At the 1956 National Electronics Conference in Chicago, engineer Curtiss R. Schafer predicted a future in which people would be enslaved via "bio-control."
"This enslavement could be imposed upon the vanquished as a condition of peace, or through the threat of hydrogen bombing. Bio-control could make this enslavement complete and final, for the controlled subjects would never be permitted to think as individuals."
How is this possible? Schafer said that a few months after birth a surgeon would equip each child with a socket mounted under the scalp and electrodes reaching selected areas of brain tissue. A year or two later, he said, a miniature radio receiver and antenna would be plugged into the socket.
"From that time on," the speaker declared, "the child's sensory preceptions and muscular activity could be either modified or completely controlled by bio-electric signals radiated from state-controlled transmitters."
Ever since 1993, a conspiracy has circulated online alleging that the German city of Bielefeld doesn’t exist. Now the city is pushing back by offering a million euros to anyone who can definitively prove it doesn’t exist.
It seems to me that the contest has set an impossible task, because it's well known that a negative can never be proven. For instance, we can't definitively prove that the Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist. We can only say that we haven't found her yet.
But on the other hand, the opposite is equally true. It's impossible to definitively prove anything with absolute certainty. For instance, what if someone believes that Bielefeld exists because they've lived there their entire life? Well, that doesn't actually prove anything. As Bertrand Russell pointed out in his five-minute hypothesis, it's possible that the entire universe sprang into existence five minutes ago, complete with our memories of an older history. It may seem unlikely, but it's possible. So likewise, just because someone remembers living in Bielefeld, it's possible that their memories are false.
Which is to say that even if no one wins the million euros by proving that Bielefeld doesn't exist, that doesn't mean the city actually does exist. The existence of Bielefeld can never be definitively proven or disproven.
In 1902, a person identified only as "a learned correspondent in West Hackney" brought to the attention of the world a curious fact about Psalm 46 of the King James Version of the Bible. The name "Shakespeare" seems to be coded into it.
'S.L.H.,' in the column of the Morning Leader headed 'Sub Rosa,' says that the following suggestion reaches him 'from a learned correspondent in West Hackney':—
'In the name Shakespear there are four vowels and six consonants..... If you write down the figure 4 and then follow it by the figure 6, you get 46.
Very well — turn to Psalm 46 and you will find that in it the 46th word from the beginning is "shake," while the 46th word from the end is "spear."
This fact, or rather these facts, may be held to prove, according to my correspondent, that the Psalms were written by Shakespear and that this is really the correct way of spelling his name.
I know that controversialists are a fierce tribe and they stick at each other as well as nothing, and so they will try to make out that the word "spear" is the 47th and not the 46 word from the end of the 46th Psalm; but this can only be done by counting "Selah," and if you think I am going to throw over a valuable literary discovery for the sake of an odd "Selah" you are mistaken.'
In the original 1611 King James Bible, the word spear was actually spelled "speare," which contradicts the guy's point about the 4 consonants and spelling of Shakespeare's name.
However, his larger point remains true — that in Psalm 46, the word "shake" is 46 words from the beginning, and "speare" is 46 words from the end.
One theory is that this suggests that Shakespeare worked on the King James translation, and devised this way to leave his calling card. Kind of like a "Shakespeare was here" sign. Or maybe one of the translators was a fan of his.
Or perhaps it means absolutely nothing, and is just a weird coincidence. No one knows.
One more weird coincidence: Shakespeare was 46 in 1610, which is about when the translation was being completed.
The Gaffney Ledger - Jan 4, 1980
note: Shakespeare was 46 in 1610, not 1605.
A new nut job conspiracy theory has hatched recently. Apparently the handful of Walmart stores that were closed unexpectedly are supposedly tied to a military operation called Jade Helm. The operation has something to do with declairing martial law by summer. Or the stores have plumbing issues that require closing up to make proper repairs. You know, one or the other.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.