I've got a hella long stretch ahead of me to convert an enormous folder full of Silverlight controls over to the new design scheme (due in 2 weeks, I might add). As a Designer, imagine the unbearable: measuring 26 pixels high, 20 pixels for the text (12pt user interface font regular), 6 pixels down, 2 pixels up -- and that's just to correct the header MULTIPLIED BY god knows how many subcontrols. And then, of course, there's the actual skinning of each element individually. In two weeks.
And two steps into the process (after measuring the block headers, apparently) I realized the simple effect reducing a block header size had on the overall appearance of the page: The content visually jumped out ahead of the headers! And when I saw the content jump out at me I realized that I was building a more "intelligent" interface. Not the kind to fear (as in the "Artificial Intelligence" sense), but in the "learning" sense of the word, as it shows you what you seek to know.
This is when I hit my tangent: Wondering how we have come to fear the intelligence of a machine? Shouldn't we simply look at our computers as something which extends our capabilities? To look towards a point in time at which the machines no longer need us is to imagine a human species that no longer needs its planet. Life without trees wouldn't necessitate a Google search for trees. They'd be more of a Wikipedia entry that rarely gets updated as little happens in a world that no longer exists.
In today's world, our technology is transforming into a global network. The corporations are enforcing "network policies" to enforce their restrictions on our rights. This mentality is the atom bomb of our generation -- with great power in the hands of a select few -- power that could begin vast global wars and end whole countries by shutting down their electrical grid, destroying their knowledge base, thus sending their civilizations back into the dark ages with one strike.
I'm glad to be doing my part to open this knowledge from the very beginning of the Web 2.0. While our software works to keep its content safe from those who haven't gained appropriate access, it also promotes sharing amongst its users, and a sense of community throughout the digital reflection of their work days. But I'm even more happy to see my interface shaping out to an "Open Intelligence" that will hopefully one day rule the world! :D
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Checking Out Flock (Once Again)
I remember hearing about the concept of a Social Browser more than a year ago when I discovered Flock. At that point it mainly felt like Firefox with a crazy looking skin, but that was what simply rumbled under the hood.
Flock's big idea was to integrate all of these "Web 2.0" tools into a common framework. In other words: when you wanted to post a blog you'd click the Post Blog button (a cool little quill on the toolbar). If you didn't have an account set up, Flock would direct you to a common list of blogs. The same would go for email, pictures, and even friends on your favorite social network. In theory, anyways.
The first few releases of Flock accomplish little more than a list of Firefox add-ons (along with a really cool skin). But the cool list of add-ons didn't include my personal list of add-ons, making it unnecessary to go through the hassle of learning another browser -- especially when Firefox already accomplished everything I required from my browser.
Just moments ago I noticed I noticed the link at the bottom of Digg that lead to the new version of Flock. After a quick installation I was up and running, and discovered that integrating all my favorite add-ons was easier than setting up Firefox. For example, to write this blog all I needed to do was hit the scribe button (described above) and here you have a very review of Flock that can be summarized in a word:
Noice.
Flock's big idea was to integrate all of these "Web 2.0" tools into a common framework. In other words: when you wanted to post a blog you'd click the Post Blog button (a cool little quill on the toolbar). If you didn't have an account set up, Flock would direct you to a common list of blogs. The same would go for email, pictures, and even friends on your favorite social network. In theory, anyways.
The first few releases of Flock accomplish little more than a list of Firefox add-ons (along with a really cool skin). But the cool list of add-ons didn't include my personal list of add-ons, making it unnecessary to go through the hassle of learning another browser -- especially when Firefox already accomplished everything I required from my browser.
Just moments ago I noticed I noticed the link at the bottom of Digg that lead to the new version of Flock. After a quick installation I was up and running, and discovered that integrating all my favorite add-ons was easier than setting up Firefox. For example, to write this blog all I needed to do was hit the scribe button (described above) and here you have a very review of Flock that can be summarized in a word:
Noice.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Quest for the Holy Blue Ball
My week began with a journey into another dimension that I've yet to fully escape. After scrawling some sigils on the whiteboard that barely represented an Internet profile I chanted for two hours about online relationships and game theory. At first it felt as though I had simply experienced a memory dump, but slowly I began to see the energy that we share amongst ourselves. It was then that I realized that I was on a Quest to find the Holy Blue Ball.
To be honest: I've already discovered the Holy Blue Ball. I say Holy because it looks like a loosely bound ball of brilliantly blue rubber bands of light -- or more precisely, the faint shadow of a Holy Blue Ball (heretofore referred to as the Ball). I have no idea where the Ball came from. What I do know is that when I visualize the Blue Ball and shape it into a thought, I can then attach the Ball to an email or a blog and share my experience with the viewer.
Note the key word above: Experience. Imagine reading a series of sentences exchanged between two people. Now, imagine the last argument in your relationship. This experience is what connects the ephemeral world of art and ideas with the tangible world we live in. Without the experience we simply have a list of words that have no meaning beyond their definition. This Experience is the Blue Ball of Light that we shape and share through communication. Or, at least, it used to.
As it happened, when the process of transmitting information required a recording device -- such as paper and pens, audio recordings, et al -- these records were then passed on to their respective recipients. Not much changed when computers came online. Documents were written and sent to the right people, who filed the paperwork until it was necessary to retrieve it. Then things got lost; others, stolen. And Bureaucracy set in and the world went to Hell because nobody loves paperwork.
What is missing from the equation above is that Ball of Light. There is no community; no network. There is simply lines of data processed by drones. The entire point of communicating, to share an experience, has been lost to a paradigm that favors efficiency over quality. Without sharing experiences with one another we have no quality to offer. Thankfully, we have social and peer-to-peer networking to thank for turning our old operating systems into new cooperating systems.
So here's the question: What is this Blue Ball of Light that I hold in my hands? I know that it can share experiences with others across a variety of mediums, and helps to create a bond of community between those who witness it. But what is it called, and how simply can it be described so that everyone says: "Of course I know what you're talking about! Why would anyone communicate without it?"
(Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.)
To be honest: I've already discovered the Holy Blue Ball. I say Holy because it looks like a loosely bound ball of brilliantly blue rubber bands of light -- or more precisely, the faint shadow of a Holy Blue Ball (heretofore referred to as the Ball). I have no idea where the Ball came from. What I do know is that when I visualize the Blue Ball and shape it into a thought, I can then attach the Ball to an email or a blog and share my experience with the viewer.
Note the key word above: Experience. Imagine reading a series of sentences exchanged between two people. Now, imagine the last argument in your relationship. This experience is what connects the ephemeral world of art and ideas with the tangible world we live in. Without the experience we simply have a list of words that have no meaning beyond their definition. This Experience is the Blue Ball of Light that we shape and share through communication. Or, at least, it used to.
As it happened, when the process of transmitting information required a recording device -- such as paper and pens, audio recordings, et al -- these records were then passed on to their respective recipients. Not much changed when computers came online. Documents were written and sent to the right people, who filed the paperwork until it was necessary to retrieve it. Then things got lost; others, stolen. And Bureaucracy set in and the world went to Hell because nobody loves paperwork.
What is missing from the equation above is that Ball of Light. There is no community; no network. There is simply lines of data processed by drones. The entire point of communicating, to share an experience, has been lost to a paradigm that favors efficiency over quality. Without sharing experiences with one another we have no quality to offer. Thankfully, we have social and peer-to-peer networking to thank for turning our old operating systems into new cooperating systems.
So here's the question: What is this Blue Ball of Light that I hold in my hands? I know that it can share experiences with others across a variety of mediums, and helps to create a bond of community between those who witness it. But what is it called, and how simply can it be described so that everyone says: "Of course I know what you're talking about! Why would anyone communicate without it?"
(Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Collaborative Documentation for Dummies
Given the fact that our world largely remains dependent on the details written on pieces of paper, it is easy to see how this model was initially applied to the world of computing. When we received a piece of paper on our desk we immediately typed the information into a computer form and sent it to someone else for approval -- at first, by transferring them to a portable disk, ultimately relying upon the Internet to pass along the relevant data.
The problem is that this method of transferring documents not only runs contrary to the principles of the Internet, but creates countless points of inefficiency along the way. The originator could mistype the details written on the paper, the recipient could fail to see the message. With so many copies of the same information floating around the network it becomes difficult to track the end result, or to ensure that outside parties receive these results as accurately as possible.
Looking at the data in a stream of information is a more accurate depiction of the Internet as its creators intended it to be: a distributed network where every bit of knowledge flowed freely, so that if one node in the network collapsed, the others would pick up the slack. Some call it Socialism, while others call it the Electrical Grid. When you're talking about pieces of paper with bits of information that gets passed around the network: I call it Collaborative Documentation.
Unfortunately, Collaborative Documentation sounds very clinical, and hardly begins to capture the effect of sites such as YouTube, where "Collaborative Documentation" has produced an information and entertainment collective unlike no other. The same goes for Wikipedia, which has begun to transform both knowledge and education as we once perceived it in the hands of accomplished scholars. Collaborative Documentation is a major shift -- strangely enough -- in the most minor of ways.
I say 'minor' due to the size of the changes required to shift from the 'document transfer' perspective to collaborative documentation. The process is identical, as the same people are required to sign and pass the details as before, but instead of storing the document locally, you distribute it across the network so that anyone can access the information at any time, given the proper permissions.
The biggest changes would occur to the user, who is transformed from a single login name and password to a fully functioning entity on the network -- complete with a list of personalized responsibilities and an array of results, along with connections to others in the network. At once, it seems as if the simple act of acknowledging the actions of the user gives life to a network of 1's and 0's.
Which leads me to believe that if something so integral to all living matter exists in the activity of Collaborative Documentation, then a concept less clinical is necessary to capture its meaning. Just as blog and email have risen to the level of recognition as to be easily understood by the masses, so too must these documents and forms transform to become part of a shared experience.
(If you've got any ideas for a word or two better than Collaborative Documentation, please let me know!)
The problem is that this method of transferring documents not only runs contrary to the principles of the Internet, but creates countless points of inefficiency along the way. The originator could mistype the details written on the paper, the recipient could fail to see the message. With so many copies of the same information floating around the network it becomes difficult to track the end result, or to ensure that outside parties receive these results as accurately as possible.
Looking at the data in a stream of information is a more accurate depiction of the Internet as its creators intended it to be: a distributed network where every bit of knowledge flowed freely, so that if one node in the network collapsed, the others would pick up the slack. Some call it Socialism, while others call it the Electrical Grid. When you're talking about pieces of paper with bits of information that gets passed around the network: I call it Collaborative Documentation.
Unfortunately, Collaborative Documentation sounds very clinical, and hardly begins to capture the effect of sites such as YouTube, where "Collaborative Documentation" has produced an information and entertainment collective unlike no other. The same goes for Wikipedia, which has begun to transform both knowledge and education as we once perceived it in the hands of accomplished scholars. Collaborative Documentation is a major shift -- strangely enough -- in the most minor of ways.
I say 'minor' due to the size of the changes required to shift from the 'document transfer' perspective to collaborative documentation. The process is identical, as the same people are required to sign and pass the details as before, but instead of storing the document locally, you distribute it across the network so that anyone can access the information at any time, given the proper permissions.
The biggest changes would occur to the user, who is transformed from a single login name and password to a fully functioning entity on the network -- complete with a list of personalized responsibilities and an array of results, along with connections to others in the network. At once, it seems as if the simple act of acknowledging the actions of the user gives life to a network of 1's and 0's.
Which leads me to believe that if something so integral to all living matter exists in the activity of Collaborative Documentation, then a concept less clinical is necessary to capture its meaning. Just as blog and email have risen to the level of recognition as to be easily understood by the masses, so too must these documents and forms transform to become part of a shared experience.
(If you've got any ideas for a word or two better than Collaborative Documentation, please let me know!)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Draft Lessig for Congress!
I phased out during one of the presidential updates on NPR while driving home from work, and dreamt about running for office under the banner of the Open Party. In my head I formulated the perfect website with American colors describing all the changes to the way our government works. I watched little videos showing voters how easy it was to see where there money was going and how to elect a change in the amounts. Everywhere the taglines read: "A vote for the Open Party is a vote for YOU!"
The plan was to run for a local post like a school board member or possibly the mayor of a small town who puts the open technology in place which allows the residents to directly control their laws and finances. Once that complicated little line becomes razor clear the media and Internet stardom would act as a catalyst to carry the Open Party into Congress, and then maybe -- just maybe, The President: The Man who would offer states complete control over their economies, and give the United States back to the American People. It's a mighty big plan.
But not for the likes of Lawrence Lessig: The Man who created Creative Commons, and sits on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Software Freedom Organization. A God of the Open Movement! Lately he's hit the news by exploring a bid for Congress -- thereby skipping the whole small town mayor route and diving directly into the major leagues. And while the Open Party may not have a shot at the Presidency in 2008, we might end up with a President who is very enthusiastic about modern technology.
The catch is the illustrious Dr. Lessig isn't sure if he wishes to run in the special election. In the true spirit of the Open Movement he is asking all of us to show our support for his campaign. This means that each of us have to blog about it, join the Facebook group, Digg the articles, and email the links to our friends. This is such an important moment for the Open Party -- even if the party is simply a figment of my imagination. The changes to our software is real, as are the changes to the spread of information and file sharing.
Isn't it time we change the Government?
Tell Lawrence Lessig you support the Open Party.
The plan was to run for a local post like a school board member or possibly the mayor of a small town who puts the open technology in place which allows the residents to directly control their laws and finances. Once that complicated little line becomes razor clear the media and Internet stardom would act as a catalyst to carry the Open Party into Congress, and then maybe -- just maybe, The President: The Man who would offer states complete control over their economies, and give the United States back to the American People. It's a mighty big plan.
But not for the likes of Lawrence Lessig: The Man who created Creative Commons, and sits on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Software Freedom Organization. A God of the Open Movement! Lately he's hit the news by exploring a bid for Congress -- thereby skipping the whole small town mayor route and diving directly into the major leagues. And while the Open Party may not have a shot at the Presidency in 2008, we might end up with a President who is very enthusiastic about modern technology.
The catch is the illustrious Dr. Lessig isn't sure if he wishes to run in the special election. In the true spirit of the Open Movement he is asking all of us to show our support for his campaign. This means that each of us have to blog about it, join the Facebook group, Digg the articles, and email the links to our friends. This is such an important moment for the Open Party -- even if the party is simply a figment of my imagination. The changes to our software is real, as are the changes to the spread of information and file sharing.
Isn't it time we change the Government?
Tell Lawrence Lessig you support the Open Party.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Am I Jaa or Nix?
A short time ago I overheard that someone was looking to purchase the domain for Am I Hot or Not? Up until then I hadn't considered the site to be anything more than legendary. To be sure, the value of knowing whether one is hot or not was of little concern to the vast majority of us -- with the exception of AOL, who immediately began adding the feature all across their network. But the simple concept of 'yea or nay' became apparent on the Internet, thanks to a bunch of guys who liked looking at hot chicks.
This small step in the evolution of The Information Highway is an important one, as the ability to define a simple value of 'yes' or 'no' underlies the construction of all knowledge -- in our minds, in our debates, in our governance of societies. Connecting this process to simple thumbs up/down controls on the web extends the model beyond ourselves into the social wealth of the masses. But with all the examples of Am I Digg or Reddit? on the intertubes, none have clearly stated exactly how much that 'social wealth' is worth to the masses.
To put it more clearly: Google makes a certain amount of money every time you look at one of their ads. When you click on something, they make even more money. Your views hold a certain value to not only Google, but everyone in the advertising industry, including Rupert Murdoch who purchased MySpace for an obscene amount of billions. They came to that dollar amount by counting the number of times people looked at something on their website. Views have a value to everyone except the viewers themselves, who are typically subjected to more crap at their expense.
This is where a quote from the creator of Jaanix inspires me to believe that someone is on the right track: "Unlike predecessors [Jaanix] is not a democracy, but a marketplace where your attention is the new currency." For what is Democracy but a system of checks and balances controlled by a relative few who ultimately manipulate the system towards their own interests? But Jaanix, by contrast, tells you how much your views are worth, and compensates you accordingly. Or, at least, it could, should it follow the path of the "new currency."
One would do well to remember that we're living in the 21st Century, where knowledge is key and the value of the currency is fluctuating based on information: who values what, how many of us agree, et cetera. What you and I know is the monetary unit of 2008; it's how we earn wealth and who we trade it with. Converting our knowledge into cash is simply another step in turning our views into points. Scrap the dollar! There is no more gold backing our credit! All hail the mighty viewpoint!
Once the model makes sense it is easy to see how all of these points add up: I earn a certain amount every time I contribute, to varying degrees depending on my effort. Should I dig up something original I get a certain amount. Should I simply comment on it I get less, and for the easiest task of voting I get the smallest amount. All of this adds up to an account which offers even greater visibility of higher value to those submitting to the site.
All in all, I see this model providing the foundation for much of what the owners of Digg and Reddit (and even Pwnce) are attempting to accomplish: What are people talking about? What are they interested in learning more about? Websites? Products? You name it. You share it. You create communities of like-minded people to do it. That's the real magic of the Web 2.0. Now, let's hope that Jaanix can see the value, and present it clearly to the rest of the world.
This small step in the evolution of The Information Highway is an important one, as the ability to define a simple value of 'yes' or 'no' underlies the construction of all knowledge -- in our minds, in our debates, in our governance of societies. Connecting this process to simple thumbs up/down controls on the web extends the model beyond ourselves into the social wealth of the masses. But with all the examples of Am I Digg or Reddit? on the intertubes, none have clearly stated exactly how much that 'social wealth' is worth to the masses.
To put it more clearly: Google makes a certain amount of money every time you look at one of their ads. When you click on something, they make even more money. Your views hold a certain value to not only Google, but everyone in the advertising industry, including Rupert Murdoch who purchased MySpace for an obscene amount of billions. They came to that dollar amount by counting the number of times people looked at something on their website. Views have a value to everyone except the viewers themselves, who are typically subjected to more crap at their expense.
This is where a quote from the creator of Jaanix inspires me to believe that someone is on the right track: "Unlike predecessors [Jaanix] is not a democracy, but a marketplace where your attention is the new currency." For what is Democracy but a system of checks and balances controlled by a relative few who ultimately manipulate the system towards their own interests? But Jaanix, by contrast, tells you how much your views are worth, and compensates you accordingly. Or, at least, it could, should it follow the path of the "new currency."
One would do well to remember that we're living in the 21st Century, where knowledge is key and the value of the currency is fluctuating based on information: who values what, how many of us agree, et cetera. What you and I know is the monetary unit of 2008; it's how we earn wealth and who we trade it with. Converting our knowledge into cash is simply another step in turning our views into points. Scrap the dollar! There is no more gold backing our credit! All hail the mighty viewpoint!
Once the model makes sense it is easy to see how all of these points add up: I earn a certain amount every time I contribute, to varying degrees depending on my effort. Should I dig up something original I get a certain amount. Should I simply comment on it I get less, and for the easiest task of voting I get the smallest amount. All of this adds up to an account which offers even greater visibility of higher value to those submitting to the site.
All in all, I see this model providing the foundation for much of what the owners of Digg and Reddit (and even Pwnce) are attempting to accomplish: What are people talking about? What are they interested in learning more about? Websites? Products? You name it. You share it. You create communities of like-minded people to do it. That's the real magic of the Web 2.0. Now, let's hope that Jaanix can see the value, and present it clearly to the rest of the world.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Cooperation Project
Howard Rheingold talks about the coming world of collaboration, participatory media and collective action -- and how Wikipedia is really an outgrowth of our natural human instinct to work as a group. As he points out, humans have been banding together to work collectively since our days of hunting mastodons.
Rheingold hopes to promote the Cooperation Project in an effort to transform the way we think about the problems we currently face in Health Care, etc. He released a paper titled the Technologies of Cooperation, along with the Institute for the Future, that discusses these ideas in further detail.
Monday, February 4, 2008
SIGNAL FIRE by Snow Patrol
The perfect words never crossed my mind,
'cause there was nothing in there but you,
I felt every ounce of me screaming out,
But the sound was trapped deep in me,
All I wanted just sped right past me,
While I was rooted fast to the earth,
I could be stuck here for a thousand years,
Without your arms to drag me out,
There you are standing right in front of me (x2)
All this fear falls away to leave me naked,
Hold me close cause I need you to guide me to safety
No I won't wait forever(2x)
In the confusion and the aftermath,
You are my signal fire,
The only resolution and the only joy,
Is the faint spark of forgiveness in your eyes,
There you are standing right in front of me (x2)
All this fear falls away to leave me naked,
Hold me close cause I need you to guide me to safety,
There you are standing right in front of me (x2)
All this fear falls away to leave me naked,
Hold me close cause I need you to guide me to safety,
No I won't wait forever(x3)
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Life on Terra
A recent episode of Life on Terra, that focused on the islands of the South China Sea, ended with a powerful statement: "If we were to lose our biodiversity, we would lose our culture. If we were to lose our culture, we would lose our identity." While it is easy enough to imagine indigenous or rural cultures losing their identity with the loss off the natural environment, its more challenging to see how these effects would affect our own identity: the American identity, which has become merely a byproduct of Capitalism.
This, of course, is the real threat to the biodiversity of such cultures as those in the South China Sea, as well as mainland China, along with other continents such as Africa and South America, which houses the majority of biodiversity on planet Earth. To Capitalism, these are merely resources to manufacture and produce vast concrete structures to nurture the Economy. As the shipping lines expand around the globe, the life which once shared the environment increasingly becomes the property of the select few who profit at the expense of our world.
To save ourselves from the ultimate wars over the finite resources of our planet, we need to learn to see ourselves as something other than Capitalists. Ultimately, the goal of exchanging goods and services is not to profit, it is to accomplish the American dream, where every man and woman is afforded equal rights: to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Struggling to survive in order to finance and endless war on Terrorism is not the American way. It is the way of the Capitalist, and it is destroying our world.
This, of course, is the real threat to the biodiversity of such cultures as those in the South China Sea, as well as mainland China, along with other continents such as Africa and South America, which houses the majority of biodiversity on planet Earth. To Capitalism, these are merely resources to manufacture and produce vast concrete structures to nurture the Economy. As the shipping lines expand around the globe, the life which once shared the environment increasingly becomes the property of the select few who profit at the expense of our world.
To save ourselves from the ultimate wars over the finite resources of our planet, we need to learn to see ourselves as something other than Capitalists. Ultimately, the goal of exchanging goods and services is not to profit, it is to accomplish the American dream, where every man and woman is afforded equal rights: to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Struggling to survive in order to finance and endless war on Terrorism is not the American way. It is the way of the Capitalist, and it is destroying our world.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Disposable Heroes
The PBS special on Yao Ming is an inspiring tale of a Chinese man who became a legend in American Basketball. The "dramamentary" follows him from a young boy living in a world where celebrity culture has yet to become the norm, and international sport stars are paid the same as everyone else. In Ming's rise to fame in the United States, he appeared in commercials for a variety of corporations, at times, selling laptops with the aid of a midget who barely made up it to his knees. In the end, it was Yao's translator who shed the most tears as the US watched one of their brothers return to China, the land of the Communists.
So captured by the story, I searched the web for any information to learn more about the plight of this wonderful icon. The top of the search results led me directly to the NBA, where I found a wall of statistics beside another brick of advertising, but nothing about his current situation in life. So I narrowed by search to include PBS, and found an old article from The Journal Editorial Report which preceded a second article on Star Wars entitled Excessive Use of the Force. (This is a funny coincidence as the CW showed a legal drama featuring Mark Hamill directly after the Yao Ming story. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.)
The brief article on PBS.org repeated many of the same points from the show, but ended on a different note: "I'd also like to give [an award] to the reformers in the Chinese economy who, like Yao Ming, are standing for individual efforts and, even in Communist China, the free market." Who better to serve as a poster boy for the free market than a Chinese basketball star -- the antithesis of the Communist worker who could never dream of earning $14 Million dollars a year. It's that very dream which drives the heart of this economy (even though it is an absolute lie to inspire the 80% who own 1% of their country).
It is wonderful to see the promise of Mark Hamill directly afterwards, showing us that fame indeed lasts but 15 minutes -- or five minutes should you rise to Internet stardom without a representative to keep you in the know. And in the meantime, the rest of us starve for temporary iconography extolling the battle of Good vs. Evil in the stars with massive wars against the Fascist regimes such as Soviet Russia and Socialist China. We see a better promise in the man who sells his soul to the Devil of temporary fortune and elusive fame -- at the low, low cost of $19.95 a month!
Bread and Circus indeed. We're paying for Products and Circuses this time around without realizing our contribution. Instead we sit on our asses in front of the television which was crafted by these terrible Socialists for ten pennies an hour (less for the jeans we're sitting in). We would challenge ourselves to find something created in the United States that we can actually afford -- apart from the images from the NBA which earns billions of dollars annually from our Free Market economy. Tell me this Democracy works anywhere else and I'll show you the modern definition of slavery in South America, in China -- everywhere that produces the American Dream.
So captured by the story, I searched the web for any information to learn more about the plight of this wonderful icon. The top of the search results led me directly to the NBA, where I found a wall of statistics beside another brick of advertising, but nothing about his current situation in life. So I narrowed by search to include PBS, and found an old article from The Journal Editorial Report which preceded a second article on Star Wars entitled Excessive Use of the Force. (This is a funny coincidence as the CW showed a legal drama featuring Mark Hamill directly after the Yao Ming story. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.)
The brief article on PBS.org repeated many of the same points from the show, but ended on a different note: "I'd also like to give [an award] to the reformers in the Chinese economy who, like Yao Ming, are standing for individual efforts and, even in Communist China, the free market." Who better to serve as a poster boy for the free market than a Chinese basketball star -- the antithesis of the Communist worker who could never dream of earning $14 Million dollars a year. It's that very dream which drives the heart of this economy (even though it is an absolute lie to inspire the 80% who own 1% of their country).
It is wonderful to see the promise of Mark Hamill directly afterwards, showing us that fame indeed lasts but 15 minutes -- or five minutes should you rise to Internet stardom without a representative to keep you in the know. And in the meantime, the rest of us starve for temporary iconography extolling the battle of Good vs. Evil in the stars with massive wars against the Fascist regimes such as Soviet Russia and Socialist China. We see a better promise in the man who sells his soul to the Devil of temporary fortune and elusive fame -- at the low, low cost of $19.95 a month!
Bread and Circus indeed. We're paying for Products and Circuses this time around without realizing our contribution. Instead we sit on our asses in front of the television which was crafted by these terrible Socialists for ten pennies an hour (less for the jeans we're sitting in). We would challenge ourselves to find something created in the United States that we can actually afford -- apart from the images from the NBA which earns billions of dollars annually from our Free Market economy. Tell me this Democracy works anywhere else and I'll show you the modern definition of slavery in South America, in China -- everywhere that produces the American Dream.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Today Was a Really Good Day
I'm excited to announce that I signed an offer letter today for a job that I'm really excited to do -- and nearly doubles my salary to boot! I'll be working for a medical software company which received a few million investment dollars; developing the front end for their bread-and-butter: an application that helps medical practitioners more effectively monitor their patients services "from the womb to the tomb" (so the C.E.O. sayeth).
What excites me most (apart from the salary and the opportunity) is the team that I'll be working with. I initially received the offer from an old manager of mine who had secured a position as their C.T.O. He told me that he was putting together a "Dream Team" composed of a developer I worked with in the past, along with a few other guys the developer knew. After meeting with some of them for lunch, I really felt that we clicked, and knew that the "Dream Team" would be able to knock the company's expectations out of the park.
All of this times so nicely as my current position was becoming a dreadful task. The company is securely set in their ISO-9000 ways that require every soul in their chairs for a regimented amount of time, with "Casual Fridays" and a vision that wasn't able to see past their 50 years of experience. Working to make the War Machine more effective in Iraq was a blow to my moral compass as well. It will be nice to actually help people live. Myself, included.
The greatest thing of all that made today a really good day is that I finally caught a glimpse of my future. I saw myself trapped in the same old house where the same old things happened over and over again. To change the outcome I needed to change. Within the next few months I will finally have the opportunity move down South, start working on the house to sell, and buy that little farm I've always dreamed about. Other things will change as well, but I won't tack that on at the end of the blog.
I will say this, however: Here's to a Really Good Year!
What excites me most (apart from the salary and the opportunity) is the team that I'll be working with. I initially received the offer from an old manager of mine who had secured a position as their C.T.O. He told me that he was putting together a "Dream Team" composed of a developer I worked with in the past, along with a few other guys the developer knew. After meeting with some of them for lunch, I really felt that we clicked, and knew that the "Dream Team" would be able to knock the company's expectations out of the park.
All of this times so nicely as my current position was becoming a dreadful task. The company is securely set in their ISO-9000 ways that require every soul in their chairs for a regimented amount of time, with "Casual Fridays" and a vision that wasn't able to see past their 50 years of experience. Working to make the War Machine more effective in Iraq was a blow to my moral compass as well. It will be nice to actually help people live. Myself, included.
The greatest thing of all that made today a really good day is that I finally caught a glimpse of my future. I saw myself trapped in the same old house where the same old things happened over and over again. To change the outcome I needed to change. Within the next few months I will finally have the opportunity move down South, start working on the house to sell, and buy that little farm I've always dreamed about. Other things will change as well, but I won't tack that on at the end of the blog.
I will say this, however: Here's to a Really Good Year!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Lagest National Guard Deployment Since WWII
While I watched the news last night a short story ran on Channel 2 wishing the Ohio National Guardsmen “Good Luck!” as they deployed to Kuwait. After researching the story online I found that the deployment of our National Guard is the largest since WWII, with 1,600 men and women headed to Texas for training, then on to Kuwait, with some continuing the journey to Iraq.
Here’s a link to the only report I was able to locate online.
I hope that I am merely overlooking the local news coverage of the enormous sacrifice made by so many of our local Guardsmen. For Ohio to simply send their children off to war without a single protest is lamentable. Without questioning their duty as National Guardsmen to the State of Ohio, it is doubtful that anyone has questioned the need for a record number of our own in Kuwait.
As it happens, Bush is headed over to the Middle East for another round of “Peace Talks,” because we all know Bush is a man of Peace. And just when the troops are secretly surging once more, with the President meeting with all of his Middle Eastern Allies, we learn from Reuters that Iran has made the first aggressive move towards the U.S. Navy.
Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?
Here’s a link to the only report I was able to locate online.
I hope that I am merely overlooking the local news coverage of the enormous sacrifice made by so many of our local Guardsmen. For Ohio to simply send their children off to war without a single protest is lamentable. Without questioning their duty as National Guardsmen to the State of Ohio, it is doubtful that anyone has questioned the need for a record number of our own in Kuwait.
As it happens, Bush is headed over to the Middle East for another round of “Peace Talks,” because we all know Bush is a man of Peace. And just when the troops are secretly surging once more, with the President meeting with all of his Middle Eastern Allies, we learn from Reuters that Iran has made the first aggressive move towards the U.S. Navy.
Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Open Party
While watching a copy of Charlie Wilson's War (brought to me by the good folks at the Pirate Bay) I wondered if it were possible for a young man to simply drive a couple car loads o' Negroes down to the voting booth and steal an election, just by telling them the other guy had killed your dog. It's a nice racist tale about how ig'nunt them collard folks can be, but today's voting population -- as disparately finite as they can be, both amongst colored folk and The Man -- think the Democrats are gonna give it all away, and the Republicans are gonna keep it for themselves.
As far as the system being rigged: I do declare that we've done it to ourselves (Or more plainly put, they've branded the two concepts and sold it to us hook, line, and sinker). The consider a third alternative is to fear the depths of Fascism or Communism, or any other ism cooked up by intellectuals that don't know a damn thing about how life really works. But you do. And that's what really counts. When it comes to hot button issues like abortion and border security, they tell us what our options are and then sort them out between the two parties. At least that's what we're told.
In reality we end up with an idealist who works on the part of the Corporations -- not matter which party they come from. Conservatives and Liberals alike will admit that the system is being rigged by big money lobbyists that buy the fat bastards anything they want to pass their legislations. It's called Corruption, and we all know it is eating our Government from within. But what we don't all know about is 'Open Source' (aside from what we've heard of Linux or Firefox, that developers can download the code and use it for free).
The 'Open Source' methodology is more than a philosophy for programmers. 'Open Source' implies a system that enables everyone to contribute. The practice of opening your system and allowing others to participate affects more than software code. For example, Wikipedia is a type of 'Open Source' which pertains to information, and allows anyone to read and revise any article, assuming you have permission from the community at large. Digg.com is another aspect of 'Open Source' that allows the user -- not to download and edit the code, but to contribute their own stories, effectively editing the front page as a community.
Imagine the practice of Open Source being applied to our Government. Instead of going to the polls every few years to vote for another criminal to steal your money, you do away with the middle man and directly represent yourself. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call Democracy. Not Representative Democracy. (That is what we call a Republic.) Real Democracy. Now that we've reached the 21st Century the concepts created by our Roman Forefathers is within our reach! But first, we must replace our Republic with a Democracy by supporting the Open Party.
At the moment, the Open Party is simply an idea held by hundreds, if not thousands of people around the globe. Attempting to explain the idea leads us back to the same hot button issues: "What do you think about border patrol? Are you gonna raise my taxes?" The process of explaining how each and every American can participate directly in their city finances or other governing principles simply bores anyone to tears. But that's all part of the process. You have an idea -- simultaneously, as it happens, with hundreds of other people you've never met -- and eventually, figure out how to tell it.
Would you?
As far as the system being rigged: I do declare that we've done it to ourselves (Or more plainly put, they've branded the two concepts and sold it to us hook, line, and sinker). The consider a third alternative is to fear the depths of Fascism or Communism, or any other ism cooked up by intellectuals that don't know a damn thing about how life really works. But you do. And that's what really counts. When it comes to hot button issues like abortion and border security, they tell us what our options are and then sort them out between the two parties. At least that's what we're told.
In reality we end up with an idealist who works on the part of the Corporations -- not matter which party they come from. Conservatives and Liberals alike will admit that the system is being rigged by big money lobbyists that buy the fat bastards anything they want to pass their legislations. It's called Corruption, and we all know it is eating our Government from within. But what we don't all know about is 'Open Source' (aside from what we've heard of Linux or Firefox, that developers can download the code and use it for free).
The 'Open Source' methodology is more than a philosophy for programmers. 'Open Source' implies a system that enables everyone to contribute. The practice of opening your system and allowing others to participate affects more than software code. For example, Wikipedia is a type of 'Open Source' which pertains to information, and allows anyone to read and revise any article, assuming you have permission from the community at large. Digg.com is another aspect of 'Open Source' that allows the user -- not to download and edit the code, but to contribute their own stories, effectively editing the front page as a community.
Imagine the practice of Open Source being applied to our Government. Instead of going to the polls every few years to vote for another criminal to steal your money, you do away with the middle man and directly represent yourself. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call Democracy. Not Representative Democracy. (That is what we call a Republic.) Real Democracy. Now that we've reached the 21st Century the concepts created by our Roman Forefathers is within our reach! But first, we must replace our Republic with a Democracy by supporting the Open Party.
At the moment, the Open Party is simply an idea held by hundreds, if not thousands of people around the globe. Attempting to explain the idea leads us back to the same hot button issues: "What do you think about border patrol? Are you gonna raise my taxes?" The process of explaining how each and every American can participate directly in their city finances or other governing principles simply bores anyone to tears. But that's all part of the process. You have an idea -- simultaneously, as it happens, with hundreds of other people you've never met -- and eventually, figure out how to tell it.
Would you?
Sunday, December 30, 2007
The Viewer's Strike of 2008
As the Writer's Strike of 2007 enters the new year, Americans could be subjected to a wide assortment of alternatives from the network broadcasters. TIME magazine recommended BBC America replacements such as the British version of the Office, along with an alternate reality version of Desperate Housewives. Whatever the country is ultimately faced with, the television we once knew is bound to be affected as it was during the previous Writer's Strike of 1988.
Regardless of the fact that underdog shows such as Seinfeld received national attention, the reigns of "Entertainment Power" remained largely unaffected. Even with new formats of governmental criticism from the likes of the Daily Show, the same studios received even more money from the same "two party" system, resulting in the same Presidential Candidates from the previous elections. And the same people got rich while the same people got ignored, leading the same country down the same path it has been on for over half a century.
But the writers have realized something important in the Capitalistic experiments of Radiohead and the Talking Heads: that profits from Internet sales managed to rival those of the traditional system of selling their rights to the networks. Should the writer's decide to take their entertainment directly to the people through "Internet Channels," "webcasts" such as I am Ninja could become the norm (given that the latest season has managed to earn advertising dollars from Dorritos). The only missing component is the hardware.
This is where you and I come into play.
Consider for a moment that the Writer's Guild of America represents a 'mere' 12,000 writers. This means that 12,000 people could potentially affect the way you and I view our entertainment. Most of us realize that mainstream media (or 'MSM' for short) controls more than our entertainment; they control which products we choose from, and which candidates we elect to vote for at the poll booths. In simple terms, MSM limits our options to those who give them the most money. 12,000 people could turn our heads towards an entirely Democratic system of news and entertainment.
The problem is that a majority of Americans receive their edutainment through controlled set-top boxes that elect to broadcast a limited range of channels. Receiving the "new" Internet "channels" is only available to a limited number of broadband subscribers who actually take the time to watch their favorite shows online. Popular alternatives such as Apple TV elect to control the entertainment through their own privately held revenue system, while Open Source alternatives such as Democracy TV (now called Miro) lack a popular television component to satisfy the average viewer.
The next 12,000 of us need to find the simple solution which enables our grandparents setup and use a "set top device" that allows them to access shows of their own choosing. Once the hardware is in place, the ultimate increase in Writer's pay -- along with the inevitable affects to broadcast television -- will become irrelevant. Those who employ the new hardware will be able to receive their standard network broadcasts through websites such as Hulu (as well as from the dedicated YouTube rippers). In practical terms, the owners of the new devices will be able to explore a whole new world of news and entertainment.
But we must dedicate ourselves to this task, and spread this message so that the next 12,000 hardware and software developers might unite in a follow-up to the Writer's Strike of 2007. Let us call it the Viewer's Strike of 2008. Let us unify our skills to produce an Open Source product which will give the viewer's the final decision, and may the rest of us commit ourselves to their efforts by recommending or outright buying these devices and setting them up in the homes of our loved ones. Let them know that the Viewer's Strike is not about revenues, but the conscious act to restore Democracy to the United States of America.
(One final note to the underdogs of the upcoming elections: Consider the Viewer's Strike of 2008 to be a valuable part in your bid for the presidency. Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel have tasted the bitter rejection of mainstream media, and their supporters have given them millions of dollars to spread their message through traditional formats. Consider the alternative, and give those dollars back to the people by supporting the Viewer's Strike of 2008. Help us ensure that every American will have access to a "Fair and Balanced" news source that they can truly trust.)
Regardless of the fact that underdog shows such as Seinfeld received national attention, the reigns of "Entertainment Power" remained largely unaffected. Even with new formats of governmental criticism from the likes of the Daily Show, the same studios received even more money from the same "two party" system, resulting in the same Presidential Candidates from the previous elections. And the same people got rich while the same people got ignored, leading the same country down the same path it has been on for over half a century.
But the writers have realized something important in the Capitalistic experiments of Radiohead and the Talking Heads: that profits from Internet sales managed to rival those of the traditional system of selling their rights to the networks. Should the writer's decide to take their entertainment directly to the people through "Internet Channels," "webcasts" such as I am Ninja could become the norm (given that the latest season has managed to earn advertising dollars from Dorritos). The only missing component is the hardware.
This is where you and I come into play.
Consider for a moment that the Writer's Guild of America represents a 'mere' 12,000 writers. This means that 12,000 people could potentially affect the way you and I view our entertainment. Most of us realize that mainstream media (or 'MSM' for short) controls more than our entertainment; they control which products we choose from, and which candidates we elect to vote for at the poll booths. In simple terms, MSM limits our options to those who give them the most money. 12,000 people could turn our heads towards an entirely Democratic system of news and entertainment.
The problem is that a majority of Americans receive their edutainment through controlled set-top boxes that elect to broadcast a limited range of channels. Receiving the "new" Internet "channels" is only available to a limited number of broadband subscribers who actually take the time to watch their favorite shows online. Popular alternatives such as Apple TV elect to control the entertainment through their own privately held revenue system, while Open Source alternatives such as Democracy TV (now called Miro) lack a popular television component to satisfy the average viewer.
The next 12,000 of us need to find the simple solution which enables our grandparents setup and use a "set top device" that allows them to access shows of their own choosing. Once the hardware is in place, the ultimate increase in Writer's pay -- along with the inevitable affects to broadcast television -- will become irrelevant. Those who employ the new hardware will be able to receive their standard network broadcasts through websites such as Hulu (as well as from the dedicated YouTube rippers). In practical terms, the owners of the new devices will be able to explore a whole new world of news and entertainment.
But we must dedicate ourselves to this task, and spread this message so that the next 12,000 hardware and software developers might unite in a follow-up to the Writer's Strike of 2007. Let us call it the Viewer's Strike of 2008. Let us unify our skills to produce an Open Source product which will give the viewer's the final decision, and may the rest of us commit ourselves to their efforts by recommending or outright buying these devices and setting them up in the homes of our loved ones. Let them know that the Viewer's Strike is not about revenues, but the conscious act to restore Democracy to the United States of America.
(One final note to the underdogs of the upcoming elections: Consider the Viewer's Strike of 2008 to be a valuable part in your bid for the presidency. Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel have tasted the bitter rejection of mainstream media, and their supporters have given them millions of dollars to spread their message through traditional formats. Consider the alternative, and give those dollars back to the people by supporting the Viewer's Strike of 2008. Help us ensure that every American will have access to a "Fair and Balanced" news source that they can truly trust.)
Friday, December 28, 2007
ÆNIMA by Tool
Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will.
I sure could use a vacation from this
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.
Fret for your figure and
Fret for your latte and
Fret for your hairpiece and
Fret for your lawsuit and
Fret for your prozac and
Fret for your pilot and
Fret for your contract and
Fret for your car.
It's a
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.
Some say a comet will fall from the sky.
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves.
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still.
Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits.
Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will cuz
I sure could use a vacation from this
Silly shit, stupid shit...
One great big festering neon distraction,
I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied.
Learn to swim.
Mom's gonna fix it all soon.
Mom's comin' round to put it back the way it ought to be.
Learn to swim.
Fuck L Ron Hubbard and
Fuck all his clones.
Fuck all those gun-toting
Hip gangster wannabes.
Learn to swim.
Fuck retro anything.
Fuck your tattoos.
Fuck all you junkies and
Fuck your short memory.
Learn to swim.
Fuck smiley glad-hands
With hidden agendas.
Fuck these dysfunctional,
Insecure actresses.
Learn to swim.
Cuz I'm praying for rain
And I'm praying for tidal waves
I wanna see the ground give way.
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
I wanna watch it go right in and down.
I wanna watch it go right in.
Watch you flush it all away.
Time to bring it down again.
Don't just call me pessimist.
Try and read between the lines.
I can't imagine why you wouldn't
Welcome any change, my friend.
I wanna see it all come down.
suck it down.
flush it down.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Short History of the U.S. Government's Respect for Human Life, Part III
The following list comes from declassified documents, news reports, videos, the National Archives, and from the final report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.
1961: In response to the Nuremberg Trials, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram begins his famous Obedience to Authority Study in order to answer his question "Could it be that (Adolf) Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?" Male test subjects, ranging in age from 20 to 40 and coming from all education backgrounds, are told to give "learners" electric shocks for every wrong answer the learners give in response to word pair questions. In reality, the learners are actors and are not receiving electric shocks, but what matters is that the test subjects do not know that. Astoundingly, they keep on following orders and continue to administer increasingly high levels of "shocks," even after the actor learners show obvious physical pain ("Milgram Experiment").
1962: Researchers at the Laurel Children's Center in Maryland test experimental acne antibiotics on children and continue their tests even after half of the young test subjects develop severe liver damage because of the experimental medication (Goliszek).
1962: The U.S. Army's Deseret Test Center begins Project 112. This includes SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense), which exposes U.S. Navy and Army personnel to live toxins and chemical poisons in order to determine naval ships' vulnerability to chemical and biological weapons. Military personnel are not test subjects; conducting the tests exposes them. Many of these participants complain of negative health effects at the time and, decades later, suffer from severe medical problems as a result of their exposure (Goliszek, Veterans Health Administration).
1962: The FDA begins requiring that a new pharmaceutical undergo three human clinical trials before it will approve it. From 1962 to 1980, pharmaceutical companies satisfy this requirement by running Phase I trials, which determine a drug's toxicity, on prison inmates, giving them small amounts of cash for compensation (Sharav).
1963: Chester M. Southam, who injected Ohio State Prison inmates with live cancer cells in 1952, performs the same procedure on 22 senile, African-American female patients at the Brooklyn Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital in order to watch their immunological response. Southam tells the patients that they are receiving "some cells," but leaves out the fact that they are cancer cells. He claims he doesn't obtain informed consent from the patients because he does not want to frighten them by telling them what he is doing, but he nevertheless temporarily loses his medical license because of it. Ironically, he eventually becomes president of the American Cancer Society (Greger, Merritte, et al.).
1963: Researchers at the University of Washington directly irradiate the testes of 232 prison inmates in order to determine radiation's effects on testicular function. When these inmates later leave prison and have children, at least four have babies born with birth defects. The exact number is unknown because researchers never follow up on the men to see the long-term effects of their experiment (Goliszek).
1963: In a National Institutes of Health-sponsored (NIH) study, a researcher transplants a chimpanzee's kidney into a human. The experiment fails (Sharav).
1963 - 1966: New York University researcher Saul Krugman promises parents with mentally disabled children definite enrollment into the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, N.Y., a resident mental institution for mentally retarded children, in exchange for their signatures on a consent form for procedures presented as "vaccinations." In reality, the procedures involve deliberately infecting children with viral hepatitis by feeding them an extract made from the feces of infected patients, so that Krugman can study the course of viral hepatitis as well the effectiveness of a hepatitis vaccine (Hammer Breslow).
1963 - 1971: Leading endocrinologist Dr. Carl Heller gives 67 prison inmates at Oregon State Prison in Salem $5 per month and $25 per testicular tissue biopsy in compensation for allowing him to perform irradiation experiments on their testes. If they receive vasectomies at the end of the study, the prisoners are given an extra $100 (Sharav, Goliszek).
1963: Researchers inject a genetic compound called radioactive thymidine into the testicles of more than 100 Oregon State Penitentiary inmates to learn whether sperm production is affected by exposure to steroid hormones (Greger).
1963: In a study published in Pediatrics, researchers at the University of California's Department of Pediatrics use 113 newborns ranging in age from one hour to three days old in a series of experiments used to study changes in blood pressure and blood flow. In one study, doctors insert a catheter through the newborns' umbilical arteries and into their aortas and then immerse the newborns' feet in ice water while recording aortic pressure. In another experiment, doctors strap 50 newborns to a circumcision board, tilt the table so that all the blood rushes to their heads and then measure their blood pressure (Goliszek).
1964 - 1968: The U.S. Army pays $386,486 (the largest sum ever paid for human experimentation) to University of Pennsylvania Professors Albert Kligman and Herbert W. Copelan to run medical experiments on 320 inmates of Holmesburg Prison to determine the effectiveness of seven mind-altering drugs. The researchers' objective is to determine the minimum effective dose of each drug needed to disable 50 percent of any given population (MED-50). Though Professors Kligman and Copelan claim that they are unaware of any long-term effects the mind-altering agents might have on prisoners, documents revealed later would prove otherwise (Kaye).
1964 - 1967: The Dow Chemical Company pays Professor Kligman $10,000 to learn how dioxin -- a highly toxic, carcinogenic component of Agent Orange -- and other herbicides affect human skin because workers at the chemical plant have been developing an acne-like condition called Chloracne and the company would like to know whether the chemicals they are handling are to blame. As part of the study, Professor Kligman applies roughly the amount of dioxin Dow employees are exposed to on the skin 60 prisoners, and is disappointed when the prisoners show no symptoms of Chloracne. In 1980 and 1981, the human guinea pigs used in this study would begin suing Professor Kligman for complications including lupus and psychological damage (Kaye).
1965: CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.
1965: In a three year study, 70 volunteer prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia were subjected to tests of dioxin, the highly toxic chemical contaminant in Agent Orange. Lesions which the men developed were not treated and remained for up to seven months. None of the subjects was informed that they would later be studied for the development of cancer. This was the second such experiment which Dow Chemical undertook on "volunteers" who did not receive the information which the world proclaimed was necessary for "informed consent" at Nuremberg.
Note: Dow/Corning manufactured and sold artificial breast implants even after the health risks of the implants became known. The massive class action lawsuit was only recently settled.
1965: The Department of Defense uses human test subjects wearing rubber clothing and M9A1 masks to conduct 35 trials near Fort Greely, Alaska, as part of the Elk Hunt tests, which are designed to measure the amount of VX nerve agent put on the clothing of people moving through VX-contaminated areas or touching contaminated vehicles, and the amount of VX vapor rising from these areas. After the tests, the subjects are decontaminated using wet steam and high-pressure cold water (Goliszek).
1965: As part of a test codenamed "Big Tom," the Department of Defense sprays Oahu, Hawaii's most heavily populated island, with Bacillus globigii in order to simulate an attack on an island complex. Bacillus globigii causes infections in people with weakened immune systems, but this was not known to scientists at the time (Goliszek, Martin).
1966: The CIA continues a limited number of MKULTRA plans by beginning Project MKSEARCH to develop and test ways of using biological, chemical and radioactive materials in intelligence operations, and also to develop and test drugs that are able to produce predictable changes in human behavior and physiology (Goliszek).
1966: Dr. Henry Beecher writes, "The well-being, the health, even the actual or potential life of all human beings, born or unborn, depend upon the continuing experimentation in man. Proceed it must; proceed it will. 'The proper study of mankind is man,'" in his "exposé" on human medical experimentation Research and the Individual ("Human Experimentation: Before the Nazi Era and After").
1966: The National Commission for the Protection of Research Subjects issues its Policies for the Protection of Human Subjects, which eventually creates what we now know as institutional review boards (IRBs) (Sharav).
1966: The U.S. Army dispensed Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians were exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates. Materials available on the incident noted the Army's justification for the experiment was the fact that there are many subways in the (former) Soviet Union, Europe, and South America. Although there are no harmful effects known for this release, details of the experiment are still classified.
1967: Continuing on his Dow Chemical Company-sponsored dioxin study without the company's knowledge or consent, University of Pennsylvania Professor Albert Kligman increases the dosage of dioxin he applies to 10 prisoners' skin to 7,500 micrograms, 468 times the dosage Dow official Gerald K. Rowe had authorized him to administer. As a result, the prisoners experience acne lesions that develop into inflammatory pustules and papules (Kaye).
1967: The CIA places a chemical in the drinking water supply of the FDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. to see whether it is possible to spike drinking water with LSD and other substances (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.).
1967: In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers inject pregnant women with radioactive cortisol to see if the radioactive material will cross the placentas and affect the fetuses (Goliszek).
1967: The U.S. Army pays Professor Kligman to apply skin-blistering chemicals to Holmesburg Prison inmates' faces and backs, so as to, in Professor Kligman's words, "learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals, the so-called hardening process," information which would have both offensive and defensive applications for the U.S. military (Kaye).
1967: The CIA and Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories begin an extensive program for developing drugs that can influence human behavior. This program includes Project OFTEN -- which studies the toxicology, transmission and behavioral effects of drugs in animal and human subjects -- and Project CHICKWIT, which gathers European and Asian drug development information (Goliszek).
1967: Professor Kligman develops Retin-A as an acne cream (and eventually a wrinkle cream), turning him into a multi-millionaire (Kaye).
1967: Researchers paralyze 64 prison inmates in California with a neuromuscular compound called succinylcholine, which produces suppressed breathing that feels similar to drowning. When five prisoners refuse to participate in the medical experiment, the prison's special treatment board gives researchers permission to inject the prisoners with the drug against their will (Greger).
1967: CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.
1968: Planned Parenthood of San Antonio and South Central Texas and the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education begin an oral contraceptive study on 70 poverty-stricken Mexican-American women, giving only half the oral contraceptives they think they are receiving and the other half a placebo. When the results of this study are released a few years later, it stirs tremendous controversy among Mexican-Americans (Sharav, Sauter).
1968 - 1969: The CIA experimented with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting a chemical substance into the water supply of the Food And Drug Administration in Washington, D.C.. There were no harmful effects noted from this experiment. However, none of the human subjects in the building were ever asked for their permission, nor was anyone provided with information on the nature or effects of the chemical used.
1969: President Nixon ends the United States' offensive biowarfare program, including human experimentation done at Fort Detrick. By this time, tens of thousands of civilians and members of the U.S. armed forces have wittingly and unwittingly acted as participants in experiments involving exposure to dangerous biological agents (Goliszek).
1969: The U.S. military conducts DTC Test 69-12, which is an open-air test of VX and sarin nerve agents at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, likely exposing military personnel (Goliszek, Martin).
1969: Experimental drugs are tested on mentally disabled children in Milledgeville, Ga., without any institutional approval whatsoever (Sharav).
1969: Judge Sam Steinfield's dissent in Strunk v. Strunk, 445 S.W.2d 145 marks the first time a judge has ever suggested that the Nuremberg Code be applied in American court cases (Sharav).
1969: On June 9, 1969, Dr. Dr. Donald M. MacArthur, then Deputy Director of Research and Technology for the Department of Defense, appeared before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations to request funding for a project to produce a synthetic biological agent for which humans have not yet acquired a natural immunity. Dr. McArtor asked for $10 million dollars to produce this agent over the next 5-10 years. The Congressional Record reveals that according to the plan for the development of this germ agent, the most important characteristic of the new disease would be "that it might be refractory [resistant] to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease". AIDS first appeared as a public health risk ten years later, appearing first in a population of gay men who had been subjects in a test of a new Hepatitas vaccine. In 1989, work by Alan Cantwell Jr., M.D. linking AIDS to the hepatitis B viral vaccine experiments was suppressed at the 1989 AIDS International Conference by officials of the World Health Organization.
1970: A year after his request, under H.R. 15090, Dr. MacArthur receives funding to begin CIA-supervised mycoplasma research with Fort Detrick's Special Operations Division, the army's top secret biological weapons facility. Speculation is raised that molecular biology techniques are used to produce AIDS-like retroviruses. Some experts believe that this research may have inadvertently created HIV, the virus that causes AIDS (Goliszek).
1970: Under order from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which also sponsored the Tuskegee Experiment, the free childcare program at Johns Hopkins University collects blood samples from 7,000 African-American youth, telling their parents that they are checking for anemia but actually checking for an extra Y chromosome (XYY), believed to be a biological predisposition to crime. The program director, Digamber Borganokar, does this experiment without Johns Hopkins University's permission (Greger, Merritte, et al.).
1970: United States intensifies its development of "ethnic weapons" (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.
1971: President Nixon converts Fort Detrick from an offensive biowarfare lab to the Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, now known as the National Cancer Institute at Frederick. In addition to cancer research, scientists study virology, immunology and retrovirology (including HIV) there. Additionally, the site is home to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute, which researches drugs, vaccines and countermeasures for biological warfare, so the former Fort Detrick does not move far away from its biowarfare past (Goliszek).
1971: Stanford University conducts the Stanford Prison Experiment on a group of college students in order to learn the psychology of prison life. Some students are given the role as prison guards, while the others are given the role of prisoners. After only six days, the proposed two-week study has to end because of its psychological effects on the participants. The "guards" had begun to act sadistic, while the "prisoners" started to show signs of depression and severe psychological stress (University of New Hampshire).
1971: An article entitled "Viral Infections in Man Associated with Acquired Immunological Deficiency States" appears in Federation Proceedings. Dr. MacArthur and Fort Detrick's Special Operations Division have, at this point, been conducting mycoplasma research to create a synthetic immunosuppressive agent for about one year, again suggesting that this research may have produced HIV (Goliszek).
1972: In studies sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Amedeo Marrazzi gives LSD to mental patients at the University of Missouri Institute of Psychiatry and the University of Minnesota Hospital to study "ego strength" (Barker).
1972: President Nixon announced a ban on the production and use of biological (but not chemical) warfare agents. However, as the Army's own experts reveal, this ban is meaningless because the studies required to protect against biological warfare weapons are generally indistinguishable from those to develop the actual chemical weapons. Research on offensive bio-war continued under the justification that such research was a necessary pre-cursor to defensive bio-war.
1974: Less publicized was National Security Study memorandum 200. This document declared that overpopulation of the world posed a grave threatto the nation and urged the imposition of population control measures wherever possible. While the media have reported the forced sterilizations in China, Canada, and Sweden, the abuses of the sterilization programs here in the United States remain concealed from public view. A class action suit in Los Angeles revealed that Chicano women were being sterilized immediatly after giving birth. The non-English speaking women had been given sterilization consent forms in English and were told the operation was to deal with the after-affects of the pregnancy. Similar abuses were reported on reservations, with estimates of coerced or covert sterilization
running as high as one woman out of every four. Yet another lawsuit in New York and a scandal in Puerto Rico led to the passage of laws requiring a standardized consent form printed in multiple languages in 1979.
More can be found in Michael Parenti's "Democracy for the Few" (St. Martin's Press 1995)
1975: The virus section of Fort Detrick's Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).
1977: Senate hearings on Health and Scientific Research confirm that 239 populated areas had been contaminated with biological agents between 1949 and 1969. Some of the areas included San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Key West, Panama City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.
1977: Ray Ravenhott, director of the population program of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), publicly announced the agency's goal to sterilize one quarter of the world's women. In reports by the St Louis Post-Dispatch, Ravenhott in essence cited the reasoning for this being U.S. corporate interests in avoiding the threat of revolutions which might be spawned by chronic unemployment. Since then, allegations have surfaced that free vaccinations being given by the World Health Organization include a "pregnancy anti-body" which fools a woman's body into treating a pregnancy as an infection.
1978: Experimental Hepatitis B vaccine trials, conducted by the CDC, begin in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ads for research subjects specifically ask for promiscuous homosexual men.
Since 1979, population control in accordance with NSS 200 has become more covert. An organization in Belgium called the "World Federation Of Doctors who value life" claims to have discovered a sterilizing agent in the tetanus vaccines being used in third world nations by the World Health Organization. The claim is supported by the fact that only women were given the multi-injection tetanus shots (normal tetanus shots only require a single injection). Villagers in India were offered cash payments on the condition that 75 percent of all men in the village submit to vasectomy. In another Indian village, "100 percent of the eligible couples" were reported to have accepted family planning, mostly by means of vasectomy, in exchange for a new village well.
1980-1981: Within months of their incarceration in detention centers in Miami and Puerto Rico, many male Haitian refugees developed an unusual condition called "gynecomasia". This is a condition in which males develop full female breasts. A number of the internees at Ft. Allen in Puerto Rico claimed that they were forced to undergo a series of injections which they believed to be hormones. When "Inside Investigations" showed a prison video of serial killer Richard Speck engaging in drugs and sex, the female breasts were clearly visible on the man.
1981: More than 300,000 Cubans were stricken with dengue hemorrhagic fever. An investigation by the magazine 'Covert Action Information Bulletin', which tracks the workings of various intelligence agencies around the world, suggested that this outbreak was the result of a release of mosquitoes by Cuban counterrevolutionaries. The magazine tracked the activities of one CIA operative from a facility in Panama to the alleged Cuban connections. During the last 30 years, Cuba has been subjected to an enormous number of outbreaks of human and crop diseases which are difficult to attribute purely natural causes.
1981: First cases of AIDS are confirmed in homosexual men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, triggering speculation that AIDS may have been introduced via the Hepatitis B vaccine.
1982: El Salvadoran trade unionists claimed that epidemics of many previously unknown diseases had cropped up in areas immediately after U.S. directed aerial bombings.
1985: An outbreak of Dengue fever strikes Managua Nicaragua shortly after an increase of U.S. aerial reconnaissance missions. Nearly half of the capital city's population was stricken with the disease, and several deaths have been attributed to the outbreak. It was the first such epidemic in the country and the outbreak was nearly identical to that which struck Cuba a few years earlier (1981). Dengue fever variations were the focus of much experimentation at the Army's Biological Warfare test facility at Ft. Dietrick, Maryland prior to the 'ban' on such research in 1972.
1985: In ruling on a case in which a former U.S. Army sergeant attempted to bring a lawsuit against the Army for using experimental drugs on him, without his knowledge, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that allowing such an action against the military would disrupt the chain of command. Thus, nearly all potential actions against the military for past, or future, misdeeds have been barred as have actions aimed at the release of classified documents on the subject.
In short, no matter what they do to you, nothing will happen to them. Dr. Mengala would have loved it here!
1986: According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV. This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked to produce a new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.
1986: A report to Congress reveals that the U.S. Government's current generation of biological agents includes: modified viruses, naturally occurring toxins, and agents that are altered through genetic engineering to change immunological character and prevent treatment by all existing vaccines.
1987: As the result of a lawsuit by a public interest group, the Department of Defense was forced to reveal that, despite a treaty banning research and development of biological agents, it still operated Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) research programs at 127 sites around the United States.
1990: More than 1500 six-month old black and hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an "experimental" measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected to their children was experimental.
1992: The Michigan Supreme Court rules that the state court has the right to order sterilizations "for the good of the ward".
1994: With a technique called "gene tracking," Dr. Garth Nicolson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX discovers that many returning Desert Storm veterans are infected with an altered strain of Mycoplasma incognitus, a microbe commonly used in the production of biological weapons. Incorporated into its molecular structure is 40 percent of the HIV protein coat, indicating that it had been man-made.
1994: Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War.
1994: Abuses of American sponsored population control agendas start to surface around the world.
1994: Mr. Leanardo Casco, a member of the Honduran delegation to the 1994 United Nations World Population Conference in Cairo said, "In our hospitals and in our health care system, we have a lot of problems getting basic medicines -- things like penicillin and antibiotics. There is a terrible shortage of basic medicines, but you can find the cabinets full of condoms, pills and IUDs."
1994: Dr. Stephen K. Karanja, an obstetrician/gynecologist from Kenya, writes, "[T]housands of the Kenyan people will die of Malaria whose treatment costs a few cents, in health facilities whose stores are stalked [sic] to the roof with millions of dollars worth of pills, IUDs, Norplant, Depo-provera, most of which are supplied with American money."
1995: U.S. Government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.
1995: Dr. Garth Nicolson, uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, TX and Boca Raton, Fl and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.
1996: Under pressure from Congress and the public, after a 60 Minutes segment, the U.S. Department of Defense finally admits that at least 20,000 U.S. servicemen "may" have been exposed to chemical weapons during operation 'Desert Storm'. This exposure is claimed to be the result of the destruction of a Iraqi weapons bunker. Similar illnesses of other troops, who were not in this area, suggest other means of exposure not yet admitted to. Veterans groups have released information that many of the problems may be a result of experimental vaccines and innoculations which were provided troops during the military buildup.
1996: In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June 1996, Christine de Vollmer, president of the Latin America Alliance for the Family, said that Latin America perceives Timothy Wirth, Undersecretary of State and top official in charge of U.S. population control policy, as "a ruthless population controller, unashamed of coercive measures and disrespectful" of the human rights of people, particularly women, in developing countries.
Brazilian senator Rosiska Darcy de Olivera condemned the United States for its population programs, which force Brazilian women to undergo sterilization, saying: "To say that women from the South who have many babies are responsible for the environmental crisis -- it's a scandal."
1997: The city of Minneapolis is sprayed with chemicals used to test germ warfare techniques over a period of several months, in 61 seperate operations. It is assumed that the checmicals are hamless, but there is an oncrease in the rates for respiratory illness in the sprayed areas.
1997: Students and faculty at the Jasper School in Arkansas are struck down by a mysterious malady on Jan 31st that sends many
of them to the hospital. Some of the paramedics and emergancy workers who arrive at the school later become ill, with the primary symptom being an incapacitating headache, which takes several weeks to subside. Despite constant monitoring of the kids by health workers, no cause is ever announced.
1997: Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use & Gulf War Syndrome.
A Short History of the U.S. Government's Respect for Human Life, Part II
The following list comes from declassified documents, news reports, videos, the National Archives, and from the final report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.
1944: A captain in the medical corps addresses an April 1944 memo to Col. Stanford Warren, head of the Manhattan Project's Medical Section, expressing his concerns about atom bomb component fluoride's central nervous system (CNS) effects and asking for animal research to be done to determine the extent of these effects: "Clinical evidence suggests that uranium hexafluoride may have a rather marked central nervous system effect ... It seems most likely that the F [code for fluoride] component rather than the T [code for uranium] is the causative factor ... Since work with these compounds is essential, it will be necessary to know in advance what mental effects may occur after exposure." The following year, the Manhattan Project would begin human-based studies on fluoride's effects (Griffiths and Bryson).
1944: The Manhattan Project medical team, led by the now infamous University of Rochester radiologist Col. Safford Warren, injects plutonium into patients at the University's teaching hospital, Strong Memorial (Burton Report).
1945: Continuing the Manhattan Project, researchers inject plutonium into three patients at the University of Chicago's Billings Hospital (Sharav).
1945: The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence and the CIA begin Operation Paperclip, offering Nazi scientists immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top-secret government projects on aerodynamics and chemical warfare medicine in the United States ("Project Paperclip").
1945: Researchers infect 800 prisoners in Atlanta with malaria to study the disease (Sharav).
1945: "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. (Griffiths and Bryson) One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.
1946: Gen. Douglas MacArthur strikes a secret deal with Japanese physician Dr. Shiro Ishii to turn over 10,000 pages of information gathered from human experimentation in exchange for granting Ishii immunity from prosecution for the horrific experiments he performed on Chinese, Russian and American war prisoners, including performing vivisections on live human beings (Goliszek, Sharav). Male and female test subjects at Chicago's Argonne National Laboratories are given intravenous injections of arsenic-76 so that researchers can study how the human body absorbs, distributes and excretes arsenic (Goliszek).
1946: Continuing the Newburg study of 1945, the Manhattan Project commissions the University of Rochester to study fluoride's effects on animals and humans in a project codenamed "Program F." With the help of the New York State Health Department, Program F researchers secretly collect and analyze blood and tissue samples from Newburg residents. The studies are sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission and take place at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Strong Memorial Hospital (Griffiths and Bryson).
1946 - 1947: University of Rochester researchers inject four male and two female human test subjects with uranium-234 and uranium-235 in dosages ranging from 6.4 to 70.7 micrograms per one kilogram of body weight in order to study how much uranium they could tolerate before their kidneys become damaged (Goliszek).
1946: Six male employees of a Chicago metallurgical laboratory are given water contaminated with plutonium-239 to drink so that researchers can learn how plutonium is absorbed into the digestive tract (Goliszek).
1946: Researchers begin using patients in VA hospitals as test subjects for human medical experiments, cleverly worded as "investigations" or "observations" in medical study reports to avoid negative connotations and bad publicity (Sharav).
1946: The American public finally learns of the biowarfare experiments being done at Fort Detrick from a report released by the War Department (Goliszek).
1946 - 1953: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission sponsors studies in which researchers from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston University School of Medicine feed mentally disabled students at Fernald State School Quaker Oats breakfast cereal spiked with radioactive tracers every morning so that nutritionists can study how preservatives move through the human body and if they block the absorption of vitamins and minerals. Later, MIT researchers conduct the same study at Wrentham State School (Sharav, Goliszek).
1946: Human test subjects are given one to four injections of arsenic-76 at the University of Chicago Department of Medicine. Researchers take tissue biopsies from the subjects before and after the injections (Goliszek).
1947: Col. E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) issues a top-secret document (707075) dated Jan. 8. In it, he writes that "certain radioactive substances are being prepared for intravenous administration to human subjects as a part of the work of the contract" (Goliszek).
1947: Col. E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) issues a top-secret document (707075) dated Jan. 8. In it, he writes that "certain radioactive substances are being prepared for intravenous administration to human subjects as a part of the work of the contract" (Goliszek).
1947: A secret AEC document dated April 17 reads, "It is desired that no document be released which refers to experiments with humans that might have an adverse reaction on public opinion or result in legal suits," revealing that the U.S. government was aware of the health risks its nuclear tests posed to military personnel conducting the tests or nearby civilians (Goliszek).
1947: The CIA begins studying LSD's potential as a weapon by using military and civilian test subjects for experiments without their consent or even knowledge. Eventually, these LSD studies will evolve into the MKULTRA program in 1953 (Sharav).
1947: (1947 - 1953) The U.S. Navy begins Project Chatter to identify and test so-called "truth serums," such as those used by the Soviet Union to interrogate spies. Mescaline and the central nervous system depressant scopolamine are among the many drugs tested on human subjects (Goliszek).
1948: Based on the secret studies performed on Newburgh, N.Y. residents beginning in 1945, Project F researchers publish a report in the August 1948 edition of the Journal of the American Dental Association, detailing fluoride's health dangers. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) quickly censors it for "national security" reasons (Griffiths and Bryson).
1950: The CIA and later the Office of Scientific Intelligence begin Project Bluebird (renamed Project Artichoke in 1951) in order to find ways to "extract" information from CIA agents, control individuals "through special interrogation techniques," "enhance memory" and use "unconventional techniques, including hypnosis and drugs" for offensive measures (Goliszek).
Related book:
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The third of Russ Kick's bestselling Disinformation Guides gathers another all-star line-up of exposes.
Juries have ruled in recent trials that Watergate was really about a Democratic Party... continues...
(Concept: CIA)
1950 - 1953: The U.S. Army releases chemical clouds over six American and Canadian cities. Residents in Winnipeg, Canada, where a highly toxic chemical called cadmium is dropped, subsequently experience high rates of respiratory illnesses (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.).
1950: In order to determine how susceptible an American city could be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of Bacillus globigii bacteria from ships over the San Francisco shoreline. According to monitoring devices situated throughout the city to test the extent of infection, the eight thousand residents of San Francisco inhale five thousand or more bacteria particles, many becoming sick with pneumonia-like symptoms (Goliszek). At least one death is known.
1950: Dr. Joseph Strokes of the University of Pennsylvania infects 200 female prisoners with viral hepatitis to study the disease (Sharav).
1950: Doctors at the Cleveland City Hospital study changes in cerebral blood flow by injecting test subjects with spinal anesthesia, inserting needles in their jugular veins and brachial arteries, tilting their heads down and, after massive blood loss causes paralysis and fainting, measuring their blood pressure. They often perform this experiment multiple times on the same subject (Goliszek).
1950: Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, later of MKULTRA infamy due to his 1957 to1964 experiments on Canadians, publishes an article in the British Journal of Physical Medicine, in which he describes experiments that entail forcing schizophrenic patients at Manitoba's Brandon Mental Hospital to lie naked under 15- to 200-watt red lamps for up to eight hours per day. His other experiments include placing mental patients in an electric cage that overheats their internal body temperatures to 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and inducing comas by giving patients large injections of insulin (Goliszek).
1950: Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.
1950 - 1953: An array of germ warfare weapons is allegedly used against North Korea. Accounts claim that there were releases of feathers infected with anthrax, fleas and mosquitoes dosed with Plague and Yellow Fever, and rodents infected with a variety of diseases. The Eisenhower administration later pressed Sedition Charges against three Americans who published charges of these activities. However, none of those charged were convicted.
1951: The U.S. Navy's Project Bluebird is renamed Project Artichoke and begins human medical experiments that test the effectiveness of LSD, sodium pentothal and hypnosis for the interrogative purposes described in Project Bluebird's objectives (1950) (Goliszek).
1951: The U.S. Army secretly contaminates the Norfolk Naval Supply Center in Virginia and Washington, D.C.'s National Airport with a strain of bacteria chosen because African-Americans were believed to be more susceptible to it than Caucasians. The experiment causes food poisoning, respiratory problems and blood poisoning (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.).
1951 - 1952: Researchers withhold insulin from diabetic patients for up to two days in order to observe the effects of diabetes; some test subjects go into diabetic comas (Goliszek).
1951 - 1956: Under contract with the Air Force's School of Aviation Medicine (SAM), the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston begins studying the effects of radiation on cancer patients -- many of them members of minority groups or indigents, according to sources -- in order to determine both radiation's ability to treat cancer and the possible long-term radiation effects of pilots flying nuclear-powered planes. The study lasts until 1956, involving 263 cancer patients. Beginning in 1953, the subjects are required to sign a waiver form, but it still does not meet the informed consent guidelines established by the Wilson memo released that year. The TBI studies themselves would continue at four different institutions -- Baylor University College of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine -- until 1971 (U.S. Department of Energy, Goliszek).
1951: American, Canadian and British military and intelligence officials gather a small group of eminent psychologists to a secret meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal about Communist "thought-control techniques." They proposed a top-secret research program on behavior modification -- involving testing drugs, hypnosis, electroshock and lobotomies on humans (Barker).
1951: Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and
there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.
1952: Military scientists use the Dugway Proving Ground -- which is located 87 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah -- in a series of experiments to determine how Brucella suis and Brucella melitensis spread in human populations. Today, over a half-century later, some experts claim that we are all infected with these agents as a result of these experiments (Goliszek).
1952: In a U.S. Department of Denfense-sponsored experiment, Henry Blauer dies after he is injected with mescaline at Columbia University's New York State Psychiatric Institute (Sharav).
1952: At the famous Sloan-Kettering Institute, Chester M. Southam injects live cancer cells into prisoners at the Ohio State Prison to study the progression of the disease. Half of the prisoners in this National Institutes of Health-sponsored (NIH) study are black, awakening racial suspicions stemming from Tuskegee, which was also an NIH-sponsored study (Merritte, et al.).
1953 - 1970: The CIA begins project MKNAOMI to "stockpile incapacitating and lethal materials, to develop gadgetry for the disseminations of these materials, and to test the effects of certain drugs on animals and humans." As part of MKNAOMI, the CIA and the Special Operations Division of the Army Biological Laboratory at Fort Detrick try to develop two suicide pill alternatives to the standard cyanide suicide pill given to CIA agents and U-2 pilots. CIA agents and U-2 pilots are meant to take these pills when they find themselves in situations in which they (and all the information they hold in their brains) are in enemy hands. They also develop a "microbioinoculator" -- a device that agents can use to fire small darts coated with biological agents that can remain potent for weeks or even months. These darts can be fired through clothing and, most significantly, are undetectable during autopsy. Eventually, by the late 1960s, MKNAOMI enables the CIA to have a stockpile of biological toxins -- infectious viruses, paralytic shellfish toxin, lethal botulism toxin, snake venom and the severe skin disease-producing agent Mircosporum gypseum. Of course, the development of all of this "gadgetry" requires human experimentation (Goliszek).
1953 - 1974: CIA Director Allen Dulles authorizes the MKULTRA program to produce and test drugs and biological agents that the CIA could use for mind control and behavior modification. MKULTRA later becomes well known for its pioneering studies on LSD, which are often performed on prisoners or patrons of brothels set up and run by the CIA. The brothel experiments, known as "Operation Midnight Climax," feature two-way mirrors set up in the brothels so that CIA agents can observe LSD's effects on sexual behavior. Ironically, governmental figures sometimes slip LSD into each other's drinks as part of the program, resulting in the LSD psychosis-induced suicide of Dr. Frank Olson indirectly at the hands of MKULTRA's infamous key player Dr. Sidney Gottlieb. Of all the hundreds of human test subjects used during MKULTRA, only 14 are ever notified of the involvement and only one is ever compensated ($15,000). Most of the MKULTRA files are eventually destroyed in 1973 (Elliston; Merritte, et al.; Barker).
1953: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sponsors iodine studies at the University of Iowa. In the first study, researchers give pregnant women 100 to 200 microcuries of iodine-131 and then study the women's aborted embryos in order to learn at what stage and to what extent radioactive iodine crosses the placental barrier. In the second study, researchers give 12 male and 13 female newborns under 36 hours old and weighing between 5.5 and 8.5 pounds iodine-131 either orally or via intramuscular injection, later measuring the concentration of iodine in the newborns' thyroid glands (Goliszek).
1953: Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson issues the Wilson memo, a top-secret document establishing the Nuremberg Code as Department of Defense policy on human experimentation. The Wilson memo requires voluntary, written consent from a human medical research subject after he or she has been informed of "the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment." It also insists that doctors only use experimental treatments when other methods have failed (Berdon).
1953: As part of an AEC study, researchers feed 28 healthy infants at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine iodine-131 through a gastric tube and then test concentration of iodine in the infants' thyroid glands 24 hours later (Goliszek).
1953 - 1957: Eleven patients at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are injected with uranium as part of the Manhattan Project (Sharav).
1953: In an AEC-sponsored study at the University of Tennessee, researchers inject healthy two- to three-day-old newborns with approximately 60 rads of iodine-131 (Goliszek).
1953: Newborn Daniel Burton becomes blind when physicians at Brooklyn Doctors Hospital perform an experimental high oxygen treatment for Retrolental Fibroplasia, a retinal disorder affecting premature infants, on him and other premature babies. The physicians perform the experimental treatment despite earlier studies showing that high oxygen levels cause blindness. Testimony in Burton v. Brooklyn Doctors Hospital (452 N.Y.S.2d875) later reveals that researchers continued to give Burton and other infants excess oxygen even after their eyes had swelled to dangerous levels (Goliszek, Sharav).
1953: The CIA begins Project MKDELTA to study the use of biochemicals "for harassment, discrediting and disabling purposes" (Goliszek).
1953: A 1953 article in Clinical Science describes a medical experiment in which researchers purposely blister the abdomens of 41 children, ranging in age from eight to 14, with cantharide in order to study how severely the substance irritates the skin (Goliszek).
1953: The AEC performs a series of field tests known as "Green Run," dropping radiodine 131 and xenon 133 over the Hanford, Wash. site -- 500,000 acres encompassing three small towns (Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland) along the Columbia River (Sharav).
1953: In an AEC-sponsored study to learn whether radioactive iodine affects premature babies differently from full-term babies, researchers at Harper Hospital in Detroit give oral doses of iodine-131 to 65 premature and full-term infants weighing between 2.1 and 5.5 pounds (Goliszek).
1953: U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.
1953: Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.
1954: The CIA begins Project QKHILLTOP to study Chinese Communist Party brainwashing techniques and use them to further the CIA's own interrogative methods. Most experts speculate that the Cornell University Medical School Human Ecology Studies Program conducted Project QKHILLTOP's early experiments (Goliszek).
1954 - 1975: U.S. Air Force medical officers assigned to Fort Detrick's Chemical Corps Biological Laboratory begin Operation Whitecoat -- experiments involving exposing human test subjects to hepatitis A, plague, yellow fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, rickettsia and intestinal microbes. These test subjects include 2,300 Seventh Day Adventist military personnel, who choose to become human guinea pigs rather than potentially kill others in combat. Only two of the 2,300 claim long-term medical complications from participating in the study ("Operation Whitecoat".)
1954: In a general memo to university researchers under contract with the military, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army asserts the human experimentation guidelines -- including informed, written consent -- established in the classified Wilson memo (Goliszek).
1955: The Tampa Bay area of Florida experienced a sharp rise in Whooping Cough cases, including 12 deaths, after a CIA test where a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare arsenal was released into the environment. Details of the test are still classified.
1955: In U.S. Army-sponsored experiments performed at Tulane University, mental patients are given LSD and other drugs and then have electrodes implanted in their brain to measure the levels (Barker, "The Cold War Experiments").
1955 - 1957: In order to learn how cold weather affects human physiology, researchers give a total of 200 doses of iodine-131, a radioactive tracer that concentrates almost immediately in the thyroid gland, to 85 healthy Eskimos and 17 Athapascan Indians living in Alaska. They study the tracer within the body by blood, thyroid tissue, urine and saliva samples from the test subjects. Due to the language barrier, no one tells the test subjects what is being done to them, so there is no informed consent (Goliszek).
1955 - 1965: As a result of their work with the CIA's mind control experiments in Project QKHILLTOP, Cornell neurologists Harold Wolff and Lawrence Hinkle begin the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology (later renamed the Human Ecology Fund) to study "man's relation to his social environment as perceived by him" (Goliszek).
1955: Army Chemical Corps continues LSD research, studying its potential use as a chemical incapacitating agent. More than 1,000
Americans participate in the tests, which continue until 1958.
1956 - 1958: In Savannah, Georgia and Avon Park, Florida, the Army carried out field tests in which mosquitoes infected with yellow fever and dengue fever were released into residential neighborhoods from both ground level and from aircraft. Many people were swarmed by Mosquitoes, and fell ill, some even died. After each test, U.S. Army personnel posing as public health officials photographed and tested the victims. It is theorized that the mosquitoes were infected with a strain of Yellow Fever. However, details of the testing remain classified. These experiments result in a high incidence of fevers, respiratory distress, stillbirths, encephalitis and typhoid among the two cities' residents, as well as several deaths (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.).
1957: The U.S. military conducts Operation Plumbbob at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Operation Pumbbob consists of 29 nuclear detonations, eventually creating radiation expected to result in a total 32,000 cases of thyroid cancer among civilians in the area. Around 18,000 members of the U.S. military participate in Operation Pumbbob's Desert Rock VII and VIII, which are designed to see how the average foot soldier physiologically and mentally responds to a nuclear battlefield ("Operation Plumbbob", Goliszek).
1957 - 1964: As part of MKULTRA, the CIA pays McGill University Department of Psychiatry founder Dr. D. Ewen Cameron $69,000 to perform LSD studies and potentially lethal experiments on Canadians being treated for minor disorders like post-partum depression and anxiety at the Allan Memorial Institute, which houses the Psychiatry Department of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. The CIA encourages Dr. Cameron to fully explore his "psychic driving" concept of correcting madness through completely erasing one's memory and rewriting the psyche. These "driving" experiments involve putting human test subjects into drug-, electroshock- and sensory deprivation-induced vegetative states for up to three months, and then playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements for weeks or months in order to "rewrite" the "erased" psyche. Dr. Cameron also gives human test subjects paralytic drugs and electroconvulsive therapy 30 to 40 times, as part of his experiments. Most of Dr. Cameron's test subjects suffer permanent damage as a result of his work (Goliszek, "Donald Ewan Cameron").
1957: In order to study how blood flows through children's brains, researchers at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia perform the following experiment on healthy children, ranging in age from three to 11: They insert needles into each child's femoral artery (thigh) and jugular vein (neck), bringing the blood down from the brain. Then, they force each child to inhale a special gas through a facemask. In their subsequent Journal of Clinical Investigation article on this study, the researchers note that, in order to perform the experiment, they had to restrain some of the child test subjects by bandaging them to boards (Goliszek).
1958: LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.
1958: Approximately 300 members of the U.S. Navy are exposed to radiation when the Navy destroyer Mansfield detonates 30 nuclear bombs off the coasts of Pacific Islands during Operation Hardtack (Goliszek).
1958: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) drops radioactive materials over Point Hope, Alaska, home to the Inupiats, in a field test known under the codename "Project Chariot" (Sharav).
1960: The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the european population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT.
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