Sunday, December 27, 2009
NASA astronaut Ed Mitchell says aliens are with us
'It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years'During a radio interview Mitchell was recorded as saying 'I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena [sic] is real.'
He also stated that he was aware of many thousand of UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA that had been covered up, and that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'
Mitchell was a former US navy pilot who was selected to work with NASA in 1960. During the Apollo 14 mission (January 31-February 9, 1971) he became the sixth person ever to walk on the surface of the moon. Apollo 14 was commanded by Alan Shepard, a former Mercury astronaut who became the second person ever to travel in space (and the first American). During their moon mission both Mitchell and Shepard achieved the longest ever moonwalk of 9 hours and 17 minutes.
[read more]
Labels: aerthlings, wandering
posted by aerthling @ 9:57 PM,
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monkey brains control robot arms
Rhesus monkeys have been taught to control a robot arm using brain signals alone.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina said the animals appeared to operate the robot arm as if it were their own limb.
They believe the finding could eventually lead to the development of highly sophisticated false limbs for people who are paralysed.
The technology may also aid people with stroke and spinal cord damage.
The Duke team implanted an array of microelectrodes into the brains of two female rhesus macaque monkeys. They implanted 96 electrodes in one animal and 320 in the other.
They then analysed the signals given off by the electrodes as the animals were taught to use a joystick to both position a cursor over a target on a video screen and to grasp the joystick.
[read more]
Labels: wandering
posted by aerthling @ 6:45 PM,
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
The other dark meat: Raccoon is making it to the table
All night he has been soaking a carcass in a solution of salt and
vinegar in a five-gallon bucket. Now he rinses the raccoon in his
kitchen sink.
"Eating raccoon has never gone out of style. It's
just hard to get unless you know somebody," he says as he carefully
trims away the fat and the scent glands.
"My kids love eating
game. They think eating deer and buffalo make you run faster and jump
higher. My grandkids will just tear this one up, it'll be so good."
Labels: Food and/or Drink
posted by aerthling @ 10:40 PM,
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
'Robot arms race' underway, expert warns
Governments around the world are rushing to develop military robots capable of killing autonomously without considering the legal and moral implications, warns a leading roboticist. But another robotics expert argues that robotic soldiers could perhaps be made more ethical than human ones.
Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University, UK, says he became "really scared" after researching plans outlined by the US and other nations to roboticise their military forces. He will outline his concerns to at a one day conference held in London, UK, on Wednesday.
Over 4000 semi-autonomous robots are already deployed by the US in Iraq, says Sharkey, and other countries - including several European nations, Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore and Israel - are developing similar technologies.
read more
Labels: wandering
posted by aerthling @ 8:59 AM,
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Friday, May 1, 2009
Latest Job Taken By Robots: Suicide Bomber
Noel Sharkey of Sheffield University warns that the rate at which robots are being produced and deployed (more than 4,000 in in Iraq alone) presents a risk that SUICIDE BOMBERS WILL BE REPLACED BY ROBOTS. Increased deployment means robots could be captured and reprogrammed or reproduced. Sharkey knows what kind of damage robots can cause -- he's a former judge on "Robot Wars."
read more | digg story
Labels: wandering
posted by aerthling @ 9:04 AM,
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Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Importance of a Professional Website for a Home Business
Simply put, it's not an option. A professional and effective website is a must for any business. Most especially a home-based business. The Internet has become the communications medium of choice for most people, when it comes to conducting business and researching companies to do business with. It allows any business to conduct business anywhere in the world, free of geographical limitations. Home businesses, already at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to the big guys, can benefit immensely from a well-designed and well-executed website.
The first thing that home business owners should know is that despite the variety of easy-to-use web-designing tools and software that are out there, they should not attempt to do it on their own. Unless of course, the business owner has a strong creative and graphic design background that can be applied to their website. Otherwise, business owners should seek the help of a qualified professional designer. It will save and make them money over the long run, without a doubt.
here are a few good reasons for this:
1. Most web-design software, like Microsoft FrontPage, use bland, generic templates and stock graphics to compose the website. Nothing kills the effectiveness of a website more than its looking just like hundreds of other sites on the web.
2. Most web-design software utilize jazzy applets, javascript, and Flash media to "liven up" the user's site. These elements can be overused, to a fault. The result is usually a site that's overloaded with flashy animations, graphics, and sound that do little more than annoy or turn off the visitor. Multimedia applications need to be utilized effectively on websites with balance and restraint. Furthermore, these "jazzy" elements need to have a real purpose. One that's beyond just trying to jazz up the site and woo the visitor. Only a good experienced designer can achieve that kind of balance.
3. Most amateur-designed, "DIY" (Do-it-yourself) websites look just that, amateurish. Horrifically unprofessional. Nobody likes to visit a poorly designed and/or ineffective website. The most important thing about your home business to prospective customers is your image and professional demeanor. Having an amateurish website is a sure way to blow that professionalism right out of the water with one glance of your site.
4. Most websites designed by home business owners turn out to be little more than "brochureware". These brochureware sites are usually ineffective because their mission and purpose have not been well-conceived. To have an electronic version of your company brochure is not enough to make your website effective. It has to accomplish specific tasks such as: generate leads; process sales; provide in-depth product information; and any other task that is applicable to your home business.
5. Developing a website, particularly when not experienced, takes a lot of time. A professional designer can work far faster and efficiently than the business owner at the project. It's better to find a quality designer to develop your site and apply your time to your business. Remember, your time is money.
read more
posted by aerthling @ 5:49 PM,
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Friday, March 27, 2009
Five dollar bill warning email
So, I checked out this email, but even if it's a fake, it's still not that far fetched. You can give people the benefit of the doubt, but you can be safe anyway. The myth has been busted, to coin a phrase, but so what...
SUMMARY: Email rumor claims a man posing as a good samaritan attempted to gain entry to a woman's vehicle by 'returning' a $5 bill she supposedly dropped. Is this a new trick used by rapists to dupe unsuspecting women?
Comments: False. It's not inconceivable that a criminal might use a ploy like this to dupe potential victims, but no such modus operandi turns up in news stories or police reports published over the past several years. To the contrary, the only articles mentioning have declared the message a hoax.
Hat tip goes to About.com, who lets you copy and paste from their site (YAY!), rather than Snopes, who try and keep it all to themselves (BOOO!).
Labels: Food and/or Drink
posted by aerthling @ 9:01 PM,
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Friday, March 13, 2009
Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky and other tales of brave aphrodite
From the above link:
Although no one can say for sure when and why human beings first associated the number 13 with misfortune, the superstition is assumed to be quite old, and there exist any number of theories — most of which deserve to be treated with a healthy skepticism, please note — purporting to trace its origins to antiquity and beyond.
It has been proposed, for example, that fears surrounding the number 13 are as ancient as the act of counting. Primitive man had only his 10 fingers and two feet to represent units, this explanation goes, so he could count no higher than 12. What lay beyond that — 13 — was an impenetrable mystery to our prehistoric forebears, hence an object of superstition.
Which has an edifying ring to it, but one is left wondering: did primitive man not have toes?
Considering primitive man was actually a monkey, and not a man, this may or may not be true.
-
Labels: Food and/or Drink
posted by aerthling @ 9:02 AM,
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Thursday, March 12, 2009
For those about to urban legend bust
Jan Harold BrunvandThe Baby Train& Other Lusty Urban Legends The eponymous episode—"The Baby Train"—sheds light on certain predawn activities that have linked unusually high birth rates to the whim of train schedule makers. Other stories offer a revealing peek behind the story of "The Exploding Bra," expose the embarrassing source of "The Hairdresser's Error," resurrect a "Failed Suicide" Buster Keaton would have died for, and show why adults are better off not bringing their comicbook fantasies out of the closet. From "Superhero Hijinx" to "The Shocking Videotape" to "The Accidental Cannibal," The Baby Train uncovers the mysteries behind some of the bawdiest, goriest, funniest, most pyrotechnic urban legends yet.
|  |
1994 / ISBN 0-393-31208-9 / 368 pages / CULTURAL STUDIES | |
Labels: Food and/or Drink
posted by aerthling @ 7:54 PM,
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Saturday, March 7, 2009
LIARS! Forwarded emails are all fake. Period.
Liars! All of them! Why are they liars? I don't know, go ask your dad. But lie they do, and I'm sick of it. Almost every day I get an email from a well meaning friend, forwarded from lots of people I don't know, and forwarded to lots of people I don't know. They almost always contain some kind of warning - "Watch out for ... !" and then tell you how to avoid said pitfall(s). EVERY STINKIN ONE OF THEM IS A BOLD or bald FACED LIE!
George Carlin's Rush Libaugh-ish answer to the gas crisis? FALSE!
Knock out drug used by perfume salesmen to rob or rape you? FALSE!
Boycott gas for a day to sock it to the oil tycoons? FALSE!
Saving money at the gas pump tips? FALSE!
Nigerian get rich quick scam? Well, duh! FALSE!
Cute piggies suckling their adoptive mother who just happens to be a ferocious tiger? FALSE!
Touching cancer poem written by moribund teen? FALSE!
Organized crime ring in New Orleans drugging visitors, surgically removing their organs, and selling them on the black market? FALSE!
The gramma putting the poodle in the microwave to dry it after a bath? FALSE!
The elephants that can paint self portraits? Well, that one is true, but I'm sure if you get an email about it it will say "Self taught elephant painter sells Mona Lisa copy for $300,000,000k" which would make it....FALSE!
Every time. All of them. Fake.
I'm not saying that the kind and concerned citizens that send them to me are making them up, not at all. But they have been duped.
But let me tell you, folks, there are warning signs. Starting with the "FW:FW:FW:FW:FW:FW:FW:FW:RE:FW:RE:RE:RE:FW:RE:FW:" in the subject line, and including the "this email is being tracked" or "for every person you forward this to, it will...", they're all fake-o.
Folks, there's no way track who an email is forwarded to. Not even in Nigeria, not even by Barak Obama himself.
Here's the thing to do. Whenever you get a little anecdote or whatever in the email that does not come from the source (heck, even if it does - they gotta start somewhere, right?) CHECK IT OUT!
It's easy. Use the internet. IN-TER-NET. But don't go to Snopes - they've disabled the select and copy functions of your mouse, and sometimes even the right click. Fascists! Therefore I am now using http://urbanlegends.about.com/
Have fun.
And remember, if you send me any hoakie stories, I'm looking them up and REPLYING ALL BECAUSE IF YOU DIDN'T WANT ME TO REPLY ALL THEN YOU WOULD HAVE USED THE BCC!!!!
One way conversation is fascist, too.
Labels: Food and/or Drink
posted by aerthling @ 7:24 PM,
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I mean, honestly....
HT: Teckitech.com
Youtube might soon become Cheat Tube!
November 24, 2008 at 1:00 am | Filed under News, Online - written by Roshan Roy
It seems that Youtube alone has more than 3,000 "how to cheat" videos. Some are silly, using elastic bands. Others get creative with clothing. The most sophisticated turns soda bottle wrappers into detailed cheat sheets.Texas college freshman "Kiki"-she asked CBS News not to use her real name-hopes to become an online star with her "How to Cheat on a Test" video.
"This method of cheating, it will work," she says in her online video.
She told CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg, "Um, like, I didn't know it was going to be kind of controversial."
CNET News reports more on this story over here.
Labels: Food and/or Drink, wandering
posted by aerthling @ 11:58 AM,
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
EAI Outdoors
You probably noticed.
EAIOutdoors.com, due to technical "maneuvering", is temporarily being hosted at http://EAIadventure.com/outdoors/.
Go there, and buy some hunting trips, and tell them the aerthlings sent you, or they may think it was aeliens.
Also remember to request Big Game Hunting Bhutan: Yak Adventure, as I think they no longer offer it, if they ever did, at least I didn't notice it when I was uploading the ENTIRE SITE to it's new location.
Anyway, go there. It is good.
Labels: entertainment, Food and/or Drink, wandering
posted by aerthling @ 10:35 AM,
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Saturday, October 4, 2008
BeatMS.com
Do You Have MS (or Know Someone Who Does)?
> > > Announcing BeatMS.com < < <
Well, the work is complete. The researching, writing and compiling is done. The webmaster has now made www.BeatMS.com live on the web - easy for you to find the information, practical experience and the hope that you can BeatMS too.
Beat MS is the story of Fiona Horien and her successful fight against multiple sclerosis. She was knocked down with the news but got right up and began to fight. Her fight started with learning what MS is, and it didn't take long to learn how little the medical community knows about this disease.
It's true; the doctors don't know how MS starts, or how to cure it. Imagine that; with all of the brilliant minds and high-learning in the medical community, they don't know what Fiona learned for herself in just a few years of study and application.
The website is put together with you in mind. It tells Fiona's story, but more importantly we give information that will help you gather enough hope that you too can maybe BeatMS. We wanted to provide access, not just to information (that's easy to find in today's internet world) but to find hope that is based in a real system of understanding and wisdom.
We believe we know how MS starts and we believe we know how to make your body (and soul) heal from its ravages.
Can you imagine life without numbing sparklers?
Can you imagine no more depression?
Can you imagine not having stumbling imbalance, and deadened, weak limbs & extremities?
Can you imagine life with clear thinking, not the "monkey chatter" that MS causes in your mind?
Fiona isn't supernatural, nor does she possess special capabilities more than you - she found out why MS was doing to her what it did and wants to share both the information and hope with you, so you can hope again and find the reality that she has found.
Go today to www.BeatMS.com and read Fiona's story. We dare you to hope!
Labels: Food and/or Drink, wandering
posted by aerthling @ 11:46 AM,
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Friday, October 3, 2008
Economic Stimulus Package
Well, it's been a couple of days since I announced the new (temporary) pricing, and I'm thinking, with the flurry of activity from aerthlings.org clients, that maybe I should have waited!
In all seriousness, there has been somewhat of a flurry, with nearly all of the aerthlings-supported web sites adding this or changing that.
First on the list would have to be EcoAdventure International, who recently revamped their accessible safari tours to include a slew of new countries at unbeatable rates. View the new and improved site here.Not in need of accessible adventure? Then make sure to visit the main EAI web site for affordable adventure vacation packages, and if hunting and fishing is your game, then be sure to click over to EAIoutdoors.com for that big game hunt you've always dreamed of!
Other updated web sites include the City of Columbus (be sure to visit the Fire Department's new section, which is up and about 90% completed, but looking good!), GoFromFatToFit.com which has undergone a name change as well as some cosmetic updating (just go there and check it out to see for yourself), not to mention the deal of the century on membership which includes access to the all-new Insider's Club member's area.
That's not even close to everything that's been going on, but the rest will have to wait until next time!
Labels: blogging, Food and/or Drink, wandering, webbing
posted by aerthling @ 8:32 PM,
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Avoiding Email Bunk
Perhaps, like me, you were recently the recipient of an email entitled, "George Carlin's Solution to Save Gasoline", that suggested getting rid of immigrants would somehow lower our gas prices. In addition to that, to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into our country, the email recommended compulsory military service in the Iraqi theater with the reward of citizenship after the tour, with a denial of the above resulting in...compulsory military service in Iraq, sans weaponry. I don't know about you, but I think this all sounds a little goofy, and after a little checking around, I discovered that my assumption was correct - it is goofy!
Another email I received warned me of my impending doom at the hands of perfume salesmen bearing ether. Yes, that's right, that wonderful smelling scent emanating from their samples is not the latest ode de toilet, but a powerful solution designed to knock me out! Why would a perfume salesman want to knock me out in such a way? To steal the loads of cash I carry around with me on a daily basis! Wait! That sounds goofy too! Wait! It is!
But on the lighter side, I did receive a heartwarming tale of a loving mommy Tiger and her little brood - of piglets! That's right, this normally fierce, pig-eating monster of an animal had the heart to adopt these little ones in need, and the proof is in the pudding, er, picture, which does indeed show us a mommy tiger nursing a number of piglets. Proof positive! Or not. Because this too had an air of suspiciousness, I did some checking, and lo and behold, I was right - it's goofy!
OK, now for the foolproof bunk email litmus test, the perfect false rumor filter for you inbox: check the FWD's. If there are more than three, no - TWO - two or more, even - then you can safely disregard the message, saving your self the hassle of waiting for me to de-bunk the myth.
OR, alternatively, you can go to Snopes.com, like I did, and check out the facts (and I bet you thought it was my economic genius that tipped me off about Carlin's gas fix!). Snopes has covered everything from the stories above to the wonders of WD40 and beyond.
And on a serious note, if there's no personal message indicating that this was sent to you by someone thinking of you, your interests, and your time, then it's as good as spam, isn't it? And spam is no good.
The links:
George Carlin Gas Crisis spam
Deadly Perfume Salesmen spam
Mommy Tiger Piglet spam
WD40 Freakin' Rules spam
posted by aerthling @ 11:58 AM,
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