Showing posts with label cell phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell phone. Show all posts

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Somehat Lighter Side of Cell Phones


New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 39 -- September 25, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #134, September 28 & October 2:

The Somewhat Lighter Side
of Cell Phones

Senator Chuck (formerly Charles) Schumer has co-sponsored a bill
requiring all purchases of prepaid cell phones to be registered--
to keep them out of the hands of drug dealers and terrorists.
Most photos: click to enlarge.

In brief

Our third look at cell phones and related equipment is less gloomy and more amusing than the first two (NWN #127 & 133).

We'll see grandstanding U.S. Senators denouncing prepaid cell phones as tools of drug dealers, gang members, and (of course) terrorists--and calling for purchases to be registered.

In the second part of "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind," Chellis Glendinning wittily catalogues the psychological defense mechanisms people employ to avoid recognizing that electromagnetic radiation from cells, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX is harmful to health. She also catalogues instances of citizens' (sometimes successful) resistance to cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and WiMAX in their environment.

Spoken-word artist Jello Biafra comically satirizes the inadequacies of much of the new communications technologies in solving problems and in fostering human relationships (though he's in favor of making phone calls).

Finally, a selection of amusing items from this year's Beloit College Mindset List--designed to remind professors of how different entering freshmen's memories and cultural references are from their own. Some items involve communications devices. Other items don't--such as the reminder that, to students, "Fergie" is a pop singer, not a princess.

His music is an acquired taste, but Jello Biafra's political
and cultural commentary is astute and funny.

Notes, credits, & links

This week's incidental music: Glenn Miller Orchestra, Pennsylvania 6-5000.

The complete text of Chellis Glendinning's "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind" is here.

The complete Beloit College Mindset List for the entering Class of 2014 is here.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Boardwalk") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.
Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Bottom: Typical Beloit College undergraduate. The college's annual
Mindset List reminds professors how different freshmen are from
themselves. For one, most freshmen don't wear wristwatches;
instead, they consult the clock on their cell phone.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • October 5 -- Gulf Oil.
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The OTHER Problem with Cell Phones



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 38 -- September 18, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #133, September 21 & 25:

The Other Problem with Cell Phones

In brief

Our previous program on cell phones (NWN #127) focused on the mineral wars in the Congo to supply the metals the phones (& other gadgets) need.

Today we focus on the bad health effects of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones--and from cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and (worse yet) WiMAX hot spots. We'll hear from psychotherapist Chellis Glendinning and the late New Zealand scientist Dr. Neil Cherry. And we'll hear about Project Pandora: the CIA's EMR studies on the unwitting staff of the US Embassy in Moscow.

Top: Chellis Glendinning. Bottom: Dr. Neil Cherry.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

The complete text of Chellis Glendinning's "Wireless Mind, Gullible Mind" is here.

Neil Cherry's remarks courtesy of Maria Gilardin and TUCradio.org.

The uncut article on "Project Pandora" is here.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "nihil obstat") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.
Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Top: The former U.S. Embassy, Moscow, 1959. The Soviets began beaming electromagnetic radiation at the building in the 1950s. The CIA discovered the irradiation in 1962, studied the bad health effects on Embassy staff (and monkeys the CIA brought in!) for more than a decade, then notified the Embassy staff of their peril in 1976.
Bottom: This and the first illustration are by David Dees.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • September 28 -- The (Somewhat) Lighter Side of Cell Phones.
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):




A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Cell Phones



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 32 -- August 7, 2010

This week in New World Notes, radio program #127, August 10 & 13:

Cell Phones

In brief

Trying to lighten up a bit, I look at consumer electronics, especially cell phones--and find myself in the midst of a bloodbath in Congo. There rival factions rape, mutilate, and slaughter the citizens, attempting to control the mines that produce minerals our gadgets require--tungsten, tin, tantalum, gold, and coltan. 5+ million have died. Consumers are pressuring electronics manufacturers to monitor their supply chains and to avoid purchasing Congolese "conflict minerals."

Contributors to this installment include Lisa F. Jackson, Nicholas Kristof, John Prendergast, Mac vs. PC, and Janis Joplin.

Top: Soldier or militiaman in Congo, 2008.
Bottom: human-rights crusader John Prendergast. (Yes,
the resemblance is striking.) Most photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

Clarification: Coltan is the ore from which the metal tantalum is refined. I didn't understand this when I recorded the program.

www.raisehopeforcongo.org

Passage by Lisa F. Jackson courtesy of Mike McCormick's program, Mind Over Matters. Nicholas Kristof's, "Death by Gadget" appeared in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, June 27, 2010, p. 11.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "counter") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. New World Notes' main audio archive is at radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Top: Children, reported to be slaves, mine coltan in Congo.
Bottom: Cell-phone recycling center.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)

  • August 17 -- Dr. Susan Rosenthal, on the causes and cures of North America's bad health-care systems (Part 2).
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):




A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, June 17, 2010

David Ray Griffin on 9/11 and Afghanistan



New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 24-25 -- June 19 & 26, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #120 & 121, June 22 & 29:

David Ray Griffin
on 9/11 and
Afghanistan


Executive Summary

The distinguished professor of philosophy of science and philosophy of religion (emeritus) David Ray Griffin--one of the leading scholars in the so-called "9/11 Truth" movement--spoke at the University of Hartford on May 7. Two installments of the show will broadcast major portions of Griffin's lucid, fact-filled, carefully reasoned, witty and fascinating speech. He gave it the title, "Is the War in Afghanistan justified by 9/11?"

Griffin is a meticulous and judicious scholar, and his evidence is from reliable sources--much of it from official U.S. Government documents. When he discusses 9/11, Griffin is not advancing his own pet theory of what happened so much as demolishing the Crackpot Conspiracy Theory proffered by the media, the government, and the 9/11 Commission.

* * *

In Part 1 (NWN # 120), Griffin shows that the war in Afghanistan (like the one in Iraq) is based on lies--lies Obama continues to recite. In fact, Bush authorized the invasion 2 months before 9/11 and scheduled it for October.

Griffin then focuses on 9/11, demonstrating that the government has made public no credible evidence that (1) bin Laden was involved or that (2) Muslims hijacked the four planes or that (3) any of the 19 alleged hijackers were on any of the 4 flights.

U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.
Most photos: Click to enlarge.

In Part 2 (NWN #121), Griffin continues to demolish the Official Story of 9/11. He shows that cell-phone calls to passengers' relatives could not have been made from the four flights--as the FBI also has concluded. We know of hijackers only from these faked calls.

We know of boxcutters only from one call--allegedly made on a cell phone by Barbara Olson, on Flight 77, to her husband Ted, a high official in the Bush Administration and reported by Ted. The FBI eventually concluded that no such call was made (and the aircraft did not have seatback phones).

In fact, Griffin argues, no good evidence has been made public that any highjackings occurred, and some evidence indicates that none did. Of the eight pilots, not one entered the "Hijacking-in-Progress" code ("7500") into the plane's transponder.

Dr. David Ray Griffin in West Hartford, May 7, 2010.

Notes, credits, & links

Audio recording and photos of Griffin by Kenneth Dowst.

I have condensed the talk and omitted its final third, which concerns the mysterious collapse of WTC Building 7. (I will probably broadcast this at a future date.) The entire speech including introduction and Q&A--uncut, unedited; 2 hours 16 minutes--is available as a 128 kbps mp3 (128 MB).

Here's a short annotated bibliography of some good online resources on 9/11.

In August 2009, New World Notes broadcast a pair of shows as an intruduction to "9/11 Truth." Their blog entries (Web pages) are here and here. Each page includes links to the recorded audio.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "long-suffering sighs") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

New World Notes is archived at both radio4all.net and The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio.

Signing books, May 7, 2010

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):



A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Can Technology Save Us?




New World Notes News
Volume 2, Number 14 -- April 7, 2009


This week in New World Notes, #58 -- April 7 &10:

Did you hate Day of the Jackal because you knew that the plot to kill DeGaul would fail? How about The Greatest Story Ever Told? Did you ever think there was even a chance that Jesus would plea-bargain the charge down to Practicing Medicine Without a License and get off with "time served"?

This week's installment of NWN is about the near-future Critical Petroleum Shortage. Its title is, Can Technology Save Us? And you already know the answer--better than the U.S. Department of Energy does (or pretends to).

On one of its Web pages the DOE has a breathless account of how hydrogen will keep our SUVs running throughout the forseeable future. No lifestyle changes required! 50 years from now, the grapes sold in New York State will still be grown in Chile and shipped northwards economically. And if the U.S. has any jobs available other than currency arbitrage, you can still drive 50 miles to work!

Right. And thanks to nuclear energy, electricity will be so cheap to produce, they'll just give it away. Industry flacks were actually saying this in the early 1960s. I remember. So it must be true.

Two nuclear-industry P.R. flacks explain the benefits of Clean
Energy For Tomorrow ... Today! Oops, wrong picture. This is
actually Jello Biafra (left), playing a Zombie mayor, in a scene
from the major motion picture, RetarDEAD. The lady on the
right looks a bit un-dead, too.

Don't worry about the fact that it requires so much fossil fuel to produce enough hydrogen to drive 100 miles that you'd save energy by burning gasoline instead. Scientists will surely solve this problem Real Soon Now. Look how well they solved nuclear waste disposal!

This week's show presents two funny and intelligent views on why high-tech won't forestall the disruption that Peak Oil will cause.

Jello Biafra addresses the matter indirectly by discussing--with a good deal of wit--the down-side of two "new technologies" that many expected to enhance personal freedom and transform the world: cell phones and especially the Internet. Thanks in part to these technologies, we now have less freedom and more social alienation.


Then urban-design theorist James Howard Kunstler tells of his unhappy but funny failure to get Silicon Valley "genius dudes" (at Google) to comprehend that technology cannot replace energy. You can turn petroleum into jet fuel or into Ipods. But you can't turn Ipods into jet fuel. Like, sorry, Dude!

Which brings us back to Jesus. Or rather, to Monty Python's Brian . . . on a hilltop in Palestine, crucified along with several other culprits, all singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!" as the camera slowly pulls back and the closing credits begin to roll.

So this installment takes these folks' advice by viewing the impending breakdown of what now passes for civilization with a certain amount of humor and good cheer.

  • When you're chewing' on life's gristle,
    don't grumble . . . give a whistle!
    And this'll
    help things turn out for the best!


By the way, WHUS broadcast this installment on April 3. As they say, consult station listings for the installment they'll broadcast on April 10. (You won't find the answer, but you might find some additional shows you want to check out!)

Song played: Chumbawamba, The Wizard of Menlo Park


Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern) . . .

Soon to Come -- Date of first scheduled broadcast [on WWUH] listed:

  • April 14 -- Independent Journalism & Alternative Media: Jeremy Scahill
  • April 21 -- Men and War

Personal Note:

On April 3, I delivered a paper at a conference--Teaching Peace Across Disciplines: Strategies of Peace, Global Sustainability, & Conflict Transformation--held at Central Connecticut State University. It was sponsored by 4 NGOs and 3 local colleges/universities including WWUH's gracious host and licensee, the University of Hartford. I met some really interesting people there and expect some of them will speak on future installments of NWN.

My talk was titled, "Composing Language, Promoting War, Creating Peace." Complete with photo ("slide") illustrations & 10 pages of handouts. OK, I overdid it a little. The whole shebang was based largely on what I learned while putting together NWN's four recent shows--and four blog entries/newsletters--on media distortions of the Israel-Palestine conflicts.

It's rare that I find cause for optimism . . . but encountering a handful of young, educated, enthusiastic graduate students and young professors committed to making positive change in the world . . . . As we used to say, 'way back when, What a blast from the past! A little good news! . . . The first since November 4. . . .


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)