jordswart.org

A broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many countries will take to the streets, the motto being “Freedom not fear 2008″. Peaceful and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place in many capital cities.

Surveillance mania is spreading. Governments and businesses register, monitor and control our behaviour ever more thoroughly. No matter what we do, who we phone and talk to, where we go, whom we are friends with, what our interests are, which groups we participate in - “big brother” government and “little brothers” in business know it more and more thoroughly. The resulting lack of privacy and confidentiality is putting at risk the freedom of confession, the freedom of speech as well as the work of doctors, helplines, lawyers and journalists.

The manifold agenda of security sector reform encompasses the convergence of police, intelligence agencies and the military, threatening to melt down the division and balance of powers. Using methods of mass surveillance, the borderless cooperation of the military, intelligence services and police authorities is leading towards the construction of “Fortresses” in Europe and on other continents, directed against refugees and different-looking people but also affecting, for example, political activists, the poor and under-priviledged, and sports fans.

People who constantly feel watched and under surveillance cannot freely and courageously stand up for their rights and for a just society. Mass surveillance is thereby threatening the fabric of a democratic and open society. Mass surveillance is also endangering the work and commitment of civil society organizations.

Link.

Wouldn’t it be great fun to go out and see this band live. Just imagine all those ska freaks jumping up and down.

Once I tried to run, I tried to run and hide, but Jesus came and found me and he touched me deep inside.

Done some music serving on youtube today. I think I got inspired by the Byrnes and Eno post of yesterday. Anyway, through some unexpected moments of inspiration I searched for one of my favorite German bands Gammalapagos and there are actually a couple of videos around of them playing live. Here is one of the tracks of their first album.

Link.

Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It’s familiar but completely new as well. We’re pretty excited.

Cool thing is they only released it on the internet for now and the album is released in high quality DRM free MP3 and Flac. That almost is enough reason to buy it.

Here is a 360 degrees view on Terschelling taken from one of the dunes on the westside of the Island.

For the good observers, yes I know it is almost 360 degrees, since somehow the Brandaris is not there.

It might not be a full 360, but hey everything is there that you could ask for!

360 degrees of Terschelling

Oh and as a new feature I added a view applet. I think this is really cool:

Yesterday the S.S. Rotterdam arrived in Rotterdam. The ship used to be the flagship of the ‘Holland America Line’ but will now be used as a hotel / restaurant. Since it passed my window I used the moment to take some pictures and stitch them up with hugin.

SS Rotterdam

It all seems to have started with this video:

And then some girls followed with a ‘whole body’ version:

And now it seems that everyone is doing some kind of daft stuff.

Where will this end?

Software engineer Neil Fraser made a video that uses domino falls to simulate logic gates, the basic building blocks of digital circuits. Domino Domino Logic.

Link (to BoingBoing).

For all the Bild readers or Bild haters out there. bildblog checks the stories in Bild and tells you what is funky about them. Or in Bild words: bildblog ändere deine Meinung.

Link.

I’ll just have to copy and paste this one from boingboing. Sorry for that, I’m normally (a little) more creative.

New research shows that one of the cannabinoid found in marijuana is an anti-inflammatory that doesn’t have the side effect of getting you high. THC also combats inflammation, but that’s the stuff that gets you high. However, experiments at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology showed that another cannabis compound, (E)-BCP (beta-caryophyllene), is also an anti-inflammatory but doesn’t affect the molecular receptor that makes you feel stoned. Instead it activates only the CB2 receptor which plays a key role in alleviating inflammation. From National Geographic:

Essential oils from cannabis plants — whose leaves and flowers are used to make the marijuana drug — contain up to 35 percent (E)-BCP…

“Our interest is to exploit the pharmacological nature of the CB2 receptor,” because it does not have psychotropic side effects, (study author Jürg) Gertsch explained in an email.

For my German readers: anti-inflammatory = entzündungshemmend.

Link to the article on boingboing.

Link to the article on National Geographic.