text:
new ride. still waiting for a DEDA 100 (gun metal) Stem and new tires.
Life is better with a red spoke!
Sweet looking ride, Jin. What I find funny is the one crutch in the background next to the snowboard... like it's a given you're gonna hurt yourself
Stellar build. You'll need to bring it on the next BF ride so I can see the SRAM Red in person. After seeing Norman's Pedal Force RS 50cm, I had to buy one. I might still be on a Trek 5200 if it were not for this website.
Can you get the bike with a "hyperspace" button instead of the "easy" button?
We need to organize a Team ADK group ride. I want to see an impressive fleet of Bott/RS frames taking over. It would make for a great picture as well with the bikes lined up.
JINWS, Isn't the rear brake cable a little too high? Shouldn't it be a straight smooth line the the brake housing? It bumps up a little and you may touch it when pedalling, of course with your left leg.
I could be wrong, but just asking as I had a bike with cables like that and would drive me crazy when pedalling.
jobob, yes, please more pics when that gorgeous Rivendell is finished!
1999 Seven Sola, 2004 Bianchi Axis, 2005 Trek Madone 5.2 SL, 2006 Merlin Works CR 3/2.5, 2009 Kona Ute, Spot Acme
all parts are in. the last piece of the puzzle will be some new KCNC skewers. should be released by the end of this month.
Last edited by jinws; 03-16-08 at 12:18 PM.
Pedal Force RS Fleet at break. My 53cm and Norman's 50cm. Campagnolo Chorus throughout. Cell phone camera so not totally focused. Another rider rode up with one of the 12 days of xmas group buy ADK frames as well.
When my daughter outgrows her 48cm Battaglin, I now have this 50cm Tommasini waiting in the garage. Oh yeah - daddy got a new frame today, too. A little reward for being such a good dad.
"Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin, its the triumphant twang of a bedspring."
S. J. Perelman


text:
Pulphead begins with a now-famous article he wrote for GQ, "On This Rock." It's about the author's solo excursion to a mammoth Christian Rock festival, where he meets a small group of born-again good old boys who like to hunt, play music and talk about the end of the world. Sullivan writes of the days in the woods, forsaking personal hygiene and subsisting on frogs legs and other earthy vittles served up by his new friends.
Sullivan also recounts the details of his days immediately after Katrina hammered the abandoned poor, mostly African-American population of parts of New Orleans.
Driving into the devastation, Sullivan can't help but notice the staggering amount of dead animals along the road, including dogs who are "healthy looking other than being dead."
Another essay features Sullivan, a fan of MTV's The Real World, as he tracks down one of the show's former cast members. In another, he attempts to explain the strange world of rocker Axl Rose. Sullivan ends Pulphead writing about living in the house whose façade was used in the television program One Tree Hill, which Sullivan calls "one of the worst television shows ever made." That's honesty. Grade: B+
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
New Micro-allocation Policy Ratified
Posted: Tue, 02 Jul 2002
A new micro-allocation policy (Policy 2001-3) has been ratified in the ARIN region and will
be implemented immediately.
ARIN will make micro-allocations to critical infrastructure providers of the Internet, including public exchange points, core DNS service providers (e.g. ICANN-sanctioned root, gTLD, and ccTLD operators) as well as the RIRs and IANA. These allocations will be no longer than a
/24 using IPv4 or a /48 using IPv6. Multiple allocations may be granted in certain situations.
The full text of the policy can be viewed here: http://www.arin.net/policy/2001_3.html
This policy replaces ARIN's previous Micro-Allocation Policy, and was created in accordance with ARIN's Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process.
Search Announcements
Please Note:
These are archives of announcements, and have generally not been updated since they were published. As a result, some content, specifically links to other pages and other references may be out-of-date or no longer available.


text:
Conhuir's Barrier Sliders & Bangers!
Posted By etnies in Skate, Skip To The Comments (7)
Apr 3 2007 / Tuesday
Not only does he have crazy snap and style, but he slides out of his slams pretty well too! Check out Conhuir Lynn killing the barrier at Phoenix Am! More to come so stay tuned!


text:
2 Parks near Millinocket, Maine
Mattawamkeag, Maine 20.4 miles SE
Island Falls, Maine 32.24 miles NE
Greenville, Maine 38.52 miles SW
Millinocket, Maine (map) | (207) 447-5803
Sites: 42 | Latest Rate: $24.00 | 2 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Oct 2013 - $24.00
Park has beautiful views of Mt. Katahdin and Penobscot river. We visited in the fall so the foliage was amazing. Less than 20 miles from Millinocket over a bumpy road. Go slow and you will have no problems. Moose, bald eagles, deer are plentiful to view. No services so dry camping is a must. Our rating would have been higher had there been T-paper in the bathrooms. We asked attendants over four days for TP, and only got it on the fourth day. Trash had not been emptied for many many days / weeks. Owners were away to a wedding, so this probably would have been different had they been around. Heavy logging trucks start moving around 3 a.m. during the week, so the wonderful silence for good sleeping is gone. Again, this is a beautiful campground setting, but bring your own TP and a broom for the bath rooms. We will go back as long as the owners are present. - Lakeside013104
Jul 2011 - $20.00
Very rustic setting for dry camping with spectacular views of Kathadin and the Penobscot. We saw bald eagles, deer and a watched a moose swim across the river. Boating and fly fishing from our site. Super clean bathroom/hot showers, dump station available, well stocked store, gasoline. It is an 18.5 mile very bumpy ride down the Golden road to access. There is no reliable cell phone coverage. It might not be easy for >30 ft rig to navigate turns. Our 27 ft class C had no trouble though. - mudturtle
Millinocket, Maine (map) | (207) 447-8485
Sites: 102 | Latest Rate: $30.00 | 2 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Sep 2014 - $30.00
Great campground just south (10 miles) of Baxter State Park; ideal to stay here and hike the park. Owners purchased the campground in 2012 and are making steady improvements to an already good place - nice pool, new playground, outdoor dishes sinks, bathroom improvements. They were very flexible and helpful, going out of their way to ensure we had what you needed. Terrain in the area is rocky, so you'll encounter some bumps on the gravel loop roads, but we went slow and were just fine. Lots of trees surrounding the sites. Great fire rings with rock surround - very nice. Dry firewood available. We would definitely stay here again. - Jolly Out There
Sep 2013 - $30.00
This park is two years old. Owner is very nice. It is eighteen miles from Baxter State Park and one mile from Millinocket. Pool, playground, volleyball court, horseshoe pits and a small store with snacks, ice and firewood. On-site canoe outfitter, rafting trips, scenic flights can be booked. - Dan Jeffers


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Department of Authority
People may want to be prosocial but in an environment where
others are not you lose out. There's no point in trying to
make individuals more prosocial, you need to increase the
prosociality of the entire neighborhood. –
David Sloan Wilson
How a Fraudulent Belief in "Balance" Pollutes
To maintain neutrality, journalists are loath to call out one
side for lying. They also do not want to antagonize their
sources, upon whom they are dependent. Instead, journalists
prefer to report that one side is calling the other side liars
and leave it at that. We report; you decide. The problem is
that the liars can dismiss the criticism as being driven by
their opponents and ignore it, so this becomes a liar's
This obsession of professional journalism to play it strictly
down the middle between the two legitimate parties, to avoid
at all costs the charge of favoritism—the "cult of balance" as
Paul Krugman (New York Times, 7/29/11) termed it—compromises
the rigor and integrity of where political analysis would go
if it simply followed the evidence "without fear or favor."
Krugman defined the cult of balance as "the insistence on
portraying both parties as equally wrong and equally at fault
on any issue, never mind the facts." "If one party declared
that the earth was flat," Krugman stated jokingly, "the
headlines would read 'Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'"
Ari Melber (PBS.org, 9/5/12) wrote, "For years, Americans'
political press has been stuck in a fact-free model of
neutrality, often covering even the most obvious lies as 'one
side' of a dispute."
The grave damage of the cult of balance is that it allows dubious players to
pollute the political culture and get away with it. After all,
if the news media attack them, the media are accused of being
partisan and unprofessional. From:
The Rise of Establishment Reporting, by John Nichols and
Robert W. McChesney, EXTRA!, 1 November 2013
The Growth of Unequal Societies
People may want to be prosocial but in an environment where
others are not you lose out. There's no point in trying to
make individuals more prosocial, you need to increase the
prosociality of the entire neighborhood. –
David Sloan Wilson
How a Fraudulent Belief in "Balance" Pollutes
To maintain neutrality, journalists are loath to call out one
side for lying. They also do not want to antagonize their
sources, upon whom they are dependent. Instead, journalists
prefer to report that one side is calling the other side liars
and leave it at that. We report; you decide. The problem is
that the liars can dismiss the criticism as being driven by
their opponents and ignore it, so this becomes a liar's
This obsession of professional journalism to play it strictly
down the middle between the two legitimate parties, to avoid
at all costs the charge of favoritism—the "cult of balance" as
Paul Krugman (New York Times, 7/29/11) termed it—compromises
the rigor and integrity of where political analysis would go
if it simply followed the evidence "without fear or favor."
Krugman defined the cult of balance as "the insistence on
portraying both parties as equally wrong and equally at fault
on any issue, never mind the facts." "If one party declared
that the earth was flat," Krugman stated jokingly, "the
headlines would read 'Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'"
Ari Melber (PBS.org, 9/5/12) wrote, "For years, Americans'
political press has been stuck in a fact-free model of
neutrality, often covering even the most obvious lies as 'one
side' of a dispute."
The grave damage of the cult of balance is that it allows dubious players to
pollute the political culture and get away with it. After all,
if the news media attack them, the media are accused of being
partisan and unprofessional. From:
The Rise of Establishment Reporting, by John Nichols and
Robert W. McChesney, EXTRA!, 1 November 2013
The Growth of Unequal Societies
Since unequal societies are inherently unstable they inevitably
foster migration, and therefore spread to overcome sustainable
and more localized egalitarian societies.
[I]nequality did not spread from group to group because it is an inherently
better system for survival, but because it creates demographic
instability, which drives migration and conflict and leads to
the cultural – or physical – extinction of egalitarian
Egalitarian societies may have fostered selection on a group
level for cooperation, altruism and low fertility (which leads
to a more stable population), while inequality might
exacerbate section on an individual level for high fertility,
completion, aggression, social climbing and other selfish
traits. From: The Evolution of Inequality, by Deborah Rogers, New
Scientist, p. 39, 28 July 2012.
[I]nequality did not spread from group to group because it is an inherently
better system for survival, but because it creates demographic
instability, which drives migration and conflict and leads to
the cultural – or physical – extinction of egalitarian
Egalitarian societies may have fostered selection on a group
level for cooperation, altruism and low fertility (which leads
to a more stable population), while inequality might
exacerbate section on an individual level for high fertility,
completion, aggression, social climbing and other selfish
traits. From: The Evolution of Inequality, by Deborah Rogers, New
Scientist, p. 39, 28 July 2012.
Sports and Racism – A Tool Used to Rule
In Israel many football clubs are
associated with political parties. There is a very close
relation between the ideology of Likud and Begin and the
Beitar football team. They see the Arabs as the enemy. So it
reflects about a third of the Israeli public, that is very
committed to expansion, settlements, see the Arabs as the
enemies. It reflects that.
You know, in Beitar, their chants, it's not just the pogroms.
They chant everytime their team scores a goal, "Death to the
Arabs". That's what 20,000 people chant. Beitar for example
has never ever had an Arab player. The Arabs are beginning to
be more prominent in Israeli football teams. Not in Beitar
Jerusalem. This pogrom is kind of an extension of this. It's
all in the context of kids, for the most part its kids that
have seen Israel moved into a neoliberal economy, more and
more Thatcherite, and you have tremendous income disparity in
Israel. Israel is now in the OECD, it has one of the highest
income disparity I think, maybe the US excluded.
Kids have got no real future, that's part of the context too.
Those kids come from the housing projects, very much like
National Front in France or EDL in England, people that only
have this racist emotional outlet for their frustrations, and
football is great for that. It channels anger away from the
government. That's why they sponsor football teams! –
Jeff Halper, peace activist, May 2012
Sports play an important political and ideological role, both
as a popular diversion from the deepening social antagonisms
within the United States and as a means of promoting the
militarism and violence that increasingly suffuse American
culture. –
Patrick Martin, July 2012
In Israel many football clubs are
associated with political parties. There is a very close
relation between the ideology of Likud and Begin and the
Beitar football team. They see the Arabs as the enemy. So it
reflects about a third of the Israeli public, that is very
committed to expansion, settlements, see the Arabs as the
enemies. It reflects that.
You know, in Beitar, their chants, it's not just the pogroms.
They chant everytime their team scores a goal, "Death to the
Arabs". That's what 20,000 people chant. Beitar for example
has never ever had an Arab player. The Arabs are beginning to
be more prominent in Israeli football teams. Not in Beitar
Jerusalem. This pogrom is kind of an extension of this. It's
all in the context of kids, for the most part its kids that
have seen Israel moved into a neoliberal economy, more and
more Thatcherite, and you have tremendous income disparity in
Israel. Israel is now in the OECD, it has one of the highest
income disparity I think, maybe the US excluded.
Kids have got no real future, that's part of the context too.
Those kids come from the housing projects, very much like
National Front in France or EDL in England, people that only
have this racist emotional outlet for their frustrations, and
football is great for that. It channels anger away from the
government. That's why they sponsor football teams! –
Jeff Halper, peace activist, May 2012
Sports play an important political and ideological role, both
as a popular diversion from the deepening social antagonisms
within the United States and as a means of promoting the
militarism and violence that increasingly suffuse American
culture. –
Patrick Martin, July 2012
Social Engineering through Short Films
Film Review: Atomic Age Classics Volume 2:
Troubled Teens, color and black and white, DVD (2005).
This disc features several short
films from the 1950s and 1960s: the golden age of educational
cinema. Widely considered to be lost relics, having been thrown
into the trash by schools everywhere with the advent of video
cassette technology, many of these short films
have been rediscovered and transferred to DVD. These films
were intended to educate kids and
mold their
behavior. They hold the distinction of being both entertaining
and historically informative by revealing the dominant values
and expectations at the time, and they reveal the methods used
to convey these values and to manipulate the audience into
conformity -- always with the most noble of intentions, of
They run the gamut from totally lame time-wasters to
surprisingly intelligent efforts at ameliorating common social
problems, so here are a few reviews mixed with appropriately
sardonic commentary:
think this is real funny don't you? You're probably even
laughing right now!
In trademark style Sid Davis' Name Unknown is
intended to
scare some sense into too-smart teen punks but ends up being
an alarmist and not particularly credible little film since it
plays up the worst case scenario and makes it look like an
everyday event. Even in Southern California two teens in love
parked outside a moonscape of oil wells do not typically
get forced into the trunk of their car at gunpoint, even as
Sid Davis tries to convince us in over-the-top fashion that
those two were the lucky ones!
Getting Along With Parents actually does a
well considered and realistic job of portraying mundane
family life problems from the viewpoint of parents and
teenagers, but we're left wondering how much of an impact this
kind of rational dialogue will actually have on emotionally-sensitive
juveniles. Getting Along With Parents is
especially gratifying, for some of us, when viewed with the
thought that those pimply-faced mixed-up teens throwing
tantrums because they can't go to the dance or drive the car
could well be our parents.
Smarmy, preachy, and full of unrealistic
interactions Unto Thyself Be True presents a religious
message to parents and their troubled teens; teenagers that will lie
through their teeth to police and parents alike just to get
their oily mitts on a steering wheel.
Parents beware!
Any Boy, USA portrays a pre-pubescent Midwestern hayseed that
tires of the country and decides to set out for the big city.
About five steps away from where skinny kid string bean
starts out he meets 'Old Mildew Whiskey' personified by an
oddly convincing character actor. The two proceed to stagger
down the road together and through a series of stock-footage
clips the film reveals its true intent: a bizarre anti-alcohol
and pro-church message. Country boy with the corny hat finally
makes it to the city and finds only ruined buildings and
alcoholics littering the streets. Fortunately the boy wakes up
from his nightmare, saved from the ravages of alcoholism – for
The sound depth is very limited and I had to
use headphones to adequately hear many of the films and, not
surprising considering the age, the video quality is poor on a
few. Nevertheless, anyone fascinated by this time capsule into the 1950s, and
social hygiene films in general, will enjoy this DVD despite
the mostly minor sound and video limitations. For an excellent
guide to these films and more read Ken Smith's book Mental
Hygiene, 1999. The history is frightening and fascinating
while Ken's writing is hilarious.
Film Review: Atomic Age Classics
Volume 1:
Manners, Courtesy & Etiquette
In Everyday Courtesy (1948)
Room 10 presents an exhibit on courtesy
featuring rules for doing just about everything the courteous
way, yes even rules for using the phone, lots of rules.
Remember to answer the phone quickly because you don't want to
make the other person wait! Speak loudly and clearly in order
to make the phone call more pleasant! Yes indeed, this film
reveals the proper way to perform a multitude of mundane
tasks, all
explained in excruciatingly boring detail. Don't know how to
introduce another person? Constantly befuddled and thrown into
a personal crisis not knowing which person in a group to
introduce first? Well, watch and learn knuckleheads because
these skills can affect the quality of your entire life
-- if you believe the narrator. "Remember the
he intones after describing the elaborate rules for
introductions done in the 'proper' sequence.
Everyone looks very thin in this film, both the
kids and the adults. Looking back fifty years in comparison to
today and it's easy to see the effect of the high-calorie diet
on the American waistline. Meanwhile, the kids back in Europe were
picking through the rubble of their homes destroyed by
American B-29s, searching for scraps of food to eat but Room
10 back in the cheery US of A had plenty of time to learn allll about courtesy. And they all grew up to be the most
courteous, unselfish, and well-balanced generation of
Americans ever!
Exchanging Greetings and Introductions
is dated 1960 but it looks more like 1950. Yes kids it's yet
another film devoted to educating you through rules, rules,
and more rules on how to introduce everyone to everyone else.
This film seems especially ridiculous considering how young
the kids in the film look, they can't be more than 3rd
or 4th graders, and the number of rules and
guidelines they're supposed to learn from watching it.
Remember these rules:
"Be Sincere",
Introduce the
introduce the oldest first
"Respect Your
"Other people
will notice your skill".
"You will be
admired if you master the simple skill of exchanging greetings
and introductions. Practice different kinds of introductions
at school, at home, and with your classmates."
Uh, teacher, teacher, shouldn't we be learning
math or history or how to use scissors or color in the lines?
What a time waster.
Drink in the smug satisfaction that comes
from delivering a proper introduction. The rest of your
class will envy your skill!
Yeah right, more likely he'll get a
on the playground during recess.
Enjoy it while you can buddy!
After a hard day of being rude to everyone he
meets and having it thrown right back at him, average Joe
Poindexter finds himself on a commuter train contemplating the
difficulties of his day.
At one point
on his way to work in the morning Poindexter recalls how he
tried to buy a three cent newspaper using a five dollar
bill but the vendor didn't have enough change!
Observing the
pitiful ruminations of Poindexter the god Jupiter, complete with terrible costume and backstory, decides to
see if he can convince the grumbling Poindexter down on Earth
to be nice to people and thereby make his life less miserable;
all of this on a bet from his nagging wife. During private conversation with Poindexter on
the train Jupiter proposes the idea of being nice to others
not just because it is 'proper' (Poindexter demolishes that
view with his flippant remarks), but out of selfishness since
by being nice to others they will be nicer in return. By
Jupiter starts out stupid enough with Jupiter and his wife
but by the end the film reveals a charm, intelligence, and
useful message that makes it worth watching even 60 years
after it was made. Maybe now we know where Ayn Rand got her
Film Review: Atomic Age Classics
Volume 3:
A-Bombs, Fallout & Nuclear War
With the Atom - With Irwin A. Moon, Moody Science Institute (1957).
This one is like some kind of experiment in religion
subverting science! The film starts out benign enough with
some lessons in basic science focused on atomic energy. The
speaker, Irwin A. Moon whoever that is, goes out of his way to
credit the
for all the wondrous scientific advances he's described. The
film then abruptly transitions into a series of nuclear
weapons testing clips and when we return to the speaker in his
library/studio we discover that our formerly cheerful
character now has the frowny face of seriousness as he drops
the real bomb: God! Duck and cover, incoming message!
"In unleashing the power of the
atom science has set before us a tremendous challenge and at
the same time has brought to our attention the fact that the
paramount issue is the rightness of our relationship with God,
and every other issue, however important it may be, becomes
secondary beside it."
A little online research reveals the plan behind this film.
The Moody Science Institute was affiliated with the Moody
Bible Institute;
"[I]t was California pastor Irwin
Moon who first developed the concept of using science to
illustrate the Gospel."
Fallout and Shelter,
produced by the U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, undated. This film, in gloriously
garish off-balance color, features the standard guy-in-a-suit
speaker who over-enunciates his words in an office/studio
decorated with a fake-looking plant and two neatly framed
photos of mushroom clouds from atomic bomb tests! The 1950s
style four-frame-per-second animation is classic. One scene
shows a dark cloud of radioactive fallout descending upon a
bucolic scene of a farmhouse and silo!
The title panel drawing shows a man's shadow, presumably
seared into the ground by an atomic flash as he foolishly
attempted to run from the bomb blast instead of doing the
'duck and cover'.
Scenes like these would be ironic if they
weren't the honest product of American naiveté. But apart from
the unintended comedy the film is mostly just an elaborate
vehicle to demonstrate how to 'safely' wipe radioactive
fallout off of food, presumably so the viewer can consume it
while spending
"up to two
in a bomb shelter.
The film host emphasizes that you CAN survive
and defeat nuclear fallout. Yeah, just like you CAN win the
lottery, but you probably won't. Authorities knew that an
actual nuclear exchange focused on the population centers
wouldn't leave many survivors but they had to come up with
some kind of program, even if it was mostly a hollow sham, in
order to maintain the American public's support and confidence
in eventual war victory.
It's tragic that even as this
government produced film goes to great lengths to explain to
the American people how to minimize the damage from
radioactive fallout, numerous above ground atomic tests were
being conducted unannounced in Nevada, spreading massive
quantities of real radioactive fallout downwind and across the
country. Southern Utah was hit particularly hard, sending
cancer rates skyrocketing. American's were so busy being
afraid of the communist Soviet Union that they never realized
it was their own government that was actually
endangering and killing them! The Soviet Union didn't kill any
American's with nuclear weapons but the United States
government did - all in the name of 'national security'. This
threat misdirection strategy should seem familiar; today's 'terrorism' is
yesterday's Communism.
The Atom Strikes! is an undated post-WWII military film made by the
'War Department' Army Signal Corps detailing the devastation
wrought by the two atom bomb attacks on Japan. The film is
full of surreal scenes like the footage of people walking
around along the streets amidst total devastation as if it was
just a typical business day in Hiroshima. The shadow of a
vaporized pedestrian burned onto a bridge is unforgettable; a
soldier outlines the mark with white chalk for added effect.
Trucks loaded down with American soldiers drive slowly through
the ruined cities liberated using the awesome power of
America's atomic-powered war machine.
'The Japanese attempt to rebuild using
whatever materials they can find', the narrator blandly drones
as we see footage of Japanese peasants using scrap material to
build shelters in the middle of rubble piles. Nagasaki
"nearly 42
and a half square miles of damage" exults the disembodied voice, highlighting the effort of the film
to quantify the damage inflicted upon Japan by the two atom
On a lighter note, the stock footage used to
depict the Japanese war industry features some comically small
tanks, one Japanese soldier barely fits his lower body into
the turret as they parade down main street; I've seen lawn
tractors that look more formidable!
The Atom Goes to Sea - A General Electric Excursion
in Science
(1954). This is a very fascinating short-film made by General
Electric that details the construction and testing of the
United States' first atomic-powered submarines, the Nautilus
and the Sea Wolf. According to the film footage a giant sealed
steel sphere was constructed in New York state just to test
the nuclear reactors inside it. 01.03.07
Film Review: Atomic Age Classics
Volume 5:
"C" Is for Communist
is Communism?
(undated) presented by Herbert A. Philbrick a former undercover FBI
agent, anti-Communist agitator, and film personality. Philbrick explains
Communism in his own populist style and
describes Communists using just a few descriptive terms like
lying. How can Communists lie with a straight face?
"Nothing is a lie if it helps the Communist party".
Dirty; Communists are blamed for fomenting race riots. Shrewd;
Philbrick asks how many Americans would volunteer for the
'Communist Army Division? But they will volunteer when it's
called the 'Abraham Lincoln Brigade' (a Spanish Civil war
attachment). Godless,
"to me, this is perhaps the most frightening word of all
because it accounts for every other bad word that describes
In practice Communism is a belief system, clearly indicated by the
previous statement,
nothing is
a lie if it helps the Communist party.
It wasn't God that was Communism's competition it was the
church institution and its authority structure, just as
were civic leaders and intellectuals, competition that
Communists murdered wherever possible.
In fairness many of these tricks were, and
still are, used by non-Communists and governments too. The
fear of Communism was exploited mercilessly by authorities to
justify their own forms of oppression and a warped economic
system that led to the imperial war machine the entire world
is dealing with today. As a side note, the introductory
narration of this
Jerry Fairbanks Production
sounds like Orson Welles!
The Red Myth (undated) is a brief but informative and
academically oriented history of communism from Marx to the
USSR and WWII, featuring the words and ideas of key figures
such as Trotsky, Lenin, Bukharin, Kamenev, and Stalin (actors
in low-budget costumes). The internal strife within communism
is a major factor that is largely ignored or forgotten today.
The history of the COMINTERN is also described. Social
Democrats (an increasingly popular ameliorative, as opposed to
revolutionary, political party in Europe) are seen as
counter-revolutionaries and attacked. The Polish guy that
provides the academic content is tough to understand through
his thick accent but he'd be hilarious as the voice of a
cartoon character. It's not clear what the 'myth' of the title
refers to but perhaps that's revealed in the second part of
this short film (not included in the DVD).
Go Home – Communist Propaganda
This film reviews Soviet propaganda films, broadcasts and
related material as well as the elaborate process behind the
production of it all with a focus on how it all pertains to
the United States military. After viewing a clip from a Soviet
propaganda film portraying American soldiers as drunks and
idiots (the General can't figure out how to use a pair of
binoculars) the co-presenter asks in drawl,
"Mr. [George] V. Allen how can we compete with this Soviet
A better question would be, why bother? The
propaganda was such poor quality it's hard to see how it would
convince anyone that's ever met an American, even domestic
Soviet audiences probably thought it was entertaining.
The unfortunately titled Crusade Report
is a little piece of home-brewed propaganda from the U.S. of
A. about the "freedom" bell made by "free" men and then put on
a European "freedom" tour. Did you miss the message? Yes it's
freedom, we've got it all and they don't have any! The
shots of the German soldiers guarding the new U.S. funded
radio broadcast stations (against communist saboteurs) are
unintentionally funny. They look about half as formidable and
professional as the average minimum-wage rent-a-cop guarding
your local mall!
If you're just in it for the laughs then you'll
probably want to skip this volume but for anyone interested the films are still
fascinating historical vignettes.
The genius of the current political
system is to render policy irrelevant, with advertising and
the media concentrating not on "issues" but on "qualities"
like the candidates' style, personality, and other
irrelevancies. The political parties devolve into marketing
systems for candidates. - Noam Chomsky
The genius of the current political
system is to render policy irrelevant, with advertising and
the media concentrating not on "issues" but on "qualities"
like the candidates' style, personality, and other
irrelevancies. The political parties devolve into marketing
systems for candidates. - Noam Chomsky
The War on Drugs as a Mechanism of Social Control
10.06.06 The question was
asked of Noam Chomsky in a recent lecture, why does the War on
Drugs continue even though it has continually failed to
achieve its stated objective of eliminating drug abuse?
Chomsky concluded that the War on Drugs is just a phony cover
story for a form of social control. [1]
Yet if the War on
Drugs (WOD) is a form of social control over the underclass of
society, then why does it seems so arbitrary? Why is the use
of one drug officially approved, like tobacco and alcohol,
while another disapproved, like marijuana? Could the
arbitrariness be intentional to create a test of obedience to
the rules with an understanding that some kind of drug is an
inevitable, even necessary, component of every society? All
drugs can't be banned but by choosing a few to ban a set of
standards is established and by enforcing those rules a test
is created.
Still, as a tool
of social control the War on Drugs is pretty pathetic. What's
the point, just to test an individual's law-abiding qualities? Perhaps this is
looking at the issue from the wrong perspective. The more I
think about it the more the War on Drugs seems like an
antiquated war on dissent. It has Nixon administration written
all over it. Indeed, could it be that high-level political
leaders, outraged and disgusted at the growing youth rebellion
movement, determined that about the only way they could
legally squelch politically-conscious youthful dissent, since
freedom of speech and public expression is Constitutionally
protected, was to catch them on some other angle? Since drug
use was an integral part of this 1960s era youth-rebellion
identity, it only seems logical that at some point this common
element would be exploited considering the antipathy it
generated amongst the political establishment.
So when were some
of these infamous drugs first criminalized? Different drugs
have been criminalized at different times, usually in response
to some sort of public outrage combined with opportunistic
politicians. Marijuana, for instance, was criminalized way
back in 1937. "In 1937, Congress passed
the Marijuana Tax Act which criminalized the drug. From 1951
to 1956 stricter sentencing laws set mandatory minimum
sentences for drug-related offenses. In the 1950s the beatniks
appropriated the use of marijuana from the black hepsters and
the drug moved into middle-class white America in the 1960s."
[2] The criminalization of LSD, an almost stereotypical
drug of the 1960s youth rebellion, is more recent.
"In 1966 the Grunsky Bill was passed by
Congress, which prohibited the possession, manufacturing, sale
and importation of LSD." [2] Also of note, from this
brief historical description we can see that the laws have
been progressively tightened over time, usually in conjunction
with greater and more widespread use; but which action
actually causes the other?
More to the point,
the primary law that matters here is the 'Controlled Substances
Act' of 1970. "The Controlled Substances
Act (CSA), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention
and Control Act of 1970, is the legal foundation of the
government's fight against the abuse of drugs and other
substances. This law is a consolidation of numerous laws
regulating the manufacture and distribution of narcotics,
stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, and
chemicals used in the illicit production of controlled
substances." [3] So who was President in 1970? You
guessed it, Richard Nixon. My instincts were correct.
After the CSA was
enacted the system of drug laws developed into another
bureaucracy and assumed a life of its own. Subsequent
administrations, particularly
Reagan and Bush, used the WOD to build a popular platform in
the Republican Party, to
financially and politically benefit their cronies through
federal funding of prison construction and staffing, and as a
tool for achieving certain foreign policy objectives.
Many alternatives
to the current WOD system can be imagined and implemented; it's foolish to continue the current self-defeating and socially
dysfunctional system. Instead of a punitive WOD that puts
anyone with a small quantity of illegal drugs into prison for
years, why not turn that idle time locked up into community
service? Instead of a WOD we could have a new Works Progress
Administration (WPA) that was popular and successful at
building infrastructure in the United States during the Great
Depression of the 1930s. But brilliant thinking like that
would require an intentional negation of the diseased belief
in financial profit for private gain at the expense of public
welfare that has infected all levels of national government.
Changing the
punitive drug laws is another path that needs to be
investigated. In the spring of 2006 President Vincente Fox of
Mexico, nearing the end of his term in office, nearly
implemented a surprisingly smart and socially progressive
improvement to the legal system that would decriminalize
possession of small amounts of currently illegal drugs to free
up the over-taxed criminal justice system. [4] However, once
the Bush administration got word of this plan they went
ballistic and immediately put massive pressure upon Mexico to
back off and reject the new drug laws; Fox predictably
crumbled and the bill was never approved.
This kind of
concern at the topmost echelons of political power in the
United States is not an accidental or random product. Clearly,
the establishment is gaining something significant and desirable from the
continuation of current punitive drug laws and enforcement,
commonly referred to as the War on Drugs.
1. Distorted
Morality: America's War on Terror?, by Noam Chomsky, DVD,
A Social History of America's Most Popular Drugs,
PBS/Frontline, 1995-2006.
Controlled Substances Act, US Drug Enforcement Agency,
US asks Mexico to reconsider 'stupid' drug law, by
David Fickling and agencies, The Guardian, May 4, 2006.
1. Distorted
Morality: America's War on Terror?, by Noam Chomsky, DVD,
A Social History of America's Most Popular Drugs,
PBS/Frontline, 1995-2006.
Controlled Substances Act, US Drug Enforcement Agency,
US asks Mexico to reconsider 'stupid' drug law, by
David Fickling and agencies, The Guardian, May 4, 2006.
Smokescreen of Media Bias
whether the mass media has a liberal or conservative bias is a
common issue of public discussion. Yet the debate to decide
who's really giving out the facts and who's just spinning
the news to serve a partisan political agenda merely serves to
obscure more critical matters. Really, to have multiple
competing biases in the mass media isn't the primary problem,
and in fact given the sad state of affairs now it's
practically an ideal!
As long as
newspapers, radio, and television news have been around certain
news outlets have been known to favor one side over the other.
In the United States, for instance, it used to be that every
major city had two newspapers, one with a Republican bias and
one with a Democratic Party bias. Then as audiences and
revenue sources changed, along with a loosening of
regulations, the business environment became
more competitive and newspapers began to merge. Now, most cities
have just one major newspaper, and sometimes it retains a
certain political bias, but more often than not it strives to
be as completely inoffensive and middle-of-the-road as
possible in order to upset as few readers and maintain as
much advertising sponsorship as they can get. Consequently the
former industry that served to inform the public on current
events and issues of public debate has been reduced to nothing
more than a profit-driven money-making machine that seeks to
enhance shareholder gains without regard to much of anything
It used to be that
newspapers, and even TV news sources, were eager to
investigate wrongdoing, to uncover and explain issues of
public concern, but anymore this industry is afraid to
investigate because of where it might lead and the people it
might implicate.
few reporters that actually try to do their job either get
fired for being 'loose cannons' or quit in disgust as their
reports are continually watered down and negated by
management. Because of business competition, entertainment
is used as a substitute for news and information. So, the
former divisions of news and entertainment have merged to such
an extent that it's practically impossible to discern the
difference anymore. Turn on any local TV station in the
country and you'll quickly realize that the nightly news is
driven at least as much by sensationalistic entertainment as
it is by reporting current events to inform an audience.
The fact that the
public is being fed a steady diet of trivia, one-sided
propaganda and sound bite, instead of facts and objective
context, is not nearly as serious a problem as the fact that
alternatives to this drivel are so totally lacking from mass media outlets!
When cities had two alternative newspapers the news may have
been biased but at least the public had a choice in the
mass-market and there was an incentive to form and publicly
express a dissenting opinion. Now, contradiction, argument and
dissent are labeled 'extremism' and quickly locked out of the
public forum.
The spectrum of
dialogue and potential solutions is being truncated to such a
very narrow range of inoffensive and inconsequential topics
that in most cases no practical solutions to contemporary
problems can be found in the range of officially sanctioned public
debate. Concern over real or perceived media bias is
essentially irrelevant when critical facts and information are
not even reaching the realm of public awareness due to the
sandbox of discussion deemed safe and acceptable by
risk-averse business management and influential authorities.
When the mass
media outlets all say the same thing, that's when we
need to get very concerned!
When the mass
media outlets all say the same thing, that's when we
need to get very concerned!
The conformity
factor compelling the news and entertainment industry has gone
so far as to convince a majority of the public that any
person, idea or concept that falls outside the exceptionally
narrow range of mainstream acceptability should be immediately
rejected in totality; discussion of anything labeled 'extreme'
(often under the code-word "liberal") is disallowed. Media managers, commentators, and consequently
the public as well, are exceptionally concerned with how
'extreme' an opinion is in order to eject it from the realm of
debate, when they should really be concerned with the actual
effectiveness of the solution to the given problem. If you
have an illness or an injury that will lead to your death in
short order if left untreated then you don't argue with the
doctor about how 'extreme' the cure is, you worry about
whether it will work or not!
Another deleterious repercussion
from the excessively narrow range of debate is the issue of public
disenfranchisement. People that feel like their views and
ideas are being ignored will refuse to participate in the
process, creating social discontent, loss of trust, antagonism,
and serious long-term problems such as violence and rebellion. Regardless
of whether it's a government agency or a private company, any
institution that has a mission to serve a general audience has
a responsibility to be as inclusive and receptive to input and
suggestion as is reasonably possible.
If the public desires a functional
and democratic form of government representation then they
must have free, fair and open access to all of the information
critically necessary for the formation of opinion, judgment
and action within that democratic process. These sources of
information can be unbiased, they can be biased, and they can be
up down left or right. As long as a wide diversity of choices
are equally accessible then the necessary level of popular
inclusion in critical discussion and decision can occur.
solution seeking is a process that requires open,
inclusive, and unencumbered debate; without it we lose the capacity to adapt
and improve ourselves.
So, considering that a democratic form of
society cannot function properly without the free-flow of
information, and considering that the private sector, as
previously indicated, is woefully inadequate for this task, it
seems only logical that the public sector must step in to
rescue democracy, community and open debate. The United States
already has a federally funded worldwide news agency called
Voice of America (VOA). If foreign audiences appreciate VOA, why
shouldn't domestic audiences as well? Or what about a program
for subsidized community news? Why not have free (subsidized)
classes on journalism standards, the process of news
collection and reporting, or how to identify and understand
propaganda techniques? Even unsubsidized individuals can make
a positive impact. I've tried to do my small part at the
Daily Irritant news headline page. Given the widely
dispersed, worldwide audience it's not practical to run
headlines that are overly localized so I tend to focus on
issues of broad impact. But there's no reason this concept, or
something more advanced, cannot be employed elsewhere.
Media bias is, like most of the issues allowed
to circulate in the public consciousness, merely a calculated
diversion. The elite, meaning the very wealthy few that
possess disproportionate influence upon the political and
corporate decision-making structure, find it much safer for
the public to remain fixated upon trivia and misleading
problems rather than consequential substance that could
potentially lead to unrest and >gasp< a redistribution of
wealth, power and influence.
The closer the consequences are to the original
action the better off we will all be. This is because people
are better able to judge what action to make next when the
subsequent reaction they experience is simple and
The closer the consequences are to the original
action the better off we will all be. This is because people
are better able to judge what action to make next when the
subsequent reaction they experience is simple and
The Global War on Terrorism as
an effort towards Worldwide Unity
01.01.05 There is a possibility that Cheney and the rest
of the Neo-cons concocted the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)
knowing full well the futility and superficial absurdity of it
all, but with the real intention of manufacturing a singular
and perpetual enemy to rally a divided country together. Both the defense industry and the Pentagon
planners themselves have often rued the good old days of
simple black and white, 'us versus them' mentality
characteristic of the Cold
War. The invasion of Iraq is supposed to be a part of this GWOT,
yet through it all nothing seems to be changing to America's
GWOT as unification is a hypothesis that must
be considered for the sake of completeness, and after all,
worldwide unification under the influence of the United
States' authority is the basic premise of the Neo-Cons unilateralism. It seems ridiculous now given the actual
outcome of the invasion of Iraq but for an 'elite' full of
their own hubris, and who are very poor students of history, this may
have made enough sense at the time to have been a genuine
Worldwide unification focused on the United
States has already happened with the first Moon landing in 1969.
However the unification only lasted as long as the telecast
before the world went back to what it knows best – fighting. The 9-11 attacks were a similar unification moment
that lasted about as long. The point is that this method of
manipulating the world through powerful symbolic acts and
emotions, like fear and awe, really doesn't work because it
can't last. No matter how many times it's tried or who tries
it the Wizard of Oz 'magician behind the mask' method to
control the populace through smoke, mirrors and lies, always
ends up with the same inglorious ending.
Transparency in conduct is very important
otherwise rumors, conspiracies and an unstable environment of
suspicion spreads like an infection. Substantive change
requires long-term focus and consistent effort to alter the
fundamental underlying patterns and motivations that create
events to begin with.
Anarchy and Rule of Law: The Iraq Example
Events in Iraq
have been an intriguing demonstration of anarchy in action, or
at least what happens during a mass-breakdown in civil rule.
Looting, violence, vigilante justice, and general disorder
characterize the moment. But before we soundly condemn the
lawlessness, let's think about why the Iraqi people are doing
this, or indeed why any group of people would act in
this way.
First of all, the Saddam regime was an authoritarian
one and, not unlike a pressure-cooker pot, it kept things
together but only through force, intimidation and state controlled
violence. Saddam's power structure kept a lid on much of the
ethnic and religious divisions and basically held a very
divided country together. This is the basic definition of a
modern state, and the greater the internal divisions
the greater the need for centralized, oppressive authority to
keep it together. However, such systems do have advantages in
that they can redistribute collective resources in directions
which would not happen on their own in a more natural,
disordered social system. A state can build museums, provide
health care and public parks, but it can also build
secret-police torture chambers and drag young men off to fight
in foolish wars.
In the spring of
2003 the United States military machine, along with trusty
sidekick England, proceeded to force Saddam from power using
their collective, and admittedly formidable, war-machine. This
objective succeeded, however its success was never in doubt
anyway. The Iraqi people, once free of Saddam's despotic rule, faced
an unusual situation, they no longer had anyone telling them
what to do or threatening them with prison, torture or death
if they didn't obey the law. Simultaneously, their personal
needs for food, water and other domestic concerns remained
static regardless of who wins the war, or indeed anything else.
These two forces of collective and individual desires are in
constant conflict everywhere, but after April 9th 2003, with
the state out of the picture, the Iraqi public no longer had
any significant force compelling them to mitigate their quest
for sating personal needs - no artificial law, no police
force, etc. The obvious result - wholesale theft and violence,
was only barely minimized by personal discipline (if any) be
it religiously oriented (fear of a 'higher authority'!) or
otherwise, while greatly magnified by the years of repression
and built up anger from Saddam's regime.
Social Engineering
a Solution
So it's fairly
clear why people follow most laws - fear of discipline from
authority. But if people only follow laws because of fear of
authority then what does that really say about the law itself?
If the only laws that can be employed are ones that are built
on fear and intimidation than the authority employing them is
doomed anyway, the only variable is the time frame. The Saddam
regime certainly fills this category nicely.
The traditional
state's authority is built upon fear and the public sacrifices
individual freedom for the security and stability provided by
the state. This is largely because the people in the state
have no choice but to join. A voluntary state is a more
radical experiment and in theory relies upon the desire of its
constituents to voluntarily cooperate with the rules because
of the collective rewards promised to them in return -
Rousseau's Social Contract concept. The ideal state would be a
voluntary association, but in practice such situations just
don't occur for numerous reasons such as the fact powerful
states are quick to quash the competition, people are
generally unable to move where they want, and so on. Any law in
which people don't wish to obey is one which is flawed to some
degree. Any regime which uses these sort of laws to maintain
order is unsustainable. The only sustainable laws are those
which cannot be abrogated (like gravity) and those which
people follow automatically because everyone sees a need and
benefit to cooperation. Further, if an authority desires to
have a sustainable rule and they cannot come up with a law
that meets these requirements then the necessity of the law
itself needs to be questioned.
So, if the law is
not one in which most people see a need to follow it then
something is breaking, and it's probably not the public, but
rather the rulemaking authority which is failing.
It's also worth
mentioning that certain cases arise where even with every
player following the rules, chaos and undesirable situations
still result. Think of 'rush-hour' commuter traffic on the
highway - all the individual decision-makers are law-abiding
in the sense they are in a legal place at a legal time but the
end-result is a system failure, in this case because too many
made the same decision for a path at the same time. So
clearly, simply mandating a law does not solve a problem
anymore than insisting the sky is green change its true color
from blue.
The only thing
left is to craft an authority structure based on rules that
people want to follow, and in order to want to follow
them people have to be able to follow them. In the case of
post-Saddam Iraq even if the public had desired to be law
abiding they would have been forced to break the laws anyway,
for without employment, income and food what choice did one
have besides looting? A law abiding Iraqi would be a very
hungry, probably dead one. People have to be able to follow
the rules.
Three factors must
be met in order for a law to be sustainable.
People have to
want to follow the law because they see it is in their best
They must have
to the capacity and ability to obey the law.
Their personal
well-being has to be directly impinged by a failure to
follow the law.
The goal is to
craft a situation where all of this occurs automatically and
instantly without the need for an authority to discipline
anyone or even get involved at all, indeed a situation where
authority is unnecessary for the occurrence of a harmonious
A substantive
answer remains elusive but suffice to say that information
is a key element, it is the limitation of forming such a
system and the solution to collective authority. Cheating has
to be absolutely minimized with the assumption that anytime
someone CAN cheat they WILL, in other words close the
loopholes, remove the ability to cheat. If everyone is
watching everyone else they will not misbehave because of the
instant judgment of their peers. Conversely they may pick up
bad habits if they see 'everyone else' doing it. But if people
know what others are doing they can react in positive and
negative ways. Positive ways mean they can, say, drive on a
road that's not congested. But the point is that this is why a
'Social Contract' is doomed because not only are people
dishonest at times but also at times incapable of making a
lawful decision, as in the case of the hungry Iraqis, if you
are hungry and you have no food then stealing may be the only
option. Further, this is why information is critical; if
everyone realizes that someone is hungry they can both
understand their actions and help them out.
Competition or
07.11.02 I've been thinking
about the differences between rural and urban and
how if you hold the geography constant and allow
time to change, so many places progress, quite
rapidly in fact, from rural to the urban status.
But simply defining the two regions is not as
simple as it might sound, although as far as most
of us are concerned we know the difference when
we see it. More technical delineation's are often
problematic, especially in the interstitial zones
where rural blends into suburban and then into
urban. These distinctions are usually based upon
population density. But it occurred to me that
another more useful gradient, likely related to
the density itself, is that of competition.
And I mean
competition on all levels, be it social, economic
and even political. Rural regions are generally
slower, more relaxed atmospheres because the
pressures to compete and to 'win' are much more
muted as compared to the frenetic pace of city
life where everything is in extreme competition.
The stores all try to look as new and modern as
possible while offering (or purporting to offer)
the most professional and customer-friendly
service. Conversely, rural regional commerce is
often less modern looking, slower and lower
priced, indeed in some case the customer takes
whatever they can get because the options are so
But this competition
extends to every other facet of life too. The
politicking and elections are always more charged
and divisive in cities, more money is spent on
the elections, the campaigns are more slickly
operated and the decisions affect a greater
number of people with larger financial stakes
involved, generally speaking. On a social level
city people are immensely more competitive when
it comes to appearance and displays of wealth.
This has multiple reasons, and I'm sure you can
think of several, but the primary point is that
rural and urban have noticeable behavioral
distinctions between the two.
It's not diversity but density
that generates most social friction.
Further this
competitiveness follows an increasing, linear
path in direct relation to the size and total
wealth of the city; compare St. Louis to New York City for instance. I would contend that this
social, economic, and political competitiveness
has no apparent limit and that the denizens of a
future, theoretical city of 20, 35 or 50 million
would be that much more ruthless in their
everyday behavior towards other citizens, i.e.
And the more
competitive those things become the greater the
wealth disparity because of the simple fact that
more competition means fewer (but bigger) winners
and more losers, economically speaking at least,
because money is a very finite resource.
Competition does
serve a purpose; it promotes change and
improvement, but only up to a point. Studies (and
anybody with two eyeballs and a few brain cells
to observe it themselves) have shown that men
compete even when no purpose is apparent, even to
the point where it becomes a self-defeating
endeavor! Women are no less competitive just in
different ways and with a
built in social
moderator that mutes
it to some extent. Incidentally I think this
helps to explain certain sex-based sociological
issues such as the fact that most CEOs and high-ranking
political positions are filled by men. It's
because of that social moderator which means that
it's less acceptable behavior for women to crush
toes and stab backs just to get ahead in a
corporate or political setting, to compete even
beyond the bounds of reason and at the cost of
social relations, but I digress.
On a broader scale,
humanity used to compete against nature, that is
the base level, the survival level but now we
competed against each other. We no longer have a
common enemy in outside, external forces that
forced often disparate groups to work together to
survive. Competition, once a powerful cohesive
force, has been turned into an equally powerful
disassociate force that sets one person against
the other in a pitiless struggle for the prize
within a zero-sum game. The important
psychological concept of friends and enemies is
nowhere near as clear as it once was. At the
extreme end of urbanized social competition
everyone becomes a potential (or real) enemy,
with obvious deleterious consequences for the
important sense of community and social cohesion
needed to hold everything together.
And this brings me to another
point. In contemporary discussions on the topic the concept of
community has been elevated to almost a mythical ideal, it's
what we all want in our town and neighborhood, it's the
perfection and harmony so desperately sought in troubled times
of disorder and fear. But truly, competition, or at least the
hyper-competition of the urban setting, is anathema to
community; if community is a glue then competition is an acid!
This is a critical realization that every planner and social
engineer alike must consider.
Filtering Facts
16.08.02 Public opinion is
not immutable, it's plastic. Research has
consistently shown that it's not what questions
you ask, but rather how the options are phrased
that matters. So you only need to extract and
display the opinion you want the public to know
about to mold public opinion. Thus a poll can
generate any result desired merely by crafting
the questions in the proper manner. This could
explain why the results of polls are
constantly being trumpeted in the mass media but the
actual questions asked are very rarely printed as
well. Quick example:
A) Should America
remove Saddam Hussein from power?
B) Or wait for him to develop chemical, nuclear
and biological weapons?
Version two:
A) Should America
risk attacking and invading Iraq?
B) Or should America promote stability in the
middle east?
Senator Sam Snot III
picks up the Sunday paper and reads out loud (with
a southern drawl), 'Well look here, says a full
85% of Americans surveyed agree we should attack
Iraq. I'm not going to buck that wave of popular
sentiment, I'm supporting whatever jingoistic
machinations the President dreams up!" And
off to war we all go.
Polls are remarkably
influential forces in contemporary representative
democracy, as demonstrated by the last example or
read a newspaper, newsmagazine or watch a
televisions news program to see other examples. Noam Chomsky
once wrote with such issues in mind:
Pick the topic you
like: the Middle East, international terrorism,
Central America, whatever it is the
picture of the world that's presented to the
public has only the remotest relation to reality.
The truth of the matter is buried under edifices
after edifices of lies upon lies.
Pick the topic you
like: the Middle East, international terrorism,
Central America, whatever it is the
picture of the world that's presented to the
public has only the remotest relation to reality.
The truth of the matter is buried under edifices
after edifices of lies upon lies.
Another classic
media trick is to interview 10 'experts,' and
let's say nine all adamantly agree that such and
such a policy is doomed to spectacular failure
but the tenth 'expert' says it's the greatest
thing since sliced bread, and that's the
editorial slant your news agency wants to play. So you never show the other nine interviews
and only
air the tenth one -- viola! The public's none the wiser and
their views on this new policy are more sympathetic than before.
No one is lying, the news editors can always claim with a
believable smile that they're speaking the voice of the people,
but news editing is just like voting in a dictatorship, Stalin
said it best,
"Those who cast the
votes decide nothing; those who count the votes
decide everything."
Why Civilizations
25.05.02 This issue has been
debated repeatedly by intellects of high and low
stature and with nearly as many conclusions.
Since many are well thought out and appear
plausible that it's likely the actual reason is a composite of
multiple causes. Now, that being the case I have another hue to add to
the rainbow, and if accurate poses some profound
questions for the state and future of our present
As a nihilist and a
thinker, it appears that anomie is the preeminent
issue of the day. But anomie is really just the
product of a collective realization that
established beliefs are less than the legend, and
that traditional solutions are no longer
functional or acceptable for contemporary
problems. It's as the gifted thinker Gustave Le Bon wrote,
"The precise
moment at which a great belief is doomed is
easily recognizable; it is the moment when its
value begins to be called into question." When a majority starts to question
the things they aren't supposed to question, that's when things
start to fall apart.
How a civilization
reaches this point is largely a product of
technological development and the fluidity of
communications. Since our present era has
unparalleled capabilities in both fields it's not
surprising that anomie and social decay are
omnipresent. The most ossified and conservative
civilizations last the longest while the open,
dynamic ones fall the soonest. Although the first
takes longer to build and the second one is a
quicker ascent to greatness.
Descent Into
At the present our
civilization is on the reverse slope and heading
downwards. I'm not attaching a value judgment to
this situation because every time and place has
equal opportunities for productive and
destructive outcome. So, look at where we are now,
where we have been historically and ask yourself,
what's next and what's the common element of it
all? Ultimately, discarding the whole nebulae of
metaphysics, philosophy and ideology in favor of
pragmatic psychology we're left with the
unavoidable conclusion that the only true
reference point that every human can agree upon
is the concept of 'me first'.
Issues of altruism
and heroism have been debated before as
superficial exceptions to the rule, but upon
closer inspection many if not all of those
events are actually beneficial to the self
more than the group. So I think it's safe to
conclude that simplistic self-interest is the
basal guiding principle of human action. It's a
subjective position yes but cumulatively it takes
on an objective quality. If everyone is the same
in their self-interest then this quality takes
on a universal significance and it can be
approached objectively.
Wonders of
If self interest is
universal than it's predictable and if it's
predictable it can be exploited. For an example
of this I present the history of capitalist
finance. Researchers have decades of comparison
between competing economic models, most notably
Capitalism and Communism. The mitigating factors
are admittedly significant but all in all I think
it's fair to say that Capitalism has proved more
popular than Communism because it rewards self-interest.
I don't expect too much criticism if I
confidently assert that Capitalism is a system
defined by selfishness.
The problems arise
when selfishness is given a value judgment and
the dominant morality defines it as 'wrong' and
therefore in desperate need of some corrective
action. Enter the panoply of 'solutions' from
Fascism to Communism and every shade in between.
But looking at this objectively, as everyone
should, it's quite apparent that by categorizing
normal human behavior as incorrect, and then
trying to turn it around, is doomed not just to a
mundane failure but to implode in a spectacular collapse!
This is a universal
rule. Every effort, be it in theological or
ideological clothing, to "correct"
human action contrary to natural behavior, has
no strategic tenability - it will not last. The
Catholic Church tells its priests "you
can't have sex" and what happens? The most
tenable and long lasting solutions are
constructed upon the solid foundations of basal
human behavior. This is Like BF Skinner meets
But if everyone is
just out to please themselves, you can't build a
civilization, or indeed any larger social
structure, be it a health care system or national
defense or a community newspaper. Capitalism is
an example of how even selfish but noble
Libertarian freedom inexorably leads to abuse and
dictatorship in some form or another - money,
power or both. Fortunately, a loophole exists and
that's the fact that perceptions are just as, if
not more, powerful than reality in the public's
mind. In order to build a system that makes as
many people happy as possible, while providing all
the necessary social benefits that nobody wishes
to pay for, one must create a public perception
that what they're doing is in their own best
interest but while simultaneously providing for
the collective.
This doesn't
necessitate trickery, especially as that's a
dangerous position for authority figures over a
period of time. The point is that even if it's a zero-sum
game in a quantifiable sense, it doesn't have to
be in human perceptions. In other words, an
effective compromise here is one where both
parties believe they've ripped off the other!
Sort of like a garage sale. This is achieved
using the concept of expectations. Start by recognizing
that cultural expectations are the field boundaries for Social
... and they will bleed with a grin
21.09.01 War is easily the
most powerful tool a corrupt leadership can
manipulate to its advantage. Just over 10 years
after the Gulf War against Iraq comes another war in
the same world region, started by the son of the
previous warmonger, featuring yet another singular
enemy to fix in the public mind. And although the
pretext is more vivid and motivational, few are
the wiser due to ignorance of history and a lack of
critical analysis. A wise man named
Niccolo Machiavelli once stated,
But men are so
simple, and governed so absolutely by their
present needs, that he who wishes to deceive will
never fail in finding willing dupes.
But men are so
simple, and governed so absolutely by their
present needs, that he who wishes to deceive will
never fail in finding willing dupes.
Bush senior, the former
CIA chief, needed something to deflect from a
crumbling domestic economy and he found it with
an easily duped Saddam Hussein, tricked into
sacking Kuwait. American spy satellites spotted
his forces massing north of that small state,
Saddam sent out diplomatic queries to Washington
who unambiguously replied that it was an internal
matter. In other words the White House gave their
old ally Iraq a green light for annexing Kuwait,
Iraqi territory taken from them by the British
empire. The rest is history.
Vladimir Putin
learned the lesson. In desperate need of
reelection a convenient event happened. Russian
apartment buildings were bombed and the finger
pointed squarely at Chechen terrorists. Putin was
soundly reelected while drowned out voices
expressed concern and skepticism over what looked
like an FSB (internal Russian police) operation,
or at minimum police entrapment. Power
players willing to take a risk can reap
remarkable rewards, they know the more
dastardly the outrage the less likely the public
will disbelieve the cover story. It's much more
palatable to believe that the already thoroughly
unpopular Chechens could kill innocent Russians
than their own secret police especially when the
never-critical analysis of the TV repeats the
party line. Social engineering a war has rarely
proved difficult.
In time of conflict
men listen not to the voice of sanity, they
listen to the voice of aggression. Yet another convenience of
war, or rather the blindness of nationalism. The immediate
situation is
so thoroughly charged by hatred and emotion that few care about
the details contradicting the official lies. As Winston
Churchill said,
"The first casualty
of war is the truth." He of all people should
Isn't it convenient
how every terrorist deed done or attempted
everywhere and anytime is suddenly the fault of
Osama bin Laden? This despite any evidence
provided, or even reasonably implied by American
government. Unresolved evidence that the
hijacking terrorists were both educated and
drank alcohol, as well as a track record of
much less than honesty by the same official
source. Remember the fabricated Tonkin Gulf
incident for getting into Vietnam? More recently
the White House lied about Serbian atrocities and
vilified the same ally they signed peace accords
with. The U$ government lied about the evidence
supporting cruise missile strikes against the El
Shifa Sudanese pill factory and mud huts in
Afghanistan. Further, when pressed by independent
studies and property damage lawsuits they
obstructed justice by refusing to provide crucial
details behind the alleged chemical sample from
the pharmaceutical plant bombed in Sudan. But
like all things requiring detailed explanations
the nightly news had no interest in touching this
Even when some
details leak out, effusive political personalities
can easily elude the damage because their sparkle
and soothing oratory provide enormous freedom for
spin and lies without arousing popular anger. The
splendor of reputation protects from the outrage
of the people at egregious conduct, cruelty and
abuse. "Against one
who is greatly esteemed conspiracy is difficult," Machiavelli,
but remember that esteem means popular
perceptions and the populace judges by what
they're told and what they see and hear. They
perceive appearances, not substance. Indeed it's
human nature to believe what one wants to
believe, the men will die on the battlefield with
a smile on their faces knowing they suffered and
bled for their nation, likely avenging an outrage
produced directly or otherwise by the folly of
their leaders.
We've already seen
how easy it is to start a conflict and get a
populace more than motivated enough to bleed with
a grin. We've also seen that a risk taking leader
walks away with more than a cautious one, and here
greater causalities are the best means of
solidifying the justice of the conflict. Stalin's
meat-grinder tactics on the western front barely
defeated the Wehrmacht but a body count of over
20 million was guaranteed license to rule. How
could anyone dare question the necessity and
validity of the 'Great Patriotic War' that cost
every Russian a relative? The more dead the
easier it became to forget that Stalin signed a
peace treaty with the hated German enemy, shook
hands and smiled with Hitler like best of friends,
and provided the German military machine with
desperately needed oil.
This tired history
has been played out for centuries because the
culture has remained the same, a culture that
promotes the ascent of extreme masculinity within
positions of power, along with the concomitant
consequences characterized by the irrational
glorification of mass-murder and national
chauvinism. And how many women mass murderers can
you name? Who's clogging the recruiter's offices
and the gun stores, who's yelling the loudest for
blood, who's pushing hardest for war? Who's the
President shouting 'war' and 'crusade' and
'justice'? The rules will not change as long as
these conditions are met, as long as the culture
and the morality forming it remain.
In the crowd of
competing interests now we know whose voices are
heard because they shout the loudest. And the
less intelligent the average person within the
nation, the more impulsive, rash and the more
driven by needs of immediacy, the simpler control
by subterfuge becomes. Yet this is not a
strategically tenable solution, merely one of
expediency, because mobs have a nasty tendency of
running amok and carrying things to dangerous
extremes making the leader look weak if he
doesn't follow along even beyond the range of
preference and into the bounds of self-destruction.
A mob and a despot, or a decentralized regime and
an intelligent public, may work. But a weak or
decentralized authority coupled with the
vociferous forces of the mob is nothing short of
a recipe for disaster. I should not need to
enlighten the reader as to which element in this
formula is simpler to change in order to minimize
disaster; unfortunately it is not the element you
or I wish to see altered. The answer is
clear, shape up and smarten up or forever curse
the consequences.
The Social Engineering creed:
Never take by force what one can gain through guile.
< Read more at Social Engineering Page II
Part of the
art of being an innovative theorist is to discern what are
temporary difficulties born of the simple prototype model one is
creating and what are fatal diseases endemic to any theory of the
sort being proposed.
- John D. Barrow
Content & Design ©
November, 2013
Created: 1999


text:
|Looking Back
|Written by Wauneta Breeze
|Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:09
10 years ago this week
Oct. 23, 2003
Keiser Land and Cattle Company was named recipient of the 2003 Honor Conservation Award, sponsored by the Upper Republican NRD and Frenchman Valley Farmers Co-op. Keiser Land and Cattle is a family-oriented corporation which includes Elmer and Edna Keiser, Richard and Janet Keiser and sons, all of rural Wauneta, Rodney Keiser of Denver, Colo., and Marcia Comly of Boulder, Colo.
Seven Wauneta FFA members will head to the Nationals Oct. 27 after winning at state, competing in forestry and livestock judging. Forestry team members include Sheridan Wright, Cody Egle and Peter Barger. Livestock team members are Clif Wright, Grant Dixon, Leah Rundback and Tabby Christner who replaced Abby Barger.
Saturday Kathy Barger and Peter went to Kearney where Kathy attended the Nebraska Parents Meeting of USAF Cadets. Theresa Dumont and sons met them in Kearney for a visit.
Verna Sandman and Vicki, Gary and J.D. Grimes ate at the Enders Lake Golf Course on J.D.'s 18th birthday Tuesday evening, joined by Janice and Doug Allan.
Dennis and Donna Gockley returned from a trip to the Missouri Fall Handicap Trap Shoot, spending several nights with Vaughn and Dee McBride at Osage City, Kan and Stacy and Matt Cutinella at Columbus, Mo.
No precip for the week; high for the week: 93° on Oct. 19; low: 61° on Oct. 19.
25 years ago this week
October 20, 1988
A breakfast was held Friday morning at the Legion Hall as a pre-game activity with 130 coaches, football boys and volleyball girls, cheerleaders and parents attending. Talks were given by coaches McKinney and DeWester.
Beth Harchelroad was guest of honor for her 90th birthday at lunch at the Steak Out Friday as guest of grandson Sid and Renea Harchelroad. Audra Romine and Ann Rueter were also guests. Her visitors at Heritage in the afternoon, taking pie and coffee were Ruby Jones, Peg McCallum and June McCallum.
Virgil and Edie Sandman, Jack and Verna Sandman, Leah and Henry Wicke, Charlie Sandman, Sandy Brunkhorst and Clarence and Onna Sandman met at The Chief restaurant for dinner Saturday evening as a farewell to the "Snowbirds" Heinie, Leah, Clarence and Onna, leaving soon for their winter homes in Arizona.
Zora Sailors and Zella Kerchal attended the third annual twins convention in Kearney Saturday and Sunday. There were 62 sets of twins, dressed identical.
John and Frances Lewis attended Parents Day Saturday at Doane College, attending the football game and had supper with son Lonnie afterwards.
Thursday evening guests in the Jim Harrison home were George and Hattie Marshall, Raymond and Miriam Hegwood and girls, Durinda Bley and children, Ellen Kinett and Lynetta Wine. They celebrated the Marshalls' 54th anniversary.
Homecoming royal court: Brad Yost and Angi Buffington were crowned king and queen. First attendants were David Bird and Jennifer Haarberg with Eric Troudt and Jolene Gordon, second attendants. Crownbearers were Justin Lorimer and Danielle Harchelroad.
No precip for the week: for 1988: 16.98 inches.
Grain Markets: wheat-3.60/bu.; corn-2.62/bu.; milo-4.00/cwt; soybeans-7.25/bu.; oats-2.30/bu.
50 years ago this week
Oct. 24, 1963
The Wauneta Roller Mill underwent a major improvement. A building was built south of the mill adjoining the tracks, enabling free flowing ingredients to be augered across the street into bins at the mill.
A cooperative dinner honoring Mrs. Doris Bartels was held at her home Sunday in observance of her birthday with 45 present.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Sailors entertained at a cooperative dinner Sunday in honor of Mrs. Helen Draper of Pamona, Calif. Guests were classmates and spouses Mr. and Mrs. Merle Sailors, Mrs. Rudy Kerchal, Mr. and Mrs. Clark Brown, Mr. and Mrs. F. H. McClatchey and Mr. and Mrs. Geo Peterson.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Bocker and family of Curtis and Lester Brown of Washington state, one time neighbors and classmates of Delman Engell, were guests in the Engell home Monday for a get-together.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Gibbons, accompanied by Craig Gibbons of Kearney, attended the Kearney-Doane football game at Crete and spent the weekend visiting Gary Gibbons who is a member of the Doane football squad.
Vaughn McBride and Sylvia Yost were crowned king and queen at half-time of the Wauneta-Chappell game by Coach Beard. The queen's attendants were Trudy Gloy and Janet Krausnick. King's attendants were Doug Resler and Duane Egle.
75 years ago this week
October 26, 1938
New gravel was spread on several side streets the past week.
F. J. Hromas left Sunday for the mountains of Wyoming to hunt elk, accompanied by several friends.
Hilbert and Wilbert Dettmar of Kensington, Kan., were guests at the H.C Steinbeck home the past week.
Mrs. Martin Joy and son Jimmy of Omaha arrived Sunday to visit at the R. E. Olmsted home.
Old Man Winter blew his icy breath across southwest Nebraska last Saturday night, with the mercury skidding down to 16 above zero.
Local Markets: cream-.20; eggs-.19; hens-.10; springs-.09; wheat-.50; corn-.35; barley-.25.
100 years ago this week
October 23, 1913
A deal was made Saturday whereby Chas. Johnston became the owner of the Schutz lot on the corner. Excavation work commenced Tuesday morning for foundations for buildings on both lots - Johnston building on one lot with H. H. Grosbach building on other to be occupied by the Cox Merc. Co.
H. H. Bricker had a runaway with six horses hitched to a drill, they got scared of an automobile.
Elmer Kanost was on the water wagon last week, hauling water for the threshing machine.
Clarence Fanning is having a swell time now as he has the mumps.


text:
Brian Krebs reports on a new wrinkle in ATM skimmer design: if the ATM is in its own lobby, crooks can steal your card number and PIN without ever touching the ATM. Instead, they attach the skimmer to the door-lock (you know those doors that only open if you swipe your card?) and then use a hidden camera to record you keying in your PIN. Clever, in a horrible way, especially since ATMs in their own lobby feel more secure.
On July 24, 2009, California police officers responded to a report that a customer had uncovered a camera hidden behind a mirror that was stuck to the wall above an ATM at a bank in Sherman Oaks, Calif. There were two ATMs in the lobby where the camera was found, and officers discovered that the thieves had placed an "Out of Order" sign on the ATM that did not have the camera pointed at its PIN pad. The sign was a simple ruse designed to trick all customers into using the cash machine that was compromised.Bank security cameras at the scene of the crime show the fake mirror installed over the ATM on the right…
The attackers hitting this ATM were either very persistent, or varied: A source familiar with the July 24 incident said this particular door lock would be stolen and modified a total of nine times in 2009.
The camera used in this attack retails for about $150, can record up to 2 GB (about two hours worth) of video, and runs on a rechargeable lithium ion battery.
Related Posts: On this day...
- The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money - 2012
- Phone-to-Twitter bridge for use in an Internet-less Egypt - 2011
- All The Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend - 2010
- Ubuntu Linux kernel vulnerabilities - 2009
- Chrome growth slows to a crawl - 2009
- Bash Batch Image Processing Script - 2008
- What can be done after ARP poisoning? - 2008
- Write an Online Bulk Image Downloader Using BASH - 2008


text:
A Hidden Treasure: the SFO Aviation Museum and Library
Located in the pre-security area of the International Terminal and open to the public, the SFO Aviation Museum & Library is definitely worth seeking out sometime when you are at the airport. Admission is free.
The main room is an architectural adaptation of the airport's passenger lobby in the 1930s. Collection holdings include over 17,000 artifacts and 8,000 books. Check out this aircraft passenger seat from the 1920s!
Can't make it to the museum? Don't worry! You can find out about Bay Area aviation from the book San Francisco Bay Area Aviation by William T Larkins.
Author Bio:
Warren Netz is a librarian at the Millbrae Library


text:
Server: Version 4.5.5_GA_838.RHEL4_64 May 11, 2007
I have a user that somehow managed to create some replicating tasks that have gone completely nuts. I don't know if it was a bug in the ZCS connector or what, but her 5 or so tasks have exploded into over 800,000. Of course she waited until outlook no longer worked to mention anything about the tasks, so now I can't use outlook to select and delete these tasks. Outlook basically dies trying to select that many tasks. As far as I know that there is no web interface to the tasks as well to delete them from so I don't know what I can do to get rid of them. I can only think of a few possibilities, 1) Get into the backend database and drop the tasks with a manual query, of course that sounds like a recipe for disaster. 2) Export all the users email to a PST file, delete the account from the server, recreate the account and import the mail. Of course that leaves room for the possibility of data loss as well. Anyone ever see anything like this before? Thanks.


text:
The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered the Punjab National Bank to pay Rs 4.5 lakh as damages, for wrongly deducting money from a companys account.
The commission also ordered PNB to pay Rs 4,295, the original amount that was deducted from the account of M/S Bhoop Singh and Sons. The bank had reportedly deducted the amount for payment of premium for the firms insurance policy, but it did not credit it to the insurance company.
Somvir Singh had demanded a compensation of Rs 17 lakh because a fire damaged goods at his shop and the insurance firm rejected his claim. The insurance firm said Singh had not renewed the policy.
Singh had alleged that it was the banks responsibility to renew the insurance policy. The commission, however, noted that Singh had entered into a contract with the bank, which said renewal of insurance was Singhs responsibility.
Agreement between the parties should not be avoided on unsustainable grounds, the commission said. The judge allowed Singhs plea for damages caused due to the banks failure to credit the premium to the insurance company.


text:
I got a Kobo mini two years back for $50, during limited discount sale in USA. I love the reader and use it often. It came with 2GB memory, out of which about 1.3 GB was usable for storing books.While this is enough to hold everything you can read in your lifetime in ePub format, but I still wanted to extend the storage to store more stuff.
Hacking Kobo mini is very easy. Here is what you need.
- Kobo mini indeed
- A Micro SD card. I used 8GB card.
- SD card reader. You cannot insert card in a device and use the Mass storage mode.
- Disk imaging software.
- Partition extender software.
The steps are very easy.
Disassemble the Kobo mini: After removing the back cover of Kobo Mini, you need to take out the screws.
SD Card : The book reader has SD card in it for storage & the OS for book reader. we need to clone this sd card on a new one.
Cloning and partitioning : Now, you need to do two steps.
1. Clone the Kobo SD card to new card with larger size. Link on how to clone an SD card.
2. Extend the partition using mini partition tool. Link on how to extend tool.
Done! After you are done with cloning and partition extension, insert the new SD card and enjoy.
Hope you enjoyed the hack


text:
Images: Winter blast [Image 1 of 8]
Photo by Staff Sgt. Charles Crail
U.S. Army Staff Sgts. Neil Nunez and Justin Puchalsky, from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, Task Force 3-66, watch the arrival of a helicopter at their remote combat outpost in Marzak. Marzak has been a haven for insurgent fighters over the past decade. A new police checkpoint is being constructed through the winter in Marzak to disrupt the movement of insurgent forces through the area, located just 6 km from the site of the Battle of Takur Ghar.
This work, Winter blast [Image 1 of 8], by SSG Charles Crail, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:01.16.2012
Date Posted:02.03.2012 02:14
Photo ID:518275
Size:2.21 MB
Location:MARZAK, AF


text:
St. John's Confidential File
His Name is Lionel Seals!
By Michael St John
Aug 19, 2012 - 7:25:31 AM
HOLLYWOOD—Some individuals in this country have a powerful trait that sets them apart from the rest of the world: no matter the challenge, they are able to clear the path of all obstructions. We have a lot of young men and women who possess the passion to create, build and explore a route that will bring people together. LIONEL SEALS has the potential to be one of those people.
Q: What did you think Hollywood was like when you were a kid?
A: I thought Hollywood was all about glitz and glamor. The typical Hollywood perception most people have. The land of Disney, and the place where you see movie stars walking the streets 24/7.
Q: Who were your idols in the business at that time and why?
A: Always been a big Michael Jackson fan. Just as an entertainer, he always knew what to do to capture his audience's attention. Jackson, without a doubt was an innovator as well as a trend-setter. He was always a very inspirational artist. Also, as a kid, I was a big Bootsy Collins fan. He was one of my favorites back in the day. That's actually where I got my nickname. I used to become Bootsy Collins whenever I heard his music playing.
Some of the actors I admired growing up were people such as Eddie Murphy, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Will Smith, and Morgan Freeman, and Samuel L. Jackson. My favorite directors were Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, George Lucas, and John Singleton.
Q: When did you first begin to dream about being a part of the entertainment industry?
A: Since I can remember, the kids in my family have always been pretty entertaining. My sisters, cousins, and I always saw ourselves as musicians or actors. Whether it was beating on bongo drums in the basement, or playing acoustic and electric guitars. Seems like we always had a different lead singer. I don't think we ever thought anything of it, besides it being fun while we were doing it. I don't think we ever saw it as a realistic goal.
Q: When you first began as a filmmaker did you realize how tough it was to achieve your dream? What were some of the stumbling blocks or problems?
A: It's funny, because I never saw myself as a filmmaker. I guess the more you do something, the more people associate you with that. But the fact is, my business partner Christopher Cavalier actually wanted to start a film production company. He came from Los Angeles to Northern California after acting, writing, and doing some projects with Ford and wanted to do more behind the camera work. I think that's where he feel he has more flexibility. Personally, I think it allows us to show a more creative side. I was brought on as a writer, and we both took on many things we didn't plan on in the beginning. Writing, editing, filming, producing, etc. It was, and still is a ride with several unexpected turns.
Q: What did you learn from producing your first video? What is Insane Buzz really about? What role does it play in the industry?
A: I actually learned that it's a lot of work. But it's not the type of work I envisioned. It's easier for me to do a lot of the things I do with film. But it was never really my passion. Music always has been. However, I think many things we're passionate about end up being a little tougher than we hope. Whether we make it that way or not; and some things we aren't as passionate about may be the things we're most talented at. That's kind of how I see my relationship with film. However, there's definitely a strong passion and interest there.
InsaneBuzz is really a worldwide movement in progress. We wanted to grow our global network and help as many people as we could in the process. The phrase "Get Buzzed" means get involved with www.InsaneBuzz.comto get the "buzz", or scoop on film, entertainment, and music. But also, we help to create a "buzz" about whatever it is an individual or company may be doing. So there's more than one meaning to that catch phrase.
Q: What kind of stories do you wish to create as a writer-producer? Why?
A: I'd want to be known as someone who can write a variety of stories. I love to write and I think I can focus on any topic and present it in an interesting way. Comedies, scary movies, love stories, mysteries, etc. But there should always be an original and entertaining plot. When possible try to have a useful message. Whatever you do, make sure your audience takes something away from it. That it has a lasting effect. Entertainment and/or knowledge are two main ingredients.
Q: Are you more aware of yourself now than you were before you became a professional in the business?
A: I'm more aware of where I want to go in the business. I think working in the film industry, it allows you to create opportunities & build relationships that, if utilized, can help you go far. That's big for us, because we always hope to maximize our efforts in everything we do.
As far as becoming a professional, I always try to be professional and open minded whenever I'm working. I'm a sponge when it comes to knowledge.
Q: Who is Lionel Seals today?
A: Today, I'm someone who's learned a lot since getting involved in the industry. I'm constantly learning with every new project. I look forward to getting involved with a few projects that can change lives and contribute something of value to society. I think Sub Zero Motion Films and www.InsaneBuzz.com has some very interesting things in the works...
© Copyright 2007 by canyon-news.com


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The light-up, castle-themed globlet is filled with one of two signature non-alcoholic drinks: an all-natural fruit juice punch and wild berry extract sweetened with organic cane juice and topped with lemon-lime foam, or an all-natural lemonade sweetened with organic cane juice and topped with wildberry foam.
The souvenir goblet is $18.99 with beverage.
For just the beverage, its $4.19.
You can also buy the goblet in Bonjour Gifts.


text:
There are various diseases for which allopathy fails to deliver a cure.
Here comes the need to rely on some natural sources to get cured. Some of the basic yoga asanas, such as Pranayam and kapalbhati can be consulted to attain a permanent cure for the same.
Also, the acupressure treatments are noticed doing wonders to cure such challenging diseases. Many have recorded the cases where these diseases are found getting complete cured by performing few of the home remedies which is further coupled by effective yoga asanas including Paranayam.
As estimated around 80% of population is found capable to cure such diseases by making a few of efforts by overtaking these effective exercises. All what one requires doing is to give dedicated efforts and routine exercises to overcome such exigent and difficult diseases. Yoga promises to deliver cure, provided the practitioners trust its powers and effectiveness.


text:
CRANBROOK, B.C. - Patrik Bartosak stopped 32 shots as the Red Deer Rebels doubled up the host Kooteny Ice 4-2 on Friday in Western Hockey League play.
Adam Musil and Grayson Pawlenchuk had a goal and an assist apiece for the Rebels (1-0-0), who overcame a 2-1 score by finding the back of the net three times in the third period, while Haydn Fleury and Lukas Sutter had the others.
Jagger Dirk and Sam Reinhart each scored for the Ice (0-1-0) as Mackenzie Skapski turned aside 38 shots in a losing cause.
Red Deer went 1 for 5 on the power play while Kootenay failed to score on three chances with the man advantage.
Also in the WHL, it was: Brandon 6 Moose Jaw 3 and Prince Albert 6 Saskatoon 1.
Late games included: Calgary at Edmonton, Medicine Hat at Lethbridge, Kelowna at Kamloops, Prince George at Portland and Victoria at Vancouver.
Wheat Kings 6 Warriors 3
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Taylor Cooper scored three times and Jens Meiller had a goal and two assists as Brandon doubled up the Warriors.
Richard Nejezchleb and Ryley Lindgren also scored for the Wheat Kings (1-0-0) as Curtis Honey stopped 36 shots for the win.
Brandon Potomak, Brayden Point and Jack Rodewald supplied the offence for Moose Jaw (0-1-0) as Justin Paulic made 27 saves in a losing cause.
Raiders 6 Blades 1
SASKATOON— Cole Cheveldave made 35 saves and Jayden Hart scored twice as Prince Albert defeated the Blades.
Mike Winther had a goal and two assists for the Raiders (1-0-0) while Dakota Conroy, Reid Gardiner and Gage Quinney each scored once.
Collin Valcourt scored the lone goal for Saskatoon (0-1-0) and Alex Moodie picked up the loss after allowing six goals on 26 shots through 40 minutes of action. Troy Trombley replaced Moodie to start the third and stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief.
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