The Black Iron Prison - v2

[Cramulus]

The Black Iron Prison
Professor Cramulus edit

presented in PDF format, .doc available

comments, meme bombs, additions, art, edits, et cetera
all appreciated

[AFK]

visually, layout wise it rocks.  I don't have the time to actually read it yet but I think it looks great.  The only suggestion I'd make is adding the POEE url to the front. 

[Darth Cupcake]

Looks pretty sweet. I look forward to having my own copy.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

i only approve of this because 2 of my pieces were included.

[Slarti]

i'm assuming all the content is the same so i didn't read it, just skimmed through it for the meme-bombs and the new layout, which i think is significantly better. it's a lot more appealing than the last version.

[AFK]

Actually I noticed Parable of the Gong is in there and I think I noticed a couple of other new additions as well. 

[Cramulus]

Yeah I dropped two pieces (forget which ones, but they're mentioned in the Forward Progress thread) and added a bunch. I had to get some of vex's high quality stuff in there.

What I need now:

1 more page of material (350-400 words)
moar images
meme bombs, quotes, and other one-liners. This is where we can inject some humor.

I want the back cover to be business-card sized cut-out ads. This will serve as viral marketing, so anyone who's really hot on these ideas has something to go hand out immediately. Maybe one to go in your wallet to prove you've escaped from at least one cell. Can anyone think of a one or two line meme bomb which summarizes this whole thing?



PROFESSA
CRAMULUS

[AFK]

[self-serving]
A Conclusion is simply where you stopped thinking.
Here's a ticket to get you back on the ride.
[/self-serving]

edit:  and then have the urls on this as well. 

[LMNO]

Hey, how editable is that?


Cuz I haven't had a chance to amend the "nature of reality" essay.

[Cramulus]

Totally editable. I figure this version will change a bit over the next few days, until we're all happy with it. Send any submissions or revisions and I'll cobble them in.

That goes for everyone, by the way.

[That One Guy]

I haven't had a chance to take a look at this yet (it's VERY busy at work with fiscal year end happening atm) but if you're looking for more BIP material and my "This Morning ... " piece hasn't already worked its way in, feel free to toss that in there if it fits with the rest of things.

[Mangrove]

Nice job Cram!

When I saw you did BIP II, I was about to curse you as a heretic and schismatic 

Seriously though, good job. Love the 'patent medicine' salesman. That struck me as especially funny, as did the chickens watching tv.

(Small point: SSOOKN is SEMI Secret Order Of Kabbalistic Navigators, not SUPER. Unless you've decided to give us an upgrade.)

That aside, great work. 

[Cramulus]

ah SEMI secret. Like Semi sweetened chocolate chips - much more palatable than super sweetened.

I've made a bunch of fixes and edits today, including adding some really cool background watermarks to a few pages. TOG - your "This Morning" piece would make a good addition, but it needs to be swapped with something before page 23. I'm absolutely insistent that the Herman Hesse piece remains on page 23, so it's necessary to juggle stuff around that. Any ideas?

I'll upload a new version after I get LMNO's revision of "On The Nature of Reality"

also - do you guys have any commentary on the last page? I was trying to end the book on an uplifting note, to counter the usual critique that it's dark and gloomy and hopeless. I think it might need a little more meat though. Here's the text:

This is it. Right now. This is the exact moment.

You're holding it right now in your hands.

It's the moment when human beings begin to communicate with each other again. It's people talking to people, instead of just exchanging small talk and waiting for their opinions to be broadcast at them via mass media.

It's homegrown. It's grassroots. It's do-it-yourself.

In the past, big ideas came from big people with big wallets and big friends.

Then there was a time when big ideas came from big people with loud TV stations and smart marketing teams.

But now we've got this perfectly fluid perfectly free medium, the internet, and it's time to spread something important.

Not just naked women, pithy one-liners, and funny pictures of cats. We're communicating real ideas between real people. And we don't need market forces to moderate it ad tell us what,Äôs cool.

We're living in the digital frontier, the wild west of information.

We're watching the sun rise over humanity starting with you.

And we,Äôve always had word-of-mouth. But now we,Äôre taking it back, clearing the air of memetic pollution.

It,Äôs time to live our lives like they,Äôre an extreme sport. It,Äôs time to actualize the present and live every moment like it,Äôs the only one that matters. It,Äôs a time for new beginnings.

Someone once asked Tim Leary ,ÄúAnd now what?,Äù
He said, simply, ,Äúfind the others.,Äù



This is BY FAR the most exciting point in history to be alive.

Listen; there's a hell of a good universe next door: let's go!
ee cummings

there will be a big shiny key in the watermark behind that passage.
Prison Cell -- Key -- get it?

[Cramulus]

[self-serving]
A Conclusion is simply where you stopped thinking.
Here's a ticket to get you back on the ride.
[/self-serving]

edit:  and then have the urls on this as well. 

nice!

can anyone find an eye-catching watermark graphic to stick behind that? We can fit like four cards on a sheet, so it's possible to have four different cards

I'm thinking along the lines of
-one that's sort of like a graduation certificate from the BIP
-two that are basically ads for BIP.com
-a pope card

sexy boobies might be useful here.

[AFK]

[self-serving]
A Conclusion is simply where you stopped thinking.
Here's a ticket to get you back on the ride.
[/self-serving]

edit:  and then have the urls on this as well. 

nice!

can anyone find an eye-catching watermark graphic to stick behind that? We can fit like four cards on a sheet, so it's possible to have four different cards

I'm thinking along the lines of
-one that's sort of like a graduation certificate from the BIP
-two that are basically ads for BIP.com
-a pope card

sexy boobies might be useful here.

I'll ask my wife but I doubt she'll go along with it.