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Page Two is a blog, but the headings have possibilities. Below is a list of older headings from the current year. Since I sometimes update earlier entries, the list includes the date of the most recent post. The most recent heading is always first, both in the blog and the list below.
List of Headings
- Bomb Test Follow-up - May 19, 2011
- REPOST: Brain in a Vat - May 18, 2011
- The Bloody Healthcare Battle in the U.K. - Updated May 18, 2011
- Help U.S. Spring Flood Victims - May 14, 2011
- IT WAS A BOMB! - May 12, 2011
- What Is Calculus? - Updated Jun. 12, 2011
- U.K. Cons Plan Backdoor Healthcare Privatization - May 7, 2011
- The Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid - May 6, 2011
- Maybe D.C. Should Be Capital of North Carolina - May 5, 2011
- The Death of Osama bin Laden - May 4, 2011
- It's All Like Facebook & Apps & Shit - May 1, 2011
- UK Uncut Smeared, Arrested by Corrupt Police - Updated May 7, 2011
- Help Tornado & Wildfire Victims in Southern U.S. - Updated May 1, 2011
- Major Victory for UK Uncut - Mar. 31, 2011
- Music Industry Claims LimeWire Owes Them $1 Zillion - Updated Mar. 31, 2011
- Obama Was Right! - Mar. 26, 2011
- Global Uncut Protests March 26th - Updated Mar. 30, 2011
- Sea Turtles Dying from Eating Plastic - Mar. 24, 2011
- Help Japan - Updated Apr. 30, 2012
- Stop Tax Cuts for Super-rich, Stop Cuts to Services - Mar. 12, 2011
- Revolution in Libya - Updated Feb. 27, 2011
- Govs. Want Wis. and Ohio to Be Slave States - Updated Feb. 25, 2011
- Boehner Should Shutdown the Government - Feb. 17, 2011
- Solidarity with Opposition in Iran - Updated Feb. 16, 2011
- Peaceful Revolutions in Arab World - Updated Feb. 16, 2011
- Glenn Beck a Bigot, an Unthinking Buffoon - Jan. 22, 2011
- The Super-rich - Updated Feb. 15, 2011
- FBI's Most Wanted: Pothead Military Recruits - Jan. 17, 2011
- Republicans Target Constitution - Jan. 16, 2011
- A Better Future - Updated Jan. 14, 2011
- Pentagon Prosposes Healthcare Cuts - Updated Jan. 18, 2011
- Arizona Shooting - Jan. 12, 2011
- Study: ESP Gets an "F" - Jan. 10, 2011
- Alternative Hosts for USS Enterprise Videos - Jan. 9, 2011
- Videos From the USS Enterprise - Jan. 9, 2011
- Luxury, NewsKing Style - Jan. 2, 2011
- Happy New Year - Jan. 1, 2011
Archives
- 2010 (Front Page)
- 2010 (Page Two)
- 2009 (Front Page)
- 2009 (Page Two)
- 2008 (Front Page)
- 2008 (Page Two)
- 2007
Page Two Blog

Bomb Test Follow-up - May 19, 2011

On May 12th, I reported on a suspected illegal bomb test in the Virginia Beach, Virginia area. The illegal test was conducted without notifying the public, and frightened the residents, further fraying the nerves of an already nervous population, who have been subjected to illegal, low-flying fighter jet flights in the middle of the night.

There is actually a military installation in Virginia Beach with a bomb test range, located near the Oceana Naval Air Station mentioned in my earlier post. It is located at Fort Story, on the north side of Virginia Beach. The sources I spoke with seemed convinced that the bomb test was conducted at Fort Story.

After consulting an online map with markers of "reports" made by the public during the incident, it indeed appeared that the reports extended from Fort Story, straddling the Oceana Naval Air Station and extending from "the oceanfront to Chesapeake," with a few outlying reports, as the media confirmed with me earlier.

This is a map marking "reports" of a suspected bomb test in Virginia Beach, VA.
There were also about 10 "reports" from outlying areas (not shown).
The gray areas are military installations. The green areas are parks.

The Oceana base is known for breaking the law with low-flying fighter jets in the middle of the night, as well as harassing the public and other behavior problems. I have not heard any stories like that from Fort Story, but it wouldn't surprise me. I did hear from someone that Fort Story does not have the number of personnel stationed there that it used to, and that "they have nothing better to do out there." I also was informed that some service members are in the final phases of their annual training before "graduation."

In the back of my head, I still can't be 100% sure it wasn't Oceana. They're awful, and that place is huge, with lots of wilderness areas along the coast. In any case, there have been ongoing problems with bases throughout the metro area, and reports of problems have increased since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why anyone would feel compelled to share this information with me is beyond my understanding, but I appreciate it. It seems important that I continue to speak out against cuts to healthcare for the military, against the "stop-loss / multiple-deployment" program, and other issues affecting service members. And I will!

However, the military and its service members are not above the law. They cannot hold the residents of Virginia Beach in fear and cover this up. The city is not a playground for them. This will not be tolerated anymore, from Oceana Naval Air Station, Fort Story, or anywhere else!


See Also:
- IT WAS A BOMB!


REPOST: Brain in a Vat - May 18, 2011

This is a repost from 2008 of a centuries-old discussion, which I welcome. There's a whole other dimension of this discussion behind the link to "Phineas Gage," which I probably should have brought out into the open. It's worth a shot...

- REPOST: A Brain in a Vat - Dec. 11, 2008


The Bloody Healthcare Battle in the U.K. - May 16, 2011

[UPDATED: May 18, 2011]

The "Health and Social Care Bill" is set to open up the British Healthcare Service to the private sector. But little is being said about the profits to be made by compromising on the quality and longevity of services provided. Private companies, who have profits not patient interests in mind, could provide cheaper care but can compromise on the quality and longevity of services provided.

For example, the highly privatized healthcare system in the U.S. spends 25% of its budget on administration costs, but this figure is only 18% in the U.K. And that's only after the introduction of private healthcare markets in Britain in the 1980's, when administrative costs were only 5%. With privatization, all that money will be funneled into the pockets of rich healthcare CEO's.

On top of this, "private hospitals" in the U.K. may end up adopting the U.S. "MediStop Clinic / Limited Service Hospital" model (there's a lot of gray area as to what to call these things), specializing in specific areas that are cheap and easy to provide. This leaves "public hospitals" to provide more expensive comprehensive services that have less "return." Part of the British conservatives' backdoor privatization plan includes forcing many public hospitals to fail by cutting their budget, opening the door to further privatization and poorer quality, more expensive care, intended to benefit wealthy healthcare CEO's, not patients.

Private healthcare companies, led by H5 (a pressure group of the five biggest private healthcare providers in the U.K.), have paid off corrupt conservative British politicians. Corruption Advisor Mark Britnell - senior health expert to Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron, global head of health at the KPMG corporation, and ex-British Healthcare Service director - stated that "the [British Healthcare Service] will be shown no mercy, and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next couple of years."

If you care about the future of healthcare in the U.K., then now is the time to act!

The British Healthcare Service was created under the worst public debt in the U.K.'s history. This may show that times of economic instability need increased investment in public services, not the austerity measures and public sector cuts the conservative government in Britain is trying to implement.

In recent months, student groups and movements like UK Uncut have grabbed the headlines and our imaginations with a wave of occupations, demonstrations and creative protests. These protests have spread to the healthcare sector. England recently saw the largest gathering of health workers in over a decade march to save their hospitals. Groups such as NHS Direct Action have used creative and direct actions to stage auctions, "die-ins," and impromptu occupations to highlight the involvement of the greedy private sector and corrupted think tanks in writing this failing government paper.

On Saturday, May 28th, join UK Uncut's Emergency Operation and transform your local bank into a hospital. Tell the British government to leave the British Healthcare Service alone; it's the banks that are sick. The banks are paying lavish bonuses and raking in billions in profits off the back of taxpayer subsidies, yet the conservative British government says "there is no alternative" to unprecedented public sector cuts. That includes the cuts to the British Healthcare Service that Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron promised would never happen...

A protest in England against healthcare cuts and privatization

Related:
- http://www.nhsdirectaction.co.uk
- http://ukuncut.org.uk
- http://falseeconomy.org.uk
- http://www.nhsdirectaction.co.uk/information
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-the-nhs-and-the-private-sector
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/emergency-operation-may-28th
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/uk-uncut-transform-banks-save-nhs
- http://www.calhospital.org/public/limited-service-hospitals
- http://www.ohanet.org/Issue/Limited_Service_Hospitals

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
-
http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-the-nhs-and-the-private-sector


Help U.S. Spring Flood Victims - May 14, 2011

Presently, parts of the U.S. near the Mississippi River are facing severe flooding as a result of record rises in the water level of the river and its tributaries. While some areas have the protection of levees and other safeguards, many communities face devastation, including homelessness and a lack of food, water, electricity, and medicine.

Communities near the Mississippi River need your help!

Please help now by donating to the Red Cross. Here are some ways to donate:
- Use this link: https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=613716415&df...
- You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 on your mobile phone to donate $10 to relief efforts.
- Or, call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) to give money or schedule a blood donation.

A number of other charities have been brought to my attention either by email or through promotion.

The United Way of the Mid-South is taking donations online or by postal mail to help the Memphis, Tennessee area:
- Use this link: http://news.uwmidsouth.org/donations-for-flood-relief-2011

ABC News has put together a list of other ways to donate to help the Memphis area as well as other areas affected by the floods:
- http://abcnews.go.com/US/memphis-flooding-flood-victims/story?id=13561141

Many of these sites continue to take donations for Japan, as well as tornado and wildfire victims in the southern U.S. As you make your donation to help communities near the Mississippi River, consider helping Japan and the southern U.S. as well. Click HERE to see my earlier post about helping Japan, and HERE to see my earlier post about helping the southern U.S.


IT WAS A BOMB! - May 12, 2011

You're sitting down for dinner, watching the evening news, and all of a sudden you hear a loud BOOM that shakes your house. It's unlike anything you've ever experienced. You call the police, and they don't know what happened. You call the press, and they don't know, either.

That was the situation the night of May 10th in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

On the 11th, the media speculated that it might have been an earthquake, a meteor shower, or a sonic boom from a jet. But none of those explanations make any sense. According to the U.S. government, there were no earthquakes, no meteor showers, and no supersonic planes.

Virginia Beach has a large "Naval Air Station" called "Oceana" in the middle of the city. The base is so large, it shows up on maps as a city itself. It's HUGE!

Recently, a few nearby bases conducted bomb tests that sounded and felt exactly like what happened in Virginia Beach. But those tests were reported to the public before they were conducted. No such reports were filed in Virginia Beach.

The BOOM was heard or felt in the area surrounding the base. I confirmed it with the media. I also called the base and called the Pentagon. They both denied the bomb test.

Some people think that the military should be entitled to conduct bomb tests like this in secret, to defend America. But it's against the law. And other bases notify the public before conducting similar bomb tests. The Oceana base has a reputation for breaking the law and harassing the residents of Virginia Beach and nearby areas. They frequently fly fighter jets at low altitudes in the middle of the night that wake residents and disturb the peace (also against the law). When pressed by people like me, they apologize and promise not to do it again. Then they do it again. This is just another incident of bullying the public carried out by the base.

The whole city is afraid to talk about it. They live in fear of the military. Complainers get low flying jets over their house. Service members treat the city like a playground for debauchery. Rapes, fights, Russian brides, whatever. If they get caught by the police, they call the base and get released into military custody, and nothing happens. The bomb test is the icing on the cake for these assholes.

The press only report super-hot rapes that the base can't get the service members out of. After I contacted the press, the hype surrounding the story was suppressed, and they went back to earthquakes and meteor showers.

After arguing with the Pentagon and Oceana for nearly an hour, and contacting the press, I expect some action. The government abruptly disconnected me from the Pentagon twice. It took three tries to make my point. This is not over by a long shot.

The military and its service members are not above the law. They cannot hold the residents of Virginia Beach in fear and cover this up. The city is not a playground for them. This will not be tolerated anymore.



What Is Calculus? - May 10, 2011

[UPDATED: Jun. 12, 2011]

A lot of people who are into physics and neoNewton.com and all of that stuff have asked me to explain calculus in a way that everyone can understand. So, let's start with a word problem and go from there...

I remembered this problem from an introductory class because solving this problem was sort of the moment calculus "clicked" for me. A lot of teachers teaching introductory Calculus courses use this problem because of the way it is related to algebra and geometry.

Here's the problem: You have a roll of wire fence 15 meters long, and you own a piece of land that borders a stream. You want to build a pen for your dog along the stream, and you want to make the pen as roomy as possible for the dog. The pen has to be a rectangle or a square. Since your dog only likes to drink the water from the stream, but doesn't like to swim, you don't need to put any fencing on the side of the pen bordered by the stream. You only need to fence in the other three sides.


You want to use this roll of fence to build a dog pen along the stream.
The goal is to make the dog pen as roomy as possible.
The pen has to be a rectangle or a square.


What lengths of fence should you use for the long and short sides to make the area as large as possible for your dog? If you don't know calculus, you could try to get the answer by multiplying out all of the possibilities for 15 meters of fence. Remember, the area of a rectangle is length times width. So all you have to do is multiply X and Y together (from the image above) to get the area of the rectangle in square meters. Let's try all of the possibilities for X and Y to see which combination gives us the maximum area...

1x13=13
2x11=22
3x9=27
4x7=28
5x5=25

It looks like 4x7 gives us the largest area - 28 square meters. So, the answer would be to make the two short sides 4 meters long and the long side 7 meters long (4+4+7=15). But what about fractions of meters? What about 3.75x7.5? That's 28.125 square meters, which is larger than than the 28 square meters we got with 4x7. What if you were building a fuel tank for NASA and needed to have the exact right answer?

You'd need calculus.

A lot of calculus problems are concerned with maximizing something (like the area of a pen by a stream, or the volume of a fuel tank). But you can also use calculus to minimize something. For example, you might be trying to build a pen using as little fence as possible while still achieving a certain size area.

Of course, calculus isn't always about maximum and minimum, but it always explores changes in variables like the area of a pen or, say, the decay of a satellite's orbit.

But how do you figure out where an imperiled satellite goes? For that matter, how do you figure out how large to build your dog pen? Maybe someone who flies the Space Shuttle could make a guess about the satellite because they're used to how things move in orbit. Or maybe a landscaper could figure out about how large to build the dog pen because they're used to thinking about the size of spaces in a yard.

A lot of people perform calculus in their heads every day, but don't know they're doing calculus. A skater (skateboarder) might be thinking about the angle they want to approach a skateboard ramp to perform a particular trick. They might not be able to work it out with a calculator, but that "internal sense" of how to approach the skateboard ramp is their brain's "internal calculus."

"Internal calculus" works great for certain things. But for other things, we need mathematicians to figure it out for us. Imagine how upset you'd be if a satellite came crashing down from space and landed in your brand-new dog pen!

Hopefully you see where this goes...

(It goes to Mars!)

Speaking of Mars and satellites, it was Sir Isaac Newton who figured out how to describe planetary motion using calculus, and it's what makes things like the GPS (Global Positioning System) on your iPhone possible.

By the way, the answer to the fence problem is always the same. When you want to maximize the area, you always make the long side of the fence exactly half the length of the total amount of fencing you have in your roll. So, the answer to the problem is 7.5x3.75. If you were building a four-sided enclosure (with no stream), you'd just build a square to maximize the area.

Related:
- http://www.1728.com/calcprim.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics
- http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/Problems-with-consecutive-odd-even...
- http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~kouba/CalcOneDIRECTORY/maxminsoldirectory/...
- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110304193419AAyJrtJ
- http://www.math-prof.com/Alg2/Alg2_Ch_05.asp

Artwork:
- http://fencefactoryrentals.com/plastic-fence-and-netting-agriculture.asp
- http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures/gallery/dogs/alphabetically/english-shepherd...
- http://www.vacationhomesonhoodcanal.com/index.cfm/page/84846/parent/39865/...


U.K. Cons Plan Backdoor Healthcare Privatization - May 7, 2011

The conservatives that run Britain's government are facing massive resistance to their privatization plan for the healthcare system in England. So, they're trying to do it through the back door. They're planning to cut the healthcare budget in a way that will force parts of the existing healthcare system to fail. You heard it right. They want one of the world's best healthcare systems to fail so they can privatize it and use taxpayer money to fill the pockets of rich CEO's under their backdoor privatization scheme.

All of this comes amidst the conservatives' failing efforts to boost the British economy. By now, you've probably read that the British economy has stalled under conservative leadership. The reason it's stalled is that conservatives have built a false economy. But it's not too late for the alternative... It's not too late to implement a plan that makes the existing healthcare system better while keeping the public's money out of the pockets of rich CEO's.

Click the play button above to start the video.

Related:
- http://falseeconomy.org.uk
- http://torylies.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-squeeze.html
- http://thoughcowardsflinch.com/2011/04/30/the-black-report-the-nhs-monitor...

See Also:
- Major Victory for UK Uncut
- Global Uncut Protests March 26th
- Stop Tax Cuts for Super-rich, Stop Cuts to Services
- Like Baking a Cake in an Ice-Filled Oven
- UK Uncut Protests Barclays Bank on 19th
- A Better Future
- UK Uncut
- UCL Occupation

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://falseeconomy.org.uk


The Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid - May 6, 2011

So, back in the day (a few years ago) we were all ready-to-go with hydrogen powered vehicles. Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota all had vehicles ready to go into production. But then some smart guy - a Washington expert of some sort - asked, "Why waste energy to produce hydrogen when it would be more efficient to use that energy to recharge electric cars?" Mr. Smarty was right. Hydrogen was dead.

There's only one problem. Seriously. Only one problem. It takes EIGHT HOURS to refuel an electric car! (There are super-fast-charging batteries, but they have a more limited range than slower-charging batteries and you can't charge them quickly from a regular home electrical outlet.) All of Mr. Smarty's equations were right, except he forgot that one little detail. But there's a positive side to all of this. It's called the Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid!

You've no doubt heard of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt plug-ins. The Volt uses gas when you don't have time to plug in, and the Leaf has really big batteries. I'd be 100% behind Mr. Smarty's plan if long-range, super-fast-charging batteries that could be charged quickly from anywhere were right around the corner, but THEY'RE NOT!

The Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid fits perfectly into this awkward little situation. It takes advantage of cheap, efficient plug-in charging, but features the utility of long-range driving and fast refueling of its hydrogen fuel cells when one doesn't have time for an eight hour recharge or want to deal with frequent "super-charge" stops. It has a great range and fast refueling. And because it uses hydrogen, it's not dependent on foreign oil and doesn't pollute the environment. It's perfect!

In fact, Ford already has one! It's called the Ford Edge Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid. Of course, with cheap, fast, renewable hydrogen available, some people will want to take a pass on the whole plug-in thing. Using Mr. Smarty's equations, one would have to ask, "Why waste time on electric recharging?" (Even the fastest batteries take between five and ten minutes, and they have a shorter range and require a super-charge station to get the super-fast charge.) I'm all for encouraging plug-ins, but I'd like to see faster batteries with a decent range that can be charged quickly from home. With the hydrogen plug-in hybrid, the market can have its cake and eat it, too. As long as we get to a hydrogen economy. Quickly! There's no time to waste!

Don't get me started on gas prices... (Remember the 2008 Ford eXterminator and Lincoln Land Conqueror???)

The Ford Edge Hydrogen Plug-in Hybrid

Of Interest:
- Honda is rolling out a car that can charge a house!

Related:
- http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/4214707
- http://green.autoblog.com/2008/10/21/toshiba-wants-ev-battery-business-3m...
- http://world.honda.com/news/2011/c110420Solar-Hydrogen-Station/index.html

See Also:
- Dangerous Profits: Energy, Economics, Environment
- Oil Platform Explodes...
- The Petroleum Industry
- Don't Get Fucked by Big Oil
- Scott Brown's Truck
- Hydrogen Fueled Cars (updated May 6, 2011)
- 350
- The Copenhagen Accord
- Coal Mines or Windmills?
- The Oil Crisis

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/4214707


Maybe D.C. Should Be Capital of North Carolina - May 5, 2011

In July 2010, a school board meeting that got the most attention for protests, angry comments from the public and the arrests of 19 people provided a glimpse into the deep 5-4 division of the Wake County Board of Education and the determination of 5 school board members to push through their Tea Party-backed approach to running North Carolina's largest school district. The Wake County School Board had voted in March 2010 to switch from the socioeconomic diversification policy it had followed for a decade to a system that focused on neighborhood schools.

The situation unfolding here in some ways represents a first foray of tea party conservatives into the business of shaping a public school system, and it has made Wake County the center of a fierce debate over the principle first enshrined in the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education: that diversity and quality education go hand in hand.

The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.

Critics accuse the new board of pursuing an ideological agenda aimed at nothing less than sounding the official death knell of government-sponsored integration in one of the last places to promote it. Without a diversity policy in place, they say, the county will inevitably slip into the pattern that defines most districts across the country, where schools in well-off neighborhoods are decent and those in poor, usually minority neighborhoods struggle.

In January 2011, the Washington Post featured a story on the controversy, following which it and the Associated Press were provided a letter by United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in which he wrote that it was "troubling to see North Carolina's Wake County school board take steps to reverse a long-standing policy to promote racial diversity in its schools" and "urge[d] school boards across America to fully consider the consequences before taking such action." Maybe Washington, D.C. should just be the capital of North Carolina. The school board could certainly use some guidance from the U.S. Secretary of Education.

The situation was lampooned on The Colbert Report. And we all know what happens in North Carolina when a bunch of rich, white kids go to a school that doesn't have any diversity...

Click the play button above to start the video.

Related:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_County_Public_School_System#Diversification_controversy
- http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/8004257
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/wake-county-school-board-_n_808329.html
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/11/AR2011011107063.html

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/talladega-nights-the-ballad-of-ricky-bobby...


The Death of Osama bin Laden - May 4, 2011

Authorized by President Barack Obama, the death of Osama bin Laden was the result of gunshot wounds to the head and chest, caused during Operation Neptune Spear, a 40-minute raid by members of the United States special operations forces on his safe house in Bilal Town, Abbottābad, Pakistan. It took place on May 2, 2011, around 1am Pakistan Standard Time (May 1, 4pm U.S. EDT/1pm U.S. PDT). U.S. forces then took his body to Afghanistan for identification before burying it at sea.

Osama bin Laden was the founder of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.

The operation President Obama authorized was carried out by members of the United States Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia and informally referred to by their former name, SEAL Team Six, under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command, in conjunction with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives. The team was sent across the border of Afghanistan to launch the attack.

Watching the raid from the White House Situation Room
Click HERE to view larger image with detailed caption

The killing of bin Laden received a favorable reaction in the United States and was welcomed by Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations), NATO, the European Union, and a large number of countries as a positive and significant turning point for global security and the fight against terrorism. Around midnight U.S. EDT on May 2, just after Obama announced the success of the operation around 11:30pm on U.S. television, celebrations erupted in front of the White House in Washington, and at Ground Zero and Times Square in New York City. Celebrations currently continue throughout the U.S.

Midnight Celebration in Times Square, New York City, May 2, 2011

Related:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden
- http://topics.cnn.com/topics/osama_bin_laden

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2011/05/bin_laden_times_square_2.html
- http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/03/iconic.obama.photo/index.html...
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/may-1-2011


It's All Like Facebook & Apps & Shit - May 1, 2011

Back in August 2010, Wired magazine published an article entitled "The Web Is Dead." I didn't agree with parts of the article, but I didn't respond to it because the article made some good points that I really liked. Then last month, the television game show Cash Cab - Chicago asked a contestant about the Wired article in a question that described the article as "infamous." I couldn't believe it!

The article featured a graph that compared the percentage of total Internet traffic for things like the web, email, peer-to-peer (P2P), video, etc. The graph showed changes in percentage of traffic from 1990 to 2010 for each of these parts of the Internet. You can view the graph below. Notice the recent growth of video compared to the web and P2P.

Click HERE to view larger image

I think parts of the article would be stronger without the graph above. Since the percentage of total traffic for the web appears to be going down in the graph above, the article was entitled "The Web Is Dead." The author expanded on the title by predicting that mobile apps, Facebook, and other corporate software would soon replace the browser-web model of the Internet we know today. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, echoed that sentiment in a recent interview in which he predicted a demise of laptops and a rise of tablets and mobile devices with specialized software.

It's easy to get carried away with the graph. But is the web really dead?

When I first saw the graph, I knew right away that something was wrong with it. What about the growth of the Internet? Isn't 10% of total traffic in 2010 a lot more than 10% in 1990? I think the fastest dial-up modem in 1990 was 9600 bit/s. The fastest residential connection to the Internet today is more than 100 times faster. So, what if the graph were adjusted to show the growth of the Internet?

Click HERE to view larger image

The web doesn't look dead at all. It appears to be holding steady, but it would show up on the graph as continuing to grow if the curve for "Growth of the Internet" was steeper. I think the Internet has grown a lot more than what the adjusted graph shows. So it's not all Facebook and apps and shit!

Still, the article does have a good point about corporations trying to take over the Internet.

Which brings me to Facebook. Apparently Facebook closed some U.K. activists' accounts around the time of the Royal Wedding. Facebook cited some policy they have about the difference between a "page" and a "profile." Oooooh! Whoopity shit! Who cares about Facebook's little clickity-click rules? I double-clicked wrong? What the fuck? Facebook needs to get their act together. Now!

Long live the Internet!

Related:
- http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1
- http://blog.ucloccupation.com/2011/04/30/the-facebook-purge-corporate-power...
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/29/facebook-accused-removing...

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1

UK Uncut Smeared, Arrested by Corrupt Police - Apr. 30, 2011

[UPDATED: May 7, 2011]

By now, readers of this blog know who UK Uncut is. They're the direct action group in the U.K. that started the Global Uncut Movement. They protest wealthy corporations and individuals who dodge taxes through off-shore tax havens and other forms of tax avoidance. If the super-rich paid their taxes like the rest of us, services wouldn't have to be cut.

On March 26th, members of UK Uncut staged a protest in London at one of the world's most luxurious grocery stores. At the same time as their protest, a group of vandals spray-painted graffiti on the store's exterior. The vandals were not associated with UK Uncut, and did not participate in UK Uncut's peaceful protest. But London's Metropolitan Police arrested members of UK Uncut and charged them with aggravated trespassing and vandalism.

You might think that the police were just confused, and weren't paying attention to who was a member of UK Uncut and who wasn't. But the fact is that the Metropolitan Police knew UK Uncut did not vandalize the grocery store. The Metropolitan Police - or "Met" as they are known - engaged in what is being called "political policing," and attempted to smear UK Uncut's good name.

The Met quickly dropped the vandalism charges against UK Uncut's members, but over one hundred people were still arrested for aggravated trespassing. These charges were originally intended to apply to the vandals and not to UK Uncut members, and they are false. UK Uncut even has a video of the police telling the group that their actions do not meet the definition of aggravated trespassing. The video also shows, along with a second video, that the scene inside the grocery store does not meet the definition of aggravated trespassing.

In addition to proving that members of UK Uncut were smeared by the police and not guilty of the charges, the first of the two videos shows the police lying to the group. The police assured UK Uncut members that they would not be charged, then turned around and arrested them. The case for members of UK Uncut is made even stronger by the fact that the Met held members inside of the grocery store even after they wanted to leave. The group was not asked to leave the grocery store.

Click the play button above to start the video.

Click the play button above to start the video.

You may remember that the Met often engages in a process called "kettling" in which the police put up barriers around protestors so that they cannot leave a protest. The Met has also beat a protestor in a wheel chair, and beaten many protestors so badly that they sustained injuries and in some cases had to be hospitalized. Despite promises that these practices would stop, London's Metropolitan Police seem to have a political agenda against many protest groups, and are not above using violence, torture, false arrests, and other tactics to have their way with the public.

The way members of UK Uncut were treated after being arrested was equally cruel. Some members were held the maximum number of hours allowed by law before being released, for no apparent reason other than to be cruel to the protestors. Their belongings and clothes were taken from them, and they were treated as targets rather than peaceful protestors with a right to protest.

The protest tradition in the U.K. is important to the success of the country, and is protected by law. The agenda of the Metropolitan Police is not the law of the land. Smearing protestors, making false arrests, beating people with clubs, not allowing people to leave a protest, and intimidating the population are not what life in the United Kingdom is supposed to be about. The conservative U.K. government knows the police are behaving badly, but continues to look the other way. The Metropolitan Police have gone too far, and this cannot be allowed to continue!

The members of UK Uncut are clearly not guilty of the charges being made by the corrupt, abusive Metropolitan Police, and the charges should be dropped. The smear campaign against UK Uncut by the Metropolitan Police must also come to an immediate end. The British government needs to step in and put a stop to it. Failure to act will not only be bad for Britain, but for the entire world.

Related:
- http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/about/fortnum
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/press-release-uk-uncut-welcomes-support-against-political-policing
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/unions-and-campaign-groups-voice-support-for-uk-uncut
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/a-message-for-arrestees-at-fortnum-and-masons
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/guest-post-why-i-marched-why-i-occupied
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/blog-why-we-sat-in-fortnum--mason
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/setting-the-record-straight-occupying-for-the-alternative---cif...
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/independent-coverage-of-occupy-for-the-alternative
- http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/inside-fortnum-and-masons-an-eye-witness-account
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/28/cuts-protest-uk-uncut-fortnum?INTCMP=SRCH
- http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/27/watch-ukuncut-occupation-of-fortnum-mason-was-peaceful
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/mar/29/police-uk-uncut?INTCMP=SRCH
- http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/how_tos/cyw_59_protest_law.pdf
- http://www.lawiki.org/lawwiki/Aggravated_trespass

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/28/cuts-protest-uk-uncut-fortnum?INTCMP=SRCH
- http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/27/watch-ukuncut-occupation-of-fortnum-mason-was-peaceful


Help Tornado & Wildfire Victims in Southern U.S. - Apr. 30, 2011

[UPDATED: May 1, 2011]

Throughout the month of April, tornadoes, severe storms, and wildfires have occurred throughout the southern U.S. Parts of some states have been devastated, and many areas were destroyed completely. As the number of dead and injured continue to rise, people throughout the southern U.S. have been left homeless and without food, water, electricity, and medicine.

The South needs your help!

Please help now by donating to the Red Cross. Here are some ways to donate:
- Use this link: https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=2050145932&df...
- You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 on your mobile phone to donate $10 to relief efforts.
- Or, call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) to give money or schedule a blood donation.

A number of other charities have been brought to my attention either by email or through promotion.

The Salvation Army is taking donations through mobile texting and by calling:
- Text "GIVE" to 80888 to make a $10 donation.
- Or, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and designate "April 2011 Tornado Outbreak."

MSNBC has put together a list of other ways to donate, as well as ways to find loved ones:
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42799643/ns/us_news-life

Many of these sites continue to take donations for Japan. As you make your donation to help the southern U.S., consider helping Japan as well. Click HERE to see my earlier post about helping Japan.


Major Victory for UK Uncut - Mar. 31, 2011

The British government has launched a public inquiry, to be conducted by the Treasury select committee, into the issue of corporate tax avoidance.

What is more, the executives of some of the worst-offending British corporations - corporations like Barclays, Vodafone and Boots - will be called to answer questions before the committee about their "tax efficiency" practices. British clothing billionaire Sir Philip Green might even have to explain to his former employers why he felt that the millions in taxes he dodged would be better spent on his lifestyle rather than schools and hospitals for the people who buy his products.

The British government also mentioned several new anti tax-avoidance measures in last week's budget, and is even discussing a blanket anti-avoidance law, similar to one in Australia. So, this inquiry will ramp up the pressure to introduce such a bill sooner rather than later.

The empowering, inspiring, and creative direct actions UK Uncut has taken, along with the networks of friends and activists they've forged, and the debates they've lit about the genuine alternatives to these unnecessary cuts, have resulted in hard won political victories like this inquiry into corporate tax dodging. These victories will, slowly but surely, bring about real political change in the U.K., and throughout the world.

Cuts to Public Services Hurt Everyone: Save Our Libraries!

Related:
- http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/a-major-win-for-uk-uncut
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/28/mps-investigate-corporate...
- http://ukuncut.org.uk
- http://falseeconomy.org.uk


Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://ukuncut.org.uk


Music Industry Claims LimeWire Owes Them $1 Zillion - Mar. 28, 2011

[UPDATED: Mar. 31, 2011]

In 2008, I wrote that the music industry would probably ignore the changing music market and instead "just get high and start a new round of lawsuits..."

Well, the music industry apparently did just that. They're claiming LimeWire, maker of the file-sharing software with the same name, owes them a zillion dollars. A zillion must have seemed hilarious while they were getting high. It's still pretty hilarious!

The amounts they're claiming are actually for no more than $75 trillion. But there isn't $75 trillion in the entire world. It might as well be a zillion dollars.

Written out, $75 trillion looks like this: $75,000,000,000,000.00. To put $75 trillion in context, world GDP for 2011 is expected to be ~$65 trillion, the U.S. national debt is currently $14.25 trillion, and the total median income for all 114,825,428 U.S. households in 2010 is just $5.7 trillion. In other words, every single U.S. household would have to spend all of its income buying nothing but music for over 13 years in order to arrive at what the music industry has deemed a reasonable settlement.

One of the strongest arguments against the claim that LimeWire owes up to $75 trillion is that it violates the judicial precept of absurdity. In arguing that LimeWire should be eligible for damages on every individual download, the studios were effectively arguing that LimeWire owed them more money than the entire record industry has made since Edison invented the phonograph in 1877.

This decision is important because it both acknowledges a legitimate gap in copyright law while slapping down the recording industry's blatant stupidity. It's incredibly ironic that the music studios, who unquestionably have the most to gain from balanced copyright law that addresses digital media while maintaining fair use, instead paint themselves in motley.

Even if one agreed with their logic, no higher court would have allowed one of the other amounts they asked for, which amounted to 7% of total household income in the entire country, to stand against one company. Ridiculous moves like this leave us wondering how sincere the music industry is when it speaks of finding common ground.

The music industry accountant who decided LimeWire owed $1 zillion.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the music industry is working hard to erode common ground...

The "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator" is concerned that "illegal streaming of content" may not be covered by criminal law, saying "questions have arisen about whether streaming constitutes the distribution of copyrighted works." To resolve that ambiguity, she wants a new law to "clarify that infringement by streaming, or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony in appropriate circumstances."

Under federal law, wiretaps may only be conducted in investigations of serious crimes, a list that was expanded by the 2001 Patriot Act to include offenses such as material support of terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction. The Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator is proposing to add copyright and trademark infringement, arguing that move "would assist U.S. law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate those offenses."

Under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it's generally illegal to distribute hardware or software that can "circumvent" copy protection technology. The Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator is proposing that if Homeland Security seizes circumvention devices, it be permitted to "inform rightholders," "provide samples of such devices," and assist "them in bringing civil actions."

Hardly terrorism, but the Patriot Act has mainly been used for minor drug offenses anyway, not terrorism. They need to get rid of the Patriot Act. And the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator must not be allowed to succeed! It's unconstitutional!

I ran the video below - from the U.K. of all places - in 2007 to show the ridiculous efforts being made to link sharing music to terrorism. It has been flagged on YouTube for violent content!

Click the play button above to start the video.

I also made this (now infamous) drawing in 2002...


Fortunately for file sharers, a new report has found that filesharing has led directly to "reduced costs of bringing works to market and a growing role of independent labels." In other words, in the past decade, we have seen more music from independent outlets and at lower prices - something that consumers and music fans should all be happy about. The study, by University of Minnesota economist Joel Waldfogel, proves that filesharing (unauthorized or not) has led more artists to create more music, and - just as importantly - more different music.

Filesharing is not the reason that the recording industry has fallen on hard financial times. In fact, the recording industry's complaints that the sky is falling really only apply to the recording industry, and not musicians and the fans, who have seen increased music purchases, increased artist salaries, and the availability of more music than ever before. Two additonal new reports further debunk the recording industry's myth. First, the London School of Economics released a paper finding that while filesharing may explain some of the decline in sales of physical copies of recorded music, the decline "should be explained by a combination of factors such as changing patterns in music consumption, decreasing disposable household incomes for leisure products and increasing sales of digital content through online platforms."

The other recent study - this one by the Social Science Research Council - delves into international aspects of "piracy," especially in emerging markets, and finds unauthorized filesharing in some developing economies has actually created opportunities for media companies to come up with innovative business models that allow legal and widespread access to media goods. For example, in India, "where large domestic film and music industries dominate the national market, [large media companies] set prices to attract mass audiences, and in some cases compete directly with pirate distribution." The impact of this cannot be understated: in many of these emerging markets, the new business models are improving legal access to music and art that was previously unaffordable for many people.

U.S. copyright law is based on a compromise recognized in the Constitution that grants authors (or artists, or musicians) a limited monopoly designed to give those authors an incentive to make their creative works. As we've long known and as these studies make clear yet again, even in the face of filesharing, those incentives still exist.

Related:
- http://hothardware.com/News/Record-Labels-Claim-Limewire-Liable-For-75-Trillion-in-Damages
- http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20043421-281.html
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/03/another-new-study-shows-filesharing-doesn-t-deter
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/03/it-s-time-recording-industry-stop-blaming-piracy

See Also:
- LimeWire Pirate Edition Released
- Economics Still Missing from Copyright Law
- Copyright Law and Social Change

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://hothardware.com/News/Record-Labels-Claim-Limewire-Liable-For-75-Trillion-in-Damages
- FACT Video, U.K. Advertisement (aired sometime between 2001 and 2007)
- I drew the picture of the book-snitch in 2002.


Obama Was Right! - Mar. 26, 2011

Papa was standing at the window of our Texas home as I awoke. He was clinching his chest as he watched our four-door, heavy duty, longbed, 4x4 pickup get flipped around by the tornado like it was a toy. We thought nothing could defeat our truck. I burst into tears as I went over to comfort my husband.

Then the heavy rain began to rise up through the floorboards of our house. Papa grabbed his axe, and began chopping away at the floor to keep the water from lifting up the house. But it looked like our house was going to be lifted away no matter what. The tornado had already begun to lift the house off its foundation.

Then we saw the light. We were suddenly transported to some sort of room with grass growing on the floor. A figure emerged from the shadows and asked us if we were willing to admit that the storm was more powerful than our 4x4 truck. We stared into his black face, frightened by what any admission of defeat might mean for us. It was Barack Obama who stood before us.

No one spoke. We sat there in silence. Then we heard a loud "thud" followed by a strange whistle. I awoke in my bed to the sound of thunder. Had it all been a dream?

I reached for a box of Kleenex to blow my nose, and heard the same strange whistle that I heard before. Was the whistle just a booger?

The storm was really bad and I couldn't get back to sleep. The next day the weatherman advised everyone to stay off the roads, but we decided that our truck could handle anything. We felt like idiots for going out there as our truck slid into our garage, lifting it off of its foundation. Half of the garage was left resting in the grass, giving the appearance of a grass floor. Was this just a coincidence?

I decided right then and there that I should share this story. I think Obama was right! We shouldn't drive around in bad weather just because we own a pickup truck!

- Ms. Daisy Lou Belle, Houston, Texas

Ms. Daisy Lou Belle, Houston, Texas

Papa's 4x4 Truck

Music Video
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzi9kVA8jTE

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.allmusic.com/album/grand-r1463002/credits


Sea Turtles Dying from Eating Plastic - Mar. 24, 2011

This collection of hundreds of colored, jagged shards could be a work of abstract art. But the objects in the photograph below are the contents of the stomach of a sea turtle that lost its battle with plastic pollution.

All of these plastic shards were found in the stomach of a sea turtle.


Sea turtles often mistake plastic items for jellyfish or other food. Ingesting non-biodegradable ocean pollution can cause a digestive blockage and internal lacerations. The result can be debilitation, followed by death.

Humans currently produce 260 million tons of plastic a year. When those products are pulled into the sea's currents, the plastics do not biodegrade but are broken into smaller pieces which are consumed by marine life at the bottom of the food chain. An examination of gastrointestinal obstruction in a green turtle found off Florida discovered that, over the course of a month, the animal's feces had contained 74 foreign objects, including "four types of latex balloons, different types of hard plastic, a piece of carpet-like material and two 2-4mm tar balls."

The biggest rubbish "swill" is the North Pacific Gyre, known as the "great garbage patch," which is the size of Texas and contains an estimated 3.5 million items of detritus, ranging from toys to toothbrushes.

But sea turtles are threatened by more than just plastic garbage.

Ocean-borne longline fishing vessels targeting swordfish and tuna deploy thousands of baited hooks on lines that can extend for more than 60 miles. These hooks catch and kill not just swordfish and tuna but thousands of sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and sharks. Gillnet fisheries likewise entangle and drown many of these species, including loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles.

You can help sea turtles by letting the government know that you want sea turtles to be protected from fishing, and that you support initiatives that directly confront the source of plastic pollution, including redesigned packaging. You can also help by using reusable products, and by bringing your own reusable bags and food containers during visits to coastal areas, and avoiding plastic-bottled drinks.


A Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Related:
- http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-plastic-found-in-a-single...
- http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/leatherback_sea_turtle/index.html
- http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/loggerhead_sea_turtle/index.html

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-plastic-found-in-a-single...
- http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/loggerhead_sea_turtle/index.html


Help Japan - Mar. 17, 2011

[UPDATED: Apr. 30, 2011]

On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. The earthquake was followed by a massive tsunami that devastated the country. Powerful aftershocks made the situation even worse. Entire cities were destroyed, and the number of deaths, injuries, and missing are still climbing. Millions are without access to food, water, electricity, and medicine.

Japan needs your help!

Please help now by donating to the Red Cross. Here are some ways to donate:
- Use this link: https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052&idb=0
- You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 on your mobile phone to donate $10 to relief efforts.
- Or, call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) to give money or schedule a blood donation.

A number of other charities have been brought to my attention either by email or through promotion.

Doctors Without Borders is taking donations here:
- https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=240&hbc=1&__utma=121179421...

And USAid.gov maintains a list through InterAction.org of sites accepting donations to help Japan. You can view the list here, and click a listed site to donate:
- http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/interaction-members-support-japan-earthquake-response

Many of these sites continue to take donations for Haiti and the Gulf Oil Disaster. I apologize for doing such a poor job soliciting donations for global disasters in the past, but that's changing today!


Stop Tax Cuts for Super-rich, Stop Cuts to Services - Mar. 12, 2011

Rupert Murdoch has exploited his vast media empire to push war in Iraq, elect George W. Bush, spread resentment of muslims and immigrants, block global action on climate change, and undermine democracy by viciously smearing politicians who refuse his orders. Murdoch undermines democratic government across the world by threatening elected leaders with viciously biased media coverage unless they do his bidding. He has manipulated U.S., British and Australian democracy for years, but now he wants more complete control. In the U.S., most of the likely Republican presidential candidates are actually paid employees of Murdoch! When his Fox News Network was shunned by Barack Obama as a mere propaganda mouthpiece, it spawned the far right "tea party" and broadcast constant, often hate-filled attacks against Obama and his healthcare and peace agenda - resulting in gains for Republicans in the 2010 congressional elections.

For months in the U.S., Republicans have relentlessly promoted the Tea Party-driven message that the government spends too much, and that social welfare programs should be first on the chopping block.

In the news currently, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker "ginned up" a budget crisis, then introduced legislation that removes collective bargaining rights from public employees, and over time effectively destroys their unions. Similar measures have been introduced by Republican governors or legislatures in several other states.

This legislative attack on public employees follows more than a year of "preparing the ground" with a coordinated campaign from conservative organizations to convince the public that public employees are overpaid and that their pensions are "bankrupting" state governments - not the effects of the recession.

Republicans and corporate conservatives are engaged in a national campaign promoting the belief that there is a "deficit crisis." Their solutions involve gutting the things government does for "We, the People" ("We, the People" is in the first sentence of the U.S. Constitution). They want to cut things like consumer, health, safety, labor and financial, retirement and income protections, while keeping things the government does for corporations and the wealthy "off the table."

We see variations of the same formula over and over. Here's how it works:

How Conservatives Dismantle Government
1) Cut taxes for the rich and corporations (corporate stock is mostly owned by the top 1-2%); big deficits result.
2) Claim a deficit emergency and use their domination of corporate-owned media like Fox News to whip the public into a panic, creating the appearance of demand for corporate-approved "solutions." Manipulate the appearance of consensus.
3) With taxes and military "off the table," push through cuts in the things government does for the other 98% of "We, the People."

The conservative government in Britain is doing the same thing. In addition to tripling tuition fees for college, and planning healthcare cuts under a proposed privatized healthcare system, the British government is, in a remarkably unpublicized and buried fashion, "consulting" on withdrawing statutory protection from public libraries. 525 libraries (464 buildings and 61 mobiles) are currently under threat of being closed or already closed.

Libraries already closed or threatened with closure in Britain (525 total)

Public libraries exist in most places in the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. As more commercial and governmental services are being provided online (e-commerce and e-government), public libraries increasingly provide Internet access for users who otherwise would not be able to connect to these services. Part of the public library mission has become attempting to help bridge the digital divide. A study conducted in 2006 found that "72.5 percent of library branches report that they are the only provider of free public computer and Internet access in their communities." The American Library Association (ALA), addresses this role of libraries as part of "access to information" and "equity of access"; part of the profession's ethical commitment that "no one should be denied information because he or she cannot afford the cost of a book or periodical, have access to the internet or information in any of its various formats."

This is the local library I went to as a kid. I could ride my bicycle here.
The dark brown section extending from the front is a small theater.
There is also a "kids' theater" (not shown in photo).
The library's Gates Computer Lab is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This used to be the local library before I was born.
Built in the 1800's, it was originally a courthouse.
It still stands across the street from the current library.
It is now a local museum and genealogy center.

There is good news... The people of the U.K. and U.S., along with other countries where conservatives are trying to fill their own pockets by dismantling government, are not going to stand for it!

In the U.S., a comprehensive new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll suggests Republicans significantly overestimated the public's eagerness to tackle the federal deficit by cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As reflected in the growing "Main Street Movement," the poll, released yesterday, found sizable majorities of Americans prefer steps like eliminating oil company subsidies, enacting a surtax on the income of millionaires, and rolling back the Bush cuts. Only 23 percent think it's acceptable to, for example, make cuts to Medicare, while 81 percent favor instituting a millionaires' surtax.

WSJ/NBC News Poll (U.S., March 2011)

Issue

In Favor Against
Cuts to Medicaid 32% 67%
Cuts to Medicare 23% 76%
Surtax on millionaires 81% 17%
Eliminate tax credits for oil & gas industries 74% 22%
Phase out Bush tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or more 68% 29%

Related:
- http://www.avaaz.org (Newsletter)
- http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011020823/what-real-agenda-budget-cutters
- http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/03/polling-deficit-republicans
- http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_library

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com
- I provided the other library images.


Revolution in Libya - Feb. 25, 2011

[UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2011]

A revolution is underway in Libya. Protestors opposing Libyan President Moamer Kadhafi are asking him to step down. Unfortunately, thousands of protestors have been killed by the Libyan government, and Kadhafi has refused to step down. I think Kadhafi's time has come; he should step down.

90% of Libya is now under opposition control, including the eastern half of the country and Libya's second largest city. And two pilots who were instructed to fire on the protestors instead flew to Malta and defected. Other pilots who have refused to fire on protestors have been executed by the Libyan government.

The Libyan ambassadors to the U.N. and U.S. have come out against Kadhafi, and the U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved sanctions against Kadhafi and his government. An international response from the leaders of a number of nations, including the U.S., is underway.

Below is a video interview made by an opposition protestor in Libya, and a video of protestors celebrating in Benghazi.

Click the play button above to start the video.

Click the play button above to start the video.


Related:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Libyan_protests
- http://topics.cnn.com/topics/libya
- http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE71K23020110221
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/24/libya-international-response-gathers-pace
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EXALI60hg&feature=player_embedded
- http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/02/24/wedeman.benghazi.voices.cnn

See Also:
- Solidarity with Opposition in Iran
- Peaceful Revolutions in Arab World

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EXALI60hg&feature=player_embedded
- http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/02/24/wedeman.benghazi.voices.cnn
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/feb/24/libya-unrest-in-pictures#/?picture...


Govs. Want Wis. and Ohio to Be Slave States - Feb. 18, 2011

[UPDATED: Feb. 25, 2011]

The Tea Party governor of Wisconsin has created a fake budget crisis in the media. He's pushing a bill that barely contains any information about the state's budget and calling it a bill to stop a budget crisis. But the bill is mostly devoted to taking away workers' rights to band together and negotiate better working conditions (called "collective bargaining"). The bill also cuts salaries and benefits, as well as allowances for the disabled. As more of what is in the bill is revealed, it is making Americans more and more dissatisfied with it. One thing that's for sure is that the bill actually has little to do with the budget, and the crisis is fake. The governor wants to enslave the workers of Wisconsin.

I realize a fake budget crisis created to make Wisconsin a slave state sounds like strong language, but the situation calls for it. 14 state legislators have fled the state to prevent a vote and save workers' rights. The Wisconsin governor may need to flee the state, too, as he was recently "busted," admitting to firing state workers for political retaliation, illegal campaign funding, and planting illegal agents among the protestors with the intent of causing "trouble" for the protestors.

Workers have been protesting across the state of Wisconsin. They are now officially the largest protests in the United States since the Vietnam war. The same thing is happening in Ohio.

The Republican governor of Ohio and the state legislature are also trying to push through a bill that could take the right to collective bargaining away from workers in Ohio. Protests have broken out in Ohio, too. I've also heard that it's happening in Indiana as well, and spreading from the Midwest to the East Coast.

The conservative media, which helped create the Tea Party that put Wisconsin's governor in power along with the Republican governor of Ohio, is trying to portray the protests in a negative light. They are reporting violence that doesn't exist. Like the Wisconsin budget crisis, the reports are fake.

Let's stand behind the workers in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and other states and let them know we support them. This is not about the budgets, it's political. It's about destroying workers' rights and allowing corporations, who pump millions into the Republican party (and their Tea Party front group), to push workers around. This will not be tolerated!

Protestors in Madison, Wisconsin

Related:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/wisconsin-protests-scott-walker-police_n_824697.html
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/dnc-expands-mobilization-protests-ohio-indiana_n_...
- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/public-employee-union-protests-spread-from-...
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41644074/ns/us_news-life
- http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/15/2657714_wis-gop-poised-to-cut-worker-rights.html?...
- http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_0657a7e5-a7ca-59df-abf0...

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/15/2657714_wis-gop-poised-to-cut-worker-rights.html?...


Boehner Should Shutdown the Government - Feb. 17, 2011

The Speaker of the conservative-led House of Representatives has threatened a government shutdown if he doesn't get his way with the American government's budget. He wants to use this opportunity to cut public services and hand power to the super-rich bosses. He wants to destroy the American government and make Americans powerless against corporations. He wants to make America a Feudal society like they had during the Dark Ages.

Boehner is predicting that the Democrats will cave into his demands if the government shuts down. He thinks the blame game will work out for the Republicans. But Boehner is the one who will shut down the government, not the Democrats.

I think this could be a lot of fun, and that the Democrats could easily win.

If the Republicans shut it down, the Republicans are the only ones that can turn it back on. If they don't, President Obama will have no choice but to declare martial law. Since Obama is in favor of a public healthcare option, we could get one, all thanks to Boehner. We could get rid of the Republican House of Representatives and the Republican Supreme Court. We could also end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We'd need the soldiers to keep order.

Wouldn't it be funny if Obama said, "The first thing that will happen if Boehner shuts down the government is that I will declare martial law and get rid of Glenn Beck." Then he could do that pause-and-smile thing, and America could watch Boehner do his scream-and-cry thing. Obama would win. In fact, I think Democrats could be way better at this than Republicans if they were just willing to be a little more daring. It's just a blame game when the government shuts down.

For people who don't know, the American government periodically shuts down. The main bargaining chip is that Social Security checks stop going out. "Your Social Security check may be late, but it will be bigger!" I think nowadays it would also be appropriate to say, "Don't let John Boehner cause another 9/11!"


Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/john-boehner-cries-a-lot-does-this-make...


Solidarity with Opposition in Iran - Feb. 15, 2011


[UPDATED: Feb. 16, 2011]

This is a hard post to write. When protests broke out in Iran in 2009 over what appeared to be fraudulent election results that left President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power, the world supported the opposition protestors. But Iran made all kinds of threats against the protestors, and no one knew how to react. Protestors were killed by the Iranian government.

A few days ago, protests broke out again in Iran, and the Iranian government is making the same kind of threats. So I'm deciding to speak up for the protestors, because I think the Iranian government will try to cling to power no matter what people say. Hopefully this time they will respect the protestors, and Ahmadinejad will step down.

That's about as respectfully as I can put it. But the rhetoric coming out of Iran is not quite as respectful. So I just want to add: Fuck Ahmadinejad! Fuck his corrupt government! I can't wait to watch the government of Iran crumble under the weight of its own corruption!

Here is one of a handful of videos to make it out of Iran. I hope the protests in Iran are peaceful, but I understand the anger and difficulties here. I'm not exactly sure what is going on in the video, but someone got beat up...


Click the play button above to start the video.

You can check out additional footage from a CNN interview with a protestor who risked her life HERE.

Related:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/iran-protests-2011-videos_n_823162.html#s240183...
- http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/02/15/exp.ac.iran.protester.cnn?hpt=T2

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/iran-protests-2011-videos_n_823162.html#s240183...


Peaceful Revolutions in Arab World - Feb. 15, 2011

[UPDATED: Feb. 16, 2011]

By now, most people are probably familiar with the protests in Egypt that led to the ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. We are all very excited for the people of Egypt, and look forward with them to a brighter future for their country.

But most people don't know that before the protests in Egypt, there were protests in Tunisia. There were also protests in other Arab-world countries during the Egyptian protests. And right now, protests continue across the Arab world.

Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, and Jordan have seen major protests, and minor incidents have occurred in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Morocco.

Many of the protests use sites like Facebook and Twitter to organize and communicate, allowing the revolutions to transcend traditional borders of power.

I think the entire world shares the hopes of the protesters and desires a positive outcome from the protests. We're with you! Solidarity!

Thousands of protestors gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt

Related:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Middle_East_protests
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12482313
- http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/15/arab.region.unrest/index.html?hpt=T2
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/feb/16/middle-east-protests-live-updates

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/feb/11/egypt-protest#/?picture=371659164&...


Glenn Beck a Bigot, an Unthinking Buffoon - Jan. 22, 2011

"Glenn Beck, you are a bigot. You bring shame to your country, not because you lack balance, but because you are an unthinking buffoon. [...]

"This type of 'journalism' is dangerous. It can have wide-ranging negative effects on society. [...] It's vitally important that this kind of 'news' is not made or broadcast in the U.K. But with the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corp., there is an increased threat of this becoming a reality. ...[T]here is still the danger of 'Fox-ification' in the U.K. [...]

"It is time for thinking citizens in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia to unite against the Murdochs' vicious brand of politics that masquerades as publishing."

- Member of Parliament Tom Watson, United Kingdom

Click the play button above to start the video.

Related:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/british-mp-tom-watson-to-_n_812379.html
- http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201101210018

See Also:
- Fox News Makes Viewers Stupid
- Sky News = Fox News in the U.K.
- Today on Fox: Glenn Beck Takes Another Shit!

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201101210018


The Super-rich - Jan. 21, 2011

In the U.S., the super-rich pay an unfairly low income tax compared to super-rich people throughout the rest of the world. U.S. income tax rates for the super-rich were lowered even further under President George W. Bush, and the tax rates they currently pay have become known as the "Bush tax cuts." More than half of all Americans (a majority) are in favor of repealing the "Bush tax cuts" for the super-rich. And it makes sense that if you get rich off of other people, you owe a fair debt to society, otherwise there won't be a society left to make you rich!


Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.laprogressive.com/economic-equality/real-deficits/


FBI's Most Wanted: Pothead Military Recruits - Jan. 17, 2011

One of the many outcomes of the recent shooting in Arizona is a new proposal to ban the sale of guns to anyone who tries to join the U.S. military, but fails their drug test. Recruits who fail the drug test are to be added to the FBI's database, according to the proposal.

I think the two Senators behind this proposal must be looking for some TV time (their names aren't important). I'm all for gun control, but how are pothead recruits dangerous? I'm way more worried about people who are allowed to bring their guns into bars (which, frighteningly, has proven a popular idea in many states).

The proposal makes for good television drama. Drugs. Guns. Shooting. And since it is a form of gun control, and a way to frighten stoners with the FBI, both Democrats and Republicans will have a hard time arguing against it. The only thing is, it's dumb. It doesn't solve a real problem. Well, unless you're a Senator looking for some good television drama...


Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/57450116/Stockbyte
- http://concealedcarryholsters.org/outside-waistband-holster/
- http://www.triplek.com/Products/id/38/grp/5/prd/147/


Republicans Target Constitution - Jan. 16, 2011

Now that Republicans are in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, they are back to the business of targeting the Constitution. Republicans introduced legislation to renew the parts of the PATRIOT Act that are set to expire in February. The PATRIOT Act makes it legal for the government to spy on Americans. Even with evidence mounting that shows the government has abused its powers with regard to spying on citizens, the Republicans want to assure the abuse will continue.


Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/constitution.html


A Better Future - Jan. 12, 2011

[UPDATED: Jan. 14, 2011]

The video below is from FalseEconomy.org.uk via UKUncut.org.uk. It's about building a better future in the U.K., but I think many of the points they make could just as easily apply to the U.S., or any country facing these issues...

Click the play button above to start the video.

Related:
- http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/
- http://falseeconomy.org.uk/

See Also:
- http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,739121,00.html

Artwork (may include photos, images, audio, and/or video):
- http://vimeo.com/17201782


Pentagon Proposes Healthcare Cuts - Jan. 12, 2011

[UPDATED: Jan. 18, 2011]

They're finally getting ready to make some big cuts in the budget over at the Pentagon, and it's about time! According to one report, President Obama requested 82 billion dollars in cuts, and the Pentagon submitted its proposal. Unfortunately, about 25% of those cuts are against healthcare for people in the military, veterans, and families, according to the same report. Other reports mention only the 7 billion in cuts to the TRICARE program, which provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents, including some members of the Reserve Component.

What bothers me about the Pentagon's budget cutting strategy, no matter how it's sliced, is that the cuts are going to hit the low-income and sick the hardest. One article mentions that without the healthcare cuts, the Pentagon would have to "cut hardware." Well, that's what they need to do. They have a lot of stupid, ridiculously expensive weapons ("hardware") that don't make us safer.

I'd link to some articles here, but the reports differ widely at the present time. 78 billion or 82 billion? 25% or 9%? I'll try to keep my eye on it...


Artwork (may include photos or images):
- http://iconscissors.com/x1open.html
- http://www.igniq.com/2009/02/canadian-red-cross-wants-its-logo-out-of-video-games-2


Arizona Shooting - Jan. 12, 2011

On January 8, 2011, Jared Loughner shot and killed 6 people and injured at least 13 others at a political rally being held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Rep. Giffords was among those injured in Loughner's shooting spree. I want to send my best wishes to Rep. Giffords and all those who were injured, and offer my condolences to the friends and families of those who died in this tragedy.

Loughner is now in police custody. Before the shooting, he made several posts on the Internet. Loughner's posts were hard to make sense of, but much of what he had to say seemed similar to the rhetoric of the far right. Though it is not clear where Loughner stood politically, he ranted quite a bit about currency (money) and government conspiracy, and his points about those topics were pretty much identical to the far right rants aired on television and radio, and posted on the Internet.

One of the outcomes of Loughner's actions has been a renewed interest in banning certain types of weapons. I declared my support for ideas similar to the "Assault Weapons Ban" last year, when "Tea Partiers" showed up at town hall meetings with guns, shot at the offices of members of Congress, and engaged in hate speech as healthcare reform moved through Congress. So, I think banning certain types of weapons is a good idea in light of the events that occurred in Arizona.

Related:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting

See Also:
- Now Is the Time to Ban Assault Weapons


Study: ESP Gets an "F" - Jan. 10, 2011

Daryl Bem is a psychology professor at Cornell University in the U.S. who conducted a new study on ESP. The study will be published in a prestigious psychology journal later this year (the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). The study has already been published on the Internet.

ESP stands for "Extra-Sensory Perception," and has been defined by some as the ability to predict the future.

Bem has said that his study shows there is evidence ESP is real, and he has shocked the scientific community. Some even think he is joking.

I think one reason some people think Bem is joking is because of his standing in the psychology community. In the psychology department of any given university, Bem is as famous as Freud. Bem's earlier (non-ESP) work often has an entire chapter devoted to it in many psychology textbooks. When someone like Daryl Bem makes a claim like "ESP is real," it gets people's attention.

The media coverage of Bem's study so far has focused only on one part of the study, and I'm going to focus on the same part. One experiment asked participants to choose between two different "curtains" displayed on a computer screen. After the participant chose a curtain, the computer would randomly place an erotic picture behind one of the two curtains. Erotic pictures were revealed to the participants during the study. Each participant was allowed to choose whether or not they wanted the computer to display "gay" or "straight" pictures before starting the experiment.

Participants chose the correct curtain 53.1% of the time. For some reason, erotic pictures yielded better results than "neutral" pictures.

According to Bem's statistical analysis, 53.1% is far enough away from 50% to be "significant." But there are other ways of analyzing the results statistically that, as I understand them, conclude that the results are not convincing enough to say that ESP is real. So far, at least three efforts to replicate the experiments have failed...

I do not think that ESP is real, but even if it is, Bem has shown that it so far only works in a narrow set of circumstances, and that it doesn't work very well. It appears to work only a teensy bit better than flipping a coin in Bem's experiments. So, I would like to subject Bem's ESP experiment to another kind of analysis: the grading scale.

If the participants in Bem's study were to be graded, they would get an "F." A failing grade. A score of 53 out of 100 is an "F." Dr. Bem must use one heck of a grading curve!

It should come as no surprise that ESP gets a failing grade. In his paper, Bem mentions the need for an explanatory framework. Well, so far we know that if ESP is real, it doesn't work very well, and it only works in certain circumstances. And we know that for people who see, hear, or sense things different from their conscious experiences, the best experimentally-based scientific explanation for the phenomena is that it is all in their heads. So, it would be impossible for someone to tell the difference between ESP and whatever else is going on in their head.

Bem himself even points out that there is no physical evidence for ESP.

It looks like ESP gets an "F" in more ways than one. We'll see what happens...


Related:
- http://dbem.ws/FeelingFuture.pdf
- http://pcl.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/rouder-morey.pdf
- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp
- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/some-science-for-esp-at-least...
- http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Study+suggesting+real+gives+...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception

Artwork (may include photos or images):
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/23766857@N08/3292035075


Alternative Hosts for USS Enterprise Videos - Jan. 9, 2011

Hours after I began hosting the videos from the USS Enterprise in the post below, NewsKing was overwhelmed and went down for several hours. I apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced. Today, I became aware of other sites that are hosting the videos. When I created the post below, I steered clear of YouTube because it seemed like the U.S. Navy had over a dozen copies of the "First Video" removed from YouTube. The "First Video" is the most famous, so if you want to watch it, please use the alternative hosts listed here. There are also alternative hosts for the less famous "Second" and "Third" videos.

Thanks!

Alternative Hosts:
First Video:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/01/uss-enterprise-video-scandal_n_803263.html
- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgeiib_uss-enterprise-video-scandal-navy-commander...
- http://www.break.com/index/uss-enterprise-scandal-video-1978436
- http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/?bctid=738242392001 (uncensored)
Second Video:
- http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/?bctid=738242397001 (extended version, uncensored)
Third Video:
- http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/?bctid=738212902001 (uncensored)

See Also:
- Videos From the USS Enterprise


Videos From the USS Enterprise - Jan. 9, 2011

On January 1, 2011, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper revealed three videos that starred U.S. Navy Captain Owen Honors, the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The videos were originally shown aboard the carrier in 2006 and 2007, while Captain Honors was the "XO" of the Enterprise. "XO" means "Executive Officer," the second in command (who also holds the rank of Captain). Captain Honors became the captain of the Enterprise in 2010.

The videos have been criticized in the media and on the Internet as being anti-gay, sexist, inappropriate, and scandalous. The videos have also received positive reviews, being called light-hearted, humorous, stress-relieving, and morale-boosting.

The videos feature Captain Honors along with other crew members talking about various aspects of life at sea. Opinions are expressed about topics like "the F-word," showering, and of course, sex-related topics including masturbation.

I personally was not offended by the videos. I thought they were funny. And considering some of the topics discussed in the videos, I thought they were tasteful.

But the U.S. Navy relieved Captain Honors of his command of the USS Enterprise. I'm not sure I would have taken it that far if it were up to me, but it's not up to me. However, even though I was not offended by the videos, I can understand why the Navy was concerned.

This is an issue about the work environment in the Navy, as well as work environments in general. "The boss" has to deal with employees' problems, and some parts of the videos may make it difficult for some people to feel like Captain Honors can relate to their problems. This is all made much more difficult onboard a ship, where no one can go home at the end of the workday.

Of course, a boss that takes things too seriously would be difficult to deal with, too. I think Captain Honors would be a good boss, but the videos probably went too far for some people.

The videos are posted below, so you can decide for yourself. The "First Video" was the most widely played in the media and on the Internet, although only short clips were shown on U.S. television. The videos were labeled "First," "Second," and "Third" by the Virginian-Pilot online, but the names do not necessarily reflect the order in which the videos were made or shown on the Enterprise.

The "First Video" features Captain Honors dressed in three different outfits, and uses special effects to make it appear as though he is talking to differently-dressed copies of himself, who he calls his "alternate personalities." Similar effects appear in the third video. As I understand it, some of the "anti-gay" criticism comes from confusion about these special effects. When Honors calls one of his alternate personalities gay, some people thought he was actually talking to another person because they didn't understand the special effects. But Honors is actually calling one of his alternate personalities gay.

There were people other than Captain Honors who also appeared in the videos, but the Virginian-Pilot blurred the faces of many of these other crew members. The Virginian-Pilot also bleeped out all of the cusswords.

The videos are posted below. Click the play button to start the videos.

"First Video"
This is the most famous video,
but it wasn't actually made first.
Click the play button above to start the video.

"Second Video"
This video is not as famous as the first video,
and it was probably made earlier.
Click the play button above to start the video.

"Third Video"
This video is not as famous as the first video,
and it was probably made earlier.
Click the play button above to start the video.

A Little Fun...
Music Video
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbQ5mHWkOs

Related:
- http://hamptonroads.com/2010/12/raunchy-videos-starring-enterprise-skipper-come-light?...
- http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-04/us/navy.videos_1_videos-aircraft-carrier-navy-s-fleet...
- http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/01/navy-enterprise-more-xo-videos-surface-010411w/

Artwork (may include photos or images):
- All of the preview frames came from their respective videos.
- The videos were made by Captain Honors and his crew.
- http://www.allmusic.com/album/maya-r1816317/credits


Luxury, NewsKing Style - Jan. 2, 2011


Just about everyone who follows this blog knows that I don't
exactly live a luxurious life. In fact, I frequently sleep in my Prius when I travel. But occasionally, I spring for a hotel room. I usually get the cheapest room I can find, and it's typically not very luxurious. I'm actually in a hotel right now. The hotel isn't luxurious in a traditional sense, but it has something I've never seen in a hotel before. It's NewsKing luxury!


A bottle opener attached to the sink of an economy hotel room

Artwork (may include photos or images):
- I took this photo.


Happy New Year - Jan. 1, 2011

Happy New Year!
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