the EIGN way to keep time.

so i saw this watch on digg the other day. so eign.

hey, tubby... over here. you may want to read this

After riding on the local public transportation system last night for a while, walking around "downtown" and then reading this article from yesterday's washington post, I am now afraid more and more people are going to be showing up at front doors across the US not knowing their names and thinking that they are home. Oh, and they'll be fat.

Apparently having a "big belly" increases your risk (in some cases by over 350 percent) for suffering from dementia later in life. (WAPO)

Seeing as how we're one of the fattest countries in the world, (Of which Nauru leads the list with an UNBELIEVABLE 94.5 percent obesity level. and, um, Where the fuck is Nauru anyway?) for god's sake, please, to EIGN's larger brethren, STOP EATING.

ticketwhore

getting reamed by ticketmaster (TICKETBASTARD, ticket-whore, etc) is always a pain in the ass (pun intended). but seriously 5 dollars for a convenience charge? 2.75 for a processing fee? (the credit card transaction cost for them is NO MORE than 25 cents and more likely a few pennies. (which are useless anyway)). and best of all: 4.75 for a Delivery fee for tickets i PRINTED on my OWN F'n COMPUTER. I should be getting a discount from them for doing that sort of thing.

what does this have to do with EIGN you may be wondering. well first, i wanted to vent and two, big business is destroying american. and the world. you know. all that oil. or slave labor in poor countries. or price fixing. or screwing the little guy. or destroying the environment. or destroying our souls. or whatever.

share you stories. boycott. (not as easy as it sounds.) (ticketmastersucks.info)

fuck you ticketmaster.

crops at the end of the world

Last night I happened to be watching 60 minutes on CBS... And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an EIGN story about doomsday and fear!

I'd heard about this story a few weeks back, but it was interesting to watch actual video of a subterranean building which houses over a billion and a half seeds from all over the world. Purportedly the building is built to last 10,000 years and will be able to survive nuclear winter, global warming, etc.

So if/when earth "goes nova" the survivors will be able to re-seed the earth... that is if they have a key. Or know where to find it. Or know how to farm. sigh.

weekend stories you may have missed...

An infestation of rats is creating severe food shortages in Bangladesh. (bbc)
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Wow. I could really use some artificial muscle AND a better way of charging my ipod anytime. (discovery news)
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"Long considered an abundant, reliable and relatively cheap source of energy, coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide." (washington post)

Arctic Melt part 2.

A brief follow up to yesterday's post...

Apparently Russia's claim of the north pole has pissed off the EU.
"Climate change may provoke conflict between the European Union and Russia as Arctic ice melts."

Mmmm, oil. "[An] area of the Arctic shelf [claimed by Russia] may hold 10 billion tons of oil equivalent, as well as gold, nickel and diamond deposits, the Russian government says." (bloomberg)

one more reason the arctic will disappear

Apparently the arctic land is being snatched up by nations around the world faster than the ice even melts. According to discover magazine, this free-for-all, wild orgy of a gorge on the land could lead to an environmental disaster. They ask, "Will there be anything left?"

To make matters worse, apparently the RUSSIANS have laid claim to the north pole. From the discover article above, "In early August a team of Russian geologists placed a flag in the seabed under the North Pole, claiming it was part of Russia's underwater territory." Doesn't Santa own that property??? (discover magazine)

weekend stories you may or may not have missed...

Egypt is running out of water: "Egypt is adding more than a million people a year, which is putting huge strains on its natural resources. Strains that are evident every time some people turn on the tap." (marketplace.org)


and so it begins... "China Confirms Outbreak of Bird Flu" (ap)

"How not to die, every single day"

Advice from a San Francisco paper columnist on dealing with the inevitable...

"Life is, of course, all about managing death.
Or rather, it's all about managing pain and pollution and disease and gravity and germs and bacteria and poison and Dick Cheney and those little shards of glass in your burrito; it's all about, in short, how you sort through the sundry and ever-increasing laundry list of things in your immediate world that want to torment and toxify and destroy you because oh my God they are legion and they are ready and they are right f-ing there." (sfgate)

12.21.2012

the Mayan civilization was quite advanced when it came to time-science knowledge. their main calendar is the most accurate on the planet. it has yet to err. it will only need to be adjusted by one day in 380,000 years (or something along those lines). that is of course if we're around to see the sun rise on 12.22.2012. their calander is due to end 12.21.2012 (and presumably restart?). some 2200 years ago they predicted an apocolypse open up and rain hell on December 21st.

The accuracy of their calanader can be largely contributed to their mastery of astronomy. See below for visual of just how adept at this they were:

the El Castillo pyramid, Chich'en Itzá, annually marks the shift into the spring equinox by casting a shadow on the stairs, which traces out the body of a serpent. the shadow slinks down each of the 91 steps and culminates at the base with a giant snake head sculpture (see the left staircase in the photo above). the fact that this was designed to happen - and actually does, is fucking mind blowing. when you accomplish that without a god damned computer, maybe i'll believe you when you say shit isn't going to hit the fan come 12.21.2012.

CCD

maybe a little dated... hello colony collapse disorder, and goodbye bees. the die-off has only accelerated since. say goodbye to mass crop production as we know it. "Normally, a weakened bee colony would be immediately overrun by bees from other colonies or by pests going after the hive's honey. That is not the case with the stricket colonines..." (washington post) bad. very bad.

mmm.... whale burger...

Only in Japan.... where scientists are busy trying to create 'cow-whale' hybrids.

"Some of the experiments involved injecting dead minke sperm into cow eggs, others attempt to produce test-tube whale babies and thawing frozen whale sperm to see if it remained fertile."
"(The research involves) really bizarre and very strange experiments with sheep and pigs and eggs. It's totally esoteric, very strange research," [Dr Nick Gales] said from London." (news.com.au)


But it looks like all of this may be a front to keep slaughtering/hunting whales. way to go ethics!

Solve medical problems by (potentially) creating new ones

Here at EIGN most of the stories we have for you are pretty negative -- which sort of comes with the territory. But here's a story that actually could be great for mankind, yet still brings us closer to EIGN... creating new viruses to try and cure another one.

"Specifically, they have modified a virus and injected it into mice with several kinds of inoperable brain cancer. Three days later, the tumors were gone." (discovery news)

"Outlook for Oceans Bleak"

The phytoplankton that are at the bottom of one of the most important food chains on the planet are quickly disappearing from the worlds oceans. Tied to global warming? perhaps. But who cares. Whatever the cause, it's not exactly a good thing.
Even better, "we may not be fully aware of the situation as it changes. The satellite that made these critical measurements is nearing the end of its lifespan, and there is no full replacement in the works. So, in a few years, U.S. scientists may not be able to look at the color of the ocean from space to track this trend." (npr)

soylent green is people!

"Everywhere, the cost of food is rising sharply. In recent years, the world’s developing countries have been growing about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards."
“Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,” said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy. “But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.” (NYT)

UPDATE: Australia's worst drought on record causing a large increase in the cost of wheat. [In this part of Australia] "water-starved farms and cavernous empty grain silos have the potential to create a ripple effect which spreads around the globe." (bbc)

weekend stories you probably missed... drugs in water. stopping light. nasa running low on fuel.

NASA is running out of plutonium. (Oh, and we apparently purchase it from Russia, too.) (space.com)

apparently we're now capable of STOPPING LIGHT! "Physicists say they have brought light to a complete halt for a fraction of a second and then sent it on its way." (bbc)

this can't be good.... "A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans." (AP)

the beginning of the story....

the earth is going super-nova.
or so my brother suggested in early january 2008.
during a mundane im converstation he presented his shrinking world theory to me.
basically, everyone always talks about how it's such a "small world" and it is only getting smaller... well, actually, i'll just let a bit of the conversation tell the story.

him: you like my shrinking world theory?
me: what theory?
him: fucking going super nova dude
him: shrinks then explodes
him: the shrinking isn't quite as literal as an actual star going super nova
him: but yes... shit is coming together at an ever increasing pace
him: and the friction from resulting closeness
him: is going to cause the whole shit to blow
me: i'm going to start a blog
me: with that theory as the basis
him: credit me please
me: yeah
him: EARTH IS GOING SUPER NOVA!
me: YEAH! I LOVE IT


since this initial conversation we now exchange articles and stories that seem to precipitate the end of the world. so, here it is a few months later, we've actually tried to start this blog and we're going to try to share some of those interesting stories with you here. we hope you enjoy.

-jeff