THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE

THINKING UNTHINKABLE THOUGHTS

BYU professor's group accuses U.S. officials of lying about 9/11 (Deseret Morning News, Saturday, January 28, 2006)

Last fall, Brigham Young University physics professor Steven E. Jones made headlines when he charged that the World Trade Center collapsed because of "prepositioned explosives." Now, along with a group that calls itself "Scholars for 9/11 truth," he's upping the ante.

"We believe that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11," the group says in a statement released Friday announcing its formation. "We believe these events may have been orchestrated by the administration in order to manipulate the American people into supporting policies at home and abroad."

Headed by Jones and Jim Fetzer, University of Minnesota Deluth distinguished McKnight professor of philosophy, the group is made up of 50 academicians and others. They include Robert M. Bowman, former director of the U.S. "Star Wars" space defense program, and Morgan Reynolds, former chief economist for the Department of Labor in President George W. Bush's first term.

(These people cannot all be paranoid nuts running loose spouting unreasonable and unsupported ideas!)

The group's Website (www.ST911.org) includes an updated version of Jones paper about the collapse of the Twin Towers and a paper by Fetzer that looks at conspiracy theories. The government's version of the events of 9/11 -- that the plane's hijackers were tied to Osama bin Laden -- is its own conspiracy theory, says Fetzer. "Did the Bush administration know in advance about the impending attacks that occurred on 9/11, and allow these to happen, to provoke pre-planned wars against Afghanistan and Iraq?

(Okay. But what if it's true? Check out the Website, and tell me what you think! Also, while you're at it, check out this: in your search box type in Unthinkable thoughts Griffin, and read this. )

Say What??? 3

Pancho Villa's last words: "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

WHY?

Why is Rumsfeld doing the monster mash?

What do you know about psyops? There is a declassified document called the "Information Operations Roadmap" obtained by the National Security Archives at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act that seems to see the internet as the "equivalent to an enemy weapons system," noting the slogan "fight the net" appears several times in the context. The document, signed by "Master of Puppets" Rumsfeld, recommends that the U.S. "should seek the ability to provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum." U.S. forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependant on the electromagnetic spectrum."

So. It seems the U.S. military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet, or so says Adam Brookes, a BBC Pentagon news correspondant in an article titled "Bloggers Beware."

And, how does this relate to the whole Google lawsuit thing? Or doesn't it?

Jane's Addiction

Pepek's, actually. I can't stop! I am addicted to Orion! And look here: Up in the top right corner there's a greenish bird, a sparrow, I think. Across from him, sits Orion, himself, or--my first thought--Poseidon. Or maybe, Moses, as Michaelangelo saw him in marble, seated and bearded. Maybe God Himself.

Cosmic clouds and stellar winds. The young and still-forming variable star LL Orionis produces a solar wind more powerful than our own sun's. As the fast stellar wind runs into slow moving gas, a shock front is formed, like the bow-waves of a boat moving through water.

(I think it's Poseidon. He carries a 3-pronged spear....)

Good Measure

One more, just because. The Orion Nebula. This detailed image is the sharpest ever from the Hubble--containing a billion pixels at resolution and it reveals about 3,000 stars. In apparent size, the picture is as large as the Full Moon.


Can you see the face at the right side center, a very sad crescent moon face, mourning the loss of his hat down at the bottom left? Also, there is a witch flying on her broom in the upper left-hand corner!

WOW!

THE CARTWHEEL GALAXY: The ring-like shape is caused by a smaller galaxy passing through the larger one-- The Chandra X-ray Observatory data is in purple. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer ultraviolet view is in blue. The Hubble is in visible light, and the Spitzer Space Telescope image infrared is in red. Put them all together, and you have--WOW!

Little Things Mean A Lot

Years ago, Kitty Kallen sang a very popular song called "Little Things Mean A Lot."

Remember that spacecraft that crashed into the Utah desert several months ago? And they carefully salvaged what they could from the impacted pieces? Well, they just let us know what went wrong with that gazillion-dollar project--somebody installed the parachute backwards!

UPDATE: The space capsule bringing back comet dust samples just landed safely in Dugway, Utah, with a million samples of comet and interstellar dust aboard! "The first parachute opened at 100,000 feet, followed by a larger chute, which guided it to a 10 mph landing on the salt flats"--

Who says we don't learn from our mistakes????

Eeeuuuwwwww....

Gareth Whyte, of White Plains NY, bit off part of his girlfriends face, through skin, nerves, fat and muscle, exposing a gaping hole below her eye.

"I'll agree the defendant is not guilty when he can put this back," said prosecutor Heide Mason, holding up a jar containing the girl's flesh.

Might that have been a Mason Jar?

Whyte had bitten the girlfriend once before, complaining that her clothes were too sexy. This time he could get 25 years in prison!

Right Islam Vs Wrong Islam

From the pages of the WSJ Editorials, by Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia: "News organizations report that Osama bin Laden has obtained a religious edict from a misguided Saudi cleric, justifying the use of nuclear weapons against America, and the infliction of mass casualties. It requires great emotional strength to confront the potential ramifications of this fact. Yet can anyone doubt that those who joyfully incinerate the occupants of office buildings, commuter trains, hotels, and nightclubs would leap at the chance to magnify their damage a thousandfold?"

"Imagine the impact of a single nuclear bomb detonated in New York... what about 2 or 3? The entire edifice of modern civilization is built on economic and technological foundations that terrorists hope to collapse with nuclear attacks like so many fishing huts in the wake of a tsunami."

"...we must set aside our international and partisan bickering, and join to confront the danger that lies before us."

If the "essence of Islam" is encapsulated in the words of the Quran, "For you, your religion; for me, my religion" then that is the essence of tolerance. But what of those who justify the brutality of terrorism with slogans like "Islam Above Everything Else!" And what of suicide bombers now appearing on public posters like star athletes on Corn Flake boxes: "You should be very proud of me, it's an honor, and you will see the results, and everybody will be happy."

Do these people not know which of these views they believe? And if not, why not? A literal and highly selective reading of the Quran apparently suggests (I have not read it) that most of the rest of us are infidels to be slaughtered.

According to Wahid they have 1. An agressive program with clear ideological and political goals. 2. Immense funding from oil-rich sponsors. 3. The ability to distribute these funds to impoverished areas to buy loyalty and power. 4. A claim of religious authority. 5. An appeal to Islamic pride, and identity, and history. 5. The ability to blend into the much larger moderate masses. 6. Full-time commitment by its leadership. 7. An absence of organized opposition in the Islamic world. 8. Networks of schools that propagate terrorism, and scholarships for future leaders. 9. A global network of imams to distribute its ideology throughout the world. 10. Internet communication. And, finally, the reluctance of many governments to control this entire process. And we're worried about some wiretapping of phones and computers!

What's going on here?

MY DOGS

ARE YOU READY

...for the Year of the Dog? According to the Chinese, 2006 is the Year of the Dog! Bring on the dumplings and the firecrackers! Get ready for the liondances and the parades!

According to Karalee Miller, who writes for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, folks born in this year (which occurs every 12 years) make ideal secret agents and business people. Not only that, but there are Metal dogs, Water dogs, Wood dogs, this year's dog, which are Fire dogs, and Earth dogs. Fire dog people are supposed to be popular and charismatic, with a sexual attractiveness that makes them irresistable, yet they are honest, openhearted, adventurous, and vivacious. They are generally not the settle-down types. (These people correspond with Libras, and you know who you are!) Spouses, beware!

Here's a 30-year-old dog (that's THIRTY, mind you. Geez, that's 216 or something in people years!), a dog at a Japanese fashion show, and another at a beauticians in Beijing having her hair styled and clipped.

Psychedelic Bull's Eye

Actually, the Sombrero Galaxy, so called because someone thought it looks like a Mexican hat. The Hubble photo is combined visible and infrared light.

Are You A Duppy, Fauxhemian, or Meanderthal?

According to Cynthia Pasquale, writing for the Denver Post: "Humans like to be creative, mashing words together... sometimes the word is old but the meaning reconstituted. Such terms often describe a change in lifestyle, a fad, or in some cases, a manufactured substitute for reality." The New Oxford American Dictionary introduced more than 2,000 new words onto its pages in 2005, and the Web site wordspy.com offers daily entries for those who want to keep up.

Santagnostic: (for those who will never know if Santa is real).

Blirting: Using a Blackberry to send flirtatious messages. People who can't put their Blackberry away call it "crackberry" because of its addictive nature.

Duppies: Young, formerly high fliers who have to subsist on unemployment insurance or low-paying jobs. Short for depressed urban professionals.

Fauxhemian: Those people who adopt aspects of the appearance and trappings of the Bohemian lifestyle without actually straying too far from social conventions.

Fresh to Death: Clothing termed thusly in the hip- hop fashion world is so hot that it will stay cool until the wearer is long dead.

Hiyunka: A word describing hefty handbags, clunky shoes, and jawbreaker-sized beads.

ICE: Emergency phone numbers programmed into a mobile phone's address book (in case of emergengy).

Indie-yuppie: Young urban professionals who shop in the trendiest stores, and devour the hottest, cutting-edge music and film. Indie refers to independently made movies or music not backed by big-money companies.

(And this one is really good) Kippers: Adult children reluctant to fly from the nest, or Kids In Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings.

Lifehack: A more efficient way of completing an everyday task.

Meanderthal: A person who walks slowly and aimlessly, often toting cell phones and delaying pedestrian or motor traffic.

Spamalanche: An avlanche of junk e-mails.

Vlogs: Video logs on the internet that broadcast events or a person's views on subjects.


Can you come up with any of your own? Must be useful. We don't want miniscule, left-handed monkey wrenches in the dictionary tool-box. Words have to be good descriptors of the world.

2006!

New Year's Resolutions? Well, we know these usually last about as long as it takes to make them. However, here are mine: 1. Take nothing and no one for granted. 2. Work like hell to get it right this time. 3. Remember that happiness is not a destination but a manner of travelling. And finally, 4. (in the words of Miss Piggy) I will never eat more than I can lift.

Here are some "daily affirmations" from Steven Sultanoff, a Mirthologist and Clinical Psychologist: 1. As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with my inner sociopath. 2. I have the power to channel my imagination into ever soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia. 3. I assume full responsibility for my actions, except for ones that are someone else'e fault. 4. In some cultures, what I do would be considered normal. 5. My intuition makes up for my lack of wisdom and good judgement. 6. I need not suffer in silence while I can still moan. whimper, and complain. 7. When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper than a lawsuit, but not nearly as rewarding. 8. I am at one with my duality. 9. I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so." 10. I will no longer waste my time reliving the past, but I will spend it worrying about the future.


A New Book: IN SEARCH OF MEMORY: A New Science of Mind, by Eric Kandel. The narrative follows Dr. Kandel through the last five decades, focusing on Vienna, where he became fascinated with memory--his own, history's, and with the neuro-biological processes of memory. Sounds interesting.


ARE NOVELS MORE INTERESTING THAN MOVIES? Everybody says, "The movie was good, but the book was better!" Are the pictures in your mind as you read better than those projected onto the wide screen?



ON THIS FIRST DAY OF 2006: There is a study reported in the Jan.1st issue of The Economist that says going to church is more than its own reward. Jonathan Gruber, an economist at MIT claims that regular church attendance leads to better education, higher income (raising it 10 %), and a lower chance of divorce, because you are less stressed out and better equipped for success. But, is this really a good motivation for going to church?



On this final note, I 'm off to church! You have a good day!