But my kit was of a different flavor and somewhat trimmed down from yours; Sewen into my jean jacket, (the "Magic Jacket"), so that it was entirely invisible unless I got patted down, I had. ..
1 Cat's Paw mini-crowbar, 1 Mini-Leatherman (still the coolest and most comfortable set of folding pliers EVER), 1 Mini-torch (when they were new and cost all of your allowance for three solid months.), 1 Set of lock picks, 1 Japanese laminated steel knife, 1 Thumb-sized single shot.22 mini-gun I made myself from bar-stock and a spring, 1 Mini-jar of granulated pepper, (This was before pepper spray was a 'thing'), 1 Highly polished silver Zippo lighter (suitable for cheating at poker), 1 Credit-card sized Freznel lense, (in case a bear ate my Zippo), 1 Extending pen-pointer I rigged with a rare-earth magnet, (1 month's allowance back then when hard drives sucked.) 4 Mini-biners people use for key-chains but which are stress tested at 220 kg, 1 Six foot loop of mountain climbing tape suitable for whipping into a harness, and. .,
(This was the trophy piece. ..)
40 meters of super-thin mountain climbing cord (rated at 600 kg) fire-hose packed for quick release into the double back of the jacket. (The double-back being the original back from another jean jacket one size-smaller.)
I was ready to save princesses from burning buildings and play 007 and all kinds of silly stuff. And the funniest part is that I was so proud of my 'secret' jacket, that I showed it off to pretty much everybody at school. If anybody ever ended up with a.22 bullet in their stomach, the cops would have been knocking on my door first thing. --Though, (silly police), I could ever so cleverly steal their keys when the guard's back was turned with my funky extend-a-pointer and rare-earth magnet gizmo.
Ahh. The wonders of sexual frustration! Those were the days!
-Fantastic Lad
GOOD LORD, WHEN WILL PEOPLE SICKEN. . ?!
on
Dragon's Lair on X-box
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· Score: 1, Flamebait
3d games were cool back in the day of Doom and Dark Forces. Half-Life had a cool story. Quake-boy Carmak(sp?) has been reliable in doing cool things with bleeding edge tech. But X-Box?
From the standard driving game to the standard run around with guns game, it seems like every game box release from each major player has simply been an extended parade of slight variations of different texture-maps and ever-so-slightly different rule-sets painted over top the same !#$?! graphics engine. Ya-freeking-hoo! Could I BE any more bored out of my skull?
And, good lord, I HATE texture mapped stuff. Everything from Mario to Orcs look so dull and fake-ish and same-o same-o. -Now, handling a Stormtrooper blaster for the first time and stealing the actual plans for the Death Star because Princess Liea NEEDED them, (in an age before Star Wars sucked and Lucas's brain hadn't yet turned to cheese-whiz), was just about the most amazing gaming experience I've ever had. And yeah, sure, I was born in the early 70's, so maybe by today's game-box standards I'm a cynical 30-something year old who's X-Gen opinion doesn't mean squat. (Which it obviously doesn't, since the game companies are reaping in gazillions from their boring-ass 3d 'games') But still. . !
Dirk the Daring will forever be a 2d animated piece of visual coolness from my childhood, where they tried it because simply because nobody had ever done so before. Daring. New. Made with a passion for the art! --But this new, factory-setting-3d-version with a half-assed 2d texture tweek is a waste of time, in my totally un-humble opinion.
Why won't somebody put their balls on the line and write something new and interesting? I've not seen any significant game inovation since the days of MOO-2 and Command & Conquer. --And Voxels, btw, are the height of graphics coolness; they STILL look a million times better than the no-substance, too easy, 3d popcorn being shoved up our sore-spots these days.
The one exception I can think of is the LucasArts release, Grim Fandango. But like Half-life, that was all about the story, and in it's case, kick-ass voice-acting and comedic timing.
I'd have figured that the average person currently planning on sending the US into war also believes the first humans came to the Americas no more than 7,000 years ago, soon after the garden of eden (and then again after that first set was wiped out by a global flood). I doubt they spent too much time reading the peer-reviewed archeology / paleontology articles which explore issues of when humans came to the Americas.
Heh, yeah. I always hate to consider it, but you'd probably be right about that. I wonder exactly how many hard-core creationists there are in the U.S. . ..
Still, peer-reviewed science, while it no doubt is an attempt at the best foot forward, doesn't impress me very much these days. I have seen and read too much, -and spoken to enough members of the scientific community complaining about stupidity and corruption to be much more than highly cynical of anything supported by the party line.
The writer of your quoted materials isn't a standard flood geologist / creationist. However, the claims made are similar enough (6k or 12k years ago, giant quantities of salt water temporarily covered vast quantities of land), that evidence against a global flood also applies to his case. Evidence from the talk.origins flood faqs [talkorigins.org] that doesn't support recent floods includes ice core, tree ring, lake bed sedimentation and desert pack rat nest samples. They don't show a layer of salt water 12,000 or any recent thousands of years ago.
Well, sure. I'd buy all of that. But the writer of the article I cut & pasted didn't make a single claim about flood waters of any kind, so the point, while well taken, is moot.
But as I browse talk.origins, I see they specifically address your writer. Quoting from this article [talkorigins.org]: "...their claim that hundreds of thousands of frozen carcasses have been found is simply incorrect. At most, only a few tens of frozen carcasses have been documented in all of Siberia and Alaska. In Canada, the frozen mammal material found consists of scraps of hide and muscle found attached to bones. All of these "frozen carcasses" that have been carefully examined show evidence of decomposition, scavenging, or both prior to be buried, e.g. Gutherie (1990). Also, the sediments in which these carcasses occur are clearly of noncatastrophic origin (Gutherie 1990, Lister and Bahn 1994, Pewe 1975, Uraintseva 1993)..." [bold added] Please note that the references are all articles you can find and read. And browsing talk.origins will find more links to mammoth articles...
Ah! Now here's where it gets interesting!
I've been able to find lucid arguments on both sides of the flash-freeze fence. --There is the general theory which attempts to explain the un-gnawed upon carcases. --That the dead mammoths which were discovered had fallen into crevices where predators could not get at them, and that snow and freezing mudslide covered them up so that they were preserved. --Though the scientists who promote this argument also describe how much of the tissues were in fact extremely rotted upon inspection 12,000 years (or so), later. They use this to discredit the idea of any flash-freezing taking place.
This makes me wonder, because the problem with that idea would seem to be two-fold:
For one, it would suggest that the method they indicate for the preservation of the carcas didn't work. (You can't freeze a subject for 12,000 years and still have have extensive rotting. At least not the way my freezer works.) --Indeed, when I did some further looking, it appears that a regular guy found one of the now famous mammoth carcases extruding from a melting ice flow on a melt river. He didn't report it for a whole year, (because he wasn't sure what it was at first; it took time for the ice to melt back enough to reveal the beast). When he finally did report it, the mammoth had been exposed to the elements and bacteria of the 1800's, which, I would think, should have offered enough time for the pre-historic meat to get a head start on rotting.
My point here is that the scientists who oppose a catastrophic world view jumped quickly and somewhat recklessly upon the whole rotting idea in order to discredit ideas which didn't fit with theirs, despite the fact that it didn't actually help their theories. This is exactly the kind of behavior which makes me hesitate before embracing main-stream science.
Anyway, I am now thoroughly intrigued. I'm going to be hunting down one of the quoted books, (by Frank C. Hibben, who by all accounts, appears to be a very reputable and respected scientist), in order to get from the horse's mouth exactly what he saw and did when visiting Alaska. Every other endeavor he was involved with during his long life, (which ended just earlier this year), leads me to think that he was a card-carrying member of the main stream scientific community. So if he really does write that he saw what he is quoted as having seen in the frozen north, then I will be willing to keep the book open on this and do some further research.
The main problem with catastrophism is that it's too much fun; far too many of the people who write about it seem to be inclined to exaggeration and hearsay, which does nothing but erode any credibility they might have.
And hopefully I'll also be able to validate another intriguing claim I ran across; supposedly among certain areas of the bone and tusk fields, were significant quantities of volcanic ash.
Okay. Enough for now. --Thanks for engaging me in this cool conversation! I don't often find such willing people on Slashdot!
I'm not sure I can put together a valid response to this.....
You just did.
But the world's most popular response to dealing with the end/beginning of time, (comfy, "What's on TV?" denial), won't work for much longer. When the music plays, everybody dances.
But don't sweat it. You've got another six years or so before things start to get really ugly.
As far as I know, 10.000 BC is one of the dates estimated for the arrival of Homo sapiens to America.
As far as you know, hm? Now think: The same people who determined the public school curriculum and who paid for all of the text books we all read, have also most recently dismantled the American democratic system, (if there ever was one), and are sending the U.S. people into an illegal and greed motivated war. But sure. Let those guys determine what you think you know.
By the way, why did humans survive according to your hypothesis?
I'm just the messenger on this one. It's hard to cover up hundreds of miles of dead mammoths. Look it up, for goodness sake. It's easy.
Just because it causes uncomfortable, "doesn't fit in with what the Learning Channel told me to believe," feelings, doesn't mean that it should be pushed away. Perhaps one ought to question the party line. I would think, anyway.
Damn. You beat me to the punch. --Only I would have said, "Bruce Willis", just to make the reference sound more high-brow and clever and such. But either way. ..
So does this invalidate the three laws, or are people still allowed to fly to the moon?
The world leaders, diplomats and power brokers, (many of whom are really, really smart; Rhodes Scholars and crazy high IQ's, as many of them are, believe it or not. I know a few, and I tell you, they breed that way. You don't get to be fucking powerful by being a dolt. Unless you happen to be a Bush on a String, but that's a whole different ball of wax), anyway. . , what if they actually listened to their scientific advisors? 'Cuz they're certainly not eating from the same trough or reading from the same books that the rest of us schmucks are. What if they knew, for real, in advance that a big pile of shit was going to hit the fan? --And by 'shit' I mean ecological collapse, country-killer comets, ice age returns, possible magnetic pole-flipping, and a train load of other dark and nasty things I won't even touch on. What if. . ?
See, there's been this mega-cheesey, bad sci-fi idea floating around for the last fifty years or so called, "Alternative 3". --The idea being that all the rich and wealthy build a big pretty space ship and leave the planet while the rest of us die in filth and misery. Pulp fiction fairy tale nonsense, of course. But fairy tales have their roots you see. ..
I've gotta ask. . . "Why are there so many damned tunnels dug under the U.S.?" Underground military bases which go deep, deep, interconnecting throughout much of the continent. --I'm serious. Look this stuff up if you don't think it's true. If you have a friend or two in the military who work on one of the big bases, well they might just be able to nod at you and say, "Yeah, half the damned military is underground, forcryingoutloud!" --The Denver Airport, like a big pimple, for some reason is one of the places where it hits the surface. Big scandal. Tunnels galore. Look this shit up. LOTS of digging. What's up with all of that? Why? Fear of nuclear strikes? Nuh-uh. They've been digging this shit since the the 30's. There's a damned base 3 hours north of where I live, and everybody in the whole town knows the army is lying when they tell us the base closed down in the nineties. Not with that many soldiers around, it didn't! --Not with the transport trailers vanishing into hillside tunnel mouths where there ain't no other side to come out of!
Shadow governments? Everybody knows about this. Some people even know about Fema; (Which they even tried to make sound pretty on 'The West Wing', (more sleepy-time propaganda about how nice things aren't. All is fine here in the fairy tale. Go back to sleep while we bleed and ass-rape you.), --Oh, everybody knows, and it scares the shit out of them; it touches a nerve. When Jay Leno cracked his Shadow Government joke one evening back when the facts were surfacing into indisputable pop culture last year, the audience sure didn't laugh. No way. --They made an awkward, unhappy and nervous sound. None of them saying it aloud, but all thinking in that flash moment, "Oh, Yuck! I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it! Jay! You're supposed to calm us and lie to us! Let us sleep in the belief that everything is fine. Please stop it with the Shadow Government! How it bothers me!"
Not that those who know a few things are any less confused. There's a mind game a-raging; a massive misdirection game. "Can you find the Boeing?" "Who REALLY bombed the WTC?" "WHY is the economy going to tank right when it would really help plunge us into war?" And "Why, oh why are there so many storms and earthquakes and volcanos?"
Douglas Adams called it the "Interconnectedness of All Things", (and if he didn't, then it's only because he used better wording than I can summon or recall at the moment.)
And what's with this made up war? It came out of nowhere! Could it be any more contrived? I've never seen any global event which has been more desperately engineered than this one! There's a rush-darn schedule to keep, by gosh! (Of COURSE the Kyoto agreement got ditched and all those coal reacters got fired up back in 2000. What does it matter when the signs are screaming. Just a quick cash grab before the curtains.)
It doesn't matter how far up one's head is stuffed, or how much Leno minces out his trademarked litte high-pitch voice. Even the real dopes are beginning to get a clue. The freekin' clocks make you hold your breath these days! The days aren't just a little shorter. . . Fact is, for the last few years time has been more and more quickly scurrying willie-nillie that even the damned muggles are beginning to get wise. "I say, Honey, doesn't it seem like we just got out of bed a very short time ago?" "Why, yes, dearie! But let's discuss such things. It flusters by blusters!" "Oh, terribly sorry, Honey!" "Quite okay; just don't do it again!"
--We've got Christians who don't want to get, "Left Behind", we've got Alien huggers who dearly want to believe that they're going to get lifted by their UFO friends when the time is right, (nevermind the fact that those alien buggers sure seem to like their bovine lips and cow plasma; hey, everybody's got a fetish or two, right? Me, I waste my time spouting off on Slashdot, so I'd be a right hypocrite to blame somebody for a cow-lip and blood fetish.). And shit! We've got freekin' Cruise and Travolta smug in whatever bullshit their twisted little cult is pumping them full of. (Travolta was in their damned movie!, for crying out loud!) No matter how far under your rock you happen to be jammed, it's getting harder to shut out the fact that some weird shit is up! And those who are well tuned in are making travel plans and enjoying their last few milk-shakes but good!
So waddaysupposedtado? Huh?
Well, I tell people to keep their heads together and try not spill their coffee when the shit begins to fly. That and sell your damned stocks while the selling is good! The PPT (Plung Protection Team) is going to let the cash run dry and the gold stocks soar when the time is exactly right. . !
The U.S. was born under the sign of Cancer, and in about seven months time, Saturn returns with a vengeance for two and a half years. Whoopie. Hard times ahead, by gum! --Course, that's just some sort of astrology shit, and so long as one is safe under a cool and cozy rock, one can rationalize all day long, watch 'Friends' and eat their Taco Bell Smurf Food while sucking down some Sodium Benzoate enriched beverage like a good little consumer.
One of my other favorite films of all time, (animated or otherwise.) Zero violence, yet plenty of story stresses and growth. That scene where Kiki and the painter were talking, (where Kiki was losing her magic), really blew me away. It's not often when I'm struck to the quick like that! And it also struck me that the artist was somehow aware, (at least on her level), of the various realities which Miyazaki visits with each of his films. (They're nearly all telling a version of the same story; of different lives where different choices were made and different levels of awareness are ripe). --The painting of the winged horse and the Kiki/Nausicaa/Princess Mononoke/etc., on its back was like a window connecting all the various realities. And I don't know if Miyazaki meant it this way, but I bet the stunned moment Kiki experienced in looking at that painting of her was partly due to her feeling a connection with all those other lives. (At least, I would have had that in the back of my mind if I were Miyazaki!) A very powerful scene, nonetheless, which worked on many levels!
Anyway, kudos for the recommend on Spirited! See it now while it's still on the big screen!
Here's a neat quote. See my notes at the bottom. ..
"Back in the 1940s Dr. Frank C. Hibben, Prof. of Archeology at the University of New Mexico led an expedition to Alaska to look for human remains. He didn't find human remains; he found miles and miles of icy muck just packed with mammoths, mastodons, several kinds of bison, horses, wolves, bears and lions. Just north of Fairbanks, Alaska, the members of the expedition watched in horror as bulldozers pushed the half-melted muck into sluice boxes for the extraction of gold. Animal tusks and bones rolled up in front of the blades "like shavings before a giant plane". The carcasses were found in all attitudes of death, most of them "pulled apart by some unexplainable prehistoric catastrophic disturbance"
The evident violence of the deaths of these masses of animals, combined with the stench of rotting flesh was almost unendurable both in seeing it, and in considering what might have caused it. The killing fields stretched for literally hundreds of miles in every direction. There were trees and animals, layers of peat and moss, twisted and tangled and mangled together as though some Cosmic mixmaster sucked them all in 12000 years ago, and then froze them instantly into a solid mass.
Just north of Siberia entire islands are formed of the bones of Pleistocene animals swept northward from the continent into the freezing Arctic Ocean. One estimate suggests that some ten million animals may be buried along the rivers of northern Siberia. Thousands upon thousands of tusks created a massive ivory trade for the master carvers of China; all from the frozen mammoths and mastodons of Siberia. The famous Beresovka mammoth first drew attention to the preserving properties of being quick-frozen when buttercups were found in its mouth.
What kind of terrible event overtook these millions of creatures in a single day?
Well, the evidence suggests an enormous tsunami raging across the land, tumbling animals and vegetation together, to be finally quick-frozen for the next 12000 years. But the extinction was not limited to the Arctic, even if the freezing preserved the evidence of Nature's rage. Paleontologist George G. Simpson considers the extinction of the Pleistocene horse in north America to be one of the most mysterious episodes in zoological history, confessing that "no one knows the answer." He is also honest enough to admit that there is the larger problem of the extinction of many other species in America at the same time: The horse, giant tortoises living in the Caribbean, the giant sloth, the sabre-toothed tiger, the glyptodont and toxodon. These were all tropical animals. These creatures didn't die because of the "gradual onset" of an ice age, "unless one is willing to postulate freezing temperatures across the equator, such an explanation clearly begs the question."
Massive piles of mastodon and sabre-toothed tiger bones were discovered in Florida. Mastodons, toxodons, giant sloths and other animals were found in Venezuela quick-frozen in mountain glaciers. Woolly rhinoceros, giant armadillos, giant beavers, giant jaguars, ground sloths, antelopes and scores of other entire species were all totally wiped out at the same time, at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12000 years ago.
This event was global.
The mammoths of Siberia became extinct at the same time as the giant rhinoceros of Europe; the mastodons of Alaska, the bison of Siberia, the Asian elephants and the American camels. It is obvious that the cause of these extinctions must be common to both hemispheres, and that it was not gradual. A "uniformitarian glaciation" would not have cause extinctions, because the various animals would have simply migrated to better pasture. What is seen is a surprising event of uncontrolled violence. In other words, 12000 years ago, a time we have stumbled across again and again, something terrible happened - so terrible that life on earth was nearly wiped out in a single day.
Harold P. Lippman admits that the magnitude of fossils and tusks encased in the Siberian permafrost present an "insuperable difficulty" to the theory of uniformitarianism, since no gradual process can result in the preservation of tens of thousands of tusks and whole individuals, "even if they died in winter." Especially when many of these individuals have undigested grasses and leaves in their belly. Pleistocene geologist William R. Farrand of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, who is opposed to catastrophism in any form, states: "Sudden death is indicated by the robust condition of the animals and their full stomachs... the animals were robust and healthy when they died." Unfortunately, in spite of this admission, this poor guy seems to have been incapable of facing the reality of worldwide catastrophe represented by the millions of bones deposited all over this planet right at the end of the Pleistocene. Hibben sums up the situation in a single statement: "The Pleistocene period ended in death. This was no ordinary extinction of a vague geological period which fizzled to an uncertain end. This death was catastrophic and all inclusive"
The conclusion is, again, that the end of the Ice Age, the Pleistocene extinction, the end of the Upper Paleolithic, Magdalenian, Perigordian, and so on, and the end of the "reign of the gods," all came to a global, catastrophic conclusion about 12000 years ago. And, as it happens, even before this evidence was brought to light, this is the same approximate date that Plato gave for the sinking of Atlantis."
--This is pretty intense stuff, (which, naturally, nobody likes to look at), so I went to check out the sources. Both Dr. Frank C. Hibben and William R. Farrand are real guys, and their observations were are indeed accurately presented here. Go check for yourself.
Well, who fell asleep at that switch! We should ship him/her to the South to be put down like the dogs they are! (And make up for all the lost 'misery revenue').
Seriously. . . I've read today more childish arguments from people who are basically saying, "Well, if I have to pay tax, then so should everybody!" --Which stems in part from the barely legitimate fear of losing the precarious toe-hold on their own income through a Bricks & Mortar business, which won't happen unless they are nincompoops who don't know how to run a business in the first place, (Why not set up your own internet order department and get one of your clerks to manage it? DUH!), and from a rabid sense of unfairness which has precisely nothing to do with what is good for the nation and everything about, "MOMMM! BILLY GOT MORE ICE CREAM THAN ME!!!"
As for more new & wonderful taxes. ..
Bullshit. Greed and nothing else. For one thing, the economy is mostly a make-believe game anyway, and for another, if you want to live in the 'good little consumer' head-space and play the make-believe 3rd edition rules to the letter, well then if the government would just, say, tax Microsoft properly, punish corporate criminals, (like Bush), and stop plans to drop a billion dollars worth of bombs on Iraq every week, then MAYBE we could dispense with all this other nonsense.
Internet Tax? Fuck off. When the net is taxed, it'll also be so tightly controled that a pipsqueek like me won't be able to speak his mind. And wouldn't that just make for a bad day?
-Fantastic Lad
P.S. Is it just me, or has Slashdot been particularly 'careful' these days to steer clear of political and social topics which actually 'matter'? I've asked it before and been modded to shit for it, but I'll keep on asking until my Karma is dead and gone. . . "Who is whispering into the ears of the Slashdot Editorial staff these days?" I notice the story about the story about implantable microchips broke several days ago and hasn't shown up here. . . Hmm.
The reason LCD technology has been allowed to proliferate is that everybody now has a cell phone. Cell phones are far more effective vectors of brain-dulling than the humble CRT.
Spooky and evil, sure, but the nice thing is, if you ditch your cell phone for a land-line, replace your aging CRT for a nice LCD screen, then you can actually recover some of your edge without paying a compromise to your life style, (unless, of course, you can no longer live without your portable communicator. Oh, how DID you manage before?)
Of course, you still have to deal with the ever-increasing blanket of EM fuzz covering most metropolitan centers, but these days it is getting to be more about comparative power than having a completely clear head. Essentially, anybody who doesn't use a cell phone or a CRT, (or anti-depressants, chemical food preservatives, TV, etc.), is going to have a noticeably significant mental edge over the vast percentage of those who do. (Who, by and large, generally feel somewhat stoned, hung-over, tired, sort of depressed and fairly suggestible most of the time. New Millennium Malaise. ..)
When was the last time you had a real, honest to god, dream. . ?
Really. . ? Well, isn't that interesting. You should be able to remember your dreams every night. If you can't or if you simply don't dream then something is wrong. Anybody who tells you different is either mis-informed or lying outright. You might start by moving your head away from the clock radio and power mains, then by adjusting your diet so that you stop eating chemical garbage. Yes, really.
Oh, and do get a flat screen, and do so while they still have signal wires coming out the back instead of antennas.
The ice is only 11,000 years old. I suppose that a decline in the production of greenhouse gasses allowed it to form at all?
My guess is that as Global Warming continues to affect the levels of evaporation and precipitation, the ice packs will rebound with unexpected voracity.
Last time this happened was likely the result of volcanic activity or comet strikes. . . We seem to pass through a cloud of space rocks every 3600 years or so. Such events can easily increase the level of greenhouse gasses, causing the global warming required to create glaciers and increased ice packs. This ain't voodoo. It's pretty simple. You may even recall the pencil crayon diagram you drew about it in grade 4.
In any case, such a status change which comes suddenly now after having stagnated for 11,000 years is certainly going to make my eyebrows go up, thank you very much. So I'll take notice despite the fact all these garden variety head-in-the-sanders tend to reflexively ridicule anything which might disturb their asenine peace of mind. (In the belief that enough ridicule can make the problem go away. Yeah. That always works, so long as you can afford to stay drunk.)
I'm not certain that this guy is entirely stupid. I think it might simply be a case of his mistaking discussion about the mountain's ice pack with the ice packs on the planet's poles, which I don't believe have shrunk 80% in the last century, hence his skepticism.
Otherwise, your post was quite informative. I just don't have any mod-points today to say so. (Hence this post).
Thanks for the warning. How long have you been a nutbar?
Since the last ridicule post you threw at me 40 lines down in this story. Did I hit a sore spot, hmmm? (Unless you're a brand new AC. -I swear, you kids are like fruit flies!)
That whole Planet X thing is just another dumb-ass distraction. --But there IS a phenomenon at work.
here's a story from last year about the ark twin star, (a big ball of hydrogen which never got quite big enough to ignite, but which is more than large enough to send some planet killing debris from the Kuiper belt, thank you very much!)
So there ain't no aliens living in Planet X coming to resuce everybody who's been good and loving. That and all the other CIA induced New-Age crapola regarding "Nibiru" is, IMHO, pure & stinking bunk.
However, I tend to be of the thinking that the dark-star came and went about a year and a half ago; there were several half-assed "Do Not Panic, Citizen", plant stories circulating regarding this phenomenon around that time, (put there in the event that anybody on this globe might wake up and realized what was happening. That obviously didn't happen. --Or at least not with anybody who had access to a decent telescope at the time. ..).
In any case, the Dark Star has most likely done its work. There have been 5 other big-assed meteor strikes over the last month and a half alone. ..
Check my post on this story for links to stories of those events.
Cool! You know about the Kuiper belt activity. You're tuned in!
Problem is, this is probably going to wipe out most of the Earth's population before the end of the decade. We're supposed to see a small surge of debris hitting the planet, (this current one), a subsiding, and then the sky will literally fall, (and THAT is what will finally break the U.S.'s back.) I'm afraid I don't actually know how long we have, but it's probable that Bush will have enough time to kill all the Jews and kill all the Arabs. (Both parties making up the Semites.)
See my comment on this story for links to the last 5 big meteor events since October. If you're interested, that is.
But don't let this affect your consumerist activities, citizen. The government is already throwing up some "don't panic" propaganda.
"Asteroids regularly explode over the Earth with the intensity of a nuclear bomb; the explosions could be mistaken for a nuclear attack and even trigger an atomic war, an Air Force general said Thursday. - At least 30 times a year, a space rock measuring a few yards across slashes into the atmosphere and explodes, releasing energy equal to that of an atomic bomb, Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon Worden told subcommittee members."
Oh really? 30 times a year? This is the first I've ever heard about it.
Meanwhile, the powerbrokers in the know are quietly preparing to withdraw, (after killing all the jews and arabs), into their Shadow Government strongholds beneath whatever mountain range they think will save their asses from the end of the world. Silly rabbits!
Okay, that's my two cents. You may now return to Quake or whatever. Cheers!
I don't know if you're telling the truth or not, but I am more than inclined to think you're a very cool guy nonetheless, simply from reading through some of your previous posts.
Hats off to you, sir. You have a good mind.
BTW, people who are actively reaching for their higher selves do tend to be more aware of the fucked up stuff going on in the skies these days. Most of the brain damaged posters who responded to your story would most likely not even be able to recall witnessing such an event at all.
--And not just because the bulk of zombie nation are ill-inclined to do any sort of hiking in the wilderness, (hiking and star gazing on top of old caves is a true sign of coolness!), but because they have that amazing ability to re-boot their brains at the first sign of trouble. Perhaps you know what I'm talking about. --I've witnessed numerous times where people have been shown 'impossible' things point-blank, which they actually cannot remember as little as half a day later, or which they radically warp and re-write in their own memories so that it may be quickly dismissed.
Both small and great minds think alike, but the small ones only do so because they all watched the last episode of 'Friends'.
BTW, have you been watching? Didja catch the last 5 big-assed meteors over the last month and half? I tend to think it's just the beginning. Should be interesting, regardless!
A powerful on-line economy! (Oh, and you can bet your buns it'll happen!) What wonders! We can all do business easily, quickly, without hassles! Who needs cash? Ah, the FUTURE! Bring it ON!
Sigh.
The only problem I see with this, (well, one of the biggest problems, at any rate), is that unless something has changed in the last year, then the CIA has its hand on the switch of virtually the whole stinking internet. They can single you out, and make your website gone if they don't like what you're doing.
Remy C's End Secrecy List recently ran a look back at SAIC read this item if you're interested in the details.
(It's a bit of a longish read, and the first article is, of course, SAIC P.R. It gets interesting further down.)
In any case, unless anything has changed recently, then, well, I must say that I feel just peachy about the new economy being at the total & complete mercy of a bunch of Bushian ex-spooks.
Come to think of it. ..
I must wonder ALOUD why there are so few outward looking stories on Slashdot these days that a conspiracy nut like me can leave his spray on. Especially when there is so much fascinating stuff going on in the big blue world. If nerds would really rather keep their noses stuck into the latest unix front-end distraction, then you ain't like the nerds I grew up with.
Wonder who whispers into Taco's ear these days. ..
I also never got the robot to let me open the screen door on the ship in hitchhikers. What's scary is I even remember that's the spot where I got stalled out 14 years later.
Ahh yesss. One of the more brilliant and annoying problems in the history of IF games. Every geek I know who remembers that game groans when reminded of the evil screening door problem!
Solution: Give the, 'No Tea' to the robot. It'll convulse in such a spasm of metaphysical wonder that it'll open the screening door wide.
Frustration taught me that one. "Well, fer crying out loud! Just try giving the damned robot every item in the inventory starting at the top. .."
Question is, do you still have a 5.25" disk drive available to load Hitchhiker's back into your system so you can pick up where you left off?
Nobody seems to have pointed out the two basic points in your argument which I have the most difficulty with. ..
1. Self correction mechanisms, (and I'm not going to argue about whether or not they really exist), can very easily kill off 99% of human life. There were periods of Earth's history where there was virtually no oxygen in the atmosphere, and different kinds of living things thrived. --Keep in mind as well that there have been something like 35 planet-wide die-outs of pretty much every complex organism over the last few million years. Simply moving to another part of the planet is an unrealistic option for about 5.9 billion people. Mass death is a good possibility, I think.
2. 150 years ago, this nation was so smoggy the buildings had to be scrubbed. Sure. But 150 years ago, the planet population was a great deal less than it is today, and heavy industry was also in its infancy. --Sure, things are going to get dirty in places where dirty fuels are burned, (coal), but back then, those zones were very small as compared to the pollution centers today. Also, keep in mind, that India and much of China is going whole-hog with starting up heavy industry in the dirtiest of ways. These are BIG population centers producing BIG pollution which make St. Louis from 150 years ago look like a bug fart.
Essentially, I think you're more or less on the right track with some of your ideas, but I would caution you about leaning towards wishful thinking in other areas. There are better, more respectable ways to come to terms with the world condition today. Why frightened? Why indeed? If the human race dies out, it won't be too soon! Talk about self-correction!
The INSTANT lawyers get involved, everybody loses.
Best solution:
Go talk to the fellow and clear up the misunderstanding. It'll save time, money and heartache. If your CEO is human, then I'm sure you can work it out without unpleasantness.
However, if the fellow happens to be one of those psychopathic CEOs which seem to be popping up everywhere these days, and whom through some sort of mental disorder and total lack of compassion decides he just wants to make you miserable, then it's okay to use a crow bar on his skull. (I certainly wouldn't tell).
If the crowbar solution is too un-nerving for you, (which I can understand), then it's best to get tactical; Let buddy know up front that he's made an error, show him the stats on how the virus works and that anybody with a software degree could prove it to a court. He'll understand. Subtly raise fears that when he is proven to be mistaken he'll look like a moron in front of everybody, the company will lose stock value, and he will probably lose his position due to a failure in confidence from shareholders and board members.
Psychopaths can be manipulated just like anybody else, it's just that their buttons are hidden in weird positions. Psychos can lie better than anybody, and they have no sense of shame, so if they are proven wrong, they don't feel stupid. This means that they can tell huge lies without sweating a bit because they fear nothing if it goes wrong. However, psychopaths DO have massive concerns about being walked away from. They are very, very posessive; to reject them when they have decided to control you is the worst torture you can inflict on a psycho. This is often the point where they will start using crowbars. And they don't get squeamish!
So then buddy, (if he really is a loonytoon), will smell the prospect of his company ditching him and he'll get very worried. Then all you do is offer him an out; tell him that it's very easy to be fooled by such a virus, that 'hackers' specifically design their viruses to get past the very greatest of minds, (who don't have time for all that nerdy software niggling which great minds like Buddy's don't have time to bother with), and that it is in fact, you who has been made a victim. He won't care about your welfare, of course, but if you can suggest ever so subtly that he can win points with you and everybody by hurling his anger at the real criminal, then you're in the clear.
That might be how I'd handle it, depending on the details, anyway.
Hayo Miyazaki attended the Toronto film fest showing earlier this month.
The film showed at the Uptown Cinema, one of the few remaining cool theaters in this berg. AND he did a Q&A!
Not that I had tickets, mind you. --And I've been a fan of Miyazaki since before people even knew that Japan had an animation culture to export.
Whatever. It'll be cool to see the work of such a master on big screens. I've looked over the production sketches and paintings for the film, and it's very nice; some really clever techniques were used. From what I could see, the transition the characters made from the real world to the magical world is clever in similar ways as that done in "Being John Malcovitch".
Looking forward to this one. There are so few good film makers still allowed to share their works on the screens of the masses. Miyazaki is a wise man with his head screwed on right, has things to say worth hearing and knows how to speak them without offending or condescending. There are not a lot of great teachers left out there. --What with Lucas having been brain-sucked and all!
Slashdot Mirror
But my kit was of a different flavor and somewhat trimmed down from yours; Sewen into my jean jacket, (the "Magic Jacket"), so that it was entirely invisible unless I got patted down, I had. .
1 Cat's Paw mini-crowbar,
1 Mini-Leatherman (still the coolest and most comfortable set of folding pliers EVER),
1 Mini-torch (when they were new and cost all of your allowance for three solid months.),
1 Set of lock picks,
1 Japanese laminated steel knife,
1 Thumb-sized single shot
1 Mini-jar of granulated pepper, (This was before pepper spray was a 'thing'),
1 Highly polished silver Zippo lighter (suitable for cheating at poker),
1 Credit-card sized Freznel lense, (in case a bear ate my Zippo),
1 Extending pen-pointer I rigged with a rare-earth magnet, (1 month's allowance back then when hard drives sucked.)
4 Mini-biners people use for key-chains but which are stress tested at 220 kg,
1 Six foot loop of mountain climbing tape suitable for whipping into a harness, and. .
(This was the trophy piece. .
40 meters of super-thin mountain climbing cord (rated at 600 kg) fire-hose packed for quick release into the double back of the jacket. (The double-back being the original back from another jean jacket one size-smaller.)
I was ready to save princesses from burning buildings and play 007 and all kinds of silly stuff. And the funniest part is that I was so proud of my 'secret' jacket, that I showed it off to pretty much everybody at school. If anybody ever ended up with a
Ahh. The wonders of sexual frustration! Those were the days!
-Fantastic Lad
From the standard driving game to the standard run around with guns game, it seems like every game box release from each major player has simply been an extended parade of slight variations of different texture-maps and ever-so-slightly different rule-sets painted over top the same !#$?! graphics engine. Ya-freeking-hoo! Could I BE any more bored out of my skull?
And, good lord, I HATE texture mapped stuff. Everything from Mario to Orcs look so dull and fake-ish and same-o same-o. -Now, handling a Stormtrooper blaster for the first time and stealing the actual plans for the Death Star because Princess Liea NEEDED them, (in an age before Star Wars sucked and Lucas's brain hadn't yet turned to cheese-whiz), was just about the most amazing gaming experience I've ever had. And yeah, sure, I was born in the early 70's, so maybe by today's game-box standards I'm a cynical 30-something year old who's X-Gen opinion doesn't mean squat. (Which it obviously doesn't, since the game companies are reaping in gazillions from their boring-ass 3d 'games') But still. . !
Dirk the Daring will forever be a 2d animated piece of visual coolness from my childhood, where they tried it because simply because nobody had ever done so before. Daring. New. Made with a passion for the art! --But this new, factory-setting-3d-version with a half-assed 2d texture tweek is a waste of time, in my totally un-humble opinion.
Why won't somebody put their balls on the line and write something new and interesting? I've not seen any significant game inovation since the days of MOO-2 and Command & Conquer. --And Voxels, btw, are the height of graphics coolness; they STILL look a million times better than the no-substance, too easy, 3d popcorn being shoved up our sore-spots these days.
The one exception I can think of is the LucasArts release, Grim Fandango. But like Half-life, that was all about the story, and in it's case, kick-ass voice-acting and comedic timing.
Grumble, Grumble.
-Fantastic Lad
Heh, yeah. I always hate to consider it, but you'd probably be right about that. I wonder exactly how many hard-core creationists there are in the U.S. . .
Still, peer-reviewed science, while it no doubt is an attempt at the best foot forward, doesn't impress me very much these days. I have seen and read too much, -and spoken to enough members of the scientific community complaining about stupidity and corruption to be much more than highly cynical of anything supported by the party line.
The writer of your quoted materials isn't a standard flood geologist / creationist. However, the claims made are similar enough (6k or 12k years ago, giant quantities of salt water temporarily covered vast quantities of land), that evidence against a global flood also applies to his case. Evidence from the talk.origins flood faqs [talkorigins.org] that doesn't support recent floods includes ice core, tree ring, lake bed sedimentation and desert pack rat nest samples. They don't show a layer of salt water 12,000 or any recent thousands of years ago.
Well, sure. I'd buy all of that. But the writer of the article I cut & pasted didn't make a single claim about flood waters of any kind, so the point, while well taken, is moot.
But as I browse talk.origins, I see they specifically address your writer. Quoting from this article [talkorigins.org]: "...their claim that hundreds of thousands of frozen carcasses have been found is simply incorrect. At most, only a few tens of frozen carcasses have been documented in all of Siberia and Alaska. In Canada, the frozen mammal material found consists of scraps of hide and muscle found attached to bones. All of these "frozen carcasses" that have been carefully examined show evidence of decomposition, scavenging, or both prior to be buried, e.g. Gutherie (1990). Also, the sediments in which these carcasses occur are clearly of noncatastrophic origin (Gutherie 1990, Lister and Bahn 1994, Pewe 1975, Uraintseva 1993)..." [bold added] Please note that the references are all articles you can find and read. And browsing talk.origins will find more links to mammoth articles...
Ah! Now here's where it gets interesting!
I've been able to find lucid arguments on both sides of the flash-freeze fence. --There is the general theory which attempts to explain the un-gnawed upon carcases. --That the dead mammoths which were discovered had fallen into crevices where predators could not get at them, and that snow and freezing mudslide covered them up so that they were preserved. --Though the scientists who promote this argument also describe how much of the tissues were in fact extremely rotted upon inspection 12,000 years (or so), later. They use this to discredit the idea of any flash-freezing taking place.
This makes me wonder, because the problem with that idea would seem to be two-fold:
For one, it would suggest that the method they indicate for the preservation of the carcas didn't work. (You can't freeze a subject for 12,000 years and still have have extensive rotting. At least not the way my freezer works.) --Indeed, when I did some further looking, it appears that a regular guy found one of the now famous mammoth carcases extruding from a melting ice flow on a melt river. He didn't report it for a whole year, (because he wasn't sure what it was at first; it took time for the ice to melt back enough to reveal the beast). When he finally did report it, the mammoth had been exposed to the elements and bacteria of the 1800's, which, I would think, should have offered enough time for the pre-historic meat to get a head start on rotting.
My point here is that the scientists who oppose a catastrophic world view jumped quickly and somewhat recklessly upon the whole rotting idea in order to discredit ideas which didn't fit with theirs, despite the fact that it didn't actually help their theories. This is exactly the kind of behavior which makes me hesitate before embracing main-stream science.
Anyway, I am now thoroughly intrigued. I'm going to be hunting down one of the quoted books, (by Frank C. Hibben, who by all accounts, appears to be a very reputable and respected scientist), in order to get from the horse's mouth exactly what he saw and did when visiting Alaska. Every other endeavor he was involved with during his long life, (which ended just earlier this year), leads me to think that he was a card-carrying member of the main stream scientific community. So if he really does write that he saw what he is quoted as having seen in the frozen north, then I will be willing to keep the book open on this and do some further research.
The main problem with catastrophism is that it's too much fun; far too many of the people who write about it seem to be inclined to exaggeration and hearsay, which does nothing but erode any credibility they might have.
And hopefully I'll also be able to validate another intriguing claim I ran across; supposedly among certain areas of the bone and tusk fields, were significant quantities of volcanic ash.
Okay. Enough for now. --Thanks for engaging me in this cool conversation! I don't often find such willing people on Slashdot!
-Fantastic Lad
You just did.
But the world's most popular response to dealing with the end/beginning of time, (comfy, "What's on TV?" denial), won't work for much longer. When the music plays, everybody dances.
But don't sweat it. You've got another six years or so before things start to get really ugly.
-Fantastic Lad
As far as you know, hm? Now think: The same people who determined the public school curriculum and who paid for all of the text books we all read, have also most recently dismantled the American democratic system, (if there ever was one), and are sending the U.S. people into an illegal and greed motivated war. But sure. Let those guys determine what you think you know.
By the way, why did humans survive according to your hypothesis?
I'm just the messenger on this one. It's hard to cover up hundreds of miles of dead mammoths. Look it up, for goodness sake. It's easy.
Just because it causes uncomfortable, "doesn't fit in with what the Learning Channel told me to believe," feelings, doesn't mean that it should be pushed away. Perhaps one ought to question the party line. I would think, anyway.
-Fantastic Lad
So does this invalidate the three laws, or are people still allowed to fly to the moon?
-Fantastic Lad
The world leaders, diplomats and power brokers, (many of whom are really, really smart; Rhodes Scholars and crazy high IQ's, as many of them are, believe it or not. I know a few, and I tell you, they breed that way. You don't get to be fucking powerful by being a dolt. Unless you happen to be a Bush on a String, but that's a whole different ball of wax), anyway. . , what if they actually listened to their scientific advisors? 'Cuz they're certainly not eating from the same trough or reading from the same books that the rest of us schmucks are. What if they knew, for real, in advance that a big pile of shit was going to hit the fan? --And by 'shit' I mean ecological collapse, country-killer comets, ice age returns, possible magnetic pole-flipping, and a train load of other dark and nasty things I won't even touch on. What if. . ?
See, there's been this mega-cheesey, bad sci-fi idea floating around for the last fifty years or so called, "Alternative 3". --The idea being that all the rich and wealthy build a big pretty space ship and leave the planet while the rest of us die in filth and misery. Pulp fiction fairy tale nonsense, of course. But fairy tales have their roots you see. .
I've gotta ask. . . "Why are there so many damned tunnels dug under the U.S.?" Underground military bases which go deep, deep, interconnecting throughout much of the continent. --I'm serious. Look this stuff up if you don't think it's true. If you have a friend or two in the military who work on one of the big bases, well they might just be able to nod at you and say, "Yeah, half the damned military is underground, forcryingoutloud!" --The Denver Airport, like a big pimple, for some reason is one of the places where it hits the surface. Big scandal. Tunnels galore. Look this shit up. LOTS of digging. What's up with all of that? Why? Fear of nuclear strikes? Nuh-uh. They've been digging this shit since the the 30's. There's a damned base 3 hours north of where I live, and everybody in the whole town knows the army is lying when they tell us the base closed down in the nineties. Not with that many soldiers around, it didn't! --Not with the transport trailers vanishing into hillside tunnel mouths where there ain't no other side to come out of!
Shadow governments? Everybody knows about this. Some people even know about Fema; (Which they even tried to make sound pretty on 'The West Wing', (more sleepy-time propaganda about how nice things aren't. All is fine here in the fairy tale. Go back to sleep while we bleed and ass-rape you.), --Oh, everybody knows, and it scares the shit out of them; it touches a nerve. When Jay Leno cracked his Shadow Government joke one evening back when the facts were surfacing into indisputable pop culture last year, the audience sure didn't laugh. No way. --They made an awkward, unhappy and nervous sound. None of them saying it aloud, but all thinking in that flash moment, "Oh, Yuck! I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it! Jay! You're supposed to calm us and lie to us! Let us sleep in the belief that everything is fine. Please stop it with the Shadow Government! How it bothers me!"
Not that those who know a few things are any less confused. There's a mind game a-raging; a massive misdirection game. "Can you find the Boeing?" "Who REALLY bombed the WTC?" "WHY is the economy going to tank right when it would really help plunge us into war?" And "Why, oh why are there so many storms and earthquakes and volcanos?"
Douglas Adams called it the "Interconnectedness of All Things", (and if he didn't, then it's only because he used better wording than I can summon or recall at the moment.)
And what's with this made up war? It came out of nowhere! Could it be any more contrived? I've never seen any global event which has been more desperately engineered than this one! There's a rush-darn schedule to keep, by gosh! (Of COURSE the Kyoto agreement got ditched and all those coal reacters got fired up back in 2000. What does it matter when the signs are screaming. Just a quick cash grab before the curtains.)
It doesn't matter how far up one's head is stuffed, or how much Leno minces out his trademarked litte high-pitch voice. Even the real dopes are beginning to get a clue. The freekin' clocks make you hold your breath these days! The days aren't just a little shorter. . . Fact is, for the last few years time has been more and more quickly scurrying willie-nillie that even the damned muggles are beginning to get wise. "I say, Honey, doesn't it seem like we just got out of bed a very short time ago?" "Why, yes, dearie! But let's discuss such things. It flusters by blusters!" "Oh, terribly sorry, Honey!" "Quite okay; just don't do it again!"
--We've got Christians who don't want to get, "Left Behind", we've got Alien huggers who dearly want to believe that they're going to get lifted by their UFO friends when the time is right, (nevermind the fact that those alien buggers sure seem to like their bovine lips and cow plasma; hey, everybody's got a fetish or two, right? Me, I waste my time spouting off on Slashdot, so I'd be a right hypocrite to blame somebody for a cow-lip and blood fetish.). And shit! We've got freekin' Cruise and Travolta smug in whatever bullshit their twisted little cult is pumping them full of. (Travolta was in their damned movie!, for crying out loud!) No matter how far under your rock you happen to be jammed, it's getting harder to shut out the fact that some weird shit is up! And those who are well tuned in are making travel plans and enjoying their last few milk-shakes but good!
So waddaysupposedtado? Huh?
Well, I tell people to keep their heads together and try not spill their coffee when the shit begins to fly. That and sell your damned stocks while the selling is good! The PPT (Plung Protection Team) is going to let the cash run dry and the gold stocks soar when the time is exactly right. . !
The U.S. was born under the sign of Cancer, and in about seven months time, Saturn returns with a vengeance for two and a half years. Whoopie. Hard times ahead, by gum! --Course, that's just some sort of astrology shit, and so long as one is safe under a cool and cozy rock, one can rationalize all day long, watch 'Friends' and eat their Taco Bell Smurf Food while sucking down some Sodium Benzoate enriched beverage like a good little consumer.
-Fantastic Lad
Anyway, kudos for the recommend on Spirited! See it now while it's still on the big screen!
-Fantastic Lad
"Back in the 1940s Dr. Frank C. Hibben, Prof. of Archeology at the University of New Mexico led an expedition to Alaska to look for human remains. He didn't find human remains; he found miles and miles of icy muck just packed with mammoths, mastodons, several kinds of bison, horses, wolves, bears and lions. Just north of Fairbanks, Alaska, the members of the expedition watched in horror as bulldozers pushed the half-melted muck into sluice boxes for the extraction of gold. Animal tusks and bones rolled up in front of the blades "like shavings before a giant plane". The carcasses were found in all attitudes of death, most of them "pulled apart by some unexplainable prehistoric catastrophic disturbance"
The evident violence of the deaths of these masses of animals, combined with the stench of rotting flesh was almost unendurable both in seeing it, and in considering what might have caused it. The killing fields stretched for literally hundreds of miles in every direction. There were trees and animals, layers of peat and moss, twisted and tangled and mangled together as though some Cosmic mixmaster sucked them all in 12000 years ago, and then froze them instantly into a solid mass.
Just north of Siberia entire islands are formed of the bones of Pleistocene animals swept northward from the continent into the freezing Arctic Ocean. One estimate suggests that some ten million animals may be buried along the rivers of northern Siberia. Thousands upon thousands of tusks created a massive ivory trade for the master carvers of China; all from the frozen mammoths and mastodons of Siberia. The famous Beresovka mammoth first drew attention to the preserving properties of being quick-frozen when buttercups were found in its mouth.
What kind of terrible event overtook these millions of creatures in a single day?
Well, the evidence suggests an enormous tsunami raging across the land, tumbling animals and vegetation together, to be finally quick-frozen for the next 12000 years. But the extinction was not limited to the Arctic, even if the freezing preserved the evidence of Nature's rage. Paleontologist George G. Simpson considers the extinction of the Pleistocene horse in north America to be one of the most mysterious episodes in zoological history, confessing that "no one knows the answer." He is also honest enough to admit that there is the larger problem of the extinction of many other species in America at the same time: The horse, giant tortoises living in the Caribbean, the giant sloth, the sabre-toothed tiger, the glyptodont and toxodon. These were all tropical animals. These creatures didn't die because of the "gradual onset" of an ice age, "unless one is willing to postulate freezing temperatures across the equator, such an explanation clearly begs the question."
Massive piles of mastodon and sabre-toothed tiger bones were discovered in Florida. Mastodons, toxodons, giant sloths and other animals were found in Venezuela quick-frozen in mountain glaciers. Woolly rhinoceros, giant armadillos, giant beavers, giant jaguars, ground sloths, antelopes and scores of other entire species were all totally wiped out at the same time, at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12000 years ago.
This event was global.
The mammoths of Siberia became extinct at the same time as the giant rhinoceros of Europe; the mastodons of Alaska, the bison of Siberia, the Asian elephants and the American camels. It is obvious that the cause of these extinctions must be common to both hemispheres, and that it was not gradual. A "uniformitarian glaciation" would not have cause extinctions, because the various animals would have simply migrated to better pasture. What is seen is a surprising event of uncontrolled violence. In other words, 12000 years ago, a time we have stumbled across again and again, something terrible happened - so terrible that life on earth was nearly wiped out in a single day.
Harold P. Lippman admits that the magnitude of fossils and tusks encased in the Siberian permafrost present an "insuperable difficulty" to the theory of uniformitarianism, since no gradual process can result in the preservation of tens of thousands of tusks and whole individuals, "even if they died in winter." Especially when many of these individuals have undigested grasses and leaves in their belly. Pleistocene geologist William R. Farrand of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, who is opposed to catastrophism in any form, states: "Sudden death is indicated by the robust condition of the animals and their full stomachs
The conclusion is, again, that the end of the Ice Age, the Pleistocene extinction, the end of the Upper Paleolithic, Magdalenian, Perigordian, and so on, and the end of the "reign of the gods," all came to a global, catastrophic conclusion about 12000 years ago. And, as it happens, even before this evidence was brought to light, this is the same approximate date that Plato gave for the sinking of Atlantis."
--This is pretty intense stuff, (which, naturally, nobody likes to look at), so I went to check out the sources. Both Dr. Frank C. Hibben and William R. Farrand are real guys, and their observations were are indeed accurately presented here. Go check for yourself.
-Fantastic Lad
Seriously. . . I've read today more childish arguments from people who are basically saying, "Well, if I have to pay tax, then so should everybody!" --Which stems in part from the barely legitimate fear of losing the precarious toe-hold on their own income through a Bricks & Mortar business, which won't happen unless they are nincompoops who don't know how to run a business in the first place, (Why not set up your own internet order department and get one of your clerks to manage it? DUH!), and from a rabid sense of unfairness which has precisely nothing to do with what is good for the nation and everything about, "MOMMM! BILLY GOT MORE ICE CREAM THAN ME!!!"
As for more new & wonderful taxes. .
Bullshit. Greed and nothing else. For one thing, the economy is mostly a make-believe game anyway, and for another, if you want to live in the 'good little consumer' head-space and play the make-believe 3rd edition rules to the letter, well then if the government would just, say, tax Microsoft properly, punish corporate criminals, (like Bush), and stop plans to drop a billion dollars worth of bombs on Iraq every week, then MAYBE we could dispense with all this other nonsense.
Internet Tax? Fuck off. When the net is taxed, it'll also be so tightly controled that a pipsqueek like me won't be able to speak his mind. And wouldn't that just make for a bad day?
-Fantastic Lad
P.S. Is it just me, or has Slashdot been particularly 'careful' these days to steer clear of political and social topics which actually 'matter'? I've asked it before and been modded to shit for it, but I'll keep on asking until my Karma is dead and gone. . . "Who is whispering into the ears of the Slashdot Editorial staff these days?" I notice the story about the story about implantable microchips broke several days ago and hasn't shown up here. . . Hmm.
The reason LCD technology has been allowed to proliferate is that everybody now has a cell phone. Cell phones are far more effective vectors of brain-dulling than the humble CRT.
Spooky and evil, sure, but the nice thing is, if you ditch your cell phone for a land-line, replace your aging CRT for a nice LCD screen, then you can actually recover some of your edge without paying a compromise to your life style, (unless, of course, you can no longer live without your portable communicator. Oh, how DID you manage before?)
Of course, you still have to deal with the ever-increasing blanket of EM fuzz covering most metropolitan centers, but these days it is getting to be more about comparative power than having a completely clear head. Essentially, anybody who doesn't use a cell phone or a CRT, (or anti-depressants, chemical food preservatives, TV, etc.), is going to have a noticeably significant mental edge over the vast percentage of those who do. (Who, by and large, generally feel somewhat stoned, hung-over, tired, sort of depressed and fairly suggestible most of the time. New Millennium Malaise. .
When was the last time you had a real, honest to god, dream. . ?
Really. . ? Well, isn't that interesting. You should be able to remember your dreams every night. If you can't or if you simply don't dream then something is wrong. Anybody who tells you different is either mis-informed or lying outright. You might start by moving your head away from the clock radio and power mains, then by adjusting your diet so that you stop eating chemical garbage. Yes, really.
Oh, and do get a flat screen, and do so while they still have signal wires coming out the back instead of antennas.
-Fantastic Lad
My guess is that as Global Warming continues to affect the levels of evaporation and precipitation, the ice packs will rebound with unexpected voracity.
Last time this happened was likely the result of volcanic activity or comet strikes. . . We seem to pass through a cloud of space rocks every 3600 years or so. Such events can easily increase the level of greenhouse gasses, causing the global warming required to create glaciers and increased ice packs. This ain't voodoo. It's pretty simple. You may even recall the pencil crayon diagram you drew about it in grade 4.
In any case, such a status change which comes suddenly now after having stagnated for 11,000 years is certainly going to make my eyebrows go up, thank you very much. So I'll take notice despite the fact all these garden variety head-in-the-sanders tend to reflexively ridicule anything which might disturb their asenine peace of mind. (In the belief that enough ridicule can make the problem go away. Yeah. That always works, so long as you can afford to stay drunk.)
But thanks for your input.
-Fantastic Lad
I'm not certain that this guy is entirely stupid. I think it might simply be a case of his mistaking discussion about the mountain's ice pack with the ice packs on the planet's poles, which I don't believe have shrunk 80% in the last century, hence his skepticism.
Otherwise, your post was quite informative. I just don't have any mod-points today to say so. (Hence this post).
Thanks.
-Fantastic Lad
Since the last ridicule post you threw at me 40 lines down in this story. Did I hit a sore spot, hmmm? (Unless you're a brand new AC. -I swear, you kids are like fruit flies!)
-Fantastic Lad
Hm. An 'AC'? What a surprise.
Get a name, get informed, or go buzz around somebody else's ears, you silly gnat.
-Fantastic Lad
here's a story from last year about the ark twin star, (a big ball of hydrogen which never got quite big enough to ignite, but which is more than large enough to send some planet killing debris from the Kuiper belt, thank you very much!)
So there ain't no aliens living in Planet X coming to resuce everybody who's been good and loving. That and all the other CIA induced New-Age crapola regarding "Nibiru" is, IMHO, pure & stinking bunk.
However, I tend to be of the thinking that the dark-star came and went about a year and a half ago; there were several half-assed "Do Not Panic, Citizen", plant stories circulating regarding this phenomenon around that time, (put there in the event that anybody on this globe might wake up and realized what was happening. That obviously didn't happen. --Or at least not with anybody who had access to a decent telescope at the time. .
In any case, the Dark Star has most likely done its work. There have been 5 other big-assed meteor strikes over the last month and a half alone. .
Check my post on this story for links to stories of those events.
-Fantastic Lad
Problem is, this is probably going to wipe out most of the Earth's population before the end of the decade. We're supposed to see a small surge of debris hitting the planet, (this current one), a subsiding, and then the sky will literally fall, (and THAT is what will finally break the U.S.'s back.) I'm afraid I don't actually know how long we have, but it's probable that Bush will have enough time to kill all the Jews and kill all the Arabs. (Both parties making up the Semites.)
See my comment on this story for links to the last 5 big meteor events since October. If you're interested, that is.
-Fantastic Lad
I commented on this a few posts down. Here's the link if you're interested. .
-Fantastic Lad
oct 6-02
sep13-02
Sep12-02
sep10-02
aug26-02 aprox
But don't let this affect your consumerist activities, citizen. The government is already throwing up some "don't panic" propaganda.
Oh really? 30 times a year? This is the first I've ever heard about it.
Meanwhile, the powerbrokers in the know are quietly preparing to withdraw, (after killing all the jews and arabs), into their Shadow Government strongholds beneath whatever mountain range they think will save their asses from the end of the world. Silly rabbits!
Okay, that's my two cents. You may now return to Quake or whatever. Cheers!
-Fantastic Lad
Hats off to you, sir. You have a good mind.
BTW, people who are actively reaching for their higher selves do tend to be more aware of the fucked up stuff going on in the skies these days. Most of the brain damaged posters who responded to your story would most likely not even be able to recall witnessing such an event at all.
--And not just because the bulk of zombie nation are ill-inclined to do any sort of hiking in the wilderness, (hiking and star gazing on top of old caves is a true sign of coolness!), but because they have that amazing ability to re-boot their brains at the first sign of trouble. Perhaps you know what I'm talking about. --I've witnessed numerous times where people have been shown 'impossible' things point-blank, which they actually cannot remember as little as half a day later, or which they radically warp and re-write in their own memories so that it may be quickly dismissed.
Both small and great minds think alike, but the small ones only do so because they all watched the last episode of 'Friends'.
BTW, have you been watching? Didja catch the last 5 big-assed meteors over the last month and half? I tend to think it's just the beginning. Should be interesting, regardless!
Take care!
-Fantastic Lad
A powerful on-line economy! (Oh, and you can bet your buns it'll happen!) What wonders! We can all do business easily, quickly, without hassles! Who needs cash? Ah, the FUTURE! Bring it ON!
Sigh.
The only problem I see with this, (well, one of the biggest problems, at any rate), is that unless something has changed in the last year, then the CIA has its hand on the switch of virtually the whole stinking internet. They can single you out, and make your website gone if they don't like what you're doing.
Remy C's End Secrecy List recently ran a look back at SAIC read this item if you're interested in the details.
(It's a bit of a longish read, and the first article is, of course, SAIC P.R. It gets interesting further down.)
In any case, unless anything has changed recently, then, well, I must say that I feel just peachy about the new economy being at the total & complete mercy of a bunch of Bushian ex-spooks.
Come to think of it. .
I must wonder ALOUD why there are so few outward looking stories on Slashdot these days that a conspiracy nut like me can leave his spray on. Especially when there is so much fascinating stuff going on in the big blue world. If nerds would really rather keep their noses stuck into the latest unix front-end distraction, then you ain't like the nerds I grew up with.
Wonder who whispers into Taco's ear these days. .
-Fantastic Lad
Ahh yesss. One of the more brilliant and annoying problems in the history of IF games. Every geek I know who remembers that game groans when reminded of the evil screening door problem!
Solution: Give the, 'No Tea' to the robot. It'll convulse in such a spasm of metaphysical wonder that it'll open the screening door wide.
Frustration taught me that one. "Well, fer crying out loud! Just try giving the damned robot every item in the inventory starting at the top. .
Question is, do you still have a 5.25" disk drive available to load Hitchhiker's back into your system so you can pick up where you left off?
-Fantastic Lad
1. Self correction mechanisms, (and I'm not going to argue about whether or not they really exist), can very easily kill off 99% of human life. There were periods of Earth's history where there was virtually no oxygen in the atmosphere, and different kinds of living things thrived. --Keep in mind as well that there have been something like 35 planet-wide die-outs of pretty much every complex organism over the last few million years. Simply moving to another part of the planet is an unrealistic option for about 5.9 billion people. Mass death is a good possibility, I think.
2. 150 years ago, this nation was so smoggy the buildings had to be scrubbed. Sure. But 150 years ago, the planet population was a great deal less than it is today, and heavy industry was also in its infancy. --Sure, things are going to get dirty in places where dirty fuels are burned, (coal), but back then, those zones were very small as compared to the pollution centers today. Also, keep in mind, that India and much of China is going whole-hog with starting up heavy industry in the dirtiest of ways. These are BIG population centers producing BIG pollution which make St. Louis from 150 years ago look like a bug fart.
Essentially, I think you're more or less on the right track with some of your ideas, but I would caution you about leaning towards wishful thinking in other areas. There are better, more respectable ways to come to terms with the world condition today. Why frightened? Why indeed? If the human race dies out, it won't be too soon! Talk about self-correction!
-Fantastic Lad
Best solution:
Go talk to the fellow and clear up the misunderstanding. It'll save time, money and heartache. If your CEO is human, then I'm sure you can work it out without unpleasantness.
However, if the fellow happens to be one of those psychopathic CEOs which seem to be popping up everywhere these days, and whom through some sort of mental disorder and total lack of compassion decides he just wants to make you miserable, then it's okay to use a crow bar on his skull. (I certainly wouldn't tell).
If the crowbar solution is too un-nerving for you, (which I can understand), then it's best to get tactical; Let buddy know up front that he's made an error, show him the stats on how the virus works and that anybody with a software degree could prove it to a court. He'll understand. Subtly raise fears that when he is proven to be mistaken he'll look like a moron in front of everybody, the company will lose stock value, and he will probably lose his position due to a failure in confidence from shareholders and board members.
Psychopaths can be manipulated just like anybody else, it's just that their buttons are hidden in weird positions. Psychos can lie better than anybody, and they have no sense of shame, so if they are proven wrong, they don't feel stupid. This means that they can tell huge lies without sweating a bit because they fear nothing if it goes wrong. However, psychopaths DO have massive concerns about being walked away from. They are very, very posessive; to reject them when they have decided to control you is the worst torture you can inflict on a psycho. This is often the point where they will start using crowbars. And they don't get squeamish!
So then buddy, (if he really is a loonytoon), will smell the prospect of his company ditching him and he'll get very worried. Then all you do is offer him an out; tell him that it's very easy to be fooled by such a virus, that 'hackers' specifically design their viruses to get past the very greatest of minds, (who don't have time for all that nerdy software niggling which great minds like Buddy's don't have time to bother with), and that it is in fact, you who has been made a victim. He won't care about your welfare, of course, but if you can suggest ever so subtly that he can win points with you and everybody by hurling his anger at the real criminal, then you're in the clear.
That might be how I'd handle it, depending on the details, anyway.
-Fantastic Lad
The film showed at the Uptown Cinema, one of the few remaining cool theaters in this berg. AND he did a Q&A!
Not that I had tickets, mind you. --And I've been a fan of Miyazaki since before people even knew that Japan had an animation culture to export.
Whatever. It'll be cool to see the work of such a master on big screens. I've looked over the production sketches and paintings for the film, and it's very nice; some really clever techniques were used. From what I could see, the transition the characters made from the real world to the magical world is clever in similar ways as that done in "Being John Malcovitch".
Looking forward to this one. There are so few good film makers still allowed to share their works on the screens of the masses. Miyazaki is a wise man with his head screwed on right, has things to say worth hearing and knows how to speak them without offending or condescending. There are not a lot of great teachers left out there. --What with Lucas having been brain-sucked and all!
-Fantastic Lad