ideas under glass

Some words from P. K. Dick

2011-08-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

"The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give."

"My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression."

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them."

"No single thing abides; and all things are fucked up."

"Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night."

"If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others."

"Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups...So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing."

"You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe."

"Certainly it constitutes bad news when the people who agree with you are buggier than batshit."

"Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. . . . If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others? What about the world of a schizophrenic? Maybe it's as real as our world. Maybe we cannot say that we are in touch with reality and he is not, but should instead say, His reality is so different from ours that he can't explain his to us, and we can't explain ours to him. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently, there occurs a breakdown in communication ... and there is the real illness."

"A man is an angel that has gone deranged."

"This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance."

"Everything in life is just for a while."

"I never felt like that before. Maybe it could be depression, like you get. I can understand how you suffer now when you're depressed; I always thought you liked it and I thought you could have snapped yourself out any time, if not alone then my means of the mood organ. But when you get that depressed you don't care. Apathy, because you've lose a sense of worth. It doesn't matter whether you feel better because you have no worth."

"There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me."

"I guess that's the story of life: what you most fear never happens, but what you most yearn for never happens either. This is the difference between life and fiction. I suppose it's a good trade-off. But I'm not sure."

"The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides taught that the only things that are real are things which never change... and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught that everything changes. If you superimpose their two views, you get this result: Nothing is real."

"I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards. Okay, so I should revise my standards; I'm out of step. I should yield to reality. I have never yielded to reality. That's what SF is all about. If you wish to yield to reality, go read Philip Roth; read the New York literary establishment mainstream bestselling writers….This is why I love SF. I love to read it; I love to write it. The SF writer sees not just possibilities but wild possibilities. It's not just 'What if' - it's 'My God; what if' - in frenzy and hysteria. The Martians are always coming."

"There is no route out of the maze. The maze shifts as you move through it, because it is alive. "

"I became educated to the fact that the greatest pain does not come zooming down from a distant planet, but from the depths of the heart. Of course, both could happen; your wife and child could leave you, and you could be sitting alone in your empty house with nothing to live for, and in addition the Martians could bore through the roof and get you."

"The distinction between sanity and insanity is narrower than a razor’s edge, sharper than a hound’s tooth, more agile than a mule deer. It is more elusive than the merest phantom. Perhaps it does not even exist; perhaps it is a phantom. "

"I'm not much but I'm all I have."

"If I'd known it was harmless, I'd have killed it myself!"

"Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find."

"Reality denied comes back to haunt."

"How undisturbed, the sleep of the foolish."

"Fish cannot carry guns."

"The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them."

"A weird time in which we are alive. We can travel anywhere we want, even to other planets. And for what? To sit day after day, declining in morale and hope."

"I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile."

"Grief reunites you with what you've lost. It's a merging; you go with the loved thing or person that's going away. You follow it a far as you can go.
But finally,the grief goes away and you phase back into the world. Without him.
And you can accept that. What the hell choice is there? You cry, you continue to cry, because you don't ever completely come back from where you went with him -- a fragment broken off your pulsing, pumping heart is there still. A cut that never heals.
And if, when it happens to you over and over again in life, too much of your heart does finally go away, then you can't feel grief any more. And then you yourself are ready to die. You'll walk up the inclined ladder and someone else will remain behind grieving for you."

"What they do not comprehend is man's helplessness. I am weak, small, of no consequence to the universe. It does not notice me; I live on unseen. But why is that bad? Isn't it that way? Whom the gods notice they destroy. Be small... and you will escape the jealousy of the great."

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

"A human being without the proper empathy or feeling is the same as an android built so as to lack it, either by design or mistake. We mean, basically, someone who does not care about the fate which his fellow living creatures fall victim to; he stands detached, a spectator, acting out by his indifference John Donne's theorem that 'No man is an island,' but giving that theorem a twist: that which is a mental and a moral island is not a man."

"How'd you like to gaze at a beer can throughout eternity? It might not be so bad. There'd be nothing to fear."

"God is dead,' Nick said. 'They found his carcass in 2019. Floating in space near Alpha.'
'They found the remains of an organism advanced several thousand times over what we are,' Charley said. 'And evidently could create habitable worlds and populate them with living organisms, derived from itself. But that doesn't prove it was God."

"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."

Spotify and the Death of Deep Cuts

2011-07-31T13:38:00.000-05:00

First, let me just say....I love Spotify. It changes everything. I know there have been other companies who have tried the same thing, Rhapsody, Microsoft's own ZunePass.. but these companies all seemed to be in the iTunes business. They were music stores that let you listen to what you liked, but much of the focus was still on the purchasing of tracks to keep. Loading your MP3 player.

Spotify, as it is structured right now in the US, is simply a Cloud based music collection. Access to 15 million tracks in a decent interface, Ad supported (Pandora's popularity proved this works well enough), and offering a couple of improved pay services.

I have a feeling this is the way everyone will soon consume music. If Google Music ever gets out of Beta, much of people's collections will migrate to the cloud, and off their gadget's hard drives. Amazon has already opened up a service for this, and Apple's iCloud is also trying to cash in.

Of course, there will always be folks who have to physically have their collection, even if that means it is just sitting on drives around their house. Hell, I have somewhere north of a Terabyte of music around the house. Honestly, I welcome a service that will sort and catalogue millions of tracks for me.It is't an easy job, and at a certain point takes the fun out of things. This switch isn't going to happen overnight, but all the signs are there.

Soon all media will be streamed, on demand, from server farms we never see. We will pay to access collections it would take us decades to amass. Look at it this way: if an average album contains 12 tracks, Spotify offers 1.25 million albums (and counting) for your listening pleasure. Sure, they don't have the Beatles, or Zeppelin, or even Tool; but seriously, do you not have these albums already?

As much as this sea change excites me, there are aspects of it that I really hate to see. This direct access to all could change the core format of music: the album.

It has been coming for a while. iTunes was a serious wound to the album, with easy downloads to all the popular music, iPods everywhere filled with favorite songs formed into playlists. Tradition is hard to break, though. The album seems to have weathered that. We still buy music in album containers, because that is how artists release them. Can it weather a world where we do not buy the music, though?

Really, that is mostly academic. What happens will happen, and the market and listener's tastes will decide in the end. What saddens me the most is the inevitable end of the Deep Cut.

At one time, we bought an album, invested some amount of time and money in the purchase, and wringed all the enjoyment we could out of it. We put the album on and listened to every track. We gave songs that didn't strike our fancy at first listen time to make places of their own in our head. After a while, many of these tracks became my very favorites, the radio singles my least liked.

Maybe it was the way we listened. With vinyl, you put the record on, and only got up to flip it over. Sure, with a little effort, you could skip straight to the track you wanted, but this was a rare occurrence. One side might have gotten more play than the other, but it wasn't too terribly common to play a single track from one album, then a single track from another album, repeated throughout your evening. Hell, that is so troublesome we pay people to do it for us at parties. With vinyl, the easiest thing to do was just listen to the album.

Cassettes were pretty similar. Advancements in technology gave us some players that would flip to side B for us automatically, and more control over picking out single tracks, but still, the easiest way to listen was an album at a time. Cassettes gave us blank media, though. Blank media was a game changer. It brought that exalted ancestor of the playlist, the Mixtape. With a mixtape, we were our own Disc Jockeys. With a little effort, we could arrange things however we wanted. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Compact Discs were the first real blow to deep cuts. With simple (and just as importantly, accurate) one button track skipping, we could easily redact a song from the album, like it was never there, as long as we had the remote handy.
Certain songs had less of a chance to sneak into our heads. Some tracks were now less likely for us to ever get to know them. Still, we bought albums, and many of us listened to them from beginning to end (no flipping sides!) because we just shelled out $15 or $20 and we were going to get our money's worth. Some of us listened to the whole thing out of habit. We listened to the whole record when it was records, the whole tape when it was tapes, and the whole CD now that it was Discs. Habits are hard to break. The jewel case was like a record sleeve with a better spine, and they looked so good there all lined up on the shelf. In our hearts, the album was still king.

Mp3s and the digital revolution was the big shift. No container, no jewel case. The album now was just an idea. A comfortable way for us to relate to how artists released their work, and a convenient form for record companies to release it. Sure, they still sell CDs (I think...), but when was the last time you spent an hour browsing the racks at a record store? I can't even think of a store dedicated to selling compact discs within a half hour's drive from here. When was the last time you saw someone with a portable compact disc player on their side? The mass of music has gone completely digital, and we have to live with all the good and bad that brings.

The question now is, how long does the album persist? How long until musicians are putting out 3 or 4 new tracks every four to six months, rather than an album every year or two? Even with the album, or at least the idea of the album, still with us, how many of us listen to whole albums, beginning to end? With all that music right at our fingertips, it is a great temptation to skim the cream right off the top. Songs that don't catch our fancy right away are likely to never get another listen. Why would they? It isn't like we are stuck with them, property that is our responsibility to get to know. There are tens of millions of other tracks just waiting for a click of the mouse or flick of the finger for their turn at us. And what is wrong with that, you ask? Maybe nothing.

It scares me though. My musical tastes have been acquired. I did not only listen to what I liked. I found artists who did things I liked, and let them show me other things. I did not take to much of this "other" at first, but trusting the artist, I kept at it. Eventually, I came to understand a little more of what was going on with these songs that I didn't originally care for...whose melody didn't match the beat properly, or was too slow and melancholy, or too fast and frenetic. Eventually I came to like this stuff, and was grateful for the artist including it. My horizons broadened. My tastes developed. Many of my very favorite songs take a few listens to initially get comfortable with.
How often will this happen if we have no real reason to give a song a second chance, much less a third and fourth?

It is possible that I am worried over nothing; that music will keep growing and evolving like it always has, even benefiting from being free of that prison called the album, that music was never meant to be sorted into boxes, that each song is a jewel meant to stand on its own, judged for its own particular sparkle and clarity. Maybe so. Change is good, right? I guess we will have to wait and see.

My best wishes to Spotify. I like the service, and will continue to use it. For now though, I will keep listening to albums, those convenient little meals of music, looking for morsels I have never tried before. For me, nothing has really changed except who is serving it up. Oh, and the menu. The menu has gotten so much bigger.

not completely forgotten

2011-07-31T10:09:00.001-05:00

I have been toying with the idea of starting up a blog for random musings, stuff that would arise over a drink if I had time for things like that more than twice a year. Things I wouldn't mind getting out of my head and putting down somewhere, even if I am the only one who would read it.
Then I remember, I have a blog. Mothballed, in the internet attic, untouched for years....
Instead of doing all the work in setting up another one, I'm dusting the cobwebs off this one.

Besides, I like the name.

93 93/93

R.I.P.

2008-04-29T20:03:00.001-05:00

Albert Hofmann passed away at his home at 9am on Tuesday April 29, 2008 of a heart attack at the age of 102.
He was one incredibly important individual.
May we all live to see more like him.

Erowid Albert Hofmann Vault

How did I miss this?

2008-04-29T15:17:00.001-05:00

I have spent the evening drinking Appleton rum and watching the first season of Spaced. I've been a big fan of the Pegg/Wright duo since Shaun of the Dead.

I had heard tales of some fantastic but short lived series which ran on BBC 4, a series which served as a harbinger of comedy to come. A series I had never bothered to track down.

Thanks to the wonder of modern technology, I have both seasons sitting lazily on my drive. There are not many of them, but if the second season can be judged in any way by the first, they are absolute fucking jewels...every single one.

Do yourself a solid; lay eyes on this one.

is that a bridge I see?

2008-04-21T19:21:00.001-05:00

English Russia » Aurora Borealis in Murmansk

More at the link.

Eat my Speakers

2008-04-12T15:33:00.001-05:00

I have been living in a silent world, devoid of new music for far too long. This week, steps were take to rectify that problem.
Here is some of the goodness I picked up in the past few days:

Subtle - ExistingARM

This motley group of musicians put out some of the prettiest left-field, genre bending, post hip-hop available. I wore out the remixish album yell&ice just a bit ago, retiring it from my vehicle and stashing it somewhere in the lab for other folk to find and enjoy. I cannot yet tell if I like this album better than the fantastic For Hero: For Fool, but it handles similar themes and does not wander too far. Time will tell, but this one is sure to get quite a bit of play.

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

I did not like the first Raconteurs album much. I only picked this one up because I have some strange sick hope that Jack White will return to making stripped down rock that I can cut grass to. The white stripes have gone downhill for quite some time now, deserving nothing more than the casual listen to see how bad the album might be this time. Apparently, Jack has been funneling the coolness from that group right into this one. The Raconteurs have made the album that should have been the follow up to White Blood Cells. A fine collection of jangly and distorted songs in the key of awesome. Simple and thoroughly enjoyable.

Tipper - Tertiary Noise

It isn't an actual new album really, more of a collection of things not found on other albums with a touch of new thrown in to appease anyone who had happened to somehow have found everything else contained herein.
It isn't groundbreaking, and does not yet show him breaking the new ground he promised to soon, but it is a new Tipper release and that makes me happy.

Meat Beat Manifesto - Autoimmune

Dangers returns from the land of jazz and pissed off zombies to bring out a real and true new MBM album. Electronic rivers of low slung bass flowing around edifices of shiny broken beats that fall forever in perfect metronome on mescaline time. All the while an infinite open sphere of found sounds and obscure samples drift past your head and frame melody pieces that never quite connect to anything other than your subconscious.
This is the MBM album we have been waiting for since RUOK? pointed out that MBM could still show the way to new musical heights. Daddy Sandy shows up a few times to spew his unintelligible vocals. MC Azeem shows up on one track (the most straightforward on the album). Jack even brings his familiar vocal stylings to a track, a trick we haven't heard in quite some time.
Get this album immediately and turn it up way the fuck up.

Coil - The New Backwards

I was not expecting any new Coil to show up, what with Balance not being around anymore and Sleazy off in Thailand doing new tings (check out Soisong if you haven't already done so). This lovely redrawing of the works fro way back when at Nothing studios accompanied re-release of The Ape of Naples. The old and unreleased tracks were reworked by Christopherson and Danny Hyde, featuring Balance on three of the six tracks. What can I say? Coil were arguably the most gifted group to ever gift the world music. A new album is priceless.

So it goes...

2007-04-12T13:27:00.001-05:00

The world just lost it's brightest light.

It is doubtful it will ever see another like it.

If there were ever tears to be shed over the loss of a man, he deserves them all.

Deep-Fried Goldfish

2007-03-29T16:58:00.001-05:00

From CScout Japan:

"...this restaurant** in Japan has a goldfish tank…in the deep fryer. Because oil floats on water, despite the massive heat (163 degrees Celsius) the goldfish simply stay away from the surface and all is well. They eat the crumbs of croquettes and other fried foods that fall to the bottom, and can live in there for 5-10 years** as they happily clean away, ignorant to the fact that certain death awaits any potential escapees.This one is hidden away back in the kitchen where customers can’t even see it, but it could easily be made for display near the dining area for everyone to see. No word on whether they turn cannibal and devour their battered bretheren when they’re chucked in along with some potatoes."

Here is a demonstration:

As mentioned in the comments on the site linked above, there must be some new fryer oil used here. Note the ice dropped in on the video. Such strange and wonderful technology.

I have found the perfect sandals

2007-03-27T17:57:00.001-05:00

How often have you found yourself walking down the beach and thought to yourself, "if only my shoes were full of whiskey..."

Happens to me all the time.

The only question is, where do you keep the cup? I guess you could just drink right from the sandal.

Product page here

Where have I been?

2007-03-27T16:03:00.001-05:00

Haven't added anything on here for quite a while, but to celebrate a great new extension I found for the well loved ol' firefox, heres a new post, which might actually get followed up by some other new posts (maybe).

What did I find that brings me back you ask....

scribefire

Its a lovely little thing which allows me to blog from my browser without jumping through all those annoying hoops. I am very impressed with it, and plan to use it as much as possible. Now that I finally found that pesky little ram leak in my browser, things are becoming much happier on the web for me again.

Opera sucks utterly and I felt like an outcast the entire time I was forced to use it.

The Other White Meat

2007-01-20T15:22:00.000-06:00

Time lapse video always excites me.

MINIMAL

2006-11-18T13:46:00.000-06:00

monolake - linear

Irony...

2006-09-30T16:24:00.000-05:00

Top Gear - fastest stupid car

2006-09-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

I love this show.

Sit a spell, watch in awe.

Fifth state of matter found

2006-09-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

From article

"A team of researchers led by Benoít Deveaud-Piédran from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have announced that they have observed the strange fifth state of matter, known as the Bose-Einstein condensate, at a temperature of 19 Kelvin. While 19 Kelvin is still almost unimaginably cold, it is an extremely high temperature compared to the temperatures of less than a millionth degree Kelvin that have previously been needed to observe a Bose-Einstein condensate. "

Well, found it in warmer climates, really. Still pretty interesting.

South Korean super-scientists unveil....

2006-09-30T08:27:00.000-05:00

Their robot army.
From story:

"South Korea on Thursday unveiled an armed guard robot that it says can be used to detect and suppress intruders along the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea.
Commerce Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the robot opens a new era because it could replace soldiers in front-line units guarding against any possible aggression from the communist North."

The rest of the story here.

The Middle East: 5000 years in 90 seconds

2006-09-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

Jeff Cooper.... rest in peace

2006-09-26T19:24:00.000-05:00

There will be a private internment at Gunsite by invitation, with a
public memorial service at the Whittington Center at a date to be
announced.

memories:

"We continue to be exasperated by the view, apparently gaining momentum in certain circles, that armed robbery is okay as long as nobody gets hurt! The proper solution to armed robbery is a dead robber, on the scene."

"The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail... the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation."

"If you don't understand weapons you don't understand fighting. If you don't understand fighting you don't understand war. If you don't understand war you don't understand history. If you don't understand history, you might as well live with your head in a sack."

"The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.
The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."

-Col. Jeff Cooper

End Times Musings Continued

2006-05-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

What will happen to the sun belt's coastline after Greenland melts?
Good question.
Mr. Schrag has worked the numbers and says that Greenland melting away would make ocean levels rise 3.5 meters.
The aforementioned coastline would look something like what is pictured below, in the classic before/after style.

I dont think any new levee system devised could save precious New Orleans from that.

All of this is brought up in Jonathan Shaw's thought provoking article called Fueling our Future
It is an interesting read in the light of the new upswing of support for nuclear power.
...
These are the times of prophets and madmen.
.
.
And fishermen.

Wonder of the Ages

2006-04-27T17:38:00.000-05:00

That is exactly what you think it is. A 48-cylinder 4200cc motorcycle.

More pics and some video HERE

You see the strangest things on the internet...

2006-04-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

Art!

Art?

Madness!!

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

2006-04-22T18:54:00.000-05:00

Heres another jewel from the google-video vault.
Its an interview with Richard P. Feynman from 1981.

If you dont want to watch the tiny one, heres a link for the larger one.

Thank me later.

I wonder if I can get one of these

2006-04-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

From Associated Press:

BOGOTA, Colombia - Police in Colombia are training two whiskered, red-eyed rats, to sniff out bombs and land mines.

The rodents are part of an experimental six-rat squadron that police are preparing for dangerous missions to defuse the more than 100,000 land mines

To earn their stripes, the rats have spent the past year undergoing a daily training regimen in which they are placed in a maze with C-4 explosives and other bomb-making materials. When they detect the target, they're rewarded with a cracker.

A cracker.
...

The little suckers have heart, I'll give 'em that.
Teach 'em to swordfight, and I'll buy two dozen.

No more fetus removals for Mississippi?

2006-03-01T20:02:00.000-06:00

So I hear on the news this morning that a bill is up for vote that would outright ban abortions in Mississippi. The only legal way to remove the fetus would be if the mother's life was in danger from the birth. Rape babies and incest babies' lives would be protected by law.

First the lower Dakota, and now Mississippi. This is as close to reopening roe vs wade we have been in quite some time, methinks.
Makes me shudder.

Well... if you find yourself knocked up, and under the rule of self-righteous totalitarian state governments, heres a good place to start looking for options: how to set up a DIY abortion clinic for under $2000

End Times musings

2006-03-01T19:12:00.000-06:00

Our rivers are drying up. Our oil is running out.
Our animal species are racing towards extinction.
Horrendous storms, tidal waves, and earthquakes are besetting our nations.
Madmen rule our cities and blood stains sand and stone in half the world. The other half is at the brink of the same.

AND our goddamned polar ice caps are melting away.
Go ahead and kill your children so as to save them from the horror.

Theres a great interactive flash picture of the last 27 years on a sliding timeline here : Interactive Polar Ice Cap Melter
It uses satellite pictures from NASA's earth observatory.
Frome the site:

Satellites have made continual observations of Arctic sea ice extent since 1978, recording a general decline throughout that period. Since 2002, satellite records have revealed early onsets of springtime melting in the areas north of Alaska and Siberia. In addition, the 2004-2005 winter season showed a smaller recovery of sea ice extent than any previous winter in the satellite record and the earliest onset of melt throughout the Arctic.

Get youre waterwings boys.... the tides risin'

Bill Hicks : the lost hour

2006-02-28T12:33:00.000-06:00

"I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love, and laughter abide, I am there in spirit."
---Bill Hicks (1961-1994)
It seems that a fan recorded tape of Bill in concert, dated October fifth '93, has surfaced. The show takes place shortly after the infamous Letterman debacle. This is Hicks nearing the end, fully aware of his cancer, still preaching to the unwashed masses and occasionally throwing out some dick jokes.

The material ranges from the familiar (he opens with what got cut from Letterman) to the unfamiliar. There are some bits about him trying to get his dad to eat mushrooms and even the unveiling of a new character that the master never got a chance to fully flesh out. The audio is on par with many of Hick's own live recordings, with one dropout of unknown length.

This shit is gold people....GOLD.

Download it. Keep it in a holy place.

Genuflect at the altar of Beezlebubba.

Find it Here

My thanks to the folks at Frequency 23 for bringing this jewel to light.

Loose Change

2006-02-28T11:05:00.000-06:00

Mighty fine lil' documentary below that might open a few eyes to the atrocities of that day. Directed by Dylan Avery. How anyone believes the official story, I'll never know.
Remember, if you keep your mouth shut, the terrorists win.
...
1 hour long, just hit play.
Much larger version HERE

If you want some more interesting facts to mull over, try this site: Over 200 9/11 smoking guns

supreme court allows new mexico church to use DMT in its rituals

2006-02-27T19:18:00.001-06:00

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.
read the story here

This makes me very happy. DMT may very well be the new government sanctioned hallucinogen. I wonder if Rick Strassman's work helped this any at all. If you forgot who Dr. Rick Strassman is, he is the guy that got government funding to test DMT on human subjects a few years ago.

Damn this makes me happy.

Damn.

for shits & grins

2006-02-23T21:18:00.000-06:00

funny.

A rifle to blog about...

2006-02-23T12:15:00.000-06:00

The Sig 556 assault rifle was announced at this year's SHOT show in Vegas..
This thing makes me wet.
Gas operated design, removable barrel.... It's a thing of fuckin' beauty. Swiss engineered, american made. The msrp on one of these honeys is $1,300. For all those clamoring for an american version of the 55x series, this should be on your dealer's shelves by august of '06.
My only complaint is that there isn't a .308 version yet. Hopefully it is in the works.
There are three main variants listed at the time of this posting.
...
SIG 556 SPECIFICATIONS & FEATURES

............................SIG 556 L.......SIG 556......SIG 556 SWAT
Caliber: ---------------------- 5.56 mm ----------------------
Overall Length: ........36.5”..........36.5”............36.5”
Length w/ Stock Folded: 33”........33”..............33”
Barrel Length: ...........16”............16”.................16”
Sight Radius: ............21”...........17.75”.............17.75”
Forearm: --------- Polymer SIG TriRail --------Quad Rail
Rifling: ----------------------- 1 in 9” ------------------------
Weight w/o Mag.:.......7.2 lbs........6.8 lbs........6.8 lbs
Operating System:------- Gas Operated, Rotating Bolt ------
Magazine Capacity: 30 Rnds........30 Rnds........30 Rnds
MSRP ......................$1,299........$1,299........$1,799

Thanks to the guys at sigforum for posting such nice pictures, as I was unable to attend the trade show in Vegas to see this work of art in person.

the reports of my death....

2005-09-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

what a fuckin storm that was...
my fam & friends survived though.
this blog will be back on its feet as soon as my PC is back on its.
thanks to aaron for the use of his laptop in the interim.
stay strong brothers & sisters.

More End Times Mania !

2005-08-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

I do my best to never believe anything wholeheartedly. By that same token, I try not to completely disbelive anything. In my most humble opinion, anything else leads to madness.
With that in mind, there is an article that came to my attention, and which might be of interest to others. It claims to be " a transcript of a speech believed to have been given by Mr. Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission.". The validity of the speech isnt much of a concern to me, since any thought towards that end would be purely conjecture. Regardless of the impossibility of any sort of emperical verification, I suggest everybody take the time to read through the speech completely.
It can be found at the epoch times>> HERE

a couple of snippets:

What is the third issue we should clinch firmly in order to accomplish our historical mission of national renaissance? It is to hold firmly onto the big “issue of America.”

Comrade Mao Zedong taught us that we must have a resolute and correct political orientation. What is our key, correct orientation? It is to solve the issue of America.

This appears to be shocking, but the logic is actually very simple.

Comrade He Xin put forward a very fundamental judgment that is very reasonable. He asserted in his report to the Party Central Committee: The renaissance of China is in fundamental conflict with the western strategic interest, and therefore will inevitably be obstructed by the western countries doing everything they can. So, only by breaking the blockade formed by the western countries headed by the United States can China grow and move towards the world!

...

“The relationship between China and United States is one of a life-and-death struggle.” Of course, right now it is not the time to openly break up with them yet. Our reform and opening to the outside world still rely on their capital and technology, we still need America. Therefore, we must do everything we can to promote our relationship with America, learn from America in all aspects and use America as an example to reconstruct our country.

The United States is the most successful country in the world today. Only after we have learned all of its useful experiences can we replace it in the future. Even though we are presently imitating the American tone “China and United States rely on each other and share honor and disgrace,” we must not forget that the history of our civilization repeatedly has taught us that one mountain does not allow two tigers to live together.

From a humanitarian perspective, we should issue a warning to the American people and persuade them to leave America and leave the land they have lived in to the Chinese people. Or at least they should leave half of the United States to be China’s colony, because America was first discovered by the Chinese. But would this work? If this strategy does not work, then there is only one choice left to us. That is, use decisive means to “clean up” America, and reserve America for our use in a moment. Our historical experience has proven that as long as we make it happen, nobody in the world can do anything about us. Furthermore, if the United States as the leader is gone, then other enemies have to surrender to us.

Biological weapons are unprecedented in their ruthlessness, but if the Americans do not die then the Chinese have to die. If the Chinese people are strapped to the present land, a total societal collapse is bound to take place.

It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans. But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the CCP leads the world. We, as revolutionary humanitarians, do not want deaths. But if history confronts us with a choice between deaths of Chinese and those of Americans, we’d have to pick the latter, as, for us, it is more important to safeguard the lives of the Chinese people and the life of our Party. That is because, after all, we are Chinese and members of the CCP. Since the day we joined the CCP, the Party’s life has always been above all else! History will prove that we made the right choice.

...

Its a pretty long speech by some standards, butI feel its worth the read. If you arent familiar with the epoch times, it is seen by many to be a news service with an agenda, which always casts stories from the mainland in harsh light. The only american source that ive seen pick the story up is hal turner. For a taste of that nutjob's agenda, check out his site.
Also, it seems that China has replaced Chi Haotian with General Cao Gangchuan of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) .

Leave a comment, lemme know what you think...

Tourist attraction of the month : august

2005-08-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

The museum of science & industry in Tampa, Florida ( MOSI to friends ) is hosting one of those anatomy exhibits where the displays use real, live cadavers. Its going on right now, so you'd best get youreslf to Tampa...
...
Okay, if the idea of seeing corpses with the flesh flayed from the bodies to reveal the various inner workings isnt eneough to drag you down to Florida, how about a skinless corpse show thats been voted down by the state board that regulates the use and display of corpses?
How about a mutilated cadaver show thats been blocked by the state, AND got its bodies from china, where they were unclaimed and the identities unkown....

from reuters:

Board members who opposed the exhibit said they were concerned the bodies would not be displayed with the proper respect. The bodies have been put in poses with such titles as "Running Man" and "Soccer Player."

Funny how that little moral quandry makes the whole thing so much more interesting.
The museum gave the board the finger and went ahead with the exhibit. Showing now. You can get tickets here.
Read full story at reuters.

more of my life sneaks its way onto the net

2005-08-10T18:10:00.000-05:00

I uncovered my old audioscrobbler account, which never seemed to work right for me. Truthfully, I'm terribly surprised to see it still existed. I messed with it for a couple of hours when I initially installed it (aug 4, 2004) then gave up completely. My lack of faith in the little prog didnt deter it from working like a charm though. It logged a little over 1000 tracks before i finally made the switch to foobar and left the old media player, which of course housed said plug-in, behind. I am now presented with a decently thick last.fm account and have re-installed the audioscrobbler plugin. I figure it will be a decent way to chart my ecclectic musical tastes while offering you readers a way to see whats being played here in the base of operations. If the short list of my current favorite albums running down the sidebar just isnt eneough of a peak into my media player, just click the first of the links (also in the sidebar) and you will be taken to my last.fm user page where you can see a detailed list of whats been shaking the walls and disturbing the neighbors.

who knew?

2005-08-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

Coming home from work today, I noticed this sign tacked to a power pole at the end of my road...
..

Now, no one has come knocking at doors to announce themselves as a molester (or even a molestare, as the sign puts it).
I dont have kids, but it is disturbing news regardless. I made a few calls to some folks who are a little more involved in the community to no real avail. I seem to have been the among the first to notice it.
I now await news to filter back towards me.
Surely somebody knows who put it up. Its clearly not official. Ive seen better posters announcing free puppies, or bait for sale. They could have at least included a picture, or contact information.... something.
...
I turned up a few leads on the internet, narrowing down the probabilities to three people im sure ive seen around town.

ROY FERRELL HADDOCK JR

Aggravated criminal sexual abuse Any other offense committed in another state for which registration is required in that state.

----------------------------
CEDRICK CHENELL JOHNSON

Touching of a child for lustful purposes (Section 97-5-23)

-----------------------------
KENNETH WAYNE TAPPER

Touching of a child for lustful purposes (Section 97-5-23)

None are my immediate neighbors. None are related to me (i should be grateful). Honestly, I am more tempted to just go rip the sign down and throw it away than take any other action. The only reason I leave it is in hope that chaos will ensue.
Maybe I should hang a stuffed child molester in effigy from the tree near the pole, his cock in one hand and the severed head of a child in the other.
Two can play at this game.

Sea Monster Found!!

2005-08-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

what a shitty picture....

This unidentified hunk of rotting corpsemeat was dredged up by a typhoon around china. It seems to be causing quite a stir.

from a reliable source:
"Early on the morning of July 23, a fisherman from Ningbo City in east China's Zhejiang Province was shocked by the sight of a huge creature lying dead beside the seawall near his home."
... is nearly 12 meters long and weighs around 2 tons, according to district sea and fishery bureau staff.
...partly rotten, with its spine exposed, it has been impossible to identify, but has been described as having some hair, and orange stripes across a three to four-meter wide belly.

I think tis calls for some end times mania or something equally celebratory.
read all about it here

Jewish militants put death curse on Sharon?

2005-07-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

well now.... thats a bit harsh, isnt it...
I wonder if hes worried.
read the story at reuters

from article:

"It's preferable that God, rather than a mortal, kills him because his bodyguards are just too good," Ynet quoted one of the participants at a "Pulsa Denora," an ancient Jewish ceremony which it said was held at a cemetery at the weekend.

tourist attraction of the month

2005-07-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

I find this somewhat shocking. Im not sure why...
It seems that some folks in New Zealand have built themselves a full size mock-up of stonehenge.
They call it Stonehenge Aotearoa ( Aotearoa being the name of the location in New Zealand, not some esoteric jargon ).
Heres a quick blurb from the extensive site:

"Stonehenge Aotearoa, a full-scale working adaptation of Stonehenge, is intended to inspire New Zealanders to explore and experience for themselves how technologies of ancient times were used, and still can be used, to give practical and detailed information on the seasons, time and navigation."

Super science & crowd control

2005-07-06T19:32:00.000-05:00

An article from back in March that some of you might have seen at new scientist.com tells of a new type of non-lethal riot weapon which fire bursts of plasma. This plasma explodes when it hits something solid, like a person. It causes intense pain and may even knock you down, but isn't supposed to do any lasting damage. Of course, as fantastic as all this sounds for those who need decent crowd control and are frustrated with the old water-hose/shoot a few method, not everyone is pleased with the idea..
From article:

Amanda Williams, a clinical psychologist at University College London, fears that victims risk long-term harm. "Persistent pain can result from a range of supposedly non-destructive stimuli which nevertheless change the functioning of the nervous system," she says. She is concerned that studies of cultured cells will fall short of demonstrating a safe level for a plasma burst. "They cannot tell us about the pain and psychological consequences of such a painful experience."

The weapon is supposed to be ready for use against any and all instances where people feel strongly enough about an idea to group together en-masse and challenge the power structure collectively.... in 2007.

Not to be out done, those crazy bastards at S andia National Laboratories have been cooking up a little toy of their own.

"ADT emits a 95 GHz non-ionizing electromagnetic beam of energy that penetrates approximately 1/64 of an inch into human skin tissue, where nerve receptors are concentrated. Within seconds, the beam will heat the exposed skin tissue to a level where intolerable pain is experienced and natural defense mechanisms take over."

ADT is Active Denial Technology, and its around right now. They are strappin' these bad boys to hum-vees and helicopters as we speak. This particular article focuses on the use of the technology as a security device. Theft deterrent for our 'nuclear assets' is how its billed. How soon until they are used to enclose 'terrorists' and other social miscreants in American prison camps. I guess its better than a collar around the neck that explodes past the electronic fence...
just a thought. Read the insightful details here.

inconsiderate bastards

2005-07-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

"NASA spacecraft Deep Impact collides with the comet Tempel 1 in this image captured by Deep Impact's fly-by spacecraft and released on July 4, 2005."

...

"PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) - A spectacular collision between a spacecraft and a comet has freed a huge plume of primordial material from the comet's nucleus that could unlock the secret of how life arrived on Earth, NASA scientists said on Monday.

The first images returned from the Deep Impact fly-by spacecraft showed a small fireball followed by a much larger, incandescent flash that engulfed one end of the comet Tempel 1 as the impactor smashed into its surface at 1:52 a.m.

The impactor was vaporized upon slamming into the comet at 23,000 mph (37,000 kph) -- the speed it would take to fly from New York to Los Angeles in about six minutes.

The collision, which occurred 83 million miles from Earth, marks the first time a spacecraft has come in contact with a comet." Read the story from reuters here

Somewhat interesting. It will br nice to see what data those scientists glean from the debris knocked off the comet. What is even more interesting is this related headline:

Astrologist sues NASA over comet crash
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday.
It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.

I reiterate.... fuck NASA.

In other news....

2005-07-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

I wonder what kind of line he caught that on...

Fishermen in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record -- a 646-pound (293-kg) giant the size of a grizzly bear -- and eaten it, the WWF and the National Geographic Society said on June 29. The giant catfish, believed to be the largest freshwater fish ever found, was caught along the Mekong River, home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth. Photo by Stringer/Thailand/Reuters.

read story here

...

TONGANOXIE, Kan. -- Lightning struck twice in Tonganoxie Thursday morning. One bolt hit a house, traveled through the roof and down some metal edging in a bedroom wall, and set a mattress on fire. Unfortunately, 7-year-old Kaylee Shriner was sleeping on the mattress at the time.

read story here

...

It seems that half of Moscow sits atop georectonic fractures. These are reported to be the cause of the water-park tragedy in 2004.

"The park was built in the area of one of the fractures. A series of mini-earthquakes took place on the site of the park before its dome collapsed," head of the Digger-Spas underground research center, Vadim Mikhailov, said.

Russia is having some serious-ass problems lately. read more about this story
and then, there was this:
MOSCOW, May 19 (Reuters) - A Russian village was left baffled on Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

Also, here is a delightful little article giving an overview of how the U.S. continues to do its best de-fang the soviets once and for all.
Dividing Russia by Mark Ames

France to host nuclear fusion reactor

2005-06-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

This will certainly be an interesting project to keep an eye on.
It seems that Cadarache, near Marseille has been chosen to host the world's first nuclear fusion reactor.

The 500 megawatt ITER reactor will use deuterium, extracted from seawater, as its major fuel and a giant electromagnetic ring to fuse atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures.
...
"We believe that the ITER project should start as soon as possible for the sake of mankind's future," said Nariaki Nakayama, Japan's science minister.
...
Building the reactor is expected to take about ten years, but some scientists say it could take three times that long and the sides have yet to reach a final agreement on a number of issues, including financing, before the builders can move in.
...

As far as I can tell, the good ol' U.S. of A. arent having anything to do with it.
Read the full article here.

ugly girl rescued

2005-06-28T14:39:00.000-05:00

The following may or may not be real.... but does that really matter? If its real, then I applaud the parents. What a wonderful idea.

...
Charges may be filed against a family which manipulated photos of their missing daughter to spur rescue efforts, according to Texas officials.
...
"At first I thought the kidnapper had dyed her hair, you know, to make her less easy to recognize," said Maria Baker, one of the volunteers who spent 50 hours last week searching. "Then I thought, wow, that week in the wilderness sure was rough on her. Then I saw a closeup, and I thought, man, did a bear get her too?"
...
"In actuality, Francine is neither perky nor blonde," said a grim-faced Perry. "In fact, her picture is mainly a testament to her father's skills with Photoshop."
...
"This season we've already had Natalie Holloway and Brennan Hawkins, two really high-profile cases with very appealing protagonists," said Alan Keyes, Francine's father. "Heck, Francine used to scare the cat whenever she smiled. What were we supposed to do?"
...
"Our viewership drops fifteen percent every time we show the real picture of this girl," said Umbridge. "I'm sorry, but CNN has journalistic standards, you know. At least put a wig on the poor girl."
...

Oh man.... thats good stuff. They found her though. The pictures are elusive, or they would be included. If anyone knows where these can be viewed, come across. Read it complete here.

crazy african cat stories

2005-06-26T16:13:00.000-05:00

Seen these yet? both stories are a few days old...
Its such a blast to believe this stuff.

...

Lions save kidnapped girl

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia.

Its like those stories where dolphins save swimmers from sharks, only in a dessert, with lions and rapists!

73 yr old Kenyan kills leopard with bare hands

NAIROBI - A 73-year-old Kenyan grandfather reached into the mouth of an attacking leopard and tore out its tongue to kill it, authorities said Wednesday.

I'd have paid to see this one go down. Thats one mean kenyan.

The ethics of amputation by choice

2005-06-23T14:39:00.000-05:00

"Amputee wannabes become obsessed with cutting off a particular part of their body, even though it may be healthy."
...

Its called body integrity identity disorder (BIID), or amputee identity disorder. Its a rare condition, but recently two Australian philosophers have been exploring what is referred to in the article as amputaion wannabes.
The victims of this disorder have, in some cases, tried to remove the offending limb by themselves. One using a chainsaw.

Why? well, Dr. Neil Levy says-

"it may be the result of a cortical misalignment between how the brain "sees" the limb and what's really there. He says in the case of so-called "phantom limbs", people who lose a limb may experience the sensation that it's still there. This is because the way the limb is represented in the brain hasn't caught up with the physical change.
But amputee wannabes may have the limb but not the cortical representation.
"[In the case of BIID] one possibility is that there's something wrong with the cortical representation of the limb in the brain of sufferers," he says.
Levy says BIID may also be a purely psychological condition, and often people who suffer from it have had an encounter with an amputee early in life.
...

the arguments in a nutshell:

for>> such amputations should be morally permissible on the grounds that people with BIID are not "globally irrational" and that they are experiencing suffering that can be alleviated through amputation.

against>> It's unethical to remove a normal limb just because somebody wants it removed.

What do you think. Are they crazy, oughta be locked up? Or are they just amputees, trapped in a horribly perfect body who should be allowed to escape?
you make the call. Read the story HERE

Cosmos I update

2005-06-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

They seem to have lost it. Something went wrong anyway.
Those invovled have all but conceded failure...

"Russia's space agency said with "some definitiveness" that Cosmos 1's booster rocket failed 83 seconds after its launch from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea on Tuesday. Ground tracking stations continued to scan the heavens."

But it hasnt shown up. It should have dropped back towards the earth, but hasnt been detected as doing so. There may still be hope...

"Tracking stations on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, in the South Pacific and in the Czech Republic recorded signals that seemed to be transmissions from the spacecraft, Planetary Society officials said, leaving the possibility that the vehicle made it part way around the globe or actually was in orbit, waiting to be found."

Time will tell. Read the article HERE

23 yr old possessed nun...crucified

2005-06-21T18:22:00.000-05:00

Father Daniel Corogeanu, 29, said that the nun had been "possessed by the devil" and was "beyond salvation" in life.
...
The nun was found dead last Wednesday, gagged and chained to a cross
...
Claps of thunder were heard as her coffin was lowered into the ground, a sign "that the will of God has been done", Father Corogeanu said.
...

sometimes a story just jumps out at you. Makes you wonder about all the things left unsaid in the all too short newsblurb. This is most certainly one of those stories. The events described take place at a monastery in a remote village in Romania. read it all, (..what there is of it), HERE
I just wish there were pictures to share amongst you all.
Christianity is such a quaint little religion.

my new dietary supplement

2005-06-20T19:34:00.000-05:00

"Use This Discovery to Surpass
Current Human Capabilities by 3,000 Years!"

The Pill that Awakens the "Sixth Sense" in Everyone!

Magnerol has a unique proprietary blend of specific magnetized properties which compliment cells naturally occurring within your body.
These cells contain within them "Magnetotactic bacteria" which grows magnetic nanoparticles. The particles are then naturally assembled into single or multiple chains and anchored inside the cell, enabling the bacteria to passively orient themselves along geomagnetic field lines.

check out this testimonial:
Day 4 (Journal Excerpt of JP)
I felt greater increase in my normal five senses. Increased vision of auras, ability to digest multiple sounds better. Foods were overwhelming with taste. I walked in to my house and smelled pot-pouri that was too far away to usually be noticed. A dramatic increased ability to feel people's emotions. In addition, without thinking about it I was able to know where people were going after work. Also knowing details about what people described just vaguely. I can usually not tell directions north, south, east, west but after taking the Magneurol I could easily point north wherever I was.

oh yeah, ive got to try some of these. And at only $80 for a one month supply, it must be the bargain of the century.
hurry, get yours here >>> Magneurol 6-S

fuck NASA

2005-06-17T16:04:00.000-05:00

there are so many reasons to get excited about this. chief among mine : the private industry funding. theres no need to bore anyone with details as to why NASA is pretty useless (hinderence?) to man's coming conquest of the stars. Of course, the fact that the whole thing sounds like its right out of a Fritz Lieber novel is pretty nice too. Using old Russian ICBMs, blasting off from a submarine... you just dont get much cooler than that.
Props to Carl Sagan's widow for putting up some cash for this one.
read article here
and if youve got a little spare time, and want to track the solar sail's progress
Watch cosmos I as it orbits the earth!

prostrate thyself...

2005-06-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

This is the closest ive ever seen an artist get to the ganesh that sits on my shoulder.
genuflect hippies.

comics worth creating a blog

2005-06-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

I highly suggest you read all the comics listed on the page.
thank me later.
Morning Glory