CIA Funds Facebook.

Think about it. If the government asked us to tell them all the personal details of our life: what books, movies, and music we liked. What sexual orientation we are. Who we've dated. Who our friends are. And how often we talk to them, so it can be stored in a database. Most people would tell them to fuck off. I wonder how many people ever read the IRREVOCABLE Terms of Service for Facebook. I know i didn't. Watch.

While it's disturbing to think that some government computer is compiling a profile on me, based on pictures mostly taken while drunk at bars. And there's no doubt that the business practices of Facebook are insulting and immoral. I can't help but think that it's just part of living in the information age. I still plan to use Facebook. I mean the damage is done. I've already agreed to the Terms of Service which allow Facbook to collect information from non-facebook related sites and services, forever and ever. I will be more cautious though.

Sen. Rockefeller To Vote Against Forcing Vote on His Own Spying Bill

There we go. From THREAT LEVEL.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) says he will oppose a Republican motion to force a vote on a spying bill he co-wrote, saying that the move to ban amendments to the bill amounted to "political terrorism" by the White House.

"The White House has decided that scaring the American people with unfounded and manipulative claims is in order," Rockefeller charged in a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

Rockefeller announced his vote just an hour before a scheduled vote on a cloture motion which would also set a hard limit on how long the Senate could debate his Administration-backed bill, which provides immunity to telecoms that aided the government's five-year long warrantless wiretapping inside the United States and largely legalizes that program.

The bill re-ups the powers handed to the nation's spies this summer with the passage of the Protect America Act. That legislation expires on February 1, and the nation's spies will no longer be able to order domestic telecommunications providers to start new wiretaps without getting a court order. If the bill sunsets, the nation's surveillance laws revert to the state they have been in for the last 30 years, when the spies operated without court oversight overseas, but needed a warrant when installing wiretaps inside the United States.Link.

Bush's Last State Of The Union: I Spy With My Little Eye

From THREAT LEVEL.

President Bush's final State of the Union speech touched on but did not dwell on Congress' ongoing debate over how much unilateral spying power to hand over to the nation's spooks and whether to grant the nation's telecoms retroactive immunity for helping the government's warrantless spying on Americans.

One of the most important tools we can give them is the ability to monitor terrorist communications. To protect America, we need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning. Last year, the Congress passed legislation to help us do that. Unfortunately, the Congress set the legislation to expire on February 1. This means that if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger. The Congress must ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America. We have had ample time for debate. The time to act is now.

THREAT LEVEL is convinced that Bush will sign some temporary extension to the current wiretapping bill, but is less sure that immunity will ever be passed by this Congress.Link.

((d-_-b)) Sound Box #02

Choons!!!

Green Velvet - Shake and Pop (Hydroz)

Renegade Master -(fat boy slim remix)
Classic!

I Miss You 2008 (Antonio G & Mexsta Remix)

Amero Is Coming...Why Haven't You Heard!

I can't stress this enough, THIS IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. Although it may sound like it, the Amero is very real. The Amero is the proposed currency for the North American Union. It will replace the Canadian and American Dollar, as well as the Peso. Finally, reporting on it has gone past the realm of conspiracy movies such as Zeitgeist, which I've linked to in a previous post, and is now getting some attention in more mainstream media. The propaganda machine is already in full swing, not surprisingly the CBC has already published an article highlighting the benefits of such an accord, citing a new report from the Fraser Institute. From the report, as quoted on CBC.ca.

"A monetary union will ensure that we move to the high-tech and other profitable and expanding industries at a more optimal pace, and Canadians' productivity and living standards will increase correspondingly."

The study [also] says Canada's cultural sovereignty and political independence would not be affected by monetary union, arguing that monetary union would not inhibit Canada's ability to pursue its own tax, spending, social, regulatory and foreign policies.

Sounds like exactly what you'd tell people to get them to go along with it. But surly there won't be any move to merge the parliaments of these countries right? Wrong. Here's an interesting quote from AmeroCurrency.com by U.S. Senator, Robert Pastor.

The U.S. Congress should also merge the U.S.-Mexican and U.S.-Canadian interparliamentary groups into a single “North American Parliamentary Group.”

Let's face it, the U.S. doesn't have a great reputation for diplomacy when it comes to imposing their control. And why wouldn't they move to impose their war on drugs, corrupt education system, and mind-controlling religious fervor the first chance they get. That's what the ruling class of that country does. They dumb down the population to the point where they're utterly mailable in the hands of the few. How else do you explain eight years of President Bush? And just think how much they'd love to get their hands on Canada's vast natural resources. Fresh water, it's the new oil! This won't all happen at once, obviously, but it's not hard to see what the Amero will mean for the future.

Three Eyed Pig Born In China.

As reported by Tom Chivers and Duncan Hooper at telegraph.co.uk

"Hot in the (many) footsteps of the six-legged cow and the three-legged duck comes another animal you won't find on Old MacDonald's farm - the two-mouthed, three-eyed Chinese piglet.

Born in Huimen village, Menla County, China, the piglet was unable to take milk from its mother, forcing farmer Yang Qiaofen to feed it using the mouths it had on either side of its head.

As well as the extra mandibular equipment, the puzzling porcine was blessed with an extra eye in the middle of its forehead, earning it the nickname "Cyclops".

The seventh of seven in its litter, young Cyclops was the only abnormal birth.

While it is able to feed - "both mouths can drink at the same time," noted a surprised Yang, who is feeding it on powdered milk - it is unable to stand properly." Link.

Heath Ledger Found Dead

TMZ has reported that he was found by his housekeeper and masseuse face down on the floor, and that pills were found near the body. Sounds like either suicide or overdose. He had separated from his former fiancee Michelle Williams in September. Either way, it's a shame. From what I've seen of the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight, Ledger did a fantastic job filling the very big shoes of Jack Nicholson as the Joker. UPDATE: They're calling it accidental overdose. Shit. Now i feel bad for speculating. Lesson learned.Link.

You Torrent: Best Download Site?

Granted new torrent search sites come out all the time. But this one is doing things a bit different. It's the world's first real-time torrent comparison search engine. Which means it searches all the biggest torrent search sites including, The Pirate Bay, Mininova, and BitTorrent. Thirteen in total. Should be good, that is, until it gets shut down. Now if the writers strike would just finish up there'd be something new to download.

Steve Aoki: Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles Out Now

The highly anticipated debut mix album from indie/electro kingpin, Steve Aoki is out and awesome. It's got tonnes of guest drops from the likes of Kid Sister, Peaches, Santogold, and Uffie. And some great remixes by MSTRKRFT, Soulwax, And LA Roits. Aoki, of course, contributes with Weird Science remixes of Bloc Party and Peaches. But it's tracks like New Noise By Refused that take this mix out of the, just another mix album, category. Below are a few samples from the album.

Refused - New Noise

Green Velvet - Shake and Pop w/ Kid Sister's Guest Drop

Did Jesus Ever Exist?

Below is a trailer for Zeitgeist - The Movie. And a link to the full length documentary. I wont bother weighing in with my opinion on this one. As hard as it may be. Let's just say that it's an interesting point of view. And defiantly worth a watch.



Zeitgeist - Full Documentary

Bionic Contact Lens Brings VR To Your Eyeball

Over on Wired Science, they have an article about a contact lens that could serve as a display device. The technology is still in it's infancy, but the possible applications, which include helping autistic people with social interaction, and of course watching that episode of House while your in a board meeting, make the announcement exciting to say the least. Next Step. Brain implants at your nearest Apple Store?

"Witness a contact lens designed by electrical engineers from the University of Washington and presented yesterday at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' international conference on microelectro mechanical systems.

Sporting circuits a few nanometers thick and grain-of-sand-sized light-emitting diodes, the lenses have full Count Zero potential. They're also the product of some ingenious hackery: since contact lenses are delicate and circuit manufacture is hot and toxic, the researchers designed each component to attach itself only to certain other components. Their powder of circuits and diodes literally self-assembled into gadgetry when sprinkled onto the lens plastic.

So how long do geeks have to wait? According to the press release, a stripped-down display with just a few operational pixels could be available "fairly quickly." More complicated lenses will take longer, but for good reason: they'll be wireless-enabled and powered by a combination of radio waves and solar energy. " Link

((d-_-b)) Sound Box #01

I told my friend Allison I'd throw up some tunes I'm into at the moment. So i figured I'd start a series of what i hope will be regular posts, highlighting whatever i happening to be listening to at the moment. They won't all be new tracks, but they'll all be kick ass. Boo-Ya!

Kanye West - Stronger (A-Trak Remix)

Ace Of Bass - All That She Wants (Roman B Electro Mix)

Bloc Party - Helicopter (Weird Science Remix)

Canadian Privacy Commissioner rejects DRM: don't give spyware legal protection!

From Boing Boing's ever vigilant coverage of the ridiculous Canadian DMCA. Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, states that spyware that sends personal information back to companies without their customers knowledge "violate[s] fair information principals". You Think?

"Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, has published an open letter to Industry Minister Jim Prentice, who has been working behind the scenes to resurrect his disaster of a copyright bill, which will import the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Canada. The DMCA has been a total failure, resulting in nearly 30,000 lawsuits against music fans, massive anti-competitive effects, and despite all that, no discernable decrease in unauthorised copying.

At issue in Stoddart's letter is the idea of protecting "Digital Rights Management" anti-copying and use-control systems in law. These systems frequently spy on users and then "phone home" with detailed information about your activities. The Privacy Commissioner is understandably alarmed at the prospect of changing Canadian law to make it illegal to tamper with this spyware:"

"If DRM technologies only controlled copying and use of content, our Office would have few concerns. However, DRM technologies can also collect detailed personal information from users, who often do no more than access the content on a computer. This information is transmitted back to the copyright owner or content provider, without the consent or knowledge of the user. Although the means exist to circumvent these technologies and thus prevent the collection of this information, previous proposals to amend the Copyright Act contained anti-circumvention provisions.

Technologies that report back to a company about the use of a product reveal a great deal about an individual’s tastes and preferences. Indeed, such information can be extremely personal. Technologies that automatically collect personal information about individuals without their knowledge or consent violate the fair information principles that are central to PIPEDA and most other privacy legislation. That this occurs when individuals are engaged in a private activity in their homes or other places where they have a high expectation of privacy exacerbates the intrusiveness of the collection." Link

Yo Majesty : Club Action. Just Try Not To Dance

Love this remix of Club Action by Chris Bagraiders. Especially the use of Enya's Orinoco Flow (Sail Away). It's defiantly worth taking a look at the Yo Majesty MySpace page as well. Great party music.

Yo Majesty - Club Action (Chris Bagraiders Sailing to Baltimore Edit)

Online Game Sparks Real World Street Brawl. One Dead.

You'd think these guys would have something better to do than kill each other over a video game. Perhaps they could spend more time not having sex with girls.


From Game|Life by Earnest Cavalli.

An in-game dispute between a pair of MMO guilds spilled over into the streets of the Russian city of Ufa recently, leaving one man dead and another in police custody, according to a report by RussiaToday.

Police reports indicate that two Russian guilds (the Platanium and the Coo-clocks) had recently been embroiled in conflict resulting from the (virtual) death of one of the members of the latter guild at the hands of a Platanium member. With the conflict ever-escalating in-game, it was decided that the two groups would settle their differences in the only rational manner: with a violent brawl in the local streets.Link

Steampunk Collage By Stephen Rothwell

Found this one on Boing Boing. Nice Stuff. I especially like the portraits, but they're all pretty amazing. "Collage artist Stephen Rothwell makes astounding steampunk-scented Victorian apocalyptic fancies that tickle me to my toes. I could look at this stuff all day. Link "

The Picture Says It All

Just another test to figure out how this all works. For the record, I plan on having actual content up soon.

Now For The Tunes

Great remix by MSTRKRFT. Even if there is something creepy about children singing. Just me? Meh.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT REMIX)

Guy's Got Skills

For my first ever Blog post, i figured I'd throw up this video of homeboy rocking the beat box. If for no other reason than to figure out how to do it.

That was easy. Sweet.