Magical Items – The Stone of Changes

Posted by KirkUltra7 on September 3rd, 2010

An interesting description of a piece of supernatural technology, still in the prototype phase.

The Stone of Changes

I was astonished to discover the power of this prototype. I am used to the “I Ching” book and the coin system, but no matter what I do the coins will always fall on the ground and the book will always give me an answer, whether I’m ready or not – it is a simple procedure. On the other hand, the prototype was checking my bio-feedback and every once in a while I just couldn’t get an answer, I was not ready – perhaps too excited or agitated. Getting an answer becomes a challenge: a task one should focus all his mental energy on and as a result my understanding of the question/answer became much more powerful and meaningful due to this new procedure.

. . .

‘Stone of changes’ is a modern way of using I Ching, The Book of Changes. It is a device to be used within a personal environment. From the outside it looks like a simple rounded river stone. Inside the stone is a hidden biofeedback device with audio capabilities. A person should ask himself a question while holding the stone in his hand. While the person is becoming more relaxed and free of thoughts an answer based on the original ‘Book of Changes’ is played in a soft human voice.

Link

Ligers and Tiglons and Wholphins

Posted by KirkUltra7 on September 1st, 2010

Link

Ligers on Wikipedia

Tiglons on Wikipedia

And what post on cross-species mating would be complete without a video of whale crossed with a dolphin, also known as a wholphin.

Alan Moore as Teenage Manga High School Girl

Posted by KirkUltra7 on July 19th, 2010

This was just too cool not to post. It’s a fan manga by Japanese artist Ryusuke Hamamoto, featuring Alan Moore as a teenaged girl in high school.

Glycon lives in her locker.

The comic looks absolutely hilarious.

Ryusuke Hamamoto’s Official Site
Ryusuke Hamamoto on Deviant Art
Ryusuke Hamamoto on Twitter

(Found via Technoccult)

There are a few comics around about Alan Moore in his adult male form as well.

Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham did a comic about Moore, True Things, from The Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore.

Page 1
Page 2

And this hilarious piece from Something Positive:

Alan Moore vs. Death

A few more Alan Moore related links:

Index of Alan Moore Interviews
The Alan Moore Fansite
The Alan Moore Archives at Technoccult

Alan Moore started a magazine recently called Dodgem Logic which everyone should be reading. A lot of our favorite people are contributing to the magazine, including Josie Long and Steve Aylett, and of course Moore himself.

(Electric Children has some exciting news about all of them coming soon.)

The Mysterious Cities of Gold

Posted by KirkUltra7 on July 18th, 2010

From 1982. The Mysterious Cities of Gold. I can’t believe I never saw this as a kid.

From Wikipedia:

In 1532 a Spanish orphan named Esteban joins Mendoza, a navigator, and his associates Sancho and Pedro, in their search for one of The Seven Cities of Gold in the New World, hoping to find his father. They are joined on their quest by Zia, an Incan girl (who was kidnapped by Mendoza), and Tao, the last descendant of the sunken empire of Mu (Hiva in the English dub).

The series is a mix of ancient South American history, archaeology, and science fiction. The travellers encounter the Maya, Inca, and Olmecs during their journey. They discover many lost technological wonders of the Mu Empire, including a solar powered ship (the Solaris) and The Golden Condor, a huge solar-powered ornithopter (mechanical bird), capable of traveling considerable distances under the sun’s power alone.

Link

Cheers to Leslie for the discovery!

The Mysterious Cities of Gold at Amazon

The Mysterious Cities of Gold on Hulu

Incubi and Succubi

Posted by KirkUltra7 on July 17th, 2010

(Image by Genzoman)

This is an interesting find – It’s an article by chaos magician and occult historian Phil Hine on the subject of incubi and succubi (complete with instructions on how to summon them).

“In Japan there are phantom lovers known as fox maidens, and the man who can get his hands on a fox maiden is considered lucky. He felt sure that there were fox boys as well. Such creatures could assume the form of either sex.”

According to Burroughs, peoples attitudes towards these beings may change, but such visitations are probably more frequent than most people suppose. He classes them as a type of familiar (they certainly are!) and notes that, like animal or elemental familiars, they are dependent on a relationship with a human host for their own development. Similar ideas can be found in the Kaula school of Tantrika, where there are rites for contacting such beings.

. . .

The Liminal Gnosis can be enhanced by the use of a mirror. The use of reflective surfaces for interacting with entities has a long and venerable history, ranging from shamanic practices among the Moari, Pawnee and Nkomis of Africa, to the explorations of Dr. John Dee. Demon-Lovers may be summoned into a mirror, where they may be cross-examined. A cautionary note here is that Dr. Dee made the claim that from time to time, one of the spirits he contacted – a young girl called Midimi – would emerge from his scrying crystal and cavort about his study

Link

Enjoy.

(Image by Genzoman)

California Moonshiners

Posted by KirkUltra7 on June 25th, 2010

The Electric Children page for the California Moonshiners has just been updated with a new design and new songs for you to download.

This is a video of the band performing a live rendition of Superhero Life at the Rockit Room in San Francisco. (Video requires a Facebook login).

Their next show is Saturday, June 26, at the The Warehouse Bar and Grill. 402 Webster St, Oakland, CA 94607.

Click here for updates on their upcoming live performances.

Click here to hear more music.

Click here to become a fan on Facebook.

And of course you’ve got to read their bio.

The Bone Video Game (+ Novels)

Posted by KirkUltra7 on June 7th, 2010

Bone, one of my favorite comics of all time, is currently being adapted as a serialized video game (and a cool looking one at that).

Click here to see!

And in even cooler news – Three new Bone novels, a trilogy titled Bone: Quest for the Spark, have been scheduled for release in 2011, detailing the adventures of new group of Bones in the valley.

BONE: Quest for the Spark is a slightly different kind of thing. It is not a comic; it’s a novel. A series of three novels written by Tom Sniegoski that follow a new generation of Bone characters into the Valley.

I was a bit unsure about this project when Tom first suggested it, but when I read the first book I laughed so hard, I agreed to do it. Scholastic was so blown away by it, that they decided to make it available in hardcover and wanted the illustrations, of which I think I’m going to do about twenty, full bleed and in color.

Link

Tall Tales, a graphic novel collecting both out of print and new materials, will be out in August.

The graphic novel will feature new Smiley Bone and Bartleby stuff by Jeff Smith!

Links

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume

Bone Prequel: Rose

Bone Handbook

Boneville – The Official Bone Homepage

Bone Cover Gallery

Bone Fan Animation

Tall Tales

Mothman and Pazuzu, Mary Poppins and UFOs

Posted by KirkUltra7 on June 5th, 2010

(Mothman painting by Frank Frazetta)

Is there a connection between Mothman and Pazuzu?

This is an article by the always interesting Farah Yurdozu on the similarities between modern sightings of Mothman and the deities of ancient Turkey.

Pazuzu or Mothman?

Although modern Turkey is an Islamic country based on a monotheistic religious belief system, our ancient history is full of multiple gods. In fact, all kinds of gods and demi-gods descended to the vast Turkish land to shape our lives, expecting obedience from the humans. With their very advanced technology and apparently paranormal abilities, it was easy for them to control the local humans. They quickly got busy giving instructions to kings on how to build temples, how to make laws and how to govern a kingdom. Maybe that’s when the special close-knit relationships started between the gods and the earthly rulers. Maybe since then, kings have believed that they are the reflection and the representetives of the gods on earth. They still seem to feel that way, don’t they?

Is it possible to say the ancient gods were a techologically advanced race with vast paranormal abilities, but that they had a very little spiritual wisdom? Once here, the mysterious gods who came from the stars did everything that a regular man or woman does such as eating, drinking, getting angry, punishing the earthlings, and getting married to earth women (which yielded half human / half god hybrid children.) But one thing was missing: the spiritual message. These gods were not very worried about carrying spiritual or religious teaching to our ancestors. They just wanted full obedience at every cost.

Link

It’s a very cool science fiction vision for fans and believers of the ancient astronaut theory.

As for aliens in our more recent past. . .

I was very surprised by this next article, in which Farah discusses the Mary Poppins novels, and the intent by their author to write them as metaphors for the alien abduction experience.

Mary Poppins, Alien Abductions, and Gurdijeff

The classic Mary Poppins was the very first book I ever read, when I was around six years old. A magical world created by Australian-born Pamela L. Travers, based on a cosmic philosophy, it put me on the path I am now on as a UFO-paranormal investigator and writer. Years later Travers told me during a phone conversation that Mary Poppins is not a simple children’s book. It is much more. Reincarnation, travel to and from other planets, paranormal experiences, levitation, magic and most importantly alien abductions are some of the main topics of this book. In fact, the Mary Poppins stories are easy to interpret as thinly-veiled tales of alien contact, written by a dedicated believer in the reality of other dimensions.

Link


(Pamela Lyndon Travers, author and creator of Mary Poppins)

Second Life and the Metaverse

Posted by KirkUltra7 on May 30th, 2010

The world of Second Life is one that is constantly being created by those who live inside it, where everything from the buildings and robots, to the texture of an avatar’s skin, to the way an avatar moves, is something designed by another player.

It is a world which has no story, yet at the same time it is a thousand stories all at once.

And there are dance clubs everywhere.

I love the bizarre cultures that have developed here. Furries and faeries, sex maniacs and sci-fi fans, Lindens and hackers. . .

It’s a different game for everyone who plays it.

Second Life is such an expansive and constantly changing world, so filled with sci-fi madness, that it has grown its own branch of journalism just to document what happens inside. Below are some of the more interesting pieces of Second Life writing I’ve come across since beginning the game.

New World Notes

A Crisis of Faith

Abstract Avatars

Evolving Nemo – Artifical Intelligence and Cyber-Fish

Made in Japan

Ants and A.I.

Second Life an Al Qaeda

Wandering Sentient A.I. Bot Hal

How Many Species of Artificial Life are there in Second Life

His Current Brain is Scaled Down for Testing Purposes

April – The Bot Who Learns as You Speak to Her

Fairy Bots

A Rustic Place Called Mocha

What Artificial Cat Prowls Second Life So Elusively?

A Map of Second Life and a Map of San Francisco

The U.S. Army’s Virtual Island for Amputee Veterans in Second Life

An Unvarnished Tour of Religion in Second Life

Botgirl – The Avatar Who Woke Up in Second Life

The Soul of Second Life

How Intelligent Have Second Life A.I.s Become?

Philip Rosedale Attempting to Create Sentient Artificial Intelligence that Thinks and Dreams in Second Life

Final Fantasy VII

Warren Ellis – Second Life Sketches

A Rain of Cubes

The Girl with Error-Message Eyes

Helicopters Hang in the Air

Digital Shorelines

Penthouse to Pavement

A Night on the Grid

The Art of War

Please Stop Doing That to the Cat

Let’s Put the Future Behind Us

The Lay of the Land

The Island of Lost Souls

Drive My Car

The Alphaville Herald

Private Eyes for Hire in Second Life

Alliance Navy Base Becomes Furry Death Camp

Is the Founder of The Second Life Liberation Army Part of A Corporate Spy Firm?

Interview with BallerMoMo

Estonia Annexed by Soviet Woodbury

Casino Owner Unimpressed with Crackdown

Ginko Financial’s End-Game

Has One Song Returned to Re-Start the Second Jessie War?

A History of The Second Jessie War

Others

Yoko Ono and Virtual Peace

Virtualism – A Movement for A New World

A Search for Second Life Culture or Omphaloskepsis

Ramadan in Second Life

The Disneyland Sim

Burning Life

A Tour of the Virtual Reproductive System

The Top Four Pandoras from Avatar in Second Life

To The Moon

Parapsychology Research Center to Open in Second Life

A fair amount of books, both fiction and non-fiction, have been published on Second Life. Here is a list of some of the best.

Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators

Una Tragicomica Second Life – Cellule staminali dell’anima (Italian Edition)

ANIMA: a novel about Second Life

Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human

Second Life: The Official Guide

Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries: Librarians and Educators in Second Life and Other Multi-User Virtual Environments

I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life

Creating Your World: The Official Guide to Advanced Content Creation for Second Life

Scripting Your World: The Official Guide to Second Life Scripting

The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World

The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse

There is lot of excellent machinima being produced in Second Life as well.

For those just starting out in this world, I recommend gothic Transylvania, the steampunk cities of Caledon and New Babbage, the mysterious oracle beneath the temple in Svarga, or Insilico, the coolest cyberpunk city in Second Life since the fall of Nexus Prime.

The Electric Children island is coming soon. . .

Late Breaking Muse

Posted by KirkUltra7 on May 1st, 2010

This is a very cool piece of performance art by Lady Barbara Ann, AKA Barbara Annimal, AKA Glow in The Dark.

Kick back, chillax, and give it a listen.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Originally posted here at her website.