Happy 50th Birthday, Lasers

If you had to single out one cool, geeky technology as the preeminent cool, geeky technology, lasers would be a fine choice. They've enriched our gadgets, confused our cats, and, for half a century, lit up our imaginations.

VIA: -GIZMODO-

Google unveils protocol for an interplanetary internet

Vint Cerf, Google's internet evangelist, has unveiled a new protocol intended to power an interplanetary internet.

The Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol emerged from work first started in 1998 in partnership with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The initial goal was to modify the ubiquitous Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to facilitate robust communications between celestial bodies and satellites.

TV project in works based on Bat Boy, other characters

Move over, Astro Boy and Iron Man -- Bat Boy could be stepping up to the plate soon.

The half-bat, half-human character is just one of 30-odd wacky creations spawned by the erstwhile supermarket tabloid Weekly World News and now up for grabs in Hollywood.

CAA has signed WWN to a representation deal, and DreamWorks is developing a TV show that likely will be the first to tap into the company's library of characters and its tens of thousands of offbeat stories.

No One Can Hear You Scream...

A Canadian circus billionaire boarded the International Space Station on Friday after a smooth ride up from Earth, and promptly played the entertainer by donning a red clown nose for a camera.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte became the seventh paying space tourist to travel to the station, where he plans to mix clownish fun with a serious message about the growing shortage of clean water on the planet 220 miles (355 kilometers) below.

Longest lightning storm on Saturn breaks Solar System record

A powerful lightning storm in Saturn’s atmosphere that began in mid-January 2009 has become the Solar System’s longest continuously observed thunderstorm. It broke the record duration of 7.5 months set by another thunderstorm observed on Saturn by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft between November 2007 and July 2008.

How magicians control your mind

Magic isn't just a bag of tricks - it's a finely tuned technology for shaping what we see. Now researchers are extracting its lessons.

Secrets Of Hats On The Easter Island Statues

It is one of the great mysteries that has baffled explorers, archaeologists and anthropologists alike – what was the meaning of the giant Easter Island statues and what role did they play in the demise of this once-complex civilisation? But since the first non-islanders arrived in the remote archipelago half a millennium ago, another equally profound question has niggled away at the backs of their minds: where did they get those hats?

Disney Purchases Marvel Comics for estimated $4 billion

Talk about strange bedfellows. The Walt Disney Co. announced today that it will spend $4 billion to buy Marvel Entertainment -- and the more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Captain America and Fantastic Four.

UUuuuuggghhhhh.....

Where It's At!!!

To the 5 of you who might have bookmarked 'BLACK HOLE'S LEDGE', you've probably noticed I haven't been posting much lately. That's because I'm hard at work on a couple new websites that need my attention.

Firstly is a new Dream Width account at http://mad30.dreamwidth.org/ which will be dedicated to dreams, nightmares, and subconscious rumblings that go bump in the night.

Secondly is the new CROSSROAD RESONANCES which will be a brand new site & forum to be officially launched in the next couple weeks (along with new podcasts). This site will be dedicated to local music and independent arts in my home state of Indiana, and in particular the Indianapolis area!

http://www.myspace.com/crossroadresonances

Also at work on a new "roundtable" interview with Mr. Gareth Icke (musician and son of author David Icke), occult researcher (and regular Coast to Coast AM guest) Tracy Twyman, and author Brian Allan which is sure to be both informative and entertaining!

So, I guess my point is I'll still be utilyzing BLACK HOLE'S LEDGE, but wouldn't be expecting more than 5 or 10 updates per month here. There's simply too much going on elsewhere at the moment that requires my time and dedication!

There is no sound this far underground...

PLEASE CLICK ON THE BANNER ABOVE TO CHECK OUT MY LATEST 5 SONG EP!

CONSPIRAPORN! (REBOOT)

Just leaving word that I'll be a lot more scarce around these parts, as I continue developing the brand new experimental CONSPIRAPORN! website over the coming weeks (and of course the whimsically lumbering behemoth of UPSIDEBACKWARDS too). A new batch of original podcasts, interviews & articles are on the way, with a healthy dose of news/perspective and random chaos. Be sure to bookmark this historic moment for the civil rights and consciousness expansion of all humanity! Tell your friends, whisper it to strangers on the street, call the media! If you've got news or suggestions -something you think is worthy of a little more attention- please send it to mad247@weirdness.com . Thanks.

The Notorious Bettie Page

At least she lived to a ripe old age, though still sad that a woman known for her vibrant and energetic beauty would spend the last week of her life in a coma. Rest in Peace Bettie, you were the best and will be missed.


Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler.

Memorial continued:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 0709.story

Upsidebackwards Episode # 1

*Episode #: ONE (-download link-)

*Air Date: 12/4/08

*Duration: 15 min 48 sec

*Topics: Introductions past, present, future. Obama Bin Laden and the changing of America's diaper. The inevitable zombie apocalypse.

*Featured Band: Poker Face

10 mall massacres with robots, freaks and monsters

Black Friday! Even its name conjures visions of a horrifying battle for survival in the most hostile environment known to humanity — the overcrowded shopping mall. But it could be worse. Science fiction has given us several stories of death and destruction in malls. Just to console you as you battle crowds today, here's our rundown of the 10 deadliest fictional mall massacres of all time.

Classic series 'V' coming back to TV

The 1980s sci-fi miniseries 'V' is to be remade for television.

Variety reports that the new 'V' will focus on a Homeland Security agent whose son joins up with aliens who claim to have come to earth in peace but have plans to take over the planet.

As in the original miniseries, there will be a number of different storylines involving the humans battling against the aliens. There are no details at present on the cast of the new 'V'.

From -SOURCE-

6 menacing towers fit for a super-villain

I thought I’d offer some assistance to any super-villains who may be looking for a menacing building to call headquarters.

Continued at: -DEPUTY DOG- .

2 new websites you should bookmark

No better time like the present to announce two brand new websites brought to you by upsidebackwards! The first is the VERBAL VORTEX which will serve as a workshop for writers and various creative art projects with regular updates by several acclaimed authors and graphic designers. If you're looking for tips and feedback on publishing that first novel, you'll find some great advice and suggestions at the Verbal Vortex! On the other hand, the brand new CONSPIRAPORN site will serve you the best of both worlds and is certain to entertain, inform, and excite!

Please keep in mind that these sites are works in progress (the latter was just set up 24 hours ago!) and will grow over the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, "under construction" tags are in order, yet both websites will be updated on a weekly basis with unique perspective and original submissions you won't find anywhere else!

Comments, questions, critiques, like to get involved?! Simply write me at mad247@weirdness.com , and special thanks to all the wonderful people who are already involved with these projects. The best is yet to come!

Skydivers make unprecedented jump over Everest

Three skydivers made the first ever parachute jump over Mount Everest on Sunday, organizers and participants said, culminating years of preparation.

About 32 skydivers from more than 10 countries including Britain, Canada, the United States and New Zealand have been in the Everest region since last week to jump from an aircraft flying 465 feet higher than the Everest summit.

-CONTINUED-

Not so way-back machine

Take a trip back to the 2001 Google archive.

Pink Floyd founder & keyboardist Richard Wright dead at 65

Pink Floyd founder and keyboard player Richard Wright has died from cancer aged 65.
-FULL ARTICLE-

-RICHARD WRIGHT IN PICTURES-