Antechinus: US $500M to Train Syrian Rebels — Gone with Nothing to Show for It….

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Military, Officers Call
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Antechinus
Antechinus

Syria, $500 Million to Train 60 Rebels.

The $500 million American project, announced over a year ago, to train and arm a new Syrian rebel army to bring the Islamic State to its knees and force a political settlement on the Syrian regime simultaneously has, to date, trained just 60 fighters. 

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Yoda: Book Pages That Clean Water

12 Water
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Got Crowd? BE the Force!
Got Crowd? BE the Force!

‘Bug-killing book' that cleans up to 100 litres of murky water passes field trials

The ‘drinkable' book has been trialled with promising results in South Africa, Ghana and Bangladesh

The pages contain nano-particles of silver or copper which wipe out dangerous bacteria as they pass through the water.The book could be a revolutionary solution for the estimated 663 million people across the world who are without access to clean drinking water.

Steven Aftergood: Countering the Islamic State & More from CRS

Congressional Research Service
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Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood

Countering the Islamic State, and More from CRS

Some 60 nations and partner organizations have made commitments to help counter the Islamic State with military forces or resources, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service. But coalition efforts suffer from a lack of coherence, CRS said. “Without a single authority responsible for prioritizing and adjudicating between different multinational civilian and military lines of effort, different actors often work at cross-purposes without intending to do so.”

Jean Lievens: Rob Kitchin on Data-Driven Urbanism — Not So Smart, Serving Special Interests

Cloud, Data, IO Impotency
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Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Data-Driven, Networked Urbanism by Rob Kitchin offers a a useful overview of the various critiques of smart cities.

Abstract:

For as long as data have been generated about cities various kinds of data-informed urbanism have been occurring. In this paper, I argue that a new era is presently unfolding wherein data-informed urbanism is increasingly being complemented and replaced by data-driven, networked urbanism. . . . HOWEVER, whilst data-driven, networked urbanism provides a set of solutions for urban problems, it does so within limitations and in the service of particular interests.

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Berto Jongman: USG Kill Switch for Cellular Confirmed

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Military
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Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

Cell Phone Kill Switch Confirmed – Conspiracy Theory No Longer – Is This Why Cell Phone Services Have Been Going Out Across America?

Two weeks later, we may have finally gotten an answer to that question…at least if we look in between the lines. Standard Operating Procedure 303 (SOP303) is the federal government's ‘kill switch policy'. Once called ‘conspiracy theory' by government trolls and the uninformed, the government kill switch program is very real…conspiracy theory no longer, and it's now going before the US Supreme Court.

Map of Outages Below the Fold

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Tom Atlee: Early Notes on Co-Intelligent Activism

Collective Intelligence
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Tom Atlee
Tom Atlee

I’ve written a lot about co-intelligent activism and just recently discovered my original writings on the subject from two decades ago. These reflections are still very relevant. They may well change your idea of what social change activism is – or should be – all about.

Early Reflections on Co-Intelligent Activism

Below are the three I’d like to share now.

Below are the three I’d like to share now.
▪Guidelines for co-intelligent social change
▪Notes on positive, co-intelligent social change actions
▪Some possible characteristics of a co-intelligent society (to guide our social change efforts)

Read full set of notes.