The Principality of Sealand - an old military tower off the coast of England which has stood for decades since World War II. On its own, it would likely attract little attention from anybody other than dedicated history buffs. Yet, the tower has gained quite the reputation and following over the years.
Why? It has to do not just with the tower, but some very interesting people, and of the symbol into which they made it. Prince Roy, Princess Joan, Prince Michael - just some of the "royal family" of the self-declared sovereign Principality of Sealand. This video covers some of the most interesting and bizarre events of Sealand ranging from its pirate radio days to an armed takeover, attempted transformation into an offshore data storage platform, and even cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Find all of the source material mentioned in the YouTube Video or the page for this video on my website
"Killware" - the name for a new breed of cyber attacks aimed not just at computer systems, but particularly those whose disruption could cause harm to people who depend on them. Ransomware is already a pressing security issue, and now some cyber security experts are warning the situation could be compounded as actual lives could be at stake. This video discusses the security implications of connected systems and their vulnerabilities. Depending on who you ask, the first deaths from killware attacks have already been recorded. How have these attacks already affected people, and why do some believe cyber attacks are one of the greatest modern security issues? We'll discuss the hard details and the hypotheticals.
Cloud seeding is a form of weather manipulation to encourage cloud formation and increase rainfall in a given area. Although cloud seeding has been experimented with in one form or another for decades, a recent example of weather manipulation in Dubai has made news. Videos have been released by the Emirate's national meteorological center purporting to show rain made by drones. Although drones making rain sounds far fetched, millions of dollars have been poured into research to advance the technology to a state where it's possible.
Why the need for weather manipulation to create rain? The UAE is one of the driest countries on earth and for years has been struggling with declining groundwater tables. That, coupled with vicious heat in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, has led to a worsening water crunch. In these conditions, even when it does rain the water may evaporate before ever reaching the ground and replenishing the groundwater. These cloud seeding technologies enable the formation of more massive water droplets which can survive the descent.
Although cloud seeding has now proven to be a feasible technology, there is still debate about the efficacy of the practice and whether it actually resolves the situation. Some even believe that cloud seeding and other weather manipulation in one region may negatively affect other regions which are similarly dependent on rain patterns. This opens the possibility that these practices may lead to worsening political situations and conflict, as some have even speculated that low water conditions have already led to or worsened conflicts in the middle east.
Top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had long been a target of assassination plans, as it was feared his work would lead to the creation of nuclear weapon systems for the country of Iran. In November of 2020, Fakhrizadeh was killed by gunfire as he drove down the road. The placement of the shots were precise, killing Fakhrizadeh while leaving his wife unharmed in the passenger seat. When it was first reported that the assassination had been carried out with use of a satellite-controlled machine gun, people initially treated it with skepticism. But, new information from the New York Times purports to back up the truth of this sci-fi assassination plot through extensive interview of those directly involved in or knowledgeable of the plan.
A remotely operated belt fed machine gun mounted in the bed of a pickup truck was used to fire the shots that would kill Fakhrizadeh. The shooter, over 1,000 miles away, would control the sighting and firing of the machine gun via satellite link. But they would need more than satellite control. Due to the 1.6 second lag time from the satellite to the controller, there was no way a human could reliably make a shot with such severe latency. So, they reportedly turned to an AI solution which would take into account the lag time, speed of the vehicle, and the bouncing of the truck from the firing of the machine gun.
The phrase "Lying Flat" doesn't immediately make the impression as a form of social and economic protest which is causing concern among industrialist elites, but it's the relatively simple nature of the movement which creates its power. Lying flat, or "tangping" in Chinese, is a very simple philosophy created by some very complex social situations in the country of China. Workers in China are often compelled to work gruelling hours for productivity, although this is usually done by intimation rather than outright force. Despite the emergence of "996" work culture - working 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week - wages and buying power are not keeping pace, and Chinese youths are fearing that they might be the first generation to not be more prosperous than their parents.
Faced with work expectations which are putting their lives and health at risk, and rising costs which prevent them from affording housing and other benchmark goals in spite of this, some are choosing to "Lie Flat". Finding cheaper living situations, cutting down on personal costs, not owning cars or getting married, and finding work that allows them to support themselves without the extreme work culture. This video discusses the Lying Flat movement, its parallels with earlier philosophies such as Cynicism and Eastern philosophies, and the response by those in positions of power.
It also touches on events which are sometimes reported in the US, but typically not compared to Chinese movements. Similar factors of wage stagnation, rising costs of living, and inflexible and demanding work environments similarly have US workers re-evaluating their options and priorities. From The Great Resignation to Van Life, the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement and emerging aesthetic trends like Cottagecore, this video explores the idea that workers in two very opposed nations may be experiencing very similar struggles.
Fatal Familial Insomnia - a disease you may have heard of, as it's gained some notoriety on the internet despite its incredible rarity. I'm sure we've all felt insomnia before and know the frustration and the impact that just one or two bad nights of sleep can have on our functioning. Fatal Insomnia has two forms, sporadic and familial, although the very large majority of cases are familial. The genes for FFI have been identified in fewer than 80 families across the world.
Fatal Insomnia is thought to be the result of a prion disease which results in damage to the thalamus. Over time, a person with the disease develops chronic insomnia and deteriorating health over several months as disease onset progresses.
This video not only covers fatal insomnia, but a detailed case report of one patient - a doctor himself who had lost family to the disease - who embarked on a medical quest to stave off symptoms and maintain quality of life as long as possible. His case is notable today for having greatly exceeded expectations about the progression of disease symptoms, and perhaps having laid out a blueprint for treatments for the disease moving forward.
More and more, advertisements are an inescapable force in life. There is almost no part of our life that advertisers won't touch - including our dreams. This video is about targeted dream incubation - the practice of intentionally implanting material for a person to dream about - and its potential future in advertisement.
Sound worrying? You're not alone. A group of prominent sleep and dream researchers have just published an open letter citing concerns about the misuse of this technology to manipulate consumers into buying their products. We're looking at a couple applications of dream advertising, and at this point there are no indications that advertisers are working to plant these dream advertisements surreptitiously - but that doesn't mean that dream advertising isn't an area of concern to keep a close eye on. We discuss a couple different applications of this technology - the Coors Big Game Dream, Burger King's Nightmare Burger, Microsoft's Made From Dreams, and Playstation's Tetris Effect. Additionally, one sleep researcher reveals that multiple large corporations have approached him about using targeted dream incubation in their advertisements.
Are you ready to see advertisements in your dreams? Technologies that plant them there without your will? It's a very real and concerning possibility.
US Missile History during the Cold War is quite expansive, due to a frenzy of activity during that time. However, today's discussion is around an incident that's little discussed despite being potentially problematic for international relations. This is the history of the Athena Missile Flight #122, which overshot its destination and landed in the Mapimi Desert in Mexico.
This is the story of the conditions leading up to the failed launch, the political environment in which it occurred, and of the clean up and cooperation between the US and Mexican governments. As is usual with the channel, there's also an element of the strange and bizarre in this story; a tale of an area of the Mapimi Desert with stories that rival the Bermuda Triangle. This is the zona de silencio, or Mapimi Silent Zone. The history of strange events and tourism of the Silent Zone is almost inextricably linked to the launch of the Athena missile and the cleanup which must have seemed highly mysterious to the locals who saw the workers arrive in unmarked transport donning hazmat suits.
I truly hope you enjoy this video essay/mini documentary about the event and learn something interest, but both positive and negative feedback is welcome at all times.
Life, death, love and loss are some of the defining factors of the human experiences. But as we enter the age where progressing technology comes to a crossroads with the promise of escaping the problems of conventional paradigms, many have begun to wonder how some of these issues can be resolved. As with many things, people are turning to AI (artificial intelligence) as a possible means for preserving a person's life, or at least their characteristics and experiences, so that the end of a person's natural life doesn't mean that we lose access to them forever. In this video we look at several groups - ranging from startups to nonprofit organizations and even talented individuals working for their own reasons - who are working with AI and examining the potential to digitize a person's essence and keep it around after their death. Sound morbid? Maybe. Tempting? Probably, at least to a number of people. There are few who have not been touched by the pain of losing somebody close to them, and all will eventually experience it. As we struggle to come to terms with mortality and the limited nature of our life, it's only natural that competing opinions on the topic of AI life preservation and recreation will form.
Would you upload yourself into a cloud as a digital consciousness to be preserved for the future? Do you think that "you" can ever be preserved to be brought back to life as a conscious backup of yourself? Or do you think that even the best AI imitations will be only that, a useful recreation but not a method of actually preserving the future?
Whatever your thoughts, I think it's likely we will see some impressive technological growth in the area of AI life preserving and extending technologies.
John Quincy St. Clair is a Hyperspace researcher responsible for invention mechanisms for space travel, remote viewing, teleportation, and many other highly-advanced technologies - or at least that's what he claimed in submitting these designs to the US Patent and Trade Office. For someone with such lofty claims, John St. Clair remains a mysterious figure. Why did he file a large batch of patent applications for mysterious technologies in the span of only a few years, while abandoning every single one of them by failing to respond to official correspondence required? Why does he have a Linkedin account with a job profile at the Hyperspace Research Institute which doesn't show up anywhere else on the web? And, the bigger question for amateur UFO researchers: Why does his electric spacecraft design so closely resemble the TR-3/TR-3B black triangle UFO? I decided to dig deeper into the John St. Clair story and see what I could discover. The Patent process requires creators give some public information, and this was enough to get the paper trail started. John Q. St Clair can be found in just enough records that we can be reasonably sure that he is a real person, but after that - the trail leads us to more questions than answers. There's more to the story, so make sure to watch the full video to uncover everything that's known at this point in time. After watching, I'd like to know from you: Who do you think John St. Clair is and why all these patents for UFOs, remote viewing, and other strange and highly advanced technology? Is this all some sort of undercover government operation and cover up? Proof that we do have contact with extraterrestrial and advanced life forms and technology the average person couldn't dream of? Let me know what you think.
List of St. Clair's patents:
https://www.plainsite.org/profiles/jo...
The names of these patents:
Magnetic Vortex Wormhole Generator
Bobbin electromagnetic field propulsion vehicle
Rotating electrostatic propulsion system
Electric dipole moment propulsion system
Rotor inductance propulsion system
Hyperspace torque generator
Cavitating oil hyperspace energy generator
Hyperspace energy generator
Walking through walls training system
Electric dipole spacecraft
Full body teleportation system
Remote viewing amplifier
Electric dipole moment propulsion system
Permanent magnet propulsion system
Magnetic monopole spacecraft
Water energy generator
Living Funerals, celebrations of life, Seizenso - 3 words that all describe roughly the same idea - holding a ceremony to honor the end of a person's life, while they're still alive.
It's often said that "funerals are for the living" because the person being honored is already dead and gone, and only the living benefit from the ceremony of remembrance. Doesn't this seem a bit backwards though? Why is it that a person usually never gets to hear their own eulogy, the very words that are supposed to wrap up the most impactful parts of their life? This is the reason for the idea of the living funeral, a practice known in Japan as seizenso or "funeral while living". Why wait until somebody is gone to share all the things about their life that were important to you, and often live with the regret that you never cherished those things while they were here?
Some people even take the idea a step further. At the Hyowon Healing Center in Korea, participants sign up to go through a staged mock funeral. They take memorial pictures, write out final words that they would wish to leave to those behind them, and then lay in a coffin for a meditative process that reenacts the process of dying and leaving the earth. Not just for people who believe they may die soon, this ceremonies are also popular with younger people who say that it helps them put the important things in life into perspective, and to let go of the little unpleasant things which are not so important in the big scheme. This is similar to the now popular phrase memento mori, which commands us to remember that we will die, and to use that knowledge to frame decision making for the rest of our lives.
This video also covers another social practice which is growing, known as the death cafe. Although this sounds ominous, a death cafe is a gathering dedicated to talking about questions and thoughts around death. This is aimed at breaking the taboo of talking about death in many cultures, which some feel can hold us back from having healthy attitudes about it. If you want to find out more about this practice, and possibly even find a meet up in your area, I recommend going to deathcafe.com.
Content Warning: Nuclear, chemical and biological warfare; human experimentation; global war
World War 2 was a war marked by rapid advancement of technology, newly destructive weaponry, and changes in tactic as the militaries of the nations involved learned to adapt to a new era of warfare. Some of the atrocities of the war are well publicized - such as nuclear weapons, firebombing, and concentration of labor camps - while others aren't.
In particular, chemical and biological warfare had a much larger presence in the second world war than is commonly acknowledged. One of the most shocking examples is Japan's Unit 731, a Covert Research group which engaged in highly secretive chemical and biological experimentation on human subjects. Surgeon General Shiro Ishii of Unit 731 believed that these types of warfare had strategic value, and planned to use them against American Forces at several points. But the largest and most audacious plan was Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night: an attack plan which involved sending submarines across the ocean to US shores to launch bomber planes which would drop plague bombs over American populations.
Many don't realize that this operation was just five weeks away from being enacted when the war was ended. Although it's a matter of speculation whether or not the plan would have worked, it's a great thing that we never had to find out.
Discussion around weapons of mass destruction today often means nuclear devices. But, I think it would be hard to argue that the deliberate spread of something as insidious as plague would easily fall in the same category.
I hope you enjoy this video essay/mini documentary
Further reading on the Subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us...
The Dark Night of the Soul and Positive Disintegration are two concepts which are closely tied together - the belief that some forms of extreme emotional duress are unfortunately necessary for growth and reaching a higher, more preferable state of the human condition. The Dark Night of the Soul is a phrase that came to be popularized based on a poem by St. John of the Cross, and represented a religious and spiritual journey. On the other hand, positive disintegration is a theory of personal and social development by Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski. Though originating from two very distinct sources, they both point to the truth of using discomfort to make positive change. This video covers both of these phrases as well as aspects of dealing with depression and existential crisis and turning them into positive catalysts for greater personal well being.
Article from Psychiatric times which is linked in the video: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view...
Thomas Moore's book on Dark Nights of the Soul: https://amzn.to/339lrpv (Amazon Affiliate Link)
Background music through Epidemic Sound
Thumbnail Photo by Damir Mijailovic from Pexels
The panopticon - a place where all contained can be watched at any time, unaware of the status of their observers. First proposed by social theorist Jeremy Bentham, the idea of the panopticon was that the constant potential for being observed would lead to behavior which would fall in line with the moral requirements of society. Although this concept applied to many different building types proposed by Bentham, the one that we are most familiar with today is the panopticon style prison.
The concept is as simple as it is effective; if you are always under surveillance, or not able to tell when you are or aren't, you can only act as though you are being watched. Proponents believe that this will lead to causing people to behavior, and can eventually lead to moral reform as societal pressure causes people to adapt. But at what cost? What level of paranoia and emotional anguish would result from such a situation? There's a reason the Panopticon has been proposed not only as a model for social reform, but for emotional torture.
There are few true Panopticon style prisons we can look to in history - the most famous example is likely the Presidio Modelo, where Fidel Castro and his brother Raoul were held. Of course, institutional power with even the best intentions can be abused by a lack of oversight. Today, the concept of the Panopticon is relevant once again; as electronic and digital tools lead to the ever-increasing capability of constant surveillance - not too dissimilar to the dystopian societies conjured by writers such as Orwell.
Having your head taken off and surgically implanted onto another body sounds crazy, right? Maybe, like me, you remember hearing about plans by an Italian neurosurgeon to perform the first human head transplant, but what happened to that? It seemed to have dropped out of the news cycle one day. So I decided to find out.
The weapon systems we see in science fiction inspire awe, fear and wonder about the power of humanity and the boundaries we push. As technology advances, sometimes real life technology comes closer than we expect to the capabilities imagined in science fiction.
Today's episode is the first in the series where we talk about real science-fiction weapons. The subject is the orbital kinetic bombardment system - sometimes referred to ominously as "Rods From God". This system imagines tungsten rods the size of telephone poles dropped from orbit to create an impact rivaling nuclear weapons, without any explosives or fallout. Although this system is not real in the sense that it's ever been deployed (as far as we know), it has been designed and pitched for very real purposes.