My fridge can be very wise, it seems.
Radiohead - 01 and 10
So I just tried this, and while it kind of has that Dark Side of the Rainbow feel to it, there’s no denying it’s got me wondering… (plus: a cool new playlist, to boot).
Regardless of the (lack of) intention here, I’m really digging this kind of medium-transcending depth in music. No doubt I’ll someday get to doing some experiments with this in film.
(Source: cracked.com)
Like you, I’ve seen the Discovery Channel shows debunking how crop circles are in fact a man-made phenomenon. Like you, I figured they were a ‘mystery’ we had rationalized, and moved on to the next on the list. Like you, the thought of watching a 50 minute video telling me what I already know is a waste.
So here’s some cool stuff:
- Many/most crop circles are in fact man made. This is indisputable. It has been witnessed/exposed/admitted/demonstrated by various people/groups all around the globe. And yet,
- There are numerous professional associations worldwide which specialize in crop circle investigation (which primarily consists of cataloguing them—i.e. aerial photography, analysis of grass/wheat types, angle of flattening, mathematical patterning deciphering, etc).
- Occasionally, extremely unlikely crop formations arise. We’re talking unmanageably big, unbelievably complex, unimaginably detailed, and most importantly, created impossibly quickly. This is where the cool starts.
- On the vast majority of these ‘unlikely’ formations (and on none of the identifiably man-made ones), there are strange aberrations in the affected plants: they develop strange bulbs/balls which can only ever occur when subjected to extremely focused + implausibly high temperatures (as if placed in a special microwave). No scientists have been unable to replicate this within a man-made context, despite it occurring in crop circles all over the world.
- Some of the formations are actually parts of bigger networks of inter-related formations. That is to say, they point to the precise location + geometry of other designs, or form complex arrangements when considered with other (groups of) formations. Some contain codes—for example, geometric representations of Pi. binary text. Most are incredibly mathematical, displaying fractal-like complexity and perfect symmetry. ~”Some of these designs would be incredibly difficult to draw with protractor and compass on a piece of paper, let alone sketch perfectly across acres and acres of land within only a couple of pitch-black hours (with absolutely no trace of humans—or more accurately, mathematicians).”
- Crop circles have existed for much longer than I thought. They appear in some of the earliest folklore—so not just since the age of sci-fi.
- “The amount of coincidences just seems to be stacking up.” Even if they somehow are man-made, I still think they are totally captivating and inspiring—just to know that humans are indeed capable of such incredibly advanced behaviour.
(Source: openmindedskepticism.blogspot.com)
My car’s nerves are surely stressed as it nears the dead man’s hand…
World, meet Radiolab.
If you think TED videos are interesting/informative, prepare to be overwhelmed. Imagine all the insight in one TED video compressed down to its main points, then mixed in with the same from all other related TED vids—what you’ll get is equivalent to one Radiolab broadcast.
Radiolab is a podcast out of NY that single-handedly makes the podcast a worthy invention. It’s an hour long show featuring two awesome/hilarious hosts (and their band of merry interns) discussing, story-telling, interviewing, and philosophizing about some of the most interesting topics in life. Here’s a few random titles: Choices, Limits, Numbers, Lucy, Famous Tumours, The Luckiest Lobster, Contact, Who Am I?, Chasing Bugs… the list goes on for another 80 or so.
The one I’m posting now is called “Oops” and it’s the first one I ever heard. Like heroin, it’s a good place to start the inevitable binge into your soon-to-be re-examined life. It’s basically a compilation of really captivating stories about crazy coincidences/mistakes.
After you give it a listen (Warning: you’ll need an hour of uninterrupted attention—you can try doing other things, but it’s so interesting you’ll probably just find yourself sitting, unable to focus on anything but the sweet noise in your ears), you should chat with me about it because I’d love to hear your take on this kind of stuff.
