Monthly Archive for May, 2006

Playing God: Ghosts in the Machine

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 19, 2006
in Robots/A.I.
. 0 Comments

Five European research institutes are collaborating on the NEW TIES project to create a world populated by randomly generated software beings, capable of developing their own language and culture.

The multidisciplinary team has a dual goal: to study natural processes (like language development), and to advance the construction of collective artificial intelligence.

For the linguists and sociologists, the main motivation is to study existing processes in societies and languages. The computer scientists on the other hand want to develop and study machine collaboration, with an eye on future applications in robotics.

ist

Read the full post "Playing God: Ghosts in the Machine" (1011 words, estimated 4:03 mins reading time)

Robot Carries Out Operation By Itself

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 19, 2006
in Robots/A.I.
. 0 Comments

For the first time, a robot surgeon has carried out a long-distance heart operation by itself.

The 50-minute surgery, which took place in a Milan hospital, was carried out on a 34-year-old patient suffering from atrial fibrillation. Dozens of heart specialists attending an international congress on arrhythmia in Boston also watched.

science daily

Read the full post "Robot Carries Out Operation By Itself" (102 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Your Telco Owes You $1,000

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 19, 2006
in Big Brother and Inc. Shenanigans
. 0 Comments

If your telephone company is one of the companies that decided to take financial compensation from the federal government in exchange for illegally proving your records to them they owe you $1,000. Now IANAL but this seems pretty damn clear cut to me.

The Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Records Access, Section 2703© outlines exactly five reasons that a phone company can disclose your records to the fed:

a warrant
a court order
the customer’s consent
for telemarketing enforcement
administrative subpoena

Keep in mind that the NSA does not have subpoena power and it is easy to see that not only is your federal government breaking the law by stripping you of your expectation of privacy in your papers and effects but that the Telcos are breaking the law by supplying this info to the Fed.

Section 2707 of the Communications Act says that the phone company are liable for $1000 per individual violation of the Act and outlines a private right of action to any customer “aggrieved by any violation.”

So there you go, a clear cut explanation of why your phone company ( unless you are lucky enough to be a Qwest customer ) owes you $1,000. If there is one thing that big corporations understand is profit and loss – I think handing out millions of thousand dollar checks will get their attention.

this damn blog

Read the full post "Your Telco Owes You $1,000" (234 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

Does Real Law Apply To Virtual Worlds?

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 19, 2006
in Games and Law
. 0 Comments

A US gamer has filed a “first-of-its-kind” lawsuit in an acrimonious dispute over the sale of virtual land within the online role-playing game Second Life.

The suit highlights the large amounts of money many gamers are now spending in the hope of reaping a profit within their chosen virtual world.

Second Life lets players buy land and build structures that can then be leased or sold on to other players, often for a profit. The game’s currency, Linden dollars, can be easily exchanged for real cash.

Marc Bragg, an attorney from Pennsylvania, US, filed the suit against the company behind Second Life, Linden Lab based in California, US. He accuses the company of deactivating his account after he discovered a loophole that enabled him to buy virtual land cheaply within the game.

The suit, filed in a local district court, seeks financial restitution for Bragg who claims he invested around $32,000 in the virtual land. “This is probably the first dispute of its kind,” Bragg says in a statement posted online. “This suit challenges the legitimacy of a virtual intangible purchase of an asset.”

Read the full post "Does Real Law Apply To Virtual Worlds?" (400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Comprehensive Energy Plan for US… Written By Bloggers

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 18, 2006
in Energy/Fuel
. 0 Comments

Energize America (Draft 5)

Written by Jérôme Guillet (Jerome a Paris), George Karayannis (Doolittle Sothere), Timothy Lange (Meteor Blades) and Mark Sumner (devilstower)
Contributing Editors: A Siegel, besieged by bush, btower, chriscol, Chris Kulczycki, deb9, deety, Engineer Poet, mateosf and dozens of other helpful Kossacks and netizens.

Following is the fifth version of a Kossack-generated (Kossacks are members of the blog Daily Kos) strategic energy plan designed to provide the United States with energy security by 2020 and energy independence by 2040.

Objectives:

To provide the U.S. with Energy Security by 2020 and Energy Independence by 2040 by: 1) reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75%, 2) reducing oil imports by 50%, 3) generating 25% of electricity from renewable sources, and 4) creating or preserving over three million new jobs by 2020.

20 Point Plan:

I…....The Passenger Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Act (“500mpg cars”)

II…...The Transportation Industry Efficiency Act (“Long Haul”)

III…..The Fleets Conversion Act (“Mass Transit”)

IV…..The Community-Based Energy Investment Act (“Neighborood Power”)

V…...The Passenger Rail Restoration Act (“Bullet Trains”)

VI…..The Clean Coal Generation Act (“Clean Coal”)

VII….The Wind Energy Production Tax Credit Act (“Harvest the Wind”)

VIII…The 20 Million Solar Roof Act (“Harness the Sun”)

IX…..The Renewable Portfolio Standards Act (“Fair Everywhere”)

X…...The Federal Net Metering Act (“Get on the Grid”)

XI…..The State-Based Renewable Energy Investment Act (“Green States”)

XII….The New Energy Technology Demonstration Act (“Liquid Coal and Golden Glow”)

XIII…The Sustainable Energy Economic Prosperity Act (“Focused for Lasting Success”)

XIV…The Carbon Reduction Act (“Atmosphere Stability”)

XV….The Federal Energy Policy Enforcement Act (“People’s Energy Watchdog”)

XVI…The National Energy Efficiency & Conservation Act (“EnergySMART”)

XVII..The Home Efficiency Act (“C the Light”)

XVIII.The Demand Side Management Act (“Real Time Energy Pricing”)

XIX…The Telecommuter Assistance Act (“Work Smart”)

XX….The Energy Security Funding Act (“Paying the Piper”)

Read the whole Energize America proposal (.pdf). Although the plan has gone through 5 drafts, they are still open to critical analysis and suggestions. This could be your opportunity to help influence US policy.

Read the full post "Comprehensive Energy Plan for US… Written By Bloggers" (331 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

FBI Raids Top CIA Official’s Home

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 12, 2006
in Big Brother
. 0 Comments

US federal agents have searched the house and office of the outgoing executive director of the CIA.

Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, formerly the third-ranking official at the spy agency, announced his retirement earlier this week.

He has been linked to a probe into possible corruption involving agency contracts, but denies any wrongdoing.

The raid comes at a time of upheaval for the CIA after the shock resignation of its head, Porter Goss, last week.

FBI agents with warrants searched Mr Foggo’s home in Virginia and his office at the CIA headquarters, FBI spokeswoman April Langwell said.

She said Mr Foggo was being investigated by five government agencies.

bbc

Read the full post "FBI Raids Top CIA Official’s Home" (307 words, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

Majority of Americans OK with NSA Spying

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 12, 2006
in Big Brother
. 2 Comments

A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority—66 percent—said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

Underlying those views is the belief that the need to investigate terrorism outweighs privacy concerns. According to the poll, 65 percent of those interviewed said it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats “even if it intrudes on privacy.” Three in 10—31 percent—said it was more important for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.

Half—51 percent—approved of the way President Bush was handling privacy matters.

The survey results reflect initial public reaction to the NSA program. Those views that could change or deepen as more details about the effort become known over the next few days.

Washington Post

Read the full post "Majority of Americans OK with NSA Spying" (468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Light’s Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes … Backwards?

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 12, 2006
in Physics
. 0 Comments

In the past few years, scientists have found ways to make light go both faster and slower than its usual speed limit, but now researchers at the University of Rochester have published a paper today in Science on how they’ve gone one step further: pushing light into reverse. As if to defy common sense, the backward-moving pulse of light travels faster than light.

Confused? You’re not alone.

“I’ve had some of the world’s experts scratching their heads over this one,” says Robert Boyd, the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester. “Theory predicted that we could send light backwards, but nobody knew if the theory would hold up or even if it could be observed in laboratory conditions.”

Boyd recently showed how he can slow down a pulse of light to slower than an airplane, or speed it up faster than its breakneck pace, using exotic techniques and materials. But he’s now taken what was once just a mathematical oddity—negative speed—and shown it working in the real world.

ScienceBlog

Read the full post "Light’s Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes … Backwards?" (1038 words, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)

NZ Firm Makes Bio-diesel From Sewage

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 12, 2006
in Energy/Fuel
. 0 Comments
A New Zealand company has successfully turned sewage into modern-day gold.

Marlborough-based Aquaflow Bionomic yesterday announced it had produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel from algae in sewage ponds.

It is believed to be the world’s first commercial production of bio-diesel from “wild” algae outside the laboratory – and the company expects to be producing at the rate of at least one million litres of the fuel each year from Blenheim by April.

New Zealand Herald

Read the full post "NZ Firm Makes Bio-diesel From Sewage" (242 words, estimated 58 secs reading time)

Scientists Create The First Synthetic Nanoscale Fractal Molecule

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 12, 2006
in Nanotechnology and Organization/Systems/Chaos
. 0 Comments

From snowflakes to the leaves on a tree, objects in nature are made of irregular molecules called fractals. Scientists now have created and captured an image of the largest man-made fractal molecule at the nanoscale.

The molecule, developed by researchers at the University of Akron, Ohio University and Clemson University, eventually could lead to new types of photoelectric cells, molecular batteries and energy storage, according to the scientists, whose study was published online today by the journal Science.

A University of Akron research team led by Vice President for Research George Newkome used molecular self-assembly techniques to synthesize the molecule in the laboratory. The molecule, bound with ions of iron and ruthenium, forms a hexagonal gasket.

Ohio University physicists Saw-Wai Hla and Violeta Iancu, who specialize in imaging objects at the nanoscale, confirmed the creation of the man-made fractal. To capture the image, the physicists sprayed the molecules onto a piece of gold, chilled them to minus 449 degrees Fahrenheit to keep them stable, and then viewed them with a scanning tunneling microscope.

sciencedialy

Read the full post "Scientists Create The First Synthetic Nanoscale Fractal Molecule" (545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Should Government-Funded Research be Free?

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 11, 2006
in Freedom of Information
. 0 Comments

Is it fair for the government to fund scientific research, only to have that research locked up in a US$300 academic journal? Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Lieberman (D-CT) don’t think so, and they’ve got a plan to change the current system. That plan is the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (PDF), a new bit of legislation making its way through the senate. The bill mandates that most federally funded research be freely published online after publication in an academic journal.

The bill contains a few caveats, though: such publication won’t take place until at least six months after an article appears in a journal, and it won’t necessarily be an exact copy of the journal article. If the publisher refuses to allow for a copy from the journal, the author’s own copy of the paper’s final version will be used instead.

Ars Technica

Read the full post "Should Government-Funded Research be Free?" (585 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

NSA Is Keeping A Database of Americans’ Phone Calls

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 11, 2006
in Big Brother
. 0 Comments

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added.

USAToday

Read the full post "NSA Is Keeping A Database of Americans’ Phone Calls" (2500 words, estimated 10:00 mins reading time)

‘Baby’ Robot Learns Like a Human

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 7, 2006
in Consciousness/Psych/Brain and Robots/A.I.
. 0 Comments

A robot that learns to interact with the world in a similar way to a human baby could provide researchers with fresh insights into biological intelligence.

Created by roboticists from Italy, France and Switzerland, “Babybot” automatically experiments with objects nearby and learns how best to make use of them. This gives the robot an ability to develop motor skills in the same way as a human infant.

The robot consists of a one-armed torso with a pair of cameras for eyes and a grasping hand. It has an in-built desire to physically experiment with objects on the table in front of it and an ability to assess different forms of interaction and learn from mistakes. If the robot fails to grasp an object securely, for example, it remembers and tries a differently strategy next time. One unbidden skill developed by Babybot was the ability to roll a bottle across its table.

One video (avi format) shows the robot experimenting with a rubber duck, while another clip shows Babybot examining a ball.

NewScientist

Read the full post "‘Baby’ Robot Learns Like a Human" (520 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Colbert Rips On Bush Administration @ White House Press Dinner

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 1, 2006
in Activism, Big Brother, Freedom of Information and Political
. 0 Comments

We seldom start a week by sending readers away, but we’ll have to make an exception today: If you haven’t seen Stephen Colbert’s appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, go watch it now, or read the transcript.

We shouldn’t have to say that. What Colbert did to the president and the press corps is news: He didn’t shoot anybody Saturday night at the Hinckley Hilton, but he laid them out in just about every other way imaginable. It was as an “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment played out with George W. Bush and his court forced to watch, and you ought to have seen it and talked about it and read reporting and analysis on it by now.

It’s not your fault if you haven’t. The Washington Post had a few not-quite-getting-the-point mentions of Colbert’s act, but Colbert didn’t get half the ink the paper spilled on appearances by George Clooney and Morgan Fairchild and other celebrities at Bloomberg’s after-party. The New York Times’ Elisabeth Bumiller wrote almost 1,000 words on the annual dinner this year, but not one of them was “Colbert.”

Why did Colbert matter?

In trying to describe what Colbert did Saturday night, we have a little sympathy for the reporters who didn’t do it themselves. In the core of his performance, standing just feet away from the president, Colbert adopted Bush’s phony or just feckless “from the gut” style of talking and thinking, then revealed it for the international embarrassment that it is. You can’t say something like that without sounding strident and heavy-handed; if you’re a reporter for a major American newspaper, you can’t really say it at all. But over the course of 10 minutes or so—for the president, it must have seemed much longer—that’s what Colbert did. He put the lie to the Bush presidency: Iraq, domestic spying, the outing of Valerie Plame and all the the folksy, consistency-and-character crap that’s so often used to legitimize it all.

salon

Read the full post "Colbert Rips On Bush Administration @ White House Press Dinner" (619 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Billions Wasted in Rebuilding Iraq , Says US Audit

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on May 1, 2006
in Big Brother, Inc. Shenanigans, Iraq and Military
. 0 Comments

A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

  • In one case, the inspection team found that three years after the invasion only six of 150 health centres proposed for Iraq had been completed by a US contractor, in spite of 75% of the $186m (£100m) allocated having been spent.

  • The report says Mr Bowen’s inspection team is investigating 72 cases of alleged fraud and corruption, and is pursuing leads not only in the US but in Europe and the Middle East.

  • In a separate section, the report notes that a former contractor and former senior staffer in the now defunct US-led coalition government are facing jail sentences 30 to 40 years on corruption charges.The contractor will have to pay $3.6m in restitution and forfeit $3.6m in assets.

    • GuardianUK

    Read the full post "Billions Wasted in Rebuilding Iraq , Says US Audit" (912 words, estimated 3:39 mins reading time)