What kind of world do you see?

It seems to me that there are at least three types of people, in how they view the world.  The first group of people I suppose we might call 'The Ostriches', if we absolutely must label them.  These are people who seem exclusively caught up in their own lives, jobs, and immediate family and have little patience for anything outside of it.  They don't really question the larger reality around them, and as long as they are able to live relatively undisturbed by that reality, they are content to leave it be.  It is certainly understandable.  Parents have their jobs and families to look after, and often don't have time for a lot of leisure activities, so they pick and choose that which interests them most to deal with.  Often it is hanging out with friends, sports, cookouts, and very 'normal' types of things.  For these people, the world is a neat explainable box, with very defined borders.

The second group could be called 'The Cats'.  These are people who are obsessed with the larger reality around them.  Topics that range from Spirituality to Theoretical Physics, Angels to UFO's, or Atlantis to the Future of Humanity.  However, we live in a 'realistic' world so those people are naturally dragged back to the day-to-day experiences of life.  Still, they make it a point to look into these matters when they have time to do so, and have little time for sports and much of 'popular culture'.  Some of them focus on specific topics and the others try to look into all (or at least several) of the strange phenomena that seem to occur in our world.  They are not content with the 'official' explanation and seek a greater understanding of the reality around them.  I think it would be fair to say, that some of these people can be strongly caught up in their topic of interest, to the point of ridicule by some.  For these people, the world is a chaotic mixture of the unexplained, and nearly without borders.

Finally, you have everyone who fits somewhere between these two extremes in varying degrees.  I think most people fall under this category.  I suppose we could call this group 'The Chameleons'.  They mostly blend into the group they most associate themselves with, but have a certain affinity with the other side as well.  Essentially this group is subdivided into at least two categories, 'The Ostrich Chameleon' and 'The Cat Chameleon'.

The Ostrich Chameleon is someone who is basically caught up with their own day-to-day lives, like the Ostrich, but are at least willing to have an opinion about things that may not directly affect them.  On occasion they may even have a serious conversation about UFO's (or whatever), but the personal search into such topics is not very strong, and only a passing interest.  It seems to me, that most Chameleons fit into this subtype.  For these people, the world is a neat explainable box, but with questionable borders.

At last, The Cat Chameleons are people who have more than a passing interests in the reality around them, but still try to take a realistic view on things as well.  In other words, they try to temper their interests in the unexplained with a dose of realism.  These people are the ones who, while interested in the unexplained, also attempt to study it in a systematic and thoughtful way, and are not prone to flights of fancy.  Many scientists fall under this category.  For these people, the world is a chaotic mixture of the unexplained, but with definable borders.

I think it should be said that people falling into these categories, do so in various degrees, some more strongly than others.  Labels can be annoying, and misleading, but I don't think I was entirely unfair to any of the groups I've listed here.  The Ostriches DO have their heads stuck in the sand, and ignore everything that doesn't touch them personally.  The Cats DO often allow their curiosity to get carried away, and sometimes take their interests to an extreme.  The Chameleons DO try to blend into the group they most associate with, while maintaining ties to the other side.

Personally, I think I am a 'Cat Chameleon', although it could be argued that I'm a little more Cat than Chameleon.  Still, I don't get carried away with any particular topic per se, and I'm willing to look into all the possibilities.  I think there probably was some sort of civilization or civilizations in the prehistory which we know nothing about, even if none of them were Atlantis or Ancient Astronauts.  I believe there are non corporeal beings (spirits), even if I can't explain them.  I believe there is something going on in the skies above our heads, but I have no personal knowledge of what 'they' are.  I am strongly interested in the theoretical sciences (physics in particular) and where they could lead mankind.  I believe strongly in personal spirituality, although I am suspicious of organized religion.

Although I have an interests in all of those things, I'm not one of the 'quacks' out there claiming that I have personal knowledge of any of it.  Nor can I be 100% certain, that those 'quacks' don't know anything at all.  Concerning UFO's, there are professional military officers, police, pilots, astronauts, government officials, and average people who have all come forth with not only experiences, but documented evidence, that can't be explained away.  I myself have had a UFO experience that I have yet to have had properly explained as to what it could have been.

I have recognized that the more I've learned, the more I realize how much I don't really know.  I try to keep that in mind when it comes to things I don't understand.  As Shakespeare said in one of his plays, "There is more in Heaven and Earth, than is dreamt of in your philosophies".  Still, there IS evidence that the world is much more complex than we know.  I do believe that our government is covering up the truth about UFO's, as are other governments around the world.  Several governments have recently released documents that do indeed prove that their have been encounters with crafts and beings that do not seem to be from this world.  It isn't as though the UFO phenomena is only happening here in the USA and nowhere else.  There has been hard evidence showing that unexplained craft are virtually on a daily basis are violating sovereign airspace to nations on every continent, and there is nothing that any government can do about it, but neither are most of them willing to admit it either.

As a result, I can't help but wonder why there isn't even more of an outcry by people than there is.  I can't help but think it is largely due to 'The Ostriches' and 'The Ostrich Chameleons' that our government (and others) are able to get away with outright lying to us on a daily basis about the matter.  There is documented proof to show that government agencies (CIA, FBI, USAF, and others), have been lying about their involvement (or lack, as those agencies claim) with the UFO phenomenon.  When they finally were ordered to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act, much of what they handed over was blacked out, so you couldn't read what was written on the documents.  Isn't that a violation of law???  It has been said that President Clinton actually tried to find out about some of it, and he was told he didn't have a 'need to know'.  How could the Commander in Chief possibly NOT have a 'need to know'?  How is it, that unelected bureaucrats are able to stonewall our elected officials and the American public, and most people don't care enough to be concerned about it?

Until the American public gets truly motivated to find out what is going on, I think our government is going to continue to lie to us about the UFO topic.  The reason I'm covering this particular 'unexplained' topic so strongly, is because this is the one our government is actively lying about.  I'm sure the government lies about a lot of things, but this topic concerns the security of our air space at least, and possibly the world itself.  How can we claim to be a Democracy, or a Representative Republic, if neither the public or the elected officials are being given information they need to make informed decisions?  I believe that it is definitely something we as citizens should be concerned about, as this is more than just about unknown flying craft, but also the ability to have any trust in our government system.

Time Travel Today...

Could 'Time Travel' exist right now?  Normally, I'd say, "No way!", but I came across an interesting radio show, Coast to Coast with Art Bell, where a man claims that it is here now.  Also, normally, I'd say that guy is probably just a 'quack', but this guy certainly has the appearance of being legitimate.  His name is Dr. David Lewis Anderson, of the Anderson Institute devoted to "Time Control Technology".  Here is his company's website...  The Anderson Institute

You can also hear the Art Bell radio show yourself and listen to this man's claims for yourself at Youtube.  The link for that is...  YouTube - C2C 2010 with Art Bell pt. 1

This particular show is divided into 16 parts on Youtube, of about 10 min. per part.  So it's about the length of a movie and popcorn.  Dr. Anderson is a former U.S. Air Force officer and military scientist, who upon separation built his own company.  He says he was working on Long Island, New York (Montauk?) and these days he's at a secured facility in New Mexico.  Ironically, he says he was doing the radio program over a secured encrypted satellite phone, as they had no normal landlines at the facility.  Of course, the show is heard all over the U.S. on radio and around the world over the Internet.

He says at this point in time they are able to both accelerate and decelerate time, as much as 300% (very possibly much more), but he is unable to reveal the actual amount.  In other words as a person outside the field experiences 1 hour, a person inside the field (decelerated) would experience 3 hours, or 20 minutes (accelerated).  They've even reversed time, and watched a clock stop, and then begin to reverse the motion of its gears.  He says they've come a long way from the amount of things they could do a few years ago, and from the things he could describe.

On top of all this, he says our country is NOT the only one doing this.  He cited Japan, China, and even India (which he says is further along than anyone else at the moment, with the largest temporal research facility) are doing experiments and development of their own.  He says they have a "Temporal Tremor Detector" that allows them to detect when time manipulation is occurring.  This is because every time someone messes with the space-time field around the Earth it is detectable because of the disturbances it creates.  He says they've sent plants into the future AND into the past.

The lay physics student may say, "Wait..!  Doesn't time travel take enormous amounts of energy?"  Dr. David Anderson answers, Yes, but they've discovered that although it does take a large amount of energy in relative terms (of say how much an individual household uses), it actually doesn't require that much energy at all, or at least not with the method they are using, which is called a Time-warp Field.  He says that seemingly against the laws of physics, they find that they get more power than what they are putting into it.  The field they create is specifically called a 'Closed Time like Curve'.  What they discovered is that once the field is created they 'open' a conduit (my word) of huge amounts of energy generated by the Earth's spin itself.  He says this could very possibly lead to free energy for the world if this technology could be properly controlled.  This he says is the basis for their Time Reactor concepts.

However, Morality, is Dr. Anderson's greatest concern recently for Time Control.  The potential uses for this technology he says could be both wonderful or terrible for either the entire human race or an individual.  He says that some of the positive things with this technology would be to be able and go back and find out exactly what the dinosaurs looked like.  That we could go back and find out exactly what did happen in the ancient past, such as finding out if Atlantis was real, and if so where it really was.  Those things are only the tip of the potential iceberg.

On the other hand, it's also possible to literally wipe someone out of existence and possibly bring new people into existence that weren't there before as a result of altering the timeline.  You could potentially go back and maneuver events to change the way in which history unfolds.  For example, you could go back and assassinate Adolf Hitler before he ever came to power, but who is to say this couldn't cause an even worse chain of events to unfold that could devastate the present.  If one went far enough back, and caused enough damage, it might even be possible to wipe the human race from existence.

Now hopefully, there might be some sort of restrictions or limitations built into the universe that prevent some of the worst possible results of time travel, but I don't know that.  I think I may email the Anderson Institute to find out if they've seen anything like that.  That would be comforting, but even if there are limitations, that doesn't mean the limits are strong enough to prevent catastrophe.

Dr. David Anderson says he is concerned that if mankind doesn't find a way to unite and come to peace with itself, that in the relatively near future we may experience the first Temporal War.  Such an event could completely alter the world as we know it, by literally rewriting history and redrawing the political maps.  Dr. Anderson says that the concept of alternate time lines, where you go back and change history and thereby cause a parallel universe to branch off from the original, and keeping the original timeline intact, is in fact probably false from the experiments they've done.  So he says he strongly wants people to educate themselves on this technology and push our government for disclosure of this technology to the public so that we can make moral and responsible choices with the technology.

Time travel into the future is another possible issue.  Yes, we could possibly go into the future and find the cure for cancer and other technology, or an individual could learn the winning numbers of a lottery.  Of course, this is literally theft from either an individuals intellectual property or from collective society depending on what was taken.  The possibilities of what could be learned are virtually limitless.

Is this really true?  I'm not personally involved, so I don't know how true this is.  However, as far as I can tell this is legitimate, and if so, we all really should be aware and concerned.  This really could rewrite history.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving..!

I have been absent from my blog for a while, but I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving..!  My Thanksgiving was a good one, able to spend the day at my Mom's place, and visiting with my sister and her hubby when they arrived.  I brought over my Sony 40" LCD TV, Blu-ray player, and my collection of Blu-ray movies.  We spent much of the day visiting and watching movies, and of course eating..!  I had 2 plates of food, and several refills of my sister's sweet tea..!  I was the last to leave, but of course, by then I was tired, and ready for some sleep.

It wasn't fancy, but it was with family, and I can honestly say I enjoyed the time spent.  I think that in the end, isn't that all that really matters?  I've had more 'traditional' Thanksgiving holidays in the past that were less enjoyable, so honestly, as long as your enjoying yourself it doesn't matter even if your having cheeseburgers instead of turkey.  (We had ham...  :P )  Anyways, here's to hoping for an enjoyable Christmas holiday next..!

My Veteran Memories

I wish all my fellow Veterans a happy Veteran's Day..!  Our Armed Forces should always be appreciated, because they are the ones who go into harms way for the people of this nation.  It is their presence that keeps potentially hostile nations and peoples at bay.  Whatever you may think about the wars that the politicians send our troops to, we must never forget that the Soldiers, Marines, Seamen, or Airmen are there to protect this country and its people.

I myself served for a while in the U.S. Air Force, and was stationed at Aviano, Italy.  I was there during the Kosovo Air War, and most of the aircraft participating in it were coming out of our base, Aviano Air Base.  I watched the Stealth F-117's taking off quietly, and I saw the protesters sleeping in tents near the front gate of the base, as I passed them on the road while riding my bike.  I saw the protest parade march past the front gate, as protesters shot bottle rockets over the fence.  I recall watching CNN in the break room outside (a small shed like building), and leaning against the doorway, seeing a cargo aircraft coming in for a landing during a live broadcast on the TV.  I looked out towards the runway, and was amazed to be seeing the same exact image on CNN as I was seeing with my own eyes out in the distance.

I was assigned to help off load aircraft coming in for the operation (the Air War), and I helped the marines offload from Cherry Point MCAS, NC.  I got to talk to a lot of the marines, and ask them how the home town was doing (I lived in New Bern, NC which is only a few miles away from Cherry Point).  I was able to watch videos of guided missiles striking their targets, after the aircraft returned from their missions.  You could actually see men through the windows or doorways, running away just moments before the missile struck and the screen went blank.

Right next to my work station, the marines had their Prowlers parked, and they were noisy..!  For a short time the Army had their Blackhawk Helicopters located there, and then they moved to make room for the Prowlers.  I remember watching a U2 Spy plane taking off, and I once saw a huge Russian cargo aircraft parked along the runway.  I remember riding the bus around the entire flight line, just to see the F-117's in their parking areas.  I still remember the view of a flat landscape with vineyards on one side of the base, and off in the distance the massive wall of mountains that make up part of the Alps.  I lived at the foot of that mountain range, and it was quite a view.  Snow covered in the winter, and green on parts during the summer, with a large rocky crag to the east.  I remember seeing para gliders, riding the air during the summer, and wishing I could do it too.

I had quite a few memorable experiences in Aviano, Italy.  I sort of regret not getting out more than I did, but I do at least have some interesting memories of interesting times.  Once more, a Happy Veteran's Day to all my fellow Vets out there, including my Dad and other members of my family, and friends..!

James Cameron's Avatar... the Extended Edition

I suppose it is just smart business.  Release a movie in it's theatrical form on DVD, and then wait about half a year or more and then release an extended edition.  Yes, there is going to be an extended edition DVD of Avatar released this tuesday, or on monday night at midnight.  The movie will have additional footage to lengthen it to 3 hours long, basically a whole extra hour of movie..!  Yes, I bought the movie when it came out, and I got it on blu-ray.  Will I buy it again just to see the extra footage?  I just may, even if not right away.  Yes, I know it's just a scam to get more money out of the fans of the movie.  That's why it works.  We all know it, but we just gotta see all that extra movie footage...

It's kind of like when they did the pilot episode of SG-1 over recently (The Children of the Gods), yes, I have the pilot in it's original format, but they changed it..!  So, I just gotta see what they did different, because I'm a fan...  probably sort of pathetic.  Even when we know we're being scammed, it's too late for the die hard fan.  Like when we know it'll probably be cheaper to wait until the full season of a show comes out as a box set, these days they'll sell it to us bit by but as 'volumes', and many of us will buy it, even though in the long run it is more expensive.  Just so we can get that quick fix...

Back to Avatar, it is the first movie I saw in Digital 3D at the theater.  I was blown away.  It was an amazing experience and it took me days to settle down about it.  I felt that I must have an idea of how many people felt when Star Wars came out for the very first time, totally dazed and blown away by the special effects which were state of the art at the time.  So yeah, I'll probably get the extended edition too, sooner or later.  Oh well.

The Manga I'm reading...

There are currently about four different mangas that I am keeping track of.  They are Naruto, Bleach, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, and Sekirei.  I've been following each of them for a while now, with Naruto being the one I've followed the longest.  For those who are unaware of just what a Manga is, it is basically a comic format story from Japan, usually without any ink coloring.  Manga's cover a large variety of topics and audience types.  There are action/adventure, romance, sports, adult, and many various types of mangas.  All of the mangas I mentioned above are action/adventure types, with Kenichi and Sekirei being partly what is known as Ecchi type mangas.  In other words they cater to male readers with some nudity or near nudity (remember these ARE comic book characters...).  However, although they may skirt the edge of sexuality, they don't actually cross it.  Such manga or anime (cartoons) material that does, is known as Hentai and is basically blatant porn in comic or cartoon format.

Naruto is a young ninja (or Shinobi), that has been fighting for acceptance, or even mere acknowledgement from his own hometown.  He was born during a tragic event that left his hometown scarred and with him being secretly at the center of it.  In the beginning, even Naruto didn't know why all the adults and most of the other children shunned him.  Finally it was revealed to him, that he is the host of a powerful and destructive creature called the Nine Tailed Fox.  Eventually, he does find friendship and acceptance, first, from his school teacher Iruka and later from his team mates.  As the years have passed he has gone from a hard working, but often clumsy ninja beginner (called a Genin), to a still hard working, but powerful ninja sage.  Technically, he hasn't actually been promoted to Chunin (a Journeyman level ninja), but in truth he's become so powerful he doesn't really fit the normal standards anyway.  However, despite his strength and growing skill, he STILL isn't a master level ninja (Jonin), and has more to learn even about his own abilities.  He's only recently begun to learn the truth of his own heritage, and currently in the manga, his entire world is about to enter into a Third Ninja War.  It is a fun read (sometimes pretty funny), with a long and interesting story.

Bleach is about a young high school student named Ichigo Kurosaki, and he can see ghosts.  This ability leads him to meet a Soul Reaper (Shinigami, or Death god), named Rukia.  His encounter with her changes his life, and soon he becomes a Substitute Soul Reaper when Rukia loses her own powers to him, in an act to help him save his family.  However, Rukia's act of compassion was forbidden by the laws of Soul Society (sort of like Heaven...), and ultimately this leads Ichigo to find his own Shinigami powers from within (after he lost the power Rukia gave him), and on a quest in the spirit world to rescue Rukia from execution.  While in Soul Society he comes into contact with powerful foes, and he steadily grows stronger.  Just as his quest to save Rukia seems nearly complete, a new danger comes to light that could threaten both Soul Society and the World of the Living (Earth).  Currently in the manga, that storyline seems to have been completed, but there are new events unfolding that may challenge that assumption.

History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is an often hilarious, but strong action/adventure manga series.  Kenichi begins as a weak cowardly freshman in high school, who wants to be stronger and a better man than the bullies he often faces each day.  On his first day of high school he literally runs right into transfer student Miu Furinji.  She is a beautiful girl who happens to be in his own class, and she makes friends with him immediately.  That evening while walking home from school, Kenichi witnesses a group of thugs harassing an old man, while Miu attempts to make the thugs apologize.  Kenichi attempts to intervene knowing he will be beaten up, but just as that is about to happen Miu displays amazing aerobatic and martial arts skills.  Shortly after, she tells Kenichi of a dojo (martial arts school) where he could go and get strong relatively quickly (assuming he survives the training...).  This turns out to be Miu's own home, with a group of Martial Arts Masters living there, led by her grandfather, referred to as the Elder.  They accept Kenichi as their disciple, and immediately he is placed through hellish training.  The Masters are powerful fighters, but have quirky characters, which often leads to hilarious plots.  Kenichi started out only wanting to learn Karate, but ends up also being trained in Jujitsu, Chinese Kenpo, Muay Thai, and Weapons as well.  He himself never uses weapons but he is trained in how to counter them, and in time begins to learn to combine the various martial arts he is learning into his own unique and effective style.  Currently in the manga he is as strong as he has ever been, but one of his most beloved masters is near death, while fighting for their very lives.

Sekirei is definitely the most 'ecchi' of the mangas I follow.  It follows the story of a young man named Minato Sahashi, trying to get into college, who encounters a beautiful girl that is actually a being called a Sekirei.  There are exactly 108 Sekirei, most of which are cute girls or buxom beauties, with a few males being 'pretty boys'.  All of the Sekirei possess superhuman abilities of various types, and are caught up in a rather cruel game called the Sekirei Plan.  Each Sekirei must find an Ashakabi (or master), and bind themselves with a kiss (the transference of genetic material via the saliva).  Some Ashakabi's are nearly heartless and only use their Sekirei for their own gain, but some of them truly love their Sekirei and want to protect them.  Most Ashakabi only have one Sekirei, but soon Minato finds himself with 6 different Sekirei, with 4 of them being single digit Sekirei (each one has a specific number) which are rumoured to be more powerful than most other Sekirei.  He also has #108 the youngest Sekirei, and his very first Sekirei is #88, named Musubi who has an unusual past for a Sekirei and the potential to be the strongest of all Sekirei.  Musubi was kidnapped as a very young child, and nearly killed, but an older Sekirei, #8 (and also the same type) gave Musubi her own life force.  This has caused unexpected reactions within Musubi, making her even more formidable than she would be alone.  All but one of Minato's Sekirei compete for his affection, with 3 of them claiming the position of 'first wife'.  (He isn't actually married to any of them...).  However, Minato cares for all of them deeply, and strongly tries to avoid any appearance of favoritism.  Currently in the manga, Minato and his Sekirei are trying to help a friend (who is also a Sekirei), by rescuing her Ashakabi.  They succeed in helping her, but perhaps with a tragic end.

These particular mangas all have strong themes about friendship, acceptance, and love.  The stories may vary wildly but all touch on the value of these topics.  Also, in all of these manga, many of the characters (main character included), must overcome self doubts and learn the value of confidence in ones self, and also in ones friends.  Each of these mangas have a large cast of characters, funny moments, and every once in a while, some personal tragedy.  I've enjoyed and continue to enjoy these mangas immensely.  I can definitely recommend these mangas as an enjoyable read, and each of them also happen to have an Anime (animated cartoon series) based on them that are also enjoyable.

Megatons to Megawatts Program...

I was talking to my dad yesterday, and he told me about a project he was involved with.  I think it is interesting and also a positive thing.  It is an agreement between private companies in the U.S. and Russia to convert about 20,000 tons of weapons grade uranium into a Low Enriched Uranium to be used in American Nuclear Power Plants.  According to their webpage, they have converted over 16,000 tons of Uranium so far.  Also, according to their webpage, an average of 1 in 10 American homes have been receiving electricity from power plants using this converted material.

I think this is a great thing.  We are getting rid of dangerous weapons that shouldn't be used at all, and converting them to a peaceful and helpful use.  As I understand it, this program is costing the American people basically nothing, and it is apparently profitable for the private companies both in Russia and the U.S.  Essentially a win/win scenario for all involved.  It would be great if this sort of solution could be used for other areas in which there are ongoing problems.  I can't help but wonder how many other problems in the world might be solved by similar means.  In any case that is a few less nukes to threaten the world, and a few more years of homes and businesses keeping their lights on.

If anyone is interested into looking further into this, check out...  http://www.usec.com