Robot Monkeys

Ship captured by pirates? Called the Navy? Turns out the Marines aren’t the calvary.

Although [the French Navy's helicopter] was armed, it is against maritime laws in the area to board a vessel by force after it has been taken by pirates. So the helicopter crew were forced to hover and photograph events from above.

What the hell kind of law is that? That’s a freakin’ get out of jail free card. That’s like saying, “If you take storm a house, it’s yours,” or “If you get outside the bank with the money, it’s yours.” Who the hell comes up with this stuff?

Sheikh Abdel-Majid al-Zindani, organizer of Yemen’s morality police has a dyed beard. I would have thought that was a no-no.

• Cyclecide on Make
  (tags: video art cyclecide)
• YouTube - Festo AirJelly
  (tags: art video robot)

• Voynich Manuscript - a set on Flickr
  HighRes scans of the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.
  (tags: art voynich)

• Tulip Software home page
  (tags: research software visualization)

So Israel begins bombing Gaza ostensibly for Hamas launching missiles into Israel proper since November, after Israel killed 6 Palestinians in a cross border raid. Truth be told though neither side really wanted the cease fire, and both were looking for an excuse. Israel, because elections are looming, and Labor is trailing the obviously intelligent and very crazy (and quasi-plagiarist) BiBi Netanyahu, and Hamas because it thinks it can emerge stronger like Hezbolah did after the earlier Lebanon invasion.

Since Israel started its bombing campaign a week ago, how many people have been killed? Well one the one side, we have 4; on the other, we have 425. That’s 100 to 1, and by all accounts the majority of them are civilians including children. Take for instance the killing of Nizar Rayan. Yes, he’s a Hamas militant leader, is it perfectly acceptable kill him along 11 others, including two of his wives and four of his children?

Silly me. Of course it.

This is the same Kill ‘Em All strategy that has been used so successfully for 60 years now, and it’s been just as ineffective.

I’m tired of the US government blindly supporting Israel in everything it does. Yes, Hamas is a terrorist organization. Yes, it’s antisemitic. This is all true, but that doesn’t grant carte blanc to drop 2500 pound bombs into shanty towns. To forcibly evict people off land that has been in the family for thousands of years and give it foreigners that only stepped foot in the country in days prior because it’s the foreigner’s “birth right”. The whole concept is intellectually bankrupt, but now it’s been 60 years, and everyone at fault is now dead, so were fucked. (Thanks British Colonialism. You sure know how to go out with a bang.)

Instead, But we’re not supposed to talk about that, but rather just nod along and say “These guys are always good and our friends, and these guys are always bad.” Why doesn’t the American press ever actually talk about the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Probably because “too confusing.”

No one cares about 3D. Seriously. It was lame 50 years ago, and it’s still lame today. There’s just no point to it. I mean, when was the last time you watched something and said, “That was good, but you know what would have made it better? If it had a vague depth perception effect.”

Really.

• New Statesman - Secret history
  The flaktowers of Vienna. Personally ordered by Hitler, and designed Fried rich Tamms, the designer of the autobahn and it's bridges. Perfectly preserved, and officially ignored, historic landmarks.
  (tags: design architecture vienna wwii)

• www.cellspace.org | Collective Exploration Learning Labs
  (tags: art sanfrancisco)
• San Francisco Art Galleries - HANG
  556 & 567 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA, Phone: 415-434-4264
  (tags: art gallery sanfrancisco)

via Slashdot:

MobileTatsu-NJG (946591):
You drove your car off a cliff. Moments before your car hit the ground, I plugged you right between the eyes with a sniper rifle. Your car hits the ground and creates a dramatic fireball. How did you die?

pushing-robot (1037830):
Awesomely.