Harold Dahl's UFOs

They're baaaack.
remnants from the plane chasing apparent ufos in 1947 have been discovered.
from the seattle post In
artifacts and more mystery
bring the X-Files back! (it's in the works)
frank spotnitz says so

John Frusciante Rant

i lifted this from Stereogum
April 2, 2007
John tells off some booers. i hate when people boo the opening acts. just sit there and be quiet if you don't like it. i think john needs to bring mickey along on his solo tours. i don't think fans of john's solo career would boo. they're much too intelligent for that.

From: John
To: Gayle Fine
Sent: Mar 13, 2007 5:43 PM

To the Oklahoma audience,
I feel love for everyone who supports my band and our music. I play music to spread light around the world and those who are open to the light we spread are as much a part of our music as we are.

To the few of you who booed my friend Mickey Avalon, I must say that I agree with Flea that you were also booing my band and yourselves.

Because in booing another man, in the first place, you show no regard for humanity. And you show that you have no concept of the amount of courage it takes to open up in front of anybody, much less 10,000 people.

Because anyone who knows what it feels like to open up to even one person would never attempt to abuse a person who was doing so in front of a crowd. I happen to feel that Mickey is a great rapper, a great performer, and a natural born star.

Though all my friends agree with me on this, it is obviously a matter of opinion, as with any artist, and I certainly don't expect every member of my bands audience to agree with me, especially with such limited exposure to him. But imagine if you were 10 years old and you spent a year putting a play together, and charged 50 cents and you and your friends really decked the place out and worked hard to make it fun to come to, and you knew a five year old dancer who was great and asked her to dance before the play. If some people came and booed her, would you want to perform for them? Would that kind of abuse be what you had in mind when you were working so hard to create an environment where people could have fun, party and be entertained? Anybody who has the guts to get on stage and bear themselves deserves to be respected for having courage. Anyone watching is free to leave or go to the lobby. But by staying, though you don't like it, and preferring to boo rather than leave, you are showing that you derive pleasure from attempting to hurt others, and that is always the result of dissatisfaction with yourself. Anyone who tries to make others feel bad, in an attempt to feel good themselves, will never feel true happiness as long as they do so. Not to mention, in the case of a great man such as Mickey Avalon, you only make him stronger, because he has actual self-belief, something which cannot be faked. And you who booed gave him the chance to demonstrate that he has that admirable quality. By the way, the Chili Peppers got booed opening for people in the early days, as have many of the all-time greats. Standing up to that shit is part of getting stronger when someone knows they are good, and it is just taking the world longer to catch on. In this sense I thank you for booing because you have served as a steppingstone for a strong performer to get even stronger.

And I also realize that those of you who booed have probably been spoken down to consistently by your parents, your teachers, your bosses, your older siblings, older kids, etc.I know that shit is frustrating and it probably feels good to take it out on someone who has confidence you wish you had. But the truth is we are all here together. One of us is here because all of us are here. If you don't respect other peoples feelings you can't expect to ever have others respect your feelings. As long as you attempt to humiliate someone who is opening up to you, you will never have the courage to truly open up to others.

I knew there was a chance that Mickey would get booed by those of you who resent what isn't familiar, and I also knew that he is of strong enough character to stand up to it, and perform as great as he does in a club in L.A. where people absolutely love and adore him. There is very little I admire more than that ability, which last night he clearly showed he has. A strong sense of self is what we all want, and so we should respect those who have it. Whether we like what they are doing is beside the point. If I see a performer who I think is terrible, my heart bleeds for them. The thought of trying to humiliate them is unthinkable.

I am very grateful to be able to share the music that comes through me and my band with each and every person who attends our shows. It means a great deal to me. But when I see that some members of my audience enjoy hurting others, I must speak up and say what I feel is right. If you are using the arena we all rented together to attempt to hurt a mans feelings, I must use the microphone to get across that that is not why
we are gathered there.

Thank you to all of you, including you who booed, and I honestly hope you got something out of the experience. I hope you who booed someday have the beginnings of true confidence, whereby you derive no pleasure from humiliating others, and can then have the courage to open up to the world and be yourself unashamedly.

What we share with music is a celebration of the infinite possibilites the universe has to offer. I love all who share in this celebration with us. I recommend that you use the experience to inspire you to be yourself, and to let it all hang out. What the fuck do you think is so cool about Flea and Anthony in the first place? Or Jimi Hendrix or David Bowie? Or Little Richard? They waved their freak flag high! We should all follow their lead! Have respect for those who do this(whether they're famous or not)and you will develop the courage to do this yourself. Everyone of you is a star. Its just hiding inside of some of you. That part of you will come out if you treat others as you would like to be treated, and when you can't find it in yourself to do so, if you just leave others alone.

All of you who we play to have given me so much and I write this in hopes that I can give help to some of you(who were clearly the minority) where you clearly showed yourself to be in need of help. If people try to push you down, don't conform to their bullshit. Stand up to it, with courage. Make 'em threaten you with death before you even consider backing down. Be how you want to be. Fuck'em. Then you will develop inner character whereby you would always support those who have the guts to be themselves openly, for you would know that you and they are on the same team. We are actually all on the same team but some of us seem to know that and others do not. Thanks especially to the majority of you, who opened up to MA.I know he's different. It always takes a second for us to comprehend things that are unfamiliar.

Lots of love to all of you. That's what this is all about.

Love,
John Frusciante

Chili Peppers Play Hullabaloo

for flea's Silverlake Conservatory.pricey, though, tix start at $250. consider it a donation.

Pity the Rich

for they are imbecils. i didn't say that. it was spouted by a NYT writer today:

The bottom line: Without power, people tend to play it safe. Given power, even you and I would soon end up living large and acting like idiots. So pity the rich — and protect yourself."

i liked the story and the theory -- that the rich are more powerful, therefore more daring, greedy and obnoxious, more apt to say something stupid. it's something to think about. or not.
after all if you don't really need money what the heck.

Community College Beats Harvard at Chess

If you go to Harvard or another prestige school, it doesn't mean you're smarter, just richer. Here's a great story about Community College students beating the best of the prestige school students at the game of chess.

By SARAH LARIMER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Mar 22, 7:33 AM ET

MIAMI - Don't underestimate the grocery store deli worker, the security alarm salesman or the 34-year-old computer science student who anchor the Miami Dade College chess team. The community college undergrads have already faced Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Northwestern and beaten them all.

By finishing fourth in that Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, Miami Dade qualified for this weekend's finals of collegiate chess, facing powerhouses University of Texas-Dallas, Duke University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

"They're formidable players," said Jim Stallings, University of Texas-Dallas' director for chess and education. "You can't just take anybody for granted in this tournament, because they are the top four U.S. teams."

Miami Dade, with 160,000 students, may have few admission requirements, but it has made the Final Four five consecutive years. It is seeking its first title, after finishing third in each previous try. read the rest

The Bank of the Universe is Now Open!

that's the message i received from those misguided folks at "the secret."
i signed up to get emails to see what they would send and sure enough, it's how to get rich quick. haven't we had enough of that?

here's the rest of the text:

It has unlimited abundance, available to you right now!

Actually it has never NOT been open,
but only a few throughout the history of mankind knew of the unlimited abundance that was theirs for the asking.

Click the image link at the bottom of this Scrolls to receive your blank check from the Bank of The Universe for you.

You must believe that you can receive it,
so take small steps with the amounts,
if that feels more believable to you.

Place the check in a prominent position
where you will see it every day!

Every time you look at the check,
STOP!!! BELIEVE and FEEL
that you have the money
NOW!

The Universe inspires people, circumstances and events, to deliver the amount to you, but don't ever be mistaken into believing it came from them.

It is always the Universe, who moves through people, circumstances and events, to deliver it to you.

If YOU don't cancel your check, The Bank of the Universe must deliver the money to you!

Any thoughts, words, or actions of "lack", or "not enough"... are the only things that cancel your check.

Here's the great thing though... if you are thinking, acting or speaking words that could cancel your check, the Universe immediately sends you an alert! The alert is instantaneously transmitted direct to you, as bad feelings!!! The moment you receive the alert, change your thinking immediately!

By the way, it is not your job to work out HOW the Universe will bring it to you, so hands off telling the Universe what to do. Just ask, believe you have received it, and you WILL receive.

This wonderful process was inspired by a 'million dollar' true story account in the film, The Secret.

The story was told by one of the great master teachers
of The Secret, Jack Canfield.

The Secret Debunked

bent on helping people refrain from drinking the kool-aid, i offer more critical thinking on "the secret," which says that through the "law of attraction" you can get a spot on Oprah, win the lottery and have or be anything that you truly believe.

that's a mighty powerful secret. i heard on the radio this morning about a man, imprisoned for 16 years, who was freed recently after DNA evidence proved he was innocent. i wondered, how does the "law of attraction" apply there?

did he attract a 16 year prison sentence to his life? or did something horrendous happen to an innocent man?

here's what they're saying in creator's rhonda byrne's australia, where she's known as a commercial producer.
here's what newsweek has to say:

But that's not what "The Secret" is saying. Its explicit claim is that you can manipulate objective physical reality—the numbers in a lottery drawing, the actions of other people who may not even know you exist—through your thoughts and feelings. In the words of "author and personal empowerment advocate" Lisa Nichols: "When you think of the things you want, and you focus on them with all of your intention, then the law of attraction will give you exactly what you want, every time." Every time! Byrne emphasizes that this is a law inherent in "the universe," an inexhaustible storehouse of goodies from which you can command whatever you desire from the comfort of your own living room by following three simple steps: Ask, Believe, Receive.

here are a few other things to think about.
bad things always happens to good people. think about the bad things in your life. did you attract that? in some cases perhaps, but sometimes the world just works that way. there are other "universal laws" at work, not just the "law of attraction."

what about the child who is abused by his parent? is he or she "attracting" that punishment? or doesn't the "law of attraction" work on children?

if you believe in karma, what about it? what if you owe a karmic debt?

what about slavery? did African slaves attract their fate? or didn't the "law of attraction" work that long ago? does the "law of attraction" just work on middle class people with middle class desires?

what about the bad person who always is lucky or "successful?"

does the universe really want everyone to win the lottery because if people really believe this, that's what they'd wish for.

what about the child born with any number of physical ailments? did he or she attract that somehow? can they wish it away?

if i wish and believe harm on another person, will the "law of attraction" work? after all, i'm focusing my thoughts.

the effect of "the secret" could be a bunch of selfish people on a mission to get what they want -- houses, cars, money.

is there an altruistic component to "the secret?" wouldn't the "universe" want that? no, there is not and apparently no. anyone, good intentions or bad, can get what they want if they believe. that's mostly what makes "the secret" hooey.

sure, think good thoughts. but it's more important to do good things for other people. that's not a secret.

salon's take

200 Thread Count Sheets

now i understand the sheets.

H.M. and Memories

"Once they find out about me, it helps them to help other people." Henry M. on NPR

that from H.M., a man who has lost his short-term memory due to a lifesaving operation that stopped him from having seizures. this has helped neuroscientists figure out that memory takes up more space in the brain than previously thought.
Henry's current status:

As for Henry's current status, he lives in a nursing home in Hartford and still travels occasionally to MIT for memory testing. He enjoys doing crossword puzzles and watching detective shows on television. His life is peaceful, if not completely happy. He worries often that he has done something wrong, and it is not possible for him to make any real friends since he cannot remember a person from ten minutes to the next. At times, he seems to have a sense of humor about his condition, as in the following anecdote taken from his biography, Memory's Ghost: The Strange Tale of Mr. M. and the Nature of Memory, by Philip Hilts:

When walking down the corridor at M.I.T. with Henry, Dr. Suzanne Corkin made the usual kind of small talk. "Do you know where you are, Henry?"

Henry grinned. "Why, of course. I'm at M.I.T.!"

Dr. Corkin was a bit surprised. "How do you know that?"

Henry laughed. He pointed to a student nearby with a large M.I.T. emblazoned on his sweatshirt. "Got ya that time!" Henry said.

Mainly, though, he leads a life of quiet confusion, never knowing exactly how old he is (he guesses maybe thirty and is always surprised by his reflection in the mirror) and reliving his grief over the death of his mother every time he hears about it. Though he does not recall his operation, he knows that there is something wrong with his memory and has adopted a philosophical stance on his problems: "It does get me upset, but I always say to myself, what is to be is to be. That's the way I always figure it now."

memory studies at dana.org
montreal neurological institute
american academy of neurology

Mysteries of the Mind

the top 10 mysteries of the mind at livescience.com.
oh heck, there are all sorts of mysteries at livescience.
will california ever fall in the ocean? answer

The Secret About the Secret

backstabbing, lying, but hey, at least Rhonda Byrne, maker of the Secret DVD followed her intentions -- to get rich. that's the story in today's NYT. the Secret teaches thoughts are things and that you can think your way into parking spots and restaurant tables and millions of dollars. it was, after all, "the science of getting rich" that prompted rhonda to think of "the law of attraction." or was it someone elses idea she stole? (read the story)

it is interesting to note that during the interview with the NYT, rhonda wore a

"glittering silver circle affixed with false-eyelash glue to the center of her forehead."

she's rich now, loaded. she can do foolish things like that. but good things happen to bad people.

of course, the video doesn't say anything about thinking your way into the soup kitchen, or starting a community foundation or helping out people who don't have as much as you. it's all about how to get things for you, how to get richer, more successful, more things, a parking spot. that's just icky. so many drank the kool-aid. when did people stop thinking critically and how can we get more people to do so?

it's a money making venture. a bunch of hoo ha. and oprah lifted the secret by hosting the "secret teachers" on her show. One of them even included in her visionary collage words about herself being on oprah. well, what person who has something to sell doesn't want to be on oprah. we'll probably get barak obama for a president, thanks to her backing. and thankfully, that will be a good thing. go barak!

but if oprah does her homework (she may read the NYT story because she says she reads it), she may lash out the way she did with james frey. her show has sort of become like QVC. i still love oprah. i think her producers need to be more discerning. there are so many people who are clamoring to be on her show. they need to tighten up their criteria, do more background work.

from the NYT. how sick is this?:

Last Sunday evening the Hickses relaxed in their $1.4 million luxury bus
parked outside the Rancho Cordova Marriott near Sacramento, where they had just
finished a six-hour workshop on the law of attraction in the hotel ballroom.
Three hundred people had paid $195 each to hear Ms. Hicks, a former secretary,
summon otherworldly spirits she says speak through her. The spirits, who
collectively use the name Abraham, answered participants’ questions.
“I don’t
have a lover yet,” one woman said.
Abraham, whose speaking voice is rounder,
quicker and more computerlike than Ms. Hicks’s natural voice, replied by
repeating the woman’s phrase roughly 20 times and then explained it contained
its own negativity, which was leaving the woman paddling upstream on the river
of life.
The audience applauded.

here's some of the hush, hush bickering going on behind the scenes:

The Hickses spend most of the year traveling the country, leading workshops based on the teachings they say Abraham has given them. They record the workshops and have 10,000 subscribers, who pay up to $50 a month for CDs and DVDs of Abraham’s wisdom.

When Ms. Byrne asked Ms. Hicks to appear in “The Secret,” as the most prominent interpreter of the law of attraction, she agreed to give the Hickses approval over much of the movie, according to a contract. But when the couple saw the first cut, they were livid. Ms. Hicks’s voice, chaneling Abraham, was used as narration throughout the film, but her face was never shown.

After negotiation, Ms. Hicks’s image was edited into the film and it was released, ultimately netting the Hickses $500,000 from sales, Ms. Hicks said. But the couple were unhappy with the distribution. They said they understood it would be shown first on Australian television, but instead it was being sold as an Internet download and later as a DVD.

Cynthia Black, the president of Beyond Words Publishing, a New Age imprint, who is both a longtime friend of the Hickses and the publisher of Ms. Byrne’s book version of “The Secret,” tried to broker a peace. She enlisted the help of Jack Canfield, the author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” one of the “transformational experts” who appears in “The Secret” (and whose nephew Zach Canfield says he used the law of attraction to score a date with the hip-hop singer Lady Sovereign). But Mr. Canfield was also unable to bring the parties together.

The Hickses consulted their lawyer, and Ms. Byrne in turn demanded changes to the contract, both sides said. No agreement could be reached. Ms. Byrne moved forward with a second version of “The Secret” without the Hickses. Advised by their lawyer to sue, the Hickses said they declined because litigation would take energy from their own pursuit of the law of attraction. “We don’t sue,” said Mr. Hicks, a former circus acrobat and Amway distributor.

The Skinny on Oprah

according to Bob Greene, her fitness guru.

Mummified Man Watches TV

a sign of a sad and lonely world.

Dalai Lama's Presidential Pick

Who is the Dalia Lama supporting in the 2008 race? ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich. The Dalai Lama's listed as a "friend" on Kucinich's myspace. the Tibetan peace monk has a myspace, too. he has 2,665 friends.

barak obama has a lot of friends at his myspace -- 42,706, more that hillary clinton -- 23,378 friends.

John Frusciante Rolling Stone

john is teased on the front cover of the rolling stone issue -- "the new guitar gods" -- as "the visionary."

yeah, we know.

but inside is a Q&A with John but it doesn't get into his work outside the chili peppers. i don't get it. how can you talk about john without talking about his solo work or his collaborations with other musicians?

for those of you missing the hair, here it is! here's a short accompanying video.

invisible-movement has the grammy acceptance speech

Chili Peppers at the Grammys

Woo Hoo! could've been a better choice of song, something more upbeat. and could've done without the snow. and was that chad on the drums for the dixie chicks?
chad's got to be one of the top five drummers in the world. flea his usual fleaness.
loved john frusciante's speaking part. he seemed truly excited and nervous. it's nice to see them loving their jobs so much. of course, they picked up best rock album for stadium arcadium. they picked up three other awards.

The Secret

update: if you didn't think The Secret was a bit scammy, take a look at my spammy in the comments.

did you catch The Secret on oprah?

i liked the concept, thoughts are things and what you think is what you get. of course, the host of people who were guests on the show and "teachers" were pitching The Secret DVD and book. it was sort of like an infomercial -- when you learn "the secret" everything is better, your sex life, your financial status and your career!

i thought about buying the $30 DVD but did my research. here's how you know something is bogus -- when it's tied to money. what are they selling? i checked out the web sites of the people behind the show and each site tells you how to get rich! how to be successful! every single one of them is a self help person selling their wares.

also, the woman who started "the secret" is a reality show maven. in australia, where she's from, she's produced such reality show goodness as Australians Behaving Badly, Marry Me. her company also produced Worlds Greatest Commercials.

how about a DVD on how to serve others, you know, how to work in a soup kitchen or volunteer? that would be a silly DVD to make cause no one would buy it. but people are definitely interested in buying a DVD that tells them how to be wealthy and powerful and successful.

the universe makes everything abundant, they say. there isn't a shortage of anything, especially not money, they contend. money and wealth are the focus. if you aren't "successful" then you don't have money and you don't know "the secret" and too bad for you.

i believe that thoughts are energy. no doubt. but there are other laws in the universe, too. the laws of karma. and there are plenty more thoughts running around than just your own thoughts. in that case, there is an abundance of negative energy everywhere (given the state of the world), so how do your own thoughts scientifically penetrate all that negative energy? what other people do affects us, sorry to say.

save your money. these people aren't any better than you and they certainly don't know more than you.

Do Not Feed The Homeless Take 2

first it was vegas and it's rally against the homeless, now it's orlando. what is wrong with people? i think all social ills boil down to one thing: some group always thinks they're better than another. i suppose it's primitive means of survival. there's little empathy and not much enlightenment going on these days. from the AP:

Orlando, population 200,000, works hard to conjure the image of a true-life Pleasantville: a safe, welcoming place where visitors can soak up year-round sunshine and devour choreographed experiences at palm-ringed theme parks. But its spotless sidewalks, sparkling lakes and twinkling skyline belie a real city with real maladies — most notably, a surging homeless population that authorities are struggling to control.

After a law that banned panhandling was struck down by the courts, the city tried to discourage aggressive beggars by obliging them to carry ID cards, and later by confining them to 3-by-15-foot "panhandling zones" painted in blue on sidewalks downtown.

Despite these laws, the number of people living on the streets of the Orlando metro area swelled, from roughly 5,000 in 1999 to an estimated 8,500 today, dwarfing the city's shelter capacity for 2,000 people.

So in July, the city commission tried a "supply-side" approach: It passed an ordinance regulating the feeding of large groups of people in Orlando's downtown parks.

Those who wished to feed more than 25 hungry individuals at parks within a 2-mile radius of City Hall could do so, but only if they obtained a "Large Group Feeding Permit" from the parks department — and no one would be granted more than two feeding permits a year.

No exceptions.

Inequality is Real

"The fact is that income inequality is real. It has been rising for more than 25 years." that quote comes out of the mouth of our president. wow. he noticed. i'm surprised. but how long did it take him to speak up.
that quote is from a reuters story today. the president talks about the lavish salaries and perks of CEOs and how that might affect the stockmarket. he says government can't dampen overperked business people. it's up to the companies.
can you imagine, conscious guided execs could still have a comfortable life, be compensated well and at the same time, let the folks toward the bottom of the earnings chain make more money. what a concept. what are the chances?

Long Bets

a story in the NYT today asks: can humanity survive? the optimistic writer of the story says yes and he's made a bet on longbets.org that humans will live past 2100. i would bet not. a story about longbets was written a bit ago in Science & Technology mag.

longbets is a web site funded by amazon's jeff bezos, who's on his own mission (to space) and it's kept by Martin Rees, a cosmologist at Cambridge.
anyone can go there to make a "long bet." it's interesting to see who's betting and what they're betting. Like Vint Cerf, the Internet guru who bets:

"By 2010 more than 50 percent of books sold worldwide will be printed on demand at the point of sale in the form of library-quality paperbacks."
and here's one of his other bets:

"By 2010 more than 50 percent of books worldwide will be read on digital devices rather than in print form."

in addition to predicting the end of human kind, Rees bets this:

"By 2020, bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event."

here's another interesting prediction:

"The People's Republic of China will successfuly place a living human on the surface of Mars before any other nation."
most of the predictions are pessimistic. some are funny:

"As of March 7th, 2005, Osama bin Laden is dead."
here's a fun one:

"Evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence within the solar system will be confirmed before evidence from several light-years away."