ErdStyle's Blog

REPORTER TELLS THE REAL NEWS...HERE IS THE FUCKING NEWS.

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 01:27:00 +0000

These 14 Images Compare Life Today With How It Used To Be. The Difference Is Hilarious!

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Wed, 13 May 2015 15:05:00 +0000

Things certainly aren’t like they used to be. It’s sometimes hard to tell if we’re just aging and getting grouchy, if we just don’t understand the way things are changing, or if things really are getting crappier. One thing is for sure, things have changed. Enjoy.

124-year-old Patent Solves the 'Over versus Under' Toilet Oaper Roll Debate

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:08:00 +0000

SOURCE

Over" officially wins.

The “over versus under” toilet paper argument has been waged in bathrooms around everywhere since it was first invented.

Plenty of space online in the form of polls and listicles has been dedicated to the proper way to orient our toilet paper.

The subject even has its own section on Wikipedia filled with arguments for “over” (reduces the risk of transferring germs, easier to find the end, looks better) versus “under” (tidier appearance, harder for a pet to unravel the roll).

And now, thanks to a patent for perforated toilet paper from 1891, we officially have our answer.

Spotted by The Huffington Post, writer Owen Williams discovered a picture of the original patent on Monday and shared it with the world.

The patent for toilet paper should settle the over vs under debate pic.twitter.com/arZl6l6ALn— Owen Williams (@ow) March 17, 2015

The inventor of perforated toilet paper Seth Wheeler illustrated his new and futuristic creation with the paper going up and over the roll. The Google Patents Database also displays a series of diagrams with the toilet paper going over as well.

Google Patent Database

The 1891 patent from Seth Wheeler shows that the toilet paper should go up and over.

The idea for perforated toilet paper was originally patented by Wheeler’s Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company in 1871 and then re-patented again in a roll-form in 1891 as a way of preventing waste.

“Since the advent of rolls of paper…many devices designed to prevent waste have been patented; but all effort in this direction has been apart from the roll of paper-namely, in the construction of holders for the rolls provided with means to prevent free unwinding of the roll and cause the sheets to separate singly at their connecting points,” Wheeler wrote in his patent. “My improved roll may be used on the simplest holders.”

So now it’s official — hang your toilet paper accordingly.

These School Lunches from Around the World should Embarrass the U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 04:23:00 +0000

SOURCE & Original Source
Curator: Franchesca Ramsey

Healthy and balanced meals not only fuel our bodies, but also help fuel our brains. With that in mind, take a look at school cafeteria food from around the globe and ask yourself, "How does the United States measure up?" Spoiler alert: not very good.

Italy

Local fish on a bed of arugula, pasta with tomato sauce, caprese salad, baguette, and some grapes

Finland

Pea soup, beet salad, carrot salad, bread, and pannukakku (dessert pancake) with fresh berries

France

Steak, carrots, green beans, cheese, and fresh fruit

Brazil

Pork with mixed veggies, black beans and rice, salad, bread, and baked plantains

South Korea

Fish soup, tofu over rice, kimchi, and fresh veggies

Greece

Baked chicken over orzo, stuffed grape leaves, tomato and cucumber salad, fresh oranges, and Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds

Ukraine

Mashed potatoes with sausage, borscht, cabbage, and syrniki (a dessert pancake)

Spain

Sautéed shrimp over brown rice and vegetables, gazpacho, fresh peppers, bread, and an orange

USA

Fried "popcorn" chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, fruit cup and a chocolate chip cookie

When you consider how many students end up eating school-provided lunch, you realize how important it is that they get healthy and balanced meals. That's why sweetgreen, the organization behind this photo project, is committed to helping students make healthier lunch choices through its sweetgreen in schools program. Sweetgreen in schools isn't just about healthy eating; they also teach students about fitness and sustainability throughout workshops across Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and New York City.

Each meal pictured doesn't represent every school meal from that particular country, of course. Lunches at one school in Florida will look completely different from another school in New York. The same goes for schools abroad. So for this photo project, sweetgreen looked at various government initiatives, food programs, and nutrition policies and matched that info to amateur photos of school lunches worldwide found online, then re-created them.

Here's hoping programs like sweetgreen in schools will become more commonplace across the country to help our kids fuel their bodies and brains with the best and healthiest food options!

eTalks - The Secrets of Food Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 04:09:00 +0000

Think you aren't being fooled by advertising tricks? Take a look at this so-called expert revealing food marketing's secret weapon.
No amount of marketing makes factory farming acceptable.
You can stop the spin at http://www.ciwf.org.uk/truth

Opinion Differences between Public & Scientists

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 04:59:00 +0000

SOUCRE

Interesting Stuff...from the PEW Research Center

On a range of pressing social issues, scientists and the public rarely see eye-to-eye. That's the result of a new Pew poll released today that compared views of a sample of 2,000 US adults to those of 3,700 scientists who are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the group that publishes the journal Science.

The biggest split was over the safety of genetically modified foods: 88 percent of scientists think GMOs are safe, compared to only 37 percent in the general public. Interestingly, college graduates were split 50-50. The gap between scientists and the public is smaller on the question of whether to mandate childhood vaccines. But it's still there. Eighty-six percent of scientists and 68 percent of all adults think vaccines should be required.

The poll didn't attempt to explain the gaps between scientists and the general public. On some issues there are clearly factors beyond pure science, like ethics and politics, that influence opinions. For example, scientists show more support for nuclear power, but less support for fracking, than the public. As our friend Chris Mooney has reported many times, these outside factors tend to creep into peoples' opinions even on objective questions like whether humans have evolved.

Lee Rainie, Pew's director of science research, added that trust in scientists can be a big factor. On GMOs, for example, 67 percent of the public believe scientists don't fully understand the health risks. And on issues like climate and evolution, the public believes there to be more disagreement within the scientific community than there actually is, he said.

Well the Truth is...in photos

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:10:00 +0000

I have no idea whose photos/illustrations these are...but they sum up some of our current world states well. There are so many wonderful exceptions! Nature and life (Absolute Reality) is all around us!

Top 50 Sci-Fi Movies

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 01:49:00 +0000

SOURCE

Science fiction, sci-fi, SF... however you want to abbreviate it, the genre heavily featuring future worlds, alien planets, otherworldly beings, unstoppable technology, hostile organisms, benign intergalactic forces, stun guns, camp robots and some really improbable hairstyles has produced some of cinema's finest films. Film4's critics have been at work voting on their favorite futuristic cinema, and we've unearthed some startling results. Read on to beam our list of the top 50 science fiction films of all time directly into your earthling brain.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick, cinema's chilliest genius, abandons conventional narrative and presents a succession of beautifully-composed sketches on the theme of evolution, death and rebirth linked by the mystical presence of a large black monolith. We know what the year 2001 looks like now, and it doesn't look much like Kubrick's vision. But 2001: A Space Odyssey itself still looks immaculate. Spectacular, trailblazing and philosophical, it's an undisputed masterpiece.

2. Blade Runner (1982) Ridley Scott

Reviled on release, who would have thought that Ridley Scott's sci-fi noir would go on to become so influential and retrospectively acclaimed? Adapted from science fiction genius Philip K Dick's novel 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', Harrison Ford stars as the detective who retires synthetic humans until an encounter with a beautiful android leaves him calling his own identity into question. One of the seminal sci-fi movies of the 1980s and all time.

3. Brazil (1985) Terry Gilliam

Undoubtedly Terry Gilliam's masterpiece. Visual brilliance combines with snappy satirical humour to create one of the best films of the 80s. Worrying, then, that it nearly didn t make it to the screen thanks to a furious battle with Universal who threatened to bury the film with an anti-marketing campaign. But the film s triumph in the face of adversity only makes its tale of an everyman office worker who dares to defy the system all the more poignant.

4. The Fly (1986) David Cronenberg

When a scientific experiment goes wrong, the DNA of a man becomes spliced with that of a house fly. With special effects king Chris Walas on hand to indulge his darkest fantasies, writer-director David Cronenberg shows us the mutation of man into monster in still-unsurpassed grisly detail. Chuck a dose of cracking chemistry between the then-married Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis into the mix, and you ve got one of Cronenberg s finest American movies.

5. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman's well-judged remake of Don Siegel's 1956 classic, based on the novel 'The Body Snatchers' by Jack Finney, works a treat. Donald Sutherland plays a health inspector who notices that his friends are beginning to act rather oddly. No prizes for guessing they have been turned into pod people, but soon the lines between who is who become more ambiguous. Very entertaining, and despite the by now over familiar-plot, pleasantly suspenseful.

6. The Thing (1982) John Carpenter

Influential horror sci-fi starring a hirsute Kurt Russell as a whiskey-swigging pilot who unwittingly becomes defender of the planet when his Antarctic research team comes in contact with a body-invading alien. Suspense maestro John Carpenter revamped the already-chilling 1951 B-movie The Thing From Another World to deliver this superbly frosty and tense exercise in being careful who you trust.

7. The Terminator (1984) James Cameron

The sci-fi action-thriller that launched the careers of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere. Still endlessly entertaining, the secret of its success is certainly not in its originality, but lies in its relentless energy, tough-as-nails heroine (Linda Hamilton) and Schwarzenegger himself as the taciturn killer robot, who in the course of the action delivers fewer than 100 words of dialogue.

8. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) Robert Wise

A reasoned plea for peace in the face of the escalating Cold War, Robert Wise s sci-fi classic is a potent parable that remains as chillingly relevant for the 21st century as it was for the last. It also acts as a reminder that the best sci-fi is always a fusion of spectacle and strong ideas, and that purposeful direction and a literate script can more than compensate for limited resources. The high-water mark of 50s science fiction cinema.

9. The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) Nicolas Roeg

Adapted from the novel by Walter Trevis, The Man Who Fell To Earth is a psychedelia-inflected sci-fi about loneliness and consumerism from Nicolas Roeg. The director makes the most of his inherently otherworldly star, David Bowie who plays the alien visitor of the title - a messiah of eco-friendly ideals who is educated by US TV, corrupted by capitalism and betrayed by the humans he encounters.

10. Metropolis (1927) Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang's spectacular, highly-influential vision of a teeming, politically dubious urban future is a seminal landmark in film, never mind science fiction. Lang depicts a society of bustling streets and skyscrapers in which people live in comfort. Below is an expressionist nightmare of men and women as machines - a vision of a future where society is divided into the haves and have-nots. Boasting 30,000 extras and costing $2 million in 1926, the lavish set pieces still astonish.

11. Frankenstein (1931) James Whale

English luvvie James Whale gives Mary Shelley's seminal novel the Universal horror treatment to sublime effect, making a star of Boris Karloff in the process. Despite being a first-time director, Whale wasn t afraid to court controversy, making the monster the most sympathetic character in the movie and turning Frankenstein into a callous megalomaniac. A masterpiece of vintage horror. Entertaining, creepy and stylish.

12. Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) Georges Melies

From 1902, cinema's first science fiction film, from French director Georges Melies, inspired by the writings of Jules Verne. A team of wizardy-looking astronomers rocket to the moon where they encounter a troupe of acrobatic exploding aliens. The fantastical sets and costumes are a delight and the special effects groundbreaking for their time.

13. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Steven Spielberg

Shamelessly sentimental it may be, but Spielberg s blockbusting tale of boy meets alien remains a cinematic milestone. Shot in chronological order to coax emotionally compelling performances from its child cast including a very young Drew Barrymore and lifted by John Williams soaring score, E.T. can still jerk tears from the most cynical of souls.

14. Escape From New York (1981) John Carpenter

Massively entertaining, small-budget action film enlivened by a surprisingly high profile cast, not least the swaggering, one-eyed Kurt Russell, doomed to explode if he fails to save the president from a gang of Mad Max-style maniacs. Carpenter may have only had a $7 million budget to work with, but the film he's come up with is an action adventure on a grand scale and the premise that Manhattan has become a massive walled prison is a surefire winner.

15. Donnie Darko (2001) Richard Kelly

An astonishingly imaginative, poignant, genre-defying tale of teen love, insanity and time travel from debut director Richard Kelly. The then up-and-coming Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the film s troubled hero, forewarned of the end of the world by a rabbit-costumed visitor from the future. Brimming with ideas and satirical humour, it s one of the most original films to emerge from the US in the Noughties.

16. Dark Star (1974) John Carpenter

John Carpenter made his directing debut with this sci-fi comedy about a bored crew drifting along on the Dark Star space cruiser, with nothing more than a rubber chicken, pet alien and suicidal bomb for company. With its irreverent dissection of Kubrick's masterpiece and some very funny hippy philosophizing, Dark Star will appeal to sci-fi buffs, Carpenter aficionados and stoners alike. Oh, and it s co-scripted by Dan O'Bannon, who went on to write Alien - essentially a horror retelling of the same basic story.

17. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Steven Spielberg

Hollywood granted a short-lived amnesty for aliens with Spielberg's often spellbinding and technically flawless sci-fi epic. The casting of French new-wave director Truffaut as the kind ufologist helping Richard Dreyfuss to prove that aliens are our friends is inspired, and (at least on the big screen) the effects are breathtaking and audacious. John Williams' score awe-evoking as ever gets to play its part in the plot too. Another classic from Spielberg s most fertile period.

18. Back To The Future (1985) Robert Zemeckis

Gleeful, thoroughly entertaining 80s time travel yarn that stars Michael J Fox as a teen who heads back in time, only to muddle his own parents' courtship. The De Lorean time machine-cum-car and special effects date it slightly, but this is a film almost unique for 1980s Hollywood, one that is charming, clever and genuinely weird (check Crispin Glover's discomforting turn and the undisguised Freudian plot).

19. Aliens (1986) James Cameron

James Cameron's follow-up to Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi shocker is that rare thing - a sequel that's actually as good as (or even better than?) its predecessor. A subtle shift of genre re-casts the Vietnam-style war drama in deep space, having taken a heavy cue from Robert Heinlein's novel 'Starship Troopers' (itself later adapted by Paul Verhoeven). Sigourney Weaver reprises the role of intergalactic extra-terrestrial basher Ellen Ripley and gets to utter one of the most quotable lines in sci-fi movie history: Get away from her, you bitch.

20. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott

The film that gave us the action heroine, in the shape of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, and presented space travel as just another job. Superb performances add to Scott's stylish direction and, if a film can be judged by the amount of rip-offs it generates, Alien must rank as one of the most influential movies ever. A must-see tour-de-force of suspense, slasher antics and good old-fashioned sci-fi.

21. Akira (1988) Katsuhiro Otomo

Katsuhiro Otomo's film is still the benchmark movie in anime. Based on manga characters created by Otomo in 1982, the film is set in a chaotic future version of Tokyo, where secret government experiments on the telepathic powers of children go disastrously awry. The complex plot may get a bit boggling for Western minds at times, but Akira is rightfully considered one of the greatest ever accomplishments in sci-fi storytelling.

22. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick

Famous for the controversy surrounding copycat violence and Kubrick's decision to withdraw it in 1973, A Clockwork Orange can now be judged for what it is: an intelligent, visually stunning, disturbing and yet queasily entertaining adaptation of what was already a great work of literature. The film is stacked with superb performances from younger, hairier versions of talents that went on to become stalwarts of the British acting aristocracy, including Steven Berkoff, Warren Clark and, of course, Malcolm McDowell as Beethoven s most horror show admirer, Alex.

23. Planet Of The Apes (1968) Franklin J. Schaffner

Inspired by Pierre Boulle's novel, this quality sci-fi is given profound power by its central metaphor of apes personifying human cruelty. One of the most enduring blockbusters of its era, it still has the power to provoke thought, and Charlton Heston is at his rugged, moral best. And, of course, it features some of the most quoted lines in cinema: Goddamn you all to hell!

24. The Matrix (1999) Andy and Larry Wachowski

The Wachowski siblings groundbreaking, morphing and shattering sci-fi spectacular, featuring a winsomely deadpan Keanu Reeves and kung fu like you've never seen it before. The effects are astonishing. It's funny, it's dark, it's smart and it's filled with guns, lots of guns. A landmark film and quite possibly the ultimate expression of cyberpunk.

25. Twelve Monkeys (1995) Terry Gilliam

Richly detailed, deliriously realized time-travel thriller from Terry Gilliam, starring Bruce Willis as time-hopping convict James Cole, who is sent from his futuristic prison back to the 1990s to prevent mankind from being destroyed by a virus. Brad Pitt used his role as the mental patient who may be the catalyst for Armageddon to prove that he was more than just a pretty face, bagging a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for his efforts.

26. Jurassic Park (1993) Steven Spielberg

Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern visit the island theme-park of Richard Attenborough, who has been breeding dinosaurs. What could possibly go wrong? Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, spectacle tends to triumph over sense, but with effects this effective resistance is futile. John Williams score, as ever, adds to the majesty of the occasion.

27. A Boy And His Dog (1974) L. Q. Jones

In a post-apocalyptic future, Don Johnson (of Miami Vice fame) is the illiterate, homeless scavenger who survives by communicating telepathically with his dog. When he is taken in by the leaders of an underground society, it looks as though things might improve - but they intend to use him purely for reproductive purposes. Although future-sucks movies are all too commonplace, this one is a true original, which carries its premise all the way through to its genuinely shocking finale.

28. Forbidden Planet (1956) Fred M. Wilcox

Fun, superior sci-fi that sets Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' in outer space. Headed by handsome young commander Leslie Nielsen (he wasn't always old, grey and deadpan you know), a crew of US spacefarers arrive on the colourful planet Altair to rescue a missing expedition with humorously camp results. A smart script and-ahead-of their-time effects elevate this one from a cult classic to a landmark of the genre.

29. The War Of The Worlds (1953) Byron Haskin

Fifties Hollywood gets its teeth into HG Wells' classic of Victorian sci-fi, transposing the alien attack to contemporary America. HG Wells' classic novel set in the London area in 1890 is updated to contemporary California and brought vividly to the screen by special-effects wizard turned director Byron Haskin. In spite of the characteristic and predictable influence of the Cold War, it s tightly structured, extremely tense and, oddly, believable.

30. Westworld (1973) Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton makes his feature film writer-director debut with this tale of technology gone mad (what else?) set in a futuristic holiday park where punters get to play out their fantasies with lifelike androids. Yul Brynner's remorseless cowboy robot anticipates The Terminator in his determinedness to destroy. The subtexts are considerably more adult than the similarly-themed Jurassic Park, also penned by Crichton, and the overall result is a prescient and efficient thriller, if a little short on directive flair in the film s final acts.

31. District 9 (2009) Neill Blomkamp

Witty, low-budget science fiction about rising tensions between humans and extra-terrestrial refugees who have been living in a shanty town outside Johannesburg. Expanded from a short by the film s director Neill Blomkamp, it s an intriguing, inventive and energetic social parable which plays out like a cross between Alien Nation and The Fly. Peter Jackson produced the film, and his splatter-happy enthusiasm is apparent throughout.

32. La Jetee (1962) Chris Marker

The only fictional work of experimental and documentary filmmaker Chris Marker, La Jetee is a dauntingly beautiful short made up almost entirely of stills. Its focus is Hanich, the subject of a scientific experiment, who is sent back and forwards in time with the aim of saving mankind from certain peril. The film inspired a generation of sci-fi directors, though Terry Gilliam denies that it was his inspiration for the similarly-themed Twelve Monkeys.

33. Minority Report (2002) Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg directs Tom Cruise in this exciting but convoluted sci-fi thriller based on a Philip K Dick short story. A future police department has eliminated murder, thanks to clairvoyants who predict crimes - but is the system really flawless? A classy vision of the future, full of interesting sci-fi conjecture and coupled with top-form performances from Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton.

34. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) James Cameron

Arnold Schwarzenegger reteams with James Cameron to reprise his career-defining role as the near-indestructible robot in this sequel that is as spectacular as it is thought-provoking, heavy in both special effects and subtexts. Despite the special effects distracting somewhat from the narrative (not a problem in the first film), this remains one of the greatest and most adored action movies of the 1990s.

35. Sunshine (2007) Danny Boyle

Eight astronauts carrying an explosive payload the size of Manhattan are on a mission to bomb the dying sun back into life in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's spectacular sci-fi thriller. As audacious high concepts go, it's audaciously high, but the film more than delivers thanks to its neo-psychedelic visual style and terrific performances from its cast, especially the otherworldly Cillian Murphy.

36. Starship Troopers (1997) Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven's satire is so cutting it even makes fun of its target audience. Turning World War II on its head and blasting it off into space, the 'good guys' are a bunch of fascists intent on annihilating a race of alien invaders. There's sick violence inflicted on beautiful bodies, one hell of a lot of nuke action and a stand-out minor for Michael Ironside. Medic!

37. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Irvin Kershner

The second and darkest instalment in the Star Wars saga, in which - as if you didn't know - Luke learns about the force from Yoda, Leia and Han get it on and Darth Vader reveals a shattering secret. A more mature instalment than its predecessor, loaded with spectacular special effects and efficiently written, this may well be the pinnacle of the saga.

38. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) George Lucas

George Lucas serves up his own homage to the Saturday morning adventure serials he loved as a kid, in the process creating one of the most revered and successful films ever. Made on a relatively low budget ($11m), Star Wars is relentlessly inventive. The attention to minute details gives it a rich texture and there are some fantastic set pieces. Is it the best film of all time? Certainly not. But it definitely is one of the most enduring, and it's hard not to be seduced.

39. Soylent Green (1973) Richard Fleischer

Charlton Heston stars in a sci-fi dystopia set in a not-too-distant future where food resources are scarce and humans must take desperate measures to survive. It's shockingly portrayed and the eventual conclusion of the film is impressively enigmatic, with Heston's powerfully evoked desperation leaving a lingering impression.

40. Solaris (1972) Andrei Tarkovsky

Enigmatic and profound, Tarkovsky s Soviet sci-fi psychodrama is a deeply moving exploration of loss, memory and longing, and a fine response to the challenge laid down by 2001: A Space Odyssey. Haunting, provocative, beautifully shot and infused with an irresistible, tender sadness, this is sci-fi, and indeed cinema, at its most powerful and

41. Avatar (2009) James Cameron

Say what you will about the trite man vs nature storyline, Avatar was undoubtedly a game-changer in terms of visual effects. James Cameron really pushed the envelope with the 3D technology, using it to create a sense of tremendous depth, a window onto a fastidiously-rendered fantastical world. For many directors, Avatar would be a career best. For James Cameron, it is simply excellent work. But best see it on the big screen.

42. Silent Running (1971) Douglas Trumbull

The elegiac directorial debut of FX man Douglas Trumbull, Silent Running is a virtuous science-fiction classic in which Bruce Dern's lone astronaut champions the last remnants of Earth's plant life. Co-scripted by Michael Cimino (writer-director-producer of The Deer Hunter), it s among the most intelligent and entertaining sci-fi films of the 1970.

43. Serenity (2005) Joss Whedon

After a future war, a group from the losing side ply a trade of smuggling and theft - until they get involved with a girl whose secret could change the balance of power in the galaxy. Whip-smart big screen adaptation of Joss Buffy the Vampire Slayer Whedon's short-lived cult television series 'Firefly' which deserves more credit than it got at the time of release.

44. Seconds (1966) John Frankenheimer

An unfulfilled, middle-aged banker (Rock Hudson) pays to fake his own death and joins a community of mysteriously-energised swingers, all enjoying a second lease of life. A lost gem, this unsettling, cerebral psychodrama raises a whole load of interesting questions about identity, value and society and, in its own bleak way, answers them too.

45. Mad Max 2 (1981) George Miller

Mel Gibson returns to the role that defined his early career in this bigger-budget sequel that offers still more manic anarchy in post-apocalypse Australia. The bangs to bucks ratio is high. When that's coupled with Gibson's surly hero and a heavy dose of cruel Australian humour, the result is one of the great action movies of the 1980s which overtakes its influential forerunner with ease.

46. Tron (1982) Steven Lisberger

The film that trailblazed both notions of virtual reality and the use of digital special effects. Villainous David Warner traps a digitised Jeff Bridges inside a videogame world, where he joins forces with Bruce Boxleitner's titular game hero. Dated yes, convoluted certainly, and silly in its fetishised use of geek buzzwords. But Tron is also stunning and cultish, especially among men who were teenage computer geeks when Disney first released it.

47. Moon (2009) Duncan Jones

An astronaut's three-year shift working alone on the dark side of the moon takes a weird turn when he discovers an injured version of himself on the surface. Hipster SF one-hander starring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey as a sort of neo-HAL. An outstanding feature debut from Bafta-winning director Duncan Jones (aka Zowie Bowie).

48. Robocop (1987) Paul Verhoeven

Violent but intelligent and witty sci-fi satire from Paul Verhoeven. Peter Weller plays the decent cop killed and reincarnated as a mechanised, computerised policing cyborg. As with most Verhoeven movies, the gore is extensive, but so over-the-top that it seems neither gruesome nor gratuitous, while a string of violent set pieces - RoboCop preventing a rape in truly painful fashion, an original cyborg prototype taking his orders too seriously - are edgily comic and hugely memorable.

49. The Fifth Element (1997) Luc Besson

The screenplay for The Fifth Element was famously based on a novel Luc Besson wrote when he was 16 and it shows. A big-budget, futuristic sci-fi extravaganza, it s crammed with wonderfully pervy costumes, daft spectacle and manic overacting (step forward Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker). But it s worth watching for the visual effects alone and there s no denying that Milla Jovovich looks hot in her masking-tape outfit.

50. Quatermass And The Pit (1967) Roy Ward Baker

Hammer film based on the influential Quatermass BBC TV series a 50s precursor to 'The X-Files' and 'Dr Who'. Inventive and genuinely chilling, it sees the titular professor investigating an ancient, otherworldly horror unearthed in the London Underground. Given that it was made in 1967, the special effects are remarkably hi-tech and it s definitely a high point in the Hammer canon.

The Concord C1 QuantumGravity Watch

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 22:57:00 +0000

SOURCE

What is the QuantumGravity?

Time Suspended

An aerial bi-axial tourbillon mechanism. A vertical power reserve. Individualist
seconds. A stripped-down dial and spectacular volumes: the latest specimen
from the C Lab Series defies all theories. Even better, it creates its own rules:
emptiness is its core material, engineering its constancy; chemistry a dare and
transparency a must.

Designed and developed by the C Lab Series, the C1 QuantumGravity symbolizes
unrestricted and unconstrained time, where only impulse and intuition prevail. A
special unit dedicated to extreme watchmaking, the C Lab Series has a mission: to
push the boundaries of mechanical watch making by introducing it to new modes
of expression. Last year, the C1 Tourbillon Gravity timepiece inaugurated a new
watchmaking era, where time liberates itself without reserve.

In 2009, the C Lab Series is expanding this watchmaking metamorphosis to
embrace new horizons. Initially devised in the fall of 2008, the C1
QuantumGravity was born after a 5-month incubation period, nurtured by the
will and tireless energy of a team that works on instinct alone. BNB Concept was
entrusted with the creation of the movement, while Studio Bellon finalized the
design.

The result: a new species of watch that lives time as if it were an experiment and
space, a source of stimulation. The creation of the C1 QuantumGravity
constitutes a provocative act in itself, while its construction is an exploration
carried out at the brink of excess and defiance.

A perpendicular power reserve

First equation: Power reserve = verticality + fluidity

A cylindrical piston. A vertical back-and-forth movement. Liquid. These were the
three essential elements combined by the C Lab Series to create this astounding
equation involving mechanics and chemistry.

Traditional design and display codes have been demolished to make way for a
mobile glass column, located between 12 and 1 o’clock, which serves as the
power reserve with a vertical indicator. On the chemistry side of things, a liquid
featuring green phosphorescent nanoparticles fills a tube to assist in the
reading. Meanwhile, on the mechanical side, this energy gauge operates
perpendicularly to the caliber, rising up and down from its base to signal the
remaining energy of the movement in relation to its available three-day power
reserve. Its graduated outline corresponds to level indicators, which are
secured to the inner surface of the watch.

A Stayed Bi-Axial Tourbillon

Second equation: Tourbillon = Suspension + 2 Axes

Cables. A bi-axial movement. A lateral position. This collection of challenges
had to be taken on to erect a spectacular tourbillon carriage.

Exported to the timepiece’s Western border and literally suspended, it rotates in
a multi-dimensional manner on two axes – the main one being vertical. Its baffling
structure has adopted the rigid and light elevation of cable-stayed bridges: one
arm, extended from cables measuring just 2/10th of a mm-wide and fastened to the
plate, maintains the carriage vertically and thus reinforces the impression of an
independent arrangement. The suspension mechanism is supported by an
elastomeric self-tensing system, which enables the cable/arm hinge to be
precisely adjusted and the dilatation effects, compensated.

Levitating Mechanics

Third equation: Time = Space

48.5 mm in diameter and 22 mm in depth: the appearance of a Titan, whose
proportions reach a staggering 57.5 mm in breadth. Yet, the C1 QuantumGravity
remains easily wearable thanks to its lugless design which ensures a perfect fit
on the wrist. The use of Titanium for the case and Aluminum for the majority of
movement components bestows a lightness on this timepiece that is as astounding
as its size.

The build of this watch composed of 511 parts is also offset by an anatomy that
privileges space and transparency: the case, whose machining required 400
hours of fine adjustment, can be reduced to a structure that is literally
enveloped by 5 sapphire crystals. The mechanism is visible from all angles.
Although the case and movement share a genetic bond as they were made for each
other, they are flanked by other elements that seem to operate self-sufficiently:
to the West, a glass excrescence house the tourbillon carriage while to the
East, two symmetrical casings house the winding mechanism and the seconds, at 2
o’clock and 4 o’clock respectively.

Concealed entirely, the imposing time-setting key can be ejected from its armor by
simply pressing on the push button. As for the seconds, they evade the dial to
nestle on the side of the case. They are engraved in luminescent orange against a
black aluminum roll and can be seen through a window whose cut echoes the
push button of the crown. A lateral sapphire crystal reveals the rotating
orange blades of the seconds wheel.

The dial has also been contaminated by this urge for maximum openness.
Although it strives to display the flight of hours and minutes, its focus is on
empty spaces. The depth of its field of vision is dizzying, the feeling of levitation
exhilarating. Deconstruction, a concept so dear to Concord, has been magnified:
the C1 QuantumGravity apprehends time as a perspective, using emptiness as a
material on which time features are grafted.

Under the impressive sapphire crystal, the panorama, amplified to its utmost,
outlines time that has almost been dematerialized. And despite the exuding
madness, legibility has remained at the core of its construction. Just like a
suspended glass saucer, the off-centered hour-circle between 3 and 4 o’clock
dresses a part of the cavity at the bottom of which the movement is supported. A
spider-like structure acts as a scaffold under the transparent disc punctuated
by the luminescent orange markers. The 6.5 mm high hand-fitting is a technical
prowess in itself and adds to the feeling of dizziness.
Wedged at the bottom of the abyss, the mechanical manually wound movement
choreographs time with precision. An officer-style case-back which appears as an
air-lock at every opportunity reveals the geometric circuit, the right-angled
skeletonized bridges, the gear-trains that transmit energy to the tourbillon
carriage and the cable adjustment. The finishing touches highlight an industrial
design that is both methodical and futuristic: a black aluminum plate against
anthracite aluminum bridges, rubies against polished steel screws… They embody
the spirit of a watch made with high-tech materials, glass, emptiness and colored
luminescent materials.

The C1 QuantumGravity defends time that is inexorably linked to space.
Prophetic, its construction created in record time propels Concord into a
parallel world where intuition is a favored ally and its design and mechanics a
harbinger for the future of watchmaking. An addiction to breaking established
codes and extrapolating underlies Concord’s creative mettle. C1
QuantumGravity is its ultimate creation.

Technical Features:

Movement

Mechanical manually wound movement
Caliber Concord C104
21,600 vibrations per hour
3-day power reserve
42 Jewels

Functions

Hours, minutes
Roll of seconds external to the case
Vertical power-reserve indicator
Bi-axial tourbillon

Case

Titanium case with white gold elements
Dimensions: 48.5 mm in diameter – 22 mm in depth
5 sapphire crystals
See through officer-style hinged case back

Dial

Aerial skeletonized dial

Strap

Black vulcanized rubber fixed to the case with 4 screws

Biohackers, Transhumanism...

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 22:06:00 +0000

The article: Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers
By Ben Popper on August 8, 2012 10:37 am

Shawn Sarver took a deep breath and stared at the bottle of Listerine on the counter. “A minty fresh feeling for your mouth... cures bad breath,” he repeated to himself, as the scalpel sliced open his ring finger. His left arm was stretched out on the operating table, his sleeve rolled up past the elbow, revealing his first tattoo, the Air Force insignia he got at age 18, a few weeks after graduating from high school. Sarver was trying a technique he learned in the military to block out the pain, since it was illegal to administer anesthetic for his procedure.

“A minty fresh feeling... cures bad breath,” Sarver muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes staring off into a void.

Tim, the proprietor of Hot Rod Piercing in downtown Pittsburgh, put down the scalpel and picked up an instrument called an elevator, which he used to separate the flesh inside in Sarver’s finger, creating a small empty pocket of space. Then, with practiced hands, he slid a tiny rare earth metal inside the open wound, the width of a pencil eraser and thinner than a dime. When he tried to remove his tool, however, the metal disc stuck to the tweezers. “Let’s try this again,” Tim said. “Almost done.”

The implant stayed put the second time. Tim quickly stitched the cut shut, and cleaned off the blood. “Want to try it out?” he asked Sarver, who nodded with excitement. Tim dangled the needle from a string of suture next to Sarver’s finger, closer and closer, until suddenly, it jumped through the air and stuck to his flesh, attracted by the magnetic pull of the mineral implant.

“I’m a cyborg!” Sarver cried, getting up to join his friends in the waiting room outside. Tim started prepping a new tray of clean surgical tools. Now it was my turn.

VIDEO

PART.01

With the advent of the smartphone, many Americans have grown used to the idea of having a computer on their person at all times. Wearable technologies like Google’s Project Glass are narrowing the boundary between us and our devices even further by attaching a computer to a person’s face and integrating the software directly into a user’s field of vision. The paradigm shift is reflected in the names of our dominant operating systems. Gone are Microsoft’s Windows into the digital world, replaced by a union of man and machine: the iPhone or Android.

For a small, growing community of technologists, none of this goes far enough. I first met Sarver at the home of his best friend, Tim Cannon, in Oakdale, a Pennsylvania suburb about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh where Cannon, a software developer, lives with his longtime girlfriend and their three dogs. The two-story house sits next to a beer dispensary and an abandoned motel, a reminder the city’s best days are far behind it. In the last two decades, Pittsburgh has been gutted of its population, which plummeted from a high of more than 700,000 in the 1980s to less than 350,000 today. For its future, the city has pinned much of its hopes on the biomedical and robotics research being done at local universities like Carnegie Mellon. "The city was dying and so you have this element of anti-authority freaks are welcome," said Cannon. "When you have technology and biomedical research and a pissed-off angry population that loves tattoos, this is bound to happen. Why Pittsburgh? It’s got the right amount of fuck you."

Cannon led me down into the basement, which he and Sarver have converted into a laboratory. A long work space was covered with Arduino motherboards, soldering irons, and electrodes. Cannon had recently captured a garter snake, which eyed us from inside a plastic jar. "Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been telling people that I want to be a robot," said Cannon. "These days, that doesn't seem so impossible anymore." The pair call themselves grinders — homebrew biohackers obsessed with the idea of human enhancement — who are looking for new ways to put machines into their bodies. They are joined by hundreds of aspiring biohackers who populate the movement’s online forums and a growing number, now several dozen, who have gotten the magnetic implants in real life.

GONE ARE MICROSOFT’S WINDOWS INTO THE DIGITAL WORLD, REPLACED BY A UNION OF MAN AND MACHINE: THE IPHONE OR ANDROID

"EVER SINCE I WAS A KID, I’VE BEEN TELLING PEOPLE THAT I WANT TO BE A ROBOT."

COMPUTERS ARE HARDWARE. APPS ARE SOFTWARE. HUMANS ARE WETWARE

Cannon looks and moves a bit like Shaggy from Scooby Doo, a languid rubberband of a man in baggy clothes and a newsboy cap. Sarver, by contrast, stands ramrod-straight, wearing a dapper three-piece suit and waxed mustache, a dandy steampunk with a high-pitched laugh. There is a distinct division of labor between the two: Cannon is the software developer and Sarver, who learned electrical engineering as a mechanic in the Air Force, does the hardware. The moniker for their working unit is Grindhouse Wetwares. Computers are hardware. Apps are software. Humans are wetware.

Cannon, like Sarver, served in the military, but the two didn’t meet until they had both left the service, introduced by a mutual friend in the Pittsburgh area. Politics brought them together. "We were both kind of libertarians, really strong anti-authority people, but we didn’t fit into the two common strains here: idiot anarchist who's unrealistic or right-wing crazy Christian. Nobody was incorporating technology into it. So there was no political party but just a couple like-minded individuals, who were like... techno-libertarians!"

Cannon got his own neodymium magnetic implant a year before Sarver. Putting these rare earth metals into the body was pioneered by artists on the bleeding edge of piercing culture and transhumanists interested in experimenting with a sixth sense. Steve Haworth, who specializes in the bleeding edge of body modification and considers himself a "human evolution artist," is considered one of the originators, and helped to inspire a generation of practitioners to perform magnetic implants, including the owner of Hot Rod Piercing in Pittsburgh. (Using surgical tools like a scalpel is a grey area for piercers. Operating with these instruments, or any kind of anesthesia, could be classified as practicing medicine. Without a medical license, a piercer who does this is technically committing assault on the person getting the implant.) On its own, the implant allows a person to feel electromagnetic fields: a microwave oven in their kitchen, a subway passing beneath the ground, or high-tension power lines overhead.

While this added perception is interesting, it has little utility. But the magnet, explains Cannon, is more of a stepping stone toward bigger things. "It can be done cheaply, with minimally invasive surgery. You get used to the idea of having something alien in your body, and kinda begin to see how much more the human body could do with a little help. Sure, feeling other magnets around you is fucking cool, but the real key is, you’re giving the human body a simple, digital input."

As an example of how that might work, Cannon showed me a small device he and Sarver created called the Bottlenose. It’s a rectangle of black metal about half the size of a pack of cigarettes that slips over your finger. Named after the echolocation used by dolphins, it sends out an electromagnetic pulse and measures the time it takes to bounce back. Cannon slips it over his finger and closes his eyes. "I can kind of sweep the room and get this picture of where things are." He twirls around the half-empty basement, eyes closed, then stops, pointing directly at my chest. "The magnet in my finger is extremely sensitive to these waves. So the Bottlenose can tell me the shape of things around me and how far away they are."

The way Cannon sees it, biohacking is all around us. "In a way, eyeglasses are a body hack, a piece of equipment that enhances your sense, and pretty quickly becomes like a part of your body," says Cannon. He took a pair of electrodes off the workbench and attached them to my temples. "Your brain works through electricity, so why not help to boost that?" A sharp pinch ran across my forehead as the first volts flowed into my skull. He and Sarver laughed as my face involuntarily twitched. "You’re one of us now," Cannon says with a laugh.

HISTORY.01

In one sense, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, part man, part machine, animated by electricity and with superhuman abilities, might be the first dark, early vision of what humans' bodies would become when modern science was brought to bear. A more utopian version was put forward in 1960, a year before man first travelled into space, by the scientist and inventor Manfred Clynes. Clynes was considering the problem of how mankind would survive in our new lives as outer space dwellers, and concluded that only by augmenting our physiology with drugs and machines could we thrive in extraterrestrial environs. It was Clynes and his co-author Nathan Kline, writing on this subject, who coined the term cyborg.

At its simplest, a cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts: metal, electrical, mechanical, or robotic. The construct is familiar to almost everyone through popular culture, perhaps most spectacularly in the recent Iron Man films. Tony Stark is surely our greatest contemporary cyborg: a billionaire businessman who designed his own mechanical heart, a dapper bachelor who can transform into a one-man fighter jet, then shed his armour as easily as a suit of clothes.

Britain is the birthplace of 21st-century biohacking, and the movement’s two foundational figures present a similar Jekyll and Hyde duality. One is Lepht Anonym, a DIY punk who was one of the earliest, and certainly the most dramatic, to throw caution to the wind and implant metal and machines into her flesh. The other is Kevin Warwick, an academic at the University of Reading's department of cybernetics. Warwick relies on a trained staff of medical technicians when doing his implants. Lepht has been known to say that all she requires is a potato peeler and a bottle of vodka. In an article on h+, Anonym wrote:

I’m sort of inured to pain by this point. Anesthetic is illegal for people like me, so we learn to live without it; I’ve made scalpel incisions in my hands, pushed five-millimeter diameter needles through my skin, and once used a vegetable knife to carve a cavity into the tip of my index finger. I’m an idiot, but I’m an idiot working in the name of progress: I’m Lepht Anonym, scrapheap transhumanist. I work with what I can get.

Anonym’s essay, a series of YouTube videos, and a short profile in Wired established her as the face of the budding biohacking movement. It was Anonym who proved, with herself as the guinea pig, that it was possible to implant RFID chips and powerful magnets into one’s body, without the backing of an academic institution or help from a team of doctors.

"She is an inspiration to all of us," said a biohacker who goes by the name of Sovereign Bleak. "To anyone who was frustrated with the human condition, who felt we had been promised more from the future, she said that it was within our grasp, and our rights, to evolve our bodies however we saw fit." Over the last decade grinders have begun to form a loose culture, connected mostly by online forums like biohack.me, where hundreds of aspiring cyborgs congregate to swap tips about the best bio-resistant coatings to prevent the body from rejecting magnetic implants and how to get illegal anesthetics shipped from Canada to the United States. There is another strain of biohacking which focuses on the possibilities for DIY genetics, but their work is far more theoretical than the hands-on experiments performed by grinders.

But while Anonym’s renegade approach to bettering her own flesh birthed a new generation of grinders, it seems to have had some serious long-term consequences for her own health. "I'm a wee bit frightened right now," Anonym wrote on her blog early this year. "I’m hearing things that aren't there. Sure I see things that aren't real from time to time because of the stupid habits I had when I was a teenager and the permanent, very mild damage I did to myself experimenting like that, but I don't usually hear anything and this is not a flashback."

MEDICAL NEED VERSUS HUMAN ENHANCEMENT

Neil Harbisson was born with a condition that allows him to see only in black and white. He became interested in cybernetics, and eventually began wearing the Eyeborg, a head-mounted camera which translated colors into vibrations that Harbisson could hear. The addition of the Eyeborg to his passport has led some to dub him the first cyborg officially recognized by the federal government. He now plans to extend and improve this cybernetic synesthesia by having the Eyeborg permanently surgically attached to his skull.

Getting a medical team to help him was no easy task. "Their position was that 'doctors usually repair or fix humans' and that my operation was not about fixing nor repairing myself but about creating a new sense: the perception of visual elements via bone-conducted sounds," Harbisson told me by email. "The other main issue was that the operation would allow me to perceive outside the ability of human vision and human hearing (hearing via the bone allows you to hear a wider range of sounds, from infrasounds to ultrasounds, and some lenses can detect ultraviolets and infrareds). It took me over a year to convince them."

In the end, the bio-ethical community still relies on promises of medical need to justify cybernetic enhancement. "I think I convinced them when I told them that this kind of operation could help 'fix and repair' blind people. If you use a different type of chip, a chip that translates words into sound, or distances into sound, for instance, the same electronic eye implant could be used to read or to detect obstacles which could mean the end of Braille and sticks. I guess hospitals and governments will soon start publishing their own laws about which kind of cybernetic implants they find are ethical/legal and which ones they find are not."

PART.02

THE EXPERIENCE RANKED ALONGSIDE BREAKING MY ARM AND HAVING MY APPENDIX REMOVED

I had Lepht Anonym in the back of my mind as I stretched my arm out on the operating table at Hot Rod Piercing. The fingertip is an excellent place for a magnet because it is full of sensitive nerve tissue, fertile ground for your nascent sixth sense to pick up on the electro-magnetic fields all around us. It is also an exceptionally painful spot to have sliced open with a scalpel, especially when no painkillers are available. The experience ranked alongside breaking my arm and having my appendix removed, a level of pain that opens your mind to parts of your body which before you were not conscious of.

For the first few days after the surgery, it was difficult to separate out my newly implanted sense from the bits of pain and sensation created by the trauma of having the magnet jammed in my finger. Certain things were clear: microwave ovens gave off a steady field that was easy to perceive, like a pulsating wave of invisible water, or air heavy from heat coming off a fan. And other magnets, of course, were easy to identify. They lurked like landmines in everyday objects — my earbuds, my messenger bag — sending my finger ringing with a deep, sort of probing force field that shifted around in my flesh.

High-tension wires seemed to give off a sort of pulsating current, but it was often hard to tell, since my finger often began throbbing for no reason, as it healed from the trauma of surgery. Playing with strong, stand-alone magnets was a game of chicken. The party trick of making one leap across a table towards my finger was thrilling, but the awful squirming it caused inside my flesh made me regret it hours later. Grasping a colleague’s stylus too near the magnetic tip put a sort of freezing probe into my finger that I thought about for days afterwards.

Within a few weeks, the sensation began to fade. I noticed fewer and fewer instances of a sixth sense, beyond other magnets, which were quite obvious. I was glad that the implant didn’t interfere with my life, or prevent me from exercising, but I also grew a bit disenchanted, after all the hype and excitement the grinders I interviewed had shared about their newfound way of interacting with the world.

HISTORY.02

If Lepht Anonym is the cautionary tale, Prof. Kevin Warwick is the one bringing academic respectability to cybernetics. He was one of the first to experiment with implants, putting an RFID chip into his body back in 1998, and has also taken the techniques the farthest. In 2002, Prof. Warwick had cybernetic sensors implanted into the nerves of his arm. Unlike the grinders in Pittsburgh, he had the benefits of anesthesia and a full medical team, but he was still putting himself at great risk, as there was no research on the long-term effects of having these devices grafted onto his nervous system. "In a way that is what I like most about this," he told me. "From an academic standpoint, it’s wide-open territory."

I chatted with Warwick from his office at The University of Reading, stacked floor to ceiling with books and papers. He has light brown hair that falls over his forehead and an easy laugh. With his long sleeve shirt on, you would never know that his arm is full of complex machinery. The unit allows Warwick to manipulate a robot hand, a mirror of his own fingers and flesh. What’s more, the impulse could flow both ways. Warwick’s wife, Irena, had a simpler cybernetic implant done on herself. When someone grasped her hand, Prof. Warwick was able to experience the same sensation in his hand, from across the Atlantic. It was, Warwick writes, a sort of cybernetic telepathy, or empathy, in which his nerves were made to feel what she felt, via bits of data travelling over the internet.

The work was hailed by the mainstream media as a major step forward in helping amputees and victims of paralysis to regain a full range of abilities. But Prof. Warwick says that misses the point. "I quite like the fact that new medical therapies could potentially come out of this work, but what I am really interested in is not getting people back to normal; it’s enhancement of fully functioning humans to a higher level."

It’s a sentiment that can take some getting used to. "A decade ago, if you talked about human enhancement, you upset quite a lot of people. Unless the end goal was helping the disabled, people really were not open to it." With the advent of smartphones, says Prof. Warwick, all that has changed. "Normal folks really see the value of ubiquitous technology. In fact the social element has almost created the reverse. Now, you must be connected all the time."

While he is an accomplished academic, Prof. Warwick has embraced biohackers and grinders as fellow travelers on the road to exploring our cybernetic future. "A lot of the time, when it comes to putting magnets into your body or RFID chips, there is more information on YouTube than in the peer-reviewed journals. There are artists and geeks pushing the boundaries, sharing information, a very renegade thing. My job is to take that, and apply some more rigorous scientific analysis."

To that end, Prof. Warwick and one of his PhD students, Ian Harrison, are beginning a series of studies on biohackers with magnetic implants. "When it comes to sticking sensors into your nerve endings, so much is subjective," says Harrison. "What one person feels, another may not. So we are trying to establish some baselines for future research."

"IT’S LIKE THIS LAST, UNEXPLORED CONTINENT STARING US IN THE FACE."

The end goal for Prof. Warwick, as it was for the team at Grindhouse Wetwares in Pittsburgh, is still the stuff of science fiction. "When it comes to communication, humans are still so far behind what computers are capable of," Prof. Warwick explained. "Bringing about brain to brain communication is something I hope to achieve in my lifetime."

For Warwick, this will advance not just the human body and the field of cybernetics, but allow for a more practical evaluation the entire canon of Western thought. "I would like to ask the questions that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein asked, but in practice, not in theory." It would be another attempt to study the mind, from inside and out, as Wittgenstein proposed. But with access to objective data. "Perhaps he was bang on, or maybe we will rubbish his whole career, but either way, it’s something we should figure out."

As the limits of space exploration become increasingly clear, a generation of scientists who might once have turned to the stars are seeking to expand humanity’s horizons much closer to home. "Jamming stuff into your body, merging machines with your nerves and brain, it’s brand new," said Warwick. "It’s like this last, unexplored continent staring us in the face."

On a hot day in mid-July, I went for a walk around Manhattan with Dann Berg, who had a magnet implanted in his pinky three years earlier. I told him I was a little disappointed how rarely I noticed anything with my implant. "Actually, your experience is pretty common," he told me. "I didn’t feel much for the first 6 months, as the nerves were healing from surgery. It took a long time for me to gain this kind of ambient awareness."

Berg worked for a while in the piercing and tattoo studio, which brought him into contact with the body modification community who were experimenting with implants. At the same time, he was teaching himself to code and finding work as a front-end developer building web sites. "To me, these two things, the implant and the programming, they are both about finding new ways to see and experience the world."

"WE’RE TOUCHING SOMETHING OTHER PEOPLE CAN’T SEE; THEY DON’T KNOW IT EXISTS."

Berg took me to an intersection at Broadway and Bleecker. In the middle of the crosswalk, he stopped, and began moving his hand over a metal grate. "You feel that?" he asked. "It’s a dome, right here, about a foot off the ground, that just sets my finger off. Somewhere down there, part of the subway system or the power grid is working. We’re touching something other people can’t see; they don’t know it exists. That’s amazing to me." People passing by gave us odd stares as Berg and I stood next to each other in the street, waving our hands around inside an invisible field, like mystics groping blindly for a ghost.

CYBORGS IN SOCIETY

Last month, a Canadian professor named Steve Mann was eating at a McDonald’s with his family. Mann wears a pair of computerized glasses at all times, similar to Google’s Project Glass. One of the employees asked him to take them off. When he refused, Mann says, an employee tried to rip the glasses off, an alleged attack made more brutal because the device is permanently attached and does not come off his skull without special tools.

On biohacking websites and transhumanist forums, the event was a warning sign of the battle to come. Some dubbed it the first hate crime against cyborgs. That would imply the employees knew Mann’s device was part of him, which is still largely unclear. But it was certainly a harbinger of the friction that will emerge between people whose bodies contain powerful machines and society at large.

PART.03

After zapping my brain with a few dozen volts, the boys from Grindhouse Wetwares offered to cook me dinner. Cannon popped a tray of mashed potatoes in the microwave and showed me where he put his finger to feel the electromagnetic waves streaming off. We stepped out onto the back porch and let his three little puggles run wild. The sound of cars passing on the nearby highway and the crickets warming up for sunset relaxed everyone. I asked what they thought the potential was for biohacking to become part of the mainstream.

"That's the thing, it's not that much of a leap," said Cannon. "We've had pacemakers since the '70s." Brain implants are now being used to treat Parkinson’s disease and depression. Scientists hope that brain implants might soon restore mobility to paralyzed limbs. The crucial difference is that grinders are pursuing this technology for human enhancement, without any medical need. "How is this any different than plastic surgery, which like half the fucking country gets?" asked Cannon. "Look, you know the military is already working on stuff like this, right? And it won’t be too long before the corporations start following suit."

Sarver joined the Air Force just weeks after 9/11. "I was a dyed-in-the-wool Roman Catholic Republican. I wasn’t thinking about the military, but after 9/11, I just believed the dogma." In place of college, he got an education in electronics repairing fighter jets and attack helicopters. He left the war a very different man. "There were no terrorists in Iraq. We were the terrorists. These were scared people, already scared of their own government."

Yet, while he rejected the conflict in the Middle East, Sarver’s time in the military gave him a new perspective on the human body. "I’ve been in the special forces," said Sarver. "I know what the limits of the human body are like. Once you’ve seen the capabilities of a 5000psi hydraulic system, it’s no comparison."

"THIS IS JUST A DECAYING LUMP OF FLESH THAT GETS OLD, IT’S LEAKING FLUID ALL THE TIME"

"IT’S GOING TO BE WEIRD AND UNCOMFORTABLE AND SCARY. BUT YOU CAN DO THAT, OR YOU CAN BECOME OBSOLETE."

The boys from Grindhouse Wetwares both sucked down Parliament menthols the whole time we talked. There was no irony for them in dreaming of the possibilities for one’s body and willfully destroying it. "For me, the end game is my brain and spinal column in a jar, and a robot body out in the world doing my bidding," said Sarver. "I would really prefer not to have to rely on an inefficient four-valve pump that sends liquid through these fragile hoses. Fuck cheetahs. I want to punch through walls."

Flesh and blood are easily shed in grinder circles, at least theoretically speaking. "People recoil from the idea of tampering inside the body," said Tim. "I am lost when it comes to people’s unhealthy connections to your body. This is just a decaying lump of flesh that gets old, it’s leaking fluid all the time, it’s obscene to think this is me. I am my ideas and the sum of my experiences." As far as the biohackers are concerned, we are the best argument against intelligent design.

Neither man has any illusions about how fringe biohacking is now. But technology marches on. "People say nobody is going to want to get surgery for this stuff," admits Cannon. But he believes that will change. "They will or they will be left behind. They have no choice. It’s going to be weird and uncomfortable and scary. But you can do that, or you can become obsolete."

We came back into the kitchen for dinner. As I wolfed down steak and potatoes, Cannon broke into a nervous grin. "I want to show you something. It's not quite ready, but this is what we're working on." He disappeared down into the basement lab and returned with a small device the size of a cigarette lighter, a simple circuit board with a display attached. This was the HELEDD, the next step in the Grindhouse Wetwares plan to unite man and machine. "This is just a prototype, but when we get it small enough, the idea is to have this beneath my skin," he said, holding it up against his inner forearm.

The smartphone in your pocket would act as the brain for this implant, communicating via bluetooth with the HELEDD, which would use a series of LED lights to display the time, a text message, or the user’s heart rate. "We’re looking to get sensors in there for the big three," said Tim. "Heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure. Because then you are looking at this incredible data. Most people don’t know the effect on a man’s heart when he finds out his wife is cheating on him."

Cannon hopes to have the operation in the next few months. A big part of what drives the duo to move so fast is the idea that there is no hierarchy established in this space. "We want to be doing this before the FDA gets involved and starts telling us what we can and cannot do. Someday this will be commercially feasible and Apple will design an implant which will sync with your phone, but that is not going to be for us. We like to open things up and break them."

I point out that Steve Jobs may have died in large part because he was reluctant to get surgery, afraid that if doctors opened him up, they might not be able to put him back together good as new. "We’re grinders," said Cannon. "I view it as kind of taking the pain for the people who are going to come after me. We’re paying now so that it will become socially acceptable later."

3rdi, 2010-2011. Photographed by Wafaa Bilal, Copyright: Wafaa Bilal
Image of Prof. Kevin Warwick courtesty of Prof. Kevin Warick
Portrait of Prof. Kevin Warwick originally shot for Time Magazine by Jim Naughten

Microchip Implants, Mind Control, and Cybernetics

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:25:00 +0000

SOURCE

By Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD
Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland
December 6, 2000

In 1948 Norbert Weiner published a book, Cybernetics, defined as a neurological communication and control theory already in use in small circles at that time. Yoneji Masuda, "Father of the Information Society," stated his concern in 1980 that our liberty is threatened Orwellian-style by cybernetic technology totally unknown to most people. This technology links the brains of people via implanted microchips to satellites controlled by ground-based supercomputers.

The first brain implants were surgically inserted in 1974 in the state of Ohio, USA and also in Stockholm, Sweden. Brain electrodes were inserted into the skulls of babies in 1946 without the knowledge of their parents. In the 1950s and 60s, electrical implants were inserted into the brains of animals and humans, especially in the U.S., during research into behavior modification, and brain and body functioning. Mind control (MC) methods were used in attempts to change human behavior and attitudes. Influencing brain functions became an important goal of military and intelligence services.

Thirty years ago brain implants showed up in X-rays the size of one centimeter. Subsequent implants shrunk to the size of a grain of rice. They were made of silicon, later still of gallium arsenide. Today they are small enough to be inserted into the neck or back, and also intravenously in different parts of the body during surgical operations, with or without the consent of the subject. It is now almost impossible to detect or remove them.

It is technically possible for every newborn to be injected with a microchip, which could then function to identify the person for the rest of his or her life. Such plans are secretly being discussed in the U.S. without any public airing of the privacy issues involved. In Sweden, Prime Minister Olof Palme gave permission in 1973 to implant prisoners, and Data Inspection's ex-Director General Jan Freese revealed that nursing-home patients were implanted in the mid-1980s. The technology is revealed in the 1972:47 Swedish state report, Statens Officiella Utradninger (SOU).

Implanted human beings can be followed anywhere. Their brain functions can be remotely monitored by supercomputers and even altered through the changing of frequencies. Guinea pigs in secret experiments have included prisoners, soldiers, mental patients, handicapped children, deaf and blind people, homosexuals, single women, the elderly, school children, and any group of people considered "marginal" by the elite experimenters. The published experiences of prisoners in Utah State Prison, for example, are shocking to the conscience.

Today's microchips operate by means of low-frequency radio waves that target them. With the help of satellites, the implanted person can be tracked anywhere on the globe. Such a technique was among a number tested in the Iraq war, according to Dr. Carl Sanders, who invented the intelligence-manned interface (IMI) biotic, which is injected into people. (Earlier during the Vietnam War, soldiers were injected with the Rambo chip, designed to increase adrenaline flow into the bloodstream.) The 20-billion-bit/second supercomputers at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) could now "see and hear" what soldiers experience in the battlefield with a remote monitoring system (RMS).

When a 5-micromillimeter microchip (the diameter of a strand of hair is 50 micromillimeters) is placed into optical nerve of the eye, it draws neuroimpulses from the brain that embody the experiences, smells, sights, and voice of the implanted person. Once transferred and stored in a computer, these neuroimpulses can be projected back to the person’s brain via the microchip to be reexperienced. Using a RMS, a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals) to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance. With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads.

Every thought, reaction, hearing, and visual observation causes a certain neurological potential, spikes, and patterns in the brain and its electromagnetic fields, which can now be decoded into thoughts, pictures, and voices. Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture.

The NSA's electronic surveillance system can simultaneously follow and handle millions of people. Each of us has a unique bioelectrical resonance frequency in the brain, just as we have unique fingerprints. With electromagnetic frequency (EMF) brain stimulation fully coded, pulsating electromagnetic signals can be sent to the brain, causing the desired voice and visual effects to be experienced by the target. This is a form of electronic warfare. U.S. astronauts were implanted before they were sent into space so their thoughts could be followed and all their emotions could be registered 24 hours a day.

The Washington Post reported in May 1995 that Prince William of Great Britain was implanted at the age of 12. Thus, if he were ever kidnapped, a radio wave with a specific frequency could be targeted to his microchip. The chip’s signal would be routed through a satellite to the computer screen of police headquarters, where the Prince’s movements could be followed. He could actually be located anywhere on the globe.

The mass media has not reported that an implanted person's privacy vanishes for the rest of his or her life. S/he can be manipulated in many ways. Using different frequencies, the secret controller of this equipment can even change a person's emotional life. S/he can be made aggressive or lethargic. Sexuality can be artificially influenced. Thought signals and subconscious thinking can be read, dreams affected and even induced, all without the knowledge or consent of the implanted person.

A perfect cyber-soldier can thus be created. This secret technology has been used by military forces in certain NATO countries since the 1980s without civilian and academic populations having heard anything about it. Thus, little information about such invasive mind-control systems is available in professional and academic journals.

The NSA's Signals Intelligence group can remotely monitor information from human brains by decoding the evoked potentials (3.50HZ, 5 milliwatt) emitted by the brain. Prisoner experimentees in both Gothenburg, Sweden and Vienna, Austria have been found to have evident brain lesions. Diminished blood circulation and lack of oxygen in the right temporal frontal lobes result where brain implants are usually operative. A Finnish experimentee experienced brain atrophy and intermittent attacks of unconsciousness due to lack of oxygen.

Mind control techniques can be used for political purposes. The goal of mind controllers today is to induce the targeted persons or groups to act against his or her own convictions and best interests. Zombified individuals can even be programmed to murder and remember nothing of their crime afterward. Alarming examples of this phenomenon can be found in the U.S.

This “silent war” is being conducted against unknowing civilians and soldiers by military and intelligence agencies. Since 1980, electronic stimulation of the brain (ESB) has been secretly used to control people targeted without their knowledge or consent. All international human rights agreements forbid nonconsensual manipulation of human beings — even in prisons, not to speak of civilian populations.

Under an initiative of U.S. Senator John Glenn, discussions commenced in January 1997 about the dangers of radiating civilian populations. Targeting people’s brain functions with electromagnetic fields and beams (from helicopters and airplanes, satellites, from parked vans, neighboring houses, telephone poles, electrical appliances, mobile phones, TV, radio, etc.) is part of the radiation problem that should be addressed in democratically elected government bodies.

In addition to electronic MC, chemical methods have also been developed. Mind-altering drugs and different smelling gasses affecting brain function negatively can be injected into air ducts or water pipes. Bacteria and viruses have also been tested this way in several countries.

Today's supertechnology, connecting our brain functions via microchips (or even without them, according to the latest technology) to computers via satellites in the U.S. or Israel, poses the gravest threat to humanity. The latest supercomputers are powerful enough to monitor the whole world’s population. What will happen when people are tempted by false premises to allow microchips into their bodies? One lure will be a microchip identity card. Compulsory legislation has even been secretly proposed in the U.S. to criminalize removal of an ID implant.

Are we ready for the robotization of mankind and the total elimination of privacy, including freedom of thought? How many of us would want to cede our entire life, including our most secret thoughts, to Big Brother? Yet the technology exists to create a totalitarian New World Order. Covert neurological communication systems are in place to counteract independent thinking and to control social and political activity on behalf of self-serving private and military interests.

When our brain functions are already connected to supercomputers by means of radio implants and microchips, it will be too late for protest. This threat can be defeated only by educating the public, using available literature on biotelemetry and information exchanged at international congresses.

One reason this technology has remained a state secret is the widespread prestige of the psychiatric Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV produced by the U.S. American Psychiatric Association (APA) and printed in 18 languages. Psychiatrists working for U.S. intelligence agencies no doubt participated in writing and revising this manual. This psychiatric "bible" covers up the secret development of MC technologies by labeling some of their effects as symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

Victims of mind control experimentation are thus routinely diagnosed, knee-jerk fashion, as mentally ill by doctors who learned the DSM “symptom” list in medical school. Physicians have not been schooled that patients may be telling the truth when they report being targeted against their will or being used as guinea pigs for electronic, chemical and bacteriological forms of psychological warfare.

Time is running out for changing the direction of military medicine, and ensuring the future of human freedom.

This article was originally published in the 36th-year edition of the Finnish-language journal SPEKULA (3rd Quarter, 1999). SPEKULA (circulation 6500) is a publication of Northern Finland medical students and doctors of Oulu University OLK (Oulun Laaketieteellinen Kilta). It is mailed to all medical students of Finland and all Northern Finland medical doctors.

Seeds Of Death - Full Movie

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 21:54:00 +0000

In preparation of the global March Against Monsanto, you are invited to watch our award-winning documentary Seeds of Death free.

http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/

The leaders of Big Agriculture--Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta--are determined that world's populations remain ignorant about the serious health and environmental risks of genetically modified crops and industrial agriculture. Deep layers of deception and corruption underlie both the science favoring GMOs and the corporations and governments supporting them.

This award-winning documentary, Seeds of Death, exposes the lies about GMOs and pulls back the curtains to witness our planet's future if Big Agriculture's new green revolution becomes our dominant food supply.

A Question and Answer fact sheet deconstructing Monsanto's GM claims and Big Agriculture's propaganda to accompany the film is available online:

http://prn.fm/2013/05/24/gary-null-an...

Yaybahar by Görkem Şen

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:06:00 +0000

Yaybahar by Görkem Şen from Olgu Demir on Vimeo.
Yaybahar is an electric-free, totally acoustic instrument designed by Gorkem Sen. The vibrations from the strings are transmitted via the coiled springs to the frame drums. These vibrations are turned into sound by the membranes which echo back and forth on the coiled springs. This results in an unique listening experience with an hypnotic surround sound.

What you hear in this performance is captured in realtime without any additional effects and with no post audio processing.

For contact: yaybaharcontact@gmail.com
www.yaybahar.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gorkemsen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yaybahar/371861612976976?fref=ts
Youtube: http://youtu.be/45m0TkLpmQg

Credits
-------------
Instrument: Yaybahar
Performence: Görkem Şen
Video: Levent Bozkurt
Video Editing: Olgu Demir
Sound Mix: Mert Aksuna
Place: Alişler Yurdu

2014

Looking At The World Through A Microscope (Part I)

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:50:00 +0000

SOURCE
1944 days ago by Tom

When you get bored of looking at the world with your own eyes why not look at it trough a microscope?

It seems that there are two worlds – the world of huge things that we see everyday (a tree, a car, etc..) and a micro world of incredibly small things.

Just looking at the micro world takes our breath away – it’s incredibly rich, beautiful and active. I’ve heard that even science people after looking at the smallest corners of our world see a god here.

I could go on an on, but you just have to see it yourself. Happy scrolling down the list, and don’t forget to subscribe and wait for the part II. Update: part II is out!

Red Blood Cells

(Bamboo leaf for Annie Cavanagh, Scanning electron micrograph Wellcome Images)

(Bamboo leaf for CDC/Janice Carr)

This scanning electron micrograph shows a few red blood cells (a.ka. erythrocytes) that have been magnified a little over 11,000 times. Being biconcave in shape allow RBCs to have a greater surface area and carry more oxygen through your body.

DVD Disc Close-up

(Bamboo leaf for .Ward . via BoredPanda.com)

Blood Clot Forming over a Wound

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

“Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of a blood clot, with squamous tissue visible beneath. As a blood clot on a surface injury dries out it forms a protective scab over the wound allowing new skin to grow underneath.”

Ant

Front view

(Bamboo leaf for St Stev via BoredPanda.com)

Back view:

(Bamboo leaf for St Stev via BoredPanda.com)

“For all those people who have ever wondered what an ant’s bottom looks like close up…”

Monarch Butterfly Wing

(Bamboo leaf for http://biofinity.org via BoredPanda.com)

Fly’s Eyes

(Bamboo leaf for kevincollins123 via BoredPanda.com)

Electron Micrograph of Drosophila Fly’s Eyes.

(Bamboo leaf for Shirin Pocha via BoredPanda.com)

The structure of the eye, similar to many other insects, is termed a compound eye and is one of the most precise and ordered patterns in Biology.

Snow

(Bamboo leaf for emu.arsusda.gov via BoredPanda.com)

Puff Ball 248x

(Bamboo leaf for monkey.grip via BoredPanda.com)

One of those little balls of fluff that float around in spring. (248x magnification)

Smile on a Cell Phone

(Bamboo leaf for AMagill via BoredPanda.com)

Copy Paper we use at Work

(Bamboo leaf for Jim Ekstrom)

“The paper that we use in copying work has a rough tangle of fibers.”

Fat Cells

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall)

Electric Guitar String 80x

(Bamboo leaf for Scott Frankowski, UW Oshkosh)

Human Sperm Fertilizing a Human Egg

(Bamboo leaf for Yorgos Nikas)

“The sperm has fused to the egg cell membrane (oolemma) prior to becoming incorporated almost completely into the egg. The zona pellucida has been removed in this preparation. The surface of the egg is covered with dense microvilli. Once the sperm has fused to the egg cell membrane the “zona reaction” takes place which prevents other sperm from entering the egg.”

Split End of a Human Hair

(Bamboo leaf for Liz Hirst)

“Colour-enhanced scanning electron micro-graph of the split end of a human hair showing the outer cuticle layer surrounding the inner cortical layer.”

Looking At The World Through A Microscope (Part II)

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:37:00 +0000

SOURCE

1938 days ago by Tom

Did you enjoy looking at the World through a Microscope (Part I) ? Most of the pictures on this post series were taken with electron microscope and I forgot to explain what it is and how it works.

Panda is very sorry for that, so this time let’s cite http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org:

What’s an electron microscope?
If you looked down the most powerful light microscope in the world, you’d be able to distinguish individual objects that are around 200 nanometres apart – roughly 1/500 the width of a human hair. But objects closer together than that would just merge into one. This is because the wavelength of visible light is longer than 200 nanometres.

But electron microscopes use beams of electrons, instead of light. The wavelength of these electron beams is much shorter, allowing scientists to see structures as small as 1 nanometre (1 millionth of a millimetre).

There are two types of electron microscopes, creating different types of images for different purposes. Transmission electron microscopes (TEM) fire beams of electrons straight through prepared samples of cells, picking up fine details of the tiny structures within. This technique allows scientists to see what’s going on deep within a cell – effectively a “molecule’s eye view”.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is slightly different. Instead of firing beams straight through a sample, the beams are angled so they bounce off the cell surface, providing detailed three-dimensional images.

But we are here not for the in depth scientific study, right? Let’s jump straight to the photos and kill boredom once again. Enjoy!

Surface of tongue

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

“Scanning electron micrograph of the surface of the tongue, computer-coloured red/pink.”

Sperm developing in the testis

(Bamboo leaf for Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images)

“Sperm develop in the seminiferous tubules of the testis. The spermatids are embedded in the Sertoli cells with their tails projecting into the lumen of the tubule. These spermatids are in the advanced stages of maturation. One of the spermatids has two tails tails (top right, green).”

Sperm on the surface of a human egg

(Bamboo leaf for Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images)

“Numerous sperm trying to to fertilise a human egg. They are trying to find their way through the zona pellucida, the membrane that surrounds and protects the egg.”

Close-up of midge eye

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

Close-up of part of midge head

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

Pubic louse

Head of pubic louse

Claws of pubic louse

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

Stinging hairs on a nettle leaf

(Bamboo leaf for David Liz Hirst, Wellcome Images)

“The large stinging hairs are hollow tubes with walls of silica making them into tiny glass needles. The bulb at the base of each hair contains the stinging liquid that includes formic acid, histamine, acetylcholine and 5- hydroxytryptamine (serotonin). The tips of the glassy hairs are very easily broken when brushed, leaving a sharp point, which easily pierces the skin to deliver the sting.”

Comparative thickness of human hair

(Bamboo leaf for Anne Weston, Wellcome Images)

“This image shows the difference in thickness of human hair between different ethnic groups. The strand of hair on the left is that of a Caucasian blond female. The hair on the right is from an Asian male. Hair is normally comprised of three layers, the inner medulla, the cortex and the cuticle. The cuticle is the outermost layer and is comprised of numerous overlapping cells or scales. The cortex makes up the majority of the hair thickness. Interestingly, the inner medulla is not present in blond hair.”

Tooth

(Bamboo leaf for David Gregory&Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images)

“Low power scanning electron microscope image of tooth surface, computer-coloured yellow on blue background.”

Nanowire

(Bamboo leaf for Limin Tong/Harvard University)

“Micrograph of a nanowire curled into a loop in front of a strand of human hair. The nanowires can be as slender as 50 nanometers in width, about one-thousandth the width of a hair.”

The nanowires could be used, in the near future, to link tiny components into extremely small circuits.

Shark skin

Source: unknown

“An electron micrograph reveals sharkskin’s secret to speed: tooth-like scales called dermal denticles. Water “races through the microgrooves without tumbling,” says shark researcher George Burgess, reducing friction. “It’s like a fast-moving river current versus the gurgling turbulence of a shallow stream.” The scales also discourage barnacles and algae from glomming on – an inspiration for synthetic coatings that may soon be applied to Navy ship hulls to reduce such biofouling.” . They also give the shark’s skin the feel of sandpaper.

Your Favorite Movies And TV Series Before and After Added Visual Effects

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:32:00 +0000

SOURCE

Added on Jun 16, 2014 / Category : Movies

We all know that most of a Movie or TV Series magic relies solely on VFX but it's crazy how well the end product turns out. Thanks to computer generated images, a director realize his exact vision for every scene. Buildings, trees, weather - all can be manipulated with computers and blended in seamlessly. From Oscar-nominated films to box-office successes see what popular movies would look like without effects.

Alice in Wonderland

Boardwalk Empire

Game of Thrones

Life of Pi

Oz, the Great and Powerful

Paranoia

The Avengers

The Dark Knight

The Great Gatsby

The Hobbit

The Secret in Their Eyes

The Walking Dead

10 Mythological Deities of Love and Lust

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

10 Mythological Deities Of Love And Lust

MICHAEL VAN DUISEN JANUARY 25, 2014
Source

While the standards of beauty may have changed throughout the centuries, all humans share an inescapable biological urge to procreate. Feelings of love and lust are therefore extremely important and have influenced even our deities—who, after all, are usually reflections of our own characteristics.

10Xochiquetzal
Aztec Mythology

With a name meaning “precious feather flower” the Nahuatl language, it’s no surprise that Xochiquetzal was an Aztec goddess of love. Various other aspects of Aztec life, such as flowers, pregnancy, and prostitutes, also fell under her domain, making her one of the more popular deities of the time—a feast in which her devotees dressed up in animal masks was held every eight years. Because of her affinity for marriage, she was often believed to be the wife of the rain god Tlaloc.

Unlike most Aztec fertility goddesses, Xochiquetzal was usually depicted as a beautiful young woman, which caused her problems with some of the more misogynistic gods of their pantheon. While still married to Tlaloc, she was kidnapped by Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night, and forced to marry him, after which she was enthroned as the goddess of love. By another of her husbands she was also the mother of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god of Aztec mythology.

9Clíodhna
Irish Mythology

Clíodhna was an Irish goddess sometimes depicted as a banshee or even Queen of the Banshees (or Fairies, depending on the translation). However, she was also the goddess of love, perhaps because she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Unlike many other love deities, Clíodhna remained chaste, keeping her love locked away until she met the mortal Ciabahn—who, in a lucky coincidence, just happened to be among the most handsome men ever to have walked the Earth. Clíodhna loved him so much that she left Tir Tairngire, the land of the gods, to be with him.

However, when the other Irish deities found out about this, they conspired to get her back. While Ciabahn was away, Clíodhna was lulled to sleep by the music played by a local minstrel and was subsequently taken by a wave (the tide in the area is still referred to as “Clíodhna’s wave”). Depending on the source, she was either returned to Tir Tairngire or drowned in the sea.

8Tu Er Shen
Chinese Mythology

A relatively minor deity of Chinese mythology, Tu Er Shen—or Hu Tianbao, as he was known when he was mortal—is the god of homosexual love and marriage. Born during the Qing dynasty, Hu Tianbao found himself attracted to an official of the local government, spying on him naked through a hole in his bathroom wall. When his peeping was discovered, Tianbao was beaten to death. Moved by his unrequited love, the gods of the underworld took pity on him and restored him to life as the deity of homosexual relationships.

Perhaps because they were used as a slang term for homosexual men, rabbits are considered a symbol of homoerotic love in China, and Tu Er Shen is often depicted as a rabbit in the few shrines dedicated to him. Sadly, in many of the places where he is worshiped, homosexual activity remains a punishable criminal offense.

7Hathor
Egyptian Mythology

One of the most popular, and longest-lasting, of the Egyptian goddesses, Hathor was mentioned as early as the second dynasty (around 2890-2686 BC), and perhaps even before that. Since she survived for so long, Hathor took on a number of roles, including spells as the goddess of love, beauty, mining, and music. However, it was her time as the Eye of Ra which led to her most interesting stories. The Eye of Ra is the term Egyptians used for the feminine counterpart to Ra, a role filled by a number of goddesses, including Ra’s daughter, Hathor.

Found in King Tut’s tomb, a story known as “The Destruction of Mankind” tells of a time when Hathor, at Ra’s insistence, became the war goddess Sekhmet in order to punish humans for their sinful ways. When the bloodthirsty goddess got out of control, Ra tried to stop his daughter—but failed. Just before she killed every last person on Earth, Ra managed to get her drunk. Hathor immediately forgot what she was doing and returned to normal. In another, possibly equally disturbing story, she performed a striptease for her father in order to cheer him up.

6Eros
Greek Mythology

The Greek version of Cupid, Eros was Aphrodite’s son and the god of desire and attraction (although, he was sometimes depicted as one of the Protogenoi, or primeval gods). Much like his Roman counterpart, he often took the form of a young winged boy, complete with bow and arrow. He was fiercely loyal to his mother—although he was prone to fits of disobedience. That rebellious aspect of the god showed up prominently in his most famous myth.

A young woman named Psyche was born and proclaimed to be so beautiful as to be the second coming of Aphrodite. As was her nature, the goddess was angered and sent Eros to shoot her with her arrow and cause her to fall in love with the ugliest man on Earth as punishment. However, her beauty was so great that Eros fell in love and ignored his mother’s wishes, whisking Psyche away. Eros never revealed his identity but Psyche’s curiosity got the better of her and she peeked in on him when he was sleeping. Betrayed by his love, the god fled and Psychewandered the Earth until Zeus agreed to let them get married.

5Rati
Hinduism

Photo credit: Aditya Mahar

More popularly known as the wife of Kama, the god of love, Rati herself plays a large role in love and lust in Hinduism. With a number of names, most of which speak to her immense beauty, it seems obvious Rati would be the goddess of desire. Depending on the source, she is the daughter of either Daksha or Brahma. In the case of the latter, she was the reason for the god’s suicide, after he lusted after her. Rati immediately killed herself as well (they were both quickly resurrected).

But Rati’s biggest claim to fame was successfully changing Shiva’s mind. The Destroyer, sworn to ascetic ways after his first wife’s death, had been forced to fall in love again. In revenge, he killed Kama, turning him to ash with his third eye. The best known version of the story has Rati persuade Shiva to revive her husband, with the caveat that Kama is to be invisible for eternity.

4Oshun
Yoruba

The goddess of beauty and love, especially of the erotic kind, Oshun is extremely popular among the West African followers of the Yoruba religion. Renowned for her beauty, she is usually depicted as a woman adorned with jewelry, although she is sometimes shown as a mermaid. Oshun is also preeminent among the female deities of the Yoruba religion and demands the respect that title deserves. When the gods were first creating the Earth, and they neglected to ask Oshun to assist, she made it impossible for them to make anything until they came to her for help.

Due to her reputation for complete purity, Oshun is also often associated with fresh water, an extremely important resource for the people of Western Africa. In addition, she also protects women and children during childbirth and is also seen as a protector from diseases, especially smallpox.

3Hymen
Greek Mythology

The god of married love, Hymen was a lesser-known god of the Greek pantheon. Either the son of Apollo and a Muse or Dionysus and Aphrodite, he led a charmed life thanks to his beauty, until he fell in love with a unnamed maiden, who didn’t feel the same way. While Hymen was trying to court her, she was kidnapped by pirates, along with a number of other young women (some versions of the myth even have Hymen taken by the pirates because his beauty made them mistake him for a woman).

Whatever the reason, Hymen found himself on the ship and killed the pirates, saving the girls, and convincing his love to marry him. Their marriage was so successful that it became the ideal to which every Greek couple aspired—his name was included in the wedding songs in order to invoke his blessing.

2Yue Lao
Chinese Mythology

Yue Lao, otherwise known as “The Man under the Moon,” is a popular figure in Chinese mythology, as he is the matchmaker and overseer of heterosexual marriage. Widely connected with the red thread of destiny, Yue Lao is often seen as benevolent deity, binding two people’s hearts together in love and marriage.

The best known story involving Yue Lao is that of Wei Gu and his quest to find a wife. After years of unsuccessful attempts, Wei Gu came upon Yue Lao reading from the book of marriages. Insisting he know who his future wife was, Wei Gu was shown a vision of an old woman with a young child, living in poverty. Distraught that the old woman was to be his wife, Wei Gu ordered his servant to kill the young child, though she escaped serious injury. After years passed, he finally found a suitable wife and noticed she had a scar. When Wei Gu asked about it, he was astonished to find that she had been the young child he tried to have killed (although he probably never told her; some secrets are best kept hidden).

1Freyja
Norse Mythology

Freyja, which translates as “lady,” had a number of roles in the Norse belief system. As well as the goddess of love, she was Queen of Fólkvangr, a place similar to Valhalla, where half of those who died in battle would go after death. However, unlike most of the other deities on this list, Freyja had a vicious bad side, full of greed, jealousy, and evil deeds. Among other things, she’s credited with teaching witchcraft to humans, a practice seen as evil by the Norse.

She was often at odds with Loki, who sought to torment the goddess and steal items from her, including her famed necklace Brísingamen, which was later retrieved by Heimdall. In addition, Freyja would constantly scour the Earth for her husband, who would go missing from time to time, crying tears of red gold as she searched. She did have one tremendous advantage over the other deities on this list—her favored mode of transportation was a chariot pulled by cats.

The Order of the Days, Occult

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:59:00 +0000

Going along with this post...another Day(s) of the Week dive

WOW: Dance on the Circle

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 17:35:00 +0000

Dance on the Wheel...

Unique Circle Yachts: Customization Wrapped In a Futuristic Exoskeleton - JustLuxe.com

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:53:00 +0000

LINK to original work

Nov. 12th, 2013

Photos Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

If Ridley Scott is looking for a bizarre yacht to feature in his Prometheus follow-up or anticipated Blade Runner sequel, I think I've found it…or them, rather. "Unique Circle Yachts" is conceived by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), and is a family of five 90m vessels designed to mimic the fluidity of water. With coral-like cut-outs creating a smooth exoskeleton, the yachts have the perfect look for any science fiction film or trendy billionaire.

"As a dynamic object that moves in dynamic environments, the design of a yacht must incorporate additional parameters beyond those for architecture — which all become much more extreme on water," explains Zaha Hadid. "Each yacht is an engineered platform that integrates specific hydrodynamic and structural demands, together with the highest levels of comfort, spatial quality and safety."

In partnership with naval architects Blohm+Voss, the yachts are inspired by their "Mother Ship" (see what I mean about science fiction?), a 128m concept that has given birth to the five smaller projects. The design team used hydrodynamic research to shape the hulls, varying the thickness throughout the interwoven exoskeletons. According to ZHA, traditional yachts adhere to a "horizontal order," but the exoskeleton works as a connection between the many decks, as well as between the five different yachts. "Each will vary in the density or intensity of lattices, space on deck, the possible inclusion of a sundeck on the bow or the loggia and balcony forming the exterior pool as well as a bow with unique expression according to the conceptual design," says Blohm+Voss.

The first of the five to be technically specified in detail is the 90m JAZZ. Able to be crafted to meet specific demands, the vessel is highly customizable. The interior of JAZZ features bowing and arching elements all throughout, bring the exterior fluidity inside. Based on the conceptual images, the shell doesn't get in the way of panoramic views, but if you want certain areas to be more shut off from the outside world, the design teams promise that they can layer the lattice-like exterior to give more closure.

"The idea of the Unique Circle Yachts allows for variation of a genotype and its phenotypes, offering a range of possible solutions based on a cognate platform," says Dr. Herbert Aly, CEO + Managing Partner Blohm+Voss. "As a result, Zaha Hadid's design is malleable to suit the individual wishes and needs of a potential customer which lies at the heart of our approach to yacht design. The strength of the design lies not just in its functionality and form, but also its effortless adaptability."

No word on price just yet, but if you want one of these Unique Circle Yachts for yourself, contact Blohm+Voss Shipyards.

Photo Series Pokes Fun at Ridiculous Laws You Probably Didn’t Even Know Existed

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 01:05:00 +0000

LINK to original work

DL Cade · Nov 13, 2013

Living in Alabama, one of the more frequent pieces of trivia I hear mentioned at social gatherings has to do with ridiculous state and city laws that are so ludicrous as to be unbelievable. The thing is, these laws exist, and not just in the great state of Alabama.

In her creative and humorous photo series I Fought the Law, photographer Olivia Locherexposes some of the most ridiculous ones you’ll find across the US.
So far Locher has only covered eight laws (one of which is NSFW and therefore not something we’ll share here) but each photo she takes shows someone breaking a ridiculous law in the most absurd way possible, piling absurdity upon absurdity and making the photographs that much more entertaining.
The photo at the top covers an Alabama law I’ve actually heard mentioned by friends several times: it’s illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket in Alabama at all times. Can’t even count the number of times I’ve been burned by that one… if only I’d remember to keep my ice cream in my front pocket.

Here’s a look at the rest of the series (minus one photo, which you can find on her website):

In Texas it’s illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.

In Wisconsin it’s illegal to serve apple pie without cheese in a public restaurant.

In Delaware it is illegal to wear pants that are “form-fitting” around the waist.

In Hawaii coins are not allowed to be placed in one’s ears.

In Connecticut pickles must bounce to officially be considered pickles.

In California nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.

If you’re hungry for more ludicrous photos, or you just want to learn about more ridiculous laws, have no fear: the series is ongoing. In fact, according to Feature Shoot, Locher intends to mock humorous laws across all 50 states before she’s said and done.
To see more of Loher’s work, be sure to visit her website by clicking here.
(via Feature Shoot)

Toilet paper made of real gold

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Toilet paper made of real gold

Sometimes one encounters on the internet on things you can not believe at first. With Toilet Paper Man, you can buy a roll of toilet paper from 22-karat gold. What does that cost? Just measly a $1,376,900.00. Whether someone buys and especially needs remains questionable. A good investment opportunity, it is in any case.
This is the most expensive toilet paper roll in the world. A Quality 3ply toilet paper with 22 carat gold through the roll. As you use the toilet paper 22 carat gold flakes will fall onto the floor and your behind taking you to another level of sophistication.

LINK

Verfasst am von Daniel · Dinge · Geldscheißer, Gold, Toilette, Toilettenpapier

40 Tons of GMO Crops TORCHED in America, Media Blackout

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 04:18:00 +0000

Posted on June 23, 2013

Source 1 & Source 2

Though the controlled corporate media apparatus is suppressing the story, 40 tons of GMO crops were torched, prompting an FBI investigation. There has been a COMPLETE MEDIA BLACKOUT, outside of local circles has dared to mention it, perhaps because government fears that if the public learns that other people are getting fighting mad (literally), they might join in, and become an actual revolution. It was only reported locally live on KXL Radio and echoed by the Oregonian, where the ONLY web mention exists, hard to find because the headline wording is carefully avoids the most likely keywords for a search.

Here’s what happened — 40 Tons of GMO Sugar Beets were set ablaze in Oregon, yesterday. FORTY TONS — the entire acreage of two full fields of crops IN THE GROUND were set ablaze over a THREE NIGHT PERIOD OF TIME. That means ARSON.

Since the initial reports, the news said instead that 6,500 plants were destroyed BY HAND, ONE PLANT AT A TIME. That would indicate that A LOT OF PEOPLE were involved. If the reports of the uprooting of this many plants are true, then WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A MOVEMENT, a kind of ORGANIZED REVOLT — and this is exactly the kind of retribution that many have warned was coming; when lawmakers and corporations refuse to honor the Constitution and instead engage in ‘legalized’ criminal acts such as enabled by the ‘Monsanto Protection Act.’ If, however, the initial reports of uprooting along with arson are true, then this certainly makes more sense, both in terms of the nature of the direct action, and the logic behind how it could be pulled off on a practical level. This would also explain why the FBI is involved, as uprooting plants would not likely interest the Bureau as much as this case is.

More than decade ago, environmental saboteurs vandalized experimental crops across the country in a revolt against high-tech agriculture. Foes of genetic engineering also struck in 2000, when members of the Earth Liberation Front, with roots in Oregon, set fire to agriculture offices at Michigan State University. ELF’s position was that genetic engineering was “one of the many threats to the natural world as we know it.”

But ELF cells normally come forward immediately to claim responsibility, because to them, its all about publicity to educate the public. Since there has been no statement about the recent arson this may have simply been Oregon Farmers who have said, ‘Enough!’ Another clue that may be the case is that this comes on the heels (two weeks) of Japan’s rejection of the entire Oregon Wheat crop for the year (a tremendous financial blow because over 80% of Oregon Wheat is exported) because ONE report said ONE field was contaminated with at least ONE GMO plant.

The rightful fear is, because of pollination processes, once you introduce a GMO crop of a given variety ANYWHERE, the wind and insects will spread its genetic contamination to non GMO fields, and thereby ruin the ENTIRE INDUSTRY for a region. In fact, Oregon farmers have tendered a multi-billion dollar class action law suite against Monsanto, joining a long list of states doing so. Monsanto has experimented with GMO crops before they were approved in 16 states. They were supposedly all destroyed, but state after state is finding out the hard way, that Pandora’s box has been deliberately left open.

But while other governments in Europe and elsewhere are passing laws to ban GMO crops, and burning entire crops themselves, in America, our government is passing laws protecting Monsanto from legal repercussions, and therefore, it seems, farmers are forced to burn the crops, themselves. This means that where in other countries, citizens are being protected from corporate crimes, in America, citizens are forced to become ‘terrorists’ to survive. That’s how blatantly corrupt our corporate police state has become, I’m afraid.

Can GMO spark an armed revolution? Recall our report on the Putin’s comments about how the protection of Monsanto (through things like the “Monsanto Protection Act”) could lead to armed revolt and war. This story was reported on by Political Blind Spot after verifying the claims we had seen circulating, and omitting those which we had heard but could not verify. Still, Monsanto public relations employees were literally paid to track down articles such as ours and try to argue that they should be taken down (we may publish these exchanges with them from official Monsanto email addresses).

In this case, both fields belonged to the same Corporate Agricultural giant known for embracing GMO, though trying to do so quietly, another reason perhaps big media has kept the story from reaching the Internet. We are talking about Syngenta. Nowhere on their US web site will you find mention of GMO, but that is exactly what the company is about. They have even lied publicly in writing on this issue with a public declaration. Yet their very corporate name shouts GMO.

But the FBI, and local media knows better (and now, you)… because apparently someone from the Syngenta operated farms mentioned the fact as a possible motive for the arson. This is a serious matter in many respects. It throws down the gauntlet and says, WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND ARE NOT GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS BULLSHIT ANYMORE! But it also raises the stakes and put lives and property at risk, and if it goes wrong, could indeed end up sparking an armed revolution, just as Putin indicated to President Obama.

What do fruits and vegetables look like inside an MRI?

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 05:03:00 +0000

LINK

Over at the blog Inside Insides, Andy Ellison of Boston University Medical School has been throwing the entire produce aisle inside a Philips 3 Tesla MRI, revealing the otherworldly realms that dwell inside common foods. Here's but a small sampling of his many see-through delicacies, immortalized as GIFs — my favorite is the broccoli explosion. Credit, Credit

Sunflower:

Corn 1:

Corn 2:

Pumpkin:

Banana:

Kiwi:

Grapes:

Broccoli 1:

Broccoli 2:

Tomato:

Cucumber:

Garlic:

Starfruit:

Thanks to: Inside Insides, Andy Ellison

Tesla Turbine

noreply@blogger.com (JjE) — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:44:00 +0000

http://www.instructables.com/id/Tesla-Turbine/

Tesla Turbine

by zazenergy

The Tesla turbine was patented by none other than Nikola Tesla in 1913. They use the boundary layer effect rather than fluid impinging on the blades. It's a high RPM low torque motor. So, applications can be somewhat limited in the traditional sense of what we think of as uses for motors. Though, Tesla himself envisioned using them in cars and other highly practical applications.

Check out these Instructables to see some projects others have built and post one of your own!