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Saturday, July 27, 2002
In non-squid-related news, the maker of G. Bullets has been arrested for possession of 600 hand grenades. I only thought this was interesting because the guy seems like such a freak.
.: posted by andy 7/27/2002
More squid news.
.: posted by andy 7/27/2002
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
Sensory Deprivation Article 1
Sensory Deprivation Article 2
Sensory Deprivation Article 3
Sensory Deprivation Article 4 (conditions more extreme than Supermax Prison
Sensory Deprivation Article 5 (conditions vastly different than Supermax)
Sensory Deprivation Article 6 (again different from Supermax, but illustrates the point that Sensory Deprivation is more than just a bunch of alternative medicine wackos floating in saline solution)
More information on Sensory Deprivation and Supermax prisons. While I respect the view that many persons in Supermax-type conditions are essentially animals, I'm not sure what is accomplished by holding them in these conditions. Isolation may be necessary for the sake of these prisoners, the prison population at large, and guards and prison staff, but sensory deprivation is not.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
As I understand it, sensory deprivation involves placing an individual in a strait-jacket, immersing said person in a coffin-like container filled with body-temperature water (and breathing device), depriving the person from all sensory input and output (the deprivation part) and leaving him/her there until total psychological breakdown occurs. Its an interrogation technique, not punishment for misconduct. The group at the cited website (last updated 7 years ago) doesn't have any documentation on its use at Marion or any other supermax prison. These places have the real badasses, not suitable for any other prison. People there should probably have been executed.
I was interested in the article about the squid. Odd creatures out there
.: posted by George 7/24/2002
Did you hear anything about this in the news? Of course not. Nevertheless, President Bush is trying to turn us into a nation of snitches. Go send your Senator a fax, right away. This is very important.
Here's more information. The "Operation" is part of the so-called Citizen Corps, which sounded scary to me the first time I heard about it as well.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
Cheney is now travelling by submarine. This article isn't very interesting, but the second to last paragraph puts an interesting spin on the whole event.
Some news about Cheney and Halliburton.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
The US is trying to block a UN vote concerning torture standards. According to an anonymous US official, allowing outside observers into state prisons is an infringement of states' rights. I'm not sure where I stand on this whole issue, but I'm positive that torture is not a state's right.
I might also make the point that Bush is interested in using the military for domestic law enforcement purposes. Apparently we're only so concerned about infringing on states' rights.
But the reality of the situation is that the Federal Government doesn't want outside review of our prison system because it routinely employs methods of imprisonment that can be considered torture. Indefinite incarceration and sensory deprivation come to mind.
I guess the reality is that your inalienable rights are a myth that will last only as long as is convenient for your captors.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
When I started reading this article, I expected the lawsuit to be stupid and frivolous and typical of North Carolinian thinking. Then I read a little further in and started to think maybe the University really had overstepped its bounds by asking incoming students to read the verses from the Koran. But then I got to the end of the article and decided my first impression was the right one. This is just typical North Carolinian head-in-the-sand combativeness. Idiots.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
A CIA defector died in Russia today. His death is supposedly an accident, but nobody is very clear on the circumstances. My theory is that there are no accidental deaths in Russia. Obviously the Americans would already hate him, and he opened up a trade consulting business once over there, so there's a good chance he was involved with the Russian Mafia. Forget about it.
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
The Republicans sponsored a bill to make American travel to Cuba contingent on solid evidence that Cuba has abandoned its program to develop biological weapons. The bill failed 262-167. This is very reasonable, as the bill was based solely on the White House's assertion that Cuba has such a program. When asked if there was any evidence to support this claim, the Bush Administration reluctantly admitted there was not. I think I linked to an article about that a while back.
Tom DeLay: "Congress should take no step that inadvertently strengthens the Castro regime and compromises our campaign against terror."
As if. The Republicans use the War on Terror as a justification for everything. "We must pass this bill to raise our annual salaries so as not to compromise the War on Terror." "I accepted kickbacks from the logging and oil industries so as not to compromise the War on Terror." "I killed Chandra Levy so as not to compromise the upcoming War on Terror." (technically that would be a Democrat's justification, but it's all the same in the end)
.: posted by andy 7/24/2002
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
I don't have Bill's email address anymore. He stopped using his hotmail address, and his sadmind address went away when sadmind did, and now he lives in Kansas City for some reason. Funny how I lived with the guy for a year, and now I couldn't get in touch with him if I had to.
.: posted by andy 7/23/2002
It's 8:45, and I can't resolve Yahoo, right now. Sucks to be someone.
.: posted by andy 7/23/2002
Monday, July 22, 2002
this is cool.
.: posted by aida 7/22/2002
Sunday, July 21, 2002
Spider Silk "has the potential to become the next generation performance filament because it is expected to be tougher and lighter than the incumbent fibre, Kevlar�." "Beyond wound closure, markets exist for materials intended for longer-term implantation into the human body."
I want to be the first person with implanted ballistic armor. I think that could come in very handy in my line of work.
.: posted by andy 7/21/2002
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