No Mistakes Only Experiments

The US is set to reposition its Navy fleet with the majority of its warships to be assigned to the Asia-Pacific by 2020. But this military strategy has nothing to do with US-Chinese rivalry in the region, the defense secretary assures.

The US would reposition its Navy so that 60 per cent of its warships would be assigned to the Asia-Pacificregion by 2020, compared to about 50 per cent now, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told senior civilian and military leaders from about 30 Asia-Pacific nations at an annual security forum in Singapore…

…Panetta reiterated he was committed to a “healthy, stable, reliable and continuous” military-to-military relationship with China, but underscored the need for Beijing to support a system to clarify rights in the region and help to resolve disputes.

Riiiiight. Why does that sound like “I’m not racist but…”

Over the next decade, new implantable technologies will fundamentally alter the social landscape. We are fast approaching a milestone in the eons-long relationship between human beings and their technology. Families once gathered around the radio like it was a warm fireplace. Then boom boxes leapt onto our shoulders. The Sony Walkman climbed into our pockets and sank its black foam tentacles into our ears. The newest tools are creeping still closer: They will soon come inside and make themselves at home under our skin—some already have.

EUROPEANS may have used magic mushrooms to liven up religious rituals 6000 years ago. So suggests a cave mural in Spain, which may depict fungi with hallucinogenic properties - the oldest evidence of their use in Europe.

The Selva Pascuala mural, in a cave near the town of Villar del Humo, is dominated by a bull. But it is a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects that interests Brian Akers at Pasco-Hernando Community College in New Port Richey, Florida, and Gaston Guzman  at the Ecological Institute of Xalapa in Mexico. They believe that the objects are the fungi Psilocybe hispanica , a local species with hallucinogenic properties.

questionall:

americawakiewakie:

The Dutch government has decided that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) is not good for privacy or internet freedom and therefore shouldn’t be signed. In doing so, the Netherlands has opted not to wait for the EU’s vote on Acta, scheduled for June.

Not only that, however, but Dutch MPs have also ruled that the government will never sign any treaties that are similar to Acta. A motion was passed promising to reject any future treaty that might harm a “free and open” internet. Acta needs to be ratified by the European and national parliaments in order to enter into full effect.

Acta is an international agreement that aims to create international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. The title of the treaty suggests the agreement deals with counterfeit goods, such as medicines and luxury goods. However, the treaty actually has a much broader scope and will deal with tools targeting internet distribution and information technology. It has come under heavy criticism from civil rights and privacy campaigners who are concerned about the sneaky way that the treaty was developed and the lack of clarity in the wording of the treaty.

For more detail, see our comprehensive guide to Acta and why you should be worried about it.

The Dutch house of representatives ruled (according to a translation by Dutch blog Bits of Freedom) that the treaty interferes with the liberties of the individual internet users and that it leaves too much room for “extensive interpretation with negative consequences for the privacy and internet freedom of citizens and innovation for enterprises”.

The government pointed out that international-level agreements like this are very difficult to modify and can, therefore, impede future reform of copyright law. MP Kees Verhoeven said in a statement that “strict enforcement of intellectual property on the internet is no solution for the ongoing difficulties regarding copyright law and interferes with internet freedom.”

Instead, the government intends to focus copyright policy on enabling new revenue models for legal content online, which can help drive economic growth.

Source

Yeah! At least one country understands we need a free and open internet!

existentialistmumbojumbo:

As fossil fuel emissions continue to climb, reducing the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth would definitely have a cooling effect on surface temperatures.

However, a new study from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, led by atmospheric scientist Govindasamy Bala, shows that this intentional manipulation of solar radiation also could lead to a less intense global water cycle. Decreasing surface temperatures through “geoengineering” also could mean less rainfall.

The reduction in sunlight can be accomplished by geoengineering schemes. There are two classes: the so-called “sunshade” geoengineering scheme, which would mitigate climate change by intentionally manipulating the solar radiation on the earth’s surface; the other category removes atmospheric CO₂ and sequesters it into the terrestrial vegetation, oceans or deep geologic formations.

In the new climate modeling study, which appears in the May 27-30 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bala and his colleagues Karl Taylor and Philip Duffy demonstrate that the sunshade geoengineering scheme could slow down the global water cycle.

After a hearing in the House of Representatives, the Department of Homeland Security was forced to release their list of hundreds of words that will trigger analysts to monitor behavior online. Naturally, the list contains words such as Al Qaeda, terrorism, and bomb, but there are some rather odd, yet interesting words as well.