RPS Broadcast!

[Stu Vessant]

I got nothing.

[R Cohrs]

I wonder if this new dream technology has something to do with the reason TV isn't going to be broadcast over the air anymore.  For poor saps like me who have to buy a new box, I'd prefer the normal radio frequency already corrupting my brain.  I was wondering what they were attempting to do with all that new empty frequency space.

[martinburley]

In the end I decided to induce an out-of-body experience just before Al predicted the second broadcast would start. I figured there's no problem with Rosh broadcasting into my head if I'm out of it.

Mind you, I still think this was a genuine broadcast, albeit with some technical hiccups. I wouldn't give too much credence to Al's conspiracy theories in this case. We all know Al has 'issues' with Rosh.

Sure, it's true that Rosh is familiar with the US government's experiments into remote mind control in the 80s (and it's true that several investigative journalists have fingered him as being the "Tattooed Man" at the heart of the MAJESTIC-12), but Rosh would surely know that the more cautious of us would take precautions before listening to his broadcast (and there are plenty of effective methods to establish a psychic boundary without resorting to the tin foil technique).

If Rosh really wanted to try to get in the minds of the RPS community, he wouldn't announce it in advance. It's the nights he's kept quiet about his plans that you should be more worried about. (Personally, I've always been suspicious about what really happened at Bali High. I mean, not just what really happened, but what really happened.)

Besides, there's plenty of time till Toronto. If you're still worried Rosh might be brainwashing you, you can cure yourself of any ill effects quite simply, by setting a day aside and following the three-step process:

1. Spend at least one hour in a floatation tank in the morning, meditating on Rock, Paper and Scissors
2. Go for a hypnotherapy session in the afternoon (self-hypnosis is also okay if you're an experienced practitioner)
3. Drink a bottle of vodka in the evening (the better the vodka the better, and it should either neat or on the rocks)

No known mind control methods have been able to survive this triple-whammy therapy.

[Master Roshambollah]

I'm still exhausted from Friday morning's Broadcast!.  After the show I collapsed into a deep, dreamless sleep and really just woke up (except for a couple of knocks on the door from various local "alphabet soup" agencies; one group tried to threaten me, one was just "checking on the signal" and one wanted to hire me.)

As Al mentioned, I did not use temporal phasing.  Indeed, I was having problems with Dreamcast 3.0 for a few days prior to the Broadcast; it kept crashing my neuroelectric system every time I fired it up.  I should have listen to Urbanus, who told me that he never upgraded from Dreamcast 2.0 (indeed, could never actually install it.)  At 23 minutes to showtime, my entire cerebral partition melted and I was stuck with a mess of unrelated astral junk.  I dumped the whole thing, and decided to go old school and release the Broadcast! using old-fashioned, natural, unaugmented broadband telepathy.  It's been a while since I've done this for longer than a few minutes at a time (usually either to play a prank or send brief messages via Astral Instant Messenger) and the effort pretty much wiped me out.  Still, it's good to remember that one doesn't have to rely on technology all the time for this sort of thing.  However, I'll probably use a different platform next time (any suggestions gratefully accepted; anybody ever use Thetamax?)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, everything in the show went exactly as Martin noted.  Whether Martin really recieved the signal before I sent it or the whole thing was a self-fulfilling prophecy is immaterial; he who has the how is careless of the why.

The call-ins were a lot of fun, even if Graham did hog about 8 minutes of the alloted 15.  Angry rants are the bricks and mortar of talk radio, so I didn't mind too much.

Don't play innocent with me, custardchuk.  It never works.  I was thrilled that you were first on the call-in line.  I was less thrilled, but still impressed, when you demonstrated that not only images and thoughts but odors can be sent telepathically.  For better or worse, your "smellepathy" may become a feature on future Broadcasts.

Stu, some of the more hard-nosed skeptics may have had difficulty listening to the broadband telepathic signal while downloading.  Try it again, or check the archives at akashiclibrary.tel. 

As for Martin, he's spot on with a few observations, and "spot off" with the others.  I don't even have any tattoos (an anamoly in my industry, let me tell you) so I could hardly be the "tattooed man" from Majestic (though I will say nothing of my latter involvement with MK, Monarch, and Moop.)  Martin's advice regarding psychic protection is very timely, but I would add that if nothing but bad vodka is available, you can filter it yourself to improve the quality.  It's funny that Martin mentions a flotation tank, seeing as I watched the classic sensory dep flick "Altered States" only about a week ago.  Who's been mucking about in whom's frontal lobe now, Martin?

Again, my thanks to everyone who helped make the Broadcast exceptional.  There's just no way I can do this thing weekly; once every month or two sounds about right to me.  I'm still exhausted, and will probably need to lie low for a while anyway just to recover.  I give it about a month.

[Stu Vessant]

Rosh, I checked the security levels on my astral browser (I use FireStem) and sure enough I had my security levels set too high.  Once I listed Broadcast among my "trusted nodes" I was able to download the program just fine. 

I thought the show went really well, and I was impressed that all of the elements reported thus far were included.  Autosuggestion or not, I'm still amazed that this stuff actually works.

I ran into Fattyus Maximus on the street today in Dupont Circle, and he also mentioned that he liked the broadcast, especially the "alien content." 

[The Real Roshambollah]

I've been following this topic with much amusement.  It's amazing how many truths you guys have hit on without even realizing it.

If you want my opinion, Fake Rosh set this whole thing up as a hoax.  However, false premises may yet lead to true conclusions.  The RPS broadcast actually happened.

All of you have been involved in actively creating a non-local RPS forum.  Think of it as an "offline bull board."  I'm sure at least several of you have had active dreams where you found yourself receiving and sending email or text messages, or playing the same computer game you played for the previous few hours while awake.  This is no different.  And if when it comes down to it, if some of you had at least similar experiences, then it doesn't really matter how it happened.

Remember the elephant in the room full of blind men.  Without intending it, Fake Rosh let the elephant in the room.  He's also one of the blind men.  The fact that some of the experiences are different by no means invalidates the experience.  I look forward to the next Broadcast with something not entirely dissimilar from anticipation.

By the way, cell phones (and text messaging, instant messaging, etc) are actually a technological dry run for actual species-wide telepathy (I should know; I come from the future.)  The same strategies you now use when dealing with instantaneous communication will also be useful when planetary telepathy is a reality.  It is well known that octopi can change colors, and it is said that their emotional and mental states are instantly communicated through the colors and patterns on their skin.  It is hypothesized that the octopi's obscuring "ink"  is also the only way they can have any sense of mental "privacy" from other octopi.  As Fake Rosh would say, one must meditate deeply on this.

To Fake Rosh's apprentices (yes, there are now two of them) I would advise you that Rosh mostly means well, and what passes for laziness on his part is actually the hallmark of his teaching style.  Known as "Benign Neglect" it actually sets up the conditions for RPS Mastery without installing as many of the hangups, but you do have to work harder.  At least when you're working.  Which should be as little as possible.  "Work smart, not hard; working smart pays better."  In any case, rest assured that even though you are apprenticed to the Fake Roshambollah, you will still come to know the Real Roshambollah better through your studies.  I will succeed in apprenticing you if you spend even one less second not repeating my own mistakes.

[Franklint]

Both Rosh and Al seem to be totally convinced that their opinion is the right one.

Nothing new there then.

Dagnabit. That's the second time I've made totally obvious and pointless statement. Not cool. I'll think more before I post next time.

In any case, I had to screw around with my settings a bit, but finally managed to get the Broadcast!. Like others, I was happy with how this came together. The different areas were pretty much how I expected them to be, after martinburley's summary.

So yes. Well done to all involved, and especially Rosh for the time and effort put into the show.
________________
Real Rosh,

While I have no idea who Rosh's second apprentice is (the one who isn't Max), I hope they take what you say on board. I know that if I were worried about receiving little correspondence from my Master, it would be good to know where I stand. So thanks for the info, on behalf of apprentice #2.

Cheers,
Franklint

[Master Roshambollah]

Will whoever keeps posting as the "real" Roshambollah please knock it off?  It wasn't that funny to begin with, and it's only getting worse.

custardchuk, I suspect you or Burley or both are behind this.  Funny how it always takes both of you to make an even match for me.

[custardchuk]

That's the second time I've made totally obvious and pointless statement.

I think you are underestimating yourself, Franklint.

Rosh, I know I have a few quirks but none of them involve me wanting to dress up like you. And I doubt Burley could pull this off by himself.
My guess is that it's Martin, and someone smart.

regards
custardchuk

[martinburley]

However, I'll probably use a different platform next time (any suggestions gratefully accepted; anybody ever use Thetamax?)

Thetamax is a perfectly good platform from a psychotechnical viewpoint, but it was superseded in the platform wars of 2020. Reverse causality means that, for most planes of existence, VSP is already going to have become the standard telepathic transmission platform.

[Master Roshambollah]

Rosh, I know I have a few quirks but none of them involve me wanting to dress up like you.

As opposed to you dressing up like the Rider?  Hmmm?!?

VSP is already going to have become the standard telepathic transmission platform.

Already going to have become?!?  Martin, you betray your ignorance as a time traveller.  Despite the Hitchhiker's Guide's exhaustive (and satirical, I should point out) depiction of the chief problem of time travel being verb tenses, in reality the matter is very simple.  Exclusive use of present tense is de rigeur for every time traveller I have ever met.  I don't muck about much with this facet of reality (I'm more into energy/matter transformations) but apparently the more you experience yourself in different timelines, the more you're inclined to figure it all as "present time."

This is an original viewpoint, by the way, but it is one born of experience.  Next time you encounter a genuine bidirectional time traveller (i.e., one that doesn't just travel "forward" in time the way most people do) pay attention to her or his verb tenses.

btw, Martin, I know as well as you do that the "forward/backward" dialectic of time travel is absurdly two-dimensional.  But until "humanity" emerges into a new relationship with time itself (I give it until around 2012) there may be no other words to express it.  Me, I "am" there, already...

[Franklint]

Damn that ""real"" Roshambollah (note the two sets of double-quotes. Work it out).

I think you are underestimating yourself, Franklint.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Screw you, custardchuk . Alas, what you say is most likely true.

Ooh, time travel discussion. I love it. It reminds me of a post I made that turned into a discussion about quantum physics. Good times on the Bullboard.

All I know is that the Grandfather paradox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox)is great. As is the predestination paradox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_paradox). Both are paradoxes that would arise from potential time travel. Read them. Very thought-provoking, if you like thinking about odd things.

Do you know what I think sucks? custardchuk.

But not really. What I think sucks is that the teachers at my school can't even punctuate properly. All the time, on sheets in class, I am finding statements with question marks at the end of them (e.g. Explain how the planet should modify its behaviour to be more water-efficient?) and questions that end in full stops (e.g. How can this behaviour be made a part of normal society.). I mean, come on people. This is a school you're trying to run here.

There's my rant for today.

Cheers,
Franklint

[Master Roshambollah]

Damn that ""real"" Roshambollah

Or, "screw you, custardchuk," as you so eloquently put it.

Your paradox examples are quite interesting.  You may be interested in perusing the many worlds interpration as a way to make an end run around the "objective reality" of wave function collpase.  The "quantum suicide" thought experiment is also intereting (basically, it's the Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment done from the point of view of the cat.  Poor kitty...)

What I think sucks is that the teachers at my school can't even punctuate properly. All the time, on sheets in class, I am finding statements with question marks at the end of them (e.g. Explain how the planet should modify its behaviour to be more water-efficient?) and questions that end in full stops (e.g. How can this behaviour be made a part of normal society.). I mean, come on people. This is a school you're trying to run here.

I feel your pain, but maybe you're expecting too much from them.  Your science teacher is there to teach you science, not grammer.  Your English teacher is there to teach you English, not science.  And your RPS teachers are there to teach you RPS, not science or grammer.  One must meditate deeply on this.

Both are paradoxes that would arise from potential time travel.

"Potential" is a misplaced modifier in this sentence, by the way.  You're discussing "potential paradoxes" not "potential time travel," so you should use "potentially" as an adverb immediately before "would arise."  This is just an observation.

[Franklint]

Or, "screw you, custardchuk," as you so eloquently put it.

Perhaps. Although the two sets of double-quotes would denote otherwise. I'm going to leave it at that.

Glad to hear you liked the two main paradoxes I'm most familiar with in regards to time travel. Despite having not much of a technical grounding in quantum physics/mechanics, these things interest me greatly. I'm also really into thought experiments of many kinds. There are many here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Thought_experiments. I like "Dream argument" which can be accessed from that page. It messes with your perception of reality.

I loved many-worlds and quantum suicide/immortality. Extremely interesting stuff.

I suppose that's true in regards to teachers having specialties. Looking at them as adults rather than teachers, though, I would still expect better punctuation than a 15-year-old. Indeed my RPS teachers are here to teach me RPS, not science or grammar. For this I am grateful.

I suppose I'm being rather hypocritical in picking out English faults in others' work, when my own skills aren't as good as I'd like. In my defence, while I don't claim to be perfect at English, I would have thought that basic punctuation was considered easier to get a grasp of than the correct usage of the word "potential".

That aside, thanks a lot for picking me up on it. I see now what a stupid usage of the word it was.

Cheers,
Franklint

[custardchuk]

Me, I "am" there, already...

You were there next month, already, dude.

regards
custardchuk