Scientist Build a 'Brain' From Rat Cells

The cells learn how to fly an F-22
"Usually, within 10 to 15 minutes, it's pretty much flying the plane," DeMarse says.
And then, after about 15 minutes, it's all over. The neurons can't remember how to fly the plane anymore, so the next time the experiment is run, the neurons have to be taught all over again."
The technology of intelligence may become mundane, which is probably as it should be.
What about consciousness... a notion of self. Maybe that is more narcisism than anything else, that we reserve to ourselves in a rather unconscious manner.

ABC News: A New Take on Human Intelligence

"Briefly put, Hawkins thinks intelligence is nothing more than memory, and the ability to predict."
This makes a lot of sense to me. And it's pretty much the path that google is taking.

Where is the intellligence?

Lewis Thomas, in Lives of a Cell, observes a colony of mindless ants that behave quite intelligently. Here, McLurkin is getting robots to behave like an any colony: when you have enough, they start working.

McLurkin, 32, a graduate student in computer science at M.I.T., the young scientist is on the forefront of developing "swarmbots"—packs of dozens of small robots that communicate with one another and work in harmony to complete an assignment. They have no centralized command system and can cover vast terrain; if one is destroyed, others fill in.
McLurkin's machines were inspired by nature. As an undergraduate at M.I.T., he became interested in ants and kept a terrarium full of them on his desk. The decentralized nature of ant colonies gave him a model for his robots. "I worked on the notion of using virtual pheromones [the biochemical scents that some animals use to communicate]," he says. "As one robot gathers knowledge, it spreads it to its neighbors, and they spread it to their neighbors."

Leninism, Trotskyism, and the American Right

Have you noticed that on the right there is a blind adherence to the party line?

Have you noticed the use of collectivist forces to steer debate (mob protests against the Florida recount for example.)

The Trotsky Hour: A consrvative talks of the Trotskyite takeover of the conservative movement.

ACHIEVING A “LENINIST” STRATEGY: From the "capitalist" CATO institute

This fits in with my philosophy that many of our leaders today do not so much fear communism, as much as they are, fundamentally in their hearts, communists. They understand and believe in Marxist-Leninist ideology (much more so than the middle or working class) and either are doing what they can to prevent it by using its means OR actively propagating it (since, in Marxism, the mature capitalist state¹ is the only state that is ready for communism. This, some argue, is the reason for the failure of the 20^th century communist revolutions, they all occurred in relatively poor nations that did not have the industrial capital to maintain a workers paradise).

1
Mature Capitalism

• In mature capitalism, there are three main classes:
1. The capitalist class: own the means of production.
2. The workers: who are exploited for the surplus value produced by their labor.
3. The petit bourgeoisie: who work providoing their own labor. EG: Shopowners and small-holding farmers who own their own land.
• Because of economies of scale, the petit bourgeoisie is eventually absorbed into the working class.
• Economy of Scale: industrialization permits reduced cost in production because of repetition for large production orders (unit costs are less).
• The close proximity of urban workers permits them to organize themselves into unions. This forms the embryonic form of class consciousness.
• The political organizations that sustain that consciousness: unions and revolutionaries.

Modern disclaimer: I am not now nor have I even been a communist, terrorist, islamist, jihadist, or anti-american.

"A fiscally profligate government cannot help but sabotage the growth prospects of the nation."

John Hussman

The one-year budget deficit will be so large in the next fiscal year that if the government stopped funding everything except defense, homeland security and entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the nation would still be $75 billion in the red.
WaPo's Talking Points

For President Bush, the budget sent to Congress last week outlines a painful path to meeting his promise to bring down the federal budget deficit by the time he leaves office in 2009. But for the senators and governors already jockeying to succeed him, the numbers released in recent days add up to a budgetary landmine that could blow up just as the next president moves into the Oval Office.
After Bush Leaves Office, His Budget's Costs Balloon

Bush to Request $82B for Military Operations

LP: Heads Roll At The Veterans Administration: Mushrooming Depleted Uranium (DU) Scandal Blamed

"a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret..."
ummm, not at all clear why this person is an "eminent scientist"... she is an activist. As to published and reviewed papers? I don't see much at all.
Deplete Uranium could be very very dangerous, but I do NOT know of any respected work in the field that says it IS dangerous. The US government has said categorically it is NOT dangerous. It has NOT been corrected by the press, academe, etc... but little has been (nothing yet on the bluge in the Bush shirt during the debate..)
The book The Tipping Point talks about the "broken window" theory of crime... well, of social behavior in general, crime in particular. People are sensitive the their environments and move into those openings. Unrepaired broken windows say that something is untended, not watch, un owned, and says there is a vacuum of public or private overship of the space, and in move the vandals, followed by... etc.
The Bush administration has broken many many "windows" of civil liberties and democratic governance, legitimate business practice, conflicts of interest, and the effect is not only widespread in the United States but abroad... who are at once attracted by the vacuum, and see too that the US would be harder put to criticize, being a bad example and making political gain into national interest and wanting support more than thoughtful laws and processes

On the ground in Iraq

Today's News!

Bush's Popularity Jumps

Nearly two-thirds of Americans satisfied with war on terrorism!

Charles, Camilla to Wed

North Korea declares it has nuclear weapons; cancels talks

FAA Was Warned of 9/11 Attacks

Previously undisclosed report by 9/11 commission revealed 52 warnings.

2004 Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High

President Explains Strengthening Social Security

In case you didn't already understand the details of his plan, the president is clarifying things very clearly with explanations like the following:

__________________________________________________________
Q -- (I want to) really understand how is it the new plan is going to fix that problem (the "notch" issue)?

THE PRESIDENT:
Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

Okay, better? I'll keep working on it. (Laughter.)
__________________________________________________________

Note: There is a video of this speech somewhere that I have not been able to find. If you have a link to it, please post to comments.

Should Tax Dollars Fund Bush's Bubble?

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

"Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

"Okay, better? I'll keep working on it."

Google Maps

Will the internet become the googleNet?

On the Making of America

SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA is a four-part series documenting the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Drawing on a wealth of recent scholarship, it looks at slavery as an integral part of a developing nation, challenging the long held notion that slavery was exclusively a Southern enterprise. At the same time, by focusing on the remarkable stories of individual slaves, it offers new perspectives on the slave experience and testifies to the active role that Africans and African Americans took in surviving their bondage and shaping their own lives.

Denver area:
KRMA Analog
CHANNEL 6
8:00pm

Other areas

More Churchill Letters

Usual suspects say usual things

The angry flailing of Ward Churchill has provoked predictable reactions from the usual suspects. Conservatives have tried to silence him, while liberals have raised the free speech issue. This paper has taken its typical position that, while we find his statements outrageous, he has the right to speak and shouldn't be fired.

Nowhere in all of this does anyone address the substance of Churchill's essay. OK, the Eichmann analogy was stupid, but what about the underlying message? Do we bear a collective responsibility for the actions of our government? As functionaries for transnational business and banking, do we endorse, even promote in some way, the foreign policies of our government — policies designed to make our businesses easier and more profitable? An interesting social question, but lost under the 500-pound red herring of the Eichmann remark.

Churchill made the point that we were attacked because of our foreign policy. He was merely stating the obvious, but his point was lost when his ramblings came close to implying we deserved it. And that is what everyone locked on to. It's unfortunate, because the lie that we were attacked because "they hate our freedom" will likely get us attacked again. Churchill is angry, as am I, that certain things about 9/11 are off limits for debate. Like why we were attacked. On Sept. 13, 2001, this paper went so far as to editorialize that there was "no reason" for the attack. Surely that meant there was no justification, because there was certainly a reason.

I have a hunch that the flap over Churchill's essay has more to do with fear of the underlying message than offense at the ridiculous way it was presented. But we won't talk about that.

DAVID DAVIS
Longmont

Local Boulder Paper: Letters to the Editor: Ward Churchill

[link requires free (other than the cost of tracking cookies) subscription]
CHURCHILL

Professor's critics should read essay

I wonder how many people out to crucify Ward Churchill have actually read the offending article. Among the clumsy analogies and over-the-top polemics — it comes across like the first draft of a man in heat — is a message which this Establishment reader finds somewhat affecting.

It taps into my own long-suppressed anxiety about the possible consequences of our increasing we're-No. 1 cultural hubris. I felt it after the gratuitous Highway of Death strafing at the end of Gulf War I. I feel it with the Crusade undertones of today's Iraq War. I often feel it when I regard a foreign policy backed by a military might that is big and powerful and often dumb as a fist.

I read Mr. Churchill's essay as an Edvard Munch scream. Read the entire article — including the unfortunate references — in context. If nothing else it provides a perspective on the part of those that we fear. That in itself counts for a lot. To suppress this point of view would also support Mr. Churchill's notion that we may be suffering from a "delusional pathology."

STEVE SMITH
Boulder

"money for war and nothing else" Bush and McCain agree

"President Bush today unveiled a $2.57 trillion budget that eliminates dozens of politically sensitive domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection and business development, while proposing significant increases for the military and international spending."
"With the deficits that we're now running, I'm glad the president is coming over with a very austere budget," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on ABC's "This Week." "I hope we in Congress will have the courage to support it."

Pentagon threatens to target journalists in Iraq. | Metafilter

Today on Hard Ball, the section "tell me something I didn't know" included a prediction: the news will break at 12 journalists were killed by the US"
Doing a google on "us kills journalists" brought this up: 3 were killed in 2003.
This president has changed the rule book: institutions we called sacrosanct are not. Any journalist has to know that IF you cross the US, you can get killed.
Jounalists have been reduced from professionals to salaried employees. Thus, you act nice at press conference, of you and your employer cannot come back. You talk nice to Tim Russert even when he asks bullshit questions to get the answer he wants, or you can't come back.
NPR remains free, except it is painted with a brush more broad: be "fair and balanced" or we will cut off federal and state funds. We will toss you into the public arena, where you will NOT be safe: you may be "publicly" funded, but you might be called MCI public radio, or Coors public radio... and it's over.
Assuming invoking Christ invokes the man of the kindness, the parables, redemption and courage, Bush is the anti-Christ.

The Balding President?

Say it aint so?

Blue Light Special

Fractal Dimensions 

Boulder Morning 

Great vote turnout in vietnam! 1967. Democracy!

"'United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting. According to reports from Saigon, 83 percent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong. A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam.'
- Peter Grose, in a page 2 New York Times article titled, 'U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote,' September 4, 1967."
I dunno, but I look through the editorial pages, the letters to the editors. See for yourself. See how much trouble, mismanagement, intrustion, noise, and objection is generated by democracy. If the least government is the best government, that's not democracy.
The European Union refuses entry to countries not up a certain standard. They are not allowed to enter to vote. No such standard applies to any person or group of persons in a democracy.
We'll have means testing for medical care. Why not some kind of means testing for the vote? There is no substitute for personal strength and power. Delieverance.

Sage Francis

... both a super ego created in the shadows of Paul Francis,
and a disembowled head on a stake as a warning to all who seek to find answers to the great abyss.

Great people
aren't born through handouts,
and don't kiss ass

to get to the top.

Real people know that
the top is the bottom...

Tri30up Triathlon Club

Learn how to make triathlon training part of your lifestyle.

Chinese Language Center

A cool site for Chinese languages, Pinyin, etc. If you can't get the character fonts to display, see here:

Here is how you can input Chinese characters in Windows XP.

Ward Churchill's Essay

This is a link to an essay that Ward Churchill, a University of Colorado professor, wrote on the evening of September 11th 2001. He is now getting a considerable amount of heat for the essay and there are mounting political pressures for him to be fired. Have a read at some point.


Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens
http://passionbomb.com/words/push_roost.htm

Tests Said to Tie Deal on Uranium to North Korea

"WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Scientific tests have led American intelligence agencies and government scientists to conclude with near certainty that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, bolstering earlier indications that the reclusive state exported sensitive fuel for atomic weapons, according to officials with access to the intelligence."
1) What if a limited number of nuclear attacks could slow/stop/reverse global warming? Perhaps the limited destruction of industrialization and reduction of population very very quickly would actually save the planet (well, of a while, of course).
2) Will an asteroid hit hit us before global warming? What if preparing for asteroid defense is linked to global warming :-)
Ah, I have constructed problems I cannot possibly solve, let alone influence. Time to relax and play.

New Speak

Up is down
Left is right
Black is white

If you think otherwise, make sure to watch the "State of the Union" speech tonight and get with the program. Because you are either with us or you hate freedom.

Social Security: Out with "private accounts" in with "personal accounts".

From TPM,
The media falls in line: Chris Matthews stumbles, then tries to get right with the president's Social Security Speech Code. From last night's Hardball: "All these programs, one which will privatize this, personalize, to some extent, Social Security."

Collage Graduate 

Center for American Progress

From Talking Points Memo
The latest from the Center for American Progress ...

From the people who bring you The Progress Report – the daily electronic newsletter the National Review calls "the most aggressive, most energetic opposition research in politics" – comes Thinkprogress.org, a new blog ready to revolutionize the world of research-intensive rapid response. Debuting in tandem with the State of the Union address on Feb. 2, Thinkprogress.org will give journalists and the public real-time access to American Progress’s highly regarded rapid response operation for the first time ever. And in honor of the launch, American Progress CEO John Podesta will be a guest blogger, providing live commentary throughout the entire State of the Union address.

Under the Radar

HALLIBURTON – FLEECING THE PENTAGON: Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the massive subsidiary of Vice President Cheney's former firm Halliburton, is estimating that costs for the basic services it provides in Iraq for U.S. troops "could exceed $10 billion." But even if it seems that President Bush is willing to hand over a blank check when it comes to the war in Iraq, the Army initially only budgeted $3.6 billion for these same services. Labeling the difference "an 'unaffordable' budget gap," Army officials have had to slash various troop services from their list, but the disparity still stands at about $4 billion, and the Army is not sure how much more can be cut "without causing significant disruptions." There was seemingly no discussion as to whether the notoriously wasteful KBR, which has yet to be fully investigated by Pentagon auditors, was just up to its old overcharging tricks once again. Whatever the compromise, hopefully this time the Army will get all that it pays for.

On The Ground In Iraq - Pre Election On the Ground From Iraq

I am priviledged to know this woman personally and do a little computer stuff once in a while. Adam, the guy that does her web site, now HE'S good!
Loran is local, and is NOT owned by anyone! She is her own person, has HER feet on the ground, writes exactly and only what SHE sees and smells and touches. She is real, she talks, can be touched, and has spend months, on the ground, sharing the life from before the invasion to now and will continue.
Here is an absolutely pristine source for world information.

"Ommar is an Iraqi American who left Iraq at the age of 20, not because of feeling threatened or disenfranchised by the Saddam regime, but to strike out on his own. A stellar student under the regime, he wanted to explore the world, to see whatever he could see and learn as much about the world as possible. He ended up in California but moved back to Baghdad in May 2003, bringing with him an American entrepreneurial attitude and a strong sense of Iraqi nationalism.

The result was the birth of the American Iraqi Chamber of commerce, which has a list of services, offered to members – both international and domestic – that is a virtual soup to nuts cornucopia of services. The fee of $250 for Iraqi nationals, and $500 for foreigners gets the 5000-plus members access to such services as ESL classes; free Internet training and usage; various trainings on how to run a business; information on how to create a website, make business cards and stationary; help with visa applications for those whose business needs might necessitate travel outside of Iraq, connections to others in their fields and/or to potential clients; and instruction on computer software programs such as Quickbooks, word processing or layout and design. There are services for the small father/son businesses as well as for major corporations."

World Reacts to Free Iraqi Elections

"The jubilant mayor of this beleaguered city called for the construction of a monument to George W. Bush. The Democratic Party's standard-bearer in the 2004 presidential election questioned the legitimacy of Sunday's elections here. From the unbridled optimism of the president of the United States to the cynicism of his political opponents, voices were heard around the world on Monday as leaders and average citizens alike registered their opinions of Sunday's elections in Iraq."
When you see what one man has to gain from victory, you can understand why his opposition, loyal or no, are willing to fight so very very desperately for his defeat.
But, still now: who is this man to whom victory has been given? What man, risen above the rest on a perceived good deed, proceeds to tunnel quickly and deeply and dismantle the pillars of society? It is hard to separate means from ends: they may be only the very same thing.
Disturb a man while he is celebrating, while he is euphoric by whatever means, and he will fight you. Take away the bottle of the alcoholic, he will attack. Stay the bladed hand of the crusader from the path to a conquered heart, save him his soul: he will not thank you, but turn on you at his first convenience.
Wait. Be careful. "For Ceasar was an honorable man"