The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein...

The Shock Doctrine
...We should arm ourselves with information to defeat the effects of the shock doctrine.

Riot at Shwe Dagon Pagoda East gate in Burma...

Nine killed in Burma...

...the dead included eight protesters and a Japanese man, identified as a video journalist working for APF News - with 11 demonstrators and 31 soldiers hurt. Update: According to Australia's ambassador to Burma eye witnesses say that the death toll was significantly higher, perhaps by a factor of ten.
BBC
After decades of brutal dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising--and they need our help.
Clicking below will add your name to this petition to Chinese Premier Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

"We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed."
Petition

and see Rachel for more updates.
Also photos on Saffron Revolution

iPhone turned into pocket Mac...

...by Victor and Albert who work for Martin Varsavsky's FON Labs. The race is now on to optimize the unlocked iPhone.
Update (Friday): It seems that according to Scobleizer a lot of people have been having trouble with iPhone updates, including many that have not hacked their phones. Will this be a PR disaster for Apple?
Wikinomics on Apple

Craig Murray's blog censored...

Cartoon/Matt Buck (Creative Commons)

...as, following threats by Usmanov's lawyer Schillings, Craig Murray's ISP takes his blog down. Usmanov, a Russian billionaire, has a large holding in the Arsenal football club. Once again free speech is under threat from the super rich and their fancy lawyers. Schillings proudly proclaim to protect the reputations of high profile individuals, corporates and brands. Presumably from the rest of us, the great unwashed of the blogosphere. See Areopagitica and Chicken Yoghurt for plenty of details. See also Wikipedia/Alisher Usmanov and check out these links:
Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots (and another), Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides, Matthew Sinclair, The Select Society, Liberal England, Davblog, Peter Gasston Pitch Perfect, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, Conservative Party Reptile, Ellee Seymour, Sabretache, Not A Sheep, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, The People’s Republic Of Newport, Life, the Universe & Everything, Arsenal Transfer Rumour Mill, The Green Ribbon, Blood & Treasure, The Last Ditch, Areopagitica, Football in Finland, An Englishman’s Castle, Freeborn John, Eursoc, The Back Four, Rebellion Suck!, Ministry of Truth, ModernityBlog, Beau Bo D’Or, Scots and Independent, The Splund, Bill Cameron, Podnosh, Dodgeblogium, Moving Target, Serious Golmal, Goonerholic, The Spine, Zero Point Nine, Lenin’s Tomb, The Durruti Column, The Bristol Blogger, ArseNews, David Lindsay, Quaequam Blog!, On A Quiet Day…, Kathz’s Blog, England Expects, Theo Spark, Duncan Borrowman, Senn’s Blog, Katykins, Jewcy, Kevin Maguire, Stumbling and Mumbling, Famous for 15 megapixels, Ordovicius, Tom Morris, AOL Fanhouse, Doctor Vee, The Curmudgeonly, The Poor Mouth, 1820, Hangbitch, Crooked Timber, ArseNole, Identity Unknown, Liberty Alone, Amused Cynicism, Clairwil, The Lone Voice, Tampon Teabag, Unoriginalname38, Special/Blown It, The Remittance Man, 18 Doughty Street, Laban Tall, Martin Bright, Spy Blog The Exile, poons, Jangliss, Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?, Imagined Community, A Pint of Unionist Lite, Poldraw, Disillusioned And Bored, Error Gorilla, Indigo Jo, Swiss Metablog, Kate Garnwen Truemors, Asn14, D-Notice, The Judge, Political Penguin, Miserable Old Fart, Jottings, fridgemagnet, Blah Blah Flowers, J. Arthur MacNumpty, Tony Hatfield, Grendel, Charlie Whitaker, Matt Buck, The Waendel Journal, Marginalized Action Dinosaur, SoccerLens, Toblog, John Brissenden East Lower, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Peter Black AM, Boing Boing, BLTP, Gunnerblog, LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair News Blog, Journalist und Optimist, Bristol Indymedia, Dave Weeden, Up North John, Gizmonaut, Spin and Spinners, Marginalia, Arnique, Heather Yaxley, The Whiskey Priest, On The Beat, Paul Canning, Martin Stabe, Mat Bowles, Pigdogfucker, Rachel North (193).

The human condition...

...after a very good few bottles of Taylor's port in Cardiff is not a pretty sight. Still Tim (as in Tim Brett, photographer-plug, well he deserves it) made some coffee, so it's all good...yes, well before we lose the plot we must ask ourselves where are we going. After the family outing of the past week that is not an easy question to answer. After all I'm now an uncle to a load of good looking kids. What will their world look like when they are my age? Warmer? Chateau Cardiff vin rouge? A very nice year. But what of the wider consequences of our little experiment with mother nature known as market capitalism, or globilaztion? Who gives a fuck? Scary movie? I will probably die in the next fifty years. My kids will probably live on to face the consequences of the global and liberal market party. I do not envy them, nor do I wish to be in their position fifty years further down the road. I have had a wonderful night with my family drinking port and falling over like a good trooper. The internet kept me awake all night pondering my kid's future. It was not a pretty sight at least in my imagination. Spinoza would say we have a moral duty to be good and not to harm. As Deus sive natura I take it that we, as well as the rest of creation, are included in this most divine of integrated plans. Darwin's "dangerous idea" put an end to all the speculations of the philosophers and the world's religions, no matter how sweet and enticing they may be. We are left to clean up the mess. Postmodernism tried and failed. So now, like Kant, we awake from our dogmatic slumbers and look around at a planet that is in ecological meltdown. This is not a Roman fin de siecle. This is the real deal. The hitchiker's guide to the end of life, the universe and everything. 42. Anyone got the question? Since the Pax Americana invented the end of season sale of the assets of planet earth we are all living in a pre apocalyptic state of fear. The war on terror engulfs the agenda of the chattering classes. Then they define our reality. Hitler and Goebbels would be proud of the legacy of ignorance that is the modern world. Sadly we have neither the time or the freedom to escape the karma of our modernistic largesse. We must act. Now. Il faut cultiver notre jardin, Thus I petition the Prime Minister of England to take up the baton of Winston Churchill, who talked us through our darkest hour, and engage in a policy that will encourage the people to see that is in their own interest to work for the preservation and sustainability of life on earth.

Facebook and privacy...

...Social networking site Facebook is changing its privacy policy to allow public profiles and one month from now Google search listings of members information. Sensitive data such as date of birth could become a security issue as we all leave more digital tracks behind us. According to Gigaom "This move transforms Facebook from being a social network to being quasi-White Pages of the Web. Every time a non-Facebook user finds someone on Facebook after a “search,” they might feel compelled to sign-up and get more information. It is a virtuous cycle, meant to attract more people to the Facebook network." We have one month to change our personal security settings. This seems, as Gigaom points out, to be a move to increase traffic and boost Facebook's e-commerce potential and "yet another small step in the overall erosion of personal privacy, thanks to the ever growing popularity of the social networks. I don’t like the direction where all this is headed." I agree, Gigaom.