Revision as of 15:17, 27 June 2008

image: http://www.blackironprison.com/images/thumb/a/a9/Appleguns.png/300px-Appleguns.png

So if you haven't heard of it, OMGASM is one of the coolest things going on in Discordia right now. check out its home website at http://www.blackironprison.com/index.php?title=OMGASM

OMGASM stands for Operation Mindfuck: Golden Apple Seed Missions It's the overall project heading for a number of pranks, mindfucks, and jakes. Each project is called a GASM. The nature of a GASM is that it's something which gets better the more people you have doing it. In a really well-designed GASM, the effect gets supercharged once the project hits critical mass.

For example, ColbertGASM was a project where we all wrote to Stephen Colbert and invited him to join the Bavarian Illuminati. We flooded him with mail for about a week, encouraging him to say an Illuminati or Discordian meme on the air to accept the invitation. He eventually gave us a number of signs, including saying 23 Skidoo on the air (something we specifically requested). In short, this was a project that wouldn't have worked if only 5 or 10 people did it, but had a greater chance of succeeding due to the volume of mail we sent from different locations.

In short, GASM is a Discordian code word which means "Assistance requested - this is more fun if we all work together"

We see OMGASM as a way of networking pranksters so that EVEN BIGGER pranks can be launched. Due to the INTERNET, this is the first time in history that stuff like this has been possible. Later, I'll talk about one of the tools that we can use to stay in contact even without central leadership.

One prank brewing right now is AbbyGASM]. The idea is that we all write to local advice columns and newspaper editors, complaining about the Discordian Meanace. If we focus our efforts into a short period of time, it's possible that news will emerge ABOUT our prank, thereby springboarding our efforts onto a higher level of awesome.

So I'd like to encourage everyone to pay attention to OMGASM, and more importantly, to start your own GASMs. If we get in the habit of helping each other out, all our projects will benefit. If we start a hundred projects, at least one of them is going to take off beyond what we can even imagine.

Web 2.0

One often overlooked tool is the GASM Feed at http://principiadiscordia.com/gasmfeed/. This is a handy website which AUTOMATICALLY lists current events in OMGASM. THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:

The feed picks up websites which have been tagged on del.icio.us, and pictures which have been tagged on flickr.com. So go register at those two places, and you'll have ALL the tools you need to begin your own GASMs.

You just need to make up a webpage or forum-post about your project, and tag it on delicious. The code to make it work is "<project name>, OMGASM". So if your project is called FashionGASM, mark your page with the tags "FashionGASM" and "OMGASM". Any pages tagged like that will go under the heading FashionGASM at the mission feed. Likewise, if you upload a picture to Flickr and tag it "FashionGASM", the robots will pick up the image and post it on the feed.

Tips on Launching a Golden Apple Seed Mission

So you've got an idea for a jake or prank or project, and you want help. Here are some tips to make your idea take off:

• Keep it simple. If your GASM can't be explained in a paragraph or two, most people won't have the attention to follow.
• Make it FUN. Participation in the Mission should be rewarding in of itself. In fact, it should be fun even if you're not a Discordian
• Make it easy for people to participate. Don't make people generate their own material or do their own research. Make it Discordianproof.
• Expect to do most of the work yourself. Sad fact: It's not enough to build the funwagon, you've got to drive it too. Sometimes this will involve pushing it through mud and rain and harpies towards Funtown.
• LEADERSHIP and PERSISTENCE are perhaps the most important parts of starting a GASM. This project will quickly fizzle and die unless we have people THINKING FORWARD and LEADING BY EXAMPLE. This is YOUR opportunity to lead the pack into the wilderness. Don't get discouraged if your ideas don't take off immediately. It may take 5 or 10 false starts before you hit kallisti gold.
• ADVERTISE. Go push your idea at multiple Discordian locations. Also use digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, and other popular web applications to broadcast your message to the masses. If you don't have accounts at these places, go make one. It's quick, and it increases your freedom to influence the Greater Network.

by the way, this article is a part of GASMGASM, the mission to spread the word about OMGASM.

by the way, the last sentence is a part of GASMGASMGASM, the mission to spread the word about GASMGASM.

by the way, the last sentence is a part of GASMGASMGASMGASM, the mission to never, ever STFU.