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A whopping 10 camels.

OK, so some people over in the middle east must have REALLY missed the class on how to be effective terrorists.

Perhaps if they had offered something of theirs what was a bit more tantalizing to us infidel American types, like 10 tickets to the Superbowl, or 10 days vacation.

Stupid terrorists....

 
Artists Francois Robert has assembled this collection of images, all of which present an element of danger or death as the result of violence - and they are all made with human bones. He calls the series "Stop The Violence".
More here.

 
This is a series of fascinating illustrations detailing six possible scenarios whereby the Axis Powers would invade the United States during World War Two. These appeared in the March 2, 1942 issue of Life magazine, when war fever, fear and paranoia was at a high pitch. All of these plans are horrifying, and would have included landings on the shorelines and bloody battles fought in American cities. Luckily, none of these plans ever came to fruition, as the two gigantic oceans that flank North America proved an insurmountable obstacle, among other things - namely our rapid mobilization to get, en masse, to their area of the world first. This, perhaps more than any other historical fact, proves to me that geography is destiny.
Via all that is interesting.
 
I vote for Anonymous, especially with the WikiLeaks Top Secret banner on the truck in the background and the "AnonyOps/Twitter" photo tag. However, this character does have what looks to be a genuine NYPD uniform. A pro-Anonymous cop? Still an interesting, and clever, choice of garb.
Via Animal

 
In yet another spooky surveillance twist comes news that the Department of Homeland Security is perfecting plans for the installation of street lights in a town near you - a small Michigan town will be the first - that have cameras, motion detectors and even a speaker system for the barking of adverts and "civic announcements". The creator of this system is Intellistreets, which advertises itself as providing "infinite control for all forms of security, energy management, data harvesting and digital media". It won't be long before, as in Britain, we have the voice of Big Brother drone from the speakers "We are watching you". If you are having trouble believing that this is actually happening in Britain, read this. They are just a few years ahead of

Full story here.
 
Marcos Zotes, an artist based in NYC, projects a creepy, moving eyeball onto the bottom of a water tower in Brooklyn, New York. The effect is at once chilling and instructive, as it speaks to the pervasive surveillance of citizens that exists in the 21st century. Via Neatorama

 
In a post 9/11 world, very little is shocking in the way of government surveillance of its citizens. It is now almost a given that we live within in a web of electronic eavesdropping, which is becoming increasingly inescapable and pervasive. But a recent report that comes from Germany is truly shocking, and should give every computer user pause. A German hacker organization has discovered a government "Trojan Horse" program that utilizes some of the standard spook computer-searching methods: scanning hard drives, delivery of the snoop-ware surreptitiously through e-mail, etc.
However, one element of this spying software is truly stunning: it not only enables your computer to be remotely controlled by another user, it actually enables said user to listen and see you through the computer's microphone or camera. Worse, the hacking organization found the software to be basically shoddy, enabling hackers like themselves the ability to easily use the program for nefarious ends.
""Clearly the limits set by the Federal Constitutional Court have been massively violated," said Claudia Roth, the co-leader of the Green Party. Sebastian Nerz, the leader of Germany's Pirate Party, which campaigns for Internet freedom and civil rights, said that the authorities were "clearly acting outside the limits set by the constitution."
You think?
Americans should not feel that their government is innocent of this or other similar methods - it has been revealed that the spying software sent data through a server located right here in the USA. Clearly, this has elevated government snooping to whole new level. Now you cannot be certain whether or not some trusty terrorism-fighting government employee - or some pimply teenage hacking wizard - is watching or listening to you after you log on. Orwellian? The very definition. Full sordid story here.