Robalini's Week 8 NFL Picks

Here's my results for week 7
W-L-T record: 5-3
Season record: 27-19-2

Robalini's Commentary: Last week I said I had a 14-8 three week run: in fact, it was 13-7. Now I have an 18-10 four-week run, which feels pretty good. Little bummed I started 4-0 last week but went 1-3 in the later games. But a winning record is a winning record...

Lets hear it for Tony LaRussa & the St. Louis Cardinals for winning the World Series over GW Bush's Texas Rangers!!!

Anyway, here's my picks for Week 8:

Tennessee Titans (-8 1/2) Over Indianappolis Colts

The Titans have played surprisingly well this season, and should take the hapless Colts rather easily at home...

Houston Texans (-9 1/2) Over Jacksonville Jaguars

My love affair with the Texans continues with Houston dumping on the Jags at home...

Carolina Panthers (-3) Over Minnesota Vikings

I'll repeat: I'm sold on Cam Newton...

New York Giants (-9 1/2) Over Miami Dolphins

The Fins are confused, while the Giants look ready to get their act together at home...

Buffalo Bills (-6) Over Washington Redskins

With an excited Toronto crowd behind the Bills, they should knock out the Skins pretty easily...

Detroit Lions (-3) Over Denver Broncos

Last week I praised Tim Tebow, but he can only do so much. The Lions are looking for revenge after losing two in a row: they've found the perfect opponent in the Broncos...

Seattle Seahawks (+3) Over Cincinnati Bengals

The Seahawks have underplayed this year while the Bengals have overplayed. This should be corrected this week, especially with Seattle's incredible home field advantage...

San Diego Chargers (-3 1/2) Over Kansas City Chiefs

I said that San Diego has underplayed this season last week despite their record, but even a second-rate Charger team can beat the Chiefs...

All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com/

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist

recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/

Robalini's Week 7 NFL Picks

Here's my results for week 6 W-L-T record: 6-2
Season record: 22-16-2

Robalini's Commentary: WINNING! 6-2 week and a 14-8 three-week run. Incidentally, am I the only one who, while seeing the scuffle between Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz after the 49ers-Lions game, thought of a pitch for the next buddy comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly?

Anyway, here's my picks for Week 7:

Carolina Panthers (-2 1/2) Over Washington Redskins

I am sold on Cam Newton. Yes, the Panthers are 1-5, but they've had a real tough schedule, and Newton has lost with poise. At home against the Skins (way worse than their 3-2 record suggests, and putting in at starting QB a dude who didn't play a NFL game in four years until last week) Cam and co. should do well...

New York Jets (+2) Over San Diego Chargers

As much as I love Rex Ryan, after six weeks, I have to conclude they're probably not quite ready to be Super Bowl champs yet like I predicted in pre-season. (And sorry, but Mark Sanchez is glaringly the weak link here.) Still, they are better than their record of 3-3 suggests, and they can still kick the ass of any other team in the NFL on any given Sunday, either on home or on the road. Meanwhile, the Chargers are 4-1, a shockingly good record for a team notorious for starting slow in the Norv Turner era, more impressive because their only loss is against the omnipotent Patriots. And yet, they oddly don't look particularly strong this year, either on the stat sheet or the eyeball test. Go figure. So screw it, I'm going with my eyeballs over team records. I'd take the Jets at home against the Chargers even if you weren't giving me two points...

Houston Texans (+3) Over Tennessee Titans

They've hit a tough patch, but I still am sold on the Texans. They should dispatch the Titans easily...

Denver Broncos (+2 1/2) Over Miami Dolphins

There are two kinds of people in the world: people who think Tim Tebow has the intangibles to be a potentially great winning NFL QB, and those who think he just can't translate his college successes to the pros. Count me in the former category. Tebow proved yet again that he is a winner at heart in his off-the-bench near comeback against the Chargers two weeks ago, and now, well-rested after a week off, the Broncos have a virtual home game in Florida Tebow-land against a demoralized Miami team that seems more interested in winning the Andrew Luck sweepstakes than any game they play. And you're giving me 2 1/2 points on top of that? Dude, I'm there!!!

Oakland Raiders (-4) Over Kansas City Chiefs

Let me be bold here: Oakland will win the AFC West this season. I knew they had talent in a weak division, but I just didn't think they were ready for prime time. They are, unlike KC, who was my preseason pick. And this was my opinion even before I heard they had obtained Carson Palmer at QB. Palmer may be rusty, but he'll still play well enough, and at home against the hapless Chiefs with the ghost of Al Davis screaming "Just Win, Baby" they will do just that...

Pittsburgh Steelers (-4) Over Arizona Cardinals

The Steelers are banged up, but they love to feast on weak teams. The Cardinals fit the bill...

Green Bay Packers (-8 1/2) Over Minnesota Vikings

Hard to believe, but this is the first time all season I'm picking the Super Bowl champ Packers to win. (In fact, two weeks ago, I picked the Falcons to win with points against Green Bay, a pick that was wrong.) Why no Packer love? Am I that much of a Favre fanboy? No, I always thought the Packers were good (though didn't expect Aaron Rodgers to have an MVP-level start and the team to go undefeated) but due to the heavy pro-Packer betting, they just didn't seem like a wise bet with the inflated point spreads. But a Fellini-esque 8 1/2 points against a 1-5 Vikings team starting a highly suspect rookie QB for the first time? That sounds like a good deal to me...

Baltimore Ravens (-8) Over Jacksonville Jaguars

This is the fourth time this season I'm picking the Ravens to win and the fifth time I'm picking against the Jaguars. Baltimore is 4-1, and Jacksonville is 1-5. I think I'm onto something here...


All bets are placed at Station Casinos:

http://www.stationcasinos.com/

To check Las Vegas odds, The Konformist recommends VegasInsider.com:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/

Oldest artist's workshop in the world discovered

Andy Coghlan
13 October 2011
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21046-oldest-artists-workshop-in-the-world-discovered.html

Grind up some ochre, melt some bone-marrow fat, mix the lot with a splash of urine – and paint your body with it. It sounds like an avant-garde performance but it may have happened some 100,000 years ago, in the oldest known artist's workshop – a cave in South Africa. The complex pigments that humans mixed there, and the tools they used to do it, are revealing just how cunning some of our earliest ancestors were.

The purpose of the paint is unknown, but the researchers who discovered the workshop at the Blombos cave on South Africa's southern coast think it was most likely applied to skin for decoration or ritual, or perhaps even as an insect repellent.

Inside the cave, Christopher Henshilwood of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his team found tools and two abalone shells that were used for mixing and storing the paint. Alongside one of them were quartzite stones used to hammer and grind ochre to a powder, and animal bones used to stir the powder with other materials, which included bone, charcoal, quartz fragments and other stones.

They also discovered evidence that some of the bones had been heated, probably to melt fat from the marrow that would have then bound the minerals. "There were also quartzite fragments to cement it, mixed with a liquid, probably urine," says Henshilwood.

The whole lot survived together in one place because after the cave was abandoned it filled with wind-blown sand, sealing the cache as a "time capsule", says Henshilwood.

Early planners

Whatever our ancestors did with their paint, the simple fact that they were mixing minerals to prepare it 100,000 years ago is in itself a major discovery, and tells us something about our ancestors' cognitive abilities at the time.

For instance, Henshilwood points out that this is the first known use of containers from that time. What's more, the artists would have had to collect ochre and other materials with the specific purpose of making paint in mind – a sign that they were planners – and needed a "basic knowledge of chemistry".

The nearest known source of ochre, he says, is at least 20 kilometres away from the cave, so the find demonstrates that Homo sapiens was capable of this high degree of organisation and planning only 50,000 to 100,000 years after the species emerged.

"It's quite simply stunning, first-rate work, and unambiguously dated," says Paul Pettitt, an anthropologist at the University of Sheffield, UK.

"What takes this into the stratosphere is the degree of organisation, of intent and of industry," he says. "It's highly thought out, and repeated, so this is a systematic production of paint."

Art or body art?

Could the paint have been used for murals rather than as body paint? Possibly, but no ancient painting has been discovered nearby. A few years ago, also in Blombos cave, the same team did find 13 engraved tablets of ochre, each about 2 centimetres square, bearing leaf-like or hatched designs. They are the same age as the abalone shells, and may have been some of the earliest lipstick.

Pettitt says that the earliest unambiguous art was made around 35,000 years ago, in the Chauvet caves of south-east France, and the earliest evidence of ochre pigment production dates from 60,000 years ago. The new Blombos find, however, shows that early humans were capable both of organised activity and of creatively making and using pigments much earlier than we knew before.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1211535

Abominable Snowman "Close to Being Caught"

From DailyMail.co.uk:

They have long been thought to be merely the stuff of legend.

But Russian officials say they have found ‘indisputable evidence’ that yetis exist – and are living in Siberia.

The bold claim follows an international conference and expedition to track down the Abominable Snowman in the Mount Shoria area.

However, doubt has already been cast on the ‘find’ – as the team has no convincing photographic or DNA evidence. Their claim appears to be based on bent branches, a single unclear footprint and a small sample of grey ‘hair’, found in a cave.

The administration of the Kemerovo region, where the cave is situated, yesterday announced that ‘indisputable evidence’ had been found.

But critics said the expedition was more about making the area a tourist destination than true science...

STILL AT LARGE: THE HISTORY OF THE YETI

The first accounts of Yetis emerged before the 19th century from Buddhists who believed that the creature inhabited the Himalayas.

They depicted the mysterious beast as having similarities to an ape and carrying a large stone as a weapon while making a whistling sound.

The term Abominable Snowman was developed in 1921 following a book by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury called Mount Everest The Reconnaissance.

Popular interest in creature gathered pace in early 20th century as tourists began making their own trips to the region to try and capture the Yeti. They reported seeing strange markings in the snow.

The Daily Mail led a trip called the the Snowman Expedition in 1954 to Everest. During the trip mountaineering leader John Angelo Jackson photographed ancient paintings of Yetis and large footprints in the snow.

A number of hair samples were also found that were believed to have come from a Yeti scalp.

British mountaineer Don Whillans claimed to have witnessed a creature when scaling Annapurna in 1970. He said that while searching for a campsite he heard some odd cries which his guide attributed to a Yeti's call. That night, he saw a dark shape moving near his camp...

Is this finally proof the Yeti exists?
Rick Dewsbury
11th October 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047528/Siberian-evidence-proof-yetis-exist-Abominable-Snowman-close-caught.html

Moon Packed with Precious Titanium, NASA Probe Finds

11 October 2011 http://www.space.com/13247-moon-map-lunar-titanium.html

A new map of the moon has uncovered a trove of areas rich in precious titanium ore, with some lunar rocks harboring 10 times as much of the stuff as rocks here on Earth do.

The map, which combined observations in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths, revealed the valuable titanium deposits. These findings could shed light on some of the mysteries of the lunar interior, and could also lay the groundwork for future mining on the moon, researchers said.

"Looking up at the moon, its surface appears painted with shades of grey — at least to the human eye," Mark Robinson, of Arizona State University, said in a statement. "The maria appear reddish in some places and blue in others. Although subtle, these color variations tell us important things about the chemistry and evolution of the lunar surface. They indicate the titanium and iron abundance, as well as the maturity of a lunar soil."

The woman who never forgets anything

Hollywood star Marilu Henner's awesome memory is changing our understanding of the brain
David Derbyshire
4th October 2011

To read the full story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2044538/Hollywood-star-Marilu-Henners-memory-changing-understanding-brain.html

A good memory is essential for any aspiring actress struggling with her lines. But in the case of Marilu Henner - a Broadway star who rose to fame in the 1970s sitcom Taxi - her memory isn’t just good, it’s incredible. For her, the past is simply unforgettable.

Give her any date from the past 40 years and she can instantly tell you the day of the week, what she was wearing, what the weather was like and what was on TV.

If that isn’t impressive enough, the 59-year-old Hollywood star, who most recently appeared on British TV screens in Celebrity Apprentice, can even recall with complete clarity events that happened when she was just 18 months old.

Marilu Henner is one of a handful of people with a rare condition called hyperthymesia, or ‘superior autobiographical memory’ - the ability to remember everything that happened on every day of their lives.

Their cases don’t just highlight the incredible power of the mind. They are also shaking some of the basic understanding about the nature of memory and what the limits of the brain really are.

Henner regards her supercharged memory as a gift.

‘It was never a trauma for me - it was just who I was,’ she says. ‘I was very good at remembering things: I was the family historian. People would come to me and ask me stuff, and it was never a problem.’

Her earliest memory is playing with her older brother in her family’s Chicago home aged one and a half. This has stunned scientists, who had assumed that it was virtually impossible to recall events before the age of two.

And that’s just the start. Most people can remember about 250 faces during a lifetime: Henner remembers thousands.

It is impossible for most of us to imagine what it is like to have a memory of every single day. She describes sifting through memories as ‘looking for a scene on a DVD before me.

‘In a second I’m back there, looking through my own eyes at the scene as I saw it in 1980 or whenever.’

Hyperthymesia (hyper means excessive while thymesia means memory in Greek) is a new concept in psychology. It was first identified in 2006 by a team of researchers at the University of California...

Lair of Ancient 'Kraken' Sea Monster Possibly Discovered

Jeanna Bryner
October 10, 2011
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/10/lair-ancient-kraken-sea-monster-possibly-discovered/

A giant sea monster, the likes of the mythological kraken, may have swum Earth's ancient oceans, snagging what was thought to be the sea's top predators — school bus-size ichthyosaurs with fearsome teeth.

The kraken, which would've been nearly 100 feet (30 meters) long, or twice the size of the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis, likely drowned or broke the necks of the ichthyosaurs before dragging the corpses to its lair, akin to an octopus's midden, according to study researcher Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

There is no direct evidence for the beast, though McMenamin suggests that's because it was soft-bodied and didn't stand the test of time; even so, to make a firm case for its existence one would want to find more direct evidence.

McMenamin is scheduled to present his work Monday (Oct. 10) at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis.

Cause of death

Evidence for the kraken and its gruesome attacks comes from markings on the bones of the remains of nine 45-foot (14 meter) ichthyosaurs of the species Shonisaurus popularis, which lived during the Triassic, a period that lasted from 248 million to 206 million years ago. The beasts were the Triassic version of today's predatory giant squid-eating sperm whales.

Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts was interested in solving a long-standing puzzle over the cause of death of the S. popularis individuals at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada. An expert on the site, Charles Lewis Camp of U.C. Berkeley, suggested in the 1950s that the ichthyosaurs succumbed to an accidental stranding or a toxic plankton bloom. However, nobody has been able to prove the beasts died in shallow water, and recent work on the rocks around the fossils suggests they died in a deepwater environment, McMenamin said.

"I was aware that anytime there is controversy about depth, there is probably something interesting going on," McMenamin said. And when he and his daughter arrived at the park, they were struck by the remains' strangeness, particularly "a very odd configuration of bones."

A giant sea monster, the likes of the mythological kraken, may have taken out ichthyosaurs the size of school buses, arranging their vertebrae in curious linear patterns with nearly geometric patterns.

The etching on the bones suggested the shonisaurs were not all killed and buried at the same time, he said. It also looked like the bones had been purposefully rearranged, likely carried to the "kraken's lair" after they had been killed. A similar behavior has been seen in modern octopus.

The markings and rearrangement of the S. popularis bones suggests an octopus-like creature (like a kraken) either drowned the ichthyosaurs or broke their necks, according to McMenamin.

The arranged vertebrae also seemed to resemble the pattern of sucker disks on a cephalopod's tentacle, with each vertebra strongly resembling a sucker made by a member of the Coleoidea, which includes octopuses, squid, cuttlefish and their relatives. The researchers suggest this pattern reveals a self-portrait of the mysterious beast.

The perfect crime?

Next, McMenamin wondered if an octopus-like creature could realistically have taken out the huge swimming predatory reptiles. Evidence is in their favor, it seems. Video taken by staff at the Seattle Aquarium showed that a large octopus in one of their large tanks had been killing the sharks. [On the Brink: A Gallery of Wild Sharks]

"We think that this cephalopod in the Triassic was doing the same thing," McMenamin said. More supporting evidence: There were many more broken ribs seen in the shonisaur fossils than would seem accidental, as well as evidence of twisted necks.

"It was either drowning them or breaking their necks," McMenamin said.

So where did this kraken go? Since octopuses are mostly soft-bodied they don't fossilize well and scientists wouldn't expect to find their remains from so long ago. Only their beaks, or mouthparts, are hard and the chances of those being preserved nearby are very low, according to the researchers.

Though his case is circumstantial, and likely to draw skepticism from other scientists, McMenamin said: "We're ready for this. We have a very good case."

Real-life Jedi: Pushing the limits of mind control

The inner workings of the brain can now be read using low cost hardware
Katia Moskvitch
Technology reporter, BBC News
9 October 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15200386

You don't have to be a Jedi to make things move with your mind.

Granted, we may not be able to lift a spaceship out of a swamp like Yoda does in The Empire Strikes Back, but it is possible to steer a model car, drive a wheelchair and control a robotic exoskeleton with just your thoughts.

"The first thing is to clear your mind…to think of nothing," says Ed Jellard; a young man with the quirky title of senior inventor.

We are standing in a testing room at IBM's Emerging Technologies lab in Winchester, England.

On my head is a strange headset that looks like a black plastic squid. Its 14 tendrils, each capped with a moistened electrode, are supposed to detect specific brain signals.

In front of us is a computer screen, displaying an image of a floating cube.

As I think about pushing it, the cube responds by drifting into the distance.

Admittedly, the system needed a fair bit of pre-training to achieve this single task. But it has, nonetheless, learned to associate a specific thought pattern with a particular movement.

The headset, which was developed by Australian company Emotiv for the games industry, has been around for some time. But it is only now that companies such as IBM are beginning to harness the wealth of data that it can provide.

Using software developed in-house, researchers have linked the Emotiv to devices such as a model car, a light switch and a television.

Control signals come from two main sources; electroencephalography (EEG) measurements of brain activity, and readings of nerve impulses as they travel outwards to the muscles.

Restoring Movement

New techniques for processing such information are enabling sophisticated real world applications.

Already the team has used the system to help a patient with locked-in syndrome, whose healthy, active mind became trapped in a motionless body following a stroke.

"We linked the headset to the IBM middleware, and when he pushed the cube on the screen, that behaved like a click of the mouse - so he was able to use the computer," explained IBM's Kevin Brown.

Many commercial mind control technologies are designed to restore physical ability to those who have lost it.

At Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), researchers have applied brain-computer interface technology to create thought-controlled wheelchairs and telepresence robots.

"A disabled patient who can't move can instead navigate such a robot around his house to participate in the social life of the family," explains the team leader, Professor Jose del Millan.

"To do that, a helmet detects the intention of some physical movement and translates it into action."

Japanese company Cyberdyne is helping people who cannot walk to regain mobility by dressing them in a full-body robotic suit called Hal.

Just as some of IBM's readings come from nerve impulses, rather than brain waves, Cyberdyne uses tiny sensors on the limbs to measure the subject's intention to move, even if the physical act is impossible.

The robot body responds by moving its arms or legs. Webcams and computer screens enabling the user to pilot their machine and communicate with friends and family through their proxy body.

Outside the healthcare field, another implementation, being developed by EPFL in partnership with car maker Nissan, is an intelligent vehicle that can use brainwave data.

Supported by numerous external sensors and cameras, brain wave sensors read what the driver is planning to do next.

Having anticipated their intentions, the car takes over, eliminating the need for tedious and time consuming physical movement.

For those who prefer pedal power, Toyota is working with Saatchi & Saatchi, Parlee Cycles and DeepLocal to develop a bicycle which can shift gear based on its rider's thoughts.

Suits and microchips

Headsets and helmets offer cheap, easy-to-use ways of tapping into the mind. But there are other, more invasive techniques being developed.

At Brown Institute for Brain Science in the US, scientists are busy inserting chips right into the human brain.

The technology, dubbed BrainGate, sends mental commands directly to a PC.

Subjects still have to be physically "plugged" into a computer via cables coming out of their heads, in a setup reminiscent of the film The Matrix. However, the team is now working on miniaturising the chips and making them wireless.

BrainGate is developing ways of using the output to control a computer cursor, on-screen keyboard, and even manipulate robotic arms.

After testing it on monkeys, the scientists have now started human trials. Lead researcher Prof John Donoghue hopes that one day, his groundbreaking research will help people with spinal cord injuries or locked-in syndrome to walk again just by thinking of moving their limbs.

Robot warriors?

But extracting information from the brain, be it by internal or external sensors, is only part of the story.

Much of the current research effort is looking at how to efficiently process and utilise the vast streams of data that the brain produces.

Turning analogue thoughts into digital information links human beings directly to electronic information networks, such as the internet. The brain becomes becomes yet another sensor to be analysed and interrogated.

And as techniques for crunching that output get more sophisticated, the technology it drives will move beyond simple device control.

"People like data," said IBM's Ed Jellard. "So if you can see patterns of data, the geekier people will be very interested to see what is going on in their brain and how it is changing over time.

"I would be interest to know if my brain is getting stronger and if I have more intense thoughts. Things like that could be useful."

While it is possible to translate brain waves into machine processable data, there remains something unique and special about those signals that rocket around inside our skulls.

They are not the same as lasers in a fibre optic cable or electrons in a microprocessor, and tapping the mind will raise philosophical and ethical questions, according to Prof Noel Sharkey.

"Once the military get a hold of it, they will push it very hard," he explains.

"At the moment they are filling the airspace in Afghanistan with drones that only one person can control - but if they get the helmets well enough developed, they'll be able to control a number of planes or robot warriors directly with their thoughts."

There are also questions about what form cyber crime would take in the age of the wired mind?

"Imagine some kind of a wireless computer device in your head that you'll use for mind control - what if people hacked into that, what could they do to you and your property?," continues Prof Sharkey.

"And what if you are forced to wear a device and someone controls you with his thoughts, making you do things?..."

The possibilities, both positive and negative, are literally mind boggling.

U.S. Scientist Patents Time Machine

BeforeItsNews.com Tuesday, October 11, 2011

To read the full story:
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1216/437/U.S._Scientist_Patents_Time_Machine.html

To view the Time Machine Patent:
http://www.konformist.com/2011/timemachine.pdf
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060073976.pdf

The patent for a time machine has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by one Dr. Marvin B. Pohlman of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Who is Marvin B. Pohlman?

An American scientist, Marvin B. Pohlman is a man of many talents—and a very busy man.

According to his bio he's the Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance product strategy for a major Bay area enterprise software company. Despite the demands of his career, he's also managed to author three text books on IT governance and security.

In whatever spare time such a man has left, he found enough of it to invent a time machine.

At first glance, such a thing might be too fantastic a notion to believe, yet Pohlman does hold a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics, an MBA from Lexington Business School, and a PhD in computer science from Trinity University.

He's also a member of Portland Mensa, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer, Certified Information Systems Auditor, Certified Information Security Manager and Certified Information Systems security professional.

Perhaps he invented the time machine because he discovered he hasn't enough time to squeeze in everything he wants to accomplish?

A time traveler literally has all the time in the world

Regardless of why he invented it, he has.

From an abstract associated with the patent, Pohlman explains:

"The method employs sinusoidal oscillations of electrical bombardment on the surface of one Kerr type singularity in close proximity to a second Kerr type singularity in such a method to take advantage of the Lense-Thirring effect, to simulate the effect of two point masses on nearly radial orbits in a 2+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter space resulting in creation of circular timelike geodesics conforming to the van Stockum under the Van Den Broeck modification of the Alcubierre geometry (Van Den Broeck 1999) permitting topology change from one spacelike boundary to the other in accordance with Geroch's theorem (Geroch 1967) resulting in a method for the formation of Godel-type geodesically complete spacetime envelopes complete with closed timelike curves."
If you think this is all a big joke, take a look at the patent filing here:

http://www.konformist.com/2011/timemachine.pdf
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060073976.pdf

What you're looking at may not last much longer in full public view. If the finished product works the U.S. military will grab it, wipe all references to it, and plunge it into another one of their deep, dark black projects.

As you can imagine, some familiar with the patent filing are skeptical...

Who Will Be the Next Steve Jobs?

Source: FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/07/next-steve-jobs

1. Mark Pincus
Have you played Farmville? Then you already know the work of Mark Pincus, the CEO and co-founder of a San Francisco start-up called Zynga that has made a killing with Facebook apps. According to an SEC filing, about 232 million people play Zynga games routinely. This past summer, the Wall Street Journal valued the five-year-old company at a hefty $15 billion to $20 billion. Pincus is a social marketing genius with a broad smile, bright ideas and plenty of charisma.

2. Caterina Fake
Fake has a long history of innovation -- her entrepreneurial record in Silicon Valley is legendary. She helped launch the site Flickr.com in 2004, which paved the wave for other Web 2.0 services that allow user contributions, tagging (to make images easier to find) and discussion over content. (The site was sold to Yahoo! in 2005. Her latest project, called Hunch.com, goes a step further, allowing users to share their preferences and create an on-going recommendation system for books, movies, or just about anything you can find on the Web.

3. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg has the same golden aura and visionary outlook of Jobs. The CEO and co-founder of Facebook said during a recent Facebook tech conference that his company stands at “the intersection of technology and social issues,” so he’s prone to make grand statements. His main contribution is building what's become a second Internet of sorts, a safe and mostly secure haven for storing your digital life: photos, conversations, news and more. The company is steadily closing in on 1 billion users on the network -- all of this, and the guy is only 27.

4. Jon Rubenstein
Born a year after Steve Jobs, in 1956, Jon Rubenstein worked at Apple up until 2006. According to Rob Enderle, a consumer analyst, Rubenstein was being groomed to replace Steve Jobs. He even has the same knack for creating a “reality distortion field” at product launches. Rubenstein helped create the original iPod but eventually left Apple for Palm. His efforts to create a new smartphone interface called WebOS fell flat: the company was eventually sold to HP. Still, there’s signs he will rise to prominence from within HP as a tech executive.

5. Marissa Meyer
Named one of the 50 most powerful woman by Fortune Magazine, Marissa Meyer has a bright tech future. A vice president at Google, this well-liked visionary is also the “face” of the company: She's said to have created the basic building blocks for the Google.com and Gmail interfaces. Meyer is well-spoken, chats easily with press and has a upbeat personality.

6. Dean Kamen
The inventor of the Segway, Kamen has the bright spark of the entrepreneur about him. And he's clearly got "that vision thing": When he invents something, it takes a while for people to realize how innovative it is. The Segway is still an uncommon sight on sidewalks, but lately he has worked with science foundations for kids, invented alternative engines and founded a research institute.

7. Larry Page and Sergey Brin
The co-founders of Google have a youthful exuberance about technology and a penchant for inventing products everyone uses. Even the mission statement at Google is far-reaching: to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Charles King, an IT analyst at PUND-IT, says the two founders did more than just create a search engine -- they invented (or at least popularized) the idea of using the Web for data processing and storage.

8. Tony Hseih
Here’s a name you might not know, unless you've read his best-selling book about entrepreneurship, "Delivering Happiness." In the book, the founder of Zappos.com -- a shoe retailer now owned by Amazon -- makes a case for pleasing customers by making a company all about customer service. Hseih’s greatest gift is in communicating ideas, something that served Steve Jobs well throughout his career.

9. Michael Dell
A wild card pick, Michael Dell is a successful entrepreneur and visionary who started Dell in 1984. He’s older than Zuckerberg, who was born in 1984, and his contributions in tech have more to do with enterprise computing (the servers that run in a company), IT services (helping a business run efficiently) and direct marketing to consumers. His time may finally come now that HP has pulled out of the PC business.

Matt Groening Meets Apple

Any fan of The Simpsons should suspect the show's creator Matt Groening has a love of Apple Computers: in the episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", the devil is revealed using a Mac to run operations in hell. It turns out that Groening wasn't only a fan of Steve Jobs' company: in 1989, he was hired by Apple to provide artwork for a Macintosh brochure. It featured characters from his Life in Hell weekly comic strip, and came out less than a year before The Simpsons became a cultural madness. The brochure is a nice little bit of cultural history (kind of like seeing The Beatles perform in 1962) and gives some good tips on how to use a Mac. To see the whole brochure visit Comics Alliance:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/06/13/matt-groening-apple-macintosh-brochure-cartoon/

Great American Garage Entrepreneurs

October 6, 2011
http://www.history.com/news/2011/10/06/great-american-garage-entrepreneurs

Setting up shop in a garage may sound like a cliché, but did you know that a number of thriving American businesses really got their start that way? One of the most famous examples is, of course, Apple Inc., founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56, and his friend Steve Wozniak. Find out about their brainchild and other major companies that trace their roots to humble birthplaces.

Apple Inc.
On April Fool’s Day in 1976, 21-year-old Steve Jobs and 25-year-old Steve Wozniak established Apple Computer, later known simply as Apple Inc. Pioneers in the burgeoning world of personal computers, the pair worked out of Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Jobs, a college dropout, became one of the great innovators of the digital age, transforming not just his original field but also music, animation and mobile communications. He died at 56 on October 5, 2011, after a long struggle with cancer. Apple’s notable products include the Macintosh computer line, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, iTunes, the Mac OS X operating system and Final Cut Studio.

Hewlett-Packard
Considered the first American technology business to launch behind a garage door, Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, who had scraped together an initial capital investment of $538. At the time, Packard and his new wife Lucile lived in an apartment next door and Hewlett camped out in a shed on the property, located in Palo Alto, California. After developing a range of electronic products, the company entered the computer market in 1966 and is now one of the world’s largest technology corporations. The one-car garage where it all began is a designated California historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Walt Disney Company
In 1923, the Missouri-born cartoonist Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles with his brother Roy to make short films that combined animation and live action. They spent several months producing their first series, the “Alice Comedies,” out of their uncle Robert’s garage before relocating to the back of a realty office and finally to a studio. Now the world’s largest media conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company became a leader in film, television, travel, leisure, music and publishing. In 2006, it acquired Pixar Studios from another veteran of a California garage: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer. Robert Disney’s garage was saved from demolition in 1984 and donated to the Stanley Ranch Museum.

Mattel
When Ruth and Elliot Handler, who had met in an industrial design course, started making picture frames in their California garage, they probably never thought their venture—Mattel—would grow into the world’s biggest toy manufacturer. More or less by accident, they wound up crafting dollhouse furniture and later children’s playthings out of spare wood scraps. In the late 1950s, Ruth determined there was a market for dolls that looked like “grown-ups”; ignoring her husband’s objections, she designed a prototype and named it after their daughter, Barbie. (Ken, named for their son, followed soon after.) Mattel struck gold with the new line, and in 1968 Ruth became the company’s president.

Google
Long after Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer made their unpretentious debuts, another technology powerhouse came screeching out of a Silicon Valley garage. After developing a groundbreaking search engine for a research project, Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in a garage owned by Susan Wojcicki, a friend and future employee. The company, which has since branched out into numerous other areas, now runs the most visited websites on the Internet and boasts locations around the world. In 2006, Google bought Wojcicki’s house—and the garage where its vast empire began.

Yankee Candle Company
In 1969, 17-year-old Michael Kittredge of South Hadley, Massachusetts, couldn’t dig up enough cash to buy his mother a Christmas present. On a whim, he melted down some crayons in his parents’ garage and made her a scented candle. When neighbors began expressing interest, Kittredge, who needed a hobby since his rock band had just broken up, recruited some friends and began churning out candles. By the following year, the booming business had taken over the Kittredge home, so the young entrepreneurs moved into a dilapidated mill. Today, the Yankee Candle Company is the leading U.S. candle manufacturer, with hundreds of retail locations, international distribution and multiple product lines.

Steve Jobs' greatest products

The 11 most influential computers and other gadgets that Jobs brought about
Rosa Golijan
10-6-11
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44805821

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died on Wednesday, but he left behind a legacy full of iconic products. We've rounded up some of the most significant ones for you — along with a little bit of their history.

Mac OS X - Overhauling the operating system

The Mac OS X title encompasses a series of operating systems released by Apple under code names including Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion. Mac OS X 10.0 — better known as Cheetah — was made publicly available in March 2001. The latest version of the popular operating system series, Mac OS X Lion, was released in July 2011.

NeXT - Innovation in exile

The NeXT computer was packaged in a one-foot cube-shaped case and introduced in 1988, after Jobs had been removed from Apple. It was a high-end workstation which — despite not winning over many customers — is noted as being the system on which the first Web browser was written. It is also worth mentioning that the world's first Internet-connected server was supposedly a NeXT system.

Macintosh - Computers get cute

Recognizable by its iconic beige all-in-one case, the Macintosh 128K is the first member of the Macintosh family of personal computers. It was released in January 1984 — with a dramatic Super Bowl commercial — and touted a $2,500 price tag (which was considered quite reasonable when it came to personal computers at that time).

The original Macintosh 128K would be discontinued in October 1985, but its lineage continued on — with models including the Macintosh 512K, the PowerBook Duo, the Power Macintosh, the PowerBook G3, the iMac, the Power Mac G4, the iBook, the Mac Mini, the MacBook, the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, and many more models in-between and after.

MacBook Air - Winning with thin

The MacBook Air was described as the "world's thinnest notebook" during its January 2008 introduction. And that was no joke — the device was an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point. Steve Jobs presented it by pulling it out of a manila envelope. Initially Apple would only offer a 13.3-inch MacBook Air model, but in October 2010, an 11.6-inch version was announced.

The MacBook Air managed to squeeze a full-sized keyboard and display into a powerful little package which included 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (which would in later years be replaced by Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors).

It's worth noting that — like all of Apple's notebooks since the original MacBook Pro — the MacBook Air incorporates Apple's MagSafe —a proprietary magnetically-attached power connector system.

Lisa - Ahead of its time

The Apple Lisa was a personal computer introduced in the early 1980s. Its name is supposedly either an acronym for "Local Integrated Software Architecture" or a nod to Steve Jobs' first daughter, Lisa Jobs.

While it wasn't exactly a bestseller — it is rumored that thousands of unsold units were sent to a landfill — the computer is noted for its significance in computing history. It was considered to be superior to what was coming out of the Macintosh project at that time and included a tight integration between hardware and software. Oh, and a built-in screensaver, which was uncommon at the time.

iTunes - Instant gratification via the Internet

Apple introduced the iTunes digital jukebox software in January 2001, a few months before the uveiling of the first-generation iPod. Two years later the company announced the opening of the iTunes Music Store, a place where over 200,000 songs could be purchased for 99 cents each.

In October 2005, the iTunes Store would expand to include TV shows and music videos. In September 2006, it would begin offering full-length movie downloads and by January 2008 movie rentals would be available thanks to arrangements with all major film studios.

As of October 2011, Apple has sold over 15 billion songs through the iTunes Store.

iPod - A pocket-sized revolution

When it introduced the iPod in October 2001, Apple advertised that the portable media player is a way to carry "1,000 songs in your pocket." Since then, the company has introduced — and retired — several members of the iPod product family including the iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, and iPod Touch. Each new model has offered significantly more storage capacity than the original 5GB device.

As of October 2011, Apple has sold over 320 million iPod devices and deemed it the "world's most popular music player."

iPhone - Mobile computing hits next level

In January 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone. It described the gadget as "combining three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, Web browsing, searching and maps — into one small and lightweight handheld device."

The iPhone ran Apple's very own mobile operating system, which has since been dubbed iOS. The phone was initially offered in the U.S. exclusively by cellular provider AT&T.

Since the first-generation iPhone, Apple has introduced the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 and — most recently — the iPhone 4S. At this point the mobile devices are available on three major U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint — as well as a number of international cellular providers.

iPad - Challenger to the PC

When he stepped onto a stage to show off the iPad for the very first time in January 2010, Steve Jobs described the device as something "magical and revolutionary." The 9.7-inch slate-like gadget offered a high-resolution multi-touch display, Apple's A4 system-on-a-chip processor and an impressive 10-hour battery. The device was offered in a Wi-Fi-only as well as in a 3G-enabled version.

The next generation tablet, the iPad 2, was announced in March 2011. It was thinner, lighter and faster than the original device — and included front- and back-facing cameras for use with Apple's FaceTime video chat and Photo Booth apps.

iMac - End of the beige computer

Apple's iMac line of desktop computers includes several models introduced since 1998 — from the brightly colored iMac G3 all-in-one to the lamp-shaped iMac G4 to the slender iMac G5 to the latest aluminum unibody model.

The iMac line has seen a great deal of change since the first iMac G3, which was a 233-MHz CRT unit. The most recent model comes in 21.5- and 27-inch flat-panel versions and advertises processor speeds of up to 2.93 GHz.

Apple II - Homeward bound

The Apple II series of computers is considered among the first successful mass-produced personal computers. The first model was introduced in June 1977 and the line withered off in November 1993.

This particular line of PCs was significant as it was competitively priced and as a result made its way into many households, businesses, and educational institutions.

To this day, there are individuals who use Apple II applications on either carefully maintained systems — which are considered collectors' items — or by relying on emulator software.

Humor Break: I Have an App for That...

FeedBack: The Dark Side of Apple

Scott Rose of ScottWorld.com writes:
Great writing?! Perhaps you mean fictional writing straight from somebody's imagination??

This is just another example of some prick (Ryan Gawker -- one of the biggest pricks around) spouting his mouth off about fictional stuff and pretending that it's true.

Ryan Gawker is a fictional hack of writer, right up there with the best of them like L. Ron Hubbard.

For example, Apple has a strict Supplier Code of Conduct that their vendors across the world (including China) must obey, or Apple will intervene. Check out this page here:

http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/

Furthermore, when Apple discovered underage labor at their China factories (because they were AGGRESSIVE ABOUT HUNTING IT DOWN AND STOPPING IT), they reported the abuses to the local authorities and implemented programs to get those kids back in school:

http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2011_Progress_Report.pdf

I won't even get into exposing Ryan Gawker's other fictional statements in his article, because he has built his entire career on using his imagination -- instead of facts -- for his writing...

Censored 2012: The Sourcebook for the Media Revolution

For Immediate Release:
October 12, 2011

Contact:
Project Censored/Media Freedom Foundation, 707.874.2695
Dr. Peter Phillips, President; Prof. Mickey Huff, Director
peter@projectcensored.org; mickey@projectcensored.org

Interviews: Contact Mickey Huff at email above.

Order the new book online at http://projectcensored.org or send check for $22.95 to:

Project Censored/Media Freedom Foundation, P.O. Box 571 Cotati, CA 94931

“Most journalists in the United States believe the press here is free. That grand illusion only helps obscure the fact that, by and large, the US corporate press does not report what’s really going on, while tuning out, or laughing off, all those who try to do just that. Americans—now more than ever—need those outlets that do labor to report some truth. Project Censored is not just among the bravest, smartest, and most rigorous of those outlets, but the only one that's wholly focused on those stories that the corporate press ignores, downplays and/or distorts. This latest book is therefore a must-read for anyone who cares about this country, its tottering economy, and—most important—what’s now left of its democracy.”
Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media ecology, NYU

Our new book has arrived!

Censored 2012: The Sourcebook for the Media Revolution, The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2010-2011 by Mickey Huff and Project Censored. In this volume, there are 500 pages of real news you can use, plus ample analysis that eradicates civil paralysis, and antidotes to our current Truth Emergency that will strengthen societal media literacy. Help celebrate the 35th year of the oldest media research organization in the US by donating $35 for a signed copy of Censored 2012, or simply pick up a copy for yourself, friends, or a local library or school for only $19.95 each ($22.95 w/shipping).

Former Project director Dr. Peter Phillips kicks off this year’s work with a dynamic introduction to understanding the NATO/US/military industrial media complex matrix of managed news and propaganda. Censored 2012 also once again proudly showcases the poignant and timely cartoons of Khalil Bendib. The Top 25 Censored Stories of the past year are not only announced, but this year, they are housed in Censored News Clusters that analyze the architecture of censorship in America by looking at the topical connections of the most commonly underreported stories. We go down memory lane with PC interns in Censored Déjà vu looking at past censored stories; endure the ubiquity of Junk Food News and News Abuse with professor Adam Bessie and Abby Martin of Media Roots; and highlight solutions for our many interconnected global problems with professor Kenn Burrows and the students of San Francisco State University in hopes to provide people with positive and proactive stories of change that are at the core of the media revolution. Media Democracy in Action is something Project Censored strives to achieve and we endorse and support many organizations with the same goals. This year, we proudly feature some of the best and brightest in that vein, both veterans and new comers to the scene.

This year’s TRUTH EMERGENCY section looks at Understanding Propaganda in Theory and Practice. Censorship, framing, and spin are all tactics that act to shape the public mind in democratic cultures. Understanding these requires context. A Brief History of Propaganda is offered by Dr. Randal Marlin and provides a solid foundation for the following chapters; professor Jacob Van Vleet writes on Mass Psychological Manipulation and the theories of Jacque Ellul; Dr. Robert Abele pulls the veil off the US Propaganda Machine; The Impending Demise of Net Neutrality is explored by Dr. Elliot D. Cohen; and Dr. Anthony Dimaggio deconstructs the Tea Party and Manufactured Dissent.

The final section of this year’s book, PROJECT CENSORED INTERNATIONAL, focuses on Human Rights and the Right to Know and introduces the collaboration between Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored and the Fair Share of the Common Heritage, explained by Mary Lia. This section includes the Media Distortion of Nonviolent Struggles by Dr. Cynthia Boaz; journalist Ann Garrison on the US in Africa; Establishing Ghetto Palestine with journalist Jon Elmer; professor Robin Andersen looks at HBO’s Treme, and the Fractured Press Coverage of Post-Katrina New Orleans; Margaret Flowers, M.D., illustrates the Corporate Control of the Message in US Health Care Reform; and renowned midwife and author Ina May Gaskin shows Censorship of the True State of Maternity Care in the US.

Here is a list of the top censored stories from chapter one this year:

Censored 2012: Stories of 2010-2011

1. More US Soldiers Committed Suicide Than Died in Combat

2. US Military Manipulates the Social Media

3. Obama Authorizes International Assassination Campaign

4. Global Food Crisis Expands

5. Private Prison Companies Fund Anti–Immigrant Legislation

6. Google Spying?

7. U.S. Army and Psychology’s Largest Experiment–Ever

8. The Fairytale of Clean and Safe Nuclear Power

9. Government Sponsored Technologies for Weather Modification

10. Censored # 10: Real Unemployment: One Out of Five in US

11. Trafficking of Iraqi Women Rampant

12. Pacific Garbage Dump — Did You Really Think Your Plastic Was Being Recycled?

13. Will a State of Emergency Be Used to Supersede Our Constitution?

14. Family Pressure on Young Girls for Genitalia Mutilation Continues in Kenya

15. Big Polluters Freed from Environmental Oversight

16. Sweatshops in China Are Making Your iPods While Workers Suffer

17. Superbug Bacteria Spreading Worldwide

18. Monsanto Tries to Benefit from Haiti’s Earthquake

19. Oxfam Exposes How Aid Is Used for Political Purposes

20. US Agencies Trying to Outlaw GMO Food Labelling

21. Lyme Disease: An Emerging Epidemic

22. Participatory Budgeting – A Method to Empower Local Citizens & Communities

23. Worldwide Movement To Ban or Charge Fees For Plastic Bags

24. South Dakota Takes Extreme Measures to Be the Top Anti–Abortion State

25. Extension of DU to Libya

To preview the top censored stories online see:

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/category/top-stories/

Additionally, here are some recent videos about our work taken by Media Freedom Foundation board member Abby Martin of MediaRoots.org.

Project Censored celebrates its 35 years at Moe's Books in Berkeley, CA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge4kJaNfR0&feature=relmfu

Exclusive interview with Ralph Nader about Project Censored and current events:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMobQqiYKI4&feature=channel_video_title

Censored 2012 is one of our greatest collaborative efforts consisting of 105 professors, hundreds of students, community members, and people from all around the world. We aim to expose media censorship and provide ways to be catalysts of the media revolution we need to restore the commons of human knowledge and education, establish and protect the right of the public to know what is going on in society, and work to maintain our democratic institutions– our culture of liberty. We hope you join us in these vital endeavors in critical times. Thank you for your support.

Mickey Huff
Director, Project Censored/Media Freedom Foundation
Associate Professor of History, Diablo Valley College

Konformist Book Club: Steamshovel Press Special

SteamhovelPress.com:

POPULAR PARAPOLITICS
NEW E-BOOK!
BY KENN THOMAS

219 pages of commentary on the nexus between parapolitics and popular culture by Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas. Includes first hand accounts of Elvis Presley's funeral; the last of the great Beat writer conferences; and never before published commentary by JFK Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden on famed researcher Sherman Skolnick.

Now available only on CD, as PDF, and through US Mail. $15 post paid to Kenn Thomas, POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121.

*

THE NEW ISSUE AND NEW RELATED DVDs
http://steamshovelpress.com/new_order_form.html

Steamshovel Press # 23
All conspiracy. No theory.

CONTENTS INCLUDE:

Charles Fort: Dogma be Damned by Skylaire Alfvegren; Southern California, Cult Mecca, by Adam Gorightly; Parapolitics in Popular Culture: The Prisoner by Kenn Thomas; Notes on Conspiracy Theories, by Jim Keith; Correspondence with Jim Keith; Freeplay Excerpted by Len Bracken; Short Shrift: Beatnix and Comix by Kenn Thomas; Caries, Cabals & Correspondence with X. Sharks DeSpot; Robert Anton Wilson RIP; The O’Reilly Factor In The JFK Assassination by Bill Kelly; Dark Matters by James Romberger.
PDF: $7; PRINT OUT: $10; SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25. Be sure to include e-mail address with order. All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” at POB 210553, St. Louis, MO 63121


New Steamshovel Press DVDs now available!


Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con,
San Jose, CA, May 2007

Moving beyond the confines of 9/11, Thomas reviews the current parapolitics around the globe, starting with the assassination-by-polonium-poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, through the Valerie Plame spy scandal, to the remaining mysteries of the Trade Towers' destruction. "Parapolitics is activity that happens alongside the normal politics people read in the papers and see on TV, not instead of it," explains Thomas. "It's not just a matter of saying that the media just lies and that the Bush baddies are responsible--although gawd knows that's true. We ignore the conspiracies that exist in the wider world, such as global jihad and the assassinations that culminated with Litvinenko, at our peril." This lecture will put these other global conspiracies in the context of what's happening in America. Also includes a tribute to the late author of Illuminatus!, Robert Anton Wilson, including rare footage. 1 hour DVD, $10


Arthur Koestler On Bisociation

Rare footage of famed author of Thirteenth Tribe, Sleepwalkers, Ghost in the Machine and Case of the Midwife Toad, discussing creativity. Koestler explains and demonstrate! s "bisociation", a term Robert Anton Wilson applied to the stud y parapolitics and conspiracy. 30 Minute DVD, $5


PARAPOLITICS, THE VIDEO
90 minute DVD, $10
Television appearances discussing the bug bombs of Korea, JFK Jr., Jimmy Hoffa, Marilyn Monroe; and the parapresidency. Includes footage of the late Jim Keith, author of Saucers of the Illuminati and Mind Control/World Control. ALSO: a rare interview with Christ Conspiracy author Acharya S and paranormalist writer Skylaire Alfvegren’s appearance on the unaired TV pilot, Conspiracy Zone discussing the moon hoax.


KENN THOMAS ON CONSPIRACY
90 minute DVD, $10

Steamshovel editor’s television appearances and lecture footage, including a news report on the UFO he witnessed at Area 51; a roundtable discussion from the Fox network on the JFK assassination, the Y2K affair, global surveillance and conspiracy theory; lectures on the Maury Island UFO and UFO researcher deaths; and the Octopus.


Now available as PDF exclusively from Steamshovel!

PARAPOLITICS BY KENN THOMAS

Join Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas as he tracks parapolitics—aka conspiracy theory—in the 21st Century. Thomas has traveled and lectured about conspiracies throughout America for the past decade, appearing in the major media as the sharpest critic of the consensus view of current affairs. From the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, Thomas examines the underlying parapolitics that animate the secret elites and the war ravaged planet they manipulate. Parapolitics collects Thomas' lecture remarks, interviews, correspondence and articles printed in the underground press from around the world. PDF only, $20 (via disk or supply e-mail address)

Steamshovel Press #23 print out, $10

Steamshovel Press #23 PDF, $7

Kenn Thomas at Conspiracy Con DVD, $10

Arthur Koestler on Bisociation DVD, $5

Parapolitics the Video DVD, $10

Kenn Thomas on Conspiracy DVD, $10

Parapolitics The Book PDF, $10

All of the above discount, $50

All checks payable to “Kenn Thomas” (not “Steamshovel Press”) at
POB 210553
St. Louis, MO 63121

Please supply an e-mail address if ordering PDFs sent via internet. Otherwise, a CD will be sent.

NOTE: Steamshovel Press back issues 4 through 23 are available for $10 each. Photocopies will be supplied when actual issues are no longer available.

Book Excerpt: God’s Name Is “Jealous”

Russ Kick March 4, 2011
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/03/god%E2%80%99s-name-is-%E2%80%9Cjealous%E2%80%9D/

The following is another chapter from my disinformation book, 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know: Volume 2, published in 2004. For more on me go to The Memory Hole or follow me @RussKick on Twitter.

There’s an old joke that says God’s name is Harold, as in: “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name…”

The strange thing is, that’s not too much off the mark, only the truth is even weirder. The Lord does indeed have a name, kind of like Andrew or Beth or José.

It’s right there in the Bible, at Exodus 34:14. Moses has trudged up Mount Sinai with a second pair of stone tablets, on which God will write the Ten Commandments. Moses and the Big G engage in some repartee, then God says:

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”

This is straight out of the King James Version. God reveals “his” own name: Jealous.

In the original Hebrew, the key words in this verse are shem and qanna’. According to one of the standard reference works in this area — A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible by James Strongs — shem is a noun meaning “name.” One of its specific denotations is “the Name (as designation of God).” The word qanna’ means “jealous” and is applied only to God.

Other English translations say the same basic thing as the King James Version. The New International Version gives it as: “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” The English Standard Version phrases it parenthetically: “(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).” The New International Readers Version gives God a more relaxed feel: “Do not worship any other god. I am a jealous God. In fact, my name is Jealous.”

Why isn’t this mentioned in Sunday school? Perhaps because it could lead to children pledging, “One nation, under Jealous,” people cursing, “Jealous damn it!” or the government stamping on currency: “In Jealous we trust.”

But if you’re going to accept the Bible, then you have to accept it when God reveals his own name, no matter how odd or silly.

May Jealous have mercy on my soul.

Reference:

God’s Name. Various translations of the Bible.
A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible by James Strongs.
Blue Letter Bible
BlueLetterBible.org

Konformist Book Club: 50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know, Volume 2

Russ Kick
Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Things-Youre-Not-Supposed-Know/dp/1932857028/thekonformist

Price: $9.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.

"An assortment of little known facts in a bite-size format ... most readers will find [it] provocative." -- Time Out New York, Nov 27-Dec 4, 2003

"full of things "they" don't want you to know" -- New York Times, Nov. 13, 2003

Ever feel like you’re being kept in the dark? Do you feel like the facts and history you rely on might not be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but?

Sized for quick reference, filled with facts, illustrations, and graphic evidence of lies and misrepresentations, 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know—Volume 2 presents the vital, often omitted details on human health hazards, government lies, and secret history and warfare excised from your schoolbooks and nightly news reports.

Russ Kick and The Disinformation Company have published five successful books together since 2001. Each one has become a bestseller, establishing Russ as the leader in gathering and disseminating the hidden history, forgotten facts, secret stories and covert cover-ups that “they” don’t want you to know!

Russ Kick is the editor of Abuse Your Illusions: The Disinformation Guide to Media Mirages and Establishment Lies; Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies; and You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. He is the author of 50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know and The Disinformation Book of Lists.

Russ Kick is the all-star editor of five previous Disinformation Guides and three Disinformation books. He has been labeled as an "information archaeologist" by the New York Times in a major profile. He runs the popular blog TheMemoryHole.org and is well known for his intelligent and successful FOIA requests and unveilings.

Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: The Disinformation Company; First Edition edition (November 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1932857028
ISBN-13: 978-1932857023

Konformist Book Club: STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA

Psychedelic Secrets of the Royal Elite in the Ancient World
A new book by CHRIS EVERARD
With introduction by LIONEL FANTHORPE

Almost two decades in the writing, with full-time research covering three continents, British author and film maker CHRIS EVERARD presents in this large format, fully illustrated book the secret history of the Royal-Political elite in the ancient world. STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA is no hashed-together off-the-cuff book full of uncorroborated wild claims - every statement is backed up with archaeological evidence, maps, diagrams, documents and photos.

Chris Everard's quest begins in Egypt, examining carvings which are more than 2,000 years old, showing erectile serpents and humanoid figures with the heads of toads, and tails like monkeys - these strange humanoid-amphibians are depicted alongside Egyptian priests, taking part in ceremonies... They hold and offer up to the deity small bowls... What is in these bowls?

The answer is: Hallucinogens - A Bowl of Potions made from ancient plants and fungi which transform the chemistry of the Human Brain, expanding latent psychic abilities such as Telepathy.

This book is the first to present evidence that the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt traded Cocaine and Tobacco with the pre-OLMEC civilisation of Mexico, Guetemala and Belize.

These rituals and the ingestion of these hallucinogens was a secret reserved for the Royal-Political Elite, enabling TELEPATHIC communion with the Godhead.

This book is the result of a seventeen year long quest - delving deep into the Creation Myths of Egypt, and meetings with high level Magicians, Druids, Satanists, Freemasons, Astronomers & Archaeoloists.

Chris Everard's investigation has uncovered the deepest arcane secrets of FreeMasonry and taught him how to use hallucinogenic plants to SEE and TELEPATHICALLY COMMUNICATE with the OGDOAD Gods...

STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA begins it's voyage in the Neanderthal caves of northern Iraq, where ancient people cultivated a hallucinogenic-herb-garden. We also discover the use of PERGAMON HARMALA amongst the Magi mentioned in the Holy Bible and it's sister analogue DMT plants such as AYAHUASCA in Central and South America.

CHRIS EVERARD also describes in STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA the psychotropic herbs and plants used by witches, warlocks and black magicians for the invocation of demons described in ancient Arabic and Hebrew texts... And also the MUSHROOM CULTS of the Indus Valley and Palestine which inspired Gnosticism and the first Christian sects.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR, King SOLOMON, The Queen's Beasts and many other secret covens are described with particular reference of how they brewed potions and used psycho-active ungents and ointments to change their blood chemistry and 'fly' to the sabbats and celebrations of the black masses in Medieval Europe.

Uniquely, CHRIS EVERARD describes the EXACT telepathic effects of many of these ancient plants in terms of religious awakening and minutely describes the Amphibian-Humanoids, 'Snake-People' and Jaguar-Headed Gods of the Mayans and European Celts. This book takes you deep into the Landscape of the Mind and describes how to voyage through the Astral Realms, controlling the effects of these psychotropic substances, in order to discover the Godhead.

Fully illustrated with full colour 16 page chapter, plus black and white illustrations throughout, NEARLY 300 PAGES - STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA is the most complete secret history of the Royal-Political Elite ever published.

STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA contains 300 Pages of previously unpublished research. This book is NOT a compilation of previously published articles - STONE AGE PSYCHEDELIA is 100% Fresh research.

U.S. and world-wide Customers can order on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/PSYCHEDELIA-Everard-Psychedelic-Secrets-Ancient/dp/B005DL4ME6/thekonformist

You can also order direct via the Enigma Channel Cyberstore:

http://www.enigmatv.net/shop

Konformist Book Club: Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy

Advice from Rock's Ultimate Survivor
Ozzy Osbourne

Print List Price: $26.99
Kindle Price: $12.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $14.00 (52%)
Sold by: Hachette Book Group

Hardcover $16.92
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged $19.79
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $18.37 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Wondering if science could explain how he survived his 40-year avalanche of drugs and alcohol, Ozzy Osbourne became one of a handful of people in the world to have his entire DNA mapped in 2010. It was a highly complex, $65,000 process, but the results were conclusive: Ozzy is a genetic anomaly. The "Full Ozzy Genome" contained variants that scientists had never before encountered and the findings were presented at the prestigious TEDMED Conference in San Diego-making headlines around the world. The procedure was in part sponsored by The Sunday Times of London, which had already caused an international fururoe by appointing Ozzy Osbourne its star health advice columnist. The newpaper argued that Ozzy's mutliple near-death experiences, 40-year history of drug abuse, and extreme hypocondria qualified him more than any other for the job. The column was an overnight hit, being quickly picked up by Rolling Stone to give it a global audience of millions. In TRUST ME, I'M DR. OZZY, Ozzy answers reader's questions with his outrageous wit and surprising wisdom, digging deep into his past to tell the memoir-style survival stories never published before-and offer guidance that no sane human being should follow. Part humor, part memoir, and part bad advice, TRUST ME, I'M DR. OZZY will include some of the best material from his published columns, answers to celebrities' medical questions, charts, sidebars, and more.

Ozzy Osbourne was born in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948. He has sold over a hundred million records both with Black Sabbath and as an award-winning solo artist. He has five children and lives with his wife, Sharon, in California and Buckinghamshire.

Product Details
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 492 KB
Print Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 11, 2011)
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
Language: English
ASIN: B004RD84VS

Amazon URLs

Kindle Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Dr-Ozzy-ebook/dp/B004RD84VS/thekonformist

Hardcover Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Im-Dr-Ozzy/dp/1455503339/thekonformist

Audiobook, Unabridged:
http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Im-Dr-Ozzy/dp/1611138787/thekonformist

Audible Audio Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Im-Dr-Ozzy/dp/B005UJSI2I/thekonformist

Konformist Book Club: The John Carlos Story

E of S Nation: just a reminder that you can purchase the John Carlos Story right now at http://www.haymarketbooks.org/hc/The-John-Carlos-Story

Those who want to support Teaching for Change, can buy it at
http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11445

Those who support the amazon cabal of global doom can buy it at
http://www.amazon.com/John-Carlos-Story-Sports-Changed/dp/1608461270/thekonformist

In struggle and sports,
Dave Zirin

Olympic Protester Maintains Passion
NEIL AMDUR
October 10, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/sports/john-carlos-of-68-olympics-protest-maintains-his-passion.html

More than 40 years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos ignited the sports world with their black-gloved fists raised on the victory stand at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Carlos says, “I still feel the fire.”

Any doubts that time and age have somehow diminished the passion that fueled his track and field career are dispelled with the publication of “The John Carlos Story,” written with Dave Zirin and published by Haymarket Books.

“If I shut my eyes, I can still feel the fire from those days,” Carlos, 66, says, as early as the second page of a memoir with the intensity and power of a 200-meter dash. “And if I open my eyes, I still see the fires all around me. I didn’t like the way the world was, and I believe that there need to be some changes about the way the world is.”

Those who thought they knew Carlos as a brash New Yorker may be surprised by some of his more personal recollections, including having an early obsession with swimming across the English Channel and having Fred Astaire as a childhood hero. Carlos says Astaire would show up outside the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in “top hat, tails, shoes and cane,” watch Carlos and his young friends perform dance and acrobatic routines and then reward them with silver dollars.

And there are the poignant admissions that he was embarrassingly dyslexic as a grade-schooler (“in those days they didn’t call you dyslexic, they called you dummy”) and that he “didn’t care a lick if I won the gold, silver and bronze” in the 200-meter final in Mexico (he won the bronze behind Smith and Peter Norman, an Australian).

“Before the race started,” Carlos writes, “I made up my mind I wasn’t going to test Tommie for that gold medal.”

He adds, “I was there for the after-race.”

It is that after-race for which Carlos is most remembered. Carlos and Smith bowed their heads while the national anthem played, raising their fists to protest treatment of blacks in America. As a result, they were told to leave the Olympic Village.

The positive reception that Carlos says he is receiving on his book tour is far different from the bitterness and news media backlash that affected Smith’s and Carlos’s lives after Mexico, and different also from the way their relationship with each other evolved. Carlos’s first wife, Kim, whom he married while still in high school, committed suicide in 1977, four years after they split up, an event that led him into depression and still haunts him, he says.

Smith’s autobiography, “Silent Gesture,” written with David Steele, was published in 2007 and fractured Carlos’s relationship with him until they were reunited in Mexico City for a 40th-anniversary ESPN special.

“I understand Tommie a lot better now in terms of who he is, his attitude and his views,” Carlos said.

Carlos is less patient with the state of track and field and its assorted drug scandals. “How can you live with yourself and call yourself a champion, when you repeatedly have lied to yourself and lied to society?” he asked. “It’s gotten so bad that it’s actually destroying the sport and eating out the root of the sport from the bottom, and the bottom is about to fall out.”

Carlos was also dismissive of sprinting’s current sensation, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, saying, “I don’t look at him.”

At an appearance Carlos made last week at the Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, a student asked why he had risked his career to take such a controversial stand. Carlos replied, “Because it was so many individuals that were in positions of power that chose to just lay back.”

Carlos will appear at the Rosenthal Pavilion in New York University’s Kimmel Center on Wednesday night with his co-author, Zirin, and the writer and commentator Cornel West.

Now remarried and working as a guidance counselor at Palm Springs High School in California, Carlos offers his own prescriptions for success and survival. Don’t run from the moment, he tells students; in return, he says, they teach him how to stay young.

“I’m where I need to be, or should be, or could be in my life,” he writes. “I think as well as I’ve worked with kids, there are things I don’t think I had the opportunity to do in this life. I think God had intentions for me to do more, but yet still I hear the breath of God telling me, ‘You did more than most people ever thought you would be able to do under the circumstances, so just keep on keepin’ on and we’ll see what comes.’ When I hear that voice, I tell God politely that he sounds too much like the devil for my taste.”

Konformist Book Club: Faces of Sunset Boulevard

A Portrait of Los Angeles
Patrick Ecclesine
Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Sunset-Boulevard-Portrait-Angeles/dp/1595800409/thekonformist

List Price: $39.95
Price: $30.36 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
You Save: $9.59 (24%)

Winner of the 2009 Glenn Goldman Art & Architecture Book Award as presented by the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association

"The top photography book of 2008."
Shutterbug

"One of the 25 best holiday gift books"
New York Post

"Ecclesine's emphasis is on the people, not the street. And he's got an eye for a magazine-like, flattering beauty: Everyone glows."
Los Angeles Times

"This book should be a staple in every Angeleno's home because as the years pass, it will serve as a historical reference of Los Angeles at the turn of the century."
Firestarter Magazine

"A journey through Los Angeles in all its guises, states of mind, and urban terrains, a narrative in words and documentary photography format that is every bit as engaging as any novel . . . one of the strongest statements about man's dark fate in the West ever committed to paper."
PopMatters.com

Faces of Sunset Boulevard: A Portrait of Los Angeles is a collection of photographs of the people who live, work, play, and shape Los Angeles. Some are making fortunes along the route; others are just trying to survive to see another day. Patrick Ecclesine captures the city’s dreams, dreamers, and, at times, nightmares using the most famous boulevard in the world as the setting for his photographs.

The individuals featured range from the famous (Governor Schwarzenegger, Larry King, Fernando Valenzuela) to the unknown (a street vendor, an undocumented worker, a bus driver) to the unwanted (a homeless man, a single mother on welfare, a drug addict).

Other archetypal Angeleno figures—from a television weathergirl sensation to a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon to surfers in Pacific Palisades to the eccentric and outlandish denizens of the Sunset Strip—stand side by side in these pages, capturing the eclectic nature of the City of Angels and its most colorful thoroughfare, Sunset Boulevard.

Patrick Ecclesine is a commercial photographer whose images for DreamWorks, Fox, Warner Brothers, TNT, TBS, CNN, CBS, and CW have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and on billboards and bus benches around the world. He currently lives in his hometown, Hollywood, just around the corner from the street on which he was born—Sunset Boulevard.

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Santa Monica Press (December 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595800409
ISBN-13: 978-1595800404