“When the LHC was switched on two years ago, William Hill announced it
had won £119 from 12 people who had wagered that the start of the
giant experiment would trigger the end of the world. In this case, in
a departure from normal practice, the bookmaker had allowed the
customers in question to set their own odds.” http://www.economist.com/realarticleid.cfm?redirect_id=16690715 via Balázs

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The future of the internet – A virtual counter-revolution: “The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it [...] Theory demonstrates that interconnected networks such as the internet can grow quickly, he explains—but also that they can dissolve quickly. “This looks rather unlikely today, but if it happens, it will be too late to do anything about it.”” http://www.economist.com/node/16941635

Cf. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/08/whats-wrong-with-x-is-dead/61663/
https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all

Cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/420

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About: http://www.amazon.com/Machinery-Freedom-Guide-Radical-Capitalism/product-reviews/0812690699
Download: http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
Source: http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2010/06/machinery-of-freedom-is-webbed.html
Via: http://www.facebook.com/foldiak

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Encrypt the Web with the HTTPS Everywhere Firefox Extension: Yesterday the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Tor Project were launched a public beta of a new Firefox extension called HTTPS Everywhere.

This Firefox extension was inspired by the launch of Google’s encrypted search option. The creators of the extension wanted a way to ensure that every search our browsers sent was encrypted.

Many sites on the web offer some limited support for encryption over HTTPS, but make it difficult to use. For instance, they may default to unencrypted HTTP, or fill encrypted pages with links that go back to the unencrypted site.

The HTTPS Everywhere extension fixes these problems by rewriting all requests to these sites (by default, automatically) to HTTPS. It encrypts most or all of the browser’s communications with some other sites:

Google Search
Wikipedia
Twitter and Identi.ca
Facebook
EFF and Tor
Ixquick, DuckDuckGo, Scroogle and other small search engines
and lots more!

Firefox users can install HTTPS Everywhere by following this link.

As always, even if you’re at an HTTPS page, remember that unless Firefox displays a colored address bar and an unbroken lock icon in the bottom-right corner, the page is not completely encrypted and you may still be vulnerable to various forms of eavesdropping or hacking (in many cases, HTTPS Everywhere can’t prevent this because sites incorporate insecure third-party content).

[Original: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/06/encrypt-web-https-everywhere-firefox-extension
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere ]

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By Barry Ritholtz.

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The WikiLeaks advised parliamentary resolution proposal to build an international “new media haven” in Iceland, with the world’s strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a “Nobel” prize for Freedom of Expression [cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/tag/iceland ] has passed through a vote at Alþingi and was accepted today at 8:54am with a unanimous vote.

50 votes were cast in favor, zero against, one abstained. Twelve members of parliament were not present. Vote results are available at http://www.althingi.is/dba-bin/atkvgr.pl?nnafnak=43014

One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009 gagging of Iceland’s national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland’s then largest bank, Kaupthing.

Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per the opinion of the parliament’s general affairs committee [ http://www.althingi.is/altext/138/s/1329.html ]. The first of these altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to the list of tasks for the government:

– That the government should perform a detailed analysis, especially with respect to operational security, for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.

– That the government should organize an international conference in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state of the Internet.

Video footage from the proposal’s vote will be available at:

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033127&horfa=1

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033306&horfa=1

A more detailed press release will follow.

For details of the proposal and press contacts, please see http://www.immi.is

___
The United Persons: Congratulations!)

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The Full Soros Speech on ‘Act II’ of the Crisis “[...] the authorities had to do in the short term the exact opposite of what was needed in the long term: they had to pump in a lot of credit to make up for the credit that disappeared, and thereby reinforce the excess credit and leverage that had caused the crisis in the first place. Only in the longer term, when the crisis had subsided, could they drain the credit and re-establish macroeconomic balance.

This required a delicate two-phase maneuver just as when a car is skidding. First you have to turn the car into the direction of the skid and only when you have regained control can you correct course.

The first phase of the maneuver has been successfully accomplished — a collapse has been averted. In retrospect, the temporary breakdown of the financial system seems like a bad dream. There are people in the financial institutions that survived who would like nothing better than to forget it and carry on with business as usual. This was evident in their massive lobbying effort to protect their interests in the Financial Reform Act that just came out of Congress. But the collapse of the financial system as we know it is real, and the crisis is far from over.

Indeed, we have just entered Act II of the drama, when financial markets started losing confidence in the credibility of sovereign debt. Greece and the euro have taken center stage, but the effects are liable to be felt worldwide. Doubts about sovereign credit are forcing reductions in budget deficits at a time when the banks and the economy may not be strong enough to permit the pursuit of fiscal rectitude. We find ourselves in a situation eerily reminiscent of the 1930s. Keynes has taught us that budget deficits are essential for counter cyclical policies, yet many governments have to reduce them under pressure from financial markets. This is liable to push the global economy into a double dip. [...]

The European authorities face a daunting task: they must help the countries that have fallen far behind the Maastricht criteria to regain their equilibrium while they must also correct the deficiencies of the Maastricht Treaty which have allowed the imbalances to develop. The euro is in what I call a far-from-equilibrium situation. But I prefer to discuss this subject in Germany, which is the lead actor, and I plan to do so at the Humboldt University in Berlin on June 23. I hope you will forgive me if I avoid the subject until then.”

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/the-full-soros-speech-on-act-ii-of-the-crisis/

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Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse: “On or about Jan. 1, 2011, federal, state and local tax rates are scheduled to rise quite sharply. President George W. Bush’s tax cuts expire on that date, meaning that the highest federal personal income tax rate will go 39.6% from 35%, the highest federal dividend tax rate pops up to 39.6% from 15%, the capital gains tax rate to 20% from 15%, and the estate tax rate to 55% from zero. Lots and lots of other changes will also occur as a result of the sunset provision in the Bush tax cuts.

Now, if people know tax rates will be higher next year than they are this year, what will those people do this year? They will shift production and income out of next year into this year to the extent possible. As a result, income this year has already been inflated above where it otherwise should be and next year, 2011, income will be lower than it otherwise should be.

Also, the prospect of rising prices, higher interest rates and more regulations next year will further entice demand and supply to be shifted from 2011 into 2010. In my view, this shift of income and demand is a major reason that the economy in 2010 has appeared as strong as it has. When we pass the tax boundary of Jan. 1, 2011, my best guess is that the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe “double dip” recession.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264513748386610.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

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First ever solar sail is successful: “HAYABUSA Completed TCM-4 operation, precise guidance to WPA – JAXA would like to announce that TCM-4 operation was successfully completed (15:00 June 9th, 2010 (JST)). By this operation, Hayabusa spacecraft was precisely guided to WPA in Australia. Hayabusa system is going well.”

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/topics/2010/0609.shtml

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.isas.jaxa.jp%2Fhome%2FIKAROS-blog%2F&sl=ja&tl=en

Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail

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Warning labels on U.S. Constitution and other historical documents:

A small publishing company is under fire after putting warning labels on copies of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other historical documents.

Wilder Publications warns readers of its reprints of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Common Sense, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, among others, that “This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today.”

The disclaimer goes on to tell parents that they “might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/09/publishing-company-putting-warning-label-constitution/

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Iceland new media haven bill before parliament in days. We NEED statements of endorsement NOW or NEVER to core@immi.is http://twitter.com/wikileaks/statuses/15399523963

Iceland: we http://theunitedpersons.org need you NOW or NEVER:)

Cf. http://immi.is/?l=en&p=endorsements

http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/the-legislative-initiative-outlined-he

http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/icelandic-modern-media-initiative-video

Via stef

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“Bob is an ace Doodad salesman. His annual income is $10 million USD. So he’s quite well off.

Disregarding any write offs, deductions, tax shelters, etc., what is the fair amount of income tax Bob should pay on exactly $10 million? I’m talking total (income tax for federal, state, county, and city). What is a fair number for the collective governments to confiscate from Bob?”

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561046

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