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No More Mr. Nice Scammer

Given how violence permeates modern American society, I suppose it should be a touch surprising that it has taken e-mail scammers this long to get with the program. Here is the beginning of my very first received e-mail scam threat...

ATTN.

LISTEN VERY CAREFUL, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN CONTACT YOU, MY TEAM HAS BEEN PAID TO ASSASINATE YOU, AND I HAVE EVERY REASON TO CARRY OUT THE CONTRACT,BUT I DECIDED TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE AND SAVE YOUR FAMILY THIS PAIN,THIS YOUR ALTERNATIVE,I WISH TO HELP YOU UNLESS YOU DONT WANT TO HELP YOUR SELF,I WILL SEND YOU ENOUGH EVIDENCE YOU NEED ON A VIDEO TAPE RECORD TO NAIL MY EMPLOYER DOWN WITH THE LAW.

BEFORE THAT YOU’RE REQUIRED TO MAKE AVAILABLE THE SUM OF $70,000. USD, AFTER WHICH I WILL DIRECT YOU ON WHAT TO DO NEXT TO SAVE YOUR SELF AND YOUR FAMILY FROM THIS PAIN THAT WOULD HAVE BEFALLEN YOU FROM MY EMPLOYER, THE MONEY WILL BE USED TO SETTLE THE TEAM MEN INVOLVED TO GO BACK TO THERE DESTINATIONS AND YOU BETTER KEEP THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR SELF BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHO IS WHO WHERE YOU ARE NOW, IF HE FINDS OUT I HAVE BETRAYED HIM TRYING TO HELP YOU, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR SELF TO BLAME, I HAVE ORDERED MY MEN TO STAY AWAY FROM YOU.

DO WE HAVE A DEAL OR NOT?

Need I add that the "sender" has a very ominous sounding Muslim name? And given the current state of the economy, he might have produced greater results by applying some basic marketing/pricing strategies and demanding, say, $69,900.00

Genetically Modified Foods

The following is excerpted from an interview of scientist Arpad Pusztai, conducted by Ken Roseboro.

Why is genetic engineering a risky technology?

Gene insertion is a major problem. You cannot direct where the splicing of the genetic construct will happen. It is well known that when you insert a genetic construct into the DNA network of a plant, you create changes in that network. As a result, you will get changes in the functionality of the plant's own genes. They may become more active or silent. The effects will be unpredictable and uncontrollable. It can sometimes cause irreparable damage to the genome. This is insertional mutagenesis.

The biotechnology industry simply overrides this concern. They say we don't have to worry about it, and if you raise your voice, you are called a Luddite.

Fundamentally the science of genetic engineering is crap. One gene expressing one protein is the basis of genetic engineering, but the Human Genome Project discovered 23,000 genes, and there are 200,000 proteins in every cell. With this discovery, genetic engineering should have disappeared into the dustbin, but the biotechnology industry is so strong. Genetic engineering is a product driven technology. If you have enough money to throw at it, you can do many things. But the industry won't waste money on safety assessment.

What are some of the studies you are aware of showing negative health impacts of GM foods?

In addition to the organ ultrastructural studies showing up significant changes, the most important studies are ones that showed alterations in the immune system. The Australian study (showing that GM peas caused immune damage in mice), the recent Italian study (showing immune disturbances in mice fed GM corn), and the reproduction studies of Irina Ermakova and more recently the Austrian study (showing reduced fertility in mice fed GM corn).

Although the significance of these studies is questioned by the biotech industry and regulatory agencies, in scientific terms the writing is on the wall for the present genetic modification technique.

read the full interview here

9/11 Conspiricy Theory: Can you explain it away?

This is a topic that I have not touched on previously, but one which has piqued my interest to varying degrees during the past several years. As you may know, there are quite a few smart people who have challenged the various official 9/11 stories, but what you may not know is that some of them have built very powerful cases.

It seems to me that the most questionable event and subsequent official explanation was the collapse of WTC 7. That building suffered no strike by airplanes on 9/11, yet it collapsed. The official explanation was that fires were the cause for the collapse, but as many have pointed out, that really does not pass serious scrutiny. No other steel skyscraper has ever been to known to collapse due to fire, as normal fires are insufficiently hot to cause such a collapse. Even the heat levels of burning jet fuel, which was of course present in the two main towers, is arguably insufficient.

Some have also mentioned the possibility of there having been damage done to the building by falling debris. But the problem with that is the manner in which the building fell. In other words, it is difficult to concieve of such a smooth, vertical implosion, if one side of the building had been badly damaged.

But the reason that I bring up WTC 7 now, is that there has been some new evidence published recently to support an alternative theory as to what may have been responsible for the building's collapse. That theory, which is understandably and accurately considered to be a 'conspiricy' theory, is that the building was actually brought down by a form of controlled demolition.

This evidence, painstakingly detailed by Jim Hoffman, suggests (if not proves) that there was residue of "unignited aluminothermic explosives" found in the rubble of WTC 7. Hoffman elaborates in great scientific detail, and then asks a number of trenchant questions which, I believe, warrant answers.

If any of you happen to have a scientific background, I would be very interested in hearing your reaction to Hoffman's article. And irrespective of whether you find serious flaws in it, or find it to be compelling, I'll be happy to publish any serious responses.

Hoffman's analysis can be read here

Here is a broader overview of the questions surrounding the WTC 7 case

The Dopamine Myth

I've just read an elegant study on the neuroscience of gambling that wonderfully illustrates why the dopamine equals pleasure myth, so often thrown around by the media, is too tired to be useful.

I have seen countless news reports that claim that some activity or other causes dopamine to be released; that dopamine is the 'pleasure chemical'; and that it's also released by 'drugs', 'sex', 'gambling' and 'chocolate' (a quartet I have named the four dopamen of the neurocalypse).

Normally, this breathless attempt to make something sound sexy is followed by a slightly sinister bit where they say that this dopamine activity is also likely to make it 'addictive'.

Dopamine is involved in drug addiction, but the over-extended cliché is drivel, not least because the dopamine neurons start firing in the nucleus accumbens when any reward is expected. Whether it be heroin, a glass of water when you're thirsty, or your favourite book on calculus - if that's what floats your boat.

And herein lies the subtlety. Our best evidence tells us that while the dopamine system has many functions, it's not really a reward system - it's most likely a reward expectancy system of some kind. Theories of exactly what form this takes differ in the details, but it certainly seems to be active when we're expecting a reward, whether it actually turns up or not.

The study on gambling, led by neuroscientist Luke Clark, demonstrates that this is true even when the actual experience is unpleasant.

more at Mind Hacks

No Illusion

Henry Behrens, 30" tall, and then (1956) the smallest man in the world, dancing with his pet cat in the doorway of his Worthing home.

via Nothing To Do With Arbroath

How much of the day are you aware - just basically aware of what life is presenting - rather than being lost in waking sleep, in being identified with whatever you're doing, almost as if you didn't exist?

To what extent do you blindly drift from one form of comfort to another, from one daydream or fantasy to another, from one secure place to another, in order to avoid the anxious quiver of discomfort or insecurity? How much of your energy is used to fortify a particular self-image, or to simply please others in order to gain approval, instead of devoting your energy to living a genuine life?

– Ezra Bayda

via Whiskey River

Ah Yes, Males [sigh]

In today's encore excerpt - from the annals of evolutionary psychology, the observation that males want lots of sex, and sometimes bring gifts:

In species after species, females are coy and males are not. Indeed, males are so dim in their sexual discernment they may pursue things other than females. Among some kinds of frogs, mistaken homosexual courtship is so common that a 'release call' is used by males who find themselves in the clutches of another male to notify them that they are both wasting their time. Male snakes, for their part, have been known to spend a while with dead females before moving on to a live prospect. And male turkeys will avidly court a stuffed replica of a female turkey. In fact, a replica of a female turkey's head suspended fifteen inches from the ground will generally do the trick. The male circles the head, does its ritual displays, and then (confident, presumably, that its performance has been impressive) rises into the air and comes down in the proximity of the female's backside, which turns out not to exist. The more virile males will show such interest even when a wooden head is used, and a few can summon lust for a wooden head with no eyes or beak. ...

For a species low in [the need] for male parental [involvement], the basic dynamic of courtship, as we've seen, is pretty simple: the male really wants sex; the female isn't so sure. She may want time to (unconsciously) assess the quality of his genes, whether by inspecting him or letting him battle with other males for her favor. She may also pause to weigh the chances that he carries a disease. And she may try to extract a precopulation gift, taking advantage of the high demand for her eggs. This 'nuptial offering' - which technically constitutes a tiny male parental investment, since it nourishes her and her eggs - is seen in a variety of species, ranging from primates to black-tipped hanging flies. The female hanging fly insists on having a dead insect to eat during sex. If she finishes before the male is finished, she may head off in search of another meal, leaving him high and dry. If she isn't so quick, the male may repossess the leftovers for subsequent dates.

reprinted from Richard Vague's always stimulating Delancy Place blog

Going postal

For all its inability to stay in tune with changing consumer trends, technology advances, a warming planet and a deep economic crisis, the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) might as well have given all their mail carriers Hummers to drive on their appointed rounds in recent years. As it turns out, the USPS and Hummer’s parent company, General Motors, have a lot in common these days. Both are currently generating multibillion dollar annual losses, pushing products that ever fewer people want, burdening themselves with bloated payrolls and huge fixed-cost infrastructures, continuing to roll up enormous unfunded pension obligations, and contending with some of the largest and most powerful labor unions on earth. Both, too, are expecting the American taxpayer to bail them out.

There are also, however, some differences. We all know what an American automobile company is: a private corporation (or at least it was until a few weeks ago). But almost no Americans know what the U.S. Postal Service is, and it’s easy to forgive their ignorance.

The USPS is the successor to what used to be a full-fledged government department—namely, the Post Office Department, founded in 1792. So much a part of government was it that its rationale is mentioned in the Constitution, and the Postmaster General was in the line of succession to the Presidency—last in line, yes, but in line all the same. So things remained until President Richard M. Nixon’s Administration reorganized the Post Office Department in 1970 in response to a debilitating strike by postal workers, establishing the newly branded USPS as a “corporation-like” independent agency. What did, and does, this mean?

much more valuable background and insights into the USPS from Georg Jensen can be read at The American Interest

Maru!

Of the countless cats whose qualities (cute or otherwise) have been shared on Youtube, Maru, in my view, stands far ahead of the ~~pack~~ litter. He is exceptionally intelligent, curious, and, of course, irresistible. His owner documents his amusing exploits regularly, so there is much more to be enjoyed beyond this 'Big Box' episode.

If there is a single bright spot in the financial crisis, it is the possibility that one day producer Jerry Bruckheimer will run out of money.

-- Jessica Reaves, from a review of the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE

A TRIBUTE TO (Older) EUROPEAN TRAINS

A friend put his finger on it exactly. You want the older trains, the trains with the compartments enclosing six or eight seats. You want the trains with the sun-washed drapes and the yellow-tinged headrest, marked by decades of not-so-recently-washed hair. You want the train with the sliding glass door that lets you into a narrow hallway along the left side of the train car. You would prefer the train with a rudimentary toilet that flushes by means of a foot pedal, in which, as a man, you can watch yourself pee straight down through the rusty tube onto the track rushing by in a ruffle of wooden slats below. Clickety-clak, clickety-clak. "Do not use the toilet while the train is in or near the station," says the sign.

Europe is a train. The countries are all so close together, train close. A plane won't do it, the fly by is too fast. You must fly over vast quantities of land or sea to get something out of an airplane ride. You have to stare out the window for hours at the unchanging surface of the ocean or the mesmerizing openness of the American plains. That's when the immensity of it gets to you, that's when you understand something about space. To understand space in Europe you have to be on a train.

more from the excellent Morgan Meis at 3 Quarks Daily

Joe Frazier, 1971

via this isn't happiness

Six Years Old

Yes, you read correctly.

Further Drug company OuTrages

The Wall Street Journal's health blog reports that drug company Cephalon are trying to get jet lag recognised as a 'circadian rhythm sleep disorder' in an attempt to promote their stay-up-forever drugs modafinil and armodafinil.

Modafinil, under the trade name Provigil, is currently a big seller for the company owing to the fact that it deletes the need for sleep and improves concentration typically without making the person feel particularly 'wired'.

It's licensed for the treatment of narcolepsy but is widely used by people without a prescription to stay awake and fend off mental tiredness.

Unfortunately, for Cephalon, modafinil will go out of patent in 2012, meaning its profit making capabilities virtually disappear as competitors will be able to produce the compound at a markedly reduced price.

In the mean time, the company has been developing a very similar but newly patentable drug named armodafinil. In fact, armodafinil has been created by a common ploy used by drug companies when they need to renew a patent on a drug.

Many drug molecules have two versions - both identical but mirror images of each other. Drugs work when the drug molecule 'hand' inserts itself into the appropriately matching neuroreceptor 'glove'.

In the same way that you can't put your left hand into a right glove, mirror image drug molecules need their matching receptor and each might have a different effect.

Many drugs, like modafinil, are mixture of both left and right-handed enantiomers, even though only one of the mirror images has the desired effect. In the case of modafinil, it's the right-handed mirror image that seems the most potent.

So a common drug company ploy is to released a new drug which has been synthesised to remove the inactive or less active molecule.

Armodafinil, their new drug, is just this. It's just the right-handed modafinil molecules.

So essentially it's the same drug but without the action of the other 'half'. This can sometimes reduce side effects, or improve the action of the drug, but in general the difference is relatively minor.

Importantly though, you can get a new patent on this synthesized version, meaning profit is guaranteed as long as you can convince people that your new drug is worth switching too. And this is where the spin comes in.

Because in many countries drug must be approved for a medical problem, Cephalon are trying to get jet lag classified as a disorder so they have a whole new market for their compound.

more from Vaughan at Mind Hacks

Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.

– Ta Te Ching 10,
(translated by Peter Merel)

I Want an 'All Maggie' Roll

The US Postal Service will begin selling stamps featuring The Simpsons on May 7th.

“This is the biggest and most adhesive honor The Simpsons has ever received,” said Matt Groening, creator and executive producer of The Simpsons.

via Neatorama

A, B, C...

I can now safely say that there is no one I would prefer to listen to and watch recite the alphabet than James Earl Jones. And if you happen to have a young child, he or she will enjoy it too!

Peru: Hell and Back

For centuries, Amazonian shamans have used ayahuasca as a window into the soul. The sacrament, they claim, can cure any illness. The author joins in this ancient ritual and finds the worlds within more terrifying—and enlightening—than ever imagined.

I will never forget what it was like. The overwhelming misery. The certainty of never-ending suffering. No one to help you, no way to escape. Everywhere I looked: darkness so thick that the idea of light seemed inconceivable.

Suddenly, I swirled down a tunnel of fire, wailing figures calling out to me in agony, begging me to save them. Others tried to terrorize me. "You will never leave here," they said. "Never. Never."

I found myself laughing at them. "I'm not scared of you," I said. But the darkness became even thicker; the emotional charge of suffering nearly unbearable. I felt as if I would burst from heartbreak—everywhere, I felt the agony of humankind, its tragedies, its hatreds, its sorrows. I reached the bottom of the tunnel and saw three thrones in a black chamber. Three shadowy figures sat in the chairs; in the middle was what I took to be the devil himself.

"The darkness will never end," he said. "It will never end. You can never escape this place."

"I can," I replied.

All at once, I willed myself to rise. I sailed up through the tunnel of fire, higher and higher until I broke through to a white light. All darkness immediately vanished. My body felt light, at peace. I floated among a beautiful spread of colors and patterns. Slowly my ayahuasca vision faded. I returned to my body, to where I lay in the hut, insects calling from the jungle.

"Welcome back," the shaman said.

The next morning, I discovered the impossible: The severe depression that had ruled my life since childhood had miraculously vanished.

much more from Kira Salak at National Geographic

Simple / Complex

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”

— JOHN GALL

If there’s a formula to Apple’s success over the past 10 years, that’s it. Start with something simple and build it, grow it, improve it, steadily over time. Evolve it.

The iPhone exemplifies this strategy. There’s a long list of features many experts and pundits claimed the original 1.0 iPhone needed but lacked. Ends up it didn’t need any of them. Nice to have is not the same thing as necessary. But things the iPhone did have, which other phones lacked, truly were necessary in terms of providing the sort of great leap forward in the overall experience that Apple was shooting for.

[snip]

One obvious but wrong answer would have been for Apple to start with a phone. That’s what most companies in the mobile handset industry have done and it’s led them to a dead end. The problem is that while successful complex systems evolve from simple systems that work, not every simple system that works can support additional complexity. It’s not enough just to start simple, you have to start simple with a framework designed for future evolution and growth.

Consider that none of the major new features in the iPhone OS 3.0 software is related to the telephone. MMS comes closest, but even that doesn’t pertain to phone calls. The “phone” in “iPhone” is much more about ubiquitous always-on wireless TCP/IP networking than it is about the 20th century conception of telephony.

The other obvious path Apple could have taken would have been to start with what we then knew as an iPod. That wouldn’t have supported this sort of evolution, either.

Apple started instead with the idea of a general-purpose pocket-sized networked computer. It no more has a single main purpose than a desktop PC has a single main purpose. Telephony is simply one feature among many, whereas on most other phones, the features are attached to the side of the telephone. They sold 30 million iPhone OS devices in the first 18 months after 29 June 2007, but 13 million of those were non-phone iPod Touches — proving that the platform is clearly appealing even when the “phone” is entirely removed.