Wikileaks
So much attention for what has amounted to ridiculously little news. Things like "North Korea wanted Eric Clapton to play a concert there..." or other bits of political trivia and gossip, but in terms of earth-shattering disclosures (JFK was assassinated by the CIA, Washington has long been in correspondence with Alien Intelligences, An Escape Plan has been readied to shelter the wealthy and privileged from the impending environmental apocalypse...) there have been none.
Not that it would change anything. People have a tendency to see what they want, the news spins the leaks in whatever direction is convenient to it's audience - Fox would have Assange shot and tried as a traitor (in that order), other media tend to be a little more lenient. In any event, whatever the leaks disclose, no one is changing their mind about anything, if they serve a purpose at all it's to further entrench people in their beliefs.
Wired has an article on the Psychology of Conspiracy Theories, which explains how people deal with others questioning or challenging their beliefs.
Interesting, if you like that sort of stuff.
What is also interesting is how the US government is pursuing Assange, given the relatively innocuous nature of the leaks they are certainly wholeheartedly pursuing any and all avenues to result in his silence. Which makes you think that maybe they have something to hide that the leaks aren't revealing....
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- Category: Miscellany
The finding is not novel and the solution induces despair.
Ah, even with all the educational qualifications of a Environmental Microbiologist there is still the possibility of rejection. Especially if you decide to stay on at a University, where the focus is "Publish, Publish, Publish..."
Here are some of the more amusing/scathing reviews of work submitted to the peer reviewed journal of Environmental Biology.
"This paper is desperate. Please reject it completely and then block the author’s email ID so they can’t use the online system in future."
"The biggest problem with this manuscript, which has nearly sucked the will to live out of me, is the terrible writing style."
"The writing and data presentation are so bad that I had to leave work and go home early and then spend time to wonder what life is about."
"The finding is not novel and the solution induces despair."
Read more here. Sadly I have no word on happy endings, and quite possibly the authors, despite their education, deserved this.
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Emery Blagdon
Meet Emery Blagdon (1907–1986), who manufactured "Found Art" antennae which would focus the healing energies from the atmosphere onto people in their neighborhood or vicinity. Interesting idea, more interesting artwork here:
Links: Make Online, Outsider Art Pages, Kohler Foundation (warning: you have to scroll), On Flickr, The Foundation for Self Taught American Artists.
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- Category: Link of the day
Hell
I suspect my interest in the subject stems from the numerous recommendations I've received ..... "You really should go to ...".
Being an agnostic and all I don't credit Hell, or the conventional images thereof, greatly. But I find them interesting nonetheless.
Examine, for example, the Greek Hades, not a Hell per se, but hardly a place one would want to spend an eternity. Compare it to the Christian Hell, the punishment for an unproductive life, a life led as a sinner, as a non-believer, a place where anyone who thought differently than they did was sure to end up. A hell filled with fire and brimstone, the sulfurous hell of Satan and his attendant demons. And contrast it with the Buddhist Hell, similar in it's appeal, but there's the underlying belief or knowledge (??) that everything is an illusion, a projection of one's own consciousness, hence whatever your own hell contains it's of your own imagining. And the philosophy of reincarnation, which rewards or punishes you depending on your life's Karma.
Or the Chinese Hell, one filled with the conventional pleasantries, but to add to the pleasure there's an infinite number of weary and dysfunctional bureaucrats, so paralleling life on earth that it's necessary to forward one's ancestors "Bribes" or "Hell Money" so that they can make their way through with a minimal of discomfort.
Follow any of the links above to continue your investigations; this post is purposely brief to inspire your imagination. The illustrations are all by Gustave Doré, whose images of a frozen hell as a child terrified me....
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