Archive | June, 2012

When You Should Shoot a Cop

By on June 30, 2012 in News 104

Larken Rose at CopBlock.org:

That question, even without an answer, makes most “law-abiding taxpayers” go into knee-jerk conniptions.The indoctrinated masses all race to see who can be first, and loudest, to proclaim that it is NEVER okay to forcibly resist “law enforcement.” In doing so, they also inadvertently demonstrate why so much of human history has been plagued by tyranny and oppression.

In an ideal world, cops would do nothing except protect people from thieves and attackers, in which case shooting a cop would never be justified. In the real world, however, far more injustice, violence, torture, theft, and outright murder has been committed IN THE NAME of “law enforcement,” than has been committed in spite of it.

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Lichen Can Survive In Hostile Space Conditions

By on June 30, 2012 in News 15

Humans are ill-equipped for traveling into outer space, but the same isn’t true for other earthly life forms. Should we send funguses to colonize our galaxy, before we go? Via Phenomenica:

In 2008 the European Space Agency sent a suitcase-sized experiment package to the International Space Station filled with organic compounds and living organisms to test their reaction to outer space.

When astronauts venture on a spacewalk, hours are spent preparing protective suits to survive the hostile conditions. However, no effort was made to protect the bacteria, seeds, lichen and algae attached to the outside of the space station.

The samples returned to Earth in 2009. Lichen have proven to be tough cookies – back on Earth, some species continue to grow normally. You can freeze it, thaw it, vacuum dry it and expose it to radiation, but lichen still survive.

Living organisms surviving in open space supports the idea of ‘panspermia’ — life spreading from one planet to another, or even between solar systems.

… Read the rest

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Download ‘Robert Anton Wilson: Maybe Logic’

By on June 29, 2012 in OpenVideo, stories 42

Every Friday The Disinformation Company offers a different disinformation® documentary as a DRM-free download for the discounted price of $1.99. The sale price is available for one week only, Friday to Friday. All digital downloads are high quality MP4 video.

This week’s disinformation® OpenVideo is Robert Anton Wilson: Maybe Logic. This feature-length documentary is a hilarious and mind-bending journey into the multi-dimensional life of Robert Anton Wilson, one of the foundations of 20th Century Western counterculture and author of the Illuminatus! Trilogy. It features video spanning 25 years and follows Mr.Wilson as he penetrates human illusions, exposing the mathematical probabilities and spooky synchronicities of the eight dimensions of his Universe.

DOWNLOAD

Featuring Tom Robbins, Douglas Rushkoff , R.U. Sirius, Rev. Ivan Stang and Paul Krassner and a sound track by Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Pullman, Tarentel, Animals on Wheels, Funki Porcini, and The Cinematic Orchestra.

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Invention Makes It Possible To Live Without Breathing

By on June 29, 2012 in News 1

We’ve breathed the same old way for far too long — it was high time for an update. Initially, it will be an emergency medical solution, but perhaps someday a workaround for living in a hopelessly polluted world. Via Unexplained Mysteries:

Scientists have invented particles able to keep a person alive even if they are unable to breathe. The breakthrough treatment works by oxygenating the blood through an injection that can keep someone alive for up to 30 minutes even if they are unable to breath at all and could save thousands of lives. The injected particles contain oxygen within a layer of natural molecules known as lipids.

Previous attempts at developing a treatment of this nature had failed because the injections caused a gas embolism rather than oxygenation of the cells. ”We have engineered around this problem by packaging the gas into small, deformable particles,” said scientist John Kheir.

… Read the rest

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Miss Holocaust 2012

By on June 29, 2012 in News 5

Pure class.  I wonder how the acceptance speeches went?  ” . . . and most of all, without whom none of this would have been possible, I’d like to thank . . . ”  From Haaretz:

Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

… Read the rest

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Two-Thirds Of Americans Trust Obama Over Romney To Handle An Alien Invasion

By on June 29, 2012 in News 7

Not long from now, this will be the most important political question in every election. Is the American public wary of Mitt Romney’s possible allegiances to deceased LDS’ers’ spirits hovering on exoplanets? Via PR Newswire:

According to a new extraterrestrial survey from National Geographic Channel, more than 80 million Americans are certain that UFOs exist. Many believe in tangible proof that aliens have landed on Earth and think that government officials are involved in covering up paranormal activities. Moreover, most citizens would not mind a minor alien invasion, because they expect these space-age visitors to be friendly.

In regards to national security, nearly two-thirds (65%) of Americans think Barack Obama would be better suited than fellow presidential candidate Mitt Romney to handle an alien invasion. In fact, more than two in three (68%) women say that Obama would be more adept at dealing with an alien invasion than Romney, vs.

… Read the rest

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Newly Unearthed Mayan Hieroglyphs Point To December 2012, With A Twist

By on June 29, 2012 in News 25

Recently the Mayan calendar system was found to extend far beyond 2012, perhaps giving some respite to those who feared that the world would end by next Christmas. Now a new discovery once again highlights December 21, 2012, but as the end of a political cycle, rather than doomsday. I say bring it on. Phys.Org reports:

Archaeologists working at the site of La Corona in Guatemala have discovered a 1,300 year-old year-old Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called “end date” for the Maya calendar on December 21, 2012. The discovery, one of the most significant hieroglyphic find in decades, was announced today at the National Palace in Guatemala.

“This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy,” says Marcello A. Canuto, Director of Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at the Maya ruins of La Corona. “This new evidence suggests that the 13 Bak’tun date was an important calendrical event that would have been celebrated by the ancient Maya.”

The hieroglyphs commemorated a royal visit to La Corona in AD 696 by the most powerful Maya ruler of that time, Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ of Calakmul.

… Read the rest

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Silencing The Trolls: Twitter Considers ‘Hate Speech’ Censorship

By on June 29, 2012 in News 6

Here at disinformation we mostly live with our trolls as a part of online life, but Twitter has decided to try to silence them. Via RT:

Is Twitter allowing too much freedom? What helped move revolutions along in the Middle East, has a flip side of cyberbullying and abuse, especially of those in the spotlight. Now Twitter is taking its first step towards censorship.

The news was broken by Twitter’s Dick Costolo who was speaking to the Financial Times. As the FT put it, the site’s chief executive “became visibly emotional” as he described his frustration in tackling the problem of ‘horrifying’ abuse, while maintaining the company’s mantra that ‘tweets must flow’. Anonymous and unpunished, irresponsible twitter-users find the site ideal for expressing all kinds of extremist, racist and sexistopinions. Celebrities are among those most vulnerable, with curses and bullying clogging up their ‘@connect’ section, offending many and disrupting conversations, often turning them into hate-fights.

… Read the rest

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Misogyny, Misandry, Freedom of Speech … and Video Games

By on June 29, 2012 in News 9

Ally Fogg, writing at Heteronormative Patriarchy for Men:

… I don’t have much in the way of informed opinions about misogyny in video games, I’ll leave that to others. Nonetheless I couldn’t help but be sucked in by the debate surrounding Kickstarter Anita Sarkeesian, as good an illustration as we’ll ever need of the vitriol of the new gender wars. An intense storm of hatred was roused by her modest idea to crowd-fund research into sexism in the games industry. The many thousands of hostile comments posted on Sarkeesian’s YouTube video were of course heavily gendered and sexualised, but so too was some of the retaliation – notably Charlie Brooker’s description of the mob as “idiotic pebbledicks” who are terrified of women.

If one of the worst offences committed by sexists and anti-feminists online is to reduce women…

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