More related to my #86/87

declassified military microwave pdf

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 3 2008 18:15 utc | 101

america remains a profoundly racist nation. it cannot overcome that fear. the monstrous mccain will win

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 3 2008 22:19 utc | 102

& even tho my american friends here are as opposed as i to that racism - it seems only to undescore how deeply it is felt at the centre of empire

knowing too that obama is to the right of clinton & knowing too that the process is degraded - it really doesn't matter in any real way except as a revelation of what is happening inside the consciousness of america

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 3 2008 22:25 utc | 103

I recently found posted online a chapter from War In The Age Of Intelligent Machines, 1991, by Manuel DeLanda.

I've wanted to read the book since DeLanda described the work-in progress to me as the history of the evolution of technology, written as if technology was itself a life-form. A major theme is that technologies from the concrete to the abstract are originally developed for military use and only later migrate into other sectors.

This chapter, Policing The Spectrum deals with the military-sponsored field of computer interaction as a tool for image analysis and cryptographic analysis, and explores the polarization between the ideas of centralized control and the use of machines to replace people, versus the growth of human-machine interaction as a more viable (life-like, organic, successful) alternative. Bureaucrats vs. hackers.

I recall meeting DeLanda in New York about 1990, during a course introducing a new 3-D animation system from Thomson Digital Images (TDI), ironically an offshoot of a French military contractor I believe.

At the time I was impressed by his abilities as as freeform 3-D sculptor. He was producing a series of stone-textured head models with gemstone eyes, exploiting the TDI system's library of procedural textures and advanced surface- and solid-modeling capabilities.

The excerpt posted below is from the closing summation of the chapter. I hope it gives enough flavor to encourage you to follow the link above and read more from this fascinating synthesist.

from the book

In this book I have attempted to diagram military machines in all their complexity and scale.

This was intended partly to show the futility of any attempt to dismantle the war machine through violence (or levity). The task confronting us is to continue the positive tasks begun by hackers and visionary scientists as embodied in their paradigm of human-machine interaction: the personal computer.

But to warn against dead-end strategies was only one of the reasons for portraying military power in such bleak terms.

Military institutions have mutated out of all proportion in this century. In many industries (aircraft, spacecraft) it is impossible to tell where the civilian sector begins and where the military ends. The close interrelationship between the two worlds is not, as we have seen, a new phenomenon. In the historical period we explored, beginning in 1494, there have been many permanent links established between military and civilian institutions.

Posted by: jonku | Jun 3 2008 23:47 utc | 104

in this campaign, Hilary repeatedly trashes her most loyal and dedicated supporters (the Blacks), presuming she gets away with it -- the end justifies the means -- she comes thru for the Blacks thereafter and all is well again.

as it is, her desperate gamble is lost and with it, this era of the Democratic Party. And if McCain would like to, he can pick up where Hilary left off & he will lose.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jun 4 2008 1:09 utc | 105

uncle #100, thanks, especially as it talks about eyes.

rgiap #102, please, why do you think a particular "candidate" matters, beyond symbolically? Son of Cain is monstrous, as is whomever is the Chosen. (as posted here before, I think it's the mellifluous Gore.)

jonku #104 "Military institutions have mutated out of all proportion in this century. In many industries (aircraft, spacecraft) it is impossible to tell where the civilian sector begins and where the military ends. The close interrelationship between the two worlds is not, as we have seen, a new phenomenon. In the historical period we explored, beginning in 1494, there have been many permanent links established between military and civilian institutions."

Yes.

Posted by: plushtown | Jun 4 2008 2:02 utc | 106

jony_b_cool #105, rgiap #102 is correct

Expanding on Hillary's Racial Good Graces, Bill Promises, I'll Hurt Huckabee If BHO Is Nominated!

Vanity Fair just popped any chance Bill can dump Hillary to contain and isolate her imminent default nee bankruptcy, and still lead a speaker's life as a swinging dick.

McCain Reaches Out to Disgruntled Hillary Dems

Yes, yes, I know, bitches. Kiss the ring. All are welcome. Come to the white side.
The race card is spinning in the middle of DarthCain's table, slowing... slowing...

Posted by: Treacle Donne | Jun 4 2008 4:00 utc | 107

should have read my comment 98 above before posting - those quotes i pulled were from the uk ambassador. his u.s. counterpart, wolff, stayed in the background so as not to appear so big & so bad. i stand by the rest, though.

Posted by: b real | Jun 4 2008 4:24 utc | 108

It's O'fishy, Obama Wins Presidential Nomination..lol

geez...

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 4 2008 5:09 utc | 109

U$ @ 88, of course Israel will cheerfully sacrifice useful idiot goyims by the thousands without losing a scintilla of sleep, but to be sure everything is coordinated in advance with the U$ and it's little apartheid mini-me; ie why even speak of the IDF and the USAF as separate entities? our tax dollars underwrite these monstrous siamese twins.

Posted by: ran | Jun 4 2008 5:13 utc | 110

'giap: always good to read you, and yes, we are a racist nation, so with Obama basically assured the nomination after todays final primaries (although i'm sure Hillary is still quietly praying to her "God" for a finger on a trigger) we're about to see just how nasty it can get.

i was actually thinking about racism tonight because my wife, in a futile attempt to distract me from the computer, rented the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and boy was it fun to watch Norse-looking men fight--not just monstrous, slobering orcs--but east indian darkies on elephants, and stereotypical looking arab characters with curved swords. but that's Hollywood's job, right? i mean, Christ! how many throwback western heroes can they resurrect?

as Iran rhetoric intensifies and prices everywhere surge, Hollywood goes LOOK, OVER HERE! RAMBO! INDIANA JONES! and it works.

so if racism is an unquestioned part of the stories we tell the next generation, don't be surprised that Iraqis can be slaughtered, Palestinians squeezed dry, and dark disaster victims everywhere left to die, and we in the states hardly look up from our gadgets and tv screens. of course every once in awhile Hollywood may give us a Hotel Rwanda, or Blood Diamond, but don't kid yourselves, Hollywood does some of its best work when it uses the primitive fear of the unknown. if that means casually transferring that fear to races of people, and it sells movies and strengthens the national ignorance, then so be it.

Personally i think Steven Spielberg should be ashamed of The Temple of Doom, but i also think israel should be ashamed of imprisoning an entire population of native inhabitants, like amerika should be ashamed of killing, robbing, then legally enslaving the incredible diversity of america's native inhabitants.

obviously none of these topics will stimulate much conversation in a conventional bar. as for the virtual ones...

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 4 2008 6:25 utc | 111

Obama's people wisely never really pushed back against Hilary's race-code. Nor did Black leaders But against McCain, they will if, McCain does same. If Obama quickly names a VP (Hilary not likely) he has enough time as Clinton marginalizes and he regains with her disgruntled supporters. Also note that it will not work for McCain to personally go overboard with race-code as Hilary has. McCain may have his issues but on race so far, theres no reason to expect that he will be less than personally decent. In fact, he may disown race-motivations that come from his supporters. And Obama just needs to keep doing pretty much what he's beein doing all along, with more details and he must also keep sketching the "McCain = Bush + 4" theme.

also, its a myth that Republicans/conservatives are inherently racist. In fact many Republicans do not have an issue with race at all. On the other hand, many liberals do have issues and in-decencies on race. How a person feels about race has a lot to do with their personality amongst other things.

Obama's edge in this race is he has a very smart team. Edge two is that Republicans tend to be over-estimated by cowering Democrats, as we have seen in the recent past.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jun 4 2008 18:10 utc | 112

walden bello: Destroying African Agriculture

Biofuel production is certainly one of the culprits in the current global food crisis. But while the diversion of corn from food to biofuel feedstock has been a factor in food prices shooting up, the more primordial problem has been the conversion of economies that are largely food-self-sufficient into chronic food importers. Here the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) figure as much more important villains.

Whether in Latin America, Asia, or Africa, the story has been the same: the destabilization of peasant producers by a one-two punch of IMF-World Bank structural adjustment programs that gutted government investment in the countryside followed by the massive influx of subsidized U.S. and European Union agricultural imports after the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture pried open markets. .

African agriculture is a case study of how doctrinaire economics serving corporate interests can destroy a whole continent’s productive base.
...

Posted by: b real | Jun 4 2008 21:57 utc | 113