I am a 38 year old male from Oshkosh Wisconsin. A happily married heterosexual, once divorced. No kids, a weinerdog and cat our only charges. Been to Burningman Festival 4 times '96-'99. Interests include Tarot,constructing mosaics,metaphysics,McKenna,Lilly,Crowley,general weirdness. Ordained SubGenius with a closet full, and I mean full, of obscure movies. Not dead yet for a reason.

23 year old male, graduate student in composition. Interested in Central & South American shamansim and all that entails; ambient music and medieval polyphony; Alex Grey, Huston Smith, Alexander Shulgin, and Jelal ud-din Rumi. I am also a wicked cook, and I teach mathematics.

I'm a 22 year old information addict living in Pennsylvania. I'm mainly interested in gleaning every possible bit of data about every possible subject immaginable.

middle aged (Now With Spread!™)male, single parent, semi-pro teacher
living near Lake Erie
interests include reading, Mystery on PBS, chaos and relativity theory, hockey, photography, shrubbery, scaffolding

32 year old male, married with 3 kids. Living in northeast Ohio. Independent computer consultant. interests include music, sports, reading, time with family, all things computer related, mathematics, science, ...

Keep writing this page, you give me something to do during necessary breaks at work. My favorite authors include RAW, Faulkner and IAIN M. Banks. I find about 75% of what you send me to worth reading -- pretty darn good job.
Thanks. -Altogether

I don't know anything about a pig and I was nowhere near the women's room at the time.

But seriously, I just found this site last week so I haven't had time to form a real opinion. But I like what I see so far.

The internet needs more sites like this. Guides to the vast virtual wasteland that a technological society has created. As for me, I was born a little under two decades ago, about three doors down from my future arch-nemesis, though he had been born a week earlier. I enjoy free money, gregorian chanting and unique and interesting doorways, though I never have the courage to enter them. On a more personal note, I have recently become aware of the fact that everything in my fridge, despite the differences in when the items were bought, will expire on February 18th, so I am a little perplexed.

40 something male from NJ. Please keep up the good work!

25 year-old female in 61 year-old body, who wants to learn about everything under the sun. The site presents challenging ideas and food for interesting discussions among my friends. Thank you. Keep it coming.

I'm a 34 yo weirdologist from Italy.

I'm way too much into fringe culture from all over the world, and sometimes I get paid to vent about the crazy stuff I see on the Net. Hence, please keep up the wonderful work, or you'll end up publishing a link to some queer local paper headlining the first death by starvation caused by not enough weirdness.

Post-doc psychologist, currently researching the psychopharmacology of caffeine. Skeptical enthusiast for all things weird. Fave literature: Lovecraft, Machen, MR James, Clark Ashton Smith. Fave music: 70s punk.

33 Yr old father of 3 (soon 4). Computer consultant. Rabid espouser of questioning reality at all times. PKD/VALIS, Waking Life, My Dinner with Andre, Mindwalk, McKenna, Sheldrake, Matrix, You get the idea.

50 years old. Love sites like this that gather together in one place interesting and odd bits of web detritus

25 year-old male science teacher. Hugely interested in Science and "hard" science fiction. I have become interested in the mystery of psychedelics (I have never taken any, but I am interested in the otherworldly nature of the experiences). I enjoy ambient and electronica music. I visit this section of the website every few days. Keep it up. I find it very interesting.

I clicked on the cheese holes for 3 days.

32 male musician Tennessee -- didn't click on the cheese because my status bar told me there was no link -- I think Death Race 2000 is the greatest movie ever -- this site provokes thought, and that's a good thing

My name's Trevor, and I'm a 20 year old in Ontario, Canada.
I don't work right now, but I'm learning to play the accordion. I first came here through... you know, I can't remember. You were probably linked to from another blog, somewhere.

I'm a 19 year-old bass player from Tennessee. If I remember correctly I believe I came to your site from a link on Fark.com, and added it to my favorites after I read a few stories. Not much else to say about me, but keep up the good work!

34 year old male, found site researching ethno-pharmacology.

30 year old artist from Vancouver. I like puppies and long walks on the beach... not really... well, I like them as must as the next person but I much prefer making music, laughing, and speculating with friends as to the true nature of reality and/or what is going on in Michael Jackson's head at any given time.

Like others, I came to Reality Carnival via another blog (Metafilter methinks), saw you had an affinity for the inexplicable, numinous, and weird and bookmarked it immediately. I check almost every day to see what new mind-itching news artifact you dig up. Keep up the good work!

20 y/old geek. Found the website from a link on fark or madville, cant remember which. Liked the site cos it was funky weird random stuff, so linked it on my own website.

high school student in san francisco, reveling in the aftermath of Our Culture.
ive recently been reading ishmael by daniel quinn, gods debris by scott adams and another roadside attraction by tom robbins. listening to pink floyd, bob dylan, phish, and the dead.
me and my friends are still amused that we started microwaving cds *before* we saw it on reality carnival. especially aol disks.

reporting from the dark side of the moon--avi garelick

48 yo geek, essex vermont. discovered reality carnival from a link on fark a few weeks ago, love the random articles and have been checking back every few days since then. keep 'em coming!

33 year old provincial government employee (Forest Service) from British Columbia. If i remenber correctly I came here via a link on Fark. You've got a great site, thanks for the time and effort you have obviously devoted to Reality Carnival.

55 year old software engineer, machine tool systems. Interests in history, aviation, space, science, backgammon, art, stained glass, guns, economics, mythology, pretty girls, sailing, peanut butter, Dilbert, astronomy, birds, gardening, medicine, and classical music.

33 year old web developer living in Seattle Washington, USA. you can find out a lot about me by visiting my website, www.kdpublish.com. have been aware of you for a few years now. post-modern neo-fortean theist. especially fond of schnauzers. really love the carnival. it introduced me to Paul Laffoley last week, for which I am extremely grateful.

Edited by author 02-09-2003 10:00 PM
46 year old, programmer, writer, pseudo-political fan of the eclectic. Oh, yeah, am equally amused by the rest of pickover.com.

18 Professional Cart Pusher at Wal-Mart. Going to school to get degree in Criminology so I can work for the FBI possibly. Found this site from Fark.com, have been here nearly everyday since. If there is no God, then who pulls up the next Kleenex?

Hey, I'm a student, 20. I live in St. Pete, Florida. I found Reality Carnival through Fark too, though I've stayed since all the links I've never run across are ones I'm glad I finally did. I'm into authors like Philip Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, etc. I read political websites like mediawhoresonline, cursor.org, and ABC's The Note. I read other websites like Fark, MeFi, robotwisdom, and memepool.

21 year old artist found this site from fark also. interesting and neverending links to cool surfing sites. keep up the good work.

Edited by author 02-10-2003 12:07 AM
hey cliff and y'all. i'm 22. parttime student at SCSU (southern Conn. state univ.), also student of astrology, cosmology, consciousness. i am an unemployed long-hair. and i haven't taken any psychedelic in over 5 months (long overdue) so im getting a little bored... lucky for me i have some musical instruments to keep me occupied... thanks for having me! oh yeah, and i wandered in from someones post at www.2013.com
peace

Good work.

32 year old (noncomputer) game designer. Found you via Fark. Find the carnival endlessly fascinating.

18, student. Also found initially from Fark.com. Very nice site.

26 musical deviant.Found your esp test and then you kindly
sent me the link and I been hooked since!

26 internet code monkey / musician. came in from fark, stayed for the food.

Ah, the world is a feast of wonders. Fortean Times brought me here, green elves and intrigue kept me coming.

31, artist/loner. Arrived via Metafilter, I believe. Hooked on the geek girls - my new favorite subject. That and the weird art/artists keep me coming back.

39, playwright/novelist/illustrator, former actor/director. Found you via Fortean Times. Interests: paranormal, ghosts, conspiracies, the usuals. Enjoy your site, even though I'm a "rebel mystic." (Meaning: I despise drug use, especially ritual/religious drug use, and I think Buddha is an overrated putz and a cosmic crybaby. But I believe in higher, invisible realms, just achieved through focus, sobriety and the construction of the ego, not the dissolution of the ego.)

Edited by author 02-10-2003 07:27 AM
 42 male british partially sighted unemployed/unemployable havent taken psychedelics in nearly 20 years, not that it matters but others mention it so i do. no kids, wife, horse, mustache, car, mortgage, hp payments nor carpet. 2 tvs both b&w several pcs in bits, no internet connection. i use state sponsored free public internet access, 'the peoples network'. i'd heard of 'clive pickover, maverick scientist' but came here via fortean times links page.
i check this site everyday i'm at the library (many pages are blocked by the firewall) i also visit bbc news pages for an hour or so per day & fortean times checking the home pages of the news orgs that appear in their 'breaking news' section. minor info junkie. other faves include robert anson wilson page & zippy at the san fran chron & straight dope. still trawling thru all the old links in reality carnival

keep up the good work, cliff. you're the greatest. reality carnival is fresh, intriguing, mystifying, chill-inducing, and brain splattering. i read the articles everyday and can't get enough. it's a cross between alan sondheim and buckminster fuller's work. your book 'visualizing biological information' is awesome, too.
below is an excerpt from jack spicer's poem 'magic':

        "Stranger, I had words for dinner
        Stranger, I had words for dinner
        Stranger strange do you believe me?

        Honestly, I had your heart for supper
        Honesty has had your heart for supper
        Honesty Honestly are your pain"

29y.o (30 on the 27th Feb, cards and pressies welcome)male from Glasgow in Scotland. 2 children stopped my experiments in psychadelic experimentation and now I discover, through your sites, the wonders of DMT which up to 4 years ago....I can't talk about it, it just is all too fascinating and the need for it is outweighted by my almost complete integration into the capitalist, conformist world of financial services. Maybe once I retire!
Love the site, didn't click on the cheese, and will keep your site bookmarked until my mind bending adventures can begin again (once my children have left for Uni and me and their mum can trip in front of tea time soap operas again!)
Keep up the good work,
May the higher powers shower you all with luck
G

forgot to say - I have to thank Fortean Times for uncovering your work

31, it professional / technoshaman, researching altered states in their relation to magick and healing.

didn't click on the cheese either. not a believer in the power of "cheses" }:^)
Keep up the good work. I enjoy the variety of topics.
What happens to the oldest stories? Do you have an archive?

53, married, two kids, retired state employee, crisis transition worker, vietnam veteran, graduate of Northwestern University. Love this off beat site, and recommend it to all my off beat friends.

Found link on Fortean Times... very interesting site and topics... BTW I am 35, married, live in Jackson, MS and am a Graphic Designer (at least I try real hard.)

I am a DMT Machine Elf. Found the site by googling myself to see what people are saying about me.

Unique human, 29, information addicted.

Good stuff, just the thing for those of us evolving by the minute.

Male, nearly 45, married, two kids, resident of southern California, computer professional, self-described nerd, fascinated by "interfaces" where computer and high technology interact with art, science, music, etc. Moderately fond of run-on sentences, not a cheese-clicker but an Astrid-clicker. Love the site, please keep it going.

I'm glad you added this QuickTopic.

Here's what I sent to my email group.

http://topica.com/lists/cogitaterz/read

It was canned but did the job:

 Want to check out a genius?

http://www.pickover.com

etc, canned from your site...

and...

his blog http://www.pickover.com/realitycarnival.html

RealityCarnival has been a nice addition to my daily browse. Most of the bookmarks I've added in the last few months are directly or indirectly from here...

Found your site via Bruce Sterling.....boomer, married, news junkie snowbound in NH...very grateful for such wild and thought provoking links!

coo' site. always on tha lookout for interestin' news sites. added ya to my favorites after a linking from fark or something awful, don't 'member which.

oh that's right you wanted info about us, well here goes: i enjoy the finer things in life, namely expensive cigars and 40's o' OldeEnglish. my turnons include stuff and my turnoffs include things. i could blather on longer, but i shan't.

found you through erowid somehow during a stretch of mind expanding. LOVE IT. pickover rocks.

I hail from the weird capital of the world, Austin TX. 24, waiter, aspiring country musician. Love to read about the strange and fascinating stories in the reality carnaval. Keep up the good work.

I roll by every now and again. Good stuff.

bored, 17yrold male. living in toronto, and i want to get out. im very simple, but i enjoy that which IS very complicated. great site, keeps my brain functioning. keep it up.

male, 18, Milwaukee, WI
i love the interesting reads that are provided at RealityCarnival. Welcome relief from the usual fart jokes or photoshop butchery that pervades some other sites.

ok...anyonelookingforsalviainspiredartoreventhatwhichleanstowardthe10centthyloopsimean..uh..yeah..givemearingat kc1@india.com...thanks...strictlyartsobackdafuckuppunkifyouhaveanyotherintentions...

I like the site - it's a good info bubble.
I'm a 24 y/o hired geek & 'lectronic musician from Philly who's always on the lookout for things to give to other people
http://www.m-laboratories.net

22/Male from Argentina.
CS Student and acoustic bass player.
Read your "Computers and the Imagination" and became headless, now i've found the carnival via MetaFilter.

20/m

good site but--hire someone for the html layout! the content is great but make it pretty... i mean a decent working color scheme, decent graphics, nice logo at the top... i can think of all sorts of eye candy to please all the 'chemically altered minds' tuning in :)

Continue the site. Don't make me spoof another 30 IP addresses.

30 year old carrer paramedic, i enjoy life on the net as balance with my job
im new to the site but i like it a lot

27 year old fem who likes the wierd and unusual. keep up the good work. reality carnival rocks. :-D

36 year old female in the Southeast U.S.

I enjoy the site very much and you have turned me on to some really cool things. The weirder the better. Please keep up the good work!

37m selling socks online.
Great site, just found it via longtime linked Pickover Report.
Go go go!

Hi! 28 yo female from Seattle. Love the site and learning more weird possibilities in the world... ;)

Hey, love the odd tingly sensation I get on the backs of my arms and in the rear of my head whenever I open the page!
Wait.. that's not a part of the htmL?
OH.. well, I love Reality Carnival anyway.
*tingle*

Intriguig site, worth repeated visits. Please keep it going!

Your reader is 40, over-educated and underemployed, and a semi-intellectual mophead who is till learning what wags the world.

21 year old female.

overspecialized, underused, and ready to take on the world.

Unemployed / freelance PHP Programmer based in Sheffield, UK.
First got to the carnival via FARK, love spending 5 mins on the carnival when bored and/or stoned.

43 year-old working at home Canadian single-mother in the boonies.
Degrees in English and Philosophy - it was fun while it lasted.
Wonderful site. It has generated some of the best surfing I've done in years.
Please - how many does it take to be 40?????

Generated a googlewhack on the first try (nonagenarian tadpoles) and then the hit turned out to be a zine about serendipity.

I love to peek over your cliffs.

21 yo English major. Your site is always a nice intellectual side-road - you're less speculative and more creative than alot of sites outside the mainstream, and you have a healthy sense of humor about things. Rock on.

I am here. I read. I enjoy.

22, male, jeweller. At my job, my mind is often left to wonder on its own volition. Naturally this requires a constant intake of new concepts. That is why I come here.

I am whatever I perceive me to be in the reality I create for my self and I am what others see me as in their reality. Because there is no one reality, everything is what people make it to be, everyone's is different. When you think about it, reality doesn't really exist does it? But besides that i am a 17yr senior in high school with "strange ideas" that my friends say in 200yrs i will be famous for but until then i am a idiot. :)

Will-I-Am
Well I am Bill
Once a Billy
Never Will

i like all the crazies!

i'd love to read about crazy music too.

A well traveled gentlemen who doesnt get around much anymore,,,however I'm not bored. Live in Utah, like to get in the SUV and head for the sunrise, run all the rivers, climb every mountain, see where the trails go, and do it again:)

a softly dewed white rose, nestled securely in the thicket,and basking warmly in the bluish moonglow..

moonrose

a giver of small things
a thinker of great sorts

25 yr old art student, had lots of strange experiences. just finished reading strangeness at skinwalker ranch in latest edition of fortean times, fascinating stuff

intent is the medium of consciousness
the web is the medium of the universe

My name speaks volumes. 46 ,ex hippie polythiestic pagan
square job , kids . ethenologist ,visionary , lucid dreamer

im going to go with what Ashlee said, because thats what I would want to say in less typing now. Thanks

 First time here, but I'm sending this link along to a few buddies who I think will enjoy your website. I think I found you through Fark...

I just happened upon this site and it looks like I'll be making some repeat visits.

That is all

First time here @ Reality Carnival, but love it. Was brought here by link from "Charles Bonnet Syndrome" which I've apparently occasionally 'suffered' from on mushrooms. I see different folk from those in the article, probably because I live in the So. Hemisphere, Australia, and they're different here; ones I've met in Asia differ from those here too. I've managed to keep in contact with 2 of the few "tribes" I've encountered over the decades. With one tribe who I refer to unelequantly as "The Chicken Shit People" I trade chicken shit for sapphires. The fresher the droppings, the better quality the sapphire I receive. Been doing trade with them for over 20 years now.

I'm a 50 year old male from NJ, married, kids, always traveling for work. Europe, Asia, South America, all radically contrasting, all someone's idea of reality, which gives me a reasonably different perspective and a lot of stories with which to bore my friends. I first linked from StraightDope, I think, and I've been hooked ever since. I check this site whenever I'm back home.

YIKES ! WHATA SITE!...me? I dunno, world traveler of days gone by, digiratti now, cyberbubba, South Austin tye dye hard...50+, kids gone, wife 1/2 mad....the usual ! What's left? Books, Cinema, livin and dying @ 7 frames a second.
Total Fark brought me to you...Arnold said it best....I'll be back. Thanks, J. Walker

Hello- I am Time Barn. I am a vague creature- I don't really come from any particular "place"- I'm just sort of "all over". I find Reality Carnival very interesting. There seems to be a lot of psychedelic influenced content. I have experimented with a great many psychedelics- more than just the usual suspects (LSD, shrooms, XTC, etc). I have taken everything worth taking in Alexander Shulgin's PIHKAL and TIHKAL, and explored combinations of these substances likely known to no other being.

Does this make 40 people yet or what?

I have mixed feelings about Reality Carnival. Parts of it are cool and well informed, interesting stuff from the edge of physics and cognitive science and computer science and so on. Other parts of it are full of BS and could easily have been culled from Art Bell's web page. I don't know. A suspect that a page like this will ultimately attract more New Age wackos than smart creative types, and I suspect the creators of the page actually seek to attract the latter rather than the former. It's great be weird and cutting edge- I am all for that- but all the New Age nonsense will scare the smarter people away.

(Boy am I pompous, huh?)

Just discovered Reality Carnival. "Reality: What a concept!" All the news fit for filler without the Talking Heads,... I LIKE IT! If philosophy is trivial this is a great place for trivial pursuit. (Just kidding. I'm an instant fan.) I'll enjoy visiting this site and am recommending it to friends, strangers, even strangers, stranger still and strangest.

Hello from the .....

thow Art here.

ive been looking for a site like this for a long time, thanks alot to everyone who looks beyond.

hello from http://www.creative101.com

i'm getting lost....

I drop in regularly to the Pickover universe and this time I was glad to find the RC. It's a nice tarot.
Clifford, I've had a link to your main site for some time at my home page, and now have linked you in two blogs:
http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com and
http://pipspicks.blogspot.com

Fnord,

Pip

i think i like it. i found this doing a google search on philtrums.

I was was looking ESP, did the experiment, found myself here. Fun site. Love the virtual cat.

Edited by author 05-13-2003 11:32 PM
Your "ESP test" was posted on a mailing list to which I subscribe (Psycho-Spiritual Approaches to Suicide) Stopped to scoff, stayed to read. I'm hooked on your views of the universe. Keep doing what you express so well!

speckledpaint has renamed itself & moved to

[url]www.solipsistic.org[/url]

its a site/blog with lots of new (& often intreguing) arty-ish links every day
plus its creators crafted musings on his day
plus more

Seems like a nice site. Dz

Exciting.I am an artist who lives the mystery.

I am a scholar of the esoteric, and I greatly enjoy this site. It was a great pleasure when I made the connection between reality carnival and several great books I have read. Strange Brains and genius was fantasic, as was time: a travellers guide. great stuff.
DMT is great too. Ah the human brain...

C^u vi parolas esperanton?

Living, loving, spreading: The mystery

BSP '03

I am a scientist, in love with the kinds of parallel reality topics that you enjoy. Love your books. Keep up the good work.

Psychologist by training, not by profession (need a new tool; today's research methods way-wrong).
I love anybody that can mess with my mind!

Put my brain into a jar and allow me to interface.

I'm a lover of all things esoteric, exotic and strange, and a fan of the Cliff Pickover's writing. I am a classically trained operatic tenor, a poet, a fiction writer, an online journalist, and on occasion a redneck. click this for kicks. I love this site (the one I'm posting on, not the one I linked-well, I like that too, but anyway)and I just found it today via weirdlinks.

when wx to be

SORRY FOR THE ERROR

A nomadic reality explorer

Lookin for YOU Liz Marie!

I'm a college student. I love thinking about the mind, the true impact/meaning of psychedelic drugs, philosophy, and science.

I have been a single, dedicated Dad to two boys who are now in college. I am retired and I work on antique automobiles all the time. I have never owned a TV. Wanted: a skinny woman suitable for marrying. Will settle for a 1934 Indian Motorcycle Fender.

Dunno. I guess that's why I am here.

Someone that is trying to sort out this crazy world and my place in it

I am a little old gray-haired lady who continues to explore the UNIVERSE. Like Albert Einstein, "I seek that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in maturity." Like Thomas Jefferson, "I cannot live without books." And, finally like Auntie Mame, I believe that "Life is a banquet, and most poor fools are starving."

I live in a cluttered home with thousands of books heaped everywhere and 4 laptops scattered about. I downhill ski in Aspen and explore Arizona for part of the winter. Otherwise, I am known as "Marie F."

I am my awareness.
Though I do not know how I came about, I can tell you a little about myself:
In one of my dimensions I stretch all the way from Absolute Zero to unimaginabley high temperatures.
I also exist in infinitely many other dimensions.
A part of me is a set of complex bio-chemical systems that work in harmony.
I perceive myself as a part of the Universe
Sometimes I feel that I am The Whole Universe, though most of me is far beyond my reach!
Now, I feel that I exist within my current body; soon I shall involuntarily metamorphose; but I shall remain The Universe.
I am again my awareness.
In one of my current dimensions you find me at sbach@edugates.net

i am a grain of sand of all beaches

I am a forty year old lesbian who is also wondering about the meaning of life.
http://groups.msn.com/lesbiansspeakout ....

I am the stuff of stars

If I IS SUSPECTED AS PARANOID YOU WORDS OF LANGUAGE THEN YOUR...this this the4se idiot things then of this.THIS YOU THINK TO ARE YOU IN THIS INGETTING IDIOT TO RHYME BE.this compleat idiot unveiled unillusion idiot hyporcrosisy of following lunatics into this thing word soplids solids into idiot kl loony nonsence.THIS HOW YOPU ARE AT A NOT OF BOGGLE MIND THOUGHT IS YOU HOW ARE NOT AN ENTIORTY THAT COULD USE AMNY KNOWN THING AS AKLL IT DOES IS WHAT IT KNOW WHICH IS IS NAT MAN,THIS MEANS ABSTRACTIVE NILLING TERMED SERISLS OF ABRST THE ILLING THING TO NON THE MAN IN ME NOTS HIM HO NO PL,EASE GIVE NATURE ILL THOUGHT OF ABSRTRAct non figure shape thing it once might have known in this means get ill molester diki docters top word say ape as that in kill to beings I MADE ALL ITS DEAD LATIN TOMVBE OF ILLUSIONS OF FABRICS FLYING ABOUT IN A-MEDIA OF THATS A WEIRD MIND BOGGLE ...MAYBE ITS ARTY...GIVE ME SCIENCE..OF HOW IT CANNOT KNOW ANY IN NON WORDSW IS ALL IT IS AS IS DEAD,THE VERY NATURE.

I'm a math teacher. I enjoy your wide selection of topics. Mind expanding. Thanks!

I stop by on a daily basis for some stimulation of my Betz cells. Your site always provides some new perspective for exploring the UNIVERSE.

Time is so fleeting. I wish that I had the time to read all of Will and Ariel Durant's great books. I've only reached their "Caesar and Christ" thus far. I'm also just starting John Horgan's "Rational Mysticism" and his "The End of Science". John Fowles' "Wormholes" is next on my hit list. I usually read several books at once. 3 x 5 index cards make convenient and inexpensive book marks as well as a place for making notes.

Thanks again for a mind expanding web site.

one night when vacationing on acidic substances, we went for a walk. through the back yard we went, but when we got past the cornner of the garage, and into the shadow, all the trees started morphing. so i stopped and stepped back into the light, and the trees went right back into normal perspective. i stuck my head bakc into the shadow a 2nd time and the trees started morphing again. i thought to myself "hmmmm... logic is telling me you see more in the dark, what happpens when you go in pitch black?" so i got a tape recorded, to record our descriptions of whatever we were going to see, and into the attic we went. it took a few minutes for our eyes to get used to the dark. during this time i was playing with my cigarette. swirling it around in a slow circle, and explaining to the tape that the trail from the cherry would be on one side of the circle, when the cig was on the other. then out of nowhere, my friend flicked his bic. BOOM! on frame of the room in front of me got burned onto my retina. then the colors rotated, the whole picture started morphing and then the picture faded to black. then a multidementional, rainbow colored fog grew throughout the room. instantly i was explaining this to the tape. describing the whole: flick the bic, catch one frame of life, watch the picture fade, and the watch the fog grow. It was beautiful. kinda disturbing at first, but beautiful. then one of the other guys started flicking his lighter like a strobe, when something happened. at the time i was looking straight at the only light in the room, the little red light on the recorder, but as the strobe started, the radio jumped off the table, falling upside down all the way to the floor, and then the last frame of the strobe the radio was back up on the table. i instantly commented something like "whoa, i just saw the radio fall upsidedown on the floor then it was back up on the table!" then about 7 seconds later, it actually fell and stopped the tape from recording. the feelings and emotions that went through me at that moment are hard to decribe, but i knew i had just recorded my self seeing and recording about 7 seconds into the future. i didnt stay in the dark very long after it happened, i was a bit freaked. the fog itself was,is, and always will be very hard to explain, but i did notice that It reacts to any conversation, thought, feeling, instantly morphing into whatever you are thinking about or talking about. the rest of the night when we were coming down was really confusing, but we made it through the dark. i was forever changed by it.

then a couple years later, i went back to see it again. no recorders this time except my own brain. i was mentally taking pictures the whole time. the first time was silent, cuz i was recording, the second time i was listening to music (tool-lateralus) and the experience was dramatically enhanced. this time i was looking at a rainbow spiral with infite windows to other worlds. the windows were composed of undescibably beautiful multidentional pictures. the second time i was looking at It, i stayed in for about 2-3 hours.... maybe....the whole time i was in the dark, my cat Nugget would brush up against my leg or my head or my arm everytime i would come to a intense segement in my thought processes. the cat was really fucking with me. when i looked up at the cat towards the end of my stay, i saw a 6-7 foot tall blue light emitting electric ghost wrapped around Nugget. It too was beautiful. it gave me hope. so back out of the darkness i went. coming down the stairs was a bit tricky, all perspective lines in my vision had just been spiralling and now all the perspectives were shifting, like an escher picture. went outside, and saw war over the skies of the city were i lived. i freaked out. but my friend let me know that it was only in my head, he wasnt tripping as hard as me that night. so i believed him, and all the war in the skies above me went away.

Edited by author 08-26-2003 01:39 AM

---

I am 48 and my partner died in June, I did not know there could be solitude like this I have been up to 15 days without talking to another person. I'm also transgendered.
I really wish sometimes it was time to go onto where my partner went.

---

"I seek that solitude which is painful in youth but delicious in maturity....." Albert Einstein

I know who I am, but I can't explain it to you.
Do you know who you are?
(hint: look deeper than your usual response)

I'm MiRRoRMaN, last of the true bastards. You can find my site on www.mirrorman.cjb.net I think that fucker should be posted on realitycarnival btw.

I am a mountaineer, and I channel the Voice of the Wyrm.
Check out Wormspew, http://home.earthlink.net/~herm/

We need insanity for the sake of genius,
 http://www.cropcircleboardgames.co.uk

I am not you. You're open to all that stuff. I'm closed.
But I visit your site every day. Mine's http://www.plehar.com

Where I come from no one knows.
Where I am going....
Everyone goes.

I am indrid cold.
You can find me here or making frightening scrabbling noises around 3 a.m. just outside your window. Sweet dreams.

IT THINKS THIS THING"YOU"HAVE SAID "WORD",THIS MEANS CONSTRUCTED IDIOT SYMBOL GABBERING AS "SAY"HOW IFFY IS ARE YOU LIKE JUG LOONY ILL LAW LOONIES OF PLAY GABNBLE ILL ACT THE NON DO IN CODE PUZZEL MASS"NON AMAZE"SCHITZOI SKITS NON NONE

I may be a weak and humble human being, but I am an American, which gives me strength, a Christian, which gives me hope, and I am here, which gives me purpose.

Hi, I'm a high school teacher. I love Reality Carnival.Com beause of the diversity of topics, both fun and mind-blowing. I return every day to see what kind of gem you have uncovered. Your sense of humor is fabulous.

ihave seen tommarrow and youaretherenowhere
trueinsparationcomesfrommindslikeyoukeepupthegoodwerk
whatch tuo rof sreknab they hold 2much power

Please.
The universe is divisible by mathematics.
The sum of mathematics is chaos.
There is order in chaos.
As there is herein.

The universe cannot be defined by a number, the universe is infinite. We don't know where the universe stops or starts or whether we're part of an even bigger universe.. who knows? Anyway, my point is that life is not a fact and neither is anything in it. We don't know everything and I would love to keep it that way.

wat you knee verse are we speaking of this time or is it?
I think disection and division are very negative ways to treat this fragile state in which we exist and are able to seemingly communicte with each other in regards to this. if we are in fact divided into each others or perhaps are we one and the same? universally speaking that is. like so many rocks on the bottom of the same creek.

No one is defining, dissecting, or dividing - except in your own minds. Since you can envision it it is possible, and probable if not in the past in the future.
Saying we don't know everything and you want to keep it that way is a cop-out. You're saying the universe is finite and if you know more you know everything. Life is not a fact and anything in it? How ridiculous! By your own statement you make it a lie!
In this polar universe there are two poles: positive and negative. You can ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist, just don't expect electricity to power your computer, or people to converse with.
We are the rocks, and the creeks, and the sky above, and the shores that bind. We are the animate and the inanimate. If you don't believe that stop mocking it up.
You're unfair to yourself if you visualize something and then pretend it doesn't exist. You're lying to yourself.

I'm a computer programmer. Age 30. Love Reality Carnival. I read it every day to see what gems you've uncovered. I'm currently reading your book "Dreaming the Future." Great work.

Hello. Love ' Reality Carnival ' Reality is where it's all at nowdays isn't it ? My big problemwith reality is that it's , well, so real !

It seems indeed that God has smiled on the supermarket owners in California, who's employees have been on strike; costing the supermarkets millions of dollars a week. The public overwhelmingly has been supporting the strikers, and refusing to cross the picket-lines, thus exacerbarting the store-owners financial problems. The public and the strikers have gone Communist, and in embracing God-less Communism, have thus incurred the wrath of God. The owners of Capital and thus supermarket owners are God's favorites, keeping alive freedom and democracy, and thus the general public and the strikers have incurred the hatred of God through their Bolshevism. So God has unleashed the servants of Satan upon the mountains of California, and now the whole State is in flames. Woe to them, for now in their suffering, they will forget all about the strike and cross the picket-lines for food and provisions. And the liberal media has desisted from covering the Godless-Communist strikers, and are now only covering the fires. So sympathy and attention will dry up for the strikers, and people will cross the picket-lines, and the stores profits will be up again. The state is in crisis, and the strikers should repent before the righteous God in heaven, and forsake their selfishness, and go back to work. The Governor should order them back to work in this emergency, thus doing the will of the Holy One in heaven. In this emergency, nobody will care about the strikers very soon, and they will be out of a job and will starve, and for the stores there will be millions to be made stocking relief larders and supplying needed food. And the stores in their sympathy, will donate to the relief effort for the Bolshevik public, while the strikers selfishly will just demand more for themselves, while the world burns down around them. Strikers repent and open your Bibles and ask God for forgiveness, for going against the Supermarket owners, who in furthering Capitalist Democracy are doing God's work. God may only bless you with poverty, but at least in helping America you will avoid the judgment and hellfire of the world to come. (This is a work of Satire, for the stolid minded.

-.. . .- .-. / -.. --- -.-. - --- .-. / -.-. .-.. .. ..-. ..-. / .--. .. -.-. -.- --- ...- . .-. --..-- / .. / -.. --- / .. -. -.. . . -.. / . -. .--- --- -.-- / .-. . .- .-.. .. - -.-- / -.-. .- .-. -. .. ...- .- .-.. --..-- / .. -- -- . -. ... . .-.. -.-- .-.-.- / ..-. --- .-. / . -..- .- -- .--. .-.. . --..-- / - .... . / .- .-. - / --- ..-. / --.. -.. --.. .. ... .-.. .- .-- / -... . -.- ... .. -. ... -.- .. --..-- / .-- .... .. -.-. .... / .. / .-- .- ... / .-.. . -.. / - --- / - .... .-. --- ..- --. .... / --- -. . / --- ..-. / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .-.. .. -. -.- ... --..-- / .-. . -- .. -. -.. ... / -- . / --- ..-. / - .... .. -. --. ... / - .... .- - / .. / -.-. .- -. -. --- - / .--. .-.. .- -.-. . / .--. .-. --- .--. . .-. .-.. -.-- .-.-.- / - .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-

I love bluecheese, mmm! Il ove bluecheese, mmm! Ilo ve bluecheese, mmm! Ilov e bluecheese, mmm! Ilove bluecheese, mmm! and so on...

san pedro 4 mind lantana 4 cold IHS Nomen super omne nomen honorare cupidi patres societatis JESU'hoc templum SSJesu DOMINI Dicarunt Die Decembris Anno SAECULARI MCMXXII

i am a simple plumber from tucson arizona...more or less an ex hippie...47....father...seeker...artist ..musician
...fool..avid dreamer ..sometimes lucid dreamer ...half bhudda half demon ....living off the grid in the desert and staring at the stars

I'm a great fan of Reality Carnival.I read it most days, and always find something fascinating.
Keep up the excellent work, best wishes for the new year.

My name is Andrew, and I am a big fan of Reality Carnival. I am 14, I am a freshman in high school, and this site never ceases to amaze me with its' vast range of knowledge from sex and drugs to other universes and creationism. Keep up the good work.
Low Brass Rules!

Who I am changes daily as I grow, react to circumstances of the world around me, from the interaction of my partner and children to the far-reaching consequences of world events to my travels in search of spiritual knowledge.
RealityCarnival is a daily surprise that I will know I will like, our tastes are similar in many respects. I love the Heinlein quotes and SF references, and I love intellectual stimulation as well as silliness.
This is who I am today, and now who you are is different, because you've read this.

baby fetus, edible filter, Humanoid creature. All it seems to be a part of my daily life, these are what comes out of my entrails.

I am whoever you say i am , if i wasnt, then why would you say i am, i meaN......... a realist who lives in the terrible dream of the masses.

This is why it behooves us to be kind and cheerful with others, because as much responsibility as we bear to create ourselves, we are also mirrors in which other people seen themselves reflected. If we are clear and bright, they see themselves more clearly. If we are twisted and muddled, they see carnival-house versions of themselves.
Tracy
in Rhode Island, U.S.A.
He laughed and, still laughing, said: "Assuredly, give to the poor. If you give them only words, when they put their hands into their pockets after you have gone, they will find themselves none the
richer for you!"

 (Misc Baha'i, The Diary of Juliet Thompson)


>
< replied-to message removed by QT >

hello, my name is mia. i'm a japanese-american, 24 year old woman (aspiring to be a 60's french chick?) i build robots with names like Lothar who do cool things for 30 seconds, maybe twitch, malfunction, then die. I call them tragibots.

this is my plan for world domination: i am unscrewing the world. everywhere i go, i carry a screwdriver around with me. then I unscrew anything I can - bathrooms, tables at restaurants, people's bookshelves, trains. once i unscrewed an entire mcDonalds table in tokyo. one day, the world will go CRAASHH! from all the lack of screws and then i'll be queen of the universe.

please visit my blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/coelacanthm

i greatly enjoy this website.
best of luck,
mia

Mia. Can you unscrew my pregnant girlfriend?

hahaha, i thought they used coathangers or sometimes rachets for that sort of thing...?

I love the Reality Carnival and try to look at it each day. I have just purchased Cliff's novel Liquid Earth and find it terrific! (I'm a 28 year old computer programmer.)

I think your all fucking nuts. You guys are a bunch of crackheads, and my friend would like some of what your all on, thanks

Disparity's unfair to me
Conceivin' it ain't even means believin' in polarity.

Schwa

You don't have to be clairvoyant
To gather my intent
Words we spill to roll uphill
Being wasted moments spent
Amid the unclaimed rubble
Somwhere inside the frays
What I mean is what you glean
Reading through my gaze
A shared misunderstanding
A whole we cannot mend
We agree but cannot see the means toward our end.

So sure you won't give up the wrest
Try hard, remain yet unimpressed
Hold your ground, hesitate
Sit in silence while I wait
Wond'ring how can I persist
To hope for smiles where I've kissed

Hello, 'tis I with my frosty hair and visage who patters about regularly on this web site. The links and vistas are beyond divine......So much to stimulate the active mind.

  Just a note, the new forum and chatroom at Wormspew have become a big hit with the bi-polar genius on meds crowd. Tieing together tangential topics...

   wormspew home page: http://home.earthlink.net/~herm

  Forums at http://home.earthlink.net/~herm/id2.html

I read the Reality Carnival every day. I teach high school chemistry. I have your book The Science of Aliens, and I'm now reading your book The Lobotomy Club. Different!

Hey there. I'm curious, but can't find anyone to break my toys for me. Anyone here interested?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Metaphormation

-Tm

YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND IT SHALL SET YOU FREE!

GO TO: http://www.geocities.com/rthorne777

number a twenty two

waiting for the wireless to
take hold
on a mildewed grey
wind.
the words held on breath
and the sound of a cat
walking
on glass.
a shadow crossing
a path.
all of it and us
going nowhere during
our visit to earth.
excused from the whole we
dig in
and are birthed,
sacs of variegated flesh
holding onto organic
life.
and in the process we forget
where we come from.
whence we came and
how we got
here.
the silver cord no
longer visible,
but there;
tinsel adorned to the
other
in a cheap brightness to be
revered
as gaudy and gaud like.
goa trash
free floating on a vibrated
decorum
out of drums and thin air.
11:11 am and
the modem connects…

I read Reality Carnival every day. I love your humor and super headlines!

"And God wanted war with America, because it was a new land,..." and more at http://www.M-eek.com

Greetings, I am Christine... Typical Netizen #1,874,000. Here's my info..

Live Journal: Klicrai
E-mail: luingrl at yahoo dot com

All Hail Eris! All Hail Bob! Roasted Chicken on Whole Wheat!

Hi there! I'm 24, philosophy student, currently in Oxford, but usually in Munich. I check your site every day- Reality Carnival rocks! Strangest Links ever...
Spatzuela

24 years old. Californian native living in Moscow. Married. Empty space is an illusion.

An artistic and experimental link combining art and music to further express the chaos and beauty of the nothingness that surrounds us: http://www.665.org/irepress

Hi, I am bara, a morocco native living in Montreal, Canada. Dreams of sailing and flying but I dont have a boat or a jet. I am tightly stuck to ground for now. Any non-chemistery based tricks and tips to fly or sail... my email: summertime500 at hotmail.com. I am into waking up early and listening to silence. Silence fills the emptyness. Later. summertime500 at hotmail.com.

Love website, very interesting links and headlines. Yes I clicked on astrid pic, voodoo girls are best.

Nice-arse site, mon. Always entertaining. l8r

Thank Mr. Pickover for allowing my presence to grace your site. I was tipped by a stranger who led me to your site (thank you tenthdimensionz). I feel honored to be here. Your sites are phenomenal and you appear to be a very intersting person yourself. Your books have piqued my interest and now I suppose i will have to purchase one ;)
I love spreading the word and I will definitely tell others about your site. As for mikeswritingworksop. . 5 stars. If you're an aspiring writer or seasones writer you should join, it's a great community.
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mikeswritingworkshop/

Rings the bell!

No, no, don't send to ask...

I am you, you are me, we are them, them are us, we are them, you are me, I am you... Who are you?

I am the thrice-revered Rev. D. Ed SiriuSLY. I work for chaos.

I love RealityCarnival.Com. I visit every day. I'm a 27-year-old mom, with an interest in science fiction and science. Right now, I'm reading Martin Gardner's "Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus."

How-day ya'll. I some lost vegetarian stuck in Japan -damn, aint these people spose to be Buddhist? I can't even get my potatoe salad vegetarian up in here..anyway, just turned 31, but I'm gonna be gettin' on back to sunny SoCa or mebbe even the A-T-L afore too long now, ya'll. Thanks for this here siiiite. makes me snicker.. he he
lingeringphrases@graffiti.net

Edited by author 07-16-2004 01:45 AM
Our serene lives are constantly being disrupted by accidents, adversities, illnesses and deaths. What cause all these are Iblises (singular:Iblis). Like the unseen force in the movie, The Omen, which was supposed to be the devil, deaths are being 'arranged' through accidents by Iblises, and the Angel of Death merely carries out his duty.

in 4:4 time "My Carnie Rap" by l. l. cool bay

 I was workin-inna-dime-pitch...
late one day,

barkin' at the suckahs,inna-usual way.

When a Carnie came walkin up

 an-I-heard-him say:

Carnie kinda Cool,

 and the action aint to fast...

and the ticket ho keeps hittin' on me

I may just tap that A---!

So I told him she was pregnat...

 and to double think his quest,

He told he don't give a damn

let her take all the mess. Aight? Clowns scare me. word up

- .... .. ... / .. ... / .- / ..-. .- -. / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-. . .- .-.. .. - -.-- / -.-. .- .-. -. .. ...- .- .-.. / -.. --- / -.-- --- ..- / - .... .-. .. ...- . / --- -. / -. . --. . -. - .-. --- .--. -.-- ..--.. / --. . --- -.-. .. - .. . ... / .-- .... . .-. . / -. --- -... --- -.. -.-- / -.- -. --- .-- ... / .. ..-. / .. - ... / -. .. --. .... - / --- .-. / -.. .- -.-- / -.. --- -. - / .-.. --- --- -.- / -... .- -.-. -.- / .. -. / .- -. --. . .-. / -.-. .--- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. -.-. --- -.-. -.-

I love drugs.

          (cryptic wiseass)
                 )+(

I am ... what you are not and what you never wanted to become..because if you were I then I had became you..

now ph34r m3!!!

I enjoy Reality Carnival and try to visit every day. I'm in college, majoring in anthropology. Currently, I'm reading The Man Who Knew Infinity. I hope you continue to publish Reality Carnival!

I work two jobs to make ends meet. I studied philosophy, but it's hard to get a job in philosophy. Keep up the good work with Reality Carnival. I look forward to reading your books.

which'un are ye, CP?

58 year old female, unemployed, disabled, college student. I need a laugh once in awhile, so I go look in the mirror.

Still working on it

I kicked Einsteins Maze's ass.
That sphere puzzle intimidates me though, jees. Too many possible, brain freezing, must fight urge to walk away.
___________________________
http://artforthemasses.us

41 year old female, looking for intelligents in America. Arts, philospher, mentor, bad speller!
Anarchrist, happily married. Against the war, but for the troops.

I'm a 19, going on 20 university student planning to major in psychology. Nothing interesting about me, but (to balance this out, perhaps?) I seek interesting things to add to my knowledge of the world and keep me entertained. :) Disturbing topics and plain strange facts (and fiction) fascinate me to no end. And that's probably one of the reasons as to why I'm here...

I truly enjoy this site. Thanks for making it available to us.

assistant property manager in an old folks' apartment complex. i'm always bored. i think that makes me boring, but that's ok.

I used to be somebody. Now I'm nobody. But I kinda like it that way. It doesn't seem like I have much choice.

A loving hippy/freak/psycho who's mind never stops mostly because those gerbils inside on their wheels are constantly thinking they are making it somewhere by running.

I am my music and my music is me.

i am a vampire from new york and im just a weird guy i like all odd facts that nobody ever hears about unless they go out lookign for them

i like alot of the inventions and stuff to

THIS IS A SECRET MESSAGE FROM CLIFF PICKOVER. WHO AMONG YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO READ ITS TRUE MEANING? DO YOU ENJOY THE REALITY CARNIVAL?

morse code... far out!

caffeineslinger@hotmail.com

hey how about something on the daily list about whether
androids dream of electric sheep

I am David Warrior.
Most of the time.
http://www.davidwarrior.tk

I am not me

Who are you then? You are certainly not me.
 
Well, at least, I don't think you are/
 
Are you ?

 .. / .-.. --- ...- . / - .... . / .-. . .- .-.. .. - -.-- / -.-. .- .-. -. .. ...- .- .-..

Heard of the bumpersticker slogan, "I'm not myself today: Maybe I'm you."

You are still not me ... I am still searching for me ... if found, please return to ..............

Maybe I'm Jon Trelour or Joel Joel Burr, 3x2 maybe its 4!

a guitarist in a 4 piece instrumental genre-defying experimental band, and an artist favoring pen n ink, for now... peace
www.665.org/irepress

I am Version 3.0.02, with added features and all the old bugs removed.
Please update your cookies and read your terms and conditions as no refunds will be issued

Edited by author 11-29-2004 09:21 PM
I am just a boy. In my heart you'll find the same valves everyone else is looking for.
You can have me if you ask me to be yours.

I'm Jeff.
I'm made of stardust but allow my senses to construct a reality that lets me eat chocolate, and laugh at my children, and realize that there is good and evil and they are simple things that are built into the fabric of this universe. I'm so glad I found your site.

Hello, my name is Cory, and I am probably the only normal person to ever visit this site. That's cool, I guess.
I am not going to say anything thought provoking or intriguing, but I will say this…

Hello, my name is Cory-

    Your message has already proven you to be the wisest being on this board.

Oscar Wilde is Raymond in a simultaneous incarnation-Ah! the conversations.

Why thank you Mr. Wilde. That means alot coming from a simultaneous incarnation.

Cory, my friend, you are not only wise, but of obvious good breeding. Is it possible that you are acquainted wiith Lord Alfred? Not to worry, if you're not.

THE ACTOR

After the applause,
he left one face in the glass
and took another.

Could you mean Alfred Lord Tennyson? I am vaguely familiar of him. Why do you ask?

www.thankyouforthehelp.com

A fine goblet of Amontillado from your oaken cask. Why? What? How many bricks you have piled near me! Have another taste of Amontillado you say....why not....of course, I shall oblige your kind invitation. That pile of bricks is so high now....it is becoming quite dark....pray light another candle. Alas, the Amontillado is quite gone now, and I am left alone. Never more, never more...shall I hear the name "Lenore".

I am too enchanted with my failures,
Too immersed in my orgy of self-doubt.
Like a withering rose, I approach my end
With placid unease. What might I have been,
A question unanswered in the universe.

What did God know when he made me,
And when did he know it?

Where I come from no one knows.
Where I am going everyone goes.

Life is a long linger in limbo between oblivion and oblivion.

Misssh Piggy Leeee- Hic- ishn't she going out with Kermit- Hic?

< replied-to message removed by QT >

I'm a college student, age 20. I enjoy reading the Reality Carnival every day. My favorite author is Robert Heinlein.

http://www.nitrosyncretic.com- you might like it.
 
                                                  OSCAR WILDE
QT - Tim Lewis <qtopic+19-p3CGsUqzGLa@quicktopic.com> wrote:
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Edited by author 12-25-2004 08:33 PM
It's exhausting being a schizophrenic. All this switching from Oscar Wilde to Raymond has left me too spent to do anything but complain that, in cases of multiple identities, how come there isn't a present for each personality. Oscar's feeling quite peeved.

Dr. Pickover suggests "We are in digits of Pi and live forever" (see discussion)-

Sister Mary Florita said I would find knowing about Pi would come in handy, some day.

Why didn't I listen?

I enjoy Reality Carnival. I am a taxi driver, but not your ordinary taxi driver (if any tax driver is ordinary). I read the works of Greg Egan and Proust and Clifton Fadiman.

I bartend, am 55, have a 7yr. old son, live with a wonderful woman, have interests in physics/consciousness, alternative energy, Buddhism, meditation, Fuller, design science revolution, energy efficient homes.

Hi, thanks for all the posts. Because this board is intended for readers of Reality Carnival to post just once and introduce themselves, I'll probably begin to delete posts that are not in this spirit. Thanks for your interest and support.

I agree that this board was getting too far from the topic of readers introducing themselves. I hope you delete future posts that stray. People can very easily start their own board for conversations, poetry, etc.

As for me, I am an aspiring writer, age 28. My goal for 2005 is to get one of my science-fiction novels picked up by a name publisher.

I'm 42, married for 20 years, father of two teenaged boys, one of which starts college next year. I will be ordained as an elder of the Presbyterian Church USA on January 2. I've been active in my church for several years, including a more than passing involvement with Habitat for Humanity. I'm a purple belt in Tae Kwon Do and volunteer as much as possible to support stuff my sons are involved in.

I'm 24, just about to begin pursuing a master's degree in statistics.

Currently undergoing a complete reevaluation of self to possibly correct character deficiencies and establish an improved outlook- to quit being an asshole, in short.
Won't be easy or quick; it's all the way down to the subconscious level. Yikes...

i am a stoner who drinks a lot on the weekends, is amazingly in love with my girlfriend who is my best friend and smarter than me, i am a former high school valedictorian, who writes poetry when i'm high, can read latin, thinks that time didn't exist before language... wonders if this is me being truthful with myself or you, wonders if this will catch up to me and be damning or legitimizing if i happen to turn famous... and is annoyed at the poor shlubs on this board and their awful attempts at poetry.
i really like dr. pickover's sites though and try to share them with my friends.

Iyam Osirus dispersed, and a really good sandwitch.

Hi, I recently stumbled upon Reality Carnival. Like it a lot. I'm 25 and work with comptures. I am currently reading the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time".

Edited by author 01-20-2005 01:28 AM
Hi! I've been visiting Reality Carnival for about a year now. I'm 51, work at supporing and training computer users, play at designing web sites, digital photography and like to get stoned but not often. Former Peace Corps volunteer, libertarian (more or less), avid reader (Colin Wilson, Rumi, Terence McKenna, V S Naipaul), live in a red state.

Oh yea, R.C. totally rocks - thanks Cliff!

I´m a 30 year old author, actor and spirituality-coach from Germany, and I´m bored with most websites. Also, I dont want to take the time to sort out all the exciting and weird information I´m looking for. In RealityCarnival I´ve found a website that does it for me...sorting out real gems, high-quality-thinking, mind expanding. Thank you.

I'm 47 years old, caucasion, upper middle calss. I am married to a beautiful woman. Two beautiful children under 6 years of age. I'm very a successful businessman. I found Jesus as my Savior several years ago. Prior to that, I was a very active, outspoken gay man who had a partner die and many friends of AIDS. I partied in LA for many years, almost died of drugs and alchohol. It's a shame, but I don't think the majority of people really know who we are in life.

I attend psytrancey gatherings in the tri-state regularly for the past decade and hope to someday be a certafied smart and/or kind person in the larger society, and fall in love and explore living healthily and this kind of thing.

(i?) Would to thank Clifford for RC.
"Thanks." !
Where does synchronicity end and singularity begin?
Perhaps... when violent boredom becomes
beauty beckoning
conscious compound
into intricate sensations of trust?

I am a spanish lenguage reader, I found this website on webby's awards list, it's really interesting. It remembered me and old encyclopaedia: "almanaque de lo insolito" (I ignore the original english name) by Wallace & Wallechisnky, some of the better books I've ever read.

I'm a 24 year old law student at Vanderbilt University. I hope to teach undergraduate law and political science when I finish my JD.

Edited by author 02-27-2005 05:03 AM
I am Sumatran. I like you site of inter-web. Many events and thoughts in lists. Lists of past events and thoughts is particlar good.
Thank Tou.

Great Site! I'm sure that I speak for a great many people from all around the world when I thank you for your efforts.


Jon.
U.K.

I am a 75 year old retired pathologist and secular humanist. My avocation now that I am retired from the rat race is exploring the totality of the universe. I am quite addicted to this web site and its author. Thank you, Clifford, for all the work you expend on this site. P.S. You are a good looking dude....just wish I were a younger lady. (smile)

Wow! Clifford, loved your posting of 3-10-05 of "weird, lovely and dead stuff". On that web site I found I can purchase a specimen from the Chinese Nantan meteor fall which was sighted and recorded in 1516. I am an avid collector of meteorites. Thank you, thank you for that posting.

45 yr old male.
A geek, poet, musician, realist, actor, comedian, technologist, just like any other slab of flesh that thinks. Except I don't believe in miracles, fate, religion, or past and present gods.

28 years old, ex-student of Philosophy at the National University of Mexico, now a book designer, translator and professional editor. I'm a researcher too, I'm seriously interested in post-humanism, performative arts, psychology of perception and fortean facts.

33 Year old English Canadian from Hull, Quebec Canada. I love this site, allways have and allways will.

31337

thirty-something female Ga Tech graduate, computer programmer, musician, writer, & mother of two small children.

This site makes me happy. :)

eighteen, and wiser than my surroundings

Thank you for including my link! I have plugged Realitycarnival.com here:

http://www.practicalhippie.com/2005/05/sus...m-and-have-fun.html

Thanks for a cool site and the link way back when and to the day.

I've grown alot, no doubt with your help...

peace and such
don m. peavey
http://artforthemasses.us/

I'm hooked on Cheese and speculation. Speculative Cheese would be my ideal but until then I will enjoy the Carnival (which is cheese free sadly).

Thanks for the fodder. The site is great.

- Jon
Blaque's Blog of Horrors http://www.livejournal.com/users/jblaque

18 year old student with an interest in the strange. Fantastic site! Just discovered it today!

great place to feed yer head.........thx for sharin the love 42yrold retired gay deadhead mom was a church sec dad was a fed i got a few good stories

The comic featured on 6-27-05 does not depict a parasite. A "dookie" is fecal matter. I hate to say it, but now people are going to say, "Cliff Pickover doesn't know shit."

Thanks for you'r site loads of stuff and links might read one you'r books and all. All down to John from the ozricks

I've landed in this part of the Reality Carnival just today, and have been enjoying other parts of the carnival for a couple of weeks now. Have been checking into pickover.com for over 5 years now. On the outside, to many, I appear to be just another science teacher who goes thru the normal family routines, coaching various teams for the boys, working w/ my canines, trying to stay in some shape at the health club, and until the last 20 months, went to church on a fairly "normal" bases. But accepting the "alternative realities" of existance has been going on more on the inside for qutie sometime, and as I see many institutions of society are not what they should or could be, I'm "coming out", or going in, with the paranormal aspects of what really drives much of my life. If I'm doing as well, have the good reputation for being punctual w/ my work and feel secure w/ what's going on in my life, then why not allow for honest experience to have its way. I see "protectors and strongholds" of main stream and limits laden institutions falling apart; why should I oblige these weakened aspects, in the name of normal, to have anything over me?

Edited by author 07-18-2005 11:43 AM
Hello and thank you for the link and the kind words about my blog. You'd never know it from my site, but I'm a math/physics person, too. (I used to work in condensed matter.)

Your new book looks like just the kind of thing I'd love. I'm going to check it out.

Anne
http://www.annearkham.com

I love your site. You have excellent, quirky taste. The materials used to form the human brain are being put to very good use in your case.

I'm a mainstream journalist working for a radio network in Canada and God spoke to me during my first acid trip when i was 15, some 35 years ago. i was told i would do something about the drug war and since then everything in my life leads me to believe the experience was absolutely real. My life has been like an adventure and i've written a book that is just now approaching completion. what do you think? advice on getting published with such a weird theme even though if my conversation was correct, this book is aimed at the mainstream.? have to go out but will check back in a bit.
Peace Tim

39 year old , Male, 'Merican, Analyst/Investigator a bit disappointed with selfishness and corruption.

Edited by author 11-30-2005 09:40 AM
Great site! ! found it when I searched on Google for the most popular sites...and there you were!!

Tapi
50
India

This site is so amazing! I can spend hours just reading all of the interesting articles and information posted on it. How do you find all of the sites you link to? I'm a huge procrastinator and your site is perfect for people like me who need a break from their work but still want to be doing something productive. I like the science articles and philosophical opinions. Also your links to art pages are amazing. Very inspiring. Well done.

Great site! What an eclectic selection of links! Just had to complement you on it and comment as well: The Alien Server sure brings me a sense of deja vu - I seem to remember some trading cards or stickers like those illustrated from my youth (60's), around the time of the "Mars Attacks!" trading cards that the movie was patterned after!

Joe

is my time the new i am you survive in flow my life goes and grows it all shows by one slip a blink dont think run to you who knew i do!!take care yall

Greetings humans. I am Remulon Z-47. I come from a galaxy known to your scientists as Rogoff's Nebula. I was fiddling with the dial on my interstellar plasma shortwave while cruising through your solar system on the way to a party the Mevronites are throwing tonight over in Hermes when the scan picked up a reference to "aliens" on this frequency.

We extraterrestrials are a little tired of you humans using that insulting and patronizing term to describe us, especially since if my cousin Altoid hadn't done that high voltage chemistry experiment a couple of millenia ago you organisms wouldn't even be here.

In the future you will refer to us as "the Masters", and if I catch wind of any more of this "alien" stuff I'll come back here and clean out your minds with gamma rays.

Live long and propagate.

I'm pretty much an average tater-tot eating person with mad skillz at drawing. Oh, and my brother Kip is pretty much annoying. He's training to be a cage-fighter, you know. Well, I need to get back to Tina, and my ligers.

Edited by author 02-03-2006 09:33 PM
  I want to stop the planet from spinning , not to hurt anyone but simply to have accomplished something tangible , all the talk of philosphy and belief systems yield no product , no actual magic , no one is ever left knowing that this is an advancement in us as humans , we are basically the same as cavepeople with a little more technology ,do somethng real that has never been done , do not glory in how smart you , rather do something that takes real smarts ,change the universe.stop the planet from spinning.

Hey Cliff,

  I've been inspired by your site continually for years now. Keep up the good work.

Dave in Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Some of my artwork ban be found at the following sites:

http://www.MyArtClub.Com/Dave.Danchuk
http://www.myspace.com/amazed_creations

Edited by author 02-25-2006 12:24 PM
Same as cavepeople? I am always perplexed by the notion that cavepeople were not intelligent -- ancient man, in the individual sense, just like we have our individuals of wisdom and brilliant in our time, were many times no less thoughtful than you or I ... without the institutionalization of knowledge as we have it today of course this manifestation in ancient man I'm sure only manifested itself more than like in the elders, and on this notion think of the wonderful dream of human freedom exercise our entrepreneurship here in the West -- that has been the intangible dream of thoughtful people though millennia, we take the fragility and scarcity of civilization and law so much for granted in our languishing fast food lives ... think of the millions of years it took for us to advance to the great moral improvement of enslaving our fellowman rather than eating or slaughtering them ... and further now our abolition of Slavery through the blood of freemen in the West in our resent history .. Astounding :)

cmccann01@mailer.fsu.edu

  HI Chuck
      Glad to get you thinking , but you are missing humanity for the cave people.

huh -- is that like not seeing the trees for the forest?

   This is really pretty simple ,the post never said anything about cave people being dumb , in fact I said there is no real difference between us and them .The post is about our not making progress in the way of measurable spiritual growth.Our true frontiers are still in the realm of our minds.I have yet to meet anyone who can move a mountain with the power of the mind and spirit , people talk about it all the time , I am myself guilty of that ,and while I feel spiritual growth in my own life , I have to this date been unable to stop the planet from spinning.

Edited by author 03-02-2006 08:23 PM
That's cool. I was missing your greater point (miracle-class manifestations of spiritual growth) for the point I obviously wanted to discuss (wisdoms of ancient peoples and this as a often invalid perceptive). I remember when I was a child someone told me if you stare at a small cloud and concentrate then you can make it disappear -- this fascinated me once or twice until I realized the dupe. Yet for a great moment I experienced the magic of a mystic power regardless of the illusion -- for a moment it was real. Thank you for making me remember, I'd almost forgot :). I’m sure on some level if we could somehow believe the illusion I wonder if at some time one could transcend the illusion … this can be especially power when you and nature meet eye to on such occasions … it’s where the shaman becomes a shaman … it is where and even rarer and most powerful is then the shaman meets prophecy. Prophecy is born of folk tale of an event to come. Think of the power of the great spiritual people of the past who seazied or were prepared for the opportunity to fulfill a long-coming and great prophecy, and did it by the numbers; Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna – to people of out time on a lesser scale perhaps like Pope John Paul, Mother Teresa, and others. Moving mountains or stopping the world is not in the school of human mysticism – that’s just my opinion but I am opened minded to believe otherwise. What is is the rare and honed in time and in tales and in luck the fulfilling of a destiny. For evil like Hitler this can alter the course of the world for hopelessness – as for great spiritual person this can alter the world for hope … and hope is in the fragility in the sustenance of civilization. Will Durant said, “Image the great moral improvement in mankind that we stopped eating our fellow man, and merely made them slaves.” This seems so archaic to modern ears … but it was the labor of millennia’s. Of course now I’m rambling from manifesting miracles to morality ... sorry :\

Ancient wisdom is interesting also and is a good subject , the reason the power they had was real was due to lack of naysayers . I believe the magic they performed worked simply because they knew it would .
  When I was 17 ( a long time ago )I worked summers in Wyoming and chanced to meet an old Indian who went by the name Joe Chief he was quick to point that he was not really a chief , it was just what people called him because he looked so old .The crew I worked with all had trucks and on weekends I woud ride out to the hills with them for camping and fishing ,the hills outthere in those days and for the most part still todayare true wilderness and it was very rare to see any humans in the coarse of a weekend .Anyway on one Friday night we had a late start and it was dark by the time we got out there , in the distance we could see a flashing strobe like light .Non of us had any idea what it was , we went from cops to aliens in the guessing.The lights were quite a bit further off then we first thought though and it took thirty minutes or so to get to them , it was with some apprehension that with came over the last little hill to come to the lights fully exposed .It was a pickup truck sitting upside down with the emergency flashers on .We made our way around to the truck and found to ancient old men crumpled up onto the roof of the pick up with tools scattered all over them ,and they were still drinking beer.

I will write what happened next and how it involved older wisdom in installments , I have some time issues that prevent me from writing the whole story rright now.

haha that sounds like a good story -- yes come back and type more when you can Jeff

  At this point we knew we had to help these two oldsters ,this was no small task , the truck had rolled so that the doors were jammed shut in a ditch and could not be opened.We talked about pulling out the windshield and getting to them that way but the two old guys pleaded for us not to do that as this was the only vehicle they had and could not afford to fix it. Eventually we decided to winch the truck upright and hope for the minimum of injuries.Having decided this coarse of action we went right to it, oh yeah , the back of the truck was full of sheep that were for the most part upside down and had resigned themselves to whatever fate came their way.Anyway we got the truck upright but couldn't get it to run so we towed them back to their camp whih they assured us was just over a couple of hills .The roads were barely more then a trace and the towing was slow going , 27 miles later and several hours we reached their camp which consisted of a sheepherders wagon, some horses, and a lot of border collies.Once back at camp the two old sheepherders , one a Basque and the other an old Sioux Indian became very animated and showed us all about the life they led so far up in the mountains .The Indian was the very last of his tribe and had lived up there pretty much all his life ,he told me he had killed the very last grizzly in the area because he felt sorry for the bear who had no family left .On that night we got to know the guys a little and from my stand point they seemed like great guys.I was as mentioned 17 years old , loved to hunt and camp and was working in Wyoming because I knew the country was wild and rugged and these two guys not only survived but thrived in this wilderness.The old Indian known as Joe Chief took me under his wing that summer and taught me woodlore that is beyond measure in value and if not for him may have been lost forever.In my life I have taken the time to show this very info to a few select people.Throughout the summer I was indoctrinated to life in the wild and slowly became aware of a spiritual connection to the land that was held by both of these two ancient men.This connection was not about words but more about living in grace and unity, with the land itself being an active participant.
    I'll write more later as I am once again out of time.

Edited by author 03-07-2006 06:23 PM
Sounds like what I was "hoping to expect" from living with he Rainbow Family, and all I got was a tree root under my back sleeping on the cold ground and psycho tent neighbors :)

 as the summer progressed I made a strong friendship with Joe Chief and learned to walk where he walked , it was with some trepidation that he brought me into the next step , first the trepidation , he had never performed this ritual himself , and had never heard of a white person doing it ever .Having said that he was willing to take a chance with me , in part due to his advanced age , whatever he had it needed to be passed along before to much time passed because he may never find another that he was comfortable doing this with .The day of the ritual , or rather the day before is when we began , we started a fast and began the ritual. A good portion of the time was spent simply observing the world and seeing if there was something specific being offered to me by the world and specifically by the land in that region , he tended to think of that area as the world , it's not that he was unaware of the rest of the world it's just that the rest of the world had no real impact on him .On that day I had a red tailed hawk follow me for the entire day , he weni whereever I went and was never once out of sight ,I was still carrying a lot of indulging unbelief for my friend with his primitive and savage beliefs, that was to change entirely before it was over.On the second day , still fasting he showed me a place known to him to be sacred and showed me a device , ( a good name for this device has always escaped me), anyway it was on a hillside facin another hill that was pure white with chalk deosits .( please no comments from geologists , it looked like chalk )the device was a triangle within another triangle made with rocks.The center had a well worn stone in it that was for sittng on .I bathed in the river with the intent of removing any preconcieved expextations by washing them away , what you think seems to really matter with this ritual.Next I rubbed fresh sage over all of my body , this was to prevent any creature coming my way without intent. That evening just before sunset I was placed in this device with dire warnings not to come out unless the sun rose or Joe Chief himself came to get me.He sat about one hundred yards away on a small rise that overlooked the scene.The night was a full moon and I soon understood why this spot had been picked , with the total lack of artificial light the white chalk field lit everything up and there was amazingly good vision.The device was made from rocks , all of which were in direct contact with each other rocks and there were no gaps anywhere in the device.The purpose of this ritual as to find two things , one was a type of fortune telling and the other in his words was to find my animal brother.Some time after sunset , probably around midnight and around 100 mosquito bites later I heard an animal approaching the device, it was coming from the right and was a bear , he came to the edge of the device and began growling and roaring for lack of a better word , he then began tearing up the ground all around the device , I expected to die that night , he was so close I could fell his breath and smell the heat from his anger.Needless to say did not move from my spot , I had come to realize that my only chance to survive was to stay in the device , sounds easy but I constantly fought off the urge to run all night.Stay I did though and after a very long time the sun crested the hill and Joe Chief walked up an asked me what had happened , I didn't really understand the question since I knew he was right there watching the whole time.However he said he was not able to see or hear anything, I started to show him where all the ground was ripped up by the bear and could find no trace that the bear was ever even there ,he told me that sometines only the person in the device could see the messenger.By now I was no longer the tolerant believer in back woods primitive rituals , I knew they were real .Being a bear is a very expensive vocation though and I lived as a bear for a long time.Male bears live a very solitary existace and walk alone most of their lives ,that is how most of my life has been.I never got married until I was 39 years old and then had to learn to be something other then a bear.Being a bear has great rewards in trade for the solitude. While my friends were busy raising kids I was lucky enough to have the time to explore the spiritual side of humanity and to go pretty deep in that study .I didn't go back to that spot for twenty years and that is another story I'll write about later, but the story does go on and there is a whole new generation of people now being taught the way of Joe Chief , the man who was not really a Chief, I'll write more about that later.
     Jeff

Edited by author 03-08-2006 09:11 PM
Very interesting story Jeff. I'd like to see a drawing of this 'device'. I can almost picture it, but I'm having trouble seeing the dimensions.

  So , the next encounter with the device occurred about five or six years ago , we had a nephew living with us and he was 17 years old and was in desperate need of some sort of rite of passage , I could see this but had no real idea what would work for him .About that time I had a dream about the device and decided to take him there and have him spend the night in the device ,as best as I could remember I followed the procedures showed to me by Joe , there were a lot of years in between that time and when I was 17 but I think I got most of it .This particular nephew at this time already was awre that I had found my own version of grace and he trusted what ever I was doing , we found our way to the device , this took quite some time , the ravages of time had changed the scenary and things weren't quite where I remembered. We did eventually find it though and we repaired it to original condition .Evening arrived , I scheduled this for a full moon to get the best light and improved vision.This time was the first time I had done this on my own.This time was also when there was a divergence from the original events, as soon as the sun had set but there was still light we began to see tall rod like lights all around us.They kept appearing and disappearing througout the valley.I went at sat about 100 feet away after giving very stern warnings about leaving the device.I told him all the dire things I had been told and added a few of my own , one being is that I gave him a gun and told him to fire it if was absolutly needed.
  The night was full of sound , the type I love and seek out in my trips to the wild country .Coyotes were close in and howling , all the night birds were calling and it was very beautiful out.I don't mind long waits on nights like that , this time there were very few mosquitos .I heard a few animals close in that night but saw nothing.On sunrise I walked over to the device and was ready to assure my nephew that we would give it another try the following night and he quickly said that his animal had come to him , he said a buck had stood in front of him all night and never left until first light, I had never told him about my night other then that it had occured.I thought about the deer and how appropriate of a guide it was for this nephew who was so tentative in everything and slow to make change.
   There are three more times we went to the device with different people and each time more and more dramatic things occur , I will write about those next time .
   The device is a triangle about twenty feet per side with the point facing uphill and the flat side on the down hill side , inside is a seperate tringle that touches the outside triangle at each point , on the inside triangle the point is down and the flat part is uphill , you sit in the center facing downhill.

    Hi ,
      This is the final installment of the short history of the device.I ended last time telling you that there were three more trips to the device ,
  each time I have gone the device has advanced itself in response .I took my wife and two friends there two years ago , The first night was my wifes chance at finding what the device offered to her.I went through all of the stepby step procedures that make for a successful night from the device.this went a little different and by most measures would have been seen as a failed attempt.As soon as I put my wife in the lights turned on around us , that is the little beams of lights , I should point out that there are no fireflies or lightning bugs in that part of the world.These were jst little beams of light that showed up everywhere around us , there was even one sitting on my wifes shoulder for awhile. I really don't know what these lights are , a lot of different things have come to mind , I have wonderd if this is the origin of legends of fairies or elves or similar folk lore , I do kow that the Indians in this area believed in a race of small people but I really don't know if this is in anyway related. Nevertheless I have spent a good deal of time wondering. Not much else happened that night , no animal ever arrived , this may be due to my wifes inability to just sit and be, she is a squirmer and may have affected the outcome.The next night more then made up for the lapse. The next night was our thirteen year old son , he went thrughall the steps with me and we did everything painstakingly accurate and as close to what I was taught as possible.It paid off , in wild results anyway .As far as I can tell this device has the capabilitiy of opening to something other then our regular see with our own eyes dimension, as soon as our son stepped into the device and i mean the second he stepped in the hills echoed with blood curdling screams . like hundreds of people were getting killed ,this lasted for about twenty seconds and then stopped abruptly,I saw a good number of glowing globes floating around the device ,going near but not actually going in the area above it , the little lights however were everywhere inside the device, interesting note , when inside the device you cannot see the lights or globes.Thi time I did not sitso far away sinc our son was pretty freaked out by the screaming.We didn't have to wait to long ,an owl floated over us and did sevral figure eights around us , the ow flew close enogh and slow enogh that ourson touched the wing tips with his outstretched hand.The bird was in no way frightened by the touch.He came back many times that night and even stayed around until daybreak .In the morning a red tailed hawk followed us back to camp and stayed with us all day.And that is allso far , we are planning to go back this summer.

Sounds fasinating Jeff. You should take some photographs, I assume you want to protect this site from the hordes that would want to visit it, but take some pictures of the terrain in local ways so that it could be anywhere, and some pictures of the device if you can. Of course this is all your choice.

I'll do that , I'll post them on our website after July of this year , our website is www.hideoutcabins.com

Actually I am not qualified to decide who gets to go there and who doesn't , my only concern would be for this untouched part of Wyoming forest that even today is largely empty of humans even in July.I'll post the name of the place this next July on our website that way only the people who are really interested will actually still be waiting to find out about it .
    Jeff