TIGblogs - Malcolm Lawrence's TIGBlog

Genetically Modified Rice - What Would People Be Up to Next?

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:05:00 EDT

I wouldnrsquo;t exactly call myself an environmentalist but when some hotshot private corporation or any government entitites try to manipulate any food supply in liue of higher monetary gain, then I have a problem with that. I previously blogged about the ldquo;addingrdquo; of the chemical ldquo;melaminerdquo; in milk in China in my blog entitled ldquo;The Food Crisis: Adding Insult to Injury.rdquo; Now here comes another one - itrsquo;s in rice. I have encountered the term GMO (Genetically-Modified Organism) used in corn after a rough campaign by the school where I used to teach. The provincial government in Negros Occidental, Philippines, assured the public back in 2006 that no GM corn are shipped in the province. But last year, I read a news about it that some GM corn were said to have been found in one warehouse. Itrsquo;s not hard to believe how something like that can pass through the governmentrsquo;s lenses, especially when graft and corruption is a major trade in some parts of the world. Really sad. Money over conviction. Money over Public Good.

Here comes another one - GM rice. I love rice and even my husband loved it. We have it in every meal. Heck, we even got ourselves a rice cooker here! Back home, ldquo;ricerdquo; was regular white long grained rice that was Php24.00 per kilo. Here, we get a 5 lb Jasmine rice called ldquo;Mahatma Jasminerdquo; (Thai rice) at Food Lion for less than $7 and the 25 lb at Samrsquo;s Club for like $17. The first few attempts we had of getting affordable rice was a disaster- low grade rice that never seemed to grow soft after 10 minutes of boiling. Now that we found the kind of rice we wanted (and smells good, too!), we are sticking to a kind we want. So basically, everybody can assume that I am very particular about my rice.

Greenpeace has been in the forefront about campaigning against GM (um..not General Motors). According to a Greenpeace report, Bayer (try to remember bug spray), a German company, has genetically-manipulated rice in order to withstand toxic doses of a pesticide called glufosinate. Well itrsquo;s toxic so it means that itrsquo;s harmful to living organisms. Since Bayer is based in Germany, naturally the European Union has a say whether they would agree to the import of GM rice. If they import GM rice, then farmers will plant GM rice. This means, in the near future, we would be eating GM rice, as they would now be available for sale in supermarkets everywhere.

So now you know why itrsquo;s very frustrating to make people understand that ldquo;better inventionrdquo; doesnrsquo;t necessarily mean ldquo;better for humankind.rdquo; Okay, so Bible classes would tell us ldquo;go feed the poorrdquo; and the next thing we know we are doign a lot worse by feeding them GM rice. What is safe to eat then? And heck! Whatrsquo;s next?!?

You may go to this link for more information from Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering/hands-off-our-rice/hands-off-our-rice

Below is a concrete explanation of GM rice:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsxFZ0rUCoM[/youtube]

copy; rustan108 for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Post tags: genetically modified, genetically modified rice, GM Rice, greenpeace, rice

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Genetically Modified Rice – What Would People Be Up to Next?

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:05:00 EDT

I wouldnrsquo;t exactly call myself an environmentalist but when some hotshot private corporation or any government entitites try to manipulate any food supply in liue of higher monetary gain, then I have a problem with that. I previously blogged about the ldquo;addingrdquo; of the chemical ldquo;melaminerdquo; in milk in China in my blog entitled ldquo;The Food Crisis: Adding Insult to Injury.rdquo; Now here comes another one ndash; itrsquo;s in rice. I have encountered the term GMO (Genetically-Modified Organism) used in corn after a rough campaign by the school where I used to teach. The provincial government in Negros Occidental, Philippines, assured the public back in 2006 that no GM corn are shipped in the province. But last year, I read a news about it that some GM corn were said to have been found in one warehouse. Itrsquo;s not hard to believe how something like that can pass through the governmentrsquo;s lenses, especially when graft and corruption is a major trade in some parts of the world. Really sad. Money over conviction. Money over Public Good.

Here comes another one ndash; GM rice. I love rice and even my husband loved it. We have it in every meal. Heck, we even got ourselves a rice cooker here! Back home, ldquo;ricerdquo; was regular white long grained rice that was Php24.00 per kilo. Here, we get a 5 lb Jasmine rice called ldquo;Mahatma Jasminerdquo; (Thai rice) at Food Lion for less than $7 and the 25 lb at Samrsquo;s Club for like $17. The first few attempts we had of getting affordable rice was a disaster- low grade rice that never seemed to grow soft after 10 minutes of boiling. Now that we found the kind of rice we wanted (and smells good, too!), we are sticking to a kind we want. So basically, everybody can assume that I am very particular about my rice.

You may go to this link for more information from Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering/hands-off-our-rice/hands-off-our-rice

Below is a concrete explanation of GM rice:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsxFZ0rUCoM[/youtube]

copy; rustan108 for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Post tags: genetically modified, genetically modified rice, GM Rice, greenpeace, rice

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“How Do You Solve the Problem Like Maria?”

Wed, 27 May 2009 06:05:00 EDT

My favorite part in the ldquo;Sound of Musicrdquo; has always been ldquo;How do you solve the problem like Maria?rdquo; Itrsquo;s a part of a song that seems to have buried itself in memory. Two years ago, I met this wonderful friend named Maria from Romania. So that sort of triggered a memory of that song and I eventually told Maria about this. Even when I was in high school, Music class started with ldquo;doe a deer a female deer...rdquo; or ldquo;when you know the notes to singhellip;rdquo; I actually could hum the latter and play the piano (without learning it) by just listening to myself hum. Then during a trip to North Carolina with my husband to meet some wonderful folks, we got into this topic about Sound of Music and Julie Andrewslsquo; career - from Mary Poppins to Sound of Music. We were basically talking about Julie Andrewslsquo; accent and how prim and proper she was when she talks. But when the guys blurted out that she has a ldquo;potty-mouthrdquo; I was like ldquo;what?!?rdquo; I donrsquo;t exactly know how that topic came up but that was coming from a Scottish friend. Between grasping that tidbit and the guffaw after that, I forgot to ask how our friend knew.

Anyhow, I am mentioning Sound of Music because I got this email from my friend Maria and she sent me a video of how 200 dancers went to the train station in Antwerp, Belgium and basically ldquo;rocked the houserdquo; with the tunes in ldquo;Sound of Music.rdquo; Thought Irsquo;d share these little ldquo;coincidencesrdquo; and it might just trigger some good ole memory (and why I am blogging about it now). I wonder how many out there have watched the Sound of Music over and over again? Well here I am - guilty!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k[/youtube]

You can also watch it from this link: http://www.flixxy.com/antwerp-central-station-sound-of-music.htm

copy; rustan108 for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Creepy Vintage Ads

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:05:00 EDT

msbeeee posts what has to be some of the creepiest adverts ever seen. Ew.

copy; racarrera for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Jon Schmidt’s “Love Story” and “Viva La Vida” - touching rendition but copyright violation?

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:05:00 EDT

I have heard about this rendition that Jon Schmidt did with Taylor Swiftrsquo;s ldquo;Love Storyrdquo; from the movie ldquo;Romeo + Julietrdquo; (well starring Clare Danes and Leonardo di Caprio) and ldquo;Viva La Vidardquo; by Coldplay. It was a superb rendition! It relaxes you - sort of calming. I remembered attending my nephewrsquo;s piano recital last May 2 at Texas Tech University and remembering how I learned to play the piano by myself years back- learning to read notes from Music class at school and then listening to the rhythm of a song intently. I would always combine one piece with another and just be silly and play it. So listening to Jon Schmidt rendition made me thoughtful as it is a unique ability to combine two pieces and make it sound so fun. Well, Irsquo;m a fan now!

I actually wanted to download the music format of this and hoping to upload in my ipod (without resorting to P2P sites). It seems like the free download was temporarily postponed due to some legal matters, according to the site. Copyright issues, I assume. The rendition/combination of two songs can be genuinely unique for the artist as the artist who combined and created something new. But the other means to come up with that genuine, artistic piece was not wholly owned by the artist. I think obviously that is where the legal aspect come in. Irsquo;d say personally, both Taylor Swift and Coldplay may even get more recognition for their songs due to this special rendition. Wouldnrsquo;t this rendition by Jon Schmidt then be categorized as a ldquo;remakerdquo; - where some artist would sing an old song and record it again under a new label/artist?

I await the mp3 download. So watch out at http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php

The YouTube video is below. You may also watch it at Tangle: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4c06065c76d3284dc3dc

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys[/youtube]

copy; rustan108 for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Post tags: Coldplay, Jon Schmidt, Love Story, Romeo+Juliet, Taylor Swift

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Jon Schmidt’s “Love Story” and “Viva La Vida” – touching rendition but copyright violation?

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:05:00 EDT

I actually wanted to download the music format of this and hoping to upload in my ipod (without resorting to P2P sites). It seems like the free download was temporarily postponed due to some legal matters, according to the site. Copyright issues, I assume. The rendition/combination of two songs can be genuinely unique for the artist as the artist who combined and created something new. But the other means to come up with that genuine, artistic piece was not wholly owned by the artist. I think obviously that is where the legal aspect come in. Irsquo;d say personally, both Taylor Swift and Coldplay may even get more recognition for their songs due to this special rendition. Wouldnrsquo;t this rendition by Jon Schmidt then be categorized as a ldquo;remakerdquo; ndash; where some artist would sing an old song and record it again under a new label/artist?

I await the mp3 download. So watch out at http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php

The YouTube video is below. You may also watch it at Tangle: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4c06065c76d3284dc3dc

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys[/youtube]

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Wolfram Alpha versus Google?

Wed, 20 May 2009 09:05:00 EDT

I sent a posting recently to the ISOC PH mailing list - just sort of an observation I had while trying out Wolfram Alpha.I tried it and just spontaneously typed weather information in my city. To my surprise, it gave me a ldquo;Wolfram|Alpha isnrsquo;t sure what to do with your input..ldquo; According to the BBC article I read about Wolfram, it should return annotated pages rather than list of sites. Instead I got a ldquo;hellip;isnrsquo;t-sure-what-to-do-with-your-input.rdquo;

So I did another search and key in ldquo;value of pi,rdquo; after Gonz, an ISOC PH member, told me that Wolfram is quite good with computational information. I actually got the answers to my query and not just links to sites. I got the value of ldquo;pirdquo; in decimal, fraction and in other representations. That was cool for me since I didnrsquo;t have to browse through several sites just to find answers. I was even thinking that if only we had Wolfram during college days, I wouldnrsquo;t have to dig into my notes, decipher my handwriting (and get some answer or formula wrong with my own handwriting that I couldnrsquo;t understand!) and just use the Internet instead.

My husband told me that if we need some information, we can ldquo;wolfrdquo; it now instead of ldquo;googlerdquo; it.

Herersquo;s the BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8052798.stm

Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

copy; rustan108 for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Worker cooked to death at soup factory

Tue, 19 May 2009 03:05:00 EDT

And they have the nerve to put a picture of soup being served?! There goes my appetitehellip;

copy; racarrera for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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To prevent faux pas in foreign countries, do a little studying

Tue, 19 May 2009 03:05:00 EDT

As a busy traveler and a history and culture buff, Irsquo;ve prided myself on making deep preparations for trips overseas, and it has paid handsome dividends. Zach Dunkin at Indystar.com writes on how one can avoid some of the faux-pauses that less-experiences travelers endure.

copy; racarrera for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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‘Evil’ China sex park torn down: state media

Mon, 18 May 2009 02:05:00 EDT

And to think they call Americans prudes, hah!

HT: Breitbart.

copy; racarrera for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Amazon Opens Kindle to Bloggers

Fri, 15 May 2009 06:05:00 EDT

My dear blogging compatriots, this news comes as a treat! Kindle will be opening up their machines to instantly download RSS feeds from your favorite blogs, so it may behoove you to submit your links (or just do what I do and read it for vanityrsquo;s sake!). HT: MediaBistro.

copy; racarrera for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Puzzles (PRIDE 2009 Mix)

Thu, 14 May 2009 07:05:00 EDT

by James Schwartz

Ahoy! Irsquo;ve been called a loose cannon.

TKO! Yet here I am standing.

Through our carnage and through our calm.

I hear one voice in storm and Psalm.

Sacred scrolls of henna fonts.

A Global Era Renaissance.

Connected consciousness. WE ARE ONE!

Longfellow in Levis: the day is done.

Of queer quills and pink ink.

A pretty boy poet to make you think.

Of equality. Diversity.

And what he really means to me.

March with PRIDE. Love awaits.

Open your mind. Stop the hate.

Free your foes. Remove your muzzle.

We are all a piece in the puzzle.

copy; James Schwartz for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Angel of Change

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:04:00 EDT

Mt. Redoubt (March 2009)nbsp; photo by Brentwood Higman

lsquo;Angel of Changersquo; is my name for this spectacular photograph ofnbsp; Mount Redoubt, Alaska exploding awake again with fire and lightening early morning March 28, 2009. Awesome!!! Can you see the angel, heart and angel fish? Beloved Creator gives us more messages and indicators.

The angel is a messenger heralding change through the fire of transformation and transmutation who says, lsquo;It moves, ALL IS WELL, you are a Divine Child of God.rsquo; The lightening heart emerging from smoke says, lsquo;FEAR NOT belovedhellip; you are Loved, always taken care of and eternalrsquo;. It reminds us to Love all and do all through and with Love.rsquo; The angel fish says, lsquo;HAVE FAITH things are not what they appear. Fish show us Independence, Potential and Adaptation. When swimming upwards fish indicates Spiritual evolution. The angelfish tells us angels are always around. It guides us to assist others in needhellip; by helping others we help ourselves.nbsp; The explosion of Redoubt indicates there will be doubts projected and doubt will intensify. The mountain says, lsquo;HAVE NO DOUBT, hold the visions of the future you wish to collectively createhellip; they are made manifest! The message: fear nothing, have faith, hold your visions without doubt, love self, others and the process itself, help each other, all is well and in transformation. In the end all will be new, fresh an unlike anything seen to date. Whoo Hoohellip; might as well let go and enjoy the ride!

Weather.com featured the photo above with the caption:

1:43 pm ET Incredible volcano lightning photos: These are pictures taken on March 28 of Alaskarsquo;s Mount Redoubt volcanic eruption. The volcano has been erupting for several days now but has recently evolved into a different eruption pattern.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Humble Telescope

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:04:00 EDT

The Humble Telescope is designed as an interactive civic sculpture that brings the wonders of space down to earth and into our cities, to encourage us learn more about the universe and perhaps appreciate our own world a little more.

Inside the telescope exists a 3D simulation of our entire known universe. Pointing the telescope in any direction immediately shows us what exists in that area of space, so now we can get a greater understanding of where the planets are and where we live in the Milky Way.

- Link.

Via FreshMoCo: Link.

~ Karl Jones

copy; karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Map Accidents

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:03:00 EDT

Compelling, beautiful, idiosyncratic:

ldquo;A collection of accidents that happened while working on maps and other graphics.rdquo; Posted by Matthew Bloch, graphics editor for the New York Times. Link.

Shown above: ldquo;1917 map of Beijing (after trying to use spline-based georeferencing in ArcGIS).rdquo;

Via Dinosaurs and Robots: Link.

~ Karl Jones

copy; karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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A Vision for A New Earth

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:03:00 EDT

lsquo;1st Januaryrsquo; photograph by Shugaley Pavel

A Vision for A New Earth

An Earth where chaos matures into growth and reality is a soul harmony vibrating to Love in synchronicity.

Knowing through radical trust, silence and stillness that the dark is pierced by the Light, and fear and ignorance transformed into insight, love and wisdom.

New leaders with spiritual vision unashamedly inspired by a loving connection to all life and a passionate caring for self, humanity and the environment lead the world to an unanimously agreed upon charter of peace.

Religion is no longer fought over, but honored as expressions of divinity.

Borders vanish to form one Circle of Light one earth – one vision - one garden – one economy – one humanity.

Diversity is celebrated within the uniqueness of each individual’s culture, race and heart.

Generosity and gratitude replace greed, and the desire to accumulate out of fear of scarcity, is replaced by knowing that all is provided for.

Spirit is acknowledged in the radiance of each person’s being beyond all illusions.

The creative potential of each person’s abilities unfold into expressions of joyous creations.

All learning celebrates soul development, character, creativity and imagination.

Sound, thought, light, feeling and color are understood as
palettes of creation to manifest reality.

Love is fostered as the elixir of life and Joy the blueprint for achievement.

Beauty, compassion and forgiveness weave perception and create connection.

Infinity is grasped as an awakening into the ever evolving mystery of the Now moment.

Time is seen as a fractal of Infinity where the Now locates,
attention focuses and intention directs.

Nature is Light. Light is the interplay of the dance of particles in the known cosmos of Love. Light is the breath of The Divine.
In Light, are the codes of all life playing a symphony of Love.

Love is all there is. As you are in your heart. In Peace. In Love. Know that you are loved beyond measure.

Know that we are in a New Earth where we all celebrate our magnificence.

Dream it and it will Be.

~Author Unknown

Amazing photograph and wisdomhellip; thanks for the visions!!!

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Romuald Hazoumé

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:03:00 EDT

dan-ayido-houedo by Romuald Hazoumé

Xeni Jardin writes:

While I was in Benin over the last couple of weeks, a local BB reader pointed me to some interesting contemporary artists from this region. Probably the most well-known of these, internationally, is a man named Romuald Hazoumé who transforms salvaged materials into symbols of spiritual power.

Hazoumé has residences in the capital city of Cotonou, and in nearby Porto Novo near the Nigerian border. He is of Yoruba ancestry (which means his grand-folks were from Nigeria, I presume), and grew up in a Catholic family, but like many Beninois, also lives in touch with his voudun roots.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Hazoumé began creating works made from a locally ubiquitous type of plastic container mdash; Irsquo;ve heard them referred to as ldquo;jerry cans?rdquo; Basically, you see them everywhere in Benin, used and reused and reused to store everything from palm oil to water to gasoline.

- Xeni Jardin @ Boing Boing: Link.

Pink Elephant… really???

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:03:00 EDT

lsquo;Rare Pink Elephant Babyrsquo; photograph by Mike Holding

Everywherehellip; all aroundhellip; more and more gifts from Creator. Signs we movehellip; we progress. Heart shaped galaxies, pink dolphins, sun halos, cometshellip; more. Now this very rare, sweet, beautiful, albino, pink, baby African elephant. Amazing!

Elephant represents - compassion, loyalty, strength, intelligence, discernment,nbsp; commitment, astuteness, memory, longevity, power and peace. Pink is the color of Universal Love, love of self and others, harmony and inner peace; and a developed heart chakra (Anahata). Elephant in Buddhism represents mental strength; the white elephant is a powerful controlled mind that eliminates all obstacles on the path. It is said that Buddha was born as a white elephant in a previous incarnation. Ganesh, the white elephant Hindu god removes obstacles and brings peace and inner knowing. A pink elephant shows us howhellip; eliminate obstacles through love.

A pink elephant is great gift indeedhellip; it shows Creators Love for us and blesses our unfolding. Indicators: keep faith, remember love of self and others, bring peace to all, discern what brings harmony, be strong and clear of mind, develop heart and inner knowing.nbsp;

nbsp;

March 20, 2009 - A pink elephant caught on camera.nbsp; A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta (Botswana). Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants. Read more at BBC.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Intelligent Mistakes

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:03:00 EDT

ldquo;Intelligent mistakes seem like failings on the part of the AI, but are actually carefully calculated ways of throwing the game that make it more entertaining for the player.rdquo;

Computer chess expert Steven Lopez describes how in human versus human chess, itrsquo;s acceptable for a high-ranking player to give a much lower ranking player an advantage at the start of the game by removing some of his pieces from the board before the game begins.

When the game starts, the master player and the novice player are still playing to the height of their abilities, and yet the game is more evenly balanced. The master player does not have to play ldquo;stupidrdquo; in order to give the novice player a chance.

However, humans playing against a computer do not like to be given an advantage in this way, and prefer to play the full board against an AI opponent of approximately their skill level.

The programmers of Fritz hit upon a solution that involved the AI deliberately setting up situations that the human player could exploit (with some thought) that would allow the human to gain a positional or piece advantage. Once the human player gained the advantage, the AI would resume trying to win.

At no point here is the AI actually dumbed down. If anything, there is actually quite a bit more computation going on, and certainly more complexity.

The goal of the AI has shifted from ldquo;win the gamerdquo; to ldquo;act like you are trying to win the game, but allow the human to gain a one-pawn advantage, and then try to win.rdquo; The AI needs to be more intelligent in order to appear less intelligent.

- Mick West @ Gamasutra: Link.

Galactic Love!!!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:03:00 EDT

lsquo;Galactic Loversquo; photonbsp; by NASArsquo;s Telescopes

lsquo;Galactic Loversquo; is my name for this spectacular capture of two merging galaxies called NGC 6240. Itrsquo;s a great flying heart! What beautiful colors, blues, pink and purple with a core of golden whitehellip; painted with streaks of infrared light. WOW awe inspiring! Thank you beloved Creator. Love is everywhere and ever expanding.

March 16, 2009: A new image from NASArsquo;s Spitzer Space Telescope offers a rare view of an imminent collision between the cores of two merging galaxies, each powered by a black hole with millions of times the mass of the sun. The spectacular image combines visible light from NASArsquo;s Hubble Space Telescope and infrared light from Spitzer. It catches the two galaxies during a rare, short-lived phase of their evolution, when both cores of the interacting galaxies are still visible but closing in on each other fast. Read more at NASA Newsroom.

~Bonnee

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Wayraman - Manatial

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:03:00 EDT

Wayraman by Manatial

Beautiful panpipes and flute telling a story of love. Sweet!

Manatial, The Mystic Sound from the Andes, Song: Wayraman, Album: The Secret of the Dancing Spirits DVD, Video produced by: AylluRecords. Recorded in Salasaca, Ecuador. Official website: manantial-productions.com.

Manantial are Indigenous musicians from the Kichwa-Salasaka community innbsp; Ecuador. They present a magical connection between ancient and present cultures through song and dance. Members include Alberto Jerez, Kjulliar Jerez and Carlos Jereznbsp; from Salasaka-Ecuador.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:03:00 EDT

Maya Lin has a new exhibit at Washingtonrsquo;s Corcoran Gallery of Art.

It grew out of a desire to take what I do outside and bring it inside hellip;. I thought, what if I could bring a hill inside - take it up to the ceiling, maybe even let people walk on it. hellip; These works are asking us to pay close attention to the world around us.rdquo;

- Maya Lin, via The Baltimore Sun.

Maya Lin @ Wikipedia.

~ Karl Jones

copy; karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Book

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:03:00 EDT

Amy: ldquo;Wersquo;ve got Jeremy Melcamp from Borders here today mdash; and hersquo;s got something really special for us. Now, what am I holding here?

Jeremy: We call it Book. Now Amy, try to find the plug on there.

Amy: I donrsquo;t see one!

Jeremy: Thatrsquo;s because Book is the new wireless platform that never needs to be charged. Now, go ahead and turn a page.

Amy: The pages are really turning! And hellip; therersquo;s different words on each one!

Jeremy: Itrsquo;s got an intuitive, touch-based interface that wersquo;re very proud of.

Amy: This could be huge, but hellip; where are people going to keep all their Book?

Jeremy: Thatrsquo;s the best part, Amy. Book works with the shelves you have at home.

- Link to Penny Arcade.

~ Karl Jones

copy; karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Quiet Respite - Empty Your Mind

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:03:00 EDT

Zen Meditation video by TheWisdomWarrior.com

When life has over taken and is controlling you, step backhellip; breathehellip; watch, listen and allow this lovely quieting video to bring a space of quiet respite. A place to regroup, center, quiet and empty the mind. Enjoy the peace.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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Return of the Ancestors, Wisdom Gathering

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:03:00 EST

Return of the Ancestors, Wisdom Gathering, Sedona, AZ April 18^th - 28, 2009

An important gathering is about to occur. I thought you might find it of interest. lsquo;Return of the Ancestorsrsquo; is happening April in Northern Arizona. Here isnbsp; information about the gathering:

500 years ago the Mayan Ancestors wrote out on stone prophesies for the upcoming years creating the Mayan Calendar.nbsp; With only four years left of the Mayan Calendar, many people fear the end of the world, but it is not predicting the end of the world in 2012, but the start of a new era.nbsp; To usher in this new era The Institute for Cultural Awareness is holding a sacred pilgrimage in Northern Arizona beginning Earth Day Weekend, April 18^th – 28, 2009.nbsp;

Indigenous Elders and Future Wisdom Keepers are coming from every corner of the world to share their wisdom and prophesies.nbsp; Will help us heal and follow in their ancestors footsteps as prophesied, creating new guide stone tablets of prophesy for the upcoming 500 years…the world has awaited a renewed life’s plan.

This gathering is fulfilling a great Mayan prophecy, When the Eagle once again flies with the Condor, a lasting peace will reign in the Americas and will spread throughout the world to unite humanity.nbsp;

To find out more visit ICA website. A Ho!

~Bonnee

copy; Bonnee for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2009. |
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