Theories behind the lack of present-day "contact"

Why are we not already widely aware of non-Earth civilizations and beings?

Seven theories behind the lack of present-day "contact"

Full Article:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035420_human_beings_invasive_species_intelligent_life.html

• Theory #1 - Earth has been declared a "non-intervention" zone and all non-Earth civilizations have agreed to stay "hands off" while simply observing our planet and our species. This would, of course, imply some sort of galactic governing body, which is a fascinating subject all by itself.

• Theory #2 - There are no advanced aliens in the galaxy. We are the only intelligent life in the universe. God help us if this turns out to be true, as there will be nothing to stop human-led corporations from pillaging and destroying entire worlds if inexpensive space travel technology can be developed. Imagine Jupiter renamed "Planet Microsoft, Inc." Technology without ethics is extremely dangerous.

• Theory #3 - There are aliens, but they just haven't noticed us yet. Maybe they only get around to checking each life-supporting planet every 50,000 years or so, and since our entire civilization is only about 10,000 years old (or so), we haven't yet showed up on their radar. Our use of nuclear weapons -- a series of events easily visible from space -- has only taken place in the last 75 years or so. The light from such events has only begun to reach many advanced civilizations that might be gearing up to take action against Earth as a result.

• Theory #4 - Our own present-day human species was created by non-Earth beings genetically seeding or altering native primates in order to create a more intelligent race for some purpose that we don't yet know about. (A slave race of obedient workers, perhaps? That trait seems to have been made quite prominent among present-day humans...)

• Theory # 5 - Extraterrestrials know all about us, but they're waiting to see if we will destroy ourselves first. If we somehow get through the next couple of hundred years without decimating our own planet, then perhaps they will make contact. This is a question of species maturity -- are human beings mature enough to even bother being contacted? Or are we still just fair-skinned apes who beat each other over the heads with sticks and rocks while poisoning our own planet and destroying life? Earth's "advanced weapons" are a joke in a galactic sense, and our focus on weapons and war only proves how stupid we are when it comes to wisdom and maturity.

• Theory #6 - Extraterrestrials are already here, and they're already taking over with some sort of nefarious infiltration agenda. Remember the "V" television series? Yeah, lizard people and all that... The "David Icke theory."

• Theory #7 - Earth has already been claimed as "property" by one of the non-Earth races, and they will soon come to the planet to claim its resources. If you think about it, if earthlings had the technology of faster-than-light space travel, wouldn't we run around the Milky Way staking claim to all the valuable planets we could find? And the most valuable planets of all, it seems, would be water planets, as water is really the "gold" of life (as we know it) in the galaxy. A big blue planet like Earth would look like a valuable gem floating in a sea of mostly inhabitable rocks. Every advanced civilization in the universe would want to "own" Earth if, indeed, ownership was still one of their functioning tendencies.

Mark Ruffalo: Fracking is a public health concern

Actor Mark Ruffalo appeared Wednesday on MSNBC to discuss his campaign against hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, a controversial method of natural gas extraction.

“Everywhere we’ve done it there has been contamination,” he said. “You have to ask yourself: ‘If we could do it safely, why aren’t we doing it? Why is this industry asking to be exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Hazardous Waste Act, the Superfund Act.’ They’re saying that because they can’t make money, they can’t make it economically profitable to do it safely.”

Fracking involves injecting a mixture of water and chemicals deep underground, triggering small explosions that drive gas pockets upwards.

The energy industry defends fracking as a safe method of natural gas extraction, but the U.S. Geological Survey and others in the energy industry believe that fracking, or deep underground liquid injection similar to fracking, can cause earthquakes. Others near fracking wells have detected high levels of methane in their water supplies, including several cases where water was so volatile it could be set on fire.

“This is a public health issue,” Ruffalo said. “There have been no credible public health studies done on this.”

He explained that his anti-fracking campaign, called Water Defense, was meant to fight the millions of dollars being spent by the energy industry to promote the method.

Can you violate a patent by planting some seeds?

Can a farmer commit patent infringement just by planting soybeans he bought on the open market? This week, the Supreme Court asked the Obama administration to weigh in on the question. The Court is pondering an appeals court decision saying that such planting can, in fact, infringe patents.

In 1994, the agricultural giant Monsanto obtained a patent covering a line of "Roundup Ready" crops that had been genetically modified to resist Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. This genetic modification is hereditary, so future generations of seeds are also "Roundup Ready." Farmers had only to save a portion of their crop for re-planting the next season, and they wouldn't need to purchase new seed from Monsanto every year. The company didn't want to be in the business of making a one-time sale, so when Monsanto sold "Roundup Ready" soybeans to farmers, it required them to sign a licensing agreement promising not to re-plant future generations of seeds.

However, farmers remain free to sell the soybeans they grow in the commodity market, where most are used to feed people or livestock. Roundup Ready soybeans have become extremely popular; they now account for 94 percent of all acres planted in Indiana, for instance. Vernon Bowman, an Indiana farmer, was a customer of Monsanto who realized that Roundup Ready soybeans had become so common in his area that if he simply purchased commodity soybeans from a local grain elevator, the overwhelming majority of those soybeans would be Roundup Ready. Commodity soybeans are significantly cheaper than Monsanto's soybeans, and they came without the contractual restriction on re-planting.

So Bowman planted (and re-planted) commodity soybeans instead of using Monsanto's seeds. When Monsanto discovered what Bowman was doing, it sued him for patent infringement.

Patent protection or freedom to farm?

Bowman argued his use of the seeds is covered by patent law's "exhaustion doctrine." This doctrine, like copyright law's first sale doctrine, holds that a patent holder's rights in a particular product are "exhausted" when the product is sold to an end user. The Supreme Court beefed up the exhaustion doctrine in 2008 when it held that LG could not "double dip" on patent licensing fees—charging both chipmaker Intel and OEM Quanta royalties for the same chip.

Bowman argued that when Monsanto sold seed to a farmer, it exhausted its rights not only to that specific seed but to all of the seed's descendants. Since Bowman wasn't required to sign a licensing agreement before buying commodity seeds, he argued that he was free to plant the seeds and even to save and re-plant each season's crop for future seasons.

But Monsanto countered that each new generation of seeds is a separate product and thus requires a separate patent license. In effect, Monsanto contends that Bowman is illegally "manufacturing" infringing soybeans...

Last year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled, as it had on several previous occasions, that patent exhaustion did not cover second-generation seeds. The Supreme Court has now asked the Solicitor General, the official in charge of representing the Obama administration before the Court, to weigh in on the case...

World’s Most Heinous Conspiracy

Millions Suffering Needlessly and Dying Prematurely

Steven A. Swan

4-11-12

Imagine there being a scientist who had earned a doctorate degree in cellular biology and physiology (the study of how living things function) way back in 1959. Imagine that this scientist also participated in developing electrocardiography—the interpretation of the electrical activity of the heart.

Imagine that this scientist’s curiosity led her to experiment further with using electricity, as well as radio waves, to analyze substances. Imagine that this scientist discovered that everything in existence, living or dead, animate or inanimate, produces and emits its own radio frequency or range of radio frequencies. (Tiny entities produce a single radio frequency; larger entities produce a range of radio frequencies. The larger the entity, the wider the range.)

Imagine that this scientist invented a device with which she could determine the composition of any substance based upon the radio frequencies emitted by its components. Imagine that this scientist used this invention to analyze individuals with diseases to determine that combinations of toxins and foreign invaders (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) were causing most of them and that by removing these toxins and foreign invaders, virtually all diseases could be cured.

Imagine that this scientist decided against submitting her discoveries for conventional (and somewhat political) scientific review and verification because the process would take much too long and in the interim many people would suffer needlessly and die prematurely. Rather, she opted to disseminate her discoveries directly those who most urgently needed them. She did so by publishing books documenting her discoveries, through media interviews, through word-of-mouth, through whatever she could think of. Fortunately, she was able to reach and help hundreds of thousands of individuals using these methods.

Imagine that when the mainstream medical establishment (including the giant pharmaceutical companies) learned of this scientist’s discoveries, it naturally feared losing its highly profitable health care monopoly. Imagine the mainstream medical establishment, in conjunction with the mainstream scientific community and the corporate-controlled mainstream media, conspiring to savagely and repeatedly vilify this scientist and her discoveries in as many ways as they could imagine.

Imagine this scientist taking all of this unwarranted vilification in stride and continuing her research. This included sharing her new discoveries with others. Being precluded from practicing medicine within the United States because she was not a medical doctor, she also established a clinic in Mexico to help individuals cure their life-threatening diseases. This included closely monitoring their conditions with her invention to ensure that her protocols were being effective. Because they needed her the most, she only admitted the most terminally ill of patients.

Imagine that this scientist was so engrossed in her research and in helping to save the lives of others that she neglected her own health. Inexplicably, she refused to postpone her important work to concentrate on her own ailments. Tragically, in 2009 at the age of eighty, this remarkable scientist’s extraordinary life came to an end.

Imagine this scientist’s detractors using her death as an opportunity to vilify her and her discoveries even further. They cited her death as proof that she was a charlatan, that her discoveries were fabricated, and that her cures did not work. Unfortunately, they have convinced millions of others that their lies are true.

Fortunately, many thousands of us know the real truth. We have used this scientist’s discoveries, inventions, and cures to keep ourselves, our families, our friends, and others healthy and to cure our own ailments and diseases. We only wish that it were easier to overcome the lies of the mainstream medical establishment, et. al., and bring these truths to the millions of other individuals in the world who are suffering needlessly and dying prematurely.

The above account is true. It is the remarkable story of scientist extraordinaire, Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark, Ph.D., N.D. Unfortunately, Dr. Clark is no longer with us. However, there are many thousands of us attempting to disseminate Dr. Clark’s remarkable discoveries to as many others as possible. However, it is a daunting task given the power and influence of those who have conspired against her and her discoveries.

Steven A. Swan has been studying and using Dr. Clark’s discoveries and inventions for many years to keep himself healthy. He was also able to adapt information in Dr. Clark’s final book about curing cancer to cure his own asthma and his own psoriasis.

Swan offers consultations to anyone wishing to use Dr. Clark’s discoveries to cure their own ailments or diseases or who simply wish to understand them better. (Because of the vast amount of scientific information contained in Dr. Clark’s books, they can be somewhat confusing to individuals who have not studied them.)

Swan’s website is entitled Dr. Hulda Clark Consultant and it is located at drclarkconsultant.com. Swan can be reached by email at contact@drclarkconsultant.com.

It's already been a very record-breaking hot year

It's been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren't just broken, they were deep-fried.

Temperatures in the lower 48 states were 8.6 degrees above normal for March and 6 degrees higher than average for the first three months of the year, according to calculations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That far exceeds the old records.

The magnitude of how unusual the year has been in the U.S. has alarmed some meteorologists who have warned about global warming. One climate scientist said it's the weather equivalent of a baseball player on steroids, with old records obliterated.

"Everybody has this uneasy feeling. This is weird. This is not good," said Jerry Meehl, a climate scientist who specializes in extreme weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "It's a guilty pleasure. You're out enjoying this nice March weather, but you know it's not a good thing."

In memory of Richard Feynman

On this day in 1918, the great Richard Feynman was born. Because really explaining what he did and why it's so significant is a task I'm unequal to, here's some fairly random quotes instead.

Some people say, "How can you live without knowing?" I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is what I want to know.

This next one is dangerous, by the way. I think you're only allowed to ignore the experts if you're going to go out there and duplicate their work, or even beter, do the work they haven't done. It would be hideously stupid, and deeply wrong, to use this quote to justify sitting in your armchair and maintaining that the aliens built the pyramids.

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

On that topic, by the way:

It is not unscientific to make a guess, although many people who are not in science think it is. Some years ago I had a conversation with a layman about flying saucers — because I am scientific I know all about flying saucers! I said “I don’t think there are flying saucers”. So my antagonist said, “Is it impossible that there are flying saucers? Can you prove that it’s impossible?” “No”, I said, “I can’t prove it’s impossible. It’s just very unlikely”. At that he said, “You are very unscientific. If you can’t prove it impossible then how can you say that it’s unlikely?” But that is the way that is scientific. It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible. To define what I mean, I might have said to him, "Listen, I mean that from my knowledge of the world that I see around me, I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence." It is just more likely. That is all.

What I'd like to say to the UFO guys is: yes, we skeptics are guessing. You're not doing even that. Or, to give a Feynman quote that pretty much sums up the whole ancient aliens-ufos-paranormality industry:

Anyway, I have to argue about flying saucers on the beach with people, you know. And I was interested in this: they keep arguing that it is possible. And that's true. It is possible. They do not appreciate that the problem is not to demonstrate whether it's possible or not but whether it's going on or not.

And now for something completely different:

There were certain things I didn't like, such as tipping. I thought we should be paid more, and not have to have any tips. But when I proposed that to the boss, I got nothing but laughter. She told everybody, "Richard doesn't want his tips, hee, hee, hee; he doesn't want his tips, ha, ha, ha." The world is full of this kind of dumb smart-alec who doesn't understand anything.

Hear, hear. And, finally, for those of us still struggling with the notion of economic freedom versus government planning:

The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity—and until they do (and find the cure), all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.

Weigh-In Wednesday XIII

This morning I weighed in at 178, which is pretty good considering that the majority of vacation was spent eating great food and drinking plenty of beer.

For those of you who care about these sort of things, check out these articles about scientists seeing light from a boiling planet.  I find this stuff fascinating. 

Cool Video

This video is very cool.  I found it at Bad Astronomy.  The video comes from Norway, which looks like a pretty cool place to visit.  Just watch it and do not judge me for enjoying stuff.

Ancient Aliens Ridiculousness

The last two episodes of Ancient Aliens have been even more idiotic than usual.  I love that they use the same six locations/incidents as proof and they just try to reanalyze it each episode.  One of these episodes focused on Pumapunku, which is a pre-Incan site in Bolivia.  You may recognize it as the place with these giant H-blocks.

Needless to say, Ancient Alien Theorists believe this place was built by aliens.  The place was built with immense precision and David Chidress shows us this precision by taking a square and showing how the cuts are exactly 90 degrees.  Except, if you watch him, he puts the square against the block and you can see that the square is not even close to being exact.  I am not taking anything away from the ancient engineers, but if you are claiming an advanced race made these blocks and they are not 100% exact, I am not buying it.

Speaking of David Childress...who is this guy?  He comes off as some expert in archaeology, but unfortunately, he actually has no real credentials.  He spent one year at a university.  He writes books about this crap and people consider him an expert.  Makes me laugh. 

Another thing the AAT kept pointing to was the fact that inside these granite blocks, there are holes drilled into them.  They claim that these holes must have been cut with some kind of drill from the future.  Maybe a hypersonic drill.  Do you know why they claim this?  When they had an expert look at the cuts, he said there was no evidence of any kind of mechanical tool used, that the markings were typical of some kind of hand tool.  Granted, the guy said that he did not think they were made with the known tools of that society at that time. 

Naturally, the AAT people came to the conclusion that they must have used something that we do not have yet.  Instead of trying to find a reasonable explanation, they went out and said "oh, it must be a hypersonic laser drill from Space Home Depot."

One of the theories regarding how the ancient folks moved these blocks the 10 KM up into the mountains says that the people used trees as rollers.  The AAT people say that this is impossible because there are no trees up that high.  Umm, this is true, but there are trees near the actual quarry site.  It would seem to make more sense to lay the rollers as you go, not backwards.  Or you can claim that they were levitated there by aliens.  Yep, that makes more sense. 

The AAT also claim that the granite is flat, which is proof that it was worked by aliens.  I am not a geologist, but I could have sworn that I heard in some science class once that granite can be naturally flat.  I have no clue whether or not the quarry where the large stones came from actually is one of those sites that produces relatively flat blocks.  However, that would probably be what I would look into.

My favorite part of the episode involved a reconstruction of what the site must have looked like.  They theorize that these blocks must have interconnected to either become a landing pad or a launch ramp.  Allow me to explain this for a second.

These aliens travel millions of light-years, they have a technology that allows them to basically bend the laws of physics.  They either have to create wormholes, which would take an enormous amount of energy, or maybe the discovered something that travels faster than light.  Even though these things sound super improbable, stay with me.

They get to Earth and the first thing they do is build a landing port made out of granite.  They do not have some kind of material or portable landing pad?  Why would they need a launch ramp?  If they made it here, would they really need to build a granite launch pad?  They would not come prepared?

Another idea is that they used Pumapunku as a base camp.  Again, I ask why build such a massive structure?  When our military went to Iraq, they did not start building a ziggurat to house the troops.  Nor did they start making tents out of animal hides like the Bedouin use.  No, they brought their own portable camps with them.  You mean to tell me that aliens would not have tents?  Or some awesome pop up building? 

The reason the H-blocks are no longer in place is because it appears that an earthquake may have hit the area at some point.  Or, if you are an AAT:  aliens destroyed the site with lasers (or a meteor) before they left.  Yet, I would think if they fired some super energy weapon at their own base camp that we would see some evidence.  Right?  Heat marks on the blocks?  What if they used a meteor?  I would hope there would be some evidence.

Or maybe there was a cosmic battle and another alien group came and destroyed the base.  After they destroyed the base though, they flew back there and picked up all the dead aliens and dropped weapons.  The wreckage was cleaned up thoroughly and to this day there is no proof of this epic battle.

The last episode focused on Bigfoot.  Yep, Bigfoot.  The AAT claim that there is a connection between UFO sightings and Bigfoot.  There probably is a connection.  Crazy people who think they see Bigfoot, whenever they see a bear, probably identify a plane as an UFO as well.

I was actually somewhat excited about this episode since I actually like watching Bigfoot shows.  They are so ridiculous, but they try so hard to be scientific.  I will actually give them points for that one.  They at least try.  The AAT do not even try.  They just make shit up.

For example, they claim that Enkido from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have been a Bigfoot.  Because he was described as a hairy wild man.  Without getting into too much of an analysis of that story, let me just say that Enkido represents the uncivilized aspect of the world around Sumer during that time.  Gilgamesh has to go out and try to defeat the wild, yet cannot.  Instead he gives Enkido a girl and that tames the wild man.

I honestly did not find too much to really care about the episode.  They were grasping at straws.  The only really far out theory was that the aliens built the Oregon caves in order to hide Bigfoot.  Seems reasonable to me.

The other day when I was at Barnes and Noble I decided to pick up Philip Coppens book, The Ancient Alien Question.  I was intrigued as I read the first couple chapters.  He basically goes about disproving many of the theories.  Then I skipped ahead to his conclusion and he still believes in ancient aliens because of the proof in his book, which like the other "proof" is just misinterpretation. 

Weigh-In Wednesday VII

Damn, I should have made this weigh-in Tuesday.  yesterday I was at 178.9.  This morning I was at 181.0.  I guess Tuesday would not work with the whole alliteration thing.  My stomach is starting to actually reduce in size.  Lindsey actually noticed it last night.  Pretty damn awesome if you ask me.

The real question is, what should I do with my weekly Wednesday post?  I guess this will be a place where I give my opinion on something.  Or whatever.  Obviously I will post my weight...

For Valentine's Day, Lindsey bought me a subscription to two magazines:  Biblical Archaeology Review and Archaeology.  I used to have a subscription to BAR, but I dropped it once they only focused on the James Ossuary and was solely focused on trying to prove that the ossuary was real.  I have believed from the beginning that the ossuary was a fake, but that it was probably forged a long time ago.  Probably someone from the James camp trying to prove that he was Jesus' brother.  That is neither here nor there though.

Well there is another ossuary out there, apparently the Jonah Ossuary is the new big find.  You can go to Robert Cargill's blog to read more about it.  I am hoping that BAR does not hop onto this one as well.  This seems pretty clear if you read enough about the evidence. 

So yeah, give these things a read.  Look into them.  Learn about stuff.  It can be fun.  I promise.

Standing Brooms

Someone at work said something about being able to stand a broom up today because of some kind of planetary alignment or whatever.  I did not really think anything of it because most people are idiots.  I got home and looked on facebook and three people in a row had pictures of a broom standing up.

I decided to try it for myself.  And as it turns out, a broom will stand up.  I noticed something though and mentioned it to Lindsey:  the broom seemed to stand on it's own because of the bristles spreading out and creating a base.  I also made a joke that it probably has something to do with an odd center of gravity.

As it turns out, I was pretty much right.  Check it out.

Clipped from: www.theeagle.com (share this clip)

2012: Idiot Gods

The newest season of Ancient Aliens decided to deal with the Mayan end of the world prophecy, or at least how they never really said that at all.  They had to dig very deep to find the one monument that might mention the end of the world.

Well the monument says that Bolon Yokte will be back that day and he was pretty much the god that was present during all of the other Mayan creation moments.  Or maybe it does not say that, I do not know, I am not a Mayan expert.  Anyways, the AAT folks have decided that Bolon Yokte must be the alien who will return.  And there evidence?  Aside from showing up during major creation events:  there is not much known about him.  Wow.  It truly is a scientific theory...

I honestly hope this Bolon Yokte is an alien and that he comes back.  Just look at him:

Dude has a mohawk and a chicken without a head.  Also, he has huge toenails.  Yep, this will be an awesome alien to hang out with...

Woolly Mammoth ALIVE!!!! Or not...

I saw this over the weekend, it kept popping up on twitter and I even saw some folks post it on facebook.  Apparently a woolly mammoth was caught on video in Siberia...by a guy who is a paranormal investigator and has been linked to hoaxes before.  Does not sound suspicious at all, right?

I like this video the best, since it also shows what it could possibly be.



Yep, it really does look like a bear with a fish in it's mouth.  Not nearly as cool as a mammoth. 

10,000 Hours Later

During this week's episode of Alcatraz, Sam Neill's character mentions to Dr. Soto (Hurley) that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on something.  This is not the first time I have heard this statement.  Is it true?  Where did it come from?  Is this another one of those "humans only use 10% of their brain's" myths?

Anyways, I decided to do some research type "10,000 hour rule" into Google.  Apparently the idea comes from some psychologist (naturally he is Swedish, and this where you ask yourself "what does Josh have against the Swedes?") and I am guessing that if you read his original work on the matter, he is very specific and probably even says what I am about to say...but, who cares about that, this seems like something that I should mock.

The reason that it is a popular idea is because of Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, where he talks about people who have become super great because of putting the time and effort into their field.  He uses Bill Gates as an example.  That one makes sense to me.  The one that does not make sense is The Beatles.  I honestly do not believe it was the fact that they practiced for over 10,000 hours in Germany is what made them huge music stars.

Look, hard work is a huge part of success.  And the idea that if you put 10,000 hours of working in your own field, you will become an expert at it is probably true (especially if you break it down to something simple):  for example, if you are a barista (spell-check says this is not a word) at a coffee shop and you work there long enough to achieve the 10,000 hours (at 40 hours a week, at 50 weeks per year it would take 5 years), then you will most likely have mastered the art of making a soy latte. 

Does this apply to everything in life though?  I want to become a master in the field of bench-pressing a car.  I will spend 10,000 hours trying to lift a car and at the end of all that hard work, still will not be able to lift a fucking car!  Hell, I could go about it two different ways:  I could go to a gym and work out everyday, just doing different bench-press exercises.  And at the end of the time, I could still not bench 2000 pounds.  Or what if I lay underneath my car everyday for 8 hours, pushing as hard as I can on my car...will it ever actually move?  Absolutely not.  I do not recommend trying this.

I have decided that I am going to practice for 10,000 years on trying to win the slam-dunk contest...well, I think you get the point.

Okay, maybe physical things do not actually work.  What about the piano?  I bet I could be pretty damn good at playing the piano if I practiced for 10,000 hours.  Yeah, I could play the piano, but could I actually compose a great piece of music?  Doubtful.

So these are the things that Alcatraz causes me to spend time thinking about?  Definitely a keeper...

HAHAHAHAHA...Aliens

I love these...

2012: Taking Advantage of the Idiots

As I mentioned in a previous post, there is much I want to discuss concerning the end of the world.  Today we will look at the companies that take advantage of these people who believe in this sort of thing.  At first I thought these companies were terrible for preying on a person's fear over the uncertainty. 

Then as I started to think about it, I came to another conclusion:  good for these companies.  If someone is idiotic enough to believe the world will end in December, then you deserve to lose some money to a smart businessperson. 

Home Security
The first company I heard about was Hardened Structures, which seems pretty cool when you start to look at some of their products.  Seriously, head over to the site and explore for a second.

Clipped from: www.hardenedstructures.com (share this clip)

If you go to the 2012 section, you will see that they offer plenty of protection for when the inevitable happens.  They discuss what might possibly happen and how they plan to protect you from it.  These are the things this amazing structure will protect you from:

• 3 Bar blast overpressure protection
• Multiple Seismic Events
• 100% waterproof
• Blast doors
• Fully Protected against EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) and HEMP (High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse). Fiberglass shelters cannot offer EMP/HEMP protection, see more at the bottom of the page.
• 100% rust resistance (zinc anodes)
• The best military grade NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) air filtration system available in the world (Temet)
• Integrated emergency escape hatch

I mean, just look at one of these things.  They look pretty damn awesome.  I might actually live in one myself.  Especially for those of you that know about my insane fear of windows. 

They are developing these pods into full-size communities across the world, I have no idea if people have actually purchased them, but I would be willing to bet that a few have been purchased.  Also, the report that I saw also stated that Hardened Structures had been contracted to build arks, costing around $20 million dollars each for groups of very rich people.  These things can apparently survive at sea for like 5-10 years and can even submerge.  Pretty insane, right?

Now, why do I think this is such a brilliant idea?  Well how could you prove that your shelter did not work.  I mean, if you pay this company millions of dollars for a house or an ark, how do you know if it will survive any of these things?  I mean, if the end of the world does come and your house actually does not protect you, it is not like you can sue the guy.  If the end of the world does not come, you will never know if your house works that way.  This company does not claim the end of the world is coming.  So smart...

Personal Protection
Again, at first I thought this one was pretty ridiculous.  This lady started a company that offers basic survival skills and weapons training for the upcoming apocalypse. 

Clipped from: safeorsorry.net (share this clip)

They charge $250, which seems pretty steep.  I mean, how hard is it to go to a gun range and practice shooting.  Or buy some books about survival and going out camping?  Granted this stuff would cost money, but you can usually find a way around that stuff.

You can go around the site and see all sorts of interesting things.  I feel like she is taking advantage of people.  Then as I was looking at the founders page, I noticed something interesting.

" I want all to know how grateful I am, for all those seeking training from SafeorSorry.net... It is a very important to me that you learn and practice our training, as well as other training. I want everyone to be able to protect themselves, especially women, mothers and children.... If you feel you can NOT afford my course please email me personally ( r.peterson@safeorsorry.net) with your story and I will give you the course for free, no problem, no questions asked."

So she is willing to offer the course for free to women who cannot afford it?  Yeah, that makes her a pretty decent person.  And to be honest, it is not like these are terrible skills to have.

Pet Service
This one is aimed at the Rapture folks, but I am sure there will be a similar thing focused at the 2012 folks.

Clipped from: eternal-earthbound-pets.com (share this clip)

If you go to the FAQ, you see that these people are atheists and that for $135, once the Rapture happens, they will pick up your pets and take care of them.  This one just cracks me up and like I said, I am sure they could retool this page or at least offer a 2012 End of the World deal.  Maybe people could upgrade their service for another $150 because obviously, if the world comes to an end and shit gets crazy, it will take a little more money for one of these care providers to reach your pet...

I need to think of my own smart business idea to scam these believers out of their hard-earned cash. 

Interceptions and My Idiotic Perception

 The other night I was out with Jason and we were having a discussion about quarterbacks.  I made a comment about how I think defensive backs will eventually benefit from this new passing heavy league.  My idea was that if there more passes being thrown, then it should make sense that there will be more interceptions.  Jason argued with me and feels that it is a horrible time for defensive backs.

I figured (and I think towards the end of a very long rant that Jason agreed with me) that if QBs are throwing way more passes and the rate of interceptions stays relatively the same over time, that there should be more total interceptions.  My reasoning was that if you looked back at the old days, there were less passes thrown, but aside from a few outliers, interception numbers would probably be pretty low as well.

I was completely wrong.  I am actually shocked by what I found.  Here is the data:  INT is interceptions, the next column is interceptions per team per game, the next one is pass attempts, after that we have pass attempts per team per game, and last we have the percentage of passes thrown for interception (or interception per attempt).

Year	INT	INT/Tm/Gm	Pass Attempts	PA/Tm/Gm	Int/Attempt
2011	506	0.9882	17410	34.0039	2.9064%
2010	511	0.9980	17269	33.7285	2.9591%
2009	525	1.0254	17033	33.2676	3.0823%
2008	465	0.9082	16526	32.2773	2.8137%
2007	720	1.4063	17045	33.2910	4.2241%
2006	520	1.0156	16389	32.0098	3.1729%
2005	506	0.9883	16464	32.1563	3.0734%
2004	524	1.0234	16354	31.9414	3.2041%
2003	538	1.0508	16493	32.2129	3.2620%
2002	528	1.0313	17292	33.7734	3.0534%
2001	545	1.0988	16181	32.6230	3.3681%
2000	634	1.2782	16322	32.9073	3.8843%
1999	562	1.1331	16760	33.7903	3.3532%
1998	509	1.0604	15489	32.2688	3.2862%
1997	479	0.9979	15729	32.7688	3.0453%
1996	542	1.1292	15966	33.2625	3.3947%
1995	512	1.0667	16699	34.7896	3.0661%
1994	474	1.0580	15056	33.6071	3.1482%
1993	469	1.0469	14414	32.1741	3.2538%
1992	519	1.1585	13408	29.9286	3.8708%
1991	488	1.0893	13950	31.1384	3.4982%
1990	480	1.0714	13516	30.1696	3.5513%
1989	559	1.2478	14338	32.0045	3.8987%
1988	553	1.2344	14131	31.5424	3.9134%
1987	540	1.2054	13491	30.1138	4.0027%
1986	581	1.2969	14469	32.2969	4.0155%
1985	602	1.3438	14423	32.1942	4.1739%
1984	584	1.3036	14325	31.9754	4.0768%
1983	620	1.3839	14047	31.3549	4.4138%
1982	349	1.3849	7933	31.4802	4.3993%
1981	609	1.3594	14180	31.6518	4.2948%
1980	627	1.3996	13705	30.5915	4.5750%
1979	597	1.3326	12979	28.9710	4.5997%
1978	639	1.4263	11829	26.4040	5.4020%
1977	562	1.4337	9786	24.9643	5.7429%
1976	497	1.2679	10260	26.1735	4.8441%
1975	533	1.4643	9973	27.3984	5.3444%
1974	500	1.3736	9609	26.3984	5.2035%
1973	470	1.2912	8845	24.2995	5.3137%
1972	480	1.3187	9011	24.7555	5.3268%
1971	544	1.4945	9412	25.8571	5.7799%
1970	510	1.4011	9796	26.9121	5.2062%
1969	544	1.4945	10377	28.5082	5.2424%
1968	554	1.5220	10034	27.5659	5.5212%
1967	593	1.6943	10329	29.5114	5.7411%
1966	535	1.5923	10090	30.0298	5.3023%
1965	480	1.5584	9059	29.4123	5.2986%
1964	501	1.6266	9187	29.8279	5.4534%
1963	514	1.6688	8954	29.0714	5.7405%
1962	567	1.8409	8812	28.6104	6.4344%
1961	564	1.8312	8922	28.9675	6.3215%
1960	493	1.8396	7813	29.1530	6.3100%
1959	221	1.5347	3714	25.7917	5.9505%
1958	243	1.6874	3951	27.4375	6.1503%
1957	231	1.6042	3339	23.1875	6.9182%
1956	240	1.6667	3282	22.7917	7.3126%
1955	258	1.7917	3820	26.5278	6.7539%
1954	294	2.0417	4232	29.3889	6.9471%
1953	306	2.1250	4267	29.6319	7.1713%
1952	297	2.0625	4024	27.9444	7.3807%
1951	288	2.0000	3881	26.9514	7.4208%
1950	343	2.1987	4307	27.6090	7.9638%

I realize it looks like a lot to digest, so I was nice and made some graphs.

A few quick notes:  1982 was a shortened season, only nine games were played.  From 2011-2002 there were 32 teams that played 16 games.  From 2001-1999 there were 31 teams.  1998-1995 30 teams.  1994-1978 28 teams.  1977-1976 28 teams playing 14 games.  1975-1970 26 teams playing 14 games.  1969-1960 was the AFL-NFL times (I had to combine the numbers, the majority of the time they both played 14 games, except in 1960 when the NFL only played 12 games).  From 1959-1951 there were 12 teams playing 12 games and in 1950 there were 13 teams that played 12 games.

Here is the interesting thing, the number interceptions has stayed pretty steady since the 1960s.  In fact, as the number of attempts increases over time, the rate of interceptions decreases.  To me that seems pretty crazy, but I guess it should make sense if you take into consideration that coaches must know what they are doing.  I mean, if all these QBs were pretty crappy, they probably would want them to continuing throwing less.  Also, there are the rule changes to take into consideration.  I am not about to go that deep into this.

I am shocked that coaches passed at all in the 1950s, teams were averaging two interceptions per game and there was almost an 8% chance of an attempt being picked off.

I guess being a defensive back in this era must really suck.