Im a horsey...

Televisions tastes funny....

You ARE being watched...weighed and calculated.

A Spy Machine of DARPA's Dreams

Noah Shachtman05.20.03 | 2:00 AM

It's a memory aid! A robotic assistant! An epidemic detector! An all-seeing, ultra-intrusive spying program!
The Pentagon is about to embark on a stunningly ambitious research project designed to gather every conceivable bit of information about a person's life, index all the information and make it searchable.
What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing?
The embryonic LifeLog program would dump everything an individual does into a giant database: every e-mail sent or received, every picture taken, every Web page surfed, every phone call made, every TV show watched, every magazine read.
All of this -- and more -- would combine with information gleaned from a variety of sources: a GPS transmitter to keep tabs on where that person went, audio-visual sensors to capture what he or she sees or says, and biomedical monitors to keep track of the individual's health.
This gigantic amalgamation of personal information could then be used to "trace the 'threads' of an individual's life," to see exactly how a relationship or events developed, according to a briefing from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, LifeLog's sponsor.
Someone with access to the database could "retrieve a specific thread of past transactions, or recall an experience from a few seconds ago or from many years earlier ... by using a search-engine interface."
On the surface, the project seems like the latest in a long line of DARPA's "blue sky" research efforts, most of which never make it out of the lab. But DARPA is currently asking businesses and universities for research proposals to begin moving LifeLog forward. And some people, such as Steven Aftergood, a defense analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, are worried.
With its controversial Total Information Awareness database project, DARPA already is planning to track all of an individual's "transactional data" -- like what we buy and who gets our e-mail.
While the parameters of the project have not yet been determined, Aftergood said he believes LifeLog could go far beyond TIA's scope, adding physical information (like how we feel) and media data (like what we read) to this transactional data.
"LifeLog has the potential to become something like 'TIA cubed,'" he said.
In the private sector, a number of LifeLog-like efforts already are underway to digitally archive one's life -- to create a "surrogate memory," as minicomputer pioneer Gordon Bell calls it.
Bell, now with Microsoft, scans all his letters and memos, records his conversations, saves all the Web pages he's visited and e-mails he's received and puts them into an electronic storehouse dubbed MyLifeBits.
DARPA's LifeLog would take this concept several steps further by tracking where people go and what they see.
That makes the project similar to the work of University of Toronto professor Steve Mann. Since his teen years in the 1970s, Mann, a self-styled "cyborg," has worn a camera and an array of sensors to record his existence. He claims he's convinced 20 to 30 of his current and former students to do the same. It's all part of an experiment into "existential technology" and "the metaphysics of free will."
DARPA isn't quite so philosophical about LifeLog. But the agency does see some potential battlefield uses for the program.
"The technology could allow the military to develop computerized assistants for war fighters and commanders that can be more effective because they can easily access the user's past experiences," DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker speculated in an e-mail.
It also could allow the military to develop more efficient computerized training systems, she said: Computers could remember how each student learns and interacts with the training system, then tailor the lessons accordingly.
John Pike, director of defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said he finds the explanations "hard to believe."
"It looks like an outgrowth of Total Information Awareness and other DARPA homeland security surveillance programs," he added in an e-mail.
Sure, LifeLog could be used to train robotic assistants. But it also could become a way to profile suspected terrorists, said Cory Doctorow, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In other words, Osama bin Laden's agent takes a walk around the block at 10 each morning, buys a bagel and a newspaper at the corner store and then calls his mother. You do the same things -- so maybe you're an al Qaeda member, too!
"The more that an individual's characteristic behavior patterns -- 'routines, relationships and habits' -- can be represented in digital form, the easier it would become to distinguish among different individuals, or to monitor one," Aftergood, the Federation of American Scientists analyst, wrote in an e-mail.
In its LifeLog report, DARPA makes some nods to privacy protection, like when it suggests that "properly anonymized access to LifeLog data might support medical research and the early detection of an emerging epidemic."
But before these grand plans get underway, LifeLog will start small. Right now, DARPA is asking industry and academics to submit proposals for 18-month research efforts, with a possible 24-month extension. (DARPA is not sure yet how much money it will sink into the program.)
The researchers will be the centerpiece of their own study.
Like a game show, winning this DARPA prize eventually will earn the lucky scientists a trip for three to Washington, D.C. Except on this excursion, every participating scientist's e-mail to the travel agent, every padded bar bill and every mad lunge for a cab will be monitored, categorized and later dissected.

More babies....MORE TAXES!

Tax babies 'to save planet'

By Tamara McLean

December 10, 2007 04:52pm

Article from: AAP

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COUPLES who have more than two children should be charged a lifelong tax to offset their extra offspring's carbon dioxide emissions, a medical expert says.

The report in an Australian medical journal called for parents to be charged $5000 a head for every child after their second, and an annual tax of up to $800.

And couples who were sterilised would be eligible for carbon credits under the controversial proposal.

Perth specialist Professor Barry Walters was heavily critical of the $4000 baby bonus, saying that paying new parents extra for every baby fuelled more children, more emissions and "greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour".

Instead, it should be replaced with a "baby levy" in the form of a carbon tax in line with the "polluter pays" principle, he wrote in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

"Every family choosing to have more than a defined number of children should be charged a carbon tax that would fund the planting of enough trees to offset the carbon cost generated by a new human being," said Prof Walters, an obstetrician at King Edward Memorial Hospital.

Sustainable Population Australia suggested a maximum of two, he said.

By the same reasoning, contraceptives like diaphragms and condoms, as well as sterilisation procedures, should attract carbon credits, the specialist said.

"As doctors, I believe we need to think this way," he wrote in a letter to the journal.

"As Australians I believe we need to be less arrogant.

"As citizens of the world, I believe we deserve no more population concessions than those in India or China."

Garry Eggers, director of the NSW Centre for Health Promotion and Research, agreed with the call, saying former treasurer Peter Costello's request for three children per family - "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country" - was too single-minded.

"Population remains crucial to all environmental considerations," wrote Professor Eggers, a leading advocate of the personal carbon trading debate.

"The debate (around population control) needs to be reopened as part of a second ecological revolution."

Family groups rejected the calls, saying larger families used less energy than smaller ones and should not be penalised.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Mr.T and im a Night Elf Mohawk!

Charlie Brooker on US tv

Blue Man Group Concert, 12-1-07

Utah Highway Patrol: “Reasonable” to Taser Motoroist for Not Signing Ticket

Officials say trooper felt threatened when he zapped a stubborn motorist - National Expositor Note : If the trooper felt threatened, why did he ask the man to get out of car instead of telling the man to remain in his car and then proceed to call for backup?
The Salt Lake Tribune - Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jon Gardner used his Taser to zap a motorist who became uncooperative during a traffic stop.
Many people who viewed the confrontation after it was posted on the Web site YouTube thought Gardner was out of line.
However, UHP officials on Friday announced Gardner's actions were justified when he shocked Jared Massey twice during the Sept. 14 incident in Uintah County.
Gardner's actions “were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances,” UHP Superintendent Lance Davenport said at a news conference held at UHP headquarters in Taylorsville.
Internal investigators are continuing to review the case.
Davenport acknowledged there was a “communication breakdown” between Gardner and Massey, and that Gardner had alternative options that he didn't use to resolve the situation. Gardner zapped Massey after he refused to sign a ticket, put his hand in his pocket and walked away from the trooper.
The UHP has asked the Utah Attorney General's Office to investigate the incident.
“We recognize and realize the significance of this event,” Davenport said.
Massey filed a public-records request after the incident and received the dashboard video from Gardner's patrol car, which he posted on YouTube. The clip has reportedly been viewed more than 1 million times.
Gardner was placed on administrative leave this week, mostly out of concern for his safety, after receiving several death threats from viewers reacting to the video, Davenport said.
“They were pretty direct,” Davenport said. “One talked about putting a bullet in his head.”
The 10-minute video begins as the officer passes a sign clearly showing a speed limit of 40 mph on U.S. Highway 40.
Gardner pulls over Massey's Dodge SUV and approaches the driver's side window. He twice asks for Massey's driver's license and registration. The second time, the trooper is audibly frustrated.
After a short argument, Gardner goes to his patrol vehicle and returns to the SUV with a traffic ticket. Massey refuses to sign the citation, insisting that Gardner show him the 40 mph sign.
“Well, you are going to sign this first,” Gardner said.
After refusing, Gardner asks Massey to exit the SUV, which, at 2:23 minutes into the video, he does.
The pair walk to the front of the officer's car, where Gardner points his Taser at Massey, ordering him to place his hands behind his back.
”What the hell's wrong with you?” Massey asks, while turning and beginning to walk back to the SUV. Gardner tells the driver to turn around, but he refuses and continues walking away with one hand in his pocket.
On Friday, Davenport said it was at that point Gardner did not know if Massey had a weapon and had to make a split-second decision whether to use the Taser.
“He did what he did based on those particular things,” Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Scott T. Duncan said at the press conference.
After he is shocked, Massey is seen in the video falling backward onto the pavement and can be heard screaming. He is given a second zap. Massey's wife then comes out of the SUV screaming and is ordered back inside the vehicle by Gardner.
”Ma'am, do exactly as I say or you're going to jail, too,” the trooper says.
A short time later, an unidentified officer strolls up on scene and Gardner tells him that Massey “took a ride with the Taser.”
“That comment was inappropriate,” Davenport said Friday.
Massey was later taken to Uintah Basin Medical Center in Roosevelt.
Because of this incident, the UHP is reviewing its Taser and use-of-force policy.
“The trooper is being held accountable as are we,” Duncan said.
Davenport said Gardner was issued a Taser in September 2005, but never had used it until the incident involving Massey. In his 14 years with the UHP, Gardner has had complaints leveled against him, “but most were unfounded or not sustained,” Davenport said. He declined to talk about specific instances.
Massey is scheduled to stand trial over the speeding ticket Jan. 14 in Uintah County Justice Court.
He did not return several calls asking for comment about the case.

Something to ponder...

Paul wins GOP straw poll

What is funny is this story  has a quote from a guy that is telling us to nevermind the winner of the poll, rather look at the people in second and third becuase they're more important...than the winner....

Thats like saying the guy who wins the 26 mile marathon race was practicing to do it and we should give the award to the guys in 2nd and third. I love idiots.








Paul wins GOP straw poll
Texas representative outpolls Thompson, Huckabee at Va. event
 
Sunday, Dec 02, 2007 - 12:08 AM 
 

By TYLER WHITLEY

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

ARLINGTON -- Texas Rep. Ron Paul easily won a presidential poll at a Republican Party of Virginia conference here yesterday.
Paul polled 182 out of about 500 votes cast. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson finished second with 112 votes, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished third with 51 votes.
The straw poll was held at the 24th annual Republican Advance, generally attended by activists and grass-roots workers, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in the Washington suburbs.
Republican officials dismissed the poll's outcome, noting that Paul has been concentrating on winning straw polls all over the country.
Paul bused in young supporters. They waved signs and shouted loudly when his name was mentioned.
"He brought people in here. What is more critical to look at is who finished second and third. That is a more true indicator of the feelings of the Republican Party of Virginia," said Tucker Watkins of Randolph in Charlotte County, a former 5th District GOP chairman.
Virginia Republicans and Democrats will each hold presidential primaries on Feb. 12. Because several other states have earlier votes, many observers think the nominees of the two parties will be decided by the time Virginians choose.
The major candidates, occupied in Iowa or New Hampshire where the earliest nominating contests will be held, sent surrogates yesterday.
The meeting brought good news for former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who is seeking the party's nomination to run for the U.S. Senate. A prospective opponent, Del. Christopher B. Saxman of Staunton, said he would not seek the nomination. He said he would not be able to raise money while the General Assembly is in session this winter and so would not be able to mount a credible candidacy.
Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William has hinted that he might run, but he did not show up and had a friend read a statement prepared by him which indicated he likely would not run.
Gilmore in a brief speech to the Republicans, urged against defeatism and said he could beat former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democratic candidate for the seat now held by Republican Sen. John W. Warner, who is retiring.
"We've won two statewide contests [attorney general and governor], we've carried Northern Virginia twice," Gilmore said. Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com