So, uh....blogging, eh?
Since Isabelle has been born there hasn't been much time nor energy to mash the keys and click the post button but here is an attempt to start a new series on the blog while Laura bathes and puts her to bed.
Previous readers will recall that I am a fan of conspiracy theories, paranormal occurrences and other alternative topics. With that and the time of the year in mind let me introduce you to one of my favourites:
The Webbots.
The story goes that in June of 2001 George Ure, purveyor of the financial advice website Urban Survival.com("This is not financial advice.") received an e-mail from a computer programmer by the name of Clif High (his website) saying that a "tipping point" would occur in the next 90 days. This tipping point would result in a major change in life as we know it. Cue Sept. 11th and the rapid growth of the security-state industry. If I have my facts straight, Jeff Rense, the host of the conspiracy-theory radio show began to have Clif and George on to talk about their findings. After that they made it on Coast to Coast a.m. and have been going at it ever since. Clif is a very interesting speaker with a deep knowledge of a variety of topics. (Interviews on YouTube if interested) I have been following them for a few years now and certain forcasts have made me think twice. I'll get to those later.
So how does it work?
According to Clif, all humans are psychic to a degree. This psychic-ness is expressed in a variety of ways, from thinking of a person the moment before they call you on the phone to the phenomenon of how trains that are in accidents have a significantly lower amount of passengers than normal. Clif believes that this is also reflected in the language that we use and how it shifts. To find this shift he created the web bots to scan millions of forum posts and bring back the data to analyze. (Check either website for a more in-depth explanation) From this analysis he comes up with a report called "The Shape of Things to Come" filled with a forecast of the immediate and not-so-immediate future. The reports are difficult to read at first because they have a structure and a language of their own but once you get it down they are an interesting and fascinating read. The words in brackets are pulled from the data and the rest is what Clif attempts to fill in to make a (not quite) complete picture. Here is an excerpt from one:
"an attack on a site with aspects of (South) with specific references to a place where the (wood) in the (earth) {grows} {upward}. Near by will be an (energy) {plant} filled with {tremendous} (effort/work). The target chosen for the entity has associations with a (vertical wall/ascent) near which is a (low land) or (low lying area) from which there rises (power) and (influence/confluence) . This latter may suggest a site where a power plant sits at the base of a cliff or naturally occurring wall that has the power lines rising to it. "
How right are they?
Clif claims to be better than chance but right only 50% of the time. A few of the hits they claim (and some they impressed me with) are the spill in the Gulf ("oil volcano"), the Banda Aceh quake ("300,000 knocked to a previous age"), General McChrystal criticizing Obama ("general misspeaks/faux pas"), the stock market crash of Oct '08, the eruption of the Iceland volcano ("European travel restricted") and the blackout of 2003 (the above excerpt in italics is one part of the report where they claim to have predicted the blackout - it's supposed to be describing Niagara Falls). There is a message board dedicated to discussing the bots and their reports. There you can see the members bend any piece of news to fit a prediction but there are a few (mentioned above) that are a bit eerie.
Well, what's next?
The bots are calling for a major tipping point (orders of magnitude larger than 9/11) to occur between Nov. 8-11 give or take a few days. They are unsure of what type of event it will be but are leaning towards a major financial disaster (the complete loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar is a scenario they've floated) with effects rippling across the globe. They are advising their readers to purchase a little extra food just in case while the dollar still has value. Needless to say their credibility will take a big shot if there is nothing huge in that timeframe. Defenders claim that due to the nature of forecasting, fear language has a more powerful effect and therefore skews the data to lean toward a more dire reading. "Take the forecast and reduce the predicted effect by 90% and that is closer to what reality will bear out" is what they say.
Do I believe it?
Well, as seen above the reports are written in a style open to much interpretation and can run any where from 50 to 70 pages filled with topics such as conspiracy, aliens and secrets revealed which leaves a lot of room for a claim of accuracy. George comes up with scenarios a few times a week on his blog which could be pointed to if they were ever to come true as being prescient. And they charge $10 bucks a report which come out every 4 months or so to cover server costs. So there's those strikes against them.
On the plus side, I find them highly entertaining with talk of characters coming named Cousin Alexi (an alien caught on video in the background of a man-on-the-street interview), Wild Colleen (an Irish woman said to the give an impassioned speech to the world), the "woman of scars" (claimed a hit by some with this picture - warning somewhat graphic) and the Dog Poet (a figure that will make the masses rally around it - later claimed to be this dog) and other tales of time dilation, ill winds and revolution. There is lot to chew on in these reports and I take them as great entertainment...but I did buy an extra bag of rice the last time I was at the grocery store.
Since Isabelle has been born there hasn't been much time nor energy to mash the keys and click the post button but here is an attempt to start a new series on the blog while Laura bathes and puts her to bed.
Previous readers will recall that I am a fan of conspiracy theories, paranormal occurrences and other alternative topics. With that and the time of the year in mind let me introduce you to one of my favourites:
The Webbots.
The story goes that in June of 2001 George Ure, purveyor of the financial advice website Urban Survival.com("This is not financial advice.") received an e-mail from a computer programmer by the name of Clif High (his website) saying that a "tipping point" would occur in the next 90 days. This tipping point would result in a major change in life as we know it. Cue Sept. 11th and the rapid growth of the security-state industry. If I have my facts straight, Jeff Rense, the host of the conspiracy-theory radio show began to have Clif and George on to talk about their findings. After that they made it on Coast to Coast a.m. and have been going at it ever since. Clif is a very interesting speaker with a deep knowledge of a variety of topics. (Interviews on YouTube if interested) I have been following them for a few years now and certain forcasts have made me think twice. I'll get to those later.
So how does it work?
According to Clif, all humans are psychic to a degree. This psychic-ness is expressed in a variety of ways, from thinking of a person the moment before they call you on the phone to the phenomenon of how trains that are in accidents have a significantly lower amount of passengers than normal. Clif believes that this is also reflected in the language that we use and how it shifts. To find this shift he created the web bots to scan millions of forum posts and bring back the data to analyze. (Check either website for a more in-depth explanation) From this analysis he comes up with a report called "The Shape of Things to Come" filled with a forecast of the immediate and not-so-immediate future. The reports are difficult to read at first because they have a structure and a language of their own but once you get it down they are an interesting and fascinating read. The words in brackets are pulled from the data and the rest is what Clif attempts to fill in to make a (not quite) complete picture. Here is an excerpt from one:
"an attack on a site with aspects of (South) with specific references to a place where the (wood) in the (earth) {grows} {upward}. Near by will be an (energy) {plant} filled with {tremendous} (effort/work). The target chosen for the entity has associations with a (vertical wall/ascent) near which is a (low land) or (low lying area) from which there rises (power) and (influence/confluence) . This latter may suggest a site where a power plant sits at the base of a cliff or naturally occurring wall that has the power lines rising to it. "
How right are they?
Clif claims to be better than chance but right only 50% of the time. A few of the hits they claim (and some they impressed me with) are the spill in the Gulf ("oil volcano"), the Banda Aceh quake ("300,000 knocked to a previous age"), General McChrystal criticizing Obama ("general misspeaks/faux pas"), the stock market crash of Oct '08, the eruption of the Iceland volcano ("European travel restricted") and the blackout of 2003 (the above excerpt in italics is one part of the report where they claim to have predicted the blackout - it's supposed to be describing Niagara Falls). There is a message board dedicated to discussing the bots and their reports. There you can see the members bend any piece of news to fit a prediction but there are a few (mentioned above) that are a bit eerie.
Well, what's next?
The bots are calling for a major tipping point (orders of magnitude larger than 9/11) to occur between Nov. 8-11 give or take a few days. They are unsure of what type of event it will be but are leaning towards a major financial disaster (the complete loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar is a scenario they've floated) with effects rippling across the globe. They are advising their readers to purchase a little extra food just in case while the dollar still has value. Needless to say their credibility will take a big shot if there is nothing huge in that timeframe. Defenders claim that due to the nature of forecasting, fear language has a more powerful effect and therefore skews the data to lean toward a more dire reading. "Take the forecast and reduce the predicted effect by 90% and that is closer to what reality will bear out" is what they say.
Do I believe it?
Well, as seen above the reports are written in a style open to much interpretation and can run any where from 50 to 70 pages filled with topics such as conspiracy, aliens and secrets revealed which leaves a lot of room for a claim of accuracy. George comes up with scenarios a few times a week on his blog which could be pointed to if they were ever to come true as being prescient. And they charge $10 bucks a report which come out every 4 months or so to cover server costs. So there's those strikes against them.
On the plus side, I find them highly entertaining with talk of characters coming named Cousin Alexi (an alien caught on video in the background of a man-on-the-street interview), Wild Colleen (an Irish woman said to the give an impassioned speech to the world), the "woman of scars" (claimed a hit by some with this picture - warning somewhat graphic) and the Dog Poet (a figure that will make the masses rally around it - later claimed to be this dog) and other tales of time dilation, ill winds and revolution. There is lot to chew on in these reports and I take them as great entertainment...but I did buy an extra bag of rice the last time I was at the grocery store.
Labels: rambling
posted by Ludger Sylbaris at 7:08 PM
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