Amesj's Odditorium

[alkemical]

http://www.physorg.com/news146762346.html

NASA Prepares for New Juno Mission to Jupiter

[alkemical]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=97350149

New Clues In Lusitania's Sinking

[alkemical]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/DEA_en...ales_1106.html



DEA complicit in drug trade, says Morales

[alkemical]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-science-colds

When it comes to a cold, you might as well try goat entrails

[alkemical]

Art as Visual Research: 12 Examples of Kinetic Illusions in Op Art
Art and neuroscience combine in creating fascinating examples of illusory motion

[alkemical]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200...ce_statio.html

The International Space Station turns 10
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first launched module of the International Space Station (ISS). The module Zarya was lifted into orbit on November 20th, 1998 by a Russian Proton rocket lifting off from Baikonur, Kazhakstan. In the decade since, 44 manned flights and 34 unmanned flights have carried further modules, solar arrays, support equipment, supplies and a total of 167 human beings from 15 countries to the ISS, and it still has a ways to go until it is done. Originally planned to be complete in 2003, the target date for completion is now 2011. Aside from time spent on construction, ISS crew members work on a good deal of research involving biology and physics in conditions of microgravity. If humans are ever to leave the Earth for extended periods, the ISS is designed to be the place where we will discover the best materials, procedures and safety measures to make it a reality. (32 photos total)

[alkemical]

http://www.examiner.com/x-504-Space-...ays-You-decide

UFO on the moon in Apollo days? You decide

[alkemical]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/352...servatory.html



Amateur astronomer captures dawn of the universe from back garden observatory
An amateur astronomer has captured the dawn of the universe from a back garden 'Portaloo' observatory in Hampshire, in the south of England.

[alkemical]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-universe.html

The free lunch that made our universe

[alkemical]

http://www.areawidenews.com/blogs/1215/entry/22414/

The Illusion of Reality
Posted Wednesday, November 26, 2008, at 6:37 PM
<< Previous | Respond | Email link

Life is like a dream -- you never know you're asleep, trapped in an illusion, until you wake up.

In our three-dimensional plane of existence, the world is not what it seems. What appears to be solid is basically empty space. Everything we perceive, such as earth, stars, animals, vegetation, people, buildings, etc., is made up of atoms. An atom consists of electrons orbiting a nucleus of protons. It's an assembly of energy, not solid matter. And it's more than 99 percent empty space.

Therefore, everything we perceive as solid is basically a glob of energy.

Furthermore, what we call "everything" (the universe and beyond) is made up of a vast array of frequencies or vibrations. Human senses are based on frequencies. Humans are only able to visualize "objects" that reflect light. The frequency range of human sight is exceedingly miniscule compared to what exists all around us.

Therefore, humans are unable to perceive alternate dimensions driven by other frequencies.

Eastern religions (Hinduism, Sikhism, etc.) believe the material world is an illusion. They call this illusion Maya. Unlike true reality, which is changeless and eternal, Maya (illusion) is all that has a beginning and an end.

The path of spiritual enlightenment requires understanding of the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom.

1) All things, organic or inorganic, from atom to galaxy, contain a living presence.

2) Every living presence resides within the body of a greater being.

3) Every being is made in the image of an ultimate greater being.

4) The vibration of every living presence is felt by every other living presence in our solar system.

5) Our solar system is constructed from energies which vibrate to seven levels.

6) Energy and matter are interchangeable. The material world is an illusion.

7) There is no death, only a change of state.

In a world where people exist in a temporary life spanning seven or eight decades, feverishly attempting to accumulate things, modern science appears to be catching up with ancient wisdom.

In 1982, physicist Alain Aspect (University of Paris) discovered that "under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them." It doesn't matter if they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart, somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. This may be one of the most important discoveries in history.

This revelation would confirm step 4 in the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom, which would seem to lend credence to the previous three steps as well. The universe is basically a living entity made up of living entities.

Physicist David Bohm (University of London) believes Aspect's findings suggest that material reality does not exist. Despite the apparent solidity of the universe, it's actually a hologram (a three-dimensional "image" that is an illusion of a three-dimensional solid reality). Bohm contends that the subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another because their separateness is also an illusion.

If true, this would verify step 6 of the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom that the material world is an illusion.

Aspect's discovery would explain such human paranormal phenomena as psychic abilities, remote viewing, out-of-body journeys, near-death experiences, precognitive renderings, premonitions, etc. A woman in Detroit has a bad "feeling" about her son in Seattle just before he has an auto crash, or a person who nurtures his plants with kindness has a garden that flourishes. Everything is connected, regardless of time or distance.

Neurophysiologist Karl Pribram (Stanford University), a proponent of a holographic universe, has theorized that memories are not encoded in neurons of the brain but rather in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain. Experiments were conducted whereby various portions of the brain of a rat were removed yet the rat was still able to perform tasks (its memory remained intact). According to Pribram, the brain itself is a hologram.

The findings of Bohm and Pribram have become known as the "Holographic Paradigm" in the scientific community. While many scientists are skeptical of this theory, there's also a growing group of researchers who believe these speculations may be the most accurate model of reality so far.

There is no physical world.

We are not objects.

We are perceivers of objects.

According to certain Native American folklore, the Great Spirit that lives within the Great Mystery gathered all the animals on Mother Earth and said, "I must conceal the Realization, that humans create their own reality, until they are able to comprehend it."

The Buffalo, most sacred of all animals, said, "I will bury it in the great plains."

"No, humans will dig and find it there," replied the Great Spirit.

The Whale, keeper of ancient knowledge, said, "I will carry it to the bottom of the ocean."

"No, humans will go there one day and find it," replied the Great Spirit.

The eagle, close to the heavens where the Great Spirit dwells, said, "I'll fly it to the moon."

"No, humans will soon go there too and find it," replied the Great Spirit.

The Owl, essence of true wisdom, said, ""Put it inside them."

"Yes," replied the Great Spirit. "It is the last place they will look."

I am an illusion named Bret, masquerading as a human being on a small planet in a far corner of an average galaxy, wondering why.

I am a mystery within the Great Mystery.

_

Quote for the Day -- "It is your mind that creates the world." Buddha

[alkemical]

http://www.livescience.com/health/08...erception.html

Pain may not be all in your mind, but some of it is.

A bizarre new study of people with chronically achy hands found that how subjects literally saw their hands changed their perception of pain.

Researchers had 10 subjects watch their own hands while performing a 10-step test that caused pain every time. Participants each did the test four ways: looking as normal with their own eyes, looking through binoculars with no magnification, looking through binoculars that doubled the apparent size of subjects' arms, and looking through inverted binoculars that reduced the apparent size of subjects' arms.

The pain increased more when participants viewed a magnified image of their arm during the movements. When they did the movements while watching through inverted binoculars, the pain was reported to be less, and actual measurable swelling was less, too.

The scientists don't know for sure what's going on. They think it might have to do with how our brain perceives danger: "If it looks bigger, it looks sorer and more swollen," said G. Lorimer Moseley of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Australia. "Therefore, the brain acts to protect it." That does not necessarily mean the pain is actually greater, Moseley said.

Scientists do not fully understand how pain works. But the new finding, published in the Nov. 25 issue of the journal Current Biology, might lead to new ways to treat chronic pain, which affects about 75 million U.S. residents.

"The brain is capable of many wonderful things based on its perception of how the body is doing and the risks to which the body seems to be exposed," Moseley said.

[alkemical]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...ef=online-news

Some locust plagues don't like it hot

* 00:01 26 November 2008 by Catherine Brahic
* For similar stories, visit the Climate Change Topic Guide

It's not often we can report on some good news associated with climate change. But it seems that warming temperatures could give welcome respite to farmers - in China, at least - by suppressing locust plagues.

Zhibin Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues have trawled through 1000 years of historical records documenting locust swarms and compared it with 1000 years of temperature, drought and flood data estimates.

They found that the Oriental migratory locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis), which has been named as one of the most damaging agricultural pests in Chinese history, operates on a climate-driven cycle. Every 160 to 170 years, the swarms get bigger then subside again.

Counterintuitively, the timing of the largest swarms coincides with cooler periods.

"The popular view is that global warming may accelerate natural and biological disasters like drought and flood events, and outbreaks of pests, as predicted by the IPCC," says Zhang. "Our results suggest that warming reduced climatic extremes and locust plagues in ancient China."

[alkemical]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ic-oceans.html

Oceans Ten Times More Acidic Than Thought

[alkemical]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...a-new-molecule


Key Concepts

* A synthetic molecule called peptide nucleic acid (PNA) combines the information-storage properties of DNA with the chemical stability of a proteinlike backbone.
* Drugs based on PNA would achieve therapeutic effects by binding to specific base sequences of DNA or RNA, repressing or promoting the corresponding gene.
* Some researchers working to construct artificial life-forms out of mixtures of chemicals are also considering PNA as a useful ingredient for their designs.
* PNA-like molecules may have served as primordial genetic material at the origin of life.

[alkemical]

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...-humans-i.html

Are Modern Humans in Evolution's Fast Lane?

"We are more different genetically from people living 5,000 years ago than they were different from Neanderthals."

John Hawks -University of Wisconsin anthropologist

In a fascinating discovery that counters a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts.

[alkemical]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencean...ve-longer.html


'Heavy water' could help us live longer
Drinking "heavy water" enriched with a rare form of hydrogen could prolong our lives by up to ten years, it has been claimed.

[alkemical]

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...-molecule.html

Key Molecule for Life Found in Habitable Region of the Galaxy

[alkemical]

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...ng-aliens.html

When Intelligent and Natural Design Collide

[alkemical]

Scientific paper concludes that Indian 'red rain' was a possible case of "extraterrestrial life form" (PDF).


http://sites.google.com/site/godfrey...attredirects=0

[gyldenlove]

Originally Posted by amesj523

http://www.areawidenews.com/blogs/1215/entry/22414/

The Illusion of Reality
Posted Wednesday, November 26, 2008, at 6:37 PM
<< Previous | Respond | Email link

Life is like a dream -- you never know you're asleep, trapped in an illusion, until you wake up.

In our three-dimensional plane of existence, the world is not what it seems. What appears to be solid is basically empty space. Everything we perceive, such as earth, stars, animals, vegetation, people, buildings, etc., is made up of atoms. An atom consists of electrons orbiting a nucleus of protons. It's an assembly of energy, not solid matter. And it's more than 99 percent empty space.

Therefore, everything we perceive as solid is basically a glob of energy.

Furthermore, what we call "everything" (the universe and beyond) is made up of a vast array of frequencies or vibrations. Human senses are based on frequencies. Humans are only able to visualize "objects" that reflect light. The frequency range of human sight is exceedingly miniscule compared to what exists all around us.

Therefore, humans are unable to perceive alternate dimensions driven by other frequencies.

Eastern religions (Hinduism, Sikhism, etc.) believe the material world is an illusion. They call this illusion Maya. Unlike true reality, which is changeless and eternal, Maya (illusion) is all that has a beginning and an end.

The path of spiritual enlightenment requires understanding of the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom.

1) All things, organic or inorganic, from atom to galaxy, contain a living presence.

2) Every living presence resides within the body of a greater being.

3) Every being is made in the image of an ultimate greater being.

4) The vibration of every living presence is felt by every other living presence in our solar system.

5) Our solar system is constructed from energies which vibrate to seven levels.

6) Energy and matter are interchangeable. The material world is an illusion.

7) There is no death, only a change of state.

In a world where people exist in a temporary life spanning seven or eight decades, feverishly attempting to accumulate things, modern science appears to be catching up with ancient wisdom.

In 1982, physicist Alain Aspect (University of Paris) discovered that "under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them." It doesn't matter if they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart, somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. This may be one of the most important discoveries in history.

This revelation would confirm step 4 in the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom, which would seem to lend credence to the previous three steps as well. The universe is basically a living entity made up of living entities.

Physicist David Bohm (University of London) believes Aspect's findings suggest that material reality does not exist. Despite the apparent solidity of the universe, it's actually a hologram (a three-dimensional "image" that is an illusion of a three-dimensional solid reality). Bohm contends that the subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another because their separateness is also an illusion.

If true, this would verify step 6 of the Seven Pillars of Ancient Wisdom that the material world is an illusion.

Aspect's discovery would explain such human paranormal phenomena as psychic abilities, remote viewing, out-of-body journeys, near-death experiences, precognitive renderings, premonitions, etc. A woman in Detroit has a bad "feeling" about her son in Seattle just before he has an auto crash, or a person who nurtures his plants with kindness has a garden that flourishes. Everything is connected, regardless of time or distance.

Neurophysiologist Karl Pribram (Stanford University), a proponent of a holographic universe, has theorized that memories are not encoded in neurons of the brain but rather in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain. Experiments were conducted whereby various portions of the brain of a rat were removed yet the rat was still able to perform tasks (its memory remained intact). According to Pribram, the brain itself is a hologram.

The findings of Bohm and Pribram have become known as the "Holographic Paradigm" in the scientific community. While many scientists are skeptical of this theory, there's also a growing group of researchers who believe these speculations may be the most accurate model of reality so far.

There is no physical world.

We are not objects.

We are perceivers of objects.

According to certain Native American folklore, the Great Spirit that lives within the Great Mystery gathered all the animals on Mother Earth and said, "I must conceal the Realization, that humans create their own reality, until they are able to comprehend it."

The Buffalo, most sacred of all animals, said, "I will bury it in the great plains."

"No, humans will dig and find it there," replied the Great Spirit.

The Whale, keeper of ancient knowledge, said, "I will carry it to the bottom of the ocean."

"No, humans will go there one day and find it," replied the Great Spirit.

The eagle, close to the heavens where the Great Spirit dwells, said, "I'll fly it to the moon."

"No, humans will soon go there too and find it," replied the Great Spirit.

The Owl, essence of true wisdom, said, ""Put it inside them."

"Yes," replied the Great Spirit. "It is the last place they will look."

I am an illusion named Bret, masquerading as a human being on a small planet in a far corner of an average galaxy, wondering why.

I am a mystery within the Great Mystery.

_

Quote for the Day -- "It is your mind that creates the world." Buddha

That is a big fat load.

What Alain Aspect proved was quantum entanglement. It only happens to particles who are correlated because they are some point arose from the same event.

An abstract example is that you take a white and a black ball, you put each in a box, the boxes are identical. You then give a random box to someone to take with them and you keep the other box. If 30 years later someone opens the box you gave away, they will see if they got the white or the black ball, and without even checking your box you will know you got the other one.

Entanglement doesn't allow particles to comunicate across distance, it just changes the probability of a particle being in one of 2 opposite states from 50/50 to 0/100.

The only reason particles are entangled is because 1 particle must be in the opposite state of the other because the states must add up to 0, so if you figure out which state the one particle is in you know which state the other one is in, the trick here being that the particle had that state all along, you just didn't know.

1) All things, organic or inorganic, from atom to galaxy, contain a living presence.

That would be the soul then, lets call things what they are.

2) Every living presence resides within the body of a greater being.

That would be gaia or something similar.

3) Every being is made in the image of an ultimate greater being.

Sounds a lot like genesis to me, god making us in his image.

4) The vibration of every living presence is felt by every other living presence in our solar system.

This sounds like Bologny to me, firstly if this is true it must stretch beyond the solar system, secondly why would only the living interact?

5) Our solar system is constructed from energies which vibrate to seven levels.

Seven huh? Dante's 7 circles of hell? 7 days of creation? 7 chakras? 7 heavens? 7 deadly sins? It is a good thing they went all out and figured this one scientificly, some would suspect they just took the number that is most common across the large religions.

6) Energy and matter are interchangeable. The material world is an illusion.

Since when is energy an illusion? I am sure a lot of my friends working with x-rays will be sad to hear that.

7) There is no death, only a change of state.

Yep, you get reborn, or you go to heaven, or hell, or hades, or the black parade, or New Jersey (only if your name is Jimmy Hoffa).



Why try to disguise religion as science? the people who buy into it will do so no matter what you call it and the people you are trying to imress will see right through you anyway. It is a losing game.

[mosca]

Originally Posted by gyldenlove

The only reason particles are entangled is because 1 particle must be in the opposite state of the other because the states must add up to 0, so if you figure out which state the one particle is in you know which state the other one is in, the trick here being that the particle had that state all along, you just didn't know.

Wouldn't the particle not "have" that state until the wave-form collapses, that being caused by the observer measuring the state of the other particle?

[gyldenlove]

Originally Posted by mosca

Wouldn't the particle not "have" that state until the wave-form collapses, that being caused by the observer measuring the state of the other particle?

That really depends what interpretation you go with. If you go with the Copenhagen interpretation that will be the case. If you go with Bohms interpretation or Everetts manyworld interpretation that no.

This is something that has been argued to death and many great minds have failed to come up with a single great solution. The problem is, that we don't know if wave functions actually exist or if they just happen to describe something we can't see. The Copenhagen interpretation says that the wave functions are real and that we collapse them by doing a measurement. Bohm says that wave functions just happen to describe probability of some underlying invisible variables that are always there, so when we apparently force the system to choose, we just get a glimpse of that hidden variable. The Everett many world idea is that all possible situations happen, and we just happen to choose at random which situation we live in, so there is a world where the left particle is up and right particle is down and a world where it is the other way, we only live in one of the worlds and thus only see 1 result that only depends on which world we are in.

[alkemical]

Hey guys - i can only say this:

I spent 10 years looking for what was the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality.

Here's what i found:

Reality is truly a reflection of yourself. Granted there are "rules" so to speak the game is played in, but things are waves of probability in life. So if you do something, an action..a behaviour - you'll eventually be confronted with what you said you wouldn't do, be, etc.

I've found that it's best to not have any real definition and to be as open as possible to all that "reality" contains. If somethings are magickal, so be it - that's the world i may choose to live in. If things are pure Darwinian, so be it - you will see that world constructed all around you.

That's the thing that's so amazing. How your imagination constructs the world around you by the words, actions, ideas, behaviours you CHOOSE. Granted some things will be done due to how you are scripted -

But to argue over which is the definitive reality, the ultimate truth... - it's impossible.

However, the more you allow your eye to see - the more you don't see the colours refracted out of a prism. You just see the whole.

[gyldenlove]

Originally Posted by amesj523

Hey guys - i can only say this:

I spent 10 years looking for what was the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality.

Here's what i found:

Reality is truly a reflection of yourself. Granted there are "rules" so to speak the game is played in, but things are waves of probability in life. So if you do something, an action..a behaviour - you'll eventually be confronted with what you said you wouldn't do, be, etc.

I've found that it's best to not have any real definition and to be as open as possible to all that "reality" contains. If somethings are magickal, so be it - that's the world i may choose to live in. If things are pure Darwinian, so be it - you will see that world constructed all around you.

That's the thing that's so amazing. How your imagination constructs the world around you by the words, actions, ideas, behaviours you CHOOSE. Granted some things will be done due to how you are scripted -

But to argue over which is the definitive reality, the ultimate truth... - it's impossible.

However, the more you allow your eye to see - the more you don't see the colours refracted out of a prism. You just see the whole.

Sounds reasonable, a lot better than the religion wrapped in science mumbo-jumbo in the other post.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by gyldenlove

Sounds reasonable, a lot better than the religion wrapped in science mumbo-jumbo in the other post.

I think many of the "new" sciences echo what has been written about for thousands of years in some instances.