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Friday the 13th, 8pm Pacific Time: Join in our Global Group Toast!
If you can't come to the Portland launch party of our new webzine at 2GQ.org, join our friends & lunatics around the globe for a big toast to our success. Send us love! (Can't spare the love? Send a donation instead - we are a non-profit, after all.)
8 pm Pacific Time, Friday the 13th of June 2003, lift your glasses and shout Huzzah! Cin cin! Skol! Cheers! and drink a toast to the health and happiness of 2 Gyrlz Quarterly and our non-profit parent organization, 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts. Yay. PS: No, that's not us in the photo. Complete stranger. |
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Want to help transform mind uploading from fiction to fact?
If mind uploading is ever going to become a reality, there is clearly a lot of work to be done. Some of this work requires further development of technology, but much of it can begin today.
I've tentatively formed a "Mind Uploading Research Group". This is a loose collection of students and amateur or professional scientists and engineers working towards this common goal. |
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In case you were looking for an undergound base...
This is a list of known or suspected U.S. Underground Bases, the purpose of each (hey, I'm just passing on the reports...), how they're set up and any other info known about them. Although most of these are supposed to be a secret, this list is culled from publicly available records (is that good or bad?) and of course people who worked in them, live by them or those who have retired and offer info. Some wish to remain anonymous. Some have written to me with stories that have been terrifying, just to tell me, not meaning for me to put them up. I have a bad habit of keeping secrets, which is good. The map, which is large, has been made into a pop-up window so you can minimize it as you read the list, and not have to flip between pages. Mouse over the pins for the location. |
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Sex in the matrix
Yet the more I thought about Reloaded, the more I realized that the sex, as cartoony as it might be, is one of the most innovative parts of the movie. Think about it: When was the last time you saw a special-effects blockbuster with hot, sweaty sex in it? Especially multiracial, multipartner, out-of-wedlock sex that didn't spell doom for its practitioners? The heroes in Reloaded are frankly sexual, with no apologies. |
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Egypt bans 'too religious' Matrix
Global blockbuster The Matrix Reloaded has been banned in Egypt because of its "violent" content and because it tackles "religious themes".
The country's censorship board said the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause "crises".
Violent scenes also had the potential to "harm social peace", a statement said.
The first Matrix movie was released in Egypt but was criticised by Islamic newspapers for promoting Zionism.
The country's most senior film committee, made up of 15 critics, academics, writers and psychologists, watched the sequel on Monday.
A statement said: "Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in."
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Smart cellphone would spend your money
New Scientist -- A consortium of the world's top consumer electronics firms, mobile networks and broadcasters are funding the development of cellphones that will spend money on your behalf.
The agents, which will run on the new generation of 3G phones, will watch how you use your mobile and learn to anticipate your next move. "They start off monitoring what you do and gradually look for ways to increase their role. Over time they get to know your preferences."
Once they have done that, the agents will decide for themselves what they think you need, for example retrieving online information, making restaurant or hotel reservations or buying travel tickets for you.
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George Bush: Global Poster-Boy for Alternative Transportation
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Gilded Cage: Wackenhut's Free Market in Human Misery
By Greg Palast, who recently completely ignored yours truly while casting serious goo-goo eyes at Pagan.
Still, he is a remarkable bulldog perpetually sicced on the pantleg of evil.
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The experimental/cyberpunk writing of Kenji Siratori
Virtual literary forums, online zines, digital writing circles, visitors to these havens for cyber-writers may already be familiar with Kenji Siratori: a young Japanese writer who is currently bombarding the internet with wave upon wave of highly experimental, uncompromising, progressive, intense prose. (from the Creation Books website)
Accelerate-hip of boy_roid that fell into the bug of the heart of ToKAGE to drugy....the DNA=channel of the fear=cell is assimilated to the penis of the insomnia of the OKAMA_guy and turn around! It is parasitic on the iteration reality of machinery cadaver-feti, toward the desire of the disillusionment that the self dismantlement animal which ant of vital invasion....suck=blood chromosome quiesced do self-consolation with the grotesque internal organ model of a dog. The emotional motion of the brain....suck=blood chromosome that yourself was secreted. ....the air in the acceleration gear future of the pituitary that mutated inoculates the mass of flesh of myself, to the vital-plug that despair machine was isolated. Suspected mental....valve of ToKAGE degrade! The chemical=murder system of a dog....digest it!"" |
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R.I.P.
Gregory Peck, possibly the most handsome man who ever lived, is dead at 87. Two of his more memorable roles were in "Roman Holiday" opposite the goddess Audrey Hepburn, and as Atticus Finch in "To Kill A Mockingbird". They sure don't make 'em like they used to....
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And that's terrible
Warren Ellis posted this last week, and I still can't get over it.
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RIAA Wrath Hits Teen
On April 3, 19-year-old Jesse Jordan received a call that changed his life.
The freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., learned he was being sued by one of the most powerful trade groups in the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America.
Jordan, an information technology major, created ChewPlastic.com, the second most popular search directory on the RPI campus.
"You go to the site, you type in a search term, and it finds files on the network," Jordan said. Jordan compares his site to Google, the popular Internet search engine.
But the RIAA likens Jordan's site to Napster, the now defunct song-swap service that revolutionized the distribution of music.
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They're back
The reptiles are back...and they STILL want to eat you.
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The Dancer Upstairs
by Al Gore
(Typing by P.J. Gladnick)
Please forgive me! I have not yet paid homage to that greatest of all movies of our era — The Matrix Reloaded. I hope you overlook my sacrilege towards the Gods of CGI. Perhaps I will eventually review that holiest of all films . . . or perhaps not.
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Matrioshka Brains
Abstract
Predictable improvements in lithographic methods foretell continued increases in computer processing power. Economic growth and engineering evolution continue to increase the size of objects which can be manufactured and power that can be controlled by humans. Neuroscience is gradually dissecting the components and functions of the structures in the brain. Advances in computer science and programming methodologies are increasingly able to emulate aspects of human intelligence. Continued progress in these areas leads to a convergence which results in megascale superintelligent thought machines. These machines, referred to as Matrioshka Brains, consume the entire power output of stars (~1026 W), consume all of the useful construction material of a solar system (~1026 kg), have thought capacities limited by the physics of the universe and are essentially immortal.
A common practice encountered in literature discussing the search for extraterrestrial life is the perspective of assuming and applying human characteristics and interests to alien species. Authors limit themselves by assuming the technologies available to aliens are substantially similar or only somewhat greater than those we currently possess. These mistakes bias their conclusions, preventing us from recognizing signs of alien intelligence when we see it. They also misdirect our efforts in searching for such intelligence. We should start with the laws on which our particular universe operates and the limits they impose on us. Projections should be made to determine the rate at which intelligent civilizations, such as ours, approach the limits imposed by these laws. Using these time horizons, laws and limits, we may be better able to construct an image of what alien intelligence may be like and how we ourselves may evolve. |
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British Scientist Puts Odds for Apocalypse at 50-50
This is the way the world might end: A genetically engineered pathogen is released, debris from an erupting "supervolcano" blocks the sun or scientists in the biggest "bioerror" of them all accidentally trigger a matter-squeezing "big bang."
The demise of civilization has been predicted since it began, but the odds of keeping Planet Earth alive and well are getting worse amid a breakneck pace of scientific advances, according to Martin Rees, Britain's honorary astronomer royal.
Rees calculates that the odds of an apocalyptic disaster striking Earth have risen to about 50 percent from 20 percent a hundred years ago.
The 60-year-old scientist, author of the recently published "Our Final Hour," says science is advancing in a far more unpredictable and potentially dangerous pattern than ever before.
He lists as mankind's biggest threats: nuclear terrorism, deadly engineered viruses, rogue machines and genetic engineering that could alter human character. All of those could result from innocent error or the action of a single malevolent individual.
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'Poindexter's nutty scheme'
CNET interviews Bruce Sterling |
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An Answer For Every Question?
Is there really an answer for every question you could imagine, especially ones that have puzzled humanity for centuries, such as "What is the meaning of life?" So says Dr. Peter Fishwycke and his "The Theory of Absolute Reality." His theory states that every question has a definite, absolute answer and he has developed a system of very powerful networked computers to attempt to accomplish that very goal. Using legacy computing systems such as mainframes, Dr. Fishwycke's "Answer Processing Network" uses a special software application developed by Dr. Fishwycke himself, in an attempt to determine the answer to every question that could possibly be asked. |
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The Chaochamber System: A Quantum Sorcery Pathworking for Manipulative Magicks
The Chaochamber System
A Quantum Sorcery Pathworking for Manipulative Magicks
PD Brown (courtesy of Peter Carroll)
The Chaochamber System is a radical new departure in manipulative magicks. Utilizing new age technology, the Chaochamber's "computer" does most of the work for you, leaving you free to take full advantage of the power the Chaochamber places at your disposal.
The Chaochamber sidesteps complicated ceremonial methods, refuses the follies of tedious systems of rays, planes, spheres and sephiroth, and deals directly with the ultimate ground plan of existence itself: Chaos. Arbitrary conditions of time and place become irrelevant when dealing with this limitless, ever-present power.
The booklet includes drawings of the Chaochamber, instructions for its use, and suggestions for constructing Artificially Created Beings, Thought-Forms, and Sigils.
The CD gives you access to the Chaochamber and allows you to tap into its enormous power.
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Phantom or Fraud
Just wanted to congratulate sTaRe friend, Ross Hemsworth and the Phantom or Fraud project for doing a fine job on their Coast to Coast AM interview last night.
From C2C: Speaker and paranormal researcher Ross Hemsworth (phantomorfraud) was Barbara's guest on Sunday night's show. He discussed his recent investigations into parallel dimensions, ghosts and portals, as well as an alleged vortex in New Jersey, where they were able to photograph an entity.
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"The world's first alien museum"
The world's first museum of alien studies opens in Portland, Oregon June 14, 2003.
"Over 150 million Americans believe aliens are real," notes Dr. Lawrence Johns, Director of The Portland Alien Museum "and it is essential that we know their nature and intent before we can understand UFO sightings, crop circles, human abductions, government coverup of alien contact and other cases of high strangeness".
The Portland Alien Museum is an international research center based on the varieties of alien contact, from the benevolent experiences of contactees to the traumatic memories of abductees, and the far-ranging fanstasies of popular science fiction.
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Thought Crimes: Scientists Map 'Guilty Knowledge' in Brain
NewsMax -- Emerging technologies that map the brain, reveal "guilty knowledge" and expose patterns associated with disfavored behavior raise thorny questions of law and ethics. Electrical activity in the brain can reveal the contents of a person's memory, and the same electrical stimulation technologies that enable some deaf people to hear can be engineered to control behavior.
Three University of Pennsylvania professors grapple with these questions in an article ("Bioethics and the Brain") that appears in the June issue of the IEEE Spectrum, a monthly journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
The article presents the case of Nancy, a hypothetical airline pilot of the future, who arrives promptly for her routine physical. She is asked to place her head in a large metallic device while a video screen flashes a series of images before her eyes: the inside of a 747 cockpit, a view of a target seen through a rifle's scope, a chemical formula for polyester, a photo of Bill Clinton.
Later, her supervisor and a Federal Aviation Administration official inform Nancy that her brain images show that she might develop schizophrenia and that she has also has a surprising familiarity with assault rifles. The FAA revokes her pilot's license, and the airline fires her.
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Quantum suicide
Quantum suicide is a thought experiment which has been independently proposed in 1987 by Hans Moravec, in 1988 by Bruno Marchal and in 1998 by Max Tegmark that attempts to distinguish between the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Everett many-worlds interpretation by means of a variation of the Schrödinger's cat experiment.
The experiment essentially involves looking at the Schrödinger's cat experiment from the point of view of the cat.
In this experiment, a physicist sits in front of a gun which is triggered or not triggered by radioactive decay. With each run of the experiment there is a 50-50 chance that the gun will be triggered and the physicist will die. If the Copenhagen interpretation is correct, then the gun will eventually be triggered and the physicist will die.
If the many-worlds interpretation is correct then at each run of the experiment the physicist will be split into a world in which he lives and one in which he dies.
In the worlds where the physicist dies, he will cease to exist.
However, from the point of view of the physicist, the experiment will continue running without his ceasing to exist, because at each branch, he will only be able to observe the result in the world in which he survives, and if many-worlds is correct, the physicist will notice that he never seems to die.
Unfortunately, the physicist will be unable to report the results because, from the viewpoint of an outside observer, the probabilities will be the same whether many worlds or Copenhagen is correct.
A variation of this thought experiment suggests a controversial outcome known as quantum immortality, which is the argument that if the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct then a conscious observer never can cease to exist. |
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MTV Awards: Gollum Acceptance Video!
Thanks to hard work of Staffer Asfaloth we can now show you a short clip from the MTV Movie Awards followed by Andy Serkis' and Gollum's acceptance video. As most people will know by now (and if not I'm sorry but I'll spoil it for you) Gollum won 'Best Digital Performance'! The Quicktime-video can be found in various sizes for your viewing pleasure. But mind you: it does contain some rather strong language...
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Happy Birthday Weebl and Bob
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Virus sends confidential Stanford information out in e-mail
People at Stanford University got some spicy spam Thursday: sensitive information, including highly confidential details about employee salaries and bonuses.
The "Bugbear.B virus'' that infected the university's computer system Thursday sent out files at random from campus PCs.
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I Did It for Science: Effect of 5 Drugs on Sexual Performance
I've never really had sex on drugs, but they've always been linked in my mind. Maybe that's because the guys who did drugs in high school were also getting sucked off by girls. Even today, I'm convinced that a boring, homely acquaintance of mine can truthfully claim an Elle cover model is his girlfriend only because he has an endless supply of Bolivian marching powder on hand.
But this experiment is about sex on drugs, not sex for drugs. Therefore, I plan to conduct the sexual act in its purest, most apolitical form — while being totally off my head. My goal is to find a dependable accessory to sex. |
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Anatomy of a penis pill swindle
$74 million later, law catches up with Arizona con artists
Giving Americans a first glimpse of an industry flourishing at the intersection of larceny and libido, authorities in Arizona are seizing the assets of a Scottsdale company that sold more than $74 million worth of pills that it claimed would enlarge penises or breasts, make the consumer taller or hairier — even sharpen his or her golf game. But despite such audacious claims, the company — C.P. Direct — would likely still be gouging the gullible if its founders hadn’t decided to also illegally charge consumers’ credit cards, industry insiders say.
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Quantum leap for secret codes
Within three years, companies could be using quantum cryptography to protect sensitive messages.
British researchers say they are close to producing an off-the-shelf system that exploits quantum physics to create a secure communications channel.
The system encodes bits of information on individual particles of light.
This week, the researchers demonstrated their system working over fibres 100 kilometres in length.
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An Answer for Every Question?
Is there really an answer for every question you could imagine, especially ones that have puzzled humanity for centuries, such as "What is the meaning of life?" So says Dr. Peter Fishwycke and his "The Theory of Absolute Reality." His theory states that every question has a definite, absolute answer and he has developed a system of very powerful networked computers to attempt to accomplish that very goal. Using legacy computing systems such as mainframes, Dr. Fishwycke's "Answer Processing Network" uses a special software application developed by Dr. Fishwycke himself, in an attempt to determine the answer to every question that could possibly be asked. |
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 Ong's Hat: The Beginning |
| "I got really into this "time-travel cult" called Ong's Hat when a computer-game programmer I know told me she was contacted by a physics scholar who said that a bunch of her recent games reflected their canon. This dude told my friend that someone from Ong's Hat had befriended her and inspired her to create certain games without her realizing it. Whoa, right?" - Jane Magazine |
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