] Science fiction often depicts robots of the future as
] machines that look like people and feel, or at least
] hanker after the ability to feel, human emotions.
] A team at Vanderbilt University is turning this notion on
] its head by developing a robotic assistant whose goal is
] not to develop emotions, but rather respond to the moods
] of its human master.

Wired News: Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It

] A British television station defended a show in which a
] Chinese performance artist apparently eats a dead baby,
] calling it a "thought-provoking film about extreme art in
] China."

] Channel 4, which upset viewers with a dissection of a
] human corpse last month, plans to air the documentary in
] which artist Zhu Yu shows off photographs of himself
] washing a dead stillborn baby in a sink and putting its
] dismembered parts in his mouth.

] In a preview provided to Reuters, Zhu is also shown
] having a piece of his own body grafted onto a pig.
] He describes his work as expressing his Christian
] faith, saying: "Jesus is always related to death,
] blood, wounds, etc."

I'm at a lack for words. This is pretty extreme.

Link from boingboing.net.

Artist eats dead baby & grafts piece of his own body to pig

] Since the corporate media is not reporting what is
] happening at the Library of Congress it is up to
] Librarian X to fill the void in the best tradition of
] internet journalism. You will find the links below to a
] variety of issues.
]
] Want to know who the Librarian of Congress is, the
] mysterious "former" CIA James Billington? Outsiders
] consider him a great scholar, others the Ayatollah of
] Kissassolla and Fuhrer of Fraud. While outsiders praise
] the efforts of the Management Team, insiders consider
] them the Taliban Management Team. Is the
] Billington-created Madison Council a collection of
] "benevolent" billionaires or tightwad Mullahs of Moolah
] who secretly influence Congress? And just what is that
] Russian Leadership Program really about?
]
] While outsiders and Congressmen think Ayatollah
] Billington is "improving" the Library into the Temple of
] Mucho Dinero, insiders see decay, chaos, infinite
] lawsuits, and a serious threat to the future of this
] great institution. Read the links below, with various
] topics to be added semi-whenever, and you decide as a
] citizen in an open democracy should.
]
] Got something to say or add to this? Use the link below.
] Mail will be posted in the future. If you wish to remain
] anonymous, please state.

The inside scoop on the Library of Congress. Journalism/whistle blower/activism Internet style.

Link from boingboing.net.

LibrarianX - America's Most-Likely-To-Be-Assassinated Librarian

] Digital Millennium Copyright Act charges may force an
] independent Internet service provider and its
] controversial clients offline next month.
]
] The Thing has provided Internet connectivity, technical
] support and Web design services to New York City artists
] and political activists for over a decade.
]
] But at the beginning of December, Wolfgang Staehle,
] owner and director of The Thing, was notified by his
] service provider, Verio, that The Thing's Internet
] connection would be severed on Feb. 28, 2003.
]
] Staehle said Verio is pulling the plug on The Thing due
] to charges that one of its clients violated the DMCA by
] posting a parody website mocking Dow Chemical company.

Wired News: DMCA: Dow What It Wants to Do

] In foreign affairs, Washington is chronically
] unable to deal with more than one crisis at a
] time. As deputy secretary of state in the Carter
] administration, I helped to negotiate the
] release of 52 Americans held hostage in the
] United States Embassy in Iran. I recall how this
] relatively confined crisis submerged all other
] issues for 14 months, including the Soviet
] invasion of Afghanistan. Similarly, in the early
] years of the Clinton administration, our
] concentration on Bosnia and Haiti may have drawn
] our attention away from the killings in Rwanda.

] While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may be
] right in saying that our military can fight two
] wars at the same time, my experience tells me
] that we cannot mount a war against Iraq and
] still maintain the necessary policy focus on
] North Korea and international terrorism. Anyone
] who has worked at the highest levels of our
] government knows how difficult it is to engage
] the attention of the White House on anything
] other than the issue of the day. For example,
] the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a major
] crisis by any standard — now seems to be
] handled largely by an assistant secretary of
] state. Likewise, Afghanistan, which is at risk
] again of becoming a haven for terrorists, seems
] to be getting less attention than it deserves.

Warren Christopher, former Secretary of State, thinks we should be giving North Korea more attention then Iraq.

Iraq Belongs on the Back Burner

2002 really sucked. Didn't like it, wouldn't do it again. 2001 wasn't that hot either.

Got good hopes for 2003. Bring it on..

This site contains translations of articles from Middle Eastern media, broken down by subject and viewpoint.

The site also inclues translated political cartoons.

The Middle East Media Research Institute

] "Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel known
] to broadcast statements from Osama bin Laden (news - web
] sites), will reach out to the West starting in February
] with an English-language Web site. "

Yes!

I've been craving the opportunity to read the Al-Jazeera news stories directly, and not just be limited to excerpted bits from BBC and CNN. I have yet to find a good online translator that would convert Arabic websites into something English-readable. So it'll be great to get Arabic news from the source (or at least closer to the source).

In the past, I have attempted to read Al-Jazeera stories via several web translators. It never translates well. I am very happy about this.

Al-Jazeera to provide English-language Web site

] People in the genetics industy claim that it is a hoax.
] Nobody has seen pictures of the baby yet and there's been no
] scientific proof yet that they've cloned anything, but yet the
] media is jumping on this shit like it's proof.

According to the Washington Post, the Raelians claimed a similar cloning success back in 1978, but further investigation proved it to be a hoax.

The story is also interesting because it comments on the reputation of the ABC Science Correspondent, Michael Guillen, who's going to be conducting the DNA testing of the mother and baby to determine if the cloning is real or not. Evidently a few years back, the James Randi Foundation (http://www.randi.org) gave Guillen its annual "Pigasus" award, for his "indiscriminate promotion of pseudoscience and quackery."

Stay tuned...

Cloning a Previous Hoax?

I'm not ignoring the cloned baby stuff.. I just don't know how I feel about it yet.

On one side, I really don't like the idea of a bunch of cloned humans running around, for a number of reasons to large to fit here. The advancement of the species is aided by having a very diverse DNA pool. I fear these crazy cult groups would clone the wrong people, repeatedly. The last thing the world needs is 1,000 of that Rael guy running around, or that Cloanaid CEO lady. [shudder] I could care less about playing God, or the rage this seems to invoke in the religious communities.. But, I do endorse any excuse for sex, and I think that removing sex from breeding takes all the fun out of breeding!

On the other side, I really hope they are not full of shit, and have sucessfuly done it. I really like the idea of the history books reading that the first human clone was created by a nutty group of loons with dreams of immortality who thought that humans were genetically engineered by aliens. Thats the way I think the history books should read.. It pleases my sick sense of humor. At some point or another someone is going to do it, it might as well be a set of complete screwballs so in the context of history, its at least ha-ha funny.