bm242 The Effect of Television on People

Throughout the world, television is still a constant companion for millions, if not billions, of people. Yet in the age of the internets and iphones, there seems to be little discussion in the media about the significant effects TV has on the human brain and creativity in general.

 Mitch Altman likes to be provocative and he loves tricking people into choosing to do that which they actually WANT to do versus what television or groups of people tell them to do.  His invention, the TV-B-Gone has become a global phenomenon, and in this podcast we talk about why the television could and should be turned off, and how brain waves work.  We also get into the effects of television on children, the importance of meditation, and much more.

Video of my Talk at 24C3

Here is a link to the video of my speech at the 24C3. It is about an hour including questions, if you’re curious what I said and what it was like, watch some of it. If you like the first minutes, watch the rest. I won’t be putting this in the feed as a podcast, full credit to the CCC for putting it up so quick this year. The direct link to the video is here.

On that site you can also see a list of speeches from the conference, shop around, you might enjoy. I’ll be checking out Hacker Spaces and The Voting Computers sessions as I missed those and I know they’re good.

bmtv69 Highlights from 24C3

Last weekend I attended the annual hacker congress in Berlin. As usual, being surrounded by some of the world’s most brilliant and creative minds left me inspired, enlightened, and exhausted. This vlog only captures about 1/10 of the interesting things that took place during the congress, these are my video highlights.

Click To Play

Canadian Military and the Arctic

Hitched a ride with some kind Amsterdam hackers and made it home from Berlin after another wonderful visit. Before leaving I got to spend some more time with both Mitch Altman who brought you the TV-B-Gone, and Emmanuel of 2600. I recorded podcasts with both of them, and during our conversations we did come back to the topic which I raised at the conference, the Arctic Cold War.

Currently I’m looking more into Canada’s role and their plan for the part of the arctic that they claim. What is often referred to as the Northwest Passage, is the route that goes right over Canada and could make for a good connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific, because of the fast melting of the arctic ice. Canada claims that the Northwest Passage is their sovereign territory, despite the fact that part of it is in the arctic which is supposed to be international territory. They also reject claims from nations, such as the US, that say it is an international crossing or an international straight, and can therefore not be considered property of Canada.

Why does this matter so much? As I said in my talk, among the reasons, the destruction of the planet hangs in the balance. Nations like Russia, Canada, and even the US, have mobilized military resources and dedicated money for new military forces to patrol, oversee, and be positioned in the arctic to show some kind of control or claim over territory. Canada itself has carried out excercises and dedicated a military force that, according to the prime minister, will defend Canada’s sovereign territory in the arctic. Note the term – DEFEND!

As I explore Canada’s military statements and websites, there is an odd mix of friendliness and willingness to use the military is this game to gain control of the arctic. I’m gathering a few military videos and statistics on their activities and will put them out in a video entry shortly. But one thing is already clear, there is something very disturbing when nations not only try to claim what is supposed to be international territory that has such great importance to the future of the planet, but when they also use weapons and soldiers in some twisted effort to support that claim by exhibiting a willingness to use deadly force.

bm241 Making Better Use of the United Nations

Lots of governments and supranational organizations like the UN have websites, yet few are really understandable or usable for the average person. At the 24C3 in Berlin this past weekend, I sat down with Julian from undemocracy.com . His work has helped create a place on the internet where anyone can search, link, and read about who said what at the United Nations, in order to better understand what our nations are doing on the international level.

We Discuss:

  • The problems with the regular UN website
  • Documents, votes, statements
  • Searchability, linkability
  • What was necessary to create undemocracy.com
  • connections with wikipedia
  • His UK parliamentary project, http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/
  • NExt steps
  • Appeal to the public

In the New Year, MAke Changes.

Berlin parties too hard.

Podcasts, vlogs, and words will be here soon. In the meantime, reflect on 07, prepare for 08, and hopefully this year, the world takes a step forward for the first time in a long time.