Byrd's Flight to the South Pole (1929)

Men hauling sledge in the frigid Antarctic night, 1929.
Richard E. Byrd Papers, #7809_38.

Conquering the Ice: Byrd's Flight to the South Pole:

The selection of the crew for the expedition was undertaken with careful consideration. In order to meet the goals of the expedition, a variety of men with a variety of skills would be essential. Ultimately, there were 4 pilots, 3 aircraft mechanics, three radiomen, five dog drivers, a doctor, three surveyors, 4 scientists, a tailor, a carpenter, news media experts, a cook and general hands, that totaled 42 men who wintered in Antarctica. In addition, a boy scout was selected prior to the expedition in a national search. Paul Siple was the winning scout, and accompanied not only this expedition, but all of the Byrd’s subsequent Antarctic expeditions. Siple eventually achieved prominence as a scientist in his own right.

The Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program

Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) led eleven expeditions to the North Pole and Antarctica. His 1947 flight over the Arctic became associated with a "secret diary" that describes a trip into the Hollow Earth. I've read what there is of this diary and felt it to be a fabrication. One can compare this with the online version of his notebook from 1925-27.

I'd love for there to be a world at the center of the Earth; I've read all the stories. I can't buy into the Hollow Earth theory but I think there could be a deep subterranean world inhabited by strange creatures that we would have no conception of. I suspect that they would be far weirder than dinosaurs or cavemen.

related news: Expedition set for 'ghost peaks'

It is perhaps the last great Antarctic expedition - to find an explanation for why there is a great mountain range buried under the White Continent....

"This region is a complete enigma. It's in the middle of the continent. Most mountain ranges are on the edges of continents, and we really can't understand what these mountains are doing in the centre."

Makes me think of this.

stray bullets

Beijing Taxis Are Rigged for Eavesdropping As with digital cameras used in cities such as London, Sydney or New York, the stated purpose of the microphones is to protect the driver. But whereas the devices in other countries can only record images, those devices in Beijing taxis can be remotely activated without the driver's knowledge to eavesdrop on passengers, according to drivers and Yaxon Networks Co., a Chinese company that makes some of the systems used in Beijing. The machines can even remotely shut off engines. The whole world is rigged for eavesdropping. (via)

They Will Survive UNLESS John D. McCann, the managing director of Survival Resources, based in Hyde Park, N.Y., is wearing a suit for some sort of business meeting, he always carries in his pants pocket an Altoids tin. There are no mints inside it. Instead, he painstakingly packs the tin — which he explains can double as a mini-frying pan if you’re ever marooned in the wilderness — with a remarkable assortment of worst-case scenario supplies. Survival is good. (via)

Credit card thieves ran a polite, professional help desk Organized criminals often seen to be a step or two ahead of the competition. Many of us would settle for a help desk that was helpful.

also:
The Most Important Generation in History is the One Now Alive
blog all dog-eared pages: understanding media (McLuhan)
Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time (like the list, not the order) (via)
Gear Porn: Chemical Brothers Daft Punk
Cleveland Museum of Art via Flickr
Bartleby, the Scrivener.pdf (via)
The temple of tame tigers (photo essay) (patient, maybe)
A PhD in Ufology (via)
Frankie Knuckles Interview
Michel Gondry writes a comic book (via)

viddy:
An Interview With Jim Coudal (via)
The Prisoner: Caviezel and McKellen's First Reading
Smart Birds use cars to open their food (via)
Silent Shadow of the Bat-Man
Lessig on i-9/11
Powers of Ten A film dealing with the relative size of things in the universe and the effect of adding another zero.
Ladislas Starewicz - The Mascot, 1933 (creepy stop-motion animation) (more Starewicz)
Late Night TV in Japan: Spanking Class (this guy takes his spanking seriously)
MST3K 624: Samson Vs The Vampire Women (one of the best) (via)

Greetings San Martín De Sarroca!

stray bullets

How medical marijuana is transforming the pot industry Most researchers agree that the value of the U.S. marijuana crop has increased sharply since the mid-nineties, as California and twelve other states have passed medical-marijuana laws. A drug-policy analyst named Jon Gettman recently estimated that in 2006 Californians grew more than twenty million pot plants. He reckoned that between 1981 and 2006 domestic marijuana production increased tenfold, making pot the leading cash crop in America, displacing corn. A 2005 State Department report put the country’s marijuana crop at twenty-two million pounds. The street value of California’s crop alone may be as high as fourteen billion dollars. (via)

For Some Products, Prices Have Been Falling A fair bit in the last ten years, too. (via)

Unidentified Flying Threats A healthy skepticism about extraterrestrial space travelers leads people to disregard U.F.O. sightings without a moment’s thought. But in the United States, this translates into overdependence on radar data and indifference to all kinds of unidentified aircraft — a weakness that could be exploited by terrorists or anyone seeking to engage in espionage against the United States. (via)

Extradition appeal for British hacker dismissed A British hacker who admitted breaking into U.S. military computers hoping to uncover evidence of UFOs looks set to be extradited to the U.S. after the highest British court dismissed his appeal against the extradition on Wednesday. This guy is facing 60 years in prison for "hacking" wide open, non-password-protected military computers using a 56k modem. It was found afterward that entire suites of computers were unprotected by the most basic login passwords. They should give this guy a medal and throw their sysadmins in prison. Our government is an embarrassment. (more)

Hacking Without Exploits Black Hat researchers will demonstrate how the bad guys are quietly raking in big bucks without ninja hacking skills, tools, or exploit code (via)

Man deposits millions, one tattered bill at a time For years, authorities say, he and his family have popped in and out of U.S. banks, looking to change about $20 million in decaying $100 bills for clean cash, offering ever-changing stories... (via)

Building 'The Matrix' Now physicists have created a rudimentary prototype of a machine that simulates quantum phenomena using quantum physics, rather than using data kept in a classical computer. While the new device can't make people fly like the Matrix does, it demonstrates a technique that could enable physicists to create, in the virtual world, materials that don't yet exist in nature and perhaps figure out how to build, in the real world, superconductors that work at room temperature, for example. (via)

One teabag, one spoonful of neurotoxins The PBOI says of aspartame: “The chemical caused an unacceptable level of brain tumors in animal testing. Based on this fact, the PBOI ruled that aspartame should not be added to the food supply.” Add to that all the microwaves pumped into your brain by cellphones and you have quite a toxic brew. (via)

also:
Widespread Flaws in Online Banking Systems
Bush Administration Scandal Map (via)
Six Vacation Photos That Can Kill You (via)
Fly 1950s style From the end of July until the end of the year, Finnair’s retro plane, Silver Bird, will fly to several destinations. The cabin crew will wear 1950s-style uniforms and the beat of music from the 50s will spur the takeoff. (via)
10 Most Bizarre Restaurants
The Bureau of Atomic Tourism (via)
Billy Bob Thornton on his music and movies Big Zappa and Beefheart fan. (via)
Laurie Anderson Interview (via)
Glitter And Doom: Tom Waits In Concert Hear A Stunning Performance, Recorded At Atlanta's Fox Theater (via)
Steve Reich Interview (podcast) (via)
Voodoo Funk Record Digging in West Africa (via)

viddy:
Julie Driscoll - Season Of The Witch (groovy)
More Traffic in Tehran (even better)
I Love Sarah Jane Excellent zombie short. NSFW
Tank Man A documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

stray bullets

George W. Bush: "Awesome!" The president has used "awesome" to describe everything from dead soldiers to the pope. How did a slang word trickle up to the highest office in the land? Let's bring back splendid! I maintain that there is something euphonius in the phonetics of words like awesome, especially curse-words, that is satisfying in a more physical rather than cognitive way. There is always something viscerally appealing in the heartily exclaimed shit, motherfucker or cocksucker. Also, have you ever noticed that expletives rarely go out of style? (via)

'Wizard of Oz' Storm Makes Pigs Fly "The wind picked her about 2½ feet up off the ground — she was swimming like her feet in the air — and it took her about 50 feet or 60 feet around the corner and must have slammed her into the fence, and then she came running back..."

Man With No Arms, Legs Takes Part In Triathlon Wow.

You've got me under your skin Reading fiction is good for us, Liam Durcan says, not because it teaches life lessons, but because it immerses us in other minds and other experiences (via)

also:
Artifacts from the Future (all of the now discontinued Found images from Wired)
8 Insane Nuclear Explosions (via)
10 More Unsolved Mysteries of the World
Gillian Anderson Interview
Q&A: Chris Carter
Words Of Wisdom From Tom Waits (via)
Worlds largest selection of Turntables (via)
Convert Your Basement Into A Subwoofer (via)

stray bullets

Planning smart for your food supply Why store? The world we live in today is fast moving, ever changing and full of surprises. On top of this, there has never been a time when the average family has had less food in their homes than now. A hundred years ago, people generally didn’t go to the store very often. As a rule, America was much more agrarian than it is today, with people growing the majority of the plants and animals they ate. Today, many of us would be at our rope’s end after just a couple of days of not being able to go to the grocery store. (via)

Balloons carried gun away in Red Lobster executive's 'CSI'-like suicide "This was apparently an elaborate attempt to make it look like he was murdered..." (via)

Man claims to know source of 'Phoenix Lights' UFO sighting Dr. James R. Bartzen said he has indisputable proof that the so-called "Phoenix Lights" were a product of secret man-made technology being shielded from the public. (via)

Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps Most of these are understandable, but William Hurt's home in Paris? What's going on over there? Maybe he complained like the Borings. (via)

also:
Umberto Eco interview (via)
China Miéville interview (via)
Restoring Renaissance Frescoes (via)
Disturbing bound feet photos (via)

factoid: After studying it for 47 days, the New York Museum of Modern Art discovered that the Matisse painting Le Bateau was hanging upside down. (link) (via)

stray bullets

Will Russia Trigger a New Cold War for the Arctic? (and though it takes two to tango, this might turn out to be a mosh pit with Denmark, Norway, Canada and the U.S. all staking claims.); Is information a virus? (via); Why NASA watches out for true UFOs (via); and Diablo Cody, stripper-turned-blogger-turned-screenwriter, best-selling author and Oscar winner joins The Six Thousand.

Alien Autopsy Video - The Horrible Truth

NSFW



I know, it's wrong on so many levels...

DhyanChohan
Les Mystères Ufologiques
via Posthuman Blues

Denver Alien Video - Startling Truth Revealed

Thanks Nick, that's some good detective work.

Frank sure is getting around these days.

British Government releases UFO files

From Telegraph.co.uk:

The most comprehensive Government files on UFO activity are opened to the public for the first time today and they disclose that even air traffic controllers and police officers have seen mysterious craft in the skies over Britain.

The sightings range from incredible tales of little green men visiting the Wirral to corroborated accounts from policemen and pilots of Unidentified Flying Objects hovering above towns and cities.

This story should ring loud through the ufology community. I'm not sure if there will be any smoking guns in there or how much has been held back or sanitized, but it will be interesting to see what comes of this. Little Green Men, notwithstanding, it seems that something happened that warranted government investigation.

Update: Here are the UFO files from the UK National Archives

Sunday Excursions: The Rites of Spring

Spring in Savannah means that the heat will be back sooner than we might like. the girls are wearing a lot less and the pollen is so thick it covers everything in a yellow film... oh yeah, and thunderstorms and tornadoes.













Mike Hollingshead has a great job. He's a storm chaser and and his website, Extreme Instability, is loaded with stunning photos, chronicling his dangerous journeys throughout the American Heartland.

I'm one of those people that gets high on thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes, all of which, I've experienced a number. Some like porn, some drool over pictures of kind-bud in High Times, I get off on extreme weather, real or recorded.

via A Moment of Awesome
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From The Lives They Left Behind:

When Willard Psychiatric Center closed in 1995, staff members Beverly Courtwright and Lisa Hoffman, along with Craig Williams, a New York State Museum curator, worked to save historical artifacts there. Beverly found a door tucked under the pigeon-infested rafters of an attic. Prying it open, they found rows of wooden racks, packed with almost 400 suitcases of all shapes and types – men’s on the left, women’s on the right, alphabetized, labeled, and covered by bird droppings, seemingly untouched for years. Realizing they had stumbled across unique and valuable artifacts, Craig had the suitcases moved to the Museum’s warehouse near Albany.

This is where Darby Penney and Peter Stastny encountered the luggage in 1999, wrapped in dusty plastic sheets. Working with a list of names and hospital identification numbers, they went through the suitcases to choose a smaller number of individuals and identify their belongings for closer study.

This online exhibit preserves the forgotten memories of these people, long since passed away. The site also has a great deal of information about the hospital itself, audio recordings of memories of the institution and more information about the book and touring exhibition.

via Mind Hacks
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There were a number of remarkable stories this past week. Here's a small sampling:

This kind of thing usually only happens in movies: A Victim Treats His Mugger Right.

Bra-freaking-vo. I wish I had the balls (and the heart) to do that when I was mugged. Granted, his guy had a knife and my guy had a .38, but still.

via kottke.org
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People move like predators.

News Flash: We are predators. Sorry, George.

via Complexity Digest
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Threat Level goes off on gate-rape and its apologists in TSA Defends Nipple Ring Removal Order, Should Apologize.

I loved this bit:

Two suggestions:

1) apologize publicly to Hamlin today, saying the officers were not following common sense procedures and

2) stop referring to the United States as the Homeland.

Every time you say that word in reference to the United States, you sound like a buffoonish bureaucrat from the Soviet Union. Your underlings won't tell you so, but that's what THREAT LEVEL is here for.

No, really you do. Stop it. And apologize to Hamlin already.

Expletive deleted-ay!
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I saw this story floating about last week. Bruce Schneier brought it back to my attention.

Red light cameras are working so well that cities are shutting them down. Revenues generated by fines are disappearing. Seems that crime does pay...
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Mac Tonnies added a new installment on the Seti.com blog. In fact, read them all.

In my book, Mac is right up there with Richard Dolan and Timothy Good in providing a balanced and rational look into the world of Ufology.

If you try to tell me that there's no evidence, I'll know that you really haven't looked.
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Now to wrap up with a few odd nugs:


Send emails into the future with Time Machiner

via Vitamin Briefcase
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Bootstrapper's 100 Best DIY Sites on the Web

Should keep you DIYing for a while.

via linkfilter.net
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The Presurfer dropped this oddity: Thriving Office.

Instant credibility for home businesses... or, if you business is tanking, it doesn't have to sound like it.

Do people actually use this?
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In memory and honor of the great Arthur C. Clarke, this page of HAL9000 .wavs.

via Contrary Brin
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Have a Sunday Excursion and a great week ahead.

Some things to pass along

A few items worth sharing:

Futurismic posted a most intriguing essay yesterday. Mac Tonnies, known for his case of the Posthuman Blues announced to the world:

I have a confession to make: I am a “transhuman ufologist.”

Aw man, that's awesome.

Retrospectively, it seemed bound to happen some day.

I think Futurismic has done a great thing. I look forward to the shitstorm of controversy that is due to well up as everyone goes back to work Monday morning.

But seriously, I think that ufology is an unfairly maligned line of inquiry that deserves some form of serious consideration. It's too pervasive to ignore. Even if it's all bullshit, it's still significant enough to warrant (mainstream academic) study in some capacity; psychology is really dropping the ball in that regard. Even mythology and folklore won't touch it with a ten foot pole, not to mention the curious lack of coverage in the science fiction world.

Kudos to Mr. Tonnies and Futurismic for bringing this conversation on to a different and potentially fertile platform.
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In this case, steampunk meets the future. Mechanical computers are back!

DARPA is seeding the development of nanomechanical computers, robust enough to operate in conditions where conventional semiconductors would fail. (read: weapon systems and warfare environments.)

via plausible futures
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The secret China-U.S. hacking war seems to be heating up.

This is nothing new. I've been hearing about this for years. What's significant is that I suspect there is more mainstream media coverage to come.

Many of us inhabit a rather rarefied internet. Behind the curtain there would appear to be a majority that ranges from the horribly banal to the outright sinister. The internet is a minefield of sleaze, scams, chain letters, ephemera, rants, pirating, predation, flame-wars, spam, phishing, viruses, espionage, fraud, all the things that are wrong about consumerism and now, state sanctioned warfare.

via KurzweilAI.net
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Finally, from the 'Is this for real?' file:

Meet the Fire God: He Cooks With His Hands

via Technoccult