August 2003 | Technoccult

MonthAugust 2003

I’m Not Dead Yet!

August 31, 2003 / Philip Shropshire

I actually wanted to say a few things before being booted off, then again I guess I haven’t been booted off because I’m writing this stuff. Think of me as the houseguest who just doesn’t have the sense to leave…

Earlier, I mentioned other blogs that were in Technoccult’s karass. But I forgot the fifth Beatle: Warren Ellis’ “Die Puny Humans“. What’s really thrilling about reading Warren’s blog is that it answers quite vividly “Where do you crazy writers get your ideas from?” Today, for example, he’s praising Hunter Thompson, who I’ve always thought Spider Jerusalem was based on. I’ve also been reading every thrilling issue of Global Frequency and it’s clear that the phonecam photos and videos are not accidents. He’s also been putting in a lot of the weird science stuff. My favorite was a recent episode which featured this machine:

Also check out his online fiction novel. Some of the best online prose that I’ve ever read. Here’s a snippet:

I necked a dexidrene and watched the morning fester.

Jarrow wanted me to come into his office to talk the job over. Having to talk to Jarrow in person is almost the worst part, as he has possibly the most punchable face I’ve ever seen.

It was getting hot outside. I dug out an old pair of combat pants I picked up from one of the US Army clearance sales, years and years ago. White and black and grey, urban camouflage, baggy and lightweight – probably what the well-dressed soldier was wearing when shooting city-gooks a decade back. Black and silver streetsocks, with the rubberised soles. A sleeveless black t-shirt I got given last year by a nullpunkt band from Hamburg called Biss. The only shades I could find were some crappy plastic CamoCam things I got on the way out of Narita Airport, first time I was in Japan. They have little cameras in the back of the headstrap that pick up what’s behind you and stream it on the shades lenses, so it looks like you have two big round holes in your head. But it was these or a sunlight headache, and I was in shitty enough condition as it was.

I hope you’re all too busy enjoying the weekend to read this…

August 29, 2003 / Sauceruney

But for those of you who aren’t, or for when you get back:

BASILISK | AN ONLINE JOURNAL OF FILM, ARCHITECTURE, PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, MUSIC, AND PERCEPTION
I’m surprised I’ve never seen this before. Basilisk doesn’t show up in a search of Technoccult, so I’m hoping this is new to a lot of you, as well. The front page seems to be broken, so after a quick ‘view source’, here are the links to Issue One, Issue Two, and Issue Three, which they say is almost done. Having quickly looked over what they have so far, I’m certainly looking forward to reading through their site.

The fantastic and surreal paintings of Peter Gric
This is a site I like to visit and I thought I’d share it with you. In the Other Projects section (it’s inside a flash movie, or I’d post a direct link), Gric was commissioned to paint three large machines that are used in textile mills. They came out looking like eerie pieces of alien technology. I’d love to have been able to customize some of the machinery I used to work on.

SIMIAN is the interactive Flash narrative of designer, Ross Mawdsley. Parts 2 through 6 are online and available for download as well. Loosely inspired by The Planet of the Apes, the site requires a bit of patience on the part of the user, as some exploration and experimentation may be involved in navigating between sections. It’s a nice place to spend an hour on a rainy day.

I’d like to thank Klint again for asking me to fill in while he was away at Burning Man. I hope you’ve all found something interesting within these posts. I’m going away to visit relatives out of state over the weekend, so this is probably it for me here unless my wife lets me bring my laptop along 😉

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.

A visit to the Destiny Matrix

August 27, 2003 / Sauceruney

On Tuesday, August 26, 2003, at 12:44 PM, eric wrote:

Jack,

“there is some impressive “crackpottery” here. Amazing – and it’s all woven together: ufos, illuminatti, scalar weapons, psi weapons, antigravity, commies, yoga, pyramids, Mars, Germans under the ice.
This is prime material for my crackpot update list.”

Eric

Jack Sarfatti responded:

Indeed, but one must look at it from several POV. It has immense propaganda importance in the meme war on the Web. Many of the cargo cult crackpot physics ideas you see were believed and are believed by Joe Firmage for example and Joe is only the top of the iceberg of agents of influence. As another example, the whole neocon cabal in DC today is motivated by similar crackpot ideas from Leo Strauss and Trotsky and others. There is not a 100% overlap of course. The issue is that of elite cadres of extremist Bohemian revolutionary intellectuals with a secret doctrine of hidden wisdom seeking power and getting it!

They’re talking about Stephen Greer’s Disclosure Project, by the way.

Just remember that if you’ve never read anything Dr. Sarfatti has had to say before, you’d better prepare your mind for a new scale of physical scientific values.

cleverness is never as entertaining as blatant stupidity, failure and public humiliation

August 25, 2003 / Sauceruney

I think I’m going to take that bit of advice from Banksy and run with it.

Many thanks go to Klint for the honor of watching Technoccult while he’s away.

Please welcome our new guest blogger, Sauceruney

August 24, 2003 / Klintron

Philip’s done a great job, but it’s time for a new voice. In a few minutes, I’m leaving for Burning Man and Sauceruney will take over. Ya’ll be nice to him.

Poverty-Chic: Diesel’s New Line

August 23, 2003 / Klint Finley

Interesting article on AlterNet:

Earlier this summer, as I read news reports of deadly crossings along the U.S.-Mexican border, I caught a preview for the new fall line from Diesel, the Italian clothing company, on display at one of its New York flagship stores. Mannequins dressed in gray-blue and green uniform-like garments stood with shovels and pickaxes at their sides and stacks of burlap sacks at their feet. Spelled out in the lower left-hand corner of the window was the line’s title: “Trabajadores,” Spanish for “workers.”

Alternet: Poverty-Chic: Diesel’s New Line

(via Disinfo)

High burnout dims Indian call centers

August 16, 2003 / Klint Finley

ZDnet:

Over half of all call center staff in India burn out and end up quitting due to tough working conditions, according to a study done by market research firm NFO.

Full Story: ZDnet: High burnout dims Indian call centers

(via Robot Wisdom)

I find this very interesting. I thought part of why companies went overseas with call centers was because workers there were more loyal. I wonder what the burnout rate for American call center workers is? How will this study affect company practice? Will they improve conditions, or move elsewhere?

Reports from the Big Three

August 16, 2003 / Philip Shropshire

No matter what you do out here on the net, there are people who sort of do the same weirdass thing that you thought was your singular solitary obsession. The interdimensional cousins of this blog would have to be New World Disorder, The Incunabula (otherwise known as the Hive) and probably a new blog called Gravity Lens.

The really cool memes over at both New World Disorder and the Hive have to do with the “real” reasons behind the blackout. New World says that it was possibly nuclear power plant sabotage. And in the comments section, someone points out that awful new worm that’s going around might not be an accident…Not to be outdone, the Hive tells us that this was the result of an odd electromagnetic effect. Could it be the rumored Tesla-inspired HAARP project in the hands of terrorists, or worse, The French, who believe their heat wave and resultant nuclear meltdowns are US weather control retaliation for not getting involved in our stupid wars for oil expropriation…? I think it’s obvious that that’s the truth. Just call me Phil Drudge, fair and unbalanced…

Meanwhile, over at Gravity Lens, aside from linking the blackout to Ayn Rand and numerology which is just plain silly compared to French SATs utilizing HAARP or coordinated terrorist hacking exploits (I mean, come on, let’s get a crazy theory and stick with it) we discover a great site called the Institute of Accelerating Change, which is the bastard son of another site called Singularity Watch.

Read and learn. Oh, if you’re interested in this world excuses for the blackout, check out Greg Pallast’s rip on the Bush Admininstration’s love of deregulation and this older Wired story about how we need to smarten up the ‘ol tired grid.

Free Energy Might Be Free

August 14, 2003 / Philip Shropshire

There’s a website that claims that all of those free energy devices out there just might work. The website is produced by the Vasant corporation. From the website, you get to learn all about the cool idea of Spintronics. There’s even an online powerpoint presentation.

The concept is explained here:

It is this sea of standing waves rather than quantum probability waves that best account for the wave like nature of matter. Particles move to quantized states because of electromagnetic forces that keep particle motions synchronized with this sea of standing waves.

This is an interaction among all matter that Ernst Mach alluded to as necessary to cause matter’s characteristic of inertia. Einstein called this Mach’s Principle. Einstein studied Mach’s ideas while developing his theory of General Relativity.

Using common sense and classical electrodynamics, Bugh explains how these particle spin interactions are possible even among compensating spins. Technology advancements are possible based on these particle spin interactions.

I have no idea if this is real or not. Sounds like a job for David Appell…Oh, and if you think this weird science is cool then definitely check out American Antigravity.com., where you can learn how to build your own Lifter (looks like anti-grav) and read an interview with noted science fiction writer Ben Bova.