Golden Gatherings With A Lust to Share [Archive] - Page 3

giovonni

14th October 2013, 21:59

this to shall pass ...

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/Rome.JPG

***********

The Folly of Empire

By Chris Hedges

The final days of empire give ample employment and power to the feckless, the insane and the idiotic. These politicians and court propagandists, hired to be the public faces on the sinking ship, mask the real work of the crew, which is systematically robbing the passengers as the vessel goes down. The mandarins of power stand in the wheelhouse barking ridiculous orders and seeing how fast they can gun the engines. They fight like children over the ship’s wheel as the vessel heads full speed into a giant ice field. They wander the decks giving pompous speeches. They shout that the SS America is the greatest ship ever built. They insist that it has the most advanced technology and embodies the highest virtues. And then, with abrupt and unexpected fury, down we will go into the frigid waters.

The last days of empire are carnivals of folly. We are in the midst of our own, plunging forward as our leaders court willful economic and environmental self-destruction. Sumer and Rome went down like this. So did the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Men and women of stunning mediocrity and depravity led the monarchies of Europe and Russia on the eve of World War I. And America has, in its own decline, offered up its share of weaklings, dolts and morons to steer it to destruction. A nation that was still rooted in reality would never glorify charlatans such as Sen. Ted Cruz, House Speaker John Boehner and former Speaker Newt Gingrich as they pollute the airwaves. If we had any idea what was really happening to us we would have turned in fury against Barack Obama, whose signature legacy will be utter capitulation to the demands of Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, the military-industrial complex and the security and surveillance state. We would have rallied behind those few, such as Ralph Nader, who denounced a monetary system based on gambling and the endless printing of money and condemned the willful wrecking of the ecosystem. We would have mutinied. We would have turned the ship back.

The populations of dying empires are passive because they are lotus-eaters. There is a narcotic-like reverie among those barreling toward oblivion. They retreat into the sexual, the tawdry and the inane, retreats that are momentarily pleasurable but ensure self-destruction. They naively trust it will all work out. As a species, Margaret Atwood observes in her dystopian novel “Oryx and Crake,” “we’re doomed by hope.” And absurd promises of hope and glory are endlessly served up by the entertainment industry, the political and economic elite, the class of courtiers who pose as journalists, self-help gurus like Oprah and religious belief systems that assure followers that God will always protect them. It is collective self-delusion, a retreat into magical thinking.

“The American citizen thus lives in a world where fantasy is more real than reality, where the image has more dignity than the original,” Daniel J. Boorstin wrote in his book “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America.” “We hardly dare face our bewilderment, because our ambiguous experience is so pleasantly iridescent, and the solace of belief in contrived reality is so thoroughly real. We have become eager accessories in the great hoaxes of the age. These are the hoaxes we play on ourselves.”

Culture and literacy, in the final stage of decline, are replaced with noisy diversions and empty clichés. The Roman statesman Cicero inveighed against their ancient equivalent—the arena. Cicero, for his honesty, was hunted down and murdered and his hands and head were cut off. His severed head and his right hand, which had written the Philippics, were nailed onto the speaker’s platform in the Forum. The roaring crowds, while the Roman elite spat on the head, were gleefully told he would never speak or write again. In the modern age this toxic, mindless cacophony, our own version of spectacle and gladiator fights, of bread and circus, is pumped into the airwaves in 24-hour cycles. Political life has fused into celebrity worship. Education is primarily vocational. Intellectuals are cast out and despised. Artists cannot make a living. Few people read books. Thought has been banished, especially at universities and colleges, where timid pedants and careerists churn out academic drivel. “Although tyranny, because it needs no consent, may successfully rule over foreign peoples,” Hannah Arendt wrote in “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” “it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people.” And ours have been destroyed.

Sensual pleasure and eternal youth are our overriding obsessions. The Roman emperor Tiberius, at the end, fled to the island of Capri and turned his seaside palace into a house of unbridled lust and violence. “Bevies of girls and young men, whom he had collected from all over the Empire as adepts in unnatural practices, and known as spintriae, would copulate before him in groups of three, to excite his waning passions,” Suetonius wrote in “The Twelve Caesars.” Tiberius trained small boys, whom he called his minnows, to frolic with him in the water and perform oral sex. And after watching prolonged torture, he would have captives thrown into the sea from a cliff near his palace. Tiberius would be followed by Caligula and Nero.

“At times when the page is turning,” Louis-Ferdinand Céline wrote in “Castle to Castle,” “when History brings all the nuts together, opens its Epic Dance Halls! hats and heads in the whirlwind! Panties overboard!”

The anthropologist Joseph Tainter in his book “The Collapse of Complex Societies” looked at the collapse of civilizations from the Roman to the Mayan. He concluded that they disintegrated because they finally could not sustain the bureaucratic complexities they had created. Layers of bureaucracy demand more and more exploitation, not only of the environment but the laboring classes. They become calcified by systems that are unable to respond to the changing reality around them. They, like our elite universities and business schools, churn out systems managers, people who are taught not to think but to blindly service the system. These systems managers know only how to perpetuate themselves and the system they serve, although serving that system means disemboweling the nation and the planet. Our elites and bureaucrats exhaust the earth to hold up a system that worked in the past, failing to see that it no longer works. Elites, rather than contemplate reform, which would jeopardize their privilege and power, retreat in the twilight of empire into walled compounds like the Forbidden City or Versailles. They invent their own reality. Those on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms have replicated this behavior. They insist that continued reliance on fossil fuel and speculations will sustain the empire. State resources, as Tainter notes, are at the end increasingly squandered on extravagant and senseless projects and imperial adventures. And then it all collapses.

Our collapse will take the whole planet with it.

It is more pleasant, I admit, to stand mesmerized in front of our electronic hallucinations. It is easier to check out intellectually. It is more gratifying to imbibe the hedonism and the sickness of the worship of the self and money. It is more comforting to chatter about celebrity gossip and ignore or dismiss what is reality.

Thomas Mann in “The Magic Mountain” and Joseph Roth in “Hotel Savoy” brilliantly chronicled this peculiar state of mind. In Roth’s hotel the first three floors house in luxury the bloated rich, the amoral politicians, the bankers and the business owners. The upper floors are crammed with people who struggle to pay their bills and who are steadily divested of their possessions until they are destitute and cast out. There is no political ideology among decayed ruling elites, despite choreographed debates and elaborate political theater. It is, as it always is at the end, one vast kleptocracy.

Just before World War II, a friend asked Roth, a Jewish intellectual who had fled Nazi Germany for Paris, “Why are you drinking so much?” Roth answered: “Do you think you are going to escape? You too are going to be wiped out.”

Posted on Oct 14, 2013
Source page (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_folly_of_empire_20131014)

giovonni

16th October 2013, 13:21

that slow boat to China seems to be moving a bit faster ...

Re-orientation: UK woos China as clock ticks toward US default ?

Published on Oct 16, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OvT_v63m_A

giovonni

16th October 2013, 19:33

were still # 1 ... :o

U.S. Eases Rules on Exporting Military Technology to Secure Role
as World's Leading Arms Dealer

Published on Oct 16, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-baiWtNBfl0

giovonni

16th October 2013, 22:53

could the news of this facility's electrical/water problems just be a ruse ...

Lee Ann McAdoo Discusses the New NSA Data Center ?

Published on Oct 16, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kb-O9j8aHE

giovonni

17th October 2013, 05:25

will share this here

http://www.slantmagazine.com/assets/film/eyeswideshut.jpg

Via ~ Red Ice Creations

Eyes Wide Shut: ’Biggest sex party’ sparks fury

The ”Eyes Wide Shut Orgy Sex Party” hosted by the club Adam and Eva has been generating a lot of controversy in Norrköping as one of the largest swingers parties in Swedish history.

As reported in TheLocal.se, the organized "orgy of sex, erotica, and lust" has many residents worried over how close the theatre and its rituals will be to the local homes and children.

Consenting adults choosing how and when to engage sexually is very surely their own business, but the production levels of this accessible event, from expensive tickets and a professional director, to the Club maintaining that it is a ’ritual’, makes it very symbolically charged - and seems to be meant for very public consumption.

The ’religion of the body’, where sex is the highest of ’spiritual achievements’, can play out when Atheism and Science have become religion. These concepts were well understood by Stanley Kubrick, as laid out in his film "Eyes Wide Shut" - the namesake of the Swedish sex event....

http://norrkopingprojekt.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/arbis-3.jpg
Norrköping’s Arbis Theatre

note contains adult imagery and subject matter...

Go Herehttps://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvA8_QSb84i_2vW0xXdKF34k4iXu350 SogpaNwPQ00yjC4biNoRQ (http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=27271)

***********
Related ...

Here's a link to an interview from Red Ice Radio with Kent Daniel Bentkowski from January 21, 2007 analyzing Stanley Kubric's movie "Eyes Wide Shut

interview is in seven segments and each feed into the next

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BsFGQHR1RQ&list=PLE1777930C139FE00

post note (http://occultofpersonality.net/in-memoriam-k-d-b/)

CD7

17th October 2013, 14:35

^
l
l
l .....hehe this story is truly a godless gathering with a lust to share :pop2:

giovonni

17th October 2013, 16:30

getting rich through witchcraft ?

http://www.redicecreations.com/ul_img/27300baphomet.gif

Pacts with the Devil: Baphomet Series #1

Sodomy. Infanticide. Kissing a goat’s behind. Spitting and urinating on the Cross. Invoking the Devil. Worshipping a demonic idol. Denying Christ, the Virgin, the Saints, and God himself. These confessions of blasphemy, heresy, witchcraft and sexual perversion may seem like rubbish, brought about under the brutal interrogation techniques of the 14th century. But some of the confessors seemed so sincere, so relieved to get the crimes off of their chests. They volunteered details that their inquisitors didn’t have the imagination to make up... Read more (http://quintessentialpublications.com/twyman/?p=638)

giovonni

18th October 2013, 08:55

hmm ...

http://wf360.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452408569e2011570f5a701970b-400wi

Why Eye Contact is Not All That It's Cracked up to Be

Eye contact during a conversation has long been viewed as a sign of confidence and a tool to use during persuasion. However, a new study has found that the opposite is more effective in ensuring your point gets received by the other party...

View more here :rolleyes: (http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4290/20131002/why-eye-contact-cracked-up-persuasive-power.htm)

giovonni

18th October 2013, 09:34

up up and away ... :crazy_pilot:

Terrafugia TF-X Flying Car car announced

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKzEMNw9Dgo

giovonni

19th October 2013, 03:04

hmm ...

http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/10/18/60_1018_Chaney3_244x183.jpgDick Cheney calls his current health "a miracle"

Dick Cheney says his current health is "a miracle" in a frank discussion of the heart disease he suffered over his entire political career and especially when he served as the vice president. In his first interview about his new book, "Heart," he speaks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, discussing for the first time the revelation that the defibrillator implanted in his chest could be used by terrorists to kill him and was altered to prevent that. Cheney's 60 Minutes interview will be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT... More here (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57608218/dick-cheney-calls-his-current-health-a-miracle/)

giovonni

19th October 2013, 03:34

From ~ io9

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/193eg14g0si9tgif/original.gif

All the Evidence that Time Travel is Happening All Around Us :twitch: (http://io9.com/all-the-evidence-that-time-travel-is-happening-all-arou-1446262029)

giovonni

19th October 2013, 22:41

Before there was George Carlin ... There was Lenny Bruce ...

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."
Lenny Bruce

The Lenny Bruce story

Published on Oct 19, 2013

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

giovonni

20th October 2013, 06:11

another iconic shooting star ...

James Dean "Mysteries & Scandals"

note this is a production copy with commercial blackened segments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgkFO-eSS1c

Related ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sKUB9L3lJQ

giovonni

21st October 2013, 14:14

hmm ...

China smog emergency shuts city of 11 million people

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/SM2JbTBPonHHwuEdQg9WnQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0yNjE7cT03NTt3PTQ1MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-10-21T055104Z_1_CBRE99K0G9C00_RTROPTP_2_CHINA.JPG

BEIJING (Reuters) - Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China's largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter.

An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people.

A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.

The smog not only forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for winter. Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters.

The smog is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.

Air quality in Chinese cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leadership because it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising inequality in the world's second-largest economy.

Domestic media have run stories describing the expensive air purifiers government officials enjoy in their homes and offices, alongside reports of special organic farms so cadres need not risk suffering from recurring food safety scandals.

The government has announced plans over the years to tackle the pollution problem but has made little apparent progress.

Users of China's popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site reacted with both anger and bitter sarcasm over Harbin's air pollution.

"After years of effort, the wise and hard-working people of Harbin have finally managed to skip both the middle-class society and the communist society stages, and have now entered a fairyland society!" wrote on user.

Other parts of northeastern China also experienced severe smog, including Tangshan, two hours east of Beijing, and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province which borders Heilongjiang.

Last week, Beijing city released a color-coded alert system for handling air pollution emergencies, to include the temporary halt of construction, factory production, outdoor barbeques and the setting off of fireworks.

Beijing suffered its own smog emergency last winter when the PM2.5 surpassed 900 on one particularly bad day in January.

(Reporting By Adam Rose; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Michael Perry)

Source page (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/latest-china-smog-emergency-shuts-city-11-million-055104682.html)

giovonni

22nd October 2013, 03:52

Miley Cyrus' Tongue Won't Stop ... :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5J-Y8ajBg0

giovonni

22nd October 2013, 06:11

La La ~ Land ... :lalala:

Los Angeles ~ Hotel California from the Byrds to the Eagles

A BBC Documentary

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

giovonni

23rd October 2013, 18:18

i have always taken a neutral stance in regards to the Greenpeace organization's activities ...

though in this case i am suspect to these Russian authority claims ...

'Hard drugs found' on Greenpeace ship seized by Russia

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70378000/jpg/_70378541_70378536.jpg

Story here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24461644)

Related ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG0VgaMUm_c

An Update

Russia drops piracy charges against Greenpeace activists (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24645300)

giovonni

23rd October 2013, 21:41

i am sensing this is really becoming a westernized global trend ...

Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

What happens to a country when its young people stop having sex? Japan is finding out…

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2013/10/16/1381919748088/Japanese-man-and-woman-le-008.jpg

Abigail Haworth investigates
Read article here (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex)

giovonni

24th October 2013, 14:38

OMG !

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww173/prestonjjrtr/Smileys%20Summer/bth_1sm463bike.gif

GoPro: Backflip Over 72ft Canyon - Kelly McGarry Red Bull Rampage 2013

Shot 100% on the HD HERO3+® camera from http://GoPro.com

Published on Oct 22, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76VEPXYaI0

giovonni

25th October 2013, 10:06

'We're not animals': Immigrants stuck in EU homeless & jobless

"The massive flow of refugees is set to be discussed by the European leaders, gathered in Brussels for EU Summit, weeks after hundreds of people have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean from conflict zones in Africa. RT's Peter Oliver went to discover how those who manage to survive build new lives away from home."

Published on Oct 25, 2013

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

aniN

25th October 2013, 17:42

Bulgaria to build 30km fence on Turkish border.

More info here: http://sofiaglobe.com/2013/10/16/bulgarias-cabinet-to-hold-special-meeting-on-refugee-issue/

giovonni

26th October 2013, 06:16

Behold the mysterious polar bear of the lake

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/194cks05etgx5jpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Technically, there should be a lady in the lake to meet you with a glittering sword made of some kind of otherworldly steel. But we got you a polar bear instead. He's brought you some salmon, which is sort of like a sword, only made of fish.

Paul Souders is one of the winners of this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year (http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2013/) contest. You can see more of his stunning work on his website (http://www.worldfoto.com/#p=-1&a=-1&at=0).

source page (http://io9.com/behold-the-mysterious-polar-bear-of-the-lake-1452499811)

giovonni

26th October 2013, 06:29

just watched this one ... https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwOqhZqworZdyBGQ7pzeeCykK5morlL ZmdmSkZYBTJru0xNJ1K

note currently available on netflix and dvd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsYA-MWjC48

Related ...

Remembering J.D. Salinger on Charlie Rose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqc0Gn5Yb90

giovonni

26th October 2013, 17:30

will share this here ... for your consideration ...
noting this issue does not necessarily effect all of us in the same ways ...

From Teal ~ Oedipus Complex (Relationships and Fate)

Published on Oct 26, 2013

note adult content

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbb2FK8-HY

giovonni

27th October 2013, 18:43

speaking of weather ...

http://www.myemoticons.com/images/weather/rainy-cloudy/thunder.gif

http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00138-thinking.gif

'So tell me what's to be done ~ Lord ~ 'bout the weather in my Head'

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

giovonni

27th October 2013, 19:42

Lou Reed, Rock ’n’ Roll Pioneer, Dies at 71 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/arts/music/lou-reed-dies-at-71.html?_r=0)

Rock and Roll Heart -- Lou Reed Documentary

"Rock and Roll Heart traces Lou Reed's career from the formation of the Velvet Underground to rock icon to his more recent artistic endeavors. Includes lots of rare and vintage footage along with interviews with David Bowie, John Cale, Patti Smith, Thurston Moore, David Byrne, Jim Carroll, Maureen Tucker, Suzanne Vega, Dave Stewart and Philip Glass. An excellent documentary (and the only one) about this hugely influential and uncompromising American artist. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for American Masters and screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998."

Published on Mar 6, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjPuF-CYuic

giovonni

28th October 2013, 04:24

Still is after fifty years ...

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World)

Make sure you see it before it Ends ...http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00136-giggle.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8AcGj4EmhQ

Classic !

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

Robin Williams mentor himself ... Jonathan Winters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUO6-Byrel0

giovonni

29th October 2013, 10:06

hmm ...

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/abc_abc_kimmel_snake_100609_wg.jpg

Snakes On the Brain: Are Primates Hard-Wired to Recognize Snakes ?

Was the evolution of high-quality vision in our ancestors driven by the threat of snakes? Work by neuroscientists in Japan and Brazil is supporting the theory originally put forward by Lynne Isbell, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis... Read more (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131028162928.htm)

giovonni

31st October 2013, 19:26

bye bye :drum: obamacare ...

Jeff Rense & Jonathan Emord - Obamacare Nightmare !

Clip from October 29, 2013 Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oQwu70oM68&feature=em-uploademail

giovonni

2nd November 2013, 14:38

from the corbett report ...

Rockefeller Medicine

"As Americans fret about the Obamacare website and wonder how the country became enslaved to the highest healthcare costs in the world, we turn back the pages to look at how the modern medical paradigm came together in the early 20th century, courtesy of the Rockefeller Foundation and their cronies. Join us this week as we explore the real history of modern healthcare and the real motivations behind the family that brought it to you."

Published on Nov 2, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6J_7PvWoMw

giovonni

3rd November 2013, 17:18

the warrior within ...

Man vs. Woman

(RT Documentary)

"Vladimir Pilat founded a combat version of the traditional Ukrainian dance, Gopak. He married one of his students and turned his lover into an Amazon, but couldn't hold on to her. After encouraging his wife to adapt the new martial art for women, she went much further and set up her own rival training school" ...

Published on Nov 3, 2013

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

giovonni

4th November 2013, 08:56

More mindless footage ... from ~ La La land :lalala:

Los Angeles in the 1950's ... Another Place in Time

Published on Nov 1, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YPsQi1o8UM

giovonni

5th November 2013, 16:12

onward christian soldiers ...

Note: Christopher Lynn "Chris" Hedges is an American journalist specializing in American politics and society. Education: Harvard Divinity School, Colgate University, Starr King School for the Ministry, Harvard University.

Chris Hedges on Christian Heretics

"Following his talk on the myth of human progress (http://bit.ly/1f9c7S1), the Truthdig columnist discussed the influence of religion on his work and why he views Christian conservatives as heretics."

Uploaded on Nov 1, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2NKBpXlaa0

giovonni

6th November 2013, 21:32

it's about time ...

UN Blasts US Embargo of Cuba

"The US embargo against Cuba is being criticized by the UN, who are taking issue with the 50 year old sanctions against the socialist island nation just 90 miles from Florida's southern shore. On October 29th, the UN voted 188-2 for a resolution to end the embargo, which it said "...lacks every ethical or legal ground." We discuss the vote on this Buzzsaw news clip with Tyrel Ventura and Tabetha Wallace" ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5sZ5ZBlv4M

giovonni

8th November 2013, 05:06

Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters
Promotional materials for private spy companies show that
mass surveillance technology is being sold to police
departments as a way to monitor dissent... Read more (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/meet-the-private-companies-helping-cops-spy-on-protesters-20131024)
http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/meet-the-private-companies-helping-cops-spy-on-protesters-20131024/1000x600/police-600-1382642244.jpg

giovonni

9th November 2013, 13:33

Ever wonder where the 1% hide all their money ?

Now you can find out ...

"The Financial Secrecy Index ranks jurisdictions [around the world] according to their secrecy and the scale of their activities. A politically neutral ranking, it is a tool for understanding global financial secrecy, tax havens or secrecy jurisdictions, and illicit financial flows.”

When you get to the site, refer to the menu on the top left of the page ...

Go Here (http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/introduction/introduction)

dianna

11th November 2013, 14:14

Ben Griffin | We Will NOT Fight For Queen and Country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eccMTIcd3ww

Ben Griffin opens by saying that fighting for Queen and Country is just a piece of propaganda dreamt up by the false religion of Patriotism.

He says those who will never actually fight hold this notion dearly. Having been in the SAS he tells of his experiences of what pain and suffering war inflicts on the innocent and how any military group will not fight for Queen and Country but will fight when they are told because they are trained for warfare.

giovonni

12th November 2013, 03:11

JFK and the Untold History of Oliver Stone

Who ~ "Speaks about JFK and the untold history of America in this uncensored interview with Buzzsaw. Stone debunks the white lies and mythology of American history, and goes into the roots of the cold war and war on terror, and how they have been used to keep people oppressed from the former Soviet Union to the current American collapse. Obama and the willingness of presidents to play ball with warhawks is laid out cold in this talk with hosts Tyrel Ventura, and Stone's own son, Sean.

GUEST BIO:
Oliver Stone is an Oscar award making filmmaker. His 1991 film JFK focused on the John F. Kennedy murder conspiracy, and he has recently released an extensive series, The Untold History of the United States."

Published on Nov 6, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ejzGPryL4

giovonni

12th November 2013, 04:27

making some economic sense ...

LA Project 50 and Helping Homeless on Skid Row ?

Published on Nov 11, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ7LaWaEAYM

giovonni

12th November 2013, 20:00

http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/gallery/500x595/20131108-27club-x595-1383939303.jpg

A Brief History of the 27 Club
50 musicians have died at age 27. Here, Howard Sounes recalls their final hours ...

Go here too view

(http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/a-brief-history-of-the-27-club-20131112)

aniN

12th November 2013, 23:30

A few words from Stephen Fry about the Catholic Church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDCSND2ZpI0

Delight

12th November 2013, 23:51

A Brief History of the 27 Club
50 musicians have died at age 27. Here, Howard Sounes recalls their final hours ...

That is freaky!! Does that support the idea of MK Ultra...selfdestructat27selfdestructat27selfdestructat27

"Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery........Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. " Russell Brand http://www.russellbrand.com/2011/07/for-amy/

giovonni

13th November 2013, 10:38

hmm ...

At $142.4 Million, Triptych Is the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at an Auction (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/arts/design/bacons-study-of-freud-sells-for-more-than-142-million.html?_r=1&)

giovonni

14th November 2013, 05:30

One of the 27 Club ...

when i lived in the Seattle area i paid him some homage ...

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/988357_599438763451349_160183991_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1460083_599438446784714_1246908204_n.jpg

Jimi Hendrix -- The Last 24 Hours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEttnuZez0

All Along The Watchtower

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnCEZB9J_4A

giovonni

14th November 2013, 05:39

perhaps the end is nearer than we thought ... not ... :p

Godless Mega-Churches Sprouting up for Athiests

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98POS2ynDMo

giovonni

14th November 2013, 14:33

trying times ...

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71110000/jpg/_71110166_mcafe.jpg

From the BBC ~ McAfee sued by daughter of dead Belize neighbour
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24938088)

aniN

15th November 2013, 12:24

interesting commercial :) and interesting choice of words...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10

more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yatg89gi0nM

giovonni

15th November 2013, 13:22

interesting commercial :) and interesting choice of words...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10

more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yatg89gi0nM

Truly Epic http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00137-clapping.gif

Thanks AniN

Crystine

15th November 2013, 13:57

Cool video. Great song. Love Enya. Song title. Time. Apropo. Worth listening to.
Who knows where the road goes? Only Time.

Crystine

15th November 2013, 14:06

giovonni

15th November 2013, 14:51

I can see why Athiests may want a place to gather. But why call their meeting place or organization a church? Is that their title our ours? (Those of us who are not Athiests.) not trying to offend anyone. Just curious.

Good question ... and from my perspective the modern language word 'church' (in substantive meaning) most likely originated via the Western world's following (belief system) of the Christ Jesus ... In which i sense and believe all humans whether they like it or not are part of the AKA Christ Consciousness

Note which is part of and defined as ~ the 'Higher consciousness, also called Super consciousness, objective consciousness, Buddhic consciousness, Cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness, and Super- Human are expressions used in various spiritual and intellectual traditions to denote the consciousness of a human being' ... :)

Post note: Some more here on the term 'church' ...
The origin and meaning of the word ‘church’ (http://www.biblepages.net/gg06.htm)

giovonni

15th November 2013, 14:54

What's behind the spike in art sales: vanity, fear and easy money ? (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/whats-behind-spike-art-sales-vanity-fear-easy-085703398--sector.html) http://blogs-images.forbes.com/joshuarogers/files/2012/04/300px-The_Scream.jpg

giovonni

15th November 2013, 15:00

Cool video. Great song. Love Enya. Song title. Time. Apropo. Worth listening to.
Who knows where the road goes? Only Time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7YDCm20VAc

Crystine

15th November 2013, 15:31

Thank you for posting the video. I have not yet figured out how to get from you tube to here.

It is quite beautiful. Ethereal.

giovonni

16th November 2013, 14:03

Delight

16th November 2013, 16:01

http://ilifejourney.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/wizard-of-oz.gif

Crisis and Opportunity: Signs of Breakdown and Breakthrough on the World Stage (http://consciouslifenews.com/crisis-opportunity-signs-breakdown-breakthrough-world-stage/1167801/)

I found this post from the link to the article above.

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control
Eric Blair
Activist Post

Karma is coming for the elite in a big way. As the Powers That Be head toward a devastating defeat in their war plans for Syria, signs are emerging that their rule over humanity is rapidly diminishing.

Over the last decade the global elite have been on a mad dash to consolidate power over the world. It's always been their plan like some evil villain in a comic book, but after 9/11 the plan went into overdrive and then turbo charged during the financial crisis of 2008.

Yet it's doomed to fail because humans are meant to be guided by their own free will, not controlled like livestock. The more the elite try to control humanity, the more entropy occurs. Entropy, for those who don't know, is the lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline into disorder.

Although the elite still enjoy a huge wealth advantage over the masses, they are now resigned to behaving like tyrants to maintain control. This, in turn, exposes their dark side which has been cleverly concealed for ages. Not anymore.

People are waking up in droves, at least as fast as the elite can build their full-spectrum prison matrix. Let them try. To paraphrase Victor Hugo, "No army can stop an idea whose time has come."

Here are ten signs that the elite are losing control over the people:

1. Official lies no longer effective: The lies they tell simply don't work anymore. There was a time when official lies, especially about war and peace, were believed. Because, after all, how evil would it be to lie about such things? Generally people want to believe they are being told the truth when life and death is at stake. The boy who cried wolf has cried one too many times. Even if they told the truth at this point, very few would believe them.

2. No confidence in politics: US politicians have a paltry approval rating. The trust in government is at all-time lows here and around the world. Mainstream polls show only 10% of the public has confidence in Congress. In other words, 90% don't believe in them to be competent to govern.

3. No confidence in media: The most recent polls show that 77% of the population no longer trusts corporate TV news. Is it any wonder why the establishment media failed to sell the lies about the alleged Syria chemical event? With all their monopoly might over the airwaves, they can no longer claim that black is white simply because officialdom says so.

4. Bankers rejected: Hungary recently became the first country to follow Iceland's lead by shedding international bankers (IMF) and is considering pursuing prosecution of past prime ministers who enslaved the people with debt.

Look for this trend to continue even if nations decide to default to break free.

5. Vatican abruptly cleaning up its act: Under the previous Pope, Pope Benedict, scandals erupted from the Vatican ranging from covering up pedophile priests to money laundering and fraud. Benedict, in an unprecedented move, abruptly retired to make way for a seemingly much more likable Pope Francis. Pope Francis by all measures is working furiously to reclaim the church's peaceful and humble reputation. Whether this is genuine or a PR move, it's telling that the church was forced into such a drastic turnaround to save itself from losing all credibility.

6. Mutiny among soldiers: Finally. Soldiers, who are outlawed from making political statements, are steadily speaking out against US military adventurism. As Einstein famously said "The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service."

7. Militarized police state: One of the darkest signs that the elite are losing their grip on power is the construction of the militarized police state specifically trained to combat domestic civil unrest. Local cops with tanks and other combat gear are working with Feds at Fusion centers, active Army units are on American soil for the first time in history, the NSA spy grid is being used by the IRS and DEA, and the elimination of due process for Americans under the NDAA are just some of the tyrannical moves made to secure the elite criminals from public backlash. They're clearly scared, and they should be given what they've done to the American people and the Constitution.

8. Serious secession movements everywhere: A state seceding from a larger political entity used to be an ultra-fringe concept, until now. In America, secession movements are winning over the public in parts of Colorado and California. In Europe, serious secession movements are happening in Spain and Scotland, as well as several EU nations flirting with the idea of dropping out of the euro. Decentralization = Entropy!

9. GMO food being rejected everywhere: Control the food and you control the people. True in theory, but much more difficult in practice. GMO leaders like Monsanto are being exposed. All of their economic and political strength cannot defeat the spread of knowledge about the dangers of pesticide-soaked Frankenfoods. GMO fields are being burned in protest in America and around the world, informed nations continue to reject their products, and labeling laws are gaining traction.

10. Cannabis liberation: Many reading this will think marijuana legalization is a superficial development. However, it is a major signpost that the elite's grip is fading. Enormous resources have been spent to keep cannabis illegal. Cannabis has been a powerful medicine for physical, mental, and spiritual health throughout the ages. This single plant represents a huge threat to the power structures and their industries, hence its seemingly senseless illegality. The approaching global reversal of the tyrannical policy of prohibition is the first of many concessions to come. http://www.activistpost.com/2013/09/10-signs-global-elite-are-losing-control.html#more

giovonni

18th November 2013, 05:06

speaking of godless gatherings ...

New 377,000-square-foot Scientology building has entire floor where members can get 'super powers'
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2508032/New-Scientology-building-Florida-floor-members-super-powers.html)

aniN

18th November 2013, 10:22

This is Mark Passio's appearance on Good Vibrations with Mark Devlin from November 13, 2013. Topics included Dark Occultism, Natural Law, Free Will and Persistence.

In possibly the most challenging and thought-provoking GV yet, Mark Devlin chats to Mark Passio, a US teacher and lecturer who started out as a practitionier in Anton LaVey's Church Of Satan. Having acquired much knowledge of the workings of the universe, the appeal of the satanists' ego-driven worldview waned and Mark decided to go over to the light side and to use his knowledge to awaken humanity from its long-imposed spiritual slavery to a force of evil. He explains how, far from trying to stop him, his former colleagues merely laughed at what they saw as an exercise in futility.

In many ways, he says, they had a point, since the awakening of human consciousness spoken of by so many New Age gurus is a gross exaggeration, as the masses slumber on. Despite this, he maintains, those who have undergone a conscious awakening have a responsibility to share their knowledge with others as far as is practical, and he outlines his 'tough love' approach to this. The results of the ripples spread by this current age will be felt way into the future, he argues, and so it's still vitally important to do what needs to be done, even in spite of enormous obstacles. Mark outlines the way Natural Law works, and how our free will ties into that, leaving the power to shape the kind of reality we want to experience with us alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRaKJ8x8-_I

aniN

18th November 2013, 10:49

hm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvHu8-5few&list=PLF52777D5EFBE659D

giovonni

18th November 2013, 14:14

hm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvHu8-5few&list=PLF52777D5EFBE659D

Thanks aniN

The great deception ... the laws we have unfortunately bought into in most of our world's court systems ...

admiralty law ~ maritime law: the branch of international law that deals with territorial and international waters or with shipping or with ocean fishery etc... but oh so much more now !

common law ~ the part of English law that is derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes. Often contrasted with statutory law... also the body of English law as adopted and modified separately by the different states of the US and by the federal government...

The world is really ruled via the private laws of the elites ~ The real merchants of (the so called) law ... None of it has anything to do with justice or the good of the common man (people) ... :rolleyes:

All roads lead back to Rome via London and Washington respectively ...

dianna

18th November 2013, 14:37

giovonni

18th November 2013, 15:48

Personal friends of Jesus ... :rolleyes:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/23/article-2119493-124E4C9A000005DC-822_634x419.jpg

Private jets, 13 mansions and a $100,000 mobile home just for the dogs:
Televangelists 'defrauded tens of million of dollars from Christian network' (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119493/Private-jets-13-mansions-100-000-mobile-home-just-dogs-Televangelists-defrauded-tens-million-dollars-Christian-network.html)

kinda related ... :pray:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EprQGmZ3Imw

giovonni

18th November 2013, 20:51

giovonni

19th November 2013, 03:44

Brittany Murphy Did NOT Die of Natural Causes, Lab Report Shows ? (http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=27787) http://www.redicecreations.com/ul_img/27786murphy.jpg

aniN

19th November 2013, 12:15

Watchers watched: Boston cops grumpy over GPS trackers on cruisers
Published time: November 19, 2013 09:00

http://rt.com/usa/boston-police-gps-trackers-938/

“No one likes it. Who wants to be followed all over the place?” said one officer who spoke to the newspaper anonymously because department rules forbid police from speaking to the media without authorization. “If I take my cruiser and I meet [reluctant witnesses] to talk, eventually they can follow me and say why were you in a back dark street for 45 minutes? It’s going to open up a can of worms that can’t be closed.”

nooo... really? what,.. did they think that they have some sort of immunity fromyounknowwhom... yeah.. of course...

aniN

19th November 2013, 12:21

Just for a little heads up for Europe weather:

Cyclone Cleopatra; Italy - Sardinia hit by deadly cyclone and flooding

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24996292

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/19/21529600-cyclone-cleopatra-kills-at-least-14-in-italy

giovonni

19th November 2013, 19:34

from screenjunkies ... look at me http://www.emofaces.com/png/15/emoticons/blindfolded.png

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86-3Z7CgXP8

giovonni

20th November 2013, 01:55

giovonni

20th November 2013, 10:25

Sixties Girl Band Is Back, With Cult Following

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_O8Xfre4Oc

related ...

Philosophy of the world - The Shaggs

Note ~ Frank Zappa rated The Shaggs #3 best band in history in a Norwegian newspaper (April 1988). :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPsXPCR5MU

Can't get enough :rolleyes:

The Shaggs ~ Philosophy of the World (full album 1969) click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQqK1CjE9bA)

giovonni

20th November 2013, 12:32

it should be noted Obama declined to attend ... :(

"His decision is doubly surprising because he has so often tied himself to his fellow Illinoisan Lincoln"

http://consciouslifenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/war.jpg

150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Marked at Battlefield (http://consciouslifenews.com/150th-anniversary-lincolns-gettysburg-address-marked-battlefield/1167921/)

meeradas

20th November 2013, 16:08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPsXPCR5MU

I'd like to see an honest attempt at covering this!

And as strange as it may sound - I'd really prefer this over the soulless output of most contemporary mega-selling 'music'.

Frank might have been right.

giovonni

21st November 2013, 03:27

giovonni

21st November 2013, 07:55

http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/kennedy81.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1
Caroline Kennedy makes regal arrival for Japan post (http://nypost.com/2013/11/20/caroline-kennedy-makes-regal-arrival-for-japan-post/)

giovonni

21st November 2013, 15:06

Some here might recall the mysterious story related to this catholic priest who served
as the vicar to this very strange French hilltop village church...

http://www.amazingplacesonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Rennes-le-Ch%C3%A2teau.jpg

The History of a Mystery/ Rennes-le-Château

Bérenger Saunière ? (http://www.renneslechateau.nl/2009/01/20/brenger-saunire/)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXB3mfHeFIM

Corncrake

21st November 2013, 18:06

Thanks for posting - very interesting re historical method but regarding the outcome a little disappointing too - it must be admitted!

giovonni

21st November 2013, 21:07

Sorry to hear that Corncake ~ Though i would hope (sense) that one's intuitive mind would have caught up with that lacking you express... It should be noted even though this information is dated, it is still very accurate (validated) though regurgitated ... All truth is already revealed, it is for us (all) to decipher it from that historical (sprinkled) past of misinformation ~ The real exercise here (in retrospect), is to allow what you already know (or forgotten) to be revealed from that knowing (awakening) within ...

Blessings Gio

PS ~ Have you ever reread a book (only) to be delighted in finding new gems of revelations perhaps first missed ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00144-nod.gif

giovonni

21st November 2013, 21:26

From the BBC ~
Monty Python to reunite for stage show (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24999401)

for all those who might not recall or have forgotten what these guys are about http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/dancing/moonwalker.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wippooDL6WE

Update

Monty Python team reunite and announce stage show

Published on Nov 21, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts-1rb8AyGI

giovonni

22nd November 2013, 19:00

interesting interview by Larry King with the journalist/author of the infamous Watergate scandal ...
Politicking: Bob Woodward on Ed Snowden, Obama and more ...

Published on Nov 22, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIvK4tbxiI

giovonni

23rd November 2013, 07:30

considering its significance and importance this subject matter gets very little public attention here or in the media ...

Just how badly are we overfishing the oceans ?
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/29/just-how-badly-are-we-overfishing-the-ocean/)
Related ...

Ending Overfishing ?

"Despite an increased awareness of overfishing, the majority of people still know very little about the scale of the destruction being wrought on the oceans. This film presents an unquestionable case for why overfishing needs to end and shows that there is still an opportunity for change" ...

Published on May 21, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6nwZUkBeas

giovonni

23rd November 2013, 09:53

anything for the corporate bottom-line ...

http://consciouslifenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/walmart_employee1.jpg
Corporate Espionage and the Secret War Against Citizen Activism (http://consciouslifenews.com/corporate-espionage-secret-war-against-citizen-activism/1168001/)

giovonni

24th November 2013, 05:26

Momo ~The Sam Giancana Story

With the approaching fiftieth anniversary of the JFK assassination on November 22, this Friday... i thought i share this bio documentary on the mob figurehead who was not only responsible for getting John Kennedy first elected to the presidency of the United States, but is also believed to be involved in having him murdered ...

Published on Jan 15, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Kd_D-Kvr0

Update: an interesting synchronicity ...

Note ~ It so happens there a new' er film in regards to all this ... The Sam Giancana Story director Dimitri Logothetis ... In which it is believed that Bobby Kennedy's pursuit of organized crime and the bizarre coincidences that led to key mafia figures all being present in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and that Sam Giancana is suspected as being one of the orchestrators of the killing of JFK. Here is a recent interview with the director himself Dimitri Logothetis.

Published on Nov 23, 2013

Why Sam Giancana Killed JFK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KsUka0UOkI

giovonni

25th November 2013, 06:08

interesting employment opportunity for some ... though i feel cremation is a more hygienic method of disposing of the dead, it enabled our departed containers to be mingled together nicely back into mother earths recycling repository for eternity ...

School for Stiffs: German college offers classes to train undertakers

Published on Nov 24, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9RwIrUGc-A

giovonni

25th November 2013, 08:21

http://uploads3.wikipaintings.org/images/rembrandt/a-franciscan-friar-1659.jpg!xlMedium.jpg
Listen how it goes

Listen how it goes, my rhythm
It's good for having fun, mulata*
Listen how it goes, my rhythm
It's good for having fun, mulata

Oye Como Va

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev3jBKrW1Ls

giovonni

25th November 2013, 15:20

FEMEN: Exposed

(RT Documentary)

"FEMEN activists claim their naked protests fight against patriarchy and gender inequality. However, many say their actions and methods are counterproductive. After a backlash from one such demonstration, the activists had to flee their native Ukraine. RT visits the movement's new headquarters in Paris to expose the inner workings of the FEMEN movement its leaders, supporters and ideology."

Published on Nov 25, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNH5r7IGiK8

giovonni

26th November 2013, 15:13

For my fellow American's

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/files/2013/11/upinarms-map.jpg

Which of the 11 American nations do you live in ? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/)

giovonni

26th November 2013, 18:11

amazing wonders and blunders ...

ICE

Rare N.D. Ice Disk Found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PKVsOZoI4

Also ...

Giant ice block hits car in China

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5DvAq6-KF8

giovonni

30th November 2013, 03:20

Via the Schwartz Report and Forbes

"The rich are getting paranoid, which is utterly predictable. It happens whenever wealth inequity becomes blatantly unfair. It happened in late Rome. I saw it in Bogata. You see it in Moscow with the armed Russian "samurai" in their black suits standing around the owner's Mercedes as the owner has dinner in a $200 a meal restaurant. We started to see things like this in the U.S. with increasing frequency starting about 30 years ago, exactly correlated to the rise of vampire capitalism" ...

Billionaire Bunkers: Beyond the Panic Room, Home Security Goes Sci-Fi (http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/11/27/billionaire-bunkers-beyond-the-panic-room-home-security-goes-sci-fi/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social)

giovonni

30th November 2013, 06:05

Remember this is from the Onion ... :rolleyes:

42 Million Dead In Bloodiest Black Friday Weekend On Record ! (http://www.theonion.com/articles/42-million-dead-in-bloodiest-black-friday-weekend,30517/)

giovonni

1st December 2013, 11:08

Eerily oh so similar and tragic as was the crash that killed James Dean ... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJO5PRU2RAQ)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71455000/jpg/_71455368_020182116.jpg

Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker dies in California car crash (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25173331)

giovonni

3rd December 2013, 18:28

Steve Irwin Tribute - Wildest Things in the World

by Melodysheep

"A musical tribute to the legendary conservationist & crocodile hunter Steve Irwin" ...

Published on Dec 3, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE1HDSipRxU

giovonni

4th December 2013, 17:10

hmm ...

Shell's record-breaking Prelude takes to the water

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71521000/jpg/_71521304_71521299.jpg

A floating vessel that is longer than the Empire State Building is high has taken to the water
for the first time... More here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25213845)

giovonni

4th December 2013, 23:38

From Dog Shame (https://www.facebook.com/dogshame) ~

https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1458412_626729034058296_971485859_n.jpg

"I ate my four year old sister’s first lost tooth before she could put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy" Dora, our ten year old rat terrier mix ate our daughter’s tooth just after she lost it. My husband earned a halo by finding the tooth on the other end and disinfecting it thoroughly. Still, the tooth fairy didn’t want it after that.

giovonni

6th December 2013, 22:21

put a smile on my face today in spite of this disastrous event ... http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/dogs/funny-dog-smiley-emoticon.gif

Heartwarming Rescue Stories from the Philippines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpDt_Et-_s

giovonni

8th December 2013, 14:15

having once a lived in a catholic monastery and been a monk ... i can relate to this journey of the soul ...
perhaps some here might appreciate this as well ?

Spiritual Journey: Valaam monastery in Russia's far north ...

"On an island far from the mainland, the Valaam monastery is one of the Russian Orthodox Church's holiest and most isolated sites. Join James Brown as he meets the monks, mucks in with the volunteers, and encounters a special group of children in one of most spiritual places in the country" ....

Published on Dec 8, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mndw3JmYb9c

giovonni

10th December 2013, 14:15

From Abby Martin ...

The Corruption of Conspiracies with Buzzsaw's Tyrel Ventura

"Abby Martin sits down with Tyrel Ventura, host of the online news show 'Buzzsaw', discussing growing up in the Ventura family, his work on 'Conspiracy Theory' on Tru-Tv, American political dysfunction and uniting radical thinkers" ...

Buzzsaw ~ http://www.youtube.com/show/buzzsaw

Published on Dec 10, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm0egTzY0p0

giovonni

12th December 2013, 00:02

hmm ...

Via the LipTV ...

Men and Women's Brains Are Wired Differently ?

Published on Dec 11, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDf0WJPqLE4

giovonni

13th December 2013, 00:47

Note it hasn't been the gall durn 'America the Beautiful' for all of its people ... :(

http://newshour.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/2013/12/11/MIND_blog_main_horizontal.jpg

The 'forgotten' lobotomies on World War II vets ?
(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/the-forgotten-lobotomies-on-world-war-ii-vets.html)

Must watch ~ Inside the Mind of Roman Tritz (http://projects.wsj.com/lobotomyfiles/?ch=video)

Also related ...

The Lobotomy Files: The Forgotten Soldiers
(http://projects.wsj.com/lobotomyfiles/)

and ...

The Lobotomy Files: One Doctor's Legacy (http://projects.wsj.com/lobotomyfiles/?ch=two)

giovonni

13th December 2013, 04:43

New World Next Week

Hitila, Media PTSD, Viral Truth ?

"The video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most
important developments in open source intelligence news" ...

Published on Dec 12, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk0-gCOi6I4

giovonni

29th December 2013, 02:26

"You know Americans are obsessed with life and death and rebirth, that's the American Cycle. You know, awakening, tragic, horrible death and then Phoenix rising from the ashes. That's the American story, again and again" ... Billy Corgan

this next item made my eyes glisten ... and it's something i truly believe in ... a great comeback story ...

http://alyoung.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hamtramck-house-freep-500x332.jpg

[I]Detroit Is Giving Writers Free Houses in an Effort to Rebuild

(http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/detroit-giving-writers-free-houses-effort-rebuild)

giovonni

29th December 2013, 23:21

via a friend on facebook ...

what would you name this little guy ...

https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/1546283_10153634076420648_2072233394_n.jpg

perhaps ~ groucho ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00136-giggle.gif

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTUyTYdlJ5G7RWdc3BGYKtmIn_TVkxtuyIsrc88z5bkVCCvvd_G

CD7

30th December 2013, 01:28

Or Charlie :) http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/277/f/3/charlie_chaplin_by_artdigitalpaintings-d5gqt5o.jpg

giovonni

30th December 2013, 01:39

Yes ~ of course Charlie reincarnated ... http://www.picgifs.com/smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/dogs/smileys-dogs-586854.gif

Charlie Chaplin--A Dogs Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaTfd_99k6w

giovonni

2nd January 2014, 07:11

http://www.pinballnirvana.com/forums/images/smilies/avatar3539_2.gif

where else but ...

Collector's Pinball Passion Lights Up Seattle

Published on Jan 1, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A8r1umY8_Q

giovonni

6th January 2014, 03:11

Downton Abbey Special - Secrets of Highclere Castle

since the immensely popular Downton Abbey has taken over the Western World's attention and imagination ... thought i share this here ...
i believe many will be fascinated with its history and content ...

Published on Dec 16, 2013

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

giovonni

6th January 2014, 04:49

hmm ...

Mind Reading Work Machine Keeps You In The Zone ?

Published on Jan 5, 2014

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

also ~

Passwords Are Out, Physical Keys Are Coming Back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tO_E5v5xMU

giovonni

6th January 2014, 12:23

the latest ...

Going Underground ...

"Afshin Rattansi goes underground on government claims that unemployment is down, as long-term youth joblessness is on the rise. Labour MP Alison McGovern says Jobcentres in the country aren't doing their job. Investigative journalist Russ Baker says the ISC is a shambles. Plus, wondering why your rail fares are through the roof? It might be because we're subsidising Europe. And, if you think you might be addicted to social media, you might be in for a serious shock" !

Published on Jan 6, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDNaJ2WFyA4

giovonni

10th January 2014, 22:34

hmm ...

Congress attempts to expedite TPP approval ?

"On Thursday this week, members of the United States Congress introduced a bill intended on fast-tracking approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a trade agreement between 12 countries including the US. The Obama administration intended on having the TPP signed before the end of 2013, but was unsuccessful in their efforts. Now lawmakers are trying to speed up the process of getting the trade deal approved, but not everyone thinks that's a good idea. Public Citizens Global Trade Watch director Lori Wallach says some of the "negotiating objectives" listed on this week's fast-track bill aren't anything to be celebrating, and discusses the TPP further with RT's Perianne Boring."

Published on Jan 10, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEEFLRC7IB4

giovonni

12th January 2014, 01:12

http://media.salon.com/2013/07/riot_police-620x412.jpg
The absurdly dangerous militarization of America’s police ? (http://www.salon.com/2014/01/09/the_absurdly_dangerous_militarization_of_americas_police_partner/)

giovonni

12th January 2014, 02:29

Jim Morrison ~ note this week would have marked his seventy Birthday ... :party:

Thanks ~ Robbie, Ray, John and Jim for opening The Doors of perception and Love to Me ...

Light My Fire

The Doors "The Jonathan Winters Show" 1967

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

giovonni

14th January 2014, 19:38

Oklahoma ... separating the state from its Church ... :rolleyes:

Satan Statue On Oklahoma State Capitol ?

"The Satanic Temple wants their statue to be placed on Oklahoma State Capitol grounds. The organization believes that they are entitled to fair treatment due to the monument of the Ten Commandments that exists on the Oklahoma State Capitol. This monument was allowed because it was not funded by the government, and legally, the Satanic Temple is entitled to the same right as any other religion. Lissette Padilla and Elliot Hill discuss equal treatment and the balance between church and state in this clip from the Lip News."

Published on Jan 14, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutmZoTRh3s

giovonni

14th January 2014, 20:54

http://www.earthtimes.org/newsimage/cats_feline_hypochondria_27111.jpg

Scientist claims that your cat thinks you’re an overgrown, clumsy idiot of a cat

"A British biologist who spent the past 30 years studying cat behavior is claiming that domesticated cats aren’t all that domesticated, and believe that their owners are “larger, non-hostile cats” instead of another species.

According to Dr. John Bradshaw, cats live in a state of arrested development. In his newly released book Cat Sense, Bradshaw argues that unlike dogs, whose physiques and behaviors were modified by deliberate breeding programs, cats were never bred for a purpose outside of the purview for which they were already valued: catching rodents and being adorable.

The current domestic cat population remains in a semi-feral state, Bradshaw argues, because 85 percent of cat-matings are “arranged by cats themselves.” The result of remaining in this semi-feral state is that they behave toward humans as they would to other cats — but not just any other cat, Bradshaw claims, but their mother.

According to Bradshaw, the strongest natural bond in the repertoire of cat behavior is between a mother and her kittens. Purring is a signal to a mother that she should feed them, and the “kneading” actions that domesticated cats perform on their owners replicates how kittens stimulate the flow of breast milk.

In addition to “making bread,” other signs of arrested development in cats include the manner in which they approach their owners. The desire to rub against their owners’ legs, their presentation of their heads to be scratched, and the upright tail with which they approach their owners are “the clearest way cats show their affection for us,” Bradshaw claims. All of these behaviors indicate that cats consider their owners as they would their mothers, as a “larger, non-hostile cat.”

Bradshaw also conjectures that cats bring their kills indoors not because they are attempting to share them, but because they realize, upon returning, that they prefer the taste of canned cat food."

source (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/12/scientist-claims-that-your-cat-thinks-youre-an-overgrown-clumsy-idiot-of-a-cat/)

giovonni

17th January 2014, 04:56

hmm ...

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--_MERBkMd--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/19crjqqs9p59kjpg.jpg

Concept Art ?

High above the planet's atmosphere looms a mysterious fleet carrying a giant fetus waiting to be born. Is it a captured Star Child ? A human fetus nurtured by a race of miniature aliens? A biologically engineered behemoth? It's up to you to decide.

This image by Santiago Vecino (http://santiago-vecino.com/2013/?p=16) is, in fact, titled "Creating a God" via ImaginaryTechnology (http://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryTechnology/comments/1v071e/creating_a_god_by_santiago_vecino/)" ...

http://santiago-vecino.com/2013/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CREATING-A-GOD-signed-1024x420.jpg

giovonni

18th January 2014, 10:16

strange days have found us ...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/16/article-2540955-1AB96BA200000578-505_964x643.jpg

China starts televising the sunrise on giant TV screens because Beijing is so clouded in smog...

Read more (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2540955/Beijing-clouded-smog-way-sunrise-watch-giant-commercial-screens-Tiananmen-Square.html)

giovonni

18th January 2014, 10:27

speaking of strange days ... :juggle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA2zNQxIZr0&list=PL91AA893EA265EB27

giovonni

19th January 2014, 13:04

Dude ... http://www.foro.fullaventura.com/images/smilies/358_smiley_face_surfing.gif

Get Pitted! A Surfer's Remix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgQ5BJTSv9U

giovonni

19th January 2014, 14:30

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/jobs/pope-smiley-emoticon.gif

:pray: taking the plunge ...

Correspondent plunges into icy waters on Epiphany ...

"Tens of thousands across Russia bathed in ice-cold rivers and ponds over the night of January 18-19, braving freezing winter temperatures to celebrate the Orthodox Christian holiday of Epiphany, the baptism of Jesus" ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54wpH1CMCYk

giovonni

19th January 2014, 17:29

'Men love to wonder... And that is the seed of Science' ... :wub:
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Thomas Dolby
Performing "She Blinded Me With Science"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpRgY9GXLO0

giovonni

20th January 2014, 19:07

the latest ...

Going Underground ...

"Afshin Rattansi goes underground on the government's million-pound relationship with Bahrain, as even royalty head over to show support for its ruling elite. The Campaign Against Arms Trade says our politicians are turning a blind eye to the atrocities in the country to profit from arms deals. Journalist Cory Doctorow says it's time we wake up to the actions of GCHQ - as it's revealed they even spy on your porn and gaming habits. Plus, this week's strangest headlines and how to know you're in a happy place - via Instagram."

Published on Jan 20, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL0etGJ55sg

giovonni

21st January 2014, 08:27

no doubts in my older mind there's something to this ... :rolleyes:

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02781/Retirement-Home_2781309b.jpg

Brains of elderly slow because they know so much (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10584927/Brains-of-elderly-slow-because-they-know-so-much.html)

giovonni

21st January 2014, 19:47

hmm ...

http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/screen-shot-2014-01-21-at-9-30-46-am.png?w=585&h=345

Feds Interrogate Man Wearing Google Glass in Movie Theater
(http://betabeat.com/2014/01/feds-interrogate-man-wearing-google-glass-in-movie-theater/)

giovonni

22nd January 2014, 07:52

http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00150-handshake.gif

Twitter storm in Russia over Sochi Olympics twin toilet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25830617)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72421000/jpg/_72421481_bca4e1f8-032a-4a64-9c95-8fcc1c712362.jpg

dianna

22nd January 2014, 16:04

Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government's Ever Sent

http://lh3.ggpht.com/u5K_Xp_M7NDqPKGrNP3BC9Oxd808bjXyFvygqUcFpBWqLN0_fHlpzV8Ld8eM_531v_YcR0yN9lEPTgH7XqZxywX6FmoyQWL78U0= s630

“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”

That's a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime's police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact, it's downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it when absolutely necessary, I swear).

But that's what this is: it's technology employed to detect noncompliance, to hone in on dissent. The NY Times reports that the "Ukrainian government used telephone technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones in use near clashes between riot police officers and protesters early on Tuesday." Near. Using a cell phone near a clash lands you on the regime's hit list.

See, Kiev is tearing itself to shreds right now, but since we're kind of burned out on protests, riots, and revolutions at the moment, it's being treated below-the-fold news. Somehow, the fact that over a million people are marching, camping out, and battling with Ukraine's increasingly authoritarian government is barely making a ripple behind such blockbuster news bits as bridge closures and polar vortexes. Yes, even though protesters are literally building catapaults and wearing medieval armor and manning flaming dump trucks.

Hopefully news of the nascent techno-security state will turn some heads—it's right out of 1984, or, more recently, Elysium: technology deployed to "detect" dissent. Again, this tech appears to be highly arbitrary; anyone near the protest is liable to be labeled a "participant," as if targeting protesters directly and so broadly wasn't bad enough in the first place.

It's further reminder that authoritarian regimes are exploiting the very technology once celebrated as a vehicle for liberation; last year, in Turkey, you'll recall, the state rounded up dissident Twitter users. Now, Ukraine is tracing the phone signal directly. Dictators have already proved plenty adept at pulling the plug on the internet altogether.

All of this puts lie to the lately-popular mythology that technology is inherently a liberating force—with the right hack, it can oppress just as easily.

http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/blog/maybe-the-most-orwellian-text-message-ever-sent

giovonni

23rd January 2014, 15:29

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/21/article-2543300-1ADB814D00000578-50_634x485.jpg

A store that ONLY sells 'expired' food ?
Former Trader Joe's president on his plan to make cheap...
Healthy groceries available to the masses (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2543300/A-store-ONLY-sells-expired-food-Former-Trader-Joes-president-plan-make-cheap-healthy-groceries-available-masses.html)

dianna

24th January 2014, 07:30

As Seen in ‘Goodfellas’: Arrest Is Made in ’78 Lufthansa Robbery

New York Times
January 23, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/nyregion/arrests-in-cold-case-investigation-including-78-lufthansa-heist.html?_r=0

http://images.smh.com.au/2014/01/24/5102413/Mob_bg-408x264.jpg

The crime gripped the public’s imagination, for both its magnitude and its moxie: In the predawn hours of Dec. 11, 1978, a group of masked gunmen seized about $6 million in cash and jewels from a cargo building at Kennedy International Airport.

The Lufthansa heist, as it was known, was billed as the biggest cash robbery in United States history, and it played a starring role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie “Goodfellas.” It remained unsolved for four decades, perhaps because many of those who might have known something turned up dead.

But more than 35 years later, federal authorities on Thursday charged a 78-year-old man, Vincent Asaro, with playing a role in the robbery, saying they had four cooperating witnesses from organized crime families who linked Mr. Asaro, a reputed capo in the Bonanno crime family, to the robbery.

It is an unexpected turn in a famously unsolved case that had long been attributed to the Lucchese crime family. The indictment makes clear that the authorities now are convinced that the Bonanno family was also involved.

The only person ever convicted in the robbery was a Lufthansa cargo agent, described as the “inside man” in the plot.

The indictment, alleging a racketeering conspiracy from 1968 to 2013, represents the first time an organized crime figure has been charged in the $6 million robbery — the equivalent, adjusted for inflation, of $21.4 million today. But Mr. Asaro, a resident of Howard Beach, Queens, does not appear to have grown rich from the crime; as late as 2011, he was recorded complaining about his take, according to prosecutors.

“We never got our right money, what we were supposed to get,” Mr. Asaro said to another mob figure, who is cooperating with the government.

“Jimmy kept everything,” he added, apparently a reference to Mr. Burke, according to legal filings by prosecutors.

The indictment charges Mr. Asaro; Jerome Asaro, 55, his son; Jack Bonventre; Thomas DiFiore; and John Ragano with a conspiracy that plays like a Mafia highlights reel: robbery, extortion, murder and more.

Mr. Asaro, for example, was accused in the far-ranging indictment of muscling his way into the pornography business, and of robbing Federal Express of $1.25 million worth of gold salts, which are sometimes used in medicinal treatments. The indictment also accuses him of seeking to have his cousin murdered after the cousin testified in court about an insurance swindle.

“Those suspected of cooperating with law enforcement paid with their lives,” said the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Loretta E. Lynch, whose office is prosecuting the case.

Some of the crimes alleged in the indictment predated even the airport heist, including a homicide committed in 1969.

The federal investigation became public in June, when agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation descended on a home owned by Mr. Burke’s daughter in the South Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens and began digging in the basement, soon finding human remains.

The remains, the indictment states, belonged to Paul Katz, who was identified in court papers as an associate of Mr. Burke’s who had a warehouse used by Mr. Asaro and Mr. Burke to store stolen goods. After the warehouse was raided, Mr. Asaro began to suspect that Mr. Katz was an informant. He later told a government informant that he and Mr. Burke had killed Mr. Katz in 1969 with a dog chain and buried him under cement in a vacant house, according to a legal filing submitted by prosecutors.

Years later, according to a filing, after a police detective reopened the Katz murder case, Mr. Asaro directed his son and another man to dig up the remains, which were then buried under the home of Mr. Burke’s daughter.

Launch media viewerRemains of a 1969 murder victim were unearthed last June. Kathy Willens/Associated Press

The five defendants, who investigators said were all linked to the Bonanno family, were arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where they were ordered held. Each stood with his hands behind his back. Vincent Asaro, who wore a black sweatsuit, running shoes and tinted eyeglasses, pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer, Gerald J. McMahon, said in an interview outside the courtroom, “Literally and truly this is the sequel to ‘Goodfellas.’ ”

“Marty needs a screenplay; Loretta said she would help him out,” Mr. McMahon said of Mr. Scorsese and Ms. Lynch, the prosecutor.

“We’re confident,” he said, noting, “Vincent Asaro said categorically, ‘We’re going to trial.’ ”

Prosecutors say that Mr. Asaro is currently a captain in the Bonanno crime family, but that his standing has varied over the years, and that at one point he was demoted for taking too much money from his underlings.

The legal filings by prosecutors do not say precisely what Mr. Asaro’s role in the Lufthansa heist might have been, although he is charged with the robbery itself as well as with planning it.

“Asaro himself was in on one of the most notorious heists — the Lufthansa robbery in 1978,” the F.B.I. agent in charge of the New York field office, George Venizelos, said. “It may be decades later, but the F.B.I.’s determination to investigate and bring wiseguys to justice will never waver.”

Prosecutors believe that Mr. Asaro gave some of the stolen jewelry to a superior in the Bonanno crime family. That superior later became an informer and is helping prosecutors with the current case, according to a legal filing. The cooperator is not named in court papers but appears to match the description of a former boss of the Bonanno family, Joseph C. Massino.

The F.B.I. agent who supervised the investigation decades ago, Steve Carbone, said in an interview that he had always suspected that Mr. Asaro was “in the mix as a player” who had connections at the airport. But Mr. Carbone, who retired in 1998, said it would be a surprise to him “if Asaro was physically involved in the heist” as one of the gunmen.

Investigators believe that about a half-dozen gunmen were involved in the robbery. Among the suspects, Mr. Carbone said, were Frank Burke, James Burke’s son; Thomas DeSimone; Angelo Sepe; and Anthony Rodriguez. They all are dead or presumed dead.

Mr. Burke was eventually sent to prison on information provided by Henry Hill, the mobster-turned-informant of “Goodfellas” fame, who helped plan the Lufthansa heist. But the conviction was unrelated: It involved fixing college basketball games. While in prison, Mr. Burke was convicted in a murder.

The only person convicted of the Lufthansa robbery was the cargo agent, Louis Werner, who had gambling debts to pay off. Mr. Werner took the idea for the crime to his bookmaker, who introduced him to another bookmaker, a beautician from Long Island, who is believed to have passed along the tip to Mr. Burke’s crew. Mr. Werner was indicted in March 1979, within four months of the robbery.

Only a tiny fraction of the money stolen at Kennedy Airport was ever recovered.

By 1980, when Mr. Hill began cooperating, several corpses of people connected to the robbery or to its participants had already been discovered.

Mr. Hill died in 2012, having had heart disease and other health problems. It is thought that Mr. Rodriguez might have died from a bite by one of the dozens of pet snakes he kept in his home, according to his lawyer, Marvyn Kornberg. But Mr. Carbone said that over the years, “I got to believe 15 people were killed solely because of this case.”

giovonni

24th January 2014, 09:46

crying wolf ...

http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2013/12/30/101302060-img1r.530x298.jpg?v=1390430313

The Hollywood indicator: ‘Wolf' market warning ? (http://www.cnbc.com/id/101356048)

Wookie

24th January 2014, 13:27

If ya have 45 minutes to listen to a great poet, my favorite :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sukBcmPCs-Q

I AM THE LIZARD KING Wookie

giovonni

24th January 2014, 16:41

Thanks for posting Wookie ...

More akin to a musical movement piece ... An American Prayer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Prayer)

Was a loving and ultimate tribute to Jim from from Ray John and Robbie ~ :grouphug:

Note ~ the feelings the doors music (still) conjures within me ... transcend this plane....

We probably have some draconian flowing in us ... :rolleyes:

The last Jam

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

giovonni

25th January 2014, 12:13

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/7fce265f12fb712ba97678e2e62096021e11f51a_m.jpg

Freedom in 704 Square Feet (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/garden/freedom-in-704-square-feet.html?_r=0)

dianna

25th January 2014, 13:18

http://media.mercola.com/imageserver/public/2008/April/4.19expensivedrugs.jpg

Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers explains: Nexavar cancer drug is for "western patients who can afford it.”
http://keionline.org/node/1910
http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/dr-dekkers_280_en.jpg

Today health advocates were shocked by the direct and appalling statements attributed to Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers. Published in Businessweek on January 21, 2014 and written by Bloomberg reporter Ketaki Gokhale, a news story about disputes over drug patents (link here) ended with an account of the India compulsory license on the cancer drug Nexavar, and practically exploded. Dekker is quoted as saying Bayer did not intend the cancer drug to be sold to cancer patients in India, adding “We developed it for western patients who can afford it.” From the Bloomberg/Businessweek story:

Under India’s patent laws, compulsory licenses can be awarded for some products still under patent if the original isn’t available locally at a reasonable price.
Natco Pharma Ltd. (NTCPH) applied directly to India’s patents office and was awarded the nation’s first compulsory license in March 2012 to make a copy of Bayer’s Nexavar cancer drug at a 97 percent discount to the original product. In March last year, Bayer lost its bid to stop Natco from making the generic drug and is appealing the decision at the Mumbai High Court.

Bayer Chief Executive Officer Marijn Dekkers called the compulsory license “essentially theft.”

“We did not develop this medicine for Indians,” Dekkers said Dec. 3. “We developed it for western patients who can afford it.”

Apparently the December 3, 2013 quote is from an earlier largely overlooked event hosted by the FT. For more context, note that the Bayer price for Nexavar was $65 thousand USD, per year, in India, and that Bayer is currently arguing that the $65 thousand price is "reasonably affordable" to the India Supreme Court. Dekker's comments will likely be quoted extensively in India, and I would not be surprised to see them quoted in a decision rejecting the Bayer appeal. It is worth noting that Dekkers, who holds both Dutch and U.S. citizenship, is a member of the Board of Directors of General Electric, another company that takes a very hard line on intellectual property issues. (See, for example: http://keionline.org/node/1822).
The U.S. government has weighed in on the side of Bayer in the patent case, at the highest levels of the India and the US governments.

MSF response to Bayer CEO statement that medicines developed only for western patients
http://www.msfaccess.org/content/msf-response-bayer-ceo-statement-medicines-developed-only-western-patients

“The Bayer CEO going on record to say that they did not develop a cancer medicine for Indians but only for ‘western patients who can afford it’ sums up everything that is wrong with the multinational pharmaceutical industry. Bayer is effectively admitting that the drugs they develop are deliberately going to be rationed to the wealthiest patients.

This is a side-effect of the way drugs are developed today. Pharmaceutical companies are singularly focused on profit and so aggressively push for patents and high drug prices. Diseases that don’t promise a profit are neglected, and patients who can’t afford to pay are cut out of the picture. Drug companies claim to care about global health needs, but their track record says otherwise.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Medical innovation can be incentivised differently, and research paid for in ways that deliver drugs but without high prices that exclude millions of people from access. Instead of being part of the problem, drug companies should work to be part of the solution and change the dire state of medical research and development today.”
- Dr Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign

dianna

25th January 2014, 13:51

http://freakoutnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/eat-the-rich_11-26-11.jpg

Apparently "poverty" empowers people … oh, and is also a good topic for people to discuss at "cocktail parties"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeV4BthtIQ4

Jan 23, 2014
Abby Martin calls out TV show host Kevin O'Leary, for his callous celebration of the latest Oxfam statistics on the widening gap between the world's rich and poor.

dianna

26th January 2014, 17:21

Alchemy May Not Have Been the Pseudoscience We All Thought It Was

By Richard Conniff
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

http://www.crystalinks.com/alchemymen.jpg
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/alchemy-may-not-been-pseudoscience-we-thought-it-was-180949430/

Throughout much of the 20th century, the academic community had little patience with alchemists and their vain efforts to transmute base metals into gold. Any contemporary scholar who even dared to write about alchemy, historian Herbert Butterfield warned, would “become tinctured with the kind of lunacy they set out to describe.”

But, in the 1980s, some revisionist scholars began arguing that alchemists actually made significant contributions to the development of science. Historians of science began deciphering alchemical texts—which wasn’t easy. The alchemists, obsessed with secrecy, deliberately described their experiments in metaphorical terms laden with obscure references to mythology and history. For instance, text that describes a “cold dragon” who “creeps in and out of the caves” was code for saltpeter (potassium nitrate)—a crystalline substance found on cave walls that tastes cool on the tongue.

This painstaking process of decoding allowed researchers, for the first time, to attempt ambitious alchemical experiments. Lawrence Principe, a chemist and science historian at Johns Hopkins University, cobbled together obscure texts and scraps of 17th-century laboratory notebooks to reconstruct a recipe to grow a “Philosophers’ Tree” from a seed of gold. Supposedly this tree was a precursor to the more celebrated and elusive Philosopher’s Stone, which would be able to transmute metals into gold. The use of gold to make more gold would have seemed entirely logical to alchemists, Principe explains, like using germs of wheat to grow an entire field of wheat.

Principe mixed specially prepared mercury and gold into a buttery lump at the bottom of a flask. Then he buried the sealed flask in a heated sand bath in his laboratory.

One morning, Principe came into the lab to discover to his “utter disbelief” that the flask was filled with “a glittering and fully formed tree” of gold. The mixture of metals had grown upward into a structure resembling coral or the branching canopy of a tree minus the leaves.

What intrigues Principe and his fellow historians, though, is the growing evidence that the alchemists seem to have performed legitimate experiments, manipulated and analyzed the material world in interesting ways and reported genuine results. And many of the great names in the canon of modern science took note, says William Newman, a historian at Indiana University Bloomington.

http://www.chemistry-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FundedByGoldWeMake.gif

Robert Boyle, one of the 17th-century founders of modern chemistry, “basically pillaged” the work of the German physician and alchemist Daniel Sennert, says Newman. When Boyle’s French counterpart, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, substituted a modern list of elements (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and others) for the ancient four elements (earth, air, fire and water), he built on an idea that was “actually widespread in earlier alchemical sources,” Newman writes. The concept that matter was composed of several distinctive elements, in turn, inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s work on optics—notably, his demonstration that the multiple colors produced by a prism could be reconstituted into white light.

Other scholars have at times responded to this idea with outrage. Principe was once confronted at an academic conference by a member of the audience who was “literally shaking with rage that I could defame Boyle in this way.” But younger academics have taken up alchemy as a hot topic. The early revisionist research, says Principe, “cracked open the seal and said ‘Hey, look everybody, this is not what you thought it was.’”

In a mark of that new acceptance, the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany, will present a show, beginning in April, that—along with alchemy-influenced artworks, from Jan Brueghel the Elder to Anselm Kiefer—will include an exhibit on Principe’s “Philosophers’ Tree” experiment.

Does this new view of alchemy make the great names in the early history of science seem more derivative and thus less great? “We were just talking in my class about the rhetoric of novelty,” says Principe, “and how it benefits people to say that their discoveries are completely new.” But that’s not how scientific ideas develop. “They don’t just sort of come to someone in a dream, out of nowhere. New scientific ideas tend to develop out of older ones by a slow process of evolution and refinement.”

From that perspective, the scientific revolution may have been a little less revolutionary than we imagine. Better to think of it as a transmutation, like the alchemists’ quest to change lead into gold.

giovonni

28th January 2014, 12:05

nice ...

some man's best friend ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HB-DKO1Xmk

giovonni

28th January 2014, 22:22

http://r24.imgfast.net/users/2411/23/55/04/smiles/262321.gif

Maryland General Assembly Warms up to Raw Milk

"There is a battle raging across the nation over the safety of raw milk. The latest battleground is in the Maryland General Assembly. Many Americans are divided between those who espouse the nutritional value of raw milk, and others who say pasteurization helps keep the white liquid safe to drink.

Currently, 30 states allow the sale of milk produced in their state without treatment, while 20 forbid the practice.

One of the states currently considering the legalization of raw milk is Maryland. This measure would give the green light to cow-boarding or cow-shares, providing raw milk to the people of The Old Line State. Similar proposals are being considered in both Florida and Massachusetts" ...

Published on Jan 28, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY3v5HqUVfc

giovonni

29th January 2014, 13:00

will share this here ...

Jeff Rense & John Barbour - Hollywood's Golden Age

Clip from January 23, 2014 / Published on Jan 29, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiucdDKiurg&feature=em-uploademail

giovonni

29th January 2014, 15:20

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/19durfjrj3aqvgif.gif

Scientists Film How the Brain Makes Memories For the First Time Ever (http://sploid.gizmodo.com/scientists-watch-how-the-brain-makes-memories-for-the-f-1509923347)

giovonni

30th January 2014, 22:31

Via ~ The Sundance Film Festival

WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA verses AMES J. BULGER

Documentary w. Joe Berlinger

... "This is a documentary about infamous Boston gangster "Whitey" Bulger, and we get the first look at the movie, direct from its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Director Joe Berlinger explains to us the fascinating story of Bulger, the true story behind the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the Departed, and the long manhunt and eventual apprehension of one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives" ...

FILM INFO:
Infamous gangster James "Whitey" Bulger wielded a mystique as the Robin Hood of South Boston. Fabricated in his hometown, Bulger's legend captured the imagination of the entire country. Separating the man from the myth, this riveting documentary challenges conventional wisdom by detailing shocking new allegations. With unprecedented access, filmmaker Joe Berlinger utilizes this past summer's sensational trial against Bulger as a springboard to explore corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Embedded for months with retired FBI agents, Massachusetts state police, victims, lawyers, gangsters, journalists, and federal prosecutors, Berlinger scrutinizes Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice—an interaction that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire for decades. Academy Award nominee Berlinger returns to the Sundance Film Festival for the sixth time with this mesmerizing and complex account of crime and corruption. WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger relates a universal tale of human frailty, opportunism, and deception and reveals the often-elusive nature of truth and justice.

Published on Jan 30, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ubzlAGEog

giovonni

1st February 2014, 11:45

what's happening in the UK ...

Going Underground: Cameron v Snowden

"Afshin Rattansi goes underground on Cameron's apparent lack of understanding of public outrage at the Snowden leaks. Labour MP Dave Lammy talks Iraq war regrets and the need for reform in the Independent Police Complaints Commission. While the Home Secretary mulls arming riot police with water cannons, it turns out some think they'd be better off with machine guns. Plus, what the Lobbying Bill -- or the Gagging Law, as it's affectionately referred to -- means for future elections. And, the mainstream media has finally woken up to the NSA scandal -- all because of a few angry birds."

Published on Feb 1, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJi83JLkHs

giovonni

1st February 2014, 12:05

bless them ...

Inside the Bumblebee Nest

"Bombus terrestris, the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee is one of the most numerous bumblebee species in Europe. The queen is 2--2.7 cm long, while the workers are 1½--2 cm. The latter are characterized by their white-ended abdomens and look (apart from their yellowish bands being darker in direct comparison) just like those of the white-tailed bumblebee, B. lucorum, a close relative. The queens of B. terrestris have the namesake buff-white abdomen ("tail") tip; this area is white like in the workers in B. lucorum.

Such bees can navigate their way back to the nest from a distance as far away as 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), although most forage within 5 km from their nest.

Life cycle

The first bumblebees to be seen in spring are the queens -- the queen is the only bumblebee to hibernate through the winter. The queen is much bigger than the workers, which appear later. As soon as the queen has found some nectar, to replenish her energy reserves, she starts looking for a suitable site to build her nest.

The nest site is usually underground; an abandoned mouse burrow is often used. Inside, the queen first builds a nectar pot, which will sustain her during bad weather. She also begins to build up a pollen larder, which will feed her brood.

The queen then lays a small batch of eggs. Once these hatch she tends the larvae, feeding them with nectar and pollen. When the larvae are grown they pupate, and about 2 weeks later the first worker bumblebees emerge. These workers will forage for nectar and pollen for the colony, and tend later generations of larvae. The queen can now concentrate on egg laying and does not need to leave the nest again. The workers are smaller than the queen, and will only live for a few weeks. The foraging range and frequency of workers depends on the quality and distribution of available forage but most workers forage within a few hundred metres of their nest.

Towards the end of summer the queen lays some unfertilized eggs which develop into male bees. Some eggs are also laid which receive extra food and pupate to become new queens. When the males emerge from the nest they do not return, foraging only for themselves. They seek out the new queens and mate with them.

B. terrestris is thought to be a mainly singly mating species. This is unusual for social insect queens where mating with several males (polyandry) has been shown to have several benefits. The lack of multiple mating by B. terrestris queens may be caused by male interference in the process. B. terrestris males plug the female's sexual tract with a sticky secretion during mating which appears to temporarily reduce the female's ability to successfully mate with other males for several days.

When the autumn cold weather sets in, all but the young queens will die. The latter seek out a safe place to hibernate; they are the only ones to survive the winter."

Published on Feb 1, 2014

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

giovonni

2nd February 2014, 12:04

ethics ~ moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior ...

Corruption 101: UK MPs to take ethics courses to resist temptation of lobbyists' cash

"A new bill that puts limits on the amount of money that can be spent on election campaigning has narrowly squeaked through the British parliament... But that won't stop the peddling of political influence that goes on at other times... often ending in scandal."

Published on Feb 2, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nAplKMcru4

giovonni

2nd February 2014, 19:43

giovonni

3rd February 2014, 02:42

sad American reality ...

Big City Life: Homeless in New York City

"There are around 1,750,000 homeless people in the USA today. According to the 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, nearly 64,000 people, including 22,000 children, are homeless in New York City. Through an artist who paints New York vagrants, RT relays the life stories of people who live on the edge, learns how they came to the streets and how to survive there. We also meet some of the dedicated volunteers who do what they can to help."

Published on Feb 2, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIKVULiB5qk

giovonni

5th February 2014, 14:45

this country's going to pot ~ literally ... :rolleyes:

http://cdn3.independent.ie/incoming/article29971819.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/bp.jpg

Flying High ? Exclusive Inside Story on Bieber's 'Pot' Plane (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/flying-high-exclusive-inside-story-biebers-pot-plane-n22056)

giovonni

5th February 2014, 14:55

Will share this here ... no offense to my friend Jesus ...

Robert Anton Wilson - a full length talk

"Robert Anton Wilson, known to friends as "Bob", was an American author novelist, philosopher...
psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic."

Published on Jan 24, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL-Mq-BqVTs

giovonni

7th February 2014, 19:28

in the mist of it all ~ i always try to be :)

HAPPY

extended version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRMOMjCoR58

giovonni

9th February 2014, 16:11

hmm ...

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72857000/jpg/_72857151_72857150.jpg

Swiss immigration: 'Narrow Yes' to bring back quotas
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26108597)

sheme

9th February 2014, 16:33

The Swiss have snow blindness they think their land is pure and clean and white.

giovonni

9th February 2014, 17:00

naturally ... :rolleyes:

Creating The Natural Effect ?

Published on Jan 28, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AftZshnP8fs#t=129

sheme

9th February 2014, 17:12

I am going to grow my own food this year - for sure. Death is natural isn't it?

Thanks Gio. Organic is the other option.

giovonni

10th February 2014, 01:40

It was 5o years ago tonight ... such wonderful memories !

On February 9th 1964 ~ The Beatles commenced they're invasion of America

i was 12 year old lad sitting at home in Washington DC watching this on a black and white tv ...

"The Beatles appeared on three consecutive Sundays in February 1964 to great anticipation and fanfare as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" had swiftly risen to No. 1 in the charts. Their first appearance on February 9 is considered a milestone in American pop culture and the beginning of the British Invasion in music. The broadcast drew an estimated 73 million viewers, at the time a record for US television ...

The following week's show was broadcast from Miami Beach where Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) was in training for his first title bout with Sonny Liston. The occasion was used by both camps for publicity. On the evening of the television show (February 16) a crush of people nearly prevented the band from making it onstage. A wedge of policemen were needed and the band began playing "She Loves You" only seconds after reaching their instruments. They continued with "This Boy", and "All My Loving" and returned later to close the show with "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me to You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

They were shown on tape February 23 (this appearance had been taped earlier in the day on February 9 before their first live appearance). They followed Ed's intro with "Twist and Shout" and "Please Please Me" and closed the show once again with "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

The Beatles on 'Ed Sullivan': 50 Years Later :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJxvm5zbeBc

Related ...

Washington DC Remembers Beatles' First US Concert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3c1O_Q6Gk

giovonni

11th February 2014, 18:46

giovonni

11th February 2014, 18:53

standing room only ...

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/hiPGNEu_xEOzBsUfEZFk4g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2014-02-10/a4f41ff0-929d-11e3-a4f0-83515215cda7_ext.png

This church holds naked services ! (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/this-church-holds-naked-services-221524042.html;_ylt=AwrBEiT0UflSf3cArqLQtDMD)

giovonni

11th February 2014, 22:20

Volunteers Smuggle Stray Dogs Out of Sochi

Animal advocates are coming to the rescue of stray dogs near the Olympic venues in Sochi...
scooping up the dogs before they can be euthanized by pest-control contractors. (Feb. 11, 2014)."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo0BAAP3SZo

giovonni

12th February 2014, 17:02

http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/philip-seymour-hoffman-found-dead-in-manhattan-apartment-20140202/1000x306/20140202-psh-x250-1391366605.jpg

Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment
(http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/philip-seymour-hoffman-found-dead-in-manhattan-apartment-20140202)

sad news note ... :(

http://nyppagesix.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/obit_hoffman_88181223.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1

Hoffman’s diaries reveal struggle with ‘demons’ before OD (http://pagesix.com/2014/02/11/private-diaries-reveal-hoffmans-demons/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=P6Twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow)

update

http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/philip-seymour-hoffman-1967-2014-inside-rolling-stones-new-issue-20140212/1000x306/20140210-pshcover-x600-1392052713.jpg

His closest friends remember the greatest actor of a generation here (http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/philip-seymour-hoffman-1967-2014-inside-rolling-stones-new-issue-20140212)

dianna

13th February 2014, 20:14

dianna

13th February 2014, 20:34

And yet, another another reason to hang naked on the balcony tonight ... LOL

Shivering More Effective Than Exercise? 15 Minutes Of Shivering May Burn More Fat Than 1 Hour Of Working Out

http://www.mbc.edu/images/news_mag/snowbathers2.jpg

New research shows that shivering may be more effective than exercise when it comes to burning fat, raising the possibility that people determined to lose weight need only go outside without a jacket to achieve their goal.

Dr. Paul Lee, an endocrinologist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney and lead author of a new study, said in a press release that the new findings build on previous research into so-called brown fat — a type of fat tissue that essentially burns energy instead of storing it. Whereas 50 grams of white fat stores 300 calories, the same volume of brown fat can burn 300 calories in one day. “Excitement in the brown fat field has risen significantly over last few years because its energy-burning nature makes it a potential therapeutic target against obesity and diabetes," he explained. "White fat transformation into brown fat could protect animals against diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver.”

The study, which is published in the journal Cell Metabolism, shows that this fat transformation may be achieved without access to weights or treadmills. By exposing volunteers to cold temperatures and measuring their production of hormones associated with brown fat activation, the researchers found that 10 to 15 minutes of shivering yielded the same increase in production as one hour of moderate exercise. "We identified two hormones that are stimulated by cold — irisin and FGF21 — released from shivering muscle and brown fat respectively,” Lee explained. “These hormones fired up the energy-burning rate of human white fat cells in the laboratory, and the treated fat cells began to emit heat — a hallmark of brown fat function."

Aside from illuminating a potential weight-loss method, these findings also expand the current knowledge of the body’s own heating mechanism. "When we are cold, we first activate our brown fat because it burns energy and releases heat to protect us,” Lee told reporters. “When that energy is insufficient, muscle contracts mechanically, or shivers, thereby generating heat. However, we did not know how muscle and fat communicate in this process."

Shiver, Burn Fat
The current study dovetails with a paper from Maastricht University published earlier this year, in which researchers show that lowering your thermostat may help you burn excess fat continuously throughout your day. According to the authors, it follows that a nationwide move toward lower indoor temperatures may have a tremendous impact on the national health profile. With obesity rates on the rise, an intervention of this scope may prove to be an invaluable service to public health.

While many factors may account for the health benefits of shivering, Lee and his colleagues believe that it all comes down to the fact that heat generation and exercise follow the same physiological rules. "We speculate exercise could be mimicking shivering — because there is muscle contraction during both processes, and that exercise-stimulated irisin could have evolved from shivering in the cold."

http://www.medicaldaily.com/shivering-more-effective-exercise-15-minutes-shivering-may-burn-more-fat-1-hour-working-out-268555

dianna

13th February 2014, 21:03

Leonard Knight, artist at Salvation Mountain, dies at age 82
By Tony Perry
February 10, 2014, LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-leonard-mountain-20140210,0,4207000.story#axzz2sxrHBUtq

http://telusplanet.net/public/waters/Photos/salvation.jpg

http://www.rwongphoto.com/480x320xRW5733_web.jpg.pagespeed.ic.WyPPFTduxF.jpg

Leonard Knight, the lean and sturdy New Englander who spent three decades joyously painting religious messages on a tall mound of adobe he called Salvation Mountain in the Imperial Valley desert, died Monday at age 82.
Knight died at a convalescent hospital in eastern San Diego County where he had been a resident for more than two years. He had suffered the ravages of diabetes, along with other ailments of old age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTjl6mdzuuU

Until his health declined, Knight had lived in the back of his truck, sharing his space with a variety of cats without names, undeterred by the brutal desert heat or howling winds.

"Love Jesus and keep it simple," he once said, explaining his philosophy of life.
The mountain is a sloping, terraced hill about three stories tall and 100 feet long and crowned with a cross. The property is owned by the state, but efforts to oust Knight have long since been abandoned.

Knight's main message on his mountain was simple: "God Is Love."

Much of the paint was donated by "snowbirds" arriving in the area for the winter warmth. "God has a way of supplying my needs," Knight said.

In his native Vermont, he had been a welder, handyman, guitar teacher, painter and body-and-fender man. He arrived in Slab City in the early 1980s -- with his truck, an old tractor, and a hot-air balloon that he had once thought would be his conveyance for a cross-country float.

Although he never sought attention, numerous newspaper stories brought him a kind of celebrity that he cherished.

To his amazement, he became a favorite of folk art aficionados. His truck was dismantled and taken to a museum in Baltimore for display. His picture was the cover shot for the book "Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Folk Art Environments."

giovonni

14th February 2014, 13:33

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19ffafjk8xyvwpng/ku-xlarge.png

The hospital that put people into a coma as a treatment

"Doctor Harry Bailey promised people that he could cure them of drug addiction, depression, schizophrenia, anorexia, and nearly anything else. Then he sedated them for weeks. And he kept this up for 17 years.

Chelmsford Hospital's deep sleep ward was a quiet place to work. Aside from the staff, and the occasional visitor, everyone at the Australian private hospital ward was unconscious all the time. The doctor in charge, Harry Bailey, believed that a "long rest" was the ideal way to heal anyone of anything. Prolonged spells of unconsciousness would allow the brain to unlearn destructive patterns, and so would cure people with schizophrenia, PMS, or depression. It would also help people break out of unhealthy behavioral patterns, like drug addiction, anorexia, or compulsive behavior. And if you wanted to take off a few pounds, deep sleep therapy could help with that as well.

His philosophy resulted in two deaths a year inside his hospital, every year, for nearly two decades. Between 1962 and 1979, about two people a year failed to wake up from the coma that massive doses of barbituates put them in. Others died or were injured due to the electroconvulsive therapy that was performed on them while they were unconscious but without the muscle relaxers that would keep them from moving due to the shock. Others were injured by the sheer lack of motion.

Depending on who you ask, the death toll due to the therapy is in the low 20s or the high 80s. Some patients went on to die of illnesses that may have been caused by their time in Chelmsford. A high percentage of the deep sleep patients went on to kill themselves. Others just had terrible experiences. While the luckiest patients went to sleep and woke up missing no time, others experienced hallucinations and woke up covered in their own urine and feces. While some visitors said the deep sleep ward was peaceful, others talked about how it was filled with constant incoherent moaning.

What made Chelmsford a national scandal was not that this happened, but that the Australian government did nothing about it. Despite the deaths, and the live patients' complaints, the hospital passed inspection. It stayed operational when a 14-year-old boy died during the therapy. It even stayed operational when a man had second thoughts, accepted a pill that he was told would "calm him down" so he could talk about his therapy, and woke up days later. The man tried to press kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment charges.

It was only when the rest of the doctors at the hospital, horrified by the deaths, threatened to quit that the practice was stopped. A few years later it became the subject of a television special and an ongoing national scandal. Investigations were opened up against the doctors in charge, but they were so prolonged and scattered that after over a decade a court stated that the delays amounted to a government misuse of the system and dismissed some of the charges. Doctor Bailey himself committed suicide after investigation revealed that the research into sedation therapy on which he'd based his treatment was actually about the benefit of a few hours sedation. The average stay at Chelmsford was 14 days."

source page (http://io9.com/the-hospital-that-put-people-into-a-coma-as-a-treatment-1521166903)

giovonni

14th February 2014, 13:52

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SMALL_venicefreezes.jpg

Global Warming Freezes Venice ? (http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/global-warming-freezes-venice/)

giovonni

15th February 2014, 12:00

now that its past ... :rolleyes:

The Sadomasochistic Origin of Valentine's Day | Brainwash Update

"Abby Martin takes a look at the history of Valentine's Day, commenting on its sadistic origins and the corporate takeover of the holiday, which pushes the idea that consumerism equals love."

Published on Feb 14, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnhT4Rp7JPA

giovonni

17th February 2014, 20:57

Bill Murray ~ an interview with an iconic hipster ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00105-wink.gif

http://www.trbimg.com/img-52fd1829/turbine/la-et-st-bill-murray-reveals-his-planned-oscar-001/600

Bill Murray talks with Charlie Rose

Go here (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-bill-murray-reveals-his-planned-oscar-speech-to-charlie-rose-20140213,0,451349.story#axzz2tcAH8Y7b)

giovonni

19th February 2014, 14:41

when everything old becomes new again ...

My Back Pages

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hPq-aFrZNE

giovonni

19th February 2014, 20:54

a great voice ...

Art Garfunkel Is Ecstatic: 'My Voice Is 96 Percent Back'
Garfunkel talks about the painful process of regaining his voice,
and the future of Simon and Garfunkel (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/art-garfunkel-is-ecstatic-my-voice-is-96-percent-back-20140219)

and a great album

Art Garfunkel - Breakaway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hssuv2KaaM&list=PLLz8w2ODzHPjl_k9Kw2PSqJRSW-u38TZ5

dianna

20th February 2014, 15:23

US Clown Shortage Is Nothing To Laugh About
Send in the clowns! For the love of God, send them in!

http://static02.mediaite.com/geekosystem/uploads/2014/02/sadclown1.jpg

f you’ve noticed that clowns today seem a little older and more desperate than you might expect, that’s not just your innate clown bias talking–the US is currently experiencing an unprecedented shortage of the nightmare inducing funny guys. We’re also facing a fuel crisis and terrible droughts, but come on: this is a matter of national morale.

In an interview with The New York Daily News, The Clowns of America International President Glen Kohlberger warned that unless immediate action is taken, the time-honored profession of clowning may soon be just a horrifying memory.

Explains the ambassador for old-school buffoonery, “What’s happening is attrition. The older clowns are passing away.”

When older clowns move on to the big top in the sky, Kohlberger says the youth of today aren’t waiting to fill their over-sized shoes, possibly due to the profession’s poor pay (or it’s overall scariness.)

Kohlberger explains that most clowns earn just $200 or $300 per appearance–which seems like a lot to me as a non-clown, especially if the performer is pennywise, but perhaps there’s a lot of overhead I’m not accounting for.

Deanna Hartmier, President of the World Clown Association, says nearly all of the organization’s members are over 40–in other words, young blood must get involved ASAP for the organization to continue once the old guard retires or passes away.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look good for the Association, whose numbers dropped from 3,500 in 2004 to 2500 this year. 2,500 still sounds like a fairly scary amount of clowns to me, but that’s barely enough to fill one car.

One way Hartmier could increase the younger generation’s interest in her Association? Update their website.

http://static02.mediaite.com/geekosystem/uploads/2014/02/Screenshot-2014-02-18-12.31.08-640x345.jpg

Clowns might be good at dodging pies, but apparently they’re just horrible at web and logo design.

Kohlberger says that clowning is just not hip nowadays (a notion that is, as I said, definitely confirmed by clowns’ inability to code.) “What happens is [the younger generation] go on to high school and college and clowning isn’t cool anymore,” he laments.

One reason clowning no longer has the cache Kohlberger claims it used to?

An article in The Independent links the sinister portrayal of clowns in pop culture to declining interest in the art form, saying movies like IT and The Devil’s Rejects have done nothing to increase people’s fondness for the profession. John Wayne Gacy probably didn’t help much either.

Regardless, if Twitter is any indication of clowning trends, the world isn’t as “over” our wig-wearing jesters as low membership might indicate. The handle #clownshortage is oddly popular, with one of my favorite tweets coming from the wits at RMS Medical Billing.

So, clowning isn’t dead, necessarily. Today’s jokesters just have a different way of getting their jollies. Unfortunately for Kohlberger and Hartmier, the profession as they know it will need to adapt considerably to remain relevant in the modern world.

So, clowns of America: update your websites, get Twitter, and wipe that teardrop makeup off your face. The future will make way for you weirdos, if you make way for the future.

Alternatively, consider miming. I haven’t heard anything about mimes going extinct yet. Then again, would I?

http://www.geekosystem.com/us-clown-shortage/

giovonni

21st February 2014, 21:16

If you ever wondered how the United States got to where it is currently stuck ...
This from a former Washington insider ... :rolleyes:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/delay_constution_140220a-2-615x345.jpg

Tom DeLay: People Keep Forgetting That God ‘Wrote the Constitution’
(http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/20/tom-delay-people-keep-forgetting-that-god-wrote-the-constitution/)

giovonni

22nd February 2014, 00:02

via my friend mudra ...

OOPS ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP3gzee1cps

giovonni

22nd February 2014, 09:19

From the Corbett Report

an anarchist ~ what is it and what does it mean ...

The Well-Read Anarchist - An Introduction to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Published on Feb 22, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXOJjTzvS4

giovonni

23rd February 2014, 02:30

neat stuff ...

Resource Furniture: Italian-Designed Space Saving Furniture

Ron Barth, President of Resource Furniture
(http://www.resourcefurniture.com/space-savers) demonstrates and explains their amazing line of Italian-designed space-savers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAa6bOWB8qY

giovonni

23rd February 2014, 09:35

Via my friend ~ Shelly ...

Truly Beautiful ... :)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/q71/s720x720/1972295_10152311241184954_721084542_n.jpg

Hearing and vision loss are common in senior dogs. Here's what you can do to make life easier
for you and a dog that is blind, deaf, or both ... Caring for Dogs that Are Blind and Deaf (http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/senior-dog/Caring-for-Dogs-that-Are-Blind-and-Deaf?utm_content=Caring+for+Dogs+that+Are+Blind+and+Deaf&utm_campaign=&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Facebook%3A+Cesar+Millan)

giovonni

26th February 2014, 08:38

interesting item ...

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73212000/jpg/_73212160_scanning_tent.jpg

Chile's stunning fossil whale graveyard explained (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26343894)

giovonni

27th February 2014, 06:38

some real concerns ...

http://maxcdn.fooyoh.com/files/attach/images/3004/374/021/008/doggs.jpg

Vets Seeing More Dogs Eating Edible Marijuana (http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/02/25/vets-seeing-more-dogs-eating-edible-marijuana/)

giovonni

1st March 2014, 03:13

https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQAahIVDbJH9fsEA&w=398&h=208&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.viralnova.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F02%2Foldman.png&cfs=1&sx=0&sy=0&sw=698&sh=365

See This Beggar ?
You’re Never Going To Forget What He Does…
And You Shouldn’t. (http://www.viralnova.com/compassionate-homeless-person/)

scarletfire

1st March 2014, 22:34

giovonni

3rd March 2014, 19:27

the latest ...

Going Underground ...

US-UK special spy relations - Whistleblower & Snowden's lawyer speak

"Afshin Rattansi goes underground on the extent of collusion between the UK and US intelligence agencies. Whistleblower and lawyer to Edward Snowden Jesselyn Radack says controlling those who tell the truth is a way to control the masses. Tom Drake, another NSA whistleblower, explains the dark side of the cooperation between the NSA and GCHQ. A former UK Treasury economist says the government is celebrating recovery too early, amidst a housing bubble and low wages. Plus, we look at how the press has been misleading you the past week. And, how you can have your very own whistleblower action figure."

Published on Mar 3, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1xSRi2K_vc

giovonni

9th March 2014, 22:07

http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/12/25/52/2710157/8/628x471.jpg
San Francisco moves closer to banning plastic water bottles
(http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/05/us-usa-california-water-idUSBREA2409820140305)

related ...

BPA Free Plastic Safe? Guess Again !

"BPAs have been linked to health defects (including asthma, low sperm count, and all kinds of maladies), and they are found almost everywhere in plastic food and liquid containers. Now with plastic containers getting rid of BPAs, it seems they are just adding a different chemical that has all the same side effects. We look at the scary news involving the omnipresent chemical toxins in our sippy cups and water bottles, and how they can even effect our cells generations into the future" ...

Published on Mar 9, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7lEqtoB57g

giovonni

10th March 2014, 03:27

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/09/article-2576848-1C257DBC00000578-766_634x421.jpg

Dozens of Americans who claim to be allergic to electromagnetic signals
settle in small West Virginia town where WiFi is banned ?
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576848/I-used-sick-time-Dozens-Americans-claim-allergic-electromagnetic-signals-settle-small-West-Virginia-town-WiFi-banned.html)

giovonni

10th March 2014, 06:45

Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.

Deepak Chopra

Enter In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoiRjBH0KPc

giovonni

10th March 2014, 23:50

Arizona Sex Workers-Go To Jail or Church ?

"Sex workers in Arizona will now be given the choice of church therapy or jail as part of Project ROSE, a program where police are rounding up sex workers and bringing them to a church where they are then given these two options. Lissette Padilla and Elliot Hill discuss whether or not this could be a successful method of rehabilitation" ...

Published on Mar 10, 2014

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

dianna

12th March 2014, 21:27

Douchebag Megachurch Pastor Pays Over 200 Grand to Get His Book on the NYT Bestseller List For One Week

by Thad McKraken on March 11, 2014

http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/markdriscoll.jpg

If you live in Seattle, you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the antics of uber-douche “spiritual leader” Mark Driscoll, as his over the top douchebaggery is pretty much impossible to ignore around here. For those not in the know, he’s become rather famous by marketing a supposedly hip brand of Christianity (Christian rock can totally be a part of a church service dude!) to a younger demographic.

The problem is that his hip new faith embraces the same misogynist homophobia that most other conservative parishes in the Bible Belt embrace wholeheartedly. Women are not allowed to be a part of the clergy and are continually lectured in regards to the importance of submitting to their husband’s will. Being gay or getting an abortion will land you in hell. In fact, one of the weird things about Driscoll is that he somehow claims to know EXACTLY what God allows and doesn’t allow sexually. Right down to the letter (read more here). If you’ve never read that link, I highly recommend perusing it but I can sum up the gist for you in one sentence: only heterosexual sex between married people is acceptable in God’s eyes. What I’ve always found interesting about this fatty is that he never seems to explain how he gained access to this sacred sexual knowledge. ****’s not in the Bible.

The guy’s a magnet for controversy by his own intentions, but this transgression is particularly heinous. That’s right, King Douche of the Douche Brigade paid over 200 grand in church money to get his book on the New York Times bestseller list…for one week (read the whole article here).

“The report claims that Mars Hill paid for 11,000 books at the tune of between $18.62 and $20.70 each, adding up to a total of $123,600 for books bought by individuals and $93,100 for books bought in bulk. Despite the church saying that the “true cost” was “much less,” the actual amount was not revealed in Mars Hill’s response.

“The purpose of this instruction appears to be a way to outsmart systems put in place by The New York Times and other list compilers to prevent authors from buying their way onto best-seller lists,”World initially reported. “Result Source apparently uses other techniques to work around the safeguards of the best-seller lists.”

Good God. There are so many things wrong with this I don’t even know where to start. First off, this is a man claiming to be a spiritual leader who is so obsessed with worldly fame that rather than spending his paritioner’s money to help the poor (what the biblical Jesus would do) he instead spent it just so he could put the title “New York Times Best Selling Author” on his next book jacket. That’s a lot of ****ing scratch to attain that title on a technicality. Also, that’s some pretty satanic ****. I give it an Occult rating of five out of five upside down pentagrams, but what’s even creepier is how he went about doing this i.e. by hiring a firm to buy his own books. Of course, we should know that there are firms out there that you can pay for services like this (just like you should know that half the **** trending on Twitter or covered on Pitchfork/Noisey were bought and paid for in some manner), but seeing the way this scam actually works is beyond unnerving. So, you basically give a company a ton of money to buy your own books and create an elaborate subterfuge to make it look like it’s not you buying them. Soooo skeeezy, and I love the way his church defends his actions after he got caught: “It’s not uncommon or illegal”. I’m fairly sure that’s exactly what the money changers told Christ when he thrashed their temple. Way to take the moral high ground there dickbag.

Ultimately though, every time I get annoyed with Driscoll I have to remind myself that there are actually several other megachurches in my area that are just as successful and actually often even more socially regressive than his Mars Hill parish. I just can’t even name them because they’re not media whores on the level that he is. Even in the land of legal weed and gay marriage (also the most corrupt tax code in the country, no seriously) this madness is so entrenched into the very fiber of our society it’s unavoidable. Well, I suppose that’s why my unique brand of psychedelic Occultism is going to become increasingly important in the coming Aeon. Not mentioned is whether or not he’ll actually have the audacity to put “New York Times Best Sellling Author” on his follow up, but I’m guessing yes. Just seems to be the way this asshole rolls.

http://disinfo.com/2014/03/douchebag-megachurch-pastor-pays-200-grand-get-book-nyt-bestseller-list-one-week/

giovonni

13th March 2014, 21:54

What do you call a man with half a brain ? Gifted. :rolleyes:

some brain stuff ...

Via Science Daily

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2014/03/140313123139-large.jpg

Human brains 'hard-wired' to link what we see with what we do (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140313123139.htm)

Also

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2014/03/140313092723-large.jpg

What happened when? How the brain stores memories by time
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140313092723.htm)

giovonni

15th March 2014, 20:40

Oh Canada ~ :canada:

Canada's Porn Not Canadian Enough

"The porn industry in Canada isn't Canadian enough according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission who warned various porn channels that they aren't hitting the 35% threshold for Canadian-produced content. Lissette Padilla and Mark Sovel discuss Canada's broadcast regulations" ...

Published on Mar 15, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Ck6zt7PNA

giovonni

15th March 2014, 23:01

interesting item ...

Evolution: The Curious Case of the Dog

http://www.ecology.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boy-and-dog.jpg

Man’s Best Friend (http://www.ecology.com/2011/12/16/evolution-curious-case-dog/)

giovonni

18th March 2014, 00:03

very compelling testimony especially coming from two retired FBI agents ...

Meet The Real Killer Of Meredith Kercher ?

"Why did the Italian prosecutors go after Amanda Knox for the murder of Meredith Kercher, and release suspect Rudy Guede from custody? We discuss the unusual conspiracy among the authorities that allowed Guede to walk (for a period) with retired FBI SSA Steve Moore, and Jim Clemente on this clip from Crime Time."

Watch the full Crime Time here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LaAM7ufOWk&list=PLjk3H0GXhhGfIvJXM3emqDXkZ02SXgfgT&index=2)

Published on Mar 17, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTdH3wsDJE

gripreaper

18th March 2014, 01:15

I came across these videos that explores the views of Michael Ruppert who released a 2009 documentary titled "Collapse"
His journey strikes a cord and w/ my outlook on society and all the pathogens which we must experience as humans in this particular fold in time. To recognize the sickness of society and minimize ones interaction w/ such sickness is not a road of least resistance but is a road of courage. Below is a link to the videos as I'm not computer savvy enough to enclose eye catching pics to accompany the link. Thanks to all avolonians who devote the time to search interesting and relevant topics and provide them to the forum conveniently packaged w/ links. Special thanks to you Gio, your posts are often a one stop shop!

http://www.vice.com/vice-special/apocalypse-man-part-1

Michael is now in a beautiful place, after so much work attempting to slay the head of the beast. He is a true warrior.

He is correct that the population went from 1 billion to it's current 7.1 billion just since the advent of oil and industrialization, yet I am not sure he is aware of the shadow ops and how the available technology being withheld from mainstream would negate the use of the oil and electric control grids. These grids are in place because they can be metered and control the masses.

There is also some evidence that only the amount of oil allowed into the markets is enough to create a false scarcity, as the Alaskan oil fields and the Balkan are said to contain huge reserves. So, who knows. All I know is scarcity is political and for control.

As far as needing to be more human and empathetic and less consumptive and divisive, he is right on. The trajectory we are on cannot be sustained regardless of the origins of it's escalation.

giovonni

18th March 2014, 21:45

Mutiny in the White House ...

http://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/pastry.jpg

White House pastry chef resigns: ‘I don’t want to demonize cream, butter, sugar and eggs’ ... (http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/18/white-house-pastry-chef-resigns-i-dont-want-to-demonize-cream-butter-sugar-and-eggs/)

giovonni

19th March 2014, 03:13

http://www.redicecreations.com/ul_img/29406jagger_678x320_front.jpg

Mick Jagger, Satanism, and the CIA ?

with the most recent news of his long time girlfriend L'Wren Scott bizarro suicide ...
i am finding this item intriguingly interesting ...

Go here (http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=29407)

giovonni

20th March 2014, 00:30

UKRAINE IS NOT A BROTHEL - FEMEN Documentary from SXSW

This interview highlights the new documentary that shows protest in Ukraine that have taken a bold new post-feminist dimension of nudity to highlight the sexual oppression and exploitation experienced by so many Ukraine women. Sextremism, Pussy Riot, and the details of the message are discussed with director Kitty Green, who shares the trailer for the film with us from SXSW 2014 and gives us the first look at the incredible film that is at the center of the world's attention.

Published on Mar 19, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qp1FYFLtjg

giovonni

20th March 2014, 01:45

More from the South by Southwest Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals in Austin, TX.

THE IMMORTALISTS - Documentary on Reversing Aging with Science

The Immortalists is the story of two eccentric scientists struggling to create eternal youth with medical breakthroughs in a world they call "blind to the tragedy of old age." Bill Andrews is a lab biologist and famed long-distance runner racing against the ultimate clock. Aubrey de Grey is a genius theoretical biologist who conducts his research with a beer in hand. They differ in style and substance, but are united in their common crusade: cure aging or die trying. They publicly brawl with the old guard of biology who argue that curing aging is neither possible nor desirable. As Andrews and de Grey battle their own aging and suffer the losses of loved ones, their journeys toward life without end ultimately become personal.

Published on Mar 19, 2014

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

giovonni

20th March 2014, 13:03

how true ...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/988831_662218110510784_1888245082_n.jpg

dianna

20th March 2014, 22:01

giovonni

21st March 2014, 11:32

dianna

23rd March 2014, 21:32

nice ...

Watch As Twenty Strangers Kiss For The First Time

We all know what it’s like to go in for the first kiss – the hesitation, maybe even fear, and ultimately the excitement of it is electrifying. So what happens when strangers pair up on camera to share an intimate moment ?

FIRST KISS

Published on Mar 10, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbDHxCV29A

Awesome … Who doesn't like to kiss?!?

Cause the sweetest kiss I ever got is the one I've never tasted (Sixto Rodriguez)
http://files.myopera.com/sathor/albums/499257/kiss%20me(8).jpg

Aristotelian kiss
a kiss performed using techniques gained solely from theoretical speculation untainted by any experiential data by one who feels that the latter is irrelevant anyway.
http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328320260l/12000020.jpg

Hegelian kiss
dialiptical technique in which the kiss incorporates its own antithikiss, forming a synthesis.

Wittgensteinian kiss
the important thing about this type of kiss is that it refers only to the symbol (our internal mental representation we associate with the experience of the kiss--which must necessarilly also be differentiated from the act itself for obvious reasons and which need not be by any means the same or even similar for the different people experiencing the act) rather than the act itself and, as such, one must be careful not to make unwarranted generalizations about the act itself or the experience thereof based merely on our manipulation of the symbology therefor.

Godelian kiss
a kiss that takes an extraordinarilly long time, yet leaves you unable to decide whether you've been kissed or not.

Socratic kiss
really a Platonic kiss, but it's claimed to be the Socratic technique so it'll sound more authoritative; however, compared to most strictly Platonic kisses, Socratic kisses wander around a lot more and cover more ground.

Kantian kiss
a kiss that, eschewing inferior "phenomenal" contact, is performed entirely on the superior "noumenal" plane; though you don't actually feel it at all, you are, nonetheless, free to declare it the best kiss you've ever given or received.
http://www.furrytalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/1444749516_8b96657be6.jpg

Kafkaesque kiss
a kiss that starts out feeling like it's about to transform you but ends up just bugging you.

Sartrean kiss
a kiss that you worry yourself to death about even though it really doesn't matter anyway.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__kBk8BDV4pE/TUq2N1ccX9I/AAAAAAAAAAY/8Qk22oY21Bk/s1600/cooties+2.jpg

Russell-Whiteheadian kiss
a formal kiss in which each lip and tongue movement is rigorously and completely defined, even though it ends up seeming incomplete somehow.

Hertzsprung-Russellian kiss
Oh, Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me.

Pythagorean kiss
a kiss given by someone who has developed some new and wonderful techniques but refuses to use them on anyone for fear that others would find out about them and copy them.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4788753831_07545fbec3_z.jpg

Cartesian kiss
a particularly well-planned and coordinated movement: "I think, therefore, I aim." In general, a kiss does not count as Cartesian unless it is applied with enough force to remove all doubt that one has been kissed. (cf. Polar kiss, a more well-rounded movement involving greater nose-to-nose contact, but colder overall.)

Heisenbergian kiss
a hard-to-define kiss--the more it moves you, the less sure you are of where the kiss was; the more energy it has, the more trouble you have figuring out how long it lasted. Extreme versions of this type of kiss are known as "virtual kisses" because the level of uncertainty is so high that you're not quite sure if you were kissed or not. Virtual kisses have the advantage, however, that you need not have anyone else in the room with you to enjoy them.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/FDBF2F3C-0508-4737-9548AC34943EFECF_article.jpg

Nietzscheian kiss
"she/he who does not kiss you, makes your lust stronger."
http://pixcdn.posterrevolution.com/pr/5/672701f.jpg

[B]Grouchoic kiss
a kiss given by someone who will only kiss those who would not kiss him or her.

Harpoic kiss
shut up and kiss me.

Zenoian kiss
your lips approach, closer and closer, but never actually touch.
http://michelephoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/no_kissing.jpg

Procrustean kiss
suffice it to say that it is a technique that, once you've experienced it, you'll never forget it, especially when applied to areas of the anatomy other than the lips.

giovonni

30th March 2014, 00:47

Via my friend Tiffany ...

i remember ... but don't miss em ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00136-giggle.gif

Chris D'Elia ~ Drunk Girls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mqiu_c4mM

giovonni

31st March 2014, 19:15

http://truthstreammedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/brain-620x400.jpg

Are Social Networks Breeding a Truly Lonely Society ?
More here with video (http://truthstreammedia.com/video-are-social-networks-breeding-a-truly-lonely-society/)

giovonni

2nd April 2014, 18:28

http://images.hngn.com/data/images/full/22839/zebra-stripes-may-keep-flies-away-study-shows.jpg?w=600

Zebra Stripes Are To Keep Flies Away, New Study Says (http://www.hngn.com/articles/27902/20140401/zebra-stripes-are-to-keep-flies-away-new-study-says.htm)

giovonni

4th April 2014, 05:21

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/04/arts/04letterman1/04letterman1-articleLarge.jpg

After 3 Decades, Letterman Says He Will Sign Off
(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/business/media/david-letterman-to-retire-in-2015.html?_r=0)

giovonni

4th April 2014, 07:06

Love ~ Can Feel It ... :)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/1009957_10151934910951094_1260502785_n.jpg

"I don't know about you guys but I could use a nice pick-me-up this weekend. So I present to you, Valentina and her daddy David. He wrote to us saying, "We found her.....ERRRRR....she found us running under a freeway. I was NOT happy when I saw she was a Pit Bull! It took less than 24 hours before I fell head over heels in LOVE with her! Since she came into our lives we began volunteering at a Pit Bull shelter and advocating for such a misunderstood breed any way we can. She rescued us WAY more than we rescued her!" These smiles are sure brightening my spirits!"

giovonni

5th April 2014, 22:00

such a cruel cold war ... :rolleyes:

http://cdn.rt.com/files/news/24/b9/10/00/moscow-sanctions-us-relax.si.jpg

From the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"Russia’s barrage of sarcastic comments to the Obama administration, which is seeking to impose sanctions to change Moscow’s stance on Ukraine, has been enriched with a piece of advice to relax and look for inner tranquility.

The comments came from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who was speaking with Interfax news agency about the worst period of tension between Russia and the US over the past two decades.

“The American leadership is apparently stuck, and they just can’t accept the new situation, which arose to a great degree as a result of the deliberate effort of the US and their European allies to bring anti-Russian forces to power in Ukraine,” the diplomat stated.

“What can we advise our American colleagues to do? Spend more time outdoors, do some yoga, have healthy food, probably, watch more comedy series on TV. That would be better than working yourselves and others up, knowing that the train is already departed and that no tantrums, crying and hysterics can help,” he added.

Ryabkov was referring to a string of US sanctions against Russia, which harmed low-level interactions between American and Russian officials, but have no effect whatsoever on Russia’s foreign policy.

The sanctions are a response to Moscow’s acceptance of Crimea, a former Ukrainian region, as a new part of Russia. Crimea held a referendum and voted to declare independence from Kiev and join Russia, following an armed coup in the Ukrainian capital.

The public part of the sanctions, which include travel bans and foreign assets freezes, targets Russian politicians and businessmen, who the US considers part of President Putin’s inner circle. So far, sanctions have only managed to provoke sarcastic requests from Russian politicians, not included in the US blacklist, to add them as well.

The less-publicized part of the sanctions includes severing cooperation with Russia in many spheres, from trade talks to space exploration. Those seem to avoid areas, where the US would be hurt by such a breakup, like the delivery of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on Russian spacecraft, or Russian transit of NATO’s military shipments to Afghanistan."

source (http://rt.com/news/moscow-sanctions-us-relax-417/)

giovonni

6th April 2014, 22:53

No more IRS ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00112-wondering.gif

Traficant launches Project Freedom

"Former Congressman James Traficant announces the program to end the IRS ...
Federal Reserve, trade deficit and repudiate the debt to the international Banksters" ...

Published on Apr 6, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuCeTfo-cac

giovonni

7th April 2014, 12:45

bizarro ...

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/7/1396870064135/5ed8cd05-741b-4a6b-a807-a25d387b46ee-460x276.jpeg

Chattanooga mystified by discovery of skeleton twins dead for three years (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/07/chattanooga-skeleton-twins-dead-three-years)

dianna

7th April 2014, 22:49

haha … nice …

http://marijuana.cc/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/marijuana-pizza-350x261.png

It’s as if they plucked this straight out of people’s fondest dreams and turned it into a reality. From Canada’s CBC News:

A Vancouver pizzeria is serving up slices with an extra special ingredient — if you’re over 18 and have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor.

Anthony Risling explains that at Mega iLL, on Kingsway at Fraser, you can ask the kitchen to add their special ingredient for an extra $10. “Basically we infuse it through an oil extraction process, where we drizzle the oil onto the pizza and it medicates you when you eat it. It’s a little different effect from smoking it. It takes maybe about a half hour for it to activate.”

One customer at Mega iLL [said] the added oil has “a little bit of a tangy flavour”.

Risling aid the idea came from a trip to Cambodia, where a pizzeria called Happy Pizza used a similar process to add THC to the pies.

http://disinfo.com/2014/04/canadian-pizzeria-selling-marijuana-infused-pizza/

http://dopechef.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Mega-Ill-pizza-2014.jpg

giovonni

7th April 2014, 23:38

ALWAYS ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00163-pizza.gif

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSg-H1lb8HU5kJCz6zE1Da3jzBNdlNWvrNFcEbgEd-LsmECTXEx

Thanks Dianna ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00105-wink.gif

dianna

11th April 2014, 21:04

http://androvillans.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ex-files-scientology211.jpg

How one young woman risked everything to break out of the prison that is the Church of Scientology
http://www.vocativ.com/culture/religion/escape-scientology/

.http://media.vocativ.com/photos/2014/04/Escaping-Scientology-Poster-021211141776.jpg
On the morning that 29-year-old Jillian Schlesinger finally decided to leave the Church of Scientology, she awoke early and wondered whether she was losing her mind. Was she about to do something she’d always regret? A native Californian, she’d spent most of her life in the church. Her parents were Scientologists, as were her friends—basically everyone she knew. If she left, they’d disown her. On the other hand, if she stayed, her misery would continue. Either way, Schlesinger knew her escape attempt would change her life forever.

She was not just a member of the church, she was part of its elite, the Sea Organization, Scientology’s management body of members who sign contracts promising to serve the group for a billion years. She lived at Scientology’s big blue West Coast headquarters on Sunset Boulevard, known as the Pacific Area Command, or PAC Base. Every day, she went to work with hundreds of other Sea Org members, all dressed in starched uniforms—khakis and button-downs for men, skirts and neat blouses for women. The facility, once a hospital, is monitored by security cameras and armed guards. Everywhere she went, someone, somewhere, was watching her.

Scientology is an American religion predicated on the teachings of the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Founded in 1954, it is a highly insular faith rooted in ideas of American self-help and psychotherapy as well as Eastern mysticism. It maintains, as many religions do, that society needs healing, and also purports to be the only group with a cure. All the problems of the world, according to Hubbard, are rooted in psychic traumas known as “engrams,” which Scientologists devote their lives to identifying and dispelling through a lengthy therapeutic technique known as “auditing,” in which members revisit their past horrors until, through sheer repetition, they are neutralized, and human suffering is relieved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IPDTHjyj7o&feature=share&list=PL97bG9F7T-Ueb4bnoiMhLshWViunudaNZ

Hubbard created the Sea Organization to run his church, naming it after its original home: a ship, called Apollo, that spent much of the late ’60s and early ’70s sailing the Mediterranean, on the run from U.S. and European tax authorities. The truest of the true believers, the Sea Org’s mission was to “save the planet.” Today they are the grunts, the church’s indentured servants and, according to many, its most miserable followers.

Sea Org members live deeply controlled lives, working seven days a week year-round, with few, if any, days off. They earn between $8 and $50 a week, sleep in dormitory housing and have virtually no contact with the outside world. Many of them joined as teens, recruited directly out of high school, and with no real-life experience, easily bought into Scientology’s essential pitch: that society is sick, full of dangers, and only the church can offer relief. In reality, they are essential to the religion’s survival—the cheap labor that allows it to survive.

For most of her life, Jillian Schlesinger was a good Scientologist. Her parents, long divorced, raised her in Orange County, and she joined the Sea Org at the age of 19, though she’d been active in the church for seven years. “They pressure you a lot to join,” she says. “They’ll tell you how bad everything is in the world, and that they really need your help.”

One afternoon, Schlesinger's boss threatened to throw one of her co-workers off of the building. When she tried to intervene, he said, "I’ll smash you in the face."

Schlesinger worked around the country, and in 2007 was stationed at the church’s headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, which is considered Scientology’s Mecca, drawing thousands of believers each year. She worked 19-hour days, selling books to Scientologists. And when she failed to meet her sales goals, she was punished. This was when things “got crazy,” she recalls, though still, Schlesinger remained devoted to the cause. There were times she was forced to clean the kitchen and dumpsters, which was exhausting, but far better than having to scrub barnacles off a sea wall at three in the morning, outside a nearby Scientology-owned hotel perched at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. She was also subjected to “Pigs Berthing,” which involved sleeping in a tiny room without electricity or a bed, sometimes for a week.

Schlesinger was a high performer, and in 2012 was transferred to Los Angeles and the church’s main publishing arm, Bridge Publications, located at PAC Base. Here, the pressure was equally intense. “I didn’t like it there,” she remembers. “There was a lot of internal fighting, yelling and screaming.” Her boss, a man in his 30s, would turn violent when his charges didn’t meet their quotas. One afternoon, he threatened to throw one of Schlesinger’s co-workers off of the building. When she tried to intervene, he threatened her. “I’ll smash you in the face,” he said.

Challenging one’s superiors, in the strict hierarchy of the Sea Org, is a serious offense, and Schlesinger was removed from her job and sent to a windowless room at the base, where she reported each day, writing down her “crimes,” until her superiors agreed she’d sufficiently abased herself. “I spent days not writing anything,” she says, “because I thought it was crazy. I didn’t do anything wrong. Then I started to make stuff up, just to get out of there.”

As punishment for her misdeeds, Schlesinger was removed from her job at Bridge and assigned to a newly formed construction team doing renovations on various Scientology-owned buildings in Los Angeles—a project designed to save the church money on labor. Now dressed in her new uniform of jeans and tennis shoes, she boarded a white bus each day with dozens of other church workers and ventured into the city. They worked 15-hour stretches, and she began to suffer piercing headaches. “We did lots of painting,” she says. “And they wouldn’t provide us masks.”

The menial labor was backbreaking, and sometimes, overcome with grief, Schlesinger would slip away from the others and cry, seriously considering, for the first time, whether or not she could leave the church. Then one day last winter, Schlesinger and a friend were dispatched to pick up lunch for the group. Unsupervised, the women idled by a newsstand, where Schlesinger spotted a celebrity magazine with a photo of Leah Remini, a longtime and devoted Scientologist. Remini and her family, the story said, had just left the church.

“Without chaining you to a radiator, they make it as difficult as possible to leave," says former church exec Mike Rinder.

Sea Org members are cut off entirely from current events, in part to prevent them from reading negative information about Scientology. Schlesinger had no idea Remini had departed, and now she was floored. She’d met the Reminis before and thought they were kind people. As she flipped through the pages, what she saw was a revelation: They’d broken away without fear, and remained intact. Schlesinger thought, Perhaps I can leave, too.

And yet, leaving Scientology, she knew, was almost impossible. The thought was terrifying for any member, but even more so for those in the Sea Org. Given how closely they’re monitored, few people ever try to leave, says Mike Rinder, a former Sea Org member and senior executive of the church. Should those in the Sea Org even voice their apprehensions out loud, they’re likely to be sentenced to indefinite terms on the “Rehabilitation Project Force,” a work-intensive program of re-indoctrination, where wayward members are subjected to heavy physical labor, rigorous ideological study and severe isolation. The process, like getting caught in the gulag, can go on for years.

“Without chaining you to a radiator, they make it as difficult as possible to leave,” says Rinder. “But mentally, it’s worse. For those in the Sea Org, there is the inculcated belief that, should they go, they’ll live for the rest of eternity as an unhappy spec in the universe. And of course there’s the fear you’ll be harassed by the church, and the threat of losing your family and friends. That all goes well beyond the physical barriers that are imposed.”

http://www.troll.me/images/conspiracy-keanu/what-if-scientology-was-created-by-the-government-to-help-us-find-out-who-is-stupid.jpg

Just shy of 30, Schlesinger would be starting all over again, re-entering a strange new world without an education, a savings account or a group of friends. After a decade cut off from the outside world, the notion of catching up, not just academically but socially, too, was terrifying. Could it even be done? And what if she were to get caught? Would she wind up in the Rehabilitation Project Force? Would she disappear into the bowels of the church forever?

In January, on a Sunday morning when Schlesinger was supposed to be cleaning her room, she snuck into the kitchen of the blue building and called her father. She told him she might leave the church, explaining that she could no longer cope with its conditions. He said he’d support whatever decision she made, and truthfully, he’d only remained a member because he didn’t want to lose her. But there was still the question of how she would make her escape. Schlesinger believed she had only one chance: Her current construction site was near an L.A. Metro station. Once she lost easy access to the train, she feared, she’d be out of options, and doomed to spend the rest of her life in the Sea Org.

On the morning Schlesinger decided to leave, in February, it was her last chance. The next day, the construction crew would move to a new location. She had not told her father that she had made up her mind—should she get caught, she did not want him branded an accomplice. It was also important for her that she do this on her own. She would take the train to Anaheim, where her father owned an Italian restaurant, and surprise him.

Outside PAC, her blond California hair hanging over her shoulders, she waited for the white Scientology bus that took her to and from work. As it pulled up, she made sure to get a seat in the rear of the bus, so she could disembark last, without eyes on her back. When they pulled up to the construction site, her heart was bouncing off her chest like a basketball. She waited until the others fanned out the door before getting off, pausing to fiddle with her purse as the bus pulled away. She glanced around—no one seemed to be watching. Then, taking a deep breath, she bolted toward the Metro, flew through the entrance and frantically shoved $10 into the ticket machine for a one-way ride to Anaheim.

A lifetime passed before the ticket popped out of the machine, during which she furtively looked over her shoulder. Had anyone followed her? Would they accost her in public? Appeal to her vulnerabilities? It seemed her Sea Org supervisors were capable of anything.

She snatched the ticket and dashed for the train. Her heart, at this point, felt entirely unhinged. She stepped into one of the cars and was forced to wait as the train idled on the tracks. Frantically, Schlesinger surveyed the open doors. Had her fellow workers realized she was missing? Had they sent someone to find her? Then there was a tug, a release and the train began to roll out of the station. Schlesinger turned toward a window and felt herself detach from the person she was, heading toward whomever she might become.

Within an hour she reached Anaheim, disembarked and walked around the corner to her father’s restaurant.

“Hey,” she said, grinning.

“My gosh,” her father said. “You did it.”

They had, in fact, left the church together, and regardless of what might come, they had survived.

giovonni

14th April 2014, 06:38

Oh boy ...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlCZRIqCcAEFFsq.jpg:large
Pot vending machine to debut (http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/04/13/Pot-vending-machine-to-debut/7631397407811/?spt=sec&or=on)

giovonni

17th April 2014, 04:47

Wow ...

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/16/1397668334017/Balal-execution-009.jpg

Iranian killer's execution halted at last minute by victim's parents
Convict had noose around his neck when victim's mother approached
slapped him in the face and spared his life... More here (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/iran-parents-halt-killer-execution)

giovonni

17th April 2014, 16:18

Yoga Time with Nic and Pancho ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn3mMmy_ghY

sian

17th April 2014, 16:29

Yoga Time with Nic and Pancho ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn3mMmy_ghY

This could melt an iceberg:)

giovonni

18th April 2014, 04:56

why jail is too harsh (inappropriate) for certain criminals ... :rolleyes:

Matt Taibbi explores US criminal injustice with Bill Maher

"Journalist Matt Taibbi tells Real Time's Bill Maher about the criminal inequalities between the rich and the poor in the USA - meaning that, for example, people who have committed $800 of fraud are not allowed to see their kids again while those that have stolen billions have not been punished."

Published on Apr 12, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS9LHBPTM7A

giovonni

18th April 2014, 18:00

The yen is strong ... But the soil is not ...

No wonder China's buying up the world's natural resources ...

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74317000/jpg/_74317251_021287919reu.jpg

From BBC

Report: One fifth of China's soil contaminated (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27076645)

scarletfire

18th April 2014, 20:12

and why the ruling class in the U.S. doesn't care about the soil in China... More from BBC.... Shocker (lol)

Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

All I can figure is that the oligarchs are so incredibly selfish that the sustainability if the planet is not an issue that they feel will have to be dealt with in their lifetime. It seems that most of these guys rationalize their actions/lack of action by playing the family man church going card. I can't wrap my mind around why folks can tolerate sermons on hellfire/brimstone but can't tolerate sermons about respecting our planet and steps to take to keep it clean and diverse for future generations. It seems one can never underestimate the human ability to rationalize, no matter how clear the truth seems to be.

giovonni

19th April 2014, 05:03

http://static.infowars.com/bindnfocom/2014/04/041814glass.jpg

Through a Google Glass, Darkly ...
Surveillance of, by, and for the people (http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/through-google-glass-darkly_787020.html?page=1)

giovonni

22nd April 2014, 19:56

interesting item ...

http://cdn3.collective-evolution.com/assets/uploads/2014/04/neck_pain_skeleton.jpg

Have Neck Pain ?
The Cause Is Something That May Surprise You (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/04/22/have-neck-pain-the-cause-is-something-that-may-surprise-you/)

Delight

22nd April 2014, 21:04

Home Cooking can Change the World (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/04/13/watch-this-video-youll-never-eat-mcdonalds-french-fries-again/)

TX7kwfE3cJQ

giovonni

24th April 2014, 13:50

red dawn ...

Day or Night ?

Massive sandstorm plunges China into red mist ...

"A strong sandstorm swept Gansu Province in northwest China Wednesday afternoon. According to the provincial meteorological center, visibility has been reduced to less than 20 metres (65 feet) due to the storm. This sandstorm, strongest since 1996 according to reports, started around 13:40 in Dunhang County. The meteorological center issued red alert, the highest level alert, forecasting that visibility would be reduced to less than 50 meters throughout Jiuquan on Wednesday evening. The sandstorm, that had also suspended ten train services Wednesday, will die down Thursday, according to the meteorological center's experts."

Published on Apr 24, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4-Kg898Exo

giovonni

24th April 2014, 20:22

hmm... a time at which one questions the very foundations of their life ... :rolleyes:

A Bug's Workout ?

"Insect spends 2.5 hours trying to climb under piece of popcorn ...
What is actually happening here ... science writer Kyle Hill suggests the bug is having an existential crisis."

source
(http://io9.com/i-cant-stop-watching-this-insect-having-an-existential-1567223177)
Published on Apr 22, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbIHK28Zl0M

giovonni

27th April 2014, 20:18

Via my friend Shelly

When It's not your time ... http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00184-tmi.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWz5HWq_onI

giovonni

28th April 2014, 03:36

this is not as odd as it may appear ... i've seen this before ... :)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1.0-9/10273529_10152432065163729_8985075186735068011_n.jpg

giovonni

30th April 2014, 07:33

The red Door http://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/58-red-door.png

Paint it Black

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbHdNPxuf2Q

giovonni

30th April 2014, 07:56

hmm ...

Heart Attack During Execution Kills Inmate

"Oklahoma Corrections officials are facing new questions about their execution procedures after an inmate suffered distress and died of an apparent heart attack during his lethal injection on Tuesday. (April 30)"

Published on Apr 30, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vwrMltT2cg

updated

Execution Chaos: Witness Recounts Botched Killing that Causes Okla. Prisoner's Fatal Heart Attack

Published on Apr 30, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRe56frxLk

giovonni

1st May 2014, 00:44

:cheers:

Get Back ~ 45 Years Ago ...

The Beatles’ Rooftop Concert

their last live performance (http://www.mojo4music.com/11595/20-things-need-know-beatles-rooftop-concert/)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ujRzD82fOY

giovonni

2nd May 2014, 11:52

Here's an elephant called Peter getting giggy joining in a rendition of 12 Bar Blues

On piano with his trunk ... Entirely of his own accord ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjsu3SGAdLs

giovonni

2nd May 2014, 21:03

From ~ Damn Interesting

the lowly potato
http://www.onearth.org/files/onearth/userimages4798/sad-potato-monster-peter-500.jpg

Cry Havoc, and Let Slip the Spuds of War (http://www.damninteresting.com/cry-havoc-and-let-slip-the-spuds-of-war/)

note click listen at the top of the article page to listen to narrative

dianna

2nd May 2014, 21:43

http://www.zengardner.com/wp-content/uploads/yugas.jpg

By V. Susan Ferguson, Contributor
Waking Times
http://www.zengardner.com/adventure-matrix/

Within each and every one of us is the God-given ability to access a myriad of realities in various dimensional realms, as many have discovered for themselves. When we began our adventure in and through the Cycles of Time, we knew who we were, a portion of the all pervading One. Now most have forgotten. In this fourth phase of the Cycles of Time, we have indeed lost the ability to move beyond the five senses and traverse the dimensions as the ETs and other beings do. As this age draws to its inevitable conclusion and the veils are lifted, we will regain this natural endowment.

We are living in the Twilight of the Age of Conflict & Confusion, the Kali Yuga in Sanskrit. In a world without end, this is the final of four yugas that make up a Maha-Yuga. The Cycles of Time are vast. There are 71 Maha-Yugas in a Manvantara, and 14 Manvantaras in a Kalpa, which is one day in the Mind of God. We are now in the 7th Manvantara of this Kalpa, so half way through. Because the Veils of Illusion in this cycle of time are reaching the depths of the solidification of matter and density, the Age of Conflict & Confusion offers us the greatest opportunity to acquire life’s real treasure — Wisdom Knowledge.

The First Cycle is an Age of Wisdom

The first or golden age is the Age of Wisdom, the Satya [Truth] or Krita Yuga. The Creator, in Its desire to experience Itself, assumes the appearance of separation into numerous light beings, creator ‘god’ beings, which continually fragment further into us as the cycles descend in time creating a vast profusion of DNA based data-collecting vehicles. In this first Yuga, all the ‘gods’ begin to manifest and create their desires in form with the fullness of knowing they/we as parts of the Creator are equals. We all have the same soul, the One.

In this age they/we, the apparent pieces of the One, express ourselves freely, knowing and fully Remembering and knowing who we are. We exist in states of Bliss Consciousness as translucent transparent Light Beings. Our thoughts become form. We are playing — and about to get lost in our own ‘play’! As ‘god’ light beings, we begin to project portions of ourselves into the data-collecting vehicles we have created, meaning we incarnate into bodies to further experience the adventure of creation. We begin to feel a sense of loss and a longing for our original state.

The Age of Ritual

In the second age, the Age of Ritual or Treta Yuga, the vibrational frequencies of the created universe gradually begin to speed up and simultaneously decay. We, the ‘god’ beings start to compete with each other for creative space. Because we are in duality, we desire power over each other and contemplate how to coerce the other gods to play our games. It’s fun!

We conceive rituals to bridge the potential in the formless realms with the temporal world of form. Initially, rituals allow the ‘gods’ playing in form to access raw power from the un-formed, the plenum in the Void. Although ritual is a weakened means of focused conscious thought, in this second era ritual becomes the intermediary mechanistic tool used to manipulate and enhance creative powers. Form no longer instantly springs from our mind.

As the frequencies of manifested consciousness continue to fall, some individual clever gods discover how to control the others. By exploiting the use of ritual, they trick and delude other ‘god’ beings into worshiping them. Thus they generate an abundance of energy, which they use to create all manner of fantastic illusory worlds, the myriad realms, heavens and hells. These clever gods build astral-spirit bodies to inhabit the hierarchical worlds they create. They no longer incarnate in physical bodies, but rather vicariously parasitically ‘enjoy’ the experiences of those who are incarnating.

The Age of Doubt

In the third age, the Age of Doubt or the Dvapara Yuga, the frequencies of creation move further toward density and the solidification of matter. The ‘god’ beings in form begin to doubt, and from doubt they/we lose memory. Most forget who we are, our Source and Oneness. We are not yet confined in limited five-sense perception. We can still see those ‘gods’ who are in various dimensional realms, but are not in our third dimensional form — and in the course of our forgetting, we begin to worship them.

Throughout the Ages, the wily clever ‘gods’ who have ceased to incarnate continue to build illusory worlds as innumerable phantasmal hierarchies of heavens and hells. While the gods in the lower density of form become trapped in the cycles of transmigration, the adventure of samsara. We have Forgotten who we are and doubt the divinity that dwells in the Heart within us all. The universe is astonishing in its vast complexity, but the only eternal Real in all this vast temporal flux is the all pervading One, imperishable eternal immutable. Thou are That! TAT TVAM ASI.

The Age of Conflict & Confusion

The fourth age, the Age of Conflict & Confusion, the Kali Yuga, is the period we have been living in for the last 6,000 years, all of written history. The pulsating frequencies of time have accelerated to frenzied levels that lead to complexity, instability and collapse. A dense web of delusion and somnolence, a miasma of amnesia, surrounds and obfuscates our visible world. Our experience of time is altered and thus, the phantasmal worlds have become invisible to those of us living in this physical density Newtonian-realm.

Today only a small number of people are able to see the so-called Invisible Realms. The ability of true Seers to ‘see’ has been inherited genetically because by chance or destiny, it was not bred out of their DNA. In other cycles such ‘sight’ was our God-given right of all — but in the Kali Yuga, the Veils of Delusion are tightly drawn.

Writing is a Symptom of Memory Loss

We have lost true memory. Our capacity to know and to remember is limited to writing, which is itself a symptom, like an illness, of the Kali Yuga. The written word is established and accepted as the only means of transmitting knowledge. There is no evidence of written history in the previous three cycles because it was not needed. What we do know of those cycles is based on memorized oral transmissions later inscribed during the Kali Yuga. In the previous cycles, knowledge was passed from generation to generation orally. Our command of memory today is a pathetic semblance by comparison.

Only in the most ancient of texts, such as the Sanskrit, and certain Taoist and Tibetan writings, do we get a glimpse into the previous three cycles. The Sanskrit epic ‘The Mahabharata’ and the many Puranas contain lengthy predictions of what the Kali Yuga will be like, even foretelling the availability of ‘fast food’ — another symptom of this dark age. Thieves become kings, and kings are thieves. Men devote themselves to earning money and only the richest, not the wisest, hold power.

In the Age of Conflict and Confusion, the creator ‘gods’ forget who they/we are, forget that we were once brilliant Beings of Light as we lose our inner-connection our own divinity, the God-within. Ironically, those self-serving tricky gods residing in their self-created phantasmal hierarchies are just as trapped as those of us who are incarnating in the precarious and repetitive physical world. Predictably they are reluctant to give up their power and change.

In order to make way for the next cycle, a new golden Age of Wisdom, many radiant-light Beings, highly evolved and enlightened from outside this universe, enter to assist in breaking up existing temporal forms. In the final phases of the Kali Yuga, they are available in the Heart of each man, woman and child to help us lost in Forgetting and who, weary of this temporal illusory matrix, long for freedom. God is Love.

Death is an Illusion. No one ever dies. Who wants to live forever in a created reality that has become stuck and frozen in a stagnant state? As always, the Creator is moving on!

Cyclical Time

In Hindu metaphysics time is cyclical and each period of manifestation is called a KALPA of Brahma, equivalent to 4.32 billion human years.

The KALPA is subdivided into 14 MANVANTARAS.

We are now in the seventh MANVANTARA of this KALPA.

Each MANVANTARA is divided into 71 MAHA-YUGAS of 4,320,000 years each.
We are in the 28th MAHA-YUGA of this MANVANTARA.

Each MAHA-YUGA is made up of four yugas

Each Yuga is preceded by a period of a dawn and followed by a period of twilight.

Voices from the Four Cycles of Time: Beginnings
Satya

In the Beginning, there is no beginning,
Only the Solitude of the One.

The One Being, Emptiness, the Void,
Space filled with Ether.

An eternal Hunger resides in the Silence of Space.
Hunger moves, growing, longing to be filled,
Tension becoming agitation, vibration.

Water forms in Ether,
Fire emerges within Water.

All is vibration — pulsating waveforms
born from Hunger in the Solitude, the One.

We are the One enjoying the appearance of Separation.

Treta

We are beginning the Forgetting. Our perceptions are now altering, falling down in frequency, our bodies becoming less luminous, solidifying into the density that will inevitably be flesh and blood.

The Fall is subtle. Some are not even aware of the shift.

We begin to quarrel. We are hungry and for the first time in Time, we must work with Nature’s elements to provide for ourselves and our children. We women now come into our season once each year. The wise ones say that soon we will be tied to the cycles of our Moon, and thus there will be more and more children to love, to feed.

The task of preserving the eternal Knowledge that is Wisdom must not be lost, must continue somehow. Our lives still revolve around the perennial Wisdom – the basis for this universe. All over this planet are the superb domes, translucent and bright, where we gather to Remember. We communicate as before, mind to mind.

We require no writing, only a few encoded supernal symbols that please us.

Dvapara

I am sage and Seer, born in the ancient lineages of the Sacred Warrior — and the final war of this cycle is coming. We all are keenly aware of its presence. We can feel war beginning, impinging on our world. We smell the demons coming to destroy our race. The Sacred Warriors must all vanish – and yet even knowing our fate, we will fight to win to the last man.

Time eats everything. Time cooks consciousness. Time is irresistible, inevitable, inexorable, ineluctable, overwhelming all.

Kali

I am suffocating. I am born live and die again and again. Lost in time, tossed about by my own compulsions, I no longer Remember Truth. There is no Love, only need and temporal possession. There is no Love, only wars. Cities and civilizations rise up, and fall again in endless repetition.

Our world is beginning to die. We are trapped in the webs of our self-created Illusions. The fabric of our own dark consciousness has encased us in the sheaths of Forgetting. We know not who and what we are.

giovonni

5th May 2014, 18:38

Happy Cinco De Mayo ~ From the Onion ...

Hurricane Ashley Expected To Strike Several Bars

"The screaming whirlwind of drunkenness has been gathering strength all week
and has already made a mess of herself in a number of local bars."

Published on May 5, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWQN5-Top6g

giovonni

6th May 2014, 23:45

http://expressnews.bg/pictures/i8630_w974_h648.jpg

High Times: Meet the Russian Kids Who Take the World's Riskiest Photos
Hanging out at the top of the world with Moscow's death-defying "roofers" (http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/high-times-meet-the-russian-kids-who-take-the-worlds-riskiest-photos-20140506)

giovonni

7th May 2014, 18:43

Eric Get's A Home ... :)

i am sure most here have heard about this viral video ~ Homeless Lottery Winner
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_998929883&feature=iv&src_vid=lK1vPu6U2B0&v=4Lki_IeM6bQ)

an update

Homeless Man Gets A Home

Published on May 7, 2014
Learn Magic at http://www.penguinmagic.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1vPu6U2B0

giovonni

8th May 2014, 23:13

:rolleyes:

https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10153854_623421191065728_6479230047704333183_n.jpg

dianna

9th May 2014, 22:24

The Syntax of Sorcery: An Interview with Tom Robbins
http://realitysandwich.com/219114/revisiting-the-syntax-of-sorcery-an-interview-with-tom-robbins/
By Tony Vigorito

http://realitysandwich.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Untitled1.jpg

The following interview with countercultural pioneer and bestselling novelist Tom Robbins was originally featured in June 2012. We feature it again—with a couple of slight updates—in anticipation of the release of Robbins’ long-awaited memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. Enjoy!

Tony Vigorito: Alan Watts once wrote that we actually haven’t the answers to the most ordinary of questions, such as “What’s going on?” or “Where am I?” So let’s start with these allegedly mundane inquiries. What’s going on? And where are we?

Tom Robbins: Christians, and some Jews, claim we’re in the “end times,” but they’ve been saying this off and on for more than two thousand years. According to Hindu cosmology, we’re in the kali yuga, a dark period when the cow of history is balanced precariously on one leg, soon to topple. Then there are our friends in the counter culture who believed that last December 2012 we were in for a global cage-rattling which, once the dust settled, would usher in some great spiritual awakening. I hope they’re bearing up well under the disappointment.

Most of this apocalyptic noise appears to be just wishful thinking on the part of people who find life too messy and uncertain for comfort, let alone for serenity and mirth. The truth, from my perspective, is that the world, indeed, is ending -- and is also being reborn. It’s been doing that all day, every day, forever. Each time we exhale, the world ends; when we inhale, there can be, if we allow it, rebirth and spiritual renewal. It all transpires inside of us. In our consciousness, in our hearts. All the time.

Otherwise, ours is an old, old story with an interesting new wrinkle. Throughout most of our history, nothing -- not flood, famine, plague, or new weapons -- has endangered humanity one-tenth as much as the narcissistic ego, with its self-aggrandizing presumptions and its hell-hound spawn of fear and greed. The new wrinkle is that escalating advances in technology are nourishing the narcissistic ego the way chicken manure nourishes a rose bush, while exploding worldwide population is allowing its effects to multiply geometrically. Here’s an idea: let’s get over ourselves, reduce our carbon footprint, adopt an animal from a shelter, go buy a cherry pie, and fall in love with life.

You’ve written nine novels and brought to life a rowdy pantheon of memorable characters. Perhaps it’s not fair to ask a parent to pick their favorite kid, but is there one among these characters that you wish was living here among us today?

While he’s not really a major character, I’d nominate Dr. Yamaguchi from Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (my least popular novel, though it’s perhaps the one most relevant in today’s bushwhacked economy), because (1) he’s devised a cure for cancer (the ninja enema) and (2) his philosophy embraces mindful goofiness and extreme personal behavior (crazy wisdom) as possible pathways to enlightenment. On the other hand, I also wouldn’t mind seeing Pan (Jitterbug Perfume) pawing the earth in the White House rose garden, or Stubblefield (Villa Incognito) showing up occasionally to feed reality sandwiches to the delusional philistines and corpulent corporate cannibals on Fox News.

Terence McKenna was fond of saying that the world is made of language. As a master wordsmith and a personal friend of Terence, what do you take this notion to mean?

Regrettably, Terence and I never discussed this notion specifically, but my sense is that he was getting at something more profound than are the texturalists, who contend that nothing ever written matters or even exists outside of the text: the actual words an author has put down on the page. And likewise more profound than Wittgenstein, who famously said, “All I know is what I have words for.”

What seems likely is that Terence was not only contending that the universe is a genetic, extra-dimensional, interspecies verbal construct, but that it exists primarily as a result of our consciousness of it. What he may actually have been implying is, “the world is made of imagination.” There is, after all, a possibility that when it comes to consensual reality, we’re making it up. All of it. And language is the universal medium by which we identify and explain our creation to ourselves. Language lends reality to reality.

I do recall hearing Terence say once that everything in nature has stories to tell; not just scientific information to impart, mind you, but something akin to plot-line narration, if one is equipped to “read” it. That has overtones of woo-woo I know, but doubtlessly sensitized by his special connection to the psychotropic properties of plants, he had a way of making a process like photosynthesis sound like a pre-biblical epic.

Knowing how painstakingly you craft words, I suspect you believe as I do that every word is a magic word. Obviously you have chosen to use your magic to enlighten, but do you think it’s fair to say that many lesser magic-users are prone to something resembling dark magic?

Certain individual words do possess more pitch, more radiance, more shazam! than others, but it’s the way words are juxtaposed with other words in a phrase or sentence that can create magic. Perhaps literally. The word “grammar,” like its sister word “glamour,” is actually derived from an old Scottish word that meant “sorcery.” When we were made to diagram sentences in high school, we were unwittingly being instructed in syntax sorcery, in wizardry. We were all enrolled at Hogwarts. Who knew?

When a culture is being dumbed down as effectively as ours is, its narrative arts (literature, film, theatre) seem to vacillate between the brutal and the bland, sometimes in the same work. The pervasive brutality in current fiction -- the death, disease, dysfunction, depression, dismemberment, drug addiction, dementia, and dreary little dramas of domestic discord -- is an obvious example of how language in exploitative, cynical or simply neurotic hands can add to the weariness, the darkness in the world. Less apparent is that bland writing -- timid, antiseptic, vanilla writing -- is nearly as unhealthy as the brutal and dark. Instead of sipping, say, elixir, nectar, tequila, or champagne, the reader is invited to slurp lumpy milk or choke on the author’s dust bunnies.

Robert Anton Wilson wrote, “Society is the devil’s masquerade,” while Terence McKenna cautioned, “culture is not your friend,” and of course all of your writing is peppered with anti-establishment protagonists and provocateurs. Is society in some general sense a dangerous distraction to the human project?

I’ll say this much: virtually every advancement made by our species since civilization first peeked out of its nest of stone has been initiated by lone individuals, mavericks who more often than not were ignored, mocked, or viciously persecuted by society and its institutions. Society in general maintains such a vested interest in its cozy habits and solidified belief systems that it had rather die -- or kill -- than entertain change. Consider how threatened religious fundamentalists of all faiths remain to this day by science in general and Darwin in particular.

Cultural institutions by and large share one primary objective: herd control. Even when ostensibly benign, their propensity for manipulation, compartmentalization, standardization and suppression of potentially disruptive behavior or ideas, has served to freeze the evolution of consciousness practically in its tracks. In technological development, in production of material goods and creature comforts, we’ve challenged the very gods, but psychologically, emotionally, we’re scarcely more than chimpanzees with bulldozers, baboons with big bombs.

In East of Eden, John Steinbeck wrote that there’s never been a great creative collaboration. When the Beatles first burst on the scene, I thought they were proving him wrong. Later, we learned that Lennon and McCartney had each composed their pop masterpieces separately, individually. So it goes. Genius may stand on the shoulders of giants, but it stands alone. However, I digress.

We humans have always defined ourselves by narration. What’s happening today is that we’re allowing multi-national corporations to tell our stories for us. The theme of corporate stories (and millions drink them in every day) seldom varies: to be happy you must consume, to be special you must conform. Absurd, obviously, yet our identities have become so fragile, so elusive, that we seem content to let advertisers provide us with their version of who we are, to let them recreate us in their image: a cookie-cutter image based on market research, shallow sociology, and insidious lies. Individualism is bad for business -- though absolutely necessary for freedom, progressive knowledge, and any possible interface with the transcendent. And yes, it’s entirely possible to function as a free-thinking individual without succumbing to narcissism. This can be tricky at times, I suppose, but then so can the tango -- particularly if you’re dancing alone.

Synchronicity has been described as evidence that this assemblage of separate personalities that passes for life are merely the infinite faces of an underlying unity -- perhaps similar to the “clockworks” you describe in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. What are your thoughts on this, or more to the point, do you have a memorable story of synchronicity you’d care to share?

What we, thanks to Jung, call “synchronicity” (coincidence on steroids), Buddhists have long known as “the interpenetration of realities.” Whether it’s a natural law of sorts or simply evidence of mathematical inevitability (an infinite number of monkeys locked up with an infinite number of typewriters eventually producing Hamlet, not to mention Tarzan of the Apes), it seems to be as real as it is eerie.

One night I inexplicably dreamed of a horse race. It was won by a steed named Seafood Kabob. The next day I telephoned a guy I knew who did PR for the racetrack outside of Seattle and asked him, half jokingly, to let me know should he ever come across a horse by that name, as I was prepared to bet the ranch dressing on it. Not a week passed before he mailed me a racing form in which I read that a horse named Seafood and another called Shish Kabob had finished strong in the Louisiana Derby a month or so earlier. I did not follow the sport and was totally unfamiliar with the Louisiana Derby. Now I wish I could report that I followed up on it -- began buying racing forms, contacting a bookie, and winning big bucks on the horses in question -- but, alas, I became distracted and let it pass.

Another example: In Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, I have my male protagonist take the female protagonist, on the occasion of their first date, to a lecture on the disturbing dwindling of the world’s frog population. While touring for that book, an interviewer from the St. Petersburg Times inquired if I was aware that T.C. Boyle had written a story, published some months earlier, in which a man takes a girl on their first date to a lecture about the global disappearance of frogs. Well, I’d neither read that story (I still haven’t) nor heard of it, and Boyle and I have never met. Hello? Do I hear the theme from Twilight Zone? I mean, what are the odds that two separate writers, strangers, a thousand miles apart, would each invent fictions in which guys take girls to an esoteric frog lecture on their first date. If that isn’t synchronicity, it’s something equally as weird.

In his book, Aquarius Revisited, Peter O. Whitmer characterized you as of the crew who created the sixties counterculture and changed America. What do you think the enduring legacy of the counterculture has been, or will be?

Although I participated enthusiastically in the sixties psychedelic revolution, and tried to mimic it -- its trappings, its mythology, its silliness, its profundity -- in print in my first novel, I had nothing to do with its creation. Rather, it was the confluence of two disparate elements -- acute socio-political dissatisfaction and pharmacological neo-shamanism -- that precipitated it; and it was democracy, as much as ferocious opposition from both the right-wing and left-wing establishments, that caused it to eventually unravel.

Democracy? Yep, oddly enough. The counterculture light was so bright it began to attract moths (people who sadly were not intellectually or spiritually prepared to meaningfully assimilate transformative multi-dimensional data streams from hyperspace) and stinging stink bugs (the thugs that invariably invade every utopia) in such great numbers that they eventually crowded out the butterflies (the educated middle class truth-seekers who switched on the light in the first place). That’s an oversimplification, of course, but it’s good to bear in mind that like it or not, enlightenment has always been, even in a golden age, pretty much limited to an elite. In America, the relatively finite psychedelic culture was shoved aside by the burgeoning boogie culture, whose drugs of choice were booze, speed, and cocaine; and whose goal was not to attain spiritual bliss, deeper understanding, or an end to war and repression but rather to get thoroughly ****ed up.

Except in the not insignificant societal areas of civil rights, feminism, and medical marijuana, the legacy of the sixties counterculture has been largely recreational, ornamental, and subject to ridicule, though it would be unconscionable, even stupid, to dismiss or undervalue a catalog of the greatest popular music in human history. On a spiritual, evolutionary level, the light has dimmed and gone underground, but still, something in me would like to think the sixties phenomenon was a dress rehearsal for a grander, wider leap in consciousness yet to come. However, since Seafood Kabob is likely to win the Belmont Stakes before a psychic jailbreak of that magnitude materializes, my strategy is to try to live as if that day were already here.

I think most people would like to have some sort of security, but too often discover that the sacrifices they are required to endure to have it are antithetical to anything resembling the adventurous lives your characters inhabit. Do you think security and adventure are necessarily separate paths?

In your first question, you mentioned Alan Watts. Well, Watts published a luminous book entitled The Wisdom of Insecurity that ought to be required reading for every high school senior. Watts elaborates beautifully on what I’ve learned from observation and personal experience: namely, that security is an illusion. So, can pursuit of a mirage constitute an adventure? Maybe, but only if there’s genuine risk involved. Danger is to adventure what garlic is to spaghetti sauce. Without it, you just end up with stewed tomatoes.

Admittedly, having a bit of disposable cash in the bank can give you a sense of Buddhistic calm, and despite the fallacy involved, that’s probably preferable to the bonafide adventure of robbing a bank. A better alternative, however, is to learn to be at peace even when common sense (a highly overrated virtue) would lead you to believe that someone in your situation ought to feel threatened and insecure.

Finally, as someone who has written nine novels, you are uniquely qualified to answer the following question: Is the truth stranger than fiction?

I’ve become increasingly unwilling to make those distinctions. Just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

…..

In addition to his memoir, Tom Robbins is the author of nine off-beat but popular novels and a collection of short writings. All of his books are currently in print. He lives in his own time zone north of Seattle.

giovonni

11th May 2014, 23:04

"they didn't take it well at all" ... :rolleyes:

http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3525330.ece/alternates/s615/Conchita-Wurst-and-Vladimir-Putin.jpg

Conchita Wurst's Eurovision win slammed by Russia as politician brands it 'the end of Europe' (http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/russia-slams-eurovision-winner-conchita-3525396)

giovonni

13th May 2014, 06:00

http://www.vali.de/wp-content/uploads/santa_maria_vray24.jpg

Found after 500 years, the wreck of Christopher Columbus’s flagship the Santa Maria (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/exclusive-found-after-500-years-the-wreck-of-christopher-columbuss-flagship-the-santa-maria-9359330.html)

giovonni

13th May 2014, 09:17

giggle :)

Ryan Hamilton Stand-Up

05/12/14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8OTlsfCDt8

giovonni

13th May 2014, 22:41

mono mono ...

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/7e8692e5b4139bfc531cff7f717730c4936a25fd/c=3-0-1632-1224&r=x383&c=540x380/local/-/media/WKYC/WKYC/2014/05/11//1399845448000-tangled-twins.jpg

Twins born holding hands in Akron (http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/akron/2014/05/11/rare-mono-mono-newborn-twins-doing-well-in-akron/8972949/)

dianna

15th May 2014, 15:34

Overwhelming the Illusion
by Zen Gardner

http://www.zengardner.com/wp-content/uploads/lightoverdark_n.jpg

They don’t own the earth. They don’t own you and me. They don’t own all their stupid secret symbols. They don’t own the present, they don’t own the future. They don’t even own themselves.

They’re usurpers, in every sense of the word. And absolutely nothing to fear.

That these invading power freaks striving to control the world should try to lay claim to some secret knowledge and power source that’s superior to everything else is a fraud. That they think they can bring on world changing events that result in national clampdowns and population reduction is their personal nightmare in the making.

And we need to see it for what it is. A spiritual charade. While we have to deal with their very real machinations they’ve unleashed to destroy the earth and most of its inhabitants for whatever sick reason they conjure, they have no superior super powers to fear.

The nightmare is theirs, not ours. We just have to deal with the fallout from their insanity. But we can do so consciously and with great peace of mind and heart in spite of all of their efforts to induce fear.

The fact is, there is no secret but that which is willfully withheld or deliberately ignored. And to the conscious, nothing is hidden that cannot be revealed.

Their Puny Pride Is on the Run

So much of the big lie that we’re witnessing on the world stage is simply projected pride – the big, fat, stinking manufactured pride of pathological egomaniacs reinforcing a fabricated world of their ugly, demented imaginations. Whether world conquest piggy-backing on natural and manufactured catastrophes, or attempting to morph humanity and terraform our environment to meet their specifications for world control, it’s all defensive.

They’re scared.

It is they who are running and hiding from something so incredibly powerful they have to erect giant sand castles to hide behind while they attempt to exterminate all those who carry this amazing potential to realize Truth.

Us.

An awakened and empowered us is what they’re absolutely frightened of. And like the cowardly bullies in the playground, they know their time is almost up.

Our warfare is a spiritual one. Whether we encase this understanding in one of the more classic frameworks or see it completely metaphysically, the play we’re witnessing is nothing to fear. The feverish power struggles and social engineering taking place on such a massive scale are all based in fear.

Fear of you, and fear of me. Because we represent the potential connection to Truth. And their inevitable downfall.

Example: Co-opting Nature’s Sacred Geometry
A perfect example of this shadowy charade is the “Brotherhood’s” usurpation of symbols.

http://metropolxxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2.jpg

While we know this supplanting of authority is true about their false hierarchy and self-imposed “ownership” of land and other natural and even human resources, they’ve cleverly tried to co-opt the inherent powers of the so-called mystery schools, the language of which is numbers and symbols.

What people forget is almost all of these symbols occur naturally with wonderful positive, regenerative properties. What these lying entities have done is simply attach negative and destructive and abusive connotations to anything they can. A perfect example of how once you’re wrapped up in their world of interpretation with an abusive, violent world around you to back it up, you begin to think the lie is true.
Therein lies their only power. Our “belief” via our attention and entertaining of their notions which are empowered to appear real only by our participation. Turn it off. Turn off their sources–mainstream media, staged events, manipulated music, shallow publicity, even old thought patterns and phony personal responses and relationships.

It’s time to get real.

Remember, their whole plan is designed to replace reality with a false matrix of power that’s fed by fear. Don’t dwell on it, but see it for what it is. And reverse the flow.

Uncork the X-Factor

http://www.1-877-spirits.com/store/images/large/Uncork-Good-Times-lg.jpg

By our very clarity of understanding, our conscious awareness of the Truth and our not submitting to their web of deceit, we throw off the illusory shackles of the would-be controllers. Just one person’s total lack of fear, not giving any obeisance to their societal, political, economic or physical oppression network, is a flame in their flimsy cobweb.

Be it.

They’re lying usurpers..but it only works with our agreement. Our conscious awareness, as vague as that may seem to some, is the ultimate weapon. And it starts with waking the hell up and then keep waking up…rattling as many other cages as we can in the process. It’s not always a smooth process, but it requires honesty and guts.

And cutting the bull****.

As our collective consciousness grows more awake and aware it gains power and tremendous momentum. The x-factor is synchronicity. When each of us responds to Universal consciousness things change dramatically. Life’s signs become increasingly apparent and start challenging and leading our lives more and more, activating them in ways we never knew possible and giving us a tremendously powerful influence over the world around us.

With each and every wake up the war is won.

It was won in the beginning. We just need to stop believing the illusions around us and acting on our true conscience.

At that point it becomes Now.

And a very inspiring one at that!

Love, Zen
http://www.zengardner.com/overwhelming-illusion/