2012. Ancient records foretell the end of the world

The 2012 "meme" is getting everywhere. I knew it before it was famous!

Artificial Life Forms With Synthetic DNA On The Horizon

Researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA. I, for one, won't be eating them. Link.

Scientists in Maryland have already built the world's first entirely handcrafted chromosome -- a large looping strand of DNA made from scratch in a laboratory, containing all the instructions a microbe needs to live and reproduce.

In the coming year, they hope to transplant it into a cell, where it is expected to "boot itself up," like software downloaded from the Internet, and cajole the waiting cell to do its bidding. And while the first synthetic chromosome is a plagiarized version of a natural one, others that code for life forms that have never existed before are already under construction.

Are We Seeing The End Of America?

Hard-hitting conversation between Noami Wolf and journalist Don Hazen. Link.

You can't underplay how sophisticated the Bush team has been about manipulating our fears. And one reason we really can't ignore is our home-grown ignorance. We now have two generations of young people who don't know about civics. A study came out that showed that even Harvard freshmen really don't understand how our government works.

Get The Zeigeist

Zeitgeist is a freely distributed movie, designed to prompt the audience into questioning their own beliefs on the subjects of US involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Christian theology, the Federal Reserve System, and the decreasing status of personal freedoms in the United States of America due to introductions of laws and organizations such as The Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act. It is divided into three parts - Part I: "The Greatest Story Ever Told", Part II: "All The World's A Stage", and Part III: "Don't Mind The Men Behind The Curtain". Link.

First the web, Now The Grid

Interesting story on Europe's particle-physic lab CERN's invention of a next-generation network to store their quadrillion bytes of experimental data. Link.

Google to use games to analyse net users

Google have a strict policy of "not being evil". Yet their activities in the snooping / logging / monitoring department constantly push the boundaries. This is a good example: building psychological profiles from the way users play online games. Link.

Zero to Fascist to America in 10 Easy Steps

This is a deeply alarming article from the British Guardian. It proves essentially that we are already living in a Fascist state.

"If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps."

Link.

Experts: Scrap The Internet And Start Again

Just days after plans were announced to launch the Internet in space, this story breaks on completely rebuilding the Internet from the ground up.

"Other government agencies, including the US Defence Department, have also been exploring the concept....A new network could run parallel with the current internet and eventually replace it."

This is an interesting point on why the Internet is increasingly obselete:

"The Internet's designers also assumed that computers were in fixed locations and always connected. That's no longer the case with the proliferation of laptops, personal digital assistants and other mobile devices, all hopping from one wireless access point to another, losing their signals here and there.

Internets In Space!!!

A programme to kick-start the use of internet communications in space has been announced by the US government.
The Department of Defense's Iris project will put an internet router in space by the start of 2009.

Even more sci-fi is this:

"With IP becoming more prevalent for use in space, Nasa and internet pioneer Vint Cerf have also investigated the possibility of using internet technology across the solar system. Although some work has been carried out on the necessary standards and protocols, no definite schedule has been announced for this interplanetary internet. "

Link.

The End Of The World, Guardian style

"Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" - groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups." Link.