Massive Pharaoh Unearthed In Egypt (UPDATE)

Gotta love the photo Huffpost picked for this story:

CAIRO — Archaeologists have unearthed the massive head of one Egypt's most famous pharoahs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday.

The head of Amenhotep III, which alone is about the height of a person, was found in the ruins of the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor.

UPDATE: SoapFan found a shot of the actual head. It's fascinating to me how androgynous so much Egyptian art was.

.

The Big Rollout: Blue Origin? New Shepard?

This is all getting very weird:

BOULDER, Colo. — For all the shake, rattle and roll that a rocket emits on takeoff, the secretive private rocket firm Blue Origin is still keeping quiet even as new details are emerging regarding its new vertical launch and landing rocket.

Bankrolled by the super-wealthy Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, Blue Origin has been busy fabricating its New Shepard rocket. The spacecraft has been shrouded in secrecy since work began, but Blue Origin officials lifted the veil slightly in recent weeks.

.

Amy Bishop and the Man from Atlantis

As if this story wasn't strange enough already:

CANTON, Mass. – Investigators have discovered that a newspaper on triple murder suspect Amy Bishop's bedroom floor when she killed her brother more than 20 years ago described an incident strikingly similar to what she did that day, raising questions about her claim it was an accident.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said investigators found the date of the newspaper after enlarging a police photo of the scene. He said the newspaper contained an article about a shotgun killing in which the suspect stole a getaway car from a dealership.

Bishop, now accused of killing three colleagues at an Alabama university this month, said she accidentally killed her teenage brother with a shotgun at their suburban Boston home in December 1986. She then went to a car dealership body shop and tried to commandeer a car at gunpoint, police said.

Keating declined to be specific about the incident in the paper. Boston newspapers were reporting the article was about the November 1986 killing of the parents of actor Patrick Duffy, who starred in the TV series "Dallas." They were slain with a shotgun during a robbery attempt at a Montana bar they owned. The two teen suspects then stole a truck at gunpoint from a car dealership. They were arrested after a high speed chase.

Patrick Duffy was Mark Harris (read: "Mars/Horus") the Man from Atlantis. His birthday? 3/17.

Bonus semiotic nuttiness:

Judge Mark Coven, presiding judge in Quincy District Court, will conduct the closed-door inquest and report his findings to Keating, who would then decide whether to pursue an indictment.

UPATE: Judy Bishop led opposition to the building of a Masonic temple in Braintree in the 70s.

.

John Cusack, Superstar: Hot Tub Stargate

Another Synchromystic notch on the superstar's belt. An earlier redband actually namechecks the 'Gate. This doesn't seem like an Oscar contender, but might be good for a Redbox Friday. NSFW.

.

Huffpost Hijinks

Left to right: Obelisk, dome, pyramid, Saturn.

17.

Space Invaders

How do you know they're getting serious about space colonization? When you start hearing talk about "ethics" and "guidelines" in space- you know, your standard-issue code words for "government":

In a time of potentially catastrophic climate change, our need to consider the exploration of outer space is greater than ever. This need is made visible by the rise of various networks that are contributing to the establishment of governmental policies that will oversee our move into outer space, either as visitors or inhabitants. The importance of ethical debate within such conversations is signaled by the work of such organizations as UNESCO, which held its first congress on the ethics of outer space in 2004.

Get the scoop here.

.

Destination Moon... er, Mars

I'm still not seeing any evidence devastating to "banned from the Moon" advocates:

NASA chief Charles Bolden told senators Wednesday that sending astronauts to Mars is still the ultimate goal for U.S. human spaceflight, as he defended the agency's new space plan against criticism in a heated budget hearing.

"Mars is what I believe to be the ultimate destination for human exploration in our solar system," Bolden told the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee.

But NASA will likely not have the technology to send astronauts to Mars for at least the next 10 years, he said.

"There are too many capabilities that we don't have in our kit bag," Bolden said.- Space.com

.

SpaceWar Watch: Two-ton debris falls in Mongolia

A jet engine or something more exotic? These days all bets are off. Not only is a bunch of hardware going up in the sky, a startling amount of it is coming down. Full story at the UFO Examiner.

.

Hoaxing as Artform

This Mars footage is so obviously faked it takes on its own reality. I'm sure the Japanese have a word for a hoax that is so compelling that its veracity becomes irrelevant. Then there are hoaxes that exist in a netherworld between truth and falsehood, to the point that you can't really call them hoaxes. Maybe the collapse of these kinds of distinctions will become an important aspect of our neural evolution...

.

Mer-Meme Watch: Admiral Ackbar

This is certainly timely:

Admiral Ackbar-- the Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance fleet -- is one step closer to becoming the new on-field mascot for the University of Mississippi.

Ole Miss is in the middle of a movement to replace their old mascot -- Colonel Reb -- after the school decided they wanted to update their image.

Tuesday, the students voted in favor of crowning a new mascot to represent Rebel Nation ... and the favorite so far is none other than the most famous Mon Calamari in the entire universe.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/

Kyle Hunt and I were just talking about this guy...

.

Spi-Fi: Assassin's Creed 2 Cinematic Ending

I'm not a gamer, but I find some of the cinematic sequences fascinating. This one in particular. All of these strange mystical and esoteric memes are recombining and reordering themselves in this popcult environment, a process that could be far more revolutionary than it currently appears.

This is a damn long way from Donkey Kong, that's for sure...

.

The Flying Gods

Here's a bit of a different take on the UFO topic.

.

Glenn Beck, flashin' the 6s

Everything is a-OK! Rock and Roll, dude!

UPDATE: Deep background on theories on "a-OK" sign. Grain of salt, but still...

.

When Mythworlds Collide: X-Trek

Famke "Phoenix" Janssen plays a mutant on ST:TNG, opposite the future Professor X. She played opposite another Trek captain in Lord of Illusions, which was meant to be a Manson allegory, but always struck me as a Crowley one...

.

Former DA speaks out on Amy Bishop case

As tempting as it is to call buck-passing here, my gut tells me this is all about the Braintree PD, specifically the former chief.

.

New KickAss redband trailer

I gotta admit, this looks pretty entertaining for a teen movie.

.

Puppet regrets his role in the puppetshow

The Solar Seminar recently hosted my take on the Clinton Impeachment clownshow and now a new book is out, revealing the sordid goings on behind the scenes. It's called “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr,” by Ken Gormley and the New York Times has a review. I found this passage to be very telling:

There has been no equivalent satisfaction for Monica Lewinsky or for many other participants who still view the events with despair. Even Kenneth Starr, dean at the Pepperdine University School of Law, who this week was named president of Baylor University, regrets that his office wound up as the authority investigating the Lewinsky matter. Recalling his emotions as he watched the impeachment proceedings on television, Starr told Gormley that he asked himself: “Why did all of this have to happen? Why did we get to where we are? This is all so unnecessary.”

Starr might be an unquestioning footsoldier for the Dominionist agenda, but he's no dummy. It may have taken a while, but homeboy eventually realized he got played, and that his programming was used against him. He certainly wasn't alone in that, was he?

.

The Doctor Rises on Easter...

...and wrestles with an angel. Fascinating symbolism.

I was more than a bit skeptical of this kid's ability to play the Doctor, but so far it doesn't look all DeGrassi Doctor Who.

.

Ronald B Moore: Caprica for Beginners

More Caprica News & Previews

If you're not watching Caprica yet, it comes with my highest recommendation. You don't have to be a BSG fan (though it certainly doesn't hurt) and this show is more real and relevant than anything else on the air today.

.

Gordon Cooper: UFOs visiting Earth

NASA Gordon Cooper UFOs are visiting the Earth

Via Daily Grail Via Real UFO via Disclose TV