Regarding the recent devastating earthquake in Italy, there are shocking facts that the governing bodies of the region would rather weren’t found out. I’m a little late here, as the news has been around for a couple of days, but I’m not really out to break news, just explain what makes this a typical capitalistic error. What the government didn’t want anyone to know, was that someone already knew.
Weeks before the earthquake the authorities were warned, by a scientist, that a large scale earthquake was likely to hit, and that the area should be evacuated. So the logical thing to do would be to listen to this man, who obviously knows his stuff, and evacuate the area, right? But this is a world driven by money, and evacuating the area would cost a lot of money, so instead of saving lives, the authorities reported this guy to the police, and effectively put a muzzle on him. How much sense does that make? You tell them that lives are at stake, and they tell you to shush?
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, and there is precedence throughout modern history. Had they started an evacuation, the local happenings would have to be canceled, the stores and service providers would not be able to make money, stock-holders would sell, and the entire area would see an economical downturn, which is the thing that stirs up a most primal fear in right-wing politicians. So they figure what’s a couple of lives compared to money right? Besides, it can’t possibly be as bad as the scientist says, he must be exaggerating to make us listen. The problem with right-wing politics is that quite frankly it doesn’t look very far ahead. If they had started an evacuation then yes, there would be an economical downturn, which we can all agree is a bad thing, but are the events that are now taking place really that good for the economy? Does mass death and material destruction really earn enough money that it was worth refusing to evacuate?
Just remember that under socialist rule, things are different, and vote right next time, okay? In a socialist society, income is relative to the amount of working people, not the amount of shareholders, so keeping the laymen alive is actually a matter of importance. In a classless society it is way harder to look down on someone, like the authorities obviously did in this case. This must be classified as a serious breach of the trust of the people. Most of the damage done could have been prevented had the authorities been prepared to listen to science, not the capitalists.
Song of the Blog: Die Arbeiter von Wien
Sincerely
Bjørn
Well, sort of. What is really happening is that one person got targeted by the RIAA, charged with the hideous crime of downloading seven songs! They demanded that he pay the ludicrous amount of $500 in order to redeem himself. He refused, of course, the songs themselves aren’t worth near as much. This was in 2003, and now, six years later, the case hits the courtroom.
So what does this have to do with the wonderful people in Radiohead? Well, they decided that something wasn’t quit
e right, and agreed to testify against the almighty RIAA! This isn’t the first time that Radiohead has declared war on the music industry. They were one of the first bands that let people decide what they wanted to pay for their music, and made entire albums available for public downloads.
Recently they co-founded the Featured Artists Coalition, a congregation of artists who will no longer stand for the industry speaking out on their behalf without conferring with them beforehand. Can you say open warfare? When you throw in the album “Hail to the Thief,” you can’t but grin at the effort that these guys are putting into pissing off the industry. I hope that more people will decide to follow Radiohead, because even if they are big, they probably can’t take down the industry on their own. The Featured Artists Coalition is a brilliant incentive, and I sincerely hope that the case against the RIAA is won. Now if The Pirate Bay would win their case too, the music industry would be seriously damaged, which can only be considered a good thing!
You can read more about this at ITavisen! Beware though, it’s in norwegian!
Song of the Blog: Bodysnatchers
Sincerely
Bjørn
So Kim Jung Il is trying to get attention again. Oddly, he always tries the same thing at a slightly larger scale when he wants this, thinking that if he can just get the pitch right, the girls will surely fall for his daring whistle. So they decided to put a satellite in orbit, and the world gets piss-scared because he’s an insane communist bastard, right? Hardly a communist at all, but if that’s what he calls himself then I guess you just have to respect the man enough to at least grant him that title, as he does, after all, lead a country.
So it’s launch day, and the entire world trembles! What on earth might this satellite be? Is it the end? Have they gotten some new ultimate weapon capable of destroying us all before we can arm our warheads and blow them off the very pages of history? No, of course not, they don’t talk to anyone outside North Korea, so there’s no way they could have the knowledge necessary, and indeed they have proven that it is so. They couldn’t even successfully put the thing in orbit, falling a few steps short of world domination, and both the rocket and satellite are now drifting somewhere in the Pacific. So what would have happened had the satellite made it?
We would all be doomed to have praise mp3s to Kim Jung Il and his dad streamed through us at all times, wirelessly! Oh woe! What a terrible fate! How would we ever be able to cope? World domination indeed, he would be everywhere! I’m not entirely sure I’d be able to live with myself knowing what was in the air. I can see him sitting there with his launch button, sniggering, thinking dirty thought involving rockets and tentacles. As he pressed the large red button, he probably screamed maniacally; “TAKE THAT, OBAMA! WHO’S THE FOUR-EYES NOW?? NOT SO TALL NOW, ARE YOU?” And then he proceeded to laugh a wheezing and most evil laugh, while his advisors stood by, rolling their eyes at each others.
Honestly, why does the world even care what this guy does? You can’t really do anything about him, seeing as China is on his side, so all you can do is wait for his death. He won’t do anything if you ignore him besides sulk. If you look at him, he gets excited and starts acting up. His country desperately needs attention if it is to survive, and he needs the west to be scared of him if he is to get any supplies without lifting the blockade. Ignore him and he starves, and in the end he’ll come crawling, as opposed to now, when we all grovel in front of his tiny and most unintimidating figure. Just look at the guy. His face just screams “I had no friends in school so now I’m getting my revenge on you all!” He just needs a hug, but he won’t let anyone touch him, so what can you do?
Again a link to a norwegian news article here regarding the launch here
Song of the Blog: Power Trip Ballad
Sincerely
Bjørn
Well, he can’t possibly do a worse job of it than the previous one, so I guess I’m happy that he got elected. So who is he? His name is Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and he’s the current Prime Minister in Denmark, for the political party Venstre (grouped as liberals in a biparisan system), so at least he’s on the right side of the spectrum. The fact remains that NATO should not even exist anymore, but maybe it can make a turn for the better once there’s some good scandinavian blood in charge.
So you’re probably wondering what my grudge is with NATO, right? Today is its 60th birthday, so of course Red Youth was out protesting. Personally they haven’t done anything to me besides indirectly causing that I had to lay on a cold floor and play dead for a while with fake blood all over me, as seen here.
But there are problems with NATO. In the beginning NATO started out as a rather clever defense mechanism that kept the Sovjet Union at bay. A direct consequence of the opening scenes of the cold war, it gained its foothold, and while the Sovjet Union fell, NATO remained tall and proud, but without a purpose. Then USA started looking for countries to pick on, and NATO was all in from the start, and of course this had been going on since before the fall of Sovjet too. Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, they all have NATO all over them. And soon Obama will go after Pakistan, just you wait, it’s in the budget. When this happens, Rasmussen will have no real choice but to follow. That is if Obama will even wait until August, which is when Rasmussen will officially become the Secretary General.
NATO is the aggressor these days. It is an obsolete organization whose only means of surviving are war. As long as it can pretend to still be needed, it remains, in a world where the United Nations has long since taken over as the peace-preserving part.
You can read more about Rasmussen and the NATO birthday here and here.
Song of the Blog: Blood
Sincerely
Bjørn
What might be the most awesome research ever is being carried out right now, in Japan of course. Who else, besides these horny midgets would be able to do something like this? For the time being they’re not quite at that level yet, but they’ve managed quite extraordinary things already, and those people are quick!
If your norwegian isn’t too shabby, you can read about it here.
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Basically what they’re doing is they’re scanning people’s heads with modified MRIs, while showing them patterns in black and white. The computers they use then try to reconstruct the image based on electrical signals recorded in the subject’s brain! The recorded image that is shown at the time that I am writing this article is scrambled, and sometimes you have to wonder if it just looks similar to the presented image because you want it to, but other times it’s unmistakable. The opportunities if they manage to perfect this tech, and knowing the Japanese, they will! Imagine if they become able to reverse the effect! All of a sudden those 3d glasses don’t seem so nifty anymore.
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Try to think of what you could do once computers are able to visualize your thoughts! And even put pictures in your head! Starting with the small steps, there would be no need for a keyboard anymore, no mouse, no need for a human interface at all! And that’s just for starters! The next one is for the gamers! Playing a game inside your head might not seem that much more fancy than a monitor, but only if you think of it in standard terms. The most obvious difference, the game seeming to be real, is one thing, but again think of the possibilities! 360 degree vision anyone? Levitation? Could this machine be used to do more than just force pictures and shapes? What about the other senses? Smell, sounds, taste, touch? The last one would call for some interesting erotic games, but I’d stay away from pirated games if I were you. And once we’re at this stage, I’m almost at the destination I’ve been aiming for throughout the paragraph. Interaction.
As the possible bandwidth keeps growing in accordance with known laws, the possibilities for interaction by means of thoughts via one of these theoretical devices is only a few inches away. It will no longer be necessary to be a fruitcake to hear the thought of another, all you have to do is boot up your machine and log on MSN. I imagine it’ll be a lot cooler chatting with friends from across the globe while drinking tea on a cloud somewhere on Venus, don’t you think so too? Whereas I look forward to doing some mental blogging afloat in the center of the sun, while still within the confines of the four that make my headquarter.
Those are the ideas that I could come up with, and this probable future technology, these ideas are equally probable! So do me a favor you guys; Come up with something that’s batshit insane! Something utterly impossible. I want to bet a lot of money against someone that something impossible will be commonplace in 50 years, if not less.
Song of the Blog: Paranoid Android
Sincerely
Bjørn
