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So finally got our appointment for our work visas in the UK. Assuming all goes well, we will be headed to somewhere near Buckinghamshire in the next month. Also, looks like I might be in Edinbourough sometime in the next couple weeks for a few days.

Having never been to Scotland, anything I should be aware of?

Also, Cain or anyone else nearish London, any recommendations on which counties west of the city are good (not horridly expensive) to find a place to live? The office is in Penn.

https://maps.google.com/maps?safe=off&q=penn+buckinghamshire&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x4876612b9aa55965:0xb1a584820be19462,Penn,+Buckinghamshire,+UK&ei=cfi6Udn7NMjGOc3-gMgH&sqi=2&ved=0CJIBELYD

I am not taking a position on this, because I'm still reading stuff and trying to form an opinion... however, I do find PD a good place to poke at this kinda stuff so here goes:

"As with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity."

- Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish PM

This was said at a UN conference this past week. Israel and the US claim that its offensive. Erdogan claims that its a valid compaarison and isn't intended to be anti-semetic. My understanding of Zionism has always been pretty shaded by my previous life... (ie the conservative christian cult perception). However, after this hit the news I did some research on the political movement of Zionism.

So Zionism, as used here (not the religious view) is about having a nation for the Jewish people. Its the movement that led to the post-WWII foundation of Israel, its the justification for the removal of the Palestinian people, its the justification for what some people call "war" and others call "ethnic cleansing", its the justification for the continued expansion of settlements (at least as I understand the term based on what I've been reading).

Should this comment be offensive? Is antisemitism functionally different than anti-palestinianism? Or is being anti-Zionism really equal to antisemitism? In some of the references I've read, guys like Noam Chomsky claim that the two are diffferent, and the argument is used to shut anyone up that wants to criticize Israel, while others claim the whole thing is offensive. Some quotes appear racist, or at the very least extremely nationalist.

we shall endeavour to expel the poor population across the border unnoticed — the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly

- Theodore Herzl (one of the founders of the Zionist political movement)

There are a number of incidents that are pointed to where one side says "Meh, it was war" and the other side says "It was a massacre based on ethnic cleansing". It seems as confusing to me as the situation Mr. Erdogan continues to fight regarding the Turks vs. Armenians in the first part of the 20th century. Turks call it war, Armenians call it ethnic cleansing.

All that aside, from my perspective, I think Erdogan is doing this shit intentionally to grow his cred on the Muslim side of the world, he seems intent to put himself and Turkey as the go-between for East and West. Seems like political football to me.. but it did bring up this interesting question

So I had an idea based off of Roger's post about Doing Something.

I don't want to risk the project by biting off more than can be done... so this is how I'd like to start.

PD posters record a short "news" report in a PD style (ie whatever that means to you)... not Pineal kinda stuff, but a bit more grittyabsurdPD.com style. I will edit them and we'll have a "news anchor" (maybe Roger if he'd agree to it   ) and we'll make a short 3-5 minute weekly news podcast to generate some new interest in the site. If it goes well and we get lots of input, then we can do more than one... maybe even some "special reports" with different takes on a given topic.

I'd like to see if there's interest and if so, we'll set up a schedule (deadline for submissions and and release dates).

Think about the radio news at the top of the hour for inspiration...

Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas? Interest?

I've been listening to the band Wookiefoot for a little over a year. They're kinda sublime-ish with a hippy twist, but their lyrics are pretty interesting. I thought I'd post some and see if it inspires a discussion:

Damn i see a crack in the dam
Like a smack to the man
With his head in the sand
And his back to the facts
And his ass in his hand
I said damn
I see a lack in this plan
And i don't understand what to do lord
There's a crack in this dam

And when the dam breaks the water will fall
Down will come all of what's built up behind that wall
It's been ringing and it's ringing
And we still missed that call
Now we miss the ringing
Bring a flood to us all
To the dam it seems that happens all of a sudden
But it really wasn't doesn't ever happen that way
Years of pressure and decay
Now is a critical moment
Do you blame or do you own it
So now what you gonna do when the pressure drops on you

Can you feel the pressure build behind the wall
It's coming for us all

Dam there's a crack in the dam
Like a smack to the man
With his head in the sand
And his back to the fact
And his ass in his hand
I said damn
There's a lack in this plan
And i don't understand what to do lord
Help me make it through
Or show me how to know just to how to make it up to you
And give me one more chance to
try to put a patch on the dam

This one, I think covers a number of ideas... it invokes the issue of global warming at some level, but takes on a much more social/psychological message overall.

To the dam it seems that happens all of a sudden
But it really wasn't doesn't ever happen that way
Years of pressure and decay
Now is a critical moment
Do you blame or do you own it
So now what you gonna do when the pressure drops on you

For me this speaks to both a personal collapse of 'the dam' as well as the collapse of society. The years of pressure and decay certainly affect us individually and as a society. Will the pressure and decay cause the Machine to break down? Will it cause the individual to break down? From a more physical perspective, will it cause the environment to break down?

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

This one reminded me of the recent drug debate and fallout:

Two men come and disagree to agree
Both one to the other saying what should be
Each climbing higher up self righteous towers
And catapulting "shoulds" back and forth just empowers them
Don't get me wrong i'm the king of it
Just a little bit hippy hypocrite winging it
Sometimes thinking that i'm knowing everything of it
And putting my should inside a song and singing it

Should as it should maybe sounds absurd
But should could be heard almost every other word
When you should on your friends it's bad for the health
But you got to be careful not to should on yourself
These Towers of Babel all inevitably fall
With cracks in the walls and the building implodes
From the wreckage and rubble we rebuild another bubble
Cause that's the way the monkey mind goes

With a "should do this!" and a "should do that!"
Everybody's just trying to do good
But how many shoulds would a good man say
If he could stop would he stop shoulds
Oh my friend for the wounds to mend
There's only one thing we should do
Don't you should on me and i won't drop my shoulds on you

Frequencies unfold in our numskulls
Like a spark in a dark cave
Where the light and sound waves
Pave a way to mental higher ground
All the little thoughts we collect
Turned them into bricks with our intellect
Build a tower in your hypothalamus and cortex
Our own fortress in our cerebellum
We can carry our convictions to the roof and yell 'em
At the top of our lungs standing on the top rung

I like both the allusion to should=shit as well as the concept that when the system breaks down, the monkeys gather up the pieces and build a system with just as much fervor.

If this spurs some discussion, I'll post more lyrics too...

There's a bug in the plan.
There's a flaw in design
There's the physical man
with a short in the line

Its the monkey inside
whose running the show
with our old human pride
we just can't let it go.

In debates without end
On top of a tower
Shouting fights you can't win
with all of your power

Is it magic or drugs
Or the anarchists view?
Is it Internet thugs
that make old debates new?

Its a pineal fight
personality quirk
Debates about rights
or what can or can't work

Is there something to say?
Is there something to do?
When we fight, do we play?
Is it false, is it true?

Have you ever been budged
by an internet post?
Is the quality judged
by who comments the most?

I don't know the answer
or the question, perhaps.
Maybe its a cancer
Or a series of traps.

If its not what you want,
If its not what you like
Then don't use that font
and don't join that fight.

I thought I knew...
but ya know...
I mean...
its nice...
could be nicer maybe...
ya know...
I mean if it was my painting...
if I was gonna give Mr. Hoffman a few tips, sure.

But still...

its nice...

One day people found Hoja Nasruddin "pouring the remains of his yogurt into the lake.
"Hoja Nasrudin , what are you doing? A man asked.

"I am turning the lake into yogurt" Hoja Nasrudin replied.

"But surely the lake is far too large" the man replied "it will not turn into yogurt!"

Hoja Nasrudin looked at him and asked, "But what if it does?"

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

So I'm sure many of you have already read the story of a Florida man who was shot while eating the face off of another guy. He apparently had to be shot multiple times and was growling at people.

Cops quoted in the news suspect the man was on 'bath salts'. *

In the book 'The Serpent and the Rainbow', Wade Davis claimed that Hatian witch doctors induced a 'zombie-like' state using compounds of drugs (neurotoxins and psychoactives). The veracity of his theories have been widely panned, but in this case, I think we could argue that a person with little or no cognitive ability, decreased sensitivity to pain, increased strength etc would fit the bill as a 'zombie' (not the undead kind, but the drug induced kind).

Does the existence of a drug induced zombie attack strengthen the argument for concealed handguns for personal protection? Or is it outweighed by the abuse of concealed weapons, such as the situation with Zimmerman and Martin?





* not gonna comment on the absurdity of comparing bath salts' to LSD.

I am currently in the third draft of a play entitled "A Prison by Any Other Name..." which is based on the BiP, the PD and general Discordian concepts. The central story uses my "Story in Five Parts" interpretation of the BiP and some scenes pull some content from the BiP. When its done I will be releasing it under a Creative Commons license as a free sort of thing for anyone to use. However, before I start the final draft, I realized that I should probably ask permission. It attributes both the Black Iron Prison and PD.com in the script, but not specifically in the dialog.

If anyone who wrote stuff for the BiP absolutely does not want any part of their work included, please let me know in this thread and I will make sure its not.

Thanks!

I have a final interview today, looks like I might be moving to London soon as a Solutions Architect for an encryption company! WHOOO!!!

Look out UK SPAGS!!!

I've thought a lot about the Winged Monkey in the PD... the one who delivers the Sacred Chao to Mal and Omar.

Like all primates, he's still a monkey. Unlike all the other primates, he's been given a level of freedom, a freedom that allows him to fly above the other monkeys. I think, in some sense, this is true of Discordians. Many of us here seem to think about our actions more often than the general populace. We jailbreak some of those 'normal' monkey behaviors. We're still monkeys, we still have the monkey programming, we still have prison cells, but in some sense, we have more freedom than many of the other primates wandering around this planet. Just like the Winged Monkey.

We still have many Common Walls with the land bound primates. It doesn't mean we're BETTER or that we should see this as US vs THEM. However, it does mean that when the monkey brain starts to run broken bio-survival programs, antiquated territorial programs or when that chunk of shrapnel embedded in your knee starts to really ache... we have the option of flying out of the situation.

I think perhaps all of the Monkeys are born with wings, but they can't use them because of the 'suits of psychic armor' our species has enclosed itself in.

"I am Chaos and I tell you that you are free" -Some Crazy Bitch

I have long been a proponent of Free Speech. When I was young, I was part of a religion that fought and won many court cases on the issue. After I left that, I found the value of expressing my views in philosophy, politics etc freely.

Sarah Palin has recently defended Rush Limbaugh, calling his slurs of 'slut' and 'prostitute' 'Free Speech.

Since I've moved to Turkey, I've been exposed to a different philosophy on Freedom of Speech. Here, free speech is valued... within a few limits. If the Speech is false (Obama isn't truly an American citizen) or designed to simply be inflammatory ( She is a slut because I don't agree with her philosophy) they are NOT considered Free speech... they are considered lies, or speech designed to inflame hatred or cause rifts between people.

I understand the risks associated with limits on free speech. Recently the Turks got a taste of this when France made it illegal to disagree with the belief that the Ottoman empire committed genocide against the Armenians. I agree, that its good to know who the 'crazies' are, so they can be avoided.... BUT, I have to wonder, sometimes, if valueless rhetoric and baseless lies, designed only to engender division, should be something protected.

Perhaps even our valued freedom of speech is part of the Two-Man Con.

An interesting paper correlating how language frames the future with how people behave. Shades of General Semantics, and
an interesting nod toward 'language influences perception, perception influences behavior'

http://faculty.som.yale.edu/keithchen/papers/LanguageWorkingPaper.pdf

FIRST!



Happy 2012, spags!

Turkish cursing is an art form. Complex, rude and the more creative the more effective. From the threats "amına koyarım" (I'll put it in your pussy) to "kanını sikiyim" ( I fuck your blood)... Turkish cursing is on a level of its own.

My favorite new Turkish curse:

"Geçme Namık Kemal Köprü'sünden,
ürkütürsün vakvakları,
Ananın amına çam diktim,
Git topla kozalakları"

Translation:

"Don't pass from the Namık Kemal bridge,
you'll scare the quack quacks [ducks],
I planted a pine tree in your momma's pussy,
go collect the cones."

The art here lies in the first half; its there just to make the whole thing a little rhyme 'quack quacks' (vakvakları) and cones (kozalakları) rhyme in turkish.

The cuisine is a marvelous mix of east and west. The desserts are a fusion of French and Middle Eastern, the cheeses, olives, breads are wonderful... but Turkish cursing, WOW.

Other curses include:

I'll fuck your father in the market.
I will fuck your blood.
I will put it in your pussy. (aka I will beat your ass)

Then you get into wordplay and ambiguity:

"İsmet İnönü, kaymakamı görünce ayağa kalktı" -> "When İsmet İnönü (early political hero of the revolution) saw the governor, he stood up."

However, a sleight shift would give us:

"İsmetin önü, kaymak amı görünce, ayağa kalktı" -> "When Ismet's "front" saw the creamy pussy, it stood up"

Turkish cursing is a necessary thing. You need to pass a course in it before you get your driver's license (for your own safety)  

ETA:
Another rhyming curse I hadn't heard before was just tossed my way:

Oy oy oy gel gidelim hamama,
otur benimkinin kafasına
Seni sikerdim ama
Amın götün olmuş yalama

Translation:

Oy Oy Oy!  Let's go to hamam [turkish bath].
Sit on the head of mine [sit on my dick]
I would fuck you but
Your pussy and ass have turned loose

This is a great RSA talk by Steven Pinker on Language as A Window Into Human Nature. The sketch style animation is a very nice touch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-son3EJTrU

Baboons are among the more aggressive species of primates. Much like humans, chimps and others, they tend to have a strong hierarchy where the top male picks on the lower males, which in turn pick on lower males, etc etc until you get to the poor shitheels at the bottom that have no one else to pick on, occasionally these bottom males try to make a little alliance and get back at the alphas, but this usually fails and results in beatings. Robert Sapolsky studied a Baboon group called the 'Forest Troupe' for many years and saw this sort of basic second circuit behavior in action. In fact, after years of studying the primate he said that he didn't like them because they were so cruel and violent. Just like humans.

However, the Forest Troupe underwent a strange transformation. They began eating out of a garbage dump near a hotel and the top dogs always ate first. Unfortunately for them, eating first meant that they ate contaminated food, leaving none for those poor schmucks on the bottom rungs. The end result was that the most aggressive, most violent, most "top dog" baboons died. This changed the dynamic of the troupe. Now there were more females and not many males... and the males that were left were imprinted (to use a learyism) with a weak second circuit.

Sapolsky stopped studying them for a number of years. When he returned, the troupe was extremely different. There was much less violence, much more grooming between all of the primates. Blood tests showed drastic decreases in stress indicators. Adult males still occasionally fought, but not as violently, and often immediately groomed each other after. Now here is the really interesting part... these males were NOT the survivors of the poison food event... these were 'next generation' baboons. These were males that had come to the troupe from other groups (young males leave their troupe and find a new one). Not only had the overall behavior of the troupe changed, but the selection of new males had changed as well. Violent 'normal' males were chased off, males that were accepted tended to be these more cooperative males. Compared to other troupes in the area (as a control) this group was extremely different.

If we are "hard wired to be monkeys", then surely so are baboons. Yet if a tribe of baboons can change in such a fundamental way, can it be said that we are truly "hardwired to be monkeys"? Is it possible that alpha behavior, shit flinging, fighting etc, etc... are learned behaviors? If they are learned behaviors, can they be changed? Leary and Bob Wilson thought so... the study of the Forest Troupe seems to indicate that there is something other than just hardwiring going on.

Could this inform us as to why humans became less violent and more social in the distant past? Could it indicate that we have a choice to be or not to be shit flinging monkeys?

I don't know, but I found it a very interesting story.

http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0020124

Also one of Sapolsky's talks (not directly related, but an awesome talk): http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_uniqueness_of_humans.html

No I'm not flouncing

I am headed out to Turkey in about 5 hours. I'll be gone for a week, no idea about internet access. Don't asplode the whole internets while I'm gone!

[Here and Now, Boys]

Something I've been poking at, based on a couple lines from the book "Island" by Aldus Huxley its still a little rough and I'm looking for feedback

Here and Now, Boys

"Attention, Attention"
a thousand birds are calling
but life is distracting
and the monkeys are appalling.
"Attention, Attention"
the birds sing out again
but no one pays attention
cause they're watching CNN.

"Attention, Attention"
the monkeys all look up
They see Earthquakes,
Tsunamis
Two Girls and a Cup.
Contraptions of Distractions
in the Information Age
sitting in the audience
while the world's all a stage

Information at our fingertips
Lies dripping like honey
from a senator's lips
Oh! Gotta see if the stock market dips.
On the TV, the web and the phone.

All together, we're living all alone

"Attention, Attention"
but no one ever pays
Attention lost its job
in the downsizing craze.
We've shipped it overseas
Embedded with marines
and 'Attention' to the war
is in 30 second scenes.

"Attention, Attention"
somebody hit a nerve
and everyone is screaming
as they get what they deserve
the politicians playing
at their classic two-man con
and no one paid attention
till everything was gone.

Pay attention to the life that's your own
or all together, we'll be living all alone

So without pointing fingers (cause there are way too many of us that fit every one of these roles) I have a question:

If you don't want the thread to be full of responses that are us fighting with each other... why do people post responses that are us fighting with each other?

Why not just continue the conversation? In all honesty this is one of the PD tendencies that I have never understood.

Example 1:
OP: Interesting Post
User 1: Discuss
User2: Discuss
DP: Fnord
User1: Discus... OMGZ there is FNORD!

User 2: Dis... DAMN YOU FNORD

DP: err, FNORD!

OP/User1/User2: MOTHERFUCKINGSONOFABITCH WHY THE HELL DO I EVEN TRY TO HAVE A CONVERSATION HERE!!!!

EOT


(note that Fnord may or may not be a pinealism, in this case DP simply stands for the 'distraction' post)

I mean, the thread could go:

OP: Interesting Post

User1: Discuss
User2: Discuss
DP: Fnord
User1: Discuss
User3: Discuss
DP: FNORD!
User2: Discuss
User4: Discuss
OP: Discuss
Fnord?
User1: Discuss
User2: Discuss
DP: f...fnord... 
User3: Discuss
User6: Discuss
User7: Discuss
User1: Discuss
User8: Discuss
DP: *sneaks away and licks their wounds*
User6: Discuss
User2: Discuss
User1: Discuss
User4: Discuss
User9: Discuss


EOT

Why do many of us tend toward the first example, rather than the second? i mean, if we "Think for Ourselves", if we 'control our destiny', make our own BiP, etc etc ... why do we allow a distraction post to derail conversations? Is it a function of the Internet?
Like This:

Or is it just an automated monkey response?
Like this:

Or like TGRR mentioned in another thread... is it our egos? Are we upset because we think a thread is important and someone else appears to be belittling it?

IN the sermon on ethics and love, Eris told Mal-2 that if people didn't like it [war], they should just stop.

Why can't we do that? Can we? Can anyone? Or is it simply the way it is? Are we damned to act in ways that we don't like, promoting behaviors that we don't enjoy?

I don't know... but I think its an interesting question.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Now that's a teaser...

So a friend of mine decided to read The Trilogy. Poor sod. He called last night and asked for my thoughts on the story of the Five Stoned Men:

Five stoned men were in a courtyard when an elephant entered.
The first man was stoned on sleep, and he saw not the elephant but dreamed instead of things unreal to those awake.
The second man was stoned on nicotine, caffeine, DDT, carbohydrate excess, protein deficiency, and the other chemicals in the diet which the Illuminati have enforced upon the half-awake to keep them from fully waking. "Hey," he said, "there's a big, smelly beast in our courtyard."
The third stoned man was on grass, and he said, "No, dads, that's the Ghostly Old Party in its true nature, the Dark Nix on the Soul," and he giggled in a silly way.
The fourth stoned man was tripping on peyote, and he said, "You see not the mystery, for the elephant is a poem written in tons instead of words," and his eyes danced.
The fifth stoned man was on acid, and he said nothing, merely worshiping the elephant in silence as the Father of Buddha.
And then the Hierophant entered and drove a nail of mystery into all their hearts, saying, "You are all elephants!"
Nobody understood him.

I asked him what his thoughts were on it and figured I'd open it up here as well.

So thoughts?

The whole of the Law,
The full of the Rede
The mantra of Truth
In word and in deed

Not the Left or Right Hand
Not the Black or the White
Throw all of that out
As neither are right

Suck all of life in
Till you can hold no more
And open your eyes
to see what life's for

The loftiest goal
The Zen from on high
"Do Me As Thou Wilt"
And thus so Will I.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/witch-eilish-de-avalon-drags-cop-200m-at-high-speed-after-claiming-earth-laws-dont-apply/story-e6frf7kx-1225897391236

"When asked to produce her driver's licence, De Avalon replied that she did not have one," Sen-Constable Lamb said.

"When asked why not, she said, 'I'm a being from another world and don't require one.' When asked to state her name and address De Avalon replied, 'I have a universal name that is not recognised here'."

Sen-Constable Lamb said that when asked for ID, De Avalon said, "Your laws and penalties don't apply to me. I'm not accepting them, I'm sorry, I must go, thank you.

"De Avalon began to wind her window up and Sen-Const Logan reached through in an attempt to remove the keys from her ignition. She continued to wind the window up pinning the officer's right arm to the door frame.

"She then drove off dragging him along with her."

The policeman suffered serious injuries to his right arm, shoulder and chest and is expected to undergo further surgery.

Universal names don't fit on Driver's Licenses....

Some say Eris is a bitch,
"In her bosom lies a knife."
And they talk about that wedding
pointing to the world's Strife.
Some say Eris is a Hippie
tripping lightly through the Void
Stoned out of her Gourd
and listening to Pink Floyd.

Some say she's 'who Done it All'
Others say she's just some words
Some worship her,
some don't
Some can only see the fnords.

Yet,
I wonder,
sometimes...
thinking...
in the dark and voidlike night.
Are any of these really her?
Are any of these right?
Is she the Cosmic Bitch,
or is she the Cosmic Clown?
Does she smile on the world,
or does she burn it down?

Last night in NyQuil slumber,
she came to me in dreams
and told me
"Silly Squirrel, It's never as it seems.
Sometimes I can be bitchy,
sometimes I'm cool as ice.
Sometimes I can be awesome,
once I was even nice.

I'm all of these and none of these
and things you've not yet thought...
And sometimes I get off starting wars
and sometimes I'm stoned on Pot.
Dear Bob and Mal and Omar were children just the same,
as the Gipper, George and Tony Blair and even old Hussein.
Cause in the end, my darling Squirrel,
its not me that causes Strife,
or Chaos,
Discord,
Confusion...
that is just human life.
And every Childe of my womb
from birthing room
to stinking tomb
will do just as they wish to do,
and if they like it, what's that to you?"

And then I saw a parting Veil,
but as I stepped ever nearer
I saw myself on the other side
for it was just a mirror.
And She, my Goddess Eris
said, "Now, Squirrel do you see?"
She touched the surface and passed through.

"This is really me."

- Ratatosk, Squirrel of Discord

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/18/doll.study.parents/index.html?hpt=Sbin

First, I have no trouble with the concept that racism is alive and well in the US.

Second, this seems like a horrible test to judge racism in the US.

There is a series of cartoon kids, ranging from light skinned to dark skinned. Then the test givers ask questions like "Who is the smart child?" "Who is the bad child?" or "Point to the mean child." They are happily touting these amazing results because kids often picked the white kid as good and the dark kid as bad.

However, these are five year olds... and the questions are all trick questions. At least it seems that way to me. I don't know of any five year olds that would give the correct answer: "There isn't enough information to determine good or bad or smart or dumb... what the hell kind of test are you running here, ya schmuck?!"

Since the kids likely don't realize that its a trick, they're gonna give a wrong answer, no matter what answer they try to give. IF the only available data is skin color, and the child believes that they must give an answer (and that the answer is available based on 'differences' in the pictures)... why is it surprising that they identified positively with the far left, light colored picture rather than the far right dark colored picture?

I am confused by CNN SCIENCE!!!!

So physicists at UCSB have created a 'large' system, ie something visible to the human eye and successfully produced results that are congruent with the laws of quantum mechanics.

The researchers demonstrated that, once cooled, the mechanical resonator followed the laws of quantum mechanics. They were able to create a single phonon, the quantum of mechanical vibration, which is the smallest unit of vibrational energy, and watch as this quantum of energy exchanged between the mechanical resonator and the qubit. While exchanging this energy, the qubit and resonator become "quantum entangled," such that measuring the qubit forces the mechanical resonator to "choose" the vibrational state in which it should remain.

In a related experiment, they placed the mechanical resonator in a quantum superposition, a state in which it simultaneously had zero and one quantum of excitation. This is the energetic equivalent of an object being in two places at the same time. The researchers showed that the resonator again behaved as expected by quantum theory.

We're still talking about something the size of a human hair... but after this many physicists now question if there is actually an 'upper limit' to the physical size of quantum entanglement or waveforms.

Here's the press release: http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2200
Here's the NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124820013


Still nothing on how it explains MAGJICKS, but it does provide some evidence that we may understand less about physics than we thought.

"When these two metals are combined, we say that they are 'con-fused'." - Eliza, "The Confusion" (The Baroque Cycle)

What does it mean to be confused? Most often we likely consider it to mean that someone is bewildered or dealing with conflicting information that brings about a negative state of mind. However, this sort of confusion is only one aspect to the word. Confusion, in fact, may well be useful, beneficial and even desirable... in some sense.

In cryptography we use the term confusion to describe an important operation of a secure cipher. Confusion is the relationship between the encryption 'key' and the 'ciphertext' (the encrypted message). Particularly, good cryptography requires strong Confusion... or a strong, complex relationship between these two elements of the cipher. In fact, the more complex the relationship, the better the cipher. We 'confuse' the key and the data, so that the entire key is used to encrypt every part of the message AND that specific parts of the key are used on specific parts of the message as well. The goal is to create non-uniformity throughout the ciphertext, so that if an attacker has several samples of 'plaintext' they still cannot guess the correct key that was used. In a properly 'confused' algorithm changing one bit in the key, or changing one bit in the plaintext should result in a completely different output. Thus we can say that online banking, credit cards, debit cards, health records, sensitive business documents and secret cabal discussions are all secure, because of Confusion.

Confusion may also make things stronger. If we take metal along with other compounds and liquefy them with heat, we can con-fuse them together to create a metal alloy. If this is done correctly, the compounds become completely intermingled AND if the correct compounds are used, the resulting metal may be far more valuable than the original metals. For example, we may place Iron Ore, Charcoal (carbon) and glass (sillica) into a crucible, seal it and heat it in a furnace. This process takes three useful elements and transforms them into the 'wootz steel', a harder, better steel that holds its edge and exhibits a toughness beyond most other steel alloys of its time. "Damascus Steel" is still a sought after product today... the product of 'confusion'.

Confusion often gets a bum rap, as does Chaos, Discord, Bureaucracy and Aftermath. Yet, these are not always, or necessarily negative things. Chaos can be creative. Discord can force confrontation and resolution. Without Bureaucracy the Internet, hospitals, government, your place of employment and most of reality as we know it couldn't exist. But, Confusion, marvelous, wondrous, alchemical Con-Fusion can take many disparate things and combine them into something new, something better, something more valuable than the sum of its parts.

How better to describe the ideas, debates, metaphors and models discussed by Discordians, than a 'con-fusion' of ideas. The new concepts that come out of our discussions are products of multiple sources; the sciences from those of us who have studied science, the philosophies from those who have studied that. Political science, psychology, personal experiences and absurdity all placed in the crucible of PD.com, heated, combined, forged and Con-Fused into O:MF's, Rants, GASMS, parables and whatever else happens to come out of the fire.

So I exhort all Discordians; Steal ideas, steal metaphors, steal it all and Con-fuse it together, because that is truly the way to Think For Yourself, Schmuck!


Hail Eris, All Hail Discordia!

Ratatosk, Squirrel of Discord
Chatterer of the Words of Eris
Muncher of the ChaoAcorn
POEE of the Great Googlie Mooglie Cabal

So, there is a competition in our local SCA barony for best period dish, another for best period 'subtlety' (which is the art of making food that looks like something it is not). Sjaantze and I have decided to cook a Cockentrice aka Cockatrice aka Cockengris.

Here are three period recipes for this lovely piece of culinary art:
1:
Harleian MS.279 .xxviij. Cokyntryce. - Take a Capon, & skald hym, & draw hem clene, & smyte hem a-to in the waste ouerthwart; take a Pigge, & skald hym, & draw hym in the same maner, & smyte hem also in the waste; take a nedyl & a threde, & sewe the fore partye of the Capoun to the After parti of the Pigge; & the fore partye of the Pigge, to the hynder party of the Capoun, & than stuffe hem as thou stuffyst a Pigge; putte hem on a spete, and Roste hym: & whan he is y-now, dore hem with yolkys of Eyroun, & pouder Gyngere & Safroun, thenne wyth the Ius of Percely with-owte; & than serue it forth for a ryal mete.

2:
Douce MS. 55 Cockentrice. Capitulum lxiiij. - Scalde a capon clene, & smyte hem in-to the wast oueretwarde, and scaude a pygge, and draw hym, & smyte hym in the same maner; and then sewe the forthyr parte of the capon and the hyndyr parte of the pigge to-gederys, and the forther parte of the pygge and the hyndyr parte of the capon to-gedyr; then draw the whyte & the yolkes of eyren, and cast ther-to, and svette of a schepe, and saffron, & salt, and pouudre of gyngeuere, and grated bread; and melle all to-gedre with thyn honde, and putt it in the cockentrice, and putt it on a spite, and roste hem; and endore hem with yolkes of eyren, and pouudre of gyngeuere, and saffron, and ioissh of persely or malves, and draw hem, and endore hem all abowte in euery perty of hym.

3:
Forme of Cury 183 Cokagrys. Take and make the self fars, but do therto pynes & sugur. Take an hold rostr cok; pulle hym & hylde hym al togyder saue the legges. Take a pigg and hilde hym fro the myddes dounward; fylle him ful of the fars, & sowe hym fast togeder. Do hym in a panne & seeth hym wel, and whan thei bene isode: do hem on a spyt & rost it wele. Colour it with yolkes of ayren and safroun. Lay theron foyles of gold and siluer, and serue hit forth.

So if you had trouble following that, its the front half of a suckling pig, attached to the back half of a capon (castrated rooster) and made to appear as a mythical creature.

A picture from the Gode Cookery site:

Per the recent vulnerability announcement from Microsoft (here's some symptoms to help id it if you have a problem).

Evidence of Remote Code Execution (the specific vulnerability called out in the advisory):

·         Account lockout policies are being tripped.

·         Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Defender, and Error Reporting Services are disabled.

·         Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.

·         The network is congested.

·         Various security-related Web sites cannot be accessed.

·         Various security-related tools will not run.

·         In some cases, you may see svchost.exe crashes in module netapi32.dll.  This will only occur if the attack fails, however.



Not a joke or Snopes, this is just your run of the mill new virus bullshit. Thought it might be useful for the IT geeks among us.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/16/815429/-No-One-Is-Going-To-Save-You-Fools

Barack Obama has indeed sold you out. [....] He hasn't done this because he's a bad guy.  In fact, he's a great guy.  I think he's doing pretty much the best job he can.  He's sold you out because he's not afraid of you.  And really, if I may be so bold, he shouldn't be afraid of you.  You don't know who really runs the show, and you're far too fickle and manipulable to count on.

THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT STYLES OF FELTING,
BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DO IT!
WOOL, WATER, PRESSURE, FRICTION AND HEAT. 
JUST TRY PUTTING SOME WET BUNNIES IN THE SUN
TO RUN AROUND AND YOU WILL FIND OUT THAT IT
IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PULL APART THE FELTED MATTS.
YOU JUST HAVE TO CUT THEM OFF.

[Frankie and Johnny]

(To the tune of  that classic American folksong about love, murder and capital punishment)


Frankie and Johnny

Frankie and Johnny were cultists,
who followed the Elder Gods,
They never skimped on worship
to those evil ancient ones.
Straight from that weird,

Necronomicon.

Frankie and Johnny were chanting.
and Johnny called forth Azathoth,
Frankie, she was so happy,
that all their hard work paid off,
From studying,

the Necronomicon.

Johnny he traveled to Innsmuth,
and made out with Asanath.
The Captain was out for the evening,
so he kept her on her back,
with positions from

The Necronomicon.

Frankie went over to Dunwich,
stopped to see Whately's son.
She had a crush on Wilbur,
and together they had fun.
Tantra Love From

the Necronomicon.

Frankie and Johnny got home then,
and Johnny he smelled like fish,
Frankie knew what he'd been up to,
and she threw a great big fit.
She hit him with,

The Necronomicon.

Always be careful with magic,
and tomes of old eldrich lore,
When Frankie hit Johnny with that book,
he was knocked down on the floor,
and blood leaked on,

The Necromonicon.

Well, Frankie she kicked poor old Johnny,
for cheating with Dagon's spawn.
Johnny jumped up and he grabbed her,
and on the floor they rolled around.
They didn't see,

The Necronomicon.

The Tome it was glowing with Power,
it opened and turned to a page,
Frankie and Johnny, they missed it,
too busy with lover's rage.
They should have watched,

The Necronomicon.

Frankie and Johnny stopped fighting,
they both knew that something was wrong.
Too late to stop their fateful demise,
They ended like this song,
calling out to,

The Necronomicon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhGF8a1HwP8

It's A Wonderful Life, Rupert Murdoch!

http://briefingroom.typepad.com/the_briefing_room/2009/11/hadleycru-says-leaked-data-is-real.html

The director of Britain's leading Climate Research Unit, Phil Jones, has told Investigate magazine's TGIF Edition tonight that his organization has been hacked, and the data flying all over the internet appears to be genuine.

Of interest on the topic o Global Climate Change, several emails which appear to indicate that data was manipulated to hide cooling trends and recommendations were made on how to avoid requests for information etc. Here's a bit from an email that has the GL Skeptics in a tizzy:

I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps
to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from
1961 for Keith's to hide the decline. Mike's series got the annual
land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land
N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999
for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with
data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.
Thanks for the comments, Ray.

I have always been in the 'I dunno' category on this since I'm not a climate scientist.  However, not poisoning your own environment seems to be a no-brainer to me, just from a survival standpoint.

I'm making no claim as to the validity of the data or the interpretation its currently being given... just posting it because it's interesting.

http://thefump.com/fump.php?id=1238

bwhahahaha

http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/002.html

Carl Sagan's "Mr X" essay written in 1969.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GD69Cc20rw

I'm still listening to it, but he has some interesting perspectives.

http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story/NASA-to-bomb-the-Moon-on-Friday-morning-watch/DW0EHCrJS0Kxbt3zxUV6OA.cspx

What are your opinions on this? Personally, I'm going to hope against hope that everything goes wrong. For me the Moon represents the Goddess, and the idea of crashing on it angers me greatly.

Let us assume that ignorance will rule the day and plans go forward. What can we as surrealists or lunatics or astrologers or naturalists or anarcho-primitivists or Greens or werewolves or pagans or psychics or UFO groupies or other concerned members of the general public do? We must soothe the Moon, we bandage her. We implore other celestial bodies and entities to aid her. We will not let her endure this crime or its grim aftermath alone.
We need to communicate to the Moon. Talk to her in our dreams, trances, or meditations, and prepare her for this shock and wound as best we can. Hold her, send out imaginative protection to her, and put our dream bodies out there in front of the bomb. Collectively, we can sabotage the bombing or by imagining all manner of things going wrong, or encouraging the Moon to increase her own magnetic shields. Sing to her. Give her back just a tiny portion of all that she has done for us. We are all created from Moon dust.
We pledge solidarity with the Moon and promise we will do everything that we can to help heal her and to prevent any further such stupid, short-sighted, self-serving, man-made acts of obscene violence against her.''

http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song

We should totally unite with these fine people to SAVE THE MOON! After all, we're moon dust. Besides, if TGRR puts his dream body in front of the missile and then takes a dream shit... surely it will block the missile from hitting the goddess... who apparently is no good at avoiding human attacks.

Anyone got Google Wave invites? I'm shamelessly whoring myself out for one.

[That flesh may look bloody and full of Worms, and so be rejected - from Magia Naturalis:]

Our local SCA group is running their usual fall event "Red Dragon". Friday, the autocrat contacted me and my darling Sjaantze to beg a favor. Apparently the person who volunteered to make the feast had to cancel. With less than 6 weeks left, we've been asked if we could make and serve a period feast for 50 people. Because we're crazy, apparently, we accepted.

Currently, here's the plan:

Bread, Garlic Butter and Honey Butter at the table

1st Remove
Salat of Mixed Herbs
Mushroom and Cheese Tart

2nd Remove
Romania Chicken done in the Toscano style (a cold disk of spiced chicken in pomegranate sauce with fruit)
Vegetables for Lent

3rd Remove
A Roasted Lamb, Whole
Roast Carrots
Frytour of erbs

4th Remove
Toasted Bread with Stewed Fruits
Frytour of Apples

50 people, max of $10 per head.

We tested the chicken dish this weekend and its yummy. We tested the Frytour of erbs last night and it was ... let us say, less than successful. Apparently one should not include dill, rosemary or sage in the 'erbs' to be used. Apparently these flavors do not go well with the honey that you're supposed to drizzle them with.

However, in our research we found some lovely dishes that I thought I had to share:

That flesh may look bloody and full of Worms, and so be rejected - from Magia Naturalis:

By Smell-feasts.  Boil Hares blood, and dry it, and powder it. Cast the powder upon the meats that are boiled, which will melt by the heat and moisture of the meat, that they will seem all bloody, and he will loath and refuse them. Any man may eat them without any rising of his stomach. If you cut Harp strings small, and strew them on hot flesh, the heat will twist them, and they will move like Worms.

Smell-Feast is a nickname for an unwanted guest. 

Redressed Peacocks which  Seem Living; and How to Make them Breathe Fire through their Mouth - from Cuoco Napoletano:

You should first kill the peacock with a feather, driving it upon its head, or else drain its blood from under its throat as with a pig; but it is better to take out its tongue and then to slice it under its body - that is, from the top of its breast to its tail - slicing only the skin and removing it gently so that it is not damaged; when you have skinned it, pull the skin back right up to the head, then cut away the head, which will remain attached to the skin; do the same with the legs, and likewise the tail, taking out the leg bones so that the iron will make the peacock stand up will not be seen; then take the skinned carcass and set it to roast stuck with lardoons, or else baste it with grease often enough that it will not burn, and stick it with whole cloves, and fill it with the Piglet stuffing but without garlic; cook it gently so its neck does not burn; if the neck should get too much heat, cover it with a damp cloth; when it is cooked, take it down and redress it in its skin, whose inside you have coated with spices, salt and cinnamon. Then, when you have put its skin back on, get an apparatus of iron driven into a large cutting board and shove this iron through its feet and legs so it cannot be seen; in this way the peacock will be standing so that it will seem to be alive.

And to make it breathe fire through its mouth, get a little camphor with a little fine cotton-wool around it and put this into the peacock's beak and soak it with a little aqauvita or else with a little fumey old wine that is volatile; when you want to serve it, set fire to the cotton-wool: in this way it will breathe fire for a long time. To make it more magnificent you can cover the peacock with gold leaf and then cover it with its skin.

The same can be done with pheasants, cranes, geese and other birds.


Now for some real fun:

To make a Chicken be Served Roasted - from The Vivendier:

To make a Chicken be Served Roasted. Get a chicken or any other bird you want, and pluck it alive cleanly in hot water. Then get the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs; they should be beaten with powdered saffron and wheat flour, and distempered with fat broth or with the grease that drips under a roast into the dripping pan. By means of a feather glaze and paint your pullet carefully with this mixture so that its colour looks like roast meat. With this done, and when it is about to be served to the table, put the chicken's head under its wing, and turn it in your hands, rotating it until it is fast asleep. Then set it down on your platter with the other roast meat. When it is about to be carved it will wake up and make off down the table upsetting jugs, goblets and whatnot.


Yes, that's how to serve a live bird that LOOKS roasted. 


And for more fun:

To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted - from The Vivendier:

To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted, whether on the spit or in the platter. Take the neck of your chicken and bind it at one end and fill it with quicksilver and ground sulphur, filling until it is roughly half full; then bind the other end, not too tightly. When it is quite hot, and when the mixture heats up, the air that is trying to escape will make the chicken's sound. The same can be done with a gosling, with a piglet and with any other birds. And if it doesn't cry loudly enough, tie the two ends more tightly.

And yes, quicksilver is mercury. 

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistahardware/thread/720108ee-0a9c-4090-b62d-bbd5cb1a7605

So I spent my week at Pennsic working through the fighting manuals of Fiore', a master of the Italian Martial Arts who published in the first decade of the 1400's. Since a number of us have discussed Martial stuff here before, I thought I would start a thread to discuss the concepts, Postas and Guardias of this early Italian Master. He claims the title Master after "40 years of studying the art of arms". The first post here will cover the Guardia/Posta (the Guards and Positions) which Fiore makes clear are the same thing... apparently in the early 1400's people were arguing over the semantics.

First Concepts:

Fiore uses four Heraldic animals as the driving force for his system. Keep in mind that Fiore probably had no idea what these critters were really like, but based their traits on the traditional heraldic meaning of the animal. Considering the Beastiaries of the day, I'm just glad he didn't include unicorns and gryphons.

The Elephant - The first Heraldic animal is the Elephant which represents Stability. every Posta/Guardia must be stable. If you are in the correct position, someone shouldn't be able to simply push you over, even if they're stronger than you. If you are trying to drop an opponent, you must first 'break' his elephant.

The Lynx - The lynx is a symbol of prudence... responding in time with the correct movement. The correct movement sometimes, is running the fuck away. The Lynx becomes most important "at the crosses" which we'll get to later.

The Lion - The Lion is obviously courage... but more than that, the air of courage and fierceness. This has two key elements, first being willing to step in and take the shot necessary without hesitation and second looking fierce so your opponent will hopefully hesitate.

The Tiger - The Tiger is representative of swiftness and speed in motion. Tied with the Lynx, its the speed behind the 'proper posta in the proper time'.

Fiore also wanted a system which simply worked no matter what weapon was in hand. His technique works as unarmed or armed with dagger, stick, longsword, single hand sword, spear, halberd, etc. As this was before the Spada di Roba (Sword of the Robe, later called the rapier), simple thrusts in the line were not common, but rather the thrust was a part of a much broader system. Concepts such as the Lunge didn't exist, as a lunge would make it easy to break your elephant.

Posta/Guardia come in one of three types:

Charged - A Charged guard is one from which you can deliver a full attack or respond with a full defense. The body mechanics should natually be providing a strong stable elephant and have your weapon prepared for attack or defense (cocked and ready as it were).

Stabile - A stable guard is one which gives you good defense and allows you to move easily into a Charged guard. Your weapon may not be cocked, but you should still have your elephant and your weapon should be closing the line between you and your opponent.

Instabile - An instable guard is one which you shouldn't be in for long. It may come at the end of a defensive move, or after a fully spent attack. Instable positions aren't bad, but they should always be brief and you should never hang out in such a posta.

A brief note about footing: In general all of the posta begin and end with the feet in a strongly balanced position. the forward foot should have the toe pointed at the opponent and the rear foot should have the toe pointed slightly offline, your weight should be set on the balls of your feet and you back heel should be slightly off the ground. This is not a fencing stance, its more like if someone hit pause as you were walking.

The Italian Style of fighting in this time period is distinct from some other systems we have documentation for in two ways. First, unlike the German style, the Italian should never begin the play... he should wait and "respond in time" (The German style involves throwing as many shots as possible in as short a time as possible to land something before getting killed). The second difference is the simplicity of movement (the Lynx). Fiore tells us to never throw anything but a blow aimed to kill, other systems involve aiming for anything they can hit (hands, arms, feet etc). He also expects the weapon to do the work, the fighter should simply guide the weapon as inertia actually moves it. This is particularly easy to feel with something like a spear or two handed longsword, but its also part of the unarmed philosophy as well. Hand strikes are more about inertia carrying the force, rather than trying to power through a punch in the more traditional American style of throwing a punch.

The Posta:

Posta di Porto Ferro - The Iron Gate - This is the most stable post. Feet as described above and hands at the front of the body, waist level. Unarmed this is a good defense. Armed, this allows you multiple upward cutting attacks, pivoting the pommel and extending the arms. The weapon, is held point down to the side, parallel with the line of the hips.

Posta Longa - The Long Post - Here one hand is extended further than the other, arm extended. This is an unarmed punch, or an armed thrust. It may also be a grab (taking the wrist as a blow comes down from above).

Posta Frontale - The Frontal Post - Both arms extended, works just like frontale, but with more power, at the cost of some reach. Very good for defense, or grabbing someone by the throat.. its also used in the Dagger Masters as a bind to disarm your opponent.

Posta Dente di Cenghiaro - The Boars Tooth - This generall involves an upward attack which cuts up and in, then tears back out, just like a boar's tusk. Unarmed, its a block or uppercut, armed, its well... terrible.

Posta Fenestra - The Window Guard - This places both hands near the side of the head, if a weapon is in hand, the fighter should be looking under the weapon, between hilt and tip at the opponent (like a window). This is generally instabile and usually happens when you are passing between guards.

Posta di Donna - The Woman's Guard - Think of your longsword like a baseball bat. That's Posta di Donna.

Posta Breva - This is a close-in defense almost always with a weapon, the hands are near the navel, with the weapon guarding the center body and head.

Posta Bicorno - The Horns - This brings your weapon (with quillions) back close to the chest, like Breva, but higher. The idea is to use the quillions like horns, either binding/breaking the opponent's weapon, or thrusting to the face with the quillion.

Posta Coda Longa - The Long Tail - This is like Posta di Porto Ferro, but the weapon is turned all the way back so the point is behind you and your hands are near the hip, rather than the center of the waist. Fiore says this is his favorite posta to thrust from.

All of these posta/guardia can be done from either side, or the center. All guards have a cut which will naturally carry the blade from one to any of the others.

More stuff to follow at some point in the near future!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/21/australia.taser.fire/index.html

A man, who doused himself with gasoline and charged at an officer, burst into flames when he was hit with a Taser, police in Australia said Tuesday.


At the sight of the arriving officers, the man ran out of the house with a container of gasoline and a cigarette lighter, police said.

When he ignored the officer's command to stop, the officer fired his Taser stun gun -- and the man "caught alight," Munnee said.

Now, why someone would choose to douse themselves with gasoline BEFORE trying to charge a police officer is unknown to me. I would think that would place you at a disadvantage. However, the intelligence of the officer is in evidence:

"He was carrying a lighter and pouring himself with petrol," said Inspector Bill Munnee with the West Australian Police. "We don't know if the lighter set it off or something from the Taser."

He was covered in flamable gas, with vapors all around him... we shot him with a very big spark, but we're unsure of how he caught on fire.

However, for a wild theory, you could check out the DIY Flamethrower video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQSPEDV2aqY which involves flamable gas and... a spark from a taser. Could this explain what must otherwise be an example of spontaneous human combustion?

Of course, since its Australia, the story can't simply be about a crazy guy in gasoline clothing getting a hotfoot from a flatfoot. Never the Aussies for a boring story! Because, of course, a man that hot has to have a Sheila somewhere:

While the officer tried to put out the fire, a woman from inside the house threw rocks at him, Munnee said. The officer suffered both burns from the fire and cuts from the rocks.

There is no real explanation for the rock chucking. I assume throwing rocks at a police visit must be an Oz tradition, like throwing rice at a wedding is around here. Possibly better for the birds in fact.

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/0709_hugh_hefner.pdf

If only we had a High Weirdness forum...

Yes sir I am asking for 3 billion dollars from Mr. Hugh Hefner. He's been after me since I was a baby. Along with a pedifile organization here in L.A When I was about 5 yrs. Old He mysteriously was underneath my bed and he grabbed my arm and said that he and forsay the beatles and he mentioned the names of them. I asked like in my head, since I'm a hat everyone in the world heres my thought's, a good way to establish peace. And so I braced myself against the wall and eventually he let go.

This is a thread for sharing Public Keys. Before we go further, I'll provide Ratatosk's Guide to Encryption so those of you who are not crypto geeks will understand and can use these lovely Privacy toys.

Encryption

There are two kinds of encryption. Symmetric Key encryption and Asymmetric Key Encryption. Symmetric keys are simple, there is a single key, it can encrypt or decrypt data. The security of the key lies in it's secrecy. As long as no one can get the key, no one can decrypt the data. These keys are usually small and fast. They're often used in cash registers, databases and other applications where there is some assurance of the system being secure. The real issue with this system is how we share this key that could be compromised... If Triple Zero and I want to communicate via encrypted messages and we use Symmetric Keys, we have to find some secure method to share the key. That is a problem.

Asymmetric encryption, gets around this problem by creating two keys a Public Key and a Private Key. The Public Key can be shared with the whole Universe and not risk compromising the Private Key. If someone encrypts something with the Public Key, ONLY the Private Key can be used to decrypt the message. Together, these keys are called a 'keypair'.

Obviously, for communication Asymmetric encryption is the way to go. That's what PGP and GPG (GnuPG) do.

How It Works

Triple Zero and Rat want to communicate securely.

They both get GPG and create a keypair. The private key and public key are automatically created and put into their public keyring and private keyring, respectively. They both export their Public Key and post it on this website.

Now, each of them copy their keys and import them into their Public Keyring. So Triple Zero has Rat's Public Key and Rat has Triple Zero's Public Key. At this point we can securely communicate. Secure, yes, trusted... maybe not. After all, if I'm really paranoid, maybe the government has been snooping on us here and maybe they replaced 000's Public Key with their own. So when I send my souper seekret message to 000, they will be able to read it!

The Bastards.

To get around this, PGP utilizes a Web of Trust and Fingerprinting. Fingerprints are unique hashes of the keypair. When I get Triple Zero's key, I can check his fingerprint against the keys fingerprint and BAM, verify the key. He can verify mine as well. Once done, we can sign the key. Anyone who trusts us, can now trust the keys we've signed. Since we're all geographically disparate, this isn't as easy... but you can use a phone or whatever other method of communication you wish to verify the fingerprint. Remember, you can trust the key as far as you can trust the communication channel.

So, I think the best way to work through this is to just start sharing keys and answering questions as we go.


I recommend downloading Gnu Privacy Guard (aka GnuPG or GPG) from the website at: http://www.gnupg.org/

Install it, its pretty straightforward and you can accept all of the defaults. Once done, create a key pair. If you're using the default command line interface refer to the Cheat Sheet at: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~lockhart/gpg/gpg-cs.html

The first command you'll run is: gpg --gen-key

That will ask you some questions, you can take the defaults (except for your name and email address). It will ask you to type randomly on the keyboard and move your mouse to create some random entropy. Once its done, you can export the key, since there is only one key, the export command is:

gpg --export -a

This will output your Public Key in an ASCII format. You can then post your key in this thread, like so:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
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=bndP
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

This key is tied to my gmail account "Ratatosk <erisian.rodent@gmail.com>".

If you download FireGPG or another GUI interface, then use its export features

Now you can import other keys in this thread. If you're using the command line, copy the keyblock, paste it into a text file, name the text file something like Rat.key and then import it with the command gpg --import Rat.key

If you're using FireGPG, you just highlight the key block and select import from the menu....UPDATE:  actually, it appears that FireGPG gves you options inline... COOL!!

Once done, we can send encrypted data to each other. For trust, let's discuss what options we can use to trust each others keys

Now, get moving and make some keys!!!


Hail Eris!
All Hail Discordia!

Erisesiastes 1
Everything May Be Meaningless
1 The words of the Spag, [a] son of humans, Pope in Discordia:

2 "Absurd! Absurd!"
      says the Spag.
      "Utterly Absurd!
      Everything is Absurd."

3 What does man gain from all his labor
      at which he toils under the sun?
      Except for sunburn, a bad back and
      a retirement plan that goes away
      when the corporation goes bankrupt?

4 The generations come and go, children of men
   become beatniks. Children of beatniks
       become hippies. Children of hippies
       become spoiled brats and the earth
       continues onward, unaware of the philosophies
   of the spags that run around on its surface.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
       no matter what view of the solar
   system we might have. It will
   warm the flat earther, just as
   it will warm the one who knows
   the earth to be round. So then
       what value is in the knowing?

6 The wind blows to the south
      and turns to the north;
      its blowing generates energy for some
      and its blowing destroys property for others.
      No matter how we plan, we can neither
      stop nor start the blowing of the wind.

7 All streams flow into the sea,
      often carrying garbage, waste
      and pollution; yet the sea is
      never full of water, but it is
      filling with garbage.
      To the place the streams come from,
      there they return again. Leaving the
      old garbage and bringing more next time.
      Such is all philosophy.

8 All things are strange,
      more than one can say.
      No matter what we see, no matter
      what we hear, there is always more.

9 In all things do we repeat ourselves;
      That which we argue about has been
      argued before. That which we think about
      has been thought about before.
      There is nothing new under the sun,
      and yet none of us will ever see or
      experience all of it.


10 Is there anything of which one can say,
      "Look! This is something new"?
      It was here already, long ago;
      it was here before our time.
      At best, we just happen to be
      the first humans to notice it.

11 Not everyone is remembered; those
      who are remembered are often remembered
      through hyperbole, tall tales, legends and
      myths. What came before us we see darkly
      through the lens of history. What will come
      next, we have no way of knowing.

12 I, the Spag, was a Pope in Discordia.

13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wit all that is done by humans. What a heavy burden Man has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are silly, like chasing after the wind.

15 What is twisted can be straightened;
       but it will always have a weakness there.
       What is lacking can be counted, but you
       have to use negative numbers.

16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in ideas as much as anyone in Discordia ever has! I have experienced much and learned much." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of nonsense, and also of sense, but I learned that all of this, too, is a chasing after the wind, absurdity upon absurdity, especially if you try to argue over it. And then I met other Spags who had also thought of all these thing which I thought unique to me.

18 With much freedom comes much sorrow
   but also joy; the more awareness,
   the more grief but also pleasure.
   It's a balancing act and likely to end
   with a pie in the face.
       

http://community.livejournal.com/convert_me/1304758.html

A Discordian who has become disenchanted with the LOL23PINEAL crowd. I posted some links to useful stuff here, but if anyone wants to go have some fun... the Convert Me group is always ready for long and endless debating

I saw [name deleted] fucking a kid, his age would be about 15 - 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard the screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn't covered and I saw [name deleted] who was wearing the military uniform putting his dick in the little kid's ass. I couldn't see the face of the kid because his face wasn't in front of the door. And the female soldier was taking pictures. [name deleted], I think he is [deleted] because of his accent, and he was not skinny or short, and he acted like a homosexual (gay). And that was in cell #23 as best as I remember.

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/07/20/evidence-for-hershs-.html

More details about Abu Ghraib including US soliders ass raping young boys, ya can't beat that for good old fashioned Christian Values.

Also, OMGZ cell #23!!!!

As a surprise, Sjaantze picked up a copy of 'The Prankster and the Conspiracy" the biography of Kerry Thornley aka Ho Chi Zen aka Omar K. Ravenhurst. Herein are my thoughts:

First, its a great book. I thought it was well written and the material hooked me pretty quickly. The author did tons of research and interviews, documenting the inception and explosion of Discordianism from the Bowling Alley in the late 50's to Thornley's one and only IRC chat before he died. This is not a fluff piece either... the author claims not to be a 'card carrying Discordian' and there is no 'hero worship' in this... All of the good and amazing bits, along with the sad, pathetic and downright troubling bits are here. It also provides a view of how heavily Discordianism influenced the counterculture movement in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Now to the actual content and my thoughts.

The book covers the founding of Discordianism, mixed liberally with the circumstances surrounding Kerry's life. For those who aren't aware, Kerry was in the navy with a guy named Lee Harvey Oswald (yep, THAT Lee Harvey Oswald). The experiences that they shared led Kerry to write a book titled 'The Idle Warriors' and its main character was based on Oswald. After the events in Dealey Plaza, Kerry became inextricably tied up in all sorts of issues surrounding the death of the president and the subsequent 'conspiracy theories'. While it probably wasn't the sole cause of paranoid delusions (or were they?), Kerry spent much of the rest of his life manically focused on that part of his life, convinced that 'they' were fucking with him. It may be that he was just crazy, but the book covers all of the odd synchronicity surrounding Kerry, Oswald, and Jim Garrison's almost maniacal pursuit of TEH CONSPIRACY. It even includes a guy that wore a wig and eyebrows,  cut from a mohair carpet and glued to his head. If there was not a conspiracy, the Eris certianly had her hands in Thronley's life. Another thing I really liked was that the book doesn't try to polish Kerry as a human, including his rather troubling views on fucking anything and everything... including children and chairs.

The book also does a great job of covering several of the early Discordians, including Mal-2, Camden Benares, Bob Wilson, Lady L, Mama Witch, Dr. Bob and many others. Although it doesn't try to glorify the lives of any of them, it does provide a rather interesting view of these random spags, acting, well not all that differently than we random spags here. Funny how that works. It also seems to indicate that we were drawing the seriously werido crowd way back in the beginning... Mama Witch appears to been able to give AKK and IANAR a run for their money (she would have left Daruko, Wade and DK in the dust).

I think the author does a great job of showing that Kerry lived a life which was free in many ways, but in the end, he died a sick, crazy old man, with 15 cats, few friends and a chaotic legacy. The story was both inspiring and cautionary.

After all the shit had hit the fan, Omar said in a letter, "If I'd known it was all going to come true... I would have picked Venus."

Also, I found it quite interesting that Mal-2 began this silly religion as an Atheistic Joke. However, in the years that followed, Greg Hill (aka Mal-2) dropped his atheism due to his experiences with Eris. Some of the letters that are quoted in the book are simply stunning bits of philosophy and brilliant thinking.

I give it 5 stars, mostly because of the Law of Fives, but also because I think its a great read.