Clipmarks | SurfingTheTao's clips

Euros, not Dollars

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:39:18 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao
clipper's remarks: likely more of this to come, until the Amero at least...

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates.

Tenori-On

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:55:25 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao
clipper's remarks: Interesting new musical technology

Clip Source: www.global.yamaha.com

Tags: music, technology, musical instrument

Science: Explain it in 60 seconds

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:16:25 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.symmetrymagazine.org

String Theory
May 2007
String theory proposes that the fundamental constituents of the universe are one-dimensional "strings" rather than point-like particles.

Dark Matter
Mar 2007
Dark matter is, mildly speaking, a very strange form of matter. Although it has mass, it does not interact with everyday objects and it passes straight through our bodies.

Elementary Particle Physics
Jun/Jul 2006
What rules govern energy, matter, space, and time at the most elementary levels?

Tags: science

Is dark energy lurking in hidden spatial dimensions?

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:14:56 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao
clipper's remarks: Ok, so much of this is beyond me, but I am still intrigued.

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

The mysterious cosmic presence called dark energy, which is accelerating the expansion of the universe, might be lurking in hidden dimensions of space. The idea would explain how these dimensions remain stable – a big problem for the unified scheme of physics called string theory.

Ever since astronomers discovered in the mid-1990s that other galaxies are accelerating away from us, physicists have struggled to explain why.

Even though the vibration is imprisoned in these other dimensions, it can extend its gravitational influence into our space. Its gravity is also repulsive in our space, just like the "ordinary" cosmological constant, so it would cause cosmic acceleration.

If Adelberger's pendulum does start to see gravity grow below 0.01 millimetre, it could be a sign that Greene and Levin are right, and the force that's tearing our universe apart really is an invader from another dimension.

Tags: physics, science

The Other MEDUSA: A Microwave Sound Weapon

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:11:51 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

MEDUSA appears to be a popular name for directed energy weapons. There's the MEDUSA I wrote about yesterday, a high-energy beam weapon one company hopes could destroy tanks and planes. And then there's another MEDUSA, a nonlethal microwave weapon that was briefly funded by the Navy that uses "silent audio" (the auditory effect from microwaves). In other words, it makes you hear things in your head:

The idea of the "Voice of God" weapon (a weapon that makes you hear voices in your head) has been around for a while, and this small business contract was but one one modest, and likely unrelated, offshoot of other microwave-auditory effect research. The company stated at the end of "phase one" of this research: "An operating frequency was chosen - Hardware requirements were established (commercial magnetron, high-voltage pulse former) - Hardware was designed and built - Power measurements were taken and the required pulse parameters confirmed - Experimental evidence of MAE was observed."

Tags: military, weapons, acoustic

DOD Stops Plan to send Christian Video Game to Troops

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:04:51 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao
clipper's remarks: Not sure what's worse; that they would send such games to the troops, or that they restrict things like video games. The whole thing is strange.

Clip Source: blogs.abcnews.com

Plans by a Christian group to send an evangelical video game to U.S. troops in Iraq were abruptly halted yesterday by the Department of Defense after ABC News inquired about the program.

"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" was inspired by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' best-selling book series about the battle of Armageddon, in which believers of Jesus Christ fight the Antichrist.

"It's a horrible game," said the Rev. Timothy Simpson of the Christians Alliance for Progress. "You either kill or covert the other side. This is exactly what the Osama bin Ladens of the world have portrayed us."

Troy Lyndon, the producer of the game, said the game's "warfare" is not violent, and that it emphasizes "spiritual battles" over fighting with guns. The game gives incentives to recruit believers instead of killing the forces of the Antichrist, according to Lyndon.

Tags: christian, video games

South Park creators animate Alan Watts

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:58:30 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: souljerky.com

Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park infamy have recently (and quietly) been dishing out some ill animation slices that illustrate gems from the archives of Alan Watts. Check 'em out below!—

Also check out this interview at Reason (an entertaining and well-produced anti/spiritual/ist webzine) wherein the animated wonder-kind discuss religion in their households when they were growing up.

Tags: philosophy, video

Pimp My Blimp: Luxury Airship Planned

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:02:33 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

It's a blimp. It's a plane. No, it's an airship with 5,000 square feet of living and/or cargo space, according to plans announced by a company that makes surveillance and advertising dirigibles.

It can be finished as a personal yacht, a business commuter craft or cargo carrier, he said.

Tags: aviation, technology

Suspicious Wiki Deletions

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:59:57 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.wired.com

On November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical of the company's machines.

In this case, the changes came from an IP address reserved for the corporate offices of Diebold itself.

A database of 34.4 million edits, performed by 2.6 million organizations or individuals ranging from the CIA to Microsoft to Congressional offices, now linked to the edits they or someone at their organization's net address has made.

Some of this appears to be transparently self-interested, either adding positive, press release-like material to entries, or deleting whole swaths of critical material.

Tags: wikipedia, conspiracy

Are we living in a computer simulation? - NYT

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:36:10 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation.

in Dr. Bostrom’s notion of reality, you wouldn’t even have a body made of flesh. Your brain would exist only as a network of computer circuits.

It’s unsettling to think of the world being run by a futuristic computer geek, although we might at last dispose of that of classic theological question: How could God allow so much evil in the world? For the same reason there are plagues and earthquakes and battles in games like World of Warcraft. Peace is boring, Dude.

Tags: simulation, technology

Nuances of Eschatology - Chuck Baldwin

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:26:16 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.newswithviews.com

Many pastors and Christians embrace the authoritarian policies of one George W. Bush with the same enthusiasm and blind loyalty as Germans did Hitler. For example, according to White House insiders, while publicly embracing conservative Christians, the White House is privately said to have nothing but disdain for Christians. Mr. Bush acknowledged being a member of Skull & Bones, a secret society with a dark history. Others have reported that he is a member of Bohemian Grove, which, according to some, is an occultist society of the most sinister variety. Yet, all of this is rejected out of hand by most Christians today.

Regardless of one's politics or religion, the spirit of Big Brother, the spirit of military aggression, the spirit of occultism, the spirit of a police state mentality, the spirit of deception are all part of the spirit of antichrist.

Tags: christian, eschatology, antichrist, religion

ULF 'Blast' caused Bridge Collapse? by Sorcha Faal

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:02:35 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.whatdoesitmean.com

Reports from Russia’s Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics located in Irkutsk are reporting today that their Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) detected a ‘massive’ ultra low frequency (ULF) ‘blast’ emanating from Latitude: 45° 00' North Longitude: 93° 15' West at the ‘exact’ moment, and location, of a catastrophic collapse of a nearly 2,000 foot long bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Russian Military reports state that the total collapse of such a massive bridge, and in the absence of evidence linking its destruction to terrorist activity, could only have been accomplished by an acoustic weapon, of which the United States Military is known to possess.

These reports further state that one of the United States primary research organizations into acoustic weapons research is Augsburg College, and which is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and most importantly less than 1 mile from the Interstate 35W Bridge collapse.

Tags: military, acoustic weapons, weapons

Phasers, lasers and death rays: new energy weapons

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:54:00 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.domain-b.com

Captain Kirk and Darth Vader may have used them on the silver screen, but the US Navy is working to make death rays a deadly reality in its bid to develop energy and electric weapons.

Death rays, phasers, photon torpedoes and lasers that instantaneously vaporise the enemy; we've seen them all, in films and on TV serials like Star Trek. But science fiction may soon become fact.

The US Navy has a 'Directed Energy and Electric Weapons Program Office' that plans to develop a range of energy and electric weapons, including electromagnetic (EM) rail guns, high-energy lasers (HELs) and high-power microwaves, in the not-too-distant future.

Tags: military, weapons, electromagnetic

DARPA hearts HAARP

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:45:17 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Depending on who you talk to, HAARP -- the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program --- is either an ionosphere-boiling superweapon, a giant mind control facility, a pork project par excellence, or some kind of defense against nukes in space. But no matter what the project does, one thing is clear: DARPA, the Pentagon's R&D arm, absolutely loves it. At last week's DARPATech conference, HAARP's main contractor was first on the list to receive an award from the agency:

Everybody has a theory about why HAARP gets so much government love. Arms Control Wonk has pointed to possible financial interests. And then, well, there's the whole weather control theory. I've got no idea, so I'm just going to hope they announce a "public day" soon so I can check it out for myself.

Tags: darpa, haarp

Transforming Our Crazy World by Jack Allis

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:33:29 GMT

clipped by: SurfingTheTao

Clip Source: www.harmonymindbodyspirit.com

Another of these illusions is that the material world we perceive with our five-senses is the only world there is. It's not. Quantum physics has proven that beyond the scope of our five-senses, there is an unseen world of pulsating energy, governed by a cosmic intelligence, where everything is connected to everything else. This is but one of numerous dimensions that we cannot perceive, but which doubtless exist. It is in these realms where we must fight the battle against the forces of evil to create the new paradigm.

Our primary weapons in this challenge are our higher consciousness and our spirituality. Higher consciousness is a function of connecting with the divine spirit, which means connecting with life's vital energy and with the intelligence of a living universe. We make this connection with the totality of ourselves - mind, body and spirit. Once we make this connection, we become capable of performing unimaginable feats in our lives, and manifesting true magic.

Tags: spirituality, end-times, global elite, illusion, consciousness