nightmares of the day

so. it's hot. you're hot. you decide to go swimming. you jump into a slow-moving river and splash around. if, sometime later, you start feeling sick, go to the doctor immediately although it's probably already too late to save you.

we live on an alien planet with things that are out to get us.

water...canned veggies...deck of cards...bomb shelter

so many mysteries, so little time....

stuxnet says it all.

was it halloween?

did you see the new 'Area 51' theory? apparently the russians did it. that's a curious thought and believeable to me. what's funny is this quote: "In a novel twist, Clifford Clift of the Mutual UFO Network told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the linkage to German aerospace technology was too tenuous to be believed." ha. haha. hahahahahaha...... (rofl)

M-class sun events

oh goody -- we're supposed to be able to see the northern lights tomorrow night and the next night. apparently it's a Kp=4 forecast. i know, i know -- it sounds like something i would make up, but no. at that designation, we should be able to see it along with people in spokane wa, great falls mt, grand forks nd, sioux falls sd, minneapolis mn, oshkosh wi, grand rapids mi, and ottawa canada.

oh pooh -- every single time we hear of a good chance of seeing it, we have cloud cover. we will have clouds and/or rain for the next 7 days. dangit!

how does he do that and keep himself secret?

so, you've heard of banksy, right? i have seen his name lately, as i scroll past this headline or that, but finally i decided to check him out and see what the buzz was about.

go here to get a quick view of the guy. you can also go to google images to see more of his work. it sounds like he's quite the character and some of his stuff is really great. some of it left me wondering what the deal was, though. regardless, now you know about him and may even know more than your friends do.

there are many paths to success.

oh for pete's sake ....

i was just reading an article about superstition and the paranormal. i don't have a problem with people believing in ghosts or bigfoot or ufos. as long as people in charge aren't burning people at the stake for their beliefs, and the far-out beliefs aren't hurting anyone, i don't think it's a big deal. live and let live.

it's surprising to me, though, to read this quote: "regardless of the person or the phenomenon, paranormal experiences are purely quirks of the human brain" so says michael shermer who publishes skeptic magazine. i'm not going to bother checking out this guy or his credentials, but really. wrapping it up so neat and tidy just isn't the way the world works.

quantum physics is shadowy and mysterious yet has stood up to rigorous testing. how egotistical for smarmy shermer to declare that paranormal things are just imagined. making this simplistic ruling which discounts and discredits people, that is something that irritates me. buzz off, small man.

rod serling and me ...

i've always thought things were really out there when the subject of dimensions came up. i mean, three dimensions I understand, and the fourth, well sure, that makes sense, too. but then they go on about  6, 7, 8, and even 12 dimensions and i just back away. it's too much for me and scary, too. no matter how i try to understand what they're saying, i just can't wrap my mind around it.

oh, ho! but then i was playing chuzzle last night (not to be confused with guzzle, which i don't). if you've ever played that game, it is kinda fun and while it seems innocuous, it's tricky. and while the comparison is in no way close to the real thing, i realized that what i was doing was playing in a whole bunch of dimensions at once.

since we're lifting reality anyhow, you need to imagine the three dimensions as being played out on the screen. yes, it's two dimensions, but just pretend it's three. then we add time, which makes it four. then we add color (each little chuzzle is a different color with about five or so colors being the set), which influences how we play, which makes it five dimensions. then we add right-angled configurations, which makes it six. and i suppose if we're going to be technical about it we should add in the scoring since if you use a 'hint' it subtracts from your score which might influence how you play the game -- that's seven.

whew! and it can get hard to play in seven dimensions! your mind has to shift gears constantly and after awhile, it's tiring. still ... i thought it was curious that all the manipulating i was doing in my mind made me feel like i was dealing with multiple dimensions. very curious.

giger counter culture

and here, for your prurient leanings, is an interesting selection of pictures; don't miss number 7. the older people may not recognize this guy's stuff, unless they are a fan of Alien. the younger people will have seen it before. i simply cannot imagine what it's like to be this guy and have these things in my head. i wonder if the scientific explanation is that he is channeling bits of an alien civilization (term used loosely) which, hopefully, lies far far away from ours. i say 'hopefully' because, really, there seems to be such a feeling of evil which touches, slimes, and imbues so much of his work. still .... it's a lot like a car accident. you just HAVE to look.

mandelbrot

do you like looking at fractals? they are pretty darn fascinating, to me. MYS started putting together a 3-d fractal thing recently. i'm interested in what it looks like.

i saw an article recently about a math equation which can produce a fractal. it goes through numerous iterations getting more and more detailed and complex. the picture below is one of nine shown in the article. check them all out -- they are otherworldly. is this beautiful, or what?!

where is waldo?

well, here is something that was probably a lot of fun! i don't read Wired magazine except occasionally online, and i wouldn't have had a clue how to go about looking for this guy, except to scope out the people at work. ha! anyhow, check this out: Vanish.