Happy New Years

Good News

SKorean scientists in AIDS breakthrough from PhysOrg.com

South Korean scentists said Friday they are closer to understanding how a protein found in both primates and humans blocks the progression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the apes.

[...]
Researchers identify new drug targets for cancer from PhysOrg.com

Solving a 100-year-old genetic puzzle, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have determined that the same genetic mechanism that drives tumor growth can also act as a tumor suppressor. Their findings could lead to new drug targets for cancer therapies.

[...]

And the Bad News

Sex Ends as Seasons Shift and Kisspeptin Levels Plummet from PhysOrg.com

A hormone implicated in the onset of human puberty also appears to control reproductive activity in seasonally breeding rodents, report Indiana University Bloomington and University of California at Berkeley scientists in the March 2007 issue of Endocrinology. The paper is now accessible online via the journal's rapid electronic publication service.

[...]

...

Possible Giant Squid footage

Japanese scientists herald live giant squid footage from PhysOrg.com

Japanese scientists have released what they say could be the first live video footage of the elusive giant squid, exposing some of the creature's underwater secrets.

[...]

40 40

Finally a brake through for spintronics!

New magnetic polymers may advance spintronics technologies from PhysOrg.com

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have pioneered a new approach for making magnetic polymers that are held together with very strong hydrogen bonds. These polymers contain an innovative bifluoride, HF₂–, building block that allows a magnetically ordered state to be obtained. The development may help lead to new techniques for faster and more versatile computer chips, among other applications.

[...]

Top Quark Found: Take that terrorists!

Team Detects 'Top Quark,' a Basic Constituent of Matter from PhysOrg.com

A group of 50 international physicists, led by UC Riverside’s Ann Heinson, has detected for the first time a subatomic particle, the top quark, produced without the simultaneous production of its antimatter partner – an extremely rare event. The discovery of the single top quark could help scientists better explain how the universe works and how objects acquire their mass, thereby assisting human understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe.

[...]

Fusion scientist revives magnetic mirror machine with cool new idea

Fusion scientist revives magnetic mirror machine with cool new idea from PhysOrg.com

Since the development of the hydrogen bomb in the ‘50s, scientists have speculated that the power of fusion might serve as a renewable energy resource. Research has revealed the challenges of this goal, and although nothing close to such an application exists, recently, Professor Nathaniel Fisch from Princeton University has come up with a new idea for efficient fusion energy production based on the old concept of magnetic mirror machines.

[...]

C. Columbus

Paintings for sale.

All paintings for sale $40.00
12" x 12" Price includes shipping to continental US all else add $10.00.
Money orders only. email me at djwetmouse@gmail.com for details.

Wetmouse in the Kiwi's house

Fossil bones of a mouse-sized creature that died between 16 million and 19 million years ago have been discovered on the South Island of New Zealand. It is the first hard evidence that the islands once had their own indigenous land mammals[...]

I should have bought these sneakers!

Comic Artists

Do yourself a favour and check out


Paul Pope's blog.


Chris Weston's blog.


Sean Philips' blog.

Cell Phones may not cause cancer but robots can still kick your ass at chess

Study Disputes Cell Phone-Cancer Link from PhysOrg.com

(AP) -- A huge study from Denmark offers the latest reassurance that cell phones don't trigger cancer. Scientists tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including 52,000 who had gabbed on the gadgets for 10 years or more, and some who started using them 21 years ago.

[...]



World Chess Champion Loses to Computer from PhysOrg.com

(AP) -- World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik lost his final game in a match against computer program Deep Fritz on Tuesday, ceding a hard-fought Man vs. Machine series 4-2.

[...]

Levitate Me

Scientists have now levitated small live animals using sounds that are, well, uplifting.

In the past, researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, China, used ultrasound fields to successfully levitate globs of the heaviest solid and liquid—iridium and mercury, respectively. The aim of their work is to learn how to manufacture everything from pharmaceuticals to alloys without the aid of containers. At times compounds are too corrosive for containers to hold, or they react with containers in other undesirable ways [...]

Rolex of the Gods explained

Enigma of ancient world's computer is cracked at last from PhysOrg.com

A 2,100-year-old clockwork machine whose remains were retrieved from a shipwreck more than a century ago has turned out to be the celestial super-computer of the ancient world.

[...]

Superman Returns Sux

I just watched the first 10 minutes and it's looking up to be the stupidest movie ever.
Singer must smoke crack! The script is terrible and Lex Luther is a moron, he's supposed to be a supergenius and he can't get one of the easiest myths right in his head. UGH!

February means I love You

A new miniseries about the marvels by Jeff Smith of Bone will be coming out in February.

Laser used to color metal black without scorching

Ultra-intense laser blast creates true 'black metal' from PhysOrg.com

"Black gold" is not just an expression anymore. Scientists at the University of Rochester have created a way to change the properties of almost any metal to render it, literally, black. The process, using an incredibly intense burst of laser light, holds the promise of making everything from fuel cells to a space telescope's detectors more efficient--not to mention turning your car into the blackest black around.

[...]

Diamonds...

For Better Nanowires, Just Add Diamond from PhysOrg.com

Among the positive characteristics of diamond, such as its beauty and unsurpassed hardness, are less well known properties that make it a valuable material in the electronics industry. Now, according to two scientists at the University of California-Riverside, diamond can boast one more useful ability in that area: significantly increasing the current-carrying abilities of silicon nanowires. This means that diamond may play an important role in future nanoelectronic technologies.

[...]

Wireless recharge

Wireless energy transfer can one day recharge laptops, cell phones without cords from PhysOrg.com

Recharging your laptop computer -- and also your cell phone and a variety of other gadgets -- might one day be doable in the same convenient way many people now surf the Web: wirelessly.

[...]

Rumsfeld

US Veterans, germans and others to prosecute Rumsfeld & co. for war crimes - torture in Guantananamo including


BACKGROUND BRIEF ON
THE CASE AGAINST RUMSFELD, GONZALES AND OTHERS
FILED IN GERMANY ON NOVEMBER 14, 2006

The November 14, 2006, criminal complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called “War on Terror.” The complaint is brought on behalf of 12 torture victims – 11 Iraqi citizens who were held at Abu Ghraib prison and one Guantánamo detainee – and is being filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) and others, all represented by Berlin Attorney Wolfgang Kaleck. The complaint is related to a 2004 complaint that was dismissed, but the new complaint is filed with much new evidence, new defendants and plaintiffs, a new German Federal Prosecutor and, most important, under new circumstances that include the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the U.S. granting officials retroactive immunity from prosecution for war crimes.

Executive Summary of the Complaint’s Allegations:

From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of ordering, allowing and implementing abusive interrogation techniques in the context of the “War on Terror” since September 11, 2001, must be investigated and held accountable. The complaint alleges that American military and civilian high-ranking officials named as defendants in the case have committed war crimes against detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the U.S.-controlled Guantánamo Bay prison camp.

The complaint alleges that the defendants “ordered” war crimes, “aided or abetted” war crimes, or “failed, as civilian superiors or military commanders, to prevent their commission by subordinates, or to punish their subordinates,” actions that are explicitly criminalized by German law. The U.S. administration has treated hundreds if not thousands of detainees in a coercive manner, in accordance with “harsh interrogation techniques” ordered by Secretary Rumsfeld himself that legally constitute torture and/or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, in blatant violation of the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the 1984 Convention Against Torture and the 1977 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to all of which the United States is a party. Under international humanitarian treaty and customary law, and as re-stated in German law, these acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment constitute war crimes.

The U.S. torture program that resulted in war crimes was aided and abetted by the government lawyers also named in this case: former Chief White House Counsel (and current Attorney General) Alberto R. Gonzales, former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense William James Haynes, II. While some of them claim to merely have given legal opinions, those opinions were false or clearly erroneous and given in a context where it was known and foreseeable to these lawyers that torture would be the result. Not only was torture foreseeable, but this legal advice was given to facilitate and aid and abet torture as well as to attempt to immunize those who tortured. Without these opinions, the torture program could not have occurred. The infamous “Torture Memo” dated August 1, 2002, is the key document that redefined torture so narrowly that such classic and age old torture techniques as water-boarding were authorized to be employed and were employed by U.S. officials against detainees.

Why Germany?

The complaint is being filed under the Code of Crimes against International Law (CCIL), enacted by Germany in compliance with the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court in 2002, which Germany ratified. The CCIL provides for “universal jurisdiction” for war crimes, crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity. It enables the German Federal Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes constituting a violation of the CCIL, irrespective of the location of the defendant or plaintiff, the place where the crime was carried out, or the nationality of the persons involved.

No international courts or personal tribunals in Iraq were mandated to conduct investigations and prosecutions of responsible U.S. officials. The United States has refused to join the International Criminal Court, thereby foreclosing the option of pursuing a prosecution in international courts. Iraq has no authority to prosecute. Furthermore, the U.S. gave immunity to all its personnel in Iraq from Iraqi prosecution. All this added to the United States’ unquestionable refusal to look at the responsibility of those of the very top of the chain of command and named in the present complaint, and the recent passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (see below) aimed at preventing war crimes prosecutions against Americans in the U.S., German courts are seen as a last resort to obtain justice for those victims of abuse and torture while detained by the United States.

The Plaintiffs in the Case:

The complaint is being filed on behalf of 11 Iraqi citizens who were victims of gruesome crimes at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. They were severely beaten, deprived of sleep and food, sexually abused, stripped naked and hooded, and exposed to extreme temperatures.

Another plaintiff in the case is Mohammed al Qahtani, a Saudi citizen detained at Guantánamo since January 2002. At Guantánamo, Mr. al Qahtani was subjected to a regime of aggressive interrogation techniques, known as the “First Special Interrogation Plan,” that were authorized by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and implemented under the supervision and guidance of Secretary Rumsfeld and the commander of Guantánamo, defendant Major General Geoffrey Miller. These methods included fifty days of severe sleep deprivation and 20-hour interrogations, forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, physical force, prolonged stress positions and prolonged sensory over-stimulation.

None of these plaintiffs – and the hundreds of other detainees subjected to similar abuses – has seen justice, and none of those who authorized these techniques at the top of the chain of command have been held liable for it, or even seriously and independently investigated.

The Defendants in the Case:

The U.S. high-ranking officials charged include:
- Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
- Former CIA Director George Tenet
- Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Dr. Stephen Cambone
- Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez
- Major General Walter Wojdakowski
- Major General Geoffrey Miller
- Colonel Thomas Pappas
- Former Chief White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales
- Former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee
- Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo
- General Counsel of the Department of Defense William James Haynes, II
- Vice President Chief Counsel David S. Addington

The 2004 Complaint:

In November 2004, the previous German Federal Prosecutor failed to prosecute an earlier complaint against many of these same defendants filed by CCR with the support of FIDH and RAV. The U.S. pressured Germany to drop the case, saying not doing so would jeopardize U.S.-German relations, and the complaint was ultimately dismissed in February 2005 on the eve of a visit by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Munich, Germany. In dismissing the case, the Prosecutor stated: “there are no indications that the authorities and courts of the United States of America are refraining, or would refrain, from penal measures as regards the violations described in the complaint.” The passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 immunizing officials and others from prosecution and much new evidence shows this is not the case.

The Impact of the Military Commissions Act of 2006:

The Military Commissions Act was signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, and it protects U.S. officials and military personnel by: 1) narrowing the grounds of criminal liability under the War Crimes Act and making those revisions retroactive to November 26, 1997; and by 2) retroactively extending a defense for criminal prosecutions related to detentions and interrogations back to September 11, 2001. These immunizing provisions essentially grant an amnesty for international crimes including war crimes and torture. The retroactivity provision directs that prosecutions of war crimes committed since 1997 will fall under the new narrowed range of standards and interpretations of war crimes, which would protect civilians from being prosecuted for committing acts that would have been considered war crimes under the old definition – thereby explicitly aiming at immunizing American officials and others from prosecution in their country.

How the 2006 Complaint Is a Stronger Case:

The grounds for the 2005 dismissal are no longer justified:
The prosecutor’s original decision to dismiss the case was solely based on the assumption that an ongoing investigation was being carried out in the U.S. regarding the Abu Ghraib scandal. We now have extensive evidence that demonstrates that this investigation was directed only towards the criminal culpability of the lowest ranking military personnel. Indeed, some of these very defendants have been or are being rewarded with higher-level appointments and medals. The investigative and prosecutorial functions in the United States are currently directly controlled by the ones involved in the conspiracy to perpetrate war crimes and named in this complaint, which politically blocks possible investigations and criminal prosecutions. Furthermore, the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is unquestionably the clearest illustration of such unwillingness to prosecute Americans for war crimes.

New evidence:
Extraordinary new materials, documentation and testimonies that have come to light over the past two years – about what the plaintiffs went through (Mr. al Qahtani is a new plaintiff to the case), about the signed memos that led to the justification and practice of torture, and about the defendants’ personal involvement – only strengthen the case.

In addition, former U.S. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, a defendant in the earlier complaint as the commanding officer at Abu Ghraib, is now providing testimony and will testify on behalf of the plaintiffs.

New additional defendants:
The new complaint charges the government lawyers alleged to be the legal architects of the Bush Administration’s practice of torture.

Rumsfeld can no longer claim sovereign immunity:
Rumsfeld’s resignation on November 8, 2006, means that he cannot claim either the functional or personal immunity of sovereign officials from international prosecution for war crimes. Functional immunity – related to acts performed in the exercise of a person’s official functions – does not, since the Nuremberg trials in 1945, apply to international crimes such as war crimes. As to personal immunity – covering officials’ private acts accomplished while in office – it only applies during the individual’s term of office.

Unprecedented support for the case:
When filing a complaint to the Federal Prosecutor, any group may join the complaint as a “co-plaintiff,” which demonstrates the support of these groups and their common request for the opening of an investigation. Co-plaintiffs in the present case include:

Individuals
1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aldolfo Perez Esquirel (Argentine),
2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner Martín Almada (Paraguay),
Theo van Boven, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture,
Sister Dianna Ortiz, (Torture survivor, Executive Director of TASSC)

International and Regional NGOs
FIDH: International Federation for Human Rights
The International Peace Bureau (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1910)
International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA)
European Democratic Lawyers
European Democratic Jurists,
International Association of Democratic Lawyers

National NGOs
Argentina: Comité de Acción Jurídica (CAJ)
Argentina: Liga Argentina por los Derechos del Hombre
Bahrain: Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS)
Canada: Lawyers against the War (LAW)
Colombia: Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo
Democratic Republic of Congo: Association Africaine des Droits de l’Homme (ASADHO)
Egypt: Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR)
France: Ligue Française des Droits de l'Homme (LDH)
Germany: The Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV)
Jordan: Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHR)
Mexico: Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH)
Mexico: Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (LIMEDDH)
Nicaragua: Centro Nicaraguense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH)
Palestine: Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Tchad: Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (ATPDH)
Senegal: Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO)
USA: The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
USA: National Lawyers’ Guild (NLG)
USA: Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC)
USA: Veterans for Peace

Another one

Ten Perfect Albums

I've misplaced my i-pod while moving so till I get back on track with the 2007 list here is a different list.
A perfect album (LP) is hard to come by but here are ten of my favorite.


1) Palace Music )) Viva Last Blues

Not blues, not folk, not rock but everything.

2) Pere Ubu )) The Modern Dance

Unclassifiable and unbearable to be without.

3) Pavement )) Brighten the Corners

The blueprint to Indie rock, if only more people realized.

4) Funkadelic )) Maggot Brain

"We are back in our minds again" Dearest Funk, you confound my body but delight my soul!

5) Joe Jackson )) Look Sharp!

Pop at it's finest and (ahem) sharpest!

6) Elvis Costello & the Attractions )) Get Happy!!

20 love letters to soul music written as an apology for a insult Costello made about Ray Charles (if legends are to be believed!!)

7) James Brown )) Live at the Apollo [1963]

My first album and love.

8) Jets to Brazil )) Orange Rhyming Dictionary

It's just so near perfect it's better than perfect.

9) Pixies )) Surfer Rosa

The follow up to Come on Pilgrim, not as raw but just as much bite.

10) Frank Black )) Teenager of the Year

A perfect double album, how do you do it Frank Black Francis?

One weekend a month!

I didn't like any of the pages I drew this weekend so I painted these two so it wouldn't be a wasted weekend. I also watched 11 episodes of The Wire, and it is awesome! Plus I got alot of work done in the apartment.



Those drips look too much like bullet wounds, I'll get rid of them!

Carl is the Awesome!

Marcos' Carl is the Awesome is getting more hits than Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston on a crack binge, and for good reason.

Fwd:

Dia De Los Muertos

Are you down with Helium, Solid!

Can Helium-4 Transition to a Supersolid? from PhysOrg.com

For forty years supersolid behavior has been predicted, and since the 1970s, theories about supersolid behavior involving helium-4 have been developed. However, it wasn’t until 2004 that some evidence of supersolid behavior was found. But, when a group of scientists from the Helsinki University of Technology tested the thermodynamical properties of solid helium-4, they found something different.

[...]

India enshrines Buddha's remains after 2000 years

Monks in flowing orange robes chanted hymns from scriptures as the remains were lowered into a shallow pit on top of a 90-ft high stone dome, as part of celebrations to mark the 2,550th anniversary of the spiritual leader's enlightenment.

Organisers of the ceremony said this was the first time in around 2,000 years that Buddha's mortal remains were being enshrined [...]

Scientists discover exotic relatives of protons and neutrons

Scientists discover exotic relatives of protons and neutrons from PhysOrg.com

Scientists of the CDF collaboration at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today (October 23, 2006) the discovery of two rare types of particles, exotic relatives of the much more common proton and neutron.

[...]

Dream Theater

Last night I had a dream that Marcos, Justin, and I were walking around Brooklyn when we were accosted by this large group of rollerbladers in line green short-short outfits. Some how in my mind I recognized them as The Bay City Rollers and Anthony and the Johnsons. Anyway they started screaming at Justin claiming that he bought The Strokes' new album, a charge he vehemently denied, I think the dream ended in a conga line. I need to know what this means.

The Dhammapada

I'm having a bit of trouble with this statement...
"For the sake of others' welfare, however, great, let not one neglect one's own welfare. Clearly perceiving one's own welfare, let one be intent on one's own goal."

Science 10_23_06

Biodegradable nanospheres offer novel approach for treatment of toxin exposure and drug delivery from PhysOrg.com

A new technology to clean the blood of victims of radiological, chemical and biological terrorist attacks is being developed jointly by Argonne National Laboratory, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and The University of Chicago Hospitals.
[...]

Modification Turns Ultra-Short Nanotubes into Molecule-Like Drug Capsules from PhysOrg.com

While most research aimed at developing carbon nanotubes as tumor-targeting drug and imaging agent delivery vehicles has focused on full-length nanotubes, Lon Wilson, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Rice University have been working with ultra-short nanotubes that cells appear to take up more efficiently than their longer counterparts.
[...]

Scientists discover exotic relatives of protons and neutrons from PhysOrg.com

Scientists of the CDF collaboration at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today (October 23, 2006) the discovery of two rare types of particles, exotic relatives of the much more common proton and neutron.
[...]

Matter and antimatter feel the chemistry from PhysOrg.com

“Antiprotonic hydrogen has already been produced,” explains Nicola Zurlo, an investigator in the Chemistry and Physics Department, headed by professor Evandro Lodi-Rizzini, at the University of Brescia in Brescia, Italy. “But what we’ve done is produce it in a totally different way. The process and mechanism is completely different.”
[...]

Deathwatch

30 Rock is actually funny. I give it half a season before it's cancelled. It's clever, too clever, even the stupid jokes are smart and amerikans hate smart. Then again if they are willing to pay Alec Baldwin's salary and Lorne Michaels still has the pull he's know for maybe it will last two seasons, four tops. Hell, Lorne has been able to keep SNL on the air after 30 unfunny years in a row. They just got to dumb it down a little more.

Bodega Signing

On tuesday I went to the Bodega signing at Giant Robot in Manhatan. Brian Ralph was signing his new book
Daybreak and Kazmir Strzepek was there with his book The Mourningstar



I can't write reviews so let's just say both books rock out!
Buy them both, what are you waiting for you lazy good for nothings!

First off: SPX

Don't they look happy!

Most of the Convention was spent making faces at Mike Dawson.

Second off

SPX

As currently Justin has a much better grasp on the english language please see his post about SPX.

Music

This isn't going too well with the music thang, I'll reboot the project when I get back from SPX. I have to list these songs by name not artist. I get too hung up on not favoring certain artist and that's the simple solution.

100,000 to Become Buddhists in Hydrabad on 14th October

Click (here) for the Article.

A small break

Screaming Jay Hawkins, I love you!

Tetsuro Tamba died at the age of 84 on Sept 25th.
He was the star of over 300 films including
HARAKIRI, KWAIDAN, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, and HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS.

The Anti-Matter Equation

It might be…it could be…it is!!! from PhysOrg.com

Scientists of the CDF collaboration at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today that they have met the exacting standard to claim discovery of astonishingly rapid transitions between matter and antimatter: 3 trillion oscillations per second.

[...]

Outlaw Nation to be collected.

Jamie Delano's epic series Outlaw Nation is being collected into a single volume by Image books in November.