Book: Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil, by David Goodste (Barnes & Noble) Link
Related links:
The Peak of World Oil Production -- Richard C. Duncan
Hubbert Peak of Oil Production
Die Off - a population crash resource page
Post Carbon Institute -- Learning to Live in a Low Energy World
Changing World Technologies
How to Save the World
Sustainability Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute
Oil: The real threat to national security. Michael T. Klare
Donella H. Meadows Archive; 15 years worth of essays published as the award winning weekly Global Citizen column.

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 09:49:38 GMT

Bushism DVD out. Xeni Jardin: Bushisms the book is now Bushisms the DVD -- hosted by comic uber-genius Brian Unger of The Daily Show. The DVD features Al Franken and others commenting on nucular-strength malapropisms from the presidentiary such as:

# "War is a dangerous place."
# "Karyn is a West Texas girl, just like me."
# "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning."

Link (Disclaimer: I'm proud to be Mr. Unger's colleague/co-contributor on the NPR show "Day to Day"). [Boing Boing]

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 09:39:20 GMT

Kinnock joins Europe campaign. Politics: Heavy hitters recruited to argue for EU constitution. [Guardian Unlimited]

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 00:17:08 GMT

Iran bloggers' censorship protest. Iranian internet users start an unusual campaign against censorship - renaming blogs after banned newspapers. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 00:13:26 GMT

Sign onto the Geneva Declaration, change WIPO!. Cory Doctorow: Last weekend, I represented EFF at a meeting in Geneva of several disparate activit and non-govermental orgs, working to draft a joint doc called "Future of WIPO," (or, more formally, "Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization"). This doc is a call to arms to orgs that would see WIPO revisit its role in the world, to take into account the public interest when formulating and promulgating IP policy. The doc has been finalised and is online -- we're collecting signatories for it, and you're invited.

Humanity faces a global crisis in the governance of knowledge, technology and culture. The crisis is manifest in many ways.

* Without access to essential medicines, millions suffer and die;
* Morally repugnant inequality of access to education, knowledge and technology undermines development and social cohesion;
* Anticompetitive practices in the knowledge economy impose enormous costs on consumers and retard innovation;
* Authors, artists and inventors face mounting barriers to follow-on innovation;
* Concentrated ownership and control of knowledge, technology, biological resources and culture harm development, diversity and democratic institutions;
* Technological measures designed to enforce intellectual property rights in digital environments threaten core exceptions in copyright laws for disabled persons, libraries, educators, authors and consumers, and undermine privacy and freedom;
* Key mechanisms to compensate and support creative individuals and communities are unfair to both creative persons and consumers;
* Private interests misappropriate social and public goods, and lock up the public domain.

Link to declaration, Mailto link for signing on (via Copyfight) [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:22:40 GMT

Building with wood is eco-friendly?. David Pescovitz: A new research report shows that wood is one of the greener materials that can be used to build homes. According to the report, prepared by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, the environmental impact of fabricating building materials and actually constructing a home is more intense than most people realize. And while the industry has slowly moved away from wood, the use of dead trees may actually be better (well, less bad) than other products and techniques. From a press release about the report:

The research showed that wood framing used 17 percent less energy than steel construction for a typical house built in Minnesota, and 16 percent less energy than a house using concrete construction in Atlanta. And in these two examples, the use of wood had 26-31 percent less global warming potential...The growth of wood in renewable forests works to "sequester" and remove carbon from the atmosphere, and fewer carbon emissions are created in the processing needed to produce wood products than their steel and concrete counterparts.

Link [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:30:42 GMT

Are you a Copyright Criminal?. Xeni Jardin: BoingBoing reader Robert Daeley says, "Came across this picture on the wall just behind a copy machine. All the hackers I know wear ski masks when they commit their crimes. Oh, and big thick leather gloves are great for typing."

Link to blog post with pointer to full size image. Mwuhuhahahahaaaaaaa. [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:24:31 GMT

First Belgian book released under CC license. Cory Doctorow: Stefan sez, "With Antwerp named as World Book City in 2004, residents and visitors were being invited to create a biography of the city by SMS. On the 19th September, a selection of the submitted impressions have been compiled into a booklet combined with the focus on the different text points and giving an alternative view on Antwerp and its districts. The booklet (in Dutch) is available for download in PDF, plain text and a special version for iPods. By the end of October a complete English translation will be available under the same license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0"> Link (Thanks, Stefan!) [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:22:28 GMT

Anime murals in Montreal redux. Cory Doctorow: Here are a couple more cool anime murals in Montreal, including one that was defaced by the addition of an obscuring McDonald's billboard. I'm now officially bored with this subject, so there's no point in sending in more Montreal anime mural links (but thanks for the ones you've sent in so far!). Link 1, Link 2 (Thanks, Jeremy and Mark!) [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:17:29 GMT

Blogs and politics timeline. Cory Doctorow: David Sifry's put up a Wiki to collaboratively edit a timeline of "when weblogs had a significant impact on politics." Link [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:14:57 GMT

Cory's DRM talk as a print-centric PDF. Cory Doctorow: Change This, the org that publishes manifestos on the Web as print-centric, beautifully laid-out PDFs, has republished my Microsoft DRM speech as a printable, laid-out, typographically sophisticated and pretty PDF. How cool! Link [Boing Boing]

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:13:50 GMT

Elvis Costello disclaims antipiracy warnings on his own CD. Cory Doctorow: Elvis Costello's new CD "The Delivery Man" is plastered with obnoxious FBI anti-piracy warnings. Over these is this legend: "THE ARTIST DOES NOT ENDORSE THE FOLLOWING WARNING. THE FBI DOESN'T HAVE HIS HOME PHONE NUMBER AND HE HOPES THAT THEY DON'T HAVE YOURS. Link (Thanks, Gary!) [Boing Boing]

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 23:32:12 GMT

Creative Commons Byrne/Gil benefit webcast. Cory Doctorow: Tomorrow night is the eve of the enormous David Byrne/Gilberto Gil benefit for Creative Commons in NYC, sponsored by Wired Magazine. At the last minute, Smartley-Dunn and Apple have ponied up the technology to host a free webcast of the whole thing. Link [Boing Boing]

Populism at Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art (NICA)

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 00:59:34 GMT

Populism: an exhibition project at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany; The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; and National Museum of Art, Oslo, Norway
Spring-Summer 2005. Antonio C-Pinto: Populism is a deep trend in contemporary politics, and in the arts. This fact alone demands serious attention. It also demands great disposition to learn from the past. Political parties, unions, contemporary art museums (and galleries) are no longer the pristine engines of democratic societies they use to be. In fact most of them seem either old and bureaucratic agencies of power, or abusive legitimation instances for speculation activities in the art markets. NICA's commitment to launch this project shows to the most sceptical ones that a post-Contemporary culture is firmly on its way. Niels Werber: [from the press-release] In 103 questions, some of them very detailed, the market researchers went in search of the people's art .The results may be disappoint- ing to many. For the majority of Americans in 1994 above all preferred images that are predominantly blue, chestnut brown, or red, medium-sized (the size of a dishwasher), with wild animals in the wilderness, autumnal natural settings as motif, painted with vigorous brush- strokes but gently rounded outlines, and in a realistic style. Also desired were domestic scenes, especially with family members or house pets. Historical Figures should be painted clothed. The whole thing may also be somewhat playful in design, with a slight exaggeration of reality, but this should by no means lead to geometric abstraction, much less to a loss of contact with reality. The picture should cost between $25 and $500 if it wishes to attract 83% of American households as buyers. more Link

Sun, 19 Sep 2004 10:43:51 GMT

Towards an internet in space. The man described as the father of the internet, Vint Cerf, talks about taking it into the stars. Mark Ward, BBC News Online technology correspondent:

“To begin with, he thinks, the net will stop being a part of the telephone network. Instead the telephone network will become a part of the net. This could be thanks to Voice Over IP technology that chops up phone calls into bits of data and sends them across the net instead of dedicated, and expensive, phone lines. In Japan NTT's profits have been dented because people can call much more cheaply via the Yahoo BB VoIP service they get as part of their ADSL subscription. ”

[BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:15:46 GMT

Blair 'proud' of crusade against poverty. Antonio C-Pinto: An obscene divide separates the rich from the poor countries. But also inside rich countries we see a long term, probably irreversible wall separating the very rich, the rich and those who live in decency from those who have to sleep under the bridge. Society: PM's declaration that the crusade against social exclusion is working coincides with new figures showing that homelessness has reached a new record high. [Guardian Unlimited]

Global to Local: the Social Future as seen by six SF Writers

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 01:07:04 GMT

[This] Olduvai 'slide' from 2001 to 2011 may resemble the "Great Depression" of 1929 to 1939: unemployment, breadlines, and homelessness. As for the Olduvai 'cliff' from 2012 to 2030 — I know of no precedent in human history. — Richard C. Duncan Antonio C-Pinto: John Shirley asked six science fiction writers, Cory Doctorow, Pat Murphy, Kim Stanley Robinson, Norman Spinrad, Bruce Sterling and Ken Wharton, about the future of us all (our ‘social future’, the future of this planet, and so on...). Good questions! Some amazing answers too. After reading this conversation piece it would be also scaring to go back to some dark warnings written in 1972, 1992 and 1999. For an overall picture of the dramatic crisis we are all falling into one should pay a visit to DIE OFF - a population crash resource page. John Shirley [Locus Online]: Some questions are hard to formulate — but you carry them around inside you, like Confucius overlong in the womb, waiting for a way to ask them. I wanted to know about the quality of life in the future. I wanted to know about our political life; the scope of our freedom. I wanted to know what it was going to be like on a daily basis for my son and my grandson — I wanted to know if perhaps my son would do better to have no children at all. Those are general yearnings, more than specific questions. The questions I came up with still seem too general, and approximate. “I think it helps to use Raymond Williams' concept of 'residual and emergent,'” Kim Stanley Robinson told me, “...and consider the present as a zone of conflict between residual and emergent social elements, not making residual and emergent code words for 'bad and good' either.” Residual and emergent: yes. But what will reside and what emerge? From here, the future is just that unfocused. So I simply I asked the only questions I had... and six science fiction writers answered.

Cory Doctorow: “When the US dollar starts to drop against the laser-printed post-Saddam occupation Dinar, an unbacked currency, you know that your economy is in the deepest of shit.”. Norman Spinrad: “The biggest change, one which I didn't get at the time, was the rise to dominance of the American Christian fundamentalist far right. Where are we going? If Kerry should be elected, back to the Clintonian middle. But if Bush is re-elected, straight into the worst fascist shitter this country has ever experienced. We're on a cusp like that of the Roman Republic about to degenerate into the Empire. Though in many ways it has already.” Bruce Sterling's thinking that the leading trends are coming from outside North America: — “I used to think that the USA, being an innovative, high-tech polity, would be inventing and promulgating a lot of tomorrow's social change. I don't believe that any more. These days I spend a lot of time looking at Brazil, China, India, and Europe. Japan and Russia, interestingly, are even more moribund than the USA.”.

[Thanks to BoingBoing/ Cory Doctorow] Link

Christoph Buchel and Gianni Motti on Guantanamo Initiative

Sat, 11 Sep 2004 00:21:24 GMT

Antonio C-Pinto: Though following by the book old conceptual art recipes, this wit project by suiss artist Christoph Buchel and italian artist Gianni Motti could very well join the RNC protests. So why did it not? Post-contemporary art is about street and techno culture, it is about action, and it is about agit-prop. Public art loves the urban terrain and also loves the web milky way. But if you keep it inside a clean, protected glass case, it may perish ... or become a museum artifact. —.

Christoph Buchel and Gianni Motti: “The point of departure of Guantanamo Initiative is a geopolitical and juridical problem concerning Guantanamo Bay, located on south-eastern coast of Cuba. In 1898, the end of the Spanish-American War and the Treaty of Paris left Cuba in a state of quasi-colonial dependence vis-a-vis the United States. In 1903, the American government forceably obtained the ratification of the Platt amendment (1901), which granted the United States absolute right to interfere in Cuban affairs. With this accord, and then with the Treaty of 1934 (signalling the end of the protectorate), the United States obtained a perpetual lease on the 117.6 square kilometres area of Guantanamo Bay for 2000 US dollars annually (4, 085 dollars today). The Vienna Convention on the Laws of Treaties specifies that a treaty obtained through threat or use of force is null and void. The international legal community also stipulates that perpetual contracts are invalid and that one cannot require a party to assent to perpetual engagements.” [press-release]

Thanks to: E-Flux, Centre culturel suisse à Paris, World News Network, World Photos, Guantanamo. Link

Portuguese Defense Minister sends warship against Women on Waves

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:06:32 GMT

Antonio C-Pinto: Women on Waves. Mission: Portugal; Aug 29th - Sep 11th. It seems silly. It is silly. Notwithstanding, silly as it is, the real fact is that Portuguese government (liberal-conservative) took military action against a small Dutch boat called Borndiep, not allowing it to enter Portuguese waters under the false argument that Women on Waves were trying to land in Figueira da Foz (a 15.000 inhabitants Portuguese town, known for its huge and beautiful beach) to practice illegal abortions. Rebecca Gomperts, doctor, artist and sailor, has managed with her colleagues and supporters a huge media coverage of the entire operation, and also an intense and cool hardtalk with ministers and officials of this conservative Euro country. From the point of view of what has been recently called tactical media — in relation to post-contemporary art — this has been a real landmark (or shall I say seamark...). WoW web site, done by Mediamatic, deserves some of your time. From WoW web site:

“We support safe, legal abortion. If this is not available, the safest way to do an abortion is with the medicine ''Misoprostol". Here we explain the safest and most effective procedure. We also provide the scientific background to this method.”

Keywords: abortion, tactical media, social networks, smart mobs. To protest against the Portuguese Government please go to its web site. Link

Furtherafield: a social art program

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 12:46:25 GMT

“ Furthermore... a book of proposalsѼ. Meandering faux rural rustiche underwhelms hard edged modernism. Furthermore... is the latest installment in a story that has spanned half a decade. A story of a unique project following a community's move from three brutalist concrete towers to a cozy mock Victorian village. Over the last five years 25 artists have spent time living and working at Sheil Park in North Liverpool. For Furthermore these artists have been invited to propose a work for the newly finished estate which will be published as a book of proposals.” Artists involved: Jordan Baseman, Vittorio Bergamaschi, Catherine Bertola, Marcus Coates, Bill Drummond, Leo Fitzmaurice, Anna Fox, Neville Gabie, Stefan Gec, Lothar Gotz, Grennan&Sperandio, Dirk Konigsfeld, Kelly Large, David Mabb, Gary Perkins, Philip Reilly, Paul Rooney, Becky Shaw, Julian Stallabrass, Chloe Steele, Greg Streak, Tom Woolford, Elizabeth Wright. Curated by Neville Gabie and Leo Fitzmaurice

“The last residents will have moved into their new homes at Sheil Park. Desirable ’close“ properties sandwiched between the neglected areas Kensington and Anfield in the north of the city. Within secure perimeter fences, the estate could be seen as a village oasis or a kind of open prison complex. Characterised by the vacancy of a dormitory town but surrounded by the menace of an inner city. In terms of regeneration too the development could be seen a first flush of spring in an area of permanent winter. A new physical landscape, populated by an unchanging community. A new dawn that seems oddly incongruous to the elderly population.” — ‘In ten years it will look like the estate the other side of the fence.’

Events and site visits Site Tours with “a book of proposals” based at the project Portacabin in Sheil Park 16th September - 3rd October 12pm - 6pm Or by appointment The Portacabin, Sheil Park Community Centre, Penlinken Drive, Sheil Road, Liverpool L6 Book launch party 18th Sept The Tudor Rooms, Prescott Road From 7pm till Late. Launch at 8pm Celebrity Auction/ Web cast Thursday 23rd Sept Bill Drummond will auction art and artifacts from FURTHER Up in the Air at Sheil Park Community Centre, Penlinken Drive, Sheil Road, Liverpool L6 Web cast by SPLICE Live at www.talkaoke.com. Come live to the event or bid on line by going to www.talkaoke.com/events/splicelive Link

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 12:28:15 GMT

Presidential campaign commercial archive 1952-2004. Mark Frauenfelder: "The Living Room Candidate" from the American Museum of the Moving Image is a mind-blowing and well-designed archive of Presidential Campaign commercials. I never forgot watching Lyndon Johnson's "Peace Little Girl" spot when I was three years old. Link [Boing Boing]

The Public, West Bromwich, England

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 23:03:53 GMT

Antonio C-Pinto: The new building for The Public, designed by a varied group of architects, interior designers and new media developers — Aslop, BKD and Digit, gives proeminence to one of the first large projects related to a post-contemporary understanding of the arts in a glocal world.

“ The Public is everyone. Everyone who's creative. Everyone who has ideas. You are a member of the public already, if you've got an idea you want to realise. The Public is for dreamers, thinkers, doers, lookers. The Public, formerly known as Jubilee Arts, has been carrying out pioneering community arts work for nearly thirty years in West Bromwich and the surrounding area. The Public is now taking this experience forward in an exciting project to create the Public Building, the largest community arts development in Europe. The Building will be a place to dream and realise your creativity in an inspiring, hands-on arts space, as well as somewhere you can learn, be entertained and relax. The Public has been at the forefront of community arts development working on projects with a wide range of people from young people excluded from school to those living on a local estate to homeless people. During these projects, innovative exhibitions, performances and products have been created which communicate a variety of issues relating to health, regeneration, social inclusion and education to wider audiences. ”

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 22:26:35 GMT

New issue of NeoFiles. David Pescovitz: Our favorite cyberdelic tour guide RU Sirius just posted his latest issue of the NeoFiles. Inside, RU talks with privacy hactivist John Gilmore, democratic transhumanist James Hughes, and performance philosopher Antero Alli.

"In issue #9, the discourse about transhumanism continues, but we also continue to cover other terrains. I never tire of pointing out that technique shares roots with technology. Thus, we continue to explore methods for self-awareness (which as often as not) — (are) techniques for ecstasy. Finally, any transformation worth its gene pool will likely find itself facing off against the constraints of unreasonable authority" — RU Sirius.

On demands for identity and restrictions on travel and so forth since 9/11.....

“Some MIT students actually figured this out. If how they treat you at an airport depends on who you identify yourself to be, then a terrorist cell can test to see whether they are treating someone as a suspicious person or not. If you're part of a terrorist cell and you're trying to do some mayhem, you send all the members of your cell through airports on totally innocent missions looking to see who gets singled out. So you send all your guys through airports just flying to see their relatives and you see which ones get searched all the time. Those guys don't go on the mission, right? The guys who never get searched go on the mission. The way that you can defeat that is with randomness. So people will get searched at random not because of who they are but because their number came up. Some MIT students actually figured this out.”

in Thorn In Authority's Side
John Gilmore in conversation with RU Sirius, Will Block, and Ann Harrison. Link [Boing Boing]

Silver City, a partisan film by John Sayles

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 21:37:41 GMT

From John Sayles, one of the essential, iconoclastic voices of American independent cinema, comes "Silver City," a film that is equal parts scathing political lampoon and sun-stunned neo-noir detective story. Set against the backdrop of a mythic "New West," "Silver City" follows grammatically-challenged, "user-friendly" candidate Dicky Pilager (Cooper), scapegrace scion of Colorado's venerable Senator Jud Pilager (Murphy), during his gubernatorial campaign. When Pilager finds that he's reeled in a corpse during the taping of an environmental political ad, his ferocious campaign manager, Chuck Raven (Dreyfuss), hires former idealistic journalist turned rumpled private detective Danny O'Brien (Huston) to investigate potential links between the corpse and the Pilager family's enemies. In the tradition of the great films noir, Danny[base ']s investigation pulls him deeper and deeper into a complex web of influence and corruption, involving high stakes lobbyists, media conglomerates, environmental plunderers, and undocumented migrant workers. With pitch-perfect dialogue, unerring sense-of-place, and a slashing satiric strain, "Silver City" offers John Sayles's timely and toxic look at the state of the union on the eve of the 2004 Presidential election. Silver City
ScreenWriter: John Sayles
Director: John Sayles
With: Chris Cooper, Richard Dreyfuss, Billy Zane, Danny Huston, Daryl Hannah
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Company: Newmarket Films
Release Date: 17 - 9 - 2004
Rating: N/A
Official WebSite: Visit Website This newsread: thanks to IMDb

Antonio C-Pinto: E-Democracy