Darth Larry beat me to it :-)

Head on over to my buddy Brian's blog and see what he's got to say about the Episode III soundtrack. Where did HE get it? He's got his sources... as do we all :-P

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DARNNIT!!!

Had a great writeup for the Episode III soundtrack then Mozilla inexplicably crashed. Ahh well... I don't mind listening and doing this again :-) 'Specially that AWESOME "Battle of the Heroes" theme.

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Awright, how the heck did the ENTIRE soundtrack for Episode III land in my e-mail box?

Not that I'm complaining, mind you!

Will have a review up shortly.

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They're raping our childhood. Again.

It's being reported at CNN that Cookie Monster will no longer be a glutton for cookies. That the googly-eyed Muppet is now set to become a health-food advocate.

Sheesh what next: Bert and Ernie come back from Boston in a "civil union"?

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"... And Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse."

That's it. This is either a sign that the End Times are upon us, or there is NO God!





Ain't It Cool News has plenty more if you're looking for a sane reason why you should poke your own eyeballs out.

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John Paul II, "the toil of the sun", and Friday's funeral

Gotta admit, this thing wigs me out a bit...

It's a pretty well-known bit of prophecy: the "papal forecast" by St. Malachy. In 1139 the Irish monk Malachy went to Rome and upon approaching the city he supposedly was struck with a vision about ALL the popes that would come from his time on to... well, the end of time. Each forthcoming pope was given a Latin description about some characteristic of the man. Whether or not its a real prophecy from the source or a later-made forgery attributed to Malachy is highly debatable. But if you click that link you'll find some things that might raise your eyebrows.

Like, f'rinstance, the description that Malachy gave for Pope #266 on the list, corresponding to one Karol Wojtyla, better known to the world as Pope John Paul II:

De labore Solis

Translated it could mean "from the toil of the sun". Or "from the eclipse of the sun".

Pope John Paul II was born on May 18th 1920, during a solar eclipse.

This coming Friday, April 7th 2005, Pope John Paul II will be buried during a solar eclipse.

From CNN.com:

Partial solar eclipse on Friday

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 Posted: 12:58 PM EDT (1658 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Sky-watchers from the South Pacific to the Americas will witness the first solar eclipse of 2005 on Friday when the moon blots out part of the sun.

It will be a partial eclipse rather than a total one, in which the Earth is cast into darkness. But it will be the last partial solar eclipse visible from the continental United States until May 20, 2012.

Solar eclipses occur when the Earth, sun and moon line up in such a way that the moon casts a shadow over Earth.

Friday's eclipse will last from a few minutes to over an hour, depending on one's location. In much of the continental United States, people will see what looks like the moon taking a bite out of the sun, with the bite bigger over the South.

In Central America and the northern portion of South America, the sun will be reduced to a narrow ring of fire.

Astronomers warned people not to stare directly at the sun without eye protection...

By the way, the description for the next pope that Malachy gave is "Gloria olivae": "the glory of the olive". And next comes "Petrus Romanus", AKA Peter of Rome, who will be the last pope and then the world ends.

Parse this as you will.

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Don't let THIS happen to YOU: Star Wars fans line up at WRONG theater!

By the way, expect an onslaught of Star Wars stories for this next month and more as we get closer to the release of Episode III. This one HAD to be posted! From Variety.com:

Inside Move: Fanatics laying it on the line

'Star Wars' fans stew in queue

By GABRIEL SNYDER

If a movie isn't playing at a theater, will its fans still line up outside? For "Star Wars" fans, the answer is a befuddling yes.

Saturday, 46 days before "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" opens on May 19, the trilogy's enthusiasts began their vigil outside Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Problem is 20th Century Fox doesn't plan to open the film at the Chinese, opting instead for the ArcLight a few blocks east.

"Star Wars" or no, the diehards are resolute about keeping their line on Hollywood Boulevard.

Underneath a make-shift awning yesterday afternoon, 11 people were in line doing what appeared to be homework, pecking at laptops and talking to members of the media.

"We've heard all this before," said Sarah Sprague, one of the designated spokesmen for the group. In 1999 and 2002, there were plenty of rumors (ultimately false) that the previous two pics weren't going to open at the Chinese.

This year the rumors seem to be true. Fox and the ArcLight haven't finalized their "Star Wars" deal, but execs on both sides say they expect "Revenge of the Sith" to play the ArcLight and not the Chinese.

A media-savvy bunch, those waiting at the Chinese hope press interest in covering (and most likely mocking) them would persuade George LucasGeorge Lucas and Fox to move the booking.

And Sprague was adamant the line isn't moving to the ArcLight. "This is still the epicenter for 'Star Wars' fans. For the big iconic pictures of the 1970s, people lining up were here. They weren't at the Cinerama Dome."

Their other reason is that it'd be more difficult to raise money for their charity Starlight Starbright if they weren't on Hollywood. However, cops won't let fans collect donations from passersby; instead, they pass out pamphlets with a Web site address.

"Even if it's not here, we'll just go see it somewhere else. We're not doing this just for the movie." Besides, she added, "What's the point of lining up at the ArcLight if someone is going to go online and get the best seat in the house?"

But wouldn't that still make more sense than spending a month outside a theater that isn't playing the movie?

"Lining up for anything, what part of that makes any sense?" she responded philosophically.

As theaters normally do, the ArcLight is likely to ask Fox that it be the only theater playing "Revenge of the Sith" in the immediate area. And even if it doesn't, Paramount confirmed it will open "The Longest Yard" at the Chinese the week after "Revenge," which means Fox won't want to book the theater for just one week. (Paramount partly owns Mann Theaters.)

The kerfuffle has inspired some soul-searching among the fans, and they have discovered that standing in a "Star Wars" line is actually more important than seeing a "Star Wars" film.

"The telling thing is -- for me, at least -- if the film is not playing at the Chinese ... I have zero desire to see it at all," a fan who calls himself Obi Geewhyen posted on the message board at Liningup.net. "I'm in it for the lineup only and don't give a darn about the conclusion of this lackluster, so-called 'Star Wars' series."

Hope springs eternal, Sprague said. After the last two "Star Wars" films, "We're all a little beaten down," she said. "But this one could be it!"

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UNC brings home another one

Okay Chad, I'm gonna do what I said I was gonna do if your alma mater won it all tonight. And you KNOW this pains me, being the Duke/NC State loyalist and all, but...

I must admit though: the Tarheels earned this one for sure. That was one of the best basketball championships I've ever seen played. UNC and Illinois both poured their hearts into this one.

You did good tonight, Chapel Hill. Hope you savor every bit of this victory :-)

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Episode III Midnight Madness After-Action Report

Stop me before I do this again.

Oh yeah, that's right: there's no way this can be done again, 'cuz this is the last movie.

Well then, might as well go out in a blaze of glory...

MIDNIGHT
MADNESS
Saturday April 2nd 2005

12:01 AM on April 2nd was the earliest that the REAL loot from Star Wars Episode III went on sale. There'd been the standard "teaser" stuff over the past few months like a coupl'a LEGO sets and some preview action figures, but this was the real deluge. Some of us had to be the first to behold a virgin, unsoiled, unblemished stack of new Star Wars merchandise and if not now then it would be never again, 'cuz this is the last Star Wars movie after all. So a few days before my good friend Brian and I started laying out our plans for Friday night. He came by the apartment about 9:30 and we headed out soon thereafter, he in his Revenge of the Sith t-shirt and me in my full Jedi garb (including lightsaber). We scoped out the scene at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Greensboro then went to Toys R Us and decided this is where we needed to be for first strike of the evening. Y'see, Toys R Us had an exclusive Holographic Yoda action figure that was only going out to first 12 people in the door and we wanted to take a stab at that. Wal-Mart had some other exclusive but it wasn't an action figure one. Target had the "Flaming Lava Darth Vader" that we wanted to take a crack at later that morning, but we had to go for Yoda right now. We got in line about 10:30 at Toys R Us and by 11:30 here's what it looked like...

The guy in this next photo, his name's Fonzo and we remembered each other instantly 'cuz both of us were the VERY FIRST to be in line at this same Toys R Us when they had Midnight Madness for Episode I six years ago! I was first to arrive then and this time he got the sacred honor. So from now on you can know that a guy named Fonzo was the first to get his hands on new stuff from the last Star Wars movie...

And here is Fonzo and me, together again (and Fonzo is holding one of the tickets that went to the first twelve people who arrived, so that we were guaranteed to get a Yoda figure):

That's Brian on the left and the dude in the green jacket is Scott. They also hold the coveted tickets...

And just to let everyone know that I got one legitly...

Finally, Magic Hour hit and the clerks opened the doors at 12:01 on the dot. We swarmed in like Visigoths raping Rome, grabbed the nearest buggies and tore a path of destruction through the Tele-tubbies and Harry Potter stuff.

And there it was...

The action figures were the first to go. The store clerks kept a steady barrage of them coming, like so much heroin flowing into the veins of a crazed junky...

There's a reason why Brian and I went together this night. You see, his wife was out-of-state and just before leaving that morning her last words to Brian were "don't buy too many toys tonight!" That's what Lisa told me that evening too. So Brian and I were like "accountability partners" to each other: we were going to make sure that neither one of us went back home to his wife and have to explain ALL these Star Wars toys littering the living room.

But of course it being the LAST Midnight Madness, we had to go hogwild a little bit...

That's the toy Yoda doll that Brian found to be insanely cute. He's also holding the Holographic Yoda figure. Then I got to check out mine...

...but the REAL prize of the night HAD to be the "Darth Tater" Mr. Potato Head:

I think we kept the night's haul pretty modest. Some people though wanted to relish it just a little bit more...

We lasted about 30 minutes at Toys R Us then hit the road for the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Not as much hooplah there as Toys R Us had but even close to 1 AM there were some devoted parents who had brought their kids in to oggle the goods. Here's Brian again (who seems to have had a curious fixation on Yoda that evening):

We got back to my apartment about 1:30 AM and Brian went home. I don't think either one of us slept that night so we wouldn't miss Target's opening a few hours later at 8 AM. So it was that Brian and Scott and me were among the first twenty through the door that got tickets for the "Flaming Vader" figure. And I got even MORE loot from the place.

By the time Lisa woke up at quarter 'til 9, here's the sad, sordid state that she found her husband in after a night of incessant Starwargasms:

It was not a pretty picture.

The haul was more than glorious, however...

It wasn't TOO much, just enough to savor the moments. At Toys R Us I got the Holographic Yoda figure, two of the Emperor Palpatine with lightsaber figures (including one that I opened just to pose on my desk), the new Darth Vader figure and the LEGO "Darth Vader Transformation" set 'cuz the evening wouldn't be complete without at least one thing of LEGO, and the "Darth Tater" Mr. Potato Head. Didn't get anything from Wal-Mart but later that morning in addition to the Target exclusive Vader figure I bought the standard Yoda figure, the new General Grievous and Chewbacca figures, and the deluxe Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious figure that has the "Force lighting" effect and switching-faces feature. That also got posed on my desk so now I've a "Shrine to Sidious" going on with the original figure from The Phantom Menace

Here's a better picture of the Vader Mr. Potato Head (and new Emperor Palpatine figure):

Later that day after we saw The Ring Two we hit the other Wal-Mart and I wound up getting the Episode III novelization and the Episode III Visual Dictionary. Oh yeah and the action figure that I've come to call "Pregnant Padme".

And that was how I celebrated Midnight Madness for the last Star Wars film ever (or at least until 90-year old George Lucas decides that he wants to make six more movies after all :-)

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My bet with Chad: if UNC wins tonight...

...I told my best friend that if they beat Illinois tonight I'll stick the biggest, baddest Tarheels graphic I can squeeze into this space on the blog.

Just wanted to let everyone know that well in advance, to prove that I'm a man of my word.

(BTW, I'm one of those "ABC fans": "Anybody But Carolina" :-)

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Some thoughts on John Paul II's passing

Have never been Catholic, but the departure from this world of Pope John Paul II has left a much bigger absence in my mind than I ever expected.

Maybe it's because I was only four years old when Karol Wojtyla became "the pope" in 1978, which I didn't know what exactly the "pope" was but I remember it came very soon after this other guy had been named pope before he died. Anyway, that's all of my real waking life that John Paul II has been in office, and it wasn't until years later that I started to understand that he was a MUCH more important figure in the scheme of things than I'd ever realized. From a non-Catholic perspective, it's safe to say that he was probably even the most important figure in the history of the papacy (I got personal doubts as to whether Peter should be considered as the first pope, but those don't figure into the present proceedings).

But even from the strictest secular thinking, this pope was one of the three people who most affected the world during the past quarter-century: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher. Now only Thatcher is still with us and when she's gone... well, I fear that the age of statesmanship will have drawn to a close. Leaving us with only petty and vicious politians to fill their void.

The thing of it is, John Paul II never really was a "political" figure at all: he merely tried to interpret scripture as best as he understood it and apply that to the church that he headed. I don't think it was ever his intention that there would be the kind of worldly interest in the power that came to surround him... and yet, there it was.

Which is why I made this sad prediction more than ten years ago: that all hell would break loose when the next pope was chosen.

The next two weeks or so, until the papal enclave meets at the Vatican to elect a new pope, are going to be mad as all get out. There'll be some quiet now in respect and deference to the man and moreso than because of his office. But after that... well, if you thought the Reagan funeral was something, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

See, this is an entirely different world than it was when John Paul II was coronated in 1978. Less than a hundred people on the planet had full access (whatever that entailed) to something called the "Internet" and a good slice of them still lived under communism. Things like "gay rights" were a laughable joke. The average person really didn't have that much sway over the world around him, for good or ill.

No more. But it won't be the average person I'm worried about.

I'm willing to lay down good money that a few days from now, after John Paul II has been interred, they'll be descending on Saint Peters' Square like flies on a cow: homosexuals, Catholic feminists demanding that women become priests, the pro-abortion crowd, socialists and then capitalists to meet them, the "safe sex" gang that wants condoms for every man woman child and dumb animal on the planet, animal rights activists and radical environmentalists... in short, just about every possible "special interest group" on the planet is going to have some kind of representation at the Vatican during the next few weeks.

And each of them is going to claim having a "say-so" in who it is that will be the next pope.

That's the way it is in today's world of media-empowered "you can have it your way and right now". We've been made to think that we can do anything, so long as we have two or more gathered in our name with us. That if we have just a little more faith and strength in numbers, that even the mountain millennia-long traditions would cast itself into the sea at our command. And if not merely the twain but the multitude should meet to coalesce that belief... well, what is there left on Earth that is not within our reach?

To put it bluntly: there's gonna be a lot of bullies outside the Sistine Chapel trying to push their way to a seat at the table. It's going to be the most politically-charged papal election in history, and a lot of people are setting themselves up for a disappointment when they discover that none of their group efforts mattered at all. I just wonder what their reaction is going to be then.

That's the serious side of things. On the more whimsical, I'm betting that no less than a hundred video cameras tied into the Internet get pointed at that little chimney at the Vatican that the black or white smoke will come from as the scrutinies are burned during the voting process. Maybe someone will even figure out a way to make the cameras pick up on chroma of the smoke so that if it's white enough it'll automatically flash on the site "WE HAVE A POPE!"

Call it "Pope Smoke Cam" :-)

Anyway, a good man has gone on to his eternal reward, leaving the rest of us a little more poor for the absence of his spirit. So dear God, even though I'll never be a Catholic, thanks for letting John Paul II be among us for a short while here on Earth.

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Eerie scheduling

Just finished a bit of The Matrix Online (HUGE article I wanna write up about this soon) and happened to turn on the TV.

It's now 1:47 AM EST on April 1st, 2005. The time and date should be taken into account for the next thing I'd like to make note of...

...that right now, HBO East is showing The Godfather Part III.

Knowing that these TV schedules are pretty much established several weeks ahead, if you've seen the movie you'll already know why that's an unsettling coincidence.

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I'm tired of this. It's why I don't fit into this world anymore...

...I'm talking about the factionalism.

It occurred to me during my extended absence that nobody "matters" in this world unless they belong to a faction of some kind or another. A person isn't supposed to be their own unique individual being anymore. In fact, "individualism" is a vastly scorned and ridiculed concept: you are either "with US" or "with THEM"... or you don't exist at all.

I said in my last post that it hit me that there are three kinds of people in this world: Those that Want to Control, Those that Want to Be Controlled, and Those that Are Out of Control. The first two are the vast majority of this world... well, of America and the western world anyway. They're for people that either want a sense of being part of something bigger than they are, or they want to exploit the desire for that sense. But invariably it comes back to people who are too scared to stand - alone if need be - on their own two legs for their own identity.

Inevitably, without fail, factionalism arises from this.

And it never occurs to these people - it's downright ALIEN to their concept of the universe even - that they have no idea why it is that they fall so obligingly in lock-step with their faction... or even why it is that they should hate "the opposing faction".

Think about it: Democrats hate Republicans. Republicans hate Democrats. Conservatives hate Liberals and Liberals hate Conservatives. Christians hate non-Christians... yes they do, I've seen it: too many claim to "love their enemies" but listen to how they talk about "those evil Liberals". By politicizing it they make the hatred excusable. And non-Christians hate Christians in kind. Protestants hate Catholics and Catholics hate Protestants: what, you think the fighting in Northern Ireland is really about interpretation of scripture and not a thing about power and dominance?! Israelis and Palestinians hate each other because their leaders tell them to hate and it never dawns on either of them that minus some very STUPID and regularly INSANE "leadership" on both sides that they wouldn't be hating each other at all.

Damn it, people hate other people and they don't even ask themselves why? They just do it and don't give a flying rat's ass that they hate without purpose or even real focus.

I'm not like that anymore. Some things happened that opened my eyes to all of this and, there's no going back. It's impossible now. I thought I knew the way things were and for the most part I did. Then I saw a little bit more and understood that we've all been fools. And I count myself among the most foolish for spending too much time and energy on things stemming from this factionalism. I couldn't go back now even if I wanted to... and I don't really care to anyway.

You see, I'm now under no man's control. And I do not seek to have control over others. I am one of those that exist outside of control.

So will anyone fault me if I say that the burning engine of rage in my heart is now focused on bringing as many people as I can out of control also?

Yes, I know that could be considered a kind of control too. But I think it's more a matter of causing as much chaos and mischief as one's sense of morality would allow and let things settle from there. Things are too balanced in this world: maybe someone should unbalance them. Send everything toppling to the ground and hopelessly irretrievable by the factionalists, and the wardogs, and the hatemongers, and the soothsayers, and the purveyors of meaningless pageantry that passes for enlightened culture.

I am now more free than I've ever been before, in my life.

People like this usually get targetted by those that lack the courage to reach out with only the same strength we had to break free, and do likewise. Maybe it comes from the presence of Those Free being a threat to their mild "comfort zones" but I'm inclined to believe it's more a matter of jealousy: we did what they can not do for themselves. And they will hate us for that.

Like I said last time, those of us that are out of control are going to have to figure out what we are supposed to do with the rest: with those under control but especially with those that want to control. I think those that LIKE having power over other people are long overdue for a serious kick in the ass...

...don't you?

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"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"

It was brought to my attention this morning that people on some websites are saying that I'm dead.

One place is even saying that I committed suicide. Didn't know I was the kind of guy whose extended absence elicited that kind of concern.

I'm still here. Had to leave for awhile and look into some things that warranted an extended departure from any online activity. Didn't intend on spending forty days in the wilderness... but there you have it.

I was away. And discovered some things. Lots of things. Including one that has had immense ramifications on my personal life and some of the responsibilities that, though they aren't demanded by this circumstance it does leave me morally compelled to figure out how to use this selflessly. There's no need to say anything more about that for now: sometimes the better part of chivalry is knowing when NOT to raise the sword.

And I've come back maybe a little more wiser.

There are only three types of people in this world: those who want to control, and those who want to be controlled.

So it's left to those of us who are out of control to figure out just what exactly we are supposed to do with them.

I'm not going to write here anymore about George W. Bush. Or at least focus any of my time on him unless he does something REALLY outrageously criminal. He's not the problem. He's merely a symptom of the problem, and there would be another symptom to replace him were he to be removed. Besides, who am I to condemn the moral lapses of one branch of the family? We made our choice, just as his made theirs. Let God judge which among us was the truer - and more noble - servant.

Y'all should look into your own family history sometime. There's no telling what you might find.

More later...

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Apocalypse Soon? Theorizing method to the madness of pre-trib politics

This is only a notion that entered my mind. But it's one that all too greatly suggested itself.

Just reading where the United States is recalling its ambassador to Syria. This comes in the wake of the bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minster Rafik Hariri yesterday.

And more people than you might want to know are right now cackling and grinning and rubbing their hands with anticipation over this news.

I've already written on a few occassions about the end-times beliefs that drive most of the supporters of the current administration in the White House. It can be safely said that those who consider themselves "Christians" and fall into line behind Bush can be divided into two categories: those that want to take over the world before Christ comes, and those who want Christ to destroy the world so that "if we can't have, nobody can!" The pre-tribulation Rapture folks are this latter group. They're the ones that buy the Left Behind novels in droves and keep that franchise's masters milking it for everything they can get out 'cuz they know the pre-tribbers will just come on back for more. Rabid Pre-Tribbers are the Judeo-Christian version of the Trekkies, when you think about it. But they're also the ones that, I tend to believe anyway, will vote for any candidate, nod approval for any policy, and refuse to stand against anything that actually violates the teachings of scripture, if they believe that these thing will hasten the onset of Armageddon. I heard one Christian tell me recently that George W. Bush was God's chosen instrument to trigger the events that will lead up to the Second Coming.

She was serious.

And there are millions more like her in America. That don't give a flip about the apostle Paul's teachings to the Thesselonians about occupying themselves with the work of Christ, and let Him worry about how and when He'll come. If redemption draweth nigh, doesn't it make sense as a Christian to try to love one another even more so that others will find that redemption too?

But that's not the mindset at work here with too many professing Christians. They want the supreme pleasure of knowing that their name will forevermore be stamped upon the peak of human history, because there will be no more human history at all: the ultimate mode of narcissism.

As a Christian I know that someday the Lord does come back. But as one without divine knowledge and understanding, I have no idea how exactly that will take place. I can see some evidence for their being a pre-trib Rapture... but I can see just as many indictations that it will be a post-trib Rapture too, where everyone has to endure the terror of the Antichrist. Might be a good thing too, 'specially for Christians in industrialized nations: we've gotten too soft and comfortable in our belief that we die, He comes, end of worry and that's it... so we don't do anything in the here and now. It's about time we start knowing the pain and persecution that most believers have had to endure for these two thousand years. You don't see any "Christian Epicureans" described in scripture, y'know.

So here's where I'm getting with all this: one of the chief tenets of Pre-Tribulation Rapture is that the city of Damascus is to be utterly destroyed. The timing of this is important: most Pre-Trib adherents teach that this comes before the Rapture, based on several other prophecies and mentions of countries that are found in Isaiah and Daniel and a few other books of the Old Testament (and Revelation in the New one 'course). Isaiah 17:1 is the chief source of the Damascus prophecy:

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Damascus is the oldest city in the world. It has never been laid waste or otherwise made inhabitable. So this means its a prophecy that has not been fulfilled yet.

Its fulfillment will be taken to mean that the Second Coming is soon.

Don't you think it would be within human nature of some people to try to destroy it - or at least hasten its destruction - so that their unique perspective of a religion will be the one that wins out over all the others that have ever existed in human existence? Doesn't having that capability suggest the temptation to use it, at least?

Don't think for a moment that at least one of the more prominent "Christian leaders" hasn't whispered this into the ears of President Bush: that God wants him to be the one to turn Damascus into a ruinous heap. Doesn't even matter if that's Bush himself or not they're whispering to: this is something that's been practically openly desired for the past quarter-century. Why shouldn't we believe that they wouldn't want to act on this kind of opportunity?

Just posing the possibility out there.

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Watch the ball and behold the future

Two bits of news that caught my eye. The title of one immediately brought all kinds of cultural references to mind and the other was just plain weird enough to pique my curiosity.

From the London Daily Mail via RedNova.com:

Posted on: Friday, 11 February 2005, 00:00 CST
Can This Black Box See Into the Future?

DEEP in the basement of a dusty university library in Edinburgh lies a small black box, roughly the size of two cigarette packets side by side, that churns out random numbers in an endless stream.

At first glance it is an unremarkable piece of equipment. Encased in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators.

But, according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future and predicting major world events.

The machine apparently sensed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened - but in the fevered mood of conspiracy theories of the time, the claims were swiftly knocked back by sceptics. But last December, it also appeared to forewarn of the Asian tsunami just before the deep sea earthquake that precipitated the epic tragedy.

Now, even the doubters are acknowledging that here is a small box with apparently inexplicable powers.

'It's Earth-shattering stuff,' says Dr Roger Nelson, emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the United States, who is heading the research project behind the 'black box' phenomenon.

'We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what's going on here. At the moment we're stabbing in the dark.' Dr Nelson's investigations, called the Global Consciousness Project, were originally hosted by Princeton University and are centred on one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. Its aim is to detect whether all of humanity shares a single subconscious mind that we can all tap into without realising.

And machines like the Edinburgh black box have thrown up a tantalising possibility: that scientists may have unwittingly discovered a way of predicting the future... (Click here for rest of article).

I went to the website for the Global Consciousness Project and skimmed over their procedures and data. Interestingly enough it does look like some pretty serious and thorough research going on here: the procedure for each step - from numerical generation to graphing - is documented at length. The data is made freely available for anyone to study on their own. And links and abstracts regarding similar research (wait a sec: our tax dollars are funding more of this?!) can be found. Some of them DO sound pretty oddball: like The RetroPsychoKinesis Project, which among other things sponsored an attempt by martial artists to alter past events with their minds. Ummmmm wasn't that the central storyline of at least five or six episodes of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues?

By the way, if you ever hear about how some sociologist named James D.L. Staunton did a study in 1958 on train and airplane disasters dating back to the 1920s and after sifting the data found that fully-loaded planes and trains rarely crash and that passengers who intended to travel on them skipped-off 'cuz they "felt sick" or something, thus implying that there's some kinda mass psychic ability going on here: don't believe it. That one got mentioned a few times in college and have seen it come up on the 'net over the years, but I did a Google search and couldn't find anyone in real life named "James D.L. Staunton" or even a "James Staunton" who was a sociologist studying train wrecks. You will find James D.L. Staunton on page 536 in the paperback edition of Stephen King's The Stand, however: looks like Staunton was just a plot device by King. But if I'm "getting" the technobabble right, the Global Consciousness Project does at least sound an awful lot like how the precogs in the Department of Pre-Crime worked together to detect an "incoming" future murder in Steven Spielberg's movie version of Minority Report...

Y'know, there's an idea right there: let's recruit all the Xbox modding hotshots to work on a honkin' humongously BIG network of Xboxes (hey they're way cheap as PCs) that'll crunch even more numbers and churn out results in HDTV. With that kind of power we'll be able to see EVERYTHING in the next thousand years: from the Second Coming of Christ to the First Coming of "Duke Nukem Forever"! Seriously though, coincidence or not, that is a pretty neat correlation that this project is finding.

Anyhoo, the next lil' item comes courtesy of the London Daily Telegraph:

Robotic ball that chases burglars
By David Millward
(Filed: 14/02/2005)

A large black ball, originally designed by Swedish scientists for use on Mars, could be the latest weapon in the war against burglars.

The device, developed at the University of Uppsala, acts as a high-tech security guard capable of detecting an intruder thanks to either radar or infra-red sensors. Once alerted, it can summon help, sound an alarm or pursue the intruders, taking pictures.

It is capable of travelling at 20mph, somewhat faster than a human being. Even worse for intruders, the robot ball can still give chase over mud, snow and water.

The ball relies on an internal pendulum to control its motion which, when shifted, changes the centre of gravity and starts it rolling.

Other devices, including microphones, cameras, heat sensors and smoke detectors are mounted on its central axis.

Nils Hulth, co-founder of Rotundus, the company which is marketing the ball, said it was especially well-suited to patrolling perimeter fences.

The prototype, just under 2ft in diameter, weighs about 10lb. "It is extremely light, which is why it moves so fast," Mr Hulth said.

While the current version can only raise the alarm, it could be adapted to corner an intruder if the customer wanted, Mr Hulth added...

Bold words were my emphasis, 'cuz after reading this I was laughing so hard that the Coke I was drinking literally came out of my nose! Now there's all kinds of dangerous balls that we know of (no Rollerball doesn't count 'cuz people chase the ball not vice-versa). There's that classic toy from yesteryear Happy Fun Ball:

And who could forget that boulder that tried to squish Indiana Jones? I almost didn't want to mention it because it did miss its target and to date Deadly Amazon Idol Temple Boulder of Death(tm) can only boast a 1-1 record... but since it did wind up killing "Weird Al" Yankovic we'll make note of it:

For some reason, the very first things that popped in my head when I read this article's title were those delightful shiny flying Christmas tree ball ornaments that Angus Scrimm always sends after Reggie the Ice-Cream Man and crew during the big showdown in whatever abandoned funeral parlor they wind up in during those wonderful Phantasm movies:

But that still wasn't it. The thing that darned nearly destroyed my nasal tissue with Coke - no not that coke - was because Rotundus' ball sounds WAY too much like this (Rotundus should pitch this in commercials with the tagline "Who is Number One?"):

I wonder if Rotundus is giving Patrick McGoohan any royalties from this gimmick. They oughtta 'cuz it's Rover, that ball-thingy that relentlessly chased after you - on land or water - if you tried to escape The Village in McGoohan's old 1967 TV show The Prisoner! Of all the crazy ideas that television ever gave us, a homicidal weather balloon was the absolute last thing I expected to become an even remote actuality. Other than it being that the Rotundus ball doesn't suffocate an escapee like the Rover did (thankfully), this sounds exactly like Rover.

Ooh-boy... this could be a lot of fun. Can you imagine having one of these and then needing to call Rotundus Tech Support?

CUSTOMER: Okay, it seems to be working now. Thanks for walking me through this!

ROTUNDUS TECH: You're perfectly welcome sir, and we do appreciate that you chose to purchase our product. If you have any more problems or questions please call this same technical support line. Do you have something to write with?

CUSTOMER: Yes, have a pen right here.

ROTUNDUS TECH: Okay sir, you are ticket number...

CUSTOMER: I AM NOT A NUMBER!!!

"You are, Number Six."

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About "that website story"...

For the record, 'cuz plenty of mail has been coming in about this, given my earlier relationship with the subject matter:

- Yes, I've heard about what's gone down the past 48 hours or so.

- Yes, I've read the open letter.

- No, I haven't read the message thread.

- No, I haven't read any comments about it anywhere.

- Yes, I'm aware some things I've written here have been posted to another website.

- No, I do not post to that other website.

- No, I do not even regularly visit that other website.

- No, I do not presently post messages to ANY websites (other than TheForce.net forums as "Chris Knight", and not as much as before).

- Yes, I'm aware that a few things about the years I spent there have been discussed very recently.

- Yes, I'm aware that at least one thing that I wrote a year ago has been brought up.

- No, I don't regret saying THAT a year ago, because if the person it was directed at didn't desire to understand it then that's not my problem.

- No, I'm not going to "check it out" because "I don't care".

- No, I'm no longer angry about what happened, because if this letter is accurate then I'm more than happy to no longer have any association at all with the subject.

- Yes, I could say an awful lot about the situation.

- Yes, some of it might be very damaging.

- No, I won't.

- Yes, I promise that I won't.

- No, I don't even care to mention them by name, because if this is indeed "the shot heard around the net" then there's no need for me to bring any more attention than this thing deserves (a Google search had it coming up at least 400 times anyway).

- No, I don't regret my time there. Regarding anything. I stayed as true to myself as I could be and that's all I knew how to do.

- Yes, it's regrettable that what happened there, has.

- No, I'm not gloating. There's no gloating at what has become a very sad state of being for too many people.

- No, I won't even gloat at what's happened to him.

- So no, I don't want to be involved with this. At all. Ever. Leave me out of it. Please don't even ask me to get involved in any way.

Yes, that's all I intend to say on the subject.

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