Sunday, January 16, 2005

New theory chalenges [sic] current view of how brain stores long-term memory





"For example, one's name is represented in innumerable neural circuits; thus, it is extremely difficult to forget. But each individual component is malleable and transient, and as no particular neural network lasts a lifetime, it is theoretically possible to forget one's own name."

Subjectively, this fluid, malleable model of memory rings very true for me. I think it's a mistake to think of our minds as "things"; they can be more accurately viewed as processes.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

I've revised and (slightly) expanded my online autobiographical sketch. This is meant to entice Web-surfers to start browsing my MTVI pages, but it's equally possible I may simply scare them away . . .




I've prepared some itemized tips to help pseudoskeptics "debunk" the Face on Mars; I couldn't help but notice that this has become quite the fashion lately and, as always, I'm here to help.

1.) Always use the word "conspiracy" when referring to the Face, as if it's axiomatic that those interested in the feature's origin are drooling paranoids convinced of some kind of NASA cover-up.

2.) Never refer to any scientific, peer-reviewed studies suggesting that the Face might be something other than a natural formation. Tabloid newspapers and goofy New Age websites, however, are fair game. If space permits, quote them at length.

3.) Be sure to construct your argument so that there's no room for healthy suspension of premature conclusions. Write as if anyone interested in artifacts on Mars is a "true believer." No exceptions.

4.) Relentlessly brandish Richard Hoagland's most idiotic claims, taking pains to foster the notion that Hoagland somehow speaks on behalf of everyone interested in planetary SETI.

5.) Include unspecific, utterly irrelevant references to spoon-bending, crop circles, alien abduction, poltergeists, cattle mutilations, you-name-it. This helps to "set the tone."

6.) Be careful to make it seem as if the argument for artificiality on Mars hinges solely on the Face. If you must refer to related surface anomalies, be as unspecific as possible.

7.) If you use pictures, keep them small and difficult to decipher. Or follow the "Skeptical Inquirer's" lead and subject images to arbitrary Photoshop filtering. You know, for "effect." If at all possible, use outdated, incorrectly enhanced imagery.

8.) Tell your audience that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Don't elaborate. Don't discuss what, exactly, this maxim might entail when examined epistemologically.

9.) Employ mantric references to the "Man in the Moon," eggplants that resemble human heads, nachos graced with religious icons, the "Old Man in the Mountain," etc.

10.) Don't forget to include an obligatory quote by someone affiliated with NASA saying how cool it would be if the Face et al were indisputably artificial and how he/she is heart-broken that, regrettably, they're just rocks.

11.) Ignore the rather obvious point that candidate extraterrestrial archaeological ruins (thought by some to date back hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of years) will inevitably exhibit severe erosion, making snap judgment based on remote sensing effectively impossible.

12.) Quip that satellite imagery has yet to reveal such things as "suburbs," "strip-malls" and "lawn furniture." This serves as surprisingly heavy ammunition.

13.) Make at least one reference to the defunct "X-Files" television series.

That's just to get you started. Send no money; I'm providing these as a public service.

Keep up the good fight and, most importantly, have fun!

Friday, January 14, 2005

ET Visitors: Scientists See High Likelihood

"Now a team of American scientists note that recent astrophysical discoveries suggest that we should find ourselves in the midst of one or more extraterrestrial civilizations. Moreover, they argue it is a mistake to reject all UFO reports since some evidence for the theoretically-predicted extraterrestrial visitors might just be found there."

Uh-oh! No-kidding respected scientists have dared to suggest that maybe the UFO data needs to be rationally addressed -- and lord knows we can't allow that!

Looks like a job for CSICOP.
Pravda strikes again:

Autotrophs: new kind of humans appears who neither drink nor eat





"People all around the world were storming supermarkets and grocery stores on Christmas and New Year's Eve. There was a small group of people, though, who did not even think about eating anything for Christmas. In fact, they do not think about food at all. Such people call themselves autothrophs - they do not eat at all. The term designates an organism that makes its own food. Autotrophs can go on hunger strikes for years and even decades."

Hey, sign me up! And can you eradicate the need for sleep as well? I could get so much more done!
The Huygens probe has landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan, one of the most enigmatic worlds in our solar system -- and it brought a camera. I'd be looking at snapshots of otherworldly scenery right now, but it appears the European Space Agency's servers are justifiably swamped . . .
Down the street are two forbidding-looking Chinese warrior statues. They've achieved local fame because it's become a common sight to see at least one of them headless. Apparently someone, probably under cover of darkness, is bashing them off and making off with the mock-terra cotta remains. This has been going on for months, and as far as I'm aware no one's been implicated.

I find the statues' plight kind of funny, actually. What's disturbing is that when a maimed statue can't be immediately outfitted with a new head because of weather conditions, whoever's in charge of Plaza outdoor sculpture wraps the "corpse" in a tight protective shroud.

Why "disturbing"? Because there's a pronounced and eerie similarity to that iconic Abu Ghraib prison photo showing the hooded guy hooked up to electrical wires. The statues even stand on little concrete boxes not unlike the crate featured in the photo.

As I write, both of the statues -- once belligerent and defiant -- are wrapped, mummy-like, in rain-resistant shrouds. And they look miserable. Walking past them, it's not too hard to imagine they're real humans waiting out some hideous punishment imposed by grinning bad-ass Marines. They make me feel inexplicably guilty.

On a more positive note, they provide the perfect location to have my picture taken doing a "Lynndie." (If you don't know what a Lynndie is, you might find this site edifying.) What's more, I found a mini digital camera -- complete with USB cable -- going for a mere $30 at a drug-store this morning, so hopefully I can commence photo-blogging sooner than expected.

Thursday, January 13, 2005





I started reading planetary scientist David Grinspoon's "Lonely Planets." It's a sprawling and well-written "natural philosophy" of the extraterrestrial life/intelligence debate; this book promises to take up much of my time in the near future. Grinspoon has a great website to compliment his books. And he's got a public email address. I wonder if he'd be agreeable to reading the online introduction to my Mars book . . .




Listening to Brian Eno's "Music for Airports," which is stunning. I don't think it's possible to tire of this album.
Is it a cockroach? A robot?

Roboticist Mark Cutkosky: "I think that robots have always, to some extent, been inspired by animals or humans. That's part of what the historical dream behind having robots is all about. What is new is that we can start to build and control them more as nature does. The days of 'tin men' robots are over."
"Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way)."

I just read this on Amazon.com regarding "After the Martian Apocalypse."

Today was awful, but at least it ended on a reassuring note.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

A DNA Success Raises Bioterror Concern

"Researchers have made an unexpectedly sudden advance in synthesizing long molecules of DNA, creating concern the technique might be used to create the smallpox virus."




Astronomers Confident: Planet Beyond Solar System Has Been Photographed

"The planet candidate appears to orbit a failed star known as a brown dwarf. The initial observations at ESO's Very Large Telescope could not determine whether the apparent planet was actually at the same distance as the brown dwarf or if it was a background object. The Hubble observations show that the two indeed appear to be travelling together through the sky, suggesting they are gravitationally bound, as originally suspected."
US scientists detect biggest explosion ever

"'I was stunned to find that a mass of about 300 million suns was swallowed,' said Brian McNamara of Ohio University, lead author of a study on the discovery published in the latest issue of Nature."

The known universe is chock-full of high-energy events similar to this. Could some of them be unrecognized signs of intelligent activity? We tend to think of proof of ET intelligence arriving unambiguously. Maybe it's more likely we'll stumble upon alien megascale engineering and prematurely attribute it to "normal" cosmic processes. (The "Red Rectangle," for example, appears tantalizingly like a vast artificial structure.)

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Nothing I hear, see, taste or touch is "real." There is no "out there," at least as popularly conceived. The brain is a sense organ; as such, it's responsible for processing the flood of input that I (presumably) receive from the outside world. It translates photons into images; vibrations in the air become sounds. My existence in the realm of the "real world" hinges on my nervous system's ability to translate physical phenomena into senses and subjective impressions.

But just how much trust should I grant my nervous system? The world in my head -- a world stitched together from images and intuition and acquired skills -- certainly seems like a faithful reproduction of what everyone else is experiencing . . . but how do I know? As long as I'm embodied, I must rely on the "virtual" interface of my nerves and brain.

Elliptically enough, I assume the existence of a somatic brain (the computer presently running "Reality 1.0") based on data harvested by the very sensory relay system I'm questioning; I infer its existence from observation. In the same way, I seem to be a creature of cells and DNA -- a tangible "thing" operating within the boundaries of the universe (itself another thing, although of a different order).

And maybe that's the way it is -- but I can't be sure of it. In the end, all may be Mind. The real world -- the material "ontosphere" of cars and bad weather and laptop computers -- may be a solipsistic or consensual fiction. Presupposing that it's consensual, we may partake in it out of sheer convenience without realizing it for what it is -- like telephone users casually assuming, for the sake of practicality, that the person they're speaking to has managed to project his personality through space. As Bruce Sterling has noted, cyberspace is that quizzical domain between the wires.

I'm not postulating a malign "Matrix"-style virtual reality. If anything, the idea that our minds inhabit an illusory world of gross physical matter is more suggestive of Hindu cosmology, with the self ("atma") forced to operate within a hierarchy of substrates.

I think it's very probable we share our world/s with others who have achieved something like "system operator" status. Strangely, if they chose to interact with us, that interaction might be necessarily flawed. This concept provides a plausible framework for Jacques Vallee's "multiverse" hypothesis, in which UFO occupants and paranormal experiences represent an ontological breach. It also compliments physicist David Bohm's transcendent vision of an "implicate" order wound up in our workaday "explicate" existence.

Quantum entanglement, for example, seems paradoxical to us. But if we could plunge deeper, into the universe's "source code," apparent paradoxes would dissolve because our consciousness (as of now, little more than a passive instrument) would be forced to mutate in ways that defy description.

Social commentators remark on the gulf that frustrates our attempts to collaborate meaningfully with our fellow humans. Perhaps we behave like discreet islands of consciousness because, in Bohm's explicate order at least, that is truly what we are. "Reality" is a crude sort of lingua franca; we are motes drifting on a vast and uncharted sea, disconnected and confronted by a universe that has become, under the light of bleeding-edge science, as arcane as any hallucination.

A bone-deep existential unease sets in. Am I a cosmos unto myself, chasing my own synapses (which may or may not be an accurate representation of whatever is actually doing the thinking)? Or, like quanta at the hands of particle physicists, am I fundamentally entangled in something more real?
Canadian Professor Develops Plastic that More Efficiently Converts Solar Energy

"Sargent said the new plastic composite is, in layman's terms, a layer of film that 'catches' solar energy. He said the film can be applied to any device, much like paint is coated on a wall."

(Thanks to Sauceruney, who was quick to note this stuff's similarity to Rudy Rucker's "limpware.")
Here's a really good one:

Could a hole in space save man from extinction?

"Calculations show that these gigantic machines must be the size of star systems, but this might be possible for civilisations billions of years ahead of ours. Unfortunately, some preliminary calculations show that the wormhole might only be microscopic in size. If so, an advanced civilisation might resort to shooting molecular-sized robots, called 'nanobots', through the wormhole."

Then again, a sufficiently advanced civilization might not settle for molecular surrogates. We should be on the look-out for prospective wormholes -- assuming they're big enough to detect.




Aliens 'could exist on Saturn moon'

"'This makes inescapable the conclusion that if life is an intrinsic property of chemical reactivity, life should exist on Titan,' Dr Benner says."

Iapetus moon bulges at equator

"The ridge is around 13km (8 miles) high in some places - taller than Mount Everest, the tallest peak on Earth."

Iapetus' exotic bifurcated appearance makes it look, well, manufactured. I'm not saying it's a colossal artifact, but that ridge reminds me of the blemishes you see on cheaply molded plastic balls. Very cool.

Monday, January 10, 2005



Storms Lash California, Europe

"Parts of the Sierra Nevada, an area noted for intense snowfalls, have not seen such snow in 90 years, and the next 24 hours promises to add another 3 feet to the twenty feet that have always fallen over the past week in higher elevations."





I'm not a huge fan of Whitley Strieber's site; most of the time his "news" looks like a hasty recap of last week's Anomalist, watered down with lame come-ons for hoaky New Age books. And I'm sick of his pleas for readers to subscribe in order to "keep it going," as if he's doing some monumental service. Most of the blogs I read are updated at least twice as often and they don't charge a dime, which is how it should be.

That said, Strieber does a dependable job of logging weird weather.
Life, Reinvented

"If the notion of hacking DNA sounds like genetic engineering, think again. Genetic engineering generally involves moving a preexisting gene from one organism to another, an activity Endy calls DNA bashing. For all its impressive and profitable results, DNA bashing is hardly creative. Proper engineering, by contrast, means designing what you want to make, analyzing the design to be sure it will work, and then building it from the ground up. And that's what synthetic biology is about: specifying every bit of DNA that goes into an organism to determine its form and function in a controlled, predictable way, like etching a microprocessor or building a bridge."

Science fiction author Paul Di Filippo calls this sort of thing "ribofunk."
Amateur Finds First Footprints Of Small, Plant-Eating Dinosaur

"In addition to being the first tracks ever found of the dinosaur, the footprints are the first evidence that members of the Hypsilophodon family roamed what is now Maryland."





Although the article doesn't mention it, Ray Stanford is also a competent UFO researcher. His investigation of the 1964 Socorro, NM landing/humanoid sighting -- conducted within days of the incident -- is summarized in his out-of-print book "Socorro 'Saucer' in a Pentagon Pantry."

Sunday, January 09, 2005

I've been invited to ConQuest, Kansas City's premiere science fiction convention. I've been turning them down the last couple years but this time I'm going to go, partly to hype my "new" book and partly to touch base. I'll miss the costume ball, thanks.

I leave for Sedona in a couple weeks, so I'm at work on a presentation for the local MUFON chapter. I've never written a speech, per se, so this is interesting. Anyone know any good "Face on Mars" jokes?

What's playing:

1.) "In Time: The Best of R.E.M."
2.) "Medulla" (Bjork)
3.) "Amnesiac" (Radiohead)
4.) "Mezzanine" (Massive Attack)
5.) "You Are the Quarry" (Morrissey)
"Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation" (J. Deardorff, B. Haisch, B. Maccabee, H.E. Puthoff) (PDF)





As co-author Bernard Haisch notes at ufoskeptic.org, "[t]his appears to be the first article on the UFO topic published in a mainstream scientific journal since the 1979-1980 articles in Applied Optics by Maccabee on the New Zealand sightings."
Listening for ET: Two Decades

"The SETI Institute predicts that we'll detect an extraterrestrial transmission within twenty years."

Here we go again. I've been hearing the "twenty year" prediction since at least junior high now. Contact is always just around the corner with the gang at SETI, just as extraterrestrial "disclosure" is always imminent among UFO/crash-retrieval theorists. Personally, I perceive little difference between the two camps -- except that the professional "skeptics" who grace our news-stands and TV screens maintain a convenient amnesia regarding SETI's claims while never failing to attack UFO claims with the subtlety of rabid dogs.

I'm perfectly willing to support radio-SETI. Indeed, I've been crunching numbers for Shostak and company since I bought my computer. But enough with the empty promises. I've had it with the hope-mongering.
Netizens eye Web-enabled surveillance cams





"Searching on certain strings within a URL sniffs out networked cameras that have Web interfaces permitting their owners to view them remotely, and even direct the cameras' motorized pan-and-tilt mechanisms from the comfort of their own desktop."

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Will Life Be Worth Living in 2000 AD? (July 22, 1961, Weekend Magazine)

"And this isn't science fiction. It's science fact - futuristic ideas, conceived by imaginative young men, whose crazy-sounding schemes have got the nod from the scientists." (Via Chapel Perilous.)

I like the implication that a device for recording phone messages might take up a room of its own. And how about that 24-hour work-week? To say absolutely nothing about the obligatory monorail.
Nasa delivers shuttle fuel tank





"A redesigned space shuttle fuel tank has arrived at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center ahead of the vehicle's first flight since the Columbia disaster."

Here we go with more of the same super-wasteful and unnecessarily costly launch system. But it's a safer super-wasteful and unnecessarily costly launch system.

Friday, January 07, 2005





I'm as good as there.
Outline proposal for an Institute of Biomedical Gerontology

"The most efficient approach to developing ENS will be by a coordinated 'Manhattan Project' in which substantial funds are targeted appropriately and systematically. This may be best achieved by setting up a research institute in which much of the work would be done. This page summarises my current vision of how such an institute would work, why it is the best use of a billion dollars, and what main projects it would oversee. I have tried to write it in a form that could be shown to people who might be interested in providing such capital (or a substantial proportion of it) over ten years. If you know such a person, please show it to them!"





The "Manhattan Project" research model is certainly a good idea (as exemplified by the success of the Apollo program), but I've seen it fail. Throwing bales of money at a biomedical problem in no way promises results, even though it's surprisingly easy to get caught up in the excitement and assume otherwise.

For example, in the mid-90s members of the cryonics community (such as it was) launched the "Prometheus Project," intended to lower a canine's core temperature to near-cryogenic levels and revive it without ill effects -- within a decade. That decade is over and as far as I know, while advances in tissue preservation have indeed been made, we have yet to put an animal as physiologically complex as a dog into reversable biostasis.

My stomach curls when I wonder how many dogs died in service to this effort -- that is, if it ever got off the ground in the first place.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Black hole blast stuns scientists





"Scientists are stunned by the scale of the ongoing eruption coming from the heart of the no-name galaxy cluster MS 0735 in deep space. It is the largest, most energetic outburst ever observed - its plumes stretch more than 6 trillion miles, and are so powerful they have swept a vast swath of interstellar dust and gas from the heavens."
Conspiracy theorists see dark forces

"Among the more common suggestions is that eco-weapons which can trigger earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves were being tested. More outlandish theories include one that aliens caused the earthquake to try and correct the 'wobbly rotation of the Earth'." (Via The Anomalist.)

Although we can be basically certain that the tsunami was a natural disaster, you have to wonder if there are weapons systems -- hypothetical or otherwise -- that could stimulate apparent "natural" disasters. There's a rich body of online literature on "scalar" electromagnetic weapons supposedly used for weather modification. I would guess that such systems, if they exist, are in their infancy; I have yet to see a climate anomaly that I'd attribute to technological intervention. But I can foresee this changing in the near-future.
Site o' the day: ESOTERICA

"A peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the transdisciplinary study of Western esotericism: Western esoteric traditions including alchemy, astrology, Gnosticism, gnosis, magic, mysticism, Rosicrucianism, and secret societies, and their ramifications in art history, history, literature, and politics."

(Not to be confused with my own esoterica site.)
Synaptic misfirings

1.) I've got a second date with a girl I quite like. I think. It's not etched in stone; she could back out, and I'm aware of this. Anyway, if it works out, I hope to spend some of Saturday at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, a great place I've stupidly neglected for the past year or so -- especially considering it's practically right down the street.

2.) Jason Sheets, in a comments post, has suggested taking an irony-laden road-trip through the increasingly surreal landscape of "End Times" America, with a possible stop-off in Branson, Missouri. Sign me up.

3.) I've come to an acute, urgent realization: I need a digital camera. I'd like Posthuman Blues to take a turn for the visual in '05 -- something along the lines of Rudy Rucker's blog, which incorporates lots of interesting photos. Of course, if I get one, I'll be sure to take it on the aforementioned road-trip.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

There's been some arrestingly offbeat speculation by Ed Gehrman on UFO UpDates proposing the "alien" in the "alien autopsy" footage -- if an authentic cadaver and not FX trickery -- is a terrestrially evolved humanoid. This idea converges nicely with my own musings on earthly hominids developing a technological culture in relative seclusion.





For example, I've theorized that ancestors of the Flores "hobbits" (or a similar race) may have been forced to take up hidden residence in homo sapiens society. Moreover, the oral mythology surrounding the Flores beings has the general flavor of contemporary UFO occupant reports -- human abduction, etc. Even the physical appearance of "ufonauts" and the "hobbits" share interesting similarities; both are described as short, with large eyes and long arms.

There are notable anomalies in the "autopsy" film; the being is polydactyl with an out-sized head (rather than the comparably microcephalic head possessed by the Flores specimens) and lacks secondary sexual characteristics. These traits argue against a normal mammalian origin, prompting theories of genetic engineering (presumably at the hands of extrasolar aliens using human stock).

The "autopsy" footage has always intrigued me because the supposed alien looks far too human to be anything other than a close human relative. This could be explained if the being is

a.) a fake,

b.) a terrestrial genetic/surgical experiment,

or

c.) a "cryptohominid" that fell into government hands after a hardware malfunction -- possibly but by no means necessarily the famed "Roswell crash."

The national security implications of the latter would be at least as dramatic as the US government learning that its airspace was being penetrated by extraterrestrials -- and on an anthropological note, far more disturbing.

If the cryptohominid theory is accurate, then it provides a plausible motive for nonhuman craft to visit our nuclear installations and military bases, as UFOs have done for 50 years; fellow terrestrials may wish to determine the risk posed by emerging destructive technology or even attempt to thwart it. Coincidentally (?), the modern UFO phenomenon began shortly after the development of radar, reliable aircraft and atomic power -- three factors that may have justly aroused the concern of any secretive "aliens" in our midst. It's even possible the global conflict of the second World War forced cryptohominids to subtly intervene -- perhaps, as I wondered in a previous post, encouraging the popular conception of UFOs as spaceships from some other planet. One can hardly think of a better "cover-story."

Lastly, but by no means unimportantly, there is a vast overlooked literature of "little people" in our midst that extends from ancient legend to contemporary times. I'm aware of one first-hand narrative -- which I tend to accept as factual -- involving members of a race of diminutive nomadic humanoids that can successfully pass themselves off as members of "normal" society. They claim to predate known North American cultures and appear to have an abiding interest in at least some members of "visible" society. Could these strangers have achieved more, technologically, than they choose to let on in face-to-face contacts?

I think it's perfectly conceivable that at least one race of human-like beings could be sharing the planet with us. If they belong to an ancient, enduring civilization -- however seemingly disenfranchised -- it's probable they're smarter than us; contact, if desired, would be on their terms. In the meantime, it's near-impossible to guess how deeply their culture infringes on our own, or if our own intelligence agencies have been quietly scrambling, for the last half-century, to determine whether they represent friend, foe -- or something else entirely.




Welsh skills put Medusa probe on track to find life in Space

"Complex machinery designed and manufactured by experts at Cardiff University's Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) is enabling Nasa scientists to develop a 'life detector' to look for exotic life forms under a sea that may exist on Europa, a moon of Jupiter."

Robot submarines, no less! What are we waiting for?
Strange Lights, Explosions: Now It's the US

"Now police in north central Wisconsin are receiving numerous reports of bright flashes and explosions in that area, that are once again being attributed to meteors. After one of the flashes and explosions, residents observed a persistent glow in the woods, but nothing was found. FAA officials in Minneapolis-St. Paul attributed the events to probable meteors."

This spate of unexplained bangs and flashes is eerily reminiscent of some kind of military exercise. My guess is that they really are meteors. But that "persistent glow in the woods" sounds straight out of a 1950s sci-fi movie.
Magnetic resonance imaging deconstructs brain's complex network





"Chialvo and colleagues described how fMRIs from healthy individuals showed that tens of thousands of discrete brain regions form a network that has the same qualitative features as other complex networks, such as the Internet (technological), friendships (social) and metabolic (biochemical) networks."

Good news for "Strong AI"?

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Man and the Machines





"But some A.I. researchers believe that moment might not be far off. And as their creations begin to display a growing number of human attributes and capabilities -- as computers write poems and serve as caretakers and receptionists -- these researchers have begun to explore the ethical and legal status of their creations. 'Strong A.I.' is the theory that machines can be built that will not merely act as if conscious, but will actually be conscious, and advocates of this view envision a two-front assault on the fortress of human exceptionalism involving both the physical and functional properties of the brain. And these researchers predict a breach within the next half-century."

I think it's imperative we "breach" the mechanics of self-awareness if we're to survive . . . and we may or may not have a half-century in which to do it.
THE MADNESS OF GEORGE W. BUSH: A REFLECTION OF OUR COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS





"Just like Hitler struck a chord deep in the German unconscious, Bush is touching something very deep in the American psyche. Bush is acting out on the world stage an under-developed psychological process that deals simplistically with issues such as good and evil. It's as if he hasn't grown out of and fully differentiated from the realm of mythic, archetypal fantasy that is typical of early adolescence. This immature aspect of Bush's process speaks to and resonates with those voters who support him, as it is a reflection of their own under-developed inner process."

No surprises here, but a good -- if possibly over-long -- read. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to sticking hideous yellow "Support Our Troops" ribbons to the bumper of my SUV.
UFOs Over Mexico City Airport

"On December 20, 2004, the staff at the Mexico City International Airport witnessed a strange flying object shaped like a black- colored saucer with what resembled 'a golden spinning top' located on its upper section. It was observed at an altitude of approximately 200 meters at 12:00 hrs."
Cool site of the day: Worldometers

When I checked, the global population was 6,447,117,163. If that doesn't fucking boggle the mind . . .
It Can't Happen Here

"Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don't believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don't like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives."

Well-said. (And take note this is posted on a ".gov" site.)

Monday, January 03, 2005

Life Interrupted

"We're shooting through technological rapids that have opened doors and changed the dynamic of work, how we communicate and live, and sometimes even think. All these tools have made our lives easier in many ways. But they're also stirring deep unease. Some are concerned that the need for speed is shrinking our attention spans, prompting our search for answers to take the mile-wide-but-inch-deep route and settling us into a rhythm of constant interruption in which deadlines are relentless and tasks are never quite finished."





Finally -- proof I'm not the only one who thinks our collective fascination with intrusive (if rather cool-looking) gadgets represents a deeper, more fundamental sickness. In the words of cartoonist Bill Griffith, we've become a "nation of twitching schizoids."
More UFO coverage from India Daily:

An enormous number of UFO sightings before Tsunami and earthquake in South and Southeast Asia - were they trying to warn?

"Was it a coincidence? Lots of people now from the Tsunami and earthquake hit areas are reporting about strange Unidentified Flying Objects they saw a few days before the mega quake and Tsunami. People in Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Island as well as many in Indonesia were reporting for some time about strange flying objects in the sky."

There's a possible non-ET explanation for these sightings (assuming they're real): tectonic "earthlights" caused by piezoelectric effects. Sorry, India Daily -- no aliens required. (And I'd like to think that if advanced extraterrestrials really were trying to warn people of the impending danger they could have done a less ambiguous job of it . . .)
In the beginning . . . Adam walked with dinosaurs





"Other exhibits include images of Adam and Eve, a model of Noah's Ark and a planetarium demonstrating how God made the Earth in six days."

Wow! If this isn't putting the "fun" in "Fundamentalism," I don't know what is! Be sure to get your tickets before the Rapture!

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Some bibliophile with a healthy inclination for weirdness just went on a first-of-the-year Amazon.com shopping spree, earning me $70 in referral fees. And it gets better -- he/she ordered sixteen copies of my "After the Martian Apocalypse," boosting the book's sales ranking well into the top 100,000 (not Stephen King territory, but a hell of a lot better than a lot of "fringe" titles).





On a related note: If you've read -- and liked -- "Apocalypse," consider adding your review to those already posted on Amazon. I think they may help. If you've already done so, my sincere thanks. And if you enjoy this blog and don't own a copy, my honest prediction is that you'll like it.
Mars rover Opportunity visits heat shield impact site





"The main structure from the successfully used shield is to the far left. Additional fragments of the heat shield lie in the upper center of the image. The heat shield's impact mark is visible just above and to the right of the foreground shadow of Opportunity's camera mast."

It's marvelous that the rovers are still going strong a year later; I, for one, am guilty of (almost) taking them for granted. This image of the charred heat shield is one of the most engaging so far. I hope to see this stuff at a Martian air and space museum someday.
The Mothman Death List

"People have pondered dates, disasters, and deaths linked to Mothman from 1966, to the present. Since it has become fashionable in recent years to create lists of those who have died by association to the JFK assassination, Bill Clinton, and even the movie Poltergeist, here is 'The Mothman Death List' of events and deaths linked to the original series of Mothman sightings of 1996-1967, to the release of the movie in January 2002, to the various cable premieres, and VHS/DVD releases later in 2002 and 2003."

I have yet to see the film. But I'm considering rereading the book.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

The New and Improved SETI (by the irrepressible Seth Shostak)

"So what's new with SETI?

"It's an easy question: a query that the media frequently pose, and for obvious reasons. Of course, it would be nice to say, 'well, we detected three Type II civilizations last week, but they weren't especially interesting,' and sometimes I do this for effect."

Stop it, Seth! You're killing me!