Atlantis Rising Magazine - 128 March/April 2018


Book Description

In This Issue . . . ALTERNATIVE EGYPTOLOGY THE BIG VOID An Astonishing New Discovery in the Great Pyramid Raises Troubling Questions for 'Egyptology' BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, Ph.D. ANCIENT MYSTERIES PRE-COLUMBIAN ETs IN SOUTH AMERICA? New Evidence and the Possibility of Intervention from Other Worlds BY FRANK JOSEPH COSMOLOGY THE COSMIC ORIGINS OF LIFE What Does Science Know for Sure? BY CHANDRA WICKRAMASINGHE, Ph.D. ANCIENT MYSTERIES THE TOWER OF BABEL QUESTION Is There More to the Confusion-of-Tongues Tale than Was Thought? BY STEVEN SORA THE UNEXPLAINED RISING ABOVE MATERIALISM Sizing Up Wikipedia's Put-Down of Levitation BY MICHAEL E. TYMN ALTERNATIVE NEWS COULD MINI-BLIMP EXPLORE GREAT PYRAMID'S HIDDEN CHAMBER? TUNNEL COMPLEX LOCATED UNDER MEXICAN PYRAMID STRANGE INTERSTELLAR OBJECT INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNED? SECRET PENTAGON AGENCY INVESTIGATED UFOs FORGOTTEN ANCIENT SECRETS OF MEMORY LOST CIVILIZATION–-ADVANCED AND-OTHERWISE–ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE ANCIENT INDIAN LAND BRIDGE MAN-MADE? ILLUMINATED PLANTS TO LIGHT NIGHT THE ANCIENT WHEEL-RUT ENIGMA Hard Evidence for Advanced Prehistoric Machinery? BY DAVID H. CHILDRESS LOST HISTORY LONG-LOST WORLDS BENEATH OUR FEET Uncovering the Secrets of Hidden Realms BY WILLIAM B. STOECKER ANCIENT WISDOM TEMPLES OF THE STONE AGE Ancient Shamans Knew Much More than How to Decorate a Cave BY JOSEPH R. JOCHMANS, Lit.D. ANCIENT MYSTERIES THE BIRD KING Akhenaten's Odd Appearance May Have a Surprising Explanation BY JONATHON PERRIN HOLISTIC HEALING THE SOUND OF HEALING What Can Modern Science Do for Ancient Medicine? BY JEANE MANNING PUBLISHER'S LETTER UNTANGLING THE THREADS OF HUMAN ANCESTRY BY J. DOUGLAS KENYON




Atlantis Rising Magazine - 127 January/February 2018


Book Description

In this Issue: NASA CONCEDES: PLANET 9 PROBABLY REAL The late Zecharia Sichin, is probably cheering these days. In October, 2017, NASA publicly conceded that, in all likelihood the Solar System has a ninth planet. Sitchin's scenario of a planet Nibiru making periodic returns to Earth's neighborhood to tinker with human history, may not quite fit with NASA's view of a massive body on a vast orbital path, as yet untracked. Yet, still, many of the elements Sitchin said he had decoded from ancient Sumerian cuneiform texts seem to be present in the now favored ninth-planet theory. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SHOCKER: FIRST AMERICANS WERE HERE OVER 130 THOUSAND YEARS AGO The idea that modern humans, or even Neanderthals, could have been present in America over twelve thousand years ago has long been controversial, and discoveries which support that argument have been denied, discredited, or disregarded by conventional science. Extraordinary new findings in California, however, are making the case that more than 130 thousand years ago someone used stone tools to break the bones of mastodons. The intent, it is speculated, would have been to extract the nutritious bone marrow. According to archaeologist Steven Holen, as reported by the prestigious science website NewScientist.com, the evidence is "fairly conclusive." CANADIANS OVER 13 THOUSAND Score another point for 'mythology' over science. For thousands of years, the indigenous Heiltsuk Nation of British Columbia has relayed an oral tradition from generation to generation that its ancestors escaped the harsh conditions of the Ice Age on a temperate island off the coast of Canada. Now archaeologists, once convinced that no humans were in North America before 12,000 years ago, are facing powerful new evidence that the Heiltsuk may have been right all along. TASMANIAN TIGERS STILL AROUND? While public debate over the existence of bigfoot rages on (see Todd Prescott's article on page 32 in this issue), another species declared extinct by the powers that be, is making signs of reappearing. CYBORG EYES In the 1984 movie, The Terminator, a Cyborg--a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts--from the future, played by Arnold Swartzenegger, searches for the mother of a yet-to-be-born hero who will be a scourge to the robots who rule that world to come. It was all science fiction, of course, but the memorable artificial eyes of the 'Terminator' could turn out to be more fact than fiction. IS CHINA MAKING 'IMPOSSIBLE' SPACE DRIVE? In the race to develop the EM Drive, China may have moved ahead of the U.S. The mysterious--and, some would say, 'impossible'--space drive technology successfully tested recently by NASA, has been converted by Chinese scientists into a working prototype. That, at least, is the claim of the Chinese propaganda ministry. AMERICANS BELIEVE IN ADVANCED ANCIENT CIVILIZATION For anyone wondering how a magazine like Atlantis Rising could even exist, the answer may be found in a new survey from Chapman University. In an October 2017 poll on 'Paranormal Beliefs' Chapman found that 55% of the public "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement: "Ancient, advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis, once existed." ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE GLOBAL WEIRDING Catastrophic Weather & 'Global Warming' BY SUSAN B.MARTINEZ, Ph.D. Here in Georgia the lights went out on September 11 when Hurricane Irma came roaring through. Not only were they back-to-back storms (Harvey, Irma, Jose, Maria, etc.), but in those same terrifying weeks, Mexico was hit with three mighty earthquakes. All too predictably, the hurricanes were blamed on global warming. But could they also blame the quakes on warming? They've tried. ANCIENT MYSTERIES ATLANTIS THE RELIGIOUS Do We Know What the Natives Believed? BY FRANK JOSEPH Atlantis Rising readers have learned much over the last twenty-three years about the geological fate and checkered history of the sunken civilization from which our magazine derives its name. But no less significant were less-appreciated religious convictions that, it is said, characterized the lost kingdom, because they not only survived its destruction but were carried by its survivors to the outside world, where they influenced the belief systems of post-deluge cultures, even to the present day. ANCIENT WISDOM EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES & TURIN'S GOLDEN RULE The Ancient Geometers Were Far Ahead of Their Time, and of Ours BY THOMAS DIETRICH An obscure Egyptian artifact in the Egyptian museum of Turin Italy provides remarkable evidence that the builders of the Great Pyramid, whoever they were, possessed deep insight into the meaning of the Golden Rule. PUBLISHER'S LETTER BY J. DOUGLAS KENYON RECLAIMING THE LOST SECRETS OF A GODDESS In Atlantis Rising #124 (July/August, 2017), author Steven Sora made the point that the 'myth' of Hercules was probably based on some real person who made his heroic mark before the dawn of recorded history as we know it. Steve described a number of elements in the Hercules story that seem to imply it has a factual basis. Homer's tale of Ulysses, for example, has been connected to the 'twelve labors of Hercules.' Both stories feature special links to the stars, suggesting that, in some forgotten civilization from before the end of the Ice Age--Atlantis perhaps--both heroes might have been the same person.




Atlantis


Book Description

You know of it through song and legend: the golden civilization of Atlantis, which sank into the cold depths of the sea ages ago. But few know the truth about Atlantisor the geological and metaphysical evidences that suggest it really existed. What have scholars unearthed of Atlantiss society and history? How about its mystical and religious beliefs, art and architecture, and its peoples knowledge of science and healing? Is it possible that the tremendous achievements of the Atlanteans were aided by extraterrestrial contact? Shirley Andrews uncovers the living legacy in Atlantis: Insights from a Lost Civilization, a compelling new look at a legendary country once situated on the Atlantic Ridge. The author has traveled extensively to conduct her own comprehensive research, which she synthesizes with the work of hundreds of other Atlantis researchersclassical and modern scholars, scientists, and respected psychics like Edgar Cayce. Survivors of this fabled land have made their mark on cultures all over the world, and their descendants walk the earth today. Learn how the legacy of Atlantis can help us bring our own world into a new age of peace and enlightenment.




Confidence Culture


Book Description

In Confidence Culture, Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill argue that imperatives directed at women to “love your body” and “believe in yourself” imply that psychological blocks rather than entrenched social injustices hold women back. Interrogating the prominence of confidence in contemporary discourse about body image, workplace, relationships, motherhood, and international development, Orgad and Gill draw on Foucault’s notion of technologies of self to demonstrate how “confidence culture” demands of women near-constant introspection and vigilance in the service of self-improvement. They argue that while confidence messaging may feel good, it does not address structural and systemic oppression. Rather, confidence culture suggests that women—along with people of color, the disabled, and other marginalized groups—are responsible for their own conditions. Rejecting confidence culture’s remaking of feminism along individualistic and neoliberal lines, Orgad and Gill explore alternative articulations of feminism that go beyond the confidence imperative.




Social Theory after the Internet


Book Description

The internet has fundamentally transformed society in the past 25 years, yet existing theories of mass or interpersonal communication do not work well in understanding a digital world. Nor has this understanding been helped by disciplinary specialization and a continual focus on the latest innovations. Ralph Schroeder takes a longer-term view, synthesizing perspectives and findings from various social science disciplines in four countries: the United States, Sweden, India and China. His comparison highlights, among other observations, that smartphones are in many respects more important than PC-based internet uses. Social Theory after the Internet focuses on everyday uses and effects of the internet, including information seeking and big data, and explains how the internet has gone beyond traditional media in, for example, enabling Donald Trump and Narendra Modi to come to power. Schroeder puts forward a sophisticated theory of the role of the internet, and how both technological and social forces shape its significance. He provides a sweeping and penetrating study, theoretically ambitious and at the same time always empirically grounded.The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of digital media and society, the internet and politics, and the social implications of big data.




The Uninhabitable Earth


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.”—Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • The Economist • The Paris Review • Toronto Star • GQ • The Times Literary Supplement • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD “The Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.”—Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times “Riveting. . . . Some readers will find Mr. Wallace-Wells’s outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too.”—The Economist “Potent and evocative. . . . Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change. . . . He avoids the ‘eerily banal language of climatology’ in favor of lush, rolling prose.”—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “The book has potential to be this generation’s Silent Spring.”—The Washington Post “The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.”—Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books




Nothing About Us Without Us


Book Description

James Charlton has produced a ringing indictment of disability oppression, which, he says, is rooted in degradation, dependency, and powerlessness and is experienced in some form by five hundred million persons throughout the world who have physical, sensory, cognitive, or developmental disabilities. Nothing About Us Without Us is the first book in the literature on disability to provide a theoretical overview of disability oppression that shows its similarities to, and differences from, racism, sexism, and colonialism. Charlton's analysis is illuminated by interviews he conducted over a ten-year period with disability rights activists throughout the Third World, Europe, and the United States. Charlton finds an antidote for dependency and powerlessness in the resistance to disability oppression that is emerging worldwide. His interviews contain striking stories of self-reliance and empowerment evoking the new consciousness of disability rights activists. As a latecomer among the world's liberation movements, the disability rights movement will gain visibility and momentum from Charlton's elucidation of its history and its political philosophy of self-determination, which is captured in the title of his book. Nothing About Us Without Us expresses the conviction of people with disabilities that they know what is best for them. Charlton's combination of personal involvement and theoretical awareness assures greater understanding of the disability rights movement.




Surveillance Valley


Book Description

The internet is the most effective weapon the government has ever built. In this fascinating book, investigative reporter Yasha Levine uncovers the secret origins of the internet, tracing it back to a Pentagon counterinsurgency surveillance project. A visionary intelligence officer, William Godel, realized that the key to winning the war in Vietnam was not outgunning the enemy, but using new information technology to understand their motives and anticipate their movements. This idea -- using computers to spy on people and groups perceived as a threat, both at home and abroad -- drove ARPA to develop the internet in the 1960s, and continues to be at the heart of the modern internet we all know and use today. As Levine shows, surveillance wasn't something that suddenly appeared on the internet; it was woven into the fabric of the technology. But this isn't just a story about the NSA or other domestic programs run by the government. As the book spins forward in time, Levine examines the private surveillance business that powers tech-industry giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, revealing how these companies spy on their users for profit, all while doing double duty as military and intelligence contractors. Levine shows that the military and Silicon Valley are effectively inseparable: a military-digital complex that permeates everything connected to the internet, even coopting and weaponizing the antigovernment privacy movement that sprang up in the wake of Edward Snowden. With deep research, skilled storytelling, and provocative arguments, Surveillance Valley will change the way you think about the news -- and the device on which you read it.




Social Capital Online


Book Description

What is ‘social capital’? The enormous positivity surrounding it conceals the instrumental economic rationality underpinning the notion as corporations silently sell consumer data for profit. Status chasing is just one aspect of a process of transforming qualitative aspects of social interactions into quantifiable metrics for easier processing, prediction, and behavioural shaping. A work of critical media studies, Social Capital Online examines the idea within the new ‘network spectacle’ of digital capitalism via the ideas of Marx, Veblen, Debord, Baudrillard and Deleuze. Explaining how such phenomena as online narcissism and aggression arise, Faucher offers a new theoretical understanding of how the spectacularisation of online activity perfectly aligns with the value system of neoliberalism and its data worship. Even so, at the centre of all, lie familiar ideas – alienation and accumulation – new conceptions of which he argues are vital for understanding today’s digital society.




Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor


Book Description

“Groundbreaking in its call to reconsider our approach to the slow rhythm of time in the very concrete realms of environmental health and social justice.” —Wold Literature Today The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and the environmental aftermath of war takes place gradually and often invisibly. Using the innovative concept of "slow violence" to describe these threats, Rob Nixon focuses on the inattention we have paid to the attritional lethality of many environmental crises, in contrast with the sensational, spectacle-driven messaging that impels public activism today. Slow violence, because it is so readily ignored by a hard-charging capitalism, exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation as life-sustaining conditions erode. In a book of extraordinary scope, Nixon examines a cluster of writer-activists affiliated with the environmentalism of the poor in the global South. By approaching environmental justice literature from this transnational perspective, he exposes the limitations of the national and local frames that dominate environmental writing. And by skillfully illuminating the strategies these writer-activists deploy to give dramatic visibility to environmental emergencies, Nixon invites his readers to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time.