The Null Device

2004/11/23

Supporters of cultish fringe politico Lyndon LaRouche (he's the guy who claims, among other things, that the Queen controls the world drug trade and Beatlemania was created by the Occult Directorate of British Intelligence) recently held a rally at the University of Washington; pranksters join the rally, wearing tinfoil hats and wielding signs calling for an escalator to Mars and railing against toaster-based mind control, the B-battery cover-up and the media's conspiracy of silence on the government sabotage of the Trans-Atlantic Bridge; pictures here and here. (via bOING bOING)

détournement pranks psychoceramics 1

Google have just launched a new search engine for academic papers. It allows one to search books and academic papers for terms, and uses a PageRank-style ranking algorithm which takes citations from scientific literature into account. Which looks pretty nifty.

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Ukraine recently held a presidential election; exit polls suggested the pro-Western, reformist challenger was to win. Imagine the surprise when the pro-Moscow incumbent declared victory. Russia immediately announced that he had won fairly, but observers from the EU and US claimed widespread voting irregularities (and the Ukraine didn't need butterfly ballots or Diebold trick voting machines, when a few thugs intimidating voters and pouring acid into pro-opposition poll boxes would suffice). The public didn't buy it and took to the streets in mass protests; several cities have also refused to recognise the result. The "winner", Viktor Yanukovych, is ready to put down the protests "quickly and firmly". I wonder whether we're going to see another Ceaucescu-style fall of the ruling regime, another Tienanmen Square, or something in between. And whether anyone's blogging the unfolding events.

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