There was a BIG NOISE about this site when it came out by the KLF community! What a great spoof int he likes of BILL and Jimmy. Very KLFish! Thanks to DjFood for this...
Myspace.com Blogs - "Everybody lie down on the floor and keep calm" - DJ Food MySpace Blog
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Was our universe created? That is, was it brought into being by an entity with a mind? This is a question I began pondering after my recent inquiry into the end of the universe. (For some reason, cosmic mysteries are best contemplated in pairs.) It is the fundamental issue that separates religious believers, ranging from Deists to Gnostics to Southern Baptists, from nonbelievers. To many atheists, the very idea that our world could have been created by a conscious being seems downright nutty. How could anyone, even a god, "make" a universe?
To get a better understanding of this matter, I thought it might be wise to consult the man who has done more than anyone else to explain how our universe got going. His name is Andrei Linde, and he is a physicist at Stanford University. (He's also an artist and an acrobat, but never mind.) In the early 1980s, the then-thirtysomething Linde came up with a novel theory of the Big Bang that answered three vexing
questions: What banged? Why did it bang? And what was going on before it banged? Linde's theory, called "chaotic inflation," explained the shape of space and how galaxies were formed. It also predicted the exact pattern of background radiation from the Big Bang that was observed by the COBE satellite in the 1990s. Linde has been amply honored for his achievement, most recently by being awarded the 2004 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation (along with Alan Guth, another pioneer of the theory of cosmic inflation).
Among the many curious implications of Linde's theory, one stands out for our present purposes: It doesn't take all that much to create a universe. Resources on a cosmic scale are not required. It might even be possible for someone in a not terribly advanced civilization to cook up a new universe in a laboratory. Which leads to an arresting thought: Could that be how our universe came into being?
"When I invented chaotic inflation theory, I found that the only thing you needed to get a universe like ours started is a hundred-thousandth of a gram of matter," Linde told me in his Russian-accented English when I reached him by phone at Stanford. "That's enough to create a small chunk of vacuum that blows up into the billions and billions of galaxies we see around us. It looks like cheating, but that's how the inflation theory worksall the matter in the universe gets created from the negative energy of the gravitational field. So, what's to stop us from creating a universe in a lab? We would be like gods!"
Linde, it should be said, is famous for his mock-gloomy manner, and these words were laced with irony. But he insisted that this genesis-in-a-lab scenario was feasible, at least in principle. "What my theoretical argument showsand Alan Guth and others who have looked at this matter have come to the same conclusionis that we can't rule out the possibility that our own universe was created in a lab by someone in another universe who just felt like doing it."
It struck me that there was a hitch in this scheme. If you started off a Big Bang in a lab, wouldn't the baby universe you created expand into your own universe, killing people and crushing buildings and so forth?
Linde assured me that there was no such danger. "The new universe would expand into itself," he said. "Its space would be so curved that it would look as tiny as an elementary particle. In fact, it might end up disappearing altogether from the world of its creator."
But why bother making a universe if it's going to run away from you? Wouldn't you want to have some power over how your creation unfolded, some way of making sure the beings that evolved in it turned out well?
Linde's picture was as unsatisfying as Voltaire's idea of a creator who established our universe but then took no further interest in it or its creatures.
"You've got a point," Linde said. "At first I imagined that the creator might be able to send information into the new universeto teach its creatures how to behave, to help them discover what the laws of nature are, and so forth. Then I started thinking. The inflation theory says that a baby universe blows up very quickly, like a balloon, in the tiniest fraction of a second. Suppose the creator tried to write something on it surface, like 'Please remember I created you.' The inflationary expansion would make this message exponentially huge. The creatures in the new universe, living in a little corner of one letter, would never be able to read the whole thing."
But then Linde thought of another channel of communication between creator and creationthe only one possible, as far as he could tell. The creator, by manipulating the cosmic seed in the right way, has the power to ordain certain physical parameters of the universe he ushers into being. So says the theory. He can determine, for example, what the numerical ratio of the electron's mass to the proton's will be. Such ratios, called constants of nature, look like arbitrary numbers to us: There is no obvious reason they should take one value rather than another. (Why, for instance, is the strength of gravity in our universe determined by a number with the digits 6673?) But the creator, by fixing certain values for these dozens of constants, could write a subtle message into the very structure of the universe. And, as Linde hastened to point out, such a message would be legible only to physicists.
"You might take this all as a joke," he said, "but perhaps it is not entirely absurd. It may be the explanation for why the world we live in is so weird.
On the evidence, our universe was created not by a divine being, but by a physicist hacker."
Linde's theory gives scientific muscle to the notion of a universe created by an intelligent being. It might be congenial to Gnostics, who believe that the material world was fashioned not by a benevolent supreme being but by an evil demiurge. More orthodox believers, on the other hand, will seek refuge in the question, "But who created the physicist hacker?"
Let's hope it's not hackers all the way up.
Jim Holt writes the "Egghead" column for Slate. He also writes for The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine.
--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++
FLA:1992 Off the same album as Mindphaser. The album is called Tactical Neural Implant .
Thanks to Mack Hall for letting me publish this.
It's Not Over Until January 6th
Every year some folks take up their crayons and write querulously to the newspapers to demand that Christ be returned to Christmas, as if the newspapers are somehow at fault because Christmas is not what the writers of letters to the editor think it ought to be.
The real irony is that for much of Christian history Christ was not in Christmas because there was no Christmas at all.
Christmas as a Feast of the Church was formally established by Pope Julius I in 350. Even then our poor, ignorant, superstitious ancestors only went to church on Christmas to worship God, and failed to buy masses of made-in-China stuff.
Over time, European nations slowly developed the concept of the twelve days, keeping Christmas from the 25th of December until the Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings, on the 6th of January. This worked well in agricultural societies in cold Europe because unless Sven and Gunter wanted to throw snowballs or hunt wolves or count icicles or something there wasn't a whole lot to do in mid-winter except stay indoors next to the fire.
While Martin Luther was rather fond of Christmas – and was devoted to the Blessed Mother, too – other reformers said "Bah, humbug!" to Christmas and forbade it under penalty of law. In England and in the colonies Puritans and their spiritual descendants, including Baptists and Methodists, were sternly opposed to the celebration of Christmas as Romish superstition. To this day some evangelical congregations will not open the church doors when Christmas falls on a weekday.
In Scotland, Christmas was banned for over four hundred years, and not restored until 1958. 1958. Not 1658 or 1758 or even 1858. 1958. Put Christ into Christmas? Nae, laddie, ye'd better not be thinkin' such evil thoughts.
Christmas as we know it is pretty much an invention of Charles Dickens, who imagined a merrie old English Christmas that never really was and wrote it into his books. Dickens' Christmas is little more than some vague, fuzzy good feelings and some innocent partying, although he does allow his characters to walk to divine services on Christmas morning.
Christmas trees are a German tradition (someone will bring up the pagans at this point, and I say that if the pagans thought well of trees, good for them) Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha remembered the Christmas trees of his youth and popularized them in England. American anglophiles followed the lead of Victoria and Albert, and Christmas trees became a symbol of Christmas in the English-speaking world late in the 19th century.
Christmas was and is a Feast Day of the Church, a day in which the Incarnation is realized. Its other main purpose seems to be to serve as an institutional inadequacy for grumpy people to fault.
Well, grumpy people, that's all right. Perhaps we do eat more than we should on Christmas, and buy too much stuff, and indulge our children more than we ought to, but it's all a great deal of fun anyway.
Let the children have their night of fun and laughter,
let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play.
Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures
before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us,
resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring,
these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance
or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.
And so, in God's mercy, a happy Christmas to you all.
-- Winston Churchill, 1941
-30-
I am not one of The People.
Today is mine and Sondra’s 5 Year Wedding Anniversary!
RMStringer
+++++++++++++++++++++++
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
What a GRE8T TRACK!!! I have loved this song since the first time i listened to it. Good video also.
Another Classic abeit a remix off the Fron By Fron Album form 1987. I saw them in Houston Texas 1993 at Lollapalooza.
This is a very good mix of this song. It pushed Delerium to the BIG TIME. I have followed Delerium since about 1993. They are the group Frontline Assembly.
The Federal Communications Commission approved new rules that
will unleash a flood of media consolidation across America. The
new rules will further consolidate local media markets -- taking
away independent voices in cities already woefully short on
local news and investigative journalism.
Congress has the power to throw out these rules -- and if
100,000 people demand it, they'll have to listen. Click on the
link below to sign the open letter to Congress urging them to
stop the FCC and stand with the public interest.
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/sbmopenletter/
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/sbmopenletter?rk=j1xhEsM1uyCvW
We went to the Buttermilk Trail System this morning. It was about 38 degrees and cloudy. We ended up getting 11.39 miles or ridding today. I have some pics and video to put up next week as soon as I get them. Yester day I was able to get in 9.38 miles so I feel really tired but also good after nearly 21 miles for 2 days!!
Have a good evening…
RMStringer
+++++++++++++++++++++++
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Well folks, it happened…
I am going back to days! It has been nearly 11 months that I have been on the night shift and starting on Monday, I go back to working like most of the world and I will be on the day shift. It is going to take me a little time to get adjusted to being on days. I am glad and I was going to have to go back in January anyways, it just happened a little early. Have a good night and a good weekend.
RMStringer
********************
"To open the eternal worlds, to
open the immortal eyes Of man
Inwards, into the worlds of thought, into Eternity". ITN
You know when you are driving down a road and you have various vehicles that are beside you traveling at your rate of speed and then someone tries to get out ahead of the pack. Well, Minivan drivers piss me off!! These West End Wandas act like they are driving a racecar and will nearly run you off the road to get ahead of you! One tried to overrun me on a very small 2-lane road several days ago and they always try to blow you away on the toll road. I try to do the speedlimit and a Minivan came speeding by me the other night and the funny thing is that we both got to the toll at the same time!! They are not high-performance 500 hours powered vehicles, they are nice passenger vehicles. People, SLOW DOWN in them!! The soccer game will be there when you arrive and the Starbucks will still be open!!
RMStringer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif
With the RIAA trying to crack down more and more on P2P networks, WASTE is looking like a more viable alternative. This came out several years ago but did not catch on like the inventors had hoped for, but now it looks like a good alternative that is secure from prying eyes!
Welcome
WASTE is an anonymous, secure, and encrypted collaboration tool which allows users to both share ideas through the chat interface and share data through the download system. WASTE is RSA secured, and has been heralded as the most secure P2P connection protocol currently in development. For technical information please see "information", but for more information on download and installation, please see "downloads". Looking for other WASTE projects? Please choose "projects", or if you are interested in the main WASTE sourceforge project, see "sourceforge". Or, if you just need some help with WASTE, see "documentation".
Overview
WASTE is a software product and protocol that enables secure distributed communication for small (on the order of 10-50 nodes) trusted groups of users.
WASTE is designed to enable small companies and small teams within larger companies to easily communicate and collaborate in a secure and efficient fashion, independent of physical network topology.
Some bits of information about WASTE:
WASTE is currently available for 32-bit Windows operating systems as a client and server, Mac OS X as a limited client and server, and as a limited functionality server for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Windows. Porting to other operating systems should be a breeze, as the source is provided (and the network code itself is pretty portable).
WASTE is licensed under the GPL.
WASTE currently provides the following services:
Instant Messaging (with presence)
Group Chat
File browsing/searching
File transfer (upload and download)
Network architecture: WASTE uses a distributed architecture that allows for nodes to connect in a partial mesh type network. Nodes on the network can broadcast and route traffic. Nodes that are not publicly accessible or on slow links can choose not to route traffic. This network is built such that all services utilize the network, so firewall issues become moot. more information.
Security: WASTE uses link-level encryption to secure links, and public keys for authentication. RSA is used for session key exchange and authentication, and the links are encrypted using Blowfish in PCBC mode. The automatic key distribution security model is very primitive at the moment, and may not lend itself well to some social situations. more information.
Network
WASTE creates a network of hosts, making whatever connections possible, and typically routes traffic via the path of lowest latency (which effectively ends up as load-balancing, though it is far from ideal).
With at least one host outside of firewalls (or behind a firewall but having one incoming port open), a WASTE network can enable all supported services (including chat and file transfer) between any two hosts.
WASTE uses three main classes of messages: Broadcast messages, routed reply messages, and local management messages.
Broadcast messages are sent from a host when the host wants to either notify or request information from all hosts on the network.
Routed reply messages are sent in response to a broadcast message, routed back to the host that initially broadcast the request.
Local management messages are sent directly between two nodes to negotiate link configuration parameters etc.
The network messaging structure is flexible and there is plenty of room for new message types to enable new services and functionality.
Each link on the network is secured and authenticated, but messages are not secured point to point, which means a trusted user on the network can theoretically spoof and/or sniff traffic. For more information, see the security section.
Security
WASTE builds a distributed network of hosts, and secures each link in the network. In securing each link, WASTE also authenticates each link using public keys.
WASTE also provides a mechanism for hosts on this network to exchange keys automatically with each other once a host is trusted on the network.
How WASTE Secures Links
WASTE secures the links of the WASTE network by using RSA to exchange session keys and authenticate the other end of the connection. Once the hosts have authenticated each other and both have the correct session keys, the connection is encrypted using Blowfish in PCBC mode (using different IVs for each direction of the connection). The oversimplified process for bringing a link up is (see comments in the code and the code itself for a more in depth view):
Both sides exchange public key hashes, and verify that they know that hash
Both sides exchange session keys and challenge-response tokens encrypted with each other’s public keys.
Both sides decrypt and verify the challenge-response tokens, and begin encrypted communication (a stream of messages, each message is verified using an MD5).
There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the basic idea. The reality of it is that there is also a "Network ID/Name" feature that allows you to easily keep networks from colliding, as well as efforts to obfuscate the whole process (to make WASTE connections difficult to detect). Another unique feature is the way session keys are exchanged and combined so that in order to decrypt past (recorded) traffic, both private keys of a connection need to be recovered.
Note: It might be worth implementing WASTE using a subset of SSL, to avoid any concern of flaws in this protocol. Feedback is gladly accepted on any potential weaknesses of the negotiation. We have spent a decent amount of time analyzing this, and although we have found a few things that are not ideal (i.e. if you know public keys from a network, you can sniff some traffic and do an offline dictionary attack on the network name/ID), but overall it seems decent. The current implementation probably needs work, too.
Why WASTE requires a trusted group
Since the security in WASTE relies on encrypted links, and messages are not encrypted point to point, a node on the trusted network could easily sniff or spoof messages. So yes, your friends can spy on you. But you were not really worried about them, were you?
How WASTE Prevents Information Leakage
WASTE makes an effort to prevent information leakage. WASTE sends all traffic through the same encrypted link(s), and does not (by default) bring up or drop connections in response to any user actions. WASTE messages are sent completely inside an encrypted channel, so a snooping party would have a VERY difficult time determining what kind of traffic is being sent across a link, or where the traffic originated from, or where the traffic was headed to. And because there may be redundant paths in the network, and traffic is load balanced across those paths, it further complicates things.
In addition, WASTE has an optional saturation feature, in which connections can be saturated to a particular rate (with random data, if necessary), so that a snooping party cannot see how much real data is being moved.
How WASTE Exchanges Keys Between Trusted Hosts
In order for two WASTE hosts to connect to each other, they need to know each other’s public keys. This can happen two ways. The first way, which is how you would initially connect to a WASTE network, is by manually exchanging public keys. This is clunky, and generally a PITA.
Once a WASTE host is on a WASTE network, however, it can (and is by default) be configured to automatically exchange public keys with other hosts on the network. This happens through the secure links of the network.
The main drawback to this is that it is very difficult to remove a key from the network. Each node on the network that that person could potentially connect to has to remove the key. This may be addressed in a future version.
RMStringer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif
(12-08) 04:00 PST Dallas -- - Consumer electronics retailer CompUSA said Friday that it will go out of business after the holidays following sale of the company to Gordon Brothers Group LLC, a restructuring firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
CompUSA of Dallas operates 103 stores, which plan to run store-closing sales during the holidays.
Privately held CompUSA, controlled by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu's Grupo Carso SA, said discussions were under way to sell certain stores in key markets. Stores that can't be sold will be closed.
Gordon Brothers will also try to sell the company's technical services business, CompUSA TechPro, and its online business, CompUSA.com. It would be up to the buyers whether to continue the CompUSA name.
CompUSA has struggled for nearly a decade with falling prices on personal computers, its most important product, and competition from big-box retailers such as Best Buy.
The slowing growth in computer sales has affected other companies.
Dell Inc.'s U.S. consumer sales fell 26 percent in the first half of this year, which could have accelerated the PC-maker's announcement this week that it will sell machines at Best Buy.
CompUSA was founded in 1984 as software seller Soft Warehouse, then branched out into computers. It took on the CompUSA name and went public in 1991. It bought Tandy's Computer City chain.
Slim bought his first stake in the company in 1999 and took it private the next year in an $800 million buyout. The chain went through several CEOs and tried different turnaround strategies, such as a move this year to focus on core customers such as gadget lovers and small-business owners.
CompUSA closed more than half its stores this spring and got a cash infusion of $440 million to restructure.
During the wind-down, Bill Weinstein and Stephen Gray, managing partner at CRG Partners, will run the company. The chain's current chief executive, Roman Ross, will serve in an advisory role, CompUSA said.
Gordon Brothers created an affiliate, Specialty Equity LLC, to handle the deal. DJM Realty, a Gordon Brothers Group affiliate, will review leases of CompUSA's store locations.
This was one of the bushes at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens that had some very nice lighting effects on it. It looks like the brining bush at night. I tried to get all of the bush in the picture, but I couldn’t fit it in the field of view on my camera, so I got all that I could.
GardenFest of Lights
Friday November 23, 2007 to Monday January 7, 2008
5 - 10 p.m.
It was freaking COLD last night!! It was colder than i thought it would be and i did not take gloves and my hands were freezing all night long. This was were you walked into after you bought your tickets. It was an enchanting evening to be out...
GardenFest of Lights
Friday November 23, 2007 to Monday January 7, 2008
5 - 10 p.m.
This was the beginning of the walk to be taken last night.
GardenFest of Lights
Friday November 23, 2007 to Monday January 7, 2008
5 - 10 p.m.
This was the best of the set . I took several more but they were blurry. Night photography is my bane!
The Conservatory is the "Jewel of the Garden." This 11,000 square-foot complex houses exotic and unusual plants from around the world in its permanent collection and features beautiful seasonal displays. Crowned by a 63-foot-tall dome, the Conservatory includes a central Palm House, a semi-tropical wing featuring our orchid collection, and two wings with changing themed displays full of seasonal color and interest.
www.thetobaccocompany.com
This tree was inside the Tobacco company where we ate last night. The food was VERY GOOD!! The place was decorated with Victorian Christmas ornaments all over the restaurant. It was a very festive evening with a good jazz blues band playing in the bar area. The tree is about 3 stories tall and can bee viewed from all levels of the bar.
Richmond had their lighting of downtown last weekend. This is a part of it. It was taken at Riverfront Plaza II.
This was near the end of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens Christmas walk that we did last night. I thought that it was a good shot and it turned out well.
QUANTICO, Va. (AP) — An HIV-positive Navy chaplain has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges.
Lieutenant Commander John Lee admitted having sex with an Air Force officer without disclosing that he had HIV. He also admitted to forcing himself on a midshipman in the U.S. Naval Academy.
Lee was sentenced after entering a plea agreement at his court-martial in Quantico, Virginia.
A Marine spokesman says nobody is known to have contracted HIV from Lee.
Lee, a Catholic priest, had been assigned as a chaplain at the Naval Academy from 2003 to 2006, and later as chaplain at the Marine Corps base in Quantico. He was relieved of his duties and had his ability to function as a priest revoked in June.
The Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability yesterday released an interim analysis of the effect of Virginia's so-called abusive driving fees that add taxes of up to $3000 to various motoring offenses ( fee details). Courts began collecting the fees in July, driving 177,000 voters to call for their immediate repeal in an online petition. The report's figures show that the majority of revenue actually collected will come from speeding offenses that are subject to the new fees ($22 million). Both driving under the influence of alcohol ($20 million) and serious driving felonies ($38,000) will generate less revenue, contrary to the assertion of fee proponents. Annual number of violations for each fee category, with the total potential amount in fees issued over a three-year period and the average collection rate for each type of offense :Source:
Offense/Fee Annual
TicketsTotal Fees
(3 years)Collection
Rate
Speeding/reckless
$105085,506 $89,781,300 59% Suspended
$75051,912 $38,934,000 13% DUI
$225027,966 $62,923,500 44% Felony
$30003,457 $1,037,100 5% Other
$90075,764 $68,187,600 30%
Interim Review of the Results of Abusive Driver Fees in Virginia and Other States (Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability, 12/5/2007)
Well folks, we had our first snow showers today. We did not get any accumulation, but we did get some snow. I tried to get a few pics, but it did not work, so not snow pics. I hope that we get some more this year. ZIT is going to be cold tonight with the low around 25 degrees!!
All, have a good night…
RMStringer
#################
"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown
We of the late 60’s and early 70s had to deal with all sorts of injustices and trends. Take Disco as a major one, Sonny & Cher, Shields and Yarnell, and The Osmonds! The all had variety shows that were on prime time TV and all had a lack of taste. Yes the 70’s were a hard time to deal with on TV. Now in the 2000s we have to deal with basically the same crap! Reality TV has inundated us in our homes with people dancing and trying to lose weight, get sober, and survive long days on desert islands on far off seas. With the Hollywood Writers on strike, this is all that we have to see. If it was not for pre-recorded shows we would have nothing to watch. Is this the year that the fossils come back to life? Marie Osmond has been in relative obscurity for the last 20 years and now she can dance? WOW!!! WHAT A REVLATION! THEY did that crap on their TV show way back in the 1970s! That is what they did! The danced, they sang, they did “funny” sketches bla, bla, bla…
Ok, she fainted on the show during that week. Ok. Let’s move on people. Her brother Donnie made commentary on ET Tonight and all sorts of other shows as well as having to suffer with her talking about it and all of the other reporters. It was MAJOR NEWS for a week!! It’s not like we have a war going on or the housing market is going to shit; No Marie Osmond FAINTED on TV putting a blemish on her silver TV personality. Cant they just go AWAY? I remember fondly as the dramatic TV announcers voice would say “Now the Clip of Marie fainting on “Dancing With The Stars” What was Wayne Newton’s reaction? IS she Ok? What will the judges think? Will this hurt her chances of winning the show? De De Do, Wubba Wubba Wubba… As if nothing else was news worthy. And now, with the resurgence of the Osmonds, much like a phoenix coming out of the ashes of TV obscurity; they are back on tour for Christmas. Marie and her brood of kids from adoption and divorce are touring and doing songs and another dammed variety show as we saw clips of their concert tonight on ET once again. I wonder if ET gets a kick-back for putting their asses on every episode of their show?
Cant it all just go away? For god’s sake, Wayne Newton was a star with Marie on Dancing With The Stars. Where did he crawl out from? What will next year be, “Dancing With The Dead, Arrested or Insane”? Sounds like a winner to me and as about as exciting as most of the rest of the crap that we are force fed every evening…
Now, back to my regularly scheduled coma…
RMStringer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif
I took this standing on my front porch last week. I thought that the clouds were very interesting looking. You see that the sun is almost down.
This is a screen shot of the prog.
Here is a direct link to the prog: ID3 Tag Remover
