It's football season! (Or pre-season, or whatever the hell they call it.) And you know what they means? That's right -- even more pathetic jock-sniffing nobodies strolling around in officially licensed NFL gear than usual! Some of these idiots have already started decorating their vehicles. And to top it all off, everyone's doting on a completely fictitious presidential election.

Orwell couldn't have come up with this shit in his wildest dreams.

Physics professor confident his time machine will work

"He hopes the energy from a rotating laser beam may warp the space inside the ring of the light so gravity forces the neutron to rotate sideways. With more energy, he thinks it's possible a second neutron would appear. This second particle would be the first one visiting itself from the future."

Space probes feel cosmic tug of bizarre forces

"They had been tracking the probes using the giant dishes of Nasa's Deep Space Network. By the time the two spaceships had swept beyond Pluto, they noted there were persistent anomalies in their trajectories. Every time they looked the Pioneers were in the wrong place. The effect was not large, but it was significant. Something more than the Sun's gravity appeared to have a grip on the craft."

This was noted at least a year ago; evidently it's still happening. Peter A. Gersten has proposed that the Solar System is a computer simulation and that the Pioneer craft are reaching the literal edge of "reality." Or maybe we're under quarantine, and this is our first evidence of an "invisible fence" keeping us from ruining other habitable planets in our galaxy.

OK. Flying triangles ("FTs") are becoming an increasingly common sight. Meanwhile, the distribution of sightings indicates that these enigmatic craft are probably a "skunk-works" aerospace project. The paradox is that the FTs are apparently being deployed over large population centers, which would appear to mitigate against their being "ours" -- after all, why risk crashing a secret test aircraft near a busy interstate highway or in the middle of a suburb?




A triangular UFO photographed over Belgium.


Assuming for the moment that the bulk of FT sightings can be attributed to terrestrial engineering, what's going on? Either the FTs' high visibility is desired (possibly for psy-ops reasons the likes of which I don't have space to deal with here) or else FT sightings are the inevitable by-product of an actual tactical agenda. I'm not sure which possibility is more disturbing.

What perceived threat would necessitate ubiquitous low-flying FTs near or over American cities? What sort of "mission" is being carried out, assuming we're not witnessing so much high-tech joy-riding?

Is this a form of invasion? Given documented mind-control technologies and the high probability that some UFO abductions have actually been staged by the CIA, it's worrying to think what the FTs represent.

Or I might be misreading the correspondence between FT sightings and Air Force bases. The triangles may indeed be alien, drawn to AF bases for reasons unknown. A show of technological might, perhaps? Some kind of alien-government liaison? I don't think it's especially likely, but it's not impossible . . .

Various unsorted thoughts

1.) Zines are not dead! Not quite, anyway. I got a print rag called "Bizarre Bazaar" in the mail. It's basically a cheaply produced catalogue for Fortean/New Age/conspiracy merchandise, but there's at least one article in it. The complete works of David Icke, anyone?

2.) LatteLand (my coffeeshop of choice) now has satellite radio. With any luck, this means not listening to the same damned thing every time I stop by for a caffeine fix; tonight the playlist was entirely 80s, highlighted by The Smiths' "Ask."

3.) I've come to realize I have a weird habit of clarifying perfectly obvious spoken references with "illustrative" hand-gestures. A couple hours ago, for instance, I was discussing CDs and discovered that I was pretending to hold a CD in my hand (gripped at the edges between thumb and forefinger). Lame nervous tick or genuine eccentricity?

4.) Tonight I noticed a horde of blond party-girls clambering down the stairs of what appeared to be an airport shuttle or "senior" bus. On the side of the vehicle was the name for some limousine service. I couldn't help but wonder if these girls knew they had been gipped. A "senior trolley," no matter how ostentatious, is not a limousine. It might be an eminently practical means of transporting a gaggle of vacuous 20 year-olds, but please don't call it a "limousine" when any schmuck can plainly see that it isn't.

5.) After viewing the original release of "Donnie Darko" for the first time since 2001, I have to agree with discerning "Darko" fan Jason that the opening song by Echo and the Bunnymen was an inspired choice. INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" (substituted for the director's cut) works nicely, but "The Killing Moon" works better. Plus it's performed by a band with "bunny" in their name, and the film involves a forbidding six-foot rabbit. Come on -- you're not going to do any better than that.

6.) I finally rode a Segway. It's pretty fun; they're surprisingly speedy. Learning to navigate is basically intuitive, but not quite as automatic as I'd expected -- it's actually closer to learning to drive a car than learning to ride a bike. If I had a spare $5,000 lying around, I might just get one; as it was, I winced at forking over the $5 for the test-drive.

Now playing:

1.) "Hail to the Thief" (Radiohead)
2.) "More Songs About Buildings and Food" (Talking Heads)
3.) "Diamond Dogs" (David Bowie)
4.) "Violator" (Depeche Mode)
5.) "Meat Is Murder" (The Smiths)

Paris's new slant on underground movies

"To be fair, until recently very few people did have a clue about La Mexicaine de la Perforation, a clandestine cell of 'urban explorers' which claims its mission is to 'reclaim and transform disused city spaces for the creation of zones of expression for free and independent art'."

Yet another "Neverwhere" moment.

Thanks to Patrick Huyghe and The Anomalist.

Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea?

"But Fukuyama would undoubtedly respond that Pleistocene hunter-gatherers are still recognizably human, no different in their innate capacities than people living today. What transhumanists seek is very different. They want to go beyond current innate human capacities. They want to change human bodies and brains."

A must-read that underscores exactly what's wrong with Fukuyama's reasoning. His book on the potentials of the biotech revolution, "Our Posthuman Future," is a blinkered, neophobic rant that, of course, fooled just about everybody.

Read my review here.

Pollution triggers bizarre behaviour in animals

"Hyperactive fish, stupid frogs, fearless mice and seagulls that fall over. It sounds like a weird animal circus, but this is no freak show. Animals around the world are increasingly behaving in bizarre ways, and the cause is environmental pollution."

I was just on a New York radio show called "Beyond Strange and Mysterious." I tried Googling it to no avail. This was the first show I've done in a while with call-ins, so I got to ramble a bit on two subjects that otherwise weren't on the usual list on talking points.





The first caller asked if I thought aliens were walking among us in an attempt to learn the nuances of human existence. I mentioned the work of Dr. David Jacobs, a smart guy who thinks that an extraterrestrial hybridization program begun in the 1940s is now producing viable transgenic offspring who are quietly infiltrating human society. (I don't agree with Jacobs, but that's another post . . .) I offered my opinion that if advanced ETs wanted to secretly observe us they could probably do so using a form of nanotech that would elude 21st century science; disguising themselves in order to work and live among us unnoted seems unlikely.

Then again, who am I to outguess bona fide aliens? I like Whitley Strieber's telling of two apparent "visitors" in a bookstore shortly after the release of "Communion," covered in scarves, hats and sunglasses . . .

The second caller asked me if there were such things as Men In Black; I replied that there were, although exactly who these frequently bizarre characters are is the subject of debate. (Keel's "The Mothman Prophecies" and Jenny Randles' "The Truth Behind Men In Black" are probably the best books I've read on the phenomenon.)

Here's a quick but effective rundown of this year's "forbidden news," as summarized by John Shirley (who recently survived the Burning Man festival). Read it and cringe.

In a secret Paris cavern, the real underground cinema

"There the police found a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and tapes of a wide variety of films, including 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. None of the films were banned or even offensive, the spokesman said."

This article made me feel just how unhip I really am. I mean, no one's ever asked me to hang out in a place even remotely this cool. I doubt even Robert Smith is deemed goth enough for this joint . . .

I've gone ahead with Blogger's new email option. See those little envelopes? Click on one and you can effortlessly send the post in question to a friend. It really beats cutting and pasting a permalink.

Smelly robot eats flies to generate its own power

"The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current."

Robots that eat vermin -- I love it. And think of the potential military applications. Drop a platoon of flesh-eating 'bots into enemy territory and watch the feeding frenzy. Plus, the military brass doesn't have to worry about troublesome body counts, as all human corpses will have been processed into fuel -- fuel that can be used to launch new offenses against The Enemy.

Quick -- what's DARPA's phone number?

This blog is a proud member of The Cabal.

Noah's Ark plan from top Moon man (Via Everything Isn't Under Control.)





"The European Space Agency's chief scientist has said that there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust."

We're already working on a DNA "ark" of endangered species. It shouldn't be terrifically difficult to put a copy of it on the Moon.

Incidentally, this scenario is very much like that depicted in Jack Williamson's "Terraforming Earth" -- only his plan called for cloned humans to oversee the post-apocalypse restoration effort.

Creepy coffee: Owners of downtown shop say it's haunted (Via The Anomalist.)

Now I know how the staff at LatteLand feels . . .

Cleaning Up Kennedy Space Center After Frances

"NASA workers are continuing to assess the damage that Hurricane Frances wreaked on the Kennedy Space Center when it tore through Cape Canaveral over the weekend. Many buildings suffered wind and rain damage, including the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the space shuttles are attached to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters - it had 820 panels blown off. The Thermal Protection System Facility, where heat tiles and blankets are manufactured suffered significant damage. It's still unknown if the effects of the hurricane will push back the shuttle's return to flight."

Philadelphia mulls wireless society

"The ambitious plan, now in the works, would involve placing hundreds, or maybe thousands of small transmitters around the city -- probably atop lampposts. Each would be capable of communicating with the wireless networking cards that now come standard with many computers."

"Houston, Texas is so radioactive that it has learned to talk."





Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the infographics at Ready.gov look like something conceived by "Saturday Night Live."

Genesis space capsule crashes to Earth

"A pair of helicopters, helmed by stunt pilots, had been ready to snatch the refrigerator-sized parachute with a hook as the Genesis capsule descended. But there was no sign that the parachute opened, and video from the scene showed the 452-pound (205-kilogram) capsule hurtling toward the ground at the military Utah Test and Training Range. The capsule broke open on impact."

A crashed saucer! Call in Project Moon Dust!

Song of the day: "Mad World" (remake) by Gary Jules

Latest SETI signal not even 'promising'

"What cosmic listeners would love to hear is a repeat signal or a signal that says, in effect, 'I'm an intelligent lifeform -- are you, too?'"

Of course that's what they want. But probability strongly suggests that SETI's best get is to eavesdrop on a stray transmission -- something the program is presently unwilling to consider. And we probably don't even have the technology to search for stray signals anyway. SETI as it is now envisioned will only succeed if and when an extraterrestrial civilization takes an exclusive interest in our solar system.

Meanwhile, who knows how many actual transmissions we might miss out on because our criteria are so depressingly slim and anthropomorphic. A venture like this can only work if we follow up on everything; we can't afford to wait for a greeting intended for us.

Learning to love the touchpad

I've been fretting over the Synaptics TouchPad built into my laptop. It's temperamental. The cursor floats merrily across the screen, seemingly of its own volition; I lift my finger and the arrow shoots away like a frightened hummingbird. This afternoon I was acutely tempted to put my fist through the LCD screen.

Anyway, I think I've discovered a way to keep the cursor under control: I cool my fingertip by gently blowing on it. Apparently the touchpad registers the heat -- as well as the heft -- of the controlling fingertip, and if you're on edge -- as I was this afternoon, trying to point and click with the accuracy provided by a mouse -- your skin tends to grow hotter, confusing the touchpad interface.

(I've actually seen the cursor drifting and meandering across the screen when I'm not even touching the computer; I still have no clear explanation for this poltergeist-like phenomenon . . .)

Solar Airship

"The Solar Airship is an incredible 8 metres long and looks remarkably like a giant burnt sausage. In fact, it looks just plain remarkable."





In fact, it looks quite a bit like one of George Adamski's cigar-shaped motherships. I want one of these bad.

Earth warned on 'tipping points'

"Professor John Schellnhuber says the most important environmental issues for humans are among the least understood."

I'll be on 21st Century Radio this evening at 7:00 (Central). Click the banner for more information.

Blogging in style

I'm writing this with my laptop, which I hooked up to the Internet for the first time about an hour ago. This was to have been my "writing machine," but so far it's serving its secondary role as backup nicely.

Incidentally, the much-hyped Blogger WYSIWYG editor, which I've lacked on my desktop computer for some time, is "back" in all its glory thanks to the laptop's newer software. (Blogger offers font options? I never knew!) That's what you get for using a pre-millennium machine . . .

Bloggers in meatspace

I saw "Donnie Darko" today with Jason and Maggie. An absolutely fascinating movie, every bit as funny as it is troubling. I wanted to buy the soundtrack tonight but didn't have enough cash, so I settled for a smart drink and a Gregory Benford novel.

Tomorrow I take my Compaq to be repaired. Since I've nothing to do at the moment, let me get my laptop online. Jeez, I wish I had wi-fi . . .

Pssst! Posthuman Blues is going for $8,000+ at BlogShares.

The MTVI staff has just earned itself a "business casual" day.

Scientists track incoming probe

"Genesis was launched on 8 August 2001. Then, on 3 December 2001, it unfurled its collecting panels and started an 884-day period gathering solar particles at the L1 gravitational balance point between the Earth and the Sun."

Virtual Humans Proposed As Space Travelers





"'We humans, I think, are hungry to bond with machines . . . and I don't understand that at all,' Plantec said. 'Wouldn't it be interesting if it was a natural instinct that was the next part of our evolution? I really believe that, eventually, these things will evolve into a quasi-life form and we will form symbiotic relationships with them.'"

The Environmental Threat to Human Intelligence

"Millions of people now suffer intellectual decline because of human-caused environmental change."

To put it mildly.

Reports of SETI@home Extraterrestrial Signal Highly Exaggerated

"While this makes SHGb02+14a interesting, the chances that it actually represents an intelligent signal from beyond remain extremely slim. Random chance alone would make it probable that at least one of the billions of candidates detected by SETI@home would be observed on three separate occasions, as was the case for this candidate. Furthermore, as we reported in the SETI@home Update of May 17, 2004, the fact that this candidate’s frequency drifts rapidly makes it extremely improbable that it is a transmission from extraterrestrials."

So, in essence, it looks like they're writing it off because it doesn't conform to expectations of what an ET signal "should" be like. Break open the champagne, fellas.

'Flying Triangle' sightings on the rise

"The years 1990-2004 have seen an intense wave of Flying Triangle aircraft, the study observes. Sifting through reports by hundreds of eyewitnesses, the NIDS assessment states that the behavior of the vehicles 'does not appear consistent with the covert deployment of an advanced DoD [U.S. Department of the Defense] aircraft.'"

Holy Christ -- flying triangles in the "mainstream" media!

Electromagnetic Fields Pose Biohazard Risks

"Two recent studies on the effect of electromagnetic fields on animals found that low-level magnetic fields caused damage to the DNA in rat brain cells while exposure of rats to extreme electromagnetic fields caused the animals to produce toxic amounts of ozone."

So please, talk on that cellphone just a little longer . . .

Does SETI Have a Signal?





"The fact that the new radio signal has been detected by SETI three times indicates it could be an intentional transmission. This is the first indication of ET contact during the six years of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope."

The mainstream news blackout regarding the possible alien signal is a phenomenon in its own right. And I'm haunted by the prospect that SETI researchers will elect not to delve into this for fear of tarnishing their academic image with a potential false alarm.

False alarms are, of course, the stuff of science. But standards shift in interesting ways when the evidence is a potential communication from an extraterrestrial civilization.

Even if this turns out to be the real thing, can we hope to partake in the process of discovery during an "election" year? Back when fossilized life was arguably discovered in a Martian meteorite, Dole and Kemp (remember them?) made magazine covers. Life on Mars took a backseat.

I fear something nauseatingly similar is about to happen. But what should I expect from this thoroughly fucked-up society?

Payphones of the World

"2600 printed its first payphone photo in the Autumn 1988 issue. We received so many more contributions that printing pictures of foreign payphones became a regular feature a year later. The pictures appeared on page 2, which was limited to black and white. In the Autumn 1994 issue, we moved the payphones to the back page and put the table of contents on page 3. This enabled the payphone photos to be printed in their original color form. Now, by putting the pictures up on the web, we have created a growing library of foreign payphones."

No wonder E.T. couldn't get through

"E.T. may want to phone home, but he'd be better off shipping a package, says an engineering team. 'Our initial contact with extraterrestrial civilizations may be more likely to occur through physical artifacts,' say Christopher Rose of Rutgers University and Gregory Wright of Antiope Associates in today's Nature.

Artifacts? Boy, I never would have thought of that.

Contractors Selected for New Space Vision

"NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Associate Administrator retired Navy Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, said, 'These study contracts reflect NASA's new commitment to find the best outside expertise that will work in partnerships to benefit the nation's goals for space exploration. We are developing a sustained and affordable human and robotic program that will explore the solar system and beyond. We will accomplish this using the same ingenuity, commitment and unwavering determination that forged the success of the Apollo program.'"

Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away

"But it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope."

Astronomers deny ET signal report

"'It's all hype and noise,' said its chief scientist, Dr Dan Wertheimer. 'We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion.'"

First we're told how weird it is. Then we're told that it's "hype and noise." Would Wertheimer care to be more specific? It most likely isn't an ET signal, but I'd like to know how this apparent conclusion was determined.

More ominously, I've always suspected that SETI scientists would cringe in alarm if they ever did find something interesting. Radio SETI is a very nice theoretical exercise, but heads might roll if anything were actually discovered.

I'm not sure exactly when, but I'm going to hand over my desktop computer (a doddering Compaq Presario) to the dubiously competent hands of a registered service center this week. My extended warranty is about to expire and I've got some system problems I'd like to get cleared up. And neither of my CD drives have worked since the computer was "repaired" two years ago. I'm anxious to actually watch a DVD.

I just discovered the work of Ray Caesar (on Chapel Perilous -- where else?) and I am breathless with admiration.





Given sufficient funds, I wouldn't hesitate to decorate my place exclusively with Caesar's stuff. He's like Salvadore Dali meets the Brothers Quay . . . Biomorphic furniture, twisted Victoriana, giant insect limbs -- what's not to like?

No, You Shut Up

"Speaking out is what artists do, and it's a damn good thing, since hardly any other dissenting voice is heard in the media anymore. Last year, millions of persons participated in the largest global demonstrations in history in opposition to the looming Iraq war, and the media spent far more time watching Scott Peterson's boat. In July of this year, more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel Prize winners, signed a document decrying the Bush administration's distortion and suppression of science in pursuing its dogmatic agenda, and that barely made the crawl on the news."

This is a great editorial. I would have written something like it eventually. No, really.

This just in from the National UFO Reporting Center:

"FLASH: At approximately 1830 hrs. (PDT) on Tuesday, August 31, 2004, the National UFO Reporting Center began receiving the first of what has proven to be many reports of a bizarre looking object, which reportedly has been seen over FL, TN, KY, PA, NY, OH, NH, VT, and Washington, D.C.. Some of the witnesses include a police officer, an astronomer (Ph.D), an experienced UFO investigator with MUFON, and several public employees."