tabloid and broadsheet

The US Heimatschutz (Department of Homeland Security) disclosed that since at least June 2010 it has been operating a Social Networking and Media Capability charged with monitoring popular websites for trends and intelligence. I would be very surprised if such surveillance was not happening all along--after all, in those infernal anti-terrorism/operational security (OPSEC) that we’ve through annually for years now, we’re battered with examples of evil-doers gleaning valuable data from the same sources, seemingly innocuous until pieced together. The admission, I am sure, is not complete and does not reveal the entire scope of the operation, but it strikes me as a little pathetic that the approach of America's security and intelligence apparatus is merely a reflection of our own gossipy idleness and that the triangulation and predictive abilities are no more sophisticated than what any of us can access and do on a regular basis.

Most of these sites are sounding boards and aggregators that drive what people may read and research further but contain little original reporting nor opinion. I guess I am a little disappointed that there is nothing as clandestine and imaginative as the agency that Robert Redford worked for at the beginning of Sidney Pollock’s adaptation of "Six Days of the Condor," where bookworms scoured all sorts of publications, including pulp-fiction, for new ideas, plots and plans. Ruminating what's there for public consumption is the modus operandi of spammers and censors and trolls, and not the work of discreet professionals. It is probably the least invasive tact taken in the name of protecting the US people (ostensibly from themselves) but still very disconcerting for the US DHS to own up to reading over one's shoulder.

sustenance or food goes viral

From the science desk at Boing Boing, initial experiments conducted at the University of Nanking seem to indicate that eating, and the choices that go with it, not only are we consuming energy, nutrients, industrial dander or just empty calories but also bits of instruction, code with every bite. Small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA) survive digestion, splintered but essentially intact and identifiable--rice was the subject of the Chinese experiment, and can go on to interact with the consumer on a cellular level, influencing the way proteins are expressed.

I would guess the mainstay of eating throughout the animal kingdom is primarily derived from food’s fuel and nourishment, and is not in this residual coding but I don't know. The thrust of the research seems to present a strong warning against the introduction of genetically-modified or engineered crops into the food-chain, since digestion and nutrition and the mechanics of DNA and saying grace just got a lot more subtle and a lot more complex, but the accompanying write-up also raises other implications, like the relationship between predator and prey and how attuned, shocked or inured can we be in terms of diet choices. Do carnivores or herbivores seek out their specific quarry because their stomach have evolved to digest their meals wholly or imperfectly, by design, and benefit (or suffer) from symbiosis that goes deeper than our basic understanding of the hunt? Should such claims does prove true, it also makes me wonder about what it means to eat processed and artificial foods, whose information (as well as nutrition) is stripped away, and what truths and sense are in the latest fads like the Caveman Diet or the advice to cook and eat like what one's grandparents (or great-grandparents) ate. People cannot be forced to avoid junk and convenience foods and eat healthy, but learning about other ways that diet determines well-being can make the arguments for taking care of oneself more compelling and forces politics and the naïveté of greed (both on the parts of the fast-food industry and GMO agribusiness) out of the kitchen.

truth in advertising

At the other end of the spectrum (in several respects) from the efforts in the US legislature to bring SOPA and PIPA in force, the EU Commissar and national consumer advocacy ministries are teaming up to combat predatory lending practices through offers of on-line credit that are usually too good to be true. In contrast to the industry lobby in the States, this mission actually aims to protect the consumer and has the teeth to close down websites, possibly engaged in shady, dishonest business, if they fail to come into compliance--not steamrolled or blacklisted but not suffered purely for the sake of commerce either. Though I think the Banking Offices of Mister Goodluck Smith-Jones of National Bank Ltd GmbH of Nairobi, who has some incredible news for you, are safe, the commission has looked at hundreds of websites and scoured thousands of offers that purport to compare competitive interest rates for moving ones savings or find the best terms for a loan and found that more than two-thirds of these sites, with an air of legitimacy since they rate real financial institutions that people have heard of, the conditions did not pan out as favourably as promised. Caveat emptor is a sound doctrine to follow and a little homework is always to one's advantage, while the sieve of government cannot and would not attempt to filter and field all such spam, this kind of initiative is a proportional way to balance out the glossy inducements that people sometimes seek out.

stamp act or omm-nomm-nomm

Despite problems reaching a broad consensus that would avoid creating market havens through the EU (and internal strife arising from coalition party factions in Germany instant on an all-or-nothing buy-in—the pro-business Freie Demokratische Partei, under the leadership of the Finance Minister, argues that no plan would work if restricted to only euro-zone traders and without the participation of opposing UK and Sweden), the European Union, after some 18 months of debate and exploration, is ready, wobbly platform or not, to institute a financial transaction tax that would levy a 0.01% - 1% surcharge on trades.

There is some strong opposition that deserves to be heard, but I do think that a lot of the resistance is peppered with misconceptions and misapplication. This idea is nothing new, dating back to the opening of the London Stock Exchange during Renaissance times, and is already practiced to some extent in the Britain, Sweden (double-taxation is never floated, interestingly, as a contrary argument), Belgium, Greece, Poland and Switzerland and in other markets (even formerly in the US, until 1966, and Japan, until 1999) and the world did not end, and the stock exchanges are in fact far from some hedonistic free-for-all, and brokerages see amazing profits on short-term holdings and the activity of day-traders.  A comprehensive agreement is projected to raise billions in tax revenue, discounting fears that the financial sector in Frankfurt or London and elsewhere would wither as investors flee towards more open markets without the transaction fees. Since consumption and income taxes in Europe are pretty high to begin with, though European citizens do realize benefits for the amount of money they pay in, taxing the financial institutions to offset the burden on the individual seems like a fair move. Only trades are levied and not home mortgages and loans to small businesses, as well as private banking, and pension funds should be exempt as well, though I do not think retirement accounts are as likely to be gambled on the stock market in Europe as in America. Some have been given cause to vehemently and callously doubt government’s ability to spend their taxes wisely. These proceeds would also shore up emergency rescue funds for banks and governments in crisis, and perhaps have the added benefit of taming speculation and automated trading, whose emotions and hair-pin triggers have created much turmoil.

penny dreadful

Der Spiegel has an insightful, rather thrifty and sparing with words to let the satire and paradox appreciate, piece on the Prolefeed and rabble-rousing spectacle that is framing not only the Republican’s campaign for the US presidential party nominee but political deportment in general. European values have become a soft-target, a punching bag and it is not just the Republican candidates that are shrill about being less European than their competition: policy-makers and editorializers squarely blame Europe for threatening the world economy, blocking quick and unilateral action against rogue states (thereby enabling the terrorists) and debasing faith and religion with an Ersatz secularism that Europe is only too happy, apparently, to export. Any one in American politics, it seems, interested in keeping his or her job is quick to distance themselves from international partners, and a similar tenor is coming also from just across the English Channel. This revived McCarthyism is nothing new and the pith and moment of campaigning can certainly excite feelings of xenophobia and patriotism that turns in on itself. Once, however, the mudslinging and bashing is over and strained diplomacy resumes and deals are kept out of the public view, there is little hope that opinions and image can be rehabilitated (for the victims of Euro-bashing or any other scapegoat) or the ironies, deflections and the side-shows cleared away. One boon and bane (Fluch und Segen) is that constituents usually do forget this heated levying of accusations and find it novel when the whole spectacle is drug out again.

on hook

I got many nifty and fine gifts this year and one accessory really makes for a clever combination. I am ever resistant to the flashier cellular phones (sogennant Handys) mostly because affording a fancy cachet usually means that one becomes saddled with a contract.

Europe, as I understand is quite different from the States in that one in America is charged for incoming as well as ongoing texts and messages, in terms of options for cellular service. Another choice that does not exist in the States is using prepaid minutes, Guthaben, which is more expensive per unit than with a contract but has no further obligation, since one can still receive calls. Many people, of course, have all sorts of inclusive contracts in Germany, that charge a flat-rate for calls, messaging and internet-access but I have stubbornly hung on to the same SIM card, phone soul, with the same phone number for nearly a decade and stayed reluctant to change. After all, over a three-month period on average, the need to actually place a call was rare and 15 euro in credits went a long, long way. People do know, in theory, what kind of breakfast cereal to purchase without the need for consultation but one does hear a lot of disembodied chatter in the grocery store, nonetheless: just think of the plots spoilt and frictionless history could be had for want of cell phone technology. I did receive, however, a great unencumbered phone with all the nice features that are stock-standard nowadays and a really ingenious bonus that was the big selling-point: slots for two SIM cards (with the chance for multiple ring-tones and wallpaper). I kept my old chip and could reload it as needed, and a space that integrated a partner-SIM card on H’s plan, with a separate, secret number. At a press of a button, I could glom of his service in a pinch or emergency, both of which cell phones have a habit of making, especially when one forgets to replenish his Guthaben.