NameBase NameBase is a web-based cross-indexed database of names that focuses on individuals involved in the international intelligence community, U.S. foreign policy, crime, and business. The focus is on the post-World War II era and on left of center, conspiracy theory, and espionage activities.[1] In the 1980s, through his company Micro Associates, he sold subscriptions to this computerized database, under its original name, Public Information Research, Inc (PIR). At PIR's onset, Brandt was President of the newly formed non-profit corporation and investigative researcher, Peggy Adler, served as its Vice President. The material was described as "information on all sorts of spooks, military officials, political operators and other cloak-and-dagger types
The Motley Roots of Data Visualization in 19th Century Census Charts - Jeffrey Rotter The U.S. Census has long been a lightning rod for controversy. Does it wildly undercount minorities? Wildly overcount minorities? Or—as Michelle Bachmann warned us—is it a liberal plot orchestrated by ACORN? What to Do When Corporations Rule the World What to Do When Corporations Rule the World An interview with David C. Korten by Sarah Ruth van Gelder A few jaws dropped among the young activists at a training camp outside Seattle where preparations for the WTO blockade were in high gear.
THE GLARING FAILURE OF REPUBLICAN “FREE MARKET” ECONOMICS! By Jack Jodell, October 18, 2011 The widespread and ongoing OCCUPY TOGETHER movements all over the world show a massive, almost universal, displeasure with capitalism as an economic model, particularly the “free market” variety so beloved and espoused by today’s (and YESTERDAY’S) ultra-conservative Republicans, Libertarians, and Tea Party extremists. From Wall Street to Milan, from London to Asia to the Middle East – there is justified anger and frustration with this so-called “best of all economic systems” due to its abject failure to provide jobs and opportunity to the vast majority of peoples, as it provides wealth and a comfortable, secure lifestyle to only a shrinking few. Karl Marx, the German philosopher who founded the doctrine of communism, had it essentially right when he first analyzed capitalism back in the 1840s.
SolarSinter : markus kayser Solar Sinter 2011 In August 2010 I took my first solar machine - the Sun-Cutter - to the Egyptian desert in a suitcase. This was a solar-powered, semi-automated low-tech laser cutter, that used the power of the sun to drive it and directly harnessed its rays through a glass ball lens to ‘laser’ cut 2D components using a cam-guided system. The Sun-Cutter produced components in thin plywood with an aesthetic quality that was a curious hybrid of machine-made and “nature craft” due to the crudeness of its mechanism and cutting beam optics, alongside variations in solar intensity due to weather fluctuations. RelFinder - Visual Data Web Are you interested in how things are related with each other? The RelFinder helps to get an overview: It extracts and visualizes relationships between given objects in RDF data and makes these relationships interactively explorable. Highlighting and filtering features support visual analysis both on a global and detailed level. The RelFinder is based on the open source framework Adobe Flex, easy-to-use and works with any RDF dataset that provides standardized SPARQL access. Check out the following links for some examples: The RelFinder can easily be configured to work with different RDF datasets.
A Pretty Data Viz From Geneva Switzerland If you are interested in beautiful data visualizations, you can't get much better than this one from Geneva that shows you the ebb and flow of people in that wonderful city. I am not sure how it was created, but the soft lines that swirl around and across the lake will leave you entranced and you'll probably want to replay it a few times just to catch all the movements. As the site states, the visualization will "allow you to explore these streams of connected people around the city, in their everyday life." Interestingly, the site's name means "city living" in French. Here is the animated video done by Interactive Things that is posted on the site. Switzerland had more cell phones than people, around 10 million.
America's Reptilian Politics Progressives and Liberals are singing that same tired old song. “We must support the Democrats. We can’t let the Republicans win!” Libertarians and Conservatives are singing that same tired old song. Show #5 – February 4, 2011 « Building A Powerful Left in the United States Download Show in mp3 Format Guests: Norman Solomon, Ralph Nader, Cornel West, and Noam Chomsky We end the week with our biggest show yet. It begins with Norman Solomon, a leading progressive voice who just may be Congressman Solomon in the near future – here why he’s working within a Democratic Party that seems so adrift. Ralph Nader brings to bear the wisdom of six decades of fighting the good fight as he summarizes strategies and policies he feels can revitalize American society. Cornel West reflects on how the spark of social justice can set a society aflame so long as we keep making the case – calling out injustice and building momentum.
The Hole NYC » KATSU DRONE PAINTINGS OPENING preview: Thursday, April 10 6-9:30pm Open to the public Friday, April 11 11- 8pm Interactive: Mapping the World's Friendships Technology bridges distance and borders. Individuals today can keep in touch with their friends and family in completely new ways — regardless of where they live. We explored these international connections through Facebook and found some trends — some predictable, some wholly unexpected, and some still inexplicable. Who can explain the strong link between the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the heart of Africa, and Ecuador? The reason the Central African Republic might be good friends with Kazakhstan is likewise mysterious to us. But as we did a little research, some unusual connections become surprisingly clear.
Going to Data Visualization School - World of Data With the never-ending expansion of online possibilities for quality learning, I got to the can’t-see-the-woods-for-trees phase quite a while ago and tend to forget about some of the high quality stuff out there. Hence, I wanted to get some sort of overview of the possibilities I needed to look into. That used to be an Evernote note. By now I have attended a few of the courses, but there is still plenty out there I should be able to combine with a busy work schedule. Anyway, I have turned the note into this post, which is mainly for my own sanity’s sake, but might be of relevance for others.