Monday 28 November 2011

Too many chefs spoil the soup

There are a lot of differing opinions out there, but most people find any one of their opinions can be similar enough to that of someone else's to make a friendly connection with them.

One such incidence is the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I didn't know this until recently, but the people who believe it was a conspiracy theory are now called "Truthers". Self titled I believe. Now this is great and all, but the moment you label something you give people more shit to release on your head.

The conspiracy theory surrounding 9/11 has become a war of duality. Either it was all a conspiracy and nothing is as it seems, or everything was exactly as we saw on the T.V, and it was a genuine terrorist attack. I myself, don't take into account opinions, "official" reports, or televised accounts from engineers of whether or not it was a fix. There is a reason for this.

Those from the UK may recall several years ago, a drink called "Ribena Toothkind" was brought out. It claimed to be scientifically proven by credible sources to be better for teeth than water. This was a bold and impressive claim, considering water is like the James Bond of tooth-accompaniment. No one questioned the validity of this claim, and when we saw the advert showing in a graph just how much better for your teeth it was, everyone nodded in approval. Nowadays, you are more likely to see everyone murmur "Seems legit." Anyways, after some time, a shocking news story came out saying "Ribena Tooth Kind is worse for your teeth than coca cola". And that shit rots teeth over night. It's like Safe-For-Work acid.

         "The British Dental Association!? By golly Watson, it MUST be true!"

This little scandal is one of the few "brought-to-light" scenarios where a claim has been immediately believed by the general public just because it was on the T.V, or in a newspaper, or told by someone "official". As long as we hear it from a scientist or someone famous, we beleive whatever we hear.

This is a little disconcerting, and just an example of why I don't take what I hear on face value very often. I mean, logically speaking, how many countless situations must there be where we are lied to and we don't even consider this? Food ingredients, very probable they lie. They often keep their "secret" ingredients a secret, and as for food colouring and flavouring, sweetners, preservatives etc, we have no idea what they are actually made from.

So, you will forgive me when I say, the words of official corporations means just as much to me as any average Joe.

Now, back on topic. The Truthers I mentioned earlier are often shunned with claims by the anti-conspirers about how official scientists and these big important coorperations and several "well respected engineers" have said "Yes, it's all perfectly feasable. 9/11 was a terrorist attack!". Fair enough, might be enough for some people, but I know better than to accept what I'm given.

The Truthers generally disregard this also. The reason I had to make clear why I disregard it, is because people who don't like the conspiracy side of things say "Truthers ignore facts and official statements!". Wrong. They take it with a pinch of salt, because let us say 9/11 was a government job beyond disputable truth. Surely, if they have the power to do something like that, they can get a guy to say to a camera "It's all true, super strength metals can be bent at a fraction of their bending temperatures!". I should also point out, I'm NOT a Truther. The Truthers have a sitgmatism stuck to them thanks to the fact that they are now labelled, meaning anything they say or believe is rediculous.(In some peoples eyes)

Now, I call this "Too many chefs spoil the soup" for the following reasons. Truthers, in their quest for honesty and truth, have shown tremendous amounst of evidence against the government. I mean, if you really research it, there are so many inconsistancies, errors, miscalculations, lies, videos, pictures and common sense foolishness to make the most reasoned of us wilt a little. BUT! As with all conspiracies, believing in one thing, or finding one bit of evidence makes everything that follows auto-fact. Some clever guys rally up lots of evidence and interesting facts, and a bunch of people come rushing in, naming themselves Truthers, and spewing videos on youtube that consist of a slowed down news video, claiming it is undisputable proof. Too many chefs enter the kitchen. They spoil that fucking amazing soup, overloading it with uneeded ingredients, hiding out the PURE gems the previous chefs added to the concoction.

TWATS!

So, the anti-conspirers latch onto the idiocracy-side of the conspiracy arguments, drowning out the valid side. I myself have heard structural engineers in real life tell me they know for a FACT the towers couldn't of BOTH buckled from one plane exploding. There would not be enough heat, and if there was ever enough heat it would of been the initial explosion from the planes crashing into the towers, and the tower would of buckled at THAT instant. Though, no one will ever beleive this because these guys are just average Joes. And apparantly, being a normal person with no fame means you are also stupid. Who'da thunk?

I leave you with this!

Open minded folk(Not truthers) work with the evidence. Anti-Conspirers work with what they think is proof. Proof? No no. That guy in the lab coat with glasses using his vocal chordes and mouth in tandem with his tounge is not proof. Spend years getting a structural engineering degree. Build a replica of the towers. Fly a plane into the side of it, record the result, and THEN you have undeniable "proof". Until then, everything is just evidence, and evidence can be disputed, interpretated, tampered with, and fabricated. Proof is undeniable and undesputable fact.

This is very important, for BOTH sides of the argument to understand.

Sunday 27 November 2011

The art of trolling

Billy Goat's Gruff. World of Warcraft. Hogwart's Bathrooms. Just some of the places you may find a troll.

But what about the internet kind?

For those who aren't aware, let me give a brief explanation of what a troll is:

They will be one of two things. A) REALLY funny and pretty harmless. B) REALLY funny and absolutely soul-destroying. After spending as much time as I have around trolls, the second form becomes REALLY unfunny. For those still confused, let me give a more visual example.
Troll dad, being the troll in this scenario, misleads his son with deceptive wording, aiming for a specific reaction. This is what a troll does. They MINDFUCK. With no lube. And no one likes a dry mindfuck.

On the interweb, you will have probably encountered many-a-troll, if you don't know how to spot them. Back when trolling was first being discovered as an "art form", trolls made pretty hysterical things happen. They were true internet heroes. But, unfortunately, as we all know, the internet became the place where all bad things are worshiped, and trolling became less about funny scenarios, and focused more on the mindfuck part. Mindfuck evolved into intentionally piss off. Intentionally piss off evolved into cause EXTREME rage then point out the rage(u mad?) as though this means anything substantial.

To most people who spend too much time on the internet, the sight of ANYONE being wound up or insulted online is a cause for instant fits of hysterical laughter. Why? Because somewhere down the line, it became a good idea to cause negative emotions unto strangers. I have to admit, it can produce funny results, but when a person is just plain upset or pissed off, I don't find humour in it. It becomes easy to disolve any humanity from an online alias, when all a person consists of is text and screen-name.

In a similar vein, it becomes INCREDIBELY easy to troll and mislead someone when all YOU consist of is text and a screen name. Without visible emotions, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and a visible face infront of you, 90% of communication is being scrambled before your very eyes. If I spoke in a monotone like a robot and said "I want to squeeze you to death" you'd probably think "what's your problem ass-node?", but if I said in a sing song voice with a smile on my face, "I want to squeeze you to death!" You'd think "awww..." (if you are a guy, nohomo).

So, if you read some text that says something like "British people have disgusting teeth", the average Brit would read it, become highly annoyed, and retaliate, probably unaware of what a troll even is.

So is this deception REALLY the art form they claim it is? Sure, it is sometimes impressive, but when you break down the elements that achieved the "trolling", it's more suprising how anyone CAN'T troll online. All you have to do is say "Fuck USA" anywhere on the net, and I guarantee you someone will shout about sending the Marines to destory your country. The internet is a fickle place, equal parts epic and terrifying, just like real life. The difference being, you are more readily able to choose whether you see the epic or the terrifying of the internet than you are in real life. And for some, the epic is ruining other people's day.

Trolling has removed the word "Joking" as far as the internet is concerned, and you can no longer have a light hearted giggle without someone claiming you are a troll. Every forum or message board of any relevance will have many a troll lurking about the place, and when they spot a fellow troll, they congratulate them on their ability to cause discord and chaos.

Well riddle me this trolls. Can you troll in the real world? Can you achieve the levels of deception your text incites with 90% of your communication added back in? Can you get as much joy runining someone's day when you see the reaction on their faces, and the emotions they exhibit in real life?

Probably not.

Middle ground, where art thou!

Lately I've been spending many a bored hour just dilly-dallying on some crazy conspiracy site, or watching UFO videos on youtube, or exploring something on the internet that piques my interests somewhat. Now concerning the conspiracy theory type sites...

There are 2 forms. A) Pro Conspiracy, who believe anything and everything. B) Anti Conspiracy, who detest any form of conspiracy and try to debunk it.

It's very hard to find any site that is the Middle Ground. It is either one extreme or another. Balance is completely left out, and bias takes hold once more!

Bias sucks, and not in the good $5 kind of way.

The conspiracy loons will latch onto anything that isn't immediately explainable through undisputable evidence. Problem being, in any situation, there will be a million inconsistencies. The anti-conspirer will do the same, in reverse. Anything that will debunk the conspiracy, they will leech to. Even if it is just word-of-mouth information, or something they found on wikipedia. They claim the conspiracy theorists have no basis for most of their arguments, but just because they themselves have more "official" sounding claims, doesn't mean their lack of evidence or basis is any more valid.

Also, the conspiracy theorists just LOVE to shout how the non-conspiracy theorists are being close minded. This irks me. The conspiracy theorists wont bug their ideas in any way,shape or form from what they WANT to believe. They think that the moment they start believing in one conspiracy, they ALL become true, mainly because it is "fun" to think our mundane lives aren't what they seem. This is a form of close-mindedness just on the other end of the scale. I want to kick the conspiracy theorist's AND the anti-conspirer's doors down, and attack their minds with a crow bar, forceing them open enough to at least see their own hypocracy.

They debate something that has no definitive answer either way, and on the INTERNET none the less. Who ever felt like they lost an argument on the internet and admitted it? It's the one place you can get burnt, and equip a magical fire-retardant dressing gown, as you swing your e-peen once more into the forray of cyber-nutfuckery. Being open minded is a privelage, and a gift to those around you. It is one of the more underestimated qualities of humans. Though, I mean this in a good sense and a bad sense. Too much open mindedness tips the scale, and you are just close minded in a different way now.

HOW DO WE FIX THIS MADNESS!?!?!?!?

Search me, but we sure as fuck wont do it on the internet...

The power of familiarity.

Familiarity is a fucking potent deciding factor in our lives. I've started noticing this lately quite a lot. If you have the choice between a restaurant you went to 2 weeks ago and LOVE, or a strange restaurant that just opened, you will almost always go with the familiar restaurant. If you have to get a haircut, most people wont trust a new barbers/salon, and will go to their familiar haunt.

This familiarity branches out though. It is natural to go to the places you recognise.

However, you will also go to the places your peers recognise. For instance, Nandos, the chicken restaurant. Lots of people go there and enjoy it. Though, people only started going there so much because it became one of those "cool" places to go to. The kind of place you can put in a Facebook status,(jst chillin wid dave nd lisa at nandoz!!<3) and get 35 likes on it. The same principal applies to all those facebook groups that people like, which are basically just about posting up wierd little quirks you experience in your daily life, and seeing if other people like the page, hence letting you know you aren't insane.

Like, a group called "Running down the stairs because you think you're being chase!". I'm sure we've all been there at some point.

This sort of thing wasn't common knowledge though, until the advent of Facebook. One person made a group similar to this, it made people smile, and like it, because together, a sense of familiarity was formed, and people felt that much more normal about their own little quirks. And so started the influx of "quirk groups". Again, familiarity dictates what sort of groups are made, based on how popular certain ones are. The quirk groups get a lot of likes because people connect with it, and so more people make similar groups, safe in the knowledge it will do well.

This is all pretty harmless for the most part. Though, there is a more sinister aspect to this control familiarity has on our lives. It is the reason for things like disdain for the "different" or "abnormal". Anything which is unfamiliar, is shunned, whilst the familiar is embraced whole heartedly. Restaurants that could potentially become your favourite, may end up shut down because people want to spend their money on the latest cool food joint.

People will show no thought about killing insects, or smaller, uglier animals, because everyone else is happy for it to happen, and will squash a spider rather than throw it out the window. In short, familiarity will not only dictate the positive portion of our lives, but the negative also. If enough people do something unsightly, it becomes "familiar" and the fact that so many people find it acceptable, means the negative act immediately becomes justified. A more gruesom example of this is the kind of "home-made retribution" you may come across in certain countries, where a thief who is caught will have his hands broken on the streets, or a rapist will be publicely executed.

The more I think about it, the more I see familiarity dictating pretty much everything that occurs in our society. What I can't figure out though, is if it is just the human instinct we have for latching onto routines, or if it is a more artificial trait drilled in through our modernised world.

Friday 25 November 2011

Some more thought provoking stuffs!

I'm gonna do another post like my previous one, as I didn't quite get all the material in I wanted to, as it would have become a CHORE rather than an enjoyable experience to traverse through that maze of text if I had continued. So I will do some more here. I will regularly make posts like these, with somewhat contraversial subjects, as a pallet cleanser, if you will.

I'm gonna start off by resuming the sci-fi theme of the previous post briefly. I have a video that is basically a montage of NASA footage, and videos, as well as some videos that contain the mission-control's conversation with the astronaughts as they do their do. Pretty interesting, when one of the worlds leading space programs is either bemused and confused by what they are seeing, or saying things like "It's just our little friends again.."....

A lot of what's in this video could be nothing, but a lot of it could very well be something also. Have a look, see what you think.

Next, I want to discuss something 9/11 based. I wont go into my thoughts on the conspiracy side of things, but I did come across some interesting footage recently. It started when I came across a video of one of the planes before it crashed into the building. It showed the left wing of the plane suddenly vanishing. The video description had a pretty bold claim that the planes were actually missiles or something, disguised with a form of holographic technology that uses satelites and some orbs. Orbs were spotted a lot in the sky during 9/11, no one really knew what they were. I didn't really believe this stuff about holograms and what-not, because my natural instinct, is that that is crazy/impossible. Then I thought a bit more rationally, and remembered that what we publically know technology wise is not what the governments and military know, so who knows?
Here's the video, it looks sketchy, and could well be just a camera glitch...though, I never saw a camera glitch turn something invisible before:
Kinda strange right? Here is another from a different angle. The explanation is that as it came under the large clouds of dust and smoke, it lost it's line-up with the so-called hologram satellites:
There are a few other angles of this also. One video clip, I would call a camera glitch, and say it was nothing. But several showing the same thing, and I gotta admit, it's got me thinking there may be some truth in it. After all, most every rumour starts with a small grain of truth.

Next up, and probably most importantly, I want to show a video that is the longest known footage of the second plane as it flies, and subsequently crashes into, the second building. The plane literally appears out of nowhere, glitches up on camera for a second, then flies to the building. From the view, you should be able to see the plane much sooner than you do. Watch the clip and you will see what I mean, it's only short(Also, the reporter is SUPREMELY proffesional. If we went to war, I want him to announce it to us....):
Notice how as the plane appears, it jumps all over the place? Not a camera glitch, because cameras don't magically displace certain object like that. The whole frame would of jerked about, and if you watch the smoke from the building, it remains normal and smoothly animated, so to speak. I don't know much about much, but a plane suddenly appearing from nowhere like that? And freaking around in the sky like that? Even the hardened skeptics out there wont be able to at LEAST twitch a little, in frustration for an explanation to this one. The idea of a holographic plane is insane at best to me, but, the evidence kind of speaks out to me louder than my prejudice can limit me.

It is also worth pointing out, I have never heard of any footage of the planes anywhere other than their iminent point of impact with the towers. New York, I'm sure, has countless CCTV cameras, and people filming everywhere, be it with phones, or cameras. Surely, something, somewhere, would of picked up the planes flying so low sooner? Just a little thought that occured to me.
For those who haven't seen it, you may be interested in the VERY late released video of the pentagon being struck by a "plane". Now, this video doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out something isn't right.

Again, I'm no scientist, but planes are you know...big. That white streak isn't what I would call big. The explosion it makes is nothing like those caused by the World Trade Centers. Also, this video points out a strange object infront of the streak, and how the streak could be dust or smoke trail. This is pretty relevant. I'm also not a pilot. But, that white thing is flying level. I've never seen any pilot ever fly a huge boeing level to the floor that low down. I'm not sure it's even possible. Surely, a plan would be more of a divebomb attack straight on top of the pentagon? Worth noteing, the defence against why the pentagon took so little damage was "They had just reinforced that wall that got hit by the plane."...this is considered a defence? They just so happen to fortify the one wall that was hit by the "plane"? Below, is a video that was only aired once, right after the pentagon was hit. It was removed and never allowed to be aired again after it's original live screening..
Now, new reporters in America would normally be doing the opposite of this, and making out everything is as it seems. This isn't the only crash site that had a magically disappearing plane either.

Well, that's all for this segment. Just thought I'd post some things that got me thinking. Videos like these interest me, so I thought I'd share it with whoever is reading this and let you make of it what you will. Hope you enjoyed it.

Approach with an open mind

This is quite a long post, but you should hopefully find it interesting, and different from my previous posts.

The past few years, I've been fascinated by things out of the ordinary. What I mean by this, are things like UFO accounts, conspiracy theories, things like this. So, I thought I'd make a post on some of the more compelling pieces of evidence,(not hillbilly accounts) of strange goings on. Approach with an open mind, don't watch these videos expecting them to be auto-fake. Remember, it is not ignorance, but falsely gained knowledge that restrains us. And also keep in mind I don't show these thinking everything within them is unexplainable. I post them because they make me think, and when something sparks a thourough thought proccess, you are the first step of the way to seeing "the bigger picture."

IMPORTANT: I'm not saying any of this is solid proof of aliens. I'm saying there is more to our bubble of "normality" than meets the eye.

First up, some mass UFO sightings...

Now, this video, shows strange goings on including ufo's, unexplainable atmospheric phenomena, and an eerie phone call...

Why I think this video is relevant..

Now, all footage in this video is undisputable, as far as what we see is what actually happened, goes.
The only things in the video that can be question is the origin of what is being seen. The Mexico mass sighting was a pretty massive thing for Mexico. We didn't hear about it in USA or UK much, because apparantly the media tried to stiffle it, but it had the country in an uproar, because the small red lights were visible ALL over the country. Literally, hundreds of these things all over the place, then, poof, they vanish. Later I'll post a video using information gained from certain US documents that the wikileaks sight obtained based on this subject.

Another thing in this video that tickled my fancy was the strange light in Jerusalem. I'm not religious, but the fact the light appeared over that important religious sight is I admit, somewhat curiosity-inducing. What I really like though, is how it was taken from 4 different angles. Clearly what is being seen, is not something "normal" as far as our technology goes. Or at least, of the technology we are made publicly aware of..

The strange spirals in all those parts of the world that this video shows, interest me also. I read somewhere once a few years ago, when one first appeared over Russia, that it was a missle. However, there was never an explosion, and the missile was never seen, same with the other incidents, and this missile theory was abandoned. So, who knows what those things are?

One last thing I wanna point out also, is the conversation at the end. Now, I'm no actor myself, but I could pretty well tell that the guy on the phone wasn't acting. The things he is mentioning have recently been brought to peoples attention, in several conspiracy theories involving certain groups wanting to limit our population to around 1 million so we are easy to control. The fact he said these things in 1997 WAY before these conspiracies even came about, holds weight with me. The fact he got cut out like that is also suspicious. It could be coincidence of course, but that would have to be the BIGGEST coincidence in the world ever. What he says about extra dimensional beings, of course, will sound strange at first, but if there is one thing I have learnt, we are pre-conditioned by our own society to instantly laugh off anything unknown, foreign, and out of the norm. Scientifically speaking, certain ranges of physics REQUIRE 10 dimensions.

In short, dimensions beyond the ones we precide in are very much possible. So, with this in mind, the man mentioning extra-dimensional beings becomes more pheasable, though I'm sure the more stubborn of you will still refuse to believe so :P I myself don't know what to believe, so I'll wait until we have a solid answer on that one.

Next, I want to show some NASA footage. I feel these are important because they obviously aren't tampered with, and most of them were taken through hacking, leaks, and other accidental means.

Why I think this is relevant..

This tether is roughly 12km long if I recall correctly. It broke out in space, and straightened out. I don't know if that is normal or not, but I'm guessing. Now, the things floating around, move behind the tether at times. If they move behind the tether and are taking up 1/4 of it's size, that gives some scale of their MINIMUM size. Now, many explanations for this include "That stuff was dust in the lense.", "That stuff is debris from the tether!", "It's space rocks and ice pfft...". So I ask you this..

If it is dust in the lense, how does it travel BEHIND the tether? And why did this dust only magically appear when the tether broke?

If those things are bits of ice, or space rock, or whatever, why are they all similarly shaped? Why do they all suddenly appear at once?

If it is debris from the tether, why is it all only moving left and right, and not in the same direction, AWAY from the camera, with the tether? In space, as most will know, you keep your momentum. Meaning, if something snapped off the tether, it will keep moving in the direction it was catapulted, and never slow down, or change course, until some other force interferes, like gravity. Some of these things slow down, or speed up, some disappear suddenly. Interestingly enough, these same shapes have been filmed in our own atmosphere. I can't find the videos right now, but this things isn't the first case of these "UFO"s. Now remember, UFO means unidentified flying object, not flying saucer. To me, these things look organic somewhat. Naturally, there may be a realistic explanation for this, but you can't deny, even if you are a mega skeptic, that this video is interesting.

Some final things

This video is a lot longer, you probably wont want to watch it all now after reading all this :P (That is, if you DID read all this) but PLEASE, watch it at some point. It contains important information. It shows interviews with some ex-astronaughts and other government type workers, giving their accounts of strange encounters. BUT fear not skeptics, it also has lots of footage of UFOs, strange occurances such as the tether incident, and looks into them. It starts off a bit slow, but the video is definately worth the full watch. It is what leads many skeptics to start researching the whole UFO thing more seriously than just a few unreliable grainy videos. One of the biggest components of the video, is a group called "The Disclosure Project". They are a group of around 40 ex-government workers. They hold documents, photographs, stuff like this of "black projects" and apparant US involvment with extra terrestrials. Now, the weight of this is important. They banded together for fear if they spoke openly of these things on their own, they would "vanish"(as some people actually have in the past).


My favourite quote from this video: "Absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence"..




I hope you at least find these things interesting. I'm not asking you to believe or disbelieve as I don't instinctively believe everything I see in these videos to be supernatural or extra terrestrial. Though, I hope these things help open your mind some, as they sure did for me. The first stage to realising the ACTUAL truth is to disregard bias and skeptisism that we currently possess.

Then maybe, we can sifle through the chaf, and find the grains of truth that we have hunted for so long. I will make more posts with related material.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Prison monopoly

In the United States of America, the average prison gets $50,000 per inmate per year. A hefty amount of money. Now, being that this is more than double the annual wage of the average inmate, you would think they would be living in conditions a lot better than at home. But they really don't. What on earth would $50,000 per person go towards? They get bad food, bad clothes, bad beds. This money clearly isn't being spent on the prisoners.

Now, there are more black prisoners in the US jails for drug related crimes (possession, distribution, consumption) than anything else. Prison is meant to be about rehabilitation, and getting you out of a life of crime. However, once you leave prison, you have a criminal record. This reduces your chances of getting a job greatly. In some cases, ENTIRELY. So first, the poor and criminally active black citizens are thrown together in ghettos. This means, the children growing up there are very likely to take on similar lifestyles to those around them. Then these "criminals" are thrown in jail, once out have a criminal record and can't get a job. If you can't get a job, in those conditions, the most appealing thing is to turn to something illegal to make your money. You get caught again, back to prison. You earn the jails another juicy $50k. This cycle goes on and on.

This means essentially, a prison monopoly is taking place. It could just be coincidental, of course. Though, I have no doubt in my mind it isn't. It is a pretty smart way of trapping the poor people into giving the government an excuse to spend the tax payers money on themselves "legally".

Call me suspicious, but trapping someone into a life of jobless doubt isn't very rehab-like.