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The leadership of the House of Representatives is attempting to legalize the torture of suspected terrorists by adding an amendment to the “9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act of 2004”, and this isn’t getting the kind of attention it needs.

Please take a moment to contact your representative and raise your voice against this amendment, and support Rep. Edward Markey’s counter-amendment [PDF] which will revoke this atrocity.

Below is the message I sent to my rep.

Sections 3032 and 3033 of H.R. 10, the “9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act of 2004,” will legitimize the torture of detainees by allowing the United States to deport them to countries which allow and support torture. The sections specifically call for the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue new regulations to exclude from the protection of the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, any suspected terrorist.

All of this is buried in a bill to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which called upon the U.S. to “offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be generous and caring to our neighbors.”

Representative Edward Markey will be offering an amendment to H.R. 10 which will strike the pro-torture provisions from the bill. As your constituent I implore you to support Rep. Markey’s amendment and take a strong stand against torture, a stand which will go a long way in lifting the United States above the terrorist groups it fights against.

[via]

Posted at 5:45 pm.
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The University of Illinois at Chicago unveiled a new, more powerful MRI machine earlier this week. Today’s standard MRI machines are rated at 1.5 tesla, with the new one clocking in at an astounding 9.4 tesla, more than 100,000 times as powerful as the magnetic field of the Earth.

At their measly 1.5 tesla, modern clinical MRI machines can only image water molecules, which means that only anatomical changes can be measured. The new machines can detect signals from sodium, phosphorus, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, allowing doctors and researchers to measure the physical components of thought. The physical affects of just about any stimulus, from drugs to injuries to dreams, can now be measured and examined down to the most miniscule of levels.

This is terribly exciting news.

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Posted at 3:37 pm.
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Ghost in the Shell: Innocence was released in the United States yesterday, and I’m going to go check it out this Sunday with my father. We’ve revived an old tradition of ours where we go and see a movie and get some lunch once a week.

He hadn’t seen the original so I gave him a homework assignment to rent it so he could catch up. He was able to find it on DVD at Blockbuster and wrote me a short email notifiying me that he had completed his assignment and asking what I found so interesting about the film. My father answered his own question, and my response is highlighted.

Hello Son,

Besides making me want to order the life-size, inflatable doll of the Major what is all the excitment about? Excellent philosophical treatise, great cyborgs, weapons, and vehicles… and of course the animation was quite good… but what is luring you back to the theater to see the sequel?

Love,
Dad

Posted at 2:48 pm.
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Hello boys and girls. You are receiving this email because you are, like myself, an open-minded music lover. Also, most of you were previously privy to my now-discontinued Workplace Condition Memos (thanks for coming up with the concept and subject line, McD) at Our Place of Work (known locally as “This Fucking Place”).

But being open minded and loving music do not an extensive and meticulously metatagged music collection make, however. That’s where I come in. You see, while you are out “living life” and “making friends”, I’m busy finding new music, downloading it, running it through an elaborate metadata process (I’ll have the IA done soon, I swear) and, finally, listening to and enjoying it. I do all this so you don’t have to.

Alas, increased security and scrutiny of hard drives at That Fucking Place have caused me to stop sending out the Workplace Conditions Memo. This has bothered me quite a bit, because not only do I enjoy finding and listening to new music, I love sharing it my friends (and writing witty little micro-reviews of the albums).

Now, thanks to the Power Of The Internet, the Memos can continue! And this time we don’t have to hide behind a fake subject line! In this rebirth of the Memo, we will be using BitTorrent in lieu of a network drive. If you wish to participate in this fun little act of sharing you will need to download and install a BitTorrent client. Don’t worry, it’s as boring as it sounds, but it’s easy.

[snip boring instructions]

If you want out of this list, please let me know and you’ll be forever banned, shunned, never to know exciting new music forever and ever.

And now, without further delay, is the Release!

Björk’s newest album, Medúlla, is an experiment in the human voice. Almost the entire album is composed of nothing but people’s voices, digitally manipulated, forming the beats and melodies. The result is positively sparkling! Vocal beat smiths Rahzel, Shlomo and Dokaka provide the rhythmic underpinnings (with help from Mark Bell’s expert programming), and Mike Patton and two, count ‘em two, choirs fill in behind Björk’s unmistakable screams and sighs. All in all, a triumph and a joy to listen to. Highlights: Where is the Line, Oceania, Mouth’s Cradle.

CocoRosie, a Parisian duo comprised of sisters Sierra and Bianca Cassidy, have produced something very unique with their album La Maison de Mon Reve. Filled with strange samples, staggering beats and hard-panned vocal tracks, La Maison de Mon Reve is an album I’ve yet to put a genre to. Think Fog meets Beth Gibbons meets Mazzy Star meets Beck. Seriously. Highlights: Terrible Angels, Good Friday, Candyland.

Frou Frou works in the tried-and-true formula of sultry female vocals over groovy beats and basslines ala Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba, Portishead and Lamb, although Details lacks the instrumental imagination of the latter two. Moments spent in a more uptempo range keep things interesting. Good stuff for driving around with the windows down on a beautiful day. Highlights: Let Go, Must be Dreaming, Hear Me Out.

Oh, sweet heaven above, a new Mouse on Mars album! Radical Connector marks the return of this German duo with more vocals, more danceability, but with that all too familiar, squeaky, Mouse on Mars thing. I am one happy camper. Highlights: Wipe that Sound, Send Me Shivers, The End. Thrown in for good measure is their 1995 release Iaora Tahiti, the album that turned me on to these guys in the first place. So much perfection in a second effort.

Pest, a group of five Londoners coming out of Ninja Tune, produce the kind of uplifting and interesting electronic music that is so sorely lacking these days. Necessary Measures is filled with so much groove and so much life that I’ve had to get up and shake my money maker three times while writing these few short sentences. Highlights: Chicken Spit, Duke Kerb Crawler, Heard Yer Bird Moved In.

Rilo Kiley is a band’s band. These kids freaking breath music. Just look at the catalog. Not only have they released three full lengths as a group, but singer Jenny Lewis sang on The Postal Service’s album Give Up and toured with them, drummer Jason Boesel recorded with Bright Eyes and singer/guitarist Blake Sennett recorded, released and toured for his solo act, The Elected. (Which is really good. You should really listen to it. Yes, I’m talking to you, Mandi.) But did all this stop them from coming back together to put out another Rilo Kiley album? Well, if it had you wouldn’t be reading this little missive, now would you? More Adventurous is filled with alt-country indie rock goodness. If you don’t get out of your seat and dance to Portions for Foxes then I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to tell me only the good things about your mother. Highlights: Portions for Foxes, Accidental Deth, Love and War. Also included is their previous release, The Execution of All Things. I haven’t listened to that one nearly as much, so I don’t have nearly as much to say about it.

Jazzy, downtempo, groovy. What more could you want from an album, right? Zero7 (with or without a space? The Internet can’t decide either) dishes it out in generous portions on Simple Things. With an opening bassline that sounds straight from Air’s Moon Safari, producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker slip track after track under the radar of a cluttered life. This is music that sneaks up on you. It’d give you a foot massage if it had hands. Highlights: Polaris, In the Waiting Line, Out of Town. I’ve thrown in the bonus CD as, well, a bonus. Remixes and whatnot.

Posted at 12:30 pm.
3 Comments