Giant viruses open Pandora's box Chantal Abergel/Jean-Michel Claverie Pandoraviruses infect amoebae and are larger than some bacteria. The organism was initially called NLF, for “new life form”. Later, after the researchers discovered a similar organism in a pond in Australia, they realized that both are viruses — the largest yet found. But these viruses, described today in Science1, are more than mere record-breakers — they also hint at unknown parts of the tree of life. “What the hell is going on with the other genes?” “This is a major discovery that substantially expands the complexity of the giant viruses and confirms that viral diversity is still largely underexplored,” says Christelle Desnues, a virologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Marseilles, who was not involved in the study. Claverie and Abergel have helped to discover other giant viruses — including the first2, called Mimivirus, in 2003, and Megavirus chilensis, until now the largest virus known3, in 2011.
It's business that really rules us now | George Monbiot It's the reason for the collapse of democratic choice. It's the source of our growing disillusionment with politics. It's the great unmentionable. Corporate power. The political role of business corporations is generally interpreted as that of lobbyists, seeking to influence government policy. Most of the scandals that leave people in despair about politics arise from this source. On the same day we learned that a government minister, Nick Boles, has privately assured the gambling company Ladbrokes that it needn't worry about attempts by local authorities to stop the spread of betting shops. Last week we discovered that G4S's contract to run immigration removal centres will be expanded, even though all further business with the state was supposed to be frozen while allegations of fraud were investigated. The monitoring which was meant to keep these companies honest is haphazard, the penalties almost nonexistent, the rewards can be stupendous, dizzying, corrupting.
Digital Necromancy: Advertising with Reanimated Celebrities The screen fades in on a man observing the Shanghai skyline from his penthouse apartment. “Water. It’s like the instincts,” he says. “Be water, my friend.” Then the iconic Johnnie Walker logo flashes across the screen. It is a typical, if especially poetic, ad for the British liquor brand. Except, one aspect of the spot isn’t so typical. Johnnie Walker’s Bruce Lee obviously isn’t the real thing, but you could be forgiven for being confused. (MORE: Mobile Mojo: Facebook Tops $38 as Social Stock Finally Hits IPO Price)The process of using a dead to sell contemporary wares is far from new. While pioneering, Coke’s efforts look amateur by today’s standards. Thanks to the work of men like Ed Ulbrich, who led the team behind Benjamin Button’s revolutionary facial animations, ‘delebs’ (as they are referred to by academics) can come back in more vivid detail than ever. At least for now, though, such realism is reserved only for those with multi-million dollar budgets. Another factor is cost.
Reality Denial: Steven Pinker’s Apologetics for Western-Imperial Violence | Public Intellectuals Project By Edward S. Herman and David Peterson Whereas in Pinker’s view there has been a “Long Peace” since the end of the Second World War,[7] in the real world there has been a series of long and devastating U.S. wars: in the Koreas (1950-1953), Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia (1954-1975), Iraq (1990-), Afghanistan (2001- or, arguably, 1979-), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1996-), with the heavy direct involvement of U.S. clients from Rwanda (Paul Kagame) and Uganda (Yoweri Museveni) in large-scale Congo killings; and Israel’s outbursts in Lebanon (1982 and 2006), to name a few. In the same time frame as Pinker’s “New Peace,” alleged to have begun with the dissolution of the Soviet bloc, the Warsaw Pact, and of the Soviet Union itself (1989-1991), we have also witnessed the relentless expansion of the U.S. “Among respectable countries,” Pinker writes, “conquest is no longer a thinkable option. Pinker’s “Cold War” Consider this example: Vietnam and the Antiwar Protests
YSK that MIT offer tonnes of FREE courses online. : YouShouldKnow Surveillaince, and the construction of a terror state P. N. Oak Purushottam Nagesh Oak (2 March 1917 – 4 December 2007), commonly referred to as P. N. Oak, was an Indian writer, notable for his Hindu-centric brand of historical revisionism. Life[edit] Oak was born in 1917 at Indore in erstwhile Princely State of Indore, British India. "From 1947 to 1974 his profession has been mainly journalism having worked on the editorial staffs of the Hindustan Times and The Statesman, as a Class I officer in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India; and as editor in the American Embassy's Information Service." [5][dead link] In 1964, he started an organisation called 'Institute for Rewriting Indian History' Dozens of blogs and websites refer to him as "Professor" P. He died on 4 December 2007, at 3.30 am at his Pune residence aged 90. Revisionist theories[edit] Academic and Government response[edit] Christianity as Vedic Chrisn-nity or Krishna-neeti Theory[edit] Taj Mahal Theory[edit] Kaaba Theory: Vedic origins[edit] Books written[edit] Books in Hindi[edit]
Statement by Julian Assange after One Year in Ecuadorian Embassy (on 2013-06-22) It has now been a year since I entered this embassy and sought refuge from persecution. As a result of that decision, I have been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation. But today, Edward Snowden’s ordeal is just beginning. Two dangerous runaway processes have taken root in the last decade, with fatal consequences for democracy. Government secrecy has been expanding on a terrific scale. Simultaneously, human privacy has been secretly eradicated. A few weeks ago, Edward Snowden blew the whistle on an ongoing program - involving the Obama administration, the intelligence community and the internet services giants - to spy on everyone in the world. As if by clockwork, he has been charged with espionage by the Obama administration. The US government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off. Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president. Print
Is India a 'Dar-ul-Harb'? Are Hindus 'Kafirs'? - Mainstream Weekly The following piece reached us on April 22, 2009 with the author’s forwarding letter that read: “As you must have noticed recently, the question has been raised whether India is a ‘Dar-ul-Harb’ or ‘Dar-ul-Islam’ and whether the Hindus should be designated as ‘Kafirs’. I enclose a copy of my note on the subject. I would request you to publish it in order to clarify the position and to remove the misunderstanding. On the eve of elections many forgotten issues are revived and many old graves are dug up and many questions which have been answered many times in the past are raised once again by Hindu chauvinists and extremist elements to draw out and malign the Muslim community. Ever since the writer entered public life, he has been facing another question, but that has not been raised this time: what comes first, religion or the country? Status of Indian State in Shariat The Indian state may be viewed as a social compact among its citizens. Meaning of the word ‘Kafir’
On Liberty: Edward Snowden and top writers on what freedom means to them Shami Chakrabarti Writers have always been a big part of Liberty. Since our very beginnings, as the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) in 1934, they've played a key role in our battle to protect civil liberties and promote human rights in Britain. HG Wells, Vera Brittain, EM Forster, AA Milne, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley are just a few of the authors who supported Liberty in the early years – and perhaps it's not surprising that those who write feel a special affinity with Liberty's values and ideals. Now on Monday we will celebrate 80 years of "the fight that is never done". Orwell's observations on the power of language "to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable" is something that Liberty has witnessed throughout its history – "extraordinary rendition" wasn't sweet singing, but a chilling euphemism for kidnap and torture during the "war on terror". Shami Chakrabarti is director of Liberty. Edward Snowden Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor and whistleblower.