Listen: Episode 38
Watch: Youtube
Notes
Bush to set up domestic spy service
George Bush has announced a new Intelligence agency to be set up within the FBI – the National Security Service
The agency will be empowered to sieze the property of those suspected of spreading WMD
This story ironically comes shortly after GB intervened to prevent the controversial supreme court decision allowing so called ’eminent domain’
where local governments to enact compulsory purchase orders for private developments
The FBI will restucture to include a new
The NSS will consolidate the bureau’s counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence duties
The expantion of the FBI’s duties from crime fighting to domestic surveilance seems clear
The agency will be headed up by John Negraponte, the controversial former US amassador to Hondoras
alleged to have been involved in the training and aid to Nicaraguan Contras death squads
Actions that would later result in the conviction of the United Stated in the UN International Court of Justice for unlawful use of forse
additionally he is alleged to have been involved in the running of CIA trained Honduran death squads – responsible for the deaths of opponents of the US supported regieme
and the establishment of secret detention and tortue facilities in Honduras
One potentially positive move is the establishment of a counter-proliferation center – to prevent the spread of chemical / biological / nuclear weapons
The changes are being marked as a reaction to the Silverman-Robb Commission report on the “Intelligence Failures” in Iraq – which led to the ‘mistakes’ on WMD
Links
BBC News Article
Associated Press – Bush Limits Property Siezure
Sourcewatch profile of John Negroponte
Scientist Unite To Attack Creationism
The Inter Academy Panel on International Issues – of the International Council for Science has released a strong condemnation of anti scientific / anti evolutionary education
The statement attacks the denial of evolution – and the confusion of untestable beliefs with scientific hypotheses
It urges parents and educators to teach children about the scientific method and scientific discoveries
It also lists a variety of evidence based statements in support of evolution and the scientific method
The statement is signed by representatives of 68 International scientific representative bodies
Links
ICSU Statement (PDF)
Physics Today Article
ACLU hounds NSA on brain scan misuse
In a story right from the pen of Philp K. Dick – The ACLU have accused the NSA of adapting functional neuroimaging in the questioning of suspects domestically and internationally
FMRI likely to be the technology involved
The technology works by capturing statistical alterations in oxygenated bloodflow to various brain regions in response to activity
which is assumed to correllate with brain activity
When hemoglobin – the bloods oxygen transporter – is oxygen rich, it become magnetic in response to the application of external magnetic fields – allowing the recording of blood oxygen level dependent images of neural activity
Images are mathamatically transformed into meaningful analogues of brain activity
MRI and fMRI techniques are revolutionizing neuroscience – however the very idea of a ‘lie region’ in any individuals brain is absurd – although it might be possible to present individuals with stimuli (e.g.: photographs) and observe their brains activation in response
The ethics of subjecting suspects (or even convicted criminals) to unnecessary medical proceedures in order to extract information, is highly dubious
Links
ACLU Article
Wikipedia on FMRI
Short Stories
Warner to sell movies via GUBA.com
Studio Giant Warner Bros. (a subsidiary of Time Warner) have announced a deal with startup GUBA.com
Interestingly the studio is not persuing horizontal integration with TM owned America Online
Warner are experimenting with a variety of distribution mechanisms – having already signed a deal with bittorrent creator Bram Cohen
Pricing
Movie – 24 hour rental – $1.99
Movie – ‘Permanent’ DRM’d download – $19.99 / $9.99 – same day DVD release
TV shows – $1.79 per episode
Compatibility – Windows media PC’s, networks and portable devices
Links
Google launches Paypal rival
Google has finally launched its long awaited PayPal rival checkout #
If the service proves popular – it could ultimately be an even greater income generator than adwords
Signing up is as simple as filling in a single page form with credit card / billing details
Each user can store an unlimited number of credit card / billing address combinations
Google have cleverly linked the tech into adwords adds – with a shopping cart icon indicating support for the service
Order / shipping status & fraud protection are included
Links
Google Checkout
Slashdot Article
Google Checkout Promo Video
Canadian Scientists Regrow Teeth and Bones Eh
Canadian Scientists are using ultrasound to fix fractured & diseased teeth
The wireless device – inserted like a cap above teeth stimulate the gum and roots to produce growth
The technology may one day allow bone growth to increase height
Links
Java may go open source in months
Sun have announced their intention to Open Source their Java virtual machine / programming environment
The move may save the beliegered language which has come under attack from new tech
Like Microsofts .Net and C# technologies
It could additionally provide a huge boon to embeded devices running Linux
Move comes 2 years after it was suggested by IBM & Eric S. Raymond
Compatibility & forking issues may delay the move for several months
Links
Infoworld – Sun to open Java
Cnet – IBM urges Sun to open Java
Media Pimp
Gareth
An interesting article I almost wholly disagree with Artificial General Intelligence and its Potential Role in the Singularity – by ben gortzel
AGI is unlikely to be developed – primarily because humans don’t have General Intelligence – but rather a wide variety of modular intelligences
Evolutionary computing – rather than a grand design is likley to produce the first highly intelligent AI – but as this process involves problem solution – and the solution space of general category problems is huge – we shouldn’t expect to be able to comprehend the thoughts – or even the perspective of such a creature
After all – from one perspective, language enabled memes can be percieved as globally active artificial intelligences
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Scientology Orientation Video
Gareth Stack 
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