Image by Polimerek

“When a problem with the Droid’s autofocus mysteriously disappeared overnight, paranoid Droid owners assumed that a secret update had been sent over the air to fix it,” Sorrels writes. “This would be rather creepy. It is also wrong. In a comment on an Engadget story about the mystery fix, Android developer Dan Morrill explained what had happened, and the truth is rather stranger than the fiction.” And what was Morrel’s excuse? He says there’s a rounding-error bug in the camera driver’s autofocus routine, apparently controlled via timestamp, that is making the autofocus function on the phone’s camera to malfunction on a 24.5-day cycle. “It’ll work for 24.5 days, then have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again,” Morrel explained. “(November) 17th is the start of a new ‘works correctly’ cycle, so the devices will be fine for a while. A permanent fix is in the works.”

Many of us have experienced Windows Updates (especially on earlier, less-stable versions of some of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, Vista in particular) which were downloaded and installed, thus actually compromising the speed and overall function of our PCs. On numerous occasions shortly after the release of Windows Vista, I was forced to do complete factory reboots to my Vista-sporting laptop, preventing it from downloading any updates for months at a time, until the various updates finally “stabilized.” Thus is the bane of any new operating system; if the buyer leaps on the new trend and buys a newly released OS, they are often forced to become “guinea pigs” to help weed out errors and bugs in the fledgling system’s software. Many early users of Vista were so unhappy with the new version that they were reverting back to Windows XP, which by now, is likely the most stable OS Microsoft offers.

This taken into consideration, users of the brand new Droid phones might begin to express the same feelings toward “secret” updates sent to their already malfunctioning phones. With most OS-based interfaces, users have the option of choosing whether they download and install updates on their computers. The same idea applies to applications used on the popular Blackberry phones, which users can browse the web and find for popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even for ease of accessing online banking.

However, some folks are casting a shady eye toward the notion of “secret updates” sent to Droid phones. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is one of the few on the web screaming bloody murder about Verizon’s actions. “Am I the only one who thinks that if Apple issued an over-the-air iPhone software update — no notice, no confirmation — that it would generate a Category 5 shit storm?” Indeed, if Apple had done this with the popular iPhones, the web would be ablaze with criticisms.So why so much silence about the Verizon situation? Probably because, as stated earlier, the bug was only mistaken for being a secret update, rather than actually turning out to be one. Nonetheless, this sort of activity may have gadget junkies on their toes looking for future conspiracies of the update-kind.

“We’re hoping to see supersymmetry and extra dimensions,” said Bertolucci, who also postulates that, though the discovery would be ground-breaking, the event he warns of would be rather small, if noticeable. “Of course, after this tiny moment the door would again shut, bringing us back to our ‘normal’ four dimensional world … It would be a major leap in our vision of Nature, although of no practical use (for the time being, at least). And of course, no risk to the stability of our world.”

That’s reassuring… until Mothman comes through the dimensional doorway with a legion of Mothmen to take over Earth in the name of King Hybreed Manthuzlar IIV. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Last week I discussed the discovery of a gigantic cosmic “ribbon” observed by NASA scientists, indicative of a magnetic  “heliosphere.” This, in essence, is a gigantic magnetic bubble that fills the sky, emitting no light and having remained invisible until only recently. The “ribbon” has caused quite a stir, since theories as to what causes the strange manifestation vary greatly.

However, at the website Thunderbolts.info, Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott propose a radical theory that the universe is actually electric in nature, and that present theories that look to gravity for answers, quite simply, don’t carry much weight. For Thornhill, the appearance of this cosmic ribbon is only further proof that Earth’s Sun is indeed an electric body.

Before we get to the way the electric theory might interpret this anomaly, it is worth noting that NASA scientists and various others are, at present, befuddled. Quoting David McComas of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, “The thing that’s really shocking is this ribbon,” since it is 10 times more intense than anticipated gusts in the solar wind blowing against the boundary being observed. “Charged particles have apparently become bunched along the ribbon near the boundary, but how they got there is still a big mystery.” McComas is the IBEX principal investigator, and was instrumental in the discovery. “We had no idea this ribbon existed–or what has created it. Our previous ideas about the outer heliosphere are going to have to be revised.”

Along these same lines, space physicist Neil Murphy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California says “I’m blown away completely. It’s amazing, it’s opened up a new kind of astronomy.”

A new astronomy indeed.

As far back as 2006, Thornhill was quoted saying, “The expectations of NASA scientists are not being met because their shock front model is incorrect. The boundary that Voyager has reached is more complex and structured than a mechanical impact.” Looking at the recent data, IBEX has discovered that the heliosheath is dominated not by the Sun but by the Galaxy’s magnetic field. Thornhill says this suggests that, “since the galaxy’s magnetic field traces the direction of interstellar electric current flow in space near the Sun, it is a result that conforms to the proposed electric universe model of galaxies and stars.”

For more on Wallace Thornhill, David Talbott and the Electric Universe, visit this link:

Electric Sun Verified

True, this isn’t exactly “new” technology (for instance, DARPA ihas planned to use this sort of technology to aid in developing prosthetic limbs that are movable in response to to neural commands). However, in this next step in utilizing mechanical benefits from the technology’s practical application, Dr. Christopher James at the University of Southampton has used BCI (brain-computer interface) to illustrate how people can communicate with what he dubs “true brain-to-brain interfacing.”

By hooking up two individuals to EEG amplifiers that monitor specific brain activity, one person initiates “contact” by generating a series of zeros and ones by merely imagining they are moving their left or right arm for zeros or ones respectively. Recognizing the thoughts in this binary code system, the person’s computer then transmits the series of ones and zeros being generated to a second participant’s computer, which causes an LED light to blink at two different frequencies similarly corresponding to one and zero.

Similar to the recognition used in the binary function, the second person’s EEG uses information “recorded” by the subject’s visual cortex as it perceives the flashing LED, translating it back into binary code. “Brain-to-brain communication” is achieved without the use of language or direct active communication such as typing, etc.

Although this process certainly can be qualified a “hands free,” will humans ever master the art of brain-to-brain communication without the aid of machines? I guess many of us awaiting the release of the upcoming film Men Who Stare At Goats, based on the military work of Colonel John Alexander, might suppose that serious attention as been given to such studies in the past, and that covert government remote-viewing programs have in the past existed–and may still be in operation to this day. Still, it seems that the notion of breeding “psychic super-warriors” eludes us in totality, and no “quick fixes” for this particular brain function yet exist. In the meantime, we are relegated to playing hop-skip-and-jump with binary code and brainwaves, but nonetheless, greater things have stemmed from things so seemingly basic–or in the case of this specific coding language–binary.

For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the “heliosphere,” it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one has actually seen it.

Until now.

NASA’s IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft has made the first all-sky maps of the heliosphere and the results have taken researchers by surprise. The maps are bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin (see image above).

“This is a shocking new result,” says IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute. “We had no idea this ribbon existed–or what has created it. Our previous ideas about the outer heliosphere are going to have to be revised.”

Although the ribbon looks bright in the IBEX map, it does not glow in any conventional sense. The ribbon is not a source of light, but rather a source of particles–energetic neutral atoms or ENAs. IBEX’s sensors can detect these particles, which are produced in the outer heliosphere where the solar wind begins to slow down and mix with interstellar matter from outside the solar system.

“This ribbon winds between the two Voyager spacecraft and was not observed by either of them,” notes Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s like having two weather stations, but missing the big storm that runs between them.”

It is fascinating how often weird things like this are discovered in space, and as mentioned toward the end of the article, right between two Voyager craft without detection. No doubt, stranger things lay waiting…

Special thanks to Gralien Report Correspondent Jim Kotajarvi for the news tip.

“What you have now is a very fuzzy, dusty and weak image,” he said. “Then for the sake of completeness I have added the bloodstains, the burns, the scorching because there was a fire in 1532,” Garlaschelli says of his creation. Citing an interest in mysteries of history and the world, he took initiative to try and replicate the shroud years ago, until he finally happened upon this process. Now he says a similar shroud lookalike could be produced in as little as a week. Garlaschelli is also famous for the alleged debunking of myths such as Will-o’-the-Wisp, Kirlian photography and martial artists claiming to produce “touchless knockouts”.

In an opposing viewpoint expressed by Barrie Schwortz at the website Shroud.com, it appears that Garlaschelli may not be the first to claim iron oxide as a source for the mysterious images on the shroud. “It is apparent immediately that (Garlaschelli) knows very little about the actual Shroud of Turin,” Schwortz sasy. “He is not the first to suggest that the Shroud image was produced by red ochre pigment (iron oxide). In fact, he is at least the fourth to have proposed this theory in the last 30 years. Of course, this issue was anticipated by the STURP team in 1978 and a number of highly sensitive tests were performed that determined there was not enough iron oxide on the Shroud to be visible without a microscope. Iron oxide does not constitute the image on the Shroud. They also determined the image areas of the Shroud contain no more iron oxide than the non-image areas. It is more or less evenly distributed across the entire cloth.”

“Obviously,” Schwortz continues, “if the image were made in the manner detailed in the article, we would still find thousands of particles of iron oxide embedded into the image fibers of the linen and these would be clearly visible with just a good magnifying glass. Yet the microscopy done directly on the Shroud in 1978 revealed no such thing. These particles just don’t go away on their own.”

It is interesting to note that, in accordance with what Schwortz asserts about the presence of iron oxide, pollen spores around the forehead (where a crown of thorns was placed on Jesus according to tradition) and other minuscule traces of various substances have in fact been located on various parts of the shroud. STURP’s instruments could detect quantities as small as parts per billion of any substance; interestingly, no paints or pigments (including iron oxide) were included with the team’s findings in 1978. Schwortz also points out that “iron oxide is also a by-product of retting linen and the minute quantities found on the Shroud were pure and most likely the result of the retting process. The iron oxide used in red ochre pigment has many impurities and is rarely if ever found in its pure form.”

Regardless as to just what may have really caused the images to appear on the mysterious Shroud of Turin, debate over the ancient relic’s authenticity will no doubt rage on, in spite of what anyone–scientist or spiritualist–can present as evidence.

Now, according to a new study performed by So Gyu-Boong Jo, Wolfgang Ketterle, and several of their colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, an ultra-cold gas has been observed self-magnetizing in a similar way, according to a team of atomic physicists. What this shows us is: the “messy physics” observed in solids can be modeled with the observation of pristine gases, the researchers say. This fascinating study poses the question: is it possible to magnetize a gas?

Though some in the scientific community are saying the new study’s observations are still questionable, the answer as to why electrons may behave in this manner was already proposed eighty years ago by British theorist E. C. Stoner. Using the the Pauli exclusion principle as a model (stating that no two identical fermions (electrons in this case) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously) Stoner supposed that if the electrons repel each other with enough force, they could lower their total energy by aligning. Gas could become agitated by the flipping of select electrons, increasing its kinetic energy. Since Pauli’s exclusion principle says no two aligned electrons could be in the same place at the same time, electrons would avoid each other, according to Stoner, further reducing energy loss between electrons in close quarters.

Stoner designed an equation that explained this “ferromagnetism”, though it has never been conclusively proven. Ketterle their colleagues at Cambridge thus decided to see if they could use “puffs” of lithium-6 atoms to do so. To read more about their innovative research, follow this link:

Magnetized Gas Points to New Physics

The Black Brant XII was launched on Saturday evening, according to NASA officials. Around the same time of the launch, people in the Northeast portion of the state began calling local television stations to report seeing lights in the sky, although reports of the sightings range from places as far away as Boston.

LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE: Of course, around the time of the launch, I had taken enough time off from professional ufology to perform at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival (indeed, I’ve been known to pick a mean flat-top guitar when Bluegrass is in season). It was lovely weather, and a lively crowd! Still, I would have loved to have seen NASA’s Black Brant light up the skies. Were any Gralien Report readers present in Northern Virginia at the time of the launch, and furthermore, I wonder if anyone witnessed the “strange lights” that caused speculation among so many?

The first example Rob gave had to do with cell phones. “Just look how people act when the get all the way to work or school and realize they forgot to bring their phones with them. That alone shows you how dependent we are on little devices we carry around with us,” Rob explained. Indeed, this seems to be very much the case. People rely on cell phones for much more than just making calls; text messaging, with the popularity of social networking sites like Twitter, may be steadily wrestling the use of the phone calls away from cell phones as a primary means of communication.

Rob and I aren’t the only ones comparing cell phone use to the beginnings of cyborg integration. “As we advance, we will surely become more like cyborgs,” says Joshua P. Warren in his new book The Secret Wisdom of Kukulkan, “blurring the line between the current concept of man and machine. It’s already happening. How often do you see someone with a tiny cell phone/computer practically glued to their ear? In the future, we will be a combination of organic and inorganic.” However, our dependence on phones, according to some, isn’t necessarily a good thing. “Because of our technology dependency on cell phones, we don’t know anyone’s phone number,” writes Sharalyn Hartwell at the Examiner. “Think about it, when was the last time you actually dialed a phone number, rather than just hit send on a name in your address book?”

Strange as it may sound, this very aspect of devices like phones rests at the heart of the debate. Sure, we don’t remember telephone numbers anymore because we store them in our phones. The down side to this is obvious: what happens when we lose or forget our phone? How do we make an emergency call if we don’t remember anybody’s number? This is an obvious concern, but look at it from the other extreme; in most circumstances, we don’t have to recall phone numbers any longer, thanks to the convenience of having a device that stores such information for us. In essence, we’re outsourcing human memory into little devices like cell phones, potentially freeing up “space” in our minds, similar to plugging an external hard drive to your computer. By storing all the “heavy stuff” on an external drive, your computer runs faster, right? Could the same not work for the bio-electric computer between our ears?

Looking at other technology that might do this, my friend Rob also suggested GPS systems used in vehicles today. If we aren’t having to allocate so much of our attention to getting where we’re going (and more importantly, how to get there), does this potentially make us more alert drivers by “freeing up” a little extra hard drive space? In the future, will this sort of technology improve to the extent that we’ll be able to use cyborg technology to introduce the equivalent of “random access memory (RAM) into our bodies, allowing us to process information more quickly and, in essence, making humans more efficient, intelligent beings? For the sake of argument, one must consider that aliens alleged to be visiting Earth might already do this, and with all the discussion of hive-like behavior or “the collective” (i.e. the notion of a sort of “shared intelligence”) described by abductees, it certainly seems that humans might at some point consider using information systems to back up our own memories, not just information stored on other computers. A virtual collective, if you will.

But when you really stop to think about it, this too already exists.

With the profuse blogging, Twittering, texting, upload and storage of videos and photos and other info exchanges that occur daily, the Internet is already becoming that extension of consciousness I discussed earlier. Indeed, the great “data cloud” that is the World Wide Web is, according to many experts in technology, already a “brain”. Jeffrey Stibel, author of the book Wired for Thought: How the Brain is Shaping the Future of the Internet, writes that “The Internet is a brain. By this, I mean that the Internet is more than a reflection of intelligence; it actually manifests intelligence. This is because the Internet (unlike computers) has evolved with many of the same basic structures and abilities as a brain. You may argue that “is a brain” and “is like a brain” are merely a matter of semantics, but subscribing to either version will help you better understand the Internet.”

Pop culture warns us of the eminent threat of our computer systems ultimately becoming self-aware, from stories and films ranging from the Science Fiction of Issac Assimov to the popular Terminator film franchise. However, Stibel says this may not be a great concern. “The Internet may never be ‘conscious’ in the human sense (and who needs it?),” he writes, “but it will be (and already is) capable of creating a collective consciousness. This to a great extent, accounts for the success of the Internet.”

Indeed, our use of the Internet and its interactivity–right down to the act of me writing this blog and posting it here on the Web–fulfills the notion that we’re steadily integrating our thoughts in a new kind of information exchange; outsourcing memories, brain activities, and thought processes to computers that ease our heavy mental load. It’s the way of the future, of course… but more importantly, it’s the way of today. Just by looking around us, we can see the future already, and it gets a little closer with each passing nano-second.

The first major search item in the Google search is the Wikipedia entry for “Crop Circle” (although Josh Williams with the Washington UFO Examiner wrote late last night–9:57 PM on September 14th, to be exact–that some Pacific rim countries were the ones showing the new logo. This limited reporting of the appearance of the logo, of course, was likley due to information streaming in as Google was still in the process of erecting the image on all relevant servers in the correct countries… and since bloggers like Williams were posting the news as it happened). The Wikipedia entry on the subject includes the following interesting information:

“According to material published by Nancy Talbott’s “BLT Research Team”, anomalies found at some circle sites in England and the US are consistent with them having been created when localized columns of ionized air (dubbed plasma vortices/vortexes) form over standing crops. Talbott claims minuscule spheres of magnetic iron have also been found, distributed either around the perimeter of the circle or linearly, and that this suggests a very complex delivery system.”

The article goes on to say that “Claims of bent or extended nodes in the stems of cereal grasses have also been made, allegedly suggesting that the crop has been subjected to a very rapid electromagnetic burst, causing the moisture inside the stems to expand, stretching or bending the nodes to almost three times their length. Talbott claims holes have been found in the nodes, suggesting a rapid microwave burst, causing the moisture to turn into steam, which then forces its way out, leaving expulsion cavities.”

Is there a pattern to Google’s use of paranormalia in the images appearing on its homepage, or are they merely placing random images for the sake of piquing public interest? What do you think Google is up to? In the meantime, you might enjoy watching this video, which showcases all the crop circles appearing on Google Earth, set to the Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly: