Pink On Brown

Marketing Magician and Author Ben Mack Speaks at Esozone

2008-11-21T10:15:40Z

Marketing magician Ben Mack recently gave a speech titled How to Produce an Elephant at fringe-science/occult event Esozone in Portland, OR. Ben Mack is the author of the conciousness thriller Poker Without Cards. He also offers the book for free under a CC-license with the title I Am The Virus.

His speech was on marketing, memetics, and magic. MMM! Watch closely…he will kill a woman who is Twittering during the event and make an elephant appear in the tiny room.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7369348888455862694

Thanks for recording and posting the footage, Maybe Meme | Ben Mack Black Magic

Cannabis Could Prevent Memory Loss and Alzheimer’s

2008-11-21T03:33:48Z

More news on the medical cannabis front: recent studies have shown cannabis to prevent Alzheimer’s and prevent improve memory retention in small doses.

When given a compound similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, rat brains displayed reduced levels of inflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug also stimulated the production of proteins associated with memory formation and brain cell growth.
…
Marchalant and fellow OSU psychologist Gary Wenk previously showed that marijuana can improve memory formation in rats. The latest research, presented at this week’s Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, provides a detailed look at THC’s effect on the brain.

via Technoccult | Wired story | The Daily Mail

And the Sign shall be a Mark shall be a Word shall be a Whisper

2008-11-17T23:16:22Z

This story telling me is foReign,
hidden on the stones of our fur-fathers cast to tell our fortune -
only to have the shattered words thrown back

Exploratory emotions push through my skin, root hairs digging deep into the yet-to-be-known with the nourishment being probability of success.

Plant your seeds, log^men,
plan your seeds

agapE, the devourer moves upwards - a twirling star particles surrounding flays maw from spirit and i am weightless
bliss

gravity well performing ultimate justice as this form rotates around its new-found binary forming the system
10
0
0
0

ethereal vapors pulling all to oNe and a tumultuous joy embraces
This wind I ride upon…it has a secret name that was whispered in my years ago, so softly the clay godsesses spoke this talisMan’s true sign to me
the æons have taken more than our perception, but also This Name That Shall Not Be Spoken

the naming has begun again
only this star’s path shall mark the sign

and a sign will be wonder

forever is an illusion

Your new Chief of Staff

2008-11-12T05:01:56Z

Meet Rahm Israel Emanuel, he’s been selected as Obama’s White House Chief of Staff. Let’s learn about our new best friend and how he’s gonna get the change-ball rolling in this country!

(all info garbled from wikipedia)

The son of an ex-zionist militant pediatrician and a civil-rights activist rock and roll club owner, who was himself a volunteer civilian in 1991 for the Israel Defense Forces. He worked for the Clinton administration and even helped orchestrate the Israeli-Palestinian signing of the Oslo Accords. He’s pretty liberal about healthcare and being pro-choice, but supports the war in Iraq, often stating that Bush didn’t articulate the attacks well.

What’s more is he and his father are both supporters of AIPAC (America Israeli Public Affairs Committee) - an American organization that funds pro-Israel lobbying in Congress and the House of Representatives. Political leaders that have spoken at AIPAC conferences include George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. AIPAC may also have been involved in an espionage case where policy director Steven Rossen and senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman have been found to be disclosing classified information to Israeli leaders provided by Air Force Reserves Colonel Laurence Anthony Franklin.

Also I thought it was an interesting bit that Rahm himself inspired the character of Josh Lyman on the tv show The West Wing. Josh plays the Deputy White House Chief of Staff, the assistant to the Chief of Staff. His character is described as a “witty, somewhat cocky, boyishly charming know-it-all.” Kind of interesting that he’s actually going to be the Chief of Staff.

He co-wrote the book “The Plan: Big Ideas for America” which sounds like a grrrreat read. The book says “… it offers an innovative agenda for America – with ideas that address the nation’s most pressing challenges by doing more for Americans and asking Americans to do more for their country in return”. Reviews are pretty mixed, but it’s about 50/50 that the book is either “a laundry list…of pragmatic initiatives that just may make America a greater place” or “better titled as Moving Towards Socialism: America’s turn to try the worst social/economic system ever devised”. The book speaks of “mandatory youth service” for youth age 18-25 to help communities.

mmm paczki!

Your vote counts fnord

2008-11-04T22:57:01Z

Finally, the parade of tiny flags, lawn signs and bumper stickers reaches its last stop today. Happy citizens march to the polls in a ritual performed religiously every four years. We all pull out our ID cards, sign our sheets, and go make communion with our federal government. This is the piece we get to have, the notion that no matter what atrocious acts our leaders try to pull, we get the final say when we cast our votes. We can make change. On no other day in this four-year span will we have this much power.

In a country where it costs a person between $50 and $100 million to campaign for president, where many of its past presidents (and 5 of the departing president’s cabinet members) being from the same “[not so]secret society“, absolutely and abhorrently fallible voting systems (although apparently “fair” voting is mathematically impossible), and where a man completely stole the election in 2004, I wonder why more people don’t feel the way I do. Even if there were magical, ballot-wielding faeries that made sure to deliver every single vote to the American government, even if they were all counted, it still wouldn’t matter. Not for the presidential vote anyway.

But there’s nothing to fear, “change” will come about, and though it will be slow, us Americans can have faith that one day soon, we can be comfortable again. Our wondrous electoral college will pick the right leader for us based on the data we provide them. We’ll have the freedom to feel safe again. At least for a little bit.

So after all this thought on voting (I’ve been feeling guilty about my laziness in not sending my ballot) I’ve decided to do something just as powerful. Today I’m going to send out my vote by wishing on my television.

Dear America, please pick John McCain for our next president, for his presidency would reign in the chaos this world needs to ignite real change. Hail Eris!

PDX filmerista: Heather Hawkins

2008-11-04T22:57:03Z

One of our fellow Florida runaways, Heather Hawkins, is an amateur filmmaker and graduate from FSU film school who has some awesome videos. One of her documentaries is up on youtube (the shortened version), and I recommend checking it out. Bingo exposes some of the dark underbelly of Florida’s Bingo hall circuit. Hilarious! Shocking! Distinctly Floridian!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aje8RvBWvu0

Check out Heather @vimeo, or The Woods Family Collective @youtube.

Patriotic Omniphage (Part: The First)

2008-10-31T00:47:26Z

The final day to vote for the next leader of the US is right around the corner, and the outcome doesn’t seem to be positive either way. In a country that values small-business and diversity (lol) - we sure seem to love a 2-party system. But, from the mouths of the candidates themselves, whoever comes out as alpha-dog in this election won’t be that much different than the others. And the global meltdown and spiral downwards will continue.

The masses responsible for the votes will continue to stumble about their daily live, oblivious to the underlying stagnation and decay of an unhealthy society. It is a part of their culture and part of their psyche. Our lives have become as the zombie; a near-infinite consumption of goods and services, blind to the destruction and scarcity that results. We’ve even crossed the ‘quarantine’ border and have consumed the lives and resources of entire civilizations.

How are we to act in a world where to media bombards us constantly with the images of our own destruction, flashing across our magic lanterns? The decay and rot we have inflicted on the world constantly surrounding us; glamorized on the screen and in print. Our subconscious minds absorb these horrors and turn back to the here and now - the protective bubbles we have made. But the knowledge is still there…the root of most of our anxieties and discomfort, our general unhappiness.

io9 recently made a chart comparing war and social upheaval with the proliferation of zombie films.The result is intriguing.

We did a study (with related analytical chart!) of how many zombie movies got released every year since 1910, created a line graph of them, and correlated spikes in zombie movie production with social unrest. It was actually quite eerie, because wars and social upheavals always seem to be followed by a giant leap in numbers of zombie movies in theaters. Coincidence?

The only way to be safe, as any weathered zombie warrior will know, is to remove the head of the zombie. We have to excise the tumor that is the mindset that we have been imprinted with. There is a current revival in the concept of survivalism and self-sustainability. We must change our brains rather than eating them.

Mmmm…brains.

“Zombie cell” image originally from wvs on flickr; Inspiration from Rigorous Intuition’s America Ate My Brain - Part 1 | Part 2

Definition of the Heart

2008-10-30T23:24:44Z

Is it not the fact that there is in the body a clot of blood which, if it
is in good condition, the whole body is, too; and if it is in rotten
condition, so too is the whole body? Is not this the heart?
-Sutra of Hui Neng

Let’s Play “Wallstreet Bailout”

2008-09-26T01:53:31Z

This is the best solution to the entire Wallstreet Bailout that I’ve heard so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds

Thank you Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Don’t Talk To the Police

2008-09-04T09:05:38Z

With the recent outbreak of police violence towards protesters at the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, I’ve had a hard time deciding what I wanted to say about the whole series of events. I mean - people knew that this was coming. The conventions are not a place for the public to voice their opinions. It is a place for the policy-makers to tell us what our opinions really are.

With the horrendous treatment of Amy Goodman and her crew of Democracy Now, the police are only shooting themselves in the collective boot. With preemptive raid and detaining of political groups before and during the RNC was astounding. The police led sieges and raids on the houses and meeting places of political groups and bloggers in the area, arresting people on charges of “conspiracy to riot”. Yes - people were arrested on the charge of “planning to be in a place during a protest that may or may not turn into a riot”. Justice, indeed.

What is important to note is that many news sources are claiming that this violence has only been directed towards a group of anarchists referred to as a Black Bloc collective. While the videos taped by numerous sources at the conventions tell a completely different story.

Professor James Duane of Regent Law School produced a lecture entitled “Don’t Talk to the Police” which I found insightful and helpful. Perhaps would-be-protesters and political activists should pay attention to what James Duane has to say:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865

While during the time span of the protests in the US, a Spanish doctor in Madrid has discovered that young men are dying for unknown reasons while in police custody. The doctors are claiming that this is a new symptom “similar to one that kills some wild animals when they are captured”. Apparently, the extreme levels of stress experienced by people undergoing police treatment during detention are enough to trigger the body to shut down.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the way that the police force in this country are starting to view its citizens - as cattle; meant to be herded around and owned. Just take for instance “The Peacemaker” (shown below), purchased by Richland County, South Carolina sheriff Leon Lott.

The armored personel carrier pictured was purchased for use by their local police force. He “insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it’s generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will ’save lives.’”

My favorite comment on that article is this:

Oh, and aiming it? You generally can’t sight down the weapon from a turret, so the SOP in country is to estimate, then walk it in. I’m thrilled to see American law enforcement presumably expect to rely on the same methods. And the bullets go through cars, by the way.

One of the units in my battalion thought they were getting suicide bombed by a bus. A gunner opened fire with a .50 cal, firing three rounds. Two people on the bus died, and six were wounded.

So, perfectly reasonable for a law enforcement weapon. Perfectly reasonable.

Good lord.

So, here are a few videos displaying the awesome job the police are doing to protect the cities of the protests from…uh…its own citizens?
Here are the police treating press members with respect and grace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jreRSEQ_yg

And here are the police informing a group of peaceful protesters what their right to peaceful protest is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po3MQmOVrZc

And here is an overview of the solidarity the police and protesters showed to each other while trying to keep things peaceful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb84xVMbfqA

We can only be so proud.