News Briefs 09-04-2008
Posted by Rick MG at 11:16, 09 Apr 2008I have a plethora of book reviews and interviews lined up, so if you'd like to see me post these instead of news briefs for a while let us know. Otherwise, business as usual:
- Research says finding an explanation is like having an orgasm. It's why a certain skeptic is amazingly Randi.
- 6000 degrees Kelvin is the surface temperature of the Sun, and what's inside a new hyper efficient plasma lightbulb. I write my news by candlelight.
- Doctor reveals the dirty secrets of multinational pharmaceuticals.
- The US establishment media in a nutshell. Feed people peanuts...
- A homeless man who built an elaborate treehouse is being evicted. More photos of David Csaky inside his brilliant home.
- When a house is repossessed, many people also lose their traumatised pets.
- There's a bread shortage crisis in Egypt and President Mubarak has ordered the army to bake more.
- Sudan's pyramids vastly outnumber those of Egypt.
- Archaeologists will search a bay in the far north of Scotland for Viking artefacts.
- Did explorer G.E. Kincaid stumble upon a cave full of ancient Egyptian treasure in the Grand Canyon?
- A possible explanation why the ancient Puebloans of Arizona and New Mexico, better known as Anasazi, packed up and mysteriously left?
- Gary A. David writes about the mysteries of America's Southwest in Eye of the Phoenix (Amazon US or UK). I highly recommend his first book, The Orion Zone (Amazon US or UK)
- Spielberg and Ford initially resisted Lucas's crystal skull story. 42 days, 3 hours and 44 minutes to go!
- Frank Warren has posted a terrific interview with one of the founders of UFO researcher Major Donald Keyhoe. By the way, Keyhoe's groundbreaking book The Flying Saucers Are Real is available to download for free.
- Strange entities in human shape are visiting Argentinian communities.
- Mac Tonnies wonders whether SETI would tell us if ET called? Not if SETI has voice-activition menus and daggy on-hold music.
- Mars is preparing for an invasion of robotic explorers from Earth. Martians are already selling their homes and packing.
- We won't have far to move because scientists have found another, more reasonable Universe.
- Like a scifi Howl's Moving Castle (Amazon US or UK), giant robots could carry lunar bases on their backs.
- A Bosnian man whose home has been hit by meteorites five times believes he is being targeted by aliens.
- He's lucky they're not throwing peanut-shaped star systems.
- Male juvenile rhesus monkeys show a preference for playing with "masculine" toys like trucks over "feminine" toys. RPJ makes a Pew! Pew! Pew! noise when playing with his X-Wing fighter.
Thanks Greg and Kat.
Quote of the Day:
My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
J.B.S. Haldane
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Comments
10 August 2004
5 hours 39 min
But maybe ... if it's not being greedy, you could post some book reviews as well.
Many thanks for all your efforts.
Regards, Kathrinn.
2 May 2004
5 days 9 hours
Alrighty, I'll do both. ;-)
"Read like a butterfly, write like a bee." - Philip Pullman
30 April 2004
5 hours 43 min
The US establishment media in a nutshell. Feed people peanuts...
The media serves what sells. It is merely a reflection of our own fetishes and addictions.
And I wouldn't confine it to the U.S. Have you watched Australian news lately? Ugh....
;)
Kind regards,
Greg
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You monkeys only think you're running things
22 November 2004
25 min 35 sec
sure, mostly the media in the west servevs what people want to see, and what they want to be told. The same stuff they already like and believe.
What we already like is nice and pretty. What we agree with already is correct.
Spicy food that hurts our taste buds and our stomachs are pleasant.
Why ? Because we are told often enough that these things are pleasant. It is a simple thing - a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. A very old concept.
Of course a problem is that the liars end up believing it, and that is why it becomes a positive feedback loop.
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if everything is under control, you are not going fast enough (Mario Andretti)
12 April 2007
2 min 30 sec
Of course a problem is that the liars end up believing it, and that is why it becomes a positive feedback loop.
What Orwell coined as double-thinking.
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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
22 November 2004
25 min 35 sec
And then there is Goebbels, and the people that he learned it from.
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if everything is under control, you are not going fast enough (Mario Andretti)
2 May 2004
5 days 9 hours
What isn't owned by Rupert Murdoch is owned by equally biased and conservative squillionaires. Traditionally a balanced and objective newspaper, Melbourne's The Age has degenerated into a conservative mouth-piece the last couple of years, with mind-blowingly biased pieces attacking everyone from Amnesty International ("professional troublemakers" -- yep, in a serious news article meant to be reporting facts, the churnalist spews biased bile) to PM Kevin Rudd (which is even more surprising considering The Age has always been left of Right but right of Left).
Instead of objective impartial news reporting we get incredibly biased, and conservative-leaning, opinion pieces. The Age website now has major headlines on Lindsay Lohan, half-naked models, celebrity news, etc., and is really aiming for the reality tv generation. I'm hearing more than a few people, of all ages, voicing their annoyance. Thank the gods for the internet, because Melbourne's other newspaper, the Herald-Sun, is a conservative tabloid. And most independent Leftist media is just as biased and full of crap.
And spare a thought for the mushrooms in China, kept in the dark and fed sh*t.
And don't get me started on television... ;-)
26 January 2005
2 weeks 4 days
yes, please publish them
22 November 2004
25 min 35 sec
I like book reviews. Please do publish them.
It helps the author/publisher, and the reader.
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if everything is under control, you are not going fast enough (Mario Andretti)
12 April 2007
2 min 30 sec
RPJ makes a Pew! Pew! Pew! noise when playing with his X-Wing fighter.
Oh, dear! please tell me you haven't seen those Youtube videos!! 8-(
PS: Never had an X-Wing fighter, but I sure had Darth's TIE fighter. Oh, memories....
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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
13 April 2007
1 year 33 weeks
Hi Rick,
'Pew! Pew! Pew!'?
What do fighters run on in Australia? Elastic bands? :-)
...
The balanced adult retains an inner child
Anthony North
12 April 2007
2 min 30 sec
Methinks our dear Rick is too fond of LOLcats... ;-)
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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
13 April 2007
1 year 33 weeks
Good morning Red,
I know this is off topic, but linking to Lolcats reminds me of something you and others may be interested in - the reality that many blogs are now turning into books.
The site you link to is one of two Wordpress blogs that have just signed book contracts, having been spotted by publishers.
Just a shame it's such a mind-bogglingly intellectual blog ;-)
...
I'm fanatical about moderation
Anthony North
12 April 2007
2 min 30 sec
I understand your point, but I for one appreciate the soothing effect a good LOLcat can have in the morning. It things like that the ones preserving your sanity sometimes :-)
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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
1 May 2004
1 hour 8 min
The photo's of the fellow who lives in a tree house, explains that his neighbour's bought him a RV! That's so cool!
1 May 2004
9 hours 47 min
Guess we should explain that we're talking about the caption for the last photo in the gallery...
I agree that it was magnificent of that couple, who'd listed their RV for sale on Craigslist, to sell it for 1 cent to the man who was evicted from his treehouse.
Also nice to see photos of all the neighbors who've befriended him over the two years he's been living in his treehouse, and who went to bat for him with the city.
Although it still worries me a bit, I suppose those neighbors who called about the ad for the RV wouldn't have done so if they hadn't already come up with a place for him park it, etc.
And btw, if you happen to know someone in Denver who'd be willing to sell their RV for a penny to someone in need, please have them give me a call.
I'm in the book.
Kat
3 August 2005
11 weeks 4 days
"Research says finding an explanation is like having an orgasm."
A more pronounced effect is seen when one finally gets some programming code to work properly. I call the result a "prograsm".
No, I am not the brain specialist.....
YES. Yes I AM the brain specialist.
22 November 2004
25 min 35 sec
The opposite of finally getting some programming code working is not that you can't get it to work.
The opposite happens when it works at the first attempt. It does happen, you know.
Now that is scary, you can't sleep right for weeks.
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if everything is under control, you are not going fast enough (Mario Andretti)
13 April 2007
1 year 33 weeks
I feel like that if I manage to get my video to work :-)
...
The balanced adult retains an inner child
Anthony North
2 May 2004
5 days 9 hours
So did anyone groan at my "amazingly Randi" joke?
13 April 2007
1 year 33 weeks
It was very good, Rick. But I can imagine Randi going ape :-)
...
The balanced adult retains an inner child
Anthony North
2 May 2004
5 days 9 hours
It was a very grubby joke.
22 November 2004
25 min 35 sec
I am not sure that I saw a Randi joke, but i was laughing so hard about Clinton/Obama that my stomach muscles hurt. Does that count?
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if everything is under control, you are not going fast enough (Mario Andretti)
30 April 2004
5 hours 43 min
You should know by now Rick, that the best jokes disappear into obscurity, while some inane political aside nets you 100 comments...
;)
Kind regards,
Greg
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You monkeys only think you're running things