The Ronald Reagan 3D Hologram: Political Eye Candy?

Supposedly to be unveiled in the 2012 Tampa US Republican Party National Convention before it was “upstaged” by Hurricane Isaac, was the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram nothing more than mere political eye candy? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Some dyed-in-the-wool US Republican Party diehard might have been hoping that it might steer the general public’s general impression of the GOP away from the Congressman Todd Akin legitimate rape controversy, but a high-tech 3D holographic version of Ronald Reagan was never unveiled at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa. Rumor has it that the GOP’s top brass are too afraid that the 3D hologram of Ronald Reagan could upstage a rather one-dimensional Mitt Romney or the GOP top brass responsible for getting insurance for the high tech equipment used in the 3D Ronald Reagan didn’t had time to get one. And there’s even a GOP insider who voiced out that the 3D hologram of Ronald Reagan could be used for partisan purposes given the current fractious political climate in Washington, D.C. But to the public at large, many of them now wonder if the Reagan 3D hologram slated to appear in Tampa is really more advanced than previous 3D holograms? 

To older folks closely following advances in 3D video technology, they could safely assume that the Reagan 3D hologram truly represent the current state of the art in 3D holography because back in May 24, 1991, NASA used its newly developed 3D laser scanning technology on a happily retired Ronald Reagan in his home in Santa Barbara, California, making Reagan the first ever US President to get a 3D holographic portrait. Sadly, the GOP top brass remains silent on whether or not any of the 3D holographic data obtained by NASA on taking Reagan’s holographic portrait was ever used on his 2012 3D hologram slated to appear in Tampa. 

But according to the New Scientist magazine, the technology used on the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram was the same one used on the Tupac 3D hologram used on his posthumous Coachella show. It is called Pepper’s Ghost projection technology and it has been around since the 1800s. 3D imaging data was obtained via CGI and live footage then processed by 3D holographic technicians at Digital Domain – James Cameron’s visual effects company. Pepper’s Ghost technology works by partially reflecting light off a piece of glass from a hidden room. In practice, this 3D video projection technique only works best in exhibition halls and room not too brightly lit by ambient sunlight. Though 3D holography may represent the latest in political campaign gimmickry, they can’t improve the image of a one-dimensional politician. This belongs to the eye candy bin. 

The Sino-Indian War 50 Years On

Even though it happened 50 years ago does the Sino-Indian War still has something to teach us here in the 21^st Century? 

By: Ringo Bones 

The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict was a military engagement between The People’s Republic of China and India. The initial cause of the conflict was a disputed region of the Himalayan border in Arunachal Pradesh, known to the Beijing government as South Tibet. Fighting began on the 20^th of October 1962 between the People’s Liberation Army and the Military of India. The first heavy engagement of the war occurred when a Mainland Chinese attack on an Indian patrol north of the McMahon Line. 

The conflict eventually widened to include the region of Aksai Chin – which the People’s Republic of China regarded as a strategic link via the China National Highway route G 219, between the Beijing-administered territories of Tibet and Xinjiang. The war ended when the People’s Republic of China captured both disputed areas and unilaterally declared a ceasefire on the 20^th of November 1962 – which went into effect at midnight local time. 

The Sino-Indian War was notable for the harsh conditions under which much of the fighting took place, entailing large-scale ground combat at elevations over 14,000 feet or 4,267 meters. This presented numerous logistical problems for both sides – not to mention the thin-air, cold and arid conditions experienced by the combat troops. Even though the conflict officially ended in 1962, from time to time, major skirmishes between Mainland Chinese and Indian troops do occur. The last major one happened back in 1987. 

To those too young to experience the war first hand – either by being actually there or in live news broadcasts, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 was often used as a clever literary device by science fiction and TV series writers. The most famous ones are by Gene Roddenberry which a later, larger-scaled conflict, served as a backdrop for his Earth: Final Conflict TV series and on Prison Break, where an environmentally sustainable form of large-scale solar power generation threaten to restart the Sino-Indian War of 1962. 

Todd Akin: Misogyny In The US Republican Party?

With his insensitive gaffe against women rape victims that even offended President Obama, is Republican senate candidate turning the GOP into the political party of misogyny? 

By: Ringo Bones 

In one of his televised campaign tours across America, US Republican Party senate candidate, Todd Akin manage to unload a hitherto unprecedented “gaffe-bomb” in which he said that women can cope with “legitimate rape” with relative ease. The unconventional “Pro-Life” statement supposedly a declaration of Akin’s supposedly conservative Evangelical Christian anti-abortion stance horribly backfired into a unabashed declaration of misogyny, further reinforcing the perception harbored by most women in America that the US Republican Party is currently conducting a “war on women”. 

When President Obama made a televised statement on his disappointment over such unprecedented thinly-veiled misogyny disguised as a conservative Evangelical Christian Pro-Life stance, many now wonder if the 2012 US Presidential Elections are just merely about the GOP dominated Congress blocking President Obama’s economic and unemployment relief plans. Whether Republican senate candidate Todd Akin’s views on “legitimate rape” / “genuine rape” / “true rape” will become a fodder of late night talk-show comedians or on Saturday Night Live is anyone’s guess at the moment. Even Piers Morgan got pissed when Todd Akin apparently became too ashamed to appear on his talk-show on CNN. 

Pussy Riot: Politics of Russian Punk Rock?

Given that punk rock had been pigeonholed as an inherently political music genre, did the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot ever have a chance of a fair trial in Vladimir Putin’s Russia?

By: Ringo Bones 

Punk rock aficionados will be sure to agree that it is a highly political genre of music since it gained a modicum of mainstream fame during the mid 1970s. Who can ever forget the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen – a somewhat harsh polemic of HRH Queen Elizabeth II that became an anthem for “Generation-X”? But the question now is, will the Marxist-Leninist Socialism inspired protest against social injustice in Vladimir Putin’s Russia by the Russian punk rock band called Pussy riot forever shape the perception of how the international community sees the inherent lack of freedom of expression in Russian society this day and age? 

The rather harsh sentencing of the three members of Pussy Riot over their anti Vladimir Putin protest inside Moscow’s main cathedral had attracted international condemnation not just of Pussy riot’s loyal fans but also of the British and US governments and also of the EU. Guilty of hooliganism or not, one is left to wonder whether sentencing the three members of Pussy Riot to two years a harsh labor camp could eventually put a dent on Russia’s tourism revenue. With an inherent lack of the rule of law, who knows what passes as “hooliganism” in Vladimir Putin’s Russia these days? Prospective tourist could be steering clear of Russia from their travel itinerary in droves. 

London 2012 Olympics: Politically Correct Olympics?

With a lot of the preparation and execution done just right by present standards, will the London 2012 Olympics go down in history as the first “Politically Correct Olympics”? 

By: Ringo Bones 

They may have been some “bad” aspects that plagued the preparation of the London 2012 Olympics – the private security contractor failing to hire enough qualified security personnel that got exploited by a far-right fear-mongering US presidential candidate. Scores of unoccupied seats on the more popular events during the first few days, not to mention the main sponsors are peddling unhealthy products that can cause chronic health problems to their unwary consumers. But I think that enough good has been done to make the London 2012 Olympic Games to go down in the annals of history as the first ever politically-correct Olympic Games. 

London 2012 was the first time ever that all of the Olympic events were open to both men and women – which make it score highly in the political correctness stakes. All of the Olympic facilities that had been constructed didn’t involved evicting some disadvantage ethnic minorities from their ancestral homes, as in not a single Druid was evicted during the construction of the London 2012’s main stadium. Unlike what is currently happening in the preparation of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and during the Beijing Olympics back in 2008. And London 2012 did manage lower Britain’s unemployment rate. 

The 2012 Mitt Romney Political Olympics: Too Self-Serving?

With his gaffe that almost “overshadowed” the shortcomings of the London 2012 Olympics, is the US Republican Party presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s “2012 Political Olympics” too self-serving for the rest of us?

By: Ringo Bones

Forget about the controversial G4S private security contractor failing to hire enough security personnel for the London 2012 Olympics (which tend to only “scare” anyone who just seen a warts-and-all documentary of the PLO terrorists killing Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics – or too occupied with the politics of a post-9/11 world), forget about the empty seats in the supposedly sold-out since May 2012 popular events of the London 2012 Olympics. It is the Mitt Romney “Gaffe Olympiad” that managed to steal the “political” limelight of this year’s Summer Games a day before the opening ceremonies.

US Republican Party presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s comments on the city of London not supposedly ready to host this year’s Summer Olympic Games – which is more about the US Republican Party’s somewhat insular (and Evangelically warped) perspective of the post – 9/11 world than the issue of the private security firm G4S not hiring enough security staff – is primarily what irked British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Romney questioned both of them on the city’s security preparedness ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games – which 80,000 of the folks who first heard Romney went on to the nearest social network to err their grievances of the visiting American. Even HRH Queen Elizabeth II is not amused. At least the GOP presidential candidate’s gaffe will make the 2012 US Presidential Elections several notches more interesting. 

Is Mitt Romney’s view on the “unpreparedness” of the city of London to host the 2012 Olympics just too politically self-serving for the rest of us? Apparently so, because it is not that long ago that Mitt Romney manage to absolve himself from all responsibility over the “fiscal malfeasance” of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics with the help of the US Republican Party’s “political machinations”. Well, at least Mitt Romney is off again to visit Israel in order to fulfill the US Republican Party’s on-going mission to use Hebrews as pawns in their war against the Muslim World.

Will Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad Use Chemical Weapons On His Own People?

With the top UN human rights groups officially declaring that Syria is now in a full-blown civil war, will Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad be eventually be forced to used chemical weapons on Syrian’s who don’t pledge allegiance to his rule? 

By: Ringo Bones 

The recent interview by the BBC on the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq – Nawaf Al-Fares, currently the Bashar Al-Assad regime’s highest-ranking defector – suggesting that the Assad regime will be forced to use chemical weapons if his rule is threatened. Not only that, Nawaf Al-Fares also heard reliable testimonies that chemical weapons has been covertly used in the Syrian town of Homs months before. Will this be a repeat of the late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein ordering the use of chemical weapons composed of Sarin, mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide in a mostly Kurdish Iraqi town of Halabja back in 1988? 

Given that the truth that troops loyal to the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad won’t hesitate to use chemical weapons against disloyal Syrian insurgents, many now wonder who might become Syria’s own Chemical Ali – that notorious Iraqi general who executed Saddam’s orders to use chemical weapons on the disloyal Kurds in Halabja back in 1988. Or will the casualties might be unacceptably high on both sides given that Syria’s Sarin gas delivery system is probably unlike that of the one currently used by the United States’ Department of Defense’s GB-1 binary nerve agent via a BLU 19/B23 GB bomblet – i.e. the Syrian military are probably still using older Soviet-era – and largely unsafe – ordnance filled with ready-to-use chemical agents.