We've recently learned the secret behind the Swine Flu Vaccine that is being pushed so strongly on the public. While the vaccine may make you sick, its real purpose is to greatly increase the fast-kill mechanism of the pandemic still to come. Worse yet, the vaccine is being used to target specific groups of people who are simply not welcome in our brave new world.

In the USA these include Blacks, American Indians, and Baby Boomers.

You know you have to read more now.

The show's director and stars met the press and showed off some clips at a press tour.

The good news? The footage sounds cool. And the show will keep some of the trippy edge from the original, although it's not a straight-up remake. You may want to have some acid handy, says co-star Lennie James (from Jericho.) And "Rover," the deadly balloon, definitely makes an appearance. The bad news? Among the changes is the fact that Number 2 has a rebellious son — bringing to mind visions of Scott Evil from Austin Powers.

Here are the scenes the press saw:

Number Six (James Caviezel) wakes up in the Truman Show-esque Village, and is startled when Number 313 (Ruth Wilson) tells him his name is Number Six now. A cab driver, Number 147 (James) drives him around.

Then we meet Number 2 (Ian McKellen), a popular leader who wears pristine white suits and laughs a lot, and his estranged son, Number 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower). Number 313 tells Number 2 that Number 6 feels "alone," and Number 2 says "That's good." Then Number 6 tells 313 that his only problem is that he's being held here against his will.

At first 147, the cab driver, is happy in the Village, but he begins to doubt the paradise he lives in. And Number 6 starts to work on using 11-12's estrangement as a weapon against Number 2.

There's also an intense scene — which may be a dream sequence. Number 6 is tied to a pole in the desert. Number 2 walks up and taunts him by pouring some water on the ground. Then Number 2 puts a grenade in Number 6's mouth, pulls out the pin, and walks away. [IGN]

In the last few years, psychiatrists began documenting cases of patients who reported a belief that they were being filmed for television entertainment. The patients differed in their experiences, but all believed that their lives had somehow been selected to participate in a show without their consent:

One man showed up at a federal building, asking for release from the reality show he was sure was being made of his life. Another was convinced his every move was secretly being filmed for a TV contest. A third believed everything - the news, his psychiatrists, the drugs they prescribed - was part of a phony, stage-set world with him as the involuntary star, like the 1998 movie "The Truman Show."

Although the syndrome, which some psychiatrists have unofficially named after the film, is related to classic paranoid and grandiose delusions, the pervasiveness of reality television in our culture may reinforce the delusion in many patients. Mental health professionals note that, when patients see shows featuring hidden cameras and invasive footage, it seems plausible that they could be on television themselves:

That's not to say reality shows make healthy people delusional, "but, at the very least, it seems possible to me that people who would become ill are becoming ill quicker or in a different way," Ian Gold [a philosophy and psychology professor at McGill University] said.

While many sufferers are intensely disturbed by their delusions (one physician reported a patient who threatened to kill himself if he couldn’t drop out of his imagined reality show), some find the idea of being on television appealing. The imagined total invasion of their privacy may be distressing, but a few actually take pride their supposed celebrity status.

[via Associated Press]

MSG is a decidedly different sort of RPG created by some of the minds behind White Wolf's various supernatural-themed game systems. There is no randomness of any kind, and not a D20 to be found. Players play the roles of company Reps who all work for the soul-crushing Company in service of the Brand. Each player takes a turn playing the part of the company and throwing some kind of bizarre situation at the Reps, possibly incorporating some of the backstories the players came up with about themselves at the beginning of the game. Then the Reps decide what to do, try to earn points by working corporate buzz-words into their plans, then attempt to outbid the Company by taking a Risk with their reputation. Whoever wins the Risk narrates the outcome.

If it all sounds a little vague and confusing, keep in mind that this isn't a "Only 45,000 more XP until I can wield my Holy Avenger +19!" type of RPG. The point is really to make a mockery of soulless corporations and their often ruthless strategies, not to mention the soulless drones who do their bidding. At the same time, it mocks our own willingness to worship these brands and submit to the will of these companies, all while creating ludicrous scenarios that are maddeningly interconnected with the stories created in the previous round. Maybe this excerpt from the rule book explains it best:

Brainstorm for a couple of minutes until you come up with a name for the Brand [that all the players work for]. If some of you hate it — or, better, all of you hate it — that’s brilliant, because it means you’ll understand a little of what it is to work for an organization that makes you cringe every time you look in the mirror and see the Brand logo they tattooed on your forehead.

MSG (I'm not really sure about the title - it just makes me think "Madison Square Garden") is stuffed to the gills with black, black humor. In fact, it is clearly heavily inspired by the classic Paranoia RPG. Instead of living in a domed city with the Computer, you're stuck in a boardroom with the Company. You can beat the other Reps, but you can never beat the Company. If you're looking for a change of pace for your weekly game night, this game is worth a look. You can order it over at lulu.com, and you can even download it for free in pdf format (but only until Nov. 25). Image by: johnheronproject.

Telecom companies in the UK already store mobile and web information, including which numbers you call, which websites you visit, and which addresses you email, for 12 months. This information is already available to government investigators on demand, but the government wants to nationalize the database to make it readily searchable and hold the information for two years. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith defends the proposal as essential to criminal investigations:

"Communications data - that is, data about calls, such as the location and identity of the caller, not the content of the calls themselves - is used as important evidence in 95% of serious crime cases and in almost all security service operations since 2004.

"But the communications revolution has been rapid in this country and the way in which we intercept communications and collect communications data needs to change too.

"If it does not we will lose this vital capability that we currently have and that, to a certain extent, we all take for granted.

But some are suspicious of the Home Department’s motives:

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "The government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying…

"Ministers claim the database will only be used in terrorist cases, but there is now a long list of cases, from the arrest of Walter Wolfgang for heckling at a Labour conference to the freezing of Icelandic assets, where anti-terrorism law has been used for purposes for which it was not intended."

Perhaps it's time to step up the development of ParanoidLinux.

Giant database plan 'Orwellian' [via Kurzweil]

This independent scifi thriller has been released in Japan and is coming out soon in Russia, Thailand and the Phillipines. Alas, a studio rep tells io9 we won't be able to see this flick until its estimated US release in December or January, this year. Made from nothing, funny accents, murder and floating eyeballs this thing has cult classic written all over it.[Project Grey]"

Our evil video tool cut off the credits from this video, alas. So here they are. Starring: Jeff Grace and Blaise Miller. Directed by: Todd Berger. Written by: Jeff Grace. Produced by: Kevin Brennan and Jeff Grace. Cinematography: Helena Wei. Edited by: Todd Berger. Music: Kevin MacLeod. Production Assistant: Derrick Guyton. [The Vacationeers]

One scientist calculates the human Y chromosome will be extinct within 125,000 years if current trends continue. That's an eyeblink in evolutionary terms. Already, the Y chromosome is filled with more junk DNA than other chromosomes, because it passes from father to son without any input from the mother. Decreasing sperm counts mean that boys are more likely to receive a damaged copy.

So how can our macho little vole from Kyrgyzstan help? Because he's lost his Y chromosome already, and he somehow transferred the genetic information that confers maleness to another chromosome. So it could be possible to transfer the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome to another gene in humans as well. [London Times]

In Tim Pratt's "Observer Effects," an all-seeing superhero decides it's only fair if everybody else can be a universal voyeur too. In Darin C. Bradley's "the basement, Borges," a bank-robber and mass murderer watches the security-cam footage with the teller he killed and resurrected. But it's worth reading DS #1 just for the essays, including co-editor Doug Lain's discussion of whether exhibition is the only sane response to universal surveillance. And Surveillance Camera Players member Bill Brown writes a history of camera surveillance — which began in 1913 with suffragettes in a London prison. Diet Soap #1 is a must-read for anyone worried about all those eyes and ears on us.

Diet Soap #1 [DietSoap.org]