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Thursday, December 25
In the spirit of Christmas, I'm learning Magic. Grant Morrison on sigils: "The McDonald’s Golden Arches, the Nike swish and the Virgin autograph are all corporate viral sigils. Corporate sigils are super-breeders. They attack unbranded imaginative space. They invade Red Square, they infest the cranky streets of Tibet, they etch themselves into hairstyles. They breed across clothing, turning people into advertising hoardings. They are a very powerful development in the history of sigil magic, which dates back to the first bison drawn on the first cave wall." Tuesday, December 23
Just in time for the Holidays! * Much to my chagrin Santa Claus was not created by the Coca-Cola company, but Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by the Montgomery-Ward group of Department stores. * Suicides do not increase during the holiday season. * Poinsettias are not poisonous to humans (You'd have to eat over 500 leaves to cause any significant damage). * The same paper (The New York Sun in 1897) that assured young Virginia that, yes, there is indeed a Santa Claus also printed a long article 60 years earlier about the winged creatures that lived on the Moon. 
Be careful who you leave cookies out for this season!! (Much of this info courtesy of Snopes.com) Friday, December 19
Alex Ross says: "Everyone's asking why are we in Iraq? We were sold a bill of goods. This is a show of strength to scare the rest of the world — go after the obvious bad guy. It's like Batman going after the Penguin because he can't find the real villain, the Joker. Batman would never do that just for show — that kind of thing only works for lone justice anyway, not with countries. [The administration] is feeding its ego by trying to send that kind of cowboy justice out into the world. You can't take vigilante philosophy onto that kind of scale." I love comic book politics!! Cats try to eat incapacitated owner at LA apartment A group of hungry cats began to eat their 86-year-old owner after she suffered an apparent stroke and couldn't get up for nearly a week, officials said Thursday. Mae Lowrie, who lives with seven cats, was discovered unconscious and riddled with bite marks Wednesday night at her Panorama City apartment, Fire Department and hospital officials said. The cats, apparently without food for that time, also tried to eat Lowrie's small dog... Thursday, December 18
Voyage to Our Hollow Earth - 24 Day Trip Would you be interested in a once-in-a-life-time chance to discover Our Hollow Earth first hand? We invite you to join us now on an expedition to Our Hollow Earth! Don't miss this chance to personally visit that paradise within our earth via the North Polar Opening and meet the highly advanced, friendly people who live there. We are of the opinion that they are the lengendary Lost Tribes of Israel who migrated into the North Country over 2,500 years ago and literally became lost to the knowledge of mankind. GUARANTEES: By joining Our Hollow Earth Expedition, expedition members agree that there are NO GUARANTEES that this expedition will reach Inner earth. The expedition will make a good faith effort to locate the North Polar Opening and enter therein, but worst case scenario is that we visit the geographic North Pole, explore the region, and continue on to the New Siberian Islands. Cost: $18,950 US Dates: Jun. 26, 2005 to Jul. 19, 2005 *Please note that if we are unable to find the Polar opening, we will be returning via the New Siberian Islands to visit skeleton remains of exotic animals thought to originate from Inner Earth. If you loved me, you'd get this for me. Monday, December 15
I will probably be posting a lot of Saddam stuff in light of recent events. Don't think that I don't agree that Saddam was a horrific man, and that the world is, indeed, a better place with him behind bars. I just want to provide information that is counter to the extremely biased, corporate-run news services, and the extremely biased, corporate-run American Government. My opinon is that the Govt probably knew where Hussein was, and sat on the information so that they could boost President #43's polls when the time came. Monitor the news services carefully now and in the coming weeks, especially the online services. A lot of info slips through the cracks in the beginning of important news stories, and with the ease of desktop publishing the info is shot into 'cyber-space' in an instant. As time goes on incriminating information is reigned in, and condensed. My next prediction is that Saddam will die in custody, most probably before the 'war-crime' trials start. Watch, and be vigilant. The only way to liberate, is to educate. “It’s great that they caught him. The man was a brutal dictator who committed terrible crimes against his people. But now we come to rest of story. We didn’t go to war to capture Saddam Hussein. We went to war to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons have not been found.” -Ray McGovern, senior analyst of the CIA. Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. 
Saddam Hussein or a bum waiting for the F train? You decide! Friday, December 12
Saturday, December 6
A friend of mine has just self-published his own comic. The Art is amazing, simply extraordinary and guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever seen in comics! Look: 
The book is called The Legend of Liquid Fury. What's it about? Well, from the mouth of the author (who I pressured into giving me this blurb): "A young man trained in the lost kung fu style, Liquid Fury, seeks to avenge the death of his master and the destruction of his school. Corporate soldiers transformed by inhuman experiments into elemental superhumans stand in his way from killing the mad General responsible for the loss of his home and the death of the teacher that raised him like a son. An exploration of violence and revenge. If you're a fan of Samurai Jack, Blade of the Immortal, Ninja Scroll, etc. odds are you'll dig it." What more could you ask for? Go and buy it here (Type 'Liquid Fury' into the search field)! So, I forgot to mention that as of October this Blog is officially One-Year-Old. 
Please E-mail me, and I'll tell you where to send the presents. Friday, December 5
Try this!! Go to Google and type in "miserable failure" The results are quite telling. Also! Go to Google and type in "weapons of mass destruction" The results are very funny. (Hit the I'm Feeling Lucky Tab under the search field for full results) Tuesday, December 2
During the FTAA meeting on Nov. 20, 2,500 police officers in full riot gear were dispatched against a crowd estimated at 8,000 people, mostly union members and retirees. Congress gave Miami $8.5-million for security during the FTAA meetings - funds slipped inside the $87-billion measure for Iraq. The National Lawyers Guild, a liberal legal organization, said the day was punctuated by "indiscriminate, excessive force against hundreds of nonviolent protesters with weapons including pepper spray, tear gas, and concussion grenades and rubber bullets." Observers said the provocation for officers to shoot rubber bullets and paint balls filled with pepper spray at the predominantly peaceable crowd was often one person lobbing an orange in the direction of police or lighting a trash can on fire. 
Nikki Hartman, a 28-year-old Pinellas County resident, was shot three times with rubber bullets - once, she said, when a police officer fired point-blank at her behind after she stooped to pick up a bandanna she'd dropped. The officer had kicked it her way before shooting her. She was later shot in the back while retreating from police lines. Her friend Robert Davis was shot seven times while trying to help Hartman to her feet. 
In addition to such shootings, police abandoned any legitimate basis for searching and arresting people. Eight of 60 guild observers were arrested that day; they wore distinctive green hats and were apparently targeted. Libertythink is reporting that, in addition to broken bones, “there were also lost eyes from rubber bullets, and of the 273 that were arrested, 5 were raped in jail by cops.” Amnesty International is seeking an investigation of the Miami Police. This is the Country we live in. This is the Country we've always lived in. When will we stop supporting this corruption, and start acting against it. Much thanks to Mack White, and Alex Jones. The authorized biography of former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch says she was raped by her Iraqi captors. Although Lynch said she has no memory of the sexual assault, medical records cited in the book — "I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story" — indicate that she was raped and sodomized by her Iraqi captors. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- "She was a woman, young and alone in a strange country," he said. "It was our duty to look after her and we did. Now people are saying she was raped... it pains us." Dr Jamal Kadhim Shwail was the first doctor to examine Lynch when she was brought to Nasiriyah's military hospital by Iraqi special police. She was wearing her uniform including a flak jacket, military trousers and boots, none of her clothes had been unbuttoned or removed, as the book claims, he said. "We only had a few minutes to save her life, we found a vein in her neck to give her fluids and blood," Shwail said at his home in Nasiriyah. He said her flak jacket was removed and her clothes were cut away to expose the injured sites. The anaesthetist cut away an area around her groin to insert a catheter to drain urine. Dr Mahdi Khafazji operated on her fractured right femur when her condition had stabilised. He said he cleaned her body before surgery and found no signs of a sexual assault. "I examined her very carefully," he said at his private clinic in the centre of Nasiriyah. "I cleaned her body including her genitalia. She had no sign of raping or sodomising." On April 1, after Iraqi forces had deserted the hospital, it was raided by US commandos. The event was filmed by the US military through a night-vision lens and Lynch was stretchered away. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- A survey published on August 28 has indicated that 12% of women who graduated from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado had been raped (7%), or almost raped (5%). Seventeen per cent had reported some form of sexual assault and a whopping 70% had been sexually harassed. ...there had been 56 reports of rape or sexual assault in the last decade at the academy. Only now are those incidents being investigated. There have been just three men brought to trial, and none convicted. Eight others had been punished “administratively” for sexual violence. Women in the survey reported that punishment did result from reporting rape — but it was the victim, not the assailant, who was punished. Reporting a crime resulted in punishment for minor infractions of the academy code, they said. Cadet Lisa Bellas, for example, told the local Colorado paper Westword in August that after she was raped by a cadet she had kissed in a bathroom, she was told by then-academy commander Sylvanus Taco Gilbert, that she “didn't have to go to that party, didn't have to drink that night ... and didn't have to follow him back into that bathroom.” Who understands what I'm saying here? Thursday, November 27
This image courtesy of Bill Halliar Of RoughBeasts.com 
His brilliance is inspired. Go, and buy much from him! Wednesday, November 26
Jersey Devil legend continues to fascinate in Pine Barrens ASSOCIATED PRESS PEMBERTON, N.J. (AP) — As Russ Juelg guides groups through the Pine Barrens by the light of the moon, he always instructs them to keep their eyes up in the trees. They’re watchful for a strange form crouching from a tree limb or a pair of glowing eyes emerging from the shadows. The search for the legendary Jersey Devil may include plenty of skeptics, but Juelg says curiosity still draws dozens of thrill-seekers to southern New Jersey each month to go on “hunts.” “Being out in the wilderness at night and hearing and seeing strange things that you can’t account for is kind of a thrill, and it kind of puts you in touch with the mysterious side of nature,” said Juelg, who leads the outings for the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. 
The tale of the cloven-hoofed creature with the wings of a bat remains one of the best known examples of a New Jersey legend, according to Angus Kress Gillespie, a professor of American studies at Rutgers University and director of the New Jersey Folk Festival. It’s also become a popular culture figure, even lending its name to the state’s professional hockey team. There are multiple versions of the tale familiar to most New Jersey schoolchildren, but a popular version describes the creature as being born to a woman named Mother Leeds, who already had 12 children and cursed the baby. The Jersey Devil Beware the dark pine woods at night, the gloom is thick And obscures your sight. Tread carefully if you must go, move quickly, for if you move slow, A great dark shadow will descend to snatch you up Your life to end. Beware the dark pine wood at night, The Jersey Devil’s taking flight. The legend’s been heard by Kings and cooks, and describes the creature’s Horrific looks. It’s wings are dark; those of a bat, Head of a horse, eyes like a cat. On a human body this creature gloats. Tail of a snake, legs of a goat. Long dark claws to tear and rend. Sharp, thin horns adorn its head. It can see through night, and smells your fear. For a hundred yards it’s said to hear. It hunts the pines, the Jersey wood; to try and run would do no good. Beware the dark pine wood at night, The gloom is thick and obscures your sight. It’s said to be the thirteenth son of Mother Leeds, the witches mum. “Too many children I’ve had!” She yelled, “I hope this babe goes straight to hell!” The child, soon birthed with hair of gold, A cherub’s face had heavens hold. But then its flesh did warp and split, Its tiny mouth clenched in a fit. The height of two men it grew with speed. The Devil took the child of Leeds. A monstrous body with Satan’s head flew up the chimney, the creature fled To hunt the dark pine woods with fright. The Jersey Devil stalks the night. So, be wary of the pines at night, Don’t venture in without a light. For if you happen to be passing through, The Jersey Devil could come for you! Monday, November 24
Topless joint can't give money away 4 S.F. nonprofits refuse $4,330 donation from a North Beach strip club 
Mike Gasperec just learned the hard way that supposedly hang-up-free San Francisco and the Bible Belt have one thing in common: They're tough places to give away a strip club's money. Four nonprofit organizations representing San Francisco's homeless, poor and cancer-stricken turned down a $4,330 gift from Gasperec's Penthouse Grille and Broadway Showgirls Cabaret topless club in North Beach over the past several weeks, saying they have reputations to protect. Gasperec, the club's general manager, was surprised how hard it is to find someone to take the proceeds from a $195-per-person golf tournament the club had sponsored -- particularly in a town where the S&M-themed Folsom Street Fair is nearly a civic holiday. Friday, November 21
Thursday, November 20
Hey! Get off of my future!! Segway devices, like other gas and electric powered scooters, are illegal to operate on public streets, highways, sidewalks, bicycle and pedestrian bridge paths and multi-use bicycle and pedestrian paths in New York City and State. They cannot be registered with the department of Motor Vehicles and thus cannot be operated on public streets and highways in New York State. Under New York City Traffic rules...it is illegal to drive Segway devices on the City's sidewalks. So says the very sour Transportation Alternatives group in a recent press release. 
Monday, November 17
From now on I am to be referred to as Jubilo, my new brand. My new brand is unique because it denotes "an enchanted chance." What brand are you? Sunday, November 16
NOVEMBER 28th 
The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican, ten times more than a Chinese person, and thirty times more than a person from India. (Burp!) We are the most voracious consumers in the world... a world that could die because of the way we North Americans live. Give it a rest! November 28th is Buy Nothing Day. Friday, November 14
Thursday, November 13
Friday, November 7
The first panel of the Mack White Comic 'Operation Northwoods' (annotated version): 
If you want to understand more about the world we live in, please go and read the rest of the strip. If not, then put your Disney movie back on and enjoy your life. (Yes, I am making fun of you.) Tuesday, November 4
Jack Black and Kyle Glass of Tenacious D announce 45 day fast to celebrate their DVD release "The Complete Master Works" at the Millennium Broadway Hotel on November 3, 2003. Monday, November 3
 
Nokia also released two versions of a necklace that can receive and display images through the infrared capability of a Nokia phone. Both necklaces can store up to eight images and include controls to delete the pictures. One is only available in the form of a necklace, the other can be worn as a wristwatch as well and should appear on the market in the first quarter of next year. Friday, October 31
"First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." -William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II 
Caught On Camera: Attorney Shot Outside Courthouse The dramatic shooting was captured by television crews who were gathered outside the courthouse to film actor Robert Blake as he emerged from a hearing in his murder case. 
Sotheby's Auctions Vampire-Killing Kit For $12,000 The kit, a walnut box that also contained a crucifix, a pistol, a rosary and vessels for garlic powder and various serums, was bought by an anonymous phone bidder. According to Sotheby's, some experts believe that such kits were commonly available to travelers in Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, while others think the kits were made in the early 20th century, possibly to cash in on interest in vampires sparked by the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." (Y'know...Christmas is coming up...) Wednesday, October 29
My Halloween contribution. Please, critique. The Tree I first saw the tree from the car window when I was six. We were on vacation, heading up north to go camping. It was on the far bend of a winding road, the tree, so as soon as I saw it, it was gone. I’ve never forgotten a single detail of that twisted shape. The way it knotted and bunched like a Giant twisted in an ash gray cloak, suffocating and powerless. It had a mass of sharp branches that cluttered up to the sky and held brown sickly leaves that shivered in the breeze. I barely noticed the man hanged dead from one of the thicker branches, twisting slowly against the trunk. We rounded the curve so quickly that my brain was only able to process the vision until we were well away from the bend. I can still remember the details; his hand curved and relaxed only just touching the dark, dark denim of his jeans. I couldn’t see his face, not with my eyes anyway, but he had dark curly hair. I didn’t say anything to my family. I had already been in enough trouble for making up stories. I knew they wouldn’t believe me on this one. I don’t need to tell you that I didn’t sleep a wink on that week of deep woods camping. We took a different road to get back home, so I was even denied the closure of seeing if the tree had been cut down, or if there was at least some crime scene tape fluttering in the wind like an obscene party streamer. No closure, and no validation. Once we got home I kept an eye on the newspapers and some of the TV news, but I never heard anything about what I had seen. In effect the thing existed only in my mind. I never forgot the sight, however, even if it wasn’t foremost in my thoughts at all times. Sometimes I would go for weeks without thinking about it, and then, in the dark of the night, I would remember those curled hands, and imagined face complete with bulging eyes and centimeter of tongue peeking out from bloated lips. Other times I’d be driving and slowly I’d realize that I’m scanning the sides of the road. Watching the trees fly by wondering what's going on just beyond my vision. I’ve never had any lasting relationships, and I’m not blaming it on that tree, but my nighttime habits seem to be a major factor in this regard. My constant awakening in the middle of the night, often with no clear reason why. Although in my head I can see the reason all too vividly. I had a good friend once, a wood carver by trade, who said that the secret to creating life-like carvings is the ability to see the shapes the wood has within it. That each and every block of wood is hiding its true shape, and it is up to the carver to coax it out. I think about that a lot. Even now it comforts me, as I stand before the tree for the first time in over 20 years. The ease with which I found it was surprising, but I suppose it would have to be. Every second felt like a millennium as I hid my car in the brush and finally laid eyes on the monstrosity, and it was every bit as terrifying as I expected. Usually when we see things as children they seem huge, but once we see them as adults they become considerably smaller. Not so the tree. It was massive, and I could barely move, barely breathe in the nighttime air as I stood before it. I saw no evidence of the violence that had defiled it so many years ago. Its swaying branches creaked mockingly at me and I barely noticed the ache in my hands as I clenched my fists shut as hard as I could. I probably would have stood there longer had the weakened, muffled kick from my trunk not broken my reverie. The boy in the trunk looked hazily up at me when I opened it. He was half dead already, broken and battered, the rope would only finish him off. This ones hair was the right type of curly, only a bit matted from the sweat. His build was a bit thinner, and the denim of his jeans wasn’t as dark, but I assume that things are allowed to change after time. My wood carver friend would always tell me that the hardest thing to do was to reproduce ones vision perfectly, but that trying was half the fun. Tuesday, October 28
Shockingly Extreme Thong Volleyball! had all the guys going, "Whoa, dude! I can't wait to masturbate to this!" In this mature title from the people who brought you Full Tilt Naked Billiards and Awesomely Awesome Topless Monopoly, you control a scantily clad beach volleyball player who has access to several different weapons that pop up throughout the game. What are they for? Good question! Grab one, though, and you lose a piece of clothing! (What was the question?) Make it to the end and you get to watch a full-on naked knife fight with rocket-propelled grenades and sabers. Nudity! And knifing! Thursday, October 23
Tuesday, October 21
Britney waxwork goes pole-dancing 
Madame Tussauds in London unveiled a new waxwork of a pole-dancing Britney Spears - punters will be encouraged to join the pop princess in a few moves of their own. Uhmm...can you say Bukkake? Thursday, October 16
I  Ray Kurzweil
As I mentioned, electronics is already 100 million times faster than our electrochemical circuits; we have no quick downloading ports on our biological neurotransmitter levels, and so on. We could bioengineer smarter humans, but this approach will not begin to keep pace with the exponential pace of computers, particularly when brain reverse engineering is complete (within thirty years from now). The human genome is 800 million bytes, but if we eliminate the redundancies (e.g., the sequence called "ALU" is repeated hundreds of thousands of times), we are left with only about 23 million bytes, less than Microsoft Word. The limited amount of information in the genome specifies stochastic wiring processes that enable the brain to be millions of times more complex than the genome which specifies it. The brain then uses self-organizing paradigms so that the greater complexity represented by the brain ends up representing meaningful information. However, the architecture of a DNA-specified brain is relatively fixed and involves cumbersome electrochemical processes. Although there are design improvements that could be made, there are profound limitations to the basic architecture that no amount of tinkering will address... I recommend establishing the connection with noninvasive nanobots that communicate wirelessly with our neurons. As I discuss in the précis, the feasibility of communication between the electronic world and that of biological neurons has already been demonstrated. There are a number of advantages to extending human intelligence through the nanobot approach. They can be introduced noninvasively (i.e., without surgery). The connections will not be limited to one or a small number of positions in the brain. Rather, the nanobots can communicate with neurons (and with each other) in a highly distributed manner. They would be programmable, would all be on a wireless local area network, and would be on the web. Weapons of mass....irony? US world leader in arms sales The United States sells more arms than any other country, and Saudi Arabia leads the world for buying arms among developing countries, a report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) said Wednesday. The United States holds a 40.3 percent market share in arms sales, raking in 10.241 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros) from sales in 2002, according to the IISS annual report "The Military Balance 2003-2004", on arms around the world. Wednesday, October 15
Tuesday, October 14
Conspiracy researcher's wet dream becoming a reality?? Citizens strike back in intelligence war With the recent demise of the Bush administration's controversial Terrorist Information Awareness (TIA) programme to monitor everyone in the US, citizens now have a chance to get their own back. A website to be launched later in 2003 will allow people to post information about the activities of government organisations, officials and the judiciary. The two MIT researchers behind the project face one serious problem: how to protect themselves against legal action should any of the postings prove false. The answer, they say, is to borrow a technique from the underground music-swapping community. Instead of storing the data in one place, they plan to distribute it around the internet in a similar way to the notorious Napster software that got music file-sharing under way. Just like TIA, the new website, called Government Information Awareness (GIA), is designed to collect snippets of information to build a database that can later be searched to reveal patterns of suspicious behaviour. Tuesday, October 7
Apparently the Japanese aren't satisfied with CD read/write drives, they had to go one step farther and create a Brain read/write machine. Tsk...showoffs. 
Found via Warren Ellis' blog, Die Puny Humans! Wednesday, October 1
Pope Blasts "Hater's" At General Audience 
VATICAN CITY -- A frail but determined Pope John Paul II led his general audience Wednesday and, brushing aside any suggestions that he is cutting back on his schedule due to his health, announced, "I ain't goin' out like that!" In remarks published Tuesday, a close papal adviser said the pope was in "bad" shape, prompting concern throughout the world for the 83-year-old pontiff. The aging pontiff cast out the "sucka's" saying that they were attempting to "play him." Throughout his traditional general audience, Pope John Paul II repeatedly motioned to German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and muttered, "You best step back, kid, you aint ready fo' this." After reciting the "Our Father" John Paul attempted to stand while shouting, "I am th' Pope! King Kong aint got nothin' on me!" Upon receiving the communion wine, the Pope poured a sip on the ground, and thumped his chest twice as he remarked, "For Holy-J." The leader of the Roman Catholic Church also asked to be called "P-Murda'" from now on, and announced that, "God willing," he will travel next week to a shrine in Pompeii. Chuck D. dropping the science. "Chuck D, leader of Public Enemy, vehemently opposes what the industry is trying to do. "Technology giveth and it taketh away, and the industry knows this," Chuck D said. "The horseshoe makers probably got upset at the train manufacturers because (the new industry) took away their transport dominance, just as the train manufacturers probably got mad at the airline industry." "I think this expands artistry and it's about adjustment," he said. "As an artist representing an 80-year period of black musicianship, I never felt that my copyrights were protected anyway," Chuck D said. "I've been spending most of my career ducking lawyers, accountants and business executives who have basically been more blasphemous than file sharers and P2P. I trust the consumer more than I trust the people who have been at the helm of these companies. "The record industry is hypocritical and the domination has to be shared. P2P to me means 'power to the people,'" Chuck D said. "And let's get this to a balance, and that's what we're talking about." " Wired News Tuesday, September 30
A cinematic experience, a kaleidoscope of heroism and nightmares and imagery seen nowhere save the subconscious of Goya or even Hawksmoor himself! 
Production sketch from a never produced Batman movie that was developed by Orson Welles in 1946! Yes, that Orson Welles. Read Mark Millar's article from Comicbookresources.com, and dream of the glory that might have been. Thursday, September 25
Brain waves drive man's bionic arm A man who lost both of his arms in an accident is getting some high-tech help with an innovative artificial limb that controls movements by thought. To get the new arm, Sullivan first underwent surgery to graft existing nerve endings from his shoulder onto the pectoral muscle on his chest. Those nerves grew into the muscle after about six months. Electrodes on the graft can now pick up any thought-generated nerve impulses to the now-absent limb and transmit those to the mechanical prosthesis, controlling the movements of the arm. Sullivan's doctor says this is the first time a nerve-muscle graft has been used to control an artificial limb. Wednesday, September 24
More fiction. The Afterlife Her eyes lock with mine as I feel the tightness around my throat, causing me to breathe in raspy hot breaths. Oh fuck all, not this again. I look for salvation within the pale orbs of my lover, but am greeted with naught but fear. My heart leaps hopefully within my chest; perhaps it is fear for my safety that bathes her eyes in moisture. Fear for the neck of her lover, her scandalous highwayman. Gods teeth, was I a fool! The darkness between her lips grew as she opened them, as if to speak, to cry out, to scream for redemption, to howl; "Mercy! Mercy for the man I love!" But this doesn't happen... Never does, does it? Her eyes turn away. Click here to read the rest. Friday, September 19
Here's another story. The Hole Jem Waites stared down into the dark hole trying hard to distinguish any shapes or colors. The hole was ringed with a small wall of stones much like the wall Jem had put up a year ago around the old well at the south end of the farm. Jem guessed that the diameter of the hole was about four feet wide, and it had to be more than twenty feet deep because when he shone the flashlight down it was unable to penetrate the blackness. Jem remembered when the county crew got permission from Jem’s father to create the hole. It was intended to be some kind of waste collection pit for a new drainage system that the state was installing, but the funding ran out, and so did the crewmen. Jem’s father, Obed, tried for the longest time to get the county to seal the hole but there was always one reason or another that they couldn’t come down and do it. For weeks Obed threatened to have Jem fill in the hole, but father and son became so busy with the farm that they just never got around to it. A month later Obed took ill and died. A week before he expired Obed had Jem build the small wall of stones around the hole, no one really knew why, least of all Jem. Old farmer Howard Phillips often said that he would look out of his window at night and see Obed crouched down in front of that hole. The old farmer said he could see a fire burning nearby, and he swore he could hear a rhythmic chanting. Then again farmer Phillips also claimed that faceless creatures would carry him from his bed at night and bring him to other worlds. The old man was crazy, but Obed did seem to have an obsession with that hole. It was a persistent topic on the Waites’ farm during the last few weeks of Obed’s life, according to day workers. On more than one occasion Obed yelled and screamed at Jem, while hacking up blood, and demanded that the boy drop stones down the hole until it was closed forever. Obed always calmed down and apologized to his son right afterwards. Farm hands had said that they didn’t think he apologized because he had hurt his son’s feelings, but because he really didn’t want the hole closed. Click to read the rest. Wednesday, September 17
We're Only Science Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. -Pete (Thanks Pete) What is it? Only Wednesday? Sigh.  
Yes, I awoke this morning to find that my car had been broken into. Nothing important was taken, but it's the point of it all, really. Counting today there are only three more days left in this week. What could possibly happen next? ...uh oh....ninjas!! 
Tuesday, September 16
Well, now. It's been pretty much one crap day after the next. Been having terrible days since last Saturday. This has been the one highlight thus far: 
Don't hate the playa, hate the game! Hoping for a better week. Friday, September 12
"Well we're doin' mighty fine I do suppose In our streak-of-lightning cars and fancy clothes But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back Up front there oughta be a man in black." -Johnny Cash 1932-2003 
Thank you sir. Goodnight. Give my love to June. Wednesday, September 10
I quote: "The Pixies. Are back. Together. Music is saved. Lovers of rock, unite and cheer. This is going to truly own." Monday, September 8
The Shadow Of The Tower The warrior stood in the doorway of the small inn. A blanket of silence slowly fell over the few patrons as the howl of the winter winds announced the newcomer to their midst. They watched him pull shut the heavy oak door to keep the bitter cold outside. He was tall, taller than most men in the village, so much taller that he had to duck his head a bit upon entering the warmth of the inn. Draped about his wide frame were furs from many different animals sewn together in the distinctive style of the northern tribes, a clever layering pattern that helped trap body heat close to its wearer. But this stranger was no northern tribesman; his hair was black as soot and much longer than any barbarians. The tribes of the north, according to their rites of manhood, wore their fair hair short. In his dark hair were many braids, warriors braids, symbols of an accomplished fighter, one who has killed many. The stranger stalked forward like a great cat. He watched all and seemed to notice everything without ever turning his head to actually set his gaze upon anything. His weapons hung at his left hip, two great blades sleeping quietly in a double sheath, one right on top of the other. The villagers had word from the scouting outposts that an armed traveler was heading towards the village. Very few warriors take solace within their village walls being that the town’s proximity is so close to the mating caves of the Other Race, a breed of humanoid creatures, bent and misshapen by whatever god created them. Every winter they travel to the caves in the west to mate and all within their path is razed to the ground. All inside the inn had heard tales of this particular stranger, however. They had heard tales of a large, dark haired warrior with a dual sheath for two arcane blades. One who is said to have accomplished great deeds, tremendous battles fought and won. They say even mighty wizards have fallen beneath his blades....and everyone fears wizards. This is a story I had written a while ago. Read the rest of Part I here, and please let me know what you think. Thursday, September 4
Speaking of the lie that is the world, here are some brave folks who have chosen to go against the grain and illuminate the secrets and the lies. http://www.prisonplanet.com/ http://infowars.com/ Sites of Alex Jones, scarily talented conspiracy researcher and public speaker who compiles news from around the world to show the machinations of the New World Order. http://www.ctrl.org/graphicHome/CTRLhome.html Home of the Conspiracy Theory Research List. Take some time and look around. http://www.paranoiamagazine.com Web site of the conspiracy magazine Paranoia. Think 'Newsweek' with wackos. http://www.forteantimes.com/ The truth IS stranger than fiction. http://www.davidicke.com/ Above them all my favourite wacko. Some good, solid, provable theories come out of this mans brain...stick with him through the shapeshifting lizard-like aliens who are the puppet masters behind every government in the world. http://www.steamshovelpress.com/ All conspiracy no theory. http://www.bilderberg.org/ Haven't had much of a chance to look around here yet, but it seems worth a browse. http://www.coasttocoastam.com/ The companion web-site of the AM radio show Coast to Coast, once hosted by the incomparable Art Bell. http://www.jimmarrs.com/ Ah, Jim Marrs. The American version of David Icke...only less Lizards. http://www.conspiracyarchive.com A well balanced and well laid out site. http://www.subgenius.com This is the Truth. All hail Bob! http://www.ology.org/principia/ The official "Bible" of the Discordian society. Read it, because it's all true, except for the parts that aren't. If any of you know of some that I haven't covered, please enlighten me. This is a journal posting from my friend Kurt over in JournalSpace somewhere: I want to firmly grasp the entire world with both of my hands, sink my fingers into the dirt, and rip this planet in half. Then slam both halves down and grind what’s left into dust. And it still wouldn’t get rid of the problems. The conflict does not end. I am slowly being driven mad by forces in this world. Now I know I’m prone to becoming a paranoid schizophrenic, but seriously doesn’t life seem like a conspiracy theorist’s living nightmare? Not only are these insane acts covered up with some asinine story, but the public actually buys it all and asks for more! Consume! Be dumb, afraid of anything “WE” tell you isn’t Amerikan, and work your life away while “WE” begin the dissection and total elimination of your civil rights. It makes me want to shatter my skull on this desk and pray that a nice sharp skull fragment may pierce my brain. It may just be the only way I find peace with the political and societal changes occurring around me. I was once told by a friend that if I don’t like what the government does, that I should not accept any help from the government and move out of the country. At the time I exclaimed that I’d gladly remove myself from the country in a second if I had the means. But shortly after, and until this day, that conversation chews through the lining in my stomach, tenses my shoulder muscles, and causes my teeth to grind incessantly. Fuck that and Fuck you! I’m not leaving this country, because I love what this country could stand for. What it could be. Not the submissive bitch of a corporate master in the soon to be enslaved world, but a righteous force that can kick down your goddamn door, shoot your goddamn politicians, and scream loudly that we’re not taking this bullshit anymore. The only upswing of this whole Bush administration is that it is getting so far out of hand, and into the public that it might just be enough incentive to get people like myself to actually do something about it. I am being driven mad by forces beyond my control. The grating noise that comes from the speakers attached to my computer at work will make me do something really bad to my co-workers. Reality is a prison because I choose to view it as such. My friend Kurt is slowly going crazy because he sees the shit that holds this world together. He is one of the few that Commandant Coke, and Der Schreck Meister McDonalds cannot blind. Remember in The Matrix when Morpheus mentioned that they usually don't 'awaken' people as old as Neo? Well, this is why. The world is a lie, and when you realize that, it is a terribly jarring experience. This world is horror. We as Americans are completely shielded from the real world, so much so that we have absolutely no idea why the rest of the world hates us. We ignorantly chalk it up to jealousy, we think that they hate the freedom we have. We. Are. Not. Free. Reality is a prison because I choose to view it as such. And Ignorance is Bliss. Something in the above statement is true. Tuesday, September 2
Friday, August 29
Just got my hair cut, and received the oddest compliment/comment. The barber leans over and says, "Your hair...is like electrical wires, my friend." And I say, "...Thank you." Thursday, August 28
"So, is there a life after death?" Franklin asked the stranger in his usual nonchalant manner. "You honestly think I should tell you that?" The stranger replied, gravely. "Why not? Unless, that is, you don't know." "Oh I know, you fool, I know. Do you know what would happen if I let people know if there was a life after death?" "We might actually work to make something of our lives while we're here on Earth?" "No, cretin, imagine something much like what happened on September the 11th in America happening everyday of the week. What people know, people exploit." "See, that shows me that you're a glass-half-empty kinda guy." "You unbelievable idiot, get out of my sight." Tuesday, August 26
I'm not too sure who is exactly reading this blog these days, but here is an interesting fact: There have been roughly 160 US deaths in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to the major fighting in the war on May 2. Are you still supporting the war/troops? 
"...thinking about calling it 'Crossroads'" "Why?" "Because it's, y'know, vaguely creepy..." "How so?" "Well, they used to hang murderers at the crossroads because if they turned into vampires or...or malevolent spirits they'd be trapped there. "And I was just reading recently about this guy, Kelwin Parr...or something. Last guy to be hanged at the crossroads in America. This is something, like, two hundred years ago. Anyway, he was a real weird guy and people accused him of being a demonologist and a child murderer..." "Was he?" "They never really found out. Some people from nearby found the whole town murdered, just slaughtered with an axe. Parr's house was torched and he was already hung...so...y'know, creepy." "Yeah...isn't 'Crossroads' also the name of a Britney Spears movie?" Thursday, August 21
This is somewhat in response to Kurt, over at Binary Buddha: Conflict is an essential part of human development. It's what we base all of our fiction on, where all our great myth cycles start, and what all great stories are wrapped around. Conflict is with us from the moment we are ejected from our mother's womb. We need food, comfort, and instruction yet we do not possess the language to express ourselves. When a child is in conflict it cries. Its whole body becomes the embodiment of its desire. Watch a happy baby; it fairly glows. When it's sad, its whole form becomes a taught ball of muscles and pain and need. The baby is unable to deal with its own conflict, it needs outside stimulus, and it is this stimulus that begins to shape the child's future. Within the throes of conflict there is much to be learned, but ultimately, it is the resolution to the conflict that is the defining factor. The adult life of a baby that is forced to sit in an unchanged diaper for hours may differ from the adult life of a baby that is always changed right away. The conflict is the fight, but the fight is not everything. At times it may seem like everything, though. What we learn during the fight is useless unless the fight ends, and it's what we can take away from the fight that makes all the difference. We must always be careful not to fall in love with the fight itself because in doing that, in falling in love with the conflict, we are losing. Eternal conflict, to my mind, is losing. It's wasted energy. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Well, every good story that is. Usually the greatest parts of these experiences are the middle parts. Case in point: Star Wars (Shut up). Ask any fan which is the best out of the trilogy, the original trilogy, and you'll overwhelmingly hear that Empire Strikes Back is the superior of the three. But what is the middle part without the ending? Would Empire be as good if it were the last part of the series? Sometimes more can be learned from running away from a fight, than actually becoming embroiled in one. 'You have to pick your battles' is a strong mantra for me these days. When is a good time to fight? Sometimes that's not clear until you are actually caught up in one. Some conflicts are too much, some enemies are too strong for any one person. This is why we are social creatures, and this is where so many people go wrong. We are so alone in our heads, and I think this is why people turn to fictions as an alternate reality. Fictions or drugs. Both are tempting because they can give us that shared experience. Both open up new vistas of reality, and allow us to see what we cannot, or will not see in the "mundane" world. Now, it's not all about winning or simply resolving a conflict, it's what you take away from it. It's what you've learned from the whole ordeal and how you can apply that knowledge to the rest of your life, which may very well be a series of conflicts. If you use what you've learned to ease the suffering of others (I know, corny, but true), then you've learned alot. I dunno...I feel as if I'm rambling, but I'm exploring these concepts as I write. Holler back, y'all. From Mr. Warren Ellis Taking an interesting look at a world of superhero fiction really (to me, anyway) demands an alternate-world-fiction approach. Otherwise you can't afflict the characters and environment with interesting changes. Doing something inside the "real" continuity of that world demands the pressing of a reset button at the end. Understand, these characters are corporate assets, and you can't pitch a new Superman film once he's been featured growing new penises on his arms to replace the cocks of a brainwashed castration cult who all stood in a row and pissed on the live rail in a subway station at the top of act one. Wednesday, August 20
Tuesday, August 19
These are the kinds of letters we get the the Newspaper: This was a handwritten fax. (I'm typing it exactly as I've received it. Spelling and all.) End Racism Against Schwartzneger He cant be macho, hes criticized 4 it He cant be himself. Only Minorities can be straight, macho + homophobic today. The media is steriotyping white men as gays, wimps, a rachist scheme 2 exterminate white diversity, accomplishment, history, culture + family. By making girls hate us + a scheme 4 macho minorities 2 get girls. Next the media will push macho schweger man on welfare on girls on color, looks being only straight left on objectification not inner beauty accomplishment. End objectification of gays and others. End using women as marketing tools 2 attract male consumers now schwegemen on welfare with no money to spend on consumer good pushed by female models used 4 their bodies, looks not mind. Get back 2 family values. The sex revolution is also a cause of these problems. Conservative 4 Schwartzneger, Be practical. Accompanying the fax was a New York Post article by Maggie Gallagher titled, Episcopalians Snub Blacks. Monday, August 18
My Blackout story: I work at a newspaper in Kew Gardens, Queens. I just got into work, and was in the process of getting settled when the lights went out. A mechanical buzzing sounded in the hall just outside of the office seconds before it all happened. The buzzing was the elevator alarm. Faced with darkness, the silence of lifeless computers, and absence of air conditioning, the newshounds jumped to life. The graphics editor came out of the back room and said that the power was down in the Long Island Bureau too. The Long Island Bureau too...what the hell is going on here? With suprising speed and delegation we evacuated the office and congregated in the street outside the building. The reporters dispersed to gather information while the rest of us observed and reassured. The stream of frightening information began to come in. People's cell phones weren't working, I kep imagining that the jet liners were circling the nearby airport...stuck in a holding pattern. A reporter came up and said that the power was out from Toronto to Ohio. Toronto, Canada!? How can that be possible!? She also said that she had heard that the Con Ed plant in the city was on fire, and people were speculating that someone had landed a plane into it. A friend and I went to grab food that she had ordered earlier and as she picked up the order I listened in on a garbled radio report. I caught the words explosions...firefighters...smoke... Most people around me were thinking terrorism, I was thinking War of The Worlds. People were calm for the most part, but the flow of absurd information was disturbing. Everyone else I've talked to wasn't nearly as worried as I was. I suppose the rush of (unreliable) information I was privy to was the cause of that. Wednesday, August 13
Friday, August 8
GEORGE W. BUSH Resume Highlights Past work experience: § I ran for congress and lost. § I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. Accomplishments: § I changed pollution laws for oil and power companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the nation. § I replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in America. § I became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of Republican appointments to the Supreme Court. Accomplishments as President: § Attacked and took over two countries. § Spent the country's surplus and bankrupted the treasury. § Shattered the record for biggest annual deficit in history. § Set an all-time record for the biggest stock market drop in its history. § I am the first president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record and in my first year in office set the all-time record for most vacation days taken by any president. § After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history. § In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs. I cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history. § I cut healthcare benefits for war veterans and set the all-time record for the most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/ § I dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history. § I am the first president in U.S. history to have all 50 states bankrupted at the same time. § I am the first president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the elections monitoring board. § I withdrew from the World Court of Law. § I am the first president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community. § I am the first U.S. president to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability. § I failed to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'. § I failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects. Thanks Karen! Read the whole thing 
Look. Laugh. Cry. But for heaven's sake don't buy one! Unless you're gonna stuff it full of firecrackers. Thursday, August 7
The building had always been there, its facade changing with the times. It waited, filled with life, to fufill its destiny. 
Lauren thumbed through the contents of her wallet, knowing she wouldn't find what Paul wanted her to find. She knew very well that she had left the card at home. She knew exactly where it was; right on the little brown nightstand she bought from Ikea two months ago. She had put it there so she wouldn't forget it. "Did you forget it again?" Paul muttered, hardly awake without his coffee. "No, Paul. I put it in my wallet, I know I did!" The funny thing was that even though Lauren knew she was lying, she was annoyed that Paul would doubt her like that. 
As the terrible hold music droned in her one ear, and the rumbling of the bus fuming outside growled in the other, all she could think about was her childhood in Chengxi. |
