Principa Cybernetica mathematically demonstrates why capitalism is doomed to fail. The pursuit of exclusive individual gain destroys the basis of wealth in the long run. If I may editorialize, and I may, greed is a shit-poor organizing principle for society, which would be obvious if it wasn't the air we breathe.

The problem of suboptimization

"George W. Bush and his henchmen stole the presidency. They threw thousands of innocent people into prison without even charging them with a crime. They're gearing up to invade Iraq without bothering to come up with a substantial justification. Now some Democrats and progressive Americans are asking the unthinkable about an administration they increasingly believe to be ruled by thugs and renegades. Did government gangsters murder the United States' most liberal legislator?
...
Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) may have been a hard line conservative, but had Wellstone died during his watch you wouldn't have heard liberals asking whether the Gipper had had him offed. Bush is different. Asking mailmen to spy on ordinary Americans, creating military tribunals for anyone deemed an "enemy combatant," locking prisoners of war in dog cages, spending a decade's worth of savings in six months, allowing journalists to die rather than provide them with help in a war zone, smearing Democratic politicians as anti-American, invading sovereign nations without excuse--these are acts that transgress essential American reasonableness. A man capable of these things seems, by definition, capable of anything. "

[ Originally from w1ld. At another time with a different government I would be hard pressed to buy it. Frankly, I think Dubya is just stupid enough to do something like this. --Rek ]

THE (POSSIBLE) ASSASSINATION OF PAUL WELLSTONE

"The class-action lawsuit filed in February seeks more than $1 billion compensatory damages and $100 billion in punitive damages from bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network, blaming them for the 9/11 attacks. "
"After years of living in Afghanistan, where he is presumed by the U.S. military to be in hiding today, bin Laden’s reading habits in the isolated nation are not known. In one of the several videos bin Laden has appeared in since the attacks, he made reference to listening to a radio on the day the World Trade Center towers were destroyed.
The multibillion-dollar suit filed by the seven families in Washington was later joined by a $1 trillion lawsuit on behalf of 600 families that names the Saudi Arabian government, international banks and Islamic organizations as sharing responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. The first suit is considered easier to win, as the defendants are not expected to show up in court. "

Can I sign up also in the class action?

[ Originally from w1ld. More stupidity and proof that we're a litigious society. What is the point here?? --Rek ]

Seeking bin Laden in the classifieds

ONCE a week, on Sundays, Hong Kong becomes a different city. Thousands of Filipina women throng into the central business district, around Statue Square, to picnic, dance, sing, gossip and laugh. They snuggle in the shade under the HSBC building, a Hong Kong landmark, and spill out into the parks and streets. They hug. They chatter. They smile. Humanity could stage no greater display of happiness."

Filipinas in Hong Kong

"David Holtzman, editor in chief of GlobalPOV, a privacy Web site, said that the notion of privacy was "undergoing a generational shift." Those in their late 20's and 30's are going to feel the brunt of the transition, he said, because they grew up with more traditional concepts of privacy even as the details of their lives were being captured electronically."

The culture grapples with the loss of anonymnity online. How long before people turn to keeping multiple aliases for different contexts?

[ Originally from Decius. I'm already partially using multiple aliases and soon I will probably become more regimented about it. --Rek ]

Net Users Try to Elude the Google Grasp

"A team from Emory University in Atlanta says they have resolved a question philosophers have been debating for centuries: Why do people cooperate with one another even when it is not in their best interests to do so? "

Is this why using MemeStreams is so much fun?

I've been having conversations for years the people about this very problem. Everyone has philisophical convictions, and they differ. Are humans fundamentally good or evil?

[ Originally from Decius. And, of course, the answer is that they are fundamentally good or, at the very least neutral, and "nurture" can be used to assure their eventual goodness. --Rek ]

Study: Brains Want to Cooperate

Sometimes we need to listen to people who have bad reputations. Often they are the critics, the people with a talent for seeing flaws and problems none of us want to face. Communities can't thrive if they never answer to the least reputable of their members. So, for now I'm waiting for a new community system, one whose wisdom will destroy reputations and replace them with something more meaningful. "

Annalee Newitz is waiting for MemeStreams.

SF Guardian on current 'Reputation Systems' (SIC)

All the news that's fit to print.

the eXile - Moscow-based alternative Newspaper

Here's a primer on the PLO from a specialist at the Congressional Research Service. Identifies the major players involved and provides a paragraph or two on each of them.

Summary: During the current Palestinian uprising, several Palestinian factions apparently linked in varying degrees to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have used violence in an effort to force Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory. There is a debate over the degree to which PLO Chairman and Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat is willing and able to prevent anti-Israel violence by these factions.

The PLO and Its Factions [PDF]

This is very very interesting, beyond it's exposure of the weakness of modern mass media. Read!

"There Are no Secrets

This has been the tagline of my weblog for years.

Now that the Internet has empowered any man or woman to have a voice, the truth can be found.

I tried screaming at my TV, telling the news anchor he was wrong! I have first hand information! Yelling at the newspapers doesn't help much either. Writing on the Web does."

Adam Curry (yes, THAT one) talking about the problems with the mainstream press in the context of a recent assasination in Holland.

DaveNet : Adam Curry: The Big Lie