So the big news was that NASA--with the help of Google Brain-- discovered a twin of our solar system is distant space. When I first heard that NASA was going to make a big "mystery" announcement on Thursday, I knew we were going to get hit with some 2017-proof high-ritualism and I was not disappointed.
In fact, it downright felt like they were playing a round of Secret Sun Scrabble...
So the takeaway on this announcement is that NASA and Google's AI have found a twin solar system of ours called Kepler-90. When they said it was in Draco I immediately thought back to my star map of Beauty and the Beast, which all kicks off in Draco.
And those of you wondering why Pluto was demoted to a planetoid, this may be your answer: they found this twin a while back and needed to make the numbers add up.
I wonder, though; does that little pearly there "tie our own," or bind it?
I wonder, though; does that little pearly there "tie our own," or bind it?
And just because they absolutely had to, NASA brought in an AI that replicates the human brain to bless this little revelation. And that gives us the requisite tie-in to the...
Mere Disruption is no longer enough. A reader clued me in on the "Creative Destruction Lab" up in Canada, a country that lurches further into Techno-Globalite dystopia with every passing day.
But don't feel bad if they destroy your community, your livelihood and your future. Because they'll be destroying them creatively. Or perhaps artisanally.
But don't feel bad if they destroy your community, your livelihood and your future. Because they'll be destroying them creatively. Or perhaps artisanally.
Oh, look at this faculty member here...
...from the self-described demonic gateway operation, D::Wave Systems.
Precious. Absolutely precious.
Another reader informs me that Perl (y Dew-Drops) is out and that Python is the new programming language for machine learning. Makes sense...
...especially since Python's logo kind of reminds of these two charmers. How about you?
And just for the synchy larfs, we also had this story about a giant python found in the Everglades.
17 feet long.
Because of course.
We also saw this story, about an ancient Roman resort-- the Las Vegas of Rome-- being discovered 17-hundred years after it sank beneath the waves.
Which brings us to...
So when I heard about this NASA mystery announcement I said to y'all to "Keep an eye out for a planet in Lyra or another constellation connected to the Heaven or the Vegas mega-rant."
Now they say Kepler90 is in Draco, but take a look at this map here for a minute...
...anything stick out at you?
Oh, Vega? Yeah, me too.
Which makes perfect sense because the Kepler Mission was focused on the chunk of space between Cygnus and Lyra.
And just for no particular reason except some awesome sciencey-scienceness, the Cygnus was launched from ISiS last week as well.
Man, I can smell that science from here.
Cygnus takes us back to the Mysteries and to the many ancient analogs of a particular doomed young troubadour who you may have heard a thing or two about around these parts.
Plus, Chester. Which brings us back to the...
By a sheer fluke of absolute dumb luck Cygnus and Lyra are front and center on 2017's Burning Man onsite map.
You know, the "Radical Ritual" Burning Man.
You know, the "Radical Ritual" Burning Man.
Thanks to a FB reader for turning me on to this. Do also note that Lyra is conjoined with Pisces, the twin fishes.
Yeah, it makes no sense to me either.
Yeah, it makes no sense to me either.
I guess this poor soul took the theme a little too seriously. His ritual was a bit too radical for a lot of Burners.
But let's get back to a more recent Vegan...
This was the takeaway for some of your more austere sciencey-science types. Actually, the preliminary scan did no such thing; it simply failed to detect an active signal.
Some astronomers have claimed our Vegan Visitor is possibly an alien probe with a broken drive, after all. There's still a lot of data to sift through and three more scans to be made.
If in fact this is real and not some radical ritual. It's still up in the air.
In that light, I did find it amusing that piece was written by Canadian Transhumanist George Dvorsky, who shares a name with this cat....
...which gives another Secret Sun Scrabble winner.
I couldn't help but notice this story, of a Sgt. Michael Virga spotting a fireball, even though it's not Fireball Season yet. I think he wrote it a citation.
But Virga? Fucking Virga? Seriously? Hilarious.
Apple is really going for the Secret Sun Scrabble sweepstakes by headlining Vega and Beauty and the Beast of the Apocalypse. And I have to say the graphics they're using on the iMac page are tres 23Envelope.
And plus, that dark side thing, because they're all big Kirby fans. Or Star Wars fans. Whatever.
It doesn't really matter because, as regular readers realize...
In the middle of all these monkeyshines, Blue Origin launched its New Shepard giant space dick rocket. Contrary to public opinion, it's not named after the late-period Clash guitarist, but reportedly said to be named after the Mercury 7 astronaut, giving us 49.
But I won't think any less of you if you think this is actually the new True Shepherd of Anu.
And Blue Origin's new logo is considerably less Sumerian but in light of the falling feather, considerably more Vegan.
Maybe they designed it to fit in with the theme of their first test vehicle, Charon.
Charon, being named after the ferryman who took dead souls to Hell on the River Styx.
Speaking of the River Styx....
Big, big buzz on Guillermo Del Toro's Abe Sapien in Love Shape of Water, especially at the Golden Globes.
And because it's 2017, it's capping off the year with a bookend tribute to Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.
Because we haven't had enough groin-kickingly blatant Sibyl syncs this year already.
Or transgenic sex, which you'll be seeing plenty more of in the days to come. But damn if that promo photo doesn't call to mind another transgenic sex yarn...
...namely Alan Moore's disused X-Files pitch Lovecraft tribute, Neonomicon. Not exactly the happiest precursor, in light of the #metoo crusade and all.
All this takes us on the scenic route to the...
OJ Simpson was released from a Las Vegas prison the morning of the Route 91 Harvest shootings.
The Juice has fallen far. It seems like yesterday he was wearing a resplendent orange hippie-shirt and like, rapping, I mean, really rapping with Tim Buckley.
Tim Buckley was briefly in a band with Jackson Browne called the Orange County 3, just in case you weren't aware. Which I wasn't until one of my research partners clued me in.
There's your minimum daily allowance of Orange and death omens. Take with water.
The synchitude is all compounded by the fact that Browne was once famously paired with Daryl Hannah, most recently seen in the Wachowski Sisters' Sense8.
Aside from playing a genetically-engineered human replacement in Blade Runner, Hannah played a mermaid with an Orange tail in Splash! (1984). Interesting.
What do you say we try another round of Secret Sun Scrabble? I've got this...
...how about you?
Speaking of 1984 and transgenic she-creatures, Huffington Post put this 2014 story back up last week. I guess for some ritual purpose or other. And it's about a professional mermaid named--4,3,2,1-- Hannah Fraser.
Or as her friends call her, Inanna Fraser.
They chose to show a zoom of Fraser's eye there, apparently since they think it looks spooky and alien.
You'll have to try a little harder than that, Huff-n-Puff.
So I guess mermaiding is a big thing in bonnie auld Scotland. Not sure why.
And this horribly tragic story, which really doesn't seem particularly newsworthy to me. But I guess it's all about keeping mermaids in the news, along with genetics and reproduction and the like.
And just in time for the CRISPR human trials. Timing!
The Tasmanian Tiger is also in the news again, since genetic engineers thing they can bring it back to life. They claim they'll need to splice in DNA from other animals, however, since the Tiger's genetic lineage was faltering.
Of course, to these people everyone's DNA is faulty and needs splicing from other animals-- or Vegans-- to reach perfection.
That sound you hear is Michael Crichton spinning in his grave.
I wonder what he'd have made of the ...
Oh, fuck. I don't even know how to respond to this. Fucking experts. Into the sea with the lot of you.
And this guy, too. And his new AI-religion gospel. And that All-Seeing Eye.
Go on, then; into the sea.
And all of these ones, too.
Because we not only have a robot that's become a citizen, we now have a State Minister for AI. It probably won't give you the warm and cuddlies when you realize which nation that is.
I'll give you a hint.
Here's an exercise in irony. And by irony, I mean terror.
It goes like this; that Quartz article there warns that AI will "limit our choices," but the search item read...
... so what happened? Did they change it out of an overabundance of caution or did an AI change it for them? Neither answer fills me with optimism, truth to tell.
Now, some say this AI thing is all hat and no cattle and the technology doesn't remotely live up to the hype. Let's all hope so.
