Saturday, March 15, 2008
Crack Pipe
The following passage is from, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer:
“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.
“This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.
…
“To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Something that Letter to God reminded me of...
When I got back from adventuring in world, taka and i were kickin it in the tub, chatting about spirituality or something...i am not even sure of the exact subject matter that was being dialogued, but i believe it was something along the lines of the pervasive force of good in the world. The fact that both of us (as we found out) felt that, in general, this world is heading towards a better place. people will eventually become more aware, more compassionate, understanding, etc. and eventually (although this was never framed in said conversation) we will be living in a utopian land...that is simply my opinion on the matter, i know we've still got a long way to go, and i can't see any possibility of this happening in my lifetime, or many lifetimes ahead, but how bout in a million years? do i see the world suffering from the same stupid arguments, the same stupid careless actions, or being run by the same soulless tycoons? NO. i can't see that as a possibility. while nothing will change without action, and i feel that the people contributing to this blog stand to make a huge difference in this world (in which way specifically, obviously, none of us know yet) I do feel the urgency we're faced with, especially since we stand to lose OUR habitat, and we're already destroying countless others' habitats, but yet i find myself somewhat unworried...perhaps it is apathy, but i'm not sure it is. I simply cannot see this thing turning out negatively. As dosmé (the correct spelling of that name by the way, it's french by descent) pointed out to some of his co-workers, and then me, we are these animals spinning on a ball, that is spinning around another bigger ball, that is all spinning at thousands of miles per hour, and so on...(pardon me dos, i know i totally just botched what it was you actually said, but i think i got the jest of it) So, if that's what we are, and what we have that we can't detect anywhere else, is consciousness and a habitable planet, can we really ruin it? Will whatever force it was that spawned us really let ignorant people ruin this whole damned existence for everyone? I like to think that the answer is no, however ignorant that statement may be. I know we all share similar beliefs in the pervasive force of "good" in the world, this is just a little good ol' fashioned afternoon soc. So, back to where i was about hot tub and this whole conversation. I got out of the hot tub, and walked inside to find my sister talking to her boyfriend. For those of you who don't know Katie, she is very religious...and i just realized that i had homework due in this class today...whoops...So Katie believes in God to the utmost degree, her faith impresses me but also saddens me because I feel as though there is a rift between us because of it. Sometimes it is hard to talk to people when they have such radically conflicting views. However, it was on this night that i realized that Katie and i in fact do not hold such radically conflicting views. I walked in and she and her boyfriend were pretty much having the same conversation Taka and i had just had. She simply frames her worldviews in the context of God. Now she still believes in a lot of what i consider to be pish posh (noah's arc, adam and eve, God's plan and all that jazz) but at its core, i think we believe the world to be the same place, driving to the relatively the same place. I personally think that religion will not be around in a few hundred, maybe a few hundred thousand, years. She has faith that it will be...I made that statement to one of Kerry's friends (younger sis) and she seemed pretty taken aback by it. I guess i pretty much attacked her entire belief system or something i dont know : ) So anyway, i'm not sure if there's a point to all this, but this bloog specifically states that i have permission to write anything i want so, enjoy...especially Brooks, i know how much you love long posts. love you guys
Oklahoma may allow college students to carry guns
tsk tsk tsk...will we ever learn? is there maybe a reason why we have such good memories? maybe we need good memories to learn from our mistakes...or not
3.14 and the rest
"Aliens/hoaxers also need pi"
"Pi Day is a time to honour not just a number and our fascination with it, but also the essential truth that there are some things we simply cannot know. We can only get close to knowing."--While I'm not sure how much i'll be doing to celebrate Pi Day, I can say that I enjoy the idea of people accepting "the essential truth..." Perhaps we (CERN) don't need new super accelerators? Or maybe we do, i dunno...but apparently the architects behind crop circles, whether aliens or hoaxers, need this crazy long number.
"The most recent attempt, by a Japanese computer scientist in 2002, found 1.24 trillion digits of pi."
Article may not be worth your time, I think I grabbed the stuff worth reading and threw it here...but, i might have missed something that you would like so...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
this is what london is like:
seriously. just. like. this. guy.
consider yourself traveled to "the capital"
join up... keep it up
A Global Democratic Movement Is About to Pop
" The movement has three basic roots: the environmental and social justice movements, and indigenous cultures' resistance to globalization - all of which are intertwining. It arises spontaneously from different economic sectors, cultures, regions, and cohorts, resulting in a global, classless, diverse, and embedded movement, spreading worldwide without exception. In a world grown too complex for constrictive ideologies, the very word movement may be too small, for it is the largest coming together of citizens in history."
" Inspiration is not garnered from litanies of what is flawed; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. Healing the wounds of the Earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party. It is not a liberal or conservative activity. It is a sacred act."
Consciousness-Based Education
I think I am going to transfer to this school in the fall. I am tired of this monotonous education i am getting here at CU and I need something more out of my education than just information and frustration. What do you guys think? I would love your input and thoughts, positives, negatives, etc. Thanks dudes
more from our underwater allies
what would we do without our more evolved buddies underwater? saving humans from sharks, speaking different dialects, playing, doing misty flips and NOW:
saving whales beached on the sand
'Hey, Are You Going To Burning Man?'..... How About Electric Apricot?
who's gonna catch this flick with me at the lyric cinema? it's only playing 10-13th.... so wed. @ 9 or thurs. @ 9 before jeff austin... ??
Directed by: Les Claypool
Suuuuuumary: A young graduate filmmaker from UCLA set forth to make a documentary reflecting an element of contemporary music culture that had yet to be fully examined. The notion was to capture something raw and original. He searched for something unpretentious and genuine, yearning to make a film that would stand out from other music documentaries and potentially redefine the genre. Who he found was a band called Electric Apricot; what he achieved was enlightenment. Unexpectedly in searching for enlightenment, the duality of existence was unveiled. Electric Apricot has been kicking around the peripheral of the Jam scene for several years now and is comprised of four colorful characters that take themselves far too seriously. Bellowing the anthem “Hey, Are You Going to Burning Man?” the band has recently been offered some opportunities that could potentially break them through to levels beyond their dreams, and our young filmmaker is there to document the rise. He follows them from nightclubs to the recording studio and eventually on the road to the Holy Grail of West Coast music events, a festival aptly named “Festeroo,” where the tie-dye flows and the Hula-hoops twirl.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
"No Grades, No Masters"
Should we start one of these on the frontrange?
http://www.freeskool.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school
http://www.freeskool.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school
war=dollars ~ dollars=sense .:.sketch
there are so many ways to frame the war. they all make it suck. it sucks. here is a real dollar value tribute to the dominators who will forever be pardoned.... f'em.
smile. share. love. itsgonnabeokay. create. enjoy. repeat.
smile. share. love. itsgonnabeokay. create. enjoy. repeat.
Animals as Food
The dominant global culture of eating meat ensures that farmed animals are the most exploited animals on earth. The routine brutality of farming them for food causes more individual suffering than any other human practice and abuse and cruelty are synonymous with the meat production process. Our habit of eating animals is a powerful and tangible example of how alienated we are from the way our food is produced. In 2003 the number of land-based animals killed for food worldwide was 52.7 billion and that does not include non slaughter deaths (that is death due to injury whilst there) and underreporting of figures from smaller countries. Eating animals hides behind assumptions that animals which are not human are incapable of suffering. We are somewhat hypnotised into believing things are not as bad as they really are. A slaughter house becomes a meat eating plant, dead bodies becomes meat, chickens become poultry, sheep become mutton and so on. To justify meat eating, consumers want to believe the killing process is a sanitised and humane affair. It is not possible in this day and age to take farmed animals from birth to death without inflicting suffering. If you treat slaves humanely, does this make slavery justifiable.The government is solidly behind the meat industry and puts profit before social good and the general public interest. Our south african government is more concerned with animals being dead than wheN they are alive. For farm animals life is an eternal hell.
Chickens are produced for two kinds of food: Eggs and meat. In SA they are the most consumed animals and have been for many years. In 2003 the number of chickens slaughtered was 545 million. These animals are genetically engineered to grow unnaturally fast so that they become big, meaty and breasty. This laces a huge strain on their undeveloped limbs, causing painful cripling and deformities. Their bones are unable to form properly, often do not calcify and remain soft cartilage. Now because of this their little legs bend or break under their unnatural weight and so they cannot even get to the water in their sheds. They are dying like this but antibiotics are given to them to promote growth and keep them alive long enough to make it to slaughter. To keep production costs down, the animals are given the bare minimum needed to survive. The happy farmyard scenes painted on egg boxes or in TV ads for meat and dairy products are marketing creations, the reality of modern farms is very different. Huge, dark, stinking sheds are crammed full of miserable animals, who never breathe fresh air or see natural daylight other than during transport to a market or slaughterhouse. They can hardly stretch their wings or legs and will never be able to roam freely. They often have to stand, and lie down in, their own waste. Farmed animals are treated as though they are stupid and unfeeling, but they experience pain, discomfort, fear, loneliness and frustration in exactly the same way as all animals do, including humans. Most farmed animals are slaughtered at just a few months old.
Natural life span
Age at which typically killed
Cattle
25-30 years
1-2 years
Sheep
15 years
3-10 months
Pigs
15 years
3-6 months
Chickens
10 years
6 weeks
Egg-laying hens
10 years
18 months
Turkeys
10 years
12-26 weeks
Rabbits
6-8 years
6-8 weeks• the breeding animals are kept alive longer.
Female pigs (sows) are subjected to an endless cycle of pregnancies to produce as many piglets as possible. The majority are forced to give birth and feed their young in cages known as furrowing crates, which prevent them from moving freely. After three or four weeks, the piglets are transferred to barren, concrete pens. At around six months of age, they are killed by having their throats cut. Pigs in factory farms suffer from boredom, frustration and health problems, such as lameness and viral infections. Contrary to popular belief, they like to keep themselves clean, which is impossible in the filthy conditions in which they are forced to stay.BIRDSIn the wild, chickens like to dust-bathe, turkeys fly considerable distances, and ducks spend most of their lives on water. But in poultry farms, thousands are crammed together in dark sheds, unable to express their natural instincts. The birds are fattened up so quickly that their legs may not be able to carry the weight of their own bodies. Each year, millions die from thirst and hunger because they collapse and are unable to drag themselves to the food and water units. Broiler chickens reared for meat spend the whole of their short lives crammed inside sheds. Others die from suffocation and crushing. Broiler chickens reared for meat spend the whole of their short lives crammed inside sheds. © Animals’ Agenda
COWS and THE TRUTH ABOUT MILK
Dairy cows produce milk only after giving birth. To keep up the supply, they are kept in a constant cycle of being made pregnant and then having the baby taken away so that the milk meant for their calf can be sold for human consumption. The calves are essentially a waste by-product. Separation is extremely distressing for both mother and baby. Dairy cows are so over-milked that most milk producing cows suffer painful infection of the udders, which causes traces of pus and blood to leak into the milk (a certain amount of pus per liter is allowed as infection is standard) . By five years old, they will be too worn-out to produce the quantities of milk required and are killed. The female calves are kept to replace the worn out cows and male calves are either killed or sold for ‘veal’ (calves eaten for their tender pale flesh).
Eggs and the ‘free range myth’
Egg-laying hens are a different breed from the chickens kept for meat production (known as ‘broilers’). Most eggs today come from battery farms where four or five hens are packed into tiny cages, barely bigger than a microwave oven. The EU has banned battery cages from 2012 but the containers they propose to replace them with, called ‘enriched cages’, are not much better. Some hens are kept in barns and although uncaged, the conditions are still filthy and overcrowded. Millions of ‘useless’ day-old male chicks are gassed or shredded alive because they can’t lay eggs and, being the ‘wrong’ type of chicken, won’t grow enough meat to be considered profitable.
The ‘Free-range’ myth
‘Free-range’ is a very misleading term - the animals are still usually reared in small living spaces with restricted access to the Outdoors. Organic production is more to benefit humans who do not want to consume pesticides and antibiotics. Organic and free-range animals might have a slightly better quality of life than those who are intensively reared, but they still die a bloody death at the slaughterhouse.
More, more, more!
Animals are now being genetically selected and manipulated to produce more milk, more meat and more babies.
• Battery hens lay 20 times more eggs than they would naturally
• Dairy cows produce ten times more milk than their calves would ever require. This causes painful infections of the cows’ teatsResearch is constantly carried out to increase ‘output’ - as measured by the volume of milk, the number of babies born and the speed at which they can be fattened for slaughter. This drive towards increased ‘efficiency’ is pursued regardless of the consequences for the animals’ own health or welfare.
The dominant global culture of eating meat ensures that farmed animals are the most exploited animals on earth. The routine brutality of farming them for food causes more individual suffering than any other human practice and abuse and cruelty are synonymous with the meat production process. Our habit of eating animals is a powerful and tangible example of how alienated we are from the way our food is produced. In 2003 the number of land-based animals killed for food worldwide was 52.7 billion and that does not include non slaughter deaths (that is death due to injury whilst there) and underreporting of figures from smaller countries. Eating animals hides behind assumptions that animals which are not human are incapable of suffering. We are somewhat hypnotised into believing things are not as bad as they really are. A slaughter house becomes a meat eating plant, dead bodies becomes meat, chickens become poultry, sheep become mutton and so on. To justify meat eating, consumers want to believe the killing process is a sanitised and humane affair. It is not possible in this day and age to take farmed animals from birth to death without inflicting suffering. If you treat slaves humanely, does this make slavery justifiable.The government is solidly behind the meat industry and puts profit before social good and the general public interest. Our south african government is more concerned with animals being dead than wheN they are alive. For farm animals life is an eternal hell.
Chickens are produced for two kinds of food: Eggs and meat. In SA they are the most consumed animals and have been for many years. In 2003 the number of chickens slaughtered was 545 million. These animals are genetically engineered to grow unnaturally fast so that they become big, meaty and breasty. This laces a huge strain on their undeveloped limbs, causing painful cripling and deformities. Their bones are unable to form properly, often do not calcify and remain soft cartilage. Now because of this their little legs bend or break under their unnatural weight and so they cannot even get to the water in their sheds. They are dying like this but antibiotics are given to them to promote growth and keep them alive long enough to make it to slaughter. To keep production costs down, the animals are given the bare minimum needed to survive. The happy farmyard scenes painted on egg boxes or in TV ads for meat and dairy products are marketing creations, the reality of modern farms is very different. Huge, dark, stinking sheds are crammed full of miserable animals, who never breathe fresh air or see natural daylight other than during transport to a market or slaughterhouse. They can hardly stretch their wings or legs and will never be able to roam freely. They often have to stand, and lie down in, their own waste. Farmed animals are treated as though they are stupid and unfeeling, but they experience pain, discomfort, fear, loneliness and frustration in exactly the same way as all animals do, including humans. Most farmed animals are slaughtered at just a few months old.
Natural life span
Age at which typically killed
Cattle
25-30 years
1-2 years
Sheep
15 years
3-10 months
Pigs
15 years
3-6 months
Chickens
10 years
6 weeks
Egg-laying hens
10 years
18 months
Turkeys
10 years
12-26 weeks
Rabbits
6-8 years
6-8 weeks• the breeding animals are kept alive longer.
Female pigs (sows) are subjected to an endless cycle of pregnancies to produce as many piglets as possible. The majority are forced to give birth and feed their young in cages known as furrowing crates, which prevent them from moving freely. After three or four weeks, the piglets are transferred to barren, concrete pens. At around six months of age, they are killed by having their throats cut. Pigs in factory farms suffer from boredom, frustration and health problems, such as lameness and viral infections. Contrary to popular belief, they like to keep themselves clean, which is impossible in the filthy conditions in which they are forced to stay.BIRDSIn the wild, chickens like to dust-bathe, turkeys fly considerable distances, and ducks spend most of their lives on water. But in poultry farms, thousands are crammed together in dark sheds, unable to express their natural instincts. The birds are fattened up so quickly that their legs may not be able to carry the weight of their own bodies. Each year, millions die from thirst and hunger because they collapse and are unable to drag themselves to the food and water units. Broiler chickens reared for meat spend the whole of their short lives crammed inside sheds. Others die from suffocation and crushing. Broiler chickens reared for meat spend the whole of their short lives crammed inside sheds. © Animals’ Agenda
COWS and THE TRUTH ABOUT MILK
Dairy cows produce milk only after giving birth. To keep up the supply, they are kept in a constant cycle of being made pregnant and then having the baby taken away so that the milk meant for their calf can be sold for human consumption. The calves are essentially a waste by-product. Separation is extremely distressing for both mother and baby. Dairy cows are so over-milked that most milk producing cows suffer painful infection of the udders, which causes traces of pus and blood to leak into the milk (a certain amount of pus per liter is allowed as infection is standard) . By five years old, they will be too worn-out to produce the quantities of milk required and are killed. The female calves are kept to replace the worn out cows and male calves are either killed or sold for ‘veal’ (calves eaten for their tender pale flesh).
Eggs and the ‘free range myth’
Egg-laying hens are a different breed from the chickens kept for meat production (known as ‘broilers’). Most eggs today come from battery farms where four or five hens are packed into tiny cages, barely bigger than a microwave oven. The EU has banned battery cages from 2012 but the containers they propose to replace them with, called ‘enriched cages’, are not much better. Some hens are kept in barns and although uncaged, the conditions are still filthy and overcrowded. Millions of ‘useless’ day-old male chicks are gassed or shredded alive because they can’t lay eggs and, being the ‘wrong’ type of chicken, won’t grow enough meat to be considered profitable.
The ‘Free-range’ myth
‘Free-range’ is a very misleading term - the animals are still usually reared in small living spaces with restricted access to the Outdoors. Organic production is more to benefit humans who do not want to consume pesticides and antibiotics. Organic and free-range animals might have a slightly better quality of life than those who are intensively reared, but they still die a bloody death at the slaughterhouse.
More, more, more!
Animals are now being genetically selected and manipulated to produce more milk, more meat and more babies.
• Battery hens lay 20 times more eggs than they would naturally
• Dairy cows produce ten times more milk than their calves would ever require. This causes painful infections of the cows’ teatsResearch is constantly carried out to increase ‘output’ - as measured by the volume of milk, the number of babies born and the speed at which they can be fattened for slaughter. This drive towards increased ‘efficiency’ is pursued regardless of the consequences for the animals’ own health or welfare.
Saw this on The Colbert Report
So I was watching the Colbert Report the other night and Steven Colbert started talking about this guy who had a genius idea for a website. I thought it was hilarious. Apparently ladies can go to this site, sign up for an account, and raise money from random men to get an enhancement surgery. I guess guys can sign up and chat with the ladies and decide how much they want to contribute. What do you guys think?
Monday, March 10, 2008
Make your dreams Reality
It's not pretty, but it is a wiki, which means anybody can edit it. It also has a Phun Forum where you can discuss all things Phun. If you want to share videos of Phun, please join the Phun YouTube-group http://www.youtube.com/group/phun. Read more here. download it HERE
HOLLYWOOOOOOOD!
Found this on good 'ol PT....this show rages faces like its going out of style worse than parachute pants. Hope you folks enjoy.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/h7rq7j
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Food Fight
History of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.
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