Also check out more here.
1 day ago
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Mexico legalizes drug possession
Mexico decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, and heroine today. Despite being straightedge, I think this is great. I'm interested to see how it works out for Mexico.
Check out the article about it here.
Check out the article about it here.
Its Been A While
It has been quite a while since my last post. The summer was super busy, but I'm back!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory
Read the article here.
If you are too lazy to read the whole thing, here are a few interesting quotes and my thoughts on them:
"Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain. Could make you forget a chronic fear, a traumatic loss, even a bad habit.
Researchers in Brooklyn have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory, like emotional associations, spatial knowledge or motor skills."
"Millions of people might be tempted to erase a severely painful memory, for instance — but what if, in the process, they lost other, personally important memories that were somehow related? Would a treatment that “cleared” the learned habits of addiction only tempt people to experiment more widely?
And perhaps even more important, when scientists find a drug to strengthen memory, will everyone feel compelled to use it?"
"'This possibility of memory editing has enormous possibilities and raises huge ethical issues,' said Dr. Steven E. Hyman, a neurobiologist at Harvard."
"Ethical issues"....understatement! Can you say mind control?! Or the possibility of erasing the wrong memories? Or how about being able to erase certain aspects of one's personality?? That could create the desire for everyone to be a "perfect human." Skynet, here we come!
If you are too lazy to read the whole thing, here are a few interesting quotes and my thoughts on them:
"Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain. Could make you forget a chronic fear, a traumatic loss, even a bad habit.
Researchers in Brooklyn have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory, like emotional associations, spatial knowledge or motor skills."
"Millions of people might be tempted to erase a severely painful memory, for instance — but what if, in the process, they lost other, personally important memories that were somehow related? Would a treatment that “cleared” the learned habits of addiction only tempt people to experiment more widely?
And perhaps even more important, when scientists find a drug to strengthen memory, will everyone feel compelled to use it?"
"'This possibility of memory editing has enormous possibilities and raises huge ethical issues,' said Dr. Steven E. Hyman, a neurobiologist at Harvard."
"Ethical issues"....understatement! Can you say mind control?! Or the possibility of erasing the wrong memories? Or how about being able to erase certain aspects of one's personality?? That could create the desire for everyone to be a "perfect human." Skynet, here we come!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Out of Step
So instead of getting drunk on my 21st birthday...I got this:
cell phone picture about 2 hours after it was finished.
cell phone picture about 2 hours after it was finished.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Amongst White Clouds
I just posted this on the Emergent Dharma blog but I figured I might as well post it here too.
Check out this documentary on Zen monks that are hermits up in secluded Chinese mountains. Its pretty interesting!
Check out this documentary on Zen monks that are hermits up in secluded Chinese mountains. Its pretty interesting!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Fall of Efrafa
If you haven't heard this band, do yourself a favor and check them out now!
You can listen to a few of their songs for free on the website. I saw them last night in Richmond and was absolutely blown away. They are from the UK but are on a US tour right now, if you have the chance to see them then don't pass it up!
Monday, March 30, 2009
I Want To Live!
Lately I've been feeling trapped by my obligations and responsibilities. I feel like I'm somehow missing out on life. I'm sure everyone feels this way at some point in their lives, which is pretty sad if you stop and think about it.
We are "progressing" as a species by creating technology that supposed to make our lives easier, but is disconnecting us from each other. I sit at my computer on the internet and feel connected to the entire world...any information is at my fingertips. But at the same time I sit here alone and every minute that I'm here I could be somewhere else actually "doing" something.
Anyways, I want to experience life! I want to paint something unique, write songs that everyone sings along to, and travel the world. I want to meditate every day. I want to read every book on every rooftop in every city. I want to experience new things with old friends. I want to sit on the highest mountain and watch the most beautiful sunset. I want to learn every language. I want to completely live my ideals. I want to stop reading about everyone else's adventures and start having everyone read about mine.
"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."
There are two things that scare me about this: 1. that I will never actually experience everything that I want to and 2. that even if I do, it will never live up to the image that I have created in my mind.
Every single moment is real, and is what it is supposed to be. I guess I need to be more mindful of what my life actually consists of instead of always wishing that I was doing something else.
We are "progressing" as a species by creating technology that supposed to make our lives easier, but is disconnecting us from each other. I sit at my computer on the internet and feel connected to the entire world...any information is at my fingertips. But at the same time I sit here alone and every minute that I'm here I could be somewhere else actually "doing" something.
Anyways, I want to experience life! I want to paint something unique, write songs that everyone sings along to, and travel the world. I want to meditate every day. I want to read every book on every rooftop in every city. I want to experience new things with old friends. I want to sit on the highest mountain and watch the most beautiful sunset. I want to learn every language. I want to completely live my ideals. I want to stop reading about everyone else's adventures and start having everyone read about mine.
"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."
There are two things that scare me about this: 1. that I will never actually experience everything that I want to and 2. that even if I do, it will never live up to the image that I have created in my mind.
Every single moment is real, and is what it is supposed to be. I guess I need to be more mindful of what my life actually consists of instead of always wishing that I was doing something else.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Converge - Video teaser for new album
To my knowledge, there has been no release date announced. If the rest of the album is anything like the teaser, then I am pumped!
Blogspot wont let me embed the video, but you can see it here.
Blogspot wont let me embed the video, but you can see it here.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
New Layout
I changed the layout because that old one was starting to get played out.
Let me know if you hate it.
Also, I added tags on the right side there, beneath blogs that I'm following. There are so many of them, I just ordered them in descending order starting with the most used labels. This allows you to click the labels and see a list of blogs that I have tagged with that same label. I don't know if anyone will actually use them, but its cool for me to keep my stuff organized and to see what topics I talk about the most.
Let me know if you hate it.
Also, I added tags on the right side there, beneath blogs that I'm following. There are so many of them, I just ordered them in descending order starting with the most used labels. This allows you to click the labels and see a list of blogs that I have tagged with that same label. I don't know if anyone will actually use them, but its cool for me to keep my stuff organized and to see what topics I talk about the most.
Emergent Dharma: Young Buddhist Blog
I am now a contributor to the Emergent Dharma: Young Buddhist Blog. You can check for updates on the right, under "my blog list". Feel free to follow that one as well as this one.
I have only made an introductory post on there, however I will be posting as regularly as I can. There are about 10 other contributors to Emergent Dharma. Check it out!
Don't worry, I won't neglect this one.
I have only made an introductory post on there, however I will be posting as regularly as I can. There are about 10 other contributors to Emergent Dharma. Check it out!
Don't worry, I won't neglect this one.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
KnowMore.org Firefox Extension
If you have not heard of www.knowmore.org then you need to check it out. It is a website that profiles hundreds of corporations and rates them on a variety of issues including workers rights, environmental practices, ethical business practices, political power, etc.
If you use Mozilla Firefox, then definitely install the KnowMore add-on. For more info about the add-on, go here.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
2008
A good year. I made some new close friends, lost a few, got a new member of the family (Monty, my dog!), finished my first year of college and started my second, switched majors (a few times), got a job and lost a job, went to a bunch of good shows all over, backpacked Costa Rica, planned and re-planned my future, smashed my finger, lost a lot of money, discovered lots of new music, am still straight edge, and am still in love with my awesome girlfriend!
Resolutions: meditate and continue to work on my temper.
Resolutions: meditate and continue to work on my temper.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the IMF
taken from http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/TopTenIMF.html
What is the IMF?
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created in 1944 at a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and are now based in Washington, DC. The IMF was originally designed to promote international economic cooperation and provide its member countries with short term loans so they could trade with other countries (achieve balance of payments). Since the debt crisis of the 1980's, the IMF has assumed the role of bailing out countries during financial crises (caused in large part by currency speculation in the global casino economy) with emergency loan packages tied to certain conditions, often referred to as structural adjustment policies (SAPs). The IMF now acts like a global loan shark, exerting enormous leverage over the economies of more than 60 countries. These countries have to follow the IMF's policies to get loans, international assistance, and even debt relief. Thus, the IMF decides how much debtor countries can spend on education, health care, and environmental protection. The IMF is one of the most powerful institutions on Earth -- yet few know how it works.
1.
The IMF has created an immoral system of modern day colonialism that SAPs the poor
The IMF -- along with the WTO and the World Bank -- has put the global economy on a path of greater inequality and environmental destruction. The IMF's and World Bank's structural adjustment policies (SAPs) ensure debt repayment by requiring countries to cut spending on education and health; eliminate basic food and transportation subsidies; devalue national currencies to make exports cheaper; privatize national assets; and freeze wages. Such belt-tightening measures increase poverty, reduce countries' ability to develop strong domestic economies and allow multinational corporations to exploit workers and the environment A recent IMF loan package for Argentina, for example, is tied to cuts in doctors' and teachers' salaries and decreases in social security payments.. The IMF has made elites from the Global South more accountable to First World elites than their own people, thus undermining the democratic process.
2.
The IMF serves wealthy countries and Wall Street
Unlike a democratic system in which each member country would have an equal vote, rich countries dominate decision-making in the IMF because voting power is determined by the amount of money that each country pays into the IMF's quota system. It's a system of one dollar, one vote. The U.S. is the largest shareholder with a quota of 18 percent. Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, and the US combined control about 38 percent. The disproportionate amount of power held by wealthy countries means that the interests of bankers, investors and corporations from industrialized countries are put above the needs of the world's poor majority.
3.
The IMF is imposing a fundamentally flawed development model
Unlike the path historically followed by the industrialized countries, the IMF forces countries from the Global South to prioritize export production over the development of diversified domestic economies. Nearly 80 percent of all malnourished children in the developing world live in countries where farmers have been forced to shift from food production for local consumption to the production of export crops destined for wealthy countries. The IMF also requires countries to eliminate assistance to domestic industries while providing benefits for multinational corporations -- such as forcibly lowering labor costs. Small businesses and farmers can't compete. Sweatshop workers in free trade zones set up by the IMF and World Bank earn starvation wages, live in deplorable conditions, and are unable to provide for their families. The cycle of poverty is perpetuated, not eliminated, as governments' debt to the IMF grows.
4.
The IMF is a secretive institution with no accountability
The IMF is funded with taxpayer money, yet it operates behind a veil of secrecy. Members of affected communities do not participate in designing loan packages. The IMF works with a select group of central bankers and finance ministers to make polices without input from other government agencies such as health, education and environment departments. The institution has resisted calls for public scrutiny and independent evaluation.
5.
IMF policies promote corporate welfare
To increase exports, countries are encouraged to give tax breaks and subsidies to export industries. Public assets such as forestland and government utilities (phone, water and electricity companies) are sold off to foreign investors at rock bottom prices. In Guyana, an Asian owned timber company called Barama received a logging concession that was 1.5 times the total amount of land all the indigenous communities were granted. Barama also received a five-year tax holiday. The IMF forced Haiti to open its market to imported, highly subsidized US rice at the same time it prohibited Haiti from subsidizing its own farmers. A US corporation called Early Rice now sells nearly 50 percent of the rice consumed in Haiti.
6.
The IMF hurts workers
The IMF and World Bank frequently advise countries to attract foreign investors by weakening their labor laws -- eliminating collective bargaining laws and suppressing wages, for example. The IMF's mantra of "labor flexibility" permits corporations to fire at whim and move where wages are cheapest. According to the 1995 UN Trade and Development Report, employers are using this extra "flexibility" in labor laws to shed workers rather than create jobs. In Haiti, the government was told to eliminate a statute in their labor code that mandated increases in the minimum wage when inflation exceeded 10 percent. By the end of 1997, Haiti's minimum wage was only $2.40 a day. Workers in the U.S. are also hurt by IMF policies because they have to compete with cheap, exploited labor. The IMF's mismanagement of the Asian financial crisis plunged South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries into deep depression that created 200 million "newly poor." The IMF advised countries to "export their way out of the crisis." Consequently, more than US 12,000 steelworkers were laid off when Asian steel was dumped in the US.
7.
The IMF's policies hurt women the most
SAPs make it much more difficult for women to meet their families' basic needs. When education costs rise due to IMF-imposed fees for the use of public services (so-called "user fees") girls are the first to be withdrawn from schools. User fees at public clinics and hospitals make healthcare unaffordable to those who need it most. The shift to export agriculture also makes it harder for women to feed their families. Women have become more exploited as government workplace regulations are rolled back and sweatshops abuses increase.
8.
IMF Policies hurt the environment
IMF loans and bailout packages are paving the way for natural resource exploitation on a staggering scale. The IMF does not consider the environmental impacts of lending policies, and environmental ministries and groups are not included in policy making. The focus on export growth to earn hard currency to pay back loans has led to an unsustainable liquidation of natural resources. For example, the Ivory Coast's increased reliance on cocoa exports has led to a loss of two-thirds of the country's forests.
9.
The IMF bails out rich bankers, creating a moral hazard and greater instability in the global economy
The IMF routinely pushes countries to deregulate financial systems. The removal of regulations that might limit speculation has greatly increased capital investment in developing country financial markets. More than $1.5 trillion crosses borders every day. Most of this capital is invested short-term, putting countries at the whim of financial speculators. The Mexican 1995 peso crisis was partly a result of these IMF policies. When the bubble popped, the IMF and US government stepped in to prop up interest and exchange rates, using taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street bankers. Such bailouts encourage investors to continue making risky, speculative bets, thereby increasing the instability of national economies. During the bailout of Asian countries, the IMF required governments to assume the bad debts of private banks, thus making the public pay the costs and draining yet more resources away from social programs.
10.
IMF bailouts deepen, rather then solve, economic crisis
During financial crises -- such as with Mexico in 1995 and South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Russia in 1997 -- the IMF stepped in as the lender of last resort. Yet the IMF bailouts in the Asian financial crisis did not stop the financial panic -- rather, the crisis deepened and spread to more countries. The policies imposed as conditions of these loans were bad medicine, causing layoffs in the short run and undermining development in the long run. In South Korea, the IMF sparked a recession by raising interest rates, which led to more bankruptcies and unemployment. Under the IMF imposed economic reforms after the peso bailout in 1995, the number of Mexicans living in extreme poverty increased more than 50 percent and the national average minimum wage fell 20 percent.
What is the IMF?
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created in 1944 at a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and are now based in Washington, DC. The IMF was originally designed to promote international economic cooperation and provide its member countries with short term loans so they could trade with other countries (achieve balance of payments). Since the debt crisis of the 1980's, the IMF has assumed the role of bailing out countries during financial crises (caused in large part by currency speculation in the global casino economy) with emergency loan packages tied to certain conditions, often referred to as structural adjustment policies (SAPs). The IMF now acts like a global loan shark, exerting enormous leverage over the economies of more than 60 countries. These countries have to follow the IMF's policies to get loans, international assistance, and even debt relief. Thus, the IMF decides how much debtor countries can spend on education, health care, and environmental protection. The IMF is one of the most powerful institutions on Earth -- yet few know how it works.
1.
The IMF has created an immoral system of modern day colonialism that SAPs the poor
The IMF -- along with the WTO and the World Bank -- has put the global economy on a path of greater inequality and environmental destruction. The IMF's and World Bank's structural adjustment policies (SAPs) ensure debt repayment by requiring countries to cut spending on education and health; eliminate basic food and transportation subsidies; devalue national currencies to make exports cheaper; privatize national assets; and freeze wages. Such belt-tightening measures increase poverty, reduce countries' ability to develop strong domestic economies and allow multinational corporations to exploit workers and the environment A recent IMF loan package for Argentina, for example, is tied to cuts in doctors' and teachers' salaries and decreases in social security payments.. The IMF has made elites from the Global South more accountable to First World elites than their own people, thus undermining the democratic process.
2.
The IMF serves wealthy countries and Wall Street
Unlike a democratic system in which each member country would have an equal vote, rich countries dominate decision-making in the IMF because voting power is determined by the amount of money that each country pays into the IMF's quota system. It's a system of one dollar, one vote. The U.S. is the largest shareholder with a quota of 18 percent. Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, and the US combined control about 38 percent. The disproportionate amount of power held by wealthy countries means that the interests of bankers, investors and corporations from industrialized countries are put above the needs of the world's poor majority.
3.
The IMF is imposing a fundamentally flawed development model
Unlike the path historically followed by the industrialized countries, the IMF forces countries from the Global South to prioritize export production over the development of diversified domestic economies. Nearly 80 percent of all malnourished children in the developing world live in countries where farmers have been forced to shift from food production for local consumption to the production of export crops destined for wealthy countries. The IMF also requires countries to eliminate assistance to domestic industries while providing benefits for multinational corporations -- such as forcibly lowering labor costs. Small businesses and farmers can't compete. Sweatshop workers in free trade zones set up by the IMF and World Bank earn starvation wages, live in deplorable conditions, and are unable to provide for their families. The cycle of poverty is perpetuated, not eliminated, as governments' debt to the IMF grows.
4.
The IMF is a secretive institution with no accountability
The IMF is funded with taxpayer money, yet it operates behind a veil of secrecy. Members of affected communities do not participate in designing loan packages. The IMF works with a select group of central bankers and finance ministers to make polices without input from other government agencies such as health, education and environment departments. The institution has resisted calls for public scrutiny and independent evaluation.
5.
IMF policies promote corporate welfare
To increase exports, countries are encouraged to give tax breaks and subsidies to export industries. Public assets such as forestland and government utilities (phone, water and electricity companies) are sold off to foreign investors at rock bottom prices. In Guyana, an Asian owned timber company called Barama received a logging concession that was 1.5 times the total amount of land all the indigenous communities were granted. Barama also received a five-year tax holiday. The IMF forced Haiti to open its market to imported, highly subsidized US rice at the same time it prohibited Haiti from subsidizing its own farmers. A US corporation called Early Rice now sells nearly 50 percent of the rice consumed in Haiti.
6.
The IMF hurts workers
The IMF and World Bank frequently advise countries to attract foreign investors by weakening their labor laws -- eliminating collective bargaining laws and suppressing wages, for example. The IMF's mantra of "labor flexibility" permits corporations to fire at whim and move where wages are cheapest. According to the 1995 UN Trade and Development Report, employers are using this extra "flexibility" in labor laws to shed workers rather than create jobs. In Haiti, the government was told to eliminate a statute in their labor code that mandated increases in the minimum wage when inflation exceeded 10 percent. By the end of 1997, Haiti's minimum wage was only $2.40 a day. Workers in the U.S. are also hurt by IMF policies because they have to compete with cheap, exploited labor. The IMF's mismanagement of the Asian financial crisis plunged South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries into deep depression that created 200 million "newly poor." The IMF advised countries to "export their way out of the crisis." Consequently, more than US 12,000 steelworkers were laid off when Asian steel was dumped in the US.
7.
The IMF's policies hurt women the most
SAPs make it much more difficult for women to meet their families' basic needs. When education costs rise due to IMF-imposed fees for the use of public services (so-called "user fees") girls are the first to be withdrawn from schools. User fees at public clinics and hospitals make healthcare unaffordable to those who need it most. The shift to export agriculture also makes it harder for women to feed their families. Women have become more exploited as government workplace regulations are rolled back and sweatshops abuses increase.
8.
IMF Policies hurt the environment
IMF loans and bailout packages are paving the way for natural resource exploitation on a staggering scale. The IMF does not consider the environmental impacts of lending policies, and environmental ministries and groups are not included in policy making. The focus on export growth to earn hard currency to pay back loans has led to an unsustainable liquidation of natural resources. For example, the Ivory Coast's increased reliance on cocoa exports has led to a loss of two-thirds of the country's forests.
9.
The IMF bails out rich bankers, creating a moral hazard and greater instability in the global economy
The IMF routinely pushes countries to deregulate financial systems. The removal of regulations that might limit speculation has greatly increased capital investment in developing country financial markets. More than $1.5 trillion crosses borders every day. Most of this capital is invested short-term, putting countries at the whim of financial speculators. The Mexican 1995 peso crisis was partly a result of these IMF policies. When the bubble popped, the IMF and US government stepped in to prop up interest and exchange rates, using taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street bankers. Such bailouts encourage investors to continue making risky, speculative bets, thereby increasing the instability of national economies. During the bailout of Asian countries, the IMF required governments to assume the bad debts of private banks, thus making the public pay the costs and draining yet more resources away from social programs.
10.
IMF bailouts deepen, rather then solve, economic crisis
During financial crises -- such as with Mexico in 1995 and South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Russia in 1997 -- the IMF stepped in as the lender of last resort. Yet the IMF bailouts in the Asian financial crisis did not stop the financial panic -- rather, the crisis deepened and spread to more countries. The policies imposed as conditions of these loans were bad medicine, causing layoffs in the short run and undermining development in the long run. In South Korea, the IMF sparked a recession by raising interest rates, which led to more bankruptcies and unemployment. Under the IMF imposed economic reforms after the peso bailout in 1995, the number of Mexicans living in extreme poverty increased more than 50 percent and the national average minimum wage fell 20 percent.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
RIP Dominic Mallory
RIP Dominic Mallory singer of MA hardcore band Last Lights. Check out his other project here.
Awesome band, awesome front man and musician, and from what I hear (although I have not personally met him), an all around awesome guy.
Check out an article about it here.
RIP dude
Awesome band, awesome front man and musician, and from what I hear (although I have not personally met him), an all around awesome guy.
Check out an article about it here.
RIP dude
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Life and Debt
http://www.lifeanddebt.org/
Seriously, check out this amazing documentary about the ills of free trade, international lending, and what is essentially economic slavery that is going on all around the world right now. This documentary focuses on Jamaica.
Trailer:
And here is a pretty good article in the New York Times about the documentary.
Seriously, check out this amazing documentary about the ills of free trade, international lending, and what is essentially economic slavery that is going on all around the world right now. This documentary focuses on Jamaica.
Trailer:
And here is a pretty good article in the New York Times about the documentary.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Bridge
A controversial, depressing documentary about people that commit suicide by jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge. It definitely raises the obvious questions about suicide and mental health, but I think it also raises ethical questions about these filmmakers. One could argue that this documentary is exploitative of these peoples' problems and despair, or that it just simply documents what was happening. Either way, its interesting yet depressing.
I can't seem to embed this video, but the link to watch the entire thing is here. It is about an hour and a half long.
For those of you that don't want to sit through it but are still interested, here is a two and half minute trailer on youtube. Youtube wont let me embed the trailer either, so you will just have to watch it there.
I can't seem to embed this video, but the link to watch the entire thing is here. It is about an hour and a half long.
For those of you that don't want to sit through it but are still interested, here is a two and half minute trailer on youtube. Youtube wont let me embed the trailer either, so you will just have to watch it there.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Trash Talk, Bracewar, Alpha & Omega, Torch Runner
(click flyer for a larger view that isn't cut off)
Everyone in NC come out to this on wednesday! There will be stagedives and halloween costumes.
Guys and Dolls
A pretty creepy documentary about guys that have life-like dolls as life partners.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3710987618964917848
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3710987618964917848
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tragic Comedy of the Drug War
Here is the first segment of 12 about the War On Drugs. Here are the links to the other segments:
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMY_8OPDtH4
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwL0H9WRMLY
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzH7lXa33qA
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HaCacMLK1Y
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUoJWGi5Oyw
Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S7exoMjnC4
Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsIhex0D6uY
Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNY5r2i3VdE
Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrP2ZExDQU0
Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv3SUPmpEj4
Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brT4iLjGMPU
Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh9miu_RoPE
Keep in mind that I'm straight edge, which means that I don't drink, smoke, or do any illegal drugs. I'm all for decriminalization and regulation, and I think these videos make a lot of good points. If someone wants to drink, smoke, or do drugs, then that is their own business. If they choose to get in a car while intoxicated on anything, that is an entirely different story.
However I am more interested in the parts about the CIA's involvement in importing cocaine to the US to use the profit for the Contra War in Nicaragua. I think all the information about prisons is also very interesting, as is the info about pharmaceutical companies.
One part I thought was somewhat lame is near the end when they start talking about hallucinative drugs and how they help people "think out of the box." This is somewhat of a bullshit excuse because I am perfectly capable of thinking out of the box and I never have tried any hallucinative drugs.
Anyways...watch the videos and decide for yourself what you think about it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Zeitgeist 2: Addendum
Second installment of the Zeitgeist. It definitely has some interesting and thought provoking ideas. Even if you completely disagree with it, it is worth watching. Check it out here.
That page has links to both Zeitgeist 1 and 2.
That page has links to both Zeitgeist 1 and 2.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
North Carolina in Upcoming Election
Apparently NC is a HUGE deciding factor in the election coming up. Check out this awesome election calculator
You can see how the election would play out if a certain candidate wins any given state. Check it out and mess around with it. If you live in NC, make sure you VOTE.
You can see how the election would play out if a certain candidate wins any given state. Check it out and mess around with it. If you live in NC, make sure you VOTE.
Friday, August 29, 2008
North Carolina Hardcore
If you live in the southeast and like hardcore/punk, check out this new message board I just started.
http://nchc.proboards57.com/index.cgi
shows, venues, bands, carpools, community, and other cool stuff.
http://nchc.proboards57.com/index.cgi
shows, venues, bands, carpools, community, and other cool stuff.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
La Jetee
Check out this old short film. I think it raises a lot of interesting questions about government, authority, and the nature of reality. Plus the way it is put together is interesting. I believe the movie 12 Monkeys was somewhat based off this.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Autism a Fraud?
Check out this link to a CNN video of a man calling autism a fraud. He says some of the most ridiculously ignorant things I have ever heard.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Nelson Mandela is Not a Terrorist
The U.S. finally dropped Nelson Mandela from a terrorist watch list. Check out the article here
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I Read The News Today
(Click on the picture to see a bigger version)
This was CNN.com news front page this morning. The combination of headlines just struck me as sad and ironic. China and Myanmar are in the wake of massive natural disasters and tragedies in which hundreds of thousands of people are dead or suffering. Meanwhile, George W. Bush of all people is demanding that Arab nations give their citizens more freedoms at the same time that a U.S. soldier is using the Quran for target practice in Baghdad. And of course, the celebrity-obsessed materialistic public MUST know the juicy details of Ashlee Simpson's fairytale wedding.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sorry!
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've actually been working on a ten page term paper about Unit 731 (see my last blog to learn more).
It has been super stressful lately. I have another crazy week, then exams, then I'm hopefully adopting my new dog Monty. So it might be a little bit, but trust me I will start updating more regularly.
It has been super stressful lately. I have another crazy week, then exams, then I'm hopefully adopting my new dog Monty. So it might be a little bit, but trust me I will start updating more regularly.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Unit 731 - The Secret Japanese Holocaust
For some reason it wont let me embed the video here, but please go here and check out this youtube video.
I guess it isn't surprising that I was never taught about this in high school.
This is horrifying and disgusting.
Here is a small excerpt from wikipedia about unit 731. You can see the full page here. Keep in mind that this is just one small part of what they did to their victims.
Vivisection
Prisoners of war were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia. [7][6]
Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Scientists performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was felt that the decomposition process would affect the results.[8][6] The infected and vivisected prisoners included men, women, children, and infants.[9]
Vivisections were also performed on pregnant women, sometimes impregnated by doctors, and the fetus removed.[10]
Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss.[6]
Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body.[6]
Some prisoners' limbs were frozen and amputated, while others had limbs frozen then thawed to study the effects of the resultant untreated gangrene and rotting.
Some prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus reattached to the intestines.[6]
Parts of the brain, lungs, liver, etc. were removed from some prisoners.[11][7][6]
They also did germ warfare testing, weapons testing, as well as other forms of torture to these chinese civilians.
I guess it isn't surprising that I was never taught about this in high school.
This is horrifying and disgusting.
Here is a small excerpt from wikipedia about unit 731. You can see the full page here. Keep in mind that this is just one small part of what they did to their victims.
Vivisection
Prisoners of war were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia. [7][6]
Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Scientists performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was felt that the decomposition process would affect the results.[8][6] The infected and vivisected prisoners included men, women, children, and infants.[9]
Vivisections were also performed on pregnant women, sometimes impregnated by doctors, and the fetus removed.[10]
Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss.[6]
Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body.[6]
Some prisoners' limbs were frozen and amputated, while others had limbs frozen then thawed to study the effects of the resultant untreated gangrene and rotting.
Some prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus reattached to the intestines.[6]
Parts of the brain, lungs, liver, etc. were removed from some prisoners.[11][7][6]
They also did germ warfare testing, weapons testing, as well as other forms of torture to these chinese civilians.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Prescription Drugs Found in Drinking Water Across U.S.
Click here for a link to the CNN article about a study that found many different prescription and over the counter drugs in our water supply.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
New Technology Can Be Operated By Thought
Check out this article. This is seriously mind blowing. Scientists are developing technology that can be operated by thought. So far they have severely handicapped people composing and sending emails, and operating the tv with just their minds. They have also had a monkey operate a robotic arm to feed itself using only its thought. Amazing.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
How Can You Feel Safe Dialing 911?
This woman was the VICTIM of an assault and called the police to ask for help. She was then forcibly strip searched by multiple MALE police officers against her will and left naked in her cell for six hours without any medical attention to the wounds she received from the initial assault.
Check out the video and article here.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Enzyte Male Enhancement: Fraud
Check out this link to the Consumerist blog. The former vice president of the company has admitted that Enzyte is completely fiction.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Hiding in Plain Sight
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Scientists Create Beating Hearts
Check out the article about scientists successfully creating beating rat hearts in a lab.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Illegal Immigrants In NC Community Colleges
Check out the article here.
Personally, I think it is a great idea to allow illegal immigrants into our community colleges. Opposition to the NC Community College system’s decision to allow illegal immigrants to register for classes seems to be limited to the argument that these immigrants will rise up and take jobs, money, and power away from American citizens if they are allowed to attend community colleges.
The fact is that these “illegal” immigrants face prejudice on a massive scale. If a white American male citizen is accepted into a community college, it is expected. He will be offered a job out of college and able to afford basic necessities. If an undocumented immigrant is allowed to go to community college, it could potentially save his entire extended family from severe poverty, as it is likely that he will be the only one in the family to have a college education.
What is more important – that American citizens get all the American jobs, even if some immigrants are better for the job? Or that America as a whole is accepting of immigrants and helps to alleviate widespread poverty faced by already discriminated against immigrants? It is clear that the answer is to allow any qualified person a shot at making a living. After all, this is “the land of opportunity”.
Furthermore, many, if not all, of these immigrants seeking a college education were brought over with their parents when they were very young. Is it right to punish them for what their parents have done? They will need to save up the money to pay the out-of-state tuition, which will actually help the community colleges to make a profit.
Personally, I think it is a great idea to allow illegal immigrants into our community colleges. Opposition to the NC Community College system’s decision to allow illegal immigrants to register for classes seems to be limited to the argument that these immigrants will rise up and take jobs, money, and power away from American citizens if they are allowed to attend community colleges.
The fact is that these “illegal” immigrants face prejudice on a massive scale. If a white American male citizen is accepted into a community college, it is expected. He will be offered a job out of college and able to afford basic necessities. If an undocumented immigrant is allowed to go to community college, it could potentially save his entire extended family from severe poverty, as it is likely that he will be the only one in the family to have a college education.
What is more important – that American citizens get all the American jobs, even if some immigrants are better for the job? Or that America as a whole is accepting of immigrants and helps to alleviate widespread poverty faced by already discriminated against immigrants? It is clear that the answer is to allow any qualified person a shot at making a living. After all, this is “the land of opportunity”.
Furthermore, many, if not all, of these immigrants seeking a college education were brought over with their parents when they were very young. Is it right to punish them for what their parents have done? They will need to save up the money to pay the out-of-state tuition, which will actually help the community colleges to make a profit.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Floating Mass Of Trash
There is a floating mass of trash in the Pacific Ocean that one scientist has estimated is TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS!
Check out the article in the San Francisco Chronicle here.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Free Rice Update
http://www.freerice.com/index.php has updated their site so that when you answer one question, they now donate 20 grains of rice instead of 10. That is double the amount of rice donated per question, so click the link and get to donating.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Salt Water As Fuel?
A man may have figured out how to convert salt water into fuel, instead of using oil or coal. He successfully figured out, on accident, how to burn salt water.
Check the link here:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815920-85.stm
or click the title of this post.
Check the link here:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815920-85.stm
or click the title of this post.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Hunger Site
This is pretty similar to Freerice.com except that you don't have to play a game to donate the food.
Click this link:
http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
and there will be a yellow box that says "Click here to give - its FREE". click this and sponsors will donate 1.1 cups of food to malnourished children around the world.
It says to click it daily, so I'm not sure if that means you can only click once per day. I just tried it twice in a row and it seemed to work.
Please check this out, it is even less work and time than freerice.com, although freerice is fun!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tree Man
Check out the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessi..MLYGYKBGOGQ2DQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/11/12/wtree112.xml
Part of this documentary will be shown at 9pm tonight on the Discovery Channel.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Build Your Vocabulary by Donating Rice!
This is an amazing site. If you are ever bored or looking for something to do, this is it. It is a vocabulary building "game" where you are given a word and then four choices for synonyms. Each time you get a question right, you donate 10 grains of rice to the World Food Program which distributes the rice to hungry people across the globe.
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tim Tang Test
Check this out. It is a puzzle type game with over 200 levels. No one has beaten it yet. I tried doing it and couldn't get all the way through the tutorial. It's really hard but also addicting.
http://www.timtang.com/ttt/
http://www.timtang.com/ttt/
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Female President in Argentina
I am trying to study abroad in Argentina next year and just found out that they just elected Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as their first female president.
check out the link:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/exit-polls-give-argentinas-first/story.aspx?guid=%7B0DB6E875-F04C-4369-A12A-3F17D4550209%7D
check out the link:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/exit-polls-give-argentinas-first/story.aspx?guid=%7B0DB6E875-F04C-4369-A12A-3F17D4550209%7D
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Religion and IQ
I am not making any claims or assumptions about this, I just thought it was a pretty interesting study. It shows that the more religious the person, generally the lower IQ they have.
http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/religious_peopl.html
http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/religious_peopl.html
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A Moral Dilemma: The Good and the Bad in Straight Edge
Kelly posted this on xsisterhoodx.com. It is an interesting paper about straight edge, although by no means is it completely comprehensive or even 100% true.
http://ladychi-sxe.livejournal.com/9575.html
http://ladychi-sxe.livejournal.com/9575.html
Total Destruction
Here is a link to to the PDF version of Total Destruction A Straight Edge Zine Against the Ruling Social Order. I think it's issue number 4. I have not read the entire thing, but from what I have read it is pretty interesting.
http://www.impassionedinsurrection.info/pamphlets/td4.pdf
http://www.impassionedinsurrection.info/pamphlets/td4.pdf
Monday, October 1, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
School of Shock
Wow.
This is an article about a real school in MA that shocks kids with behavior disorders as part of their "treatment plan". The kids, some as young as nine years old, are hooked up to an array of electrodes 24/7 and shocked for any bad behavior.
To quote one part, it says "Marguerite Famolare brought her son Michael to the Rotenberg Center six years ago, after he attacked her so aggressively she had to call 911 and, in a separate incident, flipped over a kitchen table onto a tutor. Michael, now 19, suffers from mental retardation and severe autism. These days, when he comes home for a visit, Marguerite carries his shock activator in her purse. All she has to do, she says, is show it to him. "He'll automatically comply to whatever my signal command may be, whether it is 'Put on your seatbelt,' or 'Hand me that apple,' or 'Sit appropriately and eat your food,'" she says. "It's made him a human being, a civilized human being."
It sounds to me like it made him an obediant robot, complying to any command.
Lara (http://www.blogger.com/profile/11480095954577891278), sent this article to me in a comment on the blog below this.
Check it out by clicking the title of this blog, going to the comments section of my last blog, or copying and pasting this into your browswer window:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/school_of_shock.html
This is an article about a real school in MA that shocks kids with behavior disorders as part of their "treatment plan". The kids, some as young as nine years old, are hooked up to an array of electrodes 24/7 and shocked for any bad behavior.
To quote one part, it says "Marguerite Famolare brought her son Michael to the Rotenberg Center six years ago, after he attacked her so aggressively she had to call 911 and, in a separate incident, flipped over a kitchen table onto a tutor. Michael, now 19, suffers from mental retardation and severe autism. These days, when he comes home for a visit, Marguerite carries his shock activator in her purse. All she has to do, she says, is show it to him. "He'll automatically comply to whatever my signal command may be, whether it is 'Put on your seatbelt,' or 'Hand me that apple,' or 'Sit appropriately and eat your food,'" she says. "It's made him a human being, a civilized human being."
It sounds to me like it made him an obediant robot, complying to any command.
Lara (http://www.blogger.com/profile/11480095954577891278), sent this article to me in a comment on the blog below this.
Check it out by clicking the title of this blog, going to the comments section of my last blog, or copying and pasting this into your browswer window:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/school_of_shock.html
Friday, September 21, 2007
More Tasers
What the fuck is going on with the cops?
Seriously.
Another article here, where cops tasered a fifteen year old autistic child.
http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2007/09/20/768988.html&cvqh=itn_teen
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Couch Surfing
Check this link out:
http://www.couchsurfing.com/index.html?index=1
Couch Surfing is an international network of people allowing you to stay on their couch for free when you travel. Look around the website and read the FAQ. It is a great idea.
http://www.couchsurfing.com/index.html?index=1
Couch Surfing is an international network of people allowing you to stay on their couch for free when you travel. Look around the website and read the FAQ. It is a great idea.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Student Tasered at John Kerry Event
There are several different videos of this on the internet, some longer than others. I chose this one because of the relatively high quality of the video. However, this one does not show the student's entire rant on the microphone. If you want to see any of the other versions, just go search YouTube. There are a bunch of them. The guy does talk longer than he is supposed to, and is clearly riled up, but is that a reason to shoot him with a taser? I think this is another instance of police brutality. The sick part is that John Kerry is on the stage making jokes about it in the background, not even doing anything to solve the problem.
Does this remind you of anything? How about the Iranian UCLA student that was tasered multiple times for being in the university library without a student ID card?
Homophobia
Read this article immediately:
WASHINGTON -- Psychoanalytic theory holds that homophobia -- the fear, anxiety, anger, discomfort and aversion that some ostensibly heterosexual people hold for gay individuals -- is the result of repressed homosexual urges that the person is either unaware of or denies. A study appearing in the August 1996 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), provides new empirical evidence that is consistent with that theory.
Researchers at the University of Georgia conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 nonhomophobic men as measured by the Index of Homophobia scale. All the participants selected for the study described themselves as exclusively heterosexual both in terms of sexual arousal and experience.
Each participant was exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual and lesbian videotapes (but not necessarily in that order). Their degree of sexual arousal was measured by penile plethysmography, which precisely measures and records male tumescence.
Men in both groups were aroused by about the same degree by the video depicting heterosexual sexual behavior and by the video showing two women engaged in sexual behavior. The only significant difference in degree of arousal between the two groups occurred when they viewed the video depicting male homosexual sex: 'The homophobic men showed a significant increase in penile circumference to the male homosexual video, but the control [nonhomophobic] men did not.'
Broken down further, the measurements showed that while 66% of the nonhomophobic group showed no significant tumescence while watching the male homosexual video, only 20% of the homophobic men showed little or no evidence of arousal. Similarly, while 24% of the nonhomophobic men showed definite tumescence while watching the homosexual video, 54% of the homophobic men did.
When asked to give their own subjective assessment of the degree to which they were aroused by watching each of the three videos, men in both groups gave answers that tracked fairly closely with the results of the objective physiological measurement, with one exception: the homophobic men significantly underestimated their degree of arousal by the male homosexual video.
Do these findings mean, then, that homophobia in men is a reaction to repressed homosexual urges, as psychoanalysis theorizes? While their findings are consistent with that theory, the authors note that there is another, competing theoretical explanation: anxiety. According to this theory, viewing the male homosexual videotape may have caused negative emotions (such as anxiety) in the homophobic men, but not in the nonhomophobic men. As the authors note, 'anxiety has been shown to enhance arousal and erection,' and so it is also possible that 'a response to homosexual stimuli [in these men] is a function of the threat condition rather than sexual arousal per se. These competing notions can and should be evaluated by future research.'
Article: 'Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?' by Henry E. Adams, Ph.D., Lester W. Wright, Jr., Ph.D. and Bethany A. Lohr, University of Georgia, in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp 440-445
WASHINGTON -- Psychoanalytic theory holds that homophobia -- the fear, anxiety, anger, discomfort and aversion that some ostensibly heterosexual people hold for gay individuals -- is the result of repressed homosexual urges that the person is either unaware of or denies. A study appearing in the August 1996 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), provides new empirical evidence that is consistent with that theory.
Researchers at the University of Georgia conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 nonhomophobic men as measured by the Index of Homophobia scale. All the participants selected for the study described themselves as exclusively heterosexual both in terms of sexual arousal and experience.
Each participant was exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual and lesbian videotapes (but not necessarily in that order). Their degree of sexual arousal was measured by penile plethysmography, which precisely measures and records male tumescence.
Men in both groups were aroused by about the same degree by the video depicting heterosexual sexual behavior and by the video showing two women engaged in sexual behavior. The only significant difference in degree of arousal between the two groups occurred when they viewed the video depicting male homosexual sex: 'The homophobic men showed a significant increase in penile circumference to the male homosexual video, but the control [nonhomophobic] men did not.'
Broken down further, the measurements showed that while 66% of the nonhomophobic group showed no significant tumescence while watching the male homosexual video, only 20% of the homophobic men showed little or no evidence of arousal. Similarly, while 24% of the nonhomophobic men showed definite tumescence while watching the homosexual video, 54% of the homophobic men did.
When asked to give their own subjective assessment of the degree to which they were aroused by watching each of the three videos, men in both groups gave answers that tracked fairly closely with the results of the objective physiological measurement, with one exception: the homophobic men significantly underestimated their degree of arousal by the male homosexual video.
Do these findings mean, then, that homophobia in men is a reaction to repressed homosexual urges, as psychoanalysis theorizes? While their findings are consistent with that theory, the authors note that there is another, competing theoretical explanation: anxiety. According to this theory, viewing the male homosexual videotape may have caused negative emotions (such as anxiety) in the homophobic men, but not in the nonhomophobic men. As the authors note, 'anxiety has been shown to enhance arousal and erection,' and so it is also possible that 'a response to homosexual stimuli [in these men] is a function of the threat condition rather than sexual arousal per se. These competing notions can and should be evaluated by future research.'
Article: 'Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?' by Henry E. Adams, Ph.D., Lester W. Wright, Jr., Ph.D. and Bethany A. Lohr, University of Georgia, in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp 440-445
Saturday, September 15, 2007
New Author
Sometime in the near future, I will be adding another author to this blog. My friend Alex, who has already regularly contributed to this blog behind the scenes, will soon become a fellow "author". I feel that this will add another dimension to the blog, another viewpoint, and will also assure that it will be updated more frequently. After all, two heads is better than one. When reading future posts, be sure to check out who published what.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Dark Days
I actually saw this documentary a few years ago and I just remembered it the other day.
It is called "Dark Days" and it is about a community of squatters living underground in an abandoned subway tunnel in New York.
This is a must-see. It has amazing cinematography and the soundtrack, by DJ Shadow, is awesome.
Check it out.
EDIT: Here is a link to the full documentary. My friend Alex found it.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7162991383052101447
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Surprising Facts
These facts are from my biology professor.
20% of the worlds people who live in highest income countries consume 86% of worlds resources.
Four quarts of oil can cause an eight-acre oil slick.
And these are the most surprising ones:
If everyone in the US recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of 25 million trees a year.
Americans throw away 25 MILLION plastic beverage bottles EVERY HOUR, even though recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
Americans throw out enough paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall from New York City to L.A.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Really Good Freeganism/Dumpster Article
This is a great article.
Here is my favorite quote of the article. The speaker is asked if he thinks dumpsterdiving is stealing and replies:
"Actually I don't consider it stolen - it's liberated. Liberated from those who neither wanted nor deserved it. Diverted on the way to the landfill."
Click the title of the blog or paste this into your browser:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2149304,00.html
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Freetown Christiania
Recently my younger brother went backpacking across Europe with a group of friends, which is something that I am planning to do for next year.
Of all the places that he went to, the one that peaked my interest the most was Freetown Christiania in Denmark near Copenhagen. Christiania is basically an anarchist/communist collective of about 900 people living by their own rules. They have sucessfully thwarted government action and violent police raids for years.
Until my brother mentioned it, I had never heard of Christiania. I had heard of the nearby Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen because of all the recent media coverage over the riots.
Click the name of the blog for a link to the wikipedia page or paste this into your browser:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania
I want to check it out.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Zeitgeist Movie
My friend Alex sent me this link lastnight.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
It is a two hour long documentary with some very interesting and compelling arguments. It has three major parts, one about religion and Christianity specifically, one about September 11th, and another about the federal bank.
I guess you could say it has a few conspiracy theories in it.
Anyways, the title of this blog is a link there, and there is also a link on the right-hand side of your screen under "Useful Links". I also encourage you to check out any of the other links listed there as well. They aren't advertisements or anything, just things I find interesting.
EDIT: Oh shit, the link is not working anymore. I just watched the movie less than a few hours ago, and now it isn't working. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!! haha
EDIT2: I just checked and the link works again, so it seems like the site goes up and down. If you click it and it doesn't work, just try again another time.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
It is a two hour long documentary with some very interesting and compelling arguments. It has three major parts, one about religion and Christianity specifically, one about September 11th, and another about the federal bank.
I guess you could say it has a few conspiracy theories in it.
Anyways, the title of this blog is a link there, and there is also a link on the right-hand side of your screen under "Useful Links". I also encourage you to check out any of the other links listed there as well. They aren't advertisements or anything, just things I find interesting.
EDIT: Oh shit, the link is not working anymore. I just watched the movie less than a few hours ago, and now it isn't working. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!! haha
EDIT2: I just checked and the link works again, so it seems like the site goes up and down. If you click it and it doesn't work, just try again another time.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
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