In war many get killed but a lucky few make a killing

Military-industrial complex entering into the lucrative field of Pentagon/VA health care administration for crippled veterans. More profitable and long lasting than just developing weapons.
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Some novel ideas about prison reform (Steve Sailor, iSteve blog)
Make them much smaller.

Adding Star Wars machines to classic paintings (Cyriaque Lamar, io9)
Geeks will love this.

A short telling of some ELF arson attacks by a participant (Mackenzie Funk, Outside)
The teller, Chelsea Gerlach,  is currently serving a nine year federal sentence .

How a well connected real estate developer destroyed a Brooklyn, NY neighborhood using eminent domain laws (Damon Root, reason.com)
You get the governance you deserve eh?

Around one accident in four is caused by someone dicking around with an electronic device instead of paying attention to the road (Bogen Dorpher, Slashdot)
Only one in four? That's low. I'd put it right around one in three myself.

U.S. Army brass wet dreaming about buying a new combat rifle (Lance Bacon, Army Times)
No word about where they expect to get the money for it though.

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Does America even remember how to live in peace with the rest of the world? - American Conservative

Sadly, says writer Bill Kauffman, no it does not.

"Since 1941, war has warped American life. Only the doddering and the dotards among us have lived in an America that is not armed, aggressive, and perpetually at war. If you would seek those who know what an America at peace is like, visit the nursing home. If you would hear the sounds of America at war, walk the corridors of a veterans’ hospital. Listen to the shrieks and sobs—the keening for the lost America of Ida and Edgar Eisenhower."

Written on the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warning Americans about the emergent military-industrial complex.

Sign of the times...

A lot of those-in-the-know just love the Long War Journal website. It does have some good article links about the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. But they also have this stupid running list (updated continually) of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other Islamist paramilitary commanders that are killed, wounded or captured. And which is both morbid and idiotic to my mind. The constant lists of "senior commanders killed by a drone strike in Waziristan" is likely about some purported local big-frog-in-a-small-pond that the US has iced at the cost of millions of dollars and often with serious collateral damage resulting. And for all the boasting, bragging and strutting, is soon replaced in their hierarchy rather quickly by the next in line. Just as it is when a USMC or Army NCO or officer is killed, wounded or captured by them. And it's just poor form.

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Massively expensive USAF fighter jet a lot easier to shoot down than previously thought - Gizmodo
$388 billion for just 2,400 aircraft.
Korean massage parlors in the US "function essentially as brothels" - Infoshop News
It's not the sex for money issue that puts me off here; it's the holding the women hostage for sex slavery.
The declining influence of God in America - Utne Reader
Only 18 per cent of us go to church/synagogue/mosque, etc. any more.
Technology, Trauma and the Wild - Primitivism (Chellis Glendinning)
Devastation Without Representation - Press Action (Mickey Z.)
"Who will represent the thousands, probably millions, of marine mammals, fish and birds in the Gulf of Mexico region who will die at the hands of BP plc? Who will represent the plant life in the marshes and wetlands along the coast?"
"As Many Enemies As There Are Slaves": The story of Spartacus - Libcom.org/
American workplaces kill 14 workers a day on the job - Labor Notes
Rachel Maddow is full of shit about Somalia, anarchism and so much else - AlterNet (Kevin Carson)
Remembering Judi Bari - Earth First! Journal
Her case remains a mystery. Was Bari a bomber-maker who had an accident or was she the victim of timber companies revenge?

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Be here now: Shut off your phone - Taki's Magazine (James Jackson)
"...a young mother in the park will not be feeding the ducks with her child or pointing out the delights of flora and fauna. She will have stuck a pacifier in the youngster’s mouth and will be immersed elsewhere in a different conversation with a phone clamped to her ear."

UK Police Promise Not To Retain DNA Data, But Do Anyway - The Circular Triangle blog (Matthew Wilkes)
(h/t: slashdot.org/)
An amazing picture of the Andromeda galaxy from the WISE - Scientific American
Automating warfare - Popular Mechanics online
The mil-industrial complex is gearing up for the next generation of ultra-deadly (and presumably very profitable) fighter aircraft.
UK Football fans to owners: sell our team to someone else. - WSJ

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The Traceability of an Anonymous Online Comment - Freedom to Tinker blog
Botnets increasingly wielded for ideological uses - Ars Technica
This was bound to happen.
How to use a touch screen with gloves on: use a sausage - BoingBoing
"Algebra for All" Working as Should Have Been Expected - iSteve blog
The faces of meth: before & after photos from mugshots - LA Times
What is the best pocket tool? - Outside
Whatever one you pick you still need to carry a sturdy fixed blade sheath knife too though.
New Armored Wall System Assembles Like Legos, Could Replace Sandbags in Afghanistan-Popular Science
Pro/con: Shields-Expensive and have to be trucked or choppered in. Sand bags and rocks- Free, universally available and are time-tested protection. But the mil-ind complex doesn't make any money from local sand and rocks though. Heh.
Why are political elites so condescending? - Washington Post
OpenOffice Ships Version 3.2 - TechCrunch
Yeah!
4000 year-old human hair from museum basement allows genome to be sequenced. - Technology Review
The Bone Conduction Music Show- Thayrone X
The best rhythm & blues show on the net.
Anthrax, science is on to you! - Scientific American
"... anthrax manages to persist in soil for hundreds of years despite environmental extremes, including wind and rain, and even go undetected during outbreaks in humans and livestock has puzzled scientists." But how?
Apocalyptic Future Civil War Myths Catch Fire - Wired
Blame it on DMZ comics. I like that the disassociation and secession tropes are getting out there though. Heh.



Eco-defense: A field guide to monkey-wrenching - Anarchist Library (Edward Abbey)
"If a stranger batters your door down with an axe, threatens your family and yourself with deadly weapons, and proceeds to loot your home of whatever he wants, he is committing what is universally recognized — by law and morality — as a crime. In such a situation the householder has both the right and the obligation to defend himself, his family, and his property by whatever means are necessary. This right and this obligation is universally recognized, justified and even praised by all civilized human communities. Self-defense against attack is one of the basic laws not only of human society but of life itself, not only of human life but of all life."

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Going "Dead Beat" For Fun & Profit - Dallas Observer
"Cunningham knew he had a good enough case to file a lawsuit against the debt collection agency, and for his first lawsuit, he decided to enlist the help of a lawyer. Two months later, he had a check in his hand for $1,000." The guy featured in the story is making money by suing the bill collectors that are trying to collect from him. Nice work if you can get it.
Leviathan stirs again - The Economist
We're from the government and we're here to help you.
Experimental Soldier Exo-Skeleton's Batteries Improved- Popular Science
"Lockheed's Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) is a mechanized frame that allows soldiers to march or even run easily with loads of 200 pounds, as well as squat or kneel without trouble." Lockheed propaganda video here.
Airlines Want to Stop Taking Cash; Plastic Only- LA Times
The Safety Net - Living on Nothing but Food Stamps -New York Times.com
The tactical shotgun in urban operations - Infantry Magazine