“What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea,” explains Dr Okello, based in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University.

“In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments.”

Once upon a time, orators declared that air travel would bring people together, erasing borders and prejudices to inaugurate a new era of universal amity and understanding; I reflected on this as my fellow passengers fussed with their cell phones, fastidiously avoiding eye contact with each other. Futurists had raved that the speed and brilliance of flight would inspire transcendent bliss; waiting on the runway, where the Wright brothers’ hearts had pounded, my fellow passengers would flip idly through catalogs and pull down the shades to block out the sun. The challenge of flight had commanded the passions of the boldest and bravest of my ancestors; when our plane took off, after ignoring the droning safety presentation, their heirs would peer briefly out tiny double-plated windows at the carved-up landscape before settling back to watch—a movie! Ten thousand generations had dreamed of flying, and we needed movies to numb our boredom in the air!

IBM’s consultants were happy to help, although they had more than just software in mind. To make the most of their solutions, they recommended an overhaul of how the city’s weather, geological, and civil defense agencies operate, essentially forcing them to work together. “The ideal situation would be to appoint a sort of chief operation officer who would coordinate across multiple agencies,” Banavar said. “To my surprise, the mayor took that advice very seriously, and within a couple of days had appointed a COO.”

“This is a very special thing for IBM, because we’re seen as a trusted advisor by the mayor–not a vendor, not even a partner,” Banavar continued. “He absolutely takes us with him for most of the city-related decisions. It’s a very close relationship that has pretty much transformed the organization model for the city of Rio.”

The result is the new operations center announced today and opening Friday that will operate independently of any agency while receiving data from several of them, running it through a battery of algorithms to monitor, predict, and visualize storm damage while deciding how best to respond. “Which streets will require the most troops?” IBM materials suggest as one of the variables. “Which hills are most prone to mud slides? Are their shelters that have vacancies? Which hospitals have beds available? What is the best way to exit from a soccer match at the Maracana? How should officials direct traffic coming from the Copacabana Beach?”

The high-tech centerpiece is a new weather forecasting system built atop IBM Research’s “Deep Thunder” software and tailored to Rio’s climate and topography. Melding data from the river basin, topographic surveys, rainfall logs, and satellite info, IBM promises the system will boast an 80% success rate in predicting downpours and floods 48 hours before they occur.

Assange sticks his head above this bland crowd of empty slogan-chanters and dares to stand for something, and this cannot stand, liberals and progressives shout him down because they’ve accepted Hollywood’s ideological framing of evil as the sincere non-ironic attachment to a belief. Every movie villain believes in a cause, the good ordinary people ultimately defeat him, but not in the name some other true belief, but simply to preserve the status quo, so that the neoliberal capitalist system should continue unmolested. The failure of the Democratic party to offer any true alternative is therefore not the fault of craven centrists, blue dogs, etc., rather it is the left wing who is playing at radical politics while secretly depending on the fact that the “sensible” moderates will win out in the end. They’ll write a lengthy blog post complaining that Obama hasn’t done enough to free us from the corporate oligarchy, then we step out to catch a matinee and cheer the defeat of a fantasy villain by the forces of the status quo.

No wonder that every liberal Wikileaks opponent or advocate for the importance of discretion and secrecy eventually outs themselves as a believer that the US as a force for good in the world. One huge benefit is that the Wikileaks issue is a line in the sand for the left, we know where you stand.