tiamatsvision

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:48:42 GMT

Flicker

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:09:22 GMT

"In 1960, poet, artist, and beatnik Brion Gysin invented the Dreammachine, a hypnotic light device with the power to induce hallucinations. The Dreammachine enthralled mystics and freethinkers everywhere, with William Burroughs claiming that it could, “storm the citadels of enlightenment.” Nik Sheehan’s riveting documentary explores the life of Brion Gysin and his quest to transform human consciousness. With interviews from some of the counter-culture’s most eccentric icons- from Iggy Pop to singer Marianne Faithfull- FLicKeR is a fascinating exploration of the age-old search for the boundaries of reality."

Wilderness Survival Tips

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:16:51 GMT

It's that time of year again when the weather gets warmer, people pack their backpacks and head for the great outdoors. This is also a good time for a refresh on the basics of survival in the wilderness. No one wants to become a casualty or the subject for a post on Hiker Hell.

Basics:

Always check the weather of the area you're going to before you leave.
Make sure you pack emergency gear.
Take a map, a compass, cellphone and/or a GPS with you.
Be sure to let people know where you're going and when you'll be back.
Stay with your group, and carry a whistle/ bell for keeping predatory animals away and for signaling your group if you get lost.
If hiking into bear country don't take any sugary snacks with you. Bears can smell it from far away.

The Rule of Threes:
You cannot live more than:
3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without companionship
(Flashing a mirror or waving a light stick in threes is a distress signal.)

Info:

Wilderness Survival

Backpacker: Survival 101

Wilderness survival skills for safe wilderness travel

Backcountry Survival 101

Wilderness Survival: Building a Survival Kit

Wilderness Navigation Overview via the American Alpine Institute

Weekend music

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:58:01 GMT

It was a long, busy holiday weekend filled with friends and family. Saw a couple of great bands Friday night. Doppler Shift, a funk/jazz band who opened for Lamajamal, who play music they describe as "gypsy surf music". The crowd was as eclectic as the music and they put on a great show. If you live in the Chicago area or if they come to your town be sure and check them out.

Thought For The Day

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:08:02 GMT

"Perspective- Use it or lose it. If you turned to this page, you’re forgetting that what is going on around you is not reality. Think about that."

-Richard Bach from "Illusions"

Links For 4/6/09

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:34:29 GMT

Flutter is Twitter taken to the next level. Th glsss r hlrs!

"An international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced. Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action. The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.

It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments."We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff."

("Vioxx maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list" via The Australian)

"This post contains 2 recorded talks from Eric Rodenbeck, founder and creative director of Stamen Design, the visualization design lab known for projects like Trulia Hindsight, Digg Labs, SFMOMA ArtScope and Flickr Clock.

The first talk is titled "Information Visualization is a Medium". Information visualization is becoming more than a set of tools and technologies and techniques to understand large datasets. It is emerging as a medium in its own right, with a wide range of expressive potential. Eric Rodenbeck provides an overview of the studio's recent projects, and insight into the studio's working process. This talk was given last year at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2008 in San Diego. The second talk is titled "Mapping Now: Dynamic Realtime Maps and Other Pictures", and is basically the last part of the previous talk without the speedy fast-forwarding."

("Eric Rodenbeck (Stamen): Information Visualization is a Medium" via Information Aesthetics)

"Making mistakes is as human as breathing. But if that’s true, why are most of us so unwilling to admit it? Maybe that unwillingness is itself one of our many little quirks, “design” flaws leading us to make decisions that in retrospect seem ridiculous, miss plain-as-day details right before our eyes, and comfortably consider ourselves well above average. Pulitzer Prize winning author Joe Hallinan wanted to reach the root of our error-prone natures, and to get there he delved into psychology, neuroscience, marketing, sports, geography, finance and economics. That trip led him to discover that we humans are as efficient as we are mistake-ridden; born pattern-finders that routinely stumble over the most obvious details. He recently took a few minutes to discuss his latest book and a few of his findings with Neuronarrative."

("You, Me and Our Mistakes Make Three: An Interview with Author Joe Hallinan" via Neuronarritive)

"Look around you. On the train platform, at the bus stop, in the car pool lane: these days someone there is probably faking it, maintaining a job routine without having a job to go to.The Wall Street type in suspenders, with his bulging briefcase; the woman in pearls, thumbing her BlackBerry; the builder in his work boots and tool belt — they could all be headed for the same coffee shop, or bar, for the day.

“I have a new client, a laid-off lawyer, who’s commuting in every day — to his Starbucks,” said Robert C. Chope, a professor of counseling at San Francisco State University and president of the employment division of the American Counseling Association. “He gets dressed up, meets with colleagues, networks; he calls it his Western White House. I have encouraged him to keep his routine.” To the extent that it sustains good habits and reflects personal pride, they say, this kind of play-acting can be an extremely effective social strategy, especially in uncertain times.The fine art of keeping up appearances may seem shallow and deceitful, the very embodiment of denial. But many psychologists beg to differ."

("When All You Have Left Is Your Pride" via The New York Times)

This video pretty much sums it up.

Whistleblower's Rights?

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:05:53 GMT

"The below has been edited entirely by deletion, mostly by the removal of sections (e.g., on Free Silver) which are not relevant today and which seem unlikely to become relevant in the future.

[Note: If you think the below is irrelevant at this point in time, you should still check back in again every year or two.]

'Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized.The newspapers are largely subsidized, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of capitalists.The urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self-protection, imported pauperized labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into ["European" = terrible] conditions. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of those, in turn, despise the republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and millionaires.

The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders; a vast public debt payable in legal tender currency has been funded into bonds, thereby adding millions to the burdens of the people. A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized, and it is rapidly taking possession of the world. If not met and overthrown at once it the establishment of an absolute despotism."

("Ignatius Donnelly's Preamble to the 1892 Omaha Platform of the People's Party" via Trollblog)

There's a petition on Public Citizen to designate a part of the stimulus for whistleblower rights. I had a problem signing it and I needed to ask myself why.

It's not just the federal workers who need protection. Anyone working for a company that finds instances of fraud and corruption needs protection. This should be across the board, and should go without saying. Corporate corruption plays a big part in this economic mess.

The whistleblower rights that are in place now are a joke. For every whistleblower that's had their voice heard there are thousands whose voice was either ignored, or had their voice silenced by the corrupt in power. I've followed several cases that went to court and the majority of these cases were won by the company or dismissed for “lack of evidence”. In the meantime many of the whistleblower(s) lives had been ruined.

There was one particular case I followed in which a whistleblower lost his business, his wife left him and he lost everything. When he posted about his situation on various law blogs he was often dismissed as a nut, and had trolls from the company he was fighting following him around trying to ruin his reputation and silence him. He's still vocal and out there, and he has my complete admiration for that. He already lost everything, so he has nothing to lose.

When someone blows the whistle, how do they know the person on the other end isn't corrupt themselves? We hear plenty about corruption in government (see the petition), so how does one know if someone on the other end of a government agency like the Treasury or the SEC isn't corrupt themselves? When someone brought this up on a blog a few months ago the response was chilling and spot on. “There are some who are above the law”.
“Protection” for whistleblowers?
Yeah, right...

(ETA: "Illusions of whistleblower protection" By Brian Martin)

Surviving Quicksand

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:54:51 GMT

I had a dream the other night that I was hiking through a very green and dense jungle. As my friends and I were cutting through some brush (yeah, it was that thick), I suddenly fell in a hole of quicksand. (It's a fallacy that quicksand will suck someone entirely in. In the dream it was quicksand from one of those B-horror flicks that does suck you in.) I fell in waist deep before my friends lifted me out. When I got back on solid ground, I started wiping off my now ruined clothes when one of the team asked if I wanted to change into something dry. I answered “Huh?! I don't care about my clothes right now, dammit. I'M ALIVE! Woo hoo!"

After being pulled from the quicksand, I thanked my friends, and kept chopping through the jungle in my dirty clothes. Knowing that eventually I'd change into something dry. At that moment it was more important to keep going. The lesson here was that it's always good to have an alternative plan in case the path your walking is blocked by an unexpected hole of quicksand. Symbolically, this dream is becoming a nightmare reality for a lot of people right now. Many have lost their jobs, their healthcare, their homes, and their entire life savings, and would consider themselves lucky to have a support system and an extra pair of clothes to help them out. For some the quicksand has sucked everything from them including the desire for any knowledge in how to get out of it.

There's information overload on the web which is now overrun with articles on how to update your resume, improve your skills and job hunt. Numerous psychology sites are posting on how to find your strengths, and strengthen your weaknesses. How to think positive and overcome fear. How to deal with anger and how to let go. Etcetera ad infinitum. Psychologists say that the biggest changes occur in a time of crisis. Both good and bad.

On the other end of the spectrum there's the mainstream media bombarding us with the horrors of the bad economy, corruption and crime. Daily stories of people completely losing it and killing their families, a bunch of strangers, and themselves fill the media. Pictures of white collar criminals cover the front page. For every one caught there are thousands more who got away. Personally, I don't think these things are happening any more than usual. I think that the media is just reporting it more because of the current socio-economic climate.

Learning to survive materialistically with less may be much easier than dealing with the psychological adjustments that come with it. It's not just the overindulgent who lived beyond their means who are struggling. Those who lived within their means and worked hard to invest and save are struggling with much more than a loss of property. They're struggling with a loss of connection, community and identity. Years spent at the same job. Gone. Years spent in the same house and community. Gone. The local stores they used to shop at. Gone. Banks closed. Schools closed. Hospitals closed. It's an identity crisis of epic proportions.

When you're sinking in quicksand from "B-movie land", that's when you remember what's really important. For me it was my support system, the Earth, and gratefulness. It was also having extra sets of clothes (skills) to change into if needed, and a good machete to cut through the jungle. Time to wash off the sand, change clothes, and clear a path. And this time I'm bringing an updated map and a GPS.

</lj-embed>

Instead of an obligatory "Welcome to The Jungle" video, here's a little levity with a link to Weird Al.

Resources:
"How Quicksand Works" via How Stuff Works.
"Human Responses to Change" via Eos Life-Work Resource Centre

Links For 4/3/09

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:17:51 GMT

"The latest post at PsyBlog discusses a classic study on multitasking, in which two participants were reportedly taught to read and write at the same time. From the post:

Professor Elizabeth Spelke and colleagues at Cornell University wanted to know whether we can really divide our conscious attention between two demanding tasks, like reading and writing. To find out they recruited two participants willing to put in 29 hours of practice over a 6 week period: Diane and John were their volunteers . Before the training Diane and John’s normal reading and comprehension rates were measured, so it could be compared with post-training. Then Spelke and colleagues set about their three-phase training regime.

There are a number of objections to this study, all discussed at PsyBlog (the most obvious being that two people is not a legitimate sample size). The one that’s most relevant to the current debate on this topic is this: Diane and John were learning to switch their attention from one task to the other very quickly, not focus on both at the same time."

("Can We Really Multitask?" via Neuronarritive)

"Twitter has officially become the next big thing in terms of Internet social phenomena, so I can't resist writing about it... just like everyone else. Understanding the psychology of Twitter as a case study helps innovators learn how to better predict and even invent emerging white space market opportunities. And so, this is an exploration into the existential psychology of and underlying meaning - and meaninglessness - of Twitter, to understand its meteoric rise in the Internet world."

("Understanding the Psychology of Twitter" via Psychology Today)

(Related: "Elgin hospital first in state to Twitter surgery" via The Daily Herald)

“What do you think about the four horsemen?” It's a question I often get asked, quite understandably, since I wrote the Very Short Introduction to atheism. That book provides no answer, because it came out before Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens unleashed their apocalypse. But surely I must have an opinion on the biggest phenomenon in popular atheism since Bertrand Russell? Well I do, but it comes with one huge caveat: I have not read any of their books. That does not, however, disqualify me from having an opinion about them. Let me defend both apparently intellectually disreputable confessions.

Not reading The God Delusion, God is Not Great, Breaking the Spell and The End of Faith is perfectly reasonable. Why on earth would I devote precious reading hours to books which largely tell me what I already believe? These books are surely mainly for agnostics and open-minded believers. In fact, I think atheists who have read these books have more of a responsibility to account for their actions than I do my inaction. As the posters on the sides of British buses rather simplistically put it, “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” God's non-existence is a fact atheists live with, not something that they should obsessively read about.

But if I haven't read these books, surely I should have no opinion about them? I think you’d be less sure of this if you had read How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard (or even not read it). In any case, my opinions are not so much about these books as the general tone and direction the new atheism they represent has adopted. This is not a function of what exactly these books say, but of how they are perceived, and the kind of comments the four horsemen make in newspaper articles and interviews. All this, I think, has been unhelpful in many ways. In short, the new atheism gets atheism wrong, gets religion wrong, and is counterproductive."

("The New Atheist Movement is Destructive" via Fritanke.no. h/t: TDG)

(Counterpoint- "Atheists should be allowed to argue their point" via Fritanke.no. Metafilter discussion here)

"Why is Science Important" via SF Signal

"You may have seen this already, but just in case: Evan Schnittman is head of global business development at the Oxford University Press, and he sure knows how to make the first post on a new blog punch hard. In his inaugural piece, he explains why the success of consumer ebooks would collapse the publishing “Ponzi scheme”. I’d advise reading the whole thing for a very honest warts-and-all explanation of the economics involved, but the money-shot is right at the end:

And therein lies the dilemma… how does the publishing industry fund the creation, editing, design, production, marketing, e-warehousing, and sales of ebooks, if the income isn’t there? How do ebooks cover the huge advances needed to buy books if we cannot generate the cash, especially at their extremely low, discounted prices, cover the advances that an entire industry has come to require? The answer is that ebooks, alone, cannot."

("Why ebooks must fail" via Futurismic)

Ken Nordine and Word Jazz

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:07:21 GMT

Buried under the pile of ZBS' Jack Flanders tapes were recordings of Ken Nordine's show on WBEZ called “Word Jazz”. For those unfamiliar, Ken Nordine has been putting poetry to music and sound for a long time. His voice is recognizable because he's done many voiceovers for commercials. He also has a YouTube channel that has trippy videos that go along with his word jazz. The man is 88 and still going strong. Here are a few videos of his. Enjoy!

Links For 4/1/09

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:53:03 GMT

"A group of aging US veteran troops is suing the CIA and the US Army seeking recognition and health care -- but no money -- after years of being ignored. Four decades later, Frank Rochelle still has nightmares and memory loss that he blames on drug experiments performed on him by the US government during the Vietnam War. And he can't forget the fiery red eyes of the 6-foot-tall white rabbit he thought was pursuing him during one of those forced hallucinations.

Rochelle was one of the thousands of American soldiers who underwent chemical, biological and drug tests in the 1950s-1970s, during the Cold War. "They pumped drugs into our veins that were turned down by the pharmaceutical companies. They used our bodies, we were guinea pigs," Rochelle said in a phone interview from his home in North Carolina. "We were used and taken advantage of by the government. The country needs to step up to the plate and take care of these guys."

("Cold War Era Human Lab Rat Experiments Seek Care" via Grant Lawrence)

"The First Ascent Team, which consists of a few climbers you might have heard of, guys like Ed Viesturs and Dave Hahn, are posting daily video dispatches to their very own YouTube channel which you can find by clicking here."

("Everest 2009: First Ascent Team YouTube Channel" via The Adventure Blog)

"Researchers in Germany have used a modern medical procedure to uncover a secret within one of ancient Egypt's most treasured artworks -- the bust of Nefertiti has two faces. A team led by Dr. Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school, discovered a detailed stone carving that differs from the external stucco face when they performed a computed tomography, or CT, scan on the bust.

The findings, published Tuesday in the monthly journal Radiology, are the first to show that the stone core of the statue is a highly detailed sculpture of the queen, Huppertz said. "Until we did this scan, how deep the stucco was and whether a second face was underneath it was unknown," he said. "The hypothesis was that the stone underneath was just a support."

("Nefertiti Bust Has two Faces, Radiology Reveals" via Discovery)

Author Sue Lange gives a heads up about a project for all you serious gardeners out there, called Project Budsworth:

"Q: And what exactly is “Project Budburst”
A: National Phenology Network Field Campaign for Citizen Scientists.

Q: Er…
A: Project Budburst engages the public in making careful observations of the phenophases of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses.

Q: And phenophases are what, exactly?
A: Phenophases are the life events of a plant: first leafing, unfolding of the leaves, first flowering, first fruiting. You know, the highlights in the life of a young, nubile forb.

Q: And why would we be doing this?
A: It’s the climate, stupid.

Q: Uh…?
A: Right. Apparently everything is moving up due to global warming. That is to say everything is happening sooner and sooner each year, hormonally-speaking. Seeds are germinating sooner, buds are bursting sooner, flowers are getting pollinated sooner, etc. The Project Budburst folks need people like you and me to document all the precociousness."

("Calling All Amateur Scientists: Project Budsworth Wants You" via Book View Cafe)

This post has been going around LJ lately. A handicapped man was threatened with having his bags taken from him because, you know, he was in a wheelchair and obviously wasn't "attending" his bags...

"Suddenly, I lost existance. I was waiting patiently in the airport, quietly watching people go by. My luggage was stacked up next to me and I felt that I looked like quite the world traveler. Suddenly this illusion was shattered when a security type guy came with a luggage cart and began loading my luggage. I sputtered a protest, 'Hey, that's my luggage.' He looked at me, annoyed and said, "Luggage can't be left unattended."
"I AM attending it," I said incredulous. "You don't understand, SOME BODY needs to be in possession of the luggage," he said and I didn't get his implication, not yet, I was still too startled."

("An Elephant Disappears" via Chewing The Fat)

Although the news that witches are increasing in number is old, this article plugs my friends over at The Occult Bookstore.

"They don't toil over bubbling caldrons or cook lost kids. They have no use for flying monkeys. And their spice racks are more apt to contain ginger or paprika than eye of newt. Still, witches are far from fictional. And according to the most recent American Religious Identification Survey, released earlier this month, there are more of them than ever. While most other major religions lost ground, Wiccan -- whose members, Wiccans, sometimes refer to themselves as witches -- and other so-called "New Religious movements" grew by more than a million members since the last ARIS survey was published in 2001. They're now an estimated 1.2 percent of the adult population."

("Occult hit: Witches bucking religion trend" via The Chicago Sun-Times)

</div>

Flashback with Triad Radio and Jack Flanders

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:51:33 GMT

Going through old possessions is often therapeutic. There are things you find that make you ask “Why the hell did I keep this?!” Then there are other things you find that you realize helped shaped who you are today. Finding a stack of old radio magazines and cassette tapes of audio dramas fall into the latter category.

When I was a kid there was an underground radio show I used to tune into to called Triad Radio (WXFM). It came on at 10:30 at night (I used to pretend I was asleep and listen with my headphones), and it was my first taste of imported rock and sounds that weren't heard on mainstream radio. They introduced me to Hawkwind, Eloy, Tangerine Dream, Gong, Lucifer's Friend, Budgie, Jane, plus countless other bands and music from various genres. They also featured Chicago's local talents, various esoteric and counter-culture programs, and their monthly magazine rocked with articles on all the above and more. Later on the program went punk/new wave and introduced me to The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Television, The MC5, The Damned, The Germs, Patti Smith, etcetera ad infinitum. But by the time hair bands came into vogue it had sadly disappeared from the airwaves.

One of their regular features was a radio drama called “The Fourth Tower of Inverness” from the ZBS Foundation. Meatball Fulton (aka Thomas Lopez) is the current president and one of the founders of ZBS.

“It is the beginning of the Jack Flanders adventure series, and combines elements of Americana and Old-time radio with metaphysical concepts such as past life regression, Sufi wisdom, Tibetan Buddhism and shamanistic communication with the natural world. The adventure takes place in an estate called Inverness, and the action focuses upon a mysterious "Fourth Tower" from which previous wanderers have not returned."

Story line:

“Jack Flanders, a hitchhiker and drifter, is invited to the estate of his aunt, Lady Sara Jowls. As Jack approaches the estate, he sees an outline of the mansion silhouetted against the night sky, with four distinct towers reaching up to the sky, though his aunt and everyone else who lives there insists there are only three. Jack slowly becomes familiar with the strange inhabitants of Inverness, including the mansion's caretaker, Old Far-seeing Art, who can listen to the aum sound emanating from the center of the Universe, and tends to the estate's hedge maze, a place that only he can enter without going insane. Others include Dr. Mazoola, an alchemist of the first order, Jives the Butler, who is an old quick-change artist with a dry sense of humor, the Madonna Vampira, an energy vampire who lives in the mansion's hollow walls, and Little Frieda, a Venusian who is a "million and a half" years old, but looks like a small girl with large pigtails and a penchant for smoking huge Havana cigars.”

This was the first of many radio dramas done by ZBS. They specialize in comic and cosmic adventures, science fiction, and mystical mysteries. You can sign up for their free newsletter, they have weekly podcasts available at their website, and Meatball is now on Twitter. I also just discovered "The Whirlitzer of Wisdoms", which is an entire site dedicated to Jack Flanders.

Some Berber sayings from Moon Over Morocco (another series in the adventures of Jack Flanders):

“It is said that what you know of the world is directly in proportion to what you know of yourself.”

“They say that if you haven't descended into your own depths, you can't understand the depths of the outer world.”

“Hearts are depositories of secrets. Lips are their locks, and tongues are their keys.”

“If fate throws a knife at you there are two ways of catching it. One is by the blade and the other is by the handle.”

“The Way my friend is not difficult. If it is truth you wish to see, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To place what you like against what you dislike is the 'hanky-panky' of the mind. Keep an open mind.”

(More quotes here)

(Note: There's an internet radio station called “Triad Revisited”. It's only available through a paid subscription to Live 365 which I don't have so I have no idea how similar it is to the old program.)

(Related: "An Interview with Captain Beefheart by Meatball Fulton": partial text here and audio here.)

Links For 3/27/09

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:21:23 GMT

(Thanks CP!)

A couple of friends sent this quiz to me months ago, and now I'm glad I never got around to doing it...

"Americans yearn to be young. So it is little wonder that RealAge, which promises to help shave years off your age, has become one of the most popular tests on the Internet. According to RealAge, more than 27 million people have taken the test, which asks 150 or so questions about lifestyle and family history to assign a “biological age,” how young or old your habits make you. Then, RealAge makes recommendations on how to get “younger,” like taking multivitamins, eating breakfast and flossing your teeth. Nine million of those people have signed up to become RealAge members.

But while RealAge promotes better living through nonmedical solutions, the site makes its money by selling better living through drugs.Pharmaceutical companies pay RealAge to compile test results of RealAge members and send them marketing messages by e-mail. The drug companies can even use RealAge answers to find people who show symptoms of a disease — and begin sending them messages about it even before the people have received a diagnosis from their doctors."

("Online Age Quiz is a Window for Drug Makers" via The New York Times)

"Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff is a lucky charm for one New York City construction worker. Queens resident Ralph Amendolaro said he saw Madoff's prison number in a newspaper and had a good feeling so he played the last three digits of it in the state lottery's Numbers game. It hit March 15, paying $1,500."

("Man Plays Madoff's Prison Number and Wins $1,500" via AP)

"Founder and editor of the late, lamented zine Punk Planet Dan Sinker has things to say about the future of journalism that are jolting, annoying, and probably necessary to hear. "I think of the things I’ve donated to online," says Sinker, "and they’re totally things that I saw myself reflected in and had this real core belief in. [Daily] newspapers─by their definition─don’t try and do that. The Washington Post has great political coverage, but would you donate to them because you like politics? I wouldn’t, because I don’t see myself as a part of that. But if Talking Points Memo or the Daily Kos─well, I’m probably more of a Talking Points Memo person─so if [owner Josh Marshall] puts up a message and is like, 'Hey, can you throw $10 my way so I can do some things?' which he’s done before, I’d do that.

"People want to belong, right? It’s human nature. So let them belong─create things they want to belong to. Some people identify as, 'I’m a RedEye person,' and why is that─well, because that publication has some personality... something [its readers] see themselves reflected in. And that is how you survive and compete online." In the aftermath of February's Chicago Journalism Town Hall, freelance writer Leah Pietrusiak interviewed Sinker and several other journalists who'd been there -- including RedEye editor Tran Ha and Town Hall moderator Ken Davis -- to find out what they were now thinking."

("Don't just inform me -- reflect me" via The Chicago Reader)

"Today, David Lynch launched David Lynch Foundation Television (dlf.tv), a new online venture that he calls a "celebration of consciousness, creativity and bliss." As you probably know, in addition to being one of the most envelope-pushingly creative filmmakers working today -- I still get freaked out thinking about Bob from Twin Peaks -- Lynch is a devotee of Transcendental Meditation with 35 years experience. His foundation is dedicated to teaching at-risk youngsters to meditate as a way of coping with stress. Now, he's got this new site dedicated to all things Transcendental Meditation -- or just TM for those in the know -- and it's chock-full of videos, docs, and other odds and ends that Lynch fans will gobble up."

("David Lynch Television: A Celebration of Consciousness and Bliss" via Grant Lawrence's blog)

"Several big conglomerates seem to be gobbling up major American publishers. Should we be concerned?" Today MobyLives resurrected this 1987 NY Times article about the shifting world of publishing. More than 20 years later, corporate publishers are struggling with layoffs and restructuring. GalleyCat caught up with author Douglas Rushkoff, asking how conglomeration has affected publishing. In June, Rushkoff will publish his newest book, "Life Inc: How A Business Plan Took Over The World, And How To Take It Back."

("Douglas Rushkoff on Publishing Conglomeration" via GalleyCat)

I'm looking forward to this...

"Pranav Mistry over at MIT Media Lab is developing a wearable device that enables “neuromancer-like” interactions between the real world and the world of data. The device consists of a projector/cell phone interface that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Check out the following clip from TED…"

("Tek-Gnostics New Flash- 'Six-Sense neo-cyberpunk device'" via Tek-Gnostics)

Earth Hour initiative on March 28th.

"It was ugly and it was long and it was all too often compared to sausage making, but the U.S. Congress today finally passed the massive omnibus public lands bill, giving permanent protection to two million acres in nine states and adds greater protection to another 26 million acres in the National Landscape Conservation System. The legislation now heads down the street to President Barack Obama, who would be more likely to slow-dance with Dick Cheney than not sign it. The law bumps the amount of U.S. wilderness from 107 to 109 million acres, and supporters were breathless is praising its final passage. “I can’t think of a single bill that has ever done more to ensure the enjoyment of, and access to, wilderness areas (and) historic sites,” said Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and was one of the bill’s sponsors."

("Finally: House Says Damn Straight to Wilderness" via The Adventure Life)

There's a series of posts on "All Star Scientists/Thinkers" via Science and Soul, starting with this post here.

"Okay, say you’re one of those people so unlike me that you are painfully humble. You think nobody listens to you now, so why should they read what you write? You think you have no contribution to make to anything, not even the world of trashy entertainment, where I myself am struggling to make a buck. Right now, I will give you an exercise that will show you how unique you are. How your voice is a marketable force. Why someone will want to read whatever you write, whatever you choose to say. You will need to find at least two other friends who will try it with you. Four is better."

("But how do I start writing?-- part 2" via Mad Genius Club)

And if you really want to test your persistence in writing you can try "Write or Die"...

"Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences. Many people find themselves unable to write consistently. I believe that this is because their reason to write is intangible. For instance, I want to write and finish a book because I want to be published and make a living as a writer. That goal is a long way away so I often find it difficult to sit down to the task of writing."

Links For 3/24/09

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:12:24 GMT

"Steven Pinker discusses the Games People Play: Indirect Speech as a Window into Social Relationships" via Fora TV

[From the comments: "An excellent program that highlights the subtleties, reasoning, and motivations behind the way we say things. As soon as he mentioned that scene in Fargo where Steve Bucemi's character tries to bribe the officer, with a $50 bill sticking out, I got what Pinker was trying to point out. "Indirect Speech".] (Warning: it's a long program)

(Related: "Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought" via TED)

"Even in a culture in which sex toys are a booming business and Oprah Winfrey discusses living your best life in the bedroom, a coed live-in commune dedicated to the female orgasm hovers at the extremes. The founder of the One Taste Urban Retreat Center, Nicole Daedone, sees herself as leading “the slow-sex movement,” one that places a near-exclusive emphasis on women’s pleasure — in which love, romance and even flirtation are not required. “In our culture, admitting our bodies matter is almost an admission of failure,” said Ms. Daedone, 41, who can quote the poet Mary Oliver and speak wryly on the intricacies of women’s anatomy with equal aplomb. “I don’t think women will really experience freedom until they own their sexuality.”

A core of 38 men and women — their average age the late 20s — live full time in the retreat center, a shabby-chic loft building in the South of Market district. They prepare meals together, practice yoga and mindfulness meditation and lead workshops in communication for outside groups as large as 60. But the heart of the group’s activity, listed cryptically on its Web site’s calendar as “morning practice,” is closed to all but the residents."

("The Pleasure Principle" via The New York Times. h/t: Hardcore Zen)

"Streamy, which calls itself a "real-time news reading and sharing site," opened its doors today after an 18-month long private beta. Streamy is a mix between an RSS reader, a social media aggregator, and a real-time search engine. You can connect your Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Friendfeed, and Flickr accounts to Streamy, and post status updates from Streamy directly to these services. Streamy will also recommend interesting stories to you, and, thanks to its innovative user interface, sharing stories with your friends on the supported social media services is extremely easy. Two of the most popular Twitter clients, Tweetdeck and Twhirl, released new versions of their desktop tools in the last couple of days that include support for a growing number of social networks. Streamy, in many ways, is similar to these two desktop apps, and, in some respects, it is actually more powerful. While Tweetdeck, for example, restricts you to ten columns, Streamy has no such restriction."

("Streamy Takes Social Media Aggregation to the Next Level" via ReadWriteWeb)

"Sean Astin, who plays Twoflower in the upcoming four-hour telemovie version of The Color of Magic, told SCI FI Wire that the project is very faithful to the Terry Pratchett Discworld stories on which it's based. But, the Lord of the Rings star hastened to add that, like any adaptation, it can't entirely replicate its print counterpart.

The colorful fantasy unfolds in the magical realm of Discworld, which is about to welcome its first tourist, Twoflower. Tasked with guiding Twoflower on his trip is Rincewind (David Jason), an incompetent and cynical wizardry student. Chaos soon ensues, sending Twoflower and Rincewind off on a wild adventure during which they encounter Death (voiced by Christopher Lee) and a power-mad baddie, Trymon (Tim Curry), as well as the possible demise of the universe. The British production aired last March in the United Kingdom; ION Television will premiere it in the United States on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT. SCI FI Wire recently spoke to Astin by telephone. Following are edited excerpts from our exclusive interview."

("How Sean Austin comes full circle in The Color of Magic" via SciFi Wire)

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility.” Albert Einstein

“It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it.” Sophocles

“A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make.” Denis Waitley

"What is one of the most boring and tiresome words ever? Like discipline, responsibility is one of those words you have probably heard so many times from authority figures that you’ve developed a bit of an allergy to it. Still, it’s one of the most important things to grow and to feel good about your life. Without it as a foundation nothing else here or in any personal development book really works. So today I’d like to explore personal responsibility with the help from some timeless thoughts on the topic.

("7 Timeless Thoughts on Taking Responsiblity for Your Life" via The Positivity Blog)

There are a couple of documentaries on Aleister Crowley via Online Documentaries 4 U

Blasted

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:12:33 GMT

Entertaining tribute to Hunter S. Thompson by his fans.

"Blasted!!! follows the many “Gonzo Patriots” across America that volunteered their personally owned artillery to fulfill journalist, Hunter S. Thompson’s last wish to have his ashes fired from a cannon."

Happy Vernal Equinox and Links for 3/20/09

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:08:48 GMT

Happy Vernal Equinox everyone!

A Digital Literacy debate will be happening on March 27th.

"I've put up a wiki to help organize attendees, resources, schedule and outputs from the Digital Literacy debate that will be taking place online, in Elluminate, on Friday 27 March 2009, at 1pm GMT. The event arose from conversations on Twitter, around the meaning and definition of digital literacy, and frustration about getting it on the national agenda. I firmly believe that we need to be equipping our learners - whatever age they may be - with the skills to not only take advantage of the information and opportunities offered by technology, but to take an active role in shaping and creating those opportunities - social, educational, political, civic, and economic."

("Digital Literacy Debate" via SocialTech)

"Gear manufacturer Mountain Hardwear has launched a new site called The Expedition Republic which looks to be a social networking site for climbers, mountaineers, and outdoor enthusiasts in general. The splash page for this new endeavor allows you to look around a mountain setting, in pseudo 3D, and click on a few items to get some cool video and more information on some specific topics. There are also links to some of the Mountain Hardwear gear shown in the videos as well, as of course part of the focus it to sell more stuff too. Clicking the option to sign up for the Republic takes you to a different page which looks more like a traditional social networking site. Here you'll see who the active members are, find all kinds of useful links related to Mountain Hardwear, and a collection of cool mountaineering and climbing videos. Becoming a member allows you to customize your own page, enter the forums (of which here is only one at the moment), read the Republic Blog, and have access to groups, which presumably will help you connect with other users who share your interests. I say presumably, because as of this writing, there aren't any groups yet either."

("Mountain Hardwear Launches Social Networking Site" via The Adventure Blog)

"We've often seen strange witch hunts and murders but this may just take the voodoo biscuit, on both oddity and scale:

About 1,000 people have been rounded up and forced to drink hallucinogens as part of a witch-hunting campaign in Gambia. The authorities began inviting "witch doctors" from nearby Guinea after the death this year of an aunt of Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh. Mr Jammeh is said to believe witchcraft was involved in her death. Since then, the "witch doctors" – accompanied by police, soldiers, intelligence agents and the president's personal guards – have forcibly taken about 1,000 alleged witches from their villages and spirited them to secret locations, according to Amnesty International. It said about 300 of them had been taken to Mr Jammeh's personal farm."

("Trippy witch round-up" via Damn Data: Cabinet of Wonders)

"For globalization to endure, poor nations must stop lending, start borrowing.

In a recent poll, 60% of U.S. respondents said they believed an imminent economic depression was “likely.” Retirement accounts have lost more than $2 trillion in value over the past year, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped more than 30% from its apex in the fall of 2007. Where do we go from here? Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times and author of the recently-released book Fixing Global Finance, has some surprising answers.

Futurist: Everyone is terribly concerned about the global economy. Investors have seen their stock portfolios decrease by 30 and 40%. What do you see the global economy doing in the next five years?

Wolf: The only honest thing one can say is that one doesn’t know. There are two or three very powerful reasons we don’t know. First, we really can’t forecast economies. Forecasters always miss turning points. They can tell you what will happen only if things remain as they are. Turning points are inherently unpredictable. The consequences when things do change are always unpredictable for the same reason, because a lot of other things are likely to change at the same time. That’s the first point.
Second point is that the forces now at work are unbelievably rare and, in this combination, have never been seen before. Ever. That makes looking back on anything that’s happened in history almost useless. It gives you some guidance; there are better and worse guides. But there is no clear guide that will give you more than a conceptual idea of what’s going on."

("Repairing The World's Financial System" via The Futurist)

Author Jennifer Stevenson answers the popular question "But how do I start writing? --part 1" via The Mad Genius Club

Q- Which science fiction writer are you? Take the quiz.
A- Arthur C. Clarke
"Well known for nonfiction science writing and for early promotion of the effort toward space travel, his fiction was often grand and visionary."

Links For 3/12/09

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:21:27 GMT

"How does our experience of the world arise? Perceptual neuroscience explains perception as a process of putting things together. Neurons process information about an independent external object by creating neural representations of its individual features. The perceptual system then progressively integrates these isolated features to form a perceptual whole, a complete neural representation of the actual object.

But how this binding process occurs remains a mystery. It is in fact the central problem for perceptual neuroscience today. After more than a half century of searching for the complete internal correlates of external objects and events, neuroscientists have found no evidence for their existence. The Perceptual Form of Life proposes a new model of perception that explains the same research data without relying on the concept of neural representation. In this new model, perceptual systems do not construct internal correlates. They do not integrate information or connect the internal world of the organism with external reality. Instead, perceptual systems break the unbroken web of reality apart--into features, objects, physiological subsystems, and perceivers. The new model posits a revolutionary view of brain functioning and entails a very different set of predictions."

"Christine Skarda- Neuroscience and Buddhism" via Integral Options

"Stephen S. Power alerts us to an ongoing debate in the chess world over the question of whether or not you can copyright a chess move. Specifically, the current debate arises from a demand by the Bulgarian Chess Federation that certain websites stop "live broadcasting" a chess match, saying that it violates copyright law. I'm certainly not familiar enough with Bulgarian copyright law to know if it actually could be interpreted in such a ridiculous manner, but in the US, at least, lawsuits have clearly stated that reporting on the facts and data from a sporting event is perfectly legal under copyright law. Most of the article focuses on the philosophical questions concerning whether or not a chess move can be "owned," but it's hard to think about the issue in any terms and come up with a good explanation for how such a move could be covered by copyright law."

"Can You Copyright a Chess Move" via Techdirt

"In this episode we are joined by one of our favorite Buddhist Geeks, Hokai Sobol. Hokai who is a teacher in the Shingon Buddhist tradition--a form of Vajrayana found in Japan--joins us today to speak about the Shingon school. Hokai shares with us a brief history of Shingon tradition and its main teacher Kukai, the artistic dimension of Shingon, and also begins to explain the basic teachings and practices of the lineage.
Similar to the Tibetan Vajrayana approaches Shingon harnesses things like mudras (gestures), mantras (sounds), and mandalas (visualizations)--which lines up with the three-fold Body, Speech, & Mind. Speaking about mantras specifically Hokai brings us through the three distinct dimensions of mantra practices and shows us how we can understand and practice with the basic mantra of "om"-"ah"-"hum."

"Japanese Shingon: The True Word School" and "Vajrayana in Plain English -pt 2" via Buddhist Geeks

Author Jim Hines has an excellent post about what he learned while dealing with anger as a volunteer at a crisis center.

"Enter training. When you're learning to deal with people in crisis, you have to learn to deal with intense emotions, including anger. Anger at the man who raped you. Anger at the disease slowly killing your mother. Anger at the friend who shot himself last week. And sometimes, anger directed squarely at you as the counselor. In order to be a decent counselor, I had to learn a whole new response to anger. I had to learn to listen to it.

That's a hell of a lot easier said than done. One of the most common reactions in the beginning of training is to try to make the caller feel better ... mostly because we're scared of the anger and the other intense emotions, and by fixing them, we won't have to deal with them anymore. But eventually I started to figure out that anger wasn't going to hurt me. That someone could be yelling and swearing at me, and I could respond with an acknowledgement of that anger and an invitation to talk about it. That actually listening could go a long way. Not eliminating the anger, but allowing it to move forward and become a conversation. Once I got to that point, the anger lost a lot of its power over me. It became okay for other people to feel anger, because it's just an emotion. A powerful one, sure. But when it comes to emotions, you have the right to feel whatever you feel. Anger isn't something to be fixed. It's okay to feel it, and it's okay to be on the receiving end. It's there for a reason, and trying to shut it down is only going to shut down the conversation (and most of the time piss the other person off even more)." via

jimhines

(Related: "How Anger Works" via How Stuff Works)

"I heard yet another story the other day of a writer being scammed by a so-called agent. What was most horrifying about the story was not that they were paying the agent to rewrite their stuff, but the sheer glee and delight with which the writer was submitting to the process. Rule #1 in this business is: Money always flows towards the writer. If it doesn't, something is seriously wrong. If you fail to recognize this, or worse, mistake it for success, you are playing the fool.

There is no more gullible, self-delusional, fog-headed being on the planet than an aspiring writer. So predictable and common are their delusions that an entire industry of crooks, con-men and scam artists exists to exploit them, and such a sweet deal it is for them, too. Not only are most of their scams perfectly legal, their marks are actually grateful to be scammed! It doesn't get much better for a predator than that. It's like the entire herd of antelope crowding around the lion shouting, "Eat me! No, eat me!"

Wait. No. Keep reading. You may resemble this remark. Fact is, most of us do at one time or another. And if it does describe you, take comfort that you have plenty of company. I hear from these people all the time. Some of them I've had extended correspondence with, and I've learned some things."

"Writers and other delusional people" via J. Stephen York's Multiplex of the Mind (Thanks DJ!)

Links For 3/6/09

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:27:30 GMT

"5 Ways Your Brain Is Messing With Your Head" via Cracked (h/t: Hardcore Zen)

A pen every writer should carry with them:

"KZ Xtreme Defense Pen" (h/t: Schneier on Security)

"Wouldn't it be handy if everything we needed to build the next generation of portable devices and robots were available on a microchip? You could just plug in a navigation system, a radar sensor, cryogenic cooling system, or even a miniature power unit. For laboratory applications, there would be micro versions of everything from mass spectrometers to magnetic sensors. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the Pentagon's extreme science wing, aims to provide all this, and more, in handy "matchbook size" electronic packages.

Forty years ago, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, accurately predicted that the cost of processing power would halve every two years. We have come to expect devices to get smaller, cheaper and more powerful over time. Now the revolution is spreading to other types of device. The development of mems (microelectromechanical systems) has already paved the way for "lab-on-a-chip" chemical analysis. Such breakthroughs tend to come from the military rather than industry. "Darpa was instrumental in helping support much of the initial development of lab-on-a-chip in the early 90s," says Jon Cooper, Wolfson chair of bioengineering at the University of Glasgow. "The technologies enabled a number of US startup companies to develop miniaturised chips for faster biological analysis, giving them the necessary long-term support to grow."

"Nanotechnology goes to war" via The Guardian (h/t: TDG)

"It would be safe to say that nobody expected this. Watchmen, widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel of all time, is finally hitting the big screen, emerging from a messy production history with its hype intact. The film has been perfectly pitched to the public. Bubbling anticipation, false starts, surprisingly accurate and moody trailers, not to mention the comic’s already gargantuan reputation—all of these have worked together to build anticipation carefully, when it could have fizzled out long ago.

"It has been a long time coming. There were murmurs way back in the late 1980s about a possible adaptation. In the early ‘90s, Terry Gilliam’s name was thrown around as possible director, which fell through due to funding issues. David Hayter wrote a script relatively recently that seemed to circulate a bit of excitement, but this came to a halt quickly and mysteriously. It seemed like it was never going to take off, with Gilliam’s claim that it was “unfilmable” echoing in the ears of anyone who wanted to see Watchmen on the screen.

Interestingly, one man not involved in this perennial kerfuffle is the writer of the original work, Alan Moore. Portrayed as an eccentric magician who lurks in some unknown corner of England called Northampton (which is just surreal if you’ve ever been to the place), he isn’t exactly someone who blends in with the crowd. He has also been the major detractor of the Watchmen movie, claiming, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, that he will be “spitting venom all over” it in the days running up to its release, bursting every blogger’s ecstatic spit bubbles in the process. He stated that this was ‘“not the culture I signed up for” and his patience had ebbed away a long time ago."

"'This Is Not The Culture I Signed Up for': Alan Moore and Hollywood" via Pop Matters

“We went solar; sun went nova.”
—Ken MacLeod

“Hello Son,” it said, tentacles waving.
—G. Sulea

“The Earth? We ate it yesterday.”

—Yann Martel

"Six Word Stories: Sci-Fi" via Dedroidify

Good post on making time for writing:

"Writing Time: Be Selfish" via Mad Genius Club

Links For 3/5/09

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:06:39 GMT

I heard an interview on the radio the other day with one of the organizers for Frozen Dead Guy Days. Sounds like a crazy and fun fest!

"What's the Frozen Dead Guy all about?
It has a lot to do with Cryonics, which is pretty much freezing people who are about to die, in hopes that future technology will be able to "re-animate" them.
It has a lot to do with the Town of Nederland and the Nederland Chamber of Commerce....and there's a year round Information Center in Ned for souvenirs of the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival (see below). The Chamber's site has all the information on upcoming FDGDaze.....in it's seventh year now, and drawing over 5,000 people.
It has a big connection to Norway, as the Grandson of the FDG, Trygve, lives there with his Mother, Aud (FDG's Daughter). They are the ones responsible for maintaining the financials and managing from afar. Trygve was deported in 1994 and has not set foot in the US since. Aud has visited...once. THere are long and curious tales about both of these situations.
There's some of that old history......Psychics and all, found in the Historical Archives of the Planetary Ecologists at....Delta.
There's some recent history regarding the Great Unappearance on the Jay Leno Tonight Show..

Although there is a wild and entertaining side to this story.....there is also a serious and scientific side, too.
Now there's the International Cryonics Institute and Center for Life Extension or I.C.I.C.L.E.! Here's where the Iceman's Log is kept...detailing every Ice Run and Event at the ICInstitute. The Institute is constantly performing research on Life Extension."

What's The Frozen Dead Guy's Story?

"Grandpa Bredo is soon to be 109 years old. For years, he’s taken up residence in a Tuff Shed in the hills above Nederland, Colorado, where he remains very, very, very cold. More specifically, Grandpa is frozen in a state of suspended animation, awaiting the big thaw. The one that will bring him back to life. There is a good story behind this, one that stretches from Norway to California to Colorado, involving cryonics, deportation, psychics, celebrations, and a dedicated Ice Man. It’s a tale that has captured international attention and sparked a must-attend annual event called Frozen Dead Guy Days. So how did all of this begin… and more importantly (particularly for Grandpa Bredo), how long will it last?

Life After Death
Before Grandpa Bredo Morstoel died from a heart condition in 1989, he enjoyed a comfortable life in Norway, where he was born and raised. He loved painting, fishing, skiing, and hiking in the mountains of his homeland. He was also the director of parks and recreation in Norway’s Baerum County for more than 30 years. After he died, things got really interesting. Instead of a burial, he was packed in dry ice and prepared for international travel. First, he was shipped to the Trans Time cryonics facility in Oakland, California, where he was placed in liquid nitrogen for almost four years. Then, he was moved to Colorado in 1993 to stay with his daughter Aud Morstoel and his grandson Trygve Bauge, both strong advocates for cryonics who hoped to start a facility of their own. There he stayed for years under cold cover, in a shed, near his grandson’s home, and about to be left on his own due to some pesky visa issues." (more of the story here)

(Frozen Dead Guy site)

Now this is a great idea. The first Internet Science Fiction convention called Flycon is happening March 13-15.

"BookViewCafe.com will be participating in the first Internet Science Fiction convention known as Flycon2009. Activities will be scheduled to occur during the peak hours of every time zone, beginning midnight, Friday March 13th, in Australia. The convention will include panels on all areas of the speculative fictiondom, podcasts readings, author chats, a dealers room, and much more. Added activities will be scheduled as the event approaches. There will be a number of sites hosting forum and chat space, with everything co-ordinated through the Live Journal community http://community.livejournal.com/flycon2009 BVC will be attending this ambitious event as host of a group chat. In addition, members will be sitting on various panels. BVC premium content will be available the Flycon dealers room as well. "We were very excited when we heard about Flycon," says Project Manager Sarah Zettel. "Not everyone can reach a convention or a city on a book tour. This is an unprecedented chance for us to meet our readers from around the world."

On the future of journalism:

"The debate over the future of journalism takes place across a philosophical divide. On one side is the crowd that says the news wants to be free. On the other is the crowd that says so do the chickens, but if we free them we run out of eggs. I’m becoming an egg man. “You get what you pay for” is a verity with enough tread left to go another 10,000 miles, and although it would be a wonderful thing if the news we need to sustain our democracy continues to magically show up forever on our computer screens each morning, it won’t. Democracy’s lifeblood is a commodity. Short-sighted capitalists played a big role in producing the media mess, and visionary capitalists will play a role in fixing it.

After the recent Chicago Journalism Town Hall, where the panel was composed mostly of older farts more adept at diagnosing the media’s ills than prescribing treatments and the audience bristled with young turks, panelist Barbara Iverson of Columbia College posted on her Web site a list of eight business-model “alternatives to those typically called mainstream media.” In Iverson’s models, the money comes from grants, or foundations, or patrons, or John Q. Public—but it always comes from somewhere, because it has to. So I think consumers will pay in the end, and I think fairly painless ways will be found to take their money. We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the idea of putting editorial content behind a firewall and charging micropayments to breach it. Bad idea. No one likes to be nickeled and dimed. Pay even a penny to visit a site that turns out to be a waste of time and if you’re anything like me you’ll sulk for the rest of the day.

My small contribution to the town hall debate was to sing the praises of a new online venture called Kachingle. It was a case of love of first sight—I’d heard of Kachingle only a few days earlier—and what won my heart was the premise that the public will pay for news if the paying is not merely easy but exalting. Kachingle is the first idea I’ve seen that’s psychologically astute. Why do I walk around with a membership card to the Art Institute in my wallet that I rarely use? It’s because every time I do go to the Art Institute I get to strut in for “nothing,” and because the face in the mirror belongs to a credentialed patron of the arts."

"Will Report For Tips" via The Chicago Reader

Bad Bank

"The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team—the guys who explained the mortgage crisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank, what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses? Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset."

via This American Life

"It would now seem that there was a side to the English naturalist Charles Darwin that eluded those who wrote about his life for all the years that passed since his death, on April 19th, 1882. A new paper, which has been accepted for publication in the scientific journal Endeavor, argues that his wife Emma's piano playing significantly influenced the scientist's perception of the world, and might have led to the creation of at least two of his most important books, including “On the Origins of Species.” This work drastically influenced the naturalist thinking of the time, and offered an alternative to the church's intelligent design (ID) explanation of things. “The long-term marital dance of Emma and Charles Darwin was set to the routine beat of an almost daily piano recital; music was central to home life and a panacea after a hard day's work, or often when not feeling well,” Discovery News Julian Derry, who is a University of Edinburg Institute of Evolutionary Biology researcher, tells. He has had access to Emma Darwin's diary, and has formulated his hypothesis based on the information he extracted from those notes."

"Two Darwinian Theories Influenced by Music" via Softpedia

A big WTF?! here...

"A man who tried to cool out his hyper cat by stuffing her into a boxlike homemade bong faces cruelty charges — and catcalls from animal lovers. Lancaster County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday alleged they saw 20-year-old Acea Schomaker smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed."

"Nebraska man accused of stuffing cat into bong" via USA Today

Links For 3/3/09

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:28:24 GMT

Finally! A backback that's economical and that will hold all my stuff. (Thanks to The Adventure Blog who found it on GoBlog via The Piton). The "Flextrek 37 Trillion":

Uh oh. Here we go now..

"When the popular New York business blog Silicon Alley Insider quoted a quarter of Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal column in mid-February, the editor added a caveat at the end: “We thank Dow Jones in advance for allowing us to bring it to you.” The editor added “in advance” because Dow Jones, the publisher of The Journal, had not given the blog permission to use the column. The excerpt was published with the assumption that it would be permitted under the “fair use” statute of copyright law.

Generally, the excerpts have been considered legal, and for years they have been welcomed by major media companies, which were happy to receive links and pass-along traffic from the swarm of Web sites that regurgitate their news and information. But some media executives are growing concerned that the increasingly popular curators of the Web that are taking large pieces of the original work — a practice sometimes called scraping — are shaving away potential readers and profiting from the content."

"Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt" via The New York Times

"What's happening? Did we hit a bottom? Time to cut the gloom? I'm halfway into a new column, switching back and forth online, reading breaking news, emails, writing. Suddenly, news turns upbeat, positive, optimistic:

*Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress the recession will end in '09. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner even smiled

*NBC anchor Brian Williams' listeners: "Stop reporting just the bad news"

*Newsweek cover: "How Obama Can Talk Us Out of a Depression"

Over at ABC, former President Bill Clinton encouraged President Obama to charm us with good news Then, sure enough, Obama delivers his resounding upbeat "revival of hope" address at last week's joint session of Congress, reprising his spirited "Yes We Can" message: "We will rebuild! We will recover!" And if that wasn't enough, a reader punctuated this new spirit in an email with a headline that warmed my heart: "Time for some Enlightenment." Like William's listeners, Ted was a nudger: "Some time ago you wrote a piece on 'peace of mind' and being happy. The point being that happiness is a state of mind, not a state of material wants and possessions." Then his magic words: "It might be time to remind your readers of that."

"The Zen Millionaire's 14 Secrets to Happiness" via MarketWatch

Christopher Nolan, a poet and writer who had cerebral palsy has passed away. RIP.

"Among firs, a cone high-flown,
Winged, popped,
Hied, foraying, embalming,
Sembling tomb
Among coy, conged fir needles,
A migratory off-spring
Embarks on life’s green film."

"Christopher Nolan" via The Economist

"Awesome Green Sculptures" via Unusual Things

Thought for the day

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:51:20 GMT

We often think about what we've lost. But often it's about what we gain through dealing with what we've lost. No loss. No gain.

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:23:15 GMT

Pictures of albino moose.

"Not one, but two ! Truly amazing ! These animals were photographed just north of the Wisconsin border on a highway near Marenisco , MI. Once in awhile there is an opportunity to take in a piece of nature that you may never see. In these days of unrest and turmoil it is great to see that Mother Nature can still produce some wondrous beauty. The odds of seeing an albino moose are astronomical and to see this in the upper peninsula of Michigan , near Wisconsin , is even greater than astronomical. To see two of them together is nearly impossible. We wanted to share these photos with as many people as possible because you will probably never have a chance to see this rare sight again. This is a really special treat, so enjoy the shot of a lifetime. YO!!!!! (Thanks DJ!)

"Kissinger was wrong. Power isn't the ultimate aphrodisiac. Confidence is. Confident people attract others. They get things done, spending more time doing and less time worrying. Confidence fosters charisma, inspires allegiance, and demands attention. All writers need to be confident. We must believe our work is worthy, that our efforts aren't in vain. But what are the differences between confidence, and its ugly step-sister, delusion?
Confident writers know they'll be published, if they keep at it.
Delusion writers think they'll be rich and famous.

Confident writers work to get the words right.
Delusional writers think they got the words right the first time.

Confident writers expect to be periodically rejected.
Delusional writers are shocked every time someone fails to recognize their brilliance,

"Confident or Delusional" via A Newbies Guide to Publishing. (h/t: The Swivet)

Authors Tobias S. Buckell, Mike Resnick, David D. Levine, Paul Di Filippo, Julie E. Czerneda, Minister Faust, Stephen Hunt, Jay Lake, S. Andrew Swann, Peter Watts, Sean Williams, Paul Levinson, and David Louis Edelman answer the question:

"MIND MELD: Who are Your Literary Influences in the Ongoing Conversation of Science Fiction?" via SF Signal

"In fairy tales, humans can possess exterior souls, things magically containing or embodying individual life force -- stone, egg, ring, bird or animal, etc. If the thing is destroyed, the human dies. But while the thing persists, the human enjoys a kind of immortality or at least invulnerability. Money could be seen as such an exteriorized soul. Humans created it, in some sense, in order to hide their souls in things that could be locked away (in tower or cave) and hidden so their bodies would acquire magical invulnerability -- wealth, health, the victoriousness of enjoyment, power over enemies -- even over fate. But these exterior souls need not be hidden away -- they can be divided almost indefinitely and circulated, exchanged for desire, passed on to heirs like an immortal virus, or, rather like a dead thing that magically contains life and "begets" itself endlessly in usury. It constitutes humanity's one really totally successful experiment in magic: no one calls the bluff and after 6000 years, it seems like Nature. (In fact, an old Chinese cosmogonic text claimed the two basic principles of the universe are Water and Money.)"

"An Army of Jacks to Fight The Power" by Peter Lamborn Wilson via Reality Sandwich

"In a recent post I made my own selections for the Premio Dardo Award, a blogger to blogger recognition of a sound contribution to weblogging. One of my selections was Dread Reckoning that is part of PopMatters, a magazine of cultural criticism and exploration. Dread Reckoning is the work of Marco Lanzagorta who goes into depth in his exploration of various cultural and social aspects of horror much as I do here at TheoFantastique. While I have great respect for the way in which the fantastic is probed at Dread Reckoning, of course this does not mean that I agree with every perspective offered in its commentary. In his most recent post Lanzagorta discusses a significant social issue raised at times by various horror and science fiction films, and with this post I will comment on my appreciation for aspects of this subject matter, but will also share areas of disagreement while urging continued dialogue over such issues and interaction with the fantastic that enables us to discuss difficult subject matter such as this. The reader should understand the personal perspectives and biases of mine that inform the commentary that follows, and these include different metaphysical perspectives from that of Lanzagorta, as well as personal experiences with the issue raised in his article."

"Horror, Sci Fi, Taboo and Suicide" via TheoFantastique

"Comic book publishers are worried about the future of comics when the action-packed pages finally hit Kindle and other digital readers."

via GalleyCat (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/comic_book_companies_fear_digital_books_109866.asp)

Links for 2/26/09

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:52:52 GMT

"Canyonlands" via Paul Speer's YouTube channel.

"We engage in numerous discussions throughout the day, about a variety of topics, from work assignments to the Super Bowl to what we are having for dinner that evening. We effortlessly move from conversation to conversation, probably not thinking twice about our brain's ability to understand everything that is being said to us. How does the brain turn seemingly random sounds and letters into sentences with clear meaning? In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologist Jos J.A. Van Berkum from the Max Planck Institute in The Netherlands describes recent experiments using brain waves to understand how we are able to make sense of sentences."

"How we think before we speak: Making Sense of Sentences" via Brain Mysteries

"Brad Warner has practiced Zen for more than 20 years. He’s become an internationally noted teacher of the spiritual discipline, but it hasn’t eliminated his problems. Staring down a divorce and pondering an affair, the punk-bassist-turned-Zen-teacher had the idea for his new book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of True Dharma. In it, Warner recalls his original inspiration. “It would be a book that destroyed once and forever any myths anyone could hold about what Zen masters were or should be,” writes Warner. “In its place would be a real-life-warts-and-all portrait of what a Zen teacher in the twenty-first century actually is.” Then, true to his self-effacing style, he notes, “I knew I would fail at this.”

"Punk Monk" via San Antonio Current (h/t: Precious Metal)

I guess taking urine and hair samples from prospective employees isn't enough for some companies. There's a prediction that a brain scan will be necessary in order to get a job in the future. Is a blood test far behind? With more companies limiting full-time positions and benefits, I predict an increase in people starting their own businesses. The comments after the article are also an interesting read.

"Brain scan replaces job interview in 5 years?" via Next Nature (h/t: Futurismic)

Our experience of ourselves is in many ways completely mediated by aspects which are located beyond the normal boundary of the “I”. I’d like to offer one possible way of looking at the issue. I approach this question concerning the boudaries of the “I” by taking into account the transformations of the “I” as it works through and within the physical body and the soul body on its path from death to life to death to life. To do so requires distinction between the ideas we have about our “I” and our unmediated, direct experience of our “I”, and more importantly between our “I” and what we can call our ego, on the basis of the usage of this term in the Western traditions (particularly psychology, which deals almost exclusively with the ego).

"Distinguishing between the ego and 'I'" via Spiritual Alchemy: It's Elemental

Renegade Futurist

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:35:31 GMT

After a year and a half of being on Technoccult it was time for a change. I think it's safe to say that both Klint and I have grown and changed through this time and our interests have gone into different directions. I'd like to thank Klint for a great run on Technoccult, and bring attention to his new site called Renegade Futurist. Right now I'm in the process of relocating and starting a new life, so when this site is slow be sure and check out the blogs listed on my blogroll, my friends list, and the blogs listed on Renegade Futurist.

Links For 2/23/09

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:17:41 GMT

My time for blogging is limited right now so here's some links to get you through the next few days.

I can't believe I "missed" the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, but I did. So where is this peace guiding the planets anyhow?

"You are invited to participate in the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius on Feb 14 2009 When the Moon actually is in the seventh house, And Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars. the planetary alignment is real!"

"The Age of Aquarius begins Feb 14 2009. Be there or be square." via Author's Den (Thanks DJ!)

Ciao Giordano-
"Today is the 17th of February, which in the face of subsequent calendar changes we take as the anniversary of Giordano Bruno's immolation in the the Campo dei Fiori in Rome, in the year 1600. In the 19th century a statue was raised on the site by freethinking Italians then in conflict with the Vatican; the statue pictures a haggard and ascetic Bruno in the Dominican robes he never wore after his flight from Rome as a young man. Around the statue's base are medallions of other heroes of free thought who were burned or otherwise murdered by bigots and/or religious authorities, including a couple that Bruno would have not wanted to share the space with -- the Calvinist Michael Servetus and the Aristotelian Peter Ramus, inventor of the outline." via crowleycrow

"Comet Lulin Tails- Sweeping through the inner solar system, Comet Lulin is easily visible in both northern and southern hemispheres with binoculars or a small telescope. Recent changes in Lulin's lovely greenish coma and tails are featured in this two panel comparison of images taken on January 31st (top) and February 4th." via NASA (If the sky is clear we'll be able to see it here on the 24th. Thanks Clara!)

"Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our database of real readers' favourite books (over 65,000 and growing) to suggest what you could read next. (You can register on the results page and build your own favourites list)" via What Should I Read Next (Thanks Josh!)

"India to launch cow urine as soft drink" via TimesOnline

"Welcome! If you’re looking for free science fiction stories featuring a range of astronomical facts and mind-blowing concepts, you’ve found the right place. This collection was pitched to the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a way of doing some public outreach and as a potential resource for astronomy teachers. Thanks to NSF funding and our contributors, editors, and web designer you can now read Diamonds in the Sky. Enjoy!" - Diamonds in The Sky (h/t: Uncertain Principles)

"The Credit Crisis Visualized In Animated Infographics" via Information Aesthetics

"Frontline: Inside The Meltdown" via PBS

"American Scary, a new documentary is now available that I had the privilege of watching last weekend, is now available which represents a great film on an important aspect of pop culture that will take many down memory lane. This film is a nostalgic homage to the glory days of the late night horror shows which features interviews and archival footage of the most famous hosts from the 1950s to the present day. American Scarywas written and directed by John Hudgens and Sandy Clark (the latter also serving as producer), with Michael Monahan serving as associate producer. In the following interview Sandy and Michael talk about their love for late night horror hosts and the background for American Scary." via TheoFantastique

"Communication Breakdown" - Led Zeppelin (Live 1970)

Related: "A To Zeppelin: The Story Of Led Zeppelin" via Snag Films