#26

Spider Man was fairly complex... for a comic book movie. The Dark Knight based on Frank Miller looks like it might be OK, for a comic book movie. 300 was absolutely moronic.

But the nature of Iron Man being a robotic suit with copious firepower, and the glib previews, don't give me much hope. Besides, Tony Stark has always been this character basically designed to glamourize wealth, warfare, and weaponry. Which is fine and all, but basically an action packed wank-fest.

The only thing that could make it interesting is if Downey delivers a really neurotic performance out of the armor suit.

Btw, Lexis Nexis also has an enormous tool base to collate and format data fr various applications. Which is an enormous value to clerks and saves them from having to do so by hand, and that time savings is worth many millions to the Gov, as well as many law firms, journalists, and others who use Lexis/Nexis' (admittedly expensive) service.

If this group is serious, they should compete with Lexis/Nexis. But "gifting" a bare bones and unsupported engine is no gift at all.

btw, I'm all for open source, but some of the enthusiasts are goofy. Open source isn't a solution for everything.

That's rather misleading and disengenuious. They're not just paying to access their own records.

They're paying for the engine of Lexis Nexis to effectively catalog and search that data in a user friendly way and with cross platform compatibility and in a standardized manner. Just as Google isn't the data, it's the engine. Just as Windows or Linus or OSX isn't the data, it's the OS. Lexis/Nexis is actually pretty awesome, and is a widespread standard, which is important.

One could argue for the government to develop it's own engine, but that would also have costs, and would be proprietary unless they wanted to commercialize it, which they don't want to get into.

A "gift" sounds nice, until you realize it would be incredibly difficult for everyone to switch over, and then they'd be stuck on an open source, unmaintained, proprietary, platform.

"No thanks" is exactly correct.

#22 right.

I wonder if Tony Stark / Iron Man of the movie will also have a dark side or if he'll just be a one dimensional action figure wank fest.

#20

nope, that's a miss.

In mythical lore they can be made of clay, or other things including metal, stone, etc. Symbolically they represent the technology we create, on the most fundamental level, which could be described as inanimate objects given life by the intent of a person.

It's deeply intuitive on the most basic level of understanding in the brain. Some of the earliest developments of higher intelligence are self recognition, empathic understanding of the intents of others, and the creation of simple tools and implements of will.

Metaphorically, personified technology = golem. Online avatars are in a sense golems.

Golems are by definition crude, and soulless. i.e. they lack the higher intelligence and emotions such as compassion. So metaphorically, metal is a good choice, and violence is a likely purpose of a golem.

It's really not surprising someone writes a song about an iron man going to war, even if nobody had ever thought of it before. It's no more surprising than video games with rudimentary personas are mostly violence based. At the most rudimentary level, that's what humanity is: crude, dumb, and violent.

:|

Ah, good old Channel 3.

#28

IPCC estimates so far have consistently low balled the problem, and had to be revised upwards, every year. For example ice cap melting is accelerating beyond all predictions due to self reinforcing phenomenom like the melting ice lubricates more ice shifting which causes more friction which melts more ice which reflects less light which melts more ice, etc.

The basic problem is that the individual events they can predict tend to create other cascade effects which are more difficult to predict. There's a growing realization that it's likely to be worse than we can accurately predict because what we know is probably the best case scenario.

So, TT is using a more aggressive prediction than can be made with certainty. But, he's right in acknowledging the predictions so far have failed to understand cascade effects, and if there's another revision or two upwards, as there already have been several, what he predicts is where we'll be.

It's worth considering: how much do we want to risk catastrophe? What's the insurance policy against catastrophe worth? Maybe 1% GDP? Presently we're not spending even close to that to hedge risk.

Man of Iron, or man of steel, or other such expressions go back centuries and were especially prevalent after the industrial revolution in manufacturing and "steel towns" which were also where "metal" is most popular.

The idea of man as a cold machine is often linked with warfare as well. Hitler was often referred to as a "man of steel" and the Nazi youth camps intended to raise a generation of "men of steel."

Many US comics dealt with anti-fascist themes before, during, and after WWII. Many of the artists had fled European fascism and US comic characters typically defended freedom against tyranny and fascism.

As a side note, a folkloric Jewish "super hero" of revenge is the golem, an inanimate create brought to life via alchemy for a single purpose. But that's not to say Iron Man of the Man of Steel or other characters are necessarily Jewish.

The idea of a human-like construct with supernatural abilities goes back millennium and exists in many cultures.

btw, another interesting potential is towards generating more serialized content and live content delivered in virtual (and perhaps real world) social spaces. For example, weekly podcasts and virtual concerts would have the same subscription appeal as cable TV serials. Like a serial TV show on cable, it's generally easier to subscribe to cable then to go through the hassle of trying to DL it.

Taking it further, live virtual conceprts could be combined with other interactive experiences, from chat to integration with MMO. A band like the Gorillaz could tie into a game like WOW for a live concert, as part of a liscence deal to a music provider available to subscribers.

Presently, companies fight a losing battle to prevent piracy or storage of media because they want to sell and rent copies later. But, if you consider a future where everything is digital and comes over the net, then it's pointless to restrict replay usage, and makes more sense to try and sell a flat subscription fee based on breadth of catalog, ease of use, streaming wireless availability to portable devices, and continual availability of new content.

Additionally the social aspects of sites such as MySpace may themselves become a selling point for subscriptions, just as the social aspect to WOW or other MMO is as important as the game content itself.

Read #5. Already addressed that.

"Yes, the studios could provide songs directly. The bandwidth could cost them more than than their cut."

Nonsense. Bandwidth is becoming increasingly cheap and will only get exponentially cheaper as broadband wireless becomes universally deployed. Youtube is already providing tremendous bandwidth for free with existing technology.

"If people can download for free, they will only buy limited things from the studios."

You're comparing apples and oranges. They're looking to sell licensing rights to entire catalogs. Not compete with pirates on "hit songs." Their incentives then move away from hits to something more like YouTube with more small bands and niche content. Of course they'll have the hits too, but those will also be part of the flat fee.

The quantity of music available increases tremendously, and from the most obscure to the biggest hit, it's all instantly available at broadband speeds, for a flat fee. That's the selling point and that's where piracy can't really compete because it's unreliable and very limited catalog. Most of my favorite artists aren't pirated.

That also effects artists in that we'll have fewer big record deals for big artists, and more smaller deals for niche artists. There will still be hit bands and hit songs of course, but more more of their revenue will come from live performances and upsells of unique goods.

#1 posted by Skep

You're missing the point.

It would be broadcast from the music studio's servers to the licensed users of the ISP. So yes, they would have control of where they open the spigot to.

There is already a movement away from DRM towards providing services in the form of consumer convenience and experience. i.e. they know people can get music, they hope to be able to provide it more conveniently through their portals, and with unique experiences such as printed materials and concerts which aren't copyable.

Preservation of Net Neutrality should also be an bullet issue.

That could be a backdoor attempt by Telecoms (and knowing them probably is) to carve out "music download service" or "P2P service" as somehow different than any other IP packets, and thereby start carving into net neutrality. i.e. they launch a "music download service" and start blocking p2p overall. When people inquire why, the argument is the ISP signed a distribution agreement for p2p music sharing, and any other p2p sharing is therefore a breach of contract.

Yes that would be obvious BS to most IP folks. But courts and Congressional commitees, who think the internet is a "series of pipes" and tend to be very pro-business, they could fall for it or at least use it to muddy the waters.

So yeah, that's all good stuff, but permanence of Net Neutrality needs to be explicit in any agreement and law.

lol. excellent.

btw, on the light transmissability of fabrics:

Anybody who wears technical clothing for outdoor activities, may have noticed a "UV block" rating. It might be UV 20 to 50 or so. That indicates they're specially treated with UV absorbent coatings to block UV light, for skin protection.

That's necessary because many materials are highly transparent to UV. A garment which blocks over 95% of visible light may still be very "see-through" and transparent to UV. Many synthetic fibers are initially transparent, to a wide range of the spectrum, before being dyed for color by blocking/reflecting in the visible light spectrum. Silk is also highly transparent. Thin cotton and many other natural fibers are fairly transparent.

None of which I'd worry about ordinarily.

But, if you see a creep photographing kids using a UV/IR camera, or some stalker or other loser, it's a good idea to call the police.

Oh, and if they're using a UV/IR camera and signed a EULA, they won't be able to deny knowledge or intent.

#59 posted by Takuan
"Dear Hounskull; rest assured, I know when someone is a racist long before they start using "code words"."

Or right. sure. Nobody fools you.

#60 posted by Conservationist
"You're telling me that "heritage" is racism? I am thoroughly offended."

Ywn. bvsly tht's nt wht sd, trll.

nywys, g bck t whtvr y wr dng bfr rlty ntrdd.

"Occult" is just another word for obscure. Most occult books should be filed under mysticism. Or humor. Or just: bone headed notions and time wasters.

The problem in categorizing occult books is they're not part of durable subjects. By durable I mean subjects which have an enduring truth and value. As occult knowledge becomes verified, by scientific means for example, then it's no longer "occult" it's "science."

For example, the occult is not science, not peer reviewed or empirical in any way. And yet they make pseudo-scientific claims. When by accident or intuition an occultist gets something right, it's verified by science, ceases to be occult, and becomes science.

The occult isn't Religious is the sense of major organized religions having had an enduring influence on the world. For example, ancient religions of extinct cultures would absolutely be filed under religion and would typically be described in terms of their organized beliefs and what parts survived in other cultures. While occult beliefs are by definition obscure and their influence tends to be transitory.

btw, as an example of smart graffiti, actually guerrilla poster art, I'd recommend Robbie Conals's Art Attack. And it's worth mentioning he put up his posters in areas who agreed with his politics and were pretty frustrated at the same issues. So it was relatively more welcome and less obnoxious. It's posters with water based glue, so they're removable and non-destructive.

http://www.robbieconal.com/books.html

btw, George Allen was an up and comer in Republican circles, despite long being known for pandering to crypto racists and racist symbolism.

Had it not been for the "macaca" slip up, he would have been a strong Presidential candidate for 2008.

People who think this stuff doesn't matter, or is totally obscure, need to pull their head out.

But then, y sm t b rthr cltrlly lltrt about the history and ongoing racism and white supremacist in the US.

So for example, a politician could say "Heritage" and other code words to racists continually in a speech, and you'd never know he or she was a racist. If people hadn't wised up to George Allen for example, he'd still be a white supremacist Senator. And he's not the only one.

Just as Bush for example passed coded messages to religious fundies, which were missed by most Americans until it was too late. He's been siphoning billions to extremist religious groups, many of whom operate like cults in every sense, including grinding members down mentally till they're practically zombies.

BoingBoing spends a lot of time on Scientology, which aren't much of a threat to anyone and is just a waste of time.

s thy sy, gnrnc s blss, gss. ntl t's nt.

When white racists say "heritage" they're talking about Western European and usually Germanic culture over millennium, and more recently white immigrants to Southern American Confederate States in the Civil War, who have historically been the most pro-slavery and racist, and who were largely settled by poor Germanic and Scots-Irish immigrants.

For a recent example, remember Senator "macaca" aka George Allen (R) Virginia. He had a noose and "stars and bars" hanging in his office over the years. When questioned on them he said they weren't racist, they were "heritage." He was, ironically, from Southern CA. Strom Thurmond, the notorious racist and segregationist, gave many speeches on "Heritage" as a euphemism for racism going back to the 50s. It's long been a code word for white supremacists.

I'm kind of surprised by the lack of cultural literacy. In one way it's good that people aren't thinking about this stuff. On the other hand, ignorance is never helpful.

"The other problem is that The Absinthe Drinkers was painted by Edgar Degas."

Different painting. There was a lot of absinthe drinking at that time. Absinthe was the drink of the Bohemians, which is what most modernist painters were.

The painting of absinthe drinkers I'm referring to was painted by Munche, and was specifically critiqued in Julius Lanbehn's proto-Nazi manifesto: Rembrandt als Erzieher (“Rembrandt as Teacher”) which is one of the "bibles" for white racists.

#42 Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Overall you seem to be missing the point. Sure, iconography can be infinitely interpreted. You keep making that point which isn't in dispute.

The point is that if a group chooses a large number of symbols, including writers, icons, and themes, all associated with racism by known racist groups, then it's almost certainly racism. It's totally improbable all of this stuff linked to racism was chosen randomly. there's too much of it, and the ties to racism are too strong, for it all to be random.

Someone's ignorance of the symbols of racist groups, or different interpretations of them, doesn't change the fact they use them.

"The point is, a Celtic cross or a Thor's hammer doesn't automatically become the property of the skinhead Nazi racists..."

They don't "own" it and you can't "cede" it to them. That's entirely the wrong frame of mind. I really couldn't care less about thor's hammer and such. t's lt f wnkry.

Having said that, people should be more aware of these groups, which are widespread among disaffected whites in depressed labor areas and urban areas. They use these symbols as their banners, as a language to communicate. To anyone who has looked into the issues (did you read the links?) that's a fact. They are code for white supremacists.

On Asatru:

Asatru is a neopagan religion, AND it's a religious front group for white supremacists. Just as for example Scientology is a religion for some sincere goofballs, and it's a cult designed to exploit and indoctrinate and then exert influence on them. It's a structure for organization and indoctrination, with tax benefits.

You may notice that many Asatru sites mention genetics frequently. "Heritage" is another code word frequently used by racists with specific meaning. I.e. it's a religion for Germanic people. It's often used in the South as code for racism.

http://www.asatru.org/

"Ásatrú is an Ancestoral religion it gives you a sense of belonging. Genealogy is the path where you acquire insight about the experience of your ancestors. How they lived, the land where they came from or how much luck came to you through them. It is your Heritage.""

On Lovecract, and Poe, I think you need to research them further. You're apparently unaware of several decades of racist criticism. Have you googled their names + racism? Regardless, there's no doubt racist groups themselves believe them to have been racists.

"I'm certainly not giving the Aryan Nation every bit of writing associated with victimization ..."

Again, you seem to think you can "give" them that. The fact is they already use them as racist material. The fact is both Lovecraft and Poe were virulent racists and xenophobes in their own lives. Lovecraft hated the multiculturalism of NYC. Poe was pro-slavery and his black characters reflected that. That's well documented.

Of course someone else can read whatever they want into it. But one shouldn't be ignorant of the fact they personally were racists, and both rather mentally unstable also.

"If Edvard Munch was seen as the epitome of "degenerate art," why would skinheads wear shirts with his images on them?"

Ever heard of crass irony in a subculture? White supremacists are full of contradictions. Munch particularly is important because the Nazis focused on him as a white degenerate blue blood addicted to drugs. What are white supremacists today? Poor white lower class drug addicts with a lot of envy for the elites.

They hate the rich and elites, yet they want to be rich. They aspire to "racial purity" and "high culture" and yet they're often junkies and real losers. They claim they're the best specifically because they're on the lowest rungs of society. This is typical in many subcultures.

"I have a real problem with the idea that a bunch of raucous anti-intellectual skinheads are into reading subtext in stories written by a shy, socially backward weirdo (I mean that in the nicest possible way) who married a Jew."

Then you probably don't know any skinheads and white supremacists. Most of them are shy, backwards, chronically insecure, kids who then find identity and strength through a group with a simplistic racial ideology. Whether or not they've actually read Lovecraft or Poe is entirely beside the point. They're an oral story telling culture, and increasingly a web based culture, which thrives on allegory. Again, anyone expressing disbelief that racists lack an intellectually rigorous ideology... is totally missing the point.

"Big Daddy Roth-style art did not come out of the rural South; it came out of the Southern California hotrod scene."

Hotrod culture was a part of southern CA suburban and rural all-white culture. Much of SoCal was in the 50's undeveloped and even farm land. LA proper was much smaller, and much of today's sprawl was then rural. Not to say all were racists, but all were originally white. It's also where the Hells Angels and such racist groups came from. Von Dutch aka Kenny Howard, considered to be the father of the movement, was an extreme racist.

#37 Was that supposed to be witty? Cuz ur doing it wrong.

#33 alisong76

Thanks for the link. It was a pretty funny read.

I'd mention that even the author points out that it's a common stereotype metal heads are idiots. Also, the "study" he cites is a blurb on "raising kids" site. Not exactly the journal Nature is it? (proving my point about Metal Heads.)

I'd also point out that there's long been a sort of over-compensation by Metal Heads to literary pretentiousness. For example the article mentions a metal piece based on Moby Dick... Yeah, I'm sure it really captures the nuances. right. Just as Metalica's "One" did for Johnny got His Gun. lol.

btw, I knew Metallica years ago as they went to the same parties as I did. What a bunch of morons and their groupies were complete idiots and junkies. No wonder they're such DMCA tools now.

#17 Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

I can't answer all of those, but a lot of them are racism related.

"Absinthe Drinkers" was a painting Munch sold right before being being denounced in an important Nazi manifesto on "blood inferiority" and "degenerate" art, as well as antisemitism, and national socialist anti-elitism. Absinthe was associated with Bohemians who Nazis regarded as degenerate, though ironically much of today's white supremacist culture is meth and heroin addicted.

The Four Horsemen are important to the Christian right white supremacists, symbolizing holy war and final battles. Apocalyptic paintings by Bosch are popular for the same reasons.

Spartans are symbolically important to contemporary white supremacists and were to the Nazis as well. i.e. The "ideal soldiers" living in a fascistic society, defeating the invading hoards.

Stylized swords and arrows, in specific arrangements, are some of the most common neo-nazi emblems originating in Norse mythology.

Monstrosities, biohazards, Lovecraft, etc, all relate to genetic impurity. I posted more on Lovecraft above and it's easy to google Lovecraft and racism.

Vlad is seen by white supremacists as a sort of martyr figure of the occult, similar to hitler. He's also their example of how to deal with Muslims due to his long guerrilla war to push back the Ottoman empire and mass execution of Turkish captives. Transylvania was at the time settled by Germanic people from the Holy Roman Empire. He's also the inspiration for Dracula of course. Vlad the Impaler is a song by The Monolith Deathcult, a very racist metal band which encourages holy war against Muslims in the middle east.

#30

The reason there are so many posts is because this is actually a rather in depth subject. It can't be summarized quickly.

If you think providing informations is "lack of impulse control", well, you're entitled to your opinion. It's not very well informed or thought out, but it's yours.

btw, nobody said all Norse symbols are Nazi co-opted. But the assortment they sell are specifically those the Nazi have co-opoted. There are countless Norse symbols. The fact that their selection is all Nazi related is a totally improbably coincidence.

Also, the artists they highlight are all notorious racists as I outlined above. As is Danzig, who the site is named after.

btw: Big Daddy Roth idolized Von Dutch, who was also a notorious white supremacist and hated just about everyone. That whole style of art, while trendy now, originated among predominantly Southern and rural car tuners, Hells Angels, etc. Who are often associated with racism.

#11 "Space Invaders", E.A. Poe, H.P. Lovecraft , Munch's "The Scream", The Eye of Horus, Ankh, "R2 Dog Doo", Jack the Ripper, Tiffany's, Galileo Galilei and finally "Digital Piracy and How You Can Help" are, as you say, keyed to white supremacy, I would find that most fascinating."

You can google them.

Well, like I said, not everything they sell is racist, that I'm aware of. But most is racist, if you know how to read it. Most of those have important ties to racism. The rest may also, but I'm not sure.

Sorry to the Lovecraft fans, but he's commonly known to have been a xenophobe and racist; and a bit daft. Central to many of his works are racist allegories dealing with notions of genetic contamination. i.e. groups performing sexual rituals, summoning old world gods with African sounding names up from the depths to devour civilization. Many of Lovecraft's monsters are based on African deities. The protagonist embodies staunch puritanical values.

E.A. Poe was a pro-slavery Southerner. Many of his works contain racist themes and are veiled racist allegories. Much has been written ong the subject and can be googled. A major theme of racists and Poe is victim complex and revenge. Nazis perceived themselves as victims. So do skinheads, Aryan Nation, etc. They're also big on themes of imprisonment, chains, handcuffs, and torture which are motifs on many of their products.

Munch was criticized as being of "inferior blood" due to being "blue blooded" in an influential early Nazi work titled "Rembrandt als Erzieher" which translated to Rembrandt as Teacher. For Nazis Rembrandt was the epitome of Germanic aesthetics, Munch was seen as the epitome of "degenerate" art at the time, along with the "blue bloods" (Nazis are of course nationalist socialists) Jews, Blacks, etc.

"Space invaders" is xenophobia/racism.

Several prominent white supremacists, like eugenicist Arthur Jensen, fancy themselves as modern day scientific truth-tellers, like Galileo Galileo. (for that matter so do many Intelligent Design advocates, climate change deniers, and Young Earthers.)

White supremacist groups organize online extensively these days.

I'm just pointing this out so people who don't know about this stuff don't foolishly represent neo-nazi imagery. Also, police are aware of them, so if you get pulled over by a black cop for speeding, might not want to be wearing a lot of Celtic crosses and Thor's hammers.

Anyways, Not everything they sell is racist. There's a lot of drug culture stuff, big daddy, etc. But all of that is common with white supremacists. It's a mashup of punk, skinheads, metal, goth, etc. These aren't exactly the brightest or most original people.

The percentage of specifically Nazi and Aryan Nation icons is way too high to be coincidental. Nobody but white supremacists is really into many of the specific icons they're selling, and to find them all in once place is a dead giveaway.

For example, an ordinary head shop might have some ravens and spooky gothic crap on it. But they wouldn't name them "Huginn and Muninn" which are associated with Nazi mythology and wankery.

Here's a partial list of racist images they sell:

Thor's Hammer. One of the most common Nazi icons. Not really interesting otherwise. They sell several.
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/ThorsHammer.asp

White power fist:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/racist_aryan_fist.asp

lots of Iron Cross:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/neo-nazi_iron-cross.asp

Several variations of the Crosstar:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/groups_nationalist_crosstar.asp

Several variations of Aryan Nations iconography worked into designs:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/groups_aryan_nations.asp

Lots of Wolf's Hook, Dopplehaken in designs:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/Wolfsangel.asp

etc. There's a lot more for anyone to see.

And for anyone who isn't aware, it's actually a pretty widespread subculture in many parts of America and Europe. Something like 10% of the prison population is Aryan Brotherhood. Wherever there are ignorant drug addicts living in post labor towns, like the rust belt, you'll find plenty of them.

They're also very cryptic because they have to be. They want to be recognized by each other, but don't want their asses kicked constantly whenever they're away from the gang.

RJ-

Yr rgmnt s frm gnrnc. The stuff they feature is too specific to white supremacists, and not nearly general enough to be for ordinary metal heads. The site is based on Danzig, which is a white supremacist metal band, though some fans of course are too stupid to know it. Metal heads in general aren't too bright.

However, the site owner must certainly know it because the inventory has been carefully selected to represent white supremacist iconography. For example, the Union Jack isn't popular with metal heads. It is popular with skinheads. Other items they list aren't generally popular with metal heads at all, like Thor's Hammer and a lot of obscure nordic emblems, every one of which is associated with the Nazi mythology.

Antinous - yep.

Check out their t-shirts and patches featuring monkeys with big red lips and little hats straight out of minstrelsy posters.

Danzig has long been accused of being a neo-nazi. He and similar metal bands are hugely poplar in Germany with neo-nazis and skinheads.

Not to say all Danzig and metal fans are racists, some are just idiots. But there's a lot of overlap and the genre caters heavily to that audience.

"If that were true, then Buddhists would have to answer for their use of the Swastika as well, don't you agree?"

Tht's jst stpd nd ttlly bckwrds.

Believe whatever you want, but that store is selling white supremacist stuff. It's not just the typical metal stuff. There's a lot of ordinary metal-head motifs missing there. What they do sell is almost all directly featured by white supremacist groups and allegory.

That the site is named after Danzig's most Aryan inspired album, and Danzig's music is filled with Nazi mysticism, is a bit of a tip off.

Samhain and "November Fire" are references to an album by the band "Danzig." Glenn Danzig was probably referencing events in Nazi Germany during the rise of Hitler, several occurring in November around Samhain, a Nordic holiday.

Glenn Danzig is of Germaninc and Scottish background and has long been accused of being a racist.

Otto Rahn was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer of the SS. Himmler employed him to research claims of the Nazis to the Holy Grail, which he was to complete by Samhain of 1936. Otto Rahn was the inspiration for the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Free City of Danzig was symbolically important to Nazi propaganda. It was forcibly split from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. It was then occupied and annexed by the Nazis in 1939. After the war it became part of Poland.

http://www.shoaheducation.com/naziholidays.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig

http://www.the7thhouse.com/news/Articles/seconds44.htm

SECONDS: You've raised the question of what's wrong with being proud to be White.

DANZIG: Why would I not be proud of being White? "Look what all the White people have done --" Well, look what all the Black people have done. Look what all the Mexican people have done. ... But if there's a race war, what I am going to do? Twenty Black guys with guns aren't going to care that I'm not with anybody.

SECONDS: Is that in, our future?

DANZIG: Sure. Civil wars like that have always happened and are always going to happen. As much as you'd like to change it, the world will always take you back to what it is. You're just a speck on this planet and as the world evolves, it repeats itself.

SECONDS: There are cleansing processes.

DANZIG: Nature has its own cleansing processes -- AIDS may be one of them. Ebola, all these different things, nature controls what happens on this planet. The world always has its way of clarifying things.

Catalog of Germanic symbols, many of which are also used by racist groups.

Notice "Huginn and Muninn" ravens, the eight pointed Ægishjálm: the Helm of Awe, Wolfsangel, Black Sun, and Todesrune, which are all combined in various patterns on several t-shirts and patches they sell.

http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/symbols.html

Neo-nazi, white supremacist, and assorted hate symbols:

http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/anti-hate/symbolsofhate.html

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/default_graphics.asp

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/Pagan_graphics.asp

Yo mods: That website is chock full o white supremacists.

There's a LOT of neo-nazi and skinhead themes on their t-shirts. Everything they sell is really keyed to white supremacists and chock full of coded messages.

The Celtic Cross and Thors's Hammer are flags for the largest white supremacist groups. They're like covert swastikas. The Union Jack and British crown are for UK skinheads. Skulls are also very popular (Nazi SS). The Hungarian cross and Irminsul are others.

The "mugwumps" Burroughs shirt is a coded message: extermination of vermin. Burroughs was a notorious racist and gun nut. The Mugwumps were Northern Republicans who sided with the Dixiecrat Grover Cleveland, who repealed protections for blacks in the South. Another shirt says "celebrate diversity" and pictures the monstrous skeleton of Siamese twins skeletons.

The other themes also go with white supremacy, like heavy drug use especially meth and heroin. White supremacists are trailer trash after all. General themes of cannibalism and violence. There's a lot of nooses and guns and knives and such.

Pretty much everything they sell has a coded message to hate groups. Some more subtle than others. But the overall picture is overwhelmingly clear.

Think about it... a guy's backpack smokes. OK, that's cause for alarm. Nobody likes to stand next to someone on fire. So, fine so far.

But then he says: "OH, sorry, it's my science project, it must have short circuited." Which is rather a different message than "Die Infidels" or "hey, where's the 72 virgins?"

Unless Woody Allen becomes a suicide bomber, I seriously doubt one would stop to apologize and then start rationalizing it comically with a lot of "oh geeze, oh geeze, there goes my science project" routine.

Why didn't they just build a safe room, that was actually... a room?

Granted, this "safe room" bed could be installed in a trailer park more easily. Or it could be handy if your survivalist cult's armed compound changes location often to avoid the IRS.

Yeah, I don't think "furries" from that photo.

#95 posted by zio_donnie

To clarify, evolutionary psychology and the evolution of morality has nothing to do with intelligent design.

In fact, it shows how individual survival strategies will naturally evolve social strategies and eventually expanded intelligence, morality, and then higher intelligence.

#94 zio_donnie -

Again. Sorry you feel that way.

I suggest you read the books mentioned above to refute that assumption. They're quire profound and rewarding reads.

#89

Well most people just don't know any better because it's still pretty recent news.

Also, I used to have the same misconceptions. Ignorance isn't a crime. To attain knowledge intellectual curiosity and integrity is important, but so does luck and circumstance matter a lot too.

The best thing is for people to be exposed to good work on the subject, like Frans de Waal, and learn.

Anyways, I think the story is probably true. Keep in mind it describes a teenager with a knife, not a hardened violent criminal with an AK47.

But regardless, as a thought experiment it's still valid. For the reasons I listed above, such a situation is actually a rather probable outcome, contrary to common belief.

btw, I used to run with some sketchy people as a teenager. I was never a criminal (beyond stealing hood ornaments and stuff) but I got around enough to know how many basically decent, but poor and desperate, kids there are out there.

Boombotz links to the web page of "www.joeypark.com" and is apparently a CG artist.

I'm also a "CA native" and do CG, which is heavily based in LA and the SF Bay Area. When people say "CA native" they usually mean "I didn't just move here, I'm a native here."

#81 -

Sorry you feel that way.

However, you should be happy to learn that's not supported by the empirical data on the study of evolution, higher primates and other intelligent social species.

The field of evolutionary psychology is pretty wide and deep, and requires some basic knowledge of evolution, but for a starter I recommend some of Frans de Wall's work because he's a leader in the field and also compiles the work of others well.

A couple of his books are particularly good starters:

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved
http://www.amazon.com/Primates-Philosophers-Morality-Evolved-University/dp/0691124477/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206739768&sr=8-1

Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals http://www.amazon.com/Good-Natured-Origins-Humans-Animals/dp/0674356616/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206739768&sr=8-4

#65

I'm an atheist and big proponent of evolutionary psychology and primatology. But, it's certainly not "co-opting" for people to express such feelings in a religious lexicon. Long before there was modern science, there was a philisophical and religious framework to understand these issues.

We're only now getting a scientific understanding of the profound evolutionary mechanics which created an instinctual, hardwired, (albeit variable) sense of morality and ethics. Compassion, love, friendship, etc.

Morality existed before humanity did.

These instincts are evolved behavior and have been deeply felt since the dawn of humanity, and before us by our primate ancestors. Before we had language or even walked upright. These instincts, and their social implications, allowed meal sharing, teamwork, and the evolution of higher intelligence eventually leading to abstract thought, tool use, and so on.

These profoundly deep feelings are owned by everyone and people will frame them in the language they speak.

Much of religion is very meaningful and useful philosophy compiled over millenium of human history. It would be exceedingly foolish to discard it all in a knee jerk response to some offensive mystics and fundamentalists.

Don't throw baby jesus out with the bath water! ;)

#55 - "Why can't we just call it "human-like" behaviour? As in what Humans are supposed to try to be?"

As an atheist I don't have any problem with people finding spiritual and religious significance in this. In fact I think it's a beautiful thing and wish more people would be inspired thusly. It's true Jesus preached a faith in human nature so that one should be brave and turn the other cheek. Also that the meek would inherit the earth. All of which is true philosophically and in terms of basic evolutionary principles.

I'd call it optimal human behavior.

First, he was empathetic and compassionate, which is vital to the survival of any social species, even common dogs and wolves. Without empathy our evolutionary ancestors would never have shared meals, never organized into groups, never developed higher intelligence.

Secondly, he was smart and observant. He recognized this kid was desperate, and not a serial killer. He approached the situation intelligently, waiting until the threat was passed and the kid leaving, before offering kindness in a nonthreatening way. He was smart enough to realize the possibility for a better outcome and weigh the risk.

Third, he was brave. I don't mean bravado. I mean the courage and clarity to stick to one's convictions and do what he thought was right, while acknowledging life is unpredictable and dangerous sometimes, but you have to do the best you can. That's real courage.

Why is anyone surprised? People here seem to think this guy is lucky. Brave? Sure. But lucky? Not luck.

He's just a brave, observant, and compassionate person. Anyone as brave, observant, and compassionate as he is could have done the same.

He did it the right way, after the kid was already walking away and the situation diffused. Had the kid wanted to stab him, he would have already done so.

He was honest and treated the kid with decency, which goes a long way. Most kids like this are runaways from bad situations, homeless, lonely, hungry, and desperate. Not psychopaths.

The kid was alone, not with a gang. He doesn't even have a partner in crime. He's not trying to impress anyone or build a reputation. He's at the end of his rope.

He didn't even have a jacket.

Why didn't I think of that?

That bed totally beats my bulletproof, airtight, rebreathing, polycarbonate, armored toilet.

#113 - Transsexuals are almost always clearly genetically gendered. Additionally, she has working reproductive organs that are clearly female.

#115 - "Having a Y chromosome doesn not make you male, as people with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia can tell you."

No, that's completely wrong. Being genetically male (XY)or female (XX) means that you're genetically male or female. A person may have a condition which limits manifestations of gender, such as hormonal issues, but they are still genetically gendered. A person who doesn't have clear genetic gender is just that, a person who doesn't have clear genetic gendering. It's not as though by picking sides their DNA changes.

#122 - "And there is no "biologically necessity" of referring to him as "mother." We have no idea how he identifies. "Mother" is a very distinct and weighted social term"

Sorry, but that's nonsense. "Mother" is not simply a social term but also a biological and genetic term. When a doctor asks who the biological and genetic mother is, or for that matter any legal proceedings having to do with the biological fact, then it's her. Technically the person who identifies as "mother" in their home is a "step mother" or legal guardian. She has no biological link to the child. The person who identifies as "father" is in fact the biological and genetic mother and always will be. The sperm donor will always be the biological father.

Some other issues:

The kid will unavoidably go through some serious issues. I feel sorry for the kid, and think it's rather selfish and unthinking that the couple decided to become parents and experiment on that kid's life.

If they have a son, neither parent will be able to relate physically to him, because physiologically both are actually women. Unless they lie to the child, the child will always know his "father" isn't really a man. If they brainwash the child with an irrational definition of gender, it's likely to cause problems later.

The mother can't breast feed her child, because she's had breasts surgically removed and identifies as a man anyways. Breast milk, produced by the mother, is keyed to the child's needs developed in utero. Every mother produces milk specific to her child, designed to boost the immune system and brain development. The use of formula is very recent, and the safety of it,or whether it has long term effects on health and intelligence, has never been studied sufficiently and is very difficult (virtually impossible) to do so with existing technologies. We do know there are continually new discoveries being made about breast milk containing special antibodies and nutrients that formula doesn't and can't contain.

I understand life is difficult for transgenedred people, and make all efforts to be respectful to them and go along with their chosen gender ID. Because most of the time gender doesn't matter that much. But there are certain genetic, medical and reproductive facts of gender.

Attempting to blur the medical facts and introduce irrationality on empirical issues is not ok when transsexuals do it any more than when religious fundamentalists do it. Experimenting on children to fulfill one's emotional needs is also unethical.

opps. Meant to say:

"It's also a possibility her male gender ID may be psychologically based without any physiological basis. Regardless, she remains sexually, biologically, and genetically female."

@18

"Unless of course the gubmint pulls out the tired "State Secret! State Secret!" to hide behind..."

That's exactly what's happening.

Additionally there are related issued such as the domestic spying by companies like ATT, and the credit card companies barring transactions from these bogus lists, and so on. A lot of which is clearly illegal.

Companies are complying with illegal requests for domestic surveillance and harassment against long standing laws prohibiting exactly that. That's why it's so important to block retroactive immunity for these companies who have been complicit in illegal, and frankly rather fascistic, spying on and harassment of citizens, without Juridical oversight, warrants, prosecution, or any due process.

Even worse, there are indications companies have been complicit with illegal requests to curry favor with the administration for deregulation of consumer protections, merger approvals and market consolidation, and so on.

Again, that's textbook early stages of fascism as the vertical and undemocratic powers of the private sector align with undemocratic elements in government.

It's clearly more than a bureaucratic SNAFU.

Basically law enforcement is creating a limbo between guilty and innocent where people can;t be charged of a crime or arrested, but they can be harassed.

This isn't an "oopsie." It's another clear example of the gradual erosion of law enforcement ethics and mission creep between the kind of illegal methods and spooks we deploy abroad, seeping into domestic surveillance and law enforcement.

It's fundamentally Unconstitutional and goes against our core legal principles and the rule of law dating back to the Magna Carta.

Historically, it's also been at the root of fascist movements from Franco's Spain to Mussolini's Italy to Nazi Germany to Stalinist Russia. They all began with the notion of a strong security state that gradually and increasingly abused power while losing respect for the individual citizen's rights. Along with that always comes nationalism and paranoia to justify their actions. They also have historically formed alliances with the private sector along the way, as the vertical authoritarianism and undemocratic nature of the private sector is always appealing to fascists.

I don't want to be alarmist. We're not going to become Nazi Germany overnight. But people should take these erosions of the Rule of Law and of Law Enforcement Ethics, very seriously. No good will come of them.

Another way to put it:

These lists essentially create a gray area of "possible criminals" who aren't taken seriously enough to be arrested. The punishment for being a "possible criminal" is perpetual harassment and the impedance of a normal life. There is no legal recourse to being deemed a "possible criminal."

Imagine if this was a real cop.

Imagine you have a paranoid cop following you around. He freely admits he doesn't have any evidence to make an arrest or charge you with a crime. But whenever you go to buy something he snatches the credit card from your hand, intimidates sellers, and otherwise prohibits you from living a normal life.

That would clearly be totally and utterly Unconstitutional. Even criminal harassment. Yet because it's being done electronically it's somehow sanitized and accepted.

fencepost -

That explanation doesn't make any sense. Nobody should be able to wire $10,000,000 to North Korea. You don't need a list for that. And if anyone tries to do something serious enough to merit them being listed for, they should be investigated and charged with some type of crime, or seriously surveiled.

We're talking about people being barred from buying a car. I can't imagine any scenario where that makes sense. If a person actually is a terrorist or international criminal, they need to be arrested. Stopping them from buying a car isn't going to do any good. That's just idiotic.

Hans -

See my posts above. It's clearly Unconstitutional. People need to realize how truly corrosive these things are to rule of law. It's far more than in inconvenience. It directly undermines legal and ethical standards for law enforcement and citizens rights.

As bad as it is, they've been difficult to challenge in court though because "National Security" and classification has been badly abused as a free pass to escape congressional or juridical oversight, to effectively create a space outside the rule of law for some of our most questionable law enforces to operate within.

Also, a lot of this profiling, data mining, and spying stuff is happening through private companies such as "Choice Point" the nations largest data miner, ATT and other major telecoms. They, as private companies, are very difficult for Congress and the Judiciary to oversee. Additionally, they're directed by classified agencies, who themselves often escape Congressional and Judical oversight.

All this is another reason why it's important to block telecom immunity. Otherwise we'll never find out how much illegal spying, profiling, and data mining was, and is, being done on ordinary Americans.

semiotix,

True although I think you're actually conceding too much ground by even presuming that a super-duper innocent person should have to "prove" their innocence. People are, essentially, being accused of crimes of guilt by association with an identity. Which is bad enough. Only it's worse becasue they're never officially charged, there is no due process, and guilt is presumed. Everyone charged with this scarlet letter of "identity crime" is automatically guilty and punished.

The morons in favor of these programs aren't just cutting a few corners. They're eroding basic principles of human rights and governance defined in the Constitution and centuries of law going back to the Magna Carta of 1215. They're eroding the presumption of innocence and right to fair trial.

I'd also mention that programs of informants and harassment are always associated historically with corrupt and fascistic governments. A government that respects citizens doesn't treat them like that.

Truly amazing.

1) These lists are fundamentally Unconstitutional. They're Unconstitutional in meting out punishment on suspicion without due process. It's essentially guilt by association to an "identity" then justified to harass citizens.

2) If that wasn't bad enough, such programs are actually counter productive to genuine law enforcement, by tipping off suspects without actually making an arrest. That the agency responsible for these lists is not deploying law enforcement to capture the alleged criminals. Not FBI, SWAT, the PD or anyone. That shows even the list makers don't take them seriously. If a listed individual actually was a criminal or terrorist, being denied a common transaction like a PayPal account would only tip them off and presumably help them to be more cautious in future criminal endeavors.

Just amazing. It's mind boggling we can give so much power, without oversight, to such clearly incompetent, and quite possibly rather fascistic, keystone cops. Truly mind boggling.

Art? Sure. It's thought provoking.

There's nothing rationally to fear or be revolted by that video viewed over the internet. Nor anything particualy abnormal about those zits or whatever the technical term is. It's the magnification that makes each monstrously huge. The fingernails are far larger than the screen so those zits must be a fraction of a millimeter.

Regardless, it definitely gots my instinctual pro-sanitation and anti-disease "yuck" response going strong.

I take from it that even fairly common and benign things may seem bizarre and monstrous if the viewer loses perspective.

Wow, smoke detector and riot control device. False alarms from cooking must be unpleasant. Wonder how long the smell lasts.

Maybe for hearing people they'll make an alarm that yells: WASABI!!! real loud.

Pee-lastic! (TM)

Talk about anger management issues. At the very least this moron needs to go on a diet to improve his health and get a slightly more fulfilling hobby than terrorizing kids.

PS, I'd also point out the possibility he actually knows the origins of the painting, and is laughing at the irony.

Also, the protagonist has a strong resemblance to him.

Bush is an a-hole, but so are the people who buy into that goofy and pretentious pop-psych analysis. You don't need to critique his taste in art or lack of art history to see why he's bad, just look at his record and life to see what a monstrosity he is.

He doesn't know the origins of the painting. So what? So people who read this article now know a bit of trivia he doesn't. So what?

I know plenty of artists and art appreciators who know nothing about the genesis of Picasso's cubist work and the parallels in n-dimensional physics and Christian 2D "Gods Eye" artwork which date back to Egyptian art, and then the Renaissance move to 3D perspective, and the philosophical underpinnings for that. For that matter I know physicists who are also unaware of the connection but still enjoy the aesthetics of Picasso's work. They all have a generally post modern, deconstructed, world view, regardless. They're all curious people (unlike Bush) and know plenty of things I'm completely ignorant of.

The sort of pretentiousness which this article represents is amazingly counter productive. It's exactly the sort of empty snobbery which greatly encourages rural folks to be more reactionary and vote for a-holes like Bush.

It's kind of scary the amount of debate the initial article started. It's really not very difficult to visualize... but the mind is a terrible thang!

Of course the plane would take off. What matters is the airflow over the wings to generate lift, not the speed at which the ground is traveling. Planes obviously aren't powered through the wheels like cars. (duh!)

btw, it doesn't take a "treadmill" to prove this. A take off or landing with a tailwind also has the effect of making the ground move opposite the vector of travel. Also, the wheels (and treadmill) would simply rotate at double the rate of forward speed.

That frame is designed to shred testicles.