Minister of Free Inquiry

appreciating each moment as if it were our last

2009-12-06T18:58:50Z

another star has ascended:
http://www.andreaburden.net/
she was always such a compassionate soul, and with such a talented connection between her eye & her hand... indeed, she created much to celebrate unto the artifice of eternity!
although we will miss her dearly, we can still appreciate her contributions to The Great Work, and she will live on in our hearts, minds, and in our spirit.

"how did we get here?"

2009-11-29T00:53:58Z

today, i was researching allegory & Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic communications, which i first learned about through Robert Anton Wilson & studying NLP, EFT, & Hypnosis Techniques.

then, i found a page concerning "perception-space, perception war, and perception operations (perceived-effects)-based operations"
- from The Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center @ Air University: "The intellectual and leadership center of the Air Force. We produce the future."

and i suddenly remembered that i still haven't read The Coming Insurrection

a number of my friends went to visit relatives in Laredo, this weekend; and i decided to stay home to feed the cats & chickens.

although, speaking of hot spots of paramilitary combat... as i said previously this year regarding the Texas-Mexico border situation, i tend to prefer the serenity of the venus project to the extremes of armed revolution & martial law

can't we all just get along?

meanwhile... "would you like to play a game?"

i seem to have been caught in a temporal loop...

2009-11-28T23:01:34Z

we were talking about the orang asli, who were fortunate enough to be able to maintain their lives in paradise, until recently.
their plight is a perfect example of "Yali's Question" outlined in guns, germs, & steel (wow, the pbs video is on youtube... & the book should be required reading before college!)

much of what the modern mind knows of war is from a patriarchal perspective (although the winds of change are blowing)... not that matriarchal societies haven't ever condoned violence or war... au contraire!
but i do think that there are often (sometimes, but not always) extremely different motivations for men & women to become violent.
for instance, when one of my friends was taking a criminal justice class, years ago; she told me that statistically, men kill women most often in the bedroom, and women kill men most often in the kitchen.
surprised?
not so much, eh?
still, i try not to overgeneralize about gender & sexuality... they are such complex & often paradoxical subjects, which makes them all the more fun to explore! ;~})>

but here's a compelling argument which directly relates to your topic:
Why Women Should Rule The World

recently, i have repeatedly pointed out another issue related to the enculturation of violence & war...
MAPS is studying whether MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has the potential to heal traumas caused by sexual assault, war, violent crime, and other causes.

--

i originally posted this as a response to one of mordwen's entries about women in the military from a year ago (with apologies for the tardiness of my reply).

i am trying to fix some bugs that i have found in communication between my blogs & i thought that i would re-post it here in my journal to see if the system is working, now. it seems that twitterfeed all of the sudden decided that i needed to re-authenticate with my Username & Password: GRRRRR! at the same time that i had posted an lj entry with a weird timestamp, so it wouldn't forward to facebook: ARGH! ...Well, everything should be fixed, now: <sigh>
...or not?
ADDENDUM:
it seems that this sort of thing can sometimes be fixed by deleting & re-creating the feed

"There's one in all of us."

2009-11-28T11:37:05Z

recently, i saw _Where The Wild Things Are_
...and i cried waterfalls throughout the entire film.
it is one of those rare gems that i will treasure alongside the book that inspired its creation.

many people have been disturbed by this film's quasi-traumatic intensity; so much so that even wikipedia points out:
...The movie's release generated conflicting views over whether it is harmful to expose children to frightening scenes. In an interview with Newsweek, Sendak felt that parents who deemed the film's content to be too disturbing for children should "go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate" and he further noted "I saw the most horrendous movies that were unfit for child's eyes. So what? I managed to survive."

i understand and sympathize with the many comments about how the film is not entirely appropriate for all young children.
i particularly do not approve of Max running outside of the house for his cathartic journey: in the book, after he throws his tantrum, he is sent to his room to get himself under control; and when he calms down, he gets to come back & have dinner (including chocolate cake for desert, which is included in the film, at least).

the film does have multiple levels of amazing macrocosmic & microcosmic art design (from the cyclopaean fort that they build together, down to the miniature fantasy world in the cave).

i always loved the monster muppets (alice cooper on the muppet show was probably the pinnacle of artistic accomplishment in the medium of television) and the way that all of the monsters in this film speak their lines as if they are voices in max's psyche is just phenomenal!

i should mention that some people have suggested to me that this film has a more profound effect on those people who have anger issues, or have been affected by people who have anger issues in their lives... i have found some resonance for this idea, but i think the jury is still out deliberating that question.

--

meanwhile, here are some other curiousities that i found while researching the development of the film:

Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger".

Bill Moyers and Maurice Sendak discuss the inspiration behind "Where the Wild Things Are" and where mischievous Max might be today.

We Love You So - Where The Wild Things Are Final Fort Submissions

Where The Wild Things Are, Art Director Sonny Gerasimowicz, and The Film as a Movement

Straight for the art: Vice's Where the Wild Things Are tribute gallery

The Wild Things Don't Really Love You

--

i find myself contemplating other collossal-scale wicker-like art projects, too...

Patrick Dougherty

ashes, ashes... we all fall down! (including thoughts relative to the belgian waffle)

--

finally, concerning anger in general... i have always been rather fond of this buddhist allegory: A Bag of Nails

as without, so within... fractal bloom!!!

2009-11-19T21:55:52Z

Rena Jones - Open Me Slowly (3D Fractal Video) from Kris Northern on Vimeo.

thanks & praises that the cosmos is continually expanding inwardly & outwardly to encompass such beauty... and kudos to alobar greywalker for posting a link to Unraveling the 3D Mandelbulb!

blood money

2009-11-19T05:32:40Z

without further aidieu, i bring you...
The Robotech UN PSA mashup with the Smurfs Unicef PSA (with all due respect to the original creators, and "Darkwater" from youtube):

--

U.N. Landmine Removal Commercial, which saw no air time because of its 'contraversial' content:

--

Do we need cartoon characters and tear-jerker scenarios pandering to soccer moms for people wake up & recognize what caused this economic crisis?

House Representative Henry A. Waxman (D. CA) interviewing Alan Greenspan during 10/28/08 Congressional hearing:

Greenspan’s Mea Culpa, by David Leonhardt

The Corporate Fallacy, by Noel Pearson
"Since the nineteenth century, when corporations were first anthropomorphised and granted the legal personality of human beings, we have come to assume that they possess the kind of self-interest that Alan Greenspan was banking on, the kind that would ensure they would not risk their own extinction as corporate entities. But a corporation is merely a collection of contracts between humans, whose individual interests are the true self-interests within the corporation. And in recent times, the decisive interests of the managers have become disconnected from the interests of the company and its shareholders."

nature is not mute, but reductionism has made us deaf

2009-11-19T03:46:36Z

THE CU CHI TUNNELS: A Documentary of the Vietnam War, as recounted by the Viet Cong

obviously, one cannot conduct "just war" without an ethical authority... and especially not against an underdog who is using Sun Tzu's Art of War as their handbook, and who is also willing to live in an underground civilization until they triumph!

--

lately, my dreams have been haunted by the concept a "just world"

most recently, my maternal grandfather was crying on my shoulder, literally calling for his "mommy!"

the most obvious macrocosmic situation (outside of our immediate family dynamics) that i could relate this to was...

Robert McNamara's about-face concerning his bungled Vietnam strategy & the obvious correlation to Afganistan

...
McNamara put in place a statistical strategy for victory in Vietnam. He concluded that there were a limited number of Viet Cong fighters in Vietnam and that a war of attrition would destroy them. He applied metrics (body counts) to determine how close to success his plan was.
Although he was a prime architect of the Vietnam War and repeatedly overruled the JCS on strategic matters, McNamara gradually became skeptical about whether the war could be won by deploying more troops to South Vietnam and intensifying the bombing of North Vietnam, a claim he would publish in a book years later. He also stated later that his support of the Vietnam war was given out of loyalty to administration policy. He traveled to Vietnam many times to study the situation firsthand and became increasingly reluctant to approve the large force increments requested by the military commanders.
...
McNamara has said that the Domino Theory was the main reason for entering the Vietnam War. In the same interview he states, "Kennedy hadn't said before he died whether, faced with the loss of Vietnam, he would [completely] withdraw; but I believe today that had he faced that choice, he would have withdrawn."[citation needed]
...
His memoir, In Retrospect, published in 1995, presented an account and analysis of the Vietnam War from his point of view. Reviews were very mixed. The book was viewed as McNamara's attempt to apologize for his role in the war, but it also has been seen as shifting blame to other people and as an attempt to transform his image from an architect of the war into a virtual opponent.
...
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a 2003 Errol Morris documentary consisting mostly of interviews with Robert McNamara and archival footage. It went on to win the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The particular structure of this personal account is accomplished with the characteristics of an intimate dialogue. As McNamara explains, it is a process of examining the experiences of his long and controversial period as the United States Secretary of Defense, as well as other periods of his personal and public life. In this documentary in lesson 8 he referred to the Vietnam war and he said " None of our allies supported us. Not Japan, not Germany, not Britain or France. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better reexamine our reasoning."
...
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara

--

but these outlines are particularly crucial:

* R.S. McNamara's eleven lessons of war
* Ten additional lessons from R.S. McNamara
* Eleven lessons from the Vietnam War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War

When asked to apply the eleven lessons from In Retrospect to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, McNamara refused, arguing that ex-secretaries of defense must not comment upon the incumbent defense secretary's policies. He suggested other people could apply the eleven lessons to the war in Iraq, but that he would not, noting that the lessons are generally about war, not a specific war.

--

...double-speak weaseling to not criticise the commamder in chief?

--

however, @:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0125-01.htm

'It's Just Wrong What We're Doing'
In an exclusive interview, repentant Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara breaks his silence on Iraq: The United States, he says, is making the same mistakes all over again
by Doug Saunders

"...Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why..."

"I don't believe that Kennedy would be reacting the way Bush is. For one thing, Kennedy reached out. A critic in those early days of the administration was John Kenneth Galbraith [the Canadian economist, who believed Vietnam was a bad idea]. And Kennedy reached out, and appointed him to a high-level position, and he talked to him about Vietnam. You don't see that today."

--

and here's the smoking gun, as it were ;~})>

_Death doesn't end Robert McNamara debate_
By DAVID ROGERS | 7/7/09 4:31 AM EST
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24616_Page2.html

Greenway recalls a meeting he witnessed between a much older McNamara and John Kenneth Galbraith, the Harvard University economist who had been an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

The two adversaries met in Vermont at Galbraith’s home. “McNamara walked up to Galbraith, who was standing, all of 6-foot-7 whatever, and said, ‘Ken, you were right and I was wrong,’” Greenway said. “It was an extraordinary kind of event.”

--

also q.v.

_Exit Strategy_
In 1963, JFK ordered a complete withdrawal from Vietnam
by James K. Galbraith
Originally published in the October/November 2003 issue of Boston Review
http://bostonreview.net/BR28.5/galbraith.html

--

Galbraith and Vietnam
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050314/parker
By Richard Parker, February 24, 2005
This article appeared in the March 14, 2005 edition of The Nation.

--

And how does this relate to our current situation?

--

Vietnam again, ask Galbraith
by Crispin Hull on October 10, 2009
http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2009/10/10/vietnam-again-ask-galbraith/

--

not to get too confused by this whole mess, but there is also a curious coincidence that Peter Galbraith (son of economist John Kenneth Galbraith) is a career diplomat and former U.N. envoy who recently lost his post after alleging that the U.N. helped cover up fraud during and after the recent presidential election in Afghanistan.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/12/eveningnews/main5380448.shtml
http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2009/oct/01/dismissed-afghan-envoy-speaks-out/#transcript
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6856029.ece
http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/10/peter-galbraith-on-afghan-election-fraud
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/05/galbraith-troops-afghanistan/
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/5/fired_un_official_peter_galbraith_accuses

--

_It's Time for Us to Go_
by Christopher Buckley
"Get out of Afghanistan now, Mr. President. And here’s why."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-28/its-time-for-us-to-go/?cid=tag:all1

--

or maybe i've been watching dune too much, lately?

--

As the health care debates continue & the troops keep marching on... I wonder, is there middle way between the the unfortunately often absolute apathy of the vulgar form of gov't (by which i believe societies tend to operate, ultimately... please help create an alternative?) & the sometimes perhaps unrealistically idealistic ethos of kindness (that i wish to engender among our communities, by whatever means necessary)?

An old friend & I had spoken at length about this, and he asked me how I thought that people would continue to treat each other with such compassion without the influence of role models such as the philosopher king?

I have often contemplated the pros & cons of the creation and inevitable dissolution of cults of personality...

And another of my trusted counselors brought up the famous example of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
"His immediate resignation of his absolute authority with the end of the crisis has often been cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, and modesty..."
(In the Paradiso, Dante used Cincinnatus as an example of an ethical citizen.)
"...George Washington was often compared to Cincinnatus for his willingness to give up near-absolute power once the crisis of the American Revolution had passed and victory had been won"

--

on that note, i started relating more to my paternal grandmother's side of the family...

in fact, i am related to Richard Montgomery

and here's an excellent exegesis of the story told by that painting!

whereas this political tract, attributed to Thomas Paine, uses an old allegorical method to inspire people to rise up and take arms in the rebellion through a phantasmagorical pep talk:
A dialogue between the ghost of General Montgomery, just arrived from the Elysian Fields; and an American delegate, in a wood near Philadelphia. Printed and sold by R. Bell, in Third-Street. 1776

and here's a poem about montgomery, written as a parody of the death of general wolfe... written by henry livingston, (a cousin of montgomery's wife janet... and who also served under montgomery in 1775) and published in the Country Journal and Poughkeepsie Advertiser, Aug 15, 1787

this sort of allusion to montgomery's ghost as a martyr'd omen was apparently quite common all the way through the War of 1812

looks like i am going to have to go to a physical library to read this article, though...
The Many Deaths of Montgomery: Audiences and Pamphlet Plays of the Revolution" Strand Am Lit Hist.1997; 9: 1-20

--

Meanwhile, I'm going to have to reinterpret my concept of the bonobo methods of conflict resolution, according to some data that I recently discovered.

My first thought is that even the Orang Asli are hunters... they just don't hunt humans (although they have recently realized that they have to defend their territory from foreign aggressors, and at least the Islamic courts in Malaysia have defended them, as an example to the world for how indigenous people's sovereignty rights must be protected!)

--

And although my last reference to enlightened absolutism does also remind me of the dark side of the philosopher king, I will also continue to support & encourage those rebels who contribute to The Great Work... in spite of the odds against them!

In this video, Terence McKenna points out the essential similarities between Alchemy & Shamanism, including synergetic reverence for Gaia:
The Alchemical Dream Rebirth of the Great Work

As a final note, I was looking for an Arabic reference for The Great Work, and besides references to Rumi & Sufism, I also found this transliteration: al-'amal al-a'zam!

friendly neighborhood reminder from jacques demolay

2009-11-13T20:46:23Z

absolveyeselves

wanna be a saint?

2009-11-01T21:22:54Z

you can help me move into a new home, tonight &/or tomorrow night... i promise it will be lots of fun!
call me anytime @ 512-573-6470 for further details.

last minute warning

2009-10-30T22:34:39Z

for those of you fortunate enough to have acquired an rsvp before all 1200 were gone...
i will be playing with hipnautica @ the "Halloween at the Graveyard!" bday party for do512
if you really want to attend the party later, then show up at noon to help us setup!!!

:::afterwards, i'll be (you know where) with the rest of the underground crew:::

take MY car... please?

2009-10-15T22:05:39Z

ok y'all, this is your LAST chance!
if you want to own my flamethrowing art car, contact me immediately...
someone smashed the windshield while it was parked on the street, so i'm about to donate it to charity, unless someone out there wants it now.

So Many Paths of Initiation... So Little Time!

2009-10-15T06:01:44Z

The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

"drinking from the fire hose"

2009-10-09T23:44:22Z

the official recent news:
Lunar smash produces surprise, disappointment
LCROSS Finale: NASA Plays Down Lack of Fireworks
SMASH! Live Q&A about water on the moon and NASA's LCROSS mission
Five times more water on Moon? (2003 Nature journal article)
Water on the Moon? (2009 Nature journal article)
Detection of Adsorbed Water and Hydroxyl on the Moon (2009 Science journal article)
Water Found on the Moon
Controversial New Idea Surfaces on Origin of Moon's Water
Obama Facing Tough Decision on Whether to Keep Aiming for the Moon

related speculation, conjecture, & extrapolation:
Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel
Moon for Sale: A BBC Horizon Documentary on the possibility of Lunar mining for Helium-3
Fusion Power from the Moon (data from the Artemis Society International)
The Living Moon: Uncovering A Well Kept Secret

road trip?

2009-10-08T22:26:24Z

When I was down, you homies stood up proud to represent (ROLLIN!)
And now I'm rollin all you homies come hop right in!
...
As for the haters, they ass funny
My money like a road block
So watch how you roll roll your crash dummy
I'm rolling in, I roll and bounce, I roll and stop
Roll slow motion, then I let the beat drop!

a friend in need

2009-10-08T13:33:57Z

I was going to head home from epoch this morning to get back in my crypt before the sun rose & my car won't start... when I turn the key, the lights come on, but there's no clicking, no solenoid & no starter motor cranking (even though the battery is fully charged & connected properly)... grrr! well anyway, if you have the inclination to help me diagnose this, I would be eternally grateful! i'm driving a 1983 mercedes 240D with a lovecraft conversion kit (waste-vegetable oil fuled!), so it's probably old wiring... the glow plug light has been a little wonky lately, so I was just waiting for this to happen... sigh.

how are things going with you?

I guess I will just have to find my tools amidst the post-playa debris & follow these directions:
http://www.type2.com/bartnik/starter.htm

if anyone feels like assisting me in this exciting endeavor, I will do my best to compensate fairly... I can be reached anytime @ 512.573.647zero

crossing the threshold

2009-10-04T19:52:03Z

here's an awesome synthesis of the virtual & tactile experiences:
Touchable Hologram Becomes Reality

perhaps this bridge from information theory may lead across the uncanny valley into the zero point field?
...as i read about in this account of illumination developed through dissection of cadavers...
meanwhile, i'll be combing The Akashic Field with a reasonable amount of skepticism ;~})>
at least until mid-November, when the Large Hadron Collider is supposed to be ready to fire up, again!

so, while we're waiting for the "End Times" to come:
let us slay as many zombies as we can...
but still remember to be kind to one another!

aethyrflux @ 2009-09-24T00:01:00

2009-09-24T05:01:01Z

00:03 : 17:04 stand back... i'm going to try: SCIENCE!: otherwise known as, "here, hold my beer & watch this!" onl.. bit.ly/AaJOv #

...pardon me, but which way is out of the recursion?

"damn, nickel... why you gotta go out like that?"

2009-09-24T04:35:05Z

Colby Watkins, Atone Pain Tribe & Sunken City Circus Founder, Dead

and i'm tired of people reacting to suicide with apathy & rejection.
perhaps it's time for us to figure out why this keeps happening to our shining stars?
unfortunately, there seems to be a disturbing pattern to many of these scenarios...
if you want to be part of the (final) solution, come & celebrate his memory with us:

BENEFIT FOR COLBY WATKINS (C-Ba$) MEMORIAL SERVICE
Come (to NOLA, if you can &) pitch in to send him off proper!!!

aethyrflux @ 2009-09-23T00:00:00

2009-09-23T05:00:55Z

17:04 stand back... i'm going to try: SCIENCE!: otherwise known as, "here, hold my beer & watch this!" only to be foll.. bit.ly/64ceA #

...pardon me, but which way is out of the recursion?

stand back... i'm going to try: SCIENCE!

2009-09-22T21:35:10Z

otherwise known as, "here, hold my beer & watch this!"
only to be followed by the inevitable, "wait, you're doin' it WRON..."

20:42 Maybe there will be free ice cream @ the man this year... The base of the effigy looks like waffle cones :-p #
22:59 I just didn't believe that we would have cellphone service in the post-apocalyptic environment. However, we still don't have wood magnets:-p #
21:55 WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!!! As fortold in the prophesies: last night we had a plague of scarab beetles, and we now have cell service on th ... #
03:10 giddyup: looks like the temple caravan is moving out in the morning after pancakes...see y'all in the dust! bit.ly/ZfyZj #
10:42 is it nat'l speed trap day or something?: there are police with radar guns on every highway in austin this morning! bit.ly/131PKG #
16:12 Temple Fundraiser Benefit: TONIGHT!!!Thursday, July 30, 2009The Parish Room (214 East Sixth Street)doors at 9pm,.. bit.ly/LOUCl #
15:39 Emerging Trends in Augmented Reality Products: Augmented RealityMedia delivery methods are transforming the way .. bit.ly/44EBy #
16:11 One Race: The Human Race: Although snopes.com has already rather extensively debunked many slanderous claims abo.. bit.ly/YE4v5 #
11:43 and for the OMGROTFLMAOBBQ-WIN!!!1111111!1!!!!11!!!1!!1!11!111111!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!111!11111: Making of Buzz Al.. bit.ly/4COgD #
19:33 enlightening, transforming, & revolutionizing human society: The Rule of Law Radio reports on events @ the 2009 .. tinyurl.com/nnlkj7 #
16:49 "Artists **** groupies, I **** the artists." - Allan Klein: I have written reported in my journal about how Alle.. tinyurl.com/nyoysh #
04:52 @thehideout i was too busy getting shot in the face with roman candles during the benefit for the temple, q.v. communityartmakers.com #
04:48 would you believe that i'm a sucker for romantic comedies?: it's a miracle how they managed to make deadpan sati.. tinyurl.com/rxlj5m #
13:50 who knew?: perhaps this was a beneficial side effect of the flamethrowers exploding in my face, during the DPW p.. tinyurl.com/ou6yje #
20:48 ready... aim... fire!: We're building a Temple!www.temple.communityartmakers.com/templeand throwing a fun.. tinyurl.com/m3fb47 #
19:50 quantifying & comparing complex systems: "It has been estimated that the adult brain has around one hundred bill.. tinyurl.com/leegfe #
17:48 tyranny may be able to slow our progress, but the will of the people cannot be stopped: "Transparency is an esse.. tinyurl.com/l3xywl #
07:49 ain't it reanimated, yet?: Although the term, "steampunk" was coined by K. W. Jeter in 1987, and most .. tinyurl.com/mma56d #
02:48 "...there's strife in Iran...": Personal Opinion & In-Depth Analysis: counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm o.. tinyurl.com/m75fwt #
12:41 Electric Dream Theater, tonight 8pm-1am at 501 Studios, 501 N IH 35, Corner of E. 5th St. and Brushy mgfest.com/09/Austin/ #

...pardon me, but which way is out of the recursion?

giddyup

2009-08-08T06:42:19Z

looks like the temple caravan is moving out in the morning after pancakes...
see y'all in the dust!

is it nat'l speed trap day or something?

2009-08-05T15:30:13Z

there are police with radar guns on every highway in austin this morning!

Temple Fundraiser Benefit

2009-07-30T20:49:12Z

TONIGHT!!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Parish Room (214 East Sixth Street)
doors at 9pm, show at 10pm, $10 ($7 if in costume)

Hey, look! We got some coverage in local New Media!

So, if you know what's good fer ye... don yer best apparel & come on down to our last benefit before we head out for the playa...

Emerging Trends in Augmented Reality Products

2009-07-30T19:50:38Z

Augmented Reality

Media delivery methods are transforming the way that people access information

Advertising & Marketing techniques have moved beyond print & RTF models and are finally catching up with technology

Traditional businesses are reaching their customers with many new methods: for instance, through the convergence of Social Networking Databases & Smart Phones

Human-Machine Interface

Whether by walking through automatic doors, or scanning our groceries, robotic systems have become a part of our everyday lives

Our positions & identities can also be automatically identified using barcodes, QR codes, magnetic strips, & RFIDs

With The Sixth Sense, a camera enables users to manipulate projections with their fingers, enabling greater control over augmented reality

From Sci-Fi to Augmented Reality

Motion Sensing/Gestural Interface

The Sixth Sense uses a camera & projector to create an interface like the one popularized in the film, “Minority Report”

Similarly, the “wii-mote” remote control for the wii gaming console uses an accelerometer and optical sensor technology.

Also, the iphone uses an accelerometer, GPS, & a compass

interactive ui in minority report:

TED Talks - Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense

Contextual Visual Display

Augmented Reality aims to allow the user to modulate and recontextualize their access to information about the real world

A smart phone can superimpose information over a video feed, so that users can view pop-up menus about features in their physical environment

Context provides a filter of relevance so that the user does not experience information overload

Context Domains

Activity-based context: What are you doing?

Social context: With whom are you?

Spatio-Temporal context: Where are you? What time is it?

Physiological context: Heart rate, movement, temperature

Environmental context: What are your surroundings?

Mental context: How are you feeling?

Virtual context: What is happening with you in the virtual space?

“Me” context: Who are you?

Augmented Mobile Browsing

The first mobile phone based augmented reality browser has been released in the Netherlands, with the following services initially featured:

* A realty locating service

* A social networking site

* A Google local search, with user predefined categories (Coffee, Cinema, Hotels and more)

* A temp agency

* Banking locations for branches & ATMs

* Nearest health care: doctors, clinics, & hospitals

Layar - worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser:

Key References

Pranav Mistry: The SixthSense - A Wearable Gestural Interface (MIT Media Lab)

SPRX Mobile Service Architects We launched Layar - World’s First Augmented Reality Browser for Mobile

One Race: The Human Race

2009-07-24T20:53:01Z

Although snopes.com has already rather extensively debunked many slanderous claims about Obama...
Today, I read this article:
McCain Campaign Investigated, Dismissed Obama Citizenship Rumors: Frivolous 'Birther' Lawsuits Fuel Conspiracy Theories, Media Coverage

Also today, Obama corrects himself concerning the recent debacle in Cambridge

But speaking of Cambridge, I am reminded of a book written by a friend of my family some years ago, which was published by Cambridge University Press...
On Racial Frontiers: The New Culture of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison and Bob Marley, by Gregory Stephens

--

For a reality check about the illusions of "Race," I thought I would take this opportunity to re-post some basic information that I have shared before about the evolution of human skin pigmentation:

Back in 1967, even the fairly conserative Time magazine was willing to print an article about skin pigmintation in relation to Vitamin D production.
And even christian apologetics have assimilated this information!
If you want further resources, here's a full scholarly article concerning "The evolution of human skin coloration"

But perhaps this is all still too complex for the mass of the populace to understand?
So, until everyone is familiar with references to "skin reflectance @ 425 nm (blue filter), 545 nm (green filter) and 685 nm (red filter) for the upper inner arm site" ...we may have to rely upon more primitive references to describe skin tones.

--

According to the spurious, yet powerfully effective techniques of NLP, "The meaning of the communication is the response it elicits." I do want to emphasize that the user of the term needs to take into context how it may be perceived before using it! However, I have recently been referring back rather often to another post I made, concerning the reclaiming of terms which have been used as slurs or epithets... and another important concept for people to consider: ideally, people should also take into account the user's intent in using the term, to more completely define its meaning.

On a related note, terriblelynne printed labels for an entire box of 120 crayons so that every color is "flesh"

Minister of Free Inquiry

appreciating each moment as if it were our last

"how did we get here?"

i seem to have been caught in a temporal loop...

"There's one in all of us."

as without, so within... fractal bloom!!!

blood money

nature is not mute, but reductionism has made us deaf

friendly neighborhood reminder from jacques demolay

wanna be a saint?

*last minute warning*

take MY car... please?

So Many Paths of Initiation... So Little Time!

"drinking from the fire hose"

road trip?

a friend in need

crossing the threshold

aethyrflux @ 2009-09-24T00:01:00

"damn, nickel... why you gotta go out like that?"

aethyrflux @ 2009-09-23T00:00:00

stand back... i'm going to try: SCIENCE!

giddyup

is it nat'l speed trap day or something?

Temple Fundraiser Benefit

Emerging Trends in Augmented Reality Products

One Race: The Human Race

last minute warning