The Smirking Chimp: "we have been told incessantly since 9/11 by George W. Bush and his fellow jackals that a citizen's utmost patriotic duty, other than shopping, is to be very, very afraid"

"terrorists hate us for our freedoms," thereby requiring America to shovel tons of cash to weapons manufacturers to thwart suicide bombers who target us solely because our liberties are, by their nature, provocative.

Experts: Introverted youth have deep roots for behavior - Yahoo! News: "Introverted children enjoy the internal world of thoughts, feelings and fantasies, and there's a physiological reason for this. Researchers using brain scans have found introverts have more brain activity in general, and specifically in the frontal lobes. When these areas are activated, introverts are energized by retrieving long-term memories, problem solving, introspection, complex thinking and planning"

Yahoo! News Message Boards World News: "So here is how it will play out in Iraq

The conservative Shiites, who Bush is backing, will try to gather as much power, weakening the Sunnis and Kurds and making a grab for a Islamic (As opposed to an Arab) state... much like there is in Iran.

The Sunnis will resist as will the less conservative Shiites, so it will be a civil war... defacto if not in name. The Kurds will sit on the sidelines defending themselves if attacked but waiting for a chance to split off from the fractured state and become independent.

That will anger the Turks, which is a whole other story...

And for all of this we get to blame Bush. The situation was stable under Saddam and it certainly is not now...That is not to say Saddam was a good guy, he wasn't, and the US knew that when they installed him, but he knew enough about the people to be able to keep things stable. (See background here: http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html ) "

Wired News: The Toy Will Bring You Joy: "Once the phone finds The Toy, you're ready to roll. The vibrator responds to text messages as long as they start with '.toy' followed by a space. I followed the directions exactly and sent my first message: '.toy Hi baby.'"

Toy is intended for use when you're away from your partner, whether you're traveling or just going to the office. "Imagine leaving for work, The Toy in place," the manufacturer's copywriter gushes. "Imagine the thrill of receiving a message. Imagine the hunger for that first one

No man wants to pleasure his partner long-distance all day, only to find her nerves deadened and her response exhausted when he joins her in bed at night!

As for connecting the vibration to SMS, it's brilliant. Not because each character in the message can trigger 45 possible vibration effects, but because of the attention required to set off those effects. Each incoming message tells a woman that her partner is thinking about her, and imagining her in a sexual way. Each message communicates that he finds her desirable and sexy.

By evening, she's likely to be feeling amorous from the erotic interaction and the naughtiness of it all. And, of course, aware of her vagina.

INSIDE JoongAng Daily: "Putting the ��liberal' in liberal arts



November 25, 2005 ��

If majoring in philosophy gives a student all the skills he needs to cope with his impending poverty, what kind of skills does a student majoring in pure love learn? How about a major in magic? Mixed martial arts? Motor sports, health diets, 'make-up coordinator' or barrista sciences?"

College is indeed getting weird, and for good reason: weird majors attract students. Unconventional departments not only allow schools to offer their students more choices, but also enable the schools to build reputations for themselves in educational niches. Doing so might attract criticism ¡ª students do, after all, face a tough job market ¡ª but Lee Seung-ju, the spokesman of the Korean Council for College Education, said that majors that appear frivolous might be needed sooner than people realize.
It might be that the tough job market is encouraging students to look into more eccentric professions. The youth unemployment rate stood at 7.2 percent as of last month, and the Federation of Korean Industries has issued statements decrying the difficulty of finding talented college graduates who can immediately enter the workforce.
But if there's a pure love industry, it must be ecstatic.

INSIDE JoongAng Daily: "Department of Butt-whoopin'
Kyungbuk College of Science is also offering a major in a sport that's rapidly becoming popular in Korea: mixed martial arts, better known as K-1 in Japan. The school's Division of Leisure Sports and Recreation started offering the major this year. Eighty student have so far signed up.
'Mixed martial arts, including K-1 and PRIDE Fighting Championships, have been popular in other countries like Japan, the States and Russia for the last 10 years,' said Hong Young-kyu, professor of the department. 'Korea is a bit behind.'
'Noting that K-1 is a mixture of various martial arts, the school thought that it would be good to have such a major,' Mr. Hong added.
The problem is that there are not many experts in K-1. Mr. Hong is just one of a small number of professors who can teach martial arts, having studied it for about 15 years. He teaches Brazilian jiujitsu and Russia's combat sambo style. The school also teaches Thai and Japanese kick-boxing in addition to taekwondo and hapkido, both of which are Korean martial arts.

Department of Chastity
Men like Lee Il-jae, however, aren't fighters: they're lovers. Specifically, Pure Lovers.
Mr. Lee is a professor at the Department of Pure Love at Sunmoon University (which was established by Moon Sun-myung's Unification Church). The love taught here is considered 'pure' because it emphasizes abstinence before marriage, although it also teaches students about contraception.
'Society is extremely open about sex and pure values seem to have eroded,' Mr. Lee said. 'We teach people about sex by showing them true moral values.' The education is based on the values of the Unification Church, Mr. Lee added. The church emphasizes the value of virginity prior to marriage.

Department of Butt-whoopin'
Kyungbuk College of Science is also offering a major in a sport that's rapidly becoming popular in Korea: mixed martial arts, better known as K-1 in Japan. The school's Division of Leisure Sports and Recreation started offering the major this year. Eighty student have so far signed up.
"Mixed martial arts, including K-1 and PRIDE Fighting Championships, have been popular in other countries like Japan, the States and Russia for the last 10 years," said Hong Young-kyu, professor of the department. "Korea is a bit behind."
"Noting that K-1 is a mixture of various martial arts, the school thought that it would be good to have such a major," Mr. Hong added.
The problem is that there are not many experts in K-1. Mr. Hong is just one of a small number of professors who can teach martial arts, having studied it for about 15 years. He teaches Brazilian jiujitsu and Russia's combat sambo style. The school also teaches Thai and Japanese kick-boxing in addition to taekwondo and hapkido, both of which are Korean martial arts.

Department of Chastity
Men like Lee Il-jae, however, aren't fighters: they're lovers. Specifically, Pure Lovers.
Mr. Lee is a professor at the Department of Pure Love at Sunmoon University (which was established by Moon Sun-myung's Unification Church). The love taught here is considered "pure" because it emphasizes abstinence before marriage, although it also teaches students about contraception.
"Society is extremely open about sex and pure values seem to have eroded," Mr. Lee said. "We teach people about sex by showing them true moral values." The education is based on the values of the Unification Church, Mr. Lee added. The church emphasizes the value of virginity prior to marriage.
The students learn how to deal with victims of sexual violence, and to teach sex education to middle and high school students. Mr. Lee said about 60 percent of the course graduates are working abroad for the church teaching sex education or doing missionary work.
Lee Jung-won, 24, the first male student in the department, said he applied for the Pure Love major after learning that purity is not only about virginity but also about living an honest and pure life.
And after graduation?

Drug Smuggler Crowned Miss Penitentiary - Yahoo! News: "SAO PAULO, Brazil - South America's latest beauty queen won't be campaigning abroad for world peace any time soon, unless, of course, she's granted early parole.
Angelica Mazua, a statuesque Angolan serving five years on international drug smuggling charges, on Thursday was voted Miss Penitentiary 2005 after a six-hour contest pitting 40 women inmates from 10 prisons around Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo."

The women, serving sentences for crimes from armed robbery to drug trafficking, were vying to be named Miss Penitentiary 2005 — a title that brings a $160 prize and a break from dreary routine.

Last year's winner, Fernanda Maria de Jesus, gained early release months after her victory, but prison officials insist the shortened sentence had nothing to do with her winning the title.

Prison officials came up with the idea of a beauty contest last year as a way of trying to boost inmates' self-confidence. Judges include celebrities, soccer players and journalists, and there are prizes in three other categories, writing, public speaking and congeniality.

Peru and Colombia also hold beauty contests in prisons. Sao Paulo's is one of the largest, drawing from its female population of almost 4,000 inmates

Wired 13.12: Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.: "It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce.

Of course, Google has always wanted to be more than a search engine. Even in the early days, its ultimate goal was extravagant: to organize the world's information. High-minded as that sounds, Google's ever-expanding agenda has put it on a collision course with nearly every company in the information technology industry: Amazon.com, Comcast, eBay, Yahoo!, even Microsoft"

AP Wire | 11/22/2005 | Bonita Springs man accidentally hit in genitals by Taser: "Bonita Springs man accidentally hit in genitals by Taser

Associated Press


FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. - A naked man was accidentally shocked in the genitals by a Taser after he was found breaking windows and asking women to touch him inappropriately, police said.
Jeremy J. Miljour, 26, of Bonita Springs, attempted to run when approached by Lee County sheriff's deputies Saturday. When he ignored requested to stop, Deputy Daniel Hollywood shot Miljour with a Taser."

Conscious Machines Will Fill The Universe: "Go out to all the world and Preach, posted 21 Nov 2005 at 10:09 CST by cat � (Apprentice)
There are so many religions in the world and each say they have the one true God. What difference would one more or less religion matter? Why couldn't this be a religion? We are fulfilling out destiny
Reply... "

The Smirking Chimp: "Rep. John Murtha, the decorated Vietnam and Korean War Marine vet and conservative Pennsylvania Democrat who stunned Bush administration and Republican congressional warhawks and Democratic go-alongs like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden alike with his call for an immediate U.S. pullout from Iraq, left unsaid one important word in his dramatic turnaround announcement: defeat. "

Conscious Machines Will Fill The Universe: "In the Novemeber issue of ACM's Ubiquity, Subhash Kak of Louisiana State University asks if 'humans will eventually create silicon machines with minds that will slowly spread all over the world, and the entire universe will eventually become a conscious machine?' Along the way he ponders whether consciousness is outside the pale of science altogether and whether the brain is an 'ordinary' machine or a very special type of machine. He covers a lot of ground and a lot of theories of intelligence and consciousness. He notes in the end that 'if machines with consciousness are created, they would be living machines, that is, variations on life forms as we know them.' "

Yahoo! Health News: Scientists find gene for fear in the brain: "Scientists may have found a gene for fear -- a gene that controls production of a protein in the region of the brain linked with fearful responses.
Their finding, published on Thursday, could lead to new treatments for mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety.
The gene, known as stathmin or oncoprotein 18, is highly concentrated in the amygdala, a region of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, the researchers report in Thursday's issue of the journal Cell.
'This is a major advance in the field of learning and memory that will allow for a better understanding of post- traumatic stress disorder, phobias, borderline personality disorder and other human anxiety diseases,' said Gleb Shumyatsky of Rutgers University in New Jersey, who worked on the study.
'It will provide important information on how learned and innate fear is experienced and processed, and may point the way to apply new therapies.'
Mice genetically engineered so they would not produce stathmin had brain irregularities and were less able to remember fear-conditioned responses, the researchers reported.
Learned fear develops after conditioning -- as when a person is stung by a wasp and fears the insects afterward. These memories are formed in the amygdala."
This is the first time it has been shown that the protein called stathmin -- the product of the stathmin gene -- is linked to fear conditioning pathways," said Vadim Bolshakov, director of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at Harvard University's McLean Hospital, who also worked on the study.

Also, the mice showed unusual behavior. Mice instinctively avoid open spaces, but the stathmin-free mice showed no fear and often explored more open areas than normal mice, the researchers found.

So the gene may control both learned and innate fear, the researchers said.

The mice might be useful for testing drugs and other treatments of anxiety disorders, they said.

A low-cost laptop for every child - Yahoo! News: "So far, the MIT group has whittled production costs down to less than $130.
To save money, it will run off the free Linux operating system instead of a proprietary system like Microsoft Windows. But the proposed machine will be full-color, capable of wireless connection to the Internet, and rugged enough to survive getting dropped in the mud.
Five corporate sponsors, including Google and Advanced Micro Devices, have chipped in $2 million apiece to form a nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, to oversee the project.
Nearly a half-dozen developing countries have expressed serious interest in ordering 1 million or more units, says Alexandra Kahn, spokeswoman for the MIT Media Lab.
Also, the UN Development Program has agreed to help distribute the machines, particularly to countries whose orders fall short of the million-unit bar Negroponte had originally set to help keep costs down.
American students could benefit, too."

'The Matrix' is a step closer to reality; Neuroscientists break code on sight: "Now, neuroscientists in the McGovern Institute at MIT have been able to decipher a part of the code involved in recognizing visual objects. Practically speaking, computer algorithms used in artificial vision systems might benefit from mimicking these newly uncovered codes.

The study, a collaboration between James DiCarlo's and Tomaso Poggio's labs, appears in the Nov. 4 issue of Science.

'We want to know how the brain works to create intelligence,' said Poggio, the Eugene McDermott Professor in Brain Sciences and Human Behavior. 'Our ability to recognize objects in the visual world is among the most complex problems the brain must solve. Computationally, it is much harder than reasoning.' Yet we take it for granted because it appears to happen automatically and almost unconsciously.

'This work enhances our understanding of how the brain encodes visual information in a useful format for brain regions involved in action, planning and memory,' said DiCarlo, an assistant professor of neuroscience. "

Want 'War and Peace' Online? How About 20 Pages at a Time? - New York Times: "The idea is to do for books what Apple has done for music, allowing readers to buy and download parts of individual books for their own use through their computers rather than trek to a store or receive them by mail. Consumers could purchase a single recipe from a cookbook, for example, or a chapter on rebuilding a car engine from a repair manual.
The initiatives are already setting off a tug of war among publishers and the potential vendors over who will do business with whom and how to split the proceeds. Random House, the biggest American publisher, proposed a micropayment model yesterday in which readers would be charged about 5 cents a page, with 4 cents of that going to the publisher to be shared with the author. The fact that Random House has already developed such a model indicates that it supports the concept, and that other publishers are likely to follow."