Shannon Larratt is gone.

I learned today that Shannon Larratt has died.  Not everyone saw eye to eye with him, but to me, he was a social pioneer who worked to spread acceptance and awareness of body modification and body art.  He was the creator of BME, the body modification e-zine.  I corresponded with him first on rec.arts.bodyart on usenet. I made the trip from Indianapolis to Toronto for his international BME BBQ on 9/1/2001.  That was the only time that we ever met face to face, but we corresponded for many years afterward. He supported the performances that we did in CrimsonMane via donations of supplies, and my partner +Cloris PatientC was once featured on the cover of BME.
Today I read his final blog post, one that he had written in advance to be posted after his death.  One of the things that struck me was how much difficulty he had getting his pain managed properly as the calcium accumulated in his muscles, essentially forming stone needles in them.  I can't even imagine the pain that he was forced to bear. The degree to which the act of seeking freedom from pain is portrayed as drug seeking in western medical practice is disheartening.  I've known a number of people who have lived with chronic, sometimes crippling pain.  The hoops that they have to go through for their care, and the societal assumption that they are all slavering narcotics seekers is greatly disheartening.
Shannon enriched my life.  I am saddened that he is gone, but I am happy that he now free from the pain that he has had to endure.

Reluctantly into the Fray

I have never been a politically active person. I grew up in a politically active family. My mother was a poll sheriff for the Democratic party, and had once worked for Ralph Tucker, the long-time Democratic mayor of Terre Haute. Her father had been a White House photographer during the Johnson administration. For whatever reason, I didn’t inherit the interest.

I used to consider myself to be a slightly left-of-center moderate. I don’t know if the world has changed, or if it’s me, but the older I have gotten, the more liberal I have become. There are some issues that I hold beliefs on that are likely considered more tenets of the Right, but without trying to follow a party line, I find that the majority of my beliefs and opinions are now the same as those espoused by the Left.

As this realization has been happening, I’ve also come to the conclusion that the country that the Republican party seems to want to create is not the kind of place that I want to live in. Although I can see the flaws and shortcomings of the United States, that doesn’t make me any less proud to be citizen. I think that this is an amazing country, and it has afforded me many great opportunities. I want to help ensure that others can have some of these chances as well. In this desire, I have reached the point in life in which I have to start taking a more active interest in the political world around me. PatientC told me that the fight is already happening, and I can either participate or stand by. I think that she’s right.

I don’t know what the end result of this realization will be, but I felt that I should acknowledge it. There will doubtless be more to come.

Where did the Background on the Carey Study go?

In January of 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the article 'Background on the Carey Study'. This article, comments on the results of a condom stress testing study which was often cited as the source for the misinterpretation that condoms are ineffective in preventing the transmission of the HIV virus. In fact, the study showed that even under extreme laboratory conditions, that condoms were still of great use in inhibiting the transmission of the HIV virus.

Over the years, many of the resources that were available online in the late 1990's seem to have disappeared. For example, 'Background on the Carey Study' is no longer available on the NIH website. It will show up in search results, but those links are 404.

Even try searching for "Background on the Carey Study" on Google. I get four hits. Just four. One article that cites it, and 3 404s. It's a short article, so here it is in its entirety:

*****************************************************

Background on the Carey Study

http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/aprs/aprs_press.asp?an=A00347

   Accession Number

 A00347

   Author

 US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

   Source

 CDC Update

   Release Date

 January 1, 1997

   Major Descriptors

 Condoms
Disease prevention
Sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs)
Studies
Transmission


   Topic

 Clinical Trials and Research
Prevention


   Text

 Numerous studies have shown that latex condoms are a highly effective barrier to viruses, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and the much-smaller hepatitis B virus. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to receive inquiries about a laboratory study of latex condoms, commonly called "the Carey study." [Carey, R.F., Herman, W.A., Retta, S.M., Rinaldi, J.E., Herman, B.A., and Athey, T.W. Effectiveness of Latex Condoms As a Barrier to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-sized Particles Under Conditions of Simulated Use. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, July-August 1992, pages 230-234.] This study examined the effectiveness of latex condoms as a barrier to particles the size of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In the Carey study, latex condoms were tested under laboratory conditions that matched some circumstances of actual use: the condoms' size and shape were standard and test particles inside the condoms were the size of HIV. But other conditions were deliberately exaggerated: the particle concentration was much higher than the concentration of HIV in semen, the test itself lasted 30 minutes, the pressure inside the condom was always at the maximum expected during use (as opposed to intermittently at the maximum), and the fluid was 14 times less viscous (thinner, and therefore easier to pass) than semen. These exaggerated conditions were used to push condoms toward failure, to find out the limits of their performance.

The results were clear: The condoms in this study would reduce exposure to HIV by at least 10,000 times. Even under these extreme laboratory-created conditions, only 1 of the 89 condoms tested leaked enough to allow passage of a small amount of virus during actual use -- and even that worst-case condom would have still reduced exposure to HIV by more than 1,000 times over not using a condom at all.

These laboratory tests have been misinterpreted as proving condoms don't work as a protective device against HIV transmission. The truth is, the tests proved that condoms work exceptionally well.

*****************************************************

Retrieved: 8/20/2004.

What to do with SpikeVision?

So Laughing Squid is moving to cloud hosting, and I have to transfer any of my content there from their old dedicated hosting model.  I've got to decide what to do with my SpikeVision site.  I started it back in 1998.  A lot of it was relevant to its time, but I'm beginning to think that I should archive it and move on.  A lot of the writing there now looks pretty weak to my more cynical older self. 

If I do decide to wrap that site up, I will probably update some of my favorites and post them here.

New particle? New fundamental force?

I saw this article a few days ago regarding the possibility that a new particle may have been discovered at Fermilab:

Tevatron accelerator yields hints of new particle

Here is the original paper:
Invariant Mass Distribution of Jet Pairs

A matter of compassion and logic

Usually the things that I write in this space are fairly light-hearted.  This in not one of those entries.

According to Planned Parenthood's website, they service 3 million patients per year.  If Planned Parenthood ceased to function, many of those patients will have no capability to receive services such as pelvic exams and mammograms.  Those women who have the means will seek care from private medical providers.  The private medical system is already functioning beyond the capability to provide adequate care to all of the patients that they already have.  What is the probability that the system will have any capability to bear the increase in patient load that would be caused by the absence of Planned Parenthood?  I am greatly concerned that a crisis in women's health would occur.

So for those opponents of Planned Parenthood who will not be moved by compassion,  perhaps they will be moved by logic.  The services of Planned Parenthood are essential to the health of women in the United States. 

One great big festering neon distraction

I was watching a video on YouTube the other night which shows all major worldwide battles over the last 1000 years.  For some reason, it caused me to ponder the nature of consumer culture.  We are pressed to buy and buy and buy.  One benefit of this is that it keeps us all distracted so that people don't go apeshit on each other as much as they would if not so distracted.  It's just an observation.

Silver lining of the apocalypse

I try to find the good in bad situations.  It’s a terrible character flaw for one who is supposed to be Nihilistic and intimidating, but I deal with it as best I can.  I propose that if these are in fact, the End of Days, and from here on out to our racial demise we are going to be bombarded with an endless cavalcade of catastrophes, that at least until the electricity goes away, I can watch it all unfold in real time.  I don’t have to wait for news from a courier, or for a telegram.  I’ve got broadband and a ridiculous array of channels on the television to keep me supplied with up to the second updates on the demise of humanity, should that ever come to pass.  It’s good to live in the future.

True randomness

They won't be available until next January, but Psyleron will be putting out a key-chain random event generator: Psyleron

Synaptic seepage detected!

So I'm browsing alternate ULC titles.  A friend of mine is a "Universal Philosopher of Absolute Reality", and I've just got "Reverend."  I'm mentioning a few of these to my roommate.  We pick up the conversation there.
 
Me: "you can get Gothi as a title.  I used to be a Gothi" (in the Troth)
G: "I've seen a Goatse."
Me: "Gothi, not Goatse, dammit.  You can't semantically confuse those words.  It causes synaptic seepage!"
G: "Oooh."
Me: "But maybe that's why it echos so much when we call 'Ooooooooodinnnnn!'"
G: Rofls.  Almost literally, 'cause he almost fell out of his chair.

Nexus 0xC

I'll just leave this right here.

Can one opt out of the eschaton?

So, if humanity is in fact heading toward the singularity, or the Omega Point, or whatever term one wishes to use for the apparently impending emergence of a post-human or technological interconnectedness, can one choose to opt out?  Or must we all go along for the ride.  In a related idle speculation, do individual neurons ever wish that their neighbors would just leave them alone for a while?
I like the idea of Vinge's singularity, of McKenna's time wave zero, of all of the various takes on where we might be going. I enjoy connectivity, and the exchange of information, but I wonder what the fallout will be from such an event.  How much individuality must be sacrificed to become a part of the whole?  I can readily think of a number of myths, both ancient and modern that address what happens when one of the nodes wants to leave the network.  It never seems to end well for one party or the other.

I need cyberware

This is a request to the researchers and engineers who are working in the fields of prosthetics and cybernetics, and to those who provide funding for such work.  Get on with it!  I'm aging here.  I'm not as old as the Boomers, but I'm a Gen-Xer who can only accurately say that I am 30-something for 3 1/2 more weeks.  I want cyberware options!  I'm going to need some wetware soon.  The vision is there, crack open some William Gibson or Bruce Sterling, dammit!  I'm not sure if I want to go full Lobster or not, but I certainly have Mechanist leanings.  Too, where are my Zeiss cyber eyes with full micro to macro capabilities, infrared, and a HUD?  I definitely need a HUD. Augmented reality is in its infancy.  We need to prod it along.  I don't want it to seem as if I don't think that there has been any progress.  There has been.  Reality is in some cases outpacing the fiction.  Remember, Johnny could only carry a few hundred MB in his head in Gibson's original story, updated to 80 GB in the film.  The Micro-SD XC specification calls for a capacity of 2 TB.  I wouldn't even have to dump my memories to get that stuffed into my head.

Daft Punk on image

If we have to create an image, it must be an artificial image. That combination hides our physicality and also shows our view of the star system. It is not a compromise. - Thomas Bangalter.

I just discovered this quote, and it very much appeals to me.  It strikes me as being analogous to the way that we craft our identities in virtual spaces.   If only were as flawless in the meat world as the avatars that we create for ourselves are.  Crafting an image internally seems much easier than instantiating it is.

People who use requests for help as power games

I really despise non-consensual power games.  One of the things that irks me in particular is when a person asks someone more experienced in a topic for help and guidance, and the more knowledgeable person turns the situation into a power game.  They use their experience to belittle and bewilder someone who asked for their help.  I gave some advice to a good friend the other night which will hopefully help them out, after another ostensible ally was giving them the run-around.  In areas in which I have expertise, I don't like seeing my friends considered as marks.

Occult clinic duty?

I feel a little like House when he pulls clinic duty.  I've spent the past few hours on /x/ on 4chan dispensing occult advice.

Bombastic promulgation #1: There is no enlightenment without risk

In order to expand one's personal awareness, presence, or power in any meaningful way, one must be willing to risk the ground that they are already standing upon.  For example, you obviously can't advance to the next stone in the stream, unless you are willing to step off of your current stone, if the new position is close, or jump for it if the next stone is farther away.  If your perceptions are accurate, and you plan your move with forethought, you are more likely to find your new footing solid as well.  If you are careless or unobservant, you are much more likely to find yourself in the water.

New Scientist article on random numbers from quantum noise

I read an interesting article from New Scientist today: Random numbers created out of nothing

Consciousness as Integrated Information

From a great New York Times article, Sizing Up Consciousness by Its Bits by Carl Zimmer, I was led to this paper: Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto by Dr. Giulio Tononi at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  As anyone who has read my writing is aware, I'm fascinated by the emergent phenomenon of consciousness.  From the paper's abstract: The integrated information theory (IIT) starts from phenomenology and makes use of thought experiments to claim that consciousness is integrated information.

An excellent resource available free online

In doing some encryption research for a project at work, I discovered that The Handbook of Applied Cryptography is available free online via the Center for Applied Cryptographic Research at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.  This is an excellent resource, so I wanted to share this information on the off-chance that anyone who reads this blog might find it useful.