Konformist Book Club: Hard Target

From HowardGordon.com:

Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon's source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. When their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him, Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman — newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon — to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved.

Together, Gideon and Tillman expose the audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy's support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled.

Touchstone, January 2012
ISBN-10: 1439175829
ISBN-13: 978-1439175828

Amazon URL:

http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Target-ebook/dp/B004T4KRBU/thekonformist

It Was a Pleasure to Burn...

Robalini's Note: This story is important, at the least symbolically. While Amazon has never come out and said it, the name of their e-book reader (Kindle) and their new Tablet (Kindle Fire) pay homage to Bradbury's classic tale and are litkely a tribute. Thanks to Amazon (and Barnes & Noble, as well as the Internet itself) we live in an age where literal paper books may eventually become a relic of the past...

Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' is released as e-book
Carolyn Kellogg
November 29, 2011
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/11/simon-schuster-releases-ray-bradburys-fahrenheit-451-as-an-ebook.html

Simon & Schuster released an e-book edition of Ray Bradbury's science fiction classic "Fahrenheit 451" on Tuesday. First published in 1953, "Fahrenheit 451" is a dystopia in which reading is banned and it is the job of firefighters to burn books. 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns.

The irony of releasing an e-book edition of a novel built around the death of print books was not lost on Bradbury, which is why he resisted the e-book idea. The Associated Press reports that the author was dismissive of the form, saying that e-books "smell like burned fuel." Bradbury, a noted futurist who at one time was a consultant for NASA, told the New York Times in 2009 that the Internet is "meaningless; it's not real.... It's in the air somewhere."

But the 91-year-old author has since changed his mind -- about e-books, at least. Hence "451" is available to digital readership.

“It’s a rare and wonderful opportunity to continue our relationship with this beloved and canonical author and to bring his works to new a generation of readers and in new formats,” Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp said in an announcement.

"Fahrenheit 451" has sold more than 10 million copies. It has been published in 33 languages in 38 countries and has never gone out of print. Simon & Schuster will also release a new paperback version of the novel in January, followed by new paperback editions of Bradbury's short story collections "The Marian Chronicles" and "The Illustrated Man" in March. “We are honored to be the champion of these classic works,” Karp said.

The e-book edition of "Fahrenheit 451" is now on sale for $9.99 from all major e-book retailers. It may be the perfect book to read on your Kindle Fire.

New Book: When the World Outlawed War

31 October 2011
http://davidswanson.org/outlawry

Publication date: Monday, November 7, 2011

This is a masterful account of how people in the United States and around the world worked to abolish war as a legitimate act of state policy and won in 1928, outlawing war with a treaty that is still on the books. Swanson's account of the successful work of those who came before us to insist that war be outlawed points us toward new ways of thinking about both war and political activism.

Buy the paperback at 100Fires, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, other sellers, or your local independent bookstore, which can order it through Ingram. (The list price is $15.)

(If you order from Amazon it will ship right away even if Amazon says it won't ship for weeks; it is print-on-demand.)

Or you can get 10 copies for $60, or 50 copies for $200, or more (all with free shipping) here.

Donate free books to nonprofit educational groups here.

Buy the iPad/iPhone version at the iBookstore.

"David Swanson is a truth-teller and witness-bearer whose voice and action warrant our attention." — Cornel West.

“David Swanson has written a fascinating account of how peace once became the law of the land, through the Kellogg-Briand Pact. It is particularly pertinent in the era of the Endless War, by giving encouragement and suggestions of a path forward to those who want to give peace a chance.” — Liz Holtzman, former member of the U.S. Congress.

"David Swanson has done it again with this new book – unearthing history they don’t tell you about in mainstream media." — Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR and author of Cable News Confidential.

"David Swanson brings his laser focus, brilliant writing, and incredible intelligence to bear in this book, where he makes the case that the Kellogg-Briand Pact was a major step -- as yet unrecognized -- on the path towards eliminating war. He tells a wonderful story, shines light on the unknown peace activists who refused to be deterred by what was considered possible or reasonable, and makes a compelling analogy with slavery -- like war, a worldwide activity deemed unstoppable -- and like war, an immoral crime that must be ended. I have been active in the antiwar movement from Vietnam through Iraq. I have done political work for some of the most antiwar candidates of the modern era -- McGovern, Jackson, Nader, Kucinich. I have marched and petitioned, organized and strategized, and played a part in peace demonstrations from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to London and New York. And I am a history buff. But until I read David Swanson's book, I had never heard this story before -- and certainly never understood why it was important." — Steve Cobble, former political director of the National Rainbow Coalition, advisor to Jackson, Nader, and Kucinich presidential campaigns

“Swanson has done it again. This is a masterful account of how Americans and people around the world worked to abolish war as a legitimate act of state policy and won. Swanson’s account of the successful work of those who came before us to insist that war be outlawed compels us today to rethink the cost and morality of cynical or weary inaction in the face of our repeated resort to military threats and warfare to achieve policy goals.” — Jeff Clements, Author of Corporations Are Not People.

"David Swanson's fascinating new history of the development of the much neglected campaign in the 1920s to outlaw war has many lessons for anti-war activists today. An essential read." — Andrew Burgin, Stop the War Coalition.

"David Swanson predicates his belief that nonviolence can change the world on careful research and historical analysis. This compelling and wonderfully readable narrative examines pacifist developments in the U.S., dating back to the 1920s. Swanson then examines contemporary anti-war efforts. He writes from a particularly advantageous perspective because he is firmly rooted in plans and actions designed to put an end to war. Drawing from historical examples of success and failure, he help readers imagine achieving the U.N.’s eloquent mandate: 'to eliminate the scourge of war.'" — Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

“From Daybreak to War Is A Lie to When the World Outlawed War to a prodigious number of essays (and that’s just since the ’08 election) David Swanson combines the timeliest scholarship and logical elegance in a call to action: ‘to learn how to enjoy working for the moral good for its own sake.’” — John Heuer, Veterans for Peace.

“One of the best ways to radicalize someone’s thinking is to force the person to look at a cherished ideal in a fundamentally new way. David Swanson does that with War, an ideal cherished by too many Americans. Can the United States ever be weaned from its love affair with war — Endless War? This book provides the background for dealing with that question.” — William Blum, author of Killing Hope, and of Freeing the World to Death.

“How many Americans know that an American peace movement in the 1920s mobilized millions of people, and eventually the U.S. government, to get the world’s major powers to formally renounce war? Or that the Kellogg-Briand Pact is still on the books making our current leaders guilty of the same crime that we hung people for at Nuremberg? It’s time for a little education! David Swanson has written a wonderfully well-documented history of a time when Americans discovered their own power to organize and impact their government on the most vital issue facing the world, then and now: the abolition of war.” — Nicolas Davies, author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.

“Polls show a large majority of U.S. citizens oppose current U.S. wars, but many Americans’ reluctance to engage in antiwar activism is in part due to their sense of impotence at having any impact on their own government. This book tells the story of how the highly energized Peace Movement in the 1920s, supported by an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens from every level of society, was able to push politicians into something quite remarkable — the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. The 1920s War Outlawry movement was so popular that most politicians could not afford to oppose it. If any one piece of American history can re-energize the American people to again push their politicians, then this book can do it.” — Bruce E. Levine, author of Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite.

“‘Ahhh, peace, that would be so nice,’ an Afghan grandmother whispered after recounting how 30 years of war had devastated her family. The world community has failed her miserably, as it has failed so many millions from the Congo to Iraq to Sri Lanka. But David Swanson’s book gives us a glimpse of another possible reality, a world that says no to war. By recounting the heroic efforts of a generation in the 1920s that actually did pass a treaty banning war, Swanson invites us to dream, to scheme and most important, to take action.” — Medea Benjamin, cofounder of CODEPINK.

“David Swanson is on a mission to end war. In his latest book he brings to life an important story about a time when a national peace movement raged across our nation. The media covered this movement, and members of Congress were active participants. Through this movement a treaty was signed that outlawed war. Sadly today few know about this significant moment in our history, but Swanson’s book will help change that.” — Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

Print ISBN 978-0-9830830-9-2

eBook ISBN 9781456605735

Please post your comments and reviews on book sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble...

Alien in Brazilian Rain Forest?

This is either one of the most stunning photos of aliens & UFOs ever found or one really well made hoax. we'll let you decide:

The Braz-alien rainforest: Is this creature pictured in the Amazon jungle a visitor from outer-space?
BSimon Tomlinson
21st October 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051796/Alien-filmed-Brazalian-rainforest-Is-creature-pictured-Amazon-outer-space.html

Is Amazon interested in buying WebOS from Hewlett-Packard?

September 30, 2011
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/amazon-is-latest-rumored-to-be-interested-in-buying-webos-from-hp-1.html

Amazon.com's Kindle Fire is a jump into the growing tablet market and a clear challenge to Apple's blockbuster ability to integrate hardware and software so seamlessly.

But what will Amazon's post-Fire moves look like as it seeks to build a major business in tablets, something only Apple has so far been able to pull off?

According to both VentureBeat and the New York Times site Deal Book, Amazon is considering buying the WebOS mobile operating system from the struggling Hewlett-Packard in a move to nab an OS of its own and to gain some mobile tech patents as well. Amazon officials were unavailable for comment on the rumors Friday.

Unlike Apple, Amazon doesn't own the software that will run on its tablet. Android is owned by Google, though Google shares its Android with the world at no cost and the version of Android that will run on the Fire is a build unique to Amazon.

But while Google doesn't charge for Android, others do. Microsoft, for example, is collecting royalties from Samsung for its use of Android and has agreements with other Android users, such as HTC, that pay Microsoft and/or call for shared patent portfolio licenses.

Google, known for its weak patent portfolio, is attempting to buy Motorola Mobility in both a move to help shore up its IP and get into the hardware business in a limited way.

HP bought Palm in April 2010 for $1.2 billion, mainly for WebOS, but in August the company gave up on making hardware for the operating system.

As pointed out by VentureBeat, HP has been eyeing Amazon as a possible partner for WebOS as far back as July, Jon Rubinstein, who was then leading HP's WebOS division, said in an interview with the website ThisIsMyNext. This was due to Amazon's potential to match WebOS with an ecosystem of content -- books, music, TV shows and movies.

Amazon Kindle Fire: $199

From Reuters.com:

The rock-bottom price of the new Kindle Fire tablet computer is raising questions about Amazon.com Inc's ability to keep up with demand and the device's effect on the company's already razor-thin profit margins.

Amazon's billionaire Chief Executive Jeff Bezos unveiled the Fire on Wednesday at a lower-than-expected price of $199.

Bezos said Amazon is making "millions" of the tablets, without being more specific. However, he urged customers to pre-order the device early.

"When Bezos quipped that people should get their pre-orders in quick, that wasn't just a sales pitch," said Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners. "That was him warning this will sell out."

When the first Kindle came out in 2007, Amazon hadn't made enough and the e-reader sold out in less than a week. That meant the company missed out on sales and got the device into fewer customers' hands, limiting quick adoption...

Amazon's $199 Fire sparks supply, margin questions
Alistair Barr
Fri Sep 30, 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/30/us-amazon-supply-idUSTRE78T04220110930

Virtual monkeys write Shakespeare

Practical experiments show monkeys have poor keyboard skills
26 September 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15060310

A few million virtual monkeys are close to re-creating the complete works of Shakespeare by randomly mashing keys on virtual typewriters.

A running total of how well they are doing shows that the re-creation is 99.990% complete.

The first single work to be completed was the poem A Lover's Complaint.

Set up by US programmer Jesse Anderson the project co-ordinates the virtual monkeys sitting on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing system via a home PC.

Mr Anderson said he started the project as a way to get to know the Hadoop programming tool better and to put Amazon's web services to the test.

It is also a practical test of the thought experiment that wonders whether an infinite number of monkeys pounding on an infinite number of typewriters would be able to produce Shakespeare's works by accident.

Mr Anderson's virtual monkeys are small computer programs uploaded to Amazon servers. These coded apes regularly pump out random sequences of text.

Each sequence is nine characters long and each is checked to see if that string of characters appears anywhere in the works of Shakespeare. If not, it is discarded. If it does match then progress has been made towards re-creating the works of the Bard.

To get a sense of the scale of the project, there are about 5.5 trillion different combinations of any nine characters from the English alphabet.

Mr Anderson's monkeys are generating random nine-character strings to try to produce all these strings and thereby find those that appear in Shakespeare's works.

Mr Anderson kicked off the project on 21 August using Amazon's cloud computers. Each day of virtual monkey keyboard mashing processing cost $19.20 (£12.40).

The project has been moved to a home PC to speed up text string generation and to cut the cost. To make the task even easier the text being sampled has had all the spaces and punctuation removed.

Mathematicians said the constraints Mr Anderson introduced to the project mean he will complete it in a reasonable amount of time.

Monkeys: More interested in throwing faeces than writing sonnets

"If he's running an evolutionary approach, holding on to successful guesses, then he'll get there," said Tim Harford, popular science writer and presenter of the BBC's radio show about numbers More or Less.

And without those constraints?

"Not a chance," said Dr Ian Stewart, emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick.

His calculations suggest it would take far, far longer than the age of the Universe for monkeys to completely randomly produce a flawless copy of the 3,695,990 or so characters in the works.

"Along the way there would be untold numbers of attempts with one character wrong; even more with two wrong, and so on." he said. "Almost all other books, being shorter, would appear (countless times) before Shakespeare did."

Earlier experiments have shown how difficult the task is. Wikipedia mentions a 2003 project that used computer programs to simulate a lot of monkeys randomly typing.

After the equivalent of billions and billions and billions of monkey years the simulated apes had only produced part of a line from Henry IV, Part 2.

Also in 2003, Paignton Zoo carried out a practical test by putting a keyboard connected to a PC into the cage of six crested macaques. After a month the monkeys had produced five pages of the letter "S" and had broken the keyboard.

From Apple to Vudu: 8 Netflix Alternatives Compared

Mike Isaac
September 21, 2011
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/09/netflix-alternatives

The curtain hasn't even opened on Netflix's new DVD-by-mail spin-off company Qwikster, and many customers are already walking out.

The company recently revised its quarterly projections of net subscribers to show 1 million fewer customers than it had previously expected. Much to Netflix's chagrin, folks are realizing that the king of mail-away media isn't the only game in town.

We've taken a look at some of Netflix's (and Qwikster's) main competitors, and judged each service accordingly. Do the rest offer enough to stand up to the best?

Netflix/Qwikster

Also known as Netflix: Redux. It's the same service we know and love, only completely different. Faced with massive customer backlash in the wake of a price hike, Netflix split itself into two separate companies this week. The streaming service will retain the Netflix branding while the DVD-by-mail service will be named Qwikster. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the split will better serve customers in the long run because each company will be able to better focus on one type of service.

Netflix pioneered the DVD-by-mail service, creating an entire industry where one did not exist previously. But after serious flux in Netflix's new pricing system — which split the streaming and DVD mailing services into two separate plans starting at $8 a month minimum — there's no guarantee the company's customers will continue to stick around.

WIRED: It's been around the longest, and is the most familiar service. Massive offering of physical mail-away media. New game rental service sounds intriguing. Streaming to all iOS devices and Android smartphones.

TIRED: Can you say price increase? We don't like paying more money for the same service, and we're failing to see how splitting the companies in twain is going to benefit consumers. Streaming-only service still lacks selection compared to DVD catalog.

Amazon Prime

Amazon's elite-level service launched in 2005, offering two-day shipping on any of its products to members anywhere in the continental United States and other select countries for a reasonable $80 a year. Originally meant for those who couldn't wait more than 48 hours for their tangible goods, Prime expanded in February to offer instant, streaming movie and TV show access to existing Prime customers at no added cost.

WIRED: Fast shipping on everything Amazon! What other movie service offers that? Lower yearly rate than Netflix and Qwikster. Works with over 100 different web-connected set-top boxes, including the ever-popular Roku.

TIRED: Smaller media selection compared to other existing services. Lacks the DVD rental option that made Netflix famous.

Redbox

Redbox made it possible for legions of supermarket shoppers to pick up a movie on the cheap, without having to make multiple stops. Instead of leaving the grocery store (or 7-11, Walgreens or what have you) with only a TV dinner and a Mountain Dew in tow, Redbox's 30,000-plus DVD-rental kiosks make sure you won't go home alone on a Friday night again.

WIRED: Cheap, cheap, cheap. DVD rentals average two bucks a pop, with anywhere from 50 to 200 recent titles to select from in each kiosk, updated weekly. Game rentals to roll out this year.

TIRED: No streaming service? Bummer.

Blockbuster

Once the dominant force in the media-rental industry, Blockbuster has fared horribly over the past few years. After scoffing at Netflix's business model years ago, the big blue-and-gold company filed for bankruptcy last September.

However late, Blockbuster jumped on the bandwagon with its own Netflix clone mail-away service, but with the added advantage of allowing customers to return DVDs to brick-and-mortar Blockbuster stores. And finally, Blockbuster Express is a blue-and-gold Redbox rip, with kiosks placed in grocery stores and Kwik-E-Mart's across the country.

WIRED: The Dish Network acquisition could mean big things for Blockbuster when (or if) the companies get a game plan up and running.

TIRED: Brick and mortar is slowly dying, so the leg-up Blockbuster has on Netflix with in-store DVD exchange may soon be moot. Ripping off its two major competitors shows a lack of ability to innovate, possibly signifying that the company is still behind the times.

Hulu Plus

At $8 a month, Hulu Plus offers instant streaming access to a wealth of TV shows only a day or so after they've originally aired. But seriously, if you're paying a monthly fee, you shouldn't have to deal with mid-show commercial breaks. That's the whole point of paying for streaming service, right?

Still, I challenge you to find a more comprehensive archive of Hell's Kitchen reruns on the web.

WIRED: Streaming to all iOS devices and some Android smartphones and tablets. Tons of TV shows that aren't out to rent on DVD.

TIRED: Despite taking your $8 monthly fee, you still have to sit through asinine commercials. "Hundreds," not thousands, of movies to choose from. Again, no physical media. Rights agreements sometimes complicate how many episodes are available for viewing on the site.

Android Market

Google has struggled to keep up with Apple in its media service offerings, only recently debuting its movie rental service on the Android Market in conjunction with a complete interface makeover. Fortunately, renting flicks from Google is available on all Android devices running version 2.2 and up — that's something even Hulu can't say.

WIRED: Rental ain't pricey, averaging around two to five bucks a pop. Streaming to Android phones is nice. Compatible with PCs.

TIRED: No physical media. Not functional across all Android tablets.

iTunes and Apple TV

There's a down-payment to get Apple TV up and running in your home, and it's in the form of a small, sleek set-top box. Fortunately, it's only $100.

Along with Netflix compatibility, Apple lets you purchase and rent movies from its iTunes media store, along with the ability to buy TV shows (due to lack of customer demand, Apple discontinued TV show rentals last month). Further, you're able to watch streaming media on all of Apple's mobile devices. The company wants to hook you into an Apple-centric world, and the interconnection between its services makes it easier for customers to buy in.

WIRED: Purchase prices are par for the course, ranging from $1 to $3 depending on whether you want to rent or own. Ability to buy entire seasons of a show is convenient. Rumors and speculation have long suggested bigger plans for Apple TV's future, though Apple itself is staying mum on any potential developments.

TIRED: Lacks an "all-you-can-stream buffet" option, which can get costly if you watch a lot of flicks. Though its library is extensive, iTunes alone doesn't contain the esoteric indie films that Netflix totes. So if you're subscribing to Netflix and buying through iTunes at the same time, charges could add up fast.

Vudu

Wal-Mart got in on the media-services game in 2010 by buying Vudu, another streaming media company. Initially the service was available only in a set-top box version, but Vudu has since extended itself to other platforms as a standalone media service in and of itself, available to Playstation 3 users, Boxee for OSX owners and Windows-based PC users.

WIRED: Rentals and purchases stay on par with most other services, settling in the $1 to $5 range for rentals, and upwards of $5 for purchases. Titles available the same day they're released on DVD, unlike other services that require waiting periods. Streaming video available on iPad.

TIRED: No monthly unlimited movie-streaming option.