Mac on the WWW

"There's so much weird stuff on the Net that it can -

and has - made people quite nuts. Rest assured, 99%

of it is pure drek. Excepting PHB, of course;

everything I say is true."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 4/23/06

With most interactivity on the net having moved over to Twitter and (cringe) Facebook, I have to wonder if Mac - had he lived - would've even bothered maintaining Posthuman Blues.

Shameless Self-Promotion

What does Petra and labradorite have to do with Araqinta?

Hop on over to Regan Lee's super-cool Alien Art Genre and find out!

Thanks Regan! :-)

Mac on a Day's Work

"I've read "Invisible Residents." It's by a zoologist

called Ivan Sanderson, and was recently reissued. I

read large portions of it while working at

Radio Shack in 1998/99.

I like Sanderson's approach because he was essentially

an outsider to the UFO field (as far as I could tell),

and his views were subtly eccentric. I think he's

largely dismissed as a crank and a dabbler, but I enjoyed

looking at the phenomenon anew through his eyes.

I'm also pleased to boast that I once read William

Burroughs' "The Wild Boys" in its entirety during

one day's work"

- Mac Tonnies, via email 4/22/06

Alien Worlds

"Mac Tonnies - one of the most original thinkers within the mystical and UFOlogical realms, Mac Tonnies gets verbally beaten up from time to time for daring to voice well- constructed theories that fall outside the boundaries of accepted explanations for the unusual. That's what you get for thinking outside the box, an innovative and original theorist."

- Michael Naisbitt, UFO-Blog.com, 2/7/08

Sadly, "Alien Worlds" magazine folded and is no longer available, but Mac had an article in this first issue regarding Cryptoterrestrials and Transhumanism. Articles by fellow Cabal members Nick Redfern, Paul Kimball, and Greg Bishop also appeared within Alien World's pages in its all-but-too-brief run.

UFO Magazine

For your info: Mac Tonnies wrote a column for UFO Magazine - "Hatful of Hollow" - which can be found in the two issues shown above: Issue #145 and Issue #147.

Mac on Dead Zones

"In the end, it's usually the little things that kill you.

Keep in mind as we bemoan the imminent demise of the insect world as we know it, a similar scourge is at work even lower on the food-chain, filling our oceans with sprawling hypoxic dead zones. It's likely the first domino has already fallen."

- Mac Tonnies, PHB post, 8/4/05

Come on in, the water's fine...?

"The majority of impacts to Florida’s shoreline will likely be highly weathered, in the form of tar balls, oil sheen, tar mats or mousse – a pudding-like oil/water mixture that could be brown, rust or orange in color...

There have been no reports of Deepwater Horizon oil spill-related oil products reaching the shore beyond the Northwest Florida region. There is no indication that the rest of the state will have impacts from weathered oil products within the next 72 hours."

- Gov Monitor (Florida) article, 6/26/10

Note to self: Take a day-trip to the beach ASAP... while there still is one.

Note to all those living on the east coast: You really ain't sitting pretty, folks, no matter how far north you are. This is now two months into the Gulf oil gush and it'll continue to gush for at least 2 more months, if not more. Here's a link to track the oil's progression... the Gulf Oil Spill Tracker.

Note to Steve Colbert: Thanks, Steve, this was rather cathartic.

Mac on the "Ultraterrestrials"

"Maybe I was getting bored with stalking the

"Singularity" (aka the "Rapture for Nerds"). The

"ultraterrestrial" slant is more appealing to me, more

open to weird possibilities."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 4/9/06

Before they were crypto's, they were "ultraterrestrials". Check out this particular PHB post. It was Mac's first introduction to his proposed book that, eventually, would appear, word for word, in the published copy. Note his comment.

Found Object #6

I spent some time in my "vault" recently, and stumbled across an image I'd totally forgotten about. This was actually my second "Cryptoterrestrial" book cover proposal... the first being the infamous crypto face that Mac had already hung on PHB.

Mac wasn't crazy about the above image... misinterpreting it as a "crashed saucer" image. Which it wasn't really. It was my interpretation of a crypto "mirage." That is, it almost appears like a downed craft but if you look closely, it's really materializing out of the rocks as opposed to nesting in them.

Mac did come to like the image... but he was already married to that creepy crypto mug!

Crypto's from Mars?

"Here's where my "cryptoterrestrial" thought experiment starts getting weird:

Although accounts of "little people" imply a nonhuman civilization parallel to our own, the "others" generally have a recognizably human-like appearance, suggesting a common ancestry. If so, where did we originate? On Earth? Possibly. But it's imperative that we examine more far-flung real-estate, if only to cover all bases and rule out red herrings. I'm particularly attracted to Mars, a planet that boasts some unlikely formations that may be archaeological sites..."

If Mars is indeed a piece of the puzzle, the cryptoterrestrials with whom we share the planet may retain a collective memory of their ancestral world."

- Mac Tonnies, PHB post, 5/9/06

As Mars seems to be presently constellating on this blog, here's an interesting tidbit from one of Mac's PHB forgotten essays. "Forgotten", in the sense that this is one cryptoterrestrial issue that, sadly, did not appear in Mac's allegedly final manuscript. "Sadly", because some of us just loved when Mac's "thought experiments" got "weird"!

In this particular one, we're all Martians! :-)

Do check out the post - great comments, too.

Sunspots

"Our Sun is experiencing the most prolonged period of minimal sunspot activity in nearly a century. The puzzling absence of these spots, whose build-up commonly signals the occurrence of large solar storms and flares, has space scientists and solar physicists searching for explanations."

Before you freak out about recent lack of sunspot activity read this article... or maybe this one.

Mac on NASA

"Because if the prospect of life in made clear, then

the NASA Mars exploratiion hierarchy goes into a

tailspin, with biological research suddenly

superseding geological research. This is about

careers, not science."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 8/15/06

I'm made an exception to my general rule regarding the order of Mac quotes... and will probably do so from time to time when the subject demands Mac's two cents!

New Martian Detail

"A group of seventh-graders in California has discovered a mysterious cave on Mars as part of a research project to study images taken by a NASA spacecraft orbiting the red planet.

The 16 students from teacher Dennis Mitchell's 7th-grade science class at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, CA, found what looks to be a Martian skylight — a hole in the roof of a cave on Mars."

- Space.com article 6/21/10

Is it me, or do these mysterious Mar's holes generally appear unusually clean-cut?

3D Fiction

Some awesome fractal animation by Serder Camilca at 3D Fiction.

Mac on "The Man Who Fell to Earth"

"Have you read the novel by Walter Tevis? I read it in

one sitting and cried. It's mesmerizing -- sort of

like something Camus might have written had he dared

write science fiction."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 3/29/06

Found Object #5

"Back in October, author/researcher Greg Bishop took my picture in The Triangle, a restaurant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I was delighted to see my serving of steamed mussels arrive in a flying saucer-ish package.

Intrigued by the possibility that I may have unknowingly made contact with extraterrestrials, I had the image analyzed by an independent laboratory. By extracting data from between the pixels, analysts were able to produce previously unnoted detail.

Here is the startling result:

Believe me, I'm as freaked out as you are.

(Image by ELAN Laboratories. Used with permission.)"

- Mac Tonnies from a PHB post dated February 3, 2007

Mac on cRRReeps (cont.)

"Having said that, I actually agree with some of his points about the intellectual stagnation

that threatens meaningful UFO research."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 9/20/08

For Nick Redfern

When I posted yesterday, I was unaware of the passing of Nick Redfern's mother Wednesday. The loss of ones Mom is an unfathomable heartbreak. Almost anything one can say is cliche and hollow. I only "know" Nick vicariously through Mac, but, from my core, I wish him comfort and healing.

There will be no further posting on this blog this weekend.

Mac on cRRReeps

"I wasn't sighing in abject disgust, just mild exasperation.

The guy who penned the "uber-geek" comment maintains several blogs devoted to

trashing UFO "personalities" he doesn't like. It's a little creepy."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 9/20/08

(in reference to an "RRR Group" post)

If Mac was here to defend himself, I wouldn't have to bother with this post. But when I found this "gem", I felt I needed to do a bit of research.

I can't say that I know for sure what the cliche "Resting in Peace" actually means, nor that Mac would actually desire such repose, however, I have to question the writer's true agenda when reading statements such as these:

"Mr. Tonnies was a regular guy, who drank too much coffee and engaged in bizarre musings about life and the peripheral elements that impinge on life.

He wasn’t a particularly original thinker but, rather, an accu-mulator (sic) of obtuse materials, which he re-arranged (sic) in such a way as to make new goods out of that material."

Well, if said "RRR Group" - and really, if the "group" is, indeed, a single entity, then let's assume this person is one sad little malcontent with a personality disorder - really wants Mac to "Rest in Peace" then maybe It ought to discontinue harrassing both Mac and his "self-promoting" "fellow-fringers".

I think Mac said it best in his PHB response to the "Group" post, sited earlier, by quoting Morrissey:

"You hiss and groan and you constantly moan

But you don't ever go away

That's because

All you need is me..."

Incidentally, the photo above is the one sited in this PHB post, regarding more RRR Group BS.

(Note to Nick: Admirable comment... But. let's face it, the only thing RRR Group really regrets is that It is unlikely to receive the posthumous attention It claims is our underlying goal.)

Mac on Altered States

"I'm ravenous for altered states as well; I just don't

want the hassle of chemicals."

Mac Tonnies, via email 3/27/06

Top Ten Ways to Stop an Oil Spill

Let's say this one comes in at number 5... suggested by Kartott's dad over at Postreason.

Anybody got suggestions for the other 9?

BTW, there's plenty of asteroid impact videos on YouTube. I chose this one cause the Gaelic song in the background is to, uh, die for.

Mac on Mac (the kid)

"I first encountered the Pleiades in elementary school

through Gary Kinder's "Light Years" (about the Billy

Meier "contacts"). I was quite the UFO sage. I

scared "normal" kids."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 3/7/06

Mac on Ruins

"I guess the analogy I had in mind was drowning: the

water (or in my case, constant decay) precludes any

possibility of holding onto the past, so the result is

a sort of skyward migration."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 3/5/06

Here Mac was elucidating for me an excerpt of his wonderful PHB essay from March 2, 2006.

P.S. Head on over to Macbots and check out the latest post featuring 6 year old Mac's space vignette complete with alien monsters and a spaceship!

Living Off the Grid #2

This video is from 2007.

I confess, I've had a long-held attraction to New Mexico. My current dream is to live in an Earthship!

Mac on Books

"For that matter, I can see the

Internet leveled overnight and all my online work

destroyed. I think books are more durable, but I fear

for their safety as if they were living things (which

in a memetic sense they are)."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 3/2/06

Mac on What Was Eventually Scrapped

"Anyway, the new book (still in the works) is called

"The Postbiological Cosmos." It's an attempted

unified theory of cybernetics and ufology."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 2/27/06

As many of us know, this book proposal eventually morphed into "The Cryptoterrestrials".

Kitten Glitch

Please be advised, we are currently experiencing technical difficulties due to some inexplicable feline interference. Stay tuned. We will resume normal broadcasting momentarily...

Mac on "The Machine"

"Thanks for the encouragement. Artist vs. The Machine

-- definitely. I feel like a character in a Kafka novel."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 2/23/06

Living Off the Grid

Re: Samso Island, Denmark... where there are off-shore windmills instead of off-shore oil-rig nightmares. Never have windmills looked so beautiful to me!

Apart from the electric cars shown in the video, those running on fuel, use oil pressed from rapeseeds.

Michio Kaku Weighs In

Respected physicist Michio Kaku weighs in on the science (or lack of it) regarding BP's efforts to stop the oil gushing continuously into the Gulf; oil that has been gushing for 6 weeks now and, according to Kaku, may be gushing for years...

Mac on Blogging

"The blog format has been the closest

I've come to an actual journal;

I find I don't tire of it, and actually enjoy inviting

strangers to look over my

virtual shoulder."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 2/12/06

Mac on "Arthur"

"That's not a bad idea. The future could have a
variety of gene-modified humanoids designed for
various servile tasks (kind of like the replicants in
"Blade Runner"). Maybe Arthur could be a biological
weapon ordered to commit suicide to fulfill some
extremist cause. Naturally, Arthur might be reticent.
So if he flees, the "good" guys *and* the "bad" guys
would be after him."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 1/29/06

For a recap of "Arthur", see my previous post.

We never did agree on the direction of the story, and certainly not on the ending. Mac wanted action and suicide bombers. I wanted something more murky and existentialist. I wanted Arthur to be a sort of unwitting hero, but Mac thought that premise might be too "feel good." We sort of agreed on the ending, though. In that, Arthur would inadvertently wipe out humanity and then swim off into the sunset with the vestiges of his hybrid/mutant race!

Mac on Ink

"Remember, the technological future is happening faster and

faster; it's only a matter of months until the first

fluorescent tattoos."

- Mac Tonnies, via email 1/25/06

Hmmm... anybody know about this?

Almacan

In keeping with the Posthuman Blues tradition, I'd like to present the work of Kazuhiko Nakamura who features some stunning cyber-punk images on his web-site, Almacan. The gorgeous image above is entitled "Spiral Memory". Nakamura is amongst the many artists exhibiting at the Device Gallery in San Diego, California, so, if you're lucky enough to live in the area, check it out.

While you're at it, also check out the latest Pink Tentacle offering: Futuristic Megastructures by Shimizu.

Added Note: Also check out a rather endearing alien image by a 5-year old Mac Tonnies, courtesy of Dana Tonnies, at Macbots... with a promise of more to come.