Newsgather: A live podcast show recorded in Second Life before and after Newsreal. Ranters gather and use Second Life Podcasting to discuss news stories like a virtual newsroom.
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It's not interesting that Microsoft is building epic datacenters to compete with Google in the Great Datacenter Arms Race. It's interesting that they're building them out of sealed shipping containers full of servers. They run them till they fail then they send them back and replace them.
Microsoft's new data-centres are comprised of entire sealed shipping
containers that are slotted into racks and left to run until a critical
mass of their processor units have failed, then are swapped out.
Starting
with a Chicago-area facility due to open later this year, Microsoft
will use an approach in which servers arrive at the data center in a
sealed container, already networked together and ready to go. The
container itself is then hooked up to power, networking, and air
conditioning.
"The trucks back 'em in, rack 'em, and stack 'em," Chief Software
Architect Ray Ozzie told CNET News. And the containers remain sealed,
Ozzie said. Once a certain number of servers in the container have
failed, it will be pulled out and sent back to the manufacturer and a
new container loaded in.
There are Empowerment and Afternow role-playing game projects underway and the whole Empowerment project originally started as a D20-inspired activism RPG that went from realistic to real. Now that we're coming full-circle and doing RPGs again, the question is, what system should we use? Up until recently, I hadn't given it much thought, but as fate would have it, no sooner did I start looking than True20 found me.
I love the True20 system and I plan on using it as a starting point for future Empowerment role-playing game systems. It makes D20 simpler and more realistic in one clean sweep that clears away the cruft and sacred cows of 1970s roleplaying like hit points and rigid classes. I plan on making some optional modifications to make it even more realistic and calling those something like Real20.
At Gencon I met up with True20's Green Ronin Games designer Steve Kenson. I picked his brain about his inspirations for the
system and possibilities for adding a simulationist-level optional
combat system. Great guy, great company, great system. True20 is the
utopian Vault in which to survive the D&D 4pocalypse.
There will be many empowering game projects and many systems used, but this one works for me right now.
True20: D&D With a Twist
By John BaichtalJune 09, 2008 | 7:00:00 AMCategories: RPGs
For
a lot of gamers, Dungeons & Dragons serves as something of a
default game system. Certainly, it is by far the most popular, though
some would argue the system suffers in comparison to other RPGs. After
all, there are countless systems out there, some of them very different
than D&D. For instance, game designer Jonathan Tweet created Over
The Edge, a system with no skills or attributes, as well as Everway, a
game with no dice. Of course, fans of the White Wolf's World of
Darkness series of games prefer their system, and GURPS-players like
theirs.
However, in the end, D&D's ubiquity won out. Wisely, D&D
publisher Wizards of the Coast licensed out the game system, calling it
d20 and inviting small publishers to design products for it. The terms
of the agreement, called the Open Gaming License (OGL) even allows
publishers to tinker with the rules.
True20 started as a d20 variant designed for use in Blue Rose: The Roleplaying Game of Romantic Fantasy.
In the True20 rulebook's introduction, developer Steve Kenson describes
the game this way: "The idea behind Blue Rose was to introduce new
players to fantasy roleplaying with an untapped genre and a simpler,
more self-contained system than is currently available under the Open
Gaming License."
True20
keeps the OGL rules but has simplified and consolidated them. Every
roll only involves a single 20-sided die. Attributes aren't absolute
numbers, like in D&D, but rather serve purely as modifiers to that
roll -- for instance, my Strength could be +2 while my Constitution -1.
Skills work as modifiers as well, maxing out at the character's current
level +3. Most of the rules will seem familiar with veteran d20
players, there are levels and feats, and the attributes are the same as
D&D. However, the rules' simplicity has put a unique spin on d20
that a lot of people like.
"The release of Blue Rose met with success," Kenson continued in his
intro, "and the True20 system found many fans even among those who
weren't interested in a Romantic Fantasy RPG." Eventually, True20
publisher Green Ronin decided to sell the standalone rules in PDF
format, and that PDF quickly became their #1 electronic product.
Meanwhile, they had released a print version of the rules complete with coverage of multiple genres (e.g., sci fi, etc.)
Not only does Green Ronin have numerous True20 products, the system
has become so successful, it has even spun off its own license to help
game designers create their own products using the rules. Here are a
couple of examples:
What if... magic had been discovered by the Romans of
the third century? What if the Chinese had developed their alchemy and
discovered immortality during the Han Dynasty? What if the
Scandinavians had Thor, Freya and Odin living amongst them, guiding
them?
Blood Throne, by Reality Deviants, a dark setting where a typical fantasy world has been utterly ravaged by demonic invaders:
For ten long years the people of Simarra have lived in
fear. For ten long years the people of this war torn world have hidden
themselves away from the evil which spreads across the land, the vile
Keza-Drak -- invaders from another world -- have come to Simarra
seeking nothing short than the total domination of this world. Their
forces, bolstered by the dreaded Sundaari, have spread across the face
of Simarra, bringing slavery and death to all who oppose them.
If you're interested in learning more about True20, check out the game's website, which has information and a number of free PDF downloads that can get your feet wet.
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MARCH
AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. - The Air National Guardsmen who operate
Predator drones over Iraq via remote control, launching deadly missile
attacks from the safety of Southern California 7,000 miles away, are
suffering some of the same psychological stresses as their comrades on
the battlefield.
Working in air-conditioned trailers, Predator pilots observe the
field of battle through a bank of video screens and kill enemy fighters
with a few computer keystrokes. Then, after their shifts are over, they
get to drive home and sleep in their own beds.
But that whiplash transition is taking a toll on some of them
mentally, and so is the way the unmanned aircraft's cameras enable them
to see people getting killed in high-resolution detail, some officers
say.
In a fighter jet, "when you come in at 500-600 mph, drop a
500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said
Col. Albert K. Aimar, who is commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing
here and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. But when a Predator
fires a missile, "you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's
very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's
minds for a long time."
He said the stresses are "causing some family issues, some
relationship issues." He and other Predator officers would not
elaborate.
But the 163rd has called in a full-time chaplain and enlisted the
services of psychologists and psychiatrists to help ease the mental
strain on these remote-control warriors, Aimar said. Similarly,
chaplains have been brought in at Predator bases in Texas, Arizona and
Nevada.
In interviews with five of the dozens of pilots and sensor
operators at the various bases, none said they had been particularly
troubled by their mission, but they acknowledged it comes with unique
challenges, and sometimes makes for a strange existence.
"It's bizarre, I guess," said Lt. Col. Michael Lenahan, a Predator
pilot and operations director for the 196th Reconnaissance Squadron
here. "It is quite different, going from potentially shooting a
missile, then going to your kid's soccer game."
Among the stresses cited by the operators and their commanders: the
exhaustion that comes with the shift work of this 24-7 assignment; the
classified nature of the job that demands silence at the breakfast
table; and the images transmitted via video.
A Predator's cameras are powerful enough to allow an operator to
distinguish between a man and a woman, and between different weapons on
the ground. While the resolution is generally not high enough to make
out faces, it is sharp, commanders say.
Often, the military also directs Predators to linger over a target after an attack so that the damage can be assessed.
"You do stick around and see the aftermath of what you did, and
that does personalize the fight," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander
of the active-duty 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. "You have
a pretty good optical picture of the individuals on the ground. The
images can be pretty graphic, pretty vivid, and those are the things we
try to offset. We know that some folks have, in some cases, problems."
Chambliss said his experience flying F-16 fighter jets on bombing
runs in Iraq during the 1990s prepared him for his current job as a
Predator pilot. But Chambliss and several other wing leaders said they
were concerned about the sensor operators, who sit next to pilots in
the ground control station. Often, the sensor operators are on their
first assignment and just 18 or 19 years old, officers said.
While the pilot actually fires the missile, the sensor operator uses laser instruments to guide it all the way to its target.
On four or five occasions, sensor operators have sought out a
chaplain or supervisor after an attack, Chambliss said. He emphasized
that the number of such cases is very small compared to the number of
people involved in Predator operations.
Col. Rodney Horn, vice commander of the 147th Reconnaissance Wing
at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base near Houston, said his unit went
out of it way to impress upon sensor operators the sometimes lethal
nature of the job. "No one's walking into it blind," he said.
Master Sgt. Keith LeQuire, a 48-year-old sensor operator here, said
the 163rd asks prospective sensor operators whether they are prepared
for the deadly serious mission. "No one's been naive enough to come in
to interview but not know about that aspect of the job," he said.
Unlike Soldiers living together in the war zone, the Predator
operators do not have the close locker-room-style camaraderie that
allows buddies to talk about the day's events and blow off steam. But
many Predator operators at Creech employ a decompression ritual during
the long ride home, said Air Force Lt. Col. Robert P. Herz.
"They're putting a missile down somebody's chimney and taking out
bad guys, and the next thing they're taking their wife out to dinner,
their kids to school," said Herz, a Ph.D. who interviewed pilots and
sensor operators for a doctoral dissertation on human error in Predator
accidents.
"A lot of them have told me, `I'm glad I've got the hour drive.' It
gives them that whole amount of time to leave it behind," Herz said.
"They get in their bus or car and they go into a zone - they say, `For
the next hour I'm decompressing, I'm getting re-engaged into what it's
like to be a civilian.'"
Col. Gregg Davies, commander of the 214th Reconnaissance Group in
Tucson, Ariz., said he knows of no member of his team who has
experienced any trauma from launching a Predator attack.
Himself a Predator pilot, Davies said he has found the work
rewarding. The Arizona Air National Guard unit flies Predators in both
the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones. It has often provided protection
for American convoys, and its personnel have seen insurgents planting
roadside bombs.
"If we can have an effect there where we can take people out,
that's a real plus in terms of saving American lives," Davies said.
"Our folks look at it as they're in the fight, they're saving lives.
They don't feel too bad about that."
Until now, the effectiveness of the cloaking has been demonstrated only in thin, two-dimensional materials.
Now at a National Science Foundation lab at the University of
California, Berkeley, Jason Valentine, Jie Yao, Xiang Zhang and others
have create a multilayered, "fishnet structure" that "unambiguously
exhibits negative refractive index," they write.
"This straightforward and elegant demonstration enhances our ability
to mould and harness light at will," according to a statement from the
journal Nature.
Im a little late in mentioning it, but it seems that php version 5.3, which just had it's first alpha release on the first of this month, will finally fupport closures.
Closures are a vital language feature that allow programmers to treat functions and their enclosing context as variables. Many powerfull languages, such as lisp, perl, ruby, and c# have had them since the languages were created. Others like Java and C++ are having them added now. Php, though, will probably feel the change the most. At present, php's implimentation will be somewhat silly (like the rest of the language) and slightly gimpped, but it's better than using eval().
It has been a long, rough ride, but php finally sprouted it's first chest hair.
(Downloadable podcast audio file will be posted soon)
Welcome to Newsgather, the wog global meetup with the news we need to
become the media for our communication and collaboration. This is
episode 1, and it's still in alpha so bear with us and help us make it better.
Newsgather is a live podcast show recorded in Second Life after the show Newsreal with Sean Kennedy. Newsreal is the wog global sitrep with the news you need to stay alive and you can listen in at www.rantmedia.ca/newsreal.
Newsreal fans are already gathering in Second Life to listen to
Newsreal live, and now we're sticking around afterwards to do a
followup show. The Newsgather show begins when the Newsreal show ends.
We gather and use Second Life Podcasting to discuss news we care about and projects we are working on.
If you want to Attend in Second Life, NewsReal usually happens live on Thursdays
around 7PM Pacific and goes for about an hour. Newsgather starts after
the show ends and goes for about an hour as well.
How can you attend?
Visit our Second Life HQ (with Second Life download instructions).
How can you contribute news stories for discussion?
[14:09] mephyt Gothly: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/the-office-of-t.html
[14:13] mephyt Gothly: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/08/05/226329/nasa-to-test-plas...
[14:14] bigbrother Lord: nice
[14:14] phantasamagoria Merryman: next step warpspeed he he
[14:14] mephyt Gothly: close to it
[14:15] Yugosaki Coronet: now we just need to hijack it
[14:15] bigbrother Lord: gasoline?
[14:15] mephyt Gothly: http://www.yff365.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2162281%3ABlogPost%3A5863
[14:18] bigbrother Lord: why cant they leave the internet alone? seriously
[14:18] Yugosaki Coronet: because it is dangerous to them
[14:18] bigbrother Lord: oh yeah
[14:18] phantasamagoria Merryman is Offline
[14:18] Legion Rosenman: its about the only dangerous thing to them
[14:19] Yugosaki Coronet: well, guns are too
[14:19] Yugosaki Coronet: that's the b-plan
[14:19] bigbrother Lord: the rantnet
[14:19] Mindy Starek: oh yes.
[14:20] Mindy Starek: great title :)
[14:20] bigbrother Lord: I thought so
[14:21] mephyt Gothly: http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=5487
[14:21] Drachen Ranger: so hijack a plane and conqour a tropical island?
[14:21] bigbrother Lord: MEPH
[14:21] Legion Rosenman: crash and conquer
[14:21] mephyt Gothly: ?
[14:21] Mindy Starek: ......:)
[14:21] Yugosaki Coronet: MICROPHONE
[14:21] bigbrother Lord: your mics on
[14:22] mephyt Gothly: fuck, off
[14:22] mephyt Gothly: all good now
[14:22] bigbrother Lord: oh lawdy we MAKE THC?
[14:22] bigbrother Lord: nice
[14:23] Yugosaki Coronet: great. people gonna start smoking their peeling skin
[14:23] bigbrother Lord: ehhhh I wouldnt go that far
[14:23] bigbrother Lord: Members Of Congress Demand An End To Federal Pot Possession Arrests. The Use Of Cannabis “Ought To Be None Of The Government's Business,” Lawmakers Say At Capitol Hill Press Conference
Hemp is useful
[14:23] bigbrother Lord: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7670
[14:25] Yugosaki Coronet: they would stop and be all to interested in the wife's shiny necklace
[14:25] bigbrother Lord: "dude, where did you get this necklace? It's...Shiney"
Artificial Eyeballs
[14:26] mephyt Gothly: http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn14477-artificial-eyeba...
[14:26] bigbrother Lord: love how the first thing was policing
[14:27] Yugosaki Coronet: this means that when they perfect eye to brain data transmission, you will be able to see like you had normal eyes
[14:27] Yugosaki Coronet: i.e. peripheral vision
[14:27] Venus Enoch is Online
[14:28] BSV Dreadlow: cyber eyes the blind or if you want better eyes
[14:28] mephyt Gothly: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21175/?a=f
[14:28] Venus Enoch is Offline
[14:30] bigbrother Lord: I can see people using this to say "your brains not wired right here look"
[14:30] mephyt Gothly: yep
[14:30] mephyt Gothly: could be a bad thing
[14:30] bigbrother Lord: I loved that movie
[14:31] Yugosaki Coronet: i got it from a litle movie store, they wouldn't sell it to me so i rented it "lost" it and paid them for it
[14:31] Yugosaki Coronet: then i magically 'found' it again
[14:31] bigbrother Lord: lol
[14:32] bigbrother Lord: I never liked that movie
[14:32] mephyt Gothly: btw, josie... check out equilibrium... ;)
[14:32] bigbrother Lord: smooth
[14:32] mephyt Gothly: fear and loathing too, maybe...
[14:33] mephyt Gothly: http://www.physorg.com/news137088634.html
[14:33] Yugosaki Coronet: we can't stop here, this is bat country
[14:33] bigbrother Lord: I got half way though the movie and turned it off
[14:35] bigbrother Lord: like the "suicide rant"?
[14:35] Yugosaki Coronet: along with the weapons segment of patrolling
[14:35] Yugosaki Coronet: minus the aliens stuff
[14:35] Mindy Starek: um hum ive ;istened to wayof the masters clips
[14:36] bigbrother Lord: got a link mindy?
[14:36] Mindy Starek: yep 1 sec
[14:36] bigbrother Lord: maybe cimm could
[14:37] mephyt Gothly: cimm could fit through the keyhole
[14:37] bigbrother Lord: lol
[14:37] Yugosaki Coronet: they lock you up i'll broadcast the next newsreal
[14:37] Yugosaki Coronet: a big "fuck you"
EU should share terrorism information with the US to pool drones and profiles into a combined force to tackle terrorism, organized crime and illegal immigration, forming armed interventionary world police force
Daily Hack: Binaural Beats that give you a mental drug-like effect, ambient sounds that affect your brain waves
[14:53] bigbrother Lord: http://www.i-doser.com/
[14:53] bigbrother Lord: there you go sean if you ever read the chat
[14:53] Drachen Ranger: I had a buddy who tried to work that sort of music into the music his band was putting out...he didn't get too far.
[14:53] Legion Rosenman: http://www.bwgen.com/
[14:53] bigbrother Lord: same idea I used when I made my music
[14:54] bigbrother Lord: OMG
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: they're all cracked and uploaded
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: Let me say this
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: as someone who has tried them
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: they do NOT work that well
[15:49] Mindy Starek: :)
[15:49] Legion Rosenman: is it the same thing as brainwave generator?
[15:49] Soy Source is Online
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: you're listening to STATIC
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: no
[15:49] bigbrother Lord: you have to be in a quiet room with headphones
[15:50] bigbrother Lord: also it sounds exactly like static
[15:50] bigbrother Lord: but I've messed with a lot of binural beats
[15:50] bigbrother Lord: and in my exteriments I havent found they work much
[15:50] bigbrother Lord: i'll find it
[15:52] Yugosaki Coronet: afk
[15:52] phantasamagoria Merryman is Offline
[15:52] bigbrother Lord: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4041686/I-doser_songs_in_mp3_format
[15:53] bigbrother Lord: Hate to say it but mp3 is a lossy format so any 'sharpness' to the really LOW beats are lost
Gathered Stories
HD DVDs with a chat room for any given fanbase
what is acceptable use of the chatroom?
Joe Arpaio's Tent City Prison Camps
Project Updates
What We're Up To at Empowerment HQ
Gen Con
Lor is coming Saturday
BSV will stay at Empowerment HQ starting Thursday night
Outro
Thank you for listening to this pilot episode of Newsgather. Just by
listening, you are fighting back against mainstream mind-control media,
but you can do more than just listen! Come join us.
Recent news of homeless debtors moving to tent cities and have left many wondering how long it will be before debtors get put into debtor prisons directly. Well it turns out that in Arizona they're celebrating the 15th anniversary of tent city prisons and plan to build more. All that's missing is another law to stiffen penalties for bankruptcy.
Amazing revelations have emerged concerning already existing government
plans to overhaul the way the internet functions in order to apply much
greater restrictions and control over the web.
Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University
told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in
Half Moon Bay, California, that “There’s going to be an i-9/11 event”
which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law
pertaining to the internet.
Lessig also revealed that he had learned, during a dinner with former
government Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, that there is already
in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act, an “i-Patriot Act”
if you will, and that the Justice Department is waiting for a cyber
terrorism event in order to implement its provisions.
During a group panel segment titled “2018: Life on the Net”, Lessig stated:
There’s going to be an i-9/11 event. Which doesn’t necessarily mean an
Al Qaeda attack, it means an event where the instability or the
insecurity of the internet becomes manifest during a malicious event
which then inspires the government into a response. You’ve got to
remember that after 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act within
20 days and it was passed.
The Patriot Act is huge and I remember someone asking a Justice
Department official how did they write such a large statute so quickly,
and of course the answer was that it has been sitting in the drawers of
the Justice Department for the last 20 years waiting for the event
where they would pull it out.
Of course, the Patriot Act is filled with all sorts of insanity about
changing the way civil rights are protected, or not protected in this
instance. So I was having dinner with Richard Clarke and I asked him if
there is an equivalent, is there an i-Patriot Act just sitting waiting
for some substantial event as an excuse to radically change the way the
internet works. He said “of course there is”.
Watch Lessig reveal the details at 4.30 into the following video:
Lessig is the founder of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet
and Society. He is founding board member of Creative Commons and is a
board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and of the Software
Freedom Law Center. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal
restrictions on copyright, trademark and radio frequency spectrum,
particularly in technology applications.
These are clearly not the ravings of some paranoid cyber geek.
The Patriot Act, as well as its lesser known follow up the Domestic
Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as USA Patriot Act II, have
been universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional
scholars from across the political spectrum. They have stripped back
basic rights and handed what have been described by even the most
moderate critics as “dictatorial control” over to the president and the
federal government.
Many believed that the legislation was a response to the attacks of
9/11, but the reality was that the Patriot Act was prepared way in
advance of 9/11 and it sat dormant, awaiting an event to justify its
implementation.
In the days after the attacks it was passed in the House by a majority
of 357 to 66. It passed the Senate by 98 to 1. Congressman Ron Paul
(R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was even
allowed to read the legislation.
Now we discover that exactly the same freedom restricting legislation has already been prepared for the cyber world.
An i-9/11, as described by Lawrence Lessig, would provide the perfect
pretext to implement such restrictions in one swift motion, as well as
provide the justification for relegating and eliminating specific
content and information on the web.
Such an event could come in the form of a major viral attack, the
hacking of a major city’s security or transport systems, or some other
vital systems, or a combination of all of these things. Considering the
amount of unanswered questions regarding 9/11 and all the indications
that it was a covert false flag operation, it isn’t hard to imagine
such an event being played out in the cyber world.
However, regardless of any i-9/11 or i-Patriot Act, there is already a
coordinated effort to stem the reach and influence of the internet.
We have tirelessly warned of this general movement to restrict, censor,
control and eventually completely shut down the internet as we know it,
thereby killing the last real vestige of free speech in the world today
and eliminating the greatest communication and information tool ever
conceived.
Our governments have reams of legislation penned to put clamps on the web as we know it. Legislation such as the PRO-IP Act of 2007: H.R. 4279, that would create an IP czar at the Department of Justice and the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2007: S. 522, which would create an entire ‘Intellectual Property Enforcement Network’. These are just two examples.
In addition, we have already seen how the major corporate websites and social networks are decentralizing and coming together
to implement overarching identification, verification and access
systems that have been described by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as
“the beginning of a movement and the beginning of an industry.”
Some of these major tech companies have already joined efforts in
projects such as the Information Card Foundation, which has proposed
the creation of a system of internet ID cards that will be required for
internet access. Of course, such a system would give those involved the
ability to track and control user activity much more effectively. This
is just one example.
In addition, as we reported yesterday, major transportation hubs like
St. Pancras International, as well as libraries, big businesses,
hospitals and other public outlets that offer wi-fi Internet, are
blacklisting alternative news websites and making them completely
inaccessible to their users.
These precedents are merely the first indication of what is planned for
the Internet over the next 5-10 years, with the traditional web
becoming little more than a vast spy database that catalogues people’s
every activity and bombards them with commercials, while those who
comply with centralized control and regulation of content will be free
to enjoy the new super-fast Internet 2.
We must speak out about this rampant move to implement strict control
mechanisms on the web NOW before it is too late, before the spine of
the free internet is broken and its body essentially becomes paralyzed
beyond repair.
Welcome to Newsgather, the wog global meetup with the news we need to become the media for our communication and collaboration. This is episode 0, and it's an alpha test so it would be amazing if everything worked smoothly. It hasn't been done before, and that's why it's going to work.
Newsgather is a live podcast show recorded in Second Life before and after Newsreal with Sean Kennedy. Newsreal is the wog global sitrep with the news you need to stay alive and you can listen in at www.rantmedia.ca/newsreal. Newsreal fans are already gathering in Second Life to listen to Newsreal live, and now we're sticking around afterwards to do a followup show. The Newsgather show begins when the Newsreal show ends. We gather and use Second Life Podcasting to discuss news we care about and projects we are working on.
If you want to Attend in Second Life, NewsReal usually happens live on Thursdays
around 7PM Pacific and goes for about an hour. Newsgather starts after
the show ends and goes for about an hour as well.
How can you attend?
Visit our Second Life HQ (with Second Life download instructions).
How can you contribute news stories for discussion?
SAMAS news: Kiwi Ducted Fan Jet Pack, 30 minutes of flight
Thank you for listening to this pilot episode of Newsgather. Just by listening, you are fighting back against mainstream mind-control media, but you can do more than just listen! Come join us.
Several Wal-Mart employees have reported that they were pressured by
their employer to withdraw their support for the democratic party in
the upcoming election. Most people who believe in democracy would find
this highly inappropriate. Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar feels
differently. Tovar explained to the AP that “We regularly educate our
associates on issues which impact our company, and this is an example
of that.”
With all this new solar tech, it bears asking the question: What is the footprint of solar? What kind of waste does it generate? Dig up what you can find and post it here as comments.
Two research teams have independently developed methods to produce
nanowires that could lead to a dramatic improvement in solar
photovoltaic cell efficiency. In both cases, the basic concept is the
same, to use nanowires for more efficient conduction of electrons from
the collection surface of a solar cell to an electrode.
The first technique, developed by researchers at UC San Diego,
creates ‘hairy’ solar cells, only visible at a microscopic level. In
fact, the hairs are nanowires, tiny metallic or silicon structures used
to complete very small circuits. Researchers were able to grow
nanowires directly onto a cheap conductive surface made of indium tin
oxide. Nanowires were then coated with an organic polymer.
The second team, a consortium between three German universities
(Jena, Gottingen and Bremen) and Harvard, has developed a technique to
bond nanowires with spun glass. The approach is based on a kind of
high-tech ‘sandwich,’ whereby nanowires are placed between a highly
conductive bottom layer and a metallic top one, with spun-on glass
forming a ‘spacer layer’ to prevent the circuit from shorting. This
means that current can run smoothly along the nanowires and could lead
to a completely new class of efficient integrated circuits.
There are still a few teething problems with the San Diego approach,
the chief one being that the polymer layer currently degrades when
exposed to air. However, if either approach can be made to work on a
commercial scale, it could lead to smaller, cheaper and easier to
install panels. Perhaps we’ve just moved one small step closer to a
solar future.
Parking lots, like landfills, aren't ecogeek's favourite places in
the world. But because neither the car nor garbage is disappearing any
time soon, it's good to know that technology is making parking lots a
little more green.
The Envision Solar Grove
is a customized photovoltaic-integrated parking lot solar system. Think
of it as a grove of solar panels shading the lot. And instead of
creating leaves and nuts and stuff...it creates electricity.
Each of the "Solar Trees", a term the San Diego-based company has
trademarked, is 10 feet tall at the low end and 13 feet tall at the
high end. At the site for Kyocera Solar, the canopy comprises 64 solar
modules, approximately 30' by 40' and tilted at five degree angles.
The canopy can be situated in any direction and unlike a traditional
carport structure, each canopy can tilt towards the sun in order to
maximum the energy production and economic value. Every Solar Tree
provides shaded parking for six vehicles which could also lead to
reduced air conditioning use. “Now is the time to get serious about
solar power,” says Robert Noble, CEO of Envision. “We've all heard
about global warming and we know it's a reality.”
As other fuels become increasingly expensive, Mr. Noble said it is
increasingly economical to produce energy from the sun. The Solar Grove
reduces light pollution by trapping light underneath the canopy while
simultaneously lighting the parking lot. Cleaning is also a snap
because the Solar Trees can be washed down if they accumulate dust.
In addition, the tilted canopies can route rainwater into bio-swales
porous, organic material that filters pollutants from park lot run-off.
The energy savings would eventually work out. The Solar Grove parking
lot can pay for itself in as little as five years, the company
estimates. But that sounds a bit optimistic to us.
The US military is looking to cut back on two things in Iraq:
fuel consumption and trash. So they’re finally getting on board with
alternative fuel sources, using the trash they don’t want to get the
fuel for electricity they need.
In March, we let you know that trash-to-fuel generators were getting shipped to Iraq. Well, they've arrived and are being tested.
If you’ve ever worked for the military, you know they don’t speak
English, but Acronymish. So, the generator is called TGER (“tiger”) and
the acronym stands for Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery. The
prototype, which uses a variety of technologies to run an electrical
generator, will be tested until August. If it works, more are on the
way to smaller camps and possibly to disaster relief sites.
Right now, the military burns the trash in incinerators, emitting
icky emissions and eating up a lot of fuel, time, and human power since
it takes quite a few people to run one. Also, cutting down on the use
of diesel fuel is especially important since the trucks that haul the
fuel are basically moving targets sure to make huge bangs. Decreasing
casualties is a priority, and what better reason to get on to using
waste as fuel?
The prototype accepts trash in a chute at one end, and the wet and
dry wastes are separated. The dry trash is crushed, pelletized, and fed
into a gasifier where the pellets are heated until they’re turned into
synthetic gas, which then fuels the generator. The wet waste is
converted with the use to enzymes into hydrous ethanol, which is then
blended with synthetic gas to boost the generator’s output to 55 kw.
There are hopes to improve the technology so that literally all trash
goes in one end, and electricity comes out the other – kinda the goal
we all have for waste-free living. And the improvements are needed,
since start-up time is a full 6 hours, and takes up about 1 gallon of
diesel fuel an hour. But once started, it is reported that it runs at
90% efficiency. I’m a little incredulous about that, but we’ll see what
folks say at the end of August.
With folks like BlueFire
and others already working on this, it seems like highly efficient,
easy to use trash-to-electricity technology is on the cusp of being
large scale reality.
RawSolar is emerging just at the right moment in the solar industry. While public projects are on hold,
smaller systems for private lands can get some room on the solar
industry playground. Incubated at MIT, RawSolar has a
solar-concentrating dish prototype that looks promising, and they’re
starting in on their business plan in (relatively) sunny Berkeley, CA.
Back in May we covered how the dish works, and it’s great to see the team making some progress on the business end of the project. While they aren’t the only low-cost solar concentrating system
in the works, they’re taking a unique angle on its use. Rather than
producing electricity, RawSolar is focusing on selling steam power that
can heat buildings or be applied to manufacturing processes. The dish
has a 12-foot-long tube rising from the center that has water running
through it and, when pointed at the sun, can turn that water in to
steam immediately. RawSolar hopes to covert companies using thermal
power to steam power, utilizing power purchase agreements that are
cheaper than what the companies spend on natural gas for thermal power.
Concentrated solar is getting a lot of eyes turned its way because
it is generally space-efficient and cost-efficient. Because RawSolar’s
dish can be easily constructed from inexpensive and easily obtained
materials, with minimal labor and technical knowledge involved, it
promises to be one of the most practical and cost-efficient
solar-concentrating systems. David Pelly, MIT Sloan School of
Management lecturer, stated that this is the cheapest set-up he’s seen
to a solar energy system, and notes that the fact that it is made of
inexpensive materials available anywhere in the world makes global use
of the product possible. It’ll be exciting to see where the team takes
this venture.
The bay area is attractive to RawSolar because there are fewer solar companies there than in other areas of California, and, of course, the area is ripe with engineering talent. Plus, close proximity to San Jose may prove to be lucrative.
The company is looking for funding and is hoping to have its first
pilot program up and running with a customer by year’s end. Bummer
they’re a little late to capture the long summer sun…
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a
marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT
researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power:
storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.
Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source,
because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively
expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT
researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient
process for storing solar energy.
Requiring nothing but
abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the
most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. "This is the
nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera,
the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a
paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power
has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think
about solar power as unlimited and soon."
Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab,
have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's
energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later,
the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating
carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day
or night.
The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is
a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst
produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt
metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity
-- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source
-- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin
film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.
Combined with
another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from
water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that
occurs during photosynthesis.
The new catalyst works at room
temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said.
"That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement,"
he said.
House Resolution 5843, titled the Personal Use of Marijuana by
Responsible Adults Act of 2008, would express support for "a very small
number of individuals" suffering from chronic pain or illness to smoke
marijuana with impunity.
According to NORML, marijuana can be
used to treat a range of illnesses, including glaucoma, asthma,
multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and seizures.
Frank, who is
chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said that about a dozen
states have approved some degree of medical marijuana use and that the
federal government should stop devoting resources to arresting people
who are complying with their states' laws.
In a shot at Republicans, Frank said it was strange that those who support limited government want to criminalize marijuana.
Asked whether the resolution's passage would change his personal
behavior, Frank quipped, "I do obey every law I vote for" but quickly
said he did not use marijuana, nor does he encourage it.
"I
smoke cigars. I don't think other people should do that. If young
people ask me, I would advise them not to do it," he said.
If HR 5843 were passed, the House
would support marijuana smokers possessing up to 100 grams -- about 3½
ounces -- of cannabis without being arrested. It would also give its
blessing to the "nonprofit transfer" of up to an ounce of marijuana.
The resolution would not address laws forbidding growing, importing or
exporting marijuana, or selling it for profit. The resolution also
would not speak to state laws regarding marijuana use.
Facebook will be releasing a Cocoa framework for the iPhone that will integrate with Facebook Connect, according to a TechCrunch report.
The
framework is expected to be released sometime in the fall, and will
take the form of an SDK that can be used by developers of iPhone applications. Facebook Connect allows applications to integrate the facebook platform and the identity of users into their own applications.
thejournal.com —Based
on research conducted by the University of Central Florida (UCF),
immersive educational video games can improve students' math skills and
comprehension and raise scores on district-wide benchmark exams.
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Indianapolis will become a "mock battlefield" for the
next three weeks according to local press, as over two thousand
marines will stage a huge urban warfare training exercise in and
around the city.
About 2,300 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary
Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will conduct urban warfare
training from Wednesday through June 19 in and around Indianapolis,
reports the Indy
Star.
The marines have been granted permission by state,
federal and local authorities to fire weapons, conduct patrols,
run vehicle checkpoints, react to ambushes and employ nonlethal
weapons after landing helicopters and deploying throughout various
parks, stadiums and fairgrounds.
“We don’t want anyone thinking that
there’s an invasion happening or that we declared martial
law or something like that,” Debbi Fletcher of the Indianapolis/Marion
County Emergency Management Agency commented.
“Our aim in Indianapolis is to expose our
Marines to realistic scenarios and stresses posed by operating
in an actual urban community, thereby increasing their proficiency
in built-up areas,” Col. Mark J. Desens, commander of the
26th MEU, said in a statement. “While some of the activity
will take place around Camp Atterbury, residents in many areas
can expect to see helicopters flying overhead, military vehicles
on the roads and Marines patrolling on foot,” Desens said.
Indianapolis is seemingly welcoming the marines with open arms,
in stark contrast to the last story of this nature we
reported on in Toledo, Ohio where Mayor Carty Finkbeiner
expelled the members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines
back in February because he did not think it a good idea to have
uniformed soldiers drilling in a highly visible area as it may
have disrupted and frightened residents.
The Mayor was subsequently castigated by the mainstream media
for taking the decision.
In response to the criticism and even small protests in Toledo,
Finkbeiner said “Anybody who suggests that this man is in
some way, shape, or form not loyal to this country or not loyal
to the military of this country, well that person is just a plain
baboon who doesn’t know me in any way, shape, or form and
what I stand for,”
It is a well documented that the use of military for law enforcement
violates
the Posse Comitatus Act. The increased spate of urban
warfare drills has many fearing that this long standing law is
slowly being eroded and everyday Americans becoming acclimatized
to the idea of an active military in their towns and cities.
The military has purpose
built facilities for training, it is unacceptable
and unlawful to have troops training on the streets of towns and
cities in America. Nevertheless, the media routinely castigates
the idea of preventing it from occurring.
Reporting on this saga, Jim
Kouri of NewsWithViews.com interviewed former and
current police chiefs who believe the motive for training US troops
inside American cities is more sinister:
“The police power has traditionally been reserved for the
states. The fact that we’re allowing military troops to
train in US cities is a violation of that tradition. We don’t
need federal troops to intervene in matters that should be handled
by local police officers, state troopers and the National Guard,”
one former detective states.
“The increasing use of Urban Warfare Training Exercises,
I believe, desensitizes both the public to the deployment of military
forces in their own neighborhoods,” warns a police chief,
whose mayor endorses the use of military forces within the US.
“It also desensitizes military and police personnel so
that they will accept what was once considered unacceptable,”
another police chief comments.
We have previously documented the coordinated program of urban
warfare drilling in America and how such activity has increased
in tandem with an growing effort to erode the ancient law of Posse
Comitatus.
In 911: The Road
to Tyranny Alex Jones presents footage of troops training
to put Americans into Concentration Camps. This footage includes
interrogations and a retired Marine admitting that in 1988 he
was kicking down doors in Norfolk, Virginia. The Marines would
be ordered to the local Police station where they would don Police
uniforms. They would then go to the local gun shop or dealers
home and "Take Them Down."
<!--end-->
<!--start-->
In Alex Jones' feature Police
State 2000he covers Operation
Urban Warrior where actors posed as American citizens
who were Unconstitutionally seized from their homes by the military
and police. These Americans: were rounded up and confined behind
barbed-wire.
The actors were told to demand to be let free and state that
they had rights. They were also told to demand food and water.
The troops in turn were taught to ignore them and to order them
to behave in an orderly fashion. "Civil disobedience will
not be tolerated" was one of the many disturbing statements
heard to emanate from the military's loud speakers.
Over the years there have been countless drills of this nature.
The media simply reports them as training for dealing with foreign
enemies, yet the volunteers and the participants are always told
differently.
<!--end-->
<!--start-->
In 2005 details of just one of many Military operations on American
soil was exposed in the run up to Bush's second coronation. A
secret counterterrorism program code-named Power
Geyser. A small group of super-secret commandos were hidden
among 13000 police and troops and "stood ready with state-of-the-art
weaponry to swing into action.".
There have been literally thousands of these kind of operations
in the planning and going on for years now. Many designed to use
the military on the streets of American cities in direct violation
of Posse Comitatus. The Pentagon has a full Command in operation
working on these activities, the
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
We have seen how new provisions will effectively
nullify the U.S. constitution, and a
Starting
with a Chicago-area facility due to open later this year, Microsoft
will use an approach in which servers arrive at the data center in a
sealed container, already networked together and ready to go. The
container itself is then hooked up to power, networking, and air
conditioning.
"The trucks back 'em in, rack 'em, and stack 'em," Chief Software
Architect Ray Ozzie told CNET News. And the containers remain sealed,
Ozzie said. Once a certain number of servers in the container have
failed, it will be pulled out and sent back to the manufacturer and a
new container loaded in.
For
a lot of gamers, Dungeons & Dragons serves as something of a
default game system. Certainly, it is by far the most popular, though
some would argue the system suffers in comparison to other RPGs. After
all, there are countless systems out there, some of them very different
than D&D. For instance, game designer Jonathan Tweet created Over
The Edge, a system with no skills or attributes, as well as Everway, a
game with no dice. Of course, fans of the White Wolf's World of
Darkness series of games prefer their system, and GURPS-players like
theirs.
<!--start-->
Indianapolis will become a "mock battlefield" for the
next three weeks according to local press, as over two thousand
marines will stage a huge urban warfare training exercise in and
around the city.
<!--start-->
In Alex Jones' feature 
<!--start-->
In 2005 details of just one of many Military operations on American
soil was exposed in the run up to Bush's second coronation. A
secret counterterrorism program code-named
What does the True20 roleplaying game have to do with Empowerment? True20 just scored a Gen Con 08 Ennie Award for Best Supplement, a WIRED.com feature article, and they've won my game designer heart for our own game developments.
There are Empowerment and Afternow role-playing game projects underway and the whole Empowerment project originally started as a D20-inspired activism RPG that went from realistic to real. Now that we're coming full-circle and doing RPGs again, the question is, what system should we use? Up until recently, I hadn't given it much thought, but as fate would have it, no sooner did I start looking than True20 found me.
I love the True20 system and I plan on using it as a starting point for future Empowerment role-playing game systems. It makes D20 simpler and more realistic in one clean sweep that clears away the cruft and sacred cows of 1970s roleplaying like hit points and rigid classes. I plan on making some optional modifications to make it even more realistic and calling those something like Real20.
At Gencon I met up with True20's Green Ronin Games designer Steve Kenson. I picked his brain about his inspirations for the system and possibilities for adding a simulationist-level optional combat system. Great guy, great company, great system. True20 is the utopian Vault in which to survive the D&D 4pocalypse.
There will be many empowering game projects and many systems used, but this one works for me right now.