root.cellar

Friday, August 12, 2005

ö Climate warning as Siberia melts [New Scientist]  THE world's largest frozen peat bog is melting. An area stretching for a million square kilometres across the permafrost of western Siberia is turning into a mass of shallow lakes as the ground melts, according to Russian researchers just back from the region. The sudden melting of a bog the size of France and Germany combined could unleash billions of tonnes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The news of the dramatic transformation of one of the world's least visited landscapes comes from Sergei Kirpotin, a botanist at Tomsk State University, Russia, and Judith Marquand at the University of Oxford. Kirpotin describes an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming". He says that the entire western Siberian sub-Arctic region has begun to melt, and this "has all happened in the last three or four years". more  Meanwhile, this very Google Ad was on the New Scientist article and the Bushies are still waiting for the evidence expecting The Rapture. permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö Spherical panorama QTVR inspired by The Fifth Element To me, this looks like it was inspired by the cabby scenes in The Fifth Element. As Jorn at Robot Wisdom says, "Best Quicktime-VR panorama ever". It's viewable there in Java too. permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

ö Nibiru at #8 out of Top Ten tenth planet names [New Scientist]  New Scientist Breaking News - Your top 10 names for the tenth planet 8. Nibiru Nibiru, is the name ancient Babylonians gave to a heavenly body associated with their chief deity, Marduk. According to ancient Sumerian tablets, it also referred to a mysterious Planet X - at that time undiscovered. Some voters believe that the writings have now come true. more  Ah, but should it be called Nibiru? The main Nibiru guy, Zecharia Sitchin, says the real Nibiru is not an "icy rock" in the Kuiper Belt. permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö Britain's Secret War in Antarctica  At the end of World War II, Britain sent a covert mission to investigate anomalous activities near its secret base at Maudheim in eastern Antarctica and to seek out and destroy a subterranean Nazi haven. Introduction In 1938, Nazi Germany sent an expedition to Antarctica with a mission to investigate sites for a possible base and to make formal claims in the name of the Third Reich. To prepare them for their mission, they invited the great polar explorer Richard E. Byrd to lecture them on what to expect. The following year, a month after hostilities had commenced in Europe, the Germans returned to Neuschwabenland (Wikipedia) to finish what had been started, with many suggesting that a base was being constructed. Nine years later, Richard E. Byrd, who by now had become an Admiral in the United States Navy, was sent to Antarctica with the largest task force ever assembled for a polar mission. In Admiral Byrd's own words, the mission (code-named Highjump) (Wikipedia) was "primarily of a military nature". more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö The world in the palm of their hands: Bilderberg 2005  About the Author: Daniel Estulin is an award-winning investigative journalist who has been researching the Bilderbergers for over 13 years. He was one of only two journalists who witnessed and reported (from beyond the heavily guarded perimeter) the super-secret Bilderberg meeting at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel in Rottach-Egern, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, on 5 to 8 May 2005. Breaking the Silence Bilderberg Exposed When presidents, prime ministers, bankers and generals rub shoulders with European royalty at the annual secret Bilderberg meeting, they discuss the business of running markets and wars without being accountable to the public. Bilderberg's Plans for the World The Bilderberg group's secret annual meeting determines many of the headlines and news developments that you will read about in the coming months. But the Establishment media completely black out any news of it and remain strangely reluctant to lift the curtain hiding this major event. A number of high-ranking members of the press who attend the annual meeting are sworn to secrecy, and news editors are held responsible if any of their journalists "inadvertently" report on what takes place. Yet few have ever heard of this exclusive and secretive group of the world's most powerful financiers, industrialists and political figures. Although the Bilderberg group has lost some of its past lustre, on 5 to 8 May 2005 it met at Rottach-Egern (in Munich, Germany) under its usual secrecy that makes a freemasonry lodge look like a playgroup. Staff at the hotel were photographed and put through special clearance. From porters to senior managers, the employees were warned (under the threat of never working in their country again) about the consequences of revealing any details of the guests to the press. more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

ö Pull that "Internets" plug or the terrorists have already won [Slashdot] Slashdotters are having a field day with this crappy psy-op "cyberspace terrorists" meme which is spawning in the MSM now. Prominently, in this Sunday's Washington Post:  Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations In the snow-draped mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the Taliban collapsed and al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin Laden biographer Hamid Mir watched "every second al Qaeda member carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov" as they prepared to scatter into hiding and exile. On the screens were photographs of Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Nearly four years later, al Qaeda has become the first guerrilla movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace. With laptops and DVDs, in secret hideouts and at neighborhood Internet cafes, young code-writing jihadists have sought to replicate the training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the Internet. Al Qaeda suicide bombers and ambush units in Iraq routinely depend on the Web for training and tactical support, relying on the Internet's anonymity and flexibility to operate with near impunity in cyberspace. more WaPo punishment  If we could just rid ourselves of these internets, we wouldn't get nearly as much of the nonsense about things like the so-called Rove-gate, the Downing Street Memo, "Gitmo", Abu Ghraib, Iraqi bloggers, and nut-cases like Alex Jones. Treat yourself and go see the full size of this "internet" illustration. Once there, be sure to click it to magnify. permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

Monday, August 08, 2005

ö Behold the Mysterious, Mighty YAMM Over at Metafilter, a great post full of linkage: A giant octopus takes on a shark in a video like something from a horror movie (low-res version). Octopuses are remarkable creatures, and are much more intelligent than you may think, especially given some of the movies they've inspired. posted by cerebus19 The video needs RealPlayer (or Real Alternative), but I couldn't get a good still out of it. Amazing, though. I also followed the link under intelligent and got this:  NATURE. The Octopus Show. A Legend of the Deep | PBS In Tahiti, it is called Rogo-tumu, a tentacled sea demon who drags unsuspecting seafarers to the ocean bottom. In the Bahamas, legends abound of the Lusca, a giant sea creature that can squeeze through the smallest cracks and change color in the blink of an eye. Along the ancient Mediterranean Sea, people spoke in reverent tones of Yamm, a sea god of many heads and legs who ruled over his watery realm. Tall tales? Perhaps. But all are based on a remarkable real animal: the octopus. more  Yamm! Who knew?! Sometimes it all comes together... Oh my! One of the MeFi people posted a link to a page of Not Safe for Work Octopi pictures! permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

Sunday, August 07, 2005

ö Intelligent Design: Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster  OPEN LETTER TO KANSAS SCHOOL BOARD I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design. Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him. more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö Roberts' record, Iraq, caskets, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo [t r u t h o u t] Ummm, yes, it's "simply contrary to the public interest" for us to know where Roberts stood, just like we shouldn't be exposed to the real reasons for the war, the caskets of our soldiers or the horrors we dish out to 'detainees':  White House Refuses Request for Roberts Documents The Bush administration on Friday formally rejected a Democratic request for documents from the years Judge John G. Roberts Jr. served as deputy solicitor general... [...] "It is simply contrary to the public interest for these documents to be released,"... more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?