May already?? Maybe someone turned on Mr. Hawking’s time machine after all…
- Spring showers are next to non-existent in the High Arctic… or are they?
- Toxic oil dispersant used in Gulf despite better alternative. Raging Namor’s retaliation in 3… 2… 1…
- Mexico to restore giant Maya sculptures. Oh, so THAT is why we’re having so many human sacrifices lately, huh? :-/
- NASA balloon crashes in Australia —it’s Roswell remake at the Outback, mates!
- Russian president asked to investigate alien claims —no, this ain’t from the National Enquirer: it’s from the Beeb!
- Encountering Alien Otherness by Michael Zimmerman, a philosopher & faculty member at the University of Colorado [H/T Michael Clelland!].
- Detecting that proverbial alien signal is actually the easy part. Also, there’s always the possibility that the aliens react with hostility to our snooping around over their messages.
- “Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu”: NASA’s cutting-edge spacecraft will perform maneuvers a-la Enterprise —sorry, no phasers or photon torpedoes… yet.
- The Myth of the Starship, by Charlie Stross —aww, but it has such a nice ring to it, Charlie!
- Earth seen from Mars: you are here.
- Stunning 3D video of supernova’s beginning blast —Meh… looks like a flower from Pandora 😉
- Rendezvous with Rama: You won’t see a film based on the novel any time soon, but you can enjoy its trailer today, thanks to a very talented young student.
- And since we’re into improbable films, here’s the teaser trailer of Iron Sky —Nazi UFOs and secret Moon bases, what more does a blockbuster need?!
- Run Floppy, run!! First images of Hank Azaria as Gargamel.
- First image made of an atom spinning —all I can say is… De Be Deb Deep! Deb a Dub a Dub a Dub a Dub.
- How Nicola Tesla predicted texting —he invented emoticons too, but his came with monocles and funny hats.
- Philip K. Dick’s Exegesis: a trip into the cult writer’s mind & his personal wrestling with the Universe, coming soon to a bookstore near you.
- Inbreeding may have caused Darwin family ills, study suggests. Richard Dawkin’s massive coronary in 3… 2… 1…
- Magic ‘Pixie Dust’ made from pig bladders helps ‘regrow’ limbs of wounded soldiers —’cause ‘Piggie Dust’ just doesn’t sound magic enough, ya know?
- Forget about mad scientists: beware of mad designers, and their wacky ideas to improve your health —BWAHAHAHAAAAAAA!
- The embarrassing truth about Elvis’ death —kinda gives a new meaning to “a little less conversation, a little more action” IMO
- Bonobo chimps filmed shaking their head to ‘say no’ —and if that doesn’t work, there’s always the good ole faeces throwing… trust me on this one.
- German man marries elderly cat. Sooo… are you doing the full bent-knee pose with Neva, Rick? 😛
An ice-cold Margarita to Greg, Rick & Susan.
Quote of the Day:
“According to the exclusionary either/or that prevails in modern Western thought,
however, the abduction phenomenon must either be psychological in nature, and thus subjective, or physical in nature, and thus objective. Even though conceding that most abductees are sincere in claiming that they had an abduction “experience,” skeptics insist that this experience must be intrapsychic, i.e., the alleged aliens have no more independent otherness than do the figures encountered in dreams and hallucinations. In contrast, literalists believe that abductions are the work of real, flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials, whose intentions are either sinister or beneficent, depending in part on the projections the interpreters.
Still other researchers, however, caution that abductees may be encountering a strange otherness that resists being adequately explained in terms of these mutually exclusive conceptual categories–either mental or physical. Such speculation disturbs defenders of modern rationalism, who fear that both the phenomenon itself and widespread interest in it are signs of an outbreak of irrationalism that threatens the hard-won achievements of science and democratic politics. Some abduction researchers, however, suggest that the phenomenon does not involve irrationalism and psychological-social regression, but instead is a process of psychic integration necessary for the evolution of consciousness. Understanding this process, should it in fact be taking place, would obviously alter prevailing views about the nature and meaning of human existence.
What may be needed to understand the abduction phenomenon, then, is an expansion and transformation of current views about rationality, reality, and consciousness.”
