Tuesday, December 27. 2022
'The star of the TV show The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Travis Taylor has accused “debunkers” of having a bias in their research. In the interview that appeared last week on 8 News Now, journalist George Knapp reveals the double life of this star. He was secretly working as the chief scientist for the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force.
'The article describes how Travis Taylor was an integral part of investigating UFO sightings and other phenomena related to UFOs and extraterrestrial.
'During his interview with KLAS-TV, the chief scientist of the Pentagon’s UFO Task Force, Travis Taylor, took aim at skeptics who are biased in their research.
'Taylor explained to journalist George Knapp in an interview that skeptics and debunkers obtain their results by “knowing what answer they’re going to get” and “changing” the analysis to take them in that direction.
'It seems that independent fact-checkers like Mick West are being belittled. Not just by Travis Taylor, but also by biased journalist George Knapp, who is also good friends with UFO hoaxer Jeremy Corbell.
'Jeremy Corbell, an American contemporary artist, documentary filmmaker, and ufologist, has repeatedly been caught lying about his claims. In one example, he posted a UFO from the miniseries Taken (2002) as “real” on his Instagram account which he later removed when we exposed him.
'In the 8 News Now article dedicated to Travis Taylor, George Knapp called fact-checkers “civilian debunkers”, saying: “Civilian debunkers have tried to explain away the Tic Tac or Gimbal UFOs as birds or reflected light or far off jet engines as if military investigators are oblivious to such possibilities. When The UPA Task Force determined these objects to be genuine unknowns, it wasn’t merely relying on brief video clips.”
'George Knapp, a supporter of the hoaxer Jeremy Corbell, featured a video in his news reporting that originate from the hoaxer Jeremy Corbell. This video contains a “UFO video” involving the USS Russell in 2019. The video footage depicts multiple pyramid-shaped flying objects.
'The UAP Task Force, George Knapp, and intrepid UFO investigator Dr. Travis Taylor all failed but not the “civilian” debunker Mick West. This just turns out to be an effect as a result of a triangular camera lens called the Bokeh effect. This is confirmed by the congressional committee. ' (LionsGround article).
Monday, December 26. 2022
'A discovered US Department of Defense document provides unprecedented insight into why the US government is disclosing information concerning UFOs.
'The US Department of Defense is very certainly utilising or plans to deploy sophisticated anti-gravity planes to gain an advantage over its terrestrial opponents. If the document obtained by UFO researcher Richard Dolan from the DNI report is to be believed, the US was in the midst of an informational campaign to gain a significant advantage, which may have been thwarted. The document obtained by Mr. Dolan makes a bold claim that anti-gravity aircraft is already being tested at Area 51 and related sites (based out of Nevada).
'The actual objective of the Viper teams, who seemingly work closely in association with with George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell (both stationed in Nevada), might be for Information Operation (IO). Information Operations (IO) are critical to the successful execution of military operations, according to a recently discovered US Department of Defense study document.
'“Information is facts, data, or instructions in any media or form,” according to Joint Publication 1–02 (Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, April 2006). Information is also defined as “the meaning that a person imparts to facts via the application of recognised protocols in their representation.”
'For those wanting to answer additional existential mysteries, Richard Dolan’s report also cites “Advanced utilisation of exotic elements for energy research (ET related stuff).” With former US intelligence member Christopher Mellon and AATIP Director Luis Elizondo alluding to wrecked ET spacecraft on many occasions, it is reasonable to conclude that the anti-gravity craft now being tested were successfully reverse engineered.
'According to the uncovered document, DoD is using media as a key perception management tool. The document also claims that the media is a force multiplier and a weapon of war. When using media for perception management, the intent is to achieve key objectives such as targeting the mass minds on the inner front of a hostile nation. This aims at defeating adversary psychologically by subverting their public and defense forces and, also, disarming them morally.' (The Pulse article).
Friday, November 25. 2022
'Due to a new bill, officials who have knowledge of or experience with sightings of UFOs in the US could soon come forward and share information about the phenomenon without fear of retaliation.
'According to a report by WTOP, the annual defense authorization bill that the US Congress passes could include language that will allow former and current government employees to discuss their experiences with unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs. The provision was approved in July 2022.
'Although the House passed the bill, the Senate has not yet taken up the issue. As the leader of the House’s minority party, Kevin McCarthy said that he would like to see the legislation delayed until the following year.
'Author and UFO investigator Richard Lang said that he has been in touch with several individuals who have information about UAPs that they would like to share if the legislation passes. He noted that if the bill passes, many of these individuals will start talking about their experiences.
'According to Swiatek, the passage of the bill will hopefully bring some fresh air to the subject of UAPs. In addition, it will allow authorities to thoroughly investigate these phenomena.
'It has been a long journey for Bill Cooper, a former Navyman who became known as a conspiracy theorist. Despite the cost, he decided to speak out about his experiences with UAPs.
'According to Pale Horse Rider, Cooper and other crew members of the USS Tiru spotted an unidentified aerial object that was about the size of a football field that repeatedly entered and exited the water. However, despite the reports, authorities did not find anything suspicious.' (Latest UFO Sightings article).
Monday, November 21. 2022
'The death of Queen Elizabeth II, where the BBC dropped programming to run endless, wall-to-wall coverage, has underlined the fact to many Britons that the network is far from impartial, but the voice of the state.
'The BBC website draped itself in black, printing stories such as “Death of Queen Elizabeth II: The moment history stops,” while BBC News presenter Clive Myrie explicitly dismissed the cost of living and energy crisis wracking the country as “insignificant” compared to the news.
'But even before the monarch’s death, the BBC’s reputation was in crisis. Between 2018 and 2022, the number of Britons saying they trusted its coverage dropped from 75% to just 55%. Yet it still remains a giant in media; more than three-quarters of the U.K. public rely on the network as a news source.
'However, this investigation will reveal that the BBC has always been consciously used as an arm of the state, with the broadcaster openly collaborating with the U.K. military, the intelligence services and with NATO, all in an effort to shape British and world public opinion.' (MintPress News article).
media-underground.net
Sunday, January 29. 2017
'Science is under attack. The dark forces of anti-intellectualism have taken power, and one by one, various federal research agencies are being silenced, banned from discussing their research online in any capacity. Although their Twitter accounts are still active, references to climate change and environmentalism have been purged.
'Fortunately, the resistance has clearly begun. Academics and researchers, both from government organizations and elsewhere, have taken to Twitter to set up unofficial accounts in support of the censored agencies. As they aren’t technically linked to the federal groups themselves, there’s nothing the Trump administration can do but to watch them grow in prominence.
'The latest comes in the form of @RogueNASA, an offshoot of the original spacefaring organization. Describing itself as “The unofficial ‘Resistance’ team of NASA”, the account is a rallying cry for science and reason, particularly when it comes to both climate change mitigation and the environment.' (IFL Science article).
media-underground.net
Monday, January 16. 2017
'A SpaceX rocket flew up, placed a set of satellites in orbit, and dropped back down onto a landing pad in a huge success for the company.
'The successful launch was extra-important because it came four months after a similar rocket went up in a huge fireball, sparking an investigation and potentially derailing Elon Musk's private space company's plans.
'The two-stage rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:54 a.m. carrying a payload for Iridium Communications Inc., which is replacing its entire global network with 70 next-generation satellites.
'The satellites were deployed about an hour after launch.
'About nine minutes after the rocket blasted off, to cheers from the control room, its jettisoned first stage landed upright on a so-called droneship in the Pacific Ocean south of Vandenberg - part of SpaceX's effort to make boosters reusable.
'SpaceX has succeeded six times previously with landings on a barge or ashore.
'A camera aboard the first stage gave viewers a you-are-there experience as it returned to Earth, flared landing rockets and made a perfect upright touchdown on the floating pad.' (Independent article).
media-underground.net
Tuesday, January 10. 2017
'Former RT journalist Abby Martin has blasted the US intelligence agencies’ ODNI report along with the New York Times for publishing “egregious lies” about her and RT.
'The NYT article, titled: “Russia’s RT, The Network Implicated in US Election Meddling,” claimed that two RT anchors “quit during live broadcasts” as a result of RT’s propaganda, including Martin. The NYT also claimed that Martin said “the network [RT] is a propaganda outlet.”
'Speaking to RT on Monday, Martin addressed accusations that her work for RT was part of a Kremlin propaganda effort and explained how the NYT falsely reported on her resignation.
'“I’ve never actually gotten directions from Putin himself,” she joked, explaining she was simply “trying to present issues that affect Americans and their communities,” on her show, Breaking The Set, “like reporters in a vibrant democracy should be able to do.”
'“The New York Times is no stranger to false narratives,” Martin said, adding that the media outlet “latched on” to the ODNI report, despite admitting it contained no evidence. “The so-called paper of record,” Martin explained, “hadn’t even bothered to reach out” to her before publishing the story.
'In reality, Martin voiced her views over Russia’s involvement in Crimea during an episode of Breaking The Set. While her statements garnered global press coverage, Martin remained working for RT for a full year after her statements, continuing to voice her opinions and disagreements with Russia’s actions in Ukraine and in relation to the downing of Flight MH-17.' (RT article).
media-underground.net
Tuesday, April 21. 2015
'David Cameron met with Sony representatives ten weeks before the referendum on Scottish independence to discuss the release date of TV show Outlander in the UK, according to leaked emails published by Wikileaks.
'The series, dubbed Scotland’s answer to Game Of Thrones, was shown on American television but its premiere in the UK was delayed last year.
'It was eventually released through Amazon Prime in March this year, after the firm acquired the rights to the drama.
'But leaked emails from Sony Pictures suggest the entertainment firm met with UK Prime Minister David Cameron in the lead-up to the referendum to discuss the historic vote as well as the TV show.
'The email, sent from Sony vice president Keith Weaver to chief executive Michael Lynton and other senior Sony figures, outlines the focus of the meeting, with particular reference to "overall investment in the UK".
'The email states [sic]: “From a SPE [Sony Pictures Entertainment] perspective, your meeting with Prime Minister Cameron on Monday will likely focus on our overall investment in the U.K. - with special emphasis on...the importance of Outlander (i.e. particularly vis-à-vis the political issues in the U.K. as Scotland contemplates detachment this Fall).”' (Scotsman article).
media-underground.net
Thursday, December 4. 2014
Wow! For Land Reform anoraks such as myself, this last week or so has been truly inspiring. Behind Scottish Independence itself, Scottish Land Reform surely has to be the next biggest ticket on the agenda. I've posted before on the landmark Land Reform Group report, but it now looks like the SNP Government with Nicola 'The Sturge' Sturgeon at the helm is really pushing to make things happen. Hell, it's almost 'cool' to be discussing the future of our land, rather than the likes of me ranting on about it in a bothy to anyone who will listen.
Can you believe that not only do 'sporting estates' (i.e. playgrounds for our establishment fun-killers) get an exemption from business rates, but we actually subsidise them to the tune of £millions per annum? In fact this vile Tory-led Government - the Government of the 'Bedroom Tax' - has almost doubled this despicable subsidy - a subsidy that actually pays for landowners to lay waste to vast acreages of land by slaughtering all manner of wildlife, both 'legally' (e.g. stoats, weasels, foxes, corvids) and illegally (raptors) whom then sell it back to us as 'conservation'. Combine that with heather burning and bulldozing access tracks and you end up with huge upland deserts. If that constitutes 'conservation' then I'm proposing a movement that espouses shagging for virginity.
At last we have a real chance of some ancient wrongs being righted. Bring it on!
'Bring out the violins. The land reform programme announced last week by the Scottish government is the end of civilised life on Earth, if you believe the corporate press. In a country where 432 people own half the private rural land, all change is Stalinism. The Telegraph has published a string of dire warnings - insisting, for example, that deer stalking and grouse shooting could come to an end if business rates are introduced for sporting estates. Moved to tears yet?
'Yes, sporting estates - where the richest people in Britain, or oil sheikhs and oligarchs from elsewhere, shoot grouse and stags - are exempt from business rates, a present from John Major’s government in 1994. David Cameron has been just as generous with our money: as he cuts essential services for the poor, he has almost doubled the public subsidy for English grouse moors, and frozen the price of shotgun licences, at a public cost of £17m a year. (Guardian article, Land Matters article & Raptor Persecution article).
media-underground.net
Monday, September 29. 2014
This is old news in conspiracy circles but things are heating up. There's a new film coming out called Kill The Messenger. Glenn Greewald has just posted about the CIA/Cocaine connection on his blog The Intercept.
'Eighteen years after it was published, Dark Alliance, the San Jose Mercury News’s bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, and African American neighborhoods in California, remains one of the most explosive and controversial exposés in American journalism. The 20,000-word series enraged black communities, prompted Congressional hearings, and became one of the first major national security stories in history to blow up online. It also sparked an aggressive backlash from the nation’s most powerful media outlets, which devoted considerable resources to discredit author Gary Webb’s reporting. Their efforts succeeded, costing Webb his career. On December 10, 2004, the journalist was found dead in his apartment, having ended his eight-year downfall with two .38-caliber bullets to the head.
'These days, Webb is being cast in a more sympathetic light. He’s portrayed heroically in a major motion picture set to premiere nationwide next month. And documents newly released by the CIA provide fresh context to the Dark Alliance saga - information that paints an ugly portrait of the mainstream media at the time.
'On September 18, the agency released a trove of documents spanning three decades of secret government operations. Culled from the agency’s in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, the materials include a previously unreleased six-page article titled Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story. Looking back on the weeks immediately following the publication of Dark Alliance, the document offers a unique window into the CIA’s internal reaction to what it called “a genuine public relations crisis” while revealing just how little the agency ultimately had to do to swiftly extinguish the public outcry. Thanks in part to what author Nicholas Dujmovic, a CIA Directorate of Intelligence staffer at the time of publication, describes as “a ground base of already productive relations with journalists,” the CIA’s Public Affairs officers watched with relief as the largest newspapers in the country rescued the agency from disaster, and, in the process, destroyed the reputation of an aggressive, award-winning reporter.' (The Intercept article).
media-underground.net
'Scientists at IBM Research have created by far the most advanced neuromorphic (brain-like) computer chip to date. The chip, called TrueNorth, consists of 1 million programmable neurons and 256 million programmable synapses across 4096 individual neurosynaptic cores. Built on Samsung’s 28nm process and with a monstrous transistor count of 5.4 billion, this is one of the largest and most advanced computer chips ever made. Perhaps most importantly, though, TrueNorth is incredibly efficient: The chip consumes just 72 milliwatts at max load, which equates to around 400 billion synaptic operations per second per watt - or about 176,000 times more efficient than a modern CPU running the same brain-like workload, or 769 times more efficient than other state-of-the-art neuromorphic approaches. Yes, IBM is now a big step closer to building a brain on a chip.
'The animal brain (which includes the human brain, of course), as you may have heard before, is by far the most efficient computer in the known universe. As you can see in the graph below, the human brain has a “clock speed” (neuron firing speed) measured in tens of hertz, and a total power consumption of around 20 watts. A modern silicon chip, despite having features that are almost on the same tiny scale as biological neurons and synapses, can consume thousands or millions times more energy to perform the same task as a human brain. As we move towards more advanced areas of computing, such as artificial general intelligence and big data analysis - areas that IBM just happens to be deeply involved with - it would really help if we had a silicon chip that was capable of brain-like efficiency.
'Enter TrueNorth, the culmination of the six-year-old SyNAPSE project at IBM Research. The work, which has been partly funded by DARPA since 2008, resulted in a prototype chip with just 256 neurons in 2011, and the Corelet programming language in 2013. This new chip is a second-generation version of the 2011 prototype, based on a new process (Samsung 28nm vs. IBM 45nm) and is orders of magnitude more complex, functional, and efficient. TrueNorth is implemented in standard CMOS transistors, just like the CPU in your PC - but that’s where the similarities end.' (Smart Engineering article).
media-underground.net
Monday, September 22. 2014
'The Scots were never big enough to break the Union. That’s always been a job for the English.
'So what do we do now? We’ve just lost a fight, so our instinct is to pretend we can re-organise and regroup immediately, like Rocky Marciano. The hive mind of the Yes movement is already a-buzz across social media with plans and hashtags. We are so busy picking ourselves up off the floor that while we may have grumpily noted that we ceased to be very interesting to the UK media at about a minute past 4 on Friday morning, we probably haven’t quite noticed that the way the story has moved on is entirely in our favour. Quite bewilderingly, our project of Breaking Britain has been taken up with gusto and enthusiasm... by the British State.
'Might it just be that a narrow No vote last Thursday was the best possible result in the long term? Before you reach for a brick and tell me to stop being such a smart-arse, consider this.
'The best imaginable result was a decisive Yes... but that was never on the cards. The bestpossible result was a narrow Yes - and that would have united all the politicos of the rUK against us. While a narrow, not even that narrow a No vote has turned them on each other. Like wolverines in a sack.' (Bella Caledonia article).
media-underground.net
Saturday, August 30. 2014
I know U.S. wars may seem like old news but this is well worth the time. It's the kind of dark absurdity that you can't actually laugh out loud at because you know the horrible reality but I'll bet you'll place both hands on your face and shake your head back and forth mumbling WTF? The first thing that came to mind reading this article is the book Catch-22. I'm going to have to read that again.
'The absurdity runs deep: America is using American military equipment to bomb other pieces of American military equipment halfway around the world. The reason the American military equipment got there in the first place was because, in 2003, the US had to use its military to rebuild the Iraqi army, which it just finished destroying with the American military. The American weapons the US gave the Iraqi army totally failed at making Iraq secure and have become tools of terror used by an offshoot of al-Qaeda to terrorize the Iraqis that the US supposedly liberated a decade ago. And so now the US has to use American weaponry to destroy the American weaponry it gave Iraqis to make Iraqis safer, in order to make Iraqis safer.
'It keeps going: the US is intervening on behalf of Iraqi Kurds, our ally, because their military has old Russian-made weapons, whereas ISIS, which is America's enemy, has higher-quality American weapons. "Kurdish forces are literally outgunned by an ISIS that is fighting with hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. military equipment seized from the Iraqi Army who abandoned it," Ali Khedery, a former American official in Iraq, told the New York Times.
'So now we're bombing the guns that we didn't mean to give ISIS because we didn't give guns to their enemies because then ISIS might get guns.' (Truth Out article).
media-underground.net
Saturday, August 16. 2014
Algorithmic Filtering is a good enough term but I think someone needs to dumb it down so everyone can understand exactly what's going on here. I may be overstating the obvious but I like to be completely clear. People tend to ignore wild eyed conspiracy nuts screaming on the sidewalk. I also strive for simplicity and readability. Just imagine the next paragraph is written all in caps. Something like...
"With the right kind of hacking Facebook can make a story almost disappear even though everyone assumes it's a tool to give the general public complete freedom to post whatever they want. News stories can be ignored just as easily as they are in mainstream outlets. Just as Google can target ads from what's written inside your email, Facebook has software that can read your posts and bury certain topics or at least control content from becoming viral to a certain extent. This is especially insidious because the very nature of social media gives people the illusion that it's some kind of tool to give a voice to the voiceless. Nothing can be further from the truth."
'For me, last night’s Ferguson "coverage" began when people started retweeting pictures of armored vehicles with heavily armored "robocops" on top of them, aiming their muzzle at the protesters, who seemed to number a few hundred. It was the fourth night after an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, was shot by a - still unnamed - police officer after a "jaywalking" incident. Witnesses say he died hands in the air, saying "don’t shoot".
'The first night Mike Brown was shot, a friend asked on Twitter whether this would ever make the national news. It deserved to be national news as multiple significant, ongoing crises intersect at Ferguson: the loss of jobs which hit these communities worst; the militarization of US police departments; race; chronic multi-generational poverty.
'But those very factors often make it less likely such places make the news, except as trouble spots. Places to be ignored. Avoided. "We" hear it only through official statements, often dismissing local concerns, painting them as looters, thugs, troublemakers.' (Medium article).
media-underground.net
Friday, May 30. 2014
This week the UK Treasury was caught with its pants round its ankles over its estimates of how much it'll cost to set up Scotland as an independent country. Meanwhile the mainstream media continues to do its best to try and sidestep the issue...
'The Treasury has been accused of “badly misrepresenting” key data on the costs of setting up an independent Scotland - by one of the academics it cites in its own figures.
'In a briefing paper issued ahead of today’s competing estimates on the cost - or savings - of Scottish independence, the Treasury said that creating the new government departments required would “see Scottish taxpayers fork out £2.7 billion”.
'Putting forward what he described as his “comprehensive analysis”, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: “The Scottish government is trying to leave the UK but it won’t tell anyone how much the set up surcharge is for an independent Scotland.”
'Yet Patrick Dunleavy, a politics professor at the London School of Economics whose research was used to come up with the figure, said that it overestimated the cost by a factor of 12.' (Independent article).
media-underground.net
Thursday, May 29. 2014
Elon Musk recently unveiled SpaceX's impressive new Dragon V2 capsule...
'In a carefully choreographed event that felt more like an pop music awards show or an Apple product launch than anything we're used to with space flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tonight unveiled the newest edition of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
'Dragon V2 is designed to carry up to 7 astronauts to space. In the archived livestream of the unveiling event, below, Musk explains what's under the hood. Described by its chief designer as "a true 21st-century spacecraft," the DragonV2 flight could achieve its first unmanned flight as soon as late 2015, and its first crewed flight as soon as mid-2016.' (BoingBoing article).
media-underground.net
Wednesday, May 28. 2014
Is Edward Snowden a disinformation agent? What would be the motive? Could it be a test to study our reaction when confronted with the fact the NSA is actually spying on Americans? Maybe they knew it was going to come out eventually and wanted to control the leak? Or frighten everyone into submission to put a chilling effect on what we say and do online? Ease us into the truth before they trash the Bill of Rights? I'm revisiting a year old conspiracy I thought was total bunk when I first heard the idea but now it seems somewhat believable.
Remember the NSA not only listens in on conversations and stores everything we do online but they also filter, analyze, measure and interpret data much like what a corporate marketeer would do. It's basic data mining to study trends. It would be the most accurate type of poll ever conceived in human history. So they could have easily studied what most people thought about the NSA itself, our reaction to total surveillance or whether or not we even cared.
My gut feeling is most people in the US probably already took for granted the NSA was spying on them to begin with. They would fully know it wouldn't be much of a risk for Edward Snowden to come out and tell the truth (the rest of the world has always known because that's been the NSA's job all along). But for the US population they probably already calculated the psychology behind the leak and possible reaction most people would have AND predicted the outcome. You can do a whole hell of a lot with that much data. It's understanding group psychology on a mass scale and knowing how far they can put their dick in our ass.
'Now that the dust has settled after the Edward Snowden affair, it’s time to ask some tough questions about The Guardian’s scoop of the week. Snowden’s story is that he dropped a $200,000 a year job and a (very attractive) girlfriend in Hawaii for a life in hiding in Hong Kong in order to expose the evils of the NSA's Prism programme. But bits of the story are now being questioned.' (The Telegraph article).
media-underground.net
Sunday, May 25. 2014
This article came out two days ago. Maybe you've seen it. Here at Media Underground we don't post too many stories that hit the mainstream but I had to post this just to prove I'm not making this shit up. And by the way I looked all over for an article with the downside to this new app or even a realistic take but they all seemed to have very little or no problem with it. I suppose it doesn't matter anymore if we live under the umbrella of a New Techno Stasi. People are watching it live, these psychopaths are shaking it right in our face and no one cares. And you don't need an army of riot police when the people are this apathetic.
And what is it with the new techno geeks who think this shit up? Are they virtual illiterates? Have they never read Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four? Surely they've seen a few dystopian science fiction films but they probably think: "Oh those are just movies and they don't mean anything. You're paranoid. Just look at this new technology! Isn't it cool?".
It will be the same thing with the new Mark of the Beast app. Here at the Underground we don't have to believe in Jesus to understand why an implantable chip might be creepy. It's just fucking creepy, okay? I don't know why. Some people just feel like they don't want to have a tracking device on their body that's connected to a huge database. Does that mean I'm a paranoid Christian? No it just means I don't want you in my shit. I wonder how they'll spin that one. I’ll bet they’ll find a way to get everyone begging for it. People will wait in line and camp out overnight to be the first ones to get the new iBeast.
"But James if you're not doing anything wrong why would it matter to you?" I don't know. It's just weird for some reason. I can’t explain it. And why in the fuck am I the paranoid freak? How come no one thinks the people who design these surveillance tools aren’t paranoid? You built a fucking gadget that records everything in the room or tracks everyone wherever they go? What kind of person would think of that? What kind of person would buy into that? Those are the people who are never labeled as paranoid. They're just concerned with your safety. Don’t you want to be safe? Or isn’t it cool that a giant corporation is listening in to everything in your room?
'Say, you don't mind if Facebook sticks one of your earbuds into its data-mining cranium, do you?
'As Facebook said in a message posted Thursday, over the next few weeks, it's introducing an optional music, TV and movies recognition feature in the US for Android and iOS gadgets - or what the praiseworthy Register calls "fondleslabs."
'The feature will be off by default. If a user gives it permission to slurp up sound, it will tap into the mic on a mobile device and eavesdrop on whatever's playing in the background.
'The feature will then grind through its recognition machinery to identify the song, movie or TV show you're listening to.
'Facebook didn't say anything about listening in on background noise, including private conversations.' (Naked Security article).
media-underground.net
Friday, May 23. 2014
A comprehensive final report on the future of Scotland's land has just been published, with 62 progressive recommendations, that, if implemented, would change the pattern of Scotland's land immeasurably in terms of use, ownership and funding. It is hard to overstate how important this report is or is likely to be. Of course, will Scotland - either as part of the UK or an independent nation - see these recommendations enacted? Independence will surely help but the jury is definitely out. It will take politicians and principled people with real balls to implement these much needed and long overdue reforms, as the vested interests of the large Scottish landowners and 'slipper farmers' are rich and powerful, not least because they own and control, er, the land...
It is our job (i.e. the people of Scotland) to keep this issue alive and not let this invaluable report become just another paperweight on the desks of the powerful. I live in hope.
'There should be an upper limit on the amount of land held by private owners in Scotland, a government-commissioned study has recommended.
'The Land Reform Review Group also called for a big increase in community land ownership. And the group said the current tax system should be changed.
'Tax "plays an important part in maintaining the concentrated pattern of large scale, private land ownership in Scotland," it stated.
'The Scottish government believes the country needs a fairer distribution of land ownership, and is aiming reduce the dominance of large, traditional sporting estates. The report's authors said the Scottish government should establish a Community Land Agency to facilitate negotiations between landowners and communities, with the goal of achieving a "significant increase in local community land ownership". But they warned that public funding remained "critical" and the Scottish government must ensure there is an "integrated legislative and financial support structure" to help communities in urban and rural Scotland buy and develop land and buildings.' (BBC News article & Land Reform report).
media-underground.net
Wednesday, May 21. 2014
George Monbiot has just written an excellent article in The Guardian explaining why, if he lived in Scotland, he'd vote yes to rid the country of its feudal landowners...
'Power's ability to resist change: this is the story of our times. Morally bankrupt, discredited, widely loathed? No problem: whether it's neoliberal economics, tax avoidance, coal burning, farm subsidies or the House of Lords, somehow the crooked system creeps along.
'Legally, feudalism in Scotland ended in 2004. In itself, this is an arresting fact. But almost nothing has changed. After 15 years of devolution the nation with the rich world's greatest concentration of land ownership remains as inequitable as ever.
'The culture of deference that afflicts the British countryside is nowhere stronger than in the Highlands. Hardly anyone dares challenge the aristocrats, oligarchs, bankers and sheikhs who own so much of this nation, for fear of consequences real or imagined. The Scottish government makes grand statements about land reform, then kisses the baronial boot. The huge estates remain untaxed and scarcely regulated.
'You begin to grasp the problem when you try to discover who owns them. Fifty per cent of the private land in Scotland is in the hands of 432 people - but who are they? Many large estates are registered in the names of made-up companies in the Caribbean. When the Scottish minister Fergus Ewing was challenged on this issue, he claimed that obliging landowners to register their estates in countries that aren't tax havens would risk "a negative effect on investment". William Wallace rides again.' (Guardian article).
media-underground.net
Tuesday, May 20. 2014
'Here we go again. The latest IPCC report, the US National Climate Assessment report, and a report published by US military researchers all recently warned us yet again about the risks associated with human-caused climate change. While the planet continues to warm, ice continues to melt, and sea levels continue to rise, the conservative media are trying to distract everyone from these scientific realities with a shiny quarter named Lennart Bengtsson.
'Bengtsson is a meteorologist at the University of Reading, who recently decided to join a charity, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). The GWPF is known for downplaying the risks posed by human-caused global warming with shoddy scientific arguments, then arguing against taking any meaningful action to address the problem.
'The GWPF has called the IPCC a "deeply discredited organisation" and worse, and has accused climate scientists of being delusional or liars. The group also recently set up a new campaigning arm, which would be free from charity regulations requiring that any information they put out is fair and as accurate as possible.' (Guardian article).
media-underground.net
Monday, May 12. 2014
With the current system of Common Agricultural Policy farm subsidies (CAP) ending next year, the Scottish Government is currently looking at the system that shovels vast amounts of public money to landowners and 'slipper farmers' (i.e. people who own or rent land but do not even own a pair of wellies let alone farm anything, yet still receive a shitload of cash for doing fuck all).
Andy Wightman investigates:
'It’s hard to imagine the Government devising a new system of Jobseeker’s Allowance or Housing Benefit where the claimant is told they that their entitlement to such payments is just about to quadruple whether they like it or not. Indeed, with the total benefits cap set at £26,000 per year, the trend is in the opposite direction. It has long eluded me why, when the poorest in society suffer cuts and caps, some of the wealthiest not only appear to suffer no such pain, but are rewarded with largesse.
'I met a tenant farmer recently who told me that under the existing system of farming subsidies he receives £18,000 per year. That’s a fairly generous allocation. But under current proposals for the new system (to be introduced in 2015) he will receive £80,000. “I don’t need it”, he told me. He is not particularly wealthy but he doesn’t need the money. So why does it look likely that he will get it?
'The existing system of farm subsidies is coming to an end in December 2015 and the Scottish Government is currently finalising the details of the new system that will take its place and run until 2020. The existing (historic) system awarded subsidy (single farm payments - SFP) to farmers on the basis of what they received in 2000-2002. This is rather like paying tax this year on the basis of what you earned 14 years ago.' (Andy Wightman article).
media-underground.net
Thursday, April 24. 2014
You just know that some idiot is going to try snorting this...
'Palcohol - powdered alcohol - is a new American product that can be sprinkled on all sorts of dishes and drinks. According to the company’s website, Palcohol is the brainchild of Mark Phillips, a physically active guy who was tired of lugging heavy bottles of alcohol during his adventures. So he decided to create instant alcohol - just open the sachet, add some water and get a strong drink to enjoy whenever and wherever he wanted.
'Initially, Mark did search for powdered alcohol on the market, but it wasn’t available. So he got together with scientists from around the world and spent years in experiments, research and consultation. Finally, he succeeded in making powdered alcohol a reality, and called it Palcohol. “Now Palcohol is here,” declared the website. “A great convenience for a person on the go. One package weighs about an ounce and is small enough to fit into any pocket.” The product is now privately owned by a company called Lipsmark.' (Oddity Central article).
media-underground.net
Thursday, March 20. 2014
Today could turn out to be an historic day for Scotland. At last, the way our land is owned, used, traded and subsidised is being put under some long overdue close scrutiny. There is still an awful long way to go before meaningful Land Reform takes place - and powerful vested interests will need to be taken on - but this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
Unbelievably the simple question of 'Who owns what?' in Scotland is still not fully answered, but of course many landowners enjoy and subsequently benefit from such blurry murkiness. So the first task, as this report points out, is to create a robust public register of Scotland's land. Vitally, this report also starts to throw some light on the huge tax-break, tax evasion, corporate investment and massive subsidy sink-hole that much of Scotland's land has become. I watch with interest and I live in hope.
'In a Report published on Thursday 20 March 2014, the Scottish Affairs Committee says any government which is serious about land reform needs full and clear information on existing land ownership and values made widely available.
'The Committee says Scotland lags behind most comparable European countries in providing such data and calls on the Scottish and UK Governments to address this as a priority.
'The Committee heard that Scotland is also “miles behind” other countries in terms of the openness and ease of land transactions. Templates exist which allow land transactions to become simple and straightforward, without the involvement of lawyers.' (UK Parliament article & interim report).
media-underground.net
Wednesday, March 19. 2014
The recent promises delivered by the beastly Johann Lamont (of the Labour Party) remind me of those made by the nitwit Alec Douglas-Home (of the Tory Party) during the 1979 referendum on devolution. One only hopes that the people of Scotland remember these failed promises and vote accordingly...
'In 1979, the No campaign was run by the same commercial and political forces now in play. The Labour Government was notionally in favour of its own legislation, which it had allowed to be crippled by the 40% rule. It sat passive, leaving the trade unions and opposing Labour MPs to join with the Conservatives in opposing the creation of an Assembly with minimal powers.
'Yet the deceptions and threats were still being made. The Assembly, they said, would lead to a wholesale withdrawal of Scottish industry with loss of jobs. The oil located in Scotland's waters was British. It wasn't all that valuable. It would run out and where would Scotland be then? Impoverished and ruined was the answer. And weren't we under a duty to be selfless and help out England's poor? Further generations of those English poor - and Scotland's too are still with us - and using food banks for survival.
'Fifteen years after the setting up of the Scottish Parliament, the disaster has not happened. None of Scotland's companies kept to their threats to pull out. Instead many of the objectors have prospered. If there has been any problem affecting Scottish commerce it has come from the mismanagement of the British economy and its cataclysmic failure to control the credit explosion from which came the 2008 depression.' (Herald article).
media-underground.net
Sunday, March 9. 2014
Fortunately UKIP are, politically at any rate, an utter irrelevance in Scotland. Nevertheless it is always good to see them getting a hard time wherever they rear their ugly mugs...
'A leading UKIP member has stood down as his party's economic spokesman after he was branded a hypocrite for striking wind-farm deals on his Scottish estates.
'Professor Tim Congdon agreed the contracts with SSE in Argyll and E.On Renewables in Caithness, the Sunday Herald revealed last month. But Mr Congdon was accused of hypocrisy over the arrangements, which appeared to fly in the face of UKIP's anti-wind farm stance.
'The party claims the developments are economically "unsustainable" and eyesores that blight the countryside. Last night it emerged that Mr Congdon had stood down as economics spokesman following the row. But it is thought he wants to remain as the party's candidate in the Forest of Dean where he is due to stand in the 2015 General Election.' (Herald article).
media-underground.net
Tuesday, March 4. 2014
Mark Steel of The Independent has written an excellent article on the idiocy of the Unionist plight...
'David Bowie can be excused, as he’s earned the right to be mad. He could have sent a macaw to collect his Brit Award, and squawk “Stay with us Scotland, or you’ll run out of Domestos”, and his reputation would be unharmed.
'But at the risk of seeming controversial, I’m not sure there’s the same universal affection for George Osborne and Danny Alexander. So when Osborne insisted that an independent Scotland would be a disaster as it wouldn’t be allowed to keep the pound, it swung the polls six per cent towards independence.
'This may be because it comes across as slightly arrogant to tell a country that if it votes for independence it won’t be allowed to keep its currency or share the old one or use another currency or stay in Europe or join Europe or go to the bank.
'The next part of Osborne’s plan is probably to announce that if Scotland becomes independent, it won’t be allowed to keep its zoos, so the day after the vote it’ll have to release tigers and bears and crocodiles into the streets of Edinburgh. But it won’t be able to ask for help because it won’t be allowed to use our language, or any of our letters, so they’ll have to communicate by barking.
'Nor will Scotland be allowed to share our orbit round the sun, and Osborne has it on good authority that NASA won’t let it join another one so it’ll have to find a different solar system but if that’s what Scotland wants, it’s up to them.' (Independent article).
media-underground.net
Friday, February 28. 2014
You've got to hand it to NASA for taking the time to answer this little kid's questions and potentially inspiring him to pursue a path of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the future.
I wanna know where this kid is in 20 years. I bet he's on Mars. Doesn't take much to encourage a positive future. Just take the time...
'A British schoolboy was over the moon when NASA responded to his space questions in a personal video.
'Lucas Whiteley, from Wrenthorpe, West Yorkshire, recorded three questions for the US space agency with the help of his dad.
'NASA research engineer Ted Garbeff recorded a ten-minute response, thanking the four-year-old for his questions and giving him a virtual tour of a base in Mountain View, California.' (Metro article).
That said, the NASA engineer - at the end of the video - doesn't explain how to get on with your classmates if all your classmates are fucking assholes. But otherwise this is a very inspiring video methinks.
media-underground.net
Wednesday, February 12. 2014
Hold onto your balls kids! Here we go - just as predicted. It's about time the whole damned thing came crashing down to a grinding halt anyway...
'There are eerie parallels between the stock market’s recent behavior and how it behaved right before the 1929 crash.
'That at least is the conclusion reached by a frightening chart that has been making the rounds on Wall Street. The chart superimposes the market’s recent performance on top of a plot of its gyrations in 1928 and 1929.
'The picture isn’t pretty. And it’s not as easy as you might think to wriggle out from underneath the bearish significance of this chart.' (Market Watch article).
media-underground.net
Tuesday, February 11. 2014
The UN has finally put a serious boot into the Catholic Church/Vatican/Holy See - or whatever bullshit name that the other Italian mafia is using these days - about their appalling response to their child-abuse scandal. UN-speak usually consists of a turn of phrase that is oblique and inquisitive and often not in good old plain English. So, it was refreshing to read this latest report using some no-nonsense language - into the vile crimes committed by this rotten institutionalized religion - that basically says: "Oi Holy See, NO!"
Of course the 'Cover-up Cardinals' have already got to work with their stock-in-trade obfuscation, duplicity and blatant smoke screen...
'The Vatican has failed to acknowledge the huge scale of clerical sex abuse and has implemented policies that have led to "the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators", a UN panel said on Wednesday in a scathing rebuke of the Holy See's handling of the global scandal.
'In grimly worded findings released by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the watchdog urged the Holy See to "immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers" from their posts in the church and hand over the cases to law enforcement authorities in the countries concerned.
'It also asked the Vatican to ensure that an expert commission set up by Pope Francis last year will "investigate independently" all cases of child sex abuse and the way in which they are handled by the Catholic hierarchy. Records concerning past cases should be opened up so that they can be used to hold the abusers - and those who may have sought to protect them - accountable, the panel added.
'The Holy See must establish "clear rules, mechanisms and procedures" for the mandatory reporting of all suspected cases of abuse to civil law enforcement authorities, it said.
'The committee said it was "particularly concerned" that in dealing with allegations of child sex abuse, "the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the church and the protection of the perpetrators above children's best interests, as observed by several national commissions of inquiry."' (Guardian article and UN report).
media-underground.net
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