The Agents of F.L.A.S.K.

Happy Friday! Time for some more very weird stuff from the real world.

Previously we discussed the CIA’s Project Stargate in which the government experimented with ESP to see if it could be used to generate useful intelligence. For me, Stargate was not so much interesting because of the results of Remote Viewing experiments --although that was interesting too-- but because of the implications that such experiments might have for science’s search to figure out the nature of consciousness.

Well, FORGET Stargate. Enter “The Global Consciousness Project” run out of Princeton University. In short (from Wikipedia): “GCP is a parapsychology experiment begun in 1998 as an attempt to detect possible interactions of "global consciousness" with physical systems. The project monitors a geographically distributed network of hardware random number generators in a bid to identify anomalous outputs that correlate with widespread emotional responses to sets of world events, or periods of focused attention by large numbers of people.” (I’m not making this up.)

The GCP has more than 70 Random Number Generators (RNG) spread around the world, running 24/7. The numbers generated are continuously recorded. One person described the network as an EKG for the planet.

So?

GCP’s most talked about result is as follows: Supposedly, during the September 11, 2001 attacks when the planes first impacted the World Trade Center, as the world stood transfixed by these events, the numbers produced by the RNGs became very anomalous. During that very specific window of time the numbers became (statistically) un-random.

WTF!? Again, I am not making this up. And it is Princeton University, for crying out loud. Could this possibly be true? Collective human consciousness impacting physical systems? The implications are wild. It could have tie-ins to ESP, telekinesis, and the whole ball of paranormal wax.

The Global Consciousness Project is on-going. Here is the GCP website:

https://noosphere.princeton.edu/

The above is a very short introduction. If you want to see a few graphs, the following eight minute video is a good overview, and it’s fun. 9-11 was not the only event that registered.


If you are still with me and remain interested, the following video (9 minutes) is a little more academic…


Supporters say the results are incontrovertible; numbers don’t lie. Others argue that the statistics are open to interpretation. My favorite comment: It is data without a theory.

Anyway, the claims are pretty crazy stuff. Is consciousness purely a creation of the meat in our skulls? Or are our physical brains somehow interacting with external factors as yet unknown? Woo woo. Whadya think?

Tiki Tom said:

WTF!? Again, I am not making this up. And it is Princeton University, for crying out loud. Could this possibly be true? Collective human consciousness impacting physical systems? The implications are wild. It could have tie-ins to ESP, telekinesis, and the whole ball of paranormal wax.

Anyway, the claims are pretty crazy stuff. Is consciousness purely a creation of the meat in our skulls? Or are our physical brains somehow interacting with external factors as yet unknown? Woo woo. Whadya think?

Click to expand...

What do I think? The current US debt stands at $23.3 trillions, but Princetown, one of the Ivy League, has it's hand in the US budget, the one marked: "Frivolous."

Tiki Tom said:

...Previously we discussed the CIA’s Project Stargate in which the government experimented with ESP to see if it could be used to generate useful intelligence...Well, FORGET Stargate. Enter “The Global Consciousness Project” run out of Princeton University. In short (from Wikipedia): “GCP is a parapsychology experiment begun in 1998 as an attempt to detect possible interactions of "global consciousness" with physical systems. The project monitors a geographically distributed network of hardware random number generators in a bid to identify anomalous outputs that correlate with widespread emotional responses to sets of world events, or periods of focused attention by large numbers of people.” (I’m not making this up.)...Anyway, the claims are pretty crazy stuff. Is consciousness purely a creation of the meat in our skulls? Or are our physical brains somehow interacting with external factors as yet unknown? Woo woo. Whadya think?

Click to expand...

I'm very open to the possibility that a group of people experiencing the same event could/would produce the same (or similar) type of positive or negative energy as a natural reaction to that event. I have a far more difficult time believing the eggheads at Princeton could invent a device that would accurately detect and measure that energy.

I wish I was a trained statistical analyst. I’ve tried to drill down into the raw data, but it is pretty dense for a non-scientist, I think. In their favor, the GCP does publish their data, so that seems to indicate that they are at least trying to be transparent.

On the other hand, here is a skeptic attacking their methodology, etc. Some criticisms seem very valid. Others, to a non-scientist, seem not so important. But I’m hardly in a position to judge. According to the skeptic, GCP is privately funded.

https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4049

To be balanced, the GCP publishes this page titled “independent analyses”.

https://noosphere.princeton.edu/independent.html

To me, after a while it starts to sound like dueling banjos (banjo reference intentional; read the skeptic). But, in the end, I guess that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Then again, GCP claim that they are not pushing a theory about causes, but merely collecting additional data on an unexplained phenomenon. But, of course, even that claim should be taken with a big grain of salt.

"The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. I've watched the movie countless times and read the book. And, I still can't figure it out. Bogie, in his raincoat, fedora, and driving that old Ford is who and where I want to be.

LostInTyme said:

"The Big Sleep" by Dashiell Hammett. I've watched the movie countless times and read the book. And, I still can't figure it out. Bogie, in his raincoat, fedora, and driving that old Ford is who and where I want to be.

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No one can figure it out, so don't feel alone. I watch it just to watch Bogart, Bacall, and the rest of the cast, do what they do. Plot? Who needs it?

TGIF! Are any of you sailors? Or armchair oceanographers?

This story has been on my radar screen for several months and it qualifies as strange and unusual. It’s also a mystery.

It seems that, off the coast of Spain and Portugal, Killer Whales have been attacking sailboats and other small craft on a regular basis for about a year. 33 attacks, so far, according to FOX news; 40 attacks according to BBC. Either way, that is a lot of attacks in a short period of time. With that number of attacks, we are perhaps lucky that no one has been seriously injured or worse. There seems to be a pattern of the whales going for the boats rudders.

The latest attack on 3 April 2021:

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/killer-whales-attack-fishing-boat-near-spain

Dr. Ruth Esteban has researched orcas off Gibraltar for many years and believes the same group of orcas are responsible for the incidents, saying it’s abnormal behavior for the species.

Theories range from “oh, they are just playing” to revenge attacks because a whale might have been injured by a boat, to general concerns that the species is under stress due to noise created by humans and also having to compete with humans for dwindling stocks of bluefin tuna.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/buqvasp1rr/orcas-spain-portugal

It could be any of these reasons, or it could just be random behavior. But my new age sister-in-law more or less says “Killer whale attacks, increased major storms, drought, fire and flooding, volcanoes erupting, a pandemic; the planet has a fever and is trying to shake off the ‘infection’ known as humanity.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it is strange behavior on the part of the whales.

What’s your take as to the likely cause? Any chance of the behavior spreading to other pods around the world? Will the attacks end just as suddenly as they began? It will be interesting to see what happens as we move towards summer and the Spain/Portugal boating season gets going. It is my understanding that Orcas are a protected species.

"Well it just goes to show, it's always something' ". Roseanne Roseannadanna.

Tiki Tom said:

TGIF! Are any of you sailors? Or armchair oceanographers?

This story has been on my radar screen for several months and it qualifies as strange and unusual. It’s also a mystery.

It seems that, off the coast of Spain and Portugal, Killer Whales have been attacking sailboats and other small craft on a regular basis for about a year. 33 attacks, so far, according to FOX news; 40 attacks according to BBC. Either way, that is a lot of attacks in a short period of time. With that number of attacks, we are perhaps lucky that no one has been seriously injured or worse. There seems to be a pattern of the whales going for the boats rudders.

The latest attack on 3 April 2021:

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/killer-whales-attack-fishing-boat-near-spain

Dr. Ruth Esteban has researched orcas off Gibraltar for many years and believes the same group of orcas are responsible for the incidents, saying it’s abnormal behavior for the species.

Theories range from “oh, they are just playing” to revenge attacks because a whale might have been injured by a boat, to general concerns that the species is under stress due to noise created by humans and also having to compete with humans for dwindling stocks of bluefin tuna.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/buqvasp1rr/orcas-spain-portugal

It could be any of these reasons, or it could just be random behavior. But my new age sister-in-law more or less says “Killer whale attacks, increased major storms, drought, fire and flooding, volcanoes erupting, a pandemic; the planet has a fever and is trying to shake off the ‘infection’ known as humanity.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it is strange behavior on the part of the whales.

What’s your take as to the likely cause? Any chance of the behavior spreading to other pods around the world? Will the attacks end just as suddenly as they began? It will be interesting to see what happens as we move towards summer and the Spain/Portugal boating season gets going. It is my understanding that Orcas are a protected species.

Click to expand...

I disagree with your sister-in-law, such is probably attribute natural somatic cause or perhaps protecting turf
for survival instinct, less tuna-it's turf. Interesting video on YouTube seen a few years ago showed an Orca and
tiger shark pair sneak attack on a kid, came right up to the sand and the Orca gobbled the child right off the beach.
Not even at Kaneohe Beach where sharks get close in, nothing like this snatch.

Tiki Tom said:

...It could be any of these reasons, or it could just be random behavior. But my new age sister-in-law more or less says “Killer whale attacks, increased major storms, drought, fire and flooding, volcanoes erupting, a pandemic; the planet has a fever and is trying to shake off the ‘infection’ known as humanity.”...

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With all due respect to Harp, I agree with your sister-in-law. Most of the experts not only agree that Global Warming/Climate Change does exist, but have compiled enough evidence to show we humans caused it by polluting the atmosphere. We are a damage-causing infestation, and the planet is trying to rid itself of us like a dog trying to shake fleas off of it's back. We humans are ignorant, arrogant trash, and the universe would be better off without us.

Zombie_61 said:

With all due respect to Harp, I agree with your sister-in-law. Most of the experts not only agree that Global Warming/Climate Change does exist, but have compiled enough evidence to show we humans caused it by polluting the atmosphere. We are a damage-causing infestation, and the planet is trying to rid itself of us like a dog trying to shake fleas off of it's back. We humans are ignorant, arrogant trash, and the universe would be better off withouty us.

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Aha! This brings us back to the topic of “consciousness”. I don’t disagree with my sister-in-law, or Zombie, that humanity has been doing a lot of damage through greed, stupidity, and a general inability to foresee the outcome of its behaviors. However, the storyline that “earth is trying to evict us” implies a multifaceted counter-attack that is somehow coordinated... implying (perhaps) a larger consciousness at work. In the argument between “all consciousness comes from matter” and “all matter comes from consciousness”, I lean toward the later. But there is very little proof either way. (It turns out, I’m told, that now scientists no longer know exactly what matter is.) So, although the romantic in me is sympathetic to the idea that the earth, as a unified entity, is trying to combat humanity, the implications on the nature of reality are mind blowing. If not, how does one account for the supposed coordination between “killer whale attacks, increased major storms, drought, fire, and flooding, volcanoes erupting, a pandemic; the planet has a fever...” etc. Or is mother earth’s counter attack not to be taken literally? Are we just up against coincidence and systems that are only loosely related by mechanical interactions? Or.... maybe the Global Consciousness Project topic was not so crazy after all.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Of course, as Zagar and Evans put it in 1969, "In the year 2525, IF Man is still alive."

Harp said:

I Interesting video on YouTube seen a few years ago showed an Orca and
tiger shark pair sneak attack on a kid, came right up to the sand and the Orca gobbled the child right off the beach.
Not even at Kaneohe Beach where sharks get close in, nothing like this snatch.

Click to expand...

LOl.......that video was a fake. There have been no recorded fatal attacks of humans by killer whales in the wild.(as opposed to in captivity) People ain't on the orca's menu.........yet.
Also, killer whales do not join forces with sharks.

Tiki Tom said:

TGIF! Are any of you sailors? Or armchair oceanographers?

What’s your take as to the likely cause?

Click to expand...

I am an armchair marine biologist, will that do ?
I have no explanation on the cause of the attacks but did you know, killer whales (which are just large toothed dolphins & not whales) are one of the few species that actually has sub- cultures which are transmitted from generation to generation within a pod. Each group has distinct differences in both language & behaviour which are unique to that group.
It could be that an orca had the idea one day to attack a boat & others joined in & now it is part of that particular groups conditioned behaviour but killer whales are extremely intelligent animals so the reason behind the attacks may be beyond human understanding.
And you can tell your sister-in-law (from an armchair pessimist) that she is right, the natural world is sick, sick of us & it's only going to get worse so we should stop feigning surprise or astonishment with every crisis & catastrophe that comes our way, we all know the consequences of our actions.
On a brighter note, Jair Bolsonaro is hoping to deforest the Amazon by 2030......that'll be 25% less oxygen for y'all to breathe, hope you've got your oxygen tanks ready.

Lean'n'mean said:

LOl.......that video was a fake. There have been no recorded fatal attacks of humans by killer whales in the wild.(as opposed to in captivity) People ain't on the orca's menu.........yet.
Also, killer whales do not join forces with sharks. .

Click to expand...

https://7news.com.au/news/world/us-woman-spots-baby-dinosaur-running-through-yard-c-2628678?utm_campaign=share-icons&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&tid=1618792634823

Well, it doesn't look like a dog to me . . .

^^^^That link didn’t work for me. But I found it elsewhere. Very strange, indeed. Unexplained creatures seem to lurk in the night.

Tiki Tom said:

^^^^That link didn’t work for me. But I found it elsewhere. Very strange, indeed. Unexplained creatures seem to lurk in the night...

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Looks like a fox or coyote to me. *shrug*

Update on a cold case:

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-...-by-mysterious-oregon-cattle-mutilations.html

Zombie_61 said:

Looks like a fox or coyote to me. *shrug*

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Looks a four-legged fox, coyote whatever.

Regarding the above short dinosaur in the yard clip, I watched it again several times. (Yes, I need to get a life.) I'd say fox, except that it appears (maybe) to be running on two hind legs. Could it maybe be some kind of bird? Maybe a pheasant? And ---since we've recently learned that many dinosaurs might have been covered with feathers--- voila! the title of the YouTube video might be correct after all; birds being dinosaurs and all that business.

But never mind that rather tame video. Here is another one. What the h$ll is this???... (Starts with a dog barking as the creature approaches)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ghosts/comments/mr4ak8/someone_caught_this_on_a_home_security_camera_in/