It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

Albert Einstein

Men have become the tools of their tools.

Henry David Thoreau

Technology Review

Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate.

Alvin Toffler

Google Version

Just in case you haven’t seen Google Glasses

What your smartphone looked like 30 years ago

http://www.reddit.com/

Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.

John Wesley

Security is mostly a superstition.

From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few.
John Updike

"Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you've been," said Pete Warden

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The FAQ are here:http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Helen Keller

Sometimes people fail

Sometimes people fail to see that individual decisions have universal consequences.

Alberto Mora

C’est Vrai, I think this pretty much sums up politics.

"Television offers neither rest nor stimulation," Mander says. "Television inhibits your ability to think, but it does not lead to freedom of mind, relaxation or renewal. It leads to a more exhausted mind. You may have time out from prior obsessive thought patterns, but that's as far as television goes.

"The mind is never empty, the mind is filled. What's worse, it is filled with someone else's obsessive thoughts and images."

Why do you think they call it programming?

Jerry Mander

They put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off .

George W. Bush

My Next Cell Phone

A telephone survey says that 51 percent of college students drink until they pass out at least once a month. The other 49 percent didn't answer the phone.
Craig Kilborn

http://mozillalabs.com/conceptseries/2010/09/23/seabird/

It is my heart-warmed and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone. 

Mark Twain, Christmas greeting, 1890

If it is left to me, I would certainly not eat it.

Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.

Putt's Law

Just in time for thanksgiving.  Despite the fact that 95% of Americans prefer that Genetically Modified (GM) food be labeled as such, there is no requirement for GM labeling.  What foods do you eat that could potentially contain GM ingredients?

Artificial Sweeteners

Baking Powder

Bread

Meat Substitutes

Candy

Canola Oil

Cereal

Chips

Chocolate

Cookies

Cornmeal

Cornstarch

Cottonseed Oil

Crackers

Dairy Products from GM-Treated Cows

Enriched Flour (all kinds, not just white)

Food Additives

Fried Foods

Frozen Yogurt

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Hot Dogs

Ice Cream

Infant Formula

Margarine

Mayonnaise

Peanut Butter

Protein Powder

Rapeseed Oil

Salad Dressing

Soda

Soy Protein

Soy Flour

Soy Cheese

Soy Sauce

Sugar that is not 100% Cane

Tamari

Tempeh

Tofu

Tomato Sauce

Vegetable Oil

Veggie Burgers

Note that most of the affected foods contain soy or corn.  Did you know that 91% of the Soy planted in the US is RR GM (Round Up Ready Genetically Modified).  Troubling.  Is it a real issue or just more scare tactics?  See more: http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI51.pdf.  Why is this an issue?

Recombinant crops that tolerate insects may be dangerous to humans because they contain toxics from another insect.  Companies that develop these plants claim that these modified crops can reduce the use of herbicide. For example, Monsanto claims that Roundup Ready Soybeans "were able to reduce herbicide use while controlling weeds better in their soybean fields."

Genetically modified crops that tolerate herbicide may also have harmful effects.  Farmers may use more chemicals. Roundup Ready Soybeans can be applied with twice the recommended levels of herbicide before the plant is damaged. Before, if too much herbicide was used, the plants would be damaged.  Instead of closely watching the application of herbicide, farmers may over-apply herbicide.  What are the effects to us/on us?

What is the process to developing recombinant crops?  Assume that insect A is killed by the toxin made by insect B. The toxin of B is inserted into the plant.  Since the plants can withstand insect A since insect A if affected by the plant toxin, herbicide to kill insect A can be reduced.  But the plants contain the toxin of insect B.  Is this harmful to humans?

Want a non-GMO shopping guide?  see http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/ 

More here http://www.responsibletechnology.org/

Well you say, there is no proven issue with GMO foods right? 

Food supplements, such as amino acids, are often manufactured by fermentative processes, in which large quantities of bacteria are grown in vats, and the food supplement is extracted from the bacteria and purified.

One amino acid, tryptophan has been produced in this way for many years. In the late 1980's the company Showa Denko K.K. decided to use genetic engineering to accelerate and increase the efficiency of the production process. They genetically engineered bacteria by inserting new genes that caused the bacteria to express new enzymes. The enzymes expressed in these bacteria through genetic engineering were not present in massive amounts, but they altered the cellular metabolism substantially, leading to greatly increased production of tryptophan.

These genetically engineered bacteria were immediately used in commercial production of tryptophan, and the product placed on the market in the USA in 1988. The Food and Drug Administration allowed Showa Denko to sell this genetically engineered product without testing because they had been selling tryptophan, produced in non-genetically engineered bacteria, for quite some time without ill effects. It was argued that the method of production (whether via natural or genetically engineered bacteria) was immaterial and that, since tryptophan had already been shown to be safe, the new material needed no testing. Furthermore, FDA regulations did not require that the new tryptophan be labeled as genetically engineered.
This product was placed on the market, and within three months, 37 people died and 1500 were permanently disabled from using this product. It took months to discover that the poisoning was due to the presence of traces of a toxic contaminant in the new genetically engineered tryptophan. One factor that contributed to the time delay was the fact that the product was not labeled as genetically engineered.

It is worth reading the rest of the story:

http://www.nemsn.org/Articles/summary_tryptophan%20Fagan.htm

If it is left to me, I would certainly not eat it. We are putting new things into food which have not been eaten before. The effects on the immune system are not easily predictable and I challenge anyone who will say that the effects are predictable.

Professor Arpad Pusztai,

Food, Gut, and Microbial Interactions Group, Rowett Research Institute, Univ. of Aberdeen