Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Fwd: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts - 2 new messages in 2 topics - digest
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts group" <noreply@googlegroups.com>
Date: Dec 28, 2010 3:00 AM
Subject: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts - 2 new messages in 2 topics - digest
To: "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts digest subscribers" <bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts@googlegroups.com>
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts?hl=en
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts@googlegroups.com
Today's topics:
* Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8 - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/ca739b039a1c5a1f?hl=en
* gel elution of 6KB PCR product - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/fcdaf69d6c779d50?hl=en
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/ca739b039a1c5a1f?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 26 2010 5:35 am
From: Virash Gupta
Dear B Ram,
try following following method. make a very small hole at the bottom
of a 0.5 ml PCR tube and cover it with some sterile glass wool. Put
your cut gel band in this tube and close it. Now put this tube into a
1.5 ml eppendorf tube. using an appropriate balancing tube spin at
12,000 rpm for 5 min. you should get 70-80% of your DNA in the
eppendorf tube which can be precipitated and resuspended in small
volume. Alternatively, put this tube into 1.5 ml tube containing ~100
microlitre TAE buffer. Also add same amount of this buffer in 0.5 ml
tube. Take two small pieces of platinum wires, dip one through space
between 0.5 ml and 1.5 ml tube so that it immerses in the buffer.
other piece of platinum wire should be purt in 0.5 ml tube buffer.
apply low current (~ 10V) with black electrode connected to wire in
0.5 ml tube and red electrode to other one immersed in 1.5 ml tube
buffer. This will make a small electrophoresis coloumn. after around
20 min, whole of DNA will move into buffer of 1.5 ml tube. Disacrd 0.5
ml tube along with its contents. precipitate DNA from buffer of 1.5 ml
tube using sod acetate and cold ethanol. All the best.
On 12/25/10, methods-request@oat.bio.indiana.edu
<methods-request@oat.bio.indiana.edu> wrote:
> Send Methods mailing list submissions to
> methods@net.bio.net
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> methods-request@net.bio.net
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> methods-owner@net.bio.net
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Methods digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. gel elution of 6KB PCR product (B.Rama chandran)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:52:35 +0530
> From: "B.Rama chandran" <chandranbrama@gmail.com>
> Subject: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
> To: Methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
> Message-ID:
> <AANLkTikscKjcve5M+V_SpxhzymrfjbiQ39HRep0YQOCS@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Dear All,
>
> I am facing problem in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am
> getting very less yield (~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel
> extraction kit (catalog no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use
> that product for restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please
> give me. If you know any other technique which will give better yield please
> let me know that.
>
> regards,
> B.Ram.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Methods mailing list
> Methods@net.bio.net
> http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
>
> End of Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8
> **************************************
>
--
Dr V K Gupta
Sr Microbiologist (Mol Biology)
IMBL, Department of Entomology
Pun. Agric. Univ., Ludhiana (Pb)-141004- India
M: 081465-55515
==============================================================================
TOPIC: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/fcdaf69d6c779d50?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Dec 27 2010 2:12 am
From: Fathi Hassan
hello,
you can try to clone the PCR product you got from gel in any cloning vector like
pJet or pGem, since they require low amounts of PCR products, then you can
digest the vector and get the fragment ready for further cloning. it is two
steps more but may help you
good luck
FH
________________________________
From: DK <dk@no.email.thankstospam.net>
To: methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Sent: Sun, December 26, 2010 12:28:15 AM
Subject: Re: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
In article <mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net>, "B.Rama chandran"
<chandranbrama@gmail.com> wrote:
>Dear All,
>
> I am facing problem in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am
>getting very less yield (~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel
>extraction kit (catalog no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use
>that product for restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please
>give me. If you know any other technique which will give better yield please
>let me know that.
What is the yield as % of input? If you didn't have much to begin
with, nothing can help. ~50% on gel-extraction are ~ normal. If it is the
yield that is poor, try the same protocol with 2 kbp. If the result is good,
your kit is not appropriate for 6K. If the result is bad, either your
reagents are gone bad/improperly prepared or you are doing something
wrong. I've purified 14 kbp from gel with about 30% using Qiagen's
kit. Never a problem.
DK
_______________________________________________
Methods mailing list
Methods@net.bio.net
http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
--0-1362310605-1293367365=:9174
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;}
--></style></head><body><div
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">you can try to
clone the PCR product you got from gel in any cloning vector like pJet or pGem,
since they requier low amounts of PCR products, then you can digest the vector
and get the fragment ready for further cloning. it is two steps more but may
help you<br>good luck<br>FH<br><br><div style="font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr
size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> DK
<dk@no.email.thankstospam.net><br><b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">To:</span></b> methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu<br><b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sun, December 26, 2010 12:28:15
AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: gel elution of
6KB PCR product<br></font><br>
In article <<a
ymailto="mailto:mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net"
href="mailto:mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net">mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net</a>>,
"B.Rama chandran" <<a ymailto="mailto:chandranbrama@gmail.com"
href="mailto:chandranbrama@gmail.com">chandranbrama@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>>Dear All,<br>><br>> I am facing problem
in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am<br>>getting very less yield
(~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel<br>>extraction kit (catalog
no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use<br>>that product for
restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please<br>>give me. If you
know any other technique which will give better yield please<br>>let me know
that.<br><br>What is the yield as % of input? If you didn't have much to begin
<br>with, nothing can help. ~50% on gel-extraction are ~ normal. If it
is the <br>yield that is poor, try the same protocol with 2 kbp. If the result
is good, <br>your kit is not appropriate for 6K. If the result is bad, either
your <br>reagents are gone bad/improperly prepared or you are doing something
<br>wrong. I've purified 14 kbp from gel with about 30% using Qiagen's <br>kit.
Never a problem.
<br><br>DK<br>_______________________________________________<br>Methods mailing
list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Methods@net.bio.net"
href="mailto:Methods@net.bio.net">Methods@net.bio.net</a><br><span><a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods">http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods</a></span><br></div></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>
--0-1362310605-1293367365=:9174--
==============================================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts"
group.
To post to this group, visit http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To change the way you get mail from this group, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/subscribe?hl=en
To report abuse, send email explaining the problem to abuse@googlegroups.com
==============================================================================
Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/?hl=en
From: "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts group" <noreply@googlegroups.com>
Date: Dec 28, 2010 3:00 AM
Subject: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts - 2 new messages in 2 topics - digest
To: "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts digest subscribers" <bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts@googlegroups.com>
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts?hl=en
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts@googlegroups.com
Today's topics:
* Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8 - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/ca739b039a1c5a1f?hl=en
* gel elution of 6KB PCR product - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/fcdaf69d6c779d50?hl=en
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/ca739b039a1c5a1f?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Dec 26 2010 5:35 am
From: Virash Gupta
Dear B Ram,
try following following method. make a very small hole at the bottom
of a 0.5 ml PCR tube and cover it with some sterile glass wool. Put
your cut gel band in this tube and close it. Now put this tube into a
1.5 ml eppendorf tube. using an appropriate balancing tube spin at
12,000 rpm for 5 min. you should get 70-80% of your DNA in the
eppendorf tube which can be precipitated and resuspended in small
volume. Alternatively, put this tube into 1.5 ml tube containing ~100
microlitre TAE buffer. Also add same amount of this buffer in 0.5 ml
tube. Take two small pieces of platinum wires, dip one through space
between 0.5 ml and 1.5 ml tube so that it immerses in the buffer.
other piece of platinum wire should be purt in 0.5 ml tube buffer.
apply low current (~ 10V) with black electrode connected to wire in
0.5 ml tube and red electrode to other one immersed in 1.5 ml tube
buffer. This will make a small electrophoresis coloumn. after around
20 min, whole of DNA will move into buffer of 1.5 ml tube. Disacrd 0.5
ml tube along with its contents. precipitate DNA from buffer of 1.5 ml
tube using sod acetate and cold ethanol. All the best.
On 12/25/10, methods-request@oat.bio.indiana.edu
<methods-request@oat.bio.indiana.edu> wrote:
> Send Methods mailing list submissions to
> methods@net.bio.net
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> methods-request@net.bio.net
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> methods-owner@net.bio.net
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Methods digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. gel elution of 6KB PCR product (B.Rama chandran)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:52:35 +0530
> From: "B.Rama chandran" <chandranbrama@gmail.com>
> Subject: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
> To: Methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
> Message-ID:
> <AANLkTikscKjcve5M+V_SpxhzymrfjbiQ39HRep0YQOCS@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Dear All,
>
> I am facing problem in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am
> getting very less yield (~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel
> extraction kit (catalog no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use
> that product for restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please
> give me. If you know any other technique which will give better yield please
> let me know that.
>
> regards,
> B.Ram.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Methods mailing list
> Methods@net.bio.net
> http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
>
> End of Methods Digest, Vol 67, Issue 8
> **************************************
>
--
Dr V K Gupta
Sr Microbiologist (Mol Biology)
IMBL, Department of Entomology
Pun. Agric. Univ., Ludhiana (Pb)-141004- India
M: 081465-55515
==============================================================================
TOPIC: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/t/fcdaf69d6c779d50?hl=en
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Dec 27 2010 2:12 am
From: Fathi Hassan
hello,
you can try to clone the PCR product you got from gel in any cloning vector like
pJet or pGem, since they require low amounts of PCR products, then you can
digest the vector and get the fragment ready for further cloning. it is two
steps more but may help you
good luck
FH
________________________________
From: DK <dk@no.email.thankstospam.net>
To: methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Sent: Sun, December 26, 2010 12:28:15 AM
Subject: Re: gel elution of 6KB PCR product
In article <mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net>, "B.Rama chandran"
<chandranbrama@gmail.com> wrote:
>Dear All,
>
> I am facing problem in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am
>getting very less yield (~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel
>extraction kit (catalog no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use
>that product for restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please
>give me. If you know any other technique which will give better yield please
>let me know that.
What is the yield as % of input? If you didn't have much to begin
with, nothing can help. ~50% on gel-extraction are ~ normal. If it is the
yield that is poor, try the same protocol with 2 kbp. If the result is good,
your kit is not appropriate for 6K. If the result is bad, either your
reagents are gone bad/improperly prepared or you are doing something
wrong. I've purified 14 kbp from gel with about 30% using Qiagen's
kit. Never a problem.
DK
_______________________________________________
Methods mailing list
Methods@net.bio.net
http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
--0-1362310605-1293367365=:9174
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;}
--></style></head><body><div
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">you can try to
clone the PCR product you got from gel in any cloning vector like pJet or pGem,
since they requier low amounts of PCR products, then you can digest the vector
and get the fragment ready for further cloning. it is two steps more but may
help you<br>good luck<br>FH<br><br><div style="font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family:
arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr
size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> DK
<dk@no.email.thankstospam.net><br><b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">To:</span></b> methods@magpie.bio.indiana.edu<br><b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sun, December 26, 2010 12:28:15
AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: gel elution of
6KB PCR product<br></font><br>
In article <<a
ymailto="mailto:mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net"
href="mailto:mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net">mailman.445.1293295295.15153.methods@net.bio.net</a>>,
"B.Rama chandran" <<a ymailto="mailto:chandranbrama@gmail.com"
href="mailto:chandranbrama@gmail.com">chandranbrama@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>>Dear All,<br>><br>> I am facing problem
in the gel elution of 6KB PCR product, I am<br>>getting very less yield
(~10ng/micto liter). I am using Sigma gel<br>>extraction kit (catalog
no:NA1111). Since yield is very less I couldn't use<br>>that product for
restriction digestion. If you have any suggestion please<br>>give me. If you
know any other technique which will give better yield please<br>>let me know
that.<br><br>What is the yield as % of input? If you didn't have much to begin
<br>with, nothing can help. ~50% on gel-extraction are ~ normal. If it
is the <br>yield that is poor, try the same protocol with 2 kbp. If the result
is good, <br>your kit is not appropriate for 6K. If the result is bad, either
your <br>reagents are gone bad/improperly prepared or you are doing something
<br>wrong. I've purified 14 kbp from gel with about 30% using Qiagen's <br>kit.
Never a problem.
<br><br>DK<br>_______________________________________________<br>Methods mailing
list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Methods@net.bio.net"
href="mailto:Methods@net.bio.net">Methods@net.bio.net</a><br><span><a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods">http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods</a></span><br></div></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>
--0-1362310605-1293367365=:9174--
==============================================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts"
group.
To post to this group, visit http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To change the way you get mail from this group, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts/subscribe?hl=en
To report abuse, send email explaining the problem to abuse@googlegroups.com
==============================================================================
Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/?hl=en
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
ubuntu on Android
Ubuntu joins Android on Nexus One, apocalyptic repercussions nowhere to be found -- Engadget
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
microscope on a chip
Microscopes fit within a miniaturized chip | ECN: Electronic Component News
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Monday, December 20, 2010
patterning of viruses by dip pen nanolithography
Polymer-Coated Tips for Patterning of Viruses by Dip-Pen Nanolithography
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
optical tweezer diagram
This is a graphic representation of an optical tweezer - Microscopic Cylinders Resemble Neurons - Softpedia
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
electricity from heat study
Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Structural Distortions Emerge From Nothing At The Nanoscale"
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
genome in minutes
Your genome in minutes: New technology could slash sequencing time
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
spintronic computer
Physicists store information on world’s tiniest computer memory | KurzweilAI
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Fwd: The 10 insights of the decade, 10 breakthroughs of 2010 (K21st - Essential 21st Century Knowledge)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Newsfeed to Email Gateway" <emlynoregan@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 17, 2010 11:46 AM
Subject: The 10 insights of the decade, 10 breakthroughs of 2010 (K21st - Essential 21st Century Knowledge)
To: <technologiclee@gmail.com>
From: "Newsfeed to Email Gateway" <emlynoregan@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 17, 2010 11:46 AM
Subject: The 10 insights of the decade, 10 breakthroughs of 2010 (K21st - Essential 21st Century Knowledge)
To: <technologiclee@gmail.com>
The 10 insights of the decade, 10 breakthroughs of 2010 (12/17/10 14:50:45 UTC)
From quantum mechanics, unveiling and sequencing the Neandertal genome, to Exoplanets and metamaterials, what more could we ask for?
Amplify'd from www.kurzweilai.net
"This year's Breakthrough of the Year represents the first time that scientists have demonstrated quantum effects in the motion of a human-made object," said Adrian Cho, a news writer for Science. "On a conceptual level that's cool because it extends quantum mechanics into a whole new realm. On a practical level, it opens up a variety of possibilities ranging from new experiments that meld quantum control over light, electrical currents and motion to, perhaps someday, tests of the bounds of quantum mechanics and our sense of reality."
Science's list of the nine other groundbreaking achievements from 2010 follows.
Synthetic Biology: In a defining moment for biology and biotechnology, researchers built a synthetic genome and used it to transform the identity of a bacterium. The genome replaced the bacterium's DNA so that it produced a new set of proteins—an achievement that prompted a Congressional hearing on synthetic biology. In the future, researchers envision synthetic genomes that are custom-built to generate biofuels, pharmaceuticals or other useful chemicals.
Neandertal Genome: Researchers sequenced the Neandertal genome from the bones of three female Neandertals who lived in Croatia sometime between 38,000 and 44,000 years ago. New methods of sequencing degraded fragments of DNA allowed scientists to make the first direct comparisons between the modern human genome and that of our Neandertal ancestors.
HIV Prophylaxis: Two HIV prevention trials of different, novel strategies reported unequivocal success: A vaginal gel that contains the anti-HIV drug tenofovir reduced HIV infections in women by 39 percent and an oral pre-exposure prophylaxis led to 43.8 fewer HIV infections in a group of men and transgender women who have sex with men.
Exome Sequencing/Rare Disease Genes: By sequencing just the exons of a genome, or the tiny portion that actually codes for proteins, researchers who study rare inherited diseases caused by a single, flawed gene were able to identify specific mutations underlying at least a dozen diseases.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations:Simulating the gyrations that proteins make as they fold has been a combinatorial nightmare. Now, researchers have harnessed the power of one of the world's most powerful computers to track the motions of atoms in a small, folding protein for a length of time 100 times longer than any previous efforts.
Quantum Simulator: To describe what they see in the lab, physicists cook up theories based on equations. Those equations can be fiendishly hard to solve. This year, though, researchers found a short-cut by making quantum simulators—artificial crystals in which spots of laser light play the role of ions and atoms trapped in the light stand in for electrons. The devices provide quick answers to theoretical problems in condensed matter physics and they might eventually help solve mysteries such as superconductivity.
Next-Generation Genomics: Faster and cheaper sequencing technologies are enabling very large-scale studies of both ancient and modern DNA. The 1,000 Genomes Project, for example, has already identified much of the genome variation that makes us uniquely human—and other projects in the works are set to reveal much more of the genome's function.
RNA Reprogramming:Reprogramming cells—turning back their developmental clocks to make them behave like unspecialized "stem cells" in an embryo—has become a standard lab technique for studying diseases and development. This year, researchers found a way to do it using synthetic RNA. Compared with previous methods, the new technique is twice as fast, 100 times as efficient and potentially safer for therapeutic use.
The Return of the Rat: Mice rule the world of laboratory animals, but for many purposes researchers would rather use rats. Rats are easier to work with and anatomically more similar to human beings; their big drawback is that methods used to make "knockout mice"—animals tailored for research by having specific genes precisely disabled—don't work for rats. A flurry of research this year, however, promises to bring "knockout rats" to labs in a big way.
Finally, to celebrate the end of the current decade, Science news reporters and editors have taken a step back from their weekly reporting to take a broader look at 10 of the scientific insights that have changed the face of science since the dawn of the new millennium. A list of these 10 "Insights of the Decade" follows.
The Dark Genome: Genes used to get all the glory. Now, however, researchers recognize that these protein-coding regions of the genome account for just 1.5 percent of the whole. The rest of the genome, including small coding and non-coding RNAs—previously written off as "junk"—is proving to be just as important as the genes.
Precision Cosmology: Over the past decade, researchers have deduced a very precise recipe for the content of the universe, which consists of ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy; as well as instructions for putting it all together. These advances have transformed cosmology into a precision science with a standard theory that now leaves very little wiggle room for other ideas.
Ancient Biomolecules: The realization that "biomolecules" like ancient DNA and collagen can survive for tens of thousands of years and provide important information about long-dead plants, animals and humans has provided a boon for paleontology. Analysis of these tiny time machines can now reveal anatomical adaptations that skeletal evidence simply can't provide, such as the color of a dinosaur's feathers or how woolly mammoths withstood the cold.
Water on Mars: Half a dozen missions to Mars over the past decade have provided clear evidence that the Red Planet once harbored enough water—either on it or just inside it—to alter rock formations and, possibly, sustain life. This Martian water was probably present around the time that life was beginning to appear on Earth, but there is still enough moisture on Mars today to encourage scientists seeking living, breathing microbes.
Reprogramming Cells: During the past decade, the notion that development is a one-way street has been turned on its head. Now, researchers have figured out how to "reprogram" fully developed cells into so-called pluripotent cells that regain their potential to become any type of cell in the body. This technique has already been used to make cell lines from patients with rare diseases, but ultimately, scientists hope to grow genetically matched replacement cells, tissues and organs.
The Microbiome: A major shift in the way we view the microbes and viruses that call the human body home has led researchers to the concept of the microbiome—or the collective genomes of the host and the other creatures that live on or inside it. Since 90 percent of the cells in our bodies are actually microbial, scientists are beginning to understand how significantly microbial genes can affect how much energy we absorb from our foods and how our immune systems respond to infections.
Exoplanets: In the year 2000, researchers were aware of just 26 planets outside our solar system. By 2010, that number had jumped to 502—and still counting. With emerging technologies, astronomers expect to find abundant Earth-like planets in the universe. But for now, the sizes and orbits of larger planets already discovered are revolutionizing scientists' understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve.
Inflammation: Not long ago, inflammation was known as the simple sidekick to our healing machinery, briefly setting in to help immune cells rebuild tissue damage caused by trauma or infection. Today, however, researchers believe that inflammation is also a driving force behind the chronic diseases that will eventually kill nearly all of us, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes and obesity.
Metamaterials: By synthesizing materials with unconventional and tunable optical properties, physicists and engineers have pioneered new ways to guide and manipulate light, creating lenses that defy the fundamental limits on resolution. They've even begun constructing "cloaks" that can make an object invisible.
Climate Change: Over the past decade, researchers have solidified some fundamental facts surrounding global climate change: The world is warming, humans are behind the warming and the natural processes of the Earth are not likely to slow that warming. But, the next 10 years will determine how scientists and policymakers proceed with this vital information.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/inkq
Thursday, December 16, 2010
microscope moves atoms
A microscope that can move atoms and draw super high resolution surface images of living cells
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
PCR
BioTechniques - Rapid DNA amplification in a capillary tube by natural convection with a single isothermal heater
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
shroom @ home
'Shroom' in Your Kitchen With the Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
dual core phone
LG officially announces Tegra 2 dual-core Optimus 2X | Android Central
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
micro SMS analyzer
MEMS bring micro DNA analyser closer - 12/15/2010 - Electronics Weekly
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
desert solar breeder
Sahara Solar Breeder Project Will Turn Desert Into Energy Source | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
floating solar panels
Solaris Synergy Unveils Floating Photovoltaic Panels | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
wasps are solar powered
Wasps Inspire Organic Solar Cells | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
200 miles in solar powered chair
Designer Makes 200 Miles Trek In Solar-Powered Wheelchair | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Python CAD
PythonCAD | Download PythonCAD software for free at SourceForge.net
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
E3101 Series Optical Tweezer SystemsBRFONT SIZE=1ULLISelf-contained/LILISingle Beam/LILIQPD Force Measurement/LI/UL/FONT from Elliot Scientific
E3101 Series Optical Tweezer SystemsBRFONT SIZE=1ULLISelf-contained/LILISingle Beam/LILIQPD Force Measurement/LI/UL/FONT from Elliot Scientific
E3101 Series Optical Tweezer Systems
|
The E3101 Optical Tweezer System is an augmented version of our E3100, offering a simple, pre-aligned and fully interlocked, laser workstation for single beam trapping and manipulation of micron sized particles. It incorporates all the key items of hardware within a stylish self contained desktop instrument. The standard version has been designed as an economical entry-level product to enable non-specialist users to evaluate the technique in a safe class 1 laser environment. For more advanced applications, a quadrant photo detector (QPD) system can be incorporated to offer force measurement. Output from the internal colour CCD camera can be displayed either directly on a monitor via the S-video connection or on a computer fitted with a framegrabber. Features
Cell manipulation is carried out by using either the conjugate beam steering optics or the precision XY stage. Trapping in X,Y and Z axes is also possible using the variable focus stage, where particles can be lifted above the rest of the sample. For applications involving rotation of birefringent particles an optional polarization optic and rotation mount can be added. Samples on a microscope slide are inserted into the sample holder (see right) which is mounted on an XYZ stage. Access to the sample holder is via an interlocked door. The diode laser is mounted within the enclosure and in the standard system comprises either a 685nm (40 mW) or 785nm (56 mW) source. Each laser features a circular near Gaussian profile with diffraction-limited performance. The x100 (NA 1.25) oil immersion objective in conjunction with the high beam quality of the laser provides a very small focused spot allowing the trapping of individual particles. Specifications Model E3101 Optical Tweezer System comprises:
The E3101 is manufactured under license from The University of St. Andrews. |
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
employment detection
Breakthrough towards lab-on-chip system for fast detection of single nucleotide variations in DNA
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
android 2.3 changes
Android 2.3 Platform | Android Developers
"
The platform now includes a SIP protocol stack and framework API that lets developers build internet telephony applications. Using the API, applications can offer voice calling features without having to manage sessions, transport-level communication, or audio — these are handled transparently by the platform's SIP API and services.
Android 2.3 includes an NFC stack and framework API that lets developers read NDEF tags that are discovered as a user touches an NFC-enabled device to tag elements embedded in stickers, smart posters, and even other devices.
Android 2.3 adds platform and API support for several new sensor reading types — gyroscope, rotation vector, linear acceleration, gravity, and barometer.
Applications can now make use of any cameras that are available on a device, for either photo or video capture. The Camera lets applications query for the number of cameras available and the unique characteristics of each.
New parameters for cameras, including focus distance, focus mode, and preview fps maximum/minimum
The platform's media framework adds support for new per-track or global audio effects, including bass boost, headphone virtualization, equalization, and reverb.
The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch capabilities on the device screen, for tracking up to five points fully independently.
WiFi scanner graph
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes' ?><wifiScanResults generator="com.farproc.wifi.analyzer (2.5.3)" generatorUrl="market://search?q=pname:com.farproc.wifi.analyzer" number="1"><scanResult SSID="RR_BECK" BSSID="00:24:8c:79:71:a5" capabilities="[WEP]" frequency="2462" level="-74" /></wifiScanResults>
Fwd: Rev
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lee Nelson <technologiclee@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Rev
To: Lee Nelson <technologiclee@gmail.com>
From: Lee Nelson <technologiclee@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Rev
To: Lee Nelson <technologiclee@gmail.com>
Title:ct cs
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Nanoengineers wiki
Welcome to your new Wikidot site - Nanoengineers
Would you like to contribute to the Nanoengineers wiki?
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Fwd: Google Alert - "xray laser"
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 6:12 AM
Subject: Google Alert - "xray laser"
To: technologiclee@gmail.com
Tip: Use site restrict in your query to search within a site (site:nytimes.com or site:.edu). Learn more.
Remove this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.
From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 6:12 AM
Subject: Google Alert - "xray laser"
To: technologiclee@gmail.com
| ||
| GainSaturated Photoionization Based Atomic InnerShell XRay Laser ... GainSaturated Photoionization Based Atomic InnerShell XRay Laser in. Neon at 850 eV. N. Rohringer1, D. Ryan2, M. Purvis2, J. Dunn1, F. Albert1, ... www.pqeconference.com/pqe2011/abstractd/220p.pdf | ||
Tip: Use site restrict in your query to search within a site (site:nytimes.com or site:.edu). Learn more.
Remove this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.
Friday, December 3, 2010
OPTICAL TRAP BONDING
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL TRAP BONDING - Patent application
I was thinking about this years ago and wrote some notes on the net. Would it count as prior art?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Fwd: comp.lang.python - Wing IDE
From: Wingware
Hi,
Wingware has released version 3.2.12 of Wing IDE, an integrated development
environment designed specifically for the Python programming language.
This release includes the following improvements:
* Support for Stackless version 2.7
* Correctly ignore exceptions in debugger for logged exceptions
* Fix indent conversion when file had inconsistent eol characters
* Change Mako block commenting to use ##
* Fix testing tool result display when re-running similarly named tests
* 8 other minor bug fixes
See http://wingware.com/pub/wingide/3.2.12/CHANGELOG.txt for details.
*Downloads*
Wing IDE Professional http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide/3.2
Wing IDE Personal http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-personal/3.2
Wing IDE 101 http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-101/3.2
*About Wing IDE*
Wing IDE is an integrated development environment designed specifically for
the Python programming language. It provides powerful editing, testing, and
debugging features that help reduce development and debugging time, cut down
on coding errors, and make it easier to understand and navigate Python code.
Wing IDE can be used to develop Python code for web, GUI, and embedded
scripting applications.
Wing IDE is available in three product levels: Wing IDE Professional is
the full-featured Python IDE, Wing IDE Personal offers a reduced feature
set at a low price, and Wing IDE 101 is a free simplified version designed
for teaching entry level programming courses with Python.
Version 3.2 of Wing IDE Professional includes the following major features:
* Professional quality code editor with vi, emacs, and other keyboard
personalities
* Code intelligence for Python: Auto-completion, call tips,
goto-definition,
error indicators, smart indent and re-wrapping, and source navigation
* Advanced multi-threaded debugger with graphical UI, command line
interaction,
conditional breakpoints, data value tool tips over code, watch tool, and
externally launched and remote debugging
* Powerful search and replace options including keyboard driven and
graphical
UIs, multi-file, wild card, and regular expression search and replace
* Version control integration for Subversion, CVS, Bazaar, git,
Mercurial, and
Perforce
* Integrated unit testing for the unittest, nose, and doctest frameworks
* Many other features including project manager, bookmarks, code snippets,
OS command integration, indentation manager, PyLint integration, and
perspectives
* Extremely configurable and may be extended with Python scripts
Please refer to the feature list at http://wingware.com/wingide/features for
a detailed listing of features by product level.
System requirements are Windows 2000 or later, OS X 10.3.9 or later for
PPC or
Intel (requires X11 Server), or a recent Linux system (either 32 or 64 bit).
Wing IDE supports Python versions 2.0.x through 3.1.x and Stackless Python.
For more information, see http://wingware.com/products
*Purchasing and Upgrading*
Wing 3.2 is a free upgrade for all Wing IDE 3.0 and 3.1 users. Version 2.x
licenses cost 1/2 the normal price to upgrade.
Upgrade a license: https://wingware.com/store/upgrade
Purchase a license: https://wingware.com/store/purchase
--
Wingware | Python IDE
The Intelligent Development Environment
for Python Programmers
www.wingware.com
==============================================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "comp.lang.python"
group.
To post to this group, visit http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to comp.lang.python+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To change the way you get mail from this group, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/subscribe?hl=en
Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/?hl=en
Hi,
Wingware has released version 3.2.12 of Wing IDE, an integrated development
environment designed specifically for the Python programming language.
This release includes the following improvements:
* Support for Stackless version 2.7
* Correctly ignore exceptions in debugger for logged exceptions
* Fix indent conversion when file had inconsistent eol characters
* Change Mako block commenting to use ##
* Fix testing tool result display when re-running similarly named tests
* 8 other minor bug fixes
See http://wingware.com/pub/wingide/3.2.12/CHANGELOG.txt for details.
*Downloads*
Wing IDE Professional http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide/3.2
Wing IDE Personal http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-personal/3.2
Wing IDE 101 http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-101/3.2
*About Wing IDE*
Wing IDE is an integrated development environment designed specifically for
the Python programming language. It provides powerful editing, testing, and
debugging features that help reduce development and debugging time, cut down
on coding errors, and make it easier to understand and navigate Python code.
Wing IDE can be used to develop Python code for web, GUI, and embedded
scripting applications.
Wing IDE is available in three product levels: Wing IDE Professional is
the full-featured Python IDE, Wing IDE Personal offers a reduced feature
set at a low price, and Wing IDE 101 is a free simplified version designed
for teaching entry level programming courses with Python.
Version 3.2 of Wing IDE Professional includes the following major features:
* Professional quality code editor with vi, emacs, and other keyboard
personalities
* Code intelligence for Python: Auto-completion, call tips,
goto-definition,
error indicators, smart indent and re-wrapping, and source navigation
* Advanced multi-threaded debugger with graphical UI, command line
interaction,
conditional breakpoints, data value tool tips over code, watch tool, and
externally launched and remote debugging
* Powerful search and replace options including keyboard driven and
graphical
UIs, multi-file, wild card, and regular expression search and replace
* Version control integration for Subversion, CVS, Bazaar, git,
Mercurial, and
Perforce
* Integrated unit testing for the unittest, nose, and doctest frameworks
* Many other features including project manager, bookmarks, code snippets,
OS command integration, indentation manager, PyLint integration, and
perspectives
* Extremely configurable and may be extended with Python scripts
Please refer to the feature list at http://wingware.com/wingide/features for
a detailed listing of features by product level.
System requirements are Windows 2000 or later, OS X 10.3.9 or later for
PPC or
Intel (requires X11 Server), or a recent Linux system (either 32 or 64 bit).
Wing IDE supports Python versions 2.0.x through 3.1.x and Stackless Python.
For more information, see http://wingware.com/products
*Purchasing and Upgrading*
Wing 3.2 is a free upgrade for all Wing IDE 3.0 and 3.1 users. Version 2.x
licenses cost 1/2 the normal price to upgrade.
Upgrade a license: https://wingware.com/store/upgrade
Purchase a license: https://wingware.com/store/purchase
--
Wingware | Python IDE
The Intelligent Development Environment
for Python Programmers
www.wingware.com
==============================================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "comp.lang.python"
group.
To post to this group, visit http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to comp.lang.python+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To change the way you get mail from this group, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/subscribe?hl=en
Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/?hl=en
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Re: [OK] What are your questions about social investing? Wikipedia? The relationship economy?
On Nov 28, 2010 6:14 PM, "Tiberius Brastaviceanu" <tiberius.brastaviceanu@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice initiative!
>
> I am the founder of the Multitude Project, and I am VERY interested in your
> project!
> https://sites.google.com/site/multitude2008/
>
> Part of our initiative there is Multitude Innovation
> https://sites.google.com/site/multitudeinnovation/
>
> Multitude Innovation is now mixed to other open and collaborative
> initiatives into a mammoth social project, to develop the African continent.
> See this newly born group here
> https://sites.google.com/site/watuafrika/HOME
>
> We are building the New Economy and we are bringing it to Africa, a
> continent that will leapfrog into the future. Why Africa? Because the
> African mind is NOT trapped into the socialism-capitalism dichotomy as most
> of us are. Because Africans have not lost their habits to work in
> collaboration, to live within a community. Because it's time for Africa,
> Africans are ready to rebel, they are awake, they are receptive!
>
> How can we collaborate?
>
> Tiberius Brastaviceanu (Tibi)
> ...................................................
> Founder of the Multitude Project
> Part of the core team at Watu Afrika
> Part of the core team at SICU and SICU INNOVATION.
> Research Assistant at McGill University, Montreal, Canada
> http://www.google.com/profiles/tiberius.brastaviceanu
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 6:46 PM, Jay Standish <jay.standish@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hey Open-Kollabers!
>>
>> We are heading down to San Francisco this week to do some interviews for
>> the Symbionomics<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1658818436/symbionomics-stories-of-a-new-economy>film, and we'd like to hear the questions you'd like us to ask! Get back to
>> us ASAP as we start the interviews on Dec. 1st.
>> No guarantees that we will be able to ask all of them, but we'd like to tap
>> into your collective intelligence.
>>
>> The three interviews are:
>>
>> *Jimmy Wales*, Founder, Wikipedia
>>
>> *Kevin Jones*, Social Investor, Principal at Good Capital, Innovator and
>> Market-builder in the Social Investing Space
>>
>> *Jerry Michalski*, Founder of the Relationship Economy Expedition<http://sociate.com/bio.html>,
>> Technologist and Gladwellian Connector
>>
>>
>> All the best!
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> jay.standish //skype
>> @yodelheck //twitter
>> jaystandish.com //web
>>
>> --
>> This is a message from the OpenKollab Google Group located at
>> http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en
>> To post to this group, send email to openkollab@googlegroups.com
>
>
>
>
> --
> t!b!
> http://www.google.com/profiles/tiberius.brastaviceanu
>
> --
> This is a message from the OpenKollab Google Group located at http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en
> To post to this group, send email to openkollab@googlegroups.com
> Nice initiative!
>
> I am the founder of the Multitude Project, and I am VERY interested in your
> project!
> https://sites.google.com/site/multitude2008/
>
> Part of our initiative there is Multitude Innovation
> https://sites.google.com/site/multitudeinnovation/
>
> Multitude Innovation is now mixed to other open and collaborative
> initiatives into a mammoth social project, to develop the African continent.
> See this newly born group here
> https://sites.google.com/site/watuafrika/HOME
>
> We are building the New Economy and we are bringing it to Africa, a
> continent that will leapfrog into the future. Why Africa? Because the
> African mind is NOT trapped into the socialism-capitalism dichotomy as most
> of us are. Because Africans have not lost their habits to work in
> collaboration, to live within a community. Because it's time for Africa,
> Africans are ready to rebel, they are awake, they are receptive!
>
> How can we collaborate?
>
> Tiberius Brastaviceanu (Tibi)
> ...................................................
> Founder of the Multitude Project
> Part of the core team at Watu Afrika
> Part of the core team at SICU and SICU INNOVATION.
> Research Assistant at McGill University, Montreal, Canada
> http://www.google.com/profiles/tiberius.brastaviceanu
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 6:46 PM, Jay Standish <jay.standish@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hey Open-Kollabers!
>>
>> We are heading down to San Francisco this week to do some interviews for
>> the Symbionomics<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1658818436/symbionomics-stories-of-a-new-economy>film, and we'd like to hear the questions you'd like us to ask! Get back to
>> us ASAP as we start the interviews on Dec. 1st.
>> No guarantees that we will be able to ask all of them, but we'd like to tap
>> into your collective intelligence.
>>
>> The three interviews are:
>>
>> *Jimmy Wales*, Founder, Wikipedia
>>
>> *Kevin Jones*, Social Investor, Principal at Good Capital, Innovator and
>> Market-builder in the Social Investing Space
>>
>> *Jerry Michalski*, Founder of the Relationship Economy Expedition<http://sociate.com/bio.html>,
>> Technologist and Gladwellian Connector
>>
>>
>> All the best!
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> jay.standish //skype
>> @yodelheck //twitter
>> jaystandish.com //web
>>
>> --
>> This is a message from the OpenKollab Google Group located at
>> http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en
>> To post to this group, send email to openkollab@googlegroups.com
>
>
>
>
> --
> t!b!
> http://www.google.com/profiles/tiberius.brastaviceanu
>
> --
> This is a message from the OpenKollab Google Group located at http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en
> To post to this group, send email to openkollab@googlegroups.com
symbionics
Symbionomics: Stories of a New Economy by Alan Rosenblith — Kickstarter
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Saturday, November 27, 2010
3d phonenone
Sharp introduces two new Android phones that feature a 3D camera | Blog | ZiggyTek
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
hydrogen photo
Research team takes image of hydrogen atom | The Japan Times Online
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
printed transformer
Shapeways Delivery 26-11-10 :: shapeways_salvo-07.jpg picture by DrawnSteelHero - Photobucket
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Re: Feature request: Bounded-volume fill
This has been added to the feature request page.
Great idea. Also, let's not forget to add this to the wiki feature request page:
http://www.nanoengineer-1.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Feature_requests
I will add features to the Request Page as I see them. I think this duty and all duties should be distributed to everyone capable of doing them. By this I mean that everyone should add features to the Request Page. This would insure that even if one person was away from the computer for a long time, the work would still be done.
I vote me nominate one person as the designated Feature Request Updater and Tracker. I nominate Lee.
Re: [Open Manufacturing] Co-Ownership for Success in Open Manufacturing (enforcement)
On Nov 27, 2010 9:06 AM, "Paul D. Fernhout" <pdfernhout@kurtz-fernhout.com> wrote:
> On 11/24/10 11:32 AM, Thomas Fledrich wrote:
>> A strong state means less freedom for the
>> individual, be it in education (like a ban on home schooling),
>> artificial scarcity in the size of available land by declaring most of
>> it a non-housing zone or en even stronger states making it very
>> difficult to get the means to communicate to the outside world and
>> voice an opinion that is not in line with the state-endorsed way of
>> thinking.
> >
>> On the other hand, a weak government means wealthy people might just
>> take their place and do the same based on property laws.
>
> Yes, and we have a lot of that now, and it is a problem with
> Propertarian libertarianism. Although some libertarians argue that
> without a state enforcing lots of laws, it is hard for any one entity to
> accumulate a lot of property and power.
> http://www.google.com/search?q=libertarian+concentration+of+wealth
>
> From:
> http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2262075548&topic=5192&_fb_noscript=1
> "There is an important difference. Liberal egalitarians hold that both
> genetic talents and society's resources may be redistributed to achieve
> a particular pattern of equality. Left-libertarians hold that give each
> person is a self-owner and thus has a natural right to profit from the
> exercise of any talents which he or she has. However, the right to
> genetic talents does not extend to a right to a greater share of
> undeveloped, natural resources. Consequently, all people should be given
> an equal share of these resources. Any inequalities which develop from
> this distribution of unowned resources are perfectly justifiable from a
> left-libertarian perspective. In contrast, a liberal egalitarian would
> say that we should continually redistribute to preserve a pattern of
> equality. Left-libertarians set up an initially equal distribution of
> resources but then accept any inequalities which flow from that initial
> distribution."
>
> Note by the way a "genetic" model of ability here that ignores
> parenting, the effect of class and family wealth (which may be inherited
> generations back to original land "thieves"), and so on.
>
> Also from there: "The other, potentially bigger issue, is wealth
> concentration. As even more capitalisty left-libertarians like Roderick
> Long admit, corporate capitalism is a result of rent-seeking by
> concentrated special interests. Thus, we need to be concerned about
> eliminating the potential that any aristocracy can form. Thus, we can't
> scoff at progressive taxation. We also need to build organizational and
> technological models that allow for effective decentralized organization
> to prevent concentrated wealth from overpowering an apathetic masses.
> However, the decentralized structures will even crumble if the
> concentration of wealth grows too much.... and when radical life
> extension starts that potential problem grows even larger."
>
> But then another reply is:
> "There aren't any guarantees, in any system, whether statist or
> anarchist, but any potential for plutocracy can only be magnified by the
> state."
>
> Which brings one back to a question of what sort of state? What sort of
> constitution? Or what interpretation of the constitution we already have
> in the USA (or some other country)?
>
>> One solution
>> for this is to keep the means for defense distributed in the whole of
>> society, so no elite group will be able to enforce their demands past
>> a certain point where people become really upset. So if they're any
>> smart they won't try to.
>
> I can see how you can't talk about "ownership" without talking about the
> means (cultural or military) by which "ownership" will be enforced.
>
> It's actually a common criticism of people advocating for social change
> that they often assume some part of the old order when talking about a
> new one. So, for example, people implicitly tend to assume the phones
> keep working and the police keep showing up for domestic violence
> situations the way they currently do when talking about anarchism. :-)
> It's hard to think about how basic social processes in a different
> paradigm without slipping into just assuming past processes continue,
> like ignoring copper thieves.
>
> Historically in the USA what you suggest has been part of the culture --
> things like the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US
> Constitution to keep the potentially tyrannical power of government in
> check.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
>
> But personally I do not feel that small arms or whatever other locally
> violent things people may try to use to "resist tyranny" are an
> important aspect of this social process anymore in the 21st century
> (especially given how outgunned and out-organized the general public is
> by professionals), and so I think a Gandhi-like approach to focus on a
> shift in social consciousness to go with a different notion of the
> economy is a better idea.
>
> One can make a different sort of argument as well, that a lot of these
> issues get decided by who the professional military and police
> ultimately decides to support in a widespread social conflict, but I
> think it comes down to the same thing -- a shift in social consciousness
> among that leadership, a shift which will likely lag by a decade or more
> what is going on in the rest of the society. Ultimately, when the police
> force or military is made up of people who have solar panels on their
> roofs (or maybe Mr. Fusion in their basements) and a 3D printer in their
> kitchen, then they just are not going to be as inclined to want to die
> in wars over oil in the Middle East and they will be less likely to want
> to imprison people for talking about new useful things to print out in
> 3D printers. And also, with solar panels and 3D printers, such people
> are going to be less dependent on their jobs for "income" and so will
> feel they have more options for dissent (even within a hierarchy there
> are degrees of compliance). We don't quite see that with music sharing
> (police who grew up listening to downloaded music may still enforce RIAA
> demands), but I think that ultimately, with changes related to 3D
> printing and robotics and so on, we may see a bigger paradigm shift.
> Maybe that is more of a hope than a certainty (some people may always be
> martinets), but it's the best hope I can offer.
>
> Why do I think a Gandhi-like movement is a better idea?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi
>
> To begin with, I agree with this:
> "Social Movements and Strategic Nonviolence"
> http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/change/science_nonviolence.html
> "For current-day egalitarians, a commitment to the freedoms and
> democratic procedures won by past egalitarians can provide the primary
> foundation for the practice of nonviolence, although some of them also
> draw upon their religious values as well. This democratic commitment has
> the added virtue of narrowing the gap between egalitarians and
> mainstream liberals. In addition, a nonviolence orientation can be
> sustained by the knowledge that it helps to keep the egalitarian
> movement itself more democratic; it ensures that violence-prone
> dominators will not take over the movement and subvert its democratic
> aims. As many historical cases suggest, the most violent people soon
> rise to the top once the possibility of violence is introduced, and they
> often use their loyal followers to intimidate or kill rivals.
> ... Violence-prone activists sometimes like to claim they are merely
> retaliating against violence by the police, which they think people will
> understand and even applaud as justifiable self-protection. Some
> activists also believe that standing up to the police will inspire
> others to join them because they have shown they are serious about
> challenging the system. However, as polls taken after such incidents
> show, most people do not accept these rationales. They do not like to
> hear of extreme reactions by the police, but they tend to blame the
> demonstrators, even when the police are the primary instigators. Thus,
> it is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong, or about which side
> started it. It is a matter of whether physical confrontations are
> effective in gaining adherents, and it seems clear that they are not."
>
> So, if your main goal is to bring as many people into a movement like
> open manufacturing as possible, including people involved in law
> enforcement, the intelligence services, the military, and so on, then
> killing lots of people (or threatening to do so), especially killing the
> buddies of professional security people, seems like a really bad idea.
> Violence is just going to harden the opinion of law enforcement and, in
> general, turn the bulk of the population away from any movement.
>
> Even I get squirmy when I see some activist being impolite at some
> political event or some board meeting even when I totally agree with the
> point being made -- it just feels wrong in our society. Sure, it's good
> that there are people standing up for something, telling past-President
> Bush or whoever that he has done illegal things for oil profits or
> whatever, or telling a town planning board it is selling out to Walmart
> or whatever, but ultimately, it's not really moving us forward as a
> country. It just becomes a big focus of energy, with often not much
> results but a hardening of hearts (based on cognitive dissonance).
> "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs,
> Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts"
> http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0151010986
>
> What might make more of a difference than protests is people getting to
> know their neighbors and talking about alternatives to oil use like
> helping each other insulate their homes better or discussing EVs like
> the Chevy Volt vs. the Nissan Leaf or talking about vegan recipes, and
> people getting elected to town planning boards, and things like that.
> More ideas in that direction by me:
> "Rebutting Communiqué from an Absent Future (was Re: Information on
> student protests)"
> http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-November/006005.html
>
> Even in Iraq, what have, say, IEDs really accomplished as far as making
> Iraq a better place? They seem to just be used to justify further
> occupation by the USA. Some soldier sees his (or her) buddy get blown up
> just driving along and then feels emotionally justified in killing lots
> of Iraqis as pay-back -- that's only human, even if it might violate the
> code of war. Eventually, years from now, the violence in Iraq will end
> when everyone gets tired of the death and bloodshed, some sort of civil
> order will be restored, and non-violent cultural change processes will
> reassert themselves, and the US power structure there will eventually be
> rejected. If Iraq was "peaceful", how long would the mandate last in the
> USA for having a lot of expensive soldiers there? A couple of months?
> Obama would declare victory, pull most of the troops, and in a couple
> years Iraq would go its own way. Same for Afghanistan.
>
> A lot of politically-motivated violence in the USA, given the fragmented
> partisanship of Blue and Red, might also potentially make it like Iraq,
> or like Northern Ireland in the past. We would be much more likely to
> see Democrats vs. Republicans instead of the "elite" vs. "the people".
> (That's part of a "divide and conquer" strategy to begin with to the
> extent an elite is organized.) Clearly there is little social consensus
> in the USA about some of the basics of government as far as some
> policies (even if most people want single payer health care, or relief
> for the poor, and organic food, and the end of overseas wars, and so
> on). One might point to decades of propaganda (by a variety of sides)
> that have made it that way, as well as, through industrialization and
> bad policy, decades of malnutrition and vitamin D deficiency (as well as
> exposure to toxins from poorly made products) that have made the bulk of
> the US population crazy or depressed. But if that's the way it is,
> that's the way it is, and adding widespread violence to that mix
> probably is not going to make anything better IMHO.
>
> What will make things better?
>
> I think we need to get at the roots of some of these issues, and that
> connects back with "ownership" issues and open manufacturing. So, we
> need to get the population healthier (eating more vegetables and fruits,
> more exercise, better sleep, adequate vitamin D, adequate omega-3s,
> enough B vitamins, etc.) in part more engagement with their local areas
> and home gardens and local farmers and creating local walking paths (see
> "Blue Zones" for some ideas). And we need to have better products and
> infrastructure with less toxins (in part through open manufacturing or
> broader initiatives like NIST's SLIM project). And we need to have
> people see a better paradigm as to what is possible both by theory and
> practice (open manufacturing, open source software, 3D printing, open
> content, a bigger gift economy, and so on). And the wonderful thing is,
> it is indeed all happening, even if it would be hard to tell if you only
> watch the mainstream media:
> http://www.blessedunrest.com/
>
> A basic income would help too, and as I suggest here we already are
> spending enough on welfare to have one in the USA with not new taxes:
>
> http://econfuture.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/will-a-college-education-be-worth-the-investment-in-the-future/#comment-438
> "Essentially, between schooling and social security and welfare, about a
> third or so of the US population is already having the equivalent of a
> "basic income" worth of money spent on their behalf. From
> usgovernmentspending.com it is for the 2010 fiscal year $1026 billion
> for education, $762 billion for welfare, and (from Wikipedia) $678
> billion on Social Security. Together, that is $2466 billion. That is
> enough for a basic income (with no needs test or age requirement) of
> about US$8,000 per year per person for about 310 million US citizens.
> Health care for all could be covered by the additional trillion dollars
> or so already spend in the USA for Medicare/Medicaid by switching it to
> a less costly single-payer model or some other universal coverage
> system. For a family of four, that would be US$32,000 a year to live off
> of (in addition to full sick care benefits). That would be tight, but
> such people could also do other things in their spare time (take jobs,
> run a business, save money by making things themselves including with 3D
> printers or organic gardens, and so on).
> Also, without a need for a job, people could live in a cheaper rural
> area with more access to land for a garden and so on. Many families of
> four in the USA do already live off of about this level of income — but
> usually they are working multiple minimum wage jobs to do so, so having
> this income but not having to work 80 hours a week for it would free up
> a lot of time to make other improvements in their life. People could
> also plan with more confidence, knowing they would always have that
> basic income, so they could do things like work towards becoming
> artists, or mimes, or novelists, or free software developers from a
> young age, without their parents saying, how are you going to make a
> living at that? [fixed typos]"
>
> We might then wan to think about making our rural areas prettier:
> "Rural Area Depopulation is in part Due to Lack of Surrounding Natural
> Beauty"
> http://bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.com/2010/11/rural-area-depopulation-is-in-part-due.html
>
> As well as maybe having better to recycle stuff:
> "Burkhard Bilger, A Reporter at Large, "Nature's Spoils""
> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/22/101122fa_fact_bilger
>
> I've recently been reading parts of Treasure Island, the Algebraist, and
> a Bolo story (where a bolo defends "Camelot" from pirates) to my kid
> (who has a current interest in armed conflict and pirates), plus I've
> been rereading some parts of Iain Banks's Culture Novel "Excession" to
> myself.
>
> If you think about the meaning of some of those sorts of stories, with
> some sort of violent conflict woven into them, as well as a book like
> Voyage from Yesteryear, they do tend to make a point that a group of
> people collectively can be powerful. They usually make that point by
> saying the group can make or use weapons. What wins in some such stories
> tends to be either extreme individual effort or broad collective effort.
> In some, there is a swashbuckling fanatical Robin Hood-like commitment
> to the common good by one individual or a small group of such
> individuals (usually aided by some personal friends in indirect ways).
> This is as opposed to the what happens to those committed to greed or
> cruelty, where such advocates have poor communications and commitment
> among their subordinates who all go skulking off in the end because they
> can't take the heat or are just lazy. The champions just happen to be
> really good soldiers in some way (Luke Skywalker practiced shooting
> "Womp rats"). Or, alternatively, what wins is the fact that a whole
> bunch of people (the general populace) who have banded together for a
> common cause and who essentially intimidate a small number of elite
> rulers, usually lead by some charismatic individual or group. Of course,
> that is often how big groups go bad, too -- charisma (think Hitler who
> was very charismatic for his time and place).
>
> Those make good stories, but I can wonder if the reality we face today
> is very different. In the 21st century, we face a reality where the
> central problem is that we already devote so much of our society to
> guarding (like Bob Black mentions in "The Abolition of Work"). If we
> want to move beyond that guarding paradigm, it would seem that violence
> will just increase the amount of energy going into excessive guarding.
> As long as the general populace believes in the value of widespread
> guarding as a great use of public energy, then not much will change. But
> how do you convince people of excessive guarding as a waste by making
> them more afraid? I won't argue that we need no "security" (even if that
> means some guarding), but certainly we can discuss the amount and the
> approach -- like intrinsic security vs. extrinsic security, and mutual
> security vs. unilateral security.
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
>
> One might argue that a major reason for open manufacturing in the USA is
> precisely because it makes us more secure. That is because it most
> effectively mutually and intrinsically guards our life-support systems
> to have them, say, in the hands of local communities than people living
> in China (manufactured goods) or the Middle East (energy) or Africa (raw
> materials). So, I think one can have productive discussions about open
> manufacturing and how it relates to national security, but those are
> going to be different discussions than ones about, say, printing guns.
>
> Of those stories, Voyage From Yesteryear might be the healthiest take on
> all that. I think, if anything, like in Voyage from Yesteryear, or Iain
> Banks' writings, one might see that war making in an advanced culture is
> something some people might be good at, but generally in a hobbyist sort
> of way incidental to the mainstream bulk of what the culture does (by
> hobbyist I don't mean unprofessional -- a lot of hobbyist can be more
> serious than professionals).
>
> That situation is certainly not what we have in the USA at the moment
> where so much money is shunted into "Defense" (which is really defense
> of privilege as a "racket" according to Smedley Butler). And it's a very
> different situation where individuals with small arms (even in small
> groups) are very focused on the notion that their guns can somehow
> protect them as individuals or small groups from huge bureaucracies
> backed by millions strong police and military who would glory in the
> chance to do battle as a unit against someone they though of as a wacko
> or wackos with handguns, and who also would not rest until there was
> vengeance done against somebody if one of their own buddies falls.
>
> Anyway, there is a "war" going on in a sense even right now. It's just a
> more subtle one than one waged with bullets. :-) And "war" is not even
> the right metaphor, because it is more about transcending conflict than
> triumphing at it. Related:
> "James P. Carse, Religious War In Light of the Infinite Game, SALT talk"
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-962221125884493114#
>
> As Isaac Asimov had his character Salvor Hardin say: "Violence is the
> last refuge of the incompetent."
>
> The fact is, refusal to cooperate with certain mainstream trends as well
> as cooperation to bring about alternative other trends would be far more
> effective than any gun play that just justifies more invasive body
> scanners at airports, or now, as is proposed, train terminals, bus
> lines, subways, and so on.
>
> Consider:
> "Next step for tight security could be trains, boats, metro "
> http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/130549-next-step-for-body-scanners-could-be-trains-boats-and-the-metro-
>
> See also the racket aspect of promoting fear:
> "Fear Pays: Chertoff, Ex-Security Officials Slammed For Cashing In On
> Government Experience"
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html
>
> Which is just another aspect of this:
> "War is a Racket"
> http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
>
> So, we as a society ironically take all the material resources and
> social energy that could go into building a better world of abundance
> for everyone and use them to implement a security state with scanners
> everywhere implementing artificial scarcity. All the social energy that
> could go into building a better world instead just goes into opposing
> all that, and then if the conflict descends into gunplay, we just see
> more scanners, and so on.
>
> So, I'd suggest that more violence is only going to accelerate that
> trend. Even the threat of it just justifies more trouble. As I suggest here:
> http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/msg/ae28e8971f8f9669?hl=en
> "My advice to people here is to build movements in such a way that the
> CIA can be proud of them :-) as well as so Smári and Bryan and others
> here can be proud of them too. :-) And, given the CIA is hiring
> machinists, build a movement where, in a good way, you assume everyone
> in it is working for the CIA, :-) but where you still get important
> stuff done in moving the world towards a post-scarcity open future. Just
> like people should assume Google is a division of the NSA and/or CIA.
> :-) An impossible task? Well, consider it more like a creative
> challenge. :-) "
>
> Some recent stuff I've written along that line, too:
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-dealing-with-social-hurricanes.html
>
> I'm not saying that, say, the current airport gropedowns and irradiation
> are not a problem. I've already turned down chances to go and talk at
> two conferences in the past year (where someone else would pay my way)
> because it would entail flying. I think the security theater there is an
> embarrassment for our society.
>
> Ultimately, this will only change when we all rise up and... *vote* for
> different policies either in the voting booth, with our dollars, or with
> our time and other resources. Even if electronic voting machines were
> rigged, we can still vote with our time and volunteerism. Let's just
> skip the whole "and now everyone shoots everyone else bit" and move
> straight "and what do we do now that the shooting is over bit?" :-)
>
> Ultimately, we need to wage the peace. :-)
>
> And ideally, that is what open manufacturing, FOSS, and so on as a broad
> movement is mostly doing. :-)
> "Study Reports On Debian Governance, Social Organization"
> http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/14/1349202
>
> I don't think an elite is that worried about, say, 3D printers printing
> out handguns or even DIY-Bio making disease stuff, because it all just
> justifies a stronger national security state, which means their role in
> this world is strengthened further.
>
> From that Huffington Post article:
> "Chertoff, who is a frequent guest on cable news, often touts security
> proposals and technologies that align with the interests of or are
> manufactured by his clients. He recently told CNBC that he'd like to see
> "more investment in bio-security" because "I think we are beginning to
> lag a little behind in terms of being able to respond to biological
> threats." The Chertoff Group has invested in BioNeutral, a biotech
> startup based in New Jersey that is developing technology to combat
> dangerous microorganisms. In a relatively rare disclosure, Chertoff
> acknowledged in the interview that "we do represent companies that make
> sensors and technology of that sort.""
>
> It is only when we use all those post-scarcity technologies to build
> some positive optimistic abundant healthy alternatives with all that
> technology that we will see those forces of greed and fear fade away.
>
> And the biggest issue there is people taking ownership of their own time
> to use it for worthwhile post-scarcity ends.
>
> --Paul Fernhout
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/
> ====
> The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies
> of abundance in the hands of those thinking in terms of scarcity.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Open Manufacturing" group.
> To post to this group, send email to openmanufacturing@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to openmanufacturing+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing?hl=en.
>
> On 11/24/10 11:32 AM, Thomas Fledrich wrote:
>> A strong state means less freedom for the
>> individual, be it in education (like a ban on home schooling),
>> artificial scarcity in the size of available land by declaring most of
>> it a non-housing zone or en even stronger states making it very
>> difficult to get the means to communicate to the outside world and
>> voice an opinion that is not in line with the state-endorsed way of
>> thinking.
> >
>> On the other hand, a weak government means wealthy people might just
>> take their place and do the same based on property laws.
>
> Yes, and we have a lot of that now, and it is a problem with
> Propertarian libertarianism. Although some libertarians argue that
> without a state enforcing lots of laws, it is hard for any one entity to
> accumulate a lot of property and power.
> http://www.google.com/search?q=libertarian+concentration+of+wealth
>
> From:
> http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2262075548&topic=5192&_fb_noscript=1
> "There is an important difference. Liberal egalitarians hold that both
> genetic talents and society's resources may be redistributed to achieve
> a particular pattern of equality. Left-libertarians hold that give each
> person is a self-owner and thus has a natural right to profit from the
> exercise of any talents which he or she has. However, the right to
> genetic talents does not extend to a right to a greater share of
> undeveloped, natural resources. Consequently, all people should be given
> an equal share of these resources. Any inequalities which develop from
> this distribution of unowned resources are perfectly justifiable from a
> left-libertarian perspective. In contrast, a liberal egalitarian would
> say that we should continually redistribute to preserve a pattern of
> equality. Left-libertarians set up an initially equal distribution of
> resources but then accept any inequalities which flow from that initial
> distribution."
>
> Note by the way a "genetic" model of ability here that ignores
> parenting, the effect of class and family wealth (which may be inherited
> generations back to original land "thieves"), and so on.
>
> Also from there: "The other, potentially bigger issue, is wealth
> concentration. As even more capitalisty left-libertarians like Roderick
> Long admit, corporate capitalism is a result of rent-seeking by
> concentrated special interests. Thus, we need to be concerned about
> eliminating the potential that any aristocracy can form. Thus, we can't
> scoff at progressive taxation. We also need to build organizational and
> technological models that allow for effective decentralized organization
> to prevent concentrated wealth from overpowering an apathetic masses.
> However, the decentralized structures will even crumble if the
> concentration of wealth grows too much.... and when radical life
> extension starts that potential problem grows even larger."
>
> But then another reply is:
> "There aren't any guarantees, in any system, whether statist or
> anarchist, but any potential for plutocracy can only be magnified by the
> state."
>
> Which brings one back to a question of what sort of state? What sort of
> constitution? Or what interpretation of the constitution we already have
> in the USA (or some other country)?
>
>> One solution
>> for this is to keep the means for defense distributed in the whole of
>> society, so no elite group will be able to enforce their demands past
>> a certain point where people become really upset. So if they're any
>> smart they won't try to.
>
> I can see how you can't talk about "ownership" without talking about the
> means (cultural or military) by which "ownership" will be enforced.
>
> It's actually a common criticism of people advocating for social change
> that they often assume some part of the old order when talking about a
> new one. So, for example, people implicitly tend to assume the phones
> keep working and the police keep showing up for domestic violence
> situations the way they currently do when talking about anarchism. :-)
> It's hard to think about how basic social processes in a different
> paradigm without slipping into just assuming past processes continue,
> like ignoring copper thieves.
>
> Historically in the USA what you suggest has been part of the culture --
> things like the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US
> Constitution to keep the potentially tyrannical power of government in
> check.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
>
> But personally I do not feel that small arms or whatever other locally
> violent things people may try to use to "resist tyranny" are an
> important aspect of this social process anymore in the 21st century
> (especially given how outgunned and out-organized the general public is
> by professionals), and so I think a Gandhi-like approach to focus on a
> shift in social consciousness to go with a different notion of the
> economy is a better idea.
>
> One can make a different sort of argument as well, that a lot of these
> issues get decided by who the professional military and police
> ultimately decides to support in a widespread social conflict, but I
> think it comes down to the same thing -- a shift in social consciousness
> among that leadership, a shift which will likely lag by a decade or more
> what is going on in the rest of the society. Ultimately, when the police
> force or military is made up of people who have solar panels on their
> roofs (or maybe Mr. Fusion in their basements) and a 3D printer in their
> kitchen, then they just are not going to be as inclined to want to die
> in wars over oil in the Middle East and they will be less likely to want
> to imprison people for talking about new useful things to print out in
> 3D printers. And also, with solar panels and 3D printers, such people
> are going to be less dependent on their jobs for "income" and so will
> feel they have more options for dissent (even within a hierarchy there
> are degrees of compliance). We don't quite see that with music sharing
> (police who grew up listening to downloaded music may still enforce RIAA
> demands), but I think that ultimately, with changes related to 3D
> printing and robotics and so on, we may see a bigger paradigm shift.
> Maybe that is more of a hope than a certainty (some people may always be
> martinets), but it's the best hope I can offer.
>
> Why do I think a Gandhi-like movement is a better idea?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi
>
> To begin with, I agree with this:
> "Social Movements and Strategic Nonviolence"
> http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/change/science_nonviolence.html
> "For current-day egalitarians, a commitment to the freedoms and
> democratic procedures won by past egalitarians can provide the primary
> foundation for the practice of nonviolence, although some of them also
> draw upon their religious values as well. This democratic commitment has
> the added virtue of narrowing the gap between egalitarians and
> mainstream liberals. In addition, a nonviolence orientation can be
> sustained by the knowledge that it helps to keep the egalitarian
> movement itself more democratic; it ensures that violence-prone
> dominators will not take over the movement and subvert its democratic
> aims. As many historical cases suggest, the most violent people soon
> rise to the top once the possibility of violence is introduced, and they
> often use their loyal followers to intimidate or kill rivals.
> ... Violence-prone activists sometimes like to claim they are merely
> retaliating against violence by the police, which they think people will
> understand and even applaud as justifiable self-protection. Some
> activists also believe that standing up to the police will inspire
> others to join them because they have shown they are serious about
> challenging the system. However, as polls taken after such incidents
> show, most people do not accept these rationales. They do not like to
> hear of extreme reactions by the police, but they tend to blame the
> demonstrators, even when the police are the primary instigators. Thus,
> it is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong, or about which side
> started it. It is a matter of whether physical confrontations are
> effective in gaining adherents, and it seems clear that they are not."
>
> So, if your main goal is to bring as many people into a movement like
> open manufacturing as possible, including people involved in law
> enforcement, the intelligence services, the military, and so on, then
> killing lots of people (or threatening to do so), especially killing the
> buddies of professional security people, seems like a really bad idea.
> Violence is just going to harden the opinion of law enforcement and, in
> general, turn the bulk of the population away from any movement.
>
> Even I get squirmy when I see some activist being impolite at some
> political event or some board meeting even when I totally agree with the
> point being made -- it just feels wrong in our society. Sure, it's good
> that there are people standing up for something, telling past-President
> Bush or whoever that he has done illegal things for oil profits or
> whatever, or telling a town planning board it is selling out to Walmart
> or whatever, but ultimately, it's not really moving us forward as a
> country. It just becomes a big focus of energy, with often not much
> results but a hardening of hearts (based on cognitive dissonance).
> "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs,
> Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts"
> http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0151010986
>
> What might make more of a difference than protests is people getting to
> know their neighbors and talking about alternatives to oil use like
> helping each other insulate their homes better or discussing EVs like
> the Chevy Volt vs. the Nissan Leaf or talking about vegan recipes, and
> people getting elected to town planning boards, and things like that.
> More ideas in that direction by me:
> "Rebutting Communiqué from an Absent Future (was Re: Information on
> student protests)"
> http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-November/006005.html
>
> Even in Iraq, what have, say, IEDs really accomplished as far as making
> Iraq a better place? They seem to just be used to justify further
> occupation by the USA. Some soldier sees his (or her) buddy get blown up
> just driving along and then feels emotionally justified in killing lots
> of Iraqis as pay-back -- that's only human, even if it might violate the
> code of war. Eventually, years from now, the violence in Iraq will end
> when everyone gets tired of the death and bloodshed, some sort of civil
> order will be restored, and non-violent cultural change processes will
> reassert themselves, and the US power structure there will eventually be
> rejected. If Iraq was "peaceful", how long would the mandate last in the
> USA for having a lot of expensive soldiers there? A couple of months?
> Obama would declare victory, pull most of the troops, and in a couple
> years Iraq would go its own way. Same for Afghanistan.
>
> A lot of politically-motivated violence in the USA, given the fragmented
> partisanship of Blue and Red, might also potentially make it like Iraq,
> or like Northern Ireland in the past. We would be much more likely to
> see Democrats vs. Republicans instead of the "elite" vs. "the people".
> (That's part of a "divide and conquer" strategy to begin with to the
> extent an elite is organized.) Clearly there is little social consensus
> in the USA about some of the basics of government as far as some
> policies (even if most people want single payer health care, or relief
> for the poor, and organic food, and the end of overseas wars, and so
> on). One might point to decades of propaganda (by a variety of sides)
> that have made it that way, as well as, through industrialization and
> bad policy, decades of malnutrition and vitamin D deficiency (as well as
> exposure to toxins from poorly made products) that have made the bulk of
> the US population crazy or depressed. But if that's the way it is,
> that's the way it is, and adding widespread violence to that mix
> probably is not going to make anything better IMHO.
>
> What will make things better?
>
> I think we need to get at the roots of some of these issues, and that
> connects back with "ownership" issues and open manufacturing. So, we
> need to get the population healthier (eating more vegetables and fruits,
> more exercise, better sleep, adequate vitamin D, adequate omega-3s,
> enough B vitamins, etc.) in part more engagement with their local areas
> and home gardens and local farmers and creating local walking paths (see
> "Blue Zones" for some ideas). And we need to have better products and
> infrastructure with less toxins (in part through open manufacturing or
> broader initiatives like NIST's SLIM project). And we need to have
> people see a better paradigm as to what is possible both by theory and
> practice (open manufacturing, open source software, 3D printing, open
> content, a bigger gift economy, and so on). And the wonderful thing is,
> it is indeed all happening, even if it would be hard to tell if you only
> watch the mainstream media:
> http://www.blessedunrest.com/
>
> A basic income would help too, and as I suggest here we already are
> spending enough on welfare to have one in the USA with not new taxes:
>
> http://econfuture.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/will-a-college-education-be-worth-the-investment-in-the-future/#comment-438
> "Essentially, between schooling and social security and welfare, about a
> third or so of the US population is already having the equivalent of a
> "basic income" worth of money spent on their behalf. From
> usgovernmentspending.com it is for the 2010 fiscal year $1026 billion
> for education, $762 billion for welfare, and (from Wikipedia) $678
> billion on Social Security. Together, that is $2466 billion. That is
> enough for a basic income (with no needs test or age requirement) of
> about US$8,000 per year per person for about 310 million US citizens.
> Health care for all could be covered by the additional trillion dollars
> or so already spend in the USA for Medicare/Medicaid by switching it to
> a less costly single-payer model or some other universal coverage
> system. For a family of four, that would be US$32,000 a year to live off
> of (in addition to full sick care benefits). That would be tight, but
> such people could also do other things in their spare time (take jobs,
> run a business, save money by making things themselves including with 3D
> printers or organic gardens, and so on).
> Also, without a need for a job, people could live in a cheaper rural
> area with more access to land for a garden and so on. Many families of
> four in the USA do already live off of about this level of income — but
> usually they are working multiple minimum wage jobs to do so, so having
> this income but not having to work 80 hours a week for it would free up
> a lot of time to make other improvements in their life. People could
> also plan with more confidence, knowing they would always have that
> basic income, so they could do things like work towards becoming
> artists, or mimes, or novelists, or free software developers from a
> young age, without their parents saying, how are you going to make a
> living at that? [fixed typos]"
>
> We might then wan to think about making our rural areas prettier:
> "Rural Area Depopulation is in part Due to Lack of Surrounding Natural
> Beauty"
> http://bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.com/2010/11/rural-area-depopulation-is-in-part-due.html
>
> As well as maybe having better to recycle stuff:
> "Burkhard Bilger, A Reporter at Large, "Nature's Spoils""
> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/22/101122fa_fact_bilger
>
> I've recently been reading parts of Treasure Island, the Algebraist, and
> a Bolo story (where a bolo defends "Camelot" from pirates) to my kid
> (who has a current interest in armed conflict and pirates), plus I've
> been rereading some parts of Iain Banks's Culture Novel "Excession" to
> myself.
>
> If you think about the meaning of some of those sorts of stories, with
> some sort of violent conflict woven into them, as well as a book like
> Voyage from Yesteryear, they do tend to make a point that a group of
> people collectively can be powerful. They usually make that point by
> saying the group can make or use weapons. What wins in some such stories
> tends to be either extreme individual effort or broad collective effort.
> In some, there is a swashbuckling fanatical Robin Hood-like commitment
> to the common good by one individual or a small group of such
> individuals (usually aided by some personal friends in indirect ways).
> This is as opposed to the what happens to those committed to greed or
> cruelty, where such advocates have poor communications and commitment
> among their subordinates who all go skulking off in the end because they
> can't take the heat or are just lazy. The champions just happen to be
> really good soldiers in some way (Luke Skywalker practiced shooting
> "Womp rats"). Or, alternatively, what wins is the fact that a whole
> bunch of people (the general populace) who have banded together for a
> common cause and who essentially intimidate a small number of elite
> rulers, usually lead by some charismatic individual or group. Of course,
> that is often how big groups go bad, too -- charisma (think Hitler who
> was very charismatic for his time and place).
>
> Those make good stories, but I can wonder if the reality we face today
> is very different. In the 21st century, we face a reality where the
> central problem is that we already devote so much of our society to
> guarding (like Bob Black mentions in "The Abolition of Work"). If we
> want to move beyond that guarding paradigm, it would seem that violence
> will just increase the amount of energy going into excessive guarding.
> As long as the general populace believes in the value of widespread
> guarding as a great use of public energy, then not much will change. But
> how do you convince people of excessive guarding as a waste by making
> them more afraid? I won't argue that we need no "security" (even if that
> means some guarding), but certainly we can discuss the amount and the
> approach -- like intrinsic security vs. extrinsic security, and mutual
> security vs. unilateral security.
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
>
> One might argue that a major reason for open manufacturing in the USA is
> precisely because it makes us more secure. That is because it most
> effectively mutually and intrinsically guards our life-support systems
> to have them, say, in the hands of local communities than people living
> in China (manufactured goods) or the Middle East (energy) or Africa (raw
> materials). So, I think one can have productive discussions about open
> manufacturing and how it relates to national security, but those are
> going to be different discussions than ones about, say, printing guns.
>
> Of those stories, Voyage From Yesteryear might be the healthiest take on
> all that. I think, if anything, like in Voyage from Yesteryear, or Iain
> Banks' writings, one might see that war making in an advanced culture is
> something some people might be good at, but generally in a hobbyist sort
> of way incidental to the mainstream bulk of what the culture does (by
> hobbyist I don't mean unprofessional -- a lot of hobbyist can be more
> serious than professionals).
>
> That situation is certainly not what we have in the USA at the moment
> where so much money is shunted into "Defense" (which is really defense
> of privilege as a "racket" according to Smedley Butler). And it's a very
> different situation where individuals with small arms (even in small
> groups) are very focused on the notion that their guns can somehow
> protect them as individuals or small groups from huge bureaucracies
> backed by millions strong police and military who would glory in the
> chance to do battle as a unit against someone they though of as a wacko
> or wackos with handguns, and who also would not rest until there was
> vengeance done against somebody if one of their own buddies falls.
>
> Anyway, there is a "war" going on in a sense even right now. It's just a
> more subtle one than one waged with bullets. :-) And "war" is not even
> the right metaphor, because it is more about transcending conflict than
> triumphing at it. Related:
> "James P. Carse, Religious War In Light of the Infinite Game, SALT talk"
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-962221125884493114#
>
> As Isaac Asimov had his character Salvor Hardin say: "Violence is the
> last refuge of the incompetent."
>
> The fact is, refusal to cooperate with certain mainstream trends as well
> as cooperation to bring about alternative other trends would be far more
> effective than any gun play that just justifies more invasive body
> scanners at airports, or now, as is proposed, train terminals, bus
> lines, subways, and so on.
>
> Consider:
> "Next step for tight security could be trains, boats, metro "
> http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/130549-next-step-for-body-scanners-could-be-trains-boats-and-the-metro-
>
> See also the racket aspect of promoting fear:
> "Fear Pays: Chertoff, Ex-Security Officials Slammed For Cashing In On
> Government Experience"
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html
>
> Which is just another aspect of this:
> "War is a Racket"
> http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
>
> So, we as a society ironically take all the material resources and
> social energy that could go into building a better world of abundance
> for everyone and use them to implement a security state with scanners
> everywhere implementing artificial scarcity. All the social energy that
> could go into building a better world instead just goes into opposing
> all that, and then if the conflict descends into gunplay, we just see
> more scanners, and so on.
>
> So, I'd suggest that more violence is only going to accelerate that
> trend. Even the threat of it just justifies more trouble. As I suggest here:
> http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/msg/ae28e8971f8f9669?hl=en
> "My advice to people here is to build movements in such a way that the
> CIA can be proud of them :-) as well as so Smári and Bryan and others
> here can be proud of them too. :-) And, given the CIA is hiring
> machinists, build a movement where, in a good way, you assume everyone
> in it is working for the CIA, :-) but where you still get important
> stuff done in moving the world towards a post-scarcity open future. Just
> like people should assume Google is a division of the NSA and/or CIA.
> :-) An impossible task? Well, consider it more like a creative
> challenge. :-) "
>
> Some recent stuff I've written along that line, too:
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-dealing-with-social-hurricanes.html
>
> I'm not saying that, say, the current airport gropedowns and irradiation
> are not a problem. I've already turned down chances to go and talk at
> two conferences in the past year (where someone else would pay my way)
> because it would entail flying. I think the security theater there is an
> embarrassment for our society.
>
> Ultimately, this will only change when we all rise up and... *vote* for
> different policies either in the voting booth, with our dollars, or with
> our time and other resources. Even if electronic voting machines were
> rigged, we can still vote with our time and volunteerism. Let's just
> skip the whole "and now everyone shoots everyone else bit" and move
> straight "and what do we do now that the shooting is over bit?" :-)
>
> Ultimately, we need to wage the peace. :-)
>
> And ideally, that is what open manufacturing, FOSS, and so on as a broad
> movement is mostly doing. :-)
> "Study Reports On Debian Governance, Social Organization"
> http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/14/1349202
>
> I don't think an elite is that worried about, say, 3D printers printing
> out handguns or even DIY-Bio making disease stuff, because it all just
> justifies a stronger national security state, which means their role in
> this world is strengthened further.
>
> From that Huffington Post article:
> "Chertoff, who is a frequent guest on cable news, often touts security
> proposals and technologies that align with the interests of or are
> manufactured by his clients. He recently told CNBC that he'd like to see
> "more investment in bio-security" because "I think we are beginning to
> lag a little behind in terms of being able to respond to biological
> threats." The Chertoff Group has invested in BioNeutral, a biotech
> startup based in New Jersey that is developing technology to combat
> dangerous microorganisms. In a relatively rare disclosure, Chertoff
> acknowledged in the interview that "we do represent companies that make
> sensors and technology of that sort.""
>
> It is only when we use all those post-scarcity technologies to build
> some positive optimistic abundant healthy alternatives with all that
> technology that we will see those forces of greed and fear fade away.
>
> And the biggest issue there is people taking ownership of their own time
> to use it for worthwhile post-scarcity ends.
>
> --Paul Fernhout
> http://www.pdfernhout.net/
> ====
> The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies
> of abundance in the hands of those thinking in terms of scarcity.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Open Manufacturing" group.
> To post to this group, send email to openmanufacturing@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to openmanufacturing+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing?hl=en.
>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
