The New Age Army: First Earth Battalion

Back in 1979, in the days of Uri Geller and the coming out of various occult-ish groups which are now well established, the US Army commissioned a study for an army unit that would incorporate these new ideas. The aim of which was to create a "supersoldier" of sorts. They realized that our world of technology and fundamental psychology were beginning to collide, and wished to take full advantage of everything the human condition had to offer.

Ideas such as Collective Consciousness, and spreading memes were just beginning to take root. This new Army Corps was envisioned to be mostly psychological but with training to allow attack and defense in the event that it was needed. The footsoldiers of this group were to be called "Warrior Monks", since they were envisioned to be filling the same sort of role that groups like the Shaolin Monks filled in ancient China.

In the 1980's, two Special Forces A-Teams consisting of 25 men were commissioned to test these basic principles. They were led by a man named Colonel John Alexander, who eventually went on to Las Alamos to formulate research into non-lethal combat technology. These two teams were trained in various things considered very unorthodox for the military at the time. These things included biofeedback, martial arts (Aikido), and mind-body psychology.

The First Earth Battalion was never officially formed by the US Army, however, many of the techniques that were researched have found their way into daily operations and planning. The techniques of playing loud rock music as a form of Psy Warfare, and televising warfare developed from here, as did unusual concepts such as Remote Viewing, and Mind Control. The US Governments forays into these areas are pretty well known.

The battalion may not have ever been formed, but its unorthodox concepts are still influencing military planning to this day.

Here is a link to a portion of the Journal of Non-Lethal Combatives about it...

Exoplanet House of Horrors

Posted by Guy Pirro on 10/30/2009 5:00 PM

Astronomers may be closer than ever to discovering a planet that’s habitable like our own, but along the way they’ve discovered some very scary exoplanets – places where conditions are far too harsh for life as we know it to exist. Joshua Rodriguez and NASA have rounded up some of the most frightening, deadly exoplanets -- places that make even the scariest haunted house on Earth pale in comparison.

Radiation Bath, Anyone?

The exoplanets PSR B1257+12 b, c, and d were among the first discovered, and also happen to be three of the weirdest. The entire system is a graveyard, remnants of what used to be a normal, functional solar system before the star blew apart in a giant explosion known as a supernova.

The massive shockwave from the supernova stripped away any atmosphere or living creatures that might have once lived on these planets, leaving behind ghostly, rocky shells, dead planets orbiting the corpse of an extinct star.

Except that PSR B1257+12 isn’t all dead - the remaining core from the old star has become a zombie star called a pulsar. Literally spinning in its grave, PSR B1257+12 makes a full rotation every 6.22 milliseconds and emits an intense beam of radiation that can be detected from Earth. The star’s unfortunate planets are thus bathed in deadly radiation on a regular basis, making sure that this system remains a cosmic no-man’s land.

A Mighty Wind

The sound of howling wind is a must for any Earth-based haunted house, but weather conditions on HD 189733 b make it a very dangerous place to go trick-or-treating.

At first glance, HD 189733 b looks like the typical “hot Jupiter” – a huge gas planet perched dangerously close to a burning-hot star, with daytime temperatures around a balmy 1,770 degrees Fahrenheit. HD 189733 b is “tidally locked” in its orbit, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces its star.

But when scientists measured the planet’s nighttime temperature, they were shocked to find that it was only 500 degrees cooler. How does the back side of the planet stay so warm?

The answer is wind: insanely fast, dangerous wind that whisks heat from day-side to night-side at a speed of 4,500 mph, nearly six times the speed of sound. In fact, astronomers estimate that wind speeds might top out at 22,000 mph, conditions that make hurricanes on Earth look like a breezy day at the beach.

Needless to say, kite-flying on HD 189733 b is not recommended – unless you’re flying one from the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble

The planet HD 209458 b has a few things in common with Earth: water vapor, methane, and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, key ingredients for life on our planet. Don’t be fooled, though, because this planet is a roiling cauldron of almost unimaginable heat.

Even the hottest summer days on Earth don’t get as dangerous as the conditions on HD 209458 b, a planet that orbits so close to its host star that its atmosphere is literally boiling off, ripped away from the planet as it whips around on its breakneck 3.5-day orbit. The gas that escapes from HD 209458 b forms a tail about 124,000 miles (200,000 km) long.

Scientists have found many planets like HD 209458 b – huge gas giants that orbit hazardously close to their stars and have hellishly hot, poisonous atmospheres. Sometimes, planets like these can be in danger of being swallowed whole by their host stars, as may be the case for the doomed world WASP-18b.

As far as planets go, WASP-18b is on death’s doorstep. There’s a good chance that it will be torn apart completely within the next million years, when it finally spirals too close to its star. Scientists will know within 10 years whether or not WASP-18b is on a funeral march towards its untimely demise.

All Alone and Very, Very Cold

While most of the exoplanets found so far are hellishly hot, OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b has the distinction of being the coldest exoplanet yet discovered.

The planet takes about 10 Earth years to orbit its tiny dwarf star, and it’s a chilly trip; the average temperature on OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b is 50 Kelvin, or minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit. A good costume for trick-or-treating on this frigid planet would be a toasty self-heating spacesuit, an oxygen supply, ice skates and plenty of hot cocoa.

Of course, don’t expect to find many houses with candy here, because despite the fact that it’s just a few times bigger than Earth, OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b is an uninhabitable ice ball stuck in a perpetual winter freeze. Even the coldest Halloween night in Antarctica is a balmy paradise compared to this frosty world.


For more information:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/exoplanetHouseOfHorrors.html

Mystery Object Spotted in Earth Orbit

A large object was spotted in a hyberbolic orbit around the Earth on the 27th of October. Scientists are unsure of what it could be, but is in a decaying orbit. It is speculated to be some sort of booster left over from the early days of space exploration. One other possibilty is intriguing, however. The possibility that it is a second natural satellite. There have been scattered reports over the years about unusual objects and possible moons in orbit around the Earth. Most of these reports have been unverified, and the objects seen only once. It is most likely a space booster from Apollo, but it is fun to imagine otherwise.

Here is the report on Space Weather

And more can be found here on AstroGuyz

Religious Analogies to Past Girlfriends...

I really like this post from OpenBuddha.com...

I had a long visit over coffee with Jonathan this evening. In the course of the conversation, I alluded to my involvement with the Ordo Templi Orientis and compared it to a girlfriend being told it was time to go. This analogy kind of rolled on its own and seems worth following up on…

So, religious paths as ex-girlfriends… We’ve all been there after all.

Thelema and the OTO
The freaky ex-girlfriend who likes her sex kinky, her parties wild, and her drugs. She goes clubbing, dresses all in black, and has the razor scars on the wrists to show that she’s serious. She has a lot of interesting ideas but draws the wrong sort of crowd because of her reputation when she was young. These days she’s more likely to want to go to mass and do a bake sale but the expectations of youth are hard to live down and she secretly revels in it.

I’m sorry, Dear, but it’s time to go. The times were good but I just can’t keep up with you anymore. You’ve changed or maybe I have. Besides, for all of your crazy college days and weird stories, you’re pretty conventional these days, aren’t you? It’s all work, work, work.

Wicca
Wicca is like that hippie chick you liked in college. She’s all about the Goddess, womyn power (I wouldn’t understand because I have an outie, not an innie), and not shaving her pits. She’s sweet and she likes to dance and get freaky in the woods but there isn’t a lot of there there…if you know what I mean. I mean, dancing naked around a bonfire reeking of pouchouli is fun and all but the conversations never go anywhere. She complains about your “kablahblah” and rolls her eyes while mumbling about patriarchal power schemes. She can’t stop talking about Roman Catholicism and how wrong she was for you…in fact, she seems pretty obsessed with her sometimes.

Asatru
The most conventional girl that you could ever date. Kind of plain but with that long blonde hair and incredible…assets… She likes to cook, drink beer, and sit in front of the fire. All in all, a relatively “normal” girl…and that’s the problem. It is like you’re dating your second-cousin or the girl next door… She seems to have a bit of a drinking problem as well and is always bitching about your ex, Wicca, but sometimes they don’t seem that far apart. Of course, your normal girl next door doesn’t have those friends with the shaved heads who mutter about racial purity, stare strangely at your gay friends, and like to play dress up with swords and tunics but that is a little embarrassing detail that doesn’t come up too often (unless you look).

Roman Catholicism
Like Asatru, she’s a conventional girl. She has a large family but they’re a bit domineering, especially her dad. It’s all about rules, rules, rules. She’d really like to have more fun but she always feels so guilty about it afterwards. Of course, she dresses really well (talk about clothes!), sings, and puts on a great performance. She isn’t afraid to get into it but she hasn’t been the same since the 60’s when she started doing everything in English and using a guitar for accompaniment. It’s pretty clear that The Passion is her favorite movie, which is pretty disturbing given the S&M content but she says it is all about love after all…


To this list, I would like to add one more...

Chaoism
We have all dated her. She is the girl who likes to do outrageous things. Whether getting naked to order pizza, or talking shit and getting you stomped by thugs - nothing is off limits. She both excites you and terrifies you at the same time. And many times you pay in blood by the trouble she creates. But while she is all these things, she can also be beautifully honest, and does not hide anything. She experiences life like she lives on a rollercoaster, and wants EVERYONE to be there too. It is all about the experience. You can hang with her too, if you can last that long.

Siren of the French Broad

Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of the French Broad River. This stream—the Tselica of the Indians—contains in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water whirls and deepens, and where the traveller likes to pause in the heats of afternoon and drink and bathe. Here, from the time when the Cherokees occupied the country, has lived the siren, and if one who is weary and downcast sits beside the stream or utters a wish to rest in it, he becomes conscious of a soft and exquisite music blending with the plash of the wave.

Looking down in surprise he sees—at first faintly, then with distinctness—the form of a beautiful woman, with hair streaming like moss and dark eyes looking into his, luring him with a power he cannot resist. His breath grows short, his gaze is fixed, mechanically he rises, steps to the brink, and lurches forward into the river. The arms that catch him are slimy and cold as serpents; the face that stares into his is a grinning skull. A loud, chattering laugh rings through the wilderness, and all is still again.

Another excerpt from Myths and Legends...

The Fight for American Indian Voting Rights

by Ojibwa

Share this on Twitter - American Indian Voting Rights

Thu Oct 22, 2009 at 08:58:14 AM PDT

During the first part of the twentieth century, American Indians were granted citizenship by Congressional action on several different occasions. While citizenship is often felt to be associated with the right to vote, this has not always been the case with regard to Indians. The right to vote is a right which has been traditionally controlled by the states. The states had tended to view Indian voting and Indian citizenship as two separate items. While the struggle by African Americans to obtain the right to vote is fairly well known, the struggle by American Indians to obtain this right is less well known.

• Ojibwa's diary :: ::
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In North Carolina, there was some confusion over whether or not the 1924 act giving citizenship to Indians applied to the Cherokee. In response, Congress passed another act in 1928 which specifically granted citizenship to the North Carolina Cherokee. However, Eastern Cherokee leader Henry M. Owl was denied the right to register to vote in 1930. The registrar refused to register Indians because they were not citizens. In response, Congress passed another act once again reaffirming citizenship for the Eastern Cherokee. Local newspapers protested Congressional interference with local affairs and county registrars continued to deny Cherokees the vote until after World War II. North Carolina denied Indians the right to vote claiming that Indians were illiterate. The superintendent of the Cherokee Agency reported: "We have had Indian graduates of Carlisle, Haskell, and other schools in stances much better educated than the registrar himself, turned down because they did not read or write to his satisfaction."

In 1946, North Carolina county registrars refused to register Eastern Cherokee war veterans to vote. The Cherokee appealed the decision to the governor and attorney general, but nothing was done.

In Arizona two Pima Indians attempted to vote in 1928. The Arizona Supreme Court in Porter v. Hall concluded that Indians were not entitled to vote because they were "wards of the government" and persons "under guardianship" were prohibited from voting by the state constitution. The Arizona Attorney General’s office ruled in 1944 that Indians who were living outside the reservation and who were subject to state laws and state taxation were not eligible to vote.

Some states passed legislation to disenfranchise Indians. In an effort to deny Indians the right to vote, the Montana state constitution was amended in 1932 to permit only taxpayers to vote. Since Indians on reservations did not pay some local taxes, they could not become voters. The Montana state legislature in 1937 passed a law requiring all deputy voter registrars to be qualified, taxpaying residents of their precincts. Since Indians living on reservations were exempt from some local taxes, this requirement excluded almost all Indians from serving as deputy registrars. It thus denied Montana’s Indians access to voter registration in their own precincts.

A 1937 report by the Solicitor General found that several states denied Indians the right to vote. In response to the inquiry by the Solicitor General, Colorado’s attorney general replied: "It is our opinion that until Congress enfranchises the Indian, he will not have the right to vote." Word of the 1924 citizenship act had apparently not yet reached Colorado. Indians were not allowed to serve on juries in Colorado until 1956 and tribal members on reservations were not allowed to vote until 1970.

The Solicitor General also found that four states—Idaho, New Mexico, Maine, and Washington—denied Indians the right to vote because of the phrase "Indians not taxed" in Article 1 of the Constitution.

Utah denied Indians the vote because Indians on reservations were not actually residents of Utah but were residents of their own nations. Indians were thus considered non-residents and hence not eligible to vote. In 1957, the Utah state legislature finally repealed the legislation that prevented Indians living on reservations from voting.

Many historians cite 1948 as the year in which Indians finally won the right to vote. Court rulings in Arizona and New Mexico affirmed that Indians have the right to vote. The Court ruling in New Mexico was started when Miguel Trujillo, Sr. (Laguna), a teacher, attempted to register to vote and was refused by the recorder of Valencia County. In the ruling, the Court found that New Mexico had discriminated against Indians by denying them the vote, especially since they paid all state and federal taxes except for private property taxes on the reservations.

In Arizona, Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, both Mohave-Apache at the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, attempted to register to vote and were not allowed to register. In Harrison v. Laveen the Arizona Supreme Court overturned the earlier Porter v. Hall decision and agreed with the plaintiffs that their Arizona and United States constitutional rights had been violated.

In Maine, Indians were finally given the right to vote in 1953 when the state accepted the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.

During the past fifty years, the focus has shifted from obtaining the right to vote, to getting Indians elected to local, state, and federal offices. States and local governments in the western states have responded by diluting the Indian vote through redistricting plans. The fight to get American Indian votes actually counted has been documented by the ACLU in a recent report.

SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE

Here is another gem from MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR OWN LAND...

The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with "harnts," among them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate and superstitious, have unquestioning faith in them. They tell you about the headless bull and black dog of the valley of the Chatata, the white stag of the Sequahatchie, and the bleeding horse of the Great Smoky Mountains—the last three being portents of illness, death, or misfortune to those who see them.

Other ghosts are those of men. Near the upper Hiawassee is a cave where a pile of human skulls was found by a man who had put up his cabin near the entrance. For some reason, which he says he never understood, this farmer gathered up the old, bleached bones and dumped them into his shed. Quite possibly he did not dare to confess that he wanted them for fertilizers or to burn them for his poultry.

Night fell dark and still, with a waning moon rising over the mountains—as calm a night as ever one slept through. Along toward the middle of it a sound like the coming of a cyclone brought the farmer out of his bed. He ran to the window to see if the house were to be uprooted, but the forest was still, with a strange, oppressive stillness—not a twig moving, not a cloud veiling the stars, not an insect chirping. Filled with a vague fear, he tried to waken his wife, but she was like one in a state of catalepsy.

Again the sound was heard, and now he saw, without, a shadowy band circling about his house like leaves whirled on the wind. It seemed to be made of human shapes, with tossing arms—this circling band—and the sound was that of many voices, each faint and hollow, by itself, but loud in aggregate. He who was watching realized then that the wraiths of the dead whose skulls he had purloined from their place of sepulture were out in lament and protest. He went on his knees at once and prayed with vigor until morning. As soon as it was light enough to see his way he replaced the skulls, and was not troubled by the "haunts" again. All the gold in America, said he, would not tempt him to remove any more bones from the cave-tombs of the unknown dead.

Suspended Animation?

A scientist named Mark Roth, thinks he has come up with a way to suspend life without killing it.

Mr. Roth has been researching ways to suspend the life process, with the intention of using it to save lives. He has surmised that the lack of oxygen is not what kills, it is the process caused by the low oxygen level which does the damage. He has developed a method where he uses Hydrogen Sulfide in controlled doses to suspend the life process. He then introduces oxygen to revive the subject at a later time. Initially, he started out with small creatures, like flies, and has progressed to re-animating rats. He says the possibility of using this method on humans is likely, but he is not ready for human testing yet.

He developed this method of suspending life as a result of losing his daughter to medical problems. It became a sort of quest for him, and he ended up being funded by DARPA to develop it into a way to suspend the life of a wounded soldier on the way to a battlefield aid station. It is likely to be useful for other things too. Once this technology is perfected, it is not a far stretch to imagine it being used for space travel, or other issues where time could be a limiting factor. We may also see banks of humans placed in stasis awaiting medical procedures that currently cannot be performed, for all intents and purposes dead, but able to be revived with the introduction of the proper mix of oxygen.

See his laboratory website here...

Will Humanity Evolve into Artificial Life?

As humanity continues down the road of evolution, what is next for our race? For thousands of years, man has lived at sort of a stable level of development, with little about his condition truly changing. Life in an early Iron Age society not being a whole lot far removed from some of the later versions of civilisation. At one point, not very long ago, it was possible for a man to read ALL the written knowledge ever transcribed by man. With the introduction of Industrialism, this all changed.

Within a hundred years, we had many wonderous inventions and a wealth of knowledge available. The knowledge is self generating. When we discover or develop one thing, it leads to advancement in many other areas as well. It has fast reached a point where it is truly impossible for the human mind to comprehend all of the knowledge which has been acquired as a whole. There is just far too much. Man has reached a point where he needs to evolve to the next level just to keep pace.

Some scientists, like Stephen Hawking, say that genetics and DNA science is the key. They say that we should be seriously looking at stimulating the next step in evolution, although at this point, we can remain in control of the process through our technological development. Whether this next step will be totally genetic and biological, or some type of electromechanical enhancement remains to be seen.

One can envision a world population with network enhancements to allow for direct reception of things like the Internet, so as to maintain and enhance our mind through distributed knowledge. Once a process like this begins, biological enhancements for other percieved deficiencies will not be far behind. Maybe we will see development of things like articially enhanced legs for athletes, and enhanced vision for pilots, etc. At what point will it end?

The classic Cyberpunk anime, Ghost in the Shell, took on this very topic. In this story, the main character was a female secret agent with a cybernetically enhanced body. The only truly human part remaining, was the brain itself. In a case like this, is the organism still really a human?

The world is changing, and the conditions affecting our evolution are, in fact, evolving themselves. What will become of humanity in 500 years is anybody's guess.

See what Stephen Hawking has to say about it on the Daily Galaxy.

Wireless Charging for your Electric Car

A German manufacturer has applied for a patent for a wireless charging system for the next generation of electric cars. This charging system will be mounted in the roadway, and charge your electric car via electromagnetism while you drive. Similar systems have been tested by the US Defense Department, and it is a known and tested method of powering vehicles of this type. This is, however, the first commercial application of this technology.

It is expected to revolutionize the acceptance of the electric car.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Read about it at gas2.org.

Robots Evolving Much Faster than Predicted...

Robots and Robot Tech is starting to evolve at a rate that parallels the evolution of biological intelligence.

During the Cambrian explosion, when biological life really started to get going, nervous systems would double in size every 15 million years. Not to be outdone, artificial intelligence is now doubling in complexity every few years. Robot and artificial intelligence is now at a level near the range of lower vertebrates. They are expected to be at a level equal to human complexity within 50 years.

Hans Moravec, robot pioneer and founder of Carnegie Mellon' Robotic Institute says development is proceeding at an unheard of pace. He fully expects that by mid-century, no task mental or physical will be beyond the ability of a robot to perform. He also expects robots and artificial life to develop basic mental cognition very soon. This development is taking place so fast, no plans are in place for possible repercussions.

What will we do when the robots we make decide they are better than us?

Another question being posed is what will become of humanity in the face of this type of technology? Will humanity be able to "escape" from it's biological body and become a sort of advanced robot, with enhanced lifespan and abilities?

Here is a link to a larger and better written article on this subject...

Rules of World Domination

Don't remember where I found these...

The rules:

Be certain, not right
Claim to be an expert: it makes people’s brains hurt
No expertise, no problem
One simple idea may be one too many
Get prizes for being outrageous
There’s a success hiding in every failure
Don’t remember your failures. No one else will

The Flynn Effect

A curious phenomenon has been noted regarding children and IQ tests. The average scores of IQ tests administered to children have been rising over time. It is currently unknown if this rise is due to greater intelligence on the part of the children or some other social factor at work. The world's children are gaining an average of 3 IQ points per decade. It is known as the Flynn Effect.

It was expected that the rise in IQ points would coincide with school related knowledge, such as arithmetic or vocabulary. However, the opposite appears to be taking place. The noted rise in points affects General Intelligence Factor questions, and it is predominately skewed in the lower end.

Every few years, the standard IQ tests are "re-normalized" that is, the point value is recomputed to ensure the tests stay at a consistent level. As these tests are normalized, they appear to be inching upwards, driven by the rise in the lower end IQ scores. It is surmised that if a group of children in the year 1932 were to take a modern IQ test, they would be considered borderline mentally retarded.

The media rich environment kids live in today has been proposed by some to be a cause of this effect, but other factors appear to have an influence too. One of these influences is the possibility that with increased schooling and test taking, children are learning to take tests and pass them without truly comprehending the knowledge. It has been observed that a child, if given the same test to re-take, will score an average of 5 points better on the follow-on exam. The scientist who first noted this effect, James Flynn, has proposed these tests are not actually testing meaningful intelligence or knowledge, and are simply keying in on increased mental analysis or processing. This being the result of the rapidly changing tech heavy modern environment.

A disturbing note, is that this seeming Flynn Effect, appears to have stopped progressing, as many of the younger generations tested do not show the expected improved point scores. What this "Flynn Effect" is actually showing us is not currently know.