L'alchimiste

'L'Alchimiste' Original painting by David Teniers (before 1690). This version engraved by Jacques-Louis Pérée, 1769.

Alchemy Laboratories

also:
Alchemy Index
History of Alchemy
Newton the Alchemist
The Alchemy Web Site
Gallery of alchemical images
The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry

Mark Twain in Nikola Tesla's lab

Image: Wikipedia

Mark Twain in Tesla's Laboratory at 35 South Fifth Avenue, 1894.

On their friendship
The Famous Friends of Nikola Tesla

found on In the final analysis... EVEN BLOGS MUST DIE!

stray bullets

Big one today.

Pentagon Spy: Terrorists Ready to Launch Satellite Strikes by 2020 What it should have been called was: China pretty much capable of launching satellite strike right now. My favorite part: Take, for instance, the Defense Department's accusation that Beijing has "developed and tested an ASAT system described as a 'parasitic microsatellite'" - a tiny machine that would attach itself to American orbiters, for nefarious purposes. The claim, which first appeared in the 2003 edition of the Pentagon's annual “Chinese Military Power" (CMP) report, came from a Hong Kong newspaper, and was repeated in several editions. Experts guffawed at the suggestion.

Stakeouts, Lucky Breaks Snare Six More in Citibank ATM Heist The FBI has recently made at least six more arrests in New York -- bringing the total to 10 -- thanks to information from arrested scam suspects, a lucky traffic stop, and an undercover operation that at one point had Eastern European hackers chasing a female FBI agent through the streets of New York, trying to mug her for ATM-card-programming gear.

The Web Time Forgot In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.” (via)

Eyeing tourism, Haiti battles its violent reputation "It's a big myth," says Fred Blaise, spokesman for the UN police force in Haiti. "Port-au-Prince is no more dangerous than any big city. You can go to New York and get pickpocketed and held at gunpoint. The same goes for cities in Mexico or Brazil." Eye opener (via)

How Russian Scientists Kept a Dog’s Severed Head Alive! So wrong. Highly disturbing whether true or not. Video and everything. Environmental Graffiti is no namby-pamby outfit. They post some pretty hardcore stuff.

George Carlin's Last Interview Long interview and it's just the highlights! One of the most extensive interviews I've read. My arm is getting tired here. The crook of my arm. (via)

Maryland plantation attic holds 400 years of documents For four centuries, they were the ultimate pack rats. Now a Maryland family's massive collection of letters, maps and printed bills has surfaced in the attic of a former plantation, providing a firsthand account of life from the 1660s through World War II. (via)

Could treasure hunters have discovered "Nazi Gold"? A recent discovery has renewed world interest in the quest. Have treasure hunters really discovered the famed Nazi gold stash? Some say they have. Some even say they've found the Amber Room.

Shaolin Temple wants to sell its secret Today's Southern Metropolis Daily has an article reporting that Shaolin is now selling a series of books called"Shaolin Kung Fu and Medicine Secret" (少林武功医宗秘笈) for 9,990 yuan a set on its online store, "Shaolin Stage of Joy". I'll hold out for the Shaolin Buddha Finger.

Preserving Your Personal Digital Archives While there is, as of yet, no hard guarantee that your family photos will be around 10,000 years from now, there are a few things that you can do to keep them around long enough for the next generation to enjoy and pass on. We have some basic tips for keeping your personal digital data alive and kicking through your lifetime, and if you want to shoot for the ten thousand year mark, these tips can get you headed in that direction, too. It stands to reason that the Long Now people are as good a source as any for this type on info.

The Wizard of Mauritius An enticing mystery.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. (via)

Sunday Excursions: Sunday Gumbo

Let's hit the ground running...

The Man is keeping me down, pt. 1













WebПарк.ру: Котейки (39 фотографий)
via not enough memory
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The Man is keeping me down, pt. 2












Article: Gas to Hit $7 a Gallon
thanks, Joanne
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4. Amorphophallus: means, literally, "shapeless penis." The name comes from the shape of the erect black spadix.

from Eight of the World's Most Unusual Plants (1-4) (5-8)
via Vitamin Briefcase
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Humanzee















From The Scotsman:

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.

"If you put human sperm into a frog it would probably create an embryo, but it probably wouldn't go very far," he said.

"But if you do it with a non-human primate it's not beyond the realms of possibility that it could be born alive."

RUMINT has it that humans have been "experimenting" with chimps for some time, though this has never been verified. A few beers, a lonely night, some local fauna...

Some even maintain that chimps are human.

For those of you that missed it, meet Oliver. Many thought he was a humanzee, but genetic tests showed that he was a "normal" chimp.

There's more here.



via Delicious Ghost
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Why do ghosts wear clothes?

Four nights a week, I give ghost tours.

To be honest, I have minimal interest in ghosts. I'm more into the folklore and history, but hauntings are a big part of life in Savannah. I have talked to over a hundred people in this town who have had ghost experiences. These are largely professional or salt-of-the-earth types and they're very matter-of-fact, almost bored, with it. (And let's forestall the "were they drunk?" quips. None that I know have ever seen anything of the sort while intoxicated.)

I usually don't tell people this, even on my tour, but I have seen many things here that I cannot explain. Not ambiguous maybes, but real, often 3-D, actualities. Fifteen years in New Orleans and I never had a single experience. Nearly eight years in Savannah, I've had at least two dozen. I won't go into too much detail here, but if you want to know more, contact me.

I do not believe that there is such a thing as paranormal. It's not that I don't feel that these phenomena are real, they are. I just strongly suspect that they are quite natural, normal and scientifically explainable. We merely lack the perceptual tools to measure them. Whether they are the spirits of the departed, psychic residue, time warps/loops, the product of a geomagnetic anomaly, some other type of entity or any combination of, or all of the above, the ones that are real are real and therefore, knowable. If it is merely some sort of sensory or psychological event or state, this should not dismiss anything. Even so, it warrants serious study.

But back to the matter at hand. One thing that has always puzzled me is, why do they wear clothes? This has always been a bullet point for skeptics. I'm not sure if any of the explanations in this article are sufficient, but it begs pondering. (One that I saw in a downtown cemetery was fully clothed in his authentic 19th century Sunday finest. He disappeared while I was standing about ten feet away from him. I saw another dressed in a Confederate uniform outside of the Bonaventure Cemetery. He walked behind a tree and when I went to look, he was nowhere to be found.)

via Mysterious Universe
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Hut, hut, hut, hut!













from TIME
via FFFFOUND!
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In brief:

The U.S. Civil War almost became an Iraq-style insurgency

Worry about the Daemon not Grand Theft Auto
via Danger Room

Weird Story of the Week: Con Man Reality TV
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Serve with a little...

Gotan Project - Triptico (live)


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Enjoy your week. Y'all come back now.

Sunday Excursions: Travels

Image ganked from Song to Bobby

Let's take a trip...

First, a little warm-up...
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now, a little research...

From Financial Times:

If you had to define “globalisation” with an image, what would it be? A container ship from China stuffed with toys and T-shirts? A programmer tapping at a keyboard in Bangalore? A plane circling gloomily over Heathrow airport?

Most people’s pictures of globalisation are to do with economics, technology and business. But before markets, modems and manufacturers could do their work, political changes had to take place. The foundations of the globalised business world are political – and so are the biggest threats to the system.

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test your knowledge...

Which U.S. state is closest to Africa?

Answer here.

via J-Walk
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now, to pack...

The Universal Packing List. Generate a custom packing list for any journey!

via The Presurfer
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and let's go!
















from js wright
via suwaowa.log
via FFFFOUND!
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explore a bit...

earth album is a simpler, slicker Flickr mash-up that allows you to explore some of the most stunning photos in the world courtesy of Google maps and Flickr. To begin your journey, just click somewhere on the map, e.g. "India"

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listen to some exotic music...



Boom Boom Satellites - Push Eject (live)

They never really surpassed Out Loud, which may be one of the greatest albums of all time.
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head out of this world...




















CSA Images
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out into space...

Bad Spock Drawings

via MetaFilter
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out of our bodies...

As a follow up to this:

Can we really transplant a human soul?
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and back to Earth.



Le Dust Sucker - Live Intro
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Have an Uncertain week!

Man with suicide victim's heart takes his own life

From MSNBC/AP:

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

also:

Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.

"I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."

Some would contend that this is no coincidence. Proponents of cellular memory cite anecdotal evidence of patients who have received transplanted organs, particularly hearts, inheriting memories, behaviors, preferences and habits associated with the donor. Examples include love for classical music when none existed before, change of sexual orientation, changes in diet and vocabulary, and in one case an identification of the donor's murderer.

Some cry pseudoscience, but others offer compelling evidence. See this excerpt from a 2005 Nexus Magazine article, in which a number of intriguing cases are outlined.

Sunday Excursions: Sunday Papers

Sunday funnies:














From neatist on ImageShack
via FFFFOUND!
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(John) Calvin and (Thomas) Hobbes
From ~spacecoyote on deviantART
Buy a print!
via Neatorama
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We know you read the funnies first. Now for some news:

They haul rhinos, auto parts, and luxury goods in jumbo jets that date to the Nixon administration. Meet the "freight dogs" — renegade airmen who keep the global economy aloft.

via linkfilter.net






(Photo: Lu Guozhong/Xinhua Photo/WpN)
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Chinese Spy ‘Slept’ In U.S. for 2 Decades

And now he's going to be in a different kind of "sleeper cell" for another couple of decades.

via the day they tried to kill me
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Teleportation, time travel and aliens - a vision of tomorrow today

Professor Michio Kaku has ruled out time travel for at least a few millennia, but believes invisibility cloaks and telepathy could be possible this century.

via Reality Carnival Unleashed
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A DIY tip from Felonius Ramblings:

Go Green or Go Home: Wipe Your Ass w/ 1 Piece of Toilet Paper

I don't think this is what Sheryl Crow had in mind.
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Finally, from the "I'd wager your Sunday paper doesn't have video" page:

UT friendly, The Presurfer, posted this incredible video.

El Caminito del Rey is a walkway pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Alora in Spain. It's in really bad shape and many have died walking it. Even though local authorities have closed off access, people still sneak in and give it a go.

I had a strong visceral reaction watching this video, but I have height issues.


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Have a great Sunday and come back fresh and ready for more Uncertain Times.

Sunday Excursions: Monday Morning Edition

It's not really Monday until the sun comes up...
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Disgruntled? Maybe you should move to place where the grass is green and the girls are gruntled. Careerbuilder.com's National Gruntledness Index might be of help. Click on the states and cities to see ratings for various career fields.

It looks like Savannah workers are fairly gruntled. They nailed the low rating for the restaurant field, which is painfully obvious if you're familiar with the food culture here.

via FlowingData
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Are you an infovore? Chances are, if you're reading this, you are.

Some hard science on Why We're Powerless to Resist Grazing on Endless Web Data.

via Lunch over IP
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When I tire of prowling the internet for primal opioid satisfaction, I like to curl up with some brain-warping specualtion about life, the universe and seven-dimensional branes.

A good source of this can found by Imagining the Tenth Dimension. Rob Bryanton guides us through the realms of time and space and those elusive extra-dimensional realities. Rob is a really cool guy and he's really into this stuff. His enthusiasm is contagious.
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Things For Sale That I Will Mail To You

Normally, I might find this kind of thing to be a bit hokey, but I found this site oddly touching.

via Lined & Unlined
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And last, but not least, UT friendly Alan Evil posted an excellent linkdump of his morning coffee funnies. I'm glad to see that the internet has helped to keep this medium alive and relevant. We might be able to do without newspapers, but what would we do without the comics?
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Be seeing you...