Dust In the Wind

2011-05-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

The House Across the Way

The leaves looked in at the window
Of the house across the way,
At a man that had sinned like you and me
And all poor human clay.

He muttered: "In a gambol
I took my soul astray.
But tomorrow I'll drag it back from danger,
In the morning, come what may;
For no man knows what season
He shall go his ghostly way."
And his face fell down upon the table,
And where it fell it lay.

And the wind blew under the carpet
And it said, or it seemed to say:
"Truly, all men must go a-ghosting
And no man knows his day."
And the leaves stared in at the window
Like the people at a play.

Ralph Hodgson, Poems (1917).

2011-05-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Writing long books is a laborious and impoverishing act of foolishness, expanding in five hundred pages an idea that could be perfectly explained in a few minutes.

- Jorge Luis Borges

2011-02-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

We keep hearing and talking about some event called “Collapse”.

Some believe it’s coming in 10 years. Some believe this year. Some believe it’s happening right now. And some even believe it has already taken place. I’ll tell you what, Collapse is not relevant in those terms, i.e. what you or someone believes or thinks.

The collapse I’m referring to has nothing to do with earthquakes in NZ. Nothing to do with what’s happening in Wisconsin. Nothing to do with sabotaged oil fields in Libya. Nothing to do with the price of a gallon of gasoline. Nothing to do with the price of Gold. Nothing to do with what Charlie says or what Marc says. Nothing to do with what Mac says. Nothing to do with what I say.

No, Collapse has to do with something else and here’s how it works-

When you are cold and can’t get warm,
When you are hungry and can’t satisfy that hunger,
When you are sick and can’t get well,
When you are tired and can’t sleep, night after night after night,
When the bills are piling up and there’s not one cent in the “closed” account,
When the police are knocking down the door,
When you are trembling with fear and your body shakes uncontrollably,
When the world appears to be imploding around you,

When you experience any of the above, then, and only then, does the word “Collapse” have any relevancy to your life because then you “own” it. Until then, it’s non sequitur. Not lived, not felt, a make believe, illusory, fantasy world.

So you see, Collapse, in those terms, will be experienced by billions of people, when the time is most appropriate. When the lesson comes knocking on the door.

Fortunate are those who will never hear that knock.

We keep hearing and talking about some event called “Collapse”.

No, Collapse has to do with something else and here’s how it works-

So you see, Collapse, in those terms, will be experienced by billions of people, when the time is most appropriate. When the lesson comes knocking on the door.

Fortunate are those who will never hear that knock.

- European American

2011-02-20T18:08:00.001-08:00

7. Abandon any attempt to get along with my fellow man, and just accept that i do not belong in this or any possible world and should therefore just continue as i am, apart;

- Elberry

2011-02-20T18:07:00.001-08:00

"In the field of strategic knife
defense, the Pekiti-Tirsia System
of Kali is THE most progressive,
practical and sophisticated system
of tactical knife self-defense and
edged weapon awareness that I
have ever encountered"

Guro Dan Inosanto

2011-01-31T11:18:00.001-08:00

Looking for your light,

I went out:

it was like the sudden dawn

of a million million suns,

a ganglion of lightnings

for my wonder.

O Lord of Caves,

if you are light,

there can be no metaphor.

--Allama Prabhu

2011-01-24T20:19:00.001-08:00

Six months went by and I asked to see the head monk and they refused to let me see him. I waited and eventually he came out and I asked for my second lesson. He told me I had graduated and to leave him alone. Again I begged him to teach me the second lesson. He again told me that I had graduated but I told him more about my work as a Dr. at the mental hospital and after a while he
(a much smaller skinny little guy) grabbed me by the shoulder and hauled me to the edge of the rocks. He said see Victoria Peak? They have guns there that can shoot us and blow up this monastery. What is the point of learning martial arts? It is worthless since there are guns. More important is to be a good person and have compassion. Do you fight the patients in your hospital? Have no enemies and you can forget about locking your door.

- patfromlogan

2011-01-16T21:52:00.001-08:00

New agers have got to be the dumbest demographic to insist on parting with their money.

- internet guy

2010-09-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Rise up by kneeling down, into the soil, into Earth and into ourselves. When we garden we consume the fruits of our labors but more importantly we consume the soul of the soil and with it comes the power to live free.

- BigGreenFrog

2010-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

Lots of people , usually in late teens to late 20s , in their desire to find deep meaning, absolute truths. etc turn to all sorts of things. it seems that human construction comes packaged with an acute desire to appoint god figures....people need to worship...to appoint authorities outside themselves, divine or otherwise...season to taste...to take responsibility for all the stuff they cant handle......the burden of responsibility is to great....This desire to worship and be led has been ruthlessly exploited by politicians, rock promoters, cult leaders etc etc etc for a long time. And every new generation we get a new batch of stupid seekers and suckers. Like every decade or so we get the new hybrid-hindu hustler...remember maharishi mahesh yogi?..then we get Krishna murti who tried to be a little more mainstream...then we get bhagwan shree rajneesh with his fleet of rolls royces in Oregon....( he became a father figure granting permissions and benedictions to the middle aged neurotics that entered his barrack-compounds...these were the deeply inhibited people that could only use there stunted genitalia if someone told then it was ok....and they only had to give him all their possessions to get his nod) then we get a modern hustler like deepak chopra, same crap in updated wrappers...and the idiots never wake......of course ISKON is for the truly demented...how people swallow this line of crap about a thumbnail sized blue deity with 20 arms ruling the universe...screw the metaphors...certainly sceew the literality....as i type this i have very little sympathy for the wolves or their sheep......anyone stupid enough for even a second to fall for any of these ploys deserves everything they get......if there is a god, take your pick , and he designs creatures with IQs so low that they buy these cons.....then I have nothing to say about it.....if some silly punk is lonely and sees a group of brainwashed idiots leaping around in the name of whatever deity it is that week...and decide it's a good way to get laid....and then ends up swallowing some shit he didn't expect...it's because hes a damn moron., and as for the meaning of life, it goes like this: first your force fed shit.....then you start to eat it on your own,,,then you start to like the taste...then you die from shit poisoning.....

iskon....IS a CON

people aren't merely receptive to messages and hypnotic oration.......they are also like swarms of gnats that orbit streetlights in the summer. first you start with something bright and sparkly, or sweet and sticky.....anything perceived as "attractive" and this can be a speech by Hitler or a candy bar with a garishly colored wrapper. If more then one person is attracted by the lure...even if its by nothing more then wide open blank-eyed curiosity...then another person will notice the first person and now we have 2 slack jawed cow eyed people watching. That is enough to begin the pooling effect...more will come for no other reason then that there are already 2 assembled...it isn't necessary to analyze this feature...it is already irreducible,,,it can be called part of the "genetic architecture" of the species for lack of some more precise term. and i agree that people of "higher intelligence" are often the first in the door. Lets say we have a high IQ person that is also young and /or emotionally inexperienced or volatile and experientially limited. Or like many smart people is frustrated and dissatisfied with the boring mundane options that life offers......hard work.....gradual advancement........shitty jobs etc.....so the person is looking for something "different" and is more inclined to bend the physics of common sense to adapt to his frustration and the probable lonlinesss that comes with it. and now...voila.......he finds a whole new crowd of people...and this offers the possibility of meeting pals or lovers.....and so what if it comes with a thumbnailsized blue deity with 10 arms that rules the universe by playing a flute........I think the most powerful lure for any organization that wants believers for its own ends (which are usually economic) is the simple fact of crowd magnetism...and like any growing entity...the larger it becomes..the more powerful the gravitational force...this type of social physics is just as true as the gravitational force found with inorganic objects...and anyone can see endless examples in history..or just go to a sports arena or concert etc.
One more word on money...the most dangerous cults are led bt people who are "true believers" where money actually isn't the issue...then we get the Jim Jones and Marshall Applewhites.....these are the freaks that lead their flocks right out of this world and then we get the bloated decomposing corpses.......ahh well....lets hear it for free will.

- some random internet guy

2010-08-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

Overall, regardless of deflation/inflation, we're f**ked pretty much - either way, we don't have the localized infrastructure to do *anything* anymore, which is pretty much the only way I think we could get out of either direction in the long run.

-CZ

2010-08-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

The Nine Steps of the Law of Extraction

1. Promise people something they desperately want, no matter how ludicrous it may be.

For example, promise to show people - for a price, of course - how to get everything without doing anything.

2. Make the process for achieving this sound as mysterious as possible. For example, call it a mystery or maybe even a secret.

3. Legitimize your process by quoting a scientist or two. This way you can claim your process is actually “based” on science.

4. Assure people your process is foolproof. That is, anyone can do it and it will work every time all the time. Calling it a universal law is helpful in this regard.

5. Include a universal loophole so that when the process fails you can place the blame elsewhere.

For example, “The reason it didn’t work is because you didn’t do it right. Fortunately, there are advanced techniques that can help you.”

Notice, this loophole not only deflects blame, but also creates additional revenue streams (see points 6 and 7).

6. Sell advanced techniques in the form of high-dollar, back-end products, seminars and coaching programs using a multi-level commission structure in order to maximize revenue extraction.

7. Offer high-dollar “Certification Programs” to license others to sell your process to others. Be sure to require your licensees to also pay you a sizable percentage of any future sales they may make.

8. Focus your efforts on the right target audience. As the old saying goes, you can fool some people all of the time and they are the ones you need to focus on.

9. Express gratitude at least three times a day for all the abundance the Law of Extraction is bringing into your life.

- Blair Warren

2010-07-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ponzi schemes have been and always will be a CONFIDENCE game. Gain the confidence of your mark before you burn him.

2010-07-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

President:I belive there is much to learn from each other if we can make a truce. We can find a way to co-exist. Can there be a peace between us?

Alien: Peace? NO PEACE!

President: What is it you want us to do?

Alien: Die... Die.

- Independence Day

2010-07-07T18:46:00.001-07:00

I was shocked and dismayed –I think we all were- to learn that Goldman Sachs had been involved in whatever it was they did. I had always ranked them with unlicensed boxing promoters and taxi drivers in Cairo, as people who inspire one with absolute confidence.

I was visiting my poor mother in Somerset when I heard the news.

"You’re never going to believe this," I told old Longbottom the farmer. "Goldman Sachs defrauded investors out of more than $1bn by mis-marketing toxic sub-prime mortgage-related securities."

He looked at me with tears in his honest, weather-beaten old face.

"I don't understand it," he said, "but I know it's wrong".

- blog: Chase Me Ladies I'm in the Cavalry

2010-06-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

Soon his lungs are full and he holds it the way he would hold pot smoke. He exhales and is immediately coughing. The taste is like medicine, or cleaning fluid, but also a little sweet, like limes. The smoke billows out into the living room like a great unfurling dragon. As he watches the cloud spread and curl, he feels the high at first as a flutter, then a roar. A surge of new energy pounds through every inch of him, and there is a moment of perfect oblivion where is is aware of nothing and everything. A kind of peace breaks out behind his eyes. It spreads down from his temples into his chest, to his hands and everywhere. It storms through him - kinetic, sexual, euphoric - like a magnificent hurricane raging at the speed of light. It is the warmest, most tender caress he has ever felt and the, as it recedes, the coldest hand. He misses the feeling even before it's left him and not only does he want more, he needs it.

Bill Clegg 'Portrait of an addict as a young man'

2010-05-30T00:08:00.001-07:00

I loved something that I made up

– Scarlett O’Hara

2010-04-11T18:25:00.001-07:00

Worship Shiva neither by day or night.
By transcending day and night, Shiva is always worshiped.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 4.42

2010-04-09T16:42:00.001-07:00

So this is continuous happiness. You know, I always imagined it as something more.

2010-03-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Feeling people cannot harm others or even harm animals. Because they can feel, they experience the impact of their every act. They can feel the Pain of others and would not do anything to hurt them.When people cannot live by feelings they must live by categories: right and wrong. For them, all behavior must be so classified.

-Arthur Janov

2010-03-07T10:02:00.001-08:00

The United States is gone. It got too big to fail, then it failed. The hair and nails on the corpse are still growing for a while. But, the inevitable decay will commence no matter what the elitists do. It's harsh medicine, but it's the only way to exorcise the corporate demons. Starve them to death. Hopefully, a few smaller and easier to govern US's will get going again and won't be so destructive to the environment and adventurous with the lives of the poor and the marginalized.

- Illingsk

2010-03-06T14:16:00.001-08:00

Vidal: "As far as I'm concerned, the only sort of proto- or crypto-Nazi I can think of is yourself. Failing that, I'll only say that we can't have--"

Buckley: "Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."

2010-02-25T13:53:00.001-08:00

Way back when, when I heard the new president of US Steel proclaim 'We are not in the business of making steel, we are in the business of making MONEY'. It was over. Just like a steer shot in the head, yeah, they thrash around for a while, but the death blow has been dealt. It's OVER.

- net post

2010-02-11T21:55:00.001-08:00

The small man
builds cages for everyone
he knows.

While the sage,
who has to duck his head
when the moon is low,

keeps dropping keys all night long
for the beautiful
rowdy
prisoners.

--Hafiz, 14th-century Sufi poet

2010-02-09T15:14:00.001-08:00

Another art of the tyrant is to sow quarrels among the citizens; friends should be embroiled with friends, the people with the notables, and the rich with one another. Also he should impoverish his subjects; he thus provides against the maintenance of a guard by the citizen and the people, having to keep hard at work, are prevented from conspiring. The Pyramids of Egypt afford an example of this policy; also the offerings of the family of Cypselus, and the building of the temple of Olympian Zeus by the Peisistratidae, and the great Polycratean monuments at Samos; all these works were alike intended to occupy the people and keep them poor.

- Aristotle

2010-02-09T09:59:00.001-08:00

After houses, cars are the biggest money sink there is- period. As long as one is able to get back and forth to work, being car-free is quickest way to get out of debt and stay out of debt, plus avoid a huge amount of stress and headaches. Perhaps most people don't realize how much of a money-sink car ownership really is. Car 'ownership' is practically slavery in my opinion. The car 'owner' is unknowingly the slave, always trying to provide their master (car) with monthly payments, routine maintenance, repairs, insurance, gasoline, car washes, custom upgrades, parking fees, etc. Yes, the cars own their drivers through a never-ending demand of servitude. Kind of like serfdom.

2010-02-08T22:16:00.001-08:00

"When the end comes, as I suppose the end must always come, it seems it will be the stronger, deeper, more cunning, and more beautiful who will survive"

That's me a goner, then....

- Charles Lee

2010-02-05T22:57:00.001-08:00

"It's a racket. Those stock market guys are crooked."
- Al Capone

2010-01-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

i returned home through the snow. Crossing the road i lost my footing on a patch where cars had impacted the snow into a frictionless patina, and as i was falling i reflected that knowledge presents similar problems to snow – where many have trodden, the ground is icy, one just skids along, unable to generate the friction for a proper step; and as civilization progresses, it is harder to find fresh snow, where the foot can crunch and tread; one needs to approach the matter differently, to contemplate ancient knowledge as a modern man, or modern knowledge as an ancient – either is like wearing snowshoes – there is friction, a useful strangeness. The world is strange but accumulations of research disguise this. So academics never seem to approach the matter itself – they get as far as “what Nietzsche said” or “the Leavis position” and go no further. Hence academics are constantly citing other academics – they entirely lack the innocence one needs, to see things as they are, as strange. Everything is familiar to the academic – that is to say, false. Nothing is familiar.

- Elberry

2010-01-14T20:15:00.001-08:00

"To be a successful copywriter, you have to appeal to your prospect’s feelings and desires. Here are seven very important ones:

Fear!

Greed!

Vanity!

Lust!

Pride!

Envy!

Laziness!

Do you recognize where these came from? If you are Catholic, you probably do. They are the Seven Deadly Sins."

- direct marketing tutorial

2010-01-13T20:47:00.001-08:00

"I don't fight. I'm too old, have had too many broken bones, have too many scars, and have too many teeth knocked out. The best I can hope to do is make a quick, clean, kill."

- Jerry Penguin

2010-01-02T18:46:00.001-08:00

“O God, put away justice and truth for we cannot understand them and do not want them. Eternity would bore us dreadfully. Leave Thy heavens and come down to our earth of water clocks and hedges. Become our uncle. Look after Baby, amuse Grandfather, escort Madam to the Opera, help Willy with his homework, introduce Muriel to a handsome naval officer. Be interesting and weak like us, and we will love you as we love ourselves.”

- W. H. Auden

2009-12-31T16:51:00.000-08:00

Diogenes was neither an Attic nor a Dorian, nor tutored in the schools of Salon or Lycurgus, for neither places nor laws communicate virtue. He was born in the town of Synope, at the bottom of Pontus Euxinus. When he had consulted Apollo, he forsook all the occasions of grief and trouble, he delivered himself from his fetters, and like a wise and free bird, passed through the world without fearing the tyrants, without binding himself to any particular laws, without applying himself to the administration of public affairs, without being troubled in the education of children, without being encumbered by matrimony, without toiling himself with the cultivating of the ground, without engaging himself in the carrying out of war, without trafficking merchandise by sea or land; for he laughed at all these sorts of men, and at their several stations of life as we commonly laugh at children who we observe so intent to play with trifles, until they often fight and hurt one another.

He led the life of an independent, being free from fears and anxieties. In winter seasons he did not by long fatiguing journeys approach the Babylonians, nor in the summer the Medes; but according to the season, and from the Isthmus, according to the season, and from the Isthmus to Attica again. His royal palaces were the temples, the colleges, and the sacred woods. His riches very large and secure, and not being circumscribed, were not easily subject to ambushes, they being the whole earth with all the fruits it bore, and the fountains that it affords, more excellent than the wines of Lesbos and Chios. He habituated himself also to all sorts of weather as lions do, and would not avoid the changing of the seasons, appointed by Jupiter; neither did he consider any means to secure himself from them; but accustomed himself in such a manner to all seasons, by this kind of living, so that he secured this health and strength, without any assistance from medicine, without experiencing the sharpness of the scalpel or cautery, without imploring the help of Chiron, or of Esculapius or Asclepiades, and without submitting to the prophecies of soothsayers, or to magical and superstitious purifications, or to the vanity of conjurations. At the same time that all Greece was in arms and uproar, and all the neighboring nations were at war with one another, he alone experienced it as if it were a truce with all the earth, and having overcome fighting, was without arms in the midst of armed men. Nay, even the basest of men, the tyrants and his very slanderers, had a respect for him and would not in the least hurt him, though he reproved them, objecting and lampooning their actions before their very eyes, which is a very safe and very convenient way of reproach – reminding men of peace and reason.

- Maximum of Tyre

2009-12-21T20:21:00.001-08:00

Is it not also amusing that golf is even taken seriously as an athletic pursuit? I mean, why not pancake-flipping? Or dice? Or shooting rats at the landfill?

- James Kunstler

2009-12-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

"We wants to wreck them. They wants to take away our precious! The one with the ears, he wants the precious back. Always watching. Always wanting the precious. We must wreck him and then the young one. They will never take our precious."

- Gollum

2009-11-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

"Pot could be prescribed and regulated the same way that pain pills such as vicodin, oxycodone and other narcotic drugs are treated. "

Yes, it COULD be... but WHY SHOULD IT?!

I'm fucking sick and tired of hearing people say "regulate it and tax
it just like alcohol, tobacco and other drugs". Fuck that shit. Don't
regulate and tax ANY of it. Do we "regulate and tax" water, cornmeal,
eggs? Then why pot or alcohol? It is a mechanism of social control
and economic dominance. Anyone who suggests that pot (and other
drugs) be "regulated and taxed" is, in objective terms, allied with the
elites, and is an enemy of the people.

PS: darn, I neglected that word "prescribed". That's even worse.
Much worse. To suggest that a drug or substance not only be "taxed
and regulated", but be under the exclusive control of doctors?!
Again, to suggest this is to ally with the elites and take a position
decidedly in opposition to the people's interests.

- Alan2102

2009-11-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Russell was clever, but he was only really concerned with things that don’t matter. He didn’t love or need wisdom; he wanted a doll’s house of the mind, so he could feel himself to be surrounded by order and neat answers. Because he was an intelligent man he was not easily satisfied – it wasn’t a cheap doll’s house; but all the same, it was a doll’s house.
- Elberry

2009-10-23T03:40:00.001-07:00

And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

-- 2 Kings 4:34, KJV

2009-10-22T19:56:00.001-07:00

Over the last few weeks i’ve come to feel that this will be my last life. Perhaps it’s just that, having no idea what the world will be like in 25 years, i also can’t imagine a future life. None of my past lives turned out to be at all like i’d imagined, when i used to mentally toy with the idea of reincarnation; but at least it was possible to imagine such lives. However, the feeling is strong and persistent, and it makes sense of this life: i don’t think this Elberry incarnation is meant to be a proper life, so much as a tidying up of loose ends, an epilogue to five millenia of foolery and difficulty and crazy hair. It explains why i know of three lives (four, now, as another German one is emerging from the vaults), when most people don’t even suspect they’ve lived before, let alone remember their lives.
It shouldn’t make any difference but it does; i feel relieved of a long burden, to know (or suspect, hope) this will be my last physical life. i already felt somewhat distant from my own life, but i now feel something like i did when i knew i was about to leave one of my many shitty office jobs – a gleeful irresponsibility, knowing i can say or do just about anything and it won’t matter, because i won’t be here next week. In this case, i have at least two loose ends left to tidy up, from the last life – someone to meet, and something to write. Both are things to look forward to. But after that, adios motherfucker, bon voyage.

- Elberry

2009-10-22T14:37:00.001-07:00

An elegant study, formulated by psychologists Ellen Langer and Alia Crum at Harvard University in 2007, examined the effect of simply being told that you are doing something healthy. Eighty-four female room attendants working in various hotels were divided into two groups: one was told that cleaning hotel rooms was "good exercise" and "satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle", along with elaborate explanations of how and why; the other group did not receive this cheering information, and just carried on cleaning hotel rooms. Four weeks later, the 'informed' group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before, and showed a significant decrease in weight, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index. Amazingly, both groups were still reporting the same amount of activity.

2009-10-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

I believe the reality is that pulling out a credit card and ordering a book or a course is easy. Actually consuming the material and doing the work is hard. When people discover there's actual work involved, they too often reach for the credit card again to move on to the next big thing.

- Bill Hibbler

2009-09-27T20:14:00.001-07:00

*Most kinds of .45 have unexceptional muzzle energy and are big and fat, giving fairly poor performance even against light, flexible body armour. It was the standard US military pistol round for a long time and many diehards still swear by it, but people who carry guns for a living - cops, soldiers, criminals - are mostly using other calibres these days. (Some spec-ops troops still use .45, as the bullet is subsonic and thus can be effectively silenced.)

2009-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

The other major nations need the USA gone in a world facing environmental and resource depletion problems. You don't need to have studied Sun Tzu to work that out. So they have, each in their own way and in a quite natural fashion, sought to undermine the USA at every opportunity. Fortunately for them the greed and stupidity of the US elite made this a lot easier than they ever could have dreamed possible.

I believe we are now in a geo-political end game for the US as a major power, the objective is no longer solely to bring down the USA, that is a fait accompli, but to do it in such a way as to prevent collateral damage and some sort of Götterdämmerung blaze of glory spasm by the US in its death throes. This is why the Chinese and Co aren't simply blowing up big chunks of Wall Street and the Fed (although they could with tap of a keyboard. SELL. EXECUTE.) and taunting the broken dazed populace of the "last superpower" live on CNN.

- S E Pearson

2009-09-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

This is a good point at which to ask ourselves the question – “What is the scenario that would cause maximum damage to the average PM sector investor, and at the same time funnel his resources most efficiently into the pockets of Big Money?” This is an easy one to answer – it would be a gold breakout to new highs that would trigger a wave of buy stops and lead to many chart followers and a broad swath of investors piling in. Having “lobster potted” the majority Big Money could then engineer a savage reversal and plunge and you had better believe that they have got the clout to do it – this is the game they played with copper last year.

- Clive Maund

2009-09-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

其根在腳。發於腿。主宰於腰。形於手指。
由腳而腿而腰。

- Tai Chi Classic writing: Song of 13 Postures

2009-09-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

I'd be surprised if there had never been a thread here about how the Enterprise was clearly not on a "peaceful mission" but a neoliberal imperialist mission. If it's peaceful, why a military ship? Why under military command? Where are the diplomats? Why does Kirk despise every diplomat he has to deal with? They often come cruising in where they're not wanted like Commodore Peary in Tokyo Harbor saying "open up your markets to our trade or else!" They're like someone who goes down the street banging on strangers' doors shouting "Achtung! Open up and be friendly!" They're just interstellar housebreakers.

My favorite is how they have this "Prime Directive" which they violate in every episode, often giving some ideological explanation for why it doesn't apply in some case. For example: "this civilization is stagnant, and the Prime Directive only applies to progressive civilizations, not stagnant ones".

So if according to their ideology a place is stagnant and not progressing, then they can interfere as much as they want. Sounds familiar.
- LATOC forum

2009-09-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

"Blessed is he who has found his work, let him ask no other blessing."

- Thomas Carlyle

2009-09-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

My personal "Basic Integrated Curriculum" is

Wrestling:
Sprawl
Clinch
Bodylock takedown

Striking:
Jab
Cross
Hook
Crazy Monkey guard
Low Thai kick

Grappling:
Basic Positions
Mount Escapes
Side Control Escapes
Scissor Sweep
Situp Sweep
Back Control
RNC
Arm Triangle

That's for "Self Defense". If some regular dude studies that list for a year they will be well equipped to handle 99.99999% of all unarmed encounters they will ever have. They don't have to make any decisions about breaking peoples arms. They know how to escape from bad positions and they know how to subdue someone on the ground.

- kintanon

2009-09-04T23:24:00.001-07:00

"Maybe someday in the distant future some idylic, in touch with nature, hunter gatherer society will emerge from the ashes, but by then I'll be long dead and won't give a shit. "

-bdrube

2009-09-03T13:10:00.001-07:00

And all Stilt-Man wanted to do was go to the movies and watch Halloween II with his date. (He heard that during horror movies, sometimes girls will get scared and turn to their dates for "protection" and that can lead to a goodnight kiss!

- Bullshido poster

2009-09-01T22:00:00.001-07:00

"You make your own reality" and Monroe proved it while discovering reality is a hologram type of illusion one hundred percent mentally created and imagined.

- El Principe (amazon reviewer)

2009-08-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

"The elites are all going to run in there and hide during 2012, and then after we're all dead, they'll emerge to restart another human farm."

- somebody's internet comment about abrupt cancellation of Yucca Mountain nuke waste storage project

2009-08-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

"As of the moment of writing, the out-of-pocket cost of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $900,000,000,000. When you add in the already incurred future costs of veterans benefits, interest on the debt, the forgone use of the resources for productive purposes, and such other costs as computed by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University budget expertLinda Bilmes, "our" government has wasted $3,000,000,000,000--three thousand billion dollars--on two wars that have no benefit whatsoever for any American whose income does not derive from the military/security complex, about which five-star general President Eisenhower warned us."

-Paul Craig Roberts

2009-08-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

In the dissolution of the witness, there was literally no more experience of a "me" at all. The experience of personal identity switched off and was never to appear again.

- Suzanne Segal

2009-08-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

"As a man in a dream who fails to lay hands upon another whom he is pursuing- the one cannot escape nor the other overtake."

(Homer's Iliad, XX11.)

2009-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Bullshido misc., typical:

In spite of all odds and proof to the contrary, you should continue on your course to discover the one tiny detail that everyone has missed that will make your art the deadly art you want it to be. It could be shoe type, sock color, vitamin brand, it's there, just keep searching. Try combinations of magic potions, guess work, and anything that doesn't include training. (because that has proven to be a dead end)

Tom C.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just through talking to people, most people I know have established a theory that I also subscribe to:

"All russians crazy, you want neurotic girlfriend or homicidal best friend, Get a russian"

I'm sure there are many normal ones, but every single one I've met has been balls to the wall crazy, and generally deadly (nice though). So it seems strange to me that Systema doesn't work.

Ladies be pretty though.

2009-08-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

"When people are earning a new physical skill they often apply way too much muscular tension, which will naturally reduce as they become more proficient. Let's take a left jab as an example; a raw beginner may tense their bicep at the beginning on the punch and keep it tense all the way through, which is actually counter-productive because it means the tricep has to work harder than it needs to in order to extend the punch. Same applies to other muscle groups. With more training, the boxer learns to relax certain groups and their punch speeds up and becomes more efficient.

However, the mechanics of a jab or cross are distinct from those of the so-called "ballistic strike", which is also referred to as a wave strike, a whip strike, etc. Linear punches work by aligning the skeleton behind the strike, which allows an efficient transfer of body weight into momentum (supported and directed by muscular tension and extension). Ballistic strikes operate by allowing both flexors and extensors to remain relaxed, as Vieux Normand explained; the arm (assuming we're still talking about punching) is effectively a dead weight, unsupported by the muscular tension required to maintain linear skeletal alignment. It's like a medieval ball-and-chain, as opposed to a battering ram.

The intermediary step would be something like a shovel hook, the main difference being that a hook is typically thrown with enough tension to retain skeletal alignment (i.e., to get the weight of the body more-or-less directly behind the punch) whereas the ballistic version is thrown with very little tension, the power being generated by a weight shift from foot to foot and delivered by a "dead arm" swing.

Frankly, both methods - the more orthodox, tension and alignment-based punch,and the ballistic punch - generate serious power. The ballistic punch doesn't require as much of a chamber and is optimized for sucker punch scenarios, which is (IMO) probably why it was originally favored in Systema (re. the historical connection between Systema and executive protection work)."
-dLlR

2009-08-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

"China has the biggest pile of cash on the planet - $2 trillion worth. And it has more bright, well-educated engineers, accountants and economists than anywhere else... In fact, it has so many economists trained at Western universities, it is almost sure to blow itself up."

- Bill Bonner

2009-08-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

"I've said this one way or the other for some time now. I can't for the life of me understand why people don't get it. These things are our birth right: Food, shelter, water, at a minimum. We're the only mammals ( western industrial), slaving for someone else, with no self sufficient means to acquire food, water , shelter ( without the aid of Wal-mart and Mc Donalds). Here's a true story I hope will open some people eyes.

In 1998, i was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ivory Coast. i lived in a village of 1,500 people. 98% of the people lived in mud huts with Straw roofs. I lived in a cement block house with no running water, electricity, or any other amenities in I can think of, just four solid walls, and a roof over my head, plus a bed and mosquito net. Well, I basically observed that every man, women, and child in that village knew how to build their own mud hut (Adobe/cob), and all the materials were free from the forest or the village. On average, each house lasted about 30 years before they rebuilded, or longer. Every man woman, and child had access to the forest for any materials they wanted, also hunting rights, and rights to the wild bananas and other foods, if you could beat the monkeys to them. They all went to the their fields in the morning, a long walk, worked hard all day. They would come back home home to a natural home cooked meal, that took a lot of labor. Basicallly the women would spend all day fetching water, fire wood, and pounding and cooking food, by hand, or making oil, drying fish, and etc. Everyone was in great shape, all of those bastard guys had six packs ( So jealous). So i never saw these Aids, emaciated people they cover on the news. I wish i had paid more attention to how they bulit those houses then, I just kinda, took in life, and watched the world go by for three glorious years. One of the best experiences of my life. So this was in West Africa.

The other night, i went to visit a friend of mine. She lives in So Cal. Her husband is a Kenyan Bee keeper (Top Bar hives). They just had a baby. At any rate, they pulled out their front lawn, planted millet, tomatoes, and potatoes, in the back they planted kale, fruit trees , corn, and every thing else you can imagine, plus chickens. We were talking, and without comments from me, my friend's husband started talking about Kenya, and how they decided they wanted to go back, his wife is American ( White). So I asked why, hell I knew, just wanted to hear from them. He said, i have 30 acres of land in Kenya from my Grand father, my brother has another 30, i lived on the edge of lake victoria, I have access to fish, and farmalnd. One months rent here, would be enough to live like a king in my home land. And besides, we don't talk about living green in my home, we are Green. When we build a mud house, we know it's is not permanent, and nothing will be left behind, the mud and straw will eventually return to the Earth, after 30 years or so. No trace of me or anyone else. Why should we have permanent buildings like you guys in the US, when we ourselves are not permanent, i don't understand these houses/buildings in the States.

Well, he didn't have to convince me, i saw what he was talking about 11 years ago on the opposite side of the continent, but it made me think about our predicament even more. I think the meek may really inherit the earth. All the countries which have been abused by Western powers via: Slavery, coloniazation, neo coloniazation, Unfair extractions of natural resources, and etc. . These countries have been denied fossil fuels essentially when you really look at it. Therefore, they've been forced to live at a very local level, building their own house and etc. They are already ready living in Peak oil for the most part. If life is a ten story building, and The US is on the 10th floor, and back woods African countries are on the first first floor. Tell me, who has farther to fall in a post industrial world? We do of course, maybe we get what we deserve, maybe this is karma working itself out? i don't know, but what I do know is that eventually, the cultures which have maintained their ability to construct housing , farm,. and etc without fossil fuels will inherit the earth,. May it be so. My ten cents."

- internet post from somebody

2009-08-04T22:17:00.001-07:00

Tons of people came to Portland after, during and just before the Kurt Cobain thing. There were artists here before that of course, but early 90s saw a general inundation. It's good and bad when you have to live with it, but artists basically go into art knowing they are going to be poor. In fact, if you're not poor the whole myth doesn't work, if and when you finally arrive as a great writer, musician, etc.

The funny thing about this article is that I could close my eyes and throw a rock and I'd bet you my little left toe that the person hit by the rock will be able to discourse at length about how to survive with no money. As I got into my 30s I realized that this artist/survival ethic extended itself to young families with kids just as much as it did to the single, 22 yo male with nothing to lose.

Having spent more than my fair share of time in the heart of the city, living that life I can tell you that there is something to be said for creativity and ingenuity. But also there's something unmentioned in this article and it's your peers. In Portland one of the main things that allows a no-account, little shit musician to get drunk and laid three nights a week while living off of craigslist gigs is the fact that everybody does this exact same thing. Thus there is no peer guilt, or at least it's highly mitigated by the crowd.

For example, just off the top of my head (and I'm a few years out from the cutting edge of urban survival):

-smokes...go to the tobacco store, buy rolling tobacco in bulk. currently 5.50 an ounce of good shag

-brew your own beer or go in with somebody who has the equipment, pay for the ingredients. or just buy at the store and avoid the bar altogether. last time i did it, worked out to 30 cents a bottle including the price of the bottle for some high grade double hopped belgian beer

-trader joes (local grocery), kettleman's bagels, etc, etc, all toss their food in the dumpster and it's basically perfect. in fact, the employees inside know that if they take care to keep the toss away shit in good shape their store will be respected, even appreciated. a conservative estimate would say at least 200 places do this. huge bags of bagels are a dollar, three bags for two dollars. frozen dumpster food if you get it quick is still fuckin frozen and in perfect condition.

-for shelter you rent a fucking room. and yes i know very well adjusted families with kids who do this by simply renting two rooms in the same house. this has been going for close to two decades, that i've seen.

-food stamps, unemployment, craigslist gigs, day labor and barter systems are ubiquitous to portland. there would in fact be no portland as we know it without these institutions.....so yeah it's going to turn to shit like everyone else but....

-a huge amount of people are constantly running around trying to make co-ops and urban farms and every other fucking thing to make the best of shit, eventually this has forced the monied class to live with the reality of the rest of us. the cops do still shoot people on a regular basis, but i know from first hand experience that if they come to your dumpy little co-housing situation and you treat them with respect they will be totally reasonable (i've seen this w/ blacks, whites, whatever). and this happens specifically because the city shits their pants as a collective whenever something oppressive happens. sure it still happens, but it's better than just rolling over and accepting a foot in your ass.

-the point to all this is not to say that portland is better, though it probably is, but rather to point out that the whole reality of portland and other similar cities comes from the fact that starving artists basically paved the way for how to get it done.

I would submit that most 'artists' are actually just narcissistic assholes in pupa form, however IF they do in fact live by the creative ethos then there might in fact be something survival-worthy in regards to a general sense of creativity.

2009-07-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

M.C. Hammer, for those who missed his brief act, was a late-80s- early-90s rap star most famous for squandering a huge fortune. “Hammer” had amassed a booty of some $33 million at peak popularity thanks to a few hit songs and some catchy dance moves. With or without the advice of his manager, the rap star dumped $12 of that million into a Californian mega-mansion, complete with two gold- plated "Hammer Time" gates at the entrance to the property and a 17- car garage, which he filled with luxury vehicles. Not one to shy away from his own reflection, Hammer had $75,000 worth of mirrors installed throughout the house. A couple of helicopters were on standby out back in case Hammer needed to be anywhere faster than his Lamborghinis could take him.

Alas, as we all know, “Hammer Time” can’t last forever. And, after his entourage of 300 helped the poor rapper blow his loot, Hammer filed for bankruptcy and spent the final years of the millennium as a comical footnote in the book of one-hit wonders.

- Joel Bowman

2009-07-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

"Arms races are inherently negative-sum games; the only winning party is the guy who is selling the weapons."

- Karl Denninger

2009-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

I wasn't good as Mike Tyson, but as Joe Frazier, I kicked ass.

- Mike Tyson when asked by interviewer how well he played "Fight Night Round 4" video game

2009-07-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have never seen in over 12 years of Police work any attacker threaten another in silence.

- Paul Genge

2009-07-13T21:11:00.001-07:00

" I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

-Stephen Roberts

2009-07-10T12:43:00.001-07:00

Another of my friends went thru what he calls conceptual therapy and as a biomedical tech in a hospital he was called in on a new sterilizer that had hiccupped as soon as he was there this female supervisor ranted up one side and down another about him, the machine, her day, ad nauseum.

When she stopped he asked "What part of that is going to help me fix this machine?"

-ME forum

2009-07-06T17:32:00.001-07:00

When the time comes when we do look back to understand what went wrong, I think we'll see that the Woodstock generation went off the rails in 1980, with the election of the actor, Ronald Reagan, who really established the idea that a society could benefit hugely just by lying to itself, or simply pretending. It wasn't "morning in America," of course. It was more like eleven-thirty at night, and the rest of the world had eaten our breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we decided that inflating our national self-esteem was more important than paying attention to reality. That was when we became a something-for-nothing society -- and, incidentally, it was also the take-off point for legalized gambling all over America (an "industry" based on the worship of unearned riches). And that was, coincidentally, the moment when we became a nation of dupes, grifters, marks, and suckers.

- J H Kunstler

2009-07-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

In late 1988, Tyson fired longtime trainer Kevin Rooney, the man many credit for honing Tyson's craft after the death of D'Amato. Without Rooney, Tyson's skills quickly deteriorated and he became more prone to looking for the one-punch knockout, rather than using the combinations that brought him to stardom. He also began to head-hunt, neglecting to attack the opponent's body first. In addition, he lost his defensive skills and began to barrel straight in toward the opponent, neglecting to jab and slip his way in.

- Wiki

2009-07-05T17:07:00.001-07:00

Develop strong transverse power

It will help you land solid hooks and upper-cuts. When I take on taller guys, I cover up instead of jabbing to get inside, but once inside I wait for one of his hooks (since he can't throw straight shots) and then counter punch. My power range is right on and i am still too close for him to hit with any power. I do this for mma, but it still works really good for boxing, too. Twisting crunches, etc. Transverse power is all in the twist.

2009-07-03T18:43:00.001-07:00

Nobody wants to hear what the plumber has to say til the shit backs up in the living room.

- Susanne Trimbath

2009-06-30T16:41:00.001-07:00

"... Not saying don't do it, am saying make damn sure you know who is going to be in the blast radius when you pull the pin on this grenade."

- internet

2009-06-28T21:59:00.001-07:00

"Only in america you can be born a poor black man and die a rich white woman."

- on the net

2009-06-19T23:10:00.001-07:00

Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools.

- Tolkien

2009-06-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

“I saved nothing for the way back”.
- from Gattaca

2009-06-18T19:04:00.001-07:00

Buyer needs to be better than aware, buyer needs to stay away.

- Real Servant

2009-06-14T13:47:00.001-07:00

I might state the "monkey fairness" heuristic as "I deserve at least
as much as X Y and Z do". In the real world, on average, X Y or Z
will just by natural processes seem to be more advantaged in the
narrow way being considered. And X Y and Z use the same strategy, and
may be looking at different aspects of advantage. This provides a
rationale for permanent ratcheting up. The distributions that natural
systems generate are considered unfair by capuchins and humans, which
leads to being pissed off at the world and others a lot of the time.

-dj

2009-06-11T13:00:00.001-07:00

Are you not willing to be sponged out, erased, canceled, nothing? If not, you will never really change.

D.H. Lawrence

2009-06-07T01:13:00.001-07:00

I've said it before but will say it again... Britain will be the next Nazi Germany. I've read a lot on Weimar Germany and I see all the parallels around me every day. It is deeply broken country in almost every way, rotten to the core. It will soon implode and lash out at anyone it can... we'll probably start WW3. You heard it here first...

J. Jones

2009-05-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

I haven't rubbed shoulders with the elite in a long while, but
among the small investors and business people I talk with, my impression is that these folks are strongly addicted to the dopamine rush they get when they buy and sell. The rampant hysteria over Obama's bailouts/social medicine/gun- ban is a fear of an encroaching socialism that will cut them off from their drug/addiction that the last administration affirmed. You just can't get the same hit with that socialistic- methadone gack they're pushing over at Obama's free clinic.

Anyway, the market-dopers/ elite will take us to the wall with their capitalist-market- crack, then, when it can't be sustained any longer, in an act of addictive transference, they will dump free markets smack for war. Like a junkie pushing the spike in for one last glorious hit, they will launch the missiles. The orgy of our free markets will be maintained by, or even, superseded by, the ultimate rush that is the orgy of war. War is the ultimate dopamine rush, and the only logical progression/ alternative to a free market crack addition.

Everybody else gets to go along with the resulting misery, just like the codependents in the home of an alcoholic/addict.

All the talk about sustainable this or that is just so much denial that prevents us from facing the truth about our free-market addiction. The elites seize upon and affirm with each other the socially acceptable lies and flimsy rationalizations (carbon-credits/ offsets, hydrogen economy, hybrid cars, etc.) that support their destructive behavior and help drag their codependents (you and me) along with them down the shit hole.

Hamlet

2009-03-07T21:35:00.001-08:00

OK, so what kind of individual-in- group behavior will be selected? That behavior which most benefits the group.

Imagine an 18-year-old child crouching in a muddy ditch somewhere in France. Someone blows a whistle. He leaps out of the ditch and runs headlong into a Maxim gun and is blown to pieces. Why did he do it? Because the willingness to die for an abstraction, or someone he has never met, increased the fitness of his ancestors.

People are NOT "born to be good," OR "born to be bad," people are born to act in ways that increased the fitness of their ancestors. What they do tomorrow depends upon genes/environment (not genes).

We are entering a many-decades period of declining resources. Capitalism can't run backwards. When the supply lines collapse, people will arm themselves and take to the streets.

Now the Unites States will look like 1933 Germany. Rush Limbaugh-types will form personal armies and march on Washington. The people who are running our government must either take what they need from another country by force else or they will be overthrown.

Now the Unites States will look like 1939 Germany. Perhaps we will invade Canada like Hitler invaded Poland. Ultimately, it will be a global war of all against all for the remaining resources.
- Jay Hanson

2009-03-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

It seems feasible that over the coming century human nature will be scientifically remodelled. If so, it will be done haphazardly, as an upshot of struggles in the murky realm where big business, organised crime, and the hidden parts of government vie for control. If the human species is re-engineered it will not be the result of humanity assuming a godlike control of its destiny. It will be another twist in man's fate.

John Gray

2009-02-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

"How is everybody?"

Yeah, this was California flair that I had this evening. I attended a back bending workshop with Todd Tesen from LA, California. He is a tall man with a lot of muscles. He must have been a weight lifter in his former life, I thought. So many strong muscles. Really.

He said the first words in a for me rather strong US accent and I knew at once - this is not an intellectual. He is a light-hearted man who brings a lot of fun. So it was.

Suddenly this healthy man stood behind me while I was doing downward facing dog. I do not know what he did, of course it was an adjustment, a new one for me. My hands lifted up from the floor. I felt like a feather. OMG, such a strong man, I thought, he can lift me up so easily.

Todd is a comedian: He showed us how people usually do hanumanasana (split pose) and how wrong the hip position usually is. He pretended to be a sort of ballet dancer, while showing the pose to us. It really made me laugh. Then he did it the correct way. Afterwards he bound together his long hair.

It was a show. I liked it to see, how he went on his knees when he came out of urdhva dhanurasana.
- Ursula

2009-02-16T08:27:00.001-08:00

I wish I could drink because I would probably be drunk too.

2009-02-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

I am originally from Finland, but now lliving in Kyoto, Japan. I am going to be a Buddhist monk here. My studies include Buddhism, Japanese, and Classical Chinese. For work, I do nothing, because I have enough gold to sustain myself until I am a monk who does not need money to survive (many Japanese temples are self-sufficient communities). For fun, I study Chinese characters.

2009-01-01T11:12:00.001-08:00

"My long sickness of health and living now begins to mend, and nothing brings me all things."

~Timon of Athens, Act V Scene I

2008-12-20T17:02:00.001-08:00

Money is the new secret of a happy job

By Lucy Kellaway

Published: December 14 2008 19:59 | Last updated: December 14 2008 19:59

Last week, I sent an e-mail to a friend who had just lost his job. “I’m so sorry,” I wrote. “Your bosses are morons to have got rid of such a genius as you. I can only suppose a queue will shortly stretch round the block as less brain-dead employers clamour to take you on. Hope you are OK.”

The e-mail was heartfelt except for one word, and that was “shortly”. I don’t expect a queue to form for my friend shortly. Even geniuses are not getting snapped up quickly – unless they happen to be security guards, social workers, accountants or teachers.

In a trice, I had a message back. He said he had had a brief panic about the mortgage and school fees but otherwise was really rather cheerful. Indeed, he was in such high spirits that he even sent me a funny anecdote*.

I could not help comparing the tone of his message with one that I got the very same afternoon from another friend who works for a company that has also been celebrating Christmas with some savage job cuts. Never, she said, had her morale been as bad. The weight of work was crippling as she was now doing the jobs of three people. There was talk of pay cuts. The office was spookily quiet, too; since most of her friends had been sacked, there wasn’t even anyone around to moan to. Worst of all was the fear that her job would be next.

It is tempting to conclude from these two messages that, if there is one thing worse for hitherto successful, well-paid people than being fired, it is not being fired. Those who have been axed don’t need to take the sacking personally, and not working in the days before Christmas can be rather jolly. Whereas for those who have not been fired, the not-so-festive season this year is an orgy of fear and drudgery.

There might be some truth in this now but it is not going to stay true for long. The grimness of the unemployed will get worse as no queues form to take them on, while the grimness of those in work will, in time, start to recede. This is not because the economy will improve – it is because the grimness itself will bring on a sounder and altogether more realistic approach to work.

Over the past decade, the rich, professional classes have developed an increasingly unhealthy attitude to their jobs. We took our jobs and our fat salaries for granted and felt aggrieved if our bonuses were not even bigger than the year before. We demanded that the work be interesting in itself and, even more dangerously and preposterously, that it should have meaning.

The result of all these demands was, of course, dissatisfaction. We had climbed to the very top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and discovered that, at the top of the pyramid, the air was very thin indeed. As an agony aunt, I found that by far the most common problem readers submitted came from rich and senior professionals who had all their basic needs more than catered for, leaving their souls in torment. Help me, I’m bored, they cried. Or, worse: what does my work mean?

In the past few months, anguish of this sort has vanished. When one’s job is at risk and one’s savings are a shadow of their former selves, the search for meaning at work is meaningless. The point of a job becomes rather more basic: to feed and house (and, at a pinch, to educate) one’s family and oneself. If we can do this, then anything we manage over and above this is a bonus. Once expectations have fully adjusted to this new reality and we see earning money as the main reason for work, greater satisfaction will follow.

Low expectations have an awful lot to be said for them. In surveys women turn out to be more satisfied at work than men, in spite of earning less for the same jobs and doing most of the work at home too. The reason is simple: women’s expectations of working life are lower. Similarly, Denmark is the happiest country in the world in spite of having a cold, dark climate and a top tax rate of 68 per cent. The stoical Danes do not expect so much of life and, expecting less, find what little they have rather nice.

2008-08-31T09:23:00.001-07:00

The last two years of the decade while Europe enjoyed a rich fat afternoon, were the quietest. Nineteen-ten was peaceful and prosperous; with the second round of Moroccan crises and Balkan wars still to come. A new book, The Great Illusion by Norman Angell, had just been published, which proved that war was impossible. By impressive examples and incontrovertible argument Angell showed that in the present financial and economic interdependence of nations, the victor would suffer equally with the vanquished; therefore war had become unprofitable; therefore no nation would be so foolish as to start one. Already translated into eleven languages, The Great Illusion had become a cult. At the universities, in Manchester, Glasgow, and other industrial cities, more than forty study groups of true believers had formed, devoted to propagating its dogma. Angell's most earnest disciple was a man of great influence on military policy, the King's friend and adviser, Viscount Esher, chairman Of the War Committee assigned to remaking the British Army after the shock of its performance in the Boor War. Lord Esher delivered lectures on the lesson of The Great Illusion at Cambridge and the Sorbonne wherein he showed how “new economic factors clearly prove the insanity of aggressive wars.” A twentieth century war would be on such a scale, he said, that its inevitable consequences of “commercial disaster, financial ruin and individual suffering” would be “so pregnant with restraining influences” as to make war unthinkable. He told an audience of officers at the United Service Club, with the Chief of General Staff, Sir John French, in the chair, that because of the interlacing of nations War “becomes every day more difficult and improbable.”

Germany, Lord Esher felt sure, “is as receptive as Great -Britain to the doctrine of Norman Angell.” How receptive were the Kaiser and the Crown Prince to whom he gave, or caused to be given, copies of The Great Illusion is not reported. There is no evidence that he gave one to General Von Bernhardi, who was engaged in 1910 in writing a book called Germany and the Next War, published in the following year, which was to be as influential as Angell’s but from the opposite point of view. Three of its chapter titles, “The Right to Make War,” “The Duty to Make War,” and “World Power or Downfall” sum up its thesis.

[pp. 24-25 THE GUNS OF AUGUST, Barbara Tuchman]

2008-08-31T00:08:00.001-07:00

"Personally, if I do get a nuke or several dropped on or near me -
which is reasonably likely if I don't relocate off Oahu - and if I'm
not, y'know, vaporized - I'll use broken glass to sever an artery.
Once thing about suburban rubble, you'll be able to find shards of
broken glass, and it's the sharpest edge there is; it's what they use
to cut cells in half for electron microscopy. Broken plate glass has
a single-molecule edge, I think. And I can attest that bleeding to
death is not only painless, but even slightly euphoric - I lost 60+%
of my blood once to an arterial bleed."

-DJ

2008-08-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

A youth must have seen his blood flow and felt his teeth crack under the blow of his adversary and have been thrown to the ground twenty times. Thus will he be able to face real war with the hope of victory. Without practice the art of war [does] not come naturally when it [is] needed.

- Roger of Howden, 12th Century

2008-08-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

"I'm in show business, why come to me?"

"War is show business, that's why we're here."

- "Wag the Dog" (1997 film)

2008-08-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

‘People skills’, by the way, just means they smile while they lie.

- Elberry

2008-07-28T09:35:00.001-07:00

Have a helluva dieoff everyone.

- Richard

2008-07-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

Export Land Model of Oil production. Everyone knows about it but look at the ramifications

In just 5-10yrs we could be looking at an almost total cessation of oil exports. And from what I've read the US might only be producing 3MMBD instead of the current 5MMBD.

That is the end of America. Period.

And people here argue about whether there will be war soon. You can bet your firstborn there will be war. BIG WAR. When this fucker kicks off it will be the last BIG war of mankind. Nukes and all. Everyone will give it all they got because whoever is left standing at the end will get the prize....oil. The losers will starve.

- Korg

2008-07-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite books on remote viewing was written just three years later (1930). This book is titled Mental Radio and was written by the American novelist and social activist, Upton Sinclair. It describes a series of experiments he conducted over a period of three years with his psychic wife, Mary Craig Sinclair (MCS). Although the Sinclairs refer to the phemonenon they studied as telepathy, modern readers will recognize it as pure RV. Mental Radio has descriptions of over 100 sessions the Sinclairs conducted. Chapter 21 of this book provides a detailed description by MCS on her method for remote viewing. It can be summarized simply as relaxing the mind and body and entering a slighty-meditative state and then simply describing the mental images one develops.

Some of the best remote viewers involved in the early RV research at SRI and the government's RV program--Pat Price, Hella Hammid, and Joe McMoneagle--all used unstructured methods. Russell Targ, both in his books (such as Mind Race and Limitless Mind) and workshops (which I have attended twice) strongly advocates a "keep it simple" approach, stating "All that is necessary to remote view is to quiet the mental chatter and describe the images which come to mind."

- Banded Krait

2008-07-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Now when you have that power, the best technique is to ignore all of that discussion, ignore it totally, and to eliminate it, by the simple device of asserting the opposite. If you assert the opposite, that eliminates mountains of evidence demonstrating that what you're saying is false. That's what power means.

- Noam Chomsky

2008-07-02T16:12:00.001-07:00

What I took away from this book: The beautiful ugliness with which the CIA and FBI operate. One of the things Sander's book intentionally highlights is the usage of moles and spies who already have questionable histories. It's something that never occured to me, but it explains alot--why people who naysay the government wind up in jail, or easily ridiculed. It's because even though they may be telling the truth, they were all screwed up people to begin with! On the FBI and CIA's part, it's a beautiful scheme.

- somebody's amazon book review

2008-06-20T14:33:00.001-07:00

“It has no existence as an independent concrete entity. It designates a highly developed category of Western covert operations designed to secure destabilization through the creation, multiplication, mobilization, and manipulation of disparate mujahideen groups. The evidence suggests that this was certainly the case on 9-11.”

- Nafeez Ahmed (author: The War on Truth), speaking about Al Qaida

2008-06-20T11:05:00.001-07:00

BOXING DQ’S FOR SELF-DEFENSE

Boxing AKA the Sweet Science, as we all know, may be a science but it’s not all that sweet. Let’s face it; what’s sweet about a sport that has as its ultimate goal to render you unconscious via blunt head trauma? As sour-intentioned as the “sweet” science is there is an even more unsavory side—the area of illegal blows, disqualification shots (DQs). These DQs have no place inside the ring (sorry, but you’ve got to keep your teeth to yourself, Mr. Tyson) but for the street, well, that’s another story altogether. Pure boxing, with zero illegal shots added to the mix is already a formidable self-defense art; add the DQs and you’ve got a leaner, meaner street ready animal.

Below we set forth a primer on how to take the already efficient standard boxing arsenal and add the bad intentioned shots back into the mix to make it a street-ready self-defense option. We’ll only touch on a few of the higher-percentage shots; for a great deal more information on this topic see our exhaustive instructional set The Complete Pugilist.

Location, Location, Location—Just as in real estate, where you land a blow can spell all the difference between man-stopper and a missed opportunity. You can take any of the blows in the standard boxing arsenal (the jab, cross, hook, uppercut) and target “verboten” areas on your opponent and have a nice effect. Aim for the soft targets of the throat and kidneys; these are far easier to hit than most imagine.
Below the Belt—Outside the sport rule-set but no need to exclude it from the street arsenal. A well-placed uppercut south of the border is mighty effective.
Rabbit Punching—Blows to the back of the head are particularly damaging and forbidden in the sport of boxing, which means this is a prime tool for the street-boxer. Rabbit punches are best delivered while engaged in a clinch. To deliver an effective rabbit-punch, think of a short choppy hook hitting your opponent directly on the back of the head or neck. BTW—The term rabbit punch comes from a technique used to kill rabbits caught in traps. Once the live rabbit is removed from the trap a sharp blow to the back of the neck and our live rabbit is now a past tense live rabbit.
Roughing Inside the Clinch—Once two boxers are clinched the fight is strictly regulated for the sportsman, but for the street-boxer a whole new world of hurt opens up. We’ve got the previously mentioned rabbit-punches, knees to the groin and/or thighs, foot stomps, short-choppy head-butts, you’ve even got Mr. Tyson’s ear lobe hors d`oeuvres available. There is a wealth of mayhem to be inflicted inside the clinch; dish it out well.
Thumbing—Modern boxing gloves are manufactured with the thumbs attached to the body of the glove to prevent “accidental/incidental” thumbs to the eyes. The street-boxer has no such glove restricting his fifth digit so; he should utilize this opposing appendage with extreme prejudice. Thumb the eye while roughing inside the clinch, fire your jabs with an open palm and your thumb extended targeting the eyes and/or throat. Another nice little roughing use of the thumb inside the clinch is to jam it hard up and into your opponent's armpit—it won’t stop the fight but it’s just one of the many disconcerting multiples you can throw.
Combinations, Combinations, Combinations—The best of the best in the sport of boxing throw combinations; the street-boxer would be wise to emulate that tactic. Be overwhelming in your offense—be overwhelming in your defense. Be overwhelming in your counters. Do not look for the Sunday punch or the KO, instead strive to be the proverbial buzzsaw, strike fast, strike often, and then strike again.

There are many (many) more illegal shots/inserts that we can cull from the boxing arsenal but these half dozen will serve you well when the game is not inside the ring, there is no referee to stop the fight and the stakes are higher than a mark on your record. Train hard; train safe!

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

Mark Hatmaker

2008-06-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

That this social order with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies, and wars is necessary to society; that still greater disaster would ensue if this organization were destroyed; all this is said only by those who profit by this organization, while those who suffer from it – and they are ten times as numerous – think and say quite the contrary.

- L. Tolstoi

2008-06-19T07:33:00.001-07:00

I agree with Scott on this matter.

5 million, or 5 billion people mean nothing, nada, zip to TPTB. They
can control the masses.

It is not even necessary to 'handle' them with all these messy
stuff. Just block the exits and keep the supplies from reaching in.
5 million or 5 billion, the masses die on the vine.

In ancient China, when the pesky peasants rebel every year because
they were hungry, the Chinese Emperor hired Mongol horsemen to quell
them.

And, as I have mentioned before, when the Taiping peasant rebels
tried to overthrow the Manchu dynasty, the Manchus called up Western
troops to silence the masses.

There are lots of trained soldiers around the world who will kill
someone for $5 a pop. TPTB will have no difficulty to find someone
to shoot to the mobs.

P. Kwon of Cal.