The Beginning of the End for Life as We Know it on Planet Earth?

The world ten million years after the Jurassic crash was radically different than the world of the dinosaurs. The world after the Holocene extinction event, the one we are in now, will be as radically altered and most likely one of the species that will not survive the event will be the present dominant species -- the human species.

In a way, the Holocenic extinction event could also be called the "Holocenic hominid collective suicide event."

After all, we Homo sapiens are the last survivors of the hominid line, a group that has been on its way out for some time. The beetle family, for example, has some 700,000 species by comparison. Odds are many of the beetle species will survive the event, whereas we will not.

(Via Reality Carnival.)

Peter Watts brings our attention to this biotech gem:

The Uplift Protein

A prefrontal-cortex protein involved in learning and memory. There's this one variant that's peculiar to us Humans, 45 amino acids longer than the standard model handed out to other primates, and a team of Chinese researchers have just nailed the gene that codes for it. And the really cool part? Utterly ignoring all those some-things-man-was-not-meant-to-know types, they spliced the causal mutation into chimpanzee DNA, which then started to synthesise the type-II variant. No word yet on how far they let that stretch of code iterate. No word on how many months away we are from building chimps with human-scale intelligence.

Hey, you know how DARPA's really into battle robots? What do you want to bet a hyperchimp could outperform even the smartest gun-toting autonomous vehicle?

Nothing is On Sale

Nothing is On Sale for $6.28. It had to happen. Someone is now selling Nothing. It's a piece of packaging with a with a clear plastic sphere sticking out of it that contains absolutely nothing.

Give it a mock-Italian name, sell it at Starbucks and I bet you could get at least $6.75 for it.

Now, in addition to merely drinking coffee, I can absorb it through my pores!

Are pesticide-free bee colonies exempt from collapse disorder?

This video allegedly shows a battered ET spacecraft on the lunar surface.



This could easily be an effects job and I fully expect it to be exposed as such. Nonetheless, I find it intriguing.

Update: Yeah, it's a hoax. But a rather cool one.

COUNTDOWN TO 2013

I'm not sure but I think that the magic number of 2012 comes from some Mayan calendar that doesn't have any dates past that year. Well, my Palm Pilot calendar doesn't go past 2031. Why 2031 and not some round number, like 2030? What do they know that they're not telling us? Who's really behind the Palm Corporation?

;-)

"Doing Time" by Mac Tonnies to be first Semaphore production

The gist of it: I'm writing a dystopian science fiction play for an actual theater company.





Many thanks to the irrepressible Paul Kimball, whose account of the making of "Best Evidence: Top Ten UFO Sightings" can be heard at Binnall of America.

NASA's rousing new moon vision:

Astonishing photos of Griffith Park burning, via Boing Boing.

Missing Bees, Cell Phones and Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy

Bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Learn how these missing bees relate to the use of cell phones, and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

That's right -- fuckwits have finally discovered colony collapse disorder.

I've posted these photos of scenic Independence, Missouri before, but since I'm in a violently anti-Independence mood I'm posting them again. (And yes, it's really like this.)

















Finally, here's me with some dead woodland creatures. Unbelievably, I'm smiling.

NASA study suggests extreme summer warming in the future

The research found that eastern U.S. summer daily high temperatures that currently average in the low-to-mid-80s (degrees Fahrenheit) will most likely soar into the low-to-mid-90s during typical summers by the 2080s. In extreme seasons -- when precipitation falls infrequently -- July and August daily high temperatures could average between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit in cities such as Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta.

The Great Independence Boil Alert of 2007 continues unabated. I'm eagerly awaiting the first reports of rioting and mass suicide. (Isn't there something about bad water in Revelations? Gotta be.)

Militant 'Mickey Mouse' pulled off air

Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday.

Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said the character -- a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice -- represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

Oh, the things you find on the Yahoo! newscrawl . . .

The inhumane treatment of robots

During a demonstration, where the robot was continually blown up until it was down to one leg, Tilden was ordered to stop by an Army Colonel who was distressed at seeing the crippled robot hobbling toward the next landmine. With his judgement clouded no doubt by seeing humans engaged in the real thing, the Colonel declared the demonstration was inhumane.

Maybe we'll start being humane when they start being humane. Hasn't this judgment-clouded colonel seen the "Terminator" movies?

Today (and probably tomorrow) Independence is on a "boil alert." Apparently a water main burst, potentially contaminating the water supply. (Curiously, none of the community's so-called "journalists" have even thought to ask what the contaminating substance might be.)

The alert advises ceasing to drink or otherwise consume tap water, so everyone's stocking up on bottled water or else boiling tap water in an attempt to eradicate the unspecified contaminants. As restaurants close, an almost apocalyptic atmosphere has descended over the suburbs. Lines of cars remain sitting at the Starbucks drive-thru, their drivers uncomprehending.

I have to admit that part of me is enjoying this.

'Up to half' of Mars may have ice

Scientists in the US say that initial data from a new way of scanning Mars has shown up to half of the Red Planet's surface may contain ice.

The new method of scanning for water offers vastly more accurate readings than before, they say.

The data could prove vital for the Phoenix Mars Mission which launches this August and which will put a lander on the surface to dig for ice.

"J.G. Ballard offered the really scary thought: that we didn't dread catastrophe, but longed for it."



Fifty years from now, as we examine the cancerous folly of the early 21st century from the perspective of wary temporal colonists, we'll see Ballard as the very embodiment of prescience.

(Excerpt from the BBC's "The Martians and Us.")

(Big thanks to Ballardian.)

Daft Punk, "Technologic":



An anthem for our time?

My new interview with Gene Steinberg and David Biedny of The Paracast is live. Click here and it will start playing automatically. Alternatively, download the MP3 here.

These dinosaur bots are so good they're scary.



Where can I buy tickets?

(Thanks: The Speculist.)

Russia Accuses US of Moon Plot

Adrian Blomfield reports that the Russian space agency has accused NASA of "rejecting a proposal for joint lunar exploration." Does this mean we hope to claim ownership of the moon, along with all its incredibly valuable Helium 3 fuel, by planting another American flag there before anyone else can get there?

That's exactly what it means.

Not only does this "UFO" look fake, it looks really fake, like the hoaxer wasn't even trying particularly hard. But I'll give him or her some credit for originality. (I especially like the alien script on the craft's extensions.)

Navy Heats Up Cold Fusion Hopes

Appearing in the respected journal Naturwissenschaften, which counts Albert Einstein among its distinguished authors, the article claims that Spawar scientists Stanislaw Szpak and Pamela Mosier-Boss have achieved a low energy nuclear reaction (LERN) that can be replicated and verified by the scientific community.

(Via The Anomalist.)

Good god -- another book (this one fiction!) by Cliff Pickover!

What do you know? I actually posted to Extracranial, my new sporadic fiction blog.

The last year has been the unhappiest of my life; on Monday I turn in my notice to my apartment manager.

Independence, MO is a malignant sprawl of drive-throughs, dilapidated strip-malls, megachurches, pawn shops, gaudily painted payday-loan outfits, and ubiquitous police chases. The people -- listless, overfed and television-soaked -- frankly horrify me. I'm sick of the sullen teenagers allowed to loiter in the town's sole non-Christian bookstore, the rampant obesity and the endless construction as the few remaining trees are mowed down to make room for more forgettable fast-food restaurants.





Independence is the culmination of a psychosis that goes conveniently unmentioned in the real-estate literature. It's a prison camp of colorless tract houses and chain-link fences, arguably as deadly as the nuclear bombs dropped by Harry Truman, its iconic native.

I've inhaled the fallout. Now it's time to move on.

Canadian Mission Concept to Mysterious Mars moon Phobos to Feature Unique Rock-Dock Maneuver

The PRIME science team has tentatively selected a specific and compelling feature on the surface of Phobos as the target landing site. Popularly known as the "Phobos Monolith", it is a building-sized object that appears to be a boulder exposed relatively recently in an otherwise desolate area of the asteroid-like moon. Scientists on the PRIME team are interested in such boulders as they might represent unique opportunities to examine actual samples of Phobos's bedrock up close. PRIME Deputy Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Hildebrand believes that the Phobos Monolith could hold the answers to the moon's composition and history. "If we can get to that object, we likely don’t need to go anywhere else," he advised the science team.

For more on the "Phobos Monolith," click here.

Peter Watts, author of supposedly "bleak" science fiction novels, confesses: he's an optimist. And I for one believe him.

Honeybee die-off threatens food supply

Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being "stuck with grains and water," said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA's bee and pollination program.

"This is the biggest general threat to our food supply," Hackett said.

While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly baffling and alarming.

The colony collapse epidemic has passed the "weird" threshold and entered the realm of the truly alarming.

Is this a real UFO over Brooklyn or a (presumably CGI) hoax?

"Doll Face" by Andrew Huang:



This may be one of the coolest things I've ever posted.

(Thanks, Nerdshit!)

US Environment Satellites In Jeopardy - Scientists

Environmental satellites that monitor global warming are in jeopardy because of cost cuts, as military and human spaceflight programs get larger shares of the US budget, a science policy expert said on Wednesday.

Just because the world's turning to shit doesn't mean they can make us watch.

Bangkok Faces Flooded Future, Expert Says

Thailand's capital, Bangkok, will be under water in 20 years because of rising seas from global warming and subsidence, says a top Thai climate expert who warned of a tsunami years before the 2004 disaster.

That's potentially 10 million climate refugees -- from merely one city. The future is going to be crowded beyond belief.

"If nothing is done, Bangkok will be at least 50 centimetres to one metre under water," Smith Dharmasaroja, head of Thailand's National Disaster Warning Centre, said in an interview.

Ah, but just think of the burgeoning glass-bottomed boat tour industry!

1934 Predicts: "Gigantic Robots, Controlled By Wireless, To Fight Our Battles"

You know, I'm with Wired, and when it comes down to it, we're all extraordinarily techno-utopian. But I'm going to say this: there's no way the actual future can be as cool as the battling 1,000 foot robots of the twentieth century's retro-future.

Images of Earth from Planetary Spacecraft

The Apollo program produced the first widely publicized views of Earth as a colorful marble floating in black space, images that revolutionized public perception of our fragile planet. Later, Clementine reprised these views. As spacecraft began to launch on journeys to more distant planets, never to return, their mission controllers often commanded them to take departing views of Earth and the Moon.

(Via Beyond the Beyond.)

Freeze-framed letter from "Leave it to Beaver": shades of the famous Roswell Ramey memo.

William S. Burroughs, Whitley Strieber, and UFOs

William Burroughs' reference points were outside most of ours. Like any explorer, he searched for the highest peak for a better point of view. If he could establish some sort of connection with non-human intelligence, he may have thought he could finally crack the hard shell of what he called the "Nova Conspiracy": one of his models for the drive that makes some humans seek total control of others. Burroughs was apparently convinced that this meme was so dastardly that it had to be due to an outside influence, namely what we would sometimes call "aliens." It probably did not matter to him if the contact was with "good" or "bad" aliens. He could glean information from either source.

Fembots!





For more, click here.

Radiohead, "Creep" (acoustic):



Portishead, "Seven Months":

This devastating expose of the enigmatic events of 4/29 veritably screams for a high-level investigation.

(Yes, I'm kidding.)

(Thanks: Boing Boing.)

"A magic man done it."



(Big thanks to Reality Carnival.)

Ice Retreating Faster Than Computer Models Project

Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), shows that the Arctic's ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments.

I swapped the most unsatisfying uber-minimal look for the upgraded version of the blue template I'd already been using. I'm a little angry at Blogger's dearth of cool templates, but at least now I can swap layouts painlessly if they happen to acquire a decent one.

Thanks for the comment feedback, everybody.