From My Side of the Bar: 2012-08-12

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Ice and Fire

A sweeping sensation in the world of entertainment is HBO's fantasy series " Game of Thrones', a fantasy story structured more like an alternate history. The show is based on,(and follows rather well for the most part) A Song of Ice and Fire, a book series by George RR Martin. The plot follows a  huge political upheaval in the land of 'Westeros', along with two interrelated subplots one which involves a fight in wild lands with a horrific undead race, and the other subplot highlights the ambitions of the daughter of a deposed king who intends to return to power. What marks this series out for me as a reader was its break from the traditional 'good versus evil' plot structure, and has a moral grayness. Another thing that stands out is the brutality in the events of the books, definitely not a series for the squeamish. Readers be warned that the last two books that were published, 'A Feast For Crows' and 'A Dance with Dragons' were a little slower paced than the first three. The series also has a basic enough language level in order to be accessible which may turn off elitist readers. That being said excellent series, the show is great too, and keep your eyes out for 'The Winds of Winter."

Dr Guevara.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Dave Mustaine Clarifies Obama Staged Shooting Statement

Tom Morello: Paul Ryan 'Is The Embodiment Of The Machine Our Music Rages Against'

Paul Ryan has previously cited Rage Against the Machine as his favorite band, but the group's guitarist isn't returning the niceties. In a blistering op-ed published Thursday night on Rolling Stone's website, Tom Morello blasts Mitt Romney's new VP choice as "the embodiment of the machine our music rages against."

In painting Ryan as antithetical to progress, Morello compares the Congressman's appreciation of RATM to Charles Manson's love for The Beatles and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's liking for Bruce Springsteen.

At the heart of Morello's distate for Ryan is "his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent." He goes on to say Ryan has plenty of "rage," but claims its "A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment."

The Grammy-winning guitarist has a history of outspoken activism. Together with actor Mark Ruffalo and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, he has recently advocated for a "Robin Hood Tax" which would levy a tax on all financial transactions. That money would then be used to assist those who suffered at the hands of the recession.

Morello also put out a call for 10,000 guitarists to join him in an Occupy Wall St. "guitarmy" in April.

It's been a rough week for the Romney-Ryan ticket. The Silversun Pickups sent Romney a similarly scathing cease-and-desist when it was revealed that the campaign had played their song "Panic Switch" at an event. A spokeswoman for Romney said that though the song was played without permission, the use was legal because it was covered under a blanket licensing agreement. The campaign said the song was not a part of their regularly used playlist and would not be used again.

"We don't like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don't like the Romney campaign," the band's frontman Brian Aubert wrote. "We're nice, approachable people. We won't bite. Unless you're Mitt Romney!"

For more from Morello's letter, including why he thinks Ryan holds the views he does, head over to Rolling Stone.

Dog adopts kittens after losing puppies

Link to video:

Dog adopts kittens after losing puppies:

Animal shelter pairs orphaned kittens with dog that lost her pups

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Dave Mustaine, Megadeth Singer, Says Obama 'Staged' Aurora Shooting, Sikh Temple Shooting To Pass A Gun Ban (VIDEO)

During a recent show in Singapore during Megadeth's "Th1rt3en World Tour," Mustaine took to the mic from the stage to discuss his beliefs about some of the recent gun violence in America.

"Back in my country, my president," Mustaine begins and then pretends to gag himself with his finger, "is trying to pass a gun ban so he's staging all of these murders. The 'Fast and Furious' thing down at the border. And Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there. And now, the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."

Mustaine went on to say, "I don't know where I'm going to live if America keeps going the way it's going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America."

Watch the clip of Mustaine speaking above -- segment about Obama and guns begins at 2:38.

Mustaine has been outspoken about his dislike for President Obama, but this may be his most extreme statement to date. On a recent Canadian TV show "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight," he said that he is certain that Obama "was born somewhere else than America." And back in February Mustaine even endorsed Rick Santorum, saying to MusicRadar.com:

"...You know, I think Santorum has some presidential qualities, and I'm hoping that if it does come down to it, we'll see a Republican in the White House... and that it's Rick Santorum."
Weighing in on the rest of the field, Mustaine called Newt Gingrich an “angry little man” and said Ron Paul will “make total sense for a while, and then he'll say something so way out that it negates everything else.”

As for Mitt Romney, the rocker said, “I've got to tell you, I was floored the other day to see that Mitt Romney's five boys have a $100 million trust fund. Where does a guy make that much money? So there's some questions there.”

Still, Mustaine would pick any of the GOP candidates over President Barack Obama.

Clarification: Mustaine appeared on "The George Stromboulopoulos Show" when it was known as "The Hour."

Barack Obama , Denver News, Video, Dave Mustaine, Gun Rights, Aurora News, Aurora Shooting 2012, Batman Shooting 2012, Colorado Shooting 2012, Colorado Theater Shooting, Fast And Furious, Gun Control Conspiracy, Megadeth, Denver News

Paul Ryan Sponsored a Bill that Would Allow Rapists to Stop their Victims from Aborting

To most women, Paul Ryan's ideas are pretty much the political equivalent of menstruating forever. But it seems like some new analysis of legislation he wrote really takes the cake: if Paul Ryan had his way, theoretically, a rapist would be able to sue his victim in order to prevent her from having an abortion. Hey girl, no means baby.

Since Ryan received the nod from Romney, abortion rights supporters have brought up the little, teensy point that although Paul Ryan likes to make it out like Paul Ryan is all about budgets and dollars and deficits and stuff, he's also all about the highly fiscally irresponsible practice of advocating against birth control and the legality of abortion (unplanned pregnancies cost US taxpayers about $11 billion a year). And remember that forced pre-abortion transvaginal ultrasound bill in Virginia that was received so poorly that it caused the state's staunchly anti-abortion governor to back off? Paul Ryan supported the national version of that. Penalty dicks for everyone!

And while right wing pundits helpfully point out that Paul Ryan doesn't want to make abortion illegal (which: hahahahahahah), he just wants to give states the right to make abortion illegal, Mother Jones' Kevin Drum notes that Ryan's Sanctity of Human Life Act states,

(B) the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood; and

(2) the Congress affirms that the Congress, each State, the District of Columbia, and all United States territories have the authority to protect the lives of all human beings residing in its respective jurisdictions.

Which actually means that states would have the right to ban all abortions with no exception for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. Further, in those states, if a woman was raped and wanted to have an abortion in another state, her rapist could theoretically sue her to stop the abortion, and Drum suspects that he'd probably win.

Further, yesterday another Mother Jones columnist pointed out that if the Sanctity of Human Life Act had become law, it likely would have made many forms of IVF illegal, and since Mitt Romney's two newest adorable grandbabies are the product of IVF and a surrogate mother, Ryan's big idea would turn Romney's kids into criminals. Most awkward political bromance ever.

Marijuana May Protect Against Brain Damage From Binge Drinking

study just published online by the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology suggests that marijuana may protect the brain from some of the damage caused by binge drinking.

The study, by researchers at the University of California San Diego, used a type of high-tech scan called diffusion tensor imaging to compare microscopic changes in brain white matter. The subjects were students aged 16-to-19, divided into three groups: binge drinkers (defined as having five or more drinks at one sitting for boys or four or more for girls), binge drinkers who also smoked marijuana, and a control group who had very little or no experience with either alcohol or drugs.

As expected, the binge-drinking-only group showed evidence of white matter damage in eight regions examined, as demonstrated by lower fractional anisotropy (FA) scores. But in a finding the researchers described as “unexpected,” the binge-drinking/marijuana group had lower FA scores than the controls in only three of the eight regions, and in seven regions the binge-drinking/marijuana group had higher scores – indicating less damage – than the binge drinkers who didn’t use marijuana (unfortunately, not all of these stats are in the summary linked above; access to the full article requires payment).

Brain white matter tracts were “more coherent in adolescents who binge drink and use marijuana than in adolescents who report only binge drinking,” the researchers wrote. “It is possible that marijuana may have some neuroprotective properties in mitigating alcohol-related oxidative stress or excitotoxic cell death.” The scientists noted that such protection has already been shown in lab and animal studies.

Indeed, the U.S. government has a patent on cannabinoids as neuroprotectants. Yes, the same government that wants you to believe that marijuana will rot your brain knows that its active components protect brain and nerve cells from many kinds of damage.

In a statement issued by MPP today, director of state campaigns Steve Fox said, “This study suggests that not only is marijuana safer than alcohol, it may actually protect against some of the damage that booze causes. It’s far better for teens not to drink or smoke marijuana, but our nation’s leaders send a dangerous message by defending laws that encourage the use of alcohol over marijuana.”

Fox is co-author of the new book, “Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?” The book is getting lots of favorable press coverage, and recently hit number 14 on the Amazon.com bestseller list.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

India plans to send craft to orbit Mars next year

In this Monday, July 12, 2010 file photo released by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasts off from the Sriharikota spaceport near Chennai, India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a speech Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012 to mark the 65th anniversary of India's independence from British rule, said Indian science and technology will take a giant leap forward under a plan to send a space mission to Mars next year. Singh says his Cabinet has approved a mission that will collect important scientific information about the red planet. Photo: Indian Space Research Organization / AP

NEW DELHI (AP) — India plans to send a spacecraft to Mars next year on a scientific mission critics say shows the governing party's skewed priorities when people lack electricity and safe drinking water.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the 4.5 billion rupee ($82 million) mission during a speech Wednesday marking the 65th anniversary of India's independence from British rule.

"This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," he said.

The spacecraft will orbit Mars to collect data after its launch in November 2013 on a frequently used rocket developed by the Indian Space Research Organization.

India has had an active space program since the 1960s and has launched scores of satellites for itself and other countries.

In 2008, India successfully sent a probe to the moon that detected evidence of water on the lunar surface for the first time. India is also planning a rover mission to the moon and is awaiting budgetary approval for a manned space mission.

Critics of Singh's Congress party say instead of the Mars mission, the government should concentrate on providing the basic needs of people such as electricity and safe drinking water. Two weeks ago, the electricity grids that serve more than 600 million Indians collapsed for hours in the world's largest blackout.

Indian scientists dismiss the criticism, saying that technology developed in the space program has resulted in spinoffs in other areas.

"It is certainly not a question of misplaced priorities," former ISRO chief U.R. Rao was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper.

ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan says the Mars mission must take place when the planet is closest to Earth, which happens every 26 months. There are three "windows of opportunity" in late 2013, 2016 and 2018, and Indian scientists are aiming to be ready for the 2013 opportunity, he said.

Facebook must destroy facial recognition database

German data protection officials today accused Facebook of “illegally compiling a vast photo database of users without their consent” and demanded that the social network destroy its archive of files based on facial recognition technology, the New York Times reported.

Facebook says that it uses face recognition software to match users’ photos to others and suggest friends to tag in those photos. A user can prevent friends from seeing tag suggestions when they upload photos that look like that user. But this requires opting out through Facebook privacy settings, which Germany notes is a violation of European law.

“The social networking company’s decision to use analytic software to compile photographic archives of human faces, based on photos uploaded by Facebook’s users, has been controversial in Europe, where data protection laws require users to give their explicit consent to the practice,” the Timeswrote. “Instead of using such an opt-in system, Facebook assumes users will want to use facial recognition and requires them to opt out instead.”

Germany started investigating Facebook over the practice in June 2011, suspending the investigation in June of this year after failing to convince Facebook to change its practices. But the German data protection commission reopened the investigation today, demanding that Facebook “destroy its photographic database of faces collected in Germany and revise its Web site to obtain the explicit consent of users before it creates a digital file based on the biometric data of their faces,” the article states.

Facebook claims it doesn’t have to do that, in part because the data collection is legal in Ireland, where Facebook’s European operations are based. “We believe that the Photo Tag Suggest feature on Facebook is fully compliant with EU data protection laws,” Facebook said in a statement issued to the Times. “During our continuous dialogue with our supervisory authority in Europe, the Office of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, we agreed to develop a best practice solution to notify people on Facebook about Photo Tag Suggest.”

Germany could issue a fine, or try to get a court order compelling Facebook to change its practices, but it will be difficult because of the company being headquartered in the US. While Facebook isn’t backing down, it has made one small concession by agreeing to suspend the tagging feature for Europeans who joined Facebook on or after July 1.

Iran threatens to disconnect from the Internet

By Justin Rohrlich

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — In April, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of F-Secure, a Finnish computer security firm, received an unusual email. It came from a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, and read:

“I am writing you to inform you that our nuclear program has once again been compromised and attacked by a new worm with exploits which have shut down our automation network at Natanz and another facility Fordo near Qom.

“According to the email our cyber experts sent to our teams, they believe a hacker tool Metasploit was used. The hackers had access to our VPN. The automation network and Siemens hardware were attacked and shut down. I only know very little about these cyber issues as I am scientist not a computer expert.

Click to Play

“There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out. I believe it was playing ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC.”

Hypponen was never able to confirm the claims. But the incident followed a spate of other attacks on Iranian infrastructure, like the Stuxnet “cyberweapon,” which infected systems at the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in 2010 and crippled several thousand centrifuges in the process.

Now, it seems that the Iranians have had enough. In the past few weeks, Reza Taqipour, Iran’s minister of communication and information technology, called the global Internet “untrustworthy” and announced plans to disconnect key government ministries from the worldwide web by September.

“The regime no longer fears a physical attack from the West,” Mahmood Enayat, director of the Iran Media Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communications, told the Wall Street Journal recently. “It still thinks the West wants to take over Iran, but through the Internet.”

Commandeering nuclear sites through the use of technology is one way to “take over” a country. However, certain websites seem to stoke the Iranian government’s fears just as much.

See The VIX According to a 20-Year-Old ‘Seinfeld’ Episode

“We have identified and confronted 650 websites that have been set up to battle our regime — 39 of them are by opposition groups and our enemies, and the rest promote Western culture and worshiping Satan, and stoke sectarian divides,” conservative cleric Hamid Shahriari said in March. “We are worried about a portion of cyberspace that is used for exchanging information and conducting espionage.”

To that end, Iran’s Ministry of Communications and Technology has announced the launch of a domestic intranet — a completely closed loop that would leave Iranian citizens without online access to the rest of the world.

A photo from Ayatollah Khamenei's Instagram feed.

What would this mean for a country like Iran, which, according to Rafal Rohozinsky, a principal founder of the OpenNet Initiative, had the largest concentration of mainframe computers outside the U.S. in the 1970s, boasted a full IBM division in Tehran, and is more connected than anywhere else in the Middle East, save Israel? Can a nation simply flip a switch and disconnect itself from the web?