Year: 2021

“Birds Aren’t Real”

Aside Markozen.com Bizarre, Satire, Scary

‘Birds Aren’t Real’: Whether comedy or conspiracy, the movement explains the post-truth era

'Birds Aren't Real': Whether comedy or conspiracy, the movement explains the post-truth era

via Birds Aren’t Real / Instagram

A lot of talking heads have remarked that we live in a post-truth era. In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary defined it as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

Media bias, political microtargeting, social media, fake news websites, Donald Trump, and man’s innate desire to prefer being right over correct, have all unwillingly conspired to create a society where people cling to tribal beliefs, regardless of their validity.

This has resulted in a social milieu where conspiracy theories have become mainstream. Sure, they’ve always been around, but they seem to have recently graduated from the basement to the mainstream.

Open up Facebook and you’re sure to find a post from someone about QAnon, flat-Earth theory, pizzagate, faked moon landings, false-flag shootings, 9/11 truth, Bill Gates’ microchips, and Birds Aren’t Real.

Yep, Birds Aren’t Real is a thing. A pretty big one, too. Birds Aren’t Real has over 300,000 followers on Instagram and 66,000 on Twitter. Plus, there are local Birds Aren’t Real chapters sprouting up all over the U.S.

The theory postulates that in the ’50s, the CIA began killing off America’s bird population and replacing them with flying surveillance robots. Birds Aren’t Real estimates there are currently 12 billion birds watching us from above.

The group recently held a rally in the non-specific town of Springfield.

However, it’s pretty clear that Birds Aren’t Real isn’t an actual conspiracy theory. Rather, a piece of comedic performance art revealing how ridiculous ideas take hold in the post-truth era.

Its de facto leader Peter McIndoe won’t tell you that it’s a fake conspiracy, at least not overtly.

“That’s one of the saddest things, that people consider that this could be some sort of mass-improvisational performance, or some sort of showcasing, highlighting a new era we’ve entered into as a society where anything can be true,” he told Newsweek. “Even if [the movement being satirical] was the case, you really wouldn’t even be able to tell.”

He thinks that if it were a parody movement, it could help people cope with living in absurd times.

“I think if it were a parody movement, that might be a point it was trying to make, or maybe, allowing people to cope with those types of presences in our society in a way where you can come together and laugh about the absurdity of a post-truth era, because it’s a horrifying thing,” he said. “The thing is, we’re not that, though.”

While for many, the conspiracy theory is a way to shine a light on the ridiculous conspiracy theories corrupting society, McIndoe claims he isn’t stopping until all of the birds are culled from the sky.

“The end to this project would only exist in the case of societal acceptance and shutting down the 12 billion robot birds that currently swarm the skies of our nation,” McIndoe said, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Drones Rain from the Sky onto Chinese City Following Light Show Fail

Aside Markozen.com Bizarre, Technology

A wild video out of China shows the moment when an elaborate light show went awry and dozens of drones began raining down onto stunned spectators watching from below. The eerie scene reportedly unfolded last Friday evening as part of an event celebrating the anniversary of a prominent shopping mall in the city of Zhengzhou. Part of the festivities included a light show wherein around 200 illuminated drones would form the name of the mall, Wanda Plaza, over a crowd of onlookers. However, shortly after the UAVs took flight, the performance took a rather dystopian turn as several of the devices suddenly began to falter and subsequently drop from the sky.

One witness managed to capture the chaos on film and, in the video, dozens of the ‘dead’ drones can be seen falling to the Earth like wayward stars as the people in the crowd shout to each other watch out for the errant UAVs. Some onlookers took cover from the deluge of devices that were crashing onto the pavement, cars, and trees, while other enterprising individuals attempted to snag the downed drones, perhaps thinking that they would be of some value or maybe as merely a memento from the very weird incident. As for what could have caused the mishap, the leading theory is that it was simply a dropped internet connection, though there are also rumblings that it could have been the result of a rival drone company sabotaging the event.

Orphaned Gorilla Passes Away in the Arms of Best Friend

Aside Markozen.com Animals

Orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, dies in the arms of lifelong caretaker and friend, Andre Bauma.

Ndakazi “took her final breath in the loving arms of her caretaker and lifelong friend, Andre Bauma,” a statement from the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Tuesday.

She died last month after battling a prolonged illness at the park’s Senkwekwe Center where she had lived for more than a decade, the statement added.

Bauma had looked after Ndakasi ever since she was found clinging to her dead mother’s body by national park rangers and taken to the center which is known for taking care of orphaned mountain gorillas, the statement said.

Her mother had been shot by armed militia as part of a series of killings of gorilla families, it added.

Prometheus Film Included Stunning Landscapes of Iceland

Markozen.com Offbeat

Markozen.com's avatarThe MarkoZen Blog

rometheus ( pro-MEE-thee-uhs) is a 2012 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. It is set in the late 21st century and centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as it follows a star map discovered among the artifacts of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, the crew arrives on a distant world and discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

Exterior shots of the alien world were shot in Iceland, where filming occurred for two weeks. It commenced on July 11, 2011, at the base of Hekla, an active volcano in southern Iceland. Speaking about working at the volcano, Scott said, “If one is afraid of nature in this profession then it would be best to find a different job”. Filming also took place at Dettifoss, one of the most powerful waterfalls in Europe.

Scott said…

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“Know what I’m saying?”

Aside Markozen.com Language

(yoo no hwut im sa’in), pron., v., pron., n., v.

  1. To let the person your addressing understand what you mean.
  2. Is used frequently through an educating conversation.
  3. A mating call
    1., 2. The carbon-14 atoms that cosmic rays produce, coalesce with oxygen to structure carbon dioxide, which plants take in naturally and integrate into plant fibers by photosynthesis. You know what i’m sayin?
  4. Hey girl, why don’t we go to my place and connect our genitalia, you know what i’m sayin?

Ghostbusters Firehouse

Aside Markozen.com Buildings

Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8 is a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, located at 14 North Moore Street at its intersection with Varick Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Its exterior has become famous as the base of the Ghostbusters in the supernatural comedy film franchise of the same name.

The firehouse was selected as the base of the “Ghostbusters” for the 1984 film after an early draft of the script envisaged the Ghostbusters as a public service much like the fire department. Reportedly, the firehouse was chosen because writer Dan Aykroyd knew the area and liked the building. While the firehouse served as the set for exterior scenes, the interior of the Ghostbusters base was shot in a Los Angeles studio, and in Fire Station No. 23, a decommissioned Los Angeles firehouse.

In the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, the firehouse makes two appearances.

The firehouse has also appeared in the 1994 film “The Mask” as a car repair facility, the 2005 film Hitch and in episodes of the television series Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother. In 2015, Lego announced a 4,634-piece “Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters” set based on the building, released in January 2016. It is the ninth-largest set ever made by Lego.

Lego Firehouse.