~e; EM observations #22

[brian carroll <human@electronetwork.org>]

[keywords]  king of crypto, electromagnetic empire, VoIP insecurity,
pre-empting earthquakery, cultural-game design, nukeblast maps,
scary robots, hybrid tax rebate, hybrid car-tech review, laser tag,
IT quotas & missing techies, google trivia: 70/20/10 philosophy,

-- micro-section: public wi-fi security urls,
-- special section: Middle East Nuclear Peace


===================================================
electromagnetic observations -- #22
===================================================

* talks with Iran over nuclear programs appears to be bottle-
necked around attempts at compromises, at least from newspaper
reports/accounts. another thread of news this week is that there
is a special-interest group, composed of Iraq-war proponentry,
who enter into the equation with an anti-diplomatic agenda...

of the question of incentives for making changes and compromises
one aspect is for the .US to help build 18 nuclear plants in .IR
and why this is simply off the table is unknown if it would mean
that the fuel cycle could be controlled maybe through agreements,
and closer cooperation, peace and stability, and security in ways
that otherwise would not be achieved. then again, it need not be
limited just to .IR and .US interactions and it is not, but may
be the sticking point to any significant transformation of how
things are being engaged. someone has to be able to say, that if
nuclear diplomacy is ever going to have a chance, then rhetoric
(if either .IR as axis of evil or .US as the great satan) has to
be changed too. nothing like ruining that possibility by chants
of 'death to america' and 'death to americans' as a main inter-
face, as it is not only an adminstration and its policies but
innocent children who are being threatened and nobody ever says
enough's enough and that the conversations need to get more real
for the compromises to be possible. how can compromises be had
if that is where the base interactions are, evil and satanism?
the speical interest groups who thrive on this form of power
lose their negative coercive influence with the more civilized
approaches of finding common languages, goals, and outcomes.
or so it is believed. and if 'concessions' are needed, one of
the biggest would be a change in the way of relating so as to
make it easier to compromise and not use nuclear policies for
domestic political advantages when so much is riding on peace.
(and the possibility of this seems to be waning in Washington).

the question of Iran's development and the realities of its
desires to control its state planning within global community
is central to so many things in so many other nations, and the
way it is handled in the region, in the greater Middle-East is
potentially a model for peaceful transformations on a local and
global scale. for instance, while nuclear power may be key to
ongoing issues- why not make agreements about critical areas
that cultural exchanges could truly benefit all parties such
as with billions in aid and collaborative projects and tech-
transfers within, say, advancements in earthquake security
and new earthquake building techniques (ref. Bam rebuilding)
and monitoring technologies. the economic savings by cross-
pollinating knowledge could save millions of people and new
interactions, including gaining from Iranian's knowledge in
these same areas, could improve and help refine the existing
models and expand their use and create industries, trade, etc.
this could be a billion dollar package alone that is based in
new (em-based) science and technology yet meets in a shared
cultural exchange based on peaceful development & security.

others could be had in establishing or advancing the semi-
conductor industry in the Middle-East and helping develop
pilot projects to build up new economic infrastructures in
areas that may not have other industries to sustain them.
tourism, cultural exchange, information technology, digital
literacy and digital divide issues, and especially in the
field of renewable energy and hybrid technologies-- what if
it is in the world's best interest for 'concessions' to
include energy savings tech-transfer and trade deals so
that hybrid cars are a top priority in the Middle-East?
use less oil = need less war? hybrids, symbol for peace?

beside airplane parts, what about new EM infrastructure
parts that could help transform and stabilize the region
so that Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Palestine,
Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and
others could set into motion a long-, medium-, and short-
range plan, a set of goals, incentives, and priorities
in which countries could work together towards building
infrastructures for peace and also transformation from
the ills of industrial development to bypass the faults
experienced absorbed by others, and go further towards
a lasting structural stability while also able to adapt
as a region. I just went to a (museum-like) space in a
downtown office building in which there were 100 pieces
of artwork in a private office of a collector. one was
of an array of housing in Jordan (which looks also like
those in Palestine I've seen in a book) and it was a
stunning image. there are many many houses rising upon
a changing topography of landscape, almost a mountain
of buildings of high density and challenging economics,
and yet on these very same rooftops are arrays of solar
panels - pragmatic utility that goes further beyond any
thing other developed places may have (like the .US)
and in terms of choice versus necessity, it is so much
more hopeful that people are using these technologies-
so why not make this the cornerstone of advancements if
advancements in these realms could help change some of
the economics of using solar power, etc., by leveraging
the best resources available to work towards significant
changes in these areas, in the Middle-east as a region
and Iran in particular as a beginning for cooperations.

(this is written with some obvious shortcomings in that
it is based on hope and not on any expertise, and yet
such 'concessions' may not really be losing much- and
these bideas are meant with optimism, out of respect,
and yet may be mistaken in basic ways and yet hope has
to win if peace is ever going to be the common agenda.)


* nuclear diplomacy status: talks between North and South
Korea apparently did not go anywhere. issues with Iran and
the EU are being extended in search of diplomatic options.


===================================================
--urls--
===================================================

// found out they have SimCity for PDAs. that was the one electronic
// game i enjoyed playing and still learn from it, years afterward...
// interesting if new game focuses on 'cultural' questioning, as its
// dynamic model could test ideas by trial and error interactions...

[interview] Wright Hopes to Spore Another Hit // SimCity -> SimCosmos
http://www.wired.com/news/e3/0,2879,67581,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

	'Starting with single-cell organisms, players work on designing life  
with ever more complexity. As the game progresses, players must figure  
out how to take creatures from individual animals to small tribes and  
then to cities, whole planets, solar systems and galaxies.'

	'Wired News: What do you want players to get out of Spore?

	Will Wright: One of my goals for this whole thing has been to give  
somebody an awe-inspiring global view of reality, almost like a  
drug-induced epiphany with a computer...'

// testament to the truth about architecture too often lost,
// offering rare illumination of where past and future meet in
// a strangely recognizable eternal moment. this is philosophy.
// and relates to the realm of infrastructure as cultural form-
// ation, reincarnated in the 'new' orders of electromagnetism...

The Empire Strikes Back -- by Herbert Muschamp // *** (reg.req)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/travel/tmagazine/15T-VENICE.html

	'An empire must do more than acquire and maintain foreign territories.  
It must colonize minds as well. It fell to the architects and artists  
of Venice to perform this psychological task. As Garry Wills has  
written, the Venetian empire was more than a political and economic  
system. It was a state religion. The function of the city was to  
translate the religion into a visual and spatial code. Geography was  
key. The code had to represent the religion's global mastery of time  
and space.'

VOIPSA Alliance to Secure Phone Calls on Internet ** (cryptome)
http://www.intelligenceonline.com/NETWORKS/FILES/497/ 
497.asp?rub=networks

Real-time Forecast of Earthquake Hazard // in CA.US (drudge)
http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/step/

  Call for radical rethink of games --  Video games have to change if  
they are to become mainstream, a leading figure in the gaming industry  
has warned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4561771.stm

// maps of .US states and effects of nuclear blasts. find your state
// to see effects of a radioactive nuclear blast on multi-county  
areas...

Nuclear Attack Planning Base - 1990 // ****
Federal Emergency Management Agency, April 1987 (cryptome)
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/napb-90/index.html

	'The Nuclear Attack Planning Base 1990 was an official estimate of the  
potential physical effects of a Soviet nuclear attack on the population  
of the United States, including detailed county-by-county assessments  
of damage due to blast overpressure, fire and radiation.' .. 'A copy of  
the approximately 800 page publication, originally marked Limited  
Distribution and Not for Public Release, was released in April 2005  
with the following caveat: "This publication was provided by the  
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security,  
for its academic and historical value only."

iPod lights the way for IT // ** future of handhelds... (macsurfer)
General purpose computing is starting to get a bad name in IT circles  
as complexity gives way to dreams of Blackberrys and iPods
http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020505,39199137,00.htm

Robosapien V3 // example of very funny gizmodo commentary...
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/index.php#robosapien-v3-104281

[and] Shooter Buddy Drink Ager // EM drink prep...
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/household/index.php#shooter- 
buddy-drink-ager-104405

[and] creepy Cat robot video // via engadget
http://www.necoro.com/theater/broad/vp.mov

cryptography guru // Schneier & Counterpane. mpls! (via wired)
FOUNDER OF INTERNET SECURITY FIRM INSPIRES REACTION: `WE TRUST BRUCE'
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/living/people/ 
11209523.htm

[and] Americans are pants at password security // (via palmaddicts)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/06/verisign_password_survey/

	'Americans are just as blasé about password security as the Brits,  
according to a new survey. Two out three three people (180 of 272)  
approached in a downtown San Francisco street by researchers were happy  
to provide their password in exchange for a coffee gift card. Of those  
respondents that declined offering their actual password, 51 provided a  
clue about their password in exchange for a $3 Starbucks gift voucher.'

Clean Cities: April 2005 Fact Sheet  // .pdf via Power Line newsletter
2004/2005 Federal Tax Deducation: Hybrid Electric Vehicles
http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/hev/pdfs/37651.pdf

[and]  2005 Toyota Prius // CNET car-tech review
http://reviews.cnet.com/2005_Toyota_Prius/4505-10867_7- 
31352228.html?tag=nl.e729

X-rays illuminate ancient writings
Hidden Archimedes text comes to light in a physics lab.
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050516/full/050516-8.html

	'Iron pigment in the original ink fluoresced when hit by the X-rays,  
allowing researchers to see the text for the first time.'


'Buy American' legislation draws fire -- Adding fuel to the debate over  
U.S.-international trade, a tech industry group is blasting "Buy  
American" legislation passed by the House of Representatives this week.
http://news.com.com/Buy+American+legislation+draws+fire/2100-1022_3- 
5715486.html

	'The legislation was authored by Rep. Don Manzullo, an Illinois  
Republican, and passed by the House on Wednesday. It would require more  
than 50 percent of the components in any end product procured by the  
department to be mined, produced or manufactured inside the United  
States.'
	"With this purchasing prohibition, I guess (the department) will have  
to learn to do without computers and cell phones," ITAA President  
Harris Miller said in a statement. "I cannot think of a single U.S.  
manufacturer that could meet this 50 percent threshold for these  
devices, and I doubt that those charged with protecting our safety here  
at home can either."
		
[quote] IBM, colleges: More top students needed
http://www.herald-sun.com/business/21-608287.html

	' "The slope shows an unbelievable decline in computer science  
majors," Astrachan said. "There are smart people no longer even signing  
up to take our introductory courses. We need to fix it, or there's not  
going to be a U.S. work force in computer sciences."'

Laser warning protects US capital // red light, green light...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4568573.stm

	'The new visual warning system, or VWS, will shine a combination of  
different-coloured, low-level laser beams into the cockpit as a sign  
that the plane needs to change course.'

// google soft. is google actually a giant supercomputer of a sort?

Ten Things I Didn't Know About Google // (translations, map software)
http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/000681.html

- - -
					
[non-EM] Mia Doi Todd  My Room Is White // musicvideopoem
http://www.miadoitodd.com/video.html


------- public wi-fi security urls -------

// commerical example of need for public PDA wi-fi security...

HotSpotVPN - Public Space Wireless Security (Why do I need a VPN?)
http://hotspotvpn.com/

HOWTO bypass Internet Censorship -- A tutorial on how to bypass  
Internet Censorship using Proxies, Shells, JAP e.t.c. Different ways to  
beat the filtering in schools, countries or companies (blocked ports  
e.t.c).
http://www.zensur.freerk.com/

// the following could add an additional layer of secu

CGIProxy 2.0.1 -- HTTP/FTP Proxy in a CGI Script // free
http://jmarshall.com/tools/cgiproxy/

Proxify - anonymous proxy protects your online privacy. // free
http://proxify.com/

the Cloak - free anonymous web surfing // free
http://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.html


-------------------------------------------------
special section: Middle East Nuclear Peace...
-------------------------------------------------

// if such a group exists in the vast bureaucracy, it would seem a
// possibility that other groups may also exist to counterbalance it
// with diplomatic, peace, trade, redevelopment, industrial agendas...
// and in terms of 'terrorism' in Iraq it would seem to be bringing
// closer together .IR and .US positions by becoming a shared enemy.
// what happens when the information infrastructure creates dynamics
// that liberate ideas beyond the confines of past interpretations,
// and citizens can speak to the injustices declared in their name.
// with the microchip and the wireless internet comes new freedoms,
// and a responsibility to represent the public as it is evolving.
// the voices who speak of these issues speak from another context,
// maybe great knowledge yet also limited in seeking a new relation
// based in peace and prosperity, good will, and cultural exchange.
// 'terrorism' as an idea is a plague that separates the worlds of
// people and ideas, it exploits information by fear and insecurity
// and divides the world in order to seek to control its outcomes.
// people should be allowed to visit and enjoy eachothers realities,
// even if vastly different - if it respects different experiences.
// instead, the world has been split apart by religion and political
// ideologies, intolerance, and it is futile in terms of the future
// and of bulding knowledge, it is the destruction of shared reality,
// cultures, and the basis needed for peace. information technology,
// literacy, economic relations could reconfigure the regions and
// bring a new sense of connection - between the world and itself.
// the 'terrorism' in Iraq is exacerbating changes in Iraq in that
// it is pinning the .US down so that forces cannot leave - because
// of the insurgency: in this case the insurgents are the occupiers.
// and the hopes, dreams, freedoms of change are locked into deadly
// proprietary exchanges of governments, bureaucracies, and hidden
// secret agendas to exploit these for private ideological gains.
// public diplomacy and figuring things out in mutually beneficial
// ways could be a decades-long regional commitment to cultivating
// peaceful change in the middle-east built upon secure foundations.

[quote]  Iran Policy Committee // *
http://cryptome.org/iran-attack.htm

	'It is vacuum  packed thinking like this [written by those in the Iran  
Policy Committee] that prompted the following Amazon  Books  review of  
McInerney and Vallely’s book Endgame: Blueprint for Victory in the War  
on Terror. Robert Steele of the noted Open Source Solutions (oss.net)  
had this to say.  “I finally figured it out. This is a puff piece of,  
by, and for FOX Cable News viewers. There are no footnotes in this  
book. It is a rambling opinion piece. Let us not confuse rank with  
brains, or opinions with thought. This is a double-spaced book that  
could probably be distilled to 30 pages of core reading, all summed up  
as "we're always right, no matter the cost." This book also adopts the  
Richard Perle neoconservative game plan of using terrorism  as a  
pretext to invade Syria and Iran.  The authors -- who  demonstrate how  
far one could get in the Cold War military without reading or thinking,  
call this a military assessment. It is not … It avoids discussing Saudi  
Arabia, Indonesia, Central Asia, Muslim Africa, and  Muslim Pacifica.  
This is not analysis, this is flim-flam … This book is a blueprint for  
a nuclear winter in which America self-immolates.”'

[related] US supports Iran’s pro-democracy movement // ***
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ad0fa1c2-c8a9-11d9-87c9-00000e2511c8.html

	' While there was no major shift in his exposition and the rhetoric  
remained tough, analysts noted that the Bush administration was not  
closing the door entirely on the possibility of an improvement in  
relations with Tehran, provided the regime acted first.'
	'"It is our hope that US relations with Iran will change for the  
better. But that cannot happen without a change in Iran's policies that  
I have discussed," Mr Burns said.'v
	'Pressed repeatedly by senators about the US reluctance to engage  
Iran, Mr Burns had to admit to ignorance of the internal situation  
because of the lack of a US diplomatic presence there...' ...
	'Mr Burns reiterated that the US had no intention of joining the  
nuclear talks, and said there was no evidence that economic persuasion  
would induce Iran's ruling clerics to give up their suspected nuclear  
weapons programme.'

[and] Iran Seeks Incentives From Europe in Impasse // **
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/international/middleeast/19iran.html?

	'In exchange for allowing international inspectors to monitor every  
stage of the process, Iran expects a major package of incentives  
involving its security, political stability and economic development,  
Mr. Mousavian noted.
	'Iranian officials, scientists and scholars interviewed over the past  
few days all insisted that Iran would never give up its right as a  
signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich fuel for  
peaceful means. Iran needs to enrich fuel to ensure a steady supply of  
electricity, develop related medical technologies and advance  
technologically, they said.' ...
	'Asked for a specific example of the kind of incentive Iran now seeks,  
Mr. Mousavian said, "Europe can agree in principle to a contract for 10  
nuclear power plants for Iran."'

[and] France Calls Iran Nuclear Talks 'Fragile'
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-france-iran- 
nuclear,1,1920497.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

// unnamed diplomatic source was also used for 'yellowcake' pretext...

[and]  Iran Said to Be Smuggling Nuclear Matter
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ 
nuclear_iran_4

	'Jafarzadeh, whose organization was banned in the United States for  
alleged terrorist activity and who now runs the Washington-based  
Strategic Policy Consulting think tank, said Iran was additionally  
smuggling and trying to manufacture a graphite-based substance called  
ceramic matrix composite. The highly heat resistance compound is also  
used in missile technology.'


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