Archive for April, 2010
Messages Hidden In The Grooves Of Records
Decades ago, morality watchdogs feared that Satanic messages were hidden in the music and lyrics of rock records. In fact, they were hidden in the records’ matrices (the portion of the vinyl near the center) where nearly-invisible messages can be printed. The Public Collectors site does a nice overview of the hidden-matrice-message tradition:
Black Flag – “Damaged” (SST)
Side A: COMIN’ AT YA – THE NEOLITHIC GELATINOUS THINK
Side B: SIZZLED THAT NEO-ORTHODOXY RIGHT INTO MY UH, AAAH… WHAT THE HELL!Led Zeppelin – III (Atlantic)
Side A: blank
Side B: Do what thou wilt
Hitler Was ‘Obsessed’ With Stealing The Turin Shroud
Would WWII have turned out differently if Adolph Hitler had gotten his hands on the Turin Shroud? He may have believed it would bestow him with Jesus powers. From the Telegraph:
Both the Vatican and the Italian royal family, the Savoys, who were the guardians and owners of the shroud, feared that the German leader, who had an interest in the esoteric, might try to steal the linen cloth.
Officially this was to protect it from possible bombing (in Turin). In reality, it was moved to hide it from Hitler who was apparently obsessed by it. When he visited Italy in 1938, top-ranking Nazi aides asked unusual and insistent questions about the Shroud.
The shroud, which is supposed to have wrapped Christ’s body after he was crucified, was returned to Turin in 1946 on the orders of Italy’s last king, Umberto II. While millions of people believe the shroud to be authentic, sceptics…
National Research Council Reports Genetically Engineered Crops Yield ‘Economic and Environmental Benefits’
Kara Laney, Study Director
The National Research Council has released a report essentially crowing about the benefits of genetically modified seeds (the “Roundup Ready” variety), albeit with a caveat warning against overuse. Personally, I’m extremely skeptical and it makes me question the integrity of the report and the institution publishing it. Your thoughts in the comments section please. Here’s the press release, in full:
Genetically Engineered Crops Benefit Many Farmers,
But The Technology Needs Proper Management to Remain Effective
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits — such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields — compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council. However, GE crops resistant to the herbicide glyphosate — a main component in Roundup and other commercial weed killers — could develop more weed problems as weeds…
Professor Backs UFO Studies
The Buffalo News profiles a local professor who wants to make UFO research respectable:
Philip Haseley has never had any encounters with UFOs or extraterrestrials, but he knows dozens of people who say they have.
“It happens to millions of people [around the world],” he said. “It’s about time we looked into this as a worthy area of study. It’s important that the whole subject be brought out in the open and investigated.”
Haseley is doing his part. He is as serious about unidentified flying objects as anyone in the region. The Niagara County Community College anthropology professor has brought several speakers on the subject to the college in recent years and is head of the Western New York Mutual UFO Network, a group interested in UFO research.
Like the national organization, the Western New York group researches reported UFO sightings.
Generally, about 30 to 50 claims of UFOs are reported monthly across the state, Haseley…
Croatian Teenager Wakes Up from a Coma Speaking Fluent German
From the Mail Online:
Croatian doctors are baffled after a teenage girl who fell into a mysterious coma woke up speaking fluent German.
The parents of the 13-year-old from the southern town of Knin said their daughter had only just started studying German at school and had been trying to read German books and watch German television - but had never been that good in German.
But since waking up the teenager has been unable to speak Croatian and even refused it, but communicates only in perfect German far superior to her mastery of the language she had when she was taken ill.
Split’s KB Hospital director Dujomir Marasovic said they were still trying to find out what caused the mysterious coma and why the girl has apparently forgotten how to speak Croatian.
Marasovic added: ‘You never know when recovering from such a trauma how the brain will react. Obviously we have some theories although…
Bilderberg 2010 Meeting: Spain, June 3-6
Journalist Jim Tucker has made a career of following the publicity-shy organization of elite power-mongers known as the Bilderberg Group. He reveals the details of their “secret” 2010 meeting at American Free Press:
The Bilderberg group will conduct its annual meeting June 3-6 in Sitges, Spain (a small, exclusive resort town about 20 miles from Barcelona) behind a wall of armed guards who will seal off the resort in a futile attempt to keep the event secret.
Jim Tucker profiled in the Alex Jones film Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement.
Bilderberg’s meeting will follow that of its brother group, the Trilateral Commission, which will gather at the Four Seasons Resort in Dublin, Ireland May 6-10…
Military Suicides – A Sign of Empire Pathology
Did you know that there are more soldiers who have committed suicide than those who have died in battle? This article, released earlier this year, is fairly shocking.
From Global Research:
More US military personnel have taken their OWN lives than have died in action.
Here is a shocking statistic that you won’t hear in most western news media: over the past nine years, more US military personnel have taken their own lives than have died in action in either the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. These are official figures from the US Department of Defence, yet somehow they have not been deemed newsworthy to report. Last year alone, more than 330 serving members of the US armed forces committed suicide – more than the 320 killed in Afghanistan and the 150 who fell in Iraq (see wsws.org).
Since 2001, when Washington launched its so-called war on terror, there has been a dramatic year-on-year…
Astronauts Blast Obama On NASA Plans
Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 mission
In an open letter obtained by NBC’s Jay Barbree, former astronauts Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan urge President Obama to reconsider what they warn would be “devastating” new policies for the future of NASA. Posted at NBC Nightly News/MSNBC:
The United States entered into the challenge of space exploration under President Eisenhower’s first term, however, it was the Soviet Union who excelled in those early years. Under the bold vision of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with the overwhelming approval of the American people, we rapidly closed the gap in the final third; of the 20th century, and became the world leader in space exploration.
America’s space accomplishments earned the respect and admiration of the world. Science probes were unlocking the secrets of the cosmos; space technology was providing instantaneous worldwide communication; orbital sentinels were helping man understand the vagaries of nature. Above…
The Keiser Report: Markets! Bubbles! Finance! Scandal! And Dean Baker!
The Keiser Report on Russia TV:
This is the special Alan Greenspan bubble addition in which Max takes out several props and we talk about the scandals of financial crisis “show trials” in America; Citigroup alleges they could not possibly have predicted the collapse of a very obvious housing bubble; and former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan, tells the show trial commissioners that the financial world is far too complex for mere mortals. In the second half of the show, Max talks to economist Dean Baker about Citigroup’s alleged profits:
Lehman Channeled Risks [i.e. Investors' Money] Through ‘Alter Ego’ Firm
The top headline of the front page of the New York Times remains unaltered in my story headline, except for what the word “risk” really means. In my mind the sense of an “alter ego” sounds like a horror story, not a financial or economic one…
LOUISE STORY and ERIC DASH report in the New York Times:
In the years before its collapse, Lehman used a small company — its “alter ego,” in the words of a former Lehman trader — to shift investments off its books.
The firm, called Hudson Castle, played a crucial, behind-the-scenes role at Lehman, according to an internal Lehman document and interviews with former employees. The relationship raises new questions about the extent to which Lehman obscured its financial condition before it plunged into bankruptcy.
While Hudson Castle appeared to be an independent business, it was deeply entwined with Lehman. For years, its board was controlled by Lehman, which owned…
What’s Your Favorite Film or Documentary About Conspiracy Theories (And Facts)?
Disinformation’s Raymond Wiley started this conversation over on Disinfo’s Facebook Wall and a great question for disinfo.com readers to address (if you haven’t already).
I’m partial to Oliver Stone’s filmmaking … and I can’t wait for his Wall Street sequel later this year.
Here’s a bit of JFK that is about the power of questioning established truth, regardless of how entrenched that “truth” might be.
I’ll let the film speak for itself and do share your favorite films or film moments:
Stanley Kubrick Acting Psycho On The Set Of ‘The Shining’ (Video)
Thanks to Charlie Jane Anders on io9.com for pointing this out:
Europe Funds Autonomous Self-Learning Humanoid Robots
New details about the EU-funded AMARSi project, which includes a quadruped robot named “Cheetah” and a toddler-like robot named iCub as part of a project to build self-learning robots that can move like a human!
The new open source robot platform will enable bots to dynamically rewire their circuits to process new knowledge using dynamic neural networks…
The Wall Street Crime Narrative
In politics, it’s always all about the narrative, about how issues are framed.
We ask ourselves how we can be experiencing the largest economic meltdown in decades with millions out of work and millions more losing their homes, yet with no real mass mobilization or ongoing response from the progressive world.
To understand this paradox, we need to reflect on how most of us define the problem.
To this day, there has not been an aggressive investigation of who and what brought down the system à la the Pecora Commission appointed by FDR. Instead we have a wimpy ineffectual body that can’t get its act together. The New York Times, which hailed its appointment, now buries its de facto obit way back in the business section, noting it has “been hobbled by delays and internal disagreements and a lack of focus.”
At the same time, the bookshelves are filling up with volumes of complicated treatises…
Hevisaurus: Scandinavian Heavy Metal For Toddlers
Why are the Scandinavians so far ahead in everything? This is a brilliant idea: a band of clawed, Barney-like dinosaur creatures that play heavy metal, as a way to introduce young children to the world of mosh pits and headbanging. Hevisaurus, from Finland, is gaining a growing amount of attention, but sadly the United States is not included in their summer 2010 tour dates.
U.S. Military Warns Of Massive Oil Shortage In Five Years
Is this just a scare tactic, or is the military seeing things more accurately than the rest of our government? In contrast with rosier predictions by others — others such as the Department of Energy — a new Pentagon report paints an ominous picture of world-changing oil shortages just a few years away, the Guardian reports:
“By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day,” says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.
It adds: “While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and…
Did The Wall Street Bailout Really Make Money For Taxpayers?
New York Times columnist Aaron Ross Sorkin wonders if the government’s claim that its bailouts of Wall Street firms worked and will be profitable might be true. What do you think?
What if, after all that panting over Washington’s bailout of the financial system, we learned that it actually worked?
And what if, after all that vitriol over the government’s risking hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue Wall Street from disaster, it turned out that taxpayers might actually lose nothing, or even make a profit?
Could it be? Really?
Every couple of months the Treasury Department takes a moment to strategically leak some good news about the bailouts. It happened again on Monday, when a Treasury official told The Wall Street Journal that America’s coffers would be only $89 billion lighter after all accounts were settled from the rescues, down from an earlier estimate of $250 billion.
It’s enough to make us all feel rich,…
Researchers Identify Source of Brain Consciousness
New research identifies how patterns of electrical activity create the inner state known as “consciousness”!
Using EEG (brain-wave sensing) and MRI measurements, researchers found evidence for the “global workspace theory” that pre-conscious perceptions are then broadcast into the brain’s neural network. Researchers correlated activity there with known levels of brain functioning observed in both healthy volunteers and those with brain damage. Among other applications, this research could eventually be used to predict who will recover from a coma.
