March 9, 2005
Urban Survival

As we have explained too many times already, my colleague Cliff at www.halfpasthuman.com has developed a way to sample huge portions of the internet and come back with linguistic descriptions that seem to contain hints about our future. While some of the descriptions read almost like the I Ching at times, the January 1 run is turning out to be quiet marvelous in terms of having properly steered our news coverage on this site, and in knowing what to be on the lookout for next. As we reported last week, part of that January 1st update (based on data sampled before the SE Asia tsunami) successfully captured the essence of the recent record rains, and the killing of the tiger last month here in Southern California. From the January 1 posting:

"The idea of a large earthquake causing California to 'sink into the sea' does NOT come through, but rather the whole tone is one of being [washed/carried/born] away by [water/rain/deluge]. In this attribute set are many references to [marsh/marshland/estuary] being (subsumed/covered) by [sea/seawater/ocean/saltwater] such that [places] of (earthly) [seductions] and (addictive) [pleasures] are (no longer/not/former) [visible]. The California linked aspects show that the [land/ground/fields/earth] will (change/alter) until it (seems as though/resembles) the [stripes/marks] of a [tiger]. These changes - perhaps storms? - will come in (three)[waves/movements]. These [waves] will so physically change things as to [not be believed/denied] unless actually [seen/experienced/lived through/endured]. "

So now it appears that (once again) the data interpretation is exactly right, down at the archetype level, but the imagery is sort of "mixed up" because receiving (or implying) knowledge of future events from archetypical imagery inferred from linguistic shift is still a bit distance from being a "science."

Nevertheless, we find in view of Mount St. Helens activity, that the main paragraphs of the January 1 posting seem now to come into focus:

"Terra - Rising To Exhaustion

It seems appropriate to begin the interpretation with the largest of the objects currently populating our modelspace, the Terra entity. In the Terra entity we find that several lexical threads have combined into a more complex lexical structure which is being seen for the first time. While it is not unusual for apparent patterns of internal cohesion to develop as the modelspace is being populated, these are usually illusionary and due to specific and related items being populated such that they 'seem' to be forming a pattern within the entity. Again, usually these are transitory and only appear to manifest structure due to the minimal size of the data set at the time. As most often happens, these apparent structures dissolve as more data is loaded and the entity 'fleshes' out, thus diluting the apparent structure to nothingness over the time of the modelspace population. Not this time however.

As stated, a more complex lexical structure than previously seen has developed within the Terra entity within the modelspace. It is from this lexical structure that we are taking the primary 'phrase-aspect' for the interpretation, that is, 'Rising to Exhaustion'.

Specifically, this structure carries within it references to [ground/earth/dirt/fundament] which is [rising/lifting/upwelling/swelling/bulging/building/growing/expanding] to the point of [exhaustion/depletion/fatigue/emptiness]. The structure is cohesive and is internally self linking, (aspect to aspect) but does not reference circuitously. Rather its internal self links all terminate in another link which is external. As an example, the [exhaustion/depletion] aspect links down two levels to [carried/bearing/holding/hauling/dragging/moving] which has its attributes cross linked out of the structure over to (empty) [city/buildings/structure/village]. Further the cross linking also goes three levels down to [barren] which is modified by (house) and contains internal aspects of [road](littered/strewn) with [debris]. And [debris] is linked back up to the primary structure as a modifier to [exhaustion/depletion]. It is as though the earth will rise up in such a way as to create conditions which are [untenable/unacceptable] such that [residents](flee/run/leave/vacate) the [city/buildings...] and the [road] conditions are so (harsh/brutal/debilitating/wearing) that those who flee (carpet) the [road] with (former) [belongings/possessions].

Further, the structure has links out into the rest of the Terra entity such that it suggests that either the rising of the earth will be so wide spread as to affect much of the planet, or that the rising will be so devastating as to [hobble/curtail/remove (one leg)] the global financial system such that the pain is distributed. These external links include references to (deserted/abandoned) [city] is (reached/met) by [ascend(ing)/climbing. The [core/center] of the [city] is (bright/lit) but [empty].

Along with the (bright/lit/lighted) attribute set, we find repeated cross references to (lightning) both as attribute and as aspect. In this structure, a compound aspect set exists in which the [lightning] (ruptures/cracks/splits/divides/penetrates) the [crust (of the earth)] which in turn is seen to (cause/create) [lightning-streaks/sky-marks/blaze-remnants] which will [radiate/extend/spread] from the [center/middle] of the (abandoned)[city] and act as [guides/clues/markers] to the [center/core]. Additionally the structure is replete with references to smells. These are referenced as both aspects and attributes, and contain a very full attribute set which includes (stink), (stench), (burned-metal odor), (tungsten burns the nostrils), and more curious references typified by (steel stinks dead) and [iron-rust] (stench) (fills the area)(copiously) which in turn is seen as (driving/compelling) the [abandonment/desertion].

Usually in this work we discard numeric references as there are so many on the net that the level of noise relative to specific numbers usually renders them meaningless. In the normal course of interpretation we would use oblique references such as 'many' or 'very many'. Something along those lines. These are frequently seen in more 'primitive' societies where beyond what one can hold in the hand, the idea of numbers is less than useful. In the case of the 'deserted city' there are some disturbing references to the number '13 millions'. This number arises as repeated references both numerically, abstractly, and normatively. Aligned with that are repeated references at attribute levels for the concept of 'millions'. So the concept coming across is that some '13 millions' would/will leave this city due to this event. Readers are cautioned NOT to take the number literally and go off hunting for cities large enough for that many people to be able to flee. Rather it is the general sense that a large number of people will be involved in this event, and perhaps the numbers who will be alive to [flee] and (leave/discard/cast off/jettison) their [treasures/hoardings/possessions] will be in the millions and this will result in the [roadways] being [covered/cloaked/hidden by] a [debris] [trail/residue/remains] to the point that [animals/herds/steers] will (not) be able to (climb through/over come).

There are several of the attribute sets which participate in this description. These modifiers include the [earth/terra/fundament] (is/will be) (set loose/released tension) until it [pulsates/vibrates/quivers] in a (fluid)[motion/movement] such as [waves/surf/tides] that will result in [undulations/curvature/distortions] (remaining/staying/permanent) that will (contort/alter/change) the [steps/ridges] to (be seen/be perceived) as [waves] left in the earth. The basic idea coming through can be interpreted to suggest that the motion that the earth will take will leave an undulating wave-like form cascading down the [slopes/sides/steep/step] of the [hill/rise/foothill] such that from afar people will be able to perceive the [sea/ocean] (tides/rhythm) (locked/captured/frozen) in [solid earth/crust/fundament/firmament]. "

[Note: Used exclusively and with permission and copyright belongs to www.halfpasthuman.com]

What should you make of this? Compare the imagery with the latest St. Helens reports:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=st.+helens (We've put up a link to the Google news engine as we already have a good idea what's coming - the Google site is for folks who won't believe it till it's in a new report.)

It's your call. If you are asked to describe it, though, it might go something like this: "A couple of crazy people think they are see into the future using linguistic shift on the internet. They have this "stuff" (above) which reads like fortune-teller crap, yet oddly, as in the case of the Southern California rains and what came up in the run as "tiger over the hill" [from LA] does now and then come up with what it's adherents believe are foreshadows of the future anywhere from a few days to 2-3 months in advance of actual events. [Click for a recap of how the technology called the NE Power Outage, or the DC Sniper Case, or the major tipping point in how we live our lives 2-months prior to 9/11.] We were obviously off watching for the Maritime Disaster - we think the technology was right about the ship accident, but what we poor humans didn't get was that the maritime disaster was a space ship: It's name? Columbia.

So, you'll forgive us for not bothering to keep really detailed track of the fits in the numerous other reports - the forecast of "attack of house or assemblage" prior to the anthrax attack, or the "attack on commemorative event" prior to American 587 on Veteran's Day. (Although that seemed to have a good description of saboteurs arriving via the marshy waterways prior to dawn that day...) Interestingly, perhaps because of the high emotive values (in Cliff's odd world of linguistic shift) we picked up the deaths of children far in advance of Beslan, an event less heralded in the West, although anyone with understanding sees it as the "Russian version of the Twin Towers."

We've tried to explain it, but it's not a simple set of concepts that doesn't distill into 10-second sound bites and both the collection techniques and the post processing (prolog, C, and then modeled in CAD) are not easy dinner time conversation. We might try distillation again, but when someone is "crazy" enough to come our and say "We think we might see a bit of the future based on how language use shifts on millions of posts on the internet..." people (perhaps rightly) point at the couple of nutjobs. Oh well, WTF, huh? PERL's before swine.

We'll see how close it all fits with the forecast and whether Portland, Seattle, or some other Northwest city is the "abandoned" place described in the next few months. Then again, we might just be nutjobs...

Things YOU can Do

UrbanSurvival is a part-time project - I spend about 2-hours starting at 5:30 AM Mon-Fri, plus 6-10 hours on weekends. Elaine and I think the site has a lot to offer (in addition the common-sense living described on our other site, www.independencejournal.com). That said, we would appreciate you taking a few minutes to:

* Send an email to a friend or two to tell them about the site.
* Visit our Bookstore where small e-books I have written are available inexpensively and delivered electronically.
* Participate in our discussion forums - You don't need to log in - anonymous visitors are the norm at http://urbansurvival.com/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi
* Visit other rational thinking sites, such as Cliff's www.halfpasthuman.com and the other links you'll find scattered around here.
* Above all, we invite you to subscribe to our Inside Reports - issued weekly for $30 a year. This pencils out to 57.7¢ a week. If the economy is doing as well as the Bush Administration pretends, if jobjacking hasn't visited your doorway yet, consider it a small contribution to paying the rent on the server space and bandwidth.

At the request of a few readers who have asked, our most recent operating statistics for the month of February '05 show 322,246 page views, 1,645,887 hits, 31.46 gB of bandwidth, spread among 208,322 user sessions. Our growth rate pencils out to about 22% per year which we wildly infer means growing interest in our particularly skeptical view of mainstream economics which, in case you haven't noticed, failed to forecast what we consider self evident; that the economy is a hell of a lot worse than the powers that be would have you think.

One of the facts that emerged from our research into this week's Inside Report, but which you probably won't see on TV (with the possible exception of Lou Dobbs CNN slot) was that Mexico's Public Debt is 23.1% of Mexico's GDP while the US Public Debt is 62.4% of our GDP. The CIA lists US external debt as of 2001 at $1.4 trillion. We figure it's near $2 trillion now. Mexico, at $159 billion (2003) looks like the epitome of fiscal restraint.

I don't mean to get sidetracked, but last year, the web bot project forecast a growing cognitive dissonance within the USA. We think this site is one of the few places you can visit that reports on what is to real folks.

Thank You for visiting. Y'all come back daily, y'hear?

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