Interracial relationships and marriages are becoming more common

Interracial relationships and marriages are becoming more common in the United States, according to a new Cornell University study.

The number of interracial marriages involving whites, blacks and Hispanics each year in the United States has jumped tenfold since the 1960s, but the older individuals are, the less likely they are to partner with someone of a different race, finds the new study.

I bet this is exactly the kind of thing that chaps the asses of those "Prussian Blue" girls.

Europe's First Pyramid?

The pyramid is over 300 feet high and may contain several rooms. It's built of stone blocks, which, according to the Daily, "indicates the presence at the time of a highly developed civilization . . . Archaeological excavations near the surface have uncovered a part of a wall and fragments of steps."

Geologist Nada Nukic says, "Visocica hill could not have been shaped like this by nature." It's worth remembering that the extensive pyramids of the Mayan culture in Mexico and Guatemala were overgrown and "lost" to modern civilization, until natives of these areas pointed them out to modern archeologists.

It's also worth noting that symmetrical pyramidal forms on Mars have been dismissed as potential archaeological sites because they're imperfect -- in other words, we shouldn't waste our time eyeing candidate ET structures because it's assumed that "aliens" will somehow only build structures immune to decay. And we're effectively asked to take that on faith, all the while happily dishing out contributions to SETI.

Good news on the Mars front:

Methane Producing Bacteria Found in the Desert

Evidence of methane-producing organisms can be found in inhospitable soil environments much like those found on the surface of Mars, according to experiments undertaken by scientists and students from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the University of Arkansas and published online in the journal Icarus.

The results, they said, provide ample impetus for similar "biodetection experiments" to be considered for future missions to Mars.

But wait! There's more!

Mars Express PFS spectrometer back at work

The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft is now back in operation after a malfunction, reported a few months ago.

[. . .]

PFS was the first instrument ever to make direct 'in situ' measurements of methane in the atmosphere of Mars, and provided first indications of traces of formaldehyde, both candidate ingredients for life.

What If We Burn Everything?

If humans continue to use fossil fuels in a business-as-usual manner for the next few centuries, the polar ice caps will be depleted, ocean sea levels will rise by seven meters and median air temperatures will soar to 14.5 degrees warmer than current day.

Two words: Orbital airships.

More weather modification fun:

U.S. Military Wants to Own the Weather

In this regard, nanotechnology could be utilized to create clouds of tiny smart particles. Atmospherically buoyant, these ultra-small computer particles could navigate themselves to block optical sensors. Alternatively, they might be used to provide an atmospheric electrical potential difference -- a way to precisely aim and time lightning strikes over the enemy’s head -- thereby concoct thunderbolts on demand.

(Via KurzweilAI.net.)

Hmmm. This might be just the thing to enliven the fictional sentient whirlwinds discussed in a previous post.

How to Save the Climate

You won't read it in US media, but Blair's speech on "10 ways to save the world today" was reported in detail in the Independent. They are reminiscent of the Canadian prime minister's list of ways that the average person can combat global warming.

Per Blair's speech, here's one way to help make individual buildings self-sufficient:

The technology of the Sunball is unusual, but not unprecedented. Rather than a flat panel, it uses fresnel lenses to concentrate sunlight onto an arrangement of high-efficiency cells, increasing the amount of light hitting the cells. This allows the Sunball to be less-costly than standard pv, with an estimated cost of AU$1,400 (about US$1,050) per 330 W peak unit. We've talked about solar concentrators before, but the previous examples were clearly meant for larger-scale power generation; one advantage of solar concentrator technology is that it can produce more power in a limited space than normal photovoltaic panels. What's novel about the Sunball is that it's meant for home users, particularly those who don't want to cover their rooftops with black glass panels.

Try to envision suburbs where these things are as ubiquitous as Dish TV.

Space designs from ants and squirrels

The future of space exploration could lie in biomimetics, where engineering meets biology. In effect, it steals nature's evolutionary tricks to create revolutionary applications.

Engineers like Dr Alex Ellery, head of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Surrey, are trying to find out how natural systems might inspire human-made technology in space.

(Via Vortex Egg.)

I'm imagining a future where the machinery slithers, rustles and oozes.

Before it's too late: Happy Halloween, everybody!

Two More Moons Discovered Orbiting Pluto

While scientists had predicted there might be more moons, the newfound setup is surprising nonetheless, in part because Pluto is smaller than our own Moon.

"It's almost like a mini solar system," Weaver said. "How can something about 70 percent the size of Earth's Moon have all these satellites? How can that happen? We're going to have to explain that."

Defend yourself against the coming robot rebellion

A robot trying to find you will use thermal imaging based on the roughly 91-degree temperature of human skin, so smearing yourself in cool mud will confuse them. If being chased by an unmanned robot vehicle, flee to a rustic, unmapped area with lots of obstacles. If your robot "smart" house -- one wired with video surveillance and computer gear -- tries to trap you, chop your way out with an ax and don't take your cell phone, because the house will track you with it.

(Via KurzweilAI.net.)

The mystery of the eye

While watching NBC2 coverage of Hurricane Wilma about two dozen residents called the station reporting an unusual sighting. While watching a Doppler loop of Hurricane Wilma coming ashore, a number two appeared in the eye of the storm.

(Via Chapel Perilous.)

Weather-modification theorists are going to have fun with this one, assuming they haven't already.

I sense science fiction potential here . . .

(Link found at the ever-dependable Boing Boing.)

NASA report lays out the risks of exploring Mars

Top among those risks:

* Martian dust--its corrosiveness, its grittiness, its effect on electrical systems such as computer boards;
* possible Martian "replicating biohazards"--organisms dangerous either to the astronauts or for return to Earth;
* the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere, including dust storms, that might affect landing and takeoff;
* potential sources of water, especially crucial if the first astronauts were to stay on the surface longer than a month.

They left out the obvious menace posed by Bat-Rat-Spiders!

Take a look at this, ah, interesting bit on the unremarked link between oral sex and devout communism. And be sure to play the animation, all the while keeping in mind that North Korea has nuclear weapons.

Long live surreal Orwellian manifestos on sensual arousal!

I can't recommend "Song of the Greys," as I haven't yet read it, but it has a cool website.

(Speaking of which, Bob Lazar's official site is back online after a protracted hiatus.)

Bruce Sterling: The planet *is* an ark

The climate crimes we've already committed aren't much compared to what's coming down the pipe. It's pretty cynical to write off mitigation when we haven't as yet even tried it. It may well be that the roof is on fire, but that doesn't make it good policy to chop up the walls and floors and add them to the blaze.

Tell it, Bruce.

For a "trick of light," the Face on Mars continues to look pretty damned face-like, as seen here in this new shot taken by the Mars Odyssey's THEMIS camera.

UFOs Seen All Over CA

Mars is in close opposition to earth right now, as close as it has been in 60,000 years. The fact that UFO sightings rise during Mars oppositions has been documented by the MUFON Journal. This is one of the few statistically consistent cycles in UFO observation.

This observation provokes several theories, all of them weird. In an earlier era, we might have ascribed increased UFO sightings during Mars oppositions to increased reconnaissance by Martian saucer-pilots. After all, our own Mars missions are slated to take advantage of Mars' close approaches; could the presumed Martians have a similar fixation with economy?

But the reported flight characteristics of UFOs tend to belie a Martian origin. Whatever they are, UFOs consistently defy the brute-force propulsion used to loft our probes (and eventually our astronauts) to other planets; I'd be shocked to discover that an advanced alien civilization living in our immediate solar neighborhood would rely on anything as feeble as rocket technology.




Jacques Vallee


Which leaves the enticing possibility that the intelligence behind the UFO phenomenon wants us to think it's from Mars. If researchers like Jacques Vallee are correct and UFOs are manifestations of a psychosocial conditioning system that antedates history, then we might expect all sorts of misdirection. Indeed, the annals of ufology are filled with accounts of bizarre humanoids divulging their native star systems to flummoxed witnesses. (Betty Hill's encounter with a peculiarly chatty "Gray" included a good look at a "star map," complete with galactic thoroughfares.)

The Eerie, Bizarre Sounds of the Saturnian System

Be ready for a goosebump or two as you feast your ears on some of the greatest sounds gathered during the exploration of the Saturnian system.

(Via Beyond the Beyond.)

World Wind 1.3:

Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.

Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.

(Via Boing Boing.)

The Moon? You can go there, too.

Human Enhancement Technologies and Human Rights

Yet, what, if any, limits should be considered to human enhancement? On what grounds can citizens be prevented from modifying their own genes or brains? How far should reproductive rights be extended? Might enhancement reduce the diversity of humanity in the name of optimal health? Or, conversely, might enhancements inspire such an unprecedented diversity of human beings that they strain the limits of liberal tolerance and social solidarity? Can we exercise full freedom of thought if we can't exercise control over our own brains using safe, available technologies? Can we ensure that enhancement technologies are safe and equitably distributed? When are regulatory efforts simply covert, illiberal value judgments?

(Via Cyborg Democracy.)

Reading assignment: "Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling.

Horse death mystery solved

A veterinary investigation has found that 16 horses, which were found dead and lying in a field last week, were killed by lightning.

Mercury rising

The late autumn mild spell is set to deliver one of the warmest October days on record, with temperatures in some parts of the country predicted to rise to 23C on Thursday.

The trouble is, record-beating climate conditions seem to crop up with such remarkable frequency these days, it's almost easy to be blase about such things.

Meet the Sloganizer!

Woudn't it be great if your fingers had fingers? And so on?

(Link found at Grow-a-Brain.)

Hans Moravec predicts that robots with similar appendages, able to manipulate matter at the molecular level, will supersede humanity. And in "Engine City," Ken MacLeod envisions their biological counterparts.

I was scribbling notes for science fiction story ideas (on a cardboard java jacket, since nothing else was handy) and found myself meme-splicing the "zones of thought" from Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" with the homey practicality of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Basically, the idea is that different social groups -- not necessarily defined by geography -- broadcast high-bandwidth "feeds" that are automatically detected, routed and processed by the augmented brains of anyone passing through.

Take language. A non-French-speaking tourist could visit France and suddenly find him- or herself speaking the native tongue fluently. But the applications can be far more potent, even threatening entrenched notions of what constitutes "self." So it logically follows that a lot of people will set up neural firewalls to protect themselves from personality-altering networked "feeds" while continuing to enjoy Mind-Fi's limitless conveniences.

But all might not be pleasant:

The subliminal undertow of the mindfeed felt like a layer of gelatin lubricating every conscious thought; factoids and assumptions rose to the surface of awareness unbidden only to dissolve once expressed. "Like gnats," he thought, leaning into his augmented exosuit. "Digital mayflies canvassing my synapses and quietly expiring." The notion weighed on his conscience. He imagined the husks of dead insects clinging to the warm, wet lining of his skull, impervious to decay.

He shook his head as if to dislodge them; the exosuit amplified the motion and would have jarred his sense of balance had he not opted for modification prior to boarding the geosynch tether. Slowly, his limbs relaxed into their programmed routine.

Sudden bilocation racked his senses: He was a thing of temperamental flesh, head full of arcane machinery. At the same time, we was pure thought, seamlessly encased in factory-fresh piezoplastics and discreet pneumatics.

Hurricanes So Strong They Need a New Definition

Due to global warming, which heats up the surface of the tropical waters where hurricanes form, hurricanes are becoming stronger than ever -- so strong, in fact, that scientists say we need a new way to categorize them.

Imagine a not-too-distant future Earth besieged by a perpetual storm akin to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. I'm serious. Might cyclonic storms represent a form of life, however minimal? Is the Red Spot a gargantuan organelle? Admittedly, it's difficult to anthropomorphise -- let alone sympathize with -- something as unremittingly destructive as a super-hurricane; then again, we waste little time worrying about the plight of many animal species.

Life isn't a "thing"; it's a pattern. As such, a self-sustaining hurricane or tornado seems to fulfill at least the basic definition of "life." It "seeks" to persist. It "responds" to its environment. It even "reproduces," albeit asexually.

I've even started a short-story in which massive, self-aware cylcones have eclipsed humans as Earth's dominant species, forcing survivors to seek shelter deep underground amidst the remains of a once-thriving biotech industry. But I stopped writing when I realized the heroine would eventually have to confront Earth's inscrutable new overlords. After all, how exactly does one communicate with a weather pattern, however evolved?

Science fiction writers delight in crafting thoroughly nonhuman aliens, but most of the time they're at least palpably flesh-and-blood (or the xenobiological equivalent). Surprisingly, we might have more in common with sapient whirlwinds than we might think; the human form, viewed in four dimensions, is essentially an ever-changing amalgam of molecules, as fleeting and tenuous as the winds that conspire to form a funnel-cloud. The atoms in our bodies are constantly replenished, effectively "teleporting" us in to the future with every breath. We are patterns. So maybe we have some common ground with my fictional cyclones after all, and dialogue isn't as impossible as it might seem.

Jury acquits man of killing professor

Daneen Milam, a defense expert who said Ngai was insane, said the number of wounds on Martin's head, which left a deep hole in her skull, showed he was focused on something other than just killing Martin.

"He said he was getting a computer chip out," Milam testified. "He said that's what he was going to do. When he couldn't do it, he called the police to help him."

(Via Exploding Aardvark.)

As we enter a new era of "spimes" and omniscient RFID surveillance, we invite a host of new psychopathologies.

In plain English: I'm afraid we're going to be seeing more of this sort of thing.

Ice Beneath Mars Is Asking, "Can You Hear Me Now?"

In August 2003, as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers were barreling toward Mars in their flying saucers, scientists and engineers sent a radio signal disguised as the rovers' "voice" to the Odyssey orbiter at Mars. The call to Odyssey was what Dr. John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover Science Manager, defines as a "can-you-hear-me-now?" test. Scientists and engineers wanted to ensure the UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio system on Odyssey, a primary communications relay between the rovers and Earth, would work. Odyssey responded with a resounding yes, and something else from Mars responded too . . . .

The last I checked, if we melted all the ice on Mars we'd have an ankle-deep planet-wide ocean. And that's just the ice we know about.

Never-developed film yields never-before-seen images. Beautiful.

(Found at Boing Boing.)

I found this photograph,
Stashed between the old joist walls,
In a place where time is lost,
Lost behind, where all things fall
Broken books and calendars,
Letters script in careful hand,
Music too, a standard tune by
Some forgotten big brass band

--R.E.M. with Natalie Merchant, "Photograph"

I wathed Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" last night for the first time in years. What a perfectly terrifying movie.

Supernatural: Meetings With The Ancient Teachers Of Mankind (by Graham Hancock)

To have established the role of hallucinations as the inspiration for cave art is one thing [. . .] But to understand what hallucinations really are, and what part they play in the overall spectrum of human experience and behaviour, is another thing altogether, and neither Lewis-Williams nor any other scientist can yet claim to possess such knowledge, or to be anywhere near acquiring it. Gifted and experienced shamans the world over really do know more – much more – than they do. So if we were smart we would listen to what the shamans have to say about the true character and complexity of reality insteadof basking mindlessly in the overweening one-dimensional arrogance of the Western technological mindset.

Hancock goes on to ask what, to my mind, is one of the Big Questions of the human experience:

What is the significance of the astonishing similarities between the entities known as "aliens", ET's" or "greys" in modern popular culture, the entities known as "fairies", "elves" and "goblins" in the Middle Ages, and the entities that shamans in surviving tribal cultures know as "ghosts", "gods" and "spirits"? Why are such figures also depicted in prehistoric art as far afield as Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia?

I wonder if the machinations of an interdimensional intelligence are more likely than ET contact; the closer we look, the weirder the universe gets . . .

Is there another world in the mirror, Case physicist asks

Krauss concludes the book with a discussion of something even more exotic than the possibility of six or seven extra microscopically small extra dimensions. This involves the recent theoretical discovery that some or all of these dimensions could in fact be infinitely large and still remain hidden, a discovery that was made in part by one of Krauss' former doctoral students.

I'm drawn to the possibility that we inhabit one of potentially infinite "nested" cosmologies inhabited by all manner of entities, some of which can project themselves into our own for reasons that remain obscure.

This out-take from Rudy Rucker's forthcoming SF novel "Mathematicians In Love" addresses similar suspicions:

"Your jellyfish's cable generates one after another of your parallel universes," added Tanya. "And the series of universes is what we call a hyperverse. It's like successive drafts of a novel."

"She doesn't generate universes," objected Mulvane. "She indexes regions of space. The so-called parallel universes are simply different zones of one very, very, very large shared space. Occam's Razor. There's no need to multiply the realities, no need for mysto steam. One mammoth reality has room for all the monkeys on all the typewriters."

Six-seat spacecraft top of Russian space plan

Russia's new plan also states aims to send a robotic probe to Phobos, one of Mars's moons.

Remember the last time they tried that? As it approached, the probe photographed an unknown object and quickly became space-junk.

Click here for more Phobos weirdness courtesy Efrain Palermo.

Close encounters of the mind kind

The findings were backed by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, who suggested claims of alien contact were derived from a desire to believe in extra-terrestrial life.

"It's some kind of instinctive need to link up with life outside Earth, but the experiences that are recorded by these people are factors of the imagination. They have had the sensation of an encounter, but it can not be quantified or substantiated."

I got an interesting-looking book called "Song of the Greys" in the mail yesterday. It purports to explain the origins of the diminutive, big-headed creatures synonymous with "abduction." It's probably a one-way passport to Believerville, but I wouldn't be surprised if scientists like Wickramasinghe are overlooking something critical.

Town baffled by deaths of 22 horses

Authorities are considering everything from poisonous weeds to a lightning strike to explain two incidents this month that have killed 22 horses and have residents in the ranching town of Calhan on edge.

Could have been weirder. Could have been 23 horses.

Eco-architect lays down green roots

Building rules stated that, to protect the view and space between the Victorian buildings next to his property, no building on the plot of land could exceed the six-foot wall surrounding it.

This spurred Michaelis to design a unique house, by digging down and incorporating environmentally friendly technology into the design.

Michaelis, who is a self-confessed "greenie" and drives an electric car, told CNN that while the building incorporated eco-friendly technology and design, its main purpose was to be a family home.

(Via Dr. Menlo.)

Could this thing be the nest "WWJD?" bracelet?

(Thanks to Engadget.)

Oh, this is too cute:

Disaster? It's Hummer Time

And they said Felix and Oscar were an odd couple. The Red Cross, symbol of compassion, caring, and altruism, is teaming up to promote the Hummer, the symbol of capitalism, environmental insensitivity, and ostentation.

Global Storm Warning

How many killer hurricanes will it take before America gets serious about global warming? It's hard to imagine a more clear-cut wake-up call than Hurricane Katrina; environmentally speaking, it was nearly the perfect storm. In a single catastrophic event, it brought together the most urgent environmental problem of our time--global warming--with the most telling but least acknowledged environmental truth: When the bill for our collective behavior comes due, it is invariably the nonwhite, nonaffluent members of society who pay a disproportionate share. And who said Mother Nature has no sense of irony? Katrina (and then Rita) struck at a major production site for America's oil and natural gas--the two carbon-based fuels that, along with coal, help drive global warming.

Meanwhile . . .

Mega Truck Dwarfs SUVs

Now here's a truck for those who want roomy comfort and a clear sight line over the vehicles driven by mere mortals. The Dodge 2006 Ram Mega Cab has plenty of room for 6 adults, and includes amenities such as a sun roof and DVD player.

The heavy-duty version comes with a turbocharged 5.9-liter six-cylinder Cummins diesel engine providing 325 horses. At 247 inches long, the Mega Cab is about one-third longer than the Hummer H1, and it is almost as heavy.

Sensations Rise around 25-centimeter Dwarf of Kerman

"Regarding the rumors and the sensitivity of the issue of the existence of an ancient dwarf city in Kerman province, the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Kerman has asked for more anthropological studies to end the rumors," says Hossein Rashidzadeh, an official with the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Kerman.

(Via The Anomalist.)

Very Lovecraftian . . .

Hubble Gazes at the Moon

NASA has turned the Hubble Space Telescope at our closest neighbour to help scout out potential landing sites. In addition to being incredibly powerful, Hubble is sensitive to ultraviolet light, which is reflected off of surface materials on the lunar surface. This will allow scientists to identify areas abundant in titanium and iron oxides, which would provide oxygen and metals for future lunar bases. Hubble's resolution is still only 50-100 metres, so it can't reveal Apollo spacecraft still on the Moon.

TAMIFLU GILEAD CHAIR WAS ... RUMMY

Readers can be helpful, and one just wrote in to inform us of a link that we had never imagined - Donald Rumsfeld, until he resigned and joined the Bush Administration, was the chairman of something called Gilead which just happened to make something called Tamiflu.

The Bush administration appears to be filled with more diverse and eclectic links than Wikipedia.

Beyond Human

In the novel, when an acolyte witnesses a murder that, if revealed, could derail the cult's DNA experiments, the chief geneticist orders her thrown from a cliff. He feels no shame, nor does the narrator see any reason why he should. "What he was trying to do," Daniel1 writes, "was to create a new species, and this species wouldn't have any more moral obligation toward humans than humans have toward lizards."

(Via KurzweilAI.net.)

Uh-oh: The evil, soullessly pragmatic posthuman meme makes yet another appearance. Hasn't it occurred to any naysayers that we magage to do a bang-up job of ignoring "moral obligations toward humans" without the assistance of transhumanist technology?

In fact, I'd argue that the technocratic monsters described in the excerpt above are among us right now. We call them corporate executives.

Selective logging may have doubled Amazon damage

Damage to the Amazon rain forest may be twice as large than previously thought due to undetected "selective" logging, U.S. and Brazilian forest experts reported on Thursday.

[. . .]

The report, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, showed that the size of the damaged forest, taking into account selective logging, was between 60 percent and 128 percent higher than the officially deforested area between 1999 and 2002.

(Via No Touch Monkey!)