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The Collapse of Complex Societies

By contrast, Joseph Tainter argues in The Collapse of Complex Societies that such an event should be understood more specifically; he argues that societies respond to crises by adding complexity, and that complexity is subject to the law of diminishing returns.

Eventually, the marginal returns on added complexity turn negative, and since the society only knows how to add complexity in response to its problems, it starts to collapse under its own weight. via

Acoustic Warfare

Definition: (DOD, NATO) Action involving the use of underwater acoustic energy to determine, exploit, reduce or prevent hostile use of the underwater acoustic spectrum and actions which retain friendly use of the underwater acoustic spectrum. There are three divisions within acoustic warfare:

1. acoustic warfare support measures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions to search for, intercept, locate, record and analyze radiated acoustic energy in water for purpose of exploiting such radiations. The use of acoustic warfare support measures involves no intentional underwater acoustic emission and is generally not detectable by the enemy.

2. acoustic warfare countermeasures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions taken to prevent or reduce an enemy’s effective use of the underwater acoustic spectrum. Acoustic warfare countermeasures involve intentional underwater acoustic emissions for deception and jamming.

3. acoustic warfare counter-countermeasures. That aspect of acoustic warfare involving actions taken to ensure friendly effective use of the underwater acoustic spectrum despite the enemy’s use of underwater acoustic warfare. Acoustic warfare counter-countermeasures involve anti-acoustic warfare support measures and anti-acoustic warfare countermeasures, and may not involve underwater acoustic emissions. at

Jesus Camp - Weekly Doc

Hey kids, it’s Monday, and you know that’s when we usually bring the weekly documentary. We know ya’ll are at work (usually, albeit not today) and therefore possibly don’t watch these right away - but we like to put them up early in the week hoping that you think about them during the week and make a bit of time to be entertained and educated. Or something like it. This week’s documentary is Jesus Camp; the IMDB synopsis is down below. Just to let you know, you can obviously watch this video right here on myninjaplease, just to preview it, but you can also click the video frame and watch it on google, which will let you see it in a bigger window.

Jesus Camp follows several young children as they prepare to attend a summer camp where the kids will get their daily dose of evangelical Christianity. Becky Fischer works at the camp, which is named Kids on Fire. Through interviews with Fischer, the children, and others, Jesus Camp illustrates the unswerving belief of the faithful. A housewife and homeschooling mother tells her son that creationism has all the answers. Footage from inside the camp shows young children weeping and wailing as they promise to stop their sinning. Child after child is driven to tears. Juxtapose these scenes with clips from a more moderate Christian radio host (who is appalled by such tactics), and Jesus Camp seems to pose a clear question: are these children being brainwashed? Written by Ken Miller {wkmiller704@yahoo.com} from IMDB

In other news, it’s MLK Day so we’re gonna take it easy and just see what comes.

Robot Artist

Created by robotic researcher Sylvain Calinon, the robot recognizes when therea€™s a face in front of it, snaps a digital photo and extracts the major characteristics of their portrait. Then it goes to work with its gangster quill pen, and creates a sketch portrait.

article via BotJunkie

Paranoid Android- Computers and Movies

My Ninja Please! 12/15: Misestimation of denominator/numerator chaos

Why do people always fail to be selfish like a salmon? Is it because swimming along with the rest of the fish is just too damn easy? I mean it would be a lot easier to not have this conversation and want to talk about some comfy furniture, but on the reals is there any way that signals eventually will not collapse? All this talk about destroying the ego and cutting down on the persona is found ironic in a neo/poser/hippie tolerant type of way. Because if a persona is not shown then you can not cut down on the ego to fortune your own. I understood that there is clause to my testament of time and that further down the road it will inevitably be shaked into submission, but why is there so much question to as why the bald headed black woman I met last night cannot be fierce with her line by line academic opera and I cannot interject with chaos? In the second round we will see how it was….((as the tambourines play))……

thanks to Frank Sippord for sending this in

EXCLUSIVE Robot Swims Through Rocks

via posthumanpast.blogspot

Soviet-era postage stamps, a collection

from thingsmagazine