Happy 101st birthday to Dr Albert Hoffman (I don’t blame him for anything). Why not celebrate with a signed portrait poster by the incomparable Alex Grey (click on ‘Posters’ in in the shop)…
- Russian archaeologists discover body of 2000-year-old warrior preserved intact in permafrost.
- “Orcs in loincloths” is how this Mayanist describes Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.
- Peru pushes to make Machu Picchu a wonder of the world.
- Aboriginal anger as Wandjina graffiti spreads to the city.
- The Priory of Sion resorts to recruitment by spam. Things must be tough in the secret society business.
- Ball lightning created in the lab (with link to video).
- The subversive skeptical strategy: we all know UFO really means aliens from outer space…right?
- Unless they are of course owls. Greg Bishop riffs on ‘skeptic’ Joe Nickell’s owl fixation, in a post on the ‘Kelly Green Men’.
- Research continues into deep space travel propulsion.
- Europe targets its own Moon and Mars missions. It’s gonna get pretty crowded up there I think.
- Dogs are as good at sniffing out cancer as an state of the art technology. Coincidentally, Astraea radio recently interviewed Nicholas Broffman on this very topic.
- Several thousand birds mysteriously drop dead in Australia.
- Pessimists are likely to die early. Guess they’ll be self-righteous now too.
- And in more self-confirming news, a research thesis into procrastination is finally finished…after ten years.
- Hitachi develops system that reads people’s minds via their blood flow.
- Desktop fabricator may kick-start a home revolution.
- Relax if you’re in London. You’re secure beneath watchful eyes.
- 2006 was the warmest year on record for the U.S. Conversely, it’s half way through summer here and we’ve barely had a hot day.
- Scientists make molecular rings in shape of King Solomon’s Knot.
- Here’s a map of world happiness. One day I’m going to set up a lobby group for colour blindness…do people realise how hard it is to make sense of diagrams using such close colours?
- Next James Cameron movie (Avatar) will take ‘digital actors‘ to a new level.
- Tourists ponder Loch Ness Monster’s feeding times. I hope some quick local said something like “when the plumpest tourist gets close to the water”.
- A short message from Robert Anton Wilson about his impending death.
Quote of the Day:
In America attendance at church is much higher, and it convulses the body politic because, unable to fulfill it’s sacral function, the church has become simply a lobbying force for fundamentalist social policy…I think we should level [churches] to the ground and start over.
Terence McKenna