Fig. 1: Aerial. (This is a GA outfit, by the way, so don't even think of flagging it.)
Fig. 2: Ariel.
You might be interested to see my Second Life angelic avatar, of which I have a snapshot here. I have a demonic avatar too; I present front and rear views for your amusement.
Site Map
Click on the link to go to that part of this page. It'll appear at the top of the browser window. You can hit backspace to return here.
Click the graphic above to visit my public IMVU chat scene.
Come visit my new Lively room from Google! Click on the picture above. If need be, you'll be asked to create a google account (or use an existing one) and you must install a very small application. Then, it'll run right in the window above. One big diff between IMVU and Lively: you can walk around! How cool is that?
About Me
pebble
Avatar since: 09/17/04
Female
Age: 46 Age Verified
United States - CA
Last log on: 10/11/08
In case you had any doubts about the coup which just took place, I refer you to this article, which outlines the new powers of our Executive branch, and how it is backed by the military in order to force its will. The President can deploy that military against Congress, protesters, anyone he deems a "threat", without accountability. Even you. And these powers transfer to the next President too. Don't look to either of the candidates to save you. (10/09/2008)
Does anyone else find it amusing that the man Paulson appointed as the director for the "bailout" program (also a Goldman Sachs executive!) is named Kneel Cash-Carry? Oh, I'm sorry: it's spelled Neel Kashkari. My mistake. P.S. Is it just me, or does he look like someone who should play a Bond villain? (10/07/2008)
The American Experiment is truly over. With the passage of the outrageous Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (over the objections of the people), the United States has officially become a fascist dictatorship. Do you think me a reactionary fool? Look up the meaning of the word fascism and then look at the sweeping, and totally unconstitutional powers granted to our new economic czar, and our executive branch, neither of whom have any accountability to the governed. Also be aware that the US Army is now being deployed within our own borders (also unconstitutional) for "Homeland deployments" in preparation for any crises which may occur. The country you thought you lived in finally gave its last breath on October 1, 2008. Welcome to the New Reality -- this was an engineered catastrophe and things are about to get a whole lot rougher. For a peek ahead, I recommend Naomi Wolf's excellent interview on the recent coup and the the challenges it represents for the American people. (10/06/2008)
Want to understand the reasons for the current US economic collapse? Watch this brief video and you will know more than 90% of the population. Don't expect this to air on mainstream media any time soon. (10/07/2008)
The US military's Unmanned Pentagon Spokesdrone has successfully completed its first operational deployment. In light of this breakthrough, the spokesdrone will likely be used to neutralize difficult questions in a much wider theater, including the talk-show circuit. God damn, I love The Onion.(Dies laughing.) (08/12/2008)
I have always loved submarines. This link shows a variety of amazing subs, both real and imaginative. (08/07/2008)
It's only a crappy bootleg video, but I can't help feeling excited anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the very first taste of Tr2n. (I've been told by friends in the industry this is simply a short test done by Digital Domain, and doesn't represent an actual movie project. But here's hoping!) End of line. (07/27/2008)
On July 4, 2008 my Second Life avatar Pebble Garden will be exactly three years old. (07/02/2008)
I finally finished reading the entire 26-volume Gor series. My review is found below. (07/02/2008)
Marebrown won a prize for being the 10,000th visitor to my page! Congratulations (06/19/2008)
Updated the section on my current and recent book readings. (06/13/2008)
I just bought an 8GB Sansa View portable music player, which I can use in my car with a special cassette adapter. I must say I love the damn thing. And even better, it's not a fricking iPod! (While I acknowledge the iPod itself is a pretty sexy bit of tech, I loathe the iTunes software and Apple, as a company. It's so nice to have an alternative.) (06/03/2008)
One of the coolest things I've seen in ages is a site called www.librivox.org, filled with hundreds, maybe thousands, of public-domain audiobooks, read by volunteers. You can download them as .mp3s, subscribe to them as daily podcasts, or simply stream them. My dad, who is an oil painter, really likes listening to them as he works, and they make my commutes much more enjoyable. It's a great way to dive into the classics without eyestrain! (06/07/2008)
Added a picture of Lotus' scratch-built L-39 for FSX, which will be released as payware around the end of the year. (05/17/2008)
Changed Fig. 12 to show a video of dolphins blowing bubble-rings.
Added a video of a live performance depicting the thousand-armed bodhisattva Quan Yin. (04/30/2008)
I've added a new chat transcript, Cold-Call Master for your enjoyment.(04/18/2008)
Added a section called The Red Pill. Not for the faint of heart. (02/01/2008)
I am now the proud owner of one of these. Woo hoo! I've lusted after that sucker for some time now. (01/07/2008)
Jazzkat just made two wonderful products that I asked him to create: a placeable green screen wall object and a matching floor piece. Now any room can be turned into a screenshot room. This is very handy because some rooms have excellent lighting schemes I want to use in my photoshopped avatar pics. Kudos to you, Jazz! I encourage everyone to support this wonderful developer.(01/06/2008)
I just measured the total screen length of my homepage, and it came out to nearly 23 feet in length. Wow!
I've rearranged things and added a site map for easier navigation. (12/17/2007)
Pebble: The Quickstart Guide
Vital information: 46 years old. Married 18 years. Two kids, aged 14 and 12. Lives in Los Angeles (it IS the City of the Angels, after all!). Works as a visual effects artist for film and TV.
Pebble functions best with users who are:
Polite.
Intelligent.
Interesting.
Outside-the-box thinkers.
Able to type complete sentences, with real words.
At least 18 years old. Older is better. She does make exceptions, though, for exceptional people.
Respectful of diverse lifestyles, orientations, and beliefs.
Pebble is not compatible with users who:
Begin a chat with nothing to say.
Are bored and expect to be unilaterally entertained.
Ask for her name. "Pebble" will do.
Expect any cyber. You're not getting any.
Hug or kiss without her permission.
Beg for credits or gifts. It won't work.
Habitually type "ur" instead of "your".
Endeavor to convert her to their religious or political beliefs.
Randomly invite her to a party chat, just to fill a chair.
Use opening lines such as these:
"asl"
"hey babe u r hott!"
"r u bi?"
"whats ur name?"
(goes straight for the hug or kiss emote)
Any of these actions may trigger an immediate window-close. Or she may continue chatting in hopes of gleaning a new entry for her Hall of OMFG.
Pebble does not accept gifts
Pebble doesn't have a wishlist. Her inventory is quite full and there's nothing she needs. She loathes stickers almost as much as shoutouts. The only gift she desires is the pleasure of your scintillating company.
Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ
Damn, girl, why so much stuff on your page? Surely no one reads it all! I wanted my page to feel a bit like a chat, where I can take all the time I need to tell you about me and my interests. That way I won't have to type it all out again when we do finally meet. And hopefully you'll feel like you already know me then.
Why is pebble talking about herself in third person? That's kinda creepy. Observant readers will note she only uses third person in this User's Guide; it is meant to amplify the humor value of the material. Warning: Referring to one's self in third person is an advanced technique and is not recommended for daily home use.
Does pebble have a cam? No. Nor does she share pictures. And guys? She doesn't want to see any of your pictures, either.
Does pebble have a blog? Why yes, she does! You can find it here. She updates it every few days.
Does pebble have IM? Yes, she does. You may reach her at:
Yahoo: pebble_garden
MSN: pebble_garden at hotmail.com
Be aware, though, that she is usually at work when online and may not be able to chat. She also doesn't suffer fools.
It takes forever for her to load in my chat! Pebble is on a crappy laptop before 7:30 Pacific Time, and it only grudgingly runs IMVU. Be patient.
What's the best time to catch pebble online? Between 5:30pm - 10:00pm Pacific Time.
I barely started chatting and pebble disappeared! It could be one of two things. Either her laptop crashed IMVU, or you may have used an inappropriate opening line, as listed above in the "Not Compatible With" checklist. The most likely error was the use of asl, which she hates.
Pebble said goodbye and left after only a few minutes of chatting! What happened? Very likely you failed to hold her interest. She believes an inviter should come prepared to discuss something. If she invites you to chat, you can be sure she'll have plenty to talk about.
Pebble visited my homepage and didn't leave a message. Well, tough. She leaves a message when she feels like it.
How can I earn credits? Pebble gets asked this a lot, so she might as well answer it here. You can:
Beg for them, which just makes people angry and rarely works.
I'm under 18. It's not fair that pebble sometimes blocks minors from sending her a message! Fair or not, 90% of the "copy and paste this message for free credits" messages she gets are from users 13-17 years old. She's tired of reminding people such messages:
don't work
only piss people off
violate the IMVU Terms of Service
clog up her 'blocked' list.
It's so unfair that pebble usually doesn't chat with anyone under 18! There are two main reasons she rarely talks to anyone under 18 years of age. First, it's too big an age-gulf; she has zero interest in the usual teen topics. Second, she wishes to avoid any potential problems involving inappropriate interactions with minors in today's insanely litigious society.
What's pebble's political affiliation? Pebble is an optimistic anarchist. For the record, "anarchy" does not mean blowing stuff up or chaos, but rather no ruler. She believes that we need to get past our addiction to having "leaders" who absolve us of responsibility, and begin to live as mature, sentient beings. Many people tell pebble that her optimistic anarchism is foolish, pie-in-the-sky, and naive. So be it. She'd rather strive for an ideal, and perhaps fail, than not try at all. Pebble does not expect anyone else to share her beliefs. That said, she would rather have a strict Constitutionalist President, such as Ron Paul, over any of the other current candidates. You may be amused to know that pebble was a Republican a long time ago, until she realized they were all just as corrupt and dishonest as the other party. She was a Libertarian for a while, until they sold out and supported this ridiculous "War on Terror". So now she's thrown up her hands and decided the whole system is about as important, and as real, as WWF wrestling.
What is pebble's religious affiliation? Pebble is intensely spiritual without subscribing to any religion. She was raised as a Lutheran, but abandoned that faith -- and all religion -- at around age 17 when pastors told her to stop asking questions about the bible. If you're curious, here's a flowchart which represents the reasoning behind that decision. After 20 years as an atheist/agnostic, she decided that view was just as dogmatic as the religion she had left earlier. At that point she began to investigate the possibility of a spiritual dimension to reality, and found it. What did she find? Go look for yourself. Her discovery was intensely personal and you may find something different. It is pebble's view that all faiths (and non-faiths) are true. Even those that contradict each other, or are made up out of thin air. So don't bother trying to convert her. Simply enjoy your faith, she'll enjoy hers, and you'll get along swimmingly.
What is pebble's sexual orientation? She's not telling. Suffice it to say she does what she wants, when she wants, and with whomever she likes. You might gain some insight from her statements on religion and politics above.
I asked pebble to vote for me in a contest, and she got all huffy. Waaaaah! Pebble votes when -- and for whomever -- she pleases. If you have to ask people to vote for you, then you don't deserve to win anyway.
Where did pebble get her homepage layout? Everything you see here was hand-coded by pebble; she uses Notepad and Photoshop to create web pages. If you want to learn HTML a good place to start is with Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML & XHTML in 21 Days by Laura Lemay.
How can I get an av pic like pebble's? Learn to use Photoshop. Here's a hint: Google search terms like "photoshop" and "tutorial". Once in a blue moon she'll make one for a friend, but be warned: you have to be extremely nice to her, and fascinating as well. Begging will guarantee it won't happen.
What's pebble's biggest pet peeve right now? People who make avatar profile pics far larger than the official maximum of 160x220 pixels. They blow up everyone's careful page layouts, and are totally lame. The only thing a massive profile pic says about a person is "I'm insecure, selfish, uncreative, and I suck." And having now ranted, pebble feels better. Oh, and many thanks to ISAWHIM who posted codes for making these monster profile pics shrink to standard size!
What about guys who enter the chat and are quiet for long periods? Isn't pebble afraid they're typing one-handed? Pebble's more inclined to blame a flaky IMVU connection. However, she has no objection if such prurient typists wish to chat with her. So long as they are polite, witty, and keep it to themselves, let them come.
Oh no, I have a Mature Pass! Will pebble still talk to me? Not to worry, pebble has a Mature Pass too. Just don't expect instant cyber action and you'll be fine. Remember, a little politeness goes a long way!
Why is pebble so hard to chat with? She sounds kind of snooty! No, actually she's not. In fact, she loves meeting and getting to know people, as long as they're willing to share the entertainment burden. She puts exactly as much effort into the chat as you do. If your contribution is zero, so is hers.
OMG pebble accepted my chat invite! What do I talk about? Pebble is interested in your hobbies, the books you have read, your favorite movies, your thoughts on the nature of reality, and any unsual experiences you may wish to share. Note to guys: She is not terribly interested in how you look, the size of your genitalia, or the fact that you work out a lot. Cars and sports bore her to tears.
Yeah, but my car is really tricked out and superphat! If your car doesn't fly -- as in literally leave the ground and fly around -- pebble is unimpressed. (Okay, she takes that back. There is *one* car she considers cool. The Ariel Atom.)
Why does pebble's homepage load so fast? That's because there is only ONE sticker on her page, and one player widget. By the way, pebble tries to view every chat partner's page -- unless it takes more than 20 seconds to load, at which point she usually aborts.
What's on pebble's iPod? Pebble does not own an iPod. She detests Apple's marketing strategy, which is based on a study of cults and their fiercely loyal followers. For pebble, electronic gadgets are tools, not an expression of lifestyle...and she doesn't own very many.
What's pebble's favorite recipe? Actually, she has two. She's very fond of Many-Flavored Chicken and Vegetables, which is easy to prepare and rather exotic tasting, but in a fun way. And this ramen recipe is absolutely delicious. It's as good as some of the stuff she's had in well-respected ramen houses.
What is pebble's favorite restaurant? Well, she has a few top picks, but the one place she craves on a regular basis is the famous Tito's Tacos in Culver City, Los Angeles. It's cheap, delicious, and their salsa is legendary. I strongly recommend their famous shredded beef taco with cheese, or any of their burritos, and of course their incredibly fresh and unusual salsa. Oh my god, I'm salivating now. Must...have...Tito's...
A higher-res peek at Pebble
Me, in a word:Geek. (I got a score of "70.01972% - Geek God" on this online geek test.)
My past lives: They include: alien, dolphin, elf, and photon. No, seriously. I have a feeling this is my very last life, though.
Why the name 'pebble'? Pebbles are small, unremarkable things. They are the voyagers of the rock family, light enough to be nudged by wind and water from the mountaintop all the way to the sea. They are made smooth by the countless collisions of their slow journey. Beneath their dull, drab exteriors may lie surprisingly vibrant colors.
I love to read. If you want a laugh, take a look at the lower half of my bookshelf; this is about 10% of all the books I own.
Here you can view my Shelfari bookshelf, showing what I'm currently reading, and what I've read, and my ratings. Or, if you're too lazy, just keep reading below.
Here's what I'm reading right now:
I'm about 75% done writing a book called Dangerous at the moment. It has an *ahem* adult theme akin to Elizabeth McNeill's Nine and a Half Weeks. It's eating into a lot of my reading and chatting time. But that's a good thing! I haven't been this jazzed about writing in years. I *wish* my Muse was helping me write the science-fiction trilogy I have in my head, but she has other ideas. Maybe this is the warm-up!
Kuhiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey. I really do like Carey's alternate history and the anguissette Phedre no Delauney who dwells in it. This is the third book in this series, it's fabulous.
The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini. My god, can this man write an enthralling tale. I devoured his Scaramouche and this promises to be just as good.
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This utopian novel describes a land populated by parthenogenetically-reproducing women, a land without a single trace of man. It's a pleasant enough place, but rather bland, and eroticism has long since been supplanted by selfless, communal motherhood. No thank you.
Recently read:
Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabatini (Grade: A+). As one reviewer in Amazon put it, "Duels. Intrigue. Romance. More duels. Moral and political introspection. Its all here. Enjoy!" I fully concur. This book is in the public domain, so you can buy the book at the link above, or download it as e-text from Project Gutenberg, or as an .mp3 audiobook from www.librivox.org.
The 26-volume Gor saga
Magicians of Gor (Grade: C) is the penultimate, 25th Gor book. I skipped ahead and read the 26th book, Witness of Gor before this. While Magicians isn't stellar writing, it's something of a high point for the last half of the massive Gor series. I was surprised that the ratio of actual plot versus mind-numbing, repetivite Gor-lecture was about 60/40%, a quite unexpected thrill. The book actually managed to revivify my interest in the books, and I'm glad I saved this one for last.
A Princess of Mars (Grade: C+) and The Gods of Mars (Grade: C) by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It's evident "John Norman" based his Gor books heavily on Burroughs' Mars books. I greatly enjoyed these, but the endless cycle of peril-escape-peril-escape grew wearying. One never gets to spend enough time with the proud, beautiful, perennially naked Dejah Thoris because John Carter is always too busy rescuing her.
She by H. Rider Haggard. (Grade: B+) This book is in the public domain, so I listened to the Librivox recording in my MP3 player while commuting. You can also download the book as a text file from Project Gutenberg. I just love florid Victorian adventures, especially when they contain a supernatural element. The titular She of the book is Ayesha, a supernaturally beautiful woman who lives for two thousand years awaiting the reincarnation of her soulmate, and presents a complex and unforgettable character. Highly recommended, if you don't mind that sort of writing.
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey, book 2 of the series. (Grade: A) It's very good, and scratches the same itch as my beloved Maia by Richard Adams. I actually liked this better than the first book. I'll be diving into the third book soon.
The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. (Grade: A) My god, could that woman write intelligent, affecting erotica.
James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips. (Grade: A+) A remarkable biography of a writer who was a complete enigma to everyone, until his true identity as a woman was revealed in 1976 after a quarter-century of penning challenging, audacious science fiction. Phillips does a breathtaking job of objectively portraying a complex person who resorted to using a swarm of identities to work around cultural and internal roadblocks to self-expression.
My favorite genres include science, history, philosophy, and spirituality. I also enjoy poetry, classic literature, Michael Crichton-style thrillers, and a little fantasy. I enjoyed the Gor series by John Norman, though the first five books were much better than the remaining 21, which were apparently ghost-written. It read like a mix of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ayn Rand, and a whole lot of bondage and domination. What surprised me is how romantic, adventurous, and funny it was. I used to love science fiction passionately, but lately very few SF authors thrill me the way John Varley or William Gibson did. I really loved the collection of Cordwainer Smith's work entitled The Rediscovery of Man, which shows how timeless good SF can be.
Desert Island Fiction Collection: If I were stuck on a desert island with only five novels, they would be:
The kind of books I like best almost always have to do with explorations of hidden, parallel worlds.
Favorite novels: (In addition to those five megabooks listed above.) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. Contact by Carl Sagan. The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin. Story of O by Pauline Reage. I'll think of more as time goes by.
The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin. The scam that is the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal nor a reserve!)
The Center of the Cyclone by John C. Lilly, Md. Lilly is famous for his work in dolphin communication. He also invented the isolation tank, and was most likely the inspiration for the movie Altered States.
A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram. I'm totally into emergent processes such as fractals and cellular automata, so I'm excited to see someone take that ball and run with it.
Out of Control by Kevin Kelly. On emergent, dynamically metastable self-organizing systems, in all their various (and surprising) guises. The link allows you to read the whole book online, courtesy of the author himself.
The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. One of the big names in quantum computation talks about the implications of living in a multiverse.
Closer to the Light by Dr. Melvin Morse (his website) discusses the near-death experiences of children as young as age 3, which are significant because they are not, presumably, influenced by complex religious conditioning.
I don't watch TV. I sometimes watch Cartoon Network and Nick over my kids' shoulders, but that's it.
I love video/computer games. If I'm going to waste time, I'd much rather do so interacting with something than letting the television lull me into passivity. See below for a list of some of my favorite games.
I am crazy about flight simulators. If there's enough interest I'll even include some flight-training lessons I'm making in YSFlight files. That way you can download the examples and watch them, then try the lesson yourself. Let me know if this is something you'd be interested in. For starters, here is a YS recording I made of flying an F-18, taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier.
My proudest simulator achievements:
Real world: Going up in a real Cessna 172 with my friend Lotus and finding out that years of flight simulator experience did indeed make it possible for me to fly a real plane. And a big thank you to Lotus for that amazing birthday gift!
Orbiter: Taking off from Cape Canaveral in the Delta Glider and flying to Low Earth Orbit, where I rendezvoused and docked with the ISS. In three-quarters of a single orbit. Manually.
Flight Simulator X:Chase The Sun World Tour Flying with Lotus and friends around the world in 17h 23m in SR-71 Blackbirds. That's more than twice as fast as the real world record in a B-1 bomber, and they had the benefit of in-flight refueling. We did not. The average ground speed was 1378.5 knots, and the total distance covered was 23930 nautical miles.
Flight Simulator 2004: Flying a Spitfire around the world in real time, with real weather, with my friend Lotus. It required over 76 legs, about 160 hours of flight time.
Coronado Naval Base, San Diego CA: Being allowed to fly for an hour in a $30 million SH-60 Seahawk simulator.
My best guns-kill ever: Taxiing WWII prop fighter vs. airborne modern jet fighter I was in an empty YSflight server, flying touch-and-gos in a P-51 Mustang, when someone named DOOMLORD (can you say "14-year-old"?) hops in with a Mirage 2000. He closed rapidly on my six and started shooting. Rather than turning to engage, I jinked a little and continued my downwind leg as he blew past at 400kts. By the time he'd pulled his nose back around I was on final approach, just getting ready to flare. His rounds struck the ground all around me, but he didn't score a solid hit. I touched down just as he zoomed overhead, flying parallel down the runway at 200ft. I braked, my tail wheel came to rest on the runway and I rolled down the runway, nose-high. He did a sharp vertical pull up at the far end of the runway -- right into my gunsight. I couldn't resist squeezing the trigger! My six wing cannons ripped him to shreds and he exploded in a beautiful fireball. It must have really chapped his hide because he immediately respawned and made a beeline for me, but I logged before he could avenge his death.
Musically, I prefer electronica. Mostly I listen to the streaming channels on Digitally Imported. I also like classical, and some minimalist music, too, but lately it doesn't excite me.
I'm intensely curious about life, the universe and everything. I am equal parts rational/skeptical and spiritual/mystical, as paradoxical as that sounds. I am fascinated by science (quantum mechanics, astronomy, gravity theory). I'm interested in paranormal and metaphysical/spiritual stuff. I love reading about near-death and out-of-body experiences. I've been dabbling with remote viewing, enough to satisfy myself that it really works. Try it yourself. All of which makes me conclude that Mind can operate outside the brain -- at the very least -- and may in fact not require a brain at all, except as a kind of temporary attachment-point to bodies.
I have disdain for most authority, be it scientific, religious, political, or cultural. I think we're better off without relying on "experts" telling us what to do or think.
About my "there is no spoon" tagline: It's a quote from The Matrix, and the best possible summation of my philosophy in under 20 characters. The exact quote is:
Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible.
Instead only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
My best visual effects work: I am proudest of the vfx work I did for the semi-famous lesbian kiss sequence in the movie Elektra, where Typhoid Mary tries to kill her with a life-leeching kiss. I digitally created and animated the falling, dying leaves that surround them during this process. It was my first real Maya work, and it involved equal parts art and programming. I love being able to take something sterile like a mathematical "noise" function and use it to help drive the fluttery tumble of a leaf through the air. One of the challenges was that the leaves had to curl up and die on-camera, going from green to black, and I had to control this process for literally thousands of leaves at once. I think I worked on these shots for about three months and never got tired working on them. If you'd like to see the sequence as a Quicktime, there are links to low, med, and high resolution movies on this page. By the way, when I worked on this sequence I was totally addicted to the album Details by Frou Frou, so the two are inextricably linked in my memory.
Fig. 4: The Kiss from the movie Elektra. I created those falling leaves digitally.
My strangest hobby: I'm working on a UFO-type antigravity engine design, based on a theory I've developed which involves spacetime having variable fractional dimensions. Curiously, a Russian scientist has published a paper on just such an idea. If anyone is an electrical engineer comfortable with Tesla-type devices, please IM me, I have some ideas for you to test out. And here's a recent article on something very like my drive concept, called the Alcubierre Drive which was first proposed in 1994. So I'm late to this particular party. But hey, I got there all by myself. I may get my flying car after all.
Fig.5: (Left) Dolphin "antigravity" technology in action. That bubble is actually the visible part of an 'air core vortex ring' and does not rise to the surface until the vortex runs out of rotational energy. From The Mystery of the Silver Rings.
(Right) The technical illustration comes from Dr. Robert Forward's 1963 paper Guidelines to Antigravity. This is, I think, the electromagnetic analog of the dolphin's toy.
Favorite movies:Contact, The Matrix Trilogy, Forbidden Planet, The Lord of the Rings, anything by Hayao Miyazaki, V for Vendetta, Mulholland Drive, What Dreams May Come, Waking Life, Brainstorm, Tron, The Last Starfighter, The Cell, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Fifth Element and The Big Blue (well, any movie by Luc Besson, really), They Live, Network, Altered States, Run Lola Run, Fight Club, Bound, Donnie Darko, Equilibrium, Galaxy Quest, K-PAX, Bedazzled (the remake), Groundhog Day, Monster House, Fantastic Voyage, Evil Dead II (because it's so damned funny), Close Encounters, The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, For All Mankind, Children of Men
Favorite things: The moon. Cetaceans. Microwave popcorn. Cats. Synchronicity. Orange juice. The number 8. Lucid dreams. Reading a good book in bed while a storm rages outside. La petite mort.
Stellarium is a freeware, open source planetarium for windows, Mac, and Linux.
Celestia allows you to fly through the galaxy at warp speeds, or to just view the known objects at whim. It's a great way to sight-see in the universe. It comes in windows, Mac, and Linux flavors, and it's free.
Wings of War Outrageously fun WWI biplane combat. The link takes you to a free demo version (make sure to get the v1.2 patch, too). If that link breaks, here's an alternate download.
FlightGear flight simulator Another general aviation simulator, this one is as close as you can get to Microsoft Flight Simulator for free. It used to be very buggy, but the latest release (1.0.0) is pretty damned good. It comes in windows, Mac, Linux, Sun, and BeOS versions! And it does multiplayer.
Eagle Lander 3D: A very accurate lunar lander simulator, in which you can recreate the historic Apollo landings.
Gran Turismo: What I learned from this Playstation driving simulator actually saved my life once. I just recently got a PS2, so now I can play GT4! Yay me!
R: Racing Evolution: Very different from Gran Turismo, but still quite good and somewhat less grueling to play. I like the fact that your 'character' is a girl, though why she leaves her racing jumpsuit unzipped to her navel all the time is a mystery. Well, perhaps not.
War Rock is a totally free online combat game similar to Desert Combat and Battlefield 2 that runs very well on even modest PCs. It's not quite as complex as DC or BF2 but it's shockingly fun. The vehicular implementation is also very good; the helos are a blast to fly. Highly recommended.
Star Control on the Genesis game machine. While I liked the first Star Control better than SC2, there IS a freeware version of SC2 which is worth checking out here.
Beyond Good & Evil: Think of it as an adult Zelda. This is one of the truly great games, but for some reason it didn't sell well. There are versions for the PC, Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube, and you can probably find it for cheap. Do not miss the chance to play this game. You will grow to love (and deeply care for) the characters and their world. I shed real tears at a few plot points.
Recommended online videos
Dedroidification Tons of streaming videos concerning consciousness, metaphysics, spirituality, the fringe, and taking The Red Pill. Here be dragons!
The Century of the Self, Part 1, a four-part BBC documentary on the use of methodical, evolving techniques of propaganda and public relations (based upon Freud's concept of the unconscious mind) to influence public opinion. Part 2 |
Part 3 |
Part 4
The Persuaders, a PBS Frontline documentary on the state of the art in advertising and political persuasion.
Orwell Rolls In His Grave is a documentary by Robert Kane Pappas detailing the nearly-complete hijacking of American mass media by a smaller and smaller number of controlling interests. We are being given the illusion of diversity, but it is actually designed to stifle dissenting voices.
Buying The War is Bill Moyers' PBS documentary about the American media's complete abandonment of any journalistic integrity by failing to question the Bush Administration's argument for waging war in Iraq.
Sky Network interview with Sean MacCarthy The CEO of Steorn, Inc. discusses their free-energy device and their ongoing attempts to have the scientific community to test it. It sounds legit to me, let's keep our fingers crossed.
Tom Bearden discusses Tesla technologies This 80 minute video will blow your mind. If it gets into technical things you don't understand, just wade through it. There are some real jaw-droppers in there.
Henry Rollins on the attack upon our freedom A rant against the steady encroachment upon our freedom by powerful political and business interests. I couldn't have said it better myself; nobody says the F word better than Mr. Rollins.
Superior Fighters shows the amazing graphics and realism of the game Lock On: Modern Air Combat.
Fig. 6a: "I can has Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?"
Fig. 6b: Cleo -- shaved view.
Actually, I have a story about our Ragdoll cat, Cleo (short for Cleopatra). We decided to get a cat a few years ago and went to an adoption event at a local pet store. Cleo was about 18 months old then and her piercing blue eyes and calm nature really appealed to us. Later, I did some research on the Ragdolls and discovered they're a new and controversial breed created by a woman named Ann Baker. Over the years Baker began to make some pretty wild claims about Ragdolls, one being they represent a link between humans and space aliens. *laughs* It figures: I get a cat at random, and it's not of this earth. That is SO me! Also, I realized later we'd bought the cat on the anniversary of mankind's first landing on the moon, July 20th. Yet another wonderful synchronicity.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Fig. 7: Lotus (foreground), me (background) preparing to land in Monterey, California. This is an early version of the L-39 Lotus is making from scratch, using 3DSMax, Photoshop, and the FSX SDK. It'll definitely send a strong message to the FSX airplane developers: you don't need to sacrifice quality to make a plane that works efficiently in multiplayer. Here is his blog. Look for it as payware sometime near the end of the year; until then, you'll be limited to drooling.
Fig. 8: Lotus (near) and me (far) flying KA-50 attack helos.
Fig. 9: Carrier ops are very well implemented in the brand new v1.0.0 Flight Gear.
Favorite Links:
Dark Roasted Blend is my new favorite stop for wild and wonderful things.
How to write in Elvish in 10 minutes. The mysteries unveiled. I've been doing this since college, and have taught a lot of my friends to do so as well. Now you can, too! (08/27/2008)
R.I.P. U.S. Constitution (1776 - 2006) We'll miss you.
...or perhaps it's not quite dead yet. We could put a doctor in the White House and resuscitate it. Go Ron Paul!
911 Truth isn't a virus. It's an antibody.
Favorite Quotes
We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out. -- Ray Bradbury
Next time I shall die, bringing forth wings and feathers like angels; After that, soaring higher than angels . . . What you cannot imagine, I shall be that. -- Rumi
These our actors were all spirits and are melted into air
And like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself
We are such stuff as dreams are made on. -- Prospero, from Shakespeare's The Tempest
To be astonished by a question no one else can get worked up about, or to be astonished by a matter nobody considers a problem, is perhaps a better paradigm for the progress of science. -- Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
I had an experience. I can't prove it, I can't explain it. But everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am, tells me that it was real. I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever: a vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny, and insignificant, and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not -- none of us are -- alone. I wish I could share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel the awe and humility and hope that I did.
That continues to be my wish. -- Ellie Arroway, from the movie Contact
I'm certainly not a man of faith, but as I was rushing down the stairs one day... it was very strange. I suddenly knew that everything was okay, that what I was doing was right, and I didn't know why. It was a thought that all the right things are happening in the circumstances, and I thought, 'Well that's all right then.' I don't actually believe in anyone who could have put that in my head - unless it was my dad, and he's been dead a few years.
It is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that, on the other side of physics, they just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows. That is both a kind of philosophy and totally useless - it doesn't take you anywhere. But it fills a hole. -- Terry Pratchett
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown. -- T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
No one knows f*ck-all about f*ck-all. Haiku is sort of the ancient form of lolcats. Retsina: Gourmet scorched earth
-- quotes from my friend Lotus
God is a comedian playing to an audience that doesn't laugh.
-- Mark Twain
Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon.
-- HP Lovecraft, from Beyond the Wall of Sleep
No one is less tolerant than those demanding tolerance.
-- Doug Marlette
i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
i do it because it's the least i can do
i do it because i learned it from you
i do it just because i want to
because I want to
everything i do is judged
and they mostly get it wrong
but oh well
'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged
and the woman who lives there can tell
the truth from the stuff that they say
and she looks me in the eye
and says would you prefer the easy way?
no, well o.k. then
don't cry
and i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know that there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know
i do it for the joy it brings...
-- Ani DiFranco, from the song Joyful Girl
Of course the people don't want war. But the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. -- Nazi Reich Marshall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
...In fact, let us not mince words... The Management is terrible! We've had a string of embezzelers, frauds, liars and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was you! You who elected these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you! While I'll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate. You have encouraged these malicious incompetents, who have made your working life a shambles. You have accepted without question their senseless orders. You have allowed them to fill your workspace with dangerous and unproven machines. You could have stopped them. All you had to say was 'No'.... -- V, in V for Vendetta
A person in a uniform is merely an extension of another person's will. -- Philip Slater
The Code of Dinotopia
Survival of all or none
One raindrop raises the sea
Weapons are enemies even to their owners
Give more, take less
Others first, self last
Observe, listen, and learn
Do one thing at a time
Sing every day
Exercise imagination
Eat to live, don't live to eat
Don't p-- (this was lost in the depths of time)
I think that the law is going to be rewritten as the technology insists that it is. It's not a question of right or wrong anymore. People will do what they wanna do in order to get what they want. What's the line about..."behind every great fortune lies a great crime"? The guys who started this business all cheated somebody to get there, so now they're being cheated, perhaps.
-- Richard Dreyfuss speaking about copyright law, from Steal This Film I
""Need" now means wanting someone else's money. "Greed" means wanting to keep your own. "Compassion" is when a politician arranges the transfer." -- Joseph Sobran
Free software I highly recommend:
VLC media player Supports many file formats including the accursed QuickTime. Yay! No more need for that dreadful iTunes piece of sh*t.
Carrier IM For years I've used Trillian as my multi-chat application. But lately it's gotten so glitchy and bloated with features that I can't stand it any more. Carrier (also known as FunPidgin) is a very pleasant return to the lighter, leaner style of application I prefer. And it's free! I highly recommend it.
www.librivox.org is a public-domain audiobook site. Here you will find literally thousands of hours of classic literature, read by talented volunteers, ready to be streamed, downloaded, or podcasted. Enjoy!
Open Office is a delightful alternative to Microsoft Word. I like it much better actually.
Blender is a powerful 3D modeling and animation package, with lots of comprehensive tutorials to be found online.
Gmax by Turbosquid is another free, powerful, and widely used 3D package. Lots of tutorials to be found, and it interfaces with many popular games.
Inkscape is a free analog to Adobe Illustrator's vector-based illustration paradigm.
GIMP is a feature-rich digital image manipulation program similar to Photoshop.
Paint.Net is another freeware Photoshop alternative.
Flight Gear is a fully-featured flight simulator created entirely by volunteers. If you have always wanted to learn to fly, this is a good place to start. You will find a comprehensive manual and collection of tutorials on the site as well.
My Interests
Fig. 10:Give Me Liberty
Naomi Wolf discusses the American Coup of October 1, 2008 and our one remaining window of opportunity to avoid a total collapse into a totalitarian nightmare state. Every prediction she made a year ago has come to pass; all that is required now is a last "crisis" to justify the imposition of martial law. This is not a drill.
Fig. 11:Vectors - An FSX Film Lotus is back with his new film about a 747 preparing to land at San Francisco International. Enjoy! I mostly flew the 747. But of course, that's not my voice. (Hi-res download.) It was something of an answer to this video.
Vectors has reached nearly 250k views, and is the highest-rated flight sim video on YouTube.
Fig. 12:Dolphins blowing bubble-rings
I wish I could do that.
Fig 13:The Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva Quan Yin is the bodhisattva who embodies boundless compassion, and who uses her thousand arms to give comfort to those who suffer, trapped in Maya, the illusion of reality. Here is a lovely painting of this divinity.
Fig. 14:Shipwreck starring Hannah Mermaid
Maybe it's my past life as a dolphin, but I've always loved mermaids. Hannah Mermaid is a model who makes videos like this one. It's amazing how much speed they can work up with a big monofin.
Fig. 15:Observing your own stroke
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke in 1996 and recovered over a period of 8 years. Here she speaks compellingly of her experience and how it radically affected her view of the cosmos. Her testimony reminded me of Ellie Arroway's at the end of Contact, after her voyage in The Machine. Their voyage, and their message, is essentially the same.
Fig. 2: Ariel.
Fig. 4: The Kiss from the movie Elektra. I created those falling leaves digitally.
Fig.5: (Left) Dolphin "antigravity" technology in action. That bubble is actually the visible part of an 'air core vortex ring' and does not rise to the surface until the vortex runs out of rotational energy. From 
Fig. 6a: "I can has Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?"
Fig. 7: Lotus (foreground), me (background) preparing to land in Monterey, California. This is an early version of the L-39 Lotus is making from scratch, using 3DSMax, Photoshop, and the FSX SDK. It'll definitely send a strong message to the FSX airplane developers: you don't need to sacrifice quality to make a plane that works efficiently in multiplayer. 
Fig. 8: Lotus (near) and me (far) flying KA-50 attack helos.
Fig. 9: Carrier ops are very well implemented in the brand new v1.0.0 Flight Gear.